Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 18 December 1937 — Page 10

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.- Maryland St.

PAGE 10

The Indianapolis Times |

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

ROY W. HOWARD LUDWELL DENNY MARK FERREE President Business Manager

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THE ELEPHANT STIRS

Member of United Press, Scripps. - Howard Newspaper Alliance, NEA Service, and Audit Bureau of Circulations.

DEMOCRATIC boss and Jobmaster General Jim Farley, in

the “de mortuis nil nisi bonum™ motif, recently la. mented the New Deal's lack of a sturdy political opposition, Ours is a two-party system of government, he said, complaining that the second party had been lying down on ifs job. As if in answer to Mr. Farley's prayerful plea, the G. O. P. elephant in the last few days has been rubbing its eyes, stretching itself, twirling its trunk and otherwise stirring out of a long sleep. In Washington Senator Vandenberg et al. undertook to form’a coalition with conservative Democratic colleagues, on policies set forth in “An Address to the People of the. United States.” In Chicago, Herbert Hoover delivered an address on “Economic Security and the Present Situation.” And in St. Louis, ‘the Republican Executive Committee picked 200 loyal party ‘members to serve on a “Committee on Program,” headed by Dr. Glenn Frank. The appointment of Dr. Frank does not give to the party’ s councils the new blood of the type demanded by the blunt-speaking Governor Aiken of Vermont, who wants all of the old crowd to step down and out. Nevertheless the fact that such a committee is being formed is encouraging news. For the party needs a Program. almost as much as it needs a leader.

A leader, we believe, it will not fra. in Dr. Frank. But.

a program—well, maybe Dr. Frank could do worse than consult: some ‘of the new ideas blossoming forth from some of the old crowd. They. are, strangely enough, ideas that show realization that the world has moved and will not turn back. There was remarkably little of the Liberty League’s shrill, despairful stridency either in the Vandenberg coalition’s “address tothe people” or in Mr. Hoover’s speech. } . 8 8 Am] : moowiiow FROM the former, such a sentence as this: “We propose that there shall be no suffering for food, fuel, clothing and shelter; and that pending the contemplated revival of industry useful work shall be provided.”

And from Mr. Hoover's speech, such thoughts as these! ':

“In the operation of the economic system there is but one hope of increased security, of increased standards of living, and of greater opportunity. That is to drive every new invention, every machine, every ‘improvement; every elimination of waste unceasingly for the reduction of costs:

‘and the ‘maximum production that can be consumed. We

must - work our machines heartlessly, but not our men and women.”

‘Striking this new constrictive note, it is poséible that -

the G. O. P. may become an effective minority. And that is much to be desired, because, as Mr. Farley said, under our political system an effective minority is needed to keep’ the majority party on its, toes.

A GRAND IDEA, MISHANDLED

THERE: are in this country thousands of people who work for as little as $6—and as much as 60 hours—a week. To them news that the Wage-Hour Bill has failed to pass is distressing. - It also is_ distressing ‘to :millions who get a little more pay for a little shorter work-week: And it is just as disheartening to the employers of this latter

~ group, whose products must compete with the products of the sweatshop operators employing ‘the former group:

--All progressive-minded persons have long. recognized that if this: nation is to survive as an economic unit a floor must be! placed on. wages and a ceiling fixed on hours, in

the manufacture of all goods sold competitively. in inter-.

state commerce. .* That simple obieetiv. was what brought the BlackConnery Wage-Hour Bill into being. To that objective there was no important dissent. But the authors of that

bill were not content with a definité wage minimum or an. hour maximum. . They wrote into: the bill every imaginable

provision, grasping for every conceivable bureaucratic power. As a result, the bill has failed.of passage. It now goes back to committee and will have to be rewritten. ‘A grand idea, a necessary objective, has been mishandled. There is now no chance that mistakes of the past can

be overcome this session. Maybe the needful can be done .

next session. : That largely’ depends ‘on whether certain bureaucrats will forget their own ambitions and remember the needs of the thousands who work overlong hours for

too little pay.

WHISKER HOLD ON SANTA

WE hope a habeas corpus, or other necessary writ, will

permit Santa Claus to be on the job again this Christ-

mas. Right now he’s in the clutches of the courts.

Santa Claus, you know, is that amazing Hoosier town of 67 persons whose business, as well as its name, turns on Old St. Nick. Yearly at this time Santa Claus’ postoffice begins:to hum. In 1936 more than 600,000 pieces of mail whirled through its Stamping machines. Business always has been good.” But lately the prosperity as well as the harmony of Santa Claus has been disturbed. The cause is that same thing which so often corrodes the yule spirit—commercialjsm. ‘In the case of Santa Claus, Ind,, it’s'a suit now penda FY the Indiana Appellate € Court to decide between rival promotion claims.

And strangely, the:issue: centers around the right to the very name of merry old St. Nick. Will this name, which we have believed to be the common property and joy of all, soon be made to,read—“Santa Claus, rights reserved in all countries including the Scandinavian”? ;

Judging from the crop quota. formula in the ‘Senate Farm Bill, Eiristein i is going to be Secretary of’ Agriculture.

Anyway a “stump at ‘Home takes our. minds off wars

| objec TY

| Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

Gene Fowler Myth Gets Debunking; He's Really Not Odd, Says Pegler, And His Best Poem Was a Dirge.

~~ have been trying to create a character for Mr. Gene Fowler, the book writer and moving picture scenarist, consisting of Francois Villon, Rabelais and Rube Waddell in

equal parts. Mr. Fowler is said to have wavec away a royal

his arrival in Hollywood and to have insisted on a

bicycle instead. He is said to have demanded a clause in his contract providing that he be docked for days when he does not work, and he is given credit for the composition of some ribald poems which will live forever. ° Mr. Fowler told me a few weeks

"ago that he does not enjoy ‘this - reputation, but irresistibly is drawn

into the role of cut-up. I am nof sure about the limou-

sine-bicycle incident, but it. was

Yoo Snide and mechanical to be ’ i unny if did ‘happen, and ‘any : ; eccentricities in Gene’s contract Mr: Pegler may be less funny than shrewd whet examined carefully, because Agnes Fowler’s mother did not raise any foolish children, and Agnes has always been Mr. Fowler’s business office. As for the mischievous verse, I have read most of it and found it hardly worth comparing to the works in similar vein which are credited to Eugene Field and Jamey Whitcomb Riley. I have known Mr. { Fowler about 20 vests in the role of reporter, sports writer, newspaper editor, novelist, biographer and moving picture writer. : 8 ” 8 : JE has written much verse spontaneously, but © the best thing of the kind that he ever did was a. solemn poem which he: really dashed off in the: office of the old Morning Telegraph (where Jack

in’ state in Madison Square Garden, across the street. . ‘Gene had worked for Tex as press agent, and in one of his really hilarious moments, a few- months before, had scared him out of his wits by’ putting

Tex had bought from an inventor. - We sat in the balcony watching the morbid crowd go past Rickard’s bronze box mounted on the spot where the ring was pitched on fight nights, and at dusk went across to the office, where, in about an hour, Gere produced a beautiful poem which Hirobbed like the notes of a pipe organ. ® ” ® | NOTHER night, when the Rev. John Roach

constable, on suspicion of being a bootlegger, Gene

It was a great shop when he was editor, with no

* discipliné, no editorial rules and no policy but that

the staff should have a good time. All' of us drank more or less, but Gene drank less,

largely out of respect, I think, for an admonition by

- Damon Runyon, who had said to him “I have known a hundred guys who have no right to drink anything any time. I am one of them and you are the other 99.” : I see an attempt to make a tradition of a man who is a. diligent worker and a geod writer. A man can pull himself out of shape if he tries to fit himself to @ character designed for him by people who know him only superficially. So here is what Gene Fowler yt, Now set them up in the other alley.

By Rodney Dutcher ASHINGTON, Dec. 18—The possibility “that

the staze of likelihood. / A committee of 12 Senators and 12. Representatives, the Joint Committee on Hawaii, personally investigafied the question of stateliood and other Ha‘wailan problems this fall. The members had a de-

hearings. Sonie time: before Jan. 15 the commission probably will report to Congress 1. That the territory of Hawall eventually should becom: a state.

plebiscite on the question of statéhood. 3. "That in the meantime the territory should be treated wy national legislation in the same.

2 & a : : a NEE rival A. ¥. of L. and 0. 1, 0. Federal

1 asens, wing vying’ for member;

employee hs, vying fo Govern-

NEW YORK, Dec. 18.—Our cafe literati-

purple limousine which had been sent to meet him on

Dempsey’s -restaurant is now) as Tex Rickard lay.

flashlight powder in a patent fire extinguisher which

Straton, the reformer, was arrested by a country

rattled off a gay, impudent parody on the “Midnight | Ride of Paul Revere.”

The Hoosier Forum 1 wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.

PLEADS FOR AMERICA TO KEEP BALANCE By X. Y. Z, Crawfordsville

It has been suggested that Uncle Sam get out his hatchet and cut’

down the Japanese cherry trees in Washington. Who would advise the farmers to plow up their lespedeza or cut down the Japanese persimmon trees? Would those who wear dresses made of silk from Japan be willing to lay them aside? It is a

good thing for Americans to hold

their balance when many nations dre crazy. Let us work for peace in a saner fashion.

Americans lost their heads in

11932 when they were told that

“Jonathan de la Bung” would pay our taxes, help balance the budget, and help educate the children if we would loosen the bung of the beer kegs. We tried the plan and it hasn’t worked. - Although the bungs -are wide open, we are still in a mess. It is time for Americans to pause and think when the war clouds are Rovering over so many nations toay.

s ” » BLAMES LOSS OF JOB ON 2 PER CENT CLUB By Mrs. G. A. Kinz, Brazil

In reply to what Frank Finney

said to Mr. Ruckelshaus, that no pressure ; was brought on any state

employee to pay to the 2 per cent cldb, I would like Mr. Finney to answer why was my husband, a gardner, who was employed at the penal farm for 14 years, taken off of the payroll last -July. He had been. a Democrat for 38 years. My answer is, because he wouldn't starve his wife and 4-year-old grandson in order to give the party $35. For over ‘six months, once a week, I got a dun in my mail box for that $35 until I was compelled to put a stop to such’ duns we did not owe. They have taken from us something they did not give us, my husband’s job, our bread and butter, which leaves ‘the impression with me they have taken the c¢ out of Democrat. Since my husband’s job has been taken away we have lived off of rice Cites: Husband's Record

My husband cannot get a job at his age. He is 59. At the penal

farm he had the knowledge to instruct his. men, and made thousands

of dollars each year for the State. He had a record that surpassed any other State employee at the farm; he had a kind heart and all the prisoners loved him, according to letters he received from them after they were out, saying they could never do wrong after being under him. He was no boozer. He was told if he didn’t attend their meetings his job was gone. Recently there was a fhght between officers in the dining room, in the presence of prisoners. Does

{ that spell reform? Did that condi-

tion exist ‘under Supt. Howard? I

| sure will say, No! Next election we

Behind the Scanet—

Congress Waits Report Urging Establishinent of Hawaii as 49th State; Both C.l.O.and A. F. of L. Spur Efforts to Organize. Federal Employees.

1. A five-day week in the Government, service.

* (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.)

will have some nose doctors that will cure the plague of nose trouble, sticking their noses into State institutions and depriving honest, sober men of food and homes. As old as I am, I "have never before seen such corruption in politics. There is a time for everything, and it's come time now for voters to wake up. What isn’t built on solid foundation, never stands. oo ee STOKER SUGGESTED AS WAY TO REDUCE SMORE * By P.B.F. The smoke fogs are causing wronble and most of the time the blame is put on the common people. But the man who says that coke is smokeless is certainly wrong. For best results you should have a forced draft on your fire. And what about a cooking range or base burner? They'll smoke, too. Here is the trouble: The fattdries and shops and all large buildings cause four times as much smoke as the residences. You can burn Indiana coal and have nothing but a white gas coming out of the stacks hy use of a proper stoker.

2 8 = : CONDEMNS KEEPING OF GUNBOATS IN FAR EAST By Z. E. Day Jr. : It looks as if something is upset again. I refer to the sinking of the U. S. gunboat Panay. What is the idea of the Govern-

ment having gunboats in an area where there is a conflict’ raging?

"Surely it isn’t to protect the lives

of a handful of American citizens who have had the opportunity to leave, yet who still remain behind

IDLENESS By ROBERT O. LEVELL, Idle for every -day; Without a thing to do - Might seem all right that way A little while for you.

But you soon get your fill From being glad and free, Then find a greater thrill When busy as can be.

DAILY THOUGHT And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make ye free. John 8:32.

RUTH is the Fo Fourdation of all knowledge and the cement of all shcities reDryden.

to enrich themselves at any cost; or is it?

Why should the whole of America be made to suffer for a handful?’ From all reports the Government wants peace. It acts like it—placing ships in ‘the midst of two other

. | countries’ quabbles.

I say they’d better call their ships. home and let them play in their own back yard before somebody else does. 8 = = SEES LITTLE HOPE IN NEW REPUBLICAN PLATIORN

By William Lemon’

‘The Republicans, once the teach- ;

ers, are how the pupils and want a new platform, ene that will restore the lost confidence of the masses. This: platform must go farther

than the New Deal yet appear anti- |:

New Deal. The Old Guard and

economic royalists can be cash but silent partners. They need a Blackstone to write a platform, a Moses to lead them, and a confidence man to guide. Once more in the saddle, the New Platform can be scrapped as’ obsolete, and the “Old Guard rides again.” Organized labor will have to battle for its existence, court injunctions will reign supreme, and we will be back again to industrial slavery. ® 8 CITY'S AID IN REMOVING SLUSH IS REQUESTED By Louis S. Eggert Ei After tramping though 4 the snow. and slush one evening downtown, I kept thinking, “Is Indianapolis really just a big: Overgrown country town,” as many people say. Why is it that the: City Street Cleaning Department can’t make a path from corner to corner at the downtown street intersections for:

‘pedestrian traffic? The gutters will

be clean while the pedestrians are still tramping through the slush. This has beén the situstion for several years. oon nn LAW CLINIC URGED AS EXPENSE SAVER By S. L.

- It has been insinuated that the legal brotherhood deliberately phrases the laws in technical, A involved verbiage in order | to perpetuate themselves as high priests, or interpreters. Certainly the . sesquipedalian vocabulary “dragged by the hair or the feet down the worm-eaten staircase of terrified syntax” is as unfathomable to the layman as ancient Greek. I favor writing laws in simple Americanese. i The lawyers seem .to favor a hew idea now and then; I Suggest they give the layman a break by establishing legal clinics, at which the public can get an interpretation of the law without having to slap a

mortgage on the house to cover the fee. {

i

Merry{Go-Round By Pearson & Allen

‘Wife's Dislike of Moscow Is Reason For Envoy Davies Giving Up Post; Feminine Touch Taboo. in Liquor Ad.

ASHINGTON, Dec. 18.—Chief factor . ‘behind Joe Davies not returning to his ‘post as Ambassador to Russia is the elegant shadow of his wife, the former Mrs. Marjorie Post Hutton. Their marriage, the State Department hears, did not thrive in Moscow. Mrs. Davies inherited the Post millions, is the aunt oi Barbara Hutton, owns the famous yacht

Hussar, and one of her companies, General Foods, $14,240,957 last year. "It was just a year ago this month that they arrived in Mos- _ cow, bringing enough frozen cream to feed the Embassy for a year. And shortly after their ar-

CN rival they found they wouldn't. : need the cream after all.- For Mrs. ¢ n’t seem to like Moscow. So the Davies spent most of

their time cruising arouridd Europe ‘and the United States, so much time in fact that the State Depart ment eventually intimated that even though his salary of $17,500 did. seem like pin money compared with his other income, Joe would have to stay in Moscow and earn i So last summer he stayed. But Mrs. Davies was often ese corted about Moscow by a hande some Swedish manager of a shipping line, Later she came back to the * United States—without Joe and justirecently he has followed her. ; ! Since Mrs. Davies nL not & back to Moscow, and ce the Robert Alled . tate Department insists that he work at his job, Joe has asked for a transfer to another post—which, he hopes, will please the lady. ; Note—Mr. Davies made a part of his own fortune by charging President Trujillo a commission of $480,« 000: for suspending amortization payments on the. Dominican debt. Trujillo is the gentleman who. recently has been charged as causing nearly 8000 Haitians to be massacred, and now refuses President Roosevelt’s invitation to arbitrate. 8 8 = - : HERE is one reason why you don’t see women pictured in liquor advertisements. The reason: W. S. Alexander, Administrator of the Federal Alcohol Administration. There is no law that says the faces or figures of women shall not appear in liquor advertising, but Mr, Alexander has his own ideas on the subject and he - makes his own law. : A New Englander, with a strict sense of morality, Wr. Alexander is privately convinced that once he lets down the bars the industry will run wild with licene tious illustrations of women, gay with liquor. ‘Result is that his policy even forbids pictures of ' men and women at a formal banquet table with wine glasses. Wine importers, stressing the moderate. effect of wine as compared with liquor, prepared anad showing’ a distinguished hostess serving sherry instead of cocktails before dinner. But they were

earned

Drew Pearson :

thwarted by Mr. Alexander.

Mr. Alexande ethod of enforcing his own ediet . is to write a strong letter to the offending concern, Under the law, he tan go no further. But liquor ine terests fear that if (they offend him, he will bear down dangerously when he-does catch them in infractions.

riod to Heywood Broun—

Jim Cain's New Novel Is Potboiler, Put Together in Expert. Manner; He May Yet Do a Significant Story Without Loss of Literary Tempo.

ay YORK, Dec. 18. —The publishers of Jim Cain’s new novel, “Serenade,” are endeavoring to

there’ will be a 49th state--Hawali—approaches

lightfu! time and presumably ‘learned a great. deal | about “he islands | in the course of comprehensive :

"2. ‘That the people of Hawail should vote mn .a |

| matic

Ziow $ave Ean of ;

' 2. An “actual minimum wage in the Government service capable of sustaining a standard of hiving con-

sistent with ‘modern American requirements.

3. An. appeals system for Federal employees (who

“feel themselves victims of discrimination, personal or

otherwise).

4. Mandatory transfer and re-employment agency by which all efficient Federal employees engaged in

useful work may be assured of tenure. (Meaning that |

if a few hundred or few hundred thousand employees are released from one Government agency, those employees would get first call on jobs being created by a new or old agency which is adding to its staff.) * . «Bo A merit; system. applicable to all smployees, MN : Ar 2 8 8 Te older A. P. of L. union for Federal workers, known as the American Federation of Govern-

‘ment Employees and. apparently wishing to be. i has just come out, with its Gro:

ty important lo Hawai

1. A minimum ‘wage of 1500 year ‘Sor. oe Government 1p 3 : a incredses.. : ries an. appeal to charwomen and

‘a strong campaign.) 2. A Ayseday, , 36-hour week

‘eandor.

: own, program, 1

with ~ statutory | aa: | especially : | a

Hemingway's and ‘virile, if such a word exists, as a plucked Shes Both high of Jow In SelpStaLSty WS

create a rift among the reviewers by advertising both the critics who praised and those who- depl red the - manner and content of the book. That is fair enough. The. ‘promoters of the tale

take the attitude that it is net theirs to say whether

this is literature or not They only insist | that the

story has compelling reader interest.

This assertion I must support. Recently I lent “Serenade” to a young woman in a hospital, and when she finished it she passed it up and down the corridor. It was her testimony that even’the night nurses remained awake to see how: it all turned out. . - But for the fact that the patient was an old friend of mine I would hardly have dared fo make the. timid proffer of this book, since it contains more scandalous material than is common even ‘in the later moods of ‘Indeed, Mr. Cain has accom the sur=--prising trick of presenting a hero wha 1s Somefimes as hirsute as any of , again, as 5 up star who

protagonist of the iragedy.is an operat : h his con-

| colored, Reson whom the GFW sles as cared on A k, with no rediiction in him

In private life he seemed morose. After dashing off one of his slight, frolicsome pieces he would come out to the ‘city room and scowl at members of the working press who were engaged in setting down

.Jonger accounts of actual happenings

Now it comes out that for years he > lived under the : strain of possessing a suppressed narrative gift. Among youngish American authors (I doubt that. Cain is much over 50), he stands near -the top in the art of story telling. Some day he. may actually get hold of authentic material and ‘be listed among important native writers. a » 2 o ps ERENAD » will bring him huge royalties, Iam certain, but it would hardly be just to .put a laurel wreath upon the package. The book remains a shilling shocker, no matter how expertly it is pus : together. Nevertheless, authors of more established ime portance should be humble enough to learn something - from such a performance. Unfortunately, American literature, like the literature of all lands, is handis capped by the fact that writers who have something

- | to say often don't say it very well, while others can’ after-dinner

star. off with nothing more than an

story and knock your eye out by. their skill, in; oom.