THE MICHIGAN DILY
ily
S1890
I .if~
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SATURDAY, AUG. 13, 1932
The Tiht-Rope
£eeames Les opiular. . .
We have been long accustomed to political
parties which have balanced carefully on top of
high fences and of candidates who walked the
4arruw path with equal care. "Pretty platitudes
,a d much gusto formed the chief stock in trade
of the politicians.
This .year, there has been a remarkable aban-
pnpent of the tight-rope walking by both par-
ties and both candidates. The lead position in
such a move, however, is never very secure and
the result was a Republican platform which is,
to say the very least, .abiguous.
Then came the Demvocrats with -a platform
which contains some rather forthright declara-
tions on a number of things, among them being
an open condeipnation of the 18th Amendment
with a complete reversion to state control. Their
candidate was the next in line. He, too, spoke dis-
tinctly on a number of issues.
Now, rather belatedly, comes the acceptance
speech of President Hoover with a declaration of
principles. Going far past the platform of his
party, he has advocated state control of the en-
mately 90 per cent of the ordinary cost of suchc
a project. The tax is truly a "painless" one, now3
that the novelty of paying it has worn off and it
is still lightly taken by the taxpayers. Getting
tie citizens of the state behind the movementl
rather than wielding the big stick over them,
handling the entire plan in a sympathetic and
open-minded manner has worked wonders for
the state. Now Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia,
and Alabama are seeking to incorporate the Miss-
issippi plan's secret into sales tax programs.
The object of the sales tax in Mississippi-as
it would be if practiced in Iowa or elsewhere-is
to cut the huge real estate taxes without any loss
to government operations outside those naturally
incurred in stemming expenditures. Doing it,
painlessly as the sales tax is claimed to do, is a
boon to property owners overburdened by years
of carrying the state's load of expenditures, felt
especially when visible incomes over the United
States have dropped an average of 48 'per cent
while taxes have increased 129 per cent. Soaking
the property owner is no longer synonymous with
soaking the rich-under a sale tax plan everybody
pays as he buys, and hardly knows it.
If almost half the states in the Union are either
operating or planning to operate sales taxes, there
must be something to it. A few backward states
will grope along with severe and unrelenting prop-
erty levies year after year, with a dissatisfied citi-
zenry fast breaking under the strain of excessive,
misplaced burdens; while the progressive states
willpoint the way to better times. It always takes
a leader to prove anything, but a safe prediction
would be that the others won't be far behind.
WORK FQR AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS
(Detroit Free Press)
An exceedingly heavy responsibility for the fu-
ture rests upon the .people of the United States at
this critical juncture; and in particular rests upon
the Press of the Nation by reason of the oppor-
tuinity .for. leadership within its grasp.
An. immediate duty of the Fourth Estate is to
'fight .unitedly for permanent economy, efficiency
and honesty in public administration, and to set
its face without compromise against any return to
the carelessness, racketeering, laxity and extrava-
gance of the recent joyride period.
In its, particular fled the Free Press has f or
years .urged Tnancial prudence and economy by
those in places of authority in Government, and
by the voters who have had it in their power to
curb public recklessnss.
Realizing that a stone wall stood ahead, this
newspaper protested earnestly against foolish Mu-
pipal anpexations, needless multiplication of de-
partments, extravagant salary raises, luxurious
building enterprises, and indulgence in wild fads
and fancies, notably by the Board of Education.
The Free Press did this while other newspapers n
Detroit .were throwing aside every .care and were
joyously advocating art centers and civic centers,
general extensions of costly public service and
.what not; and were, in brief, favoring almost any-
thing that demanded expenditure and was hostile
to soundfinancing, a balanced budget and a
light :public debt.
For its pains, the Free Press received commen-
dation from the few who were -thoughtful, and
jeers, abuse and resentment from the joy riding,
spendthrift (and sometimes racketeering) elements
in the saddle.
Now the stone wall has been reached; and hav-
ing arrived fulltilt against it, the Municipality is
coming to with a fearful headache and a large
crop of swollen discolorations. Even though it
walks softly and lives up to all its present good
resolutions, the City will not feel like itself for
quite a while.
In common with others, those journals that
could see virtue only in a proposal that involved
purposeless expansion or badly considered expen-
diture, have gained a new view of things. They
realize at last what has been happening in their
town; and they have mad~e a right about face and
are ready to join in the good fight for sound
public management and sane economy. The Free
Press is glad to welcome them as allies in the war.
For only a beginning of amendment has been ac-
complished. There is still an immense aiount to
do, and the pull back to the highroad is going to
be a long one.
What is true of governmental conditions in
Detroit is true likewise in greater or smaller de-
grees in practically every other Municipality of
the United States. Repentance is in full swing,
but actual retracement of steps has just started;
and we believe firmly that the measure of final
success in amendment is going to depend to a
large extent upon the amount of conscientious
leadership the responsible newspapers of the Na-
tion develop; and upon how far American Journals
come to realize that there is a high duty for them
to perform which takes precedence of anxiety for
advertising and circulation, and which must be
performed even though performance means con-
siderable sacrifice.
could report an increased number of projects each
year, calling for a larger item in the budget, it
was a sign his branch of knowledge was standing
still, and so the race went on. Spiraling upward
like the holding companies, instructors were add-
ed so new courses might appear in the catalogue,
so a large appropriation might be sought the next
year.
One of the branches of university administra-
tion which reached full glory in those years was
the office of the dean of men. Beginning modest-
ly, it grew after the manner of a government bur-
eau and in its heyday, on many a campus, re-
quired a dean, a couple of assistant deans and a
bevy of assistants to the dean. Occupying an ex-
tensive suite of offices, this staff proceeded to
care for the college student with unfailing watch-
fulness. Nothing he did went unnoticed or un-
recorded. Dean Thomas Arkle Clark, who died
recently at Urbana, led the way, and his setup
at the University of Illinois was widely copied.
Now, reduced appropriations and smaller budgets
are forcing the elimination of non-essentials, with
the result that the office of the dean of men is
hard hit. Few there will be aside from aspiring
assistant deans who will mourn its decline.
A Washington
By Kirke Simpson
WASHINGTON, Aug. 12.-UP)-When Candi
date Hoover was framing his acceptance speech
four years ago, one of the things watched for with
special interest was reference to :the oil lease
troubles of the Harding administration. As a
member of the Harding original "best brain" cab-
inet and a carry-over into the Coolidge regime,
Mr. Hoover was faced by special difficulties.
He did make a general reference to dishonesty
among public officials, but with no specific appli-
cation. He was even careful to say that, in the
past, "both political parties" had been plagued
by derelictions "in national, state and municipal
affairs." The Democrats howled about that quite
a lot.
* * - *
IN HOOVER'S FAVOR
When Mr. Hoover took office the business of
pressing the oil cases to a legal conclusion had
already been set moving by President Coolidge
under special and bi-partisan counsel.C d
As it happens, it fell to Hoover's lot to confer
on these Colidge-selected oil case prosecutors
most distinguished honors. To one, Owen Roberts,
Republican, of Pennsylvania, went a life job on
the supreme court bench. To the other, Arlee
Pomerene, Ohio Democrat, has been entrusted
executive direction of the gigantic Reconstruc-
tion Finance corporation campaign to restore na-
tional prosperity.
Do these two Hoover appointments perhaps give
a .better picture of his personal feeling about the
oil cases than did his general references to dis-
honesty in public office four years ago?
* * *
NO ILL WIND FOR THEM
Be that as it nay, here is a case where that
old wisecrack about it being an ill wind indeed
that blows nobody good comes up again. What
has been the aftermath of the oil cases for some
of the folks most concerned?
Senator Thomas Walsh of Montana, inquisitor-
in-chief of the oil lease investigations, has twice
been permanent chairman of Democratic national
conventions since then and had at least once
the refusal of a vice presidential nomination. He
has become a power in his party-has a national
reputation born of his conduct of those inquiries.
Roberts is an associate justice of the United
States supreme court, the highest legal honor save
the chief justiceship the nation can confer. Pom-
erene heads the greatest peace-time emergency
project the government has ever embarked upon.
The oil-cases were no ill wind to this trio.
* * *
NOT CAMPAIN FUEL
Reviewing Secretary Stimson's summary of his
effort to put teeth in the Kellogg-Briand anti-
war pact, it is something of a surprise to find that
it is in no sense a Republican campaign docu-
ment. The secretary rather scrupulously avoids
giving it that twist although Under Secretary
Castle once hailed the American application of
the peace pact to the Sino-Japanese situation as
the enunciation of a "Hoover doctrine" aimed at
promoting world peace.
Yet Mr. Stimson stresses in his address to the
Council of Foreign Relations the fact that both
major parties at their conventions in Chicago
this year had endorsed the principle of interna-
tional consultation in grave emergencies threat-
ening world peace.
That argument rather takes it out of politics,
although claims that the "Hoover doctrine" is a
notable administration accomplishment are cer-
tain to be heard as the presidential campaign
proceeds.
FOR FOREIGN EYES
Still, it is obvious that Mr. Stimson had some-
thing more than a domestic purpose in making
his address. It was clearly intended to be read at
Tokyo and at Geneva rather than at home; and
to convey the message that Washington is un-
shakably determined on its course of non-recog-
nition of any Japanese regime in Manchuria pro-
cured by armed force, even if the excuse given for
that use of force is protection of nationals.
Mr. Stimson's concluding sentences also may be
designed especially for the ears of the 50 coun-
tries, member of the League of Nations, which
endorsed the non-recognition doctrine through
the council of the league.
"It is only by continued vigilance that this
treaty (the pact of Paris) can be built into an
effective, 1iving reality," Mr. Stimson said. "The
American people are serious in their support and
evaluation of the treaty. They will not fail to do
their share in this endeavor."
* * *
AN END TO NEUTRALITY?
Secretary Stimson goes far in his analysis of
the meaning that has been given the anti--war
pact under American leadership. He defines it
as leaving no place for neutrality. When two na-
tions go to war, he said, "one or both of them
must be wrong doers," adding:
"We no longer draw a circle around them
and treat them with the punctilios of the duel-
ist's code. Instead we denounce them as law-
brealkers."
The best stories in the old days had to do with
Pat and Mike. They still come through the mike,
hay#.f-~ f ax,, an ot-,
i A nerve system
Long before the huge bulk of anew sky-
scraper looms up, Bell System ;men have
planned its nerve system-the maze of tele-
phone cables and wires so vital to its busi-
ness activities.
From the inception of a building design,
telephone engineers work hand in hand with
the architects. They determine the telephone
needs of thousands of future tenants. Then
they plan cable shafts rising from cellar to
roof and the grid of under-floor ducts that
will put telephones within easy reach of
every occupant.
There's a real thrill in working out these
plans, for without telephones the immense
structures of today would hardly be practicable.
BELL SYSTEM
A NATION-WIDE,
SYSTEM
OF INTER-CONNECTINCITBLEPHONES
tire problem with, however, a federal miinimum of
control below which no state may fall in its laws
or enforcement. He has declared himself at least
.as outrightly as has Franklin Roosevelt on most
of the other issues.
It is an uncomfortable thought for Republicans
but the President may have beep forced into .such
declarations by the almost straightforward state-
ments of the Democrats and their candidate. At
any rate, he has risen to the occasion and de-
clared himself. We are inclined to agree with Dr.
Clarence True Wilson that it is "the greatest
speech of his life."
It is a pleasant thought, however, that in a few
more campaigns like this, we may have a true
choice of policies and principles in our quadren-
nial "referendums." The difference has not yet
become very distinct but there are signs that it
f
S
G
t
i
t
The sad part of the entire spectacle is that the
declarations should have been prompted by the
issue of prohibition, an issue which has. been so
artificially made a party program rather than a
nation-wide co-operative reform as it must event-
ually become. Unemployment, farm relief, even:
some aspects of the foreign policy of the United
States would have been much more admirable
questions on which to make outright decisions.
This may, perhaps, be the next step in the vital-
izing of the political parties. Fence-sitting has
been forgone by both parties in at least one issue.
Perhaps 1936 will see definite stands on the really
basic issues which then face the country.
d irII n
STORM THE REDOUBT
(Daily Illini)
Royalist rumbling are head in another part of
the world as Spanish royal adherents make an at-
tack upon the existing Republican government in
an ,effort to place Alfonso's son on the throne. It
is reported that former King Alfonso was not con-
nected with the movement, but this idea is a little
far fetched in view of the public statements and
open views held on the subject of his re-corona-
tion by the monarch, himself.
Bloodshed has already colored this march of
an army divided against itself and nobody knows
just how the whole affair will come out. Senti-
ment seems to be divided both among the army,
the government officials, and the people. There is
no question that the new movement has a great
many adherents as there has been no concentrat-
ed movement against them except a show of ex-
isting authority by the Republican government.
Within the next few days the country will un-
doubtedly take a stand one way or the other on
the affair and then there will be more bloodshed.
Perhaps the former army officer who is leading
the rebellion will fight until he is put to death
-just another old Spanish custom. This stand
will also be made by the Republican government
which must hold a great many supporters al-
though there apparently is enough opposition to
organize a partially successful rebellion.
The German royalists must be watching this
fracas with the utmost interest in 'view of the
slow but fairly sure progress they have been mak-
ing on their own hook. We hold that the Ger-
mans, if precipitated by the proper leader at the
proper time, will be able to make more of a suc-
cess at their first try than the Spaniards have.
In characteristic hot-headedness the Spaniards
stormed the redoubt without first laying a ground,
work of strategic movements in other parts so
as to divide governmental interest. The more
methodical Germans have the state already in
an uproar and may now just about pick their
own time for a zero hour. Contemporary history3
is most interesting in its formation.,
fromeehiml
U
hey
learned
a bout football
Just a sawdust-stuffed canvas sack, shaped to represent the human
form. But the football men dive into "him", tackle "him", put all
they've got into bringing "him" down. The dummy represents the
human obstacles that will block their way to victory in the real
games. They know that once they can take "him" out, they'll be
able to pull down their live opponents.
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MISSSSIPPI S4ES SAX
(Daily Iowan)
A number of reasons have been advanced for
e success of Mississippi's general consumers'
les tax of two per cent, but among them one
ands out as highly important to the sucessful
)eration of any governmental agency. Where
ississippi claims superiority is in the adminis-
ation of the tax collection bureau. In fact, It
, hardly be termed a collection bureau; rather.
10 a. ea,.,,un a .P1v fnn rnrnnila fi aZrr.-nnm-...-
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