Indianapolis Times, Volume 48, Number 37, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 April 1936 — Page 18

PAGE 18

The Indianapolis Times (A SCRIPPS.MOWARD NKWIPAPKR) aor W HOWARD Prealdont LI PWRU, OKNNT Editor KARL D. ha KICK .......... Bncin#M Manager

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rale* In Indian*. *•"> a year: out- " # l.ii-t and tht „ dt of ln(J iana. 5 cent* a month. Penpl* Will y ind Their Own Wap l’hnn* K 1 ley MSI __ THURSDAY, APRIL 33. 193*. “PAGE THE CANDIDATES!” “TJAGE the candidates" is the keynote of a letter on this page by Mrs. Robert S. Sinclair, who, ipeaking for the League of Women Voters, asks Indiana candidates where they stand on the merit system. The League has campaigned for two years against the political system of Ailing administrative positions on the basis of political influence. Dozens of club? and groups in Indianapolis have heard League speakers urge the system of Ailing these jobs by appointment on the basis of merit as hown by an objective test or examination. The League knows it is making an uphill Aght. The spoils system is entrenched. Jobs are given as rewards, withheld as penalties. In political battle, the spoils of office go to the triumphant. Every change in political control sweeps out a horde of employes, brings in anew horde of job-hungry patriots who are “qualiAed” because they were on the side of the winner. a a a TY/TRS. SINCLAIR has all this in mind when she writes: "A merit system never will be introduced in Indiana until the principle of appointment on the basis of demonstrated ability rather than on the basis of party service has loyal friends among our legislators and executives.” There are thousands of voters who, like the women of the League, would welcome the chance to work and vote for candidates who openly will support the merit system. The political spoils system has been supplanted almost entirely in British, French and German communities by the merit system. The flagrant evils of the political system have been denounced widely In the United States and in Indiana. Few defend it any more, but many practice it. The public is entitled to know where candidates stand on this issue. LOYALTY BY DECREE THIS country, founded by fugitives from European religious and political persecutions, now reads of an order by Judge John W. Mason of Northampton, Mass. This judge Aned Ignace Opielouski and committed three of his children (two girls and a boy, the eldest only 9) to separate reform schools, because they refused to salute the American ‘flag. Thp children merely were obeying their father, a member of a religious cult known as Jehovah’s Witnesses, which professes scruples against such patriotic obeisance. Prof. Colston Wnrne of Amherst,, spokesman for the Massachusetts Committee on Civil Liberties, investigated. He found the children above the average in their classes, and the father an otherwise loyal, patriotic and law-loving farmer. "This is one of the most important violations of civil liberties in recent years,” said Prof. Warne, "Any decision which would break up a family because of a refusal (o salute the Aag seems more like a judicial decree from Fascist Germany than from Calvin Coolidge’s home town.” To turn the children into reform school delinquents for obeying what they believe to be a religious command is alien to everything they—or we—have been taught is American. The American Civil Liberties Union, in keeping with its stout tradition of Aghting oppression wherever and whenever it appears, is at work on this case. We recommend that the American Liberty League also get interested, and for once admit that a. human right—such as religious freedom—is as precious as a property right.

FARM TENANT AID A DRASTICALLY revised version of the Bankhead farm tenant bill, passed by the Senate last session, is being considered by the House Agriculture Committee. Also before the committee is an amendment which would turn over to the proposed Farmers Home Corp., created by the bill, all the business of the Resettlement Administration. The principal similarity between the House committee draft and the Senate measure is that each calls for establishment of the Farmers Home Corp. with a capital stock of $50,000,000. But where the Bankhead bill provides that the corporation can use up to one billion dollars, though not more than $300,000,000 the first three years, no auch amounts are allowed in the House substitute. Borrowing by the corporation would be limited under the new bill to one-fifth of the paid-in capital. and all such debts must mature within a year. Where the Bankhead bill is vague as to who will be aided, the House bill stipulates that “preference shall be given to applicants who are married or who have dependent families, or who are farm tenants, sharecroppers, farm laborers, or who were recently farm tenants, sharecroppers or fam laborers.” The puchase of land and implements by such persons would be financed, at low interest and long terms. PHANTOM TAXES IIfHILE the House Ways and Means Committee i* busy trying to put. some new taxes on the statute books it it might well undertake to get more revenue out of taxes already on the books. For instance, the high income tax rates in the upper brackets, ranging to a maximum of 79 per cent, look very impressive in the statutes, but not so impressive in the tax collector s cash register. One reason for this is that the upper bracket taxpayer turns his surplus into tax-exempt investments. He does so because he can net more profit thereby. A million dollars invested in 3 per cent bonds wholly tax exempt will net a tax-free income of $30,000. If the owner of that million dollars happens to be paying income taxes in a topmost bracket, where could he possibly find a private Investment sure to yield an equally high net return? Even if a privet* investment offered a 14 per cent return he would not risk it. because, out of that problematical 9140,000 gross return, the government would

take 79 per cent—sllo,6oo—leaving the taxpayer a net of only 129.400. What can be done about it? One obvious sug* gestion is that the high phantom rates be written down to more realistic and more productive rates. Another is that a constitutional amendment be pressed, eliminating tax exemption. Some congressmen insist that the states never would ratify such an amendment. The states never have been given a charce. Another instance of phantom taxation can be found in the estate tax laws. Here the principal difficulty is not due to excessive rates or to taxavoidance loopholes. It is due to the cash-on-demand policy of collection. When an estate consists of lands or buildings or a business, or a combination of such frozen properties, it can not be liquidated easily into cash to pay the tax collector. Asa consequence, if the tax collector’s demand for cash comes in a period of depression, th > trustees of such an estate have no alternative except to put the properties through forced sales or seek the mercy of some banker. In either case, the result usually is a deAation in the value of the estate and a deAation in revenue realized by the government. An orderly system of collecting such taxes on an installment plan over a period of years-would permit business-like operation and liquidation of estates and would, we believe, aiso enable the government to get much revenue in the long run. WPA CLEANUP T_TARRY L. HOPKINS adroitly has shifted the spotlight of WPA scandal to the West Coast, where he has discharged a Democrat as state administrator for allegedly collecting funds for political purposes. Acting without prior publicity, Administrator Hopkins revealed for the Arst time the far-flung activities of his own division of investigation, which gathered the evidence leading to dismissal of George H. Gannon, Washington state WPA chief.. The WPA secret service, headed by Dallas Dort, University of Michigan law graduate, employs more than 100 operatives in 15 divisional offices’. Most of them are young men with legal background—although there is a sprinkling of older heads who have seen service in other divisions of the government. Organized during CWA days, the division has completed 2700 investigations, more than 1000 of which have led to prosecutions or dismissals from Federal pay rolls. Since WPA cane into being, 656 cases are marked as "closed.” .if these, charges found to be true total 326, while 330 were written oil as unjustified. One hundred ether cases are, awaiting either trial or official actioi. by Administrator Hopkins. Investigations are in progress on an additional unestimated number of charges. The violations most prominent in ihe records are pay roll padding, use of funds for the improvement of private property, “kick-backs” and contributions. a a a /~VNLY 5 per cent of the charges investigated coneern political activity. Other violations include forgery of work assignment slips, pay rolls and other documents: thefts of materials and embezzlement of funds and irregularities in the requisition or inspection of ipaterials and equipment. In the removal of the Washington state administrator, the WPA investigators gathered receipts for money collected and paid into Mr. Gannon’s political fund. In all, S4OOO was collected from 400 administrative employes. It is intact and will be returned. WPA investigators report that in almost every instance where they have obtained criminal indictments and convictions they found evidence of “but-ter-Angered gangs" which had been dipping into public expenditures prior to the Federal government’s entrance into the relief field. They asserted that it was only after the government took a part that such practices were curbed. To date the largest single cleanup accomplished by the division was in Floyd County, Kentucky, where a. wholesale embezzlement of more than SIOO,OOO in relief funds resulted in the indictment of 22 persons.

A WOMAN’S VIEWPOINT By Mrs. Walter Ferguson ■jyjTOTHER'S DAY is almost on us again. Before L the regular gush starts I should like to offer a suggestion. Why not use our special Sunday to start off a “Be Kind to Papa Week”? The pernicious fact about Mother’s Day is not that it is a business racket and an emotional spree combined, but that it keeps us all worked up over our own nobleness. Just about the time* we begin to cultivate a little humility here it comes again and we are so surfeited with compliments our heads swell once more. With everybody giving genuflections to our perfection our conceit grows. We feel because we are mothers, even though not very good ones, we are superior to the rest of the race and especially to Papa. Which, my friends, is plain hooey. Yet how we swallow it! That isn’t all, either. The way we sing our own praises is amusing, in most groups where mothers are gathered you can hear tall tales of self-sacrifice, and the smug attitude prevails. These women you see are dead sure they are walking temples of virtue, and every Mother's Day which passes over their heads increases this self-esteem. They finally get so they expect thanks and gifts in return for having produced a few children, or perhaps only one baby. Now it is easy to see where that sort of thing gets us—to overweening priggishness and insufficient appreciation for Father, who keeps the ba.se under our pedestal. Being kind to Papa, then, doesn’t mean merely getting out his slippers and serving good meals. It means being really big for once by trying to make things easier for him in important matters. Startle him out of his five senses, for instance, by saying you've decided not to buy the expensive new gown, or the solid silver service, or the fresh kitchen linoleum. Why? Because you know he’s working too hard. You don’t like his being a martyr to the family’s social ambition. You hate to see him slave lor money which the children toss off on extravagant follies or which you use to keep up with the Jones’. Why not forget the nobility of motherhood this year and consider what a tough job Dad has. HEARD IN CONGRESS MAVERICK (D, Tex.): Seventy years ago a writer named Marsh, raising the question of whether the United States would be a permanent country, said that most countries of hilly or rolling surface and seasonal rains gradually lost their fertile soils and in the course of time became nonproductive and like deserts. No one in the United States paid any attention. We went on cutting down our forests, turning under our sods, letting rains wash topsoils into the rivers and oceans, letting crops and erosion sap the fertility of our soils. Seventy years later we awaken to the fact that Marsh was a prophet, and that destruction of resources has gone so iru that if we are to save ourselves we must act promptly and vigorously. •

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Our Town By ANTON SCHERRER

LORENCE VENN, who runs the William Henry Smith Memorial collection over in the State Library, is the guardian of two Rogers’ Groups. They come about as near sounding a nostalgic note as anything in town. Fifty years ago (that's how old we are) every Indianapolis home with a bay-window had a brown-stained, plaster-cast piece of sculpture depicting, as a rule, some homely scene or contemporary event. It was referred to as "the Rogers' Group.” A house with two bay-windows had two Rogers’ Groups. To house the entire Rogers’ collection would have required a house with 87 baywindows. No Indianapolis home ever attained that distinction, but some came mighty close .to it. A bay-window was necessary because every Rogers’ Group, unlike most modern work, had its back finish as .smoothly as the front and it needed room to point out the fact. A bay-window, too, was the best way of showing off the piece to the passer-by in the street. a a a SCULPTOR JOHN ROGERS, the man responsible for the bay building boom, was born in Salem, R.ass., in 1829. He was a machinist, a draftsman and surveyor, but modeling in clay was his hobby. Saving pennies was another. When he was 29 he had saved up enough to get him to Italy. He arrived in Rome with a curly brown beard and took a few lessons from a British sculptor named Spence who also put him wise to a newly discovered process for making plaster casts. Mr. Rogers, Yankee that he was, didn’t breathe a word of it to anybody. Back in America, he got a job in the Chicago city surveyor’s office. The Civil War was brewing. The United States Sanitary Commission, ancestor of William Fortune's Red Crass, held fairs all over the country to raise money. For the Chicago Sanitary Fair Mr. Rogers donated his first group, "Checkers,” two figures bending over a draughtsboard, one laughing, one glum, giving a pretty good idea of how the game was going. It was the hit of the fair. ' a tt ■jk/TISS VENN would give her right arm to have this piece. As it is, she has to be content with! “School Days” (1877), which is also full of glad and glum figures. Her other item is “Rip Van Winkle at Home.” and it shows the unmistakable features of Joseph Jefferson, which ought to give you some idea of how old Mr. Jefferson was the last time he played in Indianapolis. Mr. Rogers caught the drift of things right away after his Chicago success. In New York he showed his next number, “The Slave Market” (another collectors’ item), and it almost tripped him. No dealer would handle it because of the Southern sentiment in the city. Mr. Rogers did the next best thing and dismissed the dealers. He engaged a colored boy to push a cart and peddle the casts from door to door at.. $lO apiece. Pretty soon he had the whole country covered. He did a landoffice business. Fact. is. he was about 60 years ahead of the Fuller Brush man. Editions ran anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 and nearly all were sold in the Indianapolis territory. That's the way it appeared to a boy at the time. Anyway, with what we know of Indianapolis housewives and the state of their attics, we’ll bet that Miss Venn hasn't got the only Rogers’ Groups around here.

TODAY’S SCIENCE BY DAVID DIETZ

YORK, April 23.—Spectacular discoveries in the realm of physics which startled the world a few days ago now are beginning to And practical applications in industry, engineering and medicine and will continue to do so with increasing usefulness in the next few years. This was pointed out to me today in an interview by Dr. Henry A. Barton, director of the American Institute of Physics. The discoveries which created world-wide attention between 1930 and 1934 were the discoveries of the neutron, heavy water, positron, and artificial radio-activity. Os these, artificial radio-activity and heavy water are giving most promise of usefulness in medicine. The process involved in the production of artificial radio-activity in the case of sodium has now been simplified to the point where it promises to provide cheaply and efficiently a supply of radiation equal to that of radium. Since ordinary table salt, a compound of sodium, can be used instead of pure sodium, it means that a source of radium rays soon will be at hand which is just as plentiful as ordinary table salt is. This promises to be of the utmost importance to the world of medicine, Dr. Barton pointed out. Heavy water contains double weight hydrogen and by this means its presence also can be identified. Medical men and biologists are using heavy water as a tracer to check on bodily processes, Dr. Barton explained.

STANDING BY THEIR GUNS

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

- (Times readers a r a invited, to express their views in these columns, reliaious controversies excluded. Make t/our letters short., so all can have a chance. Limit them to 25 0 words or less. Your letter must he sinned, hut names will be withheld on reouesl.l VOTERS’ LEAGUE DEMANDS POLICY DECLARATIONS By Mrs. Robert S. Sinclair During the last two years the League of Women Voters has conducted a national campaign to educate the public in the need for trained personnel in public service. Here in Indianapolis clubs and organizations of all kinds have been addressed by our speakers on the problem of the spoils system which is making a farce of democracy and on the alternative, a merit system. We have distributed pamphlets about the merit system and its overwhelming advantages. We have gone on the air to explain it. At a public meeting held in February representatives of other civic organizations met with us to consider what we could do as members of groups and as individuals to get rid of the spoils system in Indiana and bring in a merit system. We recognize that any attempt to improve the caliber of our public service must take into account not only the men and women who are appointed to office, but also the men and women who are elected to office. A merit system will never be intro-

Watch Your Health

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN THE amount and kind of exercise that the expectant mother should take depends largely on her previous habits. She should never exercise to the point of fatigue, but should stop as soon as she begins to feet tired. The nearer the day the child is to be born, the more likely is she to become tired quickly and require rest. Walking is the best exercise available. It should be taken outdoors except during extremely bad weather. The shoes should be broad, with low heels and wide toes. High-heeled shoes may cause her to slip more easily, with the possibility of accident. Women who are accustomed to strenuous sports, such as tennis, can stand more exercise than those who usually lead an indoor life. The radical habits of the prospective mother will probably control the amount of housework that she does under these circustances. Every one knows that some peasant women of foreign stocks do the heaviest kind of work practically up to the moment of the birth of the child. # a THE average American woman is not capable "of carrying on severe work during this period. Sew-

IF YOU CAN’T ANSWER, ASK THE TIMES!

Inclose a S-ccnt stamp for reply when addressing any question of fact or information to The Indianapolis Times Washington Service Bureau. 1013 J3thst. N. W.. Washington. D. C. Legal and medical advice can not be given, nor can extended research be undertaken. Q —How can articles made of bronze be cleansed? A—Apply a paste made of powdered chicory and water over the bronze and rub it well over the surface by means of a stiff brush, and allow it to dry; then rinse off the powder with running water and dry the article in the sun. Wiping with an oiled rag will improve the looks of modern bronzes. Q—Did the late. King George V of. England ever visit the United States? A—No. Q —Where and when was Edsel, son of Henry Ford, born; is he married and has he any children? A—He vas bom in Detroit. Mich., Nov. 6, 1893; he married Eleanor Clay of Detroit, Nov 1, 1918. and they have four children—Henry 11, Benson, Josephine Clay and William.

duced in Indiana until the principle of appointment on the basis of demonstrated ability rather than on the basis of party service has loyai friends among our legislators and executives. Now we are facing another election. We, of the League of Women Voters, welcome this opportunity to support men and women whose first loyalty as office holders will be to their public trust. And for that reason we are anxious to hear how the candidates of both parties stand on the issue of the merit system. We want to know just how interested they are in saving the Indiana taxpayers’ money through efficient and capable administration. We want to know just how interested they are in safeguarding the welfare of the people of Indiana through efficency and ability. We want to .vote for men and women who sincerely believe as we do that the spoils system is a menace to our country and who are prepared to do something about the situation. We shall have to assume that those who do not publicly take their stand with us are against us. Page the candidates! ana SEES AMERICAN LABOR AS SULLEN B.r Joseph Urban, Bloomington The posture of American labor today is decidedly sullen. In a period af stress, when millions of

ing on a machine, that requires constant use of feet and legs for its operation, should be discontinued during the expectant period. In summer time the expectant mother should be cautious about walking in the hot sun. She should walk slowly and avoid crowds. Two miles daily is an average distance. When the weather is bad, the exercise may be taken at home, either on an open porch or in a rc-om' with windows open. In winter, warm clothing should be worn during these calisthenics, exactly as if the woman were walking on the street. Deep breathing will insure plenty of oxygen for the blood. It may be advisable to take five or six deep inhalations each night and each morning, but it is not well to make a cult out of deep-breathing exercises. Among the strenuous sports particularly to be avoided are running, tennis, swimming, skating and horseback riding. A little dancing may be enjoyed. It should not be strenuous, however, and the prospective mother never should dance in a crowded room. If a woman is used to driving her own car. she may continue to do so during the early months, but should certainly give up driving afterward and restrict her motoring as much as possible. Rough roads always should be avoided.

Q—Where and when was Pola Negri bom and of what descent is she? A—Born in Poland. Jan. 3, 1897. Her name was Appollonia Chalupez; her mother was Polish and her father a gypsy. f Q —Does the Federal government approve the use of tin cans as con-tainers-for beer? A—The Treasury Department approved their use in January, 1934. Q —ls it possible for a young woman to enlist in the United States Navy for any sort of service? A—The only ' enlisted positions open to women in the United States Navy are nurses. Q —What is the name of the book written by Anne Morrow Lindbergh? A—“ North to the Orient.” Q —Who is president of the American Liberty League? A—Jouett Shouse. ' Q —Name the winner of the National Womans Singles Tennis Championship in 1935. A—Helen Jacobs,

dispossessed and their families nibble on the bitter bread of unemployment or transparent charity, come disturbing reports. The list of grievances grows apace. Meanwhile officialdom contents itself with mere palliatives, when not siding with industrial tycoons. There is alleged insubordination among ship’s crews on American vessels. Disobedience and revolt are reported rife. Deeply rooted wrongs, long disregarded, have inevitably found expression in overt manifestations of indignant protest. Political principles, of whatever party, make little progress in converting contented groups. Comes now the news that several prominent corporations are girding for civil war with the. workers. It seems incredible that all these things should be true in our vaunted democracy, but they are. Until the usual procedure in the treatment of labor disturbances has been to temporise or to suppress protest of long standing abuses in the name of law and order. These tactics have done nothing to harmonize the interests of capital and labor. It remains to be seen what course of action the government will adopt in the current future differences. u tt WRITER IS IMPRESSED BY ROOSEVELT By Hiram Lackey In President Roosevelt’s speech to youth one is impressed by the things which he did not say. The undercurrent of his thoughts is well expressed in the progressive words of Jesus: “I have many things to tell you but ye can not bear them yet.” Such is the dynamic attitude of great souls of every age. Like a lofty tree that towers high above its fellows and sees far beyond the view from the underbrush, President Roosevelt is lonely, in the sense that all great souls are lonely. He longs for us to understand. His noble spfrit rebels against the social censorship of big business and other reactionary fprces that blight American education. President Roosevelt has seen the handwriting on the wall. He has that advantage over our reactionary gluttons who are still eating and drinking.

SIDE GLANCES

Q 1,1, BY ME* SE.VICt. IWC. '\

'* That’s the fourth magazine that's turned it down. / told you I should stick to writing menus and helping \intx to the lovesick.'* ~

'APRIL 23, 1936

Vagabond from Indiana ERNIE PYLE

EDITOR’S NOTE—This roving reporter f*r Th* Tima* tort where hr ilruti, when h* please*. in search of odd stories about this and that. npAXCO. Mexico, April 23—My 8 pesas a day for room Rnd meals also gives me a private garden, with banana trees and many flowers, and I sit out there tn the sun nearly all day, with my eyes shut, thinking about how much I like Mexico, and remembering little incidents. a. a a TN Mexico City the other day I was leaning with my back against the City Postofflce, getting my shoes shined. It takes exactly half an hour to get your shoes shined in Mexico. That’s all right, for you see a lot while you're waiting. Traffic is heavy at that comer. Hundreds of autos and busses and motorcycles, and bicycles, too. And people carrying stuff in baskets on their heads. Suddenly, in the middle of the street amidst all the traffic, I saw four soldiers, marching. Two, guns in hand, marched on either side of a third soldier. He had no gun, no coat, no tie, no pack or insignia. His shirt wis undone at the neck. He had a vague look on his face. Behind him marched an officer, all shined up. and he was carrying a gun. too. They marched on down the street out of sight. * Later I asked a Mexican what it was. He said the soldier had done something, Bnd maybe it was something little and they were just taking him to trial, or maybe it was something big and he was on his way to be shot. a a a EVERY evening, on my walk up the Plaza. I stop in a little old store, which is about as big as an apartment bathroom. It is run by a tiny, wrinkled, sweet old Mexican woman in a black dress, I stop there on the excuse of buying some matches, but I really stop just so I can say "Buenos tardes” to her, and then "Cerillos, please." because I don't know the Spanish word for please, but I do know that "cerillos” are those awful little wax matches you see down here. She takes a box from the shelf and smiles as she hands them to me. and says “cinco centavos" and I give her a 20-centavos copper coin, and she gives me three copper nickels, says, “Gracias, senor." and I go on out. It's a sort of ritual. a a a I CREATED such a sensation in the postoffic n the other day that I must boast about it. I had bought a big batch of assorted stamps rin Spanish, too,) and in change for a 20-peso note the woman clerk gave mp back five pesos too much. Being a little slow oi my Mexican money, I took it aside and counted it to make sure, then went back and gave her back the five-peso note. The line at the wihdow all stared at me. One Mexican, who knew a few words of English, sort of gasped, "An honest man!” The clerk was pleased. I swelled up inside at being the center of such a queue, of admiration, until an American woman in line, whom I had never seen before, said: "What did you do that for, you fool?" Later I was telling a. Mexican friend about it. and he said I saved the woman clerk exactly two days’ wages by giving it back. “QUARREL” BY HARRIETT SCOTT OLINICK I light my little heart-fire lamp. And sp*ead the silver, polished bright. On every pale green dish I stamp My wish that you return tonight. I put rose fragrance in my hair And watch the walk expectantly. Tonight I feel you may not. care To hurry home to love, and me. DAILY THOUGHT He that diligently seeketh good procureth favour: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come to him. —Proverbs 11:27. “✓"vNE soweth and another reapV-/ eth” is a verity that applies to evil as well as Eliot.

By George Clark