St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 18

PAGE 20 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1935 ii i. will it bo in this raving, foaming now? Will they again soar through buffetings to apogee? The data answer, "Aye, aye, sir." A THOUGHT FOR CONSTITUTION DAY. One hundred and forty-eight years ago, the American Constitution was signed and submitted to the original states for ratification. In celebration of that historic event, public gatherings are being held over the country today In far greater numbers than on ST.

LOUIS POST-DISPATCH founded by JOSEPH PULITZER December 12. 1S78 Published bj The Pulitzer Publishing Company Twelfth Boulevard and Olivt Street FORWARD ON CRADE-CROSSING REMOVAL. Rejection of various "permanent" public works From Faneuil projects over the country will follow the President's any Constitution day for many years Hall in Boston, where James M. Beck, one-time statement of last week outlining a policy of a tero- Pennsylvania Congressman and Solicitor-General, is Porary work program, for quick spending and imme- THE POST-DISPATCH PLATFORM the main speaker, to San Diego, where former diate employment. It is reassuring, however, to President Hoover has chosen the Bill of Rights as learn that the way has been cleared for pressing I I tip, tt his theme, the American people are heading and grade-crossing elimination.

Federal restrictions as thinking about their basic law and its influence over to the division of labor and material costs have been their lives. waived, and word from Jefferson City is that Chief The reason for this unusual interest in the Con- Highway Engineer Cutler is rushing preparations for stitution this year is clear to everyone who has fol- beginning the work in this State. lowed the course of events in this country during Tnis marks the end of a blockade in which this the last few months. For while more than RO na- important work has been unduly delayed. In St.

I know that 7 retirement will make no difference In Its rardinnl principles that It will always fiicht for progreas and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, always fight demagogues of all parties, never belong to any party, always oppone privileged classes and public plunderers, never lack sympathy with the poor, always remain devoted to the public welfare never be satisfied with merely printing news: always be drastically Independent! never be afraid to attack wrong, whether by predatory plutocracy or predatory poverty. JOSEPH PULITZER. April 10, 1907. tional organizations may be participating in the eel- Louis, seven grade-crossing projects were approved ebration today, it is the popular debate which has bv Federal highway engineer in April, and an ap- erown out of the policies of the Roosevelt adminis- plication for Federal funds was filed. Not until five tration and the recent adverse rulings of the Unit- months later was it possible to clear the way for ed States Supreme Court which sets this Constitu- these projects, as part of the $6,200,000 program for tion day apart.

The unusually large number of eliminating 35 crossings in the State. SDonsorine organizations onlv reflects the great in- It is unfortunate that there was ever any doubt crease in public interest in the Constitution. about this, phase of public works. The grade cross- No one can foresee the future with certainty, but inS's long and growing record of death and injury LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE every sign leads to the conviction that this concern won widespread approval for the announcement in of the American over his Constitution and its rela- April that $200,000,000 had been set aside to attack The High Price of Peace tion to everyday lite is destined to grow greater. yiuuiem.

luc uuOJ I I I f.njTAd;Aa rlhrt ra. the Editor of the Post-Dispatch Correctly or not, the KRA decision has Deen widely yL OIL. and Ethiopia! Uncle Sam may have likened to the Dred Scott decision and the coming ported an increase in grade-crossing deaths over last oecome involved in Europe's troubled nresidpntial election to the I860 contest between Lin- year. Though the cost of these projects did not waters by the secret activities of Ameri- attain the ideal wage percentage sought by the Gov- can private business men. This would COIn ana uousias.

ron seem to indicate that secret activities in tne lines win iorm is not yet evident, dui an i j- international relations lead to no good indications point to a constitutional issue in the stimulus to materials industries snouia nave neen an ends, and that so-called private businesa coming campaign. Citing President Roosevelt's sub- important factor, in addition to the lire-saving po- iau.es on some mgniy puouc cnaractens- I Mfl tentialities. lies at viinuus limes. i i i 4 i tLflro The chairman of the Standard-Vacuum tionality, notwithstanding the unmistasaDie lan- int lu Oil Co. issued a statement which con- euaee of the NRA, "hot oil" and railroad pension should be full speed ahead in a program that will tained the following: "The Government decisions, Republican leaders are telling the country create employment and have permanent value in the uimea nu a respons.mmy that believers in the constitution must rally to removal of death-traps.

and investment abroad as a fundamental tne itepumican oauner iu pieveut ium ycucioicu ut- principle of international law Let us ument's deliberate destruction. At the same time CONTINUING THE CCC. examine this proposition. In effect, it comes the announcement that Southern Democrats by The nation has watched with keen interest the says that all of us have a responsibility to thousands are joining hands to "uphold" the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps. It has protect American business abroad.

Note that this "responsibility" arises out of a onsiituiion. seen tnese young men imee jens uuuu mum u. "principle" of international law. It does The forthcoming report of the special committee the exploitation worked upon the forests lor aec- not, I take it, arise out of law per se. 0f the American Bar Association, appointed to study ades, has seen them contribute works of lasting value xMor noes it rise out oi an American prm- efect of recent leglslaUon on the Constitution to the country, at the same time building them- I I-i j.

TTT TV-, I VAnUVf.il tally it is interesting how internationallv- aDa neaaea djt iormer oenaiur ueuige uaituu jrcy- selves up pnysicany ana in muraie wnu iiectiLiiiu. minded some of our nationalistically- per of Pennsylvania, is certain in itself to carry the outdoor work. The hope has taken form that this minded friends become wnen it is to their iSSUe to the eve of the 1936 election. This is 80 for tiroduct of the unemployment emergency might be interest so to ao. une wouia oramarny ittio ho vao TnorT mil- fiicrcroH inriiviflllfl Mora ontMo I I "DroDertv and investment" difficulties nv made Public this coming November, will go before This hope now has an official sponsor in Presi- themselves, instead of "going socialistic" the bar association as a whole for official action next ent Roosevelt.

Speaking at Lake Placid a few days and asking the nation to help them out of August when the choice of a President will be but on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of llgni fepoi. I la-n -mrvntlis owav Lg.notlnn in Vow VnrV Stato ho Raid- "In TT1 But this situation is just a flag indicat- I lne that we are all skatine on Drettv thin nal snau De lne aLUluue i iue u-umai, nudgmept, tne utu camps are going to uecome a ice if we think that the maintenance of zen as political leaders, seeKing enner to retain permanent part of the Government." lie added: 'Ve peace is a matter of passing resolutions office or to win it, argue the question in the public have only scratched the surface of the work there is nu 'ok price oi peace forum? plainly, the American citizen must look at for them t0 do." There is, indeed, much unfinished fnmpa nlsrh It will fnrro onma nf Vo in. I I 4 1 fluential members of our social order to the question from the dispassionate, common-sense work ahead ot tbe COC. If the country hopes to re- forego the prospects of immediate profits, point of view, for it will be up to him, as always, to deem and preserve its forest assets, such a corps is SWASTIKA OVER GERMANY. lor the possibility of greater abundance decide the matter finally.

He must remember how essential. The dividends already paid by the CCC S'lr Constitution came into being, what its framers are the best argument for its continuance. its to avoid violent conseouonces. This in expected of it, how. looking into the futures they I AnA -n-ovo fnr rid nt i no- it in the rhandnr noods The Consumer's Role aence throuehout the oorjulation.

which is not apparent today. rpminH himself that In an editorial the other day, we called attention From the Greensboro (N. Daily We need to know how to "fight" wars to the need for a census of the unemployed, so that Decline of Hitch-Hiking Ivlajority of hitch-hikers are innocent in intent, but acts of a few criminals have given practice a black eye, writer says; 14 states now have laws against it; warnings to drivers add to difficulty of getting free rides; possibility of thumber suing motorist in event of accident is another factor in decline of this road-side art. vicariously, and how to irrant status in so- ai mms is tue culhuuuu. IU RESULTS of a recent study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics focus attentiom cieiy wiuiuui me accumulation oi rreat me CAaci ici ui vyujjcn.mv" wealth in the midst of poverty.

The price aitered the text some 21 times, with far-reaching Omental Problem of the depression anew upon the AAA program and the part nection, Gen. Johnson writes: "Our unemployment of peace is high, amendments, but that we have never ceased for a mo which the consumer is or is not playing, whichever way you care to put it, in its E. M. DUERBECIC Chicago, ment to have government under a constitution as a problem hasn't even been looked at much less attacked. The figures on unemployment are worse continuation.

rn line Ttriririnlp I mi With the original act aimed at parity For Future Reference. To Editor of tbe Post-Discatch Recoznizlne that basic fact, our citizen will be lnan naccurale. mey are uiMc.og. mummy E. L.

Tordan in the 7.ew Tor Times. I ILL you please print this for fu- abie to discriminate between those who would im- aees are built on obsolete Dases and computed on prices, or the pre-war level, and the processing taxes fixed at "such rate as equals th difference between the current average farm price and the fair exchange value," it de Insufficient reports. The so-called censuses by vari- ture reference? peril the constitutional idea by blindly idolatrous St. Louis voters were told that they 17 tho ous 'employment agencies are worthless. The num- would vote "yes" on the bond issue Sept.

worship of the text and those ho would suit the velops that four commodities have soared be yond the congressional mark. A year ago. itftw, xtrauiLa wuuiu ue aa luiiuws; i ical tu ciiucut uccuo auu cu uo-i i. K. A $30,000,000 river-front memorial Dark.

Thn with this distinction marie, he will be nrenared tobacco and retail milk had exceeded the des For only a $7,500,000 bond issue. are aoie ana willing 10 worK ana wno cannot imu to consider every proposed change on its merits on Onlv A ri.Qo in tayoa tho ignated level. Now hogs and cottonseed have joined them. Tobacco has mounted 33 per cent above the figures first contemplated. employment? What kinds of work are these people th no hand tn annrnvp an amennmeni.

moving ud xw valuation viu Qfi(H tn iInw mnnv wnnlp thoro who A $22,500,000 grant by the Federal Gov- I the meeting date of Congress and abolishing me The bureau's findings show that nearly all ernment. lame-duck session as a necessary modernization of are unempioytsu. uut nu mn.6 v. vU Five thousand men to be put to work montal and on tho nthor. to re- the bounty of relatives and who, therefore, have out governmental structure, and, on the other, to re for three years.

food prices are back to the 1930 level and far in excess of the earlier parity definition. Meat, which offers probably the extreme example, is selling for 61 per cent above what it did in 1913, the pre-war date upon whica avoided the relief rolls? How many persons are un- ject a proposal to curb the powers of the Supreme Work to begin within 10 days After completion; no further cost to Court, for the obvious reason that our Federal sys- employed and destitute' and physically or mentally I VT tm-17 i nfforfi1 Vioti? TriDCD the city. parity prices were originally calculated. tem of separated powers could not function without lu aucL irv 1L 1L 10 are some of the questions an unemployment census an iimnirp. I WThile these higher figures obtain, how It will be interesting to note how these promises check with the facts as they 1 iji i 41 It is not the fact of change itself that should be wouia answer, ana tne answers uuiu u.v me uuu- ever, there has been little or no move, sav a reduction in the Government loan in develop, say in the next five vears.

ANN T. BONDER. questioned, for. given a long enough period, change trv chart its course an effort to recoup lost markets, prophetia We renew the suggestion that the Federal Govern- of what may be expected of other commod is inevitable; it is the nature of the change pro- Moreover, that Roarchinz scrutinv. which must te mem lane a census ot me nnempioyeu.

Recipe for Prosperity. To the Editor of the Post-Dispatch: Hr tn permanent machinery should be set up by which snch ities when prices reach and abide at prohibitive levels, made toward keeping thera in hand or to give to the consumer the protection which he merits and which, in t.h th. thought as previously stated, we must not be repeated from time to time, to show iiiuuou xiauu vi iiitLO 1111 1 1 vi i i 1 the fact that it is not new industries the confuse the principle with the exact nature of its variations in uueinmuu country needs so much as new blood" and application. new brains in the management of the in- Tn far th and meetines over the PflPF lr.aIN POPS OFF. I1UY" i V.U,, 4hta truth ohmit rr-u 1 1J.L.

ff Cantains of indu5trv nood tho onlicrht- touuiiy iuuoy unus me oilier oeiiaiui liuui luauu is yviV'ls dgaiii. ened self-interest which realizes that per- the American Constitution and government under He wants to put teeth in the Kellogg Pact, so that manent prosperity for employers depends that great document, they will contribute to public nations guilty of aggressive war might be restrained on permanent prosperity for employes; education. In so far as they distract attention from anri punished. This statement, issued at Geneva, is final analysis, he must receive if mass buying of the commodities concerned is to continued, much less expanded." Instead, there have been an extension and a strengthening of processing taxes. In th AAA amendments, there is provision that if the power of the Secretary of Agriculture make adjustments in the public interest Is held unconstitutional, the existing rates, for all the burden they impose, become the fixed tax law.

The discernible formula is for goin farther instead of backing gradually out. As the next election approaches and th forgotten man is calculated to put in his oratorical appearance again, wouldn't it bo somp'n if the consumer muscles in on ths role? that the same mills which in the past it, they will only make intelligent participation in the latest of a long series of utterances on world af- provided luxuries for owners and man the problems of statecraft more difficult. fairs by Senator Pope, who apparently is being taken agers must in the future provide the I seriously by Europe. Before Congress adjourned, it good things of life for workers and consumers; that mass production inevitably increasingly difficult, even in such states as have not declared it illegal to solicit rides. Motorists have become wary of giving rides even under the best of circumstances and to the most innocent-looking beckoners.

In the early days of motoring, a car owner felt it an expression of friendliness to help some less fortunate walker by speeding him along his way. Thus, the motorist may be said to have encouraged hitch-hiking from the beginning. But today, he has either lived through some harrowing experience himself or has read too many accounts of drivers having been decoyed by boys lying on the road pretending they were injured; by attractive young women wishing only a lift "to the next village," but plotting blackmail; by old women in widow's garb turned out to be blackjackers in disguiset and by other wolves in sheep's clothing. Owners of moving vans and other commercial vehicles, realizing the danger to driver as well as load from hitch-hikers who might turn out to be robbers, were among the first to take steps to curb the practice. As early as 10 years ago, the sign, "Sorry, No Riders," adorned the windshields of trucks in many parts of the country; it is more generally in use today.

States, too, began looking into the prob-Ifm. Led by Minnesota, they devised laws to stop the practice by prohibiting the solicitation of rides. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia now have such laws New York. New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Michigan (local ordinances), Minnesota, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Illinois. It is considered only a matter of time before every state will enact similar laws.

The measures provide fines ranging from $2 or a one-day jail sentence, as in Pennsylvania, to $300 fine and 10 days in jail, as in the District of Columbia. While admittedly the law is not strictly enforced in some sections, for lack of sufficient highway patrol, it is in other sections, with surprising effectiveness. Another law operates strongly against the tendency of good-hearted drivers to offer lifts to strangers. A hitch-hiker is a guest and, under the statutes of 22 states, a guest riding in an automobile may sue the motorist in case of injury resulting from an accident; by charging ordinary carelessness or negligence, he stands a good chance of collecting damages, particularly if the motorist is insured Abuses under this law have led some states to abolish "guest suits" in an effort to stop what had in some cases become a profitable racket. The American Automobile Association, which for many years has cautioned motorists not to give rides to strangers, recently started a new campaign, noting a recrudescence of the evil.

It cites the dangers of encouraging hitch-hiking. All signs indicate that as motorists increasingly realize the hazards, and as highways become better patrolled, the hitch-hiker, professional or amateur, will be less in evidence. tuk BiriNT RiFRill WAR i consioeieu a vote oi censure against me senator 101 calls for mass consumption, through The Cardinals onlv once "coasted" in to glory. Sing out a public statement in London to the effect mass employment. THE hitch-hiker is out of luck.

Once the picturesque knight-errant of the highways, he is today considered at best a nuisance, at worst a dangerous racketeer. With a mounting record of robberies, assaults and even murders traced to harmless-looking thumb-wavers along the road, police and lawmakers in many states have declared war on the free rider. And now, from all accounts, even the motorist, grown wiser through sad experience, is turning thumbs down more regularly on the fellow who added something new to the catalogue of gestures. To be sure, the motorways this season are lined with boys and girls, men and women, signaling every passing automobile in the hope of being picked up. Experience has shown that whenever the roads are filled with cars, the army of hitch-hikers comes out in full force and motor travel this year has reached the highest mark since 1929.

Professional tramp and amateur floater; schoolboy with the wandering impulse and teacher sight-seeing on a slim purse; itinerant worker looking for the next job; CCC youths cn furlough, trying to save carfare; vacationists wanting a ride to see friends at other resorts up the road all belong to the genus hitch-hiker. Like their types, their motives vary. While the great majority are innocent of mischievous intent, others are less trustworthy. The depression, bringing loss of jobs and homes, greatly swelled the ranks of ride beggars, formerly composed mostly of youthful adventurers. Older, more hardbitten men joined the hitch-hike contingent.

As railroads began more carefully patrolling their lines, itinerants forsook riding the rods and took up positions along main-traveled highways; there was less danper for them, and automobile seats were softer. Recently intensified campaigns against ctiminals and undesirables by Federal and city authorities in many sections have also sent thousands of suspicious characters to wheedle or force rides from passing motorists. It is this element, admittedly a small minority, which has given hitch-hiking a black name. Like motorists, hitch-hikers travel in well-defined movements, under the pull of the seasons or of some event of great interest. In summer, they fill the roads leading to Northern points, to cool mountain and seashore resorts.

As soon as the leaves begin to turn in the upper rim of states, they station themselves along routes leading south, hoping before many days or weeks to reach sunny, warm lands. Many sagas of hitch-hiking travel have been recorded. Students and teachers on vacation have been known to travel thousands of miles in a single season. Two 60-year-old women last year, starting out with $14, covered by hitch-hiking more than 4000 miles, from. Livingston, to Washington, D.

and back. Most of such trips are accomplished by or rather by short stretches of riding, with much detouring, back-tracking, delay and inconvenience; but tall tales are recounted sometimes of Odyssean wanderings, with single lifts of 500, 1000 or even 1500 miles. But as a game, hitch-hiking is becoming It must not be forgotten that mutually Omitting 1531. they have won when the clocks were that the United States is too involved in trade and ofitable consumption not only of ne- ticking fast toward 12, after a long, breath-taking other world-wide interests to remain out of a major prof cessiiies, Dut or comiorts and conven connict. me aenator seems to De suiiering irom a nileximaee.

1 iences is a necessary part of the process This year, it seemed as if they were about to smash ad cae of Iogorrhea, and the sooner Europe learns ia rrn thoir final trin through that it is not he that frames the foreign policies of of producing wealth; and that industry must provide for consumption just as surely as it provides for production. the "enemy country," they strewed the terrain with the United States, the better. Forcing John J. Jobless into the mu the bones of their victims. They swept into first tually ruinous position of a non-produc ing consumer is such a stupid piece of Place on wings of fury.

And when the New York THE MISHANDLING OF COUNTY SCHOOL FUNDS. work that one cannot help wondering Giants, pace-setters for the season, arrived in fet. in its final report, the May term grand jury in St. what they think and talk about in those L0Ujs last Thursday, the Cardinals, robustly perched Louis County paid its respects to the manner in fffBlt "in 1 1 llfr fi." tf vi ncn SrmAs great "institutes' "business vj. muouimo uitwitrns.

I ,4 Anirswi 4hAm 1 i i 1 on tne piiiuacie, weie picpaicu iu uctuUI tucm wnicn loans nave neen inaue lor a quarter oi a cen- Pierron, 111. DEMOCRACY. tender little soft-shell pigmies. With the slow, dole- tury from school funds. These loans were issued ful tread of the departing Giants, it was widely and largely to politicians and their friends and little ef- Mr.

Falzone's Public Service, To the Editor of the Post-Dispatch: fondly supposed that the remnant ot the schedule fort was made to compel payment of interest and pleases me much to tell you of a wouid be a languid stroll down a path of asphodels, principal, with the result that many of them are I nloasant Clirnt-ico hnn on a irici ir I 1 1 w. t.o.i. i-w 1 T) -Ha 'I hn 'i I 1 I i ful tj, So, 1ft iu Hutu sauuici ucvouua luc ouua. grossly in arrears, ine conauion ot tne tuna was I happened into the office of State, etiectuai uiants came- cnarging in ne uss. recently exposed by auditors BOOM IN WAR WEAPONS.

From the Detroit News. THE marts of death and destruction are getting busier. Less than a score of years after a chastened world settled terma of the armistice and began at great cost to repair the rack and ruin of four years of warfare, trade is picking up in war materials. The blind, halt and maimed of the last war still are with us, but their protests are in vain. Says a report out of Washington: "Worldwide gains in the international movement of arms, munitions and the raw material of war are disclosed by a survey of statistics of the United States and other nations." The great manufacturing nations are the chief exporters.

The whole deadly business goes on under guise of friendly international trade. For the time, any amount of destructive instruments and materials may be shipped out of a country with no consideration of the fact that soon these same things may be working death and destruction among that country's people and property. "United States exports of metallic cartridges gained from 110,260,000 in 1933 to in 1934. Like increases were made in the exportation of rifles, machine guns, heavy ordnance and explosives." The vicious business goes on in semi-secrecy. "Mostly the figures fail to disclose the consumer, since the materials often are re-exported." Whose boys will be killed by the stuff that just now is being shipped abroad in this spurt of international trade? Representative Joseph A.

Falzone and They rode like the roughest riders the world. je grand jury found that, prior to the election found a large office full of active people They licked the Cardinals to a frazzle. And while 0f the present County Court, "worthless loans piled laKing care oi me agea men ana women nll fhi. tn nass. the tenacious Chicasro up, causing losses to school funds." It found further who had come to make applications for Cubs clambered up to the top.

So, instead of a prom that officials charged with the duty cf checking the enade for the Cardinals, the race is now a triangle loans made only casual inquiries. The grand jury of alarm, anxiety and anguish. recommends that efforts be pressed to collect from But it is in just such a tempest as this that the borrowers. the old-age pension. Upon inquiry, I learned that Mr.

Fal-rone had furnished his office space, which is quite roomy, all of his stenographers, nine other clerks and was himself busily engaged in this helpful service. Such good work I feel should be commended to the people of St Louis County and a vote of thanks be given to Mr. Falzone for this kind of public service. CHARLES S. POWELL, City Excise Commissioner, Clayton.

Cardinals thrive and prosper. Give them sunny, As we have pointed out before, county politicians, smiling skies and a rose-hung right of way, and through the use of school funds, have had a little they behave very much like ordinary, erring mortals. RFC all of their own. It is scandalous that money But let the lightning flash and the thunder peal set aside for educational purposes should be so care- and the gales roar, and the order of the hour is lessly handled. The public looks to county officials do or die, that's when the Cardinals do.

Anyhow, to do their utmost to restore the school funds, and ONE-WAV BUDGETS. Frnm th Boston Globe. Budgets seem to be so constructed that the only place they can go is up. that is how it has been in their battling past. How I to place safeguards upon their use in Ihe future..