Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 April 1937 — Page 15
I
Vagabon
FROM INDIANA
ERNIE PYLE |
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EW YORK, April 9.—T've never h v
of anything like the Jewish Conc liation Court before. It’s just what the name implies. It’s a place where Jews take their disputes without going into a real court.
The Conciliation Court meets once every two weeks. Three unpaid volunteers sit on the bench. "The disputants have no lawyers, and seldom| any witnesses. They simply get up pe tell their stories.
The judges ask questions. And then the judges decide. The father and the heart-beat of the court is a Jewish lawyer named Louis Richman. He has a suite of offices at 225 Broadway. Louis Richman started the Conciliation Court 16 years ago. He devotes half his time to it and has never taken a cent in pay. He makes his living by practicing law half-time, . The court is supported by donations from public-spirited Mr. Pyle Jews. It doesn’t take much to run it, really. A secretary, and a so0cial service worker, and some printed forms. That's about all. There is only one non-Jewish contributor— John S. Burke, president of B. Altman & Co. He has sat a couple of times as a judge. Here is how the court works: Suppose I'm “an old Jewish widow, and have bought a cemetery lot on the condition that it be right next to my husband’s grave, for that’s where I want to be buried, But I find that the burial association has sold me a lot at the other end of the cemetery. I speak to them about it. They won't do anything. All right. I go to the office of the Conciliation court. I fill out the form, telling what the trouble is. The court sets the case for next Wednesday. (No --case has to wait more than two weeks.) The court sends. an “invitation” to the burial association. |
2 " o Sign Agreement
EXT Wednesday at 5 p. m. we appear before the ccurt. Both sides sign an agreement. Up to that point there is no compulsion; no defendant has to appear if he doesn’t want to. But once the agreement is signed, that puts the case under the arbitration laws of New York, and the decision of the court becomes legal. The State can make it stick. I, the old widow, tell my story. The secretary of the burial association tells his story. The judges buzz a few minutes, and call us back up, and say theyve decided I shall either have a lot next to my husband's or get my money back.
The court hears as many as 30 cases at its semi-
monthly session. Although the finvitations” to defendants are not compulsory, more than half of them accept the request. - And 95 per cent of the losing parties abide by the judges’ decision. The judges are different at each session. But they always include a rabbi, a lawyer or jurist, and an outstanding Jewish citizen, usually a businessman. A third of those who appear before the court can speak only Yiddish. 4 2 ”
Settles Religious Disputes
HE court was founded because there are so many disputes between Jews which don’t fall under the jurisdiction of the regular courts; so many disputes of a purely religious nature. For example—Chelitzah. Chelitzah is? Well, it’s this: among Orthodox Jews, a widow cannot remarry until given a release by the dead husband’s eldest brother. Only a small fraction of the 2,500,000 Jews in New York pay attention to this old custom any more.
But @ few do, and when a dispute comes up the court |
usually finds that the stubborn brother-in-law is holding out in order to have his palm greased. And the court usually upholds his demand for $30 or $40 for releasing the widow. It was for such things as these that the Conciliation Court was started. But nowadays the bulk of cases are disputes over meney, questions of support between parents and children, marital troubles of husband and wife. The depression caused the change. I sat with the judges through one whole session of the Jewish- Conciliation Court, Tomorrow I will try to Gosetive ® 5
Mrs. Roosavell's Day By ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
ASHINGTON, Thursday—We had a luncheon attended by some fifty-odd ladies yesterday, all interested in the Democratic National Committee. I had invited them to meet the new director of the Women's Division, Mrs. Thomas McAllister, and her assistant, Mrs. May Evans of North Carolina. Both these ladies are young and pretty and that is a great advantage in political work, for it makes the gentlemen so much happier when you;have 40 take up “their time. However, youth and begquty will not get you very far permanently, unless you have a few more solid qualities behind them. There is no question that women who are going to work in their party’s political organization, no matter what the party may be, will need tact and perserverance, the wisdom of the serpent and the guileless appearance of the dove! The women members of Congress at. the luncheon were all in a great hurry to get away for fear a bill, in which they all seemed to be interested, might come up before their return. Later in the day J was amused to have some male members of Congress come in late for tea and apologize because they had not been able to leave before this very bill had come up for a vote. Yesterday afternocn I had two rather large teas of a general nature, because the end of the season is drawing near. Mrs. William Brown Meloney came down from New York to spend the night and James and Betsy came over to join us for dinner. We had a light and amusing movie for them. The youngsters felt the need of something to take their minds off the excitement of the past few days, caused by little Sara's appendicitis operation. She is doing very well, however.
New Books
PUBLIC LIBRARY PRESENTS—
RGED on irresistibly by the necessities of the large industries in Germany, Hitler and his associates, writes Ernst Henri in HITLER OVER RUSSIA? (Simon & Schuster), are planning an imperialistic drive to make that country the master of Europe. : Abandoning the direct attack upon Western Europe, which Henri set forth in “Hitler Over Europe,” the Nazis, he says, are pursuing a determined and vastly complicated policy which has as its aim the subjugation of Russia. With this end in mind they have given aid to and formed alliance with - Fascist-minded groups in the countries to the northeast and south of Germany, thus opening two ways for the attack upon Russia. And with the resources of that country once af their command, they will then turn. toward western Europe, which will be helpless before them. Will their plans succeed? The writer thinks not. The great armies of Russia, the long distances to be traversed by the Fascist armies, the mineral and ‘ coal resources upon which Russia may draw, will all combine to defeat the invaders. And this, Henri foretells, will mean the downfall and flight of Hitler and his Fascists, and “Europe over Hitler, peace and liberty over destruction and barbarity.”
» ® 8
O those who are planning a trip abroad within the near future, or within a future not-so-near, INVITATION TO TRAVEL, by Helen Dean Fish (Ives-Washburn), will impart wise secrets for getting ready for going, for enjoying, for returning, and not least, for keeping memories. Other books have been written on this subject, but surely none with a happy mingling of practicality and charm, of wisdom and intimacy and freshness. In her foreword Miss Fish says that this is “in no sense a complete guide to Europe but I hope that it may be. a
guide to the spirit of happy. traveling.”
|
Do you know what |
| others,
Second Section
FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 1937
The Indianapolis Times
LET'S PAY A VISIT TO THE QUINS
Nurse Speculates on What Fi ETE Holds for Famous Babies
(LAST OF A SERIES)
By YVONNE LEROUX Nurse to the Quintuplets
NE of the fascinating things about living with the Dionne quintuplets is the opportunity it gives to speculate on the possible future that may lie ahead of each. Of course it is all guesswork, for no actual career plans are on foot for any one of the quins, but it is fun to guess. And, based on my close observation of their developing characteristics, I believe: Cecile would make a good nun. Yvonne, a good housewife. Marie, a dancer or actress or something
of the sort. Annette, a good busi-_ ness woman, for. she is shrewd. About Emilie, I E couldn't make a
=
As the children develop, their individual
Here are the characteristics I have observed a which have led me to make Jue Yvonne Leroux above cuagss Emilie: She is the most pious of the group. She appears more con-
centrated in her affection for God |
just as in her affection for people. She takes life more seriously than the others, and-seems to love to look at the pictures of Jesus. Yet she is the most mischievous of the group, playing little harmless jokes constantly. She has the most entrancing grin, and makes one think of pixies or elves. She cries seldom, but when she does, it breaks your heart, she is so pathetic. That ear-to-ear grin stands out in a face that is heart-shaped in contrast to the squarish faces of her sisters. She is small, only a. little larger than Marie. She loves yellow dgpesses for clothing. Knowing full well our rule against running to the dining room at meal times, Emilie loves to .run in, whereupon she turns around of her own accord, looks at the nurses, puts her hands’ behind her back and goes back to the starting-place to walk in very, very slowly. . ” ” " VONNE: She imparts a feeling that she is older than the though she is now no bigger than Cecile or Annette. She is the most maternal of the group, and likes to look after and take care of her sisters. She seldom gets into quarrels with any of .the four. She runs about with a merry skip, and is almost always laughing. Yvonne just oozes charm, and is inclined to be a little bossy. It is because of this care for the others and her interest in cleaning and straightening up things that I suggest she may be destined to be a housewife. She resembles her mother, in appearance and expression, more than any of the others. Yvonne is the fastest talker and will be the most-talkative as she grows older. Annette: I think Annette is the prettiest of the five. I can’t say just why, but she is. For one thing she has the prettiest teeth. They
It's a fine thing to go for a morning canter on the springhobby, but when _one of your companions is missing—! Note how Marie, Annette and Yvonne are all concerned by that vacant saddle, though Emilie is more wrapped up in how to manage her steed. Concern for the others marks the daily conduct of each quin.
are a little more closely articulated than those of the others.
She has the best features, and seems to know it, for she is a trifle vain. Her eyes dance with mischief, and she has a wicked ittle smile. While Yvonne is bossy in a good - natured way, Annette is bossy too, but more selfishly. She wants things done her own way. She always wants the best toys, and shrewdly connives to get them away from her sisters.
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HE goes affer what she wants, and gets it. That is why I suggest that she might well become a business woman. She seems to invite scraps and fights, and almost always comes out best. Cecile: Though she is the quietest. and most reserved of the children, Cecile looks much like Annette. She makes friends less easily, and gives her affections slowly. But once she bestows them she is very loyal and cries bitterly when anyone she loves goes away. She likes to sing and hum, and has the best table manners of the group, but generally she goes her own way. She will play for hours with her doll and carriage, humming softly as she wraps and unwraps the doll. She does many things on her own initiative. For instance, she will put away her clothes and toys when she hears the others told to do so, knowing that she will also have to do it. She is thoughiful, and I have seen her get a chair for the nurse without being told. These are the characteristics on which I base my thought that she would make a good nun. She likes green as a color, and hates confinement. Once when one of the chairs broke and had to be replaced by one without arms, she chose it at once. Now
Nurse Leroux shares a good joke with Cecile, and Nurse, companion, teacher; adviser and protector of the quins since the
what fun they're both having!
(Copyright, 1937, NEA Service, Inc.
(Copyright, 1937, NLA
others.
day of their birth, nurse Leroux has been able to share their daily play and thoughts as have few
Fintered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis,
all the children have chairs,
” ” oo ARIE: Still smallest of the children, Marie is a regular surprise. box. She loves to dance, but pays little attention to the watching crowds, for she seems more sophisticated, blase and self reliant than the others. She is especially fond of books. She, too, is most rischevious, and can assume the most innocent expression when she is being corrected. She loves to put on a sly face and go about doing little “bad” things. Although she is smaller than the others, and looks exactly like a doll when she is scrubbed and
armless
brushed, she can do anything the others can do; climb as high, pull as heavy a load, or defend herself in scraps. I remember one day when Marie wanted one of Yvonne's toys. She tugged at it until Yvonne fell to the floor, ‘still holding fast to the toy. Then Marie proceeded to sit on Yvonne until she got the toy. Of course the nurses made her give it back to discourage fighting. | Marie’s hair is the curliest, and she loves being cuddled. It is her fondness for dancing and her ability to assume that “Why, what can I possibly have done” expression that makes me think she might some day turn to the stage
or entertainment world. already quite a clown and entertainer. Though she is the smallest, Marie loves to eat. One day I found her with her feet on the table, the dessert plate between them. She was quietly consuming the last of the dessert. The individuality of the quins is developing fast as their third birthday approaches, and nothing could be more fascinating than the privilege of watching the change from the helpless babes I once knew to the bright, alert, personalities that are revealed today by Yvonne, Annette, Cecile, Emilie and Marie. (Copyright, 1937, NEA Service, Inc.)
TRAILER REGULATION IS TO GO IN EFFECT SOON HERE, FINNEY SAYS
HE first attempt at trailer regulation in Indiana is to go into effect soon, according to Frank Finney, Motor Vehicle Bureau director. Essenfially a licensing measure, the act passed by the 1937 General Assembly: also is regulatory. Registration under a specific house car license is to bring this appendage of the tourist trade within the scope of the Motor Vehicle Department, according to Safety Director Don Stiver. A 60-day grace period is granted out-of-state house car owners before they must buy the $5 Indiana trailer tag. Previously, house cars were licensed as ‘trailers” on a weight and wheel basis, under the same classification as commercial hauling trailers. More than 45,000 licenses for this class were issued last year. n on un HE trailer, by and large, is no longer a “problem of the future.” .It is a problem for today. Many snug cottages, once sedately rooted to the soil, have taken to wheels. Willy-nilly, they Seamper across the landscape, but . . . mosti$ they follow the sun! And this newest gadget of the tourist trade trails in its wake (along with pots and pans and baby’s buggy) a good many problems—Federal, state, local. Generally speaking, the trailer has cavzht public authorities unprepared. According to their tastes, state of preparedness and general aptitude, state and city officials view the phenomenon with astonishment, amused tolerance, or mild alarm. But they all are aware that they must do something about it; answer numerous unexpected questions.
They. myst: admonish, regulate. and
= They must devise new control formulas, but first they must determine the social, the economic anc aven the political significance of this new citizen, the trailerite. Until a very few years ago, the great majority of trailers were home-made. They tended to be ramshackle, cluttery, even dangerous. In 1035 they first hecame conspicuous as an industrial product, some 20,000 to 35,000 leaving factories. The 1936 output was estimated at 60,000, and. 200,000 are projected for 1937. There now are about 300 trailer manufacturing companies. There also are some 250,000 registered trailers in the United States; the American Automobile Association estimates an even 1,000,000 persons live in them for part or all the year. Estimates of their future would be grotesque were it not for the authority of the names behind them. For instance: Airplane Designer William B. Stout has estimated publicly that one-half the nation’s homes will be mobile within 30 years, and Statistician Roger Babson predicts the same result within 20 years. Against this, the more enthusiastic trailerites among automobile manufacturers predict a saturation point of 1,000,000 units; others place the figure much lower.
8 .8 8.
ESORT centers—especially Cali- » fornia and Florida, where winter climates are equitable — quite
naturally have had to meet the problem first, But there is as yet no dependable data regarding the character, or even extent of trailer use. Studies that have been made in some: Florida . cities: tend to show
evenly divided between two classes—
old people, and seasonal workers, usually young people. A large number of the second group were hotel waiters. Most of the first group were persons who had retired upon modest incomes, Taking for granted the suspected (but not definitely proved) fact that most of both classes live in their trailer homes the year-round, moving from climate to climate, or seasonal job to seasonal jb, it becomes at once apparent that the trailer may eventually offer itself “as a substitute for both the dingy flat and the modest cottage.” On the whole, the Tax Policy League, ‘which has made one of the first thorough studies, views the trailer’s housing potentialities
optimistically, believing “it may make possible the tiding over of a serious housing shortage,” and “if 250,000 trailers are produced annually and as many as one-half are used for year-round homes they may help avert © wretched overcrowding and | intolerable housing for many millions of persons,” Admitting that the trailer is a “far from ideal home arrangement,” the league nonetheless believes it may advance construction of low-cost housing, and speed demolition of disease-traps, fire-traps and structurally unsafe dwellings. The league notes that opposition to trailers may be expected from realty groups and hotel owners. Regarding the latter group, however, its studies indicate that hotels have no present cause for alarm, for most of the trailerites would scarcely be able to afford hotel accommodations, although some few trsilers have been sold to, and are sed by, persons of
Some ‘Durable Goods’ Lag
In Production, Flynn Says
BY JOHN
T. FLYNN
Times Special Writer
EW YORK, April 9.—President Roosevelt has very wisely warned the steel and other metal industries about price rises. But to understand what he meant and the wisdom of the remedy he proposes, it is necessary to understand the theory at the bottom of | the socalled “durable goods” theory of recovery. The people of the nation must buy the goods which industry produces with the money which they receive as income. But what is the money income of the nation? It is the money which all together collect as wages, profits, rent, interest—the money payments of all sorts which come into their bands. But where does this mpney come from? You can answer the question yourself. Where does your money income come from? From your work or business. It is the money which your employer spends or someone spends in wages or in other ways as a part of running his business. In other words, business, industry, stores, etc., all pay out large sums of money to produce goods or services. These payments represent the cost of production. Therefore the cost of production and the money income of the nation are the same. It is plain that if a business concern sells its products at a price which brings back only the cost of production it cannot make a profit. It must get back the cost of production plus an additional amount as profit. The same thing is true of all business. If all are to make a profit all must be able to sell their products at something more than the costs of production. But as the income of the people who must buy is not greater than the costs of production, there is no way to make this possible unless some other
N the capitalist ‘money economy
this difficulty is got around as
follows: Some of those who produce goods must sell on credit. But they must sell, not on mere shortterm credit, but on long-term credit. Because it doesn’t help matters to pay for goods with notes payable in 30 days or three months or six months, because the time for payment comes around very rapidly and this amounts to very little more than paying out of current income. Now as it happens long-term credits are extended usually in connection with the construction and sale of capital expenditures—houses, factories, plant machinery, railroad equipment, roads, public buildings, etc. These are, of course, durable goods which do not figure in
long-term credit transactions—
watches, rugs, household furniture,
‘made of steel or metal, etc. The
important thing, therefore, releasing of long-term credit in the system, Certain types of goods are important merely because they prointo the system.
has lagged behind in production.
tion, misinformed on this point. great construction industry,
or capital goods industry,
heavy industries in flooding
to keep
our-system. Te,
She is
and immense quantities of things
is the
voke this flow of long-term credit Now this type of durable goods
And it is not true, as the President announced, that they have already passed consumer goods in producThe President was doubtless It is still necessary to set in motion the the most important part of the durable before normal capitalist recovery has taken place. Up to now the Federal Government has taken the place of the the system with supplementary funds it floating. Under thes2 circumstances the President would do well to proceed very gingerly in tinkering with this delicate Eland
source - of - income is- devised... i Ain.
PAGE 15
Ind,
Our Town
XCEPT for President Charles S. Rauh’s annual report to his stockholders, I guess I never would have known that Dr. Jean S. Milner, pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, is now a director of the Indianapolis
Stockyards. It took me by complete surprise. po the only thing that surprised me, because right on top cf Dr. Milner’s elevation I learned of the decline of horses and mules around here,
Maybe you don’t know it, but the shipments of horses and mules last year amounted to only 664, as compared with 967 in 1935. It represents a decline of 31 per cent. Calves weren't so good, either, showing a decline of 7 per cent. Outside of that, however, everything is all right at the Stockyards. Good enough, anyway, to justify everything Mr. Rauh said in his annual address. In many respects, Mr. Rauh’s address is .the most arresting— certainly the most important—piece of literature to come my way this year, not alone because of its cone tents, but because of its literary style. Inclined as I was at first to attribute Mr. Rauh’s style to Dr. Milner’s influence, I dismissed it almost immediately, because after all, Dr. Milner wouldn't be foolish enough to give away his own style. To be sure, both men get an acid amusement out of making their listeners think, but outside of that, I really can’t see any similarity in the two styles. Anyway, let's say that Mr. Rauh has a literary style of his own. Mr. Rauh starts his address with: “Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: Who are we to question the new social order?”
” # ”
Mr. Scherrer
Individual Touch
OU see what I mean? There isn't another man around here—not even Dr. Milner—who would have. swung it just that way. And I think it’s worth bringing up, especially at a time when hoi polloi prefers the expansive to the exact. Which is just another - way of saying that if we didn’t have Mr. Rauh and Dr. Milner around here, the stylists would be in a prétty pickle. I, for one, don’t want to see the stylists.em- - arrassed, and it is for that reason, if no othet, that I think the time has come for the restatement of what style really is. Like as not, it will turn out to be exactly what W. C. Brownell, Stuart Sherman and the French Academician Buffon guessed it was.
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Buffon’s Definition
BRING in Mr. Buffon because he is usually credited with saying that “style is the man himself,” which is exactly what he didn’t say.: Style, according to the French Academician (I quote Stuart Sherman from memory) is not the man himself, but rather a kind of a human imitation of the celestial order and motion, informing the whole work as the spirit of God informs creation. In its essence, therefore, it is almost as little pers sonal as the mathematical element of music. Cer
‘tainly a sound style isn't a rigid thing, and neither is
it a thing to be feared as repressive of personality. Going good, style is just the order and movement of one’s own. thought when one is going right. In support of which I submit Mr. Rauh’s stylistic reference to pigs. “It seemed,” said Mr. Rauh, “that pork products which had become almost a luxury in 1935, were to be restored to the populace.”
ll " ‘A Woman's View : By MRS. WALTER FERGUSON
ISITING a Federal Music Project class, I was surprised to see a grandmotherly woman, not much bigger than a minute, tooting away for dear life. “I've always wanted to play a flute,” she said, apparently having noted the open curiosity on my face, “ever since I was a little girl. But drat the luck, I never had a chance ’til now.. All the kids are grown up”—here a gleam of sadness darkened her merry eyes—” and since Papa went away, what could X do? When I heard about these music classes I made x beeline for town and here I am. I just love my ute.” She stroked it fondly, and something in her face made me want to cry. At long last a dream had come true for her. . More than 4000 adults in my state have enrolled with the Federal Music Project, to say nothing of what it is doing for the children. Our teacher, a brown-eyed young woman vibrant with enthusiasm, had many a similar story to tell of the men and women of all ages, as well as the boys and girls, for whom the opportunities she brought have given new meaning to existence. In some rural schools where education in that line has been as unknown as it is among the Hottentots, classes are now going strong. Parents and children study and sing and play together, and many a small girl is cautioned to come home early after school and help so that her mama can go to the schoolhouse after supper for music lessons. I shall not soon forget the little woman and her flute. The sounds she made were not altogether delightful to other ears, but the joy she derived from the effort shone like a glory in her face. Nothing mattered but the fact that she could pipe a tune, Something that had always been starved within her soul was fed at last. No amount of manufactured harmony can satisfy like the faltering little songs we make for ourselves with cracked voices or clumsy fingers. |
Your Health
By DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN
Editor American Medical Assn. Journal
NFECTION with amebic dysentery usually is caused by bad hygiene. The organisms are spread by fingers, food and flies. Especially dangerous are those instances in which a cook, a salad handler, or some other hotel or restaurant employee has the disease and is not exe ceedingly careful about his personal hygiene. Since vegetables in salads frequently are not cooked, they are more likely to be contaminated than food substances that are. The common fly may bring the disease into a home by becoming contaminated with excretions-con= taining the ameba, and then alighting on food that may happen to be on the table. In China and Japan, human excretions frequently are used as fertilizer for vegetables and the disease, therefore, is exceedingly prevalent in those countries. People are protected against this condition, therefore, by suitable sewage disposal and a pure water supply. nin It does not seem possible to have physical ex aminations of food handlers made sufficiently often s0 thatithe public can be protected from those wh are diseased. However, food handlers should re larly report illnesses affecting the bowels, and should! be made to practice a form of personal hygiene
“which would minimize the possibility of their transe
mitting disease. After a person has had amebic doseintety and recovered, he may carry the organisms in his bowel for a long time and thus constantly be potentially able to transmit the disease. In the Chicago epidemic there was wide cone tamination of water supplies by sewage. In the treatment of amebic dysentery, 8everal drugs now are available which seem to have a definite effect on the organisms. These include preparations of arsenic, emetine, and ipecac; also certain drugs -such as chiniofon, carbarsone and vioform. These are highly toxic drugs and should
4 be taken ‘only at the advice of a doctor."