Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 12 April 1937 — Page 12

PAGE 12

FRI sp a

~ The Indianapolis Times

ROY W. HOWARD MARK FERREE

: LUDWELL DENNY President Business Manager

Editor

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: a Es Rlley 5551

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MONDAY, APRIL 12, 1937

ARITHMETIC OF POLITICS IN UMBER of Federal income taxpayers: About 2,500,000. - Percentage of Federal revenue derived from personal income taxes: Aout 20 per cent. Number of adult Americans: About 75 million. Percentage of Federal revenue derived from taxing the whole population—in taxes on business, tariffs and various hidden excises: About 80 per cent. One look at those figures|is enough to show that only a small part of the money to pay for Federal spending comes directly out of the pockets of| 2,500,000 payers of personai income taxes. ; But, generally speaking, the 72,500,000 others have very little tax consciousness; they don’t come face to face with the Federal tax collector, So when the issue of Federal spending versus economy is up, the 2,500,000 income taxpayers are the ones who do most of the worrying about the consequences.

50 YEARS OF THE ICC

The Interstate Commerce Commission has completed its first half-century, with present and past members honored at a Golden Jubilee dinner in Washington, sponsored by attorneys for great railroad systems and organizations of shippers, : ‘A far cry, that, fron the day in 1837 when a feeble little Bureay, created under a law signed by Grover Cleveland, began the Kederal Government's first attempt to protect the| public interest against rugged individualism running wild in the field of commerce. That attempt encountered wy same determined resistance, and much the same argunients, that have been directed against the New Deal’s efforts to extend similar principles. The prdise now being spoken for the ICC is justified.

It has sei'ved usefully and well.| True, the rise of competing !

methods’ of | transportation, undreamed of in 1887, has created some doubts as to whether its protection of the railroads is not too tender for their good and the public good; whether the roads should not have greater freedom to meet competition by voluntary rate reductions. But this] acclaim for the ICC on its Golden Jubilee is a hopeful sign.| Much less than 50 years from now, we think, more recent attempts by the Federal Government to regulate industry| and commerce in the public interest will be acclaimed in the same way, even by those who now oppose them. |

CUSTOMERS TIMELY dish of statistics is served up by the National Industrial Conference Board. hl E It reports that in 1935 the per capita income of Amer\icans ranged from— IB $966 in the District of Columbia, $697 in New York, $607 in Connecticut, and $605 in California, at the top of | the heap, to— il ; $224 in South Carolina, $129 in Alabama, $18 2 in Arkansas and $170 in Mississippi, at the bottom. || | Their timeliness lies in the fact that t e figures call attention to the wide variation in the much-talked-of American standard of living, and indicate how scant is the pur‘chasing power 1n vast regions of the country, Such figures have an important bearin happening in certain parts of the country wk ere the workers in certain industries are organizing and pushing their wage scales upward, and the managements of those industries are yielding to workers and in turn ‘pushing their prices upward. by 2

on what is

In the steel industry, Tor example, the workers are to

get a minimum of $5 a day. That's certainly little enough. But the steel companies say they can’t pay that wage without raising prices. And they are raising prices. So the question of how long steel workers can keep their jobs at that wage boils down to the question of how long the steel companies can sell their stéel at the higher prices.

Thomas L. Stokes, correspondent of this newspaper,

récently toured the South and wrote a very informative series of articles on the carpetbaggers of industry who have moved out of the higher-wage sections of the North and Middle West to set up shop [in the South, and are paying wages of not $5 a day, but $5 and $6 i $7 and $8 and - 89 a week. Higher prices of steel, just as higher prices of other basic commodities, in the end show in higher living costs for everybody. Girls working in garment factories for $5 a week and sharecroppers who work a whole year for $200 or less make very poor customers. Organized labor is making great headway in certain ‘industries and in certam areas. ; But there are altogether only about 515 million workers organized in independent labor unions. These comparatively few organized workers cannot, in the long run, improve their wage standards beyond the point where the products of their labor can be sold to the mass of the people. Some 20 million unorganized workers constitute one segment of this mass market. | The big job ahead for the leaders of labor, the leaders of industry and the leaders of government is to improve the purchasing power of these unorganized consumers.

11S YOUR BOSS A BOOB? . A DpRESSIN G 200 Columbia University students soon to graduate into business jobs, Walter Hoving, president of a New York department store, offered this counsel: “As soon as you find out your boss is a boob, go somewhere else.” Sound advice, no doubt. And yet we are tempted to add these few words of our own: : Be very sure your boss is a boob before you fire him and go out to look for another job, Remember, at least he ‘was smart enough to Hire you, and the next boss you want to take on may not be even that smart. Be patient with the poor man. You have more time ahead than he has.

jive him a chance to learn from you.

-

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

Writer Backs Maverick's Drive To Abolish Hors d' Oeuvres and Wants Cocktail Parties Included.

NJEW YORK, April 12.—Maury Maverick, the Texas Congressman, can have your correspondent’s support in his campaign against hors d’oeuvres but only if he includes the entire array of ghastly inedibles

as well as the name itself. Hors d'oeuvres by any other name are still a scourge, and as they occur almost exclusively at cocktail parties Mr. Maverick might wisely extend

i his front and move to abolish the

cocktail party. too. These twin abominations are a holdover from the prohibition cra when people gathered in the afternoon to protest against the

; foul amendment and stayed on far

|

| Goldman-Sachs. | ished the reason for the existence | of the cocktail party and it now

nto the night, boring one another

| with pointless anecdotes and rem-

the | war and Repeal abol-

iniscences of golf,

AN

! lives on borrowed time, an awful

proceeding causing billiousness, Mr. Pegler

; marital misadventure, confusions | and abrasions, late hours and loud talk.

Not for years has dnyone willingly gone to a

| cocktail party, and the institution needs only a slight

push to destroy it and set men free. Abolish the cocktail party and you will be relieved to note the simultaneous disappearance of the cheese stick, the bowis of =sdited peanuts and popcorn, the stuffed olives

| wrapped in bacon and impaled on a wobbly tooth- | pick, the deadly coils of the anchovy, the horrible | dabs of red caviar in sour cream, the quarter sec-

tions of leathery antipasto and all the hundred evil little smears of deviled paste on brittle crust which cracks in the fingers and drops goo on your necktie. Abolish the cocktail party and you will disperse all that uneasy company of mutually suspicious strangers who meet through mumbled intreductions ane never catch the names and then roam around, lost, friend-

less and forlorn, looking for a familiar face if only |

that of an old and well-detected enemy.

" #" bh

I is the first trial in life, the cocktail party, comparable in its loneliness to a child’s first day at school but worse because there is always a chance that the person who says, “Nice day,” may be the weather men or his wife. Or the one who says, “Do you like Ben Bernie?” is Ben Bernie or his wife. Your correspondent has met several men named Cohen at cocktail parties, always keeping the left out, SO to speak, lest there should be some special Cohen among them. Then, lately, dropping his guard, your correspondent met another Mr. Cohen at cocktails and was on the point of uttering some small-talk about gents’ ready-to-wear when some one said: “P-s-s-st! You fool! That is Octavus Roy Cohen, Saturday Evening Post.” How was I to know? ” 2 on PJ\HERE was some point to the cocktail party and 4 the deadly hors d'oeuvre in prohibition time. Strangers’ we may have been to one another individually, but comrades we were in something which was a sacred, unfailing bond pf rebellion. Any man who

acquired a pint, quart or case, whether house paint, disinfectant or silo liquor, felt an obligation to share his goed luck with as many kindred souls as he could oblige with what he had. They came a’running and a’thirsting, male and female and of all ages and occupations, and when the cocktail hour was over they were walking up the walls and making clandestine dates, sometimes with their own wives and husbands, not knowing, God help them, what they were doing by that ‘time. Only now it comes to your correspondent that the best way to avoid hors d'oeuvres is to stay away from the cocktail party and that the one certain way to destroy them both is to do it. over and over.

__ THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES Gr own _By Herblock |

| |

ETT TTT BS ! En Fo F $ 2 X 2 N “

That Famous Undefended Border

N

a . The Hoosier Forum | 1 wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.

STONE FEARED AS CHIEF JUSTICE By E. F. Maddox

I want to comment on the strafegy contained in the proposal to make Justice Harlan F. Stone the Chief Justice. “Roosevelt intimated to his advisers that it would be good strategy to have a Republican as Chief Justice,” report Pearson and Allen ih the Merry-Go-Round. Mr. Stones Republicanism is just about the same variety as Mr. Roosevelt's Democracy. Mr. ‘Stone's attitude toward New Deal laws is summed up

| in the following:

“If these fools want to put this stuff across, it’s not the business of the Supreme Court to stop them,” and “for the removal of unwise laws from the statute books recourse should not be had to the courts, but to the ballot.”

With a President who subordinated the Democratic Party to the Socialists in Wisconsin and Minnesota in the recent election, and .a Suk preme Court justice who thinks the courts have no authority to pass

‘jon the constitutionality of acts of

Congress and who dismisses the whole vital issue with such remarks, in control of this nation, who is going to save the United States from communism?

Not the President, nor the Su-

congress. . This nation will never submit to socialism without a fight, no matter ii the whole Socialist platform is written into law by the New Dealers and upheld by a packed . Supreme Court. |

2 n BACKS GLASS IN COURT STAND By W. R. Chapin

Following is a copy of a. telegram I sent to Senator Carter Glass of Virginia, Washington: 21 “Your courageous and honorable stand on the Supreme Court issue warns the heart of every rightthinking citizen. Only a man of courage would thus oppose the most powerful and diabolically sly Administration in the history of the republic. Honorable men instinctively do the right rather than the expedient thing. Long after the mouthing demagogues of today have passed into oblivion you and your

8

colleagues will be remembered and

respected by a grateful people.” 2 td ” QUOTES ENCYCLOPEDIA ON NAPOLEON By M. P. F.

For those who saw “Maytime” and did not look up Louis Napoleon in the Encyclopadia

“By various measures, such as subsidies, charitable gifts and foundations, he endeavored to show that ‘the idea of improving the lof of those who suffer and struggle against the difficulties of life was constantly in his mind.’ His was the government of cheap bread, great public works and holidays. “He again sought the approbation of the nation. He obtained it with

General Hugh Johnson Says—

It's Not High or Low Prices That Cause Booms Ending in Depressions, But Disparity Between Prices That Slashes Consumers’ Buying Power.

(GEororTOWN, S. C., April 12.—The Administration says: that the prices of durable goods are too high. Theoretically it wouldn't make very much difference whether all prices were high or low, if they all went up and down together, and if by “prices” we also mean the prices of labor, money—meaning interest rates—rents, fees and services. It is disparity of prices, or groups of prices, that does the harm. In fairly normal, prosperous times, any chart of all the various price groups looks like a closely twisted rope. Their slight variations do not fray out the cord; it stays closely twisted as most of them rise or fall pretty much in unison. But in the charts of every single great boom or great bust, the price structure goes to pieces. In booms, the price in one or more groups—such as real estate or copper, for example, will’ shoot way ahead of other groups, such as wages and salaries or’ farm products. ” un 2

W Tr HAT happens? The power of the laggard groups \ to buy and have or consume the products in the higher groups is cut in two or worse. When that lopsidedness gets bad enough, the boom crashes. We talk about “buyers’ strikes.” such thing. It is just that prices, as they go up, get beyond the purchasing power of one huying group after another until they have destroyed so much of ‘their own market that there aren't enough sales—i. e. “business is bad.” rary digr :

{form had better get

| soon, for. there will be another elec- | preme Court nor a rubber-stamp |

| the ballot.

Britannica, T° want to pass along this quotation: |

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

brilliant success, 1,358,786 votes against 1,571,939. His work now seemed to be consolidated. “A few weeks later it crumbled irrevocably. Since 1866 he had been pursuing an elusive appearance of glory.” : Hollywood produced a remarkable likeness of the third Napoleon but didn’t end it.. 2 ” ” SUGGESTS THAT WRITER GO TO SPAIN By A. E. Jackson It seems that Mr. O'Conner, Forum contributor, is a ‘dyed-in-the-wool has-beener. He must think there is no one right but the kindergarten bunch. If he wants to fight, why doesn't he go to Spain. This country would have had a

revolution if Roosevelt hadn't been | Cop : | dent. . This, instead of allowing a

| policeman to hold court

made President. . . . Those opposing the Court rein harness

tion in which the laborers will use They have no wool over their eyes now. It is said that the Court will be shackled. For years it has shackled all but just a chosen few. If the people were to decide, the Court would have only Maine and Vermont left to its credit. 2 4 u GRAPEFRUIT MIGHT PROBLEM, TOO.

By Daniel Francis Clancy, Logansport

“Twenty-two Nations Seek Sugar Accord”’—headline. Can't they even agree that sugar’s sweet? Not long ago I averred that monarchism was not so nearly through as some people say. I wouldn’t say I told you so, but I see that plans are under way to place Prince Juan on the Spanish throne.

PRESENT

a

DESPAIR

By VIRGINIA KIDWELL Now I am weary of this feeble art

Of vain attempt to write what's in

my heart

And ever failing. You won’t under- |

stand What inner urging drives my reckless hand, So let it lie at ease frrevermore. At ease? No, rather will it helpless lie,

| For if it cannot write, it needs

must die.

DAILY THOUGHT

But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.—Matthew . 5:39. | ;

O err is human; to forgive, di- - vine.—FPope.

Letters |

| sévere cases:

BUSINESS MEN OF ALEXANDRIA HIT By Harry Cline

At times the small business man | | resorts to abysmal folly. This has

happened in Alexandria. However, for the most part, these people are kindly, generous and law-abiding, but by their act in aligning themselves with what is known as The

Citizens’ League for Industrial Security, they stand out as adult infants. What is" most pathetic, in this instance, is that many of the professional group likewise have gone weltering in this sea of infantilism.

#8 =n LET JUDGES DECIDE IN

TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS By H. W. A.

In The Times I read an item by

an Indianapolis policeman who states that 75 per cent of the traffic accidents could be avoided if

| parties involved were put under ar-

rest and brought before a court to let the judge decide which driv-

er- was responsible for the acci-

in the street and permit both parties to

‘get, away with any Kind of an ac-

cident if they have drivers’ licenses.

.1t’s come to the place now that ‘when an arrest is made for pur- | glary or murder the first question

an officer asks is, “Have you a driver's license?” Someone is responsible for every accident that occurs, and the parties should be taken before a judge, to set the responsibility. The court should go the limit on In accidents involving two or three hundred dollars damage and injury to someone, the person responsible should not be fined the same amount as one who : thoughtlessly runs through a preferential street or red light. More power to this police officer. If we had more police who are anxious to do the duty they are hired to do, we would have fewer auto accidents.

2 n ”n PRAISES WORK OF F. D. R. AND LEWIS By William Lemon Roosevelt’s enemies have dubbed him a dictator and now they place John L. Lewis in the same category. As long as these two progressives benefit the downtrodden masses, that long will the capitalistic class and its poorer, ignorant followers criticize them. Lewis’ success is due to the fact that Roosevelt gave labor an even break with capital. Roosevelt is our first President to do that. Lewis has the right idea, regardless of the fact that his opponent William Green sees the handwriting on the wall. In 1940 he will control the labor vote, which is the deciding vote in our national elections. Hasn't labor as much right to protection and legislation as capital? It is the only weapon labor has to depend on.

MONDAY, APRIL 12, 1937 By Talburt

» oat

— LAR A

-

It Seems to Me

By Heywood Broun

Mr. Hershey Finds Some Workers Prefer Union to Skating Rinks, Shade Trees and Swimming Pool.

EW YORK, April 12.—There has been tumult in the chocolate nut bar town. Labor troubles have spilled Mr. Hershey's almonds all over the front lawn. No doubt Milton S. Hershey, the founder and chief

stockholder of the corporation, will be disappointed, for he has said on several occasions that the business has been run for the last 25 years chie’ly to develop an industrial Utopia. : And the town which is named after the good gray founder boasts model houses, each with its sepa=rate vard, shade trees, a huge community building, a swimming pool, a gymnasium and a hocky rink, Still, according to the story in the New York Times, ‘“philanthropy begins after the declara= tion of dividends.” Mr. Hershey is not” the first Lord Bountiful to discover that labor often prefers a union rather than a skating rink. And he is not likely to be the last of the pa= ternalists to learn that labor pre fers to move ahead under its own steam. Being fair to workers is a much more arduous task than the mere business of being kindly. Even an Uncle Tom will turn if you give him time enough. The day is almost certain to arrive when the face tory hands exclaim, “Quit being so good to us. Never mind about the pool. I don’t want to swim. I would rather have the money in my pay envelope.” And when such situations arise there is indigna=tion in some quarters at the ingratitude of the worke= ers. And yet their reaction seems to me not only nae tural but wholly logical. The man with the Christe mas turkey under his arm is not an unmixed blessing when he drops around to bestow largess and asks how often the children take a bath. ‘Labor has rights which’ far transcend the crumbs of community halls . and separate yards. Mr. Hershey is just finding that out. He should have known it long ago. #” un 1 education of Henry Ford proceeds at a slow pace. Although a modern industrialist as far as the physical aspect of his plants is concerned, Henry still insists upon playing the role of Lord of the Manor. There is nothing of the horse and buggy age in the speedup along the Ford assembly line, but outside the factory Henry likes to dwell in dreams of the old days of handicraft, and he sees himself as the Kindly squire. And the dream grows in its intensity. In this phantom kingdom where Henry rules without let or hindrance, functioning solely on the milk of human kindness (out of which he gets 25 miles to the gallon), the Government of the United States is an interloper, And when any disturbing word comes from Washington, Henry simply rolls over and refuses to be awakened from his dream. Sooner or later it will be necessary to nudge him. oo ” 8 » ND I am willing with very great interest to see what commitment will come from the lads and: lassies who have been screaming their heads off in charges that the C. I. O. is creating disrespect for law and order and inculcating lawlessness in the United States. Henry Ford has just issued a complete defiance to the law of the land, just as he did during the days of the NRA. He has announced from his Georgia home that he will never recognize any union. Already he has broken the spirit and the letter of the Wagner act by attempting to discourage organization among his employees. To be sure, the Supreme Court may invalidate that piece of legislation if it ever gets around to makin a decision. But Henry doesn't purpose to wait for the Court. He has brought in his own personal veto already. And Henry is mighty. But democracy will not long endure if Mr. Ford is privileged to say that the will of all three co-ordinate branches of the Govs= ernment does not go as far as he himself is concerned, -

Mr. Broun

2

The Washington Merry-Go-Round

Bombing of British Destroyer and Mussolini's Pact With Jugoslavia Are Straws Indicating European War Menace Worse Than It Seems,

There isn’t any |

The reverse of this happens in depressions. Some prices drop so mueh faster than cthers that people dependent on t he rapidly falling prices can’t buy the products of more stable price and the whole structure is pulled down. : This leveling down or leveling up goes on until a relation is established between the various groups where each again can buy the products of the other ana business is good again. The trick is to keep ail prices relative. = 2.0 =» GOVERNMENT can scare some prices into an upward spiral by making pecple so afraid of the value of money that they rush to buy a few types of nondeteriorable, storable things to save their fortunes. But that is the beginning of disaster. Or it can encourage nearly all prices upward by assuring stable conditions of trade, manufacture and farming.

Also, in emergencies when some particular, group skyrockets dangerously or drops disastrously, Government can rush in with an improvised parachute or pulmotor. for a limited time, in a limited field and with uncertain effect. Taine Beyond that, Government can’t do much. Prices can be controlled by Government only when, coupled with price-control, both demand and supply are also

‘absolutely controlled. That happens in modern war

—which is the only time it can happen unless the Government is to take over and control all human -action as it does in war d

By Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen ASHINGTON, April 12.—Confidential cables from Europe indicate that the war menace is worse than appears on the surface. The two most important straws in the wind are: : 1. The bombing of the British destroyer Gallant by supposedly Spanish Insurgent airplanes. 2. Mussolini's new pact with Jugoslavia, gives him a free hand in the Mediterranean. Reports received by Naval Intelligence make the bombing of the British destroyer most significant. A U. S. destroyer also was bombed by the Spanish, but under accidental circumstances. > The British destroyer, however, was bombed twice. Six bombs first were aimed at it, then three bombs. To escape them it had to take a zig-zag course. All thiswas no accident. The planes were marked with Spanish Insurgent insignia, but strong suspicion is that they were Italian.

which

» » ” EANWHILE the new pact between Italy and Jugoslavia leaves Mussolini's hand free of Jugoslav opposition in the Mediterranean. The pact virtually surrenders the Adriatic to Jugoslavia. Once Italy aspired to make this narrow strip of sea an Italian lake. Now Mussolini is out for bigger things. He wants to make the Mediterranean an Italian lake. Considering the British and French stake in the Mediterranean, this is a tremendous job. And it indicates why war looks more probable than before.

Mussolini is not going to withdraw from Spain withe out a fight.

at 2

HISPER it softly, but that game law violation

charge against Justice Willis Van Devanter will never reach a court. 3

This is the case that arose from the Justice's failure to have a $1 Federal stamp on his duck hunting license as required by the law. When the story got into the papers, Van Devanter explained he had not known about the law. 5 ” ' The Bureau of Biology Survey, which has charge of enforcing game laws, was dubious about prosecuting the Justice. But sportsmen in all parts of the country bombarded it with demands that it make no exception under the law. o

Under this pressure the Bureau sent the various documents in the case to the Justice Department— which was even more embarrassed. With the Administration engaged in a bitter struggle against the Supreme Court, the last thing it wanted was to prosecute one of the anti-New Deal Justices on a minor hunting offense. :

For a:time, protests from sportsmen were so \vigofous that the Department hesitated. But now the Biglogical Bureau documents have been carefully filed away—and that is where they will remain. : Note—Inside the Justice Department the Van D§vanter affair is irreverently known as the “dead duck’ 3

2