Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 208, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 January 1934 — Page 10

PAGE 10

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Olre Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

TUESDAY. JAN. 9. 1934. STEEL DEFIES GOVERNMENT ''HE United States government and the United States Steel Corporation are face to face on an issue fundamentally important to the recovery program and the industrial future. The steel corporation’s subsidiary, the H. C. Prick Coal and Coke Company, has told the national labor board that it will not sign a contract with the United Mine Workers of America, although officers of the mine workers were selected by workers at the Frick company mines to represent them in collective bargaining. “We are not extending, and don’t intend extending, recognition if that means making a union contract,” says Nathan L. Miller, counsel for the Frick company. “We always have made It plain that we would not contract with anybody but our employes; that we would not make a union contract, and would not arbitrate the question with this board.” Sharply opposed to this position Is the government, on record In Section 7A of the industrial recovery act as guaranteeing to all workers In the United States the right to associate themselves in trade unions and bargain collectively with their employers. The language of the act unmistakably is clear. If workers in a plant elect to bargain through a trade union and reject the company union which seme employers try to press upon them, the federal government has undertaken to assure them of that right. Steel’s captive mines have fought Section 7A from the time it was enacted into law. They are, however, subscribers to a code which pledges observance of this section along with others. They signed an agreement with the President of the United States last October to "negotiate to a conclusion” with any representatives selected by their workers. Yet today they refuse. The importance of the attitude taken by the national labor board, and the administration which created it, can not be overstated. It holds the answer to the future of America’s labor movement, and therefore to the future of America’s industrial life. LET THINGS BE DONE TT has been interesting to watch the diagnosticians getting to work on President Roosevelt’s address to congress, trying to figure out whether in the main it was a “liberal” or a "conservative” document. Even more interesting is the fact that there seems to be no unanimity of opinion on the issue. Some commentators find it one thing, some find it another, and some find it a carefully balanced middle-of-the-road affair. But while this discussion may be interesting, it is not of any very great importance. For this distinction between liberalism and conservatism seems to be one thing that the ordinary American has stopped caring about of late. The ordinary American, one may guess, read Mr. Roosevelt's speech without once stopping to figure out whether the gentleman in the White House was inclining to the left or to the right. This business of labels has become—for the time being, at any rateunimportant. After all, there is a pretty general agreement in the land on the things which the administration ought to accomplish. People want to see prosperity restored; that is. they want to see stores and factories and railroads busy once more, they want to see the breadlines dwindling and the “help wanted” signs going up again. They want to see a return of that era in which farmer and laboring man and business man and professional man could face both present and future with a decent sort of confidence. And it is very much to be doubted if the mass of people care very greatly how all this is accomplished. That certain reforms must come with this revival is taken largely for granted. Revival must not carry with it the seeds of anew collapse. Human values must be given a wider place in the general scheme of things. In so far as we can discover the causes of the last collapse, we must eradicate them. But as for the labels that are attached to the acts of recovery—does the ordinary man actually care two hoots about them? It is very doubtful. So long as we are moving toward recovery and trying to avoid the mistakes of the past, it makes little difference to him whether our policies are liberal, conservative, a little of both—or neither. FILIPINOS STILL WAITING npHE press of important business facing the present congress ought not to stand in the way of some final settlement of the Philippine problem. The last congress passed an independence measure which was neither flesh, fowl, nor fish. It gave a sort of qualified independence, and it hardly is to be wondered at that the Filipinos turned it down. Since they did turn it down, it is up to us to reconsider the whole proposition. We promised the Filipinos their independence decades ago. and public sentiment in this country seems in favor of making the promise good. The main thing to settle then, ia the terms on which it shall be granted. It ought not to be too difficult, even for a congress as busy as this one. to find some formula which will protect both American and Philippine Interests, a bill which will recognize the righto and the responsibilities of both nations.

LIQUOR TAXES r T''HE house ways and means committee urges & tax of $2 a gallon on distilled spirits. This in itself is not an excessive rate, but when to it are added some of the state taxes the combined rate may become too high for safety. Congress should keep in mind that by overtaxing liquor not only it will kill the goose that lays the golden egg. It will invite the bootlegger back into business at the old stand. This consideration should transcend the question of revenue. It is an issue of public welfare. The proposed tax of 10 cents a gallon on still wine of 14 per cent alcoholic content and under also should be scrutinized. Beer and wine prices should be kept as low as possible to encourage the use of mild beverages rather than hard liquor. An 8-cent tax on light still wines is worth considering. Senator Clark’s proposal to repeal the absurd Reed bone-dry amendment should be adopted without delay. This old measure, barring from the mails in dry states all liquor advertisements, was originally introduced as a jest. It is one of the remaining freaks of prohibition. RETURNED GIFTS TAWING Y. MITCHELL, assistant secretary of commerce, acted properly in seeing to it that employes in his bureau refused to accept Christmas gifts proffered by a steamship company which has extensive dealings with the commerce department. All in all, a “wagonload of 50-cent cigars” is said to have been received by various employes of the shipping bureau. Mr. Mitchell notified the employes that "it is not good practice for a government official or employe to accept gifts, even of small value, from those with whom he may have business relations." To be sure, these particular gifts seem to have been harmless enough. Nobody imagines that a government official is going to sell his soul for a box of cigars. But the principal is rather important. An ironclad rule against acceptance even of insignificant favors is a good bulwark against growth of public suspicion. MORE BANK SUPERVISION JNCREASED government supervision of the nation’s banking system seems likely to follow on the heels of the new deposit insurance plan. Reports from Washington say that officials of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation are considering ways of assuming a voice in the control of banking institutions into which millions of RFC funds have been pumped. The RFC has spent $823,000,000 buying capital stock in nearly 5,000 banks; it hardly is surprising that such extensive stock purchases should be expected to carry a voice in management. Just where this tendency is going to take our banking structure, however, is not entirely clear. Are we insensibly heading in the direction of straight-out government operation of the banking business? A man who believes in signs almost could be induced to think so. STATES SHOULD HELP RELIEF ADMINISTRATOR ' HOPKINS has relieved Governor Talrr.adge of Georgia of his job of spending civil works money in that state. The Governor was accused of “headline hunting” and “yapping” because of his assaults on the federal government’s policy of paying civil works employes 40 cents an hour. The wage was so high, the Governor complained, that private employers were losing their help. Mr. Hopkins countered that if Georgia could re-employ its jobless he would be glad to withdraw from the scene. A flood of telegrams from Georgia protesting federal withdrawal from relief gave Mr. Hopkins an idea how the people felt about it. Now the money will be spent directly from Washington. It’s a bitter blow to any Governor to lose the chance to spend federal funds. But Director Hopkins probably will produce better results with the money than Governor Talmadge in the circumstances. LABOR AND THE LAW /'ANE thing the present congress properly might do is to clarify the labor union provisions of the NIRA. To be sure, congress probably would get into the hottest kind of argument while doing it. Some people would like to see these provisions tightened: others would like to see them loosened. Congress could not touch the subject without stirring a pretty extensive kind of storm. Nevertheless, regardless which direction congress finally chose to go, the job ought to be done. Right now there is a great deal of confusion about what the labor provisions of the NIRA really mean. Do they make unionization compulsory? Do they weaken or strengthen the company union? Do they weaken or strengthen the workingman's right to strike? The law is somewhat obscure on these points. Whether we tighten or relax the section dealing with organized labor, we at least ought to make its meaning crystal clear. TRAINING FOR GOVERNMENT A NEAT idea for training college students for public careers has been evolved by Chester H. McCall. Secretary Roper’s assistant in the commerce department. Mr. McCall would like to have 150 or 200 selected college students brought to Washington for three months even,’ winter, to study the operation of the federal government at first hand, watch how executives and solons do their work, and attend lectures by cabinet officers and others. In many ways this is a very sensible suggestion. It would be fine training for the young collegians, for one thing; for another, it also ought to be a good thing for the government officials with whom they would mingle. Young collegians notoriously are quick to see through sham and bluff. A politician functioning for three months under the eyes of a gang of boys and girls from the campuses would have to tend to his knitting. Hot air and bunk would get him no place. He would have to be good to make an impression.

A BLOW AT RACKETS A CHICAGO grand Jury has acted drastically to break up a ring of racketeers which has been preying on labor unions and contractors. Indictments have been returned accusing seventeen racketeers of extorting vast sums from working men and business men. From the coal trucking trade alone, it is said, no less than $250,000 was taken, and plans had been laid to levy a daily fee on every motor truck used in building construction, coal hauling, and similar work in the city. There never was a time when the abolition of such rackets was as v: tally necessary as today. Our recovery program has been designed to give new independence to organized labor. If any considerable section of organized labor has to carry such lawless parasites along with it, the whole scheme to give it a brighter place in the nation's industrial set-up is bound to collapse. This Chicago grand Jury has started a work of supreme importance. DOING “AS THEY PLEASE” “XTTE have demanded of many citizens that T they surrender certain licenses to do as they pleased in their business relationships, but we have asked this in exchange for the protection which the state can give against exploitation by their fellowmen.”—President Roosevelt. In the former days of uncurbed competition, a man ran his business not according to his own standards, but largely according to the practices which it “pleased” the least scrupulous members of his industry to adopt. What the new deal has done is to free business from the tyrannical control of this unscrupulous minority, and to substitute Democratic control by the enlightened majority under the friendly supervision of the government. Henry Pu Yi will become emperor of Manchukuo on March 1, and so will be permitted to sign his name to all orders Japan cares to let him give. Wealthy Barbara Hatton Mdivani took forty trunks with her on a world tour. Her husband, the prince, went along, too. Nebraska reports all 1933 bills paid and money left in the treasury. What the political leaders of other states want to know is not how Nebraska did it, but why.

Liberal Viewpoint Tty dr. HARRY ELMER BARNES =i

LYING back of the remarkable achievements in applied science which have reshaped the modern world are the discoveries in natural science from Archimedes to Einstein. More and more, progress in technology depend on prior work in pure science. Professor Lenard has written a splendid introductory history of science organized about the biographies of the leading figures in the scientific tradition of the West (Great Men of Science, A History of Scientific Progress. By Philipp Lenard. The Macmillan Company. $3). The key to an understanding of modern social history is to be found in the rise of the machine more than in any other single factor. There have been plenty of good manuals written describing the rise of the empire of machines, but few if any have the breadth and sweep of Mr. Hausleiter’s very original volume (The Machine Unchained: Revolution in the World Economic System From the First Steam Engine, to the Crisis of Plenty. By Leo Hausleiter. D. Appleton-Century Company, Inc., $3). The dominating thought therein is well summarized by the following paragraph: “The mechanization of the world mechanized man, mechanized the spirit. Machinery assumed new forms. The tempestuous liberation of productive forces shook all that was firmly rooted in the earth. Man turned to a machine (he works like a machine) and the machine turned human (it works like a human being) came to follow the same path, chained to one another by impersonal thought in terms of money.” a tt a THE author lays special stress upon the jeopardy of Europe which is menaced by the great mass-production nations, the United States and Russia. While keenly conscious of the difficulties involved, Mr. Hausleiter believes the human ingenuity will prove equal to the collosal responsibilities imposed by the rise of the machine. While the social, economic and cultural problems with the development of the mechanical era have been surveyed extensively, all too little attention has been given to the human factors involved in the transition of mankind from agriculturists to factory workers in a mechanical era. Whatever the successful solution of the problems of employment and wages, we never shall establish an ideal society until we eliminate successfully from factory life as much as is possible of the fatigue, monotony and destruction of morale which the factory has thus far brought about. Professor Mayo surveys the investigations and researches which have been made into the problem of adapting the factory to human beings (The Human Problems of An Industrial Civilization. By Elton Mayo. The MacMillan Company. $2). He indicates forcefully the distressing lack of provision for properly trained and humanized industrial administration. The skyscraper is as characteristic an Item in our contemporary civilization as the log cabin or the “little red schoolhouse” was in the culture of our ancestors. The John Day Company has brought out an elaborately illustrated popular account of the construction of a contemporary skyscraper, from the surveying of the site to the operation of the finished building (Skyscraper. By Elsa H. Naumburg, Clara Lambert, Lucy Sprague Mitchell. The John Day Company: $2). While written so that it may be comprehended by children, it may be read with profit and illumination by any adult save a technical engineer or architect. nan A DECADE ago G. ©. H. Cole was known chiefly as an authority on labor problems and an enthusiast for guild socialism. Within the last three or four years he has established himself as perhaps the most lucid and reliable commentator upon our contemporary economic life and institutions. In the volume under review (The Intelligent Man’s Review of Europe Today. By G. D. H. Cole and Margaret Cole. Alfred A. Knopf, publishers: S3) he and his wife describe not only the conditions of individual countries, but the outstanding facts and considerations in the general economic, political and international set-up of contemporary Europe. As an introduction to European institutions and problems I know of no other book in any way to be compared to this volume for a combination of readability, ingenuity and authority. Colonel Ayres is a well-known statistician and financial expert. His book is a lucidly partisan introduction to the main economic problems involved in the economic rehabilitation of American economic society. (The Economics of Recovery. By Leonard P. Ayres. The MacMillan Company: $1.75). While he writes from the standpoint of a conservative, any radical will profit by reading his authoritative presentation of the problems involved. As applied to current discussion, the book is most important as a wellreasoned defense of sound money and a thoroughgoing critique of inflation. The colonel is no social prophet, but he may save the progressives from some pitfalls.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

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The Message Center

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to SjO words or less.J By Miss Berkey. The person who wrote Jan. 4 criticising our traffic laws must be a woman, as men have higher ideals and bigger problems to occupy their minds than to quibble about such petty “stuff.” The person, being an “outsider,” has no thought coming and should remain “outside,” where she can drive down the lane and park under an old apple tree ail day if she chooses, without getting a “sticker” or in any way being humiliated by our so-called “beef trust department” for her stupidity. Perhaps she never stopped to think that the few she saw cutting the didoes she mentioned were “outsiders” and must learn how to act when they come to town. She probably doesn’t know that every man obtaining a drivers’ license must present a poll tax receipt; heretofore, many worthless citizens have shifted even this light tax burden on to others’ shoulders. I can not vouch as to the legality of the drivers’ license law, but I do know it is a wonderful thing to somewhat equalize the tax load and to trace down a rotten drunk or thug. As to our responding fictitiously to the questions for application of license some of us “women” might say our eyes are gray when in fact they are green, but I hardly think we have gone far astray in our answers—not so much that an “outsider” could recognize it. I'll have to admit I had a good laugh at the motorman and the dog sandwich, but perhaps he, at that particular time, needed something hot in his stomach, and the only way to get it was to leave his street car stand a few minutes. No one suffered by the short delay and perhaps the hot dog did the motorman a world of good. Look at the humorous side of such things, outsider; it takes such occurrences to put the world over and pep us up a bit. Your stomach might become “fussy” (not fuzzy) before the depression ends, causing a hot dog to look good to you, too. You say you had to make a special trip to our city to find out why it was known as “a town in the middle of a cornfield,” and that you noticed glass on the streets which should be swept up by our police, and suggested that they carry brooms. This is our street-clean-ing department's duties, but in any event if you had so much spare time to nose into things, why didn’t you bring your broom along? Our “cops” have all they can do getting “outsiders” through the traffic and out of the way so some of us can go places without getting hurt. Being an ‘outsider” and probably the only time you have traveled beyond your own border, you have learned something. Come see us again some time, and don’t forget the old broom behind the flour bin! By A limes Reader I am the man who sent in the letter concerning the rainy day the CWA workers put in sitting in busses from 8 a. m. till 3:30 p. m. on the Monroe-Morgan county game preserve, project. The letter was published by you Dec. 29. and criticised in The Times Jan. 4, by a man who makes out that I am a liar. Now, here are my replies to him in numerical order, and let’s see if I am lying: 1. We have thirteen busses to transport us. Did Mr. Murphy visit each bus and did he call the men together and personally ask us to work? No, he did not. 2. Did most of the men want to work, as you say in your letter? Well, there are about 425 men- on that project, rWe have a list of

ANOTHER iBALL AND CHAIN’

Praise for the Light Company

By Tom Berling. If I were a member of the public service commission, I would consider the light rate reduction case from a human interest angle. Let me say that I never have received a cent from the light company and have no prospect of doing so. But in their building program, they have been lenient. The service has been satisfactory. I claim no further knowledge of their business. My training has been along the lines of a builder, not a wrecker. Too many times in the last few years I saw and felt the effects of the wrecking crew. When their job is finished, nothing is left of a business but a lot of debris which must be carted off at public expense, CWA. Mr. Commissioner, what effect will a cut in rates have on the employes’ wages? Are the present wages adequate? Have they ever been reduced? What effect will a reduction have on the average stockholder? Does the light company have a pension plan? If not,

those who did not work that consists of almost 240 names. That takes care of that. 3. Did Mr. Murphy care whether we worked. No, but he knew it was a long wait from 10 until 3:30. 4. I did not shoot craps, for the crap shooting was done by about twelve bus drivers and about ten CWA men, but I did sit in the bus and enjoyed it. I wasn’t wet, and I was enjoying every program that came over the radio on our bus. 5. If you made the day, you defrauded the government and the reason is this: Some of the men who worked worked only one and one-half hours and got paid a full day. Others worked five hours and Mr. Murphy saw that they got paid a full day, for he wanted to show the men who didn’t work that he ha'd a way of getting even. We worked Jan. 4 till rain stopped us at 1:30. Let’s see if Mr. Murphy pays us a full day for that five house. 6. If you worked and didn't get wet, as hard as it rained, you undoubtedly are one of a few who hid in hollow trees. 7. If the busses have to leave at

A Woman’s Viewpoint

NEW YEAR greetings are due from the American public to Sherman F. Mittell, editor, and to the advisory board of the National Home library at Washington for their splendid innovation in book publishing. Their .jacket library, making its gay debut in 1934, merits the heartiest approval of all who are interested in the development of a cultured race. Their plan seeks to bring the finest classics into humble homes. For 15 cents one may get a compact, nicely paper-bound volume, excellently printed in good readable type, which contains a gem of world literature. That good books are available to ever}’ one in the United States is a supposition accepted too generally. for it is a false supposition. Indeed, in many places, good books are not to be had at all except by private purchase. Most of them, as we know, are too high priced for the average man’s purse. Because of that he sometimes resorts to cheap trash or does without reading altogether. u n a AT present, too, public library funds are shamefully low. If a municipality can i scrape up

[1 ivholly disapprove of what you say and W'ill 1 defend to the death your right to say it — Voltaire. J

would one be possible under the present rates? How much will we lose in taxes? I am not interested in pulling any one down to the level where I find myself at present. I am determined quietly to fight my way back to my old wage level. Asa part of this program, the following methods are essential: If I want higher wages, I must advocate higher wages for every one. I must be willing to pay more for all commodities as my wages are increased. My wages must be spent with those sensible enough to co-operate. The building industry is too keenly competitive. We have little thought for the safety, convenience or accommodation of our workers. This does not apply to utilities. They should do more for their employes. In closing, let me quote a little Shakespeare: “To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”

one time, as you say, will you please explain why they don’t do it now. Now, if you desire to get into the good graces of Mr. Murphy, why do you criticise truthful statements that I made? Maybe you should have signed your name to the letter you wrote criticising my statements. Certainly 250 men who signed that petition couldn’t be wrong. I am not a dissatisfied worker. I am proud to be for the CWA. We are accomplishing things and the men in charge of the work down there are doing splendid work. I believe it would pay you to send a reporter down to acquaint your readers with the beautiful place they can visit next summer and have an enjoyable time. I am criticising only the men who work out of the statehouse, not the government, and I voted for McNutt, too. By James Riley In answer to Mr. Ethereal Fallacy Maddox being challenged to debate, he should come out of the ether, read some good books, pro and con on Socialism, broaden his mind, and

By MRS. WALTER FERGUSON

enough money to pay a librarian it usually is not so fortunate as to have any left over with which to buy more books. And the old supply is about worn out. I wish it were possible for some of our ardent optimists to get around the country and have a look at the actual library situation in many of the smaller cities. First they would find out how many towns have no libraries at all. They then would discover that a great majority of the American people have to depend for their reading material on the corner di - ug stores, inveterate vendors of literary junk. Over vast reaches of this our glorious country, the supply of books is pathetically low. Yet we know the mental hungers of man are as insatiable as his physical longings. Bread and a good book might have kept many a boy from growing up into a rascal. For this reason we hail the jacket library, its small gold, silver. green and carmine volumes with their familiar and beloved names will be a source of endless comfort, cheer, pleasure and information for thousands of refers. May their presses never stop.

JAN. 9, 1934

straighten out his ideas. It would then be interesting for him to enter in debate with Mr. Kimmerling. Ha must think for himself and not quote so prejudiced and narrow an individual as Jack London. Herbert Hoover said grass would grow in our streets. President Roosevelt has fed scores and scores of men keeping grass from growing on the shoulder of streets and roads until grass is farther from tha middle than in years. This is an illustration to show you not to put too much dependence in a great mind’s statement if that statement is backed by prejudice. Norman Thomas says make our country a country of justice and prosperity for all, a government by the people and for the people. Do this by the ballot, not the sword. Perpetuate peace. To a man of intelligence, that doesn’t sound dangerous to our peace and safety. The Socialist platform allows its followers to worship according to the dictates of their hearts and as to enslaving our people as you would have it, would not slavery be much better than the condition! of our CWA workers until the time of their liberation a couple months ago by the great Demo-Socialisti President Roosevelt? Slaves have just the physical anguish knowing they will be cared for according to their value. Tha trustees workers had none of this security, being harassed by rent and bill collectors, having scanty fare,' $2.50 to $5 food to feed whole families. a ton of coal dumped in thai street, coal that was coal in name only. I would tell more, but I must ba; cautious enough to allow others voice their opinions.

So They Say

There can be no true religion it* the w’orld so long as poverty and wealth divide society into twin realms of hell and heaven.—Rev. John Haynes Holmes, New York. Rights prove most valuable wherf used with sound judgment and exercised only when necessary.—William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor. Cuba Isn’t feeling so w’ell this morning.—President Roosevelt. People are like children in a nursery, always calling for something new’.—Premier Mussolini. If w T e insist on being loyal to our party instead of our ideals, then let us lay the blame for bad government where it belongs—at your door and mine.—Rev. Thomas H. Whelpley of New York. Hal said, “Let’s get married,” and I said, “All right.”

Gypsy

By CHRISTIE RUDOLPH Upon the dusky purple moor The witchen women with lumps of gold, And roguish male with servile bora Bartered their love, stealthed and sold. Camilla, who flaunted the panoply of her race, Dark secret lashes, and the bloom of somber hair. Exotic pagan with untamed and brooding face. With fervent mood, and tantrum in her stare. Oh wild twanging of flagrant tunes, Garland with fire upon her head. Tramping alien roads, seeking unfamiliar moons, In secret passion lain upon a black thorn bed.