Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 21 January 1937 — Page 14

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ES RIley 5551

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1937

Member of United Press, Scripps - Howard News.paper Alliance, NEA Service, and Audit Bureau of. Circulations.

THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS : E are beginning to wipe out the line that divides the practical from the ideal.” That sentence from the inaugural address speaks a volume as to the long-haul purpose and the administrative technique of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He is a rare combination of humanitarian and executive.

Strong and fine humanitarian impulses do not always “spell success in public life. They must be mixed with the matter-of-fact. One who becomes President, to get results, must realize that selfishness is a primary force in life, and _ that as individual selfishness becomes enlightened the whole people gain. > : That dividing line to which the President refers—how has it been gradually erased? : : Running through his whole Administration has been this economic theme: : . That you can't sell unless there are buyers; that in a country of vastly increasing productive capacity it is futile to add to production except as you add consuming - power simultaneously, in order that a balance may be achieved and maintained. Hence the constant emphasis on the forgotten man, the underprivileged; the pressure for better wages for the masses that they may have more to spend, and on shorter hours that they may have more leisure in which to spend, and that technological unemployed may be absorbed into industry. Ours is an economy of much more than bare necessities. Increasingly, it is an economy ‘that grows as the luxury business grows, and as employment of the service type expands. So how can it be expected that growth can proceed if in the buying end the great rank and file have only enough for meager food, clothing and shelter? “1All those are the strictly material phases of the philosophy, the other side of which is the idealism of the man who says, “For economic and political progress as a nation we all go up—or else we all go down—as ‘one people.” : # nw #8 8 O finer expression of the consistency or the unity of his purpose than in these words of yesterday, when for the second time he took the oath of the world’s highest office: “I see a great nation, upon a great continent, blessed with a great wealth of natural resources. Its hundred and thirty million people are at peace among themselves; they are making their country a good neighbor among the nations. 1 see a United States which can demonstrate that, under democratic methods of government, national wealth can be translated into a spreading volume of human comforts hitherto unknown—and the lowest standard of living can be raised far above the level of mere subsistence. : “But here is the challenge to our democracy: In this nation I see tens of millions of its citizens—a substantial part of its whole population—who at this very moment are denied the greater part of what the very lowest standards of today call the necessities of life. : “] see millions of families trying to live on incomes so meager that the pall of family disaster hangs over them day by day. ;

“I see millions denied education, recreation and the op-

portunity to better their lot and the lot of their children. “It is not in despair that I paint that picture for you. I paint it for you in hope—because the nation, seeing and understanding the injustice in it, proposes to paint it out. We are determined to make every American citizen the subject of his country’s interest and concern. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” May the line between the practical and the ideal be invisible four years hence.

ELECTRIC RATE REDUCTION

HE temporary rate reduction order promised by the Public Service Commission will bring welcome relief to Indianapolis power users. The Commission acted after conferences between City, State and the Indianapolis Power & Light Co. failed to result in an agreed reduction. It may be months before the formal hearing now under way establishes the fair valuation of the utility’s property. The purpose of a temporary order is to give consumers a * saving while the Commission is deciding how big the saving should be. The utility in September volunteered a reduc‘tion of about $500,000 annually. The temporary order is expected to equal this figure. : The action must not tie the Commission's hand in finally fixing a rate based upon the utility’s fair valuation and a fair return on the investment. Meanwhile, pending the outcome of this long and complicated procedure, consumers are entitled to an immediate rate cut.

“GOOD NEIGHBOR” STATES THE trend toward regional attack on problems that have baffled states when acting singly will be given new impetus by the Third General Assembly of the Council of State Governments, which convened in Washington today at the call of Paul V. McNutt, Council president. Delegates will discuss possible interstate compacts for control of oil and tobacco productions. They will seek cooperative means of lessening the disastrous effects of drought and floods. Among other problems, the Council is campaigning actively against conflicting taxation. Former Governor McNutt, urging states to unite as “good neighbors” to help solve problems pf mutual concern, asserted: “Social security, taxation, crime—three of the most momentous questions in the course of government—face us squarely today. They, among other pressing problems, can only be solved through co-operation among the states and with the Federal Government. At the recent Buenos Aires

conference the 21 American republics pledged themselves as

‘good neighbors’ to preserve peace in the Western Hemi- ~~ sphere. Our many governments within the Union likewise must pledge themselves as ‘good neighbors’ to unified, har4roonious action for the common good.”

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ciel _ THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES © Kindred Feeling! —By Herblock |

There Goes Another One !—By Talburt

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

Male Voices Calling for Their Pants Which Inauguration Rain Soaked Mark End of Ceremony.

ASHINGTON, Jan. 21.—The heavy sound of maie voices through the transoms and the shrill, rising cackle of ladies who have dipped their bills into their third cocktail of the evening indicate that there

will be at least some survivors of the great American coronation show. : ‘The valets are hustling through the corridors with soggy clothes for the presser, and gentlemen are peer-

ing out of bedroom doors wearing shorts or bathrobes which expose their hairy, blue-veined shanks crying plaintively for their pants. Other -sounds in the night include the clink of the ice in the pitcher as the boy goes down the hall, and early, premonitory bleats of “Sweet Adeline.” It was an ordeal, and some must die of it if there is any truth in what the doctors say about wet feet, exposure and chills, but we got our President, perhaps our last President or the last but one, officially sworn in mevertheless. Possibly those who were elsewhere have some notion of what Mr. Roosevelt said as again he stood in his pulpit on the Fourth of July platform facng the back yard of the national Capitol and sounded off on one thing and another. Those who were present for the turning of a page or the spinning of a reel of history will have no idea, however, until they read the text in the papers. For Mr. Roosevelt's clear sounds this time seemed to encounter rainwater in the funnels of the electrical system and they came to the great throng of patriots in the park almost unintelligible.

= ”n & z OF the whole, the management did not do very well either by the simple patriots or the troops who marched in the procession, for there were long delays which could have been prevented by good work in the dispatcher’s office and so on down the line. The English, for a fact, do these things better. _ Probably Ringling’s could lend a man next time with experience in running a street procession. A Democrat for choice. The mass in the park were almost totally deprived of the show. for which they had walked up the long, long hill, because the umbrellas shut off the view.

Mr. Pegler

” ” EJ OMEONE seemed to have an idea that it would be

a treat to people exposed to these conditions to observe some 30-odd Governors, Lieutenant Governors

and Attorneys General riding slowly by in commonplace: automobiles. If that idea was correct, then a good time must have been had, for the Governors Spugged by haltingly in low gear, waving and blowing isses. Incidentally, Governor Earle of Pennsylvania, who appears to be the Prince of Wales of the present dynasty, was the only one other than the President to ride in an open car, and he made a handsome progress down the line, hoisting his hat and baring his teeth in a very fair imitation of Number One. Moreover, Mr. Earle had stooges planted along Pennsylvania Ave. who shouted, “Our next President,” with great spontaneity. This did not appear to take the Governor bv surprise, and he may think®well of the idea, himself. There was only one other attraction in the parade of Governors, a lady. in a gray car in the Illinois section, who rode with her window down and responded smilingly to cries of, “Hi’ya Toots!” The others rode

Yih the windows shut which may have been a good 1ing.

The Problem of Retaining VV ASHINGTON. Jan. 21.—The idea of larger sal-

ecutives is in the right direction, but it is not enough and it won't altogether do the job.

Today, page after newspaper page loaded with lists of industrial salaries in excess of $15,000, in companies so small and insignificant that their names don’t register, demonstrate more clearly than any argument

is just chicken-feed.

The boys on those fat business sala 1 : I sts nearl all have something even more thd than their poy, hey ats oi {heir Way up to better positions and ating somethin i [hey fie ac g to live on when they Not only that, but they are gettin t » g to be, or alread are, big frogs in each of their little puddies. Ea

such as they are, are being acquire i non | g acq d, and ambition is

4 #” ”

== ns of this in Government service t <& except perhaps in. the Army ga with this new “career” idea the oe i en decent salaries are proposed, simply have to be political and go out with changes in the Administration. Honors are momentary. Except as a steppingstone to some extra-Government employment, the prospect of a “competency” through service is nil In most cases, accepignce of the best appoint; 4

.® | The Hoosier Forum I wholly disagree with what you say, | dut will defend to the death your right to say it— Joltaire.

FORMER TAXI DRIVER % RESENTS STRIKE By N. K. Purkheiser When I read an article by “A Subscriber” in the Hoosier Forum, giving his views on the strike situation, I could not keep still. Evidently he and his family are not affected by this strike. For the last five years, most of my time has been spent driving a taxi. I earned an average of $20 a week, worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week to earn that much. Last August I obtained a job in a factory which paid 40 cents an hour for 50 hours a week. Although it was very hard work, I was glad to get it.

On Nov. 23 I was fortunate to

get employment at the local Chevrolet plant—not as hard work as the other, but paid on an average of $40 per week for five days’ work. The point I want to make is this: What reason could I possibly find for going on a strike? : I think that the sentiments of 90 per cent of the G. M. C. employees are: “We want our jobs back.” I know this to be the prevailing thought in the local plant which closed recently because of lack of an outlet for its product. So I return to the long hours and low pay of a taxi driver,

& ” 2 n

TAKES PEGLER-TO TASK ABOUT NAZIS By J. C. Sharpe My purpose in writing is to comment on Westbrook Pegler’s message on Jan. 12 on Hitler. It seems to me that if the Nation’s newspapers should again begin to carry propaganda of war, they could hardly do better than Pegler’s style. I believe, contrary to Mr. Pegler’s views, that if Germany's political setup suits the Germans, it thereby meets all reasonable requirements. It is not so much the truth or falsity of Pegler’'s statement as it is the unfriendly spirit in which it is written. It is such an attitude which stirs up the fire of hatred between nations and hatred engenders war. While a war is in progress in Spain, who. can say that we will not be dragged in? It still seems almost incredible that we fought in the other one. I am a salesman and naturally, I have a salesman’s philosophy. My own insignificant opinion is that wars are sold to people just as any other merchandise. And since the press is the most powerful selling force in America, the greatest responsibility for peace or war rests upon the country’s newspapers. ” 2 ” SUPREME COURT CHECK BELIEVED GOOD By Charles M. Knight, Morgantown L. L. Patton, Crawfordsville, reminds me that the "“argument advanced by Thomas Marshall” Gf. I remember my history right, it was

‘General Hugh Johnson Says —

Larger Salaries and a Career Status Will Not Solve Altogether

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, religious controversies excluded. Make your letter short, so afl can have a chance. Letters must be signed, but names will be withheld on request.)

John Marshall) for giving the Supreme Court the right to rule laws unconstitutional was that veto “by referendum of the people” was too slow. Since he seems to agree with that argument, he should not be opposed to the Supreme Court having the checking power that it does, since action by it is faster than amendment by the people. There are no grounds for belief that nine eminant men from the Attorney General's office, depending on a political favor for their jobs, would be more trustworthy than the nine Supreme Court justices appointed for life and chosen from the best and most experienced legal talent in the nation. Is there any reason to believe that any other body of men would more nearly reflect the will of the people than the Supreme Court? In my opinion, they have done a good job of checking in the last 150 years. ow wn TAKES SLAP AT FAST DRIVERS By James R. Meitzler, Attica Certain organized groups will ask the Indiana Legislature, in the name of safety, to pass a law requiring periodic examinations of cars and drivers. This will furnish soft. jobs for political garages and doctors at the expense of car oewners. But will it add to safety on the road? : The driver and not the car, is the party responsible for all accidents. Any one who stops to think knows that a color-blind cripple can drive any old rattletrap car without lights in perfect safety to himself and others if he uses discretion. He will not drive in heavy traffic, at stoplight intersections or at night, but all other roads should be open to him. If he is not a careful driver, no matter how perfect his car or his body is, he is a menace to traffic. ‘No examination will show this. Examination would very likely

HUMORESQUE

By KEN HUGHES Let wind groove Music of the night; Let man feel A deepening of a God. Wind-chant for a falling star— Man-hope for a questioning heart.

DAILY THOUGHT

Sanctify them through Thy fruth; Thy word is truth.—John 17.

Truth lies in character. Christ did not simply speak the truth; He was truth; truth, through and through; for truth is a thing not of words, but of life and being.— Robertson.

.| big | porizidl Roosevelt.

har some careful drivers who never | lave and never would have an acci(‘ent while the reckless speed lidaniacs would rate 100 per cent iferfect. . . » | |Our courts are too lenient with f 1ose who cause accidénts by reck- | 5s driving, but lenient or not, the tjurts are the ones to pass on a J ian’s right, to drive—not some poI; tically appointed board. Instead of I inalizing all who use the roads, let t tose who drive show their fitness kb their record on the roads. il #8 = S$ UPREME COURT CURB Ii | OPPOSED B! | Ralph Ross, Muncie | it seems that Senator Norris has Den talked into lending his veneralle name to a group planning to al ack the Supreme Court of the Ul ited States. {This group proposes in a loud vo (te to limit the power of the High Cr iirt. As it stands now, the Court’s only pc yer is to pass on all affairs hri ight before it in the form of a ca; #, to determine whether or not detisions have been made in the lov ¢r courts in acfordance with the Ca istitution of the United States. “he reformers, using the Senator § name, propose to cut this power. How will they do this? It looks to ine like trying to change the qu: lity of a piece of iron by cutting it i half, Tlie only way the Court may be lim ted is to abolish it. fie Court was established to inter set the Constitution in an impar jal manner. To help justices giv these impartial decisions, they wei ¢ made as free from political inter ‘rence as is possible in a governitient such as ours, by being giviiti a life tenure of office. Tile small party of politicians in Wa fiington is trying to make the nin: old men walk the plank and thu! undermine the only solid depar thent of American Government ieft in Washington. These political tiirates want the Supreme Court to i perate like a Punch and Judy sho | 2. 8 8 RE!'UBLICANS’ SONS LEFT PA}ITY, WRITER SAYS By 1, |L. Patton, Crawfordsville Cie of the most interesting things I ooierved about Indiana politics last {all was that the older Republica 18 stuck to their party almost in ‘vhole, while the sons who had beeli away to the city to work for Yusiness enthusiastically sup-

Aly traveling-man who meets a gred! number of farmers and small busi iiss men can recite you a thousan¢ dramatic scenes to picture this revo!i of the sons. Moreover, he will tell you that the rebelling son, mor: often than not, took the vote of h i brothers and sisters with him. It seems to me that to describe this | situation some one should writi* ‘a parody entitled, “How You Goir | to Keep 'Em Republican Aft-

er They've Seen Big Business?”

It Seems to Me

By Heywood Broun

Judge Who Is Relic of Coolidge Era Sends Time Scurrying Back in Its Tracks in Wagner Act Ruling.

EW YORK, Jan. 21.—The Ninth United States Circuit Court of Appeals handed down an interesting decision last week in regard to the Wagner Act. This particular Court held the act unconstitutional in so far

as it attempts to enforce collective bargaining. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals had previously ruled precisely thé opposite. Supreme Court will get around to clearing up the 3 muddle some time before the winter is over. But this twilight. zone of legality is puzzling to a layman, In one part of the country a Federal law is held to be no dice, In another community learned jurists disagree wholly with this legal interpretation of their buddies. But, as a matter of fact, even if you win in a lower court the victory gets you very little, as the loser is almost certain to appeal, and that jams everything up again. I sometimes wonder why members of the House and Senate de- ; bate so furiously concerning legislation. The things they do and the ways they vote are often little heeded or long remembered. The Presiding Justice of the Court in San Francisco is Curtis D. Wilbur, Secretary of the Navy under President Coolidge. His chief has been dead for several years, and the party which he served is out of power by a vast majority of votes. And yet good old Mr, Wilbur can sit in a hall of justice and pass upon the current parade in the spirit of an era which has gone. : A power resides in the courts which has generally been reserved to the Creator alone or to mortals specifically designated by Him. Justice Wilbur is. more powerful than Joshua of old. Joshua made the sun and the moon stand still in the heavens. Justice Wilbur has performed a better trick than that. Instead of freezing time, he has sent it scurrying back upon its own tracks. ; » » ”

I interesting to me to observe that the paper which carried the news of the reverse to the Wagner Act had a still larger headline on the same page. In one column I read, “Labor Bargaining by Law Held Void in Court Decision.” But a full three columns was necessary for the top line of the other head, which read, “24 Hurt in Flint Strike Riot.” It was a little as if old Mr. Wilbur, thé relic of the Coolidge era, had raised his hands above his head and commanded, “Let there be darkness. Let there be confusion.” It is no exaggeration to say that when labor is denied the right to bargaia collectively in peaceful fashion those bargains are certain to be battled for

along the picket line. : ” ® ”

USTICE WILBUR, and Justice Mathews, who concurred with him, based their decision on the “due process” clause of the Constitution. Both learned

Mr. Broun

Probably the :

gentlemen argued that they were protecting, the rights

of workers as well as employers in voiding ner Act.

Fortunately, there was a third member of the Court. and though his vote did not prevail, it seems tg me that in the long run his views must win if we are to have a rational world. Justice Garrecht based his opinion not only on a study of the law, but on a keen regard for prevalent conditions in the Nation. It cannot be that law was ever meant to be interpreted in a vacuum. It must be flexible enough to weave a garment for the necessities of the naked and oppressed,

the Wag-

The Washington Merry-Go-Round *

Eiglish Aristocracy Trying to Build Up George VI as Glamorous Ruler o}

aries and a career status for Governmental ex-.

that the pay of the most important Federal positions

Able Executives for Government Service.

President's power is just marking time for the proposed period of service. That isn’t all. When you take a good industrial position you retain your right of privacy and at least the protection of the laws of libel. From the instant you get your parchment commission from the Great White Father, you have stepped into the role of African dodger at the county fair—a target for whatever anybody wants to hurl at you—without even paying a nickel fof three shots. : :

How is the Government going to compete with other vocations for the service -of such top-holers as Jim Landis, Edward McGrady, Harry Hopkins, John Dickinson, Jerome Frank? .

# 8 8

HE answer is, it isn’t. In England the career service is backed. up with a system of “honors” for outstanding performance—titles and grants of living for life. In France they do it with little red ribbons and ‘“perquisites”—sometimes not very regular. In the highly disciplined Germanic countries, any official position, ever so slight, automatically puts its recipient in a respected caste. : Not one of those devices would work here.. The absence of some solution to this problem is a far

| worse handicap to good government than most people

dimly suspect. a What. is the answer? I don’t know, but I do know hat you won't fin wniow_ repor

. years the faith of the British people in the Crown

British Empire; Their Distrust of Edward Contributed to Abdication.

By Di¢w Pearson

ONDON, Jan. 21.— {ie big story in London right now is the drive {J build up George VI from a mediocre and none-too:brilliant young man to the

glamorous ruler of the British Empire. Behind this is the (act that for the first time in

has been shaken profoiitidly. To the little group ii aristocrats, the ruling class in Britain, this appro¢ ches tragedy. Suddenly they looked over the precipi¢é to see the possibility of their system, their fol-de-r¢l and court trappings, their right to New Year’s hor ¢rs and assured incomes, slipping beneath them. i Result is that in England today the name of Edward VIII is almost ta ‘no. n i 2 2 : OWEVER, building lip George VI to be a grand and glorious King of England is a harder job than the British aristoiiacy reckoned with. ; As Duke of York, (ieorge was never popular. People made no secret about it. They considered him

a dumb-bell.

worse than that, he was hen-pecked. He mar-

ried a woman who is all aristocrat of the aristocrats, |

whose father at first ciijected to the cause he considered it {| come-do The father, the

United Bi

father’s conservatism, completely dominates the new King of England. - ” ” o P= outside of England still are speculating about the real behind-the-scenes reason for Edward’s abdication. For once, however, there is none. His abdication was caused chiefly by two obvious forces. 1. The church and the strong sense of moral cone ventionality which prevails in England. 2. The constitutional issue—the fact that the Brit. ish public clings tenaciously to the principle that the King must obey his Cabinet and Parliament. There was one inside-factor, however, which while not sufficient to oust thé King, was important. This was the distrust of the English aristocracy for Ege ward. They knew they could not control him. EJ

= » « 3 WEN Edward visited the coal fields in Durham

he found what he considered deplorable condition of unemployment and poverty. The mines were owned by an important member of the British aristooracy. After .inspecting them he visited a relief depat operated by an old Quaker, and asked: 3 “Did Lord — contribute to your relief ~ “Yes, your Majesty,” the Quaker relied, ‘

"he con-