Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 272, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 March 1934 — Page 9

Second Section

It Seems to Me By Heywood Broun IF an enemy plane had flown over New York in 1917 and dropped a bomb killing five persons there would have been commotion. New York would have demanded anti-aircraft guns and ample planes for protection. Gentlemen with pencils who insisted on figuring costs and limited dividends would have been roughly pushed aside as avaricious academicians who stood in the way of a necessary program. Since the first of January forty-four persons have been burned to death in New York tenements. This is so staggering a total that it should on the instant change slum clearance from a theory into fact. But

this total of a little more than ten weeks does not in any way represent adequately the toll of the tenements. I venture the assertion that In any recent twelve months the slums of America have inflicted upon this nation a greater loss than was ever exacted by any war in a like period of time. B B tt That Which Is Certain IT might be hard to prove the point up to the hilt statistically. I would include those ravages of crime w’hich are in my opinion directly connected with the early environment of most of our criminals. Social

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Heywood Broun

conscience is not bred in dark hallways and filthy inner rooms. And even if I admit some room for debate as to the function of the tenement as the feeding school for reformatories and penitentiaries the relationship between housing and disease can be traced accurately enough Tuberculosis takes its percentage from the huddled and harassed with the same certainty as the wheel at Monte Carlo nicks into the bets of players. Given a set cubic content of space and an antithenial number of tenants and the resultant hospitalization can be predicted with a very small margin of error. In other words, New York, like other large cities, has gone along for years saying: “We can’t afford to tear these down,” and has blinked at the fact that even less can we afford to have them stand. There is potentially a humanitarian instinct in the average community which can be aroused after repeated appeals. But there should be even more immediate action when a decent regard for the welfare of mankind is backed up by a demonstrable self-interest. The grossest extravagance of which any great city is capable is the toleration of those incubators which fill our jails and clinics and wards and morgues. We stand by and let human material disintegrate into ambulance cases before there is any suggestion of a helping hand. Just how many women and children and men must burn before we recognize these sinister pueblos as more dangerous to us than any plane or Zeppelin? Even yet there are powerfully organized bodies which fight tooth and nail against the razing of the firetraps. Possibly it is delicate work to apportion dishonor among the varied interests to whom profit is a god. And yet I think that there are few associations more stubbornly and brazenly selfish than some of the real estate organizations of New York. a , a tt The Personal Equation SOME little time ago I heard a man say at a party: Yes. 1 licked that last model-housing proposition. and I'll fight arid win against any other. After all, they were promising flats at $8 a room, and I have a building only two blocks away where I have to charge sl2 in order to make a fair profit. Do you expect me to consent to being driven out of business without a struggle?” I think there will have to be a struggle, but I do expect Mr. A. and Messrs. X.. Y. and Z. to go down under mass protest against monstrous practice. And I am not speaking of “some day,” or “in due course.” or “as soon as possible.” It will have to be a great deal quicker than that. Men and women may be content to starve placidly, but people can not be expected to burn to death without outcry. Even the most loyal friends of things as they are must writhe under the touch of the flame. tt tt tt The End of an Era IF private capital proves to be incompetent to handle the problem of municipal housing, then private capital will have to go. And I apologize for that “if.” Rugged individualism is palpably guilty of these ghastly bonfires. The police have reported that some of these recent fires were “suspicious.” It may be that the match was touched by some crank or criminal, but that does not absolve the profiteers who laid out sticks of kindling and said: “Come live with me.” We are facing an emergency. It is as real, as dangerous and as acute as ever came to us in conflict. We can not afford to haggle over costs. I have never been, and am not now. in favor of what Is called “summary justice.” But I would lynch the property or income of any man during an emergency. We are faced with an emergency now. I think we have been living under an emergency for at least half a century. We should rise to fight against the challenge of realtors and rat-traps. The issue is life or death. The slum is at the gate. (Copyright. 1934. by The Times)

Your Health —BY l)R. MORRIS FISHBEIN-

AMONG the most painful of the conditions which afflict human beings is neuralgia of the face. There is a characteristic pain, stabbing and knifelike which follows the course of one of the chief nerves, known as the fifth, or trigeminal nerve. This nerve spreads over the face, coming from a spot near the ear. Any cold current of air blowing on the face, or even the light touch of the finger or a feather to the face, or ordinary movements of the lips or jaws, may cause this sudden stabbing to pass through the nerve. There are. of course, other painful conditions of the face and head which are related to sensations carried by nerves. One is the typical migraine, or sick headache, which it has been established, may be started by fatigue, by sensitivity to some food substance, by difficulties of vision, or by other stimuli. a a a THE eighth nerve, which controls the sense of hearing, may be effected in some manner so as to give sudden sensations of dizziness, which come on and pass away in a short time and which frequently are accompanied with nausea and vomiting There is likely also to be ringing in the ears and. in some cases, complete loss of hearing on the same side. A neuralgia also may affect the nerves which supply the sense of taste and later the palate. Per sons who have this nerve affacted suddenly get pains in the tonsillar region, or at the base of the tongue, when eating, chewing, swallowing or talking. No changes can be found when looking at the mouth or at the tongue, but the sensation is entirely a nervous one. m a a IN most of these conditions confined to the nerves, the physician can provide relief in several ways. He may administer sedative drugs, which lowei the threshold of the perception of the pain and permit gradual recovery. It Is possible, particularly In the case of the trigeminal, or fifth nerve neuralgia, for the physician to inject the nerve with various substances which have the ability to block sensation.

Full l.<*i*cl Wire Serrtce of the Cnited I’resg Arwiatlnn

THE MONUMENTS OF LITERATURE

This it the fourth of a series of artirles giving a background of the world’s best literature. It It written exclusively for Timet readers and brings highlights of fiction down to contemporary works. BY TRISTRAM COFFIN * Times Staff Writer AS the clanking grim ghost of his father, the king, fades away, the melancholy dreamer, Hamlet, cries out in a passionate frenzy of grief and indecision. In distraction he hurls epithets at the world. Denmark is in confusion! The king has been poisoned. His brother. Claudius, has usurped the throne by marrying Queen Gertrude. The ghost rises from his mortal grave and binds Hamlet to an oath of vengeance. A courtly, sensitive brooding poet. Hamlet feels only a futile fury of hesitation at his responsibility. Hamlet, feigning madness to carry out his bloody plot, speaks absently, gazes out into space. Hamlet’s feigned madness reveals startling truth. Behind the incoherence of his mouthings is a searching sanity, mocking the words and actions of others. William Shakespeare, the author, peers through the words of Hamlet. They are the same when Hamlet vigorously, and often coarsely, denounces the existing order with magnificent fatalism. Hamlet betrayed by his queen mother is Shakespeare betrayed in some violent love.

Taine, the great French literary historian, speaks of the character Hamlet as: “He is not the master of his acts; opportunity dictates them. He can not plan a murder, but must improvise it. A too lively imagination exhausts the will, by the strength of images which it heaps up. and by the fury of intentness which absorbs it. You recognize in him a poet's soul, made not to act but to dream ... an artist whom evil chance has made a prince, whom worse fortune has made an avenger of crime, and who, destined by nature for genius, is condemned by fortune to- madness and unhappiness.” a a u Shakespeare, master of the sublime and the ridiculous, the beautiful and the ugly, is, in the mind of this w r riter, the greatest literary artist that the W’orld has ever known. Other writers have written as well as Shakespeare, none as completely. He is bombastic, vulgar, atheistic, humorous, passionate, crude, tender, sensitive—and so is life. No aspect of human behavior escaped him. Every literary weapon was in his command—powerful poetry, bitter satire, broad farce, sublime tragedy and high comedy. Taine says: “He needs no praise, but comprehension merely . . . The most creative mind that ever engaged in the exact copy of details of actual existence: a nature poetical, immoral, inspired, superior to reason by the sudden revelation of its seer’s madness; so extreme in joy and grief, so abrupt of gait, so agitated and so impetuous in its transports that this great age (the English renaissance) could have cradled such a child.” “Hamlet” is the most typical of Shakespeare in the whole supreme galaxy of w r orks. Mystery, more sinister than the most blood thirsty of thrillers; human conduct ranging from worldly advice to mad mutterings. The dark workings of Hamlet’s mind as he changes from a dreamer to a cold, calm murderer, unperturbed by moral issues show’s the slow tortuous path of madness and hate. In that superb moment of indecision, the soliloquy, is the most human philosophic problem ever presented man. “To be or not to be; that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of

ROUNDING ROUND rr\ tt T]> a r PT7' TANARUS) O WITH WALTER 1 1 HfKO D . HICKMAN

'T'HE importance of music in the church was vividly illustrated again lgst night as a volunteer choir with four soloists sang the Manzoni Requiem, as composed by Guieseppi Verdi in memory of Alessandro Manzoni. This ambitious undertaking was directed by Fred Newell Morris, conductor of music at the Tabernacle Presbyterian church. The presentation was in keeping with the Lenten spirit and proved the value of inspiring music for an entire service in the church. Heavy demands in this work are made upon a choir of fifty-four voices in addition to a solo quartet, singing together and in solo. It is to the credit of Mr. Morris and those singing for him that the Verdi opus was done in reverence and with fine feeling. The work starts with quartet and chorus singing “Requiem and Kyrie,” in which the Lord is asked to grant rest eternal to the dead. This is followed by "Day of Anger” with four solo parts and chorus, depicting hearts beating with terror when the judge comes. The chorus and bass then carrying the theme of "earth's sepultured dead upcalling; round the Lord's throne prostrate falling. Following this, the contralto and chorus present '*Now the Record,”

FILM COMING SOON

' 9 mi y I A

Katherine Hepburn Manager Baker of the Circle announces that Katherine Hepburns latest movie, "Spitfire,” will open, an engagement there on Friday, April 6.

The Indianapolis Times

Shakespeare’s Hamlet Towers Far Above Modern Fiction

INDIANAPOLIS, SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 1934

outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them?” a a a 'T'O each man in the course of A his life has come this same perplexing problem. And, as Shakespeare points out, the trouble is never really conquered—only bravely put aside for the moment. With an almost crazy cunning, so audacious is it, Hamlet tests his father’s sepulchral charge that he was poisoned by Claudius. By choosing the path of action Hamlet has allied himself against the world and the w’hole existing order. Hamlet instructs a band of traveling actors to enact the murder of his father. The king and queen are distracted by the growing black madness of Hamlet and humor his moods. As the queen objects to the play, Hamlet, cynical and disgusted with the world, cries out, “Methinks, my lady protests too much.” The king reveals his guilt as the court watches the play and the plot is a success. The prince kills Polonius, father of his beloved Ophelia, but it matters little to him. He is so far plunged into revenge that he may look back only with nostalgia, but may never retrace his Steps. - He denies his friends. When Ophelia, oppressed by her lover's actions, becomes mad and dies, Hamlet flings himself upon the grave in bitter sadness. Her death reveals to him that he himself is doomed, life is an agonizing farce, and murder begets murder. a a a THE last scene is a deluge of death as Hamlet and Laertes, son of Polonius, kill each other in a duel; the queen dies of poison intended for the king; and the king dies by Hamlet's murderous stabs. Yet, as in Greek tragedy, when a king is wiped out by an initial sin and the air is filled with the groan of the dying, there comes a moment of resurrection. In his dying breath Hamlet proclaims the rise of a new’ order. Pathetic and delicate is the beautiful Ophelia, w’hom Hamlet loved. But w’hen Hamlet suffered the shock of his father’s death, the world and all in it turned black and conspiring. His ideal of womanhood was tw’isted and

in which the record is cited “wiien to judgment all are bidden, nothing longer shall be hidden, not a trespass go unsmitten.” an a ONE of the most beautiful and effective parts was “King of Glories,” as done by the quartet and chorus. The singers under Mr. Morris’ direction reached the high peak of their achievement in this part of the Requiem. The soloists were Mrs. Walter F. Wallace, soprano; Miss Patra M. Kennedy, contralto; Perry M. Rush, tenor, and Vaughn Cornish, bass. I never have heard Mr. Cornish sing to better advantage, both as to voice as w'ell as in capturing the spirit of the message in “From the Accursed.” The work of the sopmno and contralto together in several parts were excellent. Tremendous demands were made of Mrs. Wallace, soprano in the last part, “Lord, Deliver My Soul. ” She met the demands with ease. Paul R. Matthew's W'as at the pipe organ. Mazoni’s “requiem” will stand as an impressive monument of accomplishment for Mr. Morrris, his choir and the soloists.

WHERE DO WE EAT? INDIANAPOLIS A. C., SAY CAPITOL WOMEN

That old army question. “When do we eat?” w f as revised to "Where do we eat?” and asked of all members of the Statehouse Womens Democratic Club in a questionnaire sent out. by Miss .Madclon Abel from the Governors office recently. It was explained to members that the NRA code has made prices high at hotels and that the Indianapolis Athletic Club would serve the monthly dinner for 75 cents a plate if guaranteed all dinners will be held there. Most members already knew that the club took on anew lease of life with the advent of the McNutt administration and that Bowman Elder. McNutt adviser, is secretary-treasurer of the club. The question was put, "Shall we eat there?” and Miss Abel reports that the answer is “yes.” Egyptologist to Assist De Mille Ralph Jester, noted Egyptologist, has arrived in Hollywood to assist Cecil B. De Mille at the Paramount studios In the production of “Cleopatra.” Jester will pass on all settings used in the production.

' ’ ~ ' ‘ t j 't’ Hi ~i m HH

“Alas poor Yorick, I knew him well,” muses the melancholy Prince Hamlet as he visits the graveyard. The comparison between the earth T rotted bones of those whom he knew in life and their former actions, gay or petty, arouses Hamlet to thought.

distorted by his mother’s example. Hamlet insults Ophelia—all women are strumpets to him. One of the most tense and painful, yet beautiful, scenes in all literature is when Ophelia dances on to the stage, singing in a light vbice the incoherent words of her mad tunes. No part of- the plot, she is its most cruel victim. Fate, to Hamlet, is indifferent of persons and virtues. Shakespeare bowed to “the strumpet goddess, Venus.” according to Taine, when early in his creative career he wrote comedy and historical drama. These early w’orks represent the furious adolescence when he was swayed by tempestuous emotions. rr hey are, as youth, somewhat imitative.

C. OF C. VOTES HELP TO DEFENSE PROGRAM Backs National Group in Approving Adequate Navy. Support of an adequate national defense program was promised in a resolution adopted Thursday by the directors of the Indianapofis Chamber of Commerc. Louis J. Borinstein, president, announced. The directors voted to affirm the referendum by the United States Chamber of Commerce in wnich the building up of our fleet to the ratio of other nations is advocated. Maintenance of an Americanowned merchant marine suitable as a naval auxiliary in the event of war was supported also. The directors affirmed the appointment of A. L. Taylor as general manager and secretary of the Chamber of Commerce.

SIDE GLANCES

. - . *" f ItK r> >t SEBVK-tL IKT, BEG U S l/>T. “Makes a guy feel he ain’t so important, after all, don’t it?”

AS the Bard of Avon grew into manhood a magnificent fatalism invaded his writing, which no longer showed signs of imitation. Impelled by a smoldering rage against society, coupled with a comprehensive philosophic nature, he wrote the sublime and powerful tragedies, “Hamlet,” “Othello,” “King Lear,” and “Macßeth.” There is an evenness about Shakespeare’s writings. His fools, his villains, his women and his heroes are logical and sympathetic. lago is the master of villainy. Falstaff is the prince of rowdy fools. He draws from the lofty heights of the Greeks and the bawdy intrigue of the Elizabethans. But, unlike the Greeks,

Capital Capers Congress in No Hurry Joe Robinson Goes About Mumbling for a May 15 Adjournment—A Futile Hope.

BY GEORGE ABELL Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON, March 24.—Senator Joe Robinson of Arkansas, Democratic leader of the senate, goes about the cloak rooms these days mumbling: “Adjournment . . . 15th day of May . . . Adjournment . . . 15th day of May.” Joe has been repeating these Cassandra-like words since he drew up a list of unfinished business before the senate two weeks ago.

So absorbed has the Arkansas legislator become in the fixed idea of early adjournment that he reiterates it on every occasion. A friend encountered the senator in the corridor outside the senate chamber and remarked:

By George Clark

Fntered as Second-Class Matter at Poatofflce, Indlanapoll*

his characters become possessed of human frailties, fear, doubt and lust. His women are vivid characters, unrelenting and emotionally unstable. He both tramples and ennobles women. Lady Macbeth and the flattering daughters of King Lear are scheming and ruthless. Ophelia is a frail, pathetic character. Cordelia is the ideal of womanhood. Other great Elizabethan dramatists, even the roaring Marlowe, have been relegated to the school boys’ textbooks. Shakespeare is eternal as a portrayer of all the frailties and nobility that enrage and redeem the soul of man.

“Hello. Joe! Pretty cold day, isn’t it?” Glassy-eyed but unseeing, Joe replied: “Adjournment ... 15th of May.” More than a dozen bills have been added to the Robinson list since it was drawn up, but Joe still mouths the old formula. Funny part is, he doesn't believe it himself. a a a SMARTLY dressed in a tailored tweed suit designed by herself and with a rakish brown felt hat thrust over one ear, Mrs. Amelia Earhart Putnam, only woman to make a solo flight across the Atlantic, faced members of the house postoffice committee. An eager group of women admirers (mostly secretaries of congressmen) waited in the corridor outside to greet Amelia. Occasionally, they peered into the room to hear Mrs. Putnam urge speedy enactment of the proposed air mail bill, as an aid in stabilizing aviation conditions. Finally, Amelia departed. As she left, one of the waiting young secretaries bashfully came forward. stammeringly introduced herself. Amelia smiled, exchanged a few words. A friend, mindful that Amelia is now the head of a gown shop known as “Amelia Earhart, Inc.,” asked the young woman secretary: “Are you anxious to meet Mrs. Putnam as a stylist or as a flier?” She replied: * “Asa flier.” (Which shows that all women are not interested in clothes—or does it? And was the answer a truthful one?) YOUNG Theodore (Ted to his friends) Marriner is back from Moscow, looking as sleek as a trained seal and very enthusiastic about the possibilities of a beautiful U. S. embassy in that city. Just now, however, embassy conditions in Moscow are somewhat unsettled, according to Ted. The building occupied by Ambassador Bullitt is merely a temporary halting place and the idea is to find suitable and permanent quarters.

Second Section

Fair Enough By 7 Westbrook Pegler WASHINGTON, March 24.—Reds McLelland of Camden. Ark., is a page in the United States senate with about two years to serve before he must be retired automatically under the age limit of 16. He began his career as a statesman in 1931. stumping his own home county for two rival candidates for the office of auttorney-general. He got $2 a speech from his two principals and delivered practically the same speeches for both of them, just changing the name. In reward for political services of this kind, he w’as appointed page in the Arkansas state senate in

1931 and served until 1933 when Senator Joe Robinson brought him down to the big house. Reds is one of the most active spirits among the corps of pages on the senate side at the national Capitol. There are twenty-three pages in the senate and about forty in the house, most of them sons of widows. The senate pages get $3.40 a day. every day of the month under the present reduced scale and most of the bills which they offer during their occasional mock sessions call for the immediate increase to SSOO a month. I do not know how much the house pages get, but it is about

the same. Reds plays outfield on the senate pages’ ball club and does a little boxing at his weight, which is 100 pounds. He is alleged to have been the editor of the first and only issue of a magazine published by his select corps some time ago. This publication might have enjoyed a national circulation if it had not been surpressed because it contained innocent but very interesting references to 'the social life of an elderly statesman who is fond of dancing w’ith attractive young women. But Reds is not much interested in journalism, anyway. Like many other pages, he aims to continue his education as a protege of the government at the United States Military Academy. Kids in the corps of pages, associating with politicians all the time, are very precocious in the tricks and angles of patronage and know how to get appointments to the military and naval academies. a a They're High Toned THE senate pages are inclined to regard the house pages as members of an inferior order just as the elevator operators and scrubbing and sweeping Staff on the senate side look down upon their opposite numbers in the lower house. When Tom Marshall w’as Vice-President he decided one year to give a Christmas dinner for the kids who run the errands, tidy up the desks, dust off the gavel-block before the throne, and otherwise make themselves helpful to the statesmen in various little ways. He did not attend his first dinner himself, but thereafter he always was present and listened soberly to after-dinner orations by his guests, some of them dealing very seriously with important issues of the hour. Mr. Coolidge continued the custom when he became Vice-President and once said to a friend, “You know’, these are pretty bright boys; they really ought to amount to something. I was born on a farm so far from the railroad that you could only hear the w’histle blow’ on days when the wind was favorable.” He went on to suggest, without false modesty, that if he, from this beginning could become Vice-President of the United States, the pages, with the advantage of intimate association w’ith the great men of their time, should go far in the world. Mr. Coolidge traced the career of the typical statesman—sheriff, member of the state legislature, county judge, county prosecutor, congressman, senator. That was his idea of a wonderful career. Some pages have returned to the halls of congress as members, among them Senator Gorman of M r yland and Congressman McLean of New Jersey. One, at least, flunked in this life if Mr. Coolidge's idea of a great career be accepted. This was the late Big Tim Murphy of Chicago, who became a labor hoodlum and was taken off abruptly one pleasant afternoon as he was watering his lawn. An automobile drove by with a machine-gun stuttering through the curtains, and Mr. Murphy ceased. tt tt tt They Want More Pay THE late Phoenic Howard, w’ho was knowm to sporting people and the underworld all over the United States as the publisher of the only worthwhile trade journal for gamblers, also served as a page in the house of representatives. He was a protege of the late Uncle Joe Cannon. “The pages under 14 are required to go to school at night by a local regulation of the District of Columbia and most of the others attend classes voluntarily. In the line of duty they also pick up a lot of knowing about parliamentary procedure and the practical phases of legislation and the page who completes his career with any illusions probably does not exist and can't be very bright if he does. In the mock sessions which occur impromptu on Saturdays or after adjournment, the young men put a speaker in the chair whom they address with great formality and distribute themselves in the seats of the statesmen whom they most favor. The chair then recognizes the senior senator from California or the junior senator from New York, as the case may be, and the Tom Thumb statesmen mar up on their hind legs and holler impressively for more pay, being interrupted now’ and again, however, by paper wads made soggy at the water-cooler and hurled from various sectors of the chamber. Persons who have listened to these debates state that they sometimes make better sense than the sessions which they imitate but that may be merely an expression of cheap cynicism. (Copyright, 1934. by Unite and Feature Syndicate. Inc.)

Today s Science BY DAVID DIETZ

FIVE tiny female figures of baked clay, almost five thousand years old, have been unearthed by the Harvard university archeological expedition to Yugoslavia. The figures, two to five inches in height, are crudely but realistically executed. Their exact significance is not yet known but they are thought to have been religious objects. They are the work of the Stone Age people of 3000 B. C. The figures were found in Macedonia upon the site of a habitation mound of the Neolithic or New Stone Age. Fragments of painted pottery’ also were found on the same site. The Harvard expedition, under the direction of Dr. Vladimir J. Fewkes. recorded 738 prehistoric sites in a 3.500-mile survey of eastern Yugoslavia. This region, he says, is one of the richest and at the same time least known areas from the standpoint of prehistoric and classical civilizations. Major finds of the expedition include a Roman military road and a string of Roman forts built by the Emperor Trajan in the first decade of the second century A. D. a a a IT is a curious fact that the terrific fighting on the Salonika front in Macedonia during the World war turned out to be a major help to the Harvard archeologists. Shell holes and trenches revealed archeological deposits that otherwise might have been long concealed. Another curious fact is that strategic positions used as gun emplacements and staff headquarters during the World war often turned out to be sites used for camps and forts in early days. This is an interesting commentary upon how the world changes and yet stands still. Mankind in his war making has progressed from stone hatchets to long-range guns, and yet here, is testimony to the fact that the fundamentals of the art of war haven’t changed \fxy much.

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Westbrook Pegler