Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 30 May 1936 — Page 13

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(f Seems toMe

00D.BROUN

EW YORK, May 30.—No hooded group in America has done very much damage once it was dragged out into the open.

But there is sometimes a reluctance to

tackle such organizations openly. The advent of the national conventions reminds me of the strange atmosphere which prevailed in

‘ Madison Square Garden when the Democrats met in

1924. The Klan was sweeping the country, but both politicians and publicists, with a few conspicuous newspaper exceptions, simply refused to talk about it. The Republican Party was prepared to let well enough alone, and so were most of the Democrats. Even the foes of the organization were inclined to talk about “intolerance” and “bigotry” and name no names. Indeed, the spokesmen 'of the Klan had no objection whatsoever to sweeping declarations concerning “freedom” so long as no finger was pointed directly at the organization which they served. But at last there stood up in the Garden a man from Maine named Pattangall. He began as the rest had done, talking in generalities, but then he raised his voice and said, “And when I talk of bigotry I refer specifically to that organization known as the Ku-Klux Klan.” The rafters of the building almost came down. It was like the breaking of a storm which has been growling around over the edge of the horizon. The fight was on, but at least you could breathe the air. After a night session which marked the high spot in drama of all political conventions of our time the Democrats decided to straddle and omit any mention of the Klan. And yet the fight against the terror was really won in that convention by Pattangall’s speech. He had made the Kluxers a matter of public record. The line had been drawn, and people knew just who was for and who was against the band. It was the beginning of the end.

# n #

Well Worthy of Attention

YJ TAKE with many grains of salt the assertion that the Black Legion numbers 6,000,000 members, and yet the problem which it presents deserves the most serious consideration and investigation. I believe there is a move in Congress to inquire as to possible “foreign” sources of infection. Personally, I doubt the existence of any Nazi tieup, although it is worth considering. But far more important |would be an examination of the sources nearer home. It seems to me evident that certain kinds of editorial red-baiting are largely at fault, but it is also possible

that money contributions as well have been available. The fact that large financial interests in this country were willing to finance Talmadge and his race-hatred program shows that there is hardly any point at which the connivers will stop. There is nothing fantastic in the Fascist threat. Sinclair Lewis may not be the great American novelist, but he certainly qualifies as the great American prophet. I for one owe him an apology. Certain phases of “It Can’t Happen Here” seemed to me to run into the field of burlesque. They didn’t. The things which he imagined actually have occurred. |

2 2 ” ; No Time to Grin

ECENT developments have convinced me that there ought to be a campaign against the Amer{can sense of humor and an effort to found a Te to be known as Get-Rid-of-That-Silly-Grin week. We are disposed to forget that things can be both silly and sinister. Knaves and dupes and fanatics can not be laughed off the face of the earth. | An editorial commentator has remarked th

seemed more silly than Hitler before he cams power? Indeed, who could seem more silly than Hitler today? And yet he is no laughing n , We will have to ferret out Fascism even when it wears the guise of farce. America may have its own particular paperhanger who is a potential threat. Indeed, the men I fear in this country are those who are paper-hung. I refer to the group of political eligibles who prance into the arena wearing a garland of Hearst editorials. (Copyright, 1936)

Harmony Seen for

Democratic Parley

BY THOMAS L. STOKES | Times Special Writer it

ASHINGTON, May 36.—Only a few months

ago Gov. Eugene Talmadge of Georgia was rarin’ and snortin’ against President Roosevelt and the New Deal and threatening, with Republican encouragement, to break away his own and ‘other

Southern states. |

How far he has fallen from such political grace

"as he enjoyed was demonstrated when Georgia

Democratic leaders met here with President velt and made up a slate of delegates to the Philadelphia convention from which the Governor was

excluded. Of course the Governor did not expect the | dent to designate him, but a few months ago he was anticipating heading a delegation to Philadelphia which would raise cain. | The Governor has a right to enter the Philadelphia convention and is expected to do so. He is stil Democratic National Committeeman |from Georgia, and as such is entitled to a seat the tform. ; | Pe wil be thrown off the committee when it meets at the tail-end of the convention.

There are rumors that the black-haired Governor

with the tortoise-rim spectacles may rise f his

place and attempt to create a. disturbance very outset by challenging the right of General Farley to hold a Cabinet position of his political offices as Democratic National man and New York State Chairman.

» : = 8 : | the Democratic National Committee meeting a loud “No” when a resolution praising the Administration was adopted. | Since that time things have happened to embarrass him, including the revelation that John K. Raskob and the du Ponts helped finance his “grass-

roots” convention at Macon, which was supposed to organize a Southern anti-New Deal movement. |

with |

- {in order to possess/them.

SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1936

~~ Second Section

[ SMOKING

2 = =

OUT

THE CANDIDATES

This is the sixth of a series of articles,

Rep. Wadsworth,

“Smoking Out the Candi-

dates,” written by Frazier Hunt, world famous reporter, for NEA Service and The Indianapolis Times, in which are presented the answers of Republican presidential possibilities to the same 10 questions on the

vital issues of the day. FJ

BY FRAZIER HUNT 1

(Copyright, 1936, by NEA Service, Inc.) :

EP. JAMES W. WADSWORTH may be only

a dark

‘horse presidential possibility and not even a formal candidate, but he certainly is a way out in the open when it comes to facing tough issues. Even on the ticklish question of relief he showed no hesitancy in coming out squarely for payments in cash— which, with its cellophane off, means by a dole—rather than for the “made work” type of present relief. On all the other nine questions which I have presented to the Republican presidential possibilities he was just as. straightforward and professional. Certainly there were no earmarks of the amateur about him. He was an old firehorse who smelled smoke again and had to run with the

engine. ;

For 21 long and strenuous years he had been in public

life—not

counting the four years immediately before he went to the United States Senate, or the six years of his retirement following his defeat

for a third term.

During those 21 years all that you had to do to find out how Jim Wadsworth stood on any public question was to ask him point-blank. He'd answer you just as point-blank. This courageous frankness has cost him plenty. For his out-and-out stand against the Eighteenth Amendment he paid in full with his Senate seat. But that didn’t dull his courage or his frankness.

“It doesn’t make sense,” he frankly declared in discussing the idea of increasing purchasing power by the doubtful method of increasing the cost. of production. This would be the inevitable result, he insisted, of any Federal attempt to control or fix wages or working hours. : Equally as crisp and straightforward were his other answers, presented herewith. 2 2» DO YOU favor balancing the budget? If so, do you advocate reducing relief expenditures or increasing taxes? If by taxes, what kind?

Balance the budget by all means. It is vital. To accomplish it taxes must in all probability be increased somewhat, but a sharp reduction in expenditures must be relied upon to go most of the way. Relief expenditures will have to continue but can be reduced by the elimination of waste. Very large savings can be made in other government activities, many of which are grossly extravagant

- and in some instances absolutely

useless. 2 8 8 : SHOULD relief be by direct cash payments or as wages? Should relief be pail for and administered by the Federal government or by the states, or both? I'm reaching . the belief that direct cash payment will be more satisfactory than the “made work” method of relief. It would take

care of just as many people with less money and would not be open

to the abuses. incident to the

“made work” program. The Federal government should make’ allotments to the states in proper proportions, each state undertaking to contribute a certain percentage of the sum needed. The actual administration should be left to the states and their subdivisions under nonpartisan boards, cutting out politics.

» ” ”

HOW should the problem of permanent unemployment and care of the aged and unemployable be handled? . The - permanently unemployed as contrasted with unemployment due to depression should be cared for by the states. Likewise the indigent aged.

4 DO you favor further devalu“ation of the dollar or stabilization at present gold content? Do you believe in any form of currency change, currency inflation or credit inflation, a return to the gold standard, the remonetization of silver or a managed currency? There should be no further devaluation of the dollar. Currency and credit inflation should be abe horred. A managed currency is impossible unless the whole world manages in the same way and at the same time. Stabilization of currencies can be accomplished only by international agreement. It should be done as soon as the world is ready for it.

8 = ”

DO you favor any program whose aim is to control or fix wages, working hours or a shorter work week? A Federal program to control or fix wages and working hours involves inevitably a fixing of the quantity of production and of prices. I do not favor it. Nor do I favor increasing the cost of production as a means toward increasing purchasing power. It doesn’t make sense.

» # #" - “

DO you favor an amendment J) to the Constitution authorizing the Federal government to deal with economic and social problems, national in scope, or of limiting the courts as to their right to declare laws of Congress unconstitutional? I do not favor an amendment to -the Constitution authorizing the Federal government to exercise these powers, nor do I favor any attempt to limit the Supreme Court in the performance of its function of passing upon the constitutionality of laws enacted by Congress. We must preserve our Federal Union of states and our liberties as guaranteed in the Constitution.

or 2 2 DO you favor modification or suspension of the anti-trust laws to enable business men to get together: (a) To agree on trade practices; (b) To agree on labor relations; (c) To agree on control of production; (d) To attempt to fix prices? I do not favor modification or suspension of the anti-trust laws

LET'S EXPLORE

NJ Ryo PREC ELoARY

BUY A HOME A250

IT SHOULD be one of their chief ambitions to own things, because it means they cement their lives by their common ownership. They should, of course, not be reckless, but the sooner they can begin to own things the sooner these things will begin to become precious as the symbols of their common life, their

they had to make together

” » 2 NOT IF he be an expert inter-

BY DR. ALBERT EDWARD WIGGAM

YOUR MIND.

{ hopes; plans and ideals. They also |" will draw them together by the

WHEN AN-EMPLOYER INTERVIEWS AN

APPLICANT FoR A Job 16 HIG

MERELY TO SECURE 2 Ye50RNO

GAN PARENTS AND AN EXCEPTIONALLY

man.” The facts are the same but

the interviewer's aim should be to

go far deeper and get at their|

meaning—not to himself but to the

Gentleman Fa

rmer, Would Pay Relief in Cash

Rep. James Ww. Wadsworth

(as under the defunct NRA) to enable business men to reach agreements as listed in the questionnaire.

WHAT is your remedy for the farmer? Do you favor the curtailment eof production, dustrial or agricultural? .

foe :

Agriculture can not be kept upon a permanently prosperous basis by the payment of subsidies or by the exercise of force in the control of the production of crops. Such a program would reduce the farmer to the status of a subject and destroy his life. As to the crops of which we produce a surplus, our foreign market should be developed again and at the same time the domestéc market should be preserved for the farmer. fo 2 2

ARE you in favor of the

policy of making reciprocal trade treaties to encourage foreign trade or reduce tariff walls? I do not favor reduction of duties on "the importation of crops which we produce in sufficient quantities. They should be protected. As to other tariff duties we face a world-wide condition. The nations are living in trade-tight compartments. Economic nationalism is rife. International trade has been cut in two. No one: nation can break the spell. Only by international agreement can tariffs and quotas be readjusted so as to restore international trade and work no harm on a nation such as ours. r I believe such readjustments should be made, but if we are to take part in them it must be with the approval of the Congress and not by the star chambey process.

8 = ” 1 DO you favor a policy of public power development; the continuance or expansion of T. V. A, and control of utilities through the utilities holding company act? I am opposed to the govern= ment going into the electric power business. Private industry is competent to undertake and manage such a business, devoid of politics. The Federal government in the public interest should regulate capitalization of interstate companies and interstate rates. The states should regulate intrastate activities.

NEXT—Senator Lester J. Dickinson, . : =

ASHINGTON, May 30.— Landonites say that one of the first things the Kansas Governor plans to do if nominated will be to junk the brain trust ‘or-

ganized by National Chairman

Henry Fletcher. Landon, it is declared, will choose his own experts to supply him with campaign

~ ammunition. . . . Reports that the

President intends to shift Jefferson Caffery, United States Ambassador to Cuba, to another post, have started Robert H. Gore, former Governor to Puerto Rico, pulling wires for the job. The [Florida publisher

was appointed to the Puerto Rican

post. early in the New Deal, but after a brief, turbulent incumbency was withdrawn.: He has

* been in the background since. ...

The most brusque-mannered government building guards in Washington are those of the Interior Department. Visitors on business who try to enter the building after 3:30, the official closing hour, gre subjected to almost third-degree methods before they are permitted to pass. A piece of campaign literature used against Roosevelt in the 1932 campaign has reappeared. It consists of a reproduction of an advertisement of the United European Investors, Ltd, that appeared in a New York paper in 1922, offering German marks for sale. In large letters in the ad appeared the name of Franklin D. Roosevelt as president of the company. The current reprint of the document bears the caption: The “Money Changer” of 1922.

= 2 ” Dr. Francis E. Townsend's statement to the press explaining why he defied the House investigating committee consisted of one sentence—234 words in length. :

Po oof u ® : OV. GENE TALMADGE, the red-gallused- terror of Georgia, is credited by friends with a

. Secret. scheme to make a spec-.

tacular attack on Postmaster General Jim Farley at the Democratic national convention. According to the story, when Farley rises to open the convertion formally, Talmadge will ‘jump to his

‘what he wanted to say if he really

attempted such a bold maneuver,

state and territory is now sharing in at least one of the nine bene-

Washington Merry-Go-Round

BY DREW PEARSON AND ROBERT S. ALLEN;

The day after the New Jersey primary in which Senator Borah was soundly trounced by Gov. Landon, Mrs. Florence Kahn en-

“countéretl Rep. “Ham” Fish and

ex-Congressman 1 Bachmann and Royal Johnson, the Idahoan’s managers, conferring in the rear of the House chamber. “Well,” observed the witty San Francisco congresswoman, “I'd hate to depend on you men to pick a winner for me in a horse race.” noe ® 8 = ARNEST behind-the-scenes ef- ¢ forts are being made by Re= publican strategists to woo Senator Hiram Johnson back into the party fold. . The Californian supported Roosevelt in 1932 and in turn was backed by the Democrats two years later when he came up for: re-election. Johnson says nothing publicly, privately

voices sharp criticism of the"

WPA, asserting that it is rife with partisan politics and inefficiency. On the desk: of Prof. Thomas Nixon Carver, of the G. O. P. braintrusters, is a thick manuscript bearing the title, “Chapter ‘II—The New Deal.”. Carver says he is working on a “monogram” for the Republican national committee, but will not divulge the nature of the document. . . . Idaho’s Democratic Gov. Ben Ross, who plans to oppose Senator Borah if he runs for re-election this year,

“is having trouble in his own par-

ty. One of Ross’ severest critics, Ramsay Walker, was elected national committeeman over the Governor's opposition. ” » 2

A PWA storehouse now stands on the site once occupied by the Washington depot of the old Baltimore & Potomac Railroad, in which President Garfield was assassinated July 2, 1881. iw 8» TE press section of the FedA eral Housing Administration recently prepared an article for The Christian Herald at its re-

quest. By return mail the FHA received a check for $35. This is the first known instance of a publication paying for government publicity. The press section turned the money over to the FHA wel= fare fund. . .. When Senator (The Man) Bilbo addressed the Senate in behalf of a pork-barrel amendment to the flood control bill, his remarks were heard by five. members of the chamber. On the roll call his amendment received only 15 votes. Commissioner of Education John W. Studebaker wants to encourage the wider use of motion pictures in education. He proposes to film movies presenting both sides of current controversial subjects. . . . Railroad Brotherhood unions are bringing strong pressure to bear on Senator Jimmy Byrnes to give the Senate committee investigating railroad finances an additional $100,000 to complete its work. Byrnes is chairman of the Senate Audit Committee, which has been mysteriously holding up action on the appropriation request. » ” 2 TATE Department master minds will be accused of partiality if they don’t take care. They forced the shutting down of a WPA Federal Theater play which condemned Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia but have remained indifferent to the latest WPA _ production, “1935,” which ridicules Hitler for demanding the Nazi salute from Olympic athletes. . . . The words “personal” pf “private” mean nothing on let- / ters addressed to the President or Harry Hopkins. Mail clerks have instructions: to disregard such notations and open all communica-" tions. . . . One of Rex Tugwell’s chief architects, Albert Mayer, boldly states in print that “low cost housing is impossible under capitalism.”

GRIN AND BEAR IT + + by Lichty

by WESTBROOK PEG

Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis, Ind.

Fair Eroug

VVASHINGTON, May 30.—The Michi=

gan delegation in Congress now wants a law to permit the G-men of the Depart= ment of Justice to investigate the Black

Legion and this may be a reasonable desire

considering that the first American Nazi

organization has crossed state lines. But the request

indicates a growing tendency of the cities and states to run crying to the government every time some

fiend in human form robs a hen roost or picks a fight with a bartender. And that is not so good for several reasons. For one thing, the cities and. states and the counties as well are carrying a heavy pay roll for police protection of various kinds and aren't getting their money's worth. For another, if the locals develop the habit of passing the buck to Washington in jobs calling for nothing more than ordinary intelligence and reasonably hard work, the Department of Justice will need a force the size of an army and laws permitting the G-men to make arrests for disorderly conduct,

Westbrook Pegler :

And furthermore, it would be just too bad if some

one on the order of Harry Daugherty, who was

Harding’s ‘Attorney General, should get hold of the

department, fire all the good G-men, load up with political heels and turn them loose to do the best they could for themselves. :

s = Ld

Balking Mr. Farley

OU may judge how bad that would be by ob= =

serving the quality of the police work in many

- cities where fhe police chief is a political appointea

whose first job is to take care of friends of the local administration. For that matter, it is a good thing .

Homer Cummings has kept Jim Farley's hands off

the bureau because a job is a job to Mr. Farley and

there are 600 operatives’ jobs alone to say nothing of

a thousand other jobs in the finger print plant, the clerical department and so forth. Observing the quality of the talent that Mr. Farley selected for: other jobs in other branches of the government you

easily can imagine what a ruin he would make of

the Bureau of Investigation if he had a crack at those 1600 jobs under his rules of fitness. :

The local forces scattered around the country have just about worn out the alibi that rapid trans= - portation and limited jurisdicton prevents them from doing good work. This explanation has obscured ‘the known fact that thousands of police jobs, espe=

cially in the smaller cities and towns are not soft spots for big, ignorant lumps who have neither spes cial training nor natural aptitude for police work, but like to carry guns and ride around in departe ment flivvers listening to the baseball scores on the radio. The sheriff's staffs are the worst of all bee

cause most sheriffs are strictly politicians who name as their deputies men who helped them get out the ie

vote on election day. It isn’t necessarily that the locals are crooked, although too many of them are petty grafters. The worst, trouble is that a large proportion are not po= liceman at all—but got their jobs merely because,

they were good athletes in high school, didn’t likfe

monotonous toil :and were able to pass

an exanis . nation in simple arithmetic and spelling. 3

y =

8. ; Shauldn’t Be a Surprise (CONSIDERING the carelessness of the citizens. to=

ward their police departments it never should ,

be a surprise to discover situations like that in Tampa where members of the police department assisted in the kidnaping and flogging of a man merely because they thought he was a Socialist or Communist. There are not many who would know

. the difference between a Socialist and a Communist

in the first place and there are too many who think that. to be either is a capital offense. During the Ku-Klux Klan days many of the policemen in Southern communities joined up, believing, such was their intelligence, that this was the patriotic thing to do and that is the grade of intelligence whic =

assigned the responsibility for catching swindlers; | : kidnapers and a hundred other varieties of crooks, :

But all the while, the local communities, counties and states go along paying tremendous sums of money for police protection and accepting crime as one of the forces of nature. The people see slot machines in action and know where they can to play roulette, both sure signs that corruption is rife in town. They know their local racketeers by sight and still they are inclined to believe that such things have to be because they always have been.

The Bureau of Investigation is largely show= manship, but a first-class detective force neverthes

less, as the record shows. But it will be well to keep an eye on it because the chief of the G-Men, like any chief of police, may be replaced with a politic; appointee whenever an Attorney General wants to make a change. In other words, some future Attor= ney General may fire Edgar Hoover and put in some one like Gaston B. Means—and good-by G-man.

New Books

THE PUBLIC LIBRARY PRESENTS— ~~! C irra CAUTION by Kenneth Roberts (Dou=: ble day, $2.50) is the latest book in the Arundel series. It is a fine example of historical fiction, fell= ing in vivid style a story .of the War of 1812. :

When British avar vessels and American privateers were the scourge of the high seas and waylaid every

ship they saw, Daniel Mann of Arundel was dubbed “Captain Caution” because of his policy of over-precaution, which he himself always followed and which he tried to urge on others. Disregard of his advice brought about a train of trouble and dis=

Throughout the story historical truth is not dis~ torted but rather is more vivid and real by the interweaving of facts with an imaginary nare rative of love and adventure. PE

» ” ” - yor ERSKINE intimates, in THE INFLUEN OF WOMEN—AND ITS CURE (Bobbs-Mer: $150), that Diogenes took to his tub as a ref: against a house full of leisured women because

not invade. Women, individually, are very women in groups, burning with a