Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 4 March 1938 — Page 16
te: Endianapolis Times
(a SCRIPPS-HOWARD N EWSPAPER)
oy ROY WwW. “HOWARD LUDWELEL DENNY % .Breside ot
. MARK FERREE
Price in Marion County, 3 cents a copy; delivered by: carrier, 12 cents a week.
£ Owned: and i = daily (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times Publishing Co.,. 214 W. = Maryland St. Bi Mail subscription rates in Indiana, $3 a year; outside : of ‘Indiana, 65 cents a ‘month.
: Member of United Press, Scripps - Howard News- = paper Alliance, NEA = Setvice, and. Audit Bu-
~ reau of Circulations.’ 'Rlley 5551
Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way
“FRIDAY. MARCH 4, 1938
- ‘FREE THE ‘COURTS! IE president of the Indiana State Bar Association did not exaggerate when he called the present partisan selec .ion of judicial candidates a “vicious system.” The glaring weakness of state and local courts, com- ~ pared with the Federal bench; is caused chiefly by the impact of politics on judicial candidates—the influence of po- ~ litical factions which might determine re-election. : Freedom from these things ‘has created a Federal 5 b Judi ciary of high caliber, with public confidence in the in- = tegrity of its decisions. 2 President Louden L. Bomberger of the Bar Association - summed up the present faults in a public indictment that = should concern every citizen. ” ” # 2 8 8 DO LITICAL organizations of the two major parties now © virtually select our judges, he explained. And a candi- - date even to get his name before a nominating convention, > he said, must pay a heavy party assessment “running as - high as $1000. ” He properly described this as ‘utterly % abho rrent, indefensible and indecent.” : “It is a notorious fact, and one which should bring =.shame on the heads of political parties, that highly com~petent and worthy men have refused to permit their names = to go before their party conventions by reason of the exces- . = sive tribute to be levied,” he added. “It is no answer to say that the high price of admission © to tie state conventions deters the unworthy from entering.
= The unworthy are more apt to pay well for the publicity of
= merely being mentioned than are the men of ability and _ cha acter who will not sacrifice principles to engage in a = polit ical combat. . .. I wish to condemn most emphatically = the outrageous assessments levied on those who otherwise 3 = mig} 't be presented for consideration of their party to re- = ceive the nomination.
: “If the political phenomena of election landslides, either = way, continues, the evil of political election of judges will £ = be augmented. It will be.increasingly difficult to find orihy candidates. ... Men should not be subjected to these nfit ances.” The State Bar Association now is studying a number “of plans to eliminate political evils in choosing judges. California has taken a forward step in this direction, and Missouri is considering a different reform. : The public should give full support to'any sound pro- = gram that will relieve judges of partisan pressure. A judge = shou Id not have to make terms with a political party.
Ye
HH HR
OE
: ELECTRIC RATES AND REVENUE! UBLIC COUNSELOR RALPH HANNA'S statement that : Indianapolis Power & Light Co. revenues for 1937 in“crea: sed about $670,400 over 1936, despite a rate cut, has : E star ted talk of another rate adjustment. Meanwhile, the x Public Service Commission hearing is being reopened at the - = utility’s request to present evidence of increased costs. : The important thing to remember is that the rate case ei still is before the Commisison and that, in the end, ~ the rates must be fixed on a fair property valuation and a fair return. Equitable rates for the public and for the : com pany cannot finally be determined until the Commission “fixes the valuation.
Meanwhile temporary rate reductions cannot come too soon to suit consumers.
“RELIEVING MR. FARLEY
T was.necessary for Congress to appropriate $250,000,000 niore for unemployment relief. But was it necessary—
For the Congressional Record, which costs the taxpayers $55 a page, to print during the last session of Con- * gress 33 addresses on political and othef subjects by Post-- - master General Farley? For two pages of speeches at a Farley testimonial din-. ner in Washington on Feb. 15, 1937, to be printed in the Congressional Record on Aug. 18, 1937? For the Government Printing Office to reprint half a “million copies of these testimonial dinner speeches, “not at . public expense” but at rates lower than private printing establishments would have charged? And is it necessary now. for thousands of these copies ~ to be mailed under Congressional frank, at the expense of - the taxpayers, to thousands of citizens in New York State -who may soon be given the privilege of voting for Mr. * Farley for Governor? ‘We haven't anything against Jim, but we're just 3 ash ing.
-?
THE BIG CHEESE ISSUE
EghrToNaL has raised its ugly head again in the U. S. Senate. The new issue isn’t over yucking or wage-hour legis“lation or .cotton vs. corn-hogs. The question before the world’s greatest deliberative body is cheese. A fortnight ago Senator Copeland of New York toted a shipment of the Empire State’s finest output—everyth ‘ng from a mild-mannered Swiss to an up-and-at-’em limi burger—and distributed same among his colleagues. When % they allowed: ‘that it was first-rate cheese, Senator Duffy of ! § Wisconsin up and said they hadn’t really lived until the ¥ cheese returns from the Badger State came in. Now the =Wi 'sconsin statesman is presenting his bill of goods, and
erating 2 10 call.
CER Lun "
Now, we're: afraid this cheese issue will cause more
ouble; “maybe ‘another filibuster. Most of the Senate’s 96 mi embers’ are running for the Presidency, and none of them i11 want to risk. losing the cheese vote in either New York © Wisconsin. Th 3
Why hot refer the contest ‘to the Senate Committee
Claims? Or better yet, why not, et Mickey Mouse de- |.
/ /
Business Manager | :
BETTER JUST LEAVE IT OPEN "AND SAVE WEAR AND TEAR ON THE HINGES
Washington
By Rodney Dutcher War Planners Go Right Ahead With
Their Planning Despite Assurances U. S. Won't Fight Again Overseas.
ASHINGTON, March 4.—Of course, as any ~ member of Congress or the Administration will tell you, the United States never again will send an army to fight overseas. Curiously enough, however, the war-planners go right on planning war-time schedules on a scale which permits no other explanation unless it is seriously suggested that a foreign army is likely to invade the United States in force. The War Department lets it be known that its war-time mobilization plans provide for placing 1,230,- . 000 well-equipped troops “in the field” within four months. This is old stuff, actually, and presumably the Army boys are beating the drum in that way because they don’t want the Navy to get all the money that is to be voted for what is known as national defense. After that first “quickie” of 1,230,000, the Army plans on raising two or three million more fighting men, Ba you still can’t get anyone to admit—at least not publicly —that there’s any chance of Amer- Wr. Dutcher ican invasion of a foreign nation or any chance of a foreign nation invading the United States.
” ® »
HE War. Department officially bases its war plans on two alternatives—universal conscription or a campaign for volunteers which would be led by the American Legion posts. ‘The latter alternative is just so much eyewash because what the General Staff really figures on is another draft law. .In fact, the generals aren’t even willing to wait for Congress to pass a conscription act until war is declared or threat of hostilities appears. e.
Congress is asked to authorize military conscription of all men between the ages of 21 and 31.in a bill approved by Chairman Andrew J. May and a majority of the House Military Affairs Committee. 8 os ” HE bill makes no pretense of explaining why these millions of men would be needed if there is no thought of another large American expeditionary
force. But no matter how small and unimportant a war in which this country was involved might be, a
President would be given power to order them under -
arms. Numerous studies of neutrality and related problems in the last few years almost invariably have reached the conclusion that a President could so handle this country’s foreign relations that war would become inevitable. This “war profits” bill has profited from ‘the original impetus of the drive to get a real bill aimed at taking the profits out of war, which began after the sensational exposures of the Senate Munitions Committee. Many people who believed in neutrality and peace and heartily opposed American entry into any foreign war thought that a law which insured that there couldn’t be any war profiteers in the next war would do a lot to discourage war. These same people are now battling desperately against the May bill, holding it a travesty on their original proposal. © Opponents, declaring the powers conferred would be unprecedented, insist the bill is a wide-open invitation for any President or governing clique with dictatorial ambitions to maneuver the country into a state of war.
1 wholly
The Hoosier Forum disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.
SEES CHANCE FOR REST IN KNOX’S PROPOSAL By a Farmer, Crawfordsville I see where Col. Knox, that great man who ran on the Republican ticket for Vice President, says the Government should pot give the farmers any money. I say we should not give anybody any money. Then people would not need to buy anything, for they will not buy if they have.no money. The farmers won’t need to produce anything; all business can shut its doors; and every day will be a holiday. 1 would like to see that day, for I have worked hard all my life. I need a rest. If no one wanted anything I produce, I would not need to work. I'm for Col. Knox.
#2 8 = FORGET JEALOUSIES, VANNUYS URGED
By Small-Business Democrat. Crawfordsville An open letter to Senator VanNuys: I am as much disappointed as you seem to be over the type of men who have come to controi the Deniocratic Party in Indiana. I feel that: such a machine of political opportunists as that built up in our state by the Dick Heller group has no right to call itself Democratic, New Deal, Hoosier or American. The only name for it is Neroism. But what can I hope to gain for my party or my country by supporting you in the coming election? Your only claim to .mportance is that you, like Senator Wheeler, took advantage of the Supreme Court issue to gain publicity. I was with you in opposing the Court reform; but I wasn’t with you in joining the clique of Republicans who used you as a tool in attempting’ to knife the President and the New Deal. . If you are really a better Democrat than your record shows, then ‘your mistake has been that you have played too hard for Republican votes. As a result, you have lost the confidence of both Republicans and Democrats here in Indiana. : You can serve your party and yourself best by retiring from the political picture without further entangling: yourself with the Republicans. We Democrats in Indiana are already busy preparing for a cleanup of the Democratic, machine, and we are doing it with-: out asking assistance from the Republicans, We expect you to follow the same course of conduct. It is
(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.)
the only way you will a get back into the good graces of the people of Indiana—both Republican and Democratic. In other words, if you are going to be big enough to demand the support of your party, you must be big enough to forget your jealousies and ambitions for the present. ‘# » 2 OPPOSES DEFENSE OF TEACHER TENURE By Charles Devert Whatever reasons the Indiana State Teachers’ Association might offer for appealing the case of a teacher seeking reinstatement in tenure status under a law repealed in 1933; and by whatever technicalities the Supreme Court assumed jurisdiction of the case and decided it without reference to state’s rights, practical consideration of facts in
local situations and public welfare as opposed to rights of a minority;
tion of this case restores in our
teachers must keep on their toes to hold their jobs while many others have life sinecures. Moreover, in this action, the
_ ONCE UPON A TIME By KEN HUGHES
The moonlight came to .the black trees Like a luminous bridal veil; The long leaves were lighted in splendor; ‘Below, a bell-flower. was a grail. But the dark, blue sky and the : brown earth. Would never. take vows and wed, So the funny old owls moaned A torch song for a ceremony never said!
DAILY THOUGHT | Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world ?—Corinthians 1:20.
T is. too often seen, that the wiser . men are about the things of this world, the less wise they are about the things of the next.—Gibson.
the fact remains that the disposi- |
township schools an unfair situa- | tion of tenure in which part of the | | removed many good teachers at the
I. S. T. A. has defended life tenure given to teachers by officials who, they claim, in many cases are too incompetent ‘and partisan’ to be
| trusted to employ teachers for one [year at a time!
We all saw what kind of teachers were most frantically energetic in their efforts to secure tenure during the few years the law was in effect in the townships. Many of them were too weak or unpopular or unpersonable to have hope of securing
' another position if they should lose
the one they were holding; and
those who succeeded in getti ting life
tenure while the getting was good
were too often the string pullers, the -| favorites, and the relatives of school | officials or their friends. | they had held one position for five
The fact
years, often through this same in-
| fluence, is scarcely to be considered | | proof of fitness for their sixth, or
life tenure, contract. And if even a good teacher might be inclined to relax her efforts to be progressive,
efficient and co-operative, once the]
possibility of losing her job. is almost completely removed by life tenure status, what can be expected of some of those mentioned above? True, the law provides for removal of tenure teachers for cause, by bringing charges, but few officials will risk this procedure except in most flagrant cases. Under this same regime of unjustified tenure appointments, other officials, opposed to tenure and attempting to circumvent the law,
end of five years of service in order to avoid giving them the sixth or life tenure contract.
The teaching profession has long advocated legally established life
tenure for teachers as a necessary protection against displacement of good teachers for political or other
invalid reasons; but it is now clear;
that the I. S. T. A., having sought a court decision arousing dissension
and irrevocably restoring an unfair
advantage to an undeserving group,
is defending tenure regardless of its, effect upon the welfare and effi-
ciency of the public school system. » » ® INJUSTICE SEEN IN WEIGHT TAX By Frank \Valton, Campbellsburg
We have been holding on to our husiness for the last 10 years praying for a break. Putting a license on our cars and a weight tax on
trucks is not right. Gasoline and
oil taxes are plenty. The collection
of truck taxes. three months in ad- |
vance amounts to a sum that would help out a lot of poor people like ourselves. ee
Gen. Johnson Says—
'Ordeal by Hunger’ Is a Necessary
Contribution to American History, But It's a Tale of Woe and Death.
ASHINGTON, March 4—I get a lot of new : “for review.” “Ordeal by Hunger” by G. R. Stewart, came to me months ago. Only last night did I get around to it. I am not the man to review it. It is the story of one of the most terrible episodes of the winning of the West—the attempt of the ille fated Donner party of emigrants to get to California across the Rockies and Sierras, by a supposed “new trail.” They had been. misled and ‘this tale ‘of hardship and death, though almost incredible, is a fully authenticated narrative of the kind of. pioneer character : that made this nation. © “The: title doesn’t reveal: what the book is about or I would have instantly devoured it. My grand=father used to tell me how, as a boy, he had helped my greatgrandfather Fosdick prepare one of the great cumbersome ox» wagons with which one family of that party was equipped. - He used to tell me in a very guarded fashion aboud what happened in that terrible trek and I never quite knew why he was so reticent. Now I know. I seem to learn about the Fosdick branch of my family in small doses. . Once my mother was quite ill on a sweltering mids summer day in ‘Okmulgee, Okla. She was in her room in bed. I was lying on the floor in the next roond puttering with a radio dial.
” # » UDDENLY I brought in a discourse—scintillatingly brilliant. I supposed it was some new boy orator from the plains-on a local station—and so did he. But after about 30 minutes it was apparent that this guy had said his‘say and didn’t know where to put the period. He began stalling and Iepeating. Nothing so irritates my mother. “If he doesn’t know where to stop,” she suggested,
“you do. Just turn him off,” “Oh, but mother,” I protested, “I've got to find out who he is. This guy is going places.” Finally the announcer said, “You have just lise tened to the Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick.” _ I heard my mother suppress a geyser of laughter which I couldn’t understand until she caught enough breath to say:
Hugh Johnson
#8 8 E'S some kind of a ‘remote cousin of yours,” and then rehashed the story of my great-grande father and the rather sketchy family relation to the Donner party. This book filled in the:long.suppressed connection--not with the Rev. Harry Emerson, if any —but: with the Jay Fosdick of the Donner expedition. He, with his wife and several others, after escape sfrom the Sierras with the wagons was impossible, at= . tempted to mush through the mountains on snow shoes. They froze their feet. Jay Fosdick failed first, delayed the party, was left behind with his wife and finally died. Mrs. Fosdick struggled on alone. . The book is a necessary contribution to American history, but it ought to be reviewed by somebody
whose flesh and blood is less thoroughly ingested.
Business—By John
Congress Might Well Pay Attention to the Proposal] of the University Of Chicago Professor in Behalf of a Sane System of Income Taxes.
EW YORK, March 4—A distinguished economist of the University of Chicago, Prof. Henry C. Simons, comes forward, as Congress buckles down to its tax bill problem, with an able brief in behalf of a sane system of income taxes.
Mr. Simons makes a plea for the use of income taxes as the chief source of Government revenue. He is willing to justify taxes on things in special cases, as for instance a gasoline tax when used exclusively for highway improvement and maintenance. But, in the absence of a special relation between the tax and the use to which it is put, he argues for the Income tax solely. Dr. Simons insists upon absolute clarity in the definition of income. A man’s income is measured between two points in time. Take the man’s wealth at the second point—the end of the income period— add to that what he has consumed during the period and subtract from that the wealth he had at the beginning of the income period. That sounds a little abstruse, but it is necessary to be exact. But, in the
"end, it means that everything a man receives Suri
, in-
the income period is part of his incom B e
heritances, profits, salary as well as the realizes on the sale of his property of wha 8 = = HIS is the simplest conception of incomie in the end and wotild enable the Government to admin. ister an income ‘tax law without al! those numerous fine distinctions as to. what is income and what is not and with varying rates on different types of income. i :
T. Flynn
or king,
that capital losses could ‘be subtracted from all other income. To take care of inequities which ’ ‘may result from the severe application of the yearly calculations of in-
‘come, he would permit adjustments every five years. Suppose A earns $100,000 in a five-year period and B earns the same. But suppose now that A earns his
at the rate of $20,000 a year whilé B earns his $30,000 e next and nothis obvious that B.
one year, $50,000 the next, $30,000 4 ing at all in the next two years. will pay more income tax in five k, ‘on his income
than A on the same income, because he will pay
higher rates in the years in which his income is earned. Prof. Simons would permit a partial correction of this by means of rebates. : . =n i: ROF. 'SIMONS’ plan means that everyone would pay income taxes. The lowest tax rate paid by anyone would be 20 per cent. They would be graduated upward, but without increasing the effective rates at the top. These seem to be horrendous rates. But {wo points must be remembered. All the multitudinous excise and sales taxes paid by small taxpayers would be abolished. Also they would be abolished by the states, for the revenues from these high income taxes collected by the Federal Government would be shared with the states. - Prof. Simons is worth listening to. The Senate Committee, when it takes the subject up, might do well’ to call him. He bb 10 Santeious Ducal His
N= YORK, March. 4.—-It wouldn’t surprise me a N bit if the new City Council of New York turns out to be the finest: deliberative body known to any
municipality in the world. Just now* it is still finding itself. Thee is too
much debate ‘and insufficient action, but the same
thing is equally true of our national Legislature. And the quality of the debate in the Council is at least as
high as that in the House of Representatives. ‘Before watching the city fathers tear one another’s hair out I dropped in to pay a call upon an old political antagonist, Stanley paign manager for Mrs. Pratt when I was running for Congress on ihe Socialist ticket in 1930. Mrs. Pratt was a Republican, and she was the candidate who was elected. I wasn’t even close, but her Democratic rival, Judge | Brodsky, came within six hundred votes of winning, And I have no hesitation in saying that I €lected her.
“With about 6500 votes I held the balance of power.
Only I didn’t know what to do with it. . 2 8
second choice in the campaign was : Louis’
v ME, secon Mrs. Pratt in her speeches declared
that I was a menace. Since I was running on ‘the | Socialist ticket, she asserted that if by any miracle | I.should be elected it would mean the end of private
enterprise and the destruction of the home. My own’
“ambitions ‘were not as high as
t. vu not attack Judge Brodgood judge on the bench , turned out to
Isaacs, who was. cams-,
According to Heywood Broun—
The Lone Triumph in His Congressional Campaign Came When He Had Norman Thomas, Mae West and Winchell on Same Platform at Rally.
Much against my own intention I succeeded in taking enough votes away from the Magistrate to elect the lady. Stanley Isaacs admitted as much af the time. And since I once did him a favor, I wané to ask one in return. I think he should pay fio attentionto the drive b which ‘has been fomented‘ against Simon Gerson, his assistant, on the ground that Mr. Gerson is a radical. Mr. Gerson is a good newspaperman, and this is a merit appointment. Probably Mr. Isaacs didn’t resily believe the silly things ‘which Mrs. Pratt said about ‘me when I was a member of a radical party, and “the charges against Mr. Gerson are just as fantastic, After all, the most able man in the City Council today is B. Charney Vladeck, and Mr. Viadeck has most certainly been: a revolutionary in his time. At least they sent him to Shea. os
-
Y own campaign for Congress was a flop, bes AVA cause I was put scmewhat in the middle. Mrs; Pratt said I was a Red, and the. Daily Worker de= clared that the only Marx I know was Harpo. The Daily Worker was, right. But though I fdiled of election bj “of votes, I scored one triumph. "had Norman: Thomas, Walter Win all on-the same platform. : :
many thousands pot aad as Wee +
quarreled with Walter. The rally was in a thea and when Thomas was through Walter Winchell, was acting as master of ceremonies, said, “Mr. Thoma fhe dudienst is giving Ou » bie Yuna. Qome )
Br a ay oh tight "with ‘Mas, but :, §