Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 8 September 1939 — Page 1

THE POST - DEMOCRAT

VOLUME 20—NUMBER 15.

MUNCIE, INDIANA. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER^tr-4039 %

PRICE: FIVE CENTS

War Profiteers Cause Higher Food Prices

No Shortage of Any Product But Big Business Takes Quick Advantage of European Strife as Excuse To Add to Personal Wealth; Sugar, Flour, Meats and Other Table Necessities Take Sky-Ride At Expense of Consuming Public; Crops Indicate Land of Plenty in This Country. Quick to grab additional profit at the expense of the consumers, the refiners, mills, and producers of foodstuffs have already taken advantage of the war in Europe to raise theip prices for sugar, flour, meats, lard, and other products which are needed daily on the breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper tables. Local grocers have been forced to- raise their prices due to an advancement of their costs from the wholesale and likewise an increase from the producers. There are no shortages of any food products in this country and there are no excuses for increased prices, but the withholding of these commodities from the market will create a shortage and thereby cause higher

prices for.them.

The farmer shall gain from the

increase in wheat and corn prices | exist then it

as well as marketable meats. The farmer is the foundation of all industry in this country and entitled to make a fair profit from his labor. Increasing grain prices should increase the purchasing power of the farmers and in turn cause a larger demand upon factories to furnish other supplies. Such a cycle should increase the need for labor who likewise could buy more products and aid business in general. If this result is accomplished so that everyone could share in the benefits, then, such has been needed for several years. However, the immediate raise in foodstuff prices following the declaration of war in Europe will only benefit big industry at the expense of the masses of consumers. This practice can be called nothing but profiteering and will no doubt be properly investigated by government. The war across the seas is being used as an excuse fdr greater profits to those who already control a large part of the nation’s wealth. This is one of the curses of war besides the slaying of thousands of human beings. The last great World War made millionaires out of many industrialists while the common people gained little but hardships, suffering, and economic losses. Supply and demand will control prices and a shortage of commodities will naturally cause an increase in values. Where there are no shortages of goods there should be no advance in prices and if such does

can only be due to

the greed of would-be monopoliz-

ers.

The present year indicates a banner crop in most all agricultural products. Much more than can be consumed will be produced in this country. Foreign nations should be permitted to purchase our products providing they are able to pay for the same. The last war left this country with a huge indebtedness because other nations were extended great credit. This should teach us a lesson to maintain a cash and carry* business with those who would demand our product^, cause an increase in prices for local consumption, and then fail to pay their debts. The advance in food prices and even the mythical shortages caused by large industry holding up products from the market so that such commodities must be rationed to purchasers and consumers are little short of treasons upon the American public. Foodstuffs are vital to everyone and should not be included in the game of profiteering. If people did not have to eat, they could break up the game by refusing to purchase articles that have been skyrocketed in price because a war has been declared in far away lands. If business in general and all classes of citizens are aided by increased prices, then, it would be wise for radio commentators and (Continued On Page Four)

BIRDS OF A FEATHER Not as a surprise comes the information that the money which supports and controls Republican politics comes from gambling on a gigantic scale. Immediately after the New Deal started, there appeared in the city of Philadelphia a man with 15 millions of cash. He bought the oldest newspaper, shoved its editor aside, kept those who would follow orders and proceeded to become a big shot in politics in the state of Pennsylvania. He became one of the publishers who raised their voices in demanding the “freedom of the press,” and who saw in Senator Minton’s measure to curb the liars and not the press ap assault upon all liberties and all freedom. Every day since that purchase he has spread poison in the state* of Pennsylvania against the President an(I all New Deal. He has been one of the most vigorous supporters of every movement which would destroy it, the most vicious when the New Deal won, the most triumphant when it faced temporary defeat. He was an important factor in the nomination and the election of a Republican governor of his state. He had the weapons through which the poison squads spread their venom. He was very active in the defense of every enemy of the New Deal. The government has traced the source of the 15 millions which he carried to buy a newspaper. It has found that it came from the distribution of race track information and the levies he made upon every book-maker in the country. He supplied this information in every city, large and small, and following the habits and traditions of gamblers, paid in cash, an unprecedented transaction in business and high finances. There is one significant thing about this astonishing story of “success.” From the day Moses L. Annenberg purchased the paper, its policies have been identical <with those of every large metropolitan newspaper which have joined in this villifying of the New Deal. He has pursued exactly the same methods and the same technique in distributing news. He has pursued the same manners in distorting and suppressing news. He has pursued the same means of poisoning public opinion. He is linked with these papers in objectives and purposes. He is a part of the great machine of propaganda which has been set up to capture the Presidency and destroy the New Deal. Birds of a feather flock together.

TOMBSTONE, ARIZ., SEEKS BASE FOR NAVY PLANES Tombstone, A r i z. — The Tombstone Chamber of Commerce has launched a movement to have the War Department create an inland sea base for naval aviation through the construction of a dam on San Pedro river at Charlestown. The lake would be six miles wide and two miles long and would give a dependable water supply that would make it possible for Fort Huachca to qualify as a brigade post and afford better protection to southern Arizona’s copper deposits which might become vital in wartime, the Chamber argued. EXPECT BIG TIME AT MEET OF EDITORS

Warsaw Falls; War Summary Just one week after the outbreak of the European war Warsaw, capital of Poland, is in the hands of the invading Germans and the complete conquest of the nation by the Nazis appears inevitable. Assured of success in the first phase of his campaign, during which he was reported to be at the front imparting to his generals-the military knowledge he gained as a soldier in the world war, Adolf Hitler moved to meet the combined attack of British and French on the western front and was said Friday to have dispatched 100,000 troops for the Rhineland. Following the torpedoing of the British liner Athenia carrying 1400 passengers, 130 of them Americans, off the coast of Scotland, the British navy has instituted an intensive submarine hunt in the North Sea, English channel and the East Atlantic, using planes to “spot” the U-boast. France and England quickly rejected in advance a peace proposal which Premier Mussolini of Italy was said to be about to make—that negotiations be opened with the understanding that Germany would keep her gains in Poland. The new British war cabinet announced that, since the strife has been forced upon her by Germany, the nation will carry on until “Hitlerism” has been exterminated. After proclaiming the strict neutrality of the United States and putting in effect the embargo on sales of munitions of war to belligerent nations, President Roosevelt Friday declared a state of “Limited national emergency” to protect neutrality and bolster our defenses. In a later executive order he called out the ‘first line of reserves’ of the army, navy and marine corps to bring those services to complete peacetime strength and ordered a relentless campaign by all U. S. agncies on spies and sabotage.

Election Costs Boost 1940 County Tax Rate

Will

Gather at French Lick September 15th and 16th

French Lick, Sept. 8.—Reservations for the fall meeting of the Indiana Democratic Editorial Association here Sept. 15 and 16 stood at an all-time high, Thomas Taggart, manager of the French Lick Springs hotel, announced to-

day.

Each mail brought new requests for rooms, indicating that the famous spa, capable of accommodating 1,200 persons, will be filled to capacity. Taggart credited the appearance of Federal Security Administrator Paul V. McNutt on the program and the revitalizing of the Democratic party under State Chairman Fred F. Bays for the unprecedented interest in the meeting. The program, as announced by George D. Crittenberger of Anderson, association president, reveals that ample entertainment has been provided for both men and women. There will be a fast-moving program, chuck full of music, singing' dancing and gaiety, in a colorful setting of flags, murals and portraits of party celebrities.. Bays, a master showman, has seen to it that there will not be a minute of dullness. Guests, upon arirval, will be registered and vested with a souvenir badge bearing their names and addresses. The program follows: Friday, Sept. 15 All day—Golf tournament for men. Hoosier Sentinel trophy and merchandise prizes valued at $25. 2:30 p. m.—Party for women. Three picnic hampers filled with fancy groceries and other prizes valued at $25. 4 p. m.—Meeting of Democratic State Committee. 6 p. m. to 7:30—Dinner danc-

ing.

8; 30 p. m.—General entertainment. Thirty-five professional artists taking part in a 10-act program. Presenting of golf prizes by Governor Townsend. 10 p. m.—Dancing to music of Jimmy Overend and his New York-

ers orchestra.

Saturday, Sept. 16 10:30 a. m.—Meeting of editors. Discussion of labor-saving practices. Talks by Governor Townsend; Mr. Bays and Frank M. McHale, national committeeman and manager of McNutt’s campaign. ,2:30 p. m.—Trapshoot. “Governor’s Trophy” and cash prizes to winners. \ 3 p. m.—Fashion revue, directed by Elizabeth Patrick of L. S. Ayres

& Company.

4 p. m.—Party in Japanese Garden for women. Mrs. Paul V. McNutt, Mrs. M. Clifford Townsend, Mrs. Frederick Van Nuys and Mrs. Sherman Minton as honor guests. 7 p. m. — Banquet. Governor Townsend, Senator Van Nuys and Senator Minton sharing speaking

platform with McNutt.

10 p. m.—Grand ball. Music by

Overend Orchestra.

Tickets to the banquet will be $2.50 for those not registered at the hotel. The banquet and all other meals are included in the bargain $6-a-day rate granted by the hotel management to all regis-

tered for the .meeting.

The two-day pow-pow will be a rallying point for Democratic forces. Harmony will be the theme

song as party workers gather from ^9^9 an( j 20 in 1929.”

every county at the historic south- 1 ern Indiana spa, scene of many

Democratic gatherings.

Those ambitious to run for Governor and other state offices will hove headquarters to greet friends and sound out sentiment for or against their aspirations. The (Continued On Page Four)

Dispelling The Fog

There must be a deep conspiracy underway among all the statistical authorities or our fair land to make us believe that business is pretty good and that economically things are sur-

prisingly satisfactory.

These authorities—Chambers of Commerce, financial writers and Government reports, to name a few—must be wrong because we have it, on the authority of the chief gloomdispenser of the Republican National Committee, that the poor old United States is in a terrible condition. “The volume of unemployment,” says my distinguished contemporary, is approximately the same as in 1933.” According to the National Industrial Conference Board, which does research for many of the big corporations, there are 5,000,000 fewer people out of work today than there were in 1933, and in this connection it should be noted that approximately four million people have come to working age, so the employment figures would seem to be even better than that. But the chief mourner over the awful plight to which the New Deal has reduced the United States does not limit his woe to the unemployment figures, for he announced in the last column from his pen that “the income of millions of persons has been reduced substantially during the last six years through a deliberate cheap money policy, restricted profits and diminished interest rates.” And yet the obtuse statisticians tell us that in 1932 the per capita income was about $321. and for last year it wsa $491. Allowing for the increase in population, this indicates an increase in national income under the New Deal of over 30 billion dollars. Now, as to that cheap money thought. It must be admitted that if you went out to buy gold you would have to pay more dollars for it than you would have had to pay for gold six years ago. But if you want to buy anything else you find that the dollar buys just about as much as any given product as it did then/ If you wanted to buy pound sterling or guilders or francs, or any of the other standard currency, you would find that you got as many of them for your dollars as you ever did, and in most cases, this dollar that the propagandist is so disturbed about, is at a premium.

What Is a Mere Fact to the G. O. P.

“Farm prices,” says the Republican purveyor of grief,

“are not much better than six years ago.”

According to the Bureau of Economics of the Department of Agriculture (July 15, 1939), the prices on the seven leading farm products are higher now than they were in 1932 by from 32 to 73 per cent. Milk is 32 per cent higher than in 1932; beef cattle 47 per cent, hogs 48 per cent, potatoes 55 per cent, wheat 56 per cent, corn 60 per cent, cotton 73 per cent. Statistics, of course, make dull reading. Fictional statistics have, however, within themselves elements of humor and imagination. So when you read the story of the G.O.P. economist you learned that the New Deal had put business in a strait jacket and prevented it from functioning. The real humor of this is apparent when you look over the Dun and Bradstreet figures, which show more than $600,000,000 worth of building permits, as against $123,000,000 in 1933; bank clearings in 22 principal cities 32 billion dollars higher than in 1933; fewer than half as many business failures, etc. Business must be pretty bad when Sears, Roebuck in July of this year sold $277,000,000 worth of goods, against $108,-

000,000 in 1933.

Something is Always Around the Corner.

I don’t know what the Department of Commerce can be thinking of, in view of the Republican grief over our business condition, when it reports that retail business generally for the first six months of 1939 is a billion dollars ahead of what

it was in the same period last year.

Even the railroads must be in this conspiracy, because Standard Statistics Co. announces that “this will probably prove to be the best railroad year, with tiie exception of 1937, since 1911,” and the N.’Y. Journal of Commerce states that “American big business rounded out an unparalleled 20-year period of expansion in 1938 with greater resources than at any time in previous history. Today there are 26 financial and commercial enterprises in the United States with assets of more than a billion dollars each, compared with only six in

WOMAN, 32, LICENSED TO FLY ALL BUT CLIPPERS Cleveland, O.—Pretty, 32-year old Mrs. Arlene Davis is the only woman in the world licensed to fly all types of airplanes except giant ocean clippers. She has just won a “4-M” rating afteii a series of tests in Boston fasting more than four hours. The rating entitles Mrs. Davis to pilot multi-motored planes up to a gross weight of 10,000 pounds over land or sea. Mrs. Davis was one of the first women licensed pilos in Ohio. She is the wife of M. T. Davis, president of a provision company. INDEPENDENT VOTER FIGURE IN POLITICS

County Council Ends Session Thursday and Fixes Total Levy at 58 Cents Which Is a 14-Cent Increase; Voting Machines To Be Used Next Year On Rental Basis; Ball Hospital Allowed Usual $40,000 Gift; Adjustment Board Meets Monday to Make Final Approvals To All Levies Within

Delaware County.

The. county council, finished its budget and tax levy fixing session Thursday evening with the result that the proposed 28-cent increase in the total county tax rate for next year was split in half ancj the approved total levy amounted to a 14-cent increase over the present year. The total county rate was fixed at 58 cents including 41 cents for county revenue, 5 cents for the sinking fund, and 12 cents for the county welfare department. The largest increase was made in the county revenue levy which jumped from* 28 cents this year to 41 cents in 1940. The sinking | fund for paying off county bonded indebtedness was I raised one cent and the welfare fund continues on

Propagandists Trying To the same twelve cent levy.

I am afraid I have given my readers an overdose of figures, but I knovv of no other way of pointing out the fallacy that has been fed them. It goes without saying that a propagandist committed to the duty of proving that the New Deal has failed is forced to invent figures to back up that position. It would make no difference if our country were today in

(Continued on Page Four)

Control Them in 1940 Campaign

Looking ahead to 1940, the people are told that there are 10,000,000 voters "Who list themselves as “independent voters,” allied neither to the Republican nor the Democratic parties, owing allegiance to neither party. They are not to be found at party rallies. They may not even talk politics. But they do cast votes, very important votes, if the figures are correct. The attitude of these voters in the past was understandable. They saw little difference between the parties, which for long periods differed little if at all. they boasted that they voted for the man, not the platform, which to them meant nothing. So they went to the polls and regularly elected, when they agreed, the candidates whom they considered the best men for the jobs. The results were found in local elections and county elections which often shifted from party to

party.

There was no mistake about the attitude of the independent voters when real issues arose. They voted solidly for Presidsent Roosevelt in 1932. for they discovered that the “Great Engineer” was merely the agent of Big'Business, a thing the independent voter hates with an undving hate. They voted for Roosevelt again in 1936, showing that their faith had not been les-

sened.

There will be few “independent” voters in 1940, for the issues will be clear and marked. They will vote for the liberal party. They will vote for the progressive principles which are presented in that campaign, rather than for the

man.

It is to these 10.000,000 voters that the propaganda organs are turning their interest. They have known for some time that the Democratic party is dedicated,, as a party caucus of Democratic Congressmen declared, to the New Deal. Even those who voted against some very important measures voted for this party declara-

tion.

It is the minds of these 10,000,000 that the great metropolitan press, the press agencies, the columnists, are attempting to poison. The one cure for such poison, of course, is truth. The party must answer each calumny with facts,

each libel with truth.

Will any independent voter cast a ballot for the reactionary Republican candidate for Congress when he remembers how his home was rescued by a New Deal policy, when bread lines were replaced with the right and privilege to

work?

Will any independent voter remain independent long when he is reminded of the victories of the New Deal, the rescue of the nation itself from the brink of revolution on which it stood at the end of

1932?

They are grouped, these independent voters, in a recent survey showing 15 per cent among the higher income brackets. That means that the very rich will again trust the Republican party as guardians of / their dollars. There are 54 per cent in the middle class. Big business is tempting them. There are 31 per cent in the low income levels, which means they may again be deluded as they were deluded in 1938 by Republican candidates for Congress who promised larger pensions and larger pay, but deserted at the first chance to fulfill their pledges to voters. That is the picture. The problem (Continued On Page Four;

Last week, the city council took

final action on the civil city tax j due to provisions for the 1940 rate-and increased the levy by | elections. These expenses'are aa-

14 1-2 cents. The school board has J ditions to authorized a 9 1-2 cent increase j since no

for next year and the township

rate will show an increase of approximately 23 cents due to poor relief costs. These increases amount to 61 cents which would bring the total city of Muncie tax rate for next year at $3.99 on each $100 of assessed valuation. All taxing units of the city have proposed higher tax levies for 1940 except for the library board and

the state.

Next Monday, the county tax adjustment board will convene at the courthouse to give final approval to all tax levies within the county before they are certified to the state tax commission. The adjustment board consists of Moses Black, who has served each year since the creation of such a board

year.

as a representative of the county »rent eighty voting machines for

council. Mayor Ira Wilson as the civil city member, E. Arthur Ball, president of the city school board, J. Monroe Fitch and L. B. Moffett, appointed by Judge Claude Ball of the Superior court, H. F. Guthrie and Grover C. Arbogast, serving as appointees by Judge Guthrie of

the Circuit court.

A large part of the increased county tax rate for next year is

the present year budget elections were held this Reimbursements to county

revenue for poor relief advances are also causes for a greater county levy. It was decided by the county council to rent voting machines for next year instead of using the Australian ballot which is thought to save some election expenses. The machines will be used in all- precincts and the rental to be paid may be applied to the purchase price if it is decided- to buy them for permanent use in this

county.'

It is planned to reduce the number of voting precincts in the county to fifty instead of the pres.ent fifty-three. This is expected to be done by combining the two precincts in Uhion, Liberty and Center townships. It is proposed to

the fifty precincts. The usual amount of $40,000 was again budgeted as a gift to the Ball Memorial hospital which accounts for aproximately six cents of the county revenue rate. Also, a revolving fund of $10,000 was established in the 1940 county budget for the cleaning of public ditches. This work is supervised by the county (Continued On Page Four)

G. 0. P. DOUBLE-DARED The Republican party of Indiana through its state chairman, Archie Bobbitt, has begun a jittery campaign against Senator Sherman Minton much the same as they have engaged against President Roosevelt. Bobbitt expressed the notion that Minton would be defeated almost unanimously in Indiana next year if the Democratic party should re-nominate him as their candidate for re-election to the U. S. Senate. He bases his statement on the fact that Minton has staunchly supported the President during his entire program in Washington and that Indiana is at war with the New Deal. The Democratic party in Indiana will most certainly re-nominate Senator Minton and the Republican politicians will find him mighty tough competition during the 1940 campaign. The popularity of President Roosevelt still reigns in Indiana and Hoosier voters do not condemn their representatives in Congress for co-operating with the New Deal. Senator Minton is one of the best campaigners ever, produced in this state. The ability of both McNutt and Minton are to be widely recognized throughout Indiana to convincingly present facts to the voters and to win their support. The welfare of the masses of people have been rightfully looked after by the Democratic administrations both state and national and it will be the masses of voters who will decide the 1940 election just as they did in 1936. Senator Minton may have irkec^ the good-will of a few “bigshot” Republicans the same as has the President but he still retains the confidence of those who would have government represent all the people instead of a favored few. Senator Minton has progressed rapidly in Washington and is the Senate Democratic leader along with Senator Barkley of Kentucky. He has supported the President because the New Deal program has helped the masses of people, the farmer, the laborer, the smaller business man, and the unemployed. The Republican party chief in Indiana would attempt to discourage the re-nomination of the Senator Minton because they honestly know that he can be re-elected and they fear him as a candidate. Archie Bobbitt has dared the Democratic party of Indiana to re-nominate Senator Minton hoping that such talk would decrease the chances of the noted leader. We double-dare the Republican politicians to offer any good reason why Senator Minton should not be returned to Congress and continue his fight for the welfare of the burdened instead of lending his ear solely to those who would control all the fat of the land.