Indianapolis Times, Volume 43, Number 124, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 October 1931 — Page 4

PAGE 4

NATION'S ROADS TEEMING WITH POORJUNGRY Huge Peace-Time Army Is Causing New Problems of Social Disorders. By Bcripps-Il award Newspaper Alliance WASHINGTON, Oct. 2.—A great migratory peace-time army, of tens of thousands of homeless men, women and children, has been let loose upon America by the depression, to create menacing problems in dependency, sickness, crime and social disorder. Drifters—hoboes, “bindle-stiffs,” hitch-hikers, “flivver tramps’’ and even whole families turned vagrant —are storming towns and cities in numbers heretofore undreamed of. They are begging for Jobs, failing which, for food and shelter. Many are being driven to crime. Communities, bewildered by their numbers, pass them on to other communities. Conditions among this aimless, drifting multitude, recently were described by Robert Whitcomb, a writer for Atlantic Monthly, who was forced into what he called “the new Odessey,” as “a monstrous nightmare of dull horrors.” And stories coming into the President’s Gifford committee headquarters bear out this description. Faint With Hunger One man tells of a farmer’s whole family from drought-stricken North Dakota crawling out of a box car in Chicago, stiff with cold and faint with hunger. A Utah civil engineer counted ninety-two persons—including three women, one of whom carried a baby—on one freight train. President John S. Pyeatt of the Denver & Rio Grande, is quoted as saying that there are from sixty to 200 “dead-heads” on every freight train and from six to twelve on every passenger train. In July, another officer of this road says, 11,000 persons were carried on its freight lines. Many, weak from loss of sleep or lack of food, fall from the moving trains to be killed or crippled. When thrown off by trainmen the ragged horde gathers in hobo camps. Highways Swarming The highways swarm with hitchhikers, travelers report. These are augmenting the usual migration of casual workers that swings around the great national circle from the northwest wheat belt southward to the cotton belt and thence westward to pick fruit. This year are seen many families, dispossessed in the cities, traveling toward sunnier climates in Florida, Texas and the Pacific coast. California and Florida are the worst sufferers. Reaping fruits of years of climate boosting, California now harbors more than 100,000 strangers, its river banks, valley towns and railroad rights of way infested with thousands of disillusioned easterners, its cities pressed with the task of feeding new mouths. St. Paul, Detroit, Chicago, Birmingham, New Orleans, Florida towns, Texas oil cities and the entire Pacific coast feel the brunt of the problem.

200 SCHOOL MEN MEET — < . Clay Pigeon Shoot Features Outing of City Club. Clay pigeon shooting featured the outing of the Indianapolis School Men’s Club at the Boy Scout reservation Wednesday, afternoon. Approximately 200 were present. Leaders in the pigeon shoot were W. A. Hacker, director of social service, Russell Willson, president of the board of school commissioners, and Paul C. Stetson, superintendent. Dinner was served in the scout field house. At the meeting held after the meal, W. S. Barnhart, head of the commercial department at Manual Training high school and president of the club, presided. WARNS IN LICENSE WAR Miner Serves Notice on Florida for Jailing of Driver. Ward B. Hiner, Red Ball truckman, has served notice on Florida officials that he will launch a drive against all Florida licensed cars in Indiana unless they release one of his drivers now being held in jail at Jacksonville for having Hoosier license plates. In a letter to the press Hiner charges that the war on truck licenses is backed by the railroads to prevent cheap hauling, i Hiner is backed in his stand by James W. Carpenter, Indiana license commissioner. It is said that there are 11,896,780 different hands possible in the game of bridge.

JiT! - J STYLE 1 Style that (Its the Fall and Winter season! Quality for superior to any offered heretofore at as low a price as $3 . . . and the selection is tremendous. * Three Dollar SHOE COMPANY til North n CTfIDITC 2nd Floor State Illinois St. , * Life Building

INSURE GUNMEN? NEVER ‘Lead Poisoning ’ Risk Too Great

They all wanted insurance . . . but they were all turned down flat. . . . A1 Capone, upper left, Legs Diamond, upper center, and Johnny Scaccio, lower center, were all refused. ... Joe Aiello, right, and Mickey Duffey, lower left, have already demonstrated what poor risks they would have been, if accepted . . . both having been later murdered.

BY DEXTER H. TEED NEA Service Writer NEW YORK, Oct. '2.—Big time gangsters and racketeers and all the smaller fry, wealthy though many of them may be, are entirely out of luck when they try to get life insurance. Even if they are robust and healthy their susceptibility to “lead poisoning” makes them poor risks. And now, although it means loss of policies, aggregating millions of dollars, the great insurance companies of America have agreed unanimously to refuse life insurance to all racketeers. It is a cold business proposition, and their judgment has been vindicated. Behind the scenes in this struggle to prevent gangsters from obtaining insurance is the story of anonymous investigators who are risking death and injury to ferret out the true status of underworld characters who apply under assumed names and give false occupations. Such notorious figures as Al Capone, Legs Diamond, Joe Aiello, Mickey Duffy and Johnny Scaccio have tried in the past to take out policies that would assure their heirs of plenty of insurance money. All have failed. nan IN the case of Duffy the good judgment of several companies was proved. Duffy, shot down in a luxurious suite in an Atlantic City hotel, went the way of many of the “big shots” in gangdom. Since 1927 he had been applying to a score of companies for SIOO,000 life insurance and was invariably turned down. Little Joe Aiello, before rival gangsters wrote finis to his career with machine gun bullets, had applied for life insurance under an assumed name. His identity was determined and he died without benefit of life insurance. Even well-fed Al Capone, fat and robust and well-protected, can not get a cent of insurance. Though he is the dominant figure in Chicago’s gang life, none of the great insurance companies will take a chance on him. Probably Legs Diamond, New York’s most publicized gangster, couldn’t have passed a physical examination anyway, but he never tried. He didn’t get that far when he applied. a a tt THE dramatic struggle to identify gangsters still continues. Only recently an enterprising insurance agent was tipped off that a wealthy man living in a fashionable suburban center near New York wanted some insurance. The agent saw him and the man applied for coverage of $50,000. Investigators who started looking up the man’s record found that he had skyrocketed from a humble home to a splendid mansion in a few years. That made them suspicious. And when they learned that gangs of thugs often visited him in the dead of night, uncovering

the fact that he was a bootlegger and gangster was inevitable. He was turned down cold. “When issuing a policy to a man we invariably determine if he is a good moral risk as well as a good physical risk,” is the way it is explained at the big companies

THEY TELL ME

BY BEN STERN NO statement issued by an Indiana public official in recent years has received the earnest attention and careful scrutiny which has attended the demand of Mayor Reginald H. Sullivan for a special session of the legislature to pass an income tax law. Almost overnight Sullivan has been projected into a position of real importance in the Indiana Democratic party. As mayor of the largest city in the state, he was, of course, a prominent in the political picture, but due to his own inactivity and diffidence, he did not take his rank among the front runners in the party. Today mention of his name causes a prickling up of ears. Friends in Indianapolis occasionally had advanced his name in governorship talk, but such mention was received lightly. a a a It is known that he has pledged himself to support Frank Dailey for the nomination and even has gone so far as to tell this to Paul V. McNutt, outstanding contender. Yet through fortuitous circumstance of time and place, his defiance of the state tax board and paid lobbyists for organizations demanding tax slashes, his name is now to the fore when nominations in 1932 are being considered. He pointed out that unless real

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THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

like Metropolitan, Equitable, New York Life and others, i “Gangsters have a short life expectancy, their moral characters are bad and they are usually in effect public enemies. We haven’t any desire to aid or protect such a person in any way.”

estate is relieved of at least 50 per cent of its present burden, the small owner is faced with confiscation. This statement alone won for him the regard of the Indiana farm bureau, with its more than 50,000 members; the independent home owner and real estate dealers. Then Sullivan showed that the presence of water and light company representatives on the Chamber of Commerce budget-slashing committee is woithy of a horse laugh, because the companies they represent collect millions from the ctiy government for light and water and yet they desire to cut every item but that which affects them. st tt a This attack on the commerce committee also is a ten strike, because all classes of Indianapolis citizens are tiring of the attitude taken by this special committee. But the proposal of a one-day’s session of the general assembly to pass an income tax bill and lift the burden on real property is of especial interest, because public opinion over Indiana is asking that Governor Harry G. Leslie convene the legislature to devise some method of improving the situation. Whether Sullivan’s suggestion is accepted does not detract from the fact that he is the first important pubic official in the state to describe the situation frankly and suggest a possible solution. For this alone politicians now praise him.

PRESIDENT REAL POWER IN 11. S. BEERSOUABBLE Congress Almost Certainly Won’t Do Thing Without Strict Orders. BY RODNEY DUTCHER NEA Service Writer WASHINGTON, Oct. 2.—Lots of people, judging from inquiries, are not sure whether President Hoover could restore beer and wine to the country by a mere executive order. Os course, he can’t and only an act of congress could make beer But the wide attention being directed at the President in connection with the beer speculation is based on the fact that a strong declaration from him at this time would carry tremendous weight in congress and through the country and definitely might mark the turning point away from prohibition. He Must Demand It Neither house of congress will pass any beer legislation during the next session unless Hoover demands it, and he is not expected to do so. Even if the President did come out for beer and urge congress to restore it there is some room for doubt whether the house and senate would fall over themselves in a rush to comply. The point is that White House intervention is the only rhing that might cause legislative action in the near future. Could Be Modified The Volstead act could be modified by a majority vote, but each house is still regarfled as approximately three-fourths dry. A call for beer from Hoover, because of the presidential influence and the fact that beer is now being demanded as an important step toward relieving depression, would be likely to whittle down the dry majorities considerably, although one can only guess as to how many votes it would affect. Members of congress will vote for beer when they dare and not before. Intimation Not Enough A mere intimation that the President would be willing to sign a 3 per cent bill probably would have little if any effect on Capitol Hill. It would be necessary for Hoover, if he espoused the beer cause and sought to get anywhere with it this winter, to mobilize sentiment through the country to help him and to announce his conversion in emphatic tones. There is plenty of pro-beer sentiment but there also is still plenty of anti-beer sentiment and no one has yet been able to tempt Hoover to defy the latter. Thus the likelihood is that all this beer talk as well as all the efforts to persuade the President will come to nothing. 36 Varieties of Wheat Grown By United, Press HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct. 2. Pennsylvania farmers grew thirtysix different varieties of wheat during 1931, according to Department of Agriculture reports. “Pennsylvania 44” was the most popular, with 38.5 of-the growers reporting plantings of this type.

MOBILOIL ON SALE AT VONNEGUT’S Light and Medium Heavy. A Q|-5-Gall on Cans P**OD Heavy. 5-Gallon Cans Vw* I D / Basement. VONNEGUT’S 120 East Washington St.

' Canned All They Can

Hi S|. -

Ladies of Emanuel Baptist church, Woodlawn avenue and Laurel street, will aid in caring for hungry families this winter with donation of fruits and vegetables canned by them this week.

FLIER, WIFE SEPARATE Mrs. Lawrence Genaro Wins Limited Decree, Alimony and Children. Limited divorce on grounds of infidelity has been granted Mrs. Cecilia Genaro from Lieutenant Lawrence Genaro, army air reserve corps flier stationed at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, in circuit court. She was granted $2,160 alimony and custody of their two children, Joseph, 5, and Carl, 2. Lieutenant Genaro filed a cross-

Big Special in See This Beautiful Home Outfit Displayed in the Separate Rooms of a Four-Room 10k By far the greatest value in a complete (jLjJW JKI Four-Room Home Outfit we have ever been able to offer. See it arranged in rooms in the Complete Cottage. PRICE COMPLETE *329 0 .f' ' * Complete Dining Room $329 Convenient Kitchen It's an entire home outfit—four rooms of comfort, contentment and charm. A delightful Living Room, a most comfortable Bedroom, a charming Dining Room and a most convenient Kitchen. It’s complete —more and better furnishings than ever before. Two other wonderful Home Outfit Values, one at $295 and the other at $395. See these marvelous Outfit Values here tomorrow. only S2O down: Our Annual Fall Sale of sums ipsiti The New Parlor Furnaces at j(2pEE) eeebhis j the New Low Prices | The newest improved Hot Air Circula- §§l tors. Change the air in the entire home. ; J~Z~ Powerful heaters, yet economical. Hand- j ( M some cabinet designs in walnut enamel US finish, large line, all sizes. Best values in the state. See these wonderful heaters. -SI terms to suit if Prices up from md TT g Coil Spring Day Bed Special Velvet Rug All spiral coil steel con- Simmons make. Opens to Close, firm weave, durstruction. Most com- double size. Double able Rug. 9x12 feet, sortable. $£.95 Simmons slCf.9s Spe- SO* 7* Most durable .. Q== mattress J[Q= cial NO MONEY | 1 1 | | [j CREDIT DOWN TERMS i "TmrniT WASHINGTON AND CAPITOL 11151131311

Here are shown, left to right, Mrs. Amelia Dickerson, Mrs. Emma Blumberg, Mrs. Edith Jett, Mrs. Jennie Lince and Mrs. Frona Oliver, with a portion of the food prepared for poor persons.

complaint asking an absolute divorce, but Mrs. Genaro won the separation. In his own defense, Lieutenant Genaro exhibited his flying logbook to show he had not taken other women on his airplane flights, as charged in the complain against him. Old Pile Bridge Still Used YORK, Me., Oct. 2.—What is belieyed to be the first pUe bridge in America, built in 1876, still is in use on one of the main highways here.

-OCT. 2, 1931

FLIES TO DTING FATHER; NAB3ED FOR BAD CHECK Race to Bedside Ends in Jail, With Death and Cops Victors. By United Press CHICAGO. Oct. 2.—The race to Chicago from Los Angeles by airplane of A. H. Goldbogen, 25, construction company official, to reach the bedside of his dying father, ended with him in Jail today and his father dead before the son had seen him. A squad of detectives met Goldbogen at the airport. They arrested him on request of Los Angeles police who charged him with issuing a worthless check to finance the trip. Soon after Goldbogen was placed in a cell, a telephone call came from the home of Hyman G. Goldbogen, the father. “His father is dying, please let him out to see him before it’s too late,” a relative pleaded. But Goldbogen was not released. A short time later came this message to the jail: “Your father is dead.” “When a telegram informed me that my father was not expected to live, I left for the Los Angeles airport without even changing clothes,” Goldbogen said. “I left $220 for expenses in another suit. I signed a blank check with the understanding my superintendent would bring $l5O to the airport to take it up. I had to get started, father was dying.”