Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 September 1937 — Page 13
The Indianapolis Times
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| Give Light and!the People Will Find Their Own Way
MONDAY, SEPT. 20, 1937
UP TO THE OLD TRICKS : JT is sad and disgusting, but in no way surprising, to find people who would profit if the Ku-Klux Klan could be - revived trying to turn to its own advantage the recent revelations connecting a member of the United States Supreme ‘Court with the Klan. | - : Sad and disgusting, because it ought to be clearer now than ever before that Kluxism contaminates everything it touches in our national life. But not surprising, because Klan promoters have Flwars been shameless in their commercial exploitation of intolerance. And so come reports that Atlanta headquarters of the Klan are stirring with preparations for a campaign to reenroll former members and enlist new ones. The imperial wizard, emerging from the obsurity where he belongs, emits his views concerning the Court and other matters. Market prospects for bed-sheet robes and hoods and masks begin to look up. i | The women of the Ku-Klux Klan, meeting in imperial klonvokation at Washington, plan to place a fiery cross and wreath on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier—an. insult to the martyred American who lies there and who, for all the women of the Klan can know, may have been a Catholic, a Jew, a Negro or a youth of foreign birth. And the grand dragon of the Pennsylvania Klan hits a new high in impudence by proclaiming at the close of a state convention that Klansmen “will support President Roosevelt four-square no matter what the outcome of the controversy over the appointment of Justice Black.” For, whatever may be said as to his wisdom in making that appointment, nothing is more certain than this—that the President has utterly no sympathy with racial and * religious bigotry and asks for neither the approval nor the support of the Ku-Klux Kian.
TWO TERRIBLE EVILS
RECENTLY we urged you to read a series of articles in The Times on taxation by the author-economist, John T. Flynn. We told you that these articles were of vital interest to you. Now we want to give special emphasis to some of the statements Mr. Flynn made, and so we reprint them here: bo “Taxes in the last fiscal year, Federal, State and local, amounted to $12,500,000,000. We spent a)lot more than we raised by taxes, In 1936 we spent about $17,399,000,000. If relief expenditures continue it is estimated that by 1940 our Government costs will be between $18,000,000,000 and $22,000,000,000, | | : “The recovery expenditures of the Federal Govern- . ment alone have amounted to about 20 billion dollars. And every dollar of it has been borrowed. We still owe it. “Ahead burdens—immense burdens—taxes and - more taxes and ever more taxes.’ #2 a i. “TF the Government were to confiscate every dollar of income of every man who earned $5000 or over, it would get only about 10 billion dollars. It would still be short $2,500,000,000 (of collecting the last fiscal year’s tax bill; or short $7,399,000,000 of collecting the amounts spent by Federal, State and local governments in 1936). It may be all right to tax the rich as severely as possible, but the great burden. of the tax bill will have to be paid in the end by the small fellow. | tooo “The Government doesn’t hit him (the small fellow) with an income tax as it does his rich brother. 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. | | : ~ “In our effort to run away from taxes, to escape facing taxes squarely, we have run into terrible fiscal evils—Government borrowing and hidden taxes. The great need of the time is an abandonment of ‘both. When the citizen sees what he is spending and knows what he is spending it for he'will be _— scrutinizing | of Government spending policies.” ‘ r | If you dislike that prospect, give a little thought to the only possible alternatives, which are— ; More unchecked spending, more Government horrowing, more hidden taxes and, finally, more staggering bur- ~ dens’ than the ones that now confront us.
DRIVE SLOWLY—GET THERE FASTER
HE recent study showing you can “get there” more quickly driving 23.5 miles per hour in Indianapolis traf--fic than at 45 miles an hour, has caused plenty of argument. Obviously a continuous speed of 45 miles an hour will cover more mileage than a continuous speed of 23.5. But the point is that in the difficult “stop and go” of city driv.ing slow rates of speed produce swifter travel than high . speeds. Elaborate charts showed how various speeds affect ‘he capacity of heavily-traveled streets. Traffic counts showed 2600 cars could pass a given point in an hour at the 23.5 rate, while only 1760 could pass at 45. The key to the problem is that an auto moving at 45 miles an hour requires 120 feet in which to stop; at 25, it needs only 37 feet. The modern trend also is toward a recognition of sensi“ble speed limits on the open highway. Indiana and 17 other states require only that the speed be “reasonable and prudent.” The legal limits in most other states range from 40 ‘to 55. Despite small time-savings, excessive speeds that greatly increase accident danger and cost of car operation are seldom ‘justifiable, . | :
_ A ‘BRAIN TRUSTER’ RESIGNS
GREAT many harsh and unjustified things were said, in-earlier New Deal days, about the “brain trust.” We - have always felt that among the finest achievements of the
” #
Roosevelt Administration [was its ability to bring into the
public service many who were. called “brain trusters”— - men of the type of James M. Landis. . Now that Mr. Landis has resigned as chairman of the + Securities and Exchange Commission ‘to become dean of the Harvard Law School, we wish him well in the field of _ education. But it is impossible not to regret that he has ‘gone from the Government. ¥ 3
the U. S.—By Talbu ements pes rer ge
The Seasons—By Herblock | SPRING
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TREASUR, HCIALS
Fair Enough
By Westbrook Pegler
If Cummings Wins Supreme Court Case, 3,500,000 Public Employees
EW YORK, Sept. 20.—A Washington dispatch reports that Homer Cummings, at the request of the Supreme Court, has filed a brief arguing against that strained interpretation of the Constitution which ex-
empts from the Federal income tax nearly 2,500,000 employees of state, county and municipal governments and from the various state income taxes more than a million Federal employees. It may be true that a majority of these three and one-half million persons on the public payroll are paid so little that they would not have to contribute anything even if their exemptions were wiped out. It is also true, however, that those public employees whose salaries do lie within the tax brackets would have to pay substantial amounts but for certain old-time decisions which. have been stretched so far out of shape to exempt them. New York seems to be the most lavish public employer of all, surpassing even the Federal Government in generosity in both salaries and pensions, but there are classes of public servants in other states and cities who, under a reinterpretation of the Constitution, would be given the handsome privilege of paying their share of the cost of government. It is a chummy reform which has been proposed, calculated not only to spread the burden but to remind those who live on taxes that taxes are not only collected and spent, but also paid.
£
Mr. Pegler
” u ” PF the Court is sufficiently interested to invite further argument and information against an original ruling which has been confirmed and elaborated out of any relation to the original case, there would seem to be a chance for a complete change of heart on this subject. It would not be the first time; How far lawyers have attempted to stretch the original decision, which held merely that the states might not tax the Federal Government nor vice versa, may be seen in the specific case under consideration. In that one it is contended that contractors building dams for the Government were thus agencies of the
Government and so immune to state income taxes. Mr. Cummings argues that they are not. If he wins the argument he will open to Federal taxation all state, county and municipal salaries according to their
brackets. ” ” 8
F this victory could be won merely vy a Supreme Court decision, revising the old barrier decisions in the direction of common sense, there might be no necessity to proceed further with the constitutional amendment proposed by John Cochrane, the Missouri Congressman. Mr. Cochrane discovered nét only the 3,500,000 exemptees of one kind or another, but learned also that by a mere ruling of the Social Security Board, holding them to be Federal agencies, all officials and employees of the banks of the Federal Reserve System may claim exemption from state income taxes.
OLEDO, Sept. 20.—Here is a set of resolutions. it would be nice for the present American Legion
Convention to pass: “Whereas, it is estimated that there are between ,one and three million alien noncitizens residing in the United States in violation of immigraton laws and either on relief or holding jobs that otherwise would be occupied by citizens, and “Whereas, although there is no exact information of the number and condition of such persons, indications are that their number is very large, and “Whereas, Mr. Harry Hopkins is quoted as saying that the majority of the load of unemployed in WPA will have to be carried at public expense for the rest of their lives, and ; : : “Whereas, the cost of this carriage is a great drain on the public treasury and a burden on taxpayers which could be avoided if estimates of alien noncitizens illegally resident here are correct, and such aliens should be promptly deported, and
HEREAS, the countries of which these noncitizen aliens are subjects or citizens, do not support any Americans on relief but, on the contrary, Sisss minute rigorously in favor of their own citizens an
“Whereas, there has been no attempt to get debendable or accurade information as to the number,
Will Lose Income Tax Exemption.
The
: . = Hoosier Forum I wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.
‘THERE AIN'T NO JUSTICE, CLANCY REITERATES By Daniel Francis Clancy, Logansport Centuries ago, peoples painted themselves to alter their appearances to resemble their ideals of fierceness, courage and strength. In early times it was the men—now it’s the women.
to express
troversies
(Times ‘readers are invited their these columns, religious conexcluded. your letter short, so all can have a chance. be signed, but names will be withheld on request.)
world, kept on adding to his monopolies until the day of his death. Now it is found that yery little of his fortune is taxable. No, raising salaries is no solution to the problem of attracting better men to office. Even when we do get such men as McGrady and Tugwell in office it isn’t the lack of salary that forces
views in Make
Letters must
It seems that auto-alteration of countenance with paints to resemble a conception of perfection is an enduring characteristic of mankind. These days the women are all desirous of resembling some cinema actress. . These two headlines—“Wins Pig Litter Prize Second Time” and “Twenty to Seek Honors Today in Plowing Match”—Mencken would list under the satirical title of “Eminence.” . .. The Foreign Minister of Albania says: ‘The relations between Albania and the United States are excellent and will always be so.” A lot of worry off of America’s mind! Recently heard of an organization called the Friendly Echo Club. You know, the iconoclasts of Indiana should get together and call themselves the Unfriendly Echo Club... . With what sense of justice do you think I read this announcement in the local paper: “Select Local Man for Protest Board”? There ain’t no justice! o 4 ”
CHINA’S EGGS WRONG KIND, IS VIEW By D. A. Sommer China is having much trouble with her eggs. Her Shanghai shells are bursting and killing people. But we are more interested in the bursting of Rhode Island Red shells. Would more time spent on hoes and less on hose help solve the farm problem?
The housing problem in the U. S. A. is very great, but how
is that he must be the only enthusiastic taxpayer in captivity. "1, too, consider taxes a good investment, and at the outset, let me say that our tax bill is proportionately small since we own no more than a very modest home. It is true that bankers and Wall Street influence government, no doubt, but so does every other minority that has enough money in the sock to send lobbyists to Washington. Americans, furthermore, are not indifferent to the evils, but we seem powerless to do anything about them when our elected representatives and so-called statesmen have so little responsibility and national conscience. ; Idealism is a fine thing. One must have ideals to work toward, but the crying need is for realism: To see problems as they are and to grapple with them with the best weapons we have at hand and so convert life nearer to the ideal. Nor do I speak disparagingly of our public officials. I mainuain that the mere paying of higher salaries, or even making officials independent will not put them beyond temptation or bring about better administration. Even Mellon, whose fortune was one of the largest in the
FOR REST
By KATHERINE LAWHORN A log cabin in the woods Green foliage all around The knolls and the hills Pine needles o’er the ground.
them out. In the case of McGrady I think it is evident that it was terrific responsibility without commensurate authority. In the case of Tugwell it was that he was stepping on the corns of too many moneyed interests in working for the public good. . How to attract a higher caliber of men into office? Frankly, I don’t know. But it seems a fallacy to suppose that the average man, who apparently displays intelligence in running his business, is capable on that account of discharging efficiently the duties of office. Even if a man has intelligence, he is likely to be hamstrung and hogtied by a political machine which put him in office.
A public officer also needs training. It is no accident that President Roosevelt is the great administrator that he is. Immediately on taking office in 1933, it was apparent that his political philosophy was well developed, that he was amazingly efficient and that he had an extraordinary comprehension of the governmental picture. Perhaps the answer is that we ought to have schools in government office sadministration. For that very reason I am in favor of nonpolitical managers. Yes, we do appreciate the services of a Roosevelt or a Townsend. The objectives we applaud, but the high-handed method of doing so makes us uneasy, and if continued, will bring about a reaction. I hope Mr. Lackey isn’t so politically partisan he finds it necessary to condone or blind himself to contradic-
about the “how-sing” problem in the next apartment? Mussolini, Hitler, John Bull, ef al. shake their fists at each other and cry, “We won’t be run over,” while Uncle Sam looks sadly at 40,000 auto victims and says, “We will be run over.” Here is an international crop control worth considering: Italy's lemons, Germany’s vinegar, Japan's silk-worms, England’s late cabbage heads, - America’s touch-me-nots, and France's johnny-jumps-ups. Here's a sit-down strike that might help the country: Dad, chair, bad son’s pants, stick (or hand), and the connection.
2.» SALARIES NOT BAR TO GOOD PUBLIC OFFICERS, CLAIM By R. L.
The thing that particularly struck me in Mr. Lackey’s latest rebuttal in urging higher salaries for officials,
shade
quiet
General Hugh Johnson Says— American Legion Convention Is Called Upon for Set of Resolutions:
Launch Compulsory Employment Census and Enforce Immigration Laws.
location and condition of such noncitizen aliens:
illegally residing in the United Stafes and the apparent indifference of the Federal Government to the nature and extent of this problem indicates laxity in enforcement of the immigration laws and unwillingness to deport unauthorized aliens, and : “Whereas, a voluntary registration of all unemployed by the Federal Government is about to be undertaken in circumstances clearly designated to avoid a sufficient requirement that such noncitizen aliens disclose their presence and their condition:
” » ” “ OW therefore be it, : ‘Resolved: That it is the sense of this convention that the proposed tegistration should be conducted after the manner of the draft registration during the World War, that it should include registration of both the employed and unemployed, that it be compulsory, and that it require from each registrant full information of his place of birth, nationality, citizenship and his domestic and eco-
nomic circumstances exactly as was required from registrants in the World War: and, be it further, “Resolveq: That it is the sense of this convention that all noncitizen aliens found to be residing in this country in violation of its immigration laws be deported unless, being qualified for citizenship, they promptly apply for the same.” 9
The scent of spicy cedars The wind from through the pine The rusty glow of campfire # 2 = A trout, and a fishing line.
Wind wisping through the bushes Spread tree and a book in the
Birds cooing and humming A cool and open glade.
When strained and overworked Seek the woods and rest and
Away from the business world And people’s noisy riot.
DAILY THOUGHT
Whosoever hateth his brother’s murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.—John 3:15.
ATRED does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.—Buddha.
tions and inefficiencies in an administration.
SAYS NATION’S DEBTS MUST BE PAID BY HIGH PRICES
By H. L. S. The enormous national and local debt only can be paid by increasing prices and wages. The national debt was created with stage money by a private corporation which accepted the I. O. U. of Uncle Santa Claus and issued its own paper money for Uncle to spend on such things 2s hand-made gravel roads, and many other items which gave no real value in return for the I. O. U. When we squandered this money we borrowed ourselves into more future trouble and it was certainly a hypodermic. It served to dilute the value of our money. We are going to wipe out debt with inflated prices; that is the only hope to stave off collapse.
lt Seems to Me
By Heywood Broun
New Deal Appears Dead as Issue:
In New York City's Election With La Guardia and Mahoney Competing.
EW YORK, Sept. 20.—The New Deal now seems to be definitely out of the New York City election. With Mr. La Guardia running against Mr. Mahoney, the boys will be forced to restrict themselves
to local issues, since both men are identified as supporters of the President’s policies. In ali logic and common sense, national issues have no place in a municipal campaign. New York is a pretty big city and has plenty of problems ‘of its own. Nevertheless, whether it was reasonable or not, there is no getting away from the fact that to a certain extent the primary fight took on the nature of a referendum on Mr. Roosevelt. Obviously it should be conceded that many who voted for Mr. La Guardia in the Republican primary or wrote his name into the Democratic contest were wholly influenced by the Mayor's own record as an administrator and did not commit themselves in any way as ; : to their feelings about the national election in 1940. But when one views the picture as a whole there is no getting away from the fact that a kind of straw vote has shown that Franklin D. Roosevelt continues to hold his popularity in large urban centers. ; ) ” ” » SIDE from theorizing, there is the immediate practical result that one of the President’s most bitter foes in the Senate has gone down to inglorious defeat. When Dr. Copeland returns to Washington he will have one vote in the Senate, as usual, but he will go back shorn of much prestige. So striking a repudiation by the voters in the largest city of the State, which he represents, will put him in the position of being only a poor little doorstep haby. And with the fall of the doctor two other men who once were powers in the national political scene definitely bow themselves out. Mr. Hearst and Mr. Smith are now negligible in elections. In this respect the verdict of 1936 has been reaffirmed. It would be stretching things too far to assert that the vote in New York City has any particular sige nificance as an indication that voters in industrial centers favor the President’s Court plan. But whether they are for or against the project, there certainly was no evidence that Mr. Roosevelt's fight earned him any lasting hostility. : 2 2 s LTHOUGH Senator Copeland tried hard to bring the issue of Hugo Black into the primary, it seems to me impossible to make any estimate as to just how much the President has been hurt by that particular blunder or piece of jll fortune. Seemingly the men who had the story in their hands could have sprung it earlier. If so their tactics were not shrewd, and the man in the White House still remains a more adroit politician than his opponents. | With victory almost within his grasp, it is all but inevitable that Fiorello La Guardia will try his best
Mr. Broun
to play safe from now until election day. But if his
ambitions go beyond the confines of the greater city, as they have every right to go, I think he will be wise in realizing just how important a part labor played in his success. A contest between La Guardia and Roosevelt in 1940 might make a highly interesting election. ;
The Washingion Merry-Go-Round
Justice Black's R ord Given to Newspapers by Klansmen Themselves: Secret Order Exposed Former Senator for Liberal, Prolabor Viewpoint.
By Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen ASHINGTON, Sept. 20—The inside facts regarding Justice Hugo Black, the White House, and his Ku-Klux Klan affiliations are briefly these: The President never asked Mr. Black whether he was a member of the Klan. It never occurred to him. Furthermore the Black appointment never came up in Cabinet meeting. However, Mr. Roosevelt feels that the new Justice should have told him about this connection, and is definitely irked at Mr. Black for not doing so. _ His irritation is due not so much to Mr. Black being a member of the Klan, but to the fact that the appointment now puts him in a hole on his entire Supreme Court fight. All Mr. Roosevelt's opponents have to do now when he brings up reform of the judiciary is to taunt: “What do you want to do, put another Kluxer on the Court?” . Mr. Roosevelt’s statement that he hadn't heard from Mr. Black was chiefly calculated to'stall for time. He will wait and see what develops—both with Mr. Black and himself, and with public opinion at home.
- » » ” T is one of the secrets of the Black family that his wife Josephine never liked his Ku-Klux Klan connections, and frequently told him so. However, Mr. Black's colleagues admit that during his long term as Senatoy his record was liberal toward
Jews, Catholics and Negroes except in regard to the Antilynching Bill. Senator Borah, who voted against Mr. Black's confirmation, says that he sat with him on committee when Mr. Black went out of his way to. insert in the Wage and Hour Bill amendments for the protection of Negroes. : In fact, it was Mr. Black's championship of civil liberties which caused his present exposure. Far it was members of the Klan itself, now antilabor, who knifed him by turning over their records to newspapermen, Most of the Alabama letters against Mr, Black received by Senators were written by Klansmen. ’ * BN : ! HEN New Deal Secretary Ickes was visiting Old Deal Bar Harbor, Me., luxurious resort.of “economic royalists,” he was invited to attend a luncheon of the Pot and Kettle Club.
Mr. Ickes knew that the club was miade up of bankers, stockbrokers and investment attorneys whose
New Deal ill-will ran so high that at a 1936 meeting
they broke their time-honored custom of toasting the President, and toasted the Constitution instead. Mr, Ickes went to the luncheon. When called on for “a few remarks,” he rgse to his feet and said: “I am glad to come here to the luncheon of your Pot and Kettle Club. We also have a Pot and Kettle situation in Washington. The kettle called the pot a dictator, dnd the pot called the kettle Black.”
a