Indianapolis Times, Volume 40, Number 235, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 February 1929 — Page 4

PAGE 4

St RIPPS-HOWARD

An Unbelievable Situation Were there an armed army at the outskirts of Indianapolis, prepared to take' over its government •by force, to place its puppets in power and its commander in a seat of despotism, there would be, let it be hoped, an instant rush to its defense. Yet when a subtle and sinister group, small in number but powerful in trickeries, accomplish the same purpose by stealth, there is apparently no urge to defend the right of self-government. The situation in the legislature in regard to the city manager form of government illustrates just how far the people have lost their right to rule themselves. In the senate there is the empty threat of the group of politicians that they will repeal the law under which the city jnanager form was authorized. In the house, the amendments to the law, demanded by the sincere advocates of the plan, representative of five-sixths of the voters of the city, are emasculated by its enemies. It would seem to be a simple request that the first election under the law be an honest one, above suspicion, and in charge of officials in whom the people of this city have confidence. That, apparently, is most unreasonable from the standpoint of the politicians who desire to continue city government as a mere feeder for the political control of the state. It would see a simple request to demand that the votes be counted publicly, at one central point, in order to avoid even the suspicion of fraud. That is monstrous from the machine standpoint. The one gesture in behalf of honesty is a “concession” that groups of candidates may name watchers to protect them from too flagrant frauds. Watchers, in the past, have prevented few frauds. The battle for the city manager form of government has been heartbreaking but strenuous. Started by The Times, more than four years ago, it grew in power because of an aroused public sentiment. The people look to it for relief from the political manipulation of public interests. They look, hopefully, to the day when there shall be municipal ownership of public offices, not privately controlled servants of special privilege. To win the war, and it has been war, it will be necessary for every citizen to stand guard. The best in sight from the legislature is not reassuring. The politicians remain on the job. The people are too busy earning a living to give much time to the protection from subtle invasions. There is necessity now, as never before, for a strong, militant, organized public sentiment in behalf of popular government. The enemy is not at the city gates but is skulking in the corridors of the legislative halls.

Senator Norris Persists Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska will reintroduce on the opening day of the next session his constitutional amendment to end lame duck sessions of congress, such as the one now sitting. We commend his persistence. The arguments against allowing men who were defeated in November to sit through the short session, and keeping newly elected members from taking their seats for thirteen months* are too well known to need repeating. So with the arbitrary ending of the short session March 4, whether its work has been completed or not. The President short session proves necessity for a change. Congress is compelled to neglect important legislation because of limited time. Other legislation will not get the consideration it deserves. Some measures will be killed because opponents can prevent consideration in the crush of the last days. With only three weeks remaining, congress has be • fore it such important matters as extension of the radio commission, coal legislation, inland waterways, reapportionment, railroad consolidation, the Vare tontest, tax refund publicity, regulation of cotton exchanges, outlawing of labor injunctions, and this by no means exhausts the list. The Norris amendment has passed the senate four times, but always has been defeated in the house, where the lame duck sessions help the leaders keep members in line. However, there is no tenable argument against its adoption, and some day there will be a house with vision enough to concur in the senate's action.

Hysterical Diplomacy Just what is it about the subject of cruisers that makes sober senators suddenly hysterical and government officials run wild? Here are senators and the President almost flying at one another’s throats, and the British government and its Washington ambassador bombarding each other with conflicting press statements. Even if the two countries were on the precipice of war, such panicky, conduct by responsible officials would be deplorable. But with a situation such as the present, when war in the near future is inconceivable, what possible explanation can be found for this general hysteria in high places? The British press is attacking this latest bit ot British diplomacy as a “blunder.” Sir Esme Howard issued a formal statement in Washington that "everything points tp the early resumption” ol cruiser negotiations with the United States. Ambassadors do not issue such statements without the knowledge of their governments, and Sir Esme never has been guilty unwittingly of an "indiscretion.” After the London government had permitted the Howard feeler, it suddenly changed its mind—whether because of French opposition or because of American reaction that the time is not quite ripe for another conference, is not known. Anyway, the foreign office promptly repudiated its ambassador, with the statement that “it is unlikely therefore that his majesty’s government will be in a position to make further communications for some time.” Diplomats are accustomed to being made the goats for their home governments.' That is neither unusual nor important. But it is important that the British government has chosen a very jumpy moment in Anglo-American relations to go off half-cocked. With Hoover not yet in office and anew British government due this summer, this was not an auspicious moment to put out naval conference feelers. Nevertheless, the Howard statement was worded carefully enough it might have contributed to the general desire for a conference as soon at practicable. But now the British government, by a second statement repudiating the .first, has made a bad mat-

The Indianapolis Times (A SCKIFFS-HOWAKI) NKYVsPAFEH) Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The Indianapolia Times Publishing Cos., 214-220 W. Maryland Street. Indianapolis, Ind. Price in Marion County 2 cents—lo cents a week: elsewhere, 3 cents—l 2 cents a week BOYD GURLEY. ROY W. HOWARD, FRANK G. MORRISON. Editor. President. Business Manager. ~PHONE— RILEY MffL TUESDAY. FEB. 19. 1929. Member of United Press, Scripps Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newspaper Enterprise Association, Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”

ter incalculably worse, opening itself to the charge of further blocking disarmament negotiations. This follows reauthorization of two postponed British cruisers. We cannot share the nervous foreboding .of some American circles that all this is evidence of sinister British policy. Rather we are inclined, with the British press,'to put it down to sheer stupidity. But that British stupidity is matched by naval leaders in the senate. They were not content with premature authorization of fifteen new cruisers, but they must rush construction as though war were to be declared tomorrow morning. They defied Coolidge and Hoover, who are preparedness advocates, but in a position to know that immediate building is unnecessary and inexpedient. Coolidge and Hoover favored dropping the time construction clause from the bill. Now a senate committee has overridden the Coolidge naval budget estimates %>y inserting a $770,000 appropriation to begin five new cruisers at once, in addition to the appropriat n for the second lot of five cruisers for next July. That is, they are getting ready to start ten cruisers this year, besides the eight now building and besides the five additional for next year. Army Promotions The army promotion plan which has been adopted, by the senate and will reach the house in the form of a conference report, has settled to some extent the controversy raging over this question since the World war. The plan assures all officers of promotion, but does not correct injustices in rank brought about by the war department system of ranking men on the basis of length of service. This newspaper has favored the Wainwright-Mc-Swain bill, which was adopted by the house. The senate compromise only partially carries out the intent of the house bill.

But the compromise was the best obtainable in the senate, with adjournment so near. There will be other congresses and other opportunities of getting additional benefits for the men who saw their taken away and others shoved ahead of them by the war department ruling, misinterpreting the law. From the standpoint of the entire army, the senate bill does much good and accomplishes more than many of the officers expected from this congress. It should be adopted by the house and signed by President Coolidge. George Washington, they say, never told a lie. But then George never went into the oil business. A combined saxophone and bagpipe has been invented. Scientists also discovered anew 7 ethal gas recently. Professor Einstein’s scientific formula probably won’t make a fortune out of science, but think how profitable it might have been in the laundry business. Girls on Mars are reported to have six legs apiece. The very place for a Scotchman to get his money’s worth at a burlesque show. Cruisers may be the best way to obtain peace, but we’ve found that a little candy always works pretty well at home. It is predicted science eventually will be able to control the weather. If science is wise, it won’t try anything like that.

- David Dietz on Science —_- Sun Emits Fire No. 283

'T'HE most spectacular features of the sun’s structure are the great prominences. These are great tongues of luminous gases extending far out into space from the sun’s upper atmosphere or chromosphere. They may be thought of as great tongues of fire, for they are great masses of gaseous material, chiefly

hydrogen, helium and calcium vapor i at a temperature of about 6,000 degrees. Centigrade. The prominences are directly visible during an eclipse j of the sun. They can be photo-! graphed at any| time, however, with! the spectroheliograph or observed with the spectrahelioscope.

There are two prominences. One, the quiescent type, maintain their shape for days at a time. It is thought that they are buoyed up by pressure of the sun’s light. At the end of a few days, they sometimes blow up, however, the material rising to a height of 70,000 or 30,000 miles with a velocity of 250 miles a second. The second type, the eruptive, resemble great foun-tain-like volcanic eruptions and are sometimes blown out with great velocity. These great explosive eruptions seem to be connected with sun-spots and due to the release of energy in the spots. They often contain the heavier chemical elements which have been blown up and made bright by the intense activity. I once heard Dr. F. R. Moulton of Chicago asked if he ever thought the solar prominences migh>; be blown so far out of the sun that they would reach the earth. I was interested in his answer, for there wouldn’t be much left of the earth if this happened. He said the earth had been in existence a long time, perhaps two billion years. Since it hadn’t happened in all that time, there wasn't much chance that it ever would happen. But, he said, you can't reason that way. Just because a thing never happened, is no sign that it might not happen. So he said that he had just one piece of advice to give his iisteners. That was to “be good.” Surrounding the run's chromosphere is a sort of great silvery halo or crown called the corona. Like the choromosphere, it is only visible during a total eclipse. The corona is composed of thin gaseous material.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

TRACY SAYS: “There Is Little Hope of Reaching Any Character of Crime Successfully Save Through Preventive Measures.”

SAN DIEGO, Cal., Feb. 19.—Still bent on checking crime, congress takes up the Jones bill, with its maximum penalties of five years in jail or a SIO,OOO fine or both ior bootlegging. Reed of Missouri, soon to retire, shouts in biitter, sarcastic denunciation. His biting words may have some effect in the senate, but very little out here. Southern California is all prohibition, the sentiment growing stronger as one approaches the Mexican border. Is this due to convenience, or moral appreciation? n a ts Gas and Rumor Wars THE oil war has struck San Diego. Some places are selling gasoline as low' as 13 cents, though the majority hang out for a higher price. Everyone is looking for the big companies to take a hand, however, which means a more general, if not a bigger cut. As though this were not enough to make the tourists at home, the rumor market of Mexico has begun to function in good old fashioned style. One report has it that the federal commander of west coast troops is planning to divide the republic. An ambitious yarn to say the least. a tt a ‘Spare’ Witnesses THEN there is the much discussed “attack” on Mrs. Ruby Ramsey of Oklahoma, with the subsequent court proceedings at Tia Juana and the light thrown on the method of administering justice in Mexico. Mrs. Ramsey did not have the required two witnesses, wherefore, she failed to prove the point, as the judge carefully explained. Max Miller, writing in the San Diego Sun, advises American women, who are about to be attacked, robbed, or otherwise mistreated in Mexico, to be sure and take plenty, of witnesses along.

Flying in Limelight SAN DIEGO is a real flying base not only because of the government training schools, but because of the interest taken by civilians. One can fly from here to Los Angelesi in ninety minutes, or San Francisco in six hours. Many people are doing it. Like the auto, the airplane-seems destined to serve individual'needs, to make for independence rather tnan organization, especially in connection with the older and slower modes of transportation. tt tt Hooch, Horses, Irrigation HOOCH, horse racing and Boulder dam play a large part in local conversation if one may judge from what is heard on trains and in hotel lobbies. Real estate promoters already have seized on Boulder dam as the signal for a great lot selling spree. Yon can buy a lot, a ranch, a farm or a subdivision most anywhere in the Colorado basin, whether up stream, or down stream, and get quick service in a half a dozen cities. Local branches of the federal land office are being swamped with inquiries, and have issued a general warning against too much optimism. Meanwhile, the tri-state pact, seven-state pact, the lower basin group and ine upper basin group remain to be brought in to accord with Arizona playing a lone hand against the bunch.

a tt tt ' The Doheny Murder LOS ANGELES authorities have decided to drop the Doheny case. They Should. When one man murders another and then commits suicide, there is little left for the law to do. Such crimes are beyond the pale of punishment. There is no way of reaching them save through preventive measures. When you get right down to brass tacks, there is little hope of reaching any character of crime successfully, save through preventive measures. Except as a preventive measure, our system of punishment would have little to justify it. If we can not eventually teach people that crime is wrong, whether through discipline, or education, the situation is hopeless. a tt tt Discipline and Education DISCIPLINE is and always has been a form of education. Relaxation of it in our schools and colleges may not be discarded as a reason for the prevalence of that anti-social complex, which is at the bottom of this so-called crime wave. If children and young people are not taught the necessity of accommodating themselves to the needs of society and good citizenship, and thought by example, rather than precept, how can we expect them to grow up with the proper appreciation of their obligations? Q. How much is a married man allowed personally in property or cash in case a judgment is given against him? A. The Indiana householder’s exemption generally is S6OO, but there are certain kinds of suits in which a court can order a sheriff to take everything a man owns. When did James J. Jeffries retire as world's heavyweight boxing champion? Jeffries announced his retirement as world’s heavyweight boxing champion in 1905, and on July 3, 1905, he refereed a bout between Marvin Hart and Jack Root, and presented Hart, the winner, with his title of champion to defend against all comers. Tommy Bums later defeated Hart on a decision and claimed the title.

CUt VOT I , RUSK‘EH ' I' , V THEY'RE KEEDEP (tm *'>' If/. Ji tM , f> xMd, -f ■

Try to Build Child’s Resistance

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hygeia, the Health Magazine. ONE of the chief problems of medicine today is to build up in bodies of children resistance against infectious disease, particularly respiratory diseases, such as coughs, colds, influenza and pneumonia. In the Home for Hebrew Infants in New York physicians have been carrying en experiments with various methods. Attempts were made to build up resistance by the use of ultraviolet rays alone, but the results were not so outstanding as to warrant the belief 'that this method creates specific resistance against such diseases.

Reason

OUR public life loses its most figure on March 4, when Vice-President Dawes turns his office over to Senator Curtis. Charles G. Dawes is direct, square, brave and capable, and he would make a great President. The Dawes family is a fine exception to the rule that American families diet; for it has come down from Concord and Lexington and ha.-i played a gallant part in peace and in war all along the line. tt tt a If we had our way aobut it we would change the highway motorcycle cops, who accomplish little or nothing, into a traveling hospital for ailing Lizzies, having it carry gas and oil and be equipped to change and vulcanize tires. tt tt u We imagine there’s a lot of envy in the indignation of Chicago’s official crime pursuers over the killing of those seven bandits, as that single transaction handled more crime in ten seconds than the courts of Chicago have been able to handle in ten years. tt tt The papers say Lindbergh may be married in New Jersey. The Lone Eagle should bear in mind that most of the mergers effected in that state have been badly inflated. n n a It’s all right for congress to pass this bill to deport alien criminals, but it won’t amount to much unless we use the army and the marine corps to patrol our borders and keep those who are deported from being bootlegged back. . tt n tt Lindbergh was made a colonel because he flew from New York to Paris and John Coolidge was made a major because he became engaged to be married, so here you have the relative rating of two great hazards.

Times Readers Voice Views

Editor Times—A recent issue of The Times carried the announcement of a SI,OOO award for definite, scientific proof that Adam didn’t eat the apple! The announcement states that the award will be paid to any recognized scientist who disproves any part of the Bible, by the Defenders of the Christian Faith. Dr. G. Winrod, in making the announcement at Cadle tabernacle, declared, “It is a question of put up or, shut up.” Continuing Winrod says: “We are calling the ‘bluff’ of the atheists and the modernists. Generalities and theories get us nowhere. Let’s get down to facts and quit dealing in generalities.” I am not an atheist, neither am I a modernist. I am not dealing in generalities nor superficialities. I am a fundamentalist, taught of God, and, therefore, know something about the fundamentals. Also, I find that no matter how much | men presume to know, it is little enough, indeed. I would like to ask just why P. ul Rader, poster ©f the award, limits

A Call to Duty!

DAILY HEALTH SERVICE

Another method involved arrangements which lessened the number of contacts between the children. The most recent studies have concerned the relationship of the nutrition and body weight of the child to its resistance against respiratory infections and pneumonia in particular. In order to evaluate their results properly the investigators had to establish normal weights for children of the type studied. These weights were compared with the weights of the children who developed pneumonia. During a period of twelve years 505 cases of pneumonia occurred among 6,894 children under five years of age admitted to f the institution.

BIJ Frederick LANDIS

WASHINGTON is on the road to be the most beautiful capital in the world, but every time a mid-western man reads of a great architectural addition to Pennsylvania avenue, he wishes the seat of government were a thousand miles nearer to the center of population. tt tt a We take no stock in Senator Jim Reed’s prophecy that the American people will rise and smash the prohibition amendment. The people of the United States never v/ill rise except in the seventh inning—and then only to stretch.

Fellowship in Prayer

Topic for the Week “LENT AND MY WORK” Memory Verse for Tuesday “I must work the works of himthat sent me, while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4). (Read: Matthew 6:25 to 33.) MEDITATION: These are solemn words. Let me take them to today. What have I accomplished to justify the life and the abilities with which God has endowed me? And what am I doing now? The sigh of Cecil Rhodes may have an echo in every mind —“So much to do, and so little time.” Life is much too short to spare any time for futilities. I may not stop to resent or retaliate

his challenge to “recognized scientists”? Why not challenge all comers? I say Amen to “Let’s get down to facts.” Surely we have been keeping within the narrowness of a “roan-prescribed” course of doctrine too long already. Ministers tell us that God called them to preach, yet they all pack up and go to school to learn what to preach. If God calls one to serve him. he does not call him to go to school to learn what somebody else thought, thinks, or teaches, but to learn of him. Would Rader and his colleagues be pleased to know that Adam did not eat the apple? Would they be pleased to know that the apple did net enter into the circumstance which caused the rumpus in the (so-called) Garden of Eden? It didn’t. Would they appreciate the fact that the Bible positively does not teach any such nonsense? It doesn’t. According to scripture, science and pure logic, according to the doctrine which they themselves preach, it is not only nonsense, but

It was found that the children in the institution average in weight about the same as those elsewhere in the community and that any admitted below normal weight rapidly gained weight under institutional care so that they soon approximated the normal.The significant fact was determined that the body weight of the child did not bear any relationship to the occurrence of pneumonia or to the frequency with which children developed this disease. Neither did the body weight seem to bear any direct relationship to the number oi deaths that occurred in the children who developed pneumonia, except for infants under 6 months of age.

CHARLES G. DAWES tt o m MAKING COPS USEFUL TWO GREAT HAZARDS

WHILE officials were going ’round in the dark, wondering who caused Chicago’s last gang battle, Tom Heflin discovers that Mussolini was at the bottom of it. Heflin has a perfectly uncanny way at getting at things. a tt Seats in the reviewing stands to see the Hoover inaugural parade will cost from $3 to $lO, more than many such parades are worth. Roosevelt’s turn-out was the greatest of any President, its features being as varied as the interests of Teddy. The one outstanding delegation was the bunch of cowboys who came from Dakota and Montana to see their old friend sworn in. tt tt tt How grand for Viola Dana, motion picture actress, and her mother to get divorces on the same day! It will not be long until all family reunions in Hollywood will be held in the divorce court.

an injury. Nor can I afford to waste time on vain regrets. Let me remember not with anxious fear, but as a cheerful incentive to diligence that the night cometh. PRAYER: My God and Father who knowest both my abilities and my limitations, I pray Thou wilt make me both eager and humble. Beyond my striving, giving me simple trust in Thee who are able to over rule my failures. Make me diligent without anxiety or discouragement. Amen.

This Date in U. S. History

February 19 1717—Snow fell to a depth of twenty feet, in New England. 1824 —American Baptist Publication Society organized. 1346-i First Texas legislature met at Austin. 1872— Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York gave its first exhibition. 1901— First territorial legislature in Hawaii convened. What is the story of Rubenstein’s “Kaimnenoi?” It is an attempt on the part of the composer to picture in music a very beautiful woman whom he met. He portrays by strains her facial expressions, starting with the sombre look represented by bass notes, and passing through various phases to the livelier moods. An account of the episode is contained in “Mes--.ages of Music” by Henry Brenner. also a very grave prostitution of truth. Yes, I agree, let’s get down to facts and put up or shut up. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting, get understanding. JOHN B. DICKEY, 2874 Noth Dearborn street.

FEB. 19, 1929

IT SEEMS TO ME a a By HEYWfcOD BROUN

Ideal ini opinions elpressed In this column arc those of one of Am erica's most interesting w r i t e r • and are presented with out regard to their agree ment with the editorial attitude of this paper. The Editor.

ONE of the best ways to get any commodity which you are after is to make a public declaration that the thing is rare or nonexistent. Within a month I wrote a column complaining that there were no good detective stories anywhere, in spite of the high rate of production. But now I have just come across a recent one which seems to me superb and altogether unusual. I speak of “Footprints,” by Kay Cleaver Strahan. The jacket does not even reveal the sex of the author, let alone the identity of the victim, but by deductive processes I choose to assume that Kay is a man’s name. At? least it was in the days of King Arthur. Mr. Strahan is credited with just one other book, also a detective story, called “The Desert Moon Mystery.” a b v No Sherlock Holmes BUT perhaps the most striking thing about this particular detective story is that it owes nothing at all to Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. It is almost the only book of the sort which I have read in fifteen years which was not definitely modeled after the manner set by the modern master of mystery. In fact, the detective who moves dimly in the story speaks not more than a couple of hundred words and is a minor figure in the scheme of things. It is left to another character to name the culprit, and so ingenious is the solution that every reader is bound to say, “I wonder why I never thought of that?” I at least accepted the explanation fully and thought, “Os course,” although up to the point of revelation I never had once suspected the character in question. Well written and ingeniously devised, “Footprints” does depend somewhat upon its surprise which comes in the precisely final word of the narrative. tt tt u Author Doesn't Cheat NEVERTHELESS, I rather think the story will bear rereading, for I am under the impression that the author has not cheated at a single point. One element in “Footprints” is traditional. The crime ;s contrived in such a way as to seem to limit the participants to a known group of people. In a lonely ranch house in Oregon a man is shot in his bed at night. All the members of the family but one are locked in their rooms.

A rope extends from the foot of the murdered man’s bed through the window and to the ground. But before the shooting, snow fell unexpectedly and there is no sign whatever of any footprints leading away from the house. Nor does a very thorough search reveal the presence of any intruder. The victim did have an opportunity to speak a little before he died. His first words were, “Got away.” Next he said quite distinctly, “Red mask.” He spoke the names of his three children and then added, “Bring father. I must tell him,” a it tt Years Later ALL this, I hope, suggests mystery enough, but the killing of Richard Quilter is solved twentyeight years after the event by a woman detective, who does not even visit the scene of the crime and who never meets any member of the family. The solution lies in her analysis of a number of letters written beforeand after the murder by the 12-year-old daughter to Richard Quilter and his 19-year-old son. The solution, after it has been pointed out, lies quite palpably in these letters.

Every reader can do as much as the detective if only he retains well enough and associates facts which seem insignificant at first telling. I was not able to do this and it made me ashamed of myself. You might have better luck. The structure of the story seems to me extremely dramatic. The novel begins twenty-eight years after the death of- Richard Quilter and the detective, or rather crime analyist is called in, because Neal, who was 19 on the night of the shooting, is beginning to show signs of mental crumbling. He confesses to several people that he shot his father. The detective is called in to determine whether this is an hallucination. a Tense Moments ONE episode may be questioned as a little unfair to the reader. , Some will say that the second shot is not quite justified. To. me it provides one of the most tense moments of excitement I have known in any mystery story. Still I do cite Kay Cleaver Strahan for one false touch. The most stupid woman in the book is given the best speech. Irene says, in a moment of irritation: “You go about, every one of you. buttered with precedent, greased with traditions. “Like the pig at the circus, one tries to get hold of you, and traditions slip you through one’s hands.” And in the delight of that remark, “Footprints” is a detective story to which one may cling. It is not clogged with the grease of precedent. (Copyright. 1329. lor The Times)

Daily Thought

They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for thpsc pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.—Lamentatitons 4:9. 0 0 0 A HUNGRY people listens not to reason, nor cares for justice, nor Is bent by any prayers—Seneca.