The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 8

BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1937 8 A HOPE OF PEACE Letters of Interest By Eagle Readers Daily Eagle (Founded laiac Vn Anden in 1841. (Trde Mr Egl Registered SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1937 BrooUra DtllJ Eagu owner nd Publisher to others on the road have had to pay in the size of their premiums the cost of carelessness on the part of others. They will still have to pay for that carelessness under the new plan, but not so much. There are very many motorists who so through year after year of driving without injury to pedestrians or to other vehicles. The recent lowering of insurance rates in this State, and especially in this city, was brought about not because the number of careful and fortunate drivers had multiplied but because so many of the crooks who made a business of faking accident claims had been detected and punished.

With the discount plan in operation here all drivers who insure themselves have a new incentive to caution on the city streets and on the open road. You can't get a return on your premium unless you earn it. The insurance companies are making a commendable contribution to the campaign for greater safety on the highways. fiib SS I Hamilton Ave. Section Preferred To Red Hook for Slum Clearance Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle: The politicians created the slogan "Slum Clearance" and they also created the expenditure of the taxpayers' money for these projects, but I believe the taxpayers should see to it that the politicians clear slums and demolish them as promised.

The project for Red Hook section, in swatv.i. factory and garage zones, away from fast transportation, is not slum clearance. Politicians already have plans for housing south of Hamilton Ave. All real estate men and owners of property will agree with me that north of Hamilton Ave. and west of Court St.

to the water front and south of Atlantic Ave. should be the proper clearance area. Let us not follow England's housing example, where the slums remain after twenty years of housing operation. MAXWELL H. LANES.

Brooklyn. Dec. 22. Appointment of Milton Solomon As Judge Nova's Successor Urged Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle: When 29.000 citizens say to Gov. Herbert H.

Lehman, "We want Milton Solomon," the Governor certainly is wise enough to know that they are entitled to be heard. It is a marked tribute to Deputy Controller Solomon who is being sponsored to fill the vacancy on the Kings Court bench, because of Justice Nova's elevation to the Supreme Court. What can Gov. Lehman do with Milt Solomon's record before him which shows, that he Is an honest-to-goodness vote-getter; that he proved his popularity by running ahead of his ticket as candidate for president of the Board of Aldermen in 1933; That he did a grand job in the handling of the City's $75,000,000 sales tax which aided thousands of unfortunates on relief; That because of his well-known war veterans activities, Grover Whalen, president of the World's Fair Corporation, selected him to represent the veterans of this nation, appointing Mr. Solomon advisory chairman of the Veterans Division of the Fair; That from time to time he has been honored by various bodies for unselfish public service; That he has proved beyond a doubt that he has the highest qualifications necessary to fill the County Court Judgeship.

The answer to all this Is: Gov. Lehman can and will act wisely by appointing Solomon. The courts, too, need a "Wise Solomon Like Solomon." Business Aid Seen in Elimination Of Some Taxes and Labor Disputes Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle: A farmer is in partnership with God. Therefore any bills made to curtail crops or to try to fool the people are only an effort to fool God, not the farmers. Farmers cannot figure how many crops they will have.

If they have a good crop they store it in their barns. If there is a drought they lose. But all the laws in creation could never help the farmer. Fortunately they are better off than a great many of our citizens because they have their cows and chickens to keep them going, while others have no money to buy food because of unemployment. When industry prospers, labor prospers.

Strikes and lockouts never helped any business. If capital doesn't make a profit the business folds up. There are many laws on our books that should be abolished. They are a hindrance to our progress. There are vast sums of money paid to the Government in taxes which could be used by industry to relieve unemployment.

GEORGE F. HARVIE. Bayport, Dec. 21. City Authorities Are Criticized For Methods of Enforcing Laws Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle: The absurd views of Americanism, as expressed by some of our radically inclined individuals, is really nauseating.

In the cas? of a director of the American Civil Liberties Union, who spoke over the ra 1 1 i i uur rum estate HEFFERN'AN THE dio recently, one would surmise that he Is firm believer in democratic principles, Some years back when questioned by a Congressional committee he stated that it made no difference whether a citizen or alien advocated murder or the right of an American citizen or alien to advocate force and violence for the overthrew of the Government. Maybe he did not think that advocating those ideas really meant indorsing such procedures; however, the New Universities Webster's Dictionary definition of "advocate" is: plead for; speak in favor of. The gentleman knows that in Sniet Russia and Nazi Germany such advocacy means death to the advocator. Our last city election is only a few weeks old, yet we are witnessing serious disorders in scattered localities. Regrettably, our splendid and heroic city-police force i now greatly undermanned) is not permitted to enforce law and order.

Unfortunately our metropolis becoming the laughingstock of the world. I dread to see the day, but I fear that unless the authorities change their present policies we may witness civil strife. BELIEVER IN REAL AMERICANISM. Brooklyn, Dec. 20.

Expresses Gratitude for Publication Of the Christian Science Lectures Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle: The weeks fly by, but gratitude Is always acceptable! And I am very grateful for the page on Christian Science which you so lovingly inserted in your paper as a Thanksgiving offering. I receive a subscription which includes issues containing Christian Science lectures, and always so glad to have them, and always so grateful for the love that makes them possible. I kow you, as a paper, are being blessed because of your genuine good will and universal interest. ELLA MAY FRAZER. West Orange, N.

Dec. 20. and making the same kind themselves and one another. of trouble for VTESTERDAY I read an item In which a worried citizen viewed present-day newspapers with alarm because "Winchell and his kind" no longer show any respect for privacy. No doubt many people think intimate reporting new, but it was an old story when Charles Dickens made his first visit to America.

To show what he thought of the New York papers, he named them "The Sewer," "The Family Spy," "The Private Listener." "The Peeper," and "The Keyhole Reporter." The abuses of those in power and the hurtful policies of governments and financiers seem to threaten disaster, but all of these things have hapjiened before without fatal results. The people endure until they lose patience, and then they rise up and set things right. Names and details change, but the pattern remains the same. You needn't dread the unknown tomorrow, for nothing strange can happen, but only continual repetition of the same old action and reaction as the pendulum swings back and forth. Atid if our race has survived lus follies this far, nothing worse can happen.

Just keep jour tent and watch the show. Love, DAD. mt mm "I all 11. PRESTON OOODKELLOW. President ind PuollshM B.

A. DOCKERV. Secreurj nd Treasurer main ornci Building. Johnson and Adam." Streele Brooklyn New Yorlc TELEPHONE MAIn Classified Ads MAIn 4-6000 Washington. D.

0.. 1:44 National Press Building Chlcaao. 1614 Tribune Tower 9an Monadnock Building SUBSCRIPTION RATES. 1 year 8 mns. 3 mo 1 mo 1 00 B0 .30 1 30 25 10 Oallj and Sunda? .11 on 6 00 3 00 Dally Only 8 00 4 50 Sunday only 3 00 1.50 2.50 .78 Entered at the Brooklyn portnrflce as Second Class Mall Matter MKMKFIi OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Associated Press Is exclusively entitled to the use lor republication of all news dispatches credited to It or news of spontaneous orloln published herein.

All rights of not otherwise credited In this paper and also the local replication of all othar matter herein also are reserved The Thinl-Terin as a Club. Senator Norris's declaration that continued opposition to President Roosevelt's program will compel him to seek a third term is of more than ordinary interest and has a certain plausibility. The Senator is personally opposed to a President serving a third term and believes Mr. Roosevelt is sincere in his desire to leave office at the close of his pres- ent administration, but says that if the "false propaganda" keeps up he will do ail he can to aid in re-electing the President. It seems early to talk about what is going to happen in 1940 but the third-term issue is not going to be kept on ice for the next two years.

Unless we are mistaken it will become an Important topic of discussion in 'he coming year and will have a direct bearing on much that happens in Washington. The issue cuts two ways. Until Mr. Roosevelt, definitely disavows his intention of again seeking a nomination he is potential third-term President. The moment he makes such a disavowal he would greatly weaken his position in dealing with Congress and precipitate a lively scramble for the Democratic nomination.

He would also provide the new National Republican Program Committee with the materials for uniting the G. O. P. One of the peculiar aspects of the present political situation is that the Republicans have no likely candidate for the Presidency and there is no Democrat in sight who is considered an acceptable successor to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Almost anything can happen as a result of this situation, but everything hinges on the attitude of the President toward a third term. We agree with Senator Norris that the President is sincere in his desire to leave the White House at the expiration of his second administration. He has expressed such a desire, declaring at the same time that he hopes 'o leave office in 1940 without leaving the country In such a state of disorganization as Buchanan. In other the President wants to find solutions of many pressing national problems, after which he can retire the satisfaction of having done his job thoroughly. If this reasoning be accepted it is easy to reach the other conclusions expressed by Senator Norris.

The kind of solutions sought I by the President are well known. He has a I'omprehensive program in which he has com- plete confidence. Congress and the country nre familiar with this program. Should a Congress frustrate the President it is not at all improbable that he would feel 1 "compelled," as the Senator says, to seek a third term. The fact that opposition to much of the President's program is coming from Democrats trengthens rather than weakens this hypo- thesis.

Republican opposition alone would not be particularly effective. Any adminl (ration leader could overcome the present Republican opposition in Congress and Mr. Roosevelt 'ould pass his mantle to any good Democrat without a qualm as to what would happen to his party. But the opposition of so many Democrats represents a different kind of problem. One thing Is sure: The President believes in his policies and in himself.

He is convinced that the great mass of the people is still behind him. In short, lie sees all opposition to his program as deliberate opposition to the will of the people. From this point of view it is logical to expert the President to consider the possibility of going on with his fight; carrying the bat'le beyond 1340, if necessary. Of course, many other thirds will happen the next two years. It is quite possible that the international situation will become more difficult and dangerous.

This would to unite the country and destroy all that is left of party lines. And the President would be the chief beneficiary, politically, from such a development. The old slogan about avoiding the changing of horses while crossing a Etream, would be used most effectively. In spite of all the talk, we look for closer co-operation between the President and Congress during the new year. The extra session served one useful purpose at least.

It enabled legislators to get a good idea of the tasks ahead of them and to blow off surplus steam. The president, meantime, has been holding back. He Is biding his time. He still has plenty of time to fight for Ills policies and every one knows that he is a bold and resourceful fighter. He may find the third-term club useful.

Discount for Caution. The National Bureau of Casualty and Surety Underwriters will put Into effect early next year, through the thirty-eight companies that constitute Us membership, a plan designed to promote careful driving by motorists. This will assure at the end of the year for which an individual policy of insurance runs a return to 15 percent of the premium paid on the policy, provided that the driver lias no liability claim filed against him. Careful drivers who habitually avoid injury Excellent Appointments. The Appellate Division of the First Judicial Department, exercising for the first time the power given to it to name County Clerks, has done wisely In giving the New York county office to Archibald R.

Watson and the Bronx office to Municipal Court Justice Michael B. McHush. Mr. Watson proved himself to be a most capable Corporation Counsel under appointment from Mayor Gaynor. Since his retirement from that office he has won distinction at the Bar and become widely known as the author of books on law and as an editor and publisher.

Justice McHugh has shown character and ability on the Municipal Court bench and, like Mr. Watson, has earned the respect of the Bar as well as that of the Bench. The Marinelli case has apparently given a black eye to the custom which made County Clerkships prizes for machine politicians. For Marinelli's place Tammany had ready to hand at least two district leaders. In the Bronx another district leader was currently reported to be the machine choice.

All of the members of the Appellate Division are Democrats. All of them owe their paction on the bench to organization support. But all of them have risen superior to political appeals and pressure in naming thoroughly fit men who will be in office for life or until they choose to resign. The new system of choosing County Clerks is better than the old in that it invests the members of a high court with responsibility for selection and removes the office from the sphere of partisan politics. More Puppet Rule.

The Japanese Government announces that the blessing of "autonomous" rule Is to be conferred upon Nanking. This announcement follows closely upon that which informed a scarcely startled world that Peiping (renamed Peking by its conquerors! was to have a new government with Chinese figureheads in the chief posts, each with a Japanese "adviser" and all supported in their new dignity by Japanese bayonets. The personnel of the Nanking setup seems to comprise three obscure Chinese who are expected to act as rubber stamps for their alien sponsors. They will, of course, obey orders because their jobs depend upon obedience. As the first example of this puppet government's response to the will of its creators we have a proclamation attacking the Nationalist rule of Chiang Kai-shek as "leading the Chinese people into indescribable misery and during the last decade by pursuing anti-Japanese and pro-Communist policies." The outside world has therefore been mistaken in supposing that Chiang-Kai-shek was giving China its first progressive and really intelligent government, one which seemed to be slowly but surely ending disunion, restoring order, creating a national spirit, and building up respect for itself at home and abroad.

That it had caused "indescribable misery and distress" for the Chinese people throughout the last decade is news that only the Tokio propagandists could produce. The Nanking "commission" is to have local Jurisdiction only, and if it survives it will be simply a provincial adjunct to the new central body at Peiping which is trying to function now under Japanese orders, In due time, when and if the subjugation of China is complete, foreign governments will be invited to recognize a new China "governing" itself under the aegis of Japan. Italy and. perhaps, Germany will rush recognition. Other world Powers will not accept genuinely Chinese an aggregation of dummies bought, content wi'h the svmbol.s of rule and willing to have their country indefinitely exploited by a nation that has shown itself to be a cruel and romnrselc.v enemy.

It is a little too much to expect the world at large to recognize a farce as other than what it really is. '1 oo Old to Drive. Fr-xn Hie Montreal Daily S'ar I Something in the nature of a controversy Ovfippcd in Ontario over the qustioc of wr.e'.l.rr licenses should be Issued or renewed to diners of 65 years of age and over. The licensm authorities of the Onta-lo Gov-, eminent are, it appears, ratner more seveie in their teMs and questions where licenses of this class are involved tluin they are where jwinspr people are involved Wlille we beliee that the failure of physical powers and faculties through age or from any o'her reason should lie ampi" reason for the cancellation of a lin-nsc or the tetusal to renew 1', it seems to us that tlv authorities would be better advised to stiffen vp where i nil licenses are concerned, rather than to single out any one class for diserimimtorv treatment. There seems no reason why a man of er ecn older provided his phvsit.M powers are no more than normally impaired age should not operate a ear with tier!" safetv to himself and everybody else.

Omp-rattvplv In tie phy.ura; sirer.g'h is required to run the modern ear. and no aiute sight or hearing is necessary, a matter of tact, the more mature driver is Jikcly to be a good deal less of a menace than the youth-male or female whose equipment Is unfor-t inatclv eiv often much better tuan his or her judgment. By JOHN I THE Reader's Digest for January, Mr. A. Parker Bates advances the thesis that the United States has no national Legisla ture.

As the economic functions of the Federal Government have increased, it has become increasingly clear that our Congressmen are primarily agents of their districts and their States, seeking to get what they can for their constituents almost without regard to the national welfare. Mr. Bates acknowledges the honesty and super-average intelligence of the Members of Congress, and I agree with him that the men who constitute our national, even our State and municipal, legislative bodies are on the whole more advanced in mind and more devoted to public service than their predecessors. It may be true that outstanding characters in our legislative halls are less conspicuous no Homeric Webster now applies his massive mind and compelling rhetoric to the integration of a nation, and of the giants of twenty years ago, Philander Knox, Jim Reed, Hiram Johnson, Oscar Underwood and the leonine Borah, only Johnson and Borah remain, neither now exerting himself on the floor. However, the roster of the Senate is illustrious with names of men of exceptional character and Intelligence, and the Congressional Representatives are neither venal nor weak.

Why, then, is there discontent among our modern commentators with our legislative bodies why, for instance, is our New York Legislature expected to enact a statute for the government of a city of more than 7,000,000 people at the nod of Mayor LaGuardia. and accused of pettifogging jwlitics because it asks time to read 3,000 pages of a report before it puts the seal of its authentication on a a poke? Mr. Bates thinks that the tasks of government have transcended the powers of the human mind. If so and it Is scarcely possible to account for certain cataclysms in human history on any other hypothesis then indeed we are In the hands of Providence. However, if that force which directs the destiny of mankind and which the Romans of the days of Augustus Caeser called "For- tuna" sometimes breaks down leadership In a nation, It also at times supplies new leadership, or enlightens the young to rebuild on the rock of fundamental verity.

Our rock Is the Declaration of Independence. It is there postulated that governments are instituted among men to secure their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and derive their Just powers from the consent of the governed. To make practically effective these views our Constitution was framed, and for a century and a quarter the prevailing philosophy of America was that government and people were a unity, that with due allowance for sectional and economic differences, laws were to be made in Legislatures for the good of all. There was to be equity in the treatment of local interests, and to that end intelligent representation of those interests was necessary. Now, evidently, we have a new concept of government, which holds it to be a thing apart from the eople, which assumes that men are not "created equal," and that a group which has the wit or the power, to seize control, by usurpation, or deception or natural aptitude, has a right to supreme authority.

That philosophy may have a meas- ure of natural foundation but upon It a Hitler rules modern Germany and a Mussolini plays the role of a Pepin to the present Italian Childeric, and under Stalin, in Russia, the old Czaristic absolutism Is revived under the name of Communism and wears a red uniform Instead of a white. Now to answer my question. Why does the claqueteer rage at the Legislatures, and why Is executive government a group pressure relegating them to the functionless futility of a fifth wheel under the chariot, of State? I think the main factor in this development is the enormous growth of a Fifth Estate in our political conglomeration. Our bureaucracy has grown prodigiously, and only those who, in search of information that should be available to all, travel the tortuous labyrinth of officialdom in Washington or any large city, or read the statutes making special provision for administration realize how completely the philosophy that government exists for the good of the payroll attaches permeates our Fifth Estate. Here Is an excerpt from an editorial In the New York Times of recent date: Our ancestors would probably have thrown up their hands in horror if they could have foreseen the state of affairs suggested by a survey of public employes released this week by the Civil Service Assembly.

In 1936, the study shows, wages and salaries for all employes of Federal, Stat and local governments, excluding those on work relief, added up to $5,145,873,000. Roughly, this comes to $40 a head, or $160 for a family of four. Of the $40, again very roughly, about $14 is spent by the Federal Government, about $8 by the city governments. If the extraordinary figures for relief were added to this normal total, the figures would be fairly astronomical. When we consider that to the total of persons in government employ Is added the vast number of beneficiaries of the recovery program 450,000 alone on relief In New York City we nay realize the difficulties of our legislatures, national and local, in dealing with the Fifth Estate, which is only one of its troubles, and the desirability of a restoration of the virility and true representative character of the legislative branch.

We cannot afford to lose that bulwark of freedom. A people who would voluntarily surrender it deserves the fate of Bottom in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Bottom who could use his jacket pockets for ear-muffs. Following the Irish. I From the Irish Inrteponclent 1 New York has followed Sllgo's lead. Nearly twenty years ago the first municipal election on the system of Proportional Representation was held in Sligo.

This month New York for the first time elected its City Council according to the same plan. No fewer than 2 250,000 votes were recorded; In one borough alone-Brooklyn there were 800.000 votes and 99 candidates. A curious fact is that no less than 4 percent of the ballot paiiers were returned blank, while 10 percent of the total wers spoiled. Evidently New York, with difficult assortment of populace, has not taken to P. R.

as easily n.s Ireland did; for our share of spelled voles at Parliamentary elections haj never exceeded 2 percent. To a Red-Headed Daughter n.v ROBERT DEAR LOUISE For the good of your soul, I call attention to Mrs. Hutchinson and Mrs. Brown, who live side by side on the same street, breathe the same air, attend the same church, read the same newspaper and hear the same gossip; yet one is continually excited by strange and startling events that wear her down, while the other lives placidly in a serene and untroubled world, where nothing molests or makes afraid. When you are very young and eager, everything that happens seems new and exciting, but the newness is not in the hapiening.

It is in the eyes of the beholder. The circus is new one time to each of us, but the circus itself is very old. Since it is our nature to fear and dread the unknown, life would be almost unbearably frightening If each tomorrow might bring new and unpredictable events contrary to all experience. But we live by a pattern, in a planned universe, and though endless variety in small matters serves to keep us interested, there is nothing new under the sun. The universe moves in circles, and everything that happens has hapened before and the world has survived it.

The human mind hasn't, ehanaed much In five thousand years, and men keep on thinking the same thoughts.