Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 302, Indianapolis, Marion County, 26 February 1936 — Page 11

It Seems to Me HEYM BROUN HENRY MENCKEN says that the Republicans can beat Roosevelt with a Chinaman. Mr. Mencken and his Tory associates must be suffering from delusions of grandeur. What, earthly reason have they for believing that any Chinaman would accept the Republican nomination? Moreover. H. L. Mencken, the Main Street sage, must be familiar with the fact that the Chinese can not pronounce the letter “r.” Ip the days when he was an editor of international fame he must have

received many holiday cablegrams from his Shanghai subscribers beginning, “Melly Chlistmas to you and the Melculy.” Now; wouldn’t it be silly to have a man dashing around the country appealing for “Lepublican votes”? Asa matter of fact, in an effort to aid Mencken and the G. O. P., I made a short tour of the city yesterday in an effort to find a Chinese who would help the conservatives out of their dilemma by consenting to run. Ah Wing Fongh, laundryman, when interviewed replied, “Velly solly, me no leacti ona Iy. Lepublicans

Heywood Broun

catchee no ticket no shirtee.” Chinn Lee. restaurant man, merely answered, "No vantchee.” Wong Fah, who Is a junior at Columbia and speaks as excellent English as any Liberty League orator, replied, "Not on your celestial life. Apparently the only relief the Republicans are prepared to offer is low comedy. They may want a change in dialect, but we will furnish no pidgin to put in every pot. an The Quest Is Etided BUT if it proves impossible to get, a Chinese to accept, the Republican nomination I have another suggestion which I trust will not be lightly discarded. Why not run Mencken? It may be argued that Henry does not write with quite the snap and verve of Herbert Hoover. His' style is more ponderous and less illuminated by epigram, but it should suffice. The point of view is the thing which matters, and Henry L. Mencken can provide both the horse and the buggy, not to mention the carriage whip. Why be content to go back merely to 1929? Why not. return all the way to the age of Mencken when the Mercury was a magazine and little boys went around behind the barn to smoke cornstalk and read the dramatic reviews of George Jean Nathan? Republican leaders have- racked their brains to find another Calvin Coolidge. They have even gone as far away as Kansas to find his equivalent. And all the time, much nearer home, Henry Mencken has beer sitting in the ashes in Baltimore waiting for Prince Charming to come along with the glass slipper. hub Step Up, Cinderella THERE need be no doubt that, the shoe fits. Mencken is Coolidge—that is, Coolidge with one cocktail. His political and economic ideas are precisely those of the late Republican President. Farmers and workers are in distress, according to the Mencken-Coolidge school of thought, because they didn't put their salaries in the savings bank every Saturday. Ts people go hungry the thrifty should not be calle.t upon to aid them. Why don't they pay their bills ana go to work? "Instead of safeguarding the hard-earned money of the people,” Mencken writes of Roosevelt, “and relieving them from their appalling burden of taxation, he has thrown away billions to no useful end or purpose and has piled up a debt that will take generations to discharge.” That is typically Coolidge—the insistence that "the people” means men of substance and men of property, the feeling that the unemployed are in some way wasters and sinners. To be sure, “A camorra of quarreling crackpots” is a somewhat unsuccessful attempt to imitate Herbert Hoover in his manner, but the same man who taught Herbert might put in a little time brushing up the style of Henry. By all means let them run Mencken, and I offer him gratis the slogan “Let ’em eat pumpernickel.” tCopyright. 1936) Owen D. Young's Statement Timely BY RAYMOND CLAPPER WASHINGTON, Feb. 26.—The best evidence that critics of the New Deal, as well as some spokesmen for it, have overreached themselves comes from Owen D. Young. A conservative bigbusiness executive. Young has a direct interest in development of radio, which finds itself caught in a cross-fire of bitter political harangue. He does not think any good can come from such cater-

waulings as have gone out over the air in some recent political speeches. Young mentioned Hoover, Smith and Senator Joseph T. Robinson specifically. He did not mention the President's recent broadcast on the state of the union. We have w government by public opinion, except as the Supreme Court intervenes. We have developed sensitive mechanical machinery for influencing that opinion. Unless this powerful machinery is used with good judgmer'- it may

be the vehicle lor destroying instead of strengthening that public opinion. a a a r ~I''HOSE who Insist that members of the courts A automatically go out of politics when they put on judicial robes are summoned by the Wyoming Eagle, of Cheyenne, to read the memoirs of former Rep. Frank Mondell of Wyoming, formerly Republican floor leader of the Hou.se. Rep. Mondell relates a political incident in which Associate Justice Vandevanter of the Supreme Court and Justice Van Orsdel of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, both former Wyoming Republicans, figured after going on the- bench. Rep. Mondell sivs: "On the fifth day of May, 1918, I was invited to Senator Warren's (Wyoming Republican) office and there met th# Senator and our mutual friends. Justices Vandevanter and Van Orsdel. The entire situation was discussed at length and it was agreed that Senator Warren would reconsider his declination to stand for re-election and that I should issue a statement with regard to the •9 me.” The Eagle observes: “Mr. Mondell sets out therein that justices of the United States Supreme Court and United States Court of Appeals thus indulged in directing Republican politics in Wyoming.’' a tt a BIG Chairman Jesse Jones of the RFC has the advantage over other Administration officials who become involved in congressional debate. They either have to sit in their offices and tear their hair or prowl around the corridors at the Capitol buttonholing friends for help. As publisher of the Houston Chronicle. Jones can sit in the press gallery when his agency is under debat* There he is available to answer questions of reporters concerning statements made on the legislative floor, as he was this w-eek when Senator Couzens raked him for throwing fat jobs through RFC influence to Walter Cummings, treasurer of the Democratic National Committee. mam Shortly before former Gov. Ritchie of Maryland died, the Administration made overtures to win him back. They were unsuccessful. Now the new Maryland leader, 6enator Tydings, will appear with Secretary of State Hull before Maryland young Democrats on March 5. when he is expected to declare for Roosevelt's re-election. Some weeks ago Senator Tydings refused to join other old-line Maryland Democrats in a bolt from the Administra|jpn.

WHAT’S WRONG IN OUR SCHOOLS?

This i (hr third of a scries of articles on the Indianapolis school system by Arch Steinel, Times staff writer. BY ARCH STEINEL QNE out of almost every three high school pupils in Indianapolis is housed improperly, suffers from overcrowded classrooms, or studies in a building that is a firetrap. This city’s six high schools have a total overload of 5455 pupils beyond the capacity for which four of the buildings were built. Broad Ripple and Manual Training High Schools have an underload of an estimated 450 students. Fifty per cent of the poorly housed boys and girls go to Arsenal Technical High School. This means in enroll-

ment figures that out of the 5455 student-overload in our high schools Tech has the bulk of that overflow with 2899 more pupils than the 4000 capacity load for which the school was built. George Washington High School and Shortridge are virtually tied in carrying the overload burden. The Wes. Side high school carries 20 per c> nt of the overflow' and Shortridge ’9 per cent. Crispus Attucks has II per cent of the overcrowding. Enrollment figures for the six high schools total 17,190. The capacity and enrollment of the four overcrowded schools follow: Technical, built for 4000 pupils, 6899 enrolled; Washington, built for 1000 pupils, 2233 enrolled; Shortridge, built to accommodate 2500 students, 3616 enrolled; Crispus Attucks, built for 1400 students, 657 enrolled. Broad Ripple has an enrollment of 445 and Manual, 1940. B B Q /~YNE out of almost every two students attending Tech must put up with portable school buildings, structures that are fire hazards. They must scramble for typewriters and laboratory places, and they receive less attention than they w'ould if classes were smaller and instructors could individualize their instruction with more ease. Tech pupils, at least one out of two of them, may learn Latin in rooms below ground level or study agriculture in a stable. If they are assigned a stable as a classroom they may have a study hall in what actually is a. hall —a corridor of one of the buildings. But if they happen to be a little luckier they may have classes in badly heated and poorly ventilated

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26. Some of the. best-informed leaders on Capitol Hill are increasingly convinced there will not be a tax bill this session. They are not making a fiat prediction. But they are saying it is a good gamble. Basis for their belief is the reluctance evinced by the President in his inner council meetings toward bringing out a tax measure this year. Insiders who have participated in the White House conferences say that most of their time was devoted to canvassing the possibility of avoiding tax legislation, rather than to discussing the scope and contents of such a measure. The President himself lent credibility to this no-tax belief at a press conference last week. Asked about the status of the bill, he replied that there were still “three or four chapters’’ to be written before a decision was reached. “What chapter would you say you were on?” , “ On Our Way’,” the President replied laughingly, referring to the title of his own latest book. “Is it possible.” asked one correspondent, “that there may be a chapter, ‘lt Can’t Happen Here'?” The President laughed in reply. tt tt ft Legislative Lash VARIED, indeed, are the legislative proposals that make up a session of Congress. Here are two bills recentlv introduced: H. R. 11176 . A BILL Increasing the penalty for making false oaths for the purpose of bathing at the government free bath-house at Hot Springs, Arkansas. Introduced by Rep. McClellan, Democrat, Arkansas. H. R. 1139 A BILL To prohibit bands of the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Guard from furnishing music on occasions beyond the scop -of their service duty. Introduced by Rep. McSwain, Democrat, South Carolina. tt tt a Nebraska's Burke ANOTHER angry protest, from anew quarter, has been lodged with the President

Clapper

. One Out of Every Three Pupils Here Housed Improperly

Washington Merry-Go-Round BY DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. ALLEN

BENNY

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The Indianapolis Times

portable buildings in which Tech has 22 classrooms. Thirty-six per cent of the school’s student body is housed in buildings erected before 1870. History abounds in the older buildings from the ring in the “Barn” where the Arsenal’s commander hitched his saddle-horse to the Barracks where the militiamen of the day whiled away off hours in that cubical game called “African dominoes.” B B B T'\EWITT MORGAN, technical principal, explains that students studying music are forced to practice their sharps and clefs in rooms used by mathematics classes. Roll calls are taken in any room available and the youth who thought he was taking English may find himself reading "Evangeline” in the home economics class or reciting “The Village Smithy” in the blacksmith shop. When a teacher and her class move out of a room at Tech another teacher moves in. What do they do with the odd teachers? Well, when the teachers find their hours of instruction at an end they are confronted with no home-room for grading papers or preparing for examinations or for the next day’s lessons. So to utilize every available bit of space in Tech’s buildings they stick Mr. Schoolmaster or Miss Schoolmarm between students’ lockers or in alcoves on stairways near attics. They give Teacher a desk and say: “Now Miss So-and-So will have one drawer in the desk and you can have the other.” When Principal Morgan calls assembly for the entire student body in the gymnasium all “gym” classes must cease while janitors place seats in readiness for the assembly period. One-half day in gymnasium classes generally is

against his secretary, Marvin McImyre. This one involves the political future of Nebraska next November. Liberal Democratic leaders in Nebraska are charging Mclntyre with intervening in behalf of Senator Edward R. Burke, who is a candidate for National Committeeman from the state. The irate Nebraskans claim that despite the President’s frequently reiterated policy of keeping hands off in state politics and Burke’s consistent anti-New Deal votes in the Senate, Mclntyre is secretly spreading the impression that the White House backs him. The hot attack on his secretary was made directly to the President —although by a circuitous route. Fearing if they sent their telegram to th. White House it would never reach Roosevelt, Nebraska leaders addressed it to a friendly New Dealer who placed it in his hands Burke has voted against practically every liberal bill sponsored by the White House, including the President’s pet Holding Company Act. Only a week ago he joined the Republicans in opposing the Administration's new farm program. Behind Burke's candidacy, and Mclntyre's undercover manipulations. is Arthur Mullen, lawyerlobbyist and former National Committeeman from Nebraska. Since 1933. Mullen has received large fees for representing Big Business in Washington, and was forced to resign from the National Committee because of his lawyer-lobbyist activities. Burke is allied with the Mullen (conservative) faction in Nebraska and his Senate voting has followed Mullen’s rather than the President’s leadership. Mclntyre i? a close personal friend of Mullen. The schism in Nebraska Democracy over Mullen has reached serious proportions. Liberal leaders opposing Mullen warned the President that if Mullen should succeed in installing Burke as his “stooge.” an open rift would result that might cost the Democrats the state next November.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1936

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Technical High School students should shout “low ceiling” instead of “low bridge” when entering the above basement classroom in which they are housed. The windows can be seen on a level with the floor. Overcrowded conditions are apparent in the photo at the right which shows a teacher using a locker-room to grade her papers as a Tech student does some extra work after hours in the seat next to her. lost by an assembly call, says Mr. Morgan. B B tt TECH girls take gmynastic exercises in improvised shop rooms. One thousand students housed in the 22 portable rooms are forced to go to the main building when they wish to use a washroom. Classrooms are coatrooms at Tech. In zero weather pupils spend so much time going to and from the different buildings that it is useless to use locker rooms for coat hanging. So wraps are adjuncts to books carried to classrooms. Traffic in Technical’s halls is so dense that it is necessary for stairways and halls to have “traffic cops” to forestall “freshies” from going the wrong way. The average mathematics class at Tech consist of 34 pupils. Mr.

Pan-American Peace THE diminutive country of Paraguay has put the President’s Pan-American peace proposal in a tough spot. Just after Roosevelt addressed a personal letter onythe peace conference to President Ayala, the military staged a revolution, a new president put himself in power, and Ayala was locked up. Question is: Will the United States recognize the new government? This question is complicated by the fact that the new cabinet has strong Communistic leanings. The minister of justice and education has been in exile as a Communist since IS3I. The minister of interior, after killing a man in a duel some years ago, fled the country and threw in his lot with Russian Nihilists in Paris. The minister of war, marine and foreign affairs is a jingoist who wanted Paraguay to pursue her foe, Bolivia, to relentless annihilation in the Chaco war. Even if the new government maintains order, the State Department will court trouble in recognizing it, because other South American countries are uneasy over the success of any government with Communist leanings. Argentine, Brazil. Uruguay and ' Chile all are having Communist troubles of their own. probably will blackball Paraguay’s insurgents, urging Uncle Sam to do the same. Meantime, what happens to the President's idea for Pan-American peace? (Copyright, 1936. by United Feature Syndicate. Inc.) OUTLINE PARTY MEETING Shelbyville Republicans to Hear Two Speakers March 12. Timex Special SHELBYVILLE, Ind., Feb. 26. The Lincoln Day Republican mass meeting, postponed because of weather conditions, is to be. held here March 12. Ralph Adams, county chairman, said today. Rollin Turner, Greensburg attorney, and Miss Genevieve Brown, Indianapolis, are to speak. The meeting, to be held in Red Men's Hall, is to open with a community dinner at 6.

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Morgan says the class should not contain more than 26 or 27, with a maximum of 30 to insure good teaching. “Only the ability of our teachers to handle large classes and to give students the maximum of teaching effort possible under the handicaps has kept the school’s educational ranking at standard,” he declares. tt tt tt SHOP classes which should have 25 to 35 students to permit ample individual instruction and at the same time lessen dfenger of an industrial accident are crowded to a point where some classes have 40 to 55 enrolled. Instructors say that only by being careful and lessening individual instruction can they protect the pupils and prevent accidents. Watchfulness must be maintained at all times even when the class as a whole is disregarded for a moment or two of individual teaching. Crippled students at Tech have special courses arranged for them to minimize the amount of walking necessary to reach classrooms on the 76-acre campus. A difference in the attitude of pupils with classrooms in modern buildings and those who attend classes in portables is noticeable, says Mr. Morgan. He believes that portable structures lessen class morale. Janitorial at Tech are no sinecure with 14 buildings to clean, many of them with old, chipped wooden floors, the principal asserts. tt tt tt THE task of making the 35,000 classroom assignments for Tech pupils goes to a thin, jovial man, C. E. Teeters, assistant principal. Each student averages five courses and Mr. Teeters carries a mental map of the campus. He knows to the minute how long it takes to go from the shops to the building known as the “Barn.” If he finds by his agile calculations that a classroom can be sandwiched in during the trip across the campus then the student has his day’s big walk broken by another study period. Grading a few of the antiquated buildings used for classrooms at Tech, the school board’s building committee finds as follows: Artillery building: Used as school lunchroom. A foundry and mill are next door, and above the kitchens are cabinet makers. Building not well adapted for school purposes. Old powerhouse: Used for electrical department. Rooms poorly lighted and ventilated and not suitable for shop work. Barracks: Three-story wooden structure used for classroom. Building hazardous in case of fire. Arsenal Cannon Office: Winding stairways and not adapted for school purposes.

The Barn: Reconstructed in 1916. Has wooden partitions of temporary nature. Lavatory for boys adjoins one classroom. Basement used for classrooms. Rooms are dark and very poorly ventilated. Basement rooms have windows almost level with floor and students sit flanking the windows. tt a tt 'T'HE building committee, in a “*■ report on Tech and recommendation for the construction of an SBOO,OOO building to be known as the Milo H. Stuart Memorial Hall, after Tech’s former principal, believes the building will eradicate the worst evils at the high school. The proposed building and its 54 classrooms, as well as an auditorium seating 3000, would eliminate the old Barracks building with its firetrap stairways, eliminate the 22 portable classrooms, and aid materially in reducing other deplorable conditions. Hand in hand with the proposed SBOO,OOO expenditure is the projected construction of an East Side or Irvington high school to house 700 students. It would be built at an estimated cost of $450,000. The proposed school would house pupils of freshman and sophomore years and would decrease the teaching load at Technical. Decrease of Tech’s student body to 6000, plus the construction of Milo Stuart Hall, school officials believe, would care for immediate needs of the crafts high school. a tt tt CROWDED conditions at Washington and Crispus Attucks high schools are similar to those at Tech, but are dissimilar in that outside of portable structures the main buildings are in good condition. Eight classrooms are housed in portables at Washington with seven frame structures at Crispus Attucks. The portables have uneven temperatures and are not conducive to good morale among students, teachers declare. Under present plans of the school board's building and finance committees, an expenditure of $750,000 is to be proposed for the construction of additions to the two schools. The additions will banish portables at the two educational institutions and care for class overloads. Based on the ratio of increase over a five-year period, Paul Stetson, school superintendent, and other officials see Indianapolis with 23,000 high school pupils in 1941 in place of today's 17,000 to 18,000 enrollment, or enough students to fill two high schools the size of Shortridge. Tomorrow: Fire Hazards in the City's Schools,

By J. Carver Pusey

Second Section

Entered as Set ond-Claa* Matter at Portoffl'-e. Indlanapnlu Ind.

Fttir Enough Oil FElilffi -IkJ-UNICH, Feb. 26.—There's a great contrast between the methods of the American and British governments in cases involving the arrest of their subjects in Germany. The American way is to proceed slowly and in a manner which seems almost timid. The British bear down hard without delay. The British have a geographical advantage, because whenever one of their subjects is arrested they can bring their journalistic guns to bear within 24 hours, wnereas American papers can not arrive in

Germany until more than a week has passed. Moreover, the British papers take these matters much more seriously than our papers do and the British subject has more reason to feel that his nation is willing to fight for his rights. Most of the Americans who have been in serious trouble in Germany were born in Germany and came back here on American passports. There is probably a disposition to create a distinction between the citizenship of a native American and one that was born elsewhere. There’s no legal

difference, however, and there’s only one type of American passport. Nevertheless the naturalized American is subject to greater risks than the nativeborn. B tt B Fighting Fire With Fire THE British meet rough treatment with quick and vigorous resistance sometimes having the appearance of reprisals. A few months ago an Englishman was arrested in Germany charged with drawing pictures of a railway train. The English soon arrested a German in England on a charge of espionage near an airdrome. There’s no doubt that the Germans quickly would acquire a higher respect for the American passport if they realized that for every American molested in Germany at least two Germans would be given similar treatment in our country. The activities of many Nazis in the United States are notoriously aggressive and contemptuous toward American institutions. No American would think of attempting to hold a public meeting in Germany to denounce an element of the German people, nor would it be possible to conduct meetings in Berlin, Munich or anywhere else in praise of the American system of government. Yet in the United States. Nazi groups regularly hold meetings to arouse sentiments against American Jews. m b a Innocent Traitors THE crime of treason is one which might be passed against an American in Germany because of the most innocent utterance. Accustomed to the free expression at home, he might speak unwisely in Germany and find himself locked up for a month while the authorities investigate his background. This would be strictly according to German law. The American here is exposed to conditions which do not affect a Nazi in the United States. I believe we have laws by which American Nazis could be prosecuted for inciting disorder. If that is understandable or impracticable, the United States government could warn all American citizens of conditions in Germany and advise them to keep out of the country. This would have considerable force, because the Germans still are looking forward to a big influx of tourists for the summer Olympic games. (Copyright, 1336, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)

Gen. Johnson Says—

‘M'EW YORK, Feb. 26.—Last year the outstanding Republican presidential possibility was Gov. Hoffman of New Jersey. Now he is a political outcast, solely because he stayed the execution of Bruno Hauptmann. I don’t know the merits of that reprieve—and neither do 999 out of every 1000 of his detractors. But he does. Any zany could have told him that he had nothing to gain and all to lose. He surely understood that he was mounting the political guillotine when he did it. There is something fishy about the whole Hauptmann business. The highly dramatized mob-scene trial was discreditable to American jurisprudence. The variety of publicity-hungry defen >e counsel and the political prosecution were not pretty. The ineffable “Jafsie” and the spectacular Lindbergh flight to refuge in England do not brighten the picture. Obviously Hauptmann is guilty of something sinister enough to warrant severe punishment, but it seems incredible that any one could have conducted those long drawn negotiations always knowing that that poor dead body was lying under a bush for any passer-by to find at any moment. Maybe Hauptmann was tried for one crime and convicted of another —as was A1 Capone—which is bad business no matter how much both of them deserve roasting. Be that as it may, it is just medieval witch-burn-ing and mob-ignorance to condemn a man under the awful responsibility of Gov. Hoffman for using deliberation where justice is in question. He showed the very highest type of official courage. In these doubtful days of political trimming, he ought to have a medal of honor instead of a chorus of Bronx cheers. (Copyright, 1936. bv United Feature Syndicate. Ine.

Times Books

IF you happen to be a little fed up on cold weather, rain, and the world in general, it might be a good idea to obtain a copy of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ latest thriller, “Swords of Mars,” and sit down for a little excitement on that far-away, canal-creased planet. \ Mr. Burroughs’ amazing imagination has brought him a fortune (Who can help but admire that lithe, brawny lord of the jungle, Tarzan?), and his "Swords of Mars” ‘Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.. Tarzana, Cal.; $2) is no exception to the thrill standard he has set for so long. It concerns the adventures of John Carter, master swordsman of two planets. John, Prince of Helium, is after the Martian racketeers, and, in the course of a pleasant throat-slitting war. John’s beautiful mate, Dejah Thoris, is kidnaped and flown to the nearer moon of Mars. Swordsman Carter follows in a wonder ship, battles his way through a series of breath-taking exploits and reaches the side of Dejah Thoris, only to find Go ahead. Read it yourself. Tip: Put the family bank roll on Hero John. (By N. E. I.). ana Alexei Tolstoi, a descendant of Leo Tolstoi and one most popular writers in Soviet Russia, has two novels on American publishers’ lists for this spring. The first, called “Darkness and Dawn,” will be issued March 18 by Longmans Green. The other, “The Death Box’’ is announced by Alfred A. Knopf but the date is indefinite. The first and only book written by Carl Taylor, who was murdered recently in New Mexico, will be published in April by Scribners. It is called “Odyssey of the Islands” and describes his experiences in parts of the Philippines which haven’t been visited by any other white man. One chapter of the book has been bought by Cosmopolitan, who have not yet givenift & title or a date.

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Westbrook Pegler