Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 26, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 June 1934 — Page 4

PAGE 4

The Indianapolis Time? (A SCRIPFS-HOWAKD NEWSPAPER) EOT W. HOWARD Presidem TALCOTT POWELL Editoi EARL D. BAKER Business Manapei Phone Riley 5551

Members of United Press Scripps - Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newspaper Enter prise Association, Newspaper Information Service and An dit Bureau of Circulations. Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The In dianapolis Times Publishing Company, 214-220 West Mary land street, Indiarapolis. Ind Price in Marion county, 2 cents a copy; elsewhere. 2 cents—delivered by carrier, 12 cents a week. Mail subscription rates in Indiana, $3 a year; outside of Indiana, 63 cents a month.

It S' PS J • ft pw +.AB Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

MONDAY, JUNE 11, 1934. TRAFFIC RESPONSIBILITY SIXTY-TWO THOUSAND Indianapolis school children today are enjoying the first day of their annual three months’ vacation. During the next ninety days those children will be at liberty to romp and run for the many hours of the day during which they formerly were confined to school rooms. Many of those children, despite their home and school training, will dart into the streets either in pursuit of a companion or some toy that slips their grasp. Consequently it is the direct responsibility of the motorists to drive more carefully. The death toll in Marion county traffic accidents has passed the half century mark this year and continued negligence by drivers may bring an appalling toll. If school children are injured or killed, the blame must fall upon the auto driver. He has been warned and the first slip may be a tragic one. SEARCH FOR GRASS ■jl/fOVIE audiences watched in absorption ■*•*■*■ the picture “Grass,” made a couple of years ago. This masterful picture showed the migration of Asiatic tribes, perpetually driving their herds before them in a search for grass. From season to season, from year to year, these restless nomads migrate, searching always the green pastures where their herds may feed and they may live in plenty. It all seemed exotic and far-away. The quaint costumes, the unfamiliar faces of the tribesmen made it seem like a legend, despite the camera’s eye. Such things seemed a mere survival of a pastoral age long gone. Yet today, in machine-age America, are felt the first stirrings of a movement that may be a modern pilgrimage for grass. On the western prairies of Wisconsin, near the Minnesota border, may be heard the pitiful bellowing of hungry, thirsty cattle as they plod down the dusty roads toward newer and greener pastures. Localities which will not have, unless merciful rain comes, enough pasture for their own cattle, watch streams of emaciated animals pour in, and farmers share or rent cheaply what pasturage they have. Now this is temporary, you think at first. When rains come and restore the home pastures, they will return. But the government is looking farther ahead than that. It foresees that in some of these drought-stricken areas the long struggle is a hopeless one. There are areas where for three long years you could count all the heavy rains on your fingers; areas where grain pulled through frost, heat and drought only to be devoured by locusts. The emergency drought appropriations now pending will provide huge sums to buy up lands of those farmers who are ■willing to give up the fight, and allow the government to turn their wasted lands into forests, game preserves, meadows. The government then will try to find jobs or new lands or both for these farmers—--50,000 of whom are expected to be on their way this summer in a voluntary migration such as the country has not seen in two generations. Certain professors of ancient history believe that the history of all ;he world is the history of men migrating toward newer and better pasturage for their animals. Faced for the first time with the necessity of meeting something which may approach one of these migrations, UncLe Sam is proposing to meet it in a planned basis, to make his own history. CLYDE L. SEAVEY PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT has appointed to the federal power commission one of the best qualified men in the United States for that post. He is to be congratulated on adding Clyde L. Seavey to his official family. Seavey has been a member of the California state railroad commission for eleven years and chairman of it for much of that time. The policies which have distinguished it as one of the most intelligent in the country have been shaped largely by him. He originated the plan—recently enacted into law—for curbing the power of federal courts over regulating bodies. His commission was the first to devise a formula satisfactory to the supreme court for valuation of utility properties, a formula which ended the dispute over reproduction costs as a basis. Seavey’s appointment strengthens immeasurably a commission already excellent. When it is given the additional power it needs over utility holding companies, the country may count on it for even more effective administration of its most valuable resource. THE LOAN LOBBY PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT did well when he urged immediate passage of the pending Fletcher housing bill as the first plank in his three-point social security platform. The house banking and currency committee did not do so well when it brought out the measure patched with amendments impairing its functions and limiting its scope. Acting, apparently, under pressure from a building and loan lobby, the committee removed the authority for federally supervised authorization for the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation to buy $500,000,000 in private loan company shares; slapped a limit of sl,000,000.000 on the amount of new mortgages the proposed Home Credit Insurance Corporation may insure. Th first amendment removes one of the measure’s fnost constructive provisions, one designed to provide rehousing funds, make mortgage money more mobile and^^ad

cheap long-term financing services throughut the country. The second is a simple treasury raid, since under it the government takes the risks for direct construction loans. It has no place .n an insurance measure. Indeed, rather than subsidize private loaning sendees, the government could better spend the money on slum abatement through its PWA housing corporation. The third amendment needlessly limits the relief. Since the United States now is running $8,000,000,000 a year behind normal on construction and $*,700,000,000 on home building, why hamstring the rehousing plan by setting a limit on new construction mortgage insurance? President Roosevelt sees in the carefullyconceived measure, which the house committee and lobby tried to destroy, a chance to put private money to work sprucing up and rearing homes for the American people. Perhaps it will not do all that is claimed for it, but the vision is high, the sights aimed at “the objective of making it possible for American families to live as Americans should.” The house and senate should not permit special Interests to lower the sights. THE GAS TAX 'TVHE tendency of the taxing powers to kill the goose that lays the golden egg is illustrated forcibly by the report of the American Petroleum industries committee. Fifteen years ago the idea of taxing gasoline occurred to revenue-hunting legislators. The average gasoline tax that year, 1919, was one-twentieth of a cent per gallon. The average tax today is 5.4 cents a gallon. Sales taxes of any form and to any degree are of questionable economic soundness since they tend to stifle trade. But this sales tax, equivalent to more than 43 per cent of the average retail price of gasoline and to more than 100 per cent of the average wholesale price, is a colossal discrimination. There was at least a fair argument for high gasoline taxes while the proceeds were used exclusively for highway building and maintenance. But in recent years, increasing portions of these receipts have been diverted for other purposes. By what strange line of leasoning can we justify taxing American motorists as a class for “unemployment relief, schools, oyster cultivation, sea walls and harbors?” Federal, state, county and local governments have all reached out for revehue from gasoline. That the saturation point has been passed is demonstrated by the spread of tax evasion and gasoline bootlegging and adulteration. Gasoline bootleggers, it is estimated, cheat state governments out of from 25 to 100 millio dollars annually. Like liquor bootleggers, they will continue to operate so long as excessive taxes insure their profits. An easy first step toward retrenchment in gasoline taxation would be for the federal government to retire from that field. The gasoline tax is not isolated. It fits in with the hodge-podge of liquor taxes, tobacco taxes and other conflicting, duplicating, pyramiding levies that can be adjusted when federal and state taxing authorities get together and agree where the taxes of one are to start and the taxes of the other are to stop. HOW TO TRY JUDGES 'T'HE Clumsy method of trying impeached judges under the Constitution can be simplified by adoption of the Ashurst resolution now pending in the senate. This would set up a committee of eight senators, five of whom would form a quorum, to hear and sift house charges of unfitness of federal judges. Under the Constitution, the senate must give the verdict. But its verdict would be more just and intelligent if guided by expert and thorough findings of a smaller group of senators. In England the house of lords has even greater punitive powers than our senate, yet it delegates trial functions to its socalled “law lords.” Our present system reached its depth of absurdity last session when ninety-six senators set out to try Judge Harold Louderback, the San Francisco federal judge accused of receivership malpractices. The trial dragged through days and took up time bac.ly needed for emergency legislation. Often as few as four senators were in their seats listening to testimony. Congress is trying to cleanse the federal bench of a few judges whose moral lapses have brought it into disrepute. The way should be cleared for dealing swift and enlightened justice. A jury of ninety-six members is too large. IT’S A LONG, LONG TRAIL r T''HOSE who regard the new deal (r)evolution as a passing phase, to be forgotten when prosperity overtakes us, should read the 1933 World Economic Review just published by the United States bureau of foreign and domestic commerce. Half of this volume is devoted to the economics of the United States, with a factual survey of the developments of 1933 and a frank analysis of the problems that 1934 finds unsolved. The author of the report, Dr. Willard L. Thorp, who served several months as director of the bureau—until partisan politics in the senate blocked his confirmation—does not see the future of the United States through rosecolored glasses. His conclusions are that we can not turn back, that the old lassez faire system of unbridled competition and production has failed, that the government must continue to share the responsibility for proper functioning of the economic system. A planned economy he sees as the only way out of the jungles made dense by the unbalanced relationship between production, prices and purchasing power, by the wasteful conflicts between capital and labor, by the hit-or-miss relationship between our foreign and domestic policies. It is a long, arduous trail, but it leads out of the jungles where decades of rugged individualism and political opportunism dumped us. A mule bit a farmer in Missouri, and now other residents of the state are expecting a dog to kick one of them any day. If you ever feel your brain has become rusty, remember there’s enough iron in your body to make four large-sized nails. Distillers soon may produce an ordorless whisky, which Is good news for late husbands and reckless drivers. . \

YOUTH AND CRIME T TNITED STATES COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION ZOOK seems to think there is a “crime wave” among young people and that this calls for a rewriting of NRA codes to permit part-time apprenticeship work. Apparently the idea is that young people when freed from wage-earning toil turn to crime. This has no basis in fact. The justice department’s crime reports show an actual decrease in arrests of children between 16 and 19, as compared with other age groups, from the last quarter of 1932 and that of 1933. A slight decrease is noted also in comparing arrests in the 17-19 group. Commenting on these figures, the children’s bureau says: “Whatever problems are created by the abolition of industrial employment of persons under certain age levels, It is apparently not one associated with delinquency and crime.” Nowhere is there any statistical evidence of a crime wave among children of ages affected by the codes or other regulations. In fact the reports from eighteen juvenile courts show a drop in cases between 1929 and 1932, and the records of ten homes for young delinquents show an average decrease in their inmates of 20 per cent between January, 1929, and October, 1933. Only two reported increases. This country needs better crime statistics, particularly facts regarding youthful malefactors. It also needs better thinking on what facts there are. HANDS OFF CUBA seems to be preparing for another of the periodic revolts which have followed the overthrow of the bloody Machado dictatorship. There is one fundamental difference, however. Before we had an unworkable treaty obligation to preserve Democratic Institutions there. Now we have not. Under the new treaty ratified by congress last week we have no right of intervention. Since President Roosevelt and State Secretary Cordell Hull are responsible for the enlightened reform of our policy written into the new treaty, it may seem strange that any warning is needed now to keep hands off Cuba. Perhaps the warning is not needed. But the fact remains that state department representatives were at least partly responsible for picking the short-lived conservative De Cespedes government, for withholding recognition which helped to kill the more liberal Grau San Martin government, and for favoring the conservative Mendieta regime which now is tottering. Maybe Sumner Welles, former ambassador and now in charge of Cuban affairs at the state department, and his associates have learned their lesson. All we can get out of meddliffg in Cuba’s internal affairs is to burn our fingers and singe our eyebrows—or worse. To live up to the spirit of the new treaty we must do more than refrain from military intervention. We must refrain equally from back-stairs diplomacy. If the Cubans want to recall Grau San Martin, or a more radical government, that is their affair. We can hope that they will find their way in peace, rather than resort to the civil war which marred our own history and that of most nations. But if, unhappily, Cuban revolution results, that is not our business. THE LOWDOWN MOST people have been blaming the violent strike epidemic on low wages, employer stubbornness, or radicals, or the lack of a proper disputes court. But Deets Picket of the Board of Temperance, Prohibition and Public Morals of the M. E. church, claims to have the real answer. It’s likker. “A development deserving attention is the prevailing violenc in industrial disputes," he writes. “We went through years of depression with astonishingly little violent labor trouble which, however, becomes general immediately upon the return of legalized sale of liquor.” Maybe repeal caused the great drought out in the west, too.

Capital Gapers BY GEORGE ABELL STERN-JAWED Senator Lynn J. Frazer of North Dakota and Representative Bill Lemke of the same state were scheduled to deliver stirring addresses before several thousand farmers on the subject of the Frazier-Lemke bill whereby the government takes over farm mortgages. The scene of the addresses was to be the little township of Manchester, Md. Farmers gathered in Manchester and aw r aited the arrival of Messrs. Frazier and Lemke. They waited and waited. And waited. It seems that Senator Frazier and Representative Lemke made a trifling mistake. They went to Manchester Pa. NOTE—Fortunately they did not go as far as Manchester Mass. tt tt tt SPECTACLED, bald-headed Simeon D. Fess, senator from Ohio and Republican big-wig, sat in his office immersed in weighty documents. Newsman, acting on a tip received from Boston, bearded this solon in his den, inquired: , “Is it true, Senator, that you are going to marry Mrs. Calvin Coolidge?” Senator Fess snorted indignantly, removed his glasses, exploded: “Preposterous!” Newsmen fled. tt tt tt MUCH to the delight of Senator Ellinson D. (Cotton Ed) Smith of South Carolina, one of the stanchest advocates of that fiber, an individual appeared yesterday on the floor of the senate wearing a cotton coat, cotton trousers, cotton waistcoat, cotton shoes and cotton hat. It was former Senator Tom Heflin of Alabama, as benevolent looking and as healthy as any southern planter of legendary fame. Tom has changed little. He explained that he is “just paying a visit here.” His cotton outfit looked immaculate from toe to hat-brim. Heflin was one of the first men in the south to advocate the “Buy Cotton—Wear Cotton” campaign. And he always lives up to his preaching. Old cronies crowded about the man from the land of cotton, and he recited some of his humorous tales. . y n m tt MRS. ROOSEVELT yesterday revealed some of the thoughts that flashed through her mind as she watched the fleet review off New York. During what she termed “an extraordinary exhibition of aerial bombing,” she was “so scared something might happen to the bombers” she “didn’t know what to do.” The aviators made a perpendicular dive, then straightened out at top speed for a horizontal getaway, after dropping their bombs. The first time this was attempted, Mrs. Roosevelt was told, the plane went to pieces and its wings were found fifteen miles away. Bombing and the skill of maneuvering so that battleships emerged from the fog in perfect formation gave the First Lady her biggest thrills during the review.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

i ' S-s- -R.o.seßC

(Timet readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Make your letters short, so all cat ; have a chance. Limit them to 850 words or less.) tt tt st SURPLUS, MONEY AND WANT—A TRINITY By Unorthodox C-ickoo. We deplore the fact that we have too much of everything, a so-called surplus of goods for which we can not find purchasers. Well, it certainly is not a lack of need or desire on the part of those who are out of the things that are supposed to compose the surplus. The thing they lack is the medium of exchange to procure the goods. Both producer and consumer are suffering, one with a glut of goods; the other from malnutrition, shabby clothing and indecent living quarters. It is a game of “button, button, who’s got the button?” The mcney buttons are scarce. Maybe they dried up in the drought or were frozen during cold weather in otir banks. We seem to be able to create anything but money—the “button tokens” from our sacred cow. We will starve, freeze, go shabby, live in slums, almost anything, to do worship to the “sacred money cow. No matter if the old bossie went dry and we have to do without everything we want! The "keepers of the sacred cow” are the men who create 90 per cent of our medium of exchange. Uncle Sam creates only 10 per cent of the buttons necessary to feed the “kitty.” Uncle’s “grandaadies,” the bankers, create the otter 90 per cent of the tokens through checks and bank credit. Os course, Uncle Sam can not say they have a complete monopoly of the business, because uncle really does create about 10 per cent of the filthy lucre. But uncle’s partners have gone on strike, with their “credit mill” operating on a curtailed production basis. Uncle is cranking the mill a little, but too little. Maybe we will have to eat the golden calf, like the Israelites did who fell down before the image. We refuse to create the money real money, to buy the stuff we want and need so we go hungry and run down at th heel. Let’s use our heads just once. tt tt ~ MERCURY PUTS ON JUNE SKY SHOW By J. H. Butchart. There is a sight in the northwestern sky until a little after June 15, which might interest a number of Indianapolis persons. As I stepped out on the roof of the Butler building to begin my observations with the newly reconstructed six and a half-inch refractor, my attention was caught by a bright object near the horizon. The twin stars, Castor and Pollox, were about 20 degrees above the horizon, and another first magnitude star, Capella, was quite close to the horizon but farther north. This new body was straight down from Castor and Pollox and about even with Capeila in altitude above the horizon. Consulting the notes on the planets in the magazine, Popular Astronomy, I learned that it was Mercury, the smallest of the sun’s family of planets. This is by far the best that Mercury has appeared for more than a year. It is usually too close to the sun to be seen without a telescope. Although it is only 50 per cent lar-

The Message Center

NOT THE GANGES: WHITE RIVER

Louis Ludlow Labeled Real Democrat

By Mugroump. In reply to An Honest, Homespun Democrat, I wish to express my belief that membership in the Democratic party from the time of Andrew Jackson should not be a requirement for the United States senate any more than a membership in the Republican party from the time of Abraham Lincoln. The party of strict construction of the Constitution, of state rights, of free trade, and free silver is hardly recognizable now as the party advocating under the Roosevelt administration a liberal interpretation of the Constitution in order that the government may be an effective instrument to bring about such anew deal as the people of the United States have never before seen. The party of broad construction of the Constitution, of the natior.al fcar.k, of the protective tariff, of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt is likewise hardly recognizable now as the party of rugged

ger than the moon in diameter, the sunlight which it reflects is so intense that Mercury shines like a first magnitude star. Its distance from the sun is only three-tenths as great as the earth's distance. A glimpse of Mercury through a telescope, of course, adds to its interest as it appears like the moon when it is almost full. Until more persons avail themselves of the opportunity than can be conveniently accommodated, the public is cordially invited to use the Butler telescope on Monday Wednesday and Friday nights. One can turn from the smallest planet, Mercury, to a globular cluster of stars on the frontier of the Milky Way, some 50,000 light years away, and from there to the great island universes,” the spiral nebulae from which the light has been coming to us for ten million years. nun MESSENGER ASKS FOR CONSIDERATION By Messenger No. 11. The average motorist of this city regards telegraph messengers as “flies in their soup” or something like that, as it seems to them we are at an intersection, curbing, driveway or stop sign right at the time we should not be. I say this for the interest of all persons concerned and in behalf of every messenger in the city: Every minute we are on the streets in uniform we are serving the public in general. If we are traveling at what seems a dangerous rate of speed for the safety of ourselves and others, it is because our jobs concern the most important financial and personal problems of this and foreign countries. In traffic, help us so that we may help you and give better service. Remember, the wire we are delivering may be for you. nun WORLD’S FAIR AND CHICAGO LAUDED By a Traveler. I visited the World’s fair in Chicago, on JuneN2, and was the 1,000,008th visitor. The 1,000,000 th visitor was Joseph L. Speicher, Akron, 0., a science teacher in the Findlay junior high school. A Century of Progress is wonder-

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

individualism and of conservatism, fearful that a liberal interpretation of the Constitution will limit some special privilege enjoyed by the rich and powerful. I w r ould like to ask An Honest, Homespun Democrat which group more nearly represents the principles of the new deal— George W. Norris, Harold L. Ickes, Robert La Follette Jr., or Bernard M. Baruch, John J. Raskob and A1 Smith. I also would like to ask him where the dyed-in-the-wool, or honest, homespung Democratic ticket would have been in 1932 if it had not been for the vote of liberal Republicans as well as liberal Democrats. Louis Ludlow is a liberal Democrat. He is a tower of strength without being a “yes” man to the administration. What he was in 1924 I do not care. I know that hf> ’s representing the Twelfth Indiana congressional district effectively and in a manner satisfactory to the people of that district. I should like to see him the junior senator from Indiana.

ful. It is stupendous. Nothing done up cheaply like last year. Everything has anew coat of paint. Everything has taken on anew color. The fair is an education in itself. So many persons have not even seen Chicago itself, and it would be worth their while to go there and spend a week just taking in the city and the fair. Os course, you could not see everything in a week, but you could cover a lot of ground. For a dime you can ride in the public conveyances from practically one end of Chicago to another. Look at all the things you can take in absolutely free—-parks, zoos, public buildings, and Lake Michigan. I am not a build up man for Chicago, I do not want a person to be sold on going to that city, but still I say, do not miss a trip, even an excursion, to Chicago. tt n tt TESTIMONIAL DINNER; NOT CONVENTION By Everett F. MrCoy. Your paper along with others reported the recent Republican gettogether as a convention. Asa matter of fact, it was a testimonial dinner for “Lil” Arthur. They employed a professional toastmaster as master of ceremonies and the diners listened to his clowning while they ate their finger nails. tt u tt ADVISES LESS WORRY ABOUT COMMUNISTS By E. F. Maddox. Your editorial of June 5 on the “poor psychology” of the Communists shows that you know something of the American spirit and also that you have an insight concerning Communist tactics. You hit the nail on the head when you said that such exhibitions of Communist character was “the main reason why Communism has failed to make headway in the United States.” Any time the Communists forget themselves and act natural and come right out and tell the American people what they stand for and what they Intend to do, they are sure to gain few converts to the ranks. Communism has no chance except in a nation like Russia where the people are uninformed, uneducated, oppressed and are used to

JUNE 11, 1934

being dominated and controlled by their leaders. It is only by deceit and trickery that the Communist party has ever gained any considerable following. The main tactics used by Communists are terror and force. Without these weapons Communism can not maintain its power, not even in Russia. The United States is one nation with people who don't like to take orders and have a reputation for fighting to the last ditch to defend their rights as free and independent citizens and any pressure or regimentation or social control such as Communism uses in its progress is sure to meet with a far different type of resistance in this country than in any other nation of the world. If a ivord to the wise were sufficient I would suggest that the following sign should be posted on every public building in the United States: “Bolshevik, Beware.” “So long as Communism is in the hands of men who can boo the last of the Civil war veterans, no one needs to worry about it,” is good philosophy, and here is a good ending for that statement: And so long as there is one Communist in this nation he will be ready to boo and belittle everything which is near and dear to the hearts of partriotic Americans. tt tt tt UNBECOMING CONDUCT ’ CHARGED TO OFFICER By W. A. Sprowl. I happened to be an eyewitness to very disgraceful actions of a police office June 2 and wish to report his conduct through the Message Center. During the windstorm a light wire was blown down in Keystone avenue just south of Prospect street. Police were called and car No. 20 was sent to the scene. The driver parked the car crosswise at the south end of the block and directed traffic in an efficient manner so far as I could see, but his partner, a big fellow, who looked like he could be a real policeman, took a stand on the corner of Keystone avenue and Prospect street and acted in every way like a maniac. He cursed drivers for being cautious. He used foul and indecent language in the presence of women and children. He would wait until a car started to turn into the block, then he would stop it, threaten to lock up the driver and act like a bully in general. Don’t get me wrong. I am not just peeved because I got told, because I was a bystander and ha never spoke to me. DAILY THOUGHT Bear ye one another’s burdens, a*id so fulfill the law of Christ Galatians, 6:2. Light is the task when many share the toil.—Homer.

JUNE NIGHT

BY ALYS WACHSTETTEE The night is scented With perfumes of June, Low our voices, Heavy the moon; Our hearts in union Beat an even refrain, A music within us We can not restrain. The stars in their glory Up from the earth Receive the delicate throbbing* And envy our mirth.