Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 160, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 November 1934 — Page 12

PAGE 12

The Indianapolis Times <A M HIPTA-HOW ARK NEW SFAPEIt) boy w. Howard ........... TAI.COTT POW F.I.L Editor EARL D. BAKER Builqcm Manager

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WEDNESDAY NO'.TMHF.F 14. IM4 “THE OLD MEN” THIS is our lot JI we live so long and labour unto the end— That e outlive the impatient years and the much too petient friend: And because we know we have breath in our mouth and think we have thoughts in our head, We shall assume that we are alive, whereas we are really dead. Although Rudyard Kipling wrote these lines in 1902 his verse is a perfect description of the Republican leadership in Indiana in 1934. The party is headed by old men whose sinews are weak as orange strings, whose minds started to freeze with McKinley and reached complete petrification with Coolidge. The years have taught them nothing. We shall not acknowledge that old stars lade or brighter planets arise (That the sere bush buds or the desert blooms or the ancient well-head dries, Or any new compass wherewith new men adventure ncath new skies. Gavin Payne, Jim Watson or even Boss Coflm might have spoken those sentences. Their mental approach to new ideas is that of the savage who kills all strangers because he fears the unfamiliar. They would hold society and government in the permanent suspense of things as th**y were ten years ago. We shall lift up the ropes that constrained our youth, to bind on our children’s hands; We shall call to the water below the bridges to return and replenish our lands; We shall harness horses 'death’s own * pale horses; and scholarly plough the sands. Well, the Old Guard called upon the water to return at the last election. They were so stupid that they did not realize it had all . flowed away to sea. that the water which once turned the mill-wheel is gone forever. They talker, of the Constitution as though it were a legalistic jig-saw puzzle which only they could put together. The words they used most frequently in the campaign were “stop” and "back.” We shall peck out and discuss and dissect, and evert and extrude to our mind. The flaccid tissues of long-dead issues offensive to God and mankind—(Precisely like vultures over an ox that the army has left behind.! Think back on the campaign which has ended recently. Isn't that precisely what the Republican leadership did? Wasn't their cry the complaint of special privilege? Did they offer a single constructive suggestion? We shall make walk preposterous ghosts of the glones we once created — Immodestly smearing from muddled palettes amazing pigments mismated— And our friends will weep when we ask them with boasts if our natural force be abated. Yes, these old men went before the voters with nothing but tales of their departed splendor. They talked about the prosperity of the twenties. They even got back to Abraham Lincoln, that great humanitarian, whose spirit must have been troubled as he saw* his party's callous neglect of millions of suffering unemployed. The Lamp of our Youth will be utterly out, but we shall subsist on the smell of it; And whatever we do, we shall fold our hands and suck our gums and think well of It. Yes. we shall be perfectly pleased with our work, and that is the Perfectest Hell of it! No, they acknowledge no mistakes on their part. Blinded with .he smoke of prejudice they sit in their tepees congratulating themselves, while all unknowing to them the tribes have marched away. The Watsons, the Paynes and the Coffins will not voluntarily relinquish their leadership. It is a revolting spectacle to see these old men still clrtchmg the few rags of power they have left. But that is the way witn ancients. As their arteries harden and their cortexes become brittle they lose every passion, but acquisitiveness. Give them a few straws of vnealth and influence and they mumble happily over them until the arrival of a laggard Death. This might be harmless enough except that their palsied hands are laid across the whole principle of two-party government. Their grip, feeble as it is. gradually is strangling Indiana Republicanism. Primitive people used to kill those who were too old to keep up with the march. Moderns are not so harsh. They merely retire the aged. It is high time that these old leaders be retired permanently, rhere are enough young, vigorous, progressive Republicans in this state to rejuvenate the party. But they must act NOW before it is too late. OPPOSITION NEEDED JL POLITICAL party is the instrument through which citizens impose their will on their government. Asa matter of practical politics, it has to operate through a horde of small officeholders and a small group of leaders. with a few financial supporters in the . background. Once in a while it happens that this party machinery will travel in one direction while the great mass of the people are traveling the other way. When it happens, the party can do one of Just two things; it can change its direction or it can pass out of existence. It almost looks as ts the Republican party today were facing such a situation. To be sure, there have been landslide elec- > tions in this country before. From 1920 through 1928. the Democrats suffered a series of crushing reverses—to revive and return in T triumph in 1932. But what has happened to the Grand Old Party is something else again. The people have been through four very £ ira years. These year* not only trough^

much suffering and hardship to many people; they made a great many people profoundly dissatisfied with the past and highly distrustful of the future. The effects, by now, are obvious. The people are no longer content to be wooed in the old phrases, nor do they fear proposals which are new and untried. They want somebody, somehow, to do something that will make a repetition of the recent disaster impossible. There we have the explanation of the current landslide. Most of the Republican leaders let themselves appear in the position of those who offer nothing but criticism. No policy was offered—except, by implication, the policy of returning to the old ways. Since the overwhelming mass of the people were going in the other direction, we got a landslide. Now when a nation gets into a mood like ours, it may go on and do something great and fine—or it may run right into a deep di.cn. It is precisely for that reason that a revival of the Republican party is so greatly needed. There is a place for an intelligent and aggressive conservative party—a party to speak for those who feel that we may go too fast In our Journey toward anew social order and who do not feel that the depression hafr made ail of our old institutions worthless. The Republican party can perform that function; but only if it heeds the warning of the election, adjusts itself to the temper of the people and stops trying to swim directly against the current. FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS AT today s national conference in Washington the administration doubtless will avow again its intention of urging upon the new congress a program of laws to meet the pressing problems of want and insecurity. The program by now should be formulated, at least as to general principles. The United States is years behind other industrial countries in establishing a system to mitigate the hazards of unemployment. Indigent old age, widowhood, and sickness. The fifth winter of depression finds us still with no .better answer to the suffering of several million jobless and their families than costly, degrading and inadequate poor relief handouts. Last winter, when congress wanted to pass the Wagner-Lewis and Dill-Connery bills, the White House urged delay until a broader security program could be worked out. Administration experts have been working on such a program since last July. ■Whatever the final details of the plan, it is apparent that state co-operation will be needed. The year 1935 will be a big legislative year. Out of the forty-eight legislatures, forty-three meet next spring. Some nine of the states have taken imtial steps toward unemployment insurance laws, and have commissions at work preparing legislation. If security is to be worked out under a federal-state co-operative plan the states should know just what congress proposes before spring. There is little effective opposition now to an American plan for economic security. Even those who fear its cost know that it will be cheaper than the present way, cheaper in dollars as well as in human values. On the other hand, many suffering citizens are so aroused that they are willing to back the most fantastic of crack-pot schemes, such as the Townsend plan, if necessary. With forthright leadership from both the White House and congress a sound program can be adopted in the early days of the new session. Social security should be made the first order of business of the new congress. TOWARD THE FUTURE 'T'HE ordinary citizen sometimes has trouble figuring out exactly what all of these high-speed airplane flights across the continent are worth. Colonel Roscoe Turner has shown that a good man in a good plane can get from ocean to ocean in considerably less time than the span between sunrise and sunset; now Eddie Rickenbacker puts New York within twelve hours of Los Angeles. But many people still are wondering whether these achievements have any special value except as spectacular stunts. The answer is that they are necessary experimental steps in the development of aviation as a reliable means of high-speed transportation. Our country is so vast, and its spaces are so great, that it needs that kind of transportation very much indeed; and the Turners and Rickenbackers are simply performing the experiments which make it possible. The speeds they make today will be made tomorrow by regular commercial airlines. HUEY LONG COLLECTS WHEN the football team of Louisiana State university went up to Nashville, Tenn., to play the Vanderbilt team. Senator Huey Long made it possible for the team's rooters to go along by loaning $7 apiece to some 500 students. Any one who has ever had much experience with the attitude of college students toward small loans of this kind must have doubted that the Kingfish would ever see much of his money again. But either the Kingfish is an able debt collector, or the Louisiana State Jads are a little more conscientious than their brethren on other campuses; for the loans are actually being repaid. The senator doubts that he will lose even SIOO. A man who can loan $7 apiece to 500 college boys and get practically all of it back is nothing less than genius at finance. BANKER, NEW STYLE PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S appointment of Marnner S. Eccles as governor of the federal reserve board promotes another strong man in the administration. Like Wallace, Ickes, Richberg and others, he is an ex-Re-publican. Mr. Eccles is neither politician nor yesman. He comes from Utah, not from Wall Street. He is young, aggressive and statesmanlike in his ability to see the whole picture of recovery and reconstruction. He is a banker ana business man of the new school. Mr. Eccles’ introduction to Washington was through his testimony before the senate finance committee on Feb. 24. 1933. One week before President Roosevelt was inaugurated, he urged a general program that turned out to be almost identical with that of the New Deal. He advocated a huge public works program, control of industry similar to NR A, a tum program much like the AAA's, regulation

of the security market, farm mortgage refinancing, bank deposit guarantee, unemployment relief. • He also favored cancellation of war debts and a redistribution of wealth through taxation. But such taxation, he thinks, should await recovery. He favors strengthening the government's control over the federal reserve sys’em rather than a central bank, and would give the federal reserve board more power over member tank administration and open market operations. He does not fear monetary experimentation. He believes that capitalism must be modified to work in the machine age. “We must think,” he told the senators, “in terms of the scientific, technological, interdependent machine age, which can only survive and function under a modified capitalistic system controlled and regulated from the top by the government.” Obviously he is anew style banker, far to the left of other governors of the federal reserve. We wish him success. ■ FOR BETTER LEGISLATION SENATOR GEORGE W. NORRIS has been fighting for anew governmental system in Nebraska, under which the traditional two-chamber legislature would be replaced by a single law-makir.g body. The American Legislators’ Association recently conducted an interesting little poll on the subject. The association found that members of state legislatures—who would stand to lose their jobs if such a scheme were adopted—were against it by approximately three to one. On the other hand, professors of political science—woh have no conceivable ax to grind, either way—favored it by a majority of about six to one. The result of the poll leaves one with the feeling that the proposition might well be worth consideration by other states. MERCY FOR GANGSTER STATES which provide capital punishment for the crime of murder usually have a law under which a jury convicting a man of first degree murder can add to its verdict a recommendation for mercy. Such a recommendation prevents the death penalty, making life imprisonment mandatory. A provision of that kind is essential. But the things juries do with it are some times very hard to understand. A jury in Toledo, 0., recently tried a big shot gangster. He was accused of having directed the killing of four other gangsters, in typical gangland style. The jury found him guilty—but recommended mercy. Offhand, one would think a gangster the last person to deserve such a recommendation. He was either guilty of the murder or not guilty. If not guilty, he deserved acquittal; if guilty, it is hard to think of any reason why the jury should go out of its way to extend leniency to him. Holland has banned the use of the word “Dutch,” in reference to it, so either you or your partner will have to treat while you're in that country. Starting boys in military training at the age of 8, as Mussolini is doing, is a good idea, since wooden guns have come into use not just to play with. Wohien still seem to be going to Reno for their divorces, after their husbands have told them to go somewhere else. Ever since the abdication of King Alfonso, the Spaniards seem to be finding more fun in revolutions than ic bull fights.

Capital Capers

BY GEORGE ABELL

r T'HE election will make important changes in the general makeup of political and social gatherings this winter. The return of the vivacious, dynamic Isabella Greenway (Queen Isabella, as some friends term her) was welcomed by a large group. She has many warm adherents and partisans in the capital, and is undoubtedly one of the most interesting women in congress. Old friends hailed with enthusiasm news that Peter Goelet Gerry, wealthy and socially prominent Democrat, will be a member of the next congress. Gerry served in the senate from 1916 to 1918 and was beaten by Felix Hebert in 1928. Now, in turn, he has beaten Hebert. His first wife, incidentally, was the very charming Mrs. Sumner Welles, who is now married to the assistant secretary of state. Senator Dave Reed’s defeat in Pennsylvania was a distinct loss from a social viewpoint, since the brilliant Dave entertained superbly in his S-street mansion. Not only was he regarded as one of the few good speakers in congress, but prominent hostesses in the capital were delighted to have him as a dinner partner. His conversation was scintillating. Professional southerners are patting each other on the back at the re-election of Senator Harry Flood Byrd- of Virginia, suh! He isn’t much of an asset at dinner parties, but he is courteous, well-bred and knows all about the traditions of the old dominion. Re-election of Senator William H. King of Utah was a pleasure to a score of legations and embassies where the legislator is to be seen on frequent occasions bowing poiitely over cups of after-dinner coffee. a a a THERE was once a man elected to congress who brought his cow with him. Returns j would indicate that no cows will arrive in Washj ington for the social season, but plenty of good clean fun is promised between working sessions. The inevitable carnation of Dr. Royal S. Copeland again will twinkle daily in his coat lapel. When the New York senator forgets to wear his flower, it’s always worth a line to columnists. Senator Bilbo is expected to furnish more amusement than Huey Long, and scribes are sharpening their wits and their pencils waiting for his first wise-cracks. Will Rogers is coming back from Oklahoma, and—although he is not the humorist—he may afford as much humor as the original Mr. Rogers. Indeed, a certain number of capital correspondents are prepared to demand it of him. Bushv-haired Senator Park Trammell of Florida will be on hand again to display his tonsoral elegance for the edification of barbers and art critics in the galleries. BUB SCORES of friends regret the defeat of Representative Fred Britten, jovial outspoken Republican, by a man named McAndrews. Fred (despite propaganda for Senator Barbour and Representative Monaghan) was the best fistfighter in congress, gave good parties, consistently stood for a bigger and better navy, and was not afraid to say what he believed. He had more fnends among Democrats than many Democrats. Representative Bob Bacon (whose brother was defeated for Governor of Massachusetts) will be ■ back, much to the enjoyment of the socialpolitical strata of the capital. Not many congressmen mingle in Washington society. Bob Bacon does. He is one of the few. Without going into the political. aspects, It may be stated that the elections will not in any way affect smart society here. Things will go on as ever. At least no congressman Is bringing a cow with him.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

(Times readers are mvited to express their views in these columns. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. I.imit them to 250 words or less.) BBS REQUESTS FACTS ON CITY’S FINANCES. By Voter and Taxpayer. Please ascertain and print the facts in “Message. Center” as to the truth or falsity of the statement in your paper of Nov. 7 of Max Young concerning the present city administration making bond issues for the purpose of paying current bills instead of using the fund that was established by law. If it is true, then please state (if possible) what was or is being done with the city’s income from the many sources of revenue. Mr. Young seems to have the correct lineup on the matter, however, I think out of courtesy to the new administration taking office soon that there should be an audit made in city’s finances and the ways of doing business, so that the taxpayers might have a glimpse at it once in a lifetime at any rate. An audit of city’s finances every four years would, in my estimation, simplify the future campaigning for mayor, as Mayor Sullivan must have needed a rest after all the weeks of laborious work that he underwent in explaining his and Slack's administrations. B B B CO-OPERATION IS SECRET OF NATION’S PROSPERITY By Times Reader. The reason for our economic debacle lies in the fact that society moves too slowly in making social changes necessary to maintain an economic balance. We are bound by the chains of precedent, habits and shallow thinking. Our personal interest looms larger than our social interest. We fail to realize that economic liberty rests upon the same foundation as political and personal liberty. We speak of our independence politically as though we could do anything we Society would break up at once if* every one were allowed/to do as he pleased. The restrictions placed upon personal liberty insures a larger individual and collective liberty. The business man who claims he runs his own business as he pleases, won't run it very long unless he runs it to please his patrons. Neither can he get the co-opera-tion of others in the operation of the business, unless he gives consideration to the wishes of his employes. He is far from independent in using his own ideas. If his ideas fail to meet approval of others, the business will fail. Failure to meet changing conditions is frequently the cause of bankruptcy. Economic independence is a myth in an interdependent social order. Individualism run amuck is responsible for our failure to maintain economic balance. Those who succeed in gaining the greatest amount of co-operation from others in their business are most likely to succeed. If this is good business for any single business, it is much more true of our entire business structure. When we are willing to change from individual economic control to social co-operation we shall be able j to create continuous prosperity. B B B PROTESTS ASSERTION WAR VETERANS GET “BREAKS” By Mrs. Thorntown. I read a letter some time ago in which someone said our World war ; veterans were being well taken care of. Now I don't know what the writer meant when he said “well,” because if he would make a few inquiries he might change his mind. I have a cou i who veot oversea*

THE NEXT QUESTION BEFORE THE HOUSE!

The Message Center

New Deal Is ‘ Failure ’

By Roy Brown. When the New Dealers started off with their recovery program, I was living and working at the same place that I have been for more than eleven years. I was very much interested, regardless of my political views and I never have tried to hinder in any way. In fact, I would welcome good times, regardless of what political party brought them. But it was my opinion at the start of the New Deal that it would not belong until the loyal Democrats would be trying to tell us that everything is o. k. and to give them more time and things were not as bad they could be. and if you don't like our plan, you can go somewhere else. These are the things that the political plum pickers are telling us here. Mr. Russell, on Nov. 8, wanted to know where I have been the last year and a half. I have been here for the last eleven years, and the last year and a half have been just

and spent eighteen months in the mudholes, slept in pig pens, and ate moldy bread and iots of musty foods that most persons would not even feed to their dogs. When he went over he was a strong, healthy young man; when he came back he was a wreck. He looked older than his father and could not speak a word. He had been gassed, and in a very short time his hair, which formerly had been black as coal, turned snow white. He has tried several times to get a pension, but never has been able to do so. If ever any one needed it, he does. Last uunter he had to ask for help from the relief. How many more are there like him? There are several persons in Thorntown who are being taken care of in the same way. You don’t have to go far to find them. The thing to do is to throw all the veterans out of the hospitals. It would cut expenses for the government. They are no good anyway. Let them starve or go on relief. They were O. K. when they were called to defend our country, but that has been a long time ago. We have forgotten what a fine bunch of young men answered that call. They were promised their jobs when they got back. In fact, they were promised lots of things that they never have received. If they have been lucky enough to get pensions, they have been thrown out of the hospitals. B B B PUBLIC INDIFFERENCE IS SCORED BY READER By H. U Obviously The Times well can afford to continue its policy of fairness toward Socialist and Communist writers. In the election, The Times about had its own way. Evidently generosity pays. In Indiana there are men who might, with profit, study the psychology involved. In accepting each man's censure, I sometimes marvel at the patience of The Times. In spite of all of us who try to give orders to this newspaper. it probably will continue to act as honor and common sense demand. Mr. Editor, you say you value the criticism of a minority. We will do our best to be an energetic minority. Wise Democrats will welcome criticism from the left, since they have received so little that is constructive from the right. Cannibalistic Hooverism deserves credit for one thing. Hoover taught the people to vote for something better than he had to offer. This is more than can be said for the Democrats. „ • Republican* taught the people act

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

as bad as Hoover’s four years of promises. I have been here watching the New Dealers lift us out of the depression by hiring the wheat farmers not to plant wheat, and hiring the cotton farmers to plow under the cotton, hiring hog raisers not to raise hogs and to kill the pigs and sows. The New Dealers gave labor an increase in wages and then increased the prices more than the increase in wages. All of these things have been done under the New Deal, at a time when men, women and children are suffering. And then if someone disagrees with your plan, you want to send them to Russia, Mexico or somewhere else. Why didn’t you go to Russia or Mexico? When the Republicans were in power, they were there by a vote of the people, just like the Democrats are now. Well, if you decide to send every one who doesn’t agree with you to some other country, count me in, because I don’t agree.

!to scoff at Socialism. The value of i this contribution to American civilization never has been appreciated justly. If I could forget the depression’s injury and injustice to children, I would be tempted to say that it is a shame that these Re-publican-Democrats were not left in the refiner's fire until their dross was consumed, thus allowing pure Socialists to emerge. Since many voters can be educated in no other way except through their stomachs and pockctbooks. I am glad to suffer my share with the hope of seeing a day of public enlightenment. A smiling President who can teach the people to be satisfied with soup and flour is, in a very real sense, as dangerous as were Robinson and Watson. Oh, the curse of public indifference! B B B ADMINISTRATION SLAPPED FOR RELIEF SYSTEM. By Frank Britton. This is in answer to “By a Reader” in The Message Center Oct. 15. It may be true that you went to the trustee with a friend living in Brightwood to try to get the latter a basket, but you did not state if you had the card signed. Did you get the card signed or are you ashamed to say? It seems as though you were ashamed to state his or your name. I know that you are a Democrat and I don't blame you for not putting your name in the paper. I hope you have one of those good paying jobs, for if these Democrats stay in office and keep raising taxes, there will be many people who won’t be able to crawl by next summer. I know persons who worked two days a week for baskets and got them three or four weeks later. I had the complaints when I was working on the unemployed with the sanitary department. And as for the groceries not being fit for any one, that is just what we got at the start of this administration. Why is it that when some people put on blindfolds, they can't get them off? B B B BLUE EAGLE SHOULD PROBE LAUNDRY PAY By * Times Reader. I am a regular reader of The Times, but this is my first letter and I hope to see it in print. Where is the Blue Eagle? If he is still on the job, he had better get busy and look into the conditions under which the female employes of an Indianapolis laundry are working. Most of these women are supp -rt-

NOV. 14, 1934

ing homes and families; therefore, they should be paid living wages. Until last week, they were paid 25 cents an hour. But the work is getting heavier and takes more time for the same number of women to complete it. So they were given a cut by being put on piece work at such a low rate that 'it is almost impossible to make $4.50 during a nine-hour day. This last pay day (Tuesday) some of the women received $7 for a forty-nine-hour week. They were a few T cents short in pay, so they went to the boss for the money which rightfully was theirs. Did they get it? No; he gave them another cut right then and there. So, Blue Eagle, I think it is about time for these laundry grafters to close up or put up and pay a living wage. There is enough work in this laundry to employ six more women with each working eight hours a day. Blue Eagle, if you still are on' the job, let us have some action. a a a NEWSPAPERS CRITICISED FOR DEMOCRATIC ATTACKS By a Democrat. The two partisan Republican papers of this city now are exhibiting the most consummate gall in offering advice to Democratic officials and the Democratic party. During the campaign, these papers worked morning, noon and night, in season and out of season, in glaring headlines and editorials to defeat the Democratic party. They not only criticised but maligned Democratic candidates and Democratic policies. The time of retribution has come, if Democrats will only use it. The power is in hands of Democrats. The process is easy.

So They Say

The only honest way to criticise administration policies is not by a blanket complaint, but by specific proposals—Donald Richberg. We Americans are inclined to judge Balkan kings by comic opera standards. King Alexander of Yugoslava was not that kind.—William R. Castle Jr., former under-secre-tary of state. When a man is out of politics, let him stay out.—Alfred E. Smith. Fascism has contributed more than any other factor to the feeling of insecurity that has brought the possibility of widespread war to the forefront.—Walter M. Citrine, general secretary of the British Trade Union Congress. I saw what Medwick did and 1 couldn't blame the crowd for what it did.—Baseball Dictator Kenesaw Mountain Landis, referring to the mixup at third base in the last world series game. We can not eradicate all the slums in all the cities of Amercia, but we can at least make a creditable start. —Interior Secretary Harold Ickes. This generalship business is not what it’s cracked up to be. It is a great burden, and the work is very, very heavy.—Evangeline Booth, Salvation Army leader.

Daily Thought

But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak.—l Corinthians 8.9. GOD grants liberty only to those who love it. and are always ready to guard and defend it. —Daniel Webster,