Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 296, Indianapolis, Marion County, 21 April 1934 — Page 6

PAGE 6

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#••*) •* O•AA D Give Light antl the People Will Find Their Oien TTny

SATURDAY APRIL 21. 1934

THE AIR MAIL CONTRACTS TF the new air mail contracts go to the low bidders two of the three major companies —reorganized—will get back most of their old lines. The government will save money because most of the rates are much lower. But before the public rejoices over that fact it will wish to be assured that the service does not suffer, especially in safety. The government must see to that. Inspection should be more rigid than ever. There also Is the matter of pilots’ pay. They never have received compensation commensurate with their training and fidelity to duty. Since the tragic experience of army aviators without adequate training for this particular work there is more general appreciation of the regular mail pilots. It is to be hoped that no further shifts in contracts will be necessary until next winter, when congress can enact permanent legislation on the basis of recommendations of the President's proposed nonpolitical commission. The unwisdom of forcing a second set of temporary contracts under the pending legislation has been pointed out repeatedly. Now that the administration is going ahead with the Farley contracts, they need not be duplicated by new temporary congressional bidding terms. Apparently the administration has come around to this decision. GOOD WORK ' I h HE report on the first full year's activities of the civilian conservation corps makes interesting reading. Upward of 600,000 young men have been given jobs, substantial reductions in fire losses on the public domain have been made, some millions of young trees have been set out, and other work of direct monetary value to the nation accomplished. All this has cost us just $255,000,000 fully two-thirds of which, it is estimated, flowed directly into the channels of industry, commerce and agriculture. This makes a fine record of achievement; and it leads one to wonder anew if this C. C. C. couldn't profitably be made a permanent institution. To be sure. $255,000,000 a year is a good deal df money for a regular item on the national budget. But there is every reason to believe that it is money well spent—from every angle. REPEAL LYNCH LAW 'T'HE issue of law against barbarism is placed squarely before congress in two printed volumes of testimony taken at committee hearings on the Wagner-Costigan antilynching bill. The revolting disclosures in this testimony should convince the most ardent states’ Tighter that federal action is needed if this country ever is to repeal lynch law. They also reveal that mob law is confined to no particular section, nor are its victims confined to one race or sex. Out of 5.053 authenticated lynchings since 1832 there were 1,438 whites and 3,513 Negroes. Os these victims 94 were women. In the decade between 1918 and 1928, forty-two victims were burned alive, and thirty-two others were subjected to other torture. In 1933, twentyeight lives were sacrificed to lynch law. Many since have been proved innocent. In hardly any instance has a state punished the lynchers. Tire proposed measure, like the federal anti-kidnaping law, realistically acknowledges that here is a situation that localities are failing to meet. "The committee believes.” says the Van Nuys subcommittee report, ’’that this bill does not propose an invasion or a subversion of the rights of states. On the contrary, the proposed legislation is an aid to the several states in assuring to their citizens the equal protection of the laws, both state and federal, to which all citizens are entitled.” It is to be hoped the authors of this measure insist upon a roll call this session. ON THE WAY IP ONE of the brightest spots in the business picture right now is being contributed by the department stores. During March there was a record-breaking 44 per cent gain in the nation’s department store sales, and there are excellent reasons for believing that this reflects a substantial rise in the general level of prosperity. The gain is coming hand in hand with a rise in national income. Figures compiled by the American Federation of Labor show that the workers’ total income has risen 41 per cent in the past year—from $1,784,000,090 in March, 1933. to $2,520,000,000 in March, 1934. These figures indicate pretty conclusively that the nation is rapidly gaining its health. People have more money to spend, and they are spending it. The industrial pump is getting primed at last; the pickup ought to go forward now rapidly. AIR FORCE PROBE PERMANENT solution of the air mail tangle will apparently be left for the next congress. Considering the complexity of the situation—the charges arising from the old regime and the accidents common to the new one—this ia just as well, for the whole affair needs more study and discussion than the present congress can give it. 4 But there is another angle to the thing which ought not to be postponed too long. That la the little matter of finding out just what, if anything, is wrong with our army air service. Now that the first heat of passion engendered by cancellation of the mail contacts haa cooled a little, it is easy to see that too

much was said about the failure of the army fliers. They had to start in, cold, on anew and rather bewildering job, their machines quite naturally lacked the equipment the mail planes had, and the weather that greeted them was the worst in years. When all that has been said, however, It remains pretty clear that the army air corps did less well than the nation had a right to expect. Needless to say, this was not due to any failure of nerve on the part of the fliers themselves—they added new records of heroism to the history of the air corps. It seems rather to have been due to some defect in training and equipment of the corps as a whole. Now we don’t maintain an army air corps as a spectacular and inspiring sideshow. It is an integral part of our national defense; if it isn't as strong as it should be, our national defense is weak at a vital point. A dispatch from Europe the other day pointed out that it is the existence of the Russian air force which has probably prevented war between Russia and Japan. The Russian air force is about the strongest on earth, right now; approximately 700 fighting planes are understood to be concentrated in the Far East, within striking distance of Japan, and it is said that their presence has been the principal deterrent against a Japanese offensive in that territory. That gives you an idea of the importance of the air corps. The efficiency of our air force has been called in question by the air mail episode. It is encouraging to know that a committee is preparing to investigate the matter thoroughly, so that the next congress can take whatever action may be needed. MODELS OF SERVICE ■p\R. R. A. MILLIKAN, famous scientist, took occasion in a speech at Little Rock, Ark., the other day to pay tribute to the men who operate the nation's filling stations—and said publicly something that a great many motorists have already said privately. Filling station employes, says the great physicist, ‘have improved the manners and the courtesy and the consideration of the American public more than all the colleges in the country.” It is doubtful if there is a motorist in the land who would not indorse that statement. Few men anywhere show such unvarying politeness, helpfulness and efficient good nature as does the man who handles the gasoline pump. It’s time he got a bow or two. LOBBYING OFFICIALS TTEALTHFUL reforms in politics are hard to win. President Roosevelt spoke courageously about taking party politicians out of the lobbying trade in Washington. Several Democratic national committeemen resigned their party jobs to avoid the appearance of exerting back-door influence at government _ departments. Several bills were introduced in congress to divorce, as far as may be, the Democratic party's politics from the operations of the government. Yet, this week when Senator Borah tried to call up his bill that would prohibit sen-ator-lawyers from being used by persons or corporations pushing claims before the government. it was only the vote of Vice-Presi-dent Garner that broke the tie and permitted the measure to be Laid before the senate. Even then filibustering senators delayed final action. In that vote, seventeen Democratic senators voted to take up the Borah bill, twenty-one voted against it, and twenty-two did not vote at all. Obviously Mr. Roosevelt must exert his influence in the senate if the Roosevelt reform is to be accomplished. The President and Mr. Farley both have been embarrassed in the present air mail controversy because it was the Democratic national chairman who, as postmaster-general, canceled the contracts. Whatever the other pros and cons of that controversy, it is certain that less criticism of a political nature would have resulted if the postmaster-general had been solely that, and not also head of the party in the nation and in New York. MEDDLING AMERICANS r I ''HE state department's action in announcing its strong disapproval of the enrollment of United States aviators for war service in Colombia is perfectly understandable. One good way of getting embroiled in the troubles of neighboring nations is to permit your citizens to take a prominent part in the fighting which those troubles cause. The United States government, of course, never can be held responsible if individual Americans hire out to fight for warring factions in Latin-America; nevertheless, the fact that they do so helps to color Latin-America’s notion of interference by the “Colossus of the North.” The soldier of fortune has an old and romantic tradition in this country, to be sure. But he has not, everything considered, been a wholesome influence. It is not surprising that Washington feels called on to display a frown of disapproval. MORBID HUMANS TT is almost impossible to understand the power that morbid curiosity can have over human beings. When that poor, kidnaped baby was buried in Chicago recently a mob of 10,000 people tried to get into the chapel where the services were being held. Thousands of them, according to press dispatches, swarmed up on nearby autos and housetops to get a look at things. Many of the funeral wreaths were torn in pieces. Women, according to one dispatch, “fought, scratched, and pulled hair, attempting to reach the entrance. Friends and neighbors of the dead baby's family were shoved to the rear.” A display of this kind is just about enough to make one disgusted with the whole human race. It is too bad that the people who were in this mob can not get an understanding of the horror and disgust with which all decent })eople look upon them and their antics. A D. A. R. member from Hartford. Connsays we should deport all aliens, arguing probably that steam shovels can do the ditch digging now Ten out of nineteen prisoners on a hunger strike at Holmesburg, Pa., quit at the end of a week, when they got hungry.

Liberal Viewpoint =By DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES^

A BITTER fight on the Wagner labor disputes bill is being waged by the leading American industrialists and their organizations. The shock troops of reaction are headed up by the National Association of Manufacturers and the United States Chamber of Commerce. The chamber of commerce, for example, has denounced the bill as an effort “to promote the oganization of labor, to put an end to the open shop, to set up a series of prohibitions against employers, and to grant to federal agents broad inquisitorial powers to go into the affairs of every person who employs any other person, even in domestic service.” As usual, the reactionary American employers fail to recognize when they are well off. Progressive students of the proposed act see clearly enough that it is more favorable to industry than to labor. Ore of the more intelligent of the progressive criticisms of the Wagner bill is that which has been prepared by the International Juridical Association of New York City and is being circulated with its explicit approval by the American Civil Liberties Union. The substance of this progressive criticism follows: “Unless directly elected by employes and employers, respectively, all members of the national labor board should be designated as representatives of the government and none of them designated as representing any other particular group. “The enforcement of the provisions of the act outlawing unfair labor practices should not rest entirely with the national labor board. Employes should be granted the right to secure injunctive relief against violations of the act and the right to appeal decisions of the board to the courts. ana THE right to strike or picket should be more explicitly protected from any abridgment by this act, the NIRA or any code, license or agreement adopted thereunder. “The act now prohibits agreements whereby employment is conditioned upon membership in a labor organization of less than a majority of employes. It also should provide for the representation of substantial minorities by prohibiting closed shop contracts where such minorities wish representation by another labor organization. “In no case should such a contract be permitted between an employer and a labor organization which is, or has been fostered by unfair labor practices. The act should not sanction discrimination as to wages and working conditions between different groups of employes. “Provision should be made for the representation of substantial minority groups. “Existing labor agreements procured by unfair labor practices as well as agreements in conflict with the act should be abrogated. “The unfair labor practices enumerated in the act should be expanded to include the use of espionage and blacklists.” a a a IN a letter to Senator David I. Walsh, chairman of the senate committee on education and labor, the Civil Liberties Union adds its own comment on the Wagner bill, cautioning against anything tending to limit the complete freedom of labor to protect its rights through collective bargaining: “In considering the bill before you to create the national labor beard by statute, we desire to voice the view of a considerable number who regard the regulation of labor relations by the federal government as dangerous to the rights of labor to organize and strike. Experience under the administration of the NRA and the existing national labor board has made that evident. “No such piece of machinery as is proposed, with its various devices for conciliation, can help but impair labor rights in the long run, however much its authors may intend precisely the contrary. The net effect of the NRA on labor relations and the intervention of the national labor board in strikes has been to weaken the power of collective bargaining in terms of building bona-fide unions, of enforcing union recognition and of raising the woefully inadequate wages fixed in the codes. f'The sole interest of the American Civil Liberties Union in this bUI relates to those clauses affecting the rights of labor to organize and strike. That, we submit, also is the primary interest of the organized working classes of this country as a whole. Nothing should be done to curtail such rights, inherent in the proclaimed principles of civil liberty,”

Capital Capers =v BY GEORGE ABELL =====

WHITE-MUSTACHED. cultured Ahmet Muhtar, ambassador of Turkey and dean of Washington diplomats, departed day before yesterday for home to become a member of the Turkish parliament. Scores of friends were at the station to see him off. The train platform was jammed with ambassadors, ministers, charge d'affaires and lesser diplomatic luminaries. In the pale sunshine, Ambassador Muhtar, dressed in green, wearing pearl-gray spats, a silk handkerchief peeping from his coat pocket, looked, as always, distinguished—but sad. "Ne m'oubliez pas!” (Don’t forget me!) he kept repeating in French. To one man who said to him; “No ambassador can ever replace you,” tactful Muhtar quickly rejoined: "My successor is a splendid gentleman!” Hats were raised aloft, arms were waved, as the train drew out, Muhtar standing on ’the steps of the Pullman. The last thing one saw was his pearl-gray spats. a a a DIPLOMATS were present en masse to say good-by. The entire Soviet Russian embassy staff attended. Ambassador Troyanovsky in a black hat and slate-colored gabardine topcoat, pumped his colleague's hand enthusiastically, waved his hat as the train left. Mrs. Troyanovsky. wearing a beige coat trimmed with rabbit and a picture straw hat, was surrounded by embassy attaches, as she peered at Muhtar through her twinkling pincenez. Minister Faik Konitza of Albania looked quite the country gentleman in a bowler hat, wearing a checked tie and gray spring suit of lozenge pattern. A walking stick swung jauntily from his arm. In russet brown double-breasted coat, the Egyptian charge d'affaires. Khalil Bey, lamented the departure of Muhtar Bey. ("I have lost weight," he remarked, parenthetically). Mrs. Elizabeth Tate, secretary to his Turkish excellency, was a symphony in light green. Her darker coat was trimmed in kolinsky. Her practiced eye ran swiftly over the throng of bowing, gesticulating diplomats: “Every important ambassador is here,” she murmured. She forgot one. The German ambassador, Dr. Hans Luther, was nowhere to be seen. a a a ITALIAN AMBASSADOR ROSSO (who looks as if he takes a bath three tinves a day), glistened in the pale sunshine like a glass of sherry. The French ambassador. Monsieur de Laboulaye. gayly swung his walking stick. "Bonjour, Monsieur!” remarked a voice in excellent French. Laboulave looked up—very far up. and espied Sir Ronald Lindsay, the British ambassador, towering above him like a huge oak tree. Sir Ronald was a miracle in brown. Brown oxfords, brown socks, brown suit, brown tie, a new brown hat shading his eyes, a brown walking stick and brown gloves. The big Britisher—now the new dean of diplomats—took Laboulaye's arm. and they walked down the platform, talking the very best French.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

ONE OF THE CITY’S BIGGEST DEPOSITORS

r \ '; \ f " Vt-nfov* I" 1 wholly disa pp rove °f what y° u s °y and wilt * X _ defend to the death your right to say it — Voltaire.

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Make pour letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to SSO words or less.) tt tt tt “A CITIZEN,” HE’S TELLING YOU By E. S. Wortman In answer to “A Citizen” writing in your Message Center on ‘‘Return to sane living and solve all your problems”: I wonder if this fellow is really a citizen or a backwoodsman who just came in on a visit and thinks radios, automobiles and washing machines are luxuries. Don’t you suppose electric lights were rather hard on him for awhile? He probably jumps in his trusty old oxcart and goes down to the creek to watch his wife do her washing. When he wants music, he listens to the wind singing through the trees and underbrush. This citizep must be one of two kinds of fellows—one who has never tried to just live or one who has everything in the world himself but wants to tell the average class all the things they can be satisfied without. tt tt a COST OF ALPHABET MADE TARGET By C. R. Edwards Mr. Thumraa seems to think that he represents the majority of the public, to hear him rant. Why go back to Rome and Nero's fiddle to find something to blame on Roosevelt? Just let these words filter through that nimble brain. Mr. Thumma, and other Economy League adherents: ‘‘A Bill to Preserve the Credit of tha United States and to Balance the U. S. Budget?” What does that imply? That the 465 millions of dollars that the federal government was paying the war veterans and postoffice employes which were stolen from them by the so-called “Economy Act” mentioned above, was putting the credit of the U. S. treasury in jeopardy. How could that be the case when a few months later the alphabet factory started to put out a few hundred millions here and a few billions there? Surely the budget must of been made of rubber to have taken care of fifteen billions, when by the government's own figures only 260 millions was the amount finally taken from the veterans and postoffice employes. And. Dear Mr. Thumma, please don't quote the American Legion speech of President Roosevelt at Chicago, for that only goes one point farther to prove to what degree of appreciation he holds the American soldier who offered his life on the battlefields to keep the home fires burning for the "brain trust,” the Economy League and quite some few of the ex-national commanders of the American Legion, who have sold out their comrades as recorded in the Congressional Record. In his veto message he made his sentiments plain when he said in substance, “It isn’t the money outlay, but the principle involved.” That put him on record as being on a par with the Economy League. Wouldn't it be just for the disabled veteran and his dependents j to share the benefits dispensed by the federal government as well as the farmers who are paid so much an acre to let their land stand idle, | ’or a bonus to kill off so many of their little pigs, and to curtail the production of milk? When we disabled ex-soldiers,: physically unable to go to the CCC or the PWA for succor, have to take j

Pegler Branded Echo of Master's Voice

By George Gold Hine Now that the senate has passed the La Follette amendment, further soaking the rich for the relief of the unemployed, war has been declared “without stint or limit.” In The Times we see that Westbrook Pegler has heard from his masters when he tears the mask from the “born bunglers, yawners, whiners, guzzlers, moochers, incompetents, boss-haters and four-flushers who haven’t the vision or technic to steal money on a vast scale.” These Hoover including dependents, number between forty and fifty millions, increasing as savings are exhausted and the bounty of relatives and friends comes to an end. The actual number will never be known as many will not subject themselves to what has been described as the contemptuous inquisition of relief. In this blanket indictment by Mr. Pegler, one can read the silent thought of his masters. The solution is not anew war—too expensive. It is not a massacre by soldiers and policemen that might get out of hand. And it is not germs or pestilence—they might take the wrong people. What could be more quiet, inexpensive and discriminating than to put poison in the relief basket. In these thoughts, written and

our little pittance and stretch it out to cover the increased cost of living as per the 59-cent dollar, there must be something amiss when the federal government drops the disabled from the rolls only to be added to the local roll of indigents to be taken care cf by the country. You, Mr. Thumma, talk of the vote on May 8. Just forget that date, but keep your eyes on the November election. That’s what caused the “feeble body of congress,” as you called it, to override the veto, and please remember. Fredrick Van Nuys w r as elected for six years so his vote to uphold the President’s veto didn't mean a thing as he still has nearly five years of his term to serve before he will have to remake unfulfilled and broken promises to his constituents back here at home in order to keep drawing his salary. tt n a OPPOSE POLICE GUARD OF HOSIERY MILLS By a Reader Allow me to say a few words in your paper. I see a picture of policemen guarding the Real Silk hosiery mills. I believe from the picture we should put Boy Scouts on this job. Then if trouble starts, the boys, young and active, could get up and get out of the way before they get run over. I believe if the officials of the mills want protection they should pay for it, and not take tax money to do this, ar.d let the policemen go back and protect the children, and maybe they could show them where to run in case a car comes. This sympathtic story would have been all right forty years ago, but we are used it today. My family has been users of these silk hose since we came to Indianapolis. but I will have to change my mind if they ever use them again. I haven’t any relations or any one I know working at the plant, but I don't want to help laborers like they insinuate their laborers are. I also saw where John Dillinger got him some more clothes. Now, I believe from the story the cops told we should have an investigation if we can get a lawyer and a good, honest judge to start it. We might be able to knock down about SBO,OOO I ‘ % .

obvious between the lines, we recognize a phenomena described by H. G. Wells in his book, “The Shape of Things to Come.” Here we find the exhibitionist and his masters classified in these words: • “Hatred is a morbid, infectious and preventable repulse to which the mammalian cerebrum is prone. Acute attacks may run together into a chronic condition of vindictive disapproval. The patient disapproves of his fellow creatures and grudges them happiness.” Hence, it would be useless to try to prevent this phenomena from dragging its filth across the pages of American newspapers, whereby they become, as Wells writes: “Not so much a news sheet, but a poison rag. every day infecting the public with fresh suggestions of suspicion and resentment.” If by chance any Hoover refugees actually do possess any of the vision and technic of their betters, they could display it to a marked degree by writing their congressman urging him to support the LaFollette amendment. Then they could sit back with further vision and technic and watch him vote. Louis Ludlow would be delighted to know their views. And no doubt, Delbert Wilmeth, who probably will be his able opponent, would be delighted to express his views.

of the taxpayers’ money in a lawful way. Os ccfurse. this must be kept on the q. t., and I also believe Mary Kinder should be warned about the kind of clothes she is wearing, for surely they won't let her get by without searching her. I believe the cheapest way out of this for the taxpayers would be to get John Dillinger a silk hat ana give him a jcb in a bank. It wouldn't take as much to keep him there as it does to buy new cars for him and pay all of the lawyers and cops for investigating and visiting all over the country. Matt Leach hears Dillinger is in one state; then we pay his way for a tour of that state. Os course, Matt goes after Mr. Dillinger has left. Then someone sees Dillinger about four states away, then we pay pay for another tour. I believe it would be cheaper to fix up a house on wheels so they can take their families on some of these trips. I don’t believe Dillinger is half as mean as a politician that would sell out to some light company or water company or several others that we are forced to pay a high per cent on their investment and they appraise it for more than they have invested. I believe it is time for the taxpayers to take this in their own hands and put a stop to it. 0 0 0 ROOSEVELT'S BOOK PROMPTS WRITER By James Panton Voorhees. It is a very difficult thing for the average citizen to understand the justice underlying the labors of one in high official place, whose destinies have led to practically leadership of the welfare of millions of people, authorizing a course involving a profit far in excess of average in his own interest, and quite on a par with the principle of overcompensation, he has written a book to expose. A book in the interest of a nation's citizenry that, at an excessively high price and unusual royalties, will enrich the high official. In our present state of ideas that all our solutions of the problems of well •

..APRIL 21,1934

being consist in money and its applications this is not strange in a general view of affairs, that any human—high official or otherwise—should follow the drifting current of an irresistible stream flooding all life, but it is strange, and strange with any and all, that we should arraign and condemn in others the very things we are doing ourselves, and with no excuse or explanation. The high official in attaining a height has not abdicated his place of individual responsibility, and it is alone the acknowledgment of the common share of social responsibility that rescues us from confusion and disorder. tt u tt BELIEVES 2 500 FAVOR THE TIMES’ STAND. By H. Hughes More than 2,500 men and women, who are out on strike, will agree with me that The Times is the only local paper which will not sell out the wage earners of this city for an advertising contract. In reply to the article, which was sent, supposedly, by a Real Silk Seamer, I must say that it sounds very much like the “soft soap” which the Real Silk management has been putting in the E. M. B. A. Builder for years. Trying to fool the workers to keep them from joining in a body and affiliating with a bonafide union, composed of their lellow workers throughout the country, to present a united front against wage cutting manufacturers and profit-grabbing capitalists. The fact that approximately only twelve out of 500 knitters employed are scabbing on their fellow workers. is proof enough that ‘ Goodman's big happy family” is not satisfied with the way the Employes Mutual Benefit Association 'company union,', has protected their interests. I feel sure that until the management agrees to recognize the lights of the workers, production will remain at a standstill. a tt tt HIGH PRICES BRANDED RECOVERY OBSTACLE By B. P. Brown Last June I wrote you stating we y would never break the depression by higher prices, and I am still of that opinion. I think there is a better way than the NR A. This country is known to have an abundancy of natural resources, such as iron, lumber, coal and oils, that should belong to the people. But they are all monopolized by capitalism. Let the government take over these resources and give the raw material to industry. We have to sell cheaper goods in order >o give men jobs. We have the resources, the machines and the workmen. It’s a shame people can't have cheaper goods in their homes. I could name hundreds of articles such as gas ovens and electric refrigerators. How could a farmer buy them at today’s prices?

Height

BY HARRIETT SCOTT OLINICH For I am swathed in colored scarfs of ecstasy; Wrapped round and round. A willing prisoner am I; Self-chained and self-bound. For I am steeped in colored scarfJ of ecstasy. I am a flame'; am a fire. Mad with the smother of there colors I shall climb wilfully to the peak of yaur desire.