Indianapolis Times, Volume 41, Number 159, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 November 1929 — Page 4

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Devil’s Island: A Disgrace To those of the present generation whose age hovers about the •forties,’’ the search for Devil's Island in the family atlas served in their youth as the counterpart of the cross-word puzzle or "ask me another’’ craze of today. Captain Alfred Dreyfus had been sentenced to this lonely penal colony, and the international stir created by the case incited many an American to dust off his atlas and seek the location of the lonely spot to which Dreyfus had been consigned to suffer and rot. Then we forthwith proceeded to forget all about Devil’s Island. Dreyfus was summoned back home for retrial and acquittal, and we vaguely hoped that the French had allowed the barbarous practice of transportation of criminals to fail into disuse. Something more than a year ago we were shocked into consciousness of the fact that the French had not abated the nuisance in the thirty years since Dreyfus’ historic condemnation. The American explorer and author, Blair Niles, published an arresting exposure of present-day methods at Devil's Island, as dramatic as it was authentic and convincing. Her book, “Condemned to Devil’s Island,” deserves to rank in the descriptive literature of criminal transport with Marcus Clarke's “For the Term of His Natural Life,’’ and Dostoevski’s “House of the Dead.” Exactly coincident with the successful filming of Mrs. Niles’ book by Samuel Goldwyn in the splendid talkie, “Condemned,” which opened at the Selwyn theater in New York recently, we have a press account of the deportation of some 700 additional convicts to this living hell off the coast of French Guiana. The amazing persistence of the French in continuing the practice of transporting criminals ia one of the most striking examples of what the sociologist calls “cultural lag.” It is the last remaining vestige of an attitude toward criminals which began with the notion of the scapegoat and the practice of exile in primitive society. Its percentage goes back more than 10,000 years into dim historic mist of the stone age. Transportation first began on a large scale in England when the galley was displaced by the sailing vessel in early modern times and England no longer could send her criminals to the galleys as slaves. She then began sending her criminals to the American colonies, some 50,000 being shipped out before 1776 when she was compelled to abandon the practice. England then sent her convicts to Australasia. The Incredible horrors of life in the Australasian penal colonies have been immortalized by Marcus Clarke and the memoirs of Ralph Rashleigh. England finally gave up transportation in the middle of the last century, but Russia continued to send convicts to the terrible prison camps of Siberia down into the twentieth century. Dostoevski has given us an undying picture of the Siberian terror. Devil’s Island and New Caledonia, the other French penal colony, are the last vestiges in a long trail of human savagery in dealing with our fellow-men. The Italian penal camps are relatively unimportant. Only those who have read Mrs. Niles’ morbidly absorbing book well can appreciate the living death to which the inmates of Devil's Island are consigned in the crowding, regimentation, rough labor, monotony, solitude, cruel punishments and tropical heat which characterize the life and lot of the convict in this lonely outpost of barbarism. It is a blight on French civilization, which all friends of France and French culture will hope to see removed at no distant date. Mrs. Niles’ book should be read by all Americans interested in humanitarian progress. The movie version will bring its message to millions who never would turn the pages of her printed work. It will be doubly useful if, in fixing our attention on the mote in the French eye, it also makes us conscious of the beam in our own, so well demonstrated by our recent ’prison mutinies. The Federal Budget Announcement by President Hoover that the federal budget for the ensuing fiscal year will be approximately $3,830,000,000, or $111,000,000 below appropriations for the current year, is gratifying. It does not mean however, that tax reductions are any more Imminent than before. The President’s preliminary figures do not include deficiency bills, which will amount to an additional $150,000,000 if they run as usual; funds for the federal farm board, or unusual expenditures congress may vote. The President set out to have executive establishments keep their estimates under amounts allowed for this year, and apparently this has been done. It is noteworthy that preliminary budget figures announced a year ago by President Coolidge were some $50,000,000 below the preliminary estimates just released by Hoover. Flood control, waterway development, and other unusual projects account for the increase. It is too early to tell whether collapse of the stock market by reducing income tax payments will affect seriously a federal surplus estimated as high as $200,000,000, or what effect tariff legislation will have on revenues. Present indications are, however, that the government will spend as much and probably more next year than it has this. In such situation, it is likely the treasury will proceed with caution in its tax recommendations. The Socialist Label The Socialist party nas" taken renewed encouragement from the large vote for Norman Thomas as candidate for mayor of New York City. It has called for a coalition of liberal and independent voters to form a third party of significant dimensions. Whether the large vote which Thomas polled is to be attributed to a swing toward socialism, or was a tribute to Thomas’ vigorous personality and brilliant campaigning met ho .Is, or was a registration of protest. there is need for a realistic third party. That no issues of real importance separate the two old-line parties has become a truism. In the formation of any such third party, is it either wise or necessary to tack on the Socialist label? To any one iamiliar v.itfi the history of Socialist thought and practice, it is evident that the Communist candidate in the late election came far nearer than Thomas to representing the doctrines of Marx and historic Socialism. The majority of Americar Socialists have abandoned the essence of traditional Socialism to the Communists. Marxian Socialism rests upon certain basic conceptions: That man is • calculating animal, governed solely by enlightened self-interest; that economic factors are basic in society and civilization; that labor Is the source of all value; that capitalism will collapse

The Indianapolis Times (A SCKIPPB-HOW AKD NEWSPAPER) Own** an* published daily <*Pt Son*ay) oy Tbe Indlanapoll. 'Mbm PnbHahlnf Cos.. 214. • xv Maryland Street. IndiaDapoll*. Ind. Price in Marlon Connty 2 cents a copy: elsewhere. 3 centa— delivered by carrier, 12 centa a week. “I’ovi. , | ft El KOY W HOWARD, FRANK O. MORRISON, Editor Prealdent Bualneaa Manager , 1 WEDNESDAY. NOV. 1. !■ . , , i p.r scriDoa Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newapaper Enterprise Assoeul ci a ti<,n Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way”

primarily because of great consolidations of wealth unsupported by popular loyalty; and that in the new era production will be for human service rather han private profit. Modem psychology has exploded the Marxian view of man as a calculating machine and has shown that he is a creature of habit and emotion. That economic factors are basic in civilization is accepted by great numbers outside Socialist ranks. The labor theory of value has been discarded by most up-to-date Socialists. Great consolidations of wealth are more revered by the masses than they were In 1896. Production for service has received at least lip service from great industrialists like John D. Rockefeller Jr. In short, what remains of Marxian Socialism after more than a half century of experience and criticism has become the working philosophy of liberal minded people. Those things which matter in contemporary progress! vism are; (1) Greater production for human service and well-being rather than individual profit, and (2) Proved fitness and special training for political office. The problem of progressive leaders is sufficiently to dramatize aspirations so that they can be sold to the American public. An unpopular antique label will not be a notable help to the cause. Insurrection? Nobody seriously believes that an effort was made last summer to overthrow the government of the state of North Carolina. Yet this 13 the formal charge brought by the state’s legal representatives against North Carolina citizens. They are charged with “insurrection” and “sedition.” Back of the charge is the trouble between the textile mill owners of Marion and their workers. The dispute fundamentally is one about wages and working hours. It involves the right of a worker to unite with other workers to oppose the united dollars of the boss. That goes into the matter of the strike, and the strike involves the question of the right to “picket,” which is to assemble to persuade or prevent other workers from taking their jobs. Maintenance of a picket line is apt to lead to disorders. At Marion it did. But, instead of dealing with disorders as suen, the picketeers are haled into court charged with “insurrection.” Why? If the state government and the mill owner are the same, then resistance to the mill owner might be regarded as resistance to the state government. But the American public has assumed that the mill owner and the worker stand the same in the presence of the state government. The government has been supposed to be organized under a state constitution for protection of all citizens. It has been supposed to guarantee protection of property and the enjoyment of certain personal rights known as the liberties of the citizens. “Insurrection” against the mill boss is not insurrection against the state. The Mooney Case Confession Probably little will come of the Ohio “confession” that Lewis Smith, not Tom Mooney, threw the Preparedness day bomb in San Francisco thirteen years ago. Smith is dead and his deathbed statement about the bomb throwing never can be verified successfully. San Francisco police will investigate, but there is no occasion for Governor Young of California to take notice of the incident, or await its outcome before deciding whether he will pardon Mooney and Warren K. Billings. The innocence of these men already has been demonstrated in a way to convince the trial judge who heard the Mooney case, all the living jurors who once feund him guilty, and the attorney who prosecuted Billings. There can be no further doubt that the testimony on which they were convicted was perjured. And so, regardless of who threw the bomb, regardless of who “confesses” and who does not, regardless of the part Mooney and Billings once played in labor agitations, these men should be released from the prisons where they have been confined for so long.

REASON

BETWEEN law suits, during the armistice with her mother, and while the Los Angeles grand jury investigates the charge that she misappropriated church funds, Aimee McPherson organizes an Easter expedition to the holy land. Among the inducements offered to prospective tourists is the promise that Aimee will baptize them in the River Jordan. What wonderful weather we’re having! a It is a delight to look forward to Chicago’s world’s fair, just as it is to recall the White City of 1893 with its stately columns, its beautiful court of honor, its splashing fountains, its lagoons and gondolas, its endless exhibits and that riot of color, tongues and diversions, known as the Midway. u o a It is not surprising that some jurors in the Pantages case say that they were coerced into signing a verdict of guilty, since many verdicts are reached that way. In some cases the majority makes life utterly miserable for dissenters and stopping little short of physical assault, compels them to agree. But the time to speak is when the jury is polled after the verdict is read. a tt t> BUT such bitter antagonism in deliberations is not confined to juries, for we have been informed reliably that supreme courts, even the supreme court of the United States, have many hot exchanges among their members, when it approaches a decision in an important case, involving questions of public policy. However the judicial brethren seldom, if ever, threaten each other. • e ti La Guardia cid not get the Italian vote, as was expected, when he ran for mayor of New York, as Mr. Strauss, before him, did not get the Jewish vote, as was expected, when he ran for Governor of the Empire state. And because we do not vote as sects or as nationalities, let us give thanks. n n b EVERYBODY should be resigned to the fact that the Virginia election put Bishop Cannon out of business, since a bishep is as much out of place in politics as a candidate for office is out of place in a pulpit. This nation was founded on the idea that the preachers should rim the sky and the statesmen should run the earth.

FREDERICK By LANDIS

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. Tracy SAYS:

President Hoover's Suggestion to Safeguard Food Ships in Time of TFar Goes to Root of Naval Problem. IT was a simple idea that President Hoover tossed into the general and rather confused discussion regarding naval reduction and freedom of the seas. Like most simple ideas, it touched the root of the problem. The desire to safeguard seaborne food on the one hand, and destroy it on the other, has played a stupendous part in producing battle fleets. Nations dependent on food from abroad have regarded a strong navy as the surest means by which to protect themselves against starvation in case of war. They also have regarded it as the surest means by which to guarantee starvation for their enemies. b n tt To place food ships on a parity with hospital ships, as President Hoover suggests, would eliminate the starvation factor. It ought to have been eliminated long ago, and would have been but for the fact that passion in the name of patriotism had blinded humanity to common sense. President Hoover punctures the sophistry by which the world has justified a merciless attitude toward women and chillren. Considering how nations have salved their conscience by agreeing to abolish dum-dum bullets and sharp sabers, such an attitude seems incredible. Considering how sympathetic we are toward a few famine and flood sufferers, how readily we condemn those who neglect to provide the proper safeguards on shipboard, and how insistently we demand chivalrous conduct on the part of soldiers, it is amazing with what complacency we have sanctioned the slow death of noncombatants, mostly women and children, through starvation in time of conflict. n a Starve the Babies PRESUMPTIVELY, we create navies to fight each other, but as a matter of fact we use them largely to destroy enemy merchant ships, or even neutral ships whose cargoes would help the enemy. We console ourselves with the argument that this prevents the enemy from getting arms and ammunition, but the practice has been to include food as well. Canned milk for babies has gone to the bottom along with TNT and four-inch guns, and if the battle line caved in because of starvation back of it, rather than because of actual defeat, no one on the victorious side has bothered to shed tears. tt u tt A sorry state of mind, when you come to think of it, a jungle hangover, a beastly method surviving hiefly because few realize its trud nature. Couldn't stomach the dumdum bullet, or the razor-eviged blade, but perfectly willing to let kids die from hunger. Now that President Hoover has shown the thing up for what it is worth, we see not only its ugly side, but the still more ugly effect it has had on naval building. Britain, we are told, will give it “cheerful consideration,” while France will do the same, though not quite so cheerfully, perhaps. a tt a Habit Is Stubborn WE must be patient, of course. As the President points out, “any departure from accepted ideas requires long and searching examination.” It is a weakness of human nature to travel in ruts once we get used to it, no matter how rough, or how wrong the direction they may take. Habit of thought is a stubborn thing. That is why we become slaves to tradition, without realizing it, tolerate ideas for no better reason than that we are used to them, and perpetuate customs utterly opposed to our conceptions ~>l what is right. There is not a civilized government on earth that would starve people to death by confining them, yet all governments sanction it through destruction of food, and not only sanction it, but build huge fleets to see that it is done. Now that the President of the United States has called attention to it, most every one is able to realize its inhumanity and injustice. Why has no one thought of it before? MB* Os more practical importance, why has no one visualized the idea of letting food ships alone as One of the most practical preliminary steps to naval reduction? Mob psychology is the answer, vast multitudes gladly accepting what has come down to them from the semi-barbaric past, letters of mark written into the policy of great governments, old-fashioned piracy endorsed by modem civilization.

Questions and

Answers

Can an alien visitor to the United States become a citizen after he has been here a certain number of years? An alien can not become an American citizen so long as he retains his status of visitor. He has to go back to his country and enter the United States under the quota. After establishing legal residence in this country, he may declare his intention to become an American citizen and after five years continuous residence here, he can apply for final papers. Was the case of Professor Thomas Scopes of Tennessee decided by the United States supreme court? The case was not appealed to the supreme court of the United States. The supreme court of Tennessee affirmed the verdict of the lower courts and held that the statute inhibiting teaching the doctrine of •volution of man was constitutional.

DAILY HEALTH SERVICE School Athletics Often Too Severe

This is the third of four articles by Dr. Morris Fishbcin on the hygiene of athletics. BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hygeia, the Health Magazine. IN the Carnegie Foundation report on American college athletics, the charge is made that athletic directors and teachers have s*en chosen rather because of their ability to make the athletics, especially football, yield profits than for their interest in the health and bodily welfare of the athletes. ■ It is said that the physical health of about one-third of the student bodies is little if at all affected by the athletic programs. It is pointed out that when a man once demonstrates athletic ability, he is encouraged to take part in all of the sports and that

IT SEEMS TO ME

THE drama and literature must give way for a paragraph or two to make room for Senator Brookhart's nose. The problem which confronts a Washington grand jury is unique in American public life. These good men and true are called upon to uphold or repudiate the senator’s sense of smell. Not knowing anything about alcohol from the standpoint of personal imbibation, all that this faithful servant of the people can bring to court is his hound-like sensitivity. The gentleman from lowa has told the senate that one of the Wall Streeters who sat beside him at the Fahey dinner did brazenly pour an alcoholic concoction into a glass and, after adding water, quaff it down. The proceedings before the grand jury are secret, but it is safe to assume that Senator Brookhart has, or will, repeat this same tale under oath. Courts, however, demand exactitude. If the senator is familiar with precedents he may recall the legal attitude which was taken toward another famous teetotaler not so long ago. a a a Not Qualified WHEN Miss Texas Guinan was asked during her trial whether liquor was sold in her establishment, she replied that she could not tell for a certainty since she had never tasted the stuff in her life and would not know Scotch from ginger ale at a distance. I believe the gentleman from lowa has endeavored to set himself up as an authority on the ground that he has some slight familiarity with chemistry. But I rather think that the very blond Miss Guinan is herself not wholly unacquainted with some of the more dazzling laboratory processes. According to the newspaper reports Brookhart watched with grave suspicion while a fellow guest poured fluid from a flask and, when the other fellow wasn’t looking, the gentleman from lowa leaned close to the cup and took a long, close inhalation. Miss Guinan, of course, never did anything like that. That is senatorial dignity. In a night club hostess it would be considered downright boorishness. b a Odor and Decency THE importance of Senator Brookhart's testimony lies in the fact that he may succeed in establishing anew prohibition precedent. “It may be,” a federal officer is quoted as saying, “that the senior senator from lowa can qualify as an expert on odors and what they mean, and, in such an event this might prove to be a very important precedent so far as the rigid enforcement of the liquor laws is concerned.” Indeed, in the future, there may well stand by some rustic bridge a bronze statue oI Smith Wildman

Now to Sober Up!

only in two institutions of those studied was there any limitation to participation of athletes in a maximum of more than two major sports a year. The evils that affect the college athletes are in many instances much greater when they concern the high school. It is stated that the high school athletic associations of Texas, South Carolina, California and Illinois practically ignore the necessity of safeguarding student health in athletic programs. In very few places is there any requirement that a physician shall be in attendance in final or semi-final contests in which serious injuries to health may be sustained. Physical examination prerequisite to participation in high school athletics is not given or is hurried and inadequate.

HEYWOOD y BROUN

Brookhart bearing the inscription, “He sniffed the sniff heard ’round the world.” Still, even in his moment of triumph, Senator Brookhart builds up dangers for his political future. If his efforts are sufficient to bring about an indictment, he will be entitled to run next time under the inspiring slogan, “Return to the United States senate the best smeller in the state of lowa.” a B a Speaking of Books SPEAKING of books I have one addition to make to my list. I like “Bright Intervals” by Nancy Hoyt. This is a short and a lightweight novel. It deals with certain of the profound emotions but skips around them like Albie Booth dodging tacklers in a broken field. Evidently it is Miss Hoyt’s intention to amuse rather than wring the heart. There is just the faintest suggestion of “The Constant Nymph.” Lydia, the charming heroine of the story, comes from a family almost as fantastic as that which composed the Sanger Circus. Few authors handle light dialog as expertly as Miss Hoyt. She catches the cases of Paris to the life, nor Is she any slouch in the depiction of house parties. One of the best portraits in the book is that of a young American actress who becomes the idol of the

—TIC OAYj- IBITHC

SOUTH CAROLINA SECEDES November 13 > ON Nov. J3, 1860, the South Carolina legislature called a convention to consider secession from the Union as a result of President Lincoln’s election. The convention met on Dec. 29 and immediately passed an ordinance of secession. When the attack on Ft. Sumter precipitated the Civil war the following April, South Caroline furnished 60,000 soldiers to the Confederate armies, although her voting population was only about 47,000. A provisional governor was appointed in South Carolina at the close of the war and anew constitution adopted. On the refusal of the state to ratify the fourteenth amendment, a military government was established. In 1868, another constitution allowing Negro suffrage was adopted and the state was re-admitted June 25 of that j^ear. Today is also the anniversry of John Drew, famous American actor, the son of John Drew and Louisa Lane Drew. Young Drew began his theatrical career under his mother's management in Philadelphia in 1873.

Thus it was found that in a number of schools the entire football squad was examined in one hour previous to an important contest. Asa result of this drive in high school athletics, many of the boys came to college burned out and unable to begin to duplicate the feats they performed in high school. Certain forms of athletics are especially unsuited to the high school boy and the joint committee of the National Education Association and the American Medical Associaton has expressed the conviction that endurance runs and rowing races are contra-indicated at high school age. The private schools of the country have been found in general superior to the public high schools in their handling of athletics.

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

London stage somewhat after the manner of our own Tallulah Bankhead. This is set down with a most engaging touch of malice. B a Lively Though Thin r T"'HE folk of “Bright Intervals” are all a little thin but they are lively, every one of them, and talk with a turn of speed sufficient to enthrall the reader. The book list for the week is: “A Farewell to Arms” (I might as well leave that standing), “Animals Looking at You,” “Born to Be” and “Bright Intervals.” As for the plays of the new season, “Berkeley Square” is out in front all by itself. This is the one new play which deserves to be classed in the absolutely first rank. The supplementary list includes: “Strictly Dishonorable,” June Moon” and “Sweet Adeline.” (Copyright. 1929. by The Times)

Daily Thought

Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life.— Revelation 22:14. a B tt Each thing lives according to its kind; the heart by love, the intellect by truth, the higher nature of man by intimate communion with God.— Chapin.

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„NOV. 13, 1929

SCIENCE By DAV7D DIETZ

Astronomers of Ancient Chaldea Gave Great Aid to Science of Later Centuries. NABURIANNU and Kidinnu. Mysterious sounding names. They look like candidates for crossword puzzles or the closely guarued passwords of some secret order. They are in reality, however, names to which all civilization owes a debt. The present day is an age of science. The oldest of all the sciences is astronomy. It was in astronomy that mankind first discovered the existence of natural laws and realized that events happen according to them. Many authorities feel that the other sciences would have been delayed for centuries if it had not been for realization of the existence of natural law which came from astronomy. We owe a debt, therefore, to astronomy for all our applied sciences, medicine, for example, and the various branches of engineering. We owe a particular debt to the pioneers of astronomy, the great minds who laid the foundations oi the study of the heavens. And that is why civilization owes a great debt to Naburiannu and Kidinnu. For they are the oldest astronomers of whom we have any record. They lived in ancient Chaldea. While it always has been known that the Chaldeans made some astronomical observations, the general feeling has been that astronomy as a serious subject got its start in Greece. This view now is known to be wrong. There were serious and important astronomers in Chaldea and Babylonia. tt tt a Greeks ONE of the most interesting results of modern historical research is the proof of how much older the arts and sciences are than originally was suspected. Even the caveman has turned out to be an artist of the first rank, decorating the walls of his caves j with excellent and life-like draw- ; ings of animals. | The work of the Greeks in astron- | omy has been known to scientists I for many years. Thales of Miletus, who lived from | 640 to 546 B. C., and who usually is | referred to as the father of Greek i astronomy, taught that the stars j shone by their own light, but that j the moon shone by reflected sun- ! light. He also taught that the earth I was a sphere. Excellent astronomers among his successors included Anaximander, Anaxagoras, Democritus, Pythagoras, Meton and Eudoxus. Meton de- ■ veloped a method of the predicting 'clipses. Eudoxus made the first attempts to explain the motions of the planets with the aid of geometry. Pythagoras, who lived from about 580 to 497 B. C., enjoys the distinction of having been the first to suggest that the earth revolved around the sun. Scientists, knowing of these Greeks, felt that they established astronomy as a science. They felt that the earlier cultures, the Chaldean and Babylonian, were interested only in astrology, the attempt to predict the future course of events from the stars. Despite the fact that it was known that the Chaldeans had the ability to predict eclipses, scientists did not feel that they had made any great progress in the science of astronomy. a Texts rj she publication within recent A years, however, of a number of hitherto unknown Babylonian and Greek texts makes it necessary to revise this opinion of the Chaldeans. The world is chiefly indebted to the industry of a number of German Jesuit fathers, Epping, Strassmaier and Kugler by name, for a knowledge of these texts. They reveal that the Chaldeans | were excellent astronomers having 1 kept careful records of the motions of the sun • and moon for long periods. These texts also introduce us to Naburiannu and Kidinnu, the Greek texts call them Naburianos and Cidenas. j These two, according to Dr. J. K. ! Fotheringham, reader in ancient astronomy and chronology at the University of Oxford, are “entitled to a place among th: • greatest of astronomers.” The two computed systems by which the position of the sun or moon at any future date could be predicted. These systems of course also made possible the prediction of eclipses.