Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 74, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 August 1934 — Page 6

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MONDAY. AUG. . 1934 CONTAG 10LS ELECTRICITY ■pP.ESIDENT ROOSEVELTS faith in an electrified America, as re-emphasized in his speeches at dam files of the northwest, seems to be shared by a growing number of citizens. But there are strong interests pulling in the opposite direction. Today the United States Chamber of Commerce issued a middle-of-the-road report on the domestic use of electricity. It states: ‘ Even with substantial reductions in equipment cost and energy cost it is doubtful whether the economic status of the potential ‘electrified home’ customers is such that the growth of home electrification can be accelerated greatly, unless forced by some artificial stimulus such as a government subsidy.” One group opposing the Roosevelt program argues that other forms of energy at lower cost will blcrk electrical development. Similar objections were made when Henry Ford started mass production of low-priced automobiles, offering men of moderate means the advantage of anew and ccnvenient form of transportation. The capital cost and operating expenses of a horse and buggy were somewhat less than even the lowest priced gasoline carriages. But America in 1933 had 23.720,000 registered automobiles. As the President and many of the world's leading engineers see in electricity the basis for anew sort of civilization. Ford saw the possibility of revolutionizing transportation with a car to fit millions of pocketbooks. Doing it proved profitable. Mass electrification of American homes is on the way. It may hasten ’ leisure, freedom and an end to drudgery, congestion, noise, smoke and filth.” The question today is whether private capital will sacrifice high unit profits for smaller profits on a gr*at volume of appliances and electricity, or President Roosevelt's “yardstick” projects will be expanded to cover the nation. Low rates and low-priced equipment have lifted domestic consumption of electricity in Tupelo. Miss., 83 per cent in a few months. The Tennessee valley authority formula by which this was done is not copyrighted. But it is contagious.

FEDERAL MEDIATORS GRADUALLY federal* media tors are adjusting the labor disputes that have caused strikes and strife. Sooner or later they will reach a settlement in Minneapolis. And the sooner this peace comes, the better it will be for the striking truck drivers, for their obsiinate employers and for the community weary under the strain of martial law and bloodshed. Peace came to the waterfront in San Francisco and the stockyards in Chicago because, in both instances, employers and employes found compromise more profitable than bitterend warfare. Men usually do not risk their jobs for light or fancied grievances. It takes the courage of desperation for men to sacrifice the means of livelihood upon which their families depend. Thus, it is seldom a simple matter to settle a strike. Employers tend to resist bitterly what they regard as usurpation of their rightful powers. And the strikers, with their bafcks to the wall, fight just as bitterly for their economic lives. A settlement comes only when the loss of profits and the loss of wages and public opinion—one or all—force a compromise. That is what happened in Chicago, where General Johnson apparently found the key to settlement after both employers and strikers had paid the price of stubbornness. In San Francisco, both sides gave ground. Federal mediators and arbitrators are the chosen agents of public opinion to settle disputes that can not be solved by bayonets and brickbats. TEC HNOCR AC VS LE SSON THERE was a melancholy little story in the papers a few days ago telling how the little chemical factory at Pompton Lakes. N. J-. established several years ago by Howard Scott to experiment with his theories of technocracy, was sold at auction, with all its contents, for a total of $.5. This low price on a building which once was worth many times that much is probably a pretty accurate gauge of the general public's pre.-ent valuation of the technocratic theory. But while technocracy itself came down out of the stratosphere like an exploded balloon, the way in which we all reacted to it when it first appeared still is worth thinking about. This theory burst on us at a time when the bottom seemed to have fallen out of everything. The. wheels had all ran down. Farmers. Industrialists, wage-earners, investors, salesmen. professional men—all classes and conditions of people were full of gloom. Tire nation itself constituted the finest plant for producing everything that mankind needed, from com on the cob to automobiles, that the world had ever seen; but things had got out of gear somehow, and there seemed to be little chance that they would get back into gear very soon. Then, in the midst of all this gloom, came these technocrats, announcing blithely that we need not starve in the middle of plenty after all. telling us that our rich farms and our magnificent factories could be kept going full time, with everybocK- getting more than enough of everything, if we would only make the right kind of effort. Well —it sounded nice, and no wonder We felt a great thrill. It wasn't long before the bubble exploded, to be sure— that little sale the other day indicates the extent of its collapse—but for a little while e thought we saw the dawn on the mountains, sure enough. And The thing to remember now is the fact that these gentlemen, with all their mistakes. did put their finger on the centra!

problem. It U possible, physicislly, for us to grow enough food and make enough things to banish want from the land’ forever. How that Is to be done may be another question. The central Tact is still there, and we ought not to forget it. No plan for recovery, whether It be the New Deal or something else, will be worth much in the long run if it docs not call on our best efforts to take advantage of this dazzling chance—which never was open to any other people before in all the history of the world. STAYING OUT 07 WAR? -QTAY out of It,” cry press, pulpit and statesmen as the war threat rises “twenty years after.” We said the same in 1914. We re-elected Mr. Wilson in the fall of 1916 on the slogan, He kept us out of war.” But in the spring of 1917 we were in it. It's time to reprint what Mark Twain wrote about war. From “The Mysterious Stranger,” which, by the way, was written before the World war: "There never has been a just one, never an honorable one—on the part of the instigator of the war. I can see a million years ahead, and this rule never will change in so many as half a dozen instances. The loud little handful —as usual —will shout for the war. The pulpit will—warily and cautiously—object—at first; the great, big, dull bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to make out why there should be a war, and will say, earnestly and indignantly, 'lt is unjust and dishonorable. and there is no necessity for it.’ “Then the handful will shout louder. A few fair men on the other side will argue and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have a hearing and be applauded; but it will not last long; those others will outshout them, and presently the antiwar audiences will thin out and lose popularity. “Before long you will see this curious thing: The speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech strangled by hordes of furious men who in their secret hearts are still at one with those stoned speakers—as earlier—but do not dare to say so. “And now the whole nation—pulpit and all —will take up the war cry, and shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open. * “Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will study them diligently, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.” NEW PARTIES NEEDED AS the congressional campaign begins to warm \ip, the need for some sort of realignment of parties becomes more and more evident. Consider, for instance, the recent statements of Senators Hastings of Delaware and Nye of North Dakota—both Republicans. Senator Hastings attacks the Roosevelt program as “revolutionary” and says that “it must be evident by this time that it is dangerous.” Senator Nye, simultaneously, assails President Roosevelt because he is “not liberal enough,” and denounces the NRA for fostering monopoly. The party, thus, contains two wings—one ultra-conservative, the other ultra-liberal. The same thing, of course, is true of the Democrats, to just as great extent. What we need to make our politics realistic is anew alignment that will group liberals in one party and conservatives in the other.

PRACTICE AND THEORY THE first legal test of Oklahoma's law providing for sterilization of habitual criminals is going on now. A 29-vear-old burglar is about to be released from prison. Under the law, his ability to become a parent must be taken from him before he is released. His case is expected to go clear to the state supreme court—which already has upheld the law in its application to victims of insanitybefore it finally is settled. Now it happens that Warden Sam Brown of the state prison opposes the law. -Our records.” he says, ‘ show' that seldom does the son of a criminal coma to this place—and that's the final proof.” And the warden's remark leads one to wonder if our present knowledge of the effects of heredity and environment upon human character is wide enough to permit us to go ahead with such law. We are a long way from having exact scientific knowledge about the traits that a man can transmit to his son. Until we have such knowledge, a law of this kind may be unwarranted. OCR SANER AGE BECAUSE of changes in national dietary habits, the famous old malady, gout, has almost passed from the picture in America today. Dr R. C. Williams, assistant surgeon-gen-eral of the United States public health service, points out that in the gay nineties gout was an extremely common disease. People ate rich foods without regard to the needs of their system—and they paid the penalty. Today, with saner eating habits in vogue, gout is very rare. It is the same with dyspepsia, another form of retribution for the man who gorged himself,, year after year, on overrich foods. Women used to suffer from a peculiar form of anemia—caused, doctors believe, by the rigid steel and whalebone corsets that used to be laced so tightly. With saner corseting, this malady also has just about vanished. We often talk about the diseases such as smallpox and yellow fever, which are conquered by medical science. These lesser ailments, yielding less dramatically to medical common sense, also are worth a thought. On account of a prolonged strike, it seems the onion growers in Ohio, and not the onions, this time are in a stew. When the girlhood sweetheart of Zaro Agha. late old man of Turkey, learned oi his death, she died of shock. She was only 120, so she couldn't have died of old age yet. Philadelphia scientists have discovered a new sun spot 12.000 miles wide. Now what can we use that for as an alibi?

Liberal Viewpoint —BY DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

HITLER'S orgy, general strikes, the shooting of Dillinger. the Austrian revolt and the like have distracted our attention from the very important defense of old-line capitalism by John W. Davis at the Institute of Politics in Virginia. It is doubtful that any more authoritative apology could be offered for the old system. Mr. Davis is a very able man and is extremely well informed as to the character and workings of capitalism. For many years he has furnished legal advice to the foremost figures in the control of our American economic and financial system. While a thorough believer in capitalistic individualism, he is a cultivated and urbane gentleman, far removed from the intemperate patrioteer or vulgar plutocrat. If Mr. Davis can not give a convincing defense of the old-style capitalism it is doubtful that anybody can. a a a MR. DAVIS paid a touching tribute to the achievements of capitalism in the past: "It would be unfair to overlook the fact that under capitalism men have risen from small beginnings to great affairs; new continents have been opened up and made ready for human habitation; new inventions and discoveries have enlarged man's creature comforts and tamed new forces to his control; whole nations have been transported over seas; illiteracy has declined; diseases have been conquered and widespread famine and pestilence have joined the list of long-forgotten evils.” It would be pretty hard for Mr. Davis to prove that capitalism has been directly responsible for the majority of benefits which he lists. Certainly inventors, engineers, educators and physicians have had more to do with them than business men, strictly speaking. But we will not press these points. For the sake of argument let us concede to Mr. Davis all these claims as the capitalistic contribution to modern - civilization. Painting this attractive picture of what we owe to capitalism, Mr. Davis implies that the criticisms leveled against it just simply can't be true: “Yet we are asked to believe that under just such a system the rich must inevitably grow richer and the poor inevitably poorer; that private enterprise must become increasingly hazardous, if not impossible; that the laborer degenerates into a mere wage slave and the farmer into a serf, and that capitalism instead of lessening has steadily increased the misery of the world.” ana IF w r e propose to face facts realistically, we must admit that this darker picture is just as true as the rosy one set forth above. Indeed, it is doubtful if any one could summarize more accurately its trend and effects of capitalism during the generation. Most apologists for the capitalistic system, even those of the caliber of Mr. Davis, seem to imply that capitalism is capitalism only when its results are obviously beneficial. When it brings misery and disaster to human beings then it appears to be something else, though the system of economic and financial control remains absolutely unchanged. It is only through a candid and honest recognition of the defects of old-style capitalism that we can hope to eliminate them and prevent them from assuming proportions which nearly or completely offset all the benefits which can be attributed to the capitalistic system.

Capital Capers BY GEORGE ABELL \ MBASSADORS whiz to the state departl\. ment in limousines. Attaches usually arrive in their roadsters. Harry Payer, the former assistant secretary of state, used to appear in a black coupe with gold trimmings. The other day a state department official glanced from his office window' and exclaimed: “A visitor arriving by bicycle! Who can it be?” “Lew' Douglas,” hazarded someone, without looking up. (There is an unfounded report that the director of the budget rides a bicycle to work.) It w’as not Lew Douglas, but bearded Wilfred Stevens, former translator for the state department, who had bicycled into tow'n from his 133acre farm in Maryland wiiich he has named "Pawpungle Wilds.” Stevens is one of Washington’s most amazing personalities. He wears brown flannel shirts and maroon silk ties, knows thirty foreign languages and has invented two more. He lives largely on pawpaws. One summer he lived in a tree. His linguistic accomplishments are fantastic. Languages at his command include Slovenian. Arabic. Slovak. Turkish, Japanese, Sioux, Latvian, Chinese, Finnish and Latin. Once he was asked: “Don't you get the w'ords of the different tongues confused?” “Oh.” he replied negligently, “after learning the first couple of dozen languages, I sometimes did.” Stevens spent fifteen years devising a universal language called Ufono. Then he decided it wasn't good enough and threw the whole thing into the fire. More recently he has perfected another language called “Zhoeylong.” That means “Pretty Eye” in English, which is the name of Stevens’ pet woodthrush. n tt APROPOS of ambassadorial limousines, Ambassador Felipe Espil of Argentine has just bought one. trading in his old roadster which was too easily “spotted” by keen newsmen. The new' car will have embossed upon it the crest of Argentina. Envoy Espil is only sorry he will have to drive it no faster than thirty-five miles an hour en route back to Hot Springs, and threatened to rise early one morning and motor around Washington most of the day. a a a EDUARDO VIVOT, crack pistol shot of Argentina. is something of a wit. The other day Eduardo informed a newsman at the embassy: "There has been a revolution in Argentina. President Justo h&s been ousted and Vice-Pres-ident Rocco has taken his place.” The newsman sipped a cocktail with Ambassador Espil. queried: “What about your revolution?” “What revolution?” asked the astounded envoy. -Why—l— er—just heard that Justo has been supplanted by Rocco —and . . .” Espil relaxed into a smile: “When the president goes away on his vacation.” he explained, “his place is taken by the rice-president. Vivot was only joking. France reports that American tourists there have been drinking less liquor than heretofore. Repeal in America has taken the joy out of it, so what’s the use? Norma Talmadge says she’s too busy being married to stay in films. That’s funny, because so many others are too busy acting in films to stay married. New York state liquor commissioner says gin parties have died out. Os course, since Scotch and rye have become legal. A recent survey shows boys get to know mere words than do girls, oy the age of 6. But the girls know better how to use the lew words they do knew. A gangster in Cleveland. 0., committed suicide because of ill health, although it wasn't the police who made his life unhealthy for him

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

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The Message Center

(Times readers are invited Cos express their views in these columns. Make your tetters short, so all can have a chance. lAmit them to 25 9 words or less.) tt a a HIGH LIVING COST AND LOW WAGES By a Mr. Dennis. When Calvin Coolidge chose not to run. my wages were $25 a week for eight hours work daily. By the end of Hoover’s administration my wages fell to sls a week for nine hours daily, but the cost of living was low. The New Deal set my wages at sls for eight hours, and immediately, in some respects, living expenses jumped to the Coolidge level. So the NRA for me has been a hightoned reduction in wages. It won’t pay me to kid myself at the next election. If I should vote for these politicians who are talking against the New' Deal and the destruction of the Constitution, just what can they do for me? Not much, as I figure. They will perhaps put me to work, nine hours a day for sls a week with no reduction in the cost of living. They may stop the government debt from piling up. but if they do, they will have to shift the responsibility of the unemployed back on local government or else have starvation on their hands. Congress many decide to at least do some back-seat driving, as it should do, or else give up the job;' but the damage has been done. The New Deal can’t be a short deal, for the cost of living has been raised, and propped up with an enormous debt. The American citizen either will pay this debt, or it will have to be paid by the government printing press. Either method is going to mean disaster and a black eye for whatever party is in power. There may be another great landslide. not of votes, but of terra firma. As long as the farmer and laborer have to play second fiddle to this machine age, their name will be Dennis, no matter how' Mr. Dennis votes. . a a a PRAISES EDITORIALS ON ECONOMIC TOPICS By Mrs. Rae Aaronson. Mv hat goes off with great admiration to your editorial writer for the two editorials, “The Kingan Suit,” and “Jobless Relief,” in your issue of Aug. 2. They are both worthy of a large national audience of thinking people. It will be interesting to watch the outcome of Tom Smith's suit against the Kingan company. Will the Indiana courts let this case go through on its merits, or will it be hampered by every technicality possible as has been the case in hundreds of trials where the rights of labor have been involved, records of which can be found easily? It has been the policy, in nine cases out of ten for the press, the courts, the radio, and the movies to be continuously on the side of those who own and control the means of production. It has been the policy repeatedly to misrepresent, twist and misinterpret facts where the rights of labor were concerned. Every honest protest in which workers demand a wage above the subsistance level, recognition of a union and shorter hours of work is now being met with cries of "Communist.” “alien agitator.” and “we must rid this country of the subversive influences in the labor movement as we would rid ourselves of rats.” See General Johnson s speech

National Guardsmen and Strike Duty

By Tim. The strange metamorphosis of the hulking country lout into a beet-faced bristling national guardsman, always has been to us one of those inexplicable paradoxes of nature. In particular, it baffles us just when we had the theory of environment well planted in mind. By all respects these youthful rustics should be the ones who would like to join in a good “jupe” with police. Being rather downtrodden folk in their own way, it always has seemed to be good logic to suppose that guardsmen would be the first to espouse the cause of free speech, liberty and a raise in pay. Too sadly, these adolescent ideas of environment and all other scientific theories have been knocked into a cocked hat by the alarming conduct of the guardsmen in the various strike centers. In the light of these new facts

in Berkeley during the recent strike in San Francisco. Will capitalists never understand that if they want to save themselves and their system they will have to give their employes a decent living wage; they will have to recognize unions and the workers’ right to have spokesmen of their own choosing? One only has to study the causes of-the French and Russian revolutions to realize that the masses can tolerate only so much hunger and so much suffering. I agree with George Allen of Washington relative to the “snoot-i iness” of those running the federal employment agencies. I had considerable experience with social workers and federal employment agencies before coming to this city recently, and I want to say this, if there ever were hardboiled, contemptible, inhuman beings, I have found them in charge of these agencies. Nearly all of them look down upon those applying for relief, as if they were so much scum. To them you are a failure, a nogood and a vagrant. Talk about little Hitlers. And in this free America! To them you are a case withs [ number. They are taught never to allow their emotions to run away ; with them—the needy are where j they are because they didn’t live right—didn't have enough courage and stamina to do the things neces- ! sary to become “honest and up--1 right citizens”—there are fundai mental causes for their being where they are. “Fundamental causes” on the part of the 16,000,000 unemployed, my eye! ana URGES MORE LIBERAL PENSIONS FOR AGED By Humanitarian. County budget making time is near and it is imperative that more liberal application of the old age pension law be made. The limit of sls a month is far too low. but worse than that is the fact that some counties in Indiana pay far less. In fact, there are in- | stances where pensioners are receiving as little as $2.50, and payments of $4 to $6 a month are common. Such niggardly action is wholly out of step with the spirit of the times and is a reflection on the good name of Indiana. Our next door neighbor, Ohio, has

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

we realize we would never be a spanking good first-class private. We would be tempted by the pleas of the strikers to cross the chalk mark and say, “Brother, here it is—our last dime. But you are welcome to it.” Instead the guardsmen practically incinerate themselves with their anger against their unemployed fellows. In those dreams which often come to one after a few hours of insomnia we often dream of being President, king or dictators, what you may, of the United States, and breaking up the national guard and throwing the leaders into nicely bubbling pots of steaming oil. The guardsmen are no good on parade (they can't keep step), and they behave like Boy Scouts on meeting nights. We believe it would help the national budget immeasurably to replace the national guard with the Boy Scouts and possibly Wolf Cubs.

a pension law which provides a maximum of $25 a month, and payment begins at 65 instead of the “graveyard age” of 70 fixed by the Indiana law. nan CONDEMNS DILLINGER STAGE APPEARANCE By Theatergoer. I wish to express my admiration for the restraint and yet force with which The Times’ Walter Hickman dealt with the Dillinger family act. “This is not theater,” he wrote. It certainly is not theater and, lacking the restraint of Mr. Hickman, I add that it is not decency. That John Dillinger Sr., can go on the stage and commercialize his son’s death is astounding. It is but another sign that we live in a decadent a£e. There is but one cheerful note in the whole proceeding, and that is that attendance was not particularly good at the theater which exhibited them here, and “exhibited” is a carefully chosen word. 800 DISCUSSES BETRAYAL OF DILLINGER Bv Helen Kay Young. I was not a little amazed to find find that my letter under the name of Kay had created a mild controversy. I believe, however, that if William H. will read it more carefully he will discover that my intention was not to laud Dillinger but to criticise the person or persons who, under the false guise of friendship, delivered him to his captors in the manner in which they did. You are exactly correct. Two wrongs can not make a right. That is precisely my argument. The very word friendship implies a deep responsibility and because one to whom we have given it in all sincerity fails to measure up is no adequate reason for our failing in our duty toward him. We like our friends in spite of their faults, not because of them, and if we- are fair in our judgment of them, we’ll hesitate a long time before placing the lurid seal of Judas on our own conscience. That can be applied to every act of our daily lives. Charity is the most beautiful of all virtues and is life's real religion. Not oneof us conscientiously can condone a single criminal act of Dillinger, but we can look back and realize that there was a first offense which might have, with judicious and wise understanding, changed the entire tenor of his life. And I reiterate that the casual and cruel

AUG. 6, 193?

spreading of gossip and scandal in daily intercourse with our friends and neighbors is as much a betrayal of trust as the "tipping off” by Dillinger’s associates. a a a VIOLENCE SUSTAINS GOVERNMENT By Enid Fountain. “Do violence to no man,” was not George Washington's advice to his soldiers. violence is antiChristian and wrong, but it is not un-American. The American government was established and is maintained by violence. Americanism and Communism have this evil in common. Freedom of speech is an American principle. This liberty is demanded by honesty and intelligence. No friend of truth is opposed to freedom of speech as long as both sides of the argument are presented. Those who love truth know that truth will win against error if given a fair chance. Those who hate truth know this also. oa a t DECLARES DILLINGER SLAYING COWARDLY By L. H. H. I feel that John Dillinger did not have a square deal and I can’t possibly see where credit is due either the police or the federal men for the manner in which he was killed. To me it was one of the most cowardly acts I ever have heard of. If Purvis was so brave, and he had every chance to be with fifteen men surrounding him, I see no reason for not taking alive a lone man who walks into a movie, sits through a picture, comes out and walks with in three feet of Purvis. Instead of trying to take him alive these brave men shoot him in the back. It may ; be what they think is being brave, i but I have another word for it. Too, I feel that the penal institutions and not Dillinger are directly responsible for all of these | crimes that are laid at his door. If these institutions were handled competently these men would not be at large and therefore not have the chance to commit crimes. The light way the “mistakes” of our bankers are accepted and with such people as Insull at liberty leads one to believe that Dillinger's real crime was doing openly what others do underhanded. I'll wager there are plenty ff our brave police and federal men who envy John Dillinger the intestinal fortitude with which he was endowed. ROMANCE BY RUTH PERKINS Woman of an unknown fantasy, In odd time byways you come back to me Out of curled green mists and amber lights, And long and indolent soft summer nights. : Your white face lingers through a a ancient dream. Elusive memory twists —evades my scheme To capture your ephemeral lovely grace, Hung poised and near, the paleness of your face. Why seeking, never finding, some mad time Or place or thing, some far off sweet sung clime, Or such ethereal dreams as this of you Which hovers wing-wise just above 1 the blue?