Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 June 1939 — Page 18

PAGE 18 The Indianapolis Times

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

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

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Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 1939

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WHEN PSALM SINGERS SLIP

HE word pusillanimous is a long one, but not too large to cover what is going on in our so boastfully advertised new moral climate. Such events as: A national House of Representatives which, without taking a record vote, decrees an income tax on everybody in the District of Columbia except themselves and their help. A Congress apparently resolved to go home without doing anything about a mediation system which would greatly reduce and perhaps eliminate the labor disputes that continue to break out like a rash over the whole nation. Collusion between Democratic committee leaders and Congressmen to scuttle the Hatch bill which would. take relief out of politics and end the henchman racket. The only reason given being that passage “would threaten party success at the polls.” And then those incidents of county agents selling memberships in a lobbyist outfit through the broadly implied threat that if the farmers don't kick in their benefits will ghrink and die. And of the closed shop union squeeze of relief workers in that Pennsylvania highway project—$15 initiation and £2 monthly dues, or you don’t get work on the road, even under a system pledged to let nobody starve. All the elements in the picture we have described are by no means attributable to the Democrats. But they are showing up in a time when such a stress has been been put on political morals that they are particularly disheartening. When the town rake hells around, faith in virtue is not seriously damaged. It's only when the preacher and the psalm singers go wrong that an epidemic of cynicism breaks out.

IT'S A START, ANYWAY OR more years than one likes to think about the Marion County Colored Orphans’ Home was a political football in the hands of county commissioners. Three months ago, after much tugging, control of the institution was finally transferred to the Marion County Department of Public Welfare. The Department undoubtedly inherited a mess. The Home was overcrowded. Sanitary conditions were appalling. There were numerous complaints about the administration. One County Grand Jury after another had called attention to the conditions under which these Negro orphans were compelled to live, The current Grand Jury has again called attention to some of these conditions, but adds a word of commendation for the cleaning up already accomplished by the Welfare Department. They are the first encouraging words about the Colored Orphans’ Home in years. We hope that this work of rehabilitation will continue steadily, so that the Home need never again occupy a major portion of a Grand Jury report.

‘BUM’S RUSH’ FOR TVA RIENDS of the Tennessee Valley Authority have good reason for objecting to the hastily passed bill by which the House has undertaken to restrict that Government agency's electric power program. The TVA’s field of operations ought to be plainly defined. Some of its policies need to be clarified. The private power industry is entitled to know that Government competition will not be extended indefinitely without specific authority from Congress. And the taxpayers are entitled to assurance that the “yardstick” experiment will be fair. But all that can be accomplished, and should be, in a deliberate and above-board manner, after opportunity for the intricate questions involved to be considered on their merits. Instead, the House has resorted to “bum’s rush” legislation, under circumstances that create grave suspicion. More than two months ago the Senate passed a bill by Senator Norris enabling TVA to pay for the private power systems in its area which it has agreed to buy. That bill was referred to the House Military Affairs Committee, headed by Andrew J. May, representative of a Kentucky coal-producing district, who has fought TVA from its beginning. This week, in a sudden burst of speed, the committee reported out the Norris bill—but changed it completely with drastic amendments, rewriting vital sections of the law by which TVA was created. Debate started in the House before most of the members had a chance to read the amended bill or the committee's report explaining it, and the measure was passed that same day, 192 to 167. In other words, the enemies of TVA put over a fast one in the House. The Senate should rebuke them by insisting on the original Norris bill. The House, in fairness, ghould yield and permit the present legislation to be confined to the buying of the private properties. The agreement for that purchase has been generally approved and should be carried out promptly, while the proposed restrictions on TVA need separate and much more thorough consideration than they have received. \

FREE RIDE

PUBLIC funds are being spent on the campaign to make John N. Garner the Democratic nominee for President. That campaign opened last Dec. 6 when a group of Texans held a Garner rally at Detroit, Red River County, Texas—Dbirthplace of Cactus Jack—one of the speakers being Roy Miller, the Washington “public relations man.” On Jan. 18, Congressman Milton H. West of Texas had Mr. Miller's speech printed in the Congressional Record, of course at the taxpayers’ expense. And now a reprint of the speech is being mailed broadside through the country, postage free, under Mr. West's Congressional franking privilege. Mr. Miller's speech had this to say about Vice President Garner: “He believes in the pay-as-you-go system, and what a blessing it would be if that system could be applied to America today!” The pay-as-you-go system evidently doesn’t extend to Garner gampaign propaganda seq through the mails at

public, exbense.

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

If New Jersey Approves Mutuels It Will Create a Racket and New Job Source for Politicians.

N=Y YORK, June 16.—The people of New Jersey, few of whom ever have seen a race of running horses in their state because racing was outlawed there about 40 years ago, will vote June 20 on a constitutional amendment to revive the sport, or racket, with parimutuel betting. Should the amendment carry, a track would be established close to the Jersey end of the George Washington Bridge, in plain sight of midtown and uptown New York and only a few minutes by omnibus or taxi from the richest and ripest sucker crop in the world. This track probably would vutdraw the metropolitan New York plants having the misfortune to run concurrent meetings, because transportation would be much more comfortable and because New York racing for years has been conducted in the leaky-roof manner under conditions which have constituted a monopoly. There is considerable opposition to the proposed revival in New Jersey because it may be taken for granted that racing under the control of the Hague machine of Jersey City and in Atlantic City under the control of any machine would be a racket more corrupt, if possible, in the political sense than racing in Florida or Rhode Island. Mr. Hague already has said that racing would create 8000 new jobs for Jerseymen —which may be an exaggeration—but he neglected to say that most of the jobs would be political patronage. » 2 ”

N Rhode Island, in the fall of 1937, Walter O'Hara, who ran the Narragansett track, boasted that he had 600 jobs at his dispesal and with the power that these jobs gave him, plus the power inherent in a huge supply of cash money, threatened to remove Governor Quinn from office and elect a Governor suitable to him. In Florida last spring a legislative inquiry revealed that state legislators, whose position required them to vote on measures favored or opposed by the racing associations, one of which has been notorious for its criminal underworld connections, appealed to those tracks for jobs for their constituents. To retain their patronage they had to vote right on racing bills. Once it has been legalized racing tends to become arrogant, In New Jersey, however, the case would be slightly different. Racing would have power, but the power would be placed in the hands of Mr. Hague principally and, outside his immediate zone, in the hands of other bosses. ® 8 8 HE racing, however, need hot necessarily be any more crooked than racing elsewhere, and it would not be necessary to manipulate the odds. Indeed, the opposition is directed not so much against racing and the mutuels as against this great increase in Mr. Hague's power and in the revenues of his machine, There has been a mysterious change in the gambling racket in New Jersey lately. The famous. or notorious, national center of the wire-betting service which operated in and around Jersey City has been closed or greatly curtailed, and this move is attributed to the nosy activitiee of the United States Treasury. So it is not unthinkable that in time the Federal Government, from this beginning, may feel called upon to do for Jersey City and other Jersey municipalities, which are unable to act for themselves, what the Department of Justice did for Kansas City.

Business By John T. Flynn

Local Taxes Growing Problem as Taxables Show Staggering Drop.

EW YORK, June 15—One of the great problems which the country must face courageously soon is the problem of local taxation. A report of the Government just reveals this important fact—that the taxable property values of the country have declined by 24 billion dollars. As a matter of fact, that is an exceedingly modest estimate. It is based on existing assessed valuations. And no argument can justify the existing tax assessments. It is probable that a fair estimate of the decline in property values would be nearer 40 billions. Now it is the local authorities—the cities and counties everywhere, and the states in most cases— which depend on property taxes to support them. A cut of 24 billion in valuations means a cut of 700 million in possible tax sources. A cut of 40 billion means a cut of more than a billion in property tax resources.

But meantime the cost of government rises as the population rises. And the only way to collect this cost of local government is to persist in the maintenance of a tax base which is indefensible. It is at this point that the cities and states face a serious obstacle. The first is the great drain upon resources caused by fixed charges which cannot be reduced. In the ’twenties the states and local subdivisions went mad with extravagance. Roads, streets, schools, buildings of all sorts were erected with money supplied by bond issues. Now the cities and states cannot do much building because their debts are already too great, while at the same time huge sums of present revenues must be used to pay interest on debts contracted for building 20 years ago.

Salaries Fixed by Law

Next come those enormous sums which must he used to meet salaries which have been embedded in the law and which are fixed, Behind these salary levels stand powerful groups of civil servants like the school teachers. To make cuts here will be a major operation of the worst kind which few politicians care to face. Chicago's mayor has had to ask the city employees to take a two weeks’ payless furlough, and in New York the city hes had to let out 984 school teachers and suspend many important educational services because of a state cut of more than five million in New York City’s school budget. There is no choice but to let all these people out Ragause the teachers have had their salaries fixed by aw. The cities and states cannot go on laboring under these burdens. They must find a way to reorganize their finances.

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

ARRIED women suffer a great deal because of overconfidence in the financial ability of their husbands. Here is a brief story of such suffering, as it was told to me: A man earning $300 a month marries a woman earning $150. One child is born to them after two years. At the stork’s first signal the wife gives up her position, but, financial skies being rosy, the couple decide to invest their joint savings in a downtown

"building, apartments above, stores below.

They expect it to bring them a substantial income later on and put their daughter through college. The woman works hard, economizing in hundreds of little ways that we know so well. All business details are

left to the husband, as a matter of course. And then comes disaster. The property has heen lost, although what caused it to slip through the man’s fingers will never be known. The wife knows only that all her years of thrift and teil have gone for nothing. Is it any wonder she feels abused, cheated, her faith in her husband gone? Perhaps not. Yet if the story points any lesson, it is this one. We badly need more common sense in the married relationship. Innumerable women suffer the same and even worse disappointments because they have been educated to believe that the masculine mind is always superior to the feminine intelligence in matters of finance. This is, of course, one of the most foolish of human errors. We can hardly "contend, however, that husbands are a sneaking, dishonest lot, merely because they don't know how to handle money. So long as men

cheat and each other in the same way, we can

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The Hoosier Forum

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

URGES WPA SCOFFERS TO TRY SHOVEL

By Indignant

I wish to protest against the repeated criticisms of workers loafing on the WPA. As the wife of a WPA worker I am in a position to know that my husband works very hard for the maximum wage of $62 that he earns each month; works harder, in fact, than when he was employed in private industry. And there are thousands of others like him doing their very best so that food, rent and clothing can be provided for their families, and their homes kept together.

These people are grateful for WPA | and the chance to work, which is

no more than their right under the American system. I suggest that all those who, in moments of thoughtlessness, scoff at WPA workers, all those who jest at the “shovel leaners” try a day behind the shovel for themselves. o ” ” TERMS OUR PRICE SYSTEM OBSOLETE By Louis J. Petros

The cause of our unemployment is technology. It is not the Democrats or Republicans. The collapse in 1029 was not Hoover's fault and the present so-called recession is not a fault of Roosevelt, nor can anyone blame private industry. It is common sense to reason things out. Here we have a fine technology which can produce all the needs of our people. We know how to produce, all we need is a distribution system in place of a price system. The design for living is outlined by technocracy. ” ” THINKS MINTON SPOKE OUT OF TURN By W. H. Brennen

This new style of blackjacking candidates seems to go over big. Secretary Ickes blackjacks Garner for coming out for the Presidency. Senator Minton ups and blackjacks his best friend. Politics is getting to be a big guess. One doesn't know who to go to for a license to run for office. Still and all it doesn't seem to startle the peopie much. Senator Minton has no right to speak for Indiana, mor Secretary Ickes for Texas. But it does look as if Senator Minton may be frying to work up to be counted a Vice

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, religious cons troversies excluded. Make your letter short, so all can have a chance. Letters must be signed, but names will be withheld on request.)

Presidential candidate, if the good people of Indiana will accept him and throw over McNutt, Anyway it is not quite as easy as Senator Minton thinks, because he must first get McNutt, McHale and Indiana Democrats to agree to letting him speak for them. I like McHale's answer about it. It hardly seems fair to have MeNutt wait until next convention to see if no others seek the Presidency. Then it would be too late to marshal his forces and make much of a race. McNutt is not likely to pay much attention to the changes Senator Minton makes in his plans. I don’t see how McNutt could quit now just to please Minton. $y & = DEPLORES PLIGHT OF SPANISH REFUGEES By W. J. I am filled with indignation when I read about the conditions under which the Spanish refugees live, on the border between France and Spain. To think that these people, the elite of Spain, who fought tenaciously to preserve democracy and to escape living under the tyranny of Fascist Spain,

have to live amidst disease and hunger, is appalling. These people are not the ignorant, shiftless people of Spain, but the educated and cultured. Among them are statesmen, scientists, educators, doctors, writers and craftsmen, people who would be assets to any country. They still hold the torch of democracy. I don’t hold these half million refugees responsible for the desperate plight they are in; England and France are responsible. They didn’t seem to realize that the Loyalists were fighting to preserve their democracy, that Spain was just another Albania or Czechoslovakia, and another victory for the Fascist powers, against the democracies. Whatever is going to happen fo these poor people I don't know. But England and France should try to compensate for the crime they have committed against them by at least letting them reside permanently in their two respective countries, * 8 8

URGES PATRIOTISM ON HOLIDAYS By Mrs. Elsie Fern

Remember how thrilled most of us were as children when a national holiday would be an occasion to publicly express our patriotism by singing patriotic songs and each child could wave an American flag?

Let's always show this feeling that is in our hearts by flying the colors on a holiday. In this silent way we will honor not only the boys who fought so valiantly in all wars, but also the “war mothers” whose

hearts were torn asunder,

New Books at the Library

IDESPREAD graft and dishonesty in politics, race and class discrimination, despoilation of fertile soil, wanton ravishment of rich forests—these are among the sores festering in our country, and some of them are malignant, says Carleton Beals in his challenging new book, AMERICAN EARTH (Lippincott). Already we have flung away through floods, “aftermath of de-

Side Glances—By Galbraith

nuded forests,” the equivalent of the four most powerful nations in Europe, the author points out, adding that what we need is not “less public spending, but more—if it would really promote community welfare.” Mr. Beals tells us somewhat angrilly that we do not spend enough to retrieve our lost empire but that we protect it with battleships, always “more and more battleships.” In addition to deforestation and consequent floods which have rendered 200,000,000 acres of land useless and made life unsafe in many areas, the tenant-farmer, or share-cropper system has tremendously increased the acreage of submarginal lands and has added materially to the sum total of human misery, poverty, and degradation. Where the system is widely practiced, as in the Southern states, the population has been ground down to the starvation level. The author believes that disaster may be averted in part by putting an end to land-monopolies, tenantry and share-cropping, by “once more giving Americans free access to the soil, as they once largely had.”

FOR RENT By VELMA M. FRAME

Days grow to weeks and weeks into years. Somehow I've smiled through my sorrow and tears. Now it all seems so futile, why go on this way?

80 I'm writing an ad-here’s what it

will say:

For Rent—a heart that’s good and

true, Although it's cluttered with thoughts

you; For Rént—a heart that seems someow : Forever haunted by a sacred vow;

Now you are gone, we had to part, That's why I say—For rent, a heart!

DAILY THOUGHT

Ana as it is Sppoisited Wille wim onde to al oe. is She oN gent. wa! bY. ey a

FRIDAY, JUNE 16 1099 Gen. Johnson Says—

Mr. Berle's Suggestions on Lending Called Most Dangerous Rabbit Yet Pulled From New Deal Hat.

ASHINGTON, D. C, June 16.—There is being carefully and deliberately prepared in the mystie purple silences of the very innermost New Deal Holy of Hollies, the biggest and most dangerous white rabbit that has ever been pulled from the magic hat of this or any other Administration. Certain trial balloons have already ascended. Adlof Berle made no bones about the one he released before Senator O'Mahoney’s economic conditions

committee. His testimony did not get one-tenth the attention it deserves. r. Berle is personally not very impressive. But the heavy business pundits who dismiss this well “advertised intellectual prodigy would do well not only to reconsider Mr, Berle's standing with the White House-Corcoran steering committee. “Briefly,” said he, “the private financial system as at present constituted does not work.” Speaking of the national debt, he said that “it does not make a great deal of difference . . . whether the debt is that of a corporation or is that of the United States or a state or a municipality.” ” » ” HEN, warming up to his proposal that the Gove ernment should restore prosperity by investing public credit and capital in private enterprise where private capital fears to tread, he said: “Briefly (everything is briefly) the Government will have to enter into the direct financing of activities now supposed to be private. And a continuance of that direct financing must inevitably be that the Government ultimately will contrel and own those activities . . over a period of years, the Government will gradually come to control most of the productive plants of the United States.” That is exactly what Mr. Stalin thinks a government should do. This is advanced communism

and it is nothing less. Stripped of its protective coloration, Mr. Berle's proposal is that the United States should set up “capital credit banks.” If you are an industrialist and want to build a steel mill, or if Harold Ickes wants to do some public works, like building a hospital, or WPA wants to put on a new Swing Mikado—any one of these turns in an IOU to the capital bank. It may or may not charge interest, depending on whether it is a public or private purpose. The Federal “capital bank” takes a note and mortgage on your proposed plant. Then it «creates”’ and give you the money to go ahead. ” ” 8 T doesn’t make any difference whether business and I investors have “confidence” and invest for profits to create prosperity—or not. It makes no difference whether the lending is sound or well secured. If private capital won't invest in whatever is offered, the Fourth New Dealers will do it for them—and do it without creating any debt or deficit or increased

taxes at all. It is a very big and complicated subject. If it is right, the entire experience of mankind is wrong. It is so radical—even revolutionary—as to make it hard to believe that it is being so boldly proposed. The trou ble is that it is in a field so little understood that few can even consider it intelligently. But make no mis= take about this. It is rapidly crystallizing as the last desperate and determined rule-or-ruin policy of the Fourth New Deal. It is so viciously dangerous that it should be the principa) subject for discussion in every editorial page and public forum in the nation,

Aviation By Mai. Al Williams

Protests Plan to Retire Veteran Airmen Not Annapolis Graduates,

ASHINGTON, June 16.—With millions for bate tleships and equipment to protect hattilenps: and with the Navy demanding more officers, the Nava Selection Board tries to retire its most experienced airmen. Why? Principally because they are non= Naval Academy graduates, and irrespective of the fact that they came into the Navy during the World War, built naval aviation, and taught the Navy to fly. Holders of unblemished, excellent records, they were slated for retirement in 1040 at an average age of 45 at reduced retirement pay, 55 per cent instead of the usual 75 per cent. “Than you for the gift of your fe to the Navy—and goodby.” I Oe an Melvin Maas of Minnesota caught the Navy redhanded, amended the bill, and got it passed by the House. But the Navy always has its own sweet way in the Senate, and presumably will again. This self-perpetuating dynasty known as the Navy Department saves the weak and inefficient and discards the worthwhile naval officer of strong initiative. A physical exam for fitness and a written test for professional qualification are held sufficient. The ad= mirals and captains of the Selection Board never see the men they judge as “best fitted,” “fitted” and “une fitted.” The “best fitted” are always an easy choice in any group of humans. It's the run-of-the-mill officer, the “fitted,” where the Selection Board turns into a muddy lottery and choice is based on reading cold service

records.

Hiring Sight Unseen

Would you hire a man you had never seen? The Selection Board does. With the stroke of a pen it can ruin the life career of an officer, without trial or hear= ing. Such a system breeds internal politics, petty jealousy, and shameful inefficiency. These non-Annapolis flying officers of the Navy have been the butt of naval discrimination for 20 years, I was one of them, I knew the power of the Navy and resigned. The high command in naval aviation is incompe= tent to Jead in the air. The majority of senior aviators have not flown one minute more than four hours a month since four hours’ flight time was required by law. Their own loghooks bear this out. One seasoned airman is worth his weight in gold te stabilize the daring enthusiam of eager fledglings, With war popping in Asia and threatening in Europe, naval aviation needs the men who built it, established its schools, flew its world’s records, and built its

prestige.

Watching Your Health

By Dr. Morris Fishbein

ERE are five more questions about health. There are five possible answers listed for every ques tion, but only one is right. If your mark is 100, you are well informed. If you label yourself 60, you are only reasonably well informed. If you get less than 60, you should\learn more about health and disease in order to live longer and to be happier. ; 1. Shaving the hair from any part of the body makes it (a) thicker, (b) coarser, (¢) finer, (d) curlier, (e) has no effect. i 2, Homogenized milk is milk that (a) comes from; goats, (b) has been boiled, (c) has been thoroughly mixed under pressure, (d) has the cream removed, (e). is sour. 3. In a good standing position the shoulders are, (a) held forward, (b) the show.ders are held back, (¢) the shoulders are straight across (d) right shoule der is raised, (e) the left shoulder is raised. : 4. The pituitary gland is located in (a) the chest, (hb) the abdomen, (¢) the head, (d) the heart, (e): the liver, : 6. The three diseases most feared by mankind are; (a) smallpox, diphtheria, scarlet fever; (b) whooping: cough, measles, pneumonia; (c) tuberculosis, cancer,. syph ; (d) rickets, sore throat, rheumatism; (e) les, eczema and rhinitis. ; ANSWERS: : ‘ 1, Shav has no noticeable effect except ta. remove the hair. 1 2. Homogenized milk is whole milk which has been; completely mixed under pressure. , =. . 3. In a good standing on the head is back,’ the chin in, the abdomen flat, the back straight, the:

’