Indianapolis Times, Volume 48, Number 32, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 April 1936 — Page 19

it Seems to Me HOMH April 17.—Half a century with the proud record of never having; been convicted of a crime and, at that, I had to go all the way to Milwaukee to mar my record. Probably I brought it on myself. It is a mistake to go in for sweeping statements in columns. Only yesterday. I was testifying that Milwaukee Is a crimeless city and suddenly I was found guilty of in-

terfering with an officer. To be sure, it was only a Judge who said so, and tomorrow we get a crack at a jury or vice versa. But, in any event, I still like Milwaukee and stand ready to back it for show. New York and Miami are the only cities which stand before it. As far as getting tried goes, Milwaukee probably is the best place of all. Out here they prosecute you with so much politeness. After deciding against me the Judge was very genial and asked me what part of the South I came from, which gave me a chance to make that old crack

v u

Heywood Broun

about South Brooklyn. The assistant district attorney lent me his typewriter and office during the noon recess, and I may say that I have gone through more rigorous crossexaminations. The pleasant young man in question Is one of the Socialists who failed of re-election a week or so ago, but he still has another 10 days in office. 000 Which Side Are You On? IT is sometimes held that Socialist prosecutors do not go after defendants in labor cases with what you might call vehemence. It is said of my friend, or maybe it was another assistant, that in the course of the trial of a group of pickets the judge looked down from the bench and inquired, man, which side of this case are you representing?” Be that as it may, the handcuffs hardly were off my wrists before I was having supper with the Mayor himself. it was a victory supper which Hoan was giving at his home in honor of the fact that he is just starting his sixth term as Mayor after 20 years of service. During the last campaign it looked for a time as if Dan was going to get licked, but he is a great stretch runner and swept in again with 15,000 plurality, though most the members of his ticket were defeated. A newspaper man who interviewed Stalin recently said of the Russian leader that he was as simple as an old shoe. Dan Hoan is even more simple. He’s a pair of fireside slippers. I don’t know Middle Western political life very well, but Im wondeiing whether there is anything quite like the sight of Milwaukee’s Mayor scurrying around at a party to see that every Socialist gets some potato saud. I got some myself, even though I no longer belong to the party, and since I was a delegate to the national convention out here four j ars ago most of my Milwaukee friends forget the break and still call me “comrade,” which Is a name I like very much. Hoan is a shade more formal and calls me “Heywood." * * * Rather Costly Kindness “TTOW much did they fine you. Heywood?” the HL Mayor asked, with what I took to be real concern. I told him that the old judge had plastered $lO on me, but that later he had been kind enough to make it sls so we could appeal the case. Our lawyer says that he will carry our case to the highest court in the land if necessary, so additional kindnesses may be pretty punishing and I have decided to mortgage the farm. Indeed, with a few more moral victories Connie will be dancing somewhere again, and Woodie will lose his hope of a college education. Dan Hoan nodded his head sympathetically and said, “Have some potato salad. I made it myself.” It was very good potato salad, and I haven t a doubt that the Mayor of Milwaukee made it himself. I also had two seidels of beer and a couple of pieces of coconut cake, and so by now I figure that the city of Milwaukee only owes me about $11.15. Indeed, I guess the city of Milwaukee owes me nothing, because the Chicago Tribune called me a labor agitator,” and that’s what I always wanted to be when I grew up. (Copyright, 1936)

Roosevelt Idealism Deplored by Critics BY RAYMOND CLAPPER WASHINGTON, April 17.—From the hostile newspaper comment upon President Roosevelt's Baltimore speech, it appears there is something deplorable in the spectacle of the President of the United States giving voice to the high ideals of social justice which he thinks should guide the policies of this country. This address, frankly an inspirational appeal to VO uth, is received with much the same cynical sneering reaction that buried the idealism of Woodrow Wilson under a deluge of post-war disillusionment, and ushered in its Pandora's Box, loaded with the Ohio gang. . . , When Roosevelt says people ought not have to work before they are 18 nor after they are 65, his critics throw an economic fit. Roosevelt would devote less effort to the production of wealth. Why not. they ask, go farther and make the limits 21 and 50 years, or not work at all? From which it seems that what we ought to do if we want prosperity is to put children to work at 10 and keep them at the grindstone until they drop in their graves. Such is the noble alternative tossed back at Roosevelt. m m a ALL we need to do, it is said, is to stop this flighty experimentation and get back to 1929. All right, get back to 1929. and what do you have? Let the Brookings Institution testify. Twenty-one per cent of our families living on less than SIOOO a year, 42 per cent living below SISOO and 71 per cent below $2500, which is regarded as the deadline below which a family can not live decently. And in addition—a headache just around the corner. That is the promised land to which the practical opponents of Roosevelt would lead us. n NO, the "practical men” who form the backbone of the Roosevelt opposition, and who set the pitch for most of the press comment, have no patience for such visionary trash and fine phrases as were found in the Baltimore speech. Why waste time on ideals? They must get direct to the point. And how do they get to the point? It just happens that disclosures of the Black Senate Committee in the last lew days have shown how the most vocal of the ami-Roosevelt forces get to the point. The point is to beat Roosevelt by any means that turn up—even the lowest. You probably didn’t read much about it because some newspapers, whose editors are assembled here in convention, all hot and bothered about the freedom of the press—as if any editor with a typewriter and guts had to worry about being shackled by any politician, big or little —buried the facts on inside pages. Dig out those facts and you will find that John J. Raskob and Pierre S. du Pont put up SIO,OOO between them to finance the recent Southern Grass Roots convention of "Jeffersonian Democrats” for the purpose of building up the demagogue Talmadge as an opponent of Roosevelt The money was solicited by one of the men who distributed through the South posters showing Mrs. Roosevelt photographed with Negroes. The organization which promoted the back-firing Talmadgt meeting collected manna from a long list of business executives, utility officials, men like Alfred P. Sloan. Lammot du Pont and Ogden Mills, and others on the American Liberty League's white list. The sickening posters about Mrs. Roosevelt were distributed at the Talmadge convention and widely written about.

ROADS

Before Long’ You’ll Picnic by Plane; New Machine Planned Which Can Be Driven With Folded Wings on Roads. BY DAVID DIETZ Scripps-Howard Science Editor \yiTH a whirring jangle, the alarm clock shattered the 6 a. m. stillness of a summer Sunday morning. Tom Brooks sleepily reached out a hand and shut off the alarm, blinked his eyes a few times, leaped out of bed and pulled up the window shade. * A stream of sunlight came tumbling in, making bright patterns on the furniture and carpet. “Mary,” he called to his wife. ‘‘The day is perfect. Get

the children up right away.” But the children were already up and 10-year-old Bobbie Brooks tourst noisily into the room, followed by his sister Helen. How much easier it is to get up at 6 a. m. when an excursion is on the program than it is to get up at 7 a. m. on a school morning. , “Hey, pop,” young Bobbie yelled in excitement. “Are we really going to Niagara Falls?” “You bet we are,” Tom Brooks replied. “If you

FIFTH OF A SERIES

kids will dress in a hurry, we’ll finish breakfast by 7 and be at Niagara Falls by 9.” The Brooks family lives in Lakewood, a suburb of Cleveland, O. The scene we are witnessing takes place in the year 1940. From Cleveland to Niagara Falls is about 185 miles. Let us see, therefore, how Tom Brooks expects to have his family enjoying the spectacle of the falls

within two hours after they have left their Lakewood home. After breakfast, the Brooks family hurries out to the garage. It is a two-car garage. Beside the automobile stands another wheeled vehicle. Its construction is lighter. It is mounted upon lighter wheels. It resembles a gigantic grasshopper, for folded at its sides are what appear to be a couple of wings. HEADS FOR AIRPORT THE family climb into this second vehicle. And soon the Brooks family have joined the traffic headed for the countryside. The contraption occasions no surprise upon the road for similar ones are interspersed among the automobiles, forming, perhaps, one-twentieth of the traffic. Tom Brooks is headed for the Cleveland Airport, located seven miles from his home. Other machines like his are headed in the same direction and at the port he finds six arriving just ahead of him. He stops at the Administration Building long enough to fill out a printed blank upon which he lists his name, the members of his family, his license number, and his destination. Then he follows the others out on to the field. He adjusts a couple of levers upon the dashboard of his machine and pushes a button. There is the whirring of gears and the wings of the machine begin to unfold. So does a tail and rudder at the rear and a propeller on the front. The Brooks family is ready now to take off for Niagara Falls. The contraption Tom was driving was an airplane equipped with folding wings and a dual drive. On the road, it is essentially a lightweight automobile, the power of the engine being applied through a frontwheel drive. With wings, rudder and propeller released, it is ready to take to the air. And it is no great trick to do 185 miles by air in approximately an hour. And so Tom Brooks is going to make good on that promise to young Bobbie and Helen. U. S. STUDIES PROBLEM PERHAPS the reader will think I am unduly optimistic in predicting the development of this type of plane within the next few years. Well, I like to be an optimist. And after talking with Eugene L. Vidal,

THIS CURIOUS WORLD + By William Ferguson

CCOUOS N, PETREIL., for YEARS, WAS BELIEVED TO LAV K{ ITS EGGS AT SEA, AND CARRY THEM ABOUT UNDER ITS WING./ * M/ NOW IT IS KNOWN THAT THE BIRD COMES ASHORE AND NESTS IN iMIFSry UNDERGROUND BURROW OP ITS OWN DIGGING. j ill PYTHONS |W\ | II I BREATHE ONLY ABOUT 7wce xi /v7/A/d_y r^r,/ © IM* BY MCA MM, MC B~Tf mm

The nesting habits of the petrel are unique. In June, the male birds cease their months of wandering over the ocean, and begin to build burrows for their nests. Later, their mates arrive, and soon one white egg is laid in each nest. The male and female take turns sitting on the eggs, and each sits lor days at a stretch, without relief.

The Indianapolis Times

director of the United States Bureau of Air Commerce, and his colleagues in Washington, I am certain that such a development will take place before 1945. The problem of such a plane is now under study, J. H. Geisse, chief of the development section of the bureau, told me. Mr. Geisse’s department is concentrating upon the problems associated with private flying. Until recently, private flying had no particular assistance from the government. All it got was regulation. “We are trying to advance those developments which held some promise of improving the airplane for private flying and which can not get financed elsewhere,” Mr. Geisse told me. “Our method is to place contracts with firms who can do the work. In other words, we are making possible the necessary research.” BOON TO BUSINESS IT may surprise many people to know how many private pilots already hold licenses in the United States. Statistics of the United States Bureau of Air Commerce show that on Jan. 1 of this year there were 14,805 registered pilots, classified as follows: 7186 transport pilots, 909 limited commercial, 5961 private, 746 amateur, and 3 industrial. Included in that number were 410 women whose licenses were classified as follows: 71 transport,

WASHINGTON, April 17. Some of the President’s best friends are getting worried over the broadening trail of graft and politics being uncovered in the Works-Progress Administration. They are confident that nothing can upset the upward swing of the President’s political prestige, unless it be wholesale exposures of WPA and relief graft. One thing which they don’t like is the series of stanch denials issued by Harry Hopkins, WPA administrator. Harry is one of the most forthright operators in the New Deal. He would not mind telling Queen Mary that her hat was not straight. When he was running

FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 1936

29 limited commercial, 256 private and 54 amateur. Mr. Geisse sees two Important reasons for the fostering of the development of the private airplane. One is the fact that it will provide industry with a market worth millions of dollars. The other is that it would provide a reserve of capable flyers upon whom the nation could call Tor defense in the event of war. The two great requirements in the field of the private plane, according to Mr. Geisse, are lower cost and greater utility. “We hope before long to develop a plane with folding or removable wings so that it can be driven along the highway like an autoombile,” he said.

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

FERA he announced to the world that “of course there was some graft” in his outfit, but he was kicking out the grafters. Now, however, no heads roll In the sand. Publicly Harry exonerates his subordinates. Privately, he does not. a a a THERE are two good reasons for Hopkins’ public change of front. 1. He did not appoint his state WPA administrators. Tnev were appointed chiefly by the Democratic Senators, virtually take orders from state bosses, not from Hopkins in Washington. 2. This is election year. To kick out state WPA administrators would cause political tumult. WPA has to get votes. n n THE worst case of conflict between attempted WPA efficiency and local politics is in the state of Maine. Big Jim Farley needs Maine. More than almost anything else he wants the psychological effect of Maine going for Roosevelt just before the regular elections next fall. Despite Big Jim’s needs, Harry Hopkins, sick of playing politics, called in Jim Abrahamson, his WPA chief in Maine, and told him privately: "If any of that Farley gang comes around wanting jobs, tell ’em to go to hell.” Abrahamson, a young Bowdoin professor, was the forty-eighth state administrator to be appointed. This time Hopkins, sore at political appointees, picked out his own man. No sooner had he taken the oath of office than Abrahamson ran up against political opposition as tough as a Maine winter. First intimation came when he assumed his duties. Gov. Louis J. Brann, Democrat, gave him a brief sermon. B B n SHORTLY thereafter 14 were Indicted for graft in the ERA, one of them being Administrator John A. McDonnough. The man who unearthed the ERA graft was James E. Connellan, state director of the National Emergency Council. But Gov. Brann protested to Jim Farley and Connellan was dismissed. Meanwhile the trial of ERA graft continued. One scandal still to be disclosed is how the ERA placed an order for relief garments with a Boston clothing firm and got a shipment of discarded red spangled evening gowns. Meanwhile, Brann brought pressure to oust Abrahamson as WPA administrator. Meanwhile, also, the Democratic

YfRMMHjptLPa i jf& it. gijfp 3 s v*'

The start of an air picnic—in 1940 style.

“At the present time we have awarded a - contract for the construction of an autogiro with ability to travel along the road. We are also interested in a tailless airplane for the reason that such a plane, with wings folded, could travel more easily along a road. “Another problem which must be solved is that of landing. We would like to see a plane which could land or take off on a small field. “In our hopes of bringing down the price, we have let several contracts for the construction of airplanes employing automobile engines. Work is now going forward on one plane employing a Ford V-8 engine and on another plane using the Plymouth engine.”

National Committee continued to support Brann 100 per cent. Recently it sent Forbes Morgan, chief aid to Farley on a trip to Maine. Amiable and charming, Forbes is the uncle of Mrs. Roosevelt, and while in Portland, he visited Mrs. David Gray, one of Mrs. Roosevelt’s aunts. When he returned he had a new plan to save Maine for Democracy. B B B TT happens that Gov. Brann has opposed the President publicly. Despite all this, Forbes Morgan's return to Washington brought the announcement that Gov. Brann would run for the Senate and Harold Dubold for Governor. With the Brann-Dubold announcement, Edward Carl Moran, only Maine member of Congress who has gone down the line for the New Deal, announced his retirement. He said he could not campaign on the same platform with these two "Democrats.” (Copyright, 1936. by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)

GRIN AND BEAR IT + + by Lichty

“Hmm! They had naughty hoys who wrote on walls in those days, too."

Interest in privately owned planes is growing all the time, the statistics of the United States Bureau of Air Commerce show. These show that what the bureau calls "miscellaneous aircraft operator” flew more miles in the first half of 1935 than in any previous January-June period since 1931 and at the same time achieved anew safety record. Private fliers, flying services, schools, photographic fliers, crop dusters, and the like, are included in this, classification. FEWER ACCIDENTS THESE operators flew 40,234,185 miles in the first half of 1935 and carried 556.332 passengers. During the six months the number of pilot fatalities .was 67 and the number of passenger fatalities 49. This latter figure was anew low for American aviation while the number of pilot fatalities was lower than any other six-month period with the exception of the first half of 1928. In every way, 1935 represented a tremendous gain for the aviation industry and a corresponding increase in interest upon the part of the public. Airline operators carried 746,946 passengers in 1935, the largest total for any year in their history and an increase of 61 per cent over 1934. The highest previous figure for the airplanes was a total of 493,141 passengers in 1933. The total for 1934 was 461,743. The figures just given represent operations within the borders of the United States only and do not include flights into Canada or Latin America. The domestic airlines flew 53.380,353 miles during 1935 and carried 3,822,397 pounds of express. The total number of passenger-miles for the year was 313,905,506. Each pas-senger-mile represents one passenger carried one mile. There seems to be every reason for expecting that 1936 will be a bigger year for aviation than was 1935. TOMORROW: Science plans for the future of aviation.

Second Section

Entered Hi Second. Cites Matter at PostofTlce. Indianapolis, Ind.

Fair Enough WESTBROOK PEGLER TORK, April 17.—Howard Thurston, the magician, may he rest in peace, was a member of the most exasperating group on earth, the profession which delights to make chumps of ordinary men with playing cards, plug hats, ducks, rabbits, coins, vanishing furniture and toothsome young ladies in velvet knickers who smile as they are cut in half before the very eyes of the patrons. For many

years Mr. Thurston went up and down the world baffling people with his tricks but, like the rest of them who have died, when his time came to go, he left his public still wondering how he made the little lady float in thin air and how he could extract from a genuine egg the dollar bill borrowed from the embarrassed gentleman in the front row. Ladies do not float in thin air and chickens do not lay dollar bills, so obviously there was some deception in everything that Mr. Thurston did. But did Mr. Thurston, having reduced his audience

to a state of utter bewilderment, ever have the kindness to approach the footlights and explain all so that they could sleep when they got home? Mr. Thurston did not and neither did Harry Houdini nor any other member of this tight-mouthed craft whose secrets are more closely kept within the professional circle than the darkest deals of Balkan politics, the private affairs of the best families and impending decisions of the United States Supreme Court. It is their delight not only to deceive but to mock the hopeless confusion of the innocents out front and millions of people have gone away from these shows too badly puzzled even to guess the answers. All other entertainers contract to clear away doubts in the closing minutes of the show\ but the magician never tells the patrons how the story ends. 000 Victim Needs Consideration T'O be sure, it Is unreasonable to ask that a man A explain such mysteries to one and all for the mere price of admission, for, if he did, he would have to create new ones. But, on the other hand, when a victim has sat for almost three hours watching an artist do things which his intelligence tells him can’t be done, he, too, deserves some consideration. I always thought the magician, having so many tricks in his repertoire, could at least walk down the aisle and slowly demonstrate with explanatory remarks one little one, such as the feat of grabbing a hatful of billiard balls out of a customer’s hair. The secretive nature of this tribe is by no t means the least of their marvels, for they have their trade union, so to speak, and they sometimes gather to talk shop and, perhaps, to exchange mysteries, like kids trading marbles or stamps, but rarely, if ever, do they get drunk and blab. I have seen a first-rate professional magician pretty well awash with drams at a purely social evening, performing small tricks with cards and coins under the earnest gaze of people no further along than himself, but never a word said as to how he did, what he did, nor would he, the cad, reduce his feats to slow motion, even for a pal, old pal. 0 0 0 Wanted: Woman Magician A ND this brings to mind the fact that I never have seen a lady magician nor heard of one, except the little blond assistants in the velvet knickers, who may not be magicians at all, but just little blond assistants hired for the week. Perhaps if there were lady magicians the secrets would be held more loosely and there would be less magic to taunt the spectators and send them home annoyed at their own bafflement. More than once I have toyed with the idea of taking a rifle to the theater and shooting the magician dead at the climax of the show, then rushing on the stage to frisk his clothes for concealed animals and fowls, decks of cards and long garlands of gay silk handkerchiefs tied together. The suspicion is strong that they actually do not create these things out of air, as they like to pretend, but hide them in secret pockets made by fellow conspirators in the tailoring trade. Thurston’s tailor might be able to throw some light on the case if he could be lured into a locked room and tortured with matches. I wonder if the United States Senate ever has considered using the powers of subpena to discover how the little blond is made to float in mid air.

Gen. Johnson Says—

April 17.—The Federal fiasco on ’ housing is a disgrace to loyal service and good government. The single, sound and sensible housing project has been delayed three years and $3,000,000,000 have been poured out in ineffectual activities. It has been stymied because each of four or five prima donnas can't bear the thought of any of the others stepping into the spotlight. The impresario has been so tender of their sensibilities that, so far, he has let the audience wait while they gouged each other’s faces in the dressing rooms. Among the almost incredible substitutes for sense was to build model villages—Tugwelltowns and Reedsvilles —so far away from any means for the villagers to make a living, and at such extravagant costs, that they are useless. Any zany should have known that you can’t change the location of industry to suit housing, but must suit housing to the location of industry. * m T TOUSES will remain vacant if you can’t get A A the costs down where tenants can afford them. Now the dope is that the thinkers have thought up a “new” plan—big projects, on cheap land within 40 miles of, and connected by rapid transit with, industrial centers—cost to be reduced by mass production without subsidy. Wonderful! But new? That's what Germany did. That's what the Recovery Act appropriated and provided for. That's what the prima donnas ditched. It was the plan which NRA had first on its program, before it was split up and Mr. Ickes took the construction part and anesthetized it. (Copyright, 1936, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)

Times Books

TF you are interested in rivers you probably will A want to read "Sycamore Shores,” by Clark B. Firestone. (Mcßride.) He has brought back almost forgotten names. The author has followed their courses afoot, by boat, on horseback and by every other suitable form of conveyance. Through his narrative flow all the rivers on which the civilization of the Old West was based. Thirteen of the 18 rivers he writes about have never been discussed in books before, the publishers tell us. Mountains, vast caves, natural bridges, forgotten canals, the mounds of lost races, are in the background. together with French towns, bluegrass mansions, cove cabins, shantyboats, and bitter old wars. “Sycamore Shores” is a charming picture of a very colorful part of America.—(Bruce Catton.)

Westbrook Prgler