Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 38, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 April 1935 — Page 12

PAGE 12

The Indianapolis Times <A nrßirrs-nowARD >*:w'SFArER> ROT W. HOWARD rro*l<lent TALCOTT POWELL Editor EARL D. BAKER Builneaa Manager Thone Riley 5551

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Give Light <7 nd th Pmpla Will Find Their Own Wav

WEDNESDAY. APRIL 2*. 1935. THE PACIFIC AIRWAY DOUBLING back from Honolulu, the giant Pan-American Clipper came to rest on San Francisco Bay, annexing the air over the great Pacific to the dominion of man and science. FOr this completed two-way journey not only brought Hawaii closer to the mainland; It covered the longest single span in the over-water course between California and the shores of Asia. This summer a regular trans-Paciflc air service will link San Francisco with Manila and Canton, supplementing the principal lane of ocean commerce between civilization's oldest and newest continents. It is fitting that these super flying boats be called clipper ships, for they are following the grand tradition of the Yankee clippers that once carried a large share of the world's commerce in American bottoms. The company that is pioneering the Pacific airway is the same one that already has established probably the world’s most efficient overseas and international air service. Its network south of Key West and the Rio Grande connects Latin-American centers with those of the United States, and speeds up the trade of the western hemisphere. These new air services can become a lasting and increasing blessing, if only the statesmen of the Americas and Asia take progress as their cue, scaling down economic barriers and nationalist and racial prejudices. FUTURE EARTHQUAKES qpilE earthquakes of Easter week-end, shak- -*■ ing down homes and killing hundreds in Persia as well as thousands in Formosa, came from 22 miles down in the earth’s cavernous deeps, according to Prof. H. Landsberg of Pennsylvania State College. From science's scant seismological records Dr. Landsberg says a shallow'-focus disturbance may be expected a week before the end of July. Where it will strike and how destructive it will be, he can not predict. Earthquakes, like wars and depressions, still appall and baffle the human race. But some day science may rob even these of much of their terror. In modern cities the greatest earthquake hazards to life are in fire and panic. When we learn to build substantial dwellings, decentralize our populations and provide ample fire protection, we can consign even this peril to our museum of outlived fears. California cities, not satisfied with bowing to nature's bullying, are quake-proofing their school buildings and supplementing fire-fight-ing apparatus with high-pressure salt-water systems. Eventually geologists may be able to predict subterranean disturbances as easily as meteorologists now forecast weather. Recently Thomas Midgley told the American Chemical Society that probably some day men will travel between planets, prevent w r ars, eliminate cancer, and control their own age. Men will never admit themselves beaten by natural forces. ANOTHER GOAL THE national campaign to prevent grade and rail crossing accidents should be opened locally in Indianapolis in order to prevent recurrence of such a tragedy as Monday took the life of a 15-year-old boy. Although the crossing where he was killed is marked with a warning signal, there are other places in and near the city where much could be done to save lives. The traffic problem in Indianapolis and its vicinity continues to be a severe one despite the police drive. Carelessness of motorists and pedestrians seems to be something that can not be controlled until it is too late. Nc effort should be spared by the authorities in thtlr attempts to halt the accidents and If grade crossing elimination will reduce the dangers, then it should become one of the outstanding r.oals in the campaign. DARROW’S DEEDS CLARENCE DARROW tells reporters that he is a tired old man now. waiting for death, and adds that he is positive that after death there will be nothing else to wait for. ever. “I no onger doubt,” he says, “I know now that there is nothing after death—nothing to look forward to in joy or fear. I am not an agnostic any more; I am a materialist. There is no evidence under the sun of a supernatural power.” Darrow is not the first man to come to this gloomy conclusion. As long ago as Old Testament days, the writer of Ecclesiastes seems to have had somewhat the same notion. But just as this Old Testament scribe belled his own doubts by proving that the human spirit can transcend its fleshly limitations, go Darrow, too, in a different way, has left a record that makes his own materialism look hollow. Clarence Darrow has had a long and active life, and a great deal of it has been filled with desperate, last-ditch battles for men less fortunate than himself. And when you have made all possible allowances for a keen lawyer’s delight in the game itself, and for the Incentive which high fees can provide, there remains something else which is not accounted for on any basis of strict materialism. For underneath everything else, Darrow has been moved by a rich human sympathy, an understanding of erring humanity, and a warm desire to take the side of the man whom everybody is against, which does not precisely Jibe with any r philosophy of soulless mechanism. To try to look beyond the veil is a hopeleas proceeding; and If a man can not accept the assurances of religion he must look for traces of a better world than this, if h< is

to find them at all, in the hearts of his fel-low-men. There is something about this urge which comes to men like Darrow to take the part of men who can not fight for themselves which can seem like the soundest of all evidences. The old warhorse, who has never been too tired to fight somebody else’s battle, may think of himself as a blind and helpless pawn of chance, wandering under a starless sky. But somehow he hasn’t acted like one. His deeds have been like the deeds of a man who has seen a gleam of light at the edge of the horizon and who, seeing it, has known that there is more to life than some of us suppose. He has built his life by a pattern that would be useless if his own despondent belief were true. His life is about finished, and his words are hopeless. But his life itself is the very stuff of which human hope is made. BLUE PLANET F\R VESO M. SLIPHER, director of the Lowell Observatory at Flagstaff, Ariz., is a scientist. And he was speaking in a literal, and not a figurative, sense when he told the American Philosophical Society that, viewed from Mars, the earth is a blue planet. Dr. Slipher’s deduction was based upon an analysis of the earth’s lights and shadows reflected from the dark side of the moon—not upon the overtones of an impending European war or upon a Republican politician’s hignlights of the New Deal. The earth, he says, is even bluer than Venus. That planet, which appears hazy through our most powerful telescopes, is afflicted with dust storms worse than those that have been laying a grimy blanket across our mid-continent. If our scientists, who speak so expertly of worlds fifty million miles distant, could only train their genius upon the near-at-hand shadows! If they could only tell us how to handle such paradoxes as want amid abundance, so the job wouldn’t be left to political medicine men! If they could only save us from those “born in the dark of the moon!” WRONG POINT OF VIEW /CHARLES M. SCHWAB still thinks he was right when he remarked, early in the depression, that there are no rich men left in America. “I only want to point out," he tells the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Society in New York, “that I was practically right. There are no rich men left in the old sense of the word, but we have made up for that in happiness. We may have lost great sums of money and profits, but we now retain the sentimental fellowships of old times.” All this probably sounds excellent, if you who read it are in the upper income tax brackets. But if, like the vast majority of your countrymen, you are not, it sounds just about as hollow as the original remark. There are a great many rich men left in this country and the sharpest criticism that is made of our recovery program is that it is benefiting them more than it is benefiting the little fellows. Mr. Schwab is an immensely able industrialist but as a commentator on the distribution of wealth he is something less than inspired. STILL IN MIDDLE AGES TNTO Smithland, Ky., flocked 1500 people to see a youth openly hanged by the law from a high scaffold. The crowd—it would have been larger but for the weather—listened while the doomed man cursed, argued freely with a woman in the audience who had accused him of attacking her, harangued and ranted for 59 minutes before the trap was sprung under him. Doubtless many Americans were horrified by the picture. It was a page torn from the Middle Ages, showing humans, created “a little below the angels,” sinking below the level of animals. But why should they be shocked? Hanging bad men is supposed to deter other bad men from crime. This is capital punishment’s only excuse. Hence, it is logical that as many people as possible should witness the bad man’s death. Under this theory executions should be held in the town square, as they used to be. The very fact that the law usually does its grisly work in secret, witnessed by only a few invited guests, proves that society now knows its deed does not deter, that while killing one it brutalizes many, that it fails in its only justification. England used to hang men in the public square for theft. It is recorded that during such executions pickpockets would ply their trade among the crowds at the very foot of the gallcws. Kentucky, equally logical, will find that public hangings will not cure crime any more effectively. BACK TO RIVER TRAFFIC A FTER decades of idleness, the Missouri River once again is to become a highway for commerce. On June 7 navigation will reopen along the “Big Muddy,” and a string of barges will leave St. Louis in charge of a tug, carrying freight to Kansas City. While all this will present harassed railway traffic managers with more reason to furrow their brows, it is probably true that on the whole it represents a step in the right direction. We may not be quite sure just yet, how we are going to solve our transportation problems. But it is surely logical to suppose that any step which makes transportation cheaper is a good one to take. It is worth remembering that if we ever really exploit our vast industrial resources to their fullest extent, we shall need all the transportation facilities available and wish we had more. Just 160 years ago the Americans feared the British were coming. Now we hope they’ll come across. That man who wrote the new book, "I Knew 3000 Lunatics,” is revealed to have been a doctor in a state hospital, not a traffic officer. Secretary Ickes says Huey Long has “halitosis of the intellect.” From which you may infer he is not Huey’s best friend. After those dust storms, all we need now is another of those fads that frequently sweep the country.

I Cover the World BY WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS

NEW YORK, April 24 Another major war of long duration will almost certainly drag in the United States, however much we may draw within our shell. Senator James P. Pope tD., Idaho) warned a Town Hall audience here night before last. Such bqing the case, he added, today peace and security for us lie, not in the passage of new neutrality laws, however may be, but in concerted action with the otter nations of the world to prevent war breaking out in the first place. “Since Germany denounced the military clauses of the Versailles Treaty,” he said, “perhaps no question has so filled the minds of the American people as, can the United States remain neutral in the event of a major war in Europe or Asia?” The American Revolution was scare sly over, he recalled, before George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of the American Army in preparation for joining in the war between Britain and France in 1797. In 1812 we did go to war with England for violation of our neutral rights, and in 1917 with Germany over the same cause. tt tt tt REALIZING the danger and difficulty involved in enforcing neutrality, Senator Pope declared that sentiment today in this country seems to call for a modified doctrine. He enumerated a number cf proposed restrictions : Control over radio and cables; prevention of enlistments of Americans in foreign armies; stoppage of loans and credits to belligerents; ouster of foreign merchantmen from our ports, and prevention of armed ships entering them; prevention of foreign ships using our flag; abandonment of our policy of protecting American citizens and property abroad; no passports to Americans traveling abroad; ban on foreign propaganda in this country; ban on foreign aircraft flying over our territory; embargo on munitions exports: drastic limitation of our foreign trade, etc., etc. Peril of war lurks in every one of these points, ho asserted, for there is no way to enforce them save by force. Nations fighting for their very lives stop at nothing, as the World War demonstrated. In practice, he pointed out, an embargo on American exports could hardly be made to stick. 000 MANUFACTURERS in the East, cotton farmers in the South, wheat farmers in the Middle West, with surpluses on hand, would protest to high heaven if foreign trade were stopped. Surpluses would pile up and a serious business depression would result. This would force a resumption of trade.” Practically every man, woman and child in the land would be affected. There would be a nation-wide clamor for protection. From one end of the country to the other, there would be protests against the policy of “ducking and hiding” and of “surrendering our legal rights.” “I have long been convinced that another policy is better for our country to pursue,” the Senator concluded. “Individuals remained armed until a collective system of law and order was established which gave them security. They have never been able to isolate themselves, to hide in storm cellars, to run away from trouble. They have never been willing to surrender their rights. They will fight first. “So it is with nations. In my opinion, nations w'ill never disarm until the power of collective effort gives them security. A world of law and order must precede the disarmament of nations. A way must be found through concerted action of the nations of the world to prevent war. This is the permanent way out.” THE MIND OF A POLITICIAN JOHN COLLIER, United States commissioner of Indian affairs, has been laboring to give the Indian a better break in life. His efforts have aroused a good deal of opposition, some of wnich is rather selfish. Perhaps the prize exhibit in the u'hole case was submitted the other day before the House Indian Affairs subcommittee. The witness was one Joseph Bruner, head of the American Indian Federation, and one of Collier’s most determined opponents. Collier had charged that this federation was a fake; Bruner was there to reply to the charge. And for a reply, he submitted to the subcommittee a poem which Collier wrote ’way back in 1911, pr&xsing the Spanish anarchist, Francisco Ferrer! You might call that a sample of political argument at its w orst. Two men in public life argue; one charges that the other represents a sham organization; the other replies that his opponent, 24 years ago, praised an anarchist. Could political argument get much emptier than this? Add coal deliveries to Newcastle. On Easter each inmate of the Michigan state prison received four hard-boiled eggs. If there’s anything to that theory that women fall for uniforms, Mrs. Goering didn’t have a chance. Woman's place is in the home, unless it happens to be the White House or the Putnam residence. The chief problem of the Republican party is whether to remain conservative or go liberal. In view of the huge work-relief fund, the G. O. P. could hardly be more liberal than the Democrats. National Safety Council announces your chances of being injured this year in an auto accident are 1 to 100. That is, of course, if you live in the Everglades. It’s only natural that Laura Ingalls’ transcontinental flight should be halted by a dust storm. The sight of dust gets any w6man down. It having taken congressmen three months to pass one bill, maybe they ought to be paid by piecework. Unless the Administration acts, says conservation leader, wild life will become a thing of the past. Not while there are night clubs. Windbreaks suggested as remedy for dust storms. What the farmers need more is a break from the rain. If this mobilization keeps on, Europe’s problem will be the “forgotten woman.” In trying to keep the Far East’s “Open Door* from closing, Uncle Sam seems to be continually putting his foot in it. Indianapolis pedestrians are ordered to cross streets on the “green” traffic lights. The police will be surprised how many green pedestrians they will find who’ll pay no attention to the color ihat corresponds to their mental processes. Operators of policy games in Indianapolis apparently have adopted the policy of never paying ofL

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

The Message Center

(Times readers are invited to express their vietvs 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 oj the letter writer.) tt tt tt RAPS H. H. EVANS FOR PENSION ATTITUDE By Nelscn Hiatt. I happen to be a reader of The Times every day. I wish to reply to an article in The Star of March 27, by H. H. Evans, a man who was elected by the people to take the stand he has taken against the oldage pension plan now before Congress. He says he knows of a few things that have been done to old people which make him suspicious of the whole outfit. He claims it is, in a sense, all a crooked deal. At the same time Mr. Evans, the man elected to represent the people, acknowledges that he was a party to this by offering his services free to these sending in their ID cents. I am surprised at H. H. Evans, who is supposed to be exceptionally smart. It seems he is like some others who like to get their names in the paper. He says that some young squirts in his county are leading the old folk to believe that they will get ‘2OO a month, and must pay into the jackpot 25 cents to help put the law over. I was In Mr. Evans’ office recently and I rather admired him. I must say he did not appear as dumb as he is. Oh yes, he says “these vultures.” Now there may be someone trying to capitalize on the Townsend Plan in Newcastle but with no authority from any leader of the Townsend Plan. So, Mr. Evans, if you have that class in your own town you had better clean house at Newcastle. We have 30 million signatures to the Townsend Plan and Mr. Evans says they are a grab-bag outfit. He says these dimes go into the pockets of people that United States Congresmen would not look at.. Mr. Evans, himself, before he was elected, could see all of these people and that hand shake he put out, although deceptive, got by. But. now these same people are a grab-bag bunch. Mr. Evans would have you believe he has a heart. Oh, that sympathy stuff is a good vote getter, but the Townsend Plan is not in politics. So no use pulling that stuff, Mr. Evans. I suppose you would support a pension of $25 a month which would be about like dropping a bucket of water in White River. I call your special attention to this, how would you’, Mr. Evans, live on $25 a month. He can not eat any more than some of these grab-bag outfits. The only difference is he can get it and they can not. tt tt a BELIEVES PUBLIC WILL REACT TO AUTO DRIVE By SVeptic. The present emphatic drive of the city police to eliminate accidents by arresting offenders shows elements of justice as well as of tyranny. Any line of endeavor if pursued with sufficient force or for a sufficient length of time is bound to cause changes. The question is are the changes good or bad? Are the changes worth the effort? Do the changes cause more friction than is justified by them? And there comes the rub. Every one arrested is not a dyed-in-the-wool law violator. All dyed-in-the-wool law violators are not arrested. A $5 fine may mean bread and butter and housing to one individual and pocket change to another. Judges have a zeal, altogether ide-

HAIL, HAIL THE GANG’S ALL HERE!

By the Forecaster. The police department of a city is essentially for the maintenance of law and order. The Constitution guarantees the individual liberty. But any time an individual takes more than his shato of liberty he is taking away the liberty of another individual. As business increases and business and social contacts multiply the duties of the police officers become more and more complex and consequently must be dealt with specifically. For example, there are the traffic officers who deal primarily with the traffic problem. There are the cyclists who deal principally with the violators of traffic regulations. There are the radio patrolmen who cruise about the city in an attempt to preserve order. Psychology in the present day is advancing swiftly. So is psychoanalysis. One is led to believe that the time has when the local police should make a sincere effort to ph-ce the profession on more signified,

alistic, of the end they are serving and the justice they met a out. But is it justice? Is there enough justice in it to extend it as they will no doubt do in the very near future? The seeds of its own suicide are right in this system. Eventually they will apply too much pressure and public opinion will become reactionary. tt a tt LAND GRANTS WOULD BE DEPRESSION CURE By Single Tax Convert. Why are the “single taxers” so silent? We never see anything printed in the newspapers from them. What little I have heard and read cl Henry George’s political economy, it seems it would be just the thing to solve almost all of our difficulties. Why all this floundering around in regard to taxes, which are so difficult to collect and fall so much heavier on labor (which is the producer of all wealth) than on our wealthy class? You often hear it said this man or that man got rich on the stock market. Did you ever stop to think where that wealth came from? As I understand it, money is only a medium of exchange. But where does the exchange come from? No other place than land. If the government were to give each unemployed able-bodied man a small tract of 15 or 20 acres, not to be sold outright (or some wealthy landlord would soon have is’all) but collect rent from it according to the value or location of the land. No taxes to be collected whatsoever on the land or improvements, it would soon encourage him to spend money to improve, thus creating a market for labor and material. He later could own as much land as he would be able to pay rent for, whether he used it or not, but it would be unlikely he would pay for it and not use it. Doesn’t this seem an easy and logical solution to our present or future difficulties? 0 0 0 SUGGESTS OVERHEADS FDR PEDESTRIANS’ SAFETY By Loughery. In connection with the present safety drive in the city, it might be well to consider the erection of two overhead bridges for pedestrians; One over Illinois-st from Block’s store to Murphy's store; The other over Washlngton-st from Ayres’ to Wasson’s.

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

Police Revision Needed

reasonable, more scientific, and more modern basis. Imagine the Police Station, with its court auditorium, its jail, its clerks, and big moguls, and little moguls, and prosecuting attorneys, and all the other accouterments, housed in a fine building somewhere downtown, the jail on the top floor, the clerks in their niches, the courtrooms immaculate, an air of dignity and cleanliness and spick-and-spanness atomizing the entire place. In this building would be the chemists with their quarters, the psychologists with their quarters, the coroners, and city physicians for emergency calls, and nurses, etc. Gone should be the blind, blundering, blatant methods of the past. The time arrives now for a highly trained, highly efficient, disinterested, and enlightened police service. Men like Chief Mike Morrissey, like the fine judges who sit on the benches and, above all, the Mayor, can bring this about.

TOWNSEND PLAN ATTACKED BY PENSIONER’S WIFE By a Reader. I am the wife of an old-age pensioner and feel that I have a right to say something in regard to the Townsend plan. I do not approve of it and think it unreasonable. That may sound strange, but how many of these old men have ever had S2OO a month to spend? I don't believe they want it. Os course, there are some who think it all right. I say give them enough to live comfortably. If every man more than 60 had $75 he could live comfortably and have plenty. There are very few young men today with good jobs that get S2OO a month and many of them with large families to support that get less than SSO a month. My husband and I would feel rich today if he had even that much. Give each one enough to keep them from want and suffering and they will be satisfied. Let us all be reasonable. Our good President is doing all in his power to help us, so let us do our part and try to encourage him. 000 PATMAN BILL WILL PREVENT CATASTROPHE By R. H. Stone. As each day passes now the lines are being drawn tighter and tighter in the game of life. It is coming to a focus in the struggle over the bonus. This is the first question that carries in it the nerve center of all strata of American society. The sons of the rich, those of moderate means, the poor, and the destitute, all are bound to the treasury upon a rule of statistics derived from the service records of 3,500,000 men. Every section of the country, every creed, every color, has Just one common bond which binds them to the United States Treasury directly. This is the bonus. A nation’s gold and its sword,

Daily Thought

Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.— Psalms, 141:3. SLANDER Is a vice that strikes a double blow, wounding both him that commits, and him against whom It is committed.—Sauria...

.APRIL 21, 1935

■when all the trappings of state are removed, stand as the insignia of its power. The Administration has been successful in destroying the rights of every citizen to hold and own one single coin of the nation's gold supply. In the bonus question there is the matter of whether the Administration will be able to destroy the individual’s right to determine how the sword of the nation shall be used and to what purpose. If the Administration by indirection (through ruthless conflsca- ' tion of gold holdings) has been able to begin the demolition of the title of ever World War veteran to his stake in the national Treasury .then it has started the final overthrow of the republic. No nation in all history survived when it violated its solemn word to its military defenders. The Administration may have caught many unawares in its sudden seizure of public and private holdings of gold. The Patman bill gives the nation the chance to checkmate that bold move. If the people do not take advantage of that opportunity time alone will tell what awaits us.

So They Say

PWA money has never gone to build up any political machine, and it won't be used by Senator Long to further his share-the-wealth plan.— Secretary Ickes. To destroy NRA because there are a few creaky joints in its structure would be like burning down a house to get rid of a few rats in the attic. —Hugh Johnson. We decline longer to pillage our children with war bills that ought to be “C. o. D.”—Senator Vandenberg of Michigan. The Townsend plan is so full of holes you could drive a six-horse wagon and automobile truck through it. We must not use our aged as a shield for purported economic reform.—Representative Bi ck of California.

THE WIND

BY UNKNOWN If I were the wind I’d take a rest, I’d blow me far out to the west, To some lone retreat And there I’d lay me down So quiet and still. That folks would ask, Can he be ill? No longer does he fan my brow, No longer do I hear his songs, Can he be ill? He’s tired I know, he surely must be, He goes so far, he goes so free; He kisses the high mountains, He fans the lea, He twirls the gray sand And chums the sea; He's weary I know, He needs a long rest, If he'd only cease blowing, Blowing out of the west. Now gently he comes, then wild he goes, Never watching for signals, never stopping for curves, Blowing up o'er mere nothing, He screams with delight I’m howling, I’m roaring, I’m raging tonight; If he’d only stop pesteringAnd end his wild fray. If he'd leave us alone for only a day We might see some virtue In what he has done In drying the earth and clearing the