Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 210, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 January 1934 — Page 14

PAGE 14

The Indianapolis Times (A RCRirrS-UO WA KD NEWSPAI'EB) ROT W. HOWARD President TALCOTT POWELL, Editor EARL D. BAKER Business Manager Phone—Riley 5.V51

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Give Light and the People Will Finn Their Oicn Way

THURSDAY. JAN It. 1934. SHAMELESS the depression began to bite big chunks out of budgets, self-respecting businesses cut high-salaried executives before they asked their humble employes to make sacrifices. Some corporations, not quite so fair minded, cut high and low salaries at once. Never had we heard of a company so merciless as to cut low-salaried employes and add the proceeds of that cut to executive salaries. Yet Sherman Minton, public counselor, apparently has found that the Indianapolis Power and Light Company followed this last procedure. He has discovered that in 1932 that concern's poorest paid workers had their wages reduced by SIO,OOO. At the same time $14,200 was added to the executives’ salary budget. This is a shameless example of stupid cruelty. It shows an arrogance almost unparalleled in the whole sordid story •of the depression. Any company callous enough to take from its loyal clerks and office workers to give more to its already highly paid executives merits the most careful investigation by the public service commission. Not that the sum of money involved was so large—that is not the point. Such action demonstrates a curiously warped and utterly ’selfish state of mind. If the Indianapolis Power and Light Company would treat its own people that way, how r has it been dealing with the consumers? Aside from the moral callousnous of this performance there appears to be no sound business reason for increasing the amount of money allotted for executive salaries. What have the local operators of the power and light company done to deserve more money? The Times has shown that the management of the concern has been such that expenses have increased by more than 22 per cent since 1927 without a corresponding increase in revenues. Usually an executive is discharged on such a record rather than encouraged with more money. We suggest that Harley Clarke, head of the holding company which controls Indianapolis Power and Light, take a careful look at the management of this company. A thorough reorganization might make it possible for him to give the consumers a decent rate reduction. If he can not find a way to do this voluntarily he probably will find himself forced to give rate relief to Indianapolis. 30,500 LIVES LOST MOTOR vehicle accidents last year claimed the lives of 30.500 Americans, according to preliminary estimates of the National Safety Council. This indicates an increase of 3.5 per cent compared to 1932. Some 14,000 of the victims were pedestrians. The increased toll last year is disquieting, but it can not be laid to depression conditions. In fact, it resulted from the increased automobile traffic in the last half of 1933. due to returning prosperity. Gasoline consumption by motor vericles increased by 2.5 per cent in the last half of 1933. Seme cities, by strict traffic laws and enforcement, are saving lives. At the end of December the honor roll of cities that had decreased their auto deaths by more than 5 per cent under 1932 included; Milwaukee, Boston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and San Francisco. Illinois, Michigan, Virginia and Wisconsin also show declines. It is not necessary to kill 30,500 people a year in motor accidents. Rigid enforcement of ' traffic rules should reduce this tragically high total in 1934. A FAMOUS VICTORY THE Indianapolis citizen who did not thrill at the great victory of Ralph Stonehouse in the Miami Open must have been dull indeed. Here was the climax of a real-life Horatio Alger story. Here is a local boy who. without help and through all sorts of personal hardship, has brought himself to the point where he defeated a field containing such men as Tommy Armour and Gene Sarazen. There is hardly a golfer in this city who does not recall seeing the small, wiry figure of Stonehouse plugging around the local courses in all kinds of weather practicing, practicing, practicing. His victory is one more proof that, after all. persistence, industry and devotion bring their reward in the end. He has not had anything handed to him on a silver salver. If he was born with a spoon in his mouth it was plate. When he ' caddy. He didn't do this just for the fun of ■it. but because he had to. Yet he succeeded ■in making a virtue of necessity. He wasn’t satisfied with being just a good caddy. He had to be the best. And he was. When he became a professional he leveled his sights at the National Open—no easy target for him. His Miami victory places him a long step nearer national championship. Indianapolis is proud of him. On to the Open, Ralph. WALL STREET PROTEST THERE are a whole lot of what the boys call angles to this business of heavy spending bv the federal government. One of them was touched upon the other day by a certain congressman, who went to New York to dine with some friends who are promininent in Wall Street. At the dinner the Wall Street men expressed their fear of overlarge government bond issue* for public works; in fact, they said flatly that if any more money were appropriated for public works, Wall Street simply would refuse to buy the bonds! The congressmen, according to a Washinge

ton correspondent, answered them like this: "Well, just remember this. Over the period of the boom years you floated millions upon millions o' bonds of foreign nations. You probably never heard of those countries before you sold their bonds, and 1 11 bet you couldn't find them on the map now. “You sold those bonds to little investor and banks all over the country. Maybe $25,000,000,000 worth of them. The money was for public works in those countries—in South America, in Europe, in Asia, in Lord knows what other unheard-of places. “That money came, in some instances, from banks in American towns that needed, but couldn't buy, public works of their own. They’ve lost a lot cf that money now 7 . Lost it paying for public w r orks everywhere else on the globe. “So far as I'm concerned, w'e’re going to have as much as $25,000,000,000 worth of public works here, if we need it—public works right here at home, paid for with our own money. And we can pay for it, too, w r hether you gTiys every buy another government bond or not.” Allowing for rhetorical exaggeration in the congressman's figure of twenty-five billions, it is obvious that he has touched on an angle worth thinking of. A few years ago any kind of bond was a good one—lnsull bonds, Kreuger bonds, Straus bonds, South American bonds, and heaven knows what else. For the bankers who floated those insecure securities in an unending flood to protest now that we could not assimilate an issue of our own government’s bonds, put out to buy substantial and enduring improvements for the American people—well, as the congressman felt, it’s just a little bit too much. AILMENT GOES TJLEAS GREENLEE acted wisely in ousting E. L. Arment, as captain of guards at the Indiana state farm. Arment utterly was unsuited for such a job. Last summer The Times printed a series of articles disclosing unspeakable brutalities at that institution. It pointed out that the farm, instead of reforming men, was brutalizing them. The inmates of the farm are not hardened criminals. They merely are men guilty of misdemeanors. It is needless at this late date to rehearse the nauseating details of Captain Arment’s disciplinary methods: the hanging of human beings from the bars, the beatings with clubs, the working of men ravaged by disease and scarcely able to walk. Upon the disclosures last summer Governor McNutt promptly placed Ralph Howard in charge of the farm. Mr. Howard had a long background of prison experience. Conditions improved, but Arment stayed on. Now at last he Is gone. It is to be hoped that his successor will have a little clearer understanding of his responsibility to society. He should remember that, whenever possible, inmates should be sent from the institution as useful members of society. Rigid and even handed discipline with equal justice for all prisoners is what is needed—not brutal bullying. BECK HAS A CONVERT REPRESENTATIVE JAMES BECK is not the only man in the country who thinks NIRA and other recovery acts are unconstitutional. Another has been found to agree with him—Professor Andrew Bruce of Northwestern University. But the professor was the only legal expert at the annual convention of the Association of American Law Schools who still was skeptical about the recovery acts after they had been subjected to a thorough going over by the men whose business it is to find defects in law's. PURIFIED PROHIBITION PROHIBITION forces, calling the roll in their shattered ranks after the disastrous defeat of 1933, find that they still have much to be thankful for. Bishop Ernest G. Richardson. head of the Anti-Saloon League, points out that there still are twenty-five dry states, and adds that there are extensive dry territories in practically all the wet states. Whether this dry area will be extended or diminished in the near future is wholly a matter for guesswork. But viewing the whole problem in the light of the last decade's experience, one is inclined to believe that prohibition today, in the areas where it does not exist, is on a much sounder basis than was the case prior to repeal cf the eighteenth amendment. A dry state, henceforth, can be assumed to be a state that is dry because prohibition suits the majority of its inhabitants, and not because it has been forced to conform to a law that the majority dislikes. There is a world of difference. THE RING TIGHTENS SLOWLY, but surely, the law seems to be catching up with the gunmen. The last year’s most impressive development in this field was the rounding up and imprisonment of the Urschel kidnaping gang. Recently certain other notorious outlaws have come to the end of their rope. Wilbur Underhill. Oklahoma bad man, dies of wounds inflicted by officers of the law. An associate, Elmer Inman. is wounded and captured. Chicago’s Jack Klutas goes down before police bullets. And so it goes. Bit by bit, the authorities are succeeding in their fight to make the nation an unhealthy place for the strong-arm tribe. The fight is by no means over, of course. Plenty of desperate criminals still are at large. But it is becoming evident that officials all over the country at last are carrying on their fight with determination and a good deal of efficiency. A man in Saskatchewan opened his family Bible and found a So bill that had been there for twenty years. Proving that religion pays—if you don't attend to it too often. France has raised its quota of imports from the United States by 300 per cent, and England is going to buy more pork from us. Did prohibition ever do that for us? Civilization started seventy centuries ago, says a Colorado professor, and it hasn't got going yet. Germany may import quantities of nuts from us, although she seems to have plenty already. *

BACKING MORTGAGE BONDS A FTER all the talk about farm credit relief, it turns out to be of small value. The system has not worked. Such being the case, it is time to admit the truth and proceed to correct past mistakes. That is what the President is doing in asking congress to enact legislation guaranteeing the principal cf farm mortgage bonds worth two billion dollars. When the original law was passed It was believed that a government guarantee of interest on such bonds would be sufficient. It has not been. The farm credit administration has been unable to market the land bank bonds. In his message to congress the President said yesterday that the government already has “a moral obligation.” That will not be disputed. The effect of the proposed law merely is to recognize legally the responsibility. It is assumed that the President soon will recommend similar government guarantee cf principal of the home mortgage bonds. The home loan board, after several months of experience, is convinced that this is necessary. We are not certain that this is the only reform needed in the farm and home loan systems, nevertheless it is one important improvement which congress should carry out quickly. PUBLIC HANGINGS JUDGE DE HAVEN of Memphis urges a return to the old custom of public hangings. “The purpose of execution,” he said, “is to show the result of crime and to deter others—not revenge upon the criminal. Now we secretly electrocute criminals at midnight.” If we kill criminals to deter other criminals from crime, this judge thinks, we should do it in the most public part of town, at high noon, and we should invite everybody. The trouble with this plan is that it was tried for centuries, without success. In old England, where, they used to execute people for minor misdemeanors, it is said that pickpockets went through the crowds plying their trade in full view' of the gallows where a pickpocket was being nanged. In 1930 a petition was signed and presented to parliament by one thousand bankers from 214 towns stating that the use of the death penalty for forgers endangered society by making their conviction less certain. Since neither public nor secret executions deter men from murder, why not try doing away with capital punishment altogether? Eight states and a number of foreign countries have abolished legal killing with no bad effects. History seems to teach that you can not cure private murder with public murder, either secret or open. John D. Rockefeller may go to Florida anyway, having decided he can afford to spend a few more dimes, now that recovery is on the w'ay.

Liberal Viewpoint Rydr. HARRY ELMER BARNES =

IHAVE read many speeches and state papers of our Presidents. In none of them have I found any statement which appears to me as courageous or epoch-making as Mr. Roosevelt’s linking together of financial speculators and racketeers. Neither Theodore Roosevelt’s denunciation of “the malefactors of great wealth” nor Woodrow Wilson’s strictures on the congressional lobby was as forthright or as brave: “We have been shocked by many notorious examples of injuries done our citizens by persons or groups who have been living off their neighbors by the use of methods either unethical or criminal. “In the first category—a field which does not involve violations of the letter of our laws—practices have been brought to light which have shocked those who believed that we were, in the last generation, raising the ethical standards of business . . . “In the other category, crimes of organized banditry, cold-blooded shooting, lynching and kidnaping have threatened our security. “These violations of ethics and these violations of law' call on the strong arm of government for their immediate suppression; they call also on the country for an aroused public opinion.” tt a tt WE have been shocked very rightly by the kidnaping epidemic which has been abroad in the land during the last year or so. but the powerful financial groups, which Mr. Mencken has described as the “usurers of high estate.” kidnaped our w'hole nation between 1921 and 1933. While they figuratively held us for ransom, they inflicted w'orse injuries upon our economy than the- majority of kidnapers have inflicted upon their victims. And they extorted from us a far greater proportion of our national wealth than any kidnaper has ever taken of the personal wealth of a victim or his family. We jail the ordinary citizen if he disposes of something which proves to be of fictitious value. Yet our financial rulers boosted paper values on the New York Stock Exchange by some seventyfive billion dollars. At least half of this was bogus value. A man who operates a petty gambling machine or device w'hich is contrary to our law’s may be run into the hoosegow. Yet any suggestion that we even regulate wholesale gambling in securities is resented bitterly. Our law's against fraud are very precise and severe, provided the fraud is sufficiently slight and conventional. But w r e have no laws W'hich touch those w'ho sell short the stock of their own bank or corporation. If a pePy shyster sends an advertising folder through the mails in | the effort to vend a perpetual motion machine, he can be sent to Atlanta for the fraudulent use cf mails. But we do not molest the great investment banking houses w'hen they put in the mail their lavish prospectuses designed to promote the sale of dubious or worthless foreign bonds to the tune of billions of dollars. a tt a WE deal with great severity with the conventional counterfeiter who imitates a government note, but we pass over unnoticed those who print beautifully embossed stock certificates which float serenely upon a pool of pure water. An embezzling bank cashier who borrow's to play the market is dealt with summarily. Yet we could find no way of prosecuting those responsible for the ruination of our banking system. the failure of 11,000 banks and the loss of more than five billion dollars to depositors. We have ample legal protection against petty personal extortion, but no legal recourse when privately owned electric utilities extort billions from the American public in the form of utterly unjustifiable rates. It is dangerous to pick the pocket of the individual. but relatively safe to pick the pockets of the American people. Between 1923 and 1929 the value of manufactured goods increased by more than ten billion dollars. Yet the wages paid to labor by industry during those seven ! years increased by only six hundred million ! dollars. If the individual citizen is caught with “other people’s money” in his pocket, it may go hard for him. But the shrewd financial manipulator who gains control of hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate resources through the investment of a few million has. as yet, nothing to fear from the ‘ strong arm of the law.” If a person ruins an individual business, we may sue him for damages, but we have no means of proceeding against those who ruin our nation.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

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rpi IV /T - j [" / tvholly disapprove of what you say and will 1 X XXO IvlCSSage center [ defend to the death your right to say it — Voltaire. J

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to 150 words or less.) MAYBE HE HASN’T TIME TO READ By Ex-Rpublican. Excuse me, Mr. Maddox, for mingling in your dispute with Mr. Kimmerling regarding Socialism, i but there is one paragraph in your letter upon which I feel I must throw some light, because yotlr idea about that point seems to be rather prevalent throughout the country. I refer to the following, “The kind of Socialism which produced the French revolution and the present Russian revolution is contrary to the spirit and letter of our Constitution.” To this I will remark that no kind of Socialism ever produced these revolutions or any ether. I venture to say that no political party ever will be able to produce a revolution out of a blue sky. The French revolution came as a result of decades of bad government, which finally had reached a point where the people had been turned into paupers. The Russian revolution had similar causes, and, on top of it all, the people were tired of fighting a war for the ruling classes. Bad government and injustice are the only things that can produce a revolution and, since good government and justice is incompatible with capitalism, bloody revolutions will have to come in all countries, unless the Socialist party can grow strong enough to prevent such a disaster, and establish the co-opera-tive commonwealth by peaceful means. For this reason, all who work against Socialism actually work for a bloody revolution. I believe that the rest of your letter will be taken care of by Mr. Kimmerling, but it is my opinion that you read your Constitution in much the same way as the devil reads the Bible. HERE'S SOME MORE ABOUT CWA By A Times Reader. I noticed the letter in the paper aboet the CWA workers concerning the rainy day. I am one of the workers in Monroe county and truthfully can say that all the men who worked that Tuesday in the rain did not work on their own accord. Mr. Murphy drove part of them out of the busses like you would a bunch of sheep. I guess some of Mr. Murphy's little straw bosses have written this letter. From that day to this the men have had no more respect for Mr. Murphy for that reason. (Libel deleted.) There was some craps shooting going on. The men who did not work that day asked Mr. Murphy in a nice way to send them back to town, but he was bull-head-ed and left the busses an hour and a half longer. Mr. Murphy cursed one of the workers on the bus. He continually is cursing workers out, so please print this letter in the Message Center. “PLEASE HELP THE POOR DEMOCRATS” By A. C. Bradbury. I have just read your article on your editorial page entitled “The Poor Old Sick Party.” or words to that effect. You say the Republican party is done. You say it is sick and worn out. I have been a good Democrat all my life and today I am for, and believe in, anything that our President does. Nationally I am a Democrat. Locally I am “burned up.” Democrats are getting as scarce as rabbits, and any hunter, even Lefty Lee, can tell you how few bunnies there are. If there are any Democrats left, I’d bet they are “holed up” after this last one our officials

THE WAY IS POINTED

Poor Aid System Scored

By One Who Observes. “Certain people” have been receiving a good many low punches from a few big shots of the white collar army. By the term “certain people,” I mean those who because of lack of work, must depend on the relief fund as a means of existence. When I say “a few big shots,” I mean those who are the so-called managers of the poor relief fund. Managers? Well, perhaps there are a few who believe in trying anything once. But it seems to me that it’s high time to let some one else have a try at the managing. They might do a little better, but it’s improbable that they could do much worse! One of President Roosevelt’s mottoes is to give every one a square deal. Now, I think, and I’m sure a great many others think, that every one should follow his fine example. Now, for the benefit of those who have failed to grasp the meaning of the preceding, I shall endeavor to be more explicit.

pulled, namely the automobile license deal. To speak of Roosevelt and McNutt in the same breath is going from the sublime to the ridiculous. It almost is sacreligous. (Libel deleted). I wonder what would happen to McNutt and his henchmen if we were all to move out of the state. Mr. Editor, you say that you believe that there should be two healthy, .wide-awake parties in the state. I would suggest that you spend less time worrying about the Republican party, it has got plenty of rich red blood flowing through its veins. Start helping us poor Democrats. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IS GIVEN BLAME By A Times Reader. Your column touching on what the Ohio engineer had to say was very interesting, but one of the major troubles with this city is the Chamber of Commerce. Os course, you are familiar with the CWA work being done in the city, and as I understood the law, two scales of wages existed, 50 cents an hour for unskilled labor, and $1.20 an hour for skilled labor, and the number of hours to be thirty a week. There are draftsmen working in the city hall and for the state, and they are

A Woman’s Viewpoint

By MRS. WALTER FERGUSO

'T'HE old west has suffered from hero worship. Even the brave pioneer has been used too often to point a despicable moral. I refer to recent laudations of the stalwart cow man for constituting himself jury and executioner in the vide reaches of the grazing lands during the dear old days. Advocates of these bygone methods of punishment always omit one important fact, however; that the west is fertilized by the bones of good citizens who died because of the high-handed idea that in certain instances it is justifiable for a man to impersonate the law. There were occasions, many of them, when justice was righteously dispensed. But for each of these there took place a thousand ruthless, unjust hangings. nun FABLES about the frontier have been spread widely, and it now looks as if some of us had been seeing too many Zane Grey

The families who need help the least get the most help without a murmur from any one. The families who need help most, get the least help, and are begrudged and questioned to death for what they do get. Why? Just because those who need help may happen to have a few decent articles of furniture in their home, left over from “good times." These welfare workers think that the owners of such furniture do not need any help. That furniture does not pay rent or buy clothes or feed hungry mouths! I’d like to see someone sit down to a meal of broiled chairs and fried lamps. Must these families sell their possessions and live in a hovel before they can obtain help? It seems so! The President’s “square deal” includes the entire United States. But the “relief fund” for the poor inhabitants of seems to be a very one-sided affair. For a few examples, just ask for them through The Times. I am sure the request will be answered by quite a few of those who know.

receiving $1.20 an hour, the legal rate. Still there are draftsmen working on CWA, and they are receiving only S3O a week, and have to work more than forty hours. When the President created the CWA I think he intended a square deal for all and I think this should be investigated because the procedure will keep us from getting on our feet. I am a subscriber to your paper because I admire your fair stand, and fearless attitude on all matters. See if you can find out what is the matter. THERE REALLY IS A REIGN OF TERROR By Allen Alderson. I would like to answer Mr. Rip Van. I mean U. D., Vincent’s article in The Times in regard to the McNutt terror gang and that exsenator you mentioned. You know I never had the least idea there were so many people in the whole United States. You say you and about a dozen neighbors have not heard of the “terror gang.” Man, the facts are right before your eyes. When Mr. McNutt fired Warden Daly and put a deserving Democrat in his place, he merely opened a cage of wild animals and turned them loose. If you don’t know what “terror” or ‘'fear” is, go over in Ohio

movies. Horse stealing is a favorite topic with Mr. Grey and other western romancers; and individuals who stand for swift corporal punishment will tell you that horse stealing was stopped in the old west because they hanged the thieves without mercy. But it wasn’t. Horse stealing, as a matter of fact, never did stop until the horse lost his market value. Then nobody wanted horses any more, and as a natural consequence the brisk trade in stolen an:mals fell off. In its place was substituted an even brisker trade in stolen automobiles. The old west was indeed a lawless land. But don’t be fooled by the idea that righteousness and morality were established there by ny hangings indulged in by noble and law-abiding inhabitants. The truth makes less comfortable reading. Because in the old romantic, glamorous west the outlaws organized most of the mobs and did about nine-tenths of the melting. *

JAN. 11, 1931

and ask that sheriff’s widow what it is and she can sure tell you. Do you know that Hilton Crouch said they were all “kill crazy.” Man. if that is not terror, I don’t know what is. I take it you are for McNutt. You had better get wise to yourself for he is not doing anything for you. You are just a minerun voter. You have to be a deserving Democrat to get any service in Indiana. I have read articles in papers and the Literary Digest where he has his eye on the Presidential chair for 1940. With his present-day tactics, that is all he is going to get on it. This ex-senator you mentioned is not supposed to be interested in any kind of business. He seemed to be very much so in an insurance company in Illinois. You don't need a needle. Get your memory repaired. DEMANDS PROBE OF POOR By a. Times Reader. As I sit by the stove burning my fourth borrowed basket of coal, waiting for the trustee to bring my coal, I will drop a line in regard to the lady who said she had a husband and brother who had filed their applications for work. I also filed mine in November, but have not heard a word and I am on the basket list. This has turned out to be a joke. They say no pull will do you any good, but that is all hooey. I also i have a wife and three children. I know a man 69 who owns two pieces of property and has a son in business one square from the corner of Illinois and Washington streets and was never on a basket. Now show me anything fair about this. I am a Democrat, 34, and healthy. I weigh 165 pounds. They investigate plenty to give you a basket, so why not investigate the men who are working? (Editor’s Note: If you will write us the name and address of the man you mention the source of the information will be held confidential.) BOOTLEG LIQUOR STILL PLENTIFUL By Ed C. H. Viewing conditions of the saloons (called inns, taverns, etc.), I find bootleg, and not government, liquor flowing over the bars. It can be purchased for 15 cents a drink. The bootleggers still are making fools of the people and the government. Prohibition is repealed, yet no relief from bootleg liquor. What a farce! I say do away with the bars, bootleg liquor and their terrible results. We can just as soon drink liquor at home or have a controlled method by which we can procure drinks at a restaurant, but not at a bar. Why not let the government take direct control of all liquor, keep down the cost so as to enable the moderate drinking public to purchase same within their means.

Pretense

BY VIRGINIA KIDWELL Frivolous words shield the pain in your heart, Pleasant derisions mock serious grief. Hiding despair by discourse is an art For just not to think is a blessed relief. Seek out diversions and bolster your pride. Follow your futile routine desperately. Laugh loud to cover the silence inside Pretend to yourself but it’s no use to me.