Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 26 July 1937 — Page 14

PAGE 14

The Indianapolis Times

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

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

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Ee Rlley 5551

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MONDAY, JULY 26, 1937

THE REFEREE TAKES SIDES Jf MPLOYERS have said that the National Labor Relations Board shows bias against management. Conservative men in public life have charged the Board with prolabor partisanship. Disinterested commentators time and again have pointed out instances where the Board has cast aside judicial pretense and entered into the role of prosecutor. Even in disputes between labor groups, the Board has established a reputation for partiality. A. F. of L. leaders, with apparent justification, have accused the Board of being virtually an adjunct of the C. I. O. To all such charges and criticisms the Board has remained deaf, and by its refusal to mend its ways has implied its belief that all these critics were mere ax-grinders. We wonder now if the Board's insensitivity to public opinion will lead it also to brush aside the statement made by Senator Nye of North Dakota. Throughout his public life Senator Nye has been known as a radical, and a man so partial to labor’s cause that he has not always been willing to admit there are two sides to labor issues. Yet, speaking as one who worked and voted for passage of the Wagner act and who wants the law’s objectives of fair labor practices and collective bargaining established in our industrial system, Senator Nye looks upon the record of the National Labor Relations Board and says: “It has disqualified itself as a referee between management and workers. . . . We cannot try any industrial dispute before a kangaroo court and expeet either satisfactory results or public approval. . . . Friends of labor who hail the obvious partisanship of the NLRB should bear in mind that it is quite possible that we will see a day when another Governmental body of the same type will use its tremendous power to oppress labor. Governmental partisanship can do nothing but increase bitterness, promote discord, awaken cries of unfairness and destroy the great hope of economic advancement at a time when such destruction would certainly bring disaster.” No such indictment ever was uttered by anyone against the first Labor Board headed by Senator Wagner, nor against the Labor Relations Board when headed by Francis Biddle and by Lloyd Garrison. But the present Board has rapidly alienated public support, and in doing so it is nullifying the’ good work of predecessors and defeating the high objectives of the Wagner law.

MADAM JULIE RIVE-KING N the city where she charmed concert audiences nearly a half century ago, and which followed with deep interest her brilliant musical career in Europe and America, Madam Julia Rive-King died here Saturday. The beloved composer and concert pianist would have been 83 years old in October. She was brought here in May from Chicago by her only surviving relative, Mrs. Robert I. Blakeman, a cousin. At the time she still was affiliated with the Chicago Conservatory of Music, where she taught for more than 25 years. Madam Rive-King played more than 500 times with leading orchestras, including more than 70 appearances with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. She appeared with Victor Herbert, Damrosch, Gerricke and Nikisch. She studied under Liszt and in Paris took prizes with Jenny Lind. Great artists were her admirers and friends and audiences on two continents paid her homage.

TO A GOOD LOSER

RITE the name of Mississippi's Pat Harrison near the top of the list of good losers. Defeated for majority leader of the U. S. Senate by a single vote, he saw a cherished ambition fade. And if he feels any soreness, he isn’t showing it. Much has been said about the New Deal’s ability to get along without the help of conservative Democrats like many of the Senators who voted for Pat Harrison. Events have shown that the New Deal needs all the help it can get from all Democrats, and some Republicans. As a bad loser, Senator Harrison might have caused the Administration much trouble. Being a good loser, he will help to heal the wounds of recent battles and to consolidate the lines for new advances. That is fortunate for the party, for the New Deal and for the country.

NEW GOLF QUEEN yg Mss DOROTHY ELLIS has been playing championship golf so long that it seemed only a matter of time until she would come through, as she did last week, and win the women’s state tournament. And Miss Elizabeth Dunn, also of Indianapolis, has been winning the state crown with such regularity in recent years that she was bound to lose it some time or other. Last year Miss Ellis won the city championship and in the state tourney was eliminated by the veteran Miss Dunn in the quarter-finals. Indianapolis is proud of both these fair golfers. It hails the new champion and looks forward to renewed rivalry next year.

SHARING THE CREDIT

THE American Petroleum Institute boasts that the industry’s wages support one million Americans and that the industry’s taxes support another million on the public payroll. The reference is that oil is a very patriotic industry, which doubtless is true. . But while we are distributing credit, how about giving some recognition to the services of Mother Nature, who arranged those deposits of plant and animal life and their transmutation into reservoirs of organic ooze deep beneath the earth’s surface multibillions of years before John D. Rockefeller ever sank a drill bit into the ground? And how about recognizing also that it is the Government’s laws which protect the industry’s exploitation of what nature provided?

.

The ‘Good’ Earth!—By

THE INDI Talburt

Go

Washington

By Raymond Clapper

Roosevelt Thinks Court Plan Fight, Although Lost, Has Accomplished Much in 'Educating' U. S. Citizens.

(Westbrook Pegler’s column will be resumed in this space tomorrow.)

ASHINGTON, July 26.— Newspaper correspondents who attended President Roosevelt’s press conference following defeat of his Supreme Court enlargement proposal seem in quite general agreement that he accepts this reverse with good grace and philosophically, that he has recovered his poise and that he faces the future still holding {o his broad objectives with good-tempered firmness.

This is not only my own impression as a result of that conference but it is that of a number of other correspondents some of whom are not particularly sympathetic with Mr. Roosevelt. The President thinks the fight has done a great deal of good. It was after his proposal was made, he remembers, that the Supreme Court reversed itself on minimum wages, broadened its views of the taxing power in the social security case as contrasted with the vetoing of AAA, and broadened its view of the interstate commerce power in upholding the Wagner act as contrasted with the outlawing of the Guffey Coal Act. / Furthermore the President feels that the American people have become more conscious of problems involving the Court and the Constitution and are now better informed about them. He seems to view this chapter as one of several similar episodes mn our history when the Court, through decision, legislated contrary to public opinion, and was forced back into a more judicial role by public pressure. " n n HE question which brought forth this discussion was put, incidentally, by Fred Perkins, ScrippsHoward correspondent whose recent inquiry about Mr. Roosevelt's third-term plans provoked the President to award him a dunce cap. Mr. Roosevelt would hardly be human if he had not been keenly disappointed and irritated, momentarily at least, at being frustrated upon such an important and spectacular issue. He seemed to lose control of himself toward the climax of the fight. But whatever his private and temporary reaction, his con= sidered official and public reaction is in the true democratic tradition. Without seeming to be either crushed or defiant, he appears to be making a normal, healthy adjustment to the situation. s » 5 1.2 Wilson, Mr. Roosevelt has suffered a major defeat. But he is taking it differently. Wilson. seeing his League of Nations in danger in the Senate, became frantic and bitter. He toured the country, and as he saw his attempt to muster public opinion failing he collapsed and came back to Washington a very sick man. His Administration fell to pieces big resignations and dismissals and bitter personal euds. There is too much work to be done to have a President wasting his time and destroying himself by carrying on personal vendettas, and sulking, and nursing a gnawing soul. It is not like Mr. Roosevelt to be that way and the chances are that he won't be. We have seen Mr. Roosevelt survive and master a personal catastrophe. Now for the first time we see him in the presence of major political adversity. He bears it like a man of destiny. :

Mr. Clapper

The Hoosier Forum

I wholly disagree with what you say, but will

WARNS AGAINST FASCISM IN THIS COUNTRY By J. W. Howard, Anderson

In Spain, the Spanish people are fighting for their freedom which they have enjoyed since reforming their government a few years ago. From Rome comes a foreign power with a desire to enlarge its borders, attempting to revive the cruel and wicked inquisition in which it slaughtered the early Christians a few centuries ago. It committed mass murder in Ethiopia to increase its powers. It is attempting to do likewise in Spain,

In America we have it working under a disguise. The press and radio are its most effective channels for spreading its propaganda. It is attempting to destroy the freedom of worship and freedom of the press and the very principles of our country. It is not communism the American people must shun, for it will subside from its own weakness. But we should do all in our power to destroy the evils of fascism, or we will be fighting a war with the same foreign power to protect our rights which we have long enjoyed.

= LL » GRADUATE DISCOURAGED BY HUNT FOR WORK By W. J. W.

I am a boy of 18, graduated this June, and have been without work ever since. While going to school I held a job at a filling station, working after school apd evenings. Then I got a better job at a freight office where I worked until the end of May. I was laid off because of slow business, but was promised to be taken back on in the fall. But what can I do in the meantime? I need work. Day after day since graduation I've visited employment bureaus and factories asking for any kind of work, although I'm only experienced in general office work. I took a commercial course in school and later joined the National Guard Staff Service Section, where I type out letters and other things, one night rn week, and get paid once every three months. I'm not asking for sympathy, but a job, and I'm not writing just to be read, but to be understood. I know I'm not the only one out of work and disgusted. There are probably two out of every five graduates in the same condition that I am, so I'm asking for work—to be given a chance to prove that I am capable of taking care of myself.

= ” ” ASKS C. 1. 0. TO ORGANIZE EMPLOYEES AT BINDERY By B. G. We hear a lot these days about the merits of the A. F. of L. and much condemnation of the C. I. O. I would like to express my opinion about the A. F. of L. At a bookbinding and printing

General Hugh Johnson Says—

National Labor Relations Board's Pro-Labor Bias Evident, and Provides Excellent Example of What to Avoid in Legislating on Wages and Hours.

ETHANY BEACH, Del, July 26.—Senator Nye observed that the National Labor Relations Board is “biased.” That says it softly. An employer seems to have as much chance before that Board as an aristocrat had before the French Tribunes of the Terror. 1t is understandable. The Board was put there to reform the old Neanderthal idea of some employers that workers must take what they get and like it. It ran into raw stuff and sullen resistance and it got tough. . A great Federal quasi-judicial board is like a court. It’s very life depends upon its fairness because, when it begins to look like a Salem witch burning, its public sours.

Under political pressures and an Administration crusading for labor, the Board’s conduct is convincing most people that it is neither wise nor fair. In the circumstance of its creation and history, perhaps any other board would have gone the same route.

Y= with men of judicial temperament and standing, rather than zealots, there would have been a better chance. When, with little precedent to guide, I submitted the original organization plan for NRA, it included an’ independent quasi-judicial National Labor Board—modeled on the War Labor Policies Board of 1918. That board, headed by ex-President Taft, was of such temper and stature that it retained public

| defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire. | |

(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.)

company where I work, the A. F. of L. has all of the skilled labor organized and the company pays the wage scale of the union. About 50 per cent of the labor in this factory is not organized, because there doesn’t seem to be any place for them in the A. F. of L. Some time ago a small wage cut was restored to the A. F. of L. labor by the company, which made the skilled labor scale about $24 a week for women and $51 for men. Before the restoration of the pay cut, the scale was $22.50 and $49. Without A. F. of L. objection, the company cut $14 workers to $11 and $12 labor to $9 a week—about 20 cents per hour. I wish the C. I. O. would come to our company and oiganhize us. 2 on = CLAIMS ‘GOOD OLD DAYS NOT SO GOOD By H. S. Bonsib Although we hear about the good old days of our fathers, they were | not what they were cracked up to be. For instance, about 100 years ago, when Van Buren was at the height of his ambition, there was a financial and commercial storn which had been gathering for two or three years. The accumulated result of rash ignorance and violent self-will acting on some of the most delicate social interests was just ready to burst. High prices and high rents had, before the election, produced strikes, trade union conflicts, and labor riots, things which were almost unprecedented in the

MEN

By VIRGINIA POTTER

Men can do the strangest things— Expect so much, and yet When they have all they wanted most— How often they forget. You must be true to them alone— You dare not flirt or tease, They offer you so little, And still do as they please!

DAILY THOUGHT

For the poor shall never cease out of the land; therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land. —Deuteronomy 15:11.

Charity gives itself rich; covet-

ousness hoards itself poor.—German proverb.

United States. The price of flour was so high that 493,100 bushels of wheat were imported at New York | in 1836 and 857,000 bushels before April in 1837. Socialistic notions, of course, found root and flourished like weeds at such a time A meeting was held in the City Hall Park at

New York, Feb. 13, 1837, out of which the “bread riots” sprang. At that time soap box or some other box kind of politicians violently orated and got the people up to a

| ! | |

high pitch. The results were that in a few hours the mob destroyed 500 barrels of flour and 1000 bushels of wheat, The militia were needed to restore order as the meetings were continued.

The commercial crisis burst on |

the country just at the beginning | of March, when Jackson's term for President ended, so Van Buren had to bear the burden. All this shows that even 100 years ago they had troubles and problems to solve. As long as we allow selfishness, greed, political competition, and the liquor traffic to control, we will have a continuation of such troubles. The liquor traffic is a moral, political, religious, and economic question which must be settled before we have peace, prosperity, and plenty. Then ! why not face it? 2 ” on ATTACKS LIPPMANN'S COURT ARGUMENT By W. Scott Taylor Walter Lippmann’s arguments against court reform can be boiled down to one sentence—great reforms by mere majority vote can be justified only in an emergency ana the emergency no longer exists. In other words, the unemployed can wait while the Senate filibusters the capitalistic system out of the purchasing power necessary to employ them, and the middle class can wait while the growing liquidity of the national wealth in the form of stocks and bonds is gathering momentum for the simultaneous demand upon the stock market for the cash that does not exist. The true genius of American institutions requires, says Mr. Lippmann, in effect, that the catastrophe which his party considers inevitable, also waits, and that the operation of economic laws be suspended until the Constitution can be amended. Let the unemployed wait; let the middle class wait, while the sun stands still in its course waiting for the national credit to be rebuilt for the usual rescue. Let the country drift, says Mr. Lippmann, what's the hurry; the newspaper business is good; his salary comes regularly.

It Seems to Me

By Heywood Broun

Henry, the Two-Departmental Mutt, Turns Into the Perfect Underdog And Wins Place in Broun Household.

STAMFORD, Conn., July 26.—Henry, the two-departmental puppy born of the union of a Dalmatian and a police dog, is not developing very well. He grows apace. In another couple of months he could play the hound of the Baskervilles in motion picture. That is, he could but for the fact that he would never be able to master the lines or the business. Henry does not live up to the Harvard ideal of a sound mind in a sound body. For weeks he has been on probation, and I do not believe he will ever be graduated from the state of trial and error. When Henry was a small puppy he came to us as part of a deal. A local contractor agreed to dig a pond behind the house, and he threw in Henry. Fortunately only a portion of the bill has .: been paid. On those sporadic oc= i casions between trips when I return to the old homestead Henry does not recognize me. Henry professes to believe I changed person upon my return and growls and carries on ferociously.

Mr. Broun

” ” »

bi AS that man been around with the bill for the pond?” I shout. Some meek voice at the table murmurs that he hash’t been seen lately. “Call him up, then,” I cry. “Tell the man that if he doesn’t take Henry back he won't get another nickel on his bill.” Ii is agreed that Henry is no good and that he should go back where he came from. But the ukase is never carried out. after all. He has developed a very successful technique of appeal. He has as many faults as fleas. In fact, it would be difficult to attribute a single redeeming quality to Henry, but through imperfection he becomes endowed with a certain transcendental perfection. This mongrel of a cross between the police and fire departments stands silhouetted against the sky as an enduring symbol. We will have to keep him. You can’t push him any further. And yesterday I found that love for Henry had dawned in my heart. During the afternoon I had been watching a robin engaged upon an insect feast, and to me the sight was most repugnant. He ate daintily enough. That wasn’t the trouble. My complaint was that the fat bird put on so many airs and graces of the gourmet.

n ” 2

E would pause in the middle of the repast as it

he were about to call for red pepper and tabasco. The robin gave little gurgles of delight and shook with ecstatic quivers as if he were an epicurean, “Go on and eat your bug and be done with it,” I shouted in irritation, and returned to the kitchen. I gave Henry half a canned tomato. He took it quickly and eagerly. Indeed, he is prepared not only to bite, but to eat, the hand which feeds him. Hs

anybody's '

am 2"

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Maybe Henry is not such a fool, |,

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bolts his food, and it seems to make no earthly differ- ' ’

ence to him what he is eating. I have tried him on everything, and he has eaten everything. I don’t know whether Henry would like caviar, but he eats rocks, and so I guess he would just love caviar, He has no taste or-any other sense but smell. Henry is a mutt, but to his everlasting glory let it be said that he would be the last person in the world to deny it.

The Washington Merry-Go-Round

Issue Dodging, Not Heat ‘or Overwork, Is Held Adjournment Motive; Harrison Aids Say Senator King's Secretly Changed Vote Defeat Cause.

Somebody in the Cabinet—I suspect it was Secretary Perkins—objected to the attempt to revive it in 1033. Weeks later, when strikes and turmoil demonstrated its compelling necessity, I again proposed it and nominated Senator Wagner to preside. This time it was approved and became the forerunner of the present board. The difference is that this board is not composed of Presidential or chief judicial or even Senatorial material. It is composed of crusaders and crusaders are never judicial and seldom fair.

” » ” HERE is a lesson here that is sizzling hot on the most urgent problem before Congress—Senator Black's Wages-and-Hours Bill. It proposes to ape point a counterpart of the Labor Board under exactly the same pressures of politics and crusade to fix minimum wages, industry by industry, craft by craft, locality by locality. There is a much more feasible way—the “Sullivan suggestion.” Let states regulate wages and hours, but bar from shipment into any state the products of child labor, or hours longer than 40 per week, or wages lower than its own or those of the state of highest standard that compete there. Thal will reach all the Senator’s objectives much more simply, quickly, thoroughly, fairly and effectively—and do it without setting up a new Federal OGPU further to invade and our traditions of local self-government and

democracy in favor of unlimited Federal usurpation of power. , i

4s

Lin W

By Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen ASHINGTON, July 26.—All the talk about Washington weather as the motive for adjournment of Congress is pure poppycock. The weather has been no worse than in 1935, when Congress sat all summer—in fact, recent weather has been delightful. Moreover, Congress has not overtaxed itself with work. It is true that Congress has been in session a long time—seven and a half months. But being in session and actually working are two different things. During the seven-and-a-half-month period, the Senate has sat only 100 times, and frequently for not more than an hour. The House has met 180 times, sometimes also for very short periods. In other words, out of seven and a half months the Senate has been on the job a little over three months and the House about six. Actually, the adjournment burr under the Congressional blanket is not physical exhaustion, but political cowardice. Real fact is that most of the boys don’t want to vote on such issues as wage-hour regulation, farm tenancy relief, housing, taxation, Government reorganization. Privately they are against these measures, but if put on the spot would not dare vote against them. So they want to duck a showdown and go home. ‘ ; Senators and Congressmen are paid $10,000 a year no matter how long or how short a time they spend

HE Barkley-Harrison tussle for the Senate leadership saw more undercover phenagling than the Capitol has witnessed in many a year. Knowing that the ballot would be secret, some Senators were free and easy with their promises of support. The Barkley camp had 42 definite pledges, Harrison's 38. The combined total of these promises was 80—and there are only 75 Democrats in the Senate.

Mr. Barkley was elected by a count of 38 to 37.

That means that at least four of his pledges did not materialize, while one of Mr. Harrison's ran out. Friends of Mr. Harrison privately are tagging

Utah’s Senator William King with responsibility for '?

the Mississippian’s defeat. They say that Mr. King, who stood next in line as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, became incensed at Mr. Harrie son because of his statement that he would not relinquish the chairmanship if elected floor leader, » o ”

HE President had specifically requested this of Mr. Harrison, and Pat assured Mr. Roosevelt he would hold on to the chairmanship. Mr. King pube licly said this would be okay with him, but Hare rison intimates are hinting that privately King

was very sore and vented his ire by secretly voting 2

for Mr. Barkley.

Friends of Mr. Barkley say that if all those who *

came up fo him after the election and claimed they had voted for him actually had done so, he would

have recepted 59 votes. :