Indianapolis Times, Volume 48, Number 23, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 April 1936 — Page 13

Travel Safety by ROBERT D. POTTER •Copyright. 1936. by Selene* Service) (Heywood Broun Is on Vacation.) YVASHINGTON, April 7.—Which is safer, auto, airplane or trzin, in terms of the number of millions of miles traveled for each fatality caused by them? Motor cars and trucks have the worst record on the basis of passenger miles covered per passenger death. This was shown in yesterday’s article. But highway transport is the most efficient and safe method of transport if the transpotation death problem is looked at in another way: A greater number of miles is traveled by autos and trucks for each fatality caused than by airplanes and railroad trains. In yesterday’s article it was shown that the passenger miles per passenger death looked like this: Automobiles and trucks: 18,932,725 occupant miles per occupant fatality. Airlines: 24,037,290 passenger miles per passenger fatality. However, note the following for the number of miles traveled for fatal accident of any kind whatever: v Railroads, 375,000 miles per death. Arlines, 1,200,000 miles per death. Automobiles, 5,658.000 miles per death. The order, it will be seen, is completely reversed, with the airlines still holding the center position in both cases. The railroads are, therefore, very safe for their paying passengers, for although 18 passengers were killed last year, not one of them was killed in a wreck or coti'sion. These accidents occurred to persons jumping on moving trains, from car to car, and so on. 000 One View of 11 r T'HE whole problem of speed and deaths in transportation raises the question of why men like to go from place to place more quickly and continually invent devices for accomplishing this purpose. Bluntly the question may be asked, “What is the good of all the present-day speed?’’ Dr. H. C. Dickinson of the National Bureau of Standards in Washington has made an unusual analysis of this problem which is confirmed, in part, by the figures above. Time, says Dr. Dickinson, is the common heritage of all men. It is the only thing which all people have to do with as they will. A large amount of time is used in getting from one place to another for pleasure or business. In primitive days, by walking, a person’s lifetime was probably equivalent to about 200,000 miles. If a man spent his lifetime traveling on horseback or in a horse-drawn carriage he might travel 500,000 miles in his entire life. Man invented, however, the motorcar, the airplane, and the railroad train to enable him to travel farther and faster; and in the process some people arc killed just as people occasionally are killed in walking or by riding horseback. “Compare the washing of an entire life in covering from 250.000 to 500,000 miles by primitive modes of transportation,” asks Dr. Dickinson, “with the life cost of modern travel by automobile where we sacrifice what is left of some one’s life for each 10,000,000 passenger miles traveled.” 000 A Questionable Investment? rvR. DICKINSON'S point is that life is more efficient if we have motor cars and airplanes and railroad trains which kill people occasionally than it is to spend whole lifetimes figuratively crawling from place to place with less loss of life. The reason why man wants faster airplanes, trail.., and automobiles is that mass consciousness has a dim, but inexpressible realization that the faster way is the more efficient way. Says Dr. Dickinson: ‘ We use the automobile not only bscause we like it. but because it saves time, which is life. It enables us to do more in a lifetime, to enjoy more leisuie, to produce more of what we want, to ‘save part*of our lives.’ Suppose now that someone proposes to reduce the average speed of automobile travel. “If we reduce the average speed so that we cover 250,000 miles less out of each 10 million miles traveled before for each fatality, we shall have lost as much distance as would have been covered in a lifetime of walking. This would represent a reduction of only 2.5 per cent in the average speed of a travel. “If we did this and thereby saved every single highway fatality, it would be a questionable investment in life saving. But a reduction of 2.5 or 5 per cent in average speed certainly would save very few lives, possibly none at all.”

High Court Tries to Be Progressive BY RAYMOND CLAPPER WASHINGTON. April 7.—One might not guess it from the majority opinions, but the Supreme Court Is doing its best to keep abreast of the wheels of progress. At least in the mechanics of the court room. When the Court moved into its new marble palace, pneumatic tubes were installed from the press desks so that news bulletins on important opinions might be shot downstairs to the telegraph wires quickly. Press working rooms were equipped

in the basement, and the court assigned an assistant to help the newspaper reporters wrestle with the legal documents. tt n Still there was complaint because the court did not provide printed copies of its opinions until after they had been delivered orally. That created no end of trouble for newspaper reporters who were compelled to catch enough of the opinion by ear to get off an instant news flash. It sounds easy, but you don't know what poor public speakers some of the justices are. Chief Jus-

ticc Hughes and Associate Justice Roberts speak up in ringing tones and enunciate to the satisfaction of any elocution instructor. But some of the others, when delivering an opinion, speak in a most mumbling, confidential way. Those stirring stump speeches on liberty which Justice Sutherland throws into his opinions have a resounding ring on paper. But he actually delivers them in a faint voice which at limes barely carries to the nearby ears of the Chief Justice. Furthermore, to save time, justices often cut short their oral delivery, explaining that the full reasoning of the court will be found in the printed opinion. a w SO one newspaper correspondent recently went to the residence of Chief Justice Hughes and delicately suggested that it would help the press if the printed opinions were furnished when the delivery of an opinion began, not after it was concluded. The Chief Justice was favorable, but said nothing, not even to his attaches. Accordingly th'ey and most of the reporters were quite surprised last week when, during the delivery of an opinion. Justice Hughes summoned the court clerk and told him hereafter to hand out the opinions to the reporters when delivery was begun from the bench. It worked fine until yesterday when Justice Sutherland began reading the opinion on the SEC case. The clerks distributed the little printed sheets to the reporters. But suddenly there was furious hand-waving from the press desks, followed by frantie whispered conferences with the court attache. Then anew set of pamphlets was distributed. The reporters had been handed the wrong opinion. But it shows how accommodating the court is trying to be.

CO-OPS—CONSUMERS IN BUSINESS

Spreading rapidly acroaa the nation, the co-op movement haa shown an amazing growth In recent >ears, business being transacted by the more than 6000 consumer groups now totaling hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Bertram B. Fowler, noted magazine writer, who has made an intensive study of the co-operative program, tells the story of the rapid rise of the movement in a series of six stories, of which this is the second. 000 BY BERTRAM B. FOWLER (Copyright, 1936, NEA Service, Inc.) jyjOST spectacular of the * co-op accomplishments has been their amazing advance in the gas and oil business, building trade that mounts annually into the millions, centering largely in the Midwest, but expanding in all directions. Six years ago there were only a few small co-op gas stations, farmer - owned, buying their gas and oil wherever they could get it. Then these small societies began to organize their own wholesale houses to pool purchasing power and make sure of their supply of gas and oil. The wholesalers have now made great progress in the oil business, running of total gasoline consumption in some states to such extent that the big distributors are trying to figure out a way to beat them. But they are a hard bunch to beat, simply because the co-opera-tives have discovered there is money in the oil business. Co-op filling station business works ou? about like this: It you are an average user of gasoline, srou5 r ou burn 1000 gallons, for which you pay about $l5O. If you belong to a co-op, you’d have a check for sls coming to you for Christmas. For this is what most of the gas and oil co-ops pay. Few of them pay less. Some of them pay as high as 20 per cent. But this is frowned upon as unsound. A good share of the profits should go back into the business to allow for expansion. 000 THE story of the Isanti County Co-op Association in Cambridge, Minn., is typical. There a co-op was organized in 1932. The original capital raised amounted to SI7OO. Since that time the co-op has paid back to its members $26,000 in patronage dividends and built a business valued at $30,000. In the first six months of 1935 it did a business of $61,000. At the same time, encouraged by their success in the oil business, the members opened a grocery that had a turnover of $24,500 in its first five months of operation. Albert Lea, Minn., presents another example of co-op growth. An oil and gas group started there in 1925 with a capital of SSOO. In the 10 years of its existence it has returned to the community more than $250,000 in patronage dividends.

WASHINGTON, April 7. Three years ago William Edgar Borah was at the bottom of a personal and political depression. President Hoover, whom he had been so instrumental in electing, was to him a bitter disappointment. The party which he had served throughout a lifetime had been overwhelmingly defeated. The state which had sent him to the Senate for 30 years threatened, for the first time to desert him for a Democrat. His political power was nil. Furthermore, Borah was in bad health. Two or three times a day he was forced to lie down on his office couch. The old fire was gone—the passion in his voice, the crusading fervor in his eye. But they did not know their Borah. Today, after an operation and several months rest, Borah is back with all the vigor and enthusiasm of a dozen years ago. tt tt tt IN fact it is anew, and probably better, Borah than the Senate ever has seen before who is making his present fight for the Republican nomination. For this is Borah's biggest, probably his last fight. In the opinion of some critics, it is also his first fight. For the chief criticism of Borah in the past was that he was not a “gothrough guy." He began hundreds of things, his critics said, never finished them. He was lazy, his critics said. He preferred haranguing the multitudes in the Senate arena to waging unspectacular, tedious, but more effective fights in committee and cloak-room. Never would he have the perseverance, they

Clapper

1 QoickTaman JUST FELL trt THE. ) V*__ .RIVER • * MB LTMUMSgI I l.b—W

Local Group at Top Among Units Selling Oil, Farm Supplies

It operates seven bulk plants,

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

BENNY.

The Indianapolis Times

serving farmers throughout the county. Just recently it invaded the county seat and set up a superservice station that is going strong. 000 A LMOST next door, in Rochester, Minn., is a group that started in 1930 with a small gas station. Today it operates 11 small stations, four bulk plants and a warehouse handling tires, batteries and accessories. It operates a fleet of 13 tank trucks. Its 1934 business amounted to $330,000. It handled a total gallonage of 1,300,000. Standard of Indiana, with a lot more money invested, came in second with a total of 900,000 gallons. Heading the set-up of which these co-ops are members is the Midland Co-operative Wholesale. It started in business in 1925, with a few hundred dollars capital which was promptly tied up in a closed bank. In 1931 this wholesale had advanced to the point where it owned its own oil-blending plant, turning out co-op brands of oil. Last year it did a business close to $2,000,000. 000 THE story of the Consumers Co-operative Association in Kansas City is even more dramatic. Here a few scattered retailers started a wholesale to concentrate their purchasing power. From 1922 to 1929 the wholesale struggled along. Its business was so small that the big oil company from which it bought lubricating oils decided in 1929 that the co-op business was too trifling and dropped it. The co-ops went steadily ahead. Their little plant with its 5000gallon tank and tiny office and warehouse didn’t amount to much on paper, compared to the big oil company proudly installed in its new $250,000 plant, with 500,000gallon storage capacity. But the co-ops came along. This year the wholesale moved into the plant of the big oil company, buying it for cash at a bankruptcy sale. Its business last year ran around the $3,000,000 mark. From gas and oil the co-op went into tires and batteries, binder twine and building materials.

said, to wage the long, uphill campaign through the presidential primaries, to the Republican nomination in June. Perhaps there was just enough truth in this to get under the Senator’s skin. Perhaps this is the big fight which he has chosen as the climax of a lifetime. Whatever the reason may be, William Edgar Borah is fighting as he never fought before. This time he is a “go-through guy.” And there is no question that he has the power to achieve the goal he has set for himself: 1. Either get the nomination himself; or 2. Name the candidate and write the platform of the Republican Party. u tt IT was nearly 5 in the afternoon. The Senate had adjourned, and a newspaper man walked down W. Capitol-st toward the Senate Building office of Mr. Borah. He hoped to catch the Senator before he left for the day. Suddenly the newsman stopped. Across the street, a bare-headed, hunched-over figure sat upon a low concrete bench, partly hidden by shrubbery. There was something familiar about the cut of tile hair of the silent figure, and the reporter crossed the stieet. Borah was sitting alone, gazing off into the quiet of the spring evening. He looked up, smiled, pointed to the bench, moved his brief case aside. “Sit down for a minute,” he said. “It is pleasant out here. It has been a lovely spring day.” “Senator,” asked the reporter, after a moment, “how is the campaign coming?” “Well, it is hard to say. I am getting a great many encouraging

TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 1936

Pgp®. - \

More than 2000 gas and oil co-ops now are operating in the country, combining to vie with the major companies for business in every line of sup-

This group is now' planning a wholesale grocery to save 70 struggling co-op stores in its territory. Next spring it plans to come out with a line of co-op farm machinery. 000 IN Indianapolis is another oil plant with a blending capacity of 16,500 gallons a day. This group handles all kinds of farm machinery and supplies. It is linked with the Ohio Farm Bureau in the gasoline, oil and fertilizer business. Together they are blanketing Indiana, Ohio, northern Kentucky, and Pennsylvania with a system of rural gas distribution. This group did a business of $9,500,000 in 1934. At the same time a wholesaler down in Amarillo, Tex., piled up a total of $1,500,000, while another group, the Farmers Union Central Exchange in St. Paul, did well over $2,500,000. Together, these groups have set up National Co-Ops, Inc., as a national purchasing agency. Through this agency they make their gas contracts with the refiners and build up co-op brands. They are bringing out their own co-op tractor in the spring. They already have a contract with one of the big Akron tire makefs, who is turning out a “co-op’ ’tire according to specifications laid down by the co-ops. 000 THE Farmers’ Union Central Exchange has moved into second place as a distributor of gas in North Dakota. It leads in the rural area. Here some interesting figures are presented. In every community in which these big wholesalers have a retail unit going, they lead in gas and oil distribution. It is these figures that have the big oil companies worried. In each case the co-op is doing this business on a fraction of the

responses. But as you know mine is a one-man campaign. We have no money and no organization. My leading opponents have both. We will be better able to tell how we stand after some of the primaries.” In the first contest in New York state last week the Borah candidates for the national convention were snowed under, even in districts where they had been expected to make a strong showing. But it was not in the cards for Borah to show strength in New York, in spite of his personal invasion of this Old Guard territory. A more revealing test will come today in the Wisconsin primaries. tt tt tt 'T'HERE was a day in 1924 when Borah could have had all the money he wanted from his friend Jim Couzens, in order to oppose Coolidge for the nomination. But Borah turned it down. Since then he and Couzens have become frigidly aloof, having quarreled over the McLeod closed bank payoff bill. The sore subject did not arise here. The reporter asked: “What if money and organization lick you in the primaries, Senator?” There was deep silence for a moment. Then the Senator said: “Win or lose. I shall be in the presidential fight to the end. And by the end, I mean November. That is one thing I can tell you definitely. The choice before the Republican Party is clear—liberalism or certain disaster. “If the old repudiated bosses control the nomination, I shall know what to do. I have my mind made up on that.”

plv for the motorist. Above is shown the Fairfield Farm Bureau Co-Op service station at Lancaster, O. At the left is shown a co-op tire display in a station at North Kansas City, Mo.

.——— : il-n mmrn (1 mm ~ G (FU P - , L i_ ' - ,

Operating their own railway tank cars and their own gas truck fleets, the co-ops have put their business on a big scale. Above is shown one of the tankers owned by National Co-Operatives, Inc., at North Kansas City, Mo. Below are the bulk petroleum products plant and a truck of the Tulaski County Farm Bureau Co-Operative Association at Winamac, Ind. •

investment represented by the old line company setups. Advance of the farmer into the oil business has been marked by unqualified success. And he is making enough money out of gas and oil to set him up in business in other lines. The idea is spreading into towns and cities throughout the West. And as the co-ops grow, they lay new plans. Already they are talk-

PLAYER 'SMOTHERS' PAL

Today’s Contract Problem How should South play the following hand, to make his contract of four spades? A9B 6 2 V 10 8 4 A j 6 A J 10 7 2 A Void m |AQIO 5 3 VQJ9S y/ r V 7 6 3 ♦ KQIO W fc A8 5 4 932 a AS63 *KQS Dealer | AAK J 7 4 yA K 2 ♦ A7 ■A A 9 4 All vul. Opener—A K Solution in next issue. 31

Solution to Previous Contract Problem By WM. E. M KENNEY Secretary American Bridge League YOU may recall the interesting series of articles on the “smother play,” which was prepared for me by Sam Naiman of New York City, eastern tournament director of the American Bridge League. I am indebted to Naiman for today’s hand, which, he points out, contains a strategy that is very unusual, although similar in a great many respects to the “smother play.” Against the four heart contract, West opened the king of diamonds. This was won with dummy's ace. The ace of hearts was cashed, West showing out. The seven of hearts was played and East, realizing that the dummy was then void of entries, played the ten, which South was forced to cover with the jack. West won South’s play of the king of spades with the ace. He

ing of their own refineries and oil fields. They have the money to buy. It will take only a little pressure by the big companies to drive them to that step. Next—Fertilizer and stock feed business fall into the co-op fold as farmers take over their own mills to make products according to their own formulas.

AB7 4 2 yA 9 7 ♦ A 6 A 10 6 3 2 AAIO 3 m lA9 6 5 y Void w - V Q 10 5 4 ♦ KQIOS W „ fc 2 7 5 2 S 493 AQJS Dealer | A 9 5 4 A KQ J yKJB 6 3- ♦ J 4 AA K 7 Rubber—All vul. South West North East IV 2 4 2 V Pass 4 V Pass Pass Double Pass Pass Pass Opening lead—A K. 31

then cashed the queen of diamonds and returned the queen of clubs, which South won with the ace. The queen and jack of spades were cashed, after which declarer played the king of clubs and exited with the seven of clubs, West winning with the jack. At this point there were only three.cards in each hand. Declarer held the K-8-6 of hearts, West had three diamonds, dummy the nine of hearts and the good spade and club, and East was down to the Q-5-4 of hearts. It was West's lead and Jae had to play a diamond, which declarer trumped in dummy with the nine. If East underruffed, declarer also would underruff and then would make the rest of the trump tricks, since he had established a grand coup position. If East elected to overruff with the queen, South would overruff with the king. He then would hold the two high hearts, giving him the remainder of the tricks and his contract of four hearts, doubled. (Copyright, 1336, NBA Service, Inc.)

By J. Carver Pusey

Second Section

Entered m Secnnd-CU** Matter at I’ostoffice. Indianapolis, Ind.

Washington MurlinoiEn Westbrook Pegler is en route to the United States from Europe. His column will be resumed in a few days. April 7.—That PanAmerican peace conference we are going to have late next summer in Buenos Aires is no empty gesture. To be quite frank about it—as nobody else is being—the main idea is to imbue the Latin-American republics with a pro-United States psychology and to dissuade any of them from get-

ting too chummy with Japan. The Administration hopes that a non-aggression treaty, if not a mutual assistance pact, with provision for economic sanctions against aggressor nations will be one result. In other w'ords, it wants the good old Monroe doctrine to flourish more healthily than ever on a co-operative basis. The Japanese have been making commercial advances in South America, notably in Chile, Peru, and Ecuador. They have been playing up to the politicians of those three republics in a manner which long ago lifted State Department eyebrows at least half

an inch. The nitrates and copper of Chile appear to possess an especial appeal for Nippon and Vralpolitik” suggests to our statesmen that we should be in position to have influence on that business should certain eventualities arise. 000 Shrewd “Good Neighbors' ’’ r T' HE “good neighbor policy” of Roosevelt, which A seems to have charmed Latin America, is regarded by insiders here as shrewd from several angles. Not only trade, but also military-naval strategy, are involved. The way it works is seen in the case of the new Panama treaty. After wrangling for years over th issue of Panamanian sovereignty, this government has negotiated a treaty which recognizes Panama as an equal and makes protection of the canal and its zone theoretically a matter of joint defense. On paper this country has given up its right to intervene in Panama at its discretion, although actually any intelligent person knows it will intervene in case of emergency. The Panamanians are as pleased as Punch The United States generals and admirals balked with more or less customary stupidity, but Secretary Hull beat them off. From the standpoint of defense of the canal, it seems much better to have the Panamanians pleased than aggrieved. 000 Startling Opinion TAMES MONTGOMERY BECK, Philadelphia excongressman, who r.ow carries the Constitution around under his wing and. keeps clucking over it, made a speech the other night to the Rhode Island Bai Association, from which New Dealers are mimeographing excerpts. Beck ventured the startling opinion that the spirit of the Supreme Court’s decision in the TVA case was due to “enlightened expediency.” The court, he said, “can not be ignorant of the fact that there is a rising storm in Congress’’ to curb its powers. Mr. Beck himself had declared TVA unconstitutional. The admission by Mr. Beck that the court was susceptible to outside pressure is considered astonishing. Anti-Beck lawyers have felt that a majority of the justices were susceptible to the pressure of their backgrounds as corporation lawyers or economic prejudices, but they never expected Mr. Beck to admit the court to be susceptible to such pressures or any other. (Copyright, 1936, NEA Service, Inc.)

Gen. Johnson Says—

April 7.—lt is astonishing how the ghost of NRA still flits. More astonishing still are the people selected to keep it flitting. The Secretaries of Commerce, Labor and Agriculture are the annointed ghost dancers. Dr. Leon Marshall has some obscure function. Mr. Richbcrg is quoted as saying that the Sugar Institute decision opens the way.” No other five persons did more to kill NRA. Secretary Wallace wanted to increase farm purchasing power. He thought that better labor conditions should wait on that. His department obstructed NRA from the day of its birth. If it did not organize agriculture against NRA, it did nothing to prevent that deadly rural opposition. Uncle Danny Roper always regarded NRA as a sort of rival Department of Commerce. Failing to control it, he sat “in cold obstruction” all the days of its life—and after its death. The Robert's report, which he suppressed and then submitted, is with his covering letter, the most ridiculously contradictory public document on record. it a a THE Perkins-Richberg combination to scuttle NRA is too well known to require recounting. Dr. Marshall was planted on its pay roll to help write a book which condemned it, root and branch, and was carefully, timed to prevent extension of NRA by Congress. George Berry was a loyal NRA leader. He also has a separate commission to keep the ghost visible. Personally, no one is better fitted. But if ever that phantom takes on flesh and blood, it will be in impartial and non-political form, and George is one of the ablest labor and Democratic partisans in the country. It just doesn't add up to make sense—none of it. (Copyright, 1936, by United Feature Syndicate. Inc.)

Times Books

BACK of the dullest little stories in your newspaper there lies a wealth of poignant human drama—-if you could only get at it. Working on that theory. Winifred Holtbv has written one of the springs finest books—“ South Riding” (Macmillan; $2.50), which examines half a dozen excerpts from the minutes of a count? council in England's Yorkshire and then digs out the story that goes with each one. The minutes, for instance, will devote a matter-of-fact sentence to the announcement that anew principal has been hired for a county grammar school; immediately, Miss Holtby shows you the school, the energetic young woman who has been chosen to run it, the children who come under her influence, and the homes from which they come. a a m THE minutes, again, will refer briefly to anew housing scheme; Miss Holtby translates that into its human terms, shows you the families that will be affected, the political chicanery that is involved, and the whole series of little tragedies and comedies that follow. Working in that way, she presents a remarkable picture of English life and builds a coherent and appealing narrative about the dreams people dream and the valiant, pitiful ways in which they try to realize them. Altogether, she has written an exceptionally good novel. Miss Holtby died shortly after finishing this book. It is a pity, for she had something to say and knew how to say it. .(By Bruce Cation.)

Ett isT

Rodney Dutchcr