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PAGETHE INDIANAPOLIS TIMESOCT. 10, 1932The Indianapolis Times(A ■ CRIPPi-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)Own»4 and pnbll«h«*d dally (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Timea Publishing Co.. 214*220 Went Maryland Street, Indianapolis, Ind. Price in Marion County, 2 cent* a copy; elsewhere, 3 centa—delivered by carrier, 12 cent* a week. Mail subscription rates In Indiana. 13 a year: outside of Indiana. 65 centa a month.BOYD OUKLET. EditorBOY W. HOWARD,PresidentEARL D. £ AKER Buslnesa ManagerPHONE—Rile? 5551MONDAY. OCT. 10. 1932Member of United Press, ficrlpna-Howard Newspaper Alliance, Newspaper Enterprise Asso-rr Information Service and Audit Bureau of Clrculationa.elation. Newspaperirs/eej*HOWAJi“Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”|M. E. TracySays:'They've Got to Stop Kicking My Dog Around!'Small Debtor Adopts Idea That He, Too, Is Entitled to “Moratorium.99T^TEW YORK. Oct. 10.—I have B£en talking quite a bit of late with small tradesmen—cloth-- ,v.| The Watson TragedyThere Is something pathetic In the campaign now being waged by Senator James E. Watson for re-HBirayjb his post. , /#After thirty years in congress, he asks to go back on the plea that in the closing hours of the last aesslon, by parliamentary strategy which Senator Couzens called trickery, he secured the passage ofthe home loan bank bill. *That is his message. That is his song.The value of the bill may or may not be debatable. It may do all that he says it will. It may prove to be as futile to help the homeless man secure a home as it§ critics assert.But even if it be all that Watson says, what of his plea that he should be returned because of his ftctivitjipp! Its behalf?That bill is now a law. Nothing that he can do nor fail to do will make any difference in its operation. He finished when he secured some jobs on this board for former critics and pacified dissenting elements in his party by this patronage.The tragedy of the situation is that in thirty years Watson can point to nothing but an eleventh-hour effort as an excuse for remaining in office.The tragedy is that at the end of his long career he has but one law to which he has linked his namewith which he can point with pride.The comparison, for instance, with the record of the late Senator Beveridge makes the situation evenmore pathetic.Beveridge was known because of his courage in fighting against child labor, and goes down into history as one of the great men of all time in this nation. He made his fight against the influence of greatwealth and powerful interests. It required no courage to champion a new' bank which had the backingof very great aggregations of wealth.And as long as Beveridge lived, Watson w’as found fighting his presence in the senate, and politicians accredit the attitude of Watson with the final defeatwhich Beveridge met when he attempted a return to public life.Beveridge was great because he took a stand withthe Progressives against the standpat Old Guard, which represented vested interests and wealth. He stood for men. Watson now appeals for votes because he took part in the establishment of a new bank to loan money to other financial institutions.He is to be found fighting for a higher tariff on sugar. Then the people discovered that he had been sold stock in a sugar company in return for his unsecured note. He had the nerve to laugh at thedisclosure and declare that the note was worthless *nd the stock was worthless.But the hideous fact remains that Watson expected the stock to gain value by the tariff measure and to gam money without risk.In this campaign he deserted the sound plea that he had opposed and would oppose the immediate payment of the bonus. On that question Watson stood for the best interests of the nation. He helped to staya tide of evils that might easily have wrecked thecredit of the country.His opponent, Fredrick Van Nuys, has announcedhimself in favor of the bonus. There was a clearcut Issue, not perhaps great enongh to make thepeople forget the long record of Watson, but an issueon which Watson was in safe territory.Instead of that he prefers to play to the veterans by recollection of his vote in favor of the bonus over the veto of two former Presidents and endeavor tobeguile the mistaken service men with a wreasel promise that they will get their money “as soon as the government can pay.” The inference is plain that he expects that time to arrive far ahead of thedate when the bonus is due.Aside from a pledge to increase tariff rates, just what reason does Watson give the voters for sending him back?Is it the hope that in another thirty years hejnay once more do something commendable?Farm Loans and SurplusThe administration has adapted its 75 per cent wheat moratoriums to a plan to help cotton farmers, and it temporarily may ease the burden of debt under which these southern growers groan.The wheat moratorium, as pointed out at the time, was discriminatory. To exclude all other farmers from this relief was unjust. Now the administration, under pressure that was inevitable, has brought forth this new proposal to help the cotton south.It reaches deep into the problems of the cottonsurplus, and thus its wide ramifications are somewhatthreatening.^ kPresident Hoover permitted wheat farmers who borrowed from the department of agriculture to withhold repayment of 75 per cent of their loans this year, and to give agreements for mortgages on future cropsto secure the unpaid balance.This would give these farmers, in deep distress, a little money to provide food and clothing this winter. But a new scheffie has been arranged for cottonhis federal farm board, a system long condemned by economist* and the cotton trade. tHe said, as every one knows, that the weakness of the system is in the damaging aftermath which accompanies disposal of these products bought and stored to peg prices.The cotton that the department will receive through its new plan comes under this head.ing merchants, garage operators, hardware dealers and the like—trying to get an idea of what this depression has done to business at the bottom and what those at the bottom expect.Almost without exception, thesesmall tra men say that businessIt ’Elps ThemThe American Civil Liberties Union, in asking mayors and police in our large cities to set aside places for public meetings without permits, is doingour democracy a great turn. . |Without absolute free speech during the coming months, our nation will be much like a boiler without a safety valve. * • • ■ -A story is told by Robert Hunter, illustrating the attitude of England toward those who wrant to aidAp: -their grouches. It happened in Hyde Park, London, where men are allowed to say anything at any time,under protection of the law,A soap-boxer was ranting about Victoria, England’s queen, and denouncing her in terras shocking to the American’s ear. Nearby a bobby stood, listening anddoing nothing.“Look here, Hunter protested to the bobby. “Why do you let that man talk that way about your queen? Why, in America, we wouldn't let him speak that wayabout any woman!”“Oh,” replied the bobby, “it’s all right. It don’t ’urt er, an’ it 'elps ’im.1would not so bad if they couldget the mon y due them. They say that price and wage declines have balanced each other to a fairly reasonable extent and that, though unemployment and relief work maketraveling pretty rough, they could get along if collections were not sopBl s;They say that while many people can not pay, they find a constantly increasing number w'ho won't.They say that a new kind of attitude is developing toward debt, which, in their opinion, goes back to the moratorium proposed by President Hoover for the relief of European governments.They say that it is getting to be quite common for debtors to bringup that moratorium when pressed, and to argue that what is good for France and Germany ought to be good ter an American citizen.New Thought Planted*A Happy ComparisonDry Methodists, meeting in Atlantic City, are told by one of their committees that the cost of enforcing prohibition is .043 cent per capita, “less than the price of a glass of beer.’*On the basis of 120.000,000 people in this country, that would add up to something over $5,000,000—alarge enough sum, wets and drys know.But the per capita statisticians of the Methodist conference evidently didn’t concern themselves about the loss of respect for law and the Constitution, the crime and the loss of human life that must be counted, along with other high economic losses, in any calculation of the cost of enforcing the dry laws.Their assertion that the per capita cost of enforcing the dry laws was less than the price of a glass of beer was a happy comparison. For, if beer were legalized and taxed justly, this cost would be eliminated, the government’s revenue would be increased largely and some of the nuisance taxes—which willtake a great deal more than .043 cent per capita— might be repealed.We believe the country would prefer spending its .043 cent for a glass of beer, rather than for enforcing stupid police regulations that have no place in the Constitution.I DO not pretend to know howwidespread such an idea hasbecome, but I can not believe thatit is confined to the limited sphere in which I travel.I am very much afraid that allthis talk about “ability to pay,” and especially this haste to relieve debtors before they even asked for it, has planted a new thought in the minds of some people.Neither can it be regarded as a very illogical thought. Why shouldthe poor devil at the bottom getless consideration than the poor devil at the top? If the government can afford to extend the time of payments for billions, why can’t themerchant do likewise with regard tohundreds, or even thousands?European governments say they can’t pay, and we take their word for it, not only w'riting down the original amount they owred. with one exception, but giving them a year’s grace, if not more.European governments assci t that, even so, we are not losing money, because of the exorbitant prices we charged them for goods during the wa~ boom and post-war boom.Not too great ingenuity, or straining of the conscience, is required for an individual swamped with olddebts to reason the same way.SCIENCEBY DAVID DIETZCosmic Rny Puzzle Still Is Unsolved, Despite Scientist’s Long Tour.ITROFESSOR ARTHUR H.COMPTON is back on the campus of the University of Chicago, after a trip from the equator to the Arctic Circle in search of informa-Ition about cosmic rays.Any reader who hoped for a solution of the cosmic ray puzzle immediately upon Dr. Compton's return is doomed to disappointment.In fact. Dr. Compton complicates the situation more than ever by saying, “The rays do come from high altitudes, probably from outside the earth, and possibly from interstellar space, though it still isas good a guess as any that they may emanate from the earth's upper atmosphere.”By that statement, Dr. Compton brings us back to the early days of tv * present century’, when what now* are called cosmic rays were known as the “penetrating radiation of the atmosphere.” 'To appreciate the meaning of that earlier name, we must drive a little into cosmic ray history. In measuring electrical charges, scientists use a piece of apparatus known as the gold-leaf electroscope. This consists of two thin strips of gold leaf hung inside of a glass jar.Ordinarily, the two leaves hang vertically. But if an electric charge is communicated to them, they repel each other and stand out at angles, forming an inverted “V.”DAILY HEALTH SERVICEDiet Important Factor in Pellagra1BY I)R. MORRIS FISHBEINEditor Journal of the American MedicalAssociation and of iivgeia. the Health Magazine.THE available scientific evidence indicates that the condition called pellagra, w’hich is widely prevalent, particularly in southern portions of the United States, is related to certain deficiencies in the diet.Apply Idea to SelvesThe West’s DilemmaDr. Elwood Mead, chief of the bureau of reclamation, has presented a problem of vital interest to thefar west and little understood in the east. It is theproblem of the irrigated districts, whose costly wrorksare threatened by depletion of the reclamation fund, their owTn reduced incomes, and other causes.The situation in some of the western valleys isdesperate. Areas like the Arkansas valley in Colorado, Salt Lake valley in Utah, the San Joaquin valley in California and others face the stark possibilityof reverting to the desert.If they do. millions of dollars invested in works will be lost, millions in cities and towns will melt away.Opposition of eastern farmers to added federalmoney for western reclamation aid misses the point.These threatened areas are not seeking to expand and increase their acreages in competition with the east. They are trying to save their investments. This means also saving public money, through conserving taxable wrealth. I *The reclamation fund has been depleted by lowered income from its oil royalties and other sources. Dr. Mead estimates that, while this fund will yield $3,000,000 in 1933, as much as $10,000,000 is needed.It w’ould seem to be good business for the government to help save these farm homes and settlements.I HOLD no brief for the frame of mind to which this reasoning leads, but neither do I hold the statesmanship blameless which gave it the cue.We have a plot of debt to deal with in this country, as well as among the nations—a plot whichhas been ramified and complicatedby extravagance, installment buying, and the careless extension ofcredit. Many of our people have been as badly overloaded as was Germany or the allies.All this should have been thought of as an inescapable phase of ourresounding negotiations. Theirpsychological effect should have been weighed carefully, especially because of the depression.Our leaders should have assumed that their methods and conclusionswould be accepted by many people,not only as sound with regard to foreign obligations, but as indicatingw-hat should be done with regard to domestic obligations.People down below' can not be blamed for accepting the w'ays ofgreat men and great institutions as their guide.Of these the chief deficiency seems to be in one of the active components of Vitamin B.However, it is possible that there are other dietary deficiencies also related to some of the symptoms of this disorder.The late Dr. J. Goldberger of the United States public health service conducted extensive experiments w'hich seem to have established definitely the nature of the dietary deficiencies.In one of his studies he made exact records of foods eaten by families in certain mill villages in South Carolina. — -It was found that certain familiesin which pellagra wTas prevalent differed markedly in their consumption of milk, fresh meat and vegetables from those families which did not suffer from pellagra.Other observers suggested that the disease is seasonal, but apparently this seasonal condition is due to the fact that certain foods are not as easy to get in some seasons as in others. ,Observers in Florida recently have made studies of the family dietary in one of the counties in that state.They looked int-o the kind of food eaten by those families in which there were cases of pellagra and contrasted it with the food eaten by those families in whicl. pellagra did not appear.Both types of families seemed to have plenty of food, in fact, far more calories than are necessary for adequate growth, but this probably was considerable wastage of food. , ; . ■« ....The first contrast was found inthe use of milk. The families in which there was pellagra used fromone-third to one-fifth the amountof milk used in general by the families that did not have pellagra.The next difference was in the succulent vegetables. Here again the families with pellagra used far less of succulent vegetables than those in which there was no pellagra.On the other hand, in those families in which there w-as pellagra the diet consisted largely of cereals, particularly wheat and corn.Both groups seemed to use equally fats, sweets, meats, and fish.Milk long has been recognized as valuable in prevention and treatment of this disease and unquestionably the succulent vegetables provide large amounts of the materials necessary to overcome this disorder. .There w'as evidence of a distinct seasonal variation in the supply of milk and succulent vegetables, an indication of the necessity fpr making sure that these are made available in the seasons when they are not secured easily.IT SEEMS TO MEHEYWOODBROUNIdeals and opinions expressedin this column are those ofone of America’s most interesting writers and are presented without resard to their agreement or disagreement with the editorial attitude of this paper.—The Editor.Milllkan’s WorkA GOLD-LEAF electroscope canbe discharged very quicklywith the aid of X-rays or radiumrays. If allowed to stand, it willdischarge slowly.Now many years ago, physicistscalculated that the rate of discharge ought to be slower than itwas observed to be. This was true even when the electroscope was encased in a thick layer of lead to protect it from stray radiations.This fact led to the notion that there must be a “penetrating radiation of the atmosphere” capable ofpenetrating the lead.The existence of such rays finally was confirmed by the brilliant experiments of Dr. R. A. Millikan. He was positive that the rays came in equally from all directions and therefore did not originate in the atmosphere, but came in from interstellar space.Dr. Millikan also was positive that the rays consisted of waves like those of X-rays, only thousands oftimes shorter.But now Dr. Compton, back from his extensive journey, emphasizes two results of his survey which do not fit in with Dr. Millikan's theory.The first is that the intensity of the cosmic rays is less near the earth’s equator than near the magnetic poles. This, he says, tends to indicate that the rays are electrical in nature and are not pure waveforms.The second Is that intensity of therays apparently increases continuously at the higher altitudes, probably reaching a maximum at thetop of the atmosphere.This, he says, also is an argument against the pure wave theory.The Entire GlobeThe Prodigal DaughterMabel Walker Willebrandt has returned to the Hoover hearth, and all seems to be forgiven.But where, in these lean days, will they find a fatted calf? . *- v\A robot that was being exhibited the other day fired a gun in the general direction of its inventor.Just another temperamental actor.A New' York society woman, divorced at Reno the other day. was single for five minutes before being married again. Yet orators spend hours telling usabout the wonders of liberty. j:Your Questions AnsweredYou can get an answer to any answerable question of fact or information by writing to Frederick M. Kerby, Question Editor, Indianapolis Times Washington Bureau, 1322 NewYork avenue, Washington, enclosing 3 cents in coin or postage stamps for reply. Medical and legal advice can not be given, nor can extended research be made. All other questions will receive a personal reply. All letters are confidential. You are cordially invited to make use of this free service as often as you please. Let our Washington Bureau help with your problems. •PRESIDENT HOOVER had hardluck. Or if that isn’t the entire explanation, the Democrats havemanaged to outsmart him.Whenever he has come forward to make a speech during the presentcampaign, there has been a newsitem on the other side which completely blanketed his performance. Somebody in the Roosevelt camp— and it might be Mr. Farley—has an excellent sense of news values.The gentleman in the White House may be a great engineer, but he is a mighty poor press agent.The last time he aimed at display space on the front page he missed because Franklin D. Roosevelt was trying James J. Walker. Some of the Republican editors complained, on the ground that it wasn’t sportsmanship to crowd Mr. Hoover out of the center of the stage in that way.This time it was even worse. For weeks there had been advance publicity about the manner in which Mr. Hoover would take the stump and strike terror to all his adversaries. The bold stroke was to be a personal apearance in Iowa, where of late the administration has not been popular.Enormous pains were taken with the speech. And, as speeches go, it was a pretty good speech.God and a Few MarinesIJust Rverv Dav SenseSUPPOSE it is not irreverent to say that practically all candidates receive some help in preparing their public documents. In the case of a certain mayor of Newstandard English words most imperfectly, but it is only fair to assume that he does make a considerable contribution to his own manuscripts. Yet gravely do I suspect the alien hand of some more accomplished writing man in the first paragraphs of the Des Moines address. 1 ’The boyhood reminiscences, the torchlight procession, the assassination of Garfield—all have the flavor of a professional stylist. Indeed, I think that there is the distinct suggestion of the helpful collaboration of Will Irwin, though I must admit that this merely is surmise.However, there is nothing wrong in summoning help for a speech, and the Des Moines document promised to attract nation-wide attention and move some to greater regard for Herbert Clark Hoover.What was my astonishment upon picking up the morning papers to find the big Republican gun played up as something secondary even in the columns of administration papers.The size of the type and the headlines upon another story suggested that some fair city had been ravaged by an earthquake or that Henry Ford had come out for light wines and beer or some other epoch-making episode from the journalistic point of view.shake. It is reported, although not officially confirmed, that A1 called Franklin “You old potato.” Naturally that is big irws.It would have been news even if A1 had locked all the doors anddrawn the blinds before he shook hands with Franklin D. Roosevelt.A Nice Night for ItYork of several years ago, it was;Actually Shook HandsI LOOKED and found “A1 and Roosevelt Shake Hands.” The papers were quite right. That is much better than “They broke theAS things were he chose the right time for it. The flashlights boomed, the cameras clicked and everybody cheered and shouted, and all the telegraph instruments went crazy as reporters sprang to arms and wrote “Lead all” upon their copy. VAnd about that time a tired, harassed man was standing in Des Moines saying, “Let us be thankfulfor the presence in Washington of a Republican administration.”It didn’t seem to matter. It was just one of those things in the case of which the night editor says: “I suppose we’ve just got to use some of this Hoover speech. He's still the President, isn’t he?”A man from Mars very w-ell might be puzzled by it all. The problems of the nation are not likely to be solved by the fact that A1 shook hands with Frank. Nor, for that matter, is Mr. Hoover’s gratitude for Republicanism in the capital going to feed the hungry.The voters of America, the most irresponsible folk in the w’orld. aregoing out to the polls to decide w’hether they want to have in the White House a potato or a parsnip.(Copyright. 1932. by The TimesiDURING the last year Dr. Compton has made cosmic raj measurements at sixteen sites. A1the same time, six other expeditions worked under his general direction.Of the.se six, three have completed their work. When completed. the survey will cover the entire globe.Dr. Compton, himself, made measurements in the Rockies, theSwiss Alps, Chicago, the Hawaiian islands, aboard a ship in the equatorial Pacific, in New Zealand, Australia. Panama, Peru. Mexico City Manitoba and the Fox basin ol Canada. *. ‘The Fox basin is at the edge ol the ice pack, 100 miles north of the 4fcgiic circle. „ _The three expeditions which have reported were headed by Professoi R. D. Bennett of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Professor J. M. Benade of Punjab university, and Alien Carppe, engineer, who was killed climbing Mt. McKinley in AlaskT. * - . • • -;•lt;Bennett’s expedition made measurements in Alaska. California and Denver. Benade’s expedition visited Ceylon. Sumatra, Java, Singapore Tibet and India.The three expeditions which have not yet reported are those of Dr. E O. Wollan to Spitzbergen and Switzerland. Dr. A. La Cour to Copenhagen and Greenland, and Professor S. M. Naude tc Mt. Winter-hock, South Africa. -In his travels. Professor Compto^ covered 50,000 miles, from latitude 46 degrees south to 68 degrees north.He crossed the equator four timei and visited five continents.
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