Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 15 July 1937 — Page 18

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PAGE 18

The Indianapolis Times

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

ROY W. HOWARD LUDWELL DENNY MARK FERREE President Editor Business Manager

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THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1937

ROOSEVELT’S RISK

ROM the day he entered the White House to Feb. 5, 1937, Roosevelt luck became a tradition. The break seemed always with him. The gods of destiny smiled and smiled. Not only did his own brilliant performance speed along without even a normal number of mishaps, but whatever his enemies did was wind for his sail. The Liberty League contributed much. Even Landon and Hamilton turned out to be his busy helpers. His good fortune seemed overexpanding. : Then came the court bill. On that he staked everything. And with that, the Roosevelt luck went into reverse. Banking on liberal support, he saw the liberal ranks quickly split. Assuming the vast strength of his party to be with him, he saw division, ever widening, occur. The plan, fathered by the genial Senator Ashurst, was boomeranged by the previous strictures of that gentleman and ridicule took a hand. The crowded-docket alaym fizzled, the Hughes letter appeared, and then the Court itself by its decisions spiked the guns that had been lined up for the assault, Justice Van Devanter resigned. The unfortunate remarks of James Farley about Senators O'Mahoney and McCarran added their bit. Out of the long hearings came the condemnation from the Judiciary Committee. Then—the attempt to put over the compromise that was no compromise but the self-same packing plan in different guise; the Senate debate, quickly generating a crescendo of bitterness; the blow from the powerful chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, accompanied by the prophecy that his body would not pass the measure, and— the death of Joseph Robinson.

On that stalwart and loyal soldier the Administration | leadership in the Senate had depended. And now another |

battle within a battle looms over who shall succeed him. We wonder if Franklin Roosevelt intends to let this ill-starred thing go on, or if he will not at last realize that in this matter the hosts of fortune are against him. And if he will not realize that the whole attainment of the more abundant life for the millions who have not had abundance is being jeopardized by this dogged clinging to the cause which wears a jinx; that the hopes of so many of us for him, as a man who would go down in history with Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, are hopes which may be shattered, not by those who oppose him on the Court question, but by Roosevelt himself. You are risking too much, Mr. President, on the turn of one card, when the cards aren't running your way.

THE MARRIAGE RACKET BOOMS

HE marriage business Ww : : Viol the country’s second biggest | the court bill would never be re-

| ported out by his committee.

city has been diverted almost bodily from Chicago to Crown Point, one of Indiana's over-the-counter marriage racket towns.

Crown Point issued 254 licenses to Illinois couples dur- |

ing the first 11 days of July. In Cook County (Chicago) only 45 licenses were issued during the same period, compared with more than 1000 during the first week of July in 1936. Lhe lowering of Crown Point’s status from a moneygrabbing marriage mill to a dumping ground for even move undesirables from other states, is no accident. It came about because Illinois and Wisconsin Legislatures had the courage to enact marriage reform laws which Indiana legislators in a shameful performance refused to pass. And also because the County Clerks’ lobby, grasping for unauthorized profits from “marriage certificates,” exerted all possible pressure to block these reforms. The upshot is that a public scandal not only is perpetuated but aggravated. The new Illinois and Wisconsin laws require physicians’ certificates showing the license seekers free from venereal disease. These states now are in the forefront of the battle for public health. By the same token, Indiana not only loses ground itself in public health, but becomes the agent for undermining the progressive legislation of neighboring states. ‘ Another meritorius provision of the new laws, and one already in effect in Michigan, requires a time lapse between the application for license and the marriage. But with Crown Point only 42 miles from Chicago's Loop, Indiana is sabotaging Illinois’ reform efforts. The same story is repeated in other Indiana Gretna Greens. It is a disgrace which the next Legislature must not fail to clean up.

THE COURTS’ PART IN SAFETY "THE survey of June traffic court cases, showing that more than one-third of all those convicted escaped punishment, is even more revelatory in the light of statements by Lieut. Frank Kreml. Mr. Kreml, who is to conduct a long-range, scientific accident-reduction program for Indianapolis, declared that safety’s greatest problem lies in the treatment of traffic law violators by the courts. “It is the courts that make our campaigns succeed or fail. What good does it do to make thorough accident investigations if the judge does not utilize the evidence acquired ?”

PLATO'S HEIR

T Goettingen University’s bicentennial celebration in Germany, Prof. Hans Heyse, leader of the German neo-pagan and anti-Christian movement, proclaims Adolf Hitler the direct heir of Plato. At the same celebration German Education Minister Bernard Rust denounces the kind of democracy other nations still cherish and warns of “the demons that lurk behind the word ‘freedom’.” It was Plato who said in The Republic: “Freedom in a democracy is the glory of the state, and, therefore, in a democracy only will the freeman of nature deign to dwell.” What would Plato think of his alleged ‘‘direct heir”? And would Plato deign to dwell iff a Hitlerized Germany?

. THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES “That Man Is Here Again p

THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1937

Pra

a 0 if ifodis dave Ni

FOR A POSTAL OFFICIAL %

TO SEC. PERKINS FOR WAITING HALF A YEAR TO CONDEMN SIT=-DOWN STRIKES.

Some More Medals?

{| WHO MAKE THE STRIKES i POSSIBLE. os f (ONLY ONE SIDE TO THIS MEDAL).

Washington

By Raymond Clapper

Emotion Over Court Bill Declared Responsible for Robinson's Death; Measure Branded Not Worth Cost.

ASHINGTON, July 15.—Stubborn, bitster temper—the same high blood pressure which is making men in Congress purple with rage over the Supreme Court issue —undoubtedly choked off the days of Sena-

tor Robinson. He was highly wrought-up when he opened the difficult Supreme Court debate a few days ago. His

heavy cords strung for the occasion until he was taut as a bull fiddle at a barn dance. The strain was too much. While on his feet in Senate debate, Uncle Joe was so tense that he instinctively put a lighted match to his cigar. In this state, he was confronted a few hours before he died with the ultimatum from the House Judiciary Chairman that

Sixty-five years old after a hard-battling life, living only for the day when the court-enlarge-ment bill would go through and he would receive his reward in the nature of an appointment to the Supreme Court, Uncle Joe must have been overcome with a sense of frustration. He had not been well and the tension of these last few days had done its fatal damage. There was nothing subtle about Uncle Joe. His achievements were those of headstrong force, armored with forthrightness and courage, tempered by a frank willingness to compromise at the right times. He was as transparent as cellophane and as tough. Uncle Joe never outsmarted anybody. He just beat them or got licked or settled for what he could get. = = n NCLE JOE could purr and beam. Yet his temper was on hair trigger. He could fly into uncontrollable rage on slight provocation. Huey Long's favorite trick in the Senate was to catch Robinson in an affable mood in debate and began to rasp him. Knowing that Uncle Joe had a low boiling point, Huey took a kid's delight in kuilding a fire under him. I had known Senator Robinson many years and in 1930 when he was a member of the American delegation to the London Naval Conference I saw him frequently. As I left London he asked me if I wouldn't like some cigars. 1 said I seldom smoked them. Never. theless he took two large handfuls out of his desk and crammed them into my various pockets. Not long afterward I had an assignment concerning nepotism in Congress which involved asking him several direct questions. When I put the first question, his face went red. Giving me a curt answer, he rose and left the room, Recently, when we have met, he has spoken pleasantly, but never again after he took offense at my reporter's question did he resume calling me by my first name. = 2 Ld N ideal crony, a favorite fishing and hunting companion of men like Bernard M. Baruch, a buddy of Harvey Couch, the utilities king of Arkansas and the Southwest, Uncle Joe never got cold feet on his job, which was to take orders from Mr. Roosevelt and carry them out—and not on a stretcher either. He liked to play with economic royalists but he worked for Mr. Roosevelt and nobody else. It was this loyalty, more than anything else, that made Uncle Joe so highly regarded not only among Democrats but Republicans, ‘

Mr. Clapper

The Hoosier Forum

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

STATE ACTION DEMANDED IN CLARK COUNTY By Indignant © Please publish for your readers the following editorial from the Jeffersonville Evening News: “Last week an innocent man with a wife and two minor children was murdered in a Clark County gam-

bling war. As a result, indignation meetings have been held in Jeffer-

| sonville and New Albany, but noth-

ing has been done by our local officials to rid our community of gamblers and gangsters. “Public opinion demands that Governor M. Clifford Townsend send the State Police here to clean up this county. Clark County citizens gave Governor Townsend a majority of approximately 3000 votes in the last election. “However, regardless of all this, any Governor should act in a situation like this. Lawlessness and gambling are rampant, and yet the State does nothing about it. “On the other hand, gambling, gang war, graft and corruption continue on a scale a hundred times as large here and the Governor pays no attention to it. “From what we have learned the State Police are not even looking for the reported trigger man for the trio of gangsters. “It seems that Don Stiver, Director of the State Police, is more interested in having his men patrol highways for traffic violations than in protecting human life. “He is reported to have said that he would send his men here if requested by the Circuit Judge or some law enforcement officer. Why should anyone have to request that the State Police be sent here? The conditions in Clark County are known much farther than the borders of the State. “There is no way of telling how soon another innocent person may be killed with a renewal of gang war “The law gives the State Police the right to make arrests for violations of the law any place in the State. There is no requirement that a request ‘that the State Police be sent’ be first made. “Clark and Floyd County people who placed their faith in Governor Townsend demand that he act now!” 4 & a CHICAGO POLICE COMPARED TO SPANISH REBELS

By Social Scene Observer

The shelling of Almeria by Hitler's and Mussolini's stooges is duplicated in Chicago by city police. The attack here, however, is from the rear on the strikers on parade, who carried the American flag. The Paramount film taken of this public killing tells a tragic tale. Was this an American Hitler purge?

General Hugh Johnson Says—

Wallace Intends to Duplicate Feat of Biblical Character Joseph, But Modern 'Miracle' Is Described Only as New Deal ‘White Rabbit.’

EW YORK, July 15.—Depending upon a bunch of indefinite “ifs”—revolving about the fate of the Court reorganization plan—there may be considered a new white rabbit as big as an elephant. It is Secretary Wallace's “ever normal granary” plan. The idea is to keep farm prices from ever getting either tog high or too low. Bumper crops and great abundance make low prices. Therefore, whenever the crop is big and there is a surplus of wheat, corn, cotton, etc, the Government is to finance the storage of it to “keep it off the market.” This will prevent prices from doing a nose-dive. The Government will lend the farmers so and so many cents a bushel on the security of their stored crops—the greater the crop, the more the RS Oveniin will lend and presumably, the less the farmers will sell on a falling price. This will restrict the supply to the market and so sustain prices. When crops are small, a shortage is threatened and prices begin to soar, the Government wili lend less or even no money on stored crops. This will force the farmer to sell and so prevent the price on a shortage market from sailing through the ceiling. : ® 8 =»

T= Biblical character Joseph on a tip from Heaven in a dream knew there were going to be seven bumper in succession and then seven yeers of famine So he took the long side of the

(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.)

FARM PAY SCALE IN STATE HIT AS LOW By Earl White, Columbus, Ind, After being away from Columbus, my home town, a few years, I came back last week and thought I'd take on some threshing of wheat. I find out that they are paying $2 a day for work from 6 to 6, and they give you your dinner. That is the least pay for threshing I ever heard of paying. I have heard of my uncle getting $2.50 to $3 a day 50 years ago. Now farmers have their best crops in years and they get $1.12 a bushel for wheat, which is more than they've gotten in years, But the farmer doesn't want to pay any wages. He wants it all for himself. To help the farmer doesn’t help the farm labor. Now there is talk of an hour and

TO AMELIA EARHART

By JOSEPHINE MOTLEY

Uncharted sweep the wastes of land and sea Where man before has never dared to fly; But woman's courage and fidelity To science gave ycu nerve and grit to try.

Before the mystic shrine of hope and fear, The whole world waits the knowledge of your fate, And girds itself alike with joy and tear, According as the news shall compensate,

If waves were wishes and sea perils sand, You'd drift to safety on some tropical isle And wait the coming of a glorious band Of people who would rescue you meanwhile.

Alas, this world is made of sterner things Than dreams and wishes and heroic wings.

DAILY THOUGHT

Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. —I. Peter 1:21.

HERE are many great truths which we do not deny, and which nevertheless we do not fully believe.—J. W. Alexander.

wage bill at Washington. This bill should take in the farm at $4 a day and eight hours for threshing, if farmers get a dollar for wheat. If they get $1.25 a bushel, $4.50 a day should be the law. A farmer should not work a man over eight hours a day threshing wheat, the hardest job on the farm. ” an ”

QUOTES LEGIONNAIRE

ON BUTASH CASE By Free Speech

Our State Supreme Court recently reversed the court at Angola which convicted Paul Butash on a criminal syndicalism charge and sentenced him to serve from one to five years in the penitentiary. In its unanimous decision, the Supreme Court made it rather clear that the misguided patriots who trapped Butash didn't have a leg to stand on in their prosecution of the case. In view of the Supreme Court's decision, I wonder what the public

thinks of this paragraph in a re- |

cent issue of the Hoosier Legionnaire, in a story tending to support the conviction: “., . . State and National Legion Judge Advocate Ralph Gregg, of Indianapolis, is among the attorneys who has read the full transcript of evidence and believes in the legality of the law and justice of his conviction.”

s ” 2 TAKES POT SHOTS AT CONGRESS By Daniel Francis Clancy, Logansport

There was a phase which was very popular around last May 12, and which I haven't heard lately— to wit: “He ain't any better than I am.” ... So Blaise Pascal proved the existence of the vacuum when he was 25?—that isn't so much, I could point in the direction of Congress when I was only six! . .. Blum was France's Poet Premier— now he should try to be France's Premier Poet. . . . Since the new Irish constitution has abolished titles of nobility it looks like I'll never be Duke of Clancy—ah, well, maybe if I stay in the “Great Republic” some day I'll become a “prince of privilege.” . . . Is Congress spelled with an “ess” or is it not?” he asked. “Yes,” said I, “like” in ‘mess’. . . . 1 haven't even seen a copy, but I'll wager that when I do the cover will read something like this—“How to Win Friends and Influence People—An invaluable handbook for the young politican.” . . . Sitting at my desk writing late the other night, I heard what sounded like a shot and saw a flash on the dark waters of the river running past my window. I jerked around and the thought rushed to me—is the patriotic Babbitry closing in at last?

It Seems to Me

By Heywood Broun

Transcript of Girdler's Testimony Declared Unfair Because Republic

Aid Really Was Shy on Relief Facts.

ST AMFORD, Conn., July 15.—When 1 was in Washington last week 1 got a transcript of the hearing of the Postoffice Committee, before which Tom Girdler of Republic Steel appeared. At the time of the

hearing it seemed to me that the colloquy between Senator Green of Rhode Island and Mr, Girdler on the right to work was highly illuminating. I beg leave to reprint a portion: Senator Green—I understand you to state that as a result of your studies of labor legislation here and abroad you thought as a matter of national policy the Federal Government should rece ognize every man’s right to work, Is that right? Mr. Girdler—Yes, sir. Senator Green—Do you think the Federal Government should also recognize every man’s right to an opportunity to work? Mr. Girdler—Every man’s right for an opportunity to work? Senator Green—Every man’s right for an opportunity to work. Mr, Girdler—I do not think I understand that, Senator Green—In other words, do you think the

Government should interest itself in providing jobs for the men if they are not available? a Girdler—Providing jobs if they are not availe able? Senator Green—Yes. :

Mr. Girdler—Well, if they could do it without taking too much money out of the pockets of the rest of the taxpayers of the country, why, I should say that would be all right.

If I may step in and interrupt the hearing at this point I niight say that the factual record, in spite of its accuracy, is not altogether fair to Tom Girdler, It appears that Mr. Girdler’s naive bewilderment at any question touching on relief must be feigned.

Mr. Broun

” ” » No while it is true that during these portions of the hearing Mr. Girdler floundered around a great deal, it is quite probable that he actually was muddled, becuse he has never bothered his head about the problem of the unemployed. When a strike curtails production there is sharp criticism, but when a large industrial plant shuts down or radically reduces its working force there is a disposition to regard that event as “an act of God.” When the economic history of 1937 is write ten with the advantage of a little perspective I think it may be found that the big strikes of the spring and summer helped to -stave off a panic like that of 1929. In motors particularly there has been a disposition to take very small thought of the potential market for the cars being turned out in such vast quantities.

# o ”

AND when people speak in exact figures of the millions lost in wages during a strike they talk onsense, for motors is a seasonal occupation, and under the speed-up system the employee is driven at a mad pace so that he may presently produce him= self out of a job and into a layoff.

The Washington Merry-Go-Round

Roosevelt Reported Planning Autumn Visit to Philippines in Navy Cruisers Parker Indirectly Slaps at Hughes by Announcing Midsummer Hearing.

wheat market and stored wheat for seven years. Then when, exactly on the tick, the seven years of famine arrived, Joseph cashed in. Now, if this happened under the New Deal, Secretary Wallace would have Joseph in the hoosegow-—or at least suspended from trading. Also what he was doing wasn't exactly cricket. He wasn't taking any chance at all. He knew just what the weather would be for 14 years. Secretary Wallace, like Joseph, is also a mystic and a dreamer of dreams. But does he claim to have any such direct wire to Heaven to tell him what crops will be for 14 years? You can’t pull the Joseph stunt without that. : 8%.» ITHOUT such sure-fire inside “info,” this “ever normal” granary magic is a “valorization” scheme, pure and simple. It is a light that has failed forever—the Hoover Farm Board, the Canadian wheat pool, the rubber convention—everywhere, everytime in the whole history of civilization. The price of these export products isn't made in this country on the relation of American supply to de mand. It is made on world supply and demand with which the most that we can do has almost no effect. A surplus anywhere on earth hangs over the market to depress price whether it is impounded or not. This proposal is not for an “ever normal” granary. It is for an “ever abnormal” granary. It is the dizziest

By Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen

ASHINGTON, July 15—The President is plane ning to visit the Philippine Islands this fall, if and when Congress finally passes his most essential legislation. The trip is still subject to change of plans, but it would be in line with his policy of visiting all Amerfcan Territories and possessions, and also in line with his hankering for a sea trip after congressional sessions are over, Roosevelt has toyed with the idea of making a trip to the Azores, but according to present indications will make it to the Philippines instead. He would go on one of the new, fast cruisers, the Houston or the Indianapolis. According to present plans there would be no stops in Japan. The President would go direct to the Philippines, and then return, s ” n

UDGE JOHN J. PARKER of North Carolina, Republican Federal judge whom Herbert Hoover appointed to the Supreme Court but who was not confirmed by the Senate, has taken another crack at his would-have-been colleagues. ‘ : He has been playing directly into the hands Roosevelt, and slapping at Hughes, who wi oir at about the time Park X

tions. The Court adjourned June 2 with several ime portant cases before it, notably the Alabama Power Co. case. Judge Parker has stepped forward to show that his Court can sit in the summer. He has called a special session of ‘the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to meet in Asheville, N. C, Aug. 3 in order to expedite an important New Deal case—the Duke Power Co. case— involving the right of the Government to lend money to municipalities to construct power plants. Private power companies do not want this done.

2 o 8

INCE Judge Parker already has decided the earlier Duke case favorably for the New Deal, it seems certain he will do so again. In speeding up this case at a time when most high judges are vacationing, Mr. Parker is taking a particular siap at Chief Justice Hughes. For Hughes maneuvered to delay the Duke case last December, sending it back both to Parker's Court and to the South Carolina District’ Count on a technicality. Parker has indicated to intimates that he will have

“the case back before the Supreme Court by October,

thus forcing the highest Court to decide it along with the Ala - Power case, h

t the 56 cities already oans' have now been

[

“involves thé same’