Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 210, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 January 1935 — Page 18

PAGE 18

The Indianapolis Times <a srmrrs-HowARD newspaper) ROT W. HOWARD President TAI.COTT POWELL Editor EARL D. BAKER Business Manager Phone Riley 3ttl

(it r* IH'Jht <in<l the People Will F i n't Th'ir Own Way

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RIDAY. JANUARY 11. 1935

LABOR FIGHTS ITSELF Ti rz do not know yet how the four billion * * dollars of work relief funds requested by the President for the next fiscal year will be spent. But it is generally understood‘that a substantial amount will go fcfl- low-cost housing. In this and other pump-priming plans and activities, the Administration is driving toward an immediate objective—revival in the building industry. Hence it is vital to the hundreds of thousands of unemployed and partially employed building trades workers to be prepared to make the most of the opportunities that come their way. Y r, t, when the building trades unions should be united, they are engaged in perilous strife among themselves. The outs have become the ins. and the ins have become the outs. The workers themselves are not to blame. It is chiefly a squabble among their leaders, in part over salaries and power, over who is to rule the building trades department of the American Federation of Labor. This internal bickering threatens a spread of jurisdictional strikes that would cripple efforts to revive building activity and stimulate general economic recovery. The public eenerally supports labor when it strikes for fair pay and working conditions. But the public is not tolerant of strikes called to draw a trade line between bricklayers and plasterers, or to determine whether carpenters or sheet metal workers do a certain job, or whether elevator construction workers or union hoisting engineers or union electricians install building lifts. It is not important which group of labor leaders gains ascendancy. But it is important to settle at once every jurisdictional controversy which threatens the steady employment of carpenters, plasterers, painters, bricklayers, electricians, paperhangers, plumbers and others who earn or want to e? i their livelihood constructing and equipping new buildings. PRICE FIXING COST of living figures announced by the Secretary of Labor should be thrown on to the scales of balance arguments of manufacturers before NR A in favor of continuing code price fixing. It may be, as some manufacturers contend, that in .some of their industries chaos is the Mil; ilternative to fixed prices. Bit we doubt it. Minimum wage and maximum hour provisions, if enforced, should prevent return to the old price wars that were financed by wage cuts. Living costs of families of workers earning up to S2OOO a year rose about 8 per cent in the first 18 months of NRA, according to Labor Department figures. Fortunately there was a greater rise in workers’ incomes—aggregate manufacturing wages in the same period climbed 27 per cent, according to the NRA. Yet. compared to 1928, living costs are down 19 per cent, while incomes are down from 20 to 30 per cent. To achieve the indispensable increase in purchasing power, it is necessary to bring about cither a substantial drop in living costs or a substantial rise in wages, or both. The term “destructive price-cutting” has an ominous sound, but it is not easy to define. What may be destructive to the profits of a few inefficient units of industry is not always destructive to the larger economic interests of purchasing power. Price-pegging to protect profits may be even more destructive to the larger interests nt f our ECHO OF THE TWENTIKi days lities .—to., uue ngure that comes to mind is that of Texas Guinan. Somehow 'Tex typified the whoopee spirit that was the mark of these days. And Tex Guinan died, a year or more ago, very shortly after all those things she had publicly typified had died, too. The other day an accounting of her taxable estate was filed. There were two interesting things about it. First, her entire net estate was only a little more than $28,000. Second, she had left her entire esta'e to her mother. So you see, first that this gilded figure didn't have the fabulous wealth that was freely associated with her name and, second, that after all she was just a gi/i who, in spite of the professional whoopee attached to her name, had no one closer to her when she died than her mother. There's one pair of glasses to look through when you gaze back toward the Torrid Twenties. NEIGHBORHOOD MOVIES QOMEHOW or other the people of the United States, the common people who go no farther than the neighborhood movie house for their entertainment., seem to be a class entirely apart from those great industrialists to whom they look for their future welfare ar.d morals. Take the mode industry, as an example. High up in the steel towers of New York, or out in the guarded studios of Hollywood, sit the Mayers and the Warners and the Goldwyns with no other contact with the millions who daily enjoy their products than the money that comes streaming to them through long, devious channels. All they know about the likes and dislikes of their patrons comes to them only through reports of their hirelings or criticisms in the newspapers. Direct contact wi’n the people themselves, where they may hear and feel the truth about their pictures, these potentates of the screen rarely if ever attain. For It is only through the neighborhood

movie house In the larger cities, and the one or two theaters in the smaller towns out in the country, that the reactions of the American people to the new productions can be gauged properly. Such little theaters are In the majority in this country and these most of us common folk attend. Let one of these chief executives visit a neighborhood movie theater on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon or any evening cf the week, and he will have a far different feeling than any he might have had at the premiere of his latest production on the city's leading screen. The reason is that children attend these neighborhood shows, w;*h their parents, and children are the most natural and outspjken of critics. They give vent to their emotions by yelling and appliuding and booing; and if you will just anaiyze these reactions, in the light of the pictures presented, you will find that the young ones are pretty fair judges, at that. You will find that the children boo down the pictures which their elders have been trying to have outlawed or restricted in deference to the moral education of these same youngsters. You will find that pure entertainment, with a loud and hearty laugh, is most to be desired. And you’ll find finally what Hollywood only lately has discovered, that those undying children's classics like “Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch” and “David Copperfield" and “Little Women 1 ' re far more enjoyed than any picture Mae West could give us. Perhaps, after all, those sitting atop the movie towers are noticing this truth, or are heeding those who have, for word comes that we shall see more of the older classics and less of the sexy stuff. FERDINAND PECORA FERDINAND PECORA revealed to the Senate Banking Committee the anarchy of America’s financial community. He showed now the very rich avoided taxes, how stock markets often operated as exclusive gambling clubs where the insiders played fast and loose and greedily with other people's money. He laid the foundation for financial reforms, building a mountain of public opinion that proved invincible against Wall Street's lavish propaganda machine. He shared with Benjamin V. Cohen and others in the drafting of the compromise stock market control law which Senator Fletcher and Rep. Rayburn so ably carried to enactment. The name of Ferdinand Pecora became a symbol of civic righteousness in financial affairs. Many Americans were disappointed when President Roosevelt failed to designate him as the first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, but they were glad that Mr. Pecora accepted assignment as one of the five members of the commission. Now that the commission has formulated its major policies, Mr. Pecora can step out of the picture. Washington will miss this laughing, fighting crusader when he leaves to take a place on the bench of the New York Supreme Court, but will applaud the promotion. Jn choosing a successor to Mr. Pecora, President Roosevelt doubtless will strive to maintain the high caliber of his present commission, and turn a deaf ear to speculators with pet candidates. “MUST” LEGISLATION AMONG America's achievements last year were 1)5 lynchings. This record is the more infamous in facts disclosed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. All of the victims were Negroes. Nine were taken from peace officers by mobs, four were accused of criminal assault and two of rape, four of murder, one each of the following: Stealing, associating with a white woman, knocking down a white man, writing a note to a white girl, “talking disrespectfully” to a white man, “mistaken identity.” The record includes the Claude Neal lynching, probably the most sadistically barbarous demonstration of mob fury in the history of 5068 American lynchings since 1862. It would be futile to blazon this dishonor if 1935 did not hold promise of something better. Congress today has before it the CostiganWagner anti-lynching bill, holding counties financially liable for mob lawlessness in their borders. The very threat of this measure checked the lynch evil last year. While the bill was pending in Congress lynchings stopped completely, but when it became apparent that Congress would not act they broke forth with renewed frequency. It is believed that the publicity given the measure was responsible for a drop of lynchings from 28 in 1933 to 16 last year. Organizations wHh total membership of 42 million people are requesting President Roosevelt to put the Costigan-Wagner bill on his “must” program. The Government should not longer ignore this evil and the popular outcry against it. ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY EVERY citizen owes it to himself to watch closely the development of the coming plan for public works which we are assured w*m replace direct relief for the able-bodied this winter and spring. Entirely regardless of whether you approve of this plan op not, if it goes into effect, it can be made to yield maximum benefits to those local communities which are ready for it. More than a year has passed since the Civil Works Administration was projected. The CWA came on us unannounced, and found many communities unprepared. They were unable to produce at short notice public work of really permanent value. The incidents of raking leaves in parks and digging up pavements to relay them again In the same spot were largely the fault of local communities. This time there is no excuse. Communities should know and have plans for public work that will be of permanent value now and forever into the future. The world, says a scientist, is slowly being depleted of its oxygen, but can’t we stave off disaster by muzzling some of our political windjammers? Flies' legs are used for the manufacture of those trick eyelashes some women are wearing. But remember, you still are requested only to swat the fly, not the eye.

Liberal Viewpoint BY DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST is on a rampage against Soviet Russia. Tne other day over a national radio hookup he charged that the Soviet experiment “is the fearful failure that it needs must be and definitely deserves to be.” Warming up to his subject Mr. Hearst denounced Russia as a country' characterized by “utter lack of liberty, total suppression of free speech, utter abolition of free publication, military censorship and universal terrorism.” He had no more good to say for the economic system which he contends is breaking down, and he declared that millions of Russians face starvation this winter. Mr. Hearst is certainly well within his rights in lacking enthusiasm for Soviet Russia. No man possessing Mr. Hearst’s vast holdings in a capitalistic system can very well be expected to develop any considerable exuberance for a social and economic system which would deprive him of all of these and quite probably bring him before a firing squad if its leaders could get their hands upon him. Nevertheless it is somewhat difficult to see just how at this date Mr. Hearst can find that Russia is a “fearful failure,” unless he means that it has failed capitalism in a fearful fashion —which is something that the Soviet leaders themselves most cheerfully confess; indeed something about which they boast exultantly. * nan THE beginning of the year 1935 is strategically a very unwise moment in which to launch any capitalistic criticism of Russia on a material basis. The industrial development of Russia under the Second Five-Year Plan has moved along amazingly well in both industry and agriculture. The following table indicates the progress of large scale industry since 1929: Gross output of large-scale industry according to social sectors. (In prices of 192627.) In Millions of Rubles 1929 1932 1933 Total output 21,025 38,464 41,968 Os which: 1. Socialized Industry 20,891 38,436 41,940 Os which: a. State Industry 19,143 35,587 38,932 b. Co-operative Industry 1,748 2,849 3,008 2. Private Industry.. 134 28 28 The progress of agriculture has been equally marked. The following table gives the gains in production since 1929 of both grain and technical crops. Gross production of grain and technical crops in the U. S. S. R. (In Millions of Centners) 1929 1932 1933 Grain 717.4 698.7 898.0 Cotton (raw) 8.6 12.7 13.2 Flax (fibre) 3.6 5.0 5.6 Sugar Beets 62.5 65.6 90.0 Oil Seeds 35.8 45.5 46.0 tt tt a THE statistics for industrial and agricultural production for the whole year 1934 are not yet available, but those for the first nine months of the year 1934 indicate a better record for industry than those for 1933, and also indicate very satisfactory progress in agriculture. Indeed, instead of millions of Russian peasants facing starvation this winter, the Russian government for the first time since 1928 has ended food rationing and abolished the bread cards (see “The Nation,” Jan. 2, p. 11). On top of all this the Russian government has in the last two years made itself impregnable in the East against Mr. Hearst’s perennial enemy, Japan, a service which Mr. Hearst seems to have overlooked. Without declaring war, Russia has made more efficient military efforts in the way of moving men and materials than the czarist regime did during the whole Russo-Japanese war. • So far as the suppression of liberty is concerned, I imagine 1 would find Russia just as unpleasant as would Mr. Hearst. But the latter would do well to dig out his New Testament and read the injunction: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” No one has done more in the last six months than Mr. Hearst to endeavor to establish the same type of intolerance of intellectual freedom in the United States.

Capital Capers .BY GEORGE ABELL.

NOTES on Congress: Much swank in boutonnieres and wing collars. Senator Royal S. Copeland of New York arrives in a braided morning coat with his customary red carnation in the lapel. But he's not alone. Senator Harry Moore (former Gov. Moore) of New Jersey also flashes a red carnation. Senator Homer T. Bone of Washington (just “Teabone” to his intimates and Homer to others) nonchalantly wears a white rose. Mississippi's gift to the Senate, Theodore Bilbo, appears resplendent in morning coat with a white rose. This business of red and white flowers is like England’s War of the Roses between the Houses of Lancaster and York. Only here the political lines are not drawn —only sartorial ones. a a a THE youthful Rush Holt of West Virginia arrives wearing a blue shirt. There sits Rep. William A. (Pension Bill) Ashurst, who recently defeated Charlie West and returned to Congress after an absence of 14 years. He's 67 years old. He served as Congressman for 15 years. The only two veterans who were in the House when he first arrived here 29 years ago are Rep. Adolph J. Sabath of Illinois and Rep. Edward T. Taylor of Colorado. Through coincidence (or is it intentionally?) all three old friends enter the House at the same time. When Ashurst was last in Congress he had no children. Now he has five. All sat with him at the opening session. a a a HAM LEWIS, incidentally, is a symphony in brown—brown shirt, brown tie, brown socks, brown handkerchief, brown shoes, brown suit. In the gallery, friends jocosely refer to him as "Brownie.” Even his beard seems to have a beige tinge, instead of the pink glints it’s reputed to possess. Senator Bronson Cutting of New Mexico blazes forth in a reddish-brown suit which matches his sunburn. Senator Borah of Idaho is getting decidedly bald. It isn't observable when you talk to him, but from the gallerySenator McNary of Oregon seems in pensive mood as he glances over the thin lines of Republican colleagues whom he will lead through the congressional season as minority leader. But his face retains its usual calm expression. New Jersey's ex-pugilist. Senator W. Warren Barbour, stalks magnificently about the Senate chamber, clad in a tight-fitting black coat and striped trousers which admirably display his bulging muscles. Not a single Seattle policeman, an examination shows, has flat feet. But no report has yet been made on their heads. The universe, say scientists, is expanding at a rapid rate. Can't someone please call this to the attention of Huey Long? A daily dog walking sendee has been started in New York, so now the dogs’ owners won’t have to take even that much exercise any longer. The Federal Government is planning to help out the 46 states that are paying widows’ pensions. But won't that encourage some wives to get rid o£ their husbands sooner?

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

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(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Make pour letters short, so all can have a change. Limit them to 250 words or less.) it a tt BATTLE ON TOWNSEND PLAN IS CONTINUED By Mrs. Burns. The Times states that President Roosevelt does not think the time is ripe for old-age pensions. The time will never be ripe for poor old people. This country is only for the millionaire. But the time is now ripe for the common people to stand up and take notice. Congress is now in session. What do they care about want? A full hog never hears the hungry one's grunt. We won’t get inflation because that would dig in on the money hogs. Money was inflated after the Civil War, and it made times good. And if the same money hogs could get another war started, then they could make more millions by poor men putting themselves up as targets. All wars are for the capitalists and they can sit back in their palaces while the poor fellow goes to his grave. Give the Mellons one thought. Three brothers are worth eight billions. After the last national election, a great fuss was stirred up by the wealthiest of the world evading taxes. Was anything done? The common people now have a leader —Dr. Townsend, and the time is ripe for the poor people to act. Will they? What has been done for the farmers? Look at the price of hogs, then look at the price of meat. The price is set for the farmer, but is it set for the packer? All the farmer got in the way of prices w r as caused by drought. But I believe Secretary Wallace stated an eye must be kept on the farmer. There are Townsend clubs that are going around getting signatures, but are missing half of the people. All would vote if given the chance. I am not old enough for a pension. tt a tt BONUS PAYMENT IS DEMAND OF READER By a Veteran in Need. Like “A Veteran,” I, too, wish to say a word about the adjusted compensation certificates. Taking into consideration the many billions of "bankers’ dollars” that are being expended for this mis-called relief, it shouldn’t be difficult to see why the vets themselves want and need their money due now. • Senator Sherman Minton can sit there in Washington with his hands crossed and say he isn't in favor of the bonus and that fellows like him don’t need it. Why, of course not, but there are millions out of work, hungry and ill, who aren't receiving the aid that is justly due them, and as for relief, Shay Minton ought to try living on $9 a week, keep house, support four besides himself and only get in three weeks work a month. Then, he’d decide he needed his bonus badly. Personally, if the bonus isn’t paid, I will lose the last remaining thing I love and own —my home. I have sacrificed nearly all I have accomplished since I left the trenches after the Battle of the Marne in 1918. I have tried hard to back the New Deal. I respect Mr. Roosevelt. but unless he comes across with the adjusted compensation certificates, and willingly, he is due for the surprise of his life and by the time he recovers from bugk ague after the next election. Will,Rogers will be preaching the funeral of the Democratic party and Father Coughlin will be busy christening a new-born Republican party. As for The* Times being against the men they capitalized on by

THE CHASM

Law Enforcement Rapped

By Joseph L. Watt. . I have noticed in several recent issues of The Times that many motorists had been arrested for driving with last year’s plates. Why is it that the police never fail to arrest a motorist for the slightest violation of motoring laws yet somehow miss .the violators of the criminal laws of the state and Nation? Quite frequently ‘the various cities of this state break out into a rash and start a campaign against the motorist for not having a tail light, or one headlamp burning and failures to stop at important thoroughfares where, in most cases, there isn’t a car coming for several blocks. How strange it seems that they do not start campaigns against the criminals, bootleggers, and slot machine racket. The state is now arresting individuals for failure to purchase new plates and I commend Frank Finney in setting a deadline for the purchase of plates and to arrest any motorist driving his car without them, but why must the police forget enforcement of other laws. At least give the motorists a fair chance —I know many instances where a lot of motorists would have purchased their auto plates before the rush period but were unable to do so because in many license branches the plates were not delivered until late in December. In one county the clerk, issuing the plates, came to work a halfhour late and very much under the influence of intoxicating liquors. There was a line-up of every extra they sold during the war, I am sorry to read such an editorial in your columns. I am deeply ashamed of your paper, which I have always read, to think your loyalty to the boys is so short lived, and I shall do all in my meager and humble power to convey to my ex-service friends and their families, the gospel of "Pay the bonus or take your medicine at the next election.” a a a EQUALIZATION OF PAY NECESSARY IN CITY By William Lemon. I see where our new city administration has raised the street cleaners’ (white wings) wages, namely, from 35 to 40 cents an hour. They received the most drastic cut of any officials and employes in the last administration, and averaged. providing it was fair weather, $11.20 a week. This labor is not only hard work, but is a necessity. This shows we have nothing to fear in our selection of our present Mayor, and this shows us he is honest and fearless and believes in special privileges to none, giving them all the same chance, regardless of their stations in life. Balancing and equalizing wages gives the working class more spending power and will hurry up prosperity, and shows that loyalty we badly need to stand by President Roosevelt. By showing this support, Wall Street international bankers and the United States Chamber of Commerce will in the course of time call for a truce. And in the course of time, the masses will win, and drive poverty and old man depression from the face of the earth. a a a OLD PERSONS SHOULD HAVE ‘‘CHISELING’’ RIGHTS, TOO By Townnd Jr. The person parading under the com de plume of Einstein Jr., who had a letter here a few days ago, giving a lot of figures to prove in

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

approximately 60 motorists and the clerk established an all-time record for slowness—an average of four plates issued an hour. Consequently in this case would it be justifiable to arrest any motorist in that county for not having the new plates? In this state, and many others, it is unlawful to operate a gambling den of any kind yet we can go anywhere in the state and find such places operating with 5 and 10-cent slot machines within plain view. These places are usually known to exist by the police passing, yet no attempts are made to arrest the proprietors and padlock their places. Are the police afraid to do this because of a reprimand from a superior, who has pocketed a donation from the operator and has issued orders to “Keep Off,” or are the police themselves on the pay roll of the owner with instructions to glance in the other direction when passing and keep moving? They can and do arrest the motorist, though, because lie is easy prey and there is no danger of retaliation from any source. If the state and city law enforcing agencies are going to enforce one or two laws at certain times of the year I see no reasons for having police. Why not do away with this expenditure all together and save the taxpayers a few' million dollars if they keep up this practice? If all laws were enforced and arrests made at all times the law would have the general pubhc backing and respect for the police. They can not have this respect, however, if continuance of these methods are allowed. his opinion the fallacy of the Towmsend Plan, perhaps has not read the plan. He gives a lot of figures to prove, as he says, the Townsend Plan would “eat up all the money in circulation.” I wish to set him right. It is not proposed that the old people eat the S2OO a month pension. Many of them have bad stomachs and it is common for persons past 60 to have had teeth. If it has been possible for Wall Street to suck up 60 per cent of the wealth produced in the United States each year, it surely is not an imposition for the old who have produced the wealth to hope to chisel off a tid-bit here and there. a a a EINSTEIN JR. MAY GET A REAL JOB By a Times Reader. I only wonder how people of intelligence can have the courage to continue to fight for the betterment of social conditions after such colossal ignorance by some of the objectors to the Townsend pension plan. Our man snorts that he isn't a hog; that old people don't need anything like S2OO a month. Neither does Dr. Townsend think they need S2OO to keep them comfortable. But he does know we need the money in circulation to restore prosperity. He does think that these old people are responsible for the great wealth of this country. He does know' that it was their brains and brawn that produced it. He does know that they are victims of a vicious exploitation. He does know that, in placing this money in the hands of the experienced. it will not be spent in riotous living. He does know that it will restore their authority over the younger generation and this will reduce crime in an appreciable amount in a short time. He does know that to be excelled by their children in earning capacity has given tnem an inferior complex. He,

JAN. 11, 1935

does know the quality of humanity in the masses, after having spent a lifetime administering to the mast sacred parts of their lives, who is more competent to prescr.be than our old family doctor. And if J. P. Morgan ever hears of our Einstein Jr. will he ever get a good job making out Morgan’s income tax report? tt tt tt 2-CENT TRANSFER FEE UNDER FIRE By H. C. Rowland. Since the local street car company has re-established the crosstown lines, I have daily expected to see someone protest against the 2-cent charge for the transfer. The person fortunate enough to live on a line that takes him across town to his work pays no extra, but the one that does not, of course, pays 2 cents for a transfer. Why should the persons who are inconvenienced by having to change cars in weather good or bad be forced also to pay 2 cents for a slip of paper? This does not mean so much to one individual, but a great deal with all those riding the cars.

So They Say

I’m glad it happened. I always wanted to get my name in the paper. —Five-year-old Blanche Grossman, rescued from rammed ship in East River, N. Y. Our civilization depends on our men taking the leadership. Wbman was created to be mans helpmate. —Mrs. John N. Garner. War has ceased to be a toy or game and now has become a perilous passion.—Newton D. Baker. To my mind, reform means government intervention. It means government control and regulation. It means the end of laissez faire.— Prime Minister Richard S. Bennett of Canada. Nothing has such a tendency to make a boy a criminal as to arrest him and lock him up.—Mayor F. H. La Guardia of New York. I can see so much strife ahead that I don’t know which way to turn.—Pearl Berghoff, America’s ace strikebreaker. We are in the early, rather than the late, stages of an era of scientific and engineering advance.— Willard E. Hotchkiss, president Armour Institute of Technology.

Daily Thought

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.—St. John, xiii, 16. WOMEN are perfectly well aware that the more they seem to obey, the more they rule.— Michelet.

INTENTION

BY HARRIETT SCOTT OLINICK I would have made a shining song of our sweet unity of life. I would have made a silver prayer Os being your eternal wife. I would have made an altar high To worship love at eventide. But you have gone away from me To mingle with the beating tide.