Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 15 January 1938 — Page 10

PAGE 10

The Indianapolis Times

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ROY W. HOWARD LUDWELL DENNY MARK FERREE President Business Manager

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Their Own Way

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Give Light and the People Will Find

SATURDAY, JAN. 15, 1938

TIMING O Franklin D. Roosevelt, who picked the moment before his business peace meeting to declare war on all holding companies and to ex-Ambassador William E. Dodd, who selected the time he did, so soon after leaving his official position, to cut loose on Germany—we recommend the following from Ecclesiastes, 3: “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: “A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; “A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; “A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; “A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; “A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.”

LABOR’S EXCESS BAGGAGE LABOR leader—who insists that his name not be mentioned—is given credit for arranging last Tuesday's peace conference between President Roosevelt and the five important industrial employers. Explaining why he took the initiative, this leader said: “The poor devil who works for a living was caught between the Administration and big business.” The poor devil who works for a living also is caught in the middle of a scrap between the A. F. of L. and the C. I. 0. So are a great many employers. And so is the public. Therefore we hope this anonymous promoter of harmony, as well as other labor leaders—on both sides—will hasten negotiations for a permanent armistice. ” » » » = ” NE other leader is working hard to bring the warring factions together. He is A. F. Whitney, head of the Trainmen, and friend of both William Green and John L. Lewis. His union is one of the independent and influential railway brotherhoods, which are not allied with either the A. F. of L. or the C. I. O., but which co-operate with both. “The fight,” says Mr. Whitney, “hurts the prestige of organized labor—labor’s position should be such as always to place it in a spot to hang its best clothes on the line when appearing before the public.” What he says is doubly true in times like these, when millions of workers are unemployed and when hundreds of employers are hesitant about going forward with production plans. Mr. Whitney has evolved a formula by which he believes all A. F. of L.-C. I. O. disputes may be settled. We wish him success. We wish success also to John R. Steelman, head of the U. S. Labor Department’s conciliation service, and James F. Dewey, the department’s principal trouble-shooter, who are trying to “pave the way for final settlement” by urging small minority unions to affiliate with rivals in the same field, and by striving for an accord between the rank-and-file members of unions where antagonism exists only between the leaders. ” ” os ” ” » N all these efforts to patch up differences, there is, we believe, one reality that must be faced: Before an enduring harmony can be established in the labor movement, there must first be a shake-down, or a shake-up—call it what you wish. The A. F. of L. is cursed by a bureaucracy, in which are many union chieftains who have grown soft and selfish in their positions of power, and who seem far more interested in holding onto their jobs and their influence than in promoting the welfare of their working, dues-paying members. And some C. I. O. unions—as revealed in a series of articles by Benjamin Stolberg now appearing in The Times —are harassed by Communists and others who are more interested in following the “party line” than in improving the wages and conditions of workers. There is none of this disruptive influence in C. I. O.’s original leadership. Lewis of the Miners, Hiliman of the Amalgamated and Dubinsky of the Ladies Garment Workers long ago drove the Communists out of key positions in their unions. But the “fellow travelers” have infiltrated into some of the newer C. I. O. unions, and the road they seek to travel is not the road to peace and prosperity. The American labor movement will have to shake off its excess baggage. And that goes for both the labor bureaucrats and the Stalinists.

AN ORCHID FOR MR. VAN DEVANTER

WE have often disagreed with the conservative views of Indiana’s Willis Van Devanter, retired Supreme Court justice, as being remote from the times. But the other day he blazed a trail which will evoke the cheers of a multitude of lowly sufferers. ; Sitting in the United States District Court in New York, he gave the protection of the bench to a witness who was being bullyragged in the immemorial fashion of some cross-examiners. Said Justice Van Devanter to the attorney: “You must not call out those questions in that tone of voice. You must treat the witness with courtesy. He is presumably a gentleman.” And later, when the attorney urged the court to command the witness to answer yes or no, Mr. Van Devanter said: “I certainly will not. Sometimes there must be an explanation.” Some may think it good technique for a trial lawyer to treat witnesses who have the effrontery to testify for the other side as if their very presence proved them to be liars, horse thieves and burners-down of orphan asylums. But those who think that fairness and justice is even more important than winning a case will applaud Justice

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THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES Have You Boys Ever Heard About Samson? —By Talburt

SATURDAY, JAN; 15, 1938

While the Traffic Toll Mounts—By Herblock ?

HE WAS GUILTY OF RECKLESS DRIVING, BUT, AFTER ALL — HE DIDN'T KILL OR INJURE ANYBODY.

SEVERE WITH HIM. WE'RE ALL HUMAN, EH? de \) A 7 pe

HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR AN ACCIDENT IN WHICH PEOPLE WERE KILLED AND INJURED, BUT, AFTER ALL= HE DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT ANYBODY. NO USE MAKING THINGS TOUGH FOR HIM BECAUSE OF AN ACCIDENT! CHANCES AREHELL BE VERY CAREFUL AFTER THIS.

NO USE BEING TOO

Fair Enough

By Westbrook Pegler

On Wife's Pleas, Columnist Takes Whirl at Night Life, Even Having Fellow Writer Broun at His Table.

EW YORK, Jan. 15.—I was going to write some aggressive remarks about Communists and the C. I. O,, but I think there might be much more interest in a straightaway account of a night out in New York. ; Well, the War Department had been complaining that she never saw any shows any more and might as well be living in Grand Island or Billings, when down popped a pair for the opening of “Tortilla Flat.” So we went and felt sorry for all concerned in

the play, because, after all their effort and expense, it is just a pop fl

y. So after that we decided to go to the Stork Club. Sherman Biilingsley got us a nice table and sat down for a minute. I asked him if old bleeding heart Broun had béen in, and he said, “No, not tonight,” and I said I guessed the fat Mahatma probably had a chalkmark on his door these days on account of Sherman's trouble with some union waiters. Sherman said no, he was in good standing with Broun, because the case is before the Labor Relations Board. The band was squawking away, a lot of Cuban or South American tunes, one right after another.

Katharine Brush came in with a big guy named Hulbert, a Saturday Evening Post guy, and it turned out they had been at “Tortilla Flat,” too, and thought about the same as we did.

s ” »

HEN after a while, who comes ambling over but Broun with Connie, and they sit down, and I get to thinking how cockeyed this is for us to be dramming together when it is only a few hours since I took a belt at him in print in retaliation for a clout that he took at me a couple of days before. I suppose he is thinking the same thing. I know he hates my stuff politically, and I know it is mutual if not more so, but we never talk about such things, and I guess we are pretty good friends out of print. But I didn’t start it. I was just running my peanut stand and minding my own business when he started yelling “Pegler sells lousy peanuts!” What am I supposed to do? Boost his peanuts? Mr. Billingsley remarked that Winchell was in

_ the place, and I thought I would go and say hello,

and he started talking about my income tax stories and did the revenue people ever bear down on me in revenge? I said no, my tossing around occurred before I started. = o o HEN a little bloke sat down and said. “Hey, do you know a guy named Seltzer, the editor of the Cleveland Press?” It was Leonard Lyons, the Broadway columnist. “Because how about this? He cancels me out of his paper because he has got too much Broadway coverage and he keeps McIntyre!” Well, that is kind of funny because this little Lyons hustles ten big clubs and saloons every night, with a notebook, and, honestly, McIntyre still thinks 34th St. is 'way uptown. \ The old Mahatma suggests that the orchestra play “The Internationale,” but it only plays some more Cuban. Mr. Billingsley sits over in a corner counting up, for it is now 4 a. m. and the Wat Department is jerking nods toward the door and wishing, by this time that—no kidding—she did live in Grand Island or Billings.

Business—By John

Dictators Are Forced to Alive, and Continue War

EW YORK, Jan. 16.—I asked a leading advocate of preparedness to state briefly the nup of the argument for launching a great armament race now. He put it this way: War in Europe is inevitable as long ag Mussolini and Hitler believe they can defeat France and Russia and England combined. But they know they cannot defeat France, Russia, England and America. The only sure way to avert war in Europe is to convince Italy and Germany that the United States will join the democratic countries of Europe if war comes. We cannot do that unless we prepare ourselves to fight. If we do not do this, then war is certain in Europe. If it comes it will be a world war and if a world war comes we are certain to be drawn in. Our only hope of staying out is to prevent war in the first place. This argument is based on the assumption that war is something which dictators can make or not make as they choose. :

o ” ” UT there is another side to this, which this view ignores. It is that the issue of war is no longer a matter of choice. War now is a certainty because forces already in motion make it inevitable. The dictators are merely pawns in the hands of Fate. They cannot prevent war, even if they would. The forces which make for war are these. Italy

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and Germany are under dictators who set up programs—Fascist p aranteed to solve the

The Hoosier Forum

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

CLAIMS ECONOMIC CONDITION IS CAUSING CRIME By Kenneth Van Cleave The two men that bungled the Centerville kidnaping job are a sample of what some of the millions that are unemployed think and plan after their chance of making an honest living is gone. These two men were not vicious criminals or paroled ex-convicts. They had been just common laws abiding citizens until economic and unemployment conditions got the best of them. This will recall to our minds the men who are sent to prison on their first offense, who will return some day as ex-convicts. We have an alarming crime bill. But it is small when you stop to consider economic conditions in general of this country. We have millions unemployed, millions existing on pitiful wages in the slums. The sooner we admit that the capitalistic speed-up profit system has failed (as far as the general masses of the people are concerned) and transform our social and economic conditions, the sooner we will be on the road to reducing our crime bill.

“ un =» ALARMED BY HIGH DEATH RATE AMONG OLDER MEN

By R. Cleis

In 1028, 24,824 married persons died in Indiana, in 1936 about 21,000; 6174 children under 15 died in 1928, now about 5000. The greater skill of the physicians has lowered the death rate in these classes. But among single persons over 15 the rate has almost doubled, from 9509 in 1928 to about 16,000 in 1936. The increase is mostly among men from 45 to 75, almost threefold. Women are less affected because of charity and the nature of their work. You cannot deprive one part of the people of life without depriving others sooner or later. Virulent epidemics are caused by slow starvation, called pneumonia, nephritis, ete, which the weakened body could no longer resist. It has been made impossible for single old men to earn a living. The more they work, the sooner they will collapse. If an epidemic sweeps the country, what good will greed and lower taxes do to those who see their loved ones in danger? Will they repent? It may be too late. Economically, it is unwise to save the children only, for they are untrained, while men above 45 are trained for some kind of work. The productive value of man does not end at a certain age. The period of senility is about the same whether a man dies at 55 or 85. After the Civil War we had a major depression, which, with the help of the war and the following epizootic, caused the death of 1070 in the United States. The depression

T. Flynn

(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.)

from 1882 to 1886 again caused a period of starvation, which with the grippe epidemic caused over a million people to die. Depressions are not caused solely by wars, but mainly by rapid drop of prices. The depressions of 1873 and 1890 had little effect, because labor unions were united and powerful and with the help of the Government protected the poor laborers. Wages declined more slowly than commodities and rose while prices of goods still dealined. What can we do about it? (1) People with good incomes could stop paying men 50 cents to $1 a day. (2) Form a club that would resolve not to pay less than 35 cents an hour for any labor. (3) Let our industrial and commercial plan be put on a more rational basis. (4) Revamp our charitable plan. (5) Let our labor unions put up a united front against unjust wages. (6) Strictly enforce a minimum wage law,

¥ a =» STRONG MINORITY PARTY

NEEDED, READER SAYS By Pat Hogan, Columbus Mabel German tells us: “The cir= cus barker failed to convince 17,000,000 voters that he could perform miracles if he could get them inside the big tent,” and “The elephant after a good rest waiting for the show to be over, is now using his head. « The pet elephant died a prolonged but natural death five years ago, simply because its old line of tricks was outmoded, and the trainers could not convince 75,000,000 prospective customers that it was

WINTER By ROBERT O. LEVELL I care not for the winter time, As I used to when just a boy; I'll take my choice now in warm sunshine And then I'll find my greatest joy.

DAILY THOUGHT

And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him; yea though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee.—Leviticus 25:35.

E that will not give some portion of his ease, his blood, his

wealth, for others’ good, is a poor, frozen churl—Joanna Baillie.

anything but a white elephant. Its first notable shock occurred when it sat so serenely on the lid of a hot oil well which exploded; then the Cool Age era gave it more serious complications. The great engineer fiddled the same tune that caused the famous cow's demise, name by that “prosperity was just around the curve.” Well, the common people took a tip from the Great Book: “By their fruits ye shall know them.” The people refused to believe that maple syrup and sunflowers and a horse and buggy could put 15,000,000

to work while the New Deal did.

Truly this nation needs a strong minority party, but if it is to be called a Republican Party, it needs a Lincoln to lead it. We cannot acquiesce to the worship of a dead idol. ” o ”

REGRETS SHOOTING

OF BIRDS By Reader I read in The Times recently that a little girl was shot on the nose with a B-B gun. That surely will be a warning to other mothers. I have both boys and girls, and I can say they never owned a B-B gun. I don’t know what they would shoot if they owned one, except little innocent birds. Don't mothers and fathers teach their children it is wrong to kill and cripple our little feathered friends who hunt the bugs out of our gardens and flowers, as well as sing their songs? If you say anything to boys about shooting birds, they will say they kill only sparrows. Why kill sparrows? I see mothers going to church while their boys are out killing birds. wa = » CLAIMS F. D. R. SEEKS TO CUT UNNECESSARY EXPENSES By William Lemon Some Congressmen from the Southern states have and will always fight the abolishment of child labor and the Wage and Hour Bill. Sharecroppers and cheap labor means dividends and favor with some capitalists. But they will fight 1 bill for curtailment of Government expenditures in road or other work. Balancing the budget doesn’t seem to mean a thing to those men coming up for re-election. They expect the votes of labor, but some are ready to double-cross labor if the occasion arises. Under previous Republican Administrations, almost any ex-soldier would be granted a pension, for some Republican Congressmen would go to the front for them. President Roosevelt found the pension rolls topheavy and made drastic cuts, although criticized by many a home guard. Having eliminated the “parade of wooden soldiers,” his idea now is to curtail unnecessary expenditures.

Johnson Says—

Stability in Government Policy Alone Can Restore Confidence and Start Everybody to Buying Again.

VW ASHINGTON, Jan. 15.—Who stopped buying the automobiles that were selling so merrily in the first half of 1936 and thus making much of the business spurt in that period? Were those people the tail that wags the dog? If they were, the measurements got mixed. They were not the 4-inch tail of the 100-inch dog. In the early part of the year, there appeared the most uniform, as well as the strongest, market since 1928 and it stopped suddenly in all parts of the ‘country at about the same time. The slump in employment ape peared first in the needle trades. Who stopped buying garments suddenly—only a mere handful of economic royalists? They don't wear many more clothes than the “rest of the folks” and the needle trades depend on the patronage of everybody. Some Administration author= ities are taking big business to task for not having confidence and investing their money or buying to take up the slack due to a slowing up of Government spending. Mr. Wallace wants to know why businessmen can’t separate the long time “future of their industry from the joy or gloom of the immediate short time . pessimism . . . during periods of pessimism they

Hugh Johnson

‘make no provision for future plants and often do

not replace depreciation.” 2 ” J OW can they do that? Under the undistributed profits tax they can’t have reserves. Depre=ciation is a reserve—a book figure so far as cash 18 concerned. Mr, Oliphant thinks that, although they must distribute all their earnings, they don’t need reserves because they can go out into the investment market and sell new securities. But, under New Deal policies, there has been practically no investment market for new securities. And who would buy new securities in a slump? Who sold old securities to produce the stock market crash? And who is it that doesn’t come back to buy securities either old or new today? Answer—the same: people who stopped buying automobiles and garments—not the 4-inch tail—but - everybody. In all the reams of paper and millions of words of talk, I have never heard any explanation of why théy stopped buying that made sense—except the certainty that people buy when they feel confident - that it is safe and sensible to buy, and stop buying ~ when they have not that confidence. There is no room for arguing that, but when you go from that to ask why they lost confidence so suddenly—echo answers only “Why?” o " ”n T is a cinch that no 4-inch tail took confidence away from the dog. In the first place, it couldn't and in the second, the 4-inch tail was not where the confidence was lost. It didn’t know, what was hap= pening to it. It got bumped hardest of all. Did Governmental action do it? If so, I don’t know just what action at just what time. Present Government policy leaves no certainty or stability about anything and that is always impossible fot" good business—but that condition was with us both before and atter the slump in about equal degree. Only Government can restore confidence by going off a ‘24-hour basis” on every principal policy and putting some element of stability under the whole business system. A

According to Heywood Broun—

Government Is Getting Better Art Bargains Today Than Century Ago;

Extend Armament Race to Keep Industry Scares to Get Revenue for Their Programs.

have not worked. The dictators have had to do what Roosevelt has done—provide work for their people and get the money by borrowing it. But there are two differences. First, they needed so much money that they have had not only to borrow but to tax to the bone. Second, they have spent the money on war preparations.

T= have done this because that is the only kind of expenditure they could successfully make. The sacrifices required of their people have been so great that the dictators could not ask them unless their people were worked up to a high emotional, patriotic, sacrificial mood. And such a mood can be evoked only by filling them with war scares.

This in turn has led to the creation of vast war industries. And these industries now make all the difference between economic existence and collapse. The dictators, therefore, are caught on two horns. They must keep up the armament race to keep industry alive. They must keep up the war scares to get the necessary revenues for their plans. And if they keep on, ncthing can keep them out of war. If we associate ourselves with the affected nations before the war starts, we will be swept over the cataract with the others. If we stay out of these quarrels, we may stay out altogether, After all, it took three rs to push us into

the last wyr. It ought to take the next one,

| history the

Spirit of Lincoln Still Dominates White House Despite Alterations,

EW YORK, Jan. 15.—It is very many years since 1 have climbed up into the thumb of the Statue of Liberty. Months go by in which I fail to visit

the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Poe's cottage 1s known to me only through fleeting glimpses as the

taxi takes me to a fight or a ball game at the Yankee |

Stadium. But when I get to Washington everything is different. Then I am infected with the tourist spirit and follow guides who identify: the statues in the Capitol and give out the price of all the portraits, which are pretty bad. In fact, it seems to me that the Federal Government is getting much better bargains for itself today in art projects than a century ago, when Congress was a sucker in voting appropriations for any foreign. visitor who wanted to do Washington, or Jefferson or Madison. Last week, in the company of other visiting firemen, I made the grand tour of the public rooms. in the White House. I had been in the press room over in the office end of the building, but this was the first time I ever had a chance to go upstairs.

” ”n ” T 1s curious how the spirit of Lincoln dominates the mansion. Of all the Presidents it is his personality which has set a remaining imprint upon the walls. There are portraits of Washington galore, but he seems a long way‘ off, and if I remember my

his time. You do not feel today that he walks the

corridors. Of course, many alterations have been made since the Civil War, and yet the first gasp of awe comes from the tourists when the guide says, “This is the room in which Lincoln slept.” . Certainly paint and plaster have been applied since, and the tiled bath= -- room could not have been the one which Lincoln. . knew. Pictures and hangings have been added. The whole look of the room undoubtedly has been changed, - I am not even certain whether the bed itself is au thentically that which stood against the wall when Lincoln walked the earth.

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UT this remains his room in spite of Presidents who came before him and who have followed after. Nor will there be any in the future, I believe, to alter the fact that here is one corner of the White ° House which is forever Lincoln. I have heerd a vague rumor which relates that there are some who say the great Emancipator still glides at night out of a huge clothes press and paces - the room as he must have walked sleepless in the 1860s, worrying over had news from Grant, and even _ worse from Meade. Here, I suppose, the germ came to him for the Gettysburg address.

- I believe yome inner prompting of his presence - comes £0 all who tiptoe into the room, aa

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