Indianapolis Times, Volume 43, Number 103, Indianapolis, Marion County, 8 September 1931 — Page 4
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The Tax Solution Efforts of the propagandists for the larger tax paying corporations to cut the city tax rate may be commendable, but they are not directed at the real cause of trouble. No one charges that Mayor Sullivan is wasteful or extravagant. If there be any criticism, it should be that he is too conservative with city funds. No one charges that the practices that prevailed in the old days under Republican administrations are now in effect and that public funds are now used to pay political debts. Practically all the expenses are controlled by law or fixed charges. Huge interest bills on bonds form no small part. Salaries of those who actually serve are not exorbitant. Yet property owners find the tax for government burdensome. The truth is that real property is not paying the returns in other days and that taxes may easily become confiscation. The same people who are now demanding tax cuts fought any suggestion of income taxes as a means of raising revenues when such a proposal was made last winter. The same forces opposed any way of forcing on the tax rolls the, personal property or the so-called intangibles. It is quite possible for rich men to hide their fortunes when invested in securities or to transfer them when movable to other states at tax listing times. It is because the form of fortunes are changing that the real estate owner finds himself in a dilemma. Real estate does not run away. Asa matter of fact it will be necessary to shift the burden from real estate very soon. The taxes on industrial plants that give employment to men should be entirely lifted. That might stimulate industry and help to bring back prosperity. Even if this sensible thing should be done, there would still be problems They will always exist until we fix the laws to fit the changed forms of wealth. The real property basis was established in a day when real property and income meant the same thing. All property produced practically the same proportion of revenue. That is no longer true. A straight income tax, witlj very high rates on all earnings above the average basis of needs, may be forced by circumstances as it is suggested by justice. The Mortgaged Party While Democrats are rejoicing over the best national election prospects they have had since the war, and laughing at Hoover’s hairshirts, they are forgetting that they are a mortgaged party. The Democratic national committee owes its chairman, John J. Raskob, $355,250. He also is reported to be on notes for much of the remainder of its $748,150 debt. It is not necessary to suppose—as some Republican opponents would charge in the heat of campaign battle—that Raskob will use his financial control of the party for unworthy purposes. We doubt very much whether Raskob would or could “own” a Democratic President in the sense that charge usually is made. But even if Raskob were as much a spiritual angel as he is a financial angel, the present relationship is one which no self-respecting party can tolerate long. The relationship is just as damning to Raskob as to the party. As one example of many, take prohibition. Asa sincere wet, Raskob is trying to persuade his party to take that position. But now he can not speak as a party leader or a committee chairman; he speaks—whether he wants to or not—as the party “owner” and the drys merely point to him to obscure the prohibition issue. On any other issue it is the same. The Democrats can not be a national party if they are content to be a one-man party financially. Some Democratic politicians may forget this, but the Republican campaign strategists will not.
Thinking Our Way Out Labor day proved one thing. The country is thinking about unemployment. We may be at the bottom of our worst national depression, but at least we have progressed to the point where we face facts. That is a big gain. If we had faced facts some time ago we could have prevented much of the present havoc. • That is what most business men, labor leaders and politicians who made speeches Monday were doing trying to understand this depression, so that the suffering may be shortened and may be avoided “next time.” In general, the discussions centered around the need for advance planning in future industrial production and in public works projects. Fortunately, that has become a truism. Others pointed to the high tariff and prohibition as contributing causes of depression and general deficits —causes which, unfortunately, are not understood as generally as they should be. Partial remedies proposed by Labor day orators included: The five-day week, maintenance of standard wages, abolition of child labor, unemployment insurance, government economies and a fairer distribution of wealth through increased taxes on the rich. Tire problem of emergency unemployment relief for this winter was uppermost. President Green of the American Federation of Labor and Senator Harrison, ranking Democrat on the senate finance committee, agreed th&t relief must be adequate, even if the federal government has to help the communities. We believe that Senator Borah was voicing public opinion when he said of the estimated six to seven million unemployed: “If the wealth of the country does not contribute voluntarily to the end that we may take care of them, there is only one thing to do, and that is to feed these people from the treasury of the United States, and increase the income tax, particularly in the higher brackets, to enable us to do it. “If the public dole system is established in this country It will t>e forced by those who, having the means, refuse to do their part in feeding the hungry.” A Better Answer The administration already Is threatening to veto any legislation congress may pass for immediate payment in full of soldier bonus certificates. Payment would require two and one-third billion dollars, which would have to be obtained by bond Issues or new taxes at a time when huge deficits are being piled up, and would wreck the financial program of the government, according to administration spokesmen. There are valid arguments against payment of such a large s'Vn to a small and selected group, irrespective of individual needs, at a time when suffering is general among all classes of the population. JBomc of these we have discussed previously in these T^olumns. Veterans are well aware of the situation, tyut they
The Indianapolis Times (A SCRirPS-aOIFARIi NEWSPAPER) Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times Publishing: Cos., 214-220 West Maryland Street, Indianapolis, lnd. Price in Marion County, 2 cents a copy; elsewhere, 3 cents—delivered by carrier. 12 cents a week. Mail subscription rates tn Indiana. $3 a year; outride of Indiana, 65 cents a month. BOYD GURLEY. ROY W. HOWARD, EARL D. BAKER, Editor President Business Manager * PHONE—Riley .5551. TUESDAY. SEPT. 8, 1931. Member of United Press. Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newspaper Enterprise Association, Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”
are not likely to be. deterred by threats. They are used to them. And they may be pardoned if they are skeptical of the warning? from Secretary Mellon’s domain. Mr. Mellon, from the beginning, has opposed any sort of bonus legislation. He has backed his position with staggering figures purporting to show dire consequences to national finances, which usually have been erroneous. As for the government’s financial program, veterans and other citizens will be interested to learn that it has one—aside from that of issuing bonds to provide safe investments for idle money and passing on 'to future generations the bills for present expenditures. And, of course, praying for better times. There are abundant reasons for resisting the proposed legislation, but the administration has not yet employed the best argument at its command, and perhaps the only one that will keep the veterans from using their political power to force through liberalized bonus legislation, over a presidential veto if necessary. That argument is the assurance that there will be no need for the cash payments because general unemployment relief measures will be adequate—even if this requires direct federal participation in relief where communities are not able to shoulder the whole burden.
Obsolescence and Progress ( Many tests of progress are now offered. A forceful, if not wholly original, one is suggested by Richardson Wright in the current issue of “House and Garden.” He says we can measure industrial and social progress by the size of our junk heaps: “If America had contributed nothing else to the progress of the world, it well could rest on its reputation for introducing into the scheme of economics the factor of obsolescence. We have made progress by deliberately junking the old-fashioned and timeworn machinery of our civilization. “Each major improvement in a factory building, in an office building, in a piece of machinery, in a motor car tends automatically to put into the obsolete class all buildings, offices, machines and cars that lack these improvements. “And instead of leaving them about to clutter up the progress of business and manufacturing and transportation, we, cold-heartedly, tear down these obsolete factories and erect better ones, we wreck old office buildings and build the newest possible kinds in their places, we discard old-fashioned machinery, we junk old motors. “This tearing down and building afresh is the metabolism of American civilization. 4t is the visible counterpart of the metabolism—the constant discarding and refreshening—that keeps life in the human body. Health in the body is evidenced by what it throws off as useless; health in civilization by what it junks. The sign of progress is an increasing junk pile.” Mr. Wright is interested chiefly in applying this conception of obsolescence to American homes. He states that probably 50,000,000 persons, about half of the people in the United States, are living in obsolete homes. These extend from the city slums, once the homes of the well-to-do, to the shacks of pauper farmers. When a machine no longer is adequate, we usually scrap it. Not so with out-of-date homes. The more fortunate leave such places, but they soon are occupied by the poor and thus create our great slum areas. “It never occurs to us to destroy those homes. That is what America today is sadly lacking—a junk heap of the homes that no longer are worth living in.” Mr. Wright points out numerous advantages which would arise from junking obsolete homes. The building industry would be stimulated. We would have higher standards of comfort and health. We would gain much space in crowded centers of population, giving ample room for the greatly needed parks and recreation centers. The eye sores of modern civilization would be replaced by exhibits of beauty and healthfulness. If the doctrine of obsolescence as a test of progress possesses any validity, it is certainly in the field of home-planning. The Socialist government of Vienna recently has proved what actual marvels may be accomplished in the way of building model apartments which may be occupied by the poor at low rentals. Soviet Russia also has done wonders along this line. In New York City the Amalgamated Clothing Workers have led the way. The fact that slums exist in America is one of the most striking proofs of how the social phases of our civilization lag behind the mechanical. Slums are a challenge to our humanity and our ingenuity. Yet we need to be on our guard against accepting hook, line and sinker, this doctrine of obsolescence as a chief test of progress. It is linked closely not only to mechanical progress, but also to one of the outstanding defects cf our civilization; namely, conspicuous waste and incomplete consumption. It is one thing to junk the obviously obsolete. It is another to cast aside still highly serviceable goods as a result of the tyranny of fashion and fad.
Just Every Day Sense BY MRS. WALTER FERGUSON
M. S. wants a woman’s viewpoint on this question: “A young woman, intelligent, presentable, married ten years, has one child and is intensely in love with her husband, though she knows he is unfaithful. His infidelities have caused her untold agonies, quarrels and separations. “Still her affection for him is undiminished. She can not interest herself in other men. Is that what you would call a one-man wife?’’ It is what I would call a fine, upstanding, decent woman. May her tribe increase. Doubtless this wife believes that hers is the saddest of all fates, although her problem is that of the eternal feminine. Yet the man who can incite faithfulness from a woman intelligent enough to understand their situation, must have something splendid about him, too, something worthy of. her continued devotion. For love can not feed endlessly upon nothing! And she may assure herself that it always pays to be true to one’s love, and that God never created anything more wonderful than the one-man wife. She is the salt of the earth. IDO not believe it is possible for a woman to be perfectly happy living with, and loving a husband who betrays her, but she may come nearer to happiness even in such a situation than in a state of separation and divorce. And she should invoke the aid of the god of patience. For ten years, after all, is not the whole of life. Marriage goes on, and we forget past griefs, and sometimes we find happiness only after we have experienced sorrow. It is true also, that countless husbands who stray do so only in the body. When the heart stays at home, a wife may be certain that hers will be the eventual victory. Men are only little boyg grown tall. Sometimes it is Jong before they learn what it is they want of life, and in the endjfthey come to see that the most desirable possess*® % this: One true heart, one faithful love, to light tnua down the years.
THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
M. E. Tracy SAYS:
Three Years Ago , We Americans Swallowed the Fiction That a Political Party Was Guardian of Our Good Fortune. New r; . .Sept. B.—An unusual tone of seriousness marked the observation of Labor day. That was in harmony with the times, especially as they affect labor. Labor has ceased to be a convenient issue for politicians. It has even lost caste as an inconvenient source of controversy between employers and employes. Asa result of the depression, some people are begininng to understand that labor is esentisil, not only as a means of production, but to maintain consumption. a u a We Swallow Fiction THE world never knew what prosperity was until it saw well-paid people steadily at work, and even then it failed to recognize the true cause. Three years ago, we Americans swallowed the fiction that a political party was the guardian of our good fortune. That having exploded, our brightest bankers are trying to present Wall Street as the tin god. With six or eight million out of work, and with wages being cut, business shrinks, stocks continue to fall, and government revenues decrease. It Takes Time THE idea gradually is dawning that our prosperity was just a mater of steady, profitable work for everybody and that the consumption which this created was quite as important as the production. How to get people back to work is coming to be accepted as the one and only cure for existing conditions. As might have been expected this problem played a conspicuous part in Labor day pronouncements.
Self-Made Beggars? DESCRIBING the present situation as capitalism’s “full and final test,” Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Columbia university, warns industry that it must shoulder the task of guaranteeing workers greater security. He thinks we may have to adopt state insurance to make the program complete and workable, but opposes federal insurance which, he fears, would lead to the dole and convert us into a nation of “selfmade beggars.” a tt a On This Volsteadism Asserting that volsteadism “is a basic cause of unemployment,” the labor committee on modification calls on wage earners to show a united front in favor of changing the prohibition law this winter and predicts quick success if they do. Whether one agrees with this view, Volsteadism has an economic side, as is illustrated vividly by the number of income tax suits being brought against beer barons and rum runners. tt tt tt A Popular Idea CLARENCE DARROW prophesies a bigger crime wave than ever if the coming winter turns out cold, and the League for Independent Political Action, headed by Dr. John Dewey, urges President Hoover to suggest a “hunger loan” of at least $3,000,000,000. The five-day week, four-shift day, added restrictions for child labor, old age pensions, and other technical methods of making the same amount of work go a little farther are being advocated. Outside of modification of the Volstead act and government bond issues, the most popular idea of providing work appears to center around some scheme or other which will give each individual less to do, or restrict the number of individuals who are eligible.
It's Some Contrast THE Russians have a different theory. They are demanding that everybody do more work, children included. Sunday was “International Youth day” in Soviet Russia. Moscow celebrated it with a vast parade of boys and young men who tramped through the rain to Red square. These boys and young men are members of the Communist Youth party, with age limits of 14 and 22 years. They are being trained to believe that all they can earn above a bare living belongs to the state and that it is glorious to earn as much as they can. They are being trained not only to rejoice in work but in the hardest kind of work. It is their pride to be known as Stalin’s “shock troops.” Given such a spirit on the part of youth, what country could not succeed? It certainly forms a striking contrast to the way some of our American boys and girls are pampered and to the ideas some of our people have as to the way youth should be prepared for life.
Questions and Answers
What is the speed record for airplanes and seaplanes? For the airplane it is 278.48 miles an hour and for seaplanes it is 357.7 miles an hour. Who is the world’s heavyweight wrestling champion? The championship is in dispute between Jim Londos and Ed (Strangler) Lewis, who recently won his claim to the title by defeating Don George. tVhat is the name of the plant that is supposed to cause hay fever? Giant ragweed, a tall, coarse plant, from 4 to 10 feet high, is commonoly accepted as the chief cause of hay fever, or more properly, autumn fever, in the United States. * For whom was ML Vernon, in Virginia, the home of George Washington, named? Lewis Washington named It for Admiral Edward Vernon of the British navy.
o
DAILY HEALTH SERVICE Vitamin E Essential to Reproduction
This is the last of a series of timely articles by Dr. Morris Fishbein on “Food Truths and Follios,’’ dealing with such much discussed, but little known subjects as calories, vitamins, minerals, digestion and balanced diet. BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hvgeia. the Health Magazine. ONE of the most complicated processes of which we have any knowledge is the process of reproduction. It is known that deficiencies of any of the vitamins act adversely toward this process. However, one substance has been shown by "Evans and Bishop to exist in foods and to be specifically concerned with the promotion of fertility. This is fat soluble vitamin E,
IT SEEMS TO ME
I WAS taken to task severely by several correspondents because of my criticism of Shaw’s Russian reports. That was hardly a surprise, for Shaw is a mighty man and the Soviet republic is riding on the crest of the wave. But it annoyed me a little that I should be classed as an ultra-con-servative taking a kick at an unpopular cause. The fact is quite the other way around. Parlor Communism is among the most popular of indoor sports at the moment. Theodore Dreiser and most of the successful American writers who go in for society and salons are complete converts to the new philosophy, right up to the point of taking on party membership. Os course, it was not Stalin, but Mussolini, who blazed the trail. Democracy has few defenders among articulate publicists today. A sort of panic is a byproduct of the depression, and from every quarter we hear cries for the abolition of ancient liberties and the establishment of dictatorial rule. Baseball and the movies have both gone in for commissars. And there is a feeling that crime and other industries could be better handled under some unit rule.
Folly of Nonrecognition ' THERE is, of course, an utter lack of logic in the state department’s refusal to recognize Russia. In the beginning we undertook to explain . our hesitancy to establish diplomatic relations on the ground that here was a land where no responsible leadership had been established. By now there is small mystery concerning the fundamental facts of Russian life. The literature available here is enormous, and most of it is favorable. There can be no question today that the Russian government is one of the most stable in the world. The constant talk of Soviet propagandists about the danger of foreign intervention is the merest moonshine. Naturally they mention the fact that America actually did land troops after Russia withdrew from the war. It is also possible to point to the expeditionary forces led by Kolchak and by Wrangel. In point of actual years, these episodes are not far removed from the present day. But in true time, they are centuries out of date. There is no power or combination of powers which would have the slightest chance of making a dent in the Russian military machine now. That goes for tomorrow and as far as the eye can reach. a a a Local Boy Makes Good IN other words, Russia is a huge success. And it is not upon the very grounds of its success that I would take sharp dissent with both Shaw and Stalin. I still believe in certain liberties now labeled sentimental and bourgeois. I refuse to accept the notion that the individual must immolate himself wholly and place his fate in the hands oL one or two wise men. One does not need to look at Russia alone to find vdst laboratory experiments in the matter of enforced paternalism. Henry Ford would fit very neatly into the Ruffian scheme. It is true that he has run his factories for profit and that, vyon several occaV
The Stuck Pi^
abundant in certain seeds of vegetable origin, such as the oil of wheat embryos. Deficiency of vitamin A interferes seriously with reproduction, but the interference is not the type which results from a deficiency 6f vitamin E. It may prevent the formation of the female egg cell or prevent fertilization of that cell by the male cell on implantation of that cell in the uterus, but a deficiency of vitamin E results in destruction of the implanted cell, which is a specific type of interference with reproduction. Vitamin E is fcnind in many tissues of the body, such as the muscles, the fat, the pancreas, the spleen, the liver and the heart. It is less abundant in liver than in
sions, he has not hesitated to lay off a vast number of workers. But it must be quite obvious to all who have read the various accounts of the life and times of Ford that he is a man having no interest at all in the luxuries or the esthetic recreations sometimes associated with the very rich. It is the possibility of power which has kept him so consistently on the job. There is no record that he ever cared to drink champagne from the slipper of a chorus girl. His thrills come from the chance to issue ringing orders to thousands of men as to what they shall do with their lives and with their spare time out of working hours. The ultimatum that each Ford worker must establish a garden and grow certain specified vegetables is fully in the spirit of the Stalin dictatorship. Quite a bit of nonsense has been talked of the “workers’ republic.” This is decidedly a misnomer. Even that familiar phrase “the dictatorship of the proletariat” falls short of accuracy. There is no such thing as a dictatorship involving any large number of people. Inevitably power must center in the hands of a very few. And finally even those few are likely to give way to one. So it always has been, and so it is today. Mostly for Effect THE newspapers of Russia, in popularizing the five-year plan, have been fond of printing pictures showing large groups of working women gathered together in serious dicussion of the details of the plan. Here we have touch of rotogravurity, for in all truth it must be obvious that the women so pictured could have little knowledge of the plan and still less power to alter it by a jot or tittle. After all, the plan is an extremely
Ml V[ttj^pEY
SWEDEN AIDS GERMANY Sept. 8
ON Sept. 8, 1917, the department of state of the United States startled the world by making public telegrams sent in cipher to the Berlin foreign office—through the Stockholm foreign office—by the German charge at Buenos Aires, Argentina. Secretary of State Lansing declared that the telegrams had been sent by Count Luxburg. German charge d'affairs at Buenos Aires, and dispatches from Bueaos Aires by the Swedish delegation to the Stockholm foreign office as Swedish messages. Most important of these was the following: “This government has now released German and Austrian ships on which hitherto a guard had been placed. In consequence of the settlement of the Monte (Protegido) case there has: been a great change in public feeling. “Government will in future only clear Argentine ships as far as Las Palmas. I beg that the small steamers Oran and Guazo, 31st of January (meaning which sailed 31st), which i re now nearing Bordeaux with a view t change flags, may be spared . . . or' sunk without a trace being left (spfflflos vesenkt).
muscle. It Is found in the seeds and green leaves of plants and in shellfish. Deficiencies of vitamin E in the female result in interference with her function of reproduction, whereas deficiency in the male seems to result in actual degenerative changes in the sex organ. It has been thought possible that vitamin E is concerned with other functions of the body, perhaps particularly with certain blood building characteristics, but upon these subjects much investigation is going forward. It must be realized that the first announcement of the possibility of this vitamin came in 1923, and that much remains to be learned beyond what has been learned in these few years.
by j ™ d
complicated economic program, comprehensible only to the expert mind. And even in fast moving Russia the expert mind still remains a decided minority. Now, it may be that the abolition of unemployment and a rise in standards of living can only be brought about by just such a regime as that which prevails in Russia. But I still think it vital to T -Mnt out that some of the excesses which have been committed seem likely to continue. There can be no fair denial that in the case of many, Russian rule has been harsh and extremely cruel. This new super-state delivers man over to the machine with a thoroughness and finality 'over known before. Oh, yes, I know the worker owns the machine. But in the same way a man owns his heart and liver Just let him try to step out from under if he doesn’t happen to like them. a tt a Gets on Bandwagon MR. SHAW is not giving his enthusiasm to a fugitive cause or some bright new vision. He has leaped belatedly upon a bandwagon already well in motion. Stalin and Shaw may inherit the earth. But it could be Androcles. Somewhere in the comers of the world still will be heard the ardent whispers of the Gandhis and the Thoreaus. One may refuse to swallow the Russian oyster because it isn’t radical enough. I’m one. I’m more radical than Shaw. I still think mankind can establish a brotherhood which is not built on a bed of bayonets. I would see the world made over. But not in the image of Dearborn and Detroit. (CoDVright. 1931. bv The Times!
Daily Thought
And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.—Mark 10:42. Where the offense is, let the great ax fall.—Shakespeare.
Can You Save It? That beautiful party dress that got a drop of ink on it? That tablecloth on which Bobby spilled the preserves? Those silk undies I on which you dropped a spot of iodine? Dad’s vest that his fountain pin spoiled? That napkin with the peach stains? Are they ruined? Or can the spots and stains be removed? Our Washington bureau has ready for you one of its authoritative bulletins on the “Removal of Stains From Textile Materials.” It tells exactly what to try for each kind of spot or stain. It may save you a lot of money. Fill out the coupon below and send for it. — CLIP COUPON HERE - Dept. 144, Washington Bureau, The Indianapolis Times, 1322 New York avenue, Washington, D. C. I. want a copy of the bulletin "Stain Removal," and inclose herewith 5 cents in coin, or loose, uncanceled United States stamps, to cover return postage and handling costs: Name Street and No City... , state .j I ?un a reader of The Indianapolis Times. (Code No.)
Ideals and opinion* expressed in this column are those of one of America’s most interesting writers and are presented without regard to their ~? r disagreement with the editorial attitude of this paper.—The Editor.
SEPT. 8, 1931
SCIENCE —BY DAVID DIETZ
New Program for Survey of U niv ers e Interesting in Comparison With Earlier Studies. ' \ SURVEY of the universe, ranging from the study of some of the nearest stars to the study of distance galaxies more than 100,000,000 light-years away, has been inaugurated by the Harvard observatory under the guidance of its world-famous director. Dr. Harlow Shapley. For the convenience of the reader who does not have his astronomical tables handy, it should be said that the nearest star is four and a third light years away, or approximately 25,000,000,000,000 miles, not as close as one might at first imagine. A light year is approximately 6.000,000,000,000 miles that is, the distance covered by a beam of light in one year, traveling at the rate of 196,000 miles a second. During the last ten years, the Harvard observatory has carried on many important surveys of various parts of the universe. These have included studies of the star clusters, the Magellanic clouds, certain regions of the Milky Way and the so-called clouds of galaxies. The Magellanic clouds received their names from the fact that they were first noted by the explorer, Magellan, on his trip around the globe. They are visible only from the southern hemisphere of the earth. To the unaided eye they appear like two cloudy patches which have broken loose from the Milky Way. Shapley's studies showed that they were great aggregations of stars more distant than the Milky Way.
Thirty Astronomers THE new program mapped out by Di> Shapley will ir-lude the use of ten photographic telescopes and the services of thirty astronomers. All the work will not be done in this country. Since the southern hemisphere must be included in the study, much observational work and photographing will be done at the Harvard observatory’s southern station at Bloemfontein, South Africa. It is interesting to compare Dr. Shapley’s plans for a survey of the universe with the first survey ever made. * The first survey represented the efforts of one astronomer, the famous Sir William Herschel. Sir William had only one assistant, his faithful sister, Caroline. There are few stories in the annals of astronomy interesting or more appealing thaif that of the Herschels. William Herschel was born in Hanover, Germany. His father was the oboe player in a military regiment and he raised his son to be a musician. At 17, William became oboist in the Hanoverian guards. But the military life made no great appeal to the boy and two years later he ran away from his regiment and settled in England. He was of course, guilty of desertion, but later in life received an official pardon for the act. In England, he became first a bandmaster and later an organist. He spent his spare time studying mathematics, optics, Italian and Greek. Finally, he became interested in astronomy. That was the turning point in his career.
A Great Discovery HERSCHEL could not afford to buy a telescope and so he decided to build his own. He became so engrossed in grinding and polishing mirrors and lenses for his telescopes that his sister had to feed him as he worked away on the mirrors. Before long he had built himself bigger and better telescopes than the world had ever seen. His biggest telescope would be regarded as a crude and inefficient instrument today alongside of such giants as the Canadian 72-inch telescope or the Mt. Wilson 100-inch telescope. But in its day it was a remarkable instrument and Herschel did remarkable work with it. He launched himself upon as Herculean a task as ever had been undertaken. He proposed to make a complete survey of the heavens. His plan was to study the heavens, section at a time, making note of all the interesting things which caught his attention. His sister acted as his secretary during this survey, noting down his observations. It was this survey which led to the discovery of the planet Uranus. On March 13, 1781, he discovered an object which did not have quite the appearance of a star. At first he thought he had stumbled upon a comet, but further observations made *it clear that it was a planet. Until the discovery of this planet, the world had only known those planets which had been known since the days of antiquity. Herschel proposed naming the new planet after King George of England. Other astronomers wanted to name it Herschel. Finally, the name, Uranus, was agreed upon. The discovery made Herschel famous. He was appointed telescopemaker to the king, and in time was knighted. Could the President of the United States remove the Governor of a state from office? The President has no power to remove state officials.