Indianapolis Times, Volume 48, Number 21, Indianapolis, Marion County, 4 April 1936 Edition 02 — Page 9

Liberal Side by HARRY ELMER BARNES (Heywood Broun Is on Vacation.) JF any one is fearful lest there be Fascism in the United States, one practical way of lessening the danger is to give firm assistance to all movements designed to frustrate the attacks now being made on our civil liberties by reactionary groups and Irresponsible publishers. The American Civil Liberties Union has, therefore, done a smart thing in sending out to its members and friends a list of the more important Federal hieasures which touch closely upon civil liberties. Some are designed to curb liberties and others to protect us in our constitutional rights. First among those which threaten our liberties are the proposed gag bills. The Kramer sedition bill would punish the advocacy of the overthrow of government by force and violence. Under it, most of the men who sat in our Federal Constitutional Convention in 1787 would be liable to punishment. Then there is the Tydings-McDuffle military disaffection bill, modeled after the gag law that England passed a couple of years back. This would punish severely anybody who, by word or publication, said anything which might possibly incite a soldier or sailor to disobey orders. How serious this might be is seen by the effect in England. There, a very important publishing firm refused to print a children’s Christmas book which recommended peace on earth and good will among men. Senator Tydings and Secretary of War Dem have withdrawn their support from the bill. a a a These, Too, Threaten OTHER bills which threaten the traditional American liberties are one which would increase the power of postofflce censorship, and another which would prohibit the use of the mails to give or obtain information relative to foreign divorces. A number of savage bills, relative to the deportation of aliens, have been introduced in both the House and the Senate, but none has as yet been reported out of the committee. Bills have been introduced to prohibit Federal aid to schools where they teach the overthrow of government by force, and to put Federal pressure on states to require teachers’ loyalty oaths. On the other hand, there are a number of bills which would safeguard or extend our liberties. One would prohibit contempt proceedings in Federal courts in order to force editors and reporters to reveal secret sources of information. Several bills contemplate the assurance of greater freedom in radio service. They would require radio stations to allow uncensored discussions of major public issues, according the same treatment to both sides of controversial topics; would instruct radio stations to keep a full record of all programs accepted and rejected; w'ould free radio stations of liability for libel or slander in programs devoted to public issues; and would create a special commission to investigate the present condition as to free speech over the air. More popular control of postoffice censorship would be insured by providing jury trials in all cases involving exclusion of materials from the mails. Lynching is attacked through the proposal to institute Federal prosecution of lynchers and to create a commission to investigate current facts as to lynching. an a Labor's Interests Involved MORE humane control of deportation is hoped for through the Ilerr-Coolidge bill to give discretion in cases which would involve hardship or disaster, such as breaking up families or sending radicals back to Fascist states. The interests of labor are involved in bills to prohibit the interstate shipment of strike breakers; to prohibit the use of Federal equipment by state troops engaged in strike duty, except with specific approval of the .Secretary of War; and to make a thorough investigation of the condition of share-croppers in the South. Friends of civil liberty will do well to write their Senators and Congressmen to support these bills which safeguard civil liberties and to oppose those which head us further toward Fascism. U. S. Can Not Stay Neutral, Many Think BY RAYMOND CLAPPER NEW YORK, April 4.—This week-end is the anniversary of our entrance into the World War. Nineteen years ago today, the Senate adopted the war resolution. On April 5, 1917, the House adopted it and the following day President Wilson affixed his signature. That was a long time ago. Col. Lindbergh was a kid in short pants, attending public school in Washingtdn, where his father, a Minnesota, congressman, w r as fighting against our entrance into the war. Os

the six Senators who 19 years ago today voted against war, only Senator George Norris remains. Os the 50 House members who voted nay, only Knutson and Lundeen are left. It was a different world—in some respects. Instead of radio as we know it, there was only the primitive wireless which had ticked out frantic code letters from the sinking Titanic, and which the military w r as experimenting with for short-range field communication. There were no talking pictures, no telepho-

tographs flashing pictures of world events across the ocean into your next day’s newspaper. Mussolini was a young Socialist journalist. Nazis and the Soviets and their complete subjugation of the individual were still shrouded behind the veil of time. The world did not live as close together. Space had not been so completely telescoped. Aircraft had not crossed thq oceans. Yet, even in that world, we lived close enough to other nations to be drawn into their war. * a NOW, 19 years later, European nations seem headed for another war, if not today, then tomorrow. Many, remembering our former experience., believe that in the present world our chances of remaining out of war are even less. This belief underlies the agitation, which is growing, for abandoning any attempt at isolation and for joining European powers in some way or another. Some want to join the League of Nations. Others want an alliance with Great Britain. Mostly the details are glossed over with the general statement that we should participate in a movement for “collective security.” Meetings are being held daily, women’s study clubs are discussing the question, and lecturers from Europe are telling us how impossible it is for the United States to stay out. Sir Arthur Salter, the noted British economist, tells the League for Political Education here that isolation is not the reverse of entanglement, but the precursor of it. His view is echoed among the experts in our State Department—that in trying to keep our isolation we are likely to lose it. The short of all this is that our public sentiment for neutrality—meaning noinvolvement—which became so strong a year ago. is being rapidly sapped and in place of it is growing up a pressure for again taking a hand in the European poker game. Involved in this is an appeal to our missionary spirit, an appeal to us to join in another crusade to help the good powers put down the bad ones. The argument is that Europe can not keep from fighting unless we go over and stop them. When Americans think over the disillusionment that followed our previous venture in doing good they are not likely to be much moved by this appeal’.

THE FIGHT ON THE DUST DEMON a*aaamaa a a a a a a a U. S. Battles Nature and Old-Time Ideas in War on Marching, Soil

After % rruflin* 1500-mile trip through the Dust Bowl of the Southwest, Reporter Frank Houston and Cameraman Ennis Helm tell their story of the grim fight against the desert-creating dust demon. This Is the last of three stories. BY FRANK HOUSTON NEA Service Special Correspondent TT\ALIIART, Tex., April 4, The front-line trenches in the war against the dust demon are on a 40,000-acre tract northeast of here. This is the chief of a dozen such plots where government experts are trying out ways of fighting dust storms and warding off the ruin they leave hind them. On a 50-mile tour of this project, you can actually see the results. The farm of a “co-operator” lies on one side of the road, with the soil holding tight, protected by terracing and contour plowing. On the other side of the road, not 100 feet away, you can see where the terrific Panhandle winds have scooped away the top soil and piled it in huge hummocks only a step from the sand dunes of a worthless desert. fThe government soil experts have to fight not only the negligence of a past generation and the ruthless force of nature, but the set minds of the “old-timers.” These men declare, “We’ve always plowed straight rows and we always got good crops until a couple of years ago. All we need is a little rain.” They don\ like to be told how to run their farms by the young college graduates of the United States Soil Conservation Service. a a a TJUT gradually they are coming around to it. And those who won’t be persuaded by Federal experts to try scientific means to preserve their own and others’ land may meet more stringent measures from the state of Texas. By anew law passed this year, Texas has given power to county judges and county commissioners of nine Panhandle counties to move in and protect land against wind eros'on, and to charge the expense to the landownfer. This lew is aimed mainly at the nonresident landowner who doesn’t realize what is happening to his land. Judge Wilson Cowen, of Dallam County, estimates that 30 per cent of the 800 farms are owned by nonresidents. “We have sent letters to 20 of these owners,” Judge Cowen said, “explaining that their land is not being farmed and that it is suffering from wind erosion. We are telling them, too, that

WASHINGTON, April 4.—Republican politicos are crediting Walter F. Brown, Postmaster General in the Hoover Cabinet, and C. Bascom Slemp, secretary to the late Calvin Coolidge, with controlling a bloc of 90 southern delegates between them. Neither has openly committed himself to any candidate, but they are reported to be leaning strongly toward the Landon band* wagon. ... William I. Myers, Federal Farm Credit Governor, is being boomed by several agricultural organizations for appointment as farmer representative on the Federal Reserve Board. Another potential nominee is J. S. Jones, secretary of the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation. , . . Mention of pugilist Joe Louis brings no cheers to the lips of Rep. George G. Sadowski, even though they both hail from Detroit. Louis’ lawyer, Charles Roxborough, a Negro, is running against Sadowski, and the “Brown Flash” accompanies him when he makes a campaign speech. He always brings a crowd. . . . Morris L. Cooke, Rural Electrification Administrator, dipped a glass in the muddy Potomac during the recent flood. A day later the water was crystal clear, but on the bottom of the glass was a deposit of soil three-eighths of an inch thick. Cooke estimates that this year’s floods have carried away more than one-quarter of a billion tons of soil. tt tt m Since his “mutiny” charge against striking seamen, Secretary Dan Roper is being referred to in labor circles as “Captain Dan Bligh of Mutiny on the Brain.” tt tt tt WHEN Senator Schwellenbach of Washington was asked if he would act as Senate sponsor for a housing bill, introduced in the House by Rep. Ellenbogen of Pennsylvania, he said: “What a combination of names that would be! ’The Schwellenbach-EUen-bogen Bill.”’ . . . New Deal-bait-ing senator Hastings of Delaware

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

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The debris of defeat. The farmyard of an abandoned wheat ranch near Ualhart, Tex., with tumbleweed and dust filling the sagging skeleton of an auto, and the gaunt remains of a barn gradually merging into the rising drifts of sand.

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United States soil erosion experts dig into the fine silt near Dal hart, Tex., to measure the depth of a recent dust blow. Note the sweep of the fiat country, without a hill, a tree, or a blade of grass to halt th e havoc of the March winds.

the dust from their fields is blowing over on adjoining farms, causing damage to land and crops there. a a a “X X 7E are advising such owners VV to take immediate steps themselves after getting information from the county agent. If they do not follow our advice, we will do the work and charge the expense to them. It will run from 25 to 50 cents an acre.” More than 500 Texas farmowners are getting that kind of notice this year. But, of course, most of the work is done by cooperation with owner-farmers on the ground. J. C. Wilcox, young Federal soil engineer, showed us the methods being used here. Chief among them is contour plowing. That means simply that, instead of plowing straight furrows east and west or north and south, the

has vacated the scorner’s seat and gone off to North Carolina to play golf. . . . Principal occupant of that seat is Senator Vandenberg. . . . The principal of the Boonsboro (Md.) High School punished a truant the other day by handing him a volume of the Congressional Record and requiring that'he read the entire Huey Long filibuster w r hich (which required five hours to deliver), and write a 1000-word essay on it. . . . Members of the Senate Agriculture Committee manifest no interest in Senator Cotton Ed Smith’s current investigation of the cotton market. During the long, dreary hearings, Smith sits alone, infrequently relieved by Mi’s. Hattie Caraway. tt tt Mrs. Huey Long finds the Senate roll call amusing. Frequently when her name is called, she answers with a little laugh. ft St tt DR. FRANCIS E. TOWNSEND is reported to be indorsing a digestion pill that he uses personally. The ex-lowa country doctor always carries a box of the tablets with him, uses them before each meal. . . . The forthcoming report by the Securities and Exchange Commission on the operations of so-called “Stockholders’ Protective Committees” covers 1500 pages of sensational disclosures involving a number of leading banks. . . . Short, rotund Louis Ward, Washington lobbyist for the Rev. Charles Coughlin, has departed from the Capital, being succeeded by Fred Collins, a former advertising and publicity man associated with Ward. . . . Labor Secretary Frances Perkins is embroiled in another row with congressmen. She favors the appointment of Dr. John Lapp of Chicago as the SIO,OOO-a-year impartial chairman of the Coal Labor Board. Since several congressmen oppose Lapp, the important post continues unfilled. . . . Miami’s Mayor E. G. Sewall, summoned as a witness in the impeachment trial of Judge Halstead L. Ridder, plans to kill two birds with one stone while in

SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 1936

furrow is run across the slopes, following the contour of the earth in such a way that the entire length of eajh furrow is at the same level. Thus, each furrow is a sort of miniature dam, and runoff water from a sudden rain has to fill and slop over each of the furrows in turn. Each furrow, accordingly, absorbs the maximum of moisture, but runoff is checked. When it does rain here, it usually is a downpour. a a a ■jIATANY farmers hold back from any such plowing, feeling that it is harder work. But the county agents will run contours on any farm, and they maintain it is not much harder once you are used to it. “All we want is a little rain!” cry these farmers, but since Jan. 1 only ..38 inch has fallen. The

Washington. After testifying in the impeachment, Sewall will push a $2,000,000 PWA loan for the erection of a permanent PanAmerican Exposition in Miami. tt tt tt FOLLOWING Roosevelt’s reversal of his order to close ’Several hundred camps, the CCC has launched a dri’e to recruit 60,000 new members. Director Fechner expects to have the corps’ strength up to 350,000 by May 1. .. . Experimental flights across the Atlantic in preparation for the establishment of regular airmail services between the United States and Europe are being planned for this summer by Great Britain, France, Germany and the United States. In England a fleet of highspeed mail planes is being constructed especially for the test flights. .. . Latest invention of ingenious TVA engineers seeking new uses for surplus Tennessee electricity is a charged fly screen that electrocutes insects when they touch the screen. Other devices includeelectric hay-dryer and an electric hay hoist. ... If the Senate concurs in a House amendment extending Title 1 of the Federal Housing Administration, there should be a big boom in church modernization this year. The provision would permit the FHA to guarantee loans up to $50,000 for this purpose. Under existing laws it could not insure loans for church renovation. . . . Two hundred thousand copies of Morris L. Cooke’s remarkable booklet, “Little Waters,” have been ordered from the government printing office by a Philadelphian, for free distribution to libraries and schools over the country. The publication, which the President sent to Congress with a special message, stresses the vital importance of tributary streams in causing floods. Washington news women staging a charity party caused a flurry in White House circles by their methods of soliciting gifts. Some girls seeking donations from liquor dealers mentioned the name of Mm. Roosevelt as a patron. (Copyright. 1936, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)

average for that period is .58. So conditions are ripe for more damage unless more rain comes. On a 10,000-acre tract four miles north of here, Wilcox showed us land that five years ago was a productive farm. Today there are sand dunes a quarter mile long and 50 to 60 feet high ridging the land. Between the ridges, the ground is scraped clean by the wind, hard and brittle as a china plate. In spots the wind has eaten away the ground to the third subsoil. It is as wild and desolate-look-ing a spot as any we saw in the Dust Bowl. But the Soil Conservation Service hopes that by its scientific methods this can be turned back into productive farm land within a few years. ana npHE big effort is to persuade farmers to stop putting all their eggs in one basket by planting wheat, wheat, wheat. Success of any conservation program can come only from persuading them to plant part of their land in rowerops and grassland, aided

DECLARER GETS SQUEEZED!

Today’s Contract Problem The Contract is four hearts, by South. Two end plays permit declarer to make his contract. Can you follow the play of the hand? 4 A J yKJ 8 2 4QB 5 2 A K 10 9 / *KQIO 7| J 514 8 643 2 c VQIO 5 W e b fJ6 ♦AIO 7 4 S 4Q6 5 2 4 J 8 4 Dealer 4 9 5 y A7 6 4 3 4K 9 3 4 A7 3 E. & W. vul. Opener—4 K. Solution in next issue. 28 Solution to Previous Contract Problem BY WSL E. M’KENNEY Secretary American Bridge League TODAY’S hand was given to me by Irving Epstein of New York City, one of the newest and youngest stars in the bridge world. Epstein was the only double winner at the recent Eastern bridge championship tournament, being a member of the victorious mixed team of four and the winning open team of four. We always hear of poor defenders being squeezed. In this hand, the declarer is squeezed, for a change. Against South’s contract of three no trump, Epstein, sitting in the West, opened the four of spades. This was won by East’s ace and the seven of spades was returned, South winning the trick. A low heart was played to dummy’s queen and the three of diamonds returned. South finessed the 10 and lost to West's clever false-card of the king. Epstein's

by contouring and terracing, and listing when necessary. Throughout the Panhandle, a “no-crop” report seems almost certain this year. In some sections the green wheat is trying to push its way up through the dust blanket, and some of the farm- ‘ ers fight against a fifth straight year of failure. Banker George Geers of Guymon, Okla., summed up the prospects thus: “If we get a lot of moisture in March and April, which we seldom do, and if we don’t get any wind, which we always do, we might make half a crop—on some farms.” One is glad to get out of the Dust Bowl. It is like being sent back to a rest zone from the front-line trenches. It is. hard enough to get the dust out of your ears, your trhoat and your lungs. But it is harder to get out of your mind the picture of oncefertile acres that are in such imminent danger of becoming a desolate desert. THE END

4 10 8 5 y AQ J 5 4J 4 3 4 J 10 7 4J964 u 4 a 7 2 c V 6 3 ylO 9 4 w t 4652 4K Q 7 S 4AQ 9 5 4 8 3 Dealer 2 4K Q 3 yK 7 2 4 A 10 9 8 4K64 * Duplicate — None vul. South West North East 1 4 Pasa 1 y Pass IN. T. Pass 2N. T. Pass 3N. T. Pass Pass Pasa Opening lead —4 4. 28 spade return was won by South’s last spade. The queen of diamonds seemed to be indicated in East’s hand. So South played the king and one heart, and cashed the last heart in dummy, discarding the four of clubs. To protect himself against a twice-guarded queen in East’s hand, as he believed. South now played the jack of diamonds. East and South both played low and, much to South’s amazement, West won the trick with the queen of diamonds, South having definitely placed West with the ace of clubs as his re-entry, and not the queen of diamonds. Only four cards were left in each hand at this time, declarer holding the ace-nine or diamonds and the king-six of clubs. West held a small club, the seven of diamonds and two good spades, which he now proceeded to cash. On the first of these, declarer discarded the nine of diamonds, but on the second spade trick he w r as squeezed. Any discard he made would give the opponents the remainder of the tricks. (Copyright, 1936, by NEA Service, Inc.)

By J. Carver Pusey

Second Section

Entered n* Second-Claim Matter at Postoffice. Indianapolis. Ind.

Fair Enough WESTBROOK PEGLER J OXDON, April 4.—Ever since the Lindberghs left the United States to seek privacy in England, where they ran into a blockade of reporters and photographers by land, sea and air, I have been studying the style, method and content of the English newspapers. The result is a comfort. Their best

Journalism, though excellent, is no better than our best and their worst worse than our own. Careless and incomplete reporting and sticky writing are the most flaring characteristics of the popular press. English reporters constantly ignore the rule of who, what, when and where. Their feature men have a bad habit of slopping over or squeezing the old sponge, and they are a great success for primitive tricks of publicity. A few weeks ago, for example, Miss Merle Oberon, a moving pic-

ture actress, broke into print with the news that her lips had been insured for SIOO,OOO, a gag which no self-respecting press agent would have the effrontery to offer the most gullible American news desks. a a a Ads May Have Influence npHEY also fall eagerly for their very childish moving picture publicity, but this may be due to the fact that they have in mind the revenue from movie advertising, which was naturally suggested a few days ago when a feature writer smeared half a page with writing about the glamorous Dietrich, hangup against a big display advertisement of a Marlene Dietrich picture. I noticed also that one of the popular Sunday papers, which carries a great lineage in advertisements from the promoters of football pools, printed a resounding editorial denouncing attempts to abolish or regulate the pools, which are notoriously crooked. At home we have the equivalent of the British football pool in the baseball pool and the number racket, J?ut not even our worst newspapers accept advertisements to promote the frauds. The English popular press seems to have absolutely no ethics or conscience in regard to advertisements for fake cures for cancer, rheumatism, diabetes and other scourges. This sort of advertising gets an enormous display and presumably yields enormous revenues to the publisher. It has been 25 years at least since the patent medicine faker was kicked out of the majority of the American papers or compelled to honey up his copy with a pseudo-scientific pretext. a a a And They Criticise Us \ ND these publishers have had the gall to accuse our papers of driving Lindbergh out of the country. In this connection not only did they waylay Lindbergh much more diligently than our papers did, but they also sniped a picture of Barbara Hutton’s baby and published it soon after the five-and-ten princess and countess received a ransom note. They can not be blamed for hopping to the Lindbergh job, because Lindbergh makes international news. Neither can they be criticised for sniping Barbara’s baby, because she has made herself spectacular for years. But they were in no position to pull snoots at our press for doing the same thing. There was an amusing little jam in the Adelphi in Liverpool when Lindbergh w r as holed up there waiting for the English journalists to go away. The papers discovered that Lindbergh had eaten herring for dinner, and he accused the waiter of revealing this vital information. That made the waiter sore, and he explained that a reporter had observed the skeleton on the plate as it was returned to the scullery. “You should have ordered roast mutton, sir,” the waiter said. “It’s boneless.”

Art in Indianapolis BY ANTON SCHERRER

WILBUR PEAT’S big Czechoslovakian art show begins tomorrow. It will remain at the Herron the rest of the month. Walter Pater, in his most oracular mood, once wrote an essay to the curious text that all art aspires to the condition of music. We were reminded of it the other day at the Lyman Gallery when we saw Dorothy Morlan’s picture labeled “Maestoso.” Miss Morlan picks names like “Maestoso” and “Largo” to drive home her point. It isn’t necessary. We caught on right away. Like music, Miss Morlan’s art is curiously devoid of substance, but it has the stuff of which dreams are made. And dreams, no matter what materialists may say, are more than intangible emotions. Given definite direction they may turn out to be the art of Albert Ryder and Augustus Tack and, maybe, of Dorothy Morlan, too. If Miss Morlan’s pictures were entirely successful, their importance could scarecly be overestimated. They are by no means entirely successful—not yet, anyway. We are still too conscious of paint. But they have their appeal and it is to those who believe with Browning that “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp.” tt tt ART criticism as practiced today is largely a matter of figuring out air currents. There are, of course, several ways of doing this, but the best technique this department knows anything about is the one favored by M. X., of immortal and romantic memory. (For the sake of those who were denied the advantages of a romantic education be it said that this worthy man, valet to the puissant Athos, spent his spare time investigating the direction of the Seine's current, by spitting into it.) The method is as good as ever and more scientific than most now in use. At any rate, it’s the one we used in determining the reason why so many people in all stations of life liked the Emile Gruppe paintings exhibited at the H. Lieber Gallery last week. Mr. Gruppe’s success is largely a moral one. For one thing, his successful pictures spring from the virtue within him. Curiously enough, his comarative failures, too. Living in an age when art is seething with revolution, he has remained a constitutionalist and has worked out his ideals regardless of the prevailing vogues or the noisy groups around him. And to judge by last week’s reception, Mr. Gruppe has not lost status or caste for so doing. Indeed, if air currents count for anything, it would appear that simple truth, sincerity and good faith are characteristics still to be reckoned with, despite those who find nothing but philistinism in noble attributes.

Liquor Pension?

By t)cripp*-Haward .Yet cspaper Alliance WASHINGTON, April 4.—Veterans of Prohibition are Joining the Veterans of Future Wars in asserting their claims on the government for pensions. Rep. Dan McGehee <D., Miss.) has proposed to the House payment of S3O a month to any citizen physically Incapacitated “from the use of Jamaica ginger of which the alcoholic content, released by the government, was not potable without deleterious results.” To be eligible tor his pension an applicant must have, become tar I ft stated before March 18 of this

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Westbrook Pegler