Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 212, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 November 1935 — Page 14

PAGE 14

The Indianapolis Times (A SCKIPPS-HOWABD NEWSPAPER) BOV W HOWARD President Lt'DWELL PENNY Editor EAKL L). HAKI.It ......... Business Manager

<f/./rpv - mow urn Gi'-i t,ir)ht nn<l th 9 />o pit Will fin* Their Own Way

Member of United Pres*. ScrlppsHoward Newspaper Alliance, News, piper Enterprise Association. Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulations. Owned and published dally (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times Publishing Cos.. 214-220 \V. Marjland-st. Indianapolis, lnd. Brice In Marlon County. 3 cent* a copy; delivered by carrier, 12 cent* a week. Mall subscription rates In Indiana. $3 a year: outside of Indiana, 63 cents a month. Thona RI ley 5351

WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER 13, 1935. THEN AND NOW r T''HE American Bankprs Association, convened in New Orleans, is hearing some speeches quite difTcrrnt from the desperate tunes sung by the bankers' guild in the dark days of 1929 and the early thirties. President Rudolf Hecht says the government must "withdraw from many fields of business." A Utah banker named Orval Adams, less moderate, agitates for what amounts to a bankers’ strike against further financing of government loans until such time as the government satisfies the bankers it intends to balance the budget, practice "rigid economy" and evolve "a sound tax plan.” Doubtless, the government could stand some preaching on account of its spending operations. But hardly from the bankers. Many of these government borrowings were made in order to save the banks themselves. More than three billion dollars were invested by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in loans to banks, investments in bank capital and loans to depositors in closed banks. All of the 7.6 billion dollars the RFC nas authorized in loans, exclusive of various congressional authorizations, was lent either to banks and their depositors or to railroads, insurance companies, mortgage firms and private industries—businesses then unable to obtain credit from private banks. This 7.6 billion dollars which the government has thrown to banking and business is greater than the 7.3 billions spent by cities, states and Federal government in the last two and a half years for relief of human beings. And w'hat, one wonders, would have happened to the banks if the government had not gone into business. In 1930, 1931 and 1932, banks to the number Os 5112 were closed. By March 4, 1933, it seemed necessary for all of them to close. Thanks largely to government in business, the banks have regained their health. Thanks also to the government, bank depositors have regained their confidence. Os course, the government should balance its budget, evolve a “sound tax plan" and withdraw from private business as soon as private business shows it is ready to take over the job. Until such time, however, it is unseemly for bankers to threaten to strike against the government that saved them. SOL S. KISER / T'HE history of Sol S. Kiser, who died yesterday, -*■ was similar to that of a number of Indiana merchants and financiers who came here in early daj*s and began to supply ihe wants of their communities. By thrift and industry they accumulated surpluses which went into larger enterprises and into good works. Mr. Kiser’s good works were characteristic of the high type of Jewish citizen everywhere. An orphans’ home, a hospital, the Community Fund—welfare organizations which needed his financial help and business advice, received them in large measure. He lived many years to benefit the city. EXPENSIVE PATKONAGE TF Chairman Cochran and his committee on expenA ditures in the executive departments gets to the bottom of extravagance in government departments, some congressional toes will be stepped on. Because the executive offices of the government nrp kept alive by congressional appropriations, congressmen are able to put their constituents on the pay roll and keep them there even after their services are no longer needed. A case in point is NRA. Ever since the Schechter decision and passage of the law' last spring making NRA a mopping-up agency, the executives of that agency have been trying to get rid of employes who can no longer be used. Yet after months of effort to economize, NRA is still grossly overstaffed —and with constituents of influential congressmen whose threats of reprisal harass and frustrate what should be an orderly demobilization. Investigations like the one now being started by Rep. Cochran's committee usually head into recommendations that “overlapping" agencies be merged. And when the merger is effected, there is usually such a mad scramble to fix up jobs for everybody concerned that in the end nothing has been saved for the taxpayers. We should like to suggest a law’ making it a criminal offense for a congressman to recommend an executive appointment. This would result in speedy rationalization of Federal expenditures. For then congressmen would be free to devote their time to legislation and to watching how the tax dollars are spent. SERVANTS FOR FARM HOMES \ FTER months of careful preparation, the Rural Electrification Administration has put in motion a program which is designed eventually to carry electncity to millions of farm homes. Twenty-year amortization loans at 3 per cent have been made in six states to build 1125 miles of new rural electric distribution lines, serving 4247 farms. That means 4247 new prospective customers for electric refrigerators, water heaters, washing machines. ranges, vacuum cleaners, irons, utility motors, milking machines. It means 4247 new prospective purchasers of electric pumps and plumbing equipment so- running water. It means electric wiring for mat many houses and barns and sheds. It means that 4247 farm families for the first time get a chance to share in some of the conveniences which city families long have accepted as necessities. HEALTH IS VOTED IN ENTUCKY, by ballot, has restored health and glowing spirits to thousands of its citizens and what was probably the most stubborn epidemic of ill health ever recorded in medical history'. This voting miracle results from the repeal of the dry amendment to the Kentucky Constitution which forbade the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquor as a bererage. After the state joined in the national vote to repeal the eighteenth amendment, the lawmakers , threaded their way gingerly around the state's own unrepealed amendment to satisfy the popular de-

sire for a drink. They broadened the regulations permitting liquor for medicinal, sacramental and mechanical purposes so as to allow every’ ailing adult to “write his own prescription." Scores of good citizens very soon felt all the symptoms of a rundown condition and prescribed liquor as the cure. This state-wide malady continued to rage until the voters decided last week to take the "ballot cure” and again enjoy liquor purely as a beverage. FOR BETTER PERSONNEL r T''IIE effort of the National League of Women Voters to cause men and women to look on government service as a profession and a career is to be commended. The league soon is to have a week devoted to a campaign for improved personnel. An effort will be made to arouse the people to the necessity of trained workers instead of mere job holders. This ties m with new courses in government services being offered in some universities. Many political scientists leel the time has come when the colleges should prepare a number of public career graduates every year. The absence of men and women trained in government work holds off the objective of the league. In Indiana the league is as energetic as anywhere. The state offices are getting ready for an appeal to all citizens. We wish them success. INDIANA STUDENT AID r T''HE current monthly aid to 2697 college students in Indiana is $40,455 of Federal money. National Youth Administration pays each needy student not more than sls a month, depending on the number of hours he works at tasks chosen by his college. To 105 candidates for advanced degrees slslO has been allotted. The amounts and the scope are about the same as those of the FERA. which had charge of the same assistance last year. We have had some opportunity of studying the effect on the students of NYA help. They do not think of it as charity, but as welcome and vital means offered to them. In the typing, filing, reading and other work they do for the professors in exchange for the money, they get valuable experience in co-operation and accepting supervision. Perhaps NYA stands next to CCC in importance and value to the youth. IMPORTANT RESEARCH T) UBLI CITY given by the American Medical Association to research in dementia praecox is an important contribution to knowledge. No cure is predicted, but the blood stream treatment is described hopefully. The mental ailment called dementia praecox is among the saddest afflictions because recovery is rare and doctors have not been able to find a certain remedy. When the disease finds a victim, the progress usually is slow so that the symptoms are not recognized by the family. There is also the barrier of dislike for revealing mental illness. For a number of years some distinguished psychiatrists have been working on the theory that, by enriching the blood of the patient, they could improve the condition of the brain. Thus the chemical laboratory became a part of the mental hospital’s equipment. To the layman, and especially to parents, this research suggests that a preventive of mental illness may be care of the bodily health. Mental breakdowns are often preceded by physical illness too long disregarded. It suggests also that mental sickness be treated openly as any other disease and without the sense of shame which keeps the patient away from the doctors.

WHAT IS THE ANSWER? WHAT is left of the old shipping board has just chartered eight government vessels to the Lykes Brothers’ interests of Texas. These ships are part of a block of 52 sold to Lykes. Legality of the original sales contract was questioned after 43 ships had been delivered. That question still stands, but it appears now that there is no need, so far as the principals are concerned, to settle it. Secretary of Commerce Roper has entered into an agreement with Lykes which turns over eight of the nine undelivered ships to this company, thereby circumventing the challenge to the original contract. Lykes Brothers have been charged by the Postoffice Department with obtaining some 30 million dollars of ocean mail contracts illegally. Investigation showed these contracts had netted enormous profits. Lykes Brothers have been involved in charges of paying gratuities to Secretary Roper’s steamboat inspectors in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Lykes Brothers are reported at present trying to break the strike of longshoremen at gulf ports by using strike breakers. Why, therefore, do Lykes Brothers continue to enjoy the complete and most remunerative confidence of the Secretary of Commerce? A WOMAN’S VIEWPOINT By Mrs. Walter Ferguson VTOV. 17 marks the beginning of Children's Book Week. The event will be observed impressively in the cities where books are available to every one, and will go practically unnoticed in th ecountry. One of my pet peeves against the book publishers and book lovers in general is that they have made so slight an effort to extend literary interest by awakening it in what is now the most fertile ground left—the rural community. While money is scarcer in the country, a certain amount is spent each year for amusement and pleasure. Country people drive automobiles and go to picture snows and football games and buy pulp magazines by the ton. Let's look at the question from another angle. Nowadays the mother who loves books herself spends time reading to her children. She begins before they know their A B C’s, for she realizes this is the one sure way to instill such a fondness in them and to cultivate a taste for the best City libraries also make the effort to reach very young readers in this fashion. Now, if such taste and love can be taught to little ones in bookish surroundings, is it far-fetched to say it can also be cultivated, at least in some measure, in those who come from bookless homes? While we have made great progress at the job, the money for libraries and new books is still the hardest to get in any community. As yet the publishers have not tried to make us book-conscious as the car manufacturers have made us car-conscious. And it can be done. Do you ask how? By having some local person in every rural community and small town conduct a story-telling hour for tots and a reading hour for older children. If a few really excellent books could be made available to such individuals, who knows what the results might be in increased business for the publishers and increased happiness for the adults of the future? I write this, not to drum up trade for anybody, but because I believe the love of good books is the best for making a good life.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Squaring The Circle With McCREADY HUSTON

TJEFORE the football season ends I wish to write about a most amusing and valuable organization which has come into being as a byproduct of college athletics. Not much attention has been paid to it. but I predict that the time will come when men will covet memberships. I refer to the College of the North, composed of sports writers, coaches and members of the fringe which makes an autumn avocation of big games. While a charity game was being played in Baltimore the writers and administrative men were immured in a hotel by bad weather. With time on their hands, they formed the original College of the North to organize all of the camp-followers, downtown coaches, Monday morning quarter backs and reporters. It has reached the dignity of a letterhead and officers. William J. McClintock Jr. of Harrisburg, Pa., is president. Bill is a Notre Dame man and one of those who follows his favorite team around the country. It is impossible to do business with Bill between Thursday and Monday during the fall.

a tt a /'NNE of the officers of the College of the North is Chester Lindley Smith, sports editor of the Pittsburgh Press. Since I am a member, I wrote to Chester, asking him if, at the next convocation the college, through its extension department, could grant a charter for this city. Chester writes: "The College of the North holds its annual autumn faculty meeting and ox roast the coming Saturday and the matter of a charter for an : Indianapolis branch will be taken | up and passed amidst much unrefined laughter and singing. A charter will be forwarded immediately.” a a a A MEDIUM of meeting and exj pression for the men who fol- | low football is a genuine civic neces- | sity. Indianapolis men like Paul G. I Bigler need it. Paul was a line coach at Princeton in the days of Bill Roper. His 14-year-old son is at Lawrenceville, where, in spite of his youth, he made the second team. If all the ex-players and coaches and the semi-mad laymen could meet every Monday and hear somebody discuss the upsets of the previous Saturday they would benefit from the opportunity to blow’ off. Paul played on the same team as “Biffy” Lea, whose wife writes so tou.hingly of mothers of football players in the current Ladies’ Home Journal. I have seldom read a magazine article which packed so much deft humor and pathos into so few words. a a a Ti/TOTHERS have a hard time at -*■*■*• football games. So do fathers. My own lad was on the 80pound team at Haverford for two years. The first year he was a tackle and I shall not soon forget his face as he charged and how he nervously gestured to the end on his side to drift or spread. The next year he was the full back and the Philadelphia Ledger printed a picture of his making a touchdown against Episcopal Academy. The mothers have their hard time through fear of injuries. I suspect the fathers think less of injuries than they do of their lost youth. I know that when I watched my boy running to glory I thought of the lines good old Grantland Rice wrote years ago: "Back in the vanished country there’s a dream that used to be Os a name within the city and a fame beyond the sea— And it’s strange that, turning gray, still a fellow looks away To the dream he knows has vanished, down the road to yesterday.” a a a T SUPPOSE that the basic reason l why I feel kindly to the New I Deal is because it has given the in- | nocents a better chance. ! My 12-year old bowled me over a week or so ago by remarking, after reading some of the goings-on in the papers: "What we need is somebody like they had 1935 years | ago.” You just naturally have to give a chance to people like that. ONE POINT OF VIEW On Saving vs. Spending IN many industries the life of equipment runs only four or I five years. Since 1930 there has | been little capital investment in such 1 replacements. . . . Even the ediI tor of Today is said to have stated ; that there exists a potential demand for replacement alone in the amount of $19,000,000,000. If this pentup demand can be released and made effective by the investment of individual savings, the greatest void in our present economy will be filled. Workmen 1 by the million will be re-employed in the very industries in which unemployment is the worst. It is to the accomplishment of this task that all recovery efforts of the government should' be directed. But common sense and every j precedent show that, if that de- J mand is to be released and financed.! the investment of additional savings will be required. Hence it looks I painfully clear that, in our present predicament, the investment of a! dollar of savings can do more to relieve unemplovment than can a dollar of additional consumer spending. Thrift is still a virtue. (Lewis W. Douglas, former United States Budget Director, in Atlantic Monthly.)

WATCHING WITH INTEREST

- C'KBj*'

The Hoosier Forum 1 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, relialous controversies excluded. Make vour letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to 250 words or less. Your letter must be sinned, but names will be withheld on reaucst.) a a a NEW DEAL ASSURED OF SUPPORT HERE By Hawcreek Township Relief Men There have been letters in several Indiana newspapers stating that not one in a thousand of those who get relief are deserving; that we always have been poor and ignorant and will remain so forever; that we dawdle and fiddle around making a day’s work last from a week to ten days. Would hungry people be so choosey? it is asked. If one man has to work for his food order he becomes a green-eyed monster—if the other 999 do not have to do the same thing. We know how we lived under the last four years of Republican Administration. What did it do for us? Nothing! In November, 1936, we are voting and working and will do everything we can for the New Deal, the Democrat Party! The party that stands for the people and the poor relief men who want to work for an honest living. The New Deal not only has stood by us; it has stood by the man in the factory, by all labor, the farmer and the business man. That's the party we want and will vote for in 1936. Farmers are getting good prices. Banks are in good shape. Factories are running, most of them. Business men can sell their goods and everybody ought to be satisfied. a a a ASKS YOUNGSTERS BE GIVEN CHANCE By M. E. V. In my opinion one reason we have this depression, perhaps the main reason, is the tremendous number of over-age workers, who, with inhuman disregard of youth's right to

Questions and Answers

Inclose a 8-cent stamp tor reply when addressing any question of fact or information to The Indian* spoils Times Washington Information Bureau. Legal and medical advice can not be given, nor can extended research be undertaken. Be sure all mall is addressed to The Indianapolis Times Washington Bureau, Frederick M. Kerby. Director, 1013 Thirteenth-st, N. W„ Washington. D. C. Q —How does Secretary Harold Ickes pronounce his name? A—lk'eez, with a short i as in it. Q—What was the final vote in the Senate on the Guffey Coal Act? A—The bill passed 45 to 37. Q—Who coined the phrase, "The I Fourth Estate’’? A—Carlyle credited Edmund ! Burke with originating the expression, but Dr. Frank H. Vizetelly declares that it is much older, having originated with Lord Falkland in ! the days when Richard was Lord i Protector of England. He applied iit to the army. Since then it has been applied to the laboring class, and more recently to the press. Q —What portfolios does Benito I Mussolini hold in the Italian cabi- | net? A—Prime minister, minister of the interior, foreign affairs, colonies, war, navy, air and corporations. Q—What is the circumference of the earth at the equator? A—About 25,000 miles. Q—Who was the mother of Napoleon I? A—Laetitia (Letizia) Ramolino. Q—ls there a town in Kentucky called Hot Spot? A—Yes; in Letchrr County, about six miles west of Whitesburg. Q —How old was the race horse Jim Dandy when he defeated Gallant Fox and Whichone? When did the race occur? A—Jim Dandy was a 3-year-olu and the race was the Travers' Stakes, at Saratoga, NT. _Y, Aug. 16,

progress, are holding onto the better jobs. Age counts against workers only when they seek work. Those w’ho have employment are favored, because of “experience,” also, being long established, *they have better connections and are thus retained when layoffs occur, or when all concerned know that younger men should be used. When youngsters graduate from school or college, they are prepared and anxious to get into the field for which they have studied. They even are filled with romantic notions of “doing it better” and making the world a b’tter place to live in. But what has been their lot in the last five years? Disillusion hardly answers; rather they have been confronted with an almost insurmountable wall. These old boys have made good salaries for a goodly portion of their service and are or should be well enough situated financially to retire without any sacrifice in their scale of living. Especially is this true where they can retire with a pension. In fact, most of these oldsters w’ould get more on pension than laborers and small clerks earn; and these latter have growing families to support, whereas the others long ago saw their children “set up” for themselves. In closing, I wish to tell of a young friend of mine who said when an oldster's job was being discussed; “Give me that job and I’ll put five men to work.” He meant that he would set up housekeeping and spend money, something the oldsters quit doing long ago. a a a HERE’S A PROPOSAL FOR TRAFFIC CONTROL By Jimmy Cafouros It is evident that revolutionary J changes are necessary with the present city traffic system. Time and j again it has been decried, derided,; and deluged with criticism. Some- | thing constructive, however, must be : done. There was a time, not so many j years ago, when each intersection !

1030. He was owned by Chaffee Earl of California. Q —Why do some dogs cover bones with their noses instead of their paws? A—Probably because it is easier for them to see how well they are covering the bone; also it gives them a last smell of it. Q —What company or organization is conducting the salvaging operations of the Lusitania. A—The Tritonia Cos. of Glasgow, Scotland. Q —Who wrote the opera, “lolanthe”? A—W. S. Gilbert wrote the libretto and Arthur S. Sullivan composed the music. Q—What are the dimensons of the new German airship LZ-129? A —lt is reported to be 815 feet long, maximum diameter, 137 feet; gas volume 7,000,000 cubic feet; gross lifting capacity, 418,000 pounds. Q—How much does it cost to build a battleship? A—The costs of United States battleships range from $10,028,826 to $27,564,481. Q—Why did Clark Gable and Rita Langham go through two marriage ceremonies? A—They were married in New York in 1930, before the first Mrs. Gable (Josephine Dillon) had obtained a final decree of divorce in California. They were legally wed in New York, but not in California. At the time, they had no intention of going to California, but when they did go, it was necessary for them to have a second ceremony performed on June 29, 1931. Q—Give the corect pronounciation of gladiolus. A—Gla - dai’ - o - lus, accent is on the second syllable. Q—Who is American minister to Paraguay? A—Findley J. Howard,

was the policeman’s own business. The traffic officer in charge of the comer ran the affair much as he saw fit. What went on a block away was the other officer’s business. Horses still were making their exit from the contemporary picture, cars were not so fast on the getaway (the getaway and speed developed along with the brakes) and there was not the interdependence between corners, the pressure among neighboring intersections that there is today. Now for an idea. Many times before I have suggested it. Once I went to reigning mogul of the traffic department with the idea. He saw fit to jest and play a very practical joke. Nevertheless, here I am back with the same idea: Place semaphores at every intersection in the mile square, with alternating stop -and .go signals timed to take a car all the way through the mile square without stopping. Alternate both ways. For example, when east-west traffic is crossing one intersection the adjacent intersections are being crossed by north-south traffic. There is only one fly in the ointment—the avenues. But even that problem can be adjusted. Take the regular time for the two signals (as in an ordinary intersection) and split it three ways (so as to include the avenue). Then fit the avenue's third neatly between the east-west and north-south intervals. More again. THOUGHTS BY HARRIETT SCOTT OLINICK My thoughts today are pure as prayers Serene-faced nuns chant on a string. My mind has locked its doors against All malice, all remembering. But alabaster thoughts are dull Mincing about in righteous dress. I’d rather have one sword-keen thought, To cut me with cold ruthlessness! DAILY THOUGHTS And when He was at the place, He said unto them. Pray that ye enter not into temptation.—St. Luke xxii, 40. DO all that you can to stand, and then fear lest you may fall, and by the grace of God you are safe.—Tryon Edwards.

SIDE GLANCES By George Clark

! 'iiillM Li Mil? - - - - ew WWtwtWC tt'

“Jerry, what’s this nonsense I hear about you being a possible candidate for president?"

NOV. 13, 1935

Washington Merry-Go-Round

BY DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. ALLEN. WASHINGTON. Nov. 13.—The behind-the-scenes struggle over the remains of the NRA is passing rapidly frem comedy to fantasy. While MaJ. George Berry, Coordinator for Industrial Recovery, energetically is ballyhooing his Dec. 9 conference of business and labor to revive the Blue Eagle, a little by-play is going on behind his back. ’ Uncle Dan" Roper is pushing secret plans to absorb the remnants of the NRA into his Commerce Department. Under Mr. Roper's scheme, all sections of the NRA except the Re- 1 search and Planning Division would be junked This one remaining division would be incorporated in the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. Mr. Roper's plan is not mere wish-thinking. It has progressed to the point where Ernest G. Draper, assistant commerce secretary, and L. j. Martin, acting NRA administrator, have discussed what personnel should be retained or dismissed. Mr. Martin, incidentally, plans to fly the Blue Eagle roost just after Mr. Berry's industry-labor “congress" meets. Relations between him and Mr. Berry are friendly only on the surface. For all practical purposes, he has been superseded as NRA boss. Mr. Roper's plan is known fully to the White House, but it is being kept under the blankets in order not to throw a damper on Mr. Berry’s forthcoming three-ring circus. The inside whisper in the Commerce Department Is that the NRA absorption is slated for around the first of the year. The President has the authority to make the transfer by executive order. His decision will be guided, it is hinted, on what happens at : Mr. Berry's show. If it proves a dud, the ax will fall and the NRA will pass out. a a a WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN may have had tough sledding as Secretary of State, but his daughter, Ruth Bryan Owen, is at least one woman in the New Deal who has made good. At first welcomed with considerable skepticism as United States Minister to Denmark, she has won/ the genuine affection of the Danes. Mrs. Owen also has solved the economic problem. She made a tour of Greenland —Danish possession—on a United States Coast Guard vessel, sent at government expense by her good friend Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau. The book produced as a result of this trip is featured in the bookstores of Copenhagen. And every American tourist buys a copy. a a a THE Bituminous Coal Board has decided to delve into a mystery that has perplexed consumers for many, many years. It is out to unravel the “why” of the high retail cost of coal when it sells at the minehead for only $2 and $3 a ton. The board thinks the w’ide differential between the original wholesale price and the final retail figure is unwarranted, and wants to know if this view is justified. According to the United States Bureau of Mines, the average price of soft coal at the minehead last year was $1.82 a ton, with the average freight charge adding another $2.15. This makes an average wholesale cost per ton of $3.97. But the av-y erage price to consumers was double this figure. This important probe will be carried out by Thomas N. Woodward, the board's newly appointed consumers’ counsel. Under the provisions of the Guffey Coal Act, the consumers’ counsel (only office of its kind in the government service) is independent of the board and has wide powers. Mr. Woodward is well qualified for the job. For several years he was on the staff of the Interstate Commerce Commission, assisted William Gibbs McAdoo as railroad administrator during the war. More recently he was vice president of the United States Merchant Fleet Corp. —a post from which he was dismissed by Secretary Dan Roper because he insisted that the ship operators live up to their agreements with the government. It was to soften the blow of Mr. Roper's action that the President named Mr. Woodward as consumers’ counsel on the coal board. (Copyright. 1335. by United Feature Syndicate. Inc.)