St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 4

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, SATURDAY, DECEMBER, 1935. PAGE 4A AFTER FIVE YEARS! of course, whenever the emergency ebbs and Britain sees fit to take that step. Five and a half years ago it was in July, 1930 Our situation, even in the gloomiest pictures of the newspapers of the country carried the surprising news that an obscure grocery clerk from Broken ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Founded by JOSEPH PULITZER Demier 12, 1378 PubHAed by The Pulitzer Publishing Company Tieelth Boulevard tni OUvt Street the prophets of doom, is not yet so bad as Egypt's has been in the matter of constitutions.

Yet the slo gan's triumph, under any circumstances, is as an Bow, by the name of George W. Norris, had filed for the Republican nomination for United States Senator against the veteran Senator George WT. Nor-ris of that State. omen dropped from the skies. THE POST-DISPATCH PLATFORM Yesterday came news that this same "Grocer" WPA AND UNEMPLOYMENT.

In all probability, WPA represents the last frontal Norris, now of Alva, had been convicted In Federal District Court at Lincoln, of testifying attack on the problem of unemployment. If it suc falsely before a special committee of the United States Senate, which, Just five years ago this month, ceeds in stimulating the absorption of unemployed workers by private industry, there will be no way of proving the fact. Lacking such proof, the absorption will be attributed to other causes. If it fails, it is highly doubtful that any Congress would investigated the strange circumstances of his filing and the rest of the apparent trickery resorted to by the political enemies of Senator Norris. Five years to the month what an indictment of I know that mr retirement Trill make no difference in Its cardinal principle I that It Trill alyraya fight for progrre and reform, never tolerate Injustice or corruption, tlwaji fight demagogues of all partlea.

aexer belong to any party, always oppose privileged claaaes 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. American justice this Is! If ever a political intrigue have the hardihood to make, another such grant as the $4,880,000,000 appropriation, nor, for that matter, would there be justification for it. The theory that public works are a depression-solvent is still only a called for prompt uncovering and prompt punishment for its perpetrators, it was that effort to defeat Senator Norris through a confusion of names in the theory, and to pursue it beyond a reasonable point would be an exceedingly dangerous course.

primary. To the credit of the Senate, there was no As WPA is launched, it is being greeted with wide delay in the investigation. A month after the elec tion. the country knew the whole story. Yet the spread skepticism, perhaps unfairly so.

The skep prosecution has moved with such geologic slow ticism is grounded in the inevitable comparisons ness as almost to frustrate justice itself. with CWA. Both involve made work, much of which But it is not only the heavy-footed course of has been denounced as trivial or useless in nature LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE Both were put together In a great hurry and amid administrative confusion. Both are charged with American justice that is indicted. Our tendency to punish the actual doer, who happens to be no more than an agent, while permitting the brains behind Farmer Opposes Processing Taxes.

To tht Editor of the Post-Dispatch: being weakening drains upon the Treasury, with WPA being three or four times as expensive as CWA. the act to go free is brought home to us. For "Gro I TAKE the BoonviUe (Mo.) Advertiser and noticed the little set-to between But the most effective point is that since no definite cer" Norris was no more than a cat's-paw. He may have been guilty of perjury at the investigation when you. I am a farmer and would like to lasting results in employment improvement flowed from CWA, there is no reason to expect such results state my side of the question.

he tried to protect himself and those he Vas asso Surely the people are not willing to ciated with. He was not guilty of the base idea. sit supinely by and allow our country from WPA. If the public is disillusioned about the unemploy Someone else committed that. to be bankrupted by those who are run "Who was it? "Was it Victor Seymour, former Re ning it now.

for one, have had all of ment situation to the point of pre-judging an experiment hardly well under way, it can hardly be this dictatorship that I care for. It has publican leader in Nebraska, convicted of perjury CaU8ed the farmers to do more dishon- oaTn ivetle-ftHrt and tent tn ia arlv this year! He, too, was only in the ranKs, so to speait. est things than they ever did before, such as stretching the bushels, the number of hogs, the acreage and the bales of cotton so that their parity payments There was someone who stood higher in the party Sir I fp' 7 councils than either of them. We quote from the would be larger. 1930 New International Yearbook account of the What every farmer should have told Senate committee's inquiry the President was this: This is my Gov ernment.

I love my Government and blamed. In the last few years, all sorts of doctors have tried all sorts of prescriptions to little or no avail. Many persons are beginning to believe that if the patient is only let alone for a while, natural healing processes will accomplish the cure. There is some vagueness, however, when it comes to describing the actual character of these natural healing processes. Meanwhile, what comfort may be derived from the spectacle of millions of men taken off the relief rolls and given work to do is overcast by the thought of that July 1 deadline when WPA funds are all to be spent and the tremendous experiment is terminated.

If jobs In private industry are not waiting for them, they will then face the, ugly, morale- Seeking to trace to Washington the inspiration of the maneuver by which another and obscure Norris had been put up in the State Republican senatorial primary with the apparent purpose don't want this money. My Government has no way of getting money but from the people. I don't want a processing tax put on my cotton, wheat, a tax that some poor widow will have to pay. of invalidating the Norris vote, it elicited infor mation to the effect that Robert H. Lucas, execu tive director of the Republican National Com I do not want money that I do not earn, mittee, had secretly expended money for the regardless of where it comes from.

Oh, yes, the Government payments printing of circulars adverse to Senator Norris and had in so doing used the fictitious name of have eased the farmer's load for the 1 John M. Fetters. Mr. Lucas rejoined in a pub lie statement that he had sought the defeat shattering prospect of going back to the dole. present, but what have they done for his children? One more term of the present President and the indebtedness will be Norris and defended this course on the ground that Norris had ceased to be a Republican.

"Whether there has ever been as mean an attempt TRUTH AND HALF-TRUTH. "Half the truth is often a great lie," said Poor so large that it will never be paid. Camargo, Ok. L. K.

II. LAWS. Applauds Nazi Idea. To tfcs Editor of the Poit-Diipatch: on the political life of a distinguished public servant in this country, it is certain that there has been 1 An Mn lm HMrt i Richard. It is a suitable text to illuminate the fable that Norris, built by the Government to house workers on the Norris Dam, is a "godless town." The THE adODtion bv the Nazi Govern- C1DC uu DU lu" iu 1 HE adoption by the Nazi Govern 1 ment of the safety device of nubliciv ation.

Had not the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled ment of the safety device of publicly the tfhknown Norris off the ballot for the reason labeling a reckless driver by painting story has been repeated, and has grown in the telling. When last heard, from the lips of Gov. Eugene that his petition arrived at the State Capitol a day a yeiiow cross on his windshield is a good idea and quite applicable to St. Talmadge of Georgia, it was offered as proof that the after the legal expiration date, the identical names Louis. The reckless driver would surely try to avoid carrying such a stain for administration had "copied Communism by refusing I would have appeared with nothing to distinguish MISSOURI: I SUPPOSE I'LL GET AROUND TO IT SOME DAY.

to permit denominational churches to be built." three or six months. E. H. HERMANN. them except their places of residence It is true that there are no denominational But base as the trick itself was and lamentable churches in Norris, but that is only half the truth, What to Tell Europe.

To the Editor of the Post-Dispatch: Remember December, 1915? exhibition of selfishness in politics that it was, the "Grocer" Norris deception was only one phase. For, There are none because the citizens of the little TINDER the diplomatic camouflage as we have indicated, this case indicts the uncon town, now about 2000 in population, when asked by vJ for peace, European nations are pre From the Pittsburgh Prett. sclonable slowness with which the wheels of justice TVA officials whether they wanted separate churches paring ior war. ineir pumicity men have started their propaganda here to Gentleman Racketeers Criminal leaders no longer are "tough mugs," but smart men-about-town, who use modern business methods and proceed only on advice of counsel, New York crime reporter says; they have "profound contempt for courts" and fear only income-tax laws; their power over politicians adds to task of breaking up rackets, writer adds. or a community church, voted for the latter.

Should TODAY the wise ones of the earth, thi realists, the great statesmen, the hard- move in the United States. It indicts the American practice of getting the little fellow and letting the win our support. any sect wish to hold its own services, the community We have gone through this before to headed editors and men of affairs who wen big man go free. It is enough to make our citi building is available. This has been explained many the tune of 12 billion dollars, still owing.

engaged in saving civilization with bayoneti zens do some serious thinking. times by TVA spokesmen, and again yesterday by We were going to make the world safe 0 years ago, may with propriety don th Chairman Arthur E. Morgan of the authority. An for democracy and wage the war to end future wars. I suppose we are to motley, daub their faces with paint and turn a solemn somersault in commemoration of other aphorism about truth is pertinent: "A He an extraordinary event.

rr A i. 11,... Meyer Berger in Current History. travels round the world while Truth is putting on her boots." So we may expect to hear more of save civilization from chaos this time, along with whatever investments need saving. Before getting all net up about European insanity, why not do some NEW RULE FOR SCHOOL COLLECTIONS.

Adoption by the Board of Education at its December meeting of a rule forbidding solicitation of teachers and pupils for funds for any purpose without specific authorization by a two-thirds vote of the practical minds were laughing loudly mil; NDERWORLD" has become a con "churchless, godless Norris" before Truth catches up. publicly at an ill-assorted handful of foou Uj fusing term since the great liquor counter-propagandizing, like this: who had just set sail from New York aboard flood of 1917-33 lifted the humble ave your own civilization, we are FIRST DRIVERS LICENSE PENALTY. board was a step in the right direction. Hereafter, the Oscar II. Remember? All expense! trying it here." were paid by a newly-made millionaire "Pay your war debts, we need the Although no drivers' licenses have been issued as at least eight of the board members will have to go on record publicly as approving before any solicita named Henry Ford.

They called their dok money." the Peace Ship. They were on their way yet by the city, the ordinance already has been put "We mind our own business, such as tion can be made. This should be an effective curb to end of all things the war. They wen to practical use by the first order depriving a motor Europe has left us." to get the boys out of the trenches oy YOUR UNCLE SAM. 1st of his driving privilege.

This man had driven on appeals which may be made wijh the best of intentions but pressed with mistaken zeal. Christmas. his automobile into another parked at the curb. He Slow Going. To the Editor of the Post-Dispatch: pleaded guilty to charges of driving while intoxicat IN DEFENSE OF MOTHERS They were laughed out of the Old World, snubbed and sent home.

They didn't end the war. They accomplished nothing. The ereat practical minds continued run ed, careless driving and leaving the scene of an acci waviu noticed vour statements re- JL cently concerning St. Louis County dent. In Judge Vest's court, he complied with an ning the war, and when it finally did end, When a poet speaks in prose and says something, the world Bhould listen.

Paul Southward Bliss, poet, has spoken, and although what he says is addressed particularly to other poets, it is something that more order to surrender the. receipt he received when ap school loans. The Recorder of Deeds' office and the Assessor's office might 1UUWWU uieu iiau uccu waus ic plying for a drivers license, and will give up for one also be investigated year the permit itself, when issued. We acquired four lots in April, 1932. ordinary mortals mifcht well take to heart, for he The step made possible under the ordinance is a immediately recorded but the pleadg that mother and eyen father be spared the tax bill made out far better protection to public safety than a fine or inflictions that are visited upon her, and sometimes wa3 always in the former owner's name.

I went to Clayton and asked about it. The Recorder's workhouse sentence would be. Removal of danger on him, by thoughtless sons and daughters. The par ous or potentially dangerous drivers from the streets clerk said to see the Assessor. The As tlcular sons and daughters are the ones who write poetry thoughtless poetry for the most part and is a distinct step toward reducing traffic accidents sessor's clerk said the items would be on Some millions of them came out 01 trenches only to be buried; some to face lift with their capacity for living destroyed.

All so that the world could stagger on to the present moment of grace and enlightenment under war debts, war loans, defalcations, bankruptcies, depression, dictatorshiR revolution and more wars. Probably no venture was ever so badly needed as the Peace Ship, nor any to DI equipped to' accomplish its end. There could hardly be a better time than the twentieth anniversary of the Oscar Hi sailing to observe that the best intentioni and impulses come to a sorry and trap end if greed and lust for power are left free to order the affairs of men. next year's tax bill. One clerk said they The precedent set by Judge Vest is a sound one.

It dedicate it "To My or "To Dear Old Dad, took quite a while to get such items trans should deter other drivers from committing of and finally, if they last that long, to other members fenses for which their licenses may be revoked. ferred. No explanation was given as to why, after two years of the incumbent, these items had not been transferred to of the family, It is regrettable that the same control method is This, says Mr. Bliss, is something that should be the proper persons. not applicable to drivers all over the State.

It is up Evidently we need a general cleaning stopped. He calls it inhuman and thinks it should be rated as at least a misdemeanor. In the case of to St. Louis to set a good example of enforcement, so that the case for State drivers' licenses may be up in Clayton. E.

M. GRANT. the first few "works" of a poet at least. The first strengthened at the next legislative session. five books, he suggests, should not be dedicated to Protest of a WPA Worker.

To the Editor of the Post-Dispatch: anyone at least to anyone living. The sixth might HAPPEN to be a WPA worker. One THAT TOPEKA PARTY. be tossed to dad, who would probably not know A day recently, we reported to our work It was an occasion for Topeka to remember that whether it was good or bad. The seventh might be good enough for mother.

Bliss has dedicated his at 1233 North Rock Hill road, at the quarry. We always fake the street car then, snort the good people, if there are relations between gang chiefs and prominent politicians, why does not someone expose them? In the first place, unfortunately, it is not enough to know that such relations exist There must be legal proof, and that is hard to get. The remote-control system employed by the gang chiefs in murder is applied in graft, too. The underworld boss does not go to the district leader on a street corner and write the weekly check with a gold fountain pen. The two never meet In public, and on the rare occasions when they do get together for an important business conference, it is very apt to be in some cozy and well-protected spot far from home.

Finding a needle in a haystack as high as the Empire State Building is a lot easier than catching them making their exchange. Even if you had super-investigators who were above temptation and corruption, they would run into insurmountable snags. They would find, for one thing, that no checks were used in the deals between the gangster and the district leader. They would find no written contracts and they would find no telltale bank accounts. The whole nefarious business is conducted on a cash-and-carry basis from beginning to end, and the cash is kept in safe-deposit vaults.

It must not be inferred from all this that there are no honest policemen and no honest men in public office. There are plenty. But the racket chief does not have to buy the whole police force or the whole administration. He usually confines his activities to a certain part of the town and if he lards the palms of the crooked powers in that quarter, he can operate freely and without fear of arrest or prosecution. Labor, industry, policy-slip gambling, bootleg liquor, extortion of little shopkeepers these and a hundred other sources have made modern racket organizations strong and powerful.

Many persons predicted that with the end of prohibition, the gangster would go back to the turtle-neck sweater and thick-soled brogans. But they were wrong. Bootleg millions had set him up in new fields, strengthened his political affiliations and made him more arrogant and grasping than ever. And if you think he has given up bootlegging, that is just another mistake. He has managed, here and there, to get control of venerable whisky firms with solid reputations, and is operating them through dummy corporations.

There are a few prosecutors who feel that, although the 1935 racketeer boss is strongly entrenched and more cunningly advised than any underworld leader ever was, he is by no means invulnerable. Given plenty of time, ample funds and a force of men who can operate quietly as investigators, they believe they can reach over the shoulders of the outer racket guards and grab the big shots. Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey in New York is trying out that plan now. POLITICAL SCIENCE NOTE.

From the Detroit News. They call it popular government and sometimes, for the first couple of years of an administration, it is. party at Gov. Landon's house the other afternoon and get off. at the Maplewood -loop.

criminal from cellar hideouts and crumbly tenements to lofty skyscraper apartments and to the most expensive penthouses in town. The tough mug with the turtle-neck sweater and thick-soled boots is a thing of the past. He has degenerated into the smart man-about-town, forsaken his quaint habiliments for smart dinner jacket and patent leather pumps and is hard to distinguish from any other tired business man. Twenty years ago, it was a simple matter to define the underworld of a great city. You merely took inventory of the lowbrowed persons engaged in such ancient callings as burglary, mayhem, larceny and highway robbery, and you had a good picture of the set-up.

Now the job is far more complicated. You still have the 'umble burglar, cutpurse and holdup man, but they represent only the lowest stratum of the underworld. Modern crook and racketeer organizations have adopted modern business methods and all the fancy office trappings of more legitimate enterprises, proceed only on advice of high-priced counsel and, even in such primitive ventures as murder, use the most delicate business finesse. New York racketeers can always call on others in their line in St. Louis, Cincinnati or Chicago to lend them a man or two for a "finger" job.

They have a reciprocal arrangement for that sort of thing. The murderer selected for the assignment comes in by train or airplane and is put up at one of the best hotels in town. He stays pretty much in his suite until a big prize fight at Madison Square Garden or some other major event brings his subject into the open. Then the "finger is put on" the prospective victim is discreetly pointed out and the murder man looks him over very carefully so that he will know him again when he sees him. After that, the out-of-towner is left to his own devices.

Equipped with a schedule of the routine habits of his target, he waits for his chance, does the job and takes the next train or plane back home. Modern murder methods, coupled with the gangster code against "squealing," have worked out perfectly for the racket chiefs. The percentage of convictions for murder particularly gang murder is insignificant. In the past 15 years, no major underworld figure in New York has had to answer to a court of justice for the homicides done at his bidding. The only charges the major racketeer fears at all are charges of income-tax evasion, and, surrounded by sharp and cunning lawyers who have a special talent for "fixing" juries, even that fear is, with him, not the fear of despair.

The racket boss has a profound contempt for the courts and creaky court machinery. If gangs and gang chiefs were not wiped out from time to time by the guns of their competitors, there would not be enough penthouses and office buildings to hold them. A lot of good people think the racketeers' hold on politicians has been greatly exaggerated. But it has not not a bit. Well, seventh, "Cirrus From the West," to hi3 mother, not The great were there.

How did the poet say it? Men "whose deeds crowd history's pages and time's great There they meet us in dump trucks just because she is his mother, but because she is the same ones they use to haul rock "an understanding woman." If the book is not al- volume make." Arthur Brisbane was there, and he has told us all about it. He told us of that Kansas from the quarry, and carry us on to our work, which is about three miles or gether what it should be, she will understand more. It was raining on the day I men tion and this truck had almost a half- inch of water in it for us to stand in, It is all very well for Bliss, in his secure position, to tell lesser poets to wait until the seventh book before bringing mother into it, but it goes further than that. There is a catch in his advice. He knows City editor who knows more than any other editor east or west of the lordly Hudson.

Senator Capper was there, and if he had been around the day that Caesar overcame the Nervii, he not Cains Julius would have attended to that morning ohore. Others and no canvas 01 anything over it to protect us from the weather. Most all the cattle I see hauled in trucks have at that if he can save mother from the first few books. jwuu SllClLCi UVCl 1 Uii were there, all cast in the same superlative mold We have a nice crew of men on this she will probably escape completely, for few poets reach the perfect number seven. Even so, mother Unobtrusively present was that publisher whom Wallace Irwin once happily designated as William Also- Job.

They are willing and good workers. Why should human beings be treated in would probably understand. such a way? RAIN-SOAKED. It is good advice, though, for all the sons and THE OLY'MPIC GAMES DECISION, From the Brooklyn Dally Eagle. It THOSE who believe that American letes should not participate in the fort coming Olympic games in Germany are naturally incensed by the action of the Amateu.

Athletic Union in voting against the pi posal to boycott the games, but, all thttF considered, we are inclined to regard decision as wise. fl If an adverse decision could have enced the policies of the Hitler reprM, might have been justified, but of this ttH is grave doubt. The effect might have 6 just the opposite. Germany's great ty has been in comprehending the P8? ogy of the outside world. Our difficulty been in comprehending the German psyen ogy.

By going back to the end of the War, it is easy to trace the fanaticism that finally brought uerJl. power in Germany. The attitude of the torious nations toward Germany sponsible for driving the German desperation. It was this internal ment that produced Hitler and is today chief element in his appeal. There is something tragically ironic idea of holding the great international ing meet in Germany under present co tions.

Nazi outrages are the worst ew pies of bad sportsmanship to be history of modern civilization. But not follow that this condition would tered by boycotting the Olympics. The decision of the A. A. U.

htJ, interpreted as an indorsement of What the German people need 0 anything else is to witness a few den tions of real sportsmanship. It should daughters of all the mothers of the land to spare Randolph Hearst. Every inch a Warwick, none can be fonder than he, and yet the first man in Kansas might do well to remember that none can switch more swiftly from the rapturous to the razzberry Quoting Puck. To the Editor of the Post-DIspatchs mem mo xnauy uiiuuetic milictiona that, thpv nro called upon to endure just because they are mothers. HOWMAN BARNUM was right the American people love to be hum than that same Comrade Hearst.

As for the host "BACK TO THE CONSTITUTION" WINS. in this deft, miraculous budget-balancer behold "the bugged. How aptly this applies to the present Government at Washington and the deluded people who are supporting it! T. 1 rising hope of the stern, unbending Tories!" And The slogan suggested for the Republican banner in 1936, "Back to the Constitution," has just scored a sweeping success in Egypt. Mere remoteness, how the Governor's little daughter was prophetically in troduced as the first woman whom Americans may address as President.

A Spenglerian matinee, re ported succinctly, handsomely and how by A. Bris ever, should not discourage advocates of the slogan, Its victory anywhere gives it something of the quality of a good-luck charm. There were some differ bane. j. i.

ia ueyona my conception now so many voters can swallow all the bunk; how they can indorse the money-spending program, not realizing that the big idea is to put enough voters under obligations so that their support can be counted on; how they can put their on the acts of Roosevelt and Wallace which help certain classes and result in cruel hardship on millions of consumers. This brings to my mind Puck's classic line, "What fools these mortals be." BROKIOUS. ences, to be sure. Egypt's Constitution had actually been suspended, through the dominance of another The Dionne quintuplets have already accumulat country England. It was restored only when con ed $200,000, bless their thrifty little souls.

Where tinued riots and unrest became embarrassing, even dangerous, at a time of Anglo-Italian crislg in the fore: Star-eyed tad, would you make a mint? Easyl Just be born a quint. immediate vicinity. And it can be suspended again, i them ashamed of the Nazis. I.