Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 8 October 1940 — Page 11
TUESDAY, OCT. 8, 1940
Si
- EVANSVILLE, Ind, Oct. 8—If Evansville wants any civic aavice from me, which I doubt very much, then I would suggest the citizens vote a big bdnd issue and equip their city with new street signs. The .present ones are too small, and also they're all caked up
with soot until you have tg get up -
close and peer at them| like a near-sighted man. Yesterday I shinnied up a tall pole to read a street sign and when I got down the keepers from the State Insane — were there waiting for me. Mail has caught up v again, and I think som might interest you. Do you happen to rer Mr. and Mrs. Albert Bader are the song-writing min Hachita, N. M. We visited last fall, way out there in the bare mountai above the Mexican border. They have been out there for 20 years, try scratch a living out of their small mines, and tr get some acceptance of the songs which are the and the spirit of their whole existence.
A Desert Tragedy
They are miles from anywhere, over a w desert trail, and their meager cabins were the work of years of struggle and scrimping. An comes a letter from. them:
' \ “We have just been burned out of house and Origin of fire is yet a mystery. Our little dog saved our lives. We barely escaped with our clothes. | “Everything is a complete loss. Not a stick to our bunks left. In spite of this we shall stick by it, and start here at the mines from scratch. | “What hurts us most is that since all our money and valuables burned up, we will not be able to write to the scores of friends we made through your column, The few letters we are mailing today, we secured the stamps with a féw dimes we found in the ashes, “Of course our songs are all in our Mins we (
ith us of it
nember They ers of them is just
ing to ying to spark
nding hard 1 now
home, | ‘Imp’ night
will rewrite them. We still have ambition and determination.” It's bleak and lonely out there in those dry mountains. It takes either a terrific love for the deseit or a mighty courage to stick it, even when things are going all right,
Hoosier Vagabond
.By Ernie Pyle
But to have 20 years of your life burned out in a few minutes, and to be faced with winter and such vast space. . I feel pretty sure I'd just hightail it for Deming and go on relief.
” = #
Three people have written in from California about that Divine wrath” story George Ade told last summer. The way he remembered it, the great San Francisco fire of 1906 swept away block after block, but left unscathed right in the middle of it a warehouse full of whisky.
George Ade thought it was “Doheny’s whisky.” But apparently it wasn’t. One ef the newspaper columnists of the time wrote a poem about it. According to the letters, the poem went like this: If God destroyed the naughty town r Because it was so frisky, Why did he burn the churches down And save Houghteling’s whisky? After 34 years of pondering this burning question, I still can only say, “I don’t know.” .
Solving a Mystery
In one of the recent Brown County columns—the
- one quoting the snortings of victory given-forth by
the Brown County Democrat in 1884 over the election of President Cleveland and Vice President Hendricks --I wound up by wondering whatever became of Mr. Hendricks. : Well, I know now. A letter from C. N. A. Reddine of Memphis tells what happened, Vice President Hendricks died in office in 1885.
= ” ”
Mrs; Blanche Clark, of Scott County, Mississippi, writes as follows: “You have done my father a real service by writing your column last spring about solitaire. He is 82, and he retired from active service only a year ago. “Time has been hanging heavy on his hands, as his eyes do not permit of much reading. He didn’t know that real men ever played solitaire, but we know you are a real man, so he has taken up the pastime and loves it. We cannot thank you enough.” That pleases me very much, But Mrs. Clark, weren't you and your father assuming a good bit when you imagined me a real man? Why, I buy my suits in the boy's department and couldn't lick my weight in oat-meal, I'm pretty brave about giving advice, though.
Inside Indianapolis (4nd “Our Town”
JUDGE WILFRED BRADSHAW of Juvenile Court was having a terrible time with a couple which Just couldn’t get along. Since there were three nice youngsters involved, the Judge was trying desperately to get at the truth of the situation so that he might do something about it. The other day he got the parents and the youngsters into court and before he could do anything about it a first-class family argument was under way. The Judge didn't do a thing after that to try to preserve the decorum of the court. He just let the brimstone sputter and before a quarter of an hour had gone by he knew enough of the situation that had been eluding him to come to some decision. es It just goes to show you what will come out of a family free-for-all,
Double Bass Serenade
PETER MERCURIO, the double bass player for the Sympheny Orchestra, walked into the organization's offices in the Murat yesterday morning. “When does the season begin?” he asked apalogetically. : “November 15th and 16th,” replied Dorothy Knisely, the orchestra's publicity director. “When's the first rehearsal?” asked Peter. “November 4th.” Peter attained a look of even greater embarrassent. “Look,” he said confidentially, “can you tell me it signed up this year?”
They looked in the files. There was the contract.
ashington
{ WASHINGTON, Oct. 8.—A well-informed view on the inside here is that Japan is pointing to get Singapare. All other questions are seen as side issues, or stepping stones to that goal. The second point is that grave doubt exists whether Britain, alone, will be able = to hold Singapore. There, in a few words, is the core of the Far Eastern situation accordance to some informed judgment here. There are other issues. Economics appear large in the Far Eastern question—sources of supply for Japan, markets for her silk, and our sources of rubber, tin and other critical items. China is a big issue and another crisis is coming over the Burma Road, which the British propose to reopen Oct. 18. This is the one re3 i i Britain and China 'd the only two nations left who are opposing with The United States expressed
Washington favors reopening it now. The situa- , how rapidly advancing toward the deadline, is filled with dynamite. : Singapore Mighty Prize ut eventually, by whatever road, we come back to Singapore. Without it, Japan can never feel secure about her expansion in the Far East—just as some day she probably will try to do something about - Vladivostok, which in ‘Russian hands stands as a menace to her. Holding Singapore, Japan would be in command of the most important key in southeastern Asia, and other difficulties would tend to melt. Singapore controls the South China Sea. A naval power free to use its fleet based on Singapore would dominate the East Indies, the Philippines, Australia and| New Zealand, and would control one of the great ocean crossroads and trade routes of the world. It is a mighty prize in both a military and a commer-
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| ly Day HYDE PARK, Monday.—We had a birthday party last might at the big house, even though it was not my birthday! On the 11th, the President will be on a train in Pittsburgh, and I shall be starting to fly to the West Coast, so we decided that this would be an easier place to have a party and celebrate with a few friends. "My brother, who is grand at arranging parties, obtained the most wonderful music from New York City. It was played on an instrument I had never heard before, which is like an electric piano but has stops to make it sound like a whole orchestra. We were - all thrilled and everyone
z
asked for the things they liked .
best! The very versatile musician seemed able to play everything | asked for, from Mozart to Chopin to Wagner to Debussy and Ravel. My brother had made a comic phonograph record
which gently teased me in song and rhyme. It started .
the party off in great style. I think it is a good idea to celebrate at parties which are actually not on your birthday. Then you de not have to think gloomily that another year has gone by in which, on looking back candidly, you count so little accomplishment for
time sped away.
. . Se a
Peter Mercurio went home a happy man to practice on the double bass.
How to Hang That Flag
AND SPEAKING of judges and embarrassment, we ought to tell you about Judge Herbert Wilson and the flag. There were several medical men over there yesterday to testify in the Dr. Hiel Crum case and auring one of the recesses, a small debate sprung up over whether the flag behind the bench was. hung right. One doctor said it didn’t look right to him with the field of stars on the right. They asked the bailiff and he assured them that the flag was hung right. “Wty,” he said, “we've even had Army officers in here and they've told us it was right.” Well, one of the reporters dug up a manual on the flag and, sure enough, the field of stars belongs on the left. They told Judge Wilson about it and he ordered it changed right away. :
An Optimist at Work
HEIGHTH OF OPTIMISM note: The chap walking in the middle of White River Sunday with a creel (basket) hung over his shoulder. . . . Embarrassing moment: The young lady who flounced out onto the floor at a big party the other evening while the professionals were doing a rhumba, only to have the pros turn the spotlight on her and invite her to dance.... Bill Flanaiy. the chief registration clerk, is quite a rhymester, which may come as news to his friends. Whenever the going gets tough at the office, he snocks off a bit of poetry to calm his nerves. Each vear his daughter receives a home-made birthday card with a verse written especially for her. She has Just added the 21st card to her scrapbook,
By Raymond Clapper
cial sense. That's why the British got there first. When Singapore goes, the white man is through in the Far East and one of the world’s chief highways 0i commerce goes under the control of Tokyo. No wonder the Japanese are aiming for it. * Japan rnight be checked or slowed down by embargoes. But there is a question whether these will be applied quickly enough or could be made severe encugh tc decide the issue. Some think it possible. Some helieve Japan is so anxious to avoid war that economic measures would be sufficient. Others answer that if the economic measures were strong enough to smother Japan, she would fight rather than submit to them. Once she held Singapore, she would not need to fear economic measures. Thus it is that some here argue that there is in the making a showdown over Singapore. Facing Fateful Decision The base is heavily fortified. But it is not selfsupporting. A base is to a navy what a garage is to the automobile, supplies and machinery must be shipped in to Singapore. Possibly the base could withstand a considerable siege. But with the British unable to divert much navy to the Far East just now, help would have to come from elsewhere. Elsewhere means the United States. So we are facing a decision whether to let the Far East go, let Japan take Singapore and take control of that part of the world, or whether to go in and try to hold it. Public opinion will have its part in answering this question. It is a fateful decision. We may be presented. as was Britain over Czechoslovakia, with the choice of submitting to a bloodless defeat or of fighting for something that seems far away and of only remote concern, all the while leaving ourselves exposed in the Atlantic. Britain submitted to a succession of retreats, hoping that Hitler would be satisfied and that the two systems of life could exist side by side. It did not work and Britain finally had to fight. Some in our Government feel that we are in the same predicament now, and that the hard decision may have to be made sooner than we think.
By Eleanor Roosevelt
Yesterday afternoon, a group of people, some at such time, i
Quakers, both middle-aged and young men, spent a couple of hours with me explaining the point of view of the various conscientious objectors. They were anxious to make me realize that theirs was a geunine
conviction; that they could not take human lives and|
some of them even felt they could not engage in any activity sponsored by a goverment which they felt was tending-toward war. . None of these men, young or old, had to convince me of their sincerity. I can well understand that to live up to these convictions will perhaps take more courage than to risk their lives in the Army. Yet, I can also see the point of view of other people whose boys are in the Army or who are in the Army themselves if a war should ever come, particularly of a defensive nature. . The test of democracy and civilization is to treat with fairness the individual's right to self-expression, even when you can neither understand nor approve it. I hope we are going to show now, when we simply are asking young men to train for useful purposes in peace time or in any emergency, that we can respect individuals who differ from the majority and find useful work which they are willing and able to do
conscience,
under ihe restrictions imposed upon them by fost)
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i
CASE IS FOUND DEAD
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The Indianapolis Ti Ole BIGGEST
peting.
day budget total.
we are to elect a custodian. Times’ thinks its readers will be
WW ASHIN GTON,
dictatorships based on force. of history. in war. It has been done. Whether he is Roosevelt dent under present law will have power to— Change the .dollar value, thus altering) wages, profits, savings; Regulate farm and work relief; Close | banks and stock exchanges; .
3
mes
SECOND SECTION
“THE BIGGEST JOB ON EARTH"—is the 1)
for which Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Willkie are com-
It is a job of such immense scope and power “and responsibility that its dimensions are hard to grasp—Ilike an astronomical number or a modern-
Too few of us know as much as we should about this biggest job on earth, for which in November Consequently The
particularly inter-
ested in a series of articles by Ludwell Denny on the subject, of which this the first.
By Ludwell Denny Oct. 8.—The President has the biggest job on earth. Chosen by the free electorate of a mighty nation, and armed with vast Constitutional powers, the Presidency is stronger than unstable foreign
That at least is the record
A President has power to involve the United States Even in a peacetime crisis, he “has almost unlimited authority.
or Willkie, the next Presi-
ment, all bound by an inviolable Bill of Rights?
” ” ” SN'T it true that the Constitution empowers Congress alone to declare war and to write the
thirds can override a veto. Over the judiciary they gave him appointive power.
by the Senate), he is beyond cone trol while in office. No court of law can touch him-—not even for. murder. This list of his specific major powers and - special - privileges, however, does not tell the whole story. As the Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly, the Constitution is not static. It is a living, grow=ing tradition, applicable to new conditions and needs. So, down through the years, precedents and delegations of power have increased Presiden=tial authority. . To meet complex industrial problems of govern= ment, a new fourth branch has grown. Its hybrid agencies com= bine executive-legislative-judicial functions and make “law”— largely under the President.
Despite the arduous duties imposed, President Roosevelt lik es his job. He is shown, above, at his desk in the White House.
” UT much of this wide range of Presidential powers is po= tential rather - than constant, Though the power of domination
" ”
exists in the office, often it is une
used. There are “strong” Presi= dents, and “weak.” This is not only because of dif« ference in the men, The times also determine. : It is the peculiar strength of our Constitution and tradition that Presidential authority expands in national crises and cone. tracts -in normal periods. Public opinion, which:has often support= ed dictatorial powers during * emergencies, always has swung back to more balanced authority
given to the Presidenf was deliberate and intentional. Hamilton even used the hated word “dic-
laws, the courts to interpret them, and the executive to administer them? Isn't it true that the Constitution provides checks on arbitrary exercise of these powers? It is, But it is not true, as many of us were taught, that this balanced separation of co-ordinate powers is rigid. And it is not true that the powers of each branch are equal. Our fathers in writing the Constitution departed from that “pure” theory. They decided that an independent | unifying force
Restrict foreign trade, exchange and travel; Raise lor lower tariffs; Suspend the eight-hour day for Federal work; Control radio; Suspend sugar quotas: Ban export on certain raw materials and articles; Forbid transfer of ships to foreign registry; Buy military supplies without bids; = | , Seize certain power plants and dams; Take ayer non-co-operating factories for defense. In addition, as commander-in-chief he has wider authority over the property, liberties, and lives of Americans—even in peacetime. How is this possible under a system which is supposed to provide separation of three co-ordinate
cure government. They made the President that unifying force. To achieve .this they gave him far more than administrative powers. They made it his duty to propose legislation and to veto it—more legislative power than even a Congressional majority possesses, since only two-
- duct foreign relations.
was essential for efficient and se-
Also he was empowered to conA nominal check was put on him through the Senate's power to ratify treaties, but actually this has seldom curbed him. Even more important, the Constitution leaves undefined and unlimited his emergency powers as Chief Executive and commander-in-chief. Thus what the Constitution takes away from the Presi-
dency with one hand it restores in
multiple form with the other. ” » 2 } O GREAT were these specific and implied powers that many early Americans opposed the Constitution on the ground that it made the President “mightier than the autocratic British King. The Constitutional Convention
debates and Federalist' papers show that the unusual authority
tator” in defending these superior powers.
“The framers of the Constitu-
tion,” according to the historian Beard, “contemplated and provided for an executive endowed with immense general powers and competent to deal with every kind of social and political upheaval, potential and real—if need be, for a substantial dictatorship in times of crisis, such as President Lincoln exercised during the Civil War.”
To protect the President's su-
periority, the Constitution _set him apart and made him subject only to the people—not to Congress, as under the parliamentary system. Even the electorate cannot control the President until his four-year term is out. EXcept in case of treason or other
high crime (when he can be im-
peached by the House and tried
after the crisis. J Thus Lincoln, unlike his power=less predecessor, wielded dictator=ial authority. But from Grant to McKinley, with a few exceptions .under Hayes and Cleveland, Con= gress dominated more than the White House. Theodore Roosevelt expanded fields which Taft avoided. The World War imposed dictatorship by Wilson. Then came the back-swing to the “normalcy” of Harding, Coolidge and Hoover. Again the gravest peacetime crisis in our history ‘clothed Franklin Roosevelt with emergency powers. | Is his great. authority being used efficiently, fairly and wise= ly? To the people belongs. the answer in. a democracy. That is what the election is for.
NEXT: The Job Gets the Best of Them.
worked in the work week beginning
and equal branches of Govern=-
40-HOUR WEEK STARTS OCT. 23
Ist Day of Work Period. To Determine Specific Application.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 (U. P.).— Wage-Hour Administrator Philip B.! Fleming announced yesterday that employers whose regular work-week begins before midnight Oct. 23 need conform only to the present 42-hour maximum during that week. Under the fair labor standards act, the maximum work-week decreases automatically on Oct. 23, second anniversary of the statute's final approval. During the first year of the act’s effectiveness the workweek was 44 hours. Mr. Fleming said it was the agency’s opinion that “the 40-hour week will apply for the first time to the first full work-week beginning on or after midnight Oct. 23, 1940.”
gins, for example, on Monday, Oct. |
more than 42 hours are worked in| the period of seven consecutive days | from Monday, Oct. 21, through Sun}
-{day, Oct. 27, inclusive.”
If the employee's work-week begins on or after midnight, Oct. 23,1 he said, the employer must pay time | and a half after 40 hours are!
i
\ | DOCTOR IN NARCOTICS
By K. Lindley
Ernest Elliott's Captaincy Doesn't
Biographer of President Roosevelt Deserve Slaps It's Received
“If the employee's work week be-|
21, 1940,” he said, “the employer| need pay time and a half only if
LLIOTT ROOSEVELT, commissioned as a captain in the Army Air Corps, must be absolved of trying to escape humbler and more arduous duties as a draftee. He is of draft age but he is married and has children. The draft law does not automatically defer services for married men. His wife has means and his family undoubtedly could get along if he were drawing the salary of a buck private. But the avowed intention of the selective ¥ service authorities is to defer the drafting of married men whenever possible. If married men are to be drafted there are hundreds of thousands of them with ho children and whose wives have jobs or incomes. These should, ;and almost certainly will, be called before married men with real family responsibilities are taKen. Elliott has been an aviation enthusiast for a number of years. He held a student flier’s permit for two years, although he never qualified as a pilot. * He did not apply for a commission, but offered his services to the Air Corps in whatever ca = pacity they might be useful. He did this. without informing his father, The Air Corps authori- : ties were eager Mr. Lindley Yo hove hi Knowing: Elliott, I am sure he would much rather fly a bombing plane or a fighter than buy sup-
this reserve there are only two ranks: Captain and major.
2 o ”
LLIOTT surrendered a. good | radio contract and is making other financial sacrifices to go into the armed services—into which he almost certainly would not have been drafted. Call it patriotism. or a desire to be in the thick of excitement, or what you will, his motives seem to me to have been beyond reproach.
Before taking the step he sought the advice of at least one Administration official and friend of his father’s outside the Air Corps. If that individual thought of anything besides the evident genuineness of Elliott's desire to serve his country, it was of the advantage of terminating his radio broadcasts, which often have embarrassed his father. Granting the worthiness of Elliott’s motives, it was a mistake to permit him to be commissioned, especially just before the draft is to become, effective. Granting that he is not unqualified for the appointment, there must be thousands of other men who are just as well, or better, qualified. Some of them probably would give their eye-teeth for a captain's commis-
{Claypool Hotel Nov. 6-9.
J Emery,
[Miss Meta Gruner, director of thej
plies or hold down an easy desk job. He is a two-fisted young man. (Incidentally, he was ‘the only one of the Roosevelt boys who did not go through Groton and Harvard. He entered Princeton, but dropped out to begin
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. Oct. 8 (U.! P.) —Dr. Edwin Boots, 40, was found dead in his office at West Terre Haute yesterday by police sent to investigate his failure to appear for
sion in the specialists reserve of the Army Air Corps. No amount of explanation can remove the appearance of favoritism. The commissioning of Elliott Roosevelt does not seem to me to be deserving of the savage criticism which has been heaped upon
sentencing on his plea of guilty to 2 charge of violating the narcotics aw. Dr. Boots pleaded guilty last week before Federal Judge Robert C. Baltzell at Indianapolis. He was ‘accused of selling narcotics to a Federal agent. A gun was found near his body and he had been shot in the head.
AUTO INJURIES FATAL CHESTERTON, Ind., Oct. 8 (U. P.).—Mrs. Martha Molask of Grand Rapids, Mich, died yesterday from injuries suffered Sunday in an auto
accident on U. S. Road ?3 near here. : a
earning his living. He has the energy and the guts to make a first-class field officer. If he were to enter an Officers’ Training’ Camp, such as we had in 1917 and 1818, undoubtedly he would qualify for a commission, whether his name was Roosevelt or Jones.)
At 30, however, Elliott is a bit too old to start learning to fly a combat plane or to be an aviation mechanic. He has had some business experience. The Army Air Corps people decided he ought to be assigned to the Specialists Reserve, which is a sort of busi-
it by General Hugh S. Johnson and a-few others.
HIGHWAY TO ALASKA | TAKES ‘BACK SEAT’
Times Special . WASHINGTON, Oct. 8—The longdiscussed highway to Alaska is being given a back seat by the U. S.Canadian Joint Defense Commission, according to a good authority. Other defense measures on the Pacific Coast are considered more
120 acres of land, and employ about
ness annex of the Air Corps. In turgent, a Piste] roman said.
FRANCE ARRESTS 2 AIRPLANE MAKERS
VICHY, Oct.-8 (Us: P.). — ‘The {French government today arrested two leading airplane manufacturers ‘who had received a large part of France's pre-war army orders, and
CHILD WELFARE SYMPOSIUM SET
‘State Conference on Social interned them.
i . They -were Paul Louis Weiller, {head of the Gnome et Rhone Air=plane Motor Company, and Marcel Bloch, manufacturer: of French bombers. Both are Jews.
Work to Be Nov. 6-9 At Claypool.
A symposium on Indiana's legi-|
'slative needs in the field of child POLICE GUARD VESSEL
welfare will feature a program for, 'GHICAGO, Oct. 8 (U. P.) —Ten the Children’s Division of ‘the State city policemen are guarding the Conference on Social Work in the!Dutch freighter Prinz Wilhelm, : quarantined here since June 19. Judge Wilfred T. Bradshaw of the| They were assigned a few hours Marion County Juvenile Court, and after Capt. W. P. Helsdingen ob=chairman of the subcommittee on|tained clearance papers for an juvenile courte legislation, will be|unannounced Canadian port. among the discussion leaders. | Netherland Counsel John VenOthers will be Miss Margaret ema said the vessel would sail supervisor of the Lake | under sealed orders manned by a County Welfare Department, and|Special crew of 13 Canadians ben {cause the regular crew was “une Indianapolis! willing” to sail. I. was believed the police were assigned to see that none of the regular crew deserted.
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
1—The character “Henry Van Pore ter” is presented in the radio program: “The Johnson Family,” “Plantation Party” or “Amos 'n’ Andy”? . 2—Which tree leaf is an emblem of Canada? 3—In what year was Abraham Line
Children’s Bureau, Orphan Asylum. Mrs. Perry W. Lesh, thairman of the Indiana Citizens’ Committee on Child Welfare Legislation, will preside during the symposium on Nov. 8
Two thousand persons are expected to attend the sessions which will be preceded by two days of institutes for social workers and others interested in social welfare.
NAVY SURVEYS SITES FOR SIK WAR PLANTS «2 A tenia
WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 (U. P|; vy"; the Eads Bridge?
3 ~ yr 4 “3 r 3 e! The Navy is surveying sifes in ih i6—A truth assumed to be self-evie
Middle West for a chain of six ord-| 3 nance plants costing $115,000,000. | _ dent is called—¢ | Capts. David F. Dusey and Theo- | i—What does the abbreviation f. o. dore D. Ruddock Jr. have visited| . b. stand for? Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ken- Answers tucky, Tennessee and other states to obtain data on possible locations. 1—“Amos 'n’ Andy.” They are expected to recommend; 2—Sugar maple. choices to Secretary Frank Knox. |3—1865. Navy officials said no definite sites | 4—Lawrence Watkin. can be chosen until the survey is 5—Over the Mississippi River at St. finished. It was indicated in testi- Louis, Ma. mony to Congress recently that the!g—An axiom. average plant would involve about; 7.—Free on board.
Zz as a ASK THE TIMES
Inclose a 3-cent stamp for re=-
2000 workers. Under the tentative program, the Federal Government would supply the funds and plants would be operated by private indus-| ply when addressing any question try. +7 Lof. fack -or: information to The plans. call for a $15,000,000, The Indianapolis Times Washpowder plant, at least one gun fac-| ington Service Bureau, 1013 13th tory, and other establishments for| St., N. W. Washington, D. C. the manufacture of optical equip-| Legal and medical advice cannot ment, gun parts, fuses and other| be given nor can extended rematerials, Egle search be undertaken,
t