The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 16

MI BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE, NEW YORK, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1934 16 INNOCENCE ENTHRONED! Meanwhile the relief rolls will be reduced by the building activities that will follow the essential improvements. the near future, as the commission has been at work about a year. It is time that a fair trial be given the system of having career men trained in various city, State and Federal departments, so that they may ultimately step into some of our most important public offices, thus assuring administration without narrow partisan considerations. Daily 'fT Eagle Founded by luia Van Anita In 1841.1 (Trade Mark "liile" Reflitered.l TUESDAY EVENING. NOVEMBER 27, 1934.

U. PRESTON OOODlTtXOW President and Publisher W. V. HSSTEJt, CUVKLANS RODGKRS. Tmuin Idltof I A.

ARTHUR U. BOWK, Secretary Editor Imerttu W. W. OLIVTR, Ami. Secretary uain omen: tajH Butldlnf.

Johnion snd Adami 8treeta, Brooklyn New York TELEPHON1 UAtn -O700 ClauUied Ada MAin 4-SOOO WMhtngton, D. 1244 National Pren Building 1414 Tribune Tower Ben mndjoo, Cat. 743 Market St. HUBSCRIPTIOH RATES: 1 jr. a ma.

1 ma. DtDy end Sunday $13 00 is. so i 2J Dallr only too 4 90 1.00 Sunday only 6.00 3 SO JO Entered at the Brooklyn Portofflce Second Clai Mall llatter. Member Associated Free. 'fc.

PASSED IN REVIEW CTIRRIE A Bad Tax. No matter what tax program is adopted by the city administration to meet the new financial crisis precipitated by the continuing $18,000,000 a month relief costs, there is bound to be criticism from groups Believing themselves particularly affected. It is our opinion, however, that none of the various imposts proposed has such weaknesses as the sale tax, which is now reported to be the favored plan of the Board of Aldermen. It would be particularly unfortunate to impose a sales tax at this time, just as there are encouraging signs of a pickup in the retail trade in New York City. Its tendency would be immediately to check the flow of consumer's cash.

Nothing is more Important Just now than to help speed the processes of recovery, which have appeared particularly rosy for the past few weeks. 'The sales tax is wrong in principle and undoubtedly would have serious consequences In this community. Future of Floyd Bennett Field. With the Transcontinental and Western Airlines definitely determined to shift their eastern terminal from the Newark Airport to Floyd Bennett Field and the date of the actual transfer of their operations near at hand, the whole problem of the future of the great Brooklyn airport Is being brought to a head. Fearful of losing its standing as an aviation center, the city of Newark, under Aie leadership of its Mayor, Meyer C.

Ellensteln, is fighting to keep the other big airlines based there and to block any move to change the official Metropolitan mail terminus to this borough. Postmaster General Farley is now making a careful study to determine which field would-be more advantageous from the standpoint of the postal service. Regardless of the Newark claim that Its port is closer to midtown Manhattan than Floyd Bennett Field, the fact remains that the latter is far nearer the center of the area from which most of the present and prospective air travel derives. As to mall, even by trucking It to the Brooklyn central postoffice, it is claimed it would get to Manhattan via pneumatic tubes from there more rapidly than by the present system under which it Is trucked from the field to the Newark railroad station and thence taken by train to the Pennsylvania station. Furthermore, the vast majority of the mall now clearing through Newark originates in or is destined for this city, which should warrant placing the air terminus here.

Newark is fearful that such changes would ruin its aviation business. No one with a clear picture of the future of commercial flying would entertain that idea seriously. There should be plenty of room for two great airports in the Metropolitan Area. Certainly it seems unreasonable that such a splendid layout as that at Floyd Bennett Field one of the best in the world should not be fully utilized. William Obermayer.

The banking community of Brooklyn today mourns the passing of one of its outstanding leaders, William Obermayer, president of the Greater New York Savings Bank. Only three years ago the leading bankers of the borough gathered at the Montauk Club to honor Mr. Obermayer on the occasion of his thirtieth anniversary with his bank. Although nearly all his business career was spent with the one institution, Mr. Ober-mayer's Interests covered a much broader field.

He held directorships In a number of other coacerns and in two of them took an active part In the management as secretary-treasurer. He was regarded as one of Brooklyn's chief experts in real estate values. His club and lodge memberships were numerous. He always took an active part in meeting the general problems of the banking business and was a leader In many of the mutual activities of Group Five of the Savings Bank Association of the State of New York." His Influence and character will be greatly missed in all the groups with which he was so Intimately associated. Career Men in Public Life.

H. Eliot Kaplan, secretary of the Civil 8ervlce Reform Association, has made public a list of 126 well-paid exempt Jobs in the government of New York City and the five counties, all held by persons taking an active part in politics, a large majority of whom are Democrats. The salaries Involved total $758,037 a year. "It is about time," said Mr, Kaplan, "that we begin in our schools and universities to train people specifically for the higher branches of the public service. This is done In England and other countries." As Mr.

Kaplan suggests, it Is Just as much a mistake to fill these better positions by promotion through such minor ranks as attendant and the like as by making them purely and simply a matter of political patronage. The example of Great Britain is an excellent one. When a new British Cabinet comes into power practically the entire personnel of the various departments remains on the Job, giving a much better continuity of service than Is possible under our system. The one notable field In which we are emulating the practice is in the State Department, where career men are gradually making their way up to the higher ranking posts, such as Ambassador Grew at Tokio and Ambassador Gibson at Rio de Janeiro. This experiment has been an undoubted success.

The Idea of adapting similar methods to raise the standards of public officeholders has been much discussed and Mayor LaGuardia has constantly referred to his ambition to give New York a nonpolitical administration. In fact, at this time a commission appointed by the Social Science Research Council, which represents seven outstanding national professional societies, Is now engaged In an Investigation of the whole broad field of public service personnel. The council embarked on this venture with the approval of President Roosevelt, who declared that such a study would constitute a distinct contribution to the nation. The report should be forthcoming in Letters of Interest By Eagle Readers Police Erred in Disclosing Arrest Of Robbery Suspects, Reader Says Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle: Your editorial in tonight's Eagle is very timely. When is a crime solved? it would seem exceedingly stupid of the police to advertise when they are looking' for suspects, as it only gives them a notice to hide themselves.

The Police Department would do better to catch some of the principals before they go into the advertising business and look for the reward afterward. A little more action and a little less talk and perhaps the question of who stole the $427,000 from an armored car will be solved. A. H. E.

Brooklyn, Nov. 23. Board of Health Urged to Inspect Rooming Houses to Insure Sanitation Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle: We think it Is about time that every owner of a furnished room house should be compelled to take out a license. We also think they should be inspected thoroughly by the Board of Health and every room should be put in proper condition. Dirty, cracked walls and ceilings should be painted and cracks filled in so that roaches cannot come through.

Halls and stairs should be swept and cleaned once a week at least. It's mighty hard on men and women who have seen better days to have to live in furnished room houses. DISGUSTED ROOMERS. Brooklyn, Nov. 24.

Mayor Failed to Redeem Pledges To Home Owners, Reader Charges Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle: Just a few lines from a poor suffering property owner in reference to the new slap in the eye our good Mayor is giving us on the gas and electric tax. I worked and talked and walked to help put the Fusion party in last year. I rejoiced with other property owners over the promises he made to the poor home owners, overburdened with high taxes. The first slap we received was a 10 percent penalty on our unpaid taxes, the next was a 30-day advance on the payment of taxes, then a jump on the points, and in many cases the assesment Jumped. I have always voted and worked for the home owner.

I now feel differently, and don't much care whether I ever vote again. The bank that holds my mortgage demands quarterly payments, the interest rate at 5 percent and the rents lowered 50 percent. I have a building that does not carry Itself by hundreds of dollars a year and would gladly give it to the city if it would accept it. ISABELL EDITH SMITH. Brooklyn, Nov.

21. Denies President Roosevelt Is Generous to His Critics Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle: I was startled tonight to read In an Eagle editorial of the President's "generous and frank attitude toward critics" and that "he has not hesitated to admit mistakes." President Roosevelt has plenty of points to his credit, but I think even he might smile a little at those words. I hope he would. Is "generous" Just the right word to describe his retort to Mr. Lindbergh or his frequent statements that those who oppose the New Deal are Interested solely in their personal advantageeither political or financial? As to admission of error, I remember his admitting the mistakes of the "gold bloc" at the London Conference, conceding the bad Judgment of General Foulois in the air mall matter and granting the errors of Industry in formulating NRA codes, but I don't remember any case where he has admitted his own mis-, takes, If any.

Perhaps generosity to critics and frequent admission of error are inadvisable for a President. I am not competent to say as to that, but let's keep the record straight as to facts, anyway. E. D. WILLIAMS.

Lynbrook, Nov. 21. Wife of Utility Employe Protests Campaign for Public Ownership Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle: Mrs. Henderson's protest published in your column is opportune and I steal a few minutes from housework to protest with her against the rising cost of food and also against Government discrimination against investors and employes of public utilities. The Government added 50 cents a ton to our coal bill, God only knows how much to our butter, eggs, bacon and other food bills and it is impossible to afford a decent sheet or pillow case of cotton.

As a class we wives of public utility em ployes have to pay cash for everything. We have a few securities of our company, paid for by great sacrifice, which formerly we could use as collateral for loans for home Improvements and even to finance the purchase of homes which are now In danger of being lost. By constant threats, political drives, added taxes and misrepresentation the politicians have forced down the value of public utilities until it seems nothing remains except bankruptcy and regimentation of employes, while assets are as frozen as dry ice. Yet we are not "forgotten women" so long as a home Is In our name and the tax assessor remembers us. Ours la a unique class, having taxation without representation.

Those who dare defend our rights are called lobbyists, capitalists, obstructionists. Legislators supposed to represent us are afraid to vote as their conscience dictates; Farley even forced two to change The Insull Acquittal. Samuel Insull's acquittal on charges of using the mails to defraud investors in hU utilities companies has been followed by his prediction that other charges against him will be dropped and that he will be completely exonerated and vindicated. He is entitled to all the satisfaction he can derive from the Jury's verdict that he and his codefendants were not guilty of criminal actions. But for a man of Samuel Insull's former standing it is not much of a vindication to know that he is to keep out of Jail.

Considering the nature of the offense charged to Insull, the state of the popular nrind and the efforts of the Government In bringing him to the bar of Justice, his acquittal may be interpreted as a vindication of the Independence of a Jury that was not convinced that he had committed the crime alleged and declined to be influenced by popular prejudices. If the Jury actually comprehended, the complicated evidence of the various Insull transactions it was unusually astute. The chances are that the jurors reached their verdict by simpler methods. They declined to send an old man to Jail for practices that were quite common In the days before the crash. The plain truth of the matter Is that many of the practices were neither legal nor illegal.

For years big business was operating far in advance of the law in a kind of No Man's Land. Go-getters of the type of Samuel Insull were leading in this trackless field; but there were plenty of followers, all eager to make big profits and to buy any kind of securities offered without ashing many questions. Not all utilities financing was conducted on this model, but the Insulls were not alone in taking big chances. The collapse of his empire is Important in that it shows that investors as well as consumers need protection from utilities that once enjoyed more or less freedom in financing. A real effort is now being made to provide such protection.

If this lesson has been learned it makes little difference whether or not Samuel Insull is sent to Jail. Clearing the Bridge Plaza. That the city and the B. M. T.

are nearlng an agreement under which a part of the Brooklyn Bridge Plaza may be cleared of the old elevated structure is good news. This improvement will constitute a first step in realizing a dream that has persisted ever since the bridge was built, of giving Brooklyn a fitting approach to the oldest of the East River bridges. This Is not merely an esthetic matter. It strikes close to the fundamental problem of Brooklyn and the city as a whole. It Is fast becoming clear that New York City is today suffering chiefly from the spreading of population, which has caused an alarming decline in property values in the older sections.

This process is not peculiar to New York. During the past two or three decades there has been a marked trend in population from rural sections to urban centers. At the same time there has been an equally strong trend away from congested cities. While people were moving from farms to cities there has been a decided decentralization in metropolitan areas. This Is true of practically all of the larger cities.

In New York we have In effect built a new city around the old. With the extension of subways and other forms of transportation people have moved out into the suburban areas, where It has been necessary to supply all the essential public facilities, as well as transportation. The natural result of this shifting of population within the city limits has been to depreciate values in the older sections. There Is only one way In which this situation can be remedied. That is by rebuilding those older sections.

But this means that the inner city must be modernized to take care of the Increased traffic and otherwise to provide the kind of environments that will Induce people to want to live and do business in the older sections. So far as Brooklyn la concerned, the rebuilding should start where the older city began, which is In the neighborhood of Brooklyn Bridge and Borough Hall. It Is an anomaly that Manhattan should have started this process before Brooklyn. Knickerbocker Village on the lower east side is today drawing tenants from all over the Metropolitan District, yet it should be possible to build similar apartments on this side of the river that would have all the advantages possessed by Knickerbocker Village and could be rented for much less because of the lower land values. With the clearing of the Brooklyn Bridge Plaza a new area for building will be created.

But it is Important to zone the area to Insure the protection necessary to preserve the character of the recreated neighborhood. That is where real city planning Is needed. We must have some bold action by the city authorities to rehabilitate the older sections of town; but once values in these sections are restored the city will be able to balance its budgets without going through the painful process of finding new forma of taxation. their votes against Lehman's bill. Newspapers give the impression that there are no great electric plants except those already communized, whereas private capital built most of those and operated them until they were indirectly seized by the Government.

I take up the challenge of Mrs. Henderson and suggest that as conditions are so trying for us that we observe the period from Nov. 25 to Jan. 15 as a time to lessen as much as possible the nervous strain upon our husbands and ourselves; that we buy only the necessities of life and refrain from exchanging' holiday gifts and using holiday I also suggest that as a mark of appreciation for the investors who during the past years had faith in our country and furnished the money which made possible this nation's magnificent development of telephone, gas, electricity and radio all those plants close for a short time on New Year's eve, perhaps from 11:45 Dec. 31 until 12 a.m, Brooklyn, Nov.

22. DISCOURAGED. Seeks Source of Reader's 'Unbiased Information About Nazi Germany Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle: Since Mr. Henry Schaberick deplores our failure to "get any unbiased reports in regard to present-day conditions in Germany," would it be too much to ask him to identify the "reliable source" from which he has learned that "many constructive plans are put into operation over there" and that "the struggle between capital and labor is quite satisfactorily settled." If by a reliable source, he means an official (Nazi) source, that Is one thing. But if he means an unbiased source, the only one of that sort conceivable in Nazi Germany must be among American (and other non-German) newspaper observers who have reported what they have observed again and again.

These reports, which even Herr Schaberick denies only as to conclusion and not as to facts, show that the struggle between capital and labor has been "settled" In the same way that the 1918 struggle between France and Germany was by complete suppression of one side. I dare say even Herr Hitler would be amazed to find himself a Friend of Just as Marshal Foch would not have understood if he had been called a Friend of Germany. But If Mr. Schaberick has more unbiased information, from a more unbiased source, let's hear what it is and who gave it to him. We would all like to know.

J. w. Brooklyn, Nov. 20. Abolition of HOLC Will Work New Hardships on Owners, Reader Warns Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle: We like J.

B. Milgram and Helen Chase's letters, but as long as we continue airing our opinions in this column only there will be nobody to resurrect the HOLC. Honest Secretary Ickes Is engaged In a new home building privilege fight with the same crowd who gave us the privilege of paying them bonuses on loans and then soaked us with 6 percent on the whole. We ought to give him a hand, but as we are still in the pickle and are asked to contribute for relief through taxes, and the New Deal, plus saucy individuals, Is costing around $90,000,000 per year there Is nothing left for us to do but to tell Secretary Ickes, our Senators, Congressmen and even the President himself that if our mortgages are not refinanced by the HOLC we will find ourselves In the line of some lodging house, with no money to buy the contemplated new homes. THREE LONO ISLANDERS.

Richmond Hill, Nov. S3. By GEORGE RICHARD McKAY, grandson of Donald McKay, most famous of American builders of clipper ships, in "South Street: A Maritime History of New York," recalls an era in which great bowsprits poked a ropey way over the end of the slips and slatting lines holding limply aloft drying sail added to the rumble of bales and cases trucked by horse and by hand to the warehouses; the creak of tackle running through the blocks and perhaps upon occasion the leather-lunged bellowing of great oaths by stevedores and longshoremen. America's day seas in sail was not without its less seemly side, for the crimp houses helped many a master leave his moorings on time bound for China trade and for Europe with a full crew, some of whom had been shanghaied; and ships were built with sweated labor, too. in 1829 we read that $1.50 for a fifteen-hour day was the prevailing wage.

The following year the mechanics struck for a ten-hour day. They were offered $2 for the old hours, rejected it and won their fight. It seems a little gruesome, now that even the eight-hour day has given way to the forty-hour week and our Leftists are already agitating for the thirty-hour week. Behind the scenes of the epoch of towering yards and mighty yardarms spreading the snowy-bellied canvas It was not so romantic as were the records of Flying Cloud. "With an angel holding trumpet to mouth, the Flying Cloud dashed through the heads of San Francisco, eighty-nine days out from New York we are told.

"We are chrbnlcling here ho imaginary run of a Flying Dutchman, but the actual performance of a first-class, square-rigged and copper-fastened ship the swiftest of the fast Yankee Clipper fleet. There is a quiet exultation after all in bounding o'er the heaving blue wavecrests, with no impelling power but the swift breath of the God of Winds, which steam-driven decks can never give." Sail had dangers that today are rated glories. But for every Flying Cloud dozens of stout, well-found sailing, craft He rotting on the bottom, struck off by Lloyd's as "missing," their exact fate forever unknown. Flying Cloud now lies in the mud of the backwaters of St. John, N.

B. WET great are the stories of the Clippers, not the least of which was the fiction Capb. Preserved Fish had been picked up as a child on the ocean's shore. How It ever got around nobody knows, but there Is an even better tale of the day he was hailed by a revenue cutter, crying, "What's the name of that brig?" "Flying Fish, sir!" "What's your cargo." "Pickled Fish!" "Who's your captain?" "Preserved Fish The officer by this time was outraged by the slight he thought was being put upon the majesty of the law, so he boarded the brig, to have a good laugh once he had examined her papers. One gathers that the early Yankees were a tough-flbered lot upon the seas, shrewd In driving bargains, hard of head and daring In sticking up for their rights.

In his time Ben Aymar was the great salesman, The arrival of steam upon the Hudson was regarded with equanimity by the owners of the old sloops, for steamboats charged $60 a ton; sailboats $3. It was an unhurried epoch; the most need of speed was In getting the cargo on the market. The last of these dashes to market is the Australian grain race, more of a sporting event now than a business venture. The early feats of the Clippers, too, appealed to the South Street sports. Most will be surprised to learn that in 1932 the American coastwise trade reached its peak with 10,727,564 tons, a growth of 8,082,697 tons since the Civil War and something calculated to make one feel a good deal less sorrowful for the low estate of many an old sailor, riding at Its moorings on the Bay Ridge flats, closing out its lifetime in the humble business of carrying coal.

But President Monroe laid the foundations of the coastal business by excluding foreigners. VAR. McKAY calls a lengthy role of the great New York shipping names, names now important on the Social Register; but always he turns up with a beguiling anecdote at the very moment the list threatens to become tedious. Thus are we informed that Morse's telegraph was suggested aboard the Havre packet Sully when in 1832 the Inventor was returning to take up his duties as professor of painting and sculpture of C. C.

N. that the good ship Philadelphia in the same year became the acme of luxury when it was announced she carried a piano and that a ship's doctor went with it. In the second period of New York's shipping, 1840-1850, the packets made history. They; sailed on time, "wind or no wind, gale or calm." A glorious decade was the third great period, 1850-1860. The Civil War halted American overseas steamship operation.

The Great War caught us with no merchant marine to speak of. Mr. McKay sees only in Government intervention a hope of restoring tha flag to the trade of the Seven Seas. Private capital and the American nation are not "incurably maritime." In his eyes the most curious feature of our up-to-date mechanized, life is the willingness to rest on the laurels won by traders and good ships seventy-five years ago. "South Street: A Maritime History of New York," by Richard C.

McKay. (G. P. Putnam's Sons. New York.

$5.) New Books Received I WONDER WHY. By Beauchamp, Gray and Crampton. Rellly Si Lee. Juvenile. DAWN, by G.

Burnsteln. Richard G. Badger; The Gorham Press. Verse. THORSTEIN VEBLEN AND HIS AMERICA.

By Joseph Dorfman. Viking Press. FAITH OR FEAR IN CHILD TRAINING. By Margaret W. Eggleston.

Round Table Press. NEWS FROM THE PAST. Edited by Yvonne French. Viking Press. A compilation of ex-tracts from all fields of Journalism, 1805-87.

THE ROMANCE OF THE AMERICAN MAP. By Esse V. Hathaway. Whittlesey House. WORLD DIARY; 1929-1934.

By Quincy Howe. Robert M. McBrlde. YONDER SAILS THE MAYFLOWER. By Honore Morrow.

William Morrow. A tale of the trials of the Pilgrims before they set sail for America. LIVING TRIUMPHANTLY. By Klrby Page. Farrar Se Rlnehart.

THE SMART SET ANTHOLOGY. Edited by Burton Rascoe and Grace Conklln. Reynal it Hitchcock. A collection of the finer thing! published In the magazine during the regimes of Wlllard Huntington Wright and H. Mencken.

HAN3 THE ESKIMO, by Edwin Gile Rich. Houghton Si Mifflin. An adventure story for boys. 1.