Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 21 May 1938 — Page 10

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The Indianapolis Times

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

MARK FERREE Business Manager

LUDWELL DENNY

ROY W. HOWARD Editor

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Riley 5551 ——

Qive lLioht and the People Will Find Their Own Way

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

SATURDAY. MAY 21, 1938

MEDIATION: WHY NOT FOR ALL? AVING repeatedly urged a mediation system as the “out” for the incalculable cost of labor trouble this nation has had to stand, and is standing, we naturally are

impressed by this item of news: “An agreement designed to prevent labor disputes over wages, hours and working conditions on the new $500,000,000 slum-clearance and low-rent-housing program has been signed by representatives of the American Federation of Labor and the U. S. Housing Authority. “The resolutions provide for no stoppage of work in the event of disputes until there has been ample time to adjust differences. And wage rates, set at a time a housing project is started, shall not be altered until it is completed. “Nathan Straus, U. S. Housing Authority administrator, stated that approval of these resolutions would mean avoidance of wasting time and money in settling labor disputes on any of the projects in the Government's program.” So simple! And how much would have been saved if such a system had prevailed as between private industry and labor in the last five vears! No sit-downs. No quickies. No jurisdictional strikes. No paralysis in order that labor racketeers might get theirs, in those divisions of unionism where racketeers have muscled. And a consequent fading out of the die-hard resistance on the part of employers to the idea of collective bargaining. Instead, industry going on. with settlements reached without stopping the show. The agreement between the A. F. of L.. and the Housing Authority is of the same pattern that has fitted so well as between the railways and the brotherhoods—where no major strike has occurred in 11 years. Can somebody tell us why this formula should not be applied to all industrial relationships, whether they be governmental in their nature or private? It is a fine thing that the low-cost housing program will be favored by these short-cuts to peace through mediation. Yet why should labor and capital in private industry continue to endure the damage of disruption, because of lack of mediation process? The same sort of agreement as that which has been so easily worked out as between the U. S, Housing Authority

and the A. F. of L. probably would be considered not com- |

plicated enough in private industry. That's the only excuse we can see why both the A. F. of L. and the C. I. O., as well as private industry, should not want to accept the mediation principle as the clear answer to one of the greatest contributing causes of our present depression.

THE FALL OF SUCHOW THE fall of Suchow is likely to prove just another high spot in a long-drawn-out war—not a Far Eastern

Gettysburg. China is approximately as large as the United States. It has some 400,000,000 inhabitants. Only the eastern portion has railway, waterway and highway facilities to speak of. So, even if the invaders push on to Hankow, now said to be their next objective, a vast hinterland with an enormous supply of food and manpower will still be there to carry on the conflict. It has been said that Japan can win all the battles and still lose the war. If she could defeat the Chinese, then settle down to exploit the country and make it pay, the outlook would not be so dark. But even if she occupies the entire seaboard as far west as Hankow, the Chinese can still break her merely by keeping guerrilla warfare going. Meanwhile, China will not be entirely without friends. A smashing victory for Japan would imperil Russia and close the China market to the rest of the world. Thus,

China probably will find the wherewithal-—some place and somehow—to carry on.

A KANSAN FISHES IN VERMONT ONDER what Alf Landon and Governor Aiken of Vermont will talk about when they relax from a day of trout fishing? Well, it costs nothing to guess— : Aiken—I hear from Pennsylvania that things are looking better for our side. Think you'll try again in 1940? Landon—Who, me? Why not speak for yourself Frank? din Aiken—Don’t be silly, Alf. After the cracks I've been making about the dumb leadership in our party, what chance would I have with that pack of wolves? Landon—But they're bound to realize sooner or later that the party must be liberalized. Aiken—Oh yeah? With Joe Pew and his gang of Nineteenth Century statesmen feeling their oats in Pennsylvania again? Why, they'll probably want to run Tom Girdler for President! Landon—That's just the point. Men like vou who know those days are gone forever, have got to wake the party up to the fact that things are different now. Aiken—Well, you tried it in ’36, and look where you got. Landon—Don’t mention speeches, too. Aiken—Don’t mention ‘em, Landon—Oh, let's go fishin’ again.

THE HARD WAY A TTORNEY GENERAL CUMMINGS has sicked his G-Men on Jersey City, instructing them to find out whether anybody has been deprived of civil rights under Mayor Frank Hague’s regime. You'd think it would be cheaper for the Department of Justice to subscribe to a newspaper. Or very likely Mr. Cummings could get the information, in boastful detail, jtist by writing a letter to Hague.

it! And after all those

cA ak

Washington

By Raymond Clapper

Fearful Relief Crisis May Become More Serious, Federal Officials Prod States to Toss in More Funds.

ASHINGTON, May 21-—Federal officials are showing increasing concern over the mounting relief crisis which already has become acute in Chicago and Cleveland. They are fearful that it will become even more serious in the immediate future and are beginning to prod state governments to throw

in more funds. » David Lasser, head of the Workers’ Alliance which

is active on behalf of unemployed relief applicants,

says he expects the relief crisis to break next in Cincinnati, Toledo and Dayton, among other cities where the relief load is taxing community resources. Harry Hopkins of WPA blames the Ohio and Tllinois Legislatures for the relief trouble in Cleveland and Chicago. Both states have ample funds, Hopkins says, but they have delayed using them. Illinois has some $9,000,000 on hand, colleafed through sales taxes, while thousands in Chicago are standing in breadlines, » » » N Ohio as in some other states, legislators from rural sections, representing farmers who have done very well in getting Federal checks from Washington, object to appropriating money to feed “city loafers.” The unemploved in some of these cities are the victims of buckpassing. Two years ago the Federal Government decided to turn back unemployables to states and local communities. Washington would provide for the able-bodied through WPA. But with the rapid growth of unemployment during the present depression, WPA has been unable to give work to the growing body of able-bodied unemployed and they have been left to the mercies of their states and local communities, State Legislatures have been slow in some instances to deal with this problem, preferring to dump it into the laps of the local communities, Local communities have been unequal to the task. Those who know anything about the relief situation predict it will get worse before it becomes better. Unemployed in Cleveland have staged a sit-down in the City Council chamber. This is not as menacing & development as it sounds because the occupation was organized as a stunt to attract public attention to the condition of the unemployed.

x » »

TILL these tactics constitute an ominous warning. If hunger and desperation go beyond human endurance then these artificial tactics are liable to turn into spontaneous and unruly demonstrations. Thus far the mood is less ugly than it was in 1932. Unemployed have the feeling that Roosevelt and Hopkins are their friends and are trying to do all that can be done for them. That was not the case in 1932. So long as these hard-pressed unemployed believe that the Administration at Washington is trying to help them, they are likely to endure privation with more patience. Many who have abundant food and comfortable homes have spent five years denouncing the Roosevelt Administration. That isn't very serious. Not so long as those who do not have food and shelter are willing to ride along with Roosevelt while he fumbles about for some way out of our trouble,

Business By John T. Flynn

A Government Radio Station May Be First in Series of Perilous Steps.

EW YORK, May 21.--The controversy over the operation of a Government radio station overlooks one thing—the meaning of the word “Government.” The present radio setup is pretty bad. Something one day will have to be done about it. Radio is one of the great mediums of communication and, perhaps, is destined to be the greatest. The present principle of operation makes radio overwhelmingly an instrument of propaganda for commercial interests. But in the effort to escape from this it will be important not to rush into the arms of political interests which may be infinitely worse. The first long battle for freedom of the press was against the Government. The great suppressor of news, or ideas, was the Government. The long battle for freedom of the press as against the political au-

thority 1s one of the glorious chapters of English and

American history. That battle has been won. There are others to be won. But at least nothing should be done which will surrender any part of the victory of the press against the Government. I am not referring now to the charges which have been flung about lately that the present Administration has made attacks or mediates others upon the freedom of the press. I speak only of that eternal vigilance which is the only guardian of this most priceless of American rights.

Government Is Party in Power

Now when we talk about the “Government” owning a radio station, we may mean that impersonal organization which is the sum of the powers of the people. But in effect the Government is a political party in power at any given time. A Government radio station may well become a radio station of the party in power. A radio station to accomplish propaganda objectives abroad may soon lead to a radio station to accomplish propaganda objectives at home. If it is proper for the “Government” to have broadcasting equipment to resist enemies in South America, it will be easy to argue that it needs equipment to fight public enemies at home. If the Government, which means the dominant party, operates a radio station for propaganda it may soon feel called upon to give attention to the nropaganda which is carried on by those enemies over private radio stations. The question will be whether “public enemies” shouid be allowed to poison the public mind. The next stage then will he Government intrusion into the content of political broadcasts. In such troublous times as these, when anything can happen, it is a dangerous thing to take the first step in the direction of Government-owned news and idea-spreading machinery,

A Woman's Viewpoint

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

FAVORITE complaint of the anti-New Dealers is the supposed lack of initiative on the part of the masses. “Look here” they yell, “didn’t our forefathers conquer a continent? Did they expect the Government to help? No, they were a two-fisted, hard-fighting bunch, and if they came back to earth now they would be shamed to the bottom of their souls by the behavior of their rabbit-hearted descendants. This is still a rich country, offering opportunity to anybody willing to accept its challenge.” We'll admit it's a good talking point, but the theory is quite as impractical as some of the schemes of the brain-trust economists.

The chances are that if Grandpa came back to America tomorrow he'd be obliged, like the rest of us, to temper his initiative to reality. In the first place, Grandpa would find a country which offers few opportunities of the kind he was familiar with. He couldn't pile his household goods and family onto a wagon and trek west for free land. No plot of ground would invite his plow because all the land now belongs to somebody else. In order to utilize an acre, he would be obliged to pay rent or share his crops with a landlord. He couldn't kill game without a license, even if he could find any. He couldn't fish without a permit nor pick up nuts in the forests, which were once to be had for the asking. Now they belong to individuals or companies who market them for big money. So it is not true that man has the same chance to support himself as he had 50 years ago in the United States. Those who.would have us believe it Simply ly knw what they're talking about. They, , live in a -—a Utopia of the wh 3 in topia past ich is

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES The Merry Month of M

. VEAR! 5 WELL-YOU

¥ MAY or MAY nor KNOW (T= BUT THAT KEYSTONE POLISHED

uPA IT 1S GONNA MAKE A MIGATY EINE HEADSTONE FOR YOUR FUNERAL!

SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1938

EIRP =

(PENNSY(VANIA PRIMARY

My FRIEND-

MAY

WARY

AAPPEN TO YOU RIGHT MERE

N NOVEMBER D

y! —By Talburt

MAY

AE — nn. Ay LA ORY

The Hoosier Forum

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

LAUDS REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA By B. I. W. Much derogatory, mostly lefthanded, talk has been heard about “mid-Victorianism” and the “Widow of Windsor.” But the farther we move away from the era of Queen Victoria the Great, the clearer becomes the fact that “there were giants in those days.” If an eleva-tion-outline map of British monarchs be erected, Victoria as individual and as sovereign would rise above all the rest like Mt, Everett rises above its own foothills. We say more or less truly that the sun never sets on the British -Empire. But that became true only during the reign of Victoria. Besides doubling the size of her empire, she gave it that incomparable strength that was the despair of competitors; strength that mediocrity has since frittered so largely away.

It was then said she was a new |

SCORES CONGRESSMEN FOR NOT TAXING OWN SALARIES By Humble Constituent | Yes, indeed, it must take a lot of gall to ask to be chosen for a $10.000-a-year public job and then insist on special privilege immunity from the ordinary obligations of citizenship such as taxes on sal ary that the rest of us must pay. It must also take a lot of gall to hold out for 20 cents a mile traveling expenses, particularly when no traveling is done. And to campaign for re-election on the record of another man. It must take more gall to pledge service in behalf of one's constituents and then vote against their best interests when the manner of" voting hides identity. And still more gall (besides lung power) to filibuster against progressive legislation to favor a reactionary economically powerful few, thus wasting time and the taxpayers’ money. But no one has ever denied that Congressmen have lots of gall.

> % Ww WANTS COMPLETE MERIT SYSTEM IN INDIANA By Voter

There is an idea current. particularly among politicians, that anyone

(Times readers are invited to express their 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.)

views

| accepting a political job should ex-

pect to vote and support the administration and more especially the official that gave him the job. “IT he considers himself too big a man to be dictated to as to how he should vote,” says a Democratic paper, “then he had better get himself another position. One who accepts a position of this Kind can expect to be told what to do and when to do it.” Such argument is not only fal-

| lacious but violates the spirit of in- | dustry

dependence and moral integrity on which this country was founded.

My principal complaint, however,

is that all government administra- |

tion is considered under the head of political jobs. It may be care of patients at a State institution, collecting garbage, making the State's roads and even WPA relief work--work that in itself has no business to be considered a political football but has been brought under control by reigning politicians. In the four departments of government administration (Indiana's) we are on record as having a merit system. But so far as I can see, it seems to be shot through with poli-

| ties. Some people I know working in

three of these managed their jobs without previous training but were given precedence because of their political help during campaigns. No doubt they are competent now, having received the necessary training. I have been told by politicians that by getting the ear of the “right” people the merit system

CONTENT By VIRGINIA POTTER

A fireplace bright, A cheery light To welcome me Back home each night.

Inside I find A face so kind, My slippers, pipe And peace of mind.

DAILY THOUGHT For the Father Himself loveth vou, because ve have loved me, and have believed that T came out from God.--John 16:27.

OVE gives itself; it is not bought, —Longfellow,

doesn’t mean much, Consequently 1 shall be very much interested in the findings of the lady who is making | a survey of our merit system. Fifteen states in the union have a complete civil service; why ean't In- | diana have one too? » w » REFORM MUST ACCOMPANY RECOVERY, READER SAYS | By Peter 1. Boge The many caustic criticisms that | have been and are being hurled af! President Roosevelt because of his | efforts to achieve what he was elected and re-elected to carry out | according to his often indicated | methods, namely recovery and re- | | form, seem to overlook one big in-

| | controvertible fact, |

That fact is, that regardless of | | the substantial improvements in in- | and business which featured | [ee present Administration's tenure of office to date (with the exception | | of the past six months) there still | exists a real emergency which is far { from over. This emergency, which | | was in the making even during the | years of so-called peak prosperity | in the middle of the late Twenties will continue as long as we have mass unemployment. During those years of fat prosperity there were | still millions of underprivileged in the ranks of labor and also in the ranks of business. It is not possible to spread She | |

benefits of the new prosperity created by the machine age if the heads of business and industry are | to be allowed to continue without | interference by government on be- | half of all the people. This is what | 1s meant by reform, and there can be no lasting prosperity under the new conditions with so-called recovery but without reform.

» » ~ ATTACKS PARKING ON SIDEWALK By Reader of The Times I cannot understand why our Police Department allows cars to park on the sidewalk in the 900 block N. Davidson St. There should be something done to keep this place open 80 men with their families won't

have to walk out in the middle of the street, If anyone gets hit or killed the | car ¢river will be blamed for it | when the city is to be blamed.

EDITOR'S NOTE--Chief Morrissey said repeated attempts have been made to prevent parking on the sidewalk at the location referred to above. He said it would require having an officer on duty there all the time to keep the sidewalk clear,

sebLE TO | LAN PERGON® | EX ® TENG? HAND RITING

VES ORNO —

LET'S EXPLORE YOUR

By DR. ALBERT EDWARD WIGGAM

SINCE PERGONS BETWEEN 16 AND 20 LEARN FASTER THAN OLDER ONES, THEY NOT MAKE SAFER

AUTO DRIVERS?

YES ORNO ce

TUE COMMON STATEMENT EVERY THING HAPPENS THE BEST", A SCIENTIFIC FACT; YES OR NO

PROF. WARREN MIDDLETON, | writer's sex. Roughly 59 per cent of DePauw University psychologist, | the men and 64 per cent of the

as related in the Scientific Monthly, | women were

correct, Numerous

had 12 men and 12 women students | other experiments have had about

write a sentence and then submi the specimens to 100 men and students to judge

the 00 | Slightly better the ' “Experts”

same results. ! judges than -m are very ¥ y

| cently presented that, whereas drivers under 20 are | the quickest and most skilful, yet

MIND J

judges than average educated persons. Middleton observed the following: Women's writing is “neater” and “prettier.” Usually men write larger and heavier and, if they write well, write almost perfectly, but women's writing is usually more readable. Women tend more than men to write backhand and to dol their “I's” with a dot, whereas men usually dot “I's” with a dash.

» » ~ ACCORDING to Science Service, “flaming youth stands convicted as the greatest group of mass murderers in America,” Dr. Harry M. Johnson of the Highway

Research Board of Washington, recharts showing

they kill nearly twice as many people yearly as do the average drivers. Dr. Johnson showed that if drivers up to 25 were even as safe as the average, w would save 8000 lives yearly, says they rely on quickness and skill Ea chances, A frightful indictment youth! "= »

NO, it is pessimistic,

| under their kimonos, | back.

| cause of labor, | the primaries of both major parties is not going to be

Gen. Johnson Says—

The Attacks of Wallace and Madden

On the Court Seem to Be a Bit of Charlie McCarthying for a Bergen.

ASHINGTON, May 21 Secretary Wallace 1s in a one-man war with the Supreme Court, He says it is trying to take over the rate-making and regulatory duties of the bureaus. He observes that a year ago the Court was attempting to determine legislative policy, got licked, retreated and is now attacking bureaucracy on another front The Secretary's rage was roused by a remark of the Chief Justice that bureaucratic control must he exercised with at least rudimentary justice, His present complaint is that delays imposed on bureaus by tests in the courts of the constitutionality of their actions hamper democratic government, On the same day, Chairman Madden of the National Labor Relations Board, which has been under considerable fire, made a somewhat similar complaint, Mr. Wallace, by virtue of his agricultural act, has a range of bureaucratic power over farmers never before imagined outside of the dictatorships. Tt is understandable that he resents any interferences,

» ” »

UT the nature and timing of this barrage against the Court, coupled with the twa ather ecircumstances, suggest that Mr. Wallace and Mr. Madden may be MeCarthying for some Bergen. The eoircumstances are the general Administration attitudes toward the Court and the gossip that Prof. Prankfurter has begun again to flit silently through the White House doors. The Professor is credited by some with inspiring the original “horse~and-buggy” attack on the Court, Mr. Wallace, for all that he signed a book on the Constitution, hardly can be expected to know enough about it to debate its finer nuances with the Chief Justice. But Prof. Frankfurter does. What we have here looks like a new executive attack on the Court, not boldly and openly as before, but cleverly, and by calling on the Administration's various fidox and tousers to sic 'em and bite ‘em The Court can't very well kick

NLESS the Court overturns all it the subject, it can’t make rates. That ix a legislative job, It can only say that specific rates are confiscatory or otherwise beyond the power of the ratemakers, Neither can the Court make regulations

has said on

| =<for the same reason.

But the courts are there to see that our necessarily and unavoidably growing executive bureaucracy does not simply take over the constitution duties of the Congress and the courts, They are the only authority under our system that can do that To the extent that there is delay in court procedure—and it is considerable--that is an abuse or fault in the system and should be cured But these executive attacks on the Court argus those delays only incidentally. Mr, Wallace i= clearly impatient with judicial restraint designed to keep wielders of delegated legislative, judicial and execus tive power within the limits of their proper authority,

| It is a pure plea for one-man government,

a —

It Seems to Me

By Heywood Broun

The Vote of Labor Constitutes a Minority, but Still It's Powerful,

EW YORK, May 21.--Many editorial commenta« tors read a lesson for labor in the result of the Pennsylvania primaries. They argue that the defeat of Thomas Kennedy should convince trade unionists that they ought to fight their battles wholly along the economic front and leave politics alone, I am quite ready to agree that labor should learn a lesson from the Pennsylvania primaries. It is the same lesson which was apparent in the Seattle and Detroit, elections. There ought to be a change in tactics. But I think that labor will be extremely ill advised if it decides not to work in concert in the use of the ballot, The enthusiasm of anti-Administration and anti C. 1. O. forces has led them to generalizations which are far too sweeping. For instance, it is hardly accurate to say that the recent skirmish showed the industrial unionists to be devoid of potential political power, Kennedy pulled more than half a million votes. Pinchot took a severe licking in the Republican primary, and the argument chiefly used against him was his friendship for John L. Lewis. Accordingly, I think it might be fair to say that of Pinchot's 435.000 voles at least a hundred thousand were cast by C. I. O, supporters, Figuring in this way, you get a round total of 600,000 votes cast in the interests of industrial unionism, Pennsvivania is populous, and 600,000 is far too small a total lo carry an election, Just the same ft isn't tin,

Hold Balance of Power

C. I. O. leaders hold the balance of power in any closely contested election, And while Pennsylvania stands as the greatest single stronghold of the union forces, any estimate of the total voting strength of the organization throughout the country would run well into the millions. The labor vote, in the very strict sense of the term, constitutes minority, But it is a powerful minority,

| and labor can be effective in all elections, both na-

tional and local, and hold legislative gains which have been secured under the New Deal and obtain others. There are those who say that the Pennsylvania res sult proves the sagacity of Willlam Green and the American Federation of Labor in remaining out of polities. Mr. Green and his associales may take a personal joy in the discomfiture of the C. 1. O, but their forces have gained no tangible advantage for the The fact that conservatives won in

helpful to trade unionists in either camp. Labor should be active in politics, but it is not vet strong enough to go it alone. It should maintain its own entity, but proceed by the process of fusion and indorsements of candidates even though they are not drawn directly from the ranks of its own organiza= tions.

‘Watching Your Health

By Dr. Morris Fishbein

UMAN beings are one-sided. All of us know that we are either left-handed or right-handed, Few realize, however, that we are also right-eved or lefteved, One eye leads the other, and the leading eye Is called the dominant eye, We know that it is possible to train people who ine cline to left-handedness to be right-handed, and that this sometimes produces difficulties of co-ordination in other activities, The question has been raised as to whether or not eyes may be suitably trained in re

lationship to control, Human beings usually prefer one eve or the other in sighting a rifle. It seems likely that when weapons and tools were first created in the development of mankind, they soon found that holding with one hand and sighting with one eye helped to do away with double images and gave greater accuracy. Apparently there is a definite relationship between the dominant side of the body and the dominant eye, Right-handedness and right-eyedness are found in about 85 per cent of people. Pure left-handedness and left-eyedness occurs in from 5 to 10 per cent, gnd ability to work equally with either left or right sides in another 5 to 10 per cent. One investigator who examined a great number of people found that pure right-handedness and right eyedness occurs in 76 per cent; sinistrality, or pure left-handedness and left-eyedness, in 9.3 per cent; and right-handedness with left-eyedness in about 13 per cent.