Indianapolis Times, Volume 48, Number 57, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 May 1936 — Page 9

It Seems to Me HEVM BROUN Conn., May 16.—Joe Williams is taking me to the Preakness. 1 keen to horse races many times, but somehow I've missed the big stakes. I have still to see my first Kentucky Derby. The Preakness is really better than the Derby because everybody pronounces it the same way. and Baltimore is a roomier city than Louisville. My mind is on racing for the moment because I

went to a dinner last night which the State Racing Commission gave to the turf writers. It was very interesting and instructive because most of the addresses were on constitutional law. It seems that in New York State betting is illegal, 'out within a given inclosure you may bet If you want to, and nothing will happen to you, except, of course, the very fair possibility that you won’t win. Some of the speakers seemed to think of this as a very strange sort of situation, but, as a matter

Heywood Broun

oi fact, it is the traditional American system. Courts and legislatures do not keep up with the will of the majority, and since they move so slowly, many of our activities are carried on in a twihght zone. Some ancient ordinance still blocks our path like an old rail gate, but four of the rails arP 2one and you can crawl under or over or go down the road a piece and walk through a hole in thn fence. a a Jnsf for Convenience r "T HERE used to be a regulation that nobody could A cross the Mexican border near Tia Juana after 9 at night, but, fortunately, there was a gap in the wire and every late traveler used that. That was much easier than getting the regulation changed. It must be that we Americans are a very humane people, because we hate to put an ailing law out of its misery. We prefer to let ii die slowly and gradually as we tiptoe through the sickroom to our own objectives. It is a pity that Mr. Chief Justice Hughes put his political memories away in camphor when he came to the Supreme Court. The second time. I mean He might, have learned much from his own experiences as Governor of New York. At the time of his election it seemed to be true that the voters of New York did not desire horse racing. Mr. Hughes sponsored legislation which finally closed the tracks for a couple of years. But racing returned because people wanted it. No complete enabling legislation was provided. What the people wanted they got without much help from courts or constitutions or lawmakers. The Supreme Court of the United States should take this American tendency in mind when it is dealing with problems far more important than race track betting. It should look into the necessities and the will of the masses. In the long run law must be construed to meet the requirements of the many. And so I think it is a pity that so many of the hign court's decisions merely consist of changing shor. hauls into long ones. Brakes have their usefulness, but not when they become locked. a a a The Spoil Which Came Back HORSE racing came back in spite of the laws sponsored by Gov. Hughes, and there will be agricultural regulation in spite of the concurring opinion of Mr. Chief Justice Hughes in the death sentence for Triple A. i always have felt that Supren-: Court justices are too naive and aloof from the world and that they should take at least one year in seven for a vacation period in which to brush the innocence from iheir coat sleeves. That’s one of the reasons why I eagerly accepted the invitation of Col. Williams for the Preakness. I'm afraid that long days and nights in Stamford, Corn., may make me too starry-eyed. Joe tells me that racing has changed a great deil since my day. He says that now close finishes ate Judged by an electric eye which takes a photograph of the contena'ng horses as they cross the line. I'm not sure I'm for that. It makes betting extra hazardous. It’s tough enough to guess how your horse is going to run without also being obliged to figure out just how he's going to screen.

Error in Tax Bill Claimed by Lawyer BY RAYMOND CLAPPER WASHINGTON. May 16. —Although the new tax bill passed by the House is aimed at undistributed surpluses and is supposed to exempt from taxation a corporation which pays out all of its earnings in dividends, one tax lawyer has worked out an example which he believes proves that the bill fails to do that. He shows that a corporation, which pays out its entire earnings of $1,000,000 in dividends, might still have to pay a tax of 22 1 .- per cent on $375,000 of those dividends. That is. the corporation, having paid out all of its earnings, would have to dip into its capital to meet taxes. Such a situation would arise when part of the corporation's stock—more than 50 per cent—was owned by another corporation. Dividends paid to such a corporate stockholder could not be charged off as a credit for distributed income as the bill stands. t This lawyer goes on to say that such a case could be taken into court on a ground of unconstitutionality. He believes that the tax-paving corporation and its individual stockholders could claim discrimination under the due process clause, both being penalized by the uncontrollable circumstance that a third party—a corporation—had gathered up a block of stock in the company, possibly without their prior knowledge or consent. President Roosevelt has indicated, in the workrelief controversy, that he has the last word over Congress. He made it clear yesterday that even though Congress passes a law saying that Harry Hopkins and WFA must spend all relief money, he can save Dr. Tugwell's Resettlement Administration from extinction. All he has to do is to make Tugwell an agent of Hopkins. Then Hopkins would technically draw the money as specified by Congress, and turn it over to Tugwell. Mr. Roosevelt doesn't care who signs the checks. Let Congress decide that. He will decide who handles the money. a a a THE League of Nations sounds a long way off from our own presidential campaign yet the issue may come up. Prime Minister Baldwin is proposing reorganization of the League in order to make it mere attractive to the United States. It is even possible that efforts will be made to win some pledge of co-operation from us as the price for gening bv'iind our recir-'ocal trade pr gram—we are about to go into a dicker with the British over a trade agreement. Senator Borah said this week powerful influences were trying to put us back into European affairs. On the other hand, unsuccessful efforts were made some time ago on behalf of Hearst to force Gov Landon to take a strong isolationist stand—the only attempt, so it is said, which was made on behalf of the publisher to influence the Kansas presidential aspirant whom he is supporting. Landon. at the moment, is .riding with George Washington while studying more recent developments to determine what Washington would have done about them. That sheepish look of Senator VanNuys, Indiana Dtmoerat, comes from the fact that some time ago he found a Democratic patronage job for a young Indiana man who wanted to study law at night school here and now the lad is out in Indfena runnmg for county prosecutor—as a Republican.

RESETTLEMENT—WHAT IT MEANS °*mb,B,B B B B B B Small Loan Plan Designed to Keep Thousands Off Relief List

What has bum done and what is being planned to solve the great and widelv varied problems facing the Resettlement Administration. New Deal agency, is described in a series of live stories by Rodney Dutcher, NEA Service and The Times special writer. This is the last of the series. BUM BY RODNEY DUTCHER 'Copyright. 1936, NEA Service. Inc.) , May 16.—The Resettlement Administration's biggest job comes under the head of relief—not resettlement. In a program of “rural rehabilitation” covering about 600,000 farmers, the New Deal agency is making loans aggregating $94,000,000 and doling out emergency cash grants of more than $15,000,000. A field force cl 9500 is supervising these loans, their collection, and the grants. It is also teaching borrowers how to operate farms and homes most economically and prudently. That force is considerably more than half

the Resettlement personnel, the size of which has frequently been criticised. Resettlement officials say they will have k'.nt off or taken off about 3,000,000 people from relief rolls by July 1, when all the money will have been lent and spent. The rehabilitation theory is that it is cheaper and more human to advance small loans which will keep distressed farm families selfsupporting. A cow. a horse, a plow, some seed —sometimes that’s all a farmer needs to keep operating for another year. Loans run between SSO and S6O0 —occasionally higher —and are repayable in from two to five years. ft tt tt Emergency grants go to farmers in immediate need of subsistence, when the delay incident to loans would cause suffering. The idea is that these recipients will later become rehabilitation loan “clients,” as the borrowers are officially called. The program this fiscal year provides foi grants to about 175,000 families. The rehabilitation phase was subject to much delay. Resettlement attributes that to the time required for working out farm management plans, voucher approvals, clarification of the controller general’s decisions, and liquidation of FERA’s state rural rehabilitation corporations. Only $10,000,000 of $46,000,000 in loans made under FERA auspices has been repaid and much of the rest won't be recovered. Resettlement thinks it can eventually collect at least 70 per cent of its own loans. Only farmers vvho can’t borrow elsewhere can get resettlement loans. They are expected to show willingness and ability to support themselves if given a chance. Mortgages and liens are taken on property and crops. In the loan agreements are included farm management plans, the farmer agreeing to operate his farm irj accordance with good agricultural advice and a budget which takes into consideration probable expenditures and probable income. A RESETTLEMENT supervisor C\. arranges the loan and tells the farmer how he should diversify his farming, and a home economics expert tells the farm wife what she should do in canning and making the most of what income there is. Such farm management plans have been worked out for about 350.000 families, with the object of discouraging dependence on a single cash crop and getting farmers to figure food and produce raised for the family as part of their basic income. Twenty per cent of loans made are for purchase of dairy cattle, 17 per cent for stock feed, and 13 per cent for poultry. Loans are also made for land rental, repair

LET'S EXPLORE YOUR MIND BY DR. ALBERT EDWARD WIGGAM

I A WK.awff L JMI, BUK.AUX46; W ’3ft , A PERSON IEbOK MO ' 1 'NxY'] \ 7^^5600060^/^. * 1 \ \\ /j &e^ EEAI6£R T b /Wyr WF - ' / 'NomEMThau for)AEn 3 x J\ 5 Ie&ormo

-| Not always of course, but there -*• are a few general questions you can ask yourself that will help. First, is the speaker a person whose training entitles him to speak with authority? Second, does he make clear-cut. definite statements that can be checked up? Third, is he stating mere opinion or his own precise observations and experiments or the results of precise observations and experiments of others? Fourth, does tie back up his statements with concrete evidence? Fifth, is he willing to subject his statements to further discussion and criticism? You might just as well ask if B’s lantern jaw will enable him to see in the dark. As I have often pointed out, a mans jaw has noth- | ing more to do with his character than the size of his big toe or the shape of his Adam's apple. Yet I 1 just have a letter from a large

The Indianapolis Times

or purchase of equipment, and fertilizer. Administrator Rexford G. Tugwell is fond of quoting the exclamation of a rehabilitation client who was aided by such a loan: “When you found me, I was crawlin’. Now I'm walkin'.” Dr. Tugwell says most of the farmers who have been on relief were there because they lacked basic tools of production. B B B OBVIOUSLY, many of the rehabilitation clients will be pushed right back where they were when Dr. Tugwell found them. In many cases of default, a lenient policy will be required. The balance sheet, from both social and financial viewpoints, won’t begin to be visible for two or three years. Serious complaints have come up from sections of the South concerning alleged maladministration by some political Resettlement officials representing the plantation-owner class, in relations with tenant farmers and share croppers. Resettlement says the charges are exaggerated. It is clear, however, that neighbors sometimes are bitter when a man is really rehabilitated with government aid and that this phase of human nature becomes more serious when complicated by racial feeling. In the East there has been some trouble with tight-fisted local supervisors who consider it sinful for a farmer to be broke. Local administration, good or bad, plays a large part in the success or failure of the RA program. BBS RESETTLEMENT took over from FCA the farm debt adjustment program, with an administrative fund of $2,000,000. This program has a permanent personnel of 229 and a voluntary force of 12,000 members of state and county farm debt adjustment committees. The object is to help debtburdened farmers by bringing debtor and creditor together and making it easier on the debtor. Lately this program has resulted in more than 3000 debt adjustments a month, with the monthly amount of debt reduction about $3,000,000. Still another phase of Resettlement’s wrok is its loans to and supervision of co-operatives. On subsistence homesteads, six loans of from $250,000 to $550,000 have been made to co-operative agricultural producing associations. Purposes must be of a selfliquidating character, such as farm operations, greenhouses, trading-posts, poultry and hog projects, and dairy farms. Loans are made sometimes to individuals, as in the case of buying a pure-bred bull for community use.

business film stating they have an “expert” selecting their employes on the basis of their high or low brows and that they employ i no one with a “low brow.” Nansense ! In fact a measurement of 1500 criminals by Dr. Charles GorI ing of England revealed the fact j they had slightly higher brows than the lawyers and judges who convicted them! “5 There should be no limit to the efforts to set up high standards for both sexes, but in this age at least | the moral standards of women probably exert a greater influence than those of men because the person - :al example and attitudes and , teachings of the wife and mother create the moral atmosphere amid which the younger generation I grows up and sets the moral standi ards of life more than do those of 1 the father and husband.

SATURDAY, MAY 16,1936

Rehabilitation loans to farmers have helped thousands to continue tilling the soil and kept them off relief rolls. At left, above, is shown a Maryland family which was given aid. At right, above, with one of his lambs, is a Hayward (Cal.) farmer, the picture of contentment since he has been given anew chance through Federal aid. loans are made to cooperative associations to provide a service or facility which low-income families could not own individually—such as equipment for canning and preserving fruits and vegetables, equipment for curing meats, and heavy farm machinery, such as threshing machines, ensilage cutters, and hay balers. Loans have been made of SIOO,000 to the Forest Products Association of New r Hampshire, for the co-operative handling and processing of pulpwood; $82,000 to the North Dakota Co-operative Association, for the co-operative production and handling of poultry and turkeys, and $10,545 to the Sweet Potato Growers, Inc., of Mississippi, for co-operative production of sweet potatoes and processing of them into starch. Many applications for co-opera-tive olans are pending.

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

VyASHINGTON, May 16. - ’ When Harry Hopkins has a WPA strike on hi s hands, he calls in a stalwart, blue-eyed, black-garbed Catholic clergyman who is a Doctor of Philosophy and president of a Catholic seminary. Father Francis J. Haas is an old hand at arbitration. He won his Ph. D. at Catholic University, Washington, by writing a thesis on arbitration in the men's garment industry, and he has been at it ever since. “I've been doing it so long.” he says, “I can sense the trouble in a labor dispute just like an old family doctor who comes, in to the sick room, sniffs the air, and says ‘Measles!’ ” “The relief problem will stay with us,” diagnoses Father Haas, “until industry is forced to employ more men. And this can happen in only two ways: “Through greater unionization of labor. (Only about 12 per cent of labor Is organized now.) “Through an amendment to the Constitution allowing Congress to fix minimum wages and maximum hours for labor.” a a a THE workers w’ho burn night lights in the LaSalle Building these days are not the NRA staff once housed there, but clerks of Veterans Administration, turning out bonus payments. . . . Department of Commerce finds Mexican business is picking up, especially in chewing gum. . . . Baiting the red-baiters. Maury’ Maverick of Texas says that since red in itself is a sin. we can have no more red flannels, red traffic lights, red ink, red herrings, or even red carnations in the lapel of Congressman Sirovich of New York. . . . Barber Bert Braden, who has been cutting the locks of congressmen for 25 years, says, “I’ve been taking care of the Speaker all session (Joe Byrns of Tennessee! but he don't have as fine a head to cut as that old fellow from Illinois.” (Late Speaker Henry T. Rainey). . . . Migrating w’aterfowl have found anew landing field in Tennessee. Moving north this year, they broke their flight where only dry land had been before—TVA's new lake formed by Norris Dam. .. . Franklin Roosevelt Jr., at Harvard, now receives the press in his bathrobe ala Huey Long. a a a ANNOUNCEMENT by Gov. Gene Talmadge of Georgia that he will stage a great barbecue in July to announce his political plans has started speculation as to who is financing him. The Senate lobby committee revealed that Talmadge’s so-called “grass-roots” convention was financed by the same interests backing the Liberty League. . Arthur H. Kent, former Chicago University tax instructor who is prosecuting the government's tax suit against John J. Raskob and Pierre DuPont,* is slated for promotion to

i i i

Thousands of acres of “dust bowl” land of the type shown above on a Liberal (Kas.) farm have been purchased by the government in its •chabilitation program and help give the farmer victims of the “black blizzards.”

A gigantic task, along widely diversified lines, with multitudes of problems, is the one faced by Resettlement Administration. But

general counsel of the Internal Revenue Bureau to succeed Robert Jackson. The latter recently was elevated to be Assistant Attorney General. . . . Despite the fears of private power companies that the Tennessee Valley Authority would injure their business, 1935 reports reveal that the Alabama Power Cos. increased its sales 19.69 per cent. Georgia Pow’er Cos. and the Tennessee Electric Cos. also made large gains. a a a Senator Ashurst, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was asked to support a certain bill as a matter of “public reresponsibility.” He replied: “Men in ryublic office have only one responsibility—to avoid responsibility.” tt tt tt Frederic a. delano, the President’s uncle and new’ head of the Richmond (Va.) Federal Bank, met an old friend w’hom he had not seen for a long time. “Well, George.” he said, “tell me —what side of the fence are you on these days?” “Fred. I’m on the left bank and getting lefter all the time. In fact, I’m getting so leftish I’m becoming afraid of myself.” Delano laughed heartily, replied - “You have nothing on me, George. I’m the same way. Look,

GRIN AND BEAR IT

y. - rtjf V : '" W 'O -r/ : ’ • ' - ■ /. f

“ You’ll have to grab it on the hop, lady — we're trying to make the light.”

, - I of 9'ifl "abfpsl its leaders look optimistically ahead, despite the barrages aimed at it by its many critics. THE END

let me show you.” He pulled out a small leather-bound notebook. “I jotted down some biographical nptes the other day,” he continued. “Here they are: “Graduated from Harvard—conservative. 1900—Beginning to come out of the fog. 1914—Advocate of reform. 1928—Liberal. 1936—Wild as Hell.” a a a WHEN Henry Wallace's new book, “Whose Constitution?” appears July 1, it will broadcast the Secretary’s ungarnished opinion of the Supreme Court in a chapter entitled "The Elder Statesmen.” . . . New York’s Congressman Vito Marcantonio has 6500 Puerto Ricans in his district. . . . Directors of a Works Progress training course for waitresses admonish applicants that “Candidates must not be over 25, must be fresh and w’holesome looking, must have no blemishes on the face.” . . . Kansas’ Congressman W. P. Lambertson, who has a yen for walking barefoot through the grass, was lampooned by a Kansas physician who wrote, “It takes more than going barefoot to make a statesman.” Lambertson replied: “It takes more than a bellyache to make a doctor.” (Copvrißht, 1936. by United Feature Syndicate. Inc.i

by Lichty

Second Section

Knitted as -Class Matter at I’nstoffiee. Indiartapnlis. Inti.

Liberal Side by HARRY ELMER BARNES (Westbrook Pegler Is on Vacation.) W E . have tended to congratulate ourselves upon the alleged enormous advances in prison administration and reformative procedure since 1900. It has been assumed that the prison of the p?st no longer exists and that great progress has been made in taking steps to induce prisoners to reform and develop into honest men. When we began to look at these changes in prison

administration in the last third of a century with a cold and skeptical eye they do not seem as numerous or important as is popularly supposed. They relate to the thrills rather than the essentials of reformation procedure. This point is well developed by Dr. Ray Mars Simpson, psychologist of the Department of Public Welfare of the State of Illinois, in an article on “Prison Stagnation Since 1900' in the Journal of Chiminal Law and Criminology: “Recently much emphasis has

been placed upon the classification and segregation of prisoners. This in turn has led to the creation of novel housing arrangements in several recently constructed prisons. Trade training, steady employment and educational enlightenment have also been advanced with considerable ardor by many who labor under the naive assumption that it is possible to change prison inmates into upright, respectable citizens by such blanket proposals.” tt tt tt Main Talking Point /~VNE of the main talking points of contemporary penology is that which relates to the alleged benefits of the classification of prisoners. There is no doubt of the value of such procedure. To try to treat hardened criminals and first offenders, young and old and male and female, in one indiscriminate mass is obviously futile. But classification is only the first step toward effective reformatory treatment. If we simply classify and segregate prisoners and then do nothing to fit them for a law-abiding life, we have done no more than promote administrative convenience. What really counts is where classification is the preliminary stage to intelligent encouragement of reform efforts. Much was dene along this line at the George Junior Republic and in the Mutual Welfare League of Thomas Mott Osborne. But the furthest development of the principle has taken place recently in the Norfolk Prison in Massachusetts, where classification is viewed primarily as an aid to intelligent, reformative treatment of prisoners. The unemployment of prisoners is today a major scandal ano recent legislation has tended to make the situation even worse than the old deplorable contract system of industry. Nor do prisons train men effectively to get a job when they leave. Even the best of them provide inadequate training, often in lines of work for which there is no great demand outside. Overcrowding is another outstanding evil that has been aggravated rather than relieved in the last 30 years. r • Kir, BUB Little Development Since 1900 OUTSIDE of a few conspicuously good prison schools there has been little development of prison education since 1930. Nor has much progress been made in providing better and more varied reading material. The introduction of radios, moving pictures and daily newspapers may be humane and enlightened, but they do little to prepare the prisoner to live a better life when released. Most of the progress in the last third of a century boils down to the removal of certain barbarities like the lockstep, the shaved head and prison stripes, and the granting of personal privileges to convicts. This is all to the good, but it does not mean any important addition to reformative technique. Dr. Simpson suggests that the thing to do is to put more guards on prison walls to protect the cutside public from any chance of a jail break and then appoint prison administrators, both fitted and inclined, to make radical and far-reaching experiments with reformative methods within the walls.

New Books AVAILABLE AT THE PUBLIC LIBRARY TF you thrill to tile romance of the clipper ships, A that newest manifestation of man’s pioneering spirit, you will enjoy SKY GYPSY, by Claudia Cranston (Lippincott; $2.50). On this 25.000-mile flying vacation, the author looked down on the voodoo land of Haiti; the incredible Amazon; fascinating Rio; Chile. 3000 miles long and 100 miles wide; Peru, steeped wdth the lore of the conquistadores; the majesty of the Andes. You will not find here the poetic charm of “North to the Orient” (there is only one Anne Lindbergh), but you will enjoy the gorgeous Pan-American Airways photographs and find much information about these enchanting countries, spreading over endless miles in the shadow’ of the silver wings of the flving clipper. tt n tt MUCH that is inherently spectacular goes into I KNEW THEM IN PRISON, by Mary B. Harris (Viking; s3l. There are riots, escapes, horrors of crime, drugs and drink, human nature at its worst. But dominating the narrative is the quiet resourcefulness and force of the amazing personality of this foremost woman penologist of the United States. Striking at the roots of prison reform, she puts her theories into practice and they work. She fights fear as she does disease. She works for cheerful surroundings and intelligent personnel. Sympathy, humor, impartiality and loyalty are her watchwords. Her faith upholds the decency even of “those in restraint of their liberty.” Dr. Harris speke at the Town Hall this wdnter in Indianapolis. tt tt tt 'T'HE story of the spread of the highly successful A Ko-operativa Forbundet, or Co-operative Union, through every branch of Swedish life makes up the first part of SWEDEN, THE MIDDLE WAY. by Marquis W. Childs (Yale University; $2.50). Industries, agriculture, trade, housing, education partake of benefits of a system which eliminates middle-man profits and makes cogent the slogan “The same possibilities for living securely within the fatherland for all those who inhabit it.*’ Additional chapters present, with keen insight into Swedish temperament, working ideas of state and private control of utilities, transportation, forestry. liquor legislation, which we might well emulate. Geographical position accounts partly for thi3 success, but much credit may be ascribed to the courage, intelligence and sane patriotism of this peopie. PUBLISHER’S NOTE. JOE LOUIS, who has been referred to as the Brow’n Bomber, the Tan Thunderbolt, the Detroit Destroyer and the Ring Robot, acquires anew alias in the biography. “Joe Louis; Man and Superfighter,” by Edward Van Every, published by Stokes. The author stresses the able and honest promotion which brought Louis safely through the dubious politics of the fight game, snd dubs him “The Black Moses” for his loyalty to his principles of clean sport. Lotus was 22 years old May 13th.

o if

Dr. Barnes