USA > Indiana > Lake County > The First Hundred Years (1938) > Part 34
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AN OPEN LETTER AND THE ANSWER
Harry L. Hopkins, Washington, D. C.
My dear sir : Your plan of giving work to the idle is all right if you made them work, but it is nothing more than a farce. Men by the hundreds are taken out on these made-work jobs and their principal occupation is killing time. And the bosses on the jobs are not interested in getting the job done, as they are having a soft snap, and the longer it lasts the better it suits them. I
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have talked with your heads in command here, and they as- sured me that the action on the work would be moved up, but I see no difference. They have so many men on the jobs they are in one another's way. One tenth of the men, working to ad- vantage, would do more good. I am opposed to making a lot of these loafers still bigger and better loafers at the expense of the government.
What you are doing is burdening the honest and industrious citizen, who is trying hard to take care of himself and family for the benefit of a lot of lazy loafers. It is a premium on laziness and shiftlessness. I believe in putting these fellows to work, but for God's sake and the best interest of the American people, make them work. I would like very much to hear from you on this. Very truly yours, Sam B. Woods
Here is the kind of answer we get :
Mr. Sam B. Woods,
Griffith, Indiana.
Dear Sir :
This will acknowledge your letter of October 30, 1935, rela- tive to activities of the Works Progress Administration.
We have noted what you have to say. Your criticisms have been given due consideration.
Very truly yours, Ben Whitehurst, Chief, Correspondence Division.
ROOSEVELT'S CONCERN
If we understand the newspapers, the great concern of the President of the United States, which governs his actions, is what to do or say to please the people so that they will vote for him in the 1936 election. They say now that Huey Long is out of the way and his "share the wealth" proposal will blow over, the President can be more conservative. According to the news- papers the President was governing his actions to overcome the influence of Long.
Great heavens! What can we expect in the government of this great country if the head of the nation is trimming his sails to catch the breeze or govern his actions by the antics of any wild man that may storm the country with his fool ideas? We would naturally suppose that any man that was big enough to be President of the United States would have well defined ideas and a course laid out to follow for the best interest of the whole country, and not change his purpose, mind or action when some gadfly buzzes around like Huey Long, Father Cough-
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lin or Dr. Townsend. If he has no other foundation for his ac- tions, may God help us, for we can't expect much help from our national government if the newspapers have the right slant on what governs the President's actions.
In considering our congressman from the first district, which is Lake county, the varied and tremendous interests we have here of manufacturing and agriculture should have a man of broad knowledge and experience, combined with strict honesty, to be able to give simple justice to all concerned, including the in- terests of labor. If the people of Lake county are intelligent they will begin to look around for such a man to represent them in our next Congress and not piek some one whose sole recom- mendation is that he will stand by the President.
ITALY AND ETHIOPIA
General Sherman said, "War is hell!" It is worse than hell. Hell is supposed to only punish the guilty, but war punishes everybody-men, women and children. Not only when the war is in progress, but the results of war reach out into the lives of people and poison their existence in this world if not for eter- nity.
The newspapers speak of the trouble between Italy and Ethiopia. There is no particular trouble between the two coun- tries. Italy needs more territory to expand. She is getting very much crowded in her small country and she wants more land, and she is going down there to kill the Ethiopians off and take the land for the Italians. It looks as if she was going to do it, for if the other countries were going to do anything they should be about it before Italy get them all killed. She has the machinery of destruction and she is making a business of mowing them down-men, women and children.
The League of Nations and the World Court are all right and are trying to do something and have done some good work, but, to be sure, they have not accomplished all they undertook; not because the League of Nations and the World Court are not right, but because the human animal that we have to deal with is wrong. The league's and court's high standard of right and justice is too far advanced for the brute disposition of the major- ity of the human race. It did not stop Japan from absorbing Manchuria or control Poland when she wanted Lithuania; but it has as many successes as failures. Its action is one big step forward. It has accomplished things in the way of peace that were never undertaken or accomplished before. It has been an influence against killing one another to settle differences of opinion.
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This League of Nations may not live and prosper, but it has sown the right seed and sentiment, which will have its influence in time. If the human family does become civilized and Chris- tianized, we may live in hopes that some time we may be able to settle our differences by the rule of justice and common sense. There is one bright hope. In the past all the writers and poets glorified war. The man that went out and killed some one was a hero. But the theme song is now changed and we hear more about the horrors of wars and praise for the peaceful citizen who accomplishes some good in this world. The tendency of the best people of the world is against war and on the side of peace, to give everybody a chance to live and let live. In the old set-up the rulers believed and acted on the theory that the state had no morals. That is, if an individual killed a man it was murder, but if a nation killed thousands it was glory. But now it is getting to be understood that a nation must be held accountable for its acts on the basis of common decency and morality.
The American Legion is doing good work in demanding in case of war all property shall be used for the benefit of war action. To take the public as a whole, its thoughts seem to be running along the lines of common sense on the question of war, so let us hope in time we can do business in this world between nations without resorting to wholesale murder.
REPEAL IS REASON FOR MOUNTING AUTO DEATH TOLL
The Chicago Tribune has the following headline in Mon- day's paper, on the front page: "35,769 Deaths Show Mounting Auto Tragedies; 130 in U. S. in Two Days." That was last Saturday and Sunday. Nice days to be out, but a horrible end- ing.
The Tribune does not give the reason for the increased deaths, for the reason, I think, it would be ashamed of it. In our opinion, there is only one reason for it all. The autos have more speed, to be sure; but they are better constructed, easier handled, and have better brakes. So you can't lay it on to in- creased speed, for the better brakes and other improvements will easily balance the speed.
The sole reason for the mounting of the death rate in auto accidents is the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment. I think I know that there is more drinking than there was when prohibi- tion was in order, and when you see a lot of autos lined up in front of a saloon, and a lot of men and women in there drinking that stuff that they sell, does it not stand to reason, when they come out and get hold of the steering wheel, and step on the gas, there is liable that murder will be committed with a deadly
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weapon? There is, and that is the reason that the death rate is continually increasing.
You cannot regulate them, because they won't obey the law. And the only way to control them is to put them out of business and keep them out of business. The cry was when we had pro- hibition : "If the law can't be enforced, repeal it." That should hold good now.
November 1935 THE SWEITZER CASE
They are having a big court trial in Chicago of Sweitzer, the ex-county clerk, who is charged with over $400,000 short- age when he went out of office. The state has a strong case against him. A man that was selected as an expert account- ant was put on the witness stand by the state, and it was through this man's report that Sweitzer was indicted. But when he began to tell what he knew, the defense lawyers objected, as they always do when the witness is telling something that is important. They would not allow him to say that he had "verified" or "ascertained" or "supervised" or "directed." Such words were conclusions, according to Sweitzer's attorney, and for the most part they were sustained, which looks about as silly as anything could be imagined.
And still, right here in Lake county, our judges will de- mand more money from the county council that justice may be obtained. Have not the people a better right to demand of our courts that we get the worth of our money that the courts are now costing? Where is our case of the "Tough Tread and Court House Furniture" very similar to the Sweitzer case? They were charged by the grand jury of being over $200,000 short. The case was delayed in the county, ano was finally sent to Indianapolis to the attorney general. They monkeyed with it for a year or two, and sent it back to Lake county. After a time a change of venue was taken to Jasper county, and there the case was thrown out on time limitation. And still our judges demand more money that justice will be done.
CIVILIZATION AND EDUCATION
The main effort of mankind seems to predominate in brute force. Where are the men and women of the world who are sup- posed to stand for what is right, who pray, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven"? "When two or
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more ask in My name it shall be granted unto you." There is something horribly wrong. What is it? I will say the good people of this world are a lot of cowards and dare not put up a fight for righteousness and common decency. If there is any other real reason let us know what it is.
THE ARMAMENT RACE
The Right Hon. Lord Starabolgi of London, England, whose picture looks as if he might have both dyspepsia and a back- ache, says in the Sunday Herald and Examiner that "the world is in an armament race."
Japan is getting the idea that she is as big as anybody and is building ships. Ordinarily England must keep the su- premacy of the sea, so she is building 21 new ships at a cost of 40 million dollars. And the President of the United States has made it clear that we will not be second to anybody. Italy would build more fighting vessels, but she has spent so much money on fighting now that she has gone her limit. Germany is spending every dollar she can raise for fighting material.
Brother Brisbane still thinks we are liable to be knocked off from the face of the earth by some enemy's bombs; and so we go hell-bent for election, after 2,000 years of so-called Christianity.
THANKSGIVING
Today is Thanksgiving day. We might have more to be thankful for; but it might be worse, and let us be thankful for that. There is one thing that we can be truly thankful for- that we now have no war on our hands and that there is a big ocean on both sides of us that separates us from the troubled nations. And we can be thankful that the honor and glory of wars are growing less every day and it is looked upon more and more as a horrible thing that should be banished from the earth, and that we should live as brothers and love one another instead of planning and spending our wealth preparing to kill one another.
Let us be thankful that we are alive, which gives us a chance to do better in the future than we have done in the past, both in our private relations and toward the public. We may in time become intelligent enough as American citizens to have a government that will give everybody justice, where each shall have an equal chance in the race of life, and then we can be truly thankful for that.
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HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN
Arthur Brisbane, writing of the Livermore tragedy, says:
"That tragedy should have a meaning for the thousands of prosperous American fathers and mothers that give cocktail parties for young people, or permit them to be given in their houses. As a result of such vicious 'cocktail parties,' thousands now young will be in the insane asylums a few years from now, and other thousands dead of delirium tremens. If you know any adult inclined to give cocktail parties, mention that to him or her."
A mother is the natural protector of her offspring. An old hen will fight for her chicks, the cow will die for her calf, and the mother bird will do anything in her power to protect the young birds in the nest. And all the way along the line you can depend on the mother making a supreme effort to protect her young from harm, if she is normal and in her right mind; for that is the mother instinct. But a mother crazed with drink, robbed of her sense and reason, robbed of all that is noble and beautiful in the mother, on account of her reason being destroyed by drink, deliberately shot her own son. When she came to herself she said, "Why did I do it?" She did it because she had drunk something that had robbed her of her motherhood and judgment and made a beast of her.
Two girls had their boy friends for a night's spree of drink- ing and carousing in a New York skyscraper, and after the boys were gone the girls laid down to sleep, and when the one woke up she found her companion had jumped out of the window to her death.
Chrysler, the automobile manufacturer, writes a very long and learned article on the prevention of the loss of life in auto accidents. He gives several remedies. One in particular was that people must be educated to be more careful in handling their cars and the people crossing the street be educated so they won't get hit. He says nothing about the great number of drunken drivers that are causing at least one-half of the trouble in auto accidents.
And you will notice in all the numerous newspaper discus- sions of the horrible massacre with the auto, there seems to be a distinct understanding not to give liquor any credit for it, when everybody knows it should have the credit for a lot of it
"Happy days are here again."
WILL THE SUNDAY CLOSING LAW BE CHANGED ?
Just see what a dust one man can kick up in a community if he has sand and courage. If all the preachers would do as
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much for their communities in Lake county as the Rev. Lawson is doing in Hammond, and if the congregations would stand back of the preachers, the devil and all his angels would be driven out of Lake county inside of six months. Senator Lynch thought he was going to squelch Lawson when he wrote the long newspaper article, but that only added fuel to the fire and made Lawson boil over and heat up politics in the schools. There is not a question but what the good people will back Lawson. The politics in the schools and the law giving the saloons the right to open on Sunday will go glimmering. The saloons were having it all to say until Lawson had his say, and now we wonder if some of our bright lawmakers would not have felt better if they had kept their mouth shut on the Sunday need for a drink on Indiana soil.
The preachers of the county gathered at Crown Point on Monday to fight changing the law to allow the saloons to open on Sunday. Their effort is to organize all the churches of the state to oppose change of the law favoring Sunday opening. Now if they will go at it in dead earnest with courage the law will not be changed. Our lawmakers in the county got the idea that all the influence there was was the liquor interests until Lawson showed them different.
-S. B. W.
LINDBERGHS GO ABROAD FOR PROTECTION
According to the newspapers, Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh, his wife and only son, Jon, are on the road to England, where, I suppose, they think it will be safer to live than in their own country, the United States of America. Their first son, a beauti- ful boy, was stolen from his crib and killed. A man was ar- rested and tried in what is called a court of justice. He was found guilty, but is still alive, and is the center of controversy between a lot of politicians as to whether or not he is guilty. This is a national disgrace and is a climax to the whole pro- ceedings from the time their first-born was stolen out of the little crib in their home. And still full grown men will get to- gether with the purpose of doing something to benefit their community and country, because they have different opinions in regard to party politics, fall out and break up in a row, in- stead of working out some plan and purpose to put an end to crime and rotten politics. The women who were given the right to vote and have a voice in the management of our country play bridge and have a dainty lunch, go home if they have drawn a prize and feel very well satisfied with themselves; when we everlastingly should be ashamed of ourselves.
We have the greatest country God ever made peopled by a
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lot of soft-shelled humanity that has not enough stamina, virtue- and determination to control the crime and rotten politics that are running riot in this country. What is the use of praying, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done"? What is the use of talking about "Spirit" when you can sit idly by and let crime and corruption have full sway and not put up a manly fight against it?
This is the season of "peace on earth and good will to men." The papers tell us the powers that be in this country have ordered 104 bombing planes. The reds in this country are put- ting on a big campaign to get possession of this country by war and bloodshed if necessary. All of Europe and part of Asia are up in arms and ready to fly at one another's throats and most of them are so-called Christian nations. What is the matter? What is wrong? As we see it, the mass of the people who would like things different have not enough courage, ambition and deter- mination to overcome the influence of the much smaller number who are working for their mean, selfish interests, who seem to have their way without much opposition from the better class of people.
We care not what influence prompts people to act for the good of our country. Ye good people, act-help bring about con- ditions in this country so that the first citizen of this land can live here with his wife and babies, and also be safe for the rest of us and our wives and babies.
WHY NOT DECLARE TARIFF LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL?
With all the great labor that President Roosevelt exercised and his dictation to Congress in getting all these laws passed to bring about the New Deal, a few men sitting on the high bench can knock it all into a cocked hat. Why would it not be better for the Supreme Court to pass on the proposed laws to find out before they were voted on by Congress whether or not they were constitutional It would save a lot of time and expense, with a couple of more laws acted upon-one the Bankhead compulsory cotton control, very similar in its workings to the AAA ; the other the sale of electric power by the TVA.
I understand these laws were declared unconstitutional for the reason that they were taxing one class of citizens for the benefit of another class. Why should not the law creating tariff protection be declared unconstitutional on the same grounds ?
EIGHTY YEARS YOUNG
Our old friend Sam B. Woods, celebrated his eightieth birthday anniversary the other day, an event which takes Sam out of the infant class, but does not as yet quite put him into the ranks of the has beens. Sam's eighty years have been spent
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within the confines of Lake County and they have been mo- mentous and fruitful years. He has earned throughout his life a reputation for outstanding and outspoken sincerity. He never did acquire the art of pussyfooting on questions of public wel- fare and public good, and while at times Sam has had some trouble in getting everybody to agree with his views on public matters, no one has ever rightfully questioned his sincerity. His eighty year record has few blank pages and none with any great smudges on them. He is still going as strong as a yearling colt, his kicks have the vigor and directness of a two-year old. He never learned to pull his punches and has now reached the age where he is too old to try. The rest of Sam's journey through life will probably be down hill, but Sam will still be pulling the traces when the end of the route is reached. Eighty years young is a proper title for the Sage of Lottaville.
PROGRESS
Mr. Hoover said, "To stop the progress of 50 million fertile acres is not progress. That also concerns the whole people."
Sure it does, and to stop the wheels in our manufacturing plants is not progress. The reason the manufacturer did not keep the wheels turning was because he could not continue busi- ness with a profit. The farmer did not shut up shop entirely. They just curtailed their operations somewhat so as not to pro- duce more than the market demanded.
If Mr. Hoover will have the mills start up and continue to manufacture and throw their products on the market and take what they can get for it, the farmers will do the same. Agri- culture is the biggest industry in the United States today and always has been. But when our former law makers were pass- ing laws for the benefit of our American industries they did not know that agriculture was an industry.
Last week Mr. Hoover talking at Lincoln, Nebraska, said, "There is an agricultural problem. It concerns the entire nation. A new program is necessary. It is now in the making. The nation has a right to insist that we must be affective and it must be based on sound principles."
Yes, Mr. Hoover, you are right and there was an agricultural problem when you were in office, but you did not act on sound principles. If you had a lot of this calamity might have been averted. The farmers begged for something to be done in both the administration of Coolidge and Hoover and they were turned down. It was perfectly legitimate and constitutional to give the manufacturers a law giving them special privileges over the masses. But when the farmers asked for practically the same thing it was declared unconstitutional.
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WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF THIS?
Every man is a message. Nobody can escape standing for something even though that something be nothingness .- Christian Herald.
BE ORIGINAL
Why not be different, especially young folks? It seems to be natural, or a weakness of human nature to do as some one else does or to follow the crowd.
Do you think you are going to make your mark by imitat- ing some one else. You never will be a leader doing that. You are just tagging along. Persons in business or society are not going to amount to much by imitating some other person. I knew a man once that was always going in to something that he saw other men make a success of. He was always just a few jumps behind and he never made a success of anything. Young people in starting out on this stormy voyage of life, make up your mind where you are going and how you are going and be sure you have a firm hand on the rudder and steer your own craft. Don't blindly follow some one else's craft. You must be your own pilot and steer clear of the rocks or your journey will not end well. You cannot be an imitator. You have got to be an individual. Take the advertisers of cigarettes, beer and whiskey. A beautiful girl with companions, smoking and drinking. Their appeal is to the imitator. "Everybody is doing it, why not I?" they say. The young person that thinks for themselves has got a clear head and is living their own life means they are not imitators. They are different.
WHY A DICTATOR?
There is a reason for government by dictators which is so much in evidence all over the world today. Russia, Germany, Italy and the United States is following along that line to a great extent. The reason must be that people as a whole are not capable or are too reckless to take an intelligent interest in the government, which would have a beneficial influence on the governing body. The men in power get the idea that the com- mon people do not know enough, are not capable of attending to their own business, so the rulers must furnish the brains and ambition to superintend the whole business of the country which is a mighty big job for one man and his assistants. Their idea is that the common herd do not know enough to do things so they have to lay down rules to regulate them. If the people would make intelligent demands with force for justice it would
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have a great influence in the action of our rulers. It is told that the last words of Frederick the great were "I am tired of ruling over slaves." President Roosevelt no doubt had the best intentions for the people as the Democratic platform indicated, but instead of being influenced by men of sound business judg- ments, with economy, he was surrounded with a lot of visionary experimentors who were going to buy prosperity with new ideas and money. The old virtues of economy and industry were the horse and buggy days and we were going aloft with a flying machine. Huey Long had a lot of followers of "divide the wealth" and make everybody happy. Townsend knows how to do it. At least a lot of them think he does and are willing to take $200 a month and agree to spend it. Think that would be hard on some of us without we would keep the whole family and make a lot of loafers out of the young people. This country and every other country was built up by hard work, brains, and thrift and the people supporting the government. Now if we can get a lot of smart elecks to manage the government, it may be they can take care for all of us without our having to pay for it in the long run. It would seem by looking over the world that to maintain a civilized government was a big under- taking for most nations. The great trouble originates at the foundation-the people themselves. "No government is any better than the people make it."
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