Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 31, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 June 1934 — Page 6

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ttP'PP3 - I rive Light ana the People Will Finn Their Own Wav

SATURDAY, JUNE 16, 1934. ONE YEAR OF NRA THIS is the first anniversary of the NRA. One is supposed to say something about it, perhaps to say whether it has succeeded or failed. Most people find themselves saying yes and no. That is not a very satisfactory answer. But it seems to be the truth. NRA has failed to bring back prosperity. NRA has failed to create enough jobs to take up more than a fraction of the unemployment slack. NRA has failed to raise the average real wage. NRA has failed to keep prices from outrunning increased purchasing power. NRA has failed to curb unfair trade practices. NRA has failed to protect the consumer and some small business men against monopolies strengthened by codes. NRA has failed to protect labor in its right to organize and bargain collectively. All of which sounds like a very severe indictment. But is it? Since when has any law or any government machinery been expected to solve our economic problems in the space of twelve months. Even if NRA had been set up as an absolute dictatorship, the job could not have ben done in a year or in a decade—at least that has been the experience of foreign dictatorships. But NRA was created as a co-operative experiment between government and industry, depending for the most part on the free and sincere team work of industry to write its own codes and to police itself. Some industries have co-operated completely. Most of them have not. That has not been due entirely, or probably not even chiefly, to the inherent selfishness in human nature which the pessimists think can never be changed. There have been at least two other major causes. One was that some industries were so close to the wall they could not take the temporary losses involved in raising labor and other costs faster than prices and income. But perhaps the main cause of the failure to co-operate was the lack of education. Too many business men, big and little, have not yet been persuaded of the necessity of a New Deal if the American system is to survive. They got religion during the dark spring of 1933, but they backslid the first chance they got. But is that so surprising? Don't we all learn slowly? And will it not take many years of self-education in adversity to convert America as a whole from reliance on economic anarchy to a faith in planned economic democracy? In that mood, the country can sincerely give thanks for what NRA has achieved. It has carried us a step forward. Before NRA we were falling back rapidly. Now, however slowly, we are going ahead. This newspaper, which has believed for many years in the purposes which at last' inspired NRA and the New Deal, believes more firmly than ever in those purposes today. If America is to make progress we believe it will be through more of the New Deal and not less.

STEEL AND THE LABOR BILL union steel workers have voted ’ ’ to postpone their strike to give more time for government action. The government has no- partisan duty to intervene in this or any other labor dispute. But it has a general duty to protect the public interest. And in this case it has a specific duty to enforce the collective bargaining provisions of the recovery act. Unfortunately the government's enforcement powers have been challenged. In a last-minute compromise with the Republican conservatives, the President has agreed on a congressional resolution spelling out the right of government boards to conduct elections to determine labor representation under the law. The resolution is weak. But if it is the best that congress will pass before adjournment—as seems to be the case—then it is much better than nothing. * In< view of court delays in pending cases involving labor sections of the NIRA, and the fact that certain powerful steel and other industrial groups challenge the authority of existing labor boards, it is clear that such authority should be double-riveted by congress now. The alternative is widespread labor strife, with the government powerless to investigate effectively the cause and culprit. It Is unfortunate that the compromise resolution limits the subpena power of government boards to labor election disputes and does not provide for compulsory investigation of all labor disputes. While compulsory arbitration is impossible and unwise under the American system, compulsory government powers of investigation are essential to industrial peace in our judgment. Otherwise there is no intelligent and certain basis for decision by the government or public opinion as to the merits of the dispute or the kind of settlement most in the public interest. Enforcement of this compulsory resolution should assure fairly chosen representatives of labor a hearing by anti-labor employers. But as to the disputes over wages, hours and working conditions, which will be aired in those hearings, there is little or nothing in this resolution to encourage peaceful settlement. That, however, is not sufficient reason for rejecting this resolution which is at least a beginning of the power needed by the government in handling industrial strife jeopardizing recovery. COSTLY METHODS PENDING in congress are two resolutions authorizing investigations by the federal trade commission into the nation’s food dispensing system. One is the Kopplemann resolution. calling for a study of the milk costs in several cities; the other the Wheeler resolution appropriating $150,000 for a thorough study of

the general food distribution services in the United States. It is impossible to overstate the need of such studies at this time. From scattered sources we learn that among those sitting at the nation's table, the organized processors and distributors are getting bigger and bigger helpings, while the unorganized producers and consumers more and more are cast in Oliver Twist roles. In a report on his measure, Senator Burton K. Wheeler quotes AAA estimates on the mounting costs of food distribution. In 1928, he says, the farmer got 47 cents of the consumer’s dollar, the processor and distributor, 53 cents. Last January, in spite of AAA, his share was 36 cents, their’s 64 cents. It also appears that extravagant, monopolistic, unfair grading and even racketeering practices are growing among certain food distributors. Most tragic is the milk dispensing system, or lack of system. Dr. Frederic C. Howe, AAA consumers’ counsel, charges that five big milk “trusts” dominate the market, that milk combines operate at a “colossal profit,” that their methods are “wasteful” and “costly,” that farmers produce at a loss and consumers often are gouged. Miss Grace Abbott, chief of the children’s bureau, finds milk consumption declining among the families of the poor, and has suggested that perhaps milk should be handled as a public utility. In undertaking studies along the lines of these two resolutions the federal trade commission would add to its already splendid services to the country. t

THE NEW LEISURE r PO solve their new problem of machinemade idleness Americans must go forward, not backward, says the New York committee on the use of leisure time. They will find the answer npt in the outlived handicraft ideals of Tolstoi, William Morris and Elbert Hubbard, but in the modem and civilized use of their new leisure. “Whether we like it or not, Henry Ford probably comes nearer than Gandhi to symbolizing our age,” says the committee’s report. “But just because we recognize the inevitability of standardization in material production we constantly must emphasize the need of personal and individual development in human beings.” The committee finds the forty-hour week now standard in fifty NRA codes. Thus the average American soon will have to divide his week into something like seventy-seven hours for sleeping, eating and personal care; forty hours for working; ten hours for going and coming to his work; forty-one hours for spending as he will. The boon of play time, formerly enjoyed by a few, is in reach of the many. America, that through its pioneering days extolled work as the greatest virtue, now must find virtue also in leisure. How will Americans spend their forty-one-hour quotas of free time? The present social “tools” of leisure schools, libraries, playgrounds, museums, parks, public golf courses, swimming pools, free concerts and the rest—should be restored and extended as soon as battered budgets permit. That most neglected field of adult education should be given more attention by educators.' The great outdoor recreational grounds should be broadened, travel cheapened, the use of home gardens encouraged. But the immediate task is to solve the problem of too much leisure of the wrong kind —unemployment.

SECURITY LOOPHOLES CUCH has been the din raised by Wall Street over the securities law and the stock market law that little notice has been given the quiet, but pointed protests of persons who find there is. still muck in the stables of finance. New York’s Better Business Bureau recently declared that the federal trade commission has failed to stamp out fraudulent practices; and that some of the old shell games are still operating, especially in the peddling of fractional oil royalties. More recently there has been reported a tendency of some investment bankers to work hand-in-glove with investment trusts, and of private and intrastate marketing of securities to escape regulation by the federal trade commission. By marketing securities privately instead of through a public offering, by foregoing the use of the mails and by confining the transactions within the boundary of one state, some investment bankers avoid the necessity of registering their offerings with the commission and escape the civil liabilities of the federal law. At least, however, the federal law seems to have forced such investment bankers to limit their operations in a way as to make them subject to the laws of the state in which they operate. The “interstate” loophole is closed. It should be interesting to some people to learn that there are two sides to the controversy over what is happening in the financial markets as a result of the federal law compelling the seller of securities to tell the buyer the whole truth. SLOW SLAUGHTER HPHE killing of American Indians on the A open plain ceased to be an outdoor sport with the passing of the frontier days. The slow slaughter that goes with undernourishment, bad housing and lack of medical care continues, according to Indian Commissioner John Collier. “Tuberculosis today is killing the Indians at seven times the rate at which it kills whites,” Mr,. Collier said. “In some areas the rate is twenty times greater. “Preventable mortality among Indian children is nearly three times as high as among whites. Prom all causes Indians die at twice the death rates of the general population.” Recently the Indian Bureau made a case study of 38,000 Indians on ten reservations in five states. The study revealed that the average value of goods consumed annually by an individual Indian was less than S4B. Indian poverty is deepening, the Indian estate shrinking year by year. The Wheeler-Howard Indian rights bill would help this slowly-sinking civilization by halting the vicious allotment system and giving the government more funds to spend on Indian health, education, irrigation and land. The senate has passed this bill and it is to be hoped the house will do the same before adjournment of this session. f-

Liberal Viewpoint “BY DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

PROFESSOR WILLIAM ROBERT SHEPHERD of Columbia university, who has just died in the midst of honors abroad, was a learned'scholar, a thoughtful historian, a talented educator and a courageous publicist. He quickly demonstrated his capacity to shake off the provincialism which narrowed the outlook of so many American historians. First of all, he broadened our notion of American history by pointing out that there is a good deal of America north of the St. Lawrence and south of the Rio Grande. He thus helped to put an end to that preposterous tendency to identify “American History” exclusively with the history of the United States. More than a quarter of a century ago, he had already established himself as our foremost authority on the history of Latin America. He participated in most of the important LatinAmerican and Pan-American conferences, was the recipient of numerous honors from Latin American states and institutions of higher learning and really founded the scientific study of Latin American history and institutions in this country. Important as were Professor Shepherd’s contributions to Latin American history, his most epoch-making work was his part in creating the so-called “new history” at Columbia university. It was he who first compelled American historians to look beyond national or even continental boundaries and discern the dynamic influence of the contact of world cultures. He ended the long controversy over the origins of modern times by showing that the causes of the modern age were to be detected in the expansion of Europe overseas after 1492 and in the backwash of this expansion upon Europe itself. n n tt THE Renaissance, the Reformation and the religious butchery in Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries never again could be vested with their former distorted importance, once one had acquired some acquaintance with Professor Shepherd’s breadth of view in approaching the dawn of modern history. But Professor Shepherd did not rest content merely with indicating the bearing of world conditions upon the beginnings of modern times. He traced the influence of such interaction between peoples upon the progress of mankind from Columbus to Admiral Byrd. No American historian has made a greater contribution to the clarification of our perspective on the growth of modern civilization. 'tt n u • , PROFESSOR SHEPHERD refused to accept the -common notion that an historian can not venture out of his library without losing his reputation as a scholar. He believed that it was a false philosophy which prevented intelligent and well-buttressed opinions from being expressed so as to contribute to the betterment of mankind. Accordingly, he sharply criticised narrow nationalism and insularity and insisted upon that tolerance and breadth of vision which can only come from viewing modern problems in their world setting. Os late years, he had particularly worked for a better understanding between the Occident and the Orient. Not the least commendable of Professor Shepherd’s qualities was his courage in defending what he conceived to be the truth in the face of widespread popular opinion to the contrary. a tt IN an age in which American imperialism in Latin-America was accepted as almost axiomatic and above criticism, he never hesitated to criticise our wrongful or oppresive deeds or to state clearly the Latin-American point of view. At a time when sentimentalists were demanding the cancellation of war debts, Professor Shepherd suggested that Great Britain might demonstrate her integrity by handing over her colonies in the Caribbean in part payment of her debts. During the World war, when most American historians had turned propagandists for the entente, Professor Shepherd insisted upon maintaining the same regard for truth to which he had subscribed before 1914. He remained an historian to the end of the conflict in spite of the bitter hostility of 1 many colleagues in the historical guild. ) In a day when the ideal historian now is held up to us as an industrious clerk buried in the archives, the loss of a scholar of Professor Shepherd’s perspective and breadth of interests is particularly devastating to the historical profession and the American public alijee.

Capital Capers BY GEORGE ABELL

ASSISTANT SECRETARY WILBUR CARR attended a formal dinner given by diplomatic Ambassador Saito of Japan in honor of his grace, Prince Konoye, president of the house of peers of Japan. As Mr. Carr entered the drawing room he spied an old friend seated on a sofa. He eagerly started forward, jovially waving a hand and exclaiming: “Greetings, comrade!”. At the same instant he heard a low chuckle behind him. Carr turned and recognized Ambassador Troyanovsky of Soviet Russia. Much embarrassed, he explained: “Er—you see, Mr. Ambassador—when I see an old friend—er—a very old friend—er—l always—er—address him as ‘comrade.’ Just an old habit of mine, you know!” Listeners smiled tolerantly. Tactful Ambassador Troyanovsky bowed. U tt tt DR. SYNGMAN RHEE, former provisional president of Korea, who fled for his life after being tortured by the Japanese, is again in Washington. A slight, smiling figure in gray, Dr. Rhee arrived here from New York, where he has been organizing Korean and Chinese sentiment. “I am starting a magazine to be called ‘Orient’,” he announced. “It will deal with affairs in the far east—including Japan.” Ex-President Rhee visited the Virginia estate of a friend, stretched himself luxuriously beneath the branches of a Japanese cherry tree, inquired: “Did George Washington chop down a Japanese cherry tree?” tt tt tt SEVERAL diplomatic parties were formed to go to the Carnera-Baer prize fight in New York last night. Minister Bello Edwards, charge d’affaires of Chile, is a boxing enthusiast and escorted his sister, the Comtesse de la Roche, to the fight. Minister Alfaro of Ecuador is another diplomat who attended. Most of the ambassadors claimed they would have gone if they had time, but that the involved diplomatic situation precluded their attendance. Certain it is that all radios at the various embassies (with the possible exception of the Peruvian, where there is little interest in pugilism), were tuned in last night. These multiple births have brought out the record of a woman in Poland who gave birth to thirty-six children at one time. Nothing is said about the father, probably because the children must have mobbed him. If Great Britain doesn’t find a way out of paying the installments on its debt to the United States pretty soon, the United States will have to find one. Some conv' nas been picking the pocket of a guard in Joliet prison. Since it is an inside job, the police might lock all the doors and find the crook. There seems to be an unusual demand for coins of ail denominations, says Secretary Morgenthau. What's so unusual about that?

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

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The Message Center

(Time* reader* are invited to express their views in these columns. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to SSO words or less.) tt tt tt CONDEMNATION HEAPED UPON COMMUNISTS By the Watchman. I perceive that the Communist? are quick to take offense when you tell the truth about some of their “abysmal ignorance.” No sane editor heed expect any gratitude or understanding from their ranks. “Reprove not, a scorner lest he hate thee; rebuke a wise man and he will love thee.” So the haughty and scOrnf fi Communists hate public criticism and depend upon a smoke screen of untruths to cover up their mistakes. What good does it do the Communist party to talk of starvation in the United States, when more people have died from hunger in Russia under Communist rule than in any other so-called capitalist nation or all of them put together. Communists can not hope to hide their actions and mistakes from a world so well equipped to carry news and denials are a poor substitute for a convincing argument. Here is wisdom: Communist tactics are to cover their own blunders by calling attention to others’ mistakes. They claim that Christ was a Communist, yet they burn Him in effigy in Russia. They have compulsory military training in Russia and preach disarmament in the United States. The editor is right. They are abysmally ignorant. a tt tt tells life story OF JOHN REED By Reed Club Member. Several days ago there appeared in your paper in the Message Center a question: “Who was this John Reed about whom we hear so much?” You replied with a short pote, The John Reed Club, organized in the name of the man about whom this question was asked, will appreciate your permission to give a little sketch of John Reed’s life. John Reed was born in Portland, Ore., Oct. 22, 1887, and died in Moscow, U. S. R. R., Oct. 17, 1920. He was graduated from Harvard and immediately entered the newspaper field. He rose quickly to a first-rate newspaper correspondent, and was sent by various papers to a number of different countries. His career as a newspaper and military correspondent, which he pursued up to the end of his thirtieth year, provided him with numerous opportunities for excitement and adventure. Among the countries he visited during the course of his journalistic expeditions were Mexico, during the revolution; Germany, before the war; Poland Serbia and Russia during the war, and he was in Russia during the October revolution. He wrote a number of books, one called “Ten Days That Shook the World,” which is one of the most authoritative documents on the Soviet revolution. His life in the United States and other countries before he came on the scene of the Russian revolution was a life of adventure that recalls that audacious spirit which was at one time one of the most attractive qualities of American life as seen from abroad. But his life after his sojourn in Russia during the Soviet revolution was quite different. His contact with the proletarian revolution was more a grip than a contact; it held him in its grasp until he died. During “The Ten Days That Shook the World,” John Reed received the immense stimulus that separated him forever from a life of mqsre adventure, and cemented him

‘ATTA BOY, JIM!’

Stranger Felt Loneliness in Indianapolis

By Sara E. V. I wonder if it ever occurs to citizens how devastatingly lonely a city can be to a stranger. To a person of intelligence or any degree of breeding, casual acquaintances are not only dangerous but abhorrent. And yet I have been tempted more than once to speak to someone just to hear my own voice. I am a college graduate with, I trust, some idea of culture. I have been guilty of thoughtlessness myself in the past; guilty because I was among friends. Today a charming woman spoke to me. She doubtless thought I wat some one whom she knew. Tne rest of the afternoon was somehow filled with a glow. I felt that I belonged. Circumstances over which I have no control made it necessary for me to spend a few months here.

definitely to the struggle of the working class and its emancipation. He returned to America in 1918 as the first Soviet ambassador to the United States, though unrecognized by the United States. Many of us still remember the great meeting in Carnegie hall in New York. John Reed addressed a large audience with a message of the new era, at whose birth he had been present. He was the first American to serve „as a link between the United States and Soviet Russia. He returned to Moscow in 1919 and worked indefatigably trying to effect a rapprochement between the two countries. He contracted typhus fever and died in Moscow 7 and lies buried under the Kremlin wall. In memory of this American who was the very embodiment of the youthful American spirit, there has been organized cultural clubs throughout the United States. These clubs arose at various points of the country spontaneously. They serve as a remarkable tribute to his name.

PICTURE OF MAN WHO “CAN TAKE IT” By Fredrick Omer Rusher. Across the threshold of life stands a man, one w’ho is denied the means of a livelihood, one who is willing, but no one needs his services. He has tried in vain to locate employment. He is at the mercy of the world. He has too much ambition to impose on charity. He would rather the less fortunate have his share. He, like many others, is an unmarried man, young and full of hope, but somewhat downhearted. He doesn’t reveal what is in his heart, but it is there just the same. You wouldn’t know he 7 had any worries to talk with him. He takes it on the chin and smiles. That is hard to do, yet it can be done. He has walked the streets many times searching for work. Sometimes he lands it, sometimes he doesn’t. Nevertheless, he keep® on trying, hoping some day he will have a steady income. He is one young man who tries to see the sunny side of life. He tries to spread good cheer among everybody. He is not an angel; just a man. No one is a stranger to him. He tries to treat everybody alike, regardless of how they treat him. His one great aim in life is to honor the Golden Rule. You have all seen this man. You have his kind in your own neighborhood. There are many thousands of men just like him. I • speak of no one person in particular, just the unfortunate individual, who is scarcely existing. Encourage these men. You who can help them; do it. Help them

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

I have played golf, tennis and have gone swimming without ever experiencing a kindly nod from any one, and I am certain that I am an average young woman. Chicago isn’t that way. Neither is New York nor Dallas. There is a friendly spirit of welcome among tradesmen and city officials. Perhaps one may call it civic pride, that is certainly not to be found in Indianapolis. I never shall think of Indianapolis without a lonely shudder. I’m sorry, for otherwise it is an amazingly attractive city. I am writing this with the fond hope that it will prompt some oi those who come into business contact wdth the public to recognize a wistful face in the throng of shoppers and to smile when serving the person who possesses it.

keep their minds off their worries. You may prevent him from doing something wrong. This is one act of charity—that only the heeart can understand. tt it tt BELIEVES ROBINSON WILL BEAT MINTON By C. W. P. This is a first time contribution to the Message Center by a life-long young Democrat. The fiasco, called a Democratic state convention, held in Cadle tabernacle, makes my blood boil, so I have just got to get it off my chest. Governor McNutt as usual bags the show, and Hitler-like, nominated his man Friday, a man practically unknown and certainly with no record entitling him to be United States senator from Indiana. The McNutt political machine candidate, Minton, did not get the nomination because he was the people’s favorite. Governor McNutt’s attack on Senator Robinson for his K. K. K. activities will get him no place because his organization is almost as unpopular as the klan. Earl Peters has done more for the Democratic party in Indiana than McNutt ever will do and certainly deserved the nomination without opposition and would have gotten it if the people instead of the statehouse gang had been nominating. Louis Ludlow should certainly have been second because of his marvelous record in congress. As unpopular as Robinson is, he probably will defeat the McNuttGreenlee political unknown in November. The convention should have been called “The McNutt steam roller exhibition.” tt tt tt COLLEGE GRADUATES STILL RIGHT WINGERS. By Ixnay. The college graduate who gravely clasped his diploma some time this month has been pictured by rather sentimental college deans as being a serious student of society in contrast to the graduate of two years ago, who flipped a highball and stepped the tango with equal dexterity.

As one who has faded in and out of the collegiate scene for the past few years, this writer challenges the proud professors to produce this protege of anew age. There is one beneficial difference in the two types of graduates. This year’s class, even in its glorious moments, does not expect to make the $5,000 a year that the predecessors expected. There have been alarming rumors from eastern colleges that the students are studying the problem of life with gravity, but fortunately the section of the country which fostered Willie Wirt, educator, has stemmed the flow of knowledge. The bold left-wingers in college become bank clerks; that is, if they t .

.JUNE 16, 1934

are apt enough to punch an adding machine, upon graduation. Rather than actual sincerity to any cause, the radicalism of college students is mostly for impression than for any of the absurd yells raised by red baiters. , The so-called love of culture is merely a social whimsy to impress the eligible girls in the same manner as an adroit prom-trotting foot. A year after the cheer leading is over, the college graduate has simmered down and becomes as dull as any other convention-loving person. Colleges, it has been said, are exploited by capitalists wishing to keep alive the spirit of stodginess. tt tt tt PAINTS RUSSIA IN DARK COLORS By C. P. P. Ivanoff. Mouthings of ignorami relative to The Times’ editorial about Cleveland’s lone G. A. R. veteran should be ignored as they obviously are without one iota of fact as background. For instance, the absurd utterance of Jack Dolan in your issue of June 13, that the Soviet Union "is the best governed country of all time.” Mr. Dolan would do well to make a trip to that country. He w’ouid ! have to escape carefully prepared I trips and propaganda to see bread | lines; people starving, not by thousands, but by millions; sanitary con- \ ditions of the worst type; brutality jin law enforcement to the extreme; ; complete subjugation of individu- | ality with no recompense, and dicI tatorship at its lowest and worst ! form. Russia is the hell hole of humanity with no possible outlet. tt tt tt BEER REGULATION OPEN AS PROHIBITION By A. L. E. The cheating going on in Indianapolis beer parlors savors of the lazzez faire days of prohibition when every corner was a neighborhood home brewery. Fifteen-year-olds, girls in short dresses, youngsters who hardly are out of the cradle, are being served beer and "extras” without regard to age. I know that sounds like whiteribboner talk, but it’s about time that the Hoosier state came to the understanding that our beer laws are inadequate, enforced by incompetents, and promulgated by a bunch of success merchants who can not see beyond furtherance of their own candidate for President of the United States, Paul V. McNutt. Where are the investigators that Paul Fry, excise director, promised would keep the “hi-brews” of’ the state within boundary lines of decency? Stools are merely hall-trees for feminine hips and not to sit on in the beer parlors. Men rarely use the stools. The sandwich that was supposed to go with beer has gone the way of all sandwiches. Nor has the free lunch counter returned. Give us bigger and better free lunches, fewer stools, more brass rails, and send the bottle babies home to their mamas instead of letting them guzzle beer.

MY CHOICE

BY EFFIE L. WORKMAN Os all the gifts life offers me I choose the will to smile When trials come my way. The courage to accept My lot, nor question why Dark be the day. I need not care What may come after, If I but have The gift of laughter.