The Indianapolis times. [volume], March 30, 1936, Final Home Edition, Second Section, Image 11

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

Image provided by: Indiana State Library

                
It Seems to Me
nn broun
(Heywood Broun is on vacation. William Philip
Simms, Scripps-lioward foreign editor, bats for him
today.)
March 30.—Britain’s fleet con
centration in the Mediterranean,
against Italy, is characterized by diplomats
here as probably her greatest blunder since
the American Revolution.
Many believe the move may mar’: a
turning point in the empire's history as important
in some respects as England’s stand against the
American colonies.
Italy, of course, is not British possession. But
the Mediterranean, since Nelson at Trafalgar, has
been a British lake—a lake on which the fate of
the empire has rested and may rest again. Since
the digging of the Suez Canal especially, it has been
a sort of jugular vein, the most important part of
the empire’s lifeline.
When Britain mobilized ev
ery available ton of her mighty
fleet in those waters, therefore,
some 11 days before the League
of Nations met at Geneva to
discuss Italy’s war in Ethiopia,
Italy regarded it as a hostile
British move—not a League
move—against her.
Today Italy is determined to
make herself the strongest air
power in the Mediterranean if
not in the world. She is con
vinced this will give her com
mand of that sea.
Such an air fleet is within
Italy’s means. She plans to
Simms
have more than 5000 war planes before the end
of this year. She can’t match battleships with Brit
ain. But she feels she doesn’t have to. Where a
battleship costs $40,000,000, a monster bomber, built
in series, costs only $40,000. The price of a single
dreadnaught would build 1000 bombers.
True, nobody today can say with exactitude what
the outcome of a battle between a dreadnaught and
a fleet of aerial bombers would be.
a a tt
Britain Faces Dilemma
BUT experts agree that the presence of a fraction
of a fleet of 1000 bombers would prove too big a
risk for a battleship to run in narrow waters or
near hostile shores.
From Gibraltar to the Indian Ocean, Britain's
all-important line of empire communications runs
through very narrow waters—the Mediterranean,
Suez Canal, Red Sea, Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb and
Gulf of Eden. Almost anywhere along that 200-
mile line British vessels would be within bombing
distance of Italy.
Britain, therefore, can not afford half-way meas
ures in dealing with this country. She must be
Italy’s friend or her enemy. She must have Italy on
her side or crush Italy in the long run.
Britain, according to some of the most far
sighted diplomats in Europe, can not afford to thrust
Italy into the arms of Germany and a possible
coalition as powerful as Europe has ever seen.
British policy must follow One of two courses:
Either co-operate with anew increasingly strong
Italy, or prevent Italy from becoming strong. The
alternative is to put control of Britain’s Mediter
ranean short cut in the hands of a potential enemy
in the next war.
So British mobilization in the Mediterranean is
called a blunder of the first magnitude. It con
stitutes a constant threat of an “accidental” and un
wanted war as long as it is there.
it tt tt
Italy Would Fight
THE fleet mobilization in those perilous waters in
tlie first place, I am told here, was largely due to
the sensitiveness of Capt. Anthony Eden, now Brit
ish foreign minister. At 38, in high diplomacy, he is
something like a boy of 17 in love—secretly sensitive
about his age and inexperience.
The story goes that Mussolini was not especially
flattered to have this boyish secretary for League of
Nations affairs sent to talk with him at Rome in
stead of a foreign secretary or premier, both of which
he himself is. Thus, after Eden's first interview
with II Duce, it seems gradually to have dawned on
him that Mussolini had not been smiling with him so
much as quietly laughing at him. Whereupon, in a
huff, he canceled his next scheduled meeting with
the Duce and took the first train for home.
The official reason for the mobilization—the Ital
ian newspaper campaign telling how easy it would
be to bomb British ships in the Mediterranean—
scarcely any one here takes seriously. Italy was in
no position to fight Britain, foreign experts say.
The use of force or military sanctions to change
the situation in Italy would, I am convinced, toss
all the fat into the fire.
It is believed that if Italy were encircled by mili
tary sanctions she would try to fight her way out,
cost what it might.
TOMORROW—The riot (?) to Let Mussolini Win.
Senate Democrats
Having Easy Time
BY RAYMOND CLArPER
"\T7 ASHINGTON, March 30.—It's an easy life for
W the Senate Democrats these days. They must
be amazed at how much the Republicans let them
get away with.
Even when a beligerent Republican summons
enough nerve to start a fight, he must go it alone as
Senator Steiwer of Oregon did the other day when
he took on Senator Black and the dragnet tactics
of the lobby investigation. His fellow Republicans sat
listlessly by while Black pushed
him back on the ropes. From the
gallery, it is hard to figure out
whether the Republicans are too
proud to fight, or just too tired.
Not even one Republican rose
to challenge what looked like
preparations for a political raid
on HOLC, one of the best run of
the government lending agencies
since it was taken out of the
hands 6f a lame duck politician
and turned over to a business
man.
Without a dissenting vote,
Senator McKellar (D., Tenn.)
put through a Senate resolution calling for a list of
HOLC regional employes. One of 'hese innocuous
looking little resolutions which you would think
would bring sharp-eyed opposition senators to their
feet with a barrage of questions.
But no Republican rose to ask if this list was de
sired for the use of campaign fund collectors. Or if
it was preliminary to an attempt to knock out the
regional collection agencies of HOLC and substitute
for them state agencies staffed with patronage col
lectors who would be more easy-going.
Not one on the Republican side asked McKellar
what he was driving at. They haven’t even the curi
osity of a man whose wife hears a noise in the'
cellar. They must even have forgotten that McKel
lar’s fame re~ts on the famous “patronage guide
book,’’ a special compilation of every appointive job
in the Federal government, which he engineered in
1933 just before the hungry Democrats moved up to
the pie counter.
No doubt McKellar had prepared himself to
answer all searching questions. If so, it was a
superfluous precaution.
a a *
SENATOR VANDENBERG is the only Republican
who seems unaffected by the spring fever. Al
most single-handed he checked the debatable Florida
Ship Canal, which was undertaken without con
gressional authorization. After AAA officials, on
the ground that it would be too much trouble, al
most escaped having to report on farmers who re
ceived benefit payments in excess of SIO,OOO, Van
denberg forced action. If this be the restless toss
ing of the presidential fever, the affliction doesn't
appear to be contagious.
FRANCE’S WATCH ON THE RHINE
ft* 3. Fields of barbed wire—sprouting overnight. .
4. Arsenals along the famous line of fortifications. -
WASHINGTON, March 30.
The attitude of the New
Deal toward agricultural labor and
tenant farmers has changed. Both
are now recognized as among the
most important agricultural prob
lems confronting the Administra
tion.
One year ago. Victor Christgau,
assistant administrator of the
AAA, was dismissed by Henry
Wallace for meeting with tenant
farmers and agricultural laborers
at the home of Gardner Jackson,
also dismissed from the AAA.
Last week, Henry Wallace and
other high AAA Officials re
ceived a delegation from the rad
ical Southern Tenant Farmers’
Union to discuss the plight of
thousands of dispossessed farmers.
Gardner Jackson, previously dis
missed, arranged the conference.
What the share-croppers pro
pose is an amendment to the
Wagner Labor Disputes Act, en
larging its scope to include agri
cultural labor disputes.
Rex Tugwell and his Resettle
ment officials also favor this. The
plan, if adopted, would create a
new division in the Labor Depart
ment to handle farm labor.
Note—Miss Perkins, incidentally,
has been lukewarm about getting
mixed up in farm labor rows. She
was pushed into the plan of send
ing an arbitrator to adjust the
share-cropper war in Arkansas,
shed no tears when Vice President
Garnei blocked the plan as be
ing against the interests of Sen
ator Robinson of Arkansas.
u n n
THE President was discussing
his Canadian treaty at din
ner the other night with Owen D.
Young, chairman of the giant
General Electric Cos.
“I certainly stuck my neck out
on cream and milk in that
Canadian Treaty, didn't I,
Owen?” the President remarked,
“ —especially in St. Lawrence
County.”
St. Lawrence County, New York,
happens to be the birthplace of
Mr. Young. Also it is a heavy pro
ducer of milk and cream, on
which the tariff is lowered for
competing Canadian dairy pro
ducts.
"Yes,” Mr. Young replied, ‘‘and
.
Clapper
The Indianapolis Times
Famous Line of Pillbox Forts Studs Villages and Fields
Washington Merry-Go-Round
BY DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. ALLEN
BENNY
■ ——= —r ~ —* —•—-—' 1 '- _ ' ■
• AQUARIUM
_ • mi fer (MM Vwv* (Mna. im.
—All photos by Acme.
2. Somewhere on the Maginot line—a heavily armed blockhouse.
2. A pillbox fort, jutting into the street.
3. Fields of barbed wire—sprouting overnight.
4. Arsenals along the famous line of fortifications.
in all three of those northern
New York counties.”
“But,” laughed the President,
“there’s hardly a Democratic vote
up there.”
“Yes,” replied Mr. Young, “I
was about to remark that you
would lose about seven votes in
northern New York as a result of
that treaty.”
tt a tt
WHEN the initial issue of the
government’s first news
paper, The Official Register, was
published, only 50 copies were run
off the press..
Os these, 48 were destroyed. Os
the two remaining, one was given
New Alien Bill
BY RUTH FINNEY
Times Special Writer
WASHINGTON, March 30.
A modified deportation bill will
be presented to the Senate to
day by its immigration com
mittee, together with a plea
for speedy consideration.
In its new form the bill still
saves from deportation the 2862
aliens of good character for
whom the Labor Department
has urged leniency.
However, it limits to three
years the discretionary power
of a proposed inter-depart
mental committee to pass on
these cases and provides that
only aliens in the United States
before the bill becomes law
may be granted leniency.
For the future the new
measure provides that the com
missioner of immigration,
rather than a committee, shall
exercise the few discretionary
powers allowed.
Commissioner D. W. Mac-
Cormack believes the modified
measure will enable his depart
ment to solve at least 90 per
cent of its deportation prob
lems. Opponents of the bill,
however, intend to fight it on
the Senate floor. Senator Rob
ert R. Reynolds <D., N. C.) will
continue to argue that it is too
liberal and to urge that his bill
cutting immigration quotas 90
per cent be substituted.
MONDAY, MARCH 30, 1936
to the President, one to the Li
brary of Congress.
Reason: The scandal caused
when Jim Farley gave away some
first-run postage stamps has sent
jitters down New Deal spines. Of
ficials were afraid first copies of
The Official . Register might
bring fabulous sums.
tt tt tt
ROOSEVELT is
having a quiet check made
of government broadcasting. Car
rying out his personal instruction,
the National Emergency Council
has sent a confidential question
naire to all department and bureau
heads requesting information on
the number, nature and cost of
radio programs sponsored by the
government during the past year.
Inside word is that these broad
casts have become so numerous
that politicians complain they
can not obtain desirable time on
the air. . . . It’s an ill. wind that
blows no good. Before the recent
floods, the House cut the Soil
Erosion Service’s 1937 appropria
tion from $27,500,000 to $22,500,000.
After the floods, the Senate Ap
propriations Committee upped the
grant to $32j500,000. . . . One of
the facts suppressed by Secretary
Dan Roper, concerning incompe
tence in the maritime agencies of
his department, is the reason why
the S. S. lowa went down off the
Pacific Coast recently with all
hands on board. The ship found
ered on a shoal which was sup
posed to be marked with a gas
buoy. After the tragedy the buoy
was found on the beach four miles
from the danger point. . . . The
success of walnut growers in ob
taining an export subsidy from
the Agriculture Department, de
spite the vehement protest of Sec
retary of State Cordell Hull,
inspired citrus fruit raisers to
demand a similar handout. Their
plan calls for a government grant
of $1,000,000 to subsidize the ship
ment abroad of 2,000,000 boxes of
oranges and grapefruit. • . . Rex
Tugwell has employed Pare Lo
rentz, well-known movie critic, to
put his Resettlement Administra
tion in the films. Suggested title:
“It Never Happened Here.”
(Copyright, 1936, by United Feature
Syndicate, Inc.)
OUTGUESSED IN SQUEEZE
Today’s Contract Problem
North’s contract is seven
spades. It looks as if he has
a losing heart trick. How
ever, how would you play the
hand to try to make the con
tract?
4AKQ J 5 3
VQ9
♦A 8 4
A 7 4
* lO r~N lAB 7 2
VKJ76 w/ c VIO 82
4 w t 4JIO 73
♦ 6 5 2 5 *362
*QJ 10 9 Dealer
*9 6 4
VA 5 3
♦K Q 9
* AKS 3
None vul. Opener—* 8.
Solution in next issue. 23
Solution to Previous Contract
Problem
BY W. E. M’KENNEY
Secretary American Bridge League
/~\F all the interesting features
of the game that the bridge
writer may select, probably the
most interesting from the view
point of the writer and that of his
readers is the squeeze in its many
varied forms.
Therefore, I am selecting for
today's hand one that I was for
tunate to see played in a recent
bridge game.
Before declarer could perfect
the squeeze that enabled him to
make his contract, it was neces
sary for him to employ that un
usual variation known as trans
ferring the squeeze from one op
ponent’s hand to the other.
After the opening lead was won
with the king of diamonds, West
continued with the queen and
then the ace. His partner dis
carded the seven of spades and
the deuce of clubs on the second
and third diamond tricks.
West shifted to the ten of
spades, which was won in dummy
with the ace. Declarer now real-
AAK g 6
VK9 7 4
♦8 6 3
♦ A 10
AlO 3 r kj lAQ J 7 5
vlO w c 2
♦AK Q 7 w _ = *65
52S * 4
*KB 6 3 Dealer I* J 75 4 2
A 9 4
VAQJ 8 3 2
♦ J 10 9
AQ 9
Rubber—All vul.
South West North East
Pass 1 ♦ Double. Pass
2 * Pass 3 * Pass
4 * Pass Pass Pass
Opening lead—♦ K. 23
ized that his only chance to make
contract was to resort to some
type of squeeze.
Up to this point the play
seemed to indicate that the queen
and jack of spades were in East’s
hand and, to justify his opening
bid, West should hold the king of
clubs. If East held the jack of
clubs, he probably could be
squeezed between the spade and
clubs suits, provided that the jack
of clubs could be set up as the
high card in the club suit, trans
ferring the squeeze to East’s hand.
Declarer played two rounds of
trump, ending in his own hand.
He played the queen of clubs,
West covered, and dummy's ace
won. The remaining trump oards
were played, North discarding a
low spade and the ten of clubs.
On tne play of the last trump,
declarer was gratified to find that
his reasoning had been correct, as
East was pressed for a discard.
Endeavoring to protect the
queen-jack of spades, he discard
ed the jack of clubs, hoping that
his partner held the nine. But
when declarer cashed the nine of
clubs and claimed the last trick
with the king of spades in dummy,
East realized that he had been the
victim of a beautiful squeeze play.
(Copyright, 1936. by NEA Service, Inc.)
By J. Carver Pusey
Second Section
Entered as Sernnd-Clss* Matter
at I'ostoffire, Indianapolis. Ind.
Fair Enough
wnmn
March 30.—This morning the
papers reported an overwhelming tri
umph at the polls for Adolf Hitler and the
Nazi regime, but there are certain little
considerations which ought to be under
stood.
The election was national in scope and gave Hit
ler and his ticket and all his works and methods a
tremendous indorsement. On the basis of this ap-
proval Hitler, in his negotiations
with other countries, will repre
sent himself as the spokesman of
the united will of 67 million Ger
mans. As shrewd and practical a
politician as Anthony Eden, the
handsome and precocious young
statesman who handles foreign
relations for young King Edward
VIII, will not be kidded, of course,
and it is hardly likely that our
Mr. Cordell Hull will be swept
away on a tide of statistics, either.
But the Nazis are great be
lievers in newspaper headlines
and text, and judging other peo
ple by their own, they expect to
create among the American and British citizens an
impression that the indorsement of Der Fuehrer was
the free expression of the choice of German voters.
Imposing on this pretense, they will not fail to
pomt out that Hitler’s will is that of the entire Ger
man nation without the slightest reservation or dis
sent, whereas the American and British govern
ments represent no such unanimity.
tt tt tt
Even Farley Wouldn't Approve
f I ''HERE are said to be not a few Americans W'ho
disagree with the policies and the performances
of the New Deal, and the present British govern
ment was not elected without a struggle. But the
ballot which was used in the German plebiscite is a
document the like of which not even Tammany
Hall nor even the Southern Democracy has ever
had the gall to offer the voters, and there were also
methods of terrorism to complement the absurd
sham of the voting system which never have been
seen in any American precinct.
I doubt that even Mr. James Farley, practical
as he is in the operation of his machine, would ap
prove a ballot of the kind which Hitler used to ob
tain his expression of the united will of the German
nation. After all, politics is a game to Mr. Farley,
and although he spent enough time in the prize
fight business to learn that a contest which is in the
bag is weU worth winning, he does like to see some
one coming out of the opposite rorner, even though
it be only a “Diving Dan” O'Dowd.
Hitler, however, would not even take a chance
on a dry tank man, so he won a slashing victory over
nobody. The Nazi ballot on which the 67 million
Germans expressed the united will of an emanci
pated race yesterday contained a list of candidates
selected by Adolf Hitler and the word “ja” or “yes. H
There was only one way to vote this ballot. You
voted “ja,” thereby indorsing Hitler’s entire list and
Hitler himself and everything he stands for, in
cluding the assassination of his personal friends in
a midnight massacre, the repudiation of learning
and a pogrom on thought, or your vote didn’t count.
There was no place on the ballot in which the Ger
man citizen could vote “nein.” and if anybody did
write the word “nein” on a ballot that ballot was
automatically invalidated.
Moreover, to vote against the ticket and thus
against Hitler was to vote against the state, and to
vote against *the state is reason, a crime which mey
be punished by long imprisonment or even by execu
tion under the medieval battleax in the hands of
the gentleman in the dress suit.
n a
Exaggerated Claims
r T''HE point to remember when Hitler and the Ger
man ambassadors enter future negotiations
claiming to represent the German people more
thoroughly than Roosevelt represents ours is that our
system permits us to vote against Roosevelt, whereas
a German votes against Hitler only at the risk* of
his life and casts a disqualified vote even then.
Hitler was slightly more tolerant in the Saar
plebiscite, permitting the freemen to vote against
the reunion with Germany if they dared to do so.
He was very generous in the last national pleb
iscite, too, in which, I believe, the citizens were in
vited to indorse all he had done up to and includ
ing conscription. In that vote, also, there was a
nominal opportunity to vote “nein,” but persons who
attempted to enter the secrecy of the polling booths
were denounced as enemies of the Fuehrer, and
therefore traitors to the state, on the grounds that
no man who intended voting for Hitler would desire
to do so in secret.
On the contrary, he would be proud to hold his
ballot up against a wall and mark it in public. Those
who preferred their privacy were listed in the books.
Without doubt they have been subjected to much ro
bust political missionary work in the concentration
camps since then.
Gen Johnson Says—
TIfASHINGTON, March 30. —Europe reverberates
~ * with thundering rumors of war. Our people
are still grievously suffering from the last time they
stuck their fingers into the overseas buzz-saw. They
have only one thought—to keep out of European war.
Accordingly, “neutrality” legislation is proposed.
It takes the form of various restrictions on the
shipment of things to any warring nation. There is
talk of sanctions and quotas. Is this neutrality? Or
are we being fooled, as usual, by a catch-word?
Neutrality is “the condition of a government
which takes no part, directly or indirectly, in a war
between other governments.”
Modern war is no longer a kind of gladiatorial
contest between professional armies. Each nation
goes to battle with its entire strength of men, money,
materials and morale. For this reason, there is
nothing that is not a munition of war. Require
ments change and it is hard to foresee which is
most necessary—peach stones and cherry pits or 75
mm. guns. Both were, at different times the prin
cipal requirements in 1918.
(Copyright, 1936, by United Feature Syndicate. Inc.
Tim''-
_ yt. *5 % fi'
1.. e %|®s %| *
r. xL 'Z Q Tweleetreeu
2 5* > ? % s S. akvsTEBT”
ordll • % STREAK'* _
Some £ _ . ii Frospert-Cliorehmaß
& $ * S Rouble Feature
It* a Cf ? 5 Roehelle HalMa
in an Q 2 XZ * SOWN EAST"
“ a “ ' 35, s$ 5? HAY HOSTESS”
, 55 ’ >1 11*5 a. Meridian Si.
11 m %. &4 A AL D * Bbl * Fe,,r *
“•' \% %? -cou.tr.iATr- r
tale is ; *s G “this is the i.ife”
gallant c .** n nail SMby - at. ”
is, altoge I AFIELD
tßy 1 ah wnnEKNESV
S ‘MAST BtBNS, rUOITtV*”
Westbrook Pcglcr