anaheim-gazette 1934-02-15

THE ANAHEIM GAZETTE HENRY KUCHEL, Editor and Publisher ESTABLISHED 1870 ISSUED EVERY THURSDAY SUBSCRIPTION PER YEAR $2.00 SIX MONTHS $1.00 Entered at the Anaheim, California Postoffice as second-class matter. STEER CLEAR OF PERSONALITIES Most of us enjoy a good political battle. So long as issues are limited to policies, no hard feelings need develop. Only when personalities enter the conflict takes on a distasteful and unwholesome flavor. Unhappily, issues on policies in the Anaheim municipal race this spring are not sufficiently clear to assure us that personalities will not enter the fray. Even the anti-administration ticket selected last week admits privately that Anaheim government has been honest, has no quarrel with the fact that our tax rate is down to 90 cents, sees no disadvantage in having the city's bonds sell at a premium instead of being a drug on the market. This is because of the excellent financial standing of the community, achieved through economical government by this and previous administrations. So far issues developed by opponents are minor. They are confined to dislike of present office holders; to claim that too many members of one family have been employed, or that one member has been with the city for ten or 12 years; to complaints that three jobs now efficiently administered by one man should be split three ways to provide work for two more men; that salaries of key men should be reduced sharply. In the aggregate the splitting of work and hiring of extra men would more than eat up salary cuts proposed, probably with less efficient government thrown in. To reason away personal dislike of certain men, simply because they have gumption enough to have minds of their own instead of submitting as puppets to every Tom, Dick and Harry, is difficult. confined to dislike of present office holders; to claim that too many members of one family have been employed, or that one member has been with the city for ten or 12 years; to complaints that three jobs now efficiently administered by one man should be split three ways to provide work for two more men; that salaries of key men should be reduced sharply. In the aggregate the splitting of work and hiring of extra men would more than eat up salary cuts proposed, probably with less efficient government thrown in. To reason away personal dislike of certain men, simply because they have gumption enough to have minds of their own instead of submitting as puppets to every Tom, Dick and Harry, is difficult. The acute danger of personalities entering the political fight can be avoided only if candidates for office will insist upon conducting their campaigns in a clean and straight-forward manner. Upon the shoulders of each candidate lies this test of, and responsibility toward public decency. BALANCE OUR MINDS The tragic plight of unbalanced budgets, topsy-turvy international relations and ugly out-croppings of selfish interests places a double burden on the one saving factor of mankind—the balanced mind. We must look upon our problems in a fundamental, philosophical light. Most of our troubles, in the final analysis, are cancerous outgrowths of human misbehavior which could not have achieved such tremendous proportions had the average citizen schooled himself in right thinking. Busy trying to buy happiness in lush periods, the average man forgot to pay attention in detail to his government and to business ethics. Rottenness in high places sends its roots deeply into negligence below. Confronted with serious economic disturbances, with threats of communists fomenting trouble in our valencia harvest and cutting off our milk supply, we must, as individuals, get back to the balanced mind. Agitators will not get far if workmen only realize that walk-outs lead only to increased hardships for themselves and others. In a crisis like this, everything depends upon the way we look at things, on the way we interpret facts and experiences. Our first problem is right thinking. It will present us from adopting will-o'-the-wisp solutions, save a multitude of wrong experiments. Clear thinking must precede balancing of budgets and successful reformation of our social and economic order. HOCUS-POCUS TAX PLANS Whether it is the weather or just a weakness in human beings we do not know, but every spring a new crop of poets hatches and with them, just as inevitably as the day follows the night, a new batch of tax plans designed to relieve the average citizen of taxes in the most painless and approved manner. The only point of similarity between tax plans and poets—they are far apart in subject matter—is the total impracticability of the average tax plan and the average poem. And the only point of praise common to both of them is the beautiful sentiment expressed, one for love and springtime and the other for the naive belief that the world's tax problems are so simple they can be solved by one piece of legislation. This legislation, under different names has been turned down by legislators for countless centuries. Orange county residents last week got glimpses of two different trends of thought in taxation—both advanced as a means of batch of tax plans designed to relieve the average citizen of taxes in the most painless and approved manner. The only point of similarity between tax plans and poets—they are far apart in subject matter—is the total impracticability of the average tax plan and the average poem. And the only point of praise common to both of them is the beautiful sentiment expressed, one for love and springtime and the other for the naive belief that the world's tax problems are so simple they can be solved by one piece of legislation. This legislation, under different names has been turned down by legislators for countless centuries. Orange county residents last week got glimpses of two different trends of thought in taxation—both advanced as a means of solving our problems. One proposal is a syncro-tax which would abolish all state, county, city and district taxes in favor of a gross turnover levy, to be apportioned back by the state of its various sub-divisions. This would eliminate thousands of tax-gathering and assessment bureaus, but add thousands of employees to another state agency. The other proposal simply is the extension of an already-abused system, that of class legislation. It proposes to eliminate all taxes on real properties to the value of $5,000 as an inducement to home-owning. The argument advanced is that the home-owner has as much right to escape taxation as the holder of tax-exempt securities, and that such exemption would encourage people to buy homes from which they could not be evicted. We will not argue the issue of whether the home-owner is not as entitled to exemption as the bond holder—he probably is more entitled to it, but being unorganized has not secured special class legislation for himself. Both plans have a common fundamental weakness. Both allow a large percentage of the population to retire behind the bulwark of class law and pay no direct tax to support their government. Government is organized society, on much the same principles but on larger scope than innumerable voluntary societies existing solely upon dues. Due-paying members of such groups constitute their backbone; these members watch the workings of their organization. The minute they are not interested enough to pay dues their interest in economical and just administration of that organization ceases. The same holds true with government. The minute a citizen quits paying taxes, or fails to realize he is paying taxes, his interest in just government ceases, although of necessity he must remain a member of it. Lack of eternal vigilence led to innumerable conclusions, grafting and misrepresentations in the past, will lead to still more in the future. Both plans advanced last week would aid and abet greater abuses in government. The only fundamental solution of our tax problems lies in individual attention to selection of public officers and continued insistence on their economical and fair treatment of public questions. BANG! Another New Year's Resolution——By Albert T. Reid * OH, HIRAM, - YOU'VE BROKEN YOUR RESOLUTION NOT TO SWEAR. * I HOPE THAT AIN'T ALL I'VE BUSTED.* THIS WEEK IN WASHINGTON Official Washington believes that economic recovery is so near to being an accomplished fact that by May there will be plenty of work in agriculture, business and industry for all who are now dependent upon the CWA. What has been holding private capital and credit back from the complete cooperation under the NRA which was expected, has not been any shortage of funds in private hands or of credit in the banks, but the unwillingness of investors to put their money into anything when they had no assurance what the money they would get back would be worth. The President's new monetary program, his supporters believe, has put the major doubts at rest. It is quite clear to everybody now that Mr. Roosevelt is firmly opposed to anything like uncontrolled monetary inflation. There has been inflation, to be sure, and there will be more, but it is all under very definite control and inside of fixed limits. And the uncertainty as to where the dollar would drop to in terms of gold has been replaced by the certainty that it will not be allowed to remain higher than 60 percent of its old gold value nor lower than 50 percent. This has already resulted in the return to the United States of a good many millions of American capital which had taken flight from the depreciating dollar. Equalization of Currencies With all the authority which he needs now in his hands, to back him up much more fully than he was backed up last Summer, the next move of the president, or one of his first moves, will be to re-open negotiations with foreign countries looking toward equalization of all the world's currencies on a new and stable gold basis. The belief that any complete readjustment of world currencies can take OBSERVATIONS THE COCK-EYED WORLD When you go here, yonder and there you meet up with people who are in favor of inflated currency, and yet again you meet a lot of them who are not. Then there is the fellow who is neutral and who takes to the middle of the road. That guy should stay in after dark because he might see the goblins. Some folks say the country is too wet, some say it is not dry enough. But believe it or not speculation indulged in by many people and those who liked to sow wild oats has brought on 90 per cent of the trouble that vexes the people today; it's their own fault and they should take a hitch in their belts and start all over again. Are you listening? GETTING THE MEAT OUT OF THE COCOANUT There awhile back a man who writes a very interesting page for a magazine in a daily paper up in the roaring town, said he heard of another man who wrote a piece in a paper, which he edited, and in that article the writer said sometimes a man talks to himself. Then the first writer told of a Scotchman who said sometimes he talked to himself because he wanted to hear a man talk who knew something and liked to listen to a man who knew what he was talking about. Hoot Mon! AND STILL TWO AND TWO MAKE FOUR A learned gentleman, in speaking about one thing and another, says when a country seeks to adjust its economic affairs, it must gauge its rations by the grain in the barrel. That's sound logic. But when you attempt to change the laws of gravitation and say what goes up must stay up, you started something. You must get back to that inevitable law of equation and let things be regulated by supply and demand. FOREVER BLOWING BUBBLES When you go here, yonder and there, you hear people talk of some of the communists who are teachers in some places. The students are allowed to TODAY AND TOMORROW BY FRANK PARKER STOCKBRIDGE FRANCE ... has grafters I find a certain patriotic satisfaction in the disclosures of official graft and corruption in France. It proves, what I have often said, that political crookiness is not solely an American trait. Some of my friends would have me believe that everything European is better than anything American. My observation is that human nature is the same all over the world, and that given the opportunity to get away with it, men who will use their political offices to feather their own nests at public expense can be found anywhere. French politics has always been corrupt. This time it looks as if the gang which has been in power for years was through. Some of my Paris correspondents are greatly alarmed; they predict another revolution in France. TUT ... no curse Superstitions are hard to kill. Humanity is credulous because most of us want to believe in something we can't explain. The story that has been going rounds for several years about the curse laid by the Egyptian Pharaoh, Tut-Ankh-Amen, upon whom never might despoil his tomb. I have heard seriously discussed by otherwise intelligent people, who informed me gravely that every one, or nearly every one, of the members of the expedition which found the treasures in that ancient tomb a few years ago had since died a mysterious death. A check-up by Director Winlock of the Metropolitan Museum of Art proves that out of the 40 persons present when King Tut's mummy was unwrapped, 33 are still alive and in good health, after ten years. The seven who died lived to an average of 60. That doesn't sound as if Tut's curse had been very effective, but I imagine foolish people will continue to repeat the original tale for generations. It is Equalization of Currencies With all the authority which he needs now in his hands, to back him up much more fully than he was backed up last Summer, the next move of the president, or one of his first moves, will be to re-open negotiations with foreign countries looking toward equalization of all the world's currencies on a new and stable gold basis. The belief that any complete readjustment of world currencies can take place without bringing silver back into its old money position has pretty well vanished here. The Pitman amendment to the gold bill strengthens the president's hands in dealing with the silver question, and the likelihood that the currencies of the Orient and other silver-money nations will be equalized with gold seems better than it was. The Real Alm What is really developing here in Washington is a new system and theory of political economy, based upon present-day realities rather than upon any of the old teaching of the economists of the past. It is no particular individual's theory, but the result of sitting down the theories, ideas, proposals and projects which have been urged upon the administration from hundreds of sources. The president was quoted recently as realizing that economists change their views every five or ten years, and he has openly expressed himself as willing to experiment with any problem until he finds the right answer. He, and the whole nation, are in the midst right now of the hugest experiment ever attempted involving the welfare of 125,000,000 people and the ultimate fate of their children and grandchildren. The belief that it will succeed is tempered only by a slight worry as to whether the first stages of it can be carried through before it becomes necessary to take the next step. FOREVER BLOWING BUBBLES When you go here, yonder and there, you hear people talk of some of the communists who are teachers in some places. The students are allowed to talk of things like this, for instance: The boys talk of socialism. They say, for instance, if there were 300 people on earth, and $80,000 on hand they would divide that money and each would have $100. But they don't figure where the $80,000 comes from. Whoops! LOOKING UNDER THE LID If you put on your specs and read the papers you will notice that Japan is reaching out for the world trade—and she is getting it. With the cheap coolie labor over there Japan can produce a good line of goods cheaper than an American can think about it. Take for instance, canned tuna. Recently that article was shipped here in steamers full and in the harbor district at Pedro 5000 men were thrown out of work. Look this up! PUTTING IT ON THE ICE Says Bill: "Al, let me have a can of tobacco, a package of that candy for the kid and oh yes wrap up a half dozen bottles of beer." O. K. Says Bill: I'll see you later. Huh? OUT OF CONTROL Speaking of inflation, says Zeke Moley of Squirrel Hollow, reminds him when his prized Jersey cow broke into the alfalfa patch, ate a lot of the long green and died. GETTING YOUR FEET UNDER THE TABLE When you begin passing out doles they run into dollars, and sometimes it's hard to get hold of the dollars. THROW OUT THE LIFE LINE Zeke Moley says it might be OK to recognize Russia and extend her credit, but in view of the fact that those defaulting and forgetful European nations have not paid those 11 billion. Why not discover America first? COASTING ALONG A lot of Americans like to jazz around while the gasoline holds out, and then again, they wonder what's the matter with the cock-eyed world. THAT'S WHERE THE SHOE PINCHES Some humorists write pieces for the paper—but they fail to click. And lo and behold they get paid for it! History of Anaheim Officially Recorded In Minutes of Anaheim Water Company, Which are Copyrighted, 1932, by Anaheim Gazette, and Printed In Weekly Installments June 17, 1876. Members all present. Minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. Committee in the matter of damage done to lumber yard of A. Guy Smith & Co., reports that the damage was done through the negligence of Mr. Tim Boege, and advise that the amount be paid by the company and that Mr. Boege receive no more water from the company until he pays to the company that amount. Treasurer reports cash on hand, $374.36. Bill of Zanjero for work on main ditch, $9.20; bill of Zanjero on the river for one month's salary, ending June 17, 1876, $40; bill of Halberstadt & Co. for lumber, $6.72; bill of A. Guy Smith & Co., for damages from water in lumber yard, $15. Ordered paid. Zanjero ordered to advise Tim Boege that he cannot in future receive water from this company until he pays a bill of damage done A. Guy Smith by his negligence. Water sold, $42. No further business, meeting adjourned. R. W. Scott, Secretary. June 24, 1876. Meeting of board of trustees of the Anaheim Water company. Absent, R. W. Scott. Minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. Treasurer reports cash on hand, $336.19. Bill of zanjero for work ending this day, $6.60; zanjero instructed to put in new gate at the lot F No. 1. Water sold, $41. Order rescinded as to Tim Boege paying damage to A. Guy Smith for the week ending July 8, $4.40; bill of zanjero for work ending this day, $1.10; bill of zanjero for salary one month on the river, $40; all approved and ordered paid. Zanjero reports a scarcity of water for the past three days. Zanjero instructed to view the river as soon as possible and report the condition of the water in full to the president. Water sold, $38. No further business, the meeting adjourned. R. W. Scott, Secretary. July 29, 1876. Absent, R. W. Scott. Committee reports W. Brot taking water from the main ditch without authority, but that as no damage resulted therefrom that he be not preceded against, but admonished not to do so any more under penalty of the law. Treasurer reports cash balance on hand, $388.59. Zanjero reports a loss of 10 hours water on account of scarcity of water in the river. Bill of committee for viewing the main ditch, $14; bill of zanjero for one month's salary, $50. Water sold, $32. No further business, the meeting adjourned. F. A. Korn, Sec. Pro Tem. August 4, 1876. Special meeting of the board of trustees of the Anaheim Water company. Members all present except R. W. Scott. This meeting was called by the president on the report of the zanjero June 24, 1876. Meeting of board of trustees of the Anaheim Water company. Absent, R. W. Scott. Minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. Treasurer reports cash on hand, $336.19. Bill of zanjero for work ending this day, $6.60; zanjero instructed to put in new gate at the lot F No. 1. Water sold, $41. Order rescinded as to Tim Boege paying damage to A. Guy Smith. F. A. Korn, Sec. Pro Tem. July 1, 1876. Absent, D. Strodthoff. Minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. Treasurer reports cash balance on hand, $372.59. Bill of zanjero for work ending this day, $6.50; zanjero's wages for the month of June, $50. Water sold, $25. No further business, meeting adjourned. R. W. Scott, Secretary. July 8, 1876. No quorum being present, adjourned to the next regular meeting. Water sold, $21. Robt. W. Scott, Secretary. July 15, 1876. Minutes of the last meeting read and approved. Treasurer reports cash balance on hand, $357.69. Members all present. Water sold, $34. No further business, the meeting adjourned. R. W. Scott, Secretary. July 22, 1876. Members all present. Minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. Treasurer reports cash on hand, $357.69. Bill of zanjero for work on the ditch August 4, 1876. Special meeting of the board of trustees of the Anaheim Water company. Members all present except R. W. Scott. This meeting was called by the president on the report of the zanjero that the Semitropical Water company were taking from the river all the water and only permitting a small quantity to flow at their waste gate, which was of no value to our company. It was ordered that a committee of the board of trustees go immediately to the head of the ditch (of the Semitropical company) and there take one-half of the water in the river leaving the remaining one half to flow in the ditch of the S. T. Co. Committee appointed, John P. Zeyn, F. A. Korn, and D. Strodthoff. F. A. Korn, Sec. Pro Tem. August 5, 1876. Special meeting of the board of trustees of the Anaheim Water company. Members all present. The committee appointed at the special meeting on the fourth to investigate the taking of the whole of the water from the river Santa Ana by the Semitropical Water company, report that the said company had a complete dam across the river and were turning into their ditch the whole of the water from the river, that they were not permitting any water to flow in the natural channel of the river by the head of their ditch; and further, that they had the dam cut sufficiently to permit at least one half of the water to flow in the natural channel of the river and into the ditch of this company. No further business of a special nature being before the board the meeting adjourned. R. W. Scott, Secretary. THE BOOK the first line of which reads, "The Holy Bible, and which contains Four Great Treasures" by BRUCE BARTON PROVERBS, POEMS AND PROPHETS Then fairly representative people Lord appeared one night in a dream PROVERBS, POEMS AND PROPHETS Then fairly representative people were asked, "What do you know about Solomon?" Four of the ten answered "Nothing." Other answers were: He had two thousand wives; he was the husband of the Queen of Sheba; he built Solomon's Temple; he was the wisest man that ever lived. The statistics regarding Solomon's marriages as given in the Book of Kings are "seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines." The Queen of Sheba was not officially among this distinguished company. A monarch in her own right, she was so impressed by the stories of Solomon's splendor and wisdom that she made a long journey to visit him and after a series of receptions and banquets returned to her home. The present kings of Abysinia claim their descent from Solomon and this queen. If they are justified in their proud boast her visit was not wholly Platonic. It may have been true of her, as she said of Solomon that "the half has not been told." All that we know certainly is that she never appears in the Bible again. Solomon did build the temple and it remained the pride and glory of Jerusalem until the destruction of the city by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. But the most enduring monuments left by this great ruler were not in stone or bronze, but in words—The Proverbs, a rich mine of wisdom wherein every nugget is solid gold. One can only marvel after reading them how a man so wise in other ways could have been so unwise about women. He made a fine start as king. The Lord appeared one night in a dream, asking him to name his heart's desire, and Solomon answered: Thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.... Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? To which the Lord replied: Because this was in thine heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, or honour, not the life of thine enemies, neither yet hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made thee king: Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee; and I will give thee riches, unto thee; and I will give thee riches, and wealth, and honour, such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee, neither shall any after thee have the like. Without this wise choice on the part of Solomon we probably never should have had the Proverbs; but something more than inspired knowledge went into them. They bear evidence of comprehensive experience with every phase of human nature and conduct. Some of them, as might be imagined from Solomon's own record, contain warnings against the unrighteous woman. Next Week: Solomon's Shrewd Proverbs Copyright, Bobbs-Merrill Co.