Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 16, Indianapolis, Marion County, 30 May 1934 — Page 14

PAGE 14

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11*‘ J - o Mr +AD Give Light and the People Will Find Their Oxen Wat

WEDNESDAY. MAY 30, 1934. GENEVA AND WAR \ T Geneva yesterday the United States and Russia presented positive programs to save the decade-old disarmament conference from death. There is nothing new in this. Both Washington and Moscow for several years have made standing offers to the rest of the world to disarm as quickly as other nations are willing to do. But most of the other powers have been unwilling to accept these offers. And the prospect is no brighter now than before—indeed, in many ways it is darker. Thus it is true that America has been and is ready to go farther than other powers, except Russia, in the matter of joint disarmament. And it is also true that America deserves credit for this, if for no other reason than that we still are the richest and strongest nation in the world and presumably best able to care for ourselves in a competitive arms race. But that is only part of the truth. It does not follow—as so many Americans appear to believe —that we therefore are more pacific than other nations. The French and British and others are as desirous of peace as Americans. The difference is that we have friendly and weaker neighbors on both borders and are protected from foreign invasion by two vast oceans, while the European nations and England are in the very center of the potential war area. Hence their cry for “security” is real. Security can be attempted, though history proves that it can not be guaranteed, by the old method of superior armament and military alliances. Or it can be sought through the new method of international agreement, in which the family of nations stands together and outlaw's the aggressor. The new method would not prevent disputes, but would provide a substitute for w'ar in the settlement of inevitable disputes. Th§ combined effort of the world's highest statesmanship since the great war has been to perfect such anti-war machinery. That effort has not succeeded. • * * Disarmament and control of arms traffic are part of the peace machinery, but only part. Arms competition is merely a secondary cause of war. It reflects deeper political and economic causes. That is w'hy so little progress has been made in disarmament. The only effective arms limitation agreement was the 1922 Washington naval treaty, which was achieved by linking it with the nine-power political treaty for peace and security in the far east. There has been no effective European land disarmament, as pledged in the Versailles settlement, chiefly because the political causes of European war have been perpetuated and multiplied by the victor nations. Since there is less political security there is more military preparedness in Europe. Meanwhile, the temporary political stability achieved in the far east by the Washington nine-powder treaty has been wrecked by Japanese aggression, and the resulting political insecurity now jeopardizes the companion naval treaty which may die next year. So both Europe and the far east today are frantically preparing for war. They are increasing armaments, and they are seeking and making military alliances. For this world tragedy no one nation can be blamed. Japan and Fascist Germany are chiefly to blame for the immediate crisis. But Japan's imperialism merely copies the earlier American, British and French imperialism, while the new German militarism grows out of the imperialistic peace imposed by the allies at Versailles. Thus the world is plunging rapidly toward another war like the last World war—which no one wants, for which no one group is to blame, and from which all will suffer and lose. * * * Os course, a world war can be prevented if the nations are willing to pay the price of peace. But they are not. They would have to sacrifice their right to wage economic war against their neighbors through tariffs and trade barriers. They would have to share basic natural resources with nations lacking those resources. They would have to internationalize straits and canals which control trade routes. Those who have unused land would have to share with overpopulated nations like Japan. These are the basic economic causes of the coming war, as of the last war; the conflict over markets, trade routes, natural resources, population outlets. Moreover, to prevent war the nations would have to subject themselves to compulsory international arbitration and adjudication as supreme over the old sanctities of “national interests” and “national honor.” Specifically and immediately, to remove the German threat the European powers would have to restore absolute German economic political and military equality—by reducing their own armaments—and return some of the German colonies at least in mandate form. And to remove the Japanese war threat, the older imperialist nations would have to disgorge their fruits of conquest, including British India and French Indo-China, as we are freeing the Philippines. It is because the nations—the peoples as well as the governments—are not willing to pay this price for peace that even the unexpected acceptance of the American and Russian proposals at Geneva would not prevent war. This is not a hopeful pioiure, or one that is pleasant to draw, but fairly accurate one.

RED LETTER DAY

FOR conservationists, fighting through decades to save the remnant of America’s once vast forest domain, June 1 will be a red letter day. For on that day there goes into effect “Schedule C” of the lumber code under which private timbermen pledge themselves to police and replenish their 400.000,000 acres of commercial forests along lines being followed by the government foresters. Private owners will begin co-operating to save their own wealth of trees from the forests’ chief foes—fire, insects and anarchic logging practices. Action is timely. Drought conditions throughout the timber country give warning that this summer may prove one of the worst fire seasons in years. Last summer one fire in Oregon, the Tillamook Burn, destroyed as much virgin timber as the nation cuts in a year. Timbermen look to the government to carry out its end of the broad program agreed to last winter. This means federal-state cooperation in revising growing timber tax laws; a federal revolving loan fund to help finance private reforestation work; a nationwide, co-ordinated forest-fire fighting system; expanded federal forest land purchases along the lines suggested in the Copeland report. The administration's arrangement to double the public forest area of the east, its CCC and soil erosion projects and other conservation steps are splendid. But they are only the beginning. For their own self-interest private timbermen, however, should not wait for complete federal action before carrying out their new code pledges in the spirit and the letter. It is their property that is threatened, and NRA gives them their first full opportunity to work together to have it. Schedule C of the lumber code was first urged by President Roosevelt. It may prove, as he has said, “one of the most important things we’ve done in Washington.”

STRONG MEDICINE 'T'HE new Wilcox law is strong medicine for sick cities and other political subdivisions. It should be taken with extreme caution lest the cure prove worse than the malady. Under the act. if 75 per cent of the bondholders agree, distressed communities can write down their obligations to any level agreed upon. This means relief for some 2,000 political units now in default of their interest or principal or both. Too prodigally administered this expedient might easily affect the interest rates and sale of bonds of wholly solvent communities. There are a vast number of such soundly solvent political units, probably as many as 400.000 in all. The question has been raised by Senator Frederick Van Nuys of Indiana, who opposed this measure, whether there is such a thing as an insolvent city, town or other subdivision behind which stands the taxable wealth of the people. Certainly there should not be such. If communities have the courage to make their grafters and political profligates walk the gang-plank, if they self-impose Spartan economies, if they adopt wise and just tax systems, they can prevent the headaches that come from fiscal tolly. And communities that have sinned can by these same hard measures cure themselves without resorting to repudiation. It is highly important that nothing be done to impair this form of public .credit.

A NEW CENSUS TRENDING in congress is the Lozier bill, authorizing a semi-decennial census for next November covering employment, unemployment and occupations, and also a partial population count. It is proposed to combine with this the regular agricultural census due to be taken next January. The importance of anew census now can not be overstated. All government statistical services agree that it is due, and the budget director has approved the cost, some $9,000000 in all. The depression has shaken the nation both vertically and horizontally and loosed millions of people from their old moorings. Many of the rich have become poor, most of th.e poor poorer. Cities and industrial regions have been drained, and many farm regions so impoverished that they should be abandoned entirely. America can not plan its future without knowledge of what has happened to its people since 1930. Relief, rehousing, land-use, industrial and other adjustments can not be carried out as they have been in the past, blindly. The money needed for the new census is a pittance compared with the wealth that the nation will save if its economic life is guided by sound and exact information in the next five years. Congress will practice pound-foolish economy if it overlooks this measure.

THE KINGFISH CONFESSES TN his own peerless fashion the Kingfish has -*• revealed just how the great American tariff system comes to be. Senator Long was attacking the administration's reciprocal trade measure by the familiar dodge of ridiculing its supporters. Os course, he told the senate, he voted for a sugar tariff and he traded his vote on other items to get votes for sugar. All the senators, regardless of party, were in the swapping game. Senator Copper voted for a sugar tariff in return for a copper tariff vote from Senator Sugar. Senator Oil swapped his vote with Senator Long Staple Cotton. And so on. "There’s no hocus pocus about this thing,” the Kingfish continued. "That’s the way it's done. I’m perfectly willing to stand hers and tell the senate that I voted for the other man’s tariff because we needed his vote to get the tariff on our products. It was the spirit of the Scripture that caused a man to give his brother a tariff, particularly when he needed his brother's vote to get the tariff for himself.” Then up spoke Senator Ashurst of Arizona, and said: "The senator from Louisiana is making the most powerful argument for the pending bill that could be made. Congress, when it makes a tariff bill, almost necessarily does so on the log-rolling principle. The pending measure provides a scientific way to handle tariffs.” Only about 300,000 men have been killed since 1933 in the fighting between Paraguay and Bolivia. Not such a good record for munitions manufacturers to hold up to nations. AL

Liberal Viewpoint —BY DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES—

Editor’s Note—This is the first of two articles by Harry Elmer Barnes, Th.D. on the present silver controversy in congress. tt tt tt THE present silver fight in congress is very much like the inflation controversy of last winter. Both have tended to muddle and confuse, the public and to distract its attention from the more fundamental nonmonetary issues which are tied up with the problem of recovery. This applies both to the Utopia mongering of the silver interests and the calamity howling of their opponents. Another deplorable result of the silver battle has been the division of the forces which should be united behind the more liberal and important phases of the new deal. For the most part the silver senators and congressmen are progressives whose basic interests are identical with those of Mr. Roosevelt and his advisers. By going off on the silver tangent they disrupt the ranks of progress and place in jeopardy not only a sensible settlement of the whole silver controversy but also a progressive solution of our economic problems as a whole. If the new deal proves a flop silver will get summary treatment at the hands of the reactionaries, along with the liberal program which the silver senators support .in the nonmonetary field. Not since the campaign of 1896 has the silver issue forced itself upon the American public with such persistence and clamor. tt n tt THERE are a number of silver bills before congress. One proposes to make mandatory the restoration of bimetallism at the ratio of 16 to I—which was left discretionary with the President under the Thomas amendment of last year; Another directs for the purchase of a billion and a half ounces of silver. A third provides for the sale of $400,000,000 worth of American products in return for foreign silver which will be received at a valuation 25 per cent above the market value of silver. Other bills call for a large subsidy to silver producers or for the purchase of still greater volumes of silver metal. n The bill directing the return of bimetallism would, of course, wipe out the gold standard at once and the other bills would certainly weaken or destroy it in practice. The protagonists of silver would have us believe the Utopia will quickly follow the passage of a sweeping silver act. According to their reasoning, prices would rise, debt burdens would be lifted, industry would be stimulated and the forgotten men would come into their own. Little attention is given to the fundamental question of how silver or any other kind of money will get into the pockets of the workers and farmers in sufficient volume to boost purchasing power to any marked degree. Nor do these silver groups seem much concerned over the fact that a rise in prices out of all proportion to increases in wages and salaries will only still further depress the already inadequate purchasing power of the country. tt tt tt THE anti-silver forces take an equally extreme view on the other side of the fence. The executive committee of the economists’ national committee on monetary policy has recently circulated a resolution opposing all silver measures before congress. It contends: 1. That no additional silver should be purchased at any price. 2. That the purchase of silver bullion at artificial prices will not promote sound recovery, but on the contrary will add to the liabilities of the government and reduce confidence in the nation’s currency. 3. That the restoration of bimetallism at the market ratio would cause national injury and retard recovery. 4. That the restoration of bimetallism at a ratio of 16 to 1 would be a national calamity. 5. That a rise in the price of silver benefits materially neither domestic industry nor the foreign trade of the United States. The committee predicts disaster if the administration makes any concessions to the silver interests: "Congress, under this administration, already has placed on our statute books a series of unsound and potentially dangerous monetary laws; and to add to their potential dangers, or to convert these potential dangers into actual mandatory law, is to invite monetary, economic social and perhaps political disasters “The government is liable for the’ dollar value, and every additional silver dollar going into the vaults is a national liability placing an additional burden upon the gold reserves.”

Capital Capers

BY GEORGE ABELL’

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT lapsed Into the diplomatic language, French, at a conference with correspondents the oth,er day when he smiled and remarked: “As the French would say, I can’t give you even a ‘soupcon’ of news about the debts.” Some “soupcons” of news about town yesterday: Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly of the royal British navy was guest of honor at luncheon in the White House. He sat at a table adorned with pink roses and snapdragons. Sir Ronald Lindsay, his Britannic Majesty’s ambassador, has been urging Admiral Bayly to remain here for the garden party to be given at the embassy on June 4 in honor of the king’s birthday. American vice-consuls were much in evidence. Vice-Consul Reginald Carey of the wellknown Baltimore family married Margaretta Wright, socially prominent Washington girl, in the Bethlehem Chapel of the Washington Cathedral. Vice-Consul William D. Moreland Jr., (stationed in Antwerp, Belgium) visited his parents in Chevy Chase. Vice-Consul John Pool arrived from Buenos Aires and will be at the state department for an indefinite period. an tt THREE new ambassadors will be forthcoming soon from Spain, Turkey and Brazil. A fourth ambassador—Senor Trucco of Chile—is shortly to return from Santiago, where he is recovering from the effects of an airplane accident. Senator Gerald Nye of North Dakota (now much in the limelight apropos of the Clarence Darrow-NRA mixup) appeared on the floor of the senate wearing a double-breasted gray coat which was in marked contrast to his rather careless habit of dressing when he came here in 1924. Nye has improved sartorially. Senator Copeland of New York is wearing a pleased expression as well as his habitual carnation in the coat lapel. Reason: Birth of a grandchild. son of Mr. and Mrs. Royal S. Copeland Jr., at their home outside New York. Word of the baby’s safe arrival was telephoned to Mrs. Copeland at the Shoreham. Mrs. Dorothy Canfield Fisher, noted writer, departed, after zooming here by plane from Chcago for a quick visit which included a speech before the American Association for Adult Education and a talk with Mrs. Roosevelt at the White House. Indianapolis always knows when it’s Speedway time. It’s the time of the year when all the roads leading to the track are torn up. A 70-year-old blacksmith In Gainesville, Ga., pulled out his own teeth, then made a set of false ones from aluminum‘kitchen utensils. Always a man of mettle.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Make your letters short, so all car. have a chance. Limit them to SSO words or lessJ tt it tt SEES RESEMBLANCE TO CHRIST IN LENIN I By Paul Wysong:. "And he that sat upon the throne said. ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And he said unto me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful. Blessed' is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things that are written therein, for the time is at hand.’ And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. “And being turned, I saw seven golden candle sticks, and in the midst of the seven golden candle sticks one like unto the son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about with a golden girdle. “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, ‘Fear not. I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth and was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore.’ ” Were I to reject as untenable all theory on divine intelligence, the countless revolving planetary bodies, flung into space and held to their respective circumscribed courses with mathematical accuracy! would convince me of God’s creating and guiding hand. Were I to doubt His word and refuse to accept as logical the divinity of Christ, the advent and material life of Lenin with the successful functioning of his policies in Russia would make me see their truth. Just as I believe in God, His word and the divinity of Christ so do I believe that, with Lenin the scriptural prophecy of the second coming of Christ was fulfilled. Again, unfortunately, tragedy dogged his footsteps, and he came and went unrecognized by all save Russia.

REAL SILK LOOPER LIKES HER JOB By a Looper. I have just read the “By a Union Man” letter and I think it sounds more like a Kentuckian’s than any one else. I am still at Real Silk and I certainly am not from Kentucky. Most of the Kentucky girls were on strike. I have worked in the looping department for four years and I never made under $lO a week when I first began to learn and have always made good wages. Why do you want to take some rich fellow's money away? „ nun OLD AGE PENSIONS AND POORHOUSES By the Observer. "It’s a disgrace to Indiana” is a frequent comment on the Dillinger case, spoken chiefly by those of .political faith opposite to that of the McNutt administration. But a real disgrace, which started long before the present administration, isn’t mentioned often. I am referring to the housing of feeble old men and women in firetrap county infirmaries. There are in Indiana, acording to the last report of the board of state charities, thirteen poorhouses in which the inmates are constantly menaced by the danger of death from fire. , Theoretically, an old age pension law became effective in Indiana on Jan. 1, 1934. But few indeed are the counties making even the slightest attempt to apply it fairly and humanely. There seems to be plenty of money to carry on many activities, especially those which build an organization t/ keep an officeholder feeding out of the public trough.

TOLEDO’S ARGUMENT FOR LABOR LEGISLATION

$ a £jfgs| ■. * * .. •* v

The Message Center

Heavy Cost of Strikes Emphasized

By A Subscriber. I have been following almost daily the articles published in The Indianapolis Times in regard to the strike at the Real Silk Hosiery Mills and I have read without prejudice the arguments both for and against the merits of the demands of the striking employes. I. see by the papers that the strike has been settled and all employes not guilty of violence will have the privilege of being reinstated and will be returned to their work as soon as production reaches a stage sufficient to permit them to be employed. What a pity it is that it took seven long weeks for the striking employes to realize that it was themselves who ind’ectly were paying the major portion of the costs of the strike and who -would continue to do so as long as the differences existed between the management and themselves to the extent that they remained unemployed. Every thinking person is well aware of the fact that strikes are expensive to both labor and industry. This strike alone has resulted in a loss to the wage earners of Indianapolis of perhaps a quarter of a million dollars or more. That much money is forever lost to the trade channels of our city. While factories are closed down or operated by only a part of their regular force of employes the good will of the industry is dealt a damaging blow which seriously impedes the future progress of its business. Sales forces, who have labored hard and long to introduce to the public the articles manufactured by the industry and have built up a demand for these products, find themselves handicapped at every turn because of their inability to

But officials "view with alarm” efforts to provide adequately for helpless old men and women. If the 1935 session of the Indiana legislature does nothing more than change the old age pension law to make adequate provision for the needy, it will fully justify its. existence. OH, WELL! THERE’S A LIVING IN IT! By a Reader. The poor old Message Center! It is going down, down and down. The only newspaper in the city that gives the real opinions of its readers, and your subscribers do you dirt, and contribute letters that really are not worth printing. Os course, it is your idea to print the good and bad, but do you ever get any good letters? I pity the person who has to type these, correct the errors, and watch so that no libelous messages enter your column. God help The Message Center Editor. MILLIONS HUNGRY AMID ABUNDANCE By a Thinker. No permanent social progress will come from the NRA or any of the other alphabetical undertakings. In fact, the whole setup is convincing proof of what mass stupidity will stand for. Limit is placed on the production of food despite the fact that millions of Americans are hungry, including children. These undernourished children will constitute a grave problem for years to come. Mother Nature can’t be abused with impunity. Poppies are sold on the streets to aid disabled war veterans —a catch penny game. But millions are spent lor war memorials, wlMnmem

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

assure prompt deliveries of orders taken by them and cause unjust criticism. Is it not possible in this day of intelligence to find some way to eliminate strikes and the resultant loss therefrom? It has been suggested that each state should have a labor board whose duty it would be to settle controversies between capital and labor. When a situation similar to that of the Real Silk Hosiery Mills arises it would be presented to this board who would permit both sides to be fairly heard. After due consideration the board would render its decision. Should the decision not be acceptable to both parties then it would be presented to the United States labor board at Washington for final disposition. If a decision is then given which the industry is willing to accept then the employes should either return to work or surrender their rights as employes of such institution and they should not, in fairness to all who are concerned, be permitted to interfere, by picket, ng oy otherwise, with any other persons who desire to abide by the decisions of the state or federal labor boards. While government leaders are making every possible effort to restore men to jobs, and thus facilitate the return to normal by our nation, labor ought to realize that financers are not anxious to invest their money for the operation of any factory where the property stands unprotected as a target for the wrath of enraged employes, who unwisely have heeded the appeal of leaders who have uppermost in their minds the furtherance of their own selfish schemes even at the expense of labor, the factory owner and the general public as well.

can’t eat, nor can his wife and children be aided by such piles of stone. The American people have a tremendous appetite for bunk. They go in for everything that is meaningless, but few will give even passing notice to an issue that requires any exertion of the mind. To be hungry in a land of plenty is the height of something; certainly it indicates no intelligence. tt a a EXPRESSES HOPE FOR A BETTER SOCIETY Bv Jimmy Cafouros. As long as there is life there is movement. Any kind of movement implies change. And there are only tw ? o kinds of change possible—favorable and unfavorable. By weathering the unfavorable, we are prepared to enjoy and appreciate the favorable. I often think that wTien considering wealth we are situated—many of us—far down in the economic scale. But when I contemplate what has gone before—physical persecution, galley slaves, absolute monarchies, serfdom, feudalism, and* what not —I grow content. There is not a doubt that things are not what they should be. But by and by in the course of the evolution of things and if we continue to grow in mind we will get to that. In the meantime there is no need for arousing excitement and revolution. If we bide our time and make the best of conditions as we find them things will grow favorable again. Then will be the time to make adjustments that will guarantee us a greater measure of liberty. There are those persons who have money and those who have knowledge. Then there are those persons ivho have not money or knowledge.

MAY 30, 1934

If you have money you have leisure. Having leisure you may create—either good or bad. If you have no money you have time for nothing except to locate your next meal and keep a roof over your head. Such a state hardly gives one time to create any thing. That is one reason why the wealthy manage to run the government. But the dismal note in it is this—they run the government only according to their own interests. Common sense indicates that the wealthy are a very small minority, and when the interests of a coi.n* try are vested In a minority anti that minority reaps the bulk of advantages then the majority must take only what is left. Few persons .calize what President Roosevelt has done. By alleviating the burden of the majority and taking some of the advantages from the minority, he has averted a potential revolution for the nonce at least. a tt tt S2O TO 525 A WEEK SATISFIES BOARDER By a Boarder. A union man writing in this column stated that a Real Silk job is a starvation job. I have been working for the mill for five years and I never have been hungry yet. I didn’t notice the depression, but I know those who Were on strike know what the depression is. When they were at work they did not notice it so much. If Real Silk is as bad as the strikers say it is, why is it that $o many more persons stayed to work than walked out. Are they all from Kentucky and know what side of their bread is buttered on? I am from Kentucky and proud of it. I make from S2O to $25 a week, so you see Kentucky persons do care whether they make more than $12.50 a week as V. E. H. stated in her letters, but if I didn't make any more than $12.50 a week I could manage to live on it. Those who throw slurs at Kentuckians are jealous.

So They Say

I'm glad I've lived as I have. If I had my life to live over again, I wouldn’t do anything differently.— Eva Tanguay. When Kansas gets her full quota of corn-hog money and adds to that a bonus for cattle, we will horn out Texas and stand out as the bright and shining leader of the whole galaxy of American states.— William Allen White, famous editor. In picking their wives, young men are ruled by sexual instincts rather than reason. Similarly, women prefer good-looking men for husbands. —Dr. M. F. Ashley Montague of New York university.

IN REALITY

BY HARRIET SCOTT OLINICK My life must seem woven of dullest hues From the outside, looking in; Its boundaries confining and narrow. With poetry alone for a whim. But I am finding it secretly sweet; Sweetness whose center is pain enough. And pain whose center is beauty; And beauty whose center is love. And I am living on thread of gold; Os flame and of saffron each day. With these colors I shad weave a cloak For my love, audacious and gtyr.