Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 231, Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 February 1934 — Page 6

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The Indianapolis Times <4 ICMm HoWAKO NEWSPAPER! ROT W flow Alto President .TALCOTT POWELL. E.Jltor EARL L) BAKER RotlotM Manager I’booe — Riley 1

Member of Coited Preas. *( r i i>* • Howard Newspaper Aliianre. Newspaper Enferprf*e Aaooiatioa. Newapaper Inform.'!Mon Service „n<l All(lit Bureau of Circulation*. Owned and published daily ■eirept Sundayl by The In•liana po||a Tim*-* i’uhliahlng Cos„ ITI4 220 Went Maryland a treat Indiana poll*. Inil. I‘rice in Marion county. 2 cent* a copy: -,*>where. 3 cent a—delivered hr carrier. 12 ■ enta a week. Mall enbucrip tlon rate* in Indiana. s.l a year; ouOide of Indiana. ST. cents a month.

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*<•'#! >*^aa Glee Livht <in<l ll la People Win Find Their Ov-n Hap

Monday ffb s im PRETTY PICTURE? N A.wiaifct Press photograph presents a Lake county group in which Prosecutor Robert G. Estill appears Witjj a comradely Arm about the shoulders of John Dillinger. If may strike a public prosecutor as good publicity to be photographed in this brotherly po.se with a defendant he is sworn to do his best to send to the electric chair. But hcrw does it strike citizens of a nation that is trying to raise its administration of criminal justice above the level of a game and put a wholesome fear of law into gangs ers, kidnapers and killers who have thought they could beat the law by treating it as if it were a game? Does a prosecutor with this quaint notion of publicity do prosecution in these United States much good? PATRIOTEERING PROFITS increased war preparations costing upward of a billion dollars in prospect, congress should give serious consideration to taking the profits out of war and out of preparedness. After every war and every preparedness drive there have been revelations of profiteering by the munitions and arms patriotetrs. Government investigation showed that United States Steel in the period 1916-18 made a profit in excess of 50 per cent. Bethlehem Steel In 1917 paid a 200 per cent dividend. Du Pont during the war sold to the goiernment at 49 cents a pound powder which cost 36 cents. The three companies still building most of our naval ships—Bethlehem, New York and Newport News shipbuilding 'companies—were caught by the White House and congress in the notorious Shearer case breaking up the arms limitation conference. After international investigation, the League of Nations subcommittee reported the following objections to private manufacture of munitions and armament: That armament companies foment war scares, bribe government officials, disseminate false reports on relative military and naval strength to stimulate armament competition and expenditures, try to influence and control newspapers, and organize international armament trusts and rings which play one country off against another. In view of these widely known facts as to the pernicious activities and profiteering of the arms traffickers, it is surprising that the house naval committee reported out bills giving no protection to the government and public. Over the protest of Chairman Vinson of the committee, the house adopted two amendments; one providing that half of the naval vessels shall be built in government yards, and the other limiting profits of private contracts to 10 ‘per cent. Under Senator Bone’s amendment just accepted by the senate committee the accounts of private contractors would be opened to government inspection. We think congress should take the profits out of preparedness, in the interests both of economy and of peace. But if the government continues to subsidize these giant industries. which have always played the government for a sucker, we suggest that their patriotism might be purchased for a 7 per cent profit. The averecp t-r — to pay this bill will agree that that is enough. MR. JUSTICE HR AN DEIS the electorate enthusiastic over the ’ new deal, congress going along with It, and even most business groups supporting it. the fate of the experiment rests largely with the supreme court. At first there was general fear that the court would break it. Since the recent decision in the Minnesota case, the court is expected to uphold basic parts of the new deal legislation by a five to four vote. If that happens. it may not only save the recovery laws but also the prestige of the court—for plainly America today is in no mood to let the- court stand in the way of progress. The man most responsible for the new enlightenment of the supreme court is, of course. Mr. Justice Brandeis. It is a commonplace that the supreme court makes laws and makes the Constitution. As Mr. Hughes once expressed the fact before he became chief justice: -We are under a Constitution. but the Constitution is what the judges say it is." For a long time the supreme court has been dominated by a reactionary majority of judges who put property interests above human rights. In the Wilson administration there was a bitter fight to prevent confirmation to the court of Louis D. Brandeis, famous as “the people's lawyer." Since going on the bench, he has continued to Interpret the law in the light of the people's Interest. Long in the minority, he has gradually leavened the court lump and the whole American conception of law until the minority seems now about to become the majority. This vastly important story, along with the earlier career of the lawyer who first exposed the insurance, railroad and banking rackets of high finance, is ably told by Alpheus Thomas Mason in his book. 'Brandeis: Lawyer and Judge in the Modem State.” tPrinceton University Press.) Perhaps the most valuable contribution by Dr. Mason is to point out that Justice Brandels in his philosophy is not a radical and not a Socialist, but an old-fashioned Democrat trying to apply ancient principles to contemporary Industrial civilization. The author says: “Radicals cali him conservative; conservatives damn him for an anarchist-radical. No cuch labels fit. Justice Brandeis is rather an individual Democrat of the Jeffersonian type erty that he wants to see it more equitably

diffused among the masses of men. He values private capital so highly that he would make it available so the independent entrepreneur, rather than have it monopolized and controlled by a money trust." There is considerable doubt that Justice Brandeis’ specific philosophy is prophetic or enduring; extremely doubtful tljat society will turn back from large-scale production and distribution units to smaller and simpler forms of small business. But there is little doubt that Justice Brandeis is prophetic and one of this century’s great benefactors in his method of changing law from a static form to a living force, and of basing it on economic realities instead of legalistic mumbo jumbo. * He has given a method and a weapon with which the future can go beyond present achievements, go beyond him. By that severest of tests, Mr. Justice Brandeis is a very great man. WATCH YOUR DRIVING /'ANE of the queerest things about autdmobile traffic is the fact that whenever there is a spell of _ nasty winter weather, which coats the streets with ice and makes driving extra-hazardous, one is almost certain to find the accident rate dropping abruptly. One good-sized city—larger than .Indianapolis—gave a graphic illustration of this last month. Its police traffic department is undermanned, and it does not ordinarily keep its traffic situation very well unde • rrmf—i the start of the year, fatal automobile accidents had been occurring at the rate of about one a day. Then came a violent cold spell. The streets were icy, treacherous: snow flurries filled the air, cutting down the vision of drivers and pedestrians alike, and adding an extra risk to the situation. And immediately the city's accident rate dropped to an astoundingly low point. Instead of killing someone every day, its motorists killed no one at all—until the storm had passed and traffic conditions became safer. In this startling reversal of logic there is a neat little moral for motorists all over the country. It is pretty clear proof that auto accidents do not come from dangers inherent in the flow of traffic. "They come simply because motorists and pedestrians take risks that they have no business to take. When the streets are dry, and every car can be kept under perfect control, and drivers and pedestrians alike can see without difficulty in every direction—then is the dangerous time. Motorists drive too fast, they cut in and out of traffic lanes, they try to beat the other fellow across intersections. Pedestrians trust to their nimbleness of foot to dart through lines of heavy traffic. The result, of course, is that many people get killed and a far greater number gets maimed. But when bad weather comes, so that it's hard to stop a car suddenly, and the footing is uncertain —well, then we get wise to ourselves and stop taking chances, and, as a result, accidents diminish. If wo could take the trouble to be as careful when conditions are favorable as we are when they are unfavorable, our auto traffic toll would cease to be a national scandal. HEALTH HAZARDS COME of the work and money that is going into the project of making over America should be directed to plumbing. Scientists have just discovered that last summer's outbreak of amebic dysentery in Chicago was caused by sewerage contamination of the water supply of two hotels. This is a danger which may confront us at any time in any city of the country. But an even more serious danger lies in the millions of homes in both city and country where either there is no plumbing of any kind or plumbing facilities are inadequate. Ingenious new dealers can certainly find some practical way of lessening this hazard to the health of the country in formulating their business-revival and job-givinjg programs. FATAL RELICS OF WAR MINES put into the sea during the World war still are aflcat. A Finnish steamer recently found one in the Baltic sea and nad it destroyed. Since the war one Swedish naval officer has found and destroyed more than 350 drifting mines—hideous engines of death, waiting to slip into the paths ol unsuspecting ship captains. That such hazards still exist on the high seas is rather shocking to one's sense of security. But when you stop to think about it, the wonder is that there are not more of them around to cause tragedies. Mines were tossed into the water in an indescribably prodigal manner during the war. When the armistice arrived, the allied navies spent months picking them up: but in the very nature of things it was inevitaDle that they would miss a great many. The world really is very lucky that these derelict mines have not proved a far greater hazard to post-war ocean traffic. U. S. weather bureau warns us that white lightning is more hazardous than the brilliant red flashes—especially when the white stuff comes in a bottle. The height of your forehead has nothing to do with your race, sex or intelligence, says a scientist. No fair, however, ir your forehead reaches back to the nape of your neck. What delayed President Roosevelt so long on setting the dollar's value at 59.06 cents must have been that 06 part of the cent. A minister of Roscommon. Mich., supports himself and his church by maintaining a flock of sheep, since his regular flock has failed to produce. By ordering all German women to wear uniforms. Hitler will get them to quit their Jobs faster than if he had fired them. Only one couple out of nine in this country stays married, where there are no cliildren, say tKe experts. The one couple and those having children fight it out to the last gasp. “Everything i have is yours,” crooned Rudy Vallee the other night. But he didn’t think his wile would take him so seriously.

FAIR-FASHIONED HOSIERY r T''HE National Labor Board seemed to have r- a hopeless task on its hands last sufhmer when problems of the hosiery industry were laid before it by the workers. For years strife and violence had prevailed and there seemed no disposition to settle matters in any other way. Today an agreement covering the whole full-fashioned hosiery industry from New England to Wisconsin has been signed. Thirty thousand workers are dovered by it. It fixes wages for a definite period during which all manufacturers may accurately calculate their labor costs and workers may calculate their incomes. It provides for a closed shop—or employment of none but union members—and for arbitration of all disputes which may arise. Anti-labor manufacturers in other industries who insist on forming company unions and preventing their workers from organizing with workers of other plants will never experience the stabilizing effect on their industry of such an agreement. They will continue to compete among each other on pay roll costs, one of the most important Items on their ledgj ers. | And as long as they continue this attitude j they will fail to experience the maximum amount of benefit from NIRA. The act was passed in response to a desire of business men to agree among themselves on hours and wages and other industry costs, to eliminate i unfair competition. But their codes only give them a uniform wage scale so far as lowest paid workers are concerned. Stability as to the greater part of the pay roll can come only through collective I bargaining with workers. And the farther the bargaining groups extend through an industry the less danger there is of unfair competition. If the troubled hosiery industry can learn this lesson, other industries may in time learn ; it also. People should be made happy, whether they like it or not, says Marie Dressier. She’s one of those actresses who make us cry for joy. A bill for unemployment insurance has been introduced in the New York state legislature. Employment insurance would be better.

I • • 11 Liberal Viewpoint 1 By DR. HARRY ELMER RARN'ES ONE of the most remarkable revolutions which history chronicles is the transformation in the causes of human want and misery. In early days they were due primarily to natural causes and to backward technique on the part of mankind. Man was frequently denied access to fertile and productive areas. He lacked the technical knowledge and facilities to increase the supply of food, to exploit the minerals effectively, to create artificial power and to master the problems of communication and transportation. Today our misery and sufferings are due primarily to institutional defects and social stupidity. We have developed a simply amazing technological facility and an incredible supply of artificial nonhuman energy. Excess food of all kinds rots in one area while millions are hungry or starved in some other region in spite of our highly efficient modern methods of transportation. Nature can be made more bountiful and we are able effectively to exploit all types of natural resources. In spite of all this, the world finds itself in the most ominous depression and crisis of modern times. The problem of man in the future will not be the mastery of nature, but triumph over his own stupidity in the field of social relationships. Dr. Zimmermann has compiled a work (World Resources and Industries: A Functional Appraisal of the Availability of Agricultural and Industrial Resources. By Erich W. Zimmermann. Harper & Bros. $5) which represents vast industry and contains the most convenient presentation of the material resources of the world which has appeared in the English language. He has written a vmume which constitutes an impressive and forthright challenge to the cap. italistic order. This voluminous work is devoted to a contrast between technological progress and sociological backwardness; a survey of the physical environments of mankind; an examination of the agricultural and forest resources of the world; the mineral resources of the earth, and the evolution and present status of our more important industries. The book most effectively demonstrates the fact that all of mankind could live with decency on the basis of our present resources and technology, were it not for the waste and confusion introduced by the profit economy and the national state system. The waste, difficulties and duplications which result from national boundaries make it necessary that any successful planning for the future must embody not only recovery within each existing state, but also intelligent world-wide economic planning in the exploitation of our material resources and our engineering skill. The work is of very great value to any one from a Bourbon to a Communist, for it presents with great completeness and clarity the materials we have to work with, whatever the future economic system. a a a PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S reforestation project indicates that he will be as much interested as his illustrious cousin in the problems of conservation. His procedure indicates that he will adapt his project to the newer philosophy of forest economy. In the days of Theodore Roosevelt and Gif-, ford Pinchot the conservation and forestry movement appeared chiefly as & defensive crusade against wanton and anti-social waste <*f the hands of unscrupulous pirates of profit. Today, while recognize the necessity of safeguarding against waste, the program' of up-to-date forestry emphasizes the desirability of scientific planning, in co-operation with similar forecasting and control in the fields of industry and agriculture. We can no longer muddle through without formulating a definite policy on a national scale. Mr. Pack has written a lucid and forceful volume (Forestry, An Economic Challenge. By Arthur Newton Pack., Macmillan Company. 51.25) reviewing the history of our inadequate forest policy and recommending the adoption of national planning on a scale equal to the present emergency. Mr. Cooke has rendered a distinct service to the millions of American users of electrical power. There has been plenty of available information with respect to the annual cost of generating and transmitting electrical current, which amounts to about $1,000,000,000 in price annually in this country. Yet there has been very little information available as to the specific cost to the customer in distributing the I current to the ultimate consumer. We have known that the bill for distribution totals another billion dollars, but we have possessed little information as to its specific divisions and allocations, lliese facts are now ; admirably assembled in the symposium edited by Mr. Cooke, which includes an excellent chap-, ter on the comparative costs of distributing electric current in Ontario <What Electricity Costs in the Home and on the Farm. Symposium edited by Morris Llewellyn Cooke. New Republic, Inc., SI). The book protides plenty of information to substantiate the thesis that the case for the public ownership of power plants can be based more forcefully upon the evils of holding companies than upon the charges of the actual operating companies which furnish the current. In short, the main enemy of private ownership is less business enterprise than it is anti-social exploitation by finance capitalism.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Make pour letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to 150 words p* lesj a a a CAPITALISM THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL By James Monroe. There are three destructive elements existing today which should be annihilated. First, the capitalistic ruling power; second, orthodoxy, and third, ignorance, the latter being the fruit of .deception. Orthodoxy is the medium through and by which the capitalists have preyed upon innocent victims for ages, using various ways to accomplish their end—that ot dividing the classes. Orthodoxy is detrimental to civilization. The priest tells us to “confess our sins.” Sin. of course, is the transgression of the law, but who can keep from transgressing the capitalistic laws when they forbid us shelter, food and raiment? By these laws they have made us what we are, and by these same laws they try to make us all criminals and thugs. How can we evade transgressing when these laws demand us to accept only that which the ruling class sees fit to hand to us? Let us quit the ignorant habit of preaching orthodox mysticism and advocate the one true religion of the world, which religion is displayed in good judgment—the Brotherhood of Mankind. a a a IN DEFENSE OF MRS. SHELBY By Mrs. L. H. In regard to Mrs. G.’s hardship letter, where she mentions Mrs Shelby, probation officer of the juvenile court. I have my first time to ask for relief and not get immediate attention from Mrs. Shelby. I think she is one of the finest women in Indianapolis, and I don't think Marion county could have picked a better probation officer. I have been in her office a number of times and she always treated everybody alike—and so far I have not had to eat fried lamps and boiled chairs, and don’t feei like I ever will as long as Mrs. Shelby is a probation officer. a a a HE WANTS TO KNOW WHERE MONEY GOES By A Subscriber. I am a subscriber of The Times and have been for about fourteen years. I would like to write a few lines in regard to this government work they are putting out. I am on the job every day I can get work, but when they have to lay us off we don't get to make this lost time up. What are they, and how are they going to know who and where this extra money is going? Os course, it is all turned in, but the men are not getting the money or work either, so thei;e is some big shot handling it and not putting it out. And, why don't they give these pen-wipers a little of what these men get a whole lot of? I am no politician, but I am for the workingman. I may be wasting my postage, but I will watch the paper and see if this is published. a a a CITY BREAD COMPANIES UNDER ATTACK By Times Reader. It is my understanding of the NRA that all lines of work would benefit by the shorter hours and more wages plan. Why is it that different bread cop-prnies in Indianapolis display their blue eagles and the slogan “We Do Our Part,” yet work their drivers twelve to fifteen hours a day? Shorten these men s hours and give them a chance to see their

‘I HAVE A RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH’

•" ■ :- . RjQStSfi -

The Message Center

Blasting Away at Chiselers

By a True American. Asa reader of The Times, I feel it is high time that someone expresses his opinion of just what the working class is going through just now. Just how many real Americans realize how badly the NRA is being mistreated by some of our most prominent employers? Just how many of us know how the employes of (libel deleted) laundries are being made to sweat under the NRA? Friday, Jan. 19, the employes of this laundry was sweat into acknowledging a company union. Without a fair vote, this company union was railroaded through even after a motion had been made to vote by ballot and this motion seconded. The organizer refused this right. I am not a member of any union. Above all, I do not believe in a company

families in the daylight and in so doing employ more men. Can this not be investigated and corrected? n a a INVESTIGATION NEEDED ON CITY POOR AID By F. V. M. I just listened to a speech of Pleas Greenlee, secretary to Paul V. McNutt, about how well Indianapolis was caring for its needy. I will contradict that statement, for I happen to know a family of seven children whose father is in the city hospital, a family that not only has applied to the township trustee for help but almost begged them for help. And because their brother is working in a department store, trying to help make a living for the family and can’t make it, they have been turned down. I know of several other cases where there are two and three working in one family, even the woman sews in a towel factory, and they are getting help from the trustee and also getting holp from the Family Welfare. Why aren’t these cases investigated? Please answer this question. I am a reader of The Times ever since this paper has been published, and I think there should be sometning done about this family until the father is able to help this boy out. No wonder we have so many criminals This father has

A Woman’s Viewpoint ■■ By MRS. WALTER FERGUSON

A LTHOUGH we spend countless hours in combating age and are successful in preserving youth in the physical body, women are never able to slip backward into their lost girlhood. It may be that this is our curse of Eve. Once having crossed the fateful river in all our lives we never can go back again, even in imagination. Women are the only real grown-ups, and we live in a world of children. For, apparently without the slightest effort, our men at odd moments can summon some magic that changes them in the twinkling of an eye from staid, serious beings into boys living in the golden season of life. Their chief charm—the one thing, I think,* that endears them to us and makes them forever enviable in our eyes—is the w j ay in which they can suddenly become young again. It’s a difficult thing to explain, but there it is for every one to see. The lure of their gatherings, the delight of their friendships is due to this art—the art of dropping all adult professional worries ana

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

union, especially one railroaded through like this one was. And can we true Americans believe that about 200 employes at (libel deleted) this laundry sat and listened and believed a man from a foreign country? A few years ago about twenty of these same employes grabbed guns, left their homes and crossed the Atlantic to fight this same man to save our country. Now, today they adopt his idea of how to cope with the present situation. Just hew many of you true Americans think this is a square deal? What is the NRA? And where is our “labor board”? (Editor's Note: The Times ran not identify alleged NRA chiselers unless its own reporters have investigated. The size of our staff makes adequate investigation of NRA complaints impossible. The above complaint should go to officials for action).

| been operated on and it may be ! quite a while before he is able to help take care of his family. He hasn’t been able to work for a couple of years. a a u WORDS OF PRAISE FOR FIRE RESCUE SQUAD By William Murphy. In these days of turbulent happenings and divers arguments on the merits of the monetary situation. let us take time out and give a little credit to an institution that is .quite a bit of service without a solitary word of consolation or praise being directed its way; namely, the fire department first aid squad. The men who comprise this outfit are forced to meet the most impossible conditions in the shortest and unexpected length of time. Their accomplishments have bordered on the extraordinary, but the dear public never hears anything of them. The newspaper reports generally put out the information that so-and-so police car investigated such and such a happening, but completely ignores the wonderful work done by the rescue squad, which is maintained and manned by specially trained and equipped men recruited from the ranks of the fire department. Many a life that would have been lost has been saved through the

settling right down to having a good time. a a a THEY have the sort of a good time they used to know when they were boys congregating behind the bam in the late afternoon sunshine, in a close masculine intimacy that is somehow so different in all its aspects from feminine intimacy. If you try to analyze this difference, you must immediately come to the conclusion that men acheve closer, warmer, dearer friendships because they never try to impress one another. They never stand on ceremony. So when a few who are fond of each other get together, when they drink a little and sing a little and talk endlessly with their heads together, they do manage to taste the finest flavor of living—a flavor unknown to women. They play with such heartfelt • zest. And they do recapture “that first fine careless rapture," the feeling of boyishness which makes them so precious to us who are domed forever to a spiritual maturity.

FEB. 5, 1934

efficient methods of these men and their praises could not be sung too highly. Just the other night the unfailing methods that are practiced by these men came to light when they saved the life of a woman whose auto had b n en struck by an interurban at the intersection of Thirty-eighth street and Sherman drive. Had untrained and inefficient men been forced to cope with such a situation, they would have been | found wanting; but. with the meth- | ods which are pursued by the Indi- | anapplis fire department—that of ; keeping the equipment and men up to the very highest point of effl- • ciency in all departments—this ! woman’s life was saved. Let the various taxpayers’ leagues, ! the Real Estate Board and the i Chamber of Commerce make them- ; selves cognizant of thus fact and when they start their annual assault on the local budget next summer their thoughts should be chastened by the fact that their tax money is being spent to the end that their wives, sons and daughters will be eligible not only to protection of the finest and best equipped fire department in the country, but also to the most efficient life-saving apparatus in the United States; and, after all what is more precious than life? (Editor’s Note —The rescue squad will receive due notice in The Times in the future.)

So They Say

He (A! Smith) is in the midst of an emotional reaction he can not control. He is having an atavistic explosion of this traumatic shock that is producing a neurotic behavior pattern. David Seabury, psychologist. I have now reached the conclusion that there is no defense from a drift into unrestsained inflation other than an aroused and organized public opinion.—Professor O. M. W. Sprague. The physical effect of alcohol on man will not be changed by ending prohibition.—Mrs. Ella A. Boole, president W. C. T. U. I can write two briefs setting up the constitutionality and the unconstitutionality of the NRA and do both with good conscience.—Professor Thomas R. Powell of Harvard. I am no murderer.—President Grau San Martin of Cuba. I do not understand the Roosevelt plan. Neither does Mr. Roosevelt. Please do not ask me to explain It. Ask the brainstorm trust.—Sir A. M. Samuel, British currency expert. My title of recognition is the reputation I have made for myself out of my own strength.—Chancellor Hitler. ————— Talk about A1 Capone being a racketeer! Why, the biggest racketeers are those which the capitalists have tied on to the people of the United States.—Milo Reno, farm strike leader.

To Death BY POLLY LOIS NORTON Death. I do not fear Your grim, pale-visaged mask. When I have finished my last task And your kind voice I hear, With my last breath I shall climb the sunniest, highest place, And wait, with open arms and a smiling fact.