Indianapolis Times, Volume 41, Number 191, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 December 1929 — Page 8

PAGE 8

S€ft/f> PJ •M OW

Burke and Indiana Politics Just why the title gunman, bandit, thug should persist for Burke, the “most dangerous man aliv*-,” is problematical, since he has shown himself to have been more remarkable as a politician. In a moment of bad temper, he killed a policeman who was so thoughtless as to demand obedience to the laws made for 01 dinary individuals. Now it develops that he was most successful in robbing banks, many of them in Indiana. He was also most successful in keeping the road open for liquor that was run through the northern part of the state, distributed with an efficiency that would arouse the en\y of an expert traffic manager to the points of consumption and shutting out competition for any one who opposed the Capone trust. Asa matter of fact, his liquor operations might be said to have been his main business with the robbing of banks as a side line, much as some business men most recently diverted their energies from their own enterprises to the task of picking up extra dollars in the stock market. That Burke executed a few criminals on his own account was to be expected, the criminal, from the viewpoint of the new and highly organized liquor business, is the man who hijacks your booze. The new code is not soft hearted. The men who violate the laws of the underworld are condemned to death, and they die. There is no pardon. What interests Indiana is why Burke has been at large for months, robbing banks and killing policemen. For it is now established that in order to continue th<* business of rum running, it was necessary to mix in politics. It was Burke who was named to the federal officials of the northern district months ago as the man who had arranged for the delivery of hundreds of repeaters in the last election in Lake county, and did deliver them. . Strangely, the federal officials could never find him. It was an easy job for newspaper men to locate him and report his address. But he had always ‘ just left when federal officers went through the gesture of hunting for him. What might have been prevented had the federal agents and officials been as alert as the newspaper reporters can be listed quite definitely. The bank at Peru would not have been robbed. The bank at Columbia City would not have been looted and the woman who was killed by a machine gun during that adventure would be alive. The policeman at St. Joseph, Mich., would be at home with his children this Christmas instead of in a cemetery. There is a very definite connection between crime and politics these days. The career of Burke shows this rather plainly. To operate the new industry of rum running demands protection. The best way to get protection, in connection with buying it, is to get busy in politics, and Burke got busy. Some day, perhaps, the senate or the house of representatives may become curious as to what has happened, really happened, in northern Indiana politics. And the story of Burke may interest them-hugely. Why did the officials fail to find Burke when he was sought as a government witness in the election frauds?

The Crime Commission’s Job Judge William S. Kenyon of the federal court just has rebuked certain unlawful acts of government enforcement officers. In his decision in an Omaha prohibition search case he attacked the practice of law officers who violate the legal rights of citizens. This is significant because Kenyon is a member of the Hoover crime commission. Tire most reassuring action by the commission to date is the decision to investigate lawlessness by the government and its agents in enforcing the law. Tire chairman of the special committee to supervise investigation on such governmental criminality is Kenyon. This promises well for work of the, commission. The question is, how far and how deep its inquiry into this subject will go? It is easy enough for any committee to repeat to the public the cases of official lawlessless which already have appeared in the newspapers and in court records. The fact that affidavits in the Mooney case charge the use of perjured testimony by the prosecuting attorney has become known widely, because a defense organization is interested. For similar 'reasons, the public long has known of the filing of affidavits in the Sacco-Vanzetti case, charging prejudice and unfair conduct by the trial iudge. But there are many cases in which lawlessness by government officials never is brought to light. That is the job of the commission. Obviously it should make its investigation just as broad as the country, and as deep as the liberties of the people involved. The commission has been given an appropriation by congress, and the money could not be better spent than for this purpose. If more money is needed, the commission ought to go to congress and get it It is not so much the professional criminal who ikjffers from gwerament wrongdoing. He generally

The Indianapolis Times (A SCBIPPS-HOW AKD NEWSPAPER) Owned ami published daily (except Sunday) by Tbe Indianapolis Times Publishing Cos.. 214-220 .Vest Maryland Street, Indianapolis. Ind Price in Marlon County, 2 cents a copy: elsewhere. 3 cents delivered by carrier. 12 cents a week. BOYtT Gilt LEY. ROY W. HOWARD. FRANK G. MORRISON, Editor President Business Manager I• JIQNE— R 1 ley ViM FRIDAY. DEC 20. 1929, Member of t nited press, Seripps-Howard N'ewspapei Alliance, Newspaper Enterprise Association, Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will "Find Their Own Way”

has his lawyer selected before he commits his crime. The real sufferer is the man who has for the first time in his life got into trouble, or the man who is innocent and is being railroaded because officials want a scapegoat and are'not competent enough to find the real criminal. The commission has obtained two able experts to probe this subject. Professor Zechariah Chafee already has made a survey of lawlessness by the government in interfering with rights of free speech. Walter Poliak recently made a convincing study of the unlawful actions of an important government official. With two such men as experts, and with Judge Kenyon actively aroused, the country has a right to expect a thoroughgoing investigation. More Than Prison Reform The overcrowding of prisons has been cited so frequently as the immediate cause for the recent succession of riots and mutinies by prisoners that it is more than likely many states and perhaps the federal government will engage in a program of enlarging prisons, and at the same time make conditions in them more nearly approximate those of a civilized, if simple, life. The drastic problem needs immediate relief. There can be no doubt of it. When a patient suffers intense pain, the physician devises whatever quick and ready remedy comes to hand. But then, if he be a good physician, he studies the case more thoroughly and tries to determine the real cause of the pain. One of the most aggravated causes of our disorderly wholesale flinging of men and women behind the bars is the haste with which their cases are treated, and dependence on rule and rote, instead of humane understanding, in dealing with them. And yet in spite of this dependence on formality, we have no unified or standard method. We pretend that we have it, and that we make the punishment fit the crime, but this is not actually the case. On the same day that the Auburn riot occurred, a Texas man was sentenced to life imprisonment for stealing 30 cents and a pie. If ever there was a problem that affected the entire country, and the solution of which ought to bring about a common and humane method of treatment, it is the problem of what to do, not merely with the man behind prison bars, but with him who stands before the court on a criminal charge. It is likely that we shall have to follow the lead of the juvenile court, and devote more attention to the accused person than to the offense with which he is charged. It is likely that we shall be forced by the logic of events to supplant the bench politician with the understanding sociologist and psychologist. In is likely that we shall have to cleanse many courts of first instance of their present atmosphere of greedy hangers-on, hasty procedure, ineffectual fmes and workhouse sentences of a few days, and shall have to approach the entire matter from anew point of view. This is not the point of view which considers the daily batch of prisoners in the bullpen a mere nuisance, to be ground through the mill of court procedure as summarily as possible. It is the point of vjew which seeks to solve the individual problem presented in each case with as much justice, mercy, and understanding as the law allows. \ Inevitably, then, this newer point of view is going to be forced on our system of justice. If we reach it through such sinister underworld and prison upheavals as we have witnessed in the recent past, society at large will be the loser. If, however, we reach it by taking thought and focusing attention on those lower courts where prisoner and organized society first meet face to face, society at large will gain immeasurably. For that is getting rid of the pain by going to the real seat of the trouble.

■T>T? \ CVMS.T FREDERICK RLAbUJN B y landis

IT is a sname mat tmngs can not De arrangea so that. Vare and Grundy could have their fight for the senatorial toga right now when things are a little shaky, for that race will put more money into circulation and more men on the pay roll than any other one tiling we can think of. a a a Senator Pat Harrison of Mississippi fell far below his usual standard of humor when he warned Mr. Coolidge that Mr. Hoover wishes him to run for the senate to get him out of the presidential race in 1932. Everybody knows that Mr. Hoover can have the nomination in 1932 if he wants it and if conditions are such that he does not want it, then it will not be worth having. a a a The marine has a lot in common with the guinea pig, since the government tries everything new and strange on the leather neck. If it is a simoon in the Philippines, an earthquake in Palestine, a flood in South America, a revolution in Nicaragua, a plague in Abyssinia, a fight in Haiti or a spontaneous combustion in China, it’s always the same old cry: “Send the Marines!” a a tt RAMSAY MACDONALD’S apparently radical offer to scrap all battleships was only a bonbon for the dove of peace, since naval evolution already has scrapped the battleship in favor of the swift armored cruiser. Another war will put all warships, except subs and airplane carriers, on the scrap pile, for while nations now know that the air navy has put the water navy down and out, they await absolute demonstration of that fact by war a a a A letter written by a Confederate soldier, while confined in prison at Columbus, 0., just has been delivered in Memphis after sixty-seven years. It would have been a great thing for everybody, except the profiteers, if it had taken that long for Austria to get her ultimatum to Serbia. a a a IT is something of a jar to learn that Elihu Root, our representative to the international conference which revised the terms on which we may enter the world court, was selected not by President Coolidge, but by the League of Nations. It may take us a little while to get used to having our representatives selected for us in Geneva, instead of in Washington. a a a It wasn’t so serious when another man took the hat of Governor Emmerson of Illinois when he visited the White House, but think what will happen in the senate if some fine day Grundy walks off with Caraway’s chapeau. • a a a The slogan in the Lake county booze and election fraud mess seems to be “All of the defendants out of the courthouse by Christmas!” a a a The greatest mistake we made in this country was to deflate the farmers, instead of these ladies who are suing old men, with one foot in the grave, for breach of promise.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. Tracy SA YS:

Radio, Telephone , Telegraph and Cable Are Forcing Us Into a New Economic Hookup. TWO ships collide off New York, one of them sinking within three and a half hours. The 260 passengers and 140 members of the crew of the ship that went down are saved without accident. Making due allowance for the skill and heroism required in such feat, radio deserves most of the credit. Though unable to build unsinkable ships, we have found means to provide quick rescue in case of disaster, and that goes a long way toward making sea travel safe. a tt a The airplane bound from England to Cape Town is wrecked in the Tunisian desert. Arab horsemen report the disaster to the nearest telegraph station. French authorities take immediate action to verify the report, and within twenty-four hours, the British government is able to confirm it. n tt Story Phoned by Radio FROM the Leviathan 2,400 miles at sea, Roy W. Howard telephones the story of a stowaway. It is the first news story ever delivered by radio telephone from ship to shore. Mr. Howard’s voice comes clear and distinct. The story is taken down as he dictates it, without change or repetition. u tt tt These three incidents show how far we have gone in improving methods of communication, and how definite those methods are being wrought into our daily life. They also show how those methods are compelling anew and broader kind, of co-operation, not only within the business itself, but among nations. As a matter of common sense, the radio, telephone, telegraph nd cable are forcing us into anew economic hookup, and that economic hookpp gradually is changing our political attitude. n tt tt Picture Is Brighter Representative james m. BECK, who regards the Constitution as dying, if not dead, not only because of prohibition, but because of the income tax, the flexible tariff and some other things, and who seems to feel pretty blue over it, might find a more satis-' fying explanation of the changes which discourage him and see a brighter side to the picture if he were to give some thought to the forces behind the scene. Politics! is, and always has been, a follow-up, a reflection of religious, moral, or economic conceptions. Governments are agencies by and | through which people attempt to ; translate the ideas of justice and i achievement into action. But, back of it all are traditions, discoveries and beliefs out of which those ideas were formed. tt a tt When we tore down the blacksmith shop to make room for the steel mill, abandoned old Dobbin for the flivver, substituted the telegraph for the pony post, lighted our cities by electricity, spanned the country with railroads and learned to fly, we did something that changed out attitude toward government and its functions. Never again will the town meeting or the church vestry cut the figure it once did. Never again will sectionalism play such a baneful role. Never again will politicians be able to make speeches In one locality which they would not dare make in another. tt tt tt Horizons Expand THE basic effect of modern communication and transportation Is to expand horizons, to force a, concert of action in .everwidening fields, and, therefore, to develop centralization, not so much for the sake of power, as for the necesary co-operation. Statecraft yields to the pressure, just as it has yielded to every similar pressure in the past, and adapts itself to the march of events. tt tt tt The danger does not consist in the abandonment of old institutions, but in the rise of new problems. Where wp once had sectionalism, we now can look for factionalism, for the grouping of people according to tradition, profession, or interest instead of according to locality. Where local prejudice once constituted the greatest tKreat to organized government, we face the possibility of class prejudice. You can see the drama ’ shaping itself by what is occurring in Russia on the one hand, and what is occurring in this country on the other.

Questions and Answers

What do the words “Estados Unidos” mean on Mexlcon silver coins? The words mean “Union of States” and are on Mexican currency because Mexico, like the United States, is a union of states. What Ls the particular kind of steel used for deck armor on American battle cruisers? It is called special treatment steel by the navy department. WTiat proportion of persons who travel on railroads are killed in a year? In 1927, 840,029,680 passengers were carried on railroads in the United States and 102 passengers were killed. WTiat are the names of the children in “Our Gang” in the movies? Joe Cobb, Jean Darling, Farina, Wheezer, Jackie Condon, Mary Ann Jackson, Harry Speer, Bobby Hutchins and James Allen. What factors determine the voltage of a storage battery cell? The open-circuit voltage of a storage cell depends upon the active materia 1 of the plates, the concen-

hah Y HEALTH SERVICE White Bread or Brown? About Equal

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hvgcia, the Health Magazine. IN Great Britain, as in our own country, there has raged in recent years a, controversy as to whether people ought to eat brown bread or white bread. Specialists in physiology and in diet believe that the controversy has generated more heat than light. Nevertheless, certain facts have been well established and these must be taken into consideration as ttte basis for any controversy. The upholders of brown bread argue that it is better than white because it contains more of certain kinds of proteins and more vitamins, mineral matter and roughage.

IT SEEMS TO ME’ * HE B S D

DURING the greater part of the year I pay little attention to the society pages, but in late December I look to see what is happening in Palm Beach. You see, I was there once and that single trip may serve me a lifetime. It is always possible for me to make reference to "the last time I was at Palm Beach.” In fact, T made the society column myself on two occasions, which was pretty fair considering that I only stayed a week. In each instance the report said, “Among other guests,” and so on for several paragraphs, winding up “and Howard Brown.” But I was the one they meant. There wasn’t any Howard Brown. During one entire year I was in the Social Register. And that was almost twenty years ago, before Gene Tunney or even Lindbergh ever had been heard of. At the end of a single season my name was dropped and it never has appeared again. The cause of this discrimination always has been a complete mystery to me. I am just as sooial now as I was twenty years ago. tt tt Prestige ON the whole I would have been much happier if I never had been elevated only to be so rudely dropped. That one year more or less turned my head. I miss the old association. It was such fun to say, “Don’t bother to write down the number—you cap find it in the telephone book or the Social Register.” And this year I didn’t even make the telephone book. The "Mrs. Heywood Broun” who appears there

tration of the electrolyte and the temperature. For practical purposes, however, the working voltage of the cell on discharge is of more importance, and this depends upon the current drawn and the interna! resistance of the cell in addition to the other factors. What is the name of the poem beginning “The Sabbath day was ending, in a village by the sea?” “The Last Hymn” by Marianne Famingham. What do the names Agnes and Doris mean? Agnes, “pure;” Doris, “the sea.” In which states is sheep ranching carried on most extensively? Idaho and Wyoming. .

Daily Thought

The wicked flee when no man pursueth; but the righteous are as bold as a lion.—Proverbs 28:1. a a a Oh, how cowardly is wickedness always!—Statius.

*Picking Petals Off of Daisies’

The people who support white bread admit these things, but they point out that the human being does not live on bread alone, and that therefore, it is unnecessary to choose brown bread when all of the important factors can be had from other things in the diet. Whether as a result of advertising propaganda or other means of promotion, the average AngloSaxon prefers to eat white bread. In addition to brown, bread and white bread there is whole wheat bread, for which the same arguments can be made as are made for brown bread. To get some scientific evidence on the subject, Drs. G. A. Hartwell and V. H. Mottram of the University of London fed to. white rats in the

is my mother and she says that she wishes people wouldn’t call her up to say that the poker game starts at 8 o’clock punctually or that there is going to be a young folks’ cocktail party. My mother doesn’t play poker. If I could make a winter’s vacation at Palm Beach a regular habit it might help to win back my old social prestige. It wasn't anything I did which led to my ousting. Os ! that I feel sure. tt ft tt Just Pais PROBABLY it was base slander which undermined me. At one time it used to be the custom of columnists and other newspaper friends to pretend that I attended first nights in a red sweater. There was also a canard about my walking up Fifth avenue wearing one brown shoe and a black one. The thing never happened. At least I don’t remember it, and it seems very unlikely to m 6 that anybody ever saw me walking anywhere. What’s the use of getting all tired out when our local taxi service is so good? It is true that I wear soft shirts with a dinner coat. But after all the prince of Wales and the king of Spain were with me in that heresy. They since have weakened, but a true Broun always stands his ground and says, “Let the fashions come to me.” Friends of the family generally agree that my father dresses better than I do, but he is in trade and has to keep up appearances. And his telephone number is in the Social Register. And I think my sister made it, even though she lives in Larchmont. That makes being on the outside a little more hard and poignant. One might almost think I was some sort of black sheep. To be sure, all the rest are Republicans and my father can make salad dressing and cook things in a chafing dish, but true worth and lineage should rise above such trifles. a a a Myself FOR myself I dont care, but I am beginning, to worry about the attitude my son may take when he begins, if ever, to go around with really nice people. Up till now he’s been kept in experimental schools where the issue never came yp. Later on he’s likely to feel that by some unfortunate chance he got himself bom into the wrong branch of the family. Sooner or later he’ll be wanting to know, “Why did they kick you out of the Social Register?” If I answer him and say that it was merely capriciousness on the part of the ruling classes he is likely to think that I am holding out. I must invent something which will make me seem a martyr in the matter. I might explain it, perhaps on the ground that on# jfoas

laboratory standard diets similar to those used by laborers, except that the quantities were suitable to the size of the rat, and associated with these were white bread and brown bread. The experiments Indicated that the rats fed on brown bread do not do any better than those on white bread; there was but small increase in growth, and there were physical and nervous symptoms in the rats living on predominating brown bread diet which indicated something in the nature of an imbalance. Asa result of their experiments, the British investigators are convinced that the propaganda for brown bread as a part of the diet of the working class Is without scientific foundation.

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

I gave a course of lectures at the Rand school.

Possibly the bravest course would be to ascertain the name of the dignitary who controls the list and then go down to his office and confront him.

The plea could be Impersonal, “Never mind, about me, I’ve gone as far as I can go,” might be a good beginning. And then I could slap my fist sharply upon the desk or escritoire and say sternly, “But sir. I demand that you give my child a name!” (Copyright. 1939. by The Times)

“ 1 C OaM- (fejTHfeAitiivjgmv

SOUTH CAROLINA SECEDES December 20 ON Dec. 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union. The state long had been dissatisfied with'the tariff policy of the federal government, and as early as 1828 the “South Carolina Exposition” was adopted by the legislature. On the passage of the Clay tariff bill in 1832 a convention was called which declared that no duties should be collected after Feb. 1, 1833. President Jackson was resolved to enforce the law, but a compromise averted an actual conflict. When President Lincoln was elected in 1860 a convention was called Dec. 20 which unanimously passed an ordinance of secession. The Civil war began the following April. Today also is the anniversary of; the adoption of Kentucky of the state motto, "United we stand, divided we fall.” On Dec. 20, 1916, President Wilson issued his peace proposals to belligerents in the World war.

Waterproofing Cellars Many householders are troubled with cellars that are not waterproof. Our Washington bureau has prepared, from official sources, a bulletin of practical suggestions on construction methods for making a cellar dry in anew house, and for various methods tnat may be adopted for waterproofing an old cellar that is damp and wet. If you have a problem of this kind, fill out the coupon below and send for the bulletin: SLIP COUPON HERE CONSTRUCTION EDITOR, Washington Bureau, The Indiana-olis Times, 1322 New York avenue, Washington, D. C. I want a copy of the bulletin, WATERPROOFING CELLARS, and inclose herewith 5 cents In coin, or loose, uncanceled. United States postage stamps, to cover return postage and handling costs. NAME . STREET AND NUMBER .. CITY STATE I am a reader of The Indianapolis Times.

DEC. 20, 1929

SCIENCE By DAVID DIETZ—

Scientists Agree That AH Continents Once Were Connected and Rock Investigation Supports Theory. THE Pacific ocean resembles a great pond while the Atlantic ocean resembles a great river. This is one of the interesting pieces of evidence brought forward to support the Wegener hypothesis, the theory that all the continents were once united into a single continent. According to this theory, the original continent cracked into pieces, which then drifted apart on the lower layer of the earth’s crust, glasslike layer of heavy rock upon which the upper layers of the earth's crust are literally floating like logs wedged into the ice on a pond In winter. Dr. Harlow Shapley, famous Harvard astronomer, has suggested sinking a three-mile shaft Into the earth as a means of testing the Wegener hypothesis. The evidence for the theory Is summed up by Edwin Tenny Brewster In his interesting book, “This Puzzling Planet." “Contrast the Atlantic ocean with the Pacific,'’ he writes. “There are marked and curious differences between the two. though these are a good deal obscured by our ordinary maps and are best to be looked for on a globe. “The Pacific is a round basin, a sort of gigantic pond; but thfe Atlantic ts a sort of gigantic river that winds from the top of the earth to the bottom, always of about the same width.”

Good Fit IN fact," Brewster continues, “if one went by the shape of the coast on the two sides of the Atlantic, one well might say that South America has cracked off from Africa, the eastern extension of Brazil once occupying the Gulf of Guinea, the western end of the Sahara belonging to the Caribbean region, Greenland jammed up against the west coast, of Norway and Newfoundland one of the j British Isles. “If one could pu;>h the two | Americas eastward and a little | north, so that Greenland lay against ! Canada on one side and Norway jon the other, with Newfoundland j and the British Isles pushed into ! the North Sea, the fit would be j surprising. “There really Is not a little rea- | son for thinking that the uniform j width of the Atlantic and the rei markable fit between its two sides is something more than accident. There is a good deal of evidence to show tMfc during most of geologic time, and up to what for a geologist i is rather a recent date, North and South America actually were parts of Europe-Asia-Africa, but cracked loose and floated off.” All geologists, whether they agree with the Wegener hypothesis or not hold that these continents once were connected in some way. Some geologists think they were connected by land bridges, which later | sank into the ocean and disappeared. This theory is supported by the fact that the same land animals and plants seem to have appeared in both the old and new world i at approximately the same time. tt tt a The Elephant '"■pHE horse and the elephant are | X two good examples which support the theory of land bridges or an original united continent. Fossil remains of the horse are found in certain rock layers of western America and in rock layers slightly ! older in Europe. The fossil elephant appears first in Africa and later in North America. Brewster believes the evidence is better for the Wegener hypothesis. “The coal points very much to this theory,” he writes. “The coal of Pennsylvania, New England and ! Nova Scotia is of the same age as i that of the British Isles, France, | Germany and Spain, and is alto- | gether very much like it. So it looks as if, when the coal was forming, all this was a single coalfield that has since cracked apart. “Moreover, throughout these two coal district, through the entire length of the Appalachian mountains on our side of the ocean and in Scandinavia on the other, the mountain ridges run northeast and southwest, as if they were all parts of the same system; and in various ways the rocks match surprisingly. “The mountains of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland correspond In age and kind of rock and direction to those of the British Isles, as If a single chain had broken apart. “The very ancient rocks of the Scottish Highlands are identical with the equally old rocks of Labralor. The famous old red sandstone of England just matches the old red sandstone of Nova Scotia. “In like manner, South Africa matches Argentina, bit by bit.” What do the letters S. P. Q. R. on the flags of ancient Rome stand for? Senatus Populusque Romanue, meaning “The Roman senate and the people.”