Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 89, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 August 1934 — Page 14

PAGE 14

The Indianapolis Times MRirr.nnn rii xr.wsrAprii) ROT W. HOWARD i>r<>l4nt TAI.COTT POWELL Editor EARL D. BAKER Bti*ln* M*nas*r Pbon* Rll#y 5!B1

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THURSDAY. AUO. 21. 1934. ONLY ONE ANSWER THE only real fact that has developed from the escape of Willie Mason, alleged killer, from the Hamilton county Jail is that he and three of his four prisoner pals successfully have fled the limits of Noblesville and Hamilton county. Certainly the explanations of authorities of Hamilton and Marion counties can not be classified as facts. Sheriff Hattery of Nobles▼ille Insists that he pleaded to have Mason transferred, while authorities here claim the sheriff not only wanted to retam Mason in his custody but also wanted to have Ernest <Red> Giberson, another member of Mason's gang, returned. Giberson was the first of the alleged slayers of Police Sergeant Lester Jones to escape from the county jail. He was captured several weeks later in Cincinnati after a walkout in mid-afternoon that did not even excite the curiosity of passersby. The penal institution situation in Indiana is taking on the appearance of a first-class farce. It is silly for the taxpayers of this state to pay law enforcement agents to capture alleged outlaws and for various counties to “room and board” them in jail unless something besides •scape results. Charges and inferences that the Democratic or Republican party is to blame for the increasing prison and jail escapes absolutely are without foundation. The real answer to the situation rests, not with political bosses, but with the people. The people vote and it is up to the voting public to see that politics is taken out of penology in Indiana, that civil service is put into effect in the law enforcement agencies and that competent, capable men are placed in charge oi penal institutions. There is no other answer. The trail oi error begins and ends at the polls.

SPREADING EMPLOYMENT "PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT S executive order revising the cotton garment code to shorten the work week from forty to thirtysix hours is encouraging evidence of renewed life in the NRA drive to spread employment in private industry. It is the second step in the government's effort to achieve stability in the important cotton industry, following right on the heels of the order pegging the farm price of raw' cotton at 12 cents. Within a week, the President will try to prevent a breakdown in another part of the cotton industry probably by mediating the threat of a national strike of textile workers. When the forty-hour week was adopted, certain cotton garment manufacturers predicted there would be a shortage of labor. But after a long trial period it was found that there had been almost no increase in employment. Then followed an extended hearing, one of the amazing features of which was the appearance of a number of congressmen in behalf of certain manufacturers whose shops were located in small towns. It was usually the small-town manufacturer who paid sweatshop wages of $5 to $7 a week before the original code raised the minimum to sl3. Long deliberations following the hearing resulted finally in the order shortening the work week. This brings the labor provisions of the cotton garment code more into line with those in the original codes of the other needlework industries. So the revision in the garment code neither was precipitate nor revolutionary. The net result will be to maintain the present scale of actual weekly wages, and by shorter hours to give employment to about 10.000 more workers. It should not cause an increase of more than 2 per cent on the price the consumer will pay for the finished goods. Some observers have been proclaiming the disintegration of NRA. But Sidney Hillman, president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, is cheered greatly by’ revision of the cotton garment code. "It shows the Blue Eagle to be a living symbol of a real New Deal, in which the interests of the workers are given equal consideration along with all the other factors in industry.” said Mr. Hillman. "It also shows that codes of fair competition are not rigid instruments which freeze conditions at a certain point, but are, instead, active, adjustable laws for industry, which can be revised readily when It is found out that they do not serve the end to which they are directed. This is. indeed, anew type of legislation and anew approach to real economic democracy.” JUSTICE HOLMES ON STRIKES NOT m years, if ever before, have labor stakes been so important to every-day America. Out of Section 7-A of the national recovery act. with its federal sanction of the right of labor to organize and bargain collectively. and out of the fact that some business is improving, have grown unusual labor controversies, many of which have reached the strike stage. Before Section 7-A was written into the law, before capital was permitted to escape the pressure of the anti-trust laws. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote of labor organizations and strikes. In the light of present labor controversies and the opposition to granting labor its rights under Section 7-A. it is important to read again the words of Mr. Justice Holmes. In his dissenting opinion in "Coppage vs. Kansas," he said: "In present conditions a workman not unnaturally may believe that only by belonging to a union can he secure a contract that shall be fair to him. ... If that belief, whether right or wrong, may be held by a reasonable ynan, u seems to me that it may be enforce^!

by law in order to establish the equality of positions between the parties in which liberty of contract begins . . Section 7-A is an effort to establish that equality. In “Vegelahn vs. Guntner, et al.” when he was on the Massachusetts bench, Mr. Justice Holmes wrote: “One of the eternal conflicts of which life is made up is that between the effort of every man to get the most he can for his services, and that of society, disguised under the name of capital, to get his services for the least possible return. Combination on the one side is patent and powerful. Combination on the other is the necessary and desirable counterpart. if the battle is to be carried on in a fair and equal way. "If It be true that workingmen may combine with a view, among other things, to get as much as they can for their labors, just as capital may combine with a view to getting the greatest possible return it must be true that, when combined, they have the same liberty that combined capital has, to support their interests by arguments, persuasion and the bestowal or refusal of those advantages which they* otherwise lawfully control. “I can remember when many people thought that, apart from violence or breach of contract, strikes were wicked, as organized refusals to work. I suppose that intelligent economists and legislators have given up that notion today . . DRUNKEN FIGURES DEETS PICKETT, who keeps the name of the Methodist Board of Temperance, Prohibition and Public Morals in the press, has corralled statistics from 192 cities. They show, according to Mr. Pickett’s analysis, that arrests for drunkenness in the first three months of 1934 were greater by 31.68 per cent than in the first three months of 1933, implying that such is the harvest of repeal. A similar, though smaller, increase is noted in arrests for driving while drunk. The spurt started, Mr. Pickett indicates, when beer was legalized, and his figures do show a sharp increase in arrests in the first three months of beer as compared to the last three months of beerless prohibition. There is no adequate answer to Mr. Pickett’s charges, and none will deny that he is doing a public service in calling attention to this disconcerting trend toward greater intemperance. Perhaps he has found a partial answer in noting that the trend has been less marked in states that have more stringent liquor control laws. But Mr. Pickett’s own figures do not support the impression he obviously is trying to convey—that a return to prohibition is the way to curb intemperance. In practically all of the 192 cities cited, the average monthly arrests for drunkenness increased sharply during the prohibition era. Here are a few of the most flagrant comparisons in average monthly arrests for drunkenness in 1920, at the start of prohibition, and in the first three months of' 1933, near the end of prohibition: Baltimore, 149—1,506; Cleveland, 249—2.215 Washington, D. C., 297—1.302; Los Angeles, 279—2.088; Pittsburgh, 798—2,015. So much for prohibition's contribution to intemperance. Another weakness in Mr. Pickett’s analysis is his failure to mention that there are many factors entering into the number of arrests, such as the energy of the police which in turn is influenced by public opinion. One thing is certain: Since repeal, there has been a marked growth of public intolerance for public drunkenness and, especially, for drunken driving. That is one kind of intolerance that needs to be encouraged. And Mr. Pickett deserves praise for fanning it.

CHIEF OF THE ISLANDS TJ'OR fifteen years Dr. Ernest Gruening has been a leader in the fight against American imperialism. Now he is to head the new governmental agency which will try to supplant the old imperialism with territorial democracy. President Roosevelt could not have picked a better man for director of the division of territories and island possessions. From his profession as an editor of newspapers and magazines, Gruening knows American public opinion. Asa scholar he is a recognized authority on Caribbean and foreign affairs. And in his capacity as adviser to State Secretary Hull and the American delegation at the Montevideo conference he demonstrated his ability in practical diplomacy and statesmanship. The fact that the President has chosen an administrator of Dr. Gruenings caliber and views doubtless will be accepted by the peoples of Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands as reassuring evidence that the New’ Deal extends beyond the mainland. REAL BENEFIT TO NEEDY 'T'HE great scope of work done by government relief agencies is shown by recent statistics revealing that more than 500.000,000 pounds of foodstuffs have been distributed to the needy by Uncle Sam. A family subsisting on federal relief gets such things as beef, pork and veal roasts, beans, bread and butter, oranges, apples and cheese. In addition, thousands of tons of coal have been distributed, and huge quantities of surplus cotton have been woven into blankets for the unemployed. Millions of bushels of wheat, corn, oats, and barley have been given to farmers in the drought areas for starving livestock. Distributing all these things has been very costly, of course. But it also must have prevented an appalling amount of human misery. AN EXAMPLE FOR AMERICA r T''RAFFIC authorities in London have is- -* sued anew rule, providing that no automobile horns may be sounded anywhere in the city at nifht. The period of silence will last, approximately, from 11 p. m. to 6 or 7 in the morning; during that time the sleep of Londoners will be protected, and roving traffic cops will crack down on any driver who touches his klaxon button. Any one who has lost sleep—and who hasn't?—because some goof of a motorist is unable to proceed two blocks without sounding his horn lustily, will approve of this regulation. The average motorist uses his horn far too much. Indeed, traffic might be a good deal safer if drivers generally made a practice of using their brakes instead of their horns when they saw some person or vehicle in the right of way ahead of them.

Liberal Viewpoint - BY DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

THERE are three possible lines of attack upon our present economic problems and the world-wide depression. One is a return to the ideals of scarcity, individualism and exploitation—in short, the “normalcy” of the age of Harding, Coolidge and Hoover which landed us in the present mess. The second is the repudiation of scarcity and individualism in favor of an economy of abundance and a planned economic order, to be attained gradually by piece-meal reform. The third mode of approach accepts the same general goal but advocates quite different tactics, namely, a repudiation of gradualism and reform and the adoption of a program of quick and thorough transformation of the whole system. In theory the second mode of tackling our problem is much more satisfactory and is intriguing to the imagination. It is one which has been recommended frequently in this column. The main question which arises is the practical one of whether it is possible to achieve the desired goal by the methods of slow and steady reform. A most effective, tolerant and sensible argument for the third method of dealing with our problems that of thorough and immediate transformation —is embodied in an article by Professor Goodwin Watson of Columbia university entitled “The Great Choice” and published in the last issue of Common Sense. a a a PROFESSOR WATSON points out a number of important obstacles in the way of gradualism. In the first place, our condition has become so desperate that collapse, chaos and the demoralization of the unemployed may wreck any gradual reform program before it can possibly achieve its goal. In the second place, our economy hangs together as an intergrated whole and it is difficult to patch up one section of our economic machine without replacing or repairing the whole thing. “No one can plan the automobile industry, while other forms of transportation, steel production, oil production, rubber imports and corresponding exports, highway construction, technological training, and distribution of income remain in traditional anarchy.” Thirdly, we have the political difficulty discerned by Abraham Lincoln when he pointed out that a house divided against itself can not stand. An economy half devoted to the profit system and half devoted to the interests of consumers is every bit as antagonistic as one which is half slave and half free. Moreover “there is little point in government regulation of banks and utilities, if the banks and utilities are able to control the goverment.” ana FINALLY, reform and gradualism never can arouse popular enthusiasm or stir the public imagination as much as will be required if we are to achieve any fundamental transformation of society. “The small boy doesn’t enjoy getting his trousers patched, but anew suit is a different matter.” The major reason for the vast enthusiasm for the New Deal a year ago was the assumption that it really was new. We gradually are awakening to the reality and discovering that there is relatively little which is new about it. Moreover, if we turn to history for our iessons we find that gradualism has failed ignominously everywhere. In Germany, Italy, Austria and England a very advanced and determined type of reformist socialism had gained a foothold and achieved much more than could be expected from the New Deal even if enforced rigorously. In every case gradualism has collapsed and a worse reaction come into power. Moreover, save in England the collapse of gradualism has’ been accompanied by as much violence as that which took place in Russia when the Bolshevik revolution carried through a thorough-going' transformation.

Capital Capers

BY GEORGE ABELL

pRINCESS KAYA of Japan made a hit with A saleswomen of Washington’s department stores w’hen she decided suddenly to motor from the Japanese embassy and go on a shopping tour along F street. The princess, w’ho is tall and slender, was wearing a beige dress, a brown hat and brown shoes w’hen she entered a large department store accompanied by Mme. Matsumura, her lady-in-W’aiting, and several ladies of the embassy staff. Her appearance caused much excitement in the store. Word had somehow circulated that the Japanese imperial visitor had arrived there, and salesgirls eagerly craned their necks for a glimpse of her. Princess Kaya bought clothes, coats, jewelry and silver, chatting affably with those around her and asking many questions about the store. Finally, after more than an hour spent in various purchases, she entered a waiting limousine and was whisked away to a luncheon given in her honor at the embassy by Mme. Fujii, wife of the charge d'affaires. a a a MEANWHILE, Prince Kaya was no less busy than the princess. He was donning the olive drab uniform of a major in the Japanese army in order to be the guest of honor at a luncheon (strictly “stag”) given by Acting Secretary of State Bill Phillips. During the luncheon, the prince spoke precise English with rather an English intonation. He made numerous comments about Washington w’hich he declared “one of the most lovely cities I have ever seen.” After a tea at the White House and some formal ceremonies at Mount Vernon, where his imperial highness deposited the traditional wreath on the tomb of George Washington, it was time to again dress for dinner—the prince this time selecting evening dress in place of his somewhat warm uniform. There W’as a decidedly military touch to the dinner, at which guests of honor included Secretary of War Dern and Mrs. Dern; General Douglas Mac Arthur, chief of staff of the army; Major General Hugh A. Drum, deputy chief of staff, and Mrs. Drum; the Assistant Secretary of War and Mrs. Woodring; the chief of cavalry, Major General Leon B. Kromer; Brigadier General and Mrs. Perry L. Miles; the assistant chief of staff. Brigadier General Alfred T. Smith, and other military men. Japan has more military and naval pomp than almost any other embassy here. Her military and naval attaches last evening blazed with medals as they sat at the dinner, welcoming the young prince and Princess Kaya. nan DIPLOMATIC silence is sometimes golden, sometimes as revealing as though one had shouted the news on a street corner. Issuing from the office of Assistant Secretary of State Sumner Welles, the minister of Paraguay, Mr. Bordenave (whose big ambition these days is to sell Yerba Mate—Paraguayan tea —to the United States army) ran into a group of newsmen. “What new’s. Mr. Minister?” they queried. “Ah. Mr. Welles cautioned me before leaving to remember -we had spoken only about Yerba Mate.” smiled Envoy Bordenave. By which it was immediately known—and duly published—that Minister Bordenave had gone to the state department and conferred with Assistant Secretary Welles on the delicate situation caused by strained diplomatic relations between his country and Chile. Two famous bridge experts got into a fist fight at a recent tournament. And they weren’t partners, either. A man in Kearney, Neb., tried to kill himself three times in five days and failed. He never was successful at anything. Now that Chicago is beginning to see sunlight in its financial troubles, former Mayor “Big Bill” Thompson is reported preparing a comeback.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

(Timet readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Make your letters short, so a'l can have a chance. Limit them to 250 words or less.) a a a UNION MEMBER NOTES VICTORY By a Union Attendant. Well, they’ve “gone and done it.” One of the major oil companies officially allowed its stations to be checked by meters last week. And that was done in spite of the fact that one company insists that meter checking is inaccurate and impractical. If modern machinery is impractical, why doesn't this company at least remain consistent and go back to hand pumps and horse and wagon transporation of gasoline? We appreciate that on the eve of our union agreement negotiations one company admits the justice of our demands. ana DOUBTS DEATH PENALTY DECREASES CRIME By B. R. O. . Ex-Governor Leslie, in a recent article, deplored the use of capital punishment, but feels it is necessary to control criminals. He mentions a case in which a convict killed a warden or guard in a prison in a state which does not have capital punishment. The convict was already in for life, the maximum sentence, so what further punishment could be meted out to him? But are not guards sometimes killed in prisons in states which do have capital punishment? The two persons in this country who probably know most about criminals, Warden Lawes of Sing Sing and Clarence Darrow, do not believe in capital punishment. Would this mean anything to Mr. Leslie? Warden Lawes says it doesn’t work. Indiana has capital punishment. Did that serve her from producing one of the most desperate criminals of modern times? Does not the custom of a state taking life rather tend to make life cheaper, and can criminals be blamed if they accept to some extent the state’s cheap estimate of life?

People somehow feel that severity of punishment deters crime. Experts say it does not. It is certainty of sentence that low’ers the crime rate. If a criminal knows that he will be taken out of circulation, he may think twice. But if he feels, as statistics prove, that there is only one chance in ten that he will be sentenced, and far fewer chances that he will die, he will take the chance. His gambling instinct is appealed to, you see. The retention of capital punishment will not deter crime so long as this gambling element remains. And it will not be an instrument of justice so long as one poor devil out of a hundred who commits a capital offense suffers thus, and the rest, because of a better lawyer, money or influence, get lighter sentences or go free. Rather intelligent men look upon capital punishment as an instrument of injustice. a a a LINKS CULTURE WITH WEALTH B Hiram Lackey. Emily Post and others have inferred that the word “culture” has been manhandled. I am inclined to the belief that it is, in its embodiment, beyond the reach of violent hands. ,How can we mistreat

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The Message Center

IN THE NOBLESVILLE JAIL

Chamber of Commerce Assailed

By M. B. H. What good is the Chamber of Commerce of Indianapolis? What has it done for the good of the laboring class of this city? It seems to me it is just working for the class that is running it. As large a city as Indianapolis should be able to, support some very large industries. Why don’t we have a large brewery and a large distillery and other large industries so that the city can prosper? Surely the Chamber of Commerce could do something to promote industry. Instead, we

so fine a quality that ‘‘it soothes the savage breast.” Speaking of culture, a master of etiquette in another generation said: “High birth and good breeding are privileges of the few, but the manners and habits of a gentleman may be acquired by all.” Nothing, is finer or more worthwhile than the grace and dignity which the speaker had in mind. Truly, their value is inestimable. Culture is an intangible something hidden unconsciously, yet, when discovered, it is outstandingly noticeable. When v.e find the soft sheen of its outcropping, we are made to feel that somewhere, some place is the mother lode of spiritual richness. Does culture thrive in poverty’s biting want? Never have I found it there. Goodness, in poverty, Is common. But goodness, refined and enriched as it is in culture, is found only in the high places.

CHALLENGES ROBINSON ON CONSTITUTION By H. Sprunger. To all appearances, the voice of the Pharisees is again raising a clamor at Wawasee. While we are on the subject of the Constitution, Senator Robinson, I refer you to Article 2, Section 3. The President acted within his rights as far as I can see, and congress knew that it had to do something in the crisis which is still with us. Do you claim Senator Long of Louisiana as your partner as he claims you? If you are fearful that the Constitution is being wrecked, why not start an investigation of Senator Long’s activities? He is violating Articles 1 and 4 of amendments to the Constitution. What the Pharisees really fear is a social reform in government that will benefit all of the people instead of a privileged few. It is time for the voter to relegate these so-called rugged individuals to the scrap heap. a a a PRESENT ECONOMIC SYSTEM RAPPED By Mrs. Rae Aaronson. I am a newcomer to this city and not a Socialist, or a Communist. I am just an American woman who has taken the words “sweet land of liberty” freedom of speech and assembly as guaranteed by the constitution, very seriously. I read your editorials daily and I want to say that, although I do not always agree with you. I appreciate the profound manner in which you weigh and measure real values in current events. I also appreciate and consider highly commendable your honest, sincere and liberal criticisms. With the tentacles of Fascism, In the form of vigilantes in California,

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

have a group of industries that pay practically nothing for the working man's services. Look at the great manufacturing centers where good wages are paid and see the great cities that have been built. Then look at Indianapolis, the cheapest city in the United States for workers and you can see why this city always has stood still and always will. If the Chamber of Commerce would, it could do something about the situation, but as long as it is always in the same hands, we will be at a standstill.

the Citizens Alliance Committee in Minneapolis and with the Ku-Klux Klan raising its ugly head again to crush the rights of free people, it becomes the solemn duty of every editor, writer and speaker throughout the country to fight more than ever for the freedom for which our forefathers laid down their lives. What is this holy of holies, this capitalism that can not be attacked or criticised? Is it not a form of society based on profits and the exploitation and oppression of the masses? Has not the basic principle upon which capitalists developed the industries of our country been the increasing of their personal wealth? Now, in the last phase of capitalism, since profits are not rolling in, because of the loss of foreign markets and many other reasons, these same capitalists who used our democracy, our masses and their votes when they needed them either have shut the doors of their industries in the workers’ faces or else pay them such starvation wages that they must keep striking continuously to get another crumb from the big bosses. a a a FEARS ATTACK ON PRESS FREEDOM Bv New Deal's Friend. I saw in The Message Center of Aug. 17 that the editor of The Times has been listed for tar and feathers by a contributor whose letter implies that he is official press censor for the approaching vigilantes. The threats of physical violence by vigilantes unmistakably implied in the letter should have marked results. Copies of the letter have been sent to the hold-over Democratic senators and the department of justice with the suggestion that legislation be considered, classifying intimidation of the press by threats of violence sent through the mails as a criminal offense. When local authorities set the example by outrages against the right of freedom of speech and peaceable assembly, we can expect in due time vigilante outrages against the freedom of the press and union labor. I suggest that all those who have contributed anti-Republican views to The Message Center send to the editor of The Times, copies of the

Daily Thought

He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand; but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.—Proverbs 10:4. THE world abhors closeness and all but admires extravagance; yet a slack hand shows weakness, a tight hand strength.—Charles Buxton. *

.'AUG. 23,1934

curious questionnaires and veiled threats they have received from socalled forums and research bureaus, as the editor, no doubt, would be glad to know the probable number of rails In the tarred and feathered anti-Republican procession as it moves down Washington street. In the spirit of fair play, The Times wishes to point out in reply to the letter published Tuesday under the name of “Fair Play,” that Admiral Byrd’s expedition to the Antarctic costs the government of the United States not a single penny. Funds for the expedition were raised by subscription of more than one hundred persons, including Colonel Jacob Ruppert, official “sponsor” of the trip.

So They Say

Withdrawal of the United States marines from Haiti is evidence of the generous and intelligent policy of the good neighbor who has aided me in accomplishing national liberation.—President Stenio Vincent of Haiti. Men have constitutional rights to act like fools as long as they don’t disturb others.—Governor “Alfalfa Bill” Murray, Oklahoma. The AAA crop reduction plan gives the farmer the only chance he has had during my life-time to come into his own.—E. A. O’Neal, President American Farm Bureau Federation. Business sentiment today is clearly beset by doubts and its policies are being guided by self-protective caution. —Colonel Leon’’ 1 P. Ayres, Cleveland (O.) econo We've done pretty well under the Blue Eagle. All our fleas now operate under the new regulation—a sixday w’eek instead of seven and a seven-hour day instead of eight.— Professor Roy Heckler, trained flea circus magnate. ■Others can break strikes of daisypickers or buttonhole makers, but when there’s trouble in steel or railroads. or along the docks in San Francisco, they come to me.—P. L. Bergoff, prominent strike breaker. Public popularity of artists is a flimsy and perishable product. A screen personality may be a popular hero today and forgotten tomorrow. —Sol Rosenblatt, NRA movie administrator. I shall remain wedded to my work. —Aimee Semple McPherson.

FATALITY

BY ELLEN BETTY I wrapped my heart in a song, I sang it far and wide; But nobody listened, nobody heard, And my heart was weary at eventide. The door of your love stood ajar, My heart crept close to your flame, And my heart was burned to a pale, white ash When morning came. You swept your hearth with a careless stroke; The powdery ashes flew— That you were sweeping a heart away .You never knew!