Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 214, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 January 1935 — Page 12

PAGE 12

The Indianapolis Times (A UCHirrS-HOWAHD NEWSPAPER) ROT W. HOWARD President TALCOTT POWELL Editor EARL D. BAKER Business Manager Phone Riley 5851

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WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 16 1935. COAXING PRIVATE CAPITAL T7INANCIERS and Industrialists are lavish in their praise of the new registration rules announced by the Securities and Exchange Commission. They say it will now be easier for established corporations to get fresh capital and to refund existing obligations, thus reducing their fixed charges by cal.'ing in highlntercst bends and offering low-ir.terest issues to the hungry securities market. The investment market may not be quite as hungry as some think, but we hope it is. Chairman Kennedy of the commission estimates that a large portion of the more than three billion dollars in callable securities, now quoted above the call price, can bt refunded at a saving to the corporations. Refinancing on such a vast scale would greatly stimulate industry, pave the way for new capital issues to finance plant modernization and replacements, and thereby take up much of the slack in unemployment. That is what industrial leaders say they intend to do. That is what the Administration and the taxpayers. weary' of the heavy burden of caring for the unemployed, hope they will do. Noi do the simpler registration requirements appear in any way to impair the effectiveness of the truth-in-securities-law. That law has but one purpose—to compel the issuers and underwriters to tell the truth about the securities they offer to the public. It was inevitable that the commission should find difficulty in providing adequate protection to investors without at the same time imposing onerous responsibilities upon good-intentioned corporations. Experience has enabled the commission to draw the line between new enterprises and going concerns, and to make it easier for the latter to conform to the law’. Fortunately for private industries and private investors, the commission is composed of men who can be trusted to apply the rule of reason without yielding on principles. Doubtless this same faith in the integrity and reasonableness of the commission yesterday guided the Senate Appropriations Committee to restore the full budget allowance to defray expenses of the commission next year. It is important to maintain this confidence in the commission. President Roosevelt can help to do this by choosing as a successor to Commissioner Ferdinand Pecora someone who can really fill his shoes.

>VE GROW OLDER SOME of the influences that are affecting the future of the country are plain and on the surface. But some are hidden, and move onward unseen. One of the latter is this fact: W,e are getting older, not only as a nation, but as a mass of individuals. A recent report to the Association of Life Insurance Presidents indicates that the present expectation of life is 60 years. That is 15 years or so more than it used to be. From this President Thomas I. Parkinson, of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, drew this conclusion: “Grave consequences involving the relation of the individual to the state may follow the transfer of the balance of voting power from those under 40 to those over 50. This tendency is likely to be reflected in changed attitudes toward spending and saving and, indeed, toward individualism as distinguished from collectivism.” Already such a change is seen. The widespread agitation for the Townsend old-age pension plan is certainly the greatest political demonstration of old people as such that the country has ever seen. They will be a greater power in future rather than a less, as science gradually lengthens the life span, while the birth rate and immigration continue to decline. No one can tell just w'hat effect this increasing dominance of old people will have; all we know is that it is quietly and silently taking place. BETTER OR WORSE? OVER in Pans, a convict named Benjamin Ullmo, having served 26 years on France’s Devils Island, returns, looks over the world of 1935. and finds it terrible. He says he's going back to the penal colony, though he was offered a job in Pans. The world today disgusts him. says this man who has seen nothing of it for 26 years. “What has struck me most.’’ he is quoted as saying, “is the extraordinary spiritual collapse in the world, and the decline in conscience and intelligence. I have been less impressed by the material progress ... It is not sc much the lowering of moral standards, as the immeasurable stupidity of pres-ent-day humanity, which regards itself as so superior.” Now this is worth listening to, for a man who has seen nothing of the world since 1909 ought to get a singular view of it. But it needn't be swallowed without thought. In the first place, no thoughtful person regards humanity today as “so superior.” No one can even glance around him without realizing that humanity today has ail too slim a claim to superiority. But was it so superior in 1909? The United States was being regaled with the Ballinger land scandals, and Congrns was busily engaged with the Payne-Aldricn tariff. Few look back at either incident today with any great pride. And Europe was industriously straining, through its mesh of alliances and colonial and trade rivalries, the hell-broth that was to ■scald the entire earth with World War within five years. There was really nothing so superior about that, either. The old argument as to whether people are better or worse than they used to be,

whether the world Is gradually falling from t past state of grace, is a pretty futile one. The really important thing is that there is plenty of room for Improvement in any case. Whether spirituality has “collapsed,” and whether conscience and intelligence have “declined,” are not so important as the fact that they aren't what they ought to be today, and that they aren’t what they must be if we are to create the better world that everybody is hoping for. For it is the improvement in conscience, intelligence, and morality among individual men that will create the real, permanent progress of the future. People are too apt these days to put faith in a “system;” to believe that if this law were passed, that system adopted, the other panacea administered, everything would be all right.

AL GOES PROHIBITIONIST /"NNE of many protests against the showing of a foreign movie called “Ecstasy” came direct to the White House from a fellow named Alfred E. Smith. He wanted the Government to prohibit its exhibition on grounds of indecency, since the heroine is said to appear in the film with no more clothes than she wore the day she was born. Now this Alfred E. Smith is the same Alfred E. Smith who a few years ago was pretty much steamed up because the Government had prohibited people from drinking what they chose to drink. A1 was against prohibition then. But he has no objections, it is clear, to the Government prohibiting people from seeing the movies they choose to see. All of which proves that when it comes to prohibition, it all depends on whose toes are stepped on, and which toes. THE RED AND THE BLACK /ADDLY enough, it is the party which is in power by the greatest majorities in recent years that shows a deficit in the party finances. Official statements filed with the House of Representatives show the Republican party to have a surplus of $184.76 as it enters the new year. But the Democratic party owes $529,282, and has only about S6OOO in cash on hand to pay. Thanks to recent contributions of $20,000 from members of the Mellon family and SSOOO from John D. Rockefeller, the G. O. P. starts 1935 from financial scratch, while the Democrats must look forward to a heavy deficit as they approach the 1936 campaign. They owe more than $60,000 to John Raskob alone. These figures t.re Interesting because they show clearly v.ha; everybody knew anyway: That when it comes to supporting the actual machinery of parties, both lean heavily on rich men who can make large contributions to party funds. Figures like these will set many to wondering whetner the base of support of both parties mignt not well be broadened.

PENALTY ON SIZE ONE of the sorry tendencies of. pre-depres-sion days was the effort of large companies to become larger, to merge with allied interests and with competitors, to grow and spread until, as the Insull empire did, to threaten stockholders and the public generally with overwhelming disaster. Very little, if anything, has yet been done to avert such a calamity. Only the lack of funds, the depression itself, has succeeded in slowing up this process. But now Senator Wheeler of Montana promises a measure that may save American business millions of dollars in losses, may spread the profits of industry among more businesses of the same type, and prevent a single crash of immense proportions. Senator Wheeler’s bill, if passed, would put a graduated tax on corporations; the larger the capitalization, the higher the tax. With such a penalty on hugeness, probably business will find some workable means at which its operations will be both safe and profitable. NEW DEAL WITH VENGEANCE TN its report asking Congress for new powers A to deal with monopoly, the Federal Trade Commission outlines a program which would make most of the existing New Deal policies seem ultra-conservative. To prevent one corporation from obtaining control over another by buying its stocks or assets, or by merging; to give the commission power to prohibit unfair business practices in any case which might even “affect” interstate commerce; to prohibit big corporations from getting favorable purchasing terms merely because of their size, and to require corporations to get rid of properties illeglally acquired—here would be anew attitude toward big business, with a vengeance! Would public sentiment permit such a change? It would be hard to say, offhand. Certainly Congress will have to do some thorough canvassing of sentiment if it proposes to act on these requests.

SOCIETY’S DEPENDENTS /~VNE of the most startling things about Relief Administrator Harry Hopkins’ recent announcement of new policies in the field of public relief is his declaration that fully 3,800,000 of the men and women now being supported by the Government must be classified as “unemployables.” These are the people whose support is to be turned back to the states and cities; the physically and mentally unfit, the aged, the luckless persons who will never again be able to take their places among the wage-earners of the Nation. Every one has always known, of course, that even the return of full prosperity would not completely abolish cur relief lists. But it comes as a shock to know that the total of unemployables is so very high. The revelation graphically emphasizes our need for an inclusive old-age and health insurance scheme broad enough to touch all classes of society. The Russian who died of an infectious disease at the age of 123 might have lived to a decent age i.i a country where modern health methods prevailed. A tailor in Hungary pleaded insanity for proposing marriage to 20 girls, all of whom accepted. Probably was driven crazy when he tried to get himself out of the mess. If every country limited war-time profits, the soldiers mightn’t feel so bad when they faced the shellfire in the next war.

Liberal Viewpoint BY DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

THE attorney general’s conference on crime which was held at Washington last month probably had more public prestige than anv other meeting of its kind in recent years. Its resolutions have now been made available to the public. They are highly enlightening and we may hope that the distinction and public character of those behind these resolutions will give them some practical consequence beyond the realm of commendable rhetoric. In general the conference condems: "(1 The unsafe, insanitary and insecure conditions which exist in many local Jails throughout the country; (2) the possession of firearms by irresponsible persons ar.d known criminals; (3) the activities of lawyer criminals; (4) the protection which is too often given to professional criminals and racketeers by persons in professional, business, political and official positions; (5) the generally prevalent abuse of bail, and (6) similar generally recognized evils in criminal law administration.” At a time when the parole problem is an especially controversial issue the declarations.of the conference on tnis subject are very sane and timely: “The conference deplores the abuse of the parole and the pardon power as tending to undermine respect for law and order. Parole when courageously and intelligently applied is an integral and necessary part of a protective penal system.” u u a THE Conference recommends the continued use of parole as the safest method of release from prison, but under the following minimum conditions: “1. The minimum and maximum of indeterminate sentences should be compatible with adequate punishment, rehabilitation and public welfare and protection. “2. Paroles should be granted only by a fulltime salaried board of duly qualified persons. “3. Full information should be available and sought for the use of the board as to the prisoners’ records, habits, environment, family and prospects. “4. The names of all persons indorsing a prisoner for parole should be made public on request of the press or any responsible person or organization. “5. No parole should be granted except where adequate employment and rigid supervision are provided. “6. Adequate appropriations must be provided for obtaining requisite data and furnishing necessary supervision. “7. One parole officer should not be expected to supervise more than a number to whom he can give adequate attention. “8. No political or other improper influence shall be tolerated. “9. Machinery, should be provided for the prompt revocation of any parole when continuance at liberty is not in the public interest.” * 'T'HOSE who are disappointed at the failure to pass the parole bill in New York state last year will do well to consider these recommendations and formulate a bill in harmony with them. It will be difficult for the reactionaries to organize a convincing case against such a bill. Especially gratifying were the resolutions adopted by the conference designed to remedy the more flagrant abuses of trial by jurv in criminal cases: Specifically, it recommends the following provisions: “1. Giving the accused the privilege of electing wnether he shall be tried by jury or the court alone. 2. Permitting the impanelling of alternate or extra jurors to serve in the case of the disability or disqualification of any juror during trial. '?• P e rinitting trial upon information as well as indictment. Where indictment by grand jury remains a constitutional requirement, waiver should be allowed. “4. Providing for jury verdicts in criminal cases by less than a unanimous vote except in the case of certain major felonies. ‘‘s. Adopting a principle that a criminal defendant offering a claim of alibi or insanity in his defense shall be required to give advance notice to the prosecution of this fact and of the circumstances to be offered, and that in the absence of such notice, a plea of insanity or a defense based on an alibi shall not be permitted upon trial except in extraordinary cases in the discretion of the judge. “6. Adopting a rule permitting court andcounsel to comment to the jury on the failure of a defendant in a criminal case to testify in his own behalf.” J

Capital Capers BY GEORGE ABELL *

chicken salad prepared by the b ea utiful Mrs. W. Warren Barbour, wife of the Senator from New Jersey, the Senate Ladies Luncheon Club held a love-feast in which Democratic, Republican and Progressive opinions were forgotten. When exquisite Mrs. Barbour (very chic in a j m , ar L Paris model > appeared carrying the salad, delighted exclamations arose. “I made it myself,” said Mrs. Barbour, “and I know it’s good.” “Delicious,” exclaimed the first woman who tasted it. “Wonderful,” enthused another. Quickly, the salad passed down the tab 1 ? “I should like some,” said Mrs. Jack Garner, wife of the Vice President, extending her hand. Holding up their plates, a score of Senators’ wives eagerly tried for a second helping. Soon only a lettuce leaf remained in the bowl. Mrs. Barbour was complimented in glowing terms. “I hoped you’d like it,” she replied modestly,, “I ate some of it myself.” And she showed her empty plate. a a a 'T'HE Barbour salad was only a part of the luncheon program. Everything is served in a simple, informal manner. The rule is that no servants wait on table. Senate ladies bring their own food, serve themselves, chat informally over coffee anofccigarets. Early in the morning, liveried chauffeurs start bringing baskets of food to the dining hall. Certain Senators’ wives supervise everything, the laying of forks and spoons, plates, knives, dishes. By 1 o’clock, all is ready. More than 100 Senate ladies appeared at table. There were no flowers. No soup was served—but the other courses—ah! The idea is to eliminate all heavy dishes. One started in with celery, olives, etc. . . . and ended with cake (chocolate and cocoanut). The Barbour salad was the piece de resistance. a a a MRS. JACK GARNER presided at the luncheon as her husband presides over the Senate. She wielded the gavel, callecj the Senate ladies to attention with a brief address. Then “Bang!” went the gavel. Immediately, chatter and laughter broke forth. Ladies nodded, smiled, cooed at each other. A “hands across the table” policy cemented old friendships, began new ones. Every one discussed everything under the sun, with a large measure of politics, local and national, thrown in. But there was no bitterness. Only sunshine and light dishes. Cigaret smoking began early. Through a light haze of smoke, the luncheon guests slyly regarded each others’ hats and dresses. As an admiral, a general and chief marshal of the air force, the Prince of Wales might have less time to dance with so many goodlooking commoners—or so King George may think. The Rose bowl didn’t seem so ro6ey to Stanford after the game. Huey Long not only is good as a song writer, but he’s made nearly every one in Louisiana dance to his tunes. Congress shouldn’t kick. Not many of us would have paid much attention to it even if Hauptmann weren’t on trial.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

(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 SEEKS EXPLANATION OF MEAT DISTRIBUTION By a Daily Reader. We men of families of from six up wonder why they are not entitled to the Government meat that was butchered at the Richmond (Ind.) airport as well as those who have from six or less in their families. We all work on the FERA and a man with six in his family only can make sl2 a week and we know of men in families of three who are making $8 and get some of the meat. Many of us with large families don’t understand this treatment. a a a PEGLER LAUDED FOR WIT IN COLUMN By Dumb Dora. I believe Westbrook Pegler was the author of an article the other night on the Townsend pension plan, saying it would take care of every one save the poor orphan. I am no finance wizard, just a Dumb Dora, but certainly I think this plan the shrewdest, cleverest idea, both for the Government and the people, I’ve ever heard of. Why, it would finance itself; even my lame brain can figure that out. Why a high tax? Naturally, all other Federal pensions would be canceled. Retirement pensions in all branches of civil and military service, annuities to ex-Presidents’ widows, etc., and think, not with Pegler, of the loafing children, but of the jobs, as I am thinking of, for orphans and all young worthwhile persons, created by nice old couples with S4OO a month to be spent for care and service, travel expenses, hotels, chauffeurs, nurses, housekeepers, laundry, etc. Every walk of life would profit and yes, dear timorous Government Treasury, with all those big open-mouthed Democratic robins to feed, the tax walk of life would profit the most, coming and going. May I add that Mr. Pegler’s article Jan. 9, in The Times, is superb satire. Whether I agree with him or not, his wit is a gift and his style flawless. a a a SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR DATES ARE RECALLED By William H. Collins. “Truth crushed to earth shall rise again.” I wish to state a few facts pertaining to the Spanish.-American war. When did it begin; when did it end? How long did it last? First, the battleship Maine was blown up in Havana harbor, Feb. 15, 1898, with 266 lives lost. Second, Congress declared wax on April 25, 1898, declaring the existence of such war from and including April 21. The response to President McKinley’s call for 125,000 volunteers was instant and complete. Also the second call on May 25, for 75,000 additional volunteers. The ranks of the regular Army were increased to the limits provided by the Act of April 26. The enlisted force of the Navy on Aug. 15, when it reached its maximum. numbered 24,123 men and apprentices. According to history, the first battle of the war was the engagement between American ships and Spanish batteries at Matanzas. April 27, two days after the formal declaration of war. Space will not permit complete details of important events,, which included Cuba, Puerto Rico, l

.THE DOOR TO GREATER EFFICIENCY

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The Message Center

Problems of the Aged

By P. E. Dettra. The Townsend old-age pension idea is great, old people should have the best in their last few years and have it without worry or trouble. I hope in some way this can be put across, because if any one is worthy, these old people are and my heart goes out to them. How can it be done? Where is the money coming from? According to President Roosevelt, our national income in 1934 was $35,000,000.000 and 2 per cent of that would be $900,000,000 just enough to last two weeks, and a 2 per cent sales tax would be lots less. It would take 50 per cent of our national income to pay S2OO to each person over 60 years. We have a 1 per cent income tax in this state, and yet all it produces is $10,000,000. A sales tax, of course, would be much less. Take a man and wife who are living on S2O a month for years. How are they going to spend S4OO a month, and month after month, unless they give it away? They could go to Florida in the winter and Atlantic City in summer, but how could this help Indianapolis? They say the old-age pension will end the depression. I’m not so sure, after all the things that Mr. Hoover and Mr. Roosevelt have tried without doing any good. If this would give us prosperity, why not give everybody S2OO a month and have real prosperity

China and the Philippines. In addition to desperate fighting, privation and typhoid fever caused many deaths in Cuba. Did this end the war? No. The Boxer Rebellion in China and the naval battle of Manila Bay. American troops in the Philippines received their first baptism of fire in the trenches at Malate on the night of July 31, 1898, a midnight attack during a heavy storm. Many other engagements followed in order. When did the war end? Answer: July 4, 1902. Civil government was established in the Philippines and amnesty granted to political prisoners. a a a FIREMEN SET FAST PACE ON FIRE CALL By Leland P. Davis. Friday, Jan. 4, an article in your paper stated that some neighbor's children reported a fire at my house at 2524 North Alabama-st on the evening of Jan. 3, and that I disregarded the warning and sent them away. This remark was in error, or there w r as a misunderstanding in report of the reporter, or possibly he wanted a better story. Mrs. Davis was at a neighbor’s house and my boy, James, 9, was listening to the radio and I was reading The Times at about 8 o’clock, ■when someone, who afterward proved to be our Indianapolis Star carrier, rapped on the door and then on the front window, and I asked Jimmy to let his mother in. He answered the door and called to me that the house was on fire. I was surprised and did not move at once, but when he called to me the second time, which was only a matter of two seconds, I immediately jumped up and fan outside, saw the roof blazing and then called the Fire Department and told them to hurry’, which they did. My neighbors, as well as myself, wish to state that the Fire Department came in a hurry and did a fine job in putting out the fire, and

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

such as we have never seen before. How can they compel a person to spend S2OO a month? Have a couple of police behind each person? How can they check on them? These old folk are as human as our politicians and police, and we can’t stop them from putting their hands in the wrong pocket. Can any one answer these questions correctly? I guess not. Lots of answers will come in, no doubt, but of the same type as I see every day, just some for and some against. I would like to see an organized effort made to make the state pay each person over 60 years $25 a month and the Federal Government pay $25. This would be SSO to start. Man and wife would get SIOO a month. They could live fairly well on this. Then the next effort would be to reduce the age to 50 years or even 45. Why wait until one is about dead to help him? Nobody is putting a man of 45 to work any more. The McNutt program is to pay all over 65 years sls per month, and this bars them from any other kind of relief. This is very unjust to the people of the state. If the Townsend organization wants to do something now so these old people can eat without being pushed around, put your efforts behind an old-age pension bill that means something now, and not in four or five years.

feel they should be commended. Also the activities of the police on the job were very gentlemanly and remarked about by the neighbors. a a a OFFICIALS SHOULD THINK ABOUT NEXT ELECTION By James McFall. It seems to me that when Gov. McNutt was inaugurated he claimed he wanted to sign an old-age pension bill, and he did sign something. Lately, it. appears the party is feeling more generous to the extent of exempting $3500 property. This is highly commendable, as many with homes can not get work. But what of natives of this state who have, for some years, resided in other states, some of which returned with the panic, stone broke; others before the Hoover failure with money spent here during the panic. These are all born Hoosiers and should be considered, as they can not go elsewhere with th© hope of either job of pension. Would our famous Governor baldly assert these people should be fed by charity, as he did shortly after signing that other old-age pension bill? I wonder if our present officials will want all Hoosiers to vote for them next time. This is something to think about. a a a WAR VETERANS URGED TO FIGHT FOR BONUS By William P. Bocker. When President Roosevelt went into office, one of the first things he did was cut World War veterans out of the little sum they were gelling to balance the budget. Very little did I think on Nov. i4, 1918, the day the American armies marohed from the front halfstarved, dirty, sick and weak, that they would have to wait 20 long years for pay for the service—sl a day. There hasn't been a President since the World War who has done one thing for us. All that has been

.JAN. 16, 1935

done, Congress and Senate have passed over a veto. The compensation certificates, socalled bonus, were passed over ExPresident Coolidge’s head. Ex-Pres-ident Hoover vetoed the bill to pay 50 per cent, but Congress and Senate ruled. They also gave the veterans back their pension. This, too, over a veto. Now, President Roosevelt is fighting payment of the remainder of the bonus that is long since due. Have the people forgotten 1917 and 1918—how you loved to lead what the soldiers were doing? In those days we were real fellows and when the war ended, we marched off the front—how proud we all were. Since then these same men are called treasury raiders, gold diggers, potato peelers and who knows what else. The Government has thousands of dollars for C. C. C., A. A. A. and to loan railroads, but when an ex-service man asks for his wage, they say it will cause inflation, bankrupt the country, tear down recovery plans. My Comrades, join the American Legion and let’s stay together/ Watch who votes for you.

So They Say

The United States Supreme Court, even by implication, has not cast a doubt on the validity of codes of fair competition.—Donald R. Richberg. It makes no difference how the New Deal is taught, for most New Deal legislation will be declared unconstitutional in the next few months. —John R. Commons, economist. If Babe Ruth doesn’t hook on as a manager, he may stay out of the game in 1935. Also, I don't think he could play on account of his weight.—Jimmy Foxx, Athletics’ slugger. The German people appear to have the papa complex.—Phyllis Bottome, author. If you want liberty in the highest degree, you can not have equal* ity.—Dean William F. Russell of Teachers College, Columbia University.

Daily Thought

Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!—Amos, vi, 1. THE sweetest honey is loathsome in its own deliciousness, and in the t?sve confounds the appetite.—Shakespeare.

ATTENTION

BI M. C. W. We require a Mention—have to have it Or else feel lost and out of place Someone to care and really make us fit Into this mass called Human Race. We crave attention and praise to really live. Unhappy we are without it— Groping outcasts all—without incentive, Then light of Life Is left unlit.