Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 February 1938 — Page 10

"PAGE 10

~The Indianapolis Times 1A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

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

. z - Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times Publishing Co., 214 W. Maryland St.

Price in Marion County, 3 cents a .copy; delivered by carrier, 12 cents ‘a week.

Mail sybscription rates in Indiana, $3 a year; outside of Indiana, 65 cents a month.

Ea " RIley 5551

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

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

SATURDAY, FEB. 19, 1938

. FINE, IF IT WORKS : . PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT, it seems to us, has explained his price policy with all the clarity ‘that anyone could desire. og < ‘Prices that are too low should come up, but not too far. Prices that are too high should .come down, but just far enough. Then ail prices should continue in balanced relationship. A balanced price structure should foster business recovery. : : i All that is clear. The confusion now is over how Mr. Roosevelt intends to get low prices up and high prices down, What he said about that seems less significant than what he ‘left unsaid. He said that the Administration is attacking the problem on many fronts, among them the new and mildly antideflationary policy on gold purchases and the gentle gesture toward pump-priming in the new $250,000,000 relief appropriation. But he added that he plans no inflation and no further devaluation of the dollar. : Mr. Roosevelt said nothing yesterday that could be considered either a challenge or threat to business and industry. Even the question of prices not subject to highly competitive market forces—the ones he regards as too high —is still. being studied. There was no hint of a crackdown on monopolies in the near future. "In short, the President seemed to have set his stage carefully to put his price objectives in the spotlight and to leave in the background whatever new plans he has, if any, for reaching these objectives. - And what he hopes, we think, is this: Rl First, that merely talking about higher prices for farm products and other commodities which he now considers too low will create a buying psychology, so that people will begin to stock up. on these things and thus start their prices upward automatically. . i Second, that producers and manufacturers of goods which he considers too high—many building materials, some steel products and the like—will take the hint and voluntarily reduce. prices without cutting wages, so bringing these goods within reach of more consumers and starting buying in that field. : Third, that buying, once started, will continue and increase, eventually ending the recession without drastic Government action. : ‘That, as we say, is what we think Mr. Roosevelt hopes. Whether it will happen is another question. All we can say about that is that it will be a grand thing for everyone if it does. = ody] |

THEY ALWAYS JUMP ON CRIPPLES EFORE Chancellor Schuschnigg left Vienna for his now historic talk with Chancellor Hitler, it is reported that he asked Britain and France if they would give Austria military assistance—in case. And the answer is said to have been no.. :l : So Hitler, the master timer, was virtually able to do what he liked. Austria was too weak to defend herself, the League of Nations is out of commission and Britain, France and Italy couldnt or wouldn’t do anything. : There is nothing new in Hitler's procedure. Nations have always used the same tactics to get what they wanted from their neighbors. - * - Japan waited until the World War to spring her famous “21 demands” which would have made China her vassal. Not quite succeeding, she waited until 1931, then invaded Manchuria and Jehol. Now she is continuing her conquest because she has found China too weak to stop her and the rest of the world too busy with its own troubles. A _ Ttaly seized a similar opportunity and annexed Ethiopia.. Germany waited until a time when relations between Britain and France were somewhat strained, then reoccupied the Rhineland. - During our own Civil War, when France disregarded the Monroe Doctrine te set up a puppet emperor in Mexico, Washington, fully occupied against the Confederacy, was in a0 position to protest until the hostilities were over. Then France got out of Mexico in a hurry. _ Yes, they always bide their time in order to jump on a cripple. History is thick with such examples.

WE VOTE FOR PARDON

“NOST M is on his way to Washington, this time to serve a 30day jail sentence for contempt of a committee of Congress. ‘We do not defend Dr. Townsend's defiance of the committee or the methods he used in promoting his fantastic plan, except to observe that without the pressure of his ‘thousands of Townsend" Clubs there might be no Social Security Act today. : But we- believe that jailing him at this late date will both demean the Government and 'dignify the prisoner. Congress, certainly, will not.gain dignity by visiting indignity on a man who three years ago could command scores of its members.. And a jail term will cause many who still believe him a saint to regard him as ‘a martyr. ‘Your ofd men shall dream dreams, says the Good Book. The rude awakening from their dreams of this old man and his trustful flock should be punishment enough. We wish that Congress would petition the President to pardon him.

+E are indebted to The Baltimore Evening Sun for _« ¥¥ pringing to light what we consider to be one of the finest quotations ever credited to Abraham Lincoln. In a ‘few simple words it expresses the whole philosophy of de0 and liberty. * Here it is—from a speech made Oct.

mocracy 1,1868: ire 05 a ; ; ee, , “I am for the people of the whole nation doing just as they please in all matters which concern the whole nation; or that, of each part doing just as they choose in all mat-

1 LO

AY"

Americans will be sorry to learn that Dr. Townsend

[4

The Starter’s Flag !—By Talb urt a T ot

PAE

i

Washington By Raymond Clapper

A Better Price Balance as Between Commodities Will Bring About More Benefits Than a General Increase.

'ASHINGTON, Feb. 19.—The Administration is very much concerned about the price level but nothing except confusion can result from talking about ‘prices in general. :

You have the Administration urging that the general price level go up. That urging, it is hoped, will lead people to think prices are going up and, expecting high prices, they will start buying. They do not buy if they expect ma prices to fall. At the same time President Roosevelt protests that the prices of certain commodities are too high and ought to come down. What the average man ‘gets out of all this is large confusion. He doesn’t know whether he is going up or coming down. Everyone from the President

"down is talking about the gen-

eral price level, and the price index. The general price level, so far as present difficulties are

Mr. Cla, concerned, is an academic ab- * Pye:

straction which bears only a remote relation to the

actual conditions which are so much out of balance now. The Department of Labor's general price index includes almost 800 commodities. These prices, covering everything from steel rails to spinach, are averaged into a general index figure. 8 8 8 T= present picture has to be broken down from deceptive averages. For instance farm prices have gone down sharply, dropping 25 per cent in the last year. Prices of steel billets are exactly where they were a year ago. In between these extremes are all gradations of fluctuation.

The Administration has considered that prices in 1926 were well balanced in regard to credit. They are used as the basis of all present index figures. Giving the 1926 price of a given commodity an index value of 100, current prices are figured in percentages of the 1926 price. On that basis it is easy to see how ragged the price line is now. Some commodities such as metals and hides are within 5 per cent of the 1926 price. Building materials average less than 10 per cent below 1926, and within that category will be found wide variations. : : 2 8 = IF face of such a spotted price condition as this, a blanket shoving up of prices accomplishes nothing except that wages won't buy as much. : Piecemeal treatment, in so far as Washington can affect prices, seems more practical than broadside generalized treatment. Through the new Agricultural Act another attempt will be made to push up farm prices. The Bituminous Coal Commission is trying to raise coal prices. On the other hand, through antitrust actions and by public pressure, an attempt is being made to pull down certain’ prices. These activities, seemingly contradictory on the surface, tend to create a better price balance as between commodities. The balance is more important than the level at which it is achieved. «

INCINNATI, Feb. 19.—Apparently ‘the moment "is past when anything ‘may be hoped from .an international copference for disarmament or naval limitation. And the reason for this is parily military and partly economic. ] : What seems to be generally ignored is the allimportant fact that armament building and naval building have become an almost essential prop to the industrial activity of most large Nuropean countries. :

You might as well come to the United States with |

a proposal to demobilize the WPA as to suggest to Italy, ‘Fratce, England, Germany and Russia that they check their war industries. = This is a feature of armaments which is almos never discussed. You cannot build guns and muni-

tions and ships without putting great numbers of men. to ‘work directly and indirectly in the material plants and even more indirectly in the peace-time indultries themselves when ‘the wages spent in the war | industries are carried over and spent in the peace

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

PROTEST JUDGE'S STAND ON TAXI VIOLATIONS By a Cab Driver's Wife So Judge McNelis is going to crack down on taxicab drivers. I think he is pretty late about it. As far as I know, most persons that have any authority have been cracking down on them for years. I wonder if the police and judges really have any idea of the problems of cab drivers. They are out there on the streets making their living. They must watch traffic, watch the people on the sidewalks, and if they are on a call they have to get there as quickly as possible or the people are gone. Then they are out their time, gas and miles. The majority of taxi drivers are the most expert, careful, courtcous and sensible drivers on the street. It stands to reason why they snould be. They are on their job, not joy riding or shopping. If they have an

| accident, they may lose their jobs.

If they dent a fender, they have to pay for it out of their own pockets. « « o : -

By a Cab Driver :

This is an open letter to Judge John McNelis: I think if you will look at court records you will find a great part of traffic cases involving cab drivers are for such things as “parking double,” turning in middle of block” and other small charges: that the average motorist does every day, but I have yet to hear of others than cab drivers being ordered into court on these charges. . . Cabs are a traffic problem, Ill grant you. There are too many. If you were driving a cab youd find that we don’t enjoy driving in a line of cabs a mile long looking for business.

JUDGE MNELIS DEFENDS ACTION

By John L. McNelis, Court 3

I appreciate the fact that cab

Judge, Municipal

| drivers are more liable to violate

minor traffic ordinances because they are driving our streets more of the time than other motorists. There are still, however, too many petty violations by cab drivers—violations for the most part of traffic signal and left turn ordinances. Despite the fact the drivers make their living and are subject to more errors for that reason, the cab driver should also be more familiar with traffic regulations and in that light, not so subject to traffic law errors as other motorists.

I have cracked dow on cab driv-

Business——By John T. Flynn

Asking Warlike European Nations to Limit Armaments Would Be Just -' Like Proposing to the United States That the WPA Be Demobilized.

.on an immense scale. It is coming to be more and more true of England, for England is trying to spend a billion and a half a year on naval expansion. And this is the great tragedy of armaments. This is .what Prof. James Harvey Rogers has actually suggested we should attempt to do and this, many suspect, is what the President is trying to do without weighing all its consequences—help along recovery by

naval expansion. 2 ® s

FJ BEREFORE, to call the warlike nations of

and Asia together to propose that they knock the prop from under their industrial systems as at | futile as anything

present organized seems about as ‘in the world. :

Unhappily there

, The alternative to a naval limitation | would be a general peace conference—a conference to | talk once again about the whale subject of the world’s | map, its races, its grievances, its mad lunge toward war. ‘Maybe such a conference mi £

ie.

is another obstacle. England has been caught short of ‘vessels for the immense task of protecting her empire. The Pascist nations have gone forward while she remained passive. Now she is in a gigantic effort to catch up. It is not likely she will | Here specifically was be willing to agree to a general pause now. activities of the Federal

ght

(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.)

ers for their own good as much as for that of the public. They cannot afford to pay fines out of their meager earnings. If I could stop them from appearing in court altogether I would be pleased. 4 £8 8 8 URGES CO-ORDINATION OF TRANSPORTATION By Kenneth Van Cleve ‘In answer to Mr. Walton's letter in the Forum, the railroads like all other big business have helped create conditions that exist today. Mr. Walton doesn’t seem to realize we are living in an age when big business does bigger things in a bigger way. The railroads think nothing of buying up an antiquated bus or truck line that has been operating at a loss and they think nothing of paying $100,000 for a new iron horse that will roll loaded cars at 70 miles per hour. | The truck rates are not cheap when considered from the tonnage and mileage standpoint of the railroads; the railroad rates are the cheapest. ; Some truck drivers make fairly good wages but the majority of wages are very low when hours worked and mileage are considered —no comparison to the full time trained rail worker. Trucks make the highways dangerous for cars because the drivers

FEBRUARY SHINES By MARY P. DENNY

February shines : In frost and cold Crowned by diade gold; Shining from the stars of light. From their radiant Heavenly height.

DAILY THOUGHT

Peace I leave with you, my ‘peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.—~John 14:27,

EACE js the evening star of

the soul, as virtue is its sun;

and the two are never far apart.— Colton.

work, he th

through Federal

tion conference w

: censorship allow and what to draw set

of anti 1

» of nal

accused of handicapping “Broadway managers,” he commented, “have been saying for several seasons

en private enterprise will have a field 10 “which at present is lafgely denied to it had a right to point with pride to the. success of | one of its graduates, Orson: Welles, who is now going | great guns on his own with the Mercury

ptul in fostering a |

work such- long hours. It is a common occurrence for a driver to fall asleep at the wheel and hit another car or telephone pole. The aristocrat of the labor world

lis the railroad engineer who makes

$50 per week upward. He is a man that has been trained by years of practical exeprience, he has raised a family, he knows what responsibility is, he knows the track ahead of him ‘like a book. This is one reason why the railroads of the country have set a high standard from the safety standpoint. The railroad is one form of transportation and the motor truck is another and neither can take the

“| other’s place. The truck is most suc-

cessful in working with the railroads, mot in competition with them. . . « 2 8 8 PROTESTS MEMBERSHIP OF COMPENSATION BOARD

By G. D. S. Recently Mrs. Roosevelt in her column suggested the average citizens should increase their interest in governmental affairs. Therefore, we appreciate the privilege of expressing our views in the Forum. There is an average of 40,000 injuries reported each year to the Workmen’s Compensation Board. The Board hears evidence, writes opinions and makes settlements. Its acts involve human beings who are maimed in their votational pursuits who should be protected according to law. : In 1915 organized labor sponsored the Compensation Act, which RKecame law, and by an act of 1929 the qualification of the Board was established as follows— “The' Compensation Board shall consist of five members, three of them shall be of the party in power, and two shall be of the opposing major political party.” If the law was complied with, there would be three Democrats and two Republicans on the Board, but I find it is composed of four Democrats and one Republican. I hold no malice toward any Board member, but I believe it my

| duty to state facts and submit the!

evidence. . . »

EDITORS NOTE—Edward Beggs, Board secretary, says that while the original act establishing the Board. provided that not more than three members could belong’ to one political party, the Reorganization Act abrogated this provision of the

Gen. Johnson

1929 statute.

Point.of View About Something, and Hence Must Be

MAM Feb. 19.—Harry Hopkins had a press con- = ference here today, and among other things he talked about the Federal Theater. It is the opinion of Mr. Hopkins that ernment enterprise, and: he felt that on the whole good results have been obtained. He said that he thought one had been too great a cities. Increasingly, he : gn | will bring productions to the smaller the s ; sappeared. id fage ght, the Government could not be fairly

this is a highly desirable Gov-

mistake up till now concentration in the large hopes, the Federal Theater towns where And in doing this pioneer private enterprise.

that the road is dead. If, . it can be revived, then that he thought the Government

‘Theater.

NATURALLY. somebody it should

‘raised in regard to the

‘| It has been rapped for

back stage and introduced myself | the author. We sat down and ta

“Cradle” had much more

Says—

3

The Turn of Events in Europe—By Herblock :

Proposed Amendment to Quicken the a

Amending Procedure

pressures to change ou ernment is the proposed am

Constitution intended to make it easier to -

amend that document. | :

Congress can propose an amen

proposed by a convention, if requ

latures’ of % of the states. An amendment becomes

effective} when| accepted by: the

legislatures of of the states or, « if Congress sO tions in % of the states. = It is now proposed to give Congress alone the power to propose - amendments, thus cutting out the | states. Also, to permit amendments to become effective if rati-.. fied (by people of % of the states (instead of %)—rnot through their legislatures\or conventions but by printing d amendments on Be be Joted is by She people in the next general election Hugh Jahuson oy ‘occurs more than 60 days

after the proposal. Amen ‘a constitution is the 1 most serious of political a In that way you can oF you want. 3 # » CONSTITUTION should, be changed only in the utmost coolness and d eliberation and only if an overwhelming majority wish it. The only reaso

advanced for this change is “5p sedier amendment.”

The last two amendments were ratified a year. The average time for all 21 amendments 1% years. Isn't that quick enoug h? Since sever states have general elections only ‘once every tw years, and some once every four years, the pro amendment wouldn’t make ratification “quicker.” might make it slower. The real Purpo is n speed, but to break down the states and guarantees of the Constitution less secure. A Very few voters know enough about law constitution-making to make them by votes. are untrained and have no time to study That is why we have legislatures and a representative government. Ts 8 8 T also puts a change’of the Constitution on the same piece of -paper—to be voted on at the same time—as the hot partisan issues of persons and policy in the confusien, bunk, ballyhoo, - passion - and prejudice of a general election. 7 Only five proposed amendments have ever failed of ratification and at least three of . these wouldn't have been ratified under the two-third rule. There

is nothing in the record of the present method that ir the direction of speed or, -

would be aided either flexibility by the proposed change. The only result would be further to centralize government in Washington at the expense of the states and to inject new elements of passion, pediency into what should be the nonpartisan and

deliberate making and preserving of the Constitution.. .

According to Heywood Broun—

Harry Hopkins Thinks Almost All Plays Repraai the Dramatists"

writing talent. | ; Aas ; 3 "He said thet the cry of “Propaganda” had been Living Néwspaper and other but he added that he thought that almost all plays, of necessity, represented the dramatists’ point of view about something or other, and that anybody who undertook: to argue. for a

Federal Theater projects,

notion was in a sense a propagandist. Mr. Hopkins -- who feel that it is impossible to .. set down a line and say that on one side ¢f it les art ;

is among the many

and on the other propaganda. ' gf 8 8 ao T is true that the Federal Theater has gathered for itself quite a large collection of assorted critics. . productions which seemed to.

Would Result In More Centralization. of Power.

ASHINGTON, Feb. 19.—-Among other » form of gov-

hooses, by convens=

ything to government '

politics and temporary ex- °

alled Propaganda.

important functions, he believes, is to foster creative ¢ |

a

©

some too radical, and, on the other hand, there have

been slams from the left because “The Cradle Will Rock” was abandoned at the last minute, a Indeed, the most savage satire on the Govern ment’s activities in the theater is a sketch and. Needles,” produced by the International mind because I was so much excited b; il Will Rock” when I first saw it that I ran around 0

ater in general, and I skpiEssed She opinion.

5

in “Pins ~ That is impressed Sa . rkers Union. 3 in uponmy Garment Wo! [ by “The. Cradle