Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 250, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 February 1934 — Page 10

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The Indianapolis Times (A ICRim HOWARD NEWSPAPER! ROT W. HOWARD Pre*l<leot fTALCOTT POWELL Edltoi EaRL D. BAKER Business Manager I’hon*—Riley 5551

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torn <AC Cite /Ay/it and Die People in/I Plnd Their Own Way

TOttDAY. I-FB Tl ltS4 ANOTHER MYTH GOES 'I'HE pretty myth that holding companies and interlocking directorates bring about efficiency and economy in public utilities was rather badly damaged by the federal trade commission's investigation of the subject and now comes a report that blows it away like so much vapor. The report is by Walter W. M. Splawn, who prepared it for the house interstate and foreign commerce committee. While it contains no conclusions or recommendations, its facts speak so loudly that nothing else is needed. One utility man serves as officer or director on 240 companies, the report says. At least fifteen men have more than one hundred directorships each. Efficiency? Can you imagine a man serving efficiently on 240 different companies, scattered all over the United States? Taking one day a year for each he would have just about time, in the other days, to get from place to place. The report shows in graphic form the intricate way in which companies are piled on companies until in one case the ultimate owners are eleven companies removed from the properties which yield the income to support the towering structure. It doesn’t sound like economy. The report reminds us that gas and electricity, which should be competing services, acting as something of a check on each other since inter-company competition does not exist, do not in fact check each other. Holding companies often unite the two services under joint ownership and control. These facts should arouse a so-far indifferent congress to action on the subject of utility holding companies. If regulation is not to be supplanted by public ownership of utilities, holding companies which have successfully defeated regulation should be curbed. President Roosevelt's recently renewed declaration that regulation must be strengthened by narrowing the jurisdiction of federal courts indicates that he has not lost interest in this matter, though it has to a great extent been pushed aside by emergency legislation. But the longer action is delayed the more difficult the problem becomes. MOTORISTS l NS AFE TF there were any indication, anywhere, that the American motorist was beginning to learn how to drive in safety, the figures on traffic fatalities would not be so discouraging. We could say, in that case, that the long list of deaths came simply because the auto still was a relatively new bit of machinery, and that things would work themselves out, once everybody got the hang of it. But we can't say that. An elaborate analysis of 1933 auto accidents, issued recently by the Travelers Insurance Company, shows that our driving is getting worse instead of better. Far from learning how to handle our cars in safety, we are making a worse record now than six years ago. Look at the figures. In 1927 there were 23.200.009 autos in use in the United States. In 1933 the number was 23.800.000—an increase of only 2.6 per cent. In 1927 auto accidents killed 25.533 people: in 1933 they killed 29.900—which is an increase of 17 per cent. These figures can mean only one thing: That we actually are driving with less care today than we were six years ago. Far from learning how to handle these new machines, we are getting worse. Fatalities are increasing at a faster rate than auto registrations. This belief is borne out when the factors involved in the accidents are examined. It is revealed, for instance, that nearly 33 per cent of the 29.900 people killed in 1933 died in accdents in which drivers were exceeding the speed limit. Eighteen per cent of the deaths came when drivers went off the road. Thirteen per cent were caused by vehicles being on the wrong side of hte road: an equal percentage came from some driver's failure to give the right of way to a vehicle entitled to it. Those figures are utterly damning. They prove, as clearly as any black and white tabulation could prove, that our auto death toll is going up because of criminal carelessless and selfishness on the part of the drivers. Number of cars in use is only slightly higher than it was six years ago. The cars themselves are far safer: they are solider, their brakes are better, they stick to the road better, they are easier to keep under control. It is the human element, and it alone, which has failed. What are we going to do? It would be horribly expensive to increase the number of city and rural traffic police five-fold. It would be a dreadful nuisance to require, by law, the installation of automatic governors limiting car speeds to 35 miles an hour, or some such figure. But it begins to look as if we shan't make our highways even reasonably safe until we put through some such drastic and costly safeguards. We must find some way of protecting ourselves from our own foolishness. DICKENS AND THACKERAY BY JOHN WHARTON 'T'H ACKER AY criticising Dickens! And in that day Thackeray was a mere iterary hack, while Dickens had produced an "Oliver TwistEven in later years, when Tackeray had made something of a reputation, through publication of Vanity Fair, in my opinion he was not worthy to tie a shoe lace for Dickens. But, I confess. I am strongly prejudiced in behalf of the man who gave us "Pickwick Papers.” "Dmvid Copperfield,” “Bleak House,” and thoae other great stories which were something more than mere pieces of fiction. Dickens was a crusader who put into the mouths oX the creatures ol his Imagination,

the propaganda against public evils which influenced so many drastic reforms in England. Thackeray was an artist, a writer. Dickens was a public servant. However, the controversy between these two men, the outstanding contemporaries of their day, becomes of interest again, now that the name of Dickens is on so many tongues as a result of the release for publication of “The Life of Our Lord," a rewritten New Testament from Dickens’ pen. Thackeray's chief censure was directed against “Oliver Twist.” His vehicle was a story, “Catherine,” published In Fraser’s Magazine, 1839-40. George Gissing, in his “The Immortal Dickens,” from the press of Cecil Palmer, London, quotes Thackeray thus: "Let your rogues act like rogues, and your honest men like honest men; don’t let us have any uggling and thimblerigging with virtue and vice.” Then Gissing offers his own comment: “In short he (Thackeray) writes very angrily, having, it is plain, Dickens often in his mind. Nor is it hard to see the cause for this feeling. Thackeray was impatient with the current pictures of rascaldom simply because he was aware of his own supreme power to depict the rascal world: what thoughts may we surmise in the creation of Barry Lyndon when we read the novels of Bulwer and of Ainsworth, or the new production of the author of Pickwick? Only three years more and we find him writing a heartfelt eulogy of the “Christmas Carol,” praise which proves him thoroughly to have appreciated the best of Dickens. “But it must be avowed that very much of ‘Oliver” is far from Dickens’s best, and Thackeray, with his native scorn for the untrue and the feeble, would often enough have his teeth set on edge as he perused these pages. , . . “In certain directions Thackeray may be h#ld the greatest ‘realist’ who ever penned fiction. There is nothing to wonder at in his scoff at Fagin and Nancy; but we are glad of the speedy change to a friendlier point of view. “It was undoubtedly Dickens’s conviction that, within limits imposed by decency, he had told the truth, and nothing but the truth, about his sordid criminal characters.” Others may disagree with my confessed bias in behalf of Dickens when compared with Thackeray, but certain it is that the debate will be renewed in schools, in literary guilds now that Dickens again has the limelight. “The Life of Christ,” was written by Dickens in the form of a letter to his children. It tells the New Testament story in a simplified way, without distorting the facts. Publication of this new New Testatment will begin in The Indianapolis Times, March 5. I)E WENDEL, VON WENDEL 'I 'HE world is filled with nationalistic suspicion and hatred. One disarmament conference after another fails. The poorest nations are able, somehow, to get money to buy arms. The answer? Perhaps it lies with the world’s most facile internationalists, the makers of armaments, who know no loyalties and do not care what cause their wares are made to serve. Little is known of the armament makers. They like to keep their names, their connections, their activities from the public gaze. The reason is made strikingly clear in the case of the De Wendel-Von Wendel family, part of which lives in Germany, part in France. This family has been connected with armament manufacture since before the French revolution. An article in the current issue of Fortune says of the family: “When their vast Lorraine estates lay upon soil politically German they attached to their name the prefix von and turned their eyes toward Berlin; when the political frontier shifted under their rich deposits of coal and iron they altered the prefix to de and looked to Paris. “Either capital was glad to claim them; the family was equally happy to serve either—or better, both. Today, for example, when political boundary lines throw’ most of their estates into France, but leave a few in Germany, the family consists preponderantly of the De Wendels. but with a sufficient number of Von Wendels in reserve to manage its German affairs.” At the beginning of the World war a Von Wendel was a member of the German reichstag. Today a De Wendel is a member of the French senate. The most powerful member of the family today, Francois de Wendel, is a member of the French chamber of deputies and the Banque de France, and owns and controls some of France's strongest newspapers. Hitler is swept into power in Germany on the wave of a violent nationalistic sentiment, demanding the right to arm and fight. France is roused to a frenzy of fear and increases her already vast armaments. Pulling the strings in both countries are the De Wendels-Von-Wendels. Whoever else loses, whoever else dies, they will win. Os such is the kingdom of greed. MODERNISM GONE RAMPANT THIS modern world seems to take a special delight in thrusting the appurtenances of modernism on the last strongholds of the distant past. The most recent step in this direction seems about to be taken in Asia, where a Chinese aviation corporation plans to install regular airplane service between Shanghai and Lhasa, the forbidden capital city of Tibet. If there is anywhere on earth a spot which has escaped the influence of the modern world, it surely must be Lhasa. Both physically and spiritually, life there still is keyed to the notes of the middle ages. To go there is to step from the twentieth century into the twelfth. And now a commercial air line is about to make Lhasa a regular port of call—an air line, incidentally, dominated by American capital. Could there be a more striking illustration of the modern world's refusal to let its isolated backwaters go undisturbed? Those kidnapers who got ninety-nine years in jail can reduce their sentence right now by standing on their heads. Take a snack out of the refrigerator just before retiring, and you'll sleep well, says a specialist—unless your wife catches you and keeps you awake half the night. A mouse in Syracuse, N. Y„ climbed a pole and ate bird seed out of a canary’s cage. The .canary must have been out with the cat, at 'the time.

JINGOISTIC VETERANS Reprint from The De Pauw. OFFICERS and members of the American Legion and Disabled American Veterans of Portland, Ind., are outdoing themselves in a fanfare of narrow-mindedness and jingo patriotism. The heads and members of these organizations, by objecting to the selection of President G. Bromley Oxnam, as commencement speaker for the Portland high school graduating class next May, make it plain that they are determined to follow their antiquated policy of nationalism. According to a press dispatch yesterday in an Indianapolis newspaper “objection is made to Dr. Oxnam because of his attitude and statements he had made against compulsory military training in colleges.” It is further stated in the report that a formal protest to the school board is being considered by these organizations. Indeed, it is a sad state of affairs when men wffio fought in Flanders field to "make the world safe for democracy,” protest the speaking of a noted educator simply because he is against compulsory military training. By their actions they are doing their best to stifle the democracy for which they fought. This comes with exceedingly bad taste from organizations who believed that they fought “a war to end war.” Their preventnig the appearance of the already selected graduation speaker will have little effect on the high school pupils. When such bodies as the American Legion and Disabled War Veterans attempt to dictate to educational institutions, such as the Portland high school as to what professors should not be permitted to speak freely, they deserve the disregard of those who believe in academic freedom. In short, groups which desire compulsory military training and favor intense nationalism show an unintelligent attitude toward international affairs and deserve little consideration from all who desire peace. And what sane person does not desire peace?

Liberal Viewpoint *=By DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES —— 1

IT must be admitted that the civil works administration policy is to be preferred to straight relief, through the work carried on by the men employed were to go no further than the treadmill and moving piles of stones from one spot to another. But it will be a pity if so much money and such a large reservoir of potential human energy are not exploited to increase civic convenience and beauty. I recently made a considerable excursion into the midwest and the Ohio valley. I had an opportunity to talk with men deeply concerned with the operation of the CWA in their respective localities. I thus was privileged to get a picture of the situation from the inside. In most places I found that the authorities were, confidentially, rather desperately put to it to find something really useful at which to employ the available man power. Much of the work being done is of purely desultory character. I viewed one vacant lot upon which a considerable body of men had been employed for weeks in the effort to clear up and beautify the locality. I was assured by my companion, a man heartily in sympathy with the Roosevelt administration, that it looked far worse than it did when the men started. n a a ON this same trip, however, I rode miles through city areas where great piles of rubbish could have been cleaned up, useless fences torn down, weeds and bushes burned and other useful work done to give the territory some semblance of civilization. I was reminded of H. L. Mencken’s famous description of his sentiments as he rode through the areas about Pittsburgh: “Here was the very heart of industrial America, the center of its most lucrative and characteristic activity, the boast and pride of the richest and grandest nation ever seen on earth —and here was a scene so dreadfully hideous, so intolerably bleak and forlorn that it reduced the whole aspiration of man to a macabre and depressing joke. Here was wealth beyond computation, almost beyond imagination—and here were human habitations so abominable that they would have disgraced a race of alley cats. . . . "What could be more appalling? By the hundreds and thousands these abominable houses cover the bare hillsides, like gravestones in some gigantic and decaying cemetery. On their deep sides they are three, four and even five stories; on their low sides they bury themselves swinishly in the mud. Not a fifth of them are perpendicular. They lean this way and that, hanging on to their bases precariously. And one and all they are streaked in grime, with dead and eczematous patches of paint peeping through the streaks. . . . ana “ \ RE they so frightful because the valley is full of foreigners—dull, insensate brutes, with no love of beauty in them? Then why didn’t these foreigners set up similar abominations in the countries that they came from? You will, in fact, find nothing of the sort in Europe —save perhaps in a few’ putrefying parts of England. There is scarcely an ugly village on the W’hoe continent. The peasants, however poor, somehow manage to make themselves graceful and charming habitations, even in Italy and Spain.” The situation w’hich Mr. Mencken describes differs only in degree from what pertains in thousands of other American urban localities. Here is a challenge to both the CWA and the PWA. We have to have some legitimate, basis for comparison if w T e are to comprehend the magnitude of the opportunity which may be lost. The total cost of building and equipping the Panama Canal was only $375,000.000 —far less than the appropriation for the civil works administration. Unless there is a notable change between now and May, the latter will pass out of existence leaving no perceptible or permanent mark upon the face of the country. A dogsled drawn by nine Eskimo dogs brought food to residents of Long Island, N. Y., when they were snowbound, recently. Just one of the comforts of commuter service. Science has not reduced the number of jobs, but actually has increased them, say scientists. Where has science been these last few years? Attorneys appealing a liquor case in Pennsylvania charged 1,010 errors to the presiding judge. The judge, probably, would add another—that he heard the case. Mae West styles are to be fashionable for men—provided, of course, the men have any money after their wives and daughters go Westian. 0 Charles Ponzi, notorious swindler, is out of jail, but many bankers beat him to it, this time. Illinois won’t let a liquor dealer call his place a saloon, although he may run one. Lindy, the Lone Eagle, refuses to have his wings clipped.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

SPENDTH RIFT—WITH A HELPLESS MAN’S MONEY

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The Message Center

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to Soo words or less.) nan FARMER DESERVES BETTER “BREAK” By Arthur Johnson In regard to an article in the Message Center a few days ago from a man who lives thirty miles south of Indianapolis in a little town on Main street, I wonder if that man realizes how long this country could exist without the farmer? I wonder if this man who lives thirty miles south of Indianapolis in a little town on Main street has a heart as big as a peanut. I would like to see the color of that man’s hair. It must stand up like hog bristles. He says he said to a man, “I suppose you feel better now hogs have advanced.” And, to a lady, a farmer's wife, “I am glad you are getting more for your eggs.” And they both replied, "We have none to sell.” This man must have been heir to a fortune. and has been dodging taxations, 10, these many years. The farmers’ lands are on the tax books in black and white, his stock and farm tools and feed are in plain view of the assessor every year. And, probably this man, who lives in a little town on Main street, thirty miles south of Indianapolis, has his fortune in bonds nonassessable, or, if not, has it hid from the assessor. Now, he says he is against giving the farmer any more handouts. He says, “Look how wheat has jumped.” Yes, but who has the wheat? The farmer has none. He has to sell his wheat as soon as it is threshed to pay fertilizer and expense bills. He says. “Let the farmer try the basket plan awhile, like they do in the cities.” I wonder if this man ever fills any baskets? From the tone of hia article. I'll bet he never puts in a penny’s worth. Now, in regard to what Mr. Wyman of Martinsburg said a few days ago there in the Message Center. He wants to combine government offices. I am not in favor of any offices being combined. If you want to cut salaries in half, all right, Mr. Wyman, but whenever you put all offices into one man’s hands and give him all the strings to pull, he will pull the strings most that puts the money into his own pockets. Leave the offices alone, and cut salaries if you want. PROTESTS TREATMENT TO SINGLE MEN Bv a Single Man. I think it is about time for General Johnson to formulate a code governing the hiring and firing of single men. I'll readily admit that the married man, especially the man with the family, should get the benefit of the bigger slice of cake in hard times. However, this should not be done to the extent that the single man is discriminated against. Here is my story: Two years ago I was laid off from a job that I had handled for nearly ten years. During those ten years I saved and managed to have a few worldly possessions. In the meantime, some of the fellows I worked with gambled, drank and caroused about; some got married. When the depression hit they were the first to kick and hand out heart-breaking soo stories about all the kids they had at home. Now no one wants to see kids suffer from want of food, yet I postponed my own marriage until I could see a more settled future. Just because I happen to have a place to live and am not forced to go around looking like a beggar, gmnlnvers tppm tn think I don't

Wants Pensions for All

By Thomas C. Shepherd. I have been a reader of The Times for years, and I always read the Message Center and I want to congratulate Mr. H. E. Thixton on his letter, and I wonder where the veteran was when the American Legion had the convention at Detroit when they howled for beer and said they didn't want any bonus and we would have to give our pensions up lor two years. Well, they got their beer and their bonus. I don't suppose they had any coming, for no one gets to go to a national convention as a delegate unless he is a thirty-day wonder and a big shot. Also, they have the beer so that us poor veterans can’t buy it. We like beer, too. > The American Legion is working for a privilege. Few never did sponsor the disability allowance bill so that no veterans who were gassed in the real fight could get a small pension. Here is the thing in a nutshell. The American Legion was betrayed by a few rich political big shots, and the national economy act started in July at the Detroit convention and was sponsored in November. I believe in a straight out pension for all veterans, for all wars,

need work. I lost out on two or three jobs to married men, men whose wives are working and who have no children, it is at this class that most of my remarks are directed. Oh, yes, I can hear the married folks tell how blissful is the life of a single man, how carefree he can be and how easy it is for him to get along on little. It is also said that a single man is nonproductive, adds little to society. Granted, but isn't that a lot better than having no selfcontrol, no regard for society or for human life, by bringing into this world helpless children when it is uncertain as to where they are going to get food? Now, married folks, please don’t get me wrong. My remarks are not designed at the majority. However, I, personally, have among my friends married folks who were only married last year when neither were certain of tw r o w r eeks’ bread, and

A Woman’s Viewpoint By MRS. WALTER FERGUSON =?-=:■

T HAVB reserved my. comment. on the national tragedy—the Pickford-Fairbanks separation—until all the facts had come in. Now, however, after reading the opinion of at least twenty-five individuals, all f whom profess to know the inside of the matter, with the intimate revelations of Adela Rogers St. John to top off the list, I understand the cause for the disaster. The affair is one of the saddest on record, and deserves to go down in matrimonial annals as a major catastrophe. It is, nevertheless, entirely comprehensible. Mary Pickford suffers from too many perfections. In the pages fend pages and pages that have been written about her of late there has not been disclosed, so far as my researches go, one minor flaw in the character of America's sweetheart. With all her physical graces, she hasn’t a venial sin to bless herself with. The rarifled atmosphere she breathes separates her from all erring mortals and is too pure for most women, to say nothing of

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

their widows and orphans. This service-connected bunk is a joke. I served two years in the army, fourteen months in France. I weighed 207 pounds when I went in, now I weigh 145. I served in the Second division, Twenty-third infantry, was carried off the battlefield gassed, had the flu two times and fever once. I came home a wreck. They never could connect my disability to service, although it was traceable to service, but less than 10 per cent. Under the new law I received a rating of 50 per cent, which gave me $lB a month on which to keep my wife and four children from starving to death. When I lost it I w r as thrown on the Red Cross. I now am working on the CWA. I have great confidence in our President and am just sure he will fix a pension bill for all veterans and we should honor him for having the nerve to try to do something for the poor. I don’t suppose you will print this, but the veterans who went through hell to make the good old U. S. A. a safe place to live in should have a little publicity as well as the big shots. It could be fixed so all disabled soldiers could draw a small pension and save thousands of dollars.

who are now crying out the loudest. It wasn’t easy to postpone my wedding. I am only human and would like a home and cnildren of my own. I am adding nothing to society; but, by staying single neither am I subtracting anything from society in the form of charity for a helpless family. Perhaps if I were to marry I should find work. However, that would be taking a long shot. Because I have friends to live with, I am not entitled to CWA work. Because I am a single man I am not entitled to anything more. a a a ROOSEVELT FAR IN THE LEAD, HE THINKS By a Times Fan. Recently a contributor to this department wrote that "inasmuch as the people voted in 1928 for Mr. Hoover and in 1932 for Mr. Roosevelt, they don’t know what they

MARY herself pleads guilty to unselfishness, and in a public statement deplored the fact that she was too kind to the graceless Doug. And none of her biographers and friends but will insist that she is the most beautiful, the kindest, the noblest of creative beings. She went about spoiling everybody and never thinking of herself, and the only little devotion she required of Doug was that they might live forever in a sort of perpetual honeymoon. No wonder the man bolted. It was a natural reaction, because so far as most of us are able to find out, there has never yet been a perfect woman who succeeded in keeping her husband. The men enjoy praying to saints, but they do not desire to live with them in a state of matrimony. Miss Pickford suffers from having built up a reputation for being "sweet” in the sentimental sense of the word. There is no curse so damning for the female, because when one is too sweet, one ceases to, be human. Perfections walks Alone on this earth. and nn man lingers long iC

.FEB.' 27, 1934

want.” Nothing could be farther from the truth, however. In 1928 Herbert Hoover promised to ‘‘abolish the poorhouse from oui midst.” He asserted that a continuation of the policies then in force would make America in the near future a land of almost undreamed of wealth and prosperity. We shall assume for argument’s sake that he was sincere at the time and that he did his best while in office. Mr. Roosevelt promised relief from economic chaos; anew and rather revolutionary form of democracy. So far, he has more than lived up to expectations. He is human and, therefore, apt to slip at times, but remember, we gave Hoover four years in which to make good. It is obvious we voted both times for prosperity and security. PRAISES BUILDING*AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS By John J. McNeff. Much has been said about a housing plan for Indianapolis, with much good having come from the ideas expressed and the lively interest shown in its many advantages and disadvantages. From keen observation, together with a personal interest in this argument, I wish to say that Indianapolis now has a very large housing corporation represented by the vast number of shareholders, both paid up, as represented by pass books for moneys on deposit, and unpaid, as represented by first mortgage liens on low rent housing property in some forty-five building and savings concerns in Marion county. This money has provided low rent housing throughout all the past prosperity and depression, and stands today in the field of American financing as one of the most conservative and secure investments. Any housing plan having the support of government finances should be so constructed as to protect these interests. They represent conditions which only time or actual moneys can aid. Housing corporation moneys could be placed in Indianapolis through the Home Loan bank, or the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, by lending to the people who hold passbooks representing paid up shares with the various building and loan concerns up to 90 or 95 per cent of the value of their accounts, or even higher, and still have one of the best securities on the market. Together with freeing slow finances, this would have a moral effect that is very much needed in the building and loan and savings field. These concerns deserve the support of the people because of the conservative judgment and wonderful good shown throughout their history, and because the people need the type of banking service they give in order that when the economic clouds clear away, the people that have been, are today, and will remain. the foundation of American home life. The small home owners and investors may have their help to carry on. The building and loan shareholders are the housing corporation that should have government finances to help them, if any are helped. Thank you. Ap p etite Vs. Love BY FRANCESCA I lcve you, my dear, but why should I sigh? I still have a yen for dutch apple pie. I lo\e you, my dear, but what does it matter, With gravy and bread, and steak on the platter. I'll love you, my dear, when I have grown old. But why should I let my spaghetti get cold? I love you, i love you, but wrong, dear, or right, stauld 1 lost ft isxxi appeuief