Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 February 1938 — Page 10

PAGE 10 _ The Indianapolis Times

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‘WEDNESDAY, FEB. 9, 1938

ANOTHER RELIEF CRISIS NCE more the Government is up against an unemploy-ment-relief emergency. And once more, apparently, there is nothing to do but muddle through without adequate preparation or careful plan, Demands for expansion of the WPA work-relief pro-

gram have been reaching Washington in increasing volume for weeks. After talking with a committee of big-city mayors yesterday President Roosevelt said that the matter of providing more money for WPA is being studied. He indicated that action might be expected soon. The mayors, who have made many previous pleas for more Federal relief, weren't exaggerating this time when they talked of “crisis and chaos.” When Congress appropriated $1,500,000,000 last June to carry the work-relief program through the next 12 months, it did not foresee the business recession. About 500,000 people have been added to WPA rolls since the recession began, but several times that many have lost private jobs. The mayors asked for an immediate additional appropriation of at least $400,000,000 to put a million more people on WPA and keep them there through June. i Jd » » » » ” NCREASED relief spending will involve a serious budgetary problem. Added to that is the fact that it is growing more difficult in most states to find projects, suitable for WPA workers, to which local governments are willing to contribute an adequate share of the cost. Many local governments complain that they are spending too much to maintain projects already completed. Unless the local governments do contribute adequately, a larger share of the Federal money must be diverted from wages to purchase of materials. "Or more leaf-raking projects, requiring little material, must be undertaken. In either case, the work-relief program will become even less satisfactory. It seems possible that Mr. Roosevelt has in mind fundamental changes in relief policy. this week as saying that he hopes to avoid a return to large-scale spending on “made work”; that relief is now being considered from the point of view, not of pumppriming, but of human needs; that he would like to see a permanent program of self-liquidating construction projects «toll bridges, toll highways, rural electrification and the Nke—which eventually would repay their cost to the Treasury. We think that would be all to the good. But obviously no such program is ready. And if it were ready it could hardly make a dent in the problem of new unemployment for many months te come. But that problem is urgent. It will have to be attacked with the machinery on hand. That means waste and extravagance and unsatisfactory results. These are the penalties we must still pay, after eight years of largescale unemployment, for treating relief as a series of emergencies.

STILL WITHOUT A FRIEND HEN Mr. Roosevelt proposed the undistributed profits tax as a novel method of raising revenue, only a few members of Congress were bold enough to venture the opinion that the tax might not prove as “painless” as the President believed. After the tax began operating, complaints against it came from many sources, and were loud and long. But for a while Administration spokesmen shrugged these aside as the mutterings of economic royalists. Then such independent research agencies as the Twentieth Century Fund started studying the tax, and their experts came up with the conclusion that the tax was so bad it could not be made good by amendment and therefore ought to be repealed. Then came the recession and practical proof that corporations which had disgorged their earnings because of the tax were without reserves to meet the emergency. So sentiment against the tax spread, indeed spread so fast and far that in all of Congress no one lawmaker could be found to defend it against change. “the tax without a friend.” Big business, feeling a little on the defensive, said that at least the tax should be modified. Then “little business,” uninhibited, at a free-for-all conference in Washington demanded complete repeal. Now, to the swelling chorus, is added the voice of the American Federation of Labor, demanding that Congress give business a helping hand through the depression by repealing or modifying both the undistributed profits tax and the capital gains tax.

A NAVY MISTAKE THE Navy Department's press room at Washington has mimeographed and sent out to newspapers a radio speech by Gen. Hugh S. Johnson in support of President Roosevelt's rearmament program.

That, it seems to us, was a mistake. Gen. Johnson, speaking as a private citizen, had every right to support the President’s program, to argue that stronger defense is necessary, and to maintain that it will help us to avoid war rather than increase our danger of getting into war. As a matter of fact, we agree with him on those points. But for the Navy Department to distribute copies of the General's speech, at public expense, is a different matter. The speech, delivered three days before the mimeographed gheets were sent out, was no longer news. It was propaganda. And if there is anything the American people do not want, in our judgment, it is to have the Navy Department, or the War Department, or any other department of Government spend their money to propagandize them in

favor of spending more of their money on increased arma-

He has been quoted |

| tenements.

It became known as |

Taking Him to Town!—By Talburt

Fair Enough

By Westbrook Pegler:

A Famous Name, Like a Desirable Address on Michigan or Park Ave., Is Valuable in Certain Businesses.

HICAGO, Feb. 9.—Most businessmen and

certainly all renting agents appreciate the commercial value of a good address. Mere desk room in a building on Park.Ave., New York, or Michigan Ave., Chicago, for example, may be preferable to a whole floor of a fairly serviceable building in a region of factories and

Even a telephone and mail address in one of the

preferred locations, for the purpose of some activities, not necessarily questionable, is worth the price of an office, solo, in a region of less prestige. : A famous name also has its value in some lines of business, notably journalism and insurance. In other days a famous name was worth & premium for a ‘short career in vaudeville or the moving pictures, but the amusement business regarded this as an unethical evil, and has put up a firm resist-

NM 3! A Sh ance on the ground of unfair com-

petition. Mr. Pegler

Regular insurance men used to complain of unfair competition from famous athletes who would retain théir amateur standing while exploiting their fame as insurance salesmen. Real estate boomers at winter resorts would induce the athlete to drop in casually, knock over a few saucers of wine with their prospective customers in the cool of the evening, wrestle the customers’ old ladies and daughters around the dance floor a few hours and play an exhibition match or tournament on their property. » » » T= amateur could not accept actual pay for this service, but there was nothing to prevent his selling the boomer a large bill of goods in the insurance line. Politicians, of course, are about the last group to which one may look for propriety. Some men in private business go far out of their way to avoid employing their relatives in well-paid jobs, but in polities, for all that distinguished statesmen may say in contempt of the ethics of private business, there is no such hesitancy. Statesmen argue that those who are near and dear to them and understand them best are able to serve them best as secretaries and advisers. The public, nevertheless, showed its disapproval in an election a few years ago, following a series of articles by Raymond Clapper which showed what an enormous aggregate of pay was being collected by the relatives of Senators and Representatives, ” » » Pho men object to the competition offered by relatives of persons in influential public office and by their relatives. But what can the state do if some relative of a high public official, whose name is synonymous with political influence and power, offers to write insurance for persons who think they might I li financially unless they go along with the ys? It is all a matter of propriety and ethics. Some statesmen are ethical, and some content themselves with the ethics of others. But to return to the matter of a desirable business address, how much money do you suppose the country could collect by offering for sale to all comers for private business uses a telephone and mail address at the White House, Washington, D. C.?

mm. ‘

SER

A

THEY ARE JUST

STONE'S THROW

The Hoosier Forum

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

| NO VICTORY SEEN IN TENURE RULING By J. Krurick, Danville The recent U. S. Supreme Court decision restoring life tenure for Indiana rural teachers who secured it before tenure was abolished in township schools by the 1933 Legislature was solely a victory for the hundreds of teachers affected and

not for the thousands of teachers whose money, paid in dues to the I. S. T. A, was used to finance th= appeal of a case in no way involving the general welfare of teachers as a group or even the principle or legality of tenure. This action, just a big noise to make teachers think that they have an organization championing their cause, but in reality an insult to the intelligence of those who think, now

re-establishing the manifestly unfair situation where most of the teachers in a township have to keep on their toes to hold their jobs while some who happened to be eligible and able to pull the strings (or loosen them) during the short time that the tenure provision was in effect, now have a sinecure which cannot be taken from them. True, the law still provides for removal of tenure teachers for cause by bringing charges, but trustees have found it difficult to support such charges even wherxe justified.

Public Should Be Interested

ested in this case, for after all it affecting the public schools. But nobody knows better than teachers themselves how some of these sixth year or tenure contracts were secured, especially just prior to the 1933 repeal, when those who secured them evidently acted on the policy of “getting while the getting is good.” We saw the string pullers, the local and political favorites, the friends and relatives (even wives and daughters) of trustees given contracts that meant life tenure, while in other cases worthy teachers not only were refused the tenure contract but lost their positions solely on the grounds of opposition to tenure. Permanent tenure for teachers, even in cities, probably has detrimental influence outweighing its theoretical merits, at least from the viewpoint of the public's interest in education, but as tried in the township schools of Indiana it proved such a mess of inconsistency and so detrimental to the interests of the teachers themselves, that it seems unbelievable that they, as a group, could be led to seck to retain any of the spoils or souvenirs (in the way of jobs) of this reign of tenure (or terror) in the townships. Certainly State

the Indiana

Business—By John T Flynn

One Congressional Group Now Suspects U. S. Has Secret Navy-Building Pact With Britain to Use as Background for Action Against Fascism.

SH NTO: Feb. 9.—The controversy around the President's war preparation naval appropri ation seerhs to be settling down, not so much ”w a Ris. cussion of the Navy itseif, as to the purposes the Seen has in mind, the direction in which he is ng. As some Senators sum it up, it looks as if the President is now definitely planning practically to double the Navy, to have one Navy in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific. The President has said to various callers that he is the first President who has been (irene with a menace on both oceans at the same Therefore Senatorial and Congressional opinion is slowly crystallizing around the conclusion that this huge billion-dollar plan is only the beginning of a grandiose scheme to provide more billions before we are through to outsttip the whole world in what Senators are privately calling “navalism” by the creation and maintenance of two great Navies.

= » = T= we Deh, however, which interests skepme on the Hill even more tha is—what has the President got in mind to eo ah all this armament? A group is forming, and increasing daily, thar is impressed with Senator Borah's suspicions that there is a secret agreement between the White House and the British Government to launch their naval building programs at the same time, with the {wo Navies complementing each other and with the intention to use this force as a background. for ‘aggressive action against the Fascist na-

has succeeded only in permanently |

(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

Teachers Association can take no just pride in having carried a fight to the U. S. Supreme Court to resurrect and perpetuate a manifestly unfair situation which should have been permitted to remain dead and buried just as our own Legislature

and intended that it should. ” » »

DECLARES FAITH IN AMERICANS By C. L. P.

The public, too, should be inter- | has most at stake in any action

the |

The argument is taking shape apout as follows:

Every time I read an article by | Mable German in The Times, I am

| instantly reminded of those immor- |

| tal words, “Breathes there a man | with soul so dead, who never to | himself hath said, this is my own, | my native land.” On every hand one can see evidence of the good work being done by our City, State and Federal Governments. Men and women working for real pay, families who were | destitute, and who but a few months |ago faced a hopeless future, now are being clothed and fed. Our | public schools have never been | closed in spite of the worst depression our country has experienced. Our youths of the nation are workling in CCC camps; the NYA also is aiding our youths immeasurably. Yes, we live in the greatest nation

WHIRLWIND

By ROSE CRUZAN There was a little whirlwind In the street downtown today; It lifted cigaret tissues, Then dropped them across the way.

It also tossed some gum wrappers, * A dozen receipts or more, Some thread, more lint, then cotton And blew them against a store.

O why do people hurry? They scurry hither and yon; Just stop and gaze about you Enjoy what is going on.

DAILY THOUGHT

Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.— James 5:16.

EAVEN is never deaf but when man’s heart is duthb.—Quarles.

and State Supreme Court knew |

in all the world. We have always been. just that and we always will be. I am indeed proud to know that I am an American citizen, and it is a feeling of just pride to know | that I play a small part in our everincreasing forward march toward | greater things. Our great President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, has contributed largely | of his time, efforts and money to stamp out our most dreaded malady, infantile paralysis. For this act | alone he should go down in history | | as one of the world's great humanitarians, Republicans or Democrats don’t make America great; it is Republicans and Democrats and all others. . .. I'll pin my faith and future on the judgment of the American | people any time. " » ” » WAR SHIPPERS MAY FOLLOW

LLOYD'S, READER BELIEVES By B. ©. Through all the wars since 1574, |

| Lloyd's of London has been insur- | | ing millions of dollars worth of |

| goods in warehouses all over the | | world against war damage.

| Now Lloyd's has quit, and maybe | it’s a good idea. Industrialists who | | have profiteered from war will be | pinched severely, and pinching the | profits out of war is one excellent way to prevent war. Lloyd's hereafter will insure shipments while they are in transit, but not a minute after they have been carted ashore. The reason? Airplane bombs. Both the Spanish civil war and the Chinese-Japanese affair have produced the modern air raiders, whose bombs fell not on trenches of fighting men, but on cities and towns, leveling a terrible destruction in property and goods as well as lives. So Lloyd's gave up. The risk was too great for them. Perhaps it will be too great for the shipper, too.

Hw WB MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP OF UTILITIES FAVORED By William Lemon

Holding companies’ pyramiding | and watered stocks cost the public | thousands of dollars each year by | the public utilities. This includes transportation, water, light and heat, and in some localities gas. Here at home we are paying wartime prices out of depression wages, and instead of a reduc’ion in rates they always ask for an increase and usually get it. They ridicule Federal interference but never fail to accept Federal aid in case of an emergency. Although regarded as a socialistic idea, municipal ownership of the public utilities will solve the problem, by a reduction of exorbitant prices and a reduction of taxes by using the

By Dr. Harry Elmer Barnes

profits to pay our public bills.

The Liberal View

a Bo

/ ; | | wR a 4 \ ] 1) oO» a)

Gon. Johnson

Says—

There's No Reason for the U. S.

To Advertise Its Weakness While - Carrying Out Its Armament Plan,

EW YORK, Feb. 9.—Senatorial oppon= ents of the President’s armament pro-

gram all use the same line: “I am for adequate defense but I want a statement of American foreign policy.” The implication here is, “I think proposed armament is for aggression. It is not necessary for defense. I suspect that it is part of an understanding

with England against Japan or the European dicta= .

torships.”

The Administration could de- :

clare: “Foreign policy is not to fight for anything that might happen anywhere in the world except in American waters. We will never accept support from Great Britain.” That «would leave saying that they think the pro= posed armament is not necessary for defense. But suppose that, on this vital technical question, these amateur military and naval authorities happened to be wrong. It doesn’ cost them much to render such an opinion but it would cost the country much-—no human mind can say how much—if they are wrong and the danger should descend.

Hugh Johnson

” ” ” HE truth is that the whole question of defense is

one of the amount of risk you want to run. can have almost no defense at all-—like China—and take a chance that, notwithstanding a strong prob= ability of invasion, you can rely on the League of Na= tions to save you or, failing that, that you can ree tire into the interior, get your forces ready and: in Swe or three years drive or starve or tire the enemy out, Or, like England, you can keep a big Navy, but let it slide while others, fully aware of your weakness, are furiously preparing and then when the crisis comes you find that you have to eat dirt, see your strength diluted, ana finally at staggering costs rush to build your defenses up again. Or, you can do as the President proposes and say to all the world: “We're ready to take the lead to cut armament to the bone. But if you want to go hog-wild and build beyond a point that threatens us, we can stand it better than you. We will outhuild you so that we won't have to outfight you.”

” ” ” »

HAT reduces risk to the minimum but it doesn’t ;

eliminate risk as Admiral Leahy has clearly shown. The fact is that, in the sense that other countries are prepared for war, we are in some respects whoily unprepared. The President's proe gram is a minimum necessity and, in some respects, completely ' inadequate, As for the demanded decleration of foreign policy it is: “Kick us at any place but home. We have wooden legs. Also, i. you do attack us, we won't let anybody help us.”

opponents °

You

There is no understanding with England and if °

there were, we couldn't depend on it. going to stick our necks out in any Asiatic or Eu ropean war because our people wouldn't stand for it, But just because we do happen to be helpless in. some parts of the world is no reason for advertising it. v i

We are not +

Most Judges Lack the Experience to Pass on Economic Questions) Such Interpretations Could Best Be Handled by Expert Commiss

The ostensible and announced object of such a policy —go-operation with Great Britain—is to preserve peace. But actually it is a policy to make war. Its plan consists in notification to the Fascist powers that the two great democracies will stand together and that they wiil take definite action—by economic stratagems of course—to check the spread of facism in Europe anc South America.

HIS, of course, is economic war and of such a character that if started it is as certain as the rising of the sun to provoke military war. What we are heading for, therefore, is an aggressive policy which will assuredly lead to war. The strategy that is being discussed by the opponents of all this is to attempt to force the President and the Department of State to say just what kind of arrangements it has with England. This, at least, is one of the things Wilson denounced so fiercely—secret agreements between nations. It is also noticeable that Republicans are toying with the jdea of attacking the President on this. ‘Republicans always have been big Navy people, Therefore tney have been a little slow in seeing the political impiications in this issue. But while they are big Navy supporters they are also bitterly opposed to international entanglements. Some Republican leaders ate coming to think the President is invit-

ing a fight that Will be more disastrous for him

%

EW YORK, Feb. 8.—~The Supreme Court controversy produced a vast volume of bitter debate. But there was one point on which ‘most opponents of the President's plan agreed with those who were promoting the plan. This was that the Supreme Court should not be allowed to become a trite super-Legis-lature, usurping the functions of the legislative branch of the Government.

But these very legislators who could agree upon |

adopt such quasi-legislative which they make are often so vague and uncertain that the courts are compelled to interpret and apply the legisiation before it can become precise and pracSealy effective. the courts are about as incompetent on such matters as are the who are able to | buck to the court. There is no one to whom may pass the buck, so they have to buckle i face the problems, whatever their ignorance, incompetence and inexperience, N ® ww» LAWYER who gets on t uzually more learned in lesser lawyers who get into rarely

he the these eminent J basic ecohomic