Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 September 1937 — Page 10

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MONDAY, SEPT. 13, 1937

- OVERTAXED SEWER SYSTEM

AST week's heavy rains again called attention to the. overtaxed sewer system, particularly on the North Side. Sudden downpours flooded basements, buildings and streets. Obsolete sewage lines were burdened beyond capacity, creating in some places a distinct health hazard.

Residents are feeling the inconvenience caused by the

haphazard growth of the system. As the city expanded, new lines have been added to existing drains. Some needed replacements have not been made. Essential modernization has been postponed. Tied i® with this is the fast-growing problem created by the increase of air-conditioning units. In many large cities, this “manufacturing of weather indoors” is vitally affecting local water supplies. The cooling systems require vast amounts of water. The supply must be readily and continuously available, and cheap enough to justify economical operation. Many private wells have been dug to get a supply more economical than city water. Frank W. Herring, American Public Works Association director, says it is unlikely that air-conditioning plants in most cities will tax “run-off” facilities beyond capacity. The peak volume of storm run-off, he says, is much greater. In Indianapolis, however, City Engineer H. B. Steeg says airconditioning has become a major drainage problem. He warns-that sewers now are so overtaxed that a big thunderstorm might “flood every basement in the downtown area.” Another health threat is that the sucking of ground water to the surface in great quantities from wells lowers the water level in the ground, increasing the danger of sewer leakage and: contamination. State health officials, - recognizing this, are making a more rigid check on private water supplies. : The whole drainage situation needs a thorough investigation. The longer necessary improvements are delayed, the more costly they will be.

JOHN BULL AND UNCLE SAM ROM London come reports that the British Government

is “surprised” at the apparent reluctance of the United

States to “co-operate” with it in the China crisis. Simultaneously, we learn from Washington that the State Department is surprised at London’s surprise. For Washington had been of the opinion that it was co-operat-ing with London in the Far East. In their joint efforts to evacuate civilians from the war. zones, keep lines of communication open, protect their nationals and other foreign lives in the International Settlement, and so on, in the words of the American Admiral Yarnell: : : “We help them and they help us.” We strongly suspect, however, that that is not exactly what London has in. mind when it says “co-operate.” In fact, what London means is clearly indicated by Sir Arthur Willert, formerly of the British Foreign Office. Says he: a “It is now seen that she (Japan) is making a colossal bid for the subjugation of China. And this bid, whether successful or not, is bound to affect British and other foreign interests disastrously. ... : : “The only thing that would give the Japanese pause would be that the great powers, especially the United States and Great Britain, had decided to restrain them by arms, if necessary. But in any such policy London cannot take the lead . ..” The British Government, as Sir Arthur sees it, regards the Far Eastern situation as part of a scheme of the militarist nations to destroy democracy. He would have Britain hold the fort against Germany, Italy and other possible European aggressors and he would have America ‘“co- ~ operate” by making Asia safe for democracy. The trouble between London and Washington may be largely due to definitions. : When democracy is on the spot in Europe, to Britain co-operation seems to mean American men, money and ships hurrying across the Atlantic. And when democracy is imperiled in Asia she thinks American men, money and ships should scurry across the Pacific. Only this time Britain would co-operate by doing guard mount at home. It’s a swell idea—from Britain’s point of view.

INDIANA'S DEBT SHARE BRIN GING the 37-billion-dollar national debt close to home, we find that Indiana’s share of the deficit is $922,742,723, using the per capita figure of $284.62. Indianapolis’ share alone is $105,907,102, or as much as it would cost to operate the entire City Government for eight years. r To help run up this huge debt, Indiana received $573,757,094 in New Deal expenditures between March 4, 1933, and Dec. 31, 1936. * We are not minimizing the necessity or value of these projects during the emergency and recovery periods. But we are saying that it is time to call a halt. The State lacked $307,047,891 of paying as much in Federal taxes as the Federal Government spent in Indiana. Those are the figures that increase the red ink. Perhaps one way to help balance the budget is to cease the local pressure for more and more projects. It is time “to start paying ds we go. ;

SAFER CROSSINGS

JNDIANA a year ago held the unenviable distinction of

having the thirdshighest grade crossing accident record in the country. Of 10,427 crossings in the state, 80 per cent were not “specially protected.” : : ‘As a result of a commendable safety effort, Indiana "today leads all other states in the use of Federal funds for installation of flasher warning signals at highway-railroad intersections. Twenty-five grade crossings recently have” eliminated and 17 elimination projects are under w

-

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES __ Ga

The Withering Hand—By Herblock

een,

Fair Enough :

By Westbrook Pegler

Fate of Alluring Spy Suspect of|l

Rome, With Her Counter-Espionage _ Stag Line, Worries Correspondent. EW YORK, Sept. 18.—During the period

of emotional nonsense which followed the adoption of sanctions against Italy by

- the League of Nations, there was quite a spy

scare in Rome and there was one particular spy, or suspect, whose activities were checked with great patriotic zeal. ie This spy, or suspect, was a medium-sized blond with a racy, streamlined chassis, a light but highly

attractive paint job and numerous : changes of scenery, She was pointed out to me in the bar of the Ambassador Hotel my first day in town by Mr. Rota, the manager. : “See that woman in the leopard coat?” Mr. Rota whis~ pered dramatically. “Nice,” I remarked, yours?” “Priend? No,” he said. “She is a spy. I have my eye on her.” I said this was not bad work if you could get it because this spy, or suspect, was something very special, but Mr. Rota told me that if I would just keep my eyes open I would see some of the finest counter-espionage the world had ever known. And for a fact I did. This spy, or suspect, was said to be a German and that tended to confuse things because the Germans were not at all interested in Abyssinia, which was the talk of all the officers in uniforms who were hanging around the hotel bars.

“friend of .

Mr. Pegler

% 8 t J

NYWAY, the Italians had her pegged for a German spy and they checked her night and day with a patriotic devotion that was something to behold. She seemed to have plenty of money, for she dressed expensively and wore jewelry that was dis-

_ tinctively not five-and-ten, but she never had to lift . a check for a meal or a drink in several weeks.

By and by most of the American journalists in town and their wives, who ran pretty much together socially, came to krow the spy by sight and they would sit around at night watching the play of wits in this game of life and death. Once in a while an American journalist would say, “If you all will excuse me I think I will go to the bar and do a little counter‘espionage,’ and the little woman would say, “Over my dead body you will.” : Our spy became quite an institution, with a stag line reaching from here to there—colonels, majors, lieutenants in beautiful war costumes and civilians in mufti. : # #8 : B% the principal agent of the counter-espionage was a young and graceful hand-kisser from the Foreign Office who threw himself into his work with a brave abandon that was really inspiring. He had

‘at least half her dates, and you could see the eyes of

the volunteers sitting™®n the sidelines enviously following him around the floor at night as he wrestled

. his subject through the measures of the dance, very

close to his work, and obviously devoted to his duty. I am telling you,. friends, this spy was really extra,

' and the night she showed up in the night club in the

purple evening dress with no shoulder straps at all, the patrons came arunning from far and near to keep

-an eye on her for the Duce. : :

I understand that Mr. Rota is running a hotel in California now, and I wish I knew where, because I would like to ask him to fill me in on the fate of the beautiful spy. a

id Se

— LU

The Hoosier Forum 1 wholly disagree with what You say, but will - Bie! defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.

‘DETOUR U. S. INVADERS;

WIN WAR WITH BOGS. By B. C.

Nine superhighways, over which United States armed forces could move to meet an invader’s attack at any point in the nation, are urged by Democratic Congressman Snyder of Pennsylvania. :

Each road would be 200 feet wide,

sufficient to allow transport of Army equipment across the continent in 72 hours. In peacetime, the roads could be used for commercial purposes. Three routes would run from coast to coast and six from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. :

Every motorist—and that includes a big section of the population— will indorse Mr. Snyder’s plan. While we are at peace, those roads will be a comfort to the tourist. And if the nation is attacked, all our Army will have to do is set up. a generous proportion of detour signs. Dust and the barrel-top side roads will bog down any invaders. ” » ” INGENIOUS FARMER'S IDEA HELD GOOD BUT NOT PERFECT By Old Fashioned Farmer George Hider, down by Lake Providence, La., has a row of cotton 80 miles long, all inside a circular 40-acre tract. The row starts in the center and spirals out=ward toward the edge of the tract, or, if you prefer it that way, it starts on the outer circumference and spirals inward to the center.

Anyhow it is reported that Farmer Hider cultivates the 40 acres of cotton planted along that 80-mile row without manpower and without mulepower, * All the work is done by a chauffeurless tractor, which travels at the rate of three miles an hour. It can start on the outside and spiral inward, or start in the center and follow the row outward. “The tractor is guided by a stout wire attached to a pipe on top a small derrick in the center of the field. The pipe is threaded, and it functions after the manner of a winch, taking in the wire’s slack if the tractor is moving down the row from outer circumference inward, or letting out slack if the tractor is spiraling from the center outward. All Farmer Hider has to do is to refuel the tractor ever so often. When I first read of this I said to myself that Farmer Hider “has got something there.” But on sober second thought I am not so sure. Having had considerable experience in my youth in the hoeing and picking of cotton, I can see decided flaws in this spiral-endless-row system. - Now the 80-mile length doesn’t daunt me, for many are the times I have gazed down a cotton row that was not more than a few hundred yards long by exact measurement, and my naked eyes have told me the end was at least 80 mile: away. Yet always I managed to plod along and reach the end. But the important thing was that

General Hugh Johnson Says—

'Voluntary’ Jobless Registration Described a Outside Walls of Troy," Hiding Skeleton o

either on relief or holding jobs which would other- |. wise be held by Americans now jobless. In any great relief project like WPA in New York City you rum | into shoals—but you are not allowed to. discriminate in favor of citizens. No other country does that. A jobless American in France, Germany or Italy is just

IYETHANY BEACH, Del., Sept. 13.—Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes=-that was how the Trojans were warned not to take the phony wooden horse filled with trouble, destruction and defeat which the Greeks left as a present outside the walls of Troy. 1t means something like “whenever a Greek goes nohle enough on his enemy to give him a present, there's a joker in it.” ~ "1 recommend that to Economic Royalist Biggers, who is given the honor of running the “voluntary” registration of the unemployed. x It is suggested that the job calls for some national figure who can baliyhoo a registration out of every man who has no joh—not. because it will do him any good, or be made his duty to register, but solely to persuade him that it would be nice to tell his dear postmaster all about himself. a :

# s

OR several years, there has been an almost uni-

versal demand for a real census of the whole unemployment problem so that the country may know just how many more billions to give Harry Hopkins and when and where it ought to be spent.

For years—no dice. Mr. Hopkins’ attitude seemed to be, “that’s my business. I know all I need to know about spending these billions.” Treo - But there was another reaso

Nobody knows how

out of luck.

AEN have been leaking through our Estimates of them and dependents to as high as 3,000,000. There is

for years. run from 1,000,000

‘only one way to find out how many we are at public expense and that is compulsory. registre of the unemployed and a report of the number on | shocking

relief, But the possibly raise a political storm—especially ment of Labor which is in charge immigration laws. Secretary Perkins has’ bee stacle to a count of the jobless,

pressure became too strong she had io be placated. So the idea of a “voluntary” registration was invented. ‘The one to three million fore the closet could remain hidden there.

have to register. Of course, none portation.

Few citizen jobless will take the troukle,

should they? It’s just a pass in the air. It throws:

s Another "Wooden Horse |. f ‘Aliens lllegally in U. S.1 By Drew Pearson and Robert S, Allen

been the immovable ob-

(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.) =.

when I got to the end of the row there was a shade tree beneath which a fellow could take a nap and rest his weary limbs. ‘There was a jug of water, buried in the ground ‘to keep it cool, from which a fellow could quench his thirst. And nearby was a creek, where a fellow could take a swim. And watermelons were specially placed to provide a fellow ‘with the nourishment he needed to make another lap up the field and back again. . : Nowhere in Farmer Hider’s spiralroy scheme are allowances made for these elemental requirements which, in the proper cultivation of cotton, are just as essential as hoes and plowshares. : Even a boll-weevil couldn't have any fun in a cotton field like that. Si s #2 = : JUST OBSERVATIONS ON CURRENT MATTER S : ByD. EK. a - America’ First: Our Labor Day casualties were greater than Shanghai’s. . . . Phil La Folletic sees the rise of a new party in 1940 and hopes it is his and Bob's. . . . Who is taking Sir Basil Zaharoff’s place in the current wars? ... U. 8. citizens in China may have to choose between saving face or necks. . . . Statistics show the average farmer has a choice of being a tenant and supporting a landlord or an: owner and supporting a- mortgage.

SL PEs - By CLIFF HANSBERRY Life, like the pendulum on grands father’s clock, = Swings gently .to. and fro— And oft our spirits will take .a shock, That will swing low. .

them high or

So if you are feeling low today Bow not your head in sorrow, Sit up and smile ahd to yourself

say— : «Life’s bound to swing high; tomorrow!” ©

DAILY THOUGHT

Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it.—Luke 11, 28. : ;

ORDS are like leaves; and where they most abound,

ly found. —Pope.

borders

registration | ar Welles is disclcstive might | ro with the Departof enforcement of 3

‘When the public

ign skeletons in They won't | will—an £ d risk de-

Why

much fruit of sense beneath is rare- |.

CLAIMS F. D. R. POPULAR BUT PARTY IS LOSING By William Lemon Roosevelt has no: lost his prestige and popularity, but the Democratic Party has, by .some of its representatives repudiating - his Supreme Court plan. They played in the hands of tae: Republicans,

aiding and abetting the enemy, vio- |

lating the will of the masses who elected them. i Those of them who are guilty will be judged by the masses and if up for re-election next year are sure to be defeated, for a great many of them flew on the tail of Roosevelt’s kite. They were elected to represent the people, not the select few; not to use their own narrowgauged ideas, but the ideas of the people who-elected them. The New Deal is liere to stay regardless of hostile press and the calamity howler. on the streets today, Roosevelt is the “greatest Roman of therm all.” . ” » 8 = PRIVATE ENTERPRISE DECLARED IMPOSSIBLE By Bull Mooser, Crawifcrdsville ; We hear a lot nowadys about the sacredness of private enterprise and the slogan; “preserve private enterprise!” It is time someone asked where is" this private enterprise. Last year, in our city,” threefourths of the business was done not by private enterprise but by corporate enterprise—by corporations whose stock was owned outside our community. © This great monster, corporate en-

terprise, which in the course of 50 | ~

years has gained “control of all our natural resources, all “our incustry and all of. our facilities for credit and commerce, now has invaded the territory of the middleman and has robbed him of his chance for private enterprise. - The day is gone when a young man can start a store, an industry or a bank, The young man of the future will have no chance for private enterprise. He will have to work for corporate enterprise. Private enterprise is a thing of the past. ’ Ea When the history of this era we are now living is recorded, it will be recorded as the transition stage from private enterprise to corporate enterprise. i Private enterprise is as outmeded and obsolete as are the old hand-craft industries. It is gone. Why not face the facts as they are? Why not set about the task of making corporate. . enterprise a

blessing instead of a curse to our |

‘civilization?

To the average man’

World Cruise?—By Talburt

‘more from the friends of Franco.

. a Communist or communistic.

It Seems to Me By Heywood Broun’

Sees Issue in Spain Clearly With Hitler's Announcement That Italy, Japan and Germany Back Franco.

NEW YORK, Sept. 13.—1I trust that very little will be heard in. this country any : And I think particularly of such Ameticans as have tried to make a holy crusader out of a Nazi

catspaw. It has always been strange that some partisans of the Spanish pretender should deny his Fascist core. | The general himself, of necessity, has heen quite

.. frank in admitting his deep debt to Hitler and to Mussolini. And now Der Fuehrer has made the issue . plain and sharp as a bayonet by “announcing that Germany, Italy, Japan and the motley mercenaries of Rebel Spain stand united in a common cause... And he is correct in asserting that fascism is the same in all parts of the world. * Indeed, it is' a pity that Hitler did not name those groups here which follow in his train. There are those ‘who would pick and choose. We all know the individ- ; ual whe wants to have his favorite Fascist and discard ‘the rest. This is the man or woman -who contends that Franco is fighting to save civilization and at the same time admits that Japan

wars to destroy it. :

Things equal to the same thing are equal to each other. It is precisely the same political philosophy which rains bombs upon the children of ‘China and slaughters the "Basques of Spain. nasal

2. 8...8 .

ND I see no reason at all why there should be much more patient hearings of those who seek to interpret the situation in Spain.as a war between Christianity and unbelief. The sincerity of those who hold to this naive notion does not serve to make their

"position realistic. Hitler is not noted for his devotion

to any existing church body, and it can hardly be asserted that the Japanese are battering at China in an effort to extend the influence of the Gospel.

Hitler says that he and Mussolini, together with

* their allies in the East and their pawns in Spain, are

seeking to establish a world front against communism.

‘But that is a word which neither he nor Il Duce has

‘ever ventured to define. : Seemingly anyone who refused to accept fascism is With these two words one may very well girdle the earth and include all who love freedom and strive to preserve democracy. Certainly the all-inclusiveness of “communistic” should

-be understood in this country, where “it ‘as ‘been . applied indiscriminately to radicals, liberals, mild-con= - servatives and the millions of workers who seek salva=

tion in progressive unionism. \ 2 #8»

TF seems to me that the British Trades Union Cone 1 press has offered. a logical example to all labor groups in all parts of the world by adopting a resolution condemning “Franco’s Fascists.” Surely the issue is not. one in which any organized working group, white collar or otherwise, can afford to be neutral in its sympathies. : : Fascism is the chief foe of trade unionism. It is the dragon which would devour democracy. It sets up censorships and abolishes a free press. Franco is only a stooge, but he speaks the voice of his master. He comes to heel when he is called. Men and women of all religious faiths should declare against him and seek a common unity in democratic brotherhood. . .

The Washington Merry-Go-Round

Staid Department of State Gets Thorough Overhauling Under Directing Hand of Sumner Welles, Who Sees Eye-to-Eye With Boss Cordell Hull.

the most thorough overhaulings of

decision, broad

sio ideas, and an of human nature. 5

Furthermore,

OE of the first things Mr. Welles ‘did was to root out the bureaucracy in charze bf appropriations, buildings, consuls, visas, etc, by transferring. the gentleman in charge of this work, Wilbur J. Cer, Assistant Secretary of -State. = ail Mr. Carr had been there for years, long had passed the peak of his efficiency. So Mr. Carr was msde. Minister to Czecnoslovakia. rE Next was ousted Robert Kelley, for years chief of the ‘eastern European divisioh: which ; Kelley was the man who ied the anti-

handles Soviet

1]

J|/ASHINGTON. Sept. 13.—From an exterior viewpy int, the Department of State is a sedate. and solemn institution, Inside, however, the De- “ partment is not so forbidding. ' It stands on far less ceremony than any foreign office of Europe. ~~ Recently, however, the Department of State has “been given one of its staid existence, and this house-clearing has done it. a world ‘of good sinh ew yn ES" Chief‘ ruffier of State Department: dignity has Sumner Welles, newly appointed Undersecretary. a man of n, te understanding he and Cordell Hull see eye-to-eye.

‘with the Jesuit fathers at Georgetown ‘University, |

Mr. Kelley was sent to Istanbul. Transferred from Istanbul to Washington was G.

Howland Shaw fo take charge of personnel.

Mr. Welles also discovered a rat’s nest in the of« fice in charge of foreign service buildings. Estimates on the construction of American embassies and con-

sulates abroad were thousands of dollars out of

whack. A million-dollar embassy was purchased in

Berlin, then allowed to stand six,years unused, sup= because money was not available to recondition it. Meanwhile new buildings were erected in other countries. - : "I » EJ EE EITH MERRILL, executive assistant in charge of this, resigned in order to push a new medicine which his chain drug store family fs promoting, and Frederick Larkin, of ‘the public buildings branch of the Treasury Department, was appointed in his place. New Assistant Secretary of State in char of these bureaus is George Messersmith, recent ister of Austria, a former consul who know onions, The eastern European and western European divisions have been molded into one European division, and at its head is Ji Pierrepont Moffat, a young man

of intelligence. < : : The Latin Amerjcan and Mexican, divisions also have been combin into the American republics division and placed in charge of Larry Duggan, one

B