The Indianapolis times. [volume], January 17, 1930, Home Edition, Page PAGE 6, Image 6

About The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965

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PAGE 6
a
-€fi IP P f- M OH/ AM &
More Progress in Religion
Signs are not wanting that the church is leaping
on the band wae-on of social and intellectual progress.
Only the other day the Rev. Dr. Stockdale of New
York City pronounced the intolerance of the church
in regard to birth control akin to the medieval in
quisition. _
Now we find the venerable Dr. Charles Carroll
Albertson of Brooklyn gently undermining an even
more crucial corner stone of the old orthodoxy namelj,
the other worldly vision of conventional religion.
No other tenet of Christianity has been so char
acteristic or so potent as the doctrine that the chief
purpose of human life here on earth is to get ready
for the immortal existence which awaits us in heaven.
Such attitude inevitably made the church much
leas effective as an instrument of social progress than
would have been the case If religion had been chicfh.
concerned with the problems of this life. But, grant
ing the premises of the church relative to Immortality,
the position was sound and logical.
The fleeting concerns of this life appear insignifi
cant when compared with the issues of eternity, with
its sharp choice between heaven and hell.
As modern knowledge has undermined the founda
tions of the older views of immortality, the absorption
of the church in the problems of salvation gave
religion a progressively greater air of unreality. It
could no longer make the same promises as regards
the future life piat it did in former years.
Yet it did not come to grips more directly with
human and worldly situations. Many clergymen have
recognized is anomalous position of relig.on and
have tried to correct it. We may probably discern
such an attitude in the pronouncement of Dr. Albert
son, who said, among other things:
"It is easy and perhaps well to dispel the thoughts
of eternity and to think only of the early future.
There is something vague in the term ‘eternity.’ We
are as much in eternity today as we ever shall be.
"There are two kinds of immortality. The first
is that of the future world, <cmd the second is that
of the present world. Let us not think of future im
mortality, but rather that which may be ours h're.
"Then the light which we may leave behind us
may fall on the paths of future generations, and
memories shall bloom for us in beauty and in joy.
If the church is to be a considerable force for
social betterment, it must indeed surrender its pri
mary concern with heavenly mansions. It must take
cognizance of human slums. Dr. Albertson's words
may well add prestige and dignity to the much
needed process ts transition.
We Save Fifty Million—Maybe
Fifty-four million dollars is a lot of money. But
that is what the senate has saved American con
sumers by voting down the proposed increase in the
. tariff on sugar. That is, the public will get the
benefit of this saving unless the house makes the sen
ate accept a higher rate in conference.
Meanwhile, the senate is to be congratulated on
its fine job.
There has been much criticism of the time spent
by the senate on the tariff. Well, here is the result.
The house with its G. O. P. steamroller didn’t waste
much time, but by its unjustified boost in the rates
it yras prepared to waste many millions of the people’s
money.
We prefer the senate method of stopping the
high tariff machine, even if it takes much maneuver
ing and some talk to do it.
The senate vote revealed the many cross-cur
rents in this tariff stream. There were not the usual
two groups: The low tariff group, represented by the
progressives and a majority of Democrats, opposing
the higher tariff Republicans and a few Democrats.
Both the progressives and the eastern conservative
Republicans split. Some of the progressives voted
for a higher tariff, with the doubtful arguments that
it would help the American farmers. And some of
the high tariff conservative Republicans voted for the
low rate. Presumably because that helps American
capital which controls Cuban sugar.
If one single factor more than any other con
tributed to this consumers’ victory, probably it was
the press of the country. For months, since the house
voted to increase the rate from 1.76 to 2.40, a large
majority of the press has been hammering away on
the proposed steal. The voters back home were
aroused. They protested to Congress.
It is to be hoped that the people will not mistake
this temporary senate success as final victory. A high
er rate will be substituted in conference between the
senate and house, unless the popular protest con
tinues.
Finally, much depends upon President Hoover. He
is pledged against a general high tariff increase. The
house, which betrayed his campaign pledge, is con
trolled completely by his party. Doubtless he will
find it easier to reassert his leadership in the house,
now that the senate has defended successfully the
Hoover tariff position.
Bichloride
Herbert Spencer classified in his generation as a
pretty wise man and has considerable of a reputation
vet.
He told the world something which the U. S. A
in 1930 is beginning to iearn a lot about. He stressed
the dangers of what he called ‘political momentum."
He pointed out that when you pass a law to ac
complish a certain thing you usually accomplish a lot
of other things that you didn t think about. Fre
quently you throw at the bird and break the window.
The practical politician, Spencer said, has "no
thought of such a thing as political momentum which
.nstead of diminishing or remaining constant, increases
... when, in war time.-, food for powder’ was to be
provided by encouraging population—when Mr. Pitt
said, ‘Let us make relief in cases where there are a
number oi children a nutter of right and honor, in
stead of a ground lor opprobrium and contempt.’
"It was not expected that the poor-rates would be
quadrupled in fifty yca r s. Thai women with many
bastards would be preferred as wives to modest women
because of their incomes from parish, and that hosts
of ratepayers would be pulled down into the ranks of
pauperism."
Today, if we will study the first prohibition report
of the national commission on law observance and
enforcement, we will find a rich picking in the vine
yard of legislative momentum.
Prohibition was passed to cure the evil of drink and
of the saloon. That seemed to the point and well de
fined.
Now, ten years later, we find a commission of the
The Indianapolis Times
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PHONE —Riley Mftl FRIDAY. JAN. 17. 1830.
Member of United Press. Scrlpps-Howard Newspaper Alliance. Newspaper Enterprise Asso
elation. Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulations.
“Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way”
nation’s most famous lawyers and crime experts
wrestling with the multitudinous effects of that seem
ingly simple proposition.
We find the once efficient and dignified and smooth
running federal judiciary clogged and choked and
turned into a police court.
We find the prisons jammed and wardens and
guards and communities terrified from fear of the
next outbreak.
We find, in the words of the commission, “no re
liable figures to show the size of the problem.”
We find 18,700 mile of boundary described as a
"focal point of infection.” Not to mention a few mil
lion stills and vats and home brew outfits in the in
terior.
We find it proposed that the freedom of friendly
:mercourse between ourselves and our neighbors be
restricted by a closing of hundreds of roads.
Wo find proposals to upset the machinery of judi
cial and executive branches of our government.
We find it suggested that we alter the Bill of Rights
to fit the needs of the ..ltuation
And if we now will raise our heads and look around
i., we will find murder and hijacking and racketeer
ing and official lawlessness, killings on land and on
sea, cheered on by officials in high places: states
aligned against nation, rioting around the "Cradle of
Liberty,” graft and corruption rampant, millions and
more millions for enforcement—and over it all the
thick haze of hypocrisy.
That’s momentum for you.
We thought we were taking bicarbonate of soda to
cure that ailment of ours, but what we swallowed was
bichloride of mercury.
The Test of Peace
Solution of the Laredo dispute is further proof that
the United States and Mexican governments have
found the formula of friendship which is the best
guarantee of future peace, how different that spirit is
from the war-mongering of three years ago.
Here was one of the little incidents involving that
dynamite of diplomacy known as ‘‘national honor”—
the sort of thing which often has plunged peoples into
war because it can not be handled by arguments, as
can more tangible disputes.
Former President Calles is the popular hero of
Mexico. While he was a guest in this country and
returning to Mexico, the district attorney in Laredo,
John Vails, threatened to arrest him in connection
with the Blanco case. General Blanco's body had been
found in the Rio Grande back in 1922 when Calles was
secretary of the interior.
This threat by Vails, though fortunately not car
ried out, was a perfect example of the "national in
sult” type of friction so dangerous in American-Mexi
can relations in the past.
According to the old rules of the game, the Mexi
can government should have written immediately
an insulting note and ultimatum to Washington of
the kind which Washington used to send to Mexico.
Meanwhile, Mexico would have stirred up the Mexican
people against the Yankee peril.
In Washington at, the same time there would
have been much talk of the "sacred duty of up
holding the dignity and prestige of America,” and a
belligerent note would have been dispatched in reply.
Instead, this is what happened:
To appease the hotheads at home, to show Mr.
Vails that it could crush him if it desired, and to
give the state department time to act, the Mexican
government quietly closed its consulate at Laredo,
thus diverting lucrative traffic and trade elsewhere.
Then the state department, rising above petty
dignity to the higher dignity which admits a fault,
formally expressed "unreserved disapproval” of the
affront to Calles and gave assurances that Mexicans
in future would not be subjected to such incidents.
Whereupon the Mexican government reopened
the Laredo consulate and replied with a cordial note,
accepting the assurances and closing the episode with
increased bonds of respect and friendship between
the two republics.
It is in the handling of such little, but such dan
gerous, incidents as this—even more perhaps than
in much-advertised peace pacts—that a government
makes war or peace.
In this case both governments have earned the
sincere commendation of their peoples.
D A OAAXT FREDERICK
RLAoOJN LANDIS
FAR more interesting to the average man than the
approaching London disarmament conference is this
792-mile automobile trip made at a total fuel cost of
51.38 by C. L. Cummins of Columbus, Ind., with his oil
burning Diesel engine.
If it should work think of the changes in the auto
mobile industry, of the havoc it would play with the
road-building revenues of states and of the thousands
of gas stations it would put out of business.
But think how the. meek and lowly driver would
shake hands with himself!
tt tt ft
Senator Reed Smoot of Utah, chairman of the
finance committee, opposes the appointment to that
committee of any senator who holds that the farmer
should be given all possible help by the tariff and that
the tariff rate of no industry should be increased un
less that industry actually needs it, all of which im
presses one as being a reasonable proposition.
a a u
SMOOT is the one member of the United States
senate who should not become uppish in his at
titude toward these who do not agree with him, for we
distinctly recall that it was not so very long ago when
he had a hard time sitting in the seat to which he
had been elected.
There was a strong fight made to keep him out of
the senate because he was one of the chief incense pot
swingers in the Mormon church.
tt tt o
One is not surprised at General Pershing’s refusal
to let Nebraska politicians drag him into a senatorial
contest with Senator Norris, for all generals know
their rank and except the presidency any political of
fice would be below the general's present rank.
a tt tt
The prize fighters and the sport writers say that
the prize ring is in danger of going to pieces without
the guiding hand of tne late Tex Rickard, and we
sincerely hope they are right about it.
a 0 s
General hsu yuan-chau is hailed as the
savior of the Chinese republic on account of his
victory over the rebels and now the republic ought to
stay saved for a week or two
n n m
Boulder Dam will owe its construction tc Senator
Hiram Johnson more rhan to any other one man. In
fact, it will be the achievement of which Johnson will
be most proud and now Senator Smoot introduces a
bill to name the lam after President Hoover, whom
Johnson does not like.
You can imagine the emotions of Senator Johnson.
THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
M. E. Tracy
SAYS:
Prohibition, It Would Seem.
Is Making Uncle Sam
Shrivel to the Proportion .
of a Justice of the Peace.
IIGHT and casual offenses, han
-1 died by magistrates on infor
mation, for the avowed object of
avoiding indictments and jury trials
—what next in the name of prohi
bition?
As Chairman Wickersham points
out, this idea may involve little
more than the adaptation of police
court methods to federal need, but
is not that shocking enough in
itself?
Who could ask for a more vivid
illustration of where prohibition has
brought us?
a o n
Federal courts used to deal with
big things, and that was not an
unimportant factor in creating re
spect for federal law and the fed
eral government.
During the last ten years they
have been dealing with little things,
and now that the strain has grown
too great, little judges are recom
mended to relieve the situation.
Not only that, but grand juries
and petit juries are going to be
sidetracked wherever possible.
Uncle Sam, it would seem, rapidly
is shriveling to the proportions of
a justice of the peace.
a a tt
It Isn’t All Right
GOING to clear the docket, by
making every’ United States
commissioner a police judge, by
lining up the pint pocket peddlers,
the intermittent home brewers, the
incidental transporters and arraign
ing them like common drunks, or
disturbers of the peace!
Thus the god of efficiency comes
to Washington and blesses Vol
steadism with his divine presence.
Constitutionally, it may be all
right. According to the red tape
and technicalities of judicial pro
cedure, it may be all right. From
the standpoint of commercial
bookkeeping, it may be all right.
But we’re dealing with human
nature here, and measured by that
yardstick, it isn't all right,
n tt a
According to the recommendations
made by the Wickersham commis
sion, the light or casual offender
would plead before a commissioner.
If he pleaded not guilty, the com
missioner would try the case and
transmit his finding to a federal
judge.
If the commissioner found the
defendant guilty, the federal judge
could pass sentence, unless the for
mer demanded a jury trial within
three days.
If the defendant availed himself
of this right, and demanded a jury
trial, the case would go back to the
district attorney, who would have
to start it all over again,
BUB
Would Avoid Jury Trials
HT'HE obvious purpose of such pro-
I. cedure is to avoid indictments
and jury trials.
That being so, it goes without say
| ing that everything possible would
:be done to influence defendants
I either to plead guilty or not to ask
j for jury trials if they pleaded not
I guilty.
; It requires no straining of the im
; agination to realize that defendants
; would be more apt to ask for jury
! trials if they faced jail sentences
than if they faced fines, and that
the whole show would resolve itself
into a series of cash transactions.
Further than that, it requires no
straining of the imagination to real
ize that if fines became the fashion,
dry enforcement officers soon w’ould
get the habit of collecting for them
! selves instead of bothering the
courts.
a a
Maine Has Proof
THOSE who doubt that the thing
would w’ork out this way should
consult the history of Maine, where
fines were very popular at one time,
and wffiere prohibition l-esolved it
self into a virtual license system for
-speakeasies, with honest magistrates
and corrupt peace officers fighting
for the loot.
Finfs, as a punishment for crime,
never have and never will work any
other way. Yet if the purpose is to
avoid indictments and jury trials by
this new fangled scheme of handling
federal prohibition, who can doubt
that fines will play the big role?
In this connection, people should
' remember that the jury system is
i desirable, not only because it safe-
I guards the rights of an accused per
! son, but because it offers average
I people a chance to express them
selves with regard to the degree of
: punishment that the violation of
! any law’ deserves.
I People also should remember that
[ any method which places a premium
! on fines makes violation of the law
easier for rich men and harder for
poor men.
Questions
and Answers
What is the salary of the
Governor-General of the Irish
Free State?
Ten thousands pounds sterling, or
approximately $50,000.
What department of the govern
ment will have charge of the per
sonnel of the Smoky Mountain
Park?
The United States National Park
Service. Interior Department. Wash
ington.
How can grass on a brick wall be
destroyed?
A hot lye or hot brine solution
applied occasionally to the walk as
a wash will destroy any plant life
that makes its appearance.
What percentage of the popula
tion of Mexico is illiterate?
Government statistics in 1925
showed 62 per cent illiterate.
Did the New York Y’ankee base
ball team win more games in 1927
than in 1928?
During the 1927 season the New
York Y'ankees won 110 and lost 44
games: during the 1928 season they
won 101 and lost 53.
But Lets See What’s Back of It!
sle? vwM miiilJ/// a,-
j ■ NOTHING m ■Wn/ff'%-)
DAILY HEALTH SERVICE
t
j Science Needs Years to Rout Cancer
BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN
Editor Journal of the American Medical
Association and of Hygeia, the
Health Magazine.
PROBABLY when the cause and
a specific method of cure of
cancer are discovered, if ever any
single cause does prove to be re
sponsible, the solution will come not
by accident or by pure speculation,
but as a result of the thousands of
studies of cancer be' ig made In
laboratories and institutes all over
the world.
In Great Britain year after year,
for some twenty-seven years in all,
the Imperial Cancer Research fund
has been publishing its annual re
ports.
To the average layman the obser
vations may seem obstruse or even
futile, but each little step means
-nore knowledge concerning the na
;:ire of the cancer cell and a little
more advancement toward the day
when prevention of cancer will be
an accomplished fact.
The more recent report brings out
the fact that the cancer cell begins
IT SEEMS TO ME “5= D
Frank ward o'malley, w-ho
used to be one of the best re
porters in New York before he
turned to books and magazines, has
shaken the dust of America from
his feet.
Writing from Nice, he says:
“Every minute I raise my eyes to the
skies and thank heaven I no longer
live in the Bible belt, among guz
zling pharisees.”
O’Malley believes that he has
made himself unpopular over here.
“I have been denounced as unpa
triotic,” he says, "because I have
dared to criticise my native land’s
bad manners, which have come
since Mr. Volstead perpetrated his
theories on the American public.”
As one of O’Malley’s warm ad
mirers, I guarantee to recruit a
welcoming committee and a brass
brand for that happy day when he
comes home again. It is his right
and privilege to soak us in print as
he pleases. And some of what he
says is true, and some is so in part.
8 8 8
Not the Crowd
BUT Mr. Burke was eminently
right in saying that it is un
just to ifidict a whole nation.
O’Malley, from across the water,
sees but two sane Americans, and
one Is H. L. Mencken and the other
Clarence Darrow.
"Tire United States,” he adds,
“does not need anew Messiah
nearly so much as the recovery of
it&ZZZqjpfSSS&n*
-H CjOAVr IB THE—
juiji vgpMiv
BEJAMIN FRANKLIN
January 17
ON Jan. 17, 1706, Bejamin Frank
lin, famous American states
man, scientist and author, was bom
in Boston.
His father, Joseph Franklin,
emigrated to American about 1685
and took up the business of tallow
chandler. His mother, a second
wife, was the daughter of Peter Fol
ger, a leading settler, noted for his
philanthropy and tolerance.
Benjamin, the fifteenth of seven
teen children, was named after his
father’s favorite brother.
Today also is the anniversary of
the receipt in Milwaukee of the first
telegram sent from Chicago on
Jan. 17. 1849.
On Jan. 17, 1893, Rutherford
Hayes, the nineteenth President of
the United States, died. \
And on Jan. 17, 1910, statehood
bills for New Mexico and Arizona
were passed.
On what days of the week did
Aug. 13, 1913, and Sept. 30, 1913,
come?
Aug. 13, 1913, fell on Wednesday
and Sept. 30, 1913, on Tuesday.
to grow and for long is held in check
by elements in the surrounding tis
sue, and that eventually the sur
rounding cells lose their power of
resistance and the malignant cells
develop rapidly.
The famous German investigator,
Warburg, studied the metabolism of
the cancer cell as contrasted with
the normal cell and found out that
the normal cell can use oxygen
brought by the blood, to oxidize
sugar for its use, and that when
oxygen is withheld the cells split
sugar into lactic acid.
The cancer cell can rely almost
wholly on the latter process and
gets along without oxygen much
better than does the normal cell.
This indicates why the malignant
cell may grow so rapidly at the ex
pense of the rest of the body.
It is known that radium affects
the cancer cell unfavorably, but the
exact mechanism of this has not
been understood. Now the imperial
cancer research fund is making a
special study of the effects of ra
dium.
her old spirit of kindliness and tol
erance, as preached by some great
humorist who can bring back her
sense of the value of things and
poise.”
Os course, we could do with a lit
tle more kindliness and tolerance,
but if Frank Ward O’Malley walks
all way round the earth, seeking
some place to light, he never will
find any glut of these qualities.
Many frailties which he picks out
as American belong, in fact, to the
whole human race.
The skies will not always be
bright blue along the Riviera. Even
a Frenchman can be rude when
riled. Just let O'Malley try to open
a window in a stuffy train compart
ment some night, and he will find
that there are bad manners in
lands which know no Volstead.
O’Malley and I are both men of
40-odd, and we have passed the
greater part of our lives in the same
community. He was already a suc
cessful newspaperman the day I
got my first reportorial assignment.
It was to cover the picnic of a
T ;mmany leader, who took his fol
lowers on an excursion boat up t'ne
East river to Witzels Grove at Col
lege Point.
O’Malley never had seen me be
fore, and he helped me out by
telling me which were the tradition
al jokes to use in covering such a
story.
nan
Goodly Company
AND after twenty-two years of
newspaper work. I could, in all
sincerity, report that the average
reporter and desk man and editor
is a person of generous disposition.
The hard-boiled slave-driver in
troduced in pictures and in plays is
a stranger to me. And my report
about cops and letter carriers, and
Wall Street men and actors and
taxi drivers, would be equally en
thusiastic. It may all be in the
luck of the draw.
I don’t mind leaving myself open
to the charge of sentimentality, be
cause I find a fairly general im
pression that I am savagely cynical.
With such a reputation I can afford
to play with my luck.
Looking back, then, I can say
that it would be impossible for me
to name a single individual in my
whole acquaintance who ever has
done to me what I honestly would
call a dirty trick.
Os course, at times I’ve been the
victim of what seemed to me in
justice. I’ve thought the other fel
low was dead wrong. But upon
later examination, I’ve discovered
that he felt the same way about
me.
That didn’t necessarily make
him right, but I’m willing at any
time to take 10 per cent off for hon
est emotion.
I think that perhaps O’Malley
has been looking too much at
papers and too little at people. For
instance, he had Volstead on his
mind.
I don’t like Volsteadism any bet
ter than he does, hut probably, if
Within recent years much atten
tion has been paid to the lead treat
ment of cancer developed by Blair
Beli. All over the world other sci
entists took up the method and
tested its effects not only on the
experimental tumors of animals,
but also on human patients w-ho
had not been able to gain hope of
relief by other means.
Recent investigations indicate that
the lead effect is not a direct poi
soning effect on the c r ncer cell, but
a modification of the resistance of
the whole body to the cancer inva
sion, by the effects of the lead on
the body cells.
In general the effects of lead
treatment have been disappearing.
In an occasional case the lead treat
ment has been followed promptly by
results which seemed striking, but
in the vast majority of cases such
results have not occurred.
Apparently the point for most
serious investigation just now is the
mechanism by which the forces of
the body which resist all disease
can be mobilized to resist cancer.
Ideals and opinions expressed
in this column are those of
one of America’s most inter
esting writers and are pre
sented without recard to their
agreement or disagreement
with the editorial attitude of
this paper.—The Editor.
(we two could sit down with the
gentleman in question, wed find
him a moderately harmless old coot.
tt O
Stock Picture
Then there’s that stock picture
of the cartoonists -the tall thin
man in the rusty high hat—he’s
generally labeled prohibition, or
motion picture censorship or the
I Lord’s day alliance.
The picture has been used so
much that Americans abroad ac
tually begin to believe in his liieral
existence. But if you come tc ana
; lyze it, this probably is merely a
(modern manifestation of the old
i superstition that underneath the
I surface of the earth there crouches
! a gentleman in red tights, who
j wears both horns and tail,
j If O’Malley only will come home
| and help out. we can convert some
]of these prohibition people yet. I
, don’t believe that they are half as
! grim and cruel as they like to pre
i tend.
So I say. “sun yourself to your
; heart’s content upon a foreign shore.
Frank. But come back by and by
to the city you useed to love I know
a swell place on West Fifty-first
street.”
(Copyright. 1930. bv The Times)
Daily Thought
For in many things we offend
| all. If any man offend not in
word, the same is a perfect man,
ard able also to bridle the whole
body.—James 3:2.
a a a
We never can willingly offend
where we sincerely love.—Rowland
Hill.
Your Family Tree
Genealogy Is a chronology of descent, tracing families to their
origins or as far back as the records will show. The construction of
a family tree or history of descent Is interesting, valuable and useful.
The entrance requirements of a number of patriotic organizations
make it necessary to construct such family histories in order to
prove descent from ancestors engaged in various American wars.
Our Washington Bureau has prepared a bulletin of suggestions for
gathering materials and constructing a family tree that lists the
principal sources of such material in America today, tells how to go
about the undertaking, and gives a sample genealogical chart from
which one may get an idea as to how such a family h’story is con
structed. Any one interested in tracing his or her ancestry will find
this bulletin of value In the undertaxing. Fill out the coupon below
and send for it:
CLIP COUPON HERE
GENEALOGY EDITOR, Washington Bureau, The Indianapolis Times,
1322 New York avenue, Washington, D. C.
I want a copy of the bulletin GENEALOGY, and enclose herewith
five cents in coin, or loose, uncanceled United States postage stamps
to cover postage and handling costs:
NAME
STREET AND NUMBER
CITY STATE
I am a reader of The Indianapolis Times
_JAN. 17, 1930
SCIENCE
Bv DAVID DIETZ
Decade Which Will Close
With IPSO Will Go Down
in History as Great Scien
tific Era.
THE decade which comes to a
close with 1930 promises to go
down in history as a scientific
decade. The Cleveland Press has
asked its readers to suggest a name
for the decade and Max Cook, the
promotion editor, tells me that seven
out of every ten letters received
suggests a scientific name.
The decade from 1890 to 1900 has
gone down in history as the "Gay
905.” Theodore Roosevelt dominated
the period from 1900 to 1910. The
World war was the outstanding
event of the years between 1910 and
1920.
Many would assume that the
“jazz age" would be the popular
name for the post-war decade. The
flowering of jazz bands, jazz danc
ing, night clubs and the like was a
spectacular development after the
armistice. Perhaps it came as an
inevitable reaction to the emotional
intensity of the World war
It is significant, however, tha!
those who have written to The
Press are more impressed by the
radio, the airplane, television, the
development of automatic ma
chinery, polar exploration, the giant
Zeppelins and such medical achieve
ments as insulin than they are by
the saxophone, the short skirt, the
hip-flask and "necking.”
Contact
IT is not difficult to see why public
interest in science has become so
| great in the last ten years. It is
1 because laymen began to come into
contact with the developments of
science.
The radio is a good example of
that. While Professor Heinrick
Hertz. Sir o'liver Lodge. Signor
Marconi and the other pioneers of
radio were carrying on their early
experiments, there was little public
interest in what they were doing.
Interest flared up for a brief pe
riod when Marconi succeeded in
spanning the Atlantic by wireless
telegraphy. It became keener when
wireless telegraphy became the
means of saving lives in ocean dis
asters.
General widespread interest in
radio was not forthcoming, how
ever, until it became possible for
every person to have a radio in his
own home.
The same thing is true of the air
plane. It is possible now- for any
one to fly. Unquestionably, many
people read of polar exploration with
so much interest because they are
looking forward to the day when
commercial routes will cross the ice
fields.
The man who has flown in a
passenger plane from Cleveland to
Detroit or New York to Albany has
no difficulty in imagining that some
day he may fly from Montreal to
Stockholm bv way of the north pole.
Many other scientific develop
ments have stimulated the average
person s interest in science. The list
is long. It runs from towering
skyscrapers to artificial silk.
The average man is interested In
science today because science is no
longer something in a distant labo
ratory-. It. is the most spectacular
element of his everyday environ
ment.
a tt tt
Nineties
IN this connection, it is interesting
to recall that the "Gay Nineties”
was also a decade of remarkable
discoveries in the field of science.
Many of our present great ad
vance', including radio, never w.-ould
have occurred without the great
discoveries of that decade.
At the beginning of that decade,
many scientists thought that all the
great discoveries in the field of
physics had been made. Then on
Christmas eve, 1895, Rontgen. at a
meeting in Berlin of the Gdnnan
Physical Society-, announced his
discovery of the x-ray.
This discovery started the world
of science on anew era of discov
ery. X-raj-s led to Bacquerel’s dis
covery of radio-activity. That, in
turn, pointed the w-ay to the dis
covery of radium by the Curies.
Sir Ernest Rutherford’s analysis
ot the rays of radium led to our
present theory of the electron with
out which the radio vacuum tube,
the photo-electric cel! used in tele
vision, and many remarkable ad
vances in the fields of engineering
and chemistry would not have been
possible
It is interesting also to note that
the present Interest in science goes
deeper than a mere desire to use
the invention of science. There is a
genuine desire to understand them
and to understand science in gen
eral.
Thus, for example, crowds in Ber
lin awaited the publication of Fin
stjin's last, theory, the socalled
‘'field theory."
New York newspapers felt that
there was sufficient interest in it
to have the six pages of intricate
mathematical formulae sent to this
country by the photo-radio process,
thus employing one marvel to re
port another.