Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 September 1937 — Page 12

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The Indianapolis Times

ROY W. HOWARD LUDWELL DENNY MARK FERREE President Business Manager

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Ta RIley 5551

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TUESDAY, SEPT. 14, 1937

WHO'LL PAY THE BILL?

You should be interested in a series of articles by John

T. Flynn, the author-economist, now appearing in The Times. Perhaps you think that the subjects Mr. Flynn discusses—the public debt, taxes and the need for tax revision —are of no particular importance to you. If so, you're mistaken. Re You pay, right now, far more money in taxes than you realize. You are going to pay a great deal more. The 20 billion dollars that Uncle Sam has borrowed and spent for relief and recovery, for instance—you’re going to have to pay your share of that, and you're going to have to pay .it through taxes. We believe, as we often stated, that it is necessary to broaden the scope of the Federal income tax, for three chief . reasons: To make it the fine instrument of democracy that it can be, if fairly imposed, by applying it to more people. ) To increase Federal revenue, so that the Government can begin to pay its debt instead of borrowing more. To eliminate most of the hidden taxes, the ones that drain off a huge share of every American income and— although many of them don’t know it—hit the “little felJows” hardest of all. So it is of vast importance to you that your share of

the tax bill should be kept within reasonable bounds; that |

it should be your fair share, and ho more; that you should know when you pay it, and how, and why. That’s why we urge you to read the articles by Mr. Flynn, whose explanation of the complex subjects of debt, taxes and tax revision is one of the simplest and clearest and most enlightening we have been privileged to present.

BEARS IN THE FOOTBALL MARKET

ELL, it won’t be long now! Down at Bloomington Bo McMillin is speaking in mournful terms of the chances of his Fighting Hoosiers. Every opponent I. U. will face has been strengthened and Bo can see nothing but disaster. Ah, familiar words!

Over at Lafayette Mal Elward pledges that he will do his best in the absence of Head Coach Noble Kizer but reminds us of the loss of Johnny Drake and other stars and . hopes Purdue followers won’t expect too much.

Up at Notre Dame Elmer Layden thinks the Irish will give a good account of themselves but he points to the ~ schedule which includes such foes as Minnesota, Army, Navy, Pittsburgh, Southern California, etc., etc., and then asks us to be reasonable. Right here in Indianapolis Paul Hinkle is grooming his Bulldogs for one of the most ambitious schedules the Butler eleven has undertaken in years. Paul hasn’t a thing to worry about except an opening date with Purdue, an intersectional battle with Washington & Jefferson and other contests with such opponents as Cincinnati, Wabash and DePauw. And so it goes. It makes one realize that it’s a pretty tough life on these coaches. But that’s their lookout. We're all set; that chill in the air has convinced us that summer -is over and it looks like another brilliant football year for state and nation.

Mr. Referee toot that whistle!

“YOU STAY HOME”

N most matters Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and his distant cousin in the White House disagree. In one thing they seem to be seeing eye to eye.

* Mrs. T. R. Jr., it will be recalled, has been on the cahles recently from Shanghai in rather outspoken criticism of our Government, alleging it failed properly to protect her and other American tourists in the war zone.

Arriving in Chicago safe and sound she revealed that - her husband had been “very angry” at her for “getting mixed up in a war.” Twice he cabled her: “Hereafter you stay home.” Young Teddy’s impatience with his wife for running the risk of becoming a causus belli in far-off China is no greater perhaps than President Roosevelt's impatience with other Americans who think the flag and the Navy should

follow them wherever they may roam.

- “THIS FRONT OF REASON” (CHANCELLOR HITLER, boasting of Nazi Germany's ~ “community of will” | with Italy and “our treaty with ~ Japan,” calls upon other powers to “reinforce this front of reason for the protection of our peace and culture.” Some few recent headlines may explain what he means: “Goering, Threatens Jews on Boycott.” “Submarine Fires on British Warship Off Spanish Coast.” “Mystery Sub Strikes Again.” “Japanese Bombers Kill 300 Refugees.” “Bombing of Liner a Tale of Horror.” “Tokyo Planes Take New Civilian Toll.” “Goebbels Sees Day of Democracy Past.” “Nine Powers Unite to War on Pirates; Berlin and Rome Join in Refusing to Join Parley.” “Shanghai:Now City of Flames.” These are just a few out of many items to illustrate how peace and culture are being protected by the “front of reason.” | : |

SPENDERS |

SOME figures worth thinking about: 3 The total of all internal revenue tax collections by the Federal Government from 1863 through the last fiscal year as $74,000,000,000.

]

The gross national debt today is $37,000,000,000.

0, We as a nation owe today just exactly half as much we as a nation have taken in during the last 64 years,

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Washington

By Raymond Clapper

Predicting the Political ' Future Is Pure Guesswork, but Events Ahead Are Bound to Be Important.

| WA/ ASHINGTON, Sept. 14.—Although the

air is full of talk about what is going to happen—third terms, labor parties, coalitions, splits, reprisals and purges—your guess is as good as anybody's.

There is much threatening, much sending up of trial balloons, and the spreading of a good deal of plain hooey. John Lewis warns Democrats. Democrats warn John Lewis. Republicans warn both.

But it is all preliminary skirmishing and is indicative of little except that every group is limbering up for a real fight. Nobody knows whether Mr. Roosevelt will seek a third term, or whether Senator Barkley will come up in 1940 still the Administration’s fair-haired boy and the heiryapparent for the Roosevelt mantle as he is now supposed to be, or whether Mr. Farley will come through in spite of the religious issue, or whether the Demcrats will jump outside of the party and take Senator La Follette, or compromise by taking a recent convert, Mr. Wallace. Or:.whether Governor Earle will make the grade.

Your guess is as good as anybody’s as to whether John Lewis will set up a third Presidential ticket or whether he will decide to work inside the Democratic Party, where he landed after voting for Mr. Hoover in 1932, and bore from within. Nobody knows whether the Republican Party will go into a coalition with conservative Democrats, whether rising prices will overcome the prosperity issue and turn to bite the New Deal hand which fed them. Will the country swing to the right as it did after Theodore Roosevelt and again after Mr. Wilson? ‘ Or are new elements coming into play that will prevent history from repeating itself?

Mr. Clapper

8 =n 2 OU hear the lowdown, inside dope from all sides

and you wonder how it is that everybody else

seems to know so much more about what is going to happen than you do. : But don’t feel badly about it. Jim Farley probably doesn’t know much more accurately than you do what the next three years will bring. Nor does John Hamilton, nor John Lewis, nor even Mr. Roosevelt. The closer you approach to the real centers of power, the more you are impressed with the uncertainties that they see and operate under. The further away you go, the more people you find who think they know the answers.

Politics has to be run largely by improvisation. More so now than ever before. It is practically on a 24-hour basis. Nobody knows what the next day will bring. # 2 = AT the moment we are in a natural pause. Everyone still is bruised from the battling of the last eight months. Shortly a fresh period will begin. It will lead into the 1938 elections, when a new House of Representatives, one-third of the Senate

and numerous State Governors will be elected. Out.

of that campaign will come the beginnings of the 1940 Presidential race by which the real course of the country for some time thereafter is likely to be set. Only one prophesy is safe. It is that the next two campaigns will touch deep economic interests of practically every person in the country and that this may easily make the next three years among the most bitter politically of our history.

‘belt

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

BACKS CITY MANAGER PLAN TO INCREASE EFFICIENCY By R. M. : ; The Times editorial, “A United Community,” is in line with my own thought: That if Indianapolis is to enjoy real progress, it must work under some management. plan entirely divorced from politics. The city manager plan is the best I can think of off-hand. ’ The editorial says ex-Mayor Kern qualified it, but it seems to me the advantage of placing control in the hands of -a person who has made city ‘management a life work and who has spent years of study on it would offset any minor disqualifications. Theoretically the idea of several factions or parties is sound enough and should make for the best government. The possibilities for good in a political party system now,

| however, generally seem to be over-

shadowed by the opportunity for lucrative evil. A set of politicians, ward bosses and such, may get hold of the controlling strings of government, and nothing is done which interferes - with their .personal aggrandizement, Bosses of political machines, whether Democratic or Republican, seem to have fingers in every kind of pie. : Cites Advantages

Under a city manager plan, with the administration free from political hamstringing, there would be hope of cleaner and more efficient government. You may not be able to legislate people into goodness, but you can keep control of the bad spots. Under such a plan, too, there would be more chance of getting the intelligent and capable man for the job. Many of our best trained citizens now refuse to consider the mayoralty or important elective posts because of the abuse heaped upon a candidate. Added to that, a campaign takes money and perhaps an allianee with 4 political machine. To run for office independently against two efficient machines is almost always a waste of good money. In return for campaign help, a machine and political boss expect patronage after the election and the blocking of desired legislation. There are so many ways of coercing an official who displays a tendency to reform that a man has to be unusually strong to attempt reform. As the editorial says, good citizens are behind a reformer, but we don’t know how to fight for him and against whom. With a city manager in control, free to work for the good of the city, we might get the safety budget working, South Side elevation, real merit play, a boulevard system, superhighway and slums cleaned. In theory a city council is fine, with a member to represent the needs of each section of the city. Practically, it doesn’t seem to get us anywhere with members

General Hugh Johnson Says— Europe's Military Lineup Evident, but It's Too Late for War This Year: Armed Forces of Britain, France and Russia Factors for Keeping Peace.

ETHANY BEACH, Del. Sept. 14—TIt is too late in ; the season to start a big war in Europe. Wars usually begin about or before midyear so that: the boys can get their late summer or early autumn slaughtering finished before snow flies.

But the military tangle is clearing up. Earlier in-

the year the war prophet was puzzled to guess who was to fight who—and where. Now the boys are choosing sides. The international Al Capones, Dillingers, and Pretty Boy Floyds are actually ganging up in the same camp. The dictatorships of Japan, Germany and Italy are lined up against the world in defense of their alleged right to hijack the property of ‘any weak nation. : There is another dictatorship—Russia—but he has no card in this dictators’ union because Russia is not one of the land-hungry natidns and must stand as firmly against the three as France, China or Great Britain. ® » ” . HAT makes a curious military lineup which argues very strongly against the three hijacking disturbers of world peace. Germany and Italy are a long way from Japan. If Russia is against them, they are a thin shell between the prongs of a powerful nut-cracker with England and France as . the western jaw. J When England concentrated her whole fleet in the Red and Mediterranean Seas, this column made a rash prediction that Italy would not dare steal

Ethiopia. That was based on usually accurate dope

(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.)

blocking projects which do not benefit his own section. n » ” BELIEVES DUKE’S PLIGHT BECOMING MORE TRAGIC By Bruce Catton - The farther the Duke of Windsor’s abdication recedes into history, the more tragic does the man’s plight appear. The most recent dispatch from London tells how the Duke is living under an unofficial but air-tight exile, how the countries which he may visit are strictly limited, and how the wife for whom he gave up his throne is “not received” by members of his own family. All of this is perhaps quite necessary, from the standpoint of practical politics. And yet—what tragic personal suffering must it not pe costing! Surely the poorest of his ex-subjects can hardly envy this man who surrendered a crown in a foredoomed attempt to find the simple human happiness which the crown was denying to him.

” 2 2 MORGAN COUNTY RESIDENT DEFENDS U. 8. GOVERNMENT By J. E., Morgantown I'm just a plain citizen down here in Morgan County. I think that if we worked more we would have less time and reason to find fault with the Government. Government can’t do everything. It can’t make the sun shine or the rain fall. It can’t make lazy people work although it

MY SHIP AT SEA

By HAROLD HENMAN Far in the distance I can see A mirage that resembles me. Of me as I would like to be. And may, if I but try.

Looking into the past I know That things for me would often go Wrong; and leave me a fiasco. Because, I didn't try.

So now, believe me, I shall try, And maybe in the bye and bye I'll find my place among the high. I will, if I but try.

DAILY THOUGHT

All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye so to them.-~Matthew 7:12.

AN never fastened one end of a chain around the neck of ais brother that God did not fasten the other end round the neck of the oppressor.—Lamartine.

can and does offer inducements and suitable economic conditions. It can’t silence its critics, however unfair, prejudiced or wrong they may be. But if the Government was the dictatorship that some call it, it could silence critics and .it would, as they do in Russia. If some of us “writers” studied our subject a little more and this knew our stuff a little better, we wouldn’t need to use so many meain-

things, but the signs of ideas. Where there are no ideas why use a lot of words trying to fool ourselves. We certainly don’t fool anybody. After reading some long, involved, ungrammatical, unrhetorical sentences, I am often moved to say, “Wal, fry mah hide, what's it all about?”

Talk About Indiana Summer

There are some things, however, that we can talk about with confidence. The glories of an Indians summer; the sense of saiisfaction and security that steals over one in the contemplation of an abundant Indiana harvest; the consciousness of the resources and keauty of an Indiana landscape; her state

parks, forest reservations and miles of hard surfaced roads, the excel-

the high quality of her children, the purity of her women and the courage of her men are all topics about which we can think and write and feel. Instead of discussing so uselessly many things which we hezve had little opportunity of knowing, wouldn't it be better if we were io

cials—whether Democrats or Republicans—as representing for the moment the dignity and majesty of the American people. They are neither scalawag or blackleg but are patriotic American citizens anxious to do the best for the country. Or if we must criticize can. we not be constructive instead of knocking. We would then be useful and happy citizens. We would not be hanging like millstones around the necks of these whose business is to save the old Ship of State from sinking. & 2 9 SAFETY COUNCIL MISSED HOLIDAY DEATH FORECAST By Safety Conscious The ordinary prophet is chagrined to see his predictions confounded; but the National Safety Council un-

. hdoubtedly was very happy to see its

gloomy forecast of 1000 accidental deaths over the Labor Day holiday going wide of the mark. Experience in previous years had indicated that at least that number of Americans would die in traffic

for once, proved a poor basis for prophecy. For, as it turned out, only about 500 deaths were recorded. “Only” about 500! The grim irony of that remark indicates how fearfully careless we are, even when we

do twice as well as anyone had a

-I right to expect)

ingless words. Words are not play-

lence of her schools and churches,:

look upon our properly elected offi-_

and other accflients. But experience,

It Seems to Me By Heywood Broun

Pacifist Swerves From Conviction, Yet He Can See No Virtue in U. S. Choosing Sides in Troubles Abroad.

"EW YORK, Sept. 14.—In this column the opinion has been expressed that Amer ican sympathies ought to go to those nations which are under the pressure of the Fascist bloc. It is difficult to understand how any-

body who believes in democracy can give any,

moral support to Mussolini, Hitler, Japan or Franco, - Indeed, it becomes increasingly evident that it is hardly worth while mentioning Franco or his follow= ing as separate entities in the Fascist scheme of things. By now it is palpable that rebel Spain is no more than a Nazi farm to which Der Fuehrer sends his recruits for seasoning. And yet, though the line between tyranny and freedom seems dis~ tinetly drawn. I think that we should refrain absolutely from take ing any part in the conflict. Once I was a complete pacifist. I .can no longer adhere absolutely to that program, because I must confess that circumstances can arise in which it would seem to me that men and nations must fight:

Mr. Broun

” # »

IF would be excellent indeed if change could come + bloodlessly, It is the thing for which to strive, bug realistic testimony seems to be overwhelmingly on the side of those who insist that liberty cannot always be maintained or gained without some show of force. Nevertheless, we should not be suckers for some -heady slogan twice within 20 years. We know now that democracy was not made more safe by the World War. It is well enough to talk of necessary surgery, but bayonets and machine guns are the most clumsy kind of scalpels. Holy causes and wars fought for a

principle have a way of bringing about results which are inverse to the announced intentions of the leaders. It would be ironic and it would be more than

- possible that if America were mobilized to war upon

fascism the net result might be nothing more than the defeat of the foreign brand at the price of setting up its equivalent here at home. 1

” ® »

res is not sheer surmise. In the statements of | Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt and of American mere chants in China there is ‘already that nationalistie ring which sounds not too much out of key with the proclamations of Mussolini and Hitler. “Prestige” is spoken of, and “insults to. tiie American flag.” Surely there can be no cool-headed man or woman who wants to send more millions to death upon the ime petus of some “incident” or “episode.” boa

It seems to me the Administration has the support of the vast majority of Americans in urging all our nationals to leave the war zone or remain at their own peril.

The hysteria which enguired this country in a usee less war because we insisted on remembering the Maine should not be soon forgotten. The finest phrase uttered by Woodrow Wilson was the very one which he himself betrayed under various kinds of pressure. There is such a thing as being too proud to fight. In a world of madness there is utility in

i having at least one of the nations retain its sanity.

The Washington Merry-Go-Round

Sub ‘Piracy,’ Cutting Loyalist Spain's Oil Supply, Is Regarded as Cristss William Green's ‘Harmony’ Proposal to C. I. O. Called 'Waste of Breath."

that England intended to use that fleet—and 80 she did, until she found it wasn’t ready and France ran out on her. John Bull backed down. : But with his usual speed and determination he began to get ready from that very moment and as rapidly as possible. He is ready now. France now

has no salvation apart from Britain. The French.

army is ready. 2 » Ed HE combined French and British {fleets can dominate both the Baltic and the Mediterranean. If Russia remains a real threat in the Germany rear and the little mid-European states stand, there is only a single doubt—that of air supremacy—that the “Rome-Berlin axis” could be quickly squeezed dry and empty, and the two principal European gangster threats—Hitler and Mussolini—be sent to some international Alcatraz. . The saving grace of modern war is that it is so destructive that none dares risk it without a practical certainty of victory. an The Japanese god-emperor may have made the

same mistake Napoleon did when he marched to

Moscow. Mere size, distance and overwhelming numbers plus an unexpected and deathless patriotic resistance may smother him. The threat of superior Russian numbers, aircraft and equipment hangs like a thunder cloud over th vast hijacking of China also. : : Taking the whole world military situation together, ‘things do racketeers nor too black for

not look too FT the international

By Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen TJ ASHINGTON, Sept. 14—War and Navy Department officials have been receiving some highly illuminating

them just one all-important motive.

fare, and Loyalist Spain has been getting her oil and gasoline from Russia. Italy has now been sinking Russian tankers. Aside from this, reports from the Loyalists indicate that they have been doing fairly well. Their grmy 3s well organized. Order has been: restored »ehind the lines. Crops are being harvested. A certain

amount of munitions and army supplies are beng |

manufactured.

But the sea link with Soviet Russia has been abso- |

lutely essential, and alleged Italian submarines now have cut that link. If this link remains cut it looks as

though the Loyalist cause is lost. This explains the severity of the Soviet notes to

| Italy. To them this is the most crucial moment in

the entire Spanish war. A few weeks more, or at best a few months more of the Italian submarine bloci~

ade, and the Spanish Government cannot hope to held:

out against the eda 2 8 = : ; A ERICAN ‘Naval officers are not saying so

Nag 1 \

) reports lately, which indicate that sub- | marine “piracy” in the Mediterranean and the threat- | ened break between Russia and Italy have behind | : : have one of the most modern submarine fleets in It all boils down to the fact that oil and gasoline | are absolutely essential to the waging of modern war- |

pui- . A licly, but there is not the slightest doubt in their | they

able to submerge—at least, not with any ever rising to the surface. Hs Portugal has no submarines. The Germans have been co-operating with the British and can account for all their vessels. The Italians, on the other hand,

likelihood of

Europe. Note—Only other submarines in that area are those of the Spanish Government, which would not sink their own tankers—though it is not outside the realm of possibility that they might have sunk the British vessel, in order to arouse British public opinion against Italy. : 2 y g ® » 8 “a ILLIAM GREEN'S “harmony proposal,” made "in a press interview in Atlantic City, was a corking news story, but as a serious basis for peace with the C. I. Q., he might have saved his'breath. (He offered to take the 10 original C. I. O. unions back into the A. F. of L. fold and to arbitrate the jurisdiction over the 2,500,000 members who subsequently joined C. I. O. ranks.) | : ~~ Inside fact is that John L. Lewis et al. have nd desire for harmony with their old craft union friends: The only offer they will entertain is complete sure render. : : Key to their confidence is their membership of i Pelier fat the A Li da oped disintegration, eir own. cony ) are children of destiny riding on history's bande.

of this