Indianapolis Times, Volume 46, Number 237, Indianapolis, Marion County, 12 February 1935 — Page 10

PAGE 10

The Indianapolis Times <% *n*irrs-How.%RD newspaper) ROT w. HOWARD Prenidont % tALOOCT POWKLL l EARL. D. BAKER Bufln'ts Manager I’hr.n* RTl*y 555 1

il flirt Light nnit the rroplt Wilt r>n‘i TMrit ©v>t Wny

TUESDAY FEBRUARY . I3> CHALK I P ONE MORE TNDIANA S parole system seems to have : scored again. This time, the crime is more revolting than usual. An 8-year-old girl has been criminally assaulted and. according to police, one Frank Baxter, alias Brown, who is 27 years older than the girl, has confessed the crime. Baxter —or, if you prefer. Brown—was paroled some time ago. He had been committed, police records show, on the charge of having criminally assaulted a woman. The Indianapolis Times long has demanded —and it will continue to demand—that some scientific system of issuing paroles and pardons be placed in effect in thus state. Certainly, with this one mistake more chalked up against the clemency board, there seems to be need of little more argument. There must be a change. Let it not be said against Indiana tfcat wrongfully paroled prisoners come out of her institutions month after month to outrage the decency of her communities. STILL BOOTLEGGERS WE hope the Administration has something more than surface indications to justify its boasts that *he bootlegger is on the run. Disrovery that bootlrgcers in Gloversville and Utica. N. Y.. distilled out of rubbing alcohol and anti-freeze solutions the fatal poisons which they peddled may indicate that in that section the sources of bootleg supply have been restricted. But our tax collection figures seem to prove that many bootleggers are still thriving. In the first 12 months of repeal, taxes were paid on about 42.000,000 gallons of hard liquor, or about half as much as was sold legally before prohibition. Those who kept their eyes open during the prohibition era can not believe that there Is less hafd drinking today than prior to the noble experiment. If there is as much drinking now as before prohibition, bootleggers must be still peddling millions of gallons. While some progress may be made through the Administration’s efforts to persuade other governments to help us stop the smuggling of liquor over our borders, a more effective solution would be to reduce tariffs and make smuggling unprofitable. BACK SEAT DRIVERS 'T'HE back seat drivers are busy in Washington and the President's re-employment program is in danger. The American Federation of Labor is in with a '’watch out!” The national plumbers are nervous. The veterans have screamed once. The Iron League is pushing the floor boards. The Association of Master Painters and Decorators announces that a truck is approaching. And the heart of the Association of Consulting Engineers is in Its mouth. "Do it this way,” cries Senator Steiwer. “Do it that,” warns Senator Wheeler. "Try mine.” Senator Copeland urges. And so on. This being Lincoln's birthday, it may be pertinent to recall what he said to a delegation of "back seat driving’* Senators who. in one of the darkest times of the Civil War, called upon him to protest the way Secretary Stanton was running things. Lincoln described to his visitors Blondin’s crwssuig the tight wire over Niagara Rapids. "Would you," said he, "when certain death waited on a single false step, would you cry out. ‘Blandin, stoop a liitle more. Go a little faster. Slow up. Lean more to the north. Lean a little more to the south?’ No: You would keep your mouths shut. We are doing the best we can. We have just as big a job on hand as was ever entrusted to mortal hands to manage. The government is carrying an Immense weight; so. do not badger It. Keep silence and we will get you safe across.” BETTER CIVIL SERVICE ONE of the quaint American beliefs is that it takes specific and supervised training to be a barber or a plumber; but that any one at all who can get a certain number of votes or wangle an appointment is competent to administer the affairs of a great city or run a federal or state government bureau. While there have been occasional cries for better-trained public servants, it has been like the weather—nobody really did anything about it. Now a beginning is being made towa* ' >• lng something about It. Harvard for some years has had a valuable achool of business administration. Originally it had been Intended as a school of political science and administration. Now, under Harvard's new President Conant, this school Is being turned into a school of “public and private business." It is planned to offer In the new school a thorough training not only for young men who enter private busmess. but also for those who aim to devote their energies to the sort of great public enterprises that are beginning to grow in importance, projects such as the Tennessee Valley Authority, and public bodies such as the Federal Trade Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, and a dozen others. Dean Wallace Brett Donham. who has ably presided over the school while it was training promising young men for private business, is thoroughly in sympathy with the Idea that Important public busmess requires just as thorough training. “It is impossible to improvise a first-class civil service.” he points out. and cites the two examples of the W’orld War and the present crisis, when It was necessary to build great public organizations quickly, and many a man put In an Important position proved Inadequately trained and Incompetent. , ■* Am more and more functions become pub- j

M#mher nt Pr****. Reripps - Ntwpp r Aiitsnee, N*wpsp*r En?*rpri** .\<wnpaprr information Service and Audit Bureau of 'ir<- ila'ion*. Owned and publUb>d daily • on-ept Sunday! hr The In- i d'anapl! Time* Publishing! 2M-220 W. Maryland-iit, Ir.dlanapolta. ind. Price In Marlon County. 3 ccnfa a copy: delivered br carrier. 12 oent* a week Mai! mibsoriptln ra'e in Indiana, ft a year; of Indiana. ®3 rents a month.

Uc (and quite regardless of your opinion of that tendency, it’s here) the need for Competent, well-trained men to fill those posts will increase. Several schools for training diplomatic and consular service men already exist. There are several city managers in the country who have made that a life work, moving up from small cities in which they hive been successful to larger ones. Why not? If there is any more complex job. requiring better training and higher ability than running the complicated affairs of a great city, it’s hard to imagine what it is. It Is encouraging to note that the great universities are not neglecting to do their share toward building this better civil service, and are attacking the problem at the source; that is. in the training of better potential material for this increasingly vital work. BETTER HOME CREDITS IF the new Fletcher-Steagall bill provided nothing except an additional billion and a half dollars for the Home Owners’ Loan Corp it would be open to just criticism. Mere transfer of home mortgages from private hands to a government corporation solves no economic problems. But this bill goes much farther. It contains several amendments to the Federal Home Loan Bank act and the National Housing act designed to encourage private institutions to lend money to home owners at lower rates of interest. In its campaign to start a building revival to increase private employment and stimulate the heavy industries, the Administration has in the past concerned itself perhaps too much with efforts to persuade leaders to lend and too little with efforts to induce borrowers to borrow. Through various insurance systems, the government has offered to share the risks of loans and thereby encourage lending agencies to be more liberal. Outside of the ballyhoo of the Federal Housing Administration in the housing repair crusade, the government has done little to encourage present and prospective home owners to take the initiative. In most sections of the country today it is cheaper to rent a home or buy one already built than to build anew home. So long as that condition prevails a private building revival is improbable. Roughly, three factors enter into the cost of building a home: Prices of building materials, wages for building labor, and interest on capital invested. The Fletcher-Steagall amendments designed to reduce the last item of cost should prove of value. BACK FROM THE DEAD THERE is something eerie and fascinating about the story of the Englishman who died on a hospital operating table, remained dead for five minutes, was brought back to life—to object that he was happier while dead and that the doctors had no right to force him to pick up the life he had discarded. To be sure, a rationalist would have little difficulty ii explaining the odd experience this man had —his emergence, while dead, into a light, spacious room, where he greeted his dead wife and other friends who had died years before. Any psychologist could think, offhand, of half a dozen impressive-sounding words that would reduce the whole matter to a relatively simple explanation. But it is doubtful if this would impress the hero of the odd experience very much. He died and he returned to life, and he brought back with him a strange, unearthly memory. The memory will unquestionably remain green and color his thoughts and actions for the rest of his life. ANOTHER BURLESQUE \ CERTAIN percentage of the news of the day always originates in the courts of law; ?nd during the last few months the newspaper reading public has been singularly unfortunate in the kind of news that has been originating there. First we had the Vanderbilt adoption case, which was a sorry sort of mess, any way you took it. Then came the Hauptmann trial, which showed justice trying to function in the midst of a not too expertly arranged threering circus. And now we have the lawsuit of Mr. and Mrs. Rudy Vallee. The preliminary rumblings of this affair, some time ago, gave due notice that it was going to be fairly unsavory, and the reality has lived up—or down —to ..dvance notices. It’s all part of the picture of modern society, of course; but one does wish that the picture didn't have such unpleasant colors. WE RE NOT SO SMART THE intelligence of the American people is gradually deteriorating at a rate of about 1 per cent in each generation, according to sociologists, and if the trend continues it will have profound and probably unpleasant effects on American democratic society. The trouble, as eugenists have pointed out before. Is that people who are well equipped genetically to endow their children with desirable qualities are haring fewer children than those less well equipped. "The sources of Intelligent leadership are gradually drying up.” says Dr. Himes. ‘‘The rate of 1 per cent, which seems slow, is, as biological changes go, actually very rapid.” One comfort Is that the present trend in birth rates may be only a temporary thing. Individual attitudes and social viewpoints have been shifting tremendously in the la6t few decades; when the shift slows down, the present trend in birth rates may be completely reversed. The Turks announce they'll give more opportunity to subject races, but all the Armenians will ask is a little longer start for the mountains. Use of castor oil in a plane motor gives it virtually silent operation, but don’t hope for the same effect when you give It to the 10-year-old son. A Russian scientist says pigs can learn, but no matter how much you teach them they always manage to make hogs of themselves. New York's truck drivers didn’t stay out on strike long enough, recently, to give visitors a chance to get across town. The end will come when a congressional committee is appointed to Investigate the activities of congressional committees.

Liberal Viewpoint BY DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

"Labor's Fight for Power,” by George E. Sokolsky (Dou’oleday, Doran & Cos., Inc.). "■What of Tomorrow?” by Ogden L. Mills. (The Macmillan Cos.). “The Economic Consequences of the New Deal,” by Benjamin Stolberg and Warren Jay Vinton. (Harcourt, Brace & Cos.). a o tt THESE three books approach the problem of the New Deal from distinctly critical points of view, but that have little in common in philosophy or method. Mr. Sokolsky seems to be critical of Communism, Fascism and New Deal liberalism, alike. Curiously enough, he seems to think that Communism Is admirable for a country like Russia where the difficulties of establishing and maintaining it are greatest, while it is not suitable for countries like Germany or the United States where it could be set up and operated with infinitely less difficulty and expense than in a backward agricultural country like Russia. On one subject he is thoroughly clear in his mind, and that is that a country must be wholly capitalistic or wholly communistic —that it is futile to attempt to comoine the two systems. * n NEITHER is there any doubt in his mind that the New Deal has been a failure, and he lists Mr. Roosevelt’s major failures to date: 1. "He could not and did not put 10,000,000 men back to work; 2. "He was unable to liquefy the frozen assets of the United States, so that capital became available for industry, trade and commerce; 3. "He was unable to reduce expenditures for relief: 4. “He was unable to stimulate the use of capital goods, particularly iron and steel, building supplies and electrical equipment; 5. "He was unable to find a procedure for adjusting the relations between capital and labor which had become maladjusted during the depression; 6. "He was unable to devise a program for protecting the farmer against a maladjusted price relationship between farm products and manufactured goods; 7. "He has not been able to stimulate foreign trade.” In spite of the fact 'hat it is apparent to all informed and thoughtful observers that the failures of the New Deal to date have been the result of hesitation and conservatism, Mr. Sokolsky comes to the curious conclusion that it will now turn definitely to the right and prove a success through more conservatism. Such a policy might produce a temporary boom, but it will spell ultimate disaster for the capitalistic system, and incidentally for the Roosevelt Administration. tt St tt AFTER going through a book like that byMr. Mills, most fair-minded persons will be likely to develop a positive affection and almost uncontrolled admiration for Mr. Roosevelt. One expects the typical Bourbon and Republican bogeys to sprout from its pages, but one could also expect Mr. Mills to show some reasonable acquaintance with the economic world about him. On the heels of the devastating statistics concerning the inequality of income in the United States published by the Brookings Institution and other research groups showing, for example, that in 1929 the upper one-tenth of 1 per cent of the population received as much as the bottom 47 per cent, Mr. Mills gives a fantastic picture of American capital being cheated out of all the microscopic fraction of its product. He tells use that irom 1919 through 1932 capital received only 5 per cent of the total values created by all American corporations. In spite of the proof that the burden of the depression fell chiefly upon the salaried and working classes and the farmers, Mr. Mills would have us believe that it was chiefly borne by business and finance. Though there has been no real recovery in any major capitalistic state, Mr. Mills assures us that there has been recovery everywhere and that it has been most marked in those countries which have remained loyal to rugged individualism. And we have the old gag about recovery already being under way in the United States in the autumn of 1932. In short, Mr. Mills might have written as relevant and defendable a book if he had lived back in Pharonic Egypt. Messrs. Stolberg and Vinton have expanded their excellent Mercury article into what is, by all odds, the best brief critical analysis of the New Deal. They approach it from a resolute left wing point of view, which is the only angle from which it is vulnerable. The authors contend that so far an earthquake affecting most of the country and bringing ruin in its train would have accomplished more in an economic sense than the New Deal has to date. They point out that the major failure of the New Deal has been its timidity and hypocrisy in supporting labor and say of the labor policy of Mr. Roosevelt that: "The New Deal for labor has consisted largely in moving one speech forward and iwo steps backward.”

Capital Capers __BY GEORGE ABELL*.

HOSPITABLE Frederick VanNuys of Indiana, the only Senator in Washington who has a penthouse apartment, was host at a lavish cocktail party in honor of Senator and Mrs. Sherman Minton. Two white-coated oarmen kept the cocktail shakers busily rattling, and poured whisky highballs for those who wished. Tea cups rattled faintly in an adjoining room where gossip replaced the animated political discussions around the bar. Mary Capitol big-wigs and official celebrities attendee. Serious-minded Secretary of State Cordell Hull, wno always looks as if he has solved a difficult arithmetic problem, wandered about the room, shaking hands with Senators, many of whom had voted against the World Court. But Hull never cherishes any hard feelings. Morning-coated Senator Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, frequently mentioned as a possible Republican "dark horse” for the Presidential nomination, moved majestically about, graciously nodding to friends. Senator Joe Guffey, the Pennsylvania politician, also came in, hailed jovially as "Joe” by acquaintances on all sides of the room. He looked, as always, immaculate—his gray-striped trousers neatly creased, his patent-leather shoes brilliantly polished. a a a AMBASSADOR Trovanovsky of Soviet Russia, wearing a dark, douole-breasted suit, shook hands with a score of guests, speaking his slow but precise English. Upon his arrival jn this country, Troyanovsky spoke a little English, but he has vastly improved since then. Genial Senator Vic Donahey of Ohio asked for a cup of coffee and quietly sat down in one corner to enjoy it. But friends ferreted him out and the coffee was cold jefore his lips touched it. An interesting apparition at the party was former Senator Jim Watson, whom VanNuys defeated in 1932 by 200.000 votes. Time has healed the scars. Watson, in his morning coat and striped trousers, beamed delightfully at his host and greeted Hoosier guests with his habitual smile. "Glad to see you boys again,” he remarked to one group of Indianians. "Mighty, mighty glad.” From the firm handshake, he looked as if he meant it. a a a LEAN, abstemious Will Hays, czar of the movie world, bowed politely as he clasped hands with another lean, capable individual—Marvin Mclntyre, President Roosevelt's secretary. Mrs. Hays, who accompanied him, told a little story about her husband. "You know,” she ourbled, “someone asked Will if he was still a Republican. He answered ‘Yes, damn still.’” .Wiil grinned reminiscently.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

ONE TRICK HE FORGOT TO DISCARD!

The Message Center

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these solutnns. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to 250 words or less. Your letter must be signed, but names will be withheld at request o) the letter writer.) tt a a SPECIAL PRIVILEGES ARE LISTED FOR READER By W. Mann. In a recent editorial you stated that the ex-service men in Indiana enjoyed 13 special* privileges. I will appreciate it very much if you will print a list of these in The Indianapolis Times. Editor's Note—1. Limited state tax exemption for veterans or their organizations. 2. Guardianship for orphans. 3. Special guardianship for incompetent veterans. 4. Burial expenses. 5. Free recording of army discharges. 6. Free vending licenses, etc. 7. Special preference in public office. 8. State veteran’s home. 9. Headstones or special markers. 10. Special relief for indigent or disabled veterans and dependents. 11. Free hunting and fishing licenses. 12. Waiver of time requirements for public school teachers, if veterans. 13. Free oaths and free copies of state compensation matters. You will note that several of these special privileges merely duplicate matters now taken care of by the Federal government. tt n tt WANTS TO KNOW “REAL MOTIVE” ON WORLD COURT By a Reader. I was much surprised at your editorial, “To Hell With the World —and America.” I have heard much argument against our joining the World Court, but your editorial is the first argument for it, and that was rather general and not convincing. I should appreciate your specific reasons for our joining. Please come right out and teil us the advantage of such a move. tt a o WHEN DID PEOPLE FAVOR WORLD COURT? By a World Peace Believer. In your editorial Jan. 30, you infer that the majority of the American people have shown themselves in favor of the World Court. Will you kindly inform us as to when and on what occasion the American people have ever shown themselves as favoring our adherence to the World Court? If my memory serves me right, whenever our joining the League of Nations in any way, shape or form was a political issue the people have voted overwhelmingly against the proposition. tt tt a CHILD LABOR AMENDMENT WILL NOT AFFECT HOMES. By Snbscribe.*. Some persons have the mistaken idea that the Child Labor amendment, once it is ratified by the required number of states, will enable Congress to pass legislation depriving American youth and parents of their rights. They believe the laws enacted will prohibit, the farmer’s son from performing his duties in the morning and evening and will prohibit the farmer's daughter from helping with household tasks. It is not to keep the youth of the land from performing labor to help their parents that this amendment is designed. Rather, it is

French-English Pact Explained

By Hugh D. Rose, New York. May I ask you to explain to an ordinary citizen like myself the why and the wherefore of the latest French-English decision to force Germany to rearm under pain of being excluded from the League of Nations? I thought that France and England had been telling us how dangerous Germany was and that it was impossible to talk of reducing armaments as long as Germany continued to be such a menace. It is too difficult for this confused brain to grasp. So, if you can write a few enlightening words on the subject, they will be much appreciated by a grateful reader. BY WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS Scripps-Howard Foreign Editor. Beyond question American opinion has been greatly confused by the latest moves on the chessboard of Europe. Fundamentally, however, the problem which Great Britain, France and certain other Old World countries have to face is fairly simple. It appears much more complex than it really is. As matters stand, Nazi Germany has already resigned from the League of Nations and withdrawn from the arms limitation conference at Geneva. Although bound by the treaty of Versailles not to maintain an army of more than 100,000 men, no military air force at all and only a few small craft by way of a navy, she is actually rearming at a terrific rate. Up to a year ago even the British government smiled indulgently at the French charges of German rearmament. Today no one for a moment questions the fact that Germany has several thousands of the best-trained troops in the world, an air force of swiftly increasing power, and a chemical arm probably superior to that of any nation on the globe. This is not said by way of criticism. It is merely a fact. A virile

aimed at the employers who work boys and girls under 16 years of age for nine, 10 or 11 hours a day. In a number of states there are no laws to prevent their doing just this. There is no need to fear that Congress will endeavor to impose unreasonably high standards or interfere with home life and family discipline if the amendment is ratified. The sole function of the amendment is to make enactment of federal child labor legislation constitutional beyond any question. The amendment was passed by Congress after two previous child labor laws were declared unconstitutional, one in 1918 and the second in 1922. Far from being extreme, neither of these federal laws set a standard as high as that which we are now temporarily enjoying under the NRA code provisions for child labor. Neither of them encroached in the slightest degree upon the work children do at home or on the farm. a a a FARMERS GET MORE THAN EVEN BREAK, HE SAYS By Lyman C. Metcalfe. Here is a short bit I wish you would print for me as J want your readers to know how some people can treat others. I work on a relief Job and for my work, which is cleaning ditches, through farms in Madison County, I receive $24 a month, out ol which

[l wholly disapprove of what you say and will'] defe?id to the death your right to say it. — Voltaire. J

nation of 65 million people simply refuses to be bound any longer to a treaty which, in' its opinion, places it in a position of inferiority. Now, the only hope of arms reduction and limitation rests upon one thing. That is that all the major powers must be party to the limitation agreement. If any one great European power remains free to have as big an army or air force as it pleases, the rest of the powers will insist upon a free hand to do likewise. Today Germany regards herself as such a free agent. If Germany continues to rearm, Britain and France will do the same. If Germany will agree to come back into the league and the disarmament conference, however, then perhaps all three, along with other important European nations, can reduce and limit their war machines. That is what Britain and France are now seeking. They are trying to get Germany to return to the league and the conference. To induce her to do so, they agree to scrap the military clauses of the Treaty of Versailles, which gave Germany a position of inferiority, and acknowledge her right to arms equality. It sounds paradoxical. But it is not. The move is not in the direction of the rearmament of Europe, but exactly the opposite. If Germany will return to the conference and agree to limit her armament, the others can do the same. And the present armaments race can stop. And if Germany will return to the league and sign the proposed mutual nonaggression pacts with her neighbors, peace will certainly be more secure. No one for a moment proposes that Germany shall go ahead and arm herself to the limit. That is precisely what everybody is afraid she is up to now. What they are seeking is a general arms limitation pact, supplemented by a mutual security pact via which Germany now isolated, would return to the European concert.

comes fuel, light, rent, water and groceries. I am an auto mechanic by trade, but the people don’t want their cars repaired so I am on relief. Now speaking of ditching, the farmers get the complete benefit from our work, but order us off the places with the threat of having us arrested for trespassing just as soon as they are sure we have the jobs complete. The farmers think we are a bunch of thugs because we are relief workers, but they do not stop to think we at least make an effort for what we get. The farmers get their pay for working in plants in town, keeping us out of a job. The government pays them not to raise corn and hogs to give them more time to work in town. He tries to run the city, town, or village which ever it may be, and now he is trying to take oleomargarine away from us—our only spread. He is a natural

Daily Thought

The heart is deceitful about all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?—Jeremiah xvii, 9. MANKIND, in the gross, is a gaping monster, that love? to be deceived, and has seldom \>een disappointed.—Mackenzie.

.FEB. 12, 1935

squawker and is always losing money. Why can’t he think of the forgotten man and give him a chance to live? I wish I had 10 acres. WORLD COURT BACKED BY U. S. FOR 20 YEARS By E. S. Barber. Sometimes I almost lose faith in a democracy—so many people won’t think, and so many more can not. An eastern proverb says, “He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool.” I should be sorry to call Wilma Hendrickson hard names, but if she will advertise her ignorance—! If she w'ould read a bit, and learn the facts before she indulges in tirades against the World Court and threats against our clear-headed Senators, she would know that the court was an American idea, first proposed by EJihu Root, that every President for 20 years has indorsed it; that wicked Europe has accepted every reservation we made, one of which expressly states that no decision of the court should be rendered upon any question affecting our interests unless asked for by our government. So her statement about “a body greater in authority than our Congress,” is the sheerest nonsense. If Wilma wants war (and to the infantile mind “there’s something about a soldier,” and the waving flags, beating drums, etc., which anesthetizes the knowledge that war is not only hell, but futile and costly and demoralizing) then she is perhaps consistent. Has she anything better to propose for settling international disputes?

So They Say

Present conditions in the bourgeois countries are leading to repression and terror, and the only way out of the crisis they can see is war. —Premier Vyacheslaff M. Molotoff of Russia. I watched him (Hitler) with the utmost vigilance tnroughout our lengthy conversation, and I am convinced he genuinely desires peace.— Lord Allen of Hurtwood. The newer psychology has helped us to understand the men of the past as it has helped us to understand our contemporaries.—Stefan Zweig, European novelist. If I’m not worth $25,000 to the Cardinals, then I don’t want to play for them.—Dizzy Dean. I think Detroit will win the pennant again, with Cleveland the strongest opposition and t ew York and Boston fighting for th.rd place. —Goose Goslm, star Detroit outfielder. Genius is a word misused, like love.—Mary Garden, famous singer.

DEFINITION

BY HARRIETT SCOTT OLINICK My sorrow is a deep, slim cup Filled to the silver brim. I dare not touch my fevered lips Upon a casual whim. The water is a curving mirror In which my eyes are drowned. Down far into the limpid depths; Deep gulping without sound. My sorrow is a deep, slim cup. I dare not touch my questing lip* I will only touch with fear My cold and shining finger-tip* t