Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 21 September 1937 — Page 12

Possible Effect of Rural Labor Organizers—By Herblock = X ‘e

t the Ostrich! —By Talburt

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The Indianapolis Ti The Indianapolis 11mes So (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) Wg ROY W. HOWARD LUDWELL DENNY MARE FERREE Ho : President bo Business Manager Owned and published Price in Marion Coundaily (except Sunday) by _ ty, 3 cents a copy; delivThe Indianapolis Times ered by carrier, 12 cents Publishing Co. 214 W a week. Maryland St.

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~ TUESDAY, SEPT. 21, 1937

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THE LEGION: 1937

EN a wise man reaches his mid-forties he lets ou * *7 his helt a bit; cuts down on his indulgences, cultivates the ‘virtues: of tolerance and friendliness, quits trying to make everybody believe as he does and begins to think about a peaceful and secure old age. So it is with the American Legion, meeting this week in convention in Manhattan. : If the annual report of Commander Harry W. Colmery - keynotes the Legion's current ideas one senses a very different Legion from that of its lusty adolescence. A very ~ much more constructive one. Commander Colmery warns his fellow Legionnaires that they can help maintain law and order without “taking " law into their own hands.” In industrial disputes the Legion “is neutral and must be.” If a Legionnaire lets - himself be deputized to help law officers maintain peace he does it as a citizen only, and should not wear a uniform. “We have law enforcement agencies to protect the people and the rights of the individual.” "There is no exhortation to drum all aliens out of the country. America is a “melting pot of citizenship.” But : the Legion should oppose communism, fascism and Hitlerism or any group “vain enough to seek to overthrow our : form of government by force or violence.” “Reserving proper courtesy and hospitality for foreigners within our gates, it’s time in America to quit making appeals to Germans, Irish, Italians, Polish, Jews, etc., and make our ap- : peals to people as Americans.” The Legion is for adequate national defense, but doesn’t “seek to plunge our country into the armament race that is piling a burden of debt and taxes upon the people of other nations.” ; : The Legion is for world peace, for “Legionnaires know more about war and want less of it than anybody of our citizenry.” We should seek war's economic and social causes, get an accurate survey of the wants and resources of all nations and from that “work out a plan to satisfy the needs of every one.” This approach is wiser and more moderate than some of the Legion’s past activities. It is much more patriotic than what Mr. Colmery calls “a display of gaudy nationalism.” It is, in short, adult Americanism, and we hope it becomes the Legion’s program from now on.

TANGLED TAXES 3 E hope that Governor Townsend's presence in the group of 16 state Governors who talked with President Roosevelt the other day about conflicting taxes means Indiana will take an active part in the drive to unsnarl duplicating taxes, Federal, state and local. The President is ready to co-operate in this effort, the Governors said.. Splendid! We hope the President not only will co-operate but that he will take aggressive leadership of the Washington tax conference which the Governors proposed. For no effort to revise and reform any of our tax systems can fully succeed until that bewildering tangle is straightened out. Revenue sources now are jumbled and oyerlapping. Anyone who has studied the growing tax problem in Indiana knows the waste of this grab-bag method. In fairness to taxpayers and in justice to the public’s business, agreements should be sought as to which fields of taxation each taxing unit shall occupy.

TRY IT, ADOLF! «“y URGE. all nations to treat the minorities decently,” pleaded Adolf Hitler in his latest Nuremberg speech.

He is right, of course, to urge justice and tolerance for |

minorities. If all nations did this to their minorities and to smaller nations the world would be safer and pleasanter. But with German concentration camps filled with Jews, Catholics, labcr radicals and other dissenting minorities Hitler's appeal suggests a couplet written by the Poet Burns— ° “Oh wad some power the giftie gie us “To see oursel’s as others see us.”

A WEAKLING, HUH? |

_ WILLIAM A. CALDER, Harvard astronomer, check-.

ing up on Old Sol’s performance as a cosmic warmingpan, finds him not so hot. He is sending out 30 per cent less radiation than he should for a star of his class. And not so bright, either, giving only four-tenths of the luminosity generally accepted as standard. : In fact, astronomers know the sun as a “G zero dwarf star,” meaning he is yellow and of very low brilliance. By contrast we are asked to admire the moon for displaying greater reflecting power than she was supposed to possess. " Par be it from us to dispute with scientists, and the

weather this week may bear them out, but if that sun ‘wasn’t doing his best in August we hope he never does!

A GRAIN OF COMFORT

SINCE the beginning of this fiscal year, July 1, we have ; published from time to time in this column figures gleaned from the Treasury’s- daily statement, comparing this year’s expenditures and receipts with those of last year. Now we celebrate an occasion. Here are the Treasury's figures as of the close of business Sept. 9: Ta : This Year Last Year RECEIPES + ons esvanrennennn. $ 100502881463 § 733,824,10404 + EXPENSES +ueuereeiseieases 1,437,368,548.33 1,178,424,130.26 Deficit 432,344,733.70 444,599,935.32 Public debt ............... 37,210,443,61095 33,350,128,757.73 Do you ask what is the occasion? Well, just look at that third line. The first 71 days of this fiscal year have run us not as far in the red as did the first 71 days of the last fiscal year. Heretofore we

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Fair Enough |

By Westbrook Pegler

Life of a Klansman Is Strenuous, With Nights Spent in Flogging and Branding ''Enemies'’ of Americanism.

EW YORK, Sept. 21.—Lines from the diary of a great liberalizing influence— June 8—Awful tired all day. Out all night flogging Hyman Cohen, the clothes presser, for taking business away from Klansman Jones. Ten of us in masks and robes grabbed him out of his house at 1 a. m,, rode him 20 miles out in the country, and beat him with straps until he collapsed. Let him walk back. Very

inspiring to me, and my physical fatigue today is no price at all to pay for the marvelous spiritual elation which I have felt. June 26—Attended Klorero last night and heard inspiring addresses by Kleagle, Kligrapp and Great Exalted Kludd., Took measures to preserve American standards of justice in impending trial of two of our members for murder. Seems they shot a town marshal in Hickory Center for interfering with the Americanization of a Catholic named Murphy by the tar-and-feather ritual. Our two brothers. have been indicted as a matter of form, although the prosecuting attorney, of course, is Klannish and will protect Amer= ican ideals in the trial by presenting a weak case. # o 8

ULY 12—I have been swelling with pride all day. My Klannishness is the greatest, most purifying spiritual force of all my life. Last night six of us quietly went to the home of the Smith woman who calls herself a widow. Good-looking blond with two children and no visible means of support, although she claims to have $1800 life insurance from her husband’s death, The wife of one of our members came to Klonvokation and secretly informed us that the Smith woman was seen talking to a married man on E. Oak St. after dark twice in one week. Plain case of attempting to wreck an American home. So six of us grabbed her last night, took her up in the hills, and by the light of a fiery cross stripped all her clothes off, smeared her with tar, sprinkled her with feathers, and burned a scarlet letter on her fore=head with acid. She screamed that she was an innocent victim of female jealousy, but she was convicted on the word of Klanswoman representing the highest type of 100 per cent American womanhood. n n »

UG. 3—Been having Negro trouble lately around here. Fresh Negroes won't work for 75 cents a day, demanding up to a dollar and a quarter. Half a dozen of our members complained of a serious situa=tion. Therefore 50 of us raided half a dozen cabins, burned them down, and grabbed four lazy good-for-nothing Negroes and tied them to trees and gave them a lesson in white supremacy. Two of them busted loose and started to run, and in the excitement several guns were accidentally discharged, with the result that the fugitives were killed. We quickly disbanded, hiding our hoods and robes under the seats of our cars, and came back to town by separate routes. Negroes all scared now, and our members report they are willing to work for even as little as 50 cents. Aug. 17—One great spiritual satisfaction of Klan-,

Son A

Mr. Pegler

_nishness is to see un-American businesses being put

out of business by our secret boycott. Dorsey’s hard= ware store folded up last week and Klansmen Swivet will get all his trade. I

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

KEY TO WORLD PEACE SEEN IN RACE RELATIONS

By Ivan R. Farr, Edinburg The greatest obstacles to a more just and brotherly race relationship are not cruelty or conscious wickedness. More subtle than that, the trouble lies in a feeling of white superiority, which is incapable of facing squarely the fact that all races are equal before their Creator, that all human beings have the same inherent value. . .. It must be admitted that there is no simple, easy solution of the difficult problem of race contacts. Biological inheritance plays a strong part in the defeat or the victory.of the solution to the problem. But we must remember that human nature is plastic. The value of the individual is important. One of the greatest evils from which we suffer today is that modern society, with its increasing organization, its impersonal methods of dealing with men in the mass, and its substitution of the relationships of groups for those of individuals tends to make life mechanical and rob us of our humanity. We tend to judge people as members of

of estimating them as individuals. Urges Co-operation

These suggestions, if followed, will tend to alleviate the problem of race prejudice in the world and work for the establishment of world peace, an ideal too long held as a dream: Friendly contacts with other races and people and groups. Personal knowledge of fine capacities and unselfish sacrifices others have made for our comfort and enjoyment. The artistic abilities of other peoples and races other than our own. Have you ever made-any effort to add to your list of acquaintances one

may even number as one of your friends? What races in your locality do you know who do not receive equal protection and rights? Did you ever stop to ask why they didnot, if that be the case? Have you had any experience in knowing about protection and rights that have been denied in courts, in schools, in railroad’ trains, in housing, at the polls, in recreation, in labor unions, in the churches? How are the legal rights of minority races denied by social customs? Has slavery been completely abolished in the United States?

These are some of the questions that the intelligent American must answer before he advocates a principle that would lead to violence. The answers to the questions lead to co-operation and respect for others. Peace is essential for the world today. We can have peace if we find adequate answers for the = above questions.

a race and deny them the fairness |

person from another race.whom you |

(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.)

YOUNG DRIVER ‘TOPS’ IN DETROIT TRAFFIC SURVEY By J. B. F.

Detroit police call it “another case of new beer in old cans.” The department’s Traffic Survey Bureau studied traffic accidents that resulted in injury or fatality and found: : In the “under 20” group, 9.2 per cent of the drivers were driving defective vehicles, while in the other age groups the percentages ranged from 2.5 to 3.7. Another study showed the “under 20” group had more than its share of old cars. Detroit drivers on the sunny side of 20 had a larger proportion of collisions with fixed objects and bicycles than older drivers and, a relatively small number of “pedestrian collisions.” Officers gave the nod to- the “youngsters” in an analysis of the condition of drivers involved in the mishaps studied. Although 80 per cent of the drivers in all age groups were apparently normal, a greater percentage of those under 20 years were in this classification than of the older drivers. “Had been drinking,” the principal abnormal condition, said the Detroit Bureau, “showed a marked upward trend with increase in age, starting at 4 per cent for the ‘under 20° group and rising to 10, 13, 14 and 12 per cent for the next four higher age groups.”

~ SUMMER NIGHT By DANIEL FRANCIS CLANCY

The blue-gray sky Is full of white dots— The breeze in the trees Sounds like rain softly falling On the pavements. It is deadly silent . But for the monotonous, hoarse Whirring of the katydids— The air is full of moonmist— ‘The objects which stood forth so

squarely, Ruling during the day, Are furry shadows.

DAILY THOUGHT

God is no respecter of persons; but in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness 3 Jcespied with Him.—Acts

OD is a circle whose center is everywhere, and its circumference nowhere.—Empedocles.

spending.

FEDERAL SPENDING HELD HELP IF NOT CURE By E. 8: C.

At the grandstand night show at the State Fair, two comedians cracked a joke about a PWA worker who leaned on his shovel until the termites ate it from under him. He fell and broke his arm. The crowd got a big kick out of it. It seems an accepted fact that the general public does not consider the PWA worth its expense. It's time they start thinking things over.

Business is better and the unemployment is much less than last yeap. Those who have been laid off by the PWA are now on relief, on pensions or vainly waiting around factories. They might be willing to do your work for less. Unemployment and necessity will make men cut each other's throats and even their own. Another angle—the money which has started the wheels of industry rolling—came from increased purchasing power due to Government ~The financial blood transfusions in the form of Federal spending have stimulated the rise. All branches of industry will suffer if the Government is forced to quit spending. The methods the Democratic doctors are using may not cure the Government’s ills, but they. will keep it on its feet until a sure cure can be found. ” » 8

BORED BY CURRENT EVENTS, HOOSIER SAYS : By Daniel Francis Clancy, Logansport a

Now I'm ready to give—uncensored—my . regsons for supporting Roosevelt for the Presidency during the last campaign. / If Roosevelt's elected, thought I, one of two things quite possibly will, come about—the country will fold up or we will have a dictator. Now, if the country fell apart, that would have been entertainment of the first order; and if Roosevelt became dictator that would have at least been something different. On the other hand, mused I, if Landon is elected the worst possible thing that even the Democrats can think of is a revolution—and, although liking the unusual, mind you, I don’t care much for revolutions. Aware of the fact that, after all, someone might shoot me, I rushed out to give my all to the Roosevelt cause. But now, the election long over, things are not working out the right way. It is true, of course, that there was nothing in the platform to the effect that the country would be muddled up or that Roosevelt would become dictator and issue colored shirts free of charge for one and all—yes, it seems that only knowing what I read in the papers, I was misled. Here we sit in a nation still all together (geographically, if not mentally); here we are without a dictator. Personally,-I am bored and feel cheated. a, bee

It Seems to Me

By Heywood Broun

United States Is Lawyer-Ridden; Nation Needs Leaders Who Have Better Understanding Of Economics

NEW YORK, Sept. 21.—President Roosevelt’s speech Friday seemed to me the most interesting contribution he has made to the discussion of our Constitution. I liked the stress he put upon the assertion that

the charter is a layman’s document. He pointed out that Washington was not a lawyer, and that neither Madison nor Franklin ever had been admitted to the bar. : “This great layman’s document,” he said, “was a charter of general principles—compietely different from the ‘whereases’ and the ‘parties of the first part’ and the fine print which lawyers put into leases and insurance policies and installment agreements.” This opens up a very fruitful field of discussion. I think the Founding Fathers .would be surprised and shocked to find how lawyer-ridden America is today. Not only have they taken over politics as their own particular preserve, but many great industrial corporations are practically run by counsel. This is not a healthy situation, because most men who enter the law rather deflantly leave all hope of understanding economics behind them. There seems to be some incompatibility between a fused knowledge of written statutes and living, breathing realities.

Mr. Broun

7 ® » ® [0 huis Federal judge said to me from the bench, “Young man, economic problems have no place

in, a court of law.” : ~ «Your Honor,” I answered, “sooner or later they're going to catch up with you.” And we might have had quite a spirited debate if my own lawyer had not kicked me three times in the shin tv indicate that I had one foot over that line where they nip you for contempt of court. That is one of the troubles with the law. Judges insist that all who come into their meeting halls must be yes men. In the long run law is made to fit the necessities of the masses of mankind. Bub during the long days of delay many tragic things may come to pass. The legal profession has seldom done much in the matter of pioneering. It is well: enough that there shouid be brakes for emergencies, but you cannot drive a car when all wheels are-

locked. a 3 ” ” ”

THINK it would be an excellent thing if Congress »

contained many more men with an acute sense of the element of time. There never have been nearly enough newspapermen in the Senate or the House. I am thinking of the function which could be served by competent rewrite men, copy readers and reporters. Certainly many measures are introduced which cry aloud for the generous use of a blue pencil, And most of our public servants are woefully uniTormied as to the will and wishes of their constituents. : In government, as well as in journalism, there ought to be an understanding of the enormous lag between today and tomorrow. A reporter must meet a deadline, and a politician will be wise if he gets somebody to introduce him to that same fact of finality. The law’s delays should not be freely transe

General Hugh Johnson Says—

Pride of Being Good Mechanic Remains With Great Economic Royalist; During Major Auto Strike His Concern Was Over Welfare of Workers.

EW YORK, Sept. 21.—I spent last Saturday with a great economic royalist. It’s not so bad just to be an ordinary economic royalist now so long 8s you are not also a modern Lord Macauley. But this one isn’t ordinary. He is president of one of the four greatest corporations in the world. Counting dependents, it gives livings to more than a million people whose hread-winners are directly employed and more than two million, counting indirect employment. . : I went out with another economic royalist, an editor and a labor man to visit this prince of privilege in his magnificent summer home. It turned out to be just an old farm house on 30 acres that he bought before he became so royal. | As we went up the driveway, the labor man in my party yelled: “Hi Bill” to a big guy in rather disreputable slacks and a leather jacket, Who was puttering about the front yard, and they slapped backs because they were old buddies. Bill is the economic royalist. : -

’ | = s » {

HE conversation started off on how the French - war design for the axle for a 155 Howitzer caisson called for a long steel forging that had to be bored and tapered—a ‘difficult and terribly expensive

lated into the procrastination of politicians.

The Washington Merry-Go-Round

Klan Expose Brings to Front Levitt Suit to Unseat Justice Hugo Black: Attack Has Constitutional Basis and Supreme Court May Grant Hearing.

superintendent, he made it out of a piece of steel tubing at about one-tenth the cost and so many times Siaonger that it broke the Government testing machine! - That was Bill’s triumph. His principal pride remains in being a good mechanic. : We talked about the biggest strike of the year that once threatened the livelihood of those two millionodd people: The labor man had been in on that. He said: “All Bill seemed to be worried about was those

pay checks.” 3 : / . bet. Some people wanted us to fight and fightin’ dat vay if

“Ya, you teach de boys a lesson. Ve ain't dere is any oder way—>500,000 dinner tables.” x 2 8

the big grinning Viking who is president of General Motors—my favorite economic royalist—Mr. William Knudson. : : He immigrated down a gangplank 37 years ago and

He has made himself, first useful and then indispensible in every job he had from a shop bench to the biggest private job there is. - :

This isn’t meant as a success parable. It isn’t inexce that there is no labor

Ve | tended to prove shop | ouble whi

“Black's right to be a Justice of the Supreme Court.

Mr. Levitt is a former Republican special attorney in

YES, the slight trace of Danish accent belongs to’

went to work witht his big expert mechanic’s hands. |

ments whereof shall have been time” as he was a ember of

By Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen

VV ASEINGTON, Sept. 21.—Not many people realY ize it, but there is real dynamite hidden in the sult of ex-Judge Albert Levitt challenging Hugo

When this suit first was filed no one paid much attention to it. It was brought by one of the most consistent thorns in the side of the Administration.

the Justice Department. Two years:ago, when they were looking for a judge in the Virgin Islands who would co-operate with the Governor, Mr. Levitt was picked. : Almost immediately he tried to run the islands. His wife started making speeches to racial groups. Eventually Mr. Levitt was recalled, and in order to ease him out gently, was given a soft berth in the Justice Department. : Here Mr. Levitt has continued to nurse his grudge against Mr. Roosevelt, until finally he hatched the suit against Mr. Black. This may become the means by ‘which Mr. Black's enemies can squeeze him off the Supreme bench. : - » » » R. LEVITT bases his suit on Article I -Section 8 L of the Constitution by which no member of Congress can be appointed to an office “the emoluincreased during such g = 3 5

Mr. Levitt claims that while Mr. Black was ‘a member of the Senate, that body voted the Supreme Court Retirement Bill by which Justices were given a life pension of $20,000. This he contends is an inie rly. Mr Levitt rdinarily, ’s suit would have newhere. But the Supreme Court, as Mr. Dy ra out, is powerfully influenced by public opinion. The

‘conservative members of the Court, unquestionably

irked by the appointment of a radical pro-New Dealer, might take their cue from the Ku-Klux Klan expose and allow Mr. Levitt’s suit to be pressed. = | Afer all, ‘Mr. Levitt is only petitioning for a right to present the facts regarding Mr. Black. And with Justice Butler, an ardent Catholic, plus two Jews, Justices Brandeis and Cardozo, and Justice McReyJolds, who Dolds Vigomptly views against all New alers, on the , it will be surprising yr. Levitt does not get a hearing. I Mr 8 =» » .

HE disclosure that Justice Hugo Black holds an

3 honorary life Membersh ip in the Klan brought only an expression of sympathetic understanding Senator Borah of Idaho. a : fom a friend, Mr. Borah remarked: -

“I still am convinced that Hugo is not now « mems

ber of the Klan. 1 said that in my speech when his confirmation was up and I say it just as confiden pow. yor know, men in public life have to deal wit

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