davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21
Hard Times Are Harmful to Health

THAT hard times may seem to
Il be associated with improve
ments in the public health but
that they must in general produce
results which are not good has
been pointed out repeatedly in
this column.
The health organization of the
League of Nations made study
recently of the situation with a
view to drawing some conclusions
of value.
The economic depression has re-
duced the income of nearly all
professions and greatly has low
cred the standard Of living of the
vast majority Of people.
An analysis of mortality rate
shows that death rates generally
have not risen and that the only
increase is among elderly people
in certain communities.
The rates for deaths from tu-
berculosis have been declining and
there does not seem at present to
be any increase in the number of
cases Of tuberculosis.
However, statisticians in Ger
many have collected evidence to
show that unemployment and low
cred income result in a lessened
amount Of food for the family as
a whole so that the intake of
Galleries drops about 500 a day a
person. This might well be called
q hidden famine"
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21
AN ARMS EMBARGO

President Hoover is reported considering special
message to congress asking power to embargo arms
shipments to countries threatening international
peace. We hope the report is true, and that such
action will be taken,
The immediate occasion for such policy is be-
leved to be the undecared but bloody war in the
Chaco between Bolivia and Paraguay. For months
the United States government as a member of
the Pan-American neutral commission, has been
trying to persuade the belligerents to withdraw
troops and submit the dispute to arbitration.
Similar, though less specific, pressure has beer
exerted from Geneva. But they continue to disre-
gard all neutral peace pleas.
Here then, is one more of a disturbingy long
list of failures of mere diplomatic pressure to pre-
serve international peace Diplomatic action alone
is ineffective the side the opposite ex-
IRENE of international armed intervention is I'M
wise
There is another method more powerful than all
the economic weapon. 1t mas many forms, ranging
from simple ban export Of materials and money
for war purposes to a complete trade and financial
boycott
Even those persons who are not ready to accept
the more extreme weapon of general boycott
which we believe to be necessary extreme cases
usually are able to see the folly of alleged neutral
nation supplying the guns ana poWder Win winch
two sister nations blow each other to pieces.
The height of hypocrisy is reached when the
United States lifts one hand for arbitration and
peace, while with the other hand it ships them
more guns. That is the situation today.
All the time the state department has been
working for peace in the Chaco, American NUM-
ton makers have been shipping to the bel
lgerents.
This is another argument for complete rationale
cation of the munitions business in this country and
every other. There is use to talk Of world peace
as long as there are powerful armament concerns
organized to make huge profits out of war;
Until the government takes over the armament
business on grounds of national defense and inter-
national safety, the government should exercise
its power to put down embargo on arms ship
ments to warning nations threatening the peace of
Europe
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21
TECHNOCRACY

A stimulating tempest Of discussion has blown
up almost overnight about the views of group in
New York self-styled "Technocracy." who hold that
our political system has been made obsolete by our
mechanical advances. Unemployment is machine
made
The theory of the technocrats is radical, yet
simple enough i'll its fundamentals to be easily UNI
derstood and popular. Briefly, they say we produce
enough now so that If the burden of debts and
interest we're lifted and technical operation sub
stituted for our political system each Of us would
need to work only sixteen hours a week.
And even at that level each Of us could live at a
very high standard-possbly at the rate of $4,000
a year income.
Such chance would mean an end Of our political
system and our price system" We would be gov
erned by technicians. and our system of exchange
would be in units of energy instead of commodities
the technocrats suggest
One suggestion of the technocrats is tremendously
appealing 1t is that the experts could produce
safety razor blade which would retain its edge,
without renewal or reckoning, for life time.
( This they cite to prove one Of their poinss-that
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21
Just Plain Sense
BY MRS. WALTER FERGUSON

CTRANGE as was the of Charlotte Gibson
- versus Sidney Homewood in the New York courts
the verdict stranger still The plaintiff charged
that the defendant under a solemn promise of
ratrimony, had seducted her and, when child
was to be the result of the illicit union refused to
marry her.
The jury upheld her charge and so the father of
her unborn baby is sentenced to Jail.
Varied are the comments of prominent women
Upon the case and, as was to have been expected
most of them disagree with the verdict. In what
like to think of an ultra -sophisticated civi-
zaton, the whole thing appears inconsistent and
even slightly absurd. But is it?
We talk volubly of sex freedom for women yet
deep within fingers profound and perhaps
unreasonable conviction that protection should be
afforded girls who find themselves in such pre-
dicament. Doubtless the jury in this instance could
not cast aside that ancient prejudice.
CERTAINLY of paramount Importance in the
~ cases is the baby Under our present social
system, stigma rests upon the iIegtimate child
So long as this is true it seems to me that woman
may be justified in demanding marriage to protect
the infant, or that society must arrange some
method of helping her
The whole proceeding is preposterous, of course.
A sent to jail because he refuses to keep his
promise of marriage to 23-year-old womanl But
shall men be permitted to evade all parental re-
sponsibility?
They are considered and they consider themselves
the stronger members of the race, therefore can
they logically place the full task of child care upon
the woman? And upon the woman who because
she is an unmarried mother, terriically is already
handicapped in world in which our hypocriticaI
moral ideas hold sway?
We do not approach such questions with calm
logic or complete rSasonabeness, but with certain
amount Of emotionalism. And perhaps this is best.
The rights of the woman may not be important
hut the rights of the child must be so regarded.
In civilization where a father is essential to an
honorable position in society the first right Of every
baby is the right to legitimacy.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21

present day business can not afford to put present
day technical advance into effect.
Critical comments on democracy ascribe the
origin Of the theory to the late Thorsten veblin,
noted economist.
The attack on the idea so far chiefly has been
devoted to arguments that the machine up to 1880
has provided more jobs than 1t took away, that
increased standards Of living and therefore consump-
ton have increased as fast as machine production
Perhaps the technocrats are expecting too much
If they foresee that will accept a government by
technicans, but the machine stands indicted and
must answer
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21
HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS

One Of the most intelligent criticisms Of high
school athletic programs yet offered was voiced
recently by Carl A. lessen, education specialist in
the department of the interior in a speech at At
lantic City
Mr. lessen pointed out that the evil Of "over-
emphasis" in scholastic athletics is chiefly the fact
that huge sums of money spent to provide ath-
letic recreation by comparatively few pupils.
High school football is good game and the
youngsters like it; but when a high school with a
thousand or more students devotes much money and
time to a football program in which only twenty
or thirty boys can take part it is clear that
thing is out Of balance
This "overemphasis" is harmful, not so much for
its effect on the players themselves for the in
direct way in which it affects the boys who don't
play at ALL
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21
WEDNESDAY. DEC. 81. 1882.
THE r. F. C. ON TRIAL

senator Robert Wagner Of New York proposes
mat congress Immediately liberalize the hunger
ana work relief provisions of the Wagner law of
iaSt july The purpose is to speed federal aid from
the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to the ma
lions jobless, cold, and hungry millions.
he would amend the hunger relief provision by
removing the s3OO0OO0Oo limit Tor loans: turn the
administration of the fund over to an expert board
OF three extend the time limit for such loans. set
aside sl00O0000 as outright grant to states for
relief to the thousands of wandering men and bows
He would broaden the work relief section of the
act so that the $1,5OO0OOOOO loan fund would IA
cilitate projects that socially sef-liqudating
as for instance reforestation slum clearance grade
crossing elimination, schools,
Finally, he would reduce interest rates on self
hqWdating loans and speed up federal public works
This program should be granted early hearings.
The governments hrst-aid- robustness program has
worked fairly we'll It's frst-aid- to- the iobless has
not.
The Wagner-Garner act was passed hurriedly
and against stiff White House opposition. It's adj
ministration was turned over to the same banker
minded board that administers business loans
The result is that this emergency relief has been
hedged with red tape that q dozen states have
refused 10 ask for hunger loans and only little
more than one-fourth of the inadequate fund has
been distributed.
OF the great fund for elf-liquidating works. only
S139000,000 has been loaned
The Wagner program appears sound and con-
structive In particular, two of his proposals APP
peal One is the expert board to administer relief
loans the lack of which has destroyed the whole
spirit Of the act.
The other is to broaden the concept self
liqudating" This should include projects that will
return dividends in social values as we'll as i'm
mediate cash.
Unless we accept the hopeless policy of drift,
we must look to some agency to prime the indus
trial machine and start things going. Private
capital is timid Public credit must be courageous
The government has created large ant-de-,
preston mechanism, the R. F. G. 1t should be made
to work better and faster.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21

EOR instance, since the fall Of
L 1881, there has been established
a definite lowering in the state of
nutrition of school children and,
associated with this, an increase
in anemia, infestation by para
sites, mild infections of the skin,
decay of the teeth and nervous
conditions associated with ia
tigue and inattention.
The child welfare centers also
report that they are seeing more
cases of ricketts, and tuberculosis
during the last two years.
OF interest also are the psyche
logical changes that develop dur
ing a period Of unemployment.
The fear Of losing a job, the dis
appointment in falling to get an
other job and the despair at be-
ing unable to find work within
a reasonable time, the British
Medical Journal points out, grad
ually undermine a mans mental
balance.
Moreover, lack Of occupation and
inability to find work has par
ticularly bad effect on the young
man or young woman ready to
enter the working world, who
finds that the way to what should
be hfe's occupation Is barred by
unsurmountable Obstacles.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21
RED CROSS COTTON

Once more, needing the wide distress among the
needy the house has allocated some Of the federal
farm boards stabilizationp cotton to the Red Cross
1t took no argument this time, nor was there
any delay. Fresh from the country representatives
knew the acute need and how to help meet it, Their
action now, as in the past, when they voted wheat
and the first 100000 bales of cotton to the Red
Cross, is praiseworthy.
With this ALLEGATION, seeing the end of the
farm boards disastrous price-pegging experiment.
The government and the farmers learned that
even $5OOOOo,OOO can not keep up farm prices The
fortunate byproduct of this lesson is the distribution
of the farm boards wheat and cotton to the I'M
employed.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21
Working Hours Cut

MEN Of science never took the
4VA picture of the world pre-
sented in Metropolis very serious
ly. Such a world was not the
ideal toward which they were
working.
The sort of world pictured by
Howard Scott of Technocracy,
with four-hour work-day in a
four-day week in a ten-month
year is much nearer their ideals.
The architects, or at least Lud-
lows committee, are of an opin-
ion in this respect that is similar
to that of Technology. They see
the decline of skyscraper building
and the slowing down OF city
growth.
CITY congestion reached its
limit in 1929" the committee says,
"apd the many rostrums which
simply seemed to make the dis
ease worse are giving away to the
obvious cure-taking the people
away from the city and not into
it.
ut is probable that skyscrapers
will not be built for many a long
day-perhaps never"
But the committee is not gloomy
about the situation. Instead, it
forsees in the near future the
coming Of the day when men and
women will begin to reap, in the
form of more leisure for creative
effort and amusement, the bene-
fits which the progress Of science
and the machine make possible.
1t sees a demand for new kinds
of buildings as a result Of the in
crease in leisure.
THE new factor is shorter hours
Of labor and longer hours Of lei
sure" its report says. THE five
day week is practically an accom-
plished fact, and perhaps the
four-day week is Just around 1he
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21
NJ. E. Tracy Says:

NEW YORK, Dec. 21.-The an
" clients were right in repre-
senting Justice as cropping, blind
folded goddess. After 10000 years
of experience, precedent and spec
ulation, we still are uncertain Of
what constitutes crime. We are
equally uncertain as to the degree
and effectiveness of punishment.
About the only thing we are
sure of is the virtual impossibility
Of Furnishing the guilty without, at
the same time, exposing the in
nocS5lt to unfair treatment.
What becomes Of the children
whose father is executed, the aged
parents whose son is imprisoned,
the wife whose husband is sent to
Jail?
Small wonder that present-day
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21
An Apology for Influenza

course have desire to that recrea-
- tons It has its points have said many in
your shoulder blades muscles Of
dlstrb me in illness is the assignment
Even When In health seldom
or below Fourteenth and that's trip from
the bedroom to the as FLIGHT
across the ocean 1t isn't
the
You get to point where can't
most exciting detective story with comfort can't even
play contract And when interest wanes know that
I am pretty sick. - ~
however the chief object of this column much desire
10 o panVe as to explain why
With matters of public has right to saw "
1eVer must be high What he about his mptos9"
Is perfectly fair criticism.
@ as an excuse Tor not discussing the pay the teachers
don't feel up to it. ~ 'NN'
by Thu Tfmes)
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21
Every Day Religion
BY DR.. JOSEPH FORT NEWTON

THE grasping passion always
Il tends to corrupt character
and to disturb society, and that
is what is going on. The creative
passion is ennobling, emancipat-
ing; it gives free play to the soul;
it enriches the community; it is a
fountain of Joy.
Alas, our modern civilization is
built almost wholly on the passion
to get, and our creative powers
have to struggle for breath in the
asphyXiating air of greed and
grab.
To possess is today the path to
security, to power, to honor; and
so human energy is directed
toward Selling, by fair means or
foul, whatever we can get from
the common stock, and only Incl
dentally toward making good and
beautiful things.
SO, unconsciously, we have be-
come worshippers of the big, the
fast, and the strong. Our sense
Of values is upside down, as may
be seen in the men we honor and
initiate.
1882. United Feature syndicate)
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21
Some Kind Words for Grip

DUT the flu slip admit
- poets admirable received attention than
health and fever itself the peasrabe
OF course is pleasure to be taken with moderation There
along the thermometer the scorchng
comfort.
But reasonably discreet fever say between
distinctly exhlarang There night confidence
you could dance minded to- and would be
swayed midway between the floor and the ceiling
Inclination
little whpoos quite
time The motion that floating
breakers in a heavy
On and the
long the tide holds nothing particular
to have done of equal unimportance
Fever sharpens the mind and du the very
sin as any newly nnted angel There nothing
and there is
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21
What of Unborn Child?

TAKE the case of Mrs. Beatrice
4 Snipes in South Carolina.
She is doomed by fate to become
a mother in February, and by law
to be electrocuted in April.
Since she was convicted of
shooting an officer, one might ar
que that death is just, but what
about that unborn child?
The problem is not one for
maudlin sentiment to solve. 1t
goes to the root of some of our
most practical, hard-headed no.
lions as to the right and wrong
of things.
The structure of civilization is
sustained for no purpose more dis
tinctly than to give children a
better chance in life. That is the
thought back of our schools, back
of our courts, and back Of our
government.
We take pride in what we have
done to reduce child mortality and
child delinquency. We constantly
are providing new safeguards for
motherhood and babyhood, on the
ground that they hold out the
only hope of developing a strong
er, healthier, wiser race.
When the Snipes baby is born,
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21

Il STIMATES have been made as
IL to the amounts of food abso-
lutely necessary for maintenance
of health and growth, and COM
parison of these figures with the
amount of money available indi-
Gates that in many families the
entire income must be spent on
food If health and growth are to
be maintained.
Where families are paying high
rent or where the management
of the budget is not exceedingly
good, the amount of food that can
be purchased is bound to be an
sufficient.
It is conceivable that the. hus-
band who is out of work can do
with less food than when he is
working.
Under such circumstances, how
ever, the mother of the family
must work twice as hard as usual
and her health is bound to suffer
under insufficient nutrition.
The public health Office Of Ger
many recently has pointed cut
that unemployment does not al
ways lead to an immediate decline
in public health, but that after a
cer.sn lapse If time definite,
gradual decline begins.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21

TXTHAT is wrong with us to-
w day? Why are we so up
set and out of tune, awry with
ourselves and with one another?
Why are people so restless and i'll
at ease, seeking without finding,
mistaking vulgarity for vivacity
and excitement for pleasure?
Why do so many find life flat,
meaningless, unsatisfying? What
truth have we missed, what power
do we lack, that we can not set
things right? What has hap
pened?
Every doctor has his remedy, a
pill, a poultice, plaster, and no
one may. hope to find a panacea
for all our ills. Still, each may try
his hand at diagnosis, and some
of us think we have found one
root-reason for what is wrong
with all of us.
There are in man two master
passions-the passion to get and
the passion to create-and life to-
day is built to satisfy one of those
passions, to the neglect and
sitting Of the other.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21
SCIENCE
More Leisure VisiOned
BY DAVID DIETz

NRASTIC changes, not only in
IL style of buildings, but in
kind of buildings erected, are pre-
dicted by the American Institute
Of Architects as a result of
changes which scientific and en-
cheering progress are bringing
into the social and economic pic
ture.
The probable trends of the fu-
ture are set forth in a report Of
the institutions committee on
industrial relations, Of which Will
liam Orr Ludlow is chairman.
In some respects, the report
echoes ideas Of the democracy
group of Columbia university,
since it takes it for granted that
6, shorter work day and a shorter
work week will be the controlling
factors of the future.
During the days when "Cool-
idge prosperity" was at it's height,
many people pictured the future
as consisting of an unending line
of bigger and bigger skyscrapers,
bigger and bigger factories, and
bigger and bigger cities.
This notion reached its height
in the German movie called Me
tropolis," which pictured the city
of the future as a sort of jungle
of monstrous skyscrapers woven
into network by elevated side
walks and electric lines.
Metropolis pictured a state Of
society to match the architecture,
with robots, slaves to the ma
chimes, inhabiting the lower
strata of the skyscrapers, while
only few lucky souls, luxuriating
in the penthouses on the sky
scraper roofs, enjoyed sunlight.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-21
'Jatstice' Beyond Depth

u 1
MEANWHILE, that child will
AVA have had a prison for its
prenatal environment and a
doomed, distracted mother to
breathe vitality into its being.
You can't reconcile the grim
absurdities of such a situation any
more than you can square a
circle.
Man-made justice is simply
beyond it's depth. 1t can't i'm
prison an expectant mother I'M
der existing conditions without
risking irreparable damage to her
child. Nor can it give her the
treatment motherhood deserves
without disIocating its system.
Obviously, we need some novel
ideas in the administration of
justice, and that is about the last
thing for which it leaves room.
Of all the elaborate ritualisms
which have been developed, that
surrounding justice is about the
most rigid and conservative. In
technique it has responded to the
enlightening force of liberal
thought, but in principle, in the
theory that vengeance is war;
rantec and physical punishment
serves a constructive purpose, it
is right where it was when the
Romans quit.