davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06
TO CHECK BLACKMAILING

GENATOR WILLARD TYDINGS of Mary
- land plans to seek a modification of the
famous Mann act in the present session of
congress.
This law was passed to strike blow at the
white slave traffic. Unfortunately, it also
has been a boon to blackmailers. 1t is pos
sible to prosecute under it a man who never
has dreamed of having the shadow of con-
nection with the organized vice traffic; and
interruptions folk have used this fact as a
lever to extort money from men guilty Of
nothing more than indiscretions.
It goes without saying, of course, that in
revising the law care must be taken to leave
it an effective club against commercialzed
vice rings
Senator Tydings believes it is possible to
amend the law so as to destroy its usefulness
for blackmaiers without weakening its useful
ness in the field for which it was designed.
1t is to be hoped that he succeeds in his plan.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06
NOT AN ACT OF GOD

IN southern California a thirty-siX hour rain
fall filed the arroyos with sudden floods.
swept through towns and cities drowning
thirty-nine people and doing more damage
than the earthquake last March. E. c. Eaton,
Los Angeles county food control engineer,
attributed the disaster to a cloudburst over an
area recently stripped of protective covering
by forest fire.
This and other floods are due more to
mans folly than to natures whiTns. Rivers
all over America which used to run blue and
clear now hurl their silt-laden torrents against
their banks every winter, endangering life and
property in river settlements, washing away
for all time millions CT dollars worth of soil
wealth every year. Damage from erosion alone
has destroyed permanently lands equal to the
size of England, costing America in annual
soil wealth more than $500 O000CO
Why? Because our rugged individualists of
the past have cut away the forests that used
to hold back the waters in natural storage
reservoirs and left the hills naked to the ele-
ments.
For years American conservationists have
urged that we save America from the fate of
China by conserving our forests and planting
new growth on the denuded areas. Govern
ment erosion control projects and the civilian
conservation corps work now mark long
delayed beginning
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06

torist who let '4s car get out Of control, car
omed into marching column Of troops, and
caused the death Of four men.
This sentence is all the more astounding
when one considers the fact that, except in
cases of counter-revolutionary activity, Rus
sian courts are reluctant to impose the death
penalty at all, even for cold-blooded murder
It isn't likely that very many Americans
would favor the adoption Of such stringent
measures in this country, Nevertheless, there
is something to be said for the adoption of
extreme severity toward the man who handles
his car so poorly that he destroys the lives Of
his fellow-nen.
We have a lot Of public menaces Of that
variety in America, and so far we do not seem
to have found any very effective way of deal
ing with them.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06

later with a desire to join the
bands, the uniforms and the pa
rades," she has written, and adds,
Armies Of foresters and farmers
and mills with model workers in
stead Of militaristic playthings
would be far better influence
upon children"
1t would be difficult to oues-
ton the wisdom Of this sugges-
ton. Even the toy manufacturers
will find it hard to reply.
For country that has pro-
fessed such faith in psychology.
We show lamentable lack of
effort to profit by its lessons.
When we are ready to put even a
little trust in sages such as Freud
Adler, Watson and Wolfe: when
We truly believe that children are
shaped by the influences Of in
fancy, then we shall regard as a
serious danger the effect of war
toys and war education upon them
and their world.
IL always mas seemed to me
that toy guns given to little
boys expressed depraved and
barbaric taste. Yet all of our
children have them. In their
playing they make. those hid
eous gestures of death which are
so much more terrible because
they are done innocently.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06

to shelter his ignorance behind a
torrent of words.
In the first place, I am certain
he does not even know what so
cialism" really means This is evil
denced amply by the fact that,
throughout his article, he confuses
Socialism with Communism. He
pirates of MARKHAM Socialism as the
kind that produced the French revo-
luton. Perhaps he doesn't know
that this revolution took place in
the 1905, while Karl Marx was
not born until 1918.
He claims there is no Scientific"
Socialism. Quite the contrary. Mod
ern social science has modified the
old MARKHAM principles to fit pres
ent conditions, and incorporated
some Of them quite successfully into
the modern governmental picture.
Witness, here in Indiana, the old age
pension. the national bank deposit
insurance law, the profit-sharing
plans Of factories with their en-
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06
Oppression During Depression

time six months, but what is the
direct cause that the state of In
diana has to punish its citizenship
by buying license plates at once
in the worst period this state ever
knew and when a majority of the
people are in dire need. If this is
to be public policy, when the gov
eminent is trying to put money
into the state, I believe it is high
time that our state officials wake
up to common sense and good be-
havior at least, based upon past
history as to what has been done,
with reference to buying automo-
bile license plates, and I believe
that every citizen should remem-
Der who is at fault and who has
brought this about.
This is oppression during a
time Of depression and certainly
our state officials are aware of the
fact, and while it is against the
law, it is no crime. It is a neces-
sity that they can not avoid.
Many of them have to go to work
in their automobiles, but it bars
them from making a living. This
is serious; more so than possibly
what the people are thinking of
who are enforcing the law. Is this
a new deal?
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06
a0hoUy disapprove of what you sag and 1cU
defend to the death yOr right to sag jt-Voltaire

! ployes, and other advanced meas
ures now operating here.
Socialism, by its continued agita-
ton and propaganda, endeavors to
disorganize the unity of the states"
says Mr. Maddox. Yes, Socialism
does agitate continually for better
living conditions for the working
| classes, but scientific Socialism does
seek also to gain its end by lawful
means, never by violence or revolu-
ton, as does Communism. AS to
! disOrganizing the unity of the
states, that's pure rot, for Socialism
seeks to promote the welfare Of the
state and its people, not that of a
lew at the expense Of all.
Yes, modern Socialism does fol-
low the principles laid down by the
Constitution, which at the time it
was written was regarded as a dan
gerously revolutionary document,
and which reads:
I'VE, the people Of the United
States, in order to form a more per-
feet union, establish justice" for
all, not just the few, says Socialism,
insure domestic tranquility, provide
a common defense" (although
Socialism is for peace, it realizes
that Utopia is not yet arrived, and
therefore will meet conditions as
necessity Dictates, promote gen
eral welfare" Socialism puts en-
phasis on the word 'generalD and
secure the blessings Of liberty to
ourselves and our posterity, do or
dain and establish this Constitution
for the United States Of America"
So, Mr.. Maddox, you see that the
Constitution and Socialism are not
so lar apart, and I personally am
convinced that the authors of the
Constitution had in mind exactly
What modern Socialism is trying to
effect.
Furthermore, Mr.. Maddox saws
Russia is building Socialism" Rus
STA is building Communism, Mr..
Maddox, and it will pay you well TO
study the difference between the
two.
May l state, in closing, that I am
not a Socialist. but a Democrat, and
always have been. Yet I hope to
live to see the day when modern
scientific Socialism will rule the en-
lightened nations Of the world.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06
BACK TO SIMPLICITY

GEORGE WASHINGTON borrowed $4,000
~ from friend in Alexandria and set out
by coach to New York to greet the first con-
gress. jefferson walked across a muddy
stump-dotted field in Washington to deliver
his message.
1t was in this early American tradition, not
in the latter-day one Of high hats and gold
braids that Roosevelt met congress Wednes-
day.
The congressional silk-toppers were ready
to ride down to the White House and escort
him solemnly back to Capitol Hill. He waved
the ceremony aside. and laughingly told
Senator Robinson by phone that he would be
up in a minute.
The first Presidents, fresh from their bat
ties with royalty. disdained the least show of
pomp in the young republic. With strutting
little dictators ahunting their power in drawn
swords and fixed baycnets all over Europe,
President Roosevelt remembers that real power
is rooted not in fear, but in the faith of the
plain people.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06
SACRIFICE OF POLITICS

DROBABLY the most significant single
thing about Mayor La Guardias inaugu-
raj in New York was his blunt prediction: Il
never shall be reelected"
That brief remark, taken in conjunction
with the new mayors policies. contains
whole volume of commentary on municipal
policies as it is practiced in America.
The reasons for the new mayors pessmistic
prediction are simple.
He aims to give New York a clean and eff
ficient administration. He is going to reduce
the number Of city employees by approximate
" 10000
He is going to cut salaries. abolish useless
boards and commissions. consolidate city de-
partments, end the reign of graft in the let
ting of contracts and the buying of supplies,
remove politics from the police department.
He is going in short. to do those simple
things which obviously and indisputably are
proper for mayor to 90.
But We have built up the kind of system in
our municipal politics which makes it very
unlikely that any administration can do those
very proper and necessary things and win re-
election.
To succeed in American municipal politics.
as a general thing. a mayor must consent to
q certain amount of inefficiency, a certain
amount of favoritism. and certain amount of
outright corruption in his government
The extent to which he puts up with those
things varies from city TO city, naturally; but
the man who. like La Guardia. boldly proposes
to abolish them entirely is a great rarity and
he takes it for granted at the start that he
can not be reelected.
We have had a great deal of talk in the
last year about a new deal" about new
spirit that is entering our conduct of national
affairs. Nowhere do We need such change
any more than in our system of local gov
eminent
We need not only politicians who are coura-
geous enough to put principle above sue
cess Of their own careers; We need a public
opinion that will support such men when they
do appear, and give them the backing they
must have.
The piping times in which money was so
plentiful that We could afford to support
wasteful and grating city governments have
gone now and there is not much chance that
they will return soon.
It is up to US TO cut our cloth to suit our
purse; to hunt for and support politicians will
ing to take office with the prediction. I never
shall be reelected.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06

BY Ward B. Hiner.
At no time during the history of
Indiana has the citizenship been
SO hard-presSed for money and in
dire need, but it seems as though
our salaried officials have no vision
as to what is being done to the
automobile owner.
First, the automobile has a per-
sonal property tax, then there is a
special tax that the government
collects before it comes to the
user, then there is a gasoline tax,
a state license, a drivers license
and title fee, and the people are
to be classed as criminals and ar
rested if they appear on the high
ways they paid for without 1884
license.
That is not the worst of it. Some
poor man who can not pay his
poll tax or other taxes can not
get his license until he goes and
pays them. Whoever heard of
such bankrupt court procedure as
this? In barring possibly 100000
automobiles from using the roads,
which will be done, the state is
losing one-ffth or more Of the
gasoline tax.
Now it is a fact that laws should
be observed. The state of Mich
igan last year extended license
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06
SATURDAY. JAN 6. 1884
THE YARDSTICK WORKS
a soRIPPs-HowARD NEwsPAPKRj

ME Presidents power yardstick is working.
l. Within six months since its creation. the
Tennessee Valley Authority has scaled down
electricity bills in that area by hundreds of
thousands Of dollars.
Written into the contract announced YES
terday between The IVA and three common
wealth and southern operating companies in
the Tennessee valley was a provision that the
operating company in Tennessee should re-
duce its rates to The same level that the Ala
bama and Georgia companies recently had
reduced theirs.
1t was revealed that the Alabama and
Georgia reductions, ordered by the state
utilities commissions. were due to the IVA
The reductions amounted to from IS to %
per cent Of old rates.
Amusingly, the Tennessee commission in
whose area the latest reduction was negotiated
directly with the IVA reported to the state
legislature last year that Is per cent cut
would destroy the company's financial sta
biIity
The new iva contract with the power
companies is important not only because it
lowers rates and assures quick market for
Muscle Shoals electricity, but also because it
shows that the new power deal does not mean
ruthless destruction Of present property values.
IVA has the authority to go right ahead
duplicating lines and services; it has the
money as we'll But it chose wisely to nut
into action its now famous power policy to
carry out the orders of congress to provide
consumers with cheap electricity, and yet as
Director David E. Lilienthal said:
Avoid the destruction of prudent invest
ment in privately owned public utilities
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06
A Woman's Viewpoint
. By MRS. WALTER FERGUSON

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT is Won
II derful. So much so, in fact,
that I often wish the reporters
could snoop around and find
little fault or two. Somehow she
would seem more of a sister wom-
an if there could be discovered
several small flaws in her armor
Of projections.
But if the First Lady continues
to express such philosophy and
common sense as have marked her
public utterances in the last few
months. she will deserve to go
down in history as the Minerva Of
the U. S. A. The ancient god
dess Of wisdom really didn't have
anything on Mrs. Franklin D.
Roosevelt.
All my enthusiasm has been
aroused by her criticism Of war
toys in the current Woman's
Home Companion. She has said
exactly what those who have not
her opportunity to be heard or
needed have long been thinking.
"THE glamor Of the gorgeously
Il dressed toy armies may
create in the boys mind an ex-
element which win carry over
into manhood and may leave him
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06
CHILDREN FIRST

1T is too soon to try to say how successful
l. our recovery program has been. The real
test of the program will be what happens to
our children says Grace Abbott chief of the
children's bureau of the United States labor
department.
There is evidence, she says that malnutri-
ton was increasing during the last year. Six
million children were living on relief and
some of them had been dependent on relief
for four years-"a very long time in the life
Of a child"
Permitting this we have permitted out
rageous waste Of our greatest natural re-
source. 1t remains to be seen how much we
can salvage. If millions of the next genera
ton are to be stunted, invalided, to lack the
moral and ethical qualities which only secure
home life can give, if they are to be rendered
unfit permanently to play part in the life
? of a great democracy, then our recovery pro-
gram may have come too late.
This task of salvage is the one to which
we should bend our greatest, most urgent eff
forts Enough has not been done until we
have made sure that every child has daily food
sufficient in quality and amount to nourish it
to healthy manhood or womanhood, and an
environment calculated to make the adult a
useful member Of society.
We have no cause to be complacent yet
but we have, at last made start
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06
Defeated
BY AUSTIN JAMES

B1 Az lin JAMES
Well, 1 thought I was a hunter
OF the best, there was no doubt,
Till one day when I went huntin'
In our woods and there about.
Then it happened all o. sudden,
To my shoulder went my gun,
And I shot with great abandon
At rabbit on the run.
When the shot had ceased to echo
Up I went to get my game
Where ii should be-but it wasn't
And I knew I'd missed my aim.
Where he'd gone, this boundin'
bunny
Knew I not - dropped the
catch
OF my safety-then I saw him
Headin for berry patch.
On I Travelled TO the brambles
With purpose in my heart,
MI. RdDDlL cOuIQQ I lose me
Even though he had a start
Sure enough I saw him sittin'
With his back to me-and then
Blast away the other barrel,
Holy smoke! I missed again.
And to sharpen up my mys'ry
Mr.. Rabbit stared-with craft
Showing through his funny
whiskers.
Why. I thought he even laughed.
Well. ] pride myself at huntin'
But at last I'd found my match,
Just beastly boundin' bunny
In a bloomin' bramble patch.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06

One half of all the work in the world is
performed in the United States, says q Colum-
bia professor. And by the way things look, the
rest of the world would be glad to let us do
the other half, too
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06

We've been waiting for some tiAas for POST
master General Farley to pass us slice OF his
patronage, and finally he's come through with
the order that only United States mail should
be placed in Cur letter box.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06
DEATH FOR RECKLESS DRIVING

GONE sort Of record for severity in dealing
- with reckless driving seems to have been
set by the Russian court in Moscow, which
recently imposed the death penalty on a mo-
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06

Adolphe Menjou says three suits are enough
for the we'll dressed man. But you needn't
feel undressed if you're wearing your only suit
of clothes.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06

The government is going to find work for
unemployed circus performers although we've
already elected a great many clowns to con-
greSs
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06

Buckwheat cakes. says a scientist. were
made thousands Of years ago We believe it,
from the ones We tried to eat this morning
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06

market, but you still must look down at them
on the street
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06

The war in the Gran Chaco, between
Bolivia and ParagRasaE would end soon if they
started revdlss be.
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-01-06

for himself and some other poor
couple.
This would bring many people in
from the farm who have moved out
to save house rent, utility bills and
numerous expenses that could not be
paid while out of work. AS there
would be a great increase of en-
ployment this would get away from
our overproduction as many people
who have moved to the farm would
come back to town for their old
jobs.
By G. B.
I've read your Message Center for
a long time, but, although I often
have been much interested I never
have, until now, been aroused suff1-
GENTLY to take an active hand in
the arguments. What caused the
change was the letter of E. F. Mad
doX, printed on Jan 4.
Mr. Maddox deliberately is not
trying to mislead any one. In my
opinion he simply is one who tries
The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-03-24
proposal recently advanced for series Of
state factories in North Dakota.

proposal recently advanced for series Of
state factories in North Dakota.
This scheme has been propounded by Sen
ator Lynn Frazier, Republican, and A. c.
Townley. organizer Of the Nonpartisan League.
Under it. the North Dakota industrial COM
mission has asked the PWA for a loan Of
100000 to finance O. chain Of state factories
-seventy-fve Of them, in ALTO make wooden
cloth, clothing, shoes, nnseed oil, -four and
so on.
The idea is that these factories would pro-
vide work for the states unemployed, help sup
plement the income of farmers, and turn the
states raw materials into manufactured
articles.
Leave aside, for the moment, the question
Of whether such an experiment in Socialism is
wise. and consider what pressure the scheme
would put on the traditional, politics-ridden
government Of the average American state.
1t is reported at Washington, for instance,
that PWA officials will not consider making
the ,oan unless they are convinced that there
will be efficient and rigidly honest adninistra-
ton within the state
And it also is recalled that officials of the
CWA recently ousted Governor William Lam
ger of North Dakota as state CWA administra-
tor because of alleged political collections from
CWA workers
A stunt Of this kind in other words, simply
would not work at all unless the state govern
ment were run with far more sense of public
responsibility, and far less thought for political
advantage, than we find nowadays in the Or
binary state government.
And if such proposals are to become part
Of our scheme of things-as according to
present indications, they may-it becomes
vitality necessary for us to make our system
of politics ready for them.