Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 15 March 1937 — Page 10

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The Indianapolis Times

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65 |

MONDAY, MARCH 15, 1937

THE WRONG WAY EJECTION of the Child Labor Amendment by New York's Assembly gives this long-deferred reform only the barest fighting chance of victory this year or next. It is possible that out of the 15 nonratifying legislatures still meeting the needed eight might act favorably before adjournment. But only heroic efforts can overcome the opposition and the defeatism that has been generated. The persistent lobbying against this humane amendment through the past dozen years shows how wrong is the legislative method of ratifying constitutional changes, and points to the wisdom of henceforth following the convention method exclusively. The Gallup poll recently revealed that 76 per cent of the American people favored the Child Labor Amendment. In New York, 80 per cent favored it. Every President since Harding has urged ratification. Both Landon and Roosevelt have urged it. It is too easy for minority interests to fool or intimidate a bare majority in one or both houses of 13 state legislatures. It would not be so easy if Congress submitted its proposed amendments to state conventions.

DEATH IN THE MINES THE explosion in the Macbeth coal mine at Logan, W.

Va.. which killed 16 men, is a reminder that in the

United States the price of coal in human lives is far higher

than it should be. While due credit must be given coal mine owners for

reducing fatalities in the past 20 years, there seems to be no reason for the fact that American coal mines are more dangerous than those in other civilized countries. For the last four years coal mine accidents have killed on the average about 100 men a month. This is about one-half of the former toll of 200 a month a score of years ago. However, when we compare the rate of accidental deaths per 1000 men working in our mines with those of Great Britain, Belgium and Germany, the picture is not pleasant. In 1934, for instance, American coal mines killed 3.54 men per 1000 miners at work; Great Britain’s 1.60; Belgium’s 1.48; Germany's 1.66. The improvement, due to the Bureau of Mines’ safety drives and other factors, is likely to be accelerated if the pending Guftey-Vinson Coal Bill becomes a law, since the proposed coal commission is authorized to work for “the sate operation of mines” and the minimization of working hazards, in co-operation with the Bureau of Mines. The steady conquest of death in the mines proves that

science and human endeavor can make even this industry | oympic Games and all the syn-

relatively safe. WHY THE SEVEN? NOBODY seems to know just why the new Guffey-Vinson bill, as passed by the House, would increase the size

seven members. Only two Federal commissions have seven or more members—the Interstate Commerce and the Communications Commissions—and they're topheavy. The Reconstruction Finance Corp., the world’s biggest “bank,” has only five active directors. Big boards are costly not only in salaries and expenses, but they slow down effective administration. We can find no excuse for a seven-man coal board except that it would create extra jobs for the spoilsmen—which is more of an argument against it than for it, and about on a par with the bill's lack of thorough civil service requirements as it now stands.

WHO PAYS AND HOW HIS is about the only time of the year that any considerable number of Americans get steamed up over Federal taxes. Yet for the average person who makes out and files his income tax return, the pain of the process is much greater than the payment. Last vear 4,473,426 persons filed Federal income tax returns. Of the 3,992,627 who reported incomes of less than $5000, 2,399,833 had exemptions and deductions so high they paid no tax whatever. Uncle Sam gathers taxes 365 days out of the year. March 15 just happens to be the only day in the year when the average income-taxpayer comes into contact with one of Uncle's collectors.

3ut the man who plunks down his income tax on

March 15 dribbles out a whole lot mon ery vear in invis- | TC Very year 4 mui | concentration camps, had been more or less forgotten

ible taxes.

Some time ago we took the trouble to itemize the invis- |

ible Federal taxes paid by an imaginary middle-class family of three—the family of John and Mary Jones and their little

a Federal income tax of $13.60. We traced to the Jones’ family budget the various hidden Federal sales and nuisance taxes—on their automobile, tires and accessories, gasoline “and motor oil, cigarets, matches, amusements, toilet articles, mechanical refrigerator, radio, playing cards, ete. ' family paid a total of $49.13. The unfair thing about this total of invisible taxes is that the Smiths, who live on $2000 a year, and the Astorbilts, who have an income of $200,000, pay about the same amount. The Government gets more than half of its revenue from these indirect taxes which have no relation whatever to individual ability to pay. Our Federal income tax reaches only about 5 per cent of our population, but the other 95 per cent pay much more in taxes than they would have to pay if the unseen levies were repealed and the total of the Government's revenue ‘raised by such direct and invisible taxes as those on in. comes and inheritances. This is true for the simple reason that taxes on incomes and estates are graduated and proportioned to ability to pay. And also because, if income and death duties were broadened and strengthened, by reducing exemptions and adjusting rates, a lot more people would be paying these direct and painful taxes and would therefore be a lot more interested in how the Government spends their money. This should be done. And the sooner the better,

many to see what they could see

| future activities of the Nazi organizations

. " | Hitlerism through littie Joe's threat. son, Oscar, who live on an income of $3600 a year and pay | :

The |

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES The Supreme Court Battle Wages On—By Herblock

MONDAY, MARCH 15, 1937) Tsk! Tsk! Fancy Your Embarrassment!—By Taiburt

Nr al TE. SR AAS

——

Fair Enough

By Westbrook Pegler Goebbels’ Insults to American People in La Guardia Incident Are Likely to Be Year's Dumbest Trick.

NEW YORK, March 15.—It seems unnec- |

essary to wait any longer to award the

palm for the dumbest trick of the year, be- |

cause nobody is likely to match the stupidity

of little Joe Goebbels, the Nazi minister of |

propaganda, in the La Guardia rumpus. Very likely he is catching the devil from Hitler now,

and thus, under his general power of attorney in

such matters, for Hitler himself, lost his head and insulteq the whole American people and everything American. Of course this country will consider the source and laugh it off, but the outbreak has entirely undone all the expenditure of diplomatic salve and butter lavished on our badge-wearing, sedentary officials in connection with the

thetic good will shown the American tourists who went to GerMr. Pegler and came away beguiled. “A people who put their feet on the table, keep

| their hats on indoors and spit chewing gum against

the walls” is what little Joe had to say of the Amer-

na pk . ; vg ile | ican nation, and he passed for publication a mysof the National Bituminous Coal Commission from five to |

terious threat of the Nazi Government to take an unpleasant interest in American affairs. This unpleasant interest probably refers to the in this country which are imitating the processes of the old pro-German groups in the days leading up to 1917. They hold meetings to deride the country, abuse its hospitality and divide the allegiance of their members who take American citizenship because, the

Nazi system being in violent opposition to American | democracy, it is obvious that they can’t be American |

and Nazi at the same time. ” =” O all little Joe has done is warn this country to keep a suspicious eye on Nazi groups which

”

had been doing their stuff more or less efficiently |

on the quiet and maintaining a rather plausible pretense of goodwill toward a gullible nation. There is profit in the episode, because it will demonstrate to any one who was in danger of accepting the superman estimate of the Nazi leaders that they do have their dolts even in the highest positions. Little Joe Goebbels is way up in the party and the Nazis have put him over, largely in his own newspaper, as one who shares Adolf’s godlike infallibility. un ” 7 UT, under pressure, he gets excited, and instead of building up prestige in a country which must be a great factor in the war which the Nazis are plotting, little Joe simply donates to the British and French a feat of propaganda which would have cost them millions of dollars and no end of shrewd conniving. It was the same way from 1914 on when the British -and French used music and mayonnaise

and the Germans tried to achieve the same end

with firebrands, bombs and burglar tools. Now the Nazi diplomatic and consular people are beginning to put their backs up, and that is going to do them no good either, because their country doesn’t have to take Hitler at their own estimate, and the more they try to force him on a free nation as a superman the more critical the inspection of the Fuehrer will be. The murders and beatings, the confiscations and

in this country or condoned as unavoidable acts in a revolution, but if the Nazis here revive the question now, the evidence will be examined through the eves of people who have had a slight foretaste of

The Hoosier Forum

1 wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.=Voltaire.

| THINKS COURT SHOULD GUESS | | IN PEOPLE'S FAVOR | By James H. Job, Reelsville Nothing is more ridiculous than | | to allow nine old men to set aside | an act of Congress. Congress is composed of more than 400 members, the majority of | | whom are in every respect equal to any of the nine old men who now

; % : | rule the nation. | because little Joe, speaking for the Nazi Government |

The famous Dred Scott decision !

is a fair sample of what the Su- | | preme Court can do.

I believe that | | the recent and last 5-to-4 decision of the Court, together with many |

If they are left to guess, why don’t they guess in favor of the people? | I defy any of President Roosevelt's opponents to ignore that question. I think most of the President's opposition is due to the bogie of the rubber stamp. When we elect a President, our foremost question is: Will he do | | anything for the people? A few | years ago we saw ten thousand of | our thirty thousand banks fail, with billions of dollars lost to the people. | We all agreed that something should be done about it. Mr. Roosevelt took the lead, but not as a dictator. He didn’t act without the | | consent of Congress. Now he is | asking Congress to do the only thing that can be done at this time to save the situation. President Grant found it neces- | sary to ask for the addition of two | members to the Court. Congress | oranted him this. Did that make | him a dictator? No. Neither does | Roosevelt seek to be a dictator when he wants to do likewise. His plan is the shortest route to what the people need.

7 » ” MORE QUESTIONS FOR | JOEL BAKER By L. M. As I expected, Joel Baker cams back, demanding a quick trial and stating that the truth is only half told. We agree that Joel is right and that not near half the truth is told. Now we can find out some things if he will talk. Joel, tell us more about the urgent call to Miami. The public would like to know | much more about vou, Joel, | ” ” » | ROOSEVELT IS SINCERE, | WRITER BELIEVES | By We are pleased to see The Times | and its allies awake to the importance of liberty. We wish to see The Times practice the fairness, sincerity and charity, which alone can remove the suspicion that its | | devotion to liberty is more apparent | than real. | Charity and her children demand the admission of the fact that |

Hiram Lackey

| think is already there.

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

Roosevelt's devotion to liberty is just as sincere as is that of The Times. Your editorial on fireside talk was bitter and unworthy of men of your intellectual discipline. After The Times spent six months exposing the inconsistency of Sen-

ator Borah it is wise for it to join

the Senator in his folly. willing to give

Borah is

weapon except the one that will |

work, The real reason for the Re-

publican opposition to the Court |

proposal is that its justice will be effective now.

n un n WONDERS IF MAJORITY

‘REALLY RULES

By a Questioner Very often our country is referred to as one where the majority rules. When one thinks, however, of the Child Labor Amendment, ders,

from the 48 states has caused fear | { for which would put in the Constitu-|

the survival of amendments tion what the majority of persons That has even caused some to wonder of the fairness of the amendment. In some places the belief is grow-

ling that a Hamilton-controlled con-

vention, encouraged by decisions of his John Marshall, has made and

benefit of those in the saddle of economic and financial rule. Is it not true that with a favorable Supreme Court the interests that want no changes in the Government could make this certain by the control of 13 states? Is this majority rule? It might even be supposed that the 13 smallest states could forestall any desire of 35 others for a constitutional change. According to the 1930 census these small states would have a population of seven million,

or about 6 per cent of the United |

States’ population. One city has more people than all of the 13 states. Nevada, with about 91,000 persons has one vote on constitutional changes, while each of five Indiana counties has a larger

LOVE

By HARRIETT SCOTT OLINICK |

So swift It came to me I had no time for doubt But only held my hands out to Receive.

DAILY THOUGHT And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ve shall receive.—St. Matthew 21:22,

ERTAIN thoughts are prayers. There are moments when,

whatever be the attitude of the

| body, the soul is on its knees.—Vic=- |

tor Hugo.

Roosevelt's |

the people any |

he won- | The treatment it has received |

population; but Indiana has only

one vote. Is this government by majority? ” ” BELIEVES COY INCIDENT OVEREMPHASIZED

By a Subscriber

| |

{ The Times went far below par, All those connected with the Coy | | case are of the same caliber and | {it’s too bad that more of the pro- | fessional politicians do not get | socked in the eye when they justly | deserve it, which is so often the] | case. | I do not condone assault; neither | do I sob when a bunch of politicians | fall out and one of them gets | punched. Furthermore, I disrespect The Times not only for its yeliow publications and editorials but also for its narrow mindedness in at- | | tempts to make a hero out of an | ordinary political brawl. n

” ”

DICTATORSHIP ARGUMENT {ON COURT CRITICIZED |

I'®

| The deliberate campaign of The | | Times to confuse the Supreme Court |

| issue must be disappointing to all |

George Moran

| interpreted the Constitution for the | who have looked to The Times for |

honest and intelligent expression of | news and opinions. The threat of | | dictatorship is no valid objection to | | the President’s Court plan. | The Times has said that it has ne | | objection to liberalizing the Court. | | The Times only fears this precedent. | | This is rank foolishness, for that | | precedent already exists, and if it did | |niot exist no dictatorial President | [would be held back from exercising | [the constitutional right to enlarge | the Court. | No doubt the proposal of a 6-to-3 | decision is wise, but that is just an | lattempt to take readers’ attention | away from the real issue. This pro- | | posal would never avoid the danger | | of dictatorship. As long as the Con- | | stitution authorizes Congress to de- | | termine the number of justices in! | the Court a dictatorial President | could pack the Court. | | Obviously, The Times is trying to | defeat President Roosevelt's pro-| {posal while sanctimoniously pre= | tending to favor his aims. If The | Times were honest (we must admit it is intelligent), it would back the proposal and demand an amend{ment to the Constitution to take |away the authority of Congress to | determine the number of justices. | It is truly disappointing to see a | paper that has led the vanguard of | opinion in the past join Mark Sulli- | Ivan, D. H. Lawrence, Lippman and | the other intellectual turtles in the mud puddle of mental deceit and | confusion.

General Hugh Johnson Says —

Maybe It Can Happen Here, but in Experienced Democracies Like Ours | There Have Been No Cracks in Government by Reason and Ballot. |

WW soon March 15—Can it happen here? The curse of communism and the abominations of fascism and naziism center on their substitution of force for reason and majority rule by the ballot in the government of human relations.

In all early government force predominated in the creation and execution of laws because intelligence had not been sufficiently popularized to permit of popular self-government. Just before the Great War, there seemed to be a world-wide movement both within and among nations toward the abolition of force and the substitution of reason—a de= parture from animalism, an approach to intelligence. But in two nations this movement lagged. Among the smsll governing class in Prussia it slid back. There grew up a cult of adulation of force as the very ideal of government—not only for Germany but the world.

; ” on » | Russia there had never been anything but a dictatorship, and in Germany there certainly had never been self-government any more than there had ever been self-government in Italy. The economic breakdown caused by the war put an almost unbearable strain on democracies. Such democracy as Germany had was new in the whole history of her people,

{

IBGE ND

Sl =

The Washington Merry-Go-Round

For a great many years I have | been a reader of The Times and un- | til a few years ago I considered it |

It Seems to Me

By Heywood Broun

Dorothy Thompson Sides of Debate on Court Plan

| Both | And Columnist Terms It No Contest. | |

Takes

NEW YORK, March 15.—Miss Dorothy Thompson conducted an interesting ex- | periment at the Town Hall Wednesday night, Ilirst of all, she argued for the President's proposal to liberalize our judicial system, and 't the end of her speech sat down to the

| accompaniment of rather mild applause. After a twos

minute rest she rose again and demolished all her previous arguments to the thunderous acclaim of all the listeners. The stunt is not entirely new. Walter Lippmann has performed the trick on many occasions but with the printed rather than the spoken word. And for the most part he has required a rather longer period for contemplation, Sometimes he has taken at least two days to turn his mind coms= pletely around. It may be that intellectually Mr. Lippmann stands one or two hands higher than Miss Thompson, and so he can hardly be expected to make these polo-pony revolutions with the same celerity, The Greeks had a word for this sort of double talk. Among the English-speaking peoples it is known as Gunga Dinning-—the process of carrying water on both shoulders after the manner of the famous hero

Mr. Broun

| in Mr. Kipling’s poem,

The Romans were also familiar with this device, although opposed to it. There is a Latin adage which runs. in rather free translation, “The man who argues with himself picks a sap as his adversary.” This seems to me a little less than fair, It is quite possible for an intelligent individual to see both sides of a question at the same time, although it is true that this sort of peering at the issues may result in eyestrain and even, in certain cases, in permanent political astigmatism, But if one may sound-range the talk of Miss Thompson, she made no attempt to walk the chalk line of complete objectivity, It was not so much a debate as an exhibition of shadow boxing. In other words, it was a contest in which the flesh-and-blood Miss Thompson set up a poor Miss Thompson made of straw and shreds and patches and then proceeded to knock the dummy cold with a light left to the

shoulder blade. " ” ”

UCH an exhibition may be interesting, but I ques= tion whether it constitutes sport. After all, suse pense is lacking. And, moreover, the matchmaking is

| entirely contrary to the rules of the New York State

Boxing Commission, That body has frequently ruled that paperweights may not be thrown into the ring with members of the featherweight class. In such contests the spectator may be moved to shout, “Stop the fight!” or even, “Fake! Fake! Fake!” And in addition to such criticism as may come from the fans themselves I think a word of warning is due the individual who undertakes to demolish himself. Out of such experience one learns very little

i which he may later employ in meeting the rather

more rugged customers. It is a vain attempt to hoist yourself by your own bootstraps. ” n n NCE, as a youth, I undertook to teach myself chess in one-man contests. In playing the white pieces I was Harvard, With the black pieces 1 was Yale. Out of some hundred matches Yale never won at all. I would lay traps for the Harvard pawns and bishops, but somehow the clever Crimson player always saw through these strategic devices and thwarted them. Possibly Harvard had stolen the Yale signals. On the other hand, I would not like to disceurage Miss Dorothy Thompson in her attempts to learn the art of oratory and the principles of argumentation, Of course, I do suggest that she should obtain the services of some sparring partner worthy of her mettle,

——

Forbes Morgan Latest Member of Roosevelt Clan to Take Position That May Prove Embarrassing to His Relative in the White House.

replaced by an absolutism, The post-war breakdown of democracy and the substitution of fascism and communism—where democracy did break down—were along perfectly logical and predictable lines. Where the people were not highly educated, as in Santo Domingo or Russia, no rule of reason could live under stress. Where the people, while literate, were absolutely devoid of democratic experience as in Germany, or where they were both inexperienced and illiterate as in Russia, the failure of a short democratic experience, under great strain, left them with no known alternative except the form of government in which their lives had been passed—absolutism and force.

n ”n » B% how about the experienced democracies and

tem paraphrased in the American Constitution? Nocountries. In none of the apprehension expressed by some authorities of the centralizing trends of New Deal Government has there been charged even any tendency toward a rule by force rather than a rule of reason. Mr. Roosevelt has organized no “shirt” movement,

whether black, brown or silver. Maybe it can happen -here, but it hasn't been startey Jot, y :

Kerensky did not last three months. It was promptly |

of the whisky distillers—at $75,000 per,

especially those built on the Anglo-Saxon sys- |

where in the world has democracy cracked in such |

islands.

Department prepared

By Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen

ASHINGTON, March 15 ~Members of the Roosevelt family have a never-failing capacity for embarrassing their relative in the White House. Son Elliott Roosevelt was none too careful in tying up with airplane companies seeking favors from his father. Son-in-law John Boettiger is working for one of Roosevelt's most vigorous newspaper critics, Mr. Hearst. Son Franklin is engaged to a scion of the du Ponts, a dynasty which has spent thousands

to defeat his father. And now Uncle Forbes Morgan has become czar

How embarrassing this can be for the President was indicated the other day when the Interior Department got ready to announce the sale of the first Government-made rum in history. The rum is manu= factured in the Virgin Islands under PWA auspices in an effort to revive the historic industry of the

MPENDING arrival of the first shipment was considered a most important event, and the Interior

of pr

that there must be no announcement, no promotion of the rum. Reason was the possibility of offending dry sentiment in the United States. ‘ But—unfortunately—a lot of people will never believe that Whisky Czar Forbes Morgan, Mrs. Roose velt’s uncle, did not have a finger in the pie. Nate urally, the whisky distillers don’t want competition from Government-made and Government-advertised rum, ”- - ” EXFORD GUY TUGWELL has received his first Jolt in the molasses business. The other day he came down to breakfast in his New York home, and began to enjoy a plate of pancakes. As he picked up the pitcher of syrup, he paused. “Florenes,” he said to Mrs. Tugwell, “what kind of syrup is this?” hy Yelieve it's called ‘Br'er Rabbit,” replied Mrs.

“But that's not our brand,” he said. "I'm in the business now, and we should use our brand.” “But what is our brand?” she asked. *“‘Grandma’ is the name,” he said, with a touch