Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 162, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 November 1934 — Page 22

PAGE 22

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ruin a r no- km nr* : till A RECOVERY BARRIER EVERY ONE ill agree *ih Interior Becminf Irke* that a general homing profram has almost infinite possibilities ’ for •octal improvement and economic recovery. From the first this administration has realized that the kev to recovery is in the revival of heavy industries, whose depleted orders and pav roll* account for about 4 000,000 of the unemployed That la one reason tha admimstranon has poured billions of dollars into public work;, construction loans to railroads and loans to bolster the Reneral mortgage and credit structure —industry's financial reservoir. That is why the administration has given so freely of its energies and credit to stimulate housing repairs and construction. But progress Is priva’e building has been disappointing. The chief barrier has been the prohibitive building costs—high interest charges, high costa of materials, and high nominal wage rates. The government has taken steps to force down interest rates, but not to reduce other costs. The government can aswr such leadership because boh directly and indirectly, through extension of credit, it now i* the main purchaser of materials and employer if labor. It can. without undue coercion, scale down costa withir reach of the average man. Nobodv wanta producers ol materials and eontractors to sacrifice profits, or workers to be content wih lower annual earnings. But it seems inevitable that this will be the case if building cost* remain out of line with purchasing nower. Families with low incomes a vast majonty of American families—are not repairing and building because they can not afford it. But If costs are reduced, manv will enter the home market eagerly and provide thereby the stimulus for prosperity in construction and related Industries. At present material producers and distributors try to make a comparatively high profit, and get few orders. Wouldn t they be better off with less profit on each order and many more orders? Building trade craftsmen try to maintain a comparatively high hourly wage, and all they get is unemployment or at best a few hours work a week. Wouldn’t they be better off at the end of ihe month if they got less for each hour, but full-time work? That is a good question for discussion at the convention of the A. F and L. building trades department in Washington late this month. “Both capital and labor " says Secretary Irkes. ‘can help by a fair adjustment of prices and wages which, by reducing costs, will increase the total amount of work to be done, as well as the ultimate returns to both material men and building labor. The result will be a decent home within the reach of every man. as reduction in cost brought him the motor cat many years ago." The administration can get quick action on this vital recovery policy by applying it to code revision and to direct and indirect government building projects. FREDERICK LANDIS THE death of Frederick Landis, congress-man-elect from the Second district, is a severe blow to the thousands of persons in Indiana and the midwest who knew him through his writings, his addresses and his political activity. His death was moat untimely. Due to the results of the election, Mr. Landis stood on the threshold of again entering congress as a representative of the Hoosier state. Many years ago Mr. Landis had served in that capacity and this time he would have been the only member of the Republican party in Indiana to sen e in the lower house. Mr. Landis will be missed. No man with jits record of service can pass on without his community feeling he effect of his death.

JOSEPHINE ROCHE President Roosevelts appointment of Miss Josephine A. Roche as assistant secretary of the treasury is a tribute. Although Miw Roche u a leading American woman industrialist, her new duties wiU have to do less with Ana nee than with the public health service and other humanitarian activities. It is to be hoped that the administration also will And ways to use her genius in em-ployer-labor relations. Since IS3*. when she became president of the Rocky Mountain Fuel Companv. she hM proved her thews. This is that employers can pay fair wages, offer decent working conditions, bargain collectively with labor, and still , make money—often more money than antilabor competitors. That she has been able to do these things dunng the depression and in a sick industry makes her demonstration doubly graphic. The economics she practices U at the heart of the New Deal philosophy. Miss Roche brings intelligence, valor and character to government service. She is a liberal, who has been tested. premature mortgage retreat IT i* Just tor bad for you if you own a home with a mortgage coming due which you can not meet or can not renew with a private lending agency, unless you already have Aled an application with the Home Owner* Loan Corporation. For the HOLC has announced that it trill accept no more loan applications “until further notice." It will not be charged that the HOLC is heart leas That corporation already has extended relief to more than 000 000 home ownera. whose families otherwise might have been turned into the street. And it has on Ale more then 400.000 additional applications calling for loans totaling about two and a half million dollars in excess of what it has left to lend. In closing the dodt to future applicants, the HOLC apparently acted on the presump-

tion that its lending powers will not be increased by the next congre a. Certainly, false hopes should not be enco-uaged if additional funds are not to be provided. But it is hardly logical to assume that congress will leave unrelieved home owners to the mercy of circumstance*. Would it not have been better had the HOLC postponed its curtailment program at le.t pending evidence of success m the federal housing administration s drive to reduce mortgage interest rates charged by private lending agencies’ That mongage insurance •vstern, under which 5 per cent Interest is fixed as a maximum, is still in its infancy. WHERE THE FAULT LIES SURVIVORS of the Morro Castle disaster, and relatives of the people who perished in it, have formed what they call the Morro Ca*'le Association; end this association has Just passed a resolution condemning the federal steamboat inspection service because its report on the tragedy lays the blame on individual seamen rather than on the company which operated the steamer. This is a sensible attitude to take, since it is a reminder that the basic trouble was a general condition rather than the dereliction of a few men; but it would be even more sensible to go still farther, and to condemn current practices in the American merchant marine ?.s a whole rather than one particular company. Until shipping companies institute working and wage conditions which make it possible to keep experienced crews and to maintain* proper discipline and training, tragedies like that of the Morro Castle will continue to be possible Not one man nor one company, but the merchant marine as a whole, must share the responsibility. A M ERIC AN INSTITUTIONS 'T'HE mayor of a large middlewestern city has announced that soapbox speakers of radical persuasion no longer will be allowed to make speeches from rostrums in a downtown park, as has been the custom in that city for many years. Defending this action, he declares that “we must respect American in; .tutions,” and that speakers who do not respect them will not be permitted to air their views. rhe chief flaw in this attitude is that one of ihe most sacred of all American institutions is the right of free speech. It is hard to inculcate a respect for American institutions bv outlawing one of the mo6t important of them. There is also the added consideration that such action simply plays into the hands of the malcontents and them something to talk about.

TOO LATE ONE of the least lovely traits we possess is our fondness for making a sensational fuss over the coffins of people who never got a decent break from us while they were alive. That peculiar commuivty symbolized by the word ■Broadway'’ went in for a regular orgy of that sort of thing the other day when an old woman known as ‘ Apple Annie’’ was laid to rest. Apple Annie was a "'or old woman who for years supported herselt ry peddling apples and chewing gum on Times Square. It wasn't such a hot wav of making a living, as you can imagine; the thought of a woman of 70 keeping on the pavement in all kinds of weather to make a few dimes for her support isn’t a pleasant one. But Apple Annie stuck to it, and she enjoyed a moment of fame, a year ago. Some one wrote a story about her, the story was transformed into a movie—and a press agent came along and used Apple Annie to ballyhoo the picture. She was turned into a lady for a day; they, put her up at a fine hotel, trotted her around Broadway in a big car, dressed her up in fine clothing, gave her a swell meal—and then, after it was all over, let her go back to the apple-peddling game. Asa matter of fact, people completely forgot about her. Like other businesses, the selling of apples suffered a diminishing profit margin. Besides. Apple Annie was pretty well on in vears. Presently shr vanished, and nobody knew' what had happened. Then, a few davs ago, Apple Annie turned up—in the city morgue. She had died during the night, she and the enfeebled old husband whom her earnings as a peudler had helped keep alive. She lay n the morgue a week before any one recognized her. But once she was identified, Broadway turned out to give her a fine funcraL Stars from the stage and the night clubs gathered by her coffin. Expensive bouquets and wreaths were sent. Broadway, as they say, showed that it "had s. heart.'’ So Apple Annie had two big days; one when a press aeent used her to ballyhoo a movie, and one when she was buried. If we had a decent amount of genuine human sympathy, wouldn’t we have spread all that fuss out a little bit more, so that the poor old lady could have gotten a little good out of it? ALGER HERO IN LONDON r T''HE old rags-to-riches story is generally looked uporf—on this side of the Atlantic as a peculiarly American institution. We are so proud of the fact 'hat our great leaders are usually men who came up from the bottom of the ladder, that we sometimes forget that similar opportunities are open in other lands. When Sir Stephen Henry Molyneux Killik became lord mayor of London the other day, a "typically American” success story reached its culmination. Sir Stephen was born a poor boy. At the age of 13 he went to work as a messenger boy at five shillings a week. He rose to become one of the empire's most influential business men and chief executive of the empires greatest city. All of this, of course, needn’t detract from our pride in the traditional American equality of opportuinty. But it is a good reminder that we have no monopoly on that virtue. Men have begun to use perfume in New York, although the need for it should have subsided since Tammany lost to La Guardia. "The public is still for me,” said Samuel Insull recently. His lawyers, however, seem to think the puMic is still after him. In the baseball class the Dean brothers will teach at Hot Springs, Ark., next spring, they should lnciuae a course on advertising.

! Liberal Viewpoint • BV UK. HARK t ELMER BARNES TN the more sensible discussion of the Armi- -*• stice day season, there has been much publicity given to the staggering costs of the iate World war—some 1400.000.000.000. The next Me will, in ail probability, cost even more. H. G. Wells has predicted that it will bring the general bankruptcy of ail the nations involved, wholesale default on debus owed to neutrals, and probably the coilapse of the whole capitalistic system. Yet we also are told that we can not Insure peace because it would cost too much to procure the conditions on which peace rests. Os one thing we may be certain, we must make our choice between which bill we will pay—that for another war or that for the essential conditions of peace. The former is bound to be the heavier, to say nothing of the appalling loss of life which will be involved. The whole issue is stated in lucid form and with relentless logic by Professor Henry W. Lawrence in the “Christian Century:” • War is imminent today. Why? Because the indispensable alternative to war is regarded by the nations as too costly. Great Britain, France and the United States possess what Germany, Italy and Japan need. There is no precedent, however, for the surrender of any important national possession except under compulsion of war. * a a “ A LL the nations recognize this fact, and act accordingly; but the opportunity for escape from this blind alley of force and futility is at the present moment in the hands of the possessing nations. Will they utilize this opportunity? The betting odds are ten to one against any such outburst of sanity on the part of Great Britain, France and the United States.” Professor Lawrence avoids quibbling and evasion in stating just what the costs of peace actually would be and in making clear the unusual but highly sensible procedure which would be involved: “Great Britain, France and the United States are the chief beneficiaries of the status quo, and are therefore in a position to alter it to the advantage of more needy nations without starting a fight. “In this case, altering the status quo means changing the ownership of territories. It also means giving an international slant to tariffs and immigration laws. Such concessions on the part el possessing nations would be without precedent. ••They Aould seem to be very costly. They would give deep offense to the acquisitive and patriotic yearnings of our twentieth century civilization. Any statesman who championed them would, bv that act, commit suicide. Then why bother to mention here proposals so impractical. nan STATED baldly and briefly, the proposition . is to try an honest experiment in harmonizing national policies. Not in a spirit of brotherly love. There Is not enough of that in the world today to float such an enterprise. Our reliance should be rather on the worlds growing realization that if we go much farther in the spirit of dog-eat-dog, there will be no dogs left to eat anything.” Particularly effective is Professor Lawrence in exposing the sham of the alleged moral distinction between an aggressive and a defensive war. This distinction has been a basic assumption of our recent “formula-mongers” and of the school of international politics which believes that “to the victor belongs the spoils.” “The moral right to keep on possessing the best regions of the earth is directly balanced by the right to fight and capture them. It is amazing that so few people will admit this axiom of international morality. Popular opinion is widely befogged in the more comfortable countries bv the childish notion that an aggressive war is Wicked but a defensive war is righteous. , . . “They are. of course, precisely equal in moral quality, so long as war is the only adequate instrument by which vested wrongs can be righted and national needs supplied. The next rational step toward a tolerable world peace would be the broadcasting of this truth throughout Great Britain, France and the United States. It is already familiar to the peoples of Germany, Italy and Japan.”

Capital Capers BH GEORGE ABELL AMERICAN diplomats always are fascinated by their state department. Even when they leave the service, they invariably return to pat friends on the back and talk wistfully of Rio, London, Pam and the "good old days.” Two former American diplomats paid a visit to their Alma Mater. Diplomat No. I—George Earle, former minister to Austria, now Governor-elect of Pennsylvania. called to see Undersecretary of State William Phillips, but was informed the latter is out of town. Whereupon. ex-Envoy Earle called on Pierrepont Moffat, dapper, meticulous chiei of the division of western European affairs. "Want you to meet Senator Guffey,” said Earle, as he presented a bowler-hatted companion. Joe Guffey, Democratic boss of Pennsylvania. Pierrepont was effuse in congratulations. Diplomat No. 2—Roy Taxco Davis, former minister to Costa Rica and Panama, bounced in and out of state department offices. He has not lost any of the "pep,” which used to make colleagues run to keep up with him. Ex-Envoy Davis now is attached to the University of Missouri. His middle name is derived from Taxco, the beautiful eighteenth century town outside of Mexico City. While in Mexico, friends took him to Taxco, gave a big party in his honor. "One of my ancestors picked up the name from the town,” explained modest Roy. (Some think the town was named after his ancestor.) When revolution broke out in Panama, Envoy Davis removed his coat and hat and mingled with the mob. Later, he took an important part in patching up the revolt. On the occasion of his leaving Costa Rica, huge crowds filled the streets to give a farewell demonstration in his honor. mm* WEARING caramel tweeds ornamented with pink velvet bows, dynamic Edna Ferber, author of numerous “best sellers,” paid a quick visit to Washington. Before dashing back to New York she gave a young man a lesson on the proper way to light cigarets. •Miss Ferber,” said the young man, “I am afraid you will singe your nose if you lean forward when I hold out the match.” “Men,” observed Miss Ferber, “have no idea how to light a woman's Jgaret. They hold the flame too far down, so naturally one is forced to stoop to light the cigaret. Hence, many singed noses.” n * n BEARDED, wearing traditional black robes. Archbishop Athenagoras, Greek Orthodox pnmate of North and South America, presided at funeral services in memory of King Alexander of Yugoslavia. Tall, venerable Archbishop Athenagaros created a flutter when he boarded the train in New York earn ing an ebony staff with silver handle, clad in full episcopal vestments, big gold crosses tinkling musically. En route, his grace ordered a club sandwich and a glass of water. When he removed his enormous black mortarboard hat, observers noted that the archbishop's hair is brushed straight back and drawn into a queue at the neck. At Philadelphia, a Greek priest met the archbishop and traveled from North Philadelphia to the new Market street station with him. At Washington, he was greeted by a large delegation. including bearded Father Daniels, pastor of the Greek church of SS. Constantine and Helen. Minister Charalambos Simopoulos of Greece attended the services 'lad in wing collar and mormng coat. Later, Archbishop Athenagoras and Envoy Simopoulos posed together for pictures. chatted in Greek, bowed ceremoniously as they said farewell.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

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The Message Center

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Make your tetters short, so all can have a chance. lAmit them to £SO words or Less.) n st n LEGION CHIEF ACCUSED OF PASSING AMERICANISM By a Reader. Now'. Adolf, be a good boy and move over, Frank N. Belgrano Jr., of the American Legion want to play Hitler, too. He promises to direct the efforts of his organization towards stopping Socialism, Communism, Hitlerism and all other isms. Why, Adolf, he even is attempting to adopt your own methods, but he doesn't call it Hitlerism; he calls it Americanism. This patriotic organization of his is going to censor everything that is taught in the churches and schools. Is he patriotic, did you say, Adolf? The other goal which he promises not to lose sight of is the immediate payment of the bonus. Yes. Adolf, it does look like his patriotism is labeled with a price tag marked bonus. Perhaps he means he is a supporter of capitalism and not Americanism. If the ex-service man would analyze his position he would find that he is primarily interested in a decent job with some guarantee of security. Isn't that true, Adolf? Suppose the bonus was paid and within a year the money was spent on the necessities of life, would he not then be without a job and a guarantee of security? Yes, Adolf, they should be aiding the American Federation of Labor, the Socialist and Communist parties which are fighting for the only real Americanism, which means jobs and security for every one. No. Adolf, the American Legion will not aid in promoting real Americanism. Instead, the legion is fa*st becoming a Fascist organization to defeat any real progress to prosperity. Why Adolf, you are moving over. Sr he does deserve a seat alongside of you? Yes, he must be a good leader to be able to mislead the rank and file of his organization. * n 524 WEEKLY SHOULD BE LIVING WAGE B John Wolsifler. From the various editorials regarding the NRA and my every day contact with all classes of labor, it appears to me that industry and general business gradually are releasing from their pay rolls those making more than $14.50 a week and employing labor at the NRA sl4 50 minimum wages. These days a man can not raise his family and enjoy health with happiness that is dear to him on less than $24 a week and this amount only will let him exist during present trials of depression. In case the brain trust and capitalists doubt this statement, it should be advisable for them to try it and see how it can be done. In the old wav of saying what is fair for the goose also is fair for the gander. The real way to increase purchasing power of our nation would be through maximum thirty-two-hour week. The male minimum wage should be 80 cents an hour; women, 80 cents an hour and applied to all classes of industry and business; effective at the earliest possible time. Industry and all classes of business as profit and resale of confmodities ; or service sold should be under strict control of our national government, i The many women employed who have husbands working only prevent

MAKE THIS THE FIRST TASK

Urges Traffic Campaign

Br w. r,. s. I often have read editorials in your newspaper and other publications of this and other cities in which the terrific auto death toll is deplored. However, the deaths from traffic accidents seem to mount despite all efforts to educate the driving and walking public. Aren’t there any other lines of action open than written words to stress on the minds of motorists and pedestrians the real need of being careful? Does this situation mean that year after year, as long as automobiles continue to travel on our streets, we must put up with this horrible condition? If it does, then it is time for concerted action far greater than any taken so far, to be put in operation throughout the nation, If there were as many deaths from one disease in this country

a single girl, widow, or single or married man from making the money. Those dollars should be earned by someone who actually needs them. It would increase purchasing power for approximately five million persons in our country. Why do business men, local governments, state and national government tolerate such policies? Check up on friends and neighbors and this editorial will prove facts. As far as the standard of the gold dollar, I deem it boy brains and capitalistic play to put us where we were before civilization. What we want and need is money to live decently. More money would pay those bills that were contracted for during the time of Inflated prices and the method is simple. Just value gold at SSO an ounce and let the government take the profit and reduce our bonded indebtedness with continuous development of our natural resources. Our inheritence tax is entirely too low. It should be increased six times the present rate. Why is it that man wakes up just before he is ready to die, when he can do so much good for humanity in the prime of life when he is healthy? ft n m PEOPLE IN MIDWEST SHOULD START THINKING By R. H. Stone. The last two years have made every one inclined to think out our, problems in terms of the whole na- : tion. We have drifted into the! habit of turning over the solution . of all our ills to men in Washing- j ton. It occurs to me that in doing: this we have about lost the one thing that made us strong. That is our ability to face anything wherever we are and dig right in to the mastering of the situation. A more realistic view of our situation would bring out the following: When those in authority put a ban upon the use of gold as a means of settling accounts between parties to contracts both within and without this country they, destroyed the independence of the I land between the Rockies and the ; Alleghenies. In so doing, the shift I ol control to the eastern seaboard | was completed. This reversed the I natural trend of things in this country. For, over a considerable time the development of the land between the mountain ranges had been drawing to itself the centralization of the wealth of the North American continent. It is tune we peopie who Inhabit

1 wholly disapprove of what you say and will defend, to the. death your right to say it. — Voltaire.

as there are from automobiles in the course of a year, the entire state would be up in arms and money would be spent right and left to block the outrage. But what do we do about automobiles? Nothing Members of the families of persons injured or killed receive our sympathy. Outside of that such tragedy only is a passing matter and when the next man, woman or child is killed we tsk. tsk a couple of times, remark that it’s horrible and forget it. Scripps - Howard newspapers, with representative publications in many cities of the nation, should be one of the first organizations to support a national campaign of this sort. The Indianapolis Times should continue its remarkable record for public service by starting the drive in Indianapolis and Marion county.

the land between the mountain ranges do some definite thinking. If we allow the solution of the nation's problems to be attempted on the basis of ignoring the natural dominating part of the nation it simply will wreck the whole nation. But, if the people who are now in actual possession of this area are allowed to go on with their natural development the results of their efforts will spread benefits throughout the length and breadth of the nation. NEW DEAL AS AFFECTS SMALL BUSINESS HEAD By Peter Roone I have just been talking to a friend from Kansas who is opposed to the New Deal. He knows as much or as little about economics as the average small business man, and his only criterion of a social plan is: How does it work for me? To tell the truth, the New Deal is working very poorly for him. He admits that many of its essentials, high wages, decent hours, fair competition and democratic relations with his employes have been incorporated in his factory since it was founded many years ago by his father. If all business men. he says, had the same ideas, we would need no government regulation whatsoever. But the regulation that we have is working more against him than it is for him. He reasons, then, that we should return to the old freedom for business men to do as they like. My friend is very much mistaken. He protests against the New Deal, not because he disagrees with its ideology, but because his competitors are not holding to their codes. He was better able, he says, to handle them alone than he is with all the co-operation of the government. Now, when he holds to the code Daily Thought For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner He giveth travail, to gather end to heap up, that he may give to him that Is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.— Ecclesiastes, 2:26. A charmed life old goodness hath; the tares may perish, but the grain la not for death.— Whittier.

NOV. 16, 1934

that his competitors scorn, he is at a tremendous tiisadvantage. We know 'hat we. must make illegal all unfair competition, all mistreatment of labor and all misrepresentation to consumers. If my friend, who approves of the New Deal theories, is hurt by the failure of others to adopt a better way of conducting Rffairs, it is consistent with his high ideals to uphold his theories all the more. There Is a great deal to be done in the way of enforcing the laws that have been passed in the last two or three years. He surely will be the gainer as this legislation Is given teeth. But until then, he should be proud to suffer for a righteous cause. It is tragic that many great changes in civilizations have left martyrs on the wav. But my friend, who is a Christian, has not forgotten a Man who died for others. I think that, in his owo heart he is more of a New Dealer I than many others who hide a black hawk under a Blue Eagle. So They Say The problem of the gravest concern to China is whether the spiritual forces in the country are sufficientlv strong to direct and mold her political and economic development I during the next thirty years.—Dr. Francis Cho-Min Wei, president of Central China college. I regard it is an impertinence for any one to set himself up as a spokesman for the American public and to say it is incapable of understanding, or indifferent to, the greatest beauty in music.—Karl Krueger, conductor of Kansas City Philharmonic orchestra. Do you know that for forty years T have seen practically nothing of this country other than the beaten paths of the National League clubs? —John Heydler, retired president of, the National League. There can be no partiality in this democratic republic's army —President Niceto Zamora of Spam. Hunger is not debatable—Harry . L. Hopkins, United States relief administrator. The business of this country has been under fire from men in public life and in general I think It has been taking the criticism* lying down.—Thomas I. Parkinson, president, New York Chamber of Commerce. AT DEATH BY RUTH PERKINS I watch the clock upon the wall, I see its shadow on the floor, I hear a step—l start and cry, But no one pauses at my door, The kitten In pretended fears Looks doubtful at my falling tears He can not understand the more. I think of all I might have done And clench my hands m damp despair. And soothe the urge that grows within To shriek across the still night air, •Why. why must you be tom from me And leave me this dull agony?" But I ait still and only stars.