Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 277, Indianapolis, Marion County, 28 January 1936 — Page 11
It Seems to Me HEWMW BROUN WASHINGTON. Jan. 28.—The Founding Fathers had foresight whpn t hey chose this city as the national capital. Its curious weather becomes a virtue rather than a defeat. In winter it Is too cold to do anything but legislate, and in summer it is too hot to do anything but adjourn Nothing but the climate makes a *hort session of Congress possible. They told me that yesterday was a quiet one along the Potomac, and yet, Senators and Representatives were talking all day long to no apparent purpose, as far as a stray visitor
could gather. Most of the debating was done by Ham Fish, who has more physical vigor than any of his associates. However. I think that I may be impelled from now on to refer to the distinguished statesman from New York as Hamilton. Turn about is fair play. When I was in Washington last I encountered the congressman in a corridor and received the impression that his greeting was a little cold. Prooably I was captious, for when w r e met, today he seized me by the hand and inquired solicitously
Heywood Broun
about my health. ' You have put on quite a little weight since we were in college together.” he said. But then he added quickly, “in a very becoming way. I mean.” Rep. Fish is not only a man of courtesy, but a candidate for President, of the United States. He will get my vote for "the handsomest” and for “the most polite.” n a a Wadsworth first Dresser lIM WADSWORTH is my choice for the post of ' best dressed." It may be that in some measure Jim catches the eye of the casual tripper because of the aii* of mystery which surrounds him. I am trying to solve the case and have made repeated inquiries from everybody in the House as to whatever became of Jim Wadsworth. Asa, United States Senator he was considered one of the most able leaders of the conservative group. He took an active and an effective part in the campaign for repeal after his defeat, but now he sits silent and well groomed while men like Dickstein rumble. For all that, he remains one of the dark horses in the Republican race. He has stepped on the toes of no aspirant for the Presidential nomination. As a matter of fact, he hasn't, stepped at all, but has been content, to sit and wait, and it is just possible that if the Republican convention gets into a fearful tangle some leader may spy this gentleman of pleasant appearance sitting in a corner and inquire, ‘ Who is that nice young fellow?” After some scurrying around the information will rome back to the party leader, “Why, that’s a man called Jim Wadsworth.” ‘That name, sounds vaguely familiar to me,” the party leader may say. “It’s getting pretty late. Let’s nominate him.” n tt tt 7he Reason Is Obvious AS a matter of fact, she present Congress has . completely broken the old rule that freshman members of the House must wear white buttons on their caps and get off the sidewalk when sophomores are approaching. Two of the most active and effective men on the floor are Marcantonio of New York and Maverick of Texas. Since this session was a somewhat idle one at both ends of the Capitol, I indulged in some idle research and observation. Popular election of Senators may have changed the character of the men in the upper body, but it has not changed their appeal ance. Most Senators still look like bankers and most Senators look alike. There is a much wader divergence in appearance among the members of the House of Representatives. A composite picture would be rather blurred. About the nearest thing you ran get to the typical congressman is to say that he looks something like a small manufacturer of bolts and gadgets. But one physical characteristic does run through the House. Eighty-five per cent of the members are bald, or thereabouts. There is much more hair in the Senate. Only 31.659 per cent of the Senate is bald. I don’t, know hour to account for it except on the ground that members of the House worry more. They have to. With them election comes every two years. fCopyrich*. IP3S> Smith Reply Sorry Task for Robinson BY RAYMOND CLAPPER WASHINGTON, Jan. 28.—Charles Michelson, Administration publicity chief, is collaborating on the answer which Senator Joseph T. Robinson of Arkansas will make tonight to A1 Smith's Liberty League speech. Both barrels are being loaded. This undoubtedly is a sorrowful assignment for the Democratic Senate leader.
He traveled more than 10,000 miles in 1928. as the Democratic vice presidential candidate, telling the voters what a great President Smith would make. After hearing repeatedly for the last two or three years how completely Roosevelt had torn up the 1932 Democratic platform, it seemed almost useless to try to find a copy. Rut, surprisingly enough, one was turned up. Stranger yet. although mangled in places, it was not as badly
torn ns had been exported. It said that the only hope for improvement “lies in a drastic change in economic government policies." tt tt tt THEN it pledged a 25 per cent reduction in government expenses. That part was so badly torn that you could hardly read it. And the balanced budget pledge was practically indecipherable. The Administration blames that on the hard luck which developed between June. 1932. and the end of the Hoover Administration. The panic, it says, changed 'he whole outlook. Then we got down to the planks which were either carried out or attempted, concerning: Reciprocal tariff governments: expansion of Federal public works; control of crop surpluses; unemployment and old-age insurance: unemployment relief; financing of farm mortgages; adequate national defense; pretention of unfair trade practices and protection of labor, the small producer and distributor; conservation development in use of the nation's water power in the public interest; protection for investors; regulation of holding companies and stock exchanges; relief for bank depositors; severance of investment affiliates from commercial banks; generosity for disabled war veterans; no interference in internal affairs of other countries; world court; efforts for international disarmament: opposition to cancellation of foreign war debts; simplification of judicial procedure, and repeal of the Eighteenth amendment. tt tt tt YOU can go over the platform and find some planks scrapped because of changed conditions; some scrapped probably for good reason: some partially carried out; and some completely carried out. In short—about the usual batting average for political platforms which as we always have been told are made to run on, not to stand on. Smith, in 1928. discarded the party’s weaselworded prohibition plank and made his own—announcing it within an hour or two after he was nominated. But in Smith s case, nobody could say he didn’t put the party on notice that lie disagreed with Its platform. If President John L. Lewis says what he thinks • bout the Supreme Court when he addresses the United Mine Workers’ convention here, the D. A. R. will be sorry it rented its famous Constitution Hall for the miners' convention. Question brought here this week by Irving Brent, editor of the St Louis Star: "If there had been five liberals on the Supreme Court instead of three, would AAA have been constitutional?"
Thi* f the seventh and lat of a aerie* nf atnrlee on Britain'* new Kin;, Edward VIII. written hy Milton Bronner, NEA Seryiee correspondent, who has spent the last 15 years in Europe. BY MILTON BRONNER Jan. 28.—“1f ’e wasn't a royal Prince, 'e sure would be a Socialist. ’ls 'eart is always with the common people.” When a British labor leader makes a remark like that following an address by the man who has just become Edward VIII, you may know that here is an unusual monarch. It is a good revelation of the increasing social consciousness of Edward in the years just before the beginning of his reign. This phase of the former Prince of Wales’ life has been noted with some apprehension among the di '-hard Tory ranks of the empire. It began, perhaps, with the Prince’s interest in the British Legion and the problems of the ex-soldiers, which started to be critical in England immediately after the World War. But it broadened until on Christmas night,
1928, radio listeners in Britain were astonished to hear the Prince’s voice on their loud speakers, saying: ‘There are a quarter million miners, not only with no money now, but who for six months have had none. Everything is gone and they have nothing left to sell. ‘’Because this distress is concentrated in special districts, do not let us take the line of least resistance and put out of mind what happens to be out of sight. B B B ‘‘ r T'HE Prince urged contribuA tions to a fund for the miners. “Do this tonight.” he earnestly begged. “And I feel sure that for the remainder of the evening you will be animated more than you were before with the real spirit of Christmas.” In less than no time, $2.000 000 had poured in and SIOO,OOO of it came from admirers of the Prince in still-prosperous America. But the Prince was still not satisfied with what he had done for the miners. He insisted on seeing for himself. B B B HE knew a parsonal visit would draw England’s eyes to the miners’ plight. So in February, 1929, in some of the wildest winter weather of the year, for three days he toured 100 towns and villages of Durham and Nortnumberland. Sometimes he went by auto, sometimes he trudged through slush and snow. He went everywhere, saw everything. He stopped in humble homes, had a cup of tea and a chat with miners and their wives. What he saw in those dirty, barren hovels was enough. B B B AT one point his indignation burst its bounds. ‘‘l call this sort of thing a shame!” he cried to the accompanying newspaper men. ‘‘And you can say that I said so!” But none of them did. hesitating to attribute to the Prince in print the lurid adjectives that had leaped hotly to his lips. As one of the great London landlords, the Prince found that some of the properties that had come down to him were miserable tenements, little better than slums. He had them torn down, and then built model flat buildings in their place, where workmen could get decent homes at reasonable rents. He began to take a deeper personal interest, as Duke of Cornwall, in the management of his vast properties. Today these include great properties in London and extensive farms and mines near Plymouth, Cornwall. Their conduct is a vast industrial enter-
ASHINGTON, Jan. 28. ’ * When Senator Glass of Virginia heaped vitriolic abuse on the youthful head of Senator Nye, last week, he may not have been motivated entirely by the lofty purpose of championing the name of Woodrow Wilson. Senator Glass may or may not have known what the munitions investigation which he tried to silence was preparing to reveal. In the files of Senator Nye’s Munitions Committee is recorded the fact that Carter Glass, as Secretary of the Treasury under Woodrow Wilson, waived collateral on 5494.000,000 of French and British war loans held by the Treasury. The loans originally were held by J. P. Morgan & Cos., whom Senator Glass has defended so consistently. When held by Morgan. however, the loans were secured. Later, when the United States entered the war. the two 10an55294,000,000 $294,000,000 to the British and $200,000,000 to the Pench—were passed on to the Treasury by Morgan. Mr. Morgan admitted to the
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Full Leased Wlra Service of the United Tres* Association
EDWARD VIII—BRITAIN’S NEW KING
hate Years Marked by Increasing Interest in Social Welfare
Washington Merry-Go-Round ~ BY DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. ALLEN
BENNY
The Indianapolis Times
prise grossing $1,600,000 a year and netting the Prince some $350,000 in annual personal income. B B B BUSINESS men and financiers of London's “City” have noted in recent years the rise of the Prince as an active proprietor and manager, acting, of course, through his agents. In 1932 the Prince again made a tour of the distressed coal areas along the Tyne. He slipped away from his party, and with a single companion went into the homes of the most wretched of the unemployed of the area. Then some remembered that during the coal strike of 1926 the Prince’s controller had sent a check to the Somerset Miners’ Distress Fund. ”His Royal Highness necessarily cannot take sides in any dispute,” said a note accompanying the check, “but we all owe a debt to the miners in the past, and every one must feel sympathy for the wives and children in these hours of distress. “Besides, it would not be a satisfactory end to any dispute that one side should be forced to give in on account of suffering of its dependents. . . .” The spectacle of a King contributing to a strike fund is a rare one, indeed. B B B HIS interest in housing continued, and in 1933 the Prince was asked to address the Association of Municipal Corporations at the Guildhall. The wellfed diners were relaxing in their chairs expecting to hear again the old platitudes. But they leaned forward in astonishment when the Prince launched into a tirade against the slums. He concluded in this vigorous fashion: “Let us build anew Britain! Let our age be remembered as one in which we swept away this blot that disgraces our national life! Let us provide houses worthy of the dignity and greatness of our race!” B B B MANY Tories were shocked in England by the vigor of this attack, as many were shocked by the Prince’s recent proposal that German war veterans be brought to England and their visit be returned as a gesture of goodwill and evidence that wartime hatreds had been forgotten. One interesting thing about the new King is his unusually close personal contacts with the United States. In addition to his trips to this country, he has met and talked to at least three Presidents, Wilson, Coolidge, and F. D. Roosevelt, the latter when he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy.
Munitions Committee that the Treasury was entitled to this collateral, but since his testimony the committee has unearthed the fact that the Treasury never got it. a tt tt High Finance TT also has unearthed some highly interesting facts regarding the manner in which these private bankers’ loans were dumped on to the Treasury. Upon American entrance into the war, Congress authorized the Wilson Administration to advance money to the Allies “hereafter.’’ William Gibbs McAdoo, then Secretary of the Treasury, informed the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee that, this would not apply to Allied obligations already floated in this country. Shortly thereafter, an Italian loan of $25,000,000 floated by Lee, Higginson & Cos. came up for renewal. The Italian ambassador wrote a letter to the Treasury stating frankly that Italy lacked either collateral or the means to meet the loan, and that the issue would default unless taken over by the Treasury.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1936
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Active and practical in his interest in the unemployment problem, the Prince here inspects a training center for young unemployed men at Garrison-Lane, near Birmingham. He is listening intently to what one of the trainees has to say.
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Steel helmet in hand, clad in boots and dungarees, the Prince goes down a shaft to inspect one of his Cornwall tin mines, which have only the most modern equipment.
Many Americans in London are the Prince's friends, and he is fond of many American things, notably jazz music. Already the strong will of the new King has begun to manifest itself in the shattering of small unimportant traditions. It is likely that there will be more of this. As Prince, Edward had been heard by many friends to remark from time to time. “Things will be different when I am King.’’ It seems likely. His recent acts and speeches point to new meaning behind the motto he has borne since 1911 as Prince of Wales, “Ich Dien,” or “I Serve.” THE END
Legal Side-Step M'ADOO put the legality of the transaction up to Attorney General Gregory, who wrote an opinion, couched in reluctant phraseology, accepting the Italian issue as anew loan, inasmuch as it was up for renewal. He specifically stated that in rendering this opinion, he was not taking into consideration the intent of Congress. Note—Later Italy secured a write-down of 75 per cent on her war debts to the United States, subsequently was one of the first nations to default. On the basis of the Gregory opinion, the Treasury later took over the Morgan advances tc Great Britain and France of $494.000.000. These two issues were secured by bonds held by the French and British governments or by their nationals. However, in November. 1919, Norman Davis, then an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, wrote a long letter to Carter Glass, his chief, urging that the collateral be waived. Mr. Glass accepted Mr. Davis’ recommendation. The major portion of the French and British war debts still is owing.
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Finding out what railroad trackmen think of things. The Princi in an informal interview at Nipigon, Ont.
AAA Ruling Held Contrary to Spirit of Constitution
BY MAX STERN Times Special Writer WASHINGTON, Jan. 28.—“ The Supreme Court majority, by its AAA decision, has sw'ept more legislative power into the Nation’s capital than any act in 50 years and then has appropriated it for an appointive court,” Senator Hugo Black (D., Ala.) said in an interview today. After days of study of the decision, Senator Black asserted that few Americans realize even yet what a momentous thing has happened. The court majority, he said, gave the broadest, or Hamiltonian, interpretation of the “general welfare” clause, and then “confiscated” from Congress the right of determining what is in the general welfare. “The real effect of the decision.” he said, “is not restrictive of the Federal government’s right to legislate; on the contrary’, it gives the government for the first time a broad right to collect taxes for the 'general welfare.' "The opportunity for the Federal government to act in promoting general welfare ts as broad as the general welfare itself. The Hamiltonian conception of power to legislate for the general welfare has been adopted by the court. The strict constructionist school has always insisted
that the pow r er to legislate for the general welfare w’as limited oy the specific enumeration of powers following the general welfare provision, “Those strict constructionists w'ho have hailed this decision with delight as adopting their philosophy will soon find they have completely misunderstood it. tt u a “'T'HE court, however, having X seized this broad and sweeping power for the Federal government, immediately diverts its exercise from Congress and the President, elected by the people, to the court, appointed for life. This result was accomplished in the following manner: “The w’ords ‘general welfare’ are as comprehensive as language can make them. Os course, it becomes necessary for some agency to determine what is for the general welfare. The government agency that determines the scope of that expression is the agency that can govern the United States. “The amazing effect of the AAA decision is that a majority of the court has not only asserted the court's right to determine what is for the general welfare, but has struck down the AAA statutes on the chief ground that the legislation was not for the general welfare.”
By J. Carver Pusey
Second Section
rlntered ns Second-Clas* Matter at I’ostoffice. Indianapolis. Ind.
Fair Enough HMPffIER T ONDON. Jan. 28. There will never be a better opportunity than the present to observe the operation of ballyhoo by which the British royal family is sold to the people of the country. Never have the American papers achieved such unanimity on any subject, and it seems unfortunate that the American people can not elect someone family to occupy a like status. Such a family would have to avoid political affiliations and would exist merely as an object of the
affection of all the people, regardless of party. We need not call it a royal family, but we might call it simply the American family, thus implying that all the virtues with which its members would be arbitrarily endowed were characteristic of all the American people. Unconsciously the Americans attempted to do this in the case of Col. Lindbergh, but he turned out to be a partisan Republican, and. moreover, he declined the nomination in the manner of a man in a white suit slapping down a clumsy but affectionate
dog with mud on its paws. The British royal family, on the contrary, has been trained to the burdens and little vexations of their position and they accept them, along with the rewards. The people on their part receive certain benefits, some of which are imponderable but nevertheless important. B B B Ballyhoo Strong But Subtle TN the royal family the English people are taught to perceive the virtues of their race, such as loyalty, reticence, respect for law. honor, honesty, democracy and humility, and to believe that as members of that race they partake of these qualities much more generously than any other people. The ballyhoo is strong and unremitting, but .jevertheless subtle, and the effect on people is a magnificent national self-appreciation. They plead guilty of being the greatest and finest people on the earth, whose only fault is their incurable modesty. They possess a special kind of sportsmanship, also known as the true British kind. It is unnecessary to point out that the true British kind is the best there is. Although Americans have acquired in Europe a reputation as braggarts, it is your correspondents observation that the Americans and the French just now are modest to a serious fault. The Italians have been taught to regard (hemselves as a race of warriors, and they amuse themselves by singing ferocious songs in which their enemies are slaughtered and a subject people are led to freedom and dignity under Fascism. The Germans have substituted Hitler for the royal family and are frank enough to admit (hat the German race is in all respects the perfect flower on the stalk of civilization. nun An Example Is Given THE British ballyhoo goes about it in a distinctly different way, employing a formula which might be described as braggart modesty, whereby the people are given to understand that they are much finer than they admit. This distinct character of the English people was exemplified in Chicago by “Sobbing Sam” Insull. the crying Croesus of the utility trust, who went along for many years treating American natives a good deal the same as an English planter handles colored labor in tropical colonies. Mr. Insull was typically English- and was proud of his Englishness, except on one embarrassing occasion during the war when he led a deputation to demand of Big Bill Thompson just how he stood on Americanism. As Mayor, Mr. Thompson opposed American participation in the war, but when Mr. Insull asked him how’ he stood on Americanism he said: “My great-grandfather fought with Washington, my grandfather was killed at the siege of Vicksburg and I was at Santiago in ’9B. By the way. Mr. Insull, have you ever taken out your second papers?”
Gen. Johnson Says—
Mass., Jan. 28.—The depression is certainly on the run in Connecticut. Far and away the lightest relief load I have found in the United States is in Hartford, with what Mayor Spellacy tells me is only 2800 families on relief. Several lines of business are employing more people than in 1923. The city carries nearly all of its own relief load and does more for the destitute than any other community I have seen. Hartford is reputed to be the richest city per capita in the w'hole world. The great insurance companies centered here did not “depress” very much and fired very few employes, even at the very low point. These things had something to do with the happy result—but not everything to do with it, because there are other cities in the state, like Bristol, which are running at better than the 1929 rate of employment. nan THESE developments are important In this spotty way. recoveries from depression have always come. As this column has remarked in recapitulating a national survey, there is no part of the United States where there is not a marked recovery, and none where the mental attitude is not optimistic. Mental attitude is nearly the whole cause of either good or bad times. Another highly important observation is that notwithstanding all thus local recovery, Townsendism is as strong in Connecticut as anywhere else I have visited. It was also strong in the depression-proof area of Battle Creek. The meaning of that might be that the promise of S2OO a month to the aged is net, like “share-our-wealth.” just a byproduct of extreme depression and destitution. It seems to be surging forward with astonishing strength and momentum everywhere, and nowhere wdth more success than in these areas of minimum suffering. • Copvrieht, IP3II. bv Unit Feature
Times Books
business of archeological research is all very A fine and noble, but Count Byron de Prorok. who has done his share of it, likes to have a little excitement mixed with it. He doesn’t feel happy’ unless he is dodging poisoned darts in a Central American jungle, or out-facing a bloodthirsty Touareg tribesman in the Sahara. He sets forth this point of view in his new book, “In Quest of Lost Worlds.” ‘Dutton; $3.50.) Herein he recites some of his archeological adventures of the last decade, says frankly that he cares less for the plodding spade work of this science than for the thrills of risk and discovery, and gives a readable, exiting account of his doings. a a m BETWEEN thrills, he devotes himself to expounding his theory of a great “Atlantean" civilization which, in prehistoric times, may have thrown its influence across a great belt of earth, from Egypt to Central America. He has traced its relics, he believes, along the Nile, all across the Sahara and in the forests of Yucatan and Guatemala, and he feels that he has found enough evidence to indicate that early cinlizatioa* in those a-eas shared a homogeneous culture. (By Bruce Catton.)
Westbrook Pegler