The Healdton Herald (Healdton, Okla.), Vol. 14, No. 45, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 1, 1932 Page: 4 of 6
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HHEALDTON OKLAHOMA THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 1 1H32
THE HBALDTON HERALD
Here’s a stirring call
arms that summons the
those half-forgotten days of resolute
UUKTEEN
army of
American
gathering
years ago an
two million
citizens was
in France
They hud left their
homes and families and
businesses they had
traveled three thousand
miles across submurine-
infested seus and now
they were ready to lay
down their lives if need be for their
country Millions more in America
were prepared to follow them and do
Jkewise
Today the nation faces another cri-
sis in which the enemies allied
igainst us are more Insidious but not
dangerous Pervasive self-seek-ng
and corruption which the chosen
siiicers of the law seem powerless to
oppress the sinister growth of the
underworld whose tentacles reach out
touch us all the ever-increasing ex-
nivngance of government and the
'ojsterlous paralysis of our economic
y: 'em — these are the enemies which
now confront us They hare been al-
i v od to encroach upon us largely
T'lUgh our own curelessness and neg-
:et of duty as citizens
In the battle against them the aver-
age citizen is at a disadvantage be-
mse lie is unprepared tie is willing
m-gh but he Is bewildered He
In n’t yet realize that he himself is
nriiiarily to blame hence he Is tak-
l m no serious part in the conflict By
nviage citizen I mean u great many
i n -i to whom we should look for lead-
i ri-: Ip ns well as the larger number
1 1 possess no qualifications for It
'n fact too often do citizens of all
-hoses assume that polities and
rime and even economics are no
' 'ness of theirs It does not occur
them that they are every one indi
ii'anllv responsible
Why is It that patriotism burns so
' rightly in times of war so dimly In
imes of peace? It Is Just ns neces-
nry in meeting the complex obliga-
i"'is of pence hut these obligations
lo not stir the imagination like the
irPnitive emotions of war The av
r: ge citizen feels that somehow
i lie problems of peace will be solved
for him and fails to realize the pos-
s! II tv that calamity muy result from
his own Indifference
Still Can Be Proud
We have us much reason now as we
hu I fourteen years ago to feel proud
o‘ our country und to love It We belli-'
e with some Justice that It la the
gr itest republic in the history of the
v ii Id Under no tlag in the world
i! " s a people enjoy more freedom or
ti'i l greater happiness We boast of
p 1 lie education universal suffrage
I rty of speech and the press We
oy rights undreamed of In ancient
i 'ece and Rome Yet even with the
niler principles upon which to buse
t! hope of permanence of our Instl
p ions we too muy some day go down
a - did lliese older republics unless we
r lognlze mid live up to our civic oh
II ations It cannot he too strongly
I i pressed upon every citizen in a
i! -mot-racy that tt is his duty to help —
actively help — In the task of govern-
ment The other day 1 was talking to a sub
t tantinl business nmn from New York
We were discussing an Issue of In-
creased taxation then up before the
bouse of representatives
“By the way” I said "who is the
representative from your district?"
He grinned sheepishly
"I don’t know" he said
My friend pays a goodly share of
taxes to support the government and
vet he doesn't know who votes for him
on the tux question He relies od “a
substitute” and doesn't even know who
the substitute 1st
This is something of a retrogression
from an earlier period When our
government was founded our forefa-
thers did not let unknowns represent
them They made it their business to
know ail about the character and
achievements of the men they elected
to public oflice Then the outstand-
ing men in the country took part in
politics and most of the high posi-
tions were field by them Political
leaders then were chosen by the vot-
ers Now through the apathy of the
voters they are often chosen by other
politicians
Changing Social Life
Tills chunge is partly due to our
changing social life Many of us do
not even know our next-door neigh-
bors But it is a manifestation of a
deeper und more sinister change — the
tendency of the avernge citizen to let
somebody else do his thinking for him
That tendency threatens the very
foundations of democracy
“Let some one else do the thinking”
That easy doctrine is injuring ue
not only in politics hut in other fields
Under it crime flourishes and business
languishes
Some international bankers since
the war have been careless in lend-
ing other people’s money on foreign
securities Others have been charged
with something worse than careless-
ness But the citizens who ngalnst
sound business principles put up the
money were not without blame In
their eagerness for gain they too oft-
en refused to think for themselves
They preferred to delegate that task
to some one else It was well known
to nil who rend the newspapers that
certnin governments had already de-
faulted on debts to their own people
Greedy investors did not balk because
of that hut cheerfully put up billions
to loan to states municipalities nnd
Industries of those same governments
This is not an essay on economics
I am nut an economist I did not fore-
see t lie depression nor do I know when
it Is going to end though past experi-
ence teaches me the upturn is bound to
come perhaps slowly perhaps sudden-
ly when we least expect it
"No matter how sure you are of vic-
tory neter fail to make full provision
for a reverse"
This rule is axiomatic with every
capable military leader but It was
ignored by most of our business lead-
ers during the boom years Few made
plans for anything except triumphant
advance from one objective to anoth-
er Many burned their bridges behind
them Then the ndvance was halted
and the recession begun It cannot be
said that they were to blame for that
I recession for apparently our puny litl-
iiian minds have not yet solved the
riddle of the business cycle They
were to blame for having made no
plans to keep the retreat from turn-
ing into a rout Ruslness might profit-
ably write that military axiom Into
its hooks for tlie yenrs to come
We Imve made two other military
blunders We begun hy underesti-
mating the strength of the enemy and
progressed from that to overestimat-
ing It The cry "We are Just turning
the corner" of 1020-30 was the equiva-
lent of “We will have the boys out of
the trenches bv Christmas" of 1014-
11 And our “This country is going
to the dogs" of 1032 Is the equivalent
of "The Central Powers are Invinci-
ble" of March 1918 I have heard
leading men given over to fear prate
of natlonul failure bankruptcy and
Bolshevism Thia la no tlmt tor cra
to
spirit of
marching men
ven cringing Looking out of my win-
dow I see the shaft of the monument
to Washington I think of Valley
Forge and wonder how those who
now lament and wring their hands
would have enjoyed that winter Thli
is Washington's blcentennlaL It la
time for a new reckoning a new re-
sponsibility a new courage
During the winter past many a good
man willing and able to work has
gone through a bell of unemployment
and uncertainty Remembering that
we may also find that some good along
with the evil comes out of all depres-
sions 1 am not a stranger to depressions
Economists tell us that the panic of
1873 was the closest analogy which
history furnishes to our present trou-
bles My father a well-to-do business
man and farmer in Missouri was
caught in that general disaster 1 was
Just thirteen years old One day my
father told me the whole story
“John” he said "everything 1 own
has been swept away except the farm
which Is covered by a heavy mort-
gage’’ (We finally lost ID “I must
try to make some money by traveling
as a salesman While I am away you
must take care of the family and man-
age the farm” During the next three
yenrs my brother and I ran the farm
We plowed sowed and reaped We
took our produce to market Those
days were not so different from these
for the farmer I remember we had
a field of timothy hay which was par-
ticularly fine 1 baled It up a carload
of It and sent It by rail to St Louis
hoping to receive a top price but It
did not bring enough to cover the
freight charges
During those years my attendance
at school was limited and 1 had to do
the best 1 could to keep up with my
classes by studying at night Those
were certainly hard times Yet "sweet
are the uses of adversity” and tt was
the best thing that ever happened to
me I taught me more gave me great-
er confidence and a keener sense of
responsibility than anything else could
have done
Unsuspected Powers
I cite tny own experience merely to
show how men and women actually
gain a new strength and courage when
thrown upon their own resources and
responsibility In times of crisis They
find in themselves powers they never
suspected
The life of a military man furnishes
another example valuable in times like
the present In every army career
there come occasional tlmea of dull-
ness The officer stationed at some
remote army post has his routine du-
ties to perform When these are com-
pleted he finds the temptation almost
overwhelming to give over his leisure
to curds light reading social evenings
painless time-wasting It Is the officer
who resists that temptation who
spends hard hours each day studying
the latest advances In artillery technic
In transport in tactics — It is this offi
cer who receives recognition when the
opportunity for active service comes
So it Is in business In this time of
extreme dullness many have sunk
hack Into a kind bf lethargy But
the wise business man like the consci-
entious officer Is using his present
leisure to prepare for the battles to
come He Is devising new economies
of production and distribution He Is
studying the problem of how his prod-
uct may be varied or made more at-
tractive He Is getting ready to take
advantage of the upturn when It
comes He Is not accepting gloomy
defeatism He Is thinking for himself
I have touched at soma length on the
depression because It baa so glaringly
shown us the folly of carelessly dele-
gating our thinking to others
It has also thrown a bright cold light
on the flaws In our political methods
and on our crime problem During
the yeare of prosperity following the
war an underworld of gangsters and
racketeers unparalleled in any other
civilized nation grew up and flour-
ished In our cities The ' criminals
who manned this underworld were of a
new type They were not the masked
and shabby plug-uglies who filled the
Jails In earlier years They were ex-
pensively dressed they owned ma-
chine guns high-powered cars and
speed boats they had money In the
bank With this mouey they were able
to establish a relation with corrupt
officials and police which seemed to
make them Immune from prosecution
Lulled Into complacency by pros-
perity our citizens passively accepted
this poisonous growth with small con-
cern Now that our complacency Is gone
we begin to study this foul phenome-
non more carefully Ve see tt eating
more and more deeply Into our na-
tional life Infecting politics extorting
tribute from business threatening our
very homes From my own study as
an Individual I am convinced that
prohibition has largely financed this
new postwar underworld of ours
Vast profits have drawn multitudes
Into the bootlegging business and
once outside the pale of the law they
do not hesitate to turn to racketeering
and other forma of crime Thus a
criminal army has been built up which
defies the very government itself
I do Dot question the sincerity of
the prohibitionists nor their nobility
of purpose Yet the Inability to en-
force the law in this respect has re-
sulted In snch tragic consequences
that 1 believe the time has come to
face thia question squarely and to
work together toward some other solu-
tion which takes more account of the
Inevitable traits of human nature
But neither the repeul nor the mod-
ification of the prohibition laws will
altogether abolish crime The esti-
mated one million or more men accus-
tomed to the easy money of the boot-
leg and speakeasy business and with
an otter contempt for law cannot be
thus converted into virtuous law-abiding
citizens overnight Many will turn
to other forms of illegitimate activity
Corrupt officials deprived of bootleg
tribute will seek new sources of graft
Our frontier ancestors when the
criminal element got out of control
formed themselves Into vigilance com-
mittees rounded up criminals and
strung them up on the nearest tree
Every red-blooded man when he reads
of the criminal activities of our mod-
ern racketeers and of their apparent
Immunity from capture and prosecu-
tion feels a natural Impulse to go out
and organize a vigilance committee
But action can be taken under the
law only through the constituted au-
thorities Any other course would lead
to abuses greater than those It might
correct
The ability of the underworld to ter-
rorize society lies In the fact thnt It
is thoroughly organized while society
Is not At present It Is more the gang
against the Individual than otherwise
Why should we not form neighbor-
hood and community committees so
that the gang will find Itself con-
fronted with an organized body of men
larger and stronger than Itself? The
more Important his position In the
community the greater the obligation
of the citizen to Join the committee
Can Force Action
Such committees made op of sub-
stantial citizens who regard citizen-
ship as a paramount obligation could
forca action Suppose a neighbor of
yours gets a kidnaping threat or a
merchant is visited by a gangster who
tries to extort tribute from him or a
section of the town experiences a
series of holdups If the Individual
citizen goes to the police station or
city hall and fails to get satisfaction
possibly because of an alliance he
tween officials nnd the underworld he
Is powerless
But If the neighborhood committee
stands ready at the very first threat
of gangster activity within Its bor-
ders to take common action against
the Invasion the picture chnnges The
threatened man immediately summons
all his trusted friends who advise with
the neighborhood committee Repre-
senting the militant citizenship of Its
community it could demand positive
action by the police and by the city
authorities
Committees of this kind would be
vigilance committees not In the old
sense but In the sense that they would
be ever vigilant In the protection of
rights and the performance of civic
duties I would consider It an honor
to serve on such a committee myself
These committees would serve many-
other purposes beyond the suppression
of racketeering They would present
a united front against the grafting of
officials They could hold weekly or
monthly meetings to discuss the prob
lems of government Such meetings
would serve to bring out and develop
as no Institution wo now possess docs
new lenders especially among the
young citizens In every community
One great aid to crime In Amerlcn
Is the veil of anonymity which covers
the Individual In any array every
man Is accounted for His name rank
regiment and whereabouts nre known
If he Is wanted we know where to
find him In America we hove
no Identification Men can move from
city to city changing their names as
they would their coats They can reg
later as they please at any hotel with
no questions asked It Is a pleasant
easy-going custom but It puts an In
superable barrier In the way of the
police In the detection of crime The
hsm has com when we most abandon
Lulled Into Complacency by Prosper-
ity Our Citizene Passively Accepted
This Poisonous Growth With 8mall
Concern
the right to anonymity as enlightened
European countries have done
Every resident of our country should
have an Identification card a small
passport with photograph attached
Change of permanent residence should
be reported to the police The card
should be shown if necessary upon
registration at any hotel or on any
other occasion when demanded by the
police The penalties for forging a
card or disregarding regulations con-
cerning it should be heavy
I realize that the inconvenience of
the card identification system would
be burdensome But It would be con-
siderably less burdensome than the
breakdown of our system for appre-
hending criminals The cards would
dot be a cure-all but they would be a
great help No honest man could ob-
ject to a plan which would materially
aid In rounding up criminals
Just as the depression has finally
opened our eyes to the magnitude of
our crime problem so has It brought
home to us the very extravagant ac-
tivities of unwise politicians during
our prosperity orgy While the citi-
zens have neglected their public du-
ties the politicians have quietly but
enormously Increased the cost of gov-
ernment locally and nationally Ex-
penditures of the national government
In 1013 were approximately $700000-
000 exclusively of Interest payments
on the public debt In 1031 they had
increased to approximately $2000000-
000 exclusive of Interest payments on
the public debt and expenses Incident
to the World war The cost of ad-
ministration of local governments
throughout the country Increased from
$1844000000 in 1013 to $7126000000
In 1020 The budget of one of our
cities New York for 1032 Is greater
than the expenditures of the entire
national government for 1903 Some
of these Increases unquestionably
Imve been necessary for expansion and
for coping with the more complex
problems of today But an alarming
portion of them have been with an eye
to jobs for the politicians’ friends
Unnecessary offices boards commis-
sions have been profligately multi-
plied And now when our national rev-
enues shrink there Is little done
toward applying the logical remedy or
reducing expenses Instead legisla-
tors resort to the vicious policy of in
creasing taxes both direct and Indl
recL Thus the citizen finds hlmseir
burdened with the staggering load
But can he with clear conscience
complain? He cannot He elected
these legislators he saw them pile up
lavish appropriations and he elected
them again During the boom days
the citizen was too busy In specula
tton himself to worry about the na
tlonal debt or the local debt
So with municipal affairs During
prosperity the citizens cheerfully
looked on while the politicians multi
plied unnecessary offices gave ex-
travagant contracts to their friends
for public Improvements passed laws
favoring special Interests and loaded
the public with Invisible taxes In the
form of graft Now muny of our
great cities are threatened with In-
solvency Their depreciating securi-
ties 'm peril the solvency of banks
where the citizen has his money The
citizen again discovers that be la the
victim But la he not the victim of
his own neglect of the plainest duties
of citizenship?
In the situation that now confronts
him the citizen Is groping What can
he do now? What practical action can
he take?
He Is told to go to the polls and
cast his vote which Is an old atory to
him but by Itself It will not remedy
the situation for too often the candi-
dates of each party are Incompetent or
corrupt
There la a great deal more to polit-
ical duty than going to tha polls to
vote A body of uninformed citizens
flocking to the polls prompted only
by good Intentions Is about aa effec-
tive as an army made up of untrained
men marching to battle
Year after year under universal
suffrage there has grown a wider di-
vergence between theory nnd practice
In our political economy
To perform his civic duties effec-
tively It la no longer enough for the
citizen to understand the theory of
politics He must study Its practice
That meant time trouble and hard
work He must study the political forces
at work In bla owa neighborhood his
own ward his own district He most
go to political meetings associate with
politicians And oat who are the polit-
ical leaders behind the scenes drop In
at the political clubs look Into the
records and alliances of candidates for
office
Even this is not enough unless
there Is some organization of non-
political citizens to work with united
force Here again the neighborhood
committees which I suggested earlier
would have their uses Such com-
mittees could compel the respect of the
political leader and hold him to an
accounting They could hold meetings
and ask candidates to appear before
them address them and submit to
questioning Moreover they could
and should keep track of the political
and financial administration of local
and national affairs
It might be Inferred from what I
say here that I think there are no
good men In politics On the con-
trary we all know many fine men
honest men able men In politics But
there are not enough of them
One of our problems Is to attract
men of higher caliber into public life
Certainly the profession of government
Is as Important as any catling In our
nation Yet tt Is not even taught In
our schools and colleges We teach
political science yes but that Is a far
cry from practical politics There Is
no alternative for the aspiring politi-
cians but to learn their high art and
profession at the knee of the district
leader or ward captain — too often with
undesirable results
Corporations for the conduct of busi-
ness education and charity have mul-
tiplied In number and Importance In
recent years Service In hundreds of
corporations is affording a new dis-
cipline for thousands In managing and
directing people and this In turn
should be of the highest value toward
supporting progress and durability In
governmental affairs But business
men too often forget that the govern-
ment la the most Important corpora-
tion of alL They passively permit men
to occupy public offices to whom they
would deny Jobs In their own com-
panies They fall to apply on elec-
tion day the elementary rules they
have learned In tbelr business
No Tims for Shirking
Business men say that politics Is
"unpleasant" So Is service In the
trenches unpleasant hut our citizens
do not shirk -It when duty calls
Carelessness neglect and Ignorance
In the conduct of the affairs of gov-
ernment have exactly the same results
as they would have In any army facing
the enemy on the field of battle The
obligations of the Individual citizen
as a part of this government are quite
as binding as those of each soldier
composing an army Thorough training
and a high sense of duty are as Im-
portant in one case as In the other
The preparation of an army for serv-
ice with any hope of success demands
something more than writing out the
details of organization and the Issu-
ance of orders It requires the truln
ing of each Individual of the army In
the particular part he Is to play al
the front It Is the same In the sue
cessful conduct of the government
Each citizen must be trained In his
duties and be Inspired by a high sense
of obligation In carrying them out
Constitutions and laws do not of
themselves guarantee either the effi-
ciency or the permanence of govern-
ment In a government by the people
the responsibility of the Individual
must be conscientiously fulfilled or
failure will be the result
Make no mistake about It : Our na-
tion Is confronted by a crisis as seri-
ous as the crisis of the war We nre
at war against depression and crime
And just as to that earlier crisis we
come unprepared Our unprepared
ness In the war coit us untold billions
In money and the lives of some of our
finest men Our unpreparedness for
this battle of peace has also cost us
dear
But In the war once we were
aroused we made effort which aston
(shed the world Just so today the
American citizen once he Is aroused
to the dangers that menace hi coun
try will I devoutly hope and believe
gloriously redeem his Indifference of
the past
u mi wnn nmi
BARE SECRET LIFE
OF IVAR KREUGER
World’s Greatest Swindler
Lived aa Gay Libertine
New York— While big Chicago and
New York banks are trying to recover
millions of dollars they 'lost backing
Ivar Kreuger Swedish financial wls-
ard and the world’s greatest swindler
facta have come to light revealing
bis private life In New York Paris
and elsewhere as that of a libertine
who lived secretly In gayety as
he lived openly as a hard-headed fi-
nancial genius
It hus been found thnt he had the
staggering sum of $108000000 In per-
sonal debt nnd indirect liability
ngalnst his name when he committed
suicide In Paris In March It has been
discovered that his books were falsi-
fied for eight years while he was
traveling around the financial centers
of the world raising enormous sums
from the most astute bankers '
There will be little or nothing for
unsecured creditors and scores of
millions handled by him appear
now to be Irretrievably lost
Once a demigod to a hero-worshipping
world the silent domin-
ating financier has been proved to
possess all the frailties of pleasure-loving
mortals The Illusion
that he lived only to work which he
cultivated so that he might Juggle
millions by forgery and bargaining
has been exploded In an astounding
expose of his blnff
Purchased Secrecy
Always the millions he was able
i to display enabled Kreuger to pur-
chase the secrecy of the woman who
'visited bis secret hideaways
And yet In the years during which
Kreuger flitted from country to coun-
'try from continent to continent not
one of hls women companions during
his lifetime gave the least public hint
of associations that seldom acquired
the dignity of true companionship
Out of the dust and confusion of
the crash that followed Krueger’s sui-
cide a picture of the man has
emerged Each day the outline grows
bolder more details are filled In The
spectral figures loom against avnrl-
ety of amazing background: £
Kreuger on a little Island off Swe- j
den for weeks at a time surrounded
by gay women sparkling champagne
soft lights seductive music (
Kreuger In a New York penthouse'
or in hls Purls mansion with Ills?
women hls wine and hls princely!
luxury I
A scornfully smiling Kreuger mak-i
lng rubber stamps of the signatures
of the Influential men of Sweden so
that he might forge their names to
applications for security Issues
A calculating Kreuger with plate
and acid turning out bogus Issues of
Italian government bonds to defraud
the trusting Swedish government or
the trusting security buyers of the
United States
Directly after hls death reports of
Kreuger’s trickery were broadcast to
the world One was thnt the Swedish
consul In Paris had refused to certify
the death that a wax figure and not
Kreuger was cremated thnt orders
were still coming from Sumatra for
cigars such as only Kreuger smoked
Investigators Surprised
Intimates of the Swedish Croesus
now recall that they did consider It
i strange thnt after a day of con-
ference of hard work Kreuger In-
variably vanished and never a word
I of how he spent hls evening was
forthcoming But they never asked
for explanations They knew the
man of stone too well
But It Is concerning the eve-
nings of his life after hls Juggling
of finances wns temporarily ended
when he retired to meet this or
that beautiful woman that the renl
facts are Just now coming to the
surface
One of the Swedish Investigators of
Kreuger's business and private con-
duct has said
"We are going from one surprise
to another The more definite our In-
vestigations become the stranger the
personality of Kreuger grows We all
knew him personally but we nre only
discovering him now”
The Investigators have learned that
there were many parties with women
und wine on the little Swedish Island
that Kreuger owned Not wild parties
— there wns nothing of the vulgurlnn
about Kreuger The women were cul-
tured and refined
In hls Park avenue penthouse In
New York and In hls Paris mnnsinn
Kreuger gnve similar pnrttes Quiet
Informal nffuirs never orgies
But refined outwardly ns the match
king’s women friends appeared to he
the Swedish police have found In Ills
effects evidence thnt mnny of them
stooped to blackmail They even
found evidence that on many occa-
sions Kreuger hnd' met their demands
Only One Family Lives
in Town 171 Years Old
Glastonbury Vt — Ira N Mnttlsnn
holds the distinction of being the only
male citizen In this town which Is
six miles square
There are hut three legal voters —
Mattlson hls wife anil hls mother
Mattlson Is the selectnmn town
clerk town trensurer assessor school
conmiltteemnn road commissioner
Justice of tlie peuce und representn
tlve to the general court
Three generations of Mattlsons Imve
lived In this town established 17 1
yean age
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Thomas, Forrest. The Healdton Herald (Healdton, Okla.), Vol. 14, No. 45, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 1, 1932, newspaper, September 1, 1932; Healdton, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1777753/m1/4/?q=%22%22~1: accessed June 28, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.