Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 May 1939 — Page 11

PAGE 10

The Indianapolis Times

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

ROY W. HOWARD RALPH BURKHOLDER MARK FERREE | President Editor Business Manager

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

Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times Publishing Co. 214 W. Maryland St. Mail subscription rates in Indiana, $3 a year; outside of Indiana, 65 cents a menth.

Member of United Press, Scripps - Howard News= paper Alliance, NEA Service, and Audit Bu-

reau of Circulation. RILEY 5551

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

TUESDAY, MAY 16, 1939

THE WATER COMPANY IN EGOTIATIONS for the purchase of the Indianapolis Water Co. reached a point yesterday where it was |

learned the City could buy the company for $22

chance of accepting. It is possibly more than “bargain hunters” would like to see the City pay. It is less than the courts say the company is worth. And it is less, we suspect, than the City would have to pay in the event it re-

sorted to condemnation proceedings. o » ”

HIS newspaper is on record as favoring municipal ownership of the water company, believes it ought to purchase the company if the price is reasonable and feels that continued private control of a city’s water supply | is absurd.

that several private interests would be glad to have a | |

# » n

22,825,000. | |

To our naked and unaided eyes this seems like a price | is a gross overstatement,

Fair Enough

By Westbrook Pegler

His Son Offers Evidence F. D. R. Not Quite Correct in Claiming Radio More Truthful Than Press.

EW YORK, May 16.—I want to back up and again run over the body of President Roosevelt's contention that the radio is more truthful than the press because his boy, Elliott, a radio magnate and commentator, has come along with new evidence. In a recent broadcast Elliott said he had been spanked by “a group of watchdogs of the public trust known to the most of us as newspaper columnists” who pictured him “as one who has run the gauntlet of betraval from a Judas Iscariot and serpent’s tooth to a modern boy bandit.” He added, however, that he liked columnists and “might some time soon join their ranks.” gi let us examine this radio comment as to accuracy. He said he had been spanked by ‘“a group of watchdogs,” and so forth, which would mean that all such writers had taken him to task whereas the fact is that only a minority discussed him at all. This, then,

” un 8 E said he was called a Judas, a serpent’s tooth and a modern boy bandit, and, waiving the metaphor of the serpent’s tooth, which might not be libelous, I will just take a chance on doubting that any newspaper writer did call him a Judas or a bandit, because those would have been libelous remarks, and no writer with any knowledge of the business would dare employ them. If a headstrong writer had tried to apply such terms to young Mr. Roosevelt he would have been checked by the copy desk or the editor, and not only for reasons of prudence but for decency as well. We don’t use that sort of material in the standard American press,

| and the only papers which do use it are the Com-

munist and the Nazi-Fascist sheets. If Elliott Roosevelt means that some radical columilist of either extreme called him a Judas or a bandit, he should have said so in the interests of

Of cities in approximately the same population group, Indianapolis and Birmingham, Ala., are the only ones left | in the United States whose water supply is privately controlled. Of the approximately 12,500 water companies in the | country, 75 per cent are now municipally owned and more are passing out of private hands every month. There are numerous reasons why 84 per cent of the country’s population is served by municipally owned water | companies. Possibly the most important is the growing | realization that of all utilities water is the most important, | that it is basically as necessary for life as the air we | breathe, and that it should be under public control. For no matter how well meaning private ownership may be there inevitably comes a day when public and | stockholders’ interests clash, and the former comes off | second best in the encounter. It may hit the taxpayer | in the form of higher rates to pay the “fair” 6 per cent | return such companies are allowed. Or it may, as in companies less well managed than the Indianapolis property, | show itself through failure to maintain the equipment with resulting danger in fire hazards and to the public health.

In the case of this city a matter of paramount importance are the provisions that must be made to insure an adequate supply of water in the future.

The population of Indianapolis is now somewhere around the 400,000 mark. The city is growing, new industries are | moving in, the suburbs are expanding. Air conditioning | is creating new problems. Will the present wells and the | shallow White River be adequate to meet these growing | civil and industrial requirements? Will we need a reservoir | shortly? These are questions that we believe the City | rather than a private company should be in a position |

to answer.

5 = ” 8 2 u

S to the fairness of the price suggested at the conclusion | of yesterday's meeting of City and water company representatives, we are willing to trust the judgment of Mayor Sullivan and his associates. They have been studying the proposed purchase for many weeks. They have moved slowly and carefully. Short | of an actual appraisal of physical assets, they have all the information necessary to reach a sound judgment. The next step should be full and complete public hearings at | which interested citizens will have an opportunity to be heard. If nq sound reason can be presented at those hearings why the City should not purchase the Water Company for the price suggested, or less if possible, we believe the City | ought to do now what it should have done back in 1881, :

{

ARE REPUBLICANS FOR ECONOMY? HIO'S Senator Taft, in a radio speech the other night, | made a spirited attack on the Roosevelt tion’s “spending philosophy.” “It is not easy to stop the present spending,” he pointed out, because “everyone is interested in spending” while “no | one-ever appears against an appropriation.” Yet he be- | lieved that the President could work out a plan to “provide | all the essentials of the present program, within a figure which the nation can pay in taxes.” And “if the President will not do it, I believe that Congress should create a committee to work out the policy.” Senator Taft and his fellow Republicans, of course, | are far in the minority in hoth Houses of Congress. But if | they genuinely want to reduce the spending, they need not confine their efforts to talk on the radio. The machinery is at their disposal by which they can exert a powerful influence. They can demand a roll-call vote on each appropria- | tion item that they consider excessive, thus compelling the individual members to put themselves on record for or against that item. But, even as Senator Taft was preparing for his radio speech, the Senate was adding to the Agriculture Department’s appropriation bill item after item which the President had not asked and does not want, increasing it by a | total of nearly $400,000,000. aft |

And neither Senator Taft | nor any other Republican asked item.

for a roll-call vote on any duce spending?

Question: Do the Republicans genuinely want to reBUTLER’S NEW PRESIDENT R. DANIEL SOMMER ROBINSON president of Butler University W. Putnam. Dr. Robinson, who has been head of the philosophy department at Indiana University, is a native Hoosier and a graduate of Butler. He holds degrees from Yale and | Harvard ani has studied abroad. He has taught at Wisconsin and Iliami University and headed the philosophy department at I. U. for 10 years. He Is only 50, has written widely and is one of the nation’s better known educators. Both the City and State at large wish Dr. : new post,

Administra-

has been named to succeed Dr. James

Robinson happiness and success in his |

< | {

truth, and if he should become a newspaper columnist himself he is likely to find that there are rules and restrictions that he never even suspected the existence of. Politicians on the stump or on the air may use this style, but newspapers reporting their remarks must assume legal responsibility for such matter as they reproduce in type, and therefore eliminate stuff that would be actionable. For doing this they may be accused of suppression or censorship when they are just obeying the law. ”

Ld ”

| N the same address, Elliott, referring to a well-

The Hoosier Forum

known writer, said that on a certain public occasion the water glass at the writer's place contained a colorless, transparent fluid which was not water at all.

The intent here was to convey a suggestion that | 2 \ . 1 wholly disagree with what you say, but will

| defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.

the writer was a drunkard, or drunk at the time in question, and although that may be fair enough on the radio it would be regarded as dirty pool in a newspaper and wouldn't make print in any respectable shop.

Suppose it was gin, not water? Why mention that

| in view of the fact that gin is a legal beverage except

to cast reflection on the mentality and character of the victim? The President said the radio was the only means

| of overtaking untruths and exaggerated half-truths | published in the press, and I acknowledge a small | debt to his son for timely evidence that the radio is

the wanton sister.

Business

By John T. Flynn

He Cites a Few Reasons Why the Great Building Industry Is Prostrate.

HICAGO, May 16.—Builders, real estate men, landlords, contractors and all sorts of business interests are holding a congress in Chicago to find out what is the matter with building. Chicagoans cannot understand why a small city like Houston, Tex., should

| surpass the great “I will” city in building. The con- ~ gress is holding sessions to see if it can put Chicago's

famous “I will” back into construction. Judging by the discussion it does not look as if they will. For what has happened to building in this great city is pretty much what has happened everywhere. Here is the simple fact. There is no business in

America—even the hardy and vigorous and debt-free automobile business—which could possibly stand up 24 hours under the conditions that surround building here and everywhere else. If the automobile industry was, to begin with, loaded to its ears with debt: If it had to pay its workers $12.65 a day: If it were prohibited from introducing any new machine methods; If the workers in its plants were incessantly quar-

reling, lin 7 calli stri jurisdicti { : ; eling, ending by calling a strike for jurisdictional [government that governs both capi- | zen is correct. But take a look bed

(tal and labor, allowing neither ofl yond.

reasons;

No Mystery About It

If the automobile manufacturer had to make his car according to a code set up by the city in which the car is made, defining the materials to be used and the methods of processing them--a code which was made for the industry by the manufacturers of materials and the labor groups to make production as costly as possible; If the auto makers had to buy their materials from local dealers, thus adding to the cost of the “take” of

| various middle men;

If the dealers themselves were banded together in

agreements te charge the manufacturers the highest |

prices; If every job in the vlant was done by a separate subcontractor who had to get a profit out of the job: If the various subcontractors were also tied up in

| trade agreements which would prevent the manufac-

turer from getting the best possible price; If the politicians, labor leaders, subcontractors and material men were all leagued together in a political-

| trade mesh to suck the last drop of graft out of the

industry; Where would the automobile industry be? Would it not be precisely where the building industry is? Why should anyone wonder why building does not revive? It would be a miracle if it did.

A Woman's Viewpoint

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

Nom AMERICA is entertaining the King and Queen of England. Their Majesties, after traveling across Canada, will visit the United States and, if we can’t have Wally and her Duke and her 70 trunks of clothes, Elizabeth Regina will do. We girls are looking forward eagerly to descriptions of the Queen's wardrobe. The First Lady, we hear, is all set to knock the royal eyes out with the fine frocks she has bought for the occasion, and Elizabeth will have to be good if she puts Eleanor in Ahe shade, Anyway you see it, the event will provide red letter days for the women’s pages. And while we are being informed in detail about the gowns and festive func tions, the guests and what they say, I hope someone will be kind enough to slip us a word about the real object of the visit. If it’s just a friendly little call—that's fine. A warm and noisy welcome will be theirs. Our well known hospitality won't fail them. And still a mean little thought keeps nagging, There's something about the whole affair that smacks of traditional Old Albion diplomacy.

Behind certain walls in Canada and the United

| States, several important conferences are sure to take

place. What 1s said there will not be disclosed to the people ot either nation until the right moment comes, Instead, we shall be kept quiet with exciting accounts of social events and glamorous incidents which attend upon Queens and Kings and Presidents and First . Ladies. Yet, amid such din, diplomats hatch their schemes, We, the people, can only hope this frien call will not iyvolve us further in certain yal European business which we all want to stay out of.

THE

. % 0%

INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

__PAGEAT.

CLAIMS VIEW OBSTRUCTED | AT WEST SIDE CORNER [By L. O.

Please see that there is some- | thing done about a dangerous place jon the northwest corner of Howard St. and Belmont Ave, in West | Indianapolis. It is a vacant lot with shrubs, etc. The hedge stands about five feet high and obstructs the view of incoming trolleys and automobiles on Howard St. and the traffic from Belmont Ave.

| several years ago. | ” n o AGREES WITH JOHNSON ON C. OF C. CRITICISM

By W. H. Edwards, Spencer

It is not often that I agree with Gen. Johnson, but in his May 10 (article, I find myself agreeing. { Too long has the U. S. Chamber {of Commerce dictated the affairs of {the U. S. Government in the interest of the Chamber's membership |and against the interests of the vast {majority of people on whose small {incomes the burdens rest heaviest. Moreover, an increasing numbe: {of people are thinking that most of

‘the newspapers and periodicals are| pays TRIBUTE controlled by the membership of the TO DON LASH

[Chambers of Commerce. | Secretary Ickes didn’t spring any(thing new when he made the charge that newspaper editorial policy was { controlled by the “big boys” of busi(ness. That idea had been growing {for several years. And the “big boys”

(of business are the ones who run|and implied that “there ought to be he was speaking.”

[the U. S. Chamber of Commerce. Most thinking people believe in a

{them to become dictators over all activities of the government, yet giving each and both of them a just measure of government co-operation but allowing neither to force up the cost of living on those of the low income brackets, on whom living costs are already burdensome. s ¥ CLAIMS AGED POOR HELPED | BUILD NATION'S WEALTH

By Charles France,

{ I see where Mr. Meitzler is trying {to get in the spotlight again with | his “euthanasia” idea . . Mr. Meitzler says that the rich {and middle class “parasites” live off | their parents. Who does he think [produced this wealth of the parents (that they live off of? Why, of course, it was these “pauper parasites” that are only asking for just enough to live on until they die.

Maywood

| out of Indiana University’s men’s | gym for about six years. He has run thousands of miles in training and | competition, Why? Don goes over to the medical | building occasionally to be “worked | over” in the research laboratory. | They run him on the treadmill, with a clamp on his nose and a rubber | hose from a big tank in his mouth, to the absolute limit of human en- | durance. They stick long, sharp syringe needles into his arms to

(Times readers are invited to express their 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 in

| called “pauper parasites” who paid | draw out blood and examine it. The place hasn't been taken care [taxes to the Government so the They also gouge little holes in his of since the house was torn down |Government could pay Maj. Dyer. finger tips to draw out more blood

| {

Maj. Dyer surely earned his pen|sion, but I don’t think he came any |

nearer earning it than these s0- | man.—Witherspoon.

I don’t think he would have served and examine it under microscopes. for nothing. | They just want to see what makes | If the people who have the bulk Don Lash “tick” the way he does, | of our national wealth would em-| And he submits willingly and gratis, | ploy all the reliefers and pay them| I say, “Let Don Lash run. Give a substantial income there would him the salary of three policemen’s | not be anyone asking for relief and | Jobs and have him work at none! the taxpayer would be happy. of them. But run for you and me But when there aren't enough in the pursuit of knowledge in medijobs to go around, the result is re-| cal science and for the betterment lief, and it would be very inhuman ©f man, indeed to let these unfortunate peo-| I salute Don Lash—a great run- |

ple starve or, as Mr. Meitzler would ner. a world champion athlete, a

have it, face the firing squad. good citizen, a good policeman and People in dictator countries are|® benefactor of mankind. subject to this kind of treatment,! . 8 » but, thank Heaven, this is a free, PRAISES WINDSOR'S

country. PLEA FOR PEACE By Mrs. Inda Myers

Vivid, apt and emphatic was the | radio talk of the Duke of Windsor | By an Athlete {from Verdun in protest of war. The! A few weeks ago I read an article sentiment, met a response, no doubt, in the Forum protesting Don Lash’s|in the minds of the four hundred being a state policeman who wore |million listeners. the uniform all over the nation just | Apt, too, was his reference to “the | to run in foot races at our expense friendly soil of France from which | a law against it.” it is th More than that, $ . t is the sentiment of ivili On the face of it, that good citi |world—qiplomats. oor She civiiced {laymen alike. Then why, if they do |desire peace, cannot the good | citizens of those aggressive countries prevail and replace those persons in the government who favor aggres- | sion at any price, and what a price —war! The poppies of Flanders Field give mute testimony, If the Duke of Windsor is ap-| pointed peace ambassador at large] to the U. 8. A,, let us hope thought- | less and unfavorable publicity | which before prevented his goodwill tour will be omitted and that | a hearty welcome will be extended | to the ardent and democratic Duke of Windsor. He is undoubtedly | sincere in his expressions of good - will to the people of all nations and his interest in the workingman and | industrialist is most commendable | and acceptable even though he] happens to have been born into a! royal household. The world is sadly in need of such an impartial and unselfisn ambassador. Let us respond in like courtesy, co-operation and appreciation,

un n »

I have seen Don Lash in an

ASSURANCE By ELEEZA HADIAN A support For my head! Thankful, I have been To the comfort of my bed, Yet did not know Hence came the solace Of the pillow, In this hour of agony His soothing voice Whispers to me: “Child, rest easy! Your head is pillowed In the lap of God.”

DAILY THOUGHT The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.—Psalms 19:9.

T is only the fear of God that can deliver us from the fear of

RE Nn Rr EE on't give a do,

LET'S EXPLORE YOUR MIND

By DR. ALBERT EDWARD WIGGAM.

IT REVEALS a good many, frank things about your personality.|you If you either like to have your|efforts

bors and are an honest sort of

it| wholesome person. But if you that you are very|to sneak in when your bi

see you it indicates you are terribly sensitive about your social standing, anxious to put up a good front even if you have a poor back. If you will change this attitude you will strengthen your personality. ” » #

IF THEY do they will likely both go crazy in time. Every wife should allow her husband the privilege of being irritated at times about little things—provided she keeps calm and good humored at such times. He should expect her also to get upset at things that seem to him of no importance. If husbands and wives will just allow one to be abnormal at times while the other stays normal—be sure of this part of the game—it will be a long time between divorces.

8 & 8 NO. In the best book I know for teaching third grade children good citizenship, they are shown that if they want better streets, schoolhouses, playgrounds, clean milk and food, honest city officers, etc, all these will increase their happiness but will also bring more obligations. You cannot make a friend or receive a favor without taking on new responsibilities—very happy responsibilities, of course, but are new obligations just the

3 AN YOU GAIN ANY HAPPINESS

T Ee IT) in trying to save money, that

are not trying to conceal your at economy from your neigh-

TUESDAY, MAY 16, 1939

‘If Paul Revere Could Only See Me Now "By Talburt G en J ohnson

Says—

Roosevelt Has Made a Wise Move In Transferring Duties of the Coal Commission to Ickes' Department,

ASHINGTON, D. C., May 16.—The President’s transfer of administration of the Guffey Act from the Bituminous Coal Commission to the Ine terior Department is 100 per cent right. That this stricken industry can be put into a position to earn reasonable profits and afford reasonable employment and compensation was proved beyond a peradventure of doubt by the coal code. That went into effect withe in 60 days after the problem was tabled and in a situe ation which, nine months earlier, had been the most chaotic and hopeless in our economy. The Bituminous Coal Commission has been so ridden by politics and incompetency that, with much clearer powers, it has never been able to reproduce a similar result along a well-charted path. Harold Ickes and this writer have had their very vocal public differences notwithstanding a genuine private personal mutual respect, perhaps approaching affectionate regard. I don't want to appear to be reneging on any stand I have taken in this too much publicized feud, but I do owe it to candor and fairs ness to say that I think he is the best public admine istrator for this kind of system that could be selected,

5 5 »

NEGOTIATED the petroleum code but he admine istered it. His department was much better equipped for that kind of job than anything we had in NRA. I asked him to take over the administration of the coal code also. But he was too canny. The Bureau of Mines is one of the best technical organzations in all government. It just wasn't good sense not to put that problem there at the outset. Mr. Ickes is supposed to be by business an intimate of dragons and a companion of owls. From my ob servations, he is the most practical administrator in the whole New Deal. I think the petroleum industry will bear that out and I believe that the coal industry will find it so. Except for the code period and a short time during the British coal strike, that industry on the average hasn't made any profits since the World War. Approximately 400,000 miners, breadwinners for 1,500,000 people, are peculiarly dependent on this business for support. Furthermore, it is an industry that simply must be preserved. It is our essential reserve for fuel, solid or liquid, after our petroleum is exhausted.

» un

TS present situation in competition with gas, oil and hydroelectric power is one that absclutely re= quires artificial support from the Government, even to the extent of outright price-fixing and an unusal

| degree of co-operation among capital, labor and Gove

ernment. Critics of John Lewis can find plenty of pegs

on which to hang an argument in other activities

of C. I. O, but an honest appraisal will find few in his conduct of labor relations in coal mining, Most honest coal operators will concede that. The President's intervention in the recent coal labor negotiations reveals him at his best. He knows that industry better than any other. His action was in no sense political and it is unfair to suggest that it was taken in favor of one side or the other of the feud between the A. F. of IL. and the C. I. O. It was absolutely necessary in the national interest.

It Seems to Me

By Heywood Broun Reporters and Harvard Profit by Nieman Foundation Scholarships.

AMBRIDGE, Mass, May 16.—I had a chance lash night to sit in for a few hours with one of the

| most interesting experiments which has been made in

American education. The fellows of the Nieman Foundation put on a small dinner, By the terms of this bequest a dozen newspapermen come each year to Harvard to study economics, history and such other assorted subjects as they may choose, and then go back

to their own craft. It seems to work well, and I am thinking of the betterment of the university just as much as any

gains which may come to the pupils. Reporters are not as hard-boiled as they have been presented in fic tion and motion pictures, but they do possess for tha most, part a lively skepticism. The casual student felt that the main problem was not whether or not he was going to make good. but much more, “How will this learned Doc shape up if put under a reportorial microscope?” President Conant ought to be pleased to know that a majority of professors have earned a passing grade.

He Makes a Suggestion

It is not within my power to change a single comma in the Nieman will by which the fellowships have been established, and yet I think one mistake has been made. There ought to be a provision that none of the newspapermen who receive a grant shall have had any previous collegiate training whatsoever. This is in my ming, because I am in utter opposition to the anti-New Deal propaganda built upon that intellectually subversive stuff of, “What does that guy know? he’s never been in business. He's just a college professor.” This is stuff easily sold to the general public. IT have nothing against self-made men. It's a good trick when it can be done. But it should not be the general rule in any nation which prides itself on the opportunities which it offers for education. I am no professor lover, Looking back on the grades accorded to me in high school and college, I regard teachers in general as men with small come prehension of potential talent. I am all for the recall of instructors who fail to pass pupils on final exami« nation, But I do think it is an excellent idea for rewrite men, reporters and copy readers to get together and break clean. Academic education will be improved through contact with the appraising eve of the newse paper fraternity, and it isn’t really a bad idea if every now and then a reporter reads a book.

Watching Your Health

By Dr. Morris Fishbein

HE pulse, that regular beating in the arteries caused by the contractions of the ventricles of the heart, is an accurate measure of your physical fitness for exercise. You probably know how to take your pulse and per haps have learned that it varies when you sit or stand, or indulge in moderate or active exercise. The rate per minute is much faster in children than in adults. For 3-year-old tots it is just over 100; for boys of 12, around 81; for those around 18, approxie mately 68, and for men of 60, around 68. The rate for: women is five to nine beats higher in each classifica" tion. Here is the way the pulse “gauge” works. Count your pulse beat which you believe to be average, that is after you have been sitting for a while and have had no exercise. Then stand up and simue late running for a few minutes while remaining stae tionary. Running in that fashion for five minutes will, of. course, speed up your heart and pulse much more than the same exercise for three minutes. The time , of the return to normal is increased with the longer exercise. ' One recent investigation showed that the pulse of a * sprinter who had run 440 yards still was 16 beats above normal after he had rested an hour and 20 minutes. Among a group of boys who sprinted the 100-yard dash, it was found that there was an average increase of 45 beats per minute in the pulse at the end of the race. You, and everyone else, have your own normal * pulse rate when standing, sitting or lying down. Few people realize that living at a height will increase the heart rate, due to the decrease of oxygen in the air™ Those who fly in airplanes at a high altitude will have a more rapid pulse rate,