Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 234, Indianapolis, Marion County, 8 February 1935 — Page 18

PAGE 18

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FRIDAY. FEBRUARY * IM-'

COMMON SENSE WINS THE State of Irliana owes congratulations to Its House of Representatives for Its ac'ion yesterday in passing the resolution for the ratification of the Child Labor Amendment to the Federal Constitution. Approval by the Senate is the last step before Indiana Joins the ranks of the unions enlightened states. The vote of the House of Representatives is more than a victory for humanity. It is a victory for common sense Common sense because of two reasons: First and foremost because the future of the United States hinges upon its children. A nation that warps and cripples Its coming generation has no hope for the future. Second, adults should hold the Jobs so many cost-cutting business men have tried to shoulder on children. Noteworthy in Indiana's battle for ratifl- ; ca-ion of this forward-looking amendment have b* * n th* campaigns of the American Legion and the League of Women Voters. Both organizations have done yeoman work. While The Indianapolis Times has not always agreed with the Legion, we do stand shoulder to shoulder for child welfare. The American Legion has a remarkable child welfare poiicv and the veterans demonstrated in this Instance its ability to get out and fight bravely and brilliantly—for a cause that is all for the country's welfare. Qtuck action by the Senate has been predict' and. The quicker the better. UTILITY HOLDING COMPANIES I V persons probably will regret the New Deal's announced intention to eliminate public utility holding companies. The Federal Trade Commission’s six-year investigation of the electric and gas industries exploded almost all of the arguments in favor of them. It proved that abuses have far exceeded possible benefits Through the medium of a holding company. honestly managed, separate electric or gas distribution units within a limited geographical area may be linked into a single efficient system. But that is not the pattern which utility 'holding company development has followed. Instead, most of the so-called super-holding companies, which control properties scattered all over the country, have thrived by a twohanded exploitation—taking money with one hand from consumers, through extortionate rates maintained in defiance of state regulatory efforts, and taking money with the other hand from investors by floating secur- ; Hies based on fictitious values. Through pyramiding process a few men with shoestring investments have been able to gain dominion over utility empires worth hundreds of millions. In the books of 18 top holding companies. 42 sub-holding companies, and 91 operating Utility rompames. the Federal Trade Communion found •write-ups" totaling 51.463.- ; 334.892. In other words, that amount of j Imaginary book value was written into the financial structures of these interlocking corporations. to bait investors and to justify rates and to earn a fair return ’ on capital never invested. The Rayburn bill provides for gradual dissolution of utility holding companies over a period of five years. That seems to be long enough grace to grant to what David Lilienthrsl of TV A describes as “financial tapeworms” JAPANESE FRANKNESS OUR Japanese friends seem to make no . bones of their determination to strengthen themselves in the Pacific at our expense. Throe ditpatches yesterday brought new evidence of this: 1 a Tokio naval spokesman said that restriction on fortification of American islands eh uld be increased, while the restrictions on similar Japanese fortifications should be eliminated. 2 Foreign Minister Hirota revealed to the Diet that the question of resumption of the Anslo-Japanese alliance, though perhaps of doubtful expedience at ne moment, is in fact being considered in London and Tokio. He added that he thtught the United 'States would have no objection to an Anglo-Japanese alliance. 3. Naval Minister Osumi told the Diet that Japanese warships built under the Washington treaty had less space for living quarters snd more for armaments and therefore were superior to American ships for both defensive snd offensive purposes Whatever else may be said of these official Japanese statements, they at least are refreshingly frank. YOUR ELECTRICITY BILL IN the Federal Power Commission's preliminary rate survey, authorized by the Norris resolution, three things stand forth. One is The amazing variety of rate forms" that defy understanding. Another is the relatively few “electric homes’* in American cities. A third is the effect of the public ownership yardstick In municipal rate control. In one hamlet of 27 souls the commission found 11 different rate schedules. A company serving a city of 58.000 bills its customers under 530 schedules. Whether this chaos Is through design or inertia it is absurd, and should be remedied by the imposition of standard schedules. It challenges a sense of public order. . In grouping some 20,000,000 residential conaumrrs the commission finds only 320.000 households using electricity for lighting, small appliances, refrigeration, cooking and water heating On the other hand. 13.350.000 homes use electricity for only lighting and small

appliances. Here, it would seem, is a vast field for expansion in power use. Graphic are the contrasts between rates in various cities and the apparent effect upon rates from competition by publicly owned plants. It is not mere chance that at the top of the commission's list in every category s a city of I'D.OOO or more people served by a municipal plant. The customers of Cleveland's and Columbus' municipal plants pay only 60 cents for 15 KWH. In Tacoma, also served by a municipal plant, consumers pay 68 cents for 15 KWH. In Los Angeies, served publicly and privately, the charge is 72 cents. But in 43 cities, served only by private companies, the comparable rate ranges from 81.05 in Oklahoma City to *1 71 in Miami. A typical bill for 25 KWH is 88 cents in Cleveland, $1.13 in Tacoma and $1.20 In Los Angeles. In Miami it is $2.76. For 40 KWH Cleveland's consumers pay SL3I, Tacoma’s and Los Angeles’ SIBO, Miami's 54.18. For 100 KWH Tacoma consumers pay $2.40. but those of 46 cities privately served pay from $4 60 In Oklahoma City to $6.85 In Yonkers. For 250 KWH Tacoma consumers pay $3 90, but those of 37 cities privately served pay from $9 10 in Oklahoma City to $15.85 in Yonkers. A bill for 500 KWH is $6.40 in Tacoma. $8.15 in Seattle, $1455 in Cleveland. $17.40 in Boston and $28.35 in Yonkers. For rate control it would seem that municipal competition works effectively as a yardstick. FOOTNOTES OF HISTORY HISTORY would be a great deal more interesting it we could get at its insignificant footnotes. It is forever hinting at absorbing little stories that would make much better reading than the really important things which get all the space—but in most cases it does no more than hint. The anecdotes and romances which would make history real to us get lo&t in the shuffle. Here's a sample. A few days ago some relief workers were excavating Indian mounds on the edge of the famous battlefield of Shiloh, in Tennessee. They accidentally drove their picks into a grave in which had been buried nine unknown Union soldiers killed in that battle. And one of the skeletons turned out to be that of a girl! Skeletons, of course, were about all that remained. Each was incased in the remnants of a blue uniform, clearly identifiable as such by the tarnished brass buttons. The girl had apparently been some 17 or 18 years old. The Confederate bullet which killed her was found inside her skeleton. And that's all there is to the story—just that tantalizing little fragment, which tells us almost nothing, but which sets the imagination to work frantically. Where did this girl come from? How dia she get there, on one of the bloodiest battlefields of all the bloody war? Was she one of those luckless girls who wish they were boys, and masquerade as boys whenever possible? If so, how did she get in the army, in view’ of the fact that Civil V7ar recruits had to undergo physical examinations just as present-day soldiers do? Or was she, perhaps, the sweetheart of one of the soldiers, who had obtained a uniform in some manner, disguised herself in it, crept into camp by some hook or crook to be near her lover, and had been caught w.th him when the unexpected swirl of baitle broke over Grant's army? Was he one of the eight who were buried with her? Or did they get separated in the heat of battle, so that he never knew what happened to her? These are questions that can not possibly be answered; but who can read the little story without w’isning earnestly that they could be? These relief workers dug up one of history’s most fascinating fragments—but it can never be anything more than a fragment, a footnote to a tale of battle, hinting at much that we would like to see revealed. The nine skeletons have been buried in a new grave in Shiloh Cemetery, now. The only marker is a tablet inscribed “Nine Unknown Union Soldiers.” FOR FAIR COMPETITION JOSEPH EASTMAN'S program for rehabilitation of our railway system is a document deserving of the most extended study. It seems to cut a pretty carefully planned middle course between demands of the government-owner-ship group and proposals of those who would have the government interfere with the system as little as possible. With at least one of his suggestions there will be wide agreement. He urges that all transportation systems—bus. truck, boat, pipeline, and possibly even airplane—be put under control of the Interstate Commerce Commission along with the railroads. This'would probably do as much to give the roads a better break in the matter of competition as any one step that could be taken. For the rest, his program is the product of much study, and it sets forth the most clearcut plan that has yet been offered for restoring our railroads to full economic health. STARVING TO AVOID HUNGER IT is a pleasant little picture which Admiral Mineo Osumi, minister of the Japanese navy, held out to his people in a recent speech in the Japanese parliament. The admiral asserted bluntly that Japan must be prepared to go through with any naval race that may develop, “even if we are reduced to eating rice gruel.” Now a statement of this kind indicates the confusion into j which military men are all too apt to fall. For if a nation maintains a navy for any sensible purpose at all. it Is for the purpose of warding off enemies that the nation will not be reduced to poverty and hardship which the eating of rice gruel is supposed to signify. To accept such hardship and poverty voluntarily to support a navy is to get the cart a couple of nautical miles ahead of the horse. A lecturer told a New York audience that we already can feel the chill of another ice age, due in 20.000 years. But that may have been only Fay Webb and Rudy Vallee looking at each other as they came into court. The reason the centenarian crop is so short has been discovered. A Chicago woman. 101, says nobody- lives that long except by minding his own business. Judging by the recent actions of England and France, it seems that a clique of nations is running the League of Nations.

Liberal Viewpoint by DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

LINCOLN'S birthday and the decisions of the Supreme Court upon the constitutionality of the New Deal make it relevant to point out how the conservatives and the Constitution mongers have thwarted the realization of Lincoln's ideal of government “of, by and for the people.” It is a fact very familiar to up-to-date American historians that the Constitution was really designed by its framers to check the progress of liberalism and democracy which had made startling advances during and immediately after the American Revolution. The business classes had never really welcomed revolution as a principle. What they were interested in was using revolution as a means : of obtaining independence from British control. They were alarmed by the radical trends during the Revolution and by such evidences of unrest immediately thereafter as came to the surface in Shay's rebellion. Accordingly, the more conservative propertyowning classes and their representatives framed a Constitution designed ■ to check what they believed was the dangerous growth of democracy. Though the Preamble of the Contsltution starts off with the phrase “We, the people,” not more than 5 per cent of the people voted on the ratification of the Constitution, and at the best only a narrow majority of the 5 per cent favored it. a tt a THE Constitution itself contained many antidemocratic principles and provisions. The executive, legislative and judicial branches were set up with relatively independent powers to check any dangerous tendencies in one or the other of these departments. The President was made a strong executive. For more than a hundred years the Senate was a conservative and unpopular body, and the Supreme Court was given authority to destroy any radical movements through declaring “dangerous” laws unconstitutional. The conservative business class was not, however, able to maintain for long any complete control over the government and policies of the country. There was a “strange interlude” from about 1800 to the Civil War during which the agricultural classes, first the followers of Jefferson and then the Southern slavocracy dominated the United States. But after the Civil War the capitalistic group snapped back with a vengeance, as Dr. Ernest Sutherland Bates points out in the Modern Monthly. “The capitalists, however, could afford to wait. They had behind them the law, the courts and the Constitution. The latter, before the Civil War, was used with judicial impartiality to support both the Northern manufactuieis and the Southern slave-owners. The only people w-ho did not benefit by its provisions were the great mass of American citizens. a a tt “ A FTER the Civil War, increasingly as the TV years went on bringing their steady increment of capitalist economic power, the Supreme Court in interpreting the Constitution went even further in defense of its friends than these could ever have anticipated. The first 10 amendments, in defense of civil rights, were one after another virtually nullified by judicial decision, and the Fourteenth Amendment, passed in the interest of the freed Negroes, was converted into a further means of enslavement of all workers regardless of race, color or previous condition.” Along w’ith this has gone a strange perversion of the conception of liberty, which has come to mean in conservative circles little more than the liberty to exploit. We w-itness such strange spectacles as those of last summer in the creation of the American Liberty League to frustrate even Mr. Roosevelt’s feeble efforts to advance the cause of social justice. “The net result is that the very name of liberty has beer made odious in this country. Lovers" of that estimable thing orginally denoted by ;he word will soon have to take to speaking Esperanto or to conducting their conversation in the symbols of mathematical logic. The English language has been corrupted by so many rascals, in and out of the Supreme Court, that today it is, at least when spoken by our capitalist leaders, little more than a thieves’ lingo.” a tt a YET. as Roger Baldwin points out in Common Sense, there is still a chance to realize the ideals of Lincoln if the Progressives and Liberals wake up and rally to the support of the cause: “Nothing is inevitable. Fascism can be anticipated, beaten and stopped—but it can be done only if the channels of agitation are freely open for the organization of counter-forces. “If the reaction can be anticipated and circumvented by that overwhelming majority who produce and consume the w’ealth of the land, liberty will take on anew meaning. “Not only will it realize the ancient hope of freedom from control by an exploiting class, and equality in the enjoyment of wealth produced—but a liberty of the mind and spirit never possible in a warring world. This is the coming struggle for freedom —a greater freedom than the world has ever seen for the masses of mankind, but for which countless thousands | have long dreamed and striven.”

Capital Capers BY GEORGE ABELL

IN a setting of lavender tulips and jonquils, Senora de Espil, American wife of the Argentine ambassador, inaugurated her husband’s attempts to popularize mate (South American beverage) by giving a mate party at the embassy. About 50 guests attended, sipped mate from silver gourds, gossiped, admired Senora de Espil’s slender figure—clad in blue velvet against apple green walls. As each guest arrived, the hostess motioned toward the tables. “Take either mate or tea—but be careful of the mate.” In an aside, she added: “I'm afraid a lot of people are going out on their heads. We've already disposed of 15 pots of mate, and the tea has not been touched.” Burbled an American guest to one of the Argentine ladies who helped to pour the new drink: “Should I use cream or sugar? How do you take mate?” The other retorted, smiling: “How do you take tea?” tt a a PERSIAN MINISTER DJALAL, an affable personality who loves walking down Con-necticut-av carrying an ivory-headed stick, is nonplussed by Washington weather. He complains: “In Persia you can walk in the snow. Here, if you try to walk, you fall down. If you are in a taxi, you skid. So I stay indoors.” Another fact amazes him. “In Persia people are prepared for this sort of weather. But here—you see people walking about in high silk hats.” So his Persian excellency remains quietly by his fireside, sighing for the winter in Teheran, and leaving treks through the snow and ice to Scandinavian diplomats. a an MRS. CORDELL HULL, wife of the Secretary’ of State, is growing a trifle weary of .he hordes of sightseers vho tramp through her drawing room on her days' at home. On Wednesday. Mrs. Hull will be “at home.” She lamented: “I hope a few friends will come in. It will be so nice to see a few familiar faces. Apparently. people read the newspapers and decide that a Cabinet reception is a nice thing to come to. I never see so many strangers as on my days j at home.” Not only Mrs. Hull, but other Cabinet hostesses have, been making the same plaint. Their “at homes” are thronged by sightseers who take advantage of the notice in the papers and arrive [in droves.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

F.ChStrRG

ripi A/T r* 1 il6 IVieSSage v>onL6r

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to 200 words or less.. Your letter must he signed, hut names tcill be withheld at request oj the letter writer.) a a tt SALOON-RESTAURANTS* ARE SCORED BY READER By H. C. Wilson. The majority of the electorate who voted the return of liquor did so with the view that the evils Qf the old saloon days would be banned forever. Now compare the conditions in Indianapolis today with the old saloon days. Today about every restaurant is a saloon, so if a person wants a decent meal free from the liquor environment it is difficult to find such a place. In most of these restau-rant-saloons the bar is in full view of women and children eating in these places. They must hear all the lewd conversations and see all the rough conduct, that always develops when a bunch of good fellows get together and get a few cocktails and highballs under their belts. Women were not permitted to stand at the bar and drink in the old saloon days, but today it is very smart for the women to stand at the bar and drink with their men and go them one better in swapping dirty stories, in these restaurantsaloons. In these restaurant-saloons young women gather to sell drinks. Where are the women’s organizations? The Christian mothers militant? The cultured men and women of Indiana? “11l fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.” a a INJUSTICE IS CHARGED OX FERA PROJECTS By Charles King. Will someone who might read this enlighten me how some men working on FERA projects are allowed more time to work than others with the same number in the family? I have two in my family and I am only allowed s2l a month while other men with only two in the family, including himself, are allowed $27 a month. I have seen my investigator and have been refused any additional time. Also tell me how a man can pay rent, buy fuel and eat on s2l? I feel I am entitled to the same as any other man. I am willing to work in order to live but am finding it a hard road to travel. What can be done to right this injustice? tt tt tt FARM REQUIRES WORK BUT GIVES FOOD By Mrs. W. F. Norman. Inconsistency, thou art a jewel. Something must be terriby wrong with the reasoning of R. J. 3. He says he is the owner of a very profitable farm that must be the land of milk and honey judging from his own story. I can’t see why he keeps a tenant and remains in the city, since the farmer raises all his living, obtains his fuel from the farm, and lives in luxury and he continues to live in the city bound down to a chair bottom and hungry. He should trade with his tenant and give the tenant his city job and run his owm farm. Os course the farmer works long hours, seven days a week, and often has to get up nights to care for new stock coming into the world in zero weather, or suffer from the loss, the -ows have to be milked, stables ’eaned. etc. Perhaps a short hour day, a Tveiay week. w~uld be much easier, so that is why R. J. B. doesn't care to

A JOB WELL DONE

Socialism Not Ideal

By B. B M. N’oblesville. A Socialistic form of government with the present ideas, w’ould not be as ideal as some people seem to think. The Socialists do not have anything in their program that says they favor a large pension for the aged. They do not have anything in their platform that says they could put every one to work on a livable wage. There are some admirable features about the Socialist platform, but what people really are w’anting and thinking about are articles contained in the technocrats’ platform, but many persons think their ideas are socialistic. The technocrats and the American Federation of Labor are the ones w’ho have advocated 30 hours a week for working people, a livable w’age for all and a generous pension for people who have served their time working on this plane. The American Federation of Labor deserves more credit than it has received for advanced ideas to meet the times. Anew age is ready to be born and we are resisting it, refusing to face the facts clearly and unbiased. live on his own farm in luxury. I never knew vegetables to raise themselves and a hog doesn’t appear on the table in the form of delicious ham without the assistance and expense of the farmer. Everything a farmer has, he earns. I am a woman who runs her own farm, knows what labor it takes, knows the disappointments a dry season brings, and the scientific and common-sense it requires, know’s all the angles of farming. I w’ould suggest the hungry, chained, R. J. B. about face, and move to his land of luxury and give a city mam* who has no farm a chance to earn his living. a a a BONUS BELONGS TO WAR VETERANS By Albert Tendelman I read in The Times where a young man didn’t sign his name; he just said “by Junior.” I would at least have nerve enough to sign my name where he said the exsoldiers were a big bunch of noisy bonus frauds, just because they want their bonus that belongs to them—they earned it 17 years ago. They did not steal it, it is theirs—rightfully. Junior should go to a veteran’s hospital and see the right side. I believe he would change his mind. Os course, if he hasn’t any mind, he can't change it. A smart man changes his mind. I belong to the American Legion and I am proud of it. I want to comment on William P. Booker, for what he said about the bonus. What he said is right. There never was a President yet who was for the bonus. All that has been j done is what Congress and Senate pass over a veto and they know it. The President wanted to balance the budget, but it did not balance, and they say when all is well, we will get it. I hope if there Is ever another war some of these men will have to go and then we will see how they like it when they have to fight for $1 a day while we are earning $lO a day. By then they will probably want a bonus. Then we can give them the laugh. We want just what belongs to us, more. tt tt tt Bt Enraged Veteran. Junior, would you have served in the World War if you had been old

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

Since we are due for a change in systems, a world-wide change, it seems that a form of government could be framed that would include the best in Socialism, the best in technocratic ideas and collaborate with the American Federation of Labor. It seems proper and fitting that a representative of the federation should always be a high official in our government. He should either be a member of the President’s cabinet or have a high ranking office and be consulted in matters of importance affecting the laboring people and labor conditions. If all people who work would only avail themselves of books to be obtained from the public libraries on economics, technocracy, socialism, the conditions of the times, they would be able to understand what problems the present Administration faces. The books are not necessarily for the educated classes, but are written so they are understandable to the most unlearned workman. A book on technocracy by Laing should be read by every one. It is short, to the point and easily digested. enough 9 I doubt it. You say you are a member of the Reserves. Why, for the financial gain? You work hard for your money. You are lucky to be able to work. How would you like to be on the relief rolls like so many thousands of we veterans are, who are willing to work, but can not get a job? Maybe if we had not gone overseas we would still have our jobs. When we left we all had jobs and were promised our old jobs back when and if we returned. But, what promises. When the luckiest of us returned, we found our jobs taken by young men just out of high school. Perhaps you have one of those jobs now. You may think only a small percentage of the veterans want the bonus, but you are not acquainted with the facts. They all want it, bar none. It seems to me, that if you had your way, you would drown all the veterans. Where is your source of information about the American Legion promising President Coolidge to end all bonus agitation? Anyway, it was President Hoover who got oiy 50 per cent loan over. To hear you talk we were fighting for dough. Yes, a lot of it, Si.lo a day. What right have you to condemn the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars? You can not belong anyway, and if you did you would be a fly in the ointment. Now, Mr. Know-It-All, in closing. I would like to have you come back with some proof in your statements about the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. a a a WAGNER BILL WILL PREVENT SERIOUS STRIKES By W. L. Burkdall. With the advent of spring, the country will no doubt see the renewal of serious strikes. In oniy one way can this situation be avert-

Daily Thought

They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.— Hosea 10:4. SIN has many tools, but a lie is the handle that fits them all. — O. W. Holmes.

FEB. 8. 1935

ed and that is through the passage of the Wagner bill which practically abolishes company unions. Whenever the big industrialists begin to realize that workers will not be content with mere sham in the guise of collective bargaining, then they will And better feeling and a spirit of co-operation from their employes. So long as merchants and manufacturers haye their associations and business clubs, while at the same time denying this right to their employes, we shall continue to have antagonistic sentiment prevailing among the workers. The Wagner bill should be passed without delay. PRESIDENT REAL CONDITION IN U. S. Bv Bill. It certainly looks as if New York's entire underworld was peacefully (and conveniently for Bruno R. Hauptmann) drinking coffee in that Bronx delicatessen on that much discussed night of March 1, 1932. Our Congress may seem to be an unnecessary luxury at times —but they do get something done now and then—or maybe you don’t think that Boulder Dam is something! You know; it seems to me that the medical profession deserves a lot of applause that these 12,000,000 people waste on less worthy subjects. If you don't agree with me—well, just think of some of the things you’ve applauded. Oh! Oh! I knew your face would be red! flight in today’s paper I read about that vaccine against infantile paralysis and a dry heat cure for sinus and deafness. And don't think these doctors thought of these gifts to humanity while shaving. No, sir, years of selfish, heart-breaking toil has gone into them. So how about asking Mr. Winchell for some orchids for this cause, and don’t feel shy about offering your own homely daisies Down in Washington, Senator Glass of Virginia objects to the Administration’s $4,000,000,000 relief bill because the sponsors haven’t said how they are going to spend it. Why, I’ll bet if Senator Glass looked in his own Virginia back yard he’d find so many poor, starving people that $4,000,000,000 wouldn't look like a good start. Kinda looks like the President’s eyesight is better than the Senator's.

So They Say

The individual is nothing without the state.—Dr. Hjalmar Schocht, economic dictator of Germany. I believe that in future the flying of long distances belongs to the stratosphere.—Capt. James Mollison, famous Aver.

FIFTEEN

BY VIRGINIA KIDWELL All in a year he has grown From a boy to the start of a man, And that gay, carefree youngster I've known Lives his days on a serious plan. Bewildered I watch as he tries To decide between gray or blue hats, And selects fancy shirts, sox and ties And I fear that he’s even bought spats! His “collections’’ are gone from his room. And his photos of each movie star, On his birthday he asks nothing less Than a studio couch or a cax. As he goes his preoccupied way I watch, half asmile-half atear, My youngster cf yesterday Whos grown up ail in a yeaiv