davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-02
A Fundamental Decision

The people Of this city expected decision pro-
tecting self-governTnent from Judge John w. Kern
The very name stands in Indiana for the preservation
of fundamental principles of Americanism at its best
Judge Kern has ruled that the state tax board had
no right to cut the city tax budget and declared
emphadcay that the people of this city are entitled
to run their affairs
He very clearly points out that there was no ques-
ton Of superiority OF judgment between city
officials and the tax board although had that question
been raised the verdict would have been decidedly in
favor of officials who were chosen to redeem the city
from the rule of machine which is ancestor to the
present membership Of the tax board
One slash attempted by the tax board illustrates
the danger of moving the government Of cities to the
statehouse
That board ordered a cut in the small fund asked
bv Major Reginald Sullivan to finance the fight OF
the people against high utility rates and the COM
pleton of the effort to obtain legal control Oh tne
gas company
The tax board attempted to leave the city weapon
less against these forces of organized pllage and
greed It tried to shackle the city, to send it into any
legal conflict with no funds while these punderers are
snoplv supplied with loot with which to hire all sorts
81 exnerts 10 confuse and bewilder the issue.
That one act revealed the aninus behind thlS
hoard which claims the right to rule this CITY,
The power to fix budgets means finally the power
N r,le cities In this instance, the one reoucuon
would have the effect of helping to perpetuate the
slavery Of the city to utility extortons
The other cuts made had the same imperial ring
One Of these reductions in pay rolls Of the park
hoard. The state Caesars declared that the parks
might use jobess who obtain work from the emer-
gency funds. ..,...
That was their policy 1t will have little sympathy
from those who believe that in days such as THESE
there should be every effort to maintain regular pay
rolls and not try to reconstruct society on the basis
of pauperism
Tha truth is that the tax board is dominated by
nartsan politics and is endeavorng to penaze every
community which has had the courage TO ria NSen
of the old order.
Judge Kern has performed a fne puonc Sei'i0e
But of course, every one knew thaC he "oUl" Guam"
firm for justice and for right
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-02
A Disappointing Report

The new federal power commission, organized IN
the interest Of better enforcement of the federal
water power act, presents distinctly disappointing
document in its first annual report Its omissions
and silence are significant and disturbing.
Congress created the new full time commission
because administration of the water power act had
neglected so agranty during the last ten years
by cabinet-m member commissioners
Congress was specifically indignant at the failure
of past commissions to scrutnize capital investment
accounts of its licensees and squeeze from them the
millions of dollars of water which mean high rates
and unfair recapture prices.
The report Of the new commission contains Moth
ing to indicate it appreciates the Importance of this
situation. Only recently has it begun hearing on
this subject, after years delay.
The commissions report suggests mildly that per-
haps the federal government should regulate inter-
state power transactions after gathering data
the subject. The importance of immediate action
in this matter has been appreciated in congress and
elsewhere for considerable time.
The federal trade commission has made an
exhaustive survey of the extent of unreguated in
terstate power transactions but the power commits
sion ignores lJs figures.
Carefully drawn legislation will be considered by
congress this winter to provide federal interstate
regulation and regulation of holding companies but
the power commission ignores this.
1t takes occasion to praise the power industry, and
to express its keen interest in the welfare of the pow
er company investor,
The reports neptitudes and Indifference raise the
serious question to whether further responsibility
should be placed in its hands. Of the need for a
competent body to guide federal policy toward power
utilities there be doubt. The Hoover commits
sion has not yet demonstrated that it fills this re-
quirement.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-02
Just Every Day Sense
By MRS. WALTER FERGUSON

T@yERY now and then somebody pops up and be-
Z gins harplng about the Good Old Days" One
of the favorite contentious of this group is that
everybody from grandpa to the baby went Joytuly
to church on Sunday.
It follows accordingly that everybody good
and piCus, and that all the children minded their
paSaS and namaS.
Nothing is more remote from the truth than this
pleasant fantasy. People went regularly to church
wears ago because there was nowhere else to go. 70
enforced rgidy today the congregations worship Tor
exactly the same reason.
am not saying that these meetings not
delightful experiences for grandpa and grandma But
I do assert that good many individuals mated the
duty cordially.
You can't make me believe that children ever
sat contentedly through long patitudinous sermons
with he'll fire and damnation Haunted in their faces
Anybody Who as infant ever endured such har-
argues and is honest about it win testify to the
contrary.
THE faithful church attendant today deserves a
L great deal more credit than his ancestors ever
did For the latter had no automobiles, glttering
movie shows, radios, other diversions to lure
him away.
they want to- and not because they must, which is
a higher form of religion.
1t is our happy faculty to forget the unpleasant
things Of life and to fasten our memories upon the
glad auo merry ones We view childhood through
a rosy haze and recall our intentions instead of our
deeds.
Thus most of us believe We were very good little
hoys sno girls and tell our children They listen
with incredulity ard well they NAV because prob
ably better behaved than they are
It's time we ceased looking regretfully into the
past. We are as good as our grandparents about
twice intelligent, and have at least hundred more
opportunities for happiness. Whats more, I think
we're just as likely to land in heaven.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-02
Mississippi Slavery
quirenent

reports of American Federation of Labor investi-
gators describing conditions "of slavery in its most
hdeous form" in the Vicksburg area of the gov
ernments Mississippi levee project call for sweep
ing probe into the in which federal contrac-
tors are doing public work.
This disqueting report includes charges of beating
and sluggng of Negro workers, forced work of from
twelve to eighteen hours a day, wages running from
rs cents to So, and "intolerable" camp conditions.
Unfortunately this scandal is not the first involv~
ing government contractors 1t follows vigorous pro-
tests over wage and housing conditions imposed by
the six companies builders of the great Hoover DAM
and resolution by the A. F. of L. convention citing
the pressing need for speedy action to improve"
these conditions.
Since the Davs-Bacon prevailing wage act went
INTO effect last April more than 100 complaints have
come into the United States labor department as to
wagc-cutting on federal buildngs-from Tacoma to
Key West Oklahoma to Virginia, and in the
nations capital
According to Representative Bacon of New York
and President M j. McDonough Of the A. F. of LIS
building trades department. the chief violators are
wage-cutting southerners and also species known
as contracting brokers'"
These latter, hiding under an unfortunate ruling
by the comptroller-gener that any bidder with a
large enough certified check is responsible" often
underbd decent contractors and then farm the con-
tract out to irresponsible subcontractors.
Three things, it appears, should be done.
One is to redeine the word responsible" in the
Jaw and regulations, to eliminate the parasitic
brokers'
Another is to widen the scope os the Davis Bacon
act to include all government work rather than limit
ing it to federal buildings as at present.
The third is to give the Davis-Bacon act teeth,
oy providing penalty for underwriting the prevail
ing wage.
American public opinion will not tolerate slavery
on government work nor endure public works relief
program that under guse of helping labor, degrades
its living standards.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-02
HEALTH
Serum Proves Check to Meningitis

There is evidence to indicate that
one of the most important factors
in spreading meningitis is the car
rier who has the germs of the dis
ease in the throat and who, while
himself uninfected, may spread the
disease.
The value of the specific serum
against meningitis, as III all infec-
tious diseases, depends on early ard
adequate treatment. In the very
severe cases considerable damage,
sometimes to the point of death, has
been done before the serum can be
applied.
Because the infection concerns
primarily the coverings of the
spinal cord and the brain, direct
injection into the spine or into the
brain is of exceptional value and
may be aided by direct injection OF
the serum into the blood.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-02
M. E. Tracy
SAYS:

1t Is Feared That Many of
Our Charity Efforts Are
Succumbing to the Plan
Where the Promoter Gets
so Per Cent and Expenses
Take the Other so.
NEW YORK, Dec. radio an
~ nouncers appear to be having
tough time Of it with football this
year. One was banned from the
Harvard stadium not long ago for
calling play "putrid." Now Low
ell Thomas is being taken to task
for reading part Of an editorial
which criticised the Boston College
Holy Cross game.
That game was played in the
Hardware stadium on Thanksgiving
day. It was supposed to help the I'M
employed, but resulted in a deficit.
Whether Bostonians understood it
before hand, they know now that
the agreement under which the
game was played provided money
for unemployment relief only after
$4,000 tickets had been sold.
Such an agreement was quite all
right, but it hardly warranted all
the advertising for "charitys sweet
sake
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-02
1T SEEMS TO ME BY HB BK0SS

life makes men hard and callous
and insensitive to the wrongs of
others.
I am free to admit that there is
a certain fantastic quality in Mayor
Walker assuming the role of cru
sading Galahad. Yet dragons have
been slain even though the swords
leveled against them were not
welded by the hands of any st.
George.
The Importance and the Brightness
of the calEe is ample to dignity the
expedition of James j. Walker.
I think there is a prevalent mis-
conception about the matter of
states rights. This never meant
that there should be a sort of spe-
cial privilege for states wrongs. An
act of injustice in New York or
California or Mississippi constitutes
a common reproach to the entire
nation.
DOWNRIGHT 1891 bv The Timesl
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-02

IN this connection, Uncle Sam has
4 decided that charity" prize
fights in New York must pay the
federal tax.
1t sounds kind of narrow, until
one remembers that they always
have been subject to the state tax
and that, as a usual proposition, a
large percentage of gate receipts
goes to the fighters, promoters,
managers, and others directly con-
cerned.
In issuing his order against fu-
ture exemptions, David Burnett,
commissioner of internal revenue,
sharply scores this practice. Be
cause of it, he points out, the speci-
flc charity supposed to be benefited
nearly always gets less than the
amount of the tax the government
would have received had the exemp-
ton not been allowed"
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-02
HEALTH SERVICE

1t is also quite possible that a
new generation of mankind brings
into the situation soil easily in
fected, or what is called a suscepti-
BILE host.
Trained psychologists have not
been able to show that the organ
ism which occurred in the cpl
denies in the far west, in Indian
apolis, in Chicago and in Detroit, in
1880 were due to a new strain COM
ing from Japan or developed from
some other source.
The conditions that seem to I'M
derlie these outbreaks, according to
DR.. Augustus Wadsworth, are those
that favor epidemics of respiratory
diseases in general; namely, indoor
life, crowding, inadequate ventila-
ton and the exceptionally bad
weather that occurs in the late
winter months.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-02
Variety of Needs


IT is this richness of phvsical
4 properties of metals and allows
which makes possible our modern
industrial civilization, DR.. Jefries
says.
We need the low melting point
OF mercury or quicksilver. which is
40 degrees below zero, for Their
mometers, cages, etc. and the high
melting points Of tungsten for lamp
filamentS,' he says.
I'VE need the softness of lead for
foil and the hardness of steel for
cutting tools We need the mag
netism of iron and certain of its al
Toys, and we need other metallic
products which are nonmagnetic
We need aluminium and magnesium
in part because they are so light in
weight
I'VE need copper because it is
such a fine conductor of electricity
We need certain alloys because they
are poor conductors of electricity.
We need gold, platinum, nickel and
so-called noble alloys because they
are so resistant to attack bv air.
water and chemicals.
we need tin because it makes
good bearing alloys. We need zinc
in part for galvanizing iron. And
so we could go on indefinitely re-
citing the outstanding Characters
tics Of the various metals and al
Toys.
In addition to great variation in
the main requirements of alloys, the
engineer desires different combina-
tons OF properties for different
uses. These requirements conspire
to promote the use of so many al
10y compositions and treatments"
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-02
Search Is fascinating

CCIENTISTS and research engi-
~ neers are pioneering in the
search for new alloys by the scien-
tific study of metals. High powered
microscopes and the X-ray are en-
aiding scientists to find out what is
going on within metals.
"The scientific study of metals
and alloys is most fascinating" DR..
Jeffries says. ITO the metallurgist
who examines metals with high
powered microscopes and even de-
termines the very positions of the
atoms by X-ray analysis, the in
terror of a metal becomes an active
microscopic world, exhibiting Won
ders comparable to those which we
see about us.
"A piece of steel containing 9
per cent carbon is magnetic at room
temperature. When heated above a.
red heat, say 1850 degrees Fahren-
heit, it becomes nonmagnetic.
THE carbon which normally is
in the form Of very hard COM
pound with iron at room temper
allure is dissolved completed in the
iron at the higher temperature,
much like salt dissolves in water,
except the iron is still solid, not
liquid.
THE iron atoms are arranged in
one form of crystal pattern at room
temperature and another at the
higher temperature.
IF the red-hot steel is cooled
slowly it changes crystal structure
again at about 1850 degrees Fab
renheit, becomes magnetic, and the
carbon recombines with enough iron
to form the hard iron carbide in
particles so large that they can be
seen under microscope at a mag
MITIGATION of 100 diameters."
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-02
Dimes From Dollars

1T is to be feared that many of
Il our charitable efforts are sue
cumbing to the good old-fashioned
bazaar plan in which the promoter
got so per cent, while expenses &C
counted for the other so.
Direct giving for direct purpose
not only would save lot of trouble,
but produce more money.
Somehow that idea seems to have
gone out of style, except where
bankers and business men take
charge.
The newer and commoner theory
is to get little for charity by get
ting much for something else. So
we endeavor to collect dimes for
meat and drink by charging for
bridge, football or prize fighting.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-02
* TO-DAY So So
WORLD WAR \.
ANNIVERSARY
~ ofA&k
FIGHTING NEAR CAMBRIA
npoernher 9

ON Dec. 2, 1917, the Germans
" made fifteen attacks on the
British line and forced the British
to retire from ground they had cap
tured at Masnieres. three and one
half miles south of Cambria.
The Germans finally were re-
pulsed with greater losses than per-
haps in any other twelve hours Of
fighting in the war.
The Italians were repulsed in an
attack on Monte Pertica.
The Krupp gun works opened a
branch factory at Lucerne, Switzer-
land, with 100000 capital.
Jacob H. Schiff, at dinner given
in New ork city. raised S1,060,0O0
in two hours for the national Jewish
war relief fund. He contributed
100000, and Nathan Strauss $780,
600.
Baron Lowen, the Swedish min
lister to Argentina, quit BuenoS
Aires without formal farewells.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-02
Anal The Reason

DR1ZE fighting reminds you Of
L boxing, and boxing brings in the
newly appointed senator from New
Jersey, who was amateur champion
of this country some twenty years
ago.
He is Warren w. Barbour, and he
makes linen thread by the million
miles for a living. Besides being an
eX-champion, he is an ex-mayor,
but what endears him to certain
Republicans is his staunch belief in
the protective tariff and his hand
some campaign contribution.
In 1928, he helped raise a fund of
$4,000 and last fall donated $1,000
to the state Republican campaign
fund.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-02
WHO MADE 1T?

When you buy foods in cans, ask who made It,
COLUMBIA brand of soups are made under con-
ditons which protect the consumer, because those
conditions are made by the workers themselves
not by compulsory laws
every worker is owner of the factory Working
conditions are fixed by the workers. They want
wholesome conditions for themselves. That nsres
wholesome foods for you.
You interested in having the best soup, tomato
juice, chill con carne, pork and beans and catsup
therefore demand COLUMBIA brand
If you have not heard Of the new INDUSTRIAL.
DEMOCRACY right here in Indianapolis, ask any
REGAL GROCER or write us for our pamphlet
A Business Without Boss
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-02
Should Be Interesting

CENATOR BARBOUR should
~ make a valuable accession to
the old guard, not that it matters
much, since a Democratic-P Progress
sive coalition seems destined to run
things in the senate, while the
Democrats can run things alone in
the house.
All things considered, this ought
to be an interesting session of con-
gress not only because of the call
for drastic revision of some of our
laws and policies and the nearness
of a presidential election, but be-
cause neither party is in control
President Hoover should be in a
good position to put through non
partisan, constructive legislation,
and, heaven knows, we need it.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-02
Questions and
Answers

What is the best way to clean hair
brushes?
Put a dash of household ammonia
in warm water and dip the brush in
it several times, with the back up.
Do not rinse. This stiffens the briS-
ties. Wipe the back with a soft
cloth and lay the brush on its back
to dry. Silver backed brushes must
not be put in water. Rub the briS-
ties we'll in flour until they are
clean, then use soft paper to remove
the -four Polish the back with
silver polish.
Was the United States coast
guard ever attached to the United
States navy?
1t has always been under the SUI
pervision of the treasury depart
ment In time of war, however, it
is attached to the navy.
Do stones ever grow?
Real stones are what is known
as dead matter and belong to the
kingdom of inanimate things.
Some of the elements found in
stones are also contained in living
things, but stones are not alive and
therefore can not grow.
Is there any difference between
a Sanitarium and a sanatOrium?
Sanatorium is a locality con-
ducive to restoration or preservation
of health, especially when used as
a resort of invalidS. Sanitarium is
the same, except that sometimes it
is restricted to a place where con-
ditions are prophylactic instead OF
using therapeutic agencies.
Are persons who die on board
ships buried at sea?
Sometimes it is necessary to bury
them at~sea because Of facilities for
keeping bodies are lacking. When
ever possible, however, the captain
brings the body to port if members
If the family of the deceased per-
son do not instruct him otherwise
How many states have represen-
tatives in the United States house
of representatives who are elected
at large from the state?
Illinois is the only state that
elects-at-large. 1t has two.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-02


ONCE one of the most feared of
" all infectious diseases, menin-
gifts today is susceptible to medi-
cal control because of the discov-
cry of anti-meningitis serum.
The condition occurs all over the
world. From time to time there
are epidemics beginning with ex-
tremely serious cases which fire.
quently die before much can be
done, and gradually lessening in
their virulence.
1t has not been established
whether this type of meningitis is
due to the introduction of new
form of the organism in the COM
munity Or due to the fact that the
organism already present, for some
unestablished reason, takes on I'M
usual virulence.