Indianapolis Times, Volume 48, Number 47, Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 May 1936 — Page 14

PAGE 14

The Indianapolis limes (A SCRIPTS. HOW AMD NEWSPAPER) Rot TV. HOWARD President LCD WELL DENNY Editor KARL D. BAKKK Business Manager

6t> Light unit the Prop’s Will Ft nit Their Otcn Way

TUESDAY, MAY 4. 1934

HOMES ON WHEELS /~\NE of the significant stories of the year is appearing daily this week on Page One of the Second Section of The Times. In "Living in a House on Wheels," George H. Denny, a former member of The Times staff, tells of the amazing growth of anew social phenomenon. It is the house trailer, the modem covered wagon. Roger W. Babson, the economist, predicted recently that half the population of the United States would be living in automobile trailers within 20 years. That may or may not be exaggeration. Certainly, few took the forecast seriously. Yet the figures show approximately 250,000 of these camp trailers already in use. The estimated number of persons living in them—7so,ooo—is riple the number of a year ago. "If the numbers continue to triple in like periods, we will be talking of the trailer millions in a year," writes our correspondent. "It will be Big Business, 1/ it isn’t already." A sign that it is Big Business is that the big automobile makers are eyeing the field. Today more than 200 small manufacturers dominate the business and are pushing expanded plants to overtime capacity. nun 'T'HE lure of living in a portable house is easily ■*- understood. It is a rolling, carefree life. No schedules to follow. No taxes to pay. No railroad fares. No expensive hotels. Stop where the swimming or fishing is good and the climate agreeable. Florida, Mexico or California in the winter; northern lakes, the Northwest and Canada in the summer. “Travel for less than staying at home,” is a compelling argument. And the life of the modern trailer fan has few hardships. Up-to-date trailers contain most of the comforts of home. All-metal, streamlined designs are replacing the box-like contraptions of a few years ago. a a a r I ''HE significance of this movement can not be overlooked. "Caravan cars" appeared in England shortly after the war. It took the depression to boom the house trailer in America. Then people began buying homes-on-wheels as a cheap and interesting way to live and travel. Many of these wanderers stop at trailer camps, an offshoot of the tourist camp industry. Others, like their pioneer forefathers with the original covered wagons, pull off to the side of the road wherever nightfall finds them. Suppose the auto trailers multiply until there is a vast floating population on wheels, as predicted. Trailer camps of today would become trailer cities and towns. There would be problems of management, policing and sanitation. What about taxes to support units of government if people pulled up stakes and took to the road? There would be countless other problems. Some would see all this as a blow to the American home. Certainly the possibility, however remote it might now seem, is reasonable enough to warrant close attention to the movement. “ROAD TO WAR” AMERICANS under attack in a foreign land, fighting desperately and at awful odds against maddened savages. The nation's first impulse is to see red. From *uch incidents come the first stirrings of that emotion which takes people into war; out of such events the martial spirit springs—that quick transformation in the temper of the crowd which turns “he kept us out of war" into shouts and parades and enlistments. Were the attackers citizens of another nation instead of the disorganized, drunken remnants of a nation that was, .there would already be demands and those other preliminaries that lead ultimately to the brink. At that, in its emotional aspects, what is happening in far-off Addis Ababa is of a piece with the Alamo, the Lusitania and the Maine, demonstrating again how uncertain is the urge to peace in the face of slaughter when our countrymen are involved. While praying for the safety of those who are beleagured let us also pray that in this affair, and others of the sort that may happen in the future, we may keep our heads. “SIMPLIFYING” TAXATION—VI *TF tfcf dividend credit is a percentage of the adX jilted net income which is more than 89 and les* tnan 100 (and such percentage is not shown in the foregoing table) the tax shall be a percentage of the adjusted net income equal to one-eleventh of the amount by which 100 exceeds the percentage which the dividend credit is of the adjusted net Income." (From the new Federal tax bill.) ITALY AND FRANCE THE world is witnessing dramatic developments in the march of those opposing ideas—Fascism and Socialism. Mussolini's armies have conquered Ethiopia. Unable to stay the advance of airplanes, tanks and other modem war machinery, the Lion of Judah is scampering like a frightened rabbit to safety in Jerusalem, leaving his country to chaos. II Duce Inflates his lungs preparatory to loosing upon his people an oratorical outburst having to do with the : glory that once again is Rome. In quieter spots there may be statesmen puzzling over the problem of what Italy will do with Ethiopia now that she has it, but their doubts do not reach ; the frenzied populace of Italy. Viva! We've won a war! Don’t ask us how we are going to pay for it. The people of France won a war 18 years ago and have been trying to get it paid for ever since. Duri to* the greater part of the intervening time they •ought to put the debt upon the people they had j ngnqulahed. Little by little in recent years they , M*m to have come to the realization that this could not he done. Yesterday, at the polls, they registered .

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a Anal decision for thia effect. They decided to face the unpleasant task of paying for it them themselves. For the third successive time since the war they elected a parliament a majority of whose members are Socialist and Communists of one kind or another. Thus far, however, they have not had even a mildly Socialistic government, since none of these radical groups has constituted a majority in itself and they have been unwilling to combine with one another to take over control. Now they have agreed to work together and accept the responsibility of government. a a a r T''HEIR program, as proclaimed during the election campaign, falls short of complete Socialism, but goes a considerable distance in a direction opposite to Fascism. It is based on the theory that prosperity for the people of France must be found chiefly within France and not abroad. They propose to “reform” the Bank of France, to nationalize the munitions industry, to take the profits out of war, and to nationalize the insurance companies, railroads, power companies and public utilities. Where is the prosperity for the people of France in that program? Nobody can say; certainly not until it has been attempted. Russia, because of differing conditions, offers no real analogy. If it actually is attempted by France it will be during the same period that Italy is attempting to obtain prosperity from her conquests. French radical leaders can point to France’s own African possessions—which would seem to be more valuable than the territory Mussolini is taking—to make their argument against seeking prosperity in this manner. But they may be wrong as to Italy. Time may tell—if there is time. For the situation is far less simple than these brief paragraphs might indicate. There is Germany and England and Russia and Japan. There is grave trouble brewing in the world. Neither France nor Italy may have time or opportunity to carry their respective ventures through to any logical conclusion. PHOTOGRAPHIC ART third invitational exhibit of the Indianapolis Camera Club opened this week at the John Herron Art Institute. So great has been the advancement in the art of photography that painters. and art lovers no longer are shocked when specimens of fine photography appear in an art gallery. The exhibit at the Herron should attract wide interest as it represents the work of many of the country’s best amateur photographers. Eight key cities sent photographs. The exhibit will continue through May. STAR CHAMBER 'T'HE theory of democracy presumes that the public can be trusted to know what is going on in the process of lawmaking. Hence, public committee hearings. But lawmakers, like other human beings, are prone to shortcuts. So occasionally we have what is going on now behind the closed doors of the House Agriculture Committee. The issue involved is the share cropper, and the matter stems back to the famous Bankhead bill. That measure, it will be recalled, was passed by the Senate last session. Then it rested a whole year in the House committee pigeonhole. Suddenly a few weeks ago a group of House members bestirred themselves and rewrote it completely. It is this revision on which three secret sessions have been held. The revised measure as it has been exhibited to date seems .an improvement. Instead of the Bankhead authorization to spend a billion dollars converting landless farmers into freeholders, the new measure would set up a farmers’ home corporation with 50 millions instead of a billion and direct it to go slow in the conversion process, to feel its way, and to be sure it was really accomplishing something permanent as it went along. This appears a sensible toning down of the New Deal policy of shooting the works and unloosing a torrent of taxpayers’ dollars on every project that classifies as worthy But after all 50 millions is quite a chunk of money, and the question this involves is the large economic and human pri blem of what to do with approximately half of tut nation’s farmers and half of the nation's tillable land which is now being exploited under a landlord-tenant system. So the public is entitled to “sit in." The merits of the revised bill are by no means undebatable. The House committee should abandon the star chamber. TWINGE OF THE POCKET NERVE A FTER 11 days of high-handed and extra-con-stitutional blockade of his borders against “indigent and alien labor," Colorado’s Gov. Johnson lifted martial law, recalled his militia and let down the bars to job-seeking transients from other states. One would like to think that His Excellency’s conscience dictated this surrender, or if not that, deference to public opinion. Apparently it was neither. “Gov. Johnson acted after an apparent shortage of labor for the beet fields of Colorado, Wyoming and Montana appeared to have resulted from the order,” said a United Press dispatch. (Beet workers get an average of sl.lO a day.) Anyway that incident is past, we hope, never again to je repeated by any state’s Governor. A WOMAN’S VIEWPOINT By Mrs. Walter Ferguson A S usual the Daughters of the American Revolution went on record at their national convention as opposing any alteration in the American form of government. We have grown used to this yearly custom. To be consistent, however, why don’t they call themselves “The Sisters of the Status Quo?” The word "revolution" being anathema, one wonders how they can endure to see it printed on their stationery. Yet most of these women have lived through such a revolution as man never before witnessed. During the lifetime of the middle-aged members the electric light has replaced the coal oil lamp, the automobile has junked the spring wagon, and civilized man has welcomed the telephone, .he moving picture, the airplane and the radio. In the face of all this isn’t it ridiculous to fear change in the mental processes of men and women as they moye forward into anew world made possible by such swift material progress? The Daughters, as we know, are dead set against all pacifist movement; they say so in no uncertain terms. Riding contentedly in their limousines, where their forefathers once jogged uncomfortably on horseback, they argue that our relationship with other nations must rest on the same ideals which maintained it in 1775. The good ladies of the D. A. R„ excellent Americans as they fancy themselves to be, are not noble replicas of their sires who resisted the redcoats to the death. They resemble more those foolish stubborn few who battied the railroads in their advance across the continent. Change in our attitude toward war is as inevitable as change in our method of transportation. Man is what he thinks; not what he does. As man begin to think peace, peacyhe will have

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Our Town By ANTOR SCHERRER

'T'HE Indianapolis Literary Club and the Portfolio, the two oldest highbrow clubs this town can brag about, still use the “blackball" system when they want to elect new members, which isn’t often. It’s worth telling about, however, if for no other reason than to point out the immutability of some things around this town. The election in both clubs, we are told, starts with the reading of the candidates' names. After which, the sponsors rise to remember everything good they have ever heard about their candidates. When the speeches start getting too sticky, the president orders the secretary to produce the ballot box. a a a / T'HE ballot boxes are among the -*• oldest relics in Indianapolis. The box used by the Literary Club is generally believed to be the one handed down by Ebenezer Sharpe on the night of May 12, 1877, when he read his paper on “The Present Crisis in Turkey." The one used by the Portfolio people isn't quite so old, because Portfolio didn’t get started until 1890. The box, a fiendish contraption, once you know its working parts, consists of two compartments separated by a partition in which there is a hole. The hole, it turns out, has everything to do with the election. a a a TT’S even more complicated than -*■ that. One of the compartments is covered with a sliding lid. The uncovered compartment contains an assortment of black and white balls about the size of marbles. The covered compartment is supposed to be empty. At any rate, the president, wc are told, always goes through a funny ritual to see that the secretary hasn’t monkeyed with it. All this takes time —more than you think—but once done, the secretary passes the box to the voters who are more than waiting for it. The voters do their duty by slipping a white or black ball into the hole which leads to the closed compartment. Three black balls settle the fate of the candidate, provided no more than 20 votes were cast. If the electorate is big and out for a massacre, one black ball for every seven votes cast is just as bad. a a a T TP to this time, only the president and the secretary know what is inside the box. The president usually makes up his mind to tell about it if the candidate is elected, but he keeps his mouth shut if the candidate is defeated. It’s supposed to fool everybody. If more than one candidate is up for election, no announcement is made until all are voted on. This quaint custom obtains in the Literary Club ever since the big night 17 prominent citizens were blackballed in a row. It happened because the first man up that night was defeated and the president, not knowing any better, spilled the news. The news so enraged the defeated man's sponsors that they decided to get even by blackballing everybody else on the list. See? The Portfolio archives also have a similar Instance, but they try to keep it quiet. Anyway, the Portfolio crowd isn’t as loud as the Literary Club

TODAY’S SCIENCE —BY DAVID DIETZ

TT7ASHINGTON, May s.—An * Y amazing series of experiments in which extremely high sound waves caused liquids to grow luminescent and shine with visible light have been reported by Dr. L. A. Chambers of the Johnson Foundation. Fourteen of 36 liquids tested were found to behave in this way. Water was one of them. The light thus generated was found to be most intense in the case of glycerol and nitrobenzol. Sound waves ranging from 1000 to 9000 cycles per second were used. The amazing phenomenon is a complete mystery for which no adequate explanation is available. Dr. Chambers said that a partial explanation could be obtained by assuming that the molecules of the liquids were arranged in microscopic crystals resembling those known to exist in solids. Sudden distortion of these crystals by the sound waves might excite the molecules to vibrations which would result in the generation of visible light. There has been evidence from other experiments to support the notion that the molecules of many liquids, including water, are arranged actually in crystal formations. METAMORPHOSIS BY POLLY LOIS NORTON Forth we shall creep from these cocoons which we have made, Os dry and dusty leaves of loneliness And silken strands of awkward shyness laid In strings pushed down and woven tight. Forth we shall creep—in gowns of grey and flame, With feathery feelers taut for every mental clue— But you of the gayer world will not behold Our gentle flight, nor see to whence we flew.

YOUR CARRIAGE AWAITS, M’LORD!

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

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, religious controversies excluded. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Limit them, to 250 coords or less. Your letter must he signed, but names will be withheld on reuucst.) 'a a a THINKS RELIEF COULD BE MADE BETTER By H. L. S. The petty crimes that may have crept into the WPA are insignificant compared to the extravagant waste of public funds represented by the use of man power with shovels to grade roadways, where a machine could be used at a comparative trifle of the hand labor cost. The number of roads could have been multiplied many times, if a small degree of intelligence were used in connection with this so-called public work. This tragic waste is due to the folly of our ignorant business leadership, that forces those on relief to be employed at> “non-competing" enterprises. Business for profit is a sacred cow, so no relief work is permitted that would create commodities for the use of those on relief. These necessaries could be created by the relief labor at a trifle of the cost demanded by private business. Business is mooching when it must be supported by relief funds. The only reason for unemployment is the failure of business to meet the customer on a basis of service, on a cost basis that will enable consumption at full capacity of production. Depression is nothing less than utter failure of business to meet public need. It is confession of inability and incompetence. If business were really competent there would be no unemployment or any need for the WPA dole. But WPA does not make up for this incompetence or solve the problem of unemployment. The people on relief must organize into production units to supply their own needs, or the government must organize them into such units. Lack of leadership among this group is responsible for their meek acceptance of relief as a substitute for socialized production. This is not a temporary matter. It

Watch Your Health

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN A BABY’S first eight weeks are perhaps the most difficult in its entire life, because curing this period particular care not only of the child, but of its mother, is involved. For the first three or four weeks after the baby’s birth, the mother should watch her diet and hygiene carefully. She should avoid highly seasoned foods and those which are found to be associated with indigestion for either herself or the baby. She should drink plenty of fluids, especially milk. Regularity of bowel action may be assured by taking suitable amounts of water, fruits, vegetables, and cereals in the diet. Overindulgence in alcohol and smokin'; is certain to be harmful. Moderr.te indulgence may have no ill effect, but it would be best if it were avoided. Unless the weather is pleasant, the mother should not ride or walk until the baby is at least 4 weeks

IF YOU CAN’T ANSWER, ASK THE TIMES!

Inclose s 3-eent stamp for reply when sddressing any question of fact or in* formation to The Indianapolis Times Washington Service Bureau, 1013 13thst. N. W., Washington, D. C. Legal and medical advice can net be given, nor can extended research be undertaken. Q —How many men were killed or died of wounds in all the principal wars in which the United States has been engaged? How does this number compare with persons killed or who died from automobile accidents in recent years? A—For all major wars in which this country has engaged, including the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican War, Civil War, SpanishAmerican War and World War, the total killed in action or who died of wounds numbered slightly under 300,000. During the past 15 years, a period approximating the total duration of the six major wars, Americans killed in automobile accidents within the United States,

demands clear thinking without local or provincial coloring. a a a DRINKS AND DRIVERS SEEN REAL DANGER By Reader for 35 Years My opinion regarding these speeding automobiles is that the drivers have too much to drink. I live near a tavern and I see people come out and get in tneir cars and many of them are “pickled.” A sober man can hardly drive a car let alone one that is drinking. I believe the taverns are the cause of a lot of the awful wrecks. The taverns ought to be watched. If people want to drive cars they should let the booze alone. Booze and gears won’t work together. They only endanger others as well as themselves. There are more wrecks caused from drinks than from anything else. I see plenty of it and I think any one who drives a car should be free from drink. a a a COLORADO WANTS HER OWN TO HAVE JOBS By V. T. L. The state of Colorado has taken a leaf from California’s book, and is throwing troops along its borders to keep out unwanted visitors. Like California, Colorado is fond of tourists. But it is interested only in tourists who bring plenty of money with them. The roving jobhunter who hopes to find a pay check fluttering loose is most decidedly not wanted. So the Colorado authorities, like those in California, have taken to posting soldiers along the borders to search autos, buses and trains, and to turn bad; people who do not come well-heeled. “Jobs in this state are for our citizens.” says Gov. Edwin C. Johnson of Colorado. “I propose to see that they are not filled by outsiders, if I have to invoke the full military strength of the state to do so.” Nothing could be more natural than for a Governor to take this attitude. After all, a Governor’s first responsibility is to the people of his own state. And yet one

old. Strenuous exercise should be avoided during the first eight weeks. a a a AFTER the first four weeks, the mother should be examined by the doctor; and this should be repeated after eight weeks, to determine whether her tissues have returned to normal. The doctor’s examination will include also a study of secretions and excretions of the body, blood pressure and other impori int steps necessary to rule out disturbances of heart, kidneys and organs associated with childbirth. When there are other youngsters at home, they should be watched closely, because—especially those 3 or 4 years old—may become jealous of the new baby and even try to harm it in some way. Showing off the baby too much also is likely to do it more harm than good. There is a common belief that a woman can not begin to have another baby so long as she is nursing her newborn child. This is another superstition that has no foundation.

or who died of such injuries, have numbered 325,000. Q —Can a naturalized American citizen be deported from the United States for a crime committed after his legal naturalization? A—No. Q —What lands are included in the geographic term Oceania? A—Oceania is a collective name for the lands of the central Pacific Ocean, including Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia; and sometimes Austra ia, New Zealand and the Malay ai :hipelago. Q —What are the names of the two brightest stars in the heavens? A—Sirius, the “dog star" is the brightest; Canopus is the second brightest. Q—Who is president of the Fisher Body Cos. of Detroit? A—William A. Fisher.

wonders if people who adopt this stand have ever heard of the services rendered to America’s productive system by the migratory worker. This country is dotted with industries which, of necessity, operate spasmodically. For a few weeks or months such industries need a large number of workers; thereafter —for the rest of the year, in many cases —they need very few. They have been able to operate only bcause of the existence of a great many workers who roam halfway across the continent in the course of a year, drifting from one brief job to another, collecting pay checks in half a dozen states in the course of six months. a a a WRITER RAPS MORRISSEY ON PLAYING POLITICS By John J. Ray Is Chief of Police Morrissey playing politics even when it comes to a question of life and death? Then he is most certainly unfair to the constituents of this city, for he should have the best interests of the city at heart, and as a member of the Board of Safety it is his duty to protect the citizens of the city, be they pedestrians or motorists. There has been an appropriation of $25,000 for anew dog pound, but the city is too poor to protect human lives by putting up new traffic stop-and-go lights at strategic points. There is one locality in particular on the East Side that is being neglected, and that is at Bev-ille-av and E. New York-st. Now what more demand could there be for aid in accident prevention, besides, of course, those little yellow crosses that the chief is to have painted where auto fatalities have occurred, than to have had one hit-and-run victim, and numerous auto collisions, two of them within the past week, at this particular corner? It is high time that the chief quit his political wrangling over the next sheriff and get down to the business of attending to the safety of the lawabiding citizens. DAILY THOUGHT And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.—Acts, 2:40. THE golden age is not in the past, but in the future; not In the origin of human experience, but in its consummate flower; not opening in Eden, but out from Gethsemana.—E. H. Chapin.

SIDE GLANCES By George Clark

“You just don’t understand mental labor, mother. While : / appear to be idle, I might actually be accomplishing more than you,”

MAY 5, 1936

Vagabond from Indiana ERNIE PYLE

EDITOR'S NOTE—Thin rarlai rrpnrl.r fnr Th* Time* fi>e* where he pleeee*. when he plenet, in *earrh of odd itorie* . ■ bent this and that. OAXACA. Mexico, May s.—You can’t come to Oaxaca by auto; there isn’t any road. It is 300 miles below Mexico City, and you come" by narrow-gauge railway. And be- • fore I forget it. it’s pronounced Wa-ha-ca, accent on the second All American tourists in Mexico want to come to Oaxaca, but only a few ever do, because it seems such: a task to get here. In Oaxaca you find the following things: 1. The still-primitive Zapoctec and Mixtec Indians. 2. The most colorful market in Mexico (at least so I am told). 3. The home of some of the finest handicraft still flourishing m Mexico. 4. The finest heavy serapes woven, in the republic. 5. Two famous ruins, built nobody knows when, but long before Chris- , topher Colombo bumped into America. It, is Saturday morning, just after breakfast, and I sit on a bench under the trees of the plaza and wonder how to find the market. a a a I WALK back to my room un a private Mexican home, the hotel being full) and get out my little dictionary and look up market, and it turns out to be ‘marcado," so I go back to the plaza and say “marcado.” and just as though I had waved a magic wand. 37 little boys appear to lead me to the "marcado." Now about markets. Every Mexican town of any size has marketone day a week. It's usually Sun-c day, but sometimes other days. There is a permanent small market, of course, but once a week the mountaineers come in with their stuff. Mexican Indians go to market, just as Midwest farmers go to town on Saturday night. Some of them walk scores of miles, over mountain' trails, carrying unbelievable loads' on their backs. The market in Oaxaca covers one entire block under a shed and over-' flows for another block and a half in all directions. There must be 15,000 people—sellers, and buyers, and plain market gossipers—today at Oaxaca market. a a a INSIDE the great block-square shed you move through the throng an inch at a time, as though, you were at Coney Island. Skittish Americans who don’t like to touch anything Indian had better not come to Oaxaca. * The stalls under the shed are 00, cupied (I assume) by the better-to-do sellers. A stall is not so much a stall as just so much space on the floor—there are makeshift aisles, and they're all lined with produce spread on the floor or on low tables. Nowhere have I ever seen so many vegetables. Beautiful, fresh, clean vegetables, too. There must b© enough food here to feed all Oaxaca for a month. The Indians of Mexico are a people of meticulous design. Many of them live like dogs, but they do it. in fancy pattern. At the market, every little stack of peanuts, or avocados, or leather sandals, is arranged in neat rows, and the rows are fashioned into figures—stars,: triangles or something. a a a AFTER the vegetables comes pottery. In volume, I mean. This is mostly outside, for the hot sun doesn’t spoil pottery. Scores of Indian families have brought their stuff in from the mountains by burro, or on their own backs. They spread it out right, on the street.' put up a canvas sun-shade and sit' down. And then the leather work. Fancy belts, and woven leather sandals (more sandals than anything else), and saddles and pocketbooks. They are of light brown leather, and smell terrible. And then there are reed baskets, and bright fiber bags, and serapes' and wooden spoons, and herbs, and fancy needlework, and so on. At noon, my two little boys stagger back to my rooming house, each carrying a big basket of assortedstuff which to me seems beautiful*, and which probably required, if added up, a year to make. And I have spent less than $7. Which, at that, is a whole year’s coffee crop to many an Indian.