Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 5, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 March 1935 — Page 6

PAGE 6

The Indianapolis Times (A rnirp-HowARD siwurArrii ROT W. HOWARD Prl4nt TAI.COTT POWELL Editor EARL D. RAKER Banin*** Manager Phone Riley MM

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SATURDAY. MARCH 1. IMS. THE LIQUOR BOARD state administration's liquor bill has been under fire since it was first introduced m the Legislature, but apparently Gov. Paul V McNutt has proved himself a real executive in his selection of the men who will compose the state liquor commission and interpret the new law. First to be mentioned on the commission 1- David A. Myers, a Republican and former Supreme and Appellate Courts judge. Mr. Myers spent 20 years of his life on the Supreme Court bench and some of the greatest decisions in the last two decades have been passed upon by him. Russell J. Ryan, former Marion County Superior Court judge and former attorney for the Indianapolis Park Board, is a Democrat with a legal background that would be hard lo surpass in a man of his age. Mr. Ryan knows Marion County and Indianapolis and the problems of this area. This knowledge. Jinked wih his legal and judicial experience, should make him valuable as a commission member. Quiet, unassuming Henry A. Quigley is another member of the board. Mr. Quigley’s business and administrative judgment often have been tested in the trying times that beset his home city of Kokomo, where he formerly was Republican Mayor. If Mr. Quigley exercises the same balance of thought and plan that he practiced in Kokomo he should be able to aid remarkably in ironing nut many of the neat problems that will fare the new commission. Experience in having handled the beer and liquor situation in Indiana for many months is the support that Paul Fry. excise director and chairman of the commission, will have to offer to his colleagues. Mr. Fry has struggled through an uncharted sea since he took over the post. The difficulties of administering a liquor law in Indiana are not new to him. All in ail Gov. McNutt has placed at his right m the ' liquor court" a group of men who will be able to handle any problem that is presented. For the sake of the people of Indiana who have raised vigorous objections to *he liquor law, it will be well if this commission is permitted to follow its dictates w.thout reservation. If these men fail to administer this law’ to the best interests of every one concerned, then we doubt if Gov. McNutt or any other state executive ever will be able to assemble a more worthy quartet.

A SMART MOVE TN the last few years, the Indianapolis park system has gained a nation-wide reputation as being one of the outstanding recreational and beauty units in the nation. True. Indianapolis had the foundation for a real park and golf course system many years ago but it has only been recently that these sites actually have borne their worth. Much of the credit for revamping and beautifying these open-air centers must go to A. C. Sallee, sup. rlntendent of parks. Mr. Sallee has held the post for the la. c t five years and now he has been renamed by the Kern administration. To have failed to rename Mr. Sallee would have been a failure to the citizens of Indianapolis. There is no reason why he should not have been given the responsibility to carry on the job he so ably has performed. It must be said for the present city administration that politics was not able to unseat s man whose capabilities are far superior to those of most politicians.

SPRUNG CLEANING 'T'HE netherworld of crime felt the full force ■* of an aroused government yesterday when 12.000 treasury men led this countp-'s biggest drive on smugglers, counterfeiters, bootleggers, dope peddlers, racketeers, lottery men and other violators of Federal law. The drive was a spectacular affair punctuated at times by gun fire. It spread from coast to coast, operated from land, sea and air, netted many hundreds of big and petty criminals. Disquieting were some o( the strange harvests of the raids—a counterf“iung ring operating a great bogus money plant in the very shadow of Sing Sing at Ossining, N. Y.: a nest of narcotic dealers delivering dope by plane from New York to the nation s capital: a huge conspiracy of stills m the heart of "dry" Georgia; large-scale smuggling of dope through the seaports of three coastlines. These merely suggest the extent and boldness of enme and criminals. The new drive is significant in that it dramatizes the intelligence, will and effectiveness of the various Federal law-enforcing units co-operating for the first ume. Asa treasury official said, it will “impress the criminal element violating internal revenue laws with the tremendous Federal powers against them.” It is more significant in that the Federal officials worked closely with local police. If crime is checked It will be through the cooperation of all the agencies of the law—national, state, county, city and town. We believe, however, that sporadic onslaughts such as these no matter how dramatic. are less effective in themselves than steady, unremitting law enforcement. The government can capture a relatively few, scare more for a time. When the drive is over the criminals will become bold again. We shall hope that this is not just a spring cleaning. HASTEN WORK-RELIEF that a satisfactory wage compromise has been passed, the Senate should speed the passage of the important worksrelief bill. Too- many wreeks have gone by without action, and all during this tflbaung

time relief has been costing the government ss* a second. 24 hours a day, seven days a ! week. The legislative jam has held up not only the pullbc works plan but other essential bills, including NRA, labor board ana social security. With two and a half months of the session already gone. Congress has hardly started the long program before it. It is not fair to attribute all of this delay to deliberate obstruction, for some of it has involved sincere differences of opinion as to the best methods of providing relief. Nevertheless. some of the groups have been playing politks to put the Administration in a hole. Such politicians should bewai? the boomerang. HERITAGE OF DEMOCRACY r ¥''HE career of the late Prof. Michael I. Pupin, who came to America as a boy in search of democracy, is abundant proof that he found precisely what he was looking for. Young Pupin was a Hungarian peasant youth when he ventured across the sea. Democracy lured him—democracy, under which a lad of the humblest birth would have ample opportunity to exercise the best talents that wore in him. He seems to have come to the right place to find it. For he became, in democratic America, one of the world's best-known scientists. His inventions in the fields of the X-ray, telephony, and radio were used all over the earth. Democracy gave him its final fruit —the chance to develop and use to the utmost the potentialities that Providence had given him. Fulfillment of a quest like his is one of the most priceless heritages of our country. ALIBI, BUT NO EXCUSE BIG-Navy Lobbyist William B. Shearer, grilled by a Senate committee, attempts to justify himself by asserting that every fight he made in the interests of a larger fleet was made at the request of officers in the United States Navy. It is time for every one to realize that this does not justify Shearer, or any other lobbyist. It simply means that the naval officers themselves have something to explain. Army and navy officers, in a democracy, are the servants of the civilian government. It isn't up to tnom to decide on policies. Their job is to execute the policies the civil government lays down. If Congress votes for a smaller military establishment, the officer has no business whatever trying to nullify that decision. Naval officers who assist the schemings of a Shcater n*ed to be reminded very sharply just who is boss in this country. SOCIAL VALUES MRS. ROOSEVELT made a nice point when she named the 11 women who have been "a constant inspiration and a help" to her. By drawing up such a list it is possible to get anew line on the kinds of human conduct which have the most social value. What sort of women got into Mrs. Roosevelt's list anyway? Well, there were two suffragists, three social wdrkers, two fliers, a business executive, a novelist, and two women—Frances Perkins and Josephine Roche—who could be classified roughly as being in “public service.” Now the inteiesting thing to notice about these women is that nearly all of them have been devoting their lives to other people rather than to themselves. Perhaps that isn't entirely true of the business woman and the two fliers. Yet from Mrs. Roosevelt’s viewpoint it is; for by making notable successes in their callings, these women have opened new fields for other women and have made possible a wide extension of the field of feminine activities. And it is unquestionably true of the others. No one whose first thought was for her own ease and comfort would dream of following a career like that of Jane Addams, for instance, or of enduring the public criticism that early workers for woman suffrage had to endure. In general, then, it may be said that these women who most strongly aroused Mrs. Roosevelt's admiration and provided her with inspiration in the building of her own career were women who possessed the capacity of self-forgetfulness to a rare degree. And the value of a list like this lies precisely in the fact that it reminds us that the really valuable members of the race are not the self-seekers, but the self-forgetters. The chief prizes of this world, of course, go to the self-seekers. It always has been that way and probably it always will be. But when we sit down to name the people who have seemed to us to be most worthy of emulation. we use a different standard of value. Instead of naming the great prize-winners, we name the people who have struggled for others rather than for themselves. They are the ones who persuade us that life is something better than a blind scramble for gain. They are the ones who help to bring the real world into line with the world we see in our dreams.

PROFITS OF SCANDAL TN liquidating his stamp scandal, Postmaster General Farlev will also help to liquidate the Postoffice Department deficit. (Reference is made here to the department's actual deficit, and not to the paper profit which Mr. Farley shows by not listing postal subsidies.) So much publicity was given to M r Farley's indiscreet gift of souvenir stamps to collector friends that stamp enthusiasts from all over the country have sent in orders for duplicates. Between a million and a half and three million dollars worth of the stamps, according to estimates, will be sold through the philatelic window, nearly all a clear profit to the department. These stamps will not be used to send letters 'through the mail, but will go into collectors’ albums, where the great-great-grand-children of present-day collectors can look at them and recall the when a blundering politician tried to Tammanyite the art of philately. Having experienced the wrath of the philatelists, Mr. Farley probably will not care to offend again. But he did, inadvertently, discover anew way to tap an old source of revenue. Hairdressers convening in Cleveland agree that all women will be bald in the next century. Too late to help the poor guy who cor '.es home now with a blond hair on his coat.

Liberal Viewpoint BY DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

IN the midst of the present trend toward a reversion to savagery and mob violence in our handling of crime, it is especially timely and gratifying to have a comprehensive biography of the foremost twentieth-century crusader for more humane and sensible methods of approaching crime and the criminal. It Is no exaggeration to say that Thomas Mott Osborne deserves to rank with John Howard. Elizabeth Fry, Jeremy Bentham, the Pennsylvania Quakers. Louis Dwight. Dorothea Dix and Frederick H. Wines as one of the dozen outstanding figures in the history of prison reform in modern times. In his “Osborne of Sing Sing” (University of North Carolina Press), Frank Tannenbaum has dealt in detail with Osborne’s career as a prison reformer. But his excellent book only increased the need for a biography which, would tell the whole story of the life of this interesting man, who had distinguished himself as a student. a musician, an industrial leader, a journalist, and a reformer in politics before he became immediately concerned with the problems of prison reform. Rudolph W. Chamberlain, at once a scholar and a clever journalist, has filled this gap and has given us a brilliantly written and highly colorful account of one of the most versatile and interesting personalities of our age. (.“There Is No Truce: A Life of Thomas Mott Osborne." Macmillan Cos.) This volume is bound to stand out as one of the more important biographies of the literary season. a a a BORN to wealth, Osborne’s interests were at the outset those of a scholar and esthete, and he would personally have preferred a career as a musician or college professor. The untimely death of his father early forced him into one of the more responsible industrial posts of the country and insuperably involved him in the practical responsibilities of every day life. After developing a reputation as a liberal employer, Osborne flirted with political reform, championing the cause of tariff reform. Asa future crusader for political liberalism, he got off to a rather bad start by opposing Bryan in 1896, but he amply made up for this early indiscretion by his later career as a courageous and ur.deviating opponent of the influence of Tammany Hall and William Randolph Hearst in state and national politics. One of his associates was no other than Franklin D. Reosevelt, who as a young state Senator, stood valiantly with Osborne in blocking the election of one of Murphy's underlings as United States Senator. Never adequately recognized or honored by his own party, Osborne was appointed to the Public Service Commission by Charles Evans Hughes. An interesting figure in half a dozen different walks of life, Mr. Osborne will be remembered chiefly for his revolutionary conceptions of how to deal with criminals. He started out ir. busi-ness-like fashion by entering prison and finding how it feels to be a convict. If our judges would only go and do likewise, we would probably have a complete reconstruction of our criminal law and prison administration within a decade. ana HIS earlier experience with the George Junior Republic had convinced Osborne that no man can be a good citizen unless he is entrusted with the responsibilities of citizenship. Therefore, he reasoned logically that no convict can be blackjacked or goose-stepped into good citizenship. He must have an opportunity for self-government as a preparation for safe release. This led to the establishment of the Mutual Welfare League by Mr. Osborne at Auburn, Sing Sing and the Portsmouth Naval prison. With it he worked wonders, and while now eclipsed by the shadow of a temporary reversion to hard-boiled stupidity, the plan is bound to become the corner stone of the scientific penology of the future. Before his death, Osborne had become “the grand old man" of American prison reform whose advice was eagerly sought by humanitarians all over the country. Perhaps the high point in the whole biography is the excellent and graphic account of the Sing Sing frame-up, of Osborne's devastating vindication in the face of great odds, and of his triumphant return to Sing Sing.

Capital Capers BY GEORGE ABELL

AFFABLE Dr. Leo Rowe, director general of the Pan-American Union, returned to Washington yesterday after fulfilling one of his ambitions—a visit to every country in South America. “After I go to the Dominican Republic, which I hope to do next February,” he beamed, “I will have been to every country in both Central and South America and the West Indies.” Venezuela was the only nation in South America so far unvisited by übiquitous Leo. He waxed enthusiastic about his reception there. “I was overwhelmed,” he exclaimed. “I felt rather embarrassed, in fact . . . everything was wonderful.” Caracas dazzled him. “Our legation in that city is magnificent . . . a perfect climate . . . full of historical interest. ... They gave two receptions for me.” As to his trip—- “ Perfectly lovely . . . not a dull moment.” Venezuela he found fascinating. “It’s as delightful in July as in December.” Ambassadors and ministers from Latin American countries greeted Dr. Rowe on his return with paeans of welcome. His phone rang continuously. Flowers adorned his desk. It would have been only fair if diplomats had sent little gifts of fruit and candy—such as maticulous Dr. Rowe himself invariably sends to arriving envoys. u a tt TWEED-SUITED, smiling but somewhat reticent, H. G. Wells, British author, arrived in town, met newsmen, posed for photographs, ;alled on Senator Huey Long. Senator William E. Borah, made a few terse comments on events m general. A correspondent quizzed: “Mr. Wells, what will the future bring?” Never reticent about his own writings, Author Wells replied: ■ Read my book, ‘The Shape of Things to Come'." SECRETARY OF STATE CORDELL HULL, a veteran Tennesseean, likes everything that comes from his native state. He therefore noted with pleasure that the pencils he now uses to scribble diplomatic notes are made in Tennessee. . .. How it happened: Quarterly bids for the United States lead pencil supply are asked bv the procurement division. Contract for the present quarter was awarded to a Shelbyville (Tenn.) concern. United States will transport stranded midwestern families to Alaska. Just when they were beginning to think it was Uncle Sam’s attitude that they could go to a wanner climate. The government has paid on a lot of its debt with profits made when it devalued the dollar. To an Administration like that, it ought to be no trick at all to produce funds for the Townsend plan, work-relief, etc. In event the Townsend plan goes through, it might be well to explain to Dad that if he lies back and goes to sleep, the Rolls-Royce won’t trot back to the bam by itself. We always thought that, at least with the men, pink slips that revealed figures were popular, *

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

-<S> •

The Message Center

<Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to 250 words or less. Your letter must he sinned, hut names will be withheld at request of the letter writer.) tt n u NRA DEFENDED AGAINST GEN. JOHNSON’S ATTACK. By Jack Kaye. I have looked in vain in your paper to find editorial comment relative to General Johnson’s series of articles that appeared recently in a popular weekly magazine. I think any person interested in NRA should take time to read them. The general gives us a back-stage peep at the organization and administration of NRA and makes us realize what a tremendous undertaking it was. He makes it quite clear that the NRA has not been carried out as was orginally intended. He says that its weakest link is code enforcement and always has been. If NRA, is to go. what alternative have we which will stand us any hope? Any plan in order to be a success must have wholehearted support and co-operation. After reading the articles, I came to the conclusion that I was supposed to be convinced that everything was wrrong with NRA but General Johnson. Furthermore, I should at once write to Congressmen and demand, that General Hugh Johnson be reinstated as chief of NRA, but after all I think that the fact of the Blue Eagle rests to a great extent with us all. It is the first plan to ever offer direct aid to the worker. The “little fellow’’ in business should stand behind the worker because it is the worker who buys his goods, not the millionaire. Let us give the Blue Eagle a real chance and put some of those stock dividends into wage increases instead of bonds. The NRA may be full of flaws but it is more desirable than any of the isms.

a a a REALTORS SHOULD NOT OBJECT TO HOMESTEADS By Fred D. Roper. The Indianapolis Real Estate Board could do the community 3 great service by not interfering with the proposed subsistence homestead project which may be located near Indianapolis. I am conscious of the reasoning of this group of men and it can not be denied that there is a note of selfishness in their objections. I also own some real estate which, at the present time, shows more liability than asset and there seems to be no immediate hope for improvement. However, there is a broader and more humanitarian principal involved than the real estate board has thus far acknowledged. There is a vast army of people housed inadequately. It has long been the case and will so continue if the matter is left to the discretion of selfish interests. The realtors aia not improve housing conditions for the underprivileged class in the boon days of 1927 and they can not be expected to do so now. So far as Negroes are concerned they have always faced the spectre of restricted districts. It is also a matter of common knowledge that 85 per cent of the Negro applications for improvement funds are declined. marked ‘ Rejected because of undesirable locations.” Therefore >t would seem that if

THE ANNUAL JOY RIDE

Liberal Editorial Praised

By Cloverdale Subscriber. Please allow me a little space in your Message Center to congratulate you on your liberal editorial entitled “Business and Employment" that appeared in the March 12 issue and which showed the enormous spread between production and wages. We will have to agree with you when you contend that society is up against the knottiest problem it has had to deal with, but I think that your average American citizen who, you say, will not accept the Marxist theory that this problem can’t be worked out under a profit system (or lack of system) had better look around him and make a few comparisons for himself. Let him compare the progress of the United States with that of Russia, for the last six or eight years. He should not go to the Hearst press for his information on the progress of Russia. If the students of any other school of

the Federal government is willing to lend a hand where our local agencies refuse to help and where the happiness and welfare of the underprivileged human beings are so vitally concerned, then it ill becomes local real estate men to register the least objection. If these men w r ould stay the hand of the government in such matters, let them come forward with better plans. The idea of better housing is in the air. It will not diminish but increase in force until it checks with our claims of a Christian civilization. m ana FAVORS PLAN TO PENSION THOSE TOO OLD TO WORK By Mrs. Joseph Leri. I was just reading Ada Douglas' letter in Message Center and I just have to express my opinion on w’hat she has written. Os course if she is a lone woman she deserves work, but if she is old enough she should receive a pension and all old people that are not able to work should be pensioned. The greatest recovery act tl at President Franklin D. Roosevelt could pass, regardless of what Congress says, would be to pay the old age pension of SSO a month, pay off the bonus to the World War veterans, give the young men the work and stop this depression, and open up the factories so we can have this world back to normal. My husband is 66 years old, was a CWA worker until last March, 1934, when he got hit in the eye. He has been twice at Louisville Marine Hospital and has cataracts coming on his eye and can’t be operated on for about six monthsHe is not able to work, they have stopped his compensation and I work at washing, and have almost all of my 37 years of wedded life, but am not so young any more. I think in order to raise this money for pensions and bonus. Mr. Roosevelt should demand so much from each millionaire to help pay these two bills, as you know their sons did not put themselves up for targets like our poor class did. But there is one thing, when they have to leave this world they are no more thought of than the poor class in the sight of God. (

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

thought know how to work out this problem, they are certainly holding out on us. I notice a news item in the same issue of The Times bearing statistics of building activities of 11 countries with Switzerland leading with 117 per cent normal and the United States trailing with 15.5 per cent of normal. This is certainly bad enough compared with other capitalist countries, but suppose Russia had been included? By the way, why was Russia not included? I wonder if that would not have been too significant, the only country that has abolished the profit motive, leading the list with 200 or 300 per cent. Well, I am afraid that if society is content to wait for the students of the conservative school of thought to bring us out of the fog we will be groping around in the dark for a long time to come. If they can’t make a start in six long years they couldn’t complete the job in 600 years.

LAUDS ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR SUPPORTING MEASURE By J. Ed Smith. Just a word of commendation on your editorial, “The Alibi Bill,” which appeared during the closing of the session, urging, its passage. I am glad to note that it passed, and I am sure that it w r ill prove to be everything that you claimed for it. Praise is due Atty. Gen. Philip Lutz Jr. for his interest in the measure, which I understand he advocated previous to the meeting of the Genral Assembly. a a a OBJECTS TO ARTICLE ON FORTUNE TELLERS By Irritated. I am a constant reader of the Message Center. Os all the contributions I've read in the last two or three years the one by Arthur M. Bowman caps the climax, the sappiest of many sappy letters, the snoopiest of the snoopers. What does Mr. Bowman expect to get out of this prying into other people's affairs? Does he belong to a spiritualist organization which might profit from this persecution, or does he admit he has asked some medium questions and received unsatisfactory answers? Why can’t people mind their own business? Ls Mr. Bowman's motive the saving of other people's money or just the spleen of a narrow minded, snooping reformer? Prohibition was one sample of such motives. You’ve seen the results of it and nearly every other effort to control people's methods of spending their money. The gypsies spoken of are a menace, that I'll admit, even can prove. If any one doesn’t believe they are let them question the residents of

Daily Thought

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. —Colossians 3:2. EVERY life has its actual blanks which the ideal must fill up, or which else remain bare and profitless forever.—J. W. Howe.

.MARCH 16, 1935

N. Whitcomb-st, in Wayne Township, as to what a menace they are and as to why the law doesn’t help these residents every summer. However, fortune-telling is the least of the evils these people practice and the real reason they were run out of town the law can tell, but why not lay off the fortunetellers? Or else give a more plausible reason, Mr. Bowman. Editor’ll Note—Mr. Bowman Is president of the American Spiritualist Association, Inc. ana WESTBROOK PEGLER UNDER FIRE FOR COMMENTS ON AGED By a Reader. We aged people can answer Scripps-Howard’s tart, smart Westbrook Pegler. Our opinion is that he seems to know so much about old people we think he is more guilty than they are. If his mother is living she should be ashamed to have given birth to a son that would write and say that she was an “itchy old woman." Even his photograph, if studied, is quite enough for his guilty carelessness of his makeup. Words can not express the minds of old people on his type.

So They Say

I am the pitcher in the family, not my wife. And as long as I’m doing the pitching, I'll do the deciding for myself.—Lefty Gomez, New York Yankees’ pitcher. It must be possible for two great nations to shake hands. —Adolf Hitler. The people of Paraguay have suffered so much and have such an < xalted patriotism that they are determined that there shall be no peace without security. Meredith Nicholson, author. I am not God, but millions of people think I am and I'd like them to believe it.—“ Father” M. J. DivinS of New York’s Harlem. I am optimistic for the first time since 1929. The outlook is good not only in Europe and the United States, but in South America also. —F. B. Patterson, Dayton, 0., business leader.

AMARU

BY HARRIETT SCOTT OLINICK She moved with swinging, slimming grace. She thought of lovers in the night. Her lips were crimson petals warm Against her sharp teeth, flashing white. She pitied those who know no love. She was so young; she watched the moon Reel down the sky at festivals Before the weeks of wild monsoon. She lived for Jove; she laughed for love. She moved for love; she kept its pride. She loved her lovers each in turn. She loved, and for a love aha tiled.