The Indianapolis times. [volume], July 01, 1933, Home Edition, Page PAGE 4, Image 4

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

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PAGE 4
The Indianapolis Times
(A M Hiri’S.HOH ARK N KAVSFArr. R 1
HOT tY. HOWARD PrMldent
IAI.CoTT POWELL Editor
EARL D. P.AKF.R P,uMne* Mtnijfrr
I’tiono—Riley 6531
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SATURDAY JULY 1. 1933.
INTERNATIONAL FOLLY
/~\N the samp day. the headlines announce
the break-up of the world disarmament
conference and a declaration by Secretary
Claude Swanson that American policy favors a
navy ' second to none The two are not un
related They reflect the rising tide of nation
alism. the loss of faith in treaties, the failure
of governments to makp good their grandilo
quent pledges of international co-operation.
The United States, on the economic side
especially, contributed to world chaos by its
debt policy and Initiation of a tariff and trade
v.ar
But our hands are cleaner than most. Even
In the matter of tariffs, our government of
fered a truce which the foreign governments
did not accept completely and In good faith.
And although at the moment we are blamed
for the destructive fluctuations of foreign ex
changes, the currency depreciation race was
started by the British and French, who now’
protest too much
Despite the fog at London and murky re
ports that Roosevelt policy is wrecking the
conference, one fact is clear: The United
States government is thp only one making a
serious effort at home to raise prices and to
Increase mass purchasing power.
The United States is not responsible for the
latest failure of disarmament negotiations.
Year in and year out we have begged and
argued with the other powers to permit effec
tive arms reduction. But always they block us.
At the Coolidge Geneva arms conference It
was the British tory government "which re
fused to go along. At the London arms con
ference it was the French and Italians. Now T
it is the British, French and Japanese, with
Hitler's Germany in the background.
Repeatedly during recent years this news
paper has warned the foreign powers that
they could not expect the United States to
go on begging for international co-operation
forever, that their stubborn nationalism in
time would provide a revival of American
nationalism. That time is approaching rap
idly, if indeed it has not arrived already.
America, with all her faults, has tried pa
tiently to prevent a costly and dangerous
armament race. Secretary Swanson’s decla
ration of policy is official notice that if the
other pow r ers persist in their refusal to reduce
armaments, the richest and strongest nation
in the world will begin large-scale prepara
tions for war.
The decision rests with the foreign pow r ers.
JUST BAD DREAMS!
SENATOR ROYAL S. COPELAND, chair
man of the senate subcommittee which is
to probe racketeering, is quoted as saying:
“It is inconceivable to me that politics
should be involved In any sort of racket In
New York state."
Coming from a New York senator, this is
naive enough. But not satisfied with such
expression of childlike faith, the senator went
on to declare himself certain that responsible
union heads do not favor racketeering in
their organizations.
Either the newspapers have been carefully
krpt from Senator Copeland or he never reads
court actions and judicial decisions pertaining
to troubles in labor unions.
Maybe he never has heard of labor “czars"
o’- of union officials supposedly “responsible,”
but nevertheless ousted on charges of oppres
sion and coercion.
The senator seems almost too trusting and
innocent to succeed on such a job of inquiry.
It will be a shame to destroy his fond illu
sions.
Nevertheless, we advise him. in the public
Interest, to keep an eye out for both politics
and racketeering union heads as he strolls
down Racket Lane.
FOURTH OF JULY BLINDNESS
'"pHERE is trouble enough in the world
these days without adding to it the trag
edy of children being blinded with dangerous
toys.
This Is the plea of the National Society for
thp Prevention of Blindness as July 4 nears.
The number of children totally blinded in
a year by fireworks and air rifles and other
weapons is not a big figure at first glance. Just
70 children a year. But the society is asking
the public to think of those 70 not as “sta
tistics." but as 70 child vicitms whose homes
will be saddened tragically for years.
An extraordinary proportion of the blind
ing accidents occur in the brief period around
the Fourth. The number of children who
suffer, not total blindness, but eye injuries of
varying degrees of seriousness, runs to a more
impressive figure—7so to 1.000 in this country’
in a year.
More than 100 cities in the United States
have shown their awareness of the situation
by making ordinances restricting the manu
facture. sale, or use of air rifles and other
dangerous weapons as toys, but surveys show
that the vast majority of local laws are not
broad enough to protect the children or else
are not properly enforced. Moreover, boot
leggers in fireworks and firearms infest the
countryside around many towns that have
restrictive legislation.
The society advocates “that all articles
such as air rifles, cap pistols, slingshots, darts,
other devices for projecting missiles, firecrack
ers, torpedoes, etc., which are being manu
factured for the toy trade should be eliminated
at the source by absolute prohibition of their
manufacture and sale."
In addition, it believes that adults hand
ling displays of fireworks, or explosives, or
weapons should be made responsible for pre
venting minors from handling them.
Such regulations, if enforced, would pie-
! vent more than half the present toll of eye
accidents to children.
Beyond what laws can do, parents can do
a great deal to lessen such accidents. Their
part, is'to teach children to be careful and to
support local authorities.
‘NEW DEAL’S TEST TO COME
npHE tremendous complexity and almost
overwhelming difficulties involved in the
new industrial control plan grow more evident
each day. It is too eariy to say whether Uncle
Sam has bitten off more than he can chew,
but it is pretty clear that he has bitten off a
lot more than anybody ever dreamed of chew
ing before.
Study the affair from any angle you
choose; problems that look well-nigh unsolv
able pop up by- the handful. The real test of
the “New- Deal” has not begun. It will come
very soon, and when it does it will bring the
old and the new conceptions of American
economies into a conflict sharper and more
bitter than anything the country yet has seen.
With one hand the government seeks to
raise commodity prices and wages; with the
other it seeks to restrain the rise in retail
prices. It plans to spend around $100,000,000
to gpt the south to stop production on 10,-
000.000 acres of cotton land.
It hopes to give industry most of the ad
vantages of monopoly, but at the same time
to outlaw the disadvantages. It seeks to union
ize all labor, but desires to avoid industrial
strife. It wants the benefits of inflation with
out the disastrous consequences.
All in all. it is beginning a job so stupen
dous that one gets dizzy thinking about it.
It has a hundred chances to make mistakes.
And yet. however easy it may be to point
out tnese mistakes, however easy it may be to
say that the job is simply too big for human
ingenuity—it is as clear as daylight that noth
ing less than this could have been attempted.
We had reached pretty close to the jump
ing-off place, last March. The situation called
for drastic measures; the temper of the coun
try was, and still is, ready to support measures
even more radical than those which have been
adopted.
The financiers and rich industrialists who
are beginning to grumble about these new
restrictions on individual enterprise and the
profit motive ought to thank their lucky stars
that the program is as conservative as it is.
Hard as it may be, this new set-up simply
has to work. It may look radical, to eyes still
focused on 1929; but the one certainty in an
uncertain world Is that its radicalism won’t be
a patch on the radicalism of the program that
will be adopted if this program fails.
The dangerous man today is the man who
puts obstacles in the way of this scheme. He
is Inviting measures that would make this one
look like something cooked up by J. P. Morgan
& Cos.
DARK AND BLOODY GROUND
A YEAR and a month ago a Kentucky mob
stormed a Caldwell county jail, seized
Walter Merrick, a white man awaiting trial
for dynamiting, and lynched him.
Under Kentucky law, it was mandatory upon
Governor Ruby Laffoon to remove Jailer
Jones. After repeated demands by the Ameri
can Civil Liberties Union. Governor Laffoon
temporarily removed Jones. But he put Mrs.
Jones In charge of the jail, pending a hearing.
According to the union, Attorney-General
Wootton, Commonwealth Attorney Grayot and
County Attorney Hardin all “united to hush
up a hideous crime.” No attempt, the union
says, was made to search out the lynchers.
As was pxpected. Governor Laffoon reinstated
Jailer Jones.
The union reminds Kentucky that under
Commonwealth Attorney Grayot’s adminis
tration there have been six lynchings in the
fourth judicial district. During that time no
man has been convicted for having partici
pated in these crimes.
Under such administration of the law,
Kentucky easily may live up to its Indian
name, popularly translated as “the dark and
bloody ground.’’
EXIT THE ATHEISTS
TT Is possible to get two or three little smiles
out of the news that the depression so
sharply has reduced the number of militant
atheists that the American Association for the
Advancement of Atheism is threatened with
extinction for want of funds.
This organization's annual report shows
that Its membership has declined steadily
during hard times and that its income has
been reduced by one-half.
On the other hand, the report complains
that church membership has increased con
stantly all through the depression, so that
more than 50,000.000 Americans today are reg
ular church communicants.
And all of this, somehow, sheds an inter
esting little sidelight on human nature. It’s
easy enough to be an atheist, militant or
otherwise, when everything is going swim
mingly and every stock market flurry increases
the size of your bank account.
But when the bottom falls out of things,
and you find that you aren't quite as all-wise
and eternally lucky as you had thought—well,
atheism becomes a nonessential luxury then,
in short order.
LADIES
TT7HEN is a lady a lady? Never! says Inea
’ * Haynes Irwin in her new book. “Angels
and Amazons."
There are no ladies: there are only women
in the new world, she declares. A lot of aris
tocracy has gone over the dam since the turn
of this century when ladies were ladies. In
the process woman has emerged into anew
being.
The title or designation “lady” (a very
pretty sounding word' had many variations of
meaning, from that in “Lady. Be Good." to
“Lady Dalrymple." wife of the lord of that
name. ‘Lady’’ implied aristocracy, social
superiority.
In smaller places it implied also refinement
or the possession of a certain grace in carriage
and dress, or even goodness. It marked off
those favored by fortune or nature from those
less favored—the rank and file of women.
Once women wanted to be ladies. Now
ladies would like to be women, in a common
cause of emancipation of the sex.
Certainly thus implies a fundamental de
mocratization far surpassing the importance
casually accorded the great change. Ttys has
! arisen out of wider educational advantages
for women and out of general liberalization of
thinking
But it has come also with the rise of the
poor to wealth and position. Not that this
process had not proceeded throughout the his-
I tory of this country and the world, but it has
proceeded upon an infinitely vaster front in
| this industrial era of multiplied national
wealth.
The rigid barriers of an cider and highly
limited aristocracy have broken down before
j the deluge of new wealth pouring from ma
chines.
Into that deluge “ladies” have vanished and
I upon its bosom “women" universally have been
lifted to anew dignity and anew freedom
and into anew hope.
■ ■■■■
wham:
(From the Cleveland Press)
’P'ROM the standpoint of national defense,
the moral of Mr. Camera's victory over
Mr. Sharkey would seem to be that maybe the
big, heavily armored battleship carrying 16-
inch guns is not so obsolete after all.
To be sure, the speedy cruisers with light
armament can sail rings around them, and
register all kinds of hits with their rnpre rap
idly firing guns of lighter caliber.
But when one of those 16-inch shells hits
something, it stays hit.
DANGEROUS BILLBOARDS
'I'HE billboard long has been famous as a
nuisance. Now it is becoming apparent
that it is actually dangerous, as well.
Col. Frederick S. Greene, superintendent
of public works of New York state, declares
that the billboard distracts the attention of
speeding motorists on country highways and
thereby causes traffic accidents.
“If a sign does not attract attention, there
by distracting the driver from his business
of handling his motor car, it fails in its pur
pose," says Colonel Greene. “In my opinion,
the more important objection to the billboard
is that it does cause accidents rather than
that it mars the scenic beauty of the roadside.’’
The logic of this remark is obvious. How
long, do you suppose, will we continue to put
up with the billboard blight?
“Rubber Makers Disagree at Code Hearing”
—headline. Couldn't they have stretched things
just a little bit in the interest of snapping up
the industry?
Wisconsin girl who will inherit $6,000 if she
remains single three years, says no husband
is worth that much. Lots of wives have spent
years in finding that out.
In case you don’t know how to pronounce
the name of Llieusszuieisszesszei Willihiminiz
zisstdizziiu Hurrizzissteizii, a Siamese who w’as
arrested in Chester, Pa., recently w T e can as
sure you that It is pronounced exactly as it is
spelled.
No matter how popular a young chiroprac
tor tries to be girls always turn their backs on
him.
South American naturalist reports the dis
covery of fish that bark like dogs, but an angler
friend assures us there are no barking fish in
this country—and very few that bite.
Anew Delaware law requires all pedes
trians on the road at night to carry a light
of some kind—which, we suppose, now will be
used by some men as an excuse for getting
lit up.
Story says “Pretty Boy” Floyd. Oklahoma
bandit, has killed at least six men. Perhaps
he’s still looking for the one who gave him
that nickname.
M.E.Tracy Says:
General hugh s. Johnson, administra
tor for the recovery plan, is right in warn
ing us of the necessity of causing wages to ad
vance faster than prices, if buying power is to
be increased.
Buying power does not depend on the amount
we earn or get, but on the relationship of that
amount to what we must spend to live. If prices
were to go up faster than wages, we should lose.
Cutting down the hours of labor will not in
crease buying power, unless the volume of busi
ness in increased. This hardly can be done with
out developing new lines of work.
There is an obvious overproduction in cer
tain well-defined fields. Putting more people to
work in those fields by shortening the hours of
labor may be desirable from the standpoint of
distribution, but it can not increase aggregate
buying power.
The economic structure rests primarily on
consumption, and there are definite limits to
consumption in each particular line. A man can
not be made to eat more bread than his stomach
will hold or drink more beer.
Neither can he be made to wear out more
than a given amount of clothing, except through
waste and extravagance. Consumption is de
termined by the variety rather than by the
quantity of produce. The one hope of greater
consumption lies in a more diversified life.
nan
npHE road to progress lies through the multi
plication of activities, comforts, and con
veniences, rather than through the reorganiza
tion of old enterprises and institutions. This is
especially true because of the way machinery has
affected production.
If people were to restrict consumption to
what is regarded as necessary right now, there
would be little hope of restoring prosperity. To
make this perfectly clear, just suppose what
would have happened if people had decided to
restrict consumption to the necessities of 75 or
even fifty years ago, to get along without electric
lights, telephones, autos, airplanes, and many
such accessories of modern life.
The true advantage of machinery does not
consist in the fact that it enables us to do old
things faster, but in the possibility it offers of
doing so many new things.
At no time in human history would it be so
disastrous to stop pioneering and experimenta
tion as at present. The only way we can keep
our industrial structure functioning is through
expansion. The only way we can get expansion
is through development of new activities and en
terprises.
t> n a
DESIRABLE as the reorganization of well
established enterprises may be, it will fail
to answer the need of increased consumption,
unless it is visualized as merely setting the stage
for innovations and improvements.
Our power to consume a given article or a
given service is limited, which means that our
power to earn through the production of that
article, or the performance of that service, also
is limited. The only limitless prospect we face
is the improvement of living conditions through
human ingenuity.
Nothing must be allowed to Interfere with
the discovery, invention, and exploitation of new
devices or the development of new activities. In
fact, everything possible must be done to en
courage them, if we are to make proper use of
mechanical power and scientific knowledge.
THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
(Timer renders are invited to express
their views in these columns. Make your
letters short, so all can hare a chance.
Limit them to 2~<o words or less.)
Bv J. C. R.
What kind of laws do we have to
protect us against dogs? It seems
that we have none.
Hardly a day passes that city
newspapers do not carry stories of
from one to six children being bitten
by roaming dogs and nothing ap
parently ever is done about it, ex
cept to put the animals under ob
servation.
It would be only justice if the
owners who insist on keeping these
memices should be fined heavily for
the pain and danger to life that
they cause, and also be made to pay
all doctor and hospital bills of the
victim.
By Puzzled.
During the 1932 presidential cam
paign, the voters were given to un
derstand that Franklin D. Roose
velt favored recognition of the
Soviet regime in Russia. We W’ere
told that this would be done so,
that American workers by the thou
sands would benefit, with this coun
try getting millions of dollars in
trade.
Apparently Mr. Roosevelt has
changed his views, now' that he is
President. Nothing seemingly has
been done about the matter, though
we are told the news from the Lon
don economic parley that the Amer
ican and Russian representatives
engaged in “friendly conversation.”
With millions out of jobs, it
seems strange that something is not
done to end this senseless break
with Russia. We seem willing to
deal with Mussolini, Hitler, and the
Turk and Polish dictators, as well
as with other rulers whose hands
are not so clean. So why not
Russia ?
This inconsistency is harming
many Americans who could get
jobs if W’e renewed trade, diplo
matic and credit relations with the
Soviet. It is well enough to talk
of domestic recovery, but why not
get a little foreign trade along
with it?
The just man walketh in his in
tegrity; his children are blessed
after him.—Proverbs 20:7.
INTEGRITY is the evidence of all
civil virtues.—Diderot.
This Is the second of two articles on
infantile paralysis.
AMONG the remedies used in the
treatment of infantile paralysis
it is necessary to mention first of
all absolute rest in bed. This is im
portant in avoiding unnecessary
irritation to the affected tissues.
Many investigators are convinced
of the value of injections of blood
serum, which is the fluid matter of
the blood taken frrom patients who
recently have recovered from in
fantile paralysis.
In the absence of such human
blood serum, materials obtained
from animals which have been in
jected with the poison of infantile
paralyse, may be used.
It is especially to be emphasized
that nursing in infantile paralysis
must be exceedingly gentle. It must
minimize as much as possible any
movement of the patient.
The physician can prescribe
“/'■'vUß Movie-Made Children,” hy
V/ Henry James Forman, is a
book that presents facts that should
be considered seriously by every
American parent, Mr. Forman has
ferreted out statistics about the
influence of the moving picture upon
the modern child that are the re
sult of a four-year research, and
truly alarming.
The conclusion he arrives at Ls not
surprising. The pictures are a
tremendous force for the molding
of our children's habits and lives.
There is cause therefore for worry
when we consider that so many of
them emphasize sex and crime.
This, then, is a problem for our
solving that no thoughtful person
can overlook.
But it may be that the worst
thing we have to fear is a fear of
\. \ SUNSHINE ) V /
: : The Message Center : :
I wholly disapprove of what you say and will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire
Daily Thought
Absolute Rest Vital in Infantile Paralysis
■■ J- - —BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN j ••• • :. ■
: : A Woman’s Viewpoint : :
" '
‘One Side , You Bums!’
Unending Chain
Bv A Small Home Ov.ner.
AN article in your paper a few
days ago set out that the tax
administrators now were facing a
problem that was baffling and
serious, that with the decreased
revenues and the amount of de
linquent taxes, they would be un
able to meet the budget proposal.
This was nothing more nor less
than a bit of advance information
that we would have higher taxes
next year.
It is evident that this body never
has been able to face the- fact that
the higher it makes the taxes, in
an effort to make up the short
comings of the previous year, the
Questions and Answers
Q—ls there a premium on a
Columbian half dollar dated 1893?
A—No.
Q —Does the federal government
pay the cast of maintaining the
National guard?
A—The expenses are paid joint
ly by the state and the federal
government.
Q—How" many homes in the
United States use electricity?
A—According to the U. S. de
partment of commerce, there were
20,049,450 in 1930.
Q —What Is the official record
for the pole vault?
A—Fourteen feet, one and one
half inches, made by Lee Barnes
at Fresno, Cal., April 28, 1928.
Q—When did Michigan enter
the union as a state?
A—January 26, 1837.
Q—When did William Howard
Taft die and w'here is he buried?
A—He died March 8, 1930. and
is buried in Arlington National
cemetery, Virginia.
Q—Could the whole population
of the world be accommodated in
Texas?
A—There are 7,412,755,046.400
square feet in Texas, winch w’ould
allow' about 3,706 square feet for
each of the two billion inhabitants
of the world.
Q —Why w’ere the fasces used in
the design for United States
dimes?
A—lt was selected in 1916 on ac
count of its artistic merit. Fasces
is an ancient emblem signifying
power and might.
Editor Journal of the American Medical
Association and of Hvsreia. the
Health Marazine.
varous drugs to keep such patients
quiet. Warm baths help in bringing
about relief.
A recent discovery which al
ready has saved many lives is the
artificial respirator. In the past, any
child who developed a paralysis of
the muscles of breathing w’as likely
to die. Now’ there are machines
into w’hich the child's whole body
may be put and its breathing mo
tions kept up automatically.
Then as the infectous condition
subsides, it is possible, through good
training and care, to bring about
a restoration of natural breathing.
Once the active disease has
passed, it is necessary to make a
complete examination of all muscles,
to find out which have become
weakened or lost their functions en-
\ the movies. Granting the founda
:ion for every alarm, the individual
still is helpless before the fact. To
be sure, intelligent parents could
■ refuse to attend or to permit their
families to attend worthless pro
ductions. But you see, there are so
many unintelligent parents in the
country that very little could be ac
complished in that way.
a a a
OUR children are surrounded by
innumerable perils. The dan
ger to nerves and life, the criminal
possibilities of the automobile, for
instance, have been recited many
times. But there's very little we
can do about it. We already have
tried the experiment of prohibiting
| liquor and that was a failure.
Little boys always have hankered
I to be bandits and outlaws, I
lower number of people will pay
taxes the present year and thus
create a larger deficit. It is an
unending chain. If taxes were
made reasonable and within the
reach of all, more taxes would be
paid and more taxable property
owned.
The taxpayers should organize
and set a reasonable rate, which
they will pay on valuation no
higher than at present. The small
home owner will get no relief from
politicians.
It will take a strong organiza
tion under the leadership of re
sponsible men who will go to the
front and demand the rights of
the property owner that thus far
have been denied him.
Q —Name the lightest metal.
A—Lithium is the lightest, and
magnesium is the lightest that is
produced in commercial quantities.
Q —Do goats ever have tubercu
losis?
A—They are rarely tubercular,
and their freedom from the disease
is probably due to environment
rather than natural immunity.
When confined to close quarters
with tubercular cow’s, they do con
tract the disease.
Q—What kinds of crystals are
used in radios?
A—The three best and most
commonly used are silicon, galena
and iron pyrites.
Q —When are the second Liberty
loan bonds payable?
A—They have matured and have
been retired.
Q —How many American sol
diers reached France during the
World war and how’ many were
killed in action or died of disease?
A—ln France, 2.084,000; killed in
action. 37,568, and died of dis
ease, 62.670.
Q—When was King George V
of England born?
A—June 3, 1865.
Q —Has Radio City music hall a
greater seating capacity than the
Capitol theater?
A—The Capitol theater seats
5,400 and music hall seats 5,945.
Q—Give the number and value
of safety razor blades manufac
tured in the United States in 1931,
A—Manufactured, 717,394.119;
value, $28,805,833
tirely. In cases where some func
tions have been lost entirely, re
education of the muscles may be
used, to enable the patient to walk
and to carry on other activities.
It is important to guard against
too much fatigue. Children should
not be encouraged to walk too soon.
They never should be allowed to
stand in a deformed position. If the
legs are too weak, braces may be
worn.
Exercise in water has developed
a great vogue, particularly through
the encouragement of President
Roosevelt. The chief advantage is
the aid derived from supporting
the limbs by the buoyancy of the
water.
However, the swimming pool it
self is not a cure for paralyzed
muscles. It is the training given in
the swimming pool by competent
teachers that brings restoration.
Imagine, and little girls, although
we had no statistics upon their
psychological processes, thought a
good deal about love and sex. The
parents of a former generation wor
ried in the same fashion over dime
novels and surreptitious cigarets and
white slavery.
We should. I believe, make even.'
possible effort to obtain better mov
ing pictures, because if they hold
possibilities for evil, thev hold equal
possibilities for good. But I despair
of perfecting them. Or of regulat
ing them entirely.
And the movies alone can not be
held responsible for our delinquent
boys and girls. They are the prod
ucts of our urban, sophisticated,
unwholesome, complex civilization.
The movie, like many another dan
ger, is the result and not the reason
for such civilization.
.JULY 1, 1033
It Seems
to Me
“■ BY HEYTVOOD BROUN"-
"VJEW YORK July 1.—“I thought
it was sort of silly, but I went
i through with it just the same." said
Thomas Patrick Morris, indicted
Wenriel claimant, after a session
with the psychiatrists.
There seems to be some justice in
the assertion of Mr. Morris, for.
according to the papers, one of the
queries ran: • What would you do if
you had $50,000 in cash and only
cne month to live?"
I should think it would be diffi
cult for even the best nnnd to
frame an adequate answer, because
it is impossisble to predict anybody's
conduct, even your own, under cir
cumstances which merely are spec
ulative.
Thomas Patrick Morris answered:
"Id pay Charlie Mitchell's income
tax.' That probably was scored
against him by the alienists, who
are not frequently rich in a sense
of humor, it seems to me as good
as any other answer, except the
cnl.v fully truthful one. which goes,
"I haven't the slightest idea."
a a a
Good Work or High Jinks
T HOPE mv own sanity never
comes under official examination,
for I would not like to face that
quiz. I might b Q a little tempted
to give a pious answer and tell the
doctors that I would devote the
money to good works. And, in fact,
that might be the way it would
work out.
How’ can I tell? It would all de
pend upon just what would happen
to me upon being told that I had
one month to live. The first re
action would probably be incredu
lity, and naturally the victim would
want to know, “Do you mean a
month like February or like
March?” Under the circumstances
the precise count of days would be
come important.
In life it sometimes happens that
sentence is passed. Judges and phy
sicians are in a position to make
predictions of this sort, but, in
spite of their authority, I suppose
the defendant remains a little skep
tical. He seeks another healer or
appeals to a higher court.
Prisoners in the death house
often keep their courage up to pitch
in a surprising manner. The fact
of extinction is not within human
experience, and so the mind rejects
it.. Something will turn up. And
on occasion that something does.
In spite of scenes in plays. I im
agine that doctors are a little chary
of naming the day or the month or
the year. They prefer. “I think you
ought to know’ that you are a very
sick man." And they tell me that,
as a rule, patients are not per
ceptibly shaken by even the harsh
est. diagnosis.
There are ailments before which
men quail because they suggest pain,
humiliation, and a curious sort of
psychic degradation. But death it
self is not distinctly feared as long
as It waits in the wings.
Even I, a very timorous person,
might be much more afraid of pres
ent lightning than a liver cacul
lated to lay me by one year hence.
Or, for that matter, one month
away.
A month is so great a span. One
might write a deathless novel, com
pose an enduring poem, have his
heart broken or break that of some
body else within much less time.
* a a
The Test of Sanity
BUT what is the test of sanity un
der the circumstances? Is the
rational man the one who says, “I
will sit down forthwith and get to
w T ork," or the fellow who answers,
"Time enough for one terrific jam
boree?”
I often have wondered just how
much posterity has to do with cur
rent conduct. My guess is that it
enters rather slightly into most
men’s minds. Most of us are well
aware that we can’t be Shakespear.
We are not going to fret too much
to be Bacon.
There are authors who are said
to live who sunlve in the world only
in a dim and academic way. You
can put a stethoscope upon the cover
of many a classic and find no heart
beat.
In Max Beerbohm’s short story,
“Enoch Soames,” the poet sold his
soul to the devil for the privilege of
being projected into the British
Museum 200 years hence in order to
ascertain what men said about him
when he w’as gone.
Id make no such bargain, for I
never had any patience in research
work. I rate my soul much higher
than a potential but most improb
able footnote.
a tt a
The Hope of a Good. Press
THE only form of survival on
earth which interests me is the
newspaper obituary. I have a real
curosity to know whether I’d get as
much as a stick outside my owm pa
per. In ail decency, Id expect a
good notice in my own.
Just the other day a well-known
syndicate writer, erroneously was re
ported as having been killed in an
automobile accident. He came down
to his office the next dav extremely
irate. It wasn't the false report
which annoyed him. but the fact
that the shirttail concerning his
name and fame had been no more
than 150 words long.
And so, if I had a month to live
and sso.ooo—in cash, of course—l
doubt that I would decide to pay up
my debts and get back in the poker
game. I would not cruise to Haiti
or play contract at 25 cents a point.
Instead, I believe Id lay in a stock
of paper and a few carbons and set
to work to do something. Not for
posterity by a long shot. What do
I care about them? We’ve never
met.
Id simply want to have some
thing accomplished which might let
me rate the morning after the sad
event some small newspaper notice a
little better than a one-line reading,
Ex-Dramatic Critic Exits.”
Convrizht 1933 bv The Timesl
Carillonneurs
BY MARGARET E. BRUXER
Poets are carillonneurs; each dwells
Within a tower of song.
What if their wings are bruised?
The bells
Must vibrate pure and strong.