Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 225, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 January 1934 — Page 12

PAGE 12

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Give tA'yht and the People Will Find Their Oten Wap

MONDAY. JAN. 29. 1934 THE STOCK MARKET REPORT STATEMENTS by Speaker Henry T. Rainey and others in congress that there probably will be no stock market legislation at this session doubtless are as surprising to the White House as to the public. If there is anytlung the President has made clear from his inaugural to date, It is that prompt and drastic government regulation of the stock exchange is absolutely essential. Our guess is that Speaker Rainey will change his mind about delay when he has time,to hear from the country. In the words of the President's special committee, which has just reported, disclosures by the senate investigation ‘have shocked the conscience of the nation.” The President’s committee is to be commended for its able report. Asa final study this report would pe inadequate, but it ourports to be only suggestive. As such it should be of real help to the senate committee in drafting the definite legislation. There is ment in the President’s committee suggestion that a federal regulatory agency be given rather wifle discretion in dealing with some abuses, provided, of course, that such an agency is divorced as completely as possible from political control. But we are not impressed by the committee recommendation that virtually all abuses be left to the proposed regulatory body to handle. Where the abuse is obvious, as in the ca.se of pools, for instance, congress should specifically outlaw the practice. The same applies to the needed separation by law of brokerage businesses from the retailing of securities, following the new law which separates banks from affiliates. After congress outlaws the worst and clearest abuses, there will still be plenty left for a federal regulatory agency to do in discretionary supervision of the exchanges. Two of the report’s suggestions, which are particularly important, are those relating to federal licensing of stock exchanges and federal incorporation of corporations engaged in interstate commerce. The senate banking committee, which has been of such great service under the leadership of Chairman Duncan Fletcher and Ferdinand Pecora, should hasten the stock market investigation so that the necessary remedial legislation need not be long delayed. COMMUNICATIONS CONTROL 'T'HE proposal of Secretary Daniel C. Roper’s -*• inter-departmental committee for creation of a single federal body to regulate telephone, telegraph and radio is an intelligent one that congress might well accept. But we believe that this story is too early to permit, as the committee suggests, ‘some further extension of permission to merge existing companies ...” This is a step the federal government should take only after it knows a great deal more about the financial setup of the communications corporations, more about their holding companies, their labor relations, rates, etc.; more as to the feasibility of government ownership and operation. Congress might well approach this problem as it has the regulation of railroads, benefiting from mistakes made in the olden operation. By the creation of a communications commission it could determine the facts. Then it could decide whether to permit consolidations. Railroads have been authorized to merge for a long period of yeirs. providing their consolidations are in the public interest. But even now the government is not ready to recommend mergers on the grand scale. Any merger authorization must take into consideration not only the international op- _ erations of our telephone, telegraph and radio - companies, but likewise the problem of'competition at home between communications by B wire and by wireless. Meanwhile. It Is obvious that our regulation of communications Is inadequate. Strict v" and unified regulation should first be tried, l; and its effect on rates, etc., tested before great > consolidations are permitted. FEAR, THE DRAWBACK 1 • ri XIIHEX he was inaugurated. President ’ ’ Roosevelt remarked that the only thing we had to Be afraid of was fear itself. Sometimes one is forced to wonder if ihat - Isn’t pretty largely true, also, in our relav tions with Japan. Those relations are rather delicate just t now; have been, in fact, for several years. * Both sides haye grown nervous thinking of the war into which they may stumble if they aren’t careful. And there is reason to suspect that it is this nervous fear of war which „ is precisely the greatest danger. The other day five Japanese were discovered taking photographs in* tire vicinity of a * shipyard in New Jersey. Two cruisers are ; being built for the United States navy in that shipyard, so the Japanese immediately - were pinched as spies. An investigation, however, showed that they merely had been seeing the sights. The negatives in their cameras contained nothing more damaging than views of the New York skyline. The Tokio press, quite naturally, got sarcastic about all this. One paper regretted ironically that Japan has no planes that could fly all the way from Tokio to New York 1 to drop bombs. Others commented on America's nervousness, regretting that America was in a frame of mind to get alarmed over an unimportant and harmless incident. Now the Interesting thing about this, of course is the fact that exactly the same thing has been happening in Tokio. American world fliers have been arrested in Japan be- ,

cause they unwittingly flew over certain Japanese fortified areas. It is not so very long since innocent employes of an American branch bank in Tokio were arrested—just like the Japanese in New Jersey—for taking pictures in the vicinity of important shipyards. Any American can understand that the activities of these Americans in Japan were completely innocent. Similarly, any Japanese can se that the Japanese who fell into the law's hands in New Jersey were sightseers pure and simple. But each nation is so ready to believe that the other is harboring diabolic plots that the most harmless incident can be made to look like a sign of impending war. And ,it is just this nervous readiness to expect the worst that create* the kind of tension from which wars are made. If we could get over our fear, the task of finding peaceful adjustments for the difficulties between the two nations would be made immeasurably easier. DABBLING POLITICIANS THE ugliest bit of political chicanery of the year seems to be that which is being brought to light in certain localities in connection with job-giving activities of the civil works administration. By and large, the CWA has been handled very capably indeed. But in some cities, local politicians seem to have got their hands on things. They are accused of having charged jobless men fees in return for lining them up with CWA jobs, and department of justice agents have been ordered to look into the matter. President Hoover once had some biting words to say about the practice of “playing politics -with human misery.” The politicians who monkeyod with the CWA jobs lists seem to have done precisely that, and the spectacle is not a pretty one. These work-relief projects must be kept out of the hands of machine politics, at all costs. AFTER RECOGNITION RECOGNITION by the United States government of the new Cuban regime headed by President Carlos Mendieta brings the troubled affairs of that unfortunate republic appreciably nearer a solution. It is only just, however, to recognize the fact that a great deal remains to be done, and that a lot of it must be done in Washington, before Cuban affairs can be truly sound. The sugar situation has to be untangled, somehow. This country probably will be asked to admit from 1,700,000 to 2,000,000 tons of Cuban sugar; the prosperity of the island depends very largely on the extent to which Washington is prepared to be generous in that respect. Abrogation of the Platt amendment, under which the United States has reserved the right to intervene in Cuban affairs, is another matter that awaits attention. Since the administration already has announced definitely that it is discarding the policy of intervention, this should present no difficulty. Given a little assistance at Washington, Cuba can face the future with confidence. RIGHT THINKING npWELVE THOUSAND murders, 3,000 kidnapiugs, 5.000 cases of arson, 40,000 cases of theft or burglary, and 100,000 cases of assault—that's our annual crime record, only to mention a few of the more serious offenses. The cost has been computed at fifteen billion dollars—five times as much as it takes to run the federal government, four times as much as it takes to run all our schools, colleges and universities, enough to pay off the national debt in two years. We maintain a veritable army of judges, prosecutors and peace officers, but without noticeable progress against lawlessness. We maintain the most expensive educational system yet devised, but without improving the social attitude. Our mountain of law, our complicated judicial system, our improved prisons and reformatories, our attempts to make men over by kindness and persuasion have accomplished very little. Other and presumably less progressive countries enjoy a freedom from violence which we have not been able to achieve. We have ten murders per capita to England's one, and our- record in lesser crimes is equally bad, if not worse. In spite of all her trouble and commotion, France is able to guarantee the average citizen much better protection than we are. We can't explain it on the ground of a “frontier complex.” Canada is just as young a country as the United States, but Canada suffers from no such a degree of crime as torments life and obstructs business on this side of the border. It sometimes seems as though we couldn’t do anything straight, that a fundamental streak of dishonesty, rebellion or pure cussedness infects our every enterprise. Here is the CWA. a measure of relief, a program designed for no other purpose than to help the unfortunate, suffering from graft. Some day we are going to wake up to the fact that there is no substitute for common honesty, the kind you build into children by training them to realize that there is such a thing as conscience. Some day we are going to discover that all these technical attempts to make men good by cash registers, elaborate bookkeeping and check-up systems just do not work. Some day we are going to admit that good character is man's only hope and that if you don't produce the right kind of human beings you might as well chuck machinery.' For the last fifty years we have been shying away from the emphasis formerly laid on right thinking and right living, telling each other that technical ability could be depended on to save us, that science was superior to morals and that business success was its own guarantee. A New York City prison was found to be run by gangsters. Other cities are more polite to their politicians. Premier Hermann Goering has become master of the hunt in Prussia, because of his brilliant success as a hunter of Communists and Jews. Gout has almost disappeared, due to the depression, says a Chicago medical authority. But by now, many of us would prefer gout to the depression.

REFORMERS IN ACTION A RAID led by Ausjin MacCormick, New York City’s new commissioner of correction, uncovered on Welfare island an amazing state of favoritism and vice. Ruling the prison like proconsuls were the chiefs of two racketeering gangs of prisoners. These chiefs with their valets and henchmen exacted tribute from other prisoners, sold them dope brought in by carrier pigeons, went in and out of jail on passes. Their quarters were furnished with radios, expensive cigars, liquor, dope and weapons. That was the Tammany way. The story of this raid should answer some of the the absurd criticisms hurled at prison reform and reformers. It is often said that prison reformers are sentimentalists. Commissioner MacCormick is one of the nation’s leading penal reformers, and has established a record for making over federal prisons before Mayor La Guardia called him to New York. His conduct in this and other affairs reveals him as anything but a sentimentalist. Critics are fond of saying that prison reform coddles the prisoner, making his life a bed of roses. On Welfare Island, as in similar jails, there is luxury and it is for sale. Prison reform abolishes this along with other evil£. Naturally, gangsters, grafters and crooked politicians prefer the old ways. But it is difficult to understand why any one else should oppose prison reform. THE KICK BACK RACKET PUBLIC WORKS ADMINISTRATOR ICKES moves to scotch a particularly noxious form of extortion being practiced upon workmen employed in nonfederal projects. It is called the kick back. To guard against wage cutting on public works the government requires contractors to pay a wage rate fixed by the administration. Determined to chisel these wages, certain contractors require employes to accept a lesser amount in their weekly pay rolls while certifying that .they have received the full amount. Workmen complaining against the swindle have been told to find work elsewhere. Secretary Ickes has assigned an inspector for each job to whom workmen may complain if their pay is less than it should be. Contractors practicing the kick back racket will be forced to make restitution on pain of having their federal contracts revoked. The punishment seems mild. WHO WILL BE EIGHT? INDIANAPOLIS' auto traffic accidents for 1934 already have taken seven lives. Summer is approaching .and with it wiy. come a heavier list of traffic deaths. Time and again, in these columns, we have pleaded for more common sense in the operation of our automobiles. We’re always in a hurry, but where are we going? Seven are dead and who can tell who will be the eighth? It may be someone close to our hearts, or again it may be YOUR automobile that MURDERS some luckless pedestrian. Speed isn’t worth it. Let’s slow down and let's make Indianapolis a safe place, instead of a death trap for both automobile drivers and pedestrians. Now Hollywood is thinking of making movies of some of Shakespeare s plays. But not before the directors will want to impiove on the titles and some of the lines.

Liberal Viewpoint j By DR. lIARRY ELMER BARNES =

LOOKING at matters rather externally and superficially, there seems to be gieatci public freedom and civil liberty than at any time in the history of the United States since 1914. While we" should be very grateful for the present happy state of affairs, we should be aware that perhaps it is only a strange interlude, presaging a return of pressures, tensions and bitterness when we come to the real showdown on the new deal. Indeed, back of the sunny skies of today there are rumblings of the impending storm. The latest issue of the “quarterly of the American Civil' Liberties Union brings us back to reality in this important realm of American life. It gives us a cross-section of the state of civil liberty at the beginning of 1934. There are certain definite evidences of progress. It has proved possible to have an adequate newspaper code under the NRA without placing in jeopardy the freedom of the press. President Roosevelt has restored to citizenship the political prisoners of the World war period. AthoS Perzani was acquitted of murder after an attempted frame-up by a group of American Fascists The major losses for civil liberties noted are the lamentable recent increase in lynching, the conviction of two Scottsboro defendants in the latest trials, and the failure to induce Mayor John P. O’Brien to allow American Nazis to hold a public meeting unmolested. The efforts of the union in this latter episode admirably prove its devotion to liberty rather than to partisanship. No organization could possibly abhor more deeply the principles for which the Nazi stand, but the union was sane enough to recognize that “the way to protect any single minority is to protect all minorities.” , tt tt THE most immediate work ahead of the union is described as vigorous support of the federal bill to outlaw lynching and to provide for its proper detection and punishment; a J in the further defense of the Scottsboro boys; promotion of sensible administrative and legislative reforms to eliminate the third degree without in any way diminishing the effectiveness of the drive on crime; and support of the right of radical unionists to have the same power of organization and collective bargaining as is possessed by the more conservative and conventional unions. The most interesting items in th e “quarterly” are those which warn of the grave dangers which may lie ahead when the tones must actually reckon with the operation of the new deal and its collective-bargaining clauses. The union does well to point out that already the efforts of the workers to secure their legal rights under the NRA have led employers to resort to more violence than has characterized the American labor movement in recent years: "The record in a few short months shows over fifteen strikers killed, two hundred injured, hundreds arrested, and some forty or fifty injunctions of sweeping character. Troops have been called out in five strike districts.” There is already evidence that, as the struggle grows more tense, the tories will revive the old repressive ruses to which they have resorted in the past. Already there have been arrests for criminal syndicalism in a number of states where farmers and laborers have been active in promoting their cause. There are some thirty-one states with “red flag” laws, waiting to be exploited by reactionaries as soon as the industrial battle gets hot enough. We should be on our toes, and well prepared for what may become the most serious struggle to repress the rights of man which has taken place in this country since the World war.

. THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

V Jf *.-*.*- . a. XT-".

rpl j \I wholly disapprove of ivhat you say and imil 1 X 110 IVI

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Hake your letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to 250 words or lr<*s.) BOYCOTT OF POWER COMPANY URGED By Consumer. After reading the many disclosures of the recent investigation into the activities of the local utilities companies, without exception, I think it would be a wonderful thing for every one concerned, if the consumers of these services would equip themselves with coaloil lamps, dig community wells and use one of the many artificial gases in use in the homes of the urban populace. A general boycott of that sort probably would bring the utilities to some realization that the public can not and will not stand to be mulcted out of their monies forever. tt a a FOUND: A SUPPORTER FOR MR. MORGAN By O. F. Gray. A few days ago I noticed a picture of Morgan Packing Company plant in your paper. The writer of this letter never met Mr. Morgan, never bought a padkage of his products. But from now on I intend to buy Morgan’s goods. And, if I can find a store that does not display the blue eagle, I will patronize it. I believe there are enough justice-loving people who will consume his goods by buying direct. I will buy ten cases and give to hungry Republicans who can’t get work from the CWA. tt GOLD! GOLD! GOLD! SEEK THE GOLD! By W. H. Brennen. The gold excitement causes the people to think; and, if we look back to the Bible story where a king had a Sixty or seventy-foot high statue built of gold, it causes the thought it still may be there. Since'gold was used only as material to build the statue, it is as easy to believe it would no more be saved or cut up than the walls, roof or any part of the king’s palace. The world gold is figured close enough to almost be proof that none of the gold in the statue has yet been accounted for. Much work is being done by colleges and universities in excavations to find old cities. Much money goes to locate a sunken ship and dive for the gold it carried down with it, and at times a million or so in gold is all the ship had on board. Since excavating is being done to locate old cities, search for this particular city could be made and perhaps the city and the gold located. If they could, it would save the world as far as gold needs go. Colleges and universities are requested to go into this, and while they excavate, it should not be used against trying to locate this city and the gold, because of the billions it would yield, almost equal to world gold of today. Research is made to prove history is correct. As given in the Bible, this story is plainly outlined. This search is the same \&s others, only richer in gold, if found, and will be, perhaps. a a a INSURANCE COMPANIES MADE THE TARGET By G. L. The restriction placed by the liability insurance companies upon the i employers not to re-employ men over 45 years old, by reason of high rates of premiums, is evidently a racket to be investigated and regulated by authorities to help the cause of the NRA. The insurance, intended for the protection of the employer and the employe, is abused by the insurers. In the event of an injury

GOLD IN THEM THAR PILES

Home Owner Raps Housing Plan

By Edward Kirch. According to newspaper reports a committee of Indianapolis citizens has succeeded in having the proposed housing project reopened in spite of the fact that all citizens who have the future welfare of Indianapolis at heart are opposed to it. I knew if we waited long enough we would find out who the niggers in the woodpile are. Hearing all of the opposition against this project convinces me that there are some Indianapolis citizens who have not already forgotten what these same individuals, favoring this project, doctors, lawyers, real estate dealers and what not) have done to our banks and building companies of Indianapolis, thereby forcing the experience builder to accept employment under the civil works administration, and forcing a great many rental property holders to apply for charity. Having milked Indianapolis dry, they see some easy money at Washington. Then when the federal taxes increase, have the nerve to complain, which they are doing here, although our high taxes were caused by them. M. M. Miller claims there is a shortage of homes in Indianapolis. I wonder whether he thinks people can be fooled as easily as they were when building and loan companies loaned

and cause for a claim the employer drops out of the picture. The contest is between the injured and the insurer: the disadvantage is with the employe who can not afford to resist or needs the money. Highly trained adjusters aim to get signed statements for the benefit of the company, or even release statements, before the extent of the injury is fully determined. a a a “PROFIT?” HE SAYS, “IT IS TO LAUGH.” By a Housewife. No doubt many landlords gave a bitter chuckle over “Fairplay’s” letter in the Message Center, and his little arithmetic problem proving the stupendous profits of landlords. That might be the case if every piece of property were paid for, but 75 per cent of the homes and

A’Woman’s Viewpoint Ry MRS. WALTER FERGUSON . .

THE editor of a large newspaper sorrowfully regards the sight of so many conscientious objectors to capital punishment among citizens drawn for jury service. Each time the news goes out, he says, rogues and rascals on trial and at large feel a thrill of joy. Killers are always pleased at findring out how many softies do not approve of the state turning murderer; society is in danger of its life because the quality of our mercy is not strained enough, he thinks. Yet how does he reconcile his argument with facts? Statistics compiled a year or two ago show that in states where capital punishment is not permitted there are no more, and in several cases there are fewer, homicides than in those states where the electric chair is kept busy. It seems to me his reasoning is based upon the supposition that all men are created into two distinct classes, the good and the bad, each of which must war constantly with the other. And there is a medieval quality in such an idea.

more money on hundreds of homes in Indianapolis than they should have cost, even if they would have been built right. There will be no shortage of homes as long as our employers go elsewhere for their employes and employ mostly married women who don’t need work, thereby forcing the taxpayer to lose his property. I can not understand why the above-mentioned individuals can not leave the building game to the man who knows how a home should be built and only is interested in doing his work the proper way and make a living for himself and family by the trade he had spent all his life on. If these individuals have the future welfare of Indianapolis at heart, 'why not advocate some plan enabling our loan companies to pay their depositors who gladly would spend their money on their homes which are badly in need of repair? And, why not advocate the elevation of the Belt railroad tracks, which would provide employment to a large number of men and would increase the value of real ■estate, not decrease it, as this housing project would? But the elevation of the Belt railroad tracks w'ould help the south side and does not belong to Indianapolis only at taxpaying time.

rentals in this city are, or were, bought on contract or mortgage ‘payments, a fact which the average tenant Can not seem to comprehend. Let us suppose that “Fairplay’s” landlord bought his properly six or seven years ago for $4,000, which would be a censervative figure, and still has a mortgage of_ $2,000 against it; his payments would be S2O a month, half of which would represent interest. “Fairplay” does not say if the rental price, the water bill and the garage are included. If so, the actual rental would be less than S2O a month. In addition, the landlord must carry fire and tornado insurance, assessments for improvements almost anywhere in the city, as well as the taxes. Therefore, where can | a profit or even any kind of an income, be figured for the landlord? This is the reason for the squawks of property owners about high taxes,

AFTER all, babies aren’t born murderers. It takes many a hard knock to make little boys grow up into men who take up arms against their kind and lust for human blood. Good and evil are so closely interwoven in the fabric of human nature that it is scarcely possible * to separate them, and assuredly we must all believe that one may be developed to overcome the other. The fate of a man may often turn upon a pin-point of chance. The ardors we show in behalf of the virtuous are commendable. Social welfare does, to be sure, depend upon decency, justice and morality. And it is for this very reason I have an idea our murders would be fewer if some of our ardor could be used in protecting our bad citizens from several very obvious kinds of wrong inflicted upon them by those whom we call good. It requires several stages of lawlessness to develop a coldblooded murderer. He never springs, fully armed with machine guns, from any truly good and virtuous society.

_JAN.-29,W34

for in thousands of cSGses taxes, upkeep and vacancies have to be carried out of the personal salary of the property owner, who has been cut to the bone just like the other people. Profit? It is to laugh. a a a A UTILITY PROBE—THAT’S TIIE DEMAND By Joseph E. Bennett. It is inconceivable “WHY” our city and state officials will allow the public utility companies of Indiana to rob the citizens of Indiana, unless they are so closely connected with them. Perhaps if ihev would compel them to obey the .'aw, as in the case of added charges and excessive charges, they would injure themselves. It would be a great benefit to all, if the civic organizations of the cities and the state would put men to work to ferret out and see how many, if any, of the stockholders in the public utility companies hold positions either in the city or state government. I think we would readily see the reason the public utility companies have the prh'ilege to violate the law at their own option. I think it would be money well spent for the good of the public, and I think that there is not a person in the state free to act on his own free will who would not sponsor the above suggestion. aaa • • THE COURTHOUSE HIS PET PEEVE \ By a Reader. If an old man lives in your neighborhood, go to his house, after midnight and wake him out of a sound sleep. When he comes to the door, pull him, nightgown and all, out into the cold and tell him you're trying to sell a carload of broken beer bottles or a bushel cf splattered tomatoes . . . then watch the expression on his face. You get the same vinegar fiz when you ask questions at the courthouse —only sourer, Westbrook Pegler, in one of his columns, combed the first-person : burs from our judges. Mrs. J. D., in her letter to Message’ Center, took our police force to task for discourtesy. It would seem that our next best stop is the mausoleum. Your e next, courthouse. Power BY ARCHER SHIRLEY Why look so proud, small man; why shout your worth And deeds as though to you alone were due All praise? Learn to believe that power to you Was given, to be applied with wisdom here on earth.

So They Say

One shot in the' arm Inevitably calls for another when the effect of the first is worn off, and. that is just where we are now*.—Former United States Senator James E. Watson. There are words hardly strong enough to express the inertia of the public—Roger Babson. No principle, or system, or organization, or institution will be leit untouched which can not justify itself by the service it renders to society.—President James R. Angell of Yale. It is at last realized that without educated listeners, the work of composers is lost*—Mae. Olga SamaraflL