Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 192, Indianapolis, Marion County, 21 December 1934 — Page 26

PAGE 26

The Indianapolis Times (A .xfKirrs.HOH ,%Kl* KKAVSPAPE*) J*fY W HOWARD President T.AI CO • POWELL Mft*r KARL V. BAKER Business Mai ager Phone Riley 5361

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FRIDAY DECEMBER 21 IM4 A SHAMEFUL RECORD LAST year 131 persons in Marion County lost their lives in traffic accidents. This year, many days before the year is ended, 128 persons have died in traffic accidents. That is a horrible record for the residents of Marion County and Indianapolis to admit. It means that within a year there has been no effort on the part of the citizens of this community to alleviate a situation which is growing worse annually. It means that despite educational and prevention methods autoists and pedestrians of this county and city still pay no heed to the value of lives. Surely, if nothing else can be done about the condition, the coming session of the Legislature might piace on its calendar the following notation: "Automobile Casualties—Too High. A Remedy Mu t Be Found.” With the law-making authority, members o: the 1935 S'ate Legislature should be able to find a way. In the first place, they can, with lull authority of the populace they represent, make the traffic laws so seven that a few instances in violation will be a lesson not to one but to thousands. The Times recommends that the General Assembly give the traffic violation laws of the State of Indiana a thorough going over and adopt a procedure which will cure some of those who find the punishment for traffic law' violation one which is easy to sidestep. ECONOMICAL RELIEF DESPITE the assertions of many readers of The Indianapolis Times that relief in Marion County and Indiana is a costly affair which does not result in the best service to those on the relief rolls, a recent series of stories by The Times proves otherwise. This series pointed out, without flowering of facts but with stiff formality of figures, that the people of Indiana and this county today are receiving relief on an economical basis. It showed that money was not being wasted but was being spent as wisely as possible among the thousands who are confronted with the problem of providing for themselves when there are no jobs to aid them in this task. A great deal of the credit for a job well done must go to Wayne Coy, former secretary of the Governor, who has taken over the enormous task. Mr. Coy, since he took the post, has had his fingers on every pulsebeat of a state overcome with depression. His administration has shown no signs of wavering from its goal and probably won’t as long as Mr. Coy is leading the campaign.

DON’T HURRY, BOYS FOR many years the county has needed a new Juvenile Detention Home. But this is the first time in a long period that County Commissioners have decided to buy a site and also have considered paying a price that conservative real estate men of this city frankly assert is "far more than value.” There is no question about the need for a modern detention home. The erring children of this county have been confined too long in institutions which certainly are not conducive to their betterment and which continually present the hazards of fire and aged construction. But it appears that in the hurry and scurry of completing the old year, the present Board of County Commissioners has become a bit too enthused about the purchase of an old apartment at the corner of New Jersey and New York-sts. The price asked for this property is $57,000. Another SIO,OOO would have to be spent for repairs. It seems rather odd that any piece of property can be worth $57,000 when almrvt one-fifth of its value would have to be added to put it into shape for use. Juvenile Judge John F. Geckler, who sends children to this home and-who would have to bear much of the burden in case of disaster, flatly asserts that, the proposed site is inadequate. If for no other reason, why should the county take over a site that is inadequate, burdening taxpayers with a holding that is nearing a stage of no value? It is very apparent that the commissioners are acting with too much haste. The Indianapolis Times favors anew detention home but certainly not one that repeats the errors of years gone by. Don't rush, commissioners, for those of you who leave office ir. the next ten days probably will find that better judgment will follow you. PIONEER SPIRIT PASSES A 17 HETHER Uncle Sam ever will do any- ’ thing with the gigantic blue prmt laid on his desk by the National Resources Board may be open to question. It is as least certain. however, that the whole thing is a neat if somewhat elaborate mirker for the end of a long era in American history. For the interesting thing about this program laid down by the President's advisers is the fact that it snips off time-honored American policies and customs in a dozen places. In other words, it is a final, definite admiss. a that the pioneering days are gone for gooc No longer do the infinite resources of the land lie waiting the grasping hands of some valiant first-comer. The * rogram says bluntly that a man can not do as he pleases with his own any longer; he must use what he possesses of forest, stream, and soil with at least one eye on the needs of his fellows and his descendants. Thus we get an elaborate plan for the use of land. Something like 75,000.000 acres of submarginal land would be retired from use. Indian reservations, national and state parks, game refuges and forest preserves would be tremendously enlarged. Homestead laws woul*-, be replaced, laws governing tenant farming would be revised, and subsistence housing projects would be tied

in with a federally fostered decentralization of industry. Tne use of our streams would be even more stringently regulated. Detailed studies of the possibilities inherent In water power, navigation, and "food control projects for nearly every sizable river basin in the Nation would be made. Everything affecting a river, from construction of big hydro-electric plants to prevention of pollution that kills fish, would be directed from Washington. Control of mineral resources is also urged. This, apparently, would call for combined action by the national Government, the states, and the industries themselves, with each industry compelled to adjust its policies to the interests of consumers, wage-earners, and the national conservation program. The items mentioned here constitute but a small part of the stupendous program which has been suggested. They constitute an official recognition of the fact that the good old days —the days when mines and forests and streams and farmlands were held the natural prizes of those who could get there first—are over and done with. We have grown up, apparently. We can no longer afford the carefree spirit of the pioneer. That, whether the program be adopted or not, is the significant thing about the report.

GETTING A LITTLE TOO HOT! 'T'HERE is a disquieting report from Washington to the effect that the Senate munitions investigators may be compelled to pull in their horns, on the ground that they are on the verge of bespattering certain gentlemen who are too highly placed for the comfort of high administration officials. One hopes that this report is not true. But if the second part ol it be true—if the senators are actually on a trail that leads to high places—that is all the more reason why the investigation should continue. This munitions investigation is of very great importance; potentially, it is of vast benefit to the whole country. If the cards are about to fall in such a manner as to embarrass some one close to the inner chamber—well, that is just too bad, but the people are entitled to know about it. To try to hush things up would be to make a very great mistake. BACK TO THE INDIANS F'OR a good many years the gag about giving the country back to the Indians has been a good joke—except tnat it had a certain grim overtone, in the depression, which made it a trifle shivery. Now% however, it develops that Indian Commissioner John Collier is in favor of exactly such a program. He points out that such submarginal land in the w r est is to be retired from agriculture. Why. he asks, should such land not be given to the Indians? They are experts at using land in such a way as to conserve forest and grass. Any reforestation or erosion-control plan w'ould fit their way of living. Land that can not support American farmers properly would be ideally designed for Indian use. The idea sounds attractive. The Indian would gain, for in the end he would be able to support himself and work out his ow r n salvation; meanwhile, the white mans land-control program would be helped. Why not, on a modest scale, give a little of the country back to the red men?

FASTER TRAINS npHE shade of Casey Jones will cheer news of the American railmen’s answer to the speed challenge from the airways. The Southern Pacific announces plans for a 40-hour rail service between Chicago i and San Francisco. The new train will be a streamlined affair, modeled after the Union Pacific’s Diesel-motored thunderbolt, the M-10001, that recently dashed from Los Angeles to New York City in 56 hours and 55 minutes. The Southern Pacific flyer will cut a third off the present 60-hour service on the Overland Route between Chicago and the Golden Gate. The New York Central soon will test its streamlined steam engine, named the Commodore Vanderbilt after the road's founder. It is capable of making between 70 and 90 miles an hour. Thus, by Diesel, steam and electric power the railroads are "stepping on it,” and preparing undreamed-of schedules over their network of steel. They can not out-speed the great airliners, but they can give the traveling public what it has lacked in cheap, fast and comfortable rail service. Incidentally, by streamlining their engines and cars, and driving them by electrcity and Diesel motors, the railroads will save large sums in fuel now consumed by the slower ooal and oil burners. The coming of faster trains opens many vistas. The Government, the states and carriers will spend millions of dollars to eliminate the 200.00 C-odd dangerous grade crossings, made extra hazardous by the speedier trains. Modernizing of equipment will stimulate the heavy industries and provide new employment. And just as fast auto travel created a world of new wants, so faster rail travel may whet cultured appetites and raise the level of living.

FIFTY GHOSTS T T ENRY MEYER knows there are ghosts. He is a veteran hangman of New Orleans Parish. Louisiana, who has officiated at 50 hangmgs. His grisly calling drove him mad. Now as he tosses on his last sick-bed the ghosts of the men he has sent plunging to their deaths through the gallows trap come to haunt and puisue him. Not one of the 50 died a more tortured ceath than the one facing their executioner. Capital punishment’s effect upon prison officials is just another of the many arguments against it. When Warden Lewis E. Lawes of Sing Sing was first forced to execute a designated human being, he believed that capital punishment was necessary for the well-being of society. But later experience set him to studying the question of whether there was any sense to his act. He studied for years here and abroad. And he concluded that what his state and 39 others were doing was worse than futile. "Executions,” he says, “are like war, they brutalize men.” Some day we shall abolish both. k

Liberal Viewpoint BY DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

THE Chamber of Commerce of the United States has launched another hysterical onslaught against the Reds. It demands a statute ‘•making it an offense to be affiliated with a Communist movement or to disseminate Communist propaganda.” It proposes to make it a crime to advocate the overthrow of government by force. In short, it would take steps to outlaw the Communist party in the United States. The Chamber apparently does not realize that at least two of our most honored Presidents would have come within the scope of such repressive legislation. Jefferson repeatedly praised violent revolution and held that the tree of liberty could only be properly fertilized by the blood of tryants. Lincoln declared that the right of forceful revolution was one of the "most sacred rights of mankind.” At another time he said that the international bond of the working man was the most sacred thing in human society next to family ties. Further, one may profitably call attention to the fact that such proposals as these of the Chamber of Commerce were harbingers of the Fascist movement in European countries. And Fascism brings a greater regimentation of business than anything the Chamber has ever complained about under the New Deal. a tt BUT neither of these are the most important considerations in the present discussion. The most cogertt reminder which can be brought to the attention of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States is that if American business puts its own house in order it will have not the slightest reason to worry about the Reds or about the growth of the Communist party in the United States. If the Chamber of Commerce sees to it that American business starts to humming once more, the Reds will make no more progress in this country than a bathing suit salesman trying to vend his wares in mid-Sahara. Such things as the present burden of unemployment. inability to get a job under capitalism. the failure to convict Insull, and the recerit publication of income figures by the Bureau of Internal Revenue do more to stimulate recruits for the Reds than a thousand radical conclaves in Union Square. On the very day I read of this latest outburst against the Reds I received the bulletin of the dignified and conservative National Association for Credit Control. This was mainly taken up with a number of facts which might well be brought to the attention of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. a a a IN 1930, we had 24,079 banks with total assets of $74,000,000,000. In 1933. we had only 14,624 banks with assets of $51,000,000,000. Our total massed debts, public and private, long and short term, are estimated to be $250,000.000,000. , Our total public interest bill is estimated to be $10,000,000,000. In 1929, our total annual national income was estimated to be $85,000,000,000. In 1933, such income was some $41,000,000,000. At this time the estimated number of unemployed is 11.000,000. The estimated number of persons bn the relief rolls is reported to be 18,000,000, or nearly one-seventh of our total population. The national debt has increased from some $16,000,000,000 in 1929 to some $27,500,000,000 in Dec. 1, 1934. These are relevant facts for the Chamber of Commerce to bite into and get to work on. The social conditions which are reflected in these figures are what furnish the most fertile breeding ground for radicalism. When the Chamber of Commerce can turn in a favorable balance sheet on American business and financial operations the Reds will need a pulmoter rather than a policeman.

Capital Capers BY DAVID DIETZ

WARREN DELANO ROBBINS, American Minister to Canada, has been having a jolly time during his quick visit here. He stopped at the White House and visited President Roosevelt, who is his cousin. The other evening Warren was invited to drop In at a dance being given in the country. He accepted, appeared at the party, white-tied and debonair as usual, and remained very late —very late, indeed. In a way, this was fortunate. After 3 a. m. no visitor can get into the White House. But the next shift of servants takes place at 7 o'clock. Warren counted on getting in via the early morning shift. Now a real difficulty arose. Warren said to the cab driver: "Take me to the White House,” The driver declined. He thought there was a practical joke or perhaps something more sinister involved. Who would be trying to get into the Executive Mansion at such an hour? Despite repeated pleas and commands, the taxi man remained obdurate and the disgruntled envoy was finally forced to get out of the cab at a considerable distance from the White House and walk home Next day, so the story is being told here, President Roosevelt observed at luncheon that Cousin Warren looked somewhat tired. "You seem tired, Warren,” said the President. “Yes,” replied Robbins, “I got home rather late.” "What time did you get to bed?” pursued the President. "Oh, about 2 o'clock,” said Robbins. “That's odd,” remarked another White House guest. “I thought I saw you walking up the drive at a little after 7 o'clock this morning.” Such, at least, is the tale which is being merrily told and retold in Washington salons. a a a SIR ANTHONY JENKINSON, the young British newspaperman who recently visited Washington, is back in town for a few days after interviewing Huey Long, Governor Floyd Olson and Upton Sinclair. The youthful Sir Anthony, editor of Isis, undergraduate publication of Oxford, has enjoyed an amazing series of experiences. In California he tried at first to interview Upton Sinclair through petitions to private secretaries, managers, etc. This failed to work. Sinclair was harder to reach than a Roman emperor or Stalin. So Sir Anthony tried a ruse. He sent a telegram to Sinclair saying that a London newspaperman, passing through, wished to interview him. Back came a favorable answer. The interview was surprising. When the young English writer hastened to the address given him in Beverly Hills, he found the house apparently empty, a large “To Let” sign hanging from the eaves. Nevertheless, he knocked at a basement door. It was opened, and there was Sinclair and a staff of assistants busily at work. a M 8 SINCLAIR uses this "hide-out” to avoid unwelcome callers. His address at Pasadena, listed in the phone directory, is merely a false front. He sat in a rocking chair in his garden and expounded his theories to his British visitor. Huey Long in New Orleans proved easier to interview. It seems that if the Kingfish regards you with favorable eye, he removes his collar. For Sir Anthony, he removed his shirt. The interview took place in B. V. D.'s, and lasted two hours. Huey has been known to receive visitors clpd in pajamas. The young Britisher regards Floyd Olson as the most interesting personality in America, and as a future prospect for the presidency. They had many talks together. Some more observations of Sir Anthony: Shirley Temple, 5-year-old movie star, is one of the most adorable children in the world. He’s buying her some toys in New York; Fred Astaire ranks among the best-dressed men in Hollywood; Will Rogers is the most delightful luncheon companion.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

ips* y v y

The Message Center

(Times readers are incited to express their views in these columns. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Idmit them to 250 words or less.) a a a GAS COMPANY ACCUSED OF HIGH-HANDED METHODS By C. C. Williams. During the last 50 years my family and I have paid the Citizens Gas Cos. many dollars. For the last three or four years I have been unable to take advantage of the alleged discount by paying bills before certain dates, but they have always been paid. On Dec. 11 I received a notice, mailed on Dec 10, that if my bill was not paid by Dec 15 my service might be disconnected: On the heels of the postman came a representative of the gas company, who in spite of my wife showing him the notice, telling him she had no telephone to call me without leaving our two infant children alone, turned off our gas. We were forced to go back to the old-fashioned cook stove and it really is a pleasure to know that we will have to pay no more money to the ’east fair of the public utilities in this city. No doubt many people have had unpleasant experiences with the gas company, but it seems to me they were a little high-handed with me. questions Purpose of DETENTION HOME PROPOSAL By Dan Newhost. The detention home proposition looks like prosperity has returned with a bang. I will venture to say that within 600 feet of the proposed "home,” land values are low enough in this district to get a good building site for this home on a price basis to justify spending $20,000 on anew building instead of buying an obsolete one. That area is one of those recognized in the Sage Foundation report as constituting one of the seven slum areas of Indianapolis. Look over the tax valuations to see what the ground values are. Let the owners offer their ground plus three-quarter-century-old buildings that may be left on them; or vacant ground cleared because of its inability to pay income on the old worn-out junk. The Juvenile Court could be placed in this building. Must the taxpayer always play Santa Claus to some of our boys? Is this just another deal? BARNES COLUMN PRAISED FOR LIBERAL VIEWS Bv Hiram Larkejr. Strange that The Message Center, the paradise of the underdogs, offers no flowers to Dr. Harry Elmer Barnes. When he reaches the land of the immortals God grant that St. Peter, Lincoln, Gladstone and Debs will be more appreciative. His clear thinking, truth, and subdued passion for justice for the poor makes his column worthy of being read by all workers. To the illumination which they will thus receive may they add enough imagination and common sense to fashion the keys that will unlock America’s storehouse of plenty. Read beyond the comics, you unemployed objects of public ’charity, and study the truth which alone can break our chains and set us free. a a a TOWNSEND PLAN GIVEN SUPPORT BY READERS By a Times Reader. If you must mention the Townsend plan on your editorial page, why not be kind enough to explain what it is, in the way Dr. Townsend outlines it. and give his answers to

THE THUNDERING HERD!

An Anniversary Is Observed

By Erick Kendall. Ninety years ago today, an economic child was born into the world. A child that first saw daylight in a humble one-story structure on a side street of the town of Rochdale in “Merrie Olde England.” It was an offspring of the British toilers, brought into the world by them as a possible savior from the misery caused by the newly arnvec machine age and the cheating, food adulterating profit business. This child was laughed at, hooted, booed by every private business man and every shortsighted individual who believed in the divine right of private profit. This unwelcome newcomer was Consumer's Co-operation. “Mad weavers” they were called, those 28 farsighted toilers who were the progenitors of the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers and, what is even more important to the principles upon which co-operation has invaded every clime—from the domicile of the Hindoo snake charmer to the banks of the Volga: from the land of orange blossoms and mikados to the waving

the questions that are usually asked about the plan. If you are not in favor of it, say so in a straightforward manner. The kind of piffling editorial in The Times, in which you try to ridicule the plan by giving undeserved publicity to some Florida bumpkin’s crude attempt to burlesque Dr. Townsend, with a supposedly droll proposal of a SIO,OOO monthly pension from 20 to 30 years of age, is more unjust than if you disagreed with the plan in a plain, honest way. The plan has several petitioners and many club members. It deserves better treatment than your silly little attempt to get a laugh. The plan has spread over the country without the benefit of newspaper publicity. If it is to succeed it must do so despite the fish wrapper editorials which attempt to guffaw it into disrepute before people understand what it is Dr. Townsend is proposing. The Townsend plan prorides for payment of S2OO a month for all persons 60 years or over. The funds would be provided by the Federal Government, under the plan. a a a DON MELLETTS FIGHT FOR CLEAN WATER SUPPLY By Joe Kelly Before me is an "Indiana University News Letter,” entered as second-class matter at the postoffice at Bloomington, Ind., which is a sales circular, with attached return order blank to the Indiana University bookstore, for copies of "The President’s Column,” by William Lowe Bryan, president of Indiana University. The circular is most laudatory of the book, containing “philosophy, humor, criticism, discussions everyday affairs.” The book, also before me, opens with a tribute to Don Mellett, murdered Canton (O.) newspaper editor, entitled "Slain for the Republic.” Somehow the story recalls the first great piece of newspaper work by Don Mellett, the expose of the terrible water conditions that existed at Bloomington and Indiana University when Mr. Mellett was a student there. Mr. Mellett was college correspondent few newspapers. Good newspaper reporter that he was, he saw in that water

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

fields of whiskered wheat in America’s great plains. "Mad weavers” they indeed must have seemed, those 28 poor and inadequately educated men, when with their painfully saved pennies they set up a store of their own and boldly proclaimed their gradiose ideals of making the little store a cornerstone of a happier world to be—of an economic sy: „em wherein the evil of profit would be abolished and every man given a chance to lead a full and secure life, provided he did his share of useful labor. The child born on Rochdale's Toad Lane on Dec. 21. 1844, is now approaching maturity. In these four score and ten years its ideals have circumnavigated the globe, taking root among men in practically every civilized country. In actual practice co-operation has proved that it can rearrange our economic system so as to make this old world of ours a happier place to live in. Long after Napoleon, Caesar and other destroyers have sunk into oblivion of time, the names of the 28 weavers of Rochdale will be revered by mankind.

supply conditions that made for death and disease, conditions that should be corrected. Dr. Bryan was then president of Indiana University. Conservative men considered the expose bad for the city and the university. Was there an effort to aid Mr. Mellett in this battle for decent water supply? There were efforts to muzzle him. He received threats of bodily harm, white-capping notes and one morning there was a bundle of switches before his door, the symool of the power of darkness. Os course, Mr. Mellett, brave and hardboiled and thick-skinned, fought on against the stupid opposition. Hard-boiled and thick-skinned! I have seen hundreds of newspaper reporters and editors like him—all that a covering for the sentiment of a maiden, the honesty of a saint and the integrity and bravery of a martyr. And, Mr. Mellett gone from Bloomington and perhaps forgotten until his Canton opportunity, the sane, sanitary water supply for which he fought was established to the credit of the authorities who did it. All this is not strange. Many best citizens at Canton were fighting against Mr. Mellett at Canton, arm, in arm, figuratively, if not literally, with the denizens of the underworld, gangsters, dope-ped-dlers, illicit liquor tradesmen, big wigs in prostitution. It was holding fast to that which they thought was good. There were those at Bloomington who were holding fast to the ideal of insanitary and inadequate water Eupply. The school of journalism at Indiana University plans some sort of honor to Mellett, a newspaper Nathan Hale. But let the sponsors of this tribute think first of his battle on his school's campus for

Daily Thought

For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die—Romans, V:VII. WE can offer much in the large, but to make sacrifices in little things is what we are seldom equal to.—Goethe. i

DEC. 21, 1934

the health and perhaps the lives of the university students and the citizens of Bloomington. a a a The writer of the letter to the Message Center complaining of conditions in certain hotels is asked to visit The Times and confer in person with the Message Center Editor who wishes additional details. THANKS TO YOU AND THE SAME TO YOU By G. A. A. Please pe.-mit me to offer a few words of praise to The Times and the citizens of Indianapolis who are responsible for the ever-widening strip of dimes on Washington-st. The money thus collected is used for noble purposes, and it is indeed interesting to watch people from all walks of life stoop and slide their dimes on the line. Each and every one of them will have a merrier Christmas for having done so, as that strip of silver is a giant shining wand, whose magic touch will bring gladness to the hearts and warmth to the bodies of scores of little folk who might otherwise face a cold and desolate Christmas. Congratulations, Times, for another great service, and may your Christmas be a merry one and your New Year happy and prosperous.

So They Say

Something overcame me. Albert Howard Fish, who confessed slaying Grace Budd six years ago. I had always regarded myself as an American citizen, until I talked to Mr. (Newton D.) Baker. Then I discovered we were regarded as a species of outlaw.—Pierre S. du Pont. I’m a country doctor. I’ve been ;ne for 27 years, and I'm going back to where I belong.—Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe. A satisfactory social organism can not grow out of an unsocial seed.— Bishop Frances J. McConnell, former head of the Federal Council of Churches. Don’t let any one tell you that everything is quiet now on the Rio Grande. We’ve got some tough hombres down there.—United States Marshal Guy McNamara of the western district of Texas.

A PRAYER

BY ALONZO RICE The way grows steep and stony, Father! Night Is veiling hill and valley; many a cloud Fleets darkly over Heaven; a misty shroud Blots out the feeble stars; no welcome light Gleams for a moment’s space to guide aright My faltering footsteps; on I wander, bowed And oft amiss, while echoing far and loud The storm is breaking on the mountain height. Bend downward closer, Father! Take my hand With firmer clasp in thine; along the way Lead me aright, for ’mid the gloom I stand Doubtful and sore afraid; I can but stiay Without thee. Father; guide me m that land Bright with the sunshine of eternal day!