Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 262, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 March 1934 — Page 10

PAGE 10

The Indianapolis Times <A scßirps-nrmABD .newspaper) HOT W. HOWARD Prosldpnt TALCOTT POWELL Editor EARL D. BAKER ........ Business Manager Phone—BUey 5551

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> K v ' **•<#/ • B>r4l* Olt'S and the People Will Find Their Oxen Way

TPESI AT MAR g 1 ' CLOUDS OF DUST r TT'HE public is not deceived by the cloud of irrelevancies which windy politicians have blown around the Dillinger escape. First there is the effort to rouse sympathy for Sheriff Lillian Holley. Two methods are being attempted in the hope of accomplishing this. First there is the appeal to the gallantry of the male, the “little woman” idea such as Sheriff Sumner used. When a woman accepts public office she becomes the servant of the people. She can not hide behind her femininity. If she is incompetent or venal, she must suffer the consequences just as though she were a man. Second, there is the idea that because Warden Kunkel of Michigan City prison was not punished severely after the escape of ten convicts. Sheriff Holley should be treated with leniency. Let us grant that Warden Kunkel got off easily, what in the world has that to do with the escape of Dillinger from the Crown Point jail? If justice miscarries in one case, does that mean that all wrongdoers should be excused? Absurd! Following the latest Dillinger scandal. Commissioner Feeney, in charge of state police, publicly charged that his force was being tampered with by politicians. Every one knew that his shafts were aimed at Pleas Greenlee, the Governor’s patronage secretary. Mr. Greenlee admitted that he had “instructed” Commissioner Feeney regarding personnel matters, although the law gives him no authority to do so. Then the secretary promptly charged that the commissioner was “incompetent, insubordinate and nonco-op-erative.” Let us admit that Commissioner Feeney sometimes permits his temper to get the better of him, his competence or incompetence has nothing whatever to do with whether or not politics is hobbling the state police. Mr. Greenlee should stick to the issue instead of attempting to drag a large, red herring across the trail. Governor McNutt has followed up with a statement that members of his administration will, in the -future, iron out their differences in private. That is an excellent idea. The spectacle of grown men bickering like peevish schoolboys is not an edifying one. But we hope that the Governor will bear in mind that the people are entitled to know ,wl’.at is going on in the state government. It is their government. They are paying for it. He should be careful not to turn privacy info censorship. Still another cloud of dust has been raised over whether a reward should be offered by the state for the capture of Dillinger, dead or alive. We can not agree with our good neighbor, the Star, that this would be a wise move. Presumably, the police of this country are paid salaries to catch men like Dillinger. They should not be educated to expect heavy rewards every time they make an important arrest. No. the issue raised by John Dillinger’s escapades still remains clear cut. Take Indiana law enforcement out of politics and KEEP it out. A CAMPAIGN GESTURE HOUSE passage of the bonus bill does not mean, anything. It is a political gesture in a congressional campaign year. Congress has been told that the President will veto the bill if it comes to him. Congress knows that It can not be passed over a veto. Therefore, a vote for the bonus is an easy way for representatives to make campaign capital without expense to the government. Indeed, some bonus representatives admit in private that they would vote against it if there was any danger of the President signing the bill and making it law. The President’s policy seems to us to be as intelligent and just to the veterans as it is courageous politically. He favors a maximum of relief to veterans with service-connected disabilities. In addition he has gone a long way to liberalizing the veterans’ relief ratings for the benefit of questionable cases. But the bonus is class legislation of an entirely different character not in favor of the Injured or of the but a blanket raid in favor of rich veterans as well as poor. Altogether apart from the risky greenback features of the bonus bill, it would oe grossly unfair to injured veterans, to the unemployed veterans and nonveterans, to millions of victimized bank depositors, to bankrupt farmers, to home owners receiving mortgage aid, to the many-sided relief programs by which the government is trying to tide the country over the depression. The veterans’ future does not depend upon a soon-spent bonus, but upon national recovery. With the government already facing a $32,000,000,000 debt and already dangerously cutting down unemployment relief for lack of funds, it is obvious folly to propose an additional and blanket bonus.' HEROISM HISTORY never gets really interesting until it gets down from its high stool, shuts up its heavy ledgers and starts telling us about the little, unnoticed incidents that high-light great occasions. For these little things are what give the great stories their true flavor. Among them there is the case of the mysterious monument on the battlefield of Antietam. On this stretch of Maryland farmland was fought one of the great battles of the Civil war. Lee, swinging back toward Virginia after his first invasion of the north in 1862. made a stand behind Antietam creek and met the onset of McClellan. The fight is recorded as a Union victory,

but the northern army was mangled so badly that, when Lee withdrew across the Potomac, no pursuit was made. At any rate, until a few years ago, the battlefield was studded with more than eighty monuments commemorating the deeds of various commands. All but one of these—a Confederate marker erected by the state of Maryland—were Union monuments. Then, one day, a stranger appeared in the adjacent town of Sharpsburg, inquiring where he could rent a horse and wagon to transport a stone to the battlefield. And the next day there was found on the field anew monument bearing a tablet which read: “Near this spot an abandoned Confederate gun manned by a second lieutenant of the Sixth Virginia infantry, Mahone’s brigade, and two infantry volunteers from Anderson’s Georgia brigade, was placed in action Sept. 17, 1862.” That’s all! No one, to this day, knows who put the marker there; no one knows the names of the three southerners who, coming upon an abandoned field piece in the tumult of a storm-swept field, swung its muzzle toward the enemy and served it. No one knows what happened to them, or how their action weighed in the final result, or whether the gun finally went back to Virginia with Lee or was captured by McClellan’s men. But the mysterious marker adds much to the story of the battle. It makes the affair cease to be a history-book tableau, for the moment; the smoke cloud lifts and we get a glimpse of an unnoticed bit of heroism that lights up the whole action. Stories like this make history real. OUR MAJOR DUTY A LOT of far-reaching consequences can grow out of an innocent-looking little declaration of policy. If you dig back far enough, you will find that most of today’s turmoil about the proper functions of the NRA hinges on our new assumption that the national government has a direct and inescapable duty in regard to its unemployed zens.This assumption grew up during the depression. It’s worth remembering that it is a comparatively new thing in American life. By the old tradition, the government was supposed to keep its hands off such matters. If industry couldn’t employ the men it normally employed, there was nothing in particular that Washington was expected to do about it. We found that that didn’t work very well. The presence in this country of unemployment on a huge scale was too great a strain on the social fabric. So we became convinced that unemployment was a thing which the national government must take in hand, and this conviction found expression in the official pronouncements of the new administration. That is what brought us to our present tangle in the NRA. Industry, says the administration, must hire more men. It must do this by the process of shortening working hours, and it must raise wages at the same time, so that the men whose hours are cut will not suffer any decrease in income. Industry replies that it can not do anything of the kind and operate at a profit; and there is no reason to doubt that, in many, many cases, this is the exact truth. What, then, is the alternative —bearing in mind the all-important fact that care for the unemployed has been accepted as a government duty? The alternative, clearly, is for the governmen to go on making jobs for the jobless. If private industry can’t do it, the government ‘ must. The enormously expensive CWA must be continued, even expanded. More millions must be pumped into public works. And the money for this must come from taxes —which, in Jarge part, must be collected from industry. These are the choices that face us today. They present about as tough a nroblem as industry and government possibly could be asked to solve; and they arise, ultimately, because of our new belief that unemployment is a direct concern of the government.

GOOSE-STEP STUDENTS OERIOUS charges made at educators’ conferences in Cleveland deserve consideration from every one in the least concerned with America’s future. Howard K. Beale of the American Historical Association called the schools “the great bulwark of the status quo,” and charged that they are dominated by selfish business interests which seek “endoctrination of pupils and teachers with concepts that will silence criticism of business and its methods and insure large profits for the future.” To the extent that these charges are true the Roosevelt administration and any others which may seek to make anew and better United States will fail. Reforms which root only in the fear and panic of an adult people facing disaster will be temporary reforms only, forgotten when the crisis is past. To be real, permanent and effective they must start with new thinking on the part of youth. The remedy lies chiefly with parents, for no government short of dictatorship is powerful enough to deal with a school system as decentralized as ours. Parents must examine the ideas being implanted in their children's minds and challenge them when they seem to menace the future. Unless parents take a militant interest in school boards, text books, teacher training, our children may have to blunder along the same painful path we have followed or one even harder. BENEFIT FROM NEW LAW A STATEMENT filed with the federal trade commission the other day by bondholders of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern railway said that a loan secured in part by the controlling interest in the Allegheny Corporation was in default. Later on, it developed that the use of this word “default” had been incorrect. However. the whole incident shows that the operation of the new securities law may prove beneficial to investors. Regardless of the mistaken construction which at first was put upon this statement — it was assumed momentarily, for instance, that the Van Sweringens had lost control of their vast railroad empire—the fact remains that the securities law was the instrumentality through which information of great potential value to investors was made public.

THIS DECORATIVE SEX

A WAKE, ye males, and as old Omar would say, into the fires of spring your black garments of depression fling! In New York the Custom Cutters Club lets it out that repeal and NRA have joined to free American manhood from sartorial restraints. Colors and lines will be worn as they were by the gallants of Colonial days. Man will take his rightful role, long usurped by the ladies, and join with pheasants, turkeygobblers and game-cocks as the decorative sex. The Champagne coat already blossoming in Florida, California and Bermuda, will be worn in pastel shades as a dinner jacket in hot weather. For formal affairs you are warned not to try to slip by with a tux, but to don black or midnight blue tails—and those full six inches longer than usual. For sport the sky is the limit, with ensembles of checked coats and striped pants patterned after rainbow and peacock. Even business suits may display less sober tints; checks, plaias and stripes are coming oack. Coats will be streamlined, with a cutaway and hip fenders. Everything is to be provided short of a cap with a red feather, a sash, knee breeches and a dash of lace at the sleeve. It’s a brave beginning, and it fits the happy days we hope will be here with the robins.

Liberal Viewpoint DR. lIARRY ELMER BARNES =

YESTERDAY I considered the query of John W. Davis as to who is going to give the American people their orders under the new dispensation envisaged by Mr. Roosevelt. I suggested that, perhaps, our orders in the future will come from the elected representatives of the American people, rather than from the “malefactors of great wealth.” In short, Mr. Roosevelt may try to supplant plutocracy by democracy. Tire representatives of the American people may not save us, but they can not very well ruin us as thoroughly as we were wrecked by the plutocrats. Let us now turn to Mr. Davis’ arguments against the new deal. His position is an unabashed defense of rugged individualism. In words which might have been uttered by John Locke in the seventeenth century, by Adam Smith in the eighteenth, or by Herbert Spencer in the nineteenth, he says: “Wisdom in government, I submit, consists in discovering the natural economic laws and following them—not in devising hasty expedients whereby they may be circumvented.” The depression came because our governors flouted the dictates of rugged ndividualism: “It was not brought on by the observance of ancient rules and principles, out, the effects of the World war aside, by their deliberate disobedience. We ate, we drank and were merry until inexorable laws claimed their penalty.” We can not escape, according to Mr. Davis, by bold experimentation, based upon the best social science of our day. We must go back to the old rule-of-thumb methods, which preceded the crash of 1929: “I have no faith in the prosaic process of following paths marked out by reason, common-sense and the past experience of mankind.”

a a a IT is worth hardly the space required to flay once more the decaying corpse of rugged individualism. This belief in “natural laws,” which benevolently and automatically govern our economic processes is pure superstition and mysticism. The whole notion grew out of a crude misapplication of the astronomical laws discovered by Sir Isaac Newton to economic and social affairs. Even in the seventeenth century it was a hypocritical subterfuge employed by merchants who wished free trade, but were not honest enough to say so and to fight out the battle on its own merits. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries this doctrine is an even more contemptible smoke screen, designed to give speculative pirates and , tories the freedom to ravage ai;d destroy the American economy in a quest as selfish, futile and anti-social as the aspirations of old King Midas himself. We should like to ask Mr. Davis just how the depression came about through “disobeying” the system of rugged individualism. And who disobeyed it? Was it Mr. Davis’ former chief, Woodrow Wilson? Was it Harding, Coolidge or Hoover, all of whom worshipped at the shrines of individualism? Was it the Mellons, Morgans and Mitchells who grew fat as a result of the special privilege they enjoyed under its dominion? a a a IF there is one single thing which is certain about the old system of politics and economics which preceded 1929, it is that rugged individualism held absolute sway in the councils of both state and speculative finance. Its inevitable fruits were the suffering, misery and collapse we have had to endure since its chickens came home to roost. What about the end of the rainbow which we are to reach as a result of following “paths marked but by reason, common sense and the past experience of mankind?” On this point we do not have to resort to any guess work. We know all too well just where these paths led us in the past. They led us to March 3, 1933. and the most precarious moment that American capitalism has ever known. Where was Mr. Davis sojourning from October, 1929, to March, 1933? Mr. Davis ends with a beautiful little figure drawn from the world of two birds, the bees and the insects: “When the wind has blown over the ant-heap the ants will build it again, never fear, if they are given time.” Once again Mr. Davis flunks as a debater and has chosen his words unwisely. Ants, indeed, might rebuild after a storm. But has anybody ever heard of grasshoppers or locusts building anything? Those whose dominion Mr. Davis defends can not be fairly compared to the ants without slandering the latter. These noble little insects are noted for their constructive industry. Those to whom Mr. Davis ■would turn over the country are quite literally the locusts and grasshoppers who have brought a plague to our country and laid waste our fair fields. What Mr. Roosevelt is aiming at is to give the ants a break. It is high time they got it.

For a man who always wants to get to the bottom of things, you can’t beat Dr. William Beebe, the undersea naturalist. He’s going to explore the ocean depths again, near Bermuda. A gold bar on display in the treasury building at Washington was stolen, but it turned out not to be the real thing. Those crooks never will trust Uncle Sam again. A New York song writer, sent *o prison on a charge of forgery, is going to get another trial. He'd better not sing to the jury, this time. Perhaps the Idea is this; Stall off the child labor amendment until the children have grown up; then there will be no need of a child labor amendment! An alphabet of forty letters has beer, suggested in. England. We ll need it soon, if any more initialed bureaus are created in Washington. Ohio state liquor prices turn out to be higher than those of nearby states. Ah, but Ohio figures in the losses from bartenders’ sampling!

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

The Message Center

(Timet readers are invited to express ' their views in these columns. Make your ' letters short, so all can have a chance. ; Limit them to £SO words or less.) a a a DILLINGER CASE DRAMA AID TO SLAYER By Jimmy Cafouros By this time every banker and blacksmith, and babe in arms, knows that Dillinger has escaped. Ask ten people what they think of the affair; nine will be elated secretly and wish him luck. A senile, snowhaired lady even told me that she wished he would drop in next morning for a cup of coffee. Such a state of affairs is natural when one considers the boldness, the color and drama of John Dillinger and his associates when contrasted with the apparent ineptness of the various police forces with their extra guards and tons of sand bags and extra precautions, and the calling out of the national guardsmen. There is no doubt that this all tends to make John Dillinger a hero, and there is no doubt but that he will capitalize on the public reaction. Certain things are apparent to any observer. Politics and police officers make a bad stew—they don’t mix. When a police officer has to vote this way or that way to hold his job and is in constant dread of losing his job, or if he is a ranking officer —if he is in fear of being demoted anad relegated to obscurity—he tends to exercise his ability, even to consume it in keeping his job. Scotland Yard is made up of experienced men, long in service with a tradition and a morale as high as that of the Northwest Mounted Police of Canada. We Americans, by mixing politics with police, have brought about a species that is neither full-blooded police nor pedigreed politician. As to John Dillinger It is a shame. that such ability to think quickly and to think clearly had not been directed in some such job as that of an officer in the crime commission in Roosevelt's administration. Nevertheless, what John Dillinger is doing is not constructive. Therefore it is destructive, for it must be one or the other. And John Dillinger hardly is playing the lone hand the papers have led many unthinking but honest citizens to believe. It is apparent that an organization is assisting him. Since we have women sheriffs we may as well have women steeplejacks, women stokers, women boilermakers and women garbage collectors, although there has been record of the last in France during the last war.

HERE'S THE VERSION OF THE* HIGH HAT By Charles R. Carson Every cartoon on the subject always puts a high silk hat on the politician. This is not, as most people suppose, merely to give him something to talk through. Neither is it because of his idea of the size or shape of his head- The true reason is that like the magician he needs something to distract your attention while he goes through his tricks. It is also an amusing plaything for the children between elections. In newsreel pictures the elected one always waves at the suckers with his high hat. In this way the chauffeur’s feelings are never hurt through being mistaken for “His Honor.” The idea, of course, originated back in the days when you had to have plenty of money to be able to buy a high hat and had to be possessed of unusual nerve to be able to wear it and get by with it Thus the man whose high hat was the target for the fewest snowballs

‘YOU CAN’T DO THAT’

Holds Two Jobs, Charge

By a Times Reader. The writer has been following very carefully the various actions, appointments and discussions pertaining to the CWA projects in Indianapolis. It has been stated with much emphasis that politics does not play a part in the positions filled by the CWA. Let me bring your attention to a position filled by a woman in the executive offices of CWA. Her duties seem to include the appointment of her friends on the projects paying the best salaries and her particular position is drawing more pay than most secretaries in the highest salaried positions in the city. This young woman is, you must remember, drawing this salary from the pay rolls of the CWA, which is in reality for the purpose of giving positions to only those in need. Besides the nice salary paid this CWA secretary, she is executive secretary of the Indiana Women’s Voters’ League, for which position she also receives a salary of no mean proportions. Os course with the two jobs, this young woman is earning more than many men in executive posi-

or ripe tomatoes, as the season might be, had the most leadership and was suitable for public office. Now everybody can afford one and while it is still a badge it is no longer the token of distinction. It merely shows the lack of evolution which has become inherent in politics. tt tt u OBJECTIONS VOICED TO MARRIED WOMEN AT WORK Bv M. Q. In regard to the item on the front page of your paper on March 7 about Mr. Berry’s son having a good job on the CWA, thus depriving the poor man of a job. This is true no doubt. And I will admit unfair, but why not give these people a chance? Not a word of warning was given to them about this beforehand and I believe this Mr. Berry would have had James quit if anybody had suggested it. In the second place wouldn’t any one, even yourself, have given your son a job under the same circumtances. I must say this is the cruelest piece of work I’ve ever seen put out by The Times. Is that any worse than husbands and wives working, drawing $25 and S3O each weekly. The wife spending all of her money on clothes and drinks. I guess that’s helping out the poor girl who really needs a job, but is walking the streets day after day, not only ruining her health but probably from the looks of most of them half starved to death. Still these married women work. These thousands of miserly women get by with it. Do you call that human? I wish you would mention something about this, but of course you are afraid of stepping on too many, probably your own friends’ toes. n tt a CAPONE BOYS BLAMED FOR DILLINGER BREAK Bt P. B. Did A1 Capone’s brother have anything to do with the release of Dillinger? He was releasea from prison several days before Dillinger’s escape. (Libel deleted.) Did the Dillinger gang look up Ralph Capone, remembering that at one time his brother had placed officials in Lake county? Are Dillinger, Hamilton, and Pierpont members of the old Capone gang? It is hard to believe that free lance criminals could hold up so many banks regardless of the

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

tions who are sustaining families. Does it seem quite in line with the object of the CWA to have a woman such as this doling out the jobs to those not quite so fortunate and giving preference to her friends? It would seem that a woman fortunate enough to hold a political position paying a good salary during these economic conditions should not be given the highest salaried job in CWA. It also should be remembered that just recently two employes were dismissed from a CWA project in the federal building for irregularities which scented of too much politics. Editor’s Note—The young woman referred to is not holding two positions, as charged, she explains, because she is on leave of absence from the Indiana Women’s Voters’ League. She has not appointed any personal friends, as far as she knows, she explains. AH persons assigned for employment receive their assignments from the employment office and not from the person referred to.

number of machine guns they carried. A study of the criminal history of Lake county might prove helpful in the capture of Dillinger. For Lake county, though second in wealth, ranks first in harboring criminals. The county was fortunate as you may take it, in recently having Gary located there. This not only acquired additional taxes for the county, but contributed to their already abundant supply of criminals. Lake county received large portions of their undesirable citizens during the World war when many people preferred lake construction employment instead of entering the war. Lake county was long looked upon by Chicago gangsters as an excellent exit. There was little danger of being recognized if the criminal mingled in the throngs of mill workers. Then A1 Capone and his gang came to Indiana. A1 no longer could have his headquarters in Chicago as the rival gangs were quick to locate him. He came to Lake county at an opportune time, for many of the officials were hard for cash, having gone into debt campaigning for their positions. The question is ! now- whether Capone still has in- j fluence in northern Indiana and if the release of Dillinger is a Capone act.

GIRL NEEDS TIME FOR GOLDEN RULE By Hiram Lackey. This letter is directed at that Christian gentlman who would do the will of the Master. Also at that lady to whom is given the intelligence to find interest in influences, causes and effects, as well as in the giving of alms to unfortunate beggars. That superbly intelligent faith to which I appeal is keenly aware of the po~- exerted by legally trained minds. Too, it recognizes, in legal training, the need for the infusion of the spirit of Jesus. Working at a candy counter in a drug store at Washington and Pennsylvania streets from 3 to 11 p. m. every week day with Sunday hours included, is a girl who, by untiring effort during her spare hours, has completed three years in Butler and is now in her first year at Indiana law school. This is a splendid personal accomplishment in a material way. But what of the spiritual way? Does she not need time to spend

.MARCH 13, 1931

in the atmosphere of things religious? How else can she successfully mingle materialistic law with the divine precepts of the Golden Rule? To my knowledge, she would appreciate a human answer to t!Hs troublesome question which, under our present economic system, becomes a challenge to the practical side of the Christian religion. tt tt a ANY MAN SERVING HIS NATION SHOULD BENEFIT By Patrick Sarsfield A letter in your column by J. A. Perkins, was headed “Protests Pensions Paid to Big Shots.” I note that Mr. Perkins states pensions are not paid by local taxpayers. When I pay federal income tax here in Indianapolis, does any portion of that go to help pay the pensions to ex-soldiers and to Admiral Richard E. Byrd, General James G. Harbord, Admiral William P. Sims, General John J. Pershing and other “big shots” who get their pay under the heading of “retire salary” or some other name not associated with the charity-sounding word “pensions”? My dictionary says that “pension” is a stated allowance for past services. I contend that any young man who enlists in the service of his country as a soldier, sailor, marine or air service in time of war; who may be in the service when war is declared, and whether he was called to the battle front or left his home camp at all, that he is enttiled to as much recognition when it comes to paying pensions as that given to hundreds of our army and navy officers who never left Washington or some army camp or naval base. I ao not contend that a buck private should have as much pension as a general, but I do believe that when Uncle Sam pays as high as $21,500 a year pension to a general, that that S6OO a year to a buck private or a former gob, is not at all out of line. Please note my second paragraph and let your readers know if money for pensions, as paid by the federal government, comes out of money we pay here in Indianapolis for income tax, postage or any other federal tax except duties on imports and income tax on millionaires, as stated by Mr. Perkins. (Editor’s Note: Pensions come out of the general income of the treasury and are paid by the taxpayers at large.)

Snowflake

BY HAROLD FRENCH Will you never ’light,’ snowflake? Come down! Dip and swirl a dainty twirl, Find a spot, you nervous girl! Your place is on the ground. Come down! Never was a snowdrift nicer Than this one—or that one there, But the wind is pushing, pushing You in dances through the air. You will make another sparkle If you ’light, and you don’t care. Rise and dip in other spaces. Sideward brushed at lightning speed. Here’s a place and there's anotherl Here are twenty, and no need. Listen, snowflake, time’s acoming— Best to find an icy chink. Haunt and skip, you little quip. It i3 warmer than you think!