Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 248, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 February 1934 — Page 2

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It Seems to Me By Heywood Broun I WAS writing yesterday in a somewhat facetious way on a very serious subject. An editorial in the New York Herald Tribune moved me to discuss the reputation of American newspapers. According to the Herald Tribune’s own estimate, it generally is agreed in America that our papers are the finest in enterprise, public spirit and fairness. I believe this is a decided misconception of the popular attitude.

It is within neither my power nor province to say whether or not American newspapers as a whole should have such a ranking in the public mind. But the plain and palpable fact is that they have not. Many things have occurred within the last four years w’hich have led the average reader to distrust the average newspaper. Never has the phrase "Oh. that’s just a newspaper story” carried a heavier ring of cynicism. But it is my impression that newspapers have suffered far more from a failure to print than for any gross errors in factual statement. I will agree, also, that part of the loss of

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Heywood Broon

reputation which newspapers have suffered may have come through excellent motivation. a a a Maybe They Meant W ell INDEED, I think that Washington itself during the Hoover regime set the pace and the practice which sre dangerous and punishing to journalism. I am referring to the familiar theory that psychological factors played a major part in the depression and that recovery would be far more rapid if a bright face were turned upon everything which was happening. But what was the result? Certain investors lost their money in enterprises which proved after the event to have been very transparent swindles. These mrn and women, naturally, were inclined to ask. Whv didn't my newspaper let me know anything of these conditions before the complete exposure came?" It was certainly the policy of the press, in general, to play down the increasing number of bank failures which preceded the holiday. Up to a year or so ago there was a vast minimizing of the extent of unemployment. Editors throughout the country fell for the fatal heresy of giving the public wrat they assumed would be good for it rather than the new's itself, bleak and ungarnished. In this respect T think there has been a recent improvement. It seems to me that at least some of our journals are now willing to look at the dark sidp of things when that is the side to which the weight of evidence points. But even yet newspapers are unwilling to give up one peculiar perquisite. You probably are aware of the fact that when a man or woman sues a paper for libel the story has a much better chance of being printed if the litigant loses. Save in the case of very big names, the person who sues will get no publicity at all if he happens to be awarded damages. And this bad habit of thinking about the newspaper industry itself as particularly privileged has led to a number of abuses. You may find in one of the better papers long and adequate articles on the labor situation in coal or steel or cotton. A certain number of newspapers will be eminently fair in giving the facts and in telling the point of view of the workers. man The Gumshoe Code ONE of the most interesting codes presented in Washington was the newspaper code. It enlisted the direct attention of the President. It took a vast amount of General Johnson's time, and reams of testimony were heard; vital information as to methods of news dissemination was spread upon the records, and yet almost nothing was printed about the whole problem. One or two New' York papers gave fairly full accounts. The rest was silent or. at best, paragraphic. I remember one particular incident. Charles P. Howard, president of the International Typographical Union, was rebuked sharply by Elisha Hanson, counsellor for the publishers. "We have tried to play fair with you.” Mr. Hanson said, "and then you go out and make speeches in which my clients are held up as great villains and rascals.” "I thought,” said Mr. Howard, "that one of your fights was for the freedom of the press. Doesn't free speech go along with that? Haven't Ia right to express my opinion whether you like it or not? And. incidentally, don't you fpel that your bringing the subject up just now may prove a little embarrassing r the deputy administrator?” a a a The Integrity of the Sen s PROFESSOR LINDSEY ROGERS was at that time in charge of the newspaper code. He went to Chicago to make a speech on the newspaper business at the typographical convention. In the course of his speech he made one or two severe criticisms of newspaper practice. Asa result every paper in Chicago but one omitted his speech entirely. The other gave him a single line. It seems to me that the general public likely Is to be far more excited about thp freedom of the press if It is coupled with still another slogan which should be "the integrity of the news.” • Copyright. 1934, bv United Press)

Your Health BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN

SOMEHOW, because the eye is such a highly specialized and important organ of the human body, we have come to separate it in our minds from our bodies. Nevertheless, you should consider it not only as a part of your body, with special functions, but also as a mirror of the body for many conditions which affect your system as a whole. When you have trouble with your nervous system, with the blood vessels or the heart, when certain infections invade your body, the very first manifestations may become apparent in the eye Sometimes a tumor in the brain is discovered first because of a difficulty with sight. Sometimes double vision is the first sign of an inflammation of the brain. The pupils of the eye mav vary’ in size due to some condition in the eye itself, but sometimes because of the taking of drugs or some condition behind the eye. att m IN cases in which the nervous system is attacked by syphilis, the pupil of the eye will respond to the vision of distant objects or near objects, but will not narrow with more light or widen with less light, as does an ordinary pupil. In addition to examining the eye from outside, the competent physician can study th back of the eye with an instrument called the ophthalmoscope. In various forms of severe anemias there are frequently hemorrhages in the back of the eye. In many conditions affecting the white blood cells, similar changes occur. In the retina of the eye the doctor can see a blood vessel at close range and observe the changes which occur in disease conditions. When there is hardening of the arteries, the blood vessels in the back of the eye are found to be very much twisted, sometimes narrowed, and sometimes broken with bleeding. a a a WHEN there are diseases of the kidney which interfere with the ordinary output of this organ. resulting eventually in the condition called uremia, changes in the back of the eye may appear long before other manifestations, such as convulsions. Diabetes, too, produces a large \anety of changes in the eye. Thus you can see that the eye is linked closely to many diseases of the body as a whole, and examination of the eyes, both from within and without, frequently reveals information of the greatest importance in establishing a diagnosis. Os course, where the actual disease of the eye Itself la responsible for loss of vision, for headaches, or for various types of nervous disorders, a complete examination of the eye by a physician who has given special attention to the subject is of utmost importance.

HORRORS OF THE NEXT WAR

• Deadly Gases to Be Turned Against Cities in Next Struggle^

ThU in the third of Dtrid Dteti' teries of rtie>* on the "Horror* of the. Next World War.” BY DAVID DIETZ &eripp-Howard Science Editor POISON gases, one breath of which wil cause instant death, so penetrating they will eat their way through clothing and burn the skm honbly, causing great cancerous sores, will be used in the next world war. A shiidder of revulsion ran through the whole world when the Germans released the first cloud of poison gas at Ypres in April, 1915. The gas w'as chlorine. It caught the allies entirely unprepared and killed 6,000 men. People read with horror of the deaths of these first victims, their faces blue and bloated, their lips flecked with blood, as they died gasping and coughing. But chlorine gas was soon shoved aside as too mild and ineffective. It could be beaten with the aid of masks. And soon all the belligerents in the World war were using poison gases w’hile behind the lines leading chemists and scientists w r orked night and day to make more deadly gases. It has been said many times that when the armistice was signed. the allies were getting ready to launch a poison gas attack the like of which had never been seen. The next world war will begin where the last one left off. This is the opinion of the military experts. I find it stated again and again, by French, British, German, Swpdish. Swiss authorities. That means th enext world w r ar will begin with the use of poison gas. mom YOU will find very little talk among the military men about the horror of poison gases. Instead, the great majority of them point out that it is more humane than high explosive shells. Poison gas. they say, does not kill as many as high explosive shells. It does not tear off arms and legs the w-ay exploding shells do. Among military men there is even the opinion that the best poison gas may not prove sufficiently horrible for the next w’ar. "In a future W'ar.” says General Von Metzsch, member of the German general staff in the last World w’ar. "chemicals will be used on a far greater scale than in the World war, unless by that time their use has proved to be too humane to effect a speedy decision. This is quite possible. If it is the case, chemicals will be less important than explosives.” But however that may be. scientists in every nation are working on the problem of poison gases. Their goal is an odorless, colorless. deadly gas that will penetrate any gas mask and that can be manufactured from raw materials available within the borders of their ow'n country. One of the chief arguments in every country for the building up of a strong chemical industry is that dye and drug and perfume plants could be turned overnight into poison gas factories. mam WHAT secrets may be locked up in the archives of war departments, no one is able to say. It is possible, however, to discuss the gases which w r ere used in the last w r ar and the gases which were ready for use as the war closed. And it should be remembered that any gas used in the last war will be used more effectively in the next because of improvements in artillery and improvements in aircraft.

ROUNDING ROUND rp tt yj' A rpryp DC WITH WALTER I 1 LKO D . HICK MA N

THE legitimate theater is back in this city and it is glorious Main Street. That is the memory I always will carry' with me after seeing "Seventeen,” as presented last night at the Murat before an audience which was nearly capacity.

Main Street of twenty years ago came back to life last night as the Civic Theater cast placed Willie Baxter, his ma and pa and that "terrible person," his sister Jane, into life again. The lines that Booth Tarkington caused to live were given a new meaning last night. His youngsters of other days had their problems. The children of today talk and even live anew program of existence. And yet. the big audience last night laughed with and not at the characters of another day. It was this pcceptance of Mr. Tarkinton's lines and situations which speaks so well of his dreams and observations of many years ago. a a a AWAY from their own theater. The Playhouse, the members of the cast gave ample proof of the training, integrity and an idea of purpose which has given this organization a right to be considered a real civic influence at home or even on "tour.’’ The great idea was to honor Mr. Tarkington for what he has accomplished on the stage and in literature. This message was brought home in a curtain talk by Governor Paul Y. McNutt as he read telegrams expressing praise for the "Gentleman not from Indiana, but in Indiana." The play was the thing last night and the audience knew it. The players accepted that challenge and the result was genuine Indiana theater. a a a IN considering the cast, we have several examples of what may be termed rightly graduate acting of the Civic Theater. There were two outstanding performances in the three complete acts staged last night. These were contributed by Fanchon Fattig as Jane Baxter, that "awful child." and by Booth Tarkington Jameson as Willie Baxter, or "Silly Bill." On the part of Miss fattig. there was a genuine characterization of an impulsive child who would spy on her "big brother." She was at her best as she told her mother that Willie had taken two baskets up to his room and had vanished.

All military authorities look for airplane raids upon cities in the next war. Poison gas, they all agree, will be used in such attacks. Professor Philip Noel Baker, a former English member of the secretariat of the League of Nations, writes, "In the last war, gas never was used against open towns, but now the air force of every country has been trained to carry out large-scale gas attacks and unless an effective disarmament treaty is prepared and a.cceptetd, every large town will inevitably be subjected to an intensive gas attack in the next war. The gas will naturally be more deadly than formerly. "Three drops of ‘Lewisite’ are enough to kill a man if they come in contact with any part of the skin.” Lord Halsbury, chief of the explosives department of the British ministry of war during the World war, informed the house of lords on July 14, 1928, that forty tons of diphenylcyanarsine would be enough to destroy all of London. This gas was used in the last World war. Brigadier-General Fries of the American army, in a communication to the aviation committee of the house of representatives, stated that new gases, invented since the war, are fifty times superior to those used in the war. a a a IET us have a look at some of the poison gases and their effects. The poison gases can be divided into five classes. First there are the acute lung irritants. These include chlorine, phosgene, "Green Cross” gas or

During this scene she possessed traits of character drawing which had an adult understanding although the character was juvenile. Mr. Jameson, as William Sylvanus Baxter, brought the years of knowledge that he was a magnificent part of the original inspiration on part of the author, to such a degree of showmanship that Willie always was believeable. That is the test of the role. a a a THE serenade scene had its. moments, but it did not reach the heights of comedy relief which were needed. That was the only serious defect in the first three acts of the play. Elizabeth Bogert Schofield last night showed the benefits of study. She was at east nearly all the time in her part. Much depends on the way the “baby talk girl” is acted in this play. It is a difficult role. Henrietta Orr had this difficult task. She rose to her great moment when she tossed her kiss to the Man in the Moon as the boys left the front porch on a grand date night. There is a natural charm about everything that Walter P. Pfaff does on the stage. He loves to get in the land <jf make-believe. His Mr. Parcher was perfect. The audience recognized it. Mr. Pfaff knows how to get genuine comedy out of pantomime. Others who contributed to the genuine success of the cast were Horace F. Hill 111 Robert Hanika. Jane Roemler, R. Blayne McCurrv. Myles Sweeney. Eugene McManamon. Lionel Wiggam, and Mary Florence Fletcher. Hale Mac Keen directed "Seventeen" and as usual the assisting staff gave a production which was right. Last night was a night which will be remembered for years to come. Youth ruled once more. New Attendance Records Janet Gaynor s latest Fox film. "Carolina," in which she is starred with Lionel Barrymore, has set new at‘<-ndance records in Philadelphia. Detroit. Baltimore and Cleveland as well as Tucson. Phoenix, Indianapolis and other cities.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

trichlormethylchloroformate, and chloropicrin. Green Cross has the effect of making the capillaries of the lungs pervious to the blood. The result is that the lungs fill up with blood and the victim drowns in his own blood. “Dry land drowning,” the British soldiers called it in the last war. Chloropicrin also causes the lungs to fill up with liquid and so causes death. The second type are the socalled lachrymators. These irritate the eyes, producing temporary blindness. They are chiefly useful in surprise attacks. Among them are xylyl bromide and ethyl iodoacetate. The third type are known as paralysants. Prussic acid is one of them. In high enough concentration, they cause death almost instantaneously by their effect upon the nervous system. The fourth type are known as sternutators since they often cause sneezing. They irritate the eyes, nose and throat. Blue Cross gas, used in the World war. was of this type. These gases are not important in themselves as causes of death. But they have the ability of penetrating gas masks, causing sneezing and choking. The victim is forced to remove his mask in order to breathe and then he exposes himself to one of the more deadly gases. nun THE fifth type of gases are known as vesicants. They cause inflammation and blistering of the skin Dichlorethyl sulphide, better known as Yellow

GOX AGAIN IS HEAD OF AIRCRAFT GROUP Re-Elected President at Athenateum Session. Charles E. Cox Jr., municipal airport superintendent, was re-elected president of the Indiana Aircraft Trades Association yesterday in the Athenaeum. Other officers, all re-elected, are: Howard H. Maxwell, vice-president of Central Aeronautical Corporation. vice-president; Dick Arnett, president of Central Aeronautical Corporation, treasurer, and Herbert O. Fisher, Chamber of Commerce aeronautical secretary, secretary.

SIDE GLANCES

eimr u stevicc. iwc- ea. oa. pat, o re. 1 i ;2

“Get all the name® spelled right?"

Citizens will get brunt of poison gas,

Cross or mustard gas, is one of these. Strictly speaking it is not a gas, but a liquid which is scattered in the form of a fine spray. This spray clings to objects or to the ground. A soldier walking over the ground picks up the gas upon his shoes and carries it into the dugout. In the warmth of the room, it vaporizes and mixes with the air that is breathed. Mustard gas causes severe burns when it comes in contact with the skin. If breathed, it eats holes into the bronchial tubes and the lungs. Many of the recent gases may be regarded as combining the terrors of several types. This is true of the poisonous arsenical smokes of which Lewisite is one. These combine the effects of a gas such as the Blue Cross gas with those of mustard gas. Lewisite, or dichlorarsine vinychloride, has been nicknamed “death dew.”. In the projected air attack of 1919, made unnecessary by the signing of the armistic, plans were made to employ Lewisite. It is significant that most of the military experts emphasize the use of poison gas against cities in the next war. It is the destruction of * cities by airplane raids that they are all talking about. This is probably what will happen. Poison gas will be used against civilians. Men, women and children will be gassed. On the fighting front it is probable poison gas will not find any very great use in the early stages

Map Garden Plans for Model Home Exhibition

ASSASSIN'S LUCK TURNS Pardoned Last Year, Victim’s Son, 14, Kills Him. By United'Press ISTANBUL, Feb. 24.--Last year was a lucky one for Mehmed, the assassin. He was pardoned on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the republic. But 1934 proved fatal to his newly found freedom. The 14-year-old son of the tailor he had murdered killed him in the open market place of Trebizond after firing three pistol shots into his body.

By George Clark

of the war. The invading army will be a motorized army, an army of big tanks and little tanks, tanks carrying machine guns, tahks carrying heavier artillery, armored automobiles and trucks of all sorts. tt am r T~'HIS invading army will be. swift and mobile. It will attempt to strike quick and decisive blows, to strike and move fast. It will prefer to use the greater violence of high explosives. It w T ill fear to blight with gas the territory w’hich it may wish to occupy next. That is w'hy at the beginning of the war, civilians will get the brunt of the poison gas attack. The defenses against poison gas are not many. Some authorities have suggested that a w'hole city be equipped with gas masks. Gas masks for the men on their to work. Gas masks for the teachers. Gas masks for the children. Gas masks for mothers and for babes in arms. It does not seem quite practical. But it may be necessary to try it. Not so long ago the British Red Cross Society published a "First Aid in Chemical Warfare,” in which it told how r a room might be rendered gas proof by puttying up the windows, plugging the keyhole, etc. But how long could the population of a city endure in such rooms? And what about an explosive shell that would shatter walls as w'ell as window's and open the way for the poison gas? Monday: The Meaning of “Total Warfare.”

Displays to Be Made By Architects, Florists, Club Members. Flower and garden division committee of the 1934 Home Show will meet Monday night in the Architects and Builders building to map plans for the gardens which are to be built in the pit of the state fairground manufacturers building. The Home show, which it to be held April 6 to 14, will include displays by landscape architects, florists and members of Indianapolis Garden Clubs. E. E. Temperley is general chairman of the flower and garden committee. The landscape design has been planned by Lawrence V. Sheridan, landscape architect, to comply with the general architecture. Particular emphasis is being given to landscaping about the 1934 model house, which is of French design. Assisting Mr. Temperley and M. Sheridan is Colonel Will H. Brown, vicechairman. The committees are in three divisions. Members of the landscaping committee are Alex Tuschinsky, E. B. Palmer. Homer Weigand. Don Ruh and Andy Miller. The florists committee consists of Carl Brandlein, Frank Rieman, Tom Roberts, Bert Stanley, E. C. Grande, William Roepke, George Weigand, Robert Kiefer, William Fox, William Mahoney, Marion Elder. Raymond Kline and O. E. Steinkamp. Members of local garden clubs and individual garden owners on the amateur gardens committee are: Fred C. Horne, Mrs. Eugene Foley, Mrs. Perry O’Neal. Mrs. W. D. Hamer, E. E. Brodbeck, Gavin L. Payne. Frank Boyd, Mrs. J. K. Lilly Jr. and Mrs. Mary E. Gipe. The show is being sponsored by the Allied Florists of Indianapolis, the Architects Association, the Construction League, the Elect ri c League, the Chamber of Commerce, the Home Builders, the Real Estate Board and the Material and Lumber Dealers of Indianapolis. NRA Board to Be Changed The Ft. Wayne NRA compliance board probably will be reorganized with the present board functioning as field representatives of the Indianapolis office, it was announced today by Francis Wells, assistant to the Indiana representative of the National Emergency Council.

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler YOU may reckon that you have met some disagreeable citizens in your time but it seems unlikely that you ever have heard of anybody as ornery and unkind and dishonest as Basil Banghart. Basil is a young man who was put on the stand by the defense in the trial of Roger Touhy and a couple of other fellows for kidnaping Jake Factor. The names of the other fellows are Albert Kator and Gus Schaefer but when you learn that you don’t know any more than you did before. They

are not anybody. They are just a couple of ordinary no-goods who belonged to Touhy’s gang. Last summer the Touhy crowd needed some money to buy beer and sandwiches so they laid for Jake Factor outside a suburban dancehall and gambling house called "The Dells" and picked him up. Then they held him until he could arrange to have his family shake together $70,000. cash money, and pay it to them. In former times around Chicago they wouldn't V even arrest you for kidnaping a man of the type of Jake Factor, w’hose method of making his money has been the subject of some

accusations in England where he got it. But they have anew prosecutor in Chicago now, a hard, tough man named Courtney, and they have a law which says the jury may send kidnapers to the electric chair if the jury thinks they arp guilty enough. If they are only somew'hat guilty they can be sent to prison for life and if they are just a bit guilty they may be let off with a few years and a bad scolding. a a a Just A Daily Pastime MOST victims of his type and class did not even report their troubles to the police w’hen they were kidnaped. But Jake Factor emitted a great howl, He is inclined to sentiment, emotion and tears, and he thought it was a foul outrage that lawless parties should kidnap him and sell him back to himself for $70,000. Maybe he thought he was being cheated. So he gave the police the names of those who had done him this great wrong and thatis how-come there to be this big trial in the criminal court building with Basil Banghart on the stand for the defense. Basil tried to tell the jury that Jake wasn't really kidnaped at all. What really happened, he said, was that Jake faked the kidnaping to win sympathy for himself, and afterward hired him to accept $50,000 ransom money to make the fake look good. You can see how hard up the d?fense was when Scott Stewart, the famous Chicago hoodlums’ lawyer, resorted to that story. Young Crowley, the prosecutor, asked Basil w’hen he had worked last. Well, that w-as in 1931. And what was that work? Time-keeper. And whew? in Atlanta penitentiary. And the pay? About sl6 a month. As an employe or inmate? Inmate. What for? Dyer act—stolen automobiles. He went there first in 1926 but left without permission and was sent back until 1931. n n a He's A Thief, He Says .YOURE a thief?” said Mr. Crowley. "Yes,” Bad ■*- Basid said. "You once were known as Larry the aviator?” "Yes.” "You have a plane which cost you $3 000?” "Yes.” "Did you earn the money?” "I guess it must have been stolen.” "Did you hold up a mail truck for SIOO,OOO in Charlotte, N. C.?” "I rather would not say.” They took Bad Basil in back to cage him up for the night. As they did so, all over the place, the policemen's ears came up and the hair on their necks twitched. They felt their guns. Just outside the courtroom the walls still were pitted with shellholes where another bad young man broken loose w T ith a pistol last summer and killed a policeman trying to shoot his way to the street. (Coovriffht. 1934. bv United Feature Syndicate. Inc.l

Today's Science

BY DAVID DIETZ

YOUNG children who watch their father climb into the family automobile and "step on the starter.” probably do not realize that there was a day when the automobile didn’t start that easily. The Department of Arts and Industries of the Smithsonian Institution has just added one of the first automobile self-starters to its permanent exhibitions. Placed on the market in 1912, it sold for $350. On exhibition also, is one of the advertisements that told the public about this first self-starter. "Every successful device for the public amusement.” reads the circular, "passes through a period of such enormous popularity that the public overlooks its many unperfected details in the desire to be among the first to possess it. In no other piece of machinery has the truth of this been more forcefully demonstrated than in the automobile. “Chief among these undesirable features is the necessity of cranking the engine. To the average woman it represents an insurmountable difficulty in the handling of a car, while to a man who is not hampered by physical incapacity it is an exasperating inconvenience and a source of embarrassment which can scarcely be exaggerated.” x a a “COMPRESSED air, gas, acety'ene gas and spring v>i starters have appeared in rapid succession.” the advertisement continues, "but all possess one great disadvantage—that they will not always start the engine and fall utterly unless all conditions are favorable.” The average owner of an automobile today will smile at that advertisement, especially if he stops to picture himself cranking the automobile each morning as he gets ready to leave for the office. What a way to start the day! There would be no need for setting-up exercises on the radio if that were still the case. Os course, the present-day automobile would never have been possible without the electric selfstarter. Realizing how rapid the progress in this field has been, the Smithsonian Institution has started to make as complete a collection as possible of lighting, starting and ignition equipment. a a a VIEWING the progress of the last twenty years in the automobile industry, it is interesting to speculate what the next twenty years will bring forth. It seems safe to hazard the guess that eventually the gearshift lever and the clutch pedal will be eliminated. I remember with interest the last interview I had with Dr. Charles P. Steinmetz, the electrical wizard of the General Electric Company. During the last few years of his life. Dr. Steinmetz gave considerable thought to the problem of an electrical automobile. To him, in theorv, the electrical automobile was superior to the gasoline car. He dwelled in particu’ar upon the ease of operation. There was no gearshift in the electrical car. You merely pulled the throttle and the car started. The wider you opened the throttle, the faster it went. Dr. Steinmetz realized, of course, that the problem of a satisfactory electrical automobile depended upon the invention of anew type of storage battery. This subject was in his mind frequently, so he said. It is interesting to note that Thomas A. Edison was also giving much thought to the storage battery during the latter years of his life. Had these two men of genius been younger men with more 3’ears of life ahead of them, they might have altered the history of the automobile.

FEB. 24, 1934

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Westbrook Pegler