Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 210, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 January 1934 — Page 13

Second Section

It Seems to Me By Hey wood Broun IF at any spiritualistic reance I ever am asked with which of the shades I wish to talk f'm going to ask the medium to page Thomas Jefferson. In fact. I’ll be willing to let him do the talking and confine myself to listening. The reason for my curiosity as to his point of view lies in the extent to which people have been undertaking to speak for him in recent months. I’ve read that Jefferson certainly would be against NRA that he wouldn't like President Roosevelt’s budget

and that he surely would have supported O’Brien for re-elec-tion. I even have heard aidermen at street corner meetings who insisted that Jefferson would take it amiss is they failed to get back to city hall. And at the moment tnere is quite a movement going on among Republicans to let bygones be bygones and take over the author of the Declaration of Independence as part of the apostolic succession which included Harding and Coolidge and Hoover. The notion has been loosed that Thomas Jefferson, when confronted by any question of recovery legislation, would arch his eyebrows and

S JBl

Heywood Broun

say, “But does the Constitution permit it?” Indeed, some of the present interpreters of the Sage of Monticello would have us believe that he was known in his own day as “the Virginia BUI Borah.” a a a The Need of Change NOW, long before I get to the end of this column I probably will fall into the common practice and say, "If Thomas Jefferson were alive today he would most certainly”—l’ll try to resist that temptation. But I think I have a right to point out that Jefferson is not chosen justly as a base on w-hich to argue the notion that it is fatal to make any changes in our existing political and economic systems. In fact, he once made the suggestion that it might be wise to change the Constitution of the United States every twenty years, so that future generations should not be bound by the dead hand of the past. Moreover, the Constitution as adopted in his own day by no means represented the complete ideals of Jefferson. He was not a signer. In very many respects he was forced to compromise his own views because of the power and persuasiveness of Alexander Hamilton. The Constitution is not by any means a complete expression of the Declaration of Independence. In the process of codification the assertion that “all men are created equal” was certainly subjected to very serious modification. It would surprise me very much if Jefferson materialized at a seance and declared, “I am still a Jeffersonian Democrat.” If the apparation said, “I am in complete accord with the editorial attitude of the New York Herald Tribune,” I would be inclined to turn on the lights to ascertain whether the medium was still bound hand and foot. a a a Jefferson vs. Jefferson IF Jefferson is still the man he was from 1743 to 1826 he w’ould be among the first to denounce many of the Jeffersonian utterances of the third President of the United States. Please note that this is just a guess. I am not authorized to make the statement. But it ought to be a pretty good guess. If there was one thing which marked Jefferson from his colonial associates it was his receptivity to international thought. His debt to the writings of European philosophers who made the French revolution possible has always been acknowledged. And if his spirit broods somewhere above the face of the world today it seems safe to assume that he has observed with the greatest care all the changes in political and economic thought which are agitating the nations. Much has happened calculated to disturb the faith which Jefferson undoubtedly felt for the theory of states’ rights. But this was never the corner stone of his philosophy. It was merely a way of government which seemed to him expedient more than a century ago. It was only a means to an end, and obviously the end w r hich animated him was the growth and sanctity of human liberty. ana A Shadow in the Dark AND so if out of the darkness there became manifest the figure of the man garbed in.the day he walked the earth one might say, "Mr. President, may I ask a question?” Suppose Jefferson nodded a grave assent and it was said, “Do you still believe in state sovereignty now that you know it means the enslavement of young children in the factories and the mills?” How could the idealist who spoke of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” reaffirm his ancient belief in partitioned authority? And would the Virginia gentleman who steeped himself in the writings of Rousseau argue that even the millions must go cold and hungry rather than stretch or strain a single comma of the Constitution? I have my doubts. I believe that if an apparition walks the corridors of the White House late at night the figure dimly can be seen framed in a bedroom door. And I think he says, seeking across the years to counsel his successor: “We wrote upon the page and signed our names in peril of our lives, ‘All men are created equal.’ Heed nothing else, but bend your way and will to make those words come true.” (Copyright, 1934. by The Times)

Your Health by dr. morris fishbein—

IF you know a woman who has been troubled with a cancer or tumor of the breast, you may extend a ray of hope to her with the advice that present practices make it possible at least to lengthen her life considerably. Since use of radium and the X-ray has been introduced into scientific medicine as part of the treatment for cancer, evidence is beginning to develop that many lives have been lengthened by this form of treatment. The irradiation of cancers of the breast formerly was limited merely to use after surgical removal and also to the care of cases which were so severe that operation could not be performed. Apparently new investigation shows that it is possible to use irradiation much more frequently and to better advantage than was done formerly. It is believed that in many cases the use of X-ray or radium before operation is helpful in making certain of a useful result. Perhaps in older persons the irradiation has a special use beyond what it has in persons of middle age. B B B IN the majority of cases of operations for cancer of the breast, the patient comes to the doctor too late to make certain of a good result. One of the leading surgeons of the country has found that most of these patients eventually die of the cancer, although they are given longer life by the operation. It has been found, from studies of the tumors, that different tumors vary in the extent to which they will respond to treatment by irradiation. Previous to operations, the X-ray is used as the method of choice because the nature of the growth is such radium can not be applied as easily. After operation radium frequently is used as most convenient and satisfactory. n a a IN deciding whether to use irradiation in any case, the physician makes his judgment oi. the nature of the growth, size and location of the tumor, length of time that it has lasted, age of the patient, rapidity of the growth, general physical condition of the patient, and many similar factors. Investigators abroad have shown that the earliness of the operation in the course of the condition and the extent of the operation are reflected very definitely in the length of time that the patient will live after the excision.

Foil I/ea*ed Wlr Serrlc* of the United Pre* Association

Thi in the second of a series of articles on members of the staff of The Indianapolis Times. This series is written to rive you "personal highlights" of the men and women who make your news paper. BY NORMAN E. ISAACS Times News Editor. YEARS ago he went to Bermuda for a vacation. A whole movie cast, led by Bebe Daniels, happened to be there making "Quarantine,” a silent movie. , Because he was known to most of the group, Walter Hickman was induced to become “a member of the cast.” His part was to drop the handkerchief on the deck. When the picture came out, Walter Hickman, back home in Indianapolis, hurried over to see the film. The only thing he saw was the seat of his pants hanging over the rail. That started and ended Walter Hickman's career as a film star. And, too, that is the prize story among a score of prize tales about the dramatic critic of The Indianapolis Times. Probably more readers of The Times are curious about Walter D. Hickman than about any other member of The Times’ staff. Most people who meet him are frankly puzzled. They don't know how to take him. And ail because Walter Hickman comes closer to being a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” than any person you’ve ever met.

aan jnOR instance, people who take themselves seriously have no sense of humor. That’s generally why they take themselves so grimly. Walter Hickman takes not only himself but his work with deadly earnestness. To him the "theater” is the world's only place. And, yet, on top of it all, he has a grand sense of humor. He'll laugh at anything, any time, barring one exception. He won’t laugh when he’s in a tantrum. And every once in a while he goes into the swellest tantrums you ever saw. He’s a temperamental cuss, and he doesn't mind admitting it. He's as “skinny as a rail,” and he's been that way for years. He smokes the biggest and blackest cigars in town. Never accept one, They'd asphyxiate anybody but a dramatic critic. He hates daylight and would rather work at night. And he dees. Most of his writing is done in the wee hours of the mornings. He talks so fast that when you don’t know him you don’t know what he's talking about. He’s as honest as they make ’em, and he Jxdieves in calling a spade a spade, even if it hurts. a a a WALTER HICKMAN was born in Waynesville, 111., in 1890. He was graduated from Clinton high school in 1909 and went to Illinois college at Jacksonville, 111., and then followed with “a year and a summer” at De Pauw university. On Labor day, 1911, he went to work for the Terre Haute Post—not as a reporter, but as a house-to-heuse circulation salesman. Evidently young Mr. Hickman was a high-powered salesman. He made so much on percentage that they moved him into the editorial room at half his percentage salary. He couldn't use a typewriter, so he wrote his copy in long-hand. He covered the police “blotter” and his first week he wrote his first review of a movie. Mary Fickford was in the cast. When he finally learned to use two fingers on the typewriter, he

ELECT OFFICERS OF ONION TRUST Name Executive Committee at Annual Meeting of Bankers. Old officers and directors of the Union Trust Company were reelected yesterday at the'annual election. It was decided at the meeting to name an executive committee, those named being Fred G. Appel, V. M. Brown, H. H. Hornbrook, W. G. Irwin. P. C. Reilly and Henry Eitel. Officers re-elected were Arthur V. j Brown, president; John Reed, vicepresident; m. M. Dunbar, vice-presi-dent and tax officer; C. N. Fultz vice-president and trust officer; H. F. McNutt, treasurer; A. G. Gauding. secretary; c. O. Alig and J. F. King, assistant treasurers; A. A. Ritchie, R. A. Kurtz. E. E. Lett, assistant secretaries; c. T. Blizzard auditor, and C. A. Berry, assistant trust officer. Directors are: Mr. Appel, A. R. Baxter; H. W. Bennett, Arthur V. Brown v. M. Brown, T. C. Dav B. w. Duck. Mr. Dunbar. G. A. Efroymson. e. H. Evans. H. H. Hornbrook Mr. Irwin, w. C. Marmon, Norman A. Perry, s. E. Rauh. Mr. Reilly Samuel B. Sutphin and Mr. Eitel. BUTLER ANNOUNCES COURSE IN SPEAKING Extension Division Adds New Class for Business Men. Anew class, "speech for business and professional men.” has been added to the curricula of the Butler university evening and extension division beginning Feb. 5. Dean Albert E. Bailey, head of the division, has announced. The class will be taught by Paul Duncan. Butler graduate and winn" of the state oratorical contest and Butler peace contest in 1930. Aside from his oratorical record, Mr. Duncan has had his orations reprinted for use in several text books and journals of speech. He was a member of the Butler debate j team th ree years and served as de- , bate judge for Indiana high schools. HEAR ROAD REQUESTS Six Delegations Appear Before Highway Commission. Six delegations asking for state road adoptions or improvements were heard today by the state highway commission. An Indianapolis delegation appeared to -sk the commission to :'nclue the Mattsville road, from Road 31 to Road 13 through Carmel, in th- state system. Members of the delegation were J, Perry Meek. Charles Meek, rred E. Barrett and Fred Dickson.

The Indianapolis Times

‘WE MAKE YOUR NEWSPAPER’

Never, Never Take a Cigar From Walter D. Hickman

was put on the police run, the city court, and the coroner’s office. Finally Walter was “broken in” on city hall and then on the board of education. In 1913 when the flood and tornado hit Indiana, Walter was in bed with a vaccinated arm. He got up anyhow and covered the wreckage for two days and two nights. He remembers that a threshing machine engine generated the power for the printing presses. a a a N\T ALTER HICKMAN got his “raise” and moved into the field of politics and the underworld. He was the “big shot” in the “Terrible Hut.” He covered everything, from the movies up. Covering federal court cases, Walter moved up to Indianapolis when Judge Anderson still was on the bench here. Mr. Hickman looks back today on his “swaddling years” and opines that he got his best training from Mique O'Brien, veteran theater critic of the Terre Haute Tribune. Walter received his first “insight” into the temperament of movie and stage stars when Eva Tanguay decided he'd been “impertinent” in a review'. She kicked him in the trousers. Years late”, she gave Walter that famous interview on “Finding God” for The Times. On Aug. 15, 1919, Mr. Hickman came to Indianapolis to work for the Indiana Daily Times. He was to do theaters, movies, books, and all the rest he could find time for. He started out by covering the courthouse and then switched to the 4 o’clock trick at police headquarters. He WTote features and at times doubled-up on the United Mine Workers and the federal building. Walter started covering the miners back in Terre Haute and to this day when a perplexing point comes up in stories about the miners, Walter is called upon to solve the riddle. He does. a a a BACK in Terre Haute, too, he was an intimate of the late Eugene V. Debs. He covered the “political revolution” when “Teddy” Roosevelt, Robert La

Stage and Screen to Mix Again at for First Time in Many Years

SHADOWS of actors and actors in the flesh will mix for the first time in several years on Loew’s Palace stage starting tomorrow. The stage comes to life tomorrow with “A Century of Progress Revue,” a musical show with a cast of fifty people. The revue boasts several outstanding attractions from the World's fair. Featured in the revue is Ripley’s World’s fair "Odditorium.” Among the oddities to be presented will be John Tio, the radio wonder bird, who imitates movie stars and whistles many tunes; Eagon Twist, a contortionist; Kanishka, who swallows silver dollars, watches, doorknobs, and similar articles, and, Julius B. Schuster, who picks up ten tennis balls in one hand while holding twenty-five billard balls in the other hand. Other items in the revue will be “The Streets of Paris,” with its models; "Miss America"; Old Mexico dancers; Alfredo and Dolores, dancers; Berncie Marshall, singer, and Faith Bacon, a fan dancer. On the screen will be Robert Montgomery and Madge Evans in “Fugitive Lovers,” the action of which takes place on a great overland bus bound west from New York to Hollywood. a a a In City Theaters THE Indiana today starts a three-day engagement of "Havana Widow’s,” a rough and rowdy comedy, with Joan Blondell, Glenda Farrell, Guy Kibbee, Lyle Talbot and Frank McHugh in the cast. Other theaters today offer: "Dinner at Eight” at the Palace, Optimist Most Elusive Outlaw Is Sued by Grocer. R\j L'nitcd Frets TULSA. Okla., Jan. 11.—Lonnie Brown, grocer, today sued one of his old customers for a $58.02 bill, but wasn't sure how he would collect the amount if awarded a judgment. The ex-customer was Charles (Pretty Boy) Floyd, most elusive outlaw of the southwest. He and his wife consumed the groceries early last year, it was charged. Michigan is expected to yield its position of first rank in bean production to California this year, since her production has dropped 48 per cent.

INDIANAPOLIS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 11,1931

.... j• I

Here’s Walter D. Hickman, dramatic critic of The Times, leaving English’s theater. He hasn't got his trusty cigar with him, but if he offers ycu one, don’t take it!

Follette Sr. and Albert Beveridge rose up in arms. In his Terre Haute days, Hickman ate with President Taft when the President’s train broke down near Paris, 111. Walter and Taft ate cold boiled meat in the Terre Haute depot. Both ate with their fingers. Yes, Walter Hickman has had a colorful career. He played bell-boy to the Duse five days before she died. Walter Damrosch kissed him on both cheeks after Hickman wrote

BY WALTER D, HICKMAN “Fads and Fancies” on the stage and “Lady Killer” on the screen at the Lyric, ‘“The Private Life of Henry VIII” at the Circle, “Counsellor at Law” at the Apollo, and burlesque at the Mutual and Colonial. f 4 “Red” Hufford and his orchestra are playing nightly in the Tally-Ho room at the Hotel Antlers. Friday night McKinney’s Cotton Pickers wiil be at the Indiana roof ballroom. a a u Play Due at Church “Am I Intruding,” a three-act play, will be presented by the Young Peoples’ Drama League of the Tabernacle Presbyterian church tomorrow night in the

SIDE GLANCES

rt) +r mo.w..MrT.oir. [■ j■- • • ■ , ... rl **by £> SCTV.CC INC

The Theatrical World __

“That isn’t quite the way he tells it.”

that Mary Garden had “cheated” Indianapolis by giving one of her brief concerts. Challenged by David Warfield to debate on English’s stage the merits and demerits of Warfield’s “Shylock,” Hickman refused. a a a \TOW, Walter Hickman practic.l N ally has forgotten what the inside of the courthouse and the federal building and the police station look like. Ha knows, though, every seat in every theater in town. He covers ’em all, from start to finish.

recreation hall of the church at Thirty-fourth street and Central avenue. Arrangements are being made to accommodate 1.000 people. This will be the seventh dramatic production given at Tabernacle since Oct. 1. One hundred and fortyfour people have taken part in the different plays. “Am I Intruding" is considered one of the cleverest of the amateur plays. The cast follows, Bert Johnson, * Edith Mae Sprague, Nyrl Hinckley, Dean Farnam, Mildred Niedhamer. Ryan Hall, >ioma Scott, Willard McDonald, Jayne Sumner, Charlotte Hutchinson, Art Castner and Charles Schreiber. The play is being directed by James B. Martin, director cf Christian education of the church.

By George Clark

And he's seldom wrong. When Walter Hickman says it's “good,” it’s almost invariably good. And when he says it’s “rotten” the same thing applies. Actors and playwrights have hated and loved Walter Hickman. “I guess we’re about even,” says Walter. a a a P S- —There’s one more thing. We all call him “Hick.” That’s another Jekyll-Hyde twist for you. NEXT: “I Cover the Statehouse.”

CUT BY GLASS IN CAR MISHAP Hurled Against Windshield, Lee Spears Suffers Severe Injury. Lee Spears, 26, of 128 East Twenty-fourth street, suffered severe cuts on the head and neck last night when he was hurled against the windshield of the car in which he was riding, which was in a collision. Mr. Spears was riding in a car driven by Paul Keller, 27, of 2345 North Talbot, which collided at Illinois and Twenty-eight streets with an automobile driven by John Reese, 35, Negro, 215 West Twentyeighth street. Reese was arrested on a charge of having no driver’s license. Walking against the side of a moving automobile, Bethel Koonce, 12, of 33 North Walcott street, suffered cuts on the chin and severe bruises on the arms and legs. He was taken to a physician’s office for treatment. Young Koonce, who attends School 14, had alighted from a street car when he walked into an automobile driven by John Williams, 28, of 82 North Irvington avenue. FORT COMMANDANT TO BE RESERVES’ GUEST General Naylor Will Address Officers at Dinner. Brigadier-General W. K. Naylor. Ft. Benjamin Harrison com- j mandant, will be the guest of honor ; and principal speaker at a meeting i of reserve officers at 6:33 next Wednesday night on the seventh floor of the Board of Trade building. General Naylor, a student of far eastern affairs, will speak on Japan and Manchuria. ORPHANS’ HOME ROBBED Jewelry and Money Removed From Superintendent's Room. Burglars entered the Colored Orphans’ Home, Twenty-fifth street 1 and Keystone avenue, early today j by cutting a screen in the apartment of Mrs. Mary Fisher, superintendent, > Mrs. Fisher reported the loss of two j rings valued at S4O, a purse valued at $3 and 50 cents in change. Lulu O’Brien, whose apartment is above that of Mrs. Fisher, reported the theft of a watch valued at S3O and a purse containing $2. CWA Officer to Speak William H. Book, state civil works administration director, will speak on “What Is Being Done for the Unemployed” at the praise service and fellowship supper tonight at the Third Christian church, Seventeenth and Broadway. The Rev. William Rothenburger will preside.

Second Section

Entered as Second-Class Matter at Fostoffice. Indlanapolla

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler THE government has hired about 1.300 artists and expects to employ about 1.200 more to paint pictures of the American scene as part of the recovery program. When the pictures are finished they will be hung in public buildings such as schools, county court houses and postoffices throughout the country and it is expected that this will tend to improve the cultural tone of the nation. The artists will be at liberty, of course, to select their own subjects from the American scene and to

depict them as they choose because art to be art must be free. This is bound to mean that some of the pictures which will be offered for hanging in the schools, court houses and postoffices will be pictures of ladies without any clothes on as ladies undoubtedly are an important bit of scenery in any country and certain artists do not seem to know’ how to paint clothes. Or perhaps it is just because their minds run that wav. This will create difficulty wherever such pictures are offered to the local authorities because there hardly is a town in the United States which does not have its committee of determined women

who object to pictures and statues of this type. There w'as a great controversy in Indianapolis a few’ years ago when the chairman of the local committee of determined women visited an art gallery and went into court for a legal writ of some kind to compel the management to put boxing trunks on a pair of wrestlers in a bronze statue. The management pleaded that this would be impracticable as the wrestlers inextricably w'ere tangled up in the coils of a half Nelson and a body scissors and that to separate them it would be necessary to blast. The court decided in favor of the wrestlers, a decision which was denounced by the committee of determined women as a body blow’ to the very wellsprings of American decency. a a a Courts Are Liberal THE courts, however, generally have been liberal toward art. It was a learned judge in Chicago who remarked last summer in one of the trials of Miss Sally Rand, the fan dancer, that some people would wish to put pants on a horse, adding quickly, however, and with a reassuring smile to Miss Rand, “The court means nothing personal by that.” In hiring artists by the hundred, it is inevitable that the government will employ some w’hose pictures W’ill not make sense to the average citizen. There is no fixed rule by which the administration can determine whether an applicant is an artist or not if he claims to be and no standard by which to decide whether a picture is any good. The artist may paint something which is not recognizable as anything ever seen on the North American continent or anywhere else for that matter, and defend it as a sunset on the Erie canal on the ground that that is the way it looks to him. He also may select for his subject a prominent local character, even a Republican, or a group of cows eating grass and dandelions and the treasury will have to pay him from $25 to S4O a week for improving the cultural tone of the nation. Rather oddly, the artistic plan does not contemplate the employment of any comic artists whose art constitutes the principal and certainly the most popular art of the American scene at the present ttme. But this exclusion is not due entirely to a feeling that the art artist is the esthetic superior of the comic artist. It also is due to the fact that the comic artists, as a class, are among the most prosperous citizens in the United States who ordinarily pay their chauffeurs and forgers, as they call the sub-artists who do their drawing for them, much more than the government wage of from $25 to S4O a week. In fact, the comic artists through their great income tax payments will be some of the most important contributors to the wages of the art artists who will depict the American scene. a a a Tap Dancers Unemployed THE government authorities realize, of course, that there will be considerable waste art on their hands by the time they get through improving the cultural tone of the nation because there is no law to compel any municipality to accept some of the pictures which will be turned out. The excess, or surplus, art will be collected and brought to Washington. where a building will be erected in which to store it, thus providing employment for a certain number of architects and laborers and thus promoting the recovery still further. The way of a benevolent administration is hard and already the suggestion is heard that Mr. Roosevelt’s administration has no right to discriminate in favor of one type of artist, leaving those w'ho work in other mediato starve in their garrets. Nobody has undertaken to do anything for unemployed poets and there are great numbers of unemployed tap dancers calling themselves artists, whose claim on the government would seem to be at least as strong as that of the art artists. The new deal probably will get around to them, in time, however. The new deal is peculiar that way. Somebody suggests something just as a silly joke, such as hiring 2.500 artists to paint pictures of cows and apples and pansies. And the first thing anybody knows the government decides that this is a grand idea which will do somebody some good, and pretty soon 2,500 artists are painting pictures of cows and apples and pansies for the government. (Copyright. 1934. by United Feature Syndicate. Inc.)

Today's Science BY DAVID DIETZ

EACH cloudless night, a celestial drama whose origin is lost in the mists that shroud the beginnings of civilization, is enacted in the southeastern sky. Orion, the mighty hunter of the heavens, with club upraised and his two dogs barking at his heels, rushes to battle the celestial bull who, snorting and stamping, charges upon him. The drama is one of the legends of the constellations, woven into the skies perhaps in the hills of ancient Babylon by the shepherds who meditated upon the starry patterns of the heavens as they watched their flocks through the long nights. If you are one who does not yet know the constellations, it is not too late to add a postscript to ycur 1934 resolutions. Resolve to get acquainted with the stars this year. Look first for Orion, the mighty hunter. He is found easily this month in the southeastern sky midway between the zenith, the point directly overhead. and the horizon. A diagonal line of three bright stars marks the belt of Orion. Three fainter stars in a line hanging from the belt mark the sword of Orion. Above the belt of Orion is a bright, first magnitude star, red in color. This is Betelgeuse and it marks the giant’s shoulder. Not quite so far below the belt is another first magnitude star, this one white in color. This is Rigel and it marks the giant’s foot. To the east of Rigel and a little closer to the horizon, is a bright bluish-white star, the brightest star in the heavens. This is Sirius, the dog star. Together with the faint stars nearby, it forms Cania Major, the big dog. Still further to the east and a little higher above the horizon than Sinus, is another first magnitude star. This is Procyon. and with the faint stars nearby it forms Canis Minor, the little dog. Look to the east of Betelgeuse and you will see a first magnitude star rather red in color. This is Aldebaran, the brightest star in the constellation of Taurus. You might try to see, before going further, if you can now identify Aldebaran, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Sirius and Procyon. If you succeed, you can boast that you know the principal stars of the winter sky. For some reason, r.ncient star charts do not depict all of Taurus, the bull, but only his head, horns, shoulders and forelegs.

rMW , t H

Westbrook Pegler