Evening Star Newspaper, October 15, 1936, Page 13

Indiana Fund Is Raised by Kick-Back Democratic Machine Puts State Employes in “2 Per Cent Club.” BY DAVID LAWRENCE. NDIANAPOLIS, t 15.—1 have seen some raw things in American politics, but nothing to comp: with the political im- morality that prevails in Indiana. Openl; g v, with contempt for public criticism, the Democrats have organized what is gy called the Per Cent C whereby every Btate emplove is supposed to con- tribute 2 per cent of his or her sal- ary every mo to defray poli ical campaign ex- penses. This exploita- tion has gone so far that, in one township., even the school teach- ers are asked to contribute. In other guards and atten prisons and hospitals *“asked” tc supply money campaign Here is the form letter addressed to teachers in Franklin Township by Ed Cook, town trustee, and attached to the pay checks of all the teachers: | “To teacher: “Enclosed find check and voucher, #lgn voucher and return in envelope. Beg to inform that I will pay one- half month salary October 21. day before teachers’ association: another one-half month salary two weeks later, once a month thereafter. Individual Quotas Assigned. “Also as a township official, I have been asked by Democratic Committee to solicit campaign funds from all employes. The quota placed by them shows your allotment as being $5. Please place your contribution in en- velope and return with voucher at an early date to school prineipal; an official receipt will be given by said committee.” The authenticity of the letter has been admitted by Cook in an inter- view in the “Indianaps Star,” which first published the document, but Cook considers it to be making a *mountain out of a mole hill.” A fund va v estimated at about 6240,000 a 3 least $600,000 in the last th vears, has been ac- cumulated by the Two Per Cent Club, constituting the biggest campaign fund ever collected for State purposes here. But, naturally, the Roosevelt-Gar- ner ticket benefits by the existence of this fund because very little money has to be sent into the State by the Democratic National Committee, inas- much as the State Democratic organ- ization is interested in keeping the State organized for a straight ticket combination. In other words, Gov. McNutt, who is the boss of the State organization, having played very close to the New Deal and believing that he might outstep Gov. Earle of Penn- sylvania for the 1940 Democratic pres- idential nomination, has been trying to carry Indiana for Roosevelt by keeping the State organization on its toes for the national ticket. Investigation in Order. David Lawrence places, even in the State have been for the poor employes The situation here calls for a com- prehensive inquiry. Money spent by the State Democratic Committee has been used for national ticket purposes and hence comes under the jurisdic- tion of Congress. There is little like- lihood that that Senate Committee would do anything about this before election, but, in the interests of better government, there ought tainly to be an investigation afler the election is over. For one thing. it ought to be ascer- tained how many of the supposedly “yoluntary” contributions were really voluntary and what pressure and in- timidation has been applied to make State employes give of their salaries to & political fund that is used to elect & president of the United States and members of Congress. ‘The excuse given by the Democratic feaders here is that the Republicans in the old days used to levy a tax, too. The Republicans deny that they ever did anything as bold or far- reaching as the 2 per cent club is doing. It is conceded that State offi- cials were asked by Republican com- mittees to contribute around election time, but it is argued that at no time was pressure used or regular monthly collections made. Agent Calls on Pay Day. The Democratic system is to ap- point some one in every State bureau and office to act as collecting agent, and on the days when checks come in, the employes are sup- posed to hand in their 2 per cent.” The Republicans claim they never had a third of the money the Demo- crats are now collecting. But even granting that the Repub- licans did something like this, the argument is much like that which was used in Wall Street in 1930 and 1931, when practices of a reprehensible kind | were exposed to view. ‘The cry then heard was: “Everybody Wwas doing it.” One would suppose that the New SATURDAY OCTOBER 17 PITTSBURGH $§90 MeKeosport —Braddeck Round 00 Connelisville SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18 Enjoy @ Day of Sightseoing in ONLY NEW YORK*335° Also Newark, Plainfield & Elizabath "5n’ Leave Washington 12:01 a. m. or 7:40 . Returning, leave New York 5:d5 idnight some day. AL FOOTBALL Chicago vs. 2:30 P, M., Polo Grounds, New York. —eeeeeeeeeeeeee Deteil or Telephone: District 3300, Neti ALTIMORE &OHIORR 4 Deal, which has been exhibiting umfl keep their jobs. Merit might coms as a reform administration, would | mand that changes be made, but | not wish to copy what the “wicked | the employe who pays his "2 per The sum of $600,000 is a lot of Republicans” money to spend in a State, and while | fyng against the anti-New Dealers the New Deal high command has been | throughout the country nowadays is cleverly keeping attention focused on | that they want to go back to the €uch things as “fifty thousand du|old Republican methods. But the Pont-Liberty League dollars” in Maine, | pemocrats have already it does not turn the searchlight of | and gone them one better. Imitation gcrutiny on what is happening in In- | may be the sincerest flattery, diana, where 10 times that amount is | two wrongs never make a single extracted from the pay envelopes of | right. THE EVENING. STAR, -WASHINGTON, D. News Behind the News Second *'Step” Toward Stabilization Represented No Forward Motion, Observer Says. 7 BY PAUL MALLON. F THE man in the street is worrying about Mr. Morgenthau’s latest monetary move he should stop right now and turn to the funnies, What Mr, Morgenthau did a few weeks 4go was to agree with John Bull and La Belle France that they would play a respectable three-handed monetary poker game, according to Hoyle, with no kicking under the table and only the usual amount of bluffing. What he did the other day was to agree that they will use gold for rhips, as expected—the same chips at the same $35-per-ounce value which he has been kuying and selling to the same people since January, 1934, It makes very little difference to any one eXxcept Mr. Morgenthau, John Bull and La Belle France, and not much difference to them, as they assume as much. There was no other way to play. * ok K X% The progress of the second move over the first has been called many things, including “the creation of a new gold standard.” * koK X A more accurate term would be “a tentative gold standard.” Like- wise it has been called, officially, “the second step” toward stabiliza- tion. Rather it is the drawing of the lagging foot up to the position of the first foot. It represented no forward motion, The only actual progress of the whole business to date is that France has been drawn by de- valuation into the monetary status quo which has been preserved between the United States and Britain for many months. It would be a real mew gold standard if all parties had not reserved the right to devalue further, if they had not reserved the right to cancel their gold arrahgement on 24 hours’ nmotice, if the other nations, like Italy and Germany, were strong enough to go into a free gold agreement, if Britain were committed to a gold standard, if, if, if. o % ‘What will come out of it, no one knows. The goal, of course, is stabili- zation on a gold basis, but that is still beyond the horizon of current events. Italy has strengthened herself by devalution, but not enough. Germany must now seek to promote her world markets, to sell more than she buys, to establish a balance of trade, Then there is the enigmatic future of Japan. In months and perhaps years, if there is no war, and things work out perfectly for all concerned, world stabilization may be effected, . However, there is no need for any one to stay up nights waiting for it. Meanwhile, the statements which Mr. Morgenthau has been fssuing about, it should be charged up to the campaign fund and reported to the clerk of the House under the political expenditures law, * K K K The A. F. of L. has come out for labor peace. Mr. Dubinsky is for peace. Mr. Zaritsky is for peace. And, finally, Mr. John L. Lewis has reluctantly admitted he has been for peace all the time. Therefore it may appear that as every one is for peace there will be peace. But there won't be. The opposing labor factions are for peace in the same way as in- ternational statesmen. They want it at their own price. Underneath neither side is in a compromising mood. Certain motions have to be made for effect, merely because they cannot be openly opposed. The supposition is general among those who know the inside of current megotiations that the peace moves will be lost in an accumu- lation of committees and subcommittces. Nothing can keep the trouble out of the A. F. of L. Convention next month, they say. Noth- g will ever induce Green to let the C. I. O. crowd sit in on the convention, where they might be able to oust him as president of the A. F. of L. When such fundamental questions of purpose, life and jobs are at stake, there is generally mo way out but war. 0 * Good bets, if you can get them: Borah to be re-elected: Bricker, Re- publican, to win the Ohio governorship; Christiansen, Republican, for the Senate in Minnesota. 5 Pnctn‘;:lly no important money is being bet on the election at the published odds or any others. The political experts are betting only on States. The Republicans will probably pick up 3 seats in Iowa, which makes their old expectation of a net minimum gain of 50 seem safe, Usually by this time most of the political experts have put pillows on the ground and crawled out on their respective limbs with predictions on the outcome, but not this year. None of the tmpartial, and few of the partial, have climbed. AfL- | {YOUCANT s ° N (Coprisht. 1936.) The accusation | cent” gets a feeling of security that he or she will hold on to the job and that, if a contribution is not made, the job will be lost on some trumped- | up cause. All this means that a bureaucracy is built up which functions for politi- cal purposes just as effectively as if| it were directly a part of the political | organization thus, key executives even | send out word to State employes to | attend political meetings, and a record did. gone back— | but The use of money to buy an elec- CT HE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not necessarily The Star’s. Such opinions are presented in The Star’s eflort to give all sides of questions of interest to its readers, although such opinions may be contradictory among themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s. Ear vs. Eye Campaigning Roosevelt’s Magic Voice Permits Claims That Cool in Printed Word. BY MARK SULLIVAN. HE immense advantage of the radio to Mr. Roosevelt lies in the persuasiveness of his voice—the tones and the timbre, as distinguished from the meaning of his words. The hearer is moved emotionally by the tone, and thereby is lulled into & comma with respect to the meaning of % the words. Then the listener, hav- 3 ing heard the speech over the radio, does mnot read it in the : newspapers. The result is that, ¢ since the radio Z came, speeches are judged by the : ear, rather than by the eye. Apd the speaker whose voice has the more charming | appeal to the ear has & qrnc & vantage. 1 have alluded before to the charm of Mr. Roosevelt's voice, and have received letters of protest. There are some to whom Mr. Roosevelt’s tones and overtones are unsympathetic, but those are only a fraction of the electorate. To a great majority, Mr. | Roosevelt's cadences are agreeable. b4 the President’s addresses were de- livered in the Czecho-Slovakian tongue, they would be listened to with pleasure. He could recite the| Polish alphabet and it would be ac- cepted as an eloguent plea for dis- armament. One could say of Mr. Roosevelt's speeches what *Mr. Dooly” said of the late Senator Beveridge's' “Ye could waltz to them.” Or, as & versifier once said of ephemeral popu- lar songs: | “Provided the tune has a right good swing, It doesn’t much matter what words you sing.” Yet I suspect the Republicans could | overcome Mr. Roosevelt's vocal per- suasiveness, indeed might even turn it into a boomerang. This campaign | could be turned into a real debate. Let the Republicans delegate competent debaters to take up each of the President’s speeches, examine it with Mark Sullivan | a cold eye, analyze it from the point of view of the intellect rather lhxn; the emotions, and present to the public & clear mental—not emotional | —picture of what the President said. | | A Mighty Inference. The President’s recent Omaha ap- | peal to farmers began: “In 1932 I pledged my administra-| tion to a farm policy that would help | the farmer. Tonight every man and woman on an American farm who has read today's markgt reports Knows| Roosevelt making a charge of extrav- | | include the word “immediately.” fallacy happens now to operate in favor of the Democrats. Mr. Roosevelt really thinks he did it. He sald once befors that he and his policy brought about the rise in farm prices, He sald it under cir- cumstances which showed how deeply he belleved it. On May 31, 1935, Mr. Roosevelt devoted an hour and & quar- ter in an extraordinary press confer- ence to attacking the SBupreme Court's decision Invalidating N. R. A. One of his reasons for attacking the N. R. A. decision was, hg said, that the same principle of law, if applied to Triple- A, would invalidate Triple-A also. (TriplesA had not yét come before the Court) And invalidation of Triple-A—1I quote from an account of what Mr, Roosevelt said as printed in the New York Times June 1, 1935: “If we abandon crop control, wheat would immediately drop to 36 cents a bushel and cotton to 5 cents a pound.” Bome of the other accounts did not But no matter, Competent economists know that neither immediately nor within any foreseeable future, neither by an adverse decision of the Supreme Court on Triple-A nor from any other foreseeable cause, would wheat drop to 36 cents a bushel or cotton to 5 cents a pound. I recall suggesting that if | Mr. Roosevelt would like to make a bet on his prediction, takers could be found. Prices Rise After Verdict. In due course, the test of the Presi- dent’s judgment came. On January 6 of the present year, the Supreme court got around to Triple-A. The Court in- validated Triple-. than nine months ago. on the contrary, they have risen. The error of Mr. Roosevelt's ecenomic un- derstanding suggests that he is a poor, not a good planner and controller of agriculture. Mr. Roosevelt’s recent campaign speech to farmers achieved fallacy by commission and fallacy by omission. He gave a detailed, compact summary of his actions about farming. To the ear it sounded thrilling. The summary | omitted to say that Triple-A had for- bidden farmers to grow more potatoes than the Government dictated. It did not say that Triple-A (until the Su- dated it) provided | preme Court inva fine and imprisonment for any farmer who sold “bootleg” potatoes, or any | customer who bought them. Mr. program now proposed by Gov. Lan- don. About this plan Mr. Roosevelt said—of all things—that it would cox too much! Think of that now—Frank- lin D. Roosevelt counting the cost! | About the merit of his charge I know nothing. There may be something in it. Yet the spectacle of President ‘That was more | And wheat | | and cotton have not dropped in price, | Roosevelt turned to the farm | C., THURSDAY, OCTOBER that we have done what we said We|agance against Gov. Alf M. Landon of | would do.” About the accuracy of these words | there could be some debate. But let us ignore, as a point irrelevant here, the assertion that “we have done what | we sald we would do.” Consider the’| inference of Mr. Roosevelt's persuasive tones. The inference is that the rise in prices of crops between 1932 and 1936 was due wholly to the President’s farm policy, that, but for Mr. Roose- velt, crop prices would still be where they were in 1932, It amounts to saying that Mr. Roosevelt brought about the recovery from depression. If that were true, then Mr. Roosevelt must have been responsible for the recovery that has taken place throughout the world. And if Mr. Roosevelt is the agency ' that brought about world recovery, | then he is subject to a serious charge of lack of patriotism—for having dis- Kansas—that is something for a real laugh. (Copyright. 1936.) SOL HERZOG, INC. 15, 1936. We, the People Digest Poll Goes Far Astray, According to This Arithmetic. BY JAY FRANKLIN. HEN even so0 loyal a Republican as Mark Lullivan casts a doubt on the value of the “Literary Digest” poll as & compaign barome- ter, when its results are at such wide variance with the Gallup polls, there is something wrong. The Digest figures for October 10 give Landon about 58 per cent of the major party vote this year and show him carrying such pivotal States as New York, Illinois and California by very comforteble majorities. This is so contrary to the observation of political experts that some people are, 88 usual, challenging the honesty of the Digest editors. Yet all the time, in plain sight, the Digest has published the figures which prove both the honesty and the inaccuracy of its poll. To the right of the ballots credited P to Landon, Roosevelt and Lemke, the magazine publishes a break- down entitled, “How the Same Voters Voted in the 1932 Election.” This breakdown shows that 591,000 of them voted for Hoover in '32 and 53,000 for Roosevelt. In other words, on this basis Hoover should have received 52 per cent of the popular vote in that year. But the cold fact i3 that in 1932 Hoover received only 41 per £ 38 a ;A PIELNG Tsee s T e Aimany DreesT cent of the major party vote, Let's examine the Digest figures for the three “key States” already mentioned—New York, Iliinois and California. In 1932, New York gave Hoover 43 per cent of its votes. The current Digest figures for how the voters in its present poll voted in 1932 show that Hoover recetved 66 per cent of their votes In 1932, Illinois gave Hoover 43 per cent of its votes. The cur- rent Digest figures for the same election show Hoover receiving 61 per cent of lllinois votes, In 1932, Californta gave Mr. Hoover, its “adopted son” only 38 per cent of its votes. The people who are balloting for Funk & Wagnalls this year gave him a 52 per cent preference in that year. Since all but 10 per cent—120,000 out of the million and a quarter people whose preferences have been tabulated by the journalistic enter- prise of the Literary Digest—have indicated how they voted in 1932, this margin of new or indifferent voters can ascarcely counterbalance these badly distorted percentages. The poil almost amounts to a poll of Repube lican voters on their preference for the presidency in 1936. On its current showing, therefore, the Digest openly gives to the G. O. P. a margin of error of quite fantastic proportions. For the poll as a whole, this margin of error, on the basis of the record of 1932, is over 25 per cent. For New York State, the indicated margin of error in favor of Landon is about 53 per cent, for Illinois, it is 41 per cent; for California, it is 36 per cent. This error is no matter of guesswork. The Digest publishes the figures and any one who wants to add totals and work out percentages' can do 8o, * x % % Since this column’s arithmetic has been challenged, here is how it works in the case of Illinois: In 1932, lllinois gave Roosevelt 1,882,000 votes and Hoover 1432,000 votes—a total of 3,314,000 votes. Hoover's 1432,000 was approrimately 43 per cent of this total Iilinois vote of 3,314,000. The Digest figures for Illinois show that the straw voters, now balloting, in 1932 cast 37,665 votes for Hoover and 23,838 votes for Roosevelt—a total of 61,503 votes. Hoover's 37,665 is about 61 per cent of this total of 61,503. If you subtract Illinois’ actual 43 per cent for Hoover in 1932 from the Digest voters’ 61 per cent jor Hoover in the same election, vou have a difference of 18 per cent. This 18 per cent is your net error, not your margin of error. ‘The 18 per cent net error, in re- lation to Hoover's actual 43 per cent, bears a proportion arrived at by dividing 43 into 18, indicating a 41 per cent margin of error in the poll's figures for Illinois. This is where the Digest poll goes cockeyed. Its editors are to be congratulated on their candor in printing the facts where any one can see that the basis of their present indicated 3 to 2 margin for Landon is unscientific, immaterial and irrelevant. Since the poll as a whole gives Landon 58 per cent of the total Digest vote, the demonstrated 25 per cent margin of error for the entire poll reduces his percentage of the probable vote on November 3 to about 43 per cent. This is about what the strength of the Landon vote is now being figured by political experts. (Copyright. 1936.) | 1ady, | that maybe the intellectual | natural warm brown Headline Folk and What They Do Paulette Godd;rd Goes In for Deep Literature a La Chaplin. BY LEMUEL F. PARTON. EW YORK, October 15.—Years ago I knew in Los Angeles a mild, gentle gambler named Elmer, who was also a philosoe pher and Charlie Chaplin's mentor, Elmer knew as much and had as good & mind as any professor I ever saw. He used to meet me at the Saddle Rock Restaurant and tell me how his pupil was coming on. Although the press agents later fanned up Mr. Chaplin's yen for deep literature, and overplayed it a lot, as they did Gene Tunney's, T knew at the time that it was genu- ine, and later saw Mr. Chaplin in some fast grap- ling and mat work in Sam Berger's clothing store seminar in San Francisco. Sam had been national amateur middleweight champion, Bob Fitzsimmons' manager, trainer and sparring partner, a town model of sartorial excellence and a contributor of learned dissertations on economics to the old New York Sun. Pertinent to the more timely public interest is the pretty young thing who, Paulette Goddard. | now in New York. won't tell the re. | porters whether she is or isn't Mrs. | Charlie Chaplin. This department’s dossier on Paul- ette Goddard, Mr. Chaplin's leading is quite persistent, through a period of four years, in its report that Miss Goddard is even a taller brow than Charles Chaplin. Ronci, the eighteenth-century Ital- ian puppeteer whose “Pinoccio” thrilled vast crowds, became a man of letters and a philosopher. Whether Charles Chaplin and Paulette God- | dard are gossiping about price curves, as they stroll down the road in their conventional fade-out, isn't hot news, but interesting to this writer, thinkinz zeal of Elmer, the pallid night-hawk, was relayed to the one-time Follies beau through Charles Chaplin of the er- raat feet and nimble wits. Miss Goddard, now 24 years old, was in rompers when Elmer was getting Charles Chaplin all stirred up over Veblen's “Theory of Business En- terprise.” She was picked from many entrants for Rio Rita, where the curves wer price curves. She went to Hollywood in 1932. Samuel Kayzer was her dramatic coach. Miss Goddard was once the wife of Edgar James, New York clubman, frequently seen at Mayor Walker's gay parties. Since her professional association with Mr. Chaplin, her blond hair has been restored to its tint and her dress restrained to a narrow range of brown, chestnut or mahogany. (Copyright, 1936.) ~ GENTLEMEN...take advantage of these the salary | | tion is contrary to the basic principles | of free government, but, in Indiana, where the Republicans, too, have had |an unsavory record, the Democrats now have come in with more de- | vastating schemes, perhaps encouraged by the indifference of President Roose- velt to “spoils system” practices in the National Government at Washington. $240,000 Per Year. The Democrats control the State | government and naturally all insti- tutions connected therewith. The ! State pay roll is about $12,000,000 a year, so 2 per cent of this sum would be about $20,000 a month, or ! $240,000 a year. Then there are con- | tractors and others who do work for | the State, who are expected to con- | tribute to the “2 per cent club” { but it has not been disclosed whether | they have been put on a percentage | basis or are expected to make sizeable contributions in accordance with the amount of work or contracts they have | on State projects. “The contributions by the Govern- ment employes are made with the | expectation, naturally, that they will ON SALE NOW . AT GROCERY AND FRUIT STORES RUBBING ALCOHOL SPRY soothes tired, aching feet. Can’t spill. Liquefies as you rub it in. Doesn’t “dry out” the skin. Use for sore muscles, cuts, bruises. 70% absolute aleohol, Large jar, 29¢— double size, 49¢, AT YOUR RETAILER'S Send u'c 5'3' ;r'lrc’l ";e to 38 e M TRY THISNEW CREAMED~ | A | is made of those who do or do not | heed the orders. | Indiana is not alone in its “2 per |cent” club idea. Other States have |it. The plan is part of an intensive | | organization formula which the Demo- crats have put into effect in this campaign “to get out the vote,” but, unless there is a revulsion of feeling against such tactics manifested at the polls, Indiana will keep on with her method of financing campaigns | through the pay rolls of bureaucracy. | The slogan here may well be: “When | bigger and better bureaucracies are | built, Indiana will build them.” (Copyrighted, 1936.) me s satpe Not a penny of taxes will be paid in the next 20 years by new industries in Salta Province, Argentina, provided they are established within three| years, Imported by W. A. S | America. e e —————————————————————————————— AYLOR & COMPANY, N. Y. criminated against America, for hav- | ing brought about a greater recovery elsewhere than he brought about in | I suspect that every competent econ- omist in the world would say that the recovery from this depression came about through natural forces, that.the | recovery was as automatic as the de- | pression. Indeed, I suspect the aver- | age man would say this, if he put his | mind on it. Yet of al Ithe fallacies | in the contemporary world, the most | widespread, the one that will influence | the largest number of votes in this election, is the fallacy that the party | in power brought about recovery. | That fallacy, in some past periods of rising prosperity, has operated to the | advantage of the Republicans, who | happened to be in power at a felicitous | time. 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