Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 42, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 June 1934 — Page 22

PAGE 22

The Indianapolis Times <4 •( Kirrs-HOWARD odTSPAPCBI ROT W. H'OTARD President TATCOTT I'OWELL Edltot EARL D. BAKER ..... Business Uanasret Pbons HI ley 5.781

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B l tors and the People If til Fma Thrir Own Way

FRIDAY. JUNE 23. 1334.

THE PRESIDENT REPORTS "lITITH characteristic charm. President * ” Roosevelt last night spoke across his desk to the American people. In understandable language he stated the issues that have arisen over the New Deal. He *aid, in effect: These things, we have done; judge by your own experience whether you have been served. These further things we intend to do. There has been substantial economic recovery under the New Deal, the President believes. and he put his belief to this test: “ . . . The simplest way for each of you to judge recovery lies in the plain facts of your own individual situation. Are you better off than you were last year? Are your debts less burdensome? Is your bank account more secure? Are your working conditions better? Is your faith in your own individual future grounded more firmly?” Those are challenging questions. The average man may not comprehend the rise and fall of car loadings or the fluctuation-of price and production indices. But he does know whether he is better off or worse. That the President is willing to be judged by these tangibles reflects a real confidence in the course he is pursuing. The President carried his simplification of issues likewise into the field of intangibles, paying his respects to the hokum that is heard concerning the “loss of individual liberty.” Read the bill of rights, said the President, “and a k yourself whether you personally have suffered the impairment of a single jot of these great assurances.” It is interesting reading—that famed bill of rights. It guarantees: Freedom of worship, of assembly, of speech, of the press; protection against unreasonable searches and seizures; protection against double jeopardy, against loss of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; trial by jury; protection against excessive fines, cruel or unusual punishment. By asking each man to canvass his rights to see whether any had been taken from him, tne President did about all that could be done to debunk the charges of regimentation. Communism and Fascism indiscriminately heaped upon his program. Mast significant in the speech, however, was his answer to the question: “Where do we go from here?”—a question uppermost in the minds of all Americans. His answer was: Toward more security for the people, by provision for better homes, by planned use of water and land resources “to the end that the means of livelihood of our citizens may be more adequate to meet their daily need.',” and by social insurance “to provide sound and adequate protection against the vicissitudes of modem life.” In other words, the President proposes to tackle next what is perhaps the gravest problem of civilization. Based on his performance to date, the country has assurance that he will, at least, tackle it in earnest and that he will have something to show for his efforts at the end of another year. CONGRATULATIONS TNDIANAPOLTS Street Railway Company employes shared $31,000 in dividends in 1933. the annual report of the company discloses. The service of that same company improved. during the period from Jan. 1, 1933, to Dec. 31. 1933. by about 1.000 per cent. More persons are riding street cars than ever before in the city’s history. At last, Indianapolis has a real street railways system. Now. some malcontents are finding fault with tne Indianapolis Street Railways. The 7-cent fare is too high, they say. Perhaps it is high. But who would trade the present 7-ccnt service for 5-cent service, winch probably would approximate the kind of transportation we were getting back in 1932. Charles Chase, president of the street car company, is one of the most progressive directors in the United States. When he has his street railways company on its feet properly, it is only right to assume that he will take steps to reduce the fare. Indianapolis has no kick coming on its street railways. It should doff its hat to Mr. Chase. SUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM THE return of beer does not find favor with the entire populat on of Indianapolis, but it can be said safely that thousands of Indianapolis residents enjoyed the relaxation of beer parlors last nisrht. Suffering from a terrific day of heat in offices, factories and homes, hundreds of Indianapolis’ taxpayers flocked to the beer dispensaries. Their very coolness was a relief from the rigors of the heat wave. No doubt, many of the persons in these places did not order beer. Probably they confined themselves to numerous soft and cooling drinks that were on sale. And too. the ice cream parlors were not far behind in popularity. Every place in the city and the outskirts where there was the opportunity to buy a cooling drink, frappe or dipper of ice cream had its share of customers. But it took a night such as last night to prove to Indianapolis that the conviviality of beer places, where one may go for a drink or two of beer without being molested, is something worth having. HEDGING THE police department, city hall and The Times have received numerous requests recently to aid in the removal cr trimming of Hedges and shrubbery which block the view of morons is At Twenty-seventh and Pennsylvania

streets there Is beautiful shrubbery on the property of the Governor's mansion. It would be criminal to destroy that shrubbery. But the man who barely escaped an accident in his car there believes that the shrubbery should be tnmmed. He believes it would have been criminal if his two children had oeen injured in an accident which was the result of his failure to see an automobile approaching from the east. It would be a public service if the shrubbery were trimmed so that motorists would not be forced to drive they cars into intersections to determine impending dangers. Such practices might be too late, some time. HULL TO HITLER SECRETARY HULL'S note to Germany seems to say about all there is to say on the American side of the quarrel over Germany's default on obligations due American investors. The secretary, a fundamentalist in economics, pointed out with cruel logic how Chancellor Hitler's world-be-damned policies have been the cause of Germany's present predicament. Germany’s credit is destroyed. Germany's default has been deliberate, and as much the cause as the result of her present inability to obtain sufficient exchange. It is true that long years of paying out exorbitant reparations drained Germany of her gold. It also Is true that the pre-Hitler regimes overborrowed. But Germany still had credit abroad, until the Hitler government began flagrantly to abuse that credit and defy the world. ARISTOCRACY LEVELED r_ pHERE'S something slightly instructive in that recent story about the blue-blooded Illinois woman who was arrested in Pennsylvania for a traffic violation and who, because she didn’t happen to have the cash with her to pay her fine, had to spend two days in jail. The lady didn’t like it at all, and she protested that “such things are not for people of my sort.” Her son added, in the same vein, “It's a disgrace to Pennsylvania to jail a woman of my mother's standing." Such reactions are natural enough, of course. Lots of jails are pretty disgraceful places; lots of traffic officers lack sympathy and understanding. But we are still, in theory, a democracy, and all people are suppased to be equal before the law. If Nick Gaffney can be jugged for crashing a red light, so can Mrs. Pcyster de Peyster. Protests about ‘ people of our sort” are out of place, in America. MORE HOPE FOR FARMERS IF the statistics compiled by L. H. Bean, economic adviser for the AAA, tell the whole story, a genuine and substantial recovery seems to be setting in for the farmer. Farm prices, reports Mr. Bean, have gone up very materially. The farmer’s cash income, during the first four months of this year, was approximately 43 per cent above the income for the same period last year. From August, 1933, when the distribution of benefit payments began, to last April, farm cash income was 25 per cent above the income for the same period in the year before. To be sure, the farmer’s expenses have risen, also—by about 12 per cent. But the farmer, acording to Mr. Bean, still is left with a gratifying net increase, most of which is due to rises in prices of produce rather than to payments made by the government for crop reduction; and the news is extremely gratifying. A healthy agriculture must be the basis for any real restoration of prosperity. A LEADING BANKER PEOPLE who like to discuss whether the government ought to take over banking might stop a moment and consider to what extent it already has done so. Since the banking crisis of March. 1933, great changes have swept across the whole banking world, changes so sweeping that few realize them. The American Bankers’ Association recently summed up some of them, and the picture it draws is enlightening. For instance, we used to have 30.800 banks, back in 1921. Now we have something more than 14.000. a decrease of around 16,000 (more than half). About 4.000 banks have vanished since March, 1933. Several thousand banks owe the RFC more than a half billion dollars on pledge of valuable parts of their assets. The RFC has taken more than a billion dollars worth of stock in 6,400 banks by way of increasing capitalization, including many of the strongest banks in the country. Thus it has an interest in 44 per cent of all banks today. # A million people and institutions have borrowed from the 5,800 loaning associations and corporations started by the government to extend various types of credit. The RFC also has direct loans to various corporations totaling around $700,000,000. In the deposit field, the postal savings system has grown amazingly. More than 2,300,000 people now have savings on deposit in the B.OGO postoffices authorized to receive them. A thousand such offices have had to be added during the last four years. Private agencies virtually have abdicated from the credit field, the survey indicates. From 1922-1931 securities floated in private capital markets averaged more than five billions a year. During 1932-1933 these issues shrank to $621,000,000 a year, a decrease of almost 90 per cent. Somebody had to do the financing. So the treasury did it. Add in the fact of federal deposit insurance. giving another government agency a direct interest in banking. Divorce of the security business from commercial banking puts anew complexion on the whole field, and the influence of the federal reserve system admittedly is rising. So when you hear a discussion of whether the government ought to go into banking, it's well to realize right at the outset that the government already is in banking—right up to the hips. AS WE GROW OLDER TN more senses than one, the United State* is growing up. Statisticians of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company reveal that the United States now ranks fifth in national “youthfulness"—that is, in the percentage of its population which is below 20. Russia is the youngest of all nation*, with j

49 per cent of its entire population under the 20 mark. Back in 1850. the United States was in that position. Now, however, we are getting older. Less than 39 per cent of us, now, are below 20. We are getting older, growing more stable; and while the adventurous, pioneering spirit of the land has not by any means vanished, this change in the complexion of our people is bound to have an important effect on our outlook, our ambitions, and our way of doing things.

Liberal Viewpoint —BY DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

THE congress which closed recently passed more important legislation on monetary matters than any other congress in the twentieth century, if not in the whole period since the Civil war. The devaluation of the dollar, the extensive silver legislation and the like are illustrative. Yet it would be a bold man who would claim that we are any further from the perennial monetary muddle than we were last December. Our monetary muddle is a two-fold one. In the first place, the monetary enthusiasts obscure the really vital problem of money, namely how to get enough of it, of whatever kind, into the hands of the masses so that they can purchase goods in large enough quantities to maintain prosperity. By laying primary stress upon the value rather upon the distribution of money such economists and pub’icists hamper clear thinking and delay economic reconstruction. In the second place, we have a monetary muddle in the form of the inability of the greatest experts to agree upon even the more elementary issues connected with monetary problems. These fundamental divergencies among monetary experts never were brought out better than in a symposium on the meaning of money conducted by the Consumers’ Guild of America. This organization drew up a questionnaire dealing with a few of the more basic and fundamental facts about the nature of money, the results of inflation, the possibility of the commodity dollar and the like. There were no trick questions, nor did the queries touch upon anything particularly obscure or irrelevant. n n tt THEN the questionnaire was sent to the eighteen men in the modern world whom Professor Irving Fisher had named as those really competent to discuss the question of money. Some eight of these gentlemen, including Professor Fisher himself, responded in full to the questionnaire. The results have been gathered in an interesting document circulated by the guild. Inasmuch as the questionnaire related primarily to essentials and rudiments in the field of •money, one might have expected considerable uniformity of opinion from these eight specialists. In reality there was an amazing divergence of viewpoint and convictions on their part. As the guild editors well summarize the results: “We doubt whether anything ever has been produced that permits of such easy appraisal of the sum of world knowledge on a most critical subject. Two conclusions are inescapable: “1. There is no understanding of the meaning of money in prevalent theory or practice in monetary policy. “2. The lack of such understanding produces a distorted notion on the part that money plays in the whole economic system. “The contributing authorities are not merely would-be authorities. They are distinguished students of world renown selected by a veteran if not the dean of monetary-economists who has for forty years mingled with and studied the thoughts of his contemporaries. tt tt tt THESE men, in turn, with the possible exception of the banker, studied the writings of the classical economists, and therefore their words represent the most accredited thought of the past and the present. We have tasted the old wine and the new, and the kick of comprehension is lacking in both.” These disappointing results from the world’s monetary experts need not be regarded as any reflection upon the integrity or intelligence of the participants. It is simply an illustration of the paralyzing influence exerted by the stereotypes of antiquated economic theory upon even first rate minds. But this symposium certainly indicates the need for a searching re-examination of the whole field of monetary science. Unless someone really masters the facts and theories and can agree upon what these are, there can be no true brain trust in the monetary and financial realm. In the meantime, it will be well to concentrate our attention upon the consumer and his purchasing power: “The normal movement of pure blood is vital to health but no circulatory system will set a broken bone or straighten a twisted spine. We may have a perfect money system and still have maldistribution of wealth. When we seek the source of all purchasing power we find it in the consumer. When we seek the basis of all credit we find it in the consumer.

Capital Capers BY GEORGE ABELL

SEVENTY-FIVE men in shirtsleeves, alternately mopping their foreheads with damp handkerchiefs, sipping ice water and wrangling about Scotch whisky—here is a bird’s eye view of the meeting of the federal alcohol control board. . .. The Italian garden in the basement of the Mayflower hotel was the scene of the meeting. Upstairs in the ornate cocktail lounge, an orchestra played and guests inhaled Martinis and Manhattans. Downstairs, serious-faced importers and FACA officials merely discussed the inhalation of Martinis and Manhattans. On a rostrum facing the gathering sat tall, lankv Joseph H. Choate, chairman of the board, flanked by two pitchers of ice water. Incongruously, a slatternly row of liquor bottles sprawled along the edge of the platform. Perspiring gentlemen, between sips of ice water, eyed these “dead soldiers’’ wistfully. Leaning forward in his. seat, Chairman Choate gave an example of his dry Coolidgian humor: “Those bottles are empty,” he intoned solemnly. ' but I assure you I had nothing to do with it.” * tt tt ALL the big importers of rare wines and whiskies, all the elite of the vinous fraternity, all the kingpins and notables of liquordom seemed to be present. An imaginative person might half-close his eyes and fancy that the assembled gentry resembled bottles themselves. Take little Dr. Doran, ex-prohibition commissioner and now head of the distillers’ code, who glowed like a pint bottle of grenadine. There was Fred P. Lee, counsel of the board, whose bald head sparkled with all the brilliance of a bottle of sauterne. Harris Willingham, leading member of the board, a pipe and reclined majestically in his seat with the aplomb of a bottle of Guiness’ stout. Harry L. Lourie, executive secretary of the importers’ code, and ex-member of the tariff commission, was as bubbling as a champagne cup as he dashed to and fro, citing arguments, quoting—extolling passages in the Encyclopedia Brttannica of 1905. Munson G. Shaw, a prominent importer, rendered in thick Scotch brogue a definition of Scotch whisky. Girls of the Follies Bergere have arrived with the idea of picking up some husbands or going to Hollywood. They can do both by going to Hollywood. Mary Pickford denies rumors that she will run for congress. America's sweetheart to the i end!

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

r Pt 1 p TWT Anon [ l wholly disapprove of what you say and will defend to the death your right to say it. — Voltaire. J

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance, limit them to 250 words or less.) tt tt tt URGES PLAYGROUND ON NORTH SIDE By Indignant Northside Mother. I applaud the efforts of The Times to obtain a playground for north side children. My only criticism is that your cver-alert paper did not take up this issue before. There is an unfair assumption upon the part of our city fathers that north side families are prosperous enough to belong to country clubs or send their children away for the summer. This is true, possibly, of less than 10 per cent. I live north of Thirty-eighth street and have two small children. During these stifling days they must fret in a small yard. The sun has so scorched the yard that the children have only dust and dry grass as a playground. I am almost sick with indignation when I think of the beautiful playgrounds for children in other sections of the city and of the acreage used for golf courses. The summer heat has made my children fretful and whining. They can’t use other playgrounds. They can’t play golf. And yet our family pays taxes. Being confined in a small yard has ill mental effects on a child. He grows morose, sullen and uncommunicative. I am moving all heaven and earth to get the children off to the country for a few weeks so they will regain their vivacity. It will take much more money than we can possibly afford. I appeal to you as a newspaper to aid my children and hundreds of other north side children who must 101 l dull-eyed in their own small yards. Why can’t our park system at least stay out of politics long enough to give parks to the deserving instead of the voting? tt it a PROPOSES PETITIONS FOR PLAYGROUNDS By Northsider. May I add my humble voice to that of The Times in an appeal for a park for north side children? Our children must play in empty lots; must take long trolley trips to find proper swimming pools; must, where there are no empty lots, play in the streets with the ever-present danger of automobiles. Your paper says that there have been sixty-two traffic fatalities in Indianapolis this year. It would be interesting to know how many of these were children. It would be still more interesting to know how many children were killed playing in streets because there was no park near their homes. Politicians apparently fear to spend money on the north side. Some have suggested that this is because they believe all north siders are rich or because they believe all north siders send their children to camps. I should like to say that, while I own my own home and pay taxes regularly on it, I am not rich and I can not afford to send my child to a summer camp. I should like to see a park on the north side. I should be willing to aid in circulating petitions for such a park. Perhaps this is out of The Times’ field, but, if it could print and start such petitions, I am sure it would find thousands of signers. nan BREWERY SIGNS AND CHURCHES By S. K. R. Now that we have brand new street cars in Indianapolis, can’t something be done about having better ash cans? The present cans are neither “aesthetic” to the eye, sightly, or

KNEE DEEP IN JUNE

Puts Some Questions About Traffic

By a Motorist. Did the Chamber of Commerce, the American Legion and auto row talk the chief out of enforcing no parking on North Meridian street from 4:30 to 6 p. m.? Must fire trucks be so noisy returning to headquarters? Why don’t police radio car drivers pay attention to traffic violations? It is their duty to make an arrest the same as a motorcycle policeman. Never noticed the arrest of a street hog, the driver who drives slowly in the center of the street. The legislature made this reckless driving. Slowly cruising taxis hold up downtown traffic, but the “too slow’’ clause is not enforced. Why may newspaper trucks make left turns on Washington street? How do tow-in trucks of some garages get by using “M” plates uniform with the colors of the dresses seen on sidewalks. Would these suggestions be pertinent to the fellow having the contract on the ash cans? 1. That he provide a few pink ribbons and bunting for decorations. 2. That he dare Paul Fry and his outside beer signs by giving us neon lighting with a mug of beer being poured. And by the way, before closing, how about the advertising sign at Thirty-eighth and Meridian streets —doesn’t it seem that some breweries could find better spots for their signs than across the street from a church? nan ASKS CONSIDERATION . OF MAIL MEN By One of Uncle Sam’s Mail Men. I’m not objecting, but I've served the public of Indianapolis for the last ten years and it seems to me that during these torrid days that the least a householder could do would be to give the mail man a drink. On two occasions in the last week I've been sopping wet carrying mail and when I tried to get a cool glass of water at a residence I was flatly told to turn on the outside water hydrant and get it via the hose. I asked a druggist in the vicinity for a drink and he looked at me as if I were a bum and said: “Why don't you buy something?” After a couple of minutes’ wait I got a glass of lukewarm water. It seems the mail man is forgotten sometimes by the persons he serves. They don’t remember the cold days he trudges in the snow and the hot days when he carries mail. INDORSES NORTH SIDE RECREATION PLEA Bv T. E. C. May I commend The Times for its fight to get a playground for the north side? It is something which is badly needed, politicians to the contrary. You have my earnest support. URGES ACTION* FOR SANITATION By a Property Owner. I am a property owner, and, pay my taxes. I wonder why the city, with all the different departments for cleanliness and prevention of disease, will not take notice of open vaults that are just behind my house. Buildings have been torn down but the vaults now are being used as fresh garbage containers. Talk about the green flies and smell! I can not keep tenants to save myself from losing my home, so now I will appeal to the only paper that does things for the people. Won't you give me some consideration? M

and not paying the regular truck license fee? Some auto salesmen rather would use license plates from a repossessed car than their own, or, better still, those from out of state. This makes it impossible for the public to trace the car after a law violation. Never hear of any arrests for bright lights, the cause of many fatal accidents; however, accidents give the police a chance to show their efficiency by checking up on drivers’ licenses. If public opinion was aroused from its “I don’t care” attitude to demanding enforcement of traffic regulations, I am sure the police department would be glad to cooperate in the fullest measure, but to get the public aroused is a job for some newspaper that feels civic duty is more than merely criticising public officials. HOLDS SOCIALISM ONLY DEPRESSION REMEDY By Another Forgotten Man. I read two letters in the Message Center the other night and I think it is a good picture of two parties, one who can see and the other who can not. One was by “A Terre Haute Reader,” and one by “One of Many.” If “One of Many” would open his eyes and see. he could at least help to rid the land of the cause of his troubles by being a Socialist. The people will have to own and operate all the means of production or the depression never will end. The old system is dead. The two old parties have promised and lied long enough, and nothing has been done for the working man. Yet, in spite of their lies and promises, we go back every election day and send them back to lie and promise again. So, “One of Many,” if you voted that way, quit squawking. You have what you asked for. Socialism seems to be a word hated and feared by many, but they don't understand it or that would not be the case. Here is the Socialist motto: “Work for all who can work. Help for those unable to work; to each the fruit of his work, and the ones who won’t work can starve.” That isn't so bad, is it? If the worker received the fruit of his work,, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Sounds sort of anti-Christian, doesn’t it? There is more Christianity in one plank of the Socialist platform than in both the others. Don't tell me that God looks with any favor on the thieving, profiteering bunch of pirates and parasites who run this country now. Socialism exposes the crooks and tells the truth about them, and that is why it is fought so bitterly. When Jesus came down to earth He was a friend to all the people, but when He exposed the wickedness and sin of the political and church rulers, they killed him. The blue eagle is blind as a bat and always has been as far as you and I are concerned and even if you have made SSO or S6O a week and are about to lose your home, you are better off than I am. I lost all I had long ago. If you still have money to pay the milk man, you are lucky. My five children haven't had twenty-five quarts of milk in two years. The New Deal won’t permit it. This Christian government of ours doesn’t believe in milk for starving children. It rather would pour it into the gutters so the “big shot” can get his profit. “One of Many,” take my advice. Look beyond Mr. Roosevelt ar*i Johnson and vote for the fellow that wears your hat next time. They won't help you. You will have to help yourself.

.JUNE 29, 1934

FREDICTS CO-OPERATIVE ECONOMIC STATE By Student. This relief “case work” study in institutes, for county case work supervisors and investigators of the Governor's unemployment relief commission, is just a bit amusing. The study will cover the philosophy and history of social service work, and problems of unemployment and poor relief. It would be much more profitable to study the causes that make this relief and case work possible and necessary. That a necessity exists for relief, and its cause, unemployment, is an indictment of the gravest kind against the economic system that produces these so-called “cases.” The real “cases” revolve around the operators of this idiotic system of production and distribution. Theirs are the “cases” that ought to have the study period, to see if they could not be redeemed from creating the outcasts. The real cause of this charity, dole and relief work comes from the socially irresponsible conduct of the operators of our economic system; the outcasts are the result. There can be no excuse for unemployment and charity: Its existence speaks volumes against the system that permits its continuation, and that breeds distress rather than develops an abundance for all. The system is not even intelligently selfish; it creates the seeds of its own destruction. A co-operative commonwealth will supersede it, and make life livable for all. tt n a ASKS CONSIDERATION FOR KIN OF DILLINGER By a Times Reader. Why all the “hollering” by Mr. Cadle over the radio about John Dillinger? He didn’t do as much as the bankers who stole from the poor people. He was never given a fair trial for his first small offense. I think he should be given a full pardon. He has not been proved a murderer. I think it is a shame the way Dillinger's poor old father and sister are being worried. Would Mr. Cadle like for people to talk about his father as he is about poor old man Dillinger? Dillinger's father and sister are law-abiding citizens, so why not leave them alone?

So They Say

The world never has seen a more striking example of unquestioning fidelity than my associates. —Chancellor Adolf Hitler. Children mean happiness to me. I don’t care whether they are green, yellow, black, white, or pink—l'm crazy about thf-m.-Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink. I’ve been talkin’ good Brooklyn for a long time and I’ve made a lot of money doing it. —Mae West.

SELF-PRAISE

BY WILLIAM H. CHITWOOD If you’d have others love you Love not yourself so much. The world will think more of you The less on “self” you touch. Whenever friends come near you Beast not of looks nor pelf; Self-praise will not endear you; “Love vaunteth not itself.” Though other people praise you You should not triumph so; Repeating it won’t raise you Amongst the friends you know; They'll only think less of you The more on “self” you touch. If you and have others love you Love not yourself so much.