Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 32, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 April 1935 — Page 16

PAGE 16

The Indianapolis Times (A urnfPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) ROT W. HOWARD Preuldi-nt TALCOTT POWELL Editor £a::L V. BAKER Budnyi Manager Tbone Riley 5581

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i ■ Girt LiQbt nn4 tht People Will F ! n4 Thtir Own Way

WEDNTODAT. APRIL 17, IMS. CHARLES A. GROSS ART A GROSS ART Is the Auditor of Marion County. He was elected to this position by the voters and taxpayers and these same taxpaying voters have been paying his salary of S6OOO a year since he took office. Mr. Grossart’s post In the administrative affairs of this county is an important one. He must pass on the expenditure of thousands of dollars each year. Among his duties is the annuel compilation of the delinquent tax list for the county. This list has Increased since the depression. In compiling this list. Mr. Grossart subjects to publication the names of hundreds of persons who have felt the pressure of the nation's business slump. In the last few years, Mr. Grossart has had more than the AVERAGE income of the AVERAGE man who works at his Job day in and day out.

There are many reasons for the increase in tax delinquents. Losses of jobs and illness—directly traceable to the nation’s slide into the gully of hard times—have caused many persons, once situated comfortably, to pass just debts, including their taxes. Mr. Grossart has not been forced to go without his monthly pay check. And yet the record shows that he has NOT paid his taxes. Today he said it has been his misfortune to be Unable to pay his taxes. The poor and helpless could not be expected to keep up their credit standing with the county government when they could not buy bread for their tables. Mr. Grossart has not lacked for bread; in fact he has enjoyed the luxury of a winter in the Southern sunshine. And he has been an employe of the county government. There are lews on the Indiana statute books which indicate that his delinquent taxes and penalties, for permitting this to occur, might have been extracted from his salary. That has not been done. Mr. Grossart, too, must bear in mind that he has been working for those who expect him to pay his taxes. Every May and November these people who meet the public pay roll and public debt have contributed to his salary, expecting him, of course, to fulfill his duties not only as a citizen but as an office holder. Mr. Grossart has failed in this obligation to the people of Marion County. The law reads that neglect of duty shall be sufficient for ousting an administrative officer. THE GAS COMPANY DEAL WITH an expenditure of $8,000,000 of the taxpayers' money apparently headed toward the acquisition of the Citizens Gas Cos., it would be well if the members of the Indianapolis Utility District lay the cards on the table and explain what the people of this city can expect. A series by Vincent Lyons, Times Financial Editor, recently showed that the city is preparing to pay $8,000,000 for a property that owns only 40 per cent of the entire gas main system. His series also revealed that the success of the venture as a municipally operated plant depends entirely on the earnings. If these fall short, then the gas consumers of Indianapolis may be faced with increased rates. * Indianapolis will do well to consider the gas company proposal carefully.

THE SHOWBOAT PASSES \ NIGHT CLUB, known throughout the state as the Showboat, situated northeast of the city, has closed its doors. Closing of those doors occurred suddenly Monday night so far as the patrons were concerned. But the locked door order was not such a surprise to those who knew that the night club's liquor license had expired eight days prior to the closing. More than a week of operation without authority of the state of Indiana is the first weak link apparent in the state's new liquor control setup. There are no officers, commissioned by the state, to handle such situations. But there are certainly other law enforcement agencies in various cities, towns and counties of the state that could carry out orders to close places operating in violation of the law. This oroer to close did not reach the Showboat until eight days after the expiration of its license. Every other night club operator outside the city limits should remember that when the license for his place expires he is through. Prompt action often saves embarrassment and worse. The liquor control law was one of the most bitterly fought m the last two sessions of the Legislature. If it is not worth enforcing, through legitimate means, why keep it on the books? A ‘THIRD ECONOMY* ways of looking at the unemployment ' problem are rare. Rexford Tugwell seems to have provided one the other day in his speech at Rochester, N. Y, when he suggested that the unemployed constitute in themselves a great national resource which the country might as well start using. Mr. Tugwell's point Is simple. In addition to depression unemployment, we have teph-

Roosevelt and the House An Editorial

SOMETHING has happened to Speaker Joe Byrns of the House. He has got around to telling that body to get down to work. Just what forced Mr. Byros to move, we don't know. Maybe the President whispered in his ear, dr maybe the public and press protests got under his skin, or perhaps the House evasions and delay just got so bad that even he could not stomach the situation any longer. Anyway, his warning comes none too soon. Congress has been in session three and a half months and has little to show for it except the work-relief law. On that important measure the Senate backed and filled for many weeks. All of the usual political dodges were attempted. Then at last, the obstructionists took fright. The bill was passed without any essential changes. Meanwhile at least one month had been wasted in an exceedingly important session, which probably will adjourn in Juhe with less than half Its task completed. The tactics of the conservative House leaders have been as ineffective as they are inex-cusable-jockey for personal position, delay, try to emasculate New Deal feacures, and then jam through the result with a gag rule. • • • THE social security bifl, now on the House floor, is a case in point. It ranks at the top of the President’s program. Congress has investigated and studied the matter for years. Action should have been taken last year, but was postponed. Then the President put government exports to work, and supplemented them with a group of non-government experts who in tum were helped by another advisory committee. After many months of work and the necessary compromises, the Roosevelt bill was presented. When the House committee took it, the

nological unemployment—men displaced from their jobs by improvement in productive technique rather than by hard times. Even when prosperity returns, a large number of these men won’t be able to go back to work. They’ll be with us in good times as well as bad—skilled and industrious workmen who want nothing under the sun except a chance to work. It is Mr. Tugwell’s idea that these men be used in what he terms a “third economy”—a system half way between Socialism and individualism. The government would put them to work on projects which would not be done by private enterprise, and which would be of benefit to the country as a whole. Such projects would include Civilian Conservation Corps, a gigantic slum -clearance program, checking of soil erosion, provision of sanitary and recreational facilities that are now lacking, development of reclamation works, and possibly some large-scale scheme for resettlement of the under-privneged. All this is worth thinking about, because it reverses our ordinary attitude toward unemployment. We look on it as a sad and expensive responsibility; this plan would have us see it as a great opportunity. This country is enormous, and it is more richly blessed by nature than any similar place on earth. It can be turned into a veritable garden spot, where human life can be richer and freer than anything we have yet dreamed of. The possibilities are here; all we need do is exploit them. And that is just another way of saying that there is work enough in America to keep us all busy for generations to come. All we need do is go after it. Until every American family occupies a modern, up-to-date home, until every region is served by broad, smooth highways, until every river has been harnessed and controlled and every farming re: ion has been freed from threat of flood and wu and, until our marvelous productive plant has given an abundance of necessities to every citizen—until that day comes, it is silly for us to say that there is no work for the jobless. Mr. Tugwell’s idea calls our attention to this fact. The is waiting to be done, and we have millions of men who ask nothing but the chance to do it. Seen in this way, unemployment is a challenge and an opportunity.

SAFETY FOR ADMIRALS A CABLEGRAM from Germany recently contained a little item which provokes interesting speculation as to the future happiness of naval admirals. Tills item had to do with trials of anew “mystery ship” just completed for the German navy. It is described as a “non-fighting flagship;” a 2200-ton vessel of the yacht type, intended for use of a fleet commander in battle. And this leads one to remember that the admiral doesn't have as safe a lile, in modern warfare, as the general of an army. The general occupies comfortable headquarters many miles from the front. Unless a stray airplane winders his way, he is as safe as he would be at home. But the admiral is out on the firing line with everybody else, when the fleets meet. If his hip is sunk, he goes down along with the stokers and gun-layers. Have the Germans, at last, found a way of changing this? If this new non-fighting flagship can give the admiral a general's safety in battle, future naval wars will be a lot different from those of the past. ■Well, it won't be long before non-stop fliers begin taking off. Also nudists. While they're abolishing “isms,” how about including that “ism mamma’s iddle man," etc. Early to bed. early to rise makes a man an opponent of daylight saving time. The job won't be finished when European nations learn a way to preserve peace. They'll still have to find a museum to keep it in. A French writer reveals that gorillas are not ferocious. Nothing remains for those big game hunters, who like to risk life and limb, but to insult traffic cops. %

chairman maneuvered to .get his name on’the bill in place of the original member who introduced it. Then 11 weeks, instead of the three or four Weeks needed, were spent on the bill by the committee. When the committee finally brought out the measure it had been robbed of some of its best features and most necessary safeguards. After the bill reached the floor, time was allotted to members wishing to speak on it. But on Monday when some of these favored members failed to appear to make their speeches, the House blandly adjourned and wasted another precious legislative day. Now they plan to take off an extra day over the week-end. This is the House which was elected last November to push through the New Deal program. • • • TT is time for the Administration to realize that the country does not like this sort of thing. This Irresponsible record explains in part the switch of tens of thousands of citizens from the Administration to the fantastic Townsend old-age pension plan and the bankrupting Lundeen plan. Speaker Byrns will have to do more about it than make a beiated speech. He and the committee chairmen, who have such complf te control through the overwhelming Democratic majority, will have to produce. Nor is the President without responsibility. It is too bad that he has to worry about Congress, along with his other heavy tasks. * But Franklin D. Roosevelt is-not only the elected national leader in'the White House, he is also the official party leader of a congressional majority which is on the spot for failure to speed the Roosevelt recovery and reform program.

I Cover The World BY WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS

WASHINGTON,. April 17.—A man whose genius might have ended the World War a full year earlier is now a modest guest in the nation’s capital. He is Field Marshal Viscount Byng of Vimy, former commander of the British Third Army in France, the one Allied leader to whom Germany’s iron man, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, took off his hat. If he had had his way, Gen. Sir Julian Byng (as he was then), very likely would have saved the Allies half the cost of the war and the lives of 1,000,000 men. Almost no American troops would have left bones to bleach on Flander’s field. In the raw, blustery dawn of Easter Monday —April 9, 1917—1 watched with Sir Julian and his staff the beginning of the Battle of Arras. Three days later Canada’s magnificent troops took Vimy Ridge—which later was to give Sir Julian his title—never ,to let go again. Arras is best described as an “offensive defensive.” A week later the French, in a synchronized offensive, stormed, the Hindenburg line near Laon to the south. But though the two battles netted some 40,000 prisoners and more than 300 captured guns, both gradually bogged down without achieving their objective. a u tt BY May, British guns were pounding away farther north. The whole crest of Messines Ridge was blown off by the explosion of 500,000 kilos of ammonite, the detonation being heard 150 miles away. Those of us who watched it from comparatively near at hand, reeled as if shaken by a terrific earthquake accompanied by a hurricane. From Messines, the British sideslipped still farther northward, to the general region of the ghastly Ypres salient. Ostend and Zebrugge, the Kaiser’s U-boat nests, were the chief objectives. But they were never reached. The entire summer and part of the autumn were consumed merely to gain the high ground of Passchendaele Ridge. Passchendaele Ridge is a ridge by comparison only. All about it as flat as a pancake. The ridge is just a few feet above sea level. The rest is hardly above high tide, some not even that. Damp even in dry weather, w r hen it rains it becomes a quagmire. Here 400,000 men, the flower of the British army, went to their death in the bog. As they struggled waist deep in the mire, machine guns on the ridge put-put-putted day and night, tearing them to pieces. Tanks were useless. tt a tt MEANTIME Gen. Byng south of Arras and opposite Cambrai was pleading with the British General Staff -for a chance. “My terrain is perfect,” he said in effect. “It’s like a golf course. It is ideal for tanks. Give me all the tanks you've got, and all the guns and men you can spare, and I'll crack the Hindenburg Line.” Sir Julian wanted to start his offensive not later than Sept. 20. They did not let him start until Nov. 20—not until every unit in the entire British army had been worn to a frazzle and decimated by the bone-cracking, heart-breaking, futile offensive in Flanders. “Insane egotism,” former Premier Lloyd George calls that campaign, in the mud—“one of the blackest horrors of history.” Thus, on another bleak dawn, just as raw and just as gusty, I again stood with Sir Julian and his staff and watched the get-away of what Field Marshal von Hindenburg on the other side later called the one show that took imagination. Until zero hour, not a sign of life had been shown in Byng's apparently dormant sector. Reinforcements came into line at night, with muffled tread and in utter silence. Artillery took position in the same way. Pits were dug practically in the front line to accommodate the tanks, whose tops were flush with the ground. Dug at night, the dirt r ora these pits was scattered about and coverec. . i the day time, holes and all, by mats of camouflage grass. fi tt o AIR pictures taken by the enemy showed no change whatever in the positions. To cover the threshing machine clatter of the tanks themselves as they came up under cover of darkness to take their position in the pits, low-flying planes zoomed deafeningly over no-man’s land. The attack took the Germans entirely by surprise. They fled, demoralized. Hindenburg Line was smashed. Cambrai was evacuated. Cavalry and reserve troops could have gone through and enveloped the two flanks thus exposed. Von Hindenburg wrote in his memoirs that he could not understand why the British did not go on. He admitted the initial victory was complete. The break-through had been accomplished. Had it been exploited, he said, the whole course of the war would have been changed then and there. I happen to know the answer to the Hindenburg riddle. Gen. Byng didn't have the troops. He had no reserves whatever. The “insane egotism” which led to the slaughter of 400,000 fighting men in Flanders and the 60-day postponement of Sir Julian’s great conception, is the solution. But if you think Viscount Byng is bitter, you have another thought coming. Far from it. I talked with him here. But not so much about the past. What I have set down is what I myself saw—not what ne says. His spirit is as sweet as new-mown hay. The only thing he hates is war. And the only people he dislikes are the statesmen whose activities conduce war. “They are simply mad,” he says. President Roosevelt promises the people he will do his utmost to spend $5,000,000,000 by July 1, 1936. If he finds it tough going, he might enlist the services of Barbara Hutton.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

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 be signed, but names will be withheld at request of the letter writer.) tt tt tt UPHOLDS COUGHLIN IN BATTLE WITH JOHNSON By E. V. Dupee. I have been a reader of your paper so long that I have forgotten the first date, but it dates'- back to the Old Sun printed on E. Ohio-st in a little two by four printing office. Those were the good old days when the Indianapolis Sun was one of us. By that, I mean the poor people. Your paper was creeping at that time. But now that you are able to walk, things have changed. Is it because Gen. Johnson and his backers are shelling out too much for you to turn down his slanderous attack on the Catholic Church through the best friend we poor people ever had, Father Coughlin, who has done more to enlighten the cry babies and rats, as Gen. Johnson called us in his broadcast. And I want to say right here that when he denies calling us that he lies for I heard him and my ears are better than his memory. But I don’t believe in this mud slinging. Now, if Gen. Johnson wanted to debate with Father Coughlin, why didn’t he come out like a man in the open and debate on the things that Father Coughiin is advocating and prove to us that Father Coughlin is -wrong. I have listened to him two years and have never heard him utter one word against any other religion. tt tt a DEMANDS ACCOUNTING OF PUBLIC FUNDS By O. B. G. The taxpayers of Anderson overlooked the privilege of taking advantage of the 10-year moratorium last year on taxes. They would like to have the privilege renewed this year for we don’t believe it would be fair to not give us the privilege of taking advantage of the law because we w r ere ignorant of its existence last year. We did not see it published in any newspaper in the state. We also think that the salaries of all public officials should have been reduced 50 per cent at the beginning of the depression and all expenditures cut to the bone to enable the ■ people to save their homes. We, the citizens, would like to see an accounting of all receipts and ■ expenditures in all state, county,! city or township offices at least monthly. We long to know how our money is spent. a tt a WORLD WAR VETERANS SAFEGUARDING U. S. By R. H. Sttone. With your permission I would like to state my view of the bonus. I am a holder of an adjusted service certificate. Therefore, I have a material interest in the matter. Ever since the war I have regarded this certificate as not an ordinary insurance policy but an evidence of a working agreement between myself and the Federal government. The gist of it was this: Between the time I returned from the war and reaching the age of 55 I and my family would be fortified against the event which was always possible both in the war and in civilization: namely, death. In addition, it meant that there was a definite bond between me and the United States Treasury; if all went well with nje and the Treasury also. I would not need the nest egg and

MAN, THE CONQUEROR

Distribution Is Urged

By Old Flint Sparks. Why boast of anything thus far achieved. Failure puts the process of our intellect to question. We must admit there is food wasted that should be served to satisfy hunger. For that we should bow our heads in shame. Yet we stand by unprotesting, while the government, by and for the people, deliberately destroys millions of stock and swine, discourages and, in many instances, pays to curtail farm production. Mills, mines and factories are idle and rusting away while humanity, old and young, languishes in their hopeless sphere. The prolific resources supplied by the creator to man gifted with inventive genius is now capable of supplying every human n*ed. Such nonsense as bringing supply down to demand should have all of us upon our toes. The revision should be upward, not downward. Ability to pay should be raised to equal supply. The great machine age has come to do one of two things: Free us or

the Treasury was allowed to use my funds for the benefit of the maintenance of the government I fought to preserve. Contrary to this calculation everything has gone well. Therefore, the question arises as to what modification of the working agreement shall be made. Is its spirit to be kept or is it to be repudiated? The crisis in public affairs has set at naught the details of the original set-up of the adjusted service certificates. Which will serve the Treasury and the holder of the certificates best, to leave the cash with the Treasury or to take that cash out and seek to “carry on” in the faith that the time has arrived when once more the veterans shall seek to upbuild the nation by the means of the cash delivered over to them in advance of the time first agreed upon? If the Treasury would be the real guardian of the financial structure of the government it can not afford to settle this question of immediate payment of the bonus except in a fearless spirit. No other men in the country are as vital to the safeguarding of its treasures as are the veterans of the World War. a a a HE WANTS EXPLANATION OF RECOVERY PROGRAM By E. E. B , Acton. I have been reading The Times for several years, and its editorials for the last year, and while you comment on various subjects, you never have told your readers how the government is going to drop 20,000.000 people from the direct relief roll. Now then in the next week or so I would like for you to tell me how this is to be done. I am very much interested in this matter because I am a relief worker myself and the way they are handling this work I am not going to be any better off when I quit than when I began. And the majority of the relief workers are in the same boat with me. So now what? It seems to me that the Administration leaders have a very large bear by the tail and they simply can not let go. Another thing I fail to understand is why our government can not return to the gold standard. You might enlighten me on this subject if you have the time to spare. No big business man—or little, for that matter—is goidfc to venture out

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

kill us, take your choice, and that applies to the rich as well as the poor. Capital is no longer able to develop and expand, creating a cycle for the life blood (money) to flow through the body. We must take on anew psychology. Production for use and not for profit is the logical and only way to solve this much talked of depression. The clamor for power by the would-be leaders, Johnson, Coughlin. Long and others will get us nowhere. The depression will end when the majority wills it. As Christ once said: “The kingdom of God is within you.” A system that produces one millionaire and a million paupers must be abolished or it will destroy itself, taking humanity with it. Again I say to you, take your choice. Socialization of all the resources of wealth, democratically managed, will enable man to develop a higher civilization, prosperity is here now, more than at any time in the history of man. Learn to distribute and the problem is solved.

on thin ice with whatever money he has saved up in good years and drop it into the river of doubt. I wouldn’t invest any of my money in the building game now, because the value of the dollar is so uncertain and neither would you. If you would, however, why don’t you start something? You could employ some of the unemployed. And every one else feels the same way about this matter. Another thing you might enlighten me on is how our Uncle Sam is going to raise trees in our great American desert? I am anxious to learn about that because they all say—including our school books—that no trees ever grew there before. So if they never grew there before, how are they going to make ’em grow there now? You answer that one and take the head of the class. I’m just telling you gentlemen I can not understand all I know about this recovery program, so if you will write another editorial in The Times, telling me all and when and how, I’ll be ever so humbly thine. tt a a JOHNSON CHARGED WITH “SELLING CONFIDENCE.” By Cecil S. McKinney. I have been a reader of The Times for two years. I have noticed that you let the people have a voice in your paper. I would like for you to print the following article. I am going to give a view of my thoughts as to Gen. Hugh Johnson and the depression. I think that Johnson has had his time. He has made himself and has lost himself. First he got the confidence and the trust of the people, then he sold them out to the capitalists, one of the worst criminal acts of man. Now he is trying to come back in the ring for the 1936 elections by fighting the Nye war profit plan. What is money? Is it more valuable than

Daily Thought

So the last shall be fir. t, and the first last; for many be called, but few chosen.—St. Matthew, 20:16. THE Christian has greatly the advantage of the unbeliever, having everything to gain and nothing to lose.—Byron.

APRIL ’ ?t 1935

lives? If not, let someone propose to draft all money into circulation at once. When the country was in danger of the World War, they drafted thousands to war. Now let them draft billions of dollars for the good of the people and save the lives of millions. If the government was to do this, it would not let Johnson and his Communism gang make millions out of the people who can not help themselves. How many battles did he and his men fight during the war? Their kind fought the entire United States as a whole and are still trying to force the entire United States into another war; a war midst the people of the United States. Let’s pull Johnson’s fangs and show him that he is not so popular since he has sold the confidence of the people.

So They Say

One automobile or airplane crash usually does more damage than all the cocktails a person could drink.— Surgeon General H. S. Cumming of U. S. Public Health Service. We can not in fact believe that those who must have the prosperity and well-being of their peoples at heart can wish to plunge them into slaughter, ruin, and extermination.—Pope Pius XI. Quack notions and unsound policies will in time be forgotten, and the real America in its simple, straightforward way will again lead world progress.—Myron C. Taylor, U. S. Steel head. I have utterly no plans for running for the U. S. Senate—but I still reserve the right to change my mind whenever I damn please.— Hugh Johnson. To organize a strike against war is to show a strange lack c-f sense of humor, for the strike itself Is a form of war.—Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, commentator on national student anti-war movement. Honesty, sincerity, greatness — these qualities will not be attained so long as movie producers think only of quick profits.—Dr. Fred Eastman, Chicago dramatics professor.

SPRING

BY ALYS WACHSTETTER Too long have we hung indoors Like slugs 'neath rotting floors. A faint suggestion permeates the air in our throats. Making us long to leave our bats behind And loosen our coats. Ah, not many days from now Spring will bring unfurled Frenzies of wind and water to dissolve and wash The sickening black of winter from the world. The wild wet wind races And blows the bend from our backs. The pinch from our *aces. This prelude to Spring’s music fifes a quickening march— The air balloons our lungs till they most break. We step with a light and lighter tread Leaving dark winter In our waJui