Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 4 June 1937 — Page 16

PAGE 16

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Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 1937

AN EXAMPLE FOR F. D. R. REAT ERITAIN has muddled through a thousand years of continued greatness. Her democratic form of government has grown and endured. [ Meanwhile other nations have risen and d clined, and “other peoples have abandoned self- rule. To those who ponder this phenomenon we suggest : a possible key in Neville Chamberlairds first important act as Prime Minister. | A few ‘weeks agp, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Chamberlain proposed a growth-of-profits tax, to balance the budget. Opposition to this drastic, somewhat punitive, nd very complex levy mounted steadily until all British industry and virtually every member of Parliament—Conservatives, Liberals and Laborites—resisted its enactment.

If he had wanted to piit on a political strong-man act

when he bicame premier, Mr. Chamberlain might have cracked the whip and railroaded his unpopular measure to enactment. But he/was interested in results, not in face‘saving. He wanted to get revenue for rearmament from ‘the profits of recovery. So he compromised and coolly iwithdrew his pet plan, saying: ¥ “] would not only be something less than prudent, but | 1 would be stupid if/1 were to persist in a particular method | of getting what 1 want if 1 can get it by a simpler method | and “get it in larger amounts and in a much better way.” J Such ability to admit error, to yield gracefully—the technique of compromise—has marked Britain's finest statesmanship through the centuries; and goes far to explain the success that is Britain's. “pn In this country we, too, have a leader elequent in disclaiming infallibility. * Said Franklin Roosevelt, in March, 1933, asking enactment of the frankly experimental "AAA: “If a fair administrative trial of it is made and it does not produce the hoped-for results, I shall be the first to acknowledge it and advise you.” 3 n ” s ” n 2 UT, unfortunately for him and for America’s domestic tranquility and progress, Franklin Roosevelt's actions do not always display such resiliency. : His court-enlargement bill met with an opposition which steadily expanded and solidified. And all the while, persons friendly to Mr. Roosevelt strove for compromise to attain the same objective of removing judicial obstruction to his New Deal. But Mr. Roosevelt, as this is written, has stuck to his own scheme, piling up for himself and his program a bitterness and an antagonism, which one stroke of Mr. Chamberlain’s. self-effaci le statesmanship could have dispelled. Another instance is his undi stributed earnings tax, which he forced through the last Congress and which has been tried and found wanting. Because we believe so firmly in Mr. Roosevelt's economic and humanitarian purposes, and hope so earnestly that.he will succeed, we cannot help but wish that he would observe and profit by Neville Chamberlain’s example.

CHEERIO AND so they lived happily ever afterwards. . .. That's the way the fairy stories end, and if ever this ¢ hard-boiled old world has seen a fairy story lived out in real i life it is the one that ended yesterday at the Chateau de -. Cande in the marriage of the Duke of Windsor and Wallis } Warfield. : Hans Christian Andersen would have wanted no better 'plot—a blond young Nordic king who must choose between

his far-flung empire and lady fair because his loved one is |

not of royal blood. Twin ogres that guard the palace in the person of Stanley Baldwin and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Prince Charming chooses “the woman I love.” Abdicates his throne and is self-banished to a foreign land. A quiet village wedding, conducted by the town mayor in foreign tongue and by an obscure and loyal English vicar.’ Cheers from all lovers of romance. Perhaps this American wife, for whom he is “forsaking all others” will make up for the things he has lost. Those who know her think she will. She will succeed if she, helps him find something useful to do in place of his

wrecked career, something better than travel or. sport or .

playing the dilettante in politics or intrigue. The world will hope they make the happiest pair in Christendom, not only because they've had their share of unhappiness, but because even now, exiled as they are with little lef of pomp and: none of power, they are our No. 1 bridal couple. In wishing them happiness, we wish it to millions of no less momentous folks starting out on life's most adyenturous relationship as June honeymooners. Here's to a long, happy, ‘busy —and useful—Ilife to the Ww indsors!

.NATU RES BOUNDARIES HE general idea embodied in the Norris bill is “a natural,” we think, in more ways than one. It would create seven regional authorities to plan and co-ordifiate water and soil conservation projects, each authority eventually to assume powers and functions such as the Tennessee Valley Authority now exercises. At present the soil conservation service in the Depart"ment of Agriculture plans and directs one class of projects. The forest service of the Agriculture Department has charge lof another. The land utilization section of the Re‘settlement Administration, also in the Agriculture Department, buys. up submarginal land and retires it from culti- : vation, But the Bureau of Reclamation, in the Interior De- ~ partment, has charge of irrigation projects which restore “other submarginal lands to cultivation, and it builds and operates some of the dams and reservoirs. And the Army engingers of the War Department have charge of levees, floodways and other dams. All are operating out of Wash- . Different types of work require differing skills and

FA EAA ded

A d it is proper they should be carried out by special- | But the solution has to end where the problem starts the watersheds. And ine Tesponsibility of planning

EER EBERLE A EERE ER FA

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES “The Nazi Government Is Satisfied’—By Herblock

FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 1937 |

The Liberal View

By Dr. Harry Elmer Barnes

Rockefeller's Donations to Help Humanity Prove Exception to General Rule Among Wealthy.

NEW YORK, June 4. There is a good deal of moralizing in the conservative press about the wickedness of tax policies and other legislation designed to take money away from rich folk. The death of John D.

Rockefeller has given them a text. The fact that he gave away around $700,000,000, to say nothing of the dimes showered on tots, is taken as the basis far an argument that the concen-

tration of wealth is a blessing to humanity. If the average man on the street got more of this money he would only waste it on a second suit of clothes, the movies or beer, and humanity would be deprived of great works of art, endowments for medical research, educational grants and the like. Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that Mr. Rockefellér’s benefactions entirely offset any social losses which resulted from the manner in which he accumu-

lated his riches. Let us further Dr.

Barnes

concede that his gifts have been made with great.

care and discrimination and applied where they would do the most good. Does this vindicate the thesis that the accumulation of vast fortunes is a general benefit to society? It will be found that Mr. Rockeféller presents one of the most colossal examples in history of the adage that an exception proves the rule. He is one of the very few who have turned back any considerable. part of their gains for the benefit of society at large. In. fact, the benefactions of great moment have been made | by about half a dozen individuals. More than half of the total gifts have been made by two families ~the| Rockefellers and the Carnegies.

” n 2 D* ABRAHAM EPSTEIN made a study of the gifts of the wealthy, He concluded that: | “The benevolence of a dozen individuals, such as

Carnegie, the Rockefellers, Harkness, Rosenwald and

a few others account for a considerable proportion of

existing foundations. Of the estimated $1,000,600,000 now available in these funds, the gifts of the RockeTellers and Andrew Carnegie alone make up threefourths of the total.” \ The exhibit with respect to ‘private charity is even less impressive as an argument)for leaving great incomes and fortunes untouched. It is the same story of a few shouldering the burden of charity, so far as it comes from the rich at all. As Dr. Epstein says:

» ” 8.0" MONG the masses of the well-to-do not many give anything to charity, even in the most generous city, New York. A negligible number of rich individuals support all charities. The vast bulk of the wealthy contribute to none.” 2 ' The impersonal gifts to| charity by corporations presents a ‘far more sorry spectacle. An important economic research organization looked into the gifts of corporations to community chests. With twice as many corporations contributing in 1929 as in 1920, the corporate contribution wagk relatively less in 1929 than

in 1920. This was the tale after the great boom decade in American history.

|

The CR Forum

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

CONTRASTS GREENLEE AND LAGUARDIA STATEMENTS

By Anita J. Norman, Evansville

“We have in New York—and if you don’t believe it, ask the politicians—a nonpartisan government. We have made Civil Service mean something here for the first time in history. Naturally, the politicians

don’t like it. Political pressure must | be resisted if Civil Service is to be |

built. up so that young men and women can enter government service as a career. The cost of government is mounting so high that the need of trained personnel is greater than ever before and the only way to get it is by making it a life work which will appeal [to the type of young men and women needed.” ; Contrast the above statement of Mayor LaGuardia of New York City with that below of Mr. Pleas Greenlee, former patronage secretary of ex-Governor McNutt, who was recently appointed by President Roosevelt as a member of the Coal Board, at $10,000 a year. Senator Minton, who is active in trying to have a “packed” Supreme Court, sponsored Mr, Greenlee for this position and the members of the Senate confirmed his appointment.

Greenlee Is Quoted

“When we took over the affairs of Indiana two years ago, there were many people let out of office because they were not ‘producing’! There were 70,000 deserving Democrats in the state and only 4000 jobs to hand out. We found that over a period of 16 years that Re-

publicans had been in office there’

were so many of the party on the state payrolls that they were in each other's way. To balance things we just let them out and put Democrats in their places. “If we didn't have Democrats suited to fill the jobs we did away with the jobs—and if I had my way about it there wouldn't be a Republican holding a job in Indiana and we feel that it is time Democrats are having their share. “The appointment, of employees to State jobs have come through recommendations of precinct committeemen, county chairmen and through state organizations.”

Appointment for Machines

With Postmaster General Farley's recent visit to Indiana and with the recent appointments of ex-Governor McNutt (who called the troops out when workers were organizing in Terre Haute) as High Commissioner of the Philippines and of his former patronage secretary to the important Coal Board, one cannot help wondering if these men are not expected to build up political machines, similar to the one in Indiana, in the Philippines and in| the coal states. “When we say ‘merit system, we might mean a ‘lot of things.” to be hoped that Governor Town-

send means Indiana is to have a,

true “merit system.” Mayor LaGuardia “of New York has proven that a nonpartisan government is not only possible! but practical, and it is to be hoped that Governor Townsend will be in a position, when his term expires, to say,

General Hugh Johnson Says—

' German Bombardment of Almeria) Was Atrocious, but I+ Behooves America Not to Be Drawn Into Conflict by Declaring an Embargo.

ASHINGTON, June 4.—The German “bombard. ment of the Spanish town of Almeria in retaliation for the aerial bombing of a Nazi battleship 300 miles away, is just like sneaking up on a man’s house

.at night and shooting his grandmother through the

window because he has bounced a brick off your bean in the morning.

It is atrocious, but-it doesn’t justify: pink radicals in our Senate in jumping up and down demanding that we declare war between Germany and Spain and hop into it on the side of the Spanish radicals by an embargo. It doesn’t for two reasons: First, there is no state of ‘war and, second it’s none of our business. The doctrine of retaliation, this side of war, is unlovely, but it is not new—especially in our own practice. In April, 1914, we sent our Navy down to bombard the port of Vera Cruz and kill several scores of civilians, ostensibly because the President of Mexico had refused to salute the American flag. The real reason was because Huerta was a Fascist dictator and we favored the’ liberal side in the Mexican civil war. Huerta never saluted the flag, but we held on to Vera Cruz until he resigned. ;

” 2 ”

Tu next example of our bungling, meddlesome

ianelitralliy was . when we let a lot of Carranza diers attack Pancho Villa

‘supervisors to put the law

It is,

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

“We. have in Indiana—and if you don’t believe it ask .politicians—a nonpartisan government. We have made Civil Service mean something here for the first time in history. Naturally the politicians don't like it. ” ” " on PLEADS FOR MINIMUM WAGE BUT NO POLITICS By Ward B. Hiner We have heard a lot of chitterchat about the Supreme Court. Let it be right or wrong—that is not the issue. The Court already has ruled that a minimum wage law is constitutional. If there is any issue in this country today that is worthy of consideration, it is a minimum wage that

will give the workers of the United

States a decent living. It is an emergency matter.

Let's quit playing politics. Let's

‘pass a minimum wage law, not of

$12, $13 or $14 to fit the Southern states, but let's make it a law giving wages high enough that common decency in the home can be maintained. If the President has the courage to demand a $24 per week minimum (excepting agriculture and domestic work), the businessmen of this country will get behind him immediately and it will not be necessary to appoint thousands of political into effect. The NRA reduced the standard of wages to an amount that was neither decent nor reasonable, and anything like $14 or $16 a week means that on that wage no man can support a hgme and family or educate his children and prepare them for the battles of life. Such figures prove that the leaders who promoted and. supported such a minimum wage had not sufficient practical experience to know what it costs to raise, support and defend a family home. Remember that a $16 minimum will: become a maximum wage in 90 per cent of employment

OCTAVE

By MARY WARD Silvery clouds Sailed on the blue, The jonquil crowds Starred then the view, The birds that sing Sang as today— None altering Save you, away.

DAILY THOUGHT

It is written again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.— Matthew 4:7. ~,

O realize God's presence is the one sovereign remedy against temptation.—Fenelon.

That is not a living wage. Why not do it right to start with?" The question is, how shall we put a law like this into effect? If an employer employs a person for 40

‘| hours, or whatever the standard

hours per week would be, for less than a minimum wage of $24 per week, then make the penalty double for every day the employer has so violated the law. Such matters should be settled in the Justice of Peace Court, Municipal Court, or Circuit Court without the supervision of multitudinous politicians who don’t know what they are doing. Let's give laborers a break. Give them a chance to live decently and you will find them honest. The President could make this law within 100 hours if he wished to do it, and if he believed in a decent

living for all men and decent wages |.

for them. Unless this is done, sooner or later the workers as well as the business‘men of this country will revolt against political intrigue. f : : #8 = WRITES AN ODE TO COMMISSIONER M’'NUTT | | By Morgan Easton When Paul V. McNutt to the PHilippines went, A vukase to all the officials he sent, Informing them thusly, “At bis: quets and such, When drinking your toasts, remember this much— McNutt must come first.”

The natives, it happened, a Presi-

dent had, And strange to relate they respected the lad. “Our man,” they averred, “should no second place take; It’s plain the new Governor's trying to make McNitt-wits of us.”

They talked and they argued; they stewed and they fussed; They raved and they ranted; they ripped and they cussed. They howled, “We're insulted! brotherly love Has prompted this action! that the Gov. Is full of McGnatts!”

No

It's just

And yet 'twould be easy this tempest to quell And let peace descend over what is now hell. All the natives need do, slight they’d repay, Is stand, with raised glasses, and solemnly say, “McNutts, sir, to you.” ” " 2 CORONATION OVER AND CLANCY BREATHES EASIER

Logansport

if this

By Daniel Francis Clancy,

Well, the coronation broadcast is over and I admit that my predictions proved false—not once did an American announcer break in- with a good word for “Blank’s Finer Foods.” And. when the crowning was. over I breathed again, for I was almost sure that an interrupting voice would yell “Hold that please! Ladies and gentlemen, the king is about to be crowned—and remember, you, too, will be crowned with success in motorcar performance if you use Blank’s Gasoline!”

It Seems to Me

By Heywood Broun

Girdler's Pronouncement Against Lewis and Death of Dean Wyckoff Give Columnist Much to Write.

EW YORK, June 4.—Once upon a time a columnist’s chief problem was to find something to write about. Of late the stream of news is so full of a number of things that the difficulty lies largely in selecting a topic.

I find “Girdler Hopes He Will Never Meet Lewis,” ‘Dean Wyckoff Dies in Coma,” “C. I. O. Drive Backed by Church,” ‘Rome Denies Blockading Spain,” “Says Beer Causes ‘Tunnel . Vision.’ ”

I am sorry Dr. John Wyckofl is dead, because he knew a little

more about the art of medicine ~~ 7

than any other physician I ever met. He was a great heart spe cialist, but I am talking of his sensitive realization of the fact that the good doctor must be something more than the expert technician. He knew that most of the people- who came to him were frightened about some real or imaginary ailment. Although a busy man, he would leave off the business of an examination and say, “Come on into the other room ‘and have a cigaret and let’s sit down and talk.” The patient was not just a passing anatomical exhibit, but a person with nerves and hopes and fears and aspirations. John Wyckoff went on the princi ple that he should listen to those as well as the heart beat. And, like a baseball reporter covering a world series game, he would give you a running story of the examination as he went along. There was none of this business of “Come in a week:from tomorrow, when I've had ‘time to study the pictures and the cardiogram, and then I'll give you my opinion.” Such delays are agonizing to a patient. He was a- prophet as well as an artist. He said to me once, “You know doctors can almost choose the death they want. Specialists invariably die of the malady which they attempt to cure. That's one reason why I like to be a heart specialist. It isn't a bad way at all.”

Mr. Broun

”® 8 ”

UT in Cleveland Tom Girdler said, “I have never—

seen John L. Lewis except at a distance, and 1 hope to God I never will see him.” It is a little discouraging to find an industrial leader attempting to escape from reality and find shelter in an ivory tower. Seemingly Mr. Girdler fears to face the facts of life. His panic warps his judgment. The age of business Bourbonism dies slowly, but there need be no question that it is very sick. And it is encouraging to find that church groups are beginning to appreciate their social responsibility; A survey just made by the Council for Social Action of the Congregational and Christian Churches of

‘America has just come out for the C. I. O. drive to

dislodge the last contenders for dictatorship in steel, » = »

E have our little Hitlers here, and, like Dez Fuehrer, they have a faith in frightfulness, Mistakenly, they believe that the struggle for organ ization can be smashed by violence. Franco has his Moorish mercenaries, and the bitter-enders of business rely upon the savagery of cops and private police. The situation in Spain has been clarified. No person has a logical right any more to say that he is against Hitler but for the Rebels in Spain. Things equal to the same thing are equal to each other,

The Washington Merry-Go-Round

Nation to Watch in European Situation Is Not Germany, buf Italy, Whose Interests Clash With England's, Merry-Go-Rounders Say.

engaged in a Fascist-Communist. row very similar to the present bloody Spanish fandango. We did not favor Mr. Villa's reds. . As a direct result of our overt act of vicarious war, Villa suddenly attacked the little border town of Columbus, N. M., burned part of it and killed 17 Americans. It was “retaliation” —just like Almeria— just like Vera Cruz—but it wasn’t war. Then | followed one of the quaintest military expeditions in history. We invaded Mexico with 500 men in a hunt for Villa. We lost him at the jump and then dug in on a line 700 miles long from Columbus to Bachinevs, - ” ” »

E Staged in Mexico for .almost a year of constant sniping guerilla hostility but with no declaration of war—only retaliation. We did everything that Germany, Italy and Russia are now chdrged with doing jn Spain, including the supply of the implements of war to the side we favored and the denial of such supplies to the other side. . The fact that we did all these things does not make them right. But it does suggest one reason for minding our own DT iy, LLY other nations do tHEm and the hypocrisy of the War na preach in the ate by the par

By Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen ASHINGTON, June 4.—The nation to watch in the European situation is not so much Ger-

. many, but Italy.

The Germans have been in the headlines, but actual fact is that had it not been for the bombing of the Deutschland, ‘they were about ready to ‘quit the Spanish war. Not so with the Italians, however. Mussolini considers Spain his meat. He wants a government at the western mouth of the Mediterranean which will be under his thumb. This is a part of his plan to recreate the old Roman Empire. The basic tr@uble in Europe right now is the in-

. creasing conflict of interest between Great Britain

and Italy. Some day they are going fo clash. = wie wT HE conflict is not in Spain, but in the length and breadth of the .Mediterranean—even beyond.

Here are important instances in which ‘the Italians re- | cently have got in the British hair:

I. The Fascist radio station at Barl southern Italy, constant

specializing on cafes, at which the average Arab loves to sit. The effect on British prestige has been deadly, 2. Not long ago Indian tribes on the northwest border of India appeared with modern rifles and machine guns, where they had been armed with old-fashioned muskets before. The arms were of Italian make. | . 8 2 MUSSOLINI has continued fortifying the Libyan border adjacent to Egypt and has built a cone crete highway over the desert to reach it. On the other side of Egypt is Ethiopia, which he also rules. 4, The Balearic Isles, strategically placed near the mouth of the western Mediterranean, are now an Italian armed camp. 5. The Italian port of Massaua, in Eritrea on the Red Sea, and the island of Pantelleria between Sicily |

A and North Africa, are now as well fortified as any

British naval base in the Mediterranean, are a very real threat to the Empire trade route to India and Australia. | Chief factor on which war in the Mediterranean

hinges is the decision of one man as to whether it is

clash now with the British, while they are

-