Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 January 1938 — Page 10

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\ PAGE 10

The Indianapolis ‘Times |

(A SCRIPFS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

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

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Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

Member of United Press, Scripps = Howard Newspaper Alliance, NEA Service, and Audit Bu-

reau of Circulations. RIley 5551

MONDAY, JAN. 24, 1338

GOVERNMENT BY TALENT HE 55th birthday of the merit system finds its two enemies still well entrenched, if not actually gaining power. These enemies are: mental bureaucracy. In spite of the Democratic Party’s platform pledges, and pleas by President Roosevelt to extend civil service “upward, outward and downward,” the merit system has made no important extension in the Federal Government in the last fiscal year. On the contrary, Congress passed 21 measures specifically exempting employees from civil service. Of the Government's 841,666 civil employees last June 30, only 532,075 were under civil service while 309,591 were not. The commission recommends immediate inclusion of first, second and third-class postmasters, and that as soon as possible all mnonpolicy-forming positions in the Federal Government be put under civil service. In spite of similar platform pledges by the Indiana Democratic Party, merit gains have not been great in State government and they have been won only after a struggle. The 1937 Legislature rejected bills to extend the merit svstem in cities. Bad as the Federal picture is, it is better than can be boasted by state and local governments in America. Only 38 per cent of state employees and an almost negligible number of county and city workers over the country are under civil service laws.

Party spoilsmanship and govern-

u ” ” ® ” un

UITE as important as merit rating is a real career serv- |

ice in our governments. A stodgy, bureaucratic, red-tape-bound civil service can be as hampering to talent as the spoils system. What we need is a career service inviting brainy and well-trained men and women into Government employ under conditions of pay and promotion that will keep them there. in declaring that our present legalistic civil service administration “is inadequate to serve democratic government

under modern conditions.” We need “a thoroughgoing | modernization and extension of personnel administration,” | We commend for serious study the |

an “able civil service.” Brownlow Committee's proposal as embodied in the President's pending reorganization program. The spoils system has been said to be costing American taxpayers a billion dollars a year. An inefficient civil service might save some of that. career service, such as England offers its best-equipped citizens, would save all of 1it. Democracy cannot remain healthy, and probably cannot survive, unless it is run by experts,

THE STOLBERG CHARGES .

"HIS newspaper has just concluded publication of a series

of articles written by Benjamin Stolberg entitled “In- | They have described the phenomenal | arowth of this new labor movement and have presented a | It is that consolidation of gains | and future growth are endangered by a faction within the | C. I. O. whose primary concern is international politics along |

wide the C. 1. 0.

central theme of warning.

“the party line” rather than unionism as such.

The party line, Mr. Stolberg says, is Communistic in its | Those who follow it, wittingly or unwittingly, |

direction. he declares, are helping generate an internal struggle which now affects about one-third of the total C. I. O. membership and threatens by its spread to do serious damage to the whole union body.

Trotskyite who so hates Stalinism that he is seeing things in the C. 1. O. which are not there. Without attempting to say how much or how little Stalinism, Trotskyism or any other imported ism exists in the C. 1. 0. we do know that any influence other than that which works toward strong and well-ordered unionism is bad in an American labor movement, The purpose of a labor union is to improve wage, hour and working conditions in American industry. Whatever serves to divert from that single objective tends to weakness, not strength.

FRANCE'S SHIP OF STATE REMIER CAMILLE CHAUTEMPS, whose Government was overthrown a week or so ago, now succeeds himself. But no one knows for how long. The new French Government is a house built upon sand. Its members are all drawn from a single group, the moderate Radical Socialists. The Communists already have announced their opposition and the Socialists say they will support the regime only if it adheres strictly to the Popular Front program. And that may not prove feasible. Even the Socialist leader, former Premier Leon Blum, admitted modifications were necessary and resigned while trying to effect them. The skidding franc, adverse trade balances, economic, finan cial and industrial disorders all urgently demand a certain reorientation. M. Chautemps, therefore, stands between the devil and the deep sea. If he attempts the necessary modifications, he will be ousted. If he doesn’t, the domestic crisis will likely go from bad to worse and bring about his fall, One of the chief difficulties is that the Chamber of Deputies is hopelessly divided against itself, Even this might not be so bad were it not that the situation beyond France's borders is becoming increasingly critical. All Europe is seething. From across the Rhine, across the Alps and across the Pyrenees come ominous rumbles. There are soul-chilling rumors that a storm is brewing for the coming spring. Instead of fomenting dissension, therefore, and thus adding to the peril, the crew of France's ship of state should now be busily battening down hatches and making things 0 snug against any approaching blow

“

The Brownlow Committee was right |

RL | prestige of the office of President, But a vitality functioning |

| in human nature.”

Papa’s Lattle Helper !—By

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES Talburt

Say

MONDAY, JAN. 24, 1988

" | nAD TO LAMDASTE “rue NEW DEAL EVERY DAY

To WEEP AD WHEN | DID THAT

| LOST THE DEMOCRATS

THE REPUDLICANS n

[|

Fair Enough

By Westbrook Pegler

Columnist Suggests Large Subject He Would Like to Have Discussed By President's Son and Secretary.

NJEW YORK, Jan. 24.—That precocious political genius, Lieut. Col. James Roosevelt, the son and secretary of the President, has read us a lecture on »ed tape in our Government, and if one may pass requests up to the platform I would like to head a discussion of another byword of politics, but more contemptible than red tape, because in some of its manifestations it assumes a guise of legitimacy. It is a large subject, and includes under one of its subheads that type of dealing in which a Kinsman of a high and influential public official exploits that relative's position for private profit. Unfortunately, the avoidance of the mere appearance of un= ethical doing sometimes calls for

the sacrifice of legitimate opportunity, but, fortunately for the

the families of our Chiet Executives have been willing to pay this price for the glory of which they

Mr. Pegle

As the President so truly pointed out in his message on the subject of income tax evasion and avoid= ance, the best citizenship calls for ethics as well as honesty. : : The trouble is that there are some Kinds of business relations which can be defended but not vindicated, as where a person known to be the pride and joy of a high public official starts selling some commodity or service to persons or firms who or which (isn't that a new one?) are in some way beholden to the Government. ” ”n ” HE seller may have the serene conscience of the pure in heart and may scrupulously avoid any suggestion that each bill of goods is accompanied by a political blessing. But the buyer, if he is wise in the traditions of state and local politics as played by practical men, would be a sucker to take a chance. He would figure to himself, “Well, now, I don't know whether this mug is going to be sore at me if I refuse him my business, but I do know he won't be sore if I do give it to him, because that just ain't There has been no little unrest over problems of this sort in the insurance business. It appears that the legitimate insurance men who

| partake by reason of their Kwmship.

: | go along year after year in the business resent the The counter-charge is made that Mr. Stolberg is a |

competition of political Johnny Jumpups who think the solemn mandate of the people runs for them as

well as their distinguished Kin.

V

» » ” BELL, James seems to be getting the feel of national politics and might have some notion of being the people's choice some not very far day himself, so T think it would be interesting to hear whether he. in his own experience, has ever noticed an’ attempts Yo curry favor with him as the fairhaired boy of the Administration. Knowing how Jimmy must stand on ethics, being who he is and emploved right inside the White House, I feel sure that arwone who dared patronize his insurance firm with unworthy, ulterior motives and not out of pure appreciation of the fine quality of his insurance and service would be tossed down the elevator shaft To enlarge the topic a little, I wish he would also give us some thoughts on the subject of nepotism, which is anoth# byword for vou and never was more so than right now in this country. We are going to hear much more from Jimmy before we hear less, and he might appreciate suggestions as to topics of interest.

| PROFITS TO

The Hoosier Forum

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

TRANSPORTATION ASKED FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN By R. M. Swick We have a School Board in this

city which seems to think more of

money than of human life. They say that there is no money appro=priated to transport 20 to 30 children who are forced to travel from eight to 15 squares over dangerous streets, railroads and truck routes to get to School 49. This condition

exists within a mile and a quarter |

from the City Hall. The school board has been petitioned to change this condition but has made a public statement that nothing can be done about it this year. The child is a future asset to mankind and must be treasured and cared for,

Following is a statement School Board officials: “The School Board's formal report on the matter referred to above shows that the children from School 48 must travel considerable distance to School 49, but that the same situation exists for a number of other school districts which would be equally entitled to transportation, and that the amount of funds budgeted for transportation in the school budget for 1937-38 will not permit additional transporta= tion service this year.”

» ” »

URGES PLAN TO GIVE WORKERS By Byron Miller, Bloomington The article by J. C. L. in the Forum recently attracted me. His basic idea is one in which I have been interested for a long time, but I be-

| lieve the idea can be carried out in a much

simpler way than that which he advocates. In fact, it was applied by one of the largest manufacturers in the country, and has been in successful operation for over a year. There were no changes in management or method of doing business. The employee is paid in the usual manner at the prevailing wage scale. When the books are balanced at the end of the month, operating costs, which include a fund for depreciation, expansion and catastrophe, are paid first, and then an amount taken out for a fixed dividend to be paid to stockholders. The balance of profit is compared to the basic payroll. The percentage of the balance on this comparison is the per cent used for distribution, If it is 10 per cent, the individual drawing $100 for that month receives a $10 bonus check, the man making $200, a $20 bonus check, and so on. This ‘s paid to everybody from the janitor and office boy on up the line. I am told that for the year of 1937 the bonus ran from 10 to 16 per cent. From all that T can find out, it has been more than successful for the manufacturer, for every emplovee knows that if he wastes time or material he is taking money out of his own pocket. I am told, also, that there is no labor trouble.

Business—By John T. Flynn

Reactionary Movement Known as ‘Self Rule' in Business Was Accepted Factor in Explaining’ His Actions Today.

dowed with sovereign powers. And this entity should

By Roosevelt, and Also Is

EW YORK, Jan. 24-—In attempting to fathom what President Roosevelt is driving at, we have seen how the old welfare movement led to & more aggressive movement to bring about wider distribution of income by means of drastic rearrangement of the economic system; but how the slogans of the new movement seemed very like those of the old benevolent welfare movement and how President Roosevelt adopted these new slogans without having any understanding of the serious changes he would be called on to mhke in the system. But at the same time another movement was in progress, this one completely reactionary. It arose out of the strange tendency of the economic system to get out of repair. Businessmen said it was due to overproduction, to too violent competition, to price wars. They began to say what radicals had always said, that the system must be controlled. But they wanted it controlled in the interest of profits. They didn't want the state to control the system, however. They wanted it controlled by business itself. But there was no such thing as business as a recognizable, functioning entity capable of making rules and enforcing them.

EREFORE businessmen began to say that business should be organized as such an entity; that the antitrust laws should be suspended to permit it to be formed into a regulatory erganism capable of controlling production, prices, trade practices, competition. It was proposed to create a new organ-

Eatin, u Sut JFINHIR WUE, 4 JOlitical MpEOY. en

be composed of the employers.

by |

(Times readers are invited to express their 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.)

views in

organized in a union that functions

to present matters of working con-

ditions and minor grievances to the | at the door of big business

management. No wage difficulties arise, because any increase in wages would merely mean a reduction in the surplus profits to be divided. Weeks of effort by C. I. O. organizers in a town where this concern employs several thousand people netted a mass meeting attendance of 17 persons. All employees are much interested in inducing their neighbors and friends to purchase the products manufactured by this plant and in promoting any interests of the com-

pany, since these have now become their interests also. It may sound Utopian, but I believe that if every industry followed a plan of this type, there would be a speeding up of business in all lines. . . .

* » » CLAIMS NEW DEAL BLAMES BUSINESS FOR OWN ERRORS

By Mabel German

DECLARES WORKERS’ ONLY ' PROTECTION IS IN UNION

Dictators get their power by regimentation through legislation, on the plea that their sole purpose | is to help the poor, the ill-clothed, ill-housed and ill-fed. | The wage and hour bill now up | for passage will, if enacted, regiment labor and industry. The farm bill would regiment the farmers, and the child labor bill would regiment the youth of our land until they are 18 years of age. Such legislation has no place in free America. It seems this Administration concluded the Ameri can people today are not intelligent enough to think for themselves, We agree some people are doing very little real thinking, but we refuse

INVENTORY By ANNA E. YOUNG

Though we've ofttime been discour=aged, Been depressed and very blue, We could cure this old-time ailment If just this we always do: Take a careful inventory As we look about, we see Here in there—perchance a neighr

So much more--in need than we.

DAILY THOUGHT

Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they

| tion.

that keep my ways.—Proverbs 8:32,

OVE that has nothing but | beauty to keep it in good | health, is short-lived, and apt to|

The employees are, have ague fits.—Erasmus. |

EW YORK,

| change—the Germans have been liv-

monster which destroyed him. Sinclair Lewis

to believe there are not enough intelligent minds, if they take time to think, who can see through the whole New Deal scheme. If Roosevelt is being misled through norance, he is not fitted for his job. | If he is wilfully being misied, then | he still is not fitted. After five years of legislation the | poor are just as poor. The burden becomes heavier and heavier on the great middle class. the backbone of our nation. Now that the New Deal is on the spot, its blunders are laid And, if Congress does not keep on being | puppets, it will be partly to blame | along with big business. When the | smoke screen has cleared away, the people will see big business had | nothing to do with New Deal ignor- | ance. Instead of trying to be the good | neighbor, poking our political nose | into the business of foreign coun- | tries, we should first put our own house in order. Sometimes a good | neighbor is merely the neighbor who minds his own business,

” ” »

ig=

By Frank Moore, Local 3%1 U. A. W. A, Newcastle

I think Pat Hogan has failed to keep up with the times. Back in 1888 the employers did pay what | you were worth, but they had to pay too much, so they formed a union, the Manufacturers’ Associa-

The doctors in 1888 drove 10 to 15 miles to tend to the sick for 75 cents or $1, but then formed a Medical Association, Now it costs you

$3 to $5 if they come next door. The businessmen belong to the Chamber of Commerce, and they also have a say in the working man’s wages. The druggists now be= long to their association and have an agreement to fill prescriptions the doctor gives. You stated, Mr. Hogan, the employers paid you what you earned in the glove factory. In Richmond the pay of some workers is 11 cents an hour. Is that enough? Mr. Hogan must have never worked in a shop where all they think of is production. The only way the workingman ever will have | anything is to join a union for pro=tection. When he gets 50 years old after serving 20 years for a company, the union will keep the company from giving him the bum'’s rush. » ” ”

‘LOTS OF HAM’ DIET NOTHING NEW, READER DECLARES By Daniel Francis Claney, Logansport Headline: “Lot of Ham, But No

Eggs, Urged for Nazis Diet.” Well, well, that won't mean much of a

ing on a diet of “lots of ham” ever since Hitler came into power. Headline: “Open Welding Class.” There, I would say, some enduring friendships shall be formed.

Confessions of a Professional Politician—By Kirby

Gen. Johnson

Says— Oklahoma's New Wage-Hour Caw

Will Please Old Fans of NRA In Principle, but Not in Detail,

ULSA, Okla, Jan. 24.—L’Aiglon Blue, the Blue Eagle's posthumous fledgling— or maybe better, gon-in-law, is just taking off for a trial hop right here in my own state of Oklahoma. They have here a wages-and-hours law complete with codes which they call a little NRA, It has no personalized big bad wolf as administrator.

It is operated by a State Industrial Commission.

Instead of the NRA goldfish bowl hearing, special “conference committees” of industry and labor recommend codes and the come mission takes ‘em or leaves ‘em, They operate only on intrae state industries--cleaners and dyers, retail trade, hotels, restaurants, office buildings and filling stations, so far. This was the field in which NRA came to grief. They never will respond to a national wages and hours code. They have no national organiza= tion and conditions within each industry are too adverse. On the other hand, in some of these industries and in some places, the need for reform is greatest of all. After a bitter experience, NRA came to the conclusion that the only solution of this difficult problem was state codes under state laws. This new Oklahoma law is the most ambitious attempt that has come to my attention. In principle it will prove pleasing to old NRA fans but in detail it won't. ” ” » HE shortest maximum week in the whole sched= ule is 48 hours. No “spreading the work” there. This runs up to 59 hours in hotels and filling stations, practically seven days of 8'c hours or six 10hour days. It has regional differentials with a vengeance. Hours are longer and wages lower in towns of 10,000 population or less than in towns of from 10.000 to 40,000 population and the difference is much greater as compared with large cities. The wage differential is as much as 35 per cent in some industries. The minimum wage for a maximum 48-hour week for women in hotel industries is $8, for “curb service employees,” male or female, $6 . . . $1 a day for six 8~hour days. The State Labor Commission says that he thinks that these rates will be generally satisfactory to labor. That is very interesting in view of the pending national wages-and-hours bill. Becafise, if any such long hours and low wages such as these were pro= posed in Congress, or before any national board, they would be howled out of consideration. This emphasizes the very wide divergences of practice and opinions throughout the country on the whole subject of wages and hours. ” » » HE law itself is a curious document, Most of it is a practical copy of the Washington state law which was for the protection of women and minors only. "The Washington law was upheld by the Supreme Court which did not pass on the validity of wage-fixing for men. But, although it is written throughout as a women and children’s bill, tucked in toward the end of the Oklahoma law is this phrase: “This act and every provision thereof shall apply to men as though they be specifically mentioned by the provisions thereof.” A finicky lawyer or legal draftsman might say that this afterthought insertion of “men” upsets the whole legal and economic philosophy of the Washeington state law and the Supreme Court precedent, but down here in Oklahoma we aren't finicky and we say “spade” when we mean “spade” regardless of whether philosophy and precedent both say ‘exe cavation accessory.”

Hugh Johnson

According to Heywood Broun—

Sinclair Lewis Loses His Knack for Surface Detail and Completely

Repudiates Everything He

Jan. 24 Frankenstein devised Wd

It might be an efficient way to run the society— though I do not think so—but it was certainly not the democratic way, since the powers once vested in all the people of the democratic state would be transferred to a small part of the people—the employers. Yet it became popular in business circles under a wholly false name-—"self rule” in business. = » n

OW, strangely, Franklin D. Roosevelt; while he was falling in leve with the shibboleths of the left wing liberals who urged redistribution of income, without realizing how serious must be the steps by which this would be accomplished, also was accepting the philosophy ¢f the right wing reactionary “self rule” in industry group, without realizing its serious implications. During the years from 1923 to 1920 he was holding a position with a New York insurance company and practicing law. He was not thinking about the profound forces which were shaping the world. Slogans floated in on his mind. “The good life for all’—cer= tainly. “Wider distribution of income"—surely. “Security for the masses”—of course. “Overproduction is bad"-—no doubt of it. “We must control production and check competition”—by all means. “Who is so well fitted to do that as business itself?”—what could be plainer. Thus a whole group of seemingly wise and benevolent objectives, radical and reactionary, utterly hostile in fundamental philosophies, drifted over the surface of his mind and found hospitable quarters, .

invented a realtor named George F. Babbitt who has now devoured him with no salt at all and very little catsup. “The Prodigal Parents,” by Sinclair Lewis, is a remarkable novel. There is nothing startling in the fact that authors of distinction have dull moments and write bad books. After all, since it is admitted that Homer nodded, Mr. Lewis has every right to ask for indulgence if he falls flat on his face. The interesting and startling point is not the imperfections of the latest Lewis work but the fact that it is a complete repudiation of almost everything he has written up till now. When an established artist falters there is a grave temptation to say not only that he hasn't got much but also that he never had. Just the same, “Main Street” was an epoch-making book and “Arrowsmith” came perilously close to being a great novel.

o ” o N both “Main Street” and “Babbitt” Sinclair Lewis socked the smugness and self-sufficiency of the middle class, and like all propagandists, he was less than fair. The folk whom he flayed were not as dumb as he painted them. Even in the days when he was familiarly known as “Red” Lewis it was evident that the success of the writer's attack upon a specified group was somewhat dependent upon the fact that he himself belonged to that crowd, both emotionally and by background. George F. Babbitt was a better person than Sinclair Lewis was ready to admit when he pepned his biography,

Has Written Before in His New Novel.

But truth is not served hy the process of evening up in the manner of an inefficient umpire. The man

| who has missed a strike is doubly wrong if he gives

the pitcher the benefit of an imaginary corner on the next delivery, ” ” ” HE disintegration of Sinclair Lewis as a top flight writer goes even beyond fundamentals. He has lost his knack for surface detail, Everybody agreed a few years ago that the author of “Main Street”"—applaud or deplore him--possessed an acute ear for the American language. He was chosen as a charter member along with Ring Lardner and Damon Runyon as a precisionist in catching the nice shading of common speech. But listen to this:--Mr. Lewis is setting down a conversation between Gene Silga, a radical agitator, and a savage dog. Silga says, ace cording to Mr. Lewis: “Why, Towser, I'm tho ashamed of you! Don't 00 remember 00's old friend Gene, oo sweet so and so, darling?” The question of literary excellence is often debatable, and when the discussion arises I could hardly complain if I were not included in the program. But I submit that the passage which I have quoted is bad reporting. Leaving politics and economics out of it entirely, I insist that no radical of my acquaintance or yours ever talked anything like that. It is generally recognized on newspapers that the man who fails to keep in touch with his sources will jrow stale and unprofitable, I suspect that the same thing is tyue of artists,