Indianapolis Times, Volume 45, Number 306, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 May 1934 — Page 15

hfeemloMe HEVWOOD BEttlN THE Roosevelt regime may not be a revolution. but, nevertheless, the new deal has known a number of casualties. I think, for instance, that Walter Lippmann is entitled to a wound stripe. A1 Smith deserves one, and Henry Mencken has just been carried off the battlefield, with his prestige all but shot away. To be sure, Mr. Mencken’s prestige is not what it used to be. One of the things which make me feel very ancient is that I can remember all the way back to the days when Henry was considered dangerous and iconoclastic. There was a time when every undergraduate patterned his style after the mannerisms of the Sage of Baltimore. Mencken was plain poison to Baptist evangelists, Rotary Club lecturers, patent medicine promoters and faith healers. Like Lord Geoffrey Amherst in the

famous ballad, he conquered all the Indians who came within his view, but, unlike that crusader. he neglected to look around for more when he was through. n n n \ot for Cup Distances YES, I'm afraid that Henry L Mencken will have to go into the records as a six-furlong rebel. He has demonstrated his inability to go a route. Yet even now my eyes grow a little misty when I find the strong boy of the Mercury—and, of course, I mean the old Mercury—talking very much like Dr. Willie Wirt. Indeed, my diagnosis would be

Bk - 4| •-;*&£ L " XJI

Heywood Broun

that Henry is suffering from a severe case of Mercury poisoning. In the days of his editorship he took great pride in collecting under the title "Americana” snatches from sermons, the remarks of W. C. T. U. or D. A. R. ladies, stray newspaper items and , other bits of evidence to prove that the average American (boobus Americanusi was an unadulterated hick. But hicks come home to roost. The ironic tragedy in the rise and fall of H. L. Mencken is that after years of mocking the folk of the "hinterland” he began unconsciously to imitate not only their point of view, but their very phraseology. I cite his injunction (over a national radio hookup* to the members of the brain trust. He said: "Go back to your old job while the going is good. Go back to teaching sophomores to be ashamed of their fathers.” And earlier in his boob-jumping address he made the declaration that England's recovery had been accomplished "without their putting a single bright young professor on their pay roll or laying out a cent for economic madstones and bile beans.” 0 0 0 Hack to the Headless Horsemen IN other words. Mr. Mencken has done a complete right-about-face and now seems to be suggesting that intelligence is a commodity to be feared by patriotic American citizens and that we should go back to our old habit of leaving economic and social problems to the mercy of such practical men as Jim Watson and Reed Smoot and other headless horsemen. Surely the English analogy is not the happiest one to come from a man who prides himself on his accuracy as a reporter. The government of the British empire is far more departmentalized than our own and has been much more hospitable to the expert. The British voter takes the existence of a brain trust as a matter of course. Indeed, the bright young professors of Great Britain often are found in those posts which are held by the incumbent regardless of change in the administration. It is not regarded as a crime if an official can speak obscure native dialects, and I have not heard any outcry against the diplomatic services of Lawrence of Arabia on the ground that he was an intellectual and wrote a book. Professors, teachers and highbrows have on numerous occasions served as cabinet ministers. Both Balfour and Asquith—to pick two names at random—were bitterly opposed on many of their policies but I do not recollect that they were assailed because of their ability as classical scholars^ It seems to me that this new-fangled radio hookup Mencken is not the same man who went to Dayton, Tenn.. and laughed at Bryans emotional tilting against book learning. Henry then was the strongest sort of partisan for evolution. But apparently he feels that it should be banned from just as rigorously as Bryan wanted it kept out of the high schools and colleges. (Copyright. 1934. by The Times)

Today s Science BY DAVID DIETZ

i "fcLANS for continuous year-around measurements .: of cosmic rays at six or eight stations in wiey marated parts of the world have been foimulated bv P the cosmic ray committee of the earnegie ms - tution of Washington after consultation with D . • A. Millikan. Dr. Arthur H. Compton. Dr. Thomas . Johnson and other foremost investigators in this of the cosmic ray committee are Dr. Walter S. Adams, director of the Mt. Wilson observatory; Dr. John A. Fleming, director of the department of terrestial magnetism, and Dr. Fred E. Wright, geophysicist. The verv latest type of cosmic ray meter?, instruments which make continuous twenty-four-hour records of the ravs on moving strips of film, are being built by the Carnegie institution for the proposed St lf is hoped that this type of study will enable scientists to settle many of the puzzles now associated with the rays and their behavior. BBS . “'T'HE importance to geophysics of developing the 1 cosmic ray investigations can not be overestimated." the committee says. "The question whether the rays are initially corpuscles or protons is one of far-reaching value in the study of the earth's electric field and its variations, bearing particularly on such questions as the maintenance of the earths negative charge, an explanation of the twenty-four-hour universal wave in the diurnal variation of potential gradient, the relation to thunderstorm centers, and correlation with magnetic disturbances." Because of the desire not only to understand t e nature of the rays themselves, but to understand the relationship between the rays and other terrestial phenomena, it has been suggested that the cosmic rav stations be located at points where continuous geophysical measurements are now going on. That is. at points where continuous records of the earth’s magnetic field, the strength of the atmospheric electricity, and the like, are now going on. Among the locations which the committee now has under discussion are the Capetown magnetic observatory of the University of Capetown. South Africa. Auckland or Wellington. New Zealand, or the Christ Church magnetic observatory of New Zealand, the Huancayo magnetic observatory at an elevation of 11.000 feet, the Honolulu magnetic observatory in Hawaii, and the Rehra Dun magnetic observatory in India. It has also been suggested that a station be established in Pasadena. Cal., where the headquarters of the Mt. Wilson observatory are located and that another one be established in the vicinity of Boston, Mass. a a a A NUMBER of cosmic ray investigations are now going forward in various universities and research laboratories in conjunction with the plans of the cosmic ray committee. These investigations are being financed with funds provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and administered by the Carnegie institution. Among the investigators to whom Carnegie funds have been made available for certain investigations are Dr. R A Millikan of the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Arthur H Compton of the University of Chicago, and Dr. Thomas H Johnson of the Bartol Research Foundation of Swarthmore. Pa. Dr. Johnson, reporting on his recent work at the meeting of the American Geophysical Union, now in session here in Washington, said that he believed the most reasonable explanation of the rays was that they consisted of protons. Protons are positively charged particles which constiute the nuclei of hyddrogen atoms.

Foil Leased Wire Service of the L'nited Press Association

The Romantic and Beautiful

LOVE LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS

Tender ; Farewell Note to Maria Came as Surprise

BY H. H. HARPER Synopsis: Maria Beadnell was the youngest and most beautiful of three lovely sisters The sweethearts of the older girls one night brought with them a young newspaper reporter. Charles Dickens, who was regarded as a great wit, a clever amateur actor and splendid company. Dickens was Immediately attracted to Maria. By the time the party was over Dickens and Maria "had reached a very satisfactory understanding BBS IT was an amorous, sentimental age with none of our realistic modern pens to describe it. The novels of that period are in some respects far removed from actual social conditions but the affaires de coeur of the young folks of 1830 worried their parents fully as much as they do in 1934. And so it happened that Mr. and Mrs. Beadnell began to look somewhat askance at this audacious young lover with his heart on his sleeve. However, for the time being, he and Maria were permitted to go on pretty much as they pleased. After some twelve months had passed Mr. and Mrs. Beadnell became convinced that the conditions existing between Charles and Maria were not altogether platonic; and for some conjectural reason Dickens was shortly afterward barred from the Beadnell home and forbidden to communicate with Maria in any way. But Cupid, who has a proverbial disregard for locks and barriers, soon devised a means of circumventing the parental injunction, and it was here that Henry Kolle’s friendship was brought to bear on the case. While making his regular calls on Anne he became the bearer of many letters and love messages that passed between Charles and Maria, resulting in clandestine meetings between the two at certain appointed trysting places. Whether the parents discvovered this, or what they did discover, is not definitely known, but it is positively known that they, becoming alarmed at the trend of events, sent Maria away to Paris, ostensibly to “finish her education.”

She seems to have been so well guarded during her absence that no communications passed between them. While she was away he set madly to work to make himself worthy of her. He toiled and studied incessantly, spending all his spare hours in the British museum reading rooms pouring over books, and giving himself a very superior book education for one of his years. B B B TUST how long she was away we have no means of knowing, but when she returned, "the course of true love” began to assume its customary lopsided form, and the parental ban became even more rigid than before. The complexities of the situation intensified by feminine indifference, brought about the usual lovers' quarrels, which in this case could not be made up in the home drawing room. Maria was now so sure of him that she trifled a bit —encouraged him one day, disheartened him the next. She half followed her parents’ advice, yet she couldn't quite make up her mind to give him up. But eventually, his pride having mastered his tender emotions he decided to write her a farewell letter, and with all the elaborate phrasing of which his embryonic genius was capable he told of the desolation and heartaches that only a blighted first love can know. The Farewell Letter: 18 Bentwick Street March 18th (1833) Dear Miss Beadnell: Your own feelings will enable you to imagine far better than any attempt of mine to describe

TODAY and TOMORROW o n a n st a By Walter Lippmann

T" E Labor da s s u,ted" la that Gr "f?’ pr “ ident of thc American Federation proceeded upon the theory could hf amSt unem P Io y m ent has h 7 t4 a policies of NRA. and at timralt has sewned b to h S> d °‘ l h<Be administration as a whole. ° theory of the

Yet, as Mr. Green points out, the theory had not been pressed home as it would have been had the President and his advisers really believed that it expressed the truth of the matter and could be made to work. In practice they have not gone much farther than to establish minimum standards to stop the downward movement of wages and to spread work somewhat by reducing hours. The trouble with the theory is that it rests upon the fallacy of supposing that industrial wage earners comprise the bulk of the consumers. The idea is that if they had more money to spend they would buy enough goods to employ everybody. But. as a matter of fact, the industrial wage earners are only a fraction of the whole population. Out of the persons listed as -‘gainful workers." in the census of 1930. many less than half were in industrial occupations. The rest were farmers, in trade, in the professions, in peisonal service and public service and in clerical jobs. The low purchasing power of the industrial workers who have jobs and the lack of purchasing power of the industrial unemployed is. of course, an element in the general lack of purchasing power. But it is not the only or even the chief cause of t£e present inadequate demand for goods. A aa a S a matter of fact, if it were possible to raise the earnings of industrial labor to the 1926 level, this new purchasing power would not break the depression. For. of course, industrial prices would have to rise to cover the new costs, and with farm prices and other incomes way below- the 1926 level, it would be inordinately difficult to sell what the wageearners produced. If it is not possible to sell what they produce it is not possible to employ them to produce it. To illustrate what is the real process of recovery and re-emplov-ment. we may take some figures comparing prices in February, 1933. with those a year later. Fifteen months ago cowhide in Chicago was selling at 35 per cent of its 1926 price. But a pair of men's shoes was selling at 96 per cent of 1926. This meant that the producer of hides had an income of one-third with which to buy shoes that were almost as expensive as they were before the depression. Obviously he could not buy as many shoes. Moreover, to raise the wages of shoe workers, if that involved raising the price of shoes, would not only not help, but would make matters worse. What was needed was that the pricf of

The Indianapolis Times

the painful struggle it has cost me to make up mind to adopt the course which I now’ take—a course than which nothing can be so directly opposed to my wishes and feelings: but the necessity of which becomes daily more apparent to me. Our meetings of late have been little more than so many displays of heartless indifference on the one hand, while on the other they have never failed to prove a fertile source of wretchedness and misery; and seeing, as I can not fail to do, that I have engaged in a pursuit which has long since been worse than hopeless and a further perseverance in w’hich can only expose me to deserved ridicule, I have made up my mind to return the little present I received from you some time since (which I have always prized, as I still do, far beyond anything I ever possessed), and the other enclosed mementos of our past correspondence which I am sure it must be gratifying to you to receive, as after our recent relative situations they are certainly better adapted for your custody than mine. Need I say that I have not the most remote idea of hurting your feelings by the few lines which I think it necessary to write with the accompanying little parcel? I must be the last person in the world who could entertain such an intention, but I feel that this is neither a matter nor a time for cold, deliberate, calculating trifling. My feelings upon any subject, more especially upon this, must be to you a matter of very little moment; still i have feelings in common with other people—perhaps as far as they re-

hides should rise and the price of shoes should stand still till hides caught up with them. a a a NOW, look at what happened in the following twelve months. The price of hides rose from 36 per cent of 1926 to 78 per cent, which is more than double. The price of the shoes did not rise at all. This meant that the hide, leather, and shoe industry was really recovering; the different prices were coming into balance, and the producer of hides could therefore buy from the producer of shoes. There is no other way that recovery can take place. Trade is an exchange of goods. If some prod-

SIDE GLANCES By George Clark

i WBa.a.i<T.ofr, C)W4r>mnict.iic }

“This is the fourth time they have stood us up. Why do you keep ca asking them?”

INDIANAPOLIS, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 1934

; f * jfl v s '•WOC*.* jT

late to you they have been as strong and as good as ever warmed the human heart—and I do feel that it is mean and contemptible of me to keep by me one gift of yours or to preserve one single line or word of remembrance or affection from you. I therefore return them, and I can only wish that I could as easily forget that I ever received them. I have but one more word to say and I say it in my own vindication. The result of past acquaintance is indeed a melancholy one to me. I have felt too long ever to lose the feeling of utter desolation and wretchedness which has succeeded our former correspondence. Thank God I can claim for myself and feel that I deserve the merit of having ever throughout our intercourse acted fairly, intelligently and honorably. Under kindness and encouragement one day and a total change of conduct the next I have ever been the same. I have acted without reserve. I have never held out encouragement which I knew I never meant; I have never indirectly sanctioned hopes which I well knew I did not intend to fulfill. I have never made a

ucts fall violently in price and others do not, the exchange can not take place. If men have been buying $2 shoes with 15-cent cotton, they can not buy as many shoes with 5-cent cotton. Either the shoes have to come, down to the cotton or the cotton has to rise to the shoes. That is why the monetary policy, and not NRA, has been the really effective instrument of recovery. The monetary policy has raised those very prices w r hich had fallen most completely out of line and it has not raised much those prices ivhich had remained firm. There have been particular commodities in which the situation is peculiar, and which the policy has had little effect. But taking the mass of commodities it is fair to say that rawmaterials which were most depressed in prices have had the greatest rise, semi-manufactured articles which had been moderately depressed in price have risen moderately, and that finished goods and monopolistically controlled products which never cut prices must have raised prices very little. (Copyright, 1934)

Maria Beadnell at Twenty

mock confidante to whom to entrust a garbled story for my own purposes, and I think I never should (though God knows I am not likely to have the opportunity) encourage one dangler as a useless shield for—an excellent set off against—others more fortunate and doubtless more deserving. I have done ntilhing that I could say would be very likely to hurt you. If (I can hardly believe it possible) I have said anything which can have that effect I can only ask you to place yourself for a moment in my situation, and you will find a much better excuse than I can possibly devise. A wish for your happiness although it comes from me may not be the worse for being sincere and heartfelt. Accept it as it is meant and believe that nothing will ever afford me more real delight than to hear that you, the object of my first and my last love are happy. If you are as happy as I hope you may be, you will indeed possess every blessing that this world can afford. C. D.

The DAILY WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND By Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen

WASHINGTON, May 3/ —How serious is the fight between automobile workers and automobile manufacturers has been realized for some time. But that both hate the NRA even more than they hate each other was disclosed only this week. The revealing incident was a speech scheduled to have been made by General Johnson in Detroit today. Young Frank Couzens, mayor of the motor metropolis and son of Senator Couzens, conceived the idea of having Johnson come out. He thought Johnson could hold a big public mass meeting, get the workers in a better mood. They have been threatening a general strike. The Automobile Labor Board, created by Roosevelt to keep labor peace in the industry, has been getting nowhere fast. The workers distrust it. So Johnson was to be the troubleman. He readily agreed to make the speech, began working on the text, when he got a phone call from Mayor Couzens. ‘‘The situation has become too dangerous. General," he advised. ‘‘We feel it best you do not come. I’ve called off the meeting." Johnson hit the ceiling, refused to accept Couzens’ warning. The mayor's father and Johnson are none too friendly, and the recovery administrator immediately suspected that the senator had something to do with withdrawing the invitation. ‘‘l've got to have Roy Chapin’s word that it is too dangerous,” he told young Couzens. a a a a a a ROY D. CHAPIN is president of Hudson Motors, was Hoovers secretary of commerce. Mayor Couzens told Johnson to go ahead and consult the motor mogul. Johnson did. He got the same advice.

"It's too hot up here,” Chapin said. "Better stay away." So Johnson is not pouring oil on Detroit’s troubled waters tomorrow. The speech, still in his system, will be given elsewhere. a a a PART of the new public works money Roosevelt is asking from congress will go to build the greatest Pan-American engineering project since the digging of the Panama canal. It is a motor highway from Texas through Central America to the canal. Labor, materials, road building machinery all are to come from the United States. The President estimates the road will be an important factor in relieving unemployment here, knit Central America closer to the United States, culturally, economically, politically. The motor vacation of the future will be to Panama and back. a a a A FTER decades during which Washington was used as the experimental guinea-pig for tryout all the legislative brain storms of reformer-congressmen, the new deal congress is swinging the pendulum to the other extreme. It is making the District of Columbia into the Agua Caliente of the United States of America. Already passed by the house is a provision permitting horseracing in the national capital. The President has signed the professional boxing bill. The D. C. committees of both houses are favorably considering the idea of legalizing gambling. And the "model liquor law," which was to have made Washington the perfect city so far as drinking is concerned, is fast being toned down to something like the tgood-old-days. This law started out by provid-

THIS must have been something of a suprise to Maria, who probably had not expected such an abrupt termination of affairs, and quite likely she appealed to Marianne Leigh for advice. If so. that designing young lady advised her to “give him as good as he sent.” He had returned all her letters; she should, therefore, send back riiis one of his, and without a word. So Maria returned it, but before doing so, she copied it very carefully, and kept her copy with his other letters. The fact that she gave the original to Kolle to hand back to him, without even putting it into an envelope mortified Dickens almost to the point of distraction. Notwithstanding the tone of finality in the foregoing letter, the impulsive young couple were not quite through with each other. There was yet more misery in store, possibly for both, but certainly for the heart-broken young Dickens. It is reasonably sure that no girl in Maria's set ever received letters at all comparable to the rhetorical effusions she received from this dejected suitor. B B B IF in three short years the whole public was to acclaim him England's most popular author, what effect must these carefully composed creations from the same pen have had on a shallow unsophisticated young woman. Os course she gloried in them, otherwise she w’ould not have bothered to keep them. Marianne Leigh admiring Dickens herself and envying the letters her friend Maria had received from him did what she could to bring the rift in the affair between Maria and Charles to a complete parting. Marianne told Dickens that Maria had made her a confidante, telling her everything. Then Marianne told Maria the same story and the lovers’ quarrel blazed furiously. Tomorrow we shall read Dickens's frantic letter to Maria, in which he denies ever paving attentions to or making a confidante of Mary Anne Leigh, Maria's closest friend. If you, gentle reader, ever had a disappointment in love, you will thrill to the efforts of the youth, Charles Dickens, to mend the lovers’ quarrel. (Copyright 1934, John F. Dille Cos.) LEGION POST TO GIVE BENEFIT CARD PARTY Euchre and Bridge Will Be Held at Oaklandon Tomorrow. Service Post 128, American Legion will sponsor a public benefit euchre and bridge party at 8 tomorrow at Legion hall, Oaklandon. Ernest G. Mock, Fred C. Duzan, Mrs. Alta Lawson and Mrs. Iris Linder are in charge of arrangements.

ing that liquor stores close at 8 p. m.; that bars in hotels and restaurants be hidden from the view of the drinker; no licenses to chain stores or restaurants; no sales by drink or bottle on Sunday; and no sales within 200 feet of any church. a a a IN less than two months, review the developments. The closing hour for retail stores has been changed to 10 p. m. Regulations are being changed to permit the bar to be visible— in fact require that it be visible —but protected by a plate glass cage, i The idea is, Mr. Drinker should be able to see the conditions under which his drink is mixed, and i what goes into it. Regulations also are to be changed to permit i sales in chain stores. ("Anything ! to bring down the prices.) Also : the ban is coming off Sunday j drinking. Finally, the churches have grown so tired of protesting against the establishment of salons and drink-selling restaurants within 200 feet of their property, that they’ve about given up the ghost. Why go to Reno, Monte Carlo, Agua Caliente, or Havana these days? Washington is to be the really gay town. (Copyright/ 1934. bv United Feature Syndicate. Inc.i HICCOUGHING VICTIM RUSHED TO_HOSPITAL City Man Reported in Serious Condition; Heart Weakened. A strange fit of hiccoughing from which he has suffered six days has sent Ed Hall, 60, of 1454 Hiatt street, to city hospital. His heart action has been weakened by the malady, physicians said, and bis condition is regarded as serious.

Second Section

Entered as Second-Claes Matter at Pnstoffiee. Indianapolis. Ind.

Fair Enough uni MOST of the comment on the mischievous Dillinger boy bespeaks a narrowness of mind and a lack of charity of which an enlightened public ought to be ashamed. I hope and trust that, if this restless, fun-loving country youth ever should be housed up securely, some society will conduct a counter-propaganda to help him obtain a square deal. The public has jumped to a conclusion that Dillinger is guilty of a number of crimes for which

he never has been tried, much less convicted, and the state of mind toward him betrays an appalling contempt for the law and its sacred guarantees. I am not sure but that Dillinger could have the public punished for contempt of court in expressing itself so freely with regard to a case which still is pending. This ft a form of lynching and lynching is a form of lawlessness as evil as any of which Dillinger stands accused. Moreover, lynching hurts the lynchers more than the lynchee, so it would be a public service to compel the public to think only gentle, generous thoughts of Dillinger. I have to object, also, to the

practice of the police and federal men of attempting to shoot Dillinger instead of trying by every means to overcome his apparent shyness with kind and respectful treatment which is the right of every man who does not stand convicted of an offense. 000 A Career Awaits LIFE is a precious thing which an impetuous officer can not give back once he has taken it. And the human character is so mysterious and beautiful that, for all anybody knows, Dillinger. confined in a good, wholesome prison where there is a band and an interesting change of menu, might learn to raise fancy nasturtiums or develop a breed of speedturtles and fit himself for a useful and respectable career in free society. I do not insist that Dillinger is innocent of any crime, for that would be as wrong as the prevalent presumption that he is guilty and a very bad man. I just think he ought to be captured with the least possible violence and that if he then should be convicted of sin, society ought to appeal to the best that is in him. First, I think, society ought to make a serious effort to find out from Dillinger what he is so cross about. It does not seem likely that an ordinary farm boy would go about the country taking funds belonging to other persons and stealing arms from policemen, contrary to law, if he were not irritated about something. It then would be my policy to teach him that the way to remedy grievances is not to steal or shoot, but to work hard and vote for the honest candidates in the elections. If he does not feel well, doctors ought to look at his tongue and have him say “ah” and psychologists should ask him about his dreams. an n Make Him a Better Man IN prison I would assign Dillinger to an attractive apartment and congenial tasks in the belief that the best that is in him can not be appealed to if he is to be caged up like a wild beast, as the saying goes, and compelled to drudge the years away at duties in which he has no interest. And I always would be alert to receive and consider any suggestions which he might offer as to the improvement of the service. Petty irritations can make a person very nervous. The object is not to punish Dillinger, but to make him a better man. His appeals to the higher court should be conducted in the fine legal spirit which attacks the validity of the grand jury, the typing of the indictment, the constitutionality of the law, the conduct of the trial and the mental attitude of the judge. Later there should be new evidence and, as a last resort, a doubt on the defendant's sanity. All this is Dillinger’s sacred right under the law and society can not afford to accept an unjust advantage. If society flouts the law then who can blame the criminal? He is likely to receive a fairer trial in the enlightened northern state of Indiana than he could expect in the benighted states of the south. In the southern states they have a strong prejudice against persons who Commit the crime called armed robbery. Robbery with a gun is taken as proof of bad character and parties so convicted are dressed in striped suits, quartered in rude accommodations and kept hard at work year after year until they are extremely sorry or just give up and die. 000 Evidence Before the Hoard BUT they are very dumb in the south. They do not bother to bring out the best that is in a holdup man. And when the parole board sits, the members always are curious to learn whether a‘ citizen who was shot in a robbery still is paralyzed from the bullet in his spine, or limping, or blind. This sort of evidence ought to be excluded from such hearings as tending to prejudice the par ’• board against a prisoner who has made up his mina to lead a better life. But they have comparatively few armed robberies in the south. (Copyright. 1934. by Unite and Feature Syndicate. Inc.)

Your Health "BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN -

IF you’re old enough, and will admit it, you will remember the fad of Fletcherism, which, in earlier years, had everybody chewing his food to a fluid consistency before swallowing it. The belief was that this was the important item in a healthful life. Now, however, our chief need seems to be relaxation from the high strain of modern living. Asa result, many physicians are writing books on sleep and relaxation with a view to cutting down the tension under which we live. Coupled with the drive of modern industry and the attempt to speed up human beings so they may keep pace with the machines, come the financial worries that have been associated with the economic depression. a a a THERE are all sorts of panaceas for avoiding overstrain. The man who worries usually is told to forget it. The advice, however, seldom helps, because worry constitutes a vicious circle. You worry first atx ut what is going to happen and you worry later about discontinuing worrying. There have been suggestions in the past for changing the attention to some outside object. In Coue's system you v c‘re told to count knots on a string while fixing your mind on relief from worry and tension. The newest development is that by Dr. Edmund Jacobson, who has devised a system for relaxing according to a definite program. He says: “It is physically impossible to be nervous in any part of your body, if in that part you are completely relaxed.” Hence he suggests daily practice to those who want to relieve themselves from nerve strain. In his system you lie down on a couch or a bed and relax one group of muscles a,, a time until you have learned gradually to relax all of them. a a a DR. JACOBSON suggests beginning by first lying quietly with your eyes closed for ten minutes, then relaxing the forearm. To learn how to relax the arm, first make it tense by contracting the biceps muscle, then reverse the process, which will completely relax the arm. The next step is to relax the leg muscles. And so you proceed until you have finally relaxed all the muscles in your body in which you feel any degree of tenron, ending with the muscles of the face.

W ( *

Westbrook Pegler