Indianapolis Times, Volume 40, Number 266, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 March 1929 — Page 4

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Reasons, Not Excuses Indefinite charges of neglect of duty or an allegation of some technical derelection will hardly satisfy the public, even if they do satisfy the members of the highway commission in their plan to replace John Williams as director. The people will expect reasons, not excuses. For years Williams has been the center of charges and of rumors. He has survived. No one has ever pressed an investigation to its logical limit. If the members of the commission are in position to conduct such an inquiry, the probe should go into the entire conduct of the department. The people have a right to know whether Williams has been the superman his friends and supporters have painted him or has conducted the department in the usual political way with the usual favors to friends, the usual waste and inefficiencies in times ol primaries and elections. The cost of materials for road building becomes more important as the fund increases in size, and this year, because of an added gasoline tax, the department will spend twenty millions of dollars. The friends of Williams assert, or rather suggest, that the cement manufacturers are behind the move to oust him and that the reason lies in their hope of getting rich pickings. That should be easily demonstrated. An impartial investigation should reveal whether the cement makers have any real cause for desiring a change. Os course, an investigation by the commission which passes on charges made by itself suggests that it will be a farce. The members of that commission need not permit their hearing to be absurd. They could invite Williams to present evidence of their part in the road building program, as well as his own, and let ihe-public in on the whole history of the department. It would be a fine time to go into the handling of the war materials, for which indictments were once returned and then dismissed. It is a very appropriate season for laying open the activities for the lobbyists for different groups of material men. And certainly it is a most important year to name as the’head of that department the most honest and best road engineer available. The extra taxes are blood money. They should not be ivastecl or tossed away to politicians. Reorganizing the Government President Hoover and his new secretary, former Representative Walter H. Newton of Minnesota, are undertaking a much-needed but exceedingly difficult reform in their proposal to reorganize the government. Reorganization naturally involves elimination of certain overlapping and duplicating government agencies, and the power of the bureaus to resist changes of this sort is amazing. President Harding regarded reorganization as one of his major policies, but was unable to accomplish more than a few minor reforms. Government bureaus, once in existence, find convincing reasons why they should continue, and consantly acquire new duties. It will be recalled that the department of agriculture grew from a section of the patent office engaged in the distribution of seeds, and few now would y ant to see it abolished or even materially curtailed. Government employes in the District of Columbia numbered 39,442 in 1916, and during the war more fhan 100,000. Despite all efforts to reduce personnel i since then, the number today is 61,388, and slowly is Increasing. However, there is much to be done in the way of consolidations and the shifting of agencies. The increasing number of independent bureaus directly answerable to the President and under control of no cabinet officer, have become a problem, and changes may be made in connection with them. Various offices in different departments which perform the same sort of work perhaps can be combined advantageously. There is opportunity for a real public service in overhauling the administration of Alaskan affairs, responsibility for which now is scattered among half a dozen different departments. The federal government is expanding, and year by year touches the life cf the citizen more intimately. Since this is true and apparently unavoidable, it becomes more and more important that the vast machinery be organized in a business-like and efficient manner if it is to function properly and is not to get out of hand. Hooverizing Congress Politicians are in a stew over President Hoover's K' 3 inouncement that he is not going to write the farm lief bill for congress. Some lear he is evading his responsibility as party leader. But they would be in worse stew if he started out to dictate to congress. The issue has little to do with the theory of constitutional separation of executive and legislative branches of government, which the President’s friends cite in support of his decision of noninterference with congress. Asa matter of practical fact, there never has been in practice any such absolute division between White House and congress. Because the President is a party leader and because he has veto power, there long has been a major trend toward closer co-operation between the two. This trend may be in the interest of efficiency and of representative -government. It is so well established that Hoover probably could not reverse the trend, even if he desired. But we cannot believe that the President has any intention of isolating himself from Congress or from his party's legislative responsibilities. On the con-

The Indianapolis Times (A SCKJFFS-MOWAtU) NEWSFAFEK) Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times Publishing Cos., 214-220 W. Maryland Street. Indianapolis, Ind. Price In Marlon County 2 cent* a week: elsewhere. 8 cent*—l2 cents a week. BOYD GURLEY. ROY W. FRANK G. MORRISON. Editor. President Business Manager. PHONE—RILEY 565HL WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 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.”

trary, we interpret his position as an effort to increase rather than lessen the healthy relation between executive and congress, by finding a better method of cooperation. Hoover here is not faced with a theory, but with a situation. After eight years in the cabinet he knows that congress is jealous of its preogatives, hence its constant defiance of Coolidge. Hoover hopes congress can be led, but he knows it cannot be driven. The last thing in the world that congress need fear fs that Hoover will run away from responsibilities, or unload any of his own duties on it. By his frank facing of problems and courageous decisions during his first weeks in office, he has broken all records for initiative. As for farm relief legislation, there is every reason why he should not attempt to dictate the details. After all, he has furnished in his campaign speeches a definte outline of his agricultural program. This program was read by Senator McNary Monday in opening the agricultural committee hearings. It calls for a federal farm board with wide authority to develop co-operative and orderly marketing, elimination of waste, disposal of surplus through farmer-owned and farmer-controlled stabilization corporations receiving federal credits. It calls also for tariff adjustment. Whether the Hoover program will provide adequate farm relief well may be questioned. But there can be no question, either inside or outside of congress, as to what the Hoover program is. A Gallon of Wine All over a gallon of wine! A mother is dead in Aurora. 111., killed by a state prohibition agent. Her husband was an alleged bootlegger. He defied a search warrant. He held a shotgun, but did not shoot. Tfiie officers knocked him down. As the woman bent over her unconscious husband, an officer shot her down. He “thought” she was reaching for a gun. The officers confiscated a gallon of wine. So they got the man and the wine, and the woman is dead. And that’s that! In the name of law they tap private wires, they riln government speakeasies, they deceive girls, they shoot innocent motorists, they sink foreign ships and drown foreign sailors, they kill women. In the name of law, what next? A Democratic club was held up in New York the other day and $1,500 taken from the card players. This will prove interesting information to the national committee. President Hoover has been given a gold harmonica by a group of Florida children. Perhaps it’s just as well the White House is .get off pretty well by itself. Calvin Coolidge had nothing to say to the reporters in New York the other day. Try to find the news in that. The season of big winds is here, says the American Nature Association. Congress convenes in special session pretty soon. The postmaster at the Welsh village of Llanfairpw 11 g wyngyllgogerychwyrndroidwllllandysiliogogoch lias resigned. You can’t blame him for that. The new world court adherence idea may get over a]i right, but it looks as if it will take a lot of E.ootii.i

David Dietz on Science

We Live in an Ocean

No. 314

WE live at the bottom of an ocean. Ordinarily we do not realize this fact. But it is sc, nevertheless. We walk around on the bottom of an ocean of air just as truly as lobsters and crabs walk around on the botom of the oceans of water. And when we ride in airplanes and airships ive are swimming in

oxygen. But we are so constituted that an atmosphere of pure oxygen would not do. It would increase the rate of chemical activity in our body to a point where we could not survive very long. Our atmosphere is adjusted to our needs, 0 or perhaps nature through millions of years has adjusted us to our atmosphere—the matter, as Mr. Kipling might say, is- another story and we do not have time for it now. But whichever it is, the fact remains that our atmosphere having its oxygen mixed with a larger portion of inert nitrogen is just what we need to stay alive. But oxygen is not the only constituent of air which is necessary for life. We live by eating animals or plants. The animals of the world eat each other or plants. In the last analysis, animal life is possible only because plants live. Plants grow by a process known as photosynthesis. Plants absorb water through their roots and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through their leaves. Then, with the aid of sunlight, they turn the carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates which go to build up their bodies. Plants also require nitrogen to grow. They are not able to absorb the nitrogen directly out of the atmosphere. However, there are certain bacteria in the soil which are able to absorb nitrogen. These turn the nitrogen into compounds which can be utilizd by plants. Avery slight amount of oxygen in the atmosphere is in an electrified state. It* is then known as ozone. This ozone is also important to life, for it is opaque to very short ultraviolet rays. Asa result, it acts as a screen and prevents the earth from receiving too much ultraviolet light. There are other constituents of the atmosphere than those already named—water vapor, certain inert gases and dust. We will spend some time examining this ocean of air. We will then be ready to understand the weather.

M. E. Tracy SAYS:

“Throughout This Country and the Whole World, for That Matter, People Take Unnecessary Chances With Death and Destruction,” 17 NOXVILLE, Tenn.. March 27. ! An outstanding feature of the ! local flood situation is the loss oi life and property that might have been avoided with a little forethought. Every mountain stream, flowing through its deep, narrow valley, is a potential river, and no one knows this better than the folks who dwell beside it. One finds it -hard to reconcile such a condition with the tendency to crowd, to establish homes, factories and especially such temporary enterprises as Boy Scout camps so close to the bank, when there is such a vast area of high, safe land within easy reach. Airplane pictures of the flooded section reveal nothing so vividly as the nearness of absolute immunity from harm. The indifference to known danger which this suggests is not peculiar to Tennessee, or even to floods. Throughout this country, and the whole world for that matter, people take unnecessary chances with death and destruction. The tendency to take beaten paths, to do as father did, to follow the crowd, is responsible for most of it. * # a a Following the Crowd IN spite of all the pretended rationalization and independent thinking crowd psychology plays a stupendous part in human affairs. What else drove stocks up to unreasonable heights, watering the capital investment, creating a useless fever of speculatio: , robbing legitimate business of rightful share of credit and setting the stage for a smash that might have been avoided? What else infatuated the Italian people with Mussolini, until 90 per cent of them were ready to crown him with a sixty to one majority for the mere privilege of voting “yes?” What else ailed the people of Monaco i w r hen they permitted a gambling institution to take virtual control of the government on a promise that it would provide most, if not all the running expense. * * River-Bed Dwellers THE dangers of crowd psycholog/ in action are easy to see, but it is never so dangerous as when seemingly inactive, when expressing itself in obedience to tradition, habit or, worse than all else, that modern excuse for fatty degeneration of the intellect—the will to be optimistic in spite of hell and high water. Building crooked stretches because old cow-paths went that way; tolerating “honest graft” because we are not sure that untrained men could run the city government cheaper; excusing hoodlumism and gang war on the ground of prohibition and winking at rotten politics for love of the game—these and similar quirks of unintelligence reveal a side of crowd psychology that is even more ghastly than the disposition to dwell in river-beds. a b b Pay Politics Fiddler TAKING a cue from Oklahoma, or from woefully similar conditions, Louisiana prepares to impeach her Governor. Even in Tennessee, one hears whispers of such an eventuality. The impeachment of public officials, it would seem, suddenly has gro%n fashionable, but that is not the saddest phase of the story. The saddest phase of the story is what has been growing fashionable for two or three generations is indifference to the kind of men we place in office. The unsuccessful wisecracker, the candidate with little fitness for the job except an ability to say smart things, slap folks on the back and shake hands, furnishes the real explanations. For the last thirty years we have been chasing the sporty dream that government was a good thing because it made room for politics. You haven’t heard anyone advise young men to go in for an official career. No, indeed, it was always a political career, which shows in which direction the thought-habit fan. Politics, politics, politics! Now we are beginning to pay the fiddler.

the oceans of air like fish in the oceans of water. Our weather is the result of changes and shifting conditions in this ocean of air. Life itself is possible only because we have this ocean of air. Every one knows that we cannot stay alive unless we have air to breathe. The constituent of the air which we breathe is the

Substitute for Vote IMPEACHMENT, as provided for in the federal and most state constitutions, is easy. Congress, or the average state legislature, can impeach about any public official it sees fit, and for almost any reason that appeals to it. Governor Henry Johnson of Oklahoma was impeached on the ground of “general incompetency.” In order to realize what they could be made to imply, just recollect that a campaign seldom occurs in this country, without one party charging the other with general incompetency. “General incompetency” might be made to mean that the Governor in question did not surround itself with right kind of subordinates, and the question of what the right kind was might hinge on what a group of politicians wanted. So. too, “general incompetency” might be made to mean that a judge had rendered unsatisfactory decisions, and those decisions might be unsatisfactory because they displeased some powerful clique, or interest. It requires no great strain on the imagination to understand that impeachment proceedings might be carried far enough to become a substitute for elections, and that a group of politicians might entrench itself by virtue of them, together with a skillful distribution of patronage, until the purpose of democracy would have failed. How many Italians are there tn the United States? According to the last census, 3,385^64.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Stepping, on a Rusty Nail

* BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hygeia, the Health Magazine. SOME people think it dangerous to scratch the finger with a rusty nail. The chief danger from scratching the finger or the skin anywhere with a rusty nail is the likelihood of introducing germs of one kind or another. The only advantage of scratching the skin with a clean nail as compared with a rusty nail is the fact that a clean nail is newer and is less likely to be contaminated by dirt and by infectious germs. The fact that there is rust on the nail will not particularly in-

IT SEEMS TO ME * ™ D

THE state of Kansas once possessed a law forbidding any railroad train to run within its borders unless the president of the road, or some member of the board of directors, traveled upon the cowcatcher. A North Carolina law says there must be at least two feet of space between twin beds. A South Caroline bill would prohibit tailors from making hip pockets in trousers, and Georgia had an excellent statute providing that a man who slapped another on the back might be charged with assault and battery. When a man says that it is the duty of a good citizen to respect and obey all laws, whether or not he believes in them, it is a fair guess that the man must be an engineer rather than a lawyer or statesman. But the presidency is a great educational experience and Herbert Clark Hoover is not likely to make the same mistake in a second inaugural. In studying the realities of American legislation he may. for instance, come across the fact that Louisiana passed a law in 1908 making it a misdemeanor for an usher to seat a patron in the theater after the curtain had risen. And somebody might call President Hoover's attention to the fact that Michigan has only just repealed a law under which an offender might be sent to jail for life if he wore the pin of a fraternal order to which he did not belong. tt tt tt Guilty Many Times NEWMAN LEVY once wrote an essay for the Saturday Evening Post about a young man who started off for work one morning in a fine glow of patriotism. He had been to a mass meeting on the previous evening in which an eloquent orator had spoken of the duties of citizenship. Tt was the young man’s intention so to conduct himself as to violate

Questions and Answers

What is the decrease in farm population in the United States since 1920 and what proportion of the entire population live on farms? ’According to the United States depariment of agriculture there were approximately 32,000,000 persons living on farms in 1920 and the estimated farm population for Jan. 1, 1926, was 30.000,000. The 1926 estimated population of the United States was 115,378.094. What racial elements are included in the German people? According to Germar writers the derman people are composed of six racial elements or people. These are: Midland. Nordic. Alpine (Dinaric. Eastern <Slavic). Northeastern i Baltic) and Dalic. Which is correct, “alright” or “all right?” There is no modern sanction for the use of “alright” instead of “ali right.” “Alright" was used in Old English, but now. according to all dictionaries, it is obsolete.

Page Mr. Coolidge

HEALTH SUPERSTITIONS—No. 5

fiuence the wound, since this rust is usually merely oxidized iron—a remedy that is not infrequently taken internally to considerable advantage. The most dangerous of all of the germs that can be found on either a clean or a rusty nail is a germ of tetanus or lock-jaw. The other type of germ wh*ch is of the greatest importance is the streptococcus, a round germ, when seen under the microscope, and usually collected in strips or chains. This germ is the germ of blood poisoning of the real variety, not the type of blood poisoning that is emphasized by the venereal disease quacks.

none of his nation’s laws or any local ordinance. I remember that he drove his car upon a ferryboat and stepped out to look at the Statue of Liberty and admire that striking symbol of democracy. This act made him liable for a penalty, since it is against the law for any motorist to leave his car while it is parked upon a ferry. The later mishaps of the young patriot are misty in my mind, but at the end of the day he had all unconsciously built up for himself a potential maximum of some hun--dred years in prison. But the injunction of respect and enforcement of each and every law has more against it than mere lack of feasibility. Our situation would be even worse if it were possible to bring about 100 per cent enforcement. Rebels against Volsteadism are fond of going back to the days of the fugitive slave act to find a justification for a policy of nullification. They need not journey quite so far. Many federal statutes of more recent date have been nullied by popular consent for the communal benefit. B B B Could Ban Bible UNDER the strict letter of the law. postofflee inspectors would clearly be within their rights in barring both the Bible and the complete works of William Shakespeare from the mails, on the ground of obscenity. But neither local nor federal agents move against these books, because they know the community knows that the law ought not to mean precisely what it says. When a community loses faith in a law that law is dead and should be dead no matter how plainly it twinkles in the statute books. In i fact, nullification in the matter of i obscenity has fortunately included a popular reversal of specific court decisions. Both Walt Whitman’s poems and those of Swinburne have been held to be corrupting and, therefore, illegal. Nevertheless, the publication of their works continues. The duty of enforcement is urged upon the state of New York, but this community has saved itself from a sorry mess by a complete disregard for one of its own statutes. Adultery is a crime in New York state and adultery is also the sole j acceptable cause for divorce. Some 5,000 divorces were granted here last | year and with strict enforcement J 5,000 new criminals would have gone ! to jail. The law is dead as any salted mackerel, for courts refused to convict in a few early test cases j and now the matter never comes up j at all. Still, it is not likely that the law 1

Daily Thought

Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence; and likewise also the wife unto the husband.—l Corinthians 7:3. o a a A WIFE is a gift bestowed upon a man to reconcile him to the loss of paradise.—Goetfie.

The blood poisoning of the real variety may be so serious as to cause death in a few days. Such a death is called death from sepsis. It is important that any wound of the skin, whether by a clean or a rusty pin, needle, or nail, shall be given careful first-aid treatment, including thorough washing, the application of tincture of iodine or mercurochrome solution and, if the wound is large, covering with sterile gauze until healing shall have begun. But there is no harm particularly attaching to the rusty nail as a cause of wounds beyond the possible contamination of the nail by dirt, manure, or other things that can carry the germs of infections.

Ideals and opinions expressed in this column are those of one of America’s most interesting writers, and are presented without regard to their agreement or disagreement with the editorial attitude of this paper.—The Editor.

i will ever be repealed. The moral sentiment of the community would be against taking this law off the books. It should be remembered that in an American community a law may be little more than a resolution. The people hold that fidelity in marriage is to be desired. Holding this belief someone is sure to say, “There ought to be a law.” And very soon there is. But nobody really expects transgressors to go to jail. The law is merely a semi-adult expression of the childish practice of crying, “Shame,, shame, everybody knows your name.” tt tt tt Characteristic Act A STILL more striking example of the use of law merely as the expression of a moral judgment is found in Michigan. A bill was introduced before that state legislature providing that no person should be permitted to marry who had led an unchaste life. Curiously enough this bill was not adopted, although it is a characteristic piece of American legislation. Obviously no such statute could be enforced, but the law-makers would have that part of the business off their conscience. In effect, Michigan would have said, “We believe in chastity.” Very few votes can be mustered on the other side. In the same way the Volstead act may come in time to have no significance other than the national expression of an aspiration toward temperance. After all, the Michigan bill which failed is hardly more fantastic than the now all but forgotten Mann act. This federal law made it a crime for a man to take a woman across a state line for immoral purposes It proved to be an act warranted to foment and encourage blackmail and although neither repealed nor yet quite dead, it is among the sick laws of the United States. (Copyright, 1923. by The Times)

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-MARCH 27,1929

REASON By Frederick Landis

Bryan’s Reply to Japan's Envoy Has a Classic, Smoothing Over a Situation That Threatened War. IT tfas very fine that General Pershing happened to be in Europe and represented his country at the funeral of Marshal Foch, the hero of the French. The honors paid the dead commander at every United States army post around the world remind us of the historic friendship of the two nations; they remind us of Lafayette, and they remind us too that France paid great honor to Washington when he died. On Feb. 9, 1800, Napoleon had decreed a day of celebration and a triumphal pr session marched through Paris, bearing the trophies of the great American and the leaders of France proceeded to the Temple of Mars, where an eloquent eulogy was pronounced. it a a Many are disposed to disparage the late William Jennings Bryan’s services as secretary of state, but that Bryan averted war with Japan when the Japanese ambassador asked him if the Amercian answer in the California matter was final and Bryan replied “Nothing is ever final between friends,” whereupon the ambassador sat down and an agreement was reached. The Bryan reply is a classic in any event. B B B Since every single divisional commander in the present Mexican trouble has been both a rebel and a loyalist in the course of his career, one would think those who now happen to be for the government would have a thought or two as they stand a vanquished brother against [ the wall and riddle him with bullets. j B B B As Senator Borah calls the irreconcilables to battle the world court proposal he finds the ranks depleted. for Knox, Brandegee, Lodge and McCormick are dead and Jim Reed has retired. B B B How the hearts of these foreign diplomats will swell with a sense of grandeur as they ride through Washington, chaperoning trucks, loaded with liquor, to prevent their seizure by the government. B B B Asa result of the Mexican rebellion food prices have gone skyward and coffee costs 50 cents a cup. but the highest price of all is paid by those rebel commanders who bite the dust. B B B Wc are not surprised that Calvin Coolidge refused to talk to the reporters in New York City, for the iact that his suite at the Commodore hotel cost $25 a day w r as enough to take his breath away. B B B Ihe lolly of taking great issues too seriously was demonstrated practically by this Indiana man who stabbed another as a result of an argument over the Sharkey-Stribling prize fight. B It B This Chicago bootlegger who was sent up for six months for selling liquor to a minor, should have been sent up for six years. This goes for all of them. B B B German health resorts refuse to admit Trotzki and it’s a hardhearted crowd that will not let. a Russian bolshevik take a bath.

Times Readers Voice Vieivs

Editor Times’ Hear ye! Hear ye! Regnat populus, in general assembly. Duty calls our statesmen bold, She coyly plies her pleading; They clutch her with a stranglehold. Their methods arc unheeding. She has a way of running wild. Her cohorts seem ill chosen: Her charms seem growing somewhat mild. Her features almost frozen. She falls for rough and ancient stuff, We’d think her sweets were bitter. And ventures out upon demand Assured the gang won’t quit her. There is no way that has been found To guard her quaint confusion. She trusts her weal in random guile. Abandoned to delusion. She may be gay. she may be bold. With prettiness a soaring: 'Tis true she’s hard to place with friend*. For her there seems no mooring. But don’t be harsh with our old flame, Though we’ve been gypped a plenty, She used to be a winsome dame. Was ail her praise not any? She needs a lot of stickers, true. She parks her charms at random. Her escorts make some rail-birds think That she’s the Joke of fandom. Cd Ark of State, a motley bvineh ras cast aside your rudder. Excursions they have booked for you Might make a Bluebeard shudder. But here we stick and likely will Till they have stripped the chassis; Our picture has bee.-s framed before And all we got was sassy. Perpetrated by L. J. SEAMAN.