Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 146, Indianapolis, Marion County, 28 October 1933 — Page 4

PAGE 4

The Indianapolis Times ( A gCRIPFA.HOWARD NEWSPAPER ) ROT W. HOWARD . Pr*!<l<*nt TALCOTT POWELL . Editor EARL D. RAKER Bimlnen Manager . Phone—Riley 8551 =:< ■ M-raber of United Preaa, - Scrlppa • Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newspaper Enter- ™ . -- " ' prise Association, Newspaper Information Service and Audlt Bureau of Circulations. | Owned and published dally g=a, 'except Sunday) by The In- £■ J SISTSs dlanapolis Tlraea Publishing , Cos., 211-220 West Maryland street, Indianapolis, Ind. fejMw&SwxVqa ITlce In Marion county, 2 centa a copy: elsewhere, 3 • j mb'****) cents—delivered by carrier. 12 Give lAnht and the r l’ nt Mall aubaerlp. mn t, . ,lon rate * ln Indiana, Id a /eopfe wm find y „ ar; oUtMr]o 0 f Indiana, C 5 Their C ten Way centa a month.

SATURDAY, OCT. 28. 1933

LAW AND POLITICS "POLITICIANS with cream pufT heads and A chocolate spines are responsible for the shocking demoralization of Indiana's agencies of law enforcement. And a heedless public is responsible for the politicians. Prosecutor Herbert Wilson ably pointed out in Thursday’s Times that he has not the necessary funds for paying traveling expenses of witnesses and policemen. He related how it was necessary for relatives of Lafayette Jackson, murdered grocer, to pay many of the expenses of the prosecution in order to convict the killers. The Indianapolis police force is undermanned. Its members are driving ancient automobiles that can not compete with the speedy cars of the underworld. The state police is made up of only fiftyeight men to cover ninety-two counties. A1 Feeney, state public safety head, is up against the humiliating necessity of borrowing and begging equipment from every possible public and private source. Indiana’s regular authorities have had to call upon the national guard and private citizens to aid in cornering eight thugs. There is something seriously wrong here—something that cuts deeper than the present situation. Every one realizes that government costs must be lowered. They can be reduced without crippling law enforcement, which is the basic and outstanding function of government. We have spectacle of the city police rattling around the streets in “one hoss shays’’ and at the same time the park board allowlng Coffin golf course to remain open at a loss. The same is true of the swimming pools, and a score of other municipal functions which are highly desirable, but not indispensable in times of financial emergency. Coffin golf course lost $4,000 last year. That sum would have purchased two swift automobiles which might have been the means of catching the convicts the night they visited Indianapolis. Politicians are too timid to tell the public frankly that if it wants an up-to-date police department it can not at the same time have some of the other expensive luxuries which were added to government during the boom years. They are in deadly fear of the golfer’s vote, the swimmer’s vote, the social service extremist’s vote. So the politicians have temporized, tried to string along with every minority interest until they have made law and order subservient to ignorant and brutal criminals. Politics has also entered the law enforcement situation from the patronage angle. Police positions are handed out as political pluifis. It is time for a general overhauling of the whole problem. Put every policeman under civil service whether he is serving the state or city. Appoint him by competitive examination. Build up the state police to at least 100 men with equipment as good as that of the criminals they must combat. Provide prosecutors with adequate expense accounts to prepare cases and convict criminals. Get the funds to do this by rigid economies in nonessential governmental functions. Take law enforcement out of politics and politics out of law enforcement. NRA AND THE COURTS “TT seems Inconceivable,” says James M. Beck, self-appointed defender of the Constitution and conservative Republican member of the house of representatives, “that the industrialists of America who have been accustomed to economic freedom will not challenge the validity of the recovery act.” So convinced is Mr. Beck that the act is unconstitutional and therefore malicious that he can not understand the failure of business to rush into the courts against it. The fact remains that four months have gone by with the act under closest scrutiny from industry and not even the richest and most powerful business groups have invoked the law to fight it. The answer may be found in a statement made a few days ago by Walter C. Teagle,' chairman of the industrial advisory board of NRA and president of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, to the effect that so far as he can learn, business is profiting under the recovery act far more than it is suffering from the necessity of increasing pay rolls and permitting labor to organize. Mr. Beck sees NRA as involving “no question of economics or social philosophy” but only the strictly legal one of the powers of the federal government. It may be that his pitiful search for a business champion to rise and attack NRA’s new charter for industrial self-government will be successful in spite of the evident delight of business in its freedom to organize, but those administering the recovery act do not fear such an attack if it is made. Donald R. Richberg, general counsel of NRA, summed up the matter when he said: “If my brethren of the bar will read again certain opinions of the supreme court they will find there written down that the supreme law of government, as of the individual, is the law of self-preservation. A government sworn to protect and to defend the Constitution can not permit that Constitution to be used as a shield for the enemies of constitutional govern- 1 ment. The constitutional right of individual liberty can not be made a shield of anarchy. The constitutional right of private property can not be made a shield of tyranny and oppression.” Apparently Mr. Richberg has sound judicial support for this declaration. In test cases brought under the agricultural act in the past few months, the courts have invariably found

in favor of tha act and have stressed Mri Richberg’s philosophy of the power of selfpreservation. If this were not enough, Counsel Richberg has other heavy artillery to bring up. “There 1s no change of any provision of the Constitution attempted in this law,” he points out. “There exists no constitutional right to do anything which is forbidden by this law. There Is no constitutional right to compete unfairly. If the Constitution protected the right of a few to profit in such a manner at the expense of all the people, it would be a charter of anarchy and not a bulwark of law and order.” PAINLESS DEATH'T'HE German government, under Herr Hitler, proposes to legalize euthanasia, or the provision of a painless and peaceful death. In the preliminary memorandum it is proposed by the government that “it shall be made possible for physicians to end the tortures of incurable patients, upon request, in the interests of true humanity." Such a proposal is by no means novel or unheard of. It has been recently discussed by Dr. Warren S. Thompson in his ’ monograph on “Population Trends in the United States.” The present proposal In Germany seems to be safeguarded properly. No one can be put to. death except upon the request of himself, or, if the patient no longer is able to express his own desires, upon the request of his nearest relative. If properly enforced, this would Insure against arbitrary action contrary to the per- , sonal wishes of those immediately concerned. Likewise, there is a proper assurance of careful scientific scrutiny. Before euthanasia can be invoked and applied, not only the attending physician but two official experts appointed by the state must certify as to the incurable character of the disorder and recommend the infliction of painless death. If carried out in an honest and straightforward fashion, this measure is one which can most heartily be indorsed by every educated person of humane sentiments. It would put an end to a vast volume of unnecessary human suffering which lies beyond the reach of the physician. The most pathetic cases of human misery are those in which the victims linger on helplessly for weeks, months or years after it has become absolutely certain that death is the only possible outcome. It is nothing short of scandalous that such an untold volume of human suffering has been made necessary by theological and other considerations which have prolonged the pain and misery of hopelessly incurable types of human beings. It is probably no exaggeration to state that such a law, fairly and efficiently administered, might eliminate almost as much unnecessary human anguish as is averted, through the curative labors of physicians dealing with patients for whom there is a good prospect of recovery. The opposition of some religious groups in Germany and elsewhere to such a measure need not concern us greatly. The old religious resistance to such a law as this has been based upon the notion that God alone gives life and, hence, He alone can take life. This argument does not stand up in the light of modern biological science. Human life is produced as a result of certain bio-chemical processes which are participated in by man alone. If man uses his discretion as to when he will bring life into existence, he certainly has a full moral and social right to decide when life shall be ended. So far as I can see this whole question is a purely secular and sociological one, and the arguments appear to me to be wholly in favor of the measure. At the same time, one may be legitimately suspicious.of any such proposal when it comes from Hitlerite Germany. The sterilization measure which has preceded it was equally admirable on paper, but has been abused greatly in administration. It has been applied to Jews, radicals and other opponents of the Nazi as well as to the incurables and defectives for whom the law theoretically was enacted. If the proposed law to put to death incurable types become no more than an alibi under which Hitler can dispose of his enemies, it will be only one more proof of the vicious character of many policies now dominant in Germany, I ART FOR THE CRITICS f'ANE of the pleasantest things about the people of the United States is the fact that in a time like the present, when history is being made by wholesale and signs and portents are crossing the sky so fast that they tread on one another’s heels, they can devote themselves whole-hArtedly to a little song about a big bad wolf. The song itself is of the simplest. It points no moral, and, if it adorns a tale, the tale is nothing but a moving picture version of an old nursery fable. But somehow everybody is going for it, whistling it, humming it, grinning fondly over the memory of a couple of pink porkers dancing across a colored celluloid landscape. There is. in fact, only one disturbing thought in connection with it; the thought that presently the highbrow critics will “discover” it, and will write erudite articles for the roughpaper -'reviews telling about the “significance” of these cartoon comedies, discussing their artistic value, and using a lot of four-bit words to say what the ordinary movie-goer already knows—that these things are a lot of fun, and clever as the dickens. That sort of thing happens every so often. Ring Lardner was acclaimed by the highbrows as a genius when he died. But the great American public discovered him long before the serious critics so much as knew his name; they discovered him when he was writing for the newspapers and the nickel magazines, and they knew that he was uncommonly good without waiting to be told. It was the same with Charlie Chaplin. He had sent millions of ordinary folk into convulsions of laughter for years before the graybeards began to write soulfully about his “great art” and his “cosmic significance.” A great artist? Assuredly; but the man in the street, who knows nothing of art, was the first one to find It out. So it was, too, with newspaper comic stripe. Several years ago a critics wrote a book to point out that the comic strips were not only funny, but offered a valuable sidelight on

American life and constituted a true expression of the American spirit. But what of it? Newspaper readers knew it already. Presently, then, we shall be hearing fine things about three little pigs and the big bad wolf. Meanwhile—well, why do the critics lag behind the public in their appreciation of what really is good? LOOKING TOWARD PROSPERITY A WASHINGTON correspondent points out that one of the developments of the business revival has been a great increase in the trade of public laundries and cleaning and pressing establishments. There is a very neat little moral in that bit of news. The years of depression, evidently, failed to destroy the self-respect of the man who had to go without work. For it looks as if his first thought, on getting anew job, was to fix up his personal appearance. He might go about looking seedy when he didn’t have any money, but he had not lpst that regard for his looks which is part of the ordinary mortal’s self-respect. And as soon as money was coming in regularly once more, he hurried to spruce up and make himself look like a responsible, steadily employed citizen again. PUNCTURING THE MYTH TF continuing revelations of the shady methods of some of the country's largest banks accomplish nothing more, they at least have punctured the myth that Wall Street is Wise enough to rule the nation. Even worse for the country than the financial racketeering of big bankers was the dangerous public belief that these men had ability to do more than make money for themselves. Mr. Wiggin and his Chase National bank and affiliates seem to have competed with Mr. Mitchell and the National City group in kicking public considerations out the window. Mr. Morgan and Mr. Kahn had their preferred lists of stock gratuities for influential men in high places. These particular gentlemen of high-bind-ing finance were not distinguished by originality. They were more or less typical of an American era. They were the natural products of our dog-eat-dog system of success. The truth is that in the late period of so-called prosperity a great many people—big and little, high and low—lived by the principle: “Anything goes, if you can get away with it.” The mere fact that Mr. Wiggin has been shoved out of his high office now has given up his big pension is now awfully important. Nor is the pleasing fact that Mr. Aldrich, Mr. Wiggin’s successor in the Rockefeller bank, is shocked and desirous of reform, particularly important. Our financial systenj—as revealed by the crash and subsequent exposures—is too vast, complicated and rotten to permit complete reform from within. The public stake is too great to trust such reform wholly to those interests which already have betrayed the public confidence. Mr. Aldrich and other interested heralds of anew day in banking may be of help in assisting government officials to prepare the laws and the enforcement machinery for a safe and honest financial system. But it is the government, and not private interests, that the public hereafter will hold responsible for keeping the money temples clean. In banking of the future —as in other business —there will be both good men and bad. Either the government will see to it that those who handle other people’s money are not crooks or gamblers, or the government, as a last resort, will become the people’s banker. Mr. Albert IJ. Wiggin has asked the Chase National bank to cancel his SIOO,OOO a year pension. But it might have been worth the 100 grand, anyway, to keep Mr. Wiggin retired. It’s all right to follow Mae West’s advice and hold on to your man, but don’t do it while he’s driving.

M. E.Tracy Says:

BAD as the philosophy of curtailed production may be from an economic standpoint, it is worse from a psychological standpoint. When the government pays farmers to raise less, why should any class of people do more? Beyond that, the theory that we have reached a point where we must wall ourselves in and live off each other represents a vision of hopelessness. The trouble with our national recovery program is and has been a negative philosophy. There was merit in sharing work in order to make fairer distribution of earning power, but there is no merit in the idea that shorter hours and curtailed production are necessary on the theory that we have reached the limits of consumption. While consumption is constantly substituting new commodities for old, and while obsolescent lines of endeavor m£ly be credited justly with overproduction because the demand for their output is dying away, there is not and there never has been overproduction in a general sense. n u u THE people of this world never have been able to obtain a superabundance of the good things of lifer From the dawn of consciousness, a vast majority of people have lived and died without enjoying a just share of the comforts, conveniences and advantages which their age afforded. The fact that there was no market for a certain product and that people who had it could not sell it because an improved substitute had been discovered, should not be interpreted as meaning anything but a minor phase of progress. We have a serious overproduction of coal, but oil and natural gas furnish the explanation. We have an overproduction of oil for the time being, because of the insane wildcatting that has been permitted. We have an overproduction of wheat, which largely is attributable to a collapse of foreign trade on the one hand, and to a domestic craze for avoiding fat on the other. n n u IN spite of this apparent overproduction, millions of our own people will suffer from lack of warmth this winter, while a vastly greater number will suffer more acutely from the same lack in other lands. Under such circumstances, is it good sense to risk the increase of this suffering by a policy of subsidized destruction?' Can we'hope to overcome the manifest inconsistency of glutted markets on the one hand and starvation on the other by reducing our visible supplies or potential output? Do not the fundamental principles of progress as well as the recorded experiences of mankind suggest that the task befpre us and ail other nations is to seek and encourage greater consumption.

THE INmANAPOLIS TIMES .

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to BSO words or less.) By Harry A. Lorber. I am wondering if Police Chief “Mike” Morrissey isn’t actuated by jealousy (the green-eyed variety) when he issues an order preventing the Police Post of the American' Legion from marching in the Armistice day parade. He is of the same age as the average legionnaire, but wasn’t in the service when his country needed him. The legion demands that its members must have been in service between April 6, 1917, and Nov. 11, 1918. There are no honorary members. The present district commander of the American Legion is a police captain. Can it be that* “Mike” is just jealous? Else why the order? Editor’s Note: Necessary economies have caused the police department to become under-manned. With a crime wave sweeping: Indiana, we believed Chief Morrissey is right not permitting any of his men, waether legionnaires or not, to be absent from duty for any purpose. By a Times Reader First allow me to explain that I am neither friend nor foe of either Ira Holmes or Sheriff Buck Sumner, but I have a bone to pick. It is gentlemen like the Honorable Ira Holmes who would “yap” the loudest if there were either a jail delivery or a holdup of the police station, and yet when there is any action taken to protect the police department against criminals (and the Lord knows they need it) he stands up on his feet and yells long and loud about it being a “grandstand play.” The Honorable Mr. Holmes seems to be always at odds with law and order and always “bickering” with judges and court officials. I realize that law and justice are as far apart as the poles, but if we had more respect for law and order, there would be an increased rise in the morale of our police departments and better justice. There is too much technicality to

THE infantile paralysis season is about over, since it tends to clear up with the coming of cold weather. But if you happen to be among the unfortunate parents whose children have been afflicted with this disease, it is important that you now do everything possible to restore your child’s physical strength and his ability to move his paralyzed limbs. The chief requirement is rest, as much as can be given. But there are several other operations in which the surgeon requires the parent’s help. They are necessary to prevent permanent deformity. It Iras ben shown that when one series of muscles is paralyzed, the opposing muscles are likely to pull on them constantly. The human body is built so that *the muscles are in opposite groups, pulling against each other. The pull of gravity, the weight of bed clothes, and the action of strong muscles opposing weak ones are all detrimental influences which, uncontrolled, lead to deformities after infantile paralysis.

WE may imitate the Mae West: curves, but heaven forbid that we shall ever pick up her accent. Or her walk. Or her mannerisms. Or her screen morals. Yet you don’t have to be an utter pessimist to surmise that we may be doing those things. The gorgeous Mae is packing them in at all the movie houses in the country. Her box office appeal keeps pace with her sex appeal, and if that means anything, we may expect shortly to find the landscape cluttered up with imitation Maes. The glorified lady of joy, so excellently portrayed by Miss West on stage and screen, may be our next feminine type. And that, so it seems to me, would be rather deplorable, not only for ordinary decency, but for plain good taster

: : The Message Center : : - I wholly disapprove of what you say and will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire

Paralysis Victims Need Rest Most ~ BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN -

: : A Woman’s Viewpoint : : ■ == by. MRS. WALTER FERGUSON =================

Not Conducive to Speed

An Open Letter By Civls. A story was published the other day about the safety board deciding to turn off the stop and go lights at midnight so that the city’s motorists could drive home without trembling with fear at every stop that some thug would leap to the side of the car and brandish a revolver. Ever since we read the article we’ve been thinking about writing a letter to Chief Mike Morrissey. And here’s about the way we were thinking of writing: “Dear Chief: We notice the safety board has decided to turn off the stop and go signs at midnight to give motorists more protection. Just between you and us, isn’t it rather silly, chief? “You might as well say point blank—‘Listen, Indianapolis, our streets aren’t even safe to drive on at night, so we're going to turn the lights off at midnight so you don’t have to stop.’ “Mayber chief, you might even add that they could drive at top speed to further lessen the dangers of a holdup. Don’t you think, chief, that it sounds sort of odd. Sort of queer, you know. As if we had no police force. “We do have a police force. At least we pay for one, chief. It’s a motorized and radio-ized force, too. It’s supposed to be effective. If it is, chief, why aren’t our streets safe? “Perhaps, chief, it’s time to do something. Wouldn’t you think so?” law these days. There is entirely too much pampering of criminals and no-accounts. It must stop or we will have a change and the first change will be among lawyers. I also believe the police should be modernly equipped with modern weapons of defense in order to cope with modern weapons used by gangsters. We spent millions in the World war on something that was none of our business and yet our own backyard of the old U. S. A. is over-run-

Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hygeia, the Health Magazine.

Muscle pain appears under .such circumstances and there is soreness, with a spasm and drawing up of the affected tissues. There are various ways in which the muscles may be restored. They may be drawn upon by use of weights and springs, or they may be held in a definite position with splints. It is found that splinting the legs in a proper position, with the feet at right angles to the legs and the knees slightly flexed, gives the patient a great deal of necessary rest. The back has to be supported while the patient is in bed, so that the small of the back does not sag down and flatten. Sometiffies it is recetsary to keep the arms raised to’ avoid pull on the shoulders. One of the chief advantages of the bath treatment in infantile paralysis is the W’ay in which water supports the body. It prevents the throwing of weight on the weakened tissues.

In Miss West’s productions the prostitute always gets the better of the nice girl, which is enough to give both of them pause. Looking oh at the sweeping victories of vice ovep virtue, the complete rout of righteousness and the conquests of corruption, one finds it easy to understand the dilemma of the modern mother, who is attempting to scare her daughter with warnings about the dangers of the primrose path. Also the anachronism of the West endeavor is apparent. Mae's curves may be on straight, but they do not fit into her plays. They are distinctly out of place in her settings. For in the days whose fashions in dress and allure Miss West is reviving, virtue always triumphed in both

ning with a greater menace than any outside invasion. We are being attacked within our own boundaries and lawyers who use technicalities and manufacturers w’ho sell criminals guns are as guilty of treason as a man who sells military secrets to his country's foe. In closing, may I state that I think this silly bickering and feud existing between Mr. Holmes and the sheriff is worse than children who get mad at each other over nothing. It doesn’t make for respect of the law and before law can be a good law, it must be backed by respect. Questions and Answers Q —Who is the president of France? A —Albert Francois le Brun. Q —ls it true that dry sand is heavier than wet sand? A—Dry sand is heavier, measure for measure, than wet sand up to a certain percentage of moisture. A cubic foot of average wet river sand will weigh from twelve to fifteen pounds less than a cubic foot of the same sand in a dry condition. When sand is dampened moderately its volume increases but of all proportion to the amount of water added. Q—Where is Mt. Banajao? A —An extinct volcano between the provinces of Taya has and Laguna in the Philippine islands. Q —ls it the rule of the road in Canada for motorists to keep to the right or the left of the road? A—The rule is to keep to the right, except on Prince Edward island, where motorists follow the left-hand track. Q—Who is the ruler of Hungary? A—Hungary is a monarchy with a vacant throne. Nicholas Harthy de Nagybanya is the present regent.

After the patient has recovered considerable strength and is freed from pain, it becomes necessary to teach him to walk, if that is possible. Under such circumstances, braces are used, w’hich take the place of the splints for the patient, in bed. At this time the orthopedic surgeon examines the tissues of the patient to find out whether any of the paralyzed muscles can be strengthened by transplanting them and whether cutting of tendons and similar orthopedic operations will permit recovery, which otherwise never could occur. It has been found, in handling a considerable number of cases, that the vast majority of those who have had infantile paralysis have not had the most that medical science could give them. Care of such patient is a long, time-consuming and painstaking procedure, but the results in restoring a handicapped child to a position of self-support and self reliance in the work of the world is well worthy any attempt that it may require.

drama and literature, at least in the last scene. The good, the chaste, the true, suffered and may often have seemed to endure defeat, but the end of the play saw the heroine rewarded and happy. Nothing cold more strikingly illustrate how far we have traveled from the old ways of thought and the old standards of morality, than these new-fangled comedies of Mae West in which sin is always successful and Victorian corsets and curves make their resplendent way, not alone to a happj but to a respectable ending, while poor Virtue, neglected and forgotten, expires unattended in the wings. How shall we explain all this to our impressionable danghters? asks a mother. You tell me.

OCT. 28, 1983

It Seems to Me -BY HEYWOOD BROUN=

NEW YORK. Oct. 28 —The taxi driver asked me how I was going to vote. I told him “La Guardia.” He'expressed a certain doubt as to the wisdom of this decision, and I refrained from carrying on the argument at the moment, as we did not miss a truck and a mail wagon Dy very much. But as soon as the light* were against us, I brought up the subject again. “What have you got against La Guardia?” I wanted to know. “He’s all right, I guess,” said the driver, “but he’s running for this fusion business. That’s the reformers. I don’t want to see any reformers. This business Is tough now without somebody telling people they've got to be home at 1 o’clock in the morning, with their lights out.” “Draw up to the curb.” I suggested, and we battled out the Issue. I don't know whether I convinced him or not, but the issue which he brought up is an important one in the municipal campaign. a a a Reformers and Reformers IT seems to me that any one who fears a Puritanical overlordship in New York ought, out of all sanity, to vote for Fiorello H. La Guardia. Unfortunately, the word "reformer” has taken on some unprepossessing connotatioiA. Gentlemen So branded are usually identified among the number of those who wish to go in for an overrigorous attempt to curtail the freedom of the city. Quite unjustly it is often felt that the man who condemns public waste and extravagance will also be minded to check the private folly of late hours and overlarge dinner checks. I am not authorized to speak for Mr. La Guardia, although I think I know him well enough to have a reasonably accurate idea as to his personality. Like my friend the cab driver, I’m not for any Manhattan curfew. Some of my friends stay out till 2 or 3 almost every night. I think that such a way of life is very foolish. But, after all, it is their business. Even those who go on late parties only once a year or never toddle about after midnight may be recruited in the fight against regimentation. For instance,! think that 11 is an excellent time to be in bed and recuperating for the responsibilities of the forthcoming day. But I want to be there wholly out of my own free will and not by accident, invitation or local ordinance. I belong among the more sedate burghers. Few of the night clubs have seen me for at least forty-eight houis. But it was my own decision, a a O'Brien in Armor NOW, as to interference from above I regard O’Brien, Minor and McKee as the three gentlemen most likely to Galahadize the town. Already Mayor O’Brien has set up one Mr. Levine as commissioner of licenses, and this Tammany incumbent is on record as declaring that it is his right to revoke theater licenses without any due legal process whatsoever. It is his notion that one Levine can’t be wrong. I regard the precedent as dangerous. I do not accept Mayor O'Brien’s judgment as to what is esthetically sound and culturally permissible. Sally Rand,* the fan dancer, was compelled by the present administration to put on opaque garments, and I should think that would be bad for the taxi business. Although I regard John P. O’Brien as a highly imperfect mayor, I have never doubted his intense and aggressive morality. Indeed, that is one of the reasons why he should be retired to private life. There is need to raise the standards in that quarter. Joseph V. McKee is known to his associates as Holy Joe, and he won this title in fair competition. Actual values of individuals become obscured during campaigns. Ptfitlcal orators use no colors but white and black in painting their portraits of the candidates. Asa result each man running for mayor is pictured as St. George or Caligula. And neither estimate is correct in any case. o a a The Concerns of ’Joseph BUT Holy Joe on several occasions' has indicated a belief that there is no honesty outside cathedrals, chapels and synagogs. In a piece which attracted far more attention than it deserved he expressed the opinion that any one who broke away from his faith was straightway headed to the perdition of sleazy ethical standards. A man of that mind is all too likely to step in and legislate us into morals. Os all the lot, McKee is the most likely to attempt salvation through ordinance. The one best bet for me and my taxicab friend is Fiorello. He will be, I trust, sure death for grafters, crooks and incompetents. But he is not a reformer in the worst sense of the world. I can not conceive Fiorello calling me up at 10:45 and saying, “Clear the room now and get to bed.” I think McKee might, and O’Brien, too, if he could remember the number. But to me La Guardia is a man who can and wall sweep away the gravy and the graft and not disturb the cakes and ale. (CoDyrlaht. 1933. by T*ie Timex) Second Best BY EUGENIE RICHART I visited a friend’s house Where gay young children were. They met me shyly at the door And ran and called to her. Her eyes were bright with glory When she greeted me; She had grown wise from living For only three. She had grown calm from having The steadfast things in life. Amazing how my friend had changed Asa wife. She ask if I had been In love, And I said, “No.” Discouraged by the barrier I rose to go. • I couldn’t tell her how I’d sought The next best thing: I had no love, but I had tried To sing.