Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 215, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 January 1934 — Page 14

PAGE 14

The Indianapolis Times (4 SCRIPTS-HO W'AKD XEWgpmi) Ot W. BOCTABD President IALCOTT POWELL Editor JEARL D. BAKER Business Manager Phone —Riley 5551

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Oita lAjht and tka People Will Find Thtlr Oxen Wop

WEDNESDAY. JAN 17. 1934

AN UNFAIR CODE ■pORMULATION of a code of fair competition for the electric utilities provides NR A with an opportunity for outstanding public service. The code now under consideration does not take advantage of that opportunity. The utility business is not like others which have come before the recovery administration. It was permitted to develop as a monopoly and In return was supposed to submit to regulation. Instead, it has rendered regulation impotent, through its use of the holding company device and other ingenious means. This has produced a popular reaction favorable to public competition through municipal plants. A code of fair competition which would rid the industry of holding company domination, of tricky accounting, of many other malpractices disclosed by ihe federal trade commission. would be of real value to utility companies themselves and to the public generally. It would lessen the demand for public operation of utilities and the public resentment against utility practices. But the industry apparently lacks the vision and courage to present such a code, and NRA in this instance seems to suffer from the same lack. Employes of private utility companies have testified that wages in the proposed code are lower than those now in effect, and municipal plant officials have testified that code wages also are lower than those they now are paying. If this testimony is true, the proposed code can not accomplish anything toward restoration of national purchasing power. Nor can it be anything but a handicap and a danger to public power developments. The utility men who wrote it attempted to force municipal and federal power plants to comply with its provisions and frankly said it was intended to end the government competition—which is today the only effective check on utility rates. NRA officials removed the provision making it mandatory for public projects to submit themselves to codification, but the code still makes it possible for them to do so. If public plants choose to stay out, their private competitors are exempt from code terms also. If they come in. they are subject to domination by a code authority completely controlled by private companies. The end of that is easy to predict. And furthermore, trade publications of the private companies already hint that public opinion will be organized to demand public plant co-operation. NRA officials should recognize the peculiar circumstances which surround this industry and should face the fact that, by approving the code submitted, they would weaken the chief weapon the public has to protect itself against a powerful monopoly.

THE PURSUIT ARMY nnHERE are millions of women in the world who would like to change places with a certain navy aviator's bride. Mrs. Pearle Woods wants to be with her husband and he wants to have her with him—but they ‘just can't get together. Wives aren’t allowed on navy ships, and every time the bride reaches it. his ship is ordered on. But he wants her. And that, after all, is important. If she gets there isn't half as Important. The great army of women, who have a difficult time keeping up with their husbands, can blame it on something else. Their husbands simply won't wait for them. They run from them instead. And the poor deluded ladies haven't learned that the best way to make a man turn around is to run the other way for a while. He'll come back to see why he has lost his chase-appeal. Men like to pursue. It doesn’t matter if the game is a fox or a tiger or a woman. There isn't any conquest in having an animal walk up to you and beg to be captured when you are all dressed up in anew red riding suit and shining spurs, ready to ride to the hunt. The pursuing army makes itself as obvious as a ham sandwich under a glass bell on a railroad lunch counter Any man would rather have something that is just glimpsed when the refrigerator door swings open. If Cleopatra had told Anthony that she was sorry she couldn't come to his sailing party, but she had a tryst in the shadow of the sphinx, maybe he would have postponed the hour of departure—or kidnaped her. But she let him know that she wanted to elope. Ant-way. he gave her a memory or two for residue and she gave poets and playwrights a theme for their work. Oh. of course the woman must let the man know that she is willing to be pursued. But it is up to him to win what he wants. If the Lily Maid of Astolat hadn't grown so listless for fear Launcelot wouldn’t stay, she wouldn't have bored him, and she might have had another week-end. Still—a weekend isn’t much. For men want women who are fun. Women who will laugh with them. Women who wont be shocked. At least, this is the summary of Louis Bromfield. popular young author of “The Farm,” whose best sellers make a nice tow of books. A woman who is running after a man is so out of breath that she gets red in the face or cries or does something. She may want him as badly as A1 Smith wanted to be President, but if she runs after him she merely chases him over the horizon. So long as a man thinks that you are leaving him as free as an escaped balloon on circus day—he’ll be back. That is. if he really wants to come. Otherwise, why want him? “Men like women who leave them free to (o where they please, but are always waiting when they come back.” Mr. Bromfield says. The waiting act is a lady's act, Patience .

is a sweet virtue. For there are some things men can not stand. And among them are three-cornered chairs in tea rooms, salads topped with whipped cream, and women who lead them in dancing. NOT TO BE REPEATED NEITHER civilized nor uncivilized people send their children to war to be killed and maimed. Yet, in this depression, five and a half million children are victims. Five and a half million children were on relief rolls Nov. 1. Many of them will die of diseases which proper nutrition could have warded off. Many of them will bear in their bodies and souls the scars of this experience. And as long as they live their outlook on life will be shaped by the fact that in early years starvation was the rule and what food there was came in a charity basket, or by means of a grocery order. That is what we have allowed to happen during the four years of depression. There have been other casualties and other tragedies but this is the most dreadful and the most stupid. It has been the most dreadful not only for the children, but for the parents who could have endured for themselves but whose hearts broke for their babies. We should not have allowed it to happen. We never should have endured the cruel passivity of officials who refused year after year to act. Whatever else happened, we should not have let children go unnourished. Today the parents of these children are on civil works pay rolls receiving wages which at least can buy adequate food. But the problem is not solved. No way yet has been found for making these parents permanently self-supporting nor these children permanently secure. We never must relax our efforts until the way is found, and until we have made sure, so far as it is humanly possible, that their tragedy will not be repeated.

RESTRAIN DRUNKEN DRIVERS EVERY time an automobile gets into a smash-up these days, the police begin their investigation by asking. “Was the driver drunk?’’ And that question, buzzing through the air with monotonous frequency, points to an angle of the repeal business that is going to need a whole lot of thought. Maybe it really isn’t connected with repeal at all. We had drunken drivers under prohibition, heaven knows, and there are plenty of people w r ho will tell you that actual consumption of strong waters is increasing very little, if at all, with passing of the dry laws. But that part really doesn’t make much difference. The point is that we never yet have handled the problem of the drunken driver with anything like intelligence; and, in theory at least, the problem has become more pressing now that the sale of liquor is legal. Every one over the mental age of seven years knows perfectly well that a drunken man has no business driving an automobile. It 19 equally a part of common knowledge that drunken people do drive autos every day and every night, and that so far we haven’t found any very efficient tvay of keeping them from doing so. We need to tackle the problem along two lines. First, we need to build up a public sentiment that condemns drunken driving unequivocally and sternly. We need to recognize the plain fact that a drunk behind the wheel of a car is as much a menace to public safety as a maniac with a meat ax. The chap who gets stiff and then climbs gayly into his car to drive home isn’t a charming fellow who does amusing things; he is a potential killer, and we need a public opinion that will tell him so without hesitation. Second, we need tighter laws to deal with the offense, and far stricter enforcement of them than most of our laws get. The penalty for driving while intoxicated ought to be heavy enough to make even the most care-free tippler pause; and it ought to be applied without any ifs, ands, or buts. And we were reminded by the prohibitionists in the old days, gasoline and alcohol make a disastrous mixture. It’s high time that we found some way of squelching the crack-brains who persist in trying to use it.

A MATTER OF ROUTINE npHE most sensational thing about the navy’s mass flight to Hawaii seems to be the fact that there was nothing sensational about it. That is, no one seems to have become especially excited about it, no one doubted that the planes would get through on schedule, no one felt that there was any reason to look for even a minor disaster. And the. flight lived up to this advance billing. The six planes took off as they planned to, flew for 2,400 miles in formation, and came down precisely when and where they said they would, without any fuss and without an excitement. This, when you stop to think about it, is a splendid achievement. That long hop from California to Hawaii is intrinsically a difficut and dangerous job. The navy made it look easy—just part of the regular job. HARD TO FORGET T>ROBABLY It was Just as well, in the interests of international amity and that sort of thing that the senate changed its mind and struck out from the liquor tax bill the provision which would have put an extra duty on imports from nations in default on their debts to this country. But a whole lot of Americans are going to feel that the incident ought to serve as a useful little reminder to people overseas that the debt question is something of a sore spot in this country. We probably are going to have to kiss the debt money good-by, sooner or later, with as good a grace as we can muster. But there doesn't seem to be any particular reason why we should fail to let out debtors know that the whole business has left an uncommonly sour taste in our mouths. A bill in the New York legislature would make "fixing'' a crime. But then would come other fixers to fix the cases of those caught fixing, and then what would the cops do? Astronomers at Mt. Wilson. Cal., count 75000,000 star systems like the Milky Way, through their telescope, and yet they’ve overlooked the stars in nearby Hollywood altogether.

“A CIVILIZED RECORD” RECENT records disclose that the customs bureau’s censorship over imported books is emerging from its historic cave into the light of reason. “Judge Woolsey’s brilliant decision on ‘Ulysses,’ ’’ reports the national council on freedom from censorship, “and the release by the customs officials of Peter Neagoe's ‘Storm’ and the paintings of D. H. Lawrence indicate that the lag between official and general morals is diminishing. If George Moore’s ‘A Story Teller's Holiday’ is released, the customs bureau will present a thoroughly civilized record.” The customs bureau's escape from the sanctified stupidities of the past is due, first, to the Cutting amendment to the 1930 tariff act, providing for court appeals from customs rulings and, next, to the prevailing spirit of tolerance. The postoffice department, however* still rules our minds and holds censorship rights over the second-class mail. Postal censors are active, and recently ruled from the mails as obscene copies of a nature cult magazine. The national council on freedom from censorship is preparing a bill asking congress to apply the Cutting amendment principle of court appeal to postal rulings. This measure should advance the land of the free another step toward adulthood. Now that the U. S. naval squadron proved how easy it was to fly 2,400 miles to Hawaii, the boats will be as popular as ever. If, as some suggest, the government took over the business of banking, all our fun would be gone, with no private bankers to bother. Ohio expects to sell real whisky for as low as $1.50 a quart. But the cities still will have to worry over Its effects.

Liberal Viewpoint ~Bv DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES =

BOOKS which enable the man-on-the-street to understand our leading monetary and economic problems will be particularly helpful during the coming months and the present session of congress. Mr. Brant starts off his book (Dollars and Sense: Questions and Answers in Finance. By Irving Brant. John Day Company. $1.50) with the following very relevant observation with respect to its justification: “It would be considered strange if American newspapers printed all news about France in the French language, all news about Russia in the Russian language, and all Japanese news in Japanese ideographs. Yet they are doing something just like that. They are publishing financial news, which today is the most absorbing topic before the country, in the financial language, and apparently expect It to be understood. This book is a translation from the financial into the American language. If the newspaper story explains that the bank in which you lost your money was ‘weakened by the disappearance of its primary reserve,’ this book tells you that it ran out of ready cash.” Mr. Brant succeeds very well in his effort to put the facts of the contemporary industrial and financial situation in popular language. He uses the form of question and answer and covers every major issue in contemporary American economic life. Much scope is given, of course, to Mr. Brant’s own personal views. But this is an advantage, since they are almost invariably sound, progressive and well buttressed by the facts. If several million copies of this book could be distributed it would probably do more to help along the new deal than all the NRA parades. Whatever one thinks of any particular version of the technocracy movement, it is certain that any adequate program of economic reform must reckon sensibly with the facts which the technocrats brought forward.

MR. TAYLOR has done exactly this in one of the most fundamental and useful books which has been written on the underlying problems of our day (Commonsense About Machines and Unemployment. By Morris P. Taylor. John C. Sinston Cos. $1.50). He shows that the core of our economic difficulty lies in the fact that the new and more efficient machinery which enables a man to make more goods does not on that account automatically give him additional buying power to consume more goods. We have got into our present mess by concentrating attention upon producing goods rather than considering how they might be consumed. We were saved from unemployment and depression for a time primarily because of the rapid expansion of markets, new inventions, marked population growth and the penetration of frontier countries. These factors have now well nigh ceased to operate. The only way to insure prosperity in the future is to increase wages and reduce hours in proportion to the advance of mechanization. Mr. Taylor makes it very clear that the recent concentration of income in the hands of a few rich men is fundamentally opposed to that increase of mass purchasing power which is absolutely indispensible to any recovery under capitalism. The book is clear and popularly written and must be regarded as one of the most valuable and sane contributions to the assessment of our current economic ills. Mr. Schweitzer has written a powei ul polemic against inflation as a method of solving our economic evils (Sacrifice or Chaos? By R. R. Schweitzer. Printcraft Publishing Company. $2). While his book is an extreme presentation of a partisan point of view, it may be recommended heartily to those who see in inflation the sole or primary way out of the depression. He exposes its weaknesses and fallacies with great skill. 000 HE recommends, however, the arbitrary reduction of debts by 75 per cent, thus in part assuring by governmental first what the inflationists desire to achieve through fliscal measures. Mr. Schweitzer’s constructive program is less impressive than his keen dissection of the extreme inflation program. One of the most important items which we mu6t not lose sight of in any discussion of recovery is the enormous debt burden in the United States. Our total national wealth has been estimated as between $200,000,000,000$300,000,000,000. This means that an alarmingly large proportion of the assets of the country are pledged against burdens assumed in the past. Unless some fundamental readjustment is made even the NRA will not suffice to restore prosperity. Mr. Jones, a distinguished engineer, has given us a very scientific study of the debt problem in relation to production (Debt and Production: The Operating Characteristics of Our Industrial Economy. By Bassett Jones. The John Day Company. $2). He shows that the debt burden was met up to about 1910 from the gains of production, but that since this time debt payments have been met in greater proportion from capital reserves and equities. He declares that in any sound economy the debt burden must not be allowed to get out of a safe relationship to the volume and growth of production. If prosperity returns under the NRA, more careful attention will need to be given to economical and efficient industrial purchasing by manufacturing concerns. Professor Lewis has produced a thorough and competent manual on this subject (Industrial Purchasing. By Howard T. Lewis. Prentice-Hall, Inc. $5.), It suggests no change in our contemporary economic system, but rests content with analyzing efficient purchasing 4n the present ordefi

THE INDIANATOLTS TIMES

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to 250 words or less.J RAPS LANDLORDS FOR HIGH TAX SQUAWKS. By Fairplay. Now that owners of real estate temporarily have ceased their usual “Squawking” about high taxes and their same old story of not making anything off their rentals, I would like to suggest that if these property owners first would show a little more respect and consideration for their tenants, they might have reason to expect more sympathy and consideration themselves. The following is my own experience with one of those so-called “poor” property owners: I occupied one of his eight houses for six years, paying a monthly rental of $22 or a total of $1,584 for the period, at the end of which time, I lost my position. Then being unable to pay my rent in advance, (as I had done throughout the six years I occupied his house) I promptly was ordered to move. The taxes on this property amounted to approximately $252 for the entire six years. During this time only sll was spent on up-keep and this was for the papering of two rooms. Any one readily can see of course, that this owner made not only enough off a single piece of property to pay for upkeep and taxes, but also cleared $1,321. It is a known fact that landlords absolutely have no consideration for even the best tenants. Their favorite slogan is “pay up or get out.” Owners are so selfish they would prefer to see their houses stand vacant and rot down, rather than favor the renter by reducing the rent to a figure which he would be able to pay. I think it is only fair, therefore, that property owners be compelled to carry their share of the tax burden, and especially those who have property for rent. The latter well can afford to do this, and at the same time it may serve the good purpose of making them less calloused and self-centered but more considerate of the “other fellow.” At least, it will give them some idea of just what it is like to pay out money occasionally instead of always receiving it. 000 TIMES IS LAUDED FOR STAND ON LIGHT RATES Bw W. F. R. Judging from what a “man about town” hears in the street, the articles appearing in The Times have got the people of this town thinking a lot about the methods adopted to gouge the electric consumers of this city. At the same time I must say that the methods are “standard” with all utilities controlled by what are known as “holding companies.” These methods are so crude, however, that they could not be carried on from one year to another if people knew' the actual facts. The power of the utilities in the past has been due to very heavy subscriptions to Democratic and Republican fund 6 in the past. There has been a lot of notoriety in the press lately about the Indiana public Service Company case which is another repetition of old and practiced methods. One has a feeling of confidence in present Mr. Minton, public counselor, and the public service commission. But I feel, nevertheless, that the public service commission and its staff should be put on a civil service basis so that their position would be permanent. If every one in this state body knew that removal only could be made by a proven cause, only then would consumers get the conscientious service to which they are entitled. One seems some extraordinary

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The Message Center

CONDEMNED!

Explanation Demanded From G. 0. P.

By M. IT. Johnson. President Roosevelt’s financial program is published at a time when our country is strewn from coast to coast with blighted homes of our people, and the blasted hopes of our farmers who have been denied the reasonable reward for their toil just as the Bible says would occur. James 5:4 says: “Behold the hive of the laborers who have reaped down your fiields which of you is kept back by ‘fraud’.” I am a farmer. And since the G. O. P. national committee is sensing grave dangers from inflation, and since we have not yet come to inflation, I am wondering if the G. O. P. national committee will be , kind enough to explain why deflation was not stopped before economic destruction fell upon the nation. Or, must we conclude that the G. O. P. national committee is right in saying that controlled inflation is impossible: and that our desperate plight now is due to deflation which is impossible tocon-

statements as to trickery practiced by the Indianapolis Power and Light Company in “writing up” values of property in order to get a return on fraudulent value and also padding their expenses to an extent difficult to believe. 0 0 0 STREAMS MAY HOLD LOST LANTERN SECRET By a Times Reader. I read in The Times a few days ago that our city officials were distressed over the disappearance of so many red lanterns. They might add a few torches to the list. If one recalls driving out the Bluff road summer and fall, they probably found the road blocked at Raymond street with a squadron ol red lanterns and torches. The next day the blockade was back again with some shiny new lanterns. We wonder where the other lanterns went. If the worried officials would don a pair of hip boots and take a minnow seine—they w'ould need a seine, because that is the way some of the lanterns were found. Take a little cruise out to White river birdge and Raymond street. There they might seine out a few more lanterns. Os course, the boys who were sein-

A Woman’s Viewpoint

By MRS. WALTER FERGUSON

WHEN Mary Borden says that the American business man suffers because he has unappreciative women, when she gets all excited about how put upon the poor thing is, and how much he needs anew kind of wife to lend him cheer, courage and help, she speaks of a type that already is passing away and that before long will be entirely obsolete. And why fret the dying? It’s true that during past decades we bred in this country a useless, parasitic woman who believed her chief aim in life was to get herself supported in luxury by a husband, and who considered any kind of work degrading. But not by any stretch of imagination can that woman be called a modem. She’s as old-fashioned as a reticule, as outmoded as a Mansard roof. Nor can I see any need for wasting sympathy on all these exrich men who now find themselves burdened with spoiled wives. They wanted spoiled wives when they were successful; they’ll have to put up with theca new,

[I wholly disapprove of what you say and will *1 defend to the death your right to say it — Voltaire. J

trol and, therefore, since deflation has resulted in a complete economic collapse we need not expect economic recovery from inflation? So, as a farmer, I now want the G. O. P. committee to enlighten farmers on the dangers and blessings of the mild deflation from 1920 to 1933. Would controlled inflation now be worse than the mild deflation since 1920? Since the G. O. P. national committee now is committed definitely to the theory that inflation once started is impossible to control, as a farmer I am inclined to stand by the federal Constitution, which says that the congress shall coin money and regulate its value. If the congress can not control an increase in the circulation of the currency—which is inflation—and a decrease in the circulation of the currency is deflation—it is now up to the G. O. P. national committee to name the authority that can control in the interests of the wliole people rather than for a few.

ing minnows were surprised to find themselves dragging out lanterns and torches instead of minnows. Probably if the worried officials could remember who they ordered to open the road each time they might discover how the lanterns disappeared. We wonder who has the contract selling the city lanterns. Well, who wants to haul a bunch of lanterns around, anyway. Easy come, easy thrown. Os course, there is a lot of water around the city. Other places might give up some more of the lost lanterns. 000 15-YEAR-OLD WRITER GIVES HER VIEWPOINT. By Margie. This is the first time I have written to The Times Message Center. Have Ia right to give my opinion of the Broken Hearted Mother’s letter, though I am only 15, a year younger than her daughter who was taken away from her five years ago? In 1929 the depression was beginning to get a good hold on us. The children had to be fed and clothed so their father probably had no choice in the way to make a living for them, for jobs were not available even then. Just because

FOR such women are exactly what their contemporaries expected women to be—animated parlor furniture. They are victims of the theory that being a wife, even though one never had children, was sufficient occupation for a healthy woman. They were created by the egoism of man who somehow, for a time, sold himself the idea that a wife ought to be such a nitwit that she could pass into a state of coma while he was absent and regain consciousness suddenly when he returned, and that he was able to furnish her with all the interest, work and excitement she would need in life. But the modern woman is not like that. She is in fact a very different sort of person. And she’s really far more capable than any who came before her. She can keep house or make a living. She can bring un fine children or grace a noble profession with equal ease. Fashioned according to the standards of the new freedom, and purified by the fires of a world depression, she is a credit to any country or age, and certainly as good as the men she lives among.

JAN. 17,1934

he had a still in the house is no reason to take the children away permanently. Why shouldn’t they be given back to their mother after five long years? If I were asked how I would feel if I knew I were going to be taken away from my mother for five years I would not be able to express my feelings for I would have none then. I know Virginia and Johnnie's mother and I think a lot of her. I never have seen anything mean or bad and I would not believe anyone if they told me different. Will someone please write and tell me if I am old enough and have sense enough to discuss a subject such as this? 00 SUGGESTS PROBE OF CWA DISMISSALS By An Ex-CWA Worker. I am an ex-CWA worker. I have been reading the paper about all of the men who are being employed. but I failed to notice anything concerning the government workers who are being laid off. It was my understanding that there was to be three months’ work for every one employed. I worked three weeks and in those three weeks I drew one full pay. There was no investigation as to who had families and who did not. The lay off was put up to the bosses and the bosses kept their favorites and friends. I, personally, know of young men who are working and have no dependents. Their parents or parent are working also. This happened on the Fifty-ninth street and Allisonville road. All lay-offs will bear investigation. nan PROTESTS INABILITY TO GET CWA EMPLOYMENT By Mr. O. Wells. In regard to the letter of Jan. 10, which H. M. Whileford put in the Message Center. I agree with him about giving unemployed jobs on bridges. I have been unable to get on the CWA jobs. I signed up at Tomlinson hall in July and again in November at Meridian street, and no job yet. I would like to have a job. I am an all-round man, can do anything or go any place where I can make a living. I have been out of work four years and have my wife and mother to keep. We can hardly live on $1.90 a week. Who can? I am thankful for that little amount, but would rather work for my living. I hope you publish this and somebody might make me happy by giving me a job—thank God. I am a Times reader and have been for twenty-two years.

Contemplation

BY CHRISTIE RUDOLPH Behind this cast of elemental pride Os human beings, articulate and clear, Rise the secret dreamings, beautiful and wide, With stifled speech, ultimate and dear. This hopeless searching to find A keener understanding of our rise From budding bloom, and yet to wind From rolling dust to loving enterprise. Until at last we seek the road, and find the turn, And crush this scattered vagueness into living burn. DAILY THOUGHT Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment.—Exodus, 23:2. THE mob has nothin; to lose, everything to got*. Goethft