Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 February 1940 — Page 10

1 he Indianapolis Times

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) . >

ROY W. HOWARD RALPH BURKHOLDER MARK FERREE President Business Manager

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E> RILEY 555

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1940

- KEEPING THE RECORD

IX days ago, when we last wrote on this subj ot Congress

by various economy gestures had marked up $302,-|

000,000 of “paper savings” in the President’s budget. In line with our promise to keep a running box score of the game Congress is playing, we observe that the “paper savings” now stand at $155,000,000. y The slip-back came through additions by the Senate Appropriations Committee to the Independent Offices Supply Bill, and through items restored to the Agricultural Bill by the House. We note, with no surprise, that the farm-bloc Senators are organizing to restore more items and to add other expenditures above the President’s original estimates. Thus this year’s Congressional “economy” fight is following the usual pattern—first much loud talk about big economies, then seemingly vigorous motions in that direction, then a gradual blackslide. : The economy bloc’s announced goal is an over-all slice of $460,000,000 from the President’s budget—to avoid the necessity, in an election year, of voting that much in new special defense taxes, which the President asked, or approving an almost equally unpopular increase of the legal limit on the public debt. Six days ago the economy boys were within $158,000,000 of their goal. Today they are $305,000,000 short. We hold to our original skeptical prophecy: When it’s all over, they will have marched up the hill and down again, ‘At the end of the session, fagged by months of talking economy and voting to spend, the lawmakers will have to face the necessity of more revenue. And once again they'll be too tired to vote a decent tax bill.

SOUTH DAKOTA'S SHAME

N ugly charge has reared its head in the pages of Life. That impudent magazine, apparently bent on reviving the era of muckraking, has made the flatfooted assertion that— Mrs. Roosevelt has never visited South Dakota! We await with trepidation the reaction of that great commonwealth, If the charge can be sustained, what is there left for the honest yeomen of the Coyote State to do but secede? Mr. President, you'd better either warn the Army to be on the alert, or else talk Eleanor into running out to the Black Hills for lunch—even if that is where Cal Coolidge contributed his “I-do-not-choose” to the hateful tradition of no third terms. A

WANTED: A NEW ISSUE

A COUPLE of months ago some Republicans thought |

they had Secretary Hull on the run in the matter of the reciprocal trade agreements program. Today these same Republicans find themselves very much on the defensive, going to extreme lengths to prove that there is some alternative other than the old and repudiated Smoot-Hawley formula, of which Mr. Hull keeps mercilessly reminding them. If more proof were needed that the old guard strategists have a sour issue, that proof has now been supplied by the latest Gallup Poll. It shows that only one out of 10 voters understands the principles underlying the Hull program— and that among those who do comprehend, 71 per cent think Congress should give him power to make more such treaties. Moreover the poll shows a preponderance of favor for the] program among Republicans as well as Democrats. Yes, it's about time for the G. O. P. master minds to get together and smoke up another hotel room, and another issue,

eo

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| PROFESSORS AS CITIZENS | CADEMIC freedom—the question of how far professors should go in public expression of their own views— has been hotly and endlessly debated. It is not surprising that the college presidents who belong to the Association of American Colleges needed four years to formulate a general statement on this subject that reasonably satisfies a majority of the members. | But the statement finally adopted, laying down broad principles for the behavior of more than 500 faculties, seems to us admirable: “The college or university tencher i is a citizen, a member of a learned profession, and an officer of an educational institution. When he speaks or writes as a citizen, he should be free from institutional censorship or discipline, but his special position in the community imposes special obligations. As a man of learning and an educational officer, he should remember that the public may judge his profession and his institution by his utterances. Hence he should at all times be accurate, should exercise appropriate restraint, should show respect for the opinions of others, and should make every effort to indicate that he is not an institutional spokesman.” Of course that leaves plenty of room for future arguments. Who, for instance, shall decide whether a professor has exercised “appropriate restraint”? Because of objections from many of the college presidents, a section saying that such decisions should be left to the individual’s judgment was eliminated from the statement. But if the professor who speaks or writes as a citizen actually is to be free from institutional censorship or discipline, such decisions can hardly be made by anyone but the individual. And that, after all, is as it should be. Different persons will have different ideas about the special obligations imposed on professors by their special position in the com“munity. Some professors will insist, as some always have, that academic freedom entitles them to say things that displease or shock their presidents, college trustees and fellow-faculty members. In the dong run, however, they will do no such harm as institutional gag rules would do. Indeed in most colleges, and mest communities, a few ap_propriately unrestrained speakers and writers can serve a highly userul purpose,

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«ceived from some of these older buildings.

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

Taxpayer Not Allowed Exemption ‘For Children Over 18 But Helps

Educate Other Youth Up. to 25.

EW YORK, Feb. 5—A person wants to be careful not to speak out of turn these days, and I don’t know but that I am leading with my chin when I suggest that a man who pays an income tax is as good as the man who doesn’t and ought to have the same rights. I am thinking of the inequality between the status of minor children of income taxpayers and that of the young people whom the New Deal classifies as

youth. The minor child of a taxpayer is deemed to be old enough to get out and scuffle for his or her

own living at the age of 18, but youth is officially re-|

garded as dependent up to the age of 25. .'The taxpayer is allowed to deduct $400 a year from his income for each dependent child under 18. The

| deduction is not allowed after that, even though the

expense of clothing and educating a young man or woman obviously is greater than that of maintaining a child.

The income taxpayer is compelled to pay for ‘the ; education and support of his neighbor's children be- |

yond 18, but is supposed to kick out his own into the weather—which is rather severe at the current writing.

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ORSE than that, if a taxpayer's kid does show a dash of speed, intelligence and ability and earns an income by his own efforts the Government then reverses its position and holds that, although he is not any longer a dependent of the old gent, nevertheless, the young one’s income belongs to the family kitty, in the old man’s name, and his earnings are added to the old man’s in order to boost the old man’s figure’ into a higher: bracket. In another case a young woman earning a pretty good salary, but nothing scandalous, is not permitted to make any deduction for the support and education of her younger sister who is 20, the girls being on their own. Naturally, the wage-earning young woman bares her pearly fangs and snarls slightly over the proposition that her sister is less entitled to a few honest comforts and a thin smear of learning than the young people around and about them who are allowed to put in for assistance because their parents are doing poorly. It may have been observed, too, that there is now in the works in Washington a ballyhoo to increase the assistance. to the scions of non-payers of the income tax and to set the knives to take a little deeper cut of such salaries as this young woman'’s.

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HE same general discrimination against the taxpaying type of citizen exists in the problem of allowances for the support of dependents who are not children. But at the same time other citizens, including whole families of them, are supported—not luxuriously, it is true—on funds contributed by the same taxpayer and, often, at a rate higher than the figure of -$400 a year per person which is all that the Government deems necessary for the support of any legal dependent except wife or husband. I do not know who it was that hit upon the figure of $400 a year as adequate for the support of a human being, even in a separate domicile, or how he arrived at that sum. Certainly it is a sub-standard figure. But I hedge away from questions of adequacy and confine my discussion to the obvious discrimination against the kin of the taxpayer. . What have we against income taxpayers, anyway?

Inside Indianapolis

All-Night Parking Row Is Bread And Butter to the Republican Side.

EPUBLICAN leaders in town have been watching (and listening to) the all-night parking row with a great deal of interest. The recent squabble over ice and snow remaining on the streets also took their eyes

and ears. Of course, it all means somthing. A good portien of the citizenry has been discontented over this and that lately. We have a Democratic administration and it is inevitable that a healthy proportion of the malcontents put a political angle to the matter. All of which delights G. O. P. hearts. The current tug-of-war for the Governor nomination on the Democratic side also is heartening to the Republicans. That's the bright side of the Republican picture. It's what most party leaders like lo talk about. What

- they don’t like to mention are the troubles within the

party—the continuing struggle for dominance of the

State committee, ete. In plain words, both

troubles.

sides are having their

NY OF THE OLD residents who haven't been around for a few years would have difficulty finding some of their landmarks if they landed in Indianapolis right now. Because it’s happening right under our noses we're hardly conscious of what's going on. 8 But dozens of downtown and near-downtown buildings are coming down. In the places of most of them are going parking lots—which is one way out of our downtown parking problem. Principal reason for most of the activity is that the taxes have come to be higher than the rent rePutting it bluntly, they've served their usefulness. ” 2 2

THEY HAVE A NICE new clock at the Coliseum . » » which adds to the hockey game excitement. . . . The New Yorker magazine has a nice piece in its current issue about Mildred Dilling, the Indianapolis girl who has become one of the world’s most famous harpists... . . The grade school winner of the William H. Block Co. Scholarship Hour (radio) this year was a 12-year-old harpist, by the way. ... Her family has been hard hit by the depression and her teacher has been giving her free lessons. Another winner was a boys’ trio from the Communal Bldg. on the South Side. . . . There were two 13-year-olds and a 12-year-old and their biggest problem was how to divide $12.50 among the three of them.

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

ICE women are forever complaining of authors who write books about vulgar people. “Grapes of Wrath,” for example, shocked thousands of homebodies. For we women have a habit of refusing to accept as true that which we do not wish to believe. In every one of us hides a coward and a sentimentalist. So, while we praise Charles Dickens for the.reforms he wrought by writing novels about bad prisons, ignorant schoolmasters and evil courts, we curse the writers of our own time who strive to do likewise by showing us different but equally glaring evils of our society. The University of Oklahoma Press, which fis making notable contributions to regional

“The Southern Poor-White,” by Shields McIlwaine, professor in Southwestern College at Memphis, - It traces the use of poor-whites in our literature from. the time when William Byrd of Westever set down his arrogant opinions to the appearance of Erskine Caldwell’'s “Tobacco Road.” Besides being fascinating reading—the author is a humorist as well ‘as a scholar—Mr. Mcllwaine’s essay reminds us that while we enjoy reading about them and seeing them

depicted on the stage, the worst unfortunates of!

our day get precious little other notice from us. By and large, we refuse to accept the fact of their existence. At least, until some inconsiderate

man or woman writes a novel which becomes a best| seller and which therefore we feel duty bound to

read. Yet is it not probable that such a book as “Grapes of Wrath” may make the same impact on the public

mind that Little Dorrit did on: that of England ;

decades ago?

Because they can awaken our awareness to’ social | evils, we should welcome rather than bewail. novels about unpleaant, subjects 4 people, ;

folklore, published some time ago a fascinating book called |:

GIVE YoU A BUM

aR

——_LaLBY

STEER! re

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

CAUSE OF DEPRESSION IGNORED, IS CLAIM By H. W. Shea Reading Mr, Maddox’ article of Jan. 31, he is supposedly attacking communism—or is he? If I were Stalin and wanted to

promote communism in America as it is known in the world today, I should select Mr. Maddox as my number one salesman. ... A good physician never attempts to eliminate the disease by an attack upon the symptoms. He begins first by removing the cause. Give every man an opportunity to earn‘ an honest living; to feed, shelter and clothe his family decently; and all subversive ideals will be gone with the wind.

* 8 =» THINKS SNOW REMOVAL HERE EFFICIENTLY DONE By A Subscriber Again a heavily laden sky hovers over our city. No doubt more snow is not far in the offing. This means

that our street commissioner who became such a welcome target for biting criticisms during the previous snow period may again be besieged with all sorts of foolish and otherwise demands from folks who know absolutely nothing of the magnitude of the undertaking and the commissioner’s restrictions. Irresponsible advice or demands merely devil up what he wants to develop. . .. . In the mile square, which comprises only one-fiftieth of the total area of our city, we find 20 miles of paved streets and an equal mileage of double sidewalks. . . . For our convenience we assume the streets to be a little wider than 50 feet, the sidewalks 15 feet to each side. No, our six-inch flurry deposits on the streets proper not less than 8300 tons of snow to which we add the 4900 tons which the janitors pushed from the walks into the gutters. Thus we have 13,200 tons of snow to remove. Your "commissioner ie . figures by loading capacity, and finds that he has 158,300 cubic yards on his hands. He consults his latest truck chart and figures that his own trucks, together with what he may requisition from other departments, will give him a fleet capacity of approximately 250 cubic yards. Figuring that the trucks make about two loads per hour, he finds that to remove all snow from downtown

-(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.)

streets will require 13 days and nights of uninterrupted hauling. He thus disregards the streets entirely at first and centers his attention on street crossings and corner sewer inlets. This requires the removal of about 6000 cubic yards of material, a task he :can accomplish in from 10 to 12 hours. ... Of course we have with us many a good man who could easily solve the problem if he could but get his job of whittling done, but if we leave the commissioner alone he will handle the problem as quickly as his restrictions permit. He can, however, perform neither miracles nor physical impossibilities.

8 8 =n DOUBTS WORKERS

‘GET FAIR SHARE

By Curious, Bloomington, Ind. It seems simple enough to me that there are three classes (economically speaking) of people. Workers, middle class and capitalistic owners. Marx calls them proletariat, bourgeoisie and aristo-

crats. The workers produce all material

‘| for it (surplus value) while the sec-

wealth, are exploited and underpaid

ond and mostly the third| class own and rule our means of existence. If this is true, is it just in a so-called democratic society? i”

I quote Marx because, first, everyone else does; and, second, because he is the one great social investigator of the present era. A Forum correspondent tells: me that if our editors dared be truthful about modern conditions and happenings, they would face financial ruin by their owners. ; ® 2 2 FEARS ROOSEVELT'S FOREIGN POLICY . By Bull Mecoser, Crawfordsville, Ind. Many of us who have stood firmly back of President Roosevelt in the past are now wishing to see him retired from a place of political dominance. The reason: We fear his pro-British sympathies. This is certainly no time for a pro-British President. We can't sympathize with the British and French and remain out of the war. Mr. Roosevelt couldn’t be a Roosevelt without being pro-British. Moreover, he has demonstrated at every turn that he will go just as far as Congress will permit him to go toward helping the British and French... .. The important thing in the next four years is to stay out of the war. We cannot do that with Mr. Roosevelt in as President—or with anyone else in as President if he is dominated by F. D. R. :

New Books at the Library

ROM the seclusion and security of an aristocratic Spanish home, through the suffering and horror of

war, oh to exile in a new land is the path the reader follows in “In Places of Splendor; The Autobiography of a Spanish Woman” (Harcourt) by Constancia de la Mora. The author was the granddaughter of Don Antonio Maura, long Prime Minister of Spain, and her childhood was spent in that carefully selected environment which aristocracy and wealth can buy. Yet even during the early years, at

Side Glances—By Galbraith

1

“There's. hoihing doing in this town on Sundays—let's go in ie : dining room and have another breakfast,’ /

| tion;" but not to speak ill

_Pebruary sings a roundelay

against me: but God meant it unto

|e

school and when traveling abroad, she seemed unable to fit into the traditional pattern, was vaguely conscious of the existence of another world, a peasant world of poverty and hunger. She freed herself from an unfortunate marriage at the same moment the people of Spain freed themselves from the monarchy and with a blood]ess revolution established the R->public. Then her marriage with a famous aviator in the Republican: Air Force ‘ brought her into the midst of a new political life. The story of the struggle of the young. Republic, its betrayal, its fight for survival is vividly told by one who more than once was an eye-witness of the scenes of war. The bombing of helpless cities, the flight of refugees, the hunger and the weariness become a part of the reader’s experience, so well does the author describe them. The alignment of the various elements which changed a minor disturbance into a prolonged conflict are clearly explained. The book ends with the hope that a democratic Spain‘ will rise again and the statement that in Spain there are 12 million people who believe this will come to pass and who will fight for it. How high a price they have already paid will not be forgotten by the readers of “In Places of Splendor.”

FEBRUARY SINGS By MARY P. DENNY February sings on harp of gold .

Through the sleet and icy cold. Sings the song of wind and snow,

Through the merry hours of day. Song of holly and mistletoe. And of smiling valentine In a merry ringing line. Hope and joy are on the air Light is shining everywhere.

DAILY THOUGHT But as for you, ye thought evil good, to bring to pass, as it is

this day, to save much -pecple alive —Genesis 50: 20.

A GOOD word is ¢ is an easy. obligarequires

are probably losing more

mate and activity both affect it.

y our silence, which costs: us

Bothing.—Tillo

Gen. Johnson

: Saver

Cold: ‘Enemy of All Soldions, and Is a Mystery as to How the Finns Keep Warm—if They Do,-

ASHINGTON, Feb. 5.—The gruesome pictures mow being published of frozen men in inland must remind any soldier of the worst hardship of wine ter field service—cold. That doesn’t necessarily. mean the terrible sub-zero temperatures of war in or close to the Arctic. ' It means just any cold. Soldiers can * carry only a limited amount of weight. After that is distributed among their arms, ammunition and other equipment it doesn’t leave much margin for wool and

fur covering. Standard winter equipment for field soldiers in’ addition to their overcoats 1s one or at most two thin blankets. . Try to keep warm under them outdoors ‘on a cold night—even if you double up with a bunkie. It. is next to impossible. If ‘you can’t keep reasonably ° warm; you can’t sleep. If you can’t sleep, you can't

| keep going very long in the stress of an active cam-, ;

paign. > Our: army. has had its experiences with temperas tures far below zero. I have just beer reading some; letters written by an enlisted man 70 years ago. He | was, telling -about a cavalry campaign in tempera.’ tures 30 degrees below zero against Indians in the ° Northwest. . Nearly every page mentioned the con ‘stant inescapable bitter cold until I could feel my own bones ache in memory of much less severe experiences,

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UITE .apart from. the sickness and injury from‘ actual frostbife, the constant misery that never lets up, makes men so unhappy that it is iipossitle > to keep up their morale. There are a lot of old scout and Indian stories about keeping warm without sufficient covering, by | raking fires away from the place where ‘you kindled them and bedding down on that spot—or heating stones and putting them in your pup tent. It never worked for me and I never saw it work for anybody’ else. In addition to "lowering the spirit of troops; cold | works" in other ways to limit their effectiveness. Res’ ports from Finland are .that rapid medern motorized troop movement is greatly slowed by the fact that ' men sitting or standing, as they have to do when * moved by truck, freeze. The trucks have to be stopped | to permit them to walk or exercise, with a result that they do not move much faster than infantry ., on foot. » o ”

HIS tremendous handicap to active campaigning ‘has gone far through the centuries to restrict warfare to spring, summer and early autumn. That is why the brilliant Finnish resistance seems all the * more remarkable—only less so than the Russian des” cision to attack at this time. ik Our general staff may not have much ‘to learn from these unusual tactics. We do not normally have _ such extremes of temperature. But-there is one thing ’ that all soldiers will wish they would learn—by what means the Finns keep warm, if any. Most modern out-of-doors winter adventurers Oute: ; side the army use sleeping bags and not blankets, : They do the job much better but, in view of the” military tendency to stick to old things it would’ probably take a dynamite bomb or a Presidential ine tervention to bring that relief from the most disagrees able part of soldering.

HOLC Losses

By Bruce Catton

Agency Has Dropped $78.0 000, 000 - But Has Saved Thousands of tomes. -

ASHINGTON, Feb. 5~The Home Owners’ Loan. - Corp. has taken a book loss of "8 million dollars onthe sale of its foreclosed homes to date, and the : ls eventually may be three times that much, Ye§. HOLC authorities insist that the picture: isn’t as bad : as those figures indicate. © For one thing, they say, HOLC wish set up to make money but to help citizens save their homes. For another, the idirect savings to the nation * because of the: HOLC program, it is argued, are many times greater than the book losses incurred, For still another, HOLC has a preity good record ‘of collections anyhow. "HOLC was set up in Foe, 1933, to grant long-term, low-interest loans to persons who were in danger of losing their homes. It made loans for three years, then: quit. The record to-date stacks up like this: More than one million citizens borrowed about. three billion dollars from HOLE. So far, 65,000 bore" rowers have paid in full, for a total of 155 million . dollars, and a total of 700 million dolars of the threes: billion debt has been pai. Nearly 640,000 borrowers are keeping up their payments, and 135,000 more are. making adjusted payments. So far, so good. What sometimes makes’ HOLG: look like a money-losing outfit is the fact that when its loans went sour it had to do what any’ mortgage company would do—foreclose. All in all, it took over some 157,000 homes; it is in: getting rid of them that it takes its losses.’

It Makes Money, Too

So far, it has sold 80,000—slightly more than half, On these sales it has taken an average loss of $975 per deal. But this, say HOLC officials, is a book loss and not strictly a cash-out-of-pocket loss. Into these losses are figured accrued interest and taxes—and the taxes usually run into hundreds of dollars—costs of repair and reconditioning, the cost of foreclosure, and of course the unpaid balance of the loans. HOLC is getting rid of its real estate at the rate of 4000 sales per month; at the same time, foreclosures have dropped ‘way down—from 8000 a month, back in 1936, to about 400 a month today. To offset the loss—bhook or actual—on sales, HOLO makes money in two ways. One is on the difference between the interest it

receives on its loans and the interest it has te pay on .

its bonds.: Its loans bear from 4% to 5 per cent; on ° its bonds, it pays from’ 2} to 4 per cent. : The other source of profit is from rentals of homes 2 which it holds, these being more than enough to carry the properties. : These two profits are put into a reserve fund to cover losses.

Welching. Your Health By Jane Stafford |

OUR physician has probably told you many times to drink plenty of water or fluids when you have a cold. The reason for this is not, as many people . seem to think, that by rinking water you “flush the | poisons out of the body.” ‘ The advice to drink plenty of water is given be- : cause your doctor knows that during a cold you : > water from your ‘body than : usual, and this loss should be made up; = ; Water “ordinarily accounts for about two-thirds or : more of the body weight. * All’ this water in the body * performs various functions; ‘It serves as. a vehicle for | transporting food and ‘waste products, helps to rege : ulate body temperature, takes. part in many of the . chemical processes going on in the body, serves as : a lubricant and to some extent shares the function of fooy'2 fat in protecting certain organs from . external jury Water is lost from the body at the rate, very rough- : ly; of about six pints a day. This estimate is for the average-sized man comfortgbly clothed and doing a . moderate amount ‘of work in a temperate climate. * The amount of water lost varies considerably. CliAthletes, for example, when exercising very strénuously may lose as | much as 10 pints of water in about one hour, : Some of the water lost from the body is excreted by way of the kidneys and bowels, but some is lost . by vaporization from the surface of the. skin, even | when there is no apparent sweating, and some Is lost : with the air breathed out of the lungs. - y - When you have a cold, your breathing is, likely ‘to \ be- more yapid than usual, with. the result that more water may be lost, with the air expelled from. the ° lungs. Extra water loss also takes Place during. colds via the eyes and nose, :