Indianapolis Times, Volume 41, Number 11, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 May 1929 — Page 8

PAGE 8

J CR / PPJ -//OW'APO

Baby Criminals Sometimes it is ■hPicult to believe that the world progress**' and that education, comfort and Christianity are chanson? man from a jungle brute to a civilized being. When a boy of six years is solemnly tried bv a jury of grown men and sentenced t<> fifteen years in a prison, almost anything can happen in this land or in some part of it. The boy sat upon the knee of his father as lawyers fought and fought, and a judge gravely ruled on matters of law. He smiled as the twelve men listened to the storv of a qnariel between two boys, almost babies, that, resulted in this boy grabbing a gun. easily within his reach, and shooting his playmate. At the worst, this bo\ was merely an imitator. He had undoubtedly seen his father fire the gun. To a child of that age, the concept of death is more than vague. Vet the srreat state of Kentucky brands him as. a criminal and sentences him to a penal institution. The proceeding is monstrous. If there were no other reason, it violates the provision of the Constitution that every accused person shall he tried by a jury of his “peers. '1 his baby was in a grown world, tried by adults while his peers were playing in the streets. If were to lie tried at all, it should have been before a jury of 6-year-olds who would speak his language, who could interpret his thoughts, who would really understand. For many years Judge Lindsey of Denver has successfully crusaded tor the Principle that there can be no crime committed by children. Crime is a conscious violation of law. The child is not responsible. He lives in n different world. Environment determines the actions of all children and most human beings. Some ehildreu are subjected to unfortunate surroundings. They*may have unhappy teachers and unwise parents. The state may be compelled to intervene n their behalf and sa\c them tiom the surroundings which rob them ot opportunity. Bui to convict a baby of murder is as tragical as the death of the victim. Ft means a stulted community conscience and lack of vision which is appalling. But, of course, it may not come with good grace to criticise the Kentucky jury. Daisy Sullivan, an 18-year-old girl who never had a chance, is in the. Indiana woman’s penitentiary for forging a $-.80 check.

A Letter to the Senate Gentlemen: Many times it has been out privilege to commend the splendid service of the United States senate. But for the senate, what would have happened regarding the stolen oil 'reserves the administiative graft, the Indian scandals, the political corruption, the secret tax refunds, the lobby and propaganda ot power interests, and other dangers to democracy uncovered chiefly by your initiative and courage? Having so often extolled your record, perhaps we now may venture with good grace a friendly suggestion. Certain members of your rules committee are trying by indirect censorship to restrict the freedom of the press. They are attempting to intimidate the press and to suppress legitimate news. We shall not waste moral indignation on this. So tar as the press itself is concerned, the situation is not serious. For your rules oommittee has not and can not succeed in censoring or intimidating the press. The press always has given to the public, which has a right to the information, reports of your so-called secret sessions. And your rules committee can not stop it. All that your rules committee can do is to make fools,of its members and of the senate. It is this, and this alone, which lends seriousness to an otherwise futile and ludicrous situation. Foi democracy, unfortunately, suffers when the senate becomes the laughing stock of the people. The senate has an archaic and undemocratic rule wherebv secret sessions consider, among other matteis confirmation oi appointees, such as cabinet officers, diplomats and federal judges. You have been trying for years to make those sessions public. But reform is blocked, largely by senators unwilling to let their constituents know how they vote on persons charged with representing partisan interests. These sessions, as you know, never are secret in fac t. because many 01 you tell the press what happens in them. This occurred regarding the recent secret vote confirming Mr. Lenroot as a federal judge. That angered certain friends of Mr. Lenroot on your rules commitee—who have themselves in the past violated the secrecy rule. ' May we respectfully inquire why your rules committee if it is sincere, does not subpena all senators and so discover the leaks? Why it does not impeach such senators, and cite them for contempt and jail sentences? Why committee members who have broken thia rule in the past do not now publicly confess their guilt and resign from the senate? * Instead, they have barred from the senate floor the United Press, which enabled this newspaper and others to publish the Lenroot secret roll call. They threaten to jail for contempt Paul R. Mallon. author ni the United Press story, if he refuses on Monday to divulge their own leaks for them. Mr. Mallon, who broke no rule and no law—but who would be breaking the high moral code of his profession if he violated the confidence of his senatorial sources—is being victimized by senators for sins they themselves have committed. The United Press and Mr. Mallon do not need our sympathy. Indeed, we are a bit envious. Not everyday does the press in its simple line of duty get such splendid recognition for protecting the people's in-

The Indianapolis Times (A bCKim-HOHAKD NEWSPAPER) Ownd and publi-hed dally (except Sunday) by 'lbe Indianapolis 'limes Publishing Cos., 214-220 W. Maryland Street. Indianapolis, Ind. Price in Marion County 2 cents—lo cents a week ; BOYD GURLEY, BOY W. HOWARD. FRANK G. MORRISON. Editor. President Businass Manager j HONE-Ulley MSI FRIDAY. MAY 24, 1923~ Member of United Press, gcripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newspaper Enterprise Association, Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulation.' “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”

forests. Not every able reporter is honored by being made a martyr. So. gentlemen, you must agree rvith us that your rules committee has failed to injure the press; that, on the contrary, it unwittingly has enhanced the power and prestige of the prtss —at the expense of the senate. The rules committee has put the senate in an unfair and foolish position before the public. Isn’t it 1 ;me :he senate reasserted its dignity—and its democracy—by abolishing these so-called secret sessions? Law and Custom Laws are rules of conduct. They existed before the written word and before legislatures, judges and courts. Tribes had laws in primitive times. When they yvere violated the offenders were punished. The source ot a law' is the custom of the people. Certain things must not be done, for the common good. A citizen must respect certain rights of his neighbor. No layv ever has been enforceable which violated the customs of the people. They must accept a law to obey it. If the people believe that a layv unjustly infringes on their freedom of action", or that it imposes penalties for yvhat in reality is not a crime, they will ignore it and resist it. Since these things are well known, it is probable that Richard Washburn Child, acting president of the National Crime Commission, need have no fear that the President’s layv-enforcement commission yvill fail to distinguish betyveen “law on the books and social will, as it is found in fact.” Child, in a letter to George M. Wickersham, chairman of the law enforcement commission says it would be disastrous if the commission failed to uphold this distinction. Respect for layv. Child says, is based on social will rather than engrossed words. He says that if an ardent dry sees a burglar entering the home of his friend, he yvill call the police. If he sees a bootlegger entering this same home, he may call the police in this instance also. But in such a case he w'ould be considered a cad. 4 “The tragedy of the national infection of disrespect for layv may be increased and not diminished by insistence that all so-called laws stand upon one footing,” Child writes. Wickersham himself, as long ago as fifteen years, had something to say on this subject. ”As civilization progresses,” he said in a public address, “a necessity arises for rules to govern the action of the individuals in the community toward each other, more than to protect the group against the aggressions of other groups: and as communities become more populous and civilization more complex, rules of conduct must needs be increasingly minute and specific; but the fundamental principle guiding all successful civilization must be to preserve, in as large a measure as is consistent with the welfare of the whole, freedom of action in the individual. . All law to be effective must be based on a broad sense of right. It is this fact which gives to the customary or unwritten law a greater sanctity in the minds of the people than acts of the legislature. “The greatest safeguard of popular liberty lies in the inherent respect for their law felt by a self-gov-erning people . . . that respect can exist only yvhen the layv is that yvhich the people establish ‘at thei.: free will.’ which is just to all classes, and which binds the hearts and consciences of men to respect even the layv'they violate.” President Hoover had a black eye the other day, but he explained it to everybody's satisfaction. But, just think of the stories you might have heard if President A1 Smith ever came down in the morning yvith a shiner! Headlines you never see: “Lindy Dines 40 Newspapermen at Morrow's Maine Home.” Federal authorities in Chicago have requested that serving of ginger ale in cases be banned. Pretty soon you won’t even be able to buy liquor in one of those places.

-David Dietz on Science -

Majesty of Thunder

THERE are times when the sky forces even the least observant individual to pay some attention to it- They are the times when the angry sky lights up yvith the flare of lightning and resounds to the echoing roll of the thunder. Every one realizes the majesty of nature when a thunderstorm takes possession of the heavens.

f J

CUMULO-NIMBUS CLOUDS

towers or anvils- generally having a veil or screen of fibrous texture (.false cirrus) at the top and at its base a cloud mass similar to nimbu§. "From the base local showers of rain or snow, occasionally of hail or Soft hail, usually fall. “Sometimes the upper margins have the compact shape of cumulus or form massive heaps, around which floats delicate false cirrus. “This last form is particularly common with spring showers. The front of a thunderstorm of wide extent is frequently in the form of a large low arch above a region of uniformly lighter sky." The cumulo-nimbus is the thickest of all clouds, ranging in depth from one to three miles as a rule. Occasionally, especially in tropical regions, this type of cloud may have a thickness of eight or nine milesIt is also the most turbulent of all clouds. Its times, places and modes of occurrence are the same as those of the cumulus clouds. The cumulus, it will be remembered- are caused by the ascension of columns of warm air. These columns are pushed up by surrounding cold air just as warm air is pushed up a chimney. At some height, the warm air is cooled, the moisture in it condensing into the cloud. Cumulo-nimbus, like cumulus clouds, are most frequent over land on summer afternoons and over water ’ late at night. In many ways, the cumulo-nimbus is the most impressive of all clouds. Its great d#pth and turbulence gives it qualities which other clouds do not have.

No. 363

The thunder cloud or shower cloud is No. 9 in the official list of clouds of the International Meteorological c o m - mittec. Its tcchni cal name is cumulonimbus. The official description is as follows: “The thunder cloud; shower cloud. Great masses of cloud rising in the form of mountains or

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. Tracy

SAYS:

We Are Pooling Theories As Well ,4s Dollars, Trying to Make Everybody Rich and Righteous by the Same Method. 'T'O get at the bottom of it, would senators have voted differently on Mr. Lenroot’s nomination if they had voted in public If they would not, what was the use of secrecy? If they yvould, yvhat is one to think, except that the secrecy was designed to cover up their reasons? Meanwhile, the light is not betyveen the press and the senate, but between the public’s right, to know what is going on and a system which permits the transaction of public business in the dark, u n a People Walled Off /CIVILIZATION seems to have become a network of barriers, dominated by the idea that people must be walled off for their oWn good. Maybe they must, but why go to unnecessary extremes? If a high discount rate will cure speculation, does it follow that the expulsion of clergymen who smoke will cure unrighteousness? tt tt tt Improving Human Conduct THE trust spirit emerges from the counting house to take a hand in improving human conduct. We not only approach the problem i>f what people should eat and drink, but yvhat they should see and read in about the same way that we approach the exploitation of a mine, or real estate venture. The first move is to start a drive; the second to develop an organization; the third to yvrite the scheme into law. tt tt tt Purity Child of Effort LIKE prosperity, purity has come to be regarded as the' child of organized effort. The thought that individuals can be safeguarded in a moral as well as a physical sense through the simple method of mass action has grown into an obsession. We are pooling theories as well as dollars, undertaking to make everything rich and righteous by the same process. Prohibition is not an isolated instance of the complex, though it may represent its extreme manifestation. On every hand, there is to be seen the same disposition to improve human beings by compulsion. Force Used Now N'O longer do yve offer our children an opportunity to go to school; we make them. Whatever the majority decides as good, yve .cram down the individual’s throat. Half of us break some law all the time, for the simple reason that obedience to all the laws all the time is humanly impossible. This is not only proved by continuous groyving disobedience, but by the fact that those charged with the administration of law do not seem to know yvhat it is. or whether it has been broken until someone calls it to their attention. tttttt Knowledge Is Tardy THERE have been regulations against the importation of obscene literature for many years, yet it just has been discovered that Voltaire’s “Candide,” published in 1759, can not be admitted. It took the moral purveyors of the United States a long time to find out what the layv meant. tt a Who Killed Mrs, Bauer? YOUNG HOFFMAN is acquitted after five years in jail and four trials for the murder of Mrs. Maude Bauer. The first trial resulted in a conviction for second-degree murder. Suppose the higher court had not discovered a technicality and ordered anew trial? The second trial missed fire, when his lawyer collapsed from heart disease. The third resulted in a hung jury. Now,’ and after all this floundering, bungling and inconsistency the law says he is innocent. What the law does not say. what it never has said, what it does not seem to give a whoop about, is who killed Mrs. Bauer tttttt Common Sense Shelved SYSTEM, organization, dogma, rule, red tape, technicality, and all the rest that goes to make up the junk heap of what we call our system of justice, yvhether expressed in law or moral codes, has developed nothing so .distinctly as a ritualism which eliminates the element of common sense and makes it impossible to approach problems in a common sense way. We have * a mechanism which starts when you push a certain button and stops when you push another. If the starting and stoppins fail to produce results, we take it as a matter of fate, never conceding that the mechanism may be wrong.

Daily Thought

Many waters can not quench love, neither can the floods drown it; if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be condemned.— Solomon's Song 8:7. tt u a ALL men brave love: for he only is brave who has affections to fight for. whether in the daily battle of life or in physical contests.— Hawthorne. How was citrus fruit introduced into the ttftited States? Several varieties were brought to the United States by Spaniards, who planted them in Florida more than three centuries ago.

What a Lot of Suds a Little Soap Makes

I g\S7// r>OAy ,/>

Some People Call Saliva a Remedy

This is the last of a series of articles on common health superstitions written especially for this paper and NEA Service 'by Dr. Morris Fishbein, noted health authority. BY DR, MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hygcia, the Health Magazine. A NCIENT man firmly was coniV vinced that the saliva was a magical fluid. His conviction was based on the fact that he had not the slightest conception of the origin of the saliva, its chemical composition or its purpose. Many of these ancient beliefs have persisted to modern times, so that the Senegalese witch doctors cure neuralgia and headache by chanting certain formulas and expectorating on the forehead of the person concerned.

IT SEEMS TO ME

A T the end of ten days of ter■P*- rific battling with the stock market I am exactly $1,091.23 to the bad (2:15 p. m. ticker prices.) But am I downhearted? Why, of course, I am. There are no shrubs upon which money grows in the realm of journalism. Hoyvever, although downhearted, I am less than desperate. A way out is plainly visible. I plan to recoup my losses by writing a book to be entitled “How to Make Money in Wall Street.” By now I’ve had ample experience. Looking back on it all the trick would have been very simple. The things I bought I should have sold and vice versa. Without yvishing to seem bitter, I must say that I think it was a shade petty for the supreme court of the United States to withhold its railroad decision until precisely thirtyeight minutes after I had sold my twenty-five shares of St. Louis & San Francisco. I may sue somebody. Perhaps the railroad. In the first place it came as a great shock to me to learn that the company to which I had intrusted my funds doesn’t go to San Francisco at all, but winds up somewhere in the middle of Texas. Is that fair? If a great railroad can pull a hoax like that on a na-

Times Readers Voice Views

Tlie name and address of the author must accompany every contribution, but on request will not be published. Letters not exceeding 200 words will receive preference. Editor Times—We are at a loss to know what is the reason no one has had a large mirror placed in the restroom of the interurban station. We judge it must be an oversight on the part of the Union Traction Company. However, it does seem the time ,has come when someone should take the matter in hand. • With a sign in the restroom which states it is one of the nicest restrooms in the states and considering the fact we are supposed to have one of the best equipped stations in the country, it seems a pity not to have a nice, big, life-size mirror, so that the traveling public may “see themselves as others see them.” If someone will convey this message to the proper authorities, so that this much-needed improvement will be made, it will be greatly appreciated by at least one of the traveling public and we, if not many, will "rise up and call you blessed.” ONE OF THE TRAVELERS. F. B. A. Editor Times—Will you not suggest to your readers that all pets shown in the children's parade should be securely fastened to their little owners by lesh, or otherwise confined so that none of the children mav suffer the loss of a pet? R. R. 953 North Pennsylvania street.

HEALTH SUPERSTITIONS—No. 49

In some parts of Great Britain v/arts and ringworm are cured by rubbing on saliva, and in Cornwall, according to McKenzie, the forefinger of the right hand is wetted with saliva, the front of the left shoe crossed with it three times and the Lord’s prayer repeated backward to cure sciatica. , It would be possible to find innumerable instances of a similar character related to cures of diseases by the salivary method. The truth is, of course, that the saliva consists merely of water, sodium chloride, other salts and a ferment that digests starch. The saliva comes from a number of glands which are known as the salivary glands, two of them in front of the ear and two under each of the jaw bones. It is in no way related to disease.

tive investor I see no reason why I shouldn’t sign this column “By O. Henry and Dickens.” tt tt tt End of the Line Y NOW I am even skeptical as to whether we go into St. Louis. Not that this is much to recommend a railroad. It seemed to me that I had figured out the whole problem quite carefully. I said to myself that a passenger I who gets on a train expecting even no more than to wake up in San Francisco is still going to be sore when he is aroused in the middle of the night in Texas and told to change cars. That’s no way to build up good will. It was news to me that the government was trying to recapture some of our profits. How was I to know that there were any profits in this business of shanghaing peo- ; pie into Texas? But as soon as the supreme court patted the road on the back it immediately went up 15 points and 15 times 25 is quite a lot of money. Oi course, the record said, ! “Holmes, Brandeis and Stone disj senting.” Somebody should build i that into a poetic refrain ”ke F. F. j A's "Tinker to Evers to Chance.” e tt a Great Dissenters IN fact a history of the aspirations and frustrations of liberalism in the United Stales might well be entitled. “Holmes, Brandeis and Stone | dissenting.” The most imaginative and inI spired conception of American law would be included in a history of ; the great dissenters. By a curious paradox all human progress is a compilation of “nay” savers. And. of course, if the will of | Holmes. Brandeis, and Stone had ; prevailed I would not have been in j the unpleasant position of acting as alumnus to a stock which was on the rise. I Fortunately. I still retain one ace 'in the hole. I have a sure method i of beating the stock market but I’m ; not sure whether it is ethical. My ; position as an occasional contribul tor to Vanity Fair gives me an ad- | vantage which I should be slow to press. Here is the scheme— At such times as I send a piece to : Vanity Fair which is accepted I go | out into the open market and get long of Conde Nast. When they j turn down a contribution I go short. n tt a Conscience a Nuisance : LIFE would be a great deal simpler if it wasn't for ethics. No ; longer ago than last night I was in ; a late resort having breakfast, when a man approached and said: “I’m j press agent for anew wrist watch which gees without being wound.” He also said that he never took a drink. Upon being complimented on his good habits and his watch, he went on: "I’m going to send you one.’ He meant a watch. I need a

In certain diseases unusual substances are found in the saliva and thus it may be used as a material for aid in diagnosis. Its chief value is obviously to keep the mouth moist and help in the digestion of starch. When these simple facts are known, it is unnecessary to imagine any magical reasons for this simple substance, Probably an important factor in the belief that saliva had special virtue is the fact that animals lick or suck inflammations, mosquito bites, wasp stings, and similar injuries and that they seem to be benefited by the process. The benefit is, of course, due to the fact that the bacteria are by this means drawn out of the wound and that the alkaline reaction of the saliva may have some effect in elleviating, the irritation.

By HEY WOOD BROUN

watch of any sort at all, and the offer thrilled me, but immediately ethics entered in. Severely I replied: “I can not accept gratuities.” However, I remembered that I had upon several occasions accepted 100 cigarets from the Shuberts at Christmas time. I used to reason: “If I’m the kind of dramatic critic who can be bought for 100 Sweet Caporals, my honor is too infienitesimal to mention.” And so I smoked them. It seemed necessary under the circumstances to make some explanation to the publicity man of the watch company. I tried to explain that if I had, of my own free will, thought up a humorous line about his product, I would have accepted a timepiece without any particular qualms of conscience. On the other hand, If the watch came first, my lips would have to be sealed completely concerning its utility, if any. tt tt tt Keeping Clean Record IHAVE grave doubts whether the daily exercise of writing a column would be sufficient motion to inspirit even the most sensitive set of works. And in order t-o be scrupulously honest I sold my public utility stocks at a loss rather than be tempted to crusade against government ownership of superpower. It wasn’t honestly alone. I thought that they would go much lower. Steel I still hold, but if the company sends me a ton of rails tomorrow and some assorted girders in payment for this mention I will not receive them. A columnist, like Caesar's wife, neveu- should fall for bribes which aren't essential. (Copyright, 1929, by The Tlmet.i

Ideals and opinions expressed in this column are those ot 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.

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3IAY 24,1929

REASON

By Frederick Landis

Lindy Says His Wedding Outfit Cost $l,lOO. Which Is Almost Enough for a. Peacock, to Say Nothing of an Eagle, THE fact that Philadelphia has become a national sensation just because she had enough power to send Capone to jail is tragic confession of the fact that above most of our courthouses the scales of justice are held aloft by Egyptian mummies. tt tt a Vice-President Curtis was a jockey.as a boy. but from the way he hammers his gavel one would infer that he had been a blacksmith. tt a a Wc think a lot more of the former kaiser’s grandson since he likes his yvork in that automobile factory and we hope that wholesome association with American yvorkmen yvill in time eradicate the blighting influence of his ancestry. tt a a The report that this Cleveland fire was caused by a lighted cigaret probably is just propaganda issued by the cigar and candy people. tt tt tt VI7E never sayv a Kentucky VV derby, but we are consoled by the thought that very few of those 100,000 people at Louisville ever saw a mule race at a county fair. tt n tt Irving Berlin and his yvife have gone to Europe for three months and left their little girl behind yvith a nurse. How could they do it! tta tt According to the Moscow Institute? of Criminology, the Russians have a million fist fights a year. Our prize fighters will marvel at this, not that so many Russians fight, but that so many of them should so far forget themselves as to fight for nothing. tttttt We are not astonished at this story from Halifax that a cat. i equipped with a rubber heart, lived for several hours, for all of us know I people with marble hearts yvho have been able to live for many years. ttatt It would appear that before a person is permitted to take passage on the Graf Zeppelin he must shoyv that he has arranged to syndicate his story of the trip. tt tt a THE result of the publication of the story that Mrs. Hoover drove a car from Washington to Richmond, Va.. and return will be that every automobile company in the land yvill now send her a machine. tt tt a Lindy says that his wedding outfit cost $1,200, which is almost enough for a peacock, to say nothing of an eagle. ttatt A British ship brought a cargo of smallpox from India to Europe. This is about the only way the Hindus can get even yvith John Bull. a tt tt When he heard that his son, Clyde Van Dusen, had won the Kentucky derby, yve can imagine old Man o’ War, greatest thoroughbred this country ever produced, lifting his head and saying: “Blood will tell!’* tt tt a

BROOKLYN BRIDGE May 24

FORTY-SIX years ago today Brooklyn bridge, the most remarkable of the four magnificent spans across the East river, and one of the world’s most famous bridges, was opened to traffic. Thirteen years of labor, much of it of a pioneering kind, had gone into its building. In addition several years of planning preceded actual work. Brooklyn bridge was the dream of the great engineer, John A. Roebling. who built the first suspension bridge over Niagara river. He died in the midst of the work, however, and it was successfully completed by his son. Roebling Sr. was the first man to use wire cables instead of chains to suspend a bridge. Mere than 5,000 single strands of wire were laid side by side and bound to form each of the four great cables supporting the structure. Each wire was more than two-thirds of a mile long and the completed cables were capable of sustaining 12,200 tons. As stupendous as the work of suspending these cables was, it was only preliminary to the hanging of the roadway from them and the buildinct of massive approaches on either side.