Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 172, Indianapolis, Marion County, 28 November 1934 — Page 10

PAGE 10

The Indianaoolis Times (A M Kim.MltH ten SEW dPAI'rKI ROT W. How A Hit I'rHllrnl "fklJeurt IIIHCI.L Eiitor KAKI, U. HAHKK Buto**a i‘hoM ki!*t ami

3j ■ *#< ’ s4 tV* I'J Ikt et'ijii# Mhi /mo Th'tr llvn IV

Member of tatted Hnw*rd N*w*pai>ef Allianr*. F.ut‘r ~rU AwU- N*|'i+r Int ro alios v-rvir* and Au !• Hu roan of t.'ircatottoaa (>*i**<l nl piibllh(l <lll| in ept .Nulldayi by the to-d-rnapolia rime* l*afl!*hlßK • >-npa-.T 214 22*> Wear Maryland street. liidlanjpoli* tod l*rlo# in Marion rounty k rrii’i a copy; elsewhere. X e*fia delivered h carrier. 12 r.n'a a trwk Mill •uha'Ttp lion ra'ea *n irtd'an*. *3 a y-ar; ontalde of Indiana W eenta a month

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 3 1934. TAXES OK INFLATION TYECALSE higner taxes might "retard recovtry,” administration spokesmen s>ay congress will not con ider a general tax revision this winter. They oppose, especially. Increases in income levies. Yet. these same spokesmen indicate they will ask congress to re-enact expiring nuisance and sales taxes which now yield nearly a half billion dollars annually. If this program is carried out. the people will continue to pay federal taxes on bank checks, telephone anu ;lrgraph messages, electricity, electrical household appliances, gasoline, oil, autos and accessories, chewing gum. matches and other commodities. It is a program of political expediency, quite in line with the political cowardice which last winter promp’ r d congress to reduce taxes on incomes up to S3OOOO a year while continuing discriminatory sales tax Durdens. Pir.ons with small incomes will still pay the bill. But because the sales taxes are more or less hidden and painless, the astute spokesmen believe there will be less “squawking of the goose.•• We hope they are mistaken. The Hutchins policy cotr.inis.slon only two days ago exposed the fallacy of attempting economic reflation through lower income taxes, saying it merely would divert public funds “into private hoards.” But the commission did say that a cut in excise taxes would prove a boon to recovery. Industries burdened by discriminatory excls s have a right to unloose a barrage upon Congress next winter, and probably will do so. It may cause some of the administration leaders to change their minds, and revise our federal taxes on the basis of ability to pay —the taxation principle expounded in the last Democratic platform, but apparently forgotten. An ability-to-pay tax bill would be something more than a soak-the-rich tax bill. The ri< h should pay more. But the bulk of the revenue will have come from the so-called middle class, which so far has been able to bluff congress and the administration. If Americans fortunate enough to have incomes ranging from $2 500 to $30,000 a year lived in England. Germany or France, they would be paying from five to twenty times as much in income taxes. Nuisance and sales taxes exploit unorganized consumers and producers. They fall heaviest upon the very poor. They hurt the man ilacturer and merchant. They dis■ourage trade. They hinder recovery. They can not be justified until congress exhausts the revenue possibilities of income taxation. Citiz-ns who think the country can pay the bill for relief and recovery without taxation are fooling themselves. Either there will be taxation or currency inflation, which is a disguised form of the worst kind of taxation —expropriation.

HOLD THAT LINE POLICE officers, working under directions of Chief Mike Morrissey and Captain Lewis Johnson of s he traffic department, made quite a dent in the overtime and double parking privileges of many of our citizens yesterday. In fact, their activities were a distinct shock to those who believed they belonged to the favorite few and who thought that all-day parking on busy downtown streets was one of their special grants from the powers that be. Now the big parade will start. Politicians, other po.ice officers, city and county prosecuting officials and even newspaper men will be cornered and called on the phone to ''fix” these numerous stickers. Every one in the city who is well acquainted with the hundreds of motorists —most of them financially able to pay the $2 —and who may know' someone's cousin on the police department, will be on the "phone and corner” Ust. Our advice is to let them “call and comer.” For once let's see some of these gentlemen refuse to go to the front for the regular violators of the law. Unless they are stopped new they never will be halted. Sooner or later the showdown is coming, so it can be handled just as well now as a month from now. Chief Morrissey and Captain Johnson are to be congratulated. Let it be hoped that their patrolmen will turn deaf ears to the busy buzzing of the sticker holders and fixers. “TREAT EM ROUGH** *• t DON’T want these men coming in here looking as if they had just left the barber chair. When you're up against such a man don't be afraid to muss him up. Men like him should be marked up and mussed up. Blood should be smeared all over that velvet collar.** The gentleman speaking is Lewis J. Valentine New York City's police commissioner, and he is pointing to a dandified thug who has Just been brought into his presence. There is a question whether such talk from a high police official is not more dangerous than crime itself. For when the law turns -lawless, civilized society is in danger. Valentine, of course, wants his policemen to “muss up” only known criminals. But he must know that lawless police do not observe the niceties of Justice or discriminate among their victims. Indeed, they are much more likely to stand in with the big and notorious crooks, while applying the mussing-up formula to defenseless aliens, petty criminals and mere suspects. The treat-'em-rough routine, in fact, is the lazy and brutal policeman's best method of forcing confessions. The third degree, to America's shame, is prevalent enough in our cities without the gentle admonitions of Commissioner Valentine. These observations are not based upon sentimentality but upon common sense and sound penology. The Wickersham commission devoted months to a study of the law's lawless-

ness. The instances of third degree brutality by police, It found, were not isolated, “but manifestations of habitual and routine practice- ” In ten out of fifteen cities investigated. and in more than naif the states, the practice was common. ‘ The fight against lawless men. if waged by forbidden means.” the commission declared, “is degraded almost to the level of a struggle between two law-breaking gangs ” “THE Cl USE OF BIGNESS” TJIGNESS is not greatness, and law is not •*-* something that comes out of books. Understand these simple truths and you understand the economcs and philosophy of one of America's wisest men. Justice Louis D. Branded, whose opinions, writing and speeches have oeen compiled in a valuable book, “The Curse of Bigness.” As an economist Justice Brandeis sees Am nca suffering from the bigness complex, a sort of social elephantiasis. Confusing sire with efficiency, we have let our industries grow to such Dulk that they no longer function well. Competition must be restored if democracy is to be saved. Asa jurist Justice-Brandeis confesses himself in agreement with a famous Damnation law-giver named Bogigish. When Montenegro needed a modem law code it called upon Bogigish. When Montenegro needed a modern law code it called upon Bogigish to write it. Instead of moving into a law library Bogigish moied into Montenegro and lived among the people for two years, learning their customs, beliefs and needs. The Montenegrins respected his code of laws because it represented their collective wills. It was what Justice Brandeis has been writing on the supreme bench all these years, “the living law.” In his economics. Justice Brandeis is not an old-fashioned "trust-buster.” He is a modern liberal, who believes that competition can be restored and made to work if it is strictly and honestly regulated. Monopolies are not natural. Like the dinosauria of biological history. they are too big to be useful, in his opinion. • If we supplement the prohibition of monopoly by the regulation of competition,” he says, “we shall be able not only to preserve the competition we now enjoy, but gradually regain the free soil upon which monopoly has encroached, and we may be assured that, despite all industrial changes, the day for industrial liberty has not yet passed.” "Since private monopoly is not beneficial to the community there can remain but two questions. First, can we preserve competition where it exists? Second, can we restore competition w here it has been suppressed? To both the answer is yes. “Diagnosis shows monopoly to be an artifical, not a natural, product. Competition, therefore, can be preserved by preventing that course of conduct by which in the past monopolies have been established.” WOULD WAR IN MINIATURE r I 'HAT long-drawn out, confused, and bloody A little war between Bolivia and Paraguay seems to be furnishing an admirable laboratory specimen of the real thing. What happens in great wars is depicted here, in miniature, and the spectacle is an instructive one. A two-paragraph dispatch from La Paz, Bolivia. is an example. This story began by remarking that Bolivia has now enrolled its 18-year-old conscripts, not due for service until 1936. Then it added that the Bolivian army had won a smashing victory, inflicting losses of 15.000 men on their opponents; and the story closed with a reminder of simultaneous claims of a sw r eeping victory by the Paraguayans. Modem war Is epitomized in that little story. Heavy losses, conflicting claims of victory—and the grim summoning of 18-year-olds to the colors!

A THRIFTY CITY ■jtyfTLWAUKEE is becoming famous for more than a certain brew of beer. She has one of the best city governments in the country. Taxpayers there are trying to free their city from debt. In the present year they are meeting their entire 1933 tax bill of nearly $20,000,000, and also clearing away $2,500,000 of previous tax delinquency. And they have left in the treasury an additional $5,500,000 amortization fund. According to City Controller Wendt, if Milwaukee issues no new bonds in five years it will be virtually free of debt and in a better financial condition than any other city in the country. This is being accomplished by a delinquent collection drive. One feature is the installment payment of taxes. According to the National Municipal League, twelve other cities have conducted tax collection drives this year. In eight of these, city officials were aided by citizens’ organizations. Honorable and efficient cities that have kept them books balanced, their debts cleared, their credit sound, will prosper. Reckless cities will pay the price of failure in many ways. With cities, as with people, no substitute has been found for old-fashioned thrift. LUCK PLAYS PART r T”'HERE is something more than just a grimly humorous twist of chance in the story of those two paupers at Marietta, 0., who struck oil in the back yard of the county poorhouse. One of the most striking contradictions of modern American society is wrapped up in it —a contradiction which society must somehow solve, if it is not to undergo a profound change. These two chaps, both getting along in their sixties, had been oil drillers for years. They had worked on rigs all the way from Ohio to Oklahoma, and in their day they had made good money; but times were hard. Jobs were not to be had. and so they submitted to poverty and entered the county poorhouse. They hadn’t been there long before time began to hang heavy on their hands. They had been active men and they didn't like complete idleness any better than the next man; so they finally got their superintendent's permission to drill for oil in the back yard. It looked like a hopeless quest, of course. They had to borrow all their equipment. They got coal to fire their engine from an outcropping in the poorhouse farm. And so they went to woik, day after day—and, at last, struck a neat flow of oil. Already

they have been offered $5,000 apiece for their holdings. They are paupers no longer. Now this little story illustrates perfectly the uncertainty that is so essential a part of the average man’s quest for a secure livelihood under modern conditions. These men were hard workers for years. Conditions quite beyond their control shipwrecked them and tossed them into the hopeless obscurity of the poorhouse. After a lifetime of toil, they had to take charity or starve.' Then—observe the sudden spinning of fortune's wheel! The luck that had made paupers of them made an about-face and put money in their pockets again. They contributed their own Industry and perseverance, of course, but if there had not nappened to be oil-bearing sands, just beneath that poorhouse hill, they could have drilled until doomsday without doing themselves any good. These men fully deserve their good fortune, to be sure. But something is sadly out of joint in a system by which two skilled and industrious workers can escape an old age of pauperism only by a 100-to-l stroke of good iuck. LONELY BUT LIKABLE T7INLAND always was a likable little country. “Our land is poor,” sang its poet Runeberg eighty years ago, “so shall be.” This rugged acceptance of difficulties marks Finland's history. In spite of poor soil, bitter winters, czarist oppression and other hardships they built a happy nation of smallholders and craftsmen. They disliked ignorance, so they set up a fine school system and abolished illiteracy. With scientific methods they husbanded their little farms and cropped their great forests. They tamed cataracts and made electricity, then distributed it for the benefit of the people. They could not afford waste, so they formed one of the world's finest systems of consumer co-operatives. They tried out prohibition and, finding it wouldn’t work, they repealed it promptly. Finland is our only war debtor that pays. It has just announced that it will pay, as usual, its Dec. 15 semi-annual Installment. Yes, we like Finland.

Capital Capers B* GEORGE ABEI.L

ALTHOUGH the national budget still remains an unsettled question, one budget at least was balanced yesterday. Eminent Dr. Leo Rowe, director general of the Pan-American Union,'famous for his lamb stew luncheons, his diplomatic concerts and his smile, balanced the budget of the Pan-American Union. A special meeting of the Pan-American subcommittee was called, and Leo in ringing tones announced the proud facts. (Os course, the real answer is that the United States pays most of the bill.) But the meeting w r as impressive, none the less. Ambassador Felipe Espil of Argentina, looking as delighted as a Chesterfieldian diplomat is supposed to look, led the applause. Many murmured “bravos” and “felicitations” and “congratulations” resounded. It means that all those luscious baskets of grapes from Concord to Malaga, which entrance the wives of arriving diplomats, all those delicate tid-bits of lamb, all those enchanting Latin American melodies that fall sweetly on Latin American ears, all those gorgeous soirees with flags and trumpets—all, all are paid for! Once, some of those charming little tropical countries delayed paying their share of the PanAmerican Union bill. But that's all in the past. Today—all is harmony on the Pan-American Union front! Bravo, Senors! tt a a DEBONAIR Charles Taussig, New York sugar baron and adviser to President Roosevelt on the Virgin Islands, dropped into town for a brief visit. Strolling from his apartment at the Carlton to the state department, he passed the White House lawns and stopped in admiration. An automatic sprinkler sprayed grass as green as shamrocks. “That is the one thing I envy the administration,” sighed advisor Taussig. “The green lawns of the White House. I can’t do anything with the grass on Long Island.” “Well, this grass is under the special care of the New Deal,” said a friend. NOTE: Adviser Taussig's estate at Bay Shore, L. 1., is perfect except for its lack of green grass. An intricate springing system so far has produced little result. But hope springs verdant in the Taussig breast. ana SCINTILLATING like a rainbow. Minister Don Manuel Gonzalez-Zeledon of Costa Rica appeared at the state department to pay his respects to Secretary Hull. From head to foot, envoy Gonzalez radiated color. He was kind enough to explain some of the reasons for the sparkling. “This pin," he announced, indicating a brilliant red, white and blue ornament in his crimson tie, • is made of rubies, diamonds and sapphires. It was presented to me by the Costa Rican colc-ny of Manhattan while I was president of the ‘Costa Rica in New York Club’.” A prodigious gold chain gleamed across Mr. Gonzalez's waistcoat. A red. white and blue ribbon. matching the tie-pin. fluttered in his coat lapel. His shirt was bright blue. His shoes twinkled with anew shine. After envoy Gonzalez had passed in his magnificence. a tourist who had been gaping from a distance approached and, with awe in his voice: “Was that gentleman the secretary of state?” he inquired. NOTE: Had Minister Gonzalez chosen to wear his fiery opal scarf-pin, eye shades would have been in order at the state department. But Mme. Gonzalez told him opals bring bad luck. New York's prisoners are getting five days off a month for good behavior. Which, beside their Sundays, gives them a better break than labor with its five-day week. The railroads like that idea of speedier trains, if only to beat more autos to crossings, rather than score so many ties. A man in Los Angeles has build a large i pock-marked relief model of the moon, mainly to prove to young couples what an illusion love is. Imagine Yale fallen to such depths that its president should put educatiun above athletics. Does President Angell of Yale think he could fill the Yale bowl for a Shakeapearean play. Baseball magnates should take a lesson from the tremendous popularity of the American players in Japan, and move their league parks over to the Orient., Only those with a vocabulary of 10.000 words can understand world news today, says a Columbia professohr. But only a few choice expressions are necessary to comment on it. My this time, little Gloria Vanderbilt must feel thcreSs little glory is being a Vanderbilt.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

.*'*■* ' - ,v V v* S' ■ -W v:- f* .si*-" ' - 7 IC3ZR6-

The Message Center

(Time* 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.J a a a OBJECTS TO WORKING HOURS AT HOSPITALS. By a Subscriber. Several months ago I read in this column an article concerning the long hours of the employes of the Indiana University hospitals. I did not read anything else since and I would like to mention different facts myself. The employes of the dietary department of the Indiana university hospital work mostly sixty-six hours a week, in some extreme cases seventy hours. The wages don't correspond with the length of the time and by cutting down these working hours and adding more employes the state institution would set the example one could and should expect from the state. In addition to these working hours the administration is working on the plan of a central locker room, which is as good as completed. That means that the employes of the Long and Coleman hospitals have to walk to the Riley hospital to check in and out, of course, on their own time. That means an addition of one hour a day, as these employes work split hours, from 6 a. m. to 1:30 p. m. and from 4:30 p. m. to 7:30. o a a APPEAL IS SOUNDED FOR DOG’S RETURN Bv a Times Reader. To the party who found the little black and white dog in the vicinity of North Pine street last spring: Won’t you please bring him back? He belongs to my neighbor’s children. You can t possibly love that dog as they do. They spent their savings to buy his license and harness. They taught him to sit up. beg for his food, jump a rope and many other tricks. They searched for him continually and spent the last of their money to advertise in The Times Lost and Found column for him. Come on, friend. Make this a real Thanksgiving for the children. If you knew how they loved this dog, you couldn't keep him. They live at 745 East Vermont street. a a a FATHER COUGHLIN HEADED FOR SUCCESS By S. E. M. It is quite evident that H. C. A., who is wont to accuse Father Coughlin of fostering the growth of certain repugnant “isms.” has a very limited knowledge of his social plan, the Catholic church and history. Father Coughlin is well aware of the fact that certain reforms are necessary in our social order, or else Fascism. Socialism, etc., will make deep inroads in the government. Therefore, he has organized the National Union for Social Justice, to correct the present day abuses in a sane and thorough manner, thus making unnecessary the adoption of any radical “ism.” For this very commendable act on his part to stabilize our present government, H. C. A. would chide him and accuse him of leading movements he is fighting so vigorously. The very doctrines of Fascism and Socialism are incompatible with the tenets of Father Coughlin. If we ever have a dictatorship in this country, it will be in spite of him rather than because of him. It is a historical fact that religion

THE SNOWS OF LIFE’S WINTER

By Leo X. Smith A letter t>y Harry Fisher in the Sunday Star is typical of a misunderstanding which has existed for some time concerning administration of relief in Center township, of which Hannah A. Noone is the trustee. Mr. Fisher complains of inequalities in allotment of employment on work relief projects and that the investigators knowingly permit that condition. His complaint is similar to many which have been recently directed toward Miss Noone, the trustee. The facts are that the township trustee has nothing to do with certifying men for work relief or with their employment for such work or for alloting coal to those engaged in work relief. Neither has the trustee anything to do with the selection of the visitors or investigators. For many months, the Gover-

is generally the first to suffer under any radical form of government, and the Catholic church especially, because of her constant refusal to adopt herself to the whims and caprices of the times. The only logical conclusion is that the hierarchy would not permit Father Coughlin to preach a doctrine against the church, and he is first and foremost a churchman, having been ordained to say mass, administer the sarcrements, and preach the gospel. Father Coughlin has no intension of making saints out of capitalists, but merely honest men willing to give the working man what is justly his. For* this, they will receive no halo. Since this militant priest has a larger following than any other single radio personality of the day, together with a constructive plan and the ability to carry it out, as has been evidenced in the past, we can see nothing but success ahead of him. a a a RESIDENT, OUT OF WORK, UNABLE TO PAY TAXES By Charlie Ware. I am 54 and my mother is 74. She draws a pension of $lO. We were on the basket before she got her $lO and we are expected to buy coal, eats and pay rent. If some pne could show us how it is done, we would be glad to try it. I am not able to do any heavy work, but I am a painter by trade and have had my name in the employment agency since last fall and have never gotten a day's work yet. I can drive a car and would like to get something to do. People from out of town can come to Indianapolis and they are taken care of. I have lived here all my life and paid taxes up till now, but I can't live on $lO a month. „ * * SOCIALISM AND COMMUNISM ARE WIDELY SEPARATED By a Times Reader. This is in answer to Times Reader who said the way to learn Socialism and Communism is to take a oneway ticket to Russia. That was a very good idea for fellows who don’t know the first thing about either one of the same. Well, I would be willing to help buy a few one-way tickets for fellows like you. I don’t suppose that you have ever been out of your own back yard. The conditions around your own neighborhood should show you that times are getting ‘better. II

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

Cites Trustee's Stand

nor’s unemployment relief commission has had charge of work relief projects, of employment on them, of allotment of coal to such men and of the personnel of visitors who investigate both direct and work relief cases. The fact that most of the supervisory work is carried on by the commission from the same building as the work of the trustee has caused many persons making complaints to erroneously regard the trustee as the responsible party. Miss Noone gladly will hear and rectify any complaints made in matters over which she has control, but obviously she is not able to adjust complaints in those instances referred to. This statement is made with the hope that a widespread misunderstanding which has existed for months will be cleared and that criticism will not be directed toward Miss Noone in matters over which she has no control:

you would just get that rusty old brain of yours working, you would change your mind. There are more men out of work now than a year ago. I will give President Roosevelt all the credit for what he has done. But for you, I think that you had better study a little, then do your talking. I don't suppose that you had anything but luxury in life. Socialism can not be classed with Communism. I would like to see and talk with you in about five years. a a a HE WONDERS WHAT IT WAS ALL ABOUT By E. C. B. Os all the silly, inane, puerile vaporings I’ve ever read, the letter under the title “What Did the Big Boys See?” wins the duck. What was it all about? The similes contained no clarity of thought or expression. It was just a jumbled up mass of meaningless words, typical of the tyro. I always have been under the impression that 1 when one writes for public reading that said writing should carry some significance. Will you please have George Gould Hine express himself more clearly. Maybe if we understood what he was talking about, we'd all wholeheartedly agree with him or violently oppose him. But as matters stand now all we can do is sit and wonder what it is all about. a e a YOUNG MAN NEEDED IN CITY COURT POST By a Reader I understand there are several aspirants for appointment as judge of the local police court, one of whom is a former law partner of the former Ed Jackson-Marsh law firm. It is well remembered that they fell off the $2,500 horse. I believe in the Governor and am confident that he surely would not make such a selection, but that he will select a young man who will be square with all the people regardless of their politics, race or creed. a a a TIMES CORRECTED ON WEATHER FORECAST STORY By J. H. Arntington, Meteorologist. In your issue of Nov. 14 on page 10, under the map showing average dates of first severe frosts in the United States, a reference is made to “United States weather bureau

NOV. 28, 1931

predictions that this winter will be the severest in years.” As the United States weather bureau did not issue the prediction referred to, I believe the many readers of The Times who will note this statement should be apprised of the 1 fact. So They Say The main cause of modern war is | unquestionably fear.—Dr. William Ralph Inge, former “Gloomy Dean of St. Paul’s.” Why go to France's chateau country when one may visit here that classical and sQul-uplighting institution, the “Greasing Palace”?— Interior Secretary Harold Ickes. Os course, I'm going to keep it (the Nobel prize in literature), and continue writing. There are poor authors, too.—Luigi Pirandello. The radio has lured many gullible persons into a disastrous laxative habit.—Dr. Frederick J. Kalteyer. I’m the livest, kick’nest person you ever saw.—W. W. Atterbury, railroad executive. I can’t remember a single instance where gambling one way or another caused the college players to lie down.—Glenn (Pop) Warner, famous football coach. Nations, like, men, may prefer fighting to starving.—Francis S. Sayre, assistant secretary of state. Science broadens religious thinking. The more man knows the less superstitious he becomes.—Dr. Robert A. Millikan, famous scientist. They don’t train players properly. We trained like prize fighters for football.—Pudge Heffelfinger, famous Yale guard from 1888 to 1891. We don’t seem to have anything left to talk about. We are becoming mentally lazy.—John LangdonDavies, British author. The American government is built on the theory that it is to protect the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of its citizens. But the right to pursue is no good if you don’t catch it.—Governor Floyd B. Olson of Minnesota. Daily Thought So bulit we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: or the people had a mind to work. —Nehemiah, 4:6. EASE and speed in doing a thing do not give the work lasting solidity or exactness of beauty.— Plutarch. ‘HIS CAR’ BY M. C. W. He rode away alone and gay— What if the day was cold and gray! Back to college in his first car— Seemed he was gone away so far! Starting out on life’s uncertain road— Will it be light or heavy load! Dear Lord, Oh guide him safe and right— Through days light and darkest night. J