Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 188, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 October 1935 — Page 18

PAGE 18

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'■rmrrs - howkUd C" 11A{)ht and thn J’rop! Will find l'hclr Own Way

WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER 16, 1835. TO WILL ROGERS EDDIE RICKENBACKER, selected by Vice President Garner to lead a campaign for a memorial to the late Will Rogers, voices America's will, we believe, when he promises to sponsor "no cold shaft of marble for this warm, friendly man." Will Rogers was a creature of the simple, earthy elements, the prairies and mountains and the hearty folk of the West. He was a‘hater of "front,” and would be the first to ridicule a stately monolith commemorating his name. One suggestion is that the committee purchase the Rogers ranch in Oklahoma, turn it into a national monument and preserve it in its original state as a picture of the old West of which the cowboy humorist was a typical son. This would be more in keeping with his character than a costly statue. Will Rogers deserves well of the republic. He deserves well of the common people. He was one of them, always. We believe that from them for the Will Rogers memorial will come many small contributions which will testify to his greatness and to the love the rank and file held for him. The memorial should not be built alone from the lavish cb ecks of the wealthy. Rogers would not have wanted it to be that way. THE OLD-AGE PENSION CASE T EC/ALLY and from a humanitarian standpoint, Circuit Judge Earl R. Cox decided rightly in the mandamus suit by which 645 old-age pension eligibles in Marion County sought collection of pensions approved July 1. If any criticism is justified, it is this—the old-age pension law became effective Jan 1, 1934, and absolute fairness would warrant retroactive payment to that date. Although the state law has been in effect nearly a year and 10 months, two counties have as yet made no effort to establish pension systems. This was shown in a recent State Accounts Board report. It is not necessary to go further than the enacting clause of the pension law to arrive at the conclusion that the law is mandatory upon counties. The clause says distinctly that counties “shall” establish pension systems. Lack of funds has been the reason advanced by officials for non-payment of pensions. If that line of reasoning is to be followed in regard to other matters, what is to prevent a governmental unit from closing schools for lack of funds, or for the same reason, dispensing with police and fire protection or mail service?

A PROSPERITY INDUSTRY TJROPHETS of anew order in building say factorymade houses will do for the United States, in the next few years, what the automobile industry did earlier in the century. They predict mass production of houses at costs so low that almost every wage-earning family can buy one. They foresee steady, decently paid employment of building trades workers in the factory instead of sporadic employment on the site of construction. If their prophecies are valid, the slum problem with its ugly social and moral implications should vanish. All this can be done only if the American people come to like modern houses with flat roofs, plain surfaces, practical materials; houses functionally designed for healthful, convenient living rather than houses that bow to architectural precedent and tradition of many outmoded ages. Modern architecture lends itself to pre-fabrication and old-fashioned architecture does not. There are only 50 residences in the United States constructed in accordance with modernism, the magazine Fortune says. To test whether there is substantial hope of an immediate revolution in building design, this magazine conducted a cross-section poll of public sentiment. Forty-one per cent of the persons interviewed said they would prefer a modern home to a colonial one if they were able to choose between two models at the same price. In the Southwest 54.1 per cent of the people preferred modernism. If the factor of lower prices becomes an added inducement in favor of revolutionized ho .'es it is easy to believe that America is due for a facelifting. Steel, concrete and plywood are the materials in which most of the experimenting i:i pre-fabrication is being done. A few fabricators are trying out construction of box-like rooms, to be combined into houses according to the number of rooms needed and the shape of the site. Most of the fabricators are using the wall as the unit, however, building standard types of walls, some with one window, some with two, some with one or two doors, some plain. These can be bought according to the design of the house, joined together with a few hours’ work, finished with a pre-fabricated floor and a pre-fabricated roof, and be ready for occupancy a few days after construction has started. Nearly 50 industrial concerns, including some of the largest, are trying to perfect pre-fabricated homes. Three-fourths of them have not, yet sold any of their products. They realize pricts are not yet low enough to tap the vast low-income market. Most of the pre-fabricated homes still sell at from SSOOO to SIO,OOO, though this amount, of course, will buy a fairly good-sized house, perhaps even with a second story. One firm has a four-room cottage for sale at S3BOO, erected. Another has a three-room, year-round home for $1375, to which must be added freight and cost of erection, bringing it to at least S2OOO. Os course the site must be purchased, and sidewalks, sewers and landscaping add to the cost of all these houses. Mass rehousing will not start until the total cost of a home—everything included—ranges between SISOO and S3OOO, Economists believe. They think mass production will make this possible. once the technique is perfected. Automobiles have become less expensive each year, while steadily improving, and there seems to be no reason why home-building, the last industry to get in step with the machine age, can not follow this example once it casts off the hand-laid-brick-upon-briek tradition. LOSING TRADE, BUT NOT DOLLARS TpiVE days after President Roosevelt's proclamaA tion warning against trade with belligerents, the New York Development Coulerence complained

bitterly that it already had caused a loss of $5,000,000 in trade with Italy. That means $1,000,000 a day in trade sacrificed for American peace. And if we can estimate that exporters average 10 per cent net profit, it means SIOO,OOO a day thrown away just to keep us from getting involved in a possible European-African war. But before we feel too downcast about this, it might be a good idea to think about other entries in a war-trade ledger. At the start of the World War we didn't do anything so foolish as to sacrifice trade with Europe. No, indeed! We let our financiers lend the people’s money to Europe to buy. And when that game played out, we started pumping out the taxpayers’ billions in credit to Europe. And we told our exporters to go to it. And they did. They sold billions in goods to Europe. Our Navy backed them up. And then our drafted youth. And today we enter on our book.', such items as this . . . Daily cost of pensions, adjusted compensation and hospitalization of World War veterans: About sl,250,000. A few years ago, President Ccolidge estimated that the World War had already cost America fifty billion dollars, and would eventually cost one hundred billions. (At the time he said it, Mr. Coolidge was presuming that Europe would eventually repay ‘.he war debts). We are not mentioning here any considerations except dollars. CANADA VOTES A CHANGE /CANADA has swept the Conservatives out of office and the Liberals in. This landslide interests the people of the United States. It may indicate which way our own political winds are blowing. The Conservative Party in Canada has traditions and a record similar to our own G. O. P.; the Liberal Party is a cousin to our Democratic Party. The former is traditionally high tariff, the latter low. The Conservatives are the stand-patters—although Premier Bennett did sponsor a belated reform program in which the people apparently had little faith. The Liberals are traditionally states-righters, but they advocate public ownership of railways and the radio. Instead of a privately owned and controlled banking system, the Liberal leader, MacKmzie King, demanded government control of credit through a nationally owned central bank. Some American guessers may say that the Canadians have just done to Bennett what the Americans did to Hoover in 1932. Others may say that what the Canadians have done to Bennett, the Unit ed‘States will do next year to Roosevelt. Not being able to understand well where the dividing lines are between Conservatives and Liberals and between Democrats and Republicans, we refuse to guess. But one result of the Canadian election does seem to have political significance—the fate of the more radical parties and candidates. The Social Credit Party, with a program of $25 for everybody over 21, resembles slightly the share-the-wealth movement of the late Huey Long. While strong in one sparsely settled province, this party showed little strength elsewhere. The Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation——Canada’s Socialist Party—lost more than half the parliament seats it already had. Other groups led by Canadian Coughlins, Sinclairs and Townsends elected only an odd candidate here and there. This seems a poor showing for radicals considering the last live years of hard times. America also has a pocketbook interest in the Canadian elections. Our relations with Canada ought now to improve. Whereas Premier Bennett’s was a policy of two-bricks-for-one when it came to tariffs and empire preference, Premier-elect King stands for trade reciprocity with the United States as well as with Britain. Perhaps we, on our side, can now undo some of the folly of our Grundy tariff legislation which hit Canada pretty hard. And maybe Canada can remedy some of the disastrous effects of Bennett’s policy of retaliation. Neither country will abolish tariffs. The foundations of their industrial systems too long have been bedded upon them. But Washington and Ottawa should soon be able to renew mutually profitable commercial ties by reciprocal agreements along lines which Secretary of State Hull has made familiar, and Premier King has indorsed.

A WOMAN’S VIEWPOINT By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

T IFE often goes stale on us—even when we are young. It must be very stale indeed to the maids and matrons who spend so much time in public bar rooms. Gay, sophisticated, volatile, as they are, the glitter of lights reflected in chromium seems to draw them as moths are drawn to flame. It’s all so casual, you know, so absolutely harmless. They just drop in to laugh and chatter and drink—and then to drink some more. It doesn’t hurt anything, they say. But sometimes their eyes tell a different story. They have a dull, stricken, even an empty look. They are the eyes of those who can find no meaning to life. A good many of these young women return to homes which are luxurious, spacious, beautiful. They feel dull there too, and rush to the phone to get up a bridge game—anything to keep their spirits soaring. Fooled by this swift pace they travel, they imagine themselves to be having a marvelous time. It takes plenty of drinks to keep up the delusion, and lots and lots of bridge and endless comings and goings. Now and then, they have to take sleeping tablets when they go to bed. Night has a way of invading us with serious thoughts. All this preliminary is a description of the existence of one young wife, as she told it to me. Now, as she puts it, she’s been “yanked back to her senses.’’ And what do you suppose yanked her? A baby. She had an unplanned-for baby; in fact, a nuisance of a baby to begin with—and it changed the world for her. Life has taken on new color and zest. Home has a real meaning. She is actually in love with her husband all over again. Her soul has been enriched by the experience of motherhood and her body revivified. Funny how a baby can do that, isn’t it? It can stay our youth and rejuvenate us when we are slipping into middle age, and quicken our interest in every phase of living. Under the New Deal the expenditures have been divided into “regular’’ and “emergency’’ expenditures. The theory is that the next generation should pay for the emergencies of this generation.—Herbert Hoover. The United States can not continue to spend a billion dollars a year upon its Army. Navy, and air forces without contributing to, a war psychology.— Dr. Waiter Van Kirk, Federated Council of Churches. We seem forced to admit that the settlement of international controversies through peaceful means is & long say, off.—Senator Boxal^

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

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Forum of The Times I wholly disapprove of what you say and will defend to the death your right to say it. — Voltaire.

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, relif/ious controversies excluded. Make uour letters short. s}> all can hare a chance. Limit them to Zi’o tvords or less. Your letter must be sinned, but names will be withheld on reouest.) tt tt tt PROPOSES NEW PLAN FOR OLD-AGE PENSIONS By C. H. Metzger A universal revolving old-age pension to be financed by a 1 per cent transaction tax: All single persons 65 years of age or over shall receive $75 per month. All married persons shall receive SIOO per month. In the event of the death of the husband the widow shall receive SSO per month and in the event of the death of the wife the pension shall automatically become $75 per month. All persons drawing salaries or wages amounting to $75 per month shall not be eligible for this pension. All persons drawing less than $75 per month shall be paid the difference. All unnaturalized foreigners shall not be eligible for this pension. This would eliminate all government or county or any other class of insurance drawn for over the said amount. This is to be nonpolitical and a person must be a resident of the state for five years and the county for one year. In order to raise the funds necessary to finance this pension there should be levied a 1 per cent transaction tax; said tax to become effective one year from the date on which it shall become a law. u a WOULD HAVE U. S. TEST AUTO DRIVERS By W. G. C. In his column a few weeks ago Mr. Heywood Broun pointed to the lack of uniform requirements, among the different states,’ in the matter of licensing drivers of automobiles. He suggests something in the nature of Federal license and police measures, but, quite reasonagly, believes such • things would likely be held unconstitutional. Mr. Broun is in a position to do much toward changing the bad present situation and deserves commendation for hft one article on the subject even if none other follows. Being a regular reader of his column, nowever, I am not entirely convinced that his complaint was motivated solely by concern for the safety of human life and limb. But let’s not judge hastily. If Mr. Broun is really more interested in rendering a genuinely humane service to mankind than he is in picking flaws in our governmental system; in bewailing the present limitations of Federal authority, and in plugging for extension of bureaucratic power by changing the Constitution, he may be glad to know of a workable solution to this problem. A system similar to that adopted

Song BY JOSEPHINE DUKE MOTLEY Shuffle, shuffle all day long, Always singing some strange song, Darkey in our alley way. Why—oh, tell me—are you gay? Face like one big hunk of coal, Eyes forever on the roll, Push your dinky old junk cart; Snaring ash cans is your art. All the world has passed you by; Seems as though ’twould make you cry. It might be the world is wrong. Anyway, xou have a song.

GOOD HEAVENS, HE’S IN AGAIN!

Money Is Goven

By Prof. Trying Fisher I quite agree with Mr. H. L. Seeger’s criticism of the banking system, as expressed in his statementin your Sept. 27 issue, but I do not believe that, because there are grave faults, nationalization of banking is the only way out. I should modify his statement by adding that, if banking is to remain in private hands, the banks will have to give up their monetary function. Money is a function of the government. The Constitution makes it mandatory for Congress to “coin money and regulate the value therof.” There is no objection to private banking in so far as it consists of the maintenance of the flow of money, the transfer of funds from the saver and investor to those who seek capital. On the contrary, it would be most unfortunate to have every request for a loan passed upon by a political appointee who is likely to judge the credit-worthi-ness of the-applicant with a view to political considerations, while the government would be backing him by virtually guaranteeing every loan. The private banker who is taking a risk with every loan he grants will inquire into the character and ability of the borrower, rather than into his political alignment. Government banking if it would not lead directly to Socialism, would at any rate foster an unsound bureaucracy which in the end would probably change our economic life as radically as would Socialism or Communism. The bad part of our present banking system is that in the process of banking or calling loans, the banks are creating or destroying money. This is due to the fact that a bank needs to have only a 10 per cent cash reserve behind its deposits. In other words, a bank having only SIO,OOO of cash can make loans aggregating SIOO,OOO.

by at least two of the professions appears to be the logical remedy, and is one that would in no way interfere with or supplant an in-

Questions and Answers

Inclose a 3-cent stamp for reply when addressing any question of fact or information to The Indianapolis Times Washington Information Bureau. Legal and medical advice can not be given, nor can extended research ha undertaken. Be sure all mail is addressed to The Indianapolis Times Washington Bureau. Frederick M. Kerby. Director. 1013 Thirteenth-st, N. W.. Washington. D. C. THE EDITOR. Q—Are naturalized American citizens subject to deportation for a crime committed after naturalization? A—No. Q—Has a Negro ever been nominated for the office of President or Vice President of the United States? A—No Negro has ever been nominated for the office of President, but James W. Ford, a Negro, was the nominee for Vice President on the Communist ticket in 1912. Q —Give the populations of Niagara Falls, N. Y., and Niagara Falls, Canada. A—The 1930 census gi%*es the population of Niagara Falls. N. Y., as 75,460; and in 1931, Niagara Falls, Canada, had 19,046, ‘

mental Function These SIOO,OOO total loans (or deposits) are then called checkbook money or credit. They have been created by the bank in the process of making loans. Reversely, when the bank calls the SIOO,000 loans, it destroys the SIOO,OOO check-book money it had previously created. When all banks thus either create or destroy money, they increase or decrease the volume of our monetary circulation, causing rising or falling prices and values, making inflations and deflations. Check-book money has become our most important means of payment. It is real money and should therefore be subject to the same constitutional regulations of its value qy Congress as are coin and paper money. Once Congress realizes that check-book money is real money, it must legislate that banks must no longer be able to create and destroy it. Such legislation should provide that banks must maintain a 100 per cent cash reserve, instead of the present 10 per cent, behind the check-book money they put into circulation. The total circulating medium will then be equal to the total cash. According to the plan outlined in my book, “100 Per Cent Money,’’ the cash, consisting of government notes, will be issued solely by a currency commission, which will function under a mandate by Congress to maintain a constant value of the dollar by keeping just the proper amount cf cash in circulation. This seems to me the best way out of the present dilemma. Not only would it obviate the nationalization of banking; it would protect business, the farmer and the banking system itself from the disastrous bank failures we have had in the past, and incidentally remove one of the most fundamental causes of booms and depressions.

dividual state’s right to examine and license its resident drivers. Here is a brief outline of the plan: A Federal examining board

Q—What is the inscription on the stme over the grave of Mark Twain’s wife? A—The stone is inscribed with her name, record of birth and death, and the German words: “Got sei dir gnadig, O meine wonne!” (God be merciful to you, O my bliss.) Q —What is the name and address of the chairman cf the Republican National Committee? A—Henry' P. Fletcher. 563 Parkav, New York. City, or Barr Bldg., Washington, D. C. Q —Give the total length of the U. S. tidal shore line on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the Gulf of Mexico. A—Atlantic coast, including islands, 11,679 statute miles; Gulf coast, including islands, 6418 statute miles; Pacific coast, including islands, 3765 statute miles. Q —What is a gondolier? A—A boatman who operates a gondola. Q —Who wrote the book from which the motion picture, "She,” was taken? A—lt is a screen dramatization of a book with the same title, by Sir H. Rider Haggagrd.

is created with representative branches in every state. An applicant suecessfuly meeting the tests given by the examiners, is issued, not a license, but a cerificate of qualification—a document without legal standing except as may be provided by states which decide to give it recognition. Under the present situation, as Mr. Broun has indicated, a state with strict laws governing its own licensing of drivers may have its highways over-run by incompetents from neighboring states whose laws, in this respect, are notoriously lax. But with this system in operation, the careful state could very properly demand that the driver of a car from another state be able to show, in addition to his own state's license, a Federal certificate of qualification to drive. Once the Federal examining board plan became a fact, a single state, giving it legal acceptance, would quickly demonstrate its wisdom, and cause neighboring states, if for no other reason than self-defense, to adopt similar regulations. So rapidly would a system of this sort meet with general approval that within a year or two practically every car operator, really entitled to such privilege, would possess a Federal certificate of qualification—provided, of course, the expense connected with obtaining one be kept very low. Enforcement laws, penalties, etc., would, naturally, become matters for each state to settle in its own way. Daily Thought For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?— Psalms vi, 5. WE understand death for the first time when he puts his hand upon one whom we love Madame de Stael.

SIDE GLANCES By George Clark

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“Are we going to act now, or wait till she has made t herself absolute dictator of our club?”

OCT. 16,1935

Washington Merry-Go-Round

Bv DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. ALLEN VITASHINGTON. Oct. 16.—Ac- * * cording to inside word received by the Navy Department. Mussolini has given strict instructions to Italian naval commanders to avoid a clash with British shipping at any cost. This is considered significant. Obviously, the last thing Mussolini wants is war with Britain, and he knows that nothing is more liable to fan British opinion to white heat than tampering with a vessel flying the Union Jack. Probably, therefore, British vessels carrying munitions to Ethiopia under the lifted League embargo, will be able to land their cargoes at the terminus of the Djibouti-Addis Ababa railway without hindrance. What Mussolini is counting on is catching the munitions after they leave Djibouti and begin their hazardous three-day trip on a narrowgauge line across the Ethiopian plateau. a a u I ' | ''HE Slate Department is saying j A nothing about it. but the Ger- : man Foreign Office has made some sub-rosa complaints about the political activity of Martha Dodd, daughter of the American Ambassador in Berlin. Cause of complaint was some articles contributed by Miss Dodd under her own name to the Communist paper, New Masses. Anything savoring of this ism is anathema to the Nazi government. On one occasion Propaganda Minister Goebbels made a public reference to the fact that Miss Dc-dd publicly exhibited sympathy for persecuted Jews.

A MERICAN embassy dispatches from Berlin indicate that the Germans are rubbing their hands in great glee over the League quarrel with Italy. It all plays into Hitler’s hands. Meanwhile the American military attache in Berlin reports more military training in the Reich than ever was seen in the days of the kaiser. One military development in Germany has been the establishment of large numbers of underground airdromes—safe from bombardment by enemy planes in wartime. tt tt a SENATOR ARTHUR CAPPER recently wrote his long-time friend Senator William Borah urging the desirability of starting immediate work on an agricultural plank for next year's G. O. P. platform. “It should be as specific and appealing to the farmers as that of the Administration,” the veteran Kansas Republican leader prompted. The answer of his Idaho colleague follows: “Dear Arthur—You are absolutely right. We should lose no time in beginning work on a farm program. I think you are just the man to do it and when you have it finished please send me a copy. "BORAH.” o tt a AT last the Roosevelt Administration is beginning to get con-sumer-conscious. That is the chief inside reason behind the extreme lack of enthusiasm upon the part of Henry Wallace and his AAA cohorts to put potato crop control. Thirty million housewives are more than Horny-Handed Henry cares to face. There was a day, not long ago, when not merely Henry Wallace, but General Johnson and other Recovery administrators trod roughshod over the rights of consumers, spurned the Consumers’ Councils theoretically established to protect them. But now the Administration is worried. The possibility of a house-wife-consumer revolt is no idle threat. Wallace and his lieutenants remember only too vividly the recent food-strikes in various cities and the delegation of angry Detroit women who stormed Washington. Also, from Labor Department figures the AAA knows that the consumers no longer are an unorganized mass. A recent survey by the department disclosed that there are close to 1000 consumer co-operatives in the United States with their number and membership increasing weekly by leaps and bounds. (Copyright. 1935 bv United Feature Syndicate, Inc.i