Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 September 1937 — Page 22

The Indianapolis Times i He (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

ROY W. HOWARD LUDWELL DENNY MARK FERREE President Editor Business Manager

‘*Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times Publishing Co, 214 W. Maryland St.

Price in Marion County, 3 cents a copy; deliv=ered by carrier, 12 cents a week.

Mail subscription rates in Indiana, $3 a year; outside of Indiana, 65 cents a month.

EE RIley 5551

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

Member of United Press, E Scripps - Howard Newspaper Alliance, NEA Service, and Audit Bu- E reau of Circulations, Tn = .

FRIDAY, SEPT. 24, 1937

COMMUTING CRIMINALS GUNMAN commits a érime in Indianapolis and leaves at once by plane, train or automobile. Arriving at his new destination, he is in another of America’s 40,000 police jurisdictions. And he is safe there until local police learn -that he is wanted in Indianapolis. If the crime was spectacular, the chances are he will be caught. Most crimes are not in this class, however, and relatively few of the total number ever are solved.

So crime flourishes as Big Business—an estimated 1,- |

333,526 major crimes in the United States last year. A murder or manslaughter every 40 minutes. A robbery every 10

minutes. A burglary every two minutes. A larceny every

44 seconds. Our 1936 crime cost is estimated at 15 billion dollars, Obviously prevention and control have not kept pace with criminal methods and modern conditions. Important steps in this direction now are being taken. Ancient barriers which state lines have placed in the path of police are being broken down. Recently, as a result of the Brady gang’s depredations, the police heads of five states " met here and mapped a program to halt the interstate flight of criminals. Instant intercommunication by radio telegraph is one co-operative method being developed. ” ® » » » ” DAY in Kansas City, at the annual Interstate Commission on Crime meeting, Indiana and 28 other states are completing a compact to supervise parolees and probationers of the other contracting states. : The pact permits a parolee to move to another state with that state’s consent, if he or his family is a resident there and if he can get a job. The receiving state agrees to supervise such persons on a reciprocal basis, and to return them without extradition. The aim of the agreement is to facilitate rehabilitation of criminals. At a time when parole is under fire this improvement of procedure is particularly welcome. X Four uniform wmcts have been drafted to combat the “commuting criminal.” Twenty-one states have passed laws permitting-officers of other states to pursue and capture felons escaping across their boundaries. Within a few months half the nation has been lined up for co-operative action to control crime.

All this is encouraging indeed, for effective police work"

depends upon close co-ordination of all enforcement agencies and upon a fast and systematic distribution of information.

MUCH ADO ABOUT LITTLE

OR several days barrels of printer's ink have been shed and countless heads have hung in shame over reports that Ambassador Nelson T. Johnson had “abandoned” his post at Nanking on orders from Washington. From Tokyo have come reports of a “wave of friendship for the United States” sweeping Japan because the . Ambassador had obediently “evacuated Nanking” to facilitate the bombing of the Chinese capital. ; It now appears that most of the ink, much of the shame and all of Japan’s new-found friendship for Uncle Sam were wasted. Ambassador Johnson did not “abandon” his post; Washington did not “order” him to leave; our embassy did not “evacuate Nanking,” and on the banks of the Yangtze - our flag still flies. \ ~The Ambassador and part of his staff, it is said officially, temporarily went aboard a U. S. gunboat anchored off the Nanking bund. A representative stayed on at the embassy. At no time, we are told, were our envoys out ~ of touch with the Chinese Government or with the American Government. And that, of course, is the essence of =. the job. foi : We are glad to hear this, from both Washington and . Nanking. It would be unfortunate if Japan got the im- _ pression that whenever her war lords said “boo,” our diplo- -- matic representatives would cut and run all over China to :- make the bombing of cities and the murder of noncombat- - ants easier. That would mean to lose “face.” And to : lose “face” among the billion Orientals who form half the =. population of the earth would be a disastrous thing. Once Washington makes it quite clear to Toyko, how- — ever, that we do not intend to abandon the field, we see little - point in ordering our envoy to China to sit on the embassy "roof during air raids and wave the American flag. In war, the essential thing is to hold on to a position. ~~ But we have never heard of any rules against ducking into > a dugout during a barrage.

:. CHEER—AND SUGGESTION SPECIALIST in such matters has been assigned by : Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau to improve : administration of the tax laws by the Bureau of Internal “- Revenue. He hopes to cut some red tape. : That intent deserves a cheer. And while cheering, we want to recommend that this -* specialist and Secretary Morgenthau heed the suggestion -. recently made in the Twentieth Century Fund’s report on : “Facing the Tax Problem.” That suggestion is: 3 “That the Federal Treasury devote special effort to “- gaining the good will of honest and reasonable income tax "payers by showing that it is as fully aware of the taxpayers’ rights and interests as of those of the Government.”

WHAT A SIT-UATION!

Z GANTA CLAUS, it seems, is going to be unionized along

2 with the rest of us. John L. Lewis of the C. I. O. has - named President Homer Martin of the United Automobile - Workers of America to organize workers in the nation’s toy, :" doll and novelty industry. 5 Now, in behalf of the youngsters, we hope the A. F. of L. won't start a rival union, with the result that they'll have two Santa Clauses—a vertical and a horizontal one. * And we hope, also for the kids’ sake, that if such two «Santa Clauses ever get to: quarreling they will patch up “their jurisdictional disputes long before Christmas. __«. .. Imagine a Christmas with any kind of Santa Claus on a sitdown strike! 1 br :

Zero Hour on the

__ THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES __ Western Front !—By Talburt

Westward Ho '—By Herblock *

' M. A. L. for our creased

Fair Enough

By Westbrook Pegler

Even Senators Can't Be Accepted as Saints, Observer Argues, Favoring More Inspection and Less Courtesy.

NEW YORK, Sept. 24.—If this thing means what I think it means, I hope I misunderstand it. I refer to the proposition that when any member of the United States Senate is nom-

inated for a place on the Supreme Court, Senatorial courtesy requires that he shall be confirmed without a struggle ‘on the ground that he couldn’t be a Senator if therefvere anything wrong

with him. This would be an as= » eit sumption of virtue and fitness in violent disagreement with much past experience of the body which: is sometimes called, but with a smile, the most exclusive gentlemen’s club in the world. : It would far exceed the degree of confidence expressed by the electorate whose verdict in many cases is merely that the people's choice is the least offensive of a bad lot. ; By and large, the reputation of the Senate is distinctly better than that of the Chicago City Council, for example, and the boys may take such pride as they like in the fact that their composite record compares favorably with that of any other body of similar age and size. They took firm steps, as the saying goes, a couple of years ago, with an elderly employee of ‘the Senate who made a few dollars by writing a magazine piece in which he tossed off the ambiguous compliment that there were fewer crooks in the Senate than one might suppose. : : It was difficult to arrive at this suppositional figure, and, anyway, the remark was so phrased that in Yisseniing from it the elder statesmen had to be careul.

Mr. Pegler

EJ » 8 TT got around it, however, and their honor and dignity were vindicated by their own verdict, but they still failed to convince the country that membership in the Senate was conclusive proof of honesty, much less wisdom. Yet the theory advanced in the discussion tardily aroused by the confirmation of Hugo Black would hold that anyone holding down a seat in the Senate is above rejection or even serious inspection. Senate members who voted for confirmation of Mr. Justice Black to the Supreme Court have now &dmitted that they did so on second-hand assurance that he did not belong to the Ku-Klux Klan, and that they would ‘have turned him down had they known that he did velong. ” ” ”

AZ man not a member of the club, however, 4 A would have been required to answer direct questions, and the Department of Justice, which also waived its normal duty in an extension of.the Senatorial courtesy toward Mr. Justice Black, would have combed its record from his kindergarten days to make sure that he never canned a dog, whispered in class or dumped over a little edifice on Hallowe'en. All this begins to mean that henceforth, if the Sen< ate still insists on the same rule of courtesy that gave Senator Black 8 hase on balls, it will be against the public eres select a Supreme Co the United States Senate. P a Judge pom

The Hoosier Forum

1 wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it—VYoltaire.

HUNTS GAS MASK FOR CURLY HAIRED SON By William G. Mather Jr., Franklin I think that events of the past few months at Adowa, Bilbao, and Nan=king make it very plain whom the soldiers of modern civilized nations are out to kill. We have a beautiful little boy, 8 months old, with curly hair and a cheerful zest for life. Can you, or any of your readers, inform me where his mother and I can secure a little gas mask and tiny steel helmet his size? :

wn = LIBERTY LEAGUERS POOR

PROPHETS, WRITER SAYS By Paul Maurice, Clay City

It seems to me that if the Liberty Leaguers had been even poor proph-

-| ets, they could have foreseen the

type of man to be appointed to the

_ | Supreme Court bench.

I am no prophet at all. I felt quite sure, however, that President Roosevelt would appoint neither Little Herbie nor Dr. Royal S. In fact, I was sure that he would ap-= point no one who voted with the Liberty ‘League. Se If those who are lamenting the appointment of Justice Black had looked before their noses, they could have guessed the type of man to be appointed. They could have had all this time to cry. It would not be necessary for them to cry so loudly at the present time. 2 Do they think that the Supreme ‘Court has never been tampered with? Someone inform them of the age-old packing case of Mr. Adams. Tell them that the Court was packed so tightly that Mr. Jefferson did not get it opened in the eight years of his presidency. While we are asking questions, we would like to ask another of the Governor. -Does he know that many New Deal Democrats were secretly opposed to the late Supreme Court bill? Does he expect these Democrats to follow him in punishing a man who voted as they thought? The reason that a good many of

if someone would inform this gentleman of this fact. He should know that any reorganization that will get our votes would have to be minus his help or presence. ” 2 8

CALLS FOR DEFINITION OF LOVE By R. M. L.

A Logansport contributor, D. PF. Clancy, wants love in the Forum! Heavens, we need a humor column even worse than I thought. How in the world can you keep the Forum dignified and seemly if you allow love to be discussed in it? Until now, it’s been the only place where boy hasn’t met girl with a heart beating like a 7-11 alarm. Personally I ought to be able to

General Hugh Johnson Says—

‘More Abundant Life’ Is Dependent Upon Idle Money Being Put to Work: New Deal's Attitude and Policies Have Scared Productive Enterprise.

EW YORK, Sept. 24—About this “more abundant life” business . -. ;.. The only abundant life is

a good job at decent pay. There can’t be jobs at |

decent pay unless business is good. During hard times it is a fine idea to keep people from starving to. death by taking away from the half who have something, togive to the half who have nothing. You've got to do it. That is sharing—not wealth, but poverty—but it is not “the more abundant life.” : : In the depths of the depression, Mr. Roosevelt magnificently took command. He took billions away from people who had money, to share with the less fortunate, but it was not “the more abundant life.” For four years we have talked about the M. A.-I.— and done less than nothing about it. The total volume of production has risen to where it was 10 years ago. But production per head—the M. A. L. per person—is

not 80 per cent of the abundance of 10 years ago and |

that was one too good. a2 an a THY? There is more pent up idle money available for investment in productive enterprise than ever before in our history. It is idle or invested in Government bonds at 2 per ceat or so. These dollars are not working to produce things. When dollars go to work, men go to work—and not before. The

‘thing that would end unemployment and‘provide the whole. 130,000,000 people would be in- |

|us left the Republican Party was| Herbert Hoover. It would be nice

(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.)

discuss it very freely, not being handicapped by much knowledge on the subject. I confess, however, I can’t even define it satisfactorily, though I can quote you definitions by the yard. But I'm really in distinguished

"| company there. Even the wisdom of

Solomon was baffled by “the way of a man with a maid”; Abelard, Dante, Goethe—all ran into-snags. Only Byron was so cocksure about it; he said, in effect, that love is a thing apart for men—' ‘Twas woman's whole existence.” And look at the messes he got himself into.

Will Durant once observed that men who fail at marriage {. e. love) take to writing books about it, and make gals over the coals in vicarious revenge no doubt. Wasn't it Schopenhauer who said that God made man, then He made woman, and when He saw what He'd done, He made tobacco? Schopenhauer was a sourpuss and didn’t get to first base with the ladies, which accounts for the sentiment. But Kipling indorsed that with “A woman's only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke.” I gather one really ought to have a broken heart to do any classic discussing of the

-subject—which rules me out.

Yes, indeed, let's discuss love. What is it? = ” f J CAMERA FINISHES FOR COLLISIONS POSSIBLE By Observer The war on traffic accidents has gone into the air . . . gone up in

balloons! 3 During the past six months Mil-

MY WEAKNESS By JAMES D. ROTH If I lived by the “crick,” I wouldn’t work a lick. Jist ketch fish: and eat ’em. High costs?—I'd beat ‘em.

No beauty bed for me, Just curl up by a tree. An’ snooze to heart’s content, No worry ‘bout: the rent.

I'd bathe in Nature’s pool, So restful an’ so cool. But in the winter I would stay Peacefully slumbering in the hay.

DAILY THOUGHT

Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.—Genesis 1, 28.

HINKING well is wise: planning

well, wiser; doing well wisest and best of all.—Persian Proverb.

The ‘W.

waukee (which applies one of the best big-city traffic safety programs in the country through the Milwaukee Safety Commission) has been {ying cameras to balloons. The balloon is released above a street intersection, controlled from the ground by a guy rope. The camera is operated and the plate exposed by remote control, using a push button and battery circuit from the ground to a solenoid shutter release on the camera itself. The guy rope, a conductor, conveys the electrical impulse to the camera shutter, The whole system represents a new technique for obtaining traffic layouts of actual field conditions. Carl V. Bergstrom, Milwaukee traffic: engineer, says the goal is to produce “flat photographic scale layouts of intersections and traffic areas.” Mr. Bergstrom adds that results obtained prove the practicability of the idea . . . that time consumed in producing photographic layouts on a wholesale basis will be less than that of the present vrocedure of making drawings and layouts. By means of aerial photography engineers study actual ° physical conditions of a traffic scene without leaving their office. s #8 =» HUGO BLACK APPOINTMENT IS CRITICIZED By R. C.' Amidst all this furor regarding Hugo Black’s appointment to the U. S. Supreme Court, it would be wise for us to deliberate some more on ‘the President’s plan to “pack” the Court with six new Justices. Here the President has appointed only one man to the Court and it turns out that he .is a life-time member of the Klan. All I have to say is that if the President can’t appoint one Justice who is of proper character and possesses a proper background for Justice, how could he appoint six new Justices? : ® x = SANE LIQUOR LAWS NEEDED, CLAIM By Wiliam Lemon ‘The reason we still have bootleggers is because our Federal, state and local governments insist on an exorbitant tax. Bootleg liquor, selling at half the price of legal liquor, with just as many headaches and black eyes, finds plenty of customers, and will until the high tax is reduced, making bootlegging unprofitable. Prohibition was a failure, and our wet days are heading toward the rocks unless our Government passes sane legislation.

Thunders of Silence to Foes on Supreme

It Seems to

ashington Merry-Go-Round

Court

‘Why don’t they go to work? Because it seems to be the deliberate policy of our Government to keep ‘them idle. If dollars make money for their owner, he is called a “modern Lord Macaulay.” We publish his hideous crime to the world and expose his purpose. We are careful to see to it that if he puts his dollars to work, he can’t make them earn anything. If he - does, we take it away from him in taxes. on # 8 =a So HE {ax system as changed by this Administration is as effective as though designed not only to prevent ‘the creation of any new business, but to prevent profit in old business. The claim is that this is to give the M. A. L. by taking it away from the ‘haves to give to the have-Yots. oF Mr. John Flynn says that 70 per cent of the tax burden-is borne—and must be borne—not by wealth, but by those of us who are just barely getting along. Ninety per cent. would be nearer the truth. We are

taking it away from the forgotten man to give to the 4

gimmies. But that isn’t the half of it. This creeping, sneaking system of hidden taxation takes 20 per cent of the wages of labor and the ballyhoo and buncombe system for punishing profit does not pay 10 per cent of the spending bill. What it does is keep money from going to work and deny people jobs and

pay. There is no L. because, w. | by what

‘rauding expedition.

By Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen

BOARD THE PRESIDENT’S TRAIN, Sept. 24¢.— So much printer’s ink has been spilled describing the dire things Mr. Roosevelt is going to do to his Supreme Court foes, that the general public would be justified in thinking he was armed on this trip with machine guns and heavy artillery. But don’t get the wrong idea. This is not a maMr. Roosevelt is not going to raid the enemy’s territory. He is not going to call people names and make faces. : He may see red inwardly whenever you mention the names of Senators Wheeler, Burke, McCarran, O’Mahoney, et al, but he is too skilful a fighter to let. anyone know it. ; What Mr. Roosevelt is doing on this trip is building up his own fences, 2 For instance, when Mr. Roosevelt passes through Montana he will ignore Senator Wheeler, leader of the Supreme Court opposition. He will make a speech in Billings, Mont., but probably will not even mention Senator Wheeler's name. - . #® » ” . S he rides across the long state of Montana, the folks who throng the railroad stations probably will see on the rear platform, a young Congressman,

Jerry O'Connell, who is Senator Wheeler's Democratic |

opponent for re-election. The President will put his hand oh O’Connell’s

| shoulder, and that will be a

Me

By Heywood Broun

An Incorruptible Communication Medium Between U. S. and England Is Needed in Peace Preservation.

NEW YORK, Sept. 24.—In organizing for the preservation of peace, Americans will do well to follow as closely as possible political and economic trends in Fngland. The British propaganda machine iz the best in the world. Although the British writing

man is not the servant of the state, there are times when the government expects every essayist and novelist to do his duty and is not disappointed. Even

a man of the stature of H. G. Wells practically turned recruiting sergeant when he conjured up Mr. Britling as his bit in the war to make the world safe for democracy. Undeniably America and the British commonwealths have certain joint interests, but we should not allow ourselves to be moved about as pawns for the preservation of the Empire. Like a cure ate’s egg, that vast conglomeration of people and systems of rule has its Fascist spots. While England may cry out in horror at the wrongs which the Japanese are committing against the Chinese, it can hardly be said that Great Britain has been helpful in any way in aiding the legitimate aspirations of the working masses of Asia.

Mr. Broun

» ” 2 v3 T= tight, little island may stand as a symbol of freedom in its potential opposition to Hitler and Mussolini, but British rule in India has hardly ad vanced the cause of world democracy. C= Moreover, it is pertinent to observe that recently the Conservative ministry has displayed an increasing willingness to play ball with Hitler. Technically, the British Cabinet is far more responsive to the popular will than any national American administration, but progressive movements are vastly impeded by the character of the British press. . Z In theory Great Britain has a free press. Indeed, it is the very cradle of untrammeled journalism, but in the last generation control has become so highly centralized that freedom is much more a theory than a fact. The silence which surrounded all the preliminary steps in the dispute between Stanley Baldwin and the Duke of Windsor was a most disturbing indication that though British publishers never will be slaves, they can be induced to ‘accept the suggestion of a voluntary muzzling. : i » ” ” . WO publishers practically control the bulk of cir culation. They may war against each other on certain issues, but fundamentally their interests are the same. : It isn’t so much that the British press represents big business as the fact that it is big business. No democracy can endure in health unless there is opportunity for the voicing of many diverse opinions. — England has done much to develop journalism, and England also has been the haven of the pamphleteers. It may be that in the days to come there will be a revival of this form of expression. At any rate, if the people of England ahd America are to work together for world peace they must find a medium of communi-

cation which cannot be corrupted by the will of a few opposed to the demands and necessities of the many.

Be Roosevelt's Tactics Against Party Issue as He Travels Westward.

will be tied together in such a way that the man in the street will understand them as never before during the Supreme Court fight. When he visits the Bonneville Dam, the President will talk about water power and the manner in which the power companies controlled rates and were abk to get support from the Supreme Court. = On another occasion he will talk on child labor, and punch home the manner in which the Supreme Court for two decades blocked the nation’s attempts to outlaw child labor. He will also emphasize the issues of democracy versus fascism, and the importance of making democracy a living, workable institution.

2 8 =» = DJOURNMENT of Congress Aug. 21 did not end the flow of Congressional oratory. It continued

to pour out in postsession issues of the Congressional Record for 17 days—at a cost of $45 per printed

page. Es The total bill to the taxpayer for this flood of printed rhetoric was $13,230. E The subjects discussed cover a wide range. Rep. Wilburn Cartwright of Oklahoma dwelt on the variety of the architecture of Washington churches—cost - $90. A quotation inserted by Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts, describing Washington summers as “worse than an equatorial hell,” cost $18, Rep. Joe Shannon of Missouri expatiated indignant= ly on the fact that waiters in the House restaurang wer wages than those in the Senate restau-