Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 21, Indianapolis, Marion County, 4 April 1935 — Page 18

PAGE 18

The Indianapolis Times <A Hf R! rrn HOW A HD MngFArCK) ROT TV. HOWARD i’rrak'aot TALCOTT POWELL Editor EARL D. BAKER Butin*** Manager Phone R!!* r Mdl

Member of ro!?*<1 PreM, Bcrl|>fi* • Howard Newspaper AlLanc*. .Ncwi[*p*r En’*rpr‘ A*ecli!on Newspaper Information Service and Audi' Rur*au of Circular lona, Uwnd an<! published dally Sunday! by The IndianapolU Tim** i’uMiaMr.g * o 21*-?2o W. Maryland-*?. Indianapolta, Ind. Price in Marl n County, 3 cent* a copy; delivered by carrier. 12 cenra a week. Mai! eubvrlptlon ra?* in Ind ana, S3 a y*ar; outaid* of Indiana. #3 cenra a month. -'em**

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THURSDAY APRIL 1935 THE 1936 ELECTION TF you are a political prophet, professional or ■*■ amateur, doubtless you have the thing all figured v’-t. Eat w? don't teem to be able to do much with the returns from the various city and state elections this week. Looking at the Wisconsin results it appears that the new third party is making headway. Th" Progressives added two more state Senators to their string, a victory for Governor Phil La Follette. Is 1936 going to be a Progressive year? But in neighboring Michigan the Republican. are coming back in great shape. In the state they increased their November gains, and in l> ‘roit they took the city away from the Democrat*. Senator Vandenbere, at the motr.‘ nt the favored G O. P. candidate for the Presidential nomination, is sure this means a lot in terms of 1936. Chicago, however, can not be ignored in any reading of the Midwest political signs. There the Democrats made history. Mayor Kelly carried every ward and polled more than three-quarters of the total votes. In number of votes cast he had the largest plurality and majority ever given a mayoralty candidate in any American city. So the Democrats are predicting the death of the Republican party In the second city of the United States, and a national landslide for the Administration in the Midwest in the next election.

A IjL of this conflicting evidence is very em- *- barra sing for a prophet. The nation can not h heading Progressive. Republican and I) moeratic at the same time. Perhaps this week's elections have no national meaning. We are inclined to think so. If we were gning hints to political prophets we should guess that this is a good time to be unoithodox in selecting signs. The usual straws can be ignored because the political winds today are much less important than the wsmunilt undertow. Unemployment, social security, cost of living. and the business chart those are the things that will decide the 1D36 election. The electorate will vote on its stomach. If business conditions grow worse during the next 18 months, certainly Huey Long and others have a good chance to carry several states in the South and Northwest. Probably that would split the Administration vote sufficiently to let in & Republican President. That Is what the G. O. P is counting on. The Republicans have no program, no leader. They could not win on a pro-Republican vote, but they might win on an anti-Roosevelt vote. a a a 'T'HAT is assuming, however. Mr. Roosevelt -*• is going to sit around holding his hands for 18 months. And that is not a safe bet—far from it. Doubtless the President has lost some of his personal popularity since November. His honeymoon period is over in Congress. Big financial interests hate him more than ever. And the forgotten man is not sure he is being remembered. But the overwhelming mass of voters—so lar as we can see—still think that Franklin D Rooseielt is head and shoulders above any other national leader in sight. If that is true he will eontmue to have the popular support necessary to cirry on his recovery program. His economic program has brought us a considerable distance since March, 1933. It should lilt us much higher in the coming year. II it does, the President need not worry about the next election. ARRESTS AND DEATHS ii T ITH the police drive against traffic ac- * ’ cidents in full swing, more th..n a dozen persons were injured m automobile accidents In Marion county yesterday. Luckily, none of the injured died, but that Is only the touch of good fortune that traveled with the bad tn these instances. Marion county figures show 41 persons have been sacrificed to the mama of speed and carelessness since the first of the year. This total is almost double the figure for the same period last year. The only manner in w hich a remedy can be effected is through steady pressure exerted by authorities to force pedestrians and motorists to follow traffic rules and regulations. A few daj’s with scores of arrests and as many severe sentences should put a crimp in death's batting average in this county. HAWAII SETS EXAMPLE nation seems to need some pet enemy to fear—some class or group on whom can be focused all the vague suspicions and distrusts which are a part of nervous and restless modern life. FOr modem America that role seems to be filled Just now by the Japanese. Some of us can give ourselves the jitters just by repeating the word Japan over and over. Japan as a foreign power. Japanese as dwellers tn our midst—either way. we unload our vague Uneasiness on them. Now there is no bit of American soil with as many Japanese residents as Hawaii: and It is worth while, therefore, to see whether this timorousness is shared out there. If it tsnt. it ought to be a pretty good sign that our fears are overdrawn. There Is at hand a special edition of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, pruned recently to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the first Japanese settlers in Hawaii: and all people who think that trying to get white Americans and Japanese to live harmoniously side by side is like trying to mix oil and water ought to ha\e a look at it. For this edition presents a glimpse at a Japanese community which is about as thoroughly Americanized as any one could wish, living oa an Island in mid-Pacific, these

Hawaiian Japanese are looking toward Washington and not toward Tokio. The very advertisements have an American rmg—as, for instance, a cheery broadside frem the "Young Men’s Buddhist Association." And there is in it an arucie by a Japanese resident of the islands pleading for understanding by white Americans of the JapaneseAmcncan's viewpoint. This Japanese—born under the American flag, educated in American schools, proud of his position as an American citizen —says bluntly: "What more can you expect from a man than that he be willing to sacrifice his ltfe for his country, if necessary? I hope to God that this country will not be involved in another war, but if it does you will find the New Americans fighting among the front ranks for the S’ars and Stripes . . . "Our blood and our hearts thrill at sound of the ‘Star-Spangled Banner.’ We hold sacred the great heritage given us by the framers of the American government.” The moral of all this is almost too clear to need exposition. It has proved possible for the two races to get along in harmony on an isolated group of islands; and since that is true, those of us who never see a Japanese from one year's end to another ought to be able to calm our fears. These ‘ inevitable enemies” seem to become very good friends, once any one takes the pains to meet them halfway. WHAT NEXT? lITITH the bookie joints closed in the city, * ▼ come reports that policy games have picked up many new customers, slot and marble machines are in action and that the bookies may carry their activities outside the city limits. In other words, you can't cure a gambling human race by inroads here and there. If there is going to be enforcement of the law it should encompass every known form of it, or such enforcement should be abandoned with the logic that morals can not be legislated. Chief Morrissey may have a lot to explain yet. The vice squad system is a poor one and equipping officers with sledges and wire-tap-ping devices only rubs the fur the wrong way, bringing additional resistence against authorities. Chief Morrissey and members of his police department remember the resentment that grew during prohibition when a public, massed against the law, was harrassed by ax-swinging policemen, wire tappers and stool pigeons. Conditions always will be the same. If law enforcement is the order of the day—for a change—let the police handle the situation openly and not through the nefarious channels which are supposed to have passed with repeal.

BOOM ERAN G PROP AG AN D A T3ROPAGANDISTS look foolish when they get caught dealing too loosely with facts. For months, publicity mimeographs of the National Coal Association and various private utility organizations ground out attacks on the government’s power program. They described the TV A and other proposed government water power developments as wasteful. The power market was already glutted, they said. They are more than answered in the Federal Power Commission’s report on national power facilities. Instead of a power surplus, there is a threatened shortage, which will become critical in event of war or industrial recovery, the commission found unanimously. Three hundred million dollars worth of new power generating plants are imperative, it concluded. For five years private utility companies have waited for prosperity. They have built very few new generating plants, and have let many inefficient units become more obsolete. Meanwhile, due partly to lower rates, the use of electricity has expanded. The public has educated itself on the power issue. It will continue to demand more and cheaper electricity, for it knows that countless kilowatts of energy are rolling to waste down unharnessed rivers and are bottled up in mines of unmarketable coal. If private business fails to meet the challenge. the government will. SHOULD WORK BOTH WAYS CHARLES M. SCHWAB, chairman of the board of the Bethlehem Steel Corp., returns from a trip to Europe—where, by the way, he visited the famous Sir Basil Zaharoff. international munitions king—to remark that it would be a grave mistake for America to adopt legislation taking the profits out of war. -You can’t operate munitions plants without profits.” he says. "For in such business you have to allow private capital to invest money, and without profits you can t induce people to invest.” This would be quite convincing if we did not read it against the background of wartime conscription of fighting men. If the country can take an ordinary’, peaceloving citizen from his home and send him out to face mutilation or death for a dollar a day, it ought to be able to exercise an equal power over the men who supply' him with rifle and cartridges—and. as the saying goes, to make everybody concerned like it, as well.

ONE GAINS, ANOTHER LOSES THE Fascist government in Germany is trying anew method of approach to the problem of caring for the aged. It is going to abolish old-age pensions for all persons between 65 and 80 who are capable of doing any kind of light work. Special shops will be set up in which these people can earn their own living—with work especially adapted to their physical powers. Robert Ley. leader of the Nazi Labor Front, explains that "Germany can not afford to waste energies.” and that enforce.* rest is prejudicial to the interests of the old people themselves. The chief objection to this attitude would seem to be ’hat there is an infinitely greater waste of energy involved in the disemployment of young, able-bodied men than there is m the pensioning of the aged. Until the unemployment problem is completely solved, it is futile to talk about conserving energy by putting the aged to work. President Roosevelt and Congress have gotten along so well during most of their honeymoon that you'd imagine they would we’ \a third party in 1936. **

Looking at America BY GEN. HUGH S. JOHNSON

I SEE every day a complete collection of news editorial clippings. They cover nearly every dally paper in the country. I have a heavy mail including hundreds of telegrams. The comment on my first speech, on the organization of radical blocs, "the pied pipers," was about 90 per cent favorable. This was not greatly changed until after the replies to that speech. Some editorials and mail have taken on a different tint. Editorial comment was that the country was tirea of the brawl and this was a 90 per cent judgment. I agree that the discussion must continue from this point on issues only. But the assault was made in the way it was to call instant and complete attention to our threatening present danger. You can't avoid it by shushing it. My mail changed its color both as to the kind of people who were writing and as to what they said. Some of it is angry and vicious. This plainly comes from people who have suffered the most from this depression. They are bitter, resentful and desperate. non THEY resent a challenge by any one of any promise to put an end to this misery or of any leader who makes that promise. They say that nothing government has yet done has relieved their suffering. They want any plan that promises action now. They charge -that my speeches were made to prevent action and to protect the moneyed interests. Avery small percentage of complaint comes from people who thought I was attacking the Catholic church and repeating the bigotry of the 1928 campaign. That can be answered shortly. The Ca’holic church—both priesthood and laity—know that it has no more ardent admirer outside of its own fold than I. This comment comes from people who did not hear distinctly or did not read what I said. I understand and feel warmly with the writers of this mail. Asa boy, in the terrible depression of 1892, I saw my father lose his job and everything he had. Our family, driven from its roof, had to migrate to anew country where there were neither money nor houses. a a a THE veterans of that suffering never forgave it. To mention the house of Morgan to my mother to this day is just like talking about the society of Satan. People don't get over such wounds in a lifetime. This depression has gone too long. The present halting and confusion of the New Deal, added to this resentment of sufferers, is a dangerous thing because a majority are sufferers. Father Coughlin is as eloquent and effective as Peter the Hermit. My reason for opposing him is that I know his plan won’t work —that it will double misery rather than relieve it. But this is certain If the powers of government and industry can not, by some immediate and determined action, be exercised to lift this curse—no power on earth can avert big trouble soon. Copyright. 1035. by United Feature Syndicate. Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part forbidden.!

Liberal Viewpoint BY I)R. HARRY ELMER BARNES

THE United States may not be played for a sucker again on the basis of any -holy war” talk of Germany's enemies. Hence, it will be well for us to sVidy carefully the actual facts in the important and portentous diplomatic negotiations which are now in progress. If we had possessed the real facts from. 1914 to 1917, it is doubtful if either Walter Hines Page or the Wall Street bankers of the Allies could have put us in the World War. Reading of the negotiations with Hitler, I was struck by a headline which might have been lifted without the slightest alteration from the newspapers of July, 1914. It read “Germany Flatly Refuses All Overtures.” Perhaps she did, but we should demand a careful examination of the facts before forming any conclusive judgments. t If there was anything which most of us accepted as an absolute certainty from 1914 to 1920—myself included —it was that Germany had refused all suggestions for a diplomatic settlement of the crisis of 1914. It has long since been established by Prof. Fay r , Dr. Ewart and others that Germany accepted all except one of the diplomatic proposals of 1914. And for this one that she rejected she suggested a substitute which Sir Edward Grey himself admitted was the best proposal of all. a a a THERE were four methods suggested in 1914 as to how the crisis might be handled without resort to war: A conference at London of the ambassadors of Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany. Austria was not to be represented, since she was an nterested party in the Austro-Serbian dispute. Mediation between Austria-Hungary and Russia, lest Russia precipitate war by backing up Serbia. Direct conversations between Austria-Hun-gary and Russia, to settle their differences over Serbia. Mediation between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Germany and Russia rejected the proposal of a conference of ambassadors to consider the Austro-Serbian dispute. The German ground was that the dice would be loaded against Austria in such a conference where Germany alone could be counted upon to support the Austrian point of view. Both France and Russia also opposed any suggestion to submit the Austro-Rus-sian controversy to a conference. In the place of a conference, Germany suggested direct negotiations between Russia and Austria. Sir Edward Grey expressed his conviction that this was the best plan of all: “As long as there is a prospect of a direct exchange of views between Austria and Russia, I would suspend every other suggestion, as I entirely agree that this is the most preferable method of all.” a a a THE second plan of diplomatic settlement, that of mediation between Russia and Aus-tria-Hungary, was proposed by Grey on July 24 and 25. Germany immediately assented and offered to mediate between Russia and AustriaHungary as soon as an occasion arose which would make such mediation feasible. The third Droposal—direct conversations between Russia and Austria-Hungary—was one made by both Grey and Germany. Germany urged it upon Austria with great earnestness, but it came to naught because Russia insisted upon discussing the Austro-Serbian impasse which Austria maintained was her own affair, a point of view vi2orously combated by Germany after July 28. 1914. The fourth and final diplomatic device i'as mediation between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Germany eagerly embraced this after July 28 and devoted her most persistent diplomatic efforts to trying to induce Austria-Hungary to accede. But Court Bcrchtold. Austrian foreign minister, had received misleading assurances from the British embassy in Vienna relative to British neutrality; so he refused to heed Germany's entreaties until after the Russian general mobilization had made a European war inevitable. After historians had shown that Germany apparently co-operated enthusiastically and earnestly in the proposals for a diplomatic settlement of the 1914 crisis, it was alleged by "bitter-enders” on the basis of a solitary and ambiguous telegram by Count Szogyeny, the senile Austrian ambassador in Berlin, that Germany was completely hypocritical in all this—that she was secretly assuring Austria behind the back of the Triple Entente that she had no use for these diplomatic suggestions. Count Max Montgelas, among others, has completely demolished this Szogyeny myth. The fact that Germany favored diplomacy in 1914 is no proof that she favors it today. Byt the fact that we were 100 per cent bamboozled in 1914 ought to be sufficient ground lor watching our step now.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

(Times renders nre (netted to express their views in these, columns. Hake your letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to 250 words or less. Your letter must be sinned, but names will be withheld at request o] the letter writer.) a a a GAS COMPANY PRICE TOO HIGH, HE SAYS By Herman Hagemier. I don’t see why we should take over the Citizens Gas Cos. and its debts when we can build anew plant cheaper. Are the tax payers of Indianapolis going to play Samaritans to the stock and bond holders of this firm? These stocks and bonds do not represent money spent on the plant as much as money spent to pay dividends and interest. It will cost us eight million dollars to buy out their stocks and bonds, and nine million in addition if we warned to own the pipe distributing system as a unit. We would then have a manufacturing plant which would be practically worthless if we put in natural gas, and natural gas seerns to be the only way to effect a really great decrease in the gas rate. The city should get an estimate on what it would cost to build the gas system we really want and if these stock and bondholders want to sell their property for anything beside junk they can meet that estimated cost and sell to us at that price. a a a STABILIZED DOLLAR IS CURE FOR DEPRESSION By J. Edgar Burton. I have heard the “Three Great Musketeers” Johnson, Long and Coughlin. I have read Irving Fisher's “Money Illusion,” “Booms and Depressions” and “Inflation.” also Keynes’ “Essays on Money Management,” as well as Frank Vanderlip's criticism of the Eccles plan. Through all of this there seems to run a similar skein of thought, to-wit: the vital imperative necessity of fixing the money currency system so that the United States shall have some sanity in its financial system. In other words, what they advocate is that we do away with the present fiat bogus money and issue a stabilized fixed value money. With stabilized values as expressed in stabilized money, all industry and business men will know where they are and this knowl°dge will promote confidence, which is the basis of trade and all human relations. If a manufacturer contracts to deliver 1000 yards of 36-inch cloth at SIOOO, to make a profit of S2OO and. when he comes to make delivery. finds he must deliver 1000 yards of 54-inch cloth for the SIOOO, how much has he made? Answer: The change in the value of the dollar. If a farmer plants 80-cent wheat, at the time of planting, and harvests to sell on a 20-cent market, who robbed him? Answer: The change in the value of *'he dollar. The value of a dollar varies now up and down according to the whims of the speculators and gamblers. The value of all property commodities. farm products and labor varies as the value of a dollar is raised or lowered by the speculators and gamblers. The accumulation of wealth in the hands of the few Wall Street and international bankers partially is the result of this robbing the poor people of the nation through this speculation and gambling. President Roosevelt has declared

B { l-s /V I l DA - Da* / i

The Message Center

THE 1936 BANDWAGON

He Bets Against Us

By Also-Ran. I am one of God's gifts to the bookies—a horse player. And between past performance readings and how such-and-such a “dog” did a training trip in 1:14 1-5 for six furlongs I've heard said that Chief Mike Morrissey intends to close all pork-and-bean stores in the city and keep them closed. Your newspaper in lordly fashion cries for paGlocking these vicious resorts. But your newspaper also prints nightly in your final editions the race results from the various tracks. Now the average daily race at Bowie or Bow-Wows is of no mors news interest than a snowball in an Eskimo igloo to the average newspaper reader. Why do you print the results? Can it be possible chat you recognize a species of mankind that gets the “squints” from reading racing forms? Can it be possible that your race results cater to the horse player? Or mayhap you’re only building up reader interest for the coming Kentucky Derby on May 4 by acquainting your readers with the performance of the thoroughbreds? Do you believe that the only folk in Indianapolis who will have

his policy to achieve a 1926 price j level. With a program on this basis 1 established as the law of the land, i we are saved. With stabilized values ! and a stabilized dollar, we will have I a stablized nation with a reasonable j profit preserved in cash transactions | and with a minimum of gambling and speculation. We should cease to listen to the bunk of the politicians and their j various smoke screens of false hopes, j Let us all demand that Congress and the President legislate a fixed stabilized dollar (the VanderbiltEccles plan) ar.d then we can all go to work ar.d rebuild values and mayhap recoup some of our lost savings accounts. a a a STANDS AGAINST TALK OF WAR IN 1935 Bv M. D. You had an article in March 28 from some noble and obliging person, Rudolph Kuehn, stating, among other things, we should be in war not later than July 5, 1935. My noble and heroic person, you can just go over the water and fight whenever you are ready. It is an assured fact that you did not know anything about war. It seems to be a nice game for you. I, for one, am so glad that v you are not the ruler of our country’ and I expect there are others who feel the same way. I might go a little farther and add that you talked like a Democrat. I hope not, for I have been one and lived through both of Grover Cleveland's terms. I wonder what other readers think of you. nan BARUCH HAS DONE POOR JOB OF ADVISING Bv Mrs. L. F. Kunkfl. After reading an editorial in Saturday night’s paper I am writing you on the Baruch-Long-Coughlin debate. The editorial said Long and Coughlin would have to find anew target for attack since Baruch has voiced his sentiments. I. and millions like me, with you. Just because Baruch mouthed a lot of

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

a bet on this year’s “Darby” will be those who attend the race? The day causes an influx of newcomers to racing and those yearly bettors wlio wouldn't let a derby field go to the post without having up a dollar or so on a nag. The bookie shops are crowded that day. Do you believe, does Chief Morrissey believe, that this Derby day on May 4 will see a betless Indianapolis? As for that hardened individual —the confirmed horse player—do you expect to stop him from betting? Your altruism is refreshing. It isn’t so long ago when in connection with the ignoble experiment —prohibition—you said editorially that morals could not be legislated. There’s only one law—the law of averages—that’ll ever make a puritan out of a “hoss player.” And for good measure you can throw in Damon Runyon’s axiom of “All horse players must die broke” as an extra shroud for the poor aimless, squinting men who would just as soon ruin their sight on a form chart as throw a ligament out of place on a golf course or toss a bank roll away at cent-a-point bridge. I dare you to print this.

so-called patriotism does not alter the fact that his actions have spoken louder. In spite of the fact he thinks his interest-bearing bonds should be taxed, he has at any rate placed his money there for the very reason they are not taxed. Os course, now that he has been discovered, he would try to explain and in that explaining, claim he bought them for patriotic purposes. His patriotism seems to have been marked by dollars and cents, not by the standard as the poor people understand it. Also, the idea that he has been adviser to five presidents is no argument in his favor, as a commentator remarked on the radio the other night. In fact, his advice has been so bad, w r e are in a depression such as the American people have never experienced. It seems to me, after the damage he has done, the real head of our government viould take over the reins and guide this nation as we all believe he could guide it. His one mistake that would account for and explain all his errors is that he has listened to men of Baruch's ilk. aaa SUPREME COURT RULING ANSWERS DEBT PROBLEM By R. H. Stone. The decision of the Supreme Court points the way out of the present wilderness of debt. It is the logical sequence of the definition of the powers of government which the Supreme Court upheld in the gold cases. If the government in the name of the public welfare has the

Daily Thought

Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools—Proverbs, 19:29. IN all unbelief there are these two things: A good opinion of one’s self and a bad opinion of .God.— H. Bonar.

APRIL 4, 1935

'power to remove the method of contractual settlements, that same government has the power to set aside the contracts themselves. If the government can act directly in the seizure of one commodity it has the power to seize all commodities. There can be no distinction in the realm of reasoning between one commodity and another which the government may not seize and handle in the name of the public welfare. Upon this thesis it is possible to erect a society wherein the actual relationship of the people and their wealth can be defined according to the economic facts of existence. By the actual resources present in the various parts of the country the people who inhabit those parts can be master of their fate. We will see the United States of America rebuilt in accordance with the chart of facts in this way. The Union will be founded upon the life-giving power of man and nature working in harmony rather than left in confusion because of an attempt to maintain an artificial relation between man and the powers of nature.

So They Say

He is a grand person. I adore him as a friend.—Mary Kirk Brown, speaking of Max Baer. I refuse to believe that Germany will be ruled forever by the Nazi murderers, gangsters, and thieves.— Gerhart Segar, exiled former member of the Reichstag. . I believe in taking care of my own people. Every cent I give to charity will be given in America.—Princess Barbara Hutton Mdivani. Spankings are unforgivably rude. We don't hit our friends when they do what we don’t like. Neither should we hit our children.—Mrs. Clara Savage Llttledale, noted childrearing expert.

RAIN

BY MARY R. WHITE I saw the evening through the rain— Close pressed against my window pane, Not silvered by one ray of light— From twinkling stars that shine at night. The wind goes by with moaning sound— Like some lost soul—till rest is found Then a long drawn whispering sigh Then rain ... a low sweet lullaby. No moon to lend her mellow glow— Just cool darkness—soft as snow. My eyelids close, I drift to dreams Os starlit skies, and soft moonbeams. The earth is bathed in golden light— A dream picture for my delight, I awoke—l heard a whispering sigh— The wind bidding the night, good-by. When the evening comes and brings the rain— Close pressed against my window pane: And soft cool darkness, no ray of light Bringing dream pictures with the night.