Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 29, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 June 1934 — Page 16

PAGE 16

The Indianapolis Times (A SCRIPFS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) v BOY W. HOWARD President POWELL ......... Editor X’EARL D. BAKER . Business Manager Phone RI ley 5551

Members of United Press, Serlpps - Howard Newspaper Alliance. Newspaper Enter prise Association, Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulations. Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times Publishing Company. 214-2*20 West Maryland street, lndiarapolis, Ind. Price in Marion county. 2 cents a copy: elsewhere, 3 cents —delivered by carrier. 12 cents a week. Mail subscription rates in Indiana. $3 a year; outside of Indiana. 65 cents a month.

I • Dow ajid I Give Light and the ■ People Will Finn Their Ousn Wap

\ THURSDAY. JUNE 14. 1934. JUSTICE “x’LL put you under SIO,OOO bond and your | A cases won't be tried until next year.” | That was Criminal Judge Frank P. Baker’s answer yesterday to three youths, facing grand jj larceny charges, who decided to enter pleas of not guilty rather than stand by previous pleas : of guilty. It seems as though this punishment is too . severe for justification. Why couldn’t those men have been allowed to change their pleas ' and to have been given fair and speedy trials so they might have the opportunity to start service of their sentences immediately? The outside observer can see no reason why the court, irked over these changes of pleas, ' should condemn three men to spend an entire summer and winter in the Marion county jail. S Perhaps the three men are in error. If they sare then they certainly will learn the lesson of the law. For they know that after a year > in jail they stand the chance of serving additional terms. It would be a queer turn if a jury should acquit them. But, frankly Judge Baker, don’t you believe it would be well to reconsider this case? Justice, without balance, is a poor grade of „ justice. GIVE US ANSWERS LAST month the voters of Marion county went to the polls under the assumption that their votes would be counted properly -and that if there was any skullduggery that the law enforcement agencies of the county soon would remedy it. From the record, as it has been written since May 8, the voters realize that they apparently were in error in both assumptions. County authorities were convinced, they said a few days after the primary, that there had been miscounting of the ballots. They ' said that the instances might have been common errors but that, on the other hand, they might have been intentional. The voters still are interested in this matter. They would like to know whether they have been subjected to skullduggery or human mistakes. Which brings us to the conclusion that soon, Mr. Prosecutor and grand jurors, we would like to know the answers. CUT THOSE HEDGES THE Indianapolis police department, through a complaint filed by a reader of The Times, requests that hedges which obstruct views at street intersections be cut immediately. According to the department, the death of one man in an accident last week at Fortieth street and Carrollton avenue can be attributed to untrimmed hedges, bushes and overhanging trees. No resident of the city, or county for that matter, can afford not to heed this request. There already have been too many automobile accidents in Marion county this year. Every step that can be taken by police and citizens to halt this toll should be placed in effect immediately. Don’t tarry on this request, Indianapolis residents. You may be instrumental in saving a life. UNGUARDED POOLS HUNDREDS of children, ranging in age from 6 to 16, daily are taking advantage of the public and private swimming pools and beaches in Indianapolis and its environs. The sport of swimming on these hot days is something that should not be denied this horde of youngsters. But swimming in unguarded pools, where the children have no idea of the depth of the water or the dangers lurking in them, should be denied them. Every parent in Indianapolis should conduct an educational campaign in his own home to prevent a son or daughter being replaced by stark tragedy. 1 Much of the summer remains. Teach your child the advantages of safe swimming and the disadvantages of unguarded pools. FORGET IT THE American home always has been a good deal like the weather. There was a lot of talk about it, but very few ever really did anything about it. Sentimental songs about ‘‘Getting Back to That Tumble-down Shack,” and “Shanties in Old Shantytown” have been extremely popular, though it’s hard to see just what there is that is really attractive about shacks and shanties. But apparently there was a lot more reality in these songs than there is in most popular songs of the day. A report of the American Public Health Association reveals some startling things about the great American home. Only one-sixth of rural homes have plumbing. Less than one-fourth of the nation’s homes have running water; less than half have electricity. Dr. Haven Emerson, president of the association, points out in addition that many private single dwellngs are fire-traps, and that the average American home is wasteful of heat because not properly insulated—and very uncomfortable in summer for the same reason. He adds that many small homes of the south lack the screens in doors and windows that alone will prevent malaria among the occupants. In addition to this, as applied to individual homes, recent revelations in the New York City investigations of tenement conditions have shown horrible conditions of housing that are duplicated to some degree w almost every American city. Thus the huge housing remodeling program of President Roosevelt gains considerable support. Certainly there can be no better fuse of federal funds than to loan them lit

The Kiss of Death

A RINGING silence in Washington greeted the renomination of Senator Arthur Robinson. Not one of his fellow party members in the senate even whispered gratification over the choice of Indiana’s bankrupt Republicanism. Today that silence is shattered abruptly. ‘Lil’ Arthur Robinson has a champion—none other than Huey “Kingfish” Long, jigging clown of the national legislature! Asked whether the report were true that Mr. Robinson was his candidate, the “Kingfish” replied with characteristic elegance: “You’re damn right. I’m for Senator Robinson and I don’t care who knows it.” So the Republican party of this state has come to such a pass that its senator is indorsed only by a renegade Democrat! The Times repeatedly has declared that Senator Robinson was held in such contempt by his colleagues that they never even had permitted his name to appear on a single important piece of legislation—veteran or otherwise.

rebuilding the American home into something that will be fit to sing about. Perhaps, if the housing program is successfully carried through, a future generation of song writers will cease to chant of tumbleddown shacks and cabins in the cotton and write some tender lyrics to “That Fireproof, Insulated, Tile-bathroomed Old Electrical Home of Mine.” At least that would be something worth singing about. RECAPTURING TRADE BECAUSE it always is harder to build than to tear down, the administration today faces one of its most formidable tasks in making the new reciprocal trade act work to restore our once flourishing commerce. On the one hand, the government must frame agreements that mean something for the great farm and factory export industries and the 7,000,000 Americans depending upon them for a living. On the other hand, it must avoid working injuries to other industries. In steering between these two the government will encounter rocks and shoals. The effectiveness of the new act has been impaired somewhat by the war debt fiasco, which strips the President of what might have been his best bargaining weapon, and also by a provision in this law forbidding .any agreement to reduce foreign debts. Trade agreements also will be limited by the state department’s promise not to disturb the most favored nation principle in existing treaties. This means that in making foreign concessions we must extend them to all with whom we have favored nation treaties. The debt clause affects only five of our big customers, however, and the most* favored nation restriction affects only about one-fourth of our exports. Untouched by these limitations is a vast field of potential trade. And the administration is setting up an expert service to study what articles and what nations first can be brought under the scope of the act. Industries that fear this law will raze tariff w*alls like a Joshua’s trumpet are offered assurance by the government. President Roosevelt says that “no sound and important American interest will be injuriously disturbed." State Secretary Cordell Hull promises that nothing will be done “blindly or hastily.” Francis B. Sayre, assistant secretary of state, says that “everything will be done to promote, not harm, American industries and interests.” Administration leaders conceive the new act as the other half of national planning. While seeking to control production at home they also hope to build outlets for agricultural and industrial surpluses abroad. Perhaps this road will lead America out of its economic cave to dwell again among the family of nations. A BLESSING TO THE BLIND THERE are 64,000 men, women and children in the United States who never have seen a daily newspaper. They are the 64.000 blind whose reading is limited to books and magazines published in Braille and whose knowledge of day by day happenings in the world depends on what they are told or what others re id to them. A young New Yorke* has announced that next fall he will establish a daily newspaper for the blind. The young man himself is blind; has been sightless since he was 9 years old. With the assistance of charitable organizations, he continued his schooling, won scholastic honors and a college degree. The proposed newspaper will be published in Braille. It will contain advertising as well as news and will be issued five days a week free to 5,000 blind in the middle Atlantic states. Later it is hoped to extend this number so that the newspaper will reach blind persons everywhere in the United States and Canada. There is something singularly appealing about this effort of the blind to aid the blind. To those less handicapped it brings renewed realization of the thousands of blessings and advantages so commonly accepted as to be forgotten. The young publisher states his object in establishing the newspaper is to make it possible for the sightless “to take a more active and profitable part in society.” The words may stand as a challenge to those who can see. STILL AT ODDS A FTER “due weighing” of evidence, Dr. F. Scott Mcßride, general superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League of America, finds that repeal deplorably to solve the liquor problem. After similar “weighing,” the New York State Alcoholic Beverage Board finds that repeal in the Empire state has brought about definite evidence of social, moral, and economic improvement. Repeal undoubtedly has had its benefits and it also undoubtedly has given rise to some conditions which seem worse than was the case under prohibition. But turning a blind eye to a situation that does not match up -With the investigator’s personal prejudices, and magnifying everything that does agree with his viewpoint, will not bring the nation any closer to solution of the vexing problem. X There is such a thing as temperance -in in- \

AN EDITORIAL

We pointed out that Mr. Robinson would be of no use either to his party or his state in Washington. In the interests of good government we begged the Republicans to nominate a strong candidate. There were plenty available. Today the citizens of this state are edified with the spectacle of their senior senator bracketed with the most notorious mountebank that ever went to Washington. Every one at the national capital knows that the two men have been associated closely throughout this entire session of congress. They have one thing in common—each has been rejected and repudiated by his fellow party members in the senate. Then, too, each has a weakness for listening to his own voice. Since they have so much in common it is not surprising that the “Kingfish” heartily indorses “Lil” Arthur’s candidacy. Such an indorsement, we think, may well prove to be the kiss of death in the fall election.

vestigation as well as temperance in the use of liquor, and some of the fact finders might employ it in their research. G. Y. P. (GRAND YOUNG PARTY) 'T'HE HON. HENRY P. FLETCHER, new •*- chairman of the Republican national committee, announces that his party plans a nation-wide appeal to American youth to support its cause. The project is to organize 300,000 young men and women into clubs as shock troops in the battle of ballots next November. This picture of the G. O. P.—or should we say G. Y. P.—with the red rose of youth in its teeth would be less comic but for several things, especially what happened recently in Chicago. Young people are idealists and many are crusaders. The Palmer House “platform” lacked even the call to a lusty opposition fight on the New Deal, not to mention a constructive program of its own. For what are these young people going forth to battle? Young people are fearless of change. Yet the “platform” sneered at the “experiments” being undertaken in Washington and furtively warned against the fell purposes of the group behind these measures to “alter the framework of American institutions.”

Liberal Viewpoint —BY DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES”

TT recently was my privilege to have a prolonged luncheon discussion with one of the most distinguished of European publicists, who is now on a short visit to the United States. In addition to his wide learning and literary note, this man is also famed for his acute, but usually friendly analysis of American traits. Reflecting somewhat leisurely upon the causes and continuance of our current depression, he suggested that perhaps the main trouble with America is that it was suffering from the “pokerface malady.” He went on to explain that Americans as a group seem to have an unusual proclivity for pretending to something which is contrary to recognized facts. We are unwilling to face reality and delight in deceiving our associates. We usually end up by deceiving ourselves, though we may remain quite unwilling to admit the fact. Our foreign critic was uncertain as to just how this poker-mindedness had conquered America. Perhaps, it was because of the popularity of poker and its resulting permeation of our general outlook on life. .# tt n OR, he suggested, the facts of American economic evolution may have just naturally, made us poker-minded and given the game inevitable popularity amongst us. For example, the frontiersman usually lived a poverty-stricken existence, but believed firmly that there was gold across the prairies or on the other side of the mountain ridge. He thought more of the dream than of the harsh realities. My friend went on to describe the poker psychology. A poker player may draw to a five, seven, eight, but he will affect an air of confident conceit w’hich could only be justified by holding three aces. If he flops on the effort to fill, thus having in his hand an utterly worthless collection of cards, he may try to bluff his way out of the hole by assuming an optimistic nonchalance assumedly based on the possession of four kings' and a wild deuce. Not. to disparage the real element of skill in good poker playing, the supreme artist in the game is one who is a master of the most refined expressions of bluff and pretense. Just how this applies to the American scene is not so difficult of comprehension. Throughout the gambling orgy and bogus prosperity of 1926-29, we were everywhere publicly proclaiming that we were maintaining a sound economy which was impregnable in the face of any impending challenge. Prominent professors were not wanting who declared that we had reached a “new permanent high level of prosperity.” Yet the honest men among us knew that we were walking a tight rope over Niagara Falls. Paul Warburg warned us that in spite of our pretense to holding a royal flush, the best cards in our hand were a seven spot of diamonds and the five of clubs. THE late Calvin Coolidge boasted a poker-face which should have been the envy of any man who ever sat himself down to a card table, but he did not choose to run. He knew well enough that he had no four aces in his fist. Today, the poker-faced recovery enthusiasts like Donald Richberg assert that we have turned the corner when more than 11,000,000 adults are out of work, and when the increase in mass purchasing power since March, 1933 has been relatively slight when compared to the minimum needs of the times. How far we are from providing the purchasing power necessary to insure recovery may quickly be discerned by noting that even the conditions of 1928-29 did not suffice to assure permanent prosperity or to save us from collapse. On the other hand, our pirates And bourbons assume an air of solemn pretense relative to the alleged regimentation and restrictions on business when, if they have the slightest capacity for realism, they must recognize that Roosevelt has given them rope enough to hang themselves with. Ignoring the collapse of the American economy on the first of March, 1933, they proclaim that any recovery which we have enjoyed is due to the good old business principles which landed us in the bank holiday. Not only in economics, but also in politics and law do we adopt a poker-faced evasion of facts. We assert that a document worked out as a temporary expedient for 4,000,000 farmers and shopkeepers a century and a half ago can not be improved upon. Our bank wreckers assume an air of horrified amazement over the doings of bank robbers. Poker may be a noble game, but its attitudes are not those of the sound social science which we shall need to pull out of the present mess. No sane chemist would insist that he was handling mineral oil when he actually had in his hand a beaker of nitroglycerin. It is high time that a similar realism should pervade the marts of commerce and the halls of statecraft.

xilE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

""" ~~ ffr^*'' ''• 0 sis imi&m IMS ! f§| iff y (| AMP GAME FISH 1/ j w ■ - I pfins juneis J/ Uy Jy ■ ,IP

The Message Center

(Times readers are invited to express their views in thesq. columns. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to 850 words or less.) t tt a a CITY SHOULD AID NEW BETHEL NOW By J. D. T. It is pitiful to see a community, such as New Bethel, but a few miles from the heart of Indianapolis, suffering from the ravages of typhoid fever just because someone has not been far-sighted enough to provide proper methods of water drainage and sewage disposal. In the first place why should any sane group of county officials permit a town this size to go on year after year with a drainage ditch running through the center of it? Citizens of the community will meet next week in an effort to solve this problem. Let it be hoped that Indianapolis will step into this battle and aid this community in solving a problem that will become more serious each day it is permitted to cc’*' f mue without remedy. tt tt tt MINTON SHOULD BEAT ROBINSON By K. T. Smith Indiana Democrats should be congratulated. They have picked a candidate for United States senator who should be able to take Arthur Robinson for the ride which has been waiting for him these many long months. The people of Indiana, whether Democrats or Republicans, can not deny that Sherman Minton has been an aid to them in escaping the oppression of utility rates. That record, alone, should convince a majority of the voters that he will see that they get a square deal if he is sent to Washington. That Governor McNutt, instead of someone else, controls the state Democratic politics, seems to be rather a foolish issue when the matter of beating Robinson is so important. The sooner the last vestige of the Ku-Klux Klan, as represented by Robinson, is wiped off Indiana’s slate, the better off we will be. Minton should be the man of the hour. n n tt PROPOSES PETITION FOR WORLD PEACE By Chauncey B. Reddick. Herewith is a peace proposal entitled “The Peaceful Patriots of America.” I believe this is the propitious time to start a peace movement. It is the greatest cause and should enlist millions of people for preventing war: A PETITION This proposal shall be known as the Peaceful Patriots of Amarica. We enter upon a mov'ement to free America from future wars and set an example of civilization to the world. This movement should meet the approval of every citizen from the greatest to the humblest. This is the greatest cause that ever enlisted the sympathies of mankind. It affords ample opportunity for all patriotic people of the nation to come together and prevent future wars. Let us go to the harbor of New York and place there a “Prince of Peace” and anew light in the hand of “Liberty Enlightening the World.” In the event of invasion, and only then, should we be in favor of war, and at such a time fight for our lives, our homes and our country. Any person, 16 or older, is eligible. This petition, with the signatures of each unit, will be sent to .the President asking for peace. There are no feeSta} be paid.

THE CALL OF THE WILD

Indiana and Steel

By A. B. C. Indiana will profit greatly if the steel strike is not called this week. For several years the northern end of the state was considered one of the greatest and swiftest land and business developments in the United States. Unlike Florida, northern Indiana was built on something solid —steel. Now if a strike comes, it will find this area, which just now is regaining its composure after the depression, cast back into the whirlpools of despair. The men who work in the steel mills in any part of the country are REAL men. They have to be. They are hot brutal at heart, but when the time would come for violence in a • strike, you can bet that there are no other workers as well able to take care of themselves physically as these men who do a real day’s work. I notice in The Times a story by a staff writer in which he says that the surface is calm, but if you scratch that you will find a

FEW STOCKHOLDERS IN BANK FAID By Another Victim. I am sorry for the subscriber who claims he was a stockholder in a closed city bank and paid the receiver, but he should remember that he was only one stockholder and not all of them, and if he had held off he would have been ahead ‘because most of them have not paid, although a suit was filed against them. tt a tt ORGANIZED FOR NICKEL BEER By Nickel Beer Club. What Indiana needs most is a good nickel glass of beer. Please aid in this movement. tt tt tt CLEMENCY COMMISSION’S COURSE CONDEMNED By a Believer in Fairness. I have been wanting to voice my opinion in regard to the clemency board and your cartoon of June 7 gave me an inspiration—so here goes. E. G. B. stated that everything that was asked for was presented to the board. The judge, prosecutor and the man who was robbed all were willing to give this young man a chance to re-establish himself in society. He had a good job to go to, his institution record was fine and he had a small son who needs his support. In my opinion that was sufficient. Now compare this young man’s record with that of the man the board set free in March and tell the board what you think. tt tt tt SUGGESTIONS FOR HAPPY LIFE By Charles Hooper. Tobacco bought from a grower costs me about five times less than the package article, postage included. The cost of living would be lowered greatly if people would produce what they consume, or buy from producers. All things come from the ground; therefore, be a farmer, or buy from farmers. Even in cities persons can live more cheaply by canning food and making things in the home. Three rules for living cheaply are: Make every home a factory. Do without unnecessary luxuries. Live on a farm where nearly all essentials can be produced, and where a man can be his own boss, and live happily. 9

’ 1 wholly disapprove of what you say and will def end to the death your right to say it — Voltaire. _

fear that a strike will be ordered. Naturally those men “fear” a strike. They want to eat just as you and I do. Your Times writer also says that the merchants of the city of Gary do not want to see a strike ordered. That, too, is natural for now they have seen the city come back to something near normal and it is to their benefit, and rightly so, that a steady peace and calm prevail. Heywood Broun yesterday surveyed the area in which the strike would occur. He ended his column by saying that the American working man has been rough when he sees someone else taking his job and that he believes rough performances will be repeated in the future. That, then, leaves Indiana with only one hope. That men who control the workers and who are not natives of this state and probably don’t care what happens here, will have common sense enough to forget strike agitation at this time.

PROBLEM OF LIVING ON S6 A WEEK By CWA Worker. I would like to know if the Governor or any member of the unemployment commission could live on $6 a week, pay bills an.i buy groceries and clothes and still have any money to save. I am a civil works administration worker and only get two days a week to support three persons, my wife and father and myself. I wish you could answer this in the Message Center and show a way in which we could live. lam willing to work, but I would like wages so we could at lr;"t be able to have a decent meal now and then. tt tt it SUGGESTS NUDISTS READ BIBLE By Bible Reader. I would like to express my opinion of “Merely Intelligent,” who wrote in the Message Center last Saturday. He shows himself up well in that letter. He seems to long for the human race to be absolutely unhindered in their chase after the lustful -and harmful things. I gather from his letter that he is a total stranger to the Bible. If he, and the nudists, too, would only take time to read one chapter of it a day, they soon would change their views. Man w*as not made in the image of God physically, but spiritually. tt tt u OFFERS REMEDY FOR HARD TIMES By W. H. Silver. This, I think, would be a great immediate relief to the depression: Grant each person 60 and over a pension of $l5O a month and require each to spend $125 each month and to put $25 in govern-

Daily Thought

And he brought forth the king’s son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king—ll Kings, 11:12. "> EVERY monarch is subject to a mightier one.—Seneca. /

JUNE 11, 1934

ment bonds, not to be used except in case of sickness or death. A law of this kind would help the merchants and the merchants would help the wholesalers, the wholesalers would help the manufacturers, the manufacturers would help the workers. This forms a chain that would help relieve the depression by putting a large amount of money into immediate circulation. The present pension law is anything but a fair one and is inadequate and unjust. a tt tt EXEMPTIONS URGED FOR INCOME TAX By Father of Eight. It is to be hoped that the Indiana gross income tax will be changed by the 1935 state legislature to remove a grossly unfair feature—the assessment of tax regardless of the number of dependents the taxpayer supports. A person making s2l a week nr more must pay tax. One man may have a large family which he is struggling to support, but he must pay the tax in the same amount a man who has no one but himself to support. That, per se, is unjust. Never in the history of the federal income tax has it been without a clause fixing exemptions in case of dependents. That is just. tt tt tt LAUDS EDITORIAL ON AGE PENSIONS By a Libera). Your recent editorial, ‘Tor the Aged,” states clearly an issue in which the people of Indiana show an active interest. For the majority of us, only death in early life will save us from i facing the poorhouse in old age.l We have not arrived at a solution % of the problem of distributing wealth so equitably that all may have an opportunity to save for old age. Medical science has increased the life span. Modern business and industry, without sense or reason, demands young workers. Thus many men are cast on life’s scrapheap long before their earning powers have waned. • The Indiana legislature at its 1935 session, will have an opportunity to alter the present pension law and remove the state from the list of ‘ commonwealths ranked as reactionary in social legislation. Indiana’s pension law, with a starting age of 70 and a monthly , limit of sls, is a sorry thing compared to Ohio’s 65 and $25 law. Voters of Ohio, by a majority of more than 800,000, supported the more liberal plan.

WHY I SING

BY POLLY LOIS NORTON A heart that sings But little is afraid Os trouble’s silent footstep stealing near; For well it knows That sorrow beats retreat When joyful song is wafted to her ear. Does bee sting flower scented sweet? Does worker curse the gentle breeze that cools? No more can contents of Pandora’s box Rob glad remaining hope of her song-jewels. And so I'll sing; “Love’s Old Sweet Song” will do To drive away this heart-breaking, aching fear.