The Indianapolis times. [volume], March 14, 1936, Capital Edition, Second Section, Image 9

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

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It Seem to Me
HEYM) BROUN
NEW YORK. March 14—T do not think there will
be a European war this year, and if it can be
staved off now the truce may be prolonged. It is
idle not to admit that actual peace is all but im
possible under the present setup. Watchful waiting
and armed neutrality are the limits of man's imme
diate hopes.
And yet I am less gloomy than
those who say that no progress
has been made since 1914 and
that the same blood and horror
must be endured again. Things
have happened in the decade
which provide at least a glimmer
of a chance for permanent peace.
Russia, which was the ignition
spark in 1914, is now a stabilizing
influence By a curious twist of
the wheel if war is to be averted
now Russia and England must
turn the trick.
Any efforts for peace which
England makes will be in the way
Heywood Broun
of atonement, for that nation must shoulder its
share of the blame for the Versailles Treaty. It is
true that no perfect settlement was possible at the
end of the war, but the conditions finally set down
were almost ingeniously diabolical in their complete
frustration of any hope of amity.
a a
He Had Some Ideas of His Own
I am ready to grant that not everything which
Hitler has done can be traced to that old devil
treaty. He has thrown in certain refinements of
cruelty and folly which tvere his own idea, but the
march into the Rhineland was a wholly logical con
scciuence of the abortive effort, to pick a scapegoat
for the European war. I trust that I will not be
suspected of Nazi sympathies if I express the belief
that there is much to be said for the Hitler policy
of scrapping all those agreements which undertook
to make Germany a subject nation on the men
riarious ground that it was a solitary criminal in the
conflict.
Governments function at their worst under fear
and under oppression. It is not impossible that the
first necessary step for a house-cleaning which will
rid the world of Hitler must oome from within a
nascent Germany and not by virtue of outside pres
sure. England is correct in indicating a willingness
to discuss new treaties and new peace proposals. It
is less than fair to accuse Hitler of a coup. The
move into the Rhineland has been clearly indicated
for many months.
It, is true, of course, that war and Fascism are
always twinned. The laboratories of the world have
shown that Fascism ran not function successfully in
the economic field even over short periods. When
the economic pressure becomes sufficiently great the
Fascist dictator is tempted to divert criticism and
stake everything on war. But there can be gambles
too wild and unlikely to tempt even a Nazi.
a a a
*Red Menace ’ Now ‘White Hope'
THE strength of the Soviet republics is the best
guarantee the world possesses against a Ger
man invasion of France and Belgium. In other words
“the Red menace” becomes the one white hope of
peace. There is, moreover, another brake against a
Hitler going completely berserk. Os late it has been
overlooked by Der Fuehrer himself and by observers
in other lands. All of us have been a little ready to
accept, the picture of a completely united Germany.
The casual traveler abroad who comes back to say
that, every German is 100 per cent for Hitler has not
polled the concentration camps. Nor is he in a po
sition to learn the amount of undercover rebellion
against the Nazi rule.
Any sort of protracted warfare would speedily
build fires behind the lines. Bolshevik propaganda
did much more to break Germany in 1918 than the
imperial Russian armies had ever done.
As for America's role now and in the days to
come, it seems to me that our part should be one of
preserving a complete and a real neutrality Nor do
I think it is a labor lost for us to indicate that we
recognize the fact that the people of Germany are
part of the human family and people quite like our
selves. There's no point in being smug. We are not
dealing with problems of abstract morality. We must
face the literal facts of economic pressure before
peace can be won for the world.
CCopyrißht,, 1936)
Probe May Include
Lobbyists' Parties
BY RAYMOND CLAPPER
WASHINGTON, March 14.—Social lobbying
which goes on after dark in Washington, in
homes, apartments and hotel rooms, may come under
the eye of the Senate Lobby Investigating Commit
tee.
Lobbyists, knowing that almost any Senator or
Representative after a hard day's work likes a good
dinner and a good drink, long have made it a prac
tice to minister generously to these noble wants.
Hence few legislators in Wash-
ington starve or die of thirst. If
by chance during these pleas
ant occasions the legislative mat
ter in which the lobbyist is inter
ested happens to come up in the
conversation, so much the bet
ter. If it doesn't come up by
chance, the lobbyist is apt to
bring it up. although seme of
the more skillful practitioners
regard this as clumsy tech
nique and believe that in such
situations the best rule is to
skip it.
Evidence has come into the
hands of the Senate Lobby Committee regarding
certain parties to which Senators and Representa
tives have been invited. They are particularly in
terested in one case regarding the sudden resurrec
tion of certain legislation after legislators had mel
lowed under the influence of after-dinner highballs,
it is even possible that a Democrat or two may be
scrambled in making this omelet.
ts st s:
Senator Black, chairman of the Senate Lobby
Committee, is beginning to interest himself in find
ing out why his bill, providing for registration of
lobbyists, lies mysteriously pigeon-holed in House
committee.
nun
ALTHOUGH there is no chance that the St. Law
rence waterway treaty with Canada will be
ratified this year, the project is to play an impor
tant part in the Administration campaign in the
Northeastern section of the country this year.
President Roosevelt is holding out the hope of that
vast power project for New York and New England
as the next development following up TVA in the
Southeast. Boulder Dam in the Southwest and the
Columbia River dams in the Northwest.
The Senate failed to ratify the treaty and con
siderable stir developed this week when Frank P.
Walsh, chairman of the New York State Power
Authority, reminded the Seaway Conference at De
troit that TVA was launched by a simple majority
vote of Congress, instead of by the two-thirds Sen
ate vote required in ratifying the St. Lawrence
treaty. From this some inferred that the Admin
istration might be considering undertaking the St.
Lawrer.,;e through a legislative authorization with
out attempting to obtain ratification of treaty. The
reciprocal trade agreements—which are treaties ex-
in name—do not require Senate ratification,
being negotiated under a simple legislative authori
zation.
However, President Roosevelt says he has not
given this any thought, But inasmuch as Walsh
is working closely with the White House in pbwer
matter*, some still believe that the problem may be
approached from this direction, especially since
Roosevelt said in his statement to the Seaway Con
ference that something more than mere resuomis
sion of the treaty is called for and that he was
seeking anew approach to the problem.
ANALYZING THE TOWNSEND PLAN
An economist of nation-wide fame.
Dr. Edwin E. Witte, professor of eco
nomics at Wisconsin University, here
presents an analysis of the Townsend
plan, taking up every phase of the pro
gram which its originator contends will
bring national recovery and security to
the aged. Prof. Witte was co-author
of Wisconsti's Job insurance law. first
state act of its kind put in operation in
the United States, and was called to
Washington by President Roosevelt to
draft the national job insurance plan.
BY EDWIN E. WITTE
Professor of Economics, University of
Wisconsin.
THE majority of the people
who support the Townsend
Plan look upon it as an old-age
pension proposal. Dr. Townsend,
himself, however, has repeatedly
stated that it is in its essence a
recovery plan, and only incident
ally an old-age plan.
This view is borne out by the
official Townsend Plan bill—the
McGroatry bill, H. R. 7154. intro-
duced in the
pro rata among
persons over 60 years of age.
This tax levy embraces three
new and additional taxes, of which
by far the most important is a 2
per cent transactions tax—to be
collected on the gross dollar value
ol every transfer or exchange of
property of any kind, and also on
ever payment for services of any
kind.
The only “transactions” not
taxed are bank loans, inter-bank
transactions and occasional non
recurring sales of less than SSO
by people who have no fixed place
of business.
ana
THIS 2 per cent tax on all
transactions is payable at
the end of each month by the
WASHINGTON, March 14,-r
President Roosevelt will re
peat his 1932 transcontinental
trip in his re-election campaign
ing this year. He will make the
journey in a special train, plans
to be “on the road” several weeks.
. . . Secretary Dan Roper’s dismis
sal of two officials of the Steam
boat Inspection Bureau, because
they let news leak to correspond
ents. seems about to be repeated
by the Labor Department. Sev
eral employes in the consumers
division are being threatened with
loss of their jobs for giving cer
tain information to reporters. . . .
Twenty years ago Paul Greever
“rode the rods” from his home in
Missouri to Wyoming in search of
fame and fortune. Today he has
both. He is Wyoming’s sole con
gressman and is the wealthy head
of one of the state’s largest law
firms. . . . Administration foes are
critical of the bill introduced by
Senator “Cotton Ed” Smith. It
would require the government to
dispose of its cotton holdings
within a specified time. They al
lege that traders have already
bought up thousands of cotton
certificates at 25 and 50 cents
apiece, on the chance of being
able to sell them at three and four
times that value if the measure
passes. . . . Being a presidential
candidate is agreeing with Sena
tor Bill Borah's health. He has
put on a little weight in the last
month and is the picture of fit
physical condition.
a a a
Gen. Hugh Johnson, returning
to Washington after a three
months nation-wide lecture tour,
told friends: ‘T want to be for
Roosevelt but I haven't made up
my mind yet."
nan
THOUGH no official announce
ment has been made. Dr.
Thoflias Parran Jr. will come to
Washington early next month to
become Surgeon General of the
United States, heading the Pub
lic Health Service. Ever since
the retirement of Hugh S. Cum
ming, the post has been mysteri
ously vacant. Reason for delay
in naming Dr. Parran is that he
wanted to hold his present post—
State Health Officer for New
York—to which Roosevelt, as
Governor, appointed him. . . .
The reason"for Mrs. Huey Long's
vote of "aye” on the farm bill is
perhaps very remote from agri
culture. She was more docile than
Huey would have been, because
she does not want to bring a cluo
down on the head of Seymour
Weiss. Weiss is the Long machine
in Louisiana, and is now threat
ened with indictment for income
tax evasion. For his sake, Mrs.
Long treads lightly in Washing
ton.
Clapper
Social Security Authority Weighs Proposal From All Angles
last session of
Congress.
The McGro
arty bill does
not provide for
old-age pen
sions of S2OO a
month or any
other fixed
amount, what
it really pro
vides for is a
tax levy, pro
ceeds of which,
after four
months, are to
be distributed
Dr. Witte
Washington Merry-Go-Round
BY DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. ALLEN .
BENNY
l 1 rs ;° t
- _ tm.wm t Ifu. mow i '
.
The Indianapolis Times
Rep. C. Jasper Bell, who heads
the Townsend Plan quiz group
in the House.
seller or recipient of the payment
for services, with the exception
that the part of the tax which
falls on wages and salaries is to
be taken out of the pay check in
each pay roll period.
The McGroarty bill is very spe
cific that no payment of pensions
is to be made to any one until
the beginning of the fifth month
after the Townsend tax becomes
payable.
In the fifth month, the amount
collected in the first month, less
costs of collection, is to be dis
tributed pro rata among all per
sons over 60 years of age qualified
for pensions; in the sixth month
proceeds of the tax received, al
ways less cost of collection, in the
second month; and so on.
Two hundred dollars a month
is mentioned in the bill, not as
the amount of the pension to be
t The Signal Corps of the War
Department gets part of its
taming in Hollywood. It makes
pictures of projectiles leaving big
guns in the same manner Walt
Disney pictures are made—by
pasting “stills" together.
n u tt
THE day Adolf Hitler marched
troops into the Rhineland
and thereby tore up the Locarno
pact, German Ambassador Hans
Luther held a press conference
and acclaimed the move as a
• great achievement." He voiced
this view while standing under a
picture of himself, as chancellor
of Germany, signing the Locarno
Treaty. . . . Senator Lester J. Dick
inson, “dark horse” Republican
presidential candidate, never rides
backward in a train or street car.
Doing so makes him ill. . . . Feb
ruary dividend declarations were
the highest for the month since
1932. Fifty-four companies de
clared extra dividends and 57
voted increases. This compares
with 41 and 22 in February last
year. . . . Roosevelt has been
checking up on all unspent gov
ernment funds, in preparation for
the submission to Congress of his
relief budget. . . . Bonus payment
applications are now pouring into
the Veterans’ Bureau at the rate
of 50,00) a day. A night shift has
been established to keen up with
the flood.
tt tt tt
Rep. Keller, Illinois Democrat:
! “Mr. Chairman. I ask for five min
utes more time.” Rep. Rich, Penn
sylvania Republican: “Go ahead,
give him some more time. Maybe
he will say something. He hasn’t
done so yet,”
n u u
CALIFORNIA Republican lead
ers close to Senator Hiram
Johnson are urging Senator Bo
rah to enter the presidential pri
mary in that state. They are
telling him that he can beat both
ex-President Hoover and Gov.
Merriam. Senator Johnson him
self is keeping hands off. but he
is not unfriendly to Borah. . .
The government has sold 200,000
bales of its cotton holdings since
Feb. 12 without disturbing' prices.
In fact, the price of cotton has
advanced slightly. . . . Word that
Home Owners Loan Corp. was
planning to lop off some 4500 of
its field personnel has stirred up
1 a storm of protest on Capitol Hill.
Congressmen are rushing to Big
Jim Farley demanding that he
•save the jobs of their henchmen.
n a a
The let-up in the cold weather
had a sportive effect on Rep. Hook
and Rep. Lesinski, both from
Michigan. They exchanged blows,
and Hook accumulated a particu
larly resplendent black eye.
(Copyright. 1936. bv United Feature
Syndicate. Inc.i
SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1936
EASTON EDITION
REAL PROBEOFPUM DEMANDED
SofSk Leaders Accept Challenge of Foes
National Headquarters Invites Zur "? Hii.at
HfliS Politicians to Fulfill Threat | F &££k
of Investigation by Congress *
Townsend’s National Weekly, circulating all over the country,
preaches the doctrine of OARP to hundreds of thousands.
paid, but as the maximum
amount. Actual amount may be
S2OO, or S2O, or sl, or nothing j
at all, depending upon the |
amount of the taxes collected I
above the costs of collection.
ana
THE United States Census Bu- 1
reau has estimated there are
now 1,500,000 people over 60 years
of age. Less than 600,000 of them
were not American citizens in
1913 and that number is consid
erable smaller now.
Under the McGroarty bill, also
people who have an income of
$2400 a year are not to be eligible
to pensions.
In the total population, consid
erably less than 10 per cent have
gross incomes of as much as $2400
a year, and in all probability that
percentage is even less among the
people over 60 years of age.
If 1,500,000 people over 60 years
are excluded from, the right to
share in proceeds of the Town
send tax—which is an outside
estimate of the possible exclusions
—10,000,000 people are left to be
pensioned at the very outset, and
S2OO a month to 10,000,000 people
is a cost of two billions a month,
of 24 billions a year.
The two other taxes contem
plated in the McGroarty bill could
not possibly yield more than two
billion dollars a year. That would
leave 22 billion dollars to be
raised through the Townsend
transactions tax.
nan
FOR some unexplained reason,
Dr. Townsend now estimates
8.000.000 as the number of peo
ple over 60 years of age to be
pensioned, although earlier he
estimated 10,000,000.
As there are 11,500,000 people
over 60 years of age, the question
naturally arises why the other
3.500,000 would not receive pen
sions.
That is approximately the num
ber of people over 60 years of age
now gainfully employed. Per
haps Dr. Townsend assumes that
very few people over 60 who have
jobs or farms or businesses would
retire.
That, of course, destroys all
arguments offered by the Town
send organizers to the effect that
the Townsend Plan would create
millions of jobs for young men.
But, taking Dr. Townsend’s
latest estimate of the number of
pensioners, S2OO a month for
8,000,003 people totals one billion
six hundred million dollars a
month, or nineteen billion two
hundred million dollars a year.
Dr. Townsend and his economist,
Dr. Doane, estimated thsit the
total cost of the pensions for
8,000,000 people would be eight
een billiop dollars, which is one
billion two hundred million dol
lars less than pensions of S2OO a
month to 8.000,000 people.
In 1932, the U. S. total of all
taxes for all purposes by all gov
ernment units was a little more
than eight billion dollars.
This total is probably no greater
now. but let us say that it is nine
billions. This is only half of the
amount Dr. Townsend expects to
raise through his transactions tax.
ana
HOW heavy a burden the
Townsend tax would prove is
clearly apparent when the total
of $18,000,000,000 is reduced to the
amounts which will fall upon the
people of each state and to what
this tax will cost the average
family.
Let us take Wisconsin, with al
most exactly 2.4 per cent of the
population of the United States
and in every respect an average
state.
It is fair to assume that the
people of Wisconsin would have
to pay 2.4 per cent of the total of
the $18,000,000,000 which Dr.
Townsend expects his transactions
tax to produce, this 2.4 per cent
being $432 000.000.
As theie are 3.000,000 men,
women and children in Wisconsin,
this tax amounts to an average of
sl2 a month, for every man,
woman and child.
This enormous burden is im
posed in the Townsend Plan an
nually and is additional to all
other taxes now levied. Moreover,
it is important to remember that
this tax would be collected for
four months before any one re
ceived an old-age pension.
During these four months, on
the estimates of Dr. Townsend,
there would be collected $4,500,-
000,000 in the United States in
payment of the transactions tax.
ana
SO long as no one received a
cent in pensions, no one now
working could be expected to re
tire; and collection of a tax twice
as heavy as all present taxes
combined while no one got any
thing in return could not fail to
have a most depressing effect
upon business.
No country or state has ever
levied a transactions tax as in
clusive or at as high rates as the
proposed Townsend tax. The
nearest parallel to such tax has
been the gross income tax, with
which a few states have experi
mented.
Indiana now has a gross in
come tax, but with more exemp
tions than in the Townsend tax
and with a rate of but 1 per cent
on retail sales and wages and of
J ,i per cent on manufacturers and
jobbers. The Indiana tax yields
a little more than $1,000,000 a
month.
Certain types of transactions
would not be difficult to reach if
the Towhsend tax plan should be
adopted. The 2 per cent tax on
wages and salaries is to be paid by
the employer and deducted from
each pay check, so whoever else
escapes, the wage earners would
have to pay their share.
As Congressman Boileau has so
clearly pointed out, chain stores
and mail oi’der houses would have
a very great advantage under the
Townsend tax plan over inde
pendent merchants, as they avoid
tax duplication, buying directly
from manufacturers "and often
manufacturing some of the
products they sell; while inde
pendent merchants must buy
through jobbers and wholesalers,
each of whom would add 2 per
cent to his price on each transac
tion.
ana
IN the Townsend literature the
picture is presented that a
large part of the tax would be col
lected from sales of stocks and
bonds and other speculative
transactions on the security and
grain exchanges.
But it is certain that little reve
nue would ever be collected for
BEATEN BY FINE DEFENCE
Today’s Contract Problem
The contract is seven no
trump, by South. To make
this hand, declarer must not
lose a heart trick. Therefore,
where should the first trick in
that suit be won?
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Solution in next issue. 7
Solution to Previous
Contract Problem
BY WM. E. M’KENNEY
Secretary American Bridge League
'"r'HE Amercian Bridge League
JL tentatively has set the dates
for the masters’ individual and
the masters’ team of four tourna
ments for vhe week of April 13.
This tournament in the past
has been held in September or
October, but as winners of the
team of four are the recognized
representatives of the United
States, which now holds the
world's championship team of
four title, it was thought best to
select a representation earlier in
the year, rather than at the end.
In this tournament, fine play is
the rule and not the exception.
Oswald Jacoby, a member of the
famous "Four Aces” team, which
now holds the world's champion
ship title, and winner of last
J
Robert Earl Clements, the busi
ne® man spark plug of the Town
send organization.
gambling and speculative transac
tions, because they are so easily
covered up.
It is a well-known fact that
sales taxes fall with peculiar
weight upon people of low in
comes. Wage earners, farmers,
and others with small or moder
ate incomes must spend nearly all
they take in and under any sales
tax are taxed on practically all
their income.
The Townsend transactions tax
is a multiple sales tax, plus a tax
on wages, salaries, and profes
sional earnings. Every sales tax
tends tf be shifted to consumers
in the form of higher prices.
n an
THE seller usually adds some
thing more than the tax, to
cover interest on money he must
advance and payment for extra
work which the tax causes him.
The Tovmsend tax would be
levied on every turnover, and
each time the tax, plus, very prob
ably, an additional charge, would
be added to the purchase price.
There is no way of estimating
how much the Townsend tax
would raise prices. Congressman
Verner Main of Michigan esti
mated an average of from 10 per
cent to 12 per cent. For many
commodities this increase would
be much greater.
Labor unions and farmers’ or
ganizations have always fought
sales taxes and the American Fed
eration of Labor has strongly con
demned the Townsend tax plan.
On this attitude the labor
unions and the farmers’ organi
zations are certainly correct, be
cause there is no doubt that this
is the most burdensome and in
equitable tax ever proposed.
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Opening lead— 4 2 7
year’s individual tournament,
turned in a spectacular record in
1935.
Here’s an example of the quick
thinking of which this star is
capable. He sat in the South and
defeated four hearts in the fol
lowing manner:
Against four hearts. North
opened the deuce of clubs. A small
club was played from dummy and
Jacoby reasoned that his partner
held four clubs, probably headed
by an honor. He needed that
honor in his partner’s hand as an
“in” card, so instead of going up
with his ace of clubs, he played
the queen, which permitted West
to win the trick with the king.
Declarer picked up the out
standing trump, and then led a
diamond, hoping to establish a
diamond on which he could dis
card a losing spade. Jacoby won
the trick with the queen and
quickly underled his ace of clubs,
throwing his partner into the lead
with the jack.
North played a spade, giving
Jacoby two spade tricks. This
fine defensive play set the con
tract one trick.
By J. Carver Pusey
Second Section
Enured Mutter
at liuiianapolU. Inrl.
Fair Enough
WESIMM ItGlflt
PHIS. March 14.—Doubtless it will be a great
surprise to Mr. Avery Brundage. president of the
American Amateur Athletic Union, to learn that
those uniformed men whose swarming numbers ob
scured the sporting aspect of the Olympic games at
Garmisch-Partenkirchen were soldiers, after all.
and that they are now up on the Rhine waiting for
war.
It may be remembered that
Mr. Brundage was pretty thor
oughly deceived during his pleas
ant days and nights in Garmisch.
Mr. Brundage. as athletic ambas
sador, so to speak, of the nation
which just barely declined to ap
ply sanctions against the games,
was a distinguished and honored
guest of the Germans, but they
took an unkind advantage of his
believing nature.
The Nazis had promised him
that they would do nothing to
foul the fine sporting spirit of
the games, and when thousands
of men in uniform appeared on thp scene, most of
them wearing tin hats and almost all carrying
bayonets, an explanation was given readily.
Man
Neal Explanation
THOSE were not soldiers but policemen and labor
ers. all except the Black Guards, whose name
has one significance irf Berlin but quite another in
the English language. The Black Guards were
neither policemen nor laborers but the personal at
tendants of Adolf Hitler assigned to protect him with
their li\es. And the dazzle-painted army lorries
were not military transports but just some motor
trucks which happened to be passing through.
That was the explanation which was given at.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen when the foreign tourists
were stretching their necks and dancing on their
toes trying to see past the uniformed ranks and
catch an occasional squint at an athlete.
And now’ it turns out that the Nazi government
was playing a joke on Mr. Brundage and the athletic
ambassadors of other nations. For the laborers and
police and doubtless many personal bodyguards of
Adolf Hitler and the uniformed poultry raisers with
wings on their tunics have swung over the Rhine in
the same trucks which carried them through the
streets of Garmisch-Partenkirchen less than a month
ago. If they aren’t soldiers at least they are what
the Nazis will use for fighting purposes when the
war comes.
Your correspondent was a victim of the same
deception that took in the believing Brundage ex
cept in one particular. The exception was the corps
of Black Guards, about 2000 strong. The Nazis ex
plained time and again they were not soldiers but
personal bodyguards, and the explanations always left
a lingering doubt.
Now it appears tnat when a Black Guard has
sufficiently proven those qualities which in English
would be called blackguardism, he is considered
qualified for a commission as an Nazi army officer.
Inasmuch as most of them possessed these qualifi
cations in a high degree, it is logical to assume that
many corps members are on the Rhine now.
nan
Paris Doesn’t Seem Right
'T'HERE is something creepy about the word “war"
J. now, because war has been brought so near to
France and Paris overnight, and yet the appearance
of the country and the city is so normal. You would
expect that people who suddenly found themselves
sitting right under guns again would have some
particular appearance.
What would a mother with her children do when
she found herself and her young ones sitting right
under the guns? Wouldn’t she be likely to hustle
them into an automobile or train and light out for
the South or even get going on foot if she had no
money?
But the French just have no appearance of peo
j pie waiting for something to drop and do nothing
which lends itself to the description at all. They
haven't been this close to war since 1918, and if
the British decide to go along with them in the
course which they have demanded, the Germans
will be over to blow them up.
Nevertheless, they apparently are honest about
their demand that the British decide on war and
will not thank them if they decide to hold back
instead, thus averting war, for the time being at
least.
It’s a good thing for Mr. Brundage that he was
not present on the Rhine at the moment, for he
would be sure to recognize among the army of oc
cupation the same types of uniformed Nazis who
were not soldiers at the Olympic games, but only
cops, road workers and the personal attendants of
Der Fuehrer, with the special quality of blackguard
ism.
Art in Indianapolis
BY ANTON SCHERRER
HENRIK MAYER’S murals for the Louisville
Marine Hospital, which are treated elsewhere
in today’s paper, are good, we suspect, because of the
artist’s respect for architecture.
At its best, mural decoration is the perfect com
plement to architecture; at its worst, the dispropor
tionate enlargement of an insignificant picture.
a tt a
MURAL-MINDED as we are today we can't help
wondering about the future of the Benton
murals—the ones Indiana so proudly sent to the
World's Fair to help make it the significant thing
it was. Remember?
Acclaimed by critics at the time as tops, these
murals now lie stored away somewhere on the State
Fairground, unseen, and subject to the fluctuating
temperatures of cruel winters which can’t possibly
do them any good. Certainly, they deserve better
treatment.
To prove that they deserve something better than
storage we cite the number of disappointed people
who stopped off in Indianapolis last year to have a
look at them. There were more than you think.
Perhaps it isn't too late to do something about it,
a a a
PROPERLY housed in a simple substantial struc
ture in one of the state parks, the Benton mur
als could conceivably be turned into a benefit instead
of the burden they now' appear to be. Treated with
the respect they deserve, they might even turn out
to be the object of pilgrimages from all parts of the
state; indeed, from all parts of the country.
Only two things stand in the way: the initiative
to do something about it and the matter of money.
We can't do much more about the first. As for the
money, the price of three miles of concrete road
building, which nobody would miss, would do the
trick.
It's a cheap price to save Indiana from the
ridicule of future generations.
an n
BY all means, let us have independent shows—
the more, the merrier—but let them bp artistic.
Above all, let them be dedicated to art, not to artists.
The public wants wheat, not chaff. That implies
selection. By the same token, selection calls for
art-juries.
To do away with art-juries can lead to nothing
but confusion. Immediately, art exhibitions will be
rendered null and void by displaying hundreds of
mediocre pictures which not alone attract adverse
criticism on their own account, but hinder the en
joyment of many good works which, in such com
pany, are bound to forfeit much of their significance
and appeal.
To question the integrity of juries is even worse.
Come to think of it. why should everybody expect
more of art-juries than they do of other human
agencies? They manage to control their tempers
when they consider the weather man and, goodness
knows, the provocation is twice as great.
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