Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 18 June 1936 — Page 20
| napolis Time (“a SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)
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People Will Find :
Their Own Way Phone RI ley 5551 THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1936.
FARLEYISM IN THE MAILS
PosTMasTER GENERAL JAMES A. FARLEY denies that Democratic National Chairman
James A. Farley sent out any letters, or consented to the sending out of letters, or has any knowledge of the sending out of letters, soliciting campaign contributions from postmasters. And so the controversy rages on., The issue, we believe, is not whether three-job ‘Jim was dumb enough to do such a trick. The is-
sue is the continuance of a patronage-ridden postal -
system which makes the commission of such an outrage seem credible, Farley is by no means the first political-minded Postmaster General, From the days of Benjamin Franklin, who was himself no slouch at the patronfge game, the postmaster generalship has been a : favorite berth for the plum-givers of the party in power, Farley spends practically none of his time attending to his duties as postal chief. He is too . busy with party affairs. Yet Farley is a typical Postmaster General. For proof, one has only to recall his predecessor, Walter Brown, or the Harding Postmaster General, Will . Hays, or Assistant Postmaster General Irving Glover, who in the summer of 1932 harangued a convention of postmasters in Springfield, Mo., telling the boys to get out and hustle votes for Hoover. Yet, isn’t it a rather sad commentary that such odious comparisons measure the fitness of the Lead of our great postal system? It seems something of a marvel that a letter or a money order or a parcel post package mailed in one part of the country is actually delivered, and generally on time, in another part of the country, The secret of this seemingly
anomalous efficiency, of course, is that the great pre-
- ponderance of postal employes—those who actually
do the work—get and hold their jobs on the basis of :
merit. There are some 185,000 office and railway postal clerks and city and rural carriers, all of whom are under civil service. So also are some 31,000 fourth-class postmasters— postmasters who actually sort the mail and peddle the stamps. The 14,000 other first and second and third-class postmasters are political appointees, They are executives. They can go fishing or attend political rallies or otherwise “come to the aid of the party,” and the mail is handled just the same. A great many of the latter will lose their jobs if the whole postal service is ever placed under & merit system of operation, with efficiency as the de= termining factor. This is such a logical development that there can be little dobut that eventually it will come to pass. And it may be sooner than we have supposed. For the issue is being forced by Gov. Landon, the Republican presidential nominee. In his own interpretation of the meritvcystem plank of the Republican platform, Landon declared boldly for extension of the merit system to cover all jobs in the executive branch below the rank of the policymaking posts at the top, and to cover the entire postal service, from bottom to top. 1f Democratic presidential nominee Roosevelt is as politically astute as we believe him to be, he will move rapidly toward taking Parleyism out of the postal service before the issue gets too hot. And that means he can hardly afford to walt until after November. - :
ROTARY'’S GIFT
‘for its generous gift of $1000 to equip the medical unit of the new James E. Roberts School for Crippled Children. When Paul C. Stetson, superintendent of schools and chairman of the club’s crippled children committee, told the club of the school’s need of $800 for the medical unit, the members promptly oversubscribed that amount. As a result, the children will not have to be transported from: the school to clinics for examinations. The physical strain will be lessened. Medical attention will be available at all times. The school now will be one of the best of its kind. . The Rotary Club, in continuing the: work for crippled children it already has done at Riley Hos- _ pital, does a worthwhile community service.
. IT SMELLS BAD : H°® your nose while we briefly ‘review: the history of a scandal. ; Some two years or more ago, When Huey Long was making things hot for the Roosevelt Administration, a corps of Federal agents was ‘scurrying about Louisiana gathering evidence of alleged frauds practiced by friends and political allies of the KingOf course, it was just a coincidence, Federal authorities insisted, that Huey Long happened to be at outs with the New Deal. It was even explained
administration of justice was another.
* stressing the training of young men
A highs
Administration is politically at outs with fendants, but that big gamblers and political leaders are given baths of immunity when the Administra~ tion ogles & coming election sna: smokes the Pipe of peace?” Her question has not ‘been answered. : wy : Now nine of the members of the grand jury which voted the indictments tell why they “feel aggrieved and outraged.” To Attorney Genera} Cummings, they write: “If the evidence revealed in the Gand jury room under the guidance of the assistants of the United States Attorney General's office was sufficient to indict, then we fail to understand under what proper theory consistent with the integrity and sacredness of the proper administration of justice how this identical evidence has now become so weakened as to warrant the dismissal of criminal charges.” When he quashed the indictments, U. 8S. Attorney .gave the explanation that there was “a changed atmosphere” in New Orleans. Attorney General Cummings passes it off as a “routine matter.” Better continue to hold your nose until he gives a more deodorizing explanation.
%
PUBLIC CAREERS
T= announcement that the “National Youth
Administration program in Indianapolis is dnd women
for public service careers is encouraging. Government largely has been in the hands of the professional politicians. The spoils system too often has defeated efforts to get trained public personnel. Public office has held little attraction for the ablest men and women. But government is becoming vastly more complicated. It requires expert knowledge and skill in
many places. And people are realizing the terrific _ cost of the system which graduates precinct and
ward politicians into responsible public positions which they are not equipped to fill. Yet the machine bosses continue. to rule most of the public's business. They ‘will continue to do so in the future—because they perform a necessary function—until intelligent citizens provide the leadership for a better system. This training of youth is one answer. A recent survey showed leading American universities turn out few public leaders compared with the great English schools. The last few years, however, have witnessed a revival of interest by youth in American politics. Our schools are Soneueting institutes on public affairs. Youth is turning a critical eye on society, economics and government. ‘This is not mere teaching of theory. The NYA projects, for example, supple-
- ment classroom study with first-hand observation
of government in operation. Training youth for public service will develop
better community. leadership and a higher standard . of intelligent. government administration.
Let us hope this enthusiasm of young people for politics continues.
MRS. JEAN M’CORMICK
T= death yesterday of Mrs. Jean McCormick, music teacher at Shortridge High School since 1921, is a tragic reminder that many “minor”%automobile accidents result in serious and even fatal in-: juries. More than a month ago Mrs. McCormick received a nose injury when her face struck the steering wheel as her car collided with another. The wound, apparently - trivial, was treated. A few days: later she was stricken with partial paralysis and her condition grew worse until she died. A native Hoosier, Mrs. McCormick was widely Known in music circles. She taught voice and harmony at Shortridge. She directed . music. at the West Washington Street Methodist Church. two years and for seven years was a soloist at the Tabernacle Presbyterian Church. Her, death brings the Marion County automobile
- fatality total to 70 for the year—a high price to pay
for our failure scientifically to control the traffic
| ‘menace. T= Indianapolis Rotary Club deserves high praise
- CONSIDER THE WAISTLINE
OTATOES are scarce and the price is high, while the Departmént of Agriculture studies the weather map, and hopes favorable weather may increase the output soon. Meanwhile, the American housewife and her husband see the plebian spuds edging toward the luxury class, and may emulate & Republican keynoter in viewing with alarm. But there is the cheerful side to this tuber emer-
"gency. So many have been absorbing too much starch
in a land where potatoes were plentiful, and abstinence from the French fried and hashed brown
* might make for more graceful lines and some slight
slump in the girdle industry.
A WOMAN'’S VIEWPOINT By Mrs. Walter Fergus MEE is dead. Every ‘woman should shed a
tear at the news. When the list of our bene=factors is written down in history his name will
probably top them all, for the little Parisian hair-
dresser did more to glorify our sex than even the great Ziegfeld himself. : He was a magician who made each little girl's
“dream come true and transformed every Cinderella
into'a fairy princess for the moment. He started the
Lo of well-groomed women on its Way.
‘We may sing of knights who put their lady fair
. upon‘ a pedestal to worship, of poets who wrote
ballads to feminine charms, or of gentlemen who revered us. for our goodness. Sages may inscribe for us ofes of just men who gave us the ballot, set us
‘up in political councils and shared with us their
‘industrial profits, and of generous ones who bought us diamond bracelets and left us life insurance. But who can pay adediiate tribute to Marcel, who
{line canterest upon. women the super-favor:—the ln- |
Town ee news that Monigomery Lewis, Clemens Mueller and John Rauch are celebrating their | twenty-fifth reunion in Cambridge
| this week is more than a society
what John R. Tunis has to say about the 1911 Harvard class in the June number of Scribner's MagaIt’s worth looking up, if for no pother reason than to learn what a |fine set of men representing Harv-
a college education in particular. In that number, Mr. Tunis gives an accounting based on the con-
and apparently ready to tell all—no matter how much it hurt.
tempt to discover whether Harvard
jout, that they are not—at least, not for the most part. What happiness Mr. Tunis found turned up in
apolis) and even here only three groups appear to have reached contentment—the teachers, the physicians dnd the farmers, for, believe it or not, Harvard has seven farmers. » ” # F these, says Mr. Tunis, the farmers and teachers are the most. successful spiritually, but what he means by being “spiritually successful” he. leaves us to guess. Mr. Tunis leaves no room for guessing, however, when he reaches the ‘material side of his subject. Bankers in the class, for instance, in earnings averaged $4432 a year; newspaper men, $4000; - insurance men, $1200; and the seven farmers, the most spiritually successful of the lot, ‘$1000. each a year. Only one group showed an average better: than $5000. Sure, the doctors. : . All of which carries with it the collateral ‘confession that 45 per cent of the class admitted privately that their occupation was not what they hoped for on graduation. Twenty-five per cent. wished they had chosen a different career. Of course, this. doesn’t mean that: Harvard class ‘11 hasn't ‘its high spots and salaries. There's the story, for instance, of the poor boy who worked his way through school practically unknown to all but a half-dozen of his classmates. Well, he I& now head of a big cigar concern. And the boy who was a night telephone operator, who attended
is one of the country’s most distinguished teachers. . 2 8 = N the other hand, the men who married rich girls and depended on a college education to invest the money, are mdbtly broke now. This is matched by the other men who persuaded ‘their fathers-in-law
broke, too. All ‘of which leads Mr. Tunis to an italicized observation, ‘namely: That no matter what Harvard men learned in college they now all agree and know that “there is ‘no such thing as security.” : = Mr. Tunis has a lot more to say and it includes everything from politics to hobbies, even emaracing religion and sports. It appears that the Class of ‘11 confessed everything, even their golf scores. Twenty-five per cent ‘of the class still play tennis, for instance, although some: of them are grandfathers. Of course, it's possible. er ———————————————
Inclose a 3-cent stamp fog reply. a addressing gny question of fact or in--formation ‘to The Indianapolis Times Washington Service Bureau, 1013 13th-
. medical advice can mot be given, nor can extended Fescareh! be undertaken.
Q—Are Noah and and Wallace Beery brothers?
A—Yes. ; Q- De ol she bird called pte ell-
WF
ard think of life in general and of | fessions of 500 men who, after 25}
years out of college, were willing:
Most significant i€ Mr. Tunis’ at-
men are really happy. Well, it turns |
the small towns (including Indian- |
his classes and slept when he could, | 4
to hand over the money. They’ re:
Ask The Times #,
st, N. W., Washington, D. C. Legal and |
i
“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 wour letters short. so all can have a chance. Limit them to 250 words or less. Your leiter must be signed. but names will be withheld on request.)
: INDEPENDENT VOTER SEES
NO HOPE IN G. O. P.. By James C. Barnett
The split-ticket voter who lookea to the Republican convention for something new and challenging is certainly disappointed. The Old
‘Guard and reaction has ‘emerged
under a set of new ‘and younger
‘bosses. Hilles, Roraback and Brown
thought they were mightier than the Hearst publicity machine, ‘They couldn't see that the Hearst-Lan-don-Knox machine had relegated them. to mouse-like positions. The Hearst-Landon-Knox gang, however, obligingly and appropriately
Your Health BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN YOR LIVER OIL has been found 80 “important for growth and development; that it is commonly given to chickens, cattle, dogs, and other animals, as well as to man. As I have already pointed out, it is especially’ important . for - the prospective mother, since she ‘must supply vitamin D, calcium, and phosphorus not only for ‘herself, ‘but for the growing baby. io In addition to taking cod Siver oil, however, there are. other ‘ways in ‘which the baby may’ gét the vitamin D that it’ requires. - Most specialists ‘in . diseases of ‘ childten still feel,” nevertheless, ‘that babies are better off with cod Tver oil ‘than they-are if dependent on some other
‘method. of getting vitamin Db: into their bodies.
Babies, in general, do not object;
to the taste of cod liver oil, which it usually is best to give just - before feeding. In rare‘ instances, babies ‘object seriously to the oil and sometimes have indigestion. Moreover, premature babies need much more vitamin D than do normal babies, and in such cases it may ‘be desirable to use some of the other. preparations. »
” 2 2 : MONG preparations which ‘may
enough had the band rub it in with the n er “Three Blind Mice.”
That' it is to be a campaign of personalities rather than issues is Lan indictment of the party. The platform says nothing with bril-|
liant and confusing ambiguity.” In an, editorial Friday, leaned over backward fo boost Lan-
‘don ‘as a personality and as an in- | dividual with courage. courage to send the telegram from
It took no Tokepa hoping to regulate maxi-
mum hours and minimum wages for women and children within ‘the
Constitution’ within g few days
after. the Supreme Court said it
couldn’t ‘be done.
As the ticket and the piatform |
now stands we .have in the Great
Budget Balancer a miniature of the
Great Engineer. He would return relief to the states. states are broke, relief would become miserly and piece meal. By eliminating relief i this manner the
Great Budget Balancer would then.
release a flood of unavailable ‘labor,
thus increasing job competition and
driving down wages. ‘He would also repeal the recip 1 tariff law and then collect the war debt, He would {8
give foreign nations: American ‘goods with one hand and with the other
take away money that could be used to pay for the goods. The horizon
of Kansas isn't ‘very broad. The
split ticket voter that sees liberalism in that ‘candidate and platform must look at it with rose colored glasses.
The American electorate is still
enjoying. the salutary effect’ of the sincerity of President Roosevelt and
it still remembers the astonishing
pleasure of being led out of the dark decade .of prohibition hyproerisy.
The Great Budget Balancer will ind
himself . losing votes by attacking the President as a personality,
gr = QUESTIONS. “ABUNDANT LIFE” FOR ETHIOPIANS
By BR. G. G.
It will be recalled that Il Duce’s Fascist legions descended on primitive Ethiopia to free its people from bondage, that civilization and the “more abundant life,” so to speak, might be had.
Now, however, the rest of the
story is out. It comes through the}
influential Italian newspaper II Messagero. The paper demands that sharp restrictions be set up in Ethiopia so that the natives of the
conquered territory will be under | the complete mastery of the Ital-
e|ians.
It is urged, for stance, that many white families be placed at strategic ‘positions to maintain a careful supervision over the natives. |
In a word; it appears, that the Ethi-
opians have ‘been swept from. the
The Times
Since all the
frying pan into the fire. They've ia one form of slavery for another, at best. . The world can hardly label that “civilzed freedom.”
” # o ASSAILS PROMISES: MADE BY REPUBLICANS : By Willlam Lemon The Republican convention as usual was controlled by the “Big Boys,” Wall Street and the Western oil interests, and we still retain that oil odor from previous Republican administrations, ! One of their resolutions put in a bid for Father Coughlin’s support in regard to the coining of money,
many New Year's. resolutions
broken. The Democratic platform seemed to ‘be the order of the day by their resolutions committee.. We can not survive on a balanced budget, - personal liberty, or the Cionstifytion, for -theyawill not di-
EO oy advocate local relief when they know that the depression is national in scope, and that the local units of government are ‘unable to ‘take care of it. The small merchants and all other
and .the WPA and men. were able to clothe and feed their families. ‘Do they think that these men “would bite the hand that’s feeding them”? The farmer has not forgotten the low prices under the Hoover Administration, yet they to him on bended knees, asking him to forget and forgive. We had heard their): appeal. to labor for over a quarter of a century. They promise us protection and a minimum wage law, yet their Republican controlled Sipreme
York state unconstitutional. To counteract the beautiful theme song of our worthy. ts, I would suggest that the Democrats adopt another ancient ballad, “Don't Bite the Hand That's Feeding You,” for “Happy Days Are Here Again” has become” threadbare and ragged sid We should threw J ui the rag closet for the “Three Blind Mice” to play in. a # 8 EL : BACKS ROOSEVELT TO “GET. US AROUND CORNER’ By Alice H. Bosley = : : The Republicans have two Hines that read thus: “Landon and Knox will keep us off the rocks.” i My answer fo. that is that, “Roosevelt and Gamer will get us plumb ‘around ‘that corner’.”
SIDE GLANCES
By George Clark
but the good padre can. not be fooled by promises, he: has seen. too,
businesses were saved by the PWA
Court declared “that. law. in ‘New -
Life Insurance Co.
go out and locate four places to drill, and we'll drill the wells; and if they all come in, you can have an interest in the business. ” se . O the fellow went out and said “drill here” My friend consulted a geologist, and it seemed that was the right formation for oil, all right. So he said “O. K,, that's No. 1 in your favor. But that's too easy. You pick out another one.” So the fellow went out where they were already drilling a well, and there were producing wells all around it, and my friend thought. he had a sure thing in this well and couldn't possibly miss. But this fellow smelled around awhile, and then he sald “You're throwing your money away. You won't get any oil here?’ Buf my friend just laughed, for he knew the guy was wrong. But he stopped laughing ‘when they hit the sand and there wasn’t an eye-dropper full of oil in the whole well. My friend was ° to sit up and take notice. He said “all right, pick me another one” So
the fellow picked one right between
two dry holes, and said “Drill here. When it comes in it'll spout clear over the moon.” 2» = Aa S° they get up their - rig: and started grinding away, and they drilled and they drilled, and ‘they socked about $100,000 in this well, and when they got through there wasn’t enough top oil to stop the squeak in a ladies’ wrist watch. “But some of these days,” says my Friends ay so a really will disway. to scientificall 10%, 30 Jocate on yo ed wi Seologists about this business of te oil ‘of them said: Sing Wists #, Ons “A geologist can tell: Where there is an underground formation that is favorable for oil. But there's no iho “Juan “dorm ens us ng down oh bs Se e oil flelds have alwa bee full, and are still fd, of se buggers.” : ‘They're the guys who say they know-how to: find oil. Their methage like wey {ttm ec 1 currents and Dw \flact .
‘Today’ s "Science _.- BY SCIENCE SERVICE AMERICANS, like to point ‘with pride to achievements resulting from their readiness to make prompt practical appeation of scientific research. The smallpox siutatién in
| the <United States. provides a dis-
tinct blow to any. Sich Yee ling of pride,
Science provided a way to revent this disease ‘by vaccination hin
vg early. as the Eighteénth cen-
| deed into America as early as 1800 8000 cases of smallpox in the United
| Btates.
Instead of decreasing, this - ventable: disease. has been increas
ing ing again in the United States, fig-
ures collected. by the Metropolitan how. Halt agatn