davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14
ONE YEAR

lust a year ago today, two big Michigan
- banking groups, the First National and
Guardian Detroit, failed to open their doors.
Their collapse pulled down others from coast
to coast. State after state declared a bank
holiday. Some issued scrip. Oklahoma called
out troops. 1t was the worst modern Amer
lean bank crisis. By that fateful day of
March 4 every state from Michigan to Della
ware either had closed or restricted its bank
ing facilities.
The new President faced his first crisis.
He met it by proclaiming a four-day bank
moratorium and calling congress to pass emer-
gency ban legislation. Then began the slow
task of rebuilding the shaken structure.
Today, out of $4,000 state and national
banks, excluding mutual savings banks, about
1000, or 10 per cent, remain closed or re-
stricted. Out of thirty-three billions in de-
poSits less than one billion dollars is tied up.
The Reconstruction Finance Corporation has
loaned the banks 81 ,48O, 100000. of which $71O.-
100000 has not been repaid: and has author
lied purchase of capital notes and stock for
upwards of 81, 900, 000,0 900.
The banking and investment businesses
have been separated.
And. for the first time, the savings of small
depositors are being insured on a nationwide
scale. The Federal Deposit Insurance Cor
poration reports that 13,431 banks, including
s73 state banks affiliated with the federal re-
serve system and 1886 state nonafhliates, have
come under the new fund. This means that
$4,000. 900 accounts in these banks are insured
up to $4,000. Only IA, or 1 per cent, of those
applying were refused membership. Next
July. unless the law is changed, the guarantee
fully will cover deposits up to $4,000.
Our banking systems weakness. of course.
is still its dual nature. We have two systems.
state and national. where one should exist.
The deposit insurance law will tend to remedy
part Of this weakness by providing that sl
insured banks must come into the federal re-
serve system by July l, 1886. Besides insuring
deposits. to insure sound and honest banking
unihcation. ~stricter regulation and better
bankers are needed.
But tremendous reforms have been made.
The fact that We are so much better of
today than a year ago isSthe best practical
reason for continued support of the new deal.
The contrast between then and now is the
most effective answer to those who now con-
tend that natural causes" would have brought
US out of it.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14
THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
LEGALIzING sPEAKEAsIEs

ONE of the odd angles Of prohibition re-
" peal came to light the other day in Mich
gan, when it was announced that state IL
censes to sell liquor by the glass would be
given to a number of persons who had oper-
ated blind pigs" in the prohibition era.
These licenses, it was said, would go to men
who had run clean, orderly places" before re-
peal and who had not been involved in rackets.
In one way. this is fair enough. In another,
it is strangely Illogical.
There we're speakeasies and speakeasies If
the old days, Of course. Some we're fearful
dives and some tried to be more or less re-
spectacle.
But all of them were units in a great il
legal network, and even the best of them had
at least a small share in supporting those
monster underworld rings that Knocked at the
law.
Trying to figure out now which ones are
deserving cases" is surely about as perplexing
and contradictory an assignment as any pub
lie official could tackle.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14
A TEST FOR DIRIGIBLES

IF the navy departments assertion that it is
l. prepared to cooperate with private indus
try in establishing a commercial, trans
oceanic dirigible line bears fruit, the lighter
than-air craft soon will get a new test Of its
usefulness and it's practicality.
There was a time, not many years ago,
when early establishment of regular service by
d~irigibles between the United States and
Europe seemed certain. Then the Akron
crashed. and the dream dissolved.
Those giant craft that had looked so safe
and powerful took on a fragile and dangerous
appearance.
Just as the early hopes were too optimistic,
so did the reaction go too far. The d~irigible
isn't as foolproof as we thought a few years
ago; but it isn't as dangerous as the Akron dis
aster led some of us to think, either,
Establishment Of a service such as the navy
suggests would give us a chance to see just how
American-made d~irigibles would act on regu-
lar schedules-and, for that reason, might be
an experiment worth making.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14
DOLLARS ARE TALKING

G a rule emphasis is placed on ethical and
IA social questions when labor unions are
advocated instead of company unions. Dollars
and cents. however. talk louder to most en-
Movers. and for that reason it is interesting
to find that dollars and cents are talking just
now. on the side of labor unions
tt Russell Sage Foundation has Just mace
a study of collective bargaining in Colorado
coal mines. There the Rocky Mountain Fuel
Conpanv. owned by Josephine Roche, has one
If the most liberal collective bargaining agree
uents eyer signed with the United Mine
Workers Of America. There, also, the Colorado
F1,el and Iron Company, ovned by the Rookie
fs1ers has fought for years to maintain It's
company union.
Miss Roche's company, which gives miners
an actual share in management. actually en-
larged its share OF the Colorado coal market
during the depression. The men, working
under agreement with her. brought about ex-
traordinary savings. both in increased efflcl-
encv and in decreased labor turnover. In an
emergency they loaned half their wages to the
company. They helped sell the coal they had
mined.
Though 1892 was the worst year Of the de-
nression the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company
made greater mine operating profits that year
than in any since the signing Of the union
agreement in 1928. The report shows that
it was able to keep in advance OF competitors
evidence that purchasers approved a price
policy which avoided. as far as possible cuts
below cost. while maintaining a higher wage
scale"
The Rocky Mountain Fuel Company in
1892 gave its workers an average Of 19l days
work in the year while other mines in the
state gave an average Of 127 days, and it kept
Sc per cent of its men on the pay roll the en-
tire year.
Few industrial leaders nowadays are will
ms 10 adopt liberal and advanced labor poll
cies at a financial loss, but perhaps when they
study the Russell Sage report on Miss Roche's
experiment they will follow her example for
the sake Of profit.
The world moves forward in Just that
fashion. Most Of our f~altering steps toward
civilization have been taken when some one
found they really paid.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14

eventually will get what they de-
serve. If I had the space to write
I could give you a wonderful story
about a man in this city who is
very smart, who has for the last
few years sponged his good living
from the public. He will be found
out sometime and the public will
see what fools they have been to
support him.
This man has gone so far as to
get the public to erect a building in
his name. later he lost or sold it, and
then came back and was smart
enough to get it again. These things
always have and always will happen
in life.
We, as a public, are to blame part
ly for this depression by buying
cheap merchandise, working over
time, with straight hourly wages.
In 1928 I helped redesign some
articles which put people out Of en-
ployment. By redesigning We elm
mated a lot of material, yet the fin
ished product had the same appear
ance.
The NRA, I think, is a very good
idea toward helping end this de-
preston, but I feel that it should
have had some clauses in it re-
curing industries TO use more ma
terial in designing articles. Then
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14
Dollars, Men and Monkeys

plus an agreed amount for inter
est. No. 1 would live upon the
interest he thus received. One
condition prevailed over which
neither had any control, namely,
that as fast and as far as No. 2
became dependent upon the use of
the faucet, he was cut off to just
that extent from use of the pump.
Now there came a day when No.
2 was trying to use the faucet for
100 per cent of his water supply.
And shortly thereafter a passerby
found both the man and the
monkey dead in the house for lack
of water.
Now the question is, (Which was
the man, and which was the mon
key?"
And the answer is that both
were monkeys for not seeing
through their scheme before they
both died trying to make it work.
And the moral is that there are
lots of monkeys today trying to
live under a credit and debt
monetary system when the credit
dollars of that system already *
ceed 80 per cent of the total dol
lars.
Well, that is the end of my story.
But Just remember that 1 claim
that when 100 per cent Of our dol
lars are credit dollars, not a dol
lar can move, and further that
before this theoretical condition
can be obtained the flower of our
civilization will be wiped out in
war and riot and bloodshed.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14
wEDNEsDAY. -. u -
GUARD AIR COSTS

IT sometimes seems as Il Uncle Sam couldn't
l. touch airplanes without getting his fingers
burned.
During the war the old gentleman put a
perfectly fabulous sum into construction Of
airplanes. and announced blandly that the sky
OF France presently would be darkened by the
wings Of innumerable American birdmen.
The American birdmen did their stuff all
right. but not in American planes. About all
the country got TO show for the expenditure
was a headache and a feeling Of dazed be-
Wllderment.
The story isn't quite the same today, but
once more it looks very much as if some slick
city teller had sold Uncle sam a part interest
in the Brooklyn bridge, or something.
We're reading about cagy gentlemen who
ran Investments Of a few hundred dollars
into many millions. aided by fat government
contracts; about certain companies which en-
loved profits of 30 and 40 per cent on their
sales to the government; about a weird tangle
Of subsidies and exclusive contracts which
seem 10 have kept at least a favored few from
knowing anything at all about the recent de-
preston.
10 goes WITHOUT hdEluBs VI toWoC' 0H"' "a
this queer business needs to be investigated
right up to the hilt. But even more important
than finding out who sold our uncle a gold
brick is the job of discovering some way in
which ne can be sure Of getting value re-
ceived when he spends his money on airplanes
For there is more to all this than just the
possibility of a big scandal to be aired. Di-
rectlv or indirectly, the money the government
spends on aviation is money spent to advance
the national defense.
If and when we 60 to war, our air fleet VIII
he vitality important to us; its size and eth-
cheney well may spell the difference between
victory and defeat.
II country has been exceedingly liberal
in providing for its aerial defense. and the
country is entitled to get what it has bar
gained for.
The man who gyps the government on an
airplane contract is not simply a sWlndler'
He is undermining the national defense IN a
vital spot.
That is why all this talk about funny busi-
ness in connection with airplanes must have
q complete airing.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14

manic reputation of those ideals
which have always been associated
with the Christian creeds. At least
these men do not seek to deceive
themselves and the world.
Other Christian nations did the
same thing, in spirit, when, in
1914, they melted Their clergymen
to chant the battle cry and to stir
up the multitudeS for war and
destruction-done, they said, for
the cause Of God and R%ightenous-
ness. We made our plea then in
the name Of Jesus. The Nazis,
being more honest, use Thor the
Thunder-Bearer, the ruthless, for
their deity.
Thus the world knows what to
expect. With Hitlerism running
wild, Germany is muzzling all in
dividual freedom. She stands be-
fore us in her true colors. open
ly committed to the policies that
are the opposite Of Christian.
Yes, it seems good that men
should confess their gods. Where
Thor rules, let Thor be acclaimed.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14

BY Fl. L.. Danforth.
Once upon a time, a long, long
time ago, there lived together in
a house a man and a monkey.
Now the nature of this story is
that Of a riddle, and at it's end
the question to be answered will
be, Which was the man and
which was the monkey" So we
will refer to these parties as No. 1
and No 2 with no reference as to
which YVES man and which was
monkey.
Now the nature of No. l and
No. 2 was such that they both re-
CURED water to exist. In the back
yard was a well and a pump, and
it was the custom of No. l and
No. 2 to pump the water necessary
for their daily requirements and
carry it to the house in buckets.
One day they agreed upon a new
scheme of securing water. No. l
was to live in the basement of
the house and No. 2 was to live on
the first floor. From the pump in
the yard they ran a pipe to an
a~ir-pressure tank in the base
ment, and connected this tank
with a faucet on the first floor.
No. 2 was to operate the water
pump for all their Requirements
and No. 1 was to operate the air
pump. When No. 2 did not wish
to carry water from the pump, he
could use water from the faucet
provided he paid back to No. l in
the basement the full amount that
he borrowed thus from the faucet
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14
YEAR AFTER THE FUNERAL

lust about q year ago, democracy passed
y into temporary eclipse. Howard Scott
muffed MS chance TO snatch the messianic
mantle from Father Coughlin at the fatal
Hotel Pierre dinner. The bankers finally woke
I'D 10 the fact that if they walked any farther
into the Jungle with the democracy tiger they
we're likely to come back inside. Eminent jour
nalistic spokesman for the bankers, such as
Simeon Strunsky and Walter Lippmann.
penned eloquent and passionate obituarial no.
tees.
IN spite Of all this funeral JUNCTION, tech
nocracy IS not dead. Defying all the embalm-
ing fluid. casketS. death notices and headstones
brought forth by plutocratic mortioians. the
real vital organism Of democracy is Just as
much alive today as it was at Thanksgiving
time. 1882. when even Wall Street looked upon
Howard Scott as a possible savior Of their
system Of lottery and famine.
Technocracy has remained alive, in spite
Of all the efforts Of the timid to bury it. be-
cause the facts which it presents embody the
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14
HERE'S A READERS
ADVICE ON MONEY
BY T. NJ. Squawky.

BY T. NJ, Squawky.
Indiana's bad boy, Johnny Dill
linger, is very bad, indeed, but, at
that, he and his gang seem to be
the only ones who have tried to
think Of any way to make the bank
ers behave.
I think the ~gangsters' methods of
%reproving the bankers are crude and
ineffective. The best way to make
the bankers behave either is to keep
your money in your pocket or spend
it for a house, a barn, an auto, a
trip too the south seas. Qibel de-
leted).
I say keep your money in your
pocket. If some one picks your
pocket, just say he needed the
money worse than the bankers do,
and I'll go ahead and work. OibeI
deleted).
1 mean keep your money in your
pocket if you have any money. Those
promises TO pay gold are not money.
They are just pieces Of paper, worth
less pieces of paper with nothing
""NN VI C44CAl' II OIle Sueu IHS gov
eminent, they could get out of it
smoothly. Johnny is, pretty bad, but
he hasn't put out any promises to
pay gold and then repudiated the
promises. The people have lots Of
money, lots of worthless pieces of
paper, and a little real silver.
Nothing ever will be done with the
ones responsible for printing money,
paper money, more than there was
gold to pay with. Nothing ever will
be done with the government for
making the paper worthless. Libel
deleted.)
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14
Stars
BY POLLY LOIS NORTON

BY POLLY LOIS NORTON
Stars,
I know what you are:
You are the trappings Of that
soft-clothed
Ethiopian, Noght.
You are the sin-links of her head
dress.
Holding down her dusky veil;
You are the tinkling anklets,
The glittering bangles:
You are the jeweled girdle from
hangs
Her gossamer garment;
You are the breast-plate that
presses close
Her ebony bosom;
You are the golden phial from which
she spills
The cloying essences of cassia and
You are the rings upon her dancing
toes;
The cymbals on her fingers, clink-
ing in the dance;
You are the gauds that to her many
lovers
Make her more fair and more de-
rable.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14
A Woman's Viewpoint
: By MRS. WALTER FERGUSON

TT should not surprise us to hear
l. that the Nazi regime in Ger
many finds the Christian Deity too
tame for it and hence is asking the
people to return to old gods. Thor
and Odin are better suited to it's
precent concepts of life than any
Gentle Carpenter.
When we sect tn fact down in
plain, blunt words it sounds rather
appalling. But the fact itself is not
strange because, although we say
that God made nan His image, the
truth includes something more.
Man has always and ever made his
gods like unto himself.
The kind man, you will find, al
ways worships a kind god, while
one who is hard and cruel inva-
rabiy bows the knee to a 10 d who
is ruthless and mercilesS as he. Our
Kingdom Of Heaven doe sindeed
dwell within us, as the Scriptures
tell. and each individual carries the
stamp Of his god upon him.
q q 9
WE should regard as rather
w admirable, then, the Ger
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14
URGES SINGING OF
"ST~AR-SPANGLED BANNER
BY Patriot.

BY Patriot.
AS a woman deeply interested in
school children and also a member
OF a patriotic society, 1 am Won
dering why our schools don't oftener
sing the national emblem, Star
Spangled Banner?" 1t took years
of work by the D. A. R., Colonial
Danes and other patriotic groups
to get congress to declare this song
our national emblem and it is sur
prising that it should be so ignored.
It is said that this song is hard
to sing, but I was in Paris once
on Bastile day when thousands of
French men, women and children
sang their "Marsellaise," which is
much harder to sing. America
the song schools often use, is set to
the English national song, and I
know a woman who always calls
our America" God Save the King"
America" is very beautiful, but it
lacks the historic patriotic thrill of
the ~Star-Spangled Banner"
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14
CWA WORKER OWNS
GROCERY, Is CHARGE

BY a Times Reader and Veteran.
l see by The Times that you are
making a detailed Investigation Of
the CWA workers. There is one case
I think should be investigated.
It concerns a grocery store which
stays open all hours, on Sundays
and holidays, and does not display
the NRA sign.
This owner has no family, Just he
and his wife. He has work on a
CWA project. While he works his
wife runs the store and on his days
of and in evenings he takes charge.
I think he should let someone with
a family have his place.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14
VIEWS ON
COMPANY UNIONS.

COMPANY UNIONS.
By a Times old-Timer
Following is an exact copy Of my
letter to our representatives in
Washington, Honorable Louis Lud-
low. This letter is an outgrowth of
many many g%reviences due to the
activities of company unions in our
city. You may do as you please
about this letter, but it would do
me a lot of good to see it in print.
Dear Mr.. Ludlow:
Company unions is the subject
of my message to you.
II notice in my local paper that
the American Federation of Labor is
trying to get legislation through
congress designed to eliminate this
evil. To my mind company unions
are the greatest enemies the NRA
has to fight in this community and
doubtlessly many others.
Il believe the NRA is designed
to remedy unemployment. Now
when company unions permit their
workers to work from ten to twelve
hours a day, and from sixty to sew
enty hours a week, you readily can
see that this keeps many good
family heads out in the cold and
without any income.
when company union officials
are permitted to work in the en-
ployment offices Of our large plants
it is easy to see the resulting
chances for discrimination against
those who have no company union
connections or those who belong to
a good sound union affiliated with
our trusted and respected American
Federation of Labor.
Il hope you will go on record in
answer to this letter and in my local
paper as having voted for any good
legislation designed to condemn and
forever eliminate this evil.
Trusting I will hear from you at
an early date in one of the above
mentioned methods.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14

qualities better than our Presi-
dent? In my estimation he is a
man who is a good judge Of hu-
man nature and believes strongly in
fair play and wants every one to
have an equal chance.
With his high degree of intelli-
gence and his kind and generous
nature, in all his dealings with the
people, he has brought about a deep
sincerity and sense of fairness
among workingmen. He has shown
he is a natural leader, quick to
overlook others faults, but as yet
has been perfection himself. We
realize he is a man Of few words,
but his work speaks for itself.
We r eager for his success, but
realize all things take time. But,
with a man at the helm who is a
clear thinker and has such unusual
and practical ideas, we realize our
President has come.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14
I 1cholly diSapproUe of What yon sag and wjU
defend to the death your right to sag it-Vottaire.

they would be creating a demand
for more raw products and finished
products. BY doing this they would
be putting probably twice as many
people back to work, also doing
away with cheap merchandise.
People who do not understand de-
sign and construction will think it
impossible. If you think that i'm
possible, see if you can solve this
problem for yourself I am mem
ployed. Put an unemployed to work
(no money invoive) the unemployed
makes $3.50 to So a day.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14
TAKES OFF HIS HAT
TO H PRESIDENT
By Edward Price.

By Edward Price.
I have been a reader of The
Times a long time and I am Of the
opinion and positively know you
have as fine a set Of editors at heart
for the interest taken in the labor
ing class of people shows for it
self. There also are some more
men in Washington who have the
same kind of thoughts for the la
boring class of people. Since 1 was
employed one week before last
Christmas at the first steady job in
three years, why not whoop her up?
Hurrah for my sl2 a week.
If you care TO print this, O.. K. If
not, it is off my mind and I had
to get it unloaded on some one,
! why not you? Who possesses these
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14
GIVE THE w
AND NRA CHANCE
By Jack Williams.

BY Jack Williams.
The Message Center son will be a
pond Of tears if you people don't
quit crying about your unjust feel
ings toward the CWA
The people who are taking ad-
vantage of the CWA and the NRA
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14

Otto Kahn says there is a potential grand
opera star in every home, so now all the young
hopefuls probably will insist on singing in the
bathtub.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14

When the cockroach tied up traffic in
waukegon. Ill, by crawling into a signal box,
lots of people might have said it was Just
another case of a bug cumming up traffic by
making the wrong turn.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-02-14

Those air mail lines that got the fat con-
tracts may have been trying to change the old
proverb to read, 1T takes money to make the
mail 60"