Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 267, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 March 1934 — Page 4

PAGE 4

The Indianapolis Times I* RCKIPPS-lIOW ABl NEWSPAPER) ROT W. HOWARD Pmldrnt TAT/TOTT POWELL Editor EARL D. Baker Buslneis Manager Phone— Riley 5651

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*'*'* I <*o l> Otre l.iyhi nj the PeoT.lt Will rind Their Oxen Way

MOVDAY MARCH 19. 1934 PATRONAGE MORTGAGES OENATOR NORRIS proposes that congress remove the Dolitical shackles from the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation. His amendment to the pending HOLC bill is essential. Created nine months ago as an emergency agency, the ( corporation has only recently begun to make substantial progress toward its objective of saving debt-ridden Americans from loss of their homes. liven today only 15 per cent of its two oillion dollars in resources has been put to work. The delay, bickering, chiseling in the HOLC operation can be triced largely to the political foundation on which ihe agency was originally set up—the system which rewarded loyal partisans with jobs ranging from state managerships down to appraiserships. These evils Senator Norris now proposes to abolish. It is not ,oo late. The political appointees holding Jobs in Washington and in the 244 field offices would continue only if their work shows them qualified. New employes would be hired solely on merit and without regard to political recommendations. Some patronage-hungry members of congress and the Democratic national committee may find it hard, but the million neopie who have asked the HOLC to help them wall applaud Senator Norris’ efforts to hav° this, the biggest mortgage bank in the w r orld. run on better business basis. t EDUCATION FOR THE FIT Z''' 1 ILBERT j. RAYNOR, principal of Alexander Hamilton high school, in Brooklyn, N. Y., says that about 60 per cent of the grammar school graduates entering his high school in February were unfit to enter. Mr. Raynor’s explanation is not that the schools are failing because only 40 per cent of their product is up to standard. He suggests, rather, that they may be attempting to shape their material into something from which it should be excused. He proposes a reclassification at about the sixth grade, to direct many pupils into vocational studies. This raises the same point upon which Albert Jay Nock quotes the college president’s advice to a mother: “What is the use cf wasting a $3,000 education on a S3 boy?” Such recognition of the different tastes and apitudes of human beings is no treachery to theories of democracy. Mr. Raynor points out that forcing students to attempt studies for which they have no liking leads to discouragement and truancy, ’’producing criminals, loafers and social discontents." Equality of opportunity we must preserve. The pupil who wants to continue along academic lines must have the chance to do so if he can keep up the pace. But Mr. Raynor is sound in his pica that the unfit pupil after a certain minimum of schooling should be released from a routine which for him is no opportunity at all. Otherwise his education is a bad investment for the city.

IDEAL MUST BE MAINTAINED SEVERAL prominent Englishmen recently united to make a public protest against the rising wave of discontent with democratic institutions. All across Europe—from Germany, frem Russia, from Italy, from Austria, and from lesser countries —comes a steadily growing chorus of derision for parliamentary government. Democracy, it is said, is a worn cut thing, and liberty is an empty word; only by an ircn-clad dictatorship can a people hope to meet the problems of the modern world. All this, naturally, is beginning to stir echoes in the British Isles, and these Englishmen. therefore, have called on their countrymen to rally in defense of the democratic ideal and to reaffirm their conviction of the supreme importance of human liberty. Something very similar might be done profitably on this side of the water. Europe is a long way off. but this attack on the old, Anglo-Saxon concept of freedom is a menacing and contagious perhaps, because we have grown so used to the blessings of liberty that we take them for granted. We pick up our daily paper, for instance, knowing that it will give us a full and impartial story of the news of the day, and that the editor will speak his mind freely about current issues. We go to a political meeting perfectly confident that the speaker will say precisely what he pleases. If we don't like the actions of our mayor, our congressman, our Governor, or our President, we wait our chance to vote against him at the next election—and, meanwhile, express ourselves as bitterly as we choose to any one who will listen. We don’t lock on these things as privileges. They are part of our daily life. We hardly can conceive of living under circumstances where such things do not exist. Yet we need to remember constantly that these are the very blessings of democracy which now are under attack. People fought and died that we might have these privileges, and did it so effectively that we no longer look on them as privileges. We imbibe freedom with the very air that we breathe, but a price Was paid for it, and it is our task to defend it everlastingly. Under Fascism, under Communism, under any kind of dictatorship, we would lose it. BORAH’S BOGEY SENATOR BORAH'S fears of the President s reciprocal tariff bill may provoke additional debate and delay, but apparently the measure mill pass. H says he is in accord with the plan to reduce tariff barriers. But lie’s frightened at tha prospect of a single Individual—the President, in this case—fixing taiiff rates and con-

eluding trade agreements. He wants a voice In tariff-making; he believes his people, if they can not get protection through mm. nave a right to ask him home to stay. But the senator snows that other countries have equipped executives with power to negotiate reciprocal trade agreements, and to bargain by increasing or decreasing tariff rates or other excises. He knows that in commercial bargaining this country now is at a disadvantage because its executive has no such power. He knows this is an emergency and that treaties, when sent to the senate, are subject to interminable debates. He also knows that congress, if given its way, will log-roll the tariff and not lower the wall. The senator pitches his protest on familiar constitutional grounds. Tariff-making is a means of levying taxes, of raising revenue, and congress is alone autnorized in the Constitution to do these things. But Assistant Secretary of State Sayer, who also knows something about our Constitution, pointed out to the ways and means committee powers comparable to these now requested by President Roosevelt were granted to Presidents over a long period of years, even when manv ol those who wrote the Constitution were still alive. It is no answer, of course, to say that tariffs no longer constitute the major source of our federal income. But we might suggest to the senator that he can demonstrate his deep interest in revenue racing when the tax bill gets to the senate floor soon. It is bad’y in need of revision along lines Senator Borah favors. Finally, the senator can use his .alents to •write into the tariff bill two important provisions; one limiting the time the tariff-makihg power is conferred upon the President; the other, a declaration for an international accord to bring down all tariff barriers. With these modifications neither the congress nor the country needs fear the bill. ELECTION BY FRAUD ■p'RAUDS will increase and costs will grow ■“• unless we reform our election systems from top to bottom, according to Dr. Joseph P. Harris in his new book, “Election Administration in the United States,” published by the Brookings institution. Following an historical review and critical evaluation of the election systems in the United States, he concludes that: “Every investigation or election contest brings to light glaring irregularities, errors, misconduct on the part of precinct officers, disrepard of election laws and instructions, slipshod practices, and downright frauds. The entire country has been shocked from time to time by the revelation of wholesale election frauds in some of our large cities. “Competent political observers report that election frauds are by no means confined to these few cities, but are widely prevalent in less populous communities. Even these election scandals and the slipshod administration revealed by election recounts do not indicate the real state of affairs which prevails generally in election administration. "The truth of the matter is that the whole administration—organizations, laws, methods and procedures, and records—are, for most states, quite, obsolete. The whole system, including the election laws, requires a thorough revision and improvement.” The expensive burden of election costs is found to be due in large measure to the absence of any appreciable financial control, and also to political administration with its attendant patronage and spoils system. Dr. Han Is offers a model election system, which he believes embodies the best and the most practicable features of election systems throughout the country.

SOLDIERS’ REVENGE! A NY man who served In the A. E. F. during the World war will be Interested to learn of the charges which have been placed against an army medical officer in the Canal Zone, whose court-martial is pending. This officer, it is alleged, had a castor oil complex. A soldier who came in with an injured foot got a oig dose of castor oil and was sent back to duty; so did another who came down with appendicitis. Asa result, charges of malpractice have been filed and the officer roust appear in an army court. The doughboys r.ad a saving, in the A. E. - F.. that the army pharmacopeia contained but two nostrums—castor oil and iodine. You either dosed with tne one or swabbed down with the other, no matter what ailed >ou. This, of course, was unjust to a capable and overworked med'eal staff. But it was an army tradition, just the same—and this Canal Zone case will stir memories of it in the minds of a lot of ex-soldiers. PRESS OR PRESS AGENT? T}ANKERS’ representatives continue to assail the pending stock market bill. One of their latest complaints is that it menaces the freedom of the oress by its penalties for the dissemination of false and misleading information about corporate securities Offhand, one might suggest that this provision menaces not so much the freedom of the press as the freedom of the press agent. Do you know how the press agent works, when a powerful pool seeks to boost the price of a certain stock beyond its true worth, so that its members can unload at a prefit? He circulates ohony bits of news about it. He lets it be known that the company in question has landed a big foreign contract, or bought important patent rights, or entered into a profitable merger arrangement It all makes the stock sound valuable, the suckers rush to buy, the insiders unload—and, when the smoke clears away, the stock price drops to where it ought to be, while the insiders congratulate the press agent and hank their profits. That’s the sort of “freedom” that this bill endangers. lowa state university has installed easy chairs for students. The professors should stand up. so that at least they will remain awake. A meat dealer in Germany was jailed for selling ‘unreliable sausage.” Isn’t ‘t good to feel you can depend on Germany’s baloney? A retired engineer of Worcester. Mass., has donated $50,000 to Harvard for a survey of stars up to a distance of 600 quintillton miles. He’s bound to make nis money go a long way.

ENOUGH SILVER ONE of the minor political scandals has been the profits of speculators in connecnection with the administration’s silver subsidy. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau has been investigating this. Asked whether the investigation showed that some of the silver advocates had a personal stake, the secretary said: “Yes, we found some were not entirely disinterested.” Mr. Morgenthau is not disposed to make public the findings, at least not now. That is unfortunate. Since the public in the end pays for the silver policy, it would seem to have the right to all the facts available regarding those who are enriched. Also it would be fairer to these silver advocates who are disinterested personally to publish the names of those who are not —now that the issue has been raised. Meanwhile the secretary is to be congratulated on his statement that the administration has no immediate intention of extending its silver policy. By a long battle, of attrition the silver bloc in congress, really led b/ the quiet and canny Senator Pittman rather than by the more vocal sixteen-to-one-ers, already has made sufficient inroads at the White House for safety. Therefore it is gratifying to find the secretary of the treasury publicly expressing skepticism of the miraculous claims of the extreme silver inflationists. FOREST AND FIRESIDE ’•nnHROW another log on the fire . . advises the popular song. Good advice it is, too, these chilly late winter evenings that precede warm spring days. These spring days we shall be building new homes and apartment houses, and we ought to put wood fireplaces in every one of them, for what is home without a hearth? We also should assure ourselves of a supply of firewood for these hearths at prices every one can afford. One way to do that is to establish municipal or county forests. Every community in America should have a large community forest, out of which the trees may be carefully cut as they mature. That is the way to get cool summer shade and winter fireside warmth. Light wines and brers can’t be very light if heavy taxes are put on them. An average of 60,000,000 persons attended the movies in the United States each week last year. There’s still hope for half the population, at least. The late unlamenied hard winter permits us to pass on to cur children what our fathers passed on to us —baloney.

Liberal Viewpoint DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES-=

MATTHEW JOSEPHSON, in his new book, "The Robber Barons,” presents us with a colorful picture of the orgies of “conspicuous waste” and “horrific consumption” earned on by the newly rich class at a time when farmers were close to desperation in the face o‘ big debts and low prices and when labor was fighting for its very life in the effort to secure wages which would maintain even sheer existence: “Limited in their capacity of enjoyment and bored, yet prompted to out do each other in prodigality, the New Rich experimented with ever new patterns or of consumption. “In the late ’7o’s, the practice of hiring hotel rooms or public restaurants for social functions had become fashionaDle. At Delmonieo’s the silver, gold and diamond dinners of the socially prominent succeeded each other unfailingly. At one, each lady present, opening her napkin, found a gold bracelet with the monogram of the host. At another, clgarets rolled m hun-dred-dollar bills were passed around after the coffee and consumed with an authentic thrill. “One man gave a dinner to his dog and presented him wjth a diamond collar worth $15,000. At another dinner, costing $20,000, each guest discovered in one of his oysters a magnificent black pearl.” a a a MR. JOSEPHSON goes to the heart of the matter in describing what manner of men these were. He quotes Theodore Roosevelt as follows: “I simply am unable to make myself take the attitude of respect toward the very wealthy man which such an enormous multitude of people evidently really feel. I am delighted to show' any courtesy to Pierpont Morgan or Andrew Carnegie or James J. Hill, but as for regarding any one of them as, for instance, I regard Professor Bury, or Peary, the Arctic explorer, or Rhodes, the historian —wht, I could not force myself to do it even if I wanted to, which I don’t.” Even more caustic were the observations of the eminent New England financier and publicist. Charles Frances Adams: “Indeed, as I approach the end. I am more than a little puzzled to account for the instances I have seen of business success—money getting. It comes frem rather a low' instinct. Certainly, so far as my observation goes, it is scarcely met with in combination with the firmer or more interesting traits of character. “I have known and known tolerably w r eil a great many ‘successful’ men—‘big’ men financially—men famous during the last half century, and a less interesting crowd I do not care tc encounter. Not one that I have ever known would I care to meet again either in this world or the next; nor is one associated in my mind with the idea of humor, thought or refinement.’’ a a a “ A SET of mere money-getters and traders, i\ they essentially were unattractive. The fact is that money-getting like everything else calls for a special aptitude and a great concentration, and for it I did not have the first in any marked degree, while to it I never gave the last. So, in now summing up I may account myself fortunate in having got out of my ventures as well as I did.” Mr. Josephson might have added edge and force to his indictment by referring to Abraham Epstein's important study of the degree to which the rich support the poor through private charity. Dr. Epstein has shown that the American rich have no sense of responsibility or stewardship in making a fair return of their vast incomes to aid the poverty stricken. Aside from Carnegie, Rockefeller, Harkness and a few others the American rich hang on resolutely to their anti-social gains. They allow' charity to be supplied mainly by those of moderate wealth and through forced contributions by employed labor. , If Mr. Josephson had seen fit to carry his study down to date, he could probably have presented a more devastating picture. Some of the men with whom he deals did at least, even if at terrific cost and waste, build real empires of industry' and transportation. The present generation has. for the most part, built paper pyramids and milked industry', transportation and finance dry through holding companies. I have no personal animus against the very wealthy and their social But it is hard to overlook the fact that they have been purchased at the price of the misery of tens of millions and the wreckage of the American industrial order.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

i, ■ i w TaJS at ? ) • V "•*"*' jp --aSSi*.

The Message Center

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, ilake your letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to SSO words or less.) a a a HE WANTS WATSON TO EXPLAIN THINGS By R. C. S. So far I have refrained from answering anything I have seen in the public press. However, in looking over my evening paper a few days ago. I happened to run on to an article supposed to be from our distinguished ex-Ssnator James E. Watson, in which he said “We should stand unwaveringly by the fundamental thought of individual Initiative, thrift and individual effort.” Os course that is a reproduction of the old worn out statement of the G. O. P.’s rugged individualism which, in plain language, means ‘ Every tub stands on its onw bottom.” The mystery, the surprise and the joke of those words is that every man has a right to express, practice, and fight for the development of his God-given ability and talent. But along comes man with his unique, insincere, deceptive and crooked laws, that govern society and monopolize the opportunities for him to express and develop his individuality and initiative. Os course I appreciate our exsenator’s ability as a politician. From the standpoint of a statesman and a diplomat, as far as the twentieth century is concerned, he is a complete failure. Mr. Watson, you believe in the survival of the fittest. If our past economic system is what you went and is the only thing, that will uphold our present civilization, (if we are civilized), and the only method, that you have to offer, please explain to me and the public why we have come to the present crisis. a a a WHY DOESN’T KUNKEL RESIGN? HE ASKS Bv a Big Democrat The Star has a fancy way of putting things on the front page wanting Governor McNutt to give a reward for Dillinger’s capture. They did not do this when ten convicts, the worst type, escaped from the state prison at Michigan City. Why did not someone run- front page boxes asking Kunkel to reign? It seems as they all have to pick on a woman sheriff at Crow'n Point when one man escaped. A few days later another lifer escaped from the state prison, and no one asked Kunkel to resign. Why pick on this w'oman, when w r e believe she was sincere and doing her best? We all make mistakes and have faults. It seems as though folks can’t see a big official's fault, but want to pick on a woman, but not on a warden. a a a REAL HE-MEN NEEDED TO ENFORCE LAWS By Oliver Townsley. Just what is wreng with the law of this country? Would we allow our foreign friends to believe that our great protecting law fears one unarmed, shackled and manacled individual? If so, then what a laughing stock we must appear to be. We should offer to sign up with one o l their comedy film producers. If they wanted to declare war with us, they would laugh “What a push over.” I refer to the press photograph in your paper of March 8, showing Sheriff Sarber's son, aiming a ma-

SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS

Creation of Employment

ny E. JS. S. In the March 6 issue of The Times, R. H. is under the impression that modern machinery has caused idle hands. I believe I can show you the error. When the linotype first was introduced printers wanted the patent squelched, saying they would all be thrown out of work. (All type was set by hand at that time). But the machine came anyhow and so lowered the cost of composition that thousands of new books and magazines and news sheets sprang up requiring serv-

chine gun on a helpless, unarmed and tied-up Harry Pierpont. Why. is such an unprecedented favor granted a bereaved relative? If Harry should happen to make a face at this deceased sheriff’s son, it may mean because of prejudice. Yours in favor of employing more of our younger generation to represent us in law, and trusting that we’ll get real he men. a a a SUGGESTS U. S. BUY KEYLESS LOCK CO. By D. Smith Mrs. Roosevelt wasn’t so dumb after all. It is time to tatce some action when a firm makes a profit of 700 per cent on its product and also gets the same product back when the contract expires. Why couldn’t the government purchase the Keyless Lock Company at a -fair price and establish the housing project near Indianapolis? Nobody could kick about that. a a a CAPITALISM IS DYING FROM ITS OWN SINS By Thomas D. McGee To ipme observers watching the trend of current events it seems that we are in the midst of a great war. It is a silent, bloodless, smokeless nondestructive war, but it is war, nevertheless —a titanic struggle between the two great divisions of cur society—“the have nots and the have gots.” The dispossessed and despoiled of our land—those unfortunates deprived by irresistible forces, of property, money, jobs and all economic opportunity, have at last become articulate. They have lifted up their voices. Their mouthpiece is Roosevelt, and the instrument' of their economic salvation is Roosevelt’s NR A. Contemporaries seldom understand the significance of the great social forces, silently working epochal changes in their civilization. The present mystification of some of us in these topsy-turvy times is perhaps attributable to the fact that anew era, anew society is evolving swiftly from the ruins of the old* order. Capitalism that promised so much, capitalism that did so much is dying, dying a premature death superinduced by its deadly sins and excesses—its brutal greed—its ruthless, materialistic philosophy, its stoical indifference to social wrongs of its own creating. And so it has brought about the intolerable condition in which 90 per cent of our wealth and property is owned and controlled by 10 per cent of our population, and 65 per cent owned by but 2 per cent of our people. This quiet, bloodless revolution is a force of such momentum that nothing can withstand its effects. If our Constitution, notwithstanding its salient, general welfare clause, contains inhibitions. and qualifica-

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

ices of thousands of printers, pressmen, bindery men and girls to say nothing of the transportation required to distribute them. The same holds good in the auto industry. Without the modern forming presses, drop forging hammers, multiple drills and all the other machinery to promote high speed production the cost of an automobile would be prohibitive to the middle class and so a factory only could sell a few cars and consequently only a lew men would be employed.-

tions that prevent its adjustment to the new order, it will be amended or emasculated by judicial processes to fit the emergency. I do do not believe that its rigidity is so great that it will not bend to the pressure of the new forces. It is no derogation of that wonderful and admirable instrument to suggest that the people were not made for the Constitution, but the Consitution was made for the people. It is an idle thought maybe; but perhaps it has been reserved to our generation to solve the ages-old enigma of civilized man, viz: how to bring about equality of opportunity, and fair dealing among men. Perhaps it has been destined that Franklin D. Roosevelt should bring all this about ,and thus win for himself a high seat among the immortals of all time. Who knows? a a a BANKERS COMPARED WITH DILLINGER, PIERPONT By a Times Reader The photos of John Dillinger and Estill were disgraceful. What do you think of the picture? Harry Pierpont is branded a killer, and a school kid is sheriff, with a submachine gun turned on a man. This is what I call a disgrace. Who has closed the banks, and left people without money, or food? This was not Pierpont, or Dillinger. Yet they have to be hunted. How about the banker. What will he get? a a a SEEKS SUPPORT FOR RADIO BILL By M. L. Boyd Will you not use the influence of your paper in support of the radio Mil (McFadden H. R. 7986) now up for consideration in congress? It is of vital interest that the radio, as well as the press, be kept free from selfish commercial or religious censonship, interference or dictatorship as to what the people shall or shall not hear. Please give your support to this bill. a a a BANKERS SCORED FOR IMPROPER INVESTMENTS By Barnie Wade. Dillinger is net as black as others. Why should police spend all of their time locking for Dillinger when there are so many other criminals at liberty? I am a reader of The Times ana think it will come as near printing the truth as any other paper in Indianapolis. Since Dillinger broke prison there has hardly been a day his name .has not been on the front page of all our papers. While there are others who never are mentioned. They are the bankers w'ho took working people’s money and spent it when real estate was not worth, what they put in it. I know .people who had

.MARCH 19,1934

their life savings in banks of this kind and today they are living on charity. And what about judges and prosecuting attorneys? a a a OBJECTS TO DISCHARGE FROM CWA PROJECT By a Friend I am a CWA worker who got laid off Feb. 29. They were supposed to lay men off with small families first, but I got it first. -There were 140 of us. We were working for the park board on Pleasant Run boulevard. There are about 4,500 men ing for the park board, and we were the only ones fired. I can’t understand. Some of this bunch have ten in their family. I have six. Why, right down the street from me is a man who still is working. He only has one child and gets a pension of $lB a month. And just around the corner is a man working on one job and his son on another. Both of them are on CWA jobs, and have smaller families than I have. There must be something wrong about this. SEEKS LUMBER,” TO BUILD A HOME By Frances Ross. I hope you will let me use the Message Center to appeal to people who have vacant houses, that are being torn down and the lumber destroyed. I would like to have two houses to wreck for the lumber to build a little home. I am living in an open shack made .of tin and cardboard, struggling to keep my two boys, 7 and 14, with me. If someone would give us lumber to build, we wouic. be happy. I have tried to get work so I could be independent, but it is impossible to get work. Visitation BY HAROLD FRENCH A candle lit my room awry. It made me many times myself. I w r as outstretched, another I Lay half across the closet shelf. A memory lay in mute recluse— A face too many loves ago Hidden behind the glamorless Loves of rest, of ease; you know. That I am old and love my chair, And youth’s bright loves are poignant only. Their resurrection scarce should dare Disturb my very being lonely. And yet, too old once more—once more! (Common words, and always tragic.) To cross a lawn and pass a door And kiss a face less sweet than magic? Last night my candle’s cardinal flame Wrapped my room in alien image. God or I, who is to blame That I sought from it my heritage? I only know that a knock came low— A familiar hand was upon the door. I knew she came and I felt her go, And I am an old, old man orce more.