Indianapolis Times, Volume 42, Number 14, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 May 1930 — Page 4

PAGE 4

s<m*wj-Mow*tto

Another Argument That 300 cases on appeal to the supreme court await decision presents anew argument for a constitutional convention which might devise safeguards against evils in government. The Constitution plainly guarantees speedy justice to every citizen, either in the protection of his person and liberty or in defense of his property rights. It is submitted in all candor that a delay of two, three or more years in obtaining a final decision is not a reasonable interpretation of this guarantee. At the present time the only remedy in the hands of the people against inaction on the part of courts, lethargy if you care to call it such, or an inability to reach decisions, which is the first duty of good judges, is the slow process of electing new judges. To replace a court whose record for speed affronts public conscience with one which would more nearly comply with the purpose of the Constitution would take several years. Several remedies have been proposed to control the courts on behalf of the public welfare. One of these is the recall, by which voters could replace a judge who failed in his service and did not meet the public expectation. That has been denounced by the conservatives as too socialistic to be considered. Possibly an easier impeachment on grounds of failure to perform duties might act as a spur to justice. It seems little to demand that so simple a question as the one concerning the power of the legislature to give to the appellate court final jurisdiction for two years over misdemeanor cases should be settled before the expiration of the term during which the power was delegated in order to relieve the higher court of too arduous duties. That is an important question in that some thirty-four cases now depend upon that decision. These thirty-four have been convicted in the lower courts. The verdicts of guilt have been approved by the appellate court. Yet the thirty-four are at liberty. Such a condition can not fail but have an important effect upon the public mind. Possibly a constitutional convention would find some method of impressing judges with the presence in the Constitution of the guarantee of swift justice. Or it might decide that such a guarantee is no longer an essential right. Either would be preferable to the present situation. Ten Years—Three Hours! The federal government’s development at Muscle Bhoals—the great Wilson dam. the nitrate and steam power plants and the rest—cost approximately $150,000,000. Disposition of Muscle Shoals has been a vital topic in congress for ten years. Before the house of representatives now is a bill that provide-, for leasing Muscle Shoals to one or several private corporations. Thursday the rules committee, which determines what legislation may be considered by the house and how long bills may be debated, decided that the Shoals leasing bill may come up before the house Tuesday for debate. It also decreed that general debate shall last three hours! Three hours for 435 representatives to decide whether this project which cost the people $150,000,000 shall be leased to private corporations! Three hours! Signs of Flood The Anti-Saloon League has an alibi for the Literary Digest prohibition poll. F. Scott Mcßride, the league boss, explains that the drys did not vote. Obviously that is an absurdly inadequate excuse. But what was the poor dry leader to say? If a man must deny that white is white, there is nothing much left for him to do but to insist that white is black. Not that this convinces any one. The average citizen is apt to remember that two Literary Digest national polls have predicted presidential elections with uncanny accuracy. Therefore he is not disposed to laugh off the results of this prohibition poll. For the sake of argument, this poll could be discounted 50 per cent and still its significance would be startling. For, even so discounted, it proves two things beyond cavil: One, there is rapidly growing public recognition of prohibition as a national issue. More and more people refuse to swallow the dry assertion that this question has been settled, that there can be no change. Almost five million voted in this poll. The vote was relatively larger—that is, the popular interest was greater—than in the Digest s last presidential election poll. Two, there is rapidly growing wet sentiment. Tested by any standard, it Is fair to compare the results of the Digest's prohibition polls in 1922 and in 1930. Eight years ago the wet vote was 60 per cent of the total. This year it was approximately 70 per cent. Cut that figure in half, and say that only 35 per cent of the country desires modification or repeal, and still no one can deny honestly that such wet sentiment is growing and already has reached sufficient proportions to break down all efforts at strict enforcement. • • • But no one has to depend on the Literary Digest poll for a demonstration of this rising wet tide. It is only one of many signs. Hardly a month passes without some such evidence—a daily newspaper poll, a State or congressional primary or election. The latest sign is the following wet resolution passed by the Republican state convention in Washington: “It has become apparent that, in spite of tremendous and costly efforts, strict enforcement of itese laws is uneconomic and impossible." *fherethe convention demanded “such modification of

The Indianapolis Times (A RCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) Owned and published dally tezcept Sunday) by The Indianapolis Time* Publishing Cos., 114-220 West Maryland Street. Indlanapolla. Ind. Price In Marion County. 2 cent* a copy: -laewbere. S centa- delivered by carrier. 12 cents a week. b7)yT GURLEY. ROY W HOWARD. FRANK G. MORRISON. Editor President Business Manager PHONE- Riley MM TUEBDAY, MAY 37. 1930 Member of United I’reaa, Scrlppa-Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newapaper Enterprlae Aaaociation. Newapaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulation. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”

the present laws on intoxicating liquor as will provide a lawful use of such liquor, to the end that the traffic in liquor may be controlled properly and its use regulated by a law that can be universally respected and enforced.” This is from the state which the Anti-Saloon League claims as Its own. This Is from the state and the party which Is represented In pongress by Senator Jones, author of the five-and-ten enforcement law. * * * As If the drys already were not having enough, troubles, the United States supreme court Monday ruled unanimously that It is not illegal to buy liquor from a bootlegger. The government brought a test case, and failed completely. The decision, of course, will make prohibition enforcement even more difficult than In the past. There is nothing to prevent Senator Sheppard and other extremists from amending the law to make buyers equally guilty with bootleggers—nothing, that is, except fear of the present dry majority in congress that such a logical carrying out of the law would be the straw that breaks the dromedary’s spine. So the drys today are in the position where they will lose if they do, and lose if they don’t. What they do and what they say can not make an unworkable law work, and laws that do not work have a way inevitably of going out of use. Who Threw What? Secretary of Interior Wilbur, exonerating the federal power commission’s secretary, F. E. Bonner, of serious charges, undertakes' to rebuke the newspapers. Bonner had been accused of removing from the files letters from utility company officials recommending him for his present job. The accusation was made by Mrs. Minnie L. Ward, file clerk. She emphasized it by throwing half a dozen eggs at her immediate superior. Wilbur, in announcing Bonner’s vindication and Mrs. Ward's dismissal, blames the newspapers for reporting the incident and calls such reporting “throwing of dirty dishwater.” Though Mrs. Ward filed her charges as officially as it Is possible to file charges, Wilbur calls them “mere gossip and assertion from obscure sources.’* Bonner, he says, has “a long and honorable record in the government service.” Braving we know not what unpleasant missiles, we should like to call attention to a few highlights in Bonner’s year of service as secretary of the power commission. Details are to be found in senate committee hearings of the senate interstate commerce committee, for Bonner already has achieved a senatorial investigation. One of Bonner’s first acts was to arrange a conference between the commission’s newly appointed solicitors and a power company lobbyist, because “I want you to hear the power company’s side.” Another was to order William V. King, chief accountant, to “cut the corners” in auditing power company accounts because King was “too meticulous.” Bonner did these things, he said, because he felt the power companies “were being persecuted.” Two volumes of testimony taken by the committee largely concern the things Bonner did and did not do in administering power company matters. Included is a statement from Secretary Wilbur that he had consulted Paul M. Downing of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company about Bonner before appointing him, and another that O. C. Merrill, former secretary of the commission, now receiving $15,000 a year from power companies, had suggested Bonner as his successor. Mrs. Ward charged additional recommendations of Bonner were missing from the files. Wilbur neglects to mention whether such letters are or ever were actually in the files. He merely finds that nothing now is missing. And he fails to say anything on which it is possible to base a hope that this important branch of government service soon may be in better hands. Gutzon Borglum, sculptor, who took the liberty to delete certain words from Cal Coolidge's history of America to be carved on a mountainside, probably thought he would knock a chip off his boulder. Since no one seems to be in sympathy with the Massachusetts man who plans to go over’ Niagara Falls on a mattress, he’ll probably bring along his own comforter. John Philip Sousa led twenty Salvation Army bands at one time. At least he knew his score.

REASON

THE events of last week presented Texas as a poor sport, for while she lynched two Negroes for crimes against women, she did not manifest the same chivalric hatred in the case of a distinguished white offender. n u a John W. Brady, former member of the Texas supreme court, murdered a girl in cold blood and after a first jury disagreed, a second one let him off with a term of three years and now his lawyers say they will get anew trial and clear him. It’s not the offense, but the color and the influence of the offender. nun THOSE cattle down in Virginia which held the road against the Piesident’s automobile evidently had heard of that recent court decision which said they had the right of way. m a Those thirty Italian-born American citizens who went back home and were impressed into the army, but were released after Uncle Sam’s protest, should save us future trouble by staying in the land of their adoption. a a A bottle which was thrown into the water at Boston traveled all the way to San Francisco, but he who drinks from the b' , ' ,, ‘ travels only from his residence to the cemetery n a BEFORE making any more mailed fist speeches, suca as he delivered at Florence, it might be a good idea ior Mussolini to submit his remarks to a certain white whiskered exile at Doom, who used to broadcast in the same fashion. u a The Turkish government is going to sell the late sultan's iewels, valued at $300,000,000. If the Turks and the Russians get to cutting prices, it should bring diamonds within tLe reach of all. m a m Our government has not recognized Russia, but she doesn't mind this so much since 200 American engineers are now over there, teaching the Bolshevists how to make tractors. n n m In recent years Mrs. Joseph Vacich of Oakland, Cal., has given birth to two children in taxicabs as a result of being caught in traffic jams while on her way to the hqsjitaL & If omy she lived in Chicago, she now would have a large family, ,

Rv FREDERICK y LANDIS

.THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES.

M. E. Tracy SAYS:

Either the Book Publishers Have Been Making Profits All Out of Reason or They Are Going to Lose a Lot of Money by Cutting Prices. JOSEPH R. GRUNDY, defeated candidate for the Republican senatorial nomination in Pennsylvania, reports his campaign expenditures as $332,000, of which he personally put up $290,000. James J. Davis, who beat Grundy, reports his campaign expenditures as $10,500. Still, Grundy is opposed to limiting campaign expenses, which suggests how hard it Is to convince a man of his type that things can’t be bought. tt tt tt Glory comes high these days. The people of Kingston, N. Y., thought they wanted a cruiser named for that city, until they learned that it would cost $25,000. Now the merchants of Pernambuca are down in the mouth because the mayor ordered them to close their shops in honor of the Graf Zeppelin’s visit. That is the way the merchants of any city would feel if the government compelled them to observe forty official holidays, not including Sundays. b u a Dollar Books Here THOSE who enjoy reading are gratified to learn that certain publishers will put out dollar books. They are even more gratified to learn that the quality will not be affected. Possibly it couldn’t; but let that pass. The mystery of the situation consists in what we have been paying. Either the publishers have been making unreasonable profits, or they are going to lose a lot of money. So far as prices are concerned, they never did have much effect on the quality of fiction. n n During the war allied spokesmen were busier about nothing than advocating revolution for enemy peoples. It was a struggle to save the world for democracy, they said, and those subject to undemocratic rule ought to rebel. The chickens came to roost in their own camp first, with Russia going Bolshevik. Just now England is getting a taste of their presence. Even Malta has joined the clamor for autonomy, or dominion status, or independence. tt a All Want to Be Free THE allies had a lot to say about minority rights and self-deter-mination, not only during the war, but at Versailles. It was intended, first, to weaken the central powers by promoting discord, and then to furnish a legitimate excuse for breaking up the Austrian empire. But other people heard the gospel, and began to wonder why they shouldn’t share in its blessings. If a free Hungary, why not a free India, and if anew Poland, why not anew Egypt? Though most of us fail to realize it, we have a long way to go before we are through liquidating the idealism produced for enemy consumption during the war. The same logic that was called forth to prove the evils of Prussianism can be applied, and is being applied, to other cases of arbitrary rule. tt n Liberty Must Be Basis THOUGH many of the fourteen points raised by Woodrow Wilson were ignored at Versailles, all found a warm spot somewhere which the world will hear about later. A great many people think of the League of Nations, the world court, disarmament conferences, and other phases of the peace movement as representing the paramount aim of the allies. Maybe it did, but they talked about other aims—about liberty for the oppressed, about the injustice and iniquities of the colonial system, about mandates with independence as the ultimate object. While the world in general may have rejoiced at the thought of a new order, people who had been brought under the rule of outsiders were more interested in the prospect of liberation. That is why we find revolution playing such a big part in human affairs. Nor is the situation inconsistent with peace through orderly adjustment. The world can not become democratic, with courts and tribunals to adjust international disputes, until freedom has been made the basis of national action.

Ml? THC'^

JULIA WARD HOWE’S BIRTH May 27. ON May 27, 1819, Julia Ward Howe, American author and reformer noted for her Civil war poem, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” was born in New York city. Although the poem made her famous and won for her the honor of being the only woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Mrs. Howe was one of the most active and versatile personalities of her day. She advocated prohibition, preached occasionally from Unitarian pulpits, was one of the organizers of the American Woman Suffrage Association and was a zealous worker for prison reform, for world peace and other humanitarian movements. Mrs. Howe wrote the “Battle Hymn” at the request of James Freeman Clarke, who went with her and others to visit an army post near Washington. She heard soldiers singing “John Brown’s Body” as they returned from skirmish, and while the wounded were being carried to their pallets, she was inspired to write her poem.

Courage, There’s a Sail on the Horizon!

1

Certain Skin Diseases Inherited

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hygeia, the Health Magazine. NO doubt many human beings carry constantly about upon the surface of their bodies the marks conferred upon them by their ancestors. It long has been recognized that a complete lack of pigment in the skin and hair or the eye is a character inherited by some people and that when they lack this they are not likely to confer upon their offspring the power of developing pigment. If one albino married another albino, their children are all albinos. If an albino marries a person who has normal pigments in the hair and skin, all of the children are likely to have normal pigments. A person with plue eyes can not confer brown eyes on his children and the offspring of two blue-eyed people are practically always blueeyed. When brown-eyed people marry, the color of the eyes of the offspring is a matter of chance, since the brown represents the power to carry both blue and black.

IT SEEMS TO ME

IN a recent column I said the skyline of New York changes almost daily but that the spirit of the town remains the same. I didn’t mean to suggest that I was in favor of this fierce fidgeting around with Manhattan’s physical aspects, I rather wish we could all settle down, ‘ It isn’t just the early din of riveting machines which makes me wish we could get our city built and settled. I wouldn’t want it to stagnate, but there ought to be zones of completion, certain areas where not one more girder is to be set up on another for a period of, say, one year. Or anyhow, six months. It hurts the back of the neck to be continually obliged to look aloft and scan new features in the sky. For the tall buildings of the town, I have the greatest respect and admiration. But even this new type of architecture can be overdone. Ten Woolworth buildings rarely would be as effective as one. Long and Short THE thing which fascinates me now about the aspect of New York is its broken lines, the extraordinary contracts in dimensions, such as no other city knows. Accordingly, every time some eighty-story structure is reared we ought to build next door a little cottage with a sloping roof. I’m sorry to see the frame houses go down one by one. A few are left. Here and there in odd corners one may find a front yard, a couple of trees and a brave attempt to preserve a lawn. For all our rocky soil, there still are a certain number of fine trees

Wow We/fTkiYou jCnow'Vdurßible? FIVE QUESTIONS A DAY" ON FAMILIAR PASSAGES

1. What was most characteristic of the laws of the Medes and Persians? 2. What disciple was chosen to take the place of Judas among the twelve? 3. Who was Rabab? 4. Quote a Bible verse on respect of persons. 5. What two archangels are named in the Bible? Answers to Yesterday’s* Queries 1. The brother of Moses and the first high priest of Israel. 2. Jeremiah 31:15. 3. “We are not saved.” Jeremiah 8:20. 4. They let him down through a hole which they opened in the roof. Mark 2:1-4. 5. ”tn the? Multitude of counseltors there is safety.” Proverbs I] --^

- DAILY HEALTH SERVICE

A black-eyed person has blue as well as black in his iris, which is the colored portion of the eye, and if he marries a person with black eyes, the children are likely to be black-eyed. \ Through scientific studies of heredity many such facts have been determined, and It is possible to predict with a certain amount of accuracy about what is likely to occur. There are some disorders of the skin which seem to have an hereditary basis. Most cf them are also associated with disturbances of the glands of internal secretion, so that it is believed that the skin disease is inherited through an heredity of a certain type of gland substance. In a survey of heredity in relationship to skin diseases, Dr. Charles M. Williams points out that the answer to some of the skin diseases of unknown origin as, for example, psoriasis, may be found in heredity either directly or so far as relates to the glands. The reason all the people who might develop the disease do not show it is because the specific irritant that might set up the condi-

p HEYWOOD y BROUN

' tucked away in the backyards of Manhattan. It seems to me that they are rightfully entitled to more emotional tribute than should go to forests out where the hills begin. I know that the redwoods of California grow vary tall, but after all, what is there to stop them? A tree which can survive, even though they’ve put an office building in front and apartment houses all around, has in it a stamina which must arouse the admiration of every lover of tenacity. I sold my house without much wrench and went into an apartment, but I wish I could have taken a tree along. The old brownstone was not fortunately situated. People used to ring the bell at 4 in the morning, along about the time that I was geting off to sleep, and when I went to the door there would be one or more somewhat unsteady strangers, and the most articulate of the lot would ask in aggressive fashion: “Where’s Rosie? I want to see Rosie.” an u The Popular Girl SOMETIMES is was Myrtle, but Rosie seemed to be the most popular girl in our block. Just where Rosie lived and why her friends came around at such unearthly hours, I never knew. I imagine that I was living in what is euphemistically known as a bad neighborhood. It wasn’t the being waked up which annoyed me so much as the persistence of the visitors. When I replied with some shade of annoyance that I knew no Rosie and would they please go about their business, they always argued with me. It seemed to be their notion that I had her concealed somewhere about the premises. How should I know the flaws, if any, in the character of Myrtle? It was not a problem into which I cared to go extensively at 4 o’clock in the morning with gentlemen who

Questions and Answers

Wbat is the correct pronunciation of the word “suite?” It is pronounced as if it were spelled “sweet.” Where and when was Grant Withers, the motion picture actor, born? In Kentucky, February, 1905. How much does It cost to run the United States government for a year? About four billon dollars. On what day in our calendar did the Greek Christinas Jftil in 1910? Jan. 7

tion may not have acted, in their cases. When the irritant comes into the situation, the response usually is an eruption. There are many forms of skin disease that are called allergic. These represent a special sensitization of the body to certain protein substances, such as may be taken in by the food or through the invasion of bacteria. Os this character is strawberry rash and also blisters following the eating of other foods in some people. Perhaps the constitution of the person at birth contains the substances which react in this way. The growth of the hair and its distribution also are governed by heredity. Thus one case was described in which a child lost all of the hair on his head during childhood and a tracing of the ancestry indicated that the child was the fourth generation to reveal this defect. The hair of the great-grandfather had fallen out when he was 6 years of age, t.nd every one of the direct male descendants had had the same disturbance.

(deals and opinions expressed In this column are those of >ne o[ America's most interesting: writers and ars presented without regard to their agreement or disagreement with the editorial attitude of this oaner.—The Editor.

were not only unknown to me, but who also appeared, at first sight, to be devoid of any charm whatsoever. Character I will have to grant them. They were such a persistent lot that for a time I seriously considered the plan of hiring by the day somebody called Rosie who might serve to end the arguments. Next door an all-night speakeasy held sway. It was from this house that someone tossed, in the midst of revels, a gin bottle, an empty gin bottle, which went crashing through my bathroom window and into my tub. By a happy coincidence I was not bathing at the moment. Yet, though I knew that my home was situated among neighbors rather less respectable than they should be, I got quite a bit of a turn the other day when a man spoke of anew speakeasy which he had visited and mentioned the number of my domicile of just a year ago. This impinged upon my hopes and plans. In fantasy I always had dreamed of the day when some society for the preservation of national shrines would place a bronze tablet by the door containing no more than the simple inscription: “Heywood Broun Lived Here.” But now I would much rather they didn’t. (Copyright. 1930, by The Times)

We Recommend Morris 5 & 10 Cent tosl Stores, Inc. 7% Preferred Stock "Free of Tax In Indiana No Bonds or Funded Debt Attractive Sinking Fund Provisions 1929 Earnings Five Times Dividend Requirement Complete Information Furnished Upon Request Price SIOO.OO Per Share to Yield 7% Affiliated with {W-fy ▲ Corporation DICK. MILLER, Pr.md.nt Lincoln 5535 108 East Washington Street - . _

.MAY 27, 1930

SCIENCE -BY DAVID DIETZ -

Heavens to Offer Beautiful Sign in Conjunction of Planet Venus and the Crescent Moon on May SO. MOTHER NATURE, who has been lavish with celestial shows during April and May, has one more spectacle to offer before the end of this month. A conjunction of the bright planet Venus and the crescent moon will take place May 30. This will be the fourth astronomical event of Interest within the last two months. There was a lunar eclipse on April 28. A conjunction of Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets, occurred on May 17. A conjunction is a close approach of two celestial objects. The approach, of course, is only an apparent one in the lines of sight. Actually, the objects may be millions or even hundreds of millions of miles apart. The conjunction on May 17 was a sight of rare beauty in those localities where the weather was clear. The two planets, only a little more than a degree apart, glowed In the western sky like a celestial twinlamp. The conjunction of Venus and the moon on May 30 will not be quite as close. About three degrees will separate the two. Nevertheless the sight should be one of rare beauty. The moon on May 30 will be only three days old, new moon occurs on May 27. Asa result it will be a thin silvery crescent. Venus, the brightest starlike object in the heavens, will shine with more than fifty tims the brilliance of a first magnitude star. n tt tt Daytime THE spectacle should be unusually beautiful just after sunset. It should be possible to see both the crescent moon and Venus before the last rays of the sun have died from the sky. As the twilight deepens, the silvery glow of the moon and Venus will become more pronounced, while other stars gradually will appear in the sky to join them. Both the moon and Venus will be fairly low in the sky at sunset. They will set or disappear below the western horizon themselves about two hours after sunset. It ought to be possible, however, to see the conjunction before sunset. As most readers know, it is frequently easy to see the moon in the sky in the daytime. When planets are above the horizon in the daytime, astronomers, knowing exactly where to look for them, have no difficulty in seeing them with their telescopes. Since Venus is quite bright and since it will be within three degrees of the moon, it is quite possible that it will be easy to find Venus with the unaided eye on May 30. The sight of a planet in the daytime is most unusual and so it will be well worth looking for. Rather late in the afternoon, perhaps, will be the best time. Eastward THE conjunction of May 30 will serve as an excellent excuse for renewing acquaintance with the motions of the moon. The moon is revolving around the earth in a counter-clockwise direction. The result of this is that the moon moves eastward a distance of 13 degrees each day. Because of this motion, the moon rises about fifty minutes later each night. This means that it also sets about fifty minutes later each night. At the same time also, of course, the phase of the moon is slowly changing. New moon occurs tonight. So the thin crescent will grow thicker each night until first quarter is reached on June 3, and then still fatter until full moon occurs on June 10. If the sky is observed again on the evening of May 31, it will be noticed that the moon has pulled away from Venus and now is considerably to the east. Venus itself is also moving to the east, but only about a degree a day. Both the motions of Venus and the moon can be followed and compared by noticing their relations to the background of stars as well as to each other. On May 1 Venus set about an hour after sunset. Because of Its slow motion to the east, it is a little higher in the sky each night at sunset. By the end of June, it will set about two hours after sunset.

Daily Thought

I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.— Ezekiel 35:4. No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom I can feel trust and reverence. — George Eliot