Indiana daily times. [volume], December 29, 1920, Last Home Edition, Page 4, Image 4

About Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922

Image provided by: Indiana State Library

                
4
U. S. CONGRESS
OLD MACHINE
IN BAD REPAIR
Great Lawmaking Body Needs
New Starter and Other
Equipment.
LONG WAIT FOR ACTION
WASHINGTON, I). C.—That Congress
Is afl old-model machine In bad repair,
and must be rebuilt and equipped With
anew starter. Is an opinion which is
now being heard from authoritative
sources. And the case against the con
gressional system seems to be a good
one.
One of its minor flaws is exhibited
right now in the fact that, after electing
anew administration, we must wait four
months or so before it can go into action
against the many difficult problems that
confront it. The old administration is
naturally going to mark time, as out
going administrations always do. Lit
tle matters like taxation, Haiti, and
Mexico, it will leave to embarrass its
successors of the other party.
But that is only one of a number of
ways in which Congress, as a machine,
works poorly because of the way it is
designed. It seems to have been intend
ed to work much as the British parlia
mentary sj-ftem does, but to have failed.
At least, that is the opinion of Wood
row Wilson, whose book on constitu
tional government in the J-’uited States
was a standard long before he was
President, ana still remains so.
“The President of the United States
was intended .... to be a reformed
and standardized king,” lie says, “and
Congress was meant to be a reformed
r.rd properlv regulated parliament."
But the framers of the Constitution d-.vi
their work none too weli in the first
place, and time has changed it a good
oral. Today the Congress of the United
1-tates is remarkable chiehy for its un
wieldiness and irresponsibility.
HOW THE BUCK
IS PASSED.
The chief fault of It, the critics seem
to agree, lies in the fact that the men
who design the laws have little to do
. with enforcing them, and those who
to enforce them have little to say in
framing them. In other words, the thing
works out as an elaborate system for the
passing of the buck.
Thl* can best be understood by com
paring our congressional system with the
British parli jmentary system, of which
it seems to be a poor imitation In each
there is a chief executive and a legislative
body with two branches. There the simi,
larity ends. In England the chief ex
ecutive is the prime minister, who Is
appointed by the crown, in "theory at
least. He forms a Cabinet from tbe raern
bers of his own - party in Parliament.
These men are the heads of the executive
branches of the Government, just as our
Cabinet members are, bnt they also re
tain their seats in Parliament and are
made thereto defend their measures auq
motives.
Furthermore, the Cabinet In England
originates all important legislation. If
the bouse of Commons refuses to sup
port its legislative program, then the
Cabinet resigns and anew prime min
ister forms anew Cabinet. If the Parlia
ment, on tbo other hand, supports and
passes the legislative program offered by
the cabinet, then it is up to that same
Cabinet to prove that those laws wiil
work.
CABINET OFFICERS HAVE
NO POWER IN LEGISLATION.
In our Congfess the Cabinet members
not only have no seats in Congress, but
they have no originative power over leg
lstatlon—or at. least, practically none
There are two chief results of this so far
as the Cabinet officers are concerned. In the
first place, the President and his Cab
inet officers are called upon to execute
whatever laws Congress chooses to pass;
there is no certainty of harmony be
tween them. In the second pla'c the
Cabinet officers are not subjected to ef
fective criticism. Almost any one can
think of a few Cabinet officers who would
har had a hard time holding their jobs
if they had been forced to defend the ad
ministrations of their departments on the
floor of the House.
The results of the system, so far
Congress is concerned, are essentially the
same la that they also make for'irre
sponsibility. The real originative souro
®f our laws is* in the committees of the
House. There are a great many of these
committees. Bills introduced ar> referred
to them. They report only what bills
they choose to report, and usually these
are bills drawn up by the committee
Itself and bearing the name of the chair
men. These bills are debated and'
fought over on the floor of the House,
it is true, but the size of the House,
the number who wish to be beard, and
the Immense amount of business to be
transacted, make this debate perfunctory
tud Inadequate. In the Senate the bills
get a great deal more real deliberative
consideration. But differences between
the House and the Senate must be com
promised in the conference committee,
usually In great haste at tbe end of a
session.
The result of all this is that the typical
American Federal law is a child of ob
scure origin. Many hands have a share
in its upbringing, and it is finally turned
FOR
Colds
* tube to-
JEJnft. d*y. Make* your
bced end nose
l'V^ 1 * '*’ feel fine.
sNv Easy to
to act
20 treatment tin FREE —Writ*
KONDON MFG. CO.
Minneapolis, Minn.
Stiff? Sore?
A lame back, e sore muscle or a stiff
joint often is considered too lightly by
the sufferer. It should be remembered
that backache, rheumatic pains, stiff*
ness, soreness, sallow skin and puffineis
tinder the eyes are symptoms of kidney
and bladder trouble—and these certainly
should not be neglected.
foleyjgdneypuis
help the kidneys eliminate from the
system the poisonous waste and acids
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wrmsry trouble I triad Foley Kidney Pills and
aey tht 1 hishly recommend thorn to any
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Big New Plant Rapidly Taking Form
•••• v rzzf
j iiwin in— in i n iBMWi i iiiir iMWMMiwwMMMmwwi
The big Indianapolis plant of the
Westinghouse Laiup Company, one of
this city’s new industries, has begun to
assume a most imposing appearance,
with its length of 400 feet on Michigan
street and its width of eighty feet.
over for enforcement, to the Cabinet of
ficer who stands often in the position of
a somewhat reluctant and critical step
father. If the child does well, every one
claims credit, and if ■ set-m# unpopular
and ugly, every one blames somebody
else.
LACK OF UNITY
MAKES BUSINESS UNWIELDY.
Furthermore, consider the way In
which our legislative programs are drawn
up. These programs ought to be uni-
m Good Service |@9|
■ ■ and) VS ■ 1
Is What People Want for Travel and Shipping
Better passenger and freight service to points reached by trac
tion lines than given by any other means of transportation.
Seventeen trains via Anderson and fourteen trains via New
castle for Muncie.* Seven through trains to Ft. Wayne, sixteen to
Kokomo. Two trains through to Ft. Wayne and one through
train to Goshen via Peru daily. All limited trains connecting at
junction points for all cities and towns in the gas belt, northern
and northwestern part of the state, Michigan and Ohio.
Passenger and
Freight
Trains
Protected
By E ectric
Block Signals
%
Announcement to Freight Shippers
“Aeroplane” Freight to Ft. Wayne, seven hours; Toledo, fourteen hours. “Cannon
Ball” Freight to South Bend, fourteen hours; St. Joseph; Mich., twenty-four hours.
Local freight to all points daily except Sunday.
Express freight on all passenger trains “stack up”
our service against anything else.
f
Talk to the Local Agent or Write to Traffic Department, Anderson, Indiana
iflnfisftl UNION TRACTION CO. IfKfjsift!
wUm OF INDIANA
li .JJ vv ■■ ■_ —t I)
It is a concrete building, of the latest
type of construction and design anil will
have a total height of about eigbt feet,
four stories and a basement,
The building is on East Michigan
street. Just west of the Belt railroad,
and it will be used for the manufacture
fled, and they ought to be the work of
the beat brains in the party. Asa mat
ter of fact they are nor unified at all,
being tbe work of a great many separate
committees working under no unified con
trol except the very loose one of the party
I caucus. And there are so many commit
! tees that each Congressman is a member
>f at least two. AinTYonunUtPe meiuber
j ships are awarded far more in accord
j ane with seniority than with any staud
ard of fitness.
t V y^" 2 •'O-', |kw
INDIANA DAILY TIMES, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29,1920.
of the Westingbouse Aiazda lamps.
The company hopes to have the plant
in operation in April or May of 1921,
and it is expected that, at the start,
about 800 or 900 persons will be em-j,
ployed, the majority of them to be
women.
Furthermore, these committeemen rep
resent primarily their own constituencies,
instead of thb nation at large, as do
members of the cabinet in England. The
chairman of the Committee on Rivera and
Harbors is nearly always a man from a
constituency where river and harbor hu-
To Core a Cold In One Dajr
Take Grove's LAXATIVE It ROMO QUI
NINE tablets. The genuine bears the
signature of E. W. Grove. 30c.—Adver
tisement.
provements nre much needed, or at least
the money they will bring into the coun
try is much needed. Naturally the chair
man of the Committee on Rivera and
Harbors will favor liberal appropriations
in that line. You might think he would
bo opposed on the floor by a member
from Utah, who is not in the least in
terested in river and harbor improve
ment, there being none of either in his
Rtate. But he is chairman of the Com
mittee on Public Lands and wants large
appropriations for reclamation projects
in the desert. So he agrees to vote for
the improvement of Mud Creek, and the
member from Florida agrees to vote for
thos building of a dam across Dry Wash,
and everybody Is happy—except the tax
payer.
In a word, our congressional system
not only falls to hold men prßperly ac
countable, but it insures that our legisla
tive programs shall lack unity and shall
be formed by barter and compromise be
tween local interests rather than by a
consciousness of the needs of the nation
as a whole.
Whisky Smuggled
Through Pipe Line
MEXICO CITY, Mexico, Dee. 29. -The
very latest tale reaching the Mexican
capital about tbo whisky merchants of
the border is like a chapter from a
thrilling dime novel.
It Is asserted that smugglers of whisky
from Mexico into Texas aud Arizona
have built pipe lines across tbe border
and pump Bourbon, rye and other liquids
from “wet” bases on this side to re
ceiving stations on the “dry" side.
The pipe lines do away with the fuss
and labor —and also the danger—of get
ting whisky across the line in bottles
and barrels.
Instead of dodging border guards tbe
smuggler now sits at his ease while the
pipe line dqe* the work.
It is asserted that this story about pipe
lines is true and not fiction.
SOME COP.
DO WAG I AC, .Mich, Dec. 29,-Bandlts
ffcund William McCoy, nUrht policeman,
on guard in a doorway. They carried
him back to an automobile. One held
him while the other looted the stores
They took his gun, gave him a cigar aiul
told him to walk back to town.
SOVIET PEACE
PLAN OUTLINED
AT CONFERENCE
Lenine Says $17,000,000,000
Will Be Spent in Electrifi
cation of Russia.
TROTSKI GETS OVATION
MOSCOW, by wireless to Berlin, Dec.
20.—Nicolai Lenine, in a two-hour speech
before the all-Russian soviet congress
today, outlined a great program of re
construction nnd presented strong argu
ments in favor of his policy of granting
concussions to foreign capitalists. La
nine said that ‘seventeen billion dollars
would be spent in the next tea years for
the erection of a gigantic system of elec
tric power throughout ail Russia.
The present session of the all-Russiau
soviet congress, which opened last
Wednesday, is considered the most im
portant gathering of its kind since the
birth of tbe soviet republic, not only be
cause all of Russia is represented, buc
also because lighting has stopped aud
Russia is now in a position for tbe first
rime in three years to look forward to
a period of peace and economic recon
struction.
The soviet republics of Armenia and
Hood’s
Sarsaparilla
Makes Food
Taste Good
Creates an appetite, aids digestion,
purifies the blood, and thus relieves
scrofula, catarrh, the palna and
aches of rheumatism and gives
strength to the whole system.
Nearly 50 years’phenomenal sales
! tell the etory of the great merit and
success of Hood’s Sarsaparilla. It
i is Just the medicine you need now.
i Hood's Pills help—fine cathartic.
The Electric Way
is the
Convenient Way.
Hourly Service to
All Important
Indiana Points
Azerbaijan are represented.
The Assembly is composed of working
men, all plainly dressed, and the dele
gates number 2,400.
The first address was made by Repre
sentative Tcibabriellan, delegate from Ar- j
menia.
Bela Kun, ex-Communlst dictator of j
Hungary, who is now connected with the
Moscow government, reported on condi
tions in Crimea. He has Just returned
from Crimea, where he had been during
the heavy fighting between the Ileds and
General Wrangel’s army.
Tbe delegate from Azerbaijan spoke on
conditions in that newly created country.
Leon Trotski, People's commissar for
war, got an ovation that lasted for some
minntes. This demonstration was re
peated when Lenine appeared.
Lenine advanced many suggestions for
the rehabilitiation of the country.
While speaking of concessions be made
the following interesting point
the peasants:
“The question of conseastons has
aroused suspicion in the minds of some
people throughout the country, who are i
prone to consider such action equivalent
to selling Russia to foreigners. Peasant
representatives came here to Moscow and
said they would ba willing to suffer an
other three years rather than see their
mother country—Russia—sold. Tlri3
feeling shows a high degree of national
self-consciousness and is a very goo
guarantee that we can and wiil keep
ample control of these concessions. But
we cannot do without these concessions.
Wo must have machinery."
Speaking of the transportation indus
try, during which he referred to fuel
Sterilized Bottles
An added protection for Polk’s Milk
Return your
empty milk bot
tles pro mptly.
Without bottles
we can not
make deliveries
to you.
Gas Rate Question
A Case in Point
Cold weather always increases the danger of interruptions in our
plant operations at the same time that our consumers greatly in
crease their demand for gas.
Tuesday morning, about 7 o'clock, when the thermometer was
below zero and the morning peak of gas consumption was at its
highest, the current of the electrical company which supplies both
of our plants was completely cut off for 38 minutes. When electrical
service was restored, the current was thrown on with such force and
suddenness that the converter of the electrical company at our
larger plant was burned out. It cannot be gotten into commission
again before Wednesday night. We have only limited equipment of
our own to meet such emergencies, and we are not able at the pres
ent time to consider increasing our own equipment.
At the same time the drop in temperature threw a heavier de
mand on our boilers for all plant purposes, while the necessity of
generating as much electric current as possible would have over
taxed them even in mild weather. Our larger plant has been under
equipped with boilers since 1917. Several minor mißbaps occurred,
and. having no reserve boilers, our steam pressure dropped and
could not be brought up again until after noon. The plant was barely
able to keep the by-product coke oven operation going on a con
siderably reduced schedule and .could not make any water-gas at all
until late in the day. Last spring, when it became apparent that our
earnings for thi3 year would be good, we ordered additional boilers
and undertook extensive boiler-house improvements. These are still
far from completion, although we have already spent a great deal of
money on them. When completed, they will greatly increase the
efficiency of our boiler-house, but a further large investment will be
required before we shall consider it entirely adequate. Beyond the
boiler-house improvements now In progress we are not able to go
with our present resources.
At the same time there was a sudden and great Increase in the de
mand for gas. On the day after Christmas the public did not want
much gas. Only 8,000,000 cubic feet were wanted, being 2,000.000
cubic feet under the consumption of the day before and ths day after.
On Monday morning our holders were frfll, but the small consump
tion of Sunday could not enable us to accumulate a good stock to
meet the heavier demand of the cphl weather which we knew to be
coming. We do not have storage holder capacity to permit U3 to
carry a reasonable stock. We have already pointed out that we shall
not have any better storage capacity by the winter of 1921-22 unless
our financial situation permits us to place an order for this half-million
dollar improvement early in 1921. We are not now able to place
such an order.
Up to the time of writing this statenpent the public had not felt
the consequences of our plant deficiencies and difficulties. Up to
this hour we have been able to render 100% service in spite of the
heavy deman<r for gas for heating purposes. Perhaps before this
statement is published we shall experience a gas shortage which
will require us to reduce pressure and thus limit consumption. If the
zero weather should continue for a week, this would certainly be
the case. Whether the public is inconvenienced at this time or not,
It is nevertheless true that at this writing the gas supply of the
city Is seriously imperiled by our lack of electrical equipment, our
lack of boiler equipment and our lack of storage-holder capacity.
It is our desire to cure these deficiencies as speedily as our finan
cial resources permit us to do so, but our financial resources are
largely dependent upon the price which our consumers pay for gas.
Citizens Gas Company
as “the bread of industry,” Lenine said:
“As we found it necessary to get bread
for our soldiers we must also get fuel
for our factories.” He went on to ex
plain his plan to utilise peet and for the
electrification of Russia. The plants and
wiring system will cost $17,000,000,000,
which is to be distributed over ten years.
Lenine said that Russia could not afford
to spend more than $10,000,000,000,
hoped to get the rest from concessions.
Cross Produced
Between Fruits
BERKELEY, Cal., Dec. 20.—Crosses be
tween a tangerine and a grape fruit and
other combinations of citrus hybrids that
may be as famous as the hybrid between
tbe King mandarin and a sweet orange
that brought phenomenal prices in New
York last winter, are being produced in
considerable numbers at the citrus ex
periment station of the University of Cal
ifornia. About r.,C00 seedlings, mostly
from crosses made by H. B. Frost, re
search associate, are being grown at
Riverside, CaL These include the tanger
ine and the pomelo or grapefruit, the
orange and the pomelo, the lemon and
the pomelo, and tne Valencia orange aud
'.he - Mediterranean sweet orange.
In the citrus breeding work at tbe
university flowers are carefully emascu
lated and pollinated and bagged for pro
tection from accidental pollination.
Branches employed and the fruits that
result are labeled, the seeds are planted
alngly and gech resulting seedling is
separately labeled.
Our bottle washing ma
chine, which helps us to maintain
the absolute purity of Polk’s Best
Milk, is the most modern one obtain
able. >-
The bottles are scrubbed
thoroughly inside and out with a
caustic solution and then sterilized by
live steam.
The high standard of Polk’s
Best Milk is maintained only by con- 1 '
stant vigilance and the expenditure of
considerable sums of money for new
and scientific equipment.
POLK’S
Best MILK
ASK YOUR PHYSICIAN
Order by Phone. North 852, Auto. 23-331.