Indianapolis Times, Volume 41, Number 92, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 August 1929 — Page 4

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Walb Emerges Within a day or so Clyde Walb, once the chairman of the Republican party in the state, a dictator of sorts, a tool of shrewder men, will emerge from the penitentiary at Leavenworth. He has served one-third of the time for which he was sentenced and the attorneygeneral and the prison board do not think it likely that Walb will again commit the crimes for which he was punished. In that they are probably right. For it is unthinkable that Walb will ever again be in position of power politically to perpetrate either the crimes for which he was convicted or the greater outrages against the public welfare for which neither he nor those he served were punished. As far as Walb is concerned, not only those who once called themselves his friends but those who deplored the political morality of which he was the exemplar will hope that he lives happily and successfully, shunning the evil companions of his heyday and atoning as best he may by useful service and different thinking. He has probably been punished enough. But his liberation should serve to remind the people of this state of the conditions which created a Walb and put them on guard against either a repetition or a continuance of that state of public mind which permitted him to operate. Walb came into power with Stephenson!sm, but was the special servant of Watsonism. He might have be*en called the liaison officer between the two forces which had similar objectives. He talked the language of both. His mistake came from an idea that political power brings immunity. He seemed to believe the boast of Stephenson that he was the law in Indiana. And for a time it seemed to be true. It was Walb who led the forces of Watson in 1926 when it required desperate methods and Lake county to give a paper majority for the present leader of the senate. It was Walb whose arrogance or stupidity brought the Reed investigating committee to Indiana after he had uttered the baseless slander that the state was filled with money sent by “international bankers” to defeat “our Jim.” It was Walb who directed the machine which fostered Coffinism in this city and permitted that boss to get his grip upon local affairs. It was Walb who issued the statements when the clouds gathered and the storm broke, denying anything and everything. But the people have since seen a mayor of this city convicted and a Governor elected under Walb guidance plead the statute of limitations. It was Walb who sold stock in his private ventures to relatives of pardon seekers, but that was not offensive to the ethics of the day in which he lived. Such things were supposed to happen, but not to be discovered. What happens to Walb is not important, except that he has every chance to make good and to live decently and honestly. What happens to be the remnant of the machine of which he was once leader and in which he was a power, is very important. The people will do well to remember that Coffin contributed much to the power of Walb and received much; Coffin is still in power. It might be well to eliminate Coffin this fall. The prisons and the courts have eliminated so many of the other political playmates of Walb that with the going of Coffin the state will be comparatively safest least for a time. Chief of Engineers The chief of the army engineers has the rank of major-general and occupies a position, the importance of which best can be realized when it is said that the annual report of his division usually is the thickest document issued by official Washington. The engineering chief has charge of all engineering activities of the army, control of rivers and harbors work. Mississippi flood control and sundry other enterprises, all of extreme importance. Recently the office of chief has become vacant through the automatic retirement of Major-General Edgar Jadwin. Jadwin’s regime can be described quite briefly by saying its was contentious in the extreme. President Hoover and War Secretary Good have shown a commendable hesitation in naming Jadwin s successor, the reason given out being that several names are under consideration. It is quite possible that Hoover is planning to do what everyone hopes will be done, put the engineering division of the army on anew basis and not make it too strictly a military proposition. The office of is a peculiarly difficult one and the holder of the position can not be expected to succeed unless an element of human understanding is mixed in with the autocratic attitude that usually develops when an individual rises from West Point to the highest rank in the army. Instead of being a military boss, the chief of the engineers must consider his semi-military position. Cos m ftn y non-military engineering activities have *

The Indianapolis l imes <A 6CRIFPB-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) Owned and pnbllhd delly (except Sunday) by The Indian*poli Time* Publishing Cos., 214-220 W Maryland Street, Indianapolis, Ind. Price In Marion County 2 centa —10 cents a week; elsewhere, 3 cents—l 2 cents a week BOYD OURLZY. ROY W. HOWARD. PRANK O. MORRISON, Editor. President. Business Manager. PHONE —Riley 5551 TUESDAY. AUG. 27. 1928. Member of United Presa, Scrlpps-Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newspaper Enterprise Association, Newspaper Information Berrlce and Audit Bureau of Circulations. “Give 1 light and the People Will Find Their Own Way ”

been attached to the office that more than technical experience is required to conduct it satisfactorily. Among the necessary requisites of a successful chief of engineers well may be included the ability to get the work done promptly and well, a recognition that community rights are fully as important as those of the military’, and a desire not to do everything the army way, or the chief’s way, but the best way. Unprepared in the Air Despite all the progress America has made in aviation in recent years, the nation can not yet consider itself properly prepared in the air, in a military sense, according to Rear Admiral W. A. Moffett, chief of aeronautics in the United States navy. Admiral Moffett told Culver Military academy summer school students the other day that Germany, despite her defeat in the World war, leads the entire world in aviation, “both in expenditures and progress.” He urged an upbuilding of Uncle Sam’s aerial defense, remarking that the navy needs at least four more modern aircraft carriers. Probably it is a surprise to most of us to hear that our military aviation is not yet up to standard. There is one comfort, however; we undoubtedly are making vast progress. The quick development of a huge air force in time of war would be a far easier task now than it was in 1917. Two Great Lakes Waterways The middle west, probably, is a unit in demanding that the Great Lakes be connected with salt water by an adequate ship canal. But, until recently, at least, there has been a division of opinion about the route to be chosen. Some cities have urged the St. Lawrence canal, and others have supported Chicago in her plea lor a waterway from the lower end of Lake Michigan to the gulf of Mexico, via the Mississippi river. Now it is beginning to look as if the two factions are getting together. Each side is coming to see that both waterways would be highly valuable. The busy, productive middle west could provide traffic enough for both, beyond a doubt. And the general stimulus to business activity which would result would be very likely to provide more commerce for the railroads as well. America has been criticised severely for not preserving the ruins of former days. Walk down any street and behold the use of rouge and lipstick if you think there is any reason for such slander. Boston detectives pinched a Chinese and seized forty cans of opium. They feel pretty sure they have the dope on him.

Stars of Vast Size

BY DAVID DIETZ Scripns-Howard Science Editor STARS range from ones composed of thin gaseous material a thousand times thinner than the air we breathe, to ones composed of material so heavy that a tablespoonful of it would weigh one ton. This is one of the amazing facts brought to light by modern astronomers since they have devised means of weighing the stars. Other facts which this particular field of research has disclosed within the last year are equally amazing. It has been known for some time that the range of size of stars is immense. The largest known stars are more than a million miles in diameter. The giant star, Antares, has a diameter of 415,000,000 miles. The smallest known star has a diameter of 24,000 miles. But there is no such wide range of weight or mass, to use the technical term. No star has a mass greater than 100 times that of our own sun. No star is known to have a mass less than one-twentieh of our sun. The large stars are the ones composed of the extremely gaseous stuff. Professor J. C. Duncan has called them, “prodigious bubbles of rarefied gas.” The small stars are the heavy ones. As Professor A. S. Eddington of Cambridge has said, it is just as though someone had used a great ladle to parcel out material for the stars, putting approximately the same amount of material in each star, but blowing it out thin in some and packing it closely in others. tt tt a Star History Another important relation, brought out by recent studies is that between the true brightness of luminosity of a star and its weight. The brightest star has a true brightness of 10,000 times greater than our sun. That is, if it were the same distance from our earth that the sun is, it would drench the earth in 10,000 times as much light and heat. The dimmest star known has a true brightness 10,000 times less than our sun. Luminosity, it will be seen, runs over a tremendous range. The brightest star is 100,000,000 times as bright as the dimmest one. The range of weight or mass, as already stated, Is small. Yet the relationship between luminosity and m%ss is so exact, that knowing one, it is possible to predict the other. Another curious relationship exists between the color of stars and their mass. The blue-white stars, which are the hottest of all stars, are on an average twenty times the mass of the sun. The white stars average less in mass, the yellowwhite still less, and the yellow ones still less, until finally we reach the orange stars which have an average mass twice that of our sun. These facts are more than interesting. Hidden in them, astronomers feel certain, is the story of the origin and lives of the stars. The world awaits the genius who can interpret them correctly. a tt a Ingenuity The method used to weigh stars illustrates the ingenuity of modern astronomy, an ingenuity which surmounts the trillions of miles between us and the stars. The weight of an object is really the measurement of the gravitational pull of the earth for it. That is why it is not technically correct to speak of weight except for objects on the earth. Mass is defined as the amount of matter in a body. According to Newton’s law of universal gravitation, every body in the universe attracts every other body with a force proportional to the product of their masses. Kepler, the great astronomer, showed that the speed of the planets around the sun varied with the distance. The further a planet is from the sun, the slower it moves. From this, modern astronomers worked out a relationship which involves mass as well as distance and speed. In the sky. there are many double stars, that is, systems in which there are two stars revolving around each other. By determining the speed with which these stars revolve aroiind each other and the distance between them, it is possible, by applying Kepler’s law, to determine their mass in terms of the sun’s mass. Having done this, it is then possible to estimate the mass of other stars which are rot part of double star system*

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. Tracy

SAYS:

We Talk a Great Deal About Wages, but We Seldom Do Anything of a Forceful Nature Until Driven to It. THE Graf Zeppelin and Jerusalem divide honors on the front page; the first speaking of man’s genius, the second of his degradation. This would be a wonderful world, if science could free men from tiie law of the jungle to the same extent that it has freed him from its physical limitations. It is hard to reconcile a globe girdling flight with such an exhibition of savagry as that in which forty or fifty young students lost their lives when the Jewish college at Hebrcn was attacked. It even is harder to reconcile such brutal acts with a conception of a just God, or a happy heaven. a tt tt Religious Cruelty THE most curious thing about religious emotionalism is the cruelty with which it inspires men. Not once, but a thousand times and more, they have paused in their prayers for mercy to strike down some fellow-being with such coldblooded, inexcusable fury, as would shame an hyena. Perhaps this is because hell has played such a part in their notion of the hereafter, because the picture of eternal life has centered around the thought of doom and damnation for so many of their kind. u Gastonia Trial WE seem to have been vastly more successful in perfecting machinery than in devising a system whereby we can live together without hate, prejudice and friction. Neither does one have to go to Jerusalem, or ponder on the bloody work of Arab tribesmen, to appreciate tips. In North Carolina, they are trying thirteen men and three women for the murder of a chief of police which would not be important, except for the background. The background is a dispute over wages and working conditions that should have been settled in an orderly way, and that could have been settled in such a way had the same amount of thought been given to the problem as has been given to some other things. tt tt tt The Problem of Wages WE talk a great deal about wages, working conditions, tolerance, morality and allied subjects, but we seldom do anything of a purposeful, constructive nature until driven to it. Thousands of scientists are studying and toiling to make improvements in one field or another, but how many are toiling and studying to solve our economic and social problems? When it comes to mechanics or chemistry, w r e foster experiment and insist on proof, refusing to accept a thing as so, until it has been demonstrated. In the realm of sociology and economics, however, we prefer to imagine, to quarrel, to work ourselves into a veritable passion over untried theories, until bloodshed, or physical misery brings us to our senses. tt tt a Split the Profits TAKE this cotton mill situation in the south, or anywhere else, for that matter, and does it present a more difficult problem than the airplane, wireless, or flood control on the Mississippi? Certainly not, but we have failed to approach it from the standpoint of a problem. The idea prevails that it is just another row between two crowds, and that the only way to settle it is to let them fight until one has thrashed the other. Labor demands the right to strike and picket; employers demand guards and protection for their property; the public stands back to watch the show, as though it were contrived for nothing more serious than amusement, and then as anyone with a grain of common sense should know, somebody gets hurt. Meanwhile, the show is a matter of cold arithmetic on the one hand, and how the profits should be split between capital management and labor on the other. a tt tt Backward Industry IT generally is admitted that the textile industry has failed to keep pace with the times; that it pays lower wages and works longer hours than most of the other great industries. It generally is admitted, also, that there is some excuse for this; that foreign competition, a rapidly changing market and the introduction of new materials have combined to place the textile industry in an embarrassing position. Even so, there should be a way to work out the problem with fairness to all concerned, to employ brains, rather than force and avoid getting into such a stew of futile emotionalism as the south now is in.

Daily Thought

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.—St. Matthew 11:28. tt a b WORK was made lor men, and not man for work. Man is not work’s servant, save as an almost universal perversion has made him such.—J. G. Holland. Is there a bridge between Key West and Cuba. NO. Why are Marines called Leathernecks? The general concensus of opinion is that the term leatherneck had its origin in the fact that years ago the stock or collar of the Marine corps uniform was largely composed of leather. How old is President Hoover? He was born Aug. 10,187* i

Refrigerator Makers Avoid Poison Gas

This is the ninth of a series of articles by Dr. Morris Fishbein describing the action of various poisonous eases on human beings. BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hyeeia, the Health Magazine. AMONG the irritating gases used in refrigeration are sulphur dioxide and ammonia. Every one knows that ammonia burns and irritates and that it is not safe to be around when ammonia is escaping. Workers who become unconscious following an explosion and who thus are exposed to quantities of ammonia die as a result of the burning of the tissues. They do not die as a result of the absorption of the gas. It is impossible to remain in air filled with am-

Readers of The Times Voice Views

Editor Times—One of your correspondents, Myron J. Potts, seems to have encountered some serious difficulties in his attempts to get a line on the presidential preference of The Times during the last campaign. His inability to fathom your editorial profundities furnishes a unique parallel to the experience of an artless dirt farmer who lived in an adjoining county some years ago. Naturally concerned with the affairs of government, this hornyhanded son of the soil felt an unusual urge to become better informed on things political when the Harrison-Cleveland campaign began to warm up, early in the spring of 1888. Not given to taking hasty action on matters of such grave import, he sought out his legal advisor—a prominent attorney at the county seat—and asked his advice about subscribing for a newspaper. Now the lawyer happened to be a dyed-in-the-wool Republican—a leader of his party in that county —while the farmer was a real Jeffersonian Democrat, Simon pure, Bourbon, without equivocation or shadow of turning. After considerable discussion of the matter, the lawyer very earnestly recommended the St. Louis Globe-Democrat as being the particular journal most likely to present the political issue in the most consistent and reliable manner. Judging the political complexion of the paper to be indicated by its name, the farmer sent in his subscription and began to get wised up.

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BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND Aug. 27 THE Battle of Long Island took place on Aug. 27, 1776, between American troops commanded by General Washington and British soldiers under General Howe. Washington had fortified Brooklyn Heights and stationed a lar&3 portion of his small force on the hills in front of that position. The night of Aug. 27, Howe attacked the outlying body of Americans, captured a mounted patrol, thrust his detachment between the two American forces and captured nearly the whole of one unit. Howe stepped his soldiers in front of the heights. Almost miraculously, Washington rescued the garrison and transported it across the East river to Manhattan island. Then came delay after delay, but time did not strengthen Washington’s position. Notwithstanding some brilliant strokes, the Americans were driven from Manhattan island and the mainland north of it. With the main body. Washington retreated slowly across the Jerseys and finally into Pennsylvania. The most serious disaster of this movement was the loss of Ft. Washington at the end of Manhattan Island and it* munitions of wan

Sneakin' Up on Him!

DAILY HEALTH SERVICE.

monia without wearing a gas mask. Sulphur dioxide is a gas with extremely irritating properties. Sulphur dioxide under pressure in the liquefied state is used in the ice machines. When a person comes in contact with sulphur dioxide, the eyes and throat are irritated. If there is any considerable amount of sulphur dioxide in the air, it is impossible to breathe. A person who is conscious under such circumstances leaves promptly. Thus sulphur dioxide is a more poisonous gas than methyl chloride, but its use in daily life is not nearly so dangerous because it makes its presence known. The records do not indicate a single instance of fatal poisoning from sulphur dioxide gas used in

Near the close of the campaign the lawyer met his client on the street one day and casually inquired as to how he liked his paper. “Jest fine,” was the reply, “it certainly does give you Republicans hell.” JOE SAUNDERS. 1022 North Alabama street. Editor Times—Such writing as that of Mr. Potts in the Thursday edition of The Times only serves to bring to light the type of narrowminded citizen who cast his vote against A1 Smith. Any man who toils for a livelihood and did not vote for the Democratic nominee merely slapped his own face. This gentleman surely is not very well read or he would know that The Times is to be criticised for being against the New York Governor and not for him. Mrs. Willebrandt tells the truth, and such sore-headed Republicans as Mr. Potts are the first to complain when confronted by the true facts. , One thing you can give the Democrats credit for, they are not responsible for the rottem ess of the present prohibition enforcing officers. L. A. MULRY Jr._ Editor Times—As an overseas exservice man, I see no reason for the spending of millions on this so-called World war memorial. What the veteran needs in Indiana is a veterans hospital to care properly for the thousands of disabled service men Already millions have been spent on this would-be memorial and now it is proposed to soend another million to remove the churches from the memorial site. I do not think there is a service man in Indiana who favors this or even recognizes this memorial. Indiana refused the service men a bonus, refused to spend $75,000 to honor properly the first American soldier killed in France, but it can spend millions on a pile of rocks that mean nothing. I think it high time to call a halt. An OVERSEAS VETERAN. Editor Times—Permit me as a taxpayer and resident for more than twenty-six years in this city, the space in your valuable paper, the uniting of two opinions, those of Mrs. Beth Fuson, 1922 Parker avenue (not Puson, as I know her personally) and John Hutchison, Fontanet, Ind. By uniting the opinions of two in one, the possibility could be that the desired result will be obtained. Institute a “home for the aged” somewhere outside of the city on a farm, with one or more good men in charge. Let that labor which can be supplied by those of the home be granted that privilege so far as possible. Also establish a manufacturing establishment for inside workers, manufacturing articles of a simple nature that can be made by the aged. Three tc six hours a day is sufficient time for a day’s labor for these aged. Those who are married may have privileges as all married folks do, in a married folks’ section. The unmarried can have separate sections, one for women and one for mot), but let them associate with

household refrigerators. When a person becomes poisoned by any irritant gas such as sulphur dioxide, the treatment is the same as that for nitrogen dioxide; thinning of the blood by bleeding, the injection of fresh blood and salt aolution and the inhalation of oxygen. It is important to know that practically all household refrigerators now sold have either sulphur dioxide or ammonia as the refrigerant gas. Those using methyl chloride are arranging as rapidly as possible to mix sulphur dioxide with the methyl choride or to find some other odorous. irritating substance which will safeguard the situation. It is likely, however, that sooner or later methyl chloride will be replaced as a household refrigerant.

each other, and if a courtship comes about, let them marry. I find no limit in such. However, these old people can not be abused or driven to a certain amount of labor, but help from each one who is able will aid much to lessen the burden of the others. There is also a need for a hospital ward, for the sick, otherwise disabled. In this measure there are many good people with means who will donate for the cause. Investigations must be made from time to time by those interested, that there be no possibility for graft on the part of those who are in charge of the institution. Honesty must be sought by all, or Uny who investigate. Those in charge of such an institution must be subject to discharge, should they be found unworthy, or found guilty of mistreating, or misrepresenting events falsely, or treating cruel any of the patients of the proposed home. Those in charge must be right at heart, and not be put in charge by politics only. Many people who have their aged with them in their own home, and are quite a bit of care to them, plus the cost, the same cost will help to support them in the “home for the aged.” As for many of the aged we now have in our hospitals for the insane, there are many who should be in the “home for the aged.” I know of many old folks who are In asylums as patients who are somewhat feeble and childish, and should be in a home should such be instituted. They are a little “off,” but not violent. I will be glad to hear from any who are interested. J. A. SCHMIDT, G. L. SCHMIDT, 16 North Oakland avenue.

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AEG. 27, 1929

IT SEEMS TOME Bv Heywood Broun ——

Idals and opinion!! ?tpre*ed In this column arc those of one of America's most interesting writers, snd are presented without regard to their agreement or disagreement with the editorial attitude of this paper.—The Editor. AMONG the modern novels the one which I have re-read most frequently is Arnold Bennett’s “Buried Alive.” Critics, I imagine, rate this well below Bennett’s best, but it has always seemed to me one of his liveliest and most entertaining stories. Incidentally, the book raises an important point in human psychology. It gives the lie to every person who has ever conducted any sort of advice to the lovelorn column. This very possibly was no part of the author’s intention. Indeed, it may be a wholly unconscious piece of wish-fulfillment which makes the distinguished Britisher celebrate the stupid woman as the proper life partner for the genius. You may remember that In “Buried Alive” the greatest living painter pretends to be dead. His valet dies, and when the attending doctor mistakes the servant for the master the artist allows the mistake to stand. With all due ceremony the valet is buried in Westminster Abbey and Priam Farll settles down in a humdrum London suburb after marrying the widow of a small builder. a a Painter's Bride IT is not precisely fair for me to stigmatize Alice as stupid. That is not precisely the fact set down by the author. But, at any rate, she has not the slightest understanding or interest in her husband’s job. When he begins to paint anonymously to eke out the family income, this pursuit seems to her a crack-brained whim. The outstanding quality In Farll’s wprk leads to his being recognized and the hoax exposed. To the eye of the experts his canvases done after his supposed death are signed with every brush stroke. But to Alice they are merely the petrified daubs of an incompetent amateur. Yet when Farll is dragged out of his retreat and back to public attention once again Bennett pictures his plight as tragic. The author seems to think that this great artist would have been ideally happy if he had been able to continue in a solitary studio, where there was no one ever to say, “That thing you’ve just done is a masterpiece.” Always I have doubted the verity of Arnold Bennett’s theory. Os course, he is speaking of geniuses, and for them the usual rule may not apply. I don’t know. I’ve never met a genius. However, I am of the opinion that self-praise is not sufficient for people of high talent. I’ve never known a writer who was not in need of some close companion to appreciate the stuff he did. I do not doubt the sincerity of all the boys and girls who state that they are indifferent to the verdict of the great reading public. A few of them are quite accurate in maintaining that their own satisfaction has nothing to do with the volume of sales. But even in these instances I always have felt that they did eagerly await the judgment of some audience, tho it might consist of no more than half a dozen. a a a The World Lost ONE or two have written for an even smaller group. I believe George Jean Nathan once said that he always wrote with the thought in mind, “I wonder whether Mencken will like this.” And so I do not believe that Priam Farll would have been forever happy in a villa with dumb Alice. Sooner or later he would have been obliged to call someone into the studio in order to ask, “Now tell me frankly—What do you think of this?” However, this somewhat begs the question as to whether a genius, or a person of high talent, should marry a stupid woman. Farll’s Alice could cook and sew and keep house with a high degree of skill, but none of these accomplishments has anything to do with intelligence. At least, there was nothing on earth for the painter and his wife to talk about. It’s my opinion that such unions don’t work well. Happiness is seldom founded upon such a trifling thing as a well ordered home. Modern invention has all but abolished the housekeeper’s occupation. In these days of delicatessens and canned dainties the good cook excels the bad one by no more than the breadth of a finger nail.