Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 161, Indianapolis, Marion County, 15 November 1934 — Page 18

PAGE 18

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TO t "lUIDA T fOvnißn* IS I >34 KEEP UP THE WATCH

'T'HE federal trade commission, releasing the first see* ion of its final report on public utility propaganda activities, not only reminds us of the splendid Job done, but that U is time to provide for a '-ontlnuation of the work. The next congress should amend the federal trade commission act to make possible investigation of questionable activities at any time. From the day of its opening, the commissions utilities investigation had tremendously beneficial results. The investigation was only well under way when the principal propaganda bureau. National Electric Light Association, was distended. / More recently in the New York legislature. Governor Lehman's program was blocked until, in an incidental finding, the commission revealed one senator’s relationship with power companies. Likewise, findings from time to time have put people on their guard against improper utility activities in schools, newspapers and elsewhere. she best insurance against such abuses Is to give the federal trade commission continuing power to expose them. SOCIAL SECURITY PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT wants quick action on unemployment insurance, but he speaks somewhat ambiguously on the related question of federal aid for old age pensions. In his address to the National Conference on Economic Security the President promised that “unemployment insurance will be cn the program” the administration will present to congress. He will ask for "a cooperative state-federal undertaking.” Reserves for such insurance are to be garnered not from taxes but from contributions as In some European countries. Reserves are to be held and invested by the federal government. “so that the use of these funds as a means of stabilization may be maintained in central management and employed on a national basis”

He sees the need of speed by congress so that state legislatures meeting next spring may pass their co-operating laws without delay. Most important Is the President's insistence that temporary relief be separated from the problems of permanent security. •We must not allow this type of insurance * ' “come a dole through the mingling of usance and relief,” he said. “It is not charfy.” Less clearlv the President spoke on old age security. He favored a national system of contributory old age insurance open to all, but doubted if this is the time to start such a system. What his attitude will be toward federal aid to old age pension states is unknown. On this we believe he should be explicit. President Roosevelt understands and sympathizes with the plight of the aged poor. As Governor of New York he sponsored one of the first and best of old age pension laws. There are twenty-nine states now operating such svstems, including Indiana, and many are in distress. What does the administration propose to do to help these states? Some such measure as the Dill-Connery bill should be part of the administration's security program. Economically the question must be met. And. with literally millions now aroused behind what the President calls "fantastic schemes" for aged poor relief, the question can not be ignored politically. Ail will cheer the President's Insistence that recovery and security must go hand in hand. “Everything.” he said, “that we do with intent to increase the security of the individual ervil. I am confident, be a stimulus to recovers.” NO I SE FOR INEFFICIENCY THE supreme court's decision upholding price - fixing measures by the New York milk control board well may stand as a landmark in the development of our attitude toward the inter-relation of private profit and state supervision. The essential part of the decision would •eem to be these words: •'The fourteenth amendment does not project a business against the hazards of competition.” In other words, a legislature has a right to use the operating costs of an industry's more efficient members as a yardstick in reaching a fair price level, and the less efficient members must make the best of it. Under such a ruling, less efficient Anns might well be frozen out. Yet that is precisely what happens in any industry under the free piay of competition. The decision auupiy means that marginal producers can not expect the state to keep them m business against more skillful or economical competitors. BATTLESHIPS FOR t. S. DECISION on America's ship building policy at the coming disarmament conference ia complicated by the fact that there is atill a good deal of uncertainty about the type of ships the American navy ought to have. Naval authorities in the mam stand firm for a fleet built about a strong nucleus of capital ships, or battleships, seasoned by a considerable number of heavy cruisers. Yet there la a wide belief that the battleship has outlived U* usefulness, and that the terrific expense of maintaining these costly vessels la one tlte navy might very well avoid. Add to this the growing feeling that airplanes and submarines are revolutionising naval warfare, and you have a suuauonfin

which decision on a naval program would be difficult enough, even if it were not necessary to adjust our program to the programs of foreign powers. A good exposition of the theory that the battleship is still the backbone of the fleet came recently in a public address by Rear Admiral Joseph K. Taussig, acting chief of naval operations. America, says Admiral Taussig, needs the battleship because of its lack of naval bases —the battleship, with its wealth of heavy guns, serving as a kind of floating base which can protect lighter ships against superior forces. Furthermore, says Admiral Taussig, the improvement of the submarine and aerial branches of naval warfare has made the battleship even mode Indispensable than before. It is the only warship which can be armored and protected sufficiently to withstand the shock of bombs and torpedoes. Here wt have a brief and understandable outline of the majority viewpoint in the navy; and it is worth reading, as an antidote to the free and easy talk one constantly hears about the obsolescence of the battleship. We often are assured that submarines and airplanes are the all-important units of a fleet in modem times; but the experts charged with maintenance of our navy still believe —and seem to have reason for their belief—that a fighting fleet, in the last analysis. is only as strong as its capital ships. A BEGINNING BECAUSE of federal public works expenditures, approximately 2,000.000 persons who otherwise would be unemployed are earning wages sufficient to keep themselves and 5,000,OCO additional persons from charity. These are the latest PWA estimates. Even if these estimates are taken ?.t their face value, the inadequacy of the national relief and recovery program remains obvious. There are still more than 10,000.000 in the jobless army, and more than 17,000.000 subsisting on public relief. Within its limitations, the public works program is doing its bit, even to the extent of wasting money by building roads that are not needed and constructing costly public buildings that will tax the future for their maintenance. Who would cry over money already misspent, especially since it has done so much to relieve human suffering? Yet more regard can be given to the social usefulness of future federal expenditures to relieve unemployment. The low’ housing standards of millions offer one challenge and one opportunity to the federal government and private enterprise. Homes for the underprivileged can be made to pay both tangible and intangible returns. Housing funds, intelligently spent, can produce both economic relief and social reform. CHILDREN’S BOOKS MOTHER knows best about most things, but not necessarily about the books her children should read. This blunt statement is made in the current issue of the Parents’ Magazine. Its author, Josette Frank, makes it as a result of lone experience in the Child Study Association; and this experience leads her to lay down a veiw simple common sense rule about books for children. No book, she says, is a gobd book for a child if it fails to interest him. Conversely, if it does interest him it very likely is a good book —for him; although the child next door might not like it at all. One of our little failings is our easy-going habit of assuming that all children are pretty much alike in their tastes. We dont make that mistake with adults; we are ready enough to admit that one man may like the works of S. S. Van Dine while his neighbor prefers Sinclair Lewis. But we take it for granted that all children will like the same thing. Furthermore, wo jump to the conclusion that they will like the books we ourselves liked as children. We were enthralled, for instance, by the Henty books; therefore junior will eat them up, and if he doesn’t, there must be something wrong with him. Many a father actually has been horrified to discover that such a book as “Kim” bored his son to distraction, while ‘Tvanhoe”—which the father himself never could endure—is swallowed whole with great avidity. Asa matter of fact, the parent’s responsibility in regard to the books his children read is a good deal less than we sometimes suppose. About all the father or mother can do is see to it that good books are available to the youngsters. There are many mansions in the realm of literature; provide the children with the key. turn them loose—and let them settle where they choose. Children are great ones to recognize shams and to detect the second-rate. Ordinarily, a child instinctively will prefer a good book to a poor one. We do our part w hen we put the good books before him. If he goes ahead and likes what he chooses to like, instead of what we think he ought to like, there’s precious little we can do about it. TELEPHONES MARK RISE the nineteenth consecutive month, the -*• Bell Telephone Company has reported a gain in the number of telephones on its lines. The increase for the year, to date, is 260.000; for the month of October the gain is 33.200, as compared with a gain of 13,400 in October a year ago. These figures hardly can indicate anything else than a definite and steady improvement in the financial status of a considerable mass of citizens. The man who orders a telephone installed in his home or his office is a man whose finances are getting better. A longcontinued pick-up in telephone installations is pretty clear proof that somehow, somewhere, things are on the up-grade. These scientific attempts to revive the dead give us the willies. Imagine a dead man returning to see what kmd of a sendofl his relatives gave him! The Republicans may be right in their contention that politics is being mixed with relief, but that wouldn't be so bad if it were relief from politics. 4 Young King Peter of Yugoslavia is now head of the army, although he hardly can be aaid to have been graduated from his soldier to**- . , N

Liberal Viewpoint BY UK. MARK I ELMER BARNES

AFTER all the white heat of indignation and the extensive talk about sweeping reforms in the regulation of ocean shipping, the Morro Castle case seems likely to end up in another conventional whitewash. If this is the case, its charred victims will have died in vain. Their friends and relatives might at least have had some slight consolation if these unfortunate ones had been martyred in the cause of greater safety at sea for the voyagers of the future. The New York World-Telegram, a ScrippsHoward newspaper, has done well to emphasize the apparently improper cordiality between the Ward Line and government investigators, and to expose the special and delicate consideration shown to the Ward Line in conferences during the period of investigation. If there ever w r as a case where special favoritism was out of place and strict impartiality called for, this was the i one. An even more fundamental farce is that which is all to often involved in the very procedure of investigating disasters in water transportation. In ordinary legal procedure, we would be shocked greatly if a judge who was himself a defendant were allowed to preside over the trial of his own case. 0 0 0 BUT this is precisely what happens in connection with the inspection of vessels in the United States and the subsequent investigation in the case of, a disaster. The same department that inspects ships also has the responsibility for conducting the investigation which is to pass upon the blame attached in case of any serious accident or loss at sea. It is obvious that any liability which can be asigned to a defect in the ship’s equipment must be attributed to inferior inspection in large part. Thereupon, we call upon the guilty parties to investigate their own delinquency and render an impartial verdict in the case. If the judge and the defendant are not identical persons, they are at least the identical department. William McFee has done well to call attention to this astonishing state of affairs in his article on the Morro Castle disaster in the Forum. ‘‘lt is a delicate theme to approach, but the memory of what happened after the explosion of a Fall river pleasure steamer some years ago forces one to the conclusion that the two functions of inspection and inquiry should be completely divorced. “The boilers of that pleasure steamer had been inspected in New York, only a short time before the disaster, and passed. The same department that was responsible for the inspection conducted the inquiry into the explosion that killed many of the passengers and crew. 000 THE same anomaly was observable in the Vestris case, for that vessel carried a certificate of seaworthiness issued by the department which investigated her loss and which attributed that loss to a man who went down with her. “When the- Morro Castle burned, the inquiry was conducted by the very men who were responsible for the inspection of the efficiency of her equipment and personnel. “It is hardly necessary to point out that in other human activities it is found desirable to dissociate the functions of judge and defendant. Bv the present arrangement no delinquency on the part of the inspection department can ever be brought to light as an actual fact.” The only other legal procedure in our experience which bears any comparison with this is that which existed in our old injunction cases. Here the judge and the plaintiff were the same person. The judge would grant an injunction, and then try any one who violated it under contempt procedings without a jury. In other words, the judge passed upon the violation of his own court order. T.nis indefensible situation has been, in part at least, outlawed by the La Guardia-Norris injunction law It is high time that we introduced a similar reform into the inspection and investigation of water transport.

Capital Capers BY GEORGE ABELL

THE Independence of Poland found expression at a superb reception given at the Polish embassy by Ambassador Stanislaw Patek, amid Louis XV furniture, champagne bottles, and a buffet that included everything from salami to pink ice cream. Envoy Patek, his glorious mustachios curled ala Pompadour, received his guests at the head of the winding stairway, while an orchestra played national airs and Viennese waltzes. Josef Moscicki, son of the president of Poland, stood at his chief’s right hand, introducing every one and graciously pointing the way to the champagne. Needless to say, the champagne was soon located. It was dry, delicious and copiously served. Red autumn leaves sparkled in huge bowls. Polish cakes tempted the appetite. The Polish embassy staff, efficient and magnificently appareled in morning coats, did its duty nobly. a a a PLUMP and affable Emil Hurja, right-hand man of Postmaster General Farley, was an honor guest at the Polish reception, accompanied by his blond and entertaining wife. Said Emil: “I won nearly all my bets on the national elections. I came out of it with two or three new suits of clothes.” Mrs. Hurja exclaimed: “I was worried seriously about Emil, at first. He kept putting up so many articles of clothing to bet on, that I was afraid he would be completely denuded. But he came out all right.” Looking at his beautifully cut morning coat. Emil answered: “Oh, I came out all right!” Note—The Hurjas will remain this winter in their attractive house in Georgetown. Then, energetic Emil will go south for a two months’ rest before taking up the problem of campaigning for the Roosevelt ticket in 1936. As he remarked, “that time isn't so far away.” • 0 0 0 Representative sol bloom of New York, triumphant and expansive, strolled by, wearing a bright gilded button in his coat lapel. “Congratulations!” cried a friend, grasping his hand. “Congratulations on your re-elec-tion!” Someone else inquired: “What's that decoration in your coat lapel?” “Ha,” said Sol. “Thought you'd catch me that time, didn't you? You thought it was a foreign decoration. Well, it’s not. It's a button commemorating the George Washington bicentennial. Did you ever hear of George Washington?” “Certainly.” replied the other. “You made George Washington famous.” Note—Mrs. Sol Bloom, a: symphony in brown, topped by one of the new Persian hats, explained that her daughter Vera, had campaigned for her father in four languages. Vera is a talented linguist and her Italian has been praised by Mussolini himself. 0 0 0 TWO monocles glittered at the Polish party. They were worn by Egyptian Minister Ratib Bey and Senhor de Moura of the Brazilian embassy. The sister of the Bulgarian charge d'affaires. Miss Petroff, is spending several weeks in Washington. She was present at the reception. Swiss Minister Marc P*ter always touches his wife’s arm at the right moment and makes a discreet exit., not too soon, not too early. Munir Bey, ambassador of Turkey, was locking for an Aztec to talk to. He found on his recent visit to Mexico that the ancient Aztecs • don't ask me how?) originally came from Turkey. Just another way of reminding you—the postofflee department says it will make deliveries on Christmas.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TEIIES

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The Message Center

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to 250 words or less.) 0 0 o FREEDOM OF THE TRESS DEMAND IS MADE By George Hine. Better than a jig-saw puzzle is the game of piecing together unguarded statements of Washington news writers and roving correspondents in order to find the hidden form to which public opinion is being molded in this country. But the game now is ended for a time. The form is revealed fully in a confession of hypocrisy, deceit, falsehood and terrorism, such as has never before been swallowed, hook, line and sinker, by business men. On Nov. 13, a Washington correspondent reveals that the whole campaign of slogans and catchwords, such as “business on nervous edge,” etc., was nothing but an effort to halt reform; that the reforms in themselves only could affect the financial parasites that had fastened themselves on legitimate business, and that to bring the President to his knees, the financial parasites had conducted a strike of capital. In other words the whole nation must continue to suffer until they had been guaranteed the right to continue their ruthless depredations. With faith serene in bayonets, with no thought for the people, they feared nothing but higher taxes and reform.

If there is anything missing to complete the destruction of the people’s confidence in three-fourths of the country's newspapers, let some one suggest it. The Indianapolis Times is one of the respected minority. Its columns give daily proof that it is not afraid to publish the advanced thought to be found only in books and magazines, of those who, seeking no political or selfish advantage, are trying to understand the world in which we live. An exception suggests itself with respect to Westbrook Pegler. One gets an occasional laugh out of Pegler—hardly worth the time it takes to find it—but generally speaking, he resembles someone hired to crawl over things his masters fear. Unsuspecting investigators are thus made to drop their lorgnettes and beat it. We demand not only the freedom of the press but the preservation of the inalienable right to life and liberty. 0 9 9 CHILDREN FREQUENT BEER PARLORS, IS CHARGE By O. E. A. I am a reader of The Times, believing it is one paper that stands by the people and for the advancement of the good of our country. May we pause now for a few moments that our poliitcal fight is over and consider some of the evils that lead our children on into being bandits, gamblers, and yet to whom can we go for law enforcement? I, a citizen living in Clermont west of the city, know there is something to think about. The new saloon that is here is far more dangerous than the old ones, as minors and even children can go in and watch them gamble and drink and even take a part in them. It is an open house, with drinking, gambling, slot machines, playing pool Sundays, day and night. Why I speak. I picked up a j j 13 Sunday evening, who had earned

HE COULDN’T BLOW IT OUT

Parent Training Is Need

By Bewildered Mother. Asa mother who daily has to meet problems of a 13-year-old daughter, I have come to the conclusion that what this country needs more than a good 5-cent cigar or even revision of the NRA code, is a training school for parents. I doubt if there Is a parent in the United States today who is not bewildered with the responsibilities on his or her shoulders. Sometimes they are seemingly minor ones, but even if they merely involve attendance at neighborhood movies, the selection of clothing, or the more seriour question of selection of school courses, choice of friends and moral training, we parents need help in knowing how to treat them. Mere physical ability to bring a child into the world doesn’t, unfortunately, endow one with the ability to give that child the wisest training. That was a theory which seems to have been believed in the past, but parents today realize that it is a false one. No evidence of this is more convincing than the news stories carried in our daily papers every day, of young people who have come to grief by poor judgment. An example of this is the case of the 15-year-old Medora (Ind.) girl, described as a good pupil and a well-thought-of girl, who married secretly a man older than herself, and was killed by him

$1 at the country club. I brought him into Clermont, where, of course, the new saloon was open and he told me he lost all. Can’t we get try to stop some of the teachings that lead our boys and girls astray? We pause on the sixteenth anniversary of the ending of the World war, but we, as taxpayers and Christians, have a more serious wax to think about, to stamp out the evils which are demoralizing our community, and make it safe to bring up our boys and girls in order to make them law abiding men and women.

PEOPLE STILL CONTROL THE NATION’S POLICIES Br Charles C. Snellenberger. Hoosier people showed their intelligence last Tuesday when they voted all of these gallant gentlemen into office. But the two men most worthy of their offices were Otto Ray, sheriff, and Albert Deluse, counfy council. I personally know these gentlemen, appreciate the high honor bestowed upon them, and they j will perform their duty better than any one before them. It seems as though the people, and not the machine, still run the country. a a a REBUILDING OF AREA BY GOVERNMENT URGED Bv Timet Reader. Asa subscriber of the best local paper ever published, I read evtry day's issue with the keenest interest and have a great deal of pride in the welfare of the city of my birth. I have j. few tinjely remarks to ( make regarding the slum clearance in the white people’s community, j In Friday's Times I read where the federal slum c’earance aTminurtra- j tiin was locking for a m>i~h needed location close in that might be re- '■*** • -

11 wholly disapprove of what you say ana wilt defend to the death your right to say it. — Voltaire.

when her parents’ objection to the marriage reached a climax. Any mother will find it easy to understand the parents’ objections. Yet, far behind this tragic story of a child attempting to take on the life intended for an older woman, it is evident that there is some lack of training or environment w’hich was the explanation of the marriage. This child must have drifted far from parental confidences, when she could take such a step, and hide the facts from her parents. It’s not a doctrine of ‘‘mother knows best,” which I'm trying to preach, but rather one which will cause mothers to train themselves so that daughters will confidently feel that they do “know best,” and in any event, that they can.discuss with their parents the urges and desires with which they are besieged. We have advanced so far in child health care, in education of children for business purposes, and in economic questions in the last few decades, that it would seem we have forgotten one of the most important needs of human life. After all, whether men become doctors, lawyers, or merchants; whether women develop into actresses', teachers, or mere housewives, the average human being eventually becomes a parent. Why can’t we be trained to be good ones?

garded favorably for a white people’s slum clearance where old dwellings could be razed and a better and newer downtown section could be rebuilt which w’ould bring lasting improvement and credit to Indianapolis. Such a community is much needed. The area exists downtown, a short walking distance from the business, financial, wholesale, retail, civic and market centers and this complete district could be revamped in a business manner. The district which I allude to is located between Harrison, South Leota, East Daly and South Liberty streets, in a neighborhood where old established schools are erected and churchgoing people reside.

The streets are pavad, sidewalks in. tracks are elevated, thus making it safe for school children. There are many old-time property owners still here. Rental property has been allowed to deteriorate and almost is beyond serviceable repairs. Few cities the size of Indianapolis have such a neglected and forgotten district at their front doorsteps. No matter what political party has been or will be in power, let s have a newer and greater Indianapolis with the last vestige of the horse and buggy days removed. ana TIMES WORKER NEVER TOLD OF PRAISE By an Old Subscriber I notice The Times offers prizes continuously for new übscnbers. Why not a little consideration for the old faithful subscribers? Some time ago, I wrote a letter to The Times staff thanking them In detail for the many favors shown me in the past. One for which I am especially grateful is the man who delivers mv paper three miles out of h s wav and n>. ?r is late. I live in the country and seldom ever see the man who delivers my

NOV. 15, 1934

paper, but I made it a point to find out if The Times staff had passed my appreciation on to the faithful one who delivers The Times to me. To my surprise, nothing had been said to him, nor was my letter answered.

So They Say

Me and Paul think that St. Louis is an all right town.—Dizzy Dean. You can’t give young people the training of an ox-cart age in an airplane age.—Rev. Dr. J. Elmer Russell, superintendent of religious education, New York Presbyterian Synod. I think it’s time I should do a little censoring of some of the stories ! going the erounds about me.—Mae West. A wedding is more important to the country than any law’suit.— Judge Robert S. Cowie of Milwaui kee. Force always attracts men of low morality, and I believe it to be an invariable rule that tyrants of genius are succeeded by scoundrels. —Professor Albert Einstein. Families are an old southern custom. They don’t have families in the north; they have apartments.— T. S. Stribling, Pulitzer prize novelist. Give me the actors who move about in the flesh. —Helen Broderick, actress. I know that there are people who want us to go to the devil. But the devil does not get us.—Julius Streicher, Nazi district chief of Nuremberg. I do not stand for India’s freedom. I stand for truth.—Mahatma Gandhi, as reported by Madeleine Slade, his disciple. It is mammon against Christ in Geneva.—The Rev. Dr. Frederick H. Knubel of New York, referring to League of Nations assembly.

Daily Thought

But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. —1 Corinthians, 3-9. True liberty can exist only when justice is equally administered to all. —Lord Mansfield.

Across the Way

BY M. C. W. Out on the porch, so bare of any grace She sits with wrinkled hand against her face. So shll and all alone, facing the wall With back turned toward the street and sky and all, As though she shuts out all that passes by And only sits there lost in dreams, ’til i Could cry at her lonely wait day by day. When evening shadows fall across the way he slowly walks indoors to where drawn blind Hides the empty, lonely hours from her kind.