Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 October 1939 — Page 20

PAGE 20

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The Indianapolis Times

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1939

BLUE: SKY PENSIONS | T= people of California and Ohio will vote Nov. 7 on old- >. age pension certain to involve those states in financial disaster. In California, it’s the famous $30-every-Thursday or “Ham-and-Eggs” amendment to the state Constitution, revamped to appeal to various groups which opposed it and helped to defeat it a year ago. It seeks to assure every individual who is more than 50 and unemployed or retired an income of not less than $30 a week. In Ohio, it’s the so-called Bigelow amendment, which proposes to guarantee each-single person past 60 who is retired from gainful occupation a $50 monthly income, and to guarantee $40 a month to each member of a married couple in like circumstances. The people of California and Ohio would do well, before voting, to consider carefully the three-year experience of Colqrado with a pension plan much less drastic than either - the “Hbm-and-Eggs” or the Bigelow proposal. Coloradoans voted into their state Constitution an amendment asserting that every qualified person more than 60 years old should have a pension of at least $45 a month. It has proved impossible, in practice, to pay the $45 J minimum. There simply isn’t enough tax revenue. September pensions averaged only about $27; October, about $32. The total outlay for pensions has doubled, qualifications for “getting on the rolls having been greatly relaxed. Only a few more than 3000 persons in the 60-65 age groups have been provided for so far, and many times that number are seeking benefits. In only a few months has the state had enough money to match the maximum Federal contribution of $15 a month for pensioners more than 65. In most months it has had to turn back Federal money. : The amendment sets aside 85 per cent of all sales and liquor taxes for pensions. Half of these revenues previously were used for general relief and welfare. These activities now are financed out of the general fund. The resulting defieit in that fund has been met by taking 65 per cent of the state income tax revenues, formerly divided among local school districts. So education, relief and welfare are being short-changed. But the pensioners, still unsatisfied, propose a new constitutional amendment to levy special taxes, although there is general complaint that the pension plan already has raised taxes beyond ability to pay. *Colorado; in short, is having a thoroughly unhappy experience as a result of espousing a blue sky pension theory. Other states can expect nothing but worse experiences if they commit themselves to even wilder ventures. -

THE TEACHER'S ROLE

WENTY years of rigid control of the schools by the state has given Russia a national ideology. Young Russians ve fantastic ideas about the rest of the world. They have ‘been taught—and they believe—that Russia is the most culturally advanced, the most financially stable, the most powerful military nation in the world. Less than eight years of rigid control of the schools by the state has given Germany a national ideology.! Young Germans have been taught—and they believe—that Adolf Hitler is the greatest leader the world has ever seen, that only “Aryans” are fit' to be seen and heard, that Germany is a persecuted nation. These things ran through our minds today as we watched Indiana’s teachers here for their staté convention. And we're reminded that in this country, at least, the ‘schools and teachers remain free. We hope, and believe, that our teachers are aware of the tremendous influence they wield, and of their duty to give us a “next” generation of honestly skeptical, level-

headed, clear-thinking citizens able to live in tolerance and:

peace,

TRAGEDY AT HOME ) Co .

THIS country needs more speeches like the one made today at Cornell College, in Iowa, by Alfred M. Landon, ‘recalling attention to: American problems: from Witieh ge has been distracted by Europe's wat:

-

‘our shores,” said Mr. Landon, “must not blind us to the tragedy that is taking place daily here at home, in our very neighborhoods.” This is the tragedy of unemployment. The dread of it, as Mr. Landon pointed out, may be as.demoralizing as the dread of war. Its ruthless force has left almost as many people Jhangry and homeless as has the ruthless force of Hitler and. Stalin. “We watch the shifting and re-grouping of masses of population : in Europe with something akin to horror—men, women ‘and children torn from their homes on a few hours’ notice, But what of the great shifting of population in this country—a shift that has been from steady jobs to makeshift existence in unemployment ?” Here is a problem which, if it continues to exist in its present proportions, will almost as surely undermine democracy on this side of the Atlantic as war will destroy it on the other. And the remedy is not merely to alleviate the hardships of the victims of unemployment through ‘charity or doles or made-work. Quite as Mr. Landon said: “We must not be satisfied with anything short of the understanding and permanent solution of the vast problem of uiemployment throughout the country. The weakness in our system, in that part of us are living in plump com-

fort and part of us are living almost as. outcasts, must not be overlooked.”

COMPANY COMING?

HE possibility of a great ‘mission to Arrering being undertaken under the aegis of the Chamberlain Government by Ernest Bevin Britain's greatest and most

powerful trade union boss, with a view to rallying America |

by the ‘democratic’ cause, is under . active consideration ere.’’

—From “The Week,”

2 Victor, land - American office, 20 Sutsta an union Bue

YH

vs Lp ma ew

ered by carrier, 12 cents|

a year;

emes which, if adopted, are practically

i holding wheat against the day when the demand

“The: tragedy. that is taking place in the world beyond | ies a a a

‘maiden aunts -to exist in one house,

SAS A Aa BRINN SAB FH en

Fair Eroigh | By Westbrook Pegler

. Nevada Boosting Marriages Now as Divorces Fall Off and Californians

‘Shun Their. State's Stricter Laws. 1

5 ENO, Oct. 27.—There has been a decline in the

divoree industry in Reno since the banner year.

of 1931, when Nevada met a challenge {rom Arkansas by reducing from three months to six weeks the

period required for the establishment of a legal resi-

dence. Nevada pioneered the field under an old law requiring a residence of six months, and was doing a fine business, rich in economic butterfat, when the best minds of the hotel trade, retail, business and the Legislature decided that a reduction to three months would increase the volume without reducing to an injurious ‘degree the quality of the clientele. This divorce trade is almost entirely interstate commerce, and if Arkansas had been a private corporation the Federal Government might have found a law somewhere to protect Nevada’s rights. However, no such relief could be hoped for, so Nevada largely. abandoned the quality trade, as such, and adopted a six-weeks law embodying the business principle of the five-and-ten—small profits but many

of them.

2 #2 =

WE the minimum requirement was six months |’

of residence, and even after it had been reduced to three, the divorce clientele bought many expensive automobiles in Reno, and the retail merchants carried stocks of the most expensive goods, particularly woman’s wear. This demand for new cars has almost vanished under the present law, and, of course, the customers find it no problem to carry a program of stylish gear to see them through six weeks without local replacements. The hotels, however, are doing better than ever, because Nevada, and particularly Reno, recently have discovered another profitable specialty in quick-and-easy marriage for Californians unwilling to wait three days, as required by the law against gin weddings, or to comply with new blood-test regulations. Unless they drink extremely high-octane gin in California they would cool out or pass out on the long trip to Reno, but, hevertheless, the day after this law took effect there was a queue of Californians in the throes of the divine deliriuny extending from the court house door a half block to the corner and another half /block down that street. The blood-test law caused another rise in the marriage traffic, and together they have raised the score of marriages far above that of divorce. ¥ 8 = HE Riverside Hotel, the confluence of both streams, is crowded with guests drawn here on conflicting missions. Divorcing ladies, awaiting their decrees, crunch rice underfoot as they enter the lobby and may be permitted wry thoughts as the

- enter the elevators with other ladies wearing gar-

denias, the badge of the bride. However, I observed no wry glances, and I am told that the divorcing ladies do not feel wry about. marriage. Most of them intend to try again. In Reno, with a population of 20,000, there were

7824 marriages last year and only 2375 divorces—an

appalling deeline from the boom divorce business, 5745, in 1931. This year in September ‘the marriage rate increased 41 per cent, and the divorce traffic just held steady at the rate of 1938—2375 for the year—the lowest since Reno went into quantity production.

Business By John T. Flynn

War Is Causing American Business And Prices to Cut Odd Capers.

HICAGO, Oct. 27.—The war continues its vagaries with our business world. The output of steel flies upward, but the steel men insist they are not getting war orders. And now the price of wheat keeps up, though the wheat sellers are not getting very much war business. Why? Wheat has gone up in price 20 cents. It_ is sell~ ing as I write at 85% cents. But over -in Canada wheat is selling at the same time at 73 cents or 12% cents less. This is even cheaper than it seems because now the Canadian dollar is down in price about 10 per cent. Why is it that Canadian wheat is selling for 13 cents and United States wheat is held at over 85 cents? A glance at the records of the Board of Trade reveals that there is plenty of speculating in wheat and that the turnover is heavy among those who have no use for wheat save to gamble in its price. But every factor in the situation should make for a lower price. The estimate of the Government as to the prospects of the new crop has been increased: Then by whom and how is the price of wheat being held up? It is said in Chicago that Canada is not getting the orders from England for wheat which she expected. That is why wheat is 73 cents there. She is not getting the orders because England is buying wheat in those markets where the Germans go for heat: in order to prevent the Germans from hid ng

Somebody in for a Shock

But if the English are not buying wheat from Canada at 73 cents, is it possible to believe that they are buying it from the United States at 85 cents? That does not make sense. And if the war countries are not buying wheat, and if our enormous surplus remains hanging over the market, and if the outlook for the next crop is greater, then who is buying it in such quantities as to send the price up? The whole thing throws a curious light on the behavior of commerce and prices since. this war began. The. only explanation is that speculators may be will .start. But they must be holding an awful lot such a speculation—if sych a one exists. It will take a little time for many of these commercial curiosities to work themselves out. But, as Senator Vandenberg has observed, somebody is going to get terribly fooled in this war.

A Woman's Viewpoint,

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

NE of man’s most tattered mental: and-me-downs is the notion that women can’t work, play or live together without scrapping. In spite of proof to the contrary, which théy could see on every

side if they took the trouble to notice, they go on |

parroting such ancient tripe as this which I have culled from the writings of a male columnist:

“You ean put 40 men in a house and theyll get |

along, but two. women under the same roof will tangle inside of a month.” I ami aware that the statement is supposed to be

funny—and it is funny, but oniy because it was |

written by one member of a sex now largely occupied in devising new schemes for blowing each other to bits. As propaganda to spread the idea ‘that males “are agreeable, amiable and tolerant in all their relationships with one another, remarks such as that quoted above have gone over big. By and large, women, too, accept them just as they have accepted a good many other ridiculous pronouncements from mere force of ‘habit in obeying the male. It seems a bit odd, however, that this particular notion should have been so widely spread, since it was established as a fundamental truth about feminine nature during a period when women were living together under the same roof and very few men had it to do. During that time it was often economically necessary for grandmother, daughter and perhaps several nd the faet that they scrapped sometimes is not strange. The wonder is they didn’t all commit mayhem or murder.

I think men would show better judgment if they

ceased mentioning domestic feminine fracases. Maybe we can’t get along so well under the same roof,

but since men are not able 10 Live Jogether under the

"FRIDAY, OCT. 21, 1989

7 % C Ed

The Hoosier Forum

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

CITES WAR EXPERIENCE AS EXPENSIVE ITEM By Times Reader, Bloomington, Ind.

Well, it- is all very interesting, but I am going to get awfully mad if some one gives me a rifle and says “Over the Top!” Experience is one of the most expensive items I can think of. We have got several billion dollars worth of it. Surely that is enough. ’ » » 2

WANTS ALLIES STATE THEIR WAR AIMS By Neutral

Embargo repeal advocates write that they cannot comprehend how

the present war only the usual struggle for power. they should comprehend the follawing facts: England has taken territory -to which she had no right for centuries, but of course, in a more clever manner than some of the dietatorships and empires. Hitler is a world menace as long as he remains in power but the diplomatiec stupidity of Britain and France since the last war are largely responsible for the rise to power of the Austrian paperhanger. The insincerity of the Allied claim to be fighting for democracy needs no better evidence than the fact that these same nations were willing to accept the aid of Russia, a country whose system of government is every bit as revolting as that of Germany and a country that also sponsors an organization in America that has as its main object the overthrow of our Government. If this war is no power grab let Britain and France prove it by stating now their’ peace terms in

: event of victory.

# DOUBTS THE VALUE OF NEUTRALTY DEBATE

By Times Reader

What good has been done the American people by the neutrality fight now going on in the Senate? This point has been admitted by both. sides: If you are for the embargo you are for Hier and the Nazi and Communist forms of government; if you are for repeal you are for Britain and France. It is worth a lot to the people of this

‘What is the requirement to join that. great secret society of dictators? A majority of Americans want the embargo law repealed and they do

any other than Hitlerites can see in I think that]. .

jcountry to know these two points. | By their vote ye shall know them.

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

want Britain and France to win the war as quickly as possible, If they win, then Americans will and can stay out—providing Congress passes a law to drive Communist and Nazi isms from this country once and for all. There are three in every city block in this country today. . That is the duty of Congress. It will save the people doing it in their way. » 8 2 CLAIMS SACRIFICES DEMANDED BY DEBT By Voi¢e in the Crowd

What I mean when I say that we must pay off our public debt by 16wering our standard of living is that we are going to have to pay higher taxes of a more direct and visible nature that will apply. to our: debt.

Any phony method of getting around the honest payment of ‘the debt merely stands off the day when it will have to be reckoned with.

A lower standard of living may only mean the working of a longet day. The phony method now in vogue is to work a shorter one, ' It may mean a little longer time between drinks or shows. It may mean a little less mileage on the old bus or making the old car last a

little longer, but no one ever paid debts without sacrificing and that is going to have to be done by us or by the next generation.

If we are to retain our present form of government, every individual must consider the public debt from a personal angle and work toward economy of government and the payment of the debt. The great Grover Cleveland truthfully stated that “it is up to the people to support the Government, and not up to the Government to support the people.” That is sound philosophy and any other viewpoint is ruinous.

When peoplé as individuals realize that they work until nearly noon each ‘working day to support too much ‘government, and only thé balance of the day to support their own blood dependents, we may find a way to “streamline the Government.” Do that and you will inherit a “streamlined economy.” , 2 = =» URGES LAW AIMED AT PEDESTRIAN

By A. M. K,

With the report of traffic experts that the greatest problem in pedestrian safety is the pedestrian himself, why not enact a law to remedy that situation? Tickets served upon all violators of traffic ordinances, pedestrians and drivers alike, might serve to make the pedestrian aware of his own responsibility in the matter of self-protection. In cities where such a law is in operation, pedestrian fatalities have been materially reduced. Fear of punishinent exerts a powerful influence upon the human

mind.

New Books at

the Library

EFORE the hardiest of the Boers left. the settled life of the African cape to venture forth with their wives and children, their household goods and wagons and cattle, on the great trek to the wilderness, there were years of resentment and sporadic strife between the independent border Boers and the intruding British ‘Government. It is of -this resentment and of how it flared forth one time when the interference seemed past endurance, that Stuart Cloete writes in “Watch for the Dawn” (Hough-

ton). He writes of old Frederik

Side Glances—By Galbraith

Bezuidenhous, who had settled on the borderland of the Cape Colony, had subdued the land with his own labor, and now, in his.old age, saw the English courts of law threatening his land and his tranquility; of Kasper van der Berg and the shy Aletta and how they became involved in the dz2ath of Frederik; of Coenraad Bays and his band of renegades who lived a wild, defiant life just out of reach of the British; and of the uprising whith came after the killing of Frederik and ended so tragically. “Watch for the Dawn” is a big, vigorous, earthy tale of men who found joy in the growing of their ¢rops, in the feel of a horse beneath them: who worked and loved and wanted only independence and peat¢e, and who yet would fight to

guard that peace. It is the story of a wild land, peopled by the Bushmen, Hotteitots and Rafi, and a handful of white men. In “The Turning Wheels” the author wrote of the trek which took place years later. This second book is filled with foreboding of the growing power of the British which should evenutally force the descendants of these men to tear up their roots and seek their fortune in a still wilder land. Both books pre-

| sent an epic fitting to the magnitude

of the great African continent.

FALLING LEAVES By MAUD COURTNEY WADDELL The pitter patter of the rain

Pressed against my window pane; All solemn sadness held enchained

changed.

To at tears ‘wet Mothe ion ty fleet and slender: Knowing, beau Comes reluctant t@ surrender.

DAILY ¥ THouCHE

While waiting: seasons once more |

Gay Jaaves fell constant without g

Hoiise Divided

By Ludwell Denny

» Roosevelt Reported Losing Ground In Lower Chamber on, Neutrality; V Five-Vote Shift May Spéll Defeat.

ASHINGTON, Oct. 27.—A House divided against “itself holds the fate of the President’s foreign policy. The division is so close the final decisiorr may go either way on the Neutrality Bill, depending on next week’s developments. — Because the President has so much at ‘stake, both: - in policy and prestige, his leaders are exerting every: - ounce of strength. Just as patronage was effective on’, the Senate side where it was not needed, that pressure

may help turn the trick in the House. For this-, reason, plus the Administration’s control of the steams: roller which operates so easily under House rules, the bet is about 10 to 9 in favof of the President. a But the President has ‘been losing strength in the House during the last week. The most optimistie:~ claim of the Administration leaders is that a change ! of eight or nine votes would be required to defeat ° them. - But the Garner count is said to show that | only a five-vote shift would be necessary. That explains the Administration’s decision Wo" speed up the Senate and get to the decisive House vote ‘before any more votes fall away. The House ’ situation has become so delicate that the Adminise tration ‘does not know how far it dares go with ity. customary gag rules. rt} = fF 4 o ACKING the powerful weapons of the Adminisetration” in pressuring votes, isolationists must ° rely almost solely on the claim that: public support is falling away from the President as rapidly as the: public understands the real issues. According to os

isolationists the basic issue is two-fold: 5 First, it is arms embargo plus cash-and- oan on other supplies, instead of cash-and-carry versus arms embargo as the President stated his case for embargo repeal. Secondly, the issue is. mandatory}: law versus the wide discretionary power desired by. . the President. Public opinion can control the House more than + the Senate because all Representatives must face the - voters next year. But many Congressmen, returning -

| from their districts, are not sure which way to jumps:

They find voters k home clear on the “keep-out-of«.. war” slogan, but confused on the best way to do it: —as offered in the always technical and often devious Washington debate. a : x 8 2 a

O meet this uncertainty regarding public opinion; isolationists have been using their preponderance; in the so-called mail vote and are now using the new: Fortune - Magazine poll. . That poll, which forecast 1 the results of the 1936 Presidential election with an error of less than 1 per cent, shows that ‘between “i early September and early October public approval of: 4 the President’s foreign policy dropped 6 to 56 per 3 cent—a decline of 13 per cent. The isolationists ¢laim that this trend away trom | the President’s policy has continued during the last’ 10 days, and that the country is now on their side, = Neutral observers here are unwilling to dogmatize | regarding either the public opinion trend or the final’ House vote. Within a week, or a day, something happening abroad or at the White ‘House. could | change the picture sonipletely, 4

(Gen. Johnson’s regular colur column will appear to tomorrow

It Seems to Me

By Heywood Broun ob

U.S. Should Lead Neutral Nations In Calling for a Peace Conference.

EW YORK, Oct. 27.—In spite: of much’ breast} N beating by Borah and others it’ seems to mE; extremely unlikely that we shall be drawn into the} war as a participant. Moreover, our opportunity and} our resolution to stay out grow with the: passing: of the days. And yet I fear desperately ‘that we’ may’! make the same tragic blunder which we committed; in. the last conflict.- Indeed, in large measure we: already have done so. We should remain out: of thei! war, but assuredly we should not stay’ out of ‘the; peace. And at this moment a negotiated peice’ might’ be achieved if only our nation were ready. to unite; and assume our share of the responsibility for the: preservation of world security. - ~ ia I am thinking, of course; of the immediate creation: of a living League of Nations with teeth ‘and: spine] and lungs and liver. This is the only reasonable way: in which the present conflict can be ended, The! only other alternatives are stalemate or victery ‘aftess) great destruction. "And either of these last two -solub! tions would mean nothing more than a truce in which’ the combatants moved out of the war of weapons back into the war of nerves. Fear would be the certain” 1

victor,

Eniisting for the Duration

Most certainly I do not want to see Hitler or Stalin emérge as-the overlord of humanity. And yet if the British and French could unseat the Fuehrer ‘they. would not even be as far as first base in. solving the’ international situation. It would help a little, but: not enough. There are too many other Nazis, I do’. not think it likely that the Allies can beat Germany, into abject submission. And if they did T'am puasledt to know what good would come of it. It is sajd that the pledges of the present Reich are written in blood and water. But even that argument strengthens the necessity for a settlement to be underwritten not by the combatants aione but by all nations. Without organization neutrality is not only a ‘negative but essentially an ineffectual attitude. But already we have seen a coming to< gether of many countries, both in Panama and ati Oslo. The call to 'a conference might ‘come’ “from the President alone or from Mr. Roosevelt in ‘combination with the Vatican, the Scandinavian countries and: ‘the! nations of South America. But the United ‘States, can play no useful part in such a conference if ous delegates come in as Cook’s tourists intent on looking at the frescoes. If there is to be peace in ‘our time all the contracting parties must enlist for duration,

Watching Your Health.

By Jane Stafford

ARICOSE veins are one of the many" conditions for which medical science has found means off giving relief. Even the worst cases, at no matter what! age, usually respond to a modern form of treatment: which may be given in the doctor’s office, says the U. 8. Public Health Service. The tfeatment consists of tying off the vein and injecting into it a solution which sets up a mild ine flammation and obliterates the swollen, “varicosed” art. The procedure does not cause much discome . ort, nor does it disable the patient. Exercise during: * the course of treatment is good and is gener recommended. Most patients are permanently reliev

Mx SEAL SLSR

[ of the trouble by this treatment.

The exact cause of the condition has not yet t found. Some authorities believe that heredity plays x part, while pthers ascribe varicose veins to y mechanical conditions. Pregnancy, consti