Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 209, Indianapolis, Marion County, 10 January 1935 — Page 14

PAGE 14

The Indianapolis Times (A hcki ri's.iKin * ki> sun spai’Eß* ROT VT. Howard . . . ? Prel<l*nt TALCOTT POWELL Editor EARL D. BAKER Baalneat Manager Phone Riley 5551

•r*. (i ire l.u/ht nn<t the Profile Will Fmd Thrir O'rn Wfiy

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THURSDAY JANUARY 10 19JS. THE I’M ALONE VERDICT TT seems a long time since shells from the ■* guns of two U. S. Guard cutters raked the decks and punctured the hull of the Canadian rum-runner. I'm Alone. The unfortunate schooner and its illicit cargo sank and the crew was cast into the waves of the Gulf cf Mexico. One of the crew was drowned. The others were rescued and shackled in irons. That was almost six years ago, in the era of bumptiu.!s prospenty and prohibition, when our mighty republic tried to enforce its blue laws even on the high seas, in defiance of international law and courtesy. Now we get the verdict. All of the evidence has been examined by Supreme Court Justice Van Devanter, representing the United States, and Chief Justice Duff of Canada. They recommend that the United States apologize to Canada and pay $25,000 in damages to members of the crew and their dependents. Except for the friendly relations which have existed between the United States and Canada, the consequences might have been serious. Doubtless our Government W’ill accept the findings of the joint commission -with good grace and bring a deplorable incident to a dignified conclusion.

THE WORLD COURT VOTE OPPONENTS of the World Court arc ready to do their stufT again in the Senate. That is all rieht. They deserve respectful attention. Such progressive public servants as Borah. Johnson and La Follette have the great force of sincerity in their opposition. But it is not their right to prolong debate needlessly. This issue has been considered from every angle for 12 years by the Nation and bv the Senate. A brisk statement of the arguments and counter-arguments is in order. Any attempt at filibustering will be out of order. The Senate is too busy for that—too busy with urgent recovery measures. The Foreign Relations Committee yesterday voted the World Court adherence resolution 2-to-l. The present Root protocol satisfies the reservations laid down by the Senate itself in 1926. It has the support of the Roosevelt Administration, as it had of the Republican Administrations. American interests are protected. There can be no question of the desire of the Senate to vote favorably. The only question is whether the opponents will permit a vote. Fair play calls for a prompt vote. VETERANS SEEK A HOST rOME wide-awake southern city is being offered a fine chance to prove that it is still ardently devoted to the great old traditions of the Southland. The United Confederate Veterans, at the moment, can not find a city that will be host to their annual reunion next spring. They had originally selected St. Petersburg. Fla., but financial stringency has compelled that city to withdraw its invitation, since it is impossible to raise the needed funds. Now the old soldiers are waiting to see if some other southern city will extend an invitation. The funds needed will run to about $25,000, It is impossible to imagine that very much time will elapse before some southern city will find the pull of sentiment strong enough to induce it to find a w ay to raise the money, no matter how scarce money may be, OI R BELIEFS CHANGED 'T'HE labels which we use to describe Vari■“■ous human activities—such words as •'radical." •conservative,” •■progressive,” and so on —are useful things, since they serve to classify intangibles in a handy, card-index manner. The interesting thing about them, however. is the fact that their value changes from year to year without our knowing it. President Roosevelt's address to Congress Is an example. Half a dozen years ago this speech—calling. as it did. for a network of old-age pensions unemployment insurance schemes, collective use of certain natural resources, and the addition of 3.500,000 men to the Federal pay roll—would have sent shivers up and down some millions of honest American backs. Coming when it did, it was rather generally accepted as a •'middle of the road" venture. Many people even saw in it a swing toward the right. The old labels which we attached to such projects a few years ago have last their meaning; and that has happened simply because we have moved out from under them. Consider another example: The recent campaign speech of Premier R. B. Bennett of Canada, which called for "an end to the reckless exploitation of human resources and the trafficking in the health and happiness of Canadian citizens." Premier Bennett’s program, in its essentials. seems to be more or less a duplication of President Roosevelt's. It calls for unemployment insurance, a revamped old-age pension plan, insurance against sickness and accident. new income tax laws to correct unequal distribution of wealth, and a system of minimum wage and maximum hour laws for labor. Now the point, right here, is not whether the voters of Canada give Mr. Bennett a mandate to put this scheme into effect, or retire him and give someone else a chance. It is the simple fact that a Canadian premier, like an American President, has advanced a program which would have seemed startlingly radical if it had been suggested as recently as 1928. What h*s happened, of course, is that our viewpoint has changed under the impact of

the blows dealt by the depression. We no longer look at things as we used to: end before we pin any more labels on new proposals we would do well to examine the labels carefully and see if they mean the same things that they used to mean. We have simply moved out from under our favorite figures of speech. EARLY DECISION ON NR A IT is possible that the Administration will get some final word from the Supreme Court as to the constitutionality of the whole NR A setup before Congress completes the task of revising that legislation. Federal Judge Grubb decided—at Birmingham. Ala., some time ago—that the Recovery Act exceeded Congress’ constitutional powers, and that it unconstitutionally delegated powers to the President. The Cjovernment has appealed from this decision to the Supreme Court, and it is reported in Washington that the decision may be handed down before Congress takes final action. It is to be hoped that this is the case. There has been a great deal of argument about constitutionality of the NIRA in the last year and a half. Congress could undertake revision of the act much more intelligently if the final ruling on that moot point could be put in its hands.

LINCOLN AND ROOSEVELT r T''HE problems of the depression are fre- -*• quently likened to those of v ar. Now Donald Richberg, executive .emergency director, quotes James Russell Lowell in likening the leader in this depression to the leader in the Civil War. His tribute to Fra , ivlin Roosevelt is the more striking because it is not merely the opinion of a subordinate about his superior, but because it finds in the language of another the words which, Richberg believes, draw the parallel. Speaking in Washington, Richberg points out that 70 years ago, as now, many voices clamored for a fixed policy and a rigid program. Then, quoting Lowell: “Mr. Lincoln’s policy was a tentative one and rightly so. He laid down no program which must compel him to be inconsistent or unwTse, no cast-iron theorem to which circumstances must be fitted as they rose, or else be useless to his ends. Mr. Lincoln, as it seems to us in reviewing his career, though wc have sometimes in our impatience thought otherwise, has always waited, as a wise man should, till the right moment brought up all his reserves. "One would be apt to think, from some of the criticisms made on Mr. Lincoln’s course ~ . that the chief object of a statesman should be rather to proclaim his adhesion to certain doctrines, than to achieve their triumph by quietly accomplishing his ends. In our opinion, there is no more unsafe politician than a conscientiously rigid doctrinaire, nothing more sure to end in disaster than a theoretic scheme of policy that admits of no pliability for contingencies. “Mr. Lincoln’s perilous task has been to carry a rather shaky raft through the rapids, making fast the unrulier logs as he could snatch opportunity, and the country is to be congratulated that he did not think it his duty to run straight at all hazards, but cautiously to assure himself with his setting-pole where the main current was, and keep steadily to that. . . . “Whatever were his wishes, it was no less duty than policy to mark out for himself a line of action that would not further distract the country, by raising before their time questions which plainly would soon enough compel attention, and for which every day was making the answer more easy.. .. While every day was bringing the people nearer to the conclusion which all thinking men saw to be inevitable, it was w ise in Mr. Lincoln to leave the shaping of his policy to events. “In this country, where the rough and ready understanding of the people is sure at last to be the controlling power, a profound commonsense is the best genius for statesmanship.

THE G. O. P. NEST EGG REPORTS that the Republican party is broke, like those of its death, seem to have been a bit exaggerated. From the party's treasurer. George F. Getz, we learn that by practice of that old-fashioned virtue of thrift it has wiped out a deficit and saved from campaign contributions to last summer’s misadventures the tidy sum of $184.76. The G. O. P. officially permits itself a chortle of glee. "It enables us," proclaims Chairman Henry P. Fletcher, "to look ahead with renewed confidence.” Don't be surprised that the party of financiers should gloat over the finding of this surprise penny. These were thrifty fellows in their day, and they know that last year was a fine time for saving Republican pennies. Like Ben Franklin, they have learned that a penny saved is twopence dear, a pin a day’s a groat a year. But just wait till 1936 and you may not recognize that $184.76. Tall oaks from tiny acorns grow. OVER A HUNDRED MRS. JOSEPH GOKEY of Dickinson, N. Y., whose father wore the red jacket of a British soldier in the Revolution, has just celebrated her 108th birthday. Don't pity this ancient lady. She sat in a warm and cheery room in her mountain home as she received her 142 living descendants, including 16 of the fifth generation. Her long life has been useful and adventurous. Her clear mini is rich with the memories of a century of pioneering American life. Pity, rather, those other* who have passed 100 birthdays only to find themselves lonely and destitute. The census reveals that nearly 4000 American centenarians now are living. Fully onehalf of these are dependent, hundreds are inmates of wretched poor farms. Had our rich country established an old-age pension system like the poorer European nations, these 2000 centenarians would be living as Mrs. Gokey, in warm and cosy homes, serene, secure and unafraid of the wolf of want. This Congress should enact old-age pension legislation. That questionnaire the Government has sent to the farmers is so big that the victims are wondering why the Government didn't plow under some of the question.

Liberal Viewpoint BY DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

“The Taxation of Banks,’’ by Lewis H. Kimmel (National Industrial Conference Board, $2.50). “Money and Credit,” by R. V. Leffier (Harper, $4.50). “Women Workers Through the Depression’’ (Macmillan, $2). mm* THOUGH much has been written on banking in general, too little attention has been given to the problem of the taxation of banks. Mr. Kimmel gives us the first comprehensive survey of the subject. He finds that the most notable and satisfactory trend in bank taxation from 1921 to 1934 has been “a trend from the property tax on share value to the use of the net income tax.” He holds that the net income tax is the best manner in which to tax banks. “T 5 e income tax states the direct relation h- ‘axes and net income and has resulted ease of collection. The income measure oank taxation provides greater flexibility in the tax costs of banks than other methods. The element of flexibility is important because it permits the individual bank to adopt the particular policy that is called for by the exigencies of the business cycle and that will harmonize with the requirements of a broad banking policy. For this reason, together with the elimination of the direct relation between taxes and additions to the capital funds, the use of net income in taxing banks has advantages not possessed by any other measure.” The problems of money, credit, inflation and prices are not being agitated with the avidity or ferocity that they were being handled just a year ago now, but they are with us just the same and are just as important underneath the externals of controversy as they ever were. Professor Leffier has written a clear, comprehensive, introductory manual on the whole subject of money, banking and credit. It is descriptive and analytical rather than controversial in tone. # tt tt HE is skeptical of the Warren theories and the monetary policies followed by the Roosevelt Administration in its first year, but he is not at all savage about them. He sees the money and credit problem as one phase of a larger issue of economic planning as a whole, designed to flatten out the business cycle. He. finds no hope for ending our scandalous volume of bank failures save by the adoption of higher standards of banking practice. He fears that unless prosperity returns fairly soon the increasing public debt may result in extensive and dangerous inflation. If the public credit is placed in jeopardy, it may become necessary to finance Government operation by paper money issues. Personally he eschews extremes of either optimism or pessimism: "History probably will show that neither the glittering hopes of the dreamers nor the black pictures of the arch-conservatives will be realized in the monetary and economic experiences of the country.” The American Woman’s Association has made a careful study of the impact of the depression upon its working members. The study is edited by Dr. Lorine Pruette. It is based upon extended questionnaires and interviews. Most of those studied were salaried workers and in the upper reaches of income. The average earnings even in 1933 were $2,428 for the year, which rates high when we remember that the average income of both male and female workers in that year was under SIOOO. tt tt it EVEN so, the relatively high salary of $2428 was a considerable decline from the $3035 average in 1931. Some 60 per cent experienced a decline in salary between 1&29 and 1933. Some 128 out of 1202 of these salaried workers were unemployed at the time of answering the questionnaire in 1933. While relatively fortunate in all respects as compared to the general run of women workers, even this selected group has not escaped the evil results of the depression. Miss Anne Morgan, the president of the American Woman’s Association, comments as follows on this point: “From these studies it is clear that the losses these women have suffered during the depression years since 1929 have not been merely economic, but—more importantly—psychological as well. Extreme insecurity and the xear of the future constitute very severe burdens for all human beings. If long continued, they threaten to destroy the spirit of American life, the initiative, the courage and co-operation which have built up our country.” If this is true of the more fortunate women, how much more true it is of the “other half”— the mass of women workers. For this one must turn to Grace Hutchins’ excellent book, “Women Who Wo v k.”

Capital Capers BY GEORGE ABELL——

THE Democratic White House of the Rooseveli Administration the other night became temporarily a palace crammed with foreign diplomats, stars and decorations of a hundred different countries. The scarlet-coated Marine Band played waltzes, gavottes and one-steps to which Siamese princes, Belgian charges d'affaires and Swedish burgners trod a measure. The ambassador of Turkey, Munir Bey, ate an occidental chocolate eclair. The Russian charge d’affaires, Mr. Skirsky, nibbled Russian caviar. In other words, the President and Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt entertained the diplomatic corps at the premier reception of the season—the diplomatic reception. a a BRILLIANT and dazzling was the scene. If the cloth of gold had been stretched end to end, it would have completely enshrouded the Eiffel Tower and drowned the Empire State Building in a shower of gold lace. His Britannic majesty’s ambassador, Sir Ronald Lindsay, glistened with stars and orders. But beneath the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the Order of the Bath, the Order of the Star of India, the Order of St. Michael and St. George, Sir Ronald felt warm. "Pretty hot here, what?” he whispered to a friend. "Rather,” hissed the friend. "Let's get out of it,” suggested Sir Ronald. But just at that moment a lady came gushing up to his Britannic majesty's ambassador. "Oh. Sir Ftonald.” she began . . . "Eh.” said Sir Ronald, "do you feel the need of a bit of fresh air?” a a a SPANISH AMBASSADOR CALDERON wore a bright gold uniform with scarlet cuffs. "Those wonderful cuffs,” raved Don Adolfo de Uriquiza, Argentine arbiter of diplomatic corps elegance. "Senor Calderon is the best-dressed diplomat present.” “Oh I owe you a wonderful evening,” said Envoy Calderon, as he left the White House, to a member of the President staff. "Just write it on your cuff.” grinned he. nan MINISTER DE BIANCHI of Portugal dresses to kill, whether he wears plain civilian clothes or a uniform. Last night it might be said that his uniform was "killing.” Picture 50 medals on a cloth of gold background. a plumed hat, a few rings, gold buttons, gold braid, gold collar, gold stars and add the Order of the Golden Fleece. “Is Portugal still on the gold standard?” hazarded on observer. Minister Bianchi fumbled in his pocket for a gold-rimmed lorgnet. ana Postmaster Jim Farley sat under a picture of Teddy Roosevelt in the Red Room of the White House. “Is it a likeness painted from life?” asked a diplomat passing by. Some of the new automobiles of 1935 look as though they'd make good slides for the .cmidren.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

* " '*■*>*' * * " .. • V';

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.) ana IMPATIENCE OF CITY NEWSPAPERS STRESSED By H. L. There are newspapers which publish 'weak, abusive letters, written by crooked-thinking, uneducated people who attack the newspapers in question. Many intelligent people understand that these attacks only call down floods of ridicule on the ignorant critics themselves, while the newspapers remain as dry as a duck's back. Unlearned persons, and also many educated ones who never have taken time to study the subject, think of this publishing of these stupid letters as evidence of the liberality of such newspapers. The facts are, if you send a strong letter to such a newspaper—an attack which really will expose the inconsistencies or weaknesses of the editors, they refuse to publish it. The significance of this important study can not be overemphasized; for to the public the work and responsibility of editors are immeasurably profound. The service of one editor is as far-reaching as that cf hundreds of school teachers. Jefferson considered newspapers as being more important than is government. . In my humble way, I have written articles for a number of different periodicals in a number of different states. Among editors, I find many degrees of honor and dishonor. I never have found another newspaper so fair and generous as is The Indianapolis Times. Often have I tried to take The Times or its friends to task in a scholarly way; but, against The Times, never have I been able to make an attack so forceful that its editors have refused to publish it. I have written letters so lengthy and of such poor taste that its editors have refused them. Also, attempted fairness to other writers accounts for many letters which it casts aside. This fairness and generosity of editors are the indispensable guardians of the best in our American institutions. What is priceless in our American freedom of the press but (he right to expose stern, disagreeable. may I say ugly, truths? Often the most cutting, even scathing, truth, protects the public, just as an electric needle burns out a cancer and saves a human life. What is more wholesome and healthful than light of public opinion? Whht other influence inspires such sublime righteousness in the hearts of grafters? When hour of need comes, well may we be grateful that we can depend upon The Times. ana MINE OPERATORS WILL NOT ACT, HE SAYS Bt Frank Fisher Sr. In answer to E. N. H.. "Miners and Unemployment,” speaking from 30 years’ mining experience in Indiana. I have never known wages to be less than *2.52 a day for day labor nor less than 54 cents a ton for hand loading. Since practically all mines are engaged in interstate commerce and come under the "eight-hour” law, which has been in effect for more than 30 years, miners could not have worked 10 hours 20 years ago. The mines are operating with 100,- , 000 fewer miners than a few years ! ago, but with as great a production rate as then. E. H. N. was absolutely right as to the effect of labor-saving machinery. E. N. H.’s theory of readjustment is basically unsound. The motive of mine operators is profit. In-

ANOTHER GOAL

Profit System Outlawed

By a Reader. The President's message indicates that our economic system wall bring prosperity to the unemployed, without making any major changes in the system. He does not propose to interfere with the proflt system of production. He and his advisers have not learned that profit can only be used to operate the heavy goods industry. Since we have already passed the point in our economic history where there was shortage of equipment for production, the law of natural economics forbids the production of goods for profit, to add more equipment. We can no longer maintain scarcity profit production, since our equipment is adequate to produce much more than we are permitted to consume. The era of investment is definitely gone. Now we must produce for consumer use, at full capacity, or suffer social decline for our folly in further profit exploitation. The revolution in economics has

creasing production costs never enter their thoughts unless in the end they result in greater money profit. Increasing wages would not increase the money profit because miners do not use an amount of coal worthy of notice, and therefore their buying power is not to be considered. Any readjustment in the disection of improved conditions for miners will be forced from the operators. Wages have been forced down constantly since the advent of machinery and miners are less and less able to cope with employers. The miners must be protected by government through limitation of hours and a minimum wage. E. N. H. is laboring under a delusion. There is no sound reason for expecting the operator to bring about adjustments adverse to his interests. ana SEEKS BASIS OF DEPRESSION TROUBLE By a Time* Reader. I am the reader w r hose letter supporting Father Coughlin was recently answered in these columns by Tom Ber’ing. He failed to offer any objection to any of the sixteen points in the platform of the N. U. F. S. J., other than to say that we are too radical and too self-centered in our belief. Now our hope is to get back to the' Constitution in several instances that we have been led away from it by subterfuge. Chiefly, the right of bankers to issue money. Radical is a very elastic word and is too often thrown in the face of any one who disbelieves in the economic and political practices of the last decade. There is something wrong with our country. No one denies that. I think it is just as true that we can not correct it by borrowing and continuing to use the same methods that so evidently brought us into this depression. President Roosevelt possibly is doing the best he can, but it is not enough. He must go farther to the left. I believe the people ’Tected him with that hope as the major motive. There was little hope in returning to the Republicans. Please show me what is selfcentered about a platform that advocates religious freedom, nationalizing of national resources, central bank, taxation by ability to pay, collective bargaining, the retiring of interest-bearing bonds, and other just and applicable measures. These

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

been forced upon us, by building this vast potential capacity for production. Those who furnished the credits for this equipment, unwittingly provided the nation with the means of production for use. If these people insist on taking profit out of production on a scarcity basis, these profits which are increasing now at a rapid rate will be destroying tne customers’ ability to buy even the curtailed production. Declining buying power results from the attempt to wrest profits from production, which can not be translated into new and better or mote machinery for production. Old King Canute could not turn back the tide. President Roosevelt can not turn back the clock to the era of scarcity. The profit system does not need the President to interfere with it. The profit system has outlawed itself. It can not be maintained or restored without social disintegration. Physical forces defy manmade law; progress forces changes.

are the items we challenge any one to dispute. I agree with Mr. Berling that all the greed is not under the roofs of the wealthy, but I do maintain that the wealthy who are greedy have a much better chance to express and use their greed to the public detriment. We, therefore, need these enforced laws and regulations to prevent the greed of any one, high or low, from becoming a menace to the public. The idea of one poor man sharing with another poor man can not correct the basic evils. It is fine in an emergency, but don’t you thir.k this depression has lasted too many years to be called a temporary thing? Let’s not fool ourselves; it is a breakdown of an economic system. Let's get at the root of the trouble. I am for the National Union for Social Justice. ana PRIMARY LAW RETENTION URGED ON LEGISLATURE. Bt Lrwis E. Frazeur. I am keenly interested in retaining and perfecting the present primary law. With all its defects it is still an honest and worthy effort to put the power of selecting candidates in the hands of the citizen. It is a protest against corrupt political practices and an obstacle to the dominance of the party machine. The popular selection of candidates is as truly an American policy and as essential to our democracy as the later popular election of those candidates at the fall voting. I urge that the primary law be extended to include the selection of our candidates for President, Vice President, Senator and Governor. To select one member of our national Congress directly by the choice of the voters and then deliver the selection of the other member of Congress to a machine organized convention for bickering, trading and political feuds, where self-interest and party advantage submerge the claims of the electorate, recognize the citizen's right

Daily Thought

And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. —St. Luke i. 50. FEAR not the proud and the haughty; fear rather him who fears God.—Saadi.

JAN. 10, 1935

to personally select his national Representative but disfranchises him, to fa’ or the politician, of the right to se’ect a candidate for the Senate. The primary law guarantees a right which inherently belongs to citizenship. Fundamentally, the right to determine rests with the electorate and not with any party. The right of the franchise has been safe-guarded, strengthened and perfected a > a civic duty and personal expression of the individual voter. The selection of a candidate is of more importance than choasing between the candidates of two parties and of far more significance than a straight party vote after the ticket has been named. The primary law is an attempt to place the selection of the candidates with the citizen voter where it rightfully belongs. I urge the incoming Legislature to retain and to correct the known defects of the primary law.

So They Say

We can not get more income bymaking less of the elements of which this income exists.—Prof. Irving Fisher, Yale economist. I am going on, and build and build, just as fast as I can get the money—or borrow the money.— Charles M. Schwab. Every Communist knows the party will now wipe out with an iron hand the remnants of this group (of Trotskyists;.—Karl Radek, Soviet official.

BOY

BY EFFIE L. WORKMAN Each evening, just at twilight, The little boy next door Comes in to have a visit, For perhaps an hour or more. He watches through the window As I drink my cup of tea, And when he sees I've finished He comes running in to me. Sometimes we talk about his school, (Today he was kept in, "He talked too much,” the teacher said; And he told me with a grin. It seemed the whole class had teen talking, So he did not feel so bad. However, he was sorry To have made the teacher mad. We always talk about the sports And the latest football game. '■Wi’l the Bulldogs have a fighting chance When they play with Notre Dame?” We watch the team at Shortridge Get whipped by boys from Tech, And we know, in losing this one game, That their hopes for fame were wrecked. Again, we sit in one big chair As I read to him a book. Close he cuddles, down beside me, Like two lovers in a nook. Listening wide-eyed, while the story Tells of deeds of bravery’ old, How the knights fought for their ladies, And the deaths of warriors bold. Oh! I love these happy hours, And I'm quite sure, so does he. He's a splendid little fellow. And some day grown up will be. When I think of this, I wonder Ii in the far off years to come Asa man— will he remember Me—and evenings in nqy iiomeJ