Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 196, Indianapolis, Marion County, 26 December 1933 — Page 4

PAGE 4

The Indianapolis Times (A SrßirPß-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) " HOWARD . PrenldfDt TALCOTT POWELL Editor EARL D. RAKER Business Manager I’hone— Rile; s,V>l

Member of United Press. - Howard Newspaper Allianre, Newspaper Enterprise Association. Newspaper Information Service and Audit Rureau of Circulations. <iwned and published daily (exrept Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times Publishing Cos.. 214-220 West Maryland street, Indianapolis. Ind. ITice in Marion county, 2 rents a copy; elsewhere, 3 'ents—delivered by carrier. 12 cents a week. Mail subscription rates in Indiana. S3 a year: outsid.. 0 f Indiana, flr, cents a month.

• ~"£t x i '•'**) *o 1(

Gi># LtyAf ond fA P">plt Will Find Their Own Way

TUEoDAY. DEC 26. 1933. land hunger may build the world’s largest cities, raise skyscrapers to the heavens, turn a rural civilization into a nation of steel and concrete in 100 years, but it can not crush from men’s souls the primal ache for natural living near the soil. In his first annual report. Secretary Harold Ickes of the interior department describes a new back-to-the-land drift and the steps the government is taking to make this a happier adventure than the piling up of people into cities. Besides seeking to make farming itself more profitable, the Roosevelt administration has launched an experiment, in regulated settlement of unadjusted families -upon the land. But, instead of settling them on big farms, as the reclamation service has done, the division of subsistence homesteads is settling them in suburban areas near factories where wages and small farming can be combined to make a decent income. Out of a $25,000,000 revolving fund the government hopes to finance 12,000 families on small garden farms, such as European countries have attempted on a bigger scale. So far three such projects have been announced In Indiana. Ohio and West Virginia. The response to the new plan is both inspiring and depressing. It proves how poignant is land hunger, for projects totaling more than $4,000,000,000 have been urged upon the government. Appeals have come from every state. Often 1.000 letters a day pour into the division. All of this proves how inadequate present machinery is to meet the great need. Doubtless congress will be asked to increase this revolving fund. If so, it should set up an expert settlement mechanism, such as the reclamation fund has had. These families - from the cities, the depressed coal belts, the logged-over timber regions, the copper and the poor land areas need sympathetic technical guidance. If there is anything worse than the slums of cities and small towns, it is a rural slum. Families that have failed in the city should be protected from perhaps worse failure on the land. ORIENTAL REALISM SEVENTY MILLION Japanese can’t be wrong. And even if Uncle Sam thinks otherwise, he'd better be careful than sorry. Such is the theme of ‘’Dangerous Thoughts on the Orient”- (D. Appleton-Century Cos.) by one w r ho has spent practically all his adult life in the Orient—F. R. Eldridge, former chief of the far eastern division of the United States department of commerce. “The present struggle over Manchuria,” the author writes, “seemed fore-ordained when Japan, a self-sufficient, hermit nation, was forced into the comity of nations in 1853.” In fact, he observes, the western powers ‘‘led Japan to the mountain” and showed her their own promised land of progress. And, like a child, “Japan has grasped for this new world, and now r that she has it within her still immature fingers, we say 'hands off! ’ ” We taught her international deceptions which we call diplomacy, and our own domestic trickery which w T e call politics. But the principal lesson she has learned from the west is “that all things are finally settled by force.” Mr.'Eldridge warns that the United States will do well to be realistic rather than oversentimental about what is taking place in Asia. He infers that Japan is waging a battle of life or death, in reaching for more space, and nothing we can do can stop her—unless we want a war on our hands. There are chapters on “Japan and the world.” “Japan and Russia.” “Japan and China” and “Japan and America.” Others discuss China, while a final chapter deals with the world peace machinery and the “Dangerous Thoughts” which the people of this country seem to harbor thereupon. The author feels much more could be accomplished in the direction of world peace if we inaugurated an international movement to study and classify the future causes of war, instead of trying to outlaw war per se. Here his ground seems shakier than in the chapters dealing with the situation as it exists today on the other side of the Pacific. He observes that we have outlawed crime, but that crime goes on. Hence we can outlaw war all we wish, yet wars will still go on until the causes are eradicated. Which, of course, is perfectly true, yet world opinion holds that, but for law and the efforts to enforce it there would be a great deal more crime. Mr. Eldridge does not seem to think much of the Kellogg pact. Like most practicalminded men, he does not think it can be effective without "teeth,” and if given “teeth” it will almost certainly drag us into war. Which, he avers, puts us on all fours with the Irishman who said he would have peace “even if he had to fight for it.” We venture to assert that many realists believe the Irishman was on the right track. The world’s entire system of law and order is is based upon that xery principle. While education against crime goes on. and while we are working through the centuries and the millenniums to remove the causes of crime, we will continue to need policemen. Similarly, until the causes of war are eliminated— a thousand years or so hence, perhaps—civilization should strive to make wars as and far between as circumstances will permit. One war prevented is that much gained. Nevertheless and notwithstanding, much of what the author says unquestionably is sound. He has made a life-time study of the Orient and its peoples. We would do well to read carefully his views. When he advises that the United States should tread wearily in its foreign relations, particularly ir the far east,

he will find competent opinion 100 per cent In agreement with him. There are pitfalls on every side. _ 4 CART WHEELS /"ANE phase of the Roosevelt silver policy , has been neglected In the public forums j so far. It involves the silver dollar—nice, big satisfying cart wheels—that are expected to be put in circulation. In the east these are practically unknown, and more’s the pity, if you should ask a westerner. They are wonderful for the baby j to play with, and the baby can’t swallow them as he can dimes or quarters. They have a j comforting jingle In the pants pocket—and if anything about the act of spending can give satisfaction, it is the act of tossing a silver dollar down on the counter to pay for satisfaction received. There is one real objection. They’re heavy and wear out the pants pocket if one carries too many of them. But this can be overcome <&> by spending the money, and <b) by carrying them in one's vest pocket. Vests a; present don't wear out nearly so fast as the rest of one’s suit, anyway. VICTORY THAT SET EXAMPLE TN a certain middle western hospital lies a A policeman, paralyzed from the hips to the toes. He has been there for nearly three years, ever since he fought a gun battle with i a bandit and got a bullet in the spine. For a long time he has been deeply despondent—as who, in his case, would not be? But now he is beginning to feel hopeful again; and it all happens because someone gave him a fancy, ornate kind of clock which bears a little stautette of Franklin D. Roosevelt standing at the helm of a ship. The crippled copper explains it like this. “One day I happened to notice Roosevelt there, and I began to think. “ 'Here,’ I said to myself, ‘is the greatest man in the world. And just look at the handicaps he overcame. Why, once his legs were as weak as mine. And now look at him.’ “So I figured to myself, if a fellow like that could get well and then go on to do the things Roosevelt has done, then there was hope for men. You know, the more I thought about Roosevelt, why, the stronger I became. “I don't even feel any pain any more, and it won’t be long before I'm out of here. “I used to think that inspiration and that stuff was a lot of baloney. That was before I got this clock and started thinking.” It would be hard to find a better illustration of the power which a good example can have; and it is interesting to see how farreaching the effects of a brave man’s fight can be. When a man comes to grips with pain and weakness and utter discouragement, as Mi. Roosevelt did more than a decade ago, and faces them down and licks them to a frazzle and goes on his way as if he never had seen them, he doesn’t win his fight for himself alone. * He may think so at the time, but there’s more to it than that. This world is so constructed that a fight like that echoes for a long time. It’s a long way from a beaten vice-presi-dential candidate suffering from infantile paialysis in 1921 to a wounded policeman getting anew supply of hope and courage in 1933; but the connection is direct, after all. The greatest victory Franklin Roosevelt ever won was his victory over his own body; and a victory like that keeps on working long after the fight is finished. For it is a demonstration that what happens to a man’s muscles and bones and sinews is not, after all, so very Important so long as he keeps alive that indomitable spark of fearless determination in his own heart. AN OLD ARGUMENT TF the efforts of Colonel Lindbergh are suc- -*■ cessful, the old hostility between Orville Wright and the Smithsonian institution at last will be ended, ancf the Smithsonian will get possession of that historic Wright airplane in which man began his great conquest of the air. The antagonism began because the Smithsonian seemed inclined to give primary credit for inventing the airplane to Professor Langley. Mr. Wright protested that the Langley airplane never got into the air until long after the first Wright flights, and that even then it flew only after important alterations had been made in its structure. v Public opinion doubtless sides with Mr. Wright in this dispute. And if Colonel Lindbergh succeeds in smoothing over the situation, so that Mr. Wright will consent to let the Smithsonian have his plane, every one will rejoice. This plane is an American invention, and it belongs in an American museum. ‘IT ISN’T DONE’ A FOREIGN colleague once said to us, “Do you know what your country most needs? It's a bit more of the English idea of ‘it isn’t done.’ ” He then went on to point out some things where our country perhaps regards it “smart” to cheat or chisel. He discussed prohibition and some of our attitude toward sports, for instance. We often have pondered on his remarks. The Englishman may be a trace snobbish about his observation, “It isn't done.” but in the last analysis his code makes for gentlemanly and ladylike conduct; in other w r ords, it's a code of ethics in itself. The Englishman, for instance, thinks the man or woman who gets drunk publicly is an “outsider,” that is, not a gentleman or a lady and not fit to associate with those who “play the game.” We had the idea, before prohibition. During prohibition, excuses were made for the man or woman who drank to excess. It even seemed a poke to many if Bill or Mary got “tight.” There was little or no revulsion of feeling about alcoholic excess. We are sadly in need of anew attitude toward drink. Not only do we need to regard the drunkard or the drunken person as an “outsider,” but we need to acquire new standards of regard for the law. The slogan, “make it smart to be legal,” will help us; and likewise we can profit beyond measure if we get the idea, “it isn’t, done,” meaning making pigs of ourselves with liquor or any other indulgence. k

THE BEST FACE-SAVING /~\NE of the things we like best about PresiV' dent Roosevelt is the way he reverses a decision when he is convinced that he has been wrong. He does not seem to be troubled much about that bane of politicians, facesaving. Perhaps it is • because he is smart enough to know that the way to save face is to wipe out the damage done as quickly and graciously as possible. His foot slipped the other day when he instructed his delegation at the Latin-Ameri-can conference in Montevideo not to vote for the treaty guaranteeing equal nationality rights to women—an instruction which apparently was not approved by Secretary of State Hull, and v.hich certainly was not representative of public opinion in this country. Following protest from many sources the President took another look at the question. Then, without any hemming and hawing, he cheerfully changed his policy. There is no doubt that necessary congressional action ■will be taken to make the treaty effective. This incident is not an isolated case. Mr. Roosevelt changed his mind on outright repeal of prohibition. He withdrew his unjust regulations for administration of the veterans economy legislation. There have been other instances. At any time this would be a pleasant trait In a President. But in a national emergency when courageous experiment is the only way out, and when mistakes are inevitable, the ability to correct blunders quickly is one of the most important attributes of leadership. In reversing his Montevideo policy the President demonstrated that quality. INFLUENCE NOT FOR SALE JOB selling and allied forms of graft are be- ** ing watched by several high officials In Washington. The department of justice has two such prosecutions under way. It is said to have evidence against other men who maintain Washington offices from which they pretend to dispense influence for a consideration. Interior Secretary Harold Ickes Is hunting down fixers who claim to have special power to get his approval for public works administration projects. He posts a “persona non grata” list and his subordinates are instructed not to deal with the alleged culprits. He has dismissed PWA field officials on charges of offering “influence.” Federal Relief Administrator Hopkins and Chairman Fahey of the Home Owners Loan Corporation also are taking action in such cases. All of this is exceedingly wholesome and desirable, provided the accused get a fair hearing. Indeed if this policy were extended so that original placements in jobs would not require so much “political clearance,” it still would be better. ANOTHER COUNTRY WAITING /CABLES from Tokio report that American business men in Japan are organizing a movement for American recognition of Manchoukuo. Such a step, they assert, would enhance the chances for American commercial expansion in Manchoukuo. They believe that our recognition of Soviet is evidence of a “realistic” policy in diplomacy, and they would like to see a little of that realism applied to affairs in the far east. It is not altogether hard to sympathize with this paint of view. Japan got Manchoukuo in ways we did not quite approve, maybe—but the fact remains that she got it, and there is every indication that she will succeed in keeping it for years to come. To recognize the fact formally might promote American trade; it also might help to ease the tension in relations between America and Japan.

MJL Tracy Says:

BEGINNING the first of January, the Nazi government of Germany will undertake the most sweeping campaign of sterilization ever conceived. It has been estimated that more than four hundred thousand people, about equally divided between sexes, will be arbitrarily prevented from reproducing offspring by due process of law. Seventeen hundred primary courts have been established for the purpose, each court consisting of one judge and two physicians. Above them will be twenty-seven supreme courts, the composition of which remains to be announced. The decree creating this vast establishment provides that all persons suffering from nine diseases which have been declared incurable and hereditary shall be haled into court. The right of appeal to a supreme court is guaranteed, but its decision will be final. Experts calculate that Germany contains two hundred thousand congenital idiots, eighty thousand shizophrenatics, twenty thousand maniacs, sixty thousand epileptics, twenty thousand hereditary blind and deaf, twenty thousand physically deformed, and ten thousand hereditary alcoholics, all of whom are fit subjects for sterilization. a a a THE cost has been computed at 20 marks a man, 50 marks a woman, which involves a total expendtiure of at least fourteen million marks, or about five million dollars at current exchange rates. This, according to Nazi theorists, is a cheap price for the gradual elimination of defectives, who now cost Germany more than one hundred million dollars a year to maintain. All physicians have been ordered to report such cases as are properly subject to sterilization. within their knowledge. Persons who regard themselves as unfit, as w r ell as parents or guardians of such persons, can make voluntary application. Such applications, however, must be based on the ground of unfitness. No application will be accepted for the object of birth control. a a a EXCEPT for the age-old human tendency to abuse power, to take advantage of the weak, to mis-employ any kind of authority which promises gain, the experiment is sound. From every standpoint, it is desirable tc reduce or eliminate the element of chronic defectives which burdens and handicaps humanity. How far officials can be trusted to exercise such sweeping authority is more debatable. Take, for example, the questionnaire by which German agents and doctors are supposed to test people with regard to idiocy. Among others are the following questions: What form of state do we have now? What are the German postage rates? What are the capitals of Germany and France? Who was Bismarck and Luther? Who discovered America? Why are houses higher in the city than in the country? What is boiling w ? ater? Beside, these questions, there are others involving problems in simple arithmetic, moral views and opinions as to the future such as many intelligent people would find it difficult to answer, especially to the satisfaction of a prejudiced court or a determined prosecutor.

.THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

X \V ts

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

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Make your \ letters short, so all can hare a chance. Limit them to 250 words or less 1 .) By Will H. Craig. Why is it that you become so het up over the Butler university controversy? I am not familiar enough with the facts to pass judgment, neither are you. But as a general proposition, I believe that privately endowed corporations like Butler, have a right, through their accredited trustees, to manage the institution and not turn the whole business over to a president and his professors. The weakness in our educational system is that trustees surrender their responsibility and duties to theoretical educators, who, as President Coolidge said, never handled a pay roll or ever had any practical experience. You howl about the taxpayers losing money on account of the trades of land by Butler. Is not Butler an asset to Indianapolis and the state without a dollar from the taxpayers of the state? Why don’t yotl turn your guns on the state school trust or octopus? Why don’t you give your readers, or allow someone else to give them in your paper the following facts? That Indiana university did not ask for a cent for seventeen years; that the Constitution plainly says no money shall be appropriated except for the common schools; that the octopus has grown from a support of SB,OOO in 1867 to $8,000,000 in 1933; that the doctrine of Jefferson, “Equal right to all, special privileges to none,” is repudiated in state appropriations of $3 a head for the 800,000 common school children and SSOO a head for the favored few in the universities; that there are 2 200 officers and teachers on pay roll at Indiana university and Purdue, one for every four students; that President Bryan of Indiana university draws $14,500 salary, lives in a $60,000 state mansion, has one secretary at $1,600, and needs nothing but a stenographer. That Purdue is spending or wasting several hundred thousand dollars a year in extension and experimental work to teach farmers how to raise bigger better crops, while the federal government is spending hundreds of millions to reduce farmers' crops; that while the Methodist and St. Vincent hospitals are selfsustaining, that the state pays large sums for its hospital annexes of Indiana university at Indianapolis; that the Indiana medical and dental colleges were self-sustaining before being taken over by Indiana university, they now are grafters on the taxpayers; that while there are 8.000 idle teachers in Indiana, our two state normals and a teachers training school at Indiana university are taxing the people to grind out more. There are scores of other things the people would like to know, but are denied the privilege as the state press generally is hog-tied to the state octopus. Are you fair enough and liberal enough to publish this article? If not, return copy and give excuse for not printing it. By R. Sprunger I just read an amusing letter by Mr. Harper who seems to think the Kentuckians and Tennesseeans built the United States by themselves. Now don't get angry. I just want to enlighten you to the fact that this nation is made up of forty-eight states. They all have done their part to make this a great country. This country is sick right now and It needs the help of every citizen to make it well again. You say Kentuckians fought the British in 1776 because they knew the British had good whisky. I always thought that war was fought

: : A Woman’s Viewpoint : :

IN all our talk about motherhood, we still beat about the bush. We evade the main point and cover up our evasions with elaborate phrases that mean nothing. Be sure of this: Only the happy wife is the good mother. And when you have said that, you have said everything necessary upon the subject. For one does not become an exemplary parent by memorizing rules or following regulations. Only by setting an example do we attain any measure of perfection in this difficult profession. Motherhood is a way of life, nothing less. Therefore the woman who is fool-

Ask Dad —He Knows!

Both Right By Orie 3. Simmons. Your Dec. 7 editorial “Aluminum and NR A" suggests an opportunity for your paper to perform a public service, with news value. You say “The Aluminum Company of America controls the virgin supply of aluminum on this continent.” Yet the dictionary says of aluminum “It is the most abundant metallic element constituting onefourteenth of the earth’s crust.” It occurs widely in the form of cryolite, corundum, bauxite, diasphore, gibbsite, alunogen, aluminite, turquoise, wavellite, lazulite and many silicates, as kaolin, feldspar and mica. No doubt you and the dictionary are both right. But the dictionary being published first, you have a paradox to explain in connection with your article. Why not get a technical man to write an illustrated article, so you can show the tories just how the Mellons have all the aluminum cornered. As it stands, your article doesn’t make sense with the dictionary. for freedom and not over a drink of whisky on Christmas day. Tsk! Tsk! Maybe I'm wrong. The Hoosiers are well represented in history and wars. Remember the famous Rainbow Division of 1917-18, I am not saying that Indiana made America. I am just stating that she helped forty-seven other states do it. As for spending money on French girls across the sea, that doesn’t help this country now. By Harold Miller This economic disease has produced anew quota of “Economic Chart Inspectors.” Economic behavior is charted like a fever patient’s temperature. Our economic animal seems to have distemper, so we follow the charts for signs of decline in the fever. We delight to check the external phenomena rather than search for the organic disorder which causes the disease. We continually hope that there will be less violent manifestations resulting, and that industry will return to the feed trough. Our industrial kicking broncho has not been broken to harness for purpose or destiny. The void of intelligence which causes these violent irrational motions must be harnessed and subjected to social control for the general welfare. We can work out a plan wherein every worker and every process and equipment for production and social progress will be utilized at its utmost. Surely we know now that all action brings reaction, and that only intelligent action and plan can produce what we desire but lack determination to secure. What right has any individual or group of individuals to block the expanding realization of a more abundant living. To frustrate the development of a sane social order, to preserve fancied individual rights as opposed to the general welfare, is the basest of ambitions. To chart the curves of social progress, not to follow the charts, is the greatest need of our social structure. A comprehensive plan must be organized on a national scale by Uncle Sam. By L. D. Dodd We now are celebrating the anniversary of the day when the Savior of men came to our world. The enrichment of human life by His life and teachings are marvelous. What if we could remove with one stroke all the benefits which we now enjoy because of the Christ. If we could i wipe out with one stroke all the I blessings which have come to manI kind through Him in art, music,

BY. MRS. WALTER FERGUSON

ishly sentimental and ruins the existence of sons and daughters by her too ardent affection is the woman, you may be sure, who has endured frustrations in her marriage. Insofar as her husband has failed her she will expect too much of her children. When life disappoints she seeks refuge in the carefully built harbors of parental love. a a m SO, if we truly desire that children should have the proper start in life, we must set ourselves to the task of building happier homes. It is only out of happy homes that well rounded, normal and wholesome individuals come.

literature, education; all the sweetness in our homes; all the joys, hopes and aspirations of our souls; all the light He has given us of death; life and immortality: all the helpful enterprises, all institutions of mercy and charity; all the movements for peace among the nations of earth; and multitudes and multitudes of other benefits which are ours because Christ came to earth. If, I say, we could blot them all out in an instant, then what? Ah! man, sit down and think this over for yourself. If you will do this I am sure that you, too, will come to the truth that Jesus Christ is the light of the world. By George J. Bugbee I have been hearing so much recently about the blessings of liberty which we enjoy and which we are told are unique to America and Americans that I have taken the trouble to read the “Bill of Rights” in the Constitution to see just what liberties I do have. I find therein guaranteed the right of freedom of worship, the freedom of speech, trial by jury, to bear arms, and the sanctity of the home. These guarantees, among others, are not so important to me, would be more important if there was any tendency on the part of any modern nation to violate them. For example, such religion as I have ■would not be interfered with by any government that I know of, nor would my right to say what I want to say. I rather would be tried by a judge than by a jury if I were willing to take what was coming to me and no more. The sanctity of the home guaranteed is from the law and not from criminals. (The latter would be much more important to me.) Most of these guarantees do not ordinarily apply to the average citizen. More often they are applied in safeguarding the criminal. On the other hand there is no guarantee in it for an opportunity to make an honest living, no guarantee against “loan sharks,” and no guarantee that almost the entire national income should not be paid to a favored few. There is no guarantee that the man who produces wealth should have what he produces and that the man who produces no wealth, but makes a lucky deal on the market, should not have a surfeit. Probably many of the millions of the unemployed would be willing to trade the- vaunted rights guaranteed by the Constitution for economic security and some of the rights not guaranteed. By A Yoon? Reader I am a young man who never has known want, my parents being well able to care for me if I should let them, but I don’t do so. I never have before written a letter to your paper, which is a fine one, but this time it is to bring to the front a great injustice being done in our county. The CWA is a great and noble gesture on the part of our President. But couldn’t it be more fairly taken care of? I know a. Spanish-American war veteran, and what a terrible war that was, who has drawn a small pension since from the government, owns property, has a truck and a pleasure car, who is working on a CWA project, while the destitute men of this community are turned away, along with the high school graduate of five years ago who has no work and nothing to occupy his mind. Now, why all the graft and favoritism that is so evidently shown as to make your growing citizens-to-be become utterly disgusted with the whole mess? Thank you very kindly if you will read and publish this.

There is no need to delude ourselves about it. The responsibility rests heavily upon the woman, but it rests thrice heavly upon the man. For the wife who has known real love and who has, even for a little while, drunk deep from the wellsprings of married bliss, will be the understanding, the tolerant, the wise mother. Having walked upon the heights, she never again will be the slave of petty woes or fanciful tribulations. Hence the first qualification for fatherhood is that a man shall be, insofar as is possible, a good husband. That done, he may safely leave the rest of the job to his wife.

.DEC. 26. 1933

, Fair Enough BY WESTBROOK FF.GEER -

r T~'HE other day I wrote a story which. I am afraid, turned out to be a sermon, on the subject of Colonel Lindbergh and the invasion of a great man's privacy by reporters and photographers. All the time I was remembering many occasions when, in the line of my work. I had sat on icy doorsteps by the hour or had been pushed in the face by imported butlers or shoved around and around by refined society people than whom there are no more illmannered people to be found on any dock-side, in obedience to my instructions to get the story. I do not think I am old enough yet to call myself oid-school, but I am newspaper, and I know the reporters side of such problems by personal experience and the photographers’ side by sympathetic observation. I stop short of burglary, but the sort of newspaper schooling that I received • did not teach me to throw down an assignment any time I happened to find the job repugnant to my finer feelings. I have had to put distasteful questions to many persons and if I had been the vulgar rascal who was ordered, on an office tip. a few years ago. to ask Colonel Lindbergh if it was true that he was engaged to Miss Anne Morrow. I would have been the vulgar sort of rascal to ask him just that. There has been anew development in this business since Ivy Lee moved in as the press-agent for the Rockefellers to explain that the massacre in Colorado which the late Bill Shepherd wrote about so feelingly was none of the Rockefellers’ doing and that they were, at heart, nice people. Since that time there has developed something which you might call the boss-fix. a a a THE public figure who Is being annoyed by reporters and photographers goes over the heads of the reporters and photographers and arranges to meet and exert his personal charm upon the boss. Preferably the owner or publisher and preferably at luncheon, the boss in many such cases is completely won over, personally, and agrees that certain reporters—not his reporters, to be sure, but, you know, a certain type of reporter—is a great discredit and detriment to journalism. But let us not kid ourselves about types of reporters. There are, of course, some frowsy tramps in the newspaper business. • and you certainly can not expect to hold many Harvard Ph. D.’s on the local staff, because, for one reason, they wouldn’t have enough of what it takes to be a good rough-and-tum-ble reporter. But in between the frowsy tramp, of whom I have known just very few, and the helpless Ph. D. type, there is the newspaper reporter. One hears slurring cracks about the tabloid type of reporter, but everybody in this business knows that a tabloid reporter and a fullsize reporter as one and the same and interchangeable. A full-six reporter out of a job is glad to get a job with a tabloid and do the tabloid’s way. And many a tabloid reporter has gone along to become a star on the staff of a full-size paper, and I could* name you some who have become first-class book writers and magazine people, not that that means so much, either. ana THE finest individual ethical stand that ever came to my knowledge in this business was that of a tabloid reporter, a beautiful young woman who was assigned to visit Quebec, single-handed, without letters or social credentials of any kind, dance with the prince of Wales and write a story about it. The young woman went to Quebec, danced half a dozen dances with the prince of Wales, to the furious jealousy of all the socially ambitious mothers of twittering debutantes, who were present at the ball, and then refused to write a word about it. I will say of my acquaintances with many tabloid people that the full-size papers would do very well to raid the tabloids for some talent every now and again. They might pick up some remarkably fine newspaper people. I have heard the boss-fix side of the Lindbergh complaint and the reporters’ side, too, and I readily understand why the reporters who have to approach Lindbergh on questions of a non-technical nature do not like the task or him. He has tossed them around, in a manner of speaking, without any waste of kindness and a man gets back no better than he sends. The schools of journalism are turning out their annual quotas of book reviewers, dramatic critics and sport columnists, but the papers will always need reporters who will take their assignments from the desk and do their best on them without pausing to ask themselves whether it is, after all, in the best interests of science, art, humanity and the profession that these assignments be covered. (Copyright, 1933, by United Feature* Syndicate, Inc.)

The Gift

BY POLLY LOIS NORTON It w'ore no silver wrap^rngs. No cord nor tinsel trappings, No card nor seal; No merry holly tissue, No ribbon, decked God’s issue Sent forth to heal, Yet stars there were, and carol bands. When that gift left its maker’s hands.

So They Say

When I first knew this horse show, we came here as gentlemen, not as crashing cad?.—The Duke of Devonshire. One of the most important elements of predatory crime is the manner in which some members of the bar co-operate with the underworld.—United States AttomeyOeneral Cummings. Prohibition has ruined more people in this country than ony other item —Oscar of the Waldorf. Any one with as much sense as two gray geese knows that throughout the length and breadth of this land there can be no more delicious dish served up at a Thanksgiving or a Christmas dinner than a roast suckling pig.—Former Unites States Senator Atlee Pomexen*.