Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 118, Indianapolis, Marion County, 26 September 1934 — Page 10

PAGE 10

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WEDNESDAY. SEPT. 2*. 1*24. GENERAL JOHNSON GOES Z'' 1 ENERAL JOHNSON Is out. It is better so. The NRA recently has been going to pieces. Reorganization Is needed and new blood. Another type of leadership is required. One with less bombast and more persuasion. One less facile and better grounded in economics. One less partisan and more poised. But the general should not go out of office with the idea that he is a failure. It is a case of one Job 'having been done and another now needing to be done. The same qualities which fitted him so admirably for the first Job make him unfit for the second. He put over the NRA. If there is any one who could have done that better than Hugh Johnson, nobody could find him. It was a thankless task. He was on the spot. He slaved. He stood between the President and the critics, and took the brickbats. And he did it with a courage, loyalty and unselfishness which rank him as an outstanding public servant. If he outstayed his usefulness. It was as much the President’s fault as his own—or perhaps It was the fault of the situation. There are not enough able men to go around in Washington. We do not share the opinion of his critics who think that NRA problems wall more or less solve themselves now that he is out Many of those problems are inherent In the effort to change a cut-throat business system into a cooperative one of capital-labor-government partnership. Some of these problems have been Increased by the lack of definite direction In handling them. But General Johnson’s recent indecision in part has reflected a certain policy vagueness at the White House. This season of indecision should be over. POLITICAL PANHANDLING POLITICIANS are up to their old tricks again. George B. Hills. Florida Democracy's director of finance, has written to federal employes from Florida "suggesting” they contribute a tithe of their salaries to meet the state s “quota” of the party debt. Mr. Hills did not use a pistol. He only wrote: “I trust you wall see fit to co-operate in this matter." This gentle ultimatum lost some of its threat when Secretary Wallace, whose agriculture department employes had been solcited. notified them that the civil service law protects them from such pressure and that any contributions would be voluntary. A single foray like this one would not be so disquieting If it were an isolated incident. But it seems to be part of a running campaign by the party spoilsmen. Them patronage raids are directed against both regular and emergency services of the government. President Roosevelt should stop their political panhandling. Most of his important aids have been selected with an eye to expertness rather than party regularity. Members of his official family, such as Secretaries Wallace, Ickes, Morgenthau and Perkins, and Relief Administrator Hopkins, have tried to fight off the spoilsmen. The record shows they art not strong enough to make this fight without more effective White House support. Os course, partisanship can not wholly be eliminated from any administration under our system. It can be reduced to a minimum. When the brains and energy of the administration are concentrated on pulling the nation out of depression, political patronage and panhandling should take a back seat. PRACTICAL POLITICS THE Idealist is apt to be quite a radical as long as he stays on top of his mountainpeak and surveys the promised land from a distance. Get him down off the mountain, take him over Jordan and convince him that he really is in line to occupy the palace, however, and he is pretty likely to calm down and get more or less tame. A case in point is being provided these days by Upton Sinclair. California's well-known Chamber of Commerce frightener. During the primary campaign Mr. Sinclair expounded his far-reaching “Epic” plan. Persons over 60 would be pensioned; the state sales tax would be repealed, and homes and business properties worth less than $3,000 would pay no taxes; a vast chain of communal farms would be established, and the state would buy and operate many factories. The primary election came, and when the smoke cleared Mr. Sinclair was found mounted on his charger with the nomination firmly in his hand, while his recent opponents fled to the foothills. In the days that have ensued—according to correspondence in the New York Times— Mr. Sinclair has grown milder. First he went to Hyde Park and chatted with Mr. Roosevelt. Then he went to Washington and talked with Messrs. Hopkins and Farley, and others. Then he went back to California and talked with such state Democratic leaders as George Creel, who ran against him in the primary. And now it is reported that his “Epic" plan is being primed down to fit the knobs and curves of political actualities. The pension plan is said to be gone. Real estate tax exemptions will be granted only to homes and properties assessed at less than SI,OOO. The sales tax may not be repealed. The communal-farms pfhject is being scaled down. The state-owned factories plan is undergoing a sea change that leaves it looking remarkably like the scheme already adopted in other parts of the country under FERA auspices In other words, Mr. Sinclair has ceased to be a radical and has become a liberal. Asa remit. hit chances of being California's next Goswrnor are considerably enhanced. And, as pother result, we get a demonstration of how,

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the actual prospect of victory can file the sharp comers off of the meet visionary of idealists. THE PUBLICS BUSINESS A LITTLE interchange of remarks between a questioner and a witness at the senate munitions investigation hearing the other day underlined an aspect of the situation which we should keep constantly in mind. The witness was objecting to having private papers and private conversations touching on the munitions business spread on the record. Senator Homer T. Bone of Washington Jhen pointed out: "No business that affects the welfare of the world can be said to be private.” And that la precisely the point. This investigation should go forward to the very end. no matter who is disturbed or displeased by its revelations. The munitions business has such a direct and profound effect on the lives and fortunes of innocent bystanders that it can not be protected by the reticences which might apply to ordinary businesses. CORNERED WOLVES IF you can believe John Landesco, famous Chicago criminologist, we are apt to get a very bad outbreak of crimes of violence, such as bank robberies and large-scale holdups, in the near future. Oddly enough, this will come because the underworld is at last definitely on the run. The booze racket, as a steady source of revenue for gangsters, is fading. The underworld has at last been convinced that kidnaping is too risky. The whole business of crime Is suffering a severe depression. Gangs are breaking up, dissolving, losing their money and their power. And it is right at such, a moment, says Mr. Landesco, that gangs- are most dangerous. Being desperate, they will try almost anything. Consequently, this criminologist believes we shall have anew “crime wave” shortly—a crime wave which, paradoxically, will testify to the efficacy of our drive to break up organized crime. NOT ENOUGH FIGURES IN its efforts to improve its information services the federal government should not overlook the statistical chaos that long has plagued all in search of economic facts. There is a lack of teamwork among government agencies. The bureau of labor statistics issues its report on the retail cost of food with 1913 as an index base. The same bureau uses 1926 as a base for its wholesale price reports. Except the department of agriculture, practically all government and private services use a post-war base. The commerce department bases its business trends reports on the years 1923-25, as does the federal reserve In its production reports. The private national industrial conference board uses 1923. Dr. Lubin, labor department statistician, explains that he clings to the pre-war index to conform to the agricultural adjustment administration's reports on farm income. The AAA, desiring to pull farm income back to 1909-14 “parity,” apparently will not adopt the general post-war index. Dr. Lubin and other experts have improved the federal statistical services. But the figures are still inadequate. For an administration and nation trying to steer a course away from the rocks of depression it is short-sighted to rely on anything less than reliable charts. MORE ELECTRICITY DIRECT action methods of the Tennessee Valley Authority are showing results. After the TVA demonstrated how cheaply electric power could be sold at a profit, pri-vately-owned utilities in the Tennessee Valley region responded to public pressure and reduced their own rates. Now it is estimated that the users of electricity have been saved $16,000,000 through rate cuts in Tennessee, Ohio, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Louisiana, Missouri, Indiana and Illinois. While TVA does not deserve all the credit for these savings to consumers, there is no question of the strong influence it exerted. These lower rates may not mean less profits to the private utilities. It is probable that the consumers will plow the savings back into greater use of electricity. Cheaper rates will enable them to make greater use of fans and electric ice boxes, washing machines and vacuum cleaners, milking machines and pumps. If so, the result will be a net gain in relief from home and farm drudgery—and better business. QUITE UNTRUE A LETTER sent President Roosevelt by one James True, head of what is called "America First, Inc.,” asks dismissal of a number of prominent government officials on the ground of their membership in the American Civil Liberties Union. Os course, neither these useful federal servants nor the union needs defending from the absurd charge of supporting "subversive movements.” But it is not amiss to remind Mr. True that when the Lusk committee made this charge against the A. C. L. U„ congress laughed it out of court. The union is out to defend all minorities, whether of the right or left, in their constitutional privileges to free expression of opinion in our democracy. "You know perfectly well,” the A. C. L. U. wired to Mr. True, “that our purpose is to defend free speech, free press and free assembly for all minority groups, radicals or reactionaries, Communists, Nazis, or America First Inkslingers.” The American Civil Liberties Union is one of the few remaining organizations in ths country old-fashioned enough to believe in and to fight for the Dill of rights. The S2OO a month pension movement for people over 60 is a safe idea, because few of us will be able to worry through paying the necessary tax that long. Could "Midsumer Night’s Dream,” being produced in Hollywood, have any connection with Upton Sinclair's recovery program? We've just heard of a screen star who has never worked in a 10-cent store, waited months in a casting office, nor lived across the street six years before the studios discovered her. • The women's western pocket billiard tournament to be held in Chicago ought to reveal great skill—women are experts at getting into pockets. , ir

Liberal Viewpoint -BY DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES '

IN. numerous columns I have endeavored to drive home the fact that the major weakness of the present day capitalism is the dominion of speculative finance over American industry, transportation, utilities, mining and the like. It is the triumph of the spirit of the gambling casino over the industrial philosophy represented by, say, Carnegie, or, even better, Henry Ford. Industrial capitalism may liave forgotten the consumer to a considerable degree in its zeal for production, but finance capitalism ignores the fundamental interests, of both producers and consumers. Consequently) when the gambling orgy is over, the whole economic system folds up. The one substantial core of capitalism is industrial production and the related transportation system. When this is gutted and its buttresses kicked away, just about what has happened as the result of the reign of predatory finance for a generation, there is little vitality left in the system. It may be good for another and final gambling spurt, such as that predicted by Major Angas, but tigs is quite a different thing from real recovery and rejuvenation. an a NOT a few business men are longing today for a return of what Fofrest Davis once called the "New Jerusalem days” of Calvin Coolidge. But in his striking book on "The Decline of American Capitalism” (Covici-Friede), Lewis Corey shows that industry was not relatively prosperous even in the Coolidge period. The real cream of the economic boom was skimmed off by the speculators. Taking the year 1923 as the index year, he finds that the profits of non-financial corporations were in 1929 only 14.1 per cent higher than they were in 1923. In fact, there were some bad slumps in 1924 and in 192 T. In contrast to this very low and relatively static record of nonfinancial corporations, we find that the profits of financial corporations were 177.3 per cent higher in 1929 than in 1923, while speculate e profits were no less than 300.3 per cent above what they were in 1923. Moreover, the combined profits of financial corporations and of the speculators actually totalled, believe it or not, nearly a billion and a half dollars more than the profits of all the 300,000 non-financial corporations in the United States. Mr. Corey is well justified in his observation that: "It is because of these conditions that the financial oligarchs use people’s money to speculate, to promote, to get control of combinations.” nun THE following table of speculative profits will indicate where the njoney was made during the Coolidge regime: —Speculative Profits — Year (Millions) Index 1923 $1,172 100.0 1924 $1,513 129.0 1925 $2,932 250.6 1926 $2,378 203.2 1927 $2,894 ■ 247.4 1928 $4,807 410.8 1929 $4,684 400.3 Added to this $4,584,000,000 of speculative profits in 1929 were $2,438,000,000 of profits of financial corporations as over against only $5,645,000,000 of profits for all the non-financial corporations in the United States. If the business men of the United States had even some slight capacity to appreciate the facts and to face reality, they would not be fighting the laborers or farmers. They would understand that these American masses are the persons upon whom we must rely to buy their goods. Instead of wage cutting and strike breaking tactics, they would turn upon the predatory financial gamblers who have brought sound American industry to its knees. If they tried to break any strike, it would be the great strike of capital now in full bloom. If the business men do not rub open their eyes to their real enemies under the capitalistic system, they will be facing another formidable enemy which represents quite a different system.

Capital Capers

BY GEORGE ABELL

WASHINGTON’S official and diplomatic circles, always agog about something—whether it’s international politics, senatorial investigations or sport—have turned their attention in a big way to the yacht races off Newport. The British embassy is, quite naturally, the most interested embassy in town. You can’t walk into that imposing structure without running into a feverish discussion about jibs, top gallants, Marconi rigs and the proper way to tack in a stiff breeze. Sir Ronald Lindsay, his Britannic majesty’s ambassador, shows no signs of coming home. He calls up once or twice to find out how things are going, and receives a few cables. . But if he's worried about anything, it must be the fact that Rainbow won the third race. Nobody at the embassy seems at all concerned any more about the munitions probe. Even the embassy doormen are intensely concerned about the race. “Hi couldn’t ’ave been more surprised,” exclaimed one man, referring to Rainbow’s winning the last race, “his ’is majesty’s picture ’ad walked down from the wall.” He referred to the great ceremonial portrait of King George V which presides magnificently over the hall of the embassy. Indeed, if his majesty were quite simply to step down from the canvas and place a small bet on the Endeavour with Mr. Denis SmithBingham or Mr. H. W. A. Freese-Pennefather, embassy secretaries, only the British would be surprised. To an American observer, all the English are showing such enthusiasm, it would seem almost natural. NOTE: Embassy yachtsmen yesterday were regaled with two choice bits of news over their gin and tonics: I—Sir Ronald Lindsay wore the Order of St. Michael and St. George at a dinner given by Dr. and Mrs. Alexander Hamilton Rice at their villa, Miramar, in Newport. 2—T. O. M. Sopwith, owner of the Endeavour, was reported waiting impatiently for the arrival of anew Genoa jib to take the place of a badly fitting headsail. nan rpo the state department through a downpour JL of rain which delayed the scheduled opening of the President’s cup regatta, went various diplomats. Soviet Ambassador Troyanovsky arrived to discuss Russian debts with Secretary of State Hull. Muffled to the ears in a gray raincoat, and wearing a rain-absorbing black hat, Envoy Troyanovsky seemed in good spirits, but preserved his customary reserve toward the press. Issuing from Secretary Hull’s office, he relaxed sufficiently to say: “I am a leetle more hopeful.” Dapper, smiling Ambassador Augusto Rosso of Italy arrived with a wave of the hand and some bright remarks about nothing in particular. Quizzed about international politics, he declaimed lightly: “International politics? I haven’t paid much attention to international affairs in Rome. I went there and had a quick talk wdth the government (read: Mussolini) and then departed for a leave of absence. I left no address. That is the only way to enjoy a leave of absence.” Envoy Rosso is making elaborate plans for a reception he will give tomorrow in honor of 350 Italian students who are arriving here for a visit. Counselor Keinosuke Fujii of Japan came to the department for a quiet talk about the trouble Japanese settlers are having with embattled farmers in Arizona. He came, departed noiselessly, leaving only the memory of his faint but pleasing smile. The Italian scientist who found vitamin M in an onion ought to locate the rest of the alphabet in garlic. China produced 561,160 hockey sticks last year. If the Chinese had only used them in their war with Japan, things might have been different.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES .

F-pv| TV /r i I* 1 wholly disapprove of what you say and will 1 j\j_6SS£l£[6 tenter ldefend to the death your right to say it.—-Voltaire. J

(Timet readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Hake pour letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to SSO words or less.J nan MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION SETUP ATTACKED By Observer. The national housing act gives authority for the creation of national mortgage associations. These associations are to have a capital structure of $5,000,000, which shall be evidenced by $5,000,000 in government bonds. The association has power to issue and sell to the public $5,000,000 of its own bonds to buy $5,000,000 of mortgages made by building and loan associations, banks and trust companies, insurance companies or other lenders. Without increasing its own capital, which is nothing more than being a creditor of Uncle Sam, and drawing interest from the government on such capital, the associations may issue twelve times their original bond capital in additional bonds of their own, to sell to the public. The proceeds of the bond sales are to be used in buying mortgages from other institutions. Not so long ago, the government authorized private parties to organize a similar set-up known as Federal Land banks. These banks sold bonds to the public and loaned the money at higher rates to the American farmers. Many a sucker fell for the name “federal,” buying the bonds upon the supposition that they were isued by government owned institutions, which they were not. When the earnings of the farmers, reflected in prices for farm products, fell so low that repayment of the loans by the farmers became impossible, these bonds, sold to the public at 100 cents on the dollar, were forced down to as low as 30 cents in the open market. A large percentage of these bonds were bought in by Federal Land banks at very low figures, after the banks had foreclosed farmers’ mortgages. This ruined the price of farm land but showed a profit to the banks. Additional money was made available to these banks by congress. It was the inability of the farmers to get a price for farm products large enough to meet his debt that started the fireworks. The new associations will very likely find a much deeper problem than the land banks, unless Uncle Sam can assure to the farmers and city borrowers a sufficient income to pay the debts. It is not more machinery to get us into debt that we need, but earning power to keep the machine in operation. We know a lot about rackets, but give little thought to sound economics. If these banks can issue bonds on federal debts, why not let the borrowers issue bonds on their debts on farms and homes? This is more printing press “credit currency,” of which we had plenty in 1929. The government will guarantee these bank bonds, but not the income necessary to pay them. We are covering up a boil instead of lancing it. What the natural forces will do to this set-up will be plenty. Suckers will bite. nan NEGRO’S POLITICAL POSITION STATED Br Benjamin A. Osborne. During the ensuing campaign the Negro voter will have the time of his life. What really amuses him is the apparant failure of high Republican partisans to differeniate between the Negro of 1861 and the Negro of 1934. Our Republican

GETTING STRONGER

Utiiity Patrons Pay Its Taxes

By a Consumer. Along with the monthly bill distributed to its patrons for September by the Indianapolis Power and Light Company came a most interesting circular letter under the heading, ‘‘s2 a Minute Paid in Taxes,” setting out some illuminating information in relation to the taxes paid by the company in 1933. The statement says that the company paid almost one-six-teenth of all the taxes levied in Marion county, which amount was more than the combined taxes of any ten industrial companies in the county; was also more than was paid by all the railroads, and more than twice that paid by any other \itility. Further information is that taxes exceeded the total revenue of the year for street lighting and all commercial ligheing, including that from all its customers in the forty-seven communities it serves outside of Indianapolis. Also, that these taxes exceeded by $223,000 the cost of all the coal (7,300 carloads, making a train forty miles long) burned during the year; that they were equal to more than 80 per cent of the total pay roll for the year of the 1,007 employes of the company. The writer has not verified the above figures. The final statement was that these taxes helped support the schools, police and fire departments, to maintain libraries, as well as other public purposes, indicating by this that the company was serving a beneficent public purpose, in addition to its service to its patrons. ' Besides being interesting, as well as a quite formidable state-

friends don’t seem to realize that the issues of 1861 are dead. They seem to forget that the Negro of 1861 was an untutored slave who could not decipher his own name, whereas the Negro of today represents the highest in culture and the highest in civilization. Believe it or not, the Negro has changed himself from an untutored slave to one of the most intellectual of men and of races; he is able to match his culture with the culture of any other race. You can not very well educate a man and continue to underestimate his intelligence. What the Negro was satisfied with eighty or sixty years ago does not satisfy him now. The Negro is looking forward to the highest things, looking forward to the highest goal. What is good for others is also good for him, but the straw that breaks the camel’s back is the Republican orator who dares to give the Negro a lecture on the Constitution of the United States. Observant Negroes are asking, “Why are Republicans working themselves into a frenzy about the Constitution? Is it because the sacred document has been woefully neglected during the Harding-Cool-idge-Hoover administrations, or is it because a Democratic President is successfully applying the constitutional ideal, ‘Equal rights to all and special privileges to none?’” a a a ENUMERATES FAILURES OF DEMOCRATS By Mrs. M. E. McCarthy. I would like to say a few words to A Reformed Republican. If you ever were a Republican and voted Democratic the last election, it probably was for the same reason the most of the Republicans tu®ed Democrats, namely, to bring back saloons ■

ment, indicating the importance of the company as a source of taxation, it is also interesting in what is not revealed by these very significant figures. The gross taxes of the company for 1933 amounted to $1,160,778, which included $233,332 paid as federal taxes, leaving $927,444 paid in Marion county, including Indianapolis and other local units, , All of these taxes, by order of the public service commission and court rulings, are carried as an overhead expense to be charged up in rates to customers. That is, the Indianapolis Power and Light Company collected this sum of money from its customers to pay taxes, the customers, therefore, paying taxes to the company that otherwise they would have paid direct to taxing units, only those escaping who were not patrons of the company. It is these half-truth statements issued by utilities that are so misleading to the public. The thought back of this circular letter is to call attention to the importance of the utility as a source of taxes, thus relieving other property, and to convey the impression that all these taxes would be lost under public ownership of utilities. It does not necessarily follow that local taxes would not continue to be paid under public ownership, but since it is the consumer who pays the taxes in any event, if the publicly owned utility is relieved of direct taxes the rates would be lowered correspondingly, leaving the consumertaxpayer to pay his taxes direct rather than through the rates which are ifcade to include taxes. In other words, what he pays in taxes he saves in utility rates.

and reduce taxes. I wonder how many got lower taxes? As for Mr. Roosevelt sitting in front of a cheerful fire while he worked out his relief plan, I have never heard of President Roosevelt making himself uncomfortable. What have the Democrats done for us? I’ll tell you. The NRA lowered more wages than it raised; it is the direct cause of more strikes than any other administration ever has known. It has raised the price of living, clothing and the number of persons living off the county. It has put many small business men out of business. The Democrats scheme of restoring prosperity by cutting down production, shows how little they know. They are trying to give the hungry bread by destroying wheat. They spend millions of dollars to irrigate and fight crop pests and then hire persons to violate the laws of nature by destroying what God has given us. We will only be $35,000,000,000 in debt, but they will tax the consumer so we’ll soon be out of the depression, and as they will never be in office again the coming generation and the Republicans can worry about the debt.

Daily Thought

Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.—Phiiippians, 4:5. THE good need fear no law; It is his safety and the bad man’s awe.—Ben Jorison.

.SEPT. 26, 1934

CADLE DENIES KLAN GAVE HIM FLAG By a Subscriber. I understand the women of Hoosier Capitol Klan, No. 12, gave Howard E. Cadle of Cadle tabernacle a beautiful new silk flag with a solid brass dagger on top of the staff, but for some reason Mr. Cadle failed to announce to his Sunday afternoon audience who gave it. I wonder why? Who are you fooling, Mr. Cadle? I wonder. Editor’s Note—Mr. Cadle told The Indianapolis Times in answer to this letter that he had received a flag from the women of his choir some two or three months ago. The gift was announced from the platform, he declared. He added emphatically that he never had received a flag from the klan. nan WORK SITUATION AT HOSPITAL EXPLAINED By a Jobless Taxpayer. Not long ago I applied at the Central State hospital for employment and was told that the institution didn’t have any funds ~nd couldn’t hire any one. I was told later that the officials and some of the employes receive raises in pay from sls to SIOO a month. Where did that money come from? I understand that four men working in the boiler room twelve hours a day, seven days a week, and get only about 26 cents an hour. Where is the NRA and what does it mean? I wonder how some of the officials would like to work that many hours. Editor’s Note—Dr. Max A. Bahr, hospital superintendent, said that a committee from the five .tate hospitals has put into effect an equalized wage scale at the institutions. This agreement raised some wages at the Central State hospital. The men in the boiler room are on duty twelve hours a day and receive $96 a month salary, but do not actually work each of the twelve hours. Dr. Bahr pointed out that the men in the boiler room are on a twelvehour shift in case of accident and have not complained to him of their work.

Sc They Say

Within the last months twelve or fifteen people have been dismissed from the staff of the relief administration for political activity. William Hodson, New York public welfare commissioner. There is little chance for me to become cocksure and self-satisfied. Helen Hayes, stage and screen star. This is certainly not the partnership that was held out to industry when the NRA was formed —Roger A. Selby, president of the Shoe Mahufacturers Association.

Inadequate

BY HARRIET SCOTT OLINICK Beside this pool of purple depth You should wax romantic. The fountain tinkles to the moon, But you speak words pedantic. t The stars have found this pool a mirror. They preen; the waters flutter. Beauty, beauty is slipping past! Your words are bread and butter.