Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 284, Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 February 1936 — Page 12

PAGE 12

The Indianapolis Times (A SCR I PI’S-HO WARD NEWSPAPER) ROT W. HOWARD President LUnWKLL DENNY . Editor EARL D. RAKER , . Busin* •is Manager

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Give Light and the rcopU Will f ind Their Own Way

WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 5, 1938. 100 YEARS OLD A S a corporation, Indianapolis today is 100 years *■ old. It was a straggling town even before the Legislature granted It articles of incorporation Feb. 5, 1836, but on that day Its stature inci eased. More people than lived in that far-off Indianapolis gathered today as guests of the Indianapolis Junior Chamber of Commerce to celebrate quietly th* centennial of the event. It was fitting that they should. And it is interesting for the rest of us to take time to note that 100 years have brought more progress to Indianapolis than to the vast majority of cities in the country; have, in fact, raised it to one of the major cities of the country. It might be a good idea to peer as far as possible down the next 100 years. That must have been what those pioneers of 1836 did when they received word that the Legislature had granted their request. DRIFTING FROM NEUTRALITY T AST summer when Italian troops were poised on the Eritrean and Somaliland borders, waiting for the end of 'he rainy season to begin their invasion of Ethiopia, America seemed to know exactly what she wanted in the way of a strict neutrality policy. In the dark continent at that time, America believed, were the makings of another Sarajevo—an Incident that might envelop Europe and the rest of the world in a bigger and more destructive war. Walter Millis’ “The Road to War” had just been widely read, refreshing America’s memory of how the Sarajevo gunshot of 1914 had drawn all Europe Into a bloody vortex, into which a then isolated America had first thrown her goods and then her money and finally her man-power. Last summer the people of America had but a single objective—to keep out of war regardless of cast. And in response to the united public sentiment, Congress rushed through the temporary neutrality law now on the books. It was an imperfect and incomplete law—a compromise. But it was the best that could be worked out in the crush of congressional adjournment. And it sufficed to meet the emergency. When the rains stopped and Itahan tanks moved across the Ethiopian border, President Roosevelt forbade the sale of arms to either of the belligerents and publicly proclaimed that Americans who traveled on belligerent vessels did so at their own risk. Partly because of that stopgap law, partly because of overwhelming public sentiment for a much more inclusive hands-off policy and partly because the Italo-Ethiopian conflict was kept isolated, we have remained “disentangled and free.” But the law expires Feb. 29. three weeks hence. It was admitted when the law was enacted that it was not adequate to keep us out of a really important conflict, and Congress wrote in the expiration date with the intention of drafting a more embracing policy in January. tt tt tt 'WTT'HEN Congress met again in January, the Ad- ’ ’ ministration and the congressional bloc favoring rigid neutrality apparently had/Come to an agreement on a permanent neutrality program, differing only on minor details. A bill was introduced. 7n the Senate it was referred to the Foreign Relations Committee. And there it has since suffocated, part of the time in a pigeon-hole, arid part of the time on the table before the committee in star chamber hearings and debates. And meanwhile, with the American people less conscious of the peril of war, apparently believing the Italo-Ethiopian struggle will not spread and for the moment not apprehensive of the war sparks that flash everywhere, that single objective of keeping out of other people’s wars seems to have been forgotten. The State Department crowd, wanting to be neutral and at the same time able to take sides, demands amendments investing them with discretion to play the dangerous game of diplomacy. And those “splendid isolationists,” led by Senator Hiram Johnson of California, who want to eat their isolation and at the same time keep their freedom of the seas, would strike out the wording of the bill and substitute the wording of “The Star-Spangled Banner” as American “neutrality” policy. It is time to end this all-or-nothing tug-of-war, bring the bill out from behind the closed doors of the Foreign Relations Committee, and in open debate on the floors of Congress draft a sane neutrality policy which has only that single objective—to keep our own nation at peace, regardless of the conflicts of others. JOHNNIE MAKES GOOD He worked so hard and so faithful-ee That now he's a palladium of libert-ce \T OT all of the success stories come ou“ of Horatio Alger. There’s the one about John J. Raskcb, modestly told by the hero himself in letters sent from his office in the Empire State puilding urging Americans to join his Liberty League and “root out the vicious radical elements” that threaten the land. The Lord promised Abraham to save Sodom if only 10 righteous men could be found in that doomed town. Mr. Raskob needs more help. His letter went to 150,000. There's nothing “dupontifical” about, the letter. It's just the simple tale of a lad who made good. It starts — “Beginning life as a poor boy blessed with splendid health, the finest heritage which a good father and mother can leave any chiid, I was able to acquire a good grammar and commercial school education before starting to work at $5 a week, at the age of 19, to make my way in the world.” The Constitution, that protects those "human rights” to “save, earn and acquire property and preserve the ownership and lawful use of property when acquired," gets full credit for the Raskob climb to the highest building in New York. We suspect Mr. Raskob too modqstly slights his own virtues of thrift and acquisitiveness and the higher learning he acquired in the stock market. But anyway—- “ Through the years I have been successful—successful in retaining good health, and, tlirough hard work and saving, in acquiring a competence for old age and the care of dependents.” And so the moral is that you, boys and girls, can

all become Raskobs if only the Liberty League succeeds in saving the Constitution. tt tt tt npHE trouble with the Horatio Alger approach, featured in the Raskob letter and in the early part of A1 Smith's Liberty League speech, is that something has happened since Horatio was a boy. And it wasn t something that happened to the Constitution, either. The something was a growth of unemployment to a point where literally millions of young Raskobs and young Smiths can't even get a toehold today. To talk now about this being a land of opportunity for all is to be blind to the realities of the most burdensome of our national problems. In anything like normal times, energy, honesty, reasonable education, good health, and good intelligence do spell opportunity, progress and success. But today, after leaving out of consideration all of the bums and the misfits, the lazy, the crooked and the incompetent, the ill and the ignorant, there are still millions possessed of energy, honesty, education, health and intelligence who just naturally can’t get started, icr the simple mathematical reason that there are more men than jobs. So the key is—to increase employment, and thereby make this once more a land of opportunity. And until that is accomplished all the when-I-was-a-boy reminiscences of all the Raskobs will be nothing more than a fairly pleasant form of sentimental self-delusion. NO JOKE QOME people laughed when President Roosevelt sent Congress a message on “little waters.” But it wasn’t funny. It just sounded so. The study upon which the message was based sets a scene upon which may be enacted a tragedy of universal importance. Briefly, it is an appeal to the United States to save itself. The conservation experts are not presenting in this study a vague, purely academic forecast in millions of light-years. They state emphatically the possibility that “another century of present trends would leave the United States unable to maintain the agriculture on which her civilization rests; that the United States is not a ’permanent country,’ and is on the way to join decadent parts of China and Asia Minor, once opulent and magnificent but now stripped of their fertile soils and buried in the dust of destructive exploitation of resources; that if something effective is not done within a generation many large areas will be lost, for this earth disease, like some human diseases, can never be cured if neglected during the early stages.” Already, soil erosion has taken a heavy toll: “100 million once fertile acres of farm land—equal to Illinois, Ohio, Maryland and North Carolina combined—have been essentially destroyed for profitable farming; another 125 million acres are seriously impaired and another 100 million acres are threatened —all belonging to the best farm lands of the United States.” The experts point out that “this is not a loss of income the flow of which can be resumed, but of assets that can not be recovered . . The problem in many respects can, according to this study, be solved locally on the farms through which the “little waters” flow. The selective use of the land; rotation of crops; cultivation of tilled lands; check dams built in gullies and on streams and the creation of artificial ponds and reservoirs are some of the steps suggested to the individual farmer and the small community. None of these things are costly but all are necessary. “Every citizen,” the report says, “must understand and play his part. It is to all citizens, to help them understand and act, individually and together, that this report is made.” VANISHING WILD LIFE THE North American Wildlife Conference in Washington, under call of President Roosevelt, will interest thousands of sportsmen. It should interest all Americans, for of their vanishing natural resources none is going faster than the beasts, fishes and fowl that used to abound in our forests, waters and skies. The story of the buffalo or the waterfowl is being multiplied on every hand. Men with their guns and traps and nets are not alone to blame. Blindly we have destroyed these wild creatures’ homes. We have drained swamps that never should have been drained, cut down forests that should now be standing, plowed up river bottoms with gold dredgers, built power dams on salmon-breeding streams, turned nature into a shambles for the sake of quick profits. Now we are opening our eyes to the cruelty and folly of our planlessness. Our wild life as a natural resource is worth many millions, but it also is an asset for enriching the out-of-doors that goes far beyond any dollar estimate. A WOMAN’S VIEWPOINT Y,j Nlrs. Walter Ferguson AN Alabama youth who describes himself as reserved and melancholy is in love with a reserved and melancholy girl and wonders whether their marriage could be a happy one. Probably not, since they would begin the experiment in an unhappy frame of mind. On the other hand, if both are already overwhelmed by the sadness of existence, why not settle down and enjoy melancholy together? Misery loves company, you know. There will never be any accounting for matrimonial tastes, as a careless glance in any direction will prove, but there is at present so much pessimism, despair and foolish fear in the world that it is just as well to confine these unpleasant qualities into as limited a space as possible by encouraging the union of the dejected. Most melancholy young men, I have observed, fall in love with merry young women and, after marrying them, spend the remainder of their lives inoculating their wives with germs of hopelessness, thereby diminishing the already low fund of human gaiety. Unless a girl has an extraordinary buoyancy of nature, she finds it hard to resist the influence of a liusDand who is determined to teach her that life is no laughing matter, but a grim and bitter business. This is a form of homicide which doesn’t get half enough attention from our reformers. And yet what a horrid thing it is—the deliberate murder of cheerfulness and love of life in happy souls. Granted that existence is often a tough proposition, still it is possible to cultivate a more optimistic point of view if one makes the effort. I should say that marriage is not the most important problem confronting the Alabama lad. He Pices the ailment of the dyspeptic—chronic blues, and it’s the worst possible disposition to live with. Before choosing a wife, whether she be sad or gay, he ought to try to cu - e himself. When that is done perhaps he’ll be surprised to find that his drooping giri friend has also thrown off the garments of melancholy and become anew creature. Nothing is so contagious as laughter, especially among sweethearts and wives. -- ~ „..

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Squaring The Circle With THE lIOOSIER EDITOR

TF the Indianapolis Junior Chamber of Commerce had been, 100 years ago today, celebrating with a luncheon the one-hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the city, something like this would have bee i going on: The guests, probably 25, tie their nags at the railing in front of one of the better taverns, a log affair consisting of perhaps one room. They scrape the Washington-st mud off their feet, doff their fur caps, and lumber over to the bar. There is a great deal of talk about the Legislature which has just enacted a public works law calling for expenditure of much money. Everything looks good and everyone has a round of corn whisky. Meanwhile the little women are grinding corn, cutting venison steaks they bought from Capt. John, an Algonquin Indian who is a pretty good hunter but who is thought bad of because he lives in a hollow sycamore stump. a a ts A SI say, the little women are so busy they don’t have time to listen to the goings-un of the memfolk who nave only recently been warned by the city trustees that they must not, while in the streets, swear, race horses or create riots. The women, some of them with babies slung on to their backs, squaw-papoose fashion, are working around trying to get the luncheon ready against heavy odds, such as not enough firewood. A couple of them pick up axes ana go chop some. Meanwhile the com likker is flowing freely, as it did then at luncheons (if they ever had them), camp meetings, weddings arid all manner of political rallies, of which there were as many almost then as now. The meals cost, perhaps, 25 cents. Not that much, maybe. They ate twice as much as the celebrants did today, and I don’t even know what the menu was today. a a , |\A"EANWHILE, they talk of the ague, of which Indianapolis was the capital of the world then. One wise guy of the - day says he “served an apprentice to ague, did journey work with it, and I think I ought to graduate.” Ague and the great battle of the Irish, canal diggers, which raged for a whole day near the city limits, form the topics of conversation. The Irishmen fought with spades and whatever else they could grab that they thought would be unfriendly. Nobody knows how many were hurt. Some might even have been killed. The crowd may talk a bit about the condition of the city treasury. It contained $124 when the city was incorporated But no one seems to worry much about that. Jeremiah Johnson, the first to be married in Indianapolis, and a great corn liquor fan, is there, making wise cracks about everything. He is a great hand at it. Samuel Merrill is there. He’s a great capitalist, having come to the town with S4OOO in cash. Most of the people never had seen any part of that much money. They all have a pretty good time and the women-folk clean up the dishes. Every one goes home. a r I > ODAY fruit cocktails were served. People ate modest portions and talked about the New Deal and the public works measures. They talked about how muddy Wash-ington-st has been in the thaw, even though paved. They talked about the condition of the city treasury, and the new sticker regulations. They talked about the scrap in Ethiopia. They paid their checks, 75 cents a portion. They went back to work. Are you still reading? OTH ER OPINION^ On Relief IGov. Alt. M. Landon of Kansas] It has been said that the demands for relief u- imperiled our Federal finances. That is only a half-truth. The money actually reaching the unemployed and impoverished ha; not rocked the Treasury. The rocking has been done by abysmal waste through changes of policy, maladministration and ruthless partisanship. Relief appropriations have been more than ample, but too many oir relief and work projects have been denied adequate aid because bureaucracy has eaten up too much of the funds intended for relief. “We need desperately a cheaper, simpler and more responsible relief administration throughout the union. ON NEUTRALITY [The late Frank S. Simonds, in February Harper’s.] In reality when in 1935 Geneva set out to save Ethiopia from Italian aggression it inevitably assumed the position of Russia when, in 1914, It undertook to protect Serbia from Austrian attack. To prevent a small war it had to provoke a major conflict. To save a little country it had to smash a great nation. Such, too, had been the necessity of Great Britain when it set out to defend Belgium against German invasion. Nothing has changed with the lapse of more than two decades, therefore, except that there has been created an international institution which can license one form of war and outlaw another.

OUR-CENTURY OF PROGRESS

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The Hoosier Forum 1 wholly disapprove of what you say—and will defend to the death your light to say it. — Voltaire.

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these 'columns, religious controversies excluded. Make vour letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them to 350 icords or less. Your letter must he signed, hut names icill he xoitliheld on rcauest.) tt tt a ‘FUNNY’—THAT’S HOW HE DESCRIBES POLITICS By G. W. S. Sour grapes make a nasty dose! Po’ ol’ Brown Darby Raddio Big Me Tammany A1 spilled some of his spleen into a helpless microphone, trying to read the President of these United States out of the Democratic Party. A1 loves the sound of his raucous voice, but is too dull to realize he read himself out of the party as far as reasoning folk go, one day in July, 1932, in Chicago Stadium., Any one with an open mind who sat by his radio and heard F. D. R.’s nomination, must have observed the childish reaction of Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith was so flabbergasted he evidently saw red, and has been that way ever since. He beat it out of the stadium just as one might expect a 10-year-old spoiled kid to do, refusing to “play any more.” He has played dirty ever since. And note his bedfellows! Those who in 1928 scorned him were the ones who encouraged him in his fanatical attack upon the President. Ain’t politics, funny? tt tt tt PREDICTS DISASTER WITH TOWNSEND PLAN By W. H. Richards It is amazing how many old people, and some younger ones, are clamoring for the Townsend plan. If such a fantastic scheme should be put into effect it would pull destruction upon their heads. They want a 2 per cent “transaction tax.” A radio speaker said that there would only be a tax of S4O for those who spend S2OOO a year. When that tax has been added to every transaction from raw material to final sale, each adding the tax to his costs and then adding the usual percentage of profit, it will make prices so high that the S2OOO will buy no more than SIOOO will now. That is not the worst of it. Men over 60 who now receive SIOO a month from a job or who are in business will give up these positions and burn the bridges behind them, making a return impossible. Should Congress be bulldozed into passing the Townsend plan, and the President sign it, one of two things will surely happen: The Supreme Court will declare it unconstitutional, or finding that it has made a mess of things, the Congress that made the law will have power and possibly the good sense to repeal it. Since each person receiving S2OO a month must spend it all within

Questions and Answers

Inclose a 3-cent stamp for reply when addressing any question of fact or Information to The Indianapolis Times Washington Service Bureau. 1013 13thst. N. W., Washington, D. C. Legal and medical advice can not be given, nor can extended research be undertaken. Q—Please give the biblical citation for the following verse: “Call no man your father upon the earth; for one is your Father which is in heaven.” A—Matthew xxiii, 9. Q —Were there any women pilots in the American Air Corps during the World War? A—No. Q —Name the Governor of Virginia. A—George C. Perry. Q —What is the address of the Mexican Embassy? A—2829 16th-st, N. W., Washington. Q —When did Grover Cleveland serve his term as President? A— March 4, 1893, to March 3, 1897.

the month it is received, he would then be penniless until he gets his next check. Should the plan be abandoned this will leave the poor fellow wishing he had his old job or business back. It is clear that when science is finding ways to prolong life while industry is casting aside workers at 40, something must be done for these people who have given the best of their lives to make employers rich. But it must be something sensible. If the farmers and industrial 'workers will unite in a farmer-labor party and put in their platform a plank positively promising a pension of SSO or S6O a month to those over 65, it will appeal to most of these who are now shouting for the Townsend plan. tt tt SCHOOL CHUM LAUDS PLEAS GREENLEE By Robert E. Mede Sr„ Flat Rock I was raised with Pleas E. Greenlee. We attended the same school (the old Colescott Building) and Pleas was always at the top of the class. At night Pleas devoted his time to getting his lessons and pressing his clothes. Mr. Limpus, our teacher in the sixth grade, used to lecture the rest of us. He would say that Pleas Greenlee would make something out of himself some day, while the rest of us would never get very far in life. We didn’t. Asa boy Pleas worked after school and on Saturdays, while I put in my time along the river or riding freight trains. Pleas had a hard time of it as a boy, but he came through just as our teacher said he would; a man in every sense of the word. He is deserving of a lot of credit. I feel that the voters of Indiana will make no mistake in supporting Pleas E. Greenlee. I will sure back him up in every way I can, for I know him to be 100 per cent O. K. tt SEES MILK CONTROL LAW AS FAILURE By a Reader The Indiana milk control law has attempted to put the production and distribution of milk into that class of business which we term a public utility. A public utility is a business in which the public creates a monopoly, to eliminate the waste of duplicate capital and services, to reduce consumer’s cost to the lowest possible point, and to insure protection to the capital invested of a reasonable return. The basis for fixing the cost to the consumer in utility services is the used and useful property necessary to deliver these services. No unnecessary property is permitted in the capital structure. However, in the milk utility under the milk control board, we do not have those vital essentials. No-

Q —Name the American consul in Tahiti, Society Islands. A—Edward B. Rand. Q —What artist created the statue, ‘‘The Thinker," and where is it? A—“Le Penseur” (The Thinker) by Auguste Rodin, was presented to the British nation in 1904 by Ernest Beckett (Lord Grimthorpe). Q—Was Lancaster, Pa., ever the capital of the United States? A—lt was the national capital for one day, when the Continental Congress, driven from Philadelphia, sat there on Sept. 27, 1777. Q —Name the members of the United States Employes’ Compenstion Commission. A—Mrs. Jewell Swofford, chairman; Harry Bassett and John M. Morin. Q—How many bricks can an ordinary bricklayer lay'in one day? A—A contractor usually estimates on about 1000 bricks a day per bricklayer, which laying both front and rough bricks, corners, etc.

where else do we find as much duplication of capital and service. Price fixing in this industry is on the basis of paying for all this unnecessary waste of capital and labor. Many of the larger distributors are equipped with obsolete pasteurization equipment. This causes an excess cost to bring the quality of milk within standard specifications, and also reduces the possible quality to its lowest, instead of its hignest point. If our capitalistic economy is to be regulated under various guises the public must determine that it shall be done solely in the public interest. The present set-up fixes the price on our Indianapolis distributors’ equipment at a point where milk consumption is retarded, due to excessive consumer prices. Even so, these distributors find it difficult to earn a reasonable return. Collection losses due to relief delinquents add to the cost of doing business. Some of these distributors may be washed up with or without state milk control. If the consumer must pay the price fixed by the board, we must have absolute control over the amount of capital and services, to reduce them to the lowest possible point. If the milk business is to be regulated as a utility, the state must assume power to eliminate all unnecessary duplication of capital and service. The other alternative is that those companies with the lowest overhead create a consumer’s cooperative fixing 6 per cent as capital hire, reasonable wages for labor and executives and return the profits to the consumer on a patronage basis every six months. ARTISTRY BY MARY WARD Off in the distance gray gulls are flying, Gracefully winging above a blue sea. And white-masted ships through the waves are plying, Fashoined by her needlework’s artistry. DAILY THOUGHT God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.—Psalms vii, 11. GOD’S mill grinds slow but sure. —Herbert.

SIDE GLANCES

“She can’t dope me out because I ain’t like most guys. For one thing, I could never sock a dame on the jaw.”

.FEB. 5, 1936

Your... Health By dr- morris fishbein

During its infancy—and afterward—feed your child at regular periods. Be sure that meals are served punctually, and that the intervals between them are long enough to permit the child’s stomach to empty itself and digestion to take place. Do not hurry a child who is eating. Get your youngster up earlier, for instance, rather than let him bolt his breakfast to get to school on time. Frown on eating between meals. If the child is fed properly at mealtimes, there is no reason why he should eat 8t other times of the day. The youngster who has this habit comes to his luncheon or dinner without appetite, and Its apt to reject the food he should have. Few mothers really know whether children eat between meals, and how much they eat at such times. The mother who is feeding her little one scientifically should have a record of these feedings. Then she can guide the child's diet properly, and know the rtason when, occasionally, the youngster lacks appetite. Whether a child should be forced to eat certain foods if he doesn't like them is something of a moot point. There are two schools of thought in this matter. One group insists the child should be taught to eat everything. The other holds that persistent refusal of food hints that the child may have some sensitivity to that food substance, and is better off without it. a an INCIDENTALLY, nature seems to have put some of the most important vitamins and minerals in foods which, to put it mildly, children dislike. Carrots, turnips, spinach, cabbage, and similar vegetables, for instance, carry large amounts of vitamins A, B and C, and also minerals. Since many children are apt to eye these foods rather coldly, it’s wise for a mother to consult a doctor to learn whether her child is really sensitive to a food substance before she accepts the idea that the child refuses it because of a sensitivity. If your child refuses to eat, permit him to leave the table at the end of the meal; but see that he does not eat until the next mealtime, regardless of how hungry he seems to be in the interim. Wheh this has happened a certain number of times, the youngster will learn to eat food at the proper time. Incidentally, farmers who raise prize animals feed them selected diets at regular intervals.

TODAY’S SCIENCE BY DAVID DIETZ

lET all those who sigh for “the J good old days” read Dr. Ralph Major's new book, “Disease and Destiny,” or the article on the extraction of teeth which Dr. David W. McLean contributes to the current issue of Hygeia under the title of “Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow.” The “good old days” were swell unless you needed a tooth pulled or had an inflamed appendix. They were fine until an epidemic of diphtheria or typhus broke out. Then, alas, they were not so good. For the dentists with their local and general anesthetics were not on hand. Surgeons did not yet understand the trick of removing an appendix. Diphtheria antitoxin was still unknown and the rules of public health had not yet been developed. The advance of medical science, if nothing else, ought to make every person alive today congratulate himself on the age in which he lives. Back in the days of George Washington, the blacksmith was the usual worthy chosen to pull a tooth. All this grew out of the mistaken notion that it took an unusual exhibition of force to pull a tooth. “Contrary to the usual belief, tooth removal is a gentle art,” Dr. McLean tells us. “It has no place for strong-arm mehods.” But it took our civilization a long time to learn that fact. tt a tt THE ancient Japanese, Dr. McLean tells us, were the only ones to get the right idea about tooth-pulling. They trained their dentists to extract teeth with their fingers only. The Japanese tooth-puller trained from childhood by pulling pegs out of boards with his fingers. As he grew up, the pegs were made more difficult. He used “patience and a little persuasion rather than much force.”

By George Clark