Indianapolis Times, Volume 43, Number 129, Indianapolis, Marion County, 8 October 1931 — Page 4

PAGE 4

M"-"

SCPtPPJ-M OWAMD

Unshackle Business The utility ball and chain must be taken from the leg of business, if the people of Indianapolis and Indiana are to obtain any results from the new effort to coax back prosperity. As long as these utilities charge exorbitant rates for their service, as long as they are able to control government instead of being regulated by government, there will be a lack of prosperity for the thrifty and useful citizen and enterprise. Control of charges for electric power means a control over every business, because electricity is now as essential to industry as is either machinery or labor. Whatever excess tribute is taken by the power interests is just that much of a tax on both labor and invested capital. In this city there is ample evidence that the excessive nature of the charges for electricity has reached the point of public scandal. The rates were too high under the old basis of rate making. Under the new principles announced by a majority of the public service commission, the rates are outrageous. The commission now fixes 5 and not 7 per cent as a fair rate of return. It declares that the old valuations at war-time prices are no longer binding upon the public. Os course, the companies are still charging on the old basis, and even,stretched that basis by a system of trick charges for operation which took out larcenous sums for the holding company. The purchase of coal from the holding company has cost the people and industries of this city several hundreds of thousands of dollars. , Incidentally, the people of this city pay each year a tribute for the consent of the Insull interests to the Clarke interests to hold this particular part of the utility domain. Last year the local company bought over sixty-eight millions of kilowatt hours from the Insulls. The price paid was in excess of 1 cent an hour. The cost of making current in plants that were not operated, say engineers, at their full capacity, was about onethird the price paid. If that charge is correct, the Insulls took theirs out of Indianapolis to the extent of three or four hundred thousands of dollars. The high cost of water and electricity has looted the city treasury to the extent of a million a year. The high cost to the domestic users has filched pennies from the family budget. The high cost of power has made the going hard for every factory. The time to act is now. The people must act if this city wants to share in whatever prosperity is on the way. Swift Justice The declaration of Chief Justice Martin to the Daughters of the American Revolution that justice is speedy in Indiana needs some amendment and amplification. Judge Martin should have amplified to the extent of telling these women that in particular cases speed is sacrificed to political considerations and that justice often trembles before expediency. There is exactly that exception in this matter as he demanded in the right of free speech. He advocates free speech except on controversial questions at a time when people are likely to become interested in controversies. Similarly there is swift justice when speed will not interfere with the political ambitions of those who control political parties and will not be embarrassing to those not yet behind bars. For several years Indiana has had as its most outstanding guest the man who once boasted that he was “the law in Indiana 1 ’ and whose later revelations of political activities in conjunction with those now' in office are somewhat shocking. In his case the decision on appeal has been postponed from primary to election and again to the next primary for years. In his case the constitutional guarantee has a most liberal construction. What happens to him, as a man, is not so very important to any one except himself. But what happens to him becomes important when it establishes a precedent. What can be denied him can be denied all others. And the whole theory of constitutional protection becomes a theory and not a reality. There are other cases which the higher courts find difficult of decision. For example, there is the case of a particular offender who secured a forced affidavit for the benefit of very high politicians and who was convicted for that offense after one George Coffin had turned that affidavit over to the federal prosecutors and sought indictments of editors who were exposing the crimes of the machine. No decision has been reached in his case. He is still at liberty, although convicted. The law winks and slumbers. Judge Martin will be in much better position to give assurances of real reverence for the Constitution when he persuades his associates to clear the docket of political contentions. Until that happens, the “average time of decision” quoted by the judge will continue to read like a recipe for rabbit pie. Action The distinct tingle of hope that has swept the country in the last twenty-four hours Is not due to any widespread, technical understanding of the issues involved—the issues of credit and liquidity and “assets eligible for rediscount by member banks.” It is due to the fact that at last we are getting action. Somebody is doing something. There are evidences of leadership. When the boom-built house of cards began to tumble two years ago this month we criticised President Hoover lor his policy of mere reassurance and

The Indianapolis Times (A SCRirrs-AOWAKD NEWSPAPER) Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The IndianapolAi Time* Publishing Cos.. 214-220 West Maryland Street, Indianapolis, Ind. Price in Marion County, 2 cent* a copy; elsewhere. 3 cents—delivered by carrier. 12 cents a week. Mail subscription rate# in Indiana, S3 a year: outside of Indiana, <55 cent# a month. BOTD (SUBLET. EOT W. HOWARD. EARL D. BAKER, Editor President Business Manager PHONE—Riley MH. THURSDAY. OCT. . 1831. Member of United Press. Scrippa-Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newspaper Enterprise Association, Newspaper Information Service aDd Audit Bureau of Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”

inaction. We felt that such a policy did not square with the facts; that “hope deferred maketh the heart sick”; that “prosperity - just - around - the -corner” itatements, therefore, did harm rather than good. In recent weeks there has been a distinct change. First, the moratorium. Then the President went to Detroit find took care of the bonus job. He followed that by his enunciation of policy on naval expenditures. As the commander-in-chief of the navy, he can function, if he wants to, in peace time. And now he moves in on the banking situation. All that classifies as action. And in action there Is hope. While unanimous public indorsement of every decision he makes is not to be expected, the President is entitled to wholesale public support in his new technique of doing something about the emergency in which the nation and the world find themselves. No human being can be right in all his moves. But deeds, though some be mistakes, are better than no deeds at all. It looks as if the present move is sound. We most heartily commend Mr. Hoover for his change in attitude. Judge Taney ' 11 often has been observed that lawyers who have been subservient to a political machine sometimes become very good judges when elevated to the bench. The responsibility of the new office sobers them and enables them to assume a high degree of impartiality. This was the case with Roger Brooke Taney, whose bust recently was unveiled at Frederick, Md., with fitting ceremonies, at which Chief Justice Hughes and Governor Ritchie were the chief speakers. It is just a hundred years ago that Taney was made attorneygeneral of the United States. While he had proved his ability as a court lawyer, Taney was regarded as primarily a politician. He was one of the most docile and devoted of Jacksonian Democrats. When Jackson made his famous raid on the United States bank in 1833 he tried to find somebody servile enough to his erratic wishes to wreck the institution by withdrawing federal funds. Two secretaries of the treasury balked and were removed or transferred. Then Taney was given the job and carried out Old Hickory’s commands. Asa reward for this political service, Jackson appointed Taney to the supreme court, but the senate turned him down indignantly. Jackson waited his time. The senate changed its complexion and he was able to make Taney chief justice or successor to the great Marshall. Clay and most statesmen of the time bitterly criticised the appointment. Yet Taney made a good chief justice. He introduced system and organization into the work of the supreme court which had been lacking during Marshall’s long term. Even his supposed slip in the Dred Scot case was not a product of Taney’s personal bias toward slavery, which he hated. Early in his political career he had attracted attention by defending a northern Methodist minister who had incited slaves to insurrection. He had reed his own slaves. The Dred Scot decision was a product of Taney’s strict constructionist ideas. Where he erred was in succumbing to the temptation to write a political opinion. Judge Nelson had written a technical opinion, settling the legal question at issue, namely, whether Dred Scot was a slave. But Taney feared the political effect of Judge McLean’s political dissenting opinion and decided to write a political opinion, embodying the nonconstitutionality of the Missouri compromise. Taney's efforts to preserve the constitutional rights of American citizens during the Civil war reflects more credit upon Taney than upon Lincoln and those who were willing to wreck the Constitution to suppress slavery and preserve the Union. Judge Hughes’ statement in his speech that there is not the slightest foundation for the charge of political bargaining or collusion in the Dred Scot decision is not quite true. John Bassett Moore cleared up this point in his Life and Works of James Buchanan. Justice Catron was a friend of President Buchanan, who hailed from Pennsylvania. The majority justices wanted to have a northern judge side with the majority, so that it would not seem an allsouthern affair. Justice Grier came from Pennsylvania. Catron asked Buchanan to bring pressure on Grier to get him to cOme in with the majority. Buchanan communicated with Grier, who answered as follows: “Your letter came to hand this morning. I have taken the liberty to show it in confidence to our mutual friends, Judge Wayne and the chief justice. We fully appreciate and concur in your views. . . .” Grier voted as requested. This is an interesting commentary on the so-called “check and balance” system and the independence of the three departments of government. William Henry Seward charged collusion between the President and the court, which so aroused the indignation of Taney that he later said that if Seward had been elected President he would have refused to administer the oath of office to him.

Just Every Day Sense BY MRS. WALTER FERGUSON

SPAIN, a nation that we are prone to regard as backward and reactionary, has given to woman one of the highest and most important positions in the realm. Victoria Kent, a lawyer, will have charge of the entire prison system of the country. It remains to be seen whether her plans, which include decent food, work and plenty of exercise for every prisoner, will succeed. At least, however, she is proceeding upon a humanitarian theory, which is the only way we have left to deal with this problem. We should know by this time that we can not reform man by the gat and the third degree, and that we can not improve crime conditions by the callous and inhuman treatment of criminals. a a a A GOOD many of us living in this land of feminine freedom probably will be startled considerably at the thought of a woman having charge of such work. Yet it seems to me that we are peculiarly fitted for it. The feminine psychology is the psychology of the ideal and, whatever may be said to the contrary, it is the ideal upon which future civilizations must be built, if they are to exist at all. Sheer materialism has failed and failed lamentably. It always will fail. Women are concerned primarily with reclamation work. They are interested in salvaging derelicts, and in all endeavors that affect the destinies of races. Some feminine assistance in our prison programs might not be such a bad thing. As it is, about all we do is stand on the sidelines and plead for reforms. The men, however, still have almost the entire responsibility of prison discipline. And from recent very bad occurrences, it looks as if their methods are far from perfect. K W

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. Tracy SAYS:

Like Education , Credit Must Be Liberalized to Serve Its Purpose, and That Is for the Benefit of the Whole Community. NEW YORK, Oct. B.—As some wisecracking philosopher has said, “gold in the toe of a sock only rots the sock,” but when people are scared, that’s where they keep it. You can take a book of interest tables, or a book on psychology, and prove that they are hurting only themselves, but it won’t do the least bit of good. Fear is one of the sternest realities in life, and it produces the same effect whether it has any basis in fact, or whether those who suffer from it realize that it does them more harm than good. If you were afraid of the dark as a child, or have seeen a bank go under because of backstairs gossip, you don’t need to be told this. an* It Took Him Time BACK of the frozen assets, about which we have talked so much, and which are responsible largely for prolonging the depression, is fear. We only waste time in arguing whether it was justified, since the big problem is, and has been, its removal. If President Hoover had been a psychologist, instead of an engineer, he probably would have realized this sooner. Once having realized it, he showed no lack of courage, or initiative, and the country is showing no lack of appreciation, or approval. B B B Must Be Liberalized YOU notice that President Hoover begins with the credit system—the system which, above all others, expresses our confidence not only in each other, but in the commonality of effort. Credit is the life blood of capitalism, the one thing that justifies an economic structure based on private enterprise, the sole hypothesis on which democracy can be reconciled with great wealth. Like education, credit must be liberalized to serve its purpose. Not that every one is entitled to it, but that no pains should be spared to see that every one who needs it, and who is entitled to it, is not ignored. B B B What's the Matter? CREDIT can not be diverted into particular channels, or subjected to peculiar restrictions, without doing grave injustice not only to those individuals and institutions directly concerned, but to the community at large. The idea of setting some securities and commodities apart as good collateral, while others are taboo, regardless of their worth, has played havoc with business in general. Take real estate mortgages, for instance, which were mentioned by Mr. Hoover as among our frozen assets, and you will find that life insurance companies regard them as first class, while building and loan associations depend on them entirely. Such being the case, why haven’t we found a way to make real estate mortgage liquid?

What About Farmers WE think of this as a great industrial nation, and we justly have mobilized our credit system for the support of industry, but why leave out agriculture, especially the movable assets wliich agriculture produces? And while mobilizing credit for industry, why not have more consideration for the smaller and newer enterprises? Admitting that trading in stocks is legitimate, though nine-tenths of it may be meaningless, except as a matter of pure speculation, what about trading in commodities? And what about unlisted stocks, compared to those on the big board, provided, of course, they will an analysis? BUB Still Are Inadequate INDIVIDUAL banks can’t do the job required, no matter how big they are. They need credit in order to give their customers credit, and a national institution of rediscount is the only means by which they can get it. The Federal reserve system was supposed to be such an institution, but was hedged about by too many rules and regulations. The farm loan banks and intermediate banks have done splendid work in the field of agriculture, but they still are inadequate to perform the task assigned them. B B n Groundwork Is Laid PRESIDENT HOOVER not only has put his finger on the weak spot, but has proposed a practical remedy. Though amounting to little less than a drastic revision of the credit system, it can be applied without causing the slightest confusion. That the country was anxious for some such move and is ready to support it can be doubted no longer. Whether from a political or financial standpoint, the President has laid the groundwork for such unified and purposeful action as seemed impossible and gives the country a brighter outlook than it has enjoyed for many a day.

Daily Thought

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.—John 1:8. Perfection does not exist. To understand it is the triumph of human intelligence: to desire to possess it is the most dangerous kind of madness.—Alfred de Musset. What is the general level of the cost of living in the United States today compared with prewar levels? The index number of cost of living for June, 1931. according to the United States hureau of labor statistics. is 150.3 as compared with prices for 1913, which is taken as 100. Is East river in New York an actual river? It is a strait that separates Long island and Manhattan and connects New York bay with Long island sound.

DAILY HEALTH SERVICE Fever Usually Indicates Man’s Ills

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hygeia, the Health Magazine. FEVER generally is considered to mean any condition of the human body in which the temperature is recorded above the normal. Normal, as indicated by the little red arrow on tl\e thermometer, is 98.6 degrees F. or 37 degrees C. Thermometers are graded from 92 to 108; sometimes from 90 to 110. Seldom, however, do human beings reach either of these extreme temperatures. The temperatures of birds vary between 104 and 108 degrees F. Most animals have temperatures somewhat higher than that of man. The temperatures of rabbits vary from 102 to 104 degrees F. Much depends, of course, on the way in which the temperature is recorded. A thermometer placed in the mouth with the lips held tightly shut will, if the person is normal, record 98.6. A thermometer placed under the arm will record around 97.6 to 98. A thermometer placed in the other entrances and exits of the body may record around 99 to 99.6.

IT SEEMS TO ME

THE present depression has brought about a situation which threatens to become tragic. Specifically, I am thinking of the unemployment problem among female office workers. Not only have salaries been cut to half and less than half than what they normally should be, but employers are becoming more and more choosy regarding the physical appearance of the women they hire to be their secretaries, bookkeepers and file clerks. Os course, I have nothing against the theory that it is pleasant, and even important, to have a presentable looking staff. But when the tired business man attempts to surround himself with, a bevy of “Follies” beauties, regardless of their fitness for the job, something should be done about it. B B tt Beauty Comes First I WAS speaking to a young lady the other of the thousands who have been job hunting for weeks. She is a competent stenographer, intelligent and fairly attractive. Miss X is not a raving beauty, but she knews her business and has held some very fine jobs. She answered the ad the other day for a job paying about half of what she has been accustomed to earn. The call was for 9:30. Miss X, keeping in mind the adage about an early bird and a worm, arrived at the office three-quarters of an hour ahead of time. The prospective employer arrived

f-rncoAvißTHe-

WAR BOARDS ORGANIZED October 8

ON Oct. 8, 1917, it was announced that war service committees representing the several industries furnishing war supplies to the government were to be organized to take the place of the subordinate advisory committees of the Council of National Defense. The new committees will have no official connection with the Council of Defense, but serve the government as consulting agents after the manner of existing committees. This arrangement abolishes the technical dual function so far exercised by several members of the Council of National Defense. On this date also President Wilson signed commissions as generals for Major General Tasker H. Bliss and for Major General John J. Ffershing, commanding the American forces in France. Though both officers had equal rank, General Bliss took precedence by virtue of his position as the directing head of the entire army organization. Pay of the two officers was set at SIO,OOO a year, a $2,000 increase over the pay q£ major general.

Fishermen’s Luck

There may be a variation in the temperature from the lowest temperature, which occurs early in the morning, to the highest temperature, whih occurs late in the afternoon. It is interesting, to know that if a person works at’night and sleeps during the day, these readings may be reversed. Fever may result not only from disturbance of the heat regulating mechanism of the body, but directly through disturbances of the blood or of the breathing rate. The recording of fever is important for the physician, because by it he is able to make diagnoses of conditions in which the fever is distinctive. In some conditions, such as pneumonia, typhoid fever, the fever usually is high and stays high. In conditions like tuberculosis and general invasion of the body by septic germs, the fever is low in the morning and high in the afternoon. In some forms of malaria a fever occurs that lasts about eight hours and develops every other day; in other forms of malaria the fever lasts about eight hours, but occurs only every three days. Whenever the body is invaded by

at 9:30, and by then there were some 200 applicants crowded into his office and waiting for him. Os course, he was bewildered. The obvious course of procedure certainly would have been for him to interview, say, the first six and dismiss the rest. After all, no one could logically ask for more. Instead, however, the executive lined them all up like a chorus, asked them to walk about the room and picked out of the line three or four platinum, blondes and dismissed the others. I don’t want to go on record as believing that a girl with platinum blond hair does not possess under her silvery pate the requisite gray matter to make a capable assistant. I’ve known any number of blondes (not particularly platinum) who were intelligent, conscientious and serious in their work. But the same thing is true of brunettes. Asa matter of fact, most people have labored under the theory that brunettes are far more satisfactory as the workers of the world. Blondes are expected to be decorative and nothing more. a tt a Color Line Narrows Down IT seems to me that both of these theories are fallacious. I can’t see how the color of a person’s hair appreciably could affect his or her temperament. I believe there have been scientific tests made to determine the reactions of blondes and brunettes to various emotions. But I doubt the complete accuracy of such a laboratory experiment. I think that two or three blondes together or two or three brunettes together very well might react differently to a varied set of circumstances. Not so long ago it was the custom of business men to select as their assistants men and women equipped by education and experience to handle certain jobs. When they wanted to satisfy the esthetic urge they paid $5.50 and went to gaze upon Mr. Ziegfeld’s or Mr. Carroll’s or Mr. White’s chorus. Some even found solace in Mr. Minsky’s emporium. Can it be that the depression has frightened us to the extent where we are determined to buy help and beauty for a measly sls or $lB a week? And if so what is to become of those less fortunate women who lack complete perfection of form and face? We can not ignore them or let them starve. Certainly the much boasted chivalry of American mankind could not very well allow a woman to go without shelter, clothing, and food because she happens to have black hair, irregular features, and a figure that is less than svelte. I should like to see a complete reorganization in our human society. I can visualize a world in which women will be the wage earners, executives, and producers. And that isn’t such an impossible dream. It’s been done before. It would be amusing then to watch our female captains of indus-

bacteria or toxins poisonous substances are developed which in some manner affect the tissues of the body in charge of the control of the regulation of heat. Apparently heat is developed very rapidly in the body when this control is taken away, and the response is a chill. Elimination of heat does not keep pace with its production, so the temperature goes up rapidly. There are various views as to the significance of fever. In most instances it is coming to be considered as being without harm, unless it is very high. If it is high, it may produce severe intoxication end lead to death. There is another view that fever helps to control the development of bacteria in the body because the cells, being stimulated to activity, kill bacteria more rapidly. There are simple methods of controlling fever when it gets too high. It can be controlled by sponging with water, thus aiding the evaporation of water from the surface of the body. It also can be controlled by giving drugs which help to depress the mechanism for the production of heat.

DV HEYWOOD BROUN

try nonchalantly dismiss from their sight all male applicants for jobs except those who measure up to our present standard of perfect chorus boy. tt n A Chance to Get Even IF it is my privilege to be on this planet when the metamorphosis occurs, I should like to sit in on an interview. It would be interesting to have Miss X. in the position of the hard-boiled executive selecting her man from two or three hundred awaiting her pleasure in the outer office. Haughtily she looks them over, lines them up and makes them file past her two or three times. As they simper and strut, she plucks the sleeve of one and then another who please her fancy. The rest she airily waves from her presence. There is one among them, however, who hesitates. He is a little man, rather paunchy, with nondescript hair and eyes. He pleads with her, pointing out that, after all, he has had sixteen years’ experience, while those applicants she has picked, are mere boys. She looks at him closely. Yes, sure enough, he’s the man who passed her up a long time ago in favor of the platinum blondes. “Sorry, my man,” says Miss X. “You don’t happen to be the type I’m looking for.” fCoDvrisrht. 1931. bv The Times)

1.95 , "STRIPE TONE" A NEW SHIRT FROM MANHATTAN WITH TWO SEPARATE COLLARS A fine madras—with thin stripes set on backgrounds of blue, green and tan. * L. Strauss & Cos. Compare—After All There Is A Difference

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

-OCT. 8, 1931

SCIENCE —BY DAVID DIETZ

Development of the Theory of Relativity Has Given Time a New Role in the Universe . THE twentieth century view of the universe differs from the nineteenth view in that it breaks with the Old World of common sense. So said General Jan C. Smuts, former premier of South Africa, in the presidential address before the London convention of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Nineteenth century science, he said, was a “system of purified, glorified common sense.” But important discoveries at the close of the century, notably tho*e of the X-ray, radium and the electron, ushered in anew era. “The new point of departure was reached when physical science ceased to confine its attention to the things that are observed,” General Smuts said. “It dug down to a deeper level, and below’ the things that appear to the senses, it found, or invented, at tha base of the world, so-called scientinc entities, not capable of direct obsenation, but w’hich are necessary to account for the facts of observation. “Thus, below molecules and atoms still more ultimate entities appeared; radiations, electrons and protons emerged as elements which underlie and form our world of matter.” b n b Electron Theory THE first great break with the common sense view was brought about by Einstein's theory of relativity. But, as General Smuts points out, this break was foreshadowed by the discovery of the X-ray and radium and the development of the electron theory. Two former presidents of the British Association for the Advancement of science had much to do with the establishment of the electron theory. They were Sir J. J. Thomson and Lord Rutherford. Others, of course, also played a part, among them Lorentz, the great Dutch physicist, and Dr. R. A. Millikan, the American physicist, who was the first to measure the electric charge of the electron. With the establishment of the electron theory, as General smuts says, “matter itself, the time-hon-ored mother of all. practically disappeared into electrical energy.” Sir Arthur S. Eddington, the famous astronomer, has expressed an opinion about the new views of the Universe which assign an even greater importance to the electron theory. Eddington says that he is inclined to regard Rutherford rather than Einstein as “the real villain of the piece.” Rutherford established the idea that each atom of matter consisted of a nucleus of positive and negative electrons surrounded by other negative electrons. Bohr added the idea that the outer electrons revolved about the nucleus like planets revolving around the sun. Lately, however, Bohr’s scheme has been challenged by the development of newer theories. B B tt

Essence of Things GENERAL SMUTS points out that time took on new importance as a result of relativity. Einstein, in his relativity theories, adopts the idea first suggested by the great mathematician, Kinkowski, that time is not separate from space, but that the two are joined into “space-time.” Therefore, time takes on anew importance in twentieth century physics. “Time is as much of the essence of things as space,” says General Smuts. “It enters from the first into their existence as an integral element. Time is not something extra and super-added to things in their behavior, but is integral and basic to their constitution. The stuff of the world is thus envisaged as events instead of material things. “This physical concept or Insight of space-time is our first revolutionary innovation. Already it has proved an instrument of amazing power in the new physics. In the hands of an Einstein it has led beyond Euclid and Newton, to the recasting of the law and the concept of gravitation, and to the new relativity conception of the basic structure of the world. “The transformation of the concept of space, owing to the injection into it of time, has destroyed the old passive homogeneous notio i of space and has substituted a flexible, variable continuum, the curvatures and unevenness of which constitute to our senses what we call a material world ” What is the weight of a dozen average size eggs? About twenty-four ounces. Pullet eggs weigh as low as fifteen ounces per dozen.