Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 March 1940 — Page 8
The Yadianapolis Times
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Give lAght ond the People Wl Find Thetr Own Way
SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1040
THE SEN ATE AMOK THE greatest deliberative body on earth has blown its top.
And all over a legislative issue of whether public
servants should devote their full time to public service or be at the call of party bosses. United States Senators take wars and depressions in their stride; also unemployment, farm surpluses and budgetary deficits. Such trivial matters they debate with poise and courtesy. But not the Hatch Act. One would think almost that the Senator from New Mexico had flaunted red underwear in.a bull pen. Figuratively speaking, that is just what he has done. The law which bears his name and which he is fighting to keep on the books, and his ‘pending measures to enlarge that law, strike at a sensitive Senatorial spot-political power. "Allover the country are U. S. Attorneys and Marshals and Collectors of Internal Revenue and others who owe their jobs to Senators and party bosses. And this is election year. One-third of the Senators are up for re-election, and therefore personally. concerned. Three-thirds of the Senators: want a ‘hand in'the king-making at the forthcoming party ‘nominating conventions. It is even rumored that there are a few Senators. who, if put to the test, would not refuse the crown. The primaries are coming up, and the state conventions, to select National Convention delegates. To build up. a political machine and not be able to use it at a time like this—well, it’s enough to make a Senator fighting mad. ~The Senate chamber and the cloakrooms resound with controversy. Embattled Democrats demand that their leader, Mr. Barkley, call a caucus to bind all Democrats to vote against this pernicious bill which would forbid pernicious politics. Mr. Barkley, who favors the bill, threatens to resign his leadership. ; : And for whom are there Democratic stalwarts battling ? Some say they are fighting the good fight for the present Administration. One Senator, Mr. Chavez, went so far as to say that when President Roosevelt signed the Hatch Act of 1939 he wasn’t “so enthusiastic about it.” That statement Mr. Roosevelt yesterday repudiated. He said that his heart was in the Hatch Act when he signed it—and still is. Anyway, it’s a great fame the Senators are playing. It would happen here.’
MOSCOW'S OLIVE BRANCH
BEHIN D Soviet Russia’s apparent overtures for peace with Finland, we seem to see the pressure of three men; Baron Mannerheim, Adolf Hitler ‘and Benito Mussolini. The Mannerheim Line and the Mannerheim troops, with much (though not enough) help from abroad, have written in Russian blood the proof of their stamina. Stalin is’ at least no longer pretending that Finland's real government is that stooge regime he dreamed up at Terijoki, a timid hop-skip-and-jump across the border from Russia. Hitler would sleep much better if the war in the north were ended. Every.day it continues, it reduces the value of Russia as a potential source of food and oil and other help to Germany, and thins the Russian reserves of trained men and material that would be needed in the south to repulse an Allied thrust against the Caucasus oil regions. ~ Mussolini, while professing continued fondness for Hitlor, hates Russia and helps Finland. So now we hear that German Foreign Minister Von Ribbentrop and an ex-president of Finland are on their way to Rome. What it all means, we cannot say. But there is a stirring in the March air, and it may portend a peace of some kind on at least one front in this wretched world.
i
DEATH RIDES WITH THE DRIVER A CCIDEN TS are just accidents, if you hear those involved tell about them—but not if you take a look at automobile safety records. The one thing that is glaringly apparent in the figines, as released by the Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford, Conn., is that virtually all accidents are beyond doubt due to negligence of those involved. There were 32,100 persons slaughtered on American highways last year. Most of them needn’t have been. * In the vast majority of fatal accidents, the usual alibis of drivers had no basis. The weather was clear in 86.7 per cent of the cases and the pavement dry in 79.6 per cent. . Of the drivers involved, 95.7 per cent had more than a year’s experience; 93.4 per cent were men. Ninety-three per cent of the cars involved were in good condition, and 84.5 per cent were driving on straight open stretches when tragedy struck. ; be Drivers can’t blame accidents on nature or on the service station man who forgot to fix the brakes. They've got to face the responsibilities that fall upon them when |“ ‘they take the wheels of high-powered machines.
HOW TO ESCAPE
ANY lawyers, as well as many doctors, are perturbed over the recent decision of a Federal Court of Appeals
in Washington, D. C., holding medical organizations subject |
to prosecution under the anti-trust laws.
= One such lawyer is Francis W. Hill, president of the . District of Columbia Bar Association. He sees the decision as “a straw in the wind toward Government regimentation” - of the medical and legal professions. Toa meeting of young lawyers Mr. Hill said: “The only way" we can escape regimentation is to give ‘all possible service to the public. In the long run, what is best for the public is'best for us.” Correct. And good advice not only for lawyers and - doctors, but also for businessmen and labor leaders who fear that the Government will try to regiment them. The danger of regjmentation grows directly from the attitude
those who insist con placing their own interests above i | can transform a mediocre mentality iio & high-grade
2 interests of the public.
By William Philip Simms Washington ‘Asking Whether British
Spared Bremen in Exchange for Assuring Safety of the Elizabeth.
ASHINGTON, March 9.—Did London and Berlin enter into a deal whereby the British would “swap” the Bremen for the Queen Elizabeth? 1 do not vouch for any such transaction. But the suggestion was advanced here in circles ‘normally regarded as both conservative and well-informed. The
stories of the Bremen and the Queen -Elizgbeth do|
present certain unusual coincidences, to say the least.
At the beginning of the war the British hefl the| | Bremen, $20,000,000 flagship of the German merchant |
marine, cornered at New York. At the same time the
$28,000,000 flagship of the British merchant marine,
the Queen Elizabeth, lay haipless in the Clyde where she was nearing completion. Yet, while other ships have been bombed, scuttled, captured or torpedoed, these huge vessels have éscaped
harm. As the Nazis marched into Poland, the Bremen startled the world by boldly leaving her safe berth in New York and steaming out into the very arms of the British cruisers said te be awaiting her at sea. s 2 8 8
S if to make it easier, port authorities had de-
liberately held her up in order, it was said, to search her hold for consraband. But to everybody's surprise, nothing happenec. The Bremen simply disappeared. She was next heard of on Oct. 12, safe in Murmansk. In December she performed an even more amazing feat. Sailing from the Fussian port she made her way 1600 miles down the Scandinavian coast, past the British fleet and on into home waters. On the way down, it was further revealed, the British submarine Salmon, under Lieut. Comm. Edward O. Bickford, had her "within torpedo range. But, it was explained, Bickforc refused to fire on an unarmed merchant ship. And the Admiralty upheld him. ‘Meanwhile the Queen Elizabeth, the biggest ship afloat, was lying off John Brown's shipyards at Glasgow, an easy mark for enemy raiders. Glasgow and the shipyards of the Clyde are just a few minutes by air from the Firth of Forth, where ships have been attacked again and again By planes. 2 HAT the Coane ot ‘only knew where she was but were aware of her general helplessness would
" seem certain. Also, her destruction would have been
a great moral victory for the Germans, just as the capture of the Bremen 2st September would have been for the British. In the circles where the above surmises were voiced, it was further suggested that perhaps, after all, there is still a grain of sanity left in the world. The capture of the Bremen and the destruction of the Queen Elizabeth would have been sheer waste, it was pointed out, for neither is likely to play any part in the war. Similarly, I have heard reports that Germany and the Allies have reached a definite, though tacit, agreement not to bomb large centers of civilian population which have no particular strategic or military importance—like London, Paris and Berlin. One spokesman said: “I think you can safely predict that there will be no indiscriminate bombing of such objectives.” ; Others are more cynical. If London and Paris escape bombing, they say, it will be because Hitler fears reprisals. Once let the Fuehrer get command of the air and it will be a different story.
(Westbrook Pegler is on vacation.)
Inside Indianapolis Hugh McK Landon Who Is a Big Man in Many More Ways Than One
ROFILE of the week: Hugh McKennan Landon, vice chairman of the board of the Fletcher Trust, the man who probably loves a good joke os mueh as any person ‘in Indianapolis. You can hear Hugh ‘ Landon guffaw "all “over the bank when he hears a good one. He spells his name without a period—Hugh McK Landon—and newspapermen have had trouble for years with compositors who insist on putting it in. Mr. Landon is 72. He is 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs more than 200 pounds. Oddly enough, he is sensitive about his size, although he has no reason to be. He is one of ‘he most impressive looking gentlemen in town. What hair he has left is white. He wears pincenez glasses. His voice is a healthy bass. Most striking thing about him are his eyes—sparkling, kindly, piercing. ” » ®
MR. LANDON GOES TO his office every day that he is in town. His desk is usually piled high with neatly arranged piles of correspondence, etc. He rarely gets to the bottom of the piles because his mail is so heavy. But if you ask him for a certain letter or paper, he poises a finger over one of the piles, hesitates momentarily and then unerringly yanks the letter out frorn somewhere in the pile. It’s a system that never fai's to amaze his aids. He loves bridge but he plays it merely for re-
.Jaxation. As a matter of fact, he never gambles on
anything. Many persons are completely unaware of his many services to others. He tries desperately to avoid personal publicity. An outstanding characteristic is his love and interest in children. Probably his greatest service along this line was fo Riley Hospital. He served as president of the Memorial Association for 18 years, during which more than $3,250,000 was rajsed for the hospital. o ” ”
HE HAS HELPED innumerable youngsters through | college—and he doesn’t confine his efforts to his alma mater, Harvard. He has been very close to Indiana University for many years. President Conant of Harvard is an occasional visitor to the Landon home on Spring Mill Road. -Mr. Landon loves clogs. He has three red Irish setters who have the run of the house and whom he takes for long walks. He has a)spaniel, Corky. He is fond of music, art—and vistas. He built his home with a high terrace sc he could get a good view of the sunset. He is a critical and avid reader. No civic job is too big -or too hard for him to tackle. That’s one of the reasons he was named to the Chamber of Commerce “Staff of Honor” last year. He is meticulous about everything. For instance, when he got a bulldog years ago he named it El because to him the bulldog and Yale were inseparable.
A Woman's Viewpoint
By Mrs. Walter Farguson
NEW Design for Women’s Education” has been outlined in a recent book by Constance Warren, president of Sarah Lawrence College. The subject is intsresting if only because it suggests so many departures from the old way of educating girls. Whether one agrees with all the innovations doesn't really :natter. For the reader is forced to look squareiy at the faults in our old system, and they are many. The principle or which Miss Warren rests her theory is this: “Each us I undertake her own education. In other: words, education is not something which carn be handed over to you by somebody—it is a process of growth that comes from the quickening of menta! curiosity. ' No one will want to quarrel with the idea, surely, and alongside of it can be put another: The quicker certain boys and girls discover they have no natural aptitude for higher learning, the better it will be for them and for our civilization. Parents comprise the largest group of sinners. And in order not to offerid patrons who are also taxpayers, the teachers aid anc abet us in our delusions. For the most mediocre aclult believes her offspring will set the world on fire. Every year horde: of incompetents are turned out of our colleges. lads who don’t want to soil their hands at manual labor since they've been told their talents entitle them to a mahogany office. Millions of Old Cirads would be better off with less education and more gumption. No system yet devised
intellect and is time we gave up the effort.
We are overrun with brave bright|
The Ides of March, 1940
’ ‘BUT YESTERDAY THE VOICE OF CAESAR MIGHT HAVE STOOD AGAINST THE WORLD: NOW LIES HE THERE J AND NONE SO POOR TO DO Him REVERENCEN — SHAKESPEARE
of
The ‘Hoosier Forum
I wholly disagree with what you say, but will defont to the death your right to say it.—V oltaire.
OPPOSES RESTAURANT AT 37TH AND MERIDIAN By North Sider :
May I protest through your col- :
umns to the City Zoning Board, on the building of a restaurant at Me-
ridian and 37th Sts.? Is it not pos-| sible to make our principal resi-|- : dence street non-business?
Can the Zoning Board be trusted
to stop at 38th St.? How can they:
Zoning Board, allow this one? : 1 ® 8 TERMS PROPOSED BUILDING “DESECRATION” ' By Mrs. Oldster I am an old citizen. Three ‘generations back my maternal ancestors helped found Indianapolis. Love for this town which I know so well, by a long life in it, and by family gossip, is intense. Sometimes the love is heartbreaking. In your Wednesday paper you report plans for one more desecration of Meridian St. No good purpose can be served by a two-story restaurant building at 3710 N. Meridian St. Most thinking citizens with good of the city valued above mere dollars wish to preserve a pleasant residence district. Indianapolis does not need another “hot spot.” What the town does need is more families who eat and live in their homes. The city
would be served, values increased, if the Zoning Board would keep the
main North and South thorough-,
fare a handsome locking street. 2 =» LISTS DEPARTURES FROM AMERICAN WAY By W. H.' Edwards, Spencer, Ind.
Much has been written lately about the “American Way,” yet none has given an analysis of what the American Way is or where and why we have drifted away from the sels of a true American Way of e. A complete analysis of: the evils which are destroying the American Way would take us back through United States history to the Administration of Andrew Jackson, for that was when the first destructive bomb was hurled at the American Way. It is impossible to cover all that time within the limited space of the Forum. Here is an itemized outline of what is causing most of our troubles: A concentration of financial and economic power within the hands
(Times readers are invited to express their views in “these columns, religious controversies éxcluded. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Letters must be signed, but names will be ~ withheld on request.) : ©
of a relatively few ‘people, giving them a veto power over any and all legislation advocated by the political arm of government; . .. The ruthless attitude of many labor unions, which is not confined to the C. I O, but extends w. the A F.of L. as well, Speculation in’ real sstat and. in the commodity markets. Example: Farmers sold their wheat last summer at 55 to 56 cents a bushel, then the speculators gained control of the market and hiked the price to a top of $1.08, rolling up a stupendous profit. ©. Collusive price fixing ‘within’ the industrial sphere, especially evident within the building material industry, is holding back what should be a healthy road to the American Way of life, In the educational field we have a serious hindrance to the American Way because of too much stress being placed on cultural education, which fails to equip graduates with
a co-ordinated skill of brain and hands. Lastly, we are troubled with a form of political gangsterism, wherein either party out of power spends all its energy in throwing monkey wrenches into any and all things proposed by the opposition, regardless of- merit. TM THINK AMERICANS HARD TO PLEASE By Earache, Anderson, Ind. 2 The American people are awfully hard to please. No matter what you cook up for them, they are not satisfied. At the present, we are a nation of the most’ railroads, the most automobiles, the most trucks, the most miles of paved roads, the most electric. refrigerators, radies and razors, and the most college students, soft ball teams, metropolitan newspapers, | books, and
magazines. A woman buys at least three hats a year and none enhance her beauty. We feed more people either by bonuses, pensions or work relief than any 10 countries in the world. You are not satisfied; neither am I. The next President will have a hard time as well as hard times, I hope it isn’t F. D. R—I like too well!
New Books at the Library
{INCE his last escape from Devil's
Island in 1935, Rene Belbenoit’s horrifying disclosures of the unbelievable wretched conditions of that French Penal Colony have been directed toward a seemingly impossible goal, “the abolition of this cesspool in the territory of the Americas. ‘Dry Guillotine’ represented part of that aim, ‘Hell on Trial’ (Dutton) is the rest of it.” For 90 years France has been shipping criminals and undesirables to French Guiana, where almost certain death awaits. in dungeons, convict camps, and dis-ease-infested jungles. Condemned to starvation in a land which offers no livelihood are the men exiled there without prison sentence, the “relegues’” who must shift for themselves,
Side Glances=by Golbralth
“You'll find my paid out there—the fourth id from Whos right, & Bdek
Belbenoit was fortunate. When his eight-year sentence was complete, a new Governor, revoking the inhumane “doubleage” law that required a prisoner, though officially free to remain on the island. until his sentence. was doubled, granted him a year's parole. That’ year, 1931, was spent ir. hard work in Panama. Learning that the Gov-
ernor had been replaced, Belbenoit, |.
at the year’s expiration, went to France expecting a formal discharge. Intricacies of law imprisoned him there for two years, returning him to Guiana, in 1933, for “escape.”
Almost incredible are Belbenoit's
“case- histories” of living dead men, some ferocious and depraved; others, innocent victims of false justice; still others, lepers helplessly awaiting forlorn death. And there were others who escaped, sensationally. When in 1935, Belbenoit again be-~ came a free convict, he escaped across the sea, with five companions,
ing the United States. Should the French Penal Colony | be abolished eventually, or drastic! reform redeem it from “atrocities worthy of the Middle Ages,” Rene! Belbenoit may be proud that his; books have shown the world that: “its ideas about Devil’s Island are: not one-half so awful as the actuaj | reality. ”
- . IDES OF MARCH By MARY P. DENNY March comes as a lion or a lamb In' the storm or silent calm. Singing on the wings of wind Far above the city din. Or in a quiet winter hush. Over all the woodland brush. March is herald of the spring Joy and life to every thing. Robins now begin to sing Prophecy of early spring. Violet blue and tulip bright. Shine forth in the glad sunlight. Happiness is in the air, : Spring is shining bright and fal.
DAILY THOUGHT
. And they spake unto him, saying, If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words te them, they will igi: thy Cia forever.—II Chronicles
. rectly from one object to another.
Gen. Johnson Says— |
Mr. Dewey Did a Good Job of Rewriting Frank's Farm Plank, but Speech Won't Go With Farmers.
ASHINGTON, March 9.—Tom Dewey's farm speech was lifted -largely from Glenn Frank's background for a Republican platform. Both were temperately, beautifully written. In their critical aspects both were masterpieces of understatement. The net result of all that Mr, Wallace has done for agriculture is absolutely Zero— which is considerably less than than 32 degrees below freezing. So Mr. Dewey and Mr. Frank made a fairly spectacular and unanswerable case on that point. All authorities agree that the problem is largely surplus production. Mr. Wallace started out to reduce the surplus. He has not decreased it. He has greatly increased it and his and other Administration policies’ have vastly decreased the possibility of con= suming it. In doing what he has done, Mr. Wallace has spent billions. I hate to criticize him, because he knows more about farming than anybody who attempts to discuss the subject, He is as sincere and intellece tually honest a man as there is in this Administration,
2 8 8
| B® both Glenn Frank and Tom Dewey have dis<
closed that they don’t know anything about the farm problem. After careful study of their offerings, I am inclined to believe that they don’t even suspect anything about it. What they have given out could have ‘been said by Herbert Hoover and'much of it was said by him in 1932 and earlier—with disastrous results. They suggest to the farmer that he ought to return to the fostering care that the Republicans gave him in the seven years before 1933. They might have added “since the Civil War.” " If they knew the workings of farmers’ minds, they would know that their stuff is like cheese offered to a mouse imprisoned in a cheese baited trap. That mouse doesn’t want . any more cheese. The burden of both their songs is that all .that is needed to help the farmer is to help industry, and that what he needs most is a high tariff. We have got to help industry—or go the way of Hitler and Mussolini. But tariffs do not and cannot protect
1 the farmer on his surplus crops. They are a subsidy
paid to industry by an impoverished agriculture which simply cannot and will not stand it any more without a countervailing subsidy. : : FE I HAT kind of Republican poison was sold to them ever since the Civil War and before the Civil War
| caused it—so far as the cotton raising South was concerned. If Mr. Dewey or the Republican Party
has no more to offer to agriculture than that, they are going to repeat 1932 and 1936 when they could so easily win in 1940. Why a man who is considered at all solely because he is a New York gang-busting district attorney, has to try to sell Hs in Nebraska as a hired farmhand is beyond me. What farmers ned is free and unrestricted production and sale of their products and an outright subsidy to bring their prices for What we consume in this country up to absolute “parity.” I have no brief in logic for the “parity” formula although I invented it in 1921 for sheer lack of anything better. But if the whole country’ accepts the justice and fairness of it—as seems to be the case, why should there be so much obfuscating ‘conversation and so little direct and forthright promise or action?
{Trade Pickup
I
By Bruce Catton
Exports Running 300 Millions Abed Of Last Year on Quarterly Basis.
ASHINGTON, March 9—The foreign trade boom, predicted ever since the outbreak of the war last September, is beginning to-take hold.
United States exports today are running at a rate
‘fully $300,000,000 a quarter above that for a year ago.
On ‘a volume basis, they ‘are nearly as high as they were in 1029, although value basis is lower :because of lower prices. Trade to Europe and to the Far East has picked up, and trade to South America has gone up even faster. This boom did not really get going until the middle of December. Only a small part of it is due to orders of war materials as such-—airplanes, chemicals, air~ plane gasoline, etc. Disappearance of Germany from - much of the export market, and partial disappearance of Great Britain, are shifting to American exporters orders previously placed elsewhere. Sharp as this rise has been, it has not offset the drop in industrial production due to fading of last fall’s inventory boom. Index of industrial production shot up from 103 in August to 128 in December; it
| has fallen back to 105 as of today, and is expected by Government soothsayers to go a bit: lower. of these are frankly pessimistic and look for a period
Some
of inyentory liquidation [in the spring; others be- - lieve that expanding export trade will “firm” price levels, prevent an inventory slash and pave the way for new business investment and a substantial upturn. All are agreed on one point; .a heavy spring offene sive in the European war would create a buying wave here that would make up all the ground lost since
December,
” # 8 Unemployment Survey Begun
Interesting and vossibly important development in. Congress is the assembling of 50-odd Congressmen of both parties to study the unemployment problem. The ball was started rolling by Jerry Voorhis of Calie - fornia, but the group isn’t confined to the usual Weste ern left-wingers. Two meetings have been held so far, and a dozen sub-committees’ have been named to study various aspects of the unemployment problem—practically everything from taxation on up (or down) to teche nological change. So far, Voorhis is serving as temporary chairman, As soon as organization is complete he will step out to make way for a permanent one. He is anxious not only to keep the move non-partisah (to date the group. includes 18 Republicans) but to keep it from looking
{ like a bloc formed to boost any one specifi . in a small canoe, eventually reach- | ? a y pecific measure
Watch Your Health
By Jane Stafford
HE first fly of the season came in the window the other day and brought the reminder that it will soon be time to put up the window and door:
| screens to keep out other flies and ‘mosquitoes. Flies: | are no longer a serious pest in the cities where autos’ | mobiles have replaced horse-drawn vehicles and thus deprived the fly of manure-pile breeding grounds. In °
the country, however, flies still may be found in large numbers, and wherever found, they are capable of bee ing a threat to health. Flies can spread disease by carrying the germs die They are particu larly notorious for transferring germs from decaying matter in garbage, from the manure pile in the stable, or from the privy directly to food in kitchen or dining - room. Since you cannot tell whether or not a fly has -
. germs on his feet, you play safe by always keeping
food covered and by having screens in the windows, and doors, to keep the flies out of the house. Screens also help to keep out mosquitoes, another kind of disease-spreading insect. Mosquitoes spread disease in a different way from flies. The mosquitoes’
{ carry the disease germs in their bodies, and pass them:
along with their bite. Malaria and yellow fever are :
-the chief diseases spread by mosquities..
Lice, fleas and ticks also may spread disease ‘by carrying the germs in their bodies. Ticks are able to
spread some 50 germs of animal diseases, and of *
course you know that they spread the human ailment,
Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The role of lice in’
spreading typhus fever has been well publicized. Less well-known, perhaps, is the fact that, in the United States this disease is spread by the rat fiea. Typhus
»| fever in this country is not aSsoiaied ¥ with filth and - in places where
“cooties,” but often with food handlers
rats are found.