USA > Indiana > Lake County > The First Hundred Years (1938) > Part 30
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-S. B. W.
MAKING LAKE COUNTY A STATE
What wonderful possibilities we have stored up in the fertile brains of our representatives at Indianapolis! It required a massive capacity and imagination to even conceive of such a thing as making Lake County, Indiana, into a whole new state.
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The credit is given for this wonderful idea to the Right Honor- able James V. Kent of Hillsburg, and it is said all of our Lake County representatives were eager to place their names on the bill as co-authors and endorsers.
What prompted the action of the Hon. Mr. Kent? Was it the thought that Lake County was getting too big to be confined in the boundaries of Indiana ? Or was it the thought that the rest of the state would be relieved of the numerous demands for special legislation by our numerous representatives from Lake County? What possibilities there are in sight for the politicians and contractors ! A state house would have to be built at Black Oak and a monument erected to the framers of this bill. And of course we would have a governor. There are hundreds of men and probably some women who would be willing to accept the governorship. Then there is the prospect for representatives and senators-and numerous other possibilities in view with Lake County as a state.
There is another possibility. If we were disannexed from the rest of Indiana, Chicago might take us in-at least that portion of Lake County that is a burden to the rest of the state. Let Chicago have the newly developed portion of Lake County -say the two north townships which really belong to Chicago and which portion is giving trouble to the rest of the state. With that arrangement, we feel the downstate fellows would be will- ing to bear with the other portion of Lake County, and then we could have one court house at Crown Point, Lake County, and be happy ever after.
PROPHECY IN 1927 CAME TRUE
In looking over some old newspaper clippings I found one containing an open letter written by myself to E. H. Gary in 1927, published in the Gary Post-Tribune, in which I pro- phesied what would come, and we now have it.
An open letter to E. H. Gary ;
The papers report you saying the future of business looks good and will continue to be good if our President Coolidge will continue on his level-headed, straightforward course which he has pursued thus far. Are you considering all the business of the people of this United States? If so you should make an exception for the farmer. Conditions at this time are very much against the interests of the farmer, as he is selling in the home tariff-protected market with the price considerably advanced by the high price of organized labor, making the exchange de- cidedly unfair to the farmer. Therefore the farmer is doing
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business at a loss and we farmers do not see very much prosperity in that.
In the long run, Mr. Gary, will you see much prosperity for the whole country in this condition of things? A man of your ability knows that agriculture must succeed, as it is the founda- tion of all wealth, or in time, nothing will succeed. You can- not build a strong structure on a weak foundation.
You are well satisfied with President Coolidge, for he is giving you what you want. The farmers are not satisfied, for they feel they are not getting a square deal through the protective tariff. The tariff has been given you manufacturers for the protection of infant industries, but when these infants get big enough to control the government of the United States it is time to quit rocking the cradle and give agriculture something in the way of protection so it can get strength to compete with pro- tected interests and organized labor. If you manufacturers are wise you will be willing to give the farmers a square deal. If you are not wise prosperity will not continue very long for the manufacturers.
MORE ABOUT OUR COURTS
We have been making a great effort for years to get a change of laws governing court procedure for swifter justice with less expense to the tax-payers. The general public really got interested and meetings were held all over the state to work up an interest with the purpose in mind of arousing public senti- ment and promoting influence enough to get a bill through the legislature to do the trick. The lawyers, seeing which way the wind was blowing, came to the meetings with apparent interest and said that, now the public were interested, they would be able to do something to remedy the wrongs of our court pro- cedure. But some have thought it was not so much their desire to remedy the wrongs as it was not to lose control and let lay- men determine the rulers.
The State Bar Association got busy and drew up a bill that had a good deal of merit in it and we were hopeful for real help through the lawyers. The bill was introduced and got on its way but was withdrawn without favorable action. As we see it, the Bar Association was putting their bill forward to make a showing to the natives and get them satisfied so that they would not make so much effort. When they found the temper of the legislature and thought the bill would be passed they withdrew it-not wanting swift justice at less expense, but rather long lasting trials at more expense. The average lawyer is after the money-not justice.
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SHOULD IMMIGRATION BE STOPPED?
We believe we are for the Blanton Bill. Representative T. L. Blanton of Texas has a bill up to stop all immigration for ten years. We were on business in Crown Point and had occasion to drop into the Criminal Court where they were trying Emil Las- kovich, of Gary, on a charge of murder. He stabbed Harry Chestak, also of Gary, and that courtroom and all about town was loaded with foreigners and they seemed to be in possession of everything. Wanting a front seat I found one occupied by a woman where there was room enough for three or four, but she had a child and a lot of clothes scattered over the seat. She made no effort to slide over to give me a seat. So I asked her to make room and she gave me a look as if to say, "This is a free coun- try and I have possession here." So I took the next seat where there was plenty of room; and a big son of some country looked as if he did not appreciate my company and said something in a language that I did not understand. But I held the fort until I had given the crowd "the once over" and was satisfied to leave. I went out into the lobby and thought I would take a drink at the water fountain, but there was a bunch of foreigners there and they did not seem to be inclined to give way for a thirsty American. But finally one stalwart heifer turned the water on and by crowding in I could get a drink which I was very thank- ful for considering I was an American-born citizen-and they are not supposed to be considered around the courts of Lake Coun- ty-for it is the foreign-born and their young descendants who are giving the courts most of the business. The future looks bright for that class as they are not practicing birth-control as are the American-born families. So I am for the Blanton Bill.
Hammond has made a world's record for 1934 as having ยท more auto accidents than any other town of its size. They are making a great effort to find out what is the cause of it. Some- time ago their chief of police told them the cause was too many drunken drivers. The remedy would be to close up all the saloons, kill all the bootleggers, and shoot any residents of Hammond that would cross the state line and we will guarantee the death rate from autos will fall off 50 per cent.
NOT ALL GUILTY
We know we have been pretty hard on the lawyers and feel they have a right to defend themselves, which one of my good lawyer friends has done and here it is :
"I read your thoughts in the paper always. I think you are a little hard on lawyers as a class. You must remember that
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when they are up to some skullduggery they are always work- ing for somebody who wants it done. While I do not condone such things nor lend my own effort in that way, I do believe that as a class lawyers average up with any group of equal prominence and influence.
"When you suggest that the lawyers did not want their bill put through the Legislature, leaving the inference that there were some ulterior motives, I can only say I do not believe such to be the fact. In spite of the preponderance of lawyers in the Legislature, at any time it becomes known that lawyers are backing something as a profession, the others unite against it. This is not to excuse some of the abuses of which you rightly complain."
JOHANNES KOPELKE IS DEAD
Johannes Kopelke, a native of Germany, came to Crown Point as a young man in the practice of law, and he made a reputation for himself as an able, conscientious, honest lawyer- and citizen. He filled many publie positions with credit to him- self and honor to the country. We had great respect for Mr. Kopelke as a man and always admired his good judgment and honest convictions. In his official position and as a lawyer he- saw the great need of a change of court procedure. He made a great personal effort and spent his money trying to bring about a change through the legislature, but finally gave it up with the remark to us that "The way of a reformer is hard." He said he could not do anything because the public would not back him up. We asked him why the German people took up with Hitler. He said, "For the same reason the American people took up with Roosevelt. Because they did not know what else to do. But the difference between the German and the American people was we had just got the bottom of our feet wet and the Germans were in all over." He lamented the fact that the better brains of Germany were not in control.
Mr. Kopelke has been retired for some years, but has always taken a lively interest in local, national and interna- tional news and we think he was one of the best posted men on modern and ancient history in the state. A fitting inscrip- tion on his tombstone would be: "Here lies an honest man, the noblest work of God."
WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
What does all this preparation for wars and all the rumors of wars mean? There is only one answer: We are possessed of the devil, and the meanest in man is in action. It is certainly
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not the good spirit, or the Christian spirit that is in control. The bulk of so-called Christian people must be either lazy or cowardly, or there would be more influence against these hor- rible wars. The babies that were born in Germany at the time of the great World war are now in training to go on the field of battle to kill and be killed. If Germany is making a fool of herself, must the rest of the great powers of the world do likewise because we have "hell broke loose" and the devil in command? Over seven and a half million of the best men were killed in the World war, and since that time there has another fine bunch grown up ready for the slaughter-according to the war lords and the manufacturers of war machinery who, the world ovver, are combined to promote wars and when they get them started, to use all their "tricks of the trade" to have the wars continue as long as possible in order to make a demand for their goods which are sold at a tremendous profit, as countries fighting one another do not quibble over the price of cannon, bombs and poison gas.
NATIONS FEAR EACH OTHER
Old man Mars and the fellows who believe in preparedness to keep us out of war, are now happy. All the nations of the world are afraid of one another and they (each and everyone) are preparing for defense. When they all get nicely prepared to defend themselves, something will turn up on which they do not agree, and they will go to fighting. Of course, if they are all preparing for war, that is what they will have. After two thousand years of Christ's teaching: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. You should love one another. Love is the fulfilling of the law. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor."
These Christian countries are preparing for wholesale murder and, with all the inventions of the machinery of war for de- struction, it is beyond a decent man's conception how human beings could plan and arrange for such a slaughter. The fact is we are not Christians. The old brutish animal of the heathen predominates-among the war lords at least, and there is not enough of the real Christian spirit in the world to overcome the power of the heathen. What is strange to us is that some of the most pronounced religious people are the most pronounced in the belief that we must be prepared to lick the other fellow to keep from getting licked. They seem to have a mighty poor opinion of the human race and to consider that they are a lot of brutes and the only way to save themselves is to kill the vother fellow-just the opposite of Christ's teaching.
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When professed Christians carry that attitude, what are we to believe? There is one thing sure-if the world is no more decent than it now appears to be, and considering the great ex- pense of wars, the prospects for the future in comfort and hap- piness for the masses are very dark and gloomy. With "Peace on earth and good will to men," with good, honest business judg- ment, every man, woman and child in the world (especially here in the United States) could live in comfort, if not in luxury. From the present condition of things it is enough to make one- doubt if the human family has enough sense, honesty, virtue and judgment to maintain a civilized government for the bene- fit of the people.
There is only one remedy, and that is those who want a Christian, just government must take more interest in public- affairs and-if they believe in fighting-fight for what is right and just.
MONEY FOR DEATH BUT NONE FOR LIFE
Thank God, one man sees the light and he lives in Canada .. Maybe the rest of the world will wake up after a while.
William Irvine, speaking in the House of Commons on April 2, stated in part :
"I demand of this parliament and government money for- life; I demand money for peace; I demand for construction. We had money for war, money for death, money for destruc- tion. In the name of God, why can't we have money for life, for construction and peace? We can have it just as soon as the opposition says so, just as soon as this house comes to its senses, this question can be solved. But just so long as we play the political game which both the budget and the opposition: amendment indicate we are not going to get very far."
ONE'S SELF
We believe that Justice Cardozo has hit the nail on the head in the following :
"The submergence of self, in the pursuit of an idea; the- readiness to spend oneself without measure prodigally, almost ecstatically, for something great and noble; to spend oneself, one knows not why-some of us like to believe that this is what religion means."
CAN WE FOOL OURSELVES?
Is it possible to bring about prosperity with short hours. and high wages? Is it possible to pull yourself out of a mud- hole by pulling on your bootstraps? Can prosperity be bought
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with public money and increased taxation? Can any daylight be saved by changing the clock? Can these things be done, or are we just kidding ourselves?
REPUBLICAN RALLY
The big Crown Point Republican rally held last Saturday evening at the Legion's community house was a grand success in getting people together and having a good time. There were about 800 fed with neatness and despatch. Congressman Charles W. Halleck of Rensselaer was the principal speaker. Being a young man full of pep, and possessing a good voice, he made a good speech without saying much. We went to hear the speech to find out what the Republican party proposes to do for us. He talked about standing on the platform and by the principles of the Republican party, but he did not say what these principles are and we have not heard what they are since they busted. He found plenty of fault with the party in power and claimed that Roosevelt has not fulfilled his campaign promises. Neither did the Republicans when they promised protection and prosperity, a full dinner pail, and a chicken in every pot.
Old Jim Watson is just as fat and funny as ever. He knows how to make an audience laugh and how to please the crowd and we believe now, he could be just as active in jumping sideways to keep on the side of the majority of votes, if he only knew what that was, as he ever was. Jim did not fool the people all the time, but he did for a long time. And there are many who are willing to be fooled with him again.
It seems to us the present administration is floundering around spending a lot of money with poor results, and- judg- ing from what we heard from Halleck and Watson-they have no more idea what to do than the other fellow and, if the Re- publican party cannot furnish more substantial timber to build up their structure than the above named gentlemen, they are not going to get very far. If we can see it right, the great ef- fort of the parties is for those who are in to keep in and those out to get in. In either party there is not enough honesty, justice and good common sense to manage the country for the whole people. And who is to blame for it? The people.
RELIEF
The way this relief business is turning out is enough to give you the "jitters." They are treated so well they do not have to (or do they want to?) go to work. They are being
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taken care of. Why should they work? Last week I wanted to get a man to help dig a ditch. Could I find him? No. Only one big fellow (who was on relief) six feet of length, lying in a public bunk, apparently quite content and not at all enthusias- tic about work, but if he did work, it would not be for less than 40 cents per hour. I told him farming business would not stand 40 cents an hour. So he continued to hold down the bunk, and I suppose when he got hungry he would go to the public to be fed. I went back and dug the ditch and to pay taxes to keep that big loafer in idleness.
You cannot hire men to work on the farm. The "made work" is paying them more than a farmer can afford to pay, and they do not have to work like they do on the farm. Ac- cording to the Chicago Tribune there is a big demand for women servants. But those on the dole do not want jobe. One employ- ment agency said they could place 800-some as high as $15 per week. The women scorn housework and won't take the jobs. All through this depression I have not known a man or woman who was determined, proud and ambitious but who got by through one means or another without going to the public for help, and that is the invariable testimony of others with whom I have talked.
Something must be done and done pretty quick, or those who are willing to work and support themselves will get mighty tired of carrying two or three lazy loafers on their backs. We think we will have to go back to the Darwin theory-"The Survival of the Fittest." If these big men and women do not want to work, let them starve. Of course we always have had, and I suppose we always will have, a certain unfortunate few who have to be supported by the public, but this thing of a lot of big, lazy loafers, both men and women, wanting the public to take care of them is .all wrong and must come to an end.
MAY 1935 LEADER NEEDED
There seems to be considerable enthusiasm generated among the Republicans of the central west over the coming meeting to be held in a couple of weeks at Springfield, Illinois. The idea was to hold it in the city where Lincoln's tomb is, hoping that they can get an inspiration from the immortal Lincoln. It seems to us, from reading about it, that the song will be, "We don't know where we're going, but we're on our way." So far there seems to be no fixed plan or idea. If someone does not
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go there with a fixed plan or some good ideas, it will end in a gamble.
Is it not astonishing that out of the 120 million people in the United States, there is not one outstanding man that we can agree on to lead us out of the fog and mire? Oh, for a Lincoln, whose guiding principle was, "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it." Right and duty were Lin- coln's guiding stars, and these were what made him great. What will get the vote?" To a great extent those that are in, and also those that want to get in.
One writer from Indianapolis thinks Jim Watson may appear at the convention in rather unexpected manner and make a short speech full of quips and wisecracks and carry the meet- ing off its feet in favor of the Indiana ex-senator, who in our opinion did about as much as anybody to put this country in the hole which it is now trying to crawl out of.
The young Republicans are going to try to have something to say, but they will have to be well organized and located, or the old wheel horses like Jim Watson will stampede them to their own advantage. This meeting's proposal is a get-together for drafting a program for 1936. Campaign, they call it, getting down to the grass roots, and there is no doubt there is a lot of well-meaning sentiment back of it. But there is danger of the professional politician getting in his work and spoiling the effort. These are the times that try men's minds as well as their souls.
THE AMERICAN STANDARD MAY BE OUR RUIN
Our high standard of American living, high standard of wages, and high cost of everything produced may be the ruin of us. The workmen in this country want higher wages than in any other country. Workmen's laws are passed by Congress making a high tariff wall to keep foreign goods out for the good of the producers here, and still foreign goods will come into this country, and sell on our markets, in spite of our high tariff walls, supplanting home-made goods which our own work- ers and producers should have made. We are always talking about "the merchant marine of the United States," that it "should be bigger. We should carry our own products across the sea, in American bottoms, for the benefit of American busi- ness." The reason we do not build ships and have more of a merchant marine is because the price of labor and the price of material here makes our ships cost more than the ships built in other countries. And the men employed on these ships want
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more wages-costing more to run these ships. So as a business proposition the United States is placed at a disadvantage and we just cannot do business on the sea in competition with the other countries. The foregoing illustrates the tendency of the whole business. In fact, are we not making everything cost so much that we cannot do business? And we are making every- thing cost so much that we cannot afford to have it.
While we are standing around demanding a high price for everything, the people of the other countries are working and producing cheap goods. We are consoling ourselves with the thought that we are better than anybody else and do not have to compete with the pauper labor of Europe. It may be here is a case of "pride going before a fall." With our wonderfully productive lands, Yankee ingenuity for doing and making things and the wonderful machinery we have in this country, we can produce everything and anything as good and as cheap as any- body else in the world can produce it.
Now, if this is the case, would it not be more sensible if we would get down "off our high horse" and go to work and produce in abundance for everybody to have a-plenty at low prices? We busted at the highest wages and the highest prices ever known. So I do not see how we can expect prosperity to go back to those conditions. So it may be a wise thing to produce things cheap, so that the mass of people can buy; and there is a whole lot of things that the United States can produce and sell to other countries, giving us a balance of trade, which means prosperity.
WE WERE ON OUR WAY WITH THE NRA
But the supreme court had its say.
And where are we going today? We cannot but feel sorry for Roosevelt and his advisers in having the supreme court upset their plans so completely. It must be a great disappointment, for, right or wrong, they probably thought they were doing a good job in bringing about conditions favorable for the return of prosperity. But it is a sure fact that their plan of operation was not in accordance with the Democratic platform on which Roosevelt was nominated, and of which he said, "I have ac- cepted the platform without equivocation and without reserve." The platform declared for "an immediate and drastic reduction of governmental expenditures by abolishing useless commissions and offices, consolidating departments and bureaus, and eliminat- ing extravagance to accomplish a saving of not less than 25 per cent in the cost of federal government." Other planks were:
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"Maintenance of the national credit by a federal budget annually balanced." "We condemn the improper and excessive use of money in political activities." "The platform is a promise binding on the party and its candidates." "Let us have the courage to stop borrowing to meet continued deficits, to stop the deficits," etc., etc.
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