Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 203, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 November 1935 — Page 6

PAGE 6

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~z —] f ' ' '"iwowri 6'd e l.i’ihl and the r*ol* Will find Their (jirn Way

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1935. THE WILLING ALTO A SENSIBLE man won't work a willinz horse to death. But the tax collector Is Just about doing that to the horse s successor, the more or less willing automobile, .John T Flynn, In Collier's this week, tells the story of Bib Groover of Decatur, Limestone County, Alabama Every time Mr. Groover drives his modest little car up to a filling station four fiscal pirates pounce on him, each to demand his cut of a multiple Federal, state, county and town tax on gasoline. His gallon of gas costs 13 cents, the four-fold levy comes to 12 cents more, almost a 100 per cent rales tax on what has become a necessity to him. Not all of the staves bear down on the autoist the way Alabama does, but to a greater or less extent you can multiply Mr. Groover's troubles by 25.000.000. (he number of cars in the United States, and get an idea how the American motorist pays and pays and pays. Last year all state taxes totaled $1.641.000 000. Os this more than half came from motorists. The mushroom growth of gas and other auto taxes is the result of the mistaken idea that autoowners are all plutocrats. Asa matter of fact, Mr. Flynnn says, there are more car owners with incomes under SI4OO a year than with incomes of more than S7OOO. Three out of every five car-owners have incomes under S3OOO. How long, one wonders, can the willing auto bear up under these gathering burdens? CHAIN GANGS JN spite of Gov. Talmadge's defense ol Georgia's chain-gangs as “the most humane way” of Ireatlng prisoners, the American Prison Association concluded its Atlantic Congress by condemning them as ' utterly inconsistent with the dictates of humanity,” and offering its services to help fight them anywhere and everywhere. American public opinion will support the prison association, and not Gov. Talmadge. This is not only because chain gangs are inhumane, and unAmerican, but also because they don't work. The whipping post (also advocated by Gov TalDiadgei, the strait-jacket, starvation, shackles and tortures, chain gangs and other sadistic survivals of jungle justice do not reform men. They brutalize both the victims and the administrators. Mounting crime statistics prove they do not deter but increase crime, “Instead of cowing one man,” the Wickersham Commission reported four years ago, “repressive rules and tortures have aroused a hundred to greater hatred and discontent." The American Prison Association is to be praised for its determination to crusade for decent and scientific treatment of prisoners. SIOO,OOO-A-YEAR MEN UNITED STATES Supreme Court justices now come at SIOO,OOO a year. That's what they cost the taxpayers. The cost has more than doubled with the court's removal to its new' marble building. Figuring in terms of cases—the court handles approximately 1000 a year—it costs the taxpayers SB4O a case to settle these arguments, about fourfifths of them involving private litigation over property rights. Most of tlie justices’ time, however, is devoted to approximately 200 cases a term, which are found to involve major legal problems. Casting aside the 800 others at a few dollars, each of the 200 costs some $4200. The amount appropriated for the current year by Congress is $510,080, of which $416,000 is for salaries of the court and its staff. $49,080 for care of the buildings and grounds. $25,000 lor miscellaneous expenses, and $20,000 for printing and binding. To this must he added the interest charges on the people's capital investment of $11,000,000 in the building, which at 3 per cent is $330,000. Tms makes a total of $840,080. Two years ago the court's operation took an appropriation of only $315,173, out of which the justices then, as now. were paid $20,000 each, with the Chief Justice getting an added SSOO. Much of the added appropriation is taken up by about. 100 new employes, including many guards and about 40 charwomen. The new building is more popular with tourists, who have been thronging the building daily, than with the justices themselves. Justice Brandeis and one or two others have indicated they will not move into the oak-panelled offle® suites, complete with shower-baths, reserved for each of the nine. They will continue to work at home. Others, including Chief Justice Hughes, are at work in the new chambers. JOHNSON ON KOPEK "WT ’ pn - Johnson, “is business so fre- * ' quently 'at outs' with government?" Certainly not because of Secretary of Commeri® Dan Roper, target for the general's fifth philippic today. Is not business’ voice at least given a hearing in the councils of government? How about “Uncle Danny's” famous pipeline to the marts of trade, “The Business Advisory and Planning Council?" The general says Gerard Swope would be a better Secretary of Commerce. Why. the Roper Council includes not only Mr. Swope, but such other “luminous figures" as Messrs, du Pont, Raskob and Harriman. The general says Roper is a “political expert." We'll go further and say he's as near a political spoilsman as any man in the Washington picture. But never let it be said that his presence at the Cabinet table is an offense to business. HOUSING GIVES lOBS the first time, advocates of Federal low-cast housing have figures to buck in their claim that housing is an appropriate field for giving employment An analysis of costs of Knickerbocker Village in Nev. York City, one of the first such projects, has just b n made by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. It shows that a third of the total cost of the

apartment house was paid to workmen at the site. The 42 per cent spent for materials and the 25 per cent .pent for overhead both concealed additional payment* to labor engaged in producing and transporting materials and in clerical work and drafting. Labor got more than 50 per cent of the total cost of engineering and supervision, lathing and plastering, painting and decorating, and weatherproofing Material charges, on the other hand, were the mast important factor in items for carpentry, plumbing, heating and ventilating, structural steel, elevators and manufactured metal products. HAMILTON FISH, LIBERAL A LTHOUGH he has done It frequently in recent months, we are always a little startled when R®p. Hamilton Fish sounds off like a lusty liberal against the iniquities of the Old Guard Republican machine. Being in sympathy with what this tall and truculent New Yorker apparently is trying to do—to wit, kick out the old crowd and give the people a chance to reclaim the Republican party—we perhaps should not look a gift Fish in the mouth. But whenever we think of Ham Fish we can't help remembering the climax of his red hunt fiasco—when he raided a Baltimore warehouse for subversive documents and found a crate of lettuce. * ANTIOCH AND GARDEN CITY 'T'HE President warned the other day against A “ruthless depletion of the soil” which has resulted in “waste on a colossal scale.” symbolized by “dust storms and mud-laden streams.” He outlined a long-time AAA program designed to "protect the nation's heritage of soil.” If there be any who think Mr. Roosevelt was viewing with needless alarm, they should read this, from a study of soil erosion in the current issue of Fortune: “The city of Antioch was a rich and dissolute cty in the "days of Paul. Its markets were famous throughout Asia Minor. Its morals were infamous as far as Rome . . . “Today Antioch is a miserable Syrian town of 30.000 and the archaeologists who excavate its ancient stones may shovel through some 18 feet of mountain-washed detritus. Those who believe the laws of nature are at one with moral law will take a lively satisfaction in that fact. Those who believe that the laws of nature are no respecters of virtue will feel otherwise. To them the stripped declivities of the Taurus and the Lebanon above the ancient city will recall a nearer and a more familiar scene . . . “There is, after all, no philosophic difference between the fate of Antioch in Syria and the possible fate of Garden City in Kansas. Except perhaps this: That the fate of Garden City in Kansas is approaching more rapidly than the fate of Antioch approached.” RETURN TO INDIANA BY McC'READY HUSTON Chiff Editorial Writer /'GETTING back to Indiana is getting home. I am not a native, but 12 years in the state made me feel like one. Yet those 12 years did not convince me as they should have. I had to go away to learn. Getting back to Indianapolis is something. I never lived nere; my previous incarnation in the state was spent in St. Joseph County. But I was here often; and here I had such kindly friends. Hewitt Howiand was one. Meredith Nicholson was another. The late Albert J. Beveridge befriended me voluntarily when I was trying to make a beginning as a writer. Then there was Kin Hubbard, and D. L. Chambers. Hewitt Howland's charming home in New York was often a refuge for me when I was doing newspaper work there after leaving Indiana. Curious how you pick up the old threads when you come back to the warm-hearted Middle West It's the same in any part of the Great Valley, I suspect; but it is strongly true of Indiana. I had hardly arrived when old friends I hadn t seen oi heard of in years were trying to reach me at The Times, to see how they could help me get oriented. If I am to do any work I shall have to beg off from many of the invitations. I’ve been around a bit since I left Indiana. I've worked and lived in New' York, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Scranton and Pittsburgh. But in spite oi their charming people and their advantages—all different—l missed something. I knew what it was when I arrived here to begin my duties. It was Indiana. And back to writing editorials and other newspaper things. For I was out of that for a while, Leaching. I feel like Kipling's soldier on re-enlisting: “Back to the army again, sergeant; Back to the army again— Where did I learn to do right about turn? I’m back to the army again.” And I hope they let me stay.

A WOMAN’S VIEWPOINT By Mrs. Halter Ferguson

'f'STOMEN with small children and no servants * * have a special recreational problem. Unless relatives help out occasionally, some of them are never so fortunate as the American business man to whom the President was lately so reassuring. They get no breathing spell. When they are young enough themselves to long for diversions, there is only one thing for them to do—take their babies along when they leave home. Sometimes, watching these poor tired children, one wishes such women might be more considerate, for they trot the poor little things through long aisles of department stores while they finger materials and hang over the trinket counters. The children cry, and no wonder. They can t see the gorgeous array of merchandise which so allures their mothers. Being only about knee high to adults, their scenery consists of multitudes of trousered and skirted legs and the blank walls of counters. They are just confused midgets in a world of giants, who surround them, shutting off the air and the view and threatening to crush them at every turn. When the necessity forces the mother to run her own errands, she should lay her plans carefully so that the trip may be made an adventure for the children. Certainly a part of their weariness on such trips is due to plain boredom. They can t see anything: they never know what all the pushing and shoving about is for. or whither they are bound. With a little ingenuity things might be different. Immediately after their daily nap. the children could be promised a special treat, and if upon each trip they were shown and taught something, and pains were made to go to some special place of interest to them, what is now an ordeal for mother and children could become a pleasure for both. I personally think that Geneva should discuss the necessity of colonies being given to over-popu-lated countries. The world simply must recognize the problem and do something about it.—ltalo Balbo, governor general of Libya.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

| STILL LOOKING FOR THAT NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK! y. . T_ . , ,>*■ - _

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, religious ' controversies excluded. Make tiour tetters short so all can have a chance. Limit them to 2..0 words or less. Your letter must he sinned, but names Will be withheld on reauest.) b a b HAS SUGGESTION FOR MR. ROOSEVELT By H. L. S. The President asked America's business leaders for suggestions as to how r to increase w ; ages. Business regards labor as a commodity, with the greatest flexibility in the matter of price control. Controlled commodities vary little in price, as they become a part of production in industry, so employers find the flexible point at the labor counter. The new policy is to attempt price control over those commodities that have heretofore been controlled by supply and demand, without regard to producers' ability to pay production costs. One instance is farm products | and needs. During the depression years the price of farm machinery has varied but little from prede- | pression years, but the quantity of production has varied greatly, fall- [ ing off immensely as farm income declined. Control of production in farm | machinery is concentrated, while j farm production is subject to the weather and millions of individual producers without regard to the buyer's ability to pay. Control of production, while there is an unsatisfied want, regardless of the price, is against public m- ! terest, and results in continuous , lower standards of living, even though a temporary price gain is obtained. Every human want must be satisfied before curtailment of production in any line is sound, from the social welfare angle. Only those commodities that are scarce by reason of a deficiency in production facilities should be controlled by the law of supply and demand as to price, to encourage increased production. Where adequate facilities for production exist, a planned program of production that will meet | the highest consumption standard I should be initiated. We commit a grave social crime if we permit sabotage in any line of production in which every human need has not been met. Competition

Switzerland BY BERTRAM DAY One revels in the scenes of Switzerland Where solid mountain roads are unsurpassed, And charming vales are beautiful and grand— A dreamland where eternal snow-s are massed! Fair Interlaken is its beauty place. For here the Jungfrau, queen of Alpine heights, Reveals the sparkling snowflakes on her face And shows her feet encased in icebound nights. j -r k And Lake Lucerne, her dazzling diamond spot. Lies sleeping and reflecting chalets’ bliss: Its shores re-echo Shiller's pulsing plot As waters tell the storv of the Swiss! j Resplendent is this land of scenic charms. It is God's playground folded in His 1 armr. j

Asks Definition of “Americanism”

By Subscriber When w'e hear Commander Murphy of the American Legion talk about Americansm, without explaining what it is, we wonder just w'hat he means. Does he mean a nation where we have economic security, peace and plenty for every citizen, or a banker-controlled nation in which about 3 per cent of the population get the cream of the wealth and the actual producers get a few crumbs? Do these self-appointed “Constitution savers” know that rad-ical-minded people are responsible for the progress of the world? That the constitutional rights of the common people are trampled on daily under the present system? It is silly to cry “Communism"

is no longer necessary in thase lines of production that can supply an abundance for the highest possible consumption. Co-ordination of production to eliminate duplication and waste energy is essential in those industries, in order to release energy for those with undeveloped or inadequate facilities. Raising wages means absolutely nothing if prices

Questions and Answers

Inclose * 3-rent stamp (or reply when addressing an; question ot (act or inlormation to The Indianapolis Times Washington Information Bureau. Legal and medical advice can not be civen. nor can extended research be undertaken. Re sure all mall is addressed to The Indianapolis limes Washington Bureau, Frederick M. Kerby. Direetcr. 1013 Thirteenth-st. N. W.. Washington. O. C. THE EDITOB. Q—Are raisins dried grapes? A—They are grapes of a special type that are dried in the sun. or by artificial heat. They have a higher sugar content, and a flavor quite different from fresh grapes. Q —Please give the suicide stastistics for the United States between the years 1929 and 1934. A—ln 1929, 16,260; 1930, 18.551; 1931, 20,088: 1932 , 20.927; 1933, 19,993; 1934, 18,828. Q —Give the area of Los Angeles. A—lt contains 440.32 square miles. Q—Who was Secretary of the Treasury during the administration cf President Polk? A—Robert J. Walker. Q —Has the selection. "Wilt Thou Have My Hand,” sung by Norma Shearer in "The Barretts of Wimpole Street,” been published. A—The words are Elizabeth Barrett Browming's poem, “Inclusions.” set to music by Herbert Stothart. It has not been published. Q —What is heliotropism? A—That property of an organism. by virtue of which, when not symmetrically illuminated on ell sides, it tends to move either toward or away from the source of light. When it moves, orients itself, or curves las a plant)

whenever sound progressive measures are proposed for human welfare. One wonders if capitalism has discovered that it needs a bogeyman in an attempt to frighten people so that it will furnish an excuse to defend an obnoxious system. The old “red herring” has been dragged out so much that it is putrid. I do not believe in Communism, nor am Ia Communist. lam one of a group that believes the day of individualism is done. By using common sense the people could vote into power a system that would give them peace and economic security. Socialism points the way and it Is up to the people to save themselves if they want the better things of life.

rise higher than will permit topnotch consumption. Raising production to the highest possible consumption level spells real prosperity. Bookkeeping profits mean nothing to society if we go bankrupt in consumption power. To set the pace for industry the government can start the wageraising program to its amploves.

toward the light, it is positive heliotropism; when away from it, negative heliotropism. Q—What is a tierce? A—A British measure containing 36 imperial gallons. An imperial gallon equals approximately 1.2 U, S. gallons. Q—Give the name of the United States Commissioner of Patents. A—Conway P. Coe. Q —How many children has Ethel Barrymore, the actress? A—Two sons and one daughter. Q —What rifles besides Springfields were used by American troops in the World War? A—The modified 1917 Enfield rifles were also used. Q —What is the name of the theme song played by Ben Bernie’s orchestra? A—“lt’s a Lonesome Old Town.” Q —How old is Robert Donat, who played the role of Culpepper in “The Private Life of Henry VUI”? A—Thirty. Q —Can donkeys swim? A—They can swim short distances, but not as well as mules and horses, because their legs are shorter, and they do not have the strength. Q —What is the Negro population of Denver. Colo ? A—The 1930 census enumerated 7204. Q—How many centimeters are there in two inches? A—5.08. Q —When does cotton flower in southern Texas? A—Cotton planted in February and March begins to flower in April. Usually it is flowering in May and June, and is harvested in July.

It also can set up sample production units with the highest degree of efficiency. To set the pace for all industries, these goods to be sold to government units and employees. Hooverian competition is fallacious. Consumption subsidies may be the answer to the query as to how to raise wages to permit higher production and consumption levels. WPA merely stops production and consumption from falling lower, but it will not intensify either to its limit. tt tt tt THINKS KILLING DOG AN INHUMAN ACT Bv Elsi* Pfrkina On the morning of Oct. 31, while going downtown, I witnessed a rather horrible sight. A car went around the bus I was on and struck a dog that was crossing the street. The driver of that ear could not have helped seeing the dog, but he did not slow Gown in the least. He did not even stop after he hit the dog. Are people in such a hurry that they can run over a dog and leave it writhing and crying in helpless pain?. They shouldn’t be. Any person who has no more feeling than to leave a dog like that would probably do the same thing to a human. Can’t we do something about them? Daily Thought Greater love hath no man than this, that, a man lay down his life for his friends.—-St. John 15:13. LET friendship creep gently to a height; it it, rushes t,o it, it may soon run itself out of breath.— Fuller.

SIDE GLANCES

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“A few more defeats like that, professor, and we’ll never draw crowds enough to pay for that stadium.” v y iv',. , fy

N'OV. 2, 1935

Washington Merrv-Go-Round

BY DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. ALLEN. XV7" ASHING TON. Nov. 2 —Secre- * * tary Hull's next reciprocal trade agreement will be with France. Announcement of the pact is slated for around the middle of the month. . . . Gen. Johnson's excited outcries about the influence of Prof. Felix Frankfurter in the New Deal are giving the inner circle a big laugh With great relish they recall his equally excited efforts to persuade the Harvard law professor to accept the past of general counsel of the NR A. . Both Secretary lekes and Harry Hopkins admit being seasick during their recent cruise with the President. Says Hopkins painfully: Boy. I'll say we were sick!" Secretary Morgenthau now knows what it means to be on the receiving end of a government-cornrolled press. Landing in dictator-ruled Portugal, he remarked casually to reporters that he understood their country was enjoying real prasperity. Next morning's papers quoted him a6 great length to the effect that Portugal was the best ruled and most prosperous country in the world. a a a T EGISLATION prohibiting the manufacture of motor vehicles with a speed above 50 or 60 miles an hour may be offered at the coming session. Senator Burton K. Wheeler and Rep. Sam Rayburn, chairmen of the Senate and House Interstate Commerce committees, have discussed such a bill. . . . Despite the fact that no President of the United States ever has mart*# a flight, the Navy keeps a special amphibian plane in constant readiness for his use. . . . Washington’s winter convention season will get under way Nov. 18-20 with one of the most important gatherings of Ihe year, the annual meeting of the Conference of Mayors. All cities of 50,000 and over will be represented. General topic of this year s convention will b® “Federal and Municipal Relationships'' The ritv officials will be received by the President. addressed by WPA Chief Hopkins. ... A quiet purge of antipublic power elements within the PWA has just been completed by Secretary Ickes. A number of officials. charged with holding up municipal power projects, have been eased out. . . . FERA chiefs gradually are succumbing to Washington atmosphere. The rule that when Boss Harry Hopkins boards an elevator in the FERA building it proceeds immediately to his destination has been extended to include his lieutenants, Corrington Gill, Mrs. Ellen Woodward and Aubrey Williams. Jake Baker, another assistant, refuses to permit any preference for himself, but Williams, much to the quiet amusement of his associates, takes the rule seriously. non SIGNS of the times: Steel has jumped 17 per cent ahead of last year’s output. . . . More washing machines were manufactured in the last nine months than in all of 1934. They were twice the number produced in 1933 and 1932. . . Construction has pulled up from 18 per cent behind 1934 to a bare 1 per cent. . . . Silk and rayon output are soaring, the former 13 per cent above last year, despite a marked increase in price. . . . Machine tools continue their skyward climb, zooming 88 per cent above 1934. ~ . Cotton consumption jumped to 3 per cent above last year's total, and wool to 96 ppr cent more than 1934. . . . Secretary Morgenthau, just returned from a month's visit to Europe, Is very bullish in private. The Treasury boss is telling intimates that one reason for the stock market boom is the large quantity of jittery foreign money being poured into United States securities. .. , Senator Pat Harrison, chairman of the Finance Committee, has asked W. Jett Lauck. liberal economist, to write a report for his committee on the NRA. Lauck plans to recommend new industrial legislation calling for a short work-week, minimum pay scales and stringent control of profits. non NORRIS, model TVA town, has all the refinements of modern society—a newspaper, a librarv, a beauty parlor and a nursemaid' who volunteers to care for the children during the evening at 25 cents an hour. iCopvright. 1935 bv Unr-d Svrrilra'p. Inr.i

By George Clark