Indianapolis Times, Volume 41, Number 117, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 September 1929 — Page 4

PAGE 4

1 * M O*V 4AD

No Turning Back Now The city manager law is dead, killed by three judges of the supreme court. Ejt the civic conscience, high purpose and fine ztu. v.’bjch had inspired a crusade for decent government and better public conditions under its provisions is not dead. That is beyond assassination. The immediate reaction to this decision should be a determination on the part of those who have given their trust, their time, their money and their enthusiasm to this cause, to fight as never before against the evils they sought to banish through a changed form of government. To these forces the decision comes as a surprising and astounding blow to their hopes. One of ‘the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the decision and the present situation is that while the unimpeachable men and women were working and planning for the city manager election, confidently relying upon the assurances and opinions of many outstanding attorneys that the law was valid and beyond overthrow, in other quarters of the city, where a different type of citizens congregates and discusses public matters, a most accurate forecast of the outcome was common and confident. It is unfortunate that leading lawyers and the better citizens were wrong, while those who frequent the poolrooms and resorts of questionable nature were correct in their predictions as to the final result. The decision of the court finds the law impossible of operation in one particular. It says that the provision that the city clerk, within five days, must certify to the validity of the signers to a petition for a change of government cannot be carried out in a city of the size of Indianapolis. This is a duty, which, says the decision, cannot be delegated to others. And it correctly estimates that the clerk, if personally called upon to find and interview every signer, would have to visit two and sixtythree hundredths of a voter each minute, day and night during the five days. The court, and in this all will assent, says that this cannot be done, and takes judicial notice of that fact. , There will be many who will regret that the court could not find it within its province to fake judicial notice of the fact that at the election held under the petition filed with the clerk, the citizens of Indianapolis cast their ballots at the ratio of nearly six to one in favor of such a change. To minds less judicial this might have suggested that the one purpose of verification of a petition, which is to test the desire of a sufficient number of citizens to make the expense of an election a reasonable use of public funds, had been justified and that it might be properly assumed that out of the overwhelming number of citizens who favored the change a sufficient number of qualified voters had petitioned for the election in which they participated. However, the court has ruled. The law is dead. And turning from its grave, the friends of good government, stunned though they may be by griel, must find a way to accomplish the results they hoped for by other means. For the tragedy of the situation, if it has its tragical aspects, is not the death of the city manager law. It lies in the possibility that the finest group of citizens ever organized in this city, with the most fervent enthusiasm ever shown for civic righteousness, may lose their zeal and take on a color of hopelessness and helplessness. The city manager movement was a legitimate child. It was begotten of resentment against the outrages which had been perpetrated in the name of a partisan city government and mothered by a lofty hope that a city, unshackled from bossism, from machine rule, from intrigue and manipulation, might reach a great height of spirit as well as prosperous comfort for its citizens. That resentment still exists. That hope still lives. Today those who have led the thousands who gave their trust and confidence to what, it appears, was an unconstitutional aspiration. have a deeper responsibility than ever before. They must stand guard against trickery, against hopelessness, against a dispersion of the forces of civic righteousness. TJhey must lead. The decision is the opportunity, of course, for the forces of greed and selfishness. They me}' and probably will, try to find a respectable front for their sinister purposes. They will try to again capture the city hall. It is. too, the opportunity for those who today are disappointed. It is the opportunity to carry on and stick together. The law is dead. The cause lives.

The Indianapolis Times (A ICKirrKHOKARII .NEWSPAPER) Owned and published dally (except Sunday! by The Indianapolis Times Publishing Cos.. 214-220 W Maryland Street. Indianapolis, Ind. Price In Marlon County 2 cent* a ropy: elsewhere. 8 cent*— delivered by carrier. 12 cents a week. BOTD ODBLBT. KOY W HOWARD. FRANK G. MORRISON. Editor. President Business Manager ) HONE—ItITeT aaftT WEDNESDAY. SEPT 25. 1929. Member of rolled I’rms, IcrtM Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newspaper Enterprise Association Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way"

Hoover and the Tariff The President has intervened in the senate tariff fight—not in protest against higher rates for rich and prosperous industries as hoped, but in defense of the flexible provision under which the President, on recommendation of the tariff commission, may change rates up to 50 per cent. Arguments used by Mr. Hoover in favor of retaining the flexible provision are perfect—theoretically, oeven years ago it was put into the law and pretty generally accepted on all sides as a rpform. It was to help take the tariff out of politics, to provide machinery for correcting inequalities in individual schedules without the prolonged congressional debate which always follows attempted tariff tinkering, and finally it was to increase the power of the bi-partisan and scientific tariff commission. Unfortunately, it has not worked out that way. Whoever or whatever is responsible, the fact is that in seven years of operation the flexible provision has in effect made the tariff commission more political in character, and has concentrated more power in the hands of the President, while at the same time subjecting him to increased partisan pressure. The flexible provision in the hands of Mr. Coolidge meant little more than an invitation to raise rates right and left. Practically every important change was a full 50 per cent increase. When the commission recommended a decrease on a major commodity, Coolidge ignored It. Along w’ith that process went an attempt by the White House to control the commission through indirect pressure, and finally through the astounding subterfuge of demanding standing resignations from commissioners to be used if and when the President desired. This bit of unpleasant history explains why many of the most progressive senators of both parties now are so opposed to the “reform” machinery w'hich they helped to build. They now propose to make the commission directly responsible to eongress, which alone will have authority to change rates, as originally contemplated by the Constitution. They believe this will preserve the best part of the present system and eliminate the evils of the last seven years. Doubtless a great many voters find themselves in our own predicament. We agree with the President that the present system is best, theoretically. Ijhit we have pointed out repeatedly the abuse of the flexible provisions under Mr. Coolidge. It all comes down—as most governmental problems and the spirit in which a law is enforced. And we do not think Mr. Hoover is the kind of President who will abuse the flexible provision power for partisan purposes. Therefore we are somewhat less excited about the need of qyick revision than we were when Mr. Coolidge was in the White House. We are saving our excitement in this tariff fight for the matter of high industrial rates which violate the Republican campaign pledge, which will increase the cost of living, which will start foreign retaliation and boycotts and which are pretty close to public robbety. We still hope the President, in line with his message to congress, will take as positive a position in the matter of the high industrial tariff increases as he has on the flexible provision. Truly Rural Clinton Bardo, president of the New York Ship Building Company, speaking out of the richness of his experience with William B. Shearer, declares on the witness stand that he now regards Shearer as an undesirable man to have around. Asked why, he lapses Into the rural and says: '•Well, you might send him after the cows and he might take a gun and shoot the farmer’s pigs.” That rather picturesque language describes accurately what big business frequently gets when it hires what have come to be called by the pompous title of “public relations engineers,” previously known under the more plebian heading of “press agent.” Especially w’ill some of the public utilities appreciate Mr. Bardo’s feelings, for those utilities have been on the anxious seat now for a couple of years as a result of high-pressure schemes devised by their “public relations engineers.” The text book scandals and other similar revelations brought forth by the federal trade investigation are demonstrations of the fact that the press agents u;ho were sent out to bring in the cow r s actually did shoot up the pigs.

REASON

THEOPOPE ROOSEVELT, new Governor of Porto Rico, is the brightest of T. R.'s children and the one most like him is Alice Roosevelt Longworth. Had the fates cast her for a male role the Roosevelt banner would not be hanging on the ancestral wall at Oyster Bay; it would be waving up close to the head of the procession. a a a Young gentlemen, suffering from that tired feeling. may be interested to learn that the oldest toiler in the American vineyard, Jacob B. Ullery, aged 91 years, still takes care of his 100-acre farm up in Michigan. He cut his place out of the wilderness more than seventy years ago and has run it ever since, thus proving that the nearest approach in all this world to a fountain of eternal youth is to spend your days as your own boss in a business that you like. a * a William F. Kenny, the wealthy New York contractor. now in Europe, who had his barber cross the Atlantic to give him a hair cut. should also takers seafoam and a shave while the fellow is over there. a a a ■£> AMSAY M'DONALD’S visit may not determine IV the naval strength of the United States and Great Britain, but when President Hoover entertains him, it will determine just where Mrs. Gann is to sit. e a a It is a sad commentary’ on the intelligence on our highwaymen that not one of them thought of holding up a victim by claiming to be a com borer detective, sent out by the department of agriculture. a m a REPESENTATIVE LA GUARDIA. nominated as Republican candidate for mayor of New York, is an interesting personality. Born in Arizona, he graduated from a New York high school and served as a flier during the World war. In politics he has visited around quite a lot. running on various tickets and if not elected mayor, he will stay in the national house of representatives and make wet speeches.

D FREDERICK LANDIS

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. Tracy

SAYS:

Talk Has Become Almost a Religion In This Country, Not Only as a Substitute for Action, But as a Guarantee of Results. SENATOR M’KELLAR is against the proposed Anglo-American naval accord: not that he loves peace less, but parity more. Counting cruisers, he finds that England has about twice as many as the United States. And to his mind a cruiser’s a cruiser, whether she weighs 3.0U0 tons and mounts six-inch guns, or 10,000 tons and mounts eight-inch guns. The fact that four-fifths of England’s cruisers would be comparatively small under the proposed agreement, while more than onehalf of ours would be comparatively big, does not impress the senator as of any consequence. What he wants is the number—nothing more. tt tt tt Dicouraging as Senator McKellar’s opposition to the administration program may be, it is offset by the announcement that neither Mrs. Gann nor Mrs. Longworth will be in Washington during Premier MacDonald's visit. According to a United Press dispatch, Secretary Stimson looks ten years younger. Preparations for the premier’s visit necessarily involved some hard bargaining with regard to tonnage, caliber, speed, and so on, but that caused little worry compared to the far greater problem of where to seat the Vice-President’s sister and the Speaker's wife at social functions. tt tt tt Enright Says He Knows. Richard e. enright, running for mayor of New York on the “Square Deal” ticket, says that if Governor Roosevelt authorizes an investigation of the Rothstein case, he will tell what he knows. “I have some information concerning the Rothstein case which is authentic,” he says, “and I will be glad to submit it to any investigator the Governor might appoint.” This information would be extremely embarrassing to several city officials, he declares, insinuating that the police have done what they coqld to cover it up for that reason. More particularly, he charges that the police and District Attorney Eanton have known pretty well where Herman Biller, an impor’ it witness in the Rothstein case, was to be found, while he himself had information that Biller was in New York City for two weeks last August. Borrowing an idea from President Hoover, District Attorney Banton says that if Mr. Enright knew of Biller’s presence in the city, it was his duty to inform the authorities, not forgetting to mention time and place. a a tt Wink at Speakeasies FOR many years the opposition to Tammany hall, whether represented by a Republican. Socialist or a fusion candidate, has hung on the hope of proving graft or collusion. The Rothstein case is popular with the opposition because it represents one more possibility in that direction. Exposure of the speakeasy graft probably would be easier, but not so effective. The presence of 32,000 speakeasies, as Mr. Enright charges, would suggest nothing so emphatically as that New York is tolerant toward them. Even if such tolerance does include considerable hush money. Proof of connivance to pigeonhole a murder case would hurt Tammany more than would exposure of an indulgent attitude toward hooch. Asa matter of common sense, such attitude is taken for granted. Especially since Mr. Whalen declined the invitation to “co-operate” with federal authorities. tt tt a Like all Washington. New York oratory with regard to speakeasies takes academic lines. A great deal is heard about “common knowledge,” what the authorities could do if “they had the will,” and so on. Prohibition, when you come to think of it, has taken the place of the w’eather in furnishing a subject about which everyone feels free to talk. While no one feels obligated to do anything. tt a a Talk Is Our Religion TALK has become almost a religion in this country. We believe in it not only as a substitute for action. But as a guarantee of results. Some of our shrewdest business men are willing to pay good money for talk. As the Shearer case reveals, and rather pocr talk at that. A review of the testimony thus far developed in that case is startling. What Shearer did or said at Geneva and Washington is of no great consequence, but wliat the people who hired him expected is a sad commentary on their business sense, if not their political ideals.

Daily Thought

But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.—Colossians 3:25. a a a Justice is but distributing to everything according to the requirements of its nature.—Glanvil. What is the population of New York? The 1928 estimated population was 6,017.000. What are the ’alues of smal' pennies dated 1800 iBl2, 1831, and 1853? None of them command any premium. What does the name Mayle mean? It is a variant spelling of the Irish family name May all. meaning bald, tonsured, like a priest. It originated as a nickname.

S&v 1 it f Jfr Ilf-' U. < KHOWrn : - if 1 //jM If WOULDN'T TRY

Study Child’s Mental Capacity Early

By DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hygeia, the Health Magazine. THE most rapid period of growth of the child is in its early years. In the very early period of growth days count greatly; after middle life, days mean little in the changes that go on in the human organism. The psychologists who have studied the mental development of the child consider it of the greatest importance to determine as soon as possible whether the child is likely to be mentally defective. The quicker important force can be brought to bear, the better it is for the future life of the individual. Thus, Dr. Arnold Gesell of the Psycho-Clinic of Yale University indicates a few of the definite activi-

IT SEEMS TO ME

IJUST have read what seems to me the best novel any American now alive has written, but this is not to be issued in book form for another week or so and accordingly it is the honorable duty of a critic to keep quiet. It is not a bad rule to read an old book whenever you just have finished anew one. Accordingly, I supplemented the magnificent native novel by tackling “The Outline of History’’ once again. That isn’t quite ancient yet, but it remains a good book to have around. It is a particularly appropriate book for the library of a lazy man. It is a good book for me. You see, it will always be fresh as far as I’m concerned, because I have no expectation of ever getting all the way through. I suppose, man and boy, I’ve been reading “The Outline” nigh on to seven years. There have been intervals in this endeavor and mostly I start all over again to refresh my memory. a u a Book'That Never Fails THIS time I jumped into the middle and grew fascinated with what H. G. Wells has to say about Napoleon. Publishers have a saying that no biography of Napoleon ever can fail. Hot or cold, he remains the most glamorous of all historical figures. Nor is the urge to write about Napoleon limited wholly to historians and biographers. r The editor of a literary magazine tells me that in the last three years he has read no less than 26 novels which deal in part with the retreat from Moscow. Even the great Shaw grows a little sentimental and romantic when he writes about the Corsican. Accordingly, it is strange to find that H. G. Wells is practically the only living writer who professes to have a contempt for Napoleon. Mr. Wells feels that his historical stature has been exaggerated vastly. He would have the world accept him literally as a little corporal. It may be that this attitude is defensive. Wells does protest a shade too much. The sight of the terrible Corsican peeping over the edge of the Thirtyeighth chapter sends Mr. Wells scurrying from his detached internationalism right into the center of a British square. a a a Bc*.ey Scared Him IT ir.v>t be that Wells was little and bad. his nurse told him that if he did not eat his mush or go to bed. or perform some other necessary chore in the life of a child, old Boney would get him. And Wells is still scared. He takes it out by scaling down the emperor and remarks that it was pretty lucky for the Frenchman that Trafalgar went against him.

All Is Not Gold That Glitters

.DAILY HEALTH SERVICE.

ties that a child can carry out purposefully during its first year. By the end of the first month, the normal infant apparently recognizes its mother’s face; by the end of the second month, it will follow her moving figure with its eyes; at the end of the third month, it can begin to manipulate objects a little; at the end of the fourth or fifth month, pick ,up a toy in the crib; at six months, reach for a toy; at eight months, look for a spoon that falls on the floor; at 10 months, pick up any small object; at 11 months, push a pencil through a hole, and at 12 months, speak one or two words. A normal infant is likely to develop at about this speed. It has been found that even difficulty with nutrition and underweight will not modify greatly the

Otherwise, so the stanch Briton suggests, the English would have made short work of the Old Guard had they tried any monkey business on the far side of the channel. Nelson, according to this historian, was a warrior of far greater imagination than Napoleon. But if so, it seems a pity that he did not rise to Wellsian heights of strategy and lose Trafalgar so that Napoleon might later land on England’s shore and take a licking. Very probably mankind is not better off because he lived. It is reasonable to assume that his career was not altogether pleasing to God. But Bonaparte remains even yet the great bogey man of Europe, a figure great enough to reach out from the grave and frighten H. G. Wells and mark. him. Here was a man who took life and made it theatrical. It was an achievement in popular esthetics if nothing else. But Wells doesn’t seem to care about esthetics. Perhaps even a moral might be extracted from the life of Napoleon. He proved the magic quality of personality and the inspiration of gesture. Some day the same methods may be used for some finer purpose.

- : 'rqOA‘<] ISITH£“ MMI V^ffSAllY

SIGHTS PACIFIC OCEAN Sept. 25

ON Sept. 25, 1513, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, a Spanish explorer, sighted the Pacific ocean, the first, European to do so from American shores. Confused accounts of a great western ocean which reached Balboa in the Darien territories, of which he was in supreme command, impelled him to go in search of it in 1513. On Sept. 25. he obtained his first view of the Pacific ocean from a mountain top in the Isthmus of Panama. Four days later, he reached the water at a point which is still known by the name he gave it, the Gulf of Miguel. He took formal possession for Spain, naming the ocean the Mar del Sur. or South sea, the coast at this point trending nearly east and west. The educated men of his time shared his great enthusiasm at this great discovery and the contemporary w’riters may still be read with much interest. Governorship of the territories conquered by Balboa, and known as Darien, was obtained a short time later by Pedro Arias (Pedrarias) Davila, through intrigues at the Spanish court, and Balboa resigned the command into the hands of the Governor. t t Balboa was beheaded in 1517 after a dispute withe Pedrarias.

learning ability of the infant or its behavior with relationship to these simple tests. The infant mentally defective at birth will begin to show its defects very promptly. If the infant does not show normal characteristics of growth early in life, it demands prompt consideration and attention. Even though it is not certain that much can be done for such an infant, except to protect it against a world which has but little consideration for the inefficient, what scientific medicine can do in such cases is to determine as soon as possible the need for specialized study and care, the separation of the individual from the group and its life and those of its relatives the special attention that will make more enurable.

Ideal* and opinions expressco In this column are those cl one of America’s most interesting writers, and are presented without regard to their agreement or disagreement with the editorial attitude cf this oaper.—The Editor.

HEY WOOD y BROUN

Colored Ribbons THE institution of the Legion of Honor Wells calls, “A scheme for decorating Frenchmen with bits of ribbon which admirably was calculated to divert ambitious men from subversive proceedings.” It does seem silly that anybody should be willing to die for a bit of ribbon, but Wells ought to give Napoleon credit for his insight. Men will die for a bit of ribbon. We have seen them do it in our time. Without decorations, without phrases and without the brilliant and effective theatricality of French officers from marshals to lieutenants, France would have lost the great war. It was neither guns nor barbed wire which stopped the Germans at Verdun. A phrase stood in their way and could not be dislodged. Even the stem and taciturn Pershing learned the lesson and before he had been in France three months he was traveling about making orations to wounded men. I heard him tell a legless boy that he envied him and wished that he, Pershing, could lie there in his place. I doubt if the boy was convinced of the sincerity of the wish. Possibly Pershing did not use the proper gesture. After all, he was not Napoleon. (Copyright, 1929. by The Times)

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SEPT. 25, 1929

SCIENCE

BY DAVID DIETZ

Measuring Distance to Stars Is Simple, as Far as the Underlying Principle Is Concerned. HOW do astronomers measure the distances of the stars? That Is the question in the mind of a correspondent who writes, “I read with interest your reports of the recent meeting of the American Astronomical Society at Ottawa. It is stimulating to hear the way the astronomers toss around billions and trillions of miles. But how do they know?” Measuring the distance to a star is a very’ simple matter as far as the underlying principle is concerned. In practice, however, it is an extremely difficult task, requiring the highest of astronomical skill. An analogy will make the method clear. Let us suppose that a surveyor on one bank of a river wishes to know the exact distance to a tree on the other side. He will proceed as follows: First, he will measure off a base line on his side of the river. Then, he will set up his surveying instrument at one end of the line and sight at the tree, measuring the angle between it and the base line. Then he will do the same thing from the other end of the line. He now has a triangle of which his line is the base and the tree the apex. He knows the length of the base line and the two angles which he has measured. It is then a simple matter to calculate, by trigonometry, the distance to the apex of the triangle, which is the tree. a o tt To the Sun WE can apply this same method to finding the distance to the sun. At the same instant, an astronomer in New York and one in San Francisco point their telescopes at the sun, noting the angle at which their telescopes are inclined. They now have a triangle like the surveyor had. The distance from New York to San Francisco is their base line. The telescope readings give the tow angles. All they need do now is calculate the distance <to the apex of their triangle, which is the distance to the sun. It would seem at first that the distances of stars might be obtained in the same way. But the stars are so far away that the base line from New York to San Francisco Is far too short. However, once we know the distance to the sun, which, of course is the radius of the earth’s orbit, wc can make use of that. Consequently, we can pursue th following method: We can poir our telescope at the star in Jar uary and again in June. We thhave a great triangle, whose be line is the diameter of the eart!' orbit, a distance of 186,000,000 mi! Actually, a modification of tl method is used. Two photographs < the star and its neighboring ste are taken, six months apart. Due the change in angle at which 11 star is seen, it will appear to he shifted its position slightly w: reference to the other stars i general. Tills shift, or parallax, as it known technically, then is detei mined from careful measurements < the two photographic plates and th angles and then the distance calcr. lated from it. The parallax is so very small, however, that the method can be applied with success only to the nearer stars. In the cases of the most distant stars, it is too small to measure with the most delicate instruments, a tt a Dog Star AT the present time, six American and one English observatories are co-operating in a program of measuring stellar distances by the parallax method. Recently the results of their work to date were assembled into a catalog by Dr. Frank Schlesinger, director of the Yale university observatory. It gives the distances of 1,870 stars. These, of course, are the nearer stars. The distances of more remote stars are estimated. Let us suppose that we know the distance of a certain star from parallax measurements. Suppose now that a spectroscopic study reveals that another star of unknown distance is exactly like the star of known distance, exactly like it both in size and in true brightness. It is possible then to estimate the unknown distance by comparing the apparent brightness of the two stars. Obviously, the further away the star of unknown distance is, the dimmer it will appear.