Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 4 October 1937 — Page 12
PAGE 12
The Indianapolis Times
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MONDAY, OCT. 4, 1937
DANGER! ODAY Hugo L. Black of Alabama took his seat on the bench of the U. S. Supreme Court. We believe that President Roosevelt made a mistake when he nominated Mr. Black; that the Senate made a mistake when it confirmed the nomination without thoroughly investigating Mr. Black’s background; that a man of finer sensibilities than Mr. Black would not have permitted those mistakes to be made and would not now accept the fruits of them. But, barring some unexpected development, Mr. Black will remain on the U. S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, from * many parts of the country come reports of political efforts to align Catholic, Jewish and Negro voters against President Roosevelt and, on the other hand, of mercenary efforts to revive the Ku-Klux Klan. That Mr. Roosevelt made a careless appointment to the Supreme Court is unfortunately true. But that Mr. Roosevelt has in his character or his career any trace of religious or racial bigotry is not true. His whole record proveS$ otherwise. Attempts to arouse racial and religious feeling against him are not only unfair, they are dangerous, because every appeal to prejudice is sure to create counter-preju-dices. We quote one of the most accurate descriptions ever spoken of what such attempts lead to: : \ “If continued, the inevitable result will be the projection of religious belief into a position of prime importance in political campaigns and to reinfect our social and business life with the poison of religious bigotry. It will bring the political religionist back into undeserved and perilous in-fluence-in the affairs of government. It will elevate the least worthy to political positions because religion or race bars others from a password. It will resurrect practices and arguments from which this country suffered sorely in the Twenties. “It will revive the spirit which, in 1928, caused a national campaign to be waged largely spon issues unworthy of a free people. It will bankrupt many businessmen whose sole offense is that they have religious beliefs which do not accord with the prevailing religion in their communities. It will punish the professional man whose patients and clients boycott him, not because of lack of professional ability, but because there are in his locality few members of his faith or his race. It will again set Deighbop against neighbor and turn old friends into new enemies.” The man who spoke that warning was Hugo L. Black. We think that he, least of anyone, had a right to speak it for his own benefit—for the forces he warned against reviving are the same forces that elevated him to political position as a member of the Senate. But it is a true warn,ing and, for the good of the country, it should be heeded.
® WHY NOT A CHECKOEF? HE State House machine's “Two Per Cent Club” has struck a slight snag in its business of peddling the favors of a political administration. Indianapolis businesses, reportedly through a “misunderstanding” of what they were buying, protested against being asked to contribute to the Democratic campaign fund by buying space in the Official Indiana Record,
$250,000 fund-raising volume which followed the now fa- |
mous national Democratic campaign books. So to erase this misunderstanding, the solicitations here have been stopped. Anyway, it is explained, the local concerns contribute to the party's city and county campaign funds. : But don’t think this little flurry will stop the efficient tribute-collecting machinery of the Two Per Cent Club. The recent Legislature saw to that when the Corrupt Practices Act—intended among other things to prevent campaign contributions by concerns having business with the State— was amended to exempt the Two Per Cent Club. The only thing overlooked was the checkoff system— clearly a less troublesome plan—by which an employee’s donation could be deducted before he got his salary check.
PLAY SAFE WITH FIRES AS Indianapolis begins today its participation in National Fire Prevention Week, no better advice can be given than that by Fire Chief Kennedy: ? “I suggest that the head of each family gather his .group around him and decide what each should do in the -event of fire and how to escape from the house, Then see that they actually practice the procedure agreed upon. In ~ other words, have a home fire drill.” This- specific time of year is set aside because it is the - beginning of the autumn and winter seasons. Furnace fires are being kindled and the summer accumylation of dead leaves, papers and other trash and rubbish is being cleared out and burned. * Special attention should be given improper insulation and other “small things” which often cause tragic fires. : It is no accident that the city’s fire losses so far this year are less than half what they were in the same period in 1936. No small factor in this is the Fire Department's effort to perpetuate the aims of Fire Prevention Week in a year-round program. Citizens can help carry on the good work by enthusiastic co-operation.
MORE IMPORTANT NEEDS ORK on the proposed 38th St. extension, a milliondollar project which the Park Board ordered with little public debate or consideration, should be held up pending a thorough airing of the pros and cons. Several citizens whose word should carry some weight in community affairs have branded the project a needless extravagance.
And why the rush to put this over without public scru- |
tiny of the project on its merits? Other much more needed projects, such as South Side track elevation, have been ‘- delayed until the “deliberation” of City officials in some pases approaches a frustration of civi¢ progress.
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Fair Enough
By Westbrook Pegler
F. D. R.'s Denunciation of Lawyers,
Regardless of Political Motives, Was Brought on by the Bar Itself.
NEW YORK, Oct. 4.~The best minds of the noble and learned profession of the law are in a great fret over Mr. Roosevelt's rather sweeping denunciation of their business. And while, undoubtedly, there is something in their contention that the President’s attack had sly political motives, it must be admitted that some of the boys have been asking for trouble for a long time. They have earned their own
dispute by the tricky methods and individual misconduct of some, and have so far alienated the sympathy of ordinary people that, in this scuffle with an enormously popular personal leader, they will have to take their bumps. Some lawyers come before the people with a reputation for under-handedness, and, if the law. itself and the courts, suffer losses in the fight, the lawyers as a profession, must take their sass of the blame. Everybody has seen the cunning of some lawyers in the familiar accident insurance policy, for example. Everybody is familiar with the truth that, in case of mishap on the road or almost anywhere else, the first thought of those concerned is not “get a doctor” but “get a lawyer.” And the whole population has been educated by lawyers themselves to believe that in case of trouble over a disputed point or a matter of misconduct the wise course is to engage a smart lawyer.
Mr. Pegler
££ a 8 ; ERHAPS one who has spent much time around the courts, observing some lawyers at their work and hearing them talk shop, receives an uncommonly cynical, but uncommonly true, impression of their attitude toward their responsibilities and justice. We see men who are known to their colleagues and to all intimate observers as scrubby backroom politicians, appointed to important jobs on the bench or, if not appointed, then named by political gangs, and we realize that when the rub comes there are judges who will do their stuff for the men who put
them up. 2 ” »
E have talked with lawyers who analyzed the fraternal affiliations, the personal weakness and the prejudices of jurors and appealed to them. And your correspondent knows one local judge who, as a trial lawyer, once put on the stand, to give perjured testimony, a witness who was ordered out of the chair by the man on the bench with the remark that he should be locked up asa liar on his oath. This was an obvious case of perjury which could not have occured without specific instructions from the trial lawyer who is now himself a judge. And, re=gardless of Mr, Roosevelt’s motives in attacking the profession, motives which are open to doubt, the fact that such a man could continue to practice, much less reach the position of judge, is one of the reasons why I share the President’s contempt for some lawyers who speak of their ethics and canons as though they were guarantees.
The law, yes. The courts, yes. wWustice, yes. But, such lawyers; phooey.
The Hoosier Forum
I wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.
CHARGES CONSERVATIVES BEGAN BLACK FIGHT By N. Gi, Frankfort
The aim of all government is the welfare of the people—all the people; but you would never guess it from the writings of some of our political leaders and news writers. Their aim is to knock hard and ridicule any proposition made by the opposition, assuming the air that they alone have the orthodox, Simon-pure plans of how it should be dene.
- How often in recent years have you heard the high-sounding statement of “let us get back to sound principles of government?” As these speakers never stated clearly what these principles were, it was for the reader to determine whether they meant such principles that promoted such affairs as Teapot Dome, Insull’'s holding company, the Grundy tariff or wild speculation and resultant depression. But the man on the street is becoming wiser and so expresses himself. As an example, who is it that becomes so alarmed over the casé of Justice Black? Check and you will find that conservative Republicans and anti-New Deal Democrats are producing the tempest. The most damaging articles were written by a Pennsylvanian Republican for a newspaper syndicate. It tokens a return to muck-raker days of 1900, with plenty of need.
If some men spent as much time trying to solve our welfare problems as they do fighting the New Deal, there would be more advancement along the depression front. Big wind noises blow up dirt, but the results are often disappointing as demonstrated in the 1936 elections and more recently in New York. .I would advise these critics of public trust to study more closely the public mind, for we, the majority, are their master. This is democratic government where the people can think and act.
# » = VIEWS COMMUNISM AS
OFFERING PEACE IN WORLD By Hiram Lackey
In his none too elegant language, |
Westbrook Pegler complains of the “sloppy” laws of Congress. His contention is that since Congressmen are paid for their work, their laws should be constructed so carefully that the Supreme Court could not criticize them. May I remind Mr. Pegler that sloppy laws are the result of “sloppy thinking”—the sort of thinking found daily in his column. For example Mr. Pegler states that there is no practical difference between communism and nagziism, that the difference is only “pretended. » Can Mr. Pegler see no difference between a government such as that of Germany, based upon racial bigotry and
*{intolerance, and the Russian Gov-
ernment which has overcome racial intolerance? If he thinks the
General Hugh Johnson Says—
Strategy of Frightfulness, Waging War on Home Front, Brings Victory; Gen. Sherman, Who Ravished Georgia, Was Exponent of This Theory.
EW YORK, Oct. 4—The bombing of helpless Chinese villagers and the torpedoing of fishing junks makes everybody sick. It is the strategy of ofrightfulness—the idea of breaking the morale of an ‘enemy civil population on the theory that when the home front crumbles the battle lines can’t stand. That is a true theory. It won the World War. Ludendorff’s books make it clear that his battle lines could have held if the home front had not been starved into submission. “But do you know who invented this doctrine of frightfulness in its application to modern war? Do you recall who said, “Now if a crow flies over the Shenandoah, he will have to carry his rations with him?” Do you remember who insisted that the way to smash the South was to burn up its bread basket —and proceeded to make it so by gutting Georgia? : 8 n= x EN. SHERMAN, who sacked the Shenandoah, visited Germany after the Civil War and hefore the Franco-Prussian War. He is credited by military writers with having indoctrinated the German general staff with the strategy of bringing war fo the home front, which was what Gen. Sherman was talking about when he said, “War is Hell.” ° It is Hell and, from now on, it is going to be
fworse—especially for civilians, It isn’t merely that | ican
air raids can drench cities far behind the battle front
(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.)
difference is not important, why has he wasted so much space in harping about the Ku-Klux Klan? Of course his inconsistency easily is explained by recalling his prejudice against Labor’s stanch friends. There is as much difference between communism and naziism as there is between a dog and a rat.
Communism labors for a world brotherhood; it joins modern psychology in proclaiming the equal powers of all races. It joins Christianity in insisting on the equal rights of all races. Naziism claims that Aryans are superior to all other races. It persists in denying equal rights to other races, especially Jews. If every nation developed a Nazilike philosophy, it would make for war. If every nation developed the Soviet ideal of brotherhood of men, it would make for peace. Can Mr. Pegler’s analytical mind see no practical différence between peace and war?
# ® a FORUM TOPICS GET ‘FINAL’ ANSWERS
By Robert K. Taylor This is written as a final answer to those who contribute to this column. First, - it isn’t the nature of Americans to believe sufficiently in the rights of the laboring and lesser classes to let them rule; rather it is our nature to let big business,
VACATIONS
By CONTRIBUTOR
I do not like vacations, That take you far away—How can I fill the hours, Pretending I am gay?
The scenery must be lovely, The cards and souvenirs . You send, just add to loneliness, And fill my eyes with tears, ~
I do not like vacationy— Because we're far apart, So won’t you hurry back to me? I miss you so, sweetheart!
DAILY THOUGHT
God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.—John 3:16.
R EliE=MeER that what you believe will depend very much upon what you are.—Noah Porter.
corporations, utilities, and the propertied interests in general govern us and plot to remove from us the last of what “freedom” we now retain. . In international relations, too, it isn’t communism* we Americans need to fear: It is fascism and the inevitable world destruction to which it is pointing. America, Britain, France, and the U. S. S. R. must present a solid, unyielding front to the Fascist forces in the world and at home if any hope of peace is to be attained.
Fascists vs. Church
Second, the church is not championing the right in Spain, although some individual clergymen of honest convictions are. It isn’t the habit of Fascists to regard the church as a sacred institution in its own right. Rather, Fascist countries the world over unmercilessly exploit the church to strengthen the state and the state idea. Third, Senator VanNuys is not to be reprimanded for voting his conscience on the Court-packing plan; rather he is to be praised because he was one cf the few Democratic Senators who wasn't utterly befogged when the plan was put before the Senate. Since the public was against the Court-packing plan, it will also be against the Indiana Democratic Party's attempt to oust VanNuys from office next year.
Finds Indianapolis 0. K.
Fourth, Indianapolis is not a “hick” town, and it is about time that the citizenry rise up en masse to quell those who continually rant thus. There isn't a prettier or more prosperous looking large city in America than ours. The bicycle tax is not uncommon; Hoosiers who are forever raving about the superiorities of living in California no doubt know that Los Angeles has a bicycle tax, as do other American cities— Minneapolis, Detroit, Miami and Salt Lake City. If Indianapolis is a backward city because we have kept gambling and racketeering, gang fights, dog and horse tracks, etc., under better control than others, we are still way ahead in home ownership and a comparatively decent environment. " ” » SWEDEN'S LEGAL POLICY CAUSE FOR WONDER By Rose Marie
Lawyer Lazarus, before the Bar Association convention, said that 70 per cent. of the legal lights of the country did not have the economic status of a bricklayer.” Well, they can’t all be Liberty League lawyers, or failing that, Congressmen. 1 wonder what would happen to the profesgion if our law, like that of Sweden’s, were codified in a single volume which a farmer can read, and if, as in Swedish law courts, our judges paid no. attention to precedents.
The Liberal View
By Dr. Harry Elmer Barnes
Philippines Are Without Value as Military and Naval Base to U. Sg; Blow to Self-Government Is Seen,
NEW YORK, Oct. 4.—The war clouds which hang over the world today are threatening the new Philippine commonswealth with a program of militarization which menaces the advantages expected from self-government in these islands. Citizens of the United States should be aware of the facts. The recent visit of President Quezon to this country seems to have been partly designed to forward this military program, which has the active support of Field Marshal Douglas McArthur head of the American military mission in the Philippines and still an active officer in the U. S. Army. ‘i The Philippine National Defense Act is designed to produce a system of conscription so that, in the words of President Quezon, “practically the entire population will have had military service.” It is estimated that by 1945, when full freedom was to be accorded to the Philippines, the islands will have an army of active soldiers aid trained reservists amounting to 1,250,000. Some Aniericans are shocked by our compulsory R. O. T. C. for college students, but under the Philippine system military training begins in the schools at the age of 10, and all young men are required to register for active service at the age of 20. All this is, of course, theoretically designed to pro= tect the Philippines against invasion and conquest, most presumably by Japan. : ® = =
MPARTIAL American military and naval experts are skeptical as to the practical effectiveness of any such program, leaving aside such important mate ters as the great expense involved and the militarizae tion of the Philippine population. - Maj. Gen. Rivers, for example, holds that: “The United States and the Philippines combined in a military and political alliance could not defend the Philippine Islands against a power that has a great fleet and a great field army, is situated near the Philippines and is also located squarely between the United States and the Philippines. This, notwithstanding America’s great population, superior wealth and unequaled manufacturing capacity.” Gen. Rivers does not doubt that the United States could win in a war against Japan, but it would be a victory won in a general naval war, which would have to take for granted the loss of the Philippines, The men and money which ‘would be wasted in assign= ing a great force to a futile defense of the Philippines should be used in sane, aggressive naval strategy against Japan, relying primarily upon our superiop resources to wear down Japan, the general says, at the same time emphasizing that any war between Japan and the United States would be “unfortunate. * HF » . EN. RIVERS is especially critical of any effort t@ create a great naval base in the Philippines: “A base is a place from which one advances or to which one may return. Manila cannot be a base for the United States when the Japanese Empire is squarely between Manila and the United States.” He suggests that if we want a naval base for action against Japan the logical place is to be found in icefree harbors in the Aleutian Islands in the Bering Sea.
Dr. Barnes
The Washington Merry- Go-Round
Supreme Court Justices Return to Washington After Varied Vacations; Five Went to Foreign Countries, Others Spent Their Holidays Quietly.
with explosives and gas. Modern life has become so geared to gadgets and the nation so interdependent that the weapons of economic war are now more deadly than guns. If the German general staff had only known it in March, 1918, when there was nothing but 40 miles of confusion between their armies end the channel ports, they could have i a complete victory then
and there. ® x 8
WE had to base our armies on the southern ports of France because the channel ports were just barely able to receive and forward the mountains of supplies necessary to keep the French civil population and the Allied armies alive. With the channel ports in German hands in the spring of 1918, the war would have been over in a month because of sheer starvation: ; Don’t let's lay our souls to any flattering nition of superior humanity. We understand war. Hindenburg said so. The American soldier is as deadly as any. He can sack a city, shoot a prisoner, and ravish a countryside with the worst of them. If he couldn’t,
he wouldn’t be any good as a soldier. But the worst he can do is baby food compared with what the Amer= economic system can do © an enemy nation, _.
5 Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen
ASHINGTON, Oct. 4.—The Justices of the Supreme Court have returned to Washington after vacations as varied as their divergent views on the life of the nation. Mr. Hughes enjoyed one of the quietest vacations. After his trip to Canada, he and Mrs. Hughes settled down at Sugar Hill, N. H.
The Chief Justice spent his time reading, walking
and taking short motor trips. Justice Brandeis, oldest member of the Court, spent the summer at his Cape Cod home near Chatham, Mass. . Mr. Brandeis worked diligently during his vacation. His day was methodically regulated, with work hours set in the morning.
USTICE Stone went from Washington to Mexico City for a month, then to Maine. It is Mr. Stone’s practice to travel somewhere for a part of each summer, then spend the final weeks in Maine. The Stones left Mexico City July 15 for Maine’s Isle au Haut. He has summered here for 35 years, in a comfortable but simple home. He lived ‘next to nature,” rowing, fishing, motor boating and enjoying clam-bakes with the neighbors. Justice Roberts put on his farm knickers, his boots and his suede jacket in June, and, except for
"land for the last.
shedding the jacket when the weather got hot, kept to the farm costume practically all summer. : The Roberts’ acres are at Kimberton, Pa. near Phoenixville, about 30 miles from Philadelphia. Justice McReynolds, after lingering for a time in Washington, got aboard the liner Queen Mary for a trip to England. He spent three weeks motoring through England, then crossed the Channel and spent two weeks in France. » ” s
USTICE CARDOZO went to White Plains, N. Y,, about 20 miles north of New York City in West= chester County, and there he stayed all summer long. : Mr. Cardozo, intently studious, read widely—fhe range extending from works of philosophy to writs of certiorari, the latter being the “homework” the Justices must do in the summer. Justice Sutherland made his 27th trip to Bugs land, where he was born. He landed first in France, then went to Switzerland, saving his visit to EngFrom London he went to Scotland. Justice Sutherland did not at any time meet Js. tice Black, who was busy for the most part dodging newspaper reporters. Justice Butler settled down for the summer -at Blue Ridge Summit, Pa. just over the line from Maryland. Here he stayed in a rented cottage, playe ing golf, enjoying his grandchildren and walking.
“ * x