Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 12 November 1937 — Page 17

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Vagabond

From Indiana—Ernie Pyle

Wanderer Buries Self in Beets; Finds Farmers Sell Their Crop Almost a Year Before Harvest.

ENVER, Nov. 12.—This is a column on sugar beets. Wait! Don’t turn away. For sugar beets are remarkable things, and

full of interest as well as sugar. After reading this piece you can go about the streets astounding your friends with vour encyclopedic knowledge. For instance, you can tell them that: Neither vou nor I could take a spoonful of sugar and tell whether is was beet or cane. Maple sugar would be just like table sugar if vou took the maple out of it. Sugar beets in Colorado are worth more each year than the gold produced. All northeastern Colorado is covered with sugar beet fields, full of women in bonnets. Sugar, as we buy it, is 96.97 per cent pure sugar. The other .03 per cent so far as I know, is wind mixed with hamburger. I got interested in sugar beets while driving across northeastern Colorado. The fields thick with people working: stacks of beets stretched in rows across the fields: the highway was lined with trucks piled high with beets; some fell off, and our tires squashed over them continually; everv few miles there was a railroad siding where the trucks were dumping beets into cars, or piling them on the ground, So I looked deeply into the beet situation, and now I know so much I hardly know where to start. Let's see. Well, for one thing, people don’t just raise beets and nothing else. The average farm in the irrigated country through here is 140 acres, and usuaily only about 20 acres are in beets. The rest is in hay, small grain, vegetables, sheep and cattle. Ever see a farm planted in sheep? Farmers in this desert-like irrigated country do mighty well. They know they will have a crop each year. Their beets are a stable thing: and the beet

Mr. Pyle

were

{

by-products feed their sheep and cattle, rain or no |

rain The Great Western Sugar Co. is practically the tsar of beetdom in Colorado. There are 18 beet factories in the state, and Great Western owns 13 of them, in addition to half a dozen in Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana.

Crop Sold Before It's Planted

One odd thing about beet raising is this: A farmer

never plants a crop unless it is already contracted for by a beet company. The beet companies contract in the winter for the following fall. They guarantee the farmer so much. But that's a year ahead of the market, so if it turns out next year that the price of sugar is good, the farmer shares in the advanced profits. He is paid for his beets in four payments. The big payment is the second one, in November, and “sugar pay day” in the beet towns looks like the day before Christmas on Main St They say beet raising requires more hand labor than any other crop. For some reason Americans don’t like to work in the beet fields work is done by Mexicans and German-Russians. It is estimated that only 18 per cent of beet farmers do their own work. } The Mexicans like to work kneeling down. The German-Russians like to work standing up. But whether he's up or down, you mustn't say “Mexican” out here. You must always say Good thing to remember.

My Dia ry

By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

Plenty of Time to Travel Proves Too Little When Trains Are Late.

ANVILLE, Tll., Wednesdayv.—I have discovered one

Most of the |

“Spanish American.” | ‘

occasionally has anxieties in keeping appoint- |

ments on these lecture tours, even when one travels conservatively and thinks plenty of time is allowed We are now waiting rather anxiously for a belated train from the South. with a connection to make in Chicago and very little spare time after our arrival in Fond du Lac, Wis, witere my engagement is tonight. There seems to be nothing to do about it. but hope that we catch our train out of Chicago. This is Armistice Day. For my generation, 1 doubt if that day can ever come around without a memory of the sense of relief which swept over us when we first heard the Armistice was signed.

the gentleman is pictured as having grieved because we did not follow up the Allies’ victory and march into Berlin. There were, I know, a few people in this country who felt that way, but the majority

Ina | book which I read recently, “The Late George Apley”, |

| | |

of us, I believe, had little vindictiveness in our hearts |

against our enemies. We were thankful that friend and foe alike would no longer have to lie on Flanders Fields.

The papers record today that in Germany no | pan y y | sidered as a whole.

Armistice Day ceremonies will be held. I hope that over here we will continue to remember this day and

Roosevelt's Toughest’ Congress

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1937

The Indianapolis Times

mtered as Second-Class Matter oy Postothee, Indianapolis,

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1938 Elections and Battle for Power Increase Tension for Special Session

Among foes of the Roosevelt Supreme Court plan who are likely to support the President's special session program is Senator O'Mahoney (D. Wyo.).

Senator Connally (D. Tex.) is also expected to be reasonably regular. He will probably take a prominent part in the crop control bill debate.

(First in a Series)

By Rodney Dutcher ‘WV ASHINGTON, Nov. 12

(NEA).—The toughest Con-

gress with which President Roosevelt has vet had to

deal now reassembles.

balked the Roosevelt program last spring and summer.

This is the same Congress which

It

, was summoned into a special session opening Monday to enact the same program—minus that court plan. Predictions as to what this Congress will do and as to the extent to which it will co-operate with Mr. Roosevelt probably are as dangerous as those made last year after

the huge Democratic election victorv, when most of us thought F. D. R. could get approximately what he wanted from Capitol Hill.

Plentv of stormy weather may be safely forecast, but more legis lative results than were had from the last Congress seem fairly certain.

The issue of centralization of power, both as to expanded Federal control and increased Presidential powers, will be almost constantly in the foreground. R

In the background will be general concern with the primaries and elections of 1938, the plottings of conservatives and liberals thinking in terms of 1940 and efforts of Southern and other Democrats to see that Mr. Roosevelt doesn’t control the next Democratic national convention.

Either the domestic business situation or the international situation may lead to developments not now anticipated.

HE problems before Congress : are all familiar. The proposed wage-hour legislation has as its aim the same chief objective announced more than four vears ago for NRA. Surplus crop control. tried first in 1933, is second on the list. The regional development proposal calls for an extension of the TVA idea through the nation. Government reorganization, President Roosevelt's fourth special session item. has been talked of and vainly stabbed at for 25 years. Antimonopoly legislation, if any, will be a new attempt to meet an ancient issue. They're all old, but they're also all hotly controversial.™ Few will be surprised if no important legislation is passed before Christmas. The special session and the regular session beo-

| ginning in January almost imme-

that it will always serve to renew our reverence for |

those who served our country, but that at the same time it will emphasize our determination to prevent the recurrence of war.

Approves Choice of Toys

I had a letter the other day from a committee of young women in Swarthmore, Pa., members of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. They feel that if possible, children should not be given dangerous playthings such as toy guns, pointed arrows, etc. It is their idea that parents in buying Christmas presents should attempt to find things which are not in themselves hazardous for the children, and which at the same time will not encourage the children’s interest in games concerned either with the activities of war or of crime. It seems to me there is something in this idea. Perhaps we older people do not give thought enough to the influence we can have on youthful minds through choosing their toys judiciously, Iwnderstand that this year the makers of toys have laid great emphasis on mechanical toys and building materials for constructing miniature towns, bridges and railroads. This seems to me a healthier interest.

New Books Today

Public Library Presents—

OMEONE has said, “The book to end all inspirational books” is LET YOUR MIND ALONE, by James Thurber (Harper). Certainly inspiration was never so appareled in cap and bells as by this humorist of The New Yorker. How the inspirationalizts must squirm to see their solemn injunctions worked out to such hilarious conclusions! In addition, what Mr. Thurber does to the technical Language and pet phrases of the psychologists and psychoanalysts is humor at its zenith. He has a gift for dramatizing the ridiculous, reminiscent of Williams and Walker in their day before the footlights. Do not attempt to read LET YOUR MIND ALONE where a roar of laughter would be unseemly. You may find yourself rushing out to indulge the impulse without restraint and thus draw an unflattering diagnosis of your state from the psychologists.

DAY boat-cruising offers the ‘last frontier. You can rough it or you can live like a king, according to your likes and vour pocketbook.” William F. Crosby, in AN INTRODUCTION TO BOATOWNING (Kopf) tells in a book which many wistful would-be cruisers will pore over, how one may enjoy “the greatest sport there is” without spending great sums of money. The first part of the book on choosing vour boat— what to look out for in design, motor, anchorage, equipment and price—constitutes an instructive and valuable guide for the enthusiast; but the chapters on planning a cruise, which include excellent and exciting advice on sailing along the Eastern Seaboard,

over the Southward route, through the lakes and up landlubber

the West Coast, make even the veriest fairly yearn to go nautical.

*

Wea 4 es ln

aiately afterward may be con-

” » »

HE factors to be weighed in speculating as to the extent Mr. Roosevelt will get what he asks are diverse and often twoedged. Absence of the court plan, which gummed everything up in the first session, is one. The coalition which fought Mr. Roosevelt on the court will not get together again—at least not without conspicuous absentees. On the other hand, that fight left sears. The President called the special session with an obvious burst of self-confidence, based on his re-

ception during his Western tour and conviction that the people were still strong for him. Yet the point is made that enthusiasm for Mr. Roosevelt doesn’t mean effective popular support on specific issues and there seems ho enthusiastic mass furore over any item on his current program. Congress meets at what may be either side of the half-way point in a business slump and theoretically this should permit the President more scope in solving economic problems. But there will also be plenty of attack and the New Deal's enemies in Congress will blame its policies for a “new depression.” » ” » OME of the most effective Democratic opponents of the court plan often will be with the President in the next few months, and others will display a passion for regularity. Senator Wheeler of Montana. has said he expects to support Roosevelt on Mabor, farm and other “progressive” issues.

‘Capable Tax Administration

Senator Copeland (D. N. Y)), defeated in the New York rayoralty campaign by New Deal forces, is expected to oppose much o° the Roosevelt program,

Leader of the group which defeated the court reform plan, Senator Wheeler (D. Mont.), says he expects to support Mr. Roosevelt on “progressive issues.”

Senator O'Mahoney of Wyoming will demonstrate his friendship. Senator Connally of Texas, and other anticourt men, will be reasonably regular. But such conservative Democrats as Senators Copeland of New York, Byrd and Glass of Virginia, Bailey of North Carolina, Tydings o. Maryland, Burke of Nebraska. Smith of South Carolina, George of Georgia and VanNuys of Indiana, as well as a nhumber of Southern committee chairmen,

Senator Byrd (D. Va.), mentioned prominently in 1936 as a conservative candidate for President, probably will be found frequently in the opposition,

AA I

j y { PE 4 will often be found with the opposition, And on top of that you probably

will find business interests lobbying more intensively than ever for

State's System, Kentucky Official Writes

By E. R. R. OTWITHSTANDING a growing “tax consciousness” on the part of the geenral public, the man in the street—and frequently officials | as well—often lack accurate yard- | sticks for measuring the efficiency | and the soundness of state and local | tax systems. Writing in the current issue of Public Management, James W. Martin, Kentucky Commissioner Revenue, promulgates certain “principles of tax administration” which should prove valuable aids in a general understanding of a thoroughly complex subject. Admitting that sound tax administration rests upon the dual foundation of sound legislation and proficient administration, Mr. Martin declines to place undue emphasis upon either factor—“While less can be done when the legislative setup is inadequate or improper, good practice in certain phases of tax ad-

absence of such legislative background, and much can be accomplished in any legal framework.

OMMISSIONER MARTIN'S eight principles of good tax administration are given below, along with brief explanatory notes in his own words: “Principle- 1 — Proper leadership is a prerequisite successful tax administration.

political to

of |

| supervision of utilities, regulation of

| ministration is possible even in the |

s0 many definitely pelitical aspects that it is idle to insist that the

off attitude . . . idle to suggest that tax adminpolities.

administration under state and loca.

“Sole responsibility for state tax administration should be lodged in| functions such

no extraneous as |

alcoholic beverages and similar re-| sponsibilities frequently entrusted to state tax departments. It is not inconsistent with this policy to farm out some tax functions to other agencies. » » ” : RINCIPLE 3—The tax policy of the state legislature should be such as to have a common sense appeal. “Some state tax systems are so] crude as to make it difficult for even the most efficient administration to convey the impression of a just and fai policy toward the public. A healthy public morale eannot be built in the face of public ridicule and contempt which ill-advised or archaic systems invite. Principle 4A modern tax code

politicians should maintain a hands- | pjaring

“Until such a code is developed, contradictions

tax evasion and avoidance,

“Principle 5—The execution of the | government should be unified and tax Jaws must be recognized as an | | simplified.

essentially administrative function.

“Recognition of this principle has taken two forms. In the Federal

in Kentucky and in some other

[ states, a single official has been as- | be much more effectively achieved

signed sole responsibility for administration of tax laws. In some other states, for example Mississippi and South Carolina, the State Tax Commission chairman has, either by law or by common consent, assumed administrative responsibility and sought to achieve somewhat similar results. » »

“FPRINCIPLE 6 — Administrative tax policy must contemplate payment of every cent of tax due and no more . ... Tax adm.nistration to be successful must adhere to the consistent policy of treating all taxpayers alike, “Principle 7—REvery tax administration office must be so organized as to facilitate good administration. , . There must be * (a)

Side Glances—By Clark

A WOMAN'S VIEW By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

that the Japanese word for “Good Morning” is “Ohio.” And if | you wake on a bright October dawn as I lately did, to find skimming through the woodlands of | Ohio you realize that the Japanese have a proper regard for the mean- | ing of lovely sounds. | Good Morning — Ohio — lovely, | opulent, overwhelming Ohio, land of fertile fields, of smoky cities, of slow deep rivers with strange iting | names. What a pleasant thing it is | to greet a new day from a train that | dashes through the Middle West— | the great fast-beating heart of America. Because of the kindness of the Women's Bducational Club of Toledo, who had asked me to Me their guest, I renewed an experience which for me is always delightful, Once before, traveling over the same route, the train had come to a standstill in a sleepy-looking town and I read with a start of surprise the name “Lafayette, Ind.” It was in that very town that my father played as a small boy. I could imagine that he romped over those very cobblestones in the alleys near the ancient depot—my tenderhearted father, who must have been a shy little boy and who was destined to sleep at last so far from his birthplace. Autumn in Illineis, Indiana and Ohio! Surely Nature never created scenes of more glowing splendor. There is such ‘a sense of rich

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and other . and it is equally | crudities are certain to crop out in : ! | the session laws of any state, proistrators should have no interest in| queing uncertainties and providing le wide field for “Principle 2--The entire revenue |

Jasper—By Frank Owen

Second Section

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17

ter PAGE

Liberal View By Dr. Harry Elmer Barnes

(Substituting for Anton Scherrer)

Indiana Supreme Court Praised By Civil Liberties Quarterly For Reversal of Butash Conviction,

EW YORK, Nov. 12.—The recent discussion of the Supreme Court and the Con-

| stitution has markedly revived interest in the | problem of civil liberties. Therefore, we may

with profit look for a moment at the state of liberties today, as described in the latest is

| sue of The Civil Liberties Quarterly.

ministration

Senator VanNuys (DD. nd), though facing a campaign for reelection next vear, has indicated he will maintain his independence during the session.

| signed to broaden

Special attention is given to the activities of the 75th Congress with respect to civil liberties. In this respect Congressional legislation was as unsatisfactory to friends of civil liberties as was the action of Congress in general to the Roosevelt Ad-

legislation dethe scope and liberties was importance

While important

of civil nothing of

conceptions introduced.

| was passed. The only achievement

of any note whatever was the repeal of the socalled “Red Rider” prohibiting the teaching or advocacy of

| communism in the District of Co-

| JTumbia.

~ certain modifications of previous New Deal legislation, as well as

against the current Administration agenda.

NEXT-—Labor Standards.

The friends of civil liberties were Dr. Barnes

successful in getting a number of important bills introduced in the last Congress, Among these were a bill designed to extend to a nota ble degree the freedom of the air and to strengthen civil liberties in the radio field; a bill to take the power to exercise censorship over the mails from tha Postoffice Department and give it to the Federal Oouits; one extending the right of asylum for political refugees, and one ordering the suspension of the deportation of aliens with American-born wives or children,

Attitude Is Emphasized The soundness and desirability of all this proposed legislation will serve to emphasize the unfortunate character of the “do-nothing” attitude of the late Congress in the field of civil liberties If there were no extensive gains for civil liberties in the recent Federal legislation, it is also true that no new gag laws were passed by Congress. The Civil Liberties Union and its friends were able to block the bill designed to suppress demonstrations before foreign embassies, and the Sheppard-Hill bill which would have provided for compulsory military service during a national emergency. The Civil Liberties Union made a careful survey of violence in the numerous and extensive strikes during the last vear and it came to the conclusion that “the current charges that strikers are guilty of extensive violence are refuted by the facts.” The greatest danger in the labor field today tording to the Civil Liberties Union. is the

acpros

| cedure which was followea by the steel barons in the

“Little Steel Strike.” namely, the spreading of false reports relative to labor violence and thus seeking to justify a resort to vigilantism. As a promising symptom the quarterly reports the first State Supreme Court decision in recent years to reverse a sedition conviction. The Indiana Supreme Court in July set aside the conviction of Paul Butash, and declared that “the whole incident is so trivial as to be beneath the notice of the law.” To prove its complete loyalty to the principle of

| civil liberties, the union condemned the attitude of | the city council in Kenosha, Wis, in revoking a per-

mit granted to ‘the Nazi Volksbund to hold a

demonstration.

|

“Although tax administration is)representing the law governing state | proper relationships with other gov= | undoubtedly a technical task, it has|and local taxation is essential to the | ernmental agencies; (b) proper reI best possible administration.

lationships with educational in-| | stitutions and voluntary organiza- | tions of officials, the bar and the general public, and (¢) proper provisions for smooth internal wewen ing. | “Principle 8—Efficient personnel, | [properly trained and experienced, | {should be utilized in all tax ad-| ministration functions. “Tt is imporiant that a sharp dis- | | tinction be made between tax ad-| | ministrative policy, which 1s a po- | | litical function, and the enforce- |

one central agency, preferably With | government, formerly in Alabama, | ment of tax laws, which is a tech- |

[nical function. Political ends can | [by recognizing this line of cleavage and being careful to utilize the | services of technicians for technical

| purposes.”

CHURCH WARNED

L PASO Tex, Nov. 12 (U. P).— The charge that the national Administration presents a threat to | religion has been discussed today at the General State Baptist Convention. but it was not believed the resolutions committee would act on the assertions of the convention president, Dr. J. B. Tidwell of Baylor University. Dr. Tidwell charged that “the at« tempt to regiment our people is dangerous to the church.”

| to be sent home with an escort,

Jane Jordan—

Law Prohibits Two Couples Riding

In Coupe, Anxious Mother Is Told.

EAR JANE JORDAN--1I should like to know if I am an old-fashioned out-moded mother because I think it improper for my 16-year-old daughter to ride four (two couples) in a coupe which necessitates her sitting wholly and completely on her boy friend's lap. Is it all right for a 16-year-old girl to entertain her boy friend and another boy and girl couple of the same age in her home if her parents ave out for the evening? Is it the right thing for a young girl to come home alone after 8 or © p. m.? ANXIOUS MOTHER. ” ” n Answer—Tt is against the law for four people to ride in a coupe. That gives you a perfect “out” with« out refetence to laps. If they ride four in a couve, sooner or later they will be stopped by the traffio police who will take the entire burden of reproof off your shoulders. Why bring up the laps when you can blame the police? It has been said that diplomacy is the art of letting someone else have your way. In dealing with children 1 have found it an advantage to side with them and berate the conventions while pointing out the necessity of conforming to a few, Last summer my two boys enjoved going tH see two girls of the same age, sisters whose mother was emsployed. In afternoon calls, the four children wera alone in the girls’ apariment, a fact bound to cause unfavorable comment by the neighbors, The mother of the girls and myself felt complete confidence in the children but we were obliged to confront them with the ugly viewpoint of the outside world. When we did so they blew up and we blew up with them, complaining bitterly about the general cussedness of the human race. 1 leaned heavily on the chivalry inherent in the breast of every boy ‘and we agreed that the girls must be protected. A compromise was effected whereby the boys could take the girls to the country c'ub swimming pool, calling for and leaving them on the apartment porch where all four could be observed. The point was that the mothers in this little scheme escaped all the antagonism which was neatly transferred to the gossipy neighbors. On the other hand, I often have come home at 10 o'clock at night to find the house a blaze of lights, radio going full tilt, ice box raided and table tennis balls whizzing in the basement. Such a scene looks pretty healthy to me and I prefer it to a car parked on a dark lane, which is the only way some young people have of getting acquainted away from the watehful eye of parents. I should not allow any voung girl to leave our

| house at night unchaperoned by one of the bovs or

If the girl was mine I should expect her If your daughter goes to a neighborhood movie and comes home alone on a well-lighted boulevard I see no reason why vou should he too anxious, but if she has been calling on a girl friend, the girl's parents should take her home, providing you extend the same courtesy when their daughter is calling at your house,

ourselves.

JANE JORDAN.

Put your problems in a letter to Jane Jordan, who will answer your questions in thix column daily,

Walter O'Keefe —

ARLY yesterday morning as 1 was flying to De= troit the plane passed over Niagara Malls. From a height of 10,000 feet it's an interesting triekte of water and the national debt must look about as aweinspiring to the New Dealers. en you're soaring over the national debt from the lofty height of a 46-2 landslide you ean't possibly hear the roar of the billions going down the drain below, The pilot himself appears to be losing altitude. He's deserting the rarefied atmosphere populated by the bright young college lads and getting down to earth, where he can hear the businessmen. Pretty soon a utilities magnate will be able to the White House without first taking a

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