Indianapolis Times, Volume 43, Number 310, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 May 1932 — Page 17

Second Section

ioOOK LNook manm-.i

Beatrice Kean Seymour

“Maids and Mistresses,” by Beatrice Kean Seymour, ia the May choice of the Book League of America. It is a novel of modern marriage and love. It is published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. n n a BY WALTER D. HICKMAN AFTER reading “Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing,” by Warden Lewis E. Lawrs, I can realise why the publishers, Ray Long and Richard R. Smith, Inc., are so enthusiastic over it. The book gets Its strange name from the fact that in Sing Sing noware 2.500 human beings serving a total of twenty thousand years. Am convinced that Warden Lawes in the tw-clve years he has been at Sing Sing has made the prison a better place to live in. When Lawes became warden of Sing Sing in 1920. that prison was in a bad condition, as the prisoners were running the prison through the Mutual Welfare League, which had degenerated into a spoils system. lawes proves that he has corrected that and he does not brag about it. He simply proves it and plenty of proof is there, even from the inmates themselves. In making the men fit to be released from prison. Lawes uses the scientific method with the use of doctors, scientists, educators as well as hard labor. Lawes has made Sing Sing an j educational institution bound to- ; gether by rules and discipline. And in twelve years his “system” has made him the greatest warden of modern times. The publishers claim that no ghost writer was used to set down the opinions and facts of Warden Lewis as he did It himself. And he has done a tremendously fine job. This book should bring a lot of credit to its publishers. * MM The book is dedicated to “Those Tens of Thousands of My Former Wards Who Have Justified My Faith in Human Nature.” “I have been directed to kill lawfully 150 men and one woman,” Lawes writes in his prologue as he '• goes on record against capital pun- ‘ ishment. And he writes: “It is my legal duty to be present physically in the death chamber. But actually I have never seen an execution.” To drive home his point, he sug- : gests a national broadcast of an actual electrocution. This is done in ! a fine sense of satire. He asks if capital punishment, is the right thing, then give as much publicity as possible to it. He then writes clearly a “death house broadcast.” That one “broadcast” has caused me more than ever to question the capital punishment theory. I am going to recommend “Twenty Thousands Years” in Sing Sing as one of the most important books of the year. It sells for $3. Read thi£ j one. * M * Just received word that the Book league of America has chosen "The Journal of Arnold Bennett 18961910” as the June choice. It will be published by the Viking Press. May 27. which happens to be Arnold Bennett’s birthday. nan Have been asked to recommend a book suitable to a young man going into business after graduating this spring from college. I recommend “A Fortune to Share,” as written by Vash Young and published by Bobbs-Merrill.. It concerns the methods of a successful salesman. man The publication of the “India Today and Tomorrow Series” which was launched last year for the purpose, of interpreting the contemporary events of India, has been taken over by the Universal Publishing Company. The four titles which have recently been issued in the series are: 1. India’s Nonviolent Revolution. 2. Peshawar: Men versus Machine Guns. 3. The Story of Peace Negotiations. 4. The Round Table Conference and Its Aftermath. The fifth volume of the series, “The I United States of India,” will be out' next month. * * * The recent overwhelming political victory of President von Hindenburg lends peculiar interest to a quotation from Karl Tschuppik’s “Ludendorff.” published this spring by Hbughton Mifflin Company. "My Inclination,” said Von Hindenburg, “did not lead me to follow the life of politics. I can not tell whether my power of political criticism was too weak or my soldierly feeling too strong: indeed, my dislike for diplomacy in general is probably due to this feeling." “Ludendorff," comments Tschuppik, “had no more political sense than Hindenburg, but he differed from the field-marshal in seeing a positive advantage, and not a defect, in the limitations imposed by his military mentality. It is this misconception which is the ultimate cause of all the faults of German diplomacy and the ultimate tragedy of Germany ”

FaU Leased Wire Herrlce el the Lafled Preaa Association

WAR DEEMED CERTAIN, SOON, IN FAR EAST Conflict Between Japan and Russia Held Inevitable by Expert. BOTH FIGHT FOR LIVES Interests Clash and Both Realize That Peace Can Not Prevail. BY WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS S<rlßi-Howard Foreiin Editor WASHINGTON, May 6—War between Russia and Japan in the Far East is inevitable and may come at any time, Kinosuke Adachi, Japanese writer and authority on international affairs, told the writer today. “Russia and Japan,” he said, “are like two locomotives racing toward each other on a single track without a siding. Collision is inescapable. “Russia is a vast country of 160,000,000 people. It is growing fast. More than ever, it feels the need of an outlet to the open sea—to warm water, an ice-free port. “In the west—in Europe—she is bottled up. The Gulf of Finland is closed by ice half the year. In the east she has Vladivostok—also hampered by ice. So, with the flow of her population eastward across Siberia, she is looking for an outlet on the Yellow sea. Japan Must Expand “Only force can stop her. “Then take Japan. She has nearly seventy million people. She, too, is growing fast. Cooped up on a tiny island, mostly mountainous, she must expand or die. She must be able to control, under any and all circumstances, sufficient territory on which to raise food, else starve. And her industries must have raw materials or stagnate. “As Russia sees it, she must have an outlet through Manchuria to the Yellow sea. As Japan sees it, she must have Manchuria for herself or cease to exist as a first-class power. “Russia and Japan, therefore, are due for a headon collision, and that in the not distant future. There seems nothing to prevent it. Little statesmen, talking futile talk around a green-topped table, can't stop it. Talk can’t stop nature and these two countries will fight for selfpreservation. One Theoretical Course “There is, however, at least on paper, one way to settle this thing without war. A side-track, so to speak, could be constructed hastily so the Russian and the Japanese locomotives might pass without colliding. “If Russia would permit Japan a free hand in Manchuria, she. Russia, might make an outlet to the sea for herself southward from the Lake Baikal region, across Mongolia. to the Gulf of Chihli. “But, as I say, that may be considered theoretical. Russia never would agree to any such thing in practice. So there is no use discussing it. She would accept such a solution only if and when she had been defeated in war. “As to just when the RussoJapanese collision will come, it depends. The open powder barrels are there. All that is needed for an explosion is a spark and that may come at any moment. Tokio Must Act Soon “Militarily speaking, the quicker it comes, the better it will be for Japan. Economically, a delay would be more to her liking. Every day Russia is growing stronger and better prepared, and then the existing hostility to Russia, particularly in Europe, is now in Japans favor. Tomorrow, for Japan, might be too late. “Even today, if war were to break out. I’m afraid Japan would be defeated. In 1904. when she fought Russia, it was like fighting the France of Louis XVI. “Today, fighting Russia would be like fighting the France of Napoleon. I don’t know whether Russia has a Napoleon or not. but I do know that post-revolution Russia is quite a different country from prerevolution Russia as a fighting power. lapan Faces Necessity “Win or lose, Japan must go on. History must repeat itself. She fought Russia in 1904 because it meant certain death to her for Russia to enter Korea. She was the most surprised of all when she won. “When she began the war. she simply felt the world would think more of her if she died fighting than if she died lying down. “Today, if Japan is to survive, she must have Manchuria. Without it sh~ must perish. “So, Just as in 1904. she faces annihilation, but, come what may. she must push on.” INDIANA ROADS READY FOR DERBY TRAFFIC Both Routes Paved; Spring Work Has Been Halted. Indiana state highways are in first-class shape for the heavy traffic to the Kentucky Derby Saturday, it was announced today by Director John J. Brown of the state highway department. * Main routes to Churchill Downs, either by New Albany or Jeffersonville, are paved, he pointed out. Whatever spring work was in progress has been halted and the roads put into shape for Derby day. Brown said. Maintenance forces have checked various routes carefully and berms have been dragged and placed in condition, according to the road director. Guard rails, bridge ends, guides, information and warning Signs have been replaced and

The Indianapolis Times

DIVEKEEPER CASHES IN ON RELIGION

‘Wickedest Man in New York Detours From Evil for Profit

Nall hard were the men—and women —on tfce New York watertront in yesteyean. hut mellowed with human impulse! were they. Some llye ia police records, some in church records, and some only in folklore. Then. too. some still live in the flesh. Joseph Mitchell. Times staff writer, has gathered some of their stories, of which the following ia the second. BY JOSEPH MITCHELL (Copyright. 1932. by New York WorldTelegram Corporation.)* IT was almost midnight on Water street, in New York City. The heavy,- mid-summer moon made shadows in the crooked waterfront streets. The mixed sounds of dance music and laughter escaped through the broken window panes of the saloons. Three amiable sailors sat on a stoop, drinking from a tin bucket of porter and singing “Wrecked in Port." At No. 304, in the famous sailors’ dancing hall of John Allen, who was called “the wickedest man in New York” by the newspapers, a lovely girl with tiny bells fixed to her ankles danced on the broad bar. Into the pleasant street marched five erect gentlemen who appeared to be strangers in the waterfront section. In front of the Broken Heart restaurant, they paused and beckoned to a policeman who stood in the doorway finishing a cigar. "Officers,” said the leader of the group, “I am A. C. Arnold of the Howard Mission. We have come down here to persuade John Allen to let us conduct a temperance meeting in his dance hall.” “I am Oliver Dyer, the reformer,” said one of Mr. Arnold’s companions. “and it has been brought to our attention that Brother Allen is in the habit of leading his dancers in a hymn singing service. “We have been told that on three nights a week gathers his dancers, musicians and bartenders in the main hall of his amusement place and gives them a stirring talk. We have come to assist him.” nun THE policeman tossed his cigar to the pavement. He appeared 'to be frightened. “It’s the truth,” he said, confidentially. “Old Man Allen acts a little queer when he takes a drop too much. But, so help me, gentlemen, that hall’s no place for the likes of you.” Dyer and his associates laughed at the warning, but the policeman said later that the gentlemen appeareed to accompany them. The five men who were to precipitate “the mightiest revival of the Sixties” stalked through the swinging doors and were heartily welcomed by the proprietor. Next day, on May 26, 1868, Mr. Dyer’s full account of the night startled the newspaper readers of the city. "We found things going full blast,” reported the estimable Mr. Dyer. “There were thirteen girls, three musicians, seven patrons. The wickedest man was in his glory. ‘ Things were moving briskly. He gave us a hearty welcome, ordered the orchestra to do its best and told the girls to ‘break our hearts.’ A vigorous dance followed, after which the proprietor called out: “ ‘Hartford, go upstairs and get my baby.’ nun “T TARTFORD tume dout to be Jl"1 one of the girls. < She was from Hartford, Conn.) She came

‘CHILDREN IN SHOE’ CASE COMES TRUE

Judge Called to Settle Puzzle of What to Do With Brood of 12. By United Pre CHICAGO, May 6.—Though the old woman who lived in the shoe had so many children she didn't know' what to do with them, Mrs. Ellen W. Regan, 49. attractive widow of a prominent Chicago manufacturer, thought she knew just what to do with her brood of twelve children and stepchildren. But the suburb of Riverside where the “shoe’’ a rambling old-fash-ioned 22-room house—is located, questions Mrs. Reagan's plan. Asa result, Circuit Judge Philip J. Finnegan is brushing up on the old nursery rhyme to see if it offers any aid in solving the strange case. Mrs. Reagan had five children by a previous marriage when she wed the manufacturer. Reagan had a similar number, and two more were bom to the couple. All lived happily together in the large home, and eventually four daughters and stepdaughters had society weddings and left home. A stepson also moved out. But came the depression and three of the couples moved back to the “Shoe.” So Mrs. Reagan had builders remodel the interior to give each couple a separate apartment. Riverside authorities learned of the remodeling. The suburb has an ordinance against apartment houses, and also prohibits more

FARMER ENRAGED BY ‘ATTACK’ FROM MAIL PLANE

BY ERNIE PYLE ScrtoiM-Hovard Aviation Editor WASHINGTON, May 6.—Pilot Mai Freeburg of Northwest Airways, who just has won Ihe first air mail hero med.nl ever awarded, almost was arrested over the incident that brought him his glory. Freeburg was flying a trimotored mail and passenger plane from Bt. Paul to Chicago, when a propeller on one motor breke, and the vibration tore the engine out out of the jjiane.

INDIANAPOLIS, FRIDAY, MAY 6,1932

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back bearing a sleepy child, dressed in a shawl. His father took him in his arms with a glow of pride and effection on his face and said:* “Now, gentlemen, you are philosophers, and I will show you that my baby know's a thing cr two.’ “And without further ado he stood the sleepy little fellow on the floor and catechised him in ancient history, both sacred an* profane, and then In modern history, geography and the political history of the United States, with a result that astonished us. "Suddenly he exclaimed, ‘Chester, give us a song!’ And Chester, for that iS the child's name, gave us a song. “ ‘Now', Chester, give us a breakdown.’ “The orchestra played a breakdown, and Chester danced with precision and vigor, his mother looking on with delight. “After the infant phenomenon had been sent to bed, his father asked us if we wouldn't 'mix in’

than one family living in a dwelling. They asked Judge Finnegan to issue a mandatory injunction requiring Mrs. Reagan to remove all the new partitions, and send her married daughters back out into the world. Judge Finnegan set a hearing for June 17, when Mrs. Reagan will have returned from Rome with three children and four others will be back from school at eastern colleges, ready to take up life in the "Shoe.” BANK CLUB TO MEET Fletcher Trust Men’s Group to Gather at Franklin. Annual pre-election meeting of the Fletcher Trust Men's Club, an organization composed cf 200 employes of the Fletcher Trust Company, will be held Saturday at the Franklin Country Club. Following a golf tournament in the afternoon, a dinner will be held at 6:30, with Raymond Neff, president, in charge. HURT ON WAY TO DERBY Vice-President of United Cigat Stores Injured in Crash. Abraham Rosenthal, 49, of Tfcicago. vice-president of United Cigar Stores, incurred minor injuries in an automobile crash near here early today while en route to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby. Rosenthal was brought to the ! Methodist hospital by a motorist. | Police were unable to learn details ' of the accident.

But Freeburg maneuvered his ship to the ground and landed his eight passengers safely. Now, it happens that farmers and fox farm managers along the St. Paul-Chicago airway hate the planes of Northwest Airways. For the planes scare the chickens and foxes. So it was no great surprise to a certain Minnesota farmer the other day when he heard a whistling noise, and looked up to see a full-sized, half-ton Wasp motor come hurtling along through space at higu

—By W.-T. Staff Photographer. A glimpse of New York's Water front as it looks foday.

and have a dance with the girls. • “ ‘lt’ll do you good.’ said he, “to trip a little on the light fantastic. Besides, I’d like to do the fair thing by distinguished visitors. “‘l’m fond of literary people, especially of clergyman. I was a student at Union Theological Seminary before I came down to the waterfront to be a business man.’ m n " ‘nr'HREE of my brothers are ministers upstate. I subscribe to all the religious papers in the U. S. You’ll find 20 copies of The Little Wanderer's Friend (a popular hymn book of the period) over on the bar. “ ‘Yes, grit and grace runs through our family like the Tigris and the Jordan through the Holy Land. Go in and dance, gentlemen, the girls shan’t hurt you.’ “On being assured that we would not ‘trip the light fantastic’ he asked us to lead in a song. We asked the girls what song they

Deflowered Plots of Gaudy Blooms Banned on Postoffice Grounds.

WASHINGTON, May 6. Flower plots, which once decorated the grounds of many smaller town postofflees, now are forbidden by order of the supervising architect of the department of the treasury. Mr. Hoover may have delphinium around the White House; congressman may look upon brilliant plots of pansies; even the supervising architect has a tulip bed near his office window, but the postmaster of Podunk must dig up his roses, or else. . . . A visit to the various offices which the supervising architect supervises, revealed a difference of opinion as to why the order was issued. In fact, the man who issued it has not yet been found. Some believed that the federal landscapers had decided that the year ’round green of grass and shrubs —unbroken by gaudy flowers in the summer or drab earth in the winter—was the most satisfactory setting for outlying federal buildings. Others were of the opinion that the order was bom of efficiency. Federal employes are not supposed to have time enough to tend flowers, they contend. Mexican Revolt Chief Executed MEXICO CITY, May 6.—Castulo Vega, leader of an armed group of fanatics who attempted an uprising against the government recently, was executed with four of his followers, an official announcement said today.

THE farmer was fixing a I chicken coop. He ducked. The motor Just missed the coop and buried Itself in the ground nearby. That was too much for the farmer. He threw down his hammer, ran into the house, and called the sheriff. “This has gone far enough,” he shouted. “These planes come over here and scare the daylights out of my chickens, and now it’s got so they fly out here with their

favored. They said ‘Rest for the Weary.’ “We were surprised, but they said Mr. Allen had taught them the hymn. And, oh, with what fervor and pathos they sang, espe- ; cially the chorus! We were well pleased with the visit.” The reformers left the waterfront. However, each night for a month they returned. Each ; night they found that Allen was “suffering with a drop too much” and so they “got into the habit i of holding a meeting in his hall j from midnight until 4 o'clock in the morning.” Finally, Arnold asked the devout Mr. Allen, who had made a fortune of SIOO,OOO from his hall, to retire and let them use the place, a central waterfront lo- | cation, for a mission. "Well, gentlemen,” he is reported to have replied, “I can’t do that. A man must have respect ! for his profession. “And what, with the church I papers I subscribe to and the

LESLIE AIDS LOSE IN PRIMARY VOTE

Governor’s Standbys Are Repudiated at Polls in Convincing Manner. Repudiation of the regime of Governor Harry G. Leslie was one interpretation of the primary election given today, as final results were commented upon at the statehouse. Members of the state legislature who were identified as being closest to the Governor, and particularly those who have stood with him in continued delay on calling a special session to solve the tax problem, went down in overwhelming defeat. Only member of the state budget committee to make a successful campaign was Representative Sam Farrell (Rep., Blackford and Grant) Hartford City, unopposed for renomination. Senator Bryon Huff (Rep., Hendricks, Morgan and Owen). Martinsville, a particular favorite of the chief executive, who went with Leslie to Canada to hunt and aided in greeting other Governors at the French Lick conference last year, was beaten badly for the nomination. Frank Bheets, Mooresville, a farmer, won the nomination by a huge lead. He was said to have support of the Indiana farm bureau, which long has pleaded with the Governor to assume leadership in relieving land of its present heavy tax burden. Senator Thurman A. Gottschalk (Dem., Adams, Blackford and Wells), Berne, also a budget committee member by Leslie appointment, was defeated for the Democratic nom-

old worn-out engines and dump ’em overboard. It might have hit me on the head.” The sheriff got riled up about it, too, and after a lot of calling, finally got pilot Freeburg on the phone. He told him he was going to arrest him. And it wasn’t until Freeburg had climbed in a car and driven fifty miles to see the sheriff and the farmer that he convinced them he hadn’t thrown the motor out on purpose.

Second Section

Katered aa Swond-Claaa kiltw at Poatefflee.

camp meeting hymns me and you fellows sing in here, the neighbors are beginning to lock on me as rather loose and unsound." • • m MR. DYER and his associates came early on the night of Aug. 29. 1868. They had decided to persuade Allen to close his hall. Dyer reported to posterity that when they entered Allen was “undergoing a shampooing treatment for the purpose, as he frankly stated, to enable him to go to bed sober.” “Yov see, gentlemen,” said Mr. Allen, “it won’, do for a business man nor for a literary man either, to go to bed tipsy. You just take my advice, and whenever you find yourself tipsy about bedtime, you just have a good shampoo, and you’ll find the investment pays a big dividend in the morning. But walk in, gentlemen, walk in.” All night the missionaries led Mr. Allen and the girls in hymn singing. At 5 o’clock next morning the entire company was sobbing. Sailors, longshoremen, and the toughs of the b ih stood outside r"* listened, bewildered. At 6 o'clock Arnold and Dypr came outside and nailed a notice on one of the swinging doors. It said: “This Dance Hall Is Closed.” Soon one of the most curious periods of the waterfront began. The revival spread to Sportsman's hall, where Kit Burns maintained his notorious rat pit in which terriers fought wharf rats, and to Thomas Hadden’s fcoardng house, and to William Slocum's gin mill. It was known as “the Mightiest Revival of the Sixties." Thousands of citizens swarmed to the waterfront to hear Arnold and Dyer and to listen to the speeches and sermons of the Rev. H. C. Fish, the Rev. W. C. Van Meter, the Rev. W. H. Boole, the Rev. F. Browne and the Rev. Isaac M. Lee. Tourists came to Water street to take part. News of the meetings was printed in the London papers. The lovely girls who once danced for “the wickedest man. in New York” now took up collections to “reform the sailors and clean up the waterfront.” nun FINALLY, the New York Times, which was a crusading journal at that time, exposed the “revival on the water front." It discovered that the wellintentioned but overzealous evangelists were paying Allen $350 a month for the rent of his hall. Kit Bums was receiving $l5O a month for the use of his rat pit one hour each day, and Slocum and Tommy Hadden also were being paid. Arnold and Dyer maintained that they had “done a lot of goed” and that “the lives we have improved justify the means we used.” The good people of Manhattan, pleased with the services they had attended, agreed. However, scon the dance halls and the rat pits were being put their original uses. And one day in December, four months later, the reformed Mr. Allen, his wife and one of his lovely dancers were arraigned before Judge Dowling in Tombs court on a charge of stealing sls from a seaman and attempting to shanghai him. “I must have had just a little drop too much," said “the wickedest man in New' York” to the judge.

ination for congress in the fourth district. Victor was James I. Farley, Auburn, who is not identified with the state government. Senator J. Clyde Hoffman (Rep., Marion), Indianapolis, was another administration casualty. He has headed the Leslie tax survey committee for the last three years, during which no major changes in tax laws have resulted. His colleague in this business, Senator Joe Rand Beckett (Rep., Marion), Indianapolis, didn't even try to make the race. Hoffman's defeat also is attributable to his chairmanship of Judiciary A committee at the last session, which aided greatly in defeat of the Moorhead bill to control public utility holding companies. Hoffman was one of the outstanding opponents of the measure, which was assigned to his committee.

See the Indians Want to see the Indians play baseball? Every boy in the city does, and The Times is going to make it possible for every lad under 16 to do so. It's simple. Just fill out the application blank on Page 26 of this edition and present it to The Times circulation department and you'll get a free ticket to Perry stadium, to see the Indians in action. And then there’s a chance to equip your baseball team this summer with good bats, gloves, catcher’s mitt, mask, etc. Turn to Page 26, fill in the blank and get busy now.

FEAR FOR CART. DOLLAR Physician Says Ship Magnate’s Condition Problematical. By United Prttn SAN RAFAEL, Cal., May 6.—The* condition of Captain Robert Dollar, 88-year-old shipping magnate, who is suffering from a severe cold, was reported “problematical” today by his physician, Dr. Rafael C. Dufflcy. The doctor said Captain Dollar spent an uncomfortable night Wednesday, when his condition was ‘rather alarming.” Since then, a slight improvement waa noted.

VETERANS’ AID CUT DEMANDED BY ROOSEVELT Late President's Son Leads Move for Heavy Slash in Appropriations. MISPLACED RELIEF HIT Many Ex-Service Men Get Undeserved Help, View of Committee. BY TALCOTT POWELL A stinging petition demanding drastic reduction in the government's $1,072,064,527 appropriation for veterans was presented Thursday in Washington to President Hoover and congress by Archibald B. Roosevelt, son of the late President Roosevelt and himself a disabled veteran of the World war, “The outstanding oppression placed on the citizens of the nation today,” said Roosevelt, as he left New York "is that series of legislative acts whereby veterans are receiving benefits costing the people more than $400,000,000 for disabilities not in fact resulting from their war service.” Accompanied by Goodhue Livingston, also a disabled veteran, Roosevelt was acting for the National Economy committee, whose members drew' up and signed the petition at a meeting Wednesday at the Harvard club. Signed by Notables Men prominent in all walks of ; life signed the document. Among the 146 signers were John W. Davis, former Democratic nominee for the presidency: Richard Washburn Child, author: Julian Street, novelist; Joseph P. Day, real estate operator; Granville Clark, attorney and partner of Elihu Root; E. Roland Harriman, banker; Wilton LloydSmith, attorney and philanthropist; Gustav Ross, twice cited for the distinguished service cross; Deems Taylor, composer, and Colonel Lindsley R. Williams, official of the New' York Academy of Medicine. • Seventy per cent of the signers were veterans of the World war and the nucleus of the committee was made up of the same individuals who formed Military Training Camps’ Association back in 1915. Officers trained at Plattsburg and other camps founded by the association formed the officer backbone of the national army in 1917. The petition was drawn up under the legal authority of the first amendment of the constitution which specifically gives the right to any group of citizens to “petition the government for redress of grievances.” Asks Abatement of Abuse “We, the undersigned, present this petition for the abatement of the vast legalized abuse w'hereby great and increasing amounts of the money of the people are being disbursed to veterans w'ho suffered no disability in war service—thus creating a specially favored class and undermining the confidence of the people in their government,” the document read. "We petition for elimination of all expenditures for veterans of the World war who did not in fact suffer disability in war service. We petition for a return to the sound policy in which the World war veterans’ legislation was conceived—just and liberal compensation to the dependents of those who lost their lives in war service and to the veterans who in fact suffered some disability in the war. “We petition for reduction of federal expenditures by not less than $450,000,000 annually, which these reforms would effect, “We make it plain that we are not now speaking of the so-called bonus,’ to which we are opposed, but we are speaking of a drastic reduction in the growing annual expenditures in the federal budget for veterans of the World war and the Spanish-American war. • Hits Failure of Officials “Your petitioners represent that the failure of the responsible officials of the government to meet this issue is a chief cause of the prevailing lack of confidence of the people in the present conduct of their federal government. “In the face of the admitted crisis, no clear and determined word has come from the President, or the secretary of the treasury, or from the leaders of congress, calling for any sufficient reduction in the one great item of the federal budget, where hundreds of millions of dollars can be saved without injustice and without Impairing any essential function of the government. “The recently proposed economy bill contained a few provisions modifying a few of the most shocking anomalies of the veterans’ system. Even this feeble and relatively inconsequential effort was slashed to pieces by the house of representatives.

Pension Bill Passed ‘ Almost simultaneously, on May 2, 1932, the house of representatives, virtually without debate passed anew bill to Include widows and children of deceased World war veterans who died of disability not acquired in the service "We submit that this steadily ► mounting burden of expenditures for those who suffered no disability in the war is not only an intolerable menace to the national credit but reaches to the stability of popular government itself." Roosevelt, in further explaining the national economy committee's action, directly charged that "the subservience of our government authorities to the minority group receiving this subsidy is a direct cause of the depreciation of the dollar in international exchange."