Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 18 August 1937 — Page 12

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The Indianapolis Times

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ROY W. HOWARD LUDWELL DENNY Prefident

NEWSPAPER)

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oie Rlley 5551

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

Member of United Press, Scripps = Howard Newspaper Alliance, NEA Service, and Audit Bureau of Circulations.

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 18, 1937

MR. JUSTICE BLACK THE vote of the U. S. Senate—63 to 16—to confirm Hugo L. Black’s nomination to the Supreme Court should be gratifying to the new Justice.’ : And the fact that practically all of the Senate's liberals

Price in Marion Coun- |

MARK FERREE |

voted for nim should help to ease the apprehensions which | some others of like mind have felt in respect to this ap- |

pointment.

We include ourselves, for, as we have previ- |

ously stated, Mr. Black’s record on matters involving indi- |

vidual liberties is not spotless. But after all who is in a better position to judge? Mr.

Black’s colleagues know that he was first elected to the |

Senate with the active backing of the bigoted Ku-Klux Klan forces. vate telegrams in the lobby investigation—and by their actions at the time they showed their disapproval.

They know of his unwarranted seizure of pri- |

Despite these and other digressions from true liberal- |

ism, Mr. Black’s fellow-Senators voted to elevate him to a position of great judicial power from which there is no

recall. They did so because these misalliances and missteps |

have been the exception in Mr. Black’s services in the cause of humanity and good government. They did so believing those exceptions were far outweighed by the many battles Mr. Black has fought to correct the inequities of our economic system and to advance the lot of those whom he so often described as the “little men and little women of America.” : The vote was a demonstration that his liberal colleagues trust him to rise above his petty intolerances of the past. So Senator Black now becomes Mr. Justice Black.

” 2 2

= n ” OME of his friends predict he will follow the example of that brilliant jurist, Mr. Justice Brandeis. As Raymond Clapper recalled a few days ago, Justice Brandeis’ appointment was fought much more bitterly than Mr. Black's. He too was charged with being a man of “furious partisanship and irreconcilable prejudices.” But today there are none who say he lacks in “judicial temperament.” And if there is one thing that stands out above all others in the judicial career of Justice Brandeis it is the sense of custodianship he has shown toward the Bill of Rights—that part of our Constitution which protects the

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

x .

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 18, 1937"

CONSARN IT! TURN OFF ONE OF THEM LIGHTS= THERE'S a nes Gor on AROUND HERE!

ec ——— ret LRT

“U.S. Plans to Lease Warships to Brazil’—By Herblock

HOW ARE YOU FIXED FOR POSTOFFKEST CARE TO LEASE SOME OF THOSE TOO?

DAMN THE Som rire TORPEDOES! WE'RE ald JUST RENTING THIS SHIP ANYHOW

FULL-DRESS UNIFORMS FOR RENT

SUPPOSE YOU HAVE TO EXPECT TROUBLE WITH THESE USED BOATS '

h,. 85

ne GL pr

WE HAVE MET THE PAYMENTS AND THE FLEET 1S OURS!

ee cer a)

Fair Enough

By Westbrook Pegler

What Really Is Going On Behind the |

Scenes in Washington? Columnists Who Hint Called On to Speak Out.

NEY YORK, Aug. 18.—From the writings

of Hugh Johnson and certain intimations, written and verbal, regarding the un-

| elected powers in Washington, I receive an

| impression of mischievous

people’s personal as well as economic liberties. Freedom of | | with form of the Government to | the peril of our liberties and by | vague but persistent mention of a

religion, of expression and of assembly; the right to be secure in our persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, the right not to be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law — these are the heritage of free Americans. And of this heritage Justice Brandeis has been a stanch guardian. If Mr. Justice Black pursues the philosophy of Mr. Justice Brandeis, he too will confute his critics and vindicate his friends. We wish him well. ‘POSITIVELY, MR. SHEAN’ THE Mote-and-Beam Club will now assemble and do honor to Mr. John B. Gallagher. . Mr. Gallagher, as the saying goes, lives by the book.

y that here is a true nonpartisan, a neutral in | 2 deveinrs p : | way, I hardly know my way around tow.

deed and word.

After taking several weeks of heat because of the $250

campaign volume, Charles Michelson of the Democratic committee (radio work taken), “confirms the report” that the same expert put over a Republican book in the same presidential year of 1936, said expert being none other than John B. Gallagher, accoladed by Mr. Michelson as “the best man in the business.” Which we say is praise from Caesar. Republicans, who have enjoyed pouring it on because of circumstances surrounding the sale and circulation of the presidentially autographed campaign edition, are at the moment a bit red in the face. “Spokesmen” say that Mr. Gallagher was employed by the Republican Convention, Inc., an organization separate from the National Committee, implying absolution because of that. And stress is laid on the assertion that the Republican book was promoted only during the Cleveland convention, no effort being made to sell it thereafter—a case of the egg being only just a little bit spoiled. But anyway, to the man up a tree, it looks like the mug hook on both sides of the street, with glory going to neither political party, but plenty of it to the “best man in the husiness.” “Absolutely, Mr. Gallagher.”

A HOUSING ACT SINCE ithe doings of Congress in these legislative dog “7 days are mostly “a beggarly account of empty boxes,” we id net expect much performance from the long-deferred promise of a nation-wide assauit on city slums. However, it seems we are to have a Federal Housing Act. And, on the whole, the one the House is considering today is hetler than the one that emerged from the Senate. The House bill made its bow to economy by reducing the Federal 20-year bond-issue authorization from $700,000,000 to $500,000,000. But it sensibly raised to $5000 the $4000 family-unit restriction that would have prevented construction in large cities, where slums are worst. It removed the bad Walsh amendment requiring demolition of old houses before the new ones could be built, thus preveriting a complication of the present low-cost housing shortage. But, by requiring 15 per cent contributions to rental subsidies in tax exemptions, etc., it may be placing a burden which many municipalities have not the financial resources to meet. The House bill is bad in removing the Senate's civil-service restrictions, but good in removing the Senate spoils amendment requiring Senate confirmation of all appointments at salaries of $4000 or more. Probably many of the good provisions can be saved and the bad ones eliminated in conference. If so we will have a tolerable measure that will set up the machinery of Federal aid in slum clearance and prepare the Government and city housing authorities for a joint assault on one of the greatest social evils of our civilization,

impudence, or something a little more so, which I am unable to define in certain of Mr. Roosevelt's selfless advisers. There is a suggestion of plotting of political imps with no responsibility, tinkering

house in Q St. I am given to wonder what goes on, anyway.

It may be remombered that

| there was a mysterious house in | K St. which figured in the dis-

| closures of

monkey business in the Harding Administration and that the reporters who were on the job in those days either didn’t know abou: this nest or were too conservative to write what they did know. When, finally, the story did come out, Harding was dead and the damage was all done so the country got nothing but a scandal, whereas a little old-fashioned, city-wide reporting might have broken the story a couple of years earlier. I suppose I show a lot of nerve suggesting that someone else should do the spade work on this job but I am no good at this kind of reporting and, any-

Mr. Pegler

8 LJ ”

1 there is no such story as I imagine, but so much hinting and winking as we see in the papets these days indicates that some people know more than they are willing to take the risk of telling withaut the backing of a Congressional inquiry. Yet it is only natural to wonder who are these mysterious operators who get together at night to conspire against the Constitution under the general license of something which is referred to as the President’s overwhelming mandate. He never got any mandate to turn the Government over to a lot of persons unknown for revision in the direction of a dictatorship in the guise of liberalism or progress. And if he thinks he was elected Fuehrer, then it is a good thing that some members of the party also feel aware of a mandate to head him off. ” HIS is only wondering out loud, so to speak, but in doing so I have as a basis the frequent references to a clique which have appeared in the writings of Washington men who are too responsible to write from imagination and too practical to shy at spooks. Not that anyone ever has suggested anything illegal in connection with this mysterious little group of serious thinkers. But there is a strong suspicion of sinister and mischievous purpose and of delight in sly tricks against the Constitution all within the Constitution—which is a stretchy document and would be more so if its interpretation were given to Supreme Court judges of that mind which saw nothing evil in the Ku-Klux Klan. The hint and inuendo school of journalism is nowhere less respected than in the United States, notwitirstanding a recent vogue in the night-life correspondence of our big cities. But one needn't see a dead horse to know he is there, and I wish some of my colleagues who havé®been saying “phew” would give a good look and tell us what they see.

u on

The Hoosier Forum

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

to express these columns, troversies

{1s not answered by his excuse: that |

(Times readers are invited their

excluded. your letter short, so all can have a chance. be signed, but names | be withheld on request.)

labor, for or against British policy. The important thing is that he is thinking. In the past about 3 per cent of our population did all the thinking, and | they ruled the country. That wasn't | democracy. Our only hope to make democracy work is to get more Americans thinking. Politics, organ-

views in religious conMake

Letters must will

eral—will be no better than our pub-

sible form, After reading his repiy, I} | inquired if he made the statement | and had left the impression that he | had “made arrangements” for the | elevation. All whom I asked said | this was their impression. It seems that he can't get things | done if he did all he said he did; | | namely, two trips to Washington | and Senatorial support, etc. The | | railroad may be privately owned | | property, but there havé been many fatal accidents at Shelby St. and the Belt, and I actually waited two hours on trains last week. | The other | tioned, having

» ” ” DECLARES G. O. P. COULDN'T | SELL CAMPAIGN BOOKS | BY D. K. The pious Republican Committee reports that the G. O.P. | didn't try peddling its convention | books. What I want to know is, did

| here.

them away? H. L. Mencken can't get away from being 100 per cent American.

. Scoff as he will, |

to the extent that all) ot he good unless more people members of society should have a| think. voice in the management of their : affairs in the state and the nation, has done a great service to de-|

| foregoing, need not be discussed (

[ labor—our whole nation in gen-

| lic opinion, and public opinion can=-|

The Hoosier Forum, in the past,

mocracy by encouraging Hoosiers to

The present regime has at no) . | time gone farther to the left than | contribute to public opinion. Let us |

| to attempt to patch up the present | system of society based profit system, so as to possibly make | it operate a little less ruthlessly. On the other hand, the Socialists | | want to replace this profit system | | with a system of society based on | production for use instead of profit. ROOSEVELT AND WALLACE short-comings about | status as the ones covered in the By Mabel German

hope it continues this policy. Above | all, let us hope it keeps aloft the] motto: “I wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death | | your right to say it” (as often as you

on the

can find time to say it).

” n ”

MEN" | CALLED INCONSISTENT

the same |

national Administration at-

be friends of Spanish democracy— | written. But, nevertheless, I enjoy

if they could find any. reading Maddox.

| time in a dissolution of the Union.” | Compare these statements with |

” ” ” CLAIMS ROOSEVELT'S ‘SOCIALISM’ FALLS SHORT By H. W. Daacke In the article by Mabel German | in the Hoosier Forum of Aug. 9, the | writer mentions some of the short- |

comings of the present regime. On | some of them I agree with the writer entirely, on others somewhat. | Bat the right of the writer to labcl | them as socialistic by any stretch | of the imagination is so absurd that it must be challenged. | At no time have the Socialists ad- | vocated a scarcity of the essentials | of life, food, clothing, and shelter | to maintain a price level. On the] contrary, the Socialists have always | advocated a sufficiency of produc-

The important thing today is not “What do you think?” but rather “Are you thinking?” I do not care whether a man is for or against the New Deal, for or against organized

THOUGHTS By SMILEY W. IRWIN

The silly thoughts of vanity That uselessly grow rife, And petty fears and whimperings, Which are the froth of strife, Parade before us openly Like flippant butterflies That flaunt their gaudy wings. But solemn thoughts of deeper things A mother's death, a fierce sincerity, Or boon that comes unsought, Are hidden from all ears and eyes, And in deep canyons of the mind are wrought.

the socialistic legislation of the New Deal and what have you? A complete contradiction. When Henry Wallace was editor of Wallace's Farmer, at Des Moines, his Nov., 1920, issue contained these | statements: “If it cannot be stopped | in any other way, Congress should | enact a law imposing very severe penalties upon any government official who undertakes to influence either crop production or crop prices. The business of Government employees should be adminis trative. Farmers have been the victims of Government exploitation. “And especially should Government officials be forbidden to put out any statement calculated to) influence agricultural prices. Such statements are pernicious in the extreme. There are too many people in public office who seem to think

tion of these essentials to the extent that every member of society would be enabled to enjoy all the necessities, as well as the luxuries, even to the humblest of the workers. The so-called “socialistic wrmizy 11, 28.

LESSINGS

tion in a mad effort to centralize power in the President” is not socialistic in any sense of the word, as the Socialists have always advo-

General Hugh Johnson Says—

What Is a Liberal? Senator Black's Record Holds Much for Criticism, But Neither Do Autocratic Reformers Meet Dictionary Definition.

ASHINGTON, Aug. 18.—Senator Johnson of Colorado said Justice Black was the most liberal man in the Senate. What is a liberal? The Oxford dictionary says it means, as to opinion, “free from narrow prejudice, open-minded, can= did” and, as to political opinion, faverable to Constitutional changes ana legal or administrative reforms tending in the direction of freedom of democracy.” Does that describe men of the type of Senator Black who rather glory in cracking down with everything in the armory on any opposing person, party, sect or opinion?

It is not sufficiently established that the Senator was ever associated with the Ku-Klux Klan. But if Senator Black was associated with the besotted ignorance of that Fascist terror, it all happened many years ago when he was just a green and somewhat gawky tyro. He now has far too much political sense and experience to be associated with any such movement. It is not liberal to go raking through that old muck to discredit the new appointee to the Court.

” ” ” ENATOR BLACK'S first great bid to fame was a bill designed to force this country bv fiat to a 30-hour week. In this session of Congress he introduced a bill which gave roving commission to a Labor Standards Board to decree any rates of hours and pn

where and at any time. Even its sponsors had to drop it as they would a red-hot coal. Freedom from “unreasonable search” was a guaranty of one liberty which Mr. Jefferson insisted on including in the Constitution. Senator Black ruthlessly ignored it in his search of telegraphic files. That may be liberalism but it is not the kind the dictionary mentions. Reformers desperately leading minorities against intrenched reaction may be excused for rough stuff. But reformers riding headlong in the van of victorious and overwhelming majorities are less than liberal when they seek to inflame prejudice against their vanquished foes. " ” T is neither democracy nor “tending in the direction of freedom and democracy” to tax some people to give the mo:ey to others. Yet every class in this country that has anything is being so taxed in part for that purpose, and these so-called liberals favor that. It is not democracy to centralize governmental powers in a few hands and to take from the states and other departments of Governmeni plenary powers to be given to executives and boards. Yet that is a distinct tendency in the direction of the present governments cf Italy and Germany. Whatever you decide to call them, they are not democratic—unless the dictiopary doesn't know what

DAILY THOUGHT

He that trusteth in shall fail; but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.—Proverbs

wait deeds, and though late, a sure cated a democracy in its purest pos- [reward succeeds.—Congreve,

it is talking about. ybe they are reformers. The | Be. = a) y A din z ho

they ought to exercise some sort of guidance or guardianship over the | farmer.” Compare the above statements of Wallace with his farm-program legislation. There is something radically wrong with men who make such contradictory statements as Roosevelt and Wallace. When will the people wake up to the dictator maneuvering of the Administration?

his riches

on virtuous

It Seems to Me

By Heywood Broun

Dorothy Thompson - for - President Hoax Boomerang Finds Its Authors Fearing She Will Take It Seriously.

EW YORK, Aug. 18.—Two well-known newspapermen were having luncheon the other day with the correspondent of an English paper. It was in the nature of a reunion, for the trio had been together in

Berlin, Paris and London. As they sipped their coffee they proceeded, after the manner of special correspondents, to settle the affairs of the world. But finally the Englishman, who was at the moment. the only working member of thepress, called a halt to rere edie torial discussion. ' “This is all right for you fel+ lows,” he complained. “You've both hecome authors, but I'm still. a reporter, and I musu get a story for my paper in the next hour or s0. Something exclusive would be welcome.” “Exclusive?” said one of his American friends. “That ought to be easy. We'll provide a story for you.” “Such as?” said the Britisher.® “Well,” answered the more in= ventive of the two American correspondents, “wouldn't your paper be pretty mith interested in the rumor which is going the rounds that in 1940 the Republican Party wili nominate a woman for the Presidency?” “Just what do you mean by a rumor which is mow going the rounds?” objected the British journalist. " n “YT just went past your ear a second ago,” explained the maker of hoaxes. “If it isn't going the rounds already it will be as soon as your cable gets printed. Don't you know anything about the power of suge gestion?” “All right,” answered the man who wanted a story. “But what woman will the Republicans nominate for the Presidency in 1940?” : ! “We have the field all to ourselves,” said the res ° porter who hitherto had taken no part in the con= versation. “We can saddle the Republicans with any lady we care to name. Who shall it be?” Roun Proceeding in the traditional style, the other Amér= fcan embarked upon a nominating speech, “I give you Dorothy Thompson,” said the orator, cutting his oration down to its essence. And the nxt. day the story did appear in London, and the follow= ing day there were repercussions in the American press. The subject of the yarn entered a denial, and her husband said that if his wife went to the Whita House he purposed to give up novels and write his diary.

Mr. Broun

” Ld

HE antic went over prodigiously well, and when I encountered its creators the other evening - 1 thought they would be proud of the success of thelr . little spoof. On the contrary, they were both perturbed. and frightened to death, “We builded better than we knew,” one said. “What's the trouble?” I inquired. “I forgot what a determined woman Miss Thompe son is,” the inventor said. “This all started as a joke, but it may be that - three newspapermen in an idle moment changed the course of world history. After all, she has nobody to beat but that Senator from Michigan, whose name I never can remember. We forgot about the power * of the press and the power of suggestion. Both of - us are scared to death, We're beginning to believe that Dorothy will go ahead and make it.”

The Washington Merry-Go-Round

James Roosevelt Worked for Price-Fixing Measure His Father Opposed; Won Thanks of Druggists in State Which He Reportedly Hopes to Govern,

By Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen

ASHINGTON, Aug. 18.—It is an open secret that | James Roosevelt, eldest son of the President | and one of his White House secretaries, has a burning ambition to be Governor of Massachusetts. How much this had to do with his mysterious undercover efforts in behalf of the Tydings Price Maintenance Bill is a guess. But it is a matter of record that son Jimmy did put in a lusty oar for the measure, despite the fact that his father vigorously opposed it. The Massachusetts State Pharmaceutical Association, which could be of great help in a gubernatorial campaign, at its recent convention formally acclaimed his friendly services. It adopted the following resolution: “Whereas, the Massachusetts State Pharmaceutical Association in convention assembled has learned . . . of the active co-operation of James Roosevelt, son of the President of the United States, on behalf of expediting the passage of the much needed Tydings Act. ... “Be it therefore resolved that the secretary convey to James Roosevelt the thanks of the convention for his co-operation in protecting the small merchants.”

” ” ” HE President opposed enactment of the Tydings measure so strepuously that he éven sent a letter to Col urging that it be ~ Under this

parliamentary coup, Senator Tydings of Maryland, {ts current sponsor, attached it as a rider to the District

of Columbia Tax Bill and it whipped through Congress. Almed at cut-rate stores, the measure empowers manufacturers to require retailers to sell at specified prices. Consumers’ organizations and all interested Gove ernment agencies have denounced the legislation, They warned the President that the law would lay the Administration open to widespread attack for ine creases in the cost of living.

ON Jimmy went to bat for the bill after his father wrote Congress to ditch it. In a letter to his Massachusetts druggist friends he informed them that an amendment had been devised by the Justice Department to meet the objections raised by the President. When Attorney Ge Cummings was asked about it he replied sharply: -*%. know nothing about this and have prepared ne. amendment. There is no change in my position, *I*: am against the bill.” rs Notwithstanding this categorical denial, Senalo¥ Tydings, on the Senate floor, repeated son Jimniy@d> assertion that the bill had been modified with Jusgh Department co-operation to satisfy “the Admin

cond time, Mr. Cummings issued a dls~ t the slipped through the House: with Ra My no TELL sn Lr

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