Indianapolis Times, Volume 40, Number 245, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 March 1929 — Page 4

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The Machine Rules The only reasonable argument for repeal of the primary law has not been made. That Is the fact that the members who now cringe before the machine politicians were nominated in a primary. The insincerity of the bosses who are lashing and driving the legislator into line by the specous plea that the "party platform’’ pledged repeal of the primary is shown by their assertion that the change is necessary only for senators, Governor and presidential preference. If that were true, they would not object to the plan for a referendum on the question two years hence and permitting the people to decide. There will be no nominations for any of these offices for four years. • The truth is that the bosses admit that every mar. who votes for this bill will retire from public life and that they must get their measure through at this session or never. One of the ironies of the situation is the fact that many members of the Marion county delegation boast that they won by defying Boss Coffin and now vote to throw away the only possible means by which the people can defeat Coffinism. t Two years from now Coffin will see that even more servile slaves to his will are in the statehouse. That the primary has been faulty hits always been admitted by its friends. There should be changes to strengthen it, not weaken or destroy it. Instead of repealing the primary law, the legislature should provide for a commission to study the election laws and public sentiment and draft a complete program for consideration two years hence. The probltm should be approached as the League of Women Voters approached that of permanent rgistration—patriotically and scientifically. But bossism now rules. The Beast at Bay Only a desperate situation would cause Boss Coffin to send Charles Jewett, former mayor, to the firing line to make a last desperate fight against the city manager form of government. There is no secret that the fight against the change in government is directed by Coffinism. When the people voted by five to one for this change, the boss saw the red lights of danger, perhaps the end of his power over the city. Just how it happens that he led Jewett to the mountains overlooking the promised land of future power over the city, has not been disclosed. Perhaps the old henchmen of Coffin are too discredited to be of much service in such a situation. The two are fighting side by side. They want to defeat any law which would make more workable the city manager law. They want to retain control of the election machinery. The arguments advanced at public hearings by Coffin’s spokesmen nave been against the whole manager plan, although the measures on which hearings have been held are not for this purpose. They declare, in effect, that they will either rule or ruin Indianapolis. ‘ They have declared war on the thousands of voters who cast their ballots for a change to this modem system of municipal control. They are snarling and gnashing at the people who want government without pilage, plunder and privilege? The declaration of Jewett that the people would now vote three to one against changing the government is arrogant egotism on the part of a man who did all he could to persuade the people and was overruled by a five-to-one vote. The people will do well to list the names of those who are oposing their wishes and remember them in all future elections. The city manager plan of government is not a privilege for cities. It is their right under the law. The people of Indianapolis have spoken and any effort to rob them of that right approaches the border

line of anarchy. Exit Coolidge Calvin Coolidge ends his White House term Monday. - The retiring President deserves neither half the praise nor half the blame commonly accorded him. Accident made him President. A myth-loving public has sought to make him great. It has been rather hard on him, grimly trying to live up to this picture. He shows the strain.. Silent Cal, they called him, but he broke all records in the number of his public speeches. The strong man in the White House, they called iim, but from the time he failed as Governor to face |he Boston police strike, w r hich he later was credited Sjrith settling, his public career has been marked by indecision. No President ever was run over so often and so effectively by a congress controlled by his party. Cool and self-controlled, they called him. But his nervousness under criticism and his hot temper toward his associates have been well understood in Washington. Many Americans who saw through these popular Coolidge myths, turned about and created other myths concerning his incompetence. They made him ignorant and petty. They made him a weak tool in the hands of imaginary powers. All of which is nonsense. Though Coolidge was not a strong man, he was his own man. His general policies were those of the big interests and big politicians, not because these policies were dictated from outside, but because Cooldge was that kind of man. When his heart prompted him, he defied the bankers and the politicians. He would not listen to the bankers on foreign debt cancellation; he would not listen to the politicals on farm relief. His goal was material prosperity for the country. He achieved it— or at least he did not disturb it. His platform was economy. He made good his pledge. His weakness and his strength sprang from his do-nothing temperament. This saved us from several Quarrels abroad, restrained growing militarism and navaiism. apd would have saved us from the Nicaraguan and Mexican blunders had the state department not deceived the President. But this do-nothing' temperament permitted industrial maladjustments in the coal fields and in the public utilities to grow, ignored violation of civil liberties, postponed the prohibition issue, and encouraged the control of government by private interests. Tiie worst thing, of course, that can be said about

The Indianapolis-Times (A BCBIPPS-HOWAftD NEWSPAPER) Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times Pobliabiaz Co--214-220 W. Maryland Street. Indianapolis, Ind. Price in Marion County 2 cents —10 cents a week; elsewhere, 3 cents—l 2 cents a week. BOYD GOBLET. BOY W. HOWARD, FRANK G. MORRISON, Editor. President. Business Manager. PHONE—RILEY 5551. SATURDAY. MARCH. 3. 1928. Member of United Press, Scripps Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newspaper Enterprise Association. Newspaper Information Service and Andit Bureau of Circnlations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”

Coolidge is that he was silent in fae of the blackest governmental corruption in our history. The best thing that can be said is that his faults and his virtues were much like those of the average American of his time. Not Long Now Good advice is the cheapest of commodities. Which is one reason, perhaps, why it never is taken. The Pharaoh was advised to let the Lord’s people go. He didn’t do it. Lot was advised to get out of Sodom. He did not take the tip. Several good authorities advised the Florida boom-rich to get out before the bubble burst. They wanted to see how big the bubble would grow. The federal reserve board—which is to the stock market what a magnet is to a fixed roulette wheel —has issued a full and fair warning that the time may not be far away when will be necessary to deflate speculation by raising the rediscount rate. Even the board’s conversation' on the subject knocked twenty pins out from under the market. Which shows what will happen when the board really gets to work. But that warning already has been forgotten. The twenty pins have been tuoked back under the quotations, and some more added. The eager outside traders, spurred by their paper profits, see the sky as the limit. They already have pushed the prices back to "new high” records. The bubble is getting bigger and bigger. Every minute adds to its circumference. We doubt if the federal reserve board will celebrate the Inauguration of anew administration by touching the bubble. But, as the boys in the trenches said, “It won’t be long now.” Certain in the conviction that nobody will take good advice, we feel perfectly free to offer this reminder. The Judicial Jester If there is anything worse than the humorless judge who confuses himself with The Almighty, it is the judge who thinks he is a vaudeville wisecracVer. But if a judge must be funny, he should not rely on the witticisms of his youth How can Judge Martin of New York expect to preserve respect for the bench if he offers ancient ones like this on wife deserters: “Go back to your night watchman’s job at the deaf and dumb infirmary, Fitzpatrick. I guess many a husband envies you the quiet of it.” The judge’s hero, Peter Fitzpatrick, had fled from the noise of a wife and nine children. Just how the mother of those nine children is to find that enviable “quiet,” his honor did not say. But he awarded her alimony—of $2.50 a week. The judge was bound to have his little joke! Spyridion Polychroniades, Grecian minister to Yugoslavia, celebrated the coldest day in two centuries by swimming an hour in the ice-caked water of the river at Belgrade. Some day Europe will put in a few bathtubs for these fellows. An aviator who has been in five smashups asks for a divorce at San Jose, Cal., relating that his wife stays out late of nights and it makes him nervous. Maybe he fears she has gone in for a little high flying. In one of the New York night dubs a wmgHHan has been added to the entertainment. The real magic, however, is performed by the fellows who can change a bottle of ginger ale into $8.50. The Michigan women who killed those babies will be just as severely dealt with as if they had been caught with a pint of liquor. The Prince of Wales’ horses have been sold. What a blow to the American humor Industry!

David Dietz on Science _____ Earth Proved Solid No. 293

EARTHQUAKES are a proof that the interior of the earth is solid and not liquid or molten as was once Imagined. Earthquakes are caused by the sudden movement or slipping of a section of the rock. This sudden movement sets up tremors which sometimes do violent damage in the immediate vicinity. It also sets up

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the earth’s interior. One of these two is a wave in which the vibrations are in the same direction as the line in which the wave is traveling. In the other, the vibrations are at right angles to the line of travel. This last kind could not occur unless the interior of the earth was solid. A fourth proof that the earth has a solid interior is that the earth as a whole is about five and a half times as much as an equal volume of water. The surface rocks are only about two and three quarters as dense as water. It is apparent, therefore, that the interior of the earth must be more than twice as heavy as the rocks at the surface. The first conclusion to which one might jump is that the interior of the earth is composed of the same kind of rocks as the surface and that the increased density of the central portions are due to the immense pressure of the outer layers of roek pressing down upon them. Experiments conducted at the geophysical laboratory with great hydraulic presses demonstrate, however, that rocks can not be compressed to any appreciable extent. It .is necessary, therefore, to evolve another theory to explain the earth’s interior. The theory which is generally accepted today to explain the earth’s interior has been advanced by Doctors L. H. Adams and If- S. Washington of the geophysical laboratory of Washington. It is known as the iron-core theory. According to this theory, our earth has a core of solid iron about 4,000 miles in diameter. This is surrounded by layers of a very heavy rock known as peridotite. lie earth’s crust lies on top of this.

M. E. TRACY SAYS: “Hoover Has a Tough Job Before Him, Tougher Because of the Naive Trustfulness With Which He Is Hailed.’*

SAN DIEGO, Cal., March 2.—Wall Street booms in joyous anticipation of Hoover. We are going to have a change, to let the speculators tell it, and for the better. Prosperity will not'only continue, but increase, no matter how many bubbles we blow. We shall be conservative, but progressive at the same time, thrifty but spend the cash. A delightful combination for optimists, but rather hard on the next President. Hoover has a tough job before him, tougher because of the naive trustfulness ffth which he is being hailed than because of natural difficulties. To put it briefly every one is expecting too much. This man is only human after all. Great as his ability may be, he possesses no magic wand. He has proved his capacity to do many things, but there is one thing he can not do, and that is protect people against their own follies. nun Ca! Held Us Down COOLIDGE has done what he could to hold us down, and we have gone to dangerous extremes in spite of it. What would happen if Hoover were to release the brakes. That is what a good many look for him to do, especially those of a speculative turn. They look for it because they want it—want to see more skyrocketing in Wal Street, more six million share days, ff not seyen, more paper profits for business to pay, more easy money. You can’t deny that such a prospect is all light. Neither can you doubt its risk. Calvin Coolidge lias been cussed up hill and down for his tightness not only Os purse, but of lip. He wouldn’t get in line with the boys who wanted to put on steam. Maybe, he thought they had enough on already, but let that pass. #n n u 'Gimmes’ Epidemic IT is supposed, particularly by the Chamber of Commerce and noon day lunch crowds, that we have drawn a different kind of leader in Hoover. He is a mining man, they say, and from the west. What is more to the point, they are all set to boom things at the first signal Indeed, they are set, and likely to start, even if the signal fails to arrive. To hear them talk, one would think things had not been booming, that stocks and real estate were entirely too low, not to mention the tariff and taxes. No flapper in the country has contracted a worse case of “gimmes.” They want nothing less than summer resorts on the moon, with no censorship, and look for Hoover to get the same. nun Blowing Bubbles HERBERT HOOVER undoubtedly is one of the best equipped men who ever entered the presidency, but he labors under one of the biggest handicaps. By and large, people expect him to “show up” Colidge, to put on a big performance, to make times hum just as though they had not been humming. The promise is false to begin with. Much room as there may be for improvement in our foreign relations, there is not so much for increasing prosperity at home. Asa matter of common sense, we have had about as much of it as we could stand, and rather more than is reasonable by comparison with other people. This especially is true of that phase of prosperity which goes with speculation, and which has hunch as its chief asset. American business is sound, and has been for several years. But every little speculator who can get one is out with a pipe and a dish of soapsuds. If sortie one does not watch out, there is going to be a lot of empty air where there was a swarm of nice, glittering bubbles. nun Booming Business A PRESIDENT of the United States wields vast powers. It has often been said that he wields more than the King of England. Though all of that may be true, it conveys an erroneous impression. To a measureable extent, the President of the United States is a c ’eature of the crowd. The very nature of our government makes him so. He must be an interpreter, as well as a guide, and concede things, if he would get things done. We should think of that aspect of the situation more than we do, and not bind a President before hand with unreasonable expectations. ' After, all. It is not a President's job to boom business. Insofar as good business is a by-product of good government, He may be able to do so in doing his own work well. His own work, however, deals with the administration of state affairs and that represents quite enough. We have gone altogether too far in the assumption that prosperity is bound up with politics, and that the occupant of the White House determines in large measure whether we connect with a payroll Such an Idea is not only illogical, but dangerous. It can, and has kept able men out of the presidency. What is even worse, it can and may break an pble man after he gets in.

waves which travel out in all directions and can be detected and measured thousands of miles away on instruments designed for this purpose and known as seismographs. These waves consist of three types. One travels along the surface of the earth. The other two travel through

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hygeia, the Health Magazine. a MONG the most peculiar of the J\. notions promoted by food faddists and physical culturists is the idea that starvation is good treatment for all disease. At a meeting of the Medical Society of London recently several of the leading physicians of England considered the question of fasting in relationship to human health. When food is withheld from the body, the whole chemistry of the system is promptly changed. The fat of the body is drawn on to supply energy, weight is lost, the blood pressure falls, the temperature is

modified and mental changes supervene after a certain period. After the fat of the body has been called on to supply energy, some of the internal organs begin to lose, including particularly the liver, the spleen and the pancreas. Next the muscles suffer and in the end the heart and the brain. It is; argued by the food faddists that fasting clears the blood, but scientific studies indicate instead that during the fasting there is a rise in the non-protein nitrogen of the blood, a decrease in the chlorides and an increase in bicarbonates. Long fasts are dangerous and even complete fasting for short periods may result in structural and functional changes in the human body of great potential harm. During the war period the Ger-

March 2 1699—French colonists entered Louisiana. 1841—First daily paper Issued In Brooklyn, N. Y. 1861—Dakota and Nebraska organized as territories. 1864—U. 8. Grant made a lieutenant general. ference with General Grant

Reason

HOOVER’S inaugural address is awaited with more interest than has attached to the program of any incoming chief executive for years, for there is a world of difference between the politician’s viewpoint and that of the engineer. The politician drifts with the tide, but the engineer wishes to harness that tide and make it work for people. Hoover can make his administration unique and the most constructive in our history and we believe he will. an n It may be all right for Hoover to keep the marines in Nicaragua for several years, as he is said to contemplate doing, but it would be more beneficial to the United States if he should bring them home and have them patrol our border and keep out the thousands of undesirable aliens who are bootlegged in. an a The booze interests will make a great mistake if they exert themselves to make Hoover’s inauguration the wettest the capital has known since the Volstead law was enacted, for we understand that Mr. Hoover has an adequate amount of red blood and is able to take care of all who challenge him.

Starvation Takes Toll of Body

Q. —What kind of toys should be given to a baby under 1 year of age? A.—Washable, smooth, large enough to prevent their being swallowed to put into the nose and ear, and light enough to prevent his hurtipg himself when he hits himself accidentally.

This Date in U. S. History

Just a Breathing Spell

oBSc

By m m Frederick LANDIS

Lindbergh should heed the warning of the Mexican officials and never again risk his life and that of his lady by riding in the mountain regions which are infested with bandits. Gentlemen, interested in procuring ransoms could not imagine a more ' profitable catch than this particular pair. n n m Millions of former soldiers in all allied lands watch with anxiety the battle which Marshal Foeh wages with death. The world has no more nobly courageous utterance than that which Foch sent to Paris on a desperate day in 1914: “My right is crushed; my left is in retreat; I arr. attacking with my center.” That spirit is what keeps the marshal alive. -*

DAILY HEALTH SERVICE

man people had only 1,300 calories a day. They lost body weight. Although there were fewer cases of diabetes and obesity, nervous diseases, pernicious anemia and diarrhea ware frequent and convalescence from disease was slower.

Fellowship in Prayer

Topic for the Week “LENT AND MY HOME” Memory Verse lor Saturday “Every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God” (1 John 4:7) (Read: 1 Corinthians 13.) MEDITATION'- The home is life’s primary school for us all our lives. As love is the only law of the home that will work, so we learn that it It also the only law for society, for the world. Love is enlightenment. It reveals the quality and the intention which are at the heart of

Times Readers Voice Views

The nan* and address at the anther ££■ ten not eseaediassoe vardaaHß reoffve ofeTeriaee. Editor Times—Ethan Miles has made the assertion that Mr. Shumaker is the victim of a great liquor trust’s conspiracy. He has pictured him a martyr. Why should we weep for Shumaker, he who always hat. been eager to see every liquor violator get the limit. He is no more a martyr than are the thousands of other law breakers who have served time on the farm. He just thought he could tell the courts of this country what to do and didn't quite get away with it. Men of his type are responsible for condition.-; which exist in this country today. Men of his caliber ma4e America "dry” and ousted the corner saloon for a speakeasy in every block. He has driven thouands of young men and women to damnation during the years he has waged his fight against liquor. Mr. Shumaker merely is getting a little of what is coming to him. While at the state farm he will mingle with all types of men, many just as good as he. * ■ A few of our good men so strong for prohibition shuld be there, keeping Shumaker company. It might help them to realize just what a farce they have labored for all these

HE CAN AND HE WILL DEMPSEY IN DANGER LINDY SHOULD LISTEN

FAILING in its long persecution of religion, Russia now embarks on a severe campaign to prohibit the printing of Bibles and all religious publications. The old faith displays its ancient vitality when it survives nine y>ars of hateful proscription. nun We are not very enthusiastic over this country’s entering the world court, but one must take off his hat to Elihu Root, who at the age of 82, starts on a tour of European governments to try to induce them to accept the American reservations. There no doubting the sincerity of this venerable gentleman. tt tt tt We are glad to see that the incoming administration will put prohibition enforcement in the hands of an official who actually is dry. It has been a handicap to have had at the head of enforcement for the last eight years Secretary Mellon, whom people generally regard as a wet. nun This story that the man who shot at Jack Dempsey belonged to a party which sought to kidnap the heavyweight should warn all families having elephants about the house to keep them where they cannot be picked up and run off with.

Actually even the digestive diseases increased greatly during the starvation period not only because the food intake was diminished, but because the food taken was rougher in character.

things. Where love is not, there is darkness. “Love only comprehendeth love, And knoweth whence it came.” • So in this home of mine I continue to learn the meaning of life and with an understanding heart enter into the joys and sorrows of the world interpreted by love. PRAYER: My God and Father, who dost reveal Thyself in the love of this home of mine, make my htart pure that I may see Thee. As I return hither from all my wanderings, so lead my wayward and prodigal thoughts ever back to Thee, my sure refuge and my peace. Amen.

years. Men who favor suph Insane laws need to see -the result. They should mingle with our youthful criminals and learn just how many real crimes actually can be traced to prohibition. Men like Shumaker should go on a high school or college drinking party occasionally and taste the contents of the ever-ready- flask. Every member of every club, league or church that worked for prohibition should be made to feel thhe sting of its own lash, as Shumaker is feeling it. When Senator Jim Reed calls prohibition “enthusiasm gone mad,” he certainly knows what he is talking about, and the honorable ladies of the W. C. T. U. out in lowa who want every man to pledge he will not touch liquor merely are asking the masculine element to pledge dry and drink wet. In other words, the good ladies are aiding and abetting perjury. As far as the populace feeling any reirorse because Mr. Shumaker tried to ]kss judgment on a court of this state, and being forced to pay the penalty is concerned, I don’t think It should. Why should he get by with it when no one else could? U‘ he is half a man, he will call it his mistake, take his medicine, and be careful what he has to say when he gets home. M. O. STEARNS. 1406 South Capitol avenue.

.MARCH 2.1929

IT SEEMS TOME n a By HEYWOOD BROUN

l dt a an opinions e* - prtzied In this column a r > tbs of ope of A m erica's most InterestInr writerand ara presented w J t hout retard to their agreement with the editorial attitude of this paper. The Editor.

A GOOD many readers in America feel that reporters pry too closely into the private affairs of individuals. I am told that it Is monstrous for us to badger Colonel Lindbergh about his engagement and before that there was sharp criticism of the manner in which the representatives of the press hounded the steps of Irving Berlin simply becaiise he had happened to marry the daughter of an industrial leader with social affiliations. If I were a young aviator or a successful song composer I might take the same attiude. But as a newspaperman, I think that no dally journal can disregard wholly the popular clamor to know more about the private lives of the prominent, even though I will admit that there is some place where the line must be drawn between legitimate interest and vulgar curiosity. Moreover, in one field I think that reporters are far too swaddled by gentlemen agreements. The light which beats upon our statement should be much more pitiless. Jim Reed created a panic in the senate when he announced that he was going to give a list of lawmakers who voted dry and then drank wet, When the occasion came Reed recanted and said that he was only joking. He did not feel that it would be fair for him to violate the sanctity which surrounds the hospitality of good fellows. Probably it would have been improper for the gentleman from Missouri to have traced each friendly cocktail to its source. But it is somebody’s job. The fact that America sags under hypocrisy is a public danger. The time has come for polite secrecy to cease, tt ft n Official Bulletins THE result of all this is- that Washington news has come to be little more than a series of official bulletins. The reporters in that restricted city do no more than pass on to their readers the handouts which officials care to give them. This sad state of affairs Is brought home to me by anew book written by Charles Willis Thompson called "Presidents I’ve Known and Two Near-President.” It is an interesting book, because Thompson, a veteran political reporter, now gets around to the business of retaining anecdotes and small incidents which were too personal and revealing ever to be included in any current new story. Nor do these always score against the subject. I was amazed to learn, for instance, that William Jennings Bryan was extremely kind and considerate to persons with whom he came into close contact. I had always supposed that the Great Commoner was a wholly selfish and selfcentered man. Obviously, no reporter tells all about any public man with whom he comes into close association. During a campaign I have always made a practice of taking such reporters as I knew after they had swung about the country with some candidate, and asking, "Well, what is he really like?” And usually this question has brought a wealth of useful information never set forth in their regular stories. Now this is a vital point. The voting public has a right to know the highly personal faults, and virtues, too, of anybody who i$ running for office. Instead we only hear of such minor matters as the candidate’s views upon the tariff. Every public man has two faces.

Hoisting the Flag OF COURSE, I would want my , reporter, to make public acknowledgment of the fact that he was clothed in no reticence so that he could not be accused of sailing under false colors. Such practice is not easy. In my brief period as a -political reporter I conformed to the custom. But out of Thompson’s book I wish to quote one episode even more pertinent to the case I want to make. In one of his chapters on Taft, Thompson says that the present chief justice had a habit of talking with the frankness of a child and never seemed to anticipate what his words would look like in print. He v describes an episode which occurred while Taft was secretary of war in Roosevelt’s cabinet. “One day when we made our daily visit,” writes Thompson, “we iquired about a matter of considerable importance which he had taken up with President Roosevelt. Taft answered with his usual abounding frankness. He and the President didn’t agree about it and the President had j ovrridden him; he still thought he * was right and couldn’t understand J why Roosevelt wouldn't change his mind. I “Mr. Secretary.” said Arthur Wal--1 lace Dunn of the Associated Press, | speaking in a resolute and signifli cant manner, “what you have just said is not said under the injunction jof secrecy. Therefore, unless you , do enjoin secrecy upon us, we shall most certainly print it. “But we feel it our duty to warn you that if we do it will have the | most unpleasant consequences to President Roosevelt, and the most disastrous consequences to yourself. We strongly advise you to place the i injunction of secrecy upon us. Do ! I speak for all of you gentlemen? “We all said that he did. The i Hearst man. looking as if he could bite Dunn's head off, hesitated and j finally nodded ungraciously.” j Thompson goes on to say that 1 Taft, thus coached and warned, did J impose secrecy upon the correspondents and that as they were leaving [the Hearst man turned to Dunn and %aid, "Why do you hate a good [Story so intensely?” And that would seem to me a fair question. If there, were complete frankness in Washington news we , might have an earthquake in official - •Copyright. 129. lor The Times•