Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 234, Indianapolis, Marion County, 8 February 1934 — Page 12

PAGE 12

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THURSDAY, FEB. 8, 134. PARIS REVOLTS WHAT is happening in Paris is much more than a passing riot. It is an explosion of deep discontent. Many and conflicting groups and classes are involved. The mobs number tens of thousands. They represent every point of view from the Royalists on the extreme right to the Communists on the left. In the case of the middle classes the bank scandal has shaken loose the pentup resentment against inefficient parliamentary administration, unemployment, taxes and the high cost of living. Their demand is reform, but from the right and from the left comes the demand of revolution, for basic change in the nature and control of the system. Whether successful or not, this wide popular revolt and violence is the stuff of which revolution is made. Modem governments in civilized capitals in the year 1934 do not turn machine guns on citizens unless the situation is serious. It was after demonstrators were killed by machine gun fire that the general populace poured on to the streets in anger. An event of this kind never is forgotten. It lights new flames of revolt which, even though smothered for awhile, are apt to burst out with greater intensity later. But so far there is no indication that either the Royalist revolutionists or the Communist revolutionists have sufficient organization to harness the revolt for the purpose of seizing power. There seems to be even less organization now than in the somewhat similar riots which resulted in the short-lived red commune of 1871. It is highly improbable that such effective revolutionary organization will be developed In time to ride this particular wave of revolt. It is probably inevitable, however. that the Royalists and Fascists on the right and the Communists on the left now will be encouraged to strengthen their organizations in definite preparation for future revolution. Any understanding of this French revolt must center on the war factor—on the warweariness, economic dislocations, and business and political corruption still flowing from the last war, and the public's uneasiness over the next war. Mo6t successful revolutions have been intimately related to war causes. If France drifts into another war there seems much more than an even chance that she will come out of it either as a Fascist or Communist country. Indeed, even the threat of war may be enough to precipitate successful French revolution. Even from what already ha's occurred in Paris, the United States can learn several things. We can learn that citizens who are indifferent toward government graft and financial scandals during prosperity turn into dangerous mobs when this sort of villainy is rubbed into them during hard times. We can learn that machine guns should not be used on citizens unless a government is prepared to start a revolution against itself. We can learn that revolt is not caused by foreign propaganda but by internal conditions.

MAN OF VISION 11TALTER WELLMAN died the other day * * at 75. He was the first man to try to fly across the Atlantic ocean, and when he made the attempt the stunt was looked on as the ultimate in foolhardy daring. But he lived to see the number of those who have crossed the sea by air rise far into three figures. It's a commonplace to say that aerial science has developed rapidly in the last quarter century. One hardly realizes how true that saying is. however, until one glances at the career of a man like Wellman. It was on Oct. 15, 1910, that Mr. Wellman started his projected trans-Atlantic flight. The takeoff was from Atlantic City; the ship was a nonrigid dirigible, a clumsy and fragile affair 164 feet long, with a gas bag capacity of 350.000 cubic feet. It compares with a Macon or a Graf Zeppelin as one of Columbus' caravels compares with the Leviathan. Underneath the bag was slung a lifeboat, stocked with provisions. Down into the sea trailed a device called an “equilibrator"—a series of cylindrical tanks which floated on the ocean, expected to act as a sort of stabilizer, to keep the ship from rising too high in the air. Besides Mr. Wellman, five men were aboard. The takeoff was at 8 in the morning. Twenty-four hours later—half of the first day having been spent repairing one of the two engines, which had quit cold —the dirigible had reached a point some 250 miles northeast of its starting point. The voyage had been excessively perilous. The hydrogen in the envelope cooled and contracted dangerously, nearly pitching the ship into the water. A collision with a steamer narrowly was averted. One of the engines’ exhaust pipes nearly set the bag on fire. The equilibrator, instead of working as expected, made the ship almost Impossible to steer. Another twenty-four hours passed, and conditions became worse. The dirigible was some 400 miles out now, and it was pretty plain that Europe never would be reached. Preparations were made to take to the water in the lifeboat, but it was found impossible to launch it. Next morning, providentially, a steamer showed up. Signaled by the dirigible, it came alongside. Mr. Wellman and his crew came aboard, and the dirigible was left to float out to sea. So ended the first trans-Atlantic flight attempt. It took place less than twenty-five years ago. Since then, enormous dirigibles have crossed and recrossed the Atlantic times with* §

out number. Ocean flying Is almost ready to play a useful part In the everyday life of the world. And a good part of the credit must go to daring, “foolhardy” pioneers like Walter Wellman. LABOR SECURITY ''T''HE unemployment insurance bill, introduced with the Roosevelt administration’s blessing, follows logically upon the recovery acts of last session. The shaken house of American industry can not be rebuilt safely and solidly without provision for a measure of security for its 40,000,000 wage earners. The Wagner-Lewis bill does not ride over state rights. It is a promotion, not a compulsion project. Under its well-considered provisions the government will collect a pay roll tax from all corporations and employers, with minor exceptions. The tax money will be returned to employers to the amount of insurance premiums they pay into state security reserves. It is believed that, rather than let the tax money remain in the federal treasury, the states will seek to keep the wealth at home by passing immediate compulsory unemployment insurance laws. That the states need some such encouragement is shown by the fact that in face of the awful needs of their people in the past four years only one, Wisconsin, has adopted a security law. Compulsory unemployment insurance is inevitable. The federal government can not continue to carry millions of people on the dole. That way leads to the ruin of public credit and personal morale. Industry from now' on must prepare to care for its own. It should adopt a planned economy that sets aside reserves in times of plenty against the times of slack. And government, federal and state, must see that industry does this. For twenty years England has had unemployment insurance, wrongly called here “the dole.” While during the depression the reserve fund was heavily subsidized by the government, 'British workers have had that which ours have lacked, a saving sense of security. Sir William Beverage recently told Labor Secretary Francis Perkins that ‘‘no sensible employer in England would vote to abolish” their system. “Unemployment insurance has saved an amount of human misery and suffering.” he added, “that simply can not be calculated.” It is good news that the Roosevelt administration conceives workers’ security as an essential card in its new deal.

PARENTS AND DUTIES AN Ohio court has ruled that a mother who voluntarily gives up her claim to her baby has no right to come back later and reclaim it. It has held that the rights of fosterparents can be greater than those of actual flesh and blood. It makes an interesting case, because it goes in the opposite direction to'most of our sentimental conceptions of the rights of parenthood. The woman in question bore a girl four years ago. The mother was in poor circumstances financially, the child’s health was bad; and when the youngster was about a year and a half old, the mother placed the child in a public institution for care. Then the mother dropped out of the picture. And the baby girl was adopted by a man and a woman who reared the child as their own. Her health was built up and she was made happy; she came to love her fosterparents as her own, and she lost her memory of her real mother. Finally, not long ago, the real mother returned and demanded that the child be given back to her. The foster-parents refused to comply. So the mother went into court, asked to have the adoption set aside, and requested that the child be delivered into her custody. After hearing the evidence, the court refused to act. It ruled that the mother had forfeited her right to the child, and that the youngster’s best interests would be served by leaving it in the home it now occupies. We frequently fall into the assumption that the physical tie which exists between a mother and a child can be stronger than any other consideration. In this connection, we talk sentimentally about the “bond” that must exist, and we have a good deal to say about the rights of parents. What we often forget is the fact that rights are accompanied by duties, and that it takes more than a simple physical relationship to forge an enduring bond. The mere fact that we bring a child into the world gives us very little claim on the child. Our job only begins then. If circumstances or our own defects keep us from accomplishing that job, all we can do is turn it over to someone who will perform it. If we fail in our duties, our rights lapse. Clear away the traditional cioud of sentiment, and there seems little reason to quarrel with this Ohio court’s decision. SIGNIFICANT SILK ANEW YORK relief agency, trying to help girls looking for jobs, is buying silk stockings for its wards, according to a recent news dispatch. A decade or two ago such a bit of news would have indicated a most profound and irresponsible bit of mismanagement. Today it merely shows that the relief workers have good sense. A girl who is looking for a job must be dressed neatly; and nowadays being neatly dressed, for a woman, means among other things—the wearing of silk stockings. Lament the fact as we may, it nevertheless' Is true that silk stockings are just about a necessity, now, and not a luxury. And the fact is a significant measure of the way in which living standards have changed in the last few years. Life insurance figures show that Canadians live longer than people in the United States, probably because they didn't have to drink prohibition liquor. If Emma Goldman wished to draw more attention to herself, she would have taken up fan dancing. A stockholder of a defunct New York bank, sued for a share of the loss, pleads he was insane when he bought his stock. Now, there’s a man who’s sane enough to admit it. % " Smithsonian Institution at Washington has received a rooster without wings—of the “sure-to-stay*at-home” variety _,

SAVING THE FORESTS ACTION by owners of the nation’s 400,000.000 acres of private timber land may modify the ruthless individualism that has all but ruined the priceless heritage of our forests. The owners themselves, Impelled by enlightened self-interest and the new federal leadership, have agreed to strengthen the conservation section of the lumber code by self-imposed rules to be administered by the code authority with all the effect of law'. Minimum standards for logging and other forest work will be framed, adapted to the ten regional sections of the country and enforced. While these standards are minimum ones and, doubtless, will not insure a steady, sustained yield of growth, they should halt at once the insane slashing and overlogging in commercial forests. Besides these measures an executive committee of ten, five named by Agriculture Secretary Henry Wallace to represent the public, will recommend federal and state legislation covering tax reforms, fire protection and public land acquisition. These are momentous steps in the slow, hard struggle for forest conservation in America. Since out of 9,000,000 acres of timber now being cut each year, only about 365,000 are being harvested with an eye to future needs, tHfe decision of timbermen to conserve their own wealth is long overdue. PRACTICAL DUELING T'vUELING is an archaic and silly business, as everybody knows. But it at least must lend a spicy flavor to national life—especially when it is carried on in the modern manner, bloodlessly. Two highly-placed Frenchmen had an altercation about the Stavisky scandal, wounded each other’s feelings, and “fought” a duel to settle matters. They met at dawn in a deserted stadium, fired two shots apiece, hit no one—and the matter was over, with nobody hurt and, presumably, with the claims of honor fully satisfied. This seems an admirable way of arranging things. Senator Huey Long recently has been challenged to a duel by one or another of his New Orleans foes. Why could they not meet, some chilly dawn, in, say, the Washington baseball park? They could stand on the ground hallowed by the spiked shoes of Goose Goslin and Joe Cronin, shatter the atmosphere with their bullets, and go their ways in uninjured peace. Official and unofficial Washington doubtless would be glad to pay a, modest fee for the privilege of admission, too. The old can’t get much older, because they exercise and play too much, says the dean of Northwestern university medical college. John D. Rockefeller realizes this, so he has stopped even giving out dimes.

Liberal Viewpoint Bv DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES =

DR. CHARLES FRANCIS POTTER is well known as one of our most advanced students of religion. In this, his latest work (Is That in the Bible? by Charles Francis Potter, Garden City Publishing Company, $1) he has brought out a most interesting and diverting anthology of biblical lore. It is by no means a hostile volume devoted solely to poking fun at holy writ. It is a serious and important pressentation of biblical thought and knowledge, classified and arranged in intelligent fashion under every heading from zoology to the fine arts. One who is interested in the place the Bible holds in intellectual history could not do better than to start with this volume. Dr. James H. Leuba is an authority of high standing on all questions connected with the history and philosophy of religion. The present volume (God or Man? A Study of the Value of God to Man, by James H. Leuba, Henry Holt & Cos., $2.75) is probably his most directly useful and practical book. It is a serious and thoroughgoing analysis of the alleged necessity of God and religion for personal happiness and social welfare. His conclusion is well expressed in the following paragraph: “The claims of the religions and of philosophers that they have given an adequate answer to the problem of God are made in an adolescent conceit. An adequate solution would demand a complete knowledge of all things in heaven and earth; it will, therefore, be long delayed! But what of that? Too long have we let ourselves be hoodwinked by the conviction that the primary necessity for a happy, worthwhile life is the possession of a final knowledge of God and of our destiny. To renounce that knowledge and to find, in the enjoyment and creation of that which now appears to us beautiful and good, a satisfaction sufficient to make life worthwhile, is a proof of maturity.”

THE religious humanists desire to base their new cult upon man rather than upon God. They will find Dr. Leuba’s book perhaps the most powerful and effective defense of their fundamental position. Dr. Brook’s is an ardent member of the contemporary free-thought movement and a loyal admirer of Joseph Lewis, His book (The Necessity of Atheism, by Dr. D. M. Brooks, Freethought Press Association, $2) is a sweeping, keen and reasonably learned attack upon organized religion. For enemies of religion the volume is a veritable arsenal. At the same time, it can hardly be said that the book justifies its title. At best, the bock would only justify agnosticism, and many of the writers most enthusiastically quoted in the volume believe in the permanent social values of a humanized and secular religion. Indeed, the defenders of atheism are victims of the same wishful thinking as the theists whom they attack. Most extreme economic radicals repudiate religion root and branch. But Beardyeav reverts to the view set forth by St. Simon a century ag+>, to the effect that a social religion should be the main motive force in economic revolution (Christianity and Class War. By Nicholas Berdyeav’. Sheed & Ward. $1.50). Therefore, he makes an heroic effort to enlist Christianity in the service of social emancipation. The radical Christian socialist can obtain much assurance and stimulation from this volume, which pleads for anew “middle ages.” tt tt tt ONE of the most important periods in the struggle between science and religion was the middle of the nineteenth century when the new doctrines of evolution came into conflict with Christian tradition. Among those who were most effective in spreading the new scientific notions, particularly those of Herbert Spencer, was George Henry Lewes. Miss Kitchell gives us a good summary of Lewes’ intellectual activity in her book on the remarkable romance of Lewes and the eminent woman novelist, George Eliot (George Lewes and George Eliot: A Review of Records. By Anna Theresa Kitchell. The John Day Company. 52.50). Since the days of Ingersoll. the best known American free thinker has been the distinguished lawyer and exnonent of social justice, Clarence S. Darrow. Allen Crandall’* little book (The Man From Kinsman. By Allen Crandall. Published by Author. Sterling. Col., $1) does not pretend to be a systematic biography. It is a brief appreciation of Darrow’s many-sided personality and varied activities. One chapter presents an excellent summary of Darrow's views upon religion—those of an urbane agnostic, not at all hostile to a liberal and tolerant religion such as contemporary humanism.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

MORE GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE!

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The Message Center

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Hake pour letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to SoO words or less.) tt tt tt REAL BUSINESS IS THE NEED OF NATION By H. 1. Secger. The very pertinent observation of Colonel Leonard Ayres of the Cleveland Trust Company that *we must put our unemployed back to work on capital goods production is of great importance. All this talk of overproduction is pure bunk, when we know that 9,000,000 families live in obsolete homes, that 40 per cent of our motor cars are five or more years old, that millions of Americans need a new suit of clothes, and only lack the funds to buy, that home furnishings in many homes are relics of twenty years ago, that modernization of homes would take three years of full time labor.

The only danger of America’s going bankrupt lies in the fact that we have queer conceptions of wealth, everything we value is translated in money terms. These slums must stay because there is a fiction of capital value in them. Chicago has as many vacant apartments and dwellings as the total available housing of Indianapolis, much of it high grade. If, instead of pouring out billions for public works and other nonproductive projects, the federal government would underwrite a ninety-day full production schedule of consumer and producer goods, utilizing all production facilities and man power, there would be real value to national spending. A ninety-day period of highspeed production would create wealth, real values, make tax paying possible, prime the pump of industry, take the red ink out of business, and move the federal deficit into a balanced budget. Let’s go. Real business, not monkey business, is the key.

HERE’S PRAISE FOR TRUSTEE SERVICES By Mrs. Grant Miller. In reading your Message Center I have noticed some people complaining about the trustee. I can not understand why the woman with four sick babies did not get help. My husband worked two days a week for bur basket. When the CWA went into effect he went to work and worked less than a week and became ill. We used up his pay check and then I had to seek help. True enough, I had to wait about four hours to see the visitor of our district, but they were very courteous to me. I could have gone elsewhere and come back, but I stayed there where I could sit down. As soon as I could see the visitor she even made her plans to come to my home in the afternoon, as I take my baby to tne clinic in the morning. The questions are not so bad. The workers only try to find out if there are any immediate relatives who can help. I could tell a great deal about the kindness, but it would take up too much time and space. They gave me two extra quarts oi milk, on the doctor’s orders, an order on the Red Cross for his bedding, as they were afraid I had insufficient bedding. They also mail my grocery order to me, so I will not have to be gone’so long from my babies. If this is not kindness, what is? I am not teacher’s pet, because our family does not, and never has, voted the Democratic ticket. We only tell the truth. My furniture is not of the best, nor is it*f the worst. It was nice

Where Does Little Fellow Come In?

By a Times Reader. The chain store tax is a stiff proposition on peanut stands and filling stations and others doing a special service and selling limited number of items; but, as far as the gasoline stations are concerned. it is not necessary to go out of business for the stations may be turned back to the owners and the company may sell or rent its equipment and the owner continue to buy his gasoline on his account and pay store tax on one store, namely, SSOO a year. Thus, business goes on as usual and the chain continues unbroken. In one specific instance the station was abandoned by the oil company, the equipment offered for sale to the operator for SSO-3 or he could keep it at a rent of

when I got it, but five children will wear things out. When all is said and done the trustee’s assistants are as human as the rest of us, and make mistakes the same as others. tt tt tt OPPOSES TAX PROGRAM OF M’NUTT REGIME By George C. Thompson. A recent article by E. W. Pratt states that the McNutt regime has reduced the tax on real estate nearly one-half. Responding to this assertion, I can say with confidence that Mr. Pratt does not own real estate in Indianapolis. If he did he would ask this question: Why have the tax rates increased 24 cents on SIOO on my property—with a promise of relief from the gross income tax that has failed to function as planned by the McNutt regime? Did this happen because the income tax money was paid to political servants for collecting it, and possibly their salary exceeded the income, that the extra load had to be saddled on real estate, in order to balance the deficiency? This subject suggests the opposite to your delectable ovations contained in your article, Mr. Pratt. And, some time when you are in town, just step over to the Marion county courthouse and gaze over the precise records of the facts; and perhaps you may learn that these same property taxpayers are con-

A Woman’s Viewpoint

MY peace of mind is shattered constantly by the present confusion regarding the proper designation for women in and out of matrimony. I’ve almost come to the place where I am ready to advocate a law, and that means sheer desperation. Why can’t we decide on Miss or Mrs. for everybody and stick to it? Each day thousands of letters, which must be answered, pass through the United States mails signed by such enigmatic names as C. Smith or J. Jones or E. Brown. Nobody can be blessed with sufficient perspicacity to figure out whether their writers are male or female. Consequently one can always count on doing the WTong thing. If the person happens to be a man he will be grossly offended if he is addressed as “My Dear Miss So and So.” His vanity will be wounded, his pride injured, his masculine egoism assailed. Should the writer be a woman, the error may not be so offensive, but it is equally conspicuous.

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

$25 a year, provided he sold the company’s products exclusively. Note—The rental would not be 6 per cent on the investment, but the store tax is reduced from $l5O a year to $5 a year. Where has the revenue to the state gone? If this law was made to further the enterprise of the small merchant—where does he come in? All taxes, direct and indirect, are not paid by the operating companies, but are passed on to ihe consumer. One-tenth of a cent a gallon pays the store tax —why not add it to the price and pass it to the consumer? At lesat eleven big oil companies operate in Indianapolis some of whom will never make a profit. What do we do next?

tributing to the gross income tax, in addition to their increased property and a host of other taxes levied on them by this outfit that is now in power. McNutt, the magnificent dispenser of the accumulation, may be a sea of glee for the beneficiary. Alas, excruciation for the people who are compelled to meet this high cost of government. President Roosevelt has some three years of this term to serve and four more years in the next, so it is premature for me to worry about a future calamity that you have advocated for the people of this country in your choice for a President of the United States. a a tt HE STILL BELIEVES RECOVERY LAWS WRONG By Emmanuel E. Buckler. Recently you published in your column a letter I had written. From all appearances, it did not set very well with some people. This is evidenced by subsequent letters you have printed. I have been amused while reading such articles in answer to it as the one you printed by J. F. W. I am not only amused by satisfied when I see that no one yet has been able to pick a flaw in my contention that these “recovery” laws : are unconstitutional. J. F. W. con- | tends in his rather illogical way j that I tried to “pick or find some very flimsy propaganda to further

A SINGLE girl sometimes will be irritated if you write her down “Mrs.” while the married woman thinks you are poking fun at her when you dub her “Miss,” unless she happens to be some sort of a professional. Then there are these hordes of divorced women taking back maiden names and putting Miss on their cards, while the girls who get married and refuse to assume their husbands’ names are forever bobbing up. One is kept in a perpetual state of agitation for fear one will do or say the incorrect thing. It’s practically impossible to figure out who is married to whom. Not that it matters, of course, only most of us dislike to be responsible for the blunders that such a condition makes almost inevitable. Actually the whole thing is an insanhy. From first to last men, single or married, young or old, pure or impure, are just plain “Mr.” Can we not devise some plan so that women also might enjoy an equally convenient and universal address? Certainly this madhouse confusion we now tolerate should be brought to an end.

FEB. 8,-1934

some special favor.” I wonder if lid believes that the decisions of the United States supreme court, and the Indiana supreme court are “flimsy propaganda?” As to my desire to “further some special favor” I might say that, although I work in the same building in which the senator has his law offices, I never have met the gentleman. I have never and so far as I know, will never ask him for anything, except the privilege of believing he is right, I seek no favor by supporting him. I merely am doing that which any one with average intelligence and forefight would do. The opposition to the senator has but one straw at which to grasp, and it is really very amusing the way they cling to it. It seems-as though the only defect any one can find, and the only reason advanced, for fighting the senator lies in the fact that his office pays pretty good money. So far as I can ascertain, | Senator Van Nuys is not working I for nothing. Robinson is a member of one of the large law firms of | this city, and having some idea of ! the income of a lawyer of hjs cali- | ber, I really imagine he could make more than his salary as Senator by practicing law, if he did not run :or re-election. There is one thing I am’sure of; if the opposition can present no better fight than has been demonstrated by the answers to my letter, Robinson is sure of success in November. But back to my first point. Let’s hear from someone who can prove that I am wrong in my assertion that these “recovery" laws are unconstitutional. it a THESE WORDS ARE PLENTY FOR ANY ONE By Orrie J. Simmons. A somewhat amusing incident came to my attention, and may interest you. My daughter, 14. attending Manual Training high school, was given among her required reading, “A Son of the Middle Border,” by Hamlin Garland <edited for school use by E. H. Kemper McComb, principal of Manual). One evening she stated she could not do so and so because she must finish “A Son of the Middle‘Border” that evening—it was a part of her assignment. I picked up the volume and found 467 pages of 400 words each, or nearly one-fifth of a million words. Quite an evening’s chore! Possibly the young lady had been putting it off for a few days or something. But I just wonder if the author could not have done better in half the words. What do ycuU think? On the other hand, book contained mighty fine history source material, for atmosphere, setting, etc. So I'm not complaining.

On a Street Car BY HARRIET SCOTT OLINICK She sat alone, her queer, strange face Peered out beneath a felt hat’s brim. Her eyes were enigmatic, green; Her nose was pointed, sharp and thin. Her coat was shabby, pulled about A gown of black chiffon, sad ghost Os frocks that ladies wear to grace A ball, and of their shoulders boast. Her body was a shapeless mass Os wrinkled flesh drawn bones. Her soul crouched In her staring eyes, * Asking for bread In place o; stone*