davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
Pie Chans in Coal

Conferences in Washington among Labor Secre-
tarv Doak Commerce Secretary Lamont and coal
operators and officers of the United Mine Workers
of America accomplished next to nothing toward end
ing the chaos in the soft coal fields.
Operators told their troubles again and the union
headers renewed their request for conference to be
called by the President. The operators refused to
treat with the miners.
Meantime news dispatches daily tell of violence
IN the coal fields of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West
Virginia where strikes in progress Tens Of thou
sands of miners are idle through strikes shut
downs.
Alirnrs' wives and children literally are starving
to DEATH and autumn is approaching. AS President
Hoover put it last October there is "a depth of hui
man misery wholly out of place in America"
Whether the government will intervene has not
been indicated but it that this is the only
the problem can be approached.
There Is almost total lack of organization among
both miners and operators. The latter engage in
cut throat competition and have demonstrated an
inability 70 get together to meet their difficulties.
| The United Mine workers. which once had
membership of $4,000 in the soft coal fields, was
smashed III the 1927 strike, and has had Indifferent
success in reforming its ranks. It's rule is being
contested w organization, the National Mine
Workers, which apparently is making progress in
some sections.
Causes OF the Generalization of the btuminous
industry and pretty we'll understood-unrestricted
competition, development of substitute fuels and
hydroelectrc power and an excess Of mines and
miners.
The government for thirty years has been inter-
venng in mine troubles in one way or another.
There have been numerous Investigations by COM
snittees and commissions of congress and the adj
= l!nistrauon.
2 President Hoover himself as secretary of COM
merce in 1923, had hand in negotiation Of the
Jacksonville wage agreement. which was to have
maintained wages for five years. but which broke
down within two years.
Fundamental problems Of the industry have be-
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21

recommending freedom or even a
new trial for these two men.
I got the feeling that these esti-
mable gentlemen just we're hedging.
What is it they fear? True, they
didn't do such a good job with pro-
hibition. But here they are given
the opportunity for a comeback.
The very fact that they found evil
dence of fraud and politics in the
handling of this case should be suf-
ticient to warrant definite course
Of action.
It is quite possible that the Wick
erSham commission, so long the butt
Of a nations ridicule, could vindi-
cate itself gloriously. And I should
be happy to be among the first to
say: Congratulations, gentlemen.
You have done a good job"
One member of the commission,
Mr.. Monte Lemann, refused to sign
the report on the ground that 1t
was made without sufficient re-
search to back up the conclusions
reached. Without adequate fact
ua1 inquiry, congratulations by the
commission seem to me likely to
serve no useful purpose"
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21

6. Wear shoes or slippers about
the house.
7. Look where you search; don't
poke blindly into Uttered drawers or
bags.
8. Keep one needle at time In
the work basket; keep all others out
of the way.
One of the most difficult tasks
is to find a portion Of needle, a pin,
or even a bullet that has been
buried in the tissues.
One modern technic involves a
method of magnetizing the impact
ed fragment and uses another
needle which behaves like a COM
pass point to locate 1t. Magnets
are used in an attempt to draw the
needle nearer to the surface.
One of the best pieces of advice
that can be given to any one who
has been penetrated by a fragment
is to keep still. Muscular move
ment tends to cause the fragment
to move from the point at which it
entered.
Squeezing and manipulation are
likely to aid the motion still more.
It is best to fasten the portion
firmly and thus to keep the frag-
ment in place until an expert is
called who knows how to remove it..
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
Peoples Voice

Editor Times-Being subscriber
to your paper, I want to express
my disappointment through your
columns concerning the results SO
far obtained by our state police
force.
Something surely is wrong. I
supported the Democratic ticket,
and naturally want to see them get
somewhere.
Living in Yorktown on State Road
81, with traffic increasing daily, 1t
is alarming to see 80 per cent of
the cars going through at sixty
miles per hour with no tail light and
25 per cent with only one head
light. We haven't had any action
here for three months.
Out Of fifty violators caught at
one visit by the officers, not one
paid fine. It's all right to be
courteous, but too many people take
advantage of that, so why not get
some Of these careless drivers and
make them pay2 JOHN c. NOLAN.
Yorktown. a.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
Change Always Comes


SOMETHING else the witch doc
~ tors would do well to remember
is that change is the fundamental
law of progress.
The pevailing idea that our great
est problem is reajustnent to a
machine age rests on. the assump-
ton that we are dealing with more
or less fixed conditions.
Many of the machines which dis
tinguish this age were not known
fifty years ago. Why suppose that
many of them will not be obsolete
fifty years hence.
Look what oil has done to coal.
Is it inconceivable that some new
kind of fuel would do less to oil?
If Edison is right, a worthwhile
and profitable use has been found
for goldenrod. Who imagined any,
thing of the kind could happen,
until it did?
We think of a demoraIzed wheat
market as entirely due to the COL
lapse Of foreign trade. That has a.
great deal to do with it, but not all.
A greatly increased consumption Of
fruit is reflected in a decreased con-
sumption Of wheat.
Getting down to brass tacks, hui
man ingenuity, as represented by
engineers, doctors, mechanics.
chemists. and so on, is responsible
for many, if not most, Of our prob
lens, and we must look to human
ingenuity for their solution.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
BY DR.. MORRIS FISHBEIN
Editor Journal of the American Medical
Association and Of Hygeia. the
Health Magazine,

NEWSPAPERS repeatedly con-
L tain the stories of human be-
ings who have in some manner got
ten a needle into the body and who
after the lapse Of many years are
suddenly astounded by the appear
ance Of the needle in the elbow, in
the leg, or at some point far from
the place at which it originally
entered.
In a recent issue Of Hygeia, Vic
tor w. Eisenstein discusses the man
ner in which these accidents occur
and how best to avoid them.
Not infrequently needles are left
in clothing and the person who
washes the clothes. suddenly feels
the needle penetrate the hand, or
machine needles break and pene-
trate the fingers.
Sometimes portions of hypodermic
needles break off during injection;
lost needles get into the feet when
people walk about barefoot. Wom-
en- and tailors occasionally have
needles penetrate the abdomen
while bending over after having
been sewing.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
What NOW2

DUT now that Mr.. Wickersham
. and his associates have inves-
tigated California justice and found
it wanting, what are they going to
do about it? Frankly, am skeptical.
Too much precious time has already
been spent investigating.
To a man who has spent so many
years of his life in jail, every min
ute or second added to his incar-
ceration is an eternity. This is
especially true where it has not been
satisfactorily proved that the pris-
oner is guilty.
And even if Tom Mooney and
Warren K. Billings are granted a
new trial and subsequently freed
as a result of the Wickersham in
vestigation, they are bound to carry
to their graves the memory of those
long, futile years spent in prison.
1t would be asking the impossible
to expect them to come back into
the world with prayers of thanks
dropping from their lips for their
ultimate, but so long delayed re-
lease,
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
SCIENCE
BY DAVID DIETZ-

Did North and South Amer
lea Crack of From Europe,
Asia, Africa and Float of
to Themselves?
THE Pacific ocean resembles a
L great pond while the Atlantic
ocean resembles a great river.
This is one of the interesting pieces
of evidence brought forward to sup
port the wegener hypothesis, the
theory that all the continents were
once united into a single continent.
According to this theory, the
original continent cracked into
pieces which then drifted apart on
the lower layer Of the earth's crust,
a glass-like layer of heavy rock
upon which the upper layers Of the
earth's crust are literally floating
like logs wedged into the ice on a
pond in winter.
DR.. Harlow Shapley, famous Har-
ward astronomer, has suggested
sinking a three-mile shaft into the
earth as a means of testing the
Wegener hypothesis.
The evidence for the theory is
summed up by Edwin Tenny Brew
Ster in his interesting book, This
Puzzling Planet"
Contrast the Atlantic ocean with
the Pacific" he writes. There are
marked and curious differences be-
tween the two, although these are
a good deal obscured by our ordi-
nary maps and are best to be
looked for on a globe.
THE Pacific is a round basin, a
sort Of gigantic pond; but the At
lantic is a sort Of gigantic river that
winds from the top of the earth to
the bottom, always of about the
same width"
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
Questions and
Answers

How many of the Presidents have
their portraits ON United States
stamps?
Various issues contain portraits
Of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln,
Taylor, Garfield, Grant, Madison.
Benjamin Harrison, Monroe, Nc
Kinley, Harding, Roosevelt, Hayes,
Cleveland, Wilson and Taft.
is Thomas Dixon, the novelist,
living?
He is living and resides at S67
Riverside drive, New York.
Is there United States revenue
ltannp bearing the date of 1847?
The earliest United States reve-
que stamps were the 1921 issue.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
A Doubling Thomas


THAT'S all very true. But there
- have been factual inquiries
made into this case. There are
reams Of printed evidence at Mr..
Lemann's disposal to show that JUS
tice was afflicted with at least a Sc
we're case Of astignatism when
Mooney and Billings were being
tried.
Why doesn't Mr.. Lemann study
this evidence carefully? With the
findings of his commission regarding
the failure of the courts to grant a
new trial, he is bound to reach the
conclusion that all is not fair in
sunny California.
He might even go so far as to
suggest a resolution taking the case
out Of the jurisdiction Of that state
and making it a national issue. It
has become that and more in theory.
The entire world looks at us
askance. Our European cousins
smoker politely at our repeated
claim that we are the fairest and
best country in the world.
I should like to suggest to Mr.. Le-
mann and the rest of the COM
mission that they go and see Pre-
cedent." It's true I haven't been to
see it yet myself. But I am going.
However, I know what the show is
all about. And, after all, I already
am convinced.
The important thing is to con-
vince those people who were con-
tent, all these years, to sit back and
let the law take its course.
And it is just possible that a dra-
matte representation of the facts,
as offered in Precedent" would
touch of the necessary spark.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
IT SEEMS TO ME BY HE EYS22S

Z ARGE bodies move slowly.
IL Countless criminal injustices
have been permitted to flourish be-
hind the comforting protection of
this time-worn adage. But if these
bodies eventually come out Of the
darkness of sloth and find the light
much can be forgiven.
Of course, it is difficult to slough
off fifteen years in the lives of two
men who have languished in jail
on periured evidence. We can't
expect Mooney and Billings to greet
with loud cheers the fact that the
Wickersham commission considers
their plight Shocking to ones sense
of justice"
On innumerable occasions since
these two men were tried and SEN
fenced men of high legal and moral
repute have said the same thing.
And there the matter rested.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
Fear Is Effacad

TINE railroads are asking the
L interstate commerce commits
sion for blanket increase of rates.
Twenty years ago that would have
created a veritable storm. Today it
finds the public Indifferent, if not
sympathetic. The reason is that the
public feels safe because of its 25,-
100000 motor vehicles and hard
surfaced highways.
An efectual means of competing
with the railroads has wiped out
all fear of monopolistic control.
Fear of monopolistic control.
whether based on politics, money,
or mechanics, is common to all men.
1t has overturned empires and de-
stroyed civilizations. The witch
doctors who are making magic to
cure present-day ills would do well
not to ignore it..
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21

But seeing a play is different.
There are Mooney and Billings right
before your eyes acting the whole
thing out for you. And from what
I understand (and I have my infor-
nation on good authority, no one
with a brain and heart can doubt
for a second that Precedent" is a
true story.
Go and see it, Mr.. Lennann. And
take the others with you. I'll buy
the tickets.
Copyright. 1881. by The Tines
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
Invention Solves Riddle

MANY problems that we regard
I'VE as political or economic really
are scientific. If we gave half the
thought to inventing. small labor
saving devices that we do to mass
ing men around big ones, we would
make sounder progress.
Forty years ago, the American
people actually were afraid of be-
coming slaves to the railroads. After
twenty years of experimenting with
political Sorrectives, the situation
showed such little improvement that
William J. Bryan didn't know
whether there was any way out,
save through government ownership.
Then came the. auto, truck, and
pipeline, -upsetting all our pre-con-
ceived notions of transportation and
dissipating the threat Of railroad
ruled country.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
The Elenhant

TINE horse and the elephant are
L two good examples which sup
port the theory Of land bridges or
an original united continent. Fos-
sill remains of the horse are found
in certain rock layers of western
America and in rock layers slightly
older in Europe.
The fossil elephant appears first
in Africa and later in North Amer
lea.
Brewster believes the evidence is
better for the Wegener hypothesis.
"The coal points very much to
this theory" he writes. 1.-THE coal
Of Pennsylvania, New England and
Nova Scotia is Of the same age as
that Of the British Isles, France,
Germany and Spain, and is alto
gether very much like it. So it
looks as If, when the coal was form
ing, all this was a single coal field
that has since cracked apart.
Moreover, throughout these two
coal districts, through the entire
length Of the Appalachian Noun
tains on our side of the ocean and
in Scandinavia on the other, the
mountain ridges run northeast and
southwest, as If they were all parts
Of the same system; and in various
ways the rocks match surprisingly.
THE mountains Of Novia Scotia
and Newfoundland correspond in
age and kind of rock and direction
to those Of the British Isles, as if a
single chain had broken apart.
'The very ancient rocks of the
Scottish Highlands are identical
with the equally old rocks Of Labra-
dor. The famous old red sandstone
of England just matches the old red
sandstone Of Nova Scotia.
I'm like manner, South Africa
matches Argentina, bit by bit"
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
Problem of Science

CTILL, we must not expect too
Omuch of politicians and fnanciers
when it comes to solving a problem
created by science.
What produced the railroad
money, or invention? What is hurt
ing the railroad right now-the
stock market, or the truck?
There is a deal Of difference be-
tween mechanics and mechanical
ton.
Given. a gigantic machine, po-
liticians or fnanciers can create a
trust by mobilizing men around it.
Given the same kind of set-up
and science is just as likely to meet
it by producing a lot of little ma
chimes that will do an equal amount
of work and leave much more
liberty.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
7d6:,AFF l5fTE9E7
EATl(S|0ER$A&Y|
.Es,IS
RUSSIAN CABINET ORDER
July 81

July FL
on July 81, 1917, the new Russian
" cabinet issued an appeal to the
army. 1t said in part:
Three weeks ago, in compliance
with the order Of the minister Of
war, the armies Of the southwestern
front, under the leadership Of the
connander-in chief with mighty
revolutionary enthusiasm, started
an offensive the mutiny in the
rear has been suppressed by the
peoples authority, but the revolu-
ton is still in great danger. =.
"By the will Of the revolutionary
people, at the first order of your
military superiors, march forward
in close ranks. Save Liberty, save
the Fatherland :" General Kor-
nilov, commander in-chief of the
army, also made an appeal to the
troops.
The following day the executive
committee of the all-Russian coun-
ellis of workmens, soldiers and
peasants delegates decided to confer
supreme and unlimited power on
Kerensky's cabinet.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21

If We Gaze Half the Thought
to InUenting Small Labor
Saving Devices That We Do
to Mas8ing Men Around
Big Ones, We Would Make
Sounder Progress.
NEW YORK, July 21-By com
L mon report an atmosphere of
optimism pervades the seven-power
conference just opened at London.
Let us hope it's well founded. A
distraught world has waited all too
long for relief. Further disappoint-
ment would be asking too much of
human nature.
Some Americans fail to see it that
way. Our concern over European
affairs not only puzzles, but irri-
tates them. Ex-senator James A.
Reed of Missouri, for instance,
energies from his retirement to re-
mark that the moratorium was a
mistake, that we have plenty Of.
trouble right here, and that, in
stead of attending overseas pow
vows, our officials, particularly cab
met members, ought to be at home
minding their own business.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
They Don't Mix
me necessity Of taking a hand

III 1lSCSoo4Gy VI taxing d LdlIQ
4 in foreign affairs is not only
the price Of our own growth, but Of
civilization. The only way we can
avoid it is by returning to bar
barism.
Life was much simpler when men
ground grain with their teeth, or
by pounding it on a rock.
Jungle freedom and twentieth
century advantages won't mix.
AS Stewart Chase says, a me
chanical age implies system and
control.
AS William Green points out,
capitalism faces the challenge of
keeping alive the goose that has
laid its golden eggs.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
Good Fit

TN fact" Brewster continues, eff
Il one went by the shape of the
coast on the two sides of the At
lantic, one might we'll say that
South America has cracked off from
Africa, the eastern extension of
Brazil once occupying the Gulf of
Guinea, the western end of the Sa-
hara belonging to the Caribbean
region, Greenland damned up
against the west coast of Norway
and Newfoundland one of the Brit
tsh Isles.
IF one could push the two Amer
icas eastward and a little north, so
that Greenland lay against Canada
on one side and Norway on the
other, with Newfoundland and the
British Isles pushed into the North
Sea, the fit would be surprising.
There really is not a little rea-
son for thinking that the uniform
width of the Atlantic and the re-
markable fit between its two sides is
something more than accident.
There is a good deal of evidence to
show that during most of geologic
time, and up to what for a geoIogist
is rather a recent date, North and
South America actually were parts
Of Europe-Asia-A Africa, but cracked
loose and foated off"
All biologists, whether they agree
to the Wegener hypothesis or not,
hold that these continents were
once connected in some way. Some
biologists think they we're con-
nected by land bridge which later
sunk into the ocean and dis
appeared.
This theory is supported by the
fact that the same land animals
and plants seem to have appeared
in both the Old and new world at
approximately the same time.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21

come more aggravated with the passing Of years and
little or no progress has been made toward solution.
The question is how long the country can tolerate
such chaos in basic industry and how long it will
permit conditions which keep thousands of men
chronically out of work, or part-tme schedules.
with near-starvation wages.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21

ideals and opinions expressed
in this column are those of
one of Americas most inter
esting writer's and are pre-
sented without regard to their
agreement or disagreement
with the editorial attitude Of
this pauer.-The Editor.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
The PLAYS the Thing

D FADING thousands Of pages Of
IN evidence-much of it In dry,
legal phraseology-is not conducive
to arousing passion over an injus-
tice. At least, it wouldn't be for me,
I'm sure I'd lose the whole thread
Of the story if had to wade
through the usual hocus pocus Of
plaintiff" defendant" whereas
and wherefore" etc, and infnitum.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
Daily Thought

For wrath killeth the FOOLS
man, and envy slayeth the silly
one.-Job So.
Weak men are easily put out Of
humor. Oil freezes quicker than
water.-Auerbach
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
Miracles

II was not the Blessed Virgin, but just shadow
from gangster's lace window curtain Yet roanv
thousands Of men and women knet in sitting street
and did homage to the vague shadow on brick wall
What pitiful, credulous race of children we arel
II 1Iterate poems were to knee1 thus we should not
be surprised. But we are accustomed to think our
selves more intelligent than poems and to think of
Chicago as the hard-boiled metropolis of the hard
headed prairie.
Perhaps the reason for Chicago turks somewhere
behind the story Of the mobs bowed down before q.
shadowthe reason for Chicago and other cities and
many other things as we'll
1t is SO much easier to fall down before false gods
than to think
1t is easier to resign ourselves to rackeers and hope
1or the best than to determine why we have them
and how we can cease to have them
1t is easier to cry about unemployment than to
cure it.
It is easier to believe what politicians tell us than
to learn for ourselves whether they speak truly
1t is easier to hope that magic or optimism or q
miracle will end the depression than to face the rea
son for 1t and work uncomfortable way out.
We ought to try to act our age.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21

IF the earth were round" says Wilbur Glenn
Voliva, why the water would slip off," He doesn'
appreciate the gravity of the situation.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21

Then there's the plumber who consulted the hear
specialist to get dope on repairing leaking valves
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21
Come On and Say 1t

Z HAVE read and reread the COM
L missions report. But I fail to
find anywhere a direct statement
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-07-21

Statistician's idea of vacation is to 60 to tn
beach and study a new set of figures.