Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 4 October 1939 — Page 14

8

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~

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1939

"HOOVER'S WAR SIZE-UP ~ «TMPERSONAL as a surgeon with his knife,” to use the

slg ber op

recent words of Col. Lindbergh, are the statistics which

Herbert Hoover brings to bear on the European war sit"uation. To all who hate Hitlerism and its marriage of con“venience with Russia there is comfort in what Mr. Hoover “spots as fact in all the shifting mass of claim, counter- “ claim and conjecture. For, as a statistician Mr. Hoover ‘shines. Apart from how you otherwise appraise his manysided career, he is the master of the “common denominator.” He gives in a newspaper interview a long-haul size-up of the ~ resources of the various belligerents. The picture, should be reassuring to those who have been saying that quick defeat for the Allies is in thg cards and ‘that we will be attacked next. Some of the high spots: British and French sea strength about 2,500, 000 tons. "“Germany’s, 500,000. Allies’ five to one. Russia’s navy negligible. Italy’s tonnage about 600,000. Therefore even if Russia and Italy should join Germany in formal war declaration the Allies would be over twice as strong at sea. Manpower: Germany’s population 80,000,000, Allies 115,000,000, with nearly 500,000,000 to draw on from possessions around the world. Italy 41,000,000. Russia inhibited by transportation difficulties and material shortages despite vast raw resources. Air: Superiority in doubt. Great destructive possibilities. But “aerial warfare works both ways.” Down through such vital items as food, industrial production, metals and other essential materials, gold supply and purchasing power, the enumeration points to extreme danger and almost certain defeat for Germany in a long - conflict. For manpower on land and control of the waves tell the final tale. The appraisal comes from one who is not only a genius at statistics but who probably saw more of the economic side of the World War than any other man now living. Accordingly, all those in this country who fear the Allies are -.about to be licked may well take heed -of the figures, and of the advice which comes to us from an expert. Mr. Hoover concludes: : - “We need to keep cool. After all we must keep. out of this war. We would be yielding the last stand of de-mocracy-if we go in, win or lose. We would have to yield to dictatorship during the war, and in a quarter of a century of impoverishment afterward we would not get out of dictatorship. We would be destroying the possibility of being of aid in reconstruction of a demoralized world after it was allover.” ;

SPEAKING OF SALARIES : HE annual salary of the Chief Justice of the United States is $20,500; that of Associate Justices of the Supreme Court $20,000. : The United States pays its Vice-Presidents $15,000, members of the President’s Cabinet the sarie amount. A United States Senator draws $10,000. The Governor of the State of Indiana is paid an $8000 salary, the Mayor of the City of Indianapolis $6000. The State Accounts Board has reported that: 1. The Marion County Clerk in 1938 received at least $20,685.90. 2. The Marion County Treasurer in 1938 received at least $16,218.68. y 3. In addition, the County Clerk received anwnknown amount in marriage license fees and the County Treasurer received an unknown amount in demand fees on delinquent taxes. \ How long Marion County taxpayers are willing to condone such an outrageous system remains to be seen. But this much is certainly true: The longer they permit such loose and costly practices to continue, the more they weaken - their own demands for lower taxes and more efficient local government. When the - next Legislature convenes in 1041, they should demand as the first order of business the correction ~f the “fee system” in these offices.

TOO MUCH SERVICE EWS item: Form messages tell Congress how to vote on neutrality. ’ When you get a’ telegram on your birthday you feel pretty set up if it reads like this: “Hope all your clouds turn inside out and show their silver linings as you set sail for another year.” : But you are considerably deflated when and if you learn that “them words” is number 661 of a telegraph company’s list of greetings. ~ Likewise, if you chance to be a Congressmaii and get a form of message on neutrality you are likely to be much less impressed—no matter how flowery the language—than if you sense that the opinion expressed actually originated from the signer. It was Thomas Edison who said that the hardest thing in life is thinking. And there is something hollow about a pre-digested sentiment. ; So with all due respect for the enterprise of the telegraph companies in their latest big idea, we suggest, if you really want to carry weight in| exercising your right of

«petition, that you do your own skull practice and use your

own language.

STATISTICS “.A FTER an analysis of 902 wars and 1615 internal disturbances in 2500 years, Professor Pitirim A. Sorokin, chairman of the Department of Sociology at Harvard, re- * ports that the war index for the Twentieth Century reached ‘a total eight times greater than all the preceding centuries.’ “Spain led with wars occurring during 67 per cent of the years of her history, Germany was lowest with 28 per cent of the years of her history. - England was rated at 56 per cent; France, 50 per cent; Italy, 36 per cent; Russia, 46 per cant; ancient Greece 57 per cent, and ancient Roms, per cent. — (From the 1938 Wend Almanac.), :

Fair Enough

By Westbrook: Pegler

Reds in the World Series, So W's|{ Natural fo Recall the 'Black Sox'| And With Word of Mitigation, Too. YORK, Oct. 4—The solemnization of any|

World Series ' involving either ' the Cincinnati

Reds or the White Sox for the first time since the |

historic fake of 1919 was bound to evoke memories of that series in which several members of the White Sox

kicked away the championship and shook the fair| FE

escutcheon of the national pastime to ts very marrow ;

if not to its wellsprings. &

It is an iriteresting and accurate if not encouraging :

commentary en American citizenship that today the names of the underpaid wretches who succumbed to temptation and resentment are carved in the, American hall of shame, while hundreds of judges, ‘mayors

and politicdl bosses who jeopardized the liberties of |

the people by sabotaging democracy are forgiven or, at worst, merely forgotten.

~ Inasmuch as these individuals are being paraded |“ -again in their chains, I think I will just point out a

few facts in -mitigation, the first being that they were not actively corrupt, but were corrupted.

They | were corrupted by a person sent out from New York. ,

by Arnold Rothstein, a professional gambler.

Rothstein knew that the White Sox were vastly: 5

underpaid by a rich boss who made great show of his

openhanded generosity by buying drinks for political |.

barflies and Sports writers and contributing to charities. 2 8 8 OTHSTEIN Knew also that there were a couple A of players on the team who had a pronounced streak of larceny and by promising bribes of $10,000 each to those who were in on the plot he fixed the series. Those White Sox were simply marvelous. Eddie Cicotte would rub the ball on a patch of paraffin wax on his pants till a spot about the size of a quarter shone: like a full moon and then sling. It would seem to explode like a meteor:

Moreover, they were a great fielding club, two of :

the square guys being Eddie Collins and Ray (Cracker) Schalk, who are really historic stars, or immortals. After. the story broke in a great splatter, late in the summer of 1920, and the corrupted ‘men were banished, a young Milwaukee lawyer named Ray Can< non, who afterward served a cquple, of hitches inf Congress, took over their case and sent me the salary figures. They were indecently stingy. t 4 2 ”

/ HAVEN'T the figures just now, but for all his dis-

play of hospitality, Comiskey thought $3000 was

enough to pay a star member of the greatest ball |

te, that ever assembled. . Even after the expose, the noblest Roman was incredibly callous and ungrateful to a little scrawny pitchier, named Dick Kerr, who won two games in|

the fake series with most of his own team against him.

Kerr wanted a little raise. Comiskey wouldn't give it to him. : So Kerr retired and lost his career. That was what loyalty to the noblest Roman got him. : After 20 years some reople’s memory’ gets fuzzy, but let me tell you that mot a soul had the ‘story until it 'was over. The one who cracked it then was Hugh S. Fullerton, who merely said that seven members of thg Sox would never play again, but didn’t say why. e knew what was up, but didn’t have the facts, and the guilty men not only did play next season, but had almost won another pennant when the blowofl - came. ~ After they were expelled the team

| collapsed, and the White Sox haven't won a pennant

since.

Business By John T. Flynn

War Being Viewed Now Almost Solely as to Effects on Business.

TLANTA, Ga., Oct. 4—Everywhere .I go I find that more and miore the discussion of the war situation is turning to what its effect will be on American business. But the arguments, discussions, plans, proposed plans do not center around what will be good of bad for American business as a whole. In each locality business people and others are beginning to talk about what will be good or bad for them, in their own little sphere. _For instance, in Chicago, the center of the manufacturing industry, the feeling in‘ general is Optimistic. This is based, of course, mainly cn what they see in the steel industry—rising prices, rising production. There have been warnings about how transitory and illusory this may be, but the feeling is there all the same. Here in the cotton cquntry, however, they are. not so sure. With the failure of the Government’s cotton program, the cotton producers have been wondering what is going to save them. They had put a good deal of hope in the possibility of the Government paying subsidies on foreign shipments to reduce the huge qurplus. But this hope has come in for a good deal of knocking about in the last few weeks, as the war sit-

‘uation and the neutrality fight has developed.

—England ‘is the South’s biggest cotton buyer—or was. But England is a belligerent power. And there is sure to be a determined battle on any attempt of the Government actually to pay part of the cost of shipping American goods to a warring nation.

Something to Watch :

Then, too, there is the pending ban on American ships entering war zones and on carrying goods to belligerent nations. So the ‘cotton’ people, while still hoping something will ‘be ‘done to save their foreign trade, are looking about for something they can count on here. “There is the hope, of course, that American textile mills will begin to get the business being dropped by foreign mills, whose capacities will be needed to supply their own armies.

But pressure from various groups and various localities interested in their own immediate problems as they relate to the war, is beginning fo get into action. Up to now it has been more or less latent. - But now the signs are apparent everywhere of determined efforts to whip it up. More and imore the business theme is emerging and should be watched carefully by everyone interested in choosing the wisest and sanest course for this country. < ®

A Woman's Viewpoint]

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

T= newspapers of the United States have a terrible” responsibility thrust upon them, for they utilize in their everyday business the tools that make wars—words. For publishers and editors are just as human as the rest of us. Although the peculiar nature of their work gives them more than ordinary foresight, and trains them to discriminate between true and fake news, they are not supermen with infallible judgment. The very fact that most of the reputable papers now warn their readers about thé censored war dispatches they print daily is enough to prove their desire to play fair ‘with the public. I doubt whether any other vast industry would make such an effort to undermine the faith of its patrons. That’s what newspapers are really doing an the trust they are building in the minds of intel readers, may they be rewarded some day! Who actually knows the truth |about Europe? It took us 15 years to get the details'about the starting of the last war and there's little likelihood we shall obtain all the facts very soon in this one. Therefore, it seems to me very dangerous when Miss Dorothy: Thompson, ‘for example—a writer wth a tremendous following—makes such a statement as this; “War or no war, there is a difference between the Allies ahd Germany so far. as we are concerned, for the former do not wish to sow dissension in this

, for

country or overthrow our established institutions and : :

the latter does. As Revolutionaries they have ‘already declared war on us.” ‘These are’ indeed wild ‘words and, by implication at least, they pitch us Bead over heels in into the Euro-

ent |

Congress ‘Shoiild Have Free Hand;

Minority Group Pressure Seen as Peril to Our Type of Government.

GTON, ‘Del, Oct. 4—Should Congress stay in session? By all means—or 50 it seems to 1 me. We are sure to pass some kind of nonneutrality act re-orienting cur economic universe,

| The good faith of the champions on both sides of the

argument about its details is as I believe above question. But one side or the other or both may be wrong, It is an uncharted sea. The bill- proceeds largely on conjecture. It might have to be changed instantly. ‘You can’t apply to the infinitely intricate web of the ational commerce of a great nation any cast iron Tule of universal application without raising dif-

yond the ability of any human mind to foresee. The usual modern way to provide for this certain and sometimes disastrous result is for Congress to leave to some executive officer discretion to apply the law - with flexibility, sympathy and common sense and prevent unintended destructive résults, But this is a time of war. Modifications of this law favoring one side or the other might amount to a declaration of economic war—one step short of military war.

A TEE Constitution places the power to engage this

country in military war solely in the: Congre

} | Regardless of cenfidence in any executive officer, my

The Hoosier Forum

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

DEFENDS ROOSEVELT’S STAND ON NEUTRALITY By Mrs.. Alma Winters

L wish to comment on Edward]-

Maddox's Sept. 30 Forum article. No fair-minded person who heard President Roosevelt's speech Sept. 21 could truthfully say he and his advisers are not neutral. Not once during his entire speech did he lean

toward France or England. He made/|

it very plain that the cash and carry plan was for any country who cared to do business with us under those conditions. Germany is welcome to buy anything she. wants from us, the same as the Allies; so let her come on and see if she can make the grade. Any person. who claims to have & human heart would be in sympathy with the Allies. You can be in: sympathy with someone and yet be neutral. . . . ” 2 ” URGES CALM STUDY OF NEUTRALITY CHANGES By Voice in the Crowd 1 wish to point out that a few years ago the Neutrality Act was given long and careful consideration by both the House and Senate before it was passed as a law designed to

keep us out of war. There was no emergency then, nothing to harrass the lawmakers who were construct=jng the act. The law was desighed for and considered adequate as an instrument that would keep us free from entanglement. If a law that was constructed with as much time and thought as the Neutrality Act is considered to be a bad law, what of some of the “must” legislation that "has been passed during the last six years, with scarcely any thought at all? The changing or not changing of the Neutrality Act will no doubt

affect Americans for many genera-

tions. It seems that it therefore behooves all Americans to insist that plenty of time is taken by their representation on Capitol Hill to decide the problem correctly. In the present heat of lying propaganda, haste will not solve problems correctly for the coming generations. Our founders won freedom for themselves and for us from England. At England’s side in the World War we lost a large percentage of that freedom, and we would lose the balance in another war. Congress' has a problem to solve, Encourage them to take plenty of time to be cool and collected. Bear in mind that a state of war now exists, and if we change the law now we

(Times readers are invifsd 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.)

take a forward step as a non-com-batant ally, Then where would another step lead? 2 = 2 CRITICIZES CURRICULUM IN STATE SUHOOLS By J. H. J. I have just visited my old high school in Lafayette and I fear there is grave reason for Indiana’s slipping behind as a breeding place for authors and other learned men.

"|Children enter high school deficient

in grammar and frequently unable to read comfortably. They leave it little better off. The language department is too futile to deserve the name. Mathematics seems strong but the chemistry department is as weak as it was when I slept through it. > My forte is history and that department appalled me. I'll bei the superintendent has never read even one chapter of the text they use to teach little sophomores all' of the history of all of the world. The juniors have a year of American history which is one-third economics. Then there is. a semester each of economics, civics, sociology and South American history. I admit it

sounds modern and fussy to teach little high-schoolers sociology and

South American history (which very|. few colleges specialize enough tof

consider necessary) but imagine taking time for them when the chil-

dren in these troubled times have}

no chance at ‘a course in general modern history! Fellow Hoosiers, what can we do?

®- 8 2 SEES HELPING BRITISH A ROOSEVELT CHARACTERISTIC By BR. G. L. A news item says Kermit Roosevelt, fifth cousin jo the President, is so anxiofis to help the British that he gave up his American citi-

zenship to become a British subject|

so he could. join the fighting. The rest of us prize our American citi- | zenship as we never before appre-

ciated it. But this urge i help the British is characteristic of the Roosevelts, it seems. PF. D. R., too, is so anxious to help the British he’s high-pres-suring Congress to lift the embargo so we can sell them guns and ammunition. That this is believed by many of the most ardent Americans with thought only for this country’s welfare to be the back door entrance to war makes no difference to the President. If F. D. R. is so anxious to help the British he might emulate his cousin and permit the rest of us to act and think neutral. This is mean, but I'm going to feel much meaner if F. D. R. succeeds in sand-bagging Congress into lifting the embargo. And I'll have my say before I'm clapped into the hoosegow on suspicion of being a

German spy or something.

New Books at the Library

has been said that autobiography is what every biography should be. Though not all biographers agree on this point, it is a method which carries its own authority and authenticity. It is the method employed by Edith Ellsworth Kinsley in “Pattern for Genius” (Dutton), a recent biography of that amazing family. of genius, the Brontes. This book is written with particular emphasis on Patrick Branwell . Bronte, only brother of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne

“His tragic life was misspent and

Side Glances—By Galbraith r 4 mg"

2 m sorry, Mother, but the Soroma says the ‘they must. leave, or he'll have to char

fled. | - Keep our minds both bright and

the proper pattern for his undeniable genius was never formed, but the influence of his character and his spirit upon the work of his talented sisters was profound. A few of Branwell’s poems, paintings

and letters are all that - remains extant of his works; but through “Wuthering Heights,” through “Jane Eyre,” through' the “Tenant of Wildfell Hall” and the other Bronte novels Branwell’s biography is traced; for he appears in every one of these novels. . Even his conversations have been recorded, according to the opinions of this biographer, and so she tells

his story, as well as the story of}

other members of the remarkable family of Haworth parsonage, by means of quoting and piecing together different parts of the Bronte novels, poetry, and letters. They speak for themselves and the result is convincing and compelling. To read this book is to become even more aware of the dark, compelling quality of the Brontes and their foreboding Yorkshire moors.

PRAYER FOR PEACE By FRANK J. CRITNEY Lord give us light That we may see To solve our plight And still be free. - Although work is very scarce, Keep us out of any farce: That will lead our thoughts astray. ‘Teach us ere the fateful day Dawns upon our sobbing head To find Christianity long has |

clear “From thoughts of war, Let's justly steer. Keep us strong and with Thy

¢ ght, ; : Protect us, ‘guide. us, keep us ‘right. : NE "DAILY THOUGHT

- For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth

knowledge increaseth Sorrow. - I

Ecclesiastes 1: 18

.of political bosses and’ business eombines.

against this common and dangerous

observation of popular opinion is that it is unwilling to ! repose any power that might mean war in any part of our Government except the representative power

| the Congress of the United States.

These times are more crowded with explosive sure prises than any we have ever known, Personalized or even dictatorial government may be the best organization to fight a war. I think it is. But it.certainly

the worst. Just now the almost universal prayer of the country is to keep out of war. Representative government is best for that. : Buf representative government means almost the reverse of government by plebiscite. The latter, popular referendums on every principle and detail of administration, have never worked anywhere and _couldn’t possibly work here with 130 million 8 peopl,

sa =

RR ZSSESERTATIVE government means dontutor by elected agents of the people devoting their whole time and experience to the problems of the country, If they do not accurately reflect the majority of popu lar ‘will, they. go. Among the greatest dangers to this form of government are highly organized minority pressure groups bombarding Congress with millions of missives insist ing on action which the incited senders probably do not understand and frequently Sould not even discuss intelligently. Others are so-called polls of public opinion. This column -has often: protested against both, It is a protest that will bear repetition. There is no way to sto . The right to. petition Congress is stated in the Constitution.” But Congressmen ld adopt a rule to disregard communications urging particular action which did not state that the message was the writer's own and the reasons on which it proceeds. Poils of opinion of wide publication could be required to state, by areas and groups the number of persons polled and a detail of the methods used each time.

| Murphy By Ludwell Denny

Attorney General May Replace Ailing Butler on Supreme Court.

TASHINGTON, Oct. 4—Frank Murphy may be the next Supreme Court justice. This New Deal glamour boy has everything to make him the next President except the right religion politically. But his Catholic faith probably will place him on the high court if Mr. Roosevelt does the picking. Associate Justice Pierce. Butler is 73 and very ill. He does not want to retire but may have to. Justice Butler is a Catholic, and got his job for that reason. Failure to name a Catholic successor to the eminent Chief Justice White had caused grumbling, So President Harding chose Churchman Butler, ine stead of Judge Martin T. Manton, since convicted of bribery. Another consideration also influenced the Harding choice of Butler—his ability as a conservative corporation lawyer. Murphy also has other qualities that * commend him to President Roosevelt:. He is a New Dealer. He would add courage and ability to the Court’s liberal majority. The power to remake the Court in his own image, which Congress denied the President, already has been granted him by death and retirement. He ‘has named Justices Black, Reed, Frankfurter and Douglas,

‘Only two of the old conservative majority remain—

McReynolds and Butler. Even the middle-of-the« roaders, Hughes and Roberts, now wobble more to

.the left than :the right.

Ability May Prove Handicap

And one young appointee is worth two or three oldsters. Murphy is only 46. Through him the Rooseveltian philosophy could enliven the Court for perhaps 25 or 30 years. In the White House ‘the New Deal is mutable, subject .to the sudden shifts which shelved ‘the once popular Hoover and others. But in his Supreme Court Justices the father of the New Deal may project his rule for a

quarter century.

- Nobody questions Frank Murphy's ability. That, indeed is his chief handicap as a Supreme Court ‘aspirant. Some say his great ability is needed more in the cabinet. For instance as Secretary of War. As Attorney General hé has breathed some life into a department which was dead to the crimes Always he has been an organizing crusader; as a.teacher of law, Federal prosecutor, municipal "judge, Mayor of Detroit. Governor General of the Philippines. As Governor of Michigan he. Weathered the sit-down strikes without violence. 4 Though a devout Catholic. he does not take PO-. litical orders from his religigus superiors. He proved ‘that when he broke with his friend Father Coughlin and clashed with the hierarchy in the Philippines. And it is as a red-headed fighting liberal that President Rbosevelt likes Frank Mrvhy, best. oo

Watching Your Health

y Jane Stafford

HE chances are that 68-year-old Johnny and Susie setting off to school this fall have alresdy had ‘whooping cough. About half the “whooping cough ‘cases reported in cities occur in children under 5, with about 90 per cent in children under 10. i Johnny and Susie may even have been ivaseinated

aj) ‘ment. Some doctors have reported good the use of anti-whooping cough vaccine, Jesu ey and health authorities are not yet entirely. as to its value, so whether ‘or not 2 and Susie get it is a matter for thelr parents 0 decide in consultation with ‘their physician. Two ngs to know about wheopif cough are: 1. It ranks as a deadly disease, a killer of small children particularly, either on its own or ‘through pneumonia which may follow an attack; 2, It-is most communicable or contagious in. the stage. before the whooping starts. This ig may last from one to two two weeks. The ‘whooping cough is a danger to of rs fror m days after he has been exposed to the dise ny which time the germs are growing in his y e I does mt opus unl es weeks af started to whoop. sR Fh Parents should ihe

for be suspicious

HE. Delphic oracle said I |

ficulties, impossibilities and absurdities which are be- |

is not the best government to keep out of war. It is -

a

4

y