Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 September 1937 — Page 11

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Vagabonc

From Indiana— Ernie Pyle Jack Bolton Is an Old ~Qld-Timer At 82, but With Few Worries He Is One of Alaska's Happiest Men.

FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Sept. 14.—Jack Bol- : ton is more than twice as old as I am, and hasn’t one-tenth of my worries. He is, I believe, the happiest man I ever saw. He is 82, he has a mean dog that he loves,

he’ll get up any time of the day or night to take a drink of whisky, he’s as gay as a college girl, and he has an imp in his eyes. Jack is the oldest old-timer I've seen in Alaska : —I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t hold the record. He has been here 50 years. Came in 87. He was an adventurer. Been all over India and South America. A real story - book prospector. But when he hit Alaska he stuck. We dropped in on him just at noon. My old friend, Albert Moss, ya ’98er himself, was with me. Was Old Jack glad to see us! His eyes gleamed like a naughty boy's. He hopped around the cabin like a flea, talking in a sly, loud whisper, Mr. Pyle making remarks, apologizing for the place (which was neat as a pin), saying he sure was glad we dropped in. “I just got through taking a bath,” he said. “Imagine taking a bath right in the middle of the day. Old Jack feels good. “We passed your cabin the other day, Moss. Did you see us? Didn't you hear me singing? We would of stopped, but we had too big a load of gin aboard.”

One for Both Legs ;

That brought up the question of how ‘about a drink, and Jack said he had never been known to refuse, day or night. So we poured him a big drink and he downed it, and went “ahhh” and shook his leg, and said. “Say that’s good whisky. Now if I just had a shot for the other leg.” So he took a shot for the other leg. ; Old Jack's face is a masterpiece. His face just says without words that the world is a swell place and Old Jack’s got it by the tail. “Wish you could stay awhile longer, I'd sing for you.” Jack is famous up around here for his singing. Really can sing good, they say. ; He lives in his one-room cabin on.Faith Creek, about 60 miles north of Fairbanks. The walls are covered with pictures of hifnself and his friends, and with dozens of magazine covers and big colored cartoons out of magazines. : There's nothing degenerate about Old Jack. He's not the sodden and morose kind of drinker you sometimes see. He's meticulously neat, and he’s smart and up-to-date in his thinking, and gay as a bird.

It’s Like Jail to Her

Mrs. Laura McLean keeps a store in the village of McGrath over on the Kuskokwim River. You wouldn’t know it was a store tili you get inside; for it’s just a log house, and no ‘sign or anything outside. And even inside it’s just a half-way store—some long board tables with new overalls and candy and stuff piled on them, and some steel traps hanging on the wall. And Mrs. McLean sitting there sewing, or talking with some Indian girls. Mrs. McLean is a large woman; she’s white-haired, and she gets around a little stiffly. And she is generous and kind. She has been in. Alaska a long, long time. She is sad. Her husband died years ago. She keeps on with the store—meagerly, emptily. “How long have you been in McGrath, Mrs. McLean?” I asked her. “Seventeen years,” she said. Her voice rose, “Seventeen years in jail, my boy. Seventeen years in jail.” Up every ereek, you will find them. They are a fascinating race; a race apart. Every one has his story. The leading word: in it is “If.” They would have been rich—“if.” They are the ones who came, and didn’t make good. Or did they?

My Diary

By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

Established Machinery to Adjust World's Problems Is Crying Need.

YDE PARK, N Y., Monday — Yesterday was a most glorious day and, as the Potomac is still in the Hudson River, we boarded her at Poughkeepsie, sailed down below West Point and got back about 5:30. The shadows on the hills were beautiful as the clouds sailed by overhead. Mr. Norman Davis remarked that mfany Americans would travel miles in Europe to see scenery such as we were passing through in the highlands and yet, just because we are accustomed to it, we hardly give it a thought. No one talks of anything else these days except the very precarious situation irkswhich the entire world seems to be floundering. How I wish we could reach a frame of mind in which we were not so concerned about the fact that we had differences and difficulties, for that seems to be a fairly normal and healthy situation. The real trouble is that we have no machinery which. automatically deals with these difficulties. We worry about war and what this nation or that nation may do, but we do not put our minds on permanent ways of dealing with troubles when they first arise. In the same way, we curtail production to keep up prices, which is necessary as a temporary expedient. But we are so busy doing that and meeting the emergency, that we don’t seem to have time to think of the greater problem of distribution which will allow us greater production and more well-being for a greater number of people. Show Family Newsreels Last night they brought up a newsreel with pictures on it of my mother-in-law in Europe, Franklin Jr’s and Ethel's wedding and scenes of them on the ship, James and the President, Harry Hopkins and others on their last fishing trip. . This: was amusing, but the really thrilling movie . was brought up by the Resettlement Administration. It showed what has happened to the Mississippi River and its tributaries and why they give us so much trouble at times. I wish everyone who still questions the need of reforestation and soil conservation could see this movie. We understand so little of what our - forefather’s lack of knowledge has done to us. Year after year we pay toll financially and in human lives for what they did. We also deal with this question, of necessity, on "an emergency basis when floods occur, but we must "look far into the future and must control the causes "of floods and thereby return much of our land to a condition where it can support a people with a reasonahbly good standard of living. A real autumn storm is upon us today, but before it began to rain I had a ride with Capt. Reybold, who is here arranging for the return of eae of our horses to Washington.

Walter O'Keefe—

A FEW days ago seven employees of the National

Democratic Club walked out because they had to work a 13-hour day for $50 a month and had only five hours off every two weeks. : They claim the toughest part of the job was that "they had to listen to some eloquent well-fed Democrat standing under a “no tipping” sign shooting his mouth off about the more abundant life. The boys simply got into the wrong depamment with the Democrats. They should have gone into the souvenir convention book selling racket where you work 5 hours every two weeks, lay off 13 hours

~ every day and still make’$50 daily.

Rumor has it that the employees of the Republican Club also are considering striking, The hours and wages are all right, but they claim nobody ever eats there. Nobody bought a drink since 1932 and, what's more, [they think the place is haunted. . CE

~ Second Section

s

By John T. Flynn

ment needs money. But the Government is

as it does his rich brother.

his white-collar brothers and their respective wives stream to the stores with the week’s wages. For instance when the average tax-free American citizen, glorying in the happy thought that he doesn’t make enough to pay an income tax, goes into a Barroom to drink a glass of beer, he does not realize that when he lays his 10 cents on the bar 3% cents of it is for

taxes. If he indulges himself in a couple of glasses a day and

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1937

“There’s a Hidden Tax in Nearly Everything Sold.” (Editorial, Page 12)

(Second of a Series)

EW YORK, Sept. 14.—There is a futile, helpless little person dearly beloved by the politicians, and affectionately referred to as the forgotten man. But there is one time when he is not forgotten—that is when the Govern-

very sweet about it all. - It

doesn’t hit him over the head with an income tax return

It eases the tax out of him

without his really knowing about it. Seventy per cent of the taxes collected in this country are hidden-taxes. The biggest tax collector in the land is the merchant and the big-payment days are not income tax days, but Saturday, when the American workers and

smokes a pack of 20 cigarets he will pay 7 cents on the beer and 6 cents on the cigarets. That’s 13 cents a day—and in a year it’s around $45. ” » ”

F he has income of $4000 he will pay about $28 in income taxes after he has taken his deductions. He lets go a lusty roar about that, but he never gives one little squeak of protest because of what the Federal Government takes out of him while he is drinking his beer and smoking his throat medicine. Do you remember the howl of anguish the corporations sent up

By William Philip Simms Times Foreign Editor ASHINGTON, - Sept. 14.—Out of the critical situation in the Mediterranean, a pact between Great Britain, France and Italy eventually .is more likely to emerge than war. : ‘ Britain is now speeding up her $7,500,000,000 armaments program In the hope it may make her empire relatively secure. Today, hewever, her leaders realize that twice that sum will not ‘suffice without the friendship of Italy. France is now spending record sums on her army, navy and alr force. Yet she, too, is more and more convinced that her position will .become increasingly precarious unless she can count Italy among her friends. : Bombing planes and have completely changed the strategic position of the Mediterranean powers. A powerful, united Italy, in a time of world crisis, would come pretty near holding the whip hand. # 8 8

TALY might not be able to lick A Britain and France on the field of battle, but she might well bring about their defea$ thanks to her

submarines |

3-Power Mediterranean Agreement Forecast

position astride the Mediterranean. Italy possesses one of the largest and most highly trained armies in Europe. - But what. is more important. she has one of the most powerful air forces and an excellent navy. Through a veritable Italian hornet’s nest must pass British and French shipping if those two powers are not to be seriously inconvenienced. In time of war not to be able to use the Mediterranean might prove fatal for both.

¥ 2's i OREIGN Minister Anthony Eden may hate Premier Musso-

lini with all the ardor of his young soul, and take boyish delight in

| putting tacks in the Duce’s seat, but

Premier Chamberlain is said to hold that war between Britain and Italy is too big a price to pay for such fun. : In London recently this writer was informed on excellent authority that if and when a favorable moment arrives, Premier Chamberlain may be expected to reach a complete understanding with I1 Duce--not only with regard to the Mediterranean but Ethiopia as well France is expected to go a:ong.

ry!

Side Glances ;

"When | get our basement tull of old boxes Dad pays me.a quarter

FIA mE

membered When Hidde

about a pitiful little $300,000,000-of undistributed profits tax? But do you recall one little peep out of the liquor drinkers over twice that much or from the smokers about almost twice as much?

2 2 8

HE buyer in the store pays taxes on so many articles

that there is no keeping track

of them—hundreds of millions on gasoline, on beauty preparations, rouge and powder and soap, on sugar, through tariff duties, and on several hundred other » articles’ through customs taxes. He pays taxes to the city and the State when he pays his rent.

cities there are sales taxes-that nick the customers for at least $350,000,000. iz : : What does all this amount: to in the case of the average man? How much of his earnings does he hand over to the Federal, State and local authorities ‘in taxes? The Twentieth Century Fund has made a study of such tax payments. Its findings are, to say the least, startling. It reports that a wage earner in New York, for example, earn-

By Thomas L. Stokes

Times Special Writer - ASHINGTON, Sept. 14.—President Roosevelt is expected to adopt the strategy of keeping alive the Supreme Court issue and, at the same time, locking away in a closet with the sign “do not use unless necessary” the forbidding ghost of the “packing” plan which he dangled in vain before Congress last

session wo Si. o Or to switch similes, Mr. Roosevelt appears somewhat in the role of the teacher who delivers a lecture on proper behavior, perfectly good-humoredly, all the while fingering behind his back the belligerent birch rod which the student plainly can see. tlh i 5 8 wo Bi HE “yes” and “no” din is con-

both sides, and paradoxical though it seems, it all comes down, practically, to a question of terms. Mr. Roosevelt certainly is going to talk about the Supreme Court along the line he has talked About it, and plentifully, as to the necessity of a broad interpretation of the

cial and economic conditions, with pointed references to the part which economic and social viewpoints play in decisions, and the human fallibility demonstrated by the Court, the present as well as ‘past ones, in reversing itself : under public -presFew expect Mr. Roosevelt to demand, new’ at least, that Congress put through the “p cking” bill. This is the birch rod which he holds behind his back. Whether he ever will use it will. depend, according: to the consensus here, upon the Court itself. dE 3 : ed a 8 Ga 3s HE P & ident’s’ cour : may ‘be affected, beyond -His. coritral, by the renewed imputations that Justice Hugo ‘Black of Alabama, the only appointment -he thus far has made to the Court, was, and is, a member of the Ku Klux Klan. An Administration viewpoint on the Supreme Court issues comes from Solicitor General Stanley. Reed, who is charged with presentation of Government. cases to- the highest

And in the States and a few

fusing, but there’s truth on.

Constitution ‘to meet changing so--

" form trafic

No Fairy Tale!

ing $1000; pays $123, which is

123 per .cent; that a salaried man earning $5000 pays $618.

2 s 2

HE average merchant in New York state earning $5000 pays $645 in ‘taxes, but he is enabled to shift about half of this to his customers by including the taxes in the price of His goods. But there are cases where a salaried worker earning a thousand or two thou.sand dollars pays as high as 18 per cent. : ; A man earning a $100,000 salary may pay as high as 60 per cent. But from the point of view of the tax gatherer there are not enough men earning such salaries to make

up ‘much money for the govern- .

ments.

Asa matter of fact, most of these indirect taxes impose a burden on the taxpayer out of proportion to the money which the Government gets in cash. : 2 2 ” TAKE, for example, the example of beer. A full barrel of beer sells for $15. The brewer gets $9 for himself and $6 for the Government. The tax is paid

PEAKING over the radio last night, he did not even mention the so-called “packing” plan nor the furious controversy which raged about it, though he referred, historically, to decisions which had been reversed with changes of membership on the Court. He cited decisions reversed by the same Court that made them.

On’ the influence of ~ economic views held by judges he said, “Many differences as to the limitations of constitutional doctrines arise from the varying attitude of judges toward social and economic problems,” adding, “These differences are not a

Entered as Second-Class’ Matter at Postcifice, Indianapolis, Ind.

|Our Town

There's No Escape From Tax Bills

Forgotten Man Is Well Re

n Levies Are Counted

by the brewer and in turn collected from the tavern-keeper. The tavern-keeper collects this tax from the beer drinker one glass at a time. : Now, as you probably know, every merchant fixes the price on the basis of what he pays for his merchandise. In fixing the price he takes the amount he pays for

the article and adds what is called -

a mark-up. ‘Let us suppose he figures on adding 100 per cent to cover cost of operation and profit. Now if he paid $9 for a barrel of beer, he would expect to sell the beer for $18. But as he pays $15 for it, he expects to sell it for $30. The net result is that the customer pays not only| the $6 tax which the Government gets, but a large additional sum besides. The: beer-drinking public is out $30 on that barrel of beer instead of $18. The number of billions paid by American customers in this way cannot be calculated. It is gigantic. This is one of the bad

fruits of a bad system of taxes. (Copyright, 1937. NEA Service, Inc.

NEXT: The prospects for an effective program of taxation.

Roosevelt Is Holding ‘Packing’ Plan Over Court's Head, Stokes Says

development of recent = years.” Tracing the history of decisions on the right of a state to fix maximum hours in industry, he said: “Through some changes in the membership of the Court, through other changes in the views oi justices who remained on the Court, and in all cases but one by a clivided Court, the right of a state to prescribe maximum hours for industrial labor was established. In the course of that development we-find opinions adopted: by a majority of the Jiistices which are irreconcilable ‘with majority opinions delivered at other times.” ;

LEFT TURN |

r i -.

‘The proper use of hand de provides

National Safety Coun oil.

signals prevents many accidents. The uniTO three simple signals which are fairly well ighout the country. They are shown in the accom-

panying illustrdtion. If your state or local signals vary from these, conform to your local rules and custom. Make it a point 50 know “just

what they are—and discipline yourself to use them at

all times. There's -

PAGE 11

By Anton Scherrer lt Was 83 Degrees Hot This Day, 1912; ‘When Police Chief Discussed Differences in Dancing Technique.

WENTY-FIVE years ago today, D. O. Hibbard, secretary of the Y. M. C. A, and Chief Hyland were closeted in the Police Station discussing the difference between an Oriental dance and a muscle dance.

Secretary Hibbard said there wasn’t any

difference, and for that reason both dances should be excluded from the burlesque houses. Chief Hy- . land was just as sure there was a difference, even

if it was a matter of nuances. At any rate, he didn’t see any reason . for excluding the muscle dance. On the surface, it looked like a draw. Later that day, however, the «Incomparable Zallah,” an Egyptian dancer. who was doing her stuff at the Empire at the time, let in more light on the controversy. The muscle dance, said Zallah, is an art. As for the Oriental dance, she said, it bears the same relation to the muscle dance as does the “bear cat” to the waltz. Indeed Zallah went even farther that day and said that people who find anything objectionable in the muscle dance are looking for it, or don’t know what they are talking about. The thermometer in front of Henry Huder’s drug store registered 83 degrees while Chief Hyland . and Secretary Hibbard were in conference.

James Goodrich Bought Auto

It was the day, too, James P. Goodrich, Chair man of the Republican State Committee, bought his first automobile, a Buick roadster. It didn’t impress anybody, though, because everybody knew that Democratic State Chairman Bernard Korbly had been driving his Buick for the fourth season. Sept. 14, 1912, was the day, too, Frances Morrison, Mary Hendrickson, Mary Gavin, Mary Allerdice, Ruth Lockewood, La Stelle Beck, Marguerite Frenzel and Harriet Dean took the train to continue (or start) their studies at Vassar. The day, too, Indianapolis licked Columbus, 4-2. By this time it was pretty certain, too, that Mike Cantillon’s Minneapolis Millers would cop the pennant for the third consecutive time. It was the day, too, Judge Orbison of Superior Court, Room 1, gave Indianapolis kids a break. He was hearing a case involving the custody of a 4-year= old daughter of a man divorced from his wife. Evi= dence was introduced that the little girl had not been kept as clean as possible, and it was on this occasion that Judge Orbison ruled that Indianapolis kids have a perfect right to play in the dirt if they want to.

Monks of St. Meinrad Seek Aid

Fifty years ago today, proud as Punch, H. H. Lee announced that he had 200 families in Indian apolis who were buying his flour by the barrel. If was the day, too, the monks of St. Meinrad sent out a call for help. Up to that time nobody around here had heard that their abbey had burned to the ground, and that they had to start all over again. Sept. 14, 1887, was the day John P. Frenzel was biting his nails and wondering: how he was going to run off the parade the day of Grover Cleveland’s visit here. “Washington St. is a disgrace to the city,” said Mr. Frenzel. “The President will be so jolted in his passage over the boulders that he will not be able to stand up when he reaches the State House. The thermometer in front of George Sloan’s druge store didn’t get above 73 all day.

A Woman's View By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

Mr. Scherrer

House-Building and Improvement Booming, Yet No One Stays Home.

OESN’T it seem strange that in a regular renaissance of home building nobody stays home? Every second person you meet these days .is planning ‘a new house. Interior decorators do a thriving business. Artists work day and night putting out new and lovelier designs for furniture. . One hot evening we drove around the city’s residential district. The homes, little as well as big, are something to be proud of. Money, care, thought, love, have gone into their making. They sit on treecrowned heights, or nestle in hedged hollows. Circled with grass and flowers, they represent the homeless man’s dream. Yet in two-thirds of them the windows were dark, the doors bolted, the garages empty. Nobody was home. This family was in Europe, that one vacationing in the Rockies, and hundreds of the cottage dwellers were week-ending at a nearby resort. The empty gardens, moonwashed. and reticent, seem peopled with ghosts. They are beautifully kept, ° seldom used. The dining rooms, fitted to entertain . in a gorgeous style, and the broad terraces, designed for gaiety, look desolate and forsaken. Where is everybody? Oh, just out. Yes, the family’s stil in town, but Dad is playing cards at ° ‘the hotel with some clients, Mama is entertaining her friends at the country club, Junior is joy-riding, and Sally has gone to a dancing casino.

New Books Today Public Library Presents—

N telling the story of the growth of the- electrie power companies and of the formation and operation of the great: holding companies, M. L. Ramsay finds two men—Roosevelt and Insull —as representative of the two opposing forces of public and private interests in the past and cure rent utility wars. : PYRAMIDS OF POWER (Bobbs-Merrill) is, as the subtitle states, “The Story of Roosevelt, Insull, and the Utility Wars.” Mr. Ramsay sees, in electric power, as he claims Roosevelt also does, not only a source of profit to private monopolies, not merely a modern convenience, but a great social force which will, if righfly used, bring liberation to the people and act as a potent force in the preservation of democracy. Only the first step, he says, has been taken in curb=’ ing the exploitation of this power by selfish private interests, and, while he believes that the public must “eventually be served, he forsees a prolonged contest before the issue is settled.

# ” 2

PO visit the South Sea Islands you cannot drop : round-trip ticket, nor indeed even get much informas tion from the travel bureaus. Isabel Anderson, author, *

Seas to her already long list of travel books. The is« lands belong to so many different countries that ine. terisland transportation is very irregular and to visit them it is necessary to charter one’s own boat or “get in” on a trip sponsored by someone else. It was by the method of “getting in” with a group of companion= able fellow travelers that she and her husband were able to make a complete round of the islands on the

motor yacht, Stella Polaris. Ih The book, ZIGZAGGING THE SOUTH SE (Humphries), which she wrote on this trip, is f with descriptions of these lava-formed, jungle cover islands of the Pacific; the strange customs, habits conditions of the inhabitants and the wild animal life; amusing incidents of the islanders and the tral elers, interspersed with bits of history and trac

;| aug favs and days of Salling WAIOUSH tho bie,

¥

casually into a steamship office and ask for-a °

found this true when making plans to add the South :