Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 96, Indianapolis, Marion County, 31 August 1934 — Page 22

PAGE 22

The Indianapolis Times (A SCRIM*!*.HOWARD JTEWOPAPRR) not w. Howard i*ri<ient TALCOTT POWELL * . . Editor EARL D. BAKER Battai Uicigtr Pbog* Rl\j &W 1

Mnabtr of Cnl?#>d Preo*. script ■ • Howard >**pper Alhan'**. Newpapr EaterprD* Ar>c!*flon. #w*pap*r Information ServlcA and Au- <!.* Bnrem of Circulation* Owned and pqbllabrd dilly Sunday) by The Ind anapolla >*nhlihtns •’ompany, 214-220 Wet Maryland street, Indtaoapolla. Ind Pr in Marlon conn'y, 2 conta a e!ewhcre. 1 nonta—dellrcred he cirrtar. 11 oenta a w<*ek. Mall rubr'-rlp. tie* ra*c In Indiana. S3 ■ year; ontaldc of Indiana. 83 cenra a month.

i s • >•■/ *• o e Cm • Light o<> tA Ptopla Will Finn Ihrir Oien Woj

FRIDAY. AUG. 31. 1834. SITTING ON THE MONEY A BOUT a year ago Chairman Jesse Jones of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation lectured the nations bankers. “Be smart for once." he said, telling them to put the Blue Eagle on the vault door as well as on the bank window, and to quit hoarding the nation s credit. About six months ago, he told them that they seamed still to be suffering from the •‘shell-shock’’ of the Hoover panic, and warned that if the bankers cud not assume their responsibilities by providing proper credit for business and industry’, "there can be but one altei native—government lending/’ “The question therefore follows,’’ said Mr. Jones, “will our banking be continued in private hands, or of necessity be supplanted by the government?’’ Today, $15.000 000 has been loaned direct to industry by the RFC and the Federal Reserve banks, under authorization of a law passed by congress since Mr. Jones made his prophecy, and applications for more loans are pouring in at a fast rate. In the next few weeks, it is predicted, these direct loans will be multiplied many times. Amid the present agitation for establishment of a government central bank and growing popular support for nationalization of all banks, the United States treasury has ordered a survey of lending by private banks. The treasury wants to know whether deserving would-be industrial and commercial borrowers are being denied credit, and if so, why. If it be true, as charged—and as the evidence so far seems to indicate—that banks still are competing for liquidity and bankers still sitting on the peoples money, then the federal government will have to take whatever steps are necessary to break the credit jam.

the wooing of benito “jpPINCE ERNST VON STARHEMBERG, * vice-chancellor of Austria,” says Franz Winkler, himself a former vice-chancellor Os that unhappy country, ‘ has been on Mussolini's pay roll since 1929.” The charge has a most sensational ring. It conjures up a vision of international intrigue, sinister in motive and villainous in execution. Yet it really isn't news. That Prince Von Starhembergs Fascist heimwehr (home guard) has received financial help from beyond Brenner Pass is no secret from any one and has not been for j*ears. When it became clear to the young Austrian nobleman that one of the chief aims of the German Nazis was to annex his country, he determined to devote his life to preventing it. He was one of the richest men in Europe. He owned three dozen castles. He organized the heimwehr especially to stave off Austria's absorption. He lavished hts entire fortune upon it. After he practically had bankrupted himself building up his home guards, he accepted contributions from sympathizers. Among his intimate friends is Benito Mussolini, the Italian dictator. Mussolini threw in his bit. Patently, all this is dangerous business. Romancers long have pointed out the peril of beautiful ladies accepting money or lavish gifts from their wooers. But fn this instance at least, no secret was made of it. Besides it is part and parcel of a situation in which not only people, but nations, are fighting for their very lives. The natural direction for Austria to turn in her tribulations is Germany, her blood sister. But it so happens that that sister would destroy her. Under the circumstances, that she should accept help from another neighbor hardly is surprising. ROOM FOR LENIENCY cpHE stalemate which has held up SovietAmerican negotiations for settlement of all those old debts and claims continues unbroken. So far. no very definite details about it havf been made public; all that can be ascertained is that the two nations are finding it impassible to come to an agreement—and until they do the hoped-for revival of Rus-sian-American trade can not begin. Some of the debt is accounted for by loans made to the ill-fated Kerensky government, just before the bolshevik revolution. The rest is made up of private claims for property last or destroyed during the upheaval. It is worth considering whether the United States would not be wise to adopt an exceedingly lenient attitude in connection with these claims. If Russia is prepared to buy heavily from American manufacturers once a debt settlement is reached, we may be losing more than we gam by holding out for a full settlement. GIVE JOBS HARRY L HOPKINS’ promise that the federal government must and will evolve a distinctly American method of dealing with the stupendous problem of unemployment relief. and will not be content to copy some European system, is a bright bit of good news. If anything has been made clear by postwar European experiences in this field, it is that just to keep the jobless men from starving is not enough. That has to be done, of course, in simple humanity. But unless unemployment relief goes beyond that, it simply creates anew problem without solving the old one. England s long \ears of the dole illustrates the point. The dole has been a great dram on the English treasury, and it has been a feeble and back-har.ded way of meeting a very serious issue. It was the least that could have been dona, but it was not nearly enough. To understand this, one need only read the

comment* of men who have traveled acroe* Ehgiand In recent years. Unanimously, they testify to the destruction of morale which follows In the train of the dole. They find, all across England, Innumerable young men who have grown up to their late twenties without ever having been employed. By this time, many of these young men have become used to this kind of life. The dole keeps them from starvation and provides them with a few odd pennies for their recreation —football games, movies, a glass of beer now and then, and so on. In many, many cases these young men have lost the desire to work. They have never known anything but a life of pointless idleness; it has come to seem the normal thing to them, and the wish to get out and stand on their own feet has atrophied and died. Such young men. when they appear in large numbers, constitute one of the most tragic problems any nation can face. They rapidly are becoming unemployable. Even the return of full prosperity would leave them as a solid more or less indigestible lump In the economic body. That is the sort of problem a nation creates for itself when it confines its unemployment relief program to unemployment relief payments. Something more must be done. Jobs, in other words, must be created, no matter how impossible it may seem to do it. We can not avoid the responsibility of keeping jobless men from starving—but unless we go beyond that, and give them a chance to support themselves we shall build up a great deal of trouble for ourselves. FREIGHT RATES AND RECOVERY 'T'HE railroads are entitled to an early, full -* and fair hearing on their petition to the Interstate Commerce Commission for a freight rate increase. But no rubber stamp raise is in order. On its face the carriers’ argument is plausible enough. They claim that the prospective wage restoration and the general rise in the cost of materials add $293,000,000 to their annual operating expenses. If allowed a 10 per cent freight rate increase on coal, iron, steel, lumber, chemicals, building and manufacturers’ materials they could earn about $170,000,000 more a year. The railroads need relief. There are other ways, however, of lifting their burdens than through the simple old formula of kiting freight rates. The commission could, for instance, insist that the railroads scale down some of their huge bonded debt of $13,000,000,000 through financing economies. Considerable savings can be made in interest costs without wholesale bankruptcy proceedings or even new government loans. It could aid in reducing operating costs by speeding plans for consolidations. It could back the carriers’ demand that competing services—the bus, truck, air and pipe lines—be put under government regulation. Why these services should escape their just taxes and maintain labor standards below those of the railroads is a question the next congress will have to answer. Finally, the commission could encourage more railroads to modernize equipment, as some of them are doing, to meet new competition and to get new business. What the railroads need is volume of traffic. Would not rate increases now tend to drive the new’ business to the railroads’ unregulated competitors? Would not higher transportation rates at this critical time put a brake on the whole recovery movement? These considerations should be basic in the ICC hearings and decision.

AN EMPLOYERS’ STRIKE npHE threat of a manufacturers’ strike in the cotton garment industry is a challenge to the government to prove the potency of NRA. Here is an industry which was treated with such special leniency in the labor provisions of its original code that there was no increase in employment. It secured, over protest of labor, a forty-hour work week, while other apparel and needlecraft industries accepted a work week of thirty-five and thirty-six hours. This created a competitive situation which threatened to cause a breakdown in the other codes. To remove this menace, to provide employment for about 10.000 additional garment workers and increase purchasing power, the President ordered the cotton garment industry to go on a thirty-five-hour week and pay higher hourly wages. This did not increase the minimum of sl3 a week. After extended hearings, NRA had decided that these changes were necessary to place the cotton garment industry on a basis of equality with the other needlecraft industries. The President acted under authority granted by law and affirmed in the original voluntary code. But the cotton garment manufacturers who met in New York Monday voted against accepting this basis of equality. Leaders of the garment unions announced that the workers were prepared to strike, if necessary, to enforce the President's order. Surely that will not be necessary. The more public spirited of the employers should prevail upon the others to call off the manufacturers’ strike. Meanwhile the only thing for the President and NRA to do is to stand firm. HIS OWN ANTAGONIST ADOLF HITLER S effort to win the adhesion of inhabitants of the Saar valley is easily understandable. This rich mining area, torn from Germany at Versailles, is to hold a plebiscite in January to decide whether it shall return to Germany or become part of France. The plebiscite gives Hitler his first chance to fulfill his campaign promises to restore Germany's lost territory. Ordinarily, one would assume that a proGerman vote was a foregone conclusion, the inhabitants of the Saar being largely German by blood, language and tradition. Yet it is reported that many of them are hesitant about voting to return to the reich. Hitlerism does not look altogether attractive to them. Many are loath to vote themselves into its grip. Once again. Hitler's violence and autocratic rule may deprive him of the very prizes they were meant to gain.

Liberal Viewpoint —BY DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES—

ON the heels of a strong note from the Soviet government to Japan comes a bellicose manifesto from II Duce, exceeding in swagger anything which he has uttered in the last five years. told his countrymen: •We must become a military nation, even a militaristic nation, even—l might add—a warlike nation.” It takes more than talk to make war. but war talk helps on that hysterical attitude which makes hostilities easy to provoke. Moreover. Mussolini would not be likely to beat his breast in this manner if he did not think war probable if not imrmment. There are a number of outstanding sore spots in the political Europe of today, any one of which matches for danger the AustroSerbian friction of twenty years ago. Such are the Polish Corridor, to which Germany never will resign herself without a fight, whatever Hitler’s declaration for public consumption; the rivalry between Italy and Yugoslavia over Dalmatia and the Balkans, comparable to the old Austro-Russian ambitions and jealousies before 1914. and the problems of Austro-German union which jealous neighbors seem bent upon manipulating in such a fashion as to invite a European war. These are only the most striking instances among many. a a a SUCH areas and issues as these are the ones commented upon most usually by writers of foreign relations when they are discussing the prospects of war and peace in Europe. But far more potent and dangerous are those economic forces which are coming to the fore during the terminal stages of European capitalism. Overwhelmingly important is the growing economic tension in those Fascist states w r hich rapidly are nearing the end of their rope in a financial, industrial and commercial sense. If the European capitalists would give the masses a decent break in the division of social income, prosperity and content might prevail and there would be no need for Fascism. The latter comes as the last desperate effort to save a greedy capitalism by force if necessary. Depending for its support upon those capitalist groups who insist upon hogging the social income, Fascism will not make sufficient concessions to mass purchasing power to create an enduring economic order. The very forces which bring Fascism into existence are intensified as time goes along. For a while the masses may be appeased temporarily through increased employment provided by public works and the like. But in time the fiddler has to be paid and the final crisis of Fascism then stares the dictators in the face. And no dictator who has had sufficient stamina to establish himself in office will meekly step down without a fight. a a a BOTH extremes in European society welcome the prospects of a general war. The Fascists think that if they are victorious in an armed conflict they can save themselves for at least a time. The Communists welcome the prospect of war—at least war between capitalist states —because they believe that the capitalistic system in Europe will collapse quickly under the strain of war. The latter will bring matters to a head quickly and will expedite the building of the socialized commonwealth. The Communistic prediction seems more plausible than the Fascist hopes, but it is very possible both of them guess wrong. H. G. Wells, than whom there is no better social prophet, predicts that the coming European war will be followed by a generation of confusion, misery and near anarchy over most of the western world. Victors will suffer about as badly as the conquered. It scarcely will do to be dogmatic about the possible outcome of a general European war, but no great social order has ever yet given way without a long season of bloodshed and confusion. Such was the case with classical civilization when the Roman Empire broke up. The downfall of the medieval system was accompanied by a series of peasant revolts, religio-political wars and commercial conflicts. We may be able to leap over this interval of chaos. Certainly, the more fully we recognize the possible dangers, the more likely we shall be to be able to cope with the colossal problems presented.

Capital Capers BY GEORGE ABELL

A DIPLOMATIC precedent which has held good for many years just has been shattered to bits by the rather simple fact of Minister Enrique Bordenave of Paraguay calling on Don Manuel Trucco, the ambassador of Chile. To the uninitiated, such a friendly call appears not unusual. But the point is that differences have arisen between the Paraguayan and Chilean governments, and under such circumstances, the friendly' visit means a great deal. Envoys whose countries are not on good terms do not pay social visits, or indeed have anything to do with each other. If they find themselves at the same gathering, th?y may nod frigidly. But each seizes the first available minute to depart. And they exercise great care in order not to meet again. Bordenave of Paraguay has broken all the rules in a very courageous manner. He went to to see Ambassador Trucco at the latter’s embassy, and remained in earnest conversation with him for about two hours. Just what they discussed, no one knows, but the natural assumption is that they talked about the dispute between their two countries. Paraguay and Chile have not entirely broken off diplomatic relations. They simply have withdrawn their ministers at Asuncion and Santiago (a situation somewhat complicated because the minister of Chile happens to be in love with a Paraguayan girl and lingered at his post until the last possible minute). In all events, the social call of Bordenave has caused the “buzz-buzz” which invariably follows any new or independent line of action in diplomatic circles here. Some of the old line diplomats feel that the call was contrary to proper etiquet and consequently a mistake, but the majority of envoys believe that their Paraguayan colleague has bravely started a fashion which may have important effects in promoting international amity. a a a FREQUENTLY, sedate assemblages of diplomats and officials find someone announcing the name of a former dignitary, through habit, instead of the name of his successor. For instance, at a formal reception during the Hoover regime at the White House, a goldlaced aid threw open the doors and announced In ringing tones: “President Coolidge!” At the signing of the trade treaty between the United States and Cuba two days ago. a similar error was made by white-mustachioed Dr. Cosme de la Torriente, secretary of state of the island republic. Speaking before a notable group assembled to witness the ceremonies. Dr. Torriente delivered a little speech of thanks to the Roosevelt administration. But old habit was too strong. Dr. Torriente boomed magnificently: “And we thank President Hoover . . Diplomats smiled politely behind their hands, as the dignified Cuban quickly corrected himself. You can be sure there will be no war in Europe for a while, since Washington experts say it wouldn't advance prosperity in the United States. What the Austrian Nazis resent is Mussolini mussolining in on their racket in Austria. The atmosphere around Venus, says a University of Michigan professor, is carbon dioxide, or plain soda water gas. And that, if you ask the young man who treats, goes for many girls not named Venus.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

-i&aTseRG-

The Message Center

(Times readers are invited to express their vietes in these columns. Make your letters short, so a'l can have a chance. (Amit them to £SO words or less.) a a a SLOT MACHINES SEEN IN LODGE CLUBROOMS By a Disgusted Reader. For the last two weeks The Times has been quite vehement in exposing the slot machine racket. I have read of reporters finding machines in all sorts of places throughout the county. But in all of this, the large part of the machines inside of the city remain untouched. Asa truck driver I visit many types of places, and see many of the machines. Why does The Times not investigate the whole rows of slot machines in the clubrooms of lodges? What kind of a graft are the private organizations paying that they can keep even the newspapers off their trail? Why don’t they raid a few of those places and tfdd another thirty slot machines to the total. The small restaurant owner, who puts in a slot machine to help keep up a very poorly paying business, is exposed. while the private clubs display five or six machines in a row. What are you going to do about it. a a a THIS CALLS AT LEAST PART OF BLUFF By a Times Reader. I have been reading articles of how diligently the police force, with The Times’ co-operation, has been cleaning up the rackets of the city. You think you know so much about these rackets why don’t you look around you? Some of the biggest rackets are being played within two squares or less of your office, and I positively can show you where they have police protection. I also take notice how carefully you handle some of the big shots’ names in your writeups. Answer this in your paper and I'll tell you more. That is, if you are honestly trying to clean up rackets. This "letter is to call your bluff, for I know it absolutely will not be either read or printed. ana ASKS FOR PLACE IN BROWN DERBY SUN By A. N. Gerth. Why not give some of us out-of-town voters in the Brown Derby Contest a break in your items and mention something about votes coming from Columbus, for instance, and let the public know that you have circulation outside of the city? Another thing—why not give us out-of-town fellows as well as Indianapolis citizens who can not attend the big affair a break by printing the speech of the big kingfish? We're supporting candidates and making this election a success, so I think you should make it possible for all of us to know what the swell headed citizen speaks about. a a. a I COMPLAINS OF WAGES DRAFTSMEN GET Br a Close Observer. | I, for one, am very appreciative ' of your Message Center and think it is one of the best means we voters have of knowing the facts about our so-called benefactors who are running for office. If it were not for the Message Center, many people would not know about the methods of Arthur R. Robinson. Undoubtedly, everything report about him must be

NEEDED-A NEW DRIVER

Motorist Talks Back to Pedestrian

By Stephen R. Crane. Now look here, Helen Kay Young, why be such a •‘meanie” about motorists? You write like an intelligent person, but I am afraid that you have a single track mind. How do you expect motorists to get anywhere if we don’t occasionally turn a corner? We can’t drive straight through to another town, can we, in order to get from Pennsylvania street to Washington street? You simply see one side of the situation. Your suggestion for a third signal isn’t so bad and might be worked out after the police succeed in making jails saw-proof. Now they're busy at that and have no time for such petty arguments as yours and mine. I have a lot to say. on the other side of the subject, too. You don’t know how you make our hair stand on end, dashing back and forth, as you so graphically put it “like a frantic toad.” You have succeeded already in

the truth, because he never denied any of it, I wish you would investigate the condition under which draftsmen are employed at various work relief places and find out why they are paid so much less than the scale the government set. The government rules say $1 an hour and twenty-four hours a week, but they get $24 a week and work thirty-five hours. I would like tc know why that is. Taking advantage of trained men will cause a union organization trouble; then the Chamber of Commerce and the employers will say they are Communists. The government established the scale and is paying the money. Some of the officials here act as though the money is coming out of their pockets. Believe me, though, they and all of their friends have soft jobs and grab their pay checks every week, and they don't do anything to earn them. They spend half their time each week looking after their private affairs, and really are holding down two jobs. a a a JUST WHAT DOES THIS MAKE ROBINSON? By W. H. Wallace. I have been a daily reader of The Times for the past fifteen years. I have felt that your editorials were fearless and championed the rights of the masses until recently. For some reason you have seen fit to belittle Senator Huey P. Long by linking his name with that of Senator Robinson. ana PROPOSES CHECK ON GOLD FISHING OUTPUT By M. D. Mon. Since hogs have reached the price of $7.75 and the farmer not having any hogs to sell at that price and the government having spent many millions for not raising hogs, why would it ~ow not be feasible and beneficial to the NRA. CCC. PWA. FERA, etc. to pay raisers of gold fish not to raise gold fish? a a a SETTING US RIGHT ON JAIL AT NOBLESVILLE Bv Jerry Sheridan. Nobleaville. Is it possible to have your reporters quit calling the jail “red brick.” It is nothing of the sort, being neither red nor brick. It is made of gray stone and is easier to

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

making a left-hand turn downtown practically impossible. Are you never satisfied? We might arrange a debate before the Chamber of Commerce, but I’m afraid you might win. Men on juries and off are weak when it comes to decisions in favor of women. If you are a driver, you ought to be ashamed to stir up all this hobus pocus for we who already are downtrodden and plastered with stickers, mostly undeserved, of course. Too. you stirred up an argument at our dinner table which caused my father and me acute anguish and my mother the usual victory. I hope that the Message Center will publish this and that you’ll read it and do penance. Just when life is beginning to iron itself out, you come along and start this and now my maternal parent is busy working out a bright idea to delay traffic in the interest of pedestrians.

get out of than a brick jail for which I have considerable respect. Your photographer also erred in taking a picture of the sheriff's residence, which is red brick and calling it the jail. They are connected, but are two structures. Make the walls of our jail cold, sweating, dank, cruel, puncture proof, or anything else, but let’s forget the red brick. a a a DIRECTS SARCASM AT STREET COMMISSIONERS By R. D. F. Please remind the street commissioners that next week is fair week so that work may be started on tearing up the streets most essential for the use of fairgoers. It has evidently escaped their attention. The state highway commission is doing its part on Road 31, south of Indianapolis. a a a DISCERNS TREND To SOCIALIZED BANKING By Proletariat. The public will do well not to oppose the decision of the banks to take steps which will drive thousands of small depositors out of the banking system and into a system of hoarding currency. The country must have credit facilities for the handling of exchange, for the small man as well as for the captain of industry, and if the private banks can not supply it, the federal government can. This is one more bit of evidence that socialism is brought about through the blundering greed of capitalists and not through the agitation of radicals. A few years ago there was very little sentiment in the country for socialized banking. Today, it is growing by leaps and bounds. 1 The decision of Indianapolis bankers to charge an excessive rate for handling small accounts is not a step toward government ownership of the banking function—it is

Daily Thought

Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling—Psalms 2:11. THE act of divine worship is the inestimable pr.vilege of man, the only created being who bows in humility and adoration.—Hosea Bahou.

.AUG. 31,1934

a giant leap in that direction. It brings us years closer to the adoption of a federal banking system under which the great structure of social credit will be used for the good of all and not for the enrichment of a few individuals like the Mellons and the Arthur Browns. I once thought that I belonged to the great American middle class, but I am realizing more and more that I am one of Karl Marx's converts. a a a PROPOSES LEGALIZING SLOT MACHINES By A. A. A. I’m sure your out-of-town readers get very tired of reading your slot machine dope. What do we care who hijacked a slot machine? Why don’t you devote more of your time and space to making slot machines legal—something in the interest of taxes? Slot machines are going to be played and by a good percentage of people. Why not put a tax on them, say SSOO for the first machine and $25 for each additional machine. Then some good operator could go out and place 300 to 500 machines and pay the tax as set by the state. In my opinion sufficient taxes could be collected from slot machines to purchase all the school supplies for every child in the state. I think every state .should tax slot machines and make them legal. Why not devote some of your space along these lines? This would save money in a lot of ways, would release your reporters for gathering other items and officers could be assigned to more important duties.

So They Say

The challenge to industry today, and to all of us for that matter, is to find a way to build up the purchasing power of the American people to balance our production power.—Frances Perkins, labor secretary. This new school of statesmanship is the adolescent school, or I might call it, perhaps, the intuitive school. —Bainbridge Colby. I know no foreign languages, but I know the music of most of them. —Charlie Chaplin. You always can tell what stage a scientific investigation is in by the number of differences of opinion about it. —Charles F. Kettering, automotive engineer. Thank the Lord for the gossip in the little towns.—Dr. Paul H. Voelker, Michigan state superintendent of schools. A future European war might have its origin on Austrian soil, just as the great war had its origin on Serbian soil.—Dr. Edward Benes, foreign minister of Czechoslovakia.

QUARREL

BY RUTH PERKINS Their voices flung In cruel spite. Rolled off the tongue And bit the night, Each barbed-wire word A thousand thrusts, A pushing herd Os hatefulness. Above the stair In huddled fright We listened. Baby faces white.