Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 247, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 February 1934 — Page 22

PAGE 22

The Indianapolis Times iA SCRIPTS HOWARD NEWSPAPER) ROT W. HOWARD President TALCOTT POWELL Editor EARL D. BAKER Business Manager Phone— Riley MSI

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Give Light and the Peopl e WtU Find Their Ottn Wan

FRIDAY. FEB 23 1931

RATIFY THE AMENDMENT! IF the Kentucky legislature fails to ratify the federal child labor amendment it will not be for lack of lucid explanation as to just why it should act. Labor Secretary Frances Perkins in ner unprecedented but very sensible address this week gave the legislature practical rather than sentimental reasons for ratifying. Only federal action on this subject will protect states and • > mployers l she pointed out. Without uniform standards employers who are unwilling to exploit this cheapest form of labor are at the mercy of less scruoulous employers. Likewise, states which rebel at the social effects of industrial labor upon their children are at the mercy of states which are indifferent to the problem. “The state child labor laws fit together like a crazy patchwork quilt,” said Miss Perkins. “Industry does not recognize political boundaries; many important industrial areas spread across state lines. The development o* our economic and industrial structure is calling for a degree of national co-operation and supervision that was unnecessary 150 years ago. “In many states in which efforts to raise state standards met with failure, the child labor amendment was ratified. This indicated a widespread conviction that we must move forward together.” It is true that we should move forward together. Doing so. we shall hurt no employer, no industry, no section of the country. If we fail to go forward there is no alternative but a retreat again to exploitation of the wealth and vigor of the country tomorrow. Secretary Perkins, speaking for President Roosevelt, has removed this issue from the realm of politics, from the realm of sentimentality, from the hysteria which has surrounded It LIQUOR IMPORTS OINCE repeal and passage of the new revenue act the importations of foreign liquors have been disappointingly low Asa result President Roosevelt has instructed Joseph H. Choate Jr., federal alcohol administrator, to conduct a thorough study ot the situation to find out what is holding down imports. We suspect that Mr Choate will find that congress has fixed the tariff rate too high. The federal impost is $5 a gallon plus the normal tax of $2 a gallon on imported spirits This makes a tax of $7 on every gallon. It would be strange, indeed, if any great volume could flow over that high a wall. High liquor taxes invite bootlegging deprive consumers of oure liquor and rob the government of revenue. High liquor tariffs operate In the same way. “LIFE OF OUR LORD” BY JOHN WHARTON A S 1 read the new “Life of Our Lord” by ° h r:: s Dickens> the th ° ught <* t 0 me that there are many who do not believe that the story is true; who do not believe that Jesus was the Son of God; that He arose from the dead: that He ascended into heaven, and that He will come again. It ought to be true. It ought to be true that a divinity said to the tired and the forlorn; to the discouraged and the distressed: ‘ Come all y e who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” It ought to be true that there was one to say to the smug and the self-glorified: "Let him among you who is without sin cast the first stone.” It ought to be true because of a world, suffering from the consequences of avarice and double dealing, needs the hand of a Master to point the way. Regardless of what our religious beliefs may be. the fact is that had we followed, in a practical sense, the teachings of Jesus, this and other nations would not be in the plight in which they find themselves. In a world living under the tenets of the Golden Rule, the few would not control the great reservoirs of wealth, while children were crying from hunger; while women were suffering from cold; while men were walking the street*, pleading in vain for the right to jobs. In a world controlled by the tenets of the Golden Rule, we would need no laws to'make bankera honest; to make employers just; to make workmen worthy of their hire. We have suffered because of our own folly; because of selfishness; because of lack of integrity; because men here and there believed that they were sufficient unto themselves. Tomorrow, next week, next month—no man knows when—the trumpets again may sound, the drums may roll, calling men to war. Nations, in their pride, will send forth their youth to die on battlefields, as other youths died in the war which was to end all wars. Hate once more will be in the saddle and women will throw themselves upon their knees and weep, even as Mary wept at the foot of the cross. Nineteen hundred years have passed since that dark day at Golgotha when Jesus, in the agony of death, turned to the thief upon the cross and said: “ThiA day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." But In those nineteen hundred years we •eem to have been guided little by the teachings of the Man of Galilee. And we have paid the price. We seek, by law, to make men honest—and our prisons are full. But If all the men In prisons were released and if all the dishonest men now free were placed behind bars,

the prisons would be much more crowded than they are now. Laws, laws, laws. We could erase all of them from the books and find sufficient to our every need, were we to obey it, this one rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you " REMOVING THE CRUTCH WITHIN the next ten weeks approximately 3,600,000 American wage-earners will lose their jobs. The civil works administration is going ahead with its plan to discontinue operations by May I—by which time, it is hoped, reviving industry will offer places for the men who are turned loose. About all the innocent bystander can say about this move is, “I hope it works.” If it doesn’t, the wrench is apt to be a severe one. And the plain fact that this enormously expensive CWA program can’t go on forever isn’t much comfort. The whole busii.ess leads one to wonder if the much-talked-of public works program may not. after all, have to be the crutch that we will lean on until we get past the depression period. Putting men to work by the public works route costs a lot of money. But it at least gives us something definite in return—solid and lasting things, like buildings, roads, canals, airports and the like—to make the expenditure productive. And it does not contradict itself, as do so many of the emergency measures. It does not seek to overcome a shortage of goods by calling on people to produce less and less of everything. It does not seek to invent a lot of nearly useless jobs. It does not raise grave questions about the modification of our traditional system of industry and capital. It simply is a scheme whereby a lot of badly needed work can be done, a lot of idle capital can be put in motion. After all, when you stop to think about it, there is enough work waiting to be done in this country to keep us all busy for generations to come. We talk of our idle men and our idle money—and all the while there are miserable slums to be replaced with decent homes, uncounted miles of roadway to be built, rivers to be harnessed and controlled, canals to be dug, power plants to be erected, public buildings to be put up . . . you could make out an almost endless list. We live in an enormous country which is blessed noth every natural resource, we have an industrious and capable army of citizens eager to work, and the job of supplying ourselves with an abundance of the necessities and luxuries of life hardly has begun. A public works program is a start in the right direction. If cutting off the CWA helps us to realize that fact, it will be worth all the trouble it may cause. THE FINAL VICTORY FERGUSON’S entertaining se- * ’ ries of drawings, “This Curious World,” makes an interesting point about George Washington's military career, pointing dut that while Washington was in command of the American revolutionary army he lost considerably more battles than he won. He was routed badly on Long Island, he was chased north from Manhattan, he was pursued all across New Jersey, he failed to stop the British before Philadelphia, and he failed to cut them off when they moved back to New York. Truly, if the mere number of victories were any criterion. Washington was a very poor general. Yet he occupies high rank as a military man; and his career reminds one of what often is said of the British army in other wars—that it has a habit of losing every battle except'the last one. That was what Washington did. He lost fight after fight, but he never gave up, and he won the last one—which counted more than all the others put together. A SERIOUS UNDERTAKING 'T'HE fact that three army pilots lost their lives in crashes while flying to air mail fields, preparatory to taking up their new duties as mail pilots, is a bad omen, even though they had not yet begun to fly the regular mail routes. It does not mean, of course, that the army fliers will be less capable of carrying the mail than the regular civilian pilots have been. But it does serve as a reminder that flying the mail is a specialized and difficult job, requiring the utmost skill and the most elaborate and accurate preparation. The civilian pilots have made a truly remarkable record on this job in the last half dozen years. No one doubts that the army fliers are as brave, capable, and well-trained as any airmen in the country; but in taking over the mail routes they are stepping into a strange new field, filled with dangers. The whole country will wish them the best of luck in their new venture. WHEN RADICALS MEET /"NNE thing that the ordinary citizen finds it almost impossible to understand is the venomous bitterness which the different radical sects hold toward one another. The row between Socialists and Communists at that Austrian protest meeting in New York the other night is a case in point. To most of us. probably, the difference between 3 Socialist and Communist is not very great; certainly it can not be a tenth as great as the difference between either party and an out-and-out capitalist. But neither Socialist nor Communist ever assails the capitalist with half of the sustained fury that he looses on his comrade-in-radicalism. A Socialist-Communist row is the most savage of all political scraps. And it's all very hard to comprehend. One would think the two factions at least could present a united front against the established order. But they can't. They never fight so well as when they are fighting each other. Adolf Hitler’s mother, it is said, had a grand sense of humor. Her best joke was little Adolf. When the king of Sweden plays tennis, he is ‘Mr. G." It wouldn’t be polite to yell, “Forty, Love!” to a king. Washington writer suggests the formation of & third party. What name can we give Huey Long?

“HELL SHIPS” ANOTHER reform effort for which NRA is to be thanked is the proposed code of the salmon canners, to be heard in San Francisco on Feb. 26. For decades labor conditions among the unskilled salmon cannery hands who are shipped each spring by the thousand from Pacific coast ports to Alaska have been a national scandal. In 1922 the Scripps-Howard newspapers assigned a reporter to investigate these conditions. Disguised as a cannery hand he shipped on one of the ancient wind-jammers, known as “hell ships,” took the perilous journey to Bristol Bay and worked in a typical cannery there. The things he found and wrote about recalled the days of slavery*. Americans were hired by Chinese labor contractors, overworked, underpaid, exploited by outfitting middlemen, subjected to extreme dangers of disease and exposure. Many came back in the fall owing money to the contractors. This newspaper exposure brought minor reforms through state laws. The new code raises wages, limits hours, insures safe conduct end medical care. Its chief value is that it abolishes the Chinese contract system that has survived from the early ’Fifties, when Chinese did the rough work for the far west. The old sailing vessels that used to haul the workers and their product to and from the salmon fields of Alaska are being replaced by steam freighters. It is encouraging to learn that the vile conditions with which they were associated also are passing. PROOF OF GREATNESS TT is a graceful and public-spirited thing A that those famous physicians, Minnesota's Mayo brothers, have done in giving an additional $500,000 for medical research to the University of Minnesota. Their explanation is that, since the money originally came from the sick, “we believe that it ought to return to the sick in the form of advanced medical education.” This country seldom has produced any more truly useful citizens than these Mayo brothers. And, incidentally, by their generosity to the cause of medical science, they seem to have demonstrated pretty clearly that a desire for riches is not the only motive that can cause a talented man to give his best efforts to his job. New York has declared war on bad liquor, but nowadays one doesn’t know which is worse, the liquor or the war.

Liberal Viewpoint By DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES=

Editor’s Note—This is the first of two articles hr Harry Elmer Barnes, Ph. D., on the grave peril of the new deal at the hands of the rehabilitated tories. OUR radicals have been very profuse with their assertions that the new deal never could succeed even if tried thoroughly and fairly. With this point of view I never have been able fully to concur. It would take a very innocent or a very optimistic person to believe that the new deal could, under any circumstances, save capitalism for an indefinite period. But I always have believed that, if it could be sincerely and honestly put into operation, it might make possible the restoration of prosperity and decency for at least another generation. It may be, however, that this difference of opinion never will be authoritatively settled. In spite of much complacency, just at present, the new deal today is in a very critical situation. By March 4 the condition may be more critical than it was on March 4, 1933. I do not mean to imply that the superficial' economic situation will be anywhere near as bad as it was a year ago. In fact, it may be some better than it is today. A year ago, however, even the bank holiday was lightened a great deal by the feeling that the money-changers and the industrial Bourbons were forever descredited and never again would be able to interfere with serious efforts to construct civilized economic and social order. Today, they are climbing back into- the saddle and the new deal is very literally in desperate danger of never being tried. a tt tt HPHE general character and aims of the new deal have been stated frequently and are reasonably clear to any one who wishes to understand them. The ideals, methods and dominion of the piratical investment bankers and the industrial tories which brought us from “normalcy” to the crash of 1929 were to be ruthlessly put behind us in favor of a program based upon the community of interest of all Americans. The old emphasis of capitalism upon purely speculative profit at the expense of constructive business and upon excessive production for the purpose of profit, without any intelligent consideration of the purchasing power of American consumers, was to be repudiated. It was conceded frankly that the distribution of the social income in the past had been all wrong. The cream of the period of prosperity had been skimmed off by a relatively few fortunate individuals. The farmers were worse off in 1929 than they had been in 1921. The wage-earners had received only a scanty proportion of the economic gains of the decade. Mass purchasing power in 1928 and 1929 was in no way capable of ustaining prosperity. This utterly absurd situation was to be done away with. Economic rewards were to be redistributed in such fashion as to assure adequate and permanent mass purchasing power. A major reason for the hogging of the social income by the few economic overlords was the weakness of labor organization and the paralysis of its activities by hostile judicial decisions. The new deal promised to remedy this situation by bestowing upon labor equal freedom of capital to organize and promote its interests. a tt e MOST fundamental of all, the new age of capitalism must be one dedicated primarily to the interests of the consumer. It was maintained quite correctly that capitalism never could endure unless we placed primary emphasis upon encouraging consumers to desire the good things of life in abundance and then put at their disposal the financial ability to go into the market and purchase the goods which they wished. It was conceded that something striking and effective would have to be done to reduce the colossal burden of debt—some 5238.000.000.000 which hangs over the head of the United States government and its citizens. It seemed to be understood very clearly that j the complex of policies and legislation adopted I by the new administration in 1933 would be only the starting point from which we would advance toward a complete and adequate plan for the control of American economic life in the interest of the whole community of Americans. It was assumed that though the apostles of the old order might object strenuously to later and more drastic extensions of the new deal, they would co-operate enthusiastically with the mild measures proposed in 1933. It was believed that they might possess enough logic to wish to give the preliminary plan a fair trial, in order to demonstrate that no more far-reaching measures would be necessary to restore prosperity. Some were inclined to concede them enough intelligence to understand that the system which brought us to the abyss in 1929 never could or should be resto/ed.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

ANOTHER CASE OF CARRYING COALS TO NEWCASTLE

gj#;'gggp m 11 j | I; i 8 MRS. ROOSEVELT 'V.. M qives the m does she V H PRESIDENT Aif MEAN- I . A,

fTVI A/Tnoon nCr\ / wholly disapprove of what you say and will! X 110 IVI OSScIiZO V>IOITLOX _ defend to the death your right to say it — Voltaire. J

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to 250 words or less.) tt tt tt PEACE, NOT WAR, SHOULD BE AIM OF NATIONS. Bv J. M. B. What is wrong with the world? Reading daily news from here and everywhere brings you nothing but talk of war. You read of that country in Europe and then another country talking about rebuilding strength for war. Unrest, bloodshed, governments falling, war talk here and there. What is wrong with the world leaders? Don’t they realize that the more they look to strife I and unrest the harder their problem becomes and soon they, too, shall fall. Wars don’t solve the problems. People don’t want wars. To you world leaders, Hitler, Dollfuss, Doumergue, Stalin, Mussolini and others, lay down your plans of war and arms. Now is the time for all those peace conference and happy relations and not talk of going to war. Call a halt right now. To you leaders of the world, get together all of you, spend a couple of weeks in some country and peacefully untangle this worldly unrest. It can be done. You never will do it with talk of war and steel, but you can do it with good sound thinking. tt tt tt URGES NEW DEAL IN CIVIC MOVEMENTS By Corporal J. W. Carter. I have read that Mark R. Gray has announced his candidacy in the primary for mayor, and several others also have political aspirations for this honor.' Well, there certainly is a great opportunity there with a several sided race for a man of vision and liberal tendencies of a practical nature! Here’s hoping him success in this venture, and, with a liberal program and a practically airtight political organization, I can not see any reason why he can not win. In a time like the present, it seems to me that a proposal to the business. civic, labor, church, fraternal, technical, scientific, social and other variegated organizations of the city, to establish a foundation on a nonpartisan basis, to promote and further a great crusade for the revival and attraction of business enterprises to the city and to awaken a greater sense of civic righteousness and duty of the average business man and laborer, should be popular. Get such a prominent man as a Newton D. Baker (nationally speaking) who has the strict confidence of the people as a whole to interest the various leaders in a great crusade to promote the venture in a metropolitan crusade for industrial and civic betterment for the city as a whole. It would take such a man of trustworthiness as a Newton D. Baker, or one of such national prominence to start the movement, because of his sincerity of purpose and open mindedness of thought. Here are sincere wishes and highest hopes tltt-t Mark R. Gray will be the next mayor of Indianapolis. Not only the next but the best one. tt a a PROTESTS PAYMENT FOR HIS TOBACCO CROP By a Times Reader. As I have been reading your Message Center, please let me give you another incident that proves capitalism is the cause of poverty. I worked all summer on a tobacco crop. A few days ago I sent my tobacco to Madison to market, and received in exchange for my tobacco a check for $2.61. The tobacco trust has the light company outclassed. Now, our government should get after such companies as hard as the state gets after the Dillinger mob. Grafters are causing crime and poverty. Now Is the time to stop it.

By E. B. Bender. Just a word for the Main Street Observer, who can’t understand •why it doesn’t make the farmer happy to see somebody else getting a good price for farm products. The fact that farm stuff always have brought better prices to the middle man than the farmers, and that the higher the price the consumer pays, the lower the farmer gets—statistics for practically any year will show that curious relation —is one of the many dumb things about the way this country has conducted its business affairs for years. The farmer finally has realized that what he needs is to hold on to his stuff until it is ready to bring a good price, instead of letting some outsider make the profit. If he ever gets a little stake ahead, so that he can hang on, I believe he knows enough now to do it. Farm co-operatives already are doing it. Honest-to-goodness farmers in Indiana last year held wool until it reached 29 cents, instead of taking 9 to 12 cents that it would bring at shearing time. As long as the consumer has to buy it on 29-cent market, why shouldn’t the man who raised it sell it at that? Why should it REPUBLICANS DOOMED FOR 30 YEARS, HE SAYS By Janies F. Walker. Never before in the history of American politics has the consensus been so overwhelming in admiration of our President. Since Washington, he is the idol of America. The Republicans are so panicky, it’s the most comical exhibition of the day. Every attack they make rebounds like a boomerang, hitting so hard they never regain consciousness. The next presidential campaign is going to be another one of those whispering campaigns, if by that time they are able to whisper. I doubt if they will be, for if it is started this early three years from now no one could possibly hear them. And, if my guess is correct, by the time all of this corruption of the Coolidge and Hoover adminbe a whisper in a car load. The Reistration is uncovered, there won’t

A Woman’s Viewpoint - By MRS. WALTER FERGUSON

“XJEVER in my life have I i.N| wanted anything so much as I want that coral necklace,” said Grace, as we stood looking longingly into the gorgeous window filled with gems that would make your mouth water. Every woman’s footsteps hesitated as she passed; every feminine eye lighted with envy and longing as it turned in that direction. “And do you know what Bob says?” she went on. her gaze still fascinated by the beauty spread before her. “Just go on wanting it, Gracie. You may as well be wanting that as anything else. If you got it tomorrow, in a couple of days you’d be hankering for some other treasure. It’s as good as anything I know to take out your wanting on.” Wise Bob. He's as right as can be. And the nice thing about the family is that Grace knows he’s right. She admits it. She says if it were not the coral necklace it would be furs, or a Sheffield tray, or anew stair carpet, or a rock garden, or something. a tt tt 808, in this respect, is probably no different. He wants

For the Farmers

be paid to a middleman? It's dumb to let a fellow who does nothing but hold it in his hands a little while make the lion’s share of the profit. But what about the consumer who won’t pay a good price for eggs that are fresh, but waits until they have been in storage for six months and he can buy them from a middleman? Is that such a bright thing to do? You fellows who buy eggs ought to think up a better system than that. The government isn't spending any more money putting the farmer on his feet than it has spent putting other businesses, banks, transportation systems, etc., on their feet. It isn’t love for the hayshaker that makes Uncle Sam do it. Uncle Sam thinks the country wants food. If you don’t think so. you might write and tell Uncle Sam to quit trying and starve whenever you feel so disposed. In the other businesses the money has come back. In the case of the farmer, well, look up your statistics on taxes. The farmer always has been a better taxpayer than any other business in the world. Zionsville, Ind. publicans are doomed for thirty years, and should be. tt tt tt YOUNG MEN, WOMEN URGED FOR OFFICES By Fay Langdon. I have heard many politicians speak lately and they all agree that the control of the governmental offices should be turned over to young men and women as the most effective means of getting back to normal. I agree with them 100 per cent, except that I am willing to line up with others and start such a movement, instead of just talking about it. I don’t believe there is any question but what the greatest of our trouble today has been caused by too many old-time, self-centered politicians being in control. There is only way to remove these old powers from their thrones, and that is to elect young men and women. If enough man and women would become members of a “youth in of-

now to be made sixth vice-presi-dent of his company, and next year he’ll want an eight-cylinder Cadillac, and the year after that he may be eating his heart out with longing for an invitation to join an exclusive country club. Man or woman, there's always something else we desire. But one becomes a philosopher when one has grown as wise as Bob and Grace, wise enough, that is, to realize that life offers but two gifts to mortals—anticipation and memory. The secret of human happiness lies in knowing that you can never satisfy your wants. When one has climbed the mountain one looks out and yearns for the far-off, glittering sea, and when one has attained the sea the mountain peaks appear delectable. To Grace the necklace is like the sea or the mountain. She goes down and looks at it and then comes home, knowing well she has just about everything to make any woman happy except perhaps that particular coral necklace. It is today one of her unattainables and regarding it qs such—she remains happy.

.FEB. 23, 1934

fice” movement, and actually vote for the slates as laid down by this group, the candidates would be members of either party or both, between ages of 21 and 40. In a comparatively short time these powers to be who have reigned over this country down through the states, cities, etc., would be replaced with young blood with new ideas and clean records. No doubt there would be occcasional mistakes, but it would at least be an honest one, and not one carefully planned to benefit some one in particular. tt n o CAPITAL ICE COMPANY PRAISED BY READER By Observer. Recently an employe of the Capital ice Company gave me some interesting information, it seems that the company actually observes the rules of the NRA. Their men are paid good wages; they make a commission on their business, and, at the end of eight hours, other men take over their trucks, if they are out on their routes. Isn’t it refreshing to hear about a firm “on the square?” O tt u “SERVICE PLEASE,” IS PLEA TO SHERIFF Mrs. H Morrison. I live at the north end of Keystone avenue, i am a widow, living on a rented farm and trying to make an ’ honest living. I -would like to know how to get protection from thieves. They came last fall three different times, broke the lock and stole my chickens. We called the sheriff, but he didn't come. • Last week they broke the lock on our meat house, and took all my meat and lard. We called the sheriff early next morning. He said he would come right out, but he didn't come. Now, if the sheriff’s time is all taken up. I suggest we elect a rural sheriff, as we farmers need protection from thieves, or do they think we work hard to keep plenty for the thieves to steal. Now’. I would like you to print this and see that the sheriff gets his paper. 808 CLOTHING, FOOD DISPOSAL SYSTEM IS ATTACKED By C. W. A. W. I would like, for you to print this letter about a"-woman who went to the school board and was unable to get clothes for her child. Also, another woman says she went and she was turned down cold. She has three or four in school. They are white people. There was a Negro woman who sent word to School 12 for shoes and clothing for her boy. Os course, the white people did not get any. but the Negro woman got all she needed.

In a Name

BY EUGENIE RICHART “I was named Tulip,” A girl said, "For the pink in my cheeks, For the gold on my head. I was named Tulip.”. She said lightly, “For my purple eyes That glow so brightly.” "My daughter’s named Tulip,” Her mother said, “For a gay spring, And my youth, both dead. My daughter’s named Tulip For a young love And for a sin She does not know of.”