Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 8 April 1938 — Page 21

’

‘Vagabond

From Indiana—Ernie Pyle

Capt. Hughes, Former Texas Ranger, Is One of El Paso's Institutions; His Six-Shooter Is Still Loaded.

L PASO, Tex., April 8.—Capt. John R. Hughes is probably’ the best-known man in El Paso. He is an institution, like the Fourth of July or the Rio Grande River. And Capt. Hughes, being 83 and otherwise

unoccupied, loves it. ; El Paso rings him in on all its main events. They dress him up in a movie cowboy uniform and he leads the annual Sun Carnival parade, riding a spot“ted horse. A huge oil portrait of him hangs in the coffee shop of the Paso del Norte Hotel. There are other portraits of him around town. He is frequently the honor guest at meetings. They take his picture with Mrs. Roosevelt when she cemes to town. The papers always have a story on his birthday. He is an El Paso institution, all right. And why is he? Because he is the most colorful, and almost the oldest, of the once-great Texas Rangers now living. He represents the brave, straight-shcoting, hardfighting, law-of-the-old-West: which now is gone. Capt. Hughes is as spry as a cricket. ,He hears perfectly, sees well, walks miles around town every day, thinks straight, has a grand sense of humor, drives his own car, and thousands of people speak to him on the street. He is a big, ‘impressive-looking man. He wears a big black hat, and a pair of pants he bought be- . fore he left the Ranger service 23 years ago. He has a round gray beard, wears a black leather bow- tie, and is very neat. He has never married. He retired from the Ranger service in 1915. He has just enough income to live the simple, independent life he wants to live. Cant. Hughes was born in Illinois. His folks moved to Oklahoma Territory when he was 12. And when he was 13 he rode away on his own—a grown man. He worked as a cowboy, and lived with the Indians as a trader’s agent. :

Served for 28 Years

He was in the Ranger Service from 1887 to 1915—

28 years, and 22 years of that he was a captain. He fought Indians, Mexicans, and white cattle thieves all over Texas. I asked if he had ever had to kill a man. He said: “Yes, but I don’t like to name names. You know the worst part about a criminal is that he always has relatives who are good people.” Capt. Hughes said he had killed just one man. But they tell me around El Paso he has killed a good many. Capt. Hughes took one of his old Colt six-shooters out of a suitcase and handed it to me. It had a beautiful pearl handle, with an eagle carved on one side. I looked at it and pointed it and swing it around, Nand then suddenly realized the thing was loaded. I quickly laid it down and said: “Gee whiz, the thing's loaded.” And Capt. Hughes said: “You bet it is.. There's no sense in having a gun that isn’t loaded.” He doesn’t carry a gun around El Paso but does take it along on his auto trips. * He hasn’t shot it for five years.

My Diary

By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

Storm Causes First Lady to Miss Dinner and WPA Play in New York.

EW YORK, Thursday—At 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon, while I sat under one of those modern instruments of torture, a hair-drying machine, word came to me that there was a snowstorm between Camden and Newark and that I would probably not be able to travel by plane and, if I did, would certainly

. be landed at Camden. What weather for April 6 and

it still looks and feels like winter! My hopes of going to the WPA play, “Prolog to Glory,” began to fade. At 4:30, my brother telephoned to say that it was snowing hard in New York City. I called up my friend and told her to find someone else with whom to eat the dinner I had ordered and enjoy the play. I stayed at my desk in Washington until it was time to leave for the 6 o'clock train. When I went into the diner, I found the gentleman who had se= cured my seats for the play, looking perfectly astonished to see me. I feel sure he wondered if I was in the habit of asking for seats for a play and then not using them. There were a good many young boys and girls with us on the train and I was much interested in listening to their voices. One of them had a deep contralto which rang through the whole car when she spoke and 1t literally made you turn around.

Young faces are interesting, like a clean sheet of - paper waiting for what may be written. One of these youngsters had an eager face, broad high brow, a generous mouth ars a really lovely line from her chin to her ear. I will wager that in her life there will be no meanness or pettiness, though there might be much suffering, for I am sure she has the capacity to give and that often leads one into situations either of great joy or great sorrow.

Shops for Spring Clothes My brother metwne at the, train and we had a

| few minutes together in- my sitting room before

he left for the midnight to Washington. Between us we certainly cover a lot of territory and I often wonder ‘that we manage to meet as often as we do. I breakfasted with two friends this morning and went up to see my mother-in-law and half sister-in-law, who is staying with her. Then quite frivolously, I went shopping for spring and summer clothes. You can have hats this spring apparently of any shape or kind that you desire, from a turned-up wide brimmed sailor, to a little Anhree- -cornered affair which looks gs though it eon about to fall off one ear. I learnzd long ago I could not be extreme “in any direction. You must | e Very young or. very beautiful to be really daring in the clothes you wear.

It is important to be enough in fashion, but you must Keep to a style of your own if you are to gt by inconspicuously enough to have people forget how you look.

New Books Today

Public Library Presents—

HEN he was less than 22 years old, Rene Belbenoit found himself on the way to Devil's Island, the French penal colony, under a sentence of eight years’ hard labor—one of 450 prisoners sailing from France to enter that lurid world across the sea, to combat or adjust themselves to, as well as they might, the bestiality, the corruption, the heartlessness thas characterized the prisoners and »their keepers alike.

Rene Belbenoit grew ill, suffered, attempted—unsuccessfully—four times—to escape, and lived through it. Successful in his fifth attempt, he, with five other fugitives, starved and half drowned, at length reached the island of Trinidad, where they might count upon friendly said from the British. . Of the, six, only Belbenoit remained at liberty to reach, after 22 months, the haven of the Unifed States, where at last he might be free from the horrible dread of being recaptured and sent back to Devil's Island. For! 22 months he had fought desperately and single-mindediy for life— fought the terrors of wind and waves, of the Central American jungles, of the police in those countries which might turn him over to French Justice.

11], emaciated, he carried with-him, wrapped in oilskin, a manuscript weighing 30 pounds—the story, written while he was a prisoner, of Devil's Island and its inhabitants. It is this narrative which we And in DRY GUILLOTINE (Dutton)

!

The Indianapolis Times

Second Section

F. D. R's Own Story of the New Deal

FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 1938

( Contained in an authorized advance publication of his notes and comments to “The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt”) Article No. 15

On The AAA (lll)

(Editor's Note—The AAA, quickly organized and put into effect early in the New Deal, as described in previous articles, functioned

on a vast scale for three years.

But in January, 1936, a sweeping

Supreme Court decision made the huge structure suddenly illegal. Following is President Roosevelt’s comment on this dramatic climax in the story of farm relief, written by himself in his “Public Papers and Addresses,” and never before published.)

8 = 2

2 # Ld

Y the end of 1935 the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, pursuant to the original act, the subsequent amendments to it, and related legislation, was following five principal methods for the adjustment of agricultural

crops.

These variations provided the flexibility required

in the program for different products and different situ-

ations.

The various methods were: (1) Voluntary reduction by agreement between the Secretary of Agriculture and individual farmers, (2) marketing agreements, (3) surplus removal and market expansion, (4) tax programs for com-

pulsory control such as the Bankhead Cotton Act, and the Kerr Tobacco Act, (5) holding reserve supply of certain food, feed and fiber crops as protection from extreme price fluctuations.

During this three-year. period, AAA had made 8,400,000 production adjustment contracts involving about 19,400,000 separate payments to farmers, and had disbursed about one and a half billion dollars. In 1932 approximately 205,600,000 acres were producing commodities to. which crop-adjustment programs were later applied. BY 1935 these had been reduced to 180,129,000 acres, and of this acreage 150,543,000 acres were covered by production adjustment contracts. : The acreage “rented” by the Government on which farm production was shifted by the program during its three years of operation was covered by 1,626.000 contracts in 1933, 3,105,000 in 1934, and 3,400,000 in 1935.

Program Self-Supporting

The program was practically self-supporting. The total expenditures in anticipation of processing taxes were $1,233,435,000.

Z

Believes AAA Did Rescue Farming

A Comment of President Rocsevelt From His Forthcoming Books.

The benefits to the United States from the AAA programs, which were declared in large part unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court, were "felt throughout the land almost from the beginning of the programs. In my message of March 16, 1933, I stated that a new means would have to be found to rescue agriculture. I do not think that it is an exaggeration to say that the means adopted did rescue agriculture. During the three yea between 1932-35 the c tribution of agriculture to the national income rose from 5.7 per cent to 10.3 per cent, equaling the percentage of 1929. Cash farm ‘income rose from its low point of $4,377,000,000 in 1932 to $7,201,000,000. It is true that this gain was offset in part by an increase in prices of things farmers had to buy. Allowing, however, for an increase of 17 per cent in prices farmers paid for all products used by them both in living and in production of crops, the purchasing pcwer of cash income from farm production was still 41 per cent greater in 1935 than in 1932.

Copyright, 1938; copyright under International Copyright Union; all rights reserved under InterAmerican Copvright Union (1810) by ' Franklin D. Roosevelt; dis tributed by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

The taxes actually collected fell short of that figure by about $296,000,000, which was the amount held up by court injunctions obtained by processors against the payment of the tax. Had all of the taxes which had been assessed, $1,219,461,000, been paid, the collections would have fallen short of expenditures by only $14,000,000. Allowing for the lag between assessments and collections, it seems that the expenditures would have been fully repaid by tax collections. As the program developed, farm

leaders and farmers played a pro- .

gressively important part in policy and in administration. Approximately 4600 county control associations were formed for most of the basic commodities for which voluntary adjustment plans were developed.

Vote for AAA

In addition to these local associations, six direct referenda were taken in 1934 and 1935 among farmers of five of the basic com= modities—wheat, cotton, . tobacco, corn and hogs. Votes were cast in these referenda by nonsigners as well as signers of adjustment contracts. The vote for continuance of production-control measures for the various commodities ranged from 67 per cent to more than 95 per cent. The total vote in these referenda was 4,288,510, of which 3,707,642 votes were in favor of continuance. As far back as late 1934 and early 1935, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration began to " plan a transition from the temporary emergency phase of the adjustment programs to a long-time phase, which would, give a larger place to soil conservation and improved farm management practice. That policy was discussed by me in a speech on Oct. 25, 1935. It had been the subject of discussions over many months with representatives of farmers, with agricultural colleges and with extension workers in a series of regional conferences in 1935.

AAA Unconstitutional

On Jan. 6, 1936, the United States Supreme Court in the case

. of United States vs. Butler, et al,

receivers of Hoosac Mills Corp, declared unconstitutional the production control activities carried on by means of contracts and processing tax provisions of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, and brought the farmers’ program as it was then operating to a stop. Amendments had been made to

the Agricultural Adjustment Act.

on Aug. 24, 1935, intended, among other things, to -safeguard the act so far as possible. against attacks based on the case of Schechter Poultry Corp. Vs. United States, which on May 27, 1935, struck down the code-mak-ing provisions of NIRA as unconstitutional. They sought to do this by bringing more clearly under the power to regulate interstate com_merce the various provisions of e act and by providing ‘more Jose standards for administraive action. The amendments, with these ends in view, defined, specified and limited in great detail the authority which had been dele= gated by the Congress to the Sec-

Side Glances—By Clark

Nh

n “<’

| "We had to quit seeing the: Mexwells—our dogs don’t get along."

A EE it Heavy blow that brought an end to the Agricultural Adjustment Act was the Supreme Court's it was unconstitutional. group of New Dealers who conferred with Presi-

decision that

The Supreme Court which declared the New Deal's AAA unconstitutional in a decision handed down Jan. 6, 1936, is pictured here.

retary of Agriculture, so that it could not be said, pursuant to the Schechter decision, that there had been an unconstitutional delegation of legislative powers. The Secretary was directed, rather

. than authorized, to put into ef-

fect certain specified corrective measures and was permitted to use his discretion only in the choice of the corrective measures specified by the Congress.

References to interstate com-:

merce were redefined, and operation of the act was sought to be brought rigorously within the limits of the interstate commerce clause. The marketing agreement provisions of the amended statute were different from the original Agricultural Adjustment Act. The broad .and general powers which had been granted to the Secretary of Agriculture under the original act were limited.

Changes Fail to Help

There were a number of additional strengthening and clarifying provisions inserted in this new statute which had no relationship to ‘any judicial controversy as to its constitutionality. The changes, however, were held by the Supreme Court of the United States, in Rickert Rice Mills; Inc., vs. Fontenot, not to have cured “the infirmities of the original Act which were the basis of the decision in U. S. vs. Butler,” which declared the original Act unconstitutional. The later decision stated that “the exaction still lacks the quality of a true tax” and that “it remains a means for effectuating the regulation of agricultural production, a matter not within the powers of Congress.” Instead of terminating the farmers’ | efforts permanently, however, the decision of the Supreme Court in the Hoosac Mills case had the eftect of hastening the transition from the emergency

right: Above, a

The Justices Reynolds.

phase to the long-time phase which had been planned. The decision; when it came, precipitated as a sudden change that which had been planned as a gradual one. For on Feb. 29, 1936—less than two months after the Court's decision—the Congress enacted a new law to replace the invali-

dent Roosevelt after the Court’s decision. Rep. Marvin Jones of Texas, Senator Bankhead of Alabama, Cummings, and AAA Administrator Chester Davis.

are (rear row) Roberts, Butler, Stone, Cardozo, (front: row) Brandeis, Van Devanter, Hughes, Clark, Me»

Entered

Left to

Attorney General Homer S.

dated postions of AAA. This Tew law was the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, which I signed on Feb. 29, 1936. Copyright 107 copyright under International Copyright | Union; all rights reserved PA Inter-American Copyright

Union (1910) by Franklin D. Roosevelt; distributed by United Feature Syndicate, inc.

trol.

Holds Air Defense Worries England and France

By Maj. Al Williams Times Special Writer EW YORK, April 8.—England has a Navy three times stronger than any combination of navies likely to be opposed to hers. She has a highly mechanized ground Army. And England is scared stiff about her capacity to defend herself and regain her balance of power in Europe. France has a Navy that is easily superior to that of any continental power. Her Army is still reckoned as the most powerful, if not in ‘numbers, at least in point of fighting power. Then France has the Maginot Line of {fortifications that extend from her southernmost border to Belgium. The Maginot Line is re-

puted to have cost about 400 million

dollars. In places it is 30 miles wide and goes down into the earth four or five stories. Concrete big gun emplacements and pillboxes for machine guns, plus storehouses for millions of shells big and little, plus food and water supplies, make the Maginot Line the most powerful line of fortifications ever built. With an enormous manpower of about eight millions holding the Maginot Line, military experts think France

Jasper—By Frank Owen

H-&

Copr. 1938 4% United Posture Srudleats, Ine.

"Before you give us the ticket, Officer, ait till Jasper fi els out if Ae ? I

can resist invasion against the armies of all the countries east of her borders, including even Russia. And still France, like England, is scared stiff about her ability to protect herself. : And what are they worried about in the midst of this bristling array of men and equipment? They are scared stiff that they have spent billions of treasure cathering up a lot of equipment that is valuable only for the old kind of war—namely, war on th=2 ground or on the sea. The possibility of air attack has the leaders of both nations by the ears. England is admittedly two years behind schedule with her air rearmament, while France is now reaping the results of nationalizinz her aireraft industry. French air power has been on the ebb for years. She hasn’t the airplanes, nor has she the trained personnel to fly the ships she is trying. to buy from us and other nations. Neither the | British battleship fleet nor the Maginot Line can reach far enough into the air to fend off the air power of Germany or Italy. England and France have spent their money for jeily beans and are now’ rueing the purchase.

TEST YOUR "KNOWLEDGE

1—What is the name for the plastic material secreted by bees and used by them in . making their cells? 2—Name the great lyric poet of Scotland. 3—Through which three states does the Hposac River flow? 4—In electricity, what is a coulometer? 5—Who was Nicolas Coustou? 6—What is the name for the young of an animal, when it differs from its parents in form and manner of life? sn =o Answers 1—Beeswax. 2—Robert Burns. . 3—Massachusetts, Vermont and New York. ; 4—An instrument for determining the quantity of electric current which is passing through an electric circuit. 5—French sculptor. 6—Larva. ” ” 2

ASK THE TIMES

Inclese a 3-cent stamp for reply when addressing any "question of fact or information to The Indianapolis Times Washington Service . Bureau, -1013 13th St.,, N, W., Washington, D. C. Legal and medical advice cannot be given, nor can extended research be under-

as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis, Ind.

NEXT—Compulsory Crop Con- |.

Jane Jordan—

iat

PAGE 17

Our Town By Anton Scherrer

Starting With 12,000 Books the Public Library Today, on lts 65th Birthday, Has 600,000 Volumes.

T a time when everybody else is dancing on a volcano I find it kind of comfort. ing to note that 65 years ago today the Public Library set up shop in Indianapolis. As far as I know, they intend to stay in business. It's one of the two or three things ‘that seem to indicate that everything isn’t going to the bow-wows around here. Seems, though, we had something in the way of a. free library before we had the kind we now have. At any rate. as far back as 1869 we had the Indianapolis Library Association, a stock company composed of 100 citizens, each of whom was to contribute $125, the annual amount to go to the maintenance and increase of a public library. At the end of five years they were going to make the next move and decide whether it was worth while to continue. | The stockholders never had a chance to pay more than $75 apiece into the concern because at the end of three years a real-for-sure Public Library was organized a part -of the school system. When the stockholders heard of it, they decided to put nothing in the way of the new enterprise. Indeed, théy went even further, and donated their entire collection of 4000 books to the new outfit. They were applauded for their action by Judge Addison Roache who delivered the speech at the opening of the Public Library in the Indianapolis High School Building on April 8, 1873. He was one of the Schoo! Board Committee, together with Dr. Harvey Carey, Dr. Thomas Elliott and [Austen H. Brown, appointed on May 24, 1872, to figure out a way of starting a Public Library here.

Watch Those Cleveland Re ders!

Apparently, they got busy right away because on July 5, 1872, they employed W. F. Poole (“Poole’s Index”), librarian of the Cincinnati Library, to prepare a catalog of 8000 books, which, of eourse, leaves me no alternative but to believe that the Public Library started with a .collection of 12,000 books, counting the 4000 they got as a gift. .In 10 years, under the leadership of Charles Evans, the first librarian, and Albert Yohn, his successor, they whipped the collection up to 38,689 items. Since then, the collection has been growing at a faster pace. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be possible to explain the 600,000 books, including the 80 copies of Gone With the ‘Wind,” now on the shelves up there. It may surprise you to |learn that the Ine dianapolis Library has one of the biggest turnovers of any in the country—something like nine books circulation per capita. New York, which thinks itself so smart, has 3.41, and Chicago, which knows how to toot its horn, has only 3.02. Boston has 5.58 (haw! haw!). On the other hand, Cleveland has a circula=

Mr. Scherrer

tion of 10.95 books per capita. It’s the town we've got

to watch. To lick Cleveland we've got to increase our circu--

lation, and the only way I know how to do it is to

make the borrowers knuckle down and return the books when due. It really amounts to a matter of conduct. Maybe you don’t know it, but the School

Board collects around $10,000 every year in “fines”

for books lost or not returned within the specified time,

Girl Need Not Have Marriage Ideas To Enjoy Boy's Company, Jane Says.

EAR JANE JORDAN-—I am a girl of 17 and an only child. I have been going withsthree girls for nine years and we have been the best of friends. We have never had a quarrel. We all were born in different countries. We have never had a quarrel or let any other affair spoil our friendship. Lately I find that the other three are beginning to have boy friends. I really do not care for boys in the least, but I feel that I am losing the friendship of the girls. They beg me to have a boy friend so we may all have boy friends together. I know a nice boy slightly and he wishes to have dates with me, but I could never like him seriously. I find that| I do not mind being alone reading books or getting my lessons, although I do like to have fun as we all have had in the past., If 1 ge with this boy I know I io be gay and like him very much, but never love him. If I don’t choose a boy friend I'am afraid I will lose my girl friends. Another thing is that I love opera music and the others do not. I have planned to become an opera singer but my girl friends object. ‘They say that a boy does not care for opera. What shall I do? DEEDY. : 2. 8 = ; Answer—Your girl friends are right. The four of you aren’t little girls any more. You've come upon another phase of your development which your girl friends welcome and which you resist. Boys are a part of this new phase. You'd rather stay at home with your books and your lessons. In other words you'd rather read about life than live it. You must recognize this as a retreat from experience. Such retreats are made only by people who are afraid to advance. At 17 you don’t have to be seriously interested in a boy to enjoy his company. You aren’t considering marriage, you know. Youre just learning to get along with the other sex. I do not know whether you have the voice to become an opera singer or not. That is something you will have to find out for yourself. It may be that not many boys are interested in opera but what of it? You can talk to them of other things and keep still about your own ambitions. Don’, t bore the boys by talking about that part of your life which doesn't interest them, but meet them on other grounds. .

Note to Miss M. P.—I do not know “Worried Lor= rine’s” address. | JANE JORDAN.

Put your problems in a letter to Jane Jordan, who will answer your questions in this ¢ in this column dai

Bob Burns Soy

OLLYWOOD, April 8—If you talk to anybody who has made a success any line they will tell you that the thing that kept them goin’ was havin’ something to look forward to. | When a fella can’t look forward to somethin’ he rent as well quit alto= ether. : I know &ne actor out here who struggled for years ‘in small-time vaudeville and he| got to be one of the biggest stars in pictures. . He told me the other day there wouldn't be any ine centive in goin’ on if he hadn't [found something else to look forward to. He took me out to his house and showed me the most beautiful bathroom I ever saw, and with pride in his eyes he says: “Now you can uneaerstand why I look forward to Saturday night.” (Copyright, 1938)

Walter O'Keefe OLLYWOOD, April 8.— Yesterday was the fifth birthday for legal beer and the Governments— both Federal and local—have knocked down over a

billion and a half in revenues. | The last five years have

longed to the beer

boom, but now with every nation|in the world launch- -

ing battleships it looks as if the next five years will shoot champagne sales higher than ever. If the beer business can come back to life after being knocked on its back by vernment interference, it’s a cinch that other businesses can do the ‘same. 3 lo of pecpls wan: ». D. 3.10 repeal me

on right now,

SRR sd