Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 April 1938 — Page 10

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PAGE 10°

The Indianapolis Times

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«Spo Rlley 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.

MONDAY, APRIL 25, 1938

NOW, THE WAGE-HOUR BILL : 0. HE wage-hour issue has been stripped again to its fundamentals. Now there is a possibility that the country can get somewhere on this much-needed reform. It is only a bare possibility, because action has been so long delayed and Congress is in a hurry to quit. For more than a year legislation to accomplish the simple obj ective—a floor under wages and a ceiling on working hours in interstate industries—has been blocked by collateral controversies. That was because the Adminis‘ration draftsmen of the original bill went far beyond the simple objective and tried to put our whole complex industrial system under bureaucratic control. They tried not only to fix minimum wages but also to regulate all wages except those in the very highest brackets. But the bill now reported by the House Labor Committee leaves out the bureaucracy, the objectionable delegations of power, the boards of exceptions, the seizure of factory records, the policing of factory premises. It simply defines oppressive child labor and substand ‘ard labor conditions and prohibits them in industries competing in interstate commerce. It proposes: To -forbid employment of children under 16, and to regulate employment of children between 16 and 18 in hazardous occupations. To prohibit employment at less than 25 cents an hour the first year, 30 cents the second, 35 the third and 40 cents thereafter. To prohibit employment for more than 44 hours a week the first year, 42 the second and 40 thereafter. ‘ To provide for enforcement through the Federal courts. Debate may reveal the wisdom of making some modifications. But it seems to us the House Labor Committee has done a good job of law-writing. Some employers will argue, for instance, that the minimum-pay scale rises too sharply from $11 a week the first year to’ $12.60 the 8econd, $14 the third and $16 thereafter. Our curbstone judgment would be that an employer, selling goods in the national market who can’t start now to pay at least $11 a week and who can’t boost that rate to at least $16 at the end of three years, had better get out of business. Certainly it would be better for the country that such an employer should be driven out of business than that his sweatshop competition should ruin those who try to maintain more

decent wages. = 2 ” u ” ”

T will be argued, also, that differentials should permit lower wages in certain parts of the country and in smaller communities. ~ Again speaking from the curbstone, it strikes us that $11, or even $16, a week will provide no more than a bare subsistence living standard, regardless of how warm the sun shines in any climate or how low the house rentals are. ~ Those who plead for differentials do have, we dare say, a valid contention in the matter of discriminatory freight rates. But is it fair to offset freight differentials with wage differentials taken out of the hides of the lowest paid workers? Better adjust freight costs by direct action. The Interstate Commerce Commission was created for just such purposes. The A. F. of L. and the C. L 0. have united in support of this bill, and that is encouraging. We believe the bill should be brought out on the floors of Congress, amended if and as necessary, and passed this session. . For there is much in what the House Labor Committee says—that the new depression has brought “the inevitable wage cuts which the great mass of American businessmen so deplore, but are powerless to prevent,” and that “the . Federal Government cannot by inaction permit the channels of commerce to be used to set this spiral of deflation in motion . . . used te spread suffering and destitution.”

- THE FUNNY TAXPAYER : (OFFICIALS in the Bureau of Internal Revenue at Wash- : ington are said to be laughing heartily over 4 Ken- _ tucky taxpayer’s reply to a form letter notifying him that: “The records of this office disclose that you have re- * ceived reimbursements from your vendors which make ‘you - liable for a return on Form 945 covering the year in which such reimbursements were received or accrued.” The Kentucky taxpayer wrote: “Please be advised that I am not operating any vending machines now, nor have I operated any in the past, of any kind, sort or description. You have been misinformed if “your office records show that I received reimbursements from any vendors. How in Sam Hill could I receive them when there is no vendors here to receve from and as I reported before ‘that there has not been any here in the past? Please change your records accordingly.” Imagine the ignorance of a taxpayer who thinks vendors are vending machines! Imagine his chagrin when ‘the bureaucrats whose salaries he is helping to pay crack down with another form letter telling him to come through on Form 945 or else! Somehow, though, we hesitate to join the merry gentlemen of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in their laughter. “There's a lot of language in their tax forms, blanks and instructions that we aren’t sure we understand. We aren’t even quite certain what they mean by “reimbursements from vendors.” The truth is, we're afraid to laugh at, the Kentucky ‘taxpayer because, for all we know, the gentlemen in the Internal Revenue Bureau may be laughing next at us.

‘WHO CAN DOUBT IT?

™ Kenosha, Wis., for the Socialist Party's ational’ conven-

tion, Norman Thomas-—three times the party 8 candidate for President—says:" “I won't be a candidate in 1940 . . . at least, I hope I ~ won't be. I hope they can get someone else.” Many men have said that they didn’t want to run for President, and their protestations have fallen on skeptical 3. Mr. Thomas is one of the few gnen who has said it

t of being believed by practically everybody.

Price in Marion Coun-’

| I fail her

Fair Enough

By Westbrook Pegler

There's No Way to Get Around It! One of Every || Workers Is a State

Employee, Exempt From Income Tax. |

EW YORK, April 25.—Senator Byrd of Virginia estimates the number of state, county and municipal employees, hereinafter referred to simply as employees, at four million. A year ago, however, George Brabson, a special attorney in the Internal Revenue Department in Washington, estimated their number at 4,891,000. According to the World Almanac, the total number of jobs that industry was able to provide in 1936 was 43,843,000. Such figures can’t be accurate but they are good enough

| to illustrate the fact that for every 10 jobs that

business can offer, state government provides one. Many of these state jobs involve purely imaginary duties or none whatever. In business, where, gene erally speaking, every job has to show a profit and there are no sinecures except a few dugouts for sons and in-laws of owners and executives, the average

pay in 1936 was $1244. Senator Byrd has estimated E

that the state employees’ average pay is $1500. ® = = 5 ; TILL, it is argued that it would be not only unconstitutional to compel state employees to pay the Federal income tax, but hardly worth the trou ble. The probable return from the application of ‘the

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES -

No Way to Treat an Invader—gy Kirby

* You ¢

ANT oo TAAT To we! 4

rn SUPPOSED © > DE WIN NING.

Federal income tax to this exempt class has been =

estimated by the Treasury at only $15,000,000, but that reckoning fails to take into consideration the fact that if the members of this class were compelled to declare and pay the tax on their public pay, many of those who have income from other sources would be thrown into higher brackets. Citing from incomplete records for 1935, ‘Mr. Brabson built a table about a year ago showing that only

4,300,691 returns were filed and that because of the |

persistent hacking at the base with exemptions of one kind and another, the number of taxable returns had dwindled to 1,836,165. In 1931, the worst year of the great panic, there were only 1, 525, 546 taxable returns. ” 8 » HE ratio of nontaxable income is appalling,”

Mr. Brabson wrote in the Tax magazine. “In’ 1933 there were approximately 41 million persons gainfully employed. Add to that 10 million who, by conservative estimate, are not employed but receive in-

come from various sources. The total is 51 million subject to tax. Out of that total in 1933 we find that less than two million actually paid. That is, only 1.39 per cent of those having income are paying a direct tax in support of the Federal Government.” Mr. Brabson does a strong job ‘of body-punching on the argyment that if the tax were extended to state employees, capable people would be deterred from entering the state employ and that thus the states’ efficiency would be impaired. Oh, yeah, says he, and if they refused to enter state employment then what other employment would they select? Because if they shunned the so-called public service, they would have to hire'out to private industry, in which they would have to pay the tax and no ifs or ands about it. Anyway, there you are: About one- -eleventis of the total of employed Americans are exempt because, among other reasons, they might sulk and brood and waste the states’ time gossiping around the watercooler about the injustice of a law Sompeliing them to pay their fair share.

Business By John T. Flynn

Those Who Think That Extensive Inflation Is Near Are Mistaken.

EW YORK, April 25.—As usual when the stock market acts up or down various explanations are offered. Week before last the market went up. Last Monday it faltered, Tuesday turned down and Wednesday sank further. The explanation offered

_ with some disgust by some was that the market had

risen upon the so-called “good news” of the defeat of the Reorganization Bill. But this is not true. The market rose upon the anticipation of the President's new spending program. The talk about “$5,000,000,000” was a little too much for the speculatiye mind. The shadow of impending inflation seemed to grow suddenly larger. But now the market turns down because upon examination the spending program does not seem so rosy for quick inflation. First of all the billion and a quarter for WPA is not any more, certainly very little more, than is being ised up now on WPA rolls.

In the meantime a vigorous resistance has developed to other parts of the program. It now looks as if these parts may be curtailed either in passage by Congress or administration by the President. And besides, in spite of the presence in the Government's hands of over 2000 projects, the fact remains that these cannot be launched at once. So that the prospect of some sudden infusion of new moneys into the system is not as bright as it was.

Deflationary Trend Sidetracked

It is a good thing for business. to realize this because it may then behave more intelligently instead of in the manner of the little inflationary boom of April to July, 1933. The situation seems to stand thus. There is going to be a spending program. There has got to be one. It may be enough to move business activity up some, but as far as one can see now it is not enough to produce a real inflationary burst. Unless the spending program is increased as it goes along the Government will soon see the need for additional spending and if it does not yield there will be a return of the present recession. There is: not, therefore, now in sight any immediate sign of the inflationary push so long expected. But there is in sight, there is actually in motion now what might be called the secondary energy of an inevitable inflation which lies ahead. Up to.a year ago it might have been argued that a reactionary wave might sweep the country and force ‘a deflation. It now looks as if that phase has passed and that while we may dawdle along for a year or two or even more, we are now definitely in the infla-

‘ tionary drift and it is merely a question of time. But

-those who think the time for the explosive lore of + inflation.is near at hand are mistaken.

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

CAN'T imagine how any woman gets along without a daughter. It’s a constant blow to your vanity, of course, living with a charming young thing who is said to re3emble her mother. Every time you see her—smooth skin, sparkling eyes under grave brows, - and the sweetest mouth in the world—you take heart, fancying that your own face and form must be faintly similar. One look into the mirror shatters the illusion. The highlights of youth have left this middle-aged” face, but isn’t it wonderful to see them sitting across the table every night at dinner? : A girl in the house is always a joy. Very little

ones are the darlingest beings on earth, although when |

they plunge into the awkward age you feel the queer neutral creatures may be fixtures in the family. overnight your changeling becomes a princess,

tween you and her grows strong. It’s a miracle really. The boys have a way of get-

- ting around you. They are always and forever your

babies,qand your strongest urge is to pet and pamper them, even after they have babies of their own. Sometimes this daughter of yours will seem a stranger, haughty, remote, when a lightning flash of understanding will come which creates a feeling of sisterhood between you, the sensation of complete unity. Mothers of sons are often overcome with the thought: “Here is a man I have made.” That is a moment for profoundest pride. But how describe what one feels looking into the serious eyes of a girl child, a being created wholly in your image? It's a mystery, deep, frightening, beautiful. Some day we shall be women mrs you tell your hi d rstand.and on

as a dewy rose, and gradually the feminine te be- |

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

&

’

CRITICIZES ATTACK ON GAMBLING By L. M., Spencer There is no doubt that the man was right when he informed the Governor that there was gambling in Indianapolis. And no one was surprised when that man made the statement that there is gambling in all communities. There probably has always been and always will be. Why should anyone else be bothering about what other people are doing as long as they are not bothering him. It has been said that life is just a gamble. The moneyed men sit upon the Board of Trade and bet upon the price of grain. The farmer puts his labor up against the crops that he hopes to harvest. The politician puts his genius up against the office that he hopes to win. So it goes all along the line.

” » » SETS SAMPLE POLITICAL SPEECH TO RHYME By W. Scott Taylor

What the politicians need during the coming campaign to compete successfully with the crooners is more rhythm, rhyme and swing. The following is an example of a political speech set to nursery rhyme which anybody who will furnish the music has permission to use:

Yes, Mary had a little lamb, The Power Trust had one, too; And everything the Power Trust wants The lamb is sure to do.

And all the Trusts have little lambs, Their interests te promote For anything the Trusts require. The lambg are sure to vote.

Should there be lack of buying power To reach production’s goals, The lambs supply consumers new By changing jobs to doles.

Should basketeers be not content With doles the lambs have blest, The lambs recall brave pioneers Who said: “Young man: Go West.” >

And if away in desert winds The young man’s savings blow, What ois, what blessings equal

ose The ox cart days bestow? - 8 ” » 3 SAYS DEMOCRATS ARE ERRING IN OPPOSING PRESIDENT

By C. 0. C. History repeats itself. Immediately preceding the Congressional elections of 1918 a general drive was started against Woodrow Wilson by Republicans and Democrats alike. The drive succeeded as this one which is now in progress seems in a fair way to succeed. The election gave Wilson a hostile Congress, which set up a perfect condition for a Republican victory in the Presi dential election of 1920. The Democrats helped turn the trick and with what result? They found themselves out in the cold for a period of 12 years. At the Democratic National Con-

(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.)

vention at Chicago, Will Rogers made this statement after the ticket had been nominated: “Go home now, and don’t act like Democrats, act like Republicans.” What he meant was—“Act as a body and stay with your organization. Don't assert. that pigheaded independence which ruins any organization.” “In my humble opinion the editor of The Times is making a grave mistake when he uses his columns to criticize the President so severely. It would not be right for me to tell you gentlemen just what I think of you. Putting it mildly it is a cry of “Wolf, Wolf,” put up by the Republicans and echoed by your editorials along with most of the other newspapers. . ‘a's » SAYS CROSSINGS AS PERILOUS

AS DRIVERS MAKE THEM

By K. V. C. : I read your editorial “Death Crossings.” In my opinion there is no such thing as a dangerous rail

crossing. A railroad crossing is only -as dangerous as the driving pubic

makes it. However, there is danger if the proper caution is not used by the motoring public. There is only one way to keep motorists from killing themselves and damaging rail property and that is to elevate one or the other. The Madison Ave. crossing of the Indianapolis Union Railway carries heavy traffic, both highway and

rail, yet accidents are few at this jam

crossing. On the east side this crossing’s view is obstructed to north and south traffic. I believe the record at this crossing is due to the flasher lights being placed in the center of the crossing on concrete pillars. Motorists are sure to see them if they are not asleep. Now contrast this crossing with the Shelby St. crossing farther east on the same railroad. This crossing has had numerous accidents with several deaths. It has flasher lights but instead of being placed in the

+ FRIENDSHIP By ANNA E. YOUNG

What a beautiful feeling of perfect : content, If we possess this Heaven-sent Knowledge of knowing and under-

stand ; Just what it takes to be a friend.

‘DAILY THOUGHT

1t is joy to the just to do judgment: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.—Proverbs 21:15.

E who goes no further than bare justice, stops at the be-

ginning of virtue—Blair.

center they are at the side in line with the curb. Many motorists do not pay any attention to them placed in this position. Shelby St. crossing should have three or four spot lights placed so the light could be flooded on a passing train af night. Colored lights should be placed on the ground to throw a beam of light up in the air over the crossing. This would attract the attention of motorists. These could be worked in conjunction with the regular flasher lights at night, #8. SAYS GERMAN MAY HAVE TRAFFIC SOLUTION By B. C. Maybe a solution to the country’s traffic problems has been found. A German inventor has come through with a- helicopter that will go forward, backward, and sideways, rise or settle to the ground within a few feet, come to a standstill in the air, revolve like a merry-go-round, in short, do everything but walk a high-wire. It does its rising and dropping “as softly as a feather,” according to the dispatch that brings the news, and anybody can operate it who can master such a feat as driving a car. How about a helicopterautomobile? Think of being able to rise gently from a traffic jam and move ahead,

back, or sideways to a clear space. Think of rising and then turning].

like a merry-go-round to survey the driving conditions of an entire community. Think of moving gently sideways into a parking space. Think of . No, dont think any more. The thought comes to mind of everybody getting “helicopter-cars, everybody rising simultaneously from a traffic jam, everybody revolving like mer-ry-go-rounds, in a regular aerial

Shucks, 2 ” fF PROTESTS INCREASE FOR M'NUTT : By R. G. L. V. I see that High Commissioner McNutt has been able to get some $32,000 worth of increased appropriations from Congress for the next year’s budget. The biggest item is for rent, then travel expenses, and then for three cars. Governor Murphy of Michigan, when he was High Commissioner to

the Philippines found th: old appropriation more than sufficient to

uphold the dignity of the United

States. So much for Commissioner McNutt’s famous economy. It doesn’t apply to him personally. Why indeed, should he not live in the style to which he'd like to become ac-

customed when the Government}

foots the bills? Possibly there's no occasion for these sour comments, but it certainly isn’t encouraging to Government officials who try to save the taxpayers’ money in the administration of their office.

\TE eas FACTOR IN HUMAN P

HAPPINESS ) OR UNHAPIINESSE

YOUR OPINION ee

DANFORTH biologist, “that about orle=tourth of

QUESTION: WHICH HAG BEEN ™~

LET'S EXPLORE YOUR MIND

By DR. ALBERT EDWARD WIGGAM.

"| does ‘having it comp:

finger is the most important; if it has no hair, it is rare for the other fingers to have it. The toes run the same way.: » 2 ” I DISCUSSED character and defeat FepSatly | but let us apply brilliant children. B the Ey Chologiot means they should not be permitted to get cockey and smart alecky, he is right; but in my judgment the way to prevent this is not to set tasks at which they will fail but to put them with their equals so they will have to exert all their powers to keep up Nothing deany child

whether bright or dull as does put- | ting it with a more brilliant child

and nothing develops character as ate successfully with equals. : su = NO SCIENTIFIC answer fs possible but the. points I think.

‘| of are that man’s unhappiness and | discontent with his present lot have

constantly. urged him on to seek happiness Sngin doing so he has un-

intentionally caused progress. do not think and toil in order .

secur progress but to remedy. their | the

| dinary

en| ly nutritious material into the stomach.

MONDAY, APRIL 25, 1938

Gen. Johnson

Says—

Rep. Harlan’ s Bill "to Prohibit ~The Sale of Veteran Government Horses and Mules Deserves Support.

ASHINGTON, April 25.~Last summer, in this space, attention was called to a Government

: suction sale of 18 and 20-year-old horses and mules

—worn out in public. service and worthless, From a long experience in the cavalry, it was recommended that these veteran public ‘servants be either shot or sent to pasture for their few remain ing months, rather than be rotired to killing Diirens on a diet of shavings. There is real tragedy in the condemnation of an

old cavalry horse. There is a tradition in the Army, a story of a veteran cavalry soldier whose veteran

- horse was thus sold out from under him. Brooding,

he deserted. Down and out, he came, after some weeks to a Mexican bull ring. When the picadors

“came in to manage their blindfold scurvy mounts into ‘| positions where the bull could horn them this ex-

sergeant recognized his old’ mount. The derelict soldier rushed to the rescue of his derelict horse. He pulled the picador out of the saddle, kicked the

{ bull in the nose until it turned tail and. ran, punched

the matador and the master of ceremonies and 1ode his ancient horse off to some blue heaven.

ot » = . "HETHER true or not, this story used to be cone

fidently believed in several cavalry regiments, Reading that former column into the Congres‘sional Record, Rep. Harlan of Ohio has introduced a bill, HR9848, which is very short. It says in effect: “U. 8. horses and mules which have become unfit for service shall be destroyed or put to pasture.” In difference to the Government between merciful death and sale of a body worn out in public service,

good conscience certainly favors the former and dole lars and cents against conscience are trifling. As Mr. Harlan whimsically said in advancing his proposal: “This is a bill for which no lobbyist will appear at your door offering either threats or promises. Your support*of this bill will bring no promises of votes or campaign contributions. You will receive nothing but the self-gratification of knowing you have at least cast one vote that will be chalked up to your: credit as being a human being. “Inquiry at the Procurement Department discloses that there are very few of these horses and mules sold, probably not to exceed 100 a year .. . It is néedless because the revenue received is but a pittance and too small for any country, especially the United States,

‘to acquire at the expense of misery and suffering.”

R. HARLAN is right about revenue but I believe that his figures from the Procurement Departe ment are wrong. More than 100 of these dumb servis tors are sold down the river every year. : Mr. Harlan continued: “Imagine this kind of auce tion advertisement by your Goverfiment and mine$ “‘No. 5 is Joe,: 21 years old, weight 2100 pounds, tenderfooted, becomes lame when used regularly.” “Twenty-one in a horse is the equivalent of 80 in a man. This is about like saying your grandfajher ‘he isn’t any good any more, I will sell him for $5.” Let's not do it. Let’s everybody get behind Mr. ‘Harlan’s bill. Unlike the farthing which w id to have been invented to enable the Naa 10 philanthropy—here’s a chance to practice humanity at a cost per head of even less than a farthing,

li Seems to Me

By Heywood Broun

Yorkville Incident Is Evidence That Our Oceans Are Not So Wide.

EW YORK, April 25.—Blackjacks bounced upon

the skull of isolation in the Yorkville section of

Manhattan. I am far from trying to build the riot at the meeting of the German-American Bund into an international incident. Still I confess to an uneasy feeling when I read, “The gray-shirted Storm Troopers gathered around the hecklers and the swastika emblems on the arms of the troopers rose and fell as they clubbed the objec tors into submission.” Se The accounts: as to what happened before the

' Storm Troopers moved into action are a little .con-

fused. According to one account, the trouble started when a man in the audience asked, “Aren’t id

going to be any speeches in English?” Personally, it is my opinion that he was out of order. The chairman might well have said “No” and ordered the current orator to continue. Another version of the cause of the fracas is that one of the speakers spoke in gross and insulting terms about the President of the United States. But possibly he merely translated into German some of the things which have been said on the editorial pages or in the comment columns of American newspapers.

Already on the Inside .

I see no reason why foreign language groups, ine cluding the Germans, shodld not use their own tongue in meetings and maintain their own press. But I think that no part of free speech, free assembly or any other civil liberty is violated if we say that no one from abroad, or here gt home, shall be privileged to organize and maintain’ his own particular police force. I am equally against Storm Troopers and thugs hired in labor disputes. Yet what I have chiefly in mind is that the Yorke ville riot, although a comparatively small thing in itself, is a straw by Which we may know the way the wind blows. It is a bit of testimony that the oceans which surround us are not nearly as wide as the complete isolationists would have us believe. It is naive to say that America should not even register an opinion on foreign quarrels. What is the point of arguing that we can keep fascism out- of America by rigorously resolving never to mention it, The heckler with a fractured skull will have every

- right to mutter when he regains consciousness, “Don’t

talk to me about keeping fascism out of Amgen It is already here. § can show you the scars.

Watching Your Health

By Dr. Morris Fishbein

{cosionaLLy following measles, influen, al ther infectious diseases, and sometimes as a i ol; related to other conditions, the extraordisease called epidemic lethargic encephalitis It has been called

_epidem

appears in various communities.

American sleeping sickness.

. It is no longer felt nection between this disease and epidemic influenza.

tly. encephalitis can affect the human body Apa > damaged by some other infection. The onset of this condition is sudden or gradual; in fact, it does not always follow a definite pattern. 0 Usually there is increasing drowsiness, slight fe

‘and the beginning of difficulty with vision, such as

‘double vision, or other eye disturbances. ° Recovery from this ‘infection of the brain is usually slow, and in a considerable number of the cases there are left progressive disturbances of the nervous system which are “serious. _ Unfortunately, the medical profes has nob yet devéloped any specific method. of t for th ‘disease. The most Wak can D be -done is give the ' best possible care to the pat tient, with the hope that the infection will disappear and then. the tissues of the brain will gradually return to, normal. . Since these patients are unable to feed themselves or even to eat or to swallow normally, it is: Hepiently

nose and to insert a mixture of easily: digestible, hig It is, of course, necessary to’ control the fev | y, and other

that there is any" direct cone

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