Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 201, Indianapolis, Marion County, 1 January 1935 — Page 10

PAGE 10

Ifhe Indianapolis Times <A M RlPPs.||(,h \R| NEW SPATE*! ROT HOWARn TALCOTT POWELL Editor EARL D. BAKER f’.usiniss Manager I'hone Ullf'V r.,v.i

Give Ua*t nn'i the People Will Hn>i Their Ottn Hay

M-mfnT of rrtt?e<i Press, serij'i's ■ Howard Newspaper All.a >-• w *vaper Enr-r-IN I ( i Audi! Bure. hi of I'irenlations I)* ! dally ox-.'it s ,i layt by The In- • 1 :i ..!:h I . --s I’uMi-htnlf < 2n •_•-'* vv. -t Marv* inapops. Ind Pr. . in Mari n /minty. 2 r< • I-- i. copy : elsewhere. 3 > • • • r and f-v oarr r 12 <• !•! a v.■ • M il snbsorip* li -I rat - :n Indiana. <3 a y* r: m:r- 1 of Indiana. 65 cents a month < 3

TUESDAY JANUARY 1. WE STAND TOGETHER Every time the first of January comes around, people have fun v... h New Year resolutions. Some hire fun making them, and some have fun making fun of the ones other .people make; in either ca. there is a general recognition of the fact/ that New Year’s Day is a good time to make a fresh start in one dnection or another, and the resolutions are treated humorously because we have learned that fit h i.-> frail and that the high resolves of January first are apt to be back among the n h bah., by the time the month is over. Nevertheless, the old custom of making such resolut ons is a good one. It isn't a bad thing for us to remind ourselves periodically that we are a good deal less than perfect, and that one or two little reforms would be in order. The reforms may fall through, but the mere fact that we saw they were necessary is wholesome for our ego—which tends, human nature b r ir.g what it is, j to grow a bit inflated now and then. But the thing really goes a good deal farther than that. For if our individual shortcomings show up too clearly, when we begin anew year, our collective ones are even more obvious. We are still too much given to asking Cain's age-old question, “Am I my brothers keeper?”— although the whole trend of modern ife, which presses all of us closer and closer together, seems to be to answer Yes to it. And somehow our actions as a group do not show j that we have become fully aware of the yet. We don't, after all. live for ourselves alone. We may be snug and secure in our jobs and our hom?s—but our tax rates will rise if there are jobless people to be fed. our bank accounts may vanish if a depression is allowed to run too far, a far-distant crop failure may, indirectly but surely, deprive us of our jobs, and a ferment of injustices in Europe may take some of us overseas to fight and die, as it did in 1917. In other words, we all stand or fall together in this world. If we forget to see to it that people less lucky than ourselves get a decent break in life, we are pretty apt to pay a penalty ourselves, sooner or later. New Year's Day. when we try to block out a '.course of action for the coming year,' isn't a b'ad time to remember it. JAPAN’S FOLLY \ LONG with the news that Japan had a\. formally denounced the naval limitation , treaty were two companion stories. One, from j London, quote unnamed officials on the probability of an Anglo-American alliance. The other, from San Pedro. Cal., announced that the forthcoming American naval maneuvers spreading half-way across the Pacific would be the mightiest in history. * Friends of peace will regret these quick appearances of war preparedness. It will be pointed out, properly, that the Pacific maneuvers were planned many months ago. and that | “alliance" is much too strong a word to describe the growing co-operation between certain American and Brit l-h groups. But after these exaggerated appearances are discounted, the stark fact remains that Japan is destroying one of the few peace treaties that has worked and is thereby creating a dangerous world situation. This disagreeable truth was stated clearly by the United States Government in the speech of warning by Ambassador Davis at the unsuccessful London conference on Dec. 6. He said: “We believe that the course taken in 1922 (the Waihingti n treaty) was in the right direction; that the supplementary agreements made in 1930 were an improvement; that the system thus established has been of advantage to all concerned, and that abandonment now of the principles invo - fid to conditions of insecurity, of international suspicion, and of costly competition, with no real advantage to any nation." Ours is a peace-loving Government. It does not warn Japan with such terms as insecurity, suspicion, and mostly ion, without the tnest sober consideration. We can only hope that the Japanese government will understand its folly long before the treaty terminates in 1936. Meanwhile, yesterday's statement by State Secretary Hull stands: “The United States Government always has a disposition to promote p ace and will be willing to avail itself of opportunities in that direction whenever they occur " BOTTLED LEGISLATION 'T*'HE old fight liA' si.rned again over the *■* "gag rule" in the House of Representatives. Under existing rules. 143 members may sign a petition and force a vote on any measure pigeon-holed in a committee. Adminis- ! tration House leaders propose to change this j rule to require 21S signatures on a petition. It is properly called a “gag" rule, for it would virtually destroy the petition procedure and permit committees of 15 and 21 members to bottle up legislation. There are 435 members of the House. In the next Congress. 322 will be Democrats, and 113 will be Republicans. Progressives and Farmer-Laborites —with many in the minority parties sympathetic to the Democratic program. Having an almost 3-to-l partisan advantage. any except the flabbiest leadership surely should be able to exercise enough influence to overwhelm opposition. The "gag rule" is sometimes a device to save Congressmen from their own cowardice. Last session a majority of the members of the Ways and Means Committee, which had pigeon-holed the veterans* bonus, voted for passage at the showdown on the House floor.

The Constitution: Birth

I* This is the second of a series on the Constitution. * * * AMERICA has always been proud of those who nse to distinction from humble or un- ! fortunate beginnings. The success story is the ! national ideal. It is odd. then, that so little is known of the obscure and even questionable origin of the United States Constitution. Perhaps this Is because every whistle-stop orator has. for generations, felt it necessary to ’'et off pinwheels of pomade and rockets of rose water whenever that great document is menBy sheer repetition these vest-bus*ing patriots have convinced people that the Con-.-’iutior* was handed down amid the thunders | of some remote Sinai. When the rhetorical vaseline has been scraped ' away the Constitution appears as the greatest oasic plan for government yet devised, written in quite recent times by human beings, whose motives were not entirely unselfish, out of the accumulation of human experience as they knew it. “The Constitution as submitted is not free from imperfections," George Washington doubtfully remarked after signing it. In its less than a century and a half of existence it has been frequently criticised, sometimes nullified. The device of the electoral college, intended as a check on the popular election of Presidents, was obsolete within 20 years iof its adoption. In our own times we need only . observe the disfranchisement of the south- ; ern Negro and the utter disregard in the North of the late prohibition amendment. Today the Supreme Court is sitting in perhaps the most important session in its history. It must decide whether New Deal policies, twice overwhelmingly indorsed by the voters at the polls, fit into the broad pattern whose outlines are laid down by constitutional law. A basic adjustment must be made between the flesh-and-blood person and that synthetic being—the corporation—which has all of the rights of a numan being before the bar of justice, with the i added privileges of immortality and immunity from jail. a a a IN view of the gravity of the times it is worthwhile to turn back the years and see just who wrote the Constitution and why and under what circumstances. In 1786 there was no great popular demand for anew form of government. To be sure, the Continental Congress was without strength or authority. It was little but a tedious debating society. Yet the majority of the people were satisfied. They lived directly from their land and felt that the less government the better. A powerful minority of business men were restive to the point of rebellion. They found it impossible to build up commerce and industry in a na f ion where each state could issue currency and levy tariffs. Powerful states with seaports were able to squeeze their neighbors, j The local legislatures were dominated by farmers who were imbued ’’ith Jeffersonian theories and cared nothing for the troubles of the capitalist. The business minority, led by that gorgeous and talented bounder, Alexander Hamilton, therefore evolved an elaborate scheme which they called “the New Plan.” Its members had to surround their planning with great secrecy, out they played their cards consummately. First, in 1786, the Virginia legislature was persuaded to pass a resolution inviting its sister states to send delegates to a convention in Annapolis. This body was merely to discuss a revision of the existing Articles of Confederation to adapt them better to the needs of commerce and industry. This sounded harmless enough. In fact, it was so uninteresting that only five of the thirteen states responded. The inde - fatigable Hamilton persuaded this corporal's guard to pass a second resolution calling for a second convention in Philadelphia the following year. a a IT was on this tenuous authority, then, that the famous Constitutional Convention of 1787 met. The whole conduct of that second convention was grossly illegal as the delegates themselves well knew. Most of their states had limited them rigidly to a revision of the old Articles of Confederation. Instead they cast the articles out and wrote a wholly new form of government. They went directly over the heads of the state legislatures, from which they drew such authority as they had, to the voters. They’ignored an agreement among the states that all 13 must be unanimous on any change in their basic form of government. Instead they blandly declared that a majority of nine would place the “New Plan” in force. Sixty-two delegates w’ere appointed by the states to go to Philadelphia, 55 attended the

The apparent explanation is that a majority of the committee had convictions against the bill, but abandoned their convictions when forced to go on record. The chief purpose of the “gag rule” move at this time is to prevent a vote on and possible passage of a number of unwise inflation and cash bonus measures. This newspaper will continue its opposition to such legislation, but it believes it should be defeated fairly and in the open. Even bad legislation would, in the long run, do less damage than strangling the processes of representative government. I BRIGHT OUTLOOK FOR A DAY r T''HE perennial and thorny subject of crime news, and what a newspaper editor should do about it, has been given a distinctive approach by J. H. Wolpers, publisher of the Popular Bluff (Mo.) American Republican. On the day before Christmas, this newspaper made it a point to keep all “unsavory and unpleasant news” off the front page. This is in line with a Christmas policy which Mr. Wolpers adopted five years ago, and it seems to be an exceedingly sensible idea. No newspaper can ignore “unsavory and unpleasant news” all the time. It would be false to its trust if it did. Such news is part of the great record of human activities, and the editor who refused to recognize its existence would not last long. But to submerge such news on one day out of the year—to fall in line with the Christmas spirit by giving the world, for the moment, a brighter face than it really possesses—that is something else again. CHEAPER ELECTRICAL GOODS r T'HE President, in face of the record of some -*• public utilities and their consistent opposition to his New Deal power program, has shown remarkable patience. In preparing to extend the Electric Home and Farm Authority, he is giving the utilities a new opportunity to move to a sound basis of operation, reduce rates and avoid public demand for wide, if not complete, Government ownership of the industry. The EHFA is an equipment subsidiary of the Tennessee Valley Authority. It has designed and has secured the production, by private manufacturers, of low-priced appliances. The agency offers to finance sale of this equipment on long-terms, nominal-interest contracts in order to stimulate demand for current, make lower rates possible and make electricity a greater servant of the people. One private company, co-operating in the

BY TALCOTT POWELL

i sessions regularly and only 39—a few more than j half actually signed the final draft. Rhode Island did not trouble to send delegates. It is curious that none of the blazing radicals of 1774 was present. Thomas Jefferson was safely out of the way as minister to France. Patrick Henry, suspicious of the whole proceedi ing. refused to attend. Thomas Paine was in 1 Europe. Samuel Adams was not chosen a deleThe Philadelphia assembly was made up largely of hard-headed business men, rightwingers all, who knew what they wanted and had the brains to get it without any vague idealism. More than half the delegates were either investors or speculators in Government securi*ies v nich would rise in value under the "New P an " nan r-r-\ hey went at their work briskly. First, the> L resolved that all discussions should be secret end that no record be kept of the proceedings lieyond a mere enumeration of the votes. This secrecy was so important to the delegates that they always sent an escort to dinner with Benj iniin Franklin, who was old, inclined to overdrink, and invariably talked too much. Hamilton set the tempo of the meeting. From the sparse records of individual delegates one gathers that the discussion was of the brasstacks variety. When Franklin suggested opening with prayer Hamilton brusquely remarked that “thev were not in need of foreign aid.” Business was uppermost in their minds. The modern reader finds the discussion of the slave trade rather shocking. Several southern delegates suggested that it be gradually abolished. Southern Carolina refused to consider this because the mortality of slaves in the rice swamps was so high that continuous importation was necessary to the. state’s economic existence. While there were many bitter conflicts in the Philadelphia Convention the delegates were in very general agreement that the average citizen was a stupid fellow to be viewed with suspicion. Many long hours were spent in planning methods of keeping him in his place. Gouverneur Morris, Pennsylvania delegate, thought the Senate should be composed of an aristocracy of wealth. Hamilton, in one of his typically snobbish speeches, said: “All communities resolve themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and well born and the other the mass of the people who seldom judge or determine right.” Strange talk, this, to come from a man bom out of wedlock on an obscure island of the West Indies and who received his education through the generosity of friends! Modern psychology could doubtless show that Hamilton’s lifelong obsession on aristocracy sprang from an harassing inferiority complex. ana HE declared for dictatorship in times of stress. He believed Senators should be elected for life. He wanted property qualifications for voters. In a ringing declaration for the status quo he said: “Every institution calculated to restrain the excess of law making and to keep things in the j same state in which they happen to be at any ! given period is more likely to do good than 1 harm.” Certain other members felt that the National Government should have power of veto over the state legislatures. This proposition was rejected. The majority of delegates knew ratification by the states would be hopeless if it were included. It took the Fourteenth Amendment, nearly a century later, to give the Federal authority that powjer. As the Constitution finally came out of the convention it wai a series of compromises. There was nothing intrinsically new in it. As Viscount Bryce said: “It is an application of old and familiar legal principles.” Yet its originality lay in that very application of old principles. The delegates, many of whom had attended the convention with self interest uppermost in their minds, had wrought much better than they realized. They had gone to Philadelphia to “do something” for business. They succeeded in writing the marching orders for the new world. As soon as their activities became known they were subjects to the most virulent attack. “I look on that paper as the most fatal plan that could possibly be conceived to enslave a free people,” fulminated Patrick Henry. “Either a monarchy or an aristocracy will be generated by it,” declared the youthful Edmund Randolph, Governor of Virginia. “There is no alternative between the adoption of it and anarchy,” said Washington in defense. Franklin merely reaffirmed his faith in Divine Guidance in the whole matter. Next—The Constitution: Ratification.

program, has sold more equipment in a few weeks than it did in a 12-year period. There will be, of course, a string attached to the Government’s aid to private companies under the program. They must reduce rates to a point considered * easonable by EHFA officials The program may require squeezing water out of many rate-base valuations and holding company stocks—a major operation on the financial structure of some companies. But that operation eventually is going to be necessary anyway. A public aroused by Federal Trade Commission disclosures, and consumers comparing low rates of successful Gov-ernment-owned plants with high private rates, will not again be pacified by even such a colossal propaganda campaign as that of utilities in the 1920 s. The nation will watch the industry’s answer to the President’s newest plan with a pocketbook interest. MORE REVELATIONS TO COME QENATCR GERALD P. NYE, head of the Senate Munitions Committee, says that President Roosevelt has indorsed the proposed appropriation of additional funds to carry on the investigation this winter. Asa result, the Senator is preparing to resume hearings early in January, and expects to give the country some new revelations quite as interesting as those which have already been made. The ordinary citizen, unquestionably, will look on this announcement as very good news indeed. There had been discomforting rumors that the Administration did not look on the committee’s work with a kindly eye. In view of the vast importance to every citizen of the information which this committee has been digging up, it is good to know that its work has been indorsed at the White House. That ought to make it certain that it will be continued. A boy ran away from his home in New York to become a rabbi, rather than get caught under the NRA code. College football is falling back on evil days, warns a professor, who must have lost his shirt betting on Michigan and Southern California. Senator Vanderburg is fighting for the separation of politics from the postal service, if only to give Republicans a chance for a few jobs. To a great many children whose parents frequent the five-and-tens, Santa Claus must have been Japanese.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

THEY’RE YOURS NOW, YOUNGSTER

' ■ • > . - .• Y,: ; \ - •' ■- jV.-Y:**..v w,: : ...J / -a . ■ • • w *• * j-cT \

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.) a a a PROSPERITY SUGGESTION BRINGS RECOMMENDATION By S. Lucas. The article, “Capital Must Be Released,” in Thursday's paper is another example of superfluity of thought on a depression cure. Its proponent speaks of a reasonable compensation to the laborer for his work. Very good, but just what standard pay is reasonable compensation and just who is to be the compensator? The writer also speaks of limiting production to consumption, forgetting that he lives in a country which permits capitalism and where the capitalist thrives on the fact that the worker can not, with his salary, buy that which he produces. True, it is this excessive margin of profit or surplus of goods which creates the stagnated market, the lay-offs and finally the defunct buying power and that such maladjustment can be remedied only when production and consumption are practically equal. Only those industries which dominate in the competitive engagements to attract the buying public which remains can boast of prosperity. The writer of the article also speaks of displacing machine power for man power to absorb the unemployed. Undoubtedly this is the most absurd and crude suggestion offered. If a machine produces the equivalent of ten men's labor by all means let those ten men operate that machine, collect the same wages they before received (here's where capital squeals) and regard it a blessing. Their spare time then may be used to enjoy the pleasures of life that every human so justly deserves, such as travel, time for reading or educational study, sports, amusement and no end of others. This is our Utopia. n n n NATION IS NEARER TO TEACHINGS OF CHRIST By John Henmil. “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly army, praising God, and singing: Glory to God in the highest: and on earth peace to men of good will; i. e., glory and praise are given to God in the highest heavens by all the celestial host, to whom all those upon earth join in their echoes of praise and glory. “Peace to men of good will.” The present Greek text, as likewise the Colex Vaticanus, reads this passage so as to make it a third member of the sentence, and to signify peace or pardon to the earth and divine favor and grace to men. However, several of the Greek copies, such as the Codex Alexandrinus and the Codex Beza, are conformable to the Latin Vulgate, and the sense is nearly the same. God is truth. Surely his angel would not leave us a message of doubtful interpretation. the sense of which is “nearly” the same. “Peace on earth to men of good will.” To men of good will. Here we have a definite class of men. men that have been disciplined—that is, men of “good will:” they have accomplished a purpose; they have become valuable because “they are recognized and accepted as

Urges Compulsory Insurance

By H. A. Huey. I, as do many others, appreciate The Times Message Center to express our thoughts. When someone rams your car broadside and the doctor winds enough bandages around and op top of your dome that resembles the high-jinks of Turkey, and you promised your wife you would be home for a 6 o’clock meal, but instead the police break the gentle word to her, “We are very sorry, but your husband is at the hospital,” you guess the rest as to the turmoil of the home, caused by the other fellow failing to observe the stop sign. When one is in the right, it’s only natural we talk plenty. We motorists all do questionable things, and I am no exception. In reference to my accident, the love I have for the chap that caused me the trip to the hospital would not look good in print. But I do have a lot of admiration and respect for him, and the fact that he carried insurance for such accidents, and I being one of the few to be protected against this daily offense. This ts one thing I have contended for since my first driving in 1919 and I have had full coverage since. When the Hou..:er Motor Club

necessary to the achievement ox a worthy and significant purpose.” ‘‘Peace on earth; good will to men.” Have these men, to whom good will is extended, achieved the purpose intended—that is, are they men of good will? While the “divine favor and grace” to men is extended to all of us on Christmas Day, because there is “born to you a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord,” does it not depend upon our frame of mind whether we entertain the proper spirit? Does not the character of the will govern what we really are? Can we walk dishonestly, harboring contention and envy, enriching ourselves at the expense of others —in a word, thwarting and delaying peace? Unless we apply its meaning, the achievement of good will toward others, can we attain the result that is worth while? We are not at the threshold of Utopia, but we have come nearer to the teachings of Him, who came to bring peace on earth, and the Kingdom of Heaven will be brought closer to us as we become “men of good will.” a tt a POOR FARM SUPERINTENDENT IS LAUDED BY READER By O. E. Rawlings. Just wanted to call your attention to the kind and courteous treatment the inmates of the Marion County Infirmary received at the hands of Superintendent Ruse and his subordinates, including Assistant Superintendent Norman, Charles Clark and James Smith, who are certainly fitted for their positions. The luncheon that was served at noon could not have been surpassed anywhere. It consisted of chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, bread, butter and milk or coffee. Candy and oranges were served on the side. The luncheon was certainly enjoyed by every one in the institution and

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

had this question up in their publication many years ago, they invited discussion of its members in general. I voiced in favor of insurance protection for the blameless ones. You may have a friend or perhaps you or a member of your dear family who has been run down by a careless motorist who had no insurance or did not have a dime to assist in your expanses. Then, Mr. Motorist, it becomes a little different, doesn't it? My case was settled out of court and I would like to mention the company’s name in these lines, by reason of their reasonable adjustment. I still contend for compulsory insurance, and this to be incorporated on the driver’s license: Art you insured? By whom? The driver’s license could be delivered at once pending the investigation of the company mentioned on application. My main thought is as to the bodily injury. No, I’m not selling insurance. You may say, “I can’t afford to carry insurance.” Then I say you should not be allowed to drive an automobile. I have friends who are suffering financially from this type of motorist. I also realize the expense that is heaped on us.

we wish to thank the superintendent and his helpers. Dr. Ruse has tried to make life as pleasant and homelike as it is possible. a a a OBJECTS TO PROPOSED S2OO PENSION PLAN By W. W. Cook. I am a reader of The Times Message Center. I see where one taxpayer says that the old people should have S2OO a month pension. Now, I am in favor of giving all disabled men past 60 a pension of $25 or S3O a month. I am no hog; that is why this man wants S2OO a month. All he needs is bristles to be a hog. That is why this country is in such a shape today —just a few people have got it all and he wants what is left. a a a WRITINGS HAVE EFFECT ON NATION’S FUTURE Bv Jonfitz. “The Bourbons might have preserved themselves,” said Napoleon, “If they had controlled writing materials. The advent of ca .non killed the feudal system; ink will kill the modern social organization.” “Nothing enfranchises like education. When once a nation begins to think, it is impossible to stop it ” so sa : d Voltaire. Ink searched out and leveled Sinclair. It is now taking Long for a ride. It can nd will r—t depression. It can prevent war, where

Daily Thought

And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity. —II Chronicles, 15:6. HEAVEN often smites in mercy, even when the blow is severest. —Joanna Baillie.

JAN. 1, f1935

not sr_ -essed. It can make a success of any business. Ink is at its best when appealing to intellect and at its worst when swaying emotions. In periods of depression, we are especially open ' > unhappy suggestions, and in periods of success to all that is hopeful and promising. Emotions dazzle; they do not '■•^lighten.

So They Say

Dominion status as at present understood never will satisfy the Irish people. We insist on our right to our own republican form of government. —Eamonn De Valera, Irish Free State president Domestic life is the only future to which a man should look forward. But in the show business, no.—Harry Richman, stage and screen celebrity. Nothing like the progress and general well-being that has resulted from capitalism can be found under any other system.—Dr. Harold G. Moulton, president Brooking institute. Up north all they do is have big families.—Dr. Allan R. Dafoe, who delivered the Dionpe quintuplets. Sooner or later, statesmen everywhere will be literally driven back in the direction of economic sanity. —State Secretary Cordell Hull. Outlawry of war will lead to nowhere without collective power to prosecute the outlaw.—Prof. Howard White of Miami University, Ohio. If I have any criticism of the New Deal, it is the apparent effort of the NRA to compel men to be just and fail. The intent is good, but the difficulties are great.—Dean Dexter S. Kimball of Cornell University. We should make our cry of “Back to the Land,” really one of “Forward to the Land,” because of the electrification and of the automobile which facilitates travel—Frank Lloyd Wright, famous architect.

LOVE

BY ARCHER SHIRLEY Love is like a wild flower That grows beyond the garden wall; It blooms not in the tended bower, But in the rocks where weeds grow talL It does not need the gentle rain Nor winds of summer’s balmy days. It grows as well amid the pain Os winter’s gusts or autumn’s haze. Love springs from the wild root. It is not planted in the heart; It has the scent of wild fruit, Its tints are rainbows tom apart. Love is like a wild flower Whose roots remain when spring is past. They strengthen with each passing hou{, Each year grow deeper than the last.