Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 19, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 April 1935 — Page 14

PAGE 14

The Indianapolis Times ( writtrrfl-HOWAItD >Ewnrtrri BOT ff. HOWARD ............ Pmldfol TALCOTT rowr.LL Editor KARL D. BAKER ........ Bbildni Manager Phon* Riley MRI

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TUESDAY. APRIL 1 IMS WHY THE EVASIONS? it then EVER the Administration gets into ▼* a j am with the law these days, it shows a disposition to run. That is not like the once courageous Administration, but that is the recent record. On the same day it deliberately evaded two court of Its actions. One was •he Strachey civil liberties case. The other was the Belcher NRA case. In the first case It had arrested a prominent British visitor to this country. The government charge was a serious one. Mr. 6rachey was accused of advocating th< overthrow of our government by force and /iolence. and of obtaining illegal entry into the country by mlsreprestmg that fact to the visa authorities. He denied both charges The government then had the choice of withdrawing the charges and clearing the victim of its false arrest, or of pressing the prosecution. It did neither. Apparently knowing that it would be defeated m a legal test, it merely delayed further action until Mr. Strachey sailed home on his regular schedule. The net result is that the government has compounded its injustice to Mr Strachey by keeping the charge standing, and that it has convicted itself of something akin to cowardice. • • • THE other case is much more important. It involves not only the government's honor, but the possible success or failure of NRA. For nearly two years the Administration has evaded court tests on this issue. Os course if could not succeed in keeping such cases out of the lower courts, but It did manage to postpone a determining Supreme Court decision on a vital case. There was some justification for this in the beginning. It could be said that a legal test to be fair should be delayed until several months of NRA co-operation had given the courts a practical basis for decision. Meanwhile, however, opponents of the law by successfully hammering away in the lower courts were undermining NRA. After the honeymoon period mare and more companies openly defied the la* or quietly disobeyed the codes. This not only victimized labor; it also penalized law-abiding employers who had tc compete with the chiselers. But a great many loyal employers hung on. and took their beating in unfair competition, until the Supreme Court could provide relief. Either the Supreme Court would throw out the law altogether and thus release them to compete equally with the chiselers, or it would uphold the law or suggest to Congress a rewritten law that could be upheld and enforced. For that long-delayed test the Administration chose the Belcher lumber case, covering virtually all of the constitutional questions which could be raised against NRA. But. after months of legal preparation, the Administration last week suddenly weakened and yesterday had that case withdrawn from the Supreme Court. Whatever the intention of the Administraticn. the actual result Is to encourage widespread defiance of NRA. as unconstitutional. • • • EVEN that would be a moral rather than a practical defeat if only the present law. expiring in 10 weeks, were involved. But the new law. now bring written to run two more years, is equally at stake. Without a Supreme Court decision soon on the expiring law, the new law can be nothing more than another shot in the dark. Its enforcement will rest chiefly on bluff. And bluff simply w ill not work with the large number of companies which have already proved that they can ignore the NRA and get away with it. Yesterday, the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Liberty League renewed their demands for a prompt and fair Supreme Court test. Although we seldom find ourselves in agreement with those organizations on economic issues, we think in this case they are defending the right of every employer, worker, and consumer in America to know promptly whether the NRA has legal basis or merely ballyhoo behind It. We believe in NRA and it* continuance. With all its admitted faults, we think it can be made better than the alternatives—a rigid hours-and-wages law. or relapse into the destructive chaos which caused the depression. We believe the Supreme Court, if given a chance, will follow its precedent In the oil case and suggest methods for Congress to make the new law enforceable. • Without such ar. enforceable law, backed by all of the authority of the Supreme Court, we fear the Administration will not have a flgh'ing chance to rally the army of NRA deserters.

MURDERERS CITY and county officials arc perturbed because of the huge increase in automobile fatalities this year as compared to the game period last year. The death toll for the first three months of this year is almost twice that of the same period in 1934. The Indianapolis Times has been seeking some measure or means to halt these unwarranted automobile deaths for many months. It has used its editorial and news columns day after day to bring to the attention of a riding and walking public the terrific dangers that lurk behind the mask of carelessness. But there serins U be no remedy. It is eery evident that many of the motorists and pedestrians of this city and county are a specie of low mentality who have little respect for their own lives and none for the man. woman or child who gets in their way. The courts should not hesitate to force the law to the limit when a hit and run driver, or one of his ilk, is captured. No punishment is T too severe. The man or woman who is unable to differentiate between his own thoughtless-

ness and the value of life and limb deserves no sympathy. To kill deliberately is murder. And for that crime the penalty should be exacted. JUSTICE EIGHT United States Supreme Court Justices united in striking down the conviction of two Scottsboro defendants. The court held that Negroes had been illegally barred from acting as Jurymen in the trials. Alabama now must either dismiiM the famous cases or reindict and retry the defendants with Negro Jurymen on the panels. This is the high court's second rebuke to the prosecutors of these Negro youths and their companions. In November. 1932, the court ordered retrials on the ground that Alabama had denied the defendants due process on other grounds. In these two opinions the Supreme Court has done much more than save the li v es of obscure boys. It has done more than hearten the faith of 15.000.000 American Negroes in their country's courts. It has helped reenforce the very foundations of the republic. In his first inaugural address Thomas Jefferson said that equal and exact Justice to all men of whatever state or persuasion, through trials by Juries impartially selected, forms the surest bulwark against anti-republican tendencies. This is even truer today than in 1801.

STRACHEY AND LASKI TN a letter to the United States Immigration Commissioner, Rep. Amlie of Wisconsin sa\-s in criticising the deportation order against John Strachey, British author; “I notice by the newspapers thgt Prof. Harold Laski, of the London School of Economics, is to speak in New York City next week. In my humble opinion Prof. Laski is the most intelligent and competent political observer in the world today. I have not read his latest book, but from certain reviews which have appeared In the press I would be led to infer that Prof. Laski has come to very much the same conclusions that have been reached by Mr. Strachey.... “If Mr. Strachey is to be deported, then it seems to me that the door is also open for the deportation of Mr. Laski. . . .” Well, Mr. Amlie, don’t think it would surprise the professor. He has a taste of such medicine in the days of the Boston police strike —the strike that plucked Calvin Coolidge from obscurity. Mr. Laski, then lecturer at Harvard, made the grave error of addressing the wives of the striking policemen. The outcry of outraged Bostonians was something wonderful. The Boston Transcript warned that respectable parents would have to withdraw their sons from Harvard. The Harvard Lampoon devoted an entire issue to villification of the mild-mannered scholar. And that was the last of Mr. Laski at Harvard.

PAY ENVELOPES IF others who- oppose NRA’s continuance * make as poor showing as spokesmen for the minority group of clothing manufacturers who have just completed their testimony, there should be no doubt of the outcome. The Senate Finance Committee hearing developed: That before the NRA code was approved, wages for clothing workers were as low as $4, 15 and $6 a week; That the 10 manufacturers with the lowest wage scale now' pay an average weekly wage of 111.17, and the 10 manufacturers with the highest scale now pay an average of $20.29; That the 10 lowest-pay manufacturers are all members of the Industrial Recovery’ Association of Clothing Manufacturers, which opposes NR As continuance; That nine of the 10 highest pay manufacturers are memoers of the Clothing Manufacturers Association of the United States, which favors continuance. Apparently the issue is drawn, with employers willing to pay more decent wages asking two more years of NRA protection against wage-cutting competitors. They deserve it. THE IRISH PAY ' I 'O show that an Irishman's word is as good as his bond, and better than the bond of some peoples who might be mentioned, the Irish Free State is paying off some five million dollars which American lovers of liberty contributed to the cause of Irish freedom 15 years ago. Moreover, the Irish are paying off with interest, and without suggesting a compromise settlement, and to debtors who have never pressed for settlement. When the five millions were borrowed from individual Americans, Irish freedom was oniy a dream. Even today it is not a complete reality, but independence has at least advanced to the point where President de Valera can, as he did yesterday, refuse to attend the British king’s silver jubilee celebration—and get away with it. Ties of blood and liberal traditions bind America and Ireland. The suggestion of the Irish consul general, Mr. McCauley, that Americans trade more with Ireland should not fall on deaf ears. Mr. McCauley says that Ireland buys 15 times as much from America as America buys from Ireland. Our reciprocal tariff negotiators should hasten to provide better treatment for such a good customer. FOR SAFETY AT SEA A CTION of the United States Senate in voting an investigation into the loss of the liners Morro Castle and Mohawk is a reminder that these two disasters were never properly cleared up. as far as the general public is concerned. The Senate Commerce Committee will proceed to take testimony, to review the evidence already assembled by the Commerce Department and the Department of Justice, and to work out some new legislative program to make life and property safer on the seas. It is this last part of the job which is the most important. We have a right to know why these two liners were lo6t: but the chief value of that knowledge will be that it will enable us to keep such things from happening again. Something is decidedly wrong, somewhere. and it is up to the Senate committee to find out what it is and to set it right. Hoovers prediction that grass will grow on the streets may come true yet, if these dust storms continue. Hoover's new Job as director of an insurance company has nothing to do with hi# efforts to sell the country on his policies.

Looking at America BY GEN. HUGH S. JOHNSON

WASHINGTON, April 2.—1 have been panned for raising a radio rumpus with Huey Long and Father Coughlin and doing it in undignified English. It is said that they ought to be given the silent treatment and high-hatted out of court. I agree that there has been too much epithet and as far as I am concerned it is at an end. But the idea that they ought not to be debated is 10 years behind the times. You might as well try to give the silent treatment to a thunderstorm or to high-hat a machine gun nest. The printed word moves only a handful compared to those who get their ideas over the air. Our people speak three languages. One is the stilted stuff of formal speeches. Another is the emotional talk of sermons. The third is the easy, razzing language of every day. Right while we are giving them the silent treatment and the cold and frowning dignity of high brow oratory to the little pinch of readers of editorials they are pouring their ideas into millions of ears over the radio. The average newspaper reader snorts at the idea of Huey giving everybody SSOOO a year or Father Coughlin's unlimited increase in the standard of living. If he will take the trouble to listen to either of these men and to mix a little with their hearers, he may change his mind. n a a LAST Sunday Father Coughlin boasted that he has more followers than any organized bloc in America. He started to regiment them by states. He ripped into Roosevelt for not having already given farmers cost plus a profit. He said that if they didn’t get it they had a right to overthrow this government, but that they should try first by controlling Congress. In February, he proved that he can build enough of a fire under many congressmen to make them jump through a hoop. That would be all right if what he proposed—however radical—were possible. It is not possible. Therefore his threat to overthrow this government if he can not control Congress is an absolute menace of civil war. It is like no other movement ever started in this country because his whole appeal is to emotion and his sole sanction is religion. He openly calls it a crusade and his constant word is “God wills it.” If we are going to sleep with our fingers in that mouth we ought to have our heads examined. I know of not one single voice that has challenged him. His doctrine is, line for line, the preaching on which Hitler took Germany. His following is growing by leaps and bounds. Politicians and even some parts of the press are hiding in holes because they are afraid of him. What he is now building up day by day behind them will make them more fearful yet. If what he preaches offered anything but disaster to sufferers from this depression, he ought to be encouraged. If it does not, he ought at least to be debated. It does not. This fear of him is bringing on the country without any resistance whatever, a greater danger than any we have ever faced. Copyright, 1835, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part forbidden.)

Capital Capers BY GEORGE ABELL

AN affable gentleman who up till now has been known as the Minister of Persia, Mr. Djalal, is nobly beginning an uphill battle to make the new name of his country—lran—safe for democracy. Both Democrats and Republicans, incidentally, still continue to speak of •’Persia” and the ‘‘Persian Minister.” Only Senator William H. King of Utah, so far, correctly refers to the “Iranian envoy” and recounts his fascinating experiences in the magic land of “Iran.” One nuisance which Persian (pardon—lranian) Minister Djalal is undergoing is the changing of his official card plate. No longer will “The Minister of Persia and Mme. Djalal” request the pleasure of some one’s company. Invitations will read “The Minister of Iran,” etc. Then, the name must be changed in the little diplomatic blue book issued by the State Department, and in the telephone directory. The Postoffice Department must be notified to send all mail addressed to the Iranian Legation to the old Persian Legation. This business of changing the name of a nation is a weighty affair. But Minister Djalal, despite daily small worries, smiles uncomplainingly through it all. And there is just one thing which doesn’t bother him in the slightest—that is whether New York decides to make an Iranian Poom out of the celebrated Persian Room at the Plaza. n tt tt THE late Speaker of the House, Henry T. Rainey, was an inveterate pipe smoker, a collection of his pipes—sent here from Cp rollton, 111., by his widow —gives a faint idea of the wide range of his tobacco tastes. There are rosewood pipes, curios’./ carved, briar pipes with octagonal bowls, underslung pipes ala Charlie Dawes, and great Oriental pipes on which a smoker might puff contentedly an entire evening. One of the most interesting is a Turkish pipe inlaid with silver designs of star and crescent. A friend to whom Mrs. Rainey sent the collection, selected the Turkish pipe as a memento of the late Speaker. , u a a JOHN HAYS HAMMOND, the famous engineer, who celebrates his 80th birthday Sunday by publishing his atuobiography, has* a great deal to say about social life in Washington. Discussing this phase of existence in the capital, Author Hammond declares that he found it “far more interesting than similar aspects of living in any other American city.” He adds that “my wife and I took great pleasure in the dinner parties, the old-fashioned elegance of entertainment, and above all in the fact that we discovered ourselves making new friends, interesting friends, and warm friends.” In reference to the various social sets, Author Hammond states: “The Army and the Navy add a certain glamour to various dinners and parties. Not only those occupied actively in the Army and Navy departments are present, but also many men t who have served with distinction in one or other' of the services and who have, as is their custim, made their residence permanently in Washington. “No description of the characters of Washington life would be complete without mention of the ’Cave Dwellers.’ They are the real Washingtonians. For many generations their ancestors have lived there, some of them in Georgetown. even before the founding of Washington. Feeiing themselves the real aristocrats, they do not seek society, and patronize somewhat the shifting governmental population.”

A Boston school has added a course on what to do with your spare time. But how are those with the most spare time going to afford the course? Remember the good old days, when thg' people used to support the government, and not vice versa? Under the new anti-heart balm laws, women will have to stop using the males to defraud. Oklahoma Supreme Court stated recently: “We have went into the case further than we should.” But not far enough into the grammar. French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval has admitted being a fervent believer in pacts as the best safeguard of peace. By now, someone has probably sold him the Eiffel Tower.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

(Times readers me 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 be signed, but names will be withheld at request of the letter writer.) tt tt tt THIS BOOKIE MATTER IS REALLY PERPLEXING By a Sleeper. Ha! Ha! Ha!—ls my face red? Here I thought gambling was agains* the law in Indianapolis, where, right before my eyes here on the front page it says: “City Bookies Closed—Twenty-One Horse Betting Joints Shut Indefinitely.” No one knows why. May open again in two weeks. Tuesday they were told that they might run to and including yesterday. Was that dream real? It is about time I woke up. Rip Van Winkle had nothing on me. I dreamed that the “war was over”; that the Democratic party “was is power; that Prohibition was out”; that you could buy “it” by the drink up and down the avenue. It seems that there were a lot of drives on slot machines; that no place in our “No Mean City” Could you stroll in—sit at a table and leisurely gaze over t“Form,” bet your “last dollar” on “sure thing,” and go away broke. Our police and the “powers that be” would not stand for any of that. I even dreamed that I closely followed in the newspaper a bill introduced in Legislature to legalize horse racing. Some thought it would “ruin our little Nell”; others thought that if we did nothing worse than place a bet we would be o. k. But, “the best man wins,” so they say and so to save our homes the bill was not passed. Say, that dream seems real. It could not have been though, because, if there were no places open —they couldn’t have been closed and if they hadn’t been closed they could not reopen in two weeks, if . Ho! Hum! guess I better wake up. No telling what is going on. tt tt EVANS IS ATTACKED ON TOWNSEND PLAN By L. W. Dooley. H. H. Evans, Newcastle: I have read your letter published in the Indianapolis Star, March 28, and am glad that you have told the public what has been going on all over the country in regards to the Townsend plan. It is indeed remarkable that you should be the guardian angel to inform the misled public what is happening. You single out one poor old man that you say came to your office more than a year ago to have you fill out an application blank to send to the Townsend Club at Washington, D. C., and that he must send 10 cents in silver and the names of 10 persons that an appplition might be sent to them to sign. You say you made out the application, along with a lot of others, and through your kind generosity did not charge anything for your services. Now as a matter of fact there was no Townsend Club in Washington, D. C., a year ago. It is also a fact that neither Dr. Townsend nor any one connected w’ith the organization ever requested any one to pay for signing any petition. If you know anything about the petitions you would see at the top of each one a statement reading, “Do not pay for signing any petition.” You say that -they were selling some kind of a book explaining this plan. You say your heart is al-

The Message Center

OFTEN HE’S TO BLAME

Red Scare Act Rapped

By a Times Reader. Be it understood, I do not support the Communist movement, or any other revolutionary movement, nor do I belong to the American Legion or any other reactionary organization. But the most shameful bit of legislation brought up in Indiana was sponsored by the American Legion—the bill directed against the Communists, but applied to all minority parties, denying them the ballot. The Legion claims to be born of patriotism and to uphold the Constitution, still the Legion would abolish our democratic rights to vote for principles other than those indorsed by themselves. To this date, the Legion has been more of a menace to constitutional America than the Communists. Where the Legion has the power, do they allow a minority group to “assemble for a redress of grievances?” Do they

most breaking with sympathy for these old folk, if so, why did you, out of your grsat generosity and sympathy, fill out these petitions or applications if you knew about all this graft of selling books and papers? I belong to the Northwestern Townsend Club No. 1 of 900 members and have turned in from this club 16,000 petitions with genuine signatures and no one ever pud a dime to sign one of them, neith°r were there any paid solicitors. NowJ as a mattar of fact, M r - Evans, I don’t believe you know anything about this plan. ' If you will buy a Townsend Weekly (for 5 cents) and read it, you will probably be able to absorb enough of the principles to change your mind. a tt ANOTHER READER RAPS JOHNSON’S COLUMN By E. H. Henderson, Terre Haute. A constant reader of The Times for many years and an admirer of its attitude toward constructive criticism, fairness and honesty in government, I am taking this opportunity of registering my protest against the adding of Gen. Hugh S. Johnson to the staff of Times WTiters. I contend that Gen. Johnson has proved himself to be a quitter, unfair and a disgruntled professional politician. He was given the opportunity of proving his worth to the country and proved out to be a complete* failure and was given his unconditional and unqualified release. I am at a loss to understand what benefit his hysterical speeches and writings can be to a paper like The Times. a a ROOSEVELT SCOPED AS DEPRESSION PRESIDENT.’ By R. R. G. Referring to the article in The Times of March 29, by “A Roosevelt Follower,” a correspondent states that after Hoover got us into the depression “he wants to come in and tear down what President Roosevelt has worked so hard and intelligently to build up.” Will “Mr. Roosevelt Follower ” have the kindness to inform us what it is that Mr. Roosevelt has built up? Can he by any chance have reference to tha* colossal flop, the NRA? Or the air mail blunder. or the plowing under of crops

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

allow free speech? Freedom of the press? Ask certain minority groups in California. Like other organizations, the bulk of the American Legion are unthinking men. They still feel they made “the world safe for democracy,” not thinking of the dictatorships immediately after the war. The unthinking person can never realize that progress always comes from minorities. Dominating groups stand still. The dominant power, especially in a democracy, is the popular power. Popularity breeds complacency. Smug complacency never sought for truth; never found a cure. The old and worn is ever cast aside when anew and better is found, and the honest, thinking layman can not be fully satisfied with the dominant political forces of the day, so I believe he will say with me—more power to the minorities.

and destroying live stock so that retail prices have mounted to an unreasonable level or can he refer to the millions on the relief rolls? “Mr. Roosevelt Follower’s” statements prove nothing except his ignorance of facts. If he is interested, here is what Mr. Roosevelt has built up: The largest public debt in our history and an unprecedented deficit and a huge political machine financed by the funds of the United States Treasury. Also, when did the depression end? Business activity stands just where it did one year ago, so that puts Mr. Roosevelt in the same class with Hoover —a “depression President.” a a a DEMANDS “LIGHT” ON JOHNSON-COUGHLIN FEUD By Carl Reeves. “Give light and the people will find their own way.” That is indeed exactly what is needed at the present time. I have been a booster of The Times for a great many years, because I felt that it was the one and only local paper that was really striving to give the people that light which they were needing so badly. In the last few weeks, I have come to the conclusion that the light has begun to fade and get dim. I am referring to the stand your paper has taken in regard to the controversy between General Johnson and Father Coughlin. Each day I notice that The Times publishes a syndicated article by the general, in which he never misses an opportunity to say unkind things about Father Coughlin or Senator Huey Long, or as more often is the case, both of them. Os course, I realize that what the general has to say is not the fault of your paper, but why not turn

Daily Thought

Then they said one to another, We do not well: This day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: If we tarry till morning light, some mischief will come upon us.—ll Kings, 7:9. SPEAK, move, act in peace, as if you were in prayer. In truth, this is prayer.—Fenelon.

APRIL 2, 1935

on that light a little and see if we can not see right on through the general’s column and find out what is really behind it. And that, my dear editor, would make much better copy than the prolonged sputtering of the former head ul the NRA. No doubt you feel that you are giving your readers both sides of the argument. Are you? I don’t think so. It is true that you have been publishing each day a series of pictures of the three persons most talked of by almost every one today. Also, there is a paragraph or two under each picture, which by reading, the public is no doubt expected to form their opinions, but why i3 it that the general is made to appear as a great soldier and public servant, while Father Coughlin and Senator Long are made to appear as false leaders and ambitious politicians? I think I can answer this question. It is simply a scheme of the real politician and capitalistic controlled press to discredit these men or for that matter, any one else who is honest and has courage enough to raise their voice and let the people know exactly how this situation really is. They must use the radio for the press is denied any one who is really trying to lead us out of the wilderness.

So They Say

De only reason dat brought on je depression was dat eberybody was jes tired. Ef’n eberybody could Jss get some good rest dey would fine dey ain’t much wrong.—Stepin Fetchit, movie actor famed for his laziness. It is cowardly and unmanly and un-American for one to blame the government for his own lack of courage and enterprise.—J. P. Kennedy, chairman of Securities and E> change Commission. No man experts his wife to spend every minute of the week running the house, any more than he expects to spend every minute of the week in his office—Rhoda Fox Graves, New York woman state Senator. It is nice to go for a holiday and know that Hitler has settled everything so well in Europe.—George Bernard Shaw.

DISBELIEF

BY HARRIET SCOTT OLINICK In autumn I beheld the truth Through tears that blurred, but did not fall. I searched the flame and saffron wood. You made no answer to my call. In winter I beheld *the truth With eyes grown cold and blank with pain. I knew that you were gone; were dead: Would not appear to me again. In spring I could not grasp the truth; Could not believe you would stay dead, , With lilacs purple on the bough; With pear trees blooming over* head.