Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 83, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 August 1934 — Page 14

PAGE 14

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THURSDAY. AUO 1. 133iINDIANA’S CRIME PROBLEM 'T'HE killing of John Dillmger did not solve Indiana s crime problem It merely focused world attention on it. Do not forget that this plug-ugly who had robbed our banks and shot our citizens with impunity, was finally eliminated by federal agents who had no more serious charge against him than transporting a stolen automobile across a state line! When the Constitution was adopted the of dealing with crime was left almost entirely to the individual states. At that time the several communities wer® isolated and Philadelphia was more travel-hours from Boston than It is today from Paris. Today fast cars and hard surfaced roads have made most maior crimes interstate in character. The operations of the Urschel kidnaping gang extended over seven states having an area of 683.000 miles. To meet these new conditions the authorities must use new methods. A glance at the record shows that law enforcement in the ea ,t north central group of states, which includes Indiana, is pitifully inadequate. This group had more robberies per 100.000 of population than any other group of states. The citizens of Indiana can change the situation if they wish. They must stop mixing the police in politics and put in a real civil service system that will assure members of the force reasonable security in office. They must spend money on police equipment. The Wickersham commission found that in only two cities of over 300.000 population did the police have adequate mechanical means to meet the criminal on equal terms. Rural policing must come out of the hands of he political-minded sheriffs and be turned over to a hard-hitting, well-trained, professional state police. A young man should be able to look forward to a life career in the Indiana troopers just as he can now in the army or navy.

But to accomplish this the legislature MUST take the state police clear out of politics. We can not expect a stable and efficient police organization if the personnel is ousted with every chance of political administration. The incompetence of the states to deal with the modern criminal was admitted at the last session of congress when the national legislators found it necessary to enact six laws placing the federal government directly in local police work. Here they are: 1 The attorney-general is permitted to offer a reward up to $25,000 for the captured of a declared public enemy and it now is a federal offense to kill or assault a federal officer or rob a federal bank. 2. The "Lindbergh" kidnaping act has been amended to allow a jury to authorize a death sentence when a kidnaped victim is injured and to create a presumption that the kidnapers have crossed a state line when the victim is not returned within seven days. The law prohibiting use of the mails for extortion has been enlarged to include all forms of interstate communication and racketeering in interstate commerce was made a federal offense. 3. It is now a federal crime to cross a state line with intent to avoid prosecution or to dodge given testimony in a criminal case Transportation of any stolen merchandise. securities or money to the value of $5,000 or more is now a federal offense if the thieves cross a state line. 4. Federal court procedure in criminal rases has been simplified and employes of federal penal institutions who assist in jail breaks are subject to severe penalties. 5. Importation, manufacture or sale of machine guns and other firearms popular with gangsters, with the exception of pistols, are now under rigid federal regulation. 6. Congress has granted its consent to any two or more states to enter into treaties and agreements among themselves for mutual assistance in suppressing crime. This law even grants the right to any croup of states to organize and maintain a joint police force. These laws were passed because an indignant citizenry was tired of the inefficiency of the state and municipal governments in dealing with criminals of the Dillinger type. Indiana should take full advantage of them, but it* officials should make unnecessary the passage of further legislation of this type by the federal government. States' rights, particularly the poiiee power of the state, are an oid and sound principle of Americanism But a right implies an obligation If Indiana does not meet its obligation to protect its people from the mad dogs of the underworld its citizens must, and will, turn to the federal government. NO FOOD SHORTAGE THIS flurry in food prices, which has prompted President Rcosevelt to issue a warning that the government will protect consumer* against chiselers and speculators, should not excite the nation too greatly. According to the best information available—the estimates of disinterested government experts—the drought merely has reduced abnormal food surpluses to normal surpluses, and there is no danger of a food shortage. Although it may for the time being cause sporadic fluctuation of prices, removal ot the glutting surpluses should result in somewhat healthier conditions with markets that respond naturally to the laws of supply and demand. It is certain prices can not be maintained long at levels higher than the purchasing power of the people will sustain. The drought is a spectacular catastrophe. Naturally, the psychology engendered has started a wave of buying. Food dealers are stocking their shelves laving a supply for three months instead of one. This in itself is not alarming. It u essent.al. however, that the government be vigilant, as the President promises, in maintaining free markers. So long as an adequate supply exists there is lUtie to fear from natural prices. But we can not afford, even for a short time, to permit speculators

to get technical comers In the commodity and produce markets that will case artificial skyrocketing of prices. Even at pn|pes lower than those that have existed, the purchasing power of too many people still is below the level required for bare subsistence. THE RELIEF PROBLEM C GOVERNMENT officials and brain trusters * may devise fancy plans for meeting the depression; but some of the smartest of the relief and recoven' schemes are those which, like Topsy. Just growed. There is developing in the United States todav anew means of helping the jobless workers—a means that seems to have been the product of no one brain, but to have developed more or Jess spontaneously, as it were, in response to a definite situation. That is the new kind of employment relief work which is being done in many cities under local auspices with the indirect backing of the FERA. Reporter Willis Thornton recently described it for the newspaper-reading public. It works out very simply. Suppose there is a vacant factory in a town. The factory is opened and equipped, using federal funds. Unemployed workers who are drawing relief allowances come in and operate it. The things thy make—shirts, shoes, chairs, or what not —are for their own use. When they have satisfied their own needs, trades are arranged. A plant in one town makes shirts, let us say; in a neighboring town a plant makes pants. The pants-makers are equipped with shirts, and vice versa; a demand for raw materials is created, men who are drawing relief allowances feel that they are earning their keep, and none of the articles produced is allowed to be sold in competition with products of regular going concerns Now here is a scheme which no one person thought of. Instead, it grew up in-response to a condition. One of the most illogical developments of the depression was the fact that while millions of men needed certain things very badly, the factories that might have satisfied their needs had to remain idle for lack of customers. This scheme is simply a method of introducing idle customers to idle plants and, as you might say, letting nature take its course. Not only does it meet human wants. It removes from the jobless man the incentive to rise in his wrath and lay hands on the idle factories on his own hook. It may be a clumsy and imperfect system, but it does attack a sore spot which, if left untended, easily might develop into an incalculably dangerous tumor in our economic body.

THE REPUBLICANS ATTACK 'T'HE Republicans have begun anew attack on the Roosevelt administration. There is nothing unusual or wrong about that. The function of a minority party is to carry on criticism. Under the democratic theory of government especially it is assumed that such verbal combat between the “ins” and “outs" is essential to the education of the electorate and as a check up on the party in power. And. of course, this kind of minority criticism is particularly desirable during periods of rapid change and experiment when the best intentioned and best equipped government in the world is bound to make blunders, and plenty of them. So the country should welcome the birth of the new biweekly National Republican Club Review, sponsored by Colonel Theodore Roosevelt. If it functions, as he pledges, as “an organ of serious investigation” rather than the conventional rabidly partisan sheet, it can serve not only the Republican party, but also the higher interests of the Roosevelt administration and the country’. But that implies a grade of intelligence which official party papers in the past have lacked. Even when its forays are partisan, which is more or less true of the first issue of the Review, the administration can well afford to keep an ear cocked in that direction. For instance, in its main article on bureaucracy, discussing the large increase of federal employes not under civil service, the Review says: “Some of the men at the top have tried their honest best to keep politics out. They have failed everywhere except in the Tennessee Valley Authority. Secretary Ickes of the interior, ruler of the PWA, fought longest and most gallantly, but he has lost.” That is a sweeping indictment—far too sweeping. But there is enough truth in it to hurt the administration. Certainly some of the Democratic machine politicians around the President too often have tried to use the New Deal agencies for patronage and party profit. The President can stand the frequent and self-defeating opposition jibes at the brain trust, the nonpolitical experts who have so heroically and unselfishly carried much of the governmental burden. But the administration • can not stand up against Republican charges of playing politics with recovery’ agencies unless the White House actually curbs the operations of the Democratic machine. THE “PIE” EVIL IS BACK JUST about the worst news that has come ** out of Washington in recent months is the disclosure that the federal “pie counter" is open again in old-time style. The old spoils system seems to have revived almost entirely, and the ancient game of using the federal government as an agency to provide jobs for deserving party hacks is being played as merrily as ever. The New Deal seems to mean a good many different things, but one of the things that it ought most of all to mean is a break with the sorry ole. custom of handing out plums to ward-heelers. The abuse of party patronage has been a crying evil in Washington for generations—ever since the day of Andrew Jackson, in fact. For a while, it looked as if the present administration were making a genuine effort to institute a reform in that field. But Washington correspondents report that there has been a complete reversion to the oldfashioned spoils system this summer. To those of v. who had hoped that anew standard of government service was being set up. the news is exceedingly discouraging. Talk of the geysers in Yellowstone National park losing power, says the former director of that park, is just so much gush.

Liberal Viewpoint BY DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES —

WE are in the midst of one of the most notable examples of industrial welfare In the history of the country. In its latest annual bulletin, the American Civil Liberties Union thus refers to the record of the last year, and we should remember that the next year, in all probability, will be much worse: “The record of conflict during the year Is one of the longest and most widespread in years. Troops have been called out in five states against strikers. More than forty injunctions have been issued by state courts restricting or suspending the rights to organize, strike and to picket. Police and depuli' sheriffs, aided by private gunmen of the employers, have attacked picket lines and strikers’ meetings wholesale. More than fifteen strikers have been killed on picket lines or in demonstrations; 200 have been wounded, and several hundred prosecuted—all attempting to exercise their “rights.” The public * has been pretty well informed about these strikes and has been especially warned against the dangers of general strikes conducted by radical labor. But we have heard little or nothing from the press about another general strike which very really has threatened to deliver the countrj’ over to chaos and revolt. I refer to the general strike of capital which has been going on since 1929. This important point is dealt with very fairly and cogently by former Governor Philip La Follette of Wisconsin in an article in Common Sense entitled “Capital on Strike." ana HE points out that there is nothing the matter with our productive processes, and insists that our so-called farm and factory surpluses are largely fictitious. The trouble lies with the breakdown of our consumers’ purchasing power. After a year of the New Deal some 14,400.000 adults were receiving public relief of some sort, and it appears - that approximately three times as many more are alarmingly close to destitution. Our system of exchange and distribution is now tied up by lack of credit. Capital has gone on strike on a national scale. It will not reinvest in capital goods and thus provide employment. The result has been lengthening and deepening of the depression: “The failure of capital to reinvest its surplus income has diminished the circulation of money and credit, decreased purchasing power, shrunk markets, created fictitious surpluses, and increased unemployment.” What is worse, not only has capital itself gone on strike. Like the dog in the manger it is doing its best to prevent the government from stepping in and supplying the credit and other stimuli to business which capital itself ought to be furnishing. The concluding observations by Mr. La Follette go to the heart of the question: ‘ Distribution of wealth is not a catch-phrase of ‘left-wingers.’ It is basic in any vital economic. system, no matter under what name it may go. In purely private capitalism the distribution takes place through reinvestment by private individuals in new capital enterprises. a a a “rjINCE 1929, private capital has been unwill--13 ing to discharge this essential economic function. At. the same time it has insisted that the government shall not take its place. It does not want the job now, but it wants no one else to take it over. This is but - another way of demanding that the economic world stand still until some uncertain time in the future when private capital is ready to go back to work. “Any program of ‘freezing’ the economic order by reducing the standard of„ living and lessening the creation of wealth is an order for a general economic retreat. Such an order in a country like ours starts a devastating downward cycle. There is danger that the retreat may become a rout, and that the progress of centuries can be lost in the confusion and disorganization that may follow. “If civilization is to endure there must be a continual distributing of purchasing power. For five, years vast hordes of capital have been on strike. This strike has paralyzed the normal exchange of goods and services and brought suffering and ruin to millions. “If the government can step in to ‘move the mails’ with such alacrity in a railroad tieup, how vastly more important that a five-year strike at the very source of our economic life be broken ”

Capital Capers BY GEORGE ABELL

WASHINGTON is learning very' slowly how to serve the wines and various foreign liqueurs which the end of prohibition has suddenly supplied in abundance to hotels, restaurants and even private homes. Foreign diplomats here are constantly being shocked at the way their wines are handled, often by foreign waiters whom the long prohibition era has caused to forget the niceties of vinous etiquet. For instance, Bolivian Minister Enrique Finot, a connoisseur of wines, recently gave a small luncheon at a local hotel. “And what do you suppose?” he confided. “The maitre d'hotel served red wine with the fish!” After the luncheon, Finot cabled the man and said: “Don’t you know' that white wine is served after fish. ‘Don't you know anything about serving w'ine?” Sadly, the maitre d'hotel, an Italian, shook his head and admitted: “No. I don’t know about serving wines.” Prohibition was responsible. a a a ON another occasion, the Bolivian envoy was nearly paralyzed with dismay to find a waiter vigorously shaking a bottle of wine after the manner of a cocktail Last night, the same envoy and a friend dined at a widely known restaurant in Maryland. Minister Finot ordered a bottle of Bordeaux wine. It was brought in a bucket of ice. “Oh,” groaned the horrified minister. “Please, please remove that wine from the ice immediately!” He painstakingly explained to the waitress: “You see. only white wine should be iced—never red. And not all white wines." “Really?” said the girl. “Most people like the red wine iced." Later. Finot ordered a different type of red Bordeaux. “Shall I bring it on ice?” asked the waitress. “I am afraid it will take a little time to educate people in the art of drinking wines,” sighed Finot to his friend. Note—Diplomats are almost as one in declaring that Washington is way behind New York in the question of serving drinks. Even discounting the obvious advantages which Manhattan possesses, they find that waiters at big hotels in that city vastly surpass those of similar hotels in the capital, both as to knowledge of vintages and how to serve them. a a a RADIANT in cerulean blue pajamas dotted with little cornflowers. Minister Bordenave of Paraguay (the diplomat with the brightest hued pajamas in town), sat in his apartment drinking Yerba mate. Clocks pointed to 11:15 o'clock. Still Envoy Bordenave sat placidly in his sky-blue pajamas, chatting with a friend. As the hands of.the clock reached 20 minutes after 11, the Paraguayan's visitor remarked: “But, Mr. Minister, you'll be late. Haven’t you an appointment at the state department with Assistant Secretary of State Sumner Welles at 11:30?” Placidly. Envoy Bordenave waved a cerulean blue arm with negligent gesture. “Ah. yes," he replied vaguely, like one engaging in academic discussion. “But why hurry? What difference does it make if I arrive on time Mr. Weiles is always late.” General Hugh Johnson's wrist watch was missing after his World's fair speech. If the wild man was observing closely, he probably got some new wrinkles for his act.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

: 5 j Jji n-o-Tum-

The Message Center

(Times renders are invited to express their views in these columns. Make your letters short, so a'l can have a chance. !jimit them to ZSO words or less.) a a a PRAISES C. OF C. FOR EMPLOYMENT EFFORTS By Tom Berlin*. I wish to commend the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce for the efforts it is making to provide employment for local men by the use of federal funds provided for that purpose. When every community solves its own problems, the national problem will disappear. I am glad therefore to see the local business men concentrating on the problems of Indianapolis. Such efforts encourage industrial peace and quiet the forces of discontent. Man has lifted himself above the rest of the animals and monkeys by developing the skillful use of his hands; and more especially by the good fortune of possessing thumbs to hold tools with. The busy hands do much for the benefit of society and the satisfaction and security of the individual. But the idle hand is a constant menace to all concerned. Busy hands and stop light equality will solve our problems. a a a THINKS EIGHTY-FOOT ROAD RIGHTS EXCESSIVE By Will H. Craig’. It is surely foolish for the State Highway commission to insist on 80 feet for right of way for roads. Ordinary paved roads are 20 feet wide. Fifteen feet on each side is ample for shoulders and ditches. This leaves 30 feet to grow' up in v'eeds to be cut at taxpayers’ expense. besides excessive cost of right of w'ay. The railroads are between the devil and the deep blue sea. The Interstate Commerce Commission fixes the rates while the labor board fixes the wages, wages taking 60 per cent of the gross receipts. And then congress, truckling to the labor vote, “butts in” and raiSes the wages of railroad employes and provides a pension for them. This will add $400,000,000 to the expenses of the railroads, which the consumer will pay. Why give pensions to any class of public citizens, w'ho get double the wages of others in like employment? The state police are working for more expenditures on their political machine. Better abolish the vhole business. They have not made an important arrest in a year. Other states can catch our criminals but our state police can not. Better abolish this expensive political machine and allow the farmers to organize a protective association like the old Horse Thief Detective Association, which cost the taxpayers nothing, but caught 100 criminals where the state police catch one. To save his face. President Green says the American Federation of Labor is not responsible for strikes, that it is the Communists. Are the Communists in a majority so they can call strikes right or wrong? Now is a good time for a showdown to see if American labor and business are free from the domination of one faction, the American Federation of Labor. One hundred years ago, 90 per cent of our shipping was done by American ships, now 30 per cent. | Then there were no subsidies; now ; millions are paid in subsidies. Our shippers were getting along pretty well until some twenty-five years ago when Senator Bob La Follette got a bill through congress requiring all American ships to be operated by union labor. How can they compete with England, Japan, Ger-

‘DISPOSSESS ME IF YOU DARE!’

Rates Li’l Arthur at Zero Minus

By V. C. L. , , „ . I notice that Indiana s Republicans will gather this next weekend at Lake Wawasee and that our dear, beloved “Li’l Arthur” will deliver the piece de resistance. Undoubtedly, that master statesman, and pal of the brilliant scholar. Huey Long, will deliver a stirring oration about our “noble heritage.” Yes, I’ve heard Senator Robinson. His speeches call to mind that statement General Johnson made about Chicago’s newspapers. ' I think General Johnson said that it was “a sickening of the stomach and a weariness of the hear..” You can tag that right on “Li’l Arthur’s” speeches. It makes me rise in glee at the intelligence of the Indiana voters when I read in your Message Center the comments of those who think that “Li’l Arthur" is

many and other countries whose wages are from one-half to onetenth of our own? This is a sample of the so-called progressive business that has upset all the rules of fairness and common sense. The government is asking a reduction in the price of materials that go into the new housing business, but not a word about the labor that does the work. How can the poor fellows who want repairs on their houses pay from $lO to sls a day for the work? During prohibition, most newspapers were with the bootleggers. Now they are against them. Why? a a a AROUSED BY PARKING BAN EXTENSION Bv Parkin* Place Seeker. Finding a place to park downtown is like hunting a needle in : the proverbial haystack, since the worth-while tow-in ordinances was abandoned. There is nothing new in this situation, and motorists have gotten to the point where they more or less take it for granted that they will have to park on a parking lot or in a private garage. However, it seems now that the evil, formerly confined to the downtown area, is spreading to the residential areas. If you don’t believe it, just take a drive up North Delaware street or some other principal highway. You will find yellow the predominating curb decoration. One spot in particular that aroused my wrath is a house at 1119 North Delaware, where there is about a 40-foot space marked off with official police “no parking" signs. This house, aside from being a private residence, is vacant, and has been for some time. In a prominent place in the front yard is a realtor’s “for rent” sign. It seems to me that it is bad enough to ban parking in front of private homes, without extending the ban to vacant houses. a a a RESENTS DELAYS IN HOME LOAN PAYMENTS By a Contractor. Asa contractor who has made bids on Home Loan work. I would like to know why we should wait several weeks before we can get our money as the check for this work has to be here before we are allowed to start a job. We furnish our own material and labor and the merchants who trust us expect their money, and we also need it, as it certainly takes money to live. When we have a job completed and it is accepted by the owner, we

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

one step removed from God. I am a war veteran, long time Republican, no ardent backer of Roosevelt’s New Deal, simply because I don’t like the odor of Jim Farley’s steps and I think that Mr. Roosevelt is lacking in intestinal fortitude in keeping Mr. Farley on the ’federal pay roll. But when I think of Arthur Robinson I can picture Lincoln turning over in his grave. Robinson is nothing but a petty politician trying to keep a good job by currying favor with the soldier, the real forgotten man. If Robinson were sincere in his fight for the soldier, all would be well. But his every move belies his sincerity. He is shallow, vain, petty, and incompetent. As far as I am concerned. Mr. Robinson will be defeated even if I have to vote for another Roosevelt Democrat. They’re bad enough, too.

are told that it will be at least two weeks before we can get it. There is no telling how long it really will be, while on the other hand there are other contractors who get their money within a day or so, which makes one feel that some of us are being discouraged against bidding on these jobs. Work is scarce. We all need the work and we all need our money when we complete a job. So please, Mr. Home Loan, cut the red tape and send us our checks. a a a TRAFFIC REROUTING ANGERS DRUGGIST By H E. I want to enter a protest through your paper to the blocking of traffic by police at Sixteenth street and Emrichsville bridge after a night bad game. I live in the 1500 block on West Twenty-first and have a drug business on the west side and I always come home by way of Sixteenth street. Last night I came to Sixteenth street west of the bridge and a policeman would not let me cross the bridge. I wanted him to let me cross the bridge and go north to Eighteenth. He would not let me, so I had to drive up to Riverside and back to Twenty-first, about tv,o miles out of my way after working all day and part of the night in my store. Do they have a right to do that and is it fair to a resident of that section for them to make him drive two miles out of his way to get home on account of a ball game? SOUTH MERIDIAN ST. IS LOOKING UP Bv Mark Tempo. South Meridian street continues to grow and grow. Visualists, visionaries. vindictives all concur in bright expectations for this ancient thoroughfare. It was always there. The business houses were always there waiting for business but it w’as a trifling business that they did. Last year the thoroughfare was finally modernized. Now neon signs pepper the place, actually screaming

Daily Thought

For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink: but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.—Romans, 14:17. PEACE is the evening star of the soul, as virtue is 'T sun, and the two are never far apart.—Colton. *

aug. is, mi

the merchants’ wares—bakeries, drug stores, taverns, optometrists, dry goods houses, hardware. The street is well lighted. A few progressive merchants have kept pace with the march of progress. Their stores have blossorped, their store fronts have improved. One thing is certain ... It is only a matter of time until vegetable stands will disappear from the sidewalks: until poultry is housed inside. Another idea occurs. Any business man in Indianapolis wanting a good idea of the potentialities and possibilities of this coming business artery should drive out some Saturday night about 8 o'clock. tt tt a BACKS DRIVE ON GAMING DEVICES Bv Ex-Commercial Traveler. I agree with you in your editorial in Saturday’s issue and suggest you make a raid on the clubs of the city. I mean the “big shots” and hotels. Asa commercial salesman dating back for fifty years, I have seen too much of this evil in hotels and saloons. Go after them. Good citizens will be with you. a a a THINKS ROADHOUSE NO PLACE FOR CHILDREN By D:s*u<,ted. Several weeks ago on Saturday night, I went with a party to a roadhouse out in the country. The so-called floor show was much the same sort offered in a thousand such resorts excepc for one act This act was several dance numbers by two youngsters supposed to be twins. The last time they came on was about 1:30 a. m. Now I’m not a Puritan—in fact I’m regarded as a liberal—but the spectacle of these two 12-year-old girls posturing on a dance floor rather disgusted me. Here they were in a smoky night club. About them plenty of liquor and plenty of loose talk. The place might have been all right for adults but I submit that it scarcely is the place for two children. These two youngsters went through all the contortions of the hip-waggling and head-rolling £t. Louis Biues that their elders do and all the while, their parents sat over in a corner, apparently very complacent about the whole business. particularly when the children scrambled about for the coins tossed on the floor by drunks. This surely is a violation of the child labor laws as well as a violation of all the laws of good taste.

Sanatorium Revisit

BY HARRIETT SCOTT OI.IMCK I pause beneath a rough oak tree, Recalling days that used to be. And days of heat and days of cold; And tender spring and autumn's gold. The thought of death attacks my brain As all around I sense dull pain: And patients lying pale and white Await the call of death some night. And I remember, just last year My fear for one I hold most dear, I thank my God, whoe’er He b That she was scared to solace me.