Indianapolis Times, Volume 40, Number 257, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 March 1929 — Page 4

PAGE 4

ttttlttPJ-MOWAXD

Plain Anarchy After two sessions of the legislature have passed upon two submitting amendments to the Constitution to a vote of the people, the work is rendered void by a clerical act. The most charitable explanation is that the error was caused by negligence. But it is • negligence of a character so gross that probably those who were responsible would rather take the other explanation, which was that it' was deliberate and for a purpose. One of these amendments provided for a possible income tax*. The other was to increase the standard for admission to the practice of law. , Whether income taxes are wise, advisable or bad is a matter of opinion. But there can be no division of opinion on the proposition that the people of this state have a right to make their own laws and amend their own Constitution. That it is possible for some clerk, or perhsps a member of the legislature, to deny the whole people their right to rule themselves, illustrates the futility of government as it exists at present in Indiana. There is no question as to the action taken by the. legislature. It voted to submit these amendments, just as did the legislature of two years ago. It voted to submit them at a specific time. An amendment was offered changing that time and it was defeated. Then the bill as it reaches the Governor, contains the defeated amendment and the attorney-general points out the variation between the body of the law and the title. Here is plain treason, if the change was the deliberate work of some person inspired or probably bribed to do this thing. For it must be remembered that very powerful influences sought to defeat the submission of one amendment'. Somewhere there should be a force strong enough to prevent this sort of anarchy—for it is plain, unadulterated anarchy in a republic when the people are denied the right to vote on their own Constitution. Unwise Counsel President Hoover’s forthcoming study of prohibition and lawlessness will be without value if he follows the advice of Senator Wesley O. Jones of Washington. Jones advocates the appointment of known prohibitionists to the commission the President will create to make the study. He sees the commission not m an impartial fact-finding agency, which would exuaine the problem from all angles, but as a body whose sole aim would be to work out measures to strengthen enforcement. . P as t experience tells us what sort of a study such a prejudiced group would make, accepting prohibition as a fixture, and convinced that it is a boon, they would seek facts to substantiate their own beliefs, and blind themselves to the evils which all fair-minded observers know to exist. There has been altogether too much prejudice and partisanship in our treatment of prohibition. -Fanatical wets and drys have blurred the picture. The time has arrived when an array of facts is needed on which intelligent and dispassionate consideration can be based. Prohibition is neither all good nor all bad. Unwillingness to admit this is responsible in large degree ior the intolerable situation with which the country is confronted. We need to know to what extent prohibition is responsilbe for the general breakdown of law and the administration of justice. We should ascertain whether prohibition has brought an increase cr decrease in consumption of alcohol. •We should study its effect on public morals and welfare, public health, prosperity, and so on. Intelligent consideration should be given to the question of whether modification would not increase temperance and do away with many existing evils. Enforcement machinery and methods should be examined, as well as statutes relating to prohibition. It is idle to contend that a real effort to enforce prohibition never has been made in the decade we ha\e had it, that we now are about to witness such effort, and that the purpose of the Hoover commission should be to aid it. The government has spent upward of a quarter billion dollars for enforcement in that period. Enforcement machinery has been dominated by the drys, and they have dictated legislation in congress, federal agents have swarmed over the land, arrested legions of prisoners, and jammed the courts with prosecutions. Fleets .have patrolled the coasts. If, after all this, the liquor traffic flourishes, with an attendant train of evils, it is time we find out why and what we are going to do about it We should not accept complacently the theory that all is well and what we need is more of what we have had, which is apparently what Senator Jones proposes. Facts on which to predicate wise decisions are lacking. Let's have them. Letting in the Light A month ago Secretary of the Treasury Mellon was fighting with his customary astuteness against opening to **•" public gaze his department’s action on big tax refunds. Now President Hoover, by executive order, has put Is effect a policy which will do more to remove the secrecy and suspicion hanging over the treasury’s bil-llon-dollar transactions in refunds than could have been expected. Mellon, It seems, has reversed himself and supports the Hoover policy. Feeling that it was bad business to permit, without public notice, tax refunds such as the $56,000,000 given back to the United States Steel Corporation, congress adopted a resolution that refunds of more than $20,000, not made as a result of court action or precedent, should be made public. This provision ■ • > ‘ .... ' <

The Indianapolis Times (a SCKIPrs-HOWAfiD NEWSFAFEB) Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis 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. BOY W. HOWARD. FRANK G. MORRISON, Editor. President. Business Manager. PHONE—RILEY 5651. SATURDAY. MARCH 18, 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.”

would have applied only until June 30, when the old system again would prevail. The Hoover order opens to the public the decisions on such refunds, and calls for a statement by the commissioner of internal revenue as to the reasons for them. Moreover, the order covers abatements and credits of taxes, which have totaled nearly two billion dollars in six years, and always have run more than cash refunds. It is permanent and will apply to all future funds voted by congress for refund purposes. Young Teddy Again Republican politicians always seem to have Theodore Roosevelt Jr. on their minds; they can’t get him placed. Their latest idea is that he should be appointed governor-general of the Philippines, succeeding Colonel Henry L. Stimson, the new secretary of state. This idea is based on the assumption that the party or the country owes something to him. Just what that debt is we never have been able to discover. Os course it would be unfair both to his illustrious father and to the young man himself for anyone to suggest that his claim to public office is an hereditary one. For some reason, however, President Harding made him assistant secretary of the navy, as his father had been before him. In that post he won notoriety as “the messenger boy” who carried from the secretary qf the navy to the President the famous transfer of naval oil reserves to the secretary of the interior, which resulted in the Teapot Dome and Elk Hills scandals. He has been a director of the Sinclair Oil' and Refining Company. When the people of his own state of New York had a chance to vote on him for Governor, they rejected him. Why then foist him on the Filipinos, who have no chance to vote him down? His friends have yet to show anything in his training or experience which would fit him especially for the Philippine post, or which would cancel some of his obvious disqualifications. Whatever the politicians may have in mind, it is hard to believe that Hoover is thinking of the gov-ernor-generalship of the Philippines in terms of a place for some needy party office seeker, whoever he may be. That is a major post of great and growing responsibility, requiring an exceptional combination of knowledge, diplomatic skill and administrative ability. Plans of American higher tariff advocates have caused a sharp Philippine independence reaction. Doubtless the President will choose an outstanding American who has the confidence of the Filipinos. Sacco-Vanzetti The more that time contributes to knowledge In the matter of the Sacco-Vanzetti case, the less Is the credit reflected on the state of Massachusetts and its prominent citizens. In the full record of the case, the fifth volume, just out, tells the story of President A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard university and his treatment of the alibi evidence of Felice Guadagni and Albert Bosco, who testified that they had talked to Sacco on the afternoon of the murder, and that they remembered the date because a banquet had that day been given by some Italian citizens to James Williams, retiring editor of the Boston Transcript. President Lowell, who had talked with Williams, thought he knew that the banquet was given in May, not April. But when a copy of La NotizJa, an Italian paper, was produced, showing an account April 16 of the Italian banquet to Williams, Lowell was compelled to admit his error, even to apologize to the two witnesses. , But the minutes of that session of the advisory committee contained no account of this happening, and the official stenographer has explained that they were omitted at the request of President Lowell. Which all seems a tragic pity.

David Dietz on Science

Space and Time Change

No. 305

ANEW view of gravity, such as Einstein gives us in his new "field theory” was inevitable once the famous German physicist had formulated his special theory of gravity. That theory was published it 19(55. It attracted no great amount of attention outside of the world of mathematics and physics. General interest in the

took place between objects with space playing only a passive part. But it became apparent after the announcement of the special theory of relativity that this point of view could not endure. Einstein developed his special theory of relativity by starting with the fact that the speed of light was always constant, irrespective of the motion of the source of light or the observer. F-om this he developed the special theory which states that measurements of time and space are not absolute as Newton had held, but dependent on the rate of motion of the system in which the measurements were made. It was this phase of the theory which later received popular attention. This was only natural for the idea that space and time were variable changing in length or duration with the motion of the observer was a startling and oovel idea. Certain other important aspects of the theory, however, failed to receive much attention. One of these was that Einstein extended the Maxwell equations regarding electromagnetic waves and light and showed that the two sets of waves, the electric waves and the magnetic waves, were really one and the same thing and that the apparent difference was merely one of the ways in which they were measured. This simplified the nature of the waves for the mathematician. Perhaps, it only made it more confusing for the layman. But nevertheless, it paved the way for the development which came later in the general thory of relativity and the new “field theory.” These two theories will be discussed next* ■ ii' Vj'i:: V- - ‘ ' ■ \ ' ■* i '■:< t >„

M. E. TRACY SAYS: “Though Life Has Become Complicated, It Still Is Romantic, if Not a Little Weird."

ITOUSTON,'Tex., March 16.—We have dug a lot of canals in this country at one time or another. Many of them have grown up to weeds, and most of them never paid. Faith in them, however, still persists, and occasionally there is a successful one to prove it. The Houston ship channel is such a one. Costing far less thaft some, it has paid vastly more, making this city a real port and threatening to change great continental trade currents. The Houston ship channel is fifty miles long, thirty feet deep, and cost about $20,000,000. It was opened in 1914, and has developed a maritime trade which many a natural harbor in the east would give its life to possess. Oil pipe lines come to the docks, terminals and refineries along the ship channel from as far away as Wyoming, hundreds of thousands of bales of cotton head out of it for Europe and even Japan, and regular lines of passenger boats are being rapidly developed. n u u Days of Romance Houston fias become a real port, as the trial for murder on the high seas scheduled to open in federal court next Monday proves. There was a drunken spree in Havre, France, some weeks ago, and afterward, a dead man on board an American ship. They put a young lad in irons and brought him back to Houston for trial. Ten years ago, that same lad ran away from his home in Tampa, Fla. His old father, a carpenter, has come from Tampa and gotten a job here in order to do what he can to help the lad. while a heart-broken mother prays. Though life has become complicated, it still is romantic, if not a little weird. a Fight on Jones Law A COMMITTEE of lawyers is formed iri New York to “combat” the Jones law which recently was passed by congress and which provides a maximum penalty of five years in jail, or SIO,OOO for certain prohibition offenses. “We propose to fight this measure,” says a statement issued by the committee, “with the same vigor that the New York bar displayed in the case of the act known as the fugitive slave law.” Lawyers can’t seem to do much of anything without a precedent. The one referred to here,"however, would seem more In keeping with the aims and ideals of the AntiSaloon League. Whether It is, or not, the AntiSaloon League seems likely to profit by it. No better excuse could be found for the preachers and beggars than for a bunch of lawyers to advocate nullification. tt tt tt 'Educating' Juries HOWEVER one may feel with regard to the Jones bill, or this “combat” committee, the idea of seeking to nullify it by “educating” juries not to convict under It, as the committee proposes, certainly is novel. What puzzles the layman is just how, and by what methods the “educating” will be accomplished. Will classes be started at the Y. M. C. A. or at some well-known night club, for the prospective jurors? Will certificates be issued when the course is completed, or will virtue be left to act as its own reward? Will the jury commissioners be notified who has proved his, or her, fitness, or will it be left to the imagination of deputy sheriffs? Will completion of the course be required before one Is allowed to serve as juror, or will allowances be made for prejudice? Amove all else, if juries are to be “educated” how not to convict under the Jones law, why not a similar course of instruction with regard to other laws? Why be narrow in the effort? Why not include gang killings, graft and traffic offenses, or have they been attended to already? Conserving of Oil WHILE this committee of lawyers forms in New York to “combat” the Jones law, a committee of experts meets in Houston to “combat” the oil waste liberty through hooch, as opposed to liberty through conservation of a great natural resource. The sense of value which these two incidents illustrate is not without significance. The 25,000,000 auto and truck owners, not to mention the ship, railroad, and aii plane industries, enjoy the privilege of deciding which cause is worth enthusiastic support. Measured by progress and the agencies on which it has come to depend, oil would seem to represent the more important problem. As between the two committees, I am inclined to attach more importance to the one at Houston, not only because of the subject involved, but because it seems more likely to get somewhere. Even if the New York committee were to succeed, we could not continue to joy ride if the oil played out, or fly, or do many other things that have become an important part of life.

Einstein theory did not occur until 1919, when the eclipse expeditions confirmed both the special theory and the general theory of relativity which Einstein formulated in 1915. Newton’s law of gravitation took it for granted that space and time were absolute things that gravitational action

Daily Thought

Wisdom is the principal (thing; therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding.— Proverbs 4:7. m m m COMMON sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.—Coleridge.

THE INDIANA POPS TIMES

, %A

Reason

ONE of the reasons advanced for Secretary Mellon’s intention to remain in the cabinet only a year or so is that his liquor will all be consumed by that time. tt We have no particular interest in this Mexican revolution, but we have been made very unhappy by the fear that a stray bullet from the other side of the Rio Grande might pierce the fair form of exSecretary Fall, whose habitat is El Paso. tt tt tt Mr. Hoover wants a department of education, but we are far more in need of a department of music to rid the land of its incessant drizzle of jazz! | ft ft St It is not customary to have a sack in a bank, but if this international war debt is created, it will contain a very large sack and Uncle Sam will be the undisputed holder thereof. The only explanation of the finding of this skeleton on the grounds of the Vanderbilt estate is that the closets were all full of them and they had to throw this one out.

Don’t T each Fear to Your Children

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hyteia, the Health Magazine. THE modern educators argu frequently about whether or not a child should hear a fairy story or fantasy before going to sleep. Every one of these stories has its ogre or bogey-man. Some children are unable to sleep at night because of their fears; they lie awake

Q. —Can grape juice be substituted for orange juice in the diet of an infant? A.—Grape juice is not a substitute for orange juice in an infant’s diet. Orange juice is rich in vitamin C, which prevents scurvy; grape juice has much less of this vitamin than orange juice.

fearing the dark, fearing burglars, robbers, giants or whatever else may be stimulating their nervous systems. The psychologists see mto differ in their points of view. One group insists that it is a mistake to tell the child anything unpleasant or fanciful. Another group, headed by the individual psychologist Adler, ar-

WEST POINT ACADEMY March 16 ON March 16, 1802, the United States Military academy at West Point was founded. Long before, in fact, in the first days of the American revolution, West Point played an important part in the military affairs of the nation. There was a time, at the beginning of that war, when its capture by the British would have been fatal to the American cause. At various times, between 1775 and 1780, West Point was fortified, at a total cost of $3,000,000. This comparatively huge amount indicates the value at which the location was held by America. The Polish patriot, Kosciusko, served for some time as chief engineer of the fortifications. A unique part of the defense works was a massive iron chain stretched across the channel from West Point to Constitution island to prevent the approach of hostile ships. Constitution island is now a part of the academy reservation. It was given to the government in 1908 by Mrs. Russell Sage and brings the total area of the grounds up to 3,574 a&ss.

Shutting It Off!

By Frederick LANDIS

THE premier of Yugoslavia has ordered all school girls to cut out lipsticks, paint, varnish, shellac, also silk stockings and short skirts, but he will have to have more power than Mussolini to enforce it. . * * * This government should say “Nay! Nay!” to the League of Nations’ proposal that we agree to render financial aid to a nation that may be attacked, in violation- of the Kellogg treaty. Unless, we call a halt we will be up to our eyes in international complications and "all of our pockets will be filled with gold bricks. * a The farm relief bill will be drafted by Representative Fort of New Jersey, and next to Wall Street, New Jersey is probably the farmer’s greatest friend.

DAILY HEALTH SERVICE

gues that the ghost stories and frightening on the part of the parents are not he cause of the fear of the dark. A child who is courageous will merely find these things amusing, for he knows they are not real. If a child is cowardly it will find cause for anxiety even without fairy tales. Eventually it learns to use its cowardice, its anxieties, or its feaTs as a weapon to. get what it wants. Thus it gets the constant presence of its mother at the bedside by its shrieks of terror. In school it develops a nervousness before the simplest tasks. When it is nervous it vomits and then it is excused from the lessons. Furthermore, the nervous or sickly child soon finds that its condition is recognized and that it gets a head-start over the other children to compensate for its supposed weakness. It is easy for an adult to talk lightly of fear. Fear is one of the most important forces in life. If

Times Readers Voice Views

The soldiers’ bonus bIU having been Killed in the legislature, no further letters on this subject will be printed at this time. Editor Times—We wish to take this opportunity of thanking your paper and The Times Interference Department for the good work that you do in this city, benefiting radio fans and radio dealers, and we certainly have been pleased in some cases to have the interference dispensed with such as has just been done at Pennsylvania and Fourteenth streets, Sixteenth and College. and Fifty-second and College. This service really means a lot to the dealers and radio fans and we certainly would hate to have anything like this dispensed with. We are looking for a larger radio season this summer than ever before and we all know that‘lndianapolis has some bad spots, you can rest assured that anything we can do to co-operate with you we shall be glad to do. SMITH-HASSLER-3TURM CO. J. B. M’COY Manager Radio Sales Dept. Editor Times—lt is too bad that strangers, or citizens returning after a long absence, can not be forewarned about the city’s traffic regulations. Failure to observe some minor detail in crossing the street often means a stranger mill be stopped by some over-zealous policeman who arrests the offender or gives him a severe “bawling out” in which he gives vulgar expression to many insulting insinuations and half-baked sentiments of his own. The unlucky pedestrian must take all this at the cost of the self-re-spect because even-a tiail pxo•r\ B .

ANDY AND HIS LIQUOR WE WORRY ABOUT FALL FULL OF SKELETONS

DOCTORS in Moscow brought back to life a man who had been dead for twenty-four hours, which was a terrible trick to play on one who apparently had succeeded in getting away from Russia. tt tt tt s The last congress was a disgrace to the country when it refused to appropirate $11,480,000 to provide additional facilities to take care of more than 3,000 tubercular and neuropsychiatric victims of the World war. tt Reading of the fine establishments which will be maintained at Washington by millionaire members of the national house of representatives reminds us of the terrible shock the country suffered in the old days when the first millionaire was elected to the United States senate. Those returning Florida visitors, who had their booze confiscated in New York and were forced to pay fines will now enjoy a social standing that nothing else on earth could confer. •

'it were not for fear mankind would expose itself to dangers which would be fatal to the human race. The important factor is to teach the child the things that are to be feared and those that are not to be feared. One should fear danger, loss of approval of those in authority, the shame that comes with an action that one knows is wrong. It is perhaps simple to get the child to obey by threatening him with unknown dangers. Let the parent remember that the things ?fhich he himself fears most are the hings unknown. If the child is given an adequate explanation of the meaning of the dark, if it is told about such animals as dogs and becomes used to them, if it sees its parents view small cuts, bruises and plains with equanimity, it is likely to have the same attitude toward them. In all life there is nothing so destructive to happiness and longevity as fear. Don’t be afraid.

test probably would give him a ticket to your jail. The entire procedure smacks of offensive in persons or communities the cocky self-importance that is so just passing through adolescence. I have lived in Paris, London, New York and other cities where there are real traffic problems, and I have managed to cross the streets without being stopped and insulted by traffic officers. One must return to one’s own state to receive such honor. I don’t pretend to be fooled into believing it is because Hoosiers are so interested in the preservation of human life. I have lived here and know too much about the many unprotected grade crossings everywhere in evidence throughout the state. Get rid of these death traps before you begin to take the role of reformer and teacher by bulldozing and insulting the stranger within your gates. A FORMER RESIDENT. Editor Times—Please accept my hearty thanks for the service rendered by your radio interference man in my neighborhood last week. Prior to this call, we were unable to get out of Indianapolis, but since he has been at work, I find that we can go dialing over the radio from coast to coast as heretofore. SHERMAN A. HENDRICKS, Jr. Assistant City Engineer. What is the average length of life for men and women in the United States? The average expeettion is 55 years for a woman and 57 years for

.MARCH 16,1929

Kill it< -pm!on • S'rntxl (a IVs column ate tboso •! of America* ant intereatlat writer* rod ere arttented wit licet record to their srreemmi with the editorial attitude es this paper, the Editor.

IT SEEMS TOME m m By HEYWOOD BROUN

I AM not one who simply dotes upon hawsh criticisms of himself, and when they come I much prefer that they should have some reasonable relation to the column which is attacked. Among the letters to the editor I find several which declare that I’m a knave who has asserted that Colonel Lindbergh should confide all the most intimate details 01 his private life to an Inquiring reporter. Knave or not, I never said it. My. criticism was confined to the notion that the colonel was guilty of rudeness in ignoring any reasonable question and pretending not to hear it. It is the inalienable right of every individual, obscure or famous, to say, “I do not care to answer that.", Another charrge flung frequently against me is that of conceit. It might be so. Such accusations cap never be proved or disapproved to the hilt. Nor di I bridle much whefi any admonitory finger threatens mo from that direction. tt u a The Broun Pride r T'HE THING is not worth argu-. ing about, for I am promptly willing to admit that whether conceited or otherwise, I would surely like to be. Pride goes before a hope. It is a happy state of mind and one conducive to the best work of which the individual is capable. Great tasks are seldom accomplished by those who face them with humility. It is hard to think of St. George or any giant killer,, ap-v proaching monsters with some sort of, “and if you please.” The. mere. fact of going outside your own class. 1 in the weights is a sign of conceit. Jack Dempsey at his best was arrogant, and so was Alexander the Great. Except among psychic cripples there is really very little modr esty, though much false coin passes as such. The man who has pleased himself mightily in the performance of a job is more mendacious than modest if he meets praise with any abnegating, “it wasn’t really very much.” Moreover, he is rude. If everybody said to me, “I think that was a swell column you had on Monday,” I wolud try to answer, "I think so, too.” That would be much more mannerly. tt * a Wisecracker? A THIRD count cited against this columnist is that he Is a wiser cracker. Unfortunately,- small basis' suports any such compliment "Wisecracker” never has been very precisely defined, and today the word is often used to characterize a clever phrise, an ingenious pun, an epigram, some biting piece of cynicism, or a bit of homely humor. Such things are admirable and every writer wants to be clever when he can. It is particularly desirable that a newspaperman should be able to get his effects in small compass. But I have little skill at paragraphing and am much too long-winded ta deserve a place among the wisecrackers. One reader writes to complain of me because she says I am wont “to speak disrespectfully of Mr. Coolidg. and Mr. Hoover, gentlemen that are so superior in every way that for you to even breathe their names is taking a great liberty.” It is the custom to extend to columnists the traditional catlike right of looking even at the kings. * * n Right to Criticise BUT to get back to the question of whether a newspaper man has the right to criticise his superiors I hold that he has. In fact, I think that editorial writers should be encouraged to go after the big fellows and not pick out the mean and meager for their attacks. Nor do I understand why there should evf: be surprise if columnists or other mortals undertake to rebuke their superiors. Life and death are judgments wisely reserved for a man’s equals, but a genius In literature or statecraft would never receive the stimulating pinch of public opinion if he was to be judged only by his peers. Voting itself is an expression of opinion. If I mark my ballot for Smith, instead of Hoover, I am criticizing Hoover. And if I fail to exercise this prerogative I am a bad citizen and some would send me back to Brooklyn, where I came from. Since I am permitted to vote against Hoover and Coolidge, it is no more than fair that I should be allowed to write columns to explain why I did so. * m * Does No Harm IN the sixth grade the teacher told us all to write a composition on “The Merchant of Venice," and to tell why we liked it. I didn’t like it at all, and so my theme had to be upon the reasons for abhorrence. But to the best of my recollection this honest expression of opinion never did either me or William Shakespeare any harm. The fact that he was, at that time, my superior did not deter me, nor should I have allowed it to do so. Occasionally I am assailed as far too city-minded. The charge goes on that here is one who thinks New York the only purple land and has no proper acquaintance with those vast kingdoms which lie west of the Hudson. This is perfectly true. With very brief exceptions, Manhattan island has been my prison yard. It was not wholly choice wliieh kept me here, and wouldn’t I be the fool to set up now as a rural philosopher ni a flat just half a mile from limes square? tew. gw. iw kr Ttm nm*