davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-10
A Dash for Culture
BY BRUCE CATION

generation or ago, every newspaper editor used
to retire into secson every so often ponder dourly
on the times for space and write an editorial en-
titled Whittier Are We Driftng?"
AS far be learned, none Of these long Jere-
miads had any appreciate effect the country
movements But the habit of sitting down OCCASION
ally and meditating our ultimate goal was a
pretty good one, nevertheless Even if you can't stem
current it is good idea to where it is carrying
you
During the last few years one of the most marked
traits of civilization has been the tremendous
growth of the average citizens yen for culture.
High schools colleges and universities have been
damned. Noted educators have publicly wondered
how they ever we're going to accommodate all the
would-be students. City and state budgets for edu
cation have gone sky-rocketng.
Nor is that all. There have sprung up, like mush-
rooms, hosts OF organizations that seek to fill n with
few easy lessons any gaps in your culture. You
can not read magazine without being implored to
study French, to read Conrad to enjoy the pick of
the worlds literary classics in homeopathic doses
get work. lg knowledge Of the great philosophers to
steep yourself in everything from relatively to psyche
analysis.
All of this being so, it might pay us to sit down
and ask ourselves the old-time editors question
whittier are we driftng?"
Now it is not an American trait to go for some
thing that has cash value. And this scramble for
education is exception We seem to be struggling
for culture that better ourselves in bust
ness; read of statesmen who got promotions be-
they could speak French of advertising writers
who forged ahead because they had read Thomas
Hardy of farm hands who progress to big city offices
because they were familiar with Beethoven's Fifth
Symphony
The sort of thing isn't culture at all, and it is
time realized it.
One can be educated to ones finger tips and still
lag far behind the uncouth man who doesn't know
Plato from Ring .Lardner One be verSed in the
worlds greatest music and still be outstripped by a
rival who never heard anything higher than jazz
band Intimacy with Virgil won't necessarily increase
ones earnings as a real estate salesman.
But culture does give one advantage 1t broadens
a man so that his enjoyment of life does not de-
pend on high salary. It gives him rich reward.
not by boosting his earning power, but by enabling
him to get along without boosted earnings.
For it doesn't matter that you can't afford trip
to Europe if you free to enter the Forest of Arden
any night after dinner. Lack of high-priced auto
mobile won't bother you if you sail with Ulysses
past the baths of all the western stars. A three
room fiat can be elegant if you Sir John
Falstaf Chrysis of Alexandria or Doctor Faustus
to your parlor at will
Culture is worth acquiring, by all means. But it
never will do you bit of good if you go after it with
your eye on the pay envelope.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-10
"Uninstructed" Strategy

On two separate occasions President Coolidge has
said to the people Of this republic and to the members
of his political party that he is not candidate for
denomination doesn't want to be, and doesn't expect
to be.
While he did not the plain language Of the
candid West, there is no reason for any misunder-
standing of his meaning. Whoever assumes that
Calvin Coolidge was deliberately misleading his fell
low citizens and that he didn't mean what he said,
has not enough respect for his honesty and candor to
justify claim OF friendship and high regard.
So the effort of some New York Republican poll
ticians to the impression that If Coolidge is
drafted at the Republican national convention, he
will grab at the nomination like hungry trout grabs
a fly may be set down as nothing honorable than
tricky politics.
While they don't trot out favorite son, as a
handful of professional politicians in Ohio have DONE
they aim at the same thing-a delegation they can
control vest pocket vote, to be cast for the
hand-picked by the bosses at another midnight bed
room caucus like the one Harry Daugherty manipl-
lated irl 1920.
The answer to such tactics is for friends Of
Hoover any other sincere candidate to place dele
gates before the voters who can be depended upon
to represent honestly their sentiment Let the rank
and file of the Republican party in New York have
something to say about what the party in convention
shall do.
The uninstructed delegation is political trickery
whose purpose is absolute control of New York's big
vote, with somebody sitting in a presidential poker
game in midnight bedroom and the rank and file
having no voice in the proceedings
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-10
Saving Our Birds

movement has been launched in Congress to
have the Federal Government appropriate $1000,00
to buy tract of land in California for use as refuge
for wild birds.
sports writer, commenting 1t, remarks that
If the bill passes, sportsen will insist that this game
refuge should not be open to hunters during certain
periods of the year. The idea to be that there
is no use in preserving wild fowl unless they
preserved for the hunters.
We should like to dissent sharply from that view
point. wild duck, brought to the table, is very
tasty article but wild duck in fight over moor, or
swimming on the surface of wilderness pond, is a
thing of beauty worth saving for it's sake Why
not save birds for the simple that they
a charming part of the outdoor scene-and give the
hunters little rest?
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-10
Protecting the Public's Power

The Federal power commission again has directed
the attention OF Congress to its inability to protect
the public interest in power sites because of made
quate personnel.
A letter from the commission points out that the
Federal water power act establishes the policy OF per-
petual retention of power sites and that licenses for
development are issued for period Of fifty years At
the end of that period the power development may be
recaptured by the Federal Government on payment OF
the net investment.
1t is necessary, the commission says, to have ade-
uuate records OF investment and these have not been
obainabe because the force of accountants has been
too small.
Failure in the administration of these provisions
means failure in the very foundation of the law said
the commissions letter
"Since under the Federal water power act legltl-
mate cost is the basis of accounting or rate reguat
ing of security issues and of recapture the commits
sion can not protect the public interest in these mat
tiers unless it is in position to make thorough in
vestigation of the claims filed by its licensees
Here is situation that Congress must not fail to
remedy The expense of hiring an adequate statt
for the commission will be pittance compared to
the tax the public will eventually pay if this is not
done.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-10
RockefeIIer'S Move

It will be nothing less than q
calamity if Harry F. Sinclair and
those who aided him in spying Oh
jury are not held in criminal
contempt; if Harry M. Blackmer
and James O'Neil are not punished
for the way in which they have
Knocked their country, and if Stew
art and others like him are not
made to tell what they know.
What is more important for oil
magnates to consider? y
The calamity will express itself in
public resentment toward them and
their business in the end, and for
every dollar they save the defends
ants in this case, they will lose ten.
John D. Rockefeller. Jr., is one
among them who has sense enough
to realize this. I.
The fact that he stands almost
alone is a sad reflection on the irl-
dustry. F.
The public has waited long and
patiently for oil to speak, for its
leaders to denounce what is palpa-
bly, a crooked. unpatriotic, disloyal
transaction from start to finish.
The public is glad not to be dis
appointed in Mr., Rockefeller, but
he cannot carry the burden alone.
Unless other leaders line up with
him, unless the oil industry takes
positive and effective measures to
clear up this scandal, it will suffer
from the effects for the next two
generations, and all big business
will suffer with it.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-10
THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION --
DeCadenCe Eats ViMlS of Rome
Written for The Times By VIII Duramt

down from the respectable idlers of
the aristocracy to the inhabitants
of the street.
The Ernperors saw the trend Of
decay, and struggled to arrest it..
Augustus offered one thousand
sererces for each child, as bride to
parentage; and Constantine ar
ranged to feed and educate with
state funds all children whose
parents were too poor to provide for
them.
But these expedients failed to
effect and year by year the popula-
ton Of the empire was recruited by
alien immigrants who had not yet
learned the arts of abortion and
infanticide.
Slowly the reluctance of Romans
to marry the offspring Of imni-
grants broke down; and though this
mingling of diverse stocks was
destined to reinvigorate the people
of Italy after many generations, the
immediate effect was a disintegra-
ton of character and unity in the
race.
But deeper down even than this
ethnic Transformation was the dis
order of the economic life. The re-
placement of peasant proprietors by
slaves, the exhaustion of the soil by
careless tillage, and the drying up
of the slave supply with the end
Of Roman conquest and expansion
ruined the agricultural basis of the
Roman state.
It was in vain that Augustus sent
out coloni to resuscitate abandoned
farms and develop virgin soil; in
vain that Nerva spent sixty million
serterces in buying back the lati-
fundia or large estates, and divid-
ing them among an improvised
peasantry.
1t was too late; the Romans had
tasted too long the variety and
stimulation of city life; and only
the pervasive Germans would con-
descend to till the fields.
Copyright. 1928, by Will Durant)
Ito Be Continued
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-10
Past Time for housekeeping

Instances multiply that indicate it is high time
for the oil business to do big and thorough job Of
housekeeping.
And it is up to the daddy Of all oil companies to
get busy first
For the most brazen Of all of the oil magnates who
have defed the Government of the United States is
Robert W. Stewart, chairman of the board of direc-
tors of the Standard of Indiana.
This insolent captain of one of the Nations big
gest industries pushed the Supreme Court of the
United States aside with an imperious wave OF his
hand has told the Senate of the United States that
information it seeks of the mysterious and dubious
dealings of his company, snclairS company and the
notorious Continental Trading Company, is none Of
the Senate's business.
Is Stewards insolence the attitude Of the oil in
dustry?
Do Stewart and his fellow captains of oil really
think their industry has grown great that it is
superior to the Government of this republic?
What is the attitude of John D. Rockefeller Jr. to-
ward the Government which protects him in his
business activities and makes the vast fortune he in
herits safe from anarchy and governmental chaosP
Are other oil captains of industry going to give
approval by their silence to Stewards insolenceP
Have they any attitude toward Stewartism? If So
what is it?
If some intelligent and patriotic action is not taken
and taken SOOn the mOlCCmenC Oh FCOperG W. OtSW-
art will in the minds of the people of this country
be taken to be an indictment of the oil industry as
whole. And Standard Oil will recover the malodorous
odor that it's political and industrial piracy earned
for it not much than generation ago.
When lawyer disgraces his profession, he is dis
barred by his fellow members.
When doctor fails to live up to the recognized
standards of the medical organization he becomes an
outcast.
There is an organization that represents and has
power to speak the oil industry, the American
Bar Association and the American Medical Associa-
ton speak for the lawyers and the doctors 1t is the
American Petroleum Institute.
Up to now that body has remained silent about
the Sincairs the Dohenys the O'Neils, the Black
mers and the rest of the black sheep of the industry
The implications of such silence are hurting the
reputation of business that is of the most i'm
portant in the world, in which many great and good
men are engaged and one which should show de-
cdedly more concern about industrial morality than
is being shown.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-10

means what is the value of win
ming glory?"
Which American troops reached
France first in the World War?
The first troops were some medi-
cal and hospital units. Then came
General Pershing and his staff. The
first combat division to reach France
was the 1st Division, made up OF
the Regular Army troops, in June
1917.
What American city is known as
''The City Of the Saints?"
Salt Lake City. Utah.
Why was Samuel Houston de-
posed as Governor of Texas?
He opposed secession in Texas in
1861 and refused to take an oath OF
allegiance to the Confederate States
for which on March 10, 1861, he was
declared deposed.
Does the Bible tell the exact num-
Der of Wise Men who presented
gifts to the infant Jesus?
The Bible account does not state
how many wise men were in the
party that arrived at Bethlehem at
the time Christ was born. Tradition
has called them the three wise men
perhaps from the fact that three
gifts are mentioned, gold, franklin
sence and myrrh" Tradition also
has named them Kasper, Melchlor
and Balthasar.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-10

r EFT us pass quickly over the
L. bloody succession that followed
the philosopher-king, Marcus Amer
Illus, on the throne; over his bril-
liantly insane son Commodus, who
killed hundreds, and frightened
thousands of capable men to make
himself, as he thoughta secure, only
to be murdered by his own domes-
tics.
over Pertinax, who was so just
and able a ruler that he was soon
assaSsinated by the Praetorian
guards; over the sale Of the empire
to Didius Julianus by these unmas-
tered troops; over the civil wars
that at last placed SeptimiuS
Severus upon the throne.
over the tyranny of Caracalla,
the usurpation of Macrinus, and the
elegant insanity of HeliagabaluS;
over Alexander Severus, Maximin,
MaXimian, MaXimus, Balbinus,
Philip, Decius, Gallus, AemilianuS,
Valerian, Gallienus, ClaudiuS, Au-
relian, Diocletian, Galerius, Con-
SGdIlJluS, MdASIlIluSJ d14O Vic OIL dOO-
gic campaigns by which, in the
fourth century, Constantine made
himself emperor, and for time re-
stored order and liberty to Rome.
These two terrible centuries are
the nadir of Europes recorded past;
reading of them one almost &C
knowledges Gibbons definition Of
history as little more than the reg
lister of the crimes, follies and mis-
fortunes of mankind"
= =
w decadence. Were the en-
comprising barbarians, reproducing
their like with the fertility of pau
pers who have nothing to lose, the
essential and primary factor in the
fall of Rome?
But they had been there for many
centuries; doubtless the Romans,
had they retained their vigor and
their bravery, would have held them
off, as Caesar planned, until they
could be gradually absorbed into
the civilization of the empire.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-10
Public Protection

The public has just as much right
to protect itself against the risks of
a monopoly abusing it's power as it
has to see that the clerk behind the
counter does not, short weight it.
Further than that, it has just as
much right to demand full and free
evidence from all oil magnate as it
has from a longShoreman, and citi-.
zenShip implies the same obligations
and responsibilities on the part Of
both.
These rich oil men who have
closed their lips or run away in de-
finance of the Senate and the courts
of the United States are in the same
position as the commonest lout who
helps to conceal a crime by refusing
to tell what he knows and they
should be treated with no less
harshness. d
The Teapot Dome case not only
reflects on the oil industry, but ON
every industry that has ranged into
the realm of big business. 1t reeks
with "the public be damned" idea.
1t represents nothing less than a
challenge to the power of the law to
be honest and just. 1t tops a COM
spiracy to defraud the people with
a conspiracy to prevent them from
finding out the facts. a
No one of intelligence can review
what has occurred in this scandalouS
affair without suspecting that a
deliberate and powerful cabal exists
for the purpose of protecting those
who tried to fleece the American
Government at any cost. \
If anything. this is worse than
the original crime, for the only
chance that crime has, or ever has
had is through the protection it en-
joys when the law is baked.
1t is not the murderer, the thief
or the enbezzler who make law en-
forcement so difficult, but the dis
loyal, crooked gangs who shield
them.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-10
Human Nature

A business is not necessarily bad
because it is big, but bigness repre-
Sents an element of danger.
Men in control of a billion dollar
business are about the same as small
boys in the front seat of an eighty
horsepower car. There is a con-
slant temptation to steppon the gas
and let other folks eat the dust.
While it may not be just to regard
business as wrong because it is big,
it is logical to suspect that it is more
likely to go wrong.
Human nature is about the same
at Twenty-Six Broadway as it is OH
an ice cart or in the grocery store.
If we cannot trust the ice man
and the grocery clerk to be honest
without sealed scales why should we
trust the big boys?
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-10
Is Law ImpartiaI2

II oil men are imperviouS to the
demands Of good citizenship, they
still can find reasons to tell "the
truth, the whole truth and nothing
but the truth" regarding the Tea
pot Dome case in the way it res
fleets on their own business.
AS things now stand, they have
shown little but an attitude which
justif1es people in suspecting that
they would rather conceal crooked
ness than do their duty by the
United States.
The fact that they have been able
to elude the consequences of such
disloyal conduct thus far only adds
to that lack Of confidence in the
power and impartiality of the law
which is bad enough already.
If these men were taxicab drivers
instead of multimillionaires, Com
gress and the courts would find lit
tie difficulty in dealing with them.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-10
SAYS:

John D. Rockefeller, Jr., appraises
the situation correctly.
The Teapot Dome case has come
to be little less than a menace to the
oil industry.
The attitude of Sinclair, the fight
of Blackmer and O'Neil, the at
tempt to tamper with a jury and
the deliberate reticence of witnesses
leave the public no other choice
than to believe that when it comes
to a question of loyalty to the in
dustry, or to the Government, oil
has little use for the latter.
This republic cannot survive if its
citizens are more devoted to a BUSH
ness, a religion or a cause than to
the law. W
Governor Smiths candidacy has
led to a lot of talk regarding the
danger Of divided allegiance.
Divided allegiance brought about
by money would be worse than di-
vided allegiance brought about by
anything else.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-10

But how had the Romans lost
their vigor and their bravery
What were the causes Of that in
ternal decay which expressed itself
externally in unresisted invasion
and surrendered liberty?
Behold" says Petrarch, in the
fourteenth century, "the relics OF
Rome, the image Of her pristine
greatness!
Neither time nor the barbarian
can boast the merit Of this stupen-
dous destruction; it was perpetu-
ated by her own citizens, by the
most illustrious of her sons, and
your ancestors" Che writes to a
Roman) "have done with the bat
tering-ram what the Punic hero
could not accomplish with the
sword"
1t was Rome that destroyed
Rome, as it was Greece that had
destroyed Greece.
A superficial sign Of the deca-
dence was the growth of luxury;
Tiberius complained that the once
frugal matrons of the capital now
adorned themselves with silks cost
ing their weight in gold, and that
in the purchase of female orna-
ments the wealth Of Italy was pass
ing into alien and hostile hands.
Women who once had gloried In
raising fine families busted them
selves now with political and amor
Gus intrigue; marriage came later
and divorce sooner, and children
seldom or not at all.
y u y
THIS reduction of the birth rate
l. in Italy, and above all in Rome
becomes a vital factor in the grad
ual replacement of Roman with i'm
migrant barbarian stock.
Once the proletariat of the cities
had been named because of its
fecundity; not now that it had no
votes to sell under the empire, and
industry failed to balance with ex-
ported products the import Of food
and luxuries, birth control passed
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-10
Politics and the Churches

While foes of prohibition may find some satisfac'
ton In the falling off in efficiency in the three big
get Protestant churches others who feel the need OF
religious influence on advancing civilization will con-
slider it serious matter that the Presbyterian Meth
odist and Baptist churches appear to be losing their
grip.
The Mems Church League asked prominent
clergymen in these three denominations this ques-
ton: what is the matter with the churches9" The
replies were significant The report, after canvass
of the replies, says:
converts last year; Of 8765 Baptist churches, 3474
lacked converts in 1927; and OF 1851 Methoolst
churches 1851 went without attracting single con-
vert.
If the same ratio holds for all the Protestant
churches in America, then there 10000 out OF
total of 100000 churches that failed to bring single
convert into the Christian faith last year.
Various explanations have been offered by as
rnany leading churchmen but none Of them touches
unon what many laymen will believe is the real
son for this situation 1t happens that the largest
and most active hackers of the political lobby known
as the Anti Saloon League are the Methodist Bap-
fist and Presbyterian churches.
Thew largely are responsible for making that Or
canization the political of the Protestant evan
pelcal churches and hence must bear the chief re-
sponsbility for dragging the churches into the mre
of bitter partisan politics.
Nor is falling of in converts all the story. II
there is any way of getting at the facts 1t probably
would be discovered that vast number OF members
Of these churches have lost of their zeal, even
though they have retained their church membership
Turning over pupits to political lobbyists who dis
cuss politics of religion may have helped that
kind of politics. but it hasn't helped religion, and it
hasn't helped the churches that have gone into
politics.
When our clerical friends learn that partisan poll
tics has place in the pulpit and that real Chris
tians want their religion unadulterated they will
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-02-10
What Other Editors Think

year in order to answer summons
from the Federal grand jury. Law
yers, too, suffer innumerable in
conveniences from the present
system. Indianapolis hotels and
commercial enterprises, of course,
receive their due benefits under
the present plan.
But aside from this phase of
the matter are the more important
issues of faulty administration,
serious errors in handling volum-
inous records and the necessity
for the district attorney to chase
all over the State in order to try
cases.
That, in itself, is sufficient cause
to seek a remedy by dividing the
State into two districts.