Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 July 1937 — Page 10

PAGE 10

The Indianapolis Times

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WwW. HOWARD LUDWELL DENNY MARK FERREE President Editor Business Manager

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MONDAY, JULY 19, 1937

HASTE, SPEED, AND COURT PACKING

OW comes talk about a compromise of the so-called compromise, Out of the Pullman conferences of those who went to Arkansas for the funeral of Senator Robinson is heard the hint that the Administration may suggest that the effective date of the Logan-Hatch substitute, hot center of the second phase of the packing plan, be deferred for a year or two, or however long would be required to prevent its provisions from applying to the present members of the Supreme Court. Which touches on what we think is the most illogical of all the President's approaches to the whole matter of Judicial reform. Let us first bear in mind that more than six months already has been consumed with the question, and the fight is just fairly started. It has been repeatedly stated that the amendment process, as distinct from the legislative short-cut, would take too long, and that the country, to put it mildly, would 20 to hell in the meanwhile. The President italicized that in his first fireside talk on the subject, March 9, 1937. The contention has been strongly reiterated often from administrative quarters since. It was repeated in the President’s letter to Senator Barkley following the death of Senator Robinson when the President said, “It is of course clear that any determined minority group in the nation could, without great difficulty, block ratification by one means or another in at least 13 states for a long period of time.” And yet, coupled with that statement, was another— that when the American people, as the President contends here, have really wanted constitutional amendments they have got them, pronto. The same contention about 13 states being able to block ratification was made with equal gusto by President Hoover, regarding prohibition. And what the American people did with that when “an overwhelming majority recognized the need for reform” is too much a matter of recent history to call for much review, except to say that it took exactly one year, one month and 10 days to do the job, and that under the personal guidance of none other than Mr. Roosevelt himself. Furthermore it may be noted that the first 10 amendments to the Constitution took less than nine months to accomplish, altogether, and that the average time consumed for all the rest of the 21 was less than one year and seven months. All of which is pretty clear indication that when the American people get hot about the amendment business the American people are not turtles. So we say that if the nation is as lathered up about court reform as the President thinks, we would be saving time, not wasting it, if we followed the advice of another widely known President, namely, George Washington, who, | commenting on changing our basic charter, said: “If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by amendment in the way the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation.”

WITHOUT THE FEAR TECHNIQUE

HE doctrine that preaches temperate, objective dealing instead of force, and decent employee relations without the fear technique or paternalism, is much needed in these times of strife and labor unrest. Today we turn this editorial space over to W. Rowland Allen, an Indianapolis business executive who follows that credo, quoting from his article in Nation's Business for July:

“We are having labor unrest and strikes, and will have more. Working men and women are rebelling against conditions—not always economic but conditions involving dignity, which they know do not have to be. “This is largely the result of emotional reaction to the findings of objective-minded men of science who have been constantly studying the problems of health and fatigue in industry, the social losses and business losses in wretched housing, conservation of natural resources and foods. This study has created knowledge that is being dimly correlated with democracy, with the happiness of man, and with the necessity of maintaining a long-haul profitable business society. “Let the modern executive scan society in terms of man’s relationship to the business order. Man does not ask to be born. His youth is spent in drab and diseased surroundings. He cannot work before the age of 16 or 18 and rarely can he find another job after 40. If he has a job, it is practically on an hour to hour basis. “He may marry. He may become increasingly a consumer. He lives on a piece of land cut up to sell, not to live on. He lives in a house built to sell, not to live in. He owns neither. He has no pride developed in land, home or job. His possessions are too often obtained on part payment and he really does not own these. What is there to make him an individual of dignity and of growth, the basis of a. wholesome society ? “Has he a vested interest in his job which is the only thing in his animal existence that he must keep? All of this is highly unprofitable if we extend bookkeeping a few pages beyond the average ledger. Our productive capacity depends upon consumption and our workers want the capacity to consume. “These are not times for force, but for dispassionate understanding, for planning in order that the individual may continue to be free to choose for himself. These are fundamentals in democracy. . . . “We come to the conclusion that the least among us is worthy of the question “Why ?’; that we will fail if we become subjective and use force, that we must work in a temperate, effective, devoted and objective manner, that we “must never blame but teach, and that it is possible to create a community of decency without use of the fear techni

{4

Wise and Foolish

ne v THKE 15 TA PORTANT ONE |

By Kirby.

Washington

By Raymond Clapper

With American Desire for Peace in Far East More Urgent Than Ever, U. S. Officials Are Seen Optimistic.

VW ASHINGTON, July 19.—While obviously unable to forecast what will eventuate in the Far East, officials of this Government lean to the optimistic side. Unless China breaks loose and throws her national

army in full to resist Japanese demands, they believe the present trouble will blow over. To be sure, if it blew over it would leave Japan's grip fixed a little more tightly in North China. But that is not so important to this Government as to prevent a general war in the Far East. Secretary of State Hull is counseling with diplomatic representatives of both sides urging them with all the emphasis at his command to prevent a general war. Our own interest in Far Eastern peace is more urgent even than before, because of complications which would arise out of the Neutrality Act. If a state of war were held to exist, all trade would go on a cash-and-carry basis. Japan, having a large merchant fleet as against practically .no Chinese shipping, would find the Neutrality Act operating to her decided advantage, whereas under the Washington Arms Conference Pacific treaties we are bound with other nations to throw our inTluence toward preserving the integrity of China.

” » » UROPEAN powers are equally anxious that there be no general war in the Far East, especially at this time when conditions in Europe are at such a tense point. Their pressure, coupled with that of this Government, offers some hope that the worst can be avoided. Nevertheless there is anxiety. Anti-Japanese sentiment in China is flaming again. On the Japanese side conditions are again of the sort under which previous pushes on the mainland have occurred. Europe is distracted with its own troubles. Soviet Russia, which Japan must always fear at its back door, is engaged in its own internal problems and is in no mood to welcome outside trouble as Japan found out in the little test fracas on the Amur River a few days ago. While Japan has ordered heavy troops mobilizations. actual movements have as yet been comparatively light and this, coupled with assurances which have been given here, lead to the belief that Japan is not looking for a big war but is bluffing to gather up more concessions which will cost practically nothing.

Mr. Clapper

” » » N Europe there are no such impelling forces to menace peace but rather the inability of states men to do anything except prepare for war. In almost 20 years since the last war, European nations have made no headway toward finding some way to live with each other. They have, after all they have been through, only two things to offer, a network of trade wars and ever-rising economic barriers against each other, and a runaway race in war preparations. The picture at both ends of the world is thus one which can inspire here in Washington little more than hope that somehow, through luck rather than processes of reason which do not exist, the nations will be saved from themselves until the day when intelligence and the force of common sense will bring

them together in some workable arrangement for living with each other.

The Hoosier Forum

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

URGES SURVEY OF TRAFFIC ARRESTS By Casual Observer

The writer is pleased to note the interest that The Times is awakening in our local traffic problem. I have noticed the decided tendency of nearly all of the officials involved to “pass the buck,” which is to be expected. We believe the problem is purely local and that the papers by a proper inquiry into the | facts and reporting the situation as | it exists could stop the “buck pass- | ing” and help alleviate conditions. | As a start, a perusal of the records | of traffic arrests for the last year {| would be enlightening. It is true that Chief Morrissey caused a month's check to be made, | but it was such a check as not to | tell half the story but to be just a | prolog. Where were the arrests | made and why? We believe a sur- | vey would reveal that arrests are { made at less than 1 per cent of the | intersections of streets with prefer- | ential streets, while over 99 per | cent of such intersections are ig- | nored by the police department.

Charges “Trick” Arrests

Practically all such arrests are made at trick places or at those which are confusing to motorists. For example, a favorite hunting ground is to arrest motorists driving north on Boulevard Place for not stopping at Fall Creek Blvd. Who can tell just where to stop there the way it is marked? The view is clear. Take a look. Has there been an accident there in five years? Has there ever been an arrest at the intersection of any other street with this same preferential, Fall Creek Blvd. in the last five years? There must have been some violations on the other dozens of streets which intersect it. Check the accident reports! At what percentage of the red lights have arrests been made? What would a survey show? Less than 2 per cent. The same few show up each week with total disregard to the rest. Why have signals that are never checked? Montcalm and 16th is a favorite trap. Why? How many accidents there compared with say 25th and Delaware, or 30th and Meridian, yet arrests are seldom if ever made at the latter two intersections. Proposes Survey Why do the police make arrests only at places confusing to the motorist? A survey would show numerous arrests for not stopping at 10th while driving north on Senate (a yellow stop sign scarcely discern- | able against g yellow brick building) or many arrests of motorist who did not stop for 10th while coming south on Brookside where the sign is high on an utility pole and so dirty as to be barely legible. Would a survey show a single arrest for failure to stop at 10th St. at any other in- | tersection? The writer believes not. | Why not make such a survey and [let the truth come to light? Then | we would know where we are and why, and who would need to “pass | the buck.”

» ” ” EDITORIAL ON JEWS AIDS SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER By Mrs. C. 8. B, Cass | I am just a Sunday school teacher of a little country church, and in

(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.)

searching for material to use in class I ran across your editorial, “A Jewish Nation?” in whieh I was very much interested. Why? The lessons for this quarter have largely to do with the forming and progress of the Jewish nation and their national life and responsibility—the task of getting them out of Egypt and making them an independent nation.

Realizing the adventure of these people which occurred so many thousands of years. ago would hold much more meaning and interest for the class if we would, throughout the quarter, make a study of what is happening to them today, I asked them to bring to class any newspaper clipping concerning ‘the Jews, The Jews, it seems, are reliving the experiences of their ancestors in Egypt. In many nations they are hated and in some instances exiled from the land where they have built homes. . . .

* nw =» GUFFEY IS CHARGED WITH INCONSISTENCY D. E. K.

Hurrah for Guffey. When a man talks too much, he says too much. Now for a little inconsistency. Mr. Guffey, didn’t you slip a bit when you said that Mr. Hughes was the master mind behind the scenes? Isn't that just too much to say about a man who is getting old? Isn't it just too much to expect of a man 75 years of age? Do you know I sometimes think it might take a T5-year-old to be smart enough to know what the people need. They don’t seem to know at 65 and 70, and, too, you musn't herald Hughes’ accomplishments; it might start a boom for President. It might make a man of the hour.

THE LAST HOUR

By ROBERT O. LEVELL

Our body is not our own It belongs to Him who gave it To do as He sees fit alone For He's the one who made it. He can do what He may choose With ourself that belongs to Him For life is joy or full of blues Or glad and happy within. For God shall be the whole power When we expect Him east most near For in that last and mournful hour We will need His love for cheer.

DAILY THOUGHT

Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide & mul titude of sins.—James 5:20,

(CR IVERSION is no repairing of the old building; but it takes all down and erects a new structure.—Alleine,

¢

Wouldn't the office of President be a fitting climax to a career so justly earned?

Go right on, Mr. Guffey. You wanted it and you may get it. All the packing of the brains of your tear Congress wouldn't make the brain of a Mr. Hughes. Ain't I right?

" 8» = REVIEWS ALLEN LETTER HITTING F. D. R. ‘SILENCE’

By Lester Gaylor Henry Ware Allen, former Governor of Kansas, in a recent letter reviewing the politics of Roosevelt and what it has done to the nation, charges that Roosevelt has asserted that he is 100 per cent for John L. Lewis. In concluding his review of C. I. O. illegal practices, he charges the President with maintaining “eloquent silence” at a time when “violent and destructive strikes” are sweeping the country with increasing approach to revolution, and says, “Could election of the Communist ticket last November have done worse than this?” The $500,000 John L. Lewis silence of Mr. Roosevelt has turned the President's winning smile into a sickly variety.

” » »

DEFENDS WOMEN'S CHOICE OF HATS By R. M. L. “Women,” says a Washington lady in a news item, “cannot expect to hold men wearing the crazy hats now in vogue.” We simply can't resist taking a crack at the gal for getting out on a limb like that. Dear Washington Lady: They not only can, but they have been doing it ever since Mrs. Adam planted a fig leaf on her head and coquettishly swung the stem down over one eye. If a king could give up a throne for a woman despite her taste in headgear, Joe Average won't protest . . . much. Indeed, the poor dear has been paying for them for lo, these many years, and he’s quite resigned if not philosophical about them. Besides, it isn't the hats, it’s what's under them that counts. » ” » COMMENDS LUDLOW ACTION ON WAR REFERENDUM By Pacifist

One bit of pending legislation worth more than a passing glance is the constitutional amendment drafted by Rep. Louis Ludlow which would provide for a national referendum before the United States could enter any war. For two and one-half years the bill has been slumbering peacefully in the House Judiciary Committee. Now Mr. Ludlow is circulating a petition to force a vote on the measure, and there is a chance that he may succeed. It is not hard to think of pretty sound reasons for supporting such an amendment. It is the plain people who do the fighting in a war, who pay the bills and endure the privations that a war makes necessary. Why should not they themselves—through their own votes, and not through their Congressional delegates—be permitted to say whether the country should go to war?

It Seems to Me

By Heywood Broun

Story of Man Who Was Changed

Into a Frog Taken as Illustration Of Problem Facing America Today.

EW YORK, July 19.—I doubt that American history has ever provided greater drama than the day in which we live. For my part I am glad to be alive, at the moment of writing, in an era where such

extraordinary growing weather prevails. To a great extent our national history has been taught, in the secondary schools at least, as the recital of a finished narrative, Indeed, it has ale

most seemed to some school children as if the bullet of Booth wrote “thirty” at the end of a thrilling news story. But here we are again up to our necks in problems even more important than the issues raised by the Civil War or any conflict before or since. It puzzles me to find people going about and wringing their hands because we are in the process of struggle. There is confusion. But even confusion is a fitter state for evolutionary legions than periods of inertia. There can be no growth without pains. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the transition. Now is the time when the foundations of industrial democracy can be estabe lished. Obviously this cannot be done after the formal fashion in which cornerstones are laid. Tt is not a simple matter of cutting a red ribbon and taking up a silver trowel. The success or failure of the effort to wipe out the shame of poverty stilll ies in the lap of the people. We can go forward, stand still or retreat to previously prepared positions. And the last two cone tingencies amount to the same thing. But thers should be no complaint about the fact that very vital chaplers of history are being written now be-

fore our eyes. I CANNOT quite avoid the temptation to repeat a story which I know I have printed before. It is about the farmer who lived near the town of Seville and aimed before his death to see that city. When ‘he came out of his house carrying a suitcase his wife said to him, “Where are you going?” He replied, “To Seville.” Being a pious woman, she undertook to correct him, saying, “You mean, the Lord willing” “No,” said the blunt farmer, “I just mean I'm going to Seville.” And the Lord, angry at this impiety, changed him into a frog. Suddenly the good wife had no husband any more, and in the pond behind the house there was a new frog. Since she preferred to have him as a husband rather than a frog, she went each morning to the edge of the pond to pray that he should be restored to his natural form. » ” » Oo" the first morning of the second year the large frog suddenly began to get bigger and bigger, and presently he was no longer a frog but a man— her husband—and he leaped from the pond and dashed by her into the house. In a few minutes he came out carrying a suitcase. “Where are you going?” she exclaimed. “To Seville,” he answered. In mortal terror she reminded him, ‘You mean, the Lord willing.” “No,” said the farmer firmly, or back to the frog pond.” America today faces that choice. There is ne progressive forces on all fronts must be a definite middle ground. And the only proper answer of cry of, “No! To Seville or back to the frog pond.”

Mr. Broun

» * ”

“I mean to Seville

General Hugh Joh

United States Has Everything to Lose and Nothing to Gain Except New Enemies if Neutrality Law Is Applied to Spanish and Asiatic Shindies.

ASHINGTON, July 19.—The Chinese-Japanese situation is as serious as anything short of open and declared war can be. The undeclared war in Spain is scarcely less dangerous. When we read about a concentration of 300 bombing and pursuit planes on either side, we are hearing about a major military operation and it is impossible to call that ration Spanish. It is armed conflict between other pean powers on Spanish territory. There is\a growing pressure on this Administration to test our new “neutrality” laws—to declare a state of war between the Fascist countries (Italy and Germany) and the Loyalist Government in Spain and then to embargo all sorts of shipments to the Fascist powers—to await a declared war between Japan and Su and then stop shipments of many things to pan,

» UPPOSE we did that.

That would not be “neu-

nson Says—

The Washington Merry-Go-Round

Wisecrack About Fishing Marked Robinson's Last Sight of Roosevelt; Barkley as Leader of Senate Would Be First Real New Dealer in Post,

British and other neutral merchants would doubtless buy and-carry all that we would have refused to American exporters and exporters of the embargoed nations. They would cover these cargoes with their flags and ship them to whomsoever they pleased. Would we, as a supposed neutral, attempt to follow and forbid these shipments as belligerents do in the so-called doctrine of “continuous voyage?” If we did we would affront not only the belligerent whom we had embargoed, but all the powerful mercantile neu~ trals as well. » ” ® S to belligerents, we would have given them affronts which they would be most unlikely to forgive. As to neutrals, the embargo would either foolishly transfer our trade and our shipping to them,

or else embitter them in all sorts of quarrels and arguments about the rights of friendly nations to buy and ship from our markets, The war in Spain does not depend on shipments from America. We might annoy and inconvenience Franco—but we alone could not defeat him. As to the Asiatic shindy, it would be a real deprivation to Japanese commerce and industry to shut off some of our exports, but an embargo could not have much effect on the immediate military ‘We had better lay off this urge to play with a new

or. We have everything to 10se a

By Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen ASHINGTON, July 19.~The last time Senator Robinson saw the leader for whom he fought was on the Sunday three days before he died. Senator Robinson had spent the entire day down the Potomac indulging in his favorite pastime— fishing. He had gone out in a small boat with Leslie

Biffle, secretary to the Senate majority, and with Russell Arundel, former secretary to ex-Senator Metcalf of Rhode Island. Senator Robinson was a really expert fisherman. If there were fish to be had anywhere around him, he got them. And on this particular Sunday he hauled them in almost as fast as they could bite. He caught about a hundred Norfolk spots, throwing the hardheads back into the water. Mr. Roosevelt, who also prides himself on being a good fisherman, always keeps the hardheads, which are easy to catch. The sun was hot, but Senator Robinson appeared to be having a wonderful time. His spirits were especially high when at the close of the day he saw Mr. Roosevelt’s yacht, the Potomac, sail by. From his small boat, the Senator looked up at the chief whom he served, and remarked:

ENATOR ALBEN BARKLEY, who in all probe ability will succeed Mr. Robinson as Senate majority floor leader, would be the first sympathetic New Dealer Roosevelt has had in that position. Senator Robinson was a good soldier, but did not always have his heart in the fight. ’ But Senator Barkley has had his heart in the fight since before the days of President Roosevelt, When he ran for Governor of Kentucky in 1823, he was bitterly opposed by the horse-racing crowd, which in Kentucky in synonymous with big business, They defeated him. But when he ran for the Senate in 1926, they got behind him-for the sole and simple reason of keeps ing him out of the State.

” ” ” ENATOR BARKLEY'S greatest asset is that he is an excellent parliamentary scrapper. He does not go berserk as Senator Robinson did on occasion, He thinks on his feet, and was the only Senator who could knock the ears off the late Huey Long. One day Huey was holding forth about the fact that he had had only a fourth-grade education, when he was interrupted by the Senator from Kene tucky, who innocently inquired: < “Did the Senator ever study music?” vA little”, replied Huey modestly.

i