Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 30 May 1941 — Page 4
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POST-DEMOCRAT FRIDAY, MAY 30, 1941.
THE POST-DEMOCRAT A Democratic weekly newspaper representing the Democrat* of Muncie, Delaware County and the 10th Congressional District, The only Democratic Newspaper in Delaware County. Entered as second classc matter January 15, 1921, at the Postoffice «t Muncie, Indiana, under Act of March 3, 1879.
PRICE 5 CENTS—$1.50 A YEAR MRS. GEO. Ft. DALE, Publisher 916 West Main street.
Muncie, Indiana, Friday, May 30, 1941.
*
10,000 Club Women Attend At the fiftieth annual meeting of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs just held in Atlantic City special tributes were made to the heroines and pioneers at a Golden Jubilee. It was the greatest delegate group of women ever to assemble, and records at the Haddon Hall, the Chalfonte and other hotels indicated that 10,000 women came to the New Jersey resort. They not only enjoyed their meetings but they also filled their lungs with the purest air on the Atlantic coast. Among those specially honored were Mrs. J. Borden Harriman, recent minister to Norway; Congresswoman Jeanette Rankin of Montana; Katherine Lenroot, Director of the Federal Children’s Bureau and Mary Anderson of the Federal Woman’s Bureau, all women standing at the top in Washington. Appropriate recognition was also extended to Mrs. Roosevelt, Mrs. Harvey W. Wiley, and other outstanding women at the National Capital.'
Bonds Are a Good Buy The Government needs money and that’s the reason why special bonds and stamps have been placed on the market. If you don’t help the Government out on bonds that will pay you interest on your investment you are quite sure to “pay through the hose” in higher taxes. So, there is more than one way to figure out that bonds are a good buy.
Vacations Americans take vacation time seriously. We work hard and play hard in this country. The English humorous magazine Punch, paying too much attention to the latter habit, once declared that America isn’t a country—it’s a picnic. Vacations mean a lot to us because they are a part of the whole pattern of freedom under which we live. No statearranged “workers’ tours” and “labor battalion holidays” for us! The people of the United States pay their ten billion dollars annually for amusement and recreation in their own lib-erty-loving way! Well, summer is nearly here again, and this is not quite like other years. A huge national defense program is under way, calling for the best that is in qvery one of us. And it is already apparent that for some Americans, there will be less time for relaxation this year than heretofore. Skilled management will be in great demand at this crucial time in the defense program. The busy employer, whose symbol at present is the sandwich and cup of coffee for a lunch at his desk, will often be forced to forego a vacation this year. Skilled workers will be in great demand, too. Already the employees of some companies working on defense have voted to take their vacation pay as a bonus and go right on working to make sure that their country will be armed in time. But if the management and workmen in our industries, and all those who have a stake in building this nation’s defenses, can give less thought to the pleasures of a summer in the mountains or on the beach, there is at least one point they will not forget. It is privileges like these that they are working harder now in order to render secure. And any liberty is only a thing of worth and dignity if those who enjoy it are willing to make sacrifices to insure against its beingtaken away. That is the vacation spirit of Americans in these difficult times.
Longer Hours for Machinery Washington, D. C. May 22.—William Knudsen, director of the Office of Production Management, tells American industry not to wait for new machine tools but to use secondhand tools available “which will do the job,” and to get busy and let sub-contracts because “no one knows your job, your facilities, and the other companies in your area so well as you do.” He tells those who are “waiting” to quit waiting. “Let’s get oging and keep going; let’s forget everything except the welfare of our country,” says Knudsen — who sounds more convincing every time he speaks. OPM has headquarters in 36 Federal districts, all working to speed up production, but Chief Knudsen tells the world not to wait for the Government to hunt them up. It is clear, adds Knudsen, that “American industry has many, many times done the impossible. The American people expect us to do it now.’ And he is right. It is interesting to note that Mr. Knudsen’s successor at General Motors, C. E. Wilson, only a few days ago stressed the same idea, suggesting that defense production would be speeded by finding ways and means to work machinery more hours per week. Mr. Wilson said that the bottleneck in this whole defense material production is to get machinery for the new projects. He said that there are actually 168 hours a week, and if you only operate the machiney two forty-four shifts per week, you are only operating that machinery less than half of the time.
Try To Keep Cool Here is a home remedy prescribed by a Washington journalist, which seems to be good for men, women and juniors. It reads: When the weather gets hot try to avoid too much heat from the sun. Just think about how to do it—and do it, easily. When the war talk gets hot among your friends and associates try to get them to do more reasoning and less shouting; more thinking for themselves and less goose stepping for know-it-alls. These are the best kinds of home remedies because they promote health, comfort and better understanding of national defense. It also helps the blood pressure.
Book About the Indians Congress has received from the Government Printing Office the 5th volume of “Indiana Laws and Treaties,” compiled by Charles J. Kappler under authority of the Senate. This document of 885 pages contains all laws relating to Indians passed by Congress since 1927 and in addition many Executive Orders, unratified treaties, leading court decisions and important matters and statistics relating to Indians generally. Each Senator and Congressman will be entitled to several copies for distribution among their constituents, and it can also be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C,
It is becoming evident from utterances in Congress and elsewhere that many isolationists are that way only because President Roosevelt is not. It might not be far from the truth to state that if our Democratic chief executive had taken the position that the Nazi war was not our concern, some of the Republicans in House and Senate who assume that pose would have demanded total aicf for Great Britain, and been as vehement in their criticism of the administration as they are now. The other day the President wrote a letter to Chairman Doughton, of the House Ways and Means Committee, in support of a three and a half billion dollar defense tax bill, which he insisted “must convince the country that a national defense program intended to protect our democracy is not going to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.” Minority spokesmen in the House protested, with much sarcasm and some invective, that the President should have given them definite suggestions of what taxes should be imposed. It is not hard to remember that when he sent in the lendlease measure they were equally sarcastic and resentful that he did go into details, and inveighed against what they termed making Congress a “rubber stamp.” That familiar designation has been yanked into every debate since the first year of the Roosevelt administration whenever a Democratic majority went along with legislation the President recommended. Concerning Rubber Stamps Congressman Ham Fish, of New York, while the lendlease measure was being discussed, stated that it was a political scheme to usurp the powers of Congress and the Supreme Court. Congressman Rich, of Pennsylvania, told the House of Representatives: “I wonder whether the President of the United States since he has gotten control of everything, since he can hand the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Air Corps over to Great Britain, is going to stay in the White House or whether he is going to take up his abode in London to direct the forces of the world.” A favorite' topic of the anti-administration spokesmen has been the necessity of protecting freedom of speech. Apparently, their idea is that everybody should have freedom of speech except the President of th9 United States. “Those who exercise that freedom,” said ex-Governor and ex-Presidential candidate Landon, “should not be subjected to smears and sneers as they have been from this administration since its inception.” In other words, it is all right for the isolationsts and their fellow-travelers to call the President of the United States “warmonger,” but it is all wrong for him to point out that opposition to the defense measures in many instances lends aid and comfort to the Nazis and encourages the belief in Hitlerdom that the United States is divided on the defense policies. During the political campaign last year, the minority party spokesmen repeatedly accused the President of agitating the war question; of scaring our people, with the sole purpose of having himself re-elected. Everybody recognizes that allowances are to be made, even for absurdities, in a political campaign, but there is not even this slight excuse after the political issues have been decided and the country is faced with the deepest crisis in its history. Smears—Pro and Con There has not been, and there will not be, any effort to limit criticism of the Administration. Of course, nothing approaching the isolationists’ assaults on the government would be tolerated in any other country. That they can go as far as they like over here marks the difference between the principles of democracy and the forces now mobilized to destroy democracy. But certainly, freedom of speech is not one-sid-ed, and the assailants of the Administration have no privilege of complaining of aspersions upon their motives when they attribute the most treasonable purpose to the officials of our Government. Just now the targets of the Administration s assailants happen to be the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy, though both are Republicans—highly honored by their party until they accepted membership in a Democratic President’s Cabinet. , „ . The isolationists, through their spokesmen and through their newspapers, profess to be horrified that these two officials, various Senators, and other eminent citizens are urging that the ships we are sending with war material and food to the countries that are battling against the dictators should be protected en route. As Secretary of War Stimson asked the other day, after summarizing the steps we had taken to keep the war from our borders: “We hold in our hands the instrument ready and able to make all these steps effective; shall we now flinch and permit these munitions to be sunk in the Atlantic Ocean. Up to the time of this writing there has been no formal invocation of the convoy system; so why should there be anything shocking about a discussion of the righteousness and the expediency of such a program? ^ * The isolationists say it would be an act of war for Amer--can cargoes. Why should it be considered more an act of war than our trading a flock of destroyers to England m exchange for a nuijiber of naval bases on English territory . If Herr Hitler chose to make it the occasion for war, he could do so of course—just as he could have done over a variety of incidents of the past year. But it is very doubtful if he is prepared at this time to take on an additional adversary, and that adversary the most powerful in the world.
INSECTS WILL FIGHT BATTLE
Wasps Will Slaughter Japanese Beetles In Time New York—This is “blitzkrieg” month in an American war which experts believe will go on until both sides are annihilated. On the one side are “vast battalions” of the tiny digger wasps and on the other hordes of Japanese beetles. Julian P. Chisholm, II, writing in Natural History Magazine, tells how the little black wasp, scarcely three-fourths of an inch long, was enlisted by than in his fight against the Japanese beetle. Both insects came from the Orient, the Japanese beetle, making its destructive presence felt for the first time in 1916, in the vicinity of Riveffbn, N. J. With no natural enemies to hold
it back, the beetle became “one of our most serious insect pests.” In 1920, the U. S. Department of Agriculture sent two exports to find a natural enemy that would defeat the Japanese beetle without in itself becoming a pest. They picked the digger wasp of Korea, known as Tiphia vernalis. Female. wasps, according to Chisholm, emerge from the ground in the spring “and burrow into the soil in search of Japanese beetle grubs on which they fasten their eggs.” “When the larvae hatch, they consume their hosts. Each fertilized female wasp lays in the neighborhood of 60 eggs.” The wasp itself will not become a pest, Chisholm says, because, as it kills the Japanese bettle, it also destroys its own food supply. “In this way the control of the beetle pest serves as an automatic control over the possibility of the digger wasps getting out of hand.”
WEEDS INFEST FARM LAND
An acre of soil on typical American farm land contains an esti mated one and one-half tons of weed seed.
AUTO EXAMPLE OF TECHNOLOGY
Standardized Parts In Machinery Lowery Cost to Buyers
The automobile is an example that the development of interchangeable parts was an important factor in making practical the general use of machines. Just imagine what automobile driving would be like if tires, spark plugs, fan belts and other parts were not standardized and had to be made especially to fit individual cars. Think how impossible mass production of automobiles would be if parts were not interchangeable so that one group of men can make axles, another wheels, another bodies, etc. The principal of interchangeable parts made possible the development of our modern industrial system. America’s march to the head of the parade of nations is due largely to the fact that we have achieved mass production and consumption to a greater degree than any other nation. Consider what machine methods of production have done to things which have become essentials to our present mode of living. For example, automobiles which cost thousands of dollars; and typewriters, telephones amd radios which cost hundreds without the full aid of technology, are now made for a fraction of their former cost and thus are made available to millions whereas before they were only available to a very few. It is on the question of employment that most of the attacks on the machine are directed. Its enemies glibly cite instances of where the machine has enabled one man to produce as much as two, ten, fifty or more men could produce by hand. We maintain, however, that this increased production by the use of machinery is the strongest point in favor of the machine age. Those who believe increased production of machinery means fewer jobs, overlook the important fact that there is no limit to the amount of work to be done in the world, and that when a machine produces something, men have to produce just that much less. This oversight is the same as that made by the share-the-wealth cults. These do not seem to understand that there is no ceiling for the amount of wealth and that it is constantly increasing — these do not realize that if one man achieves wealth, it does not necessarily mean that other men have been made poorer thereby. The problem is not to share the present wealth but to produce more for everybody. The machine creates jobs to a far greater extent than it destroys them. The National Industrial Conference Board, a most reliable authroity, has compiled a list of 18 manufacturing industries which have been created since 1879. These industries employ about one-seventh of all factory workers and the jobs created as a result of these new products, probably give employment to one-fourth of the gainful workers today. Now, we can hear someone ask: “But what about the industries in which employment has decreased?” All right, between 1920 and 1930, nineteen principal occupations showed a loss of 800,000 persons. During that same period 19 of the growing occupations gained more than two and onequarter million jobs or three jobs gained for each one lost in the declining occupations. More on this when Part 3 of “Machines Versus Jobs” appear in a future issue of this newspaper. o Dr. Anna Freud Treats Victims of War Shock London — Thirty war-shocked children, taken from homes all over London, are being restored to healthy happiness by Dr. Anna Freud, daughter of the famous psychoanalyst. The children are being cured by psychological treatment in a large house in Hampstead, formerly a Swedish hotel. With the financial aid from the British War Relief Society of America, the house has been equipped as a phychological
clinic.
The clinic is under the direction of Mrs. Dorothy Burlingham, an American, who is married to an Englishman. Mrs. Burlingham is assisted by 'Miss Lillian Bowes-Lyon, a cousin of the Queen. Twenty-eight of the children undergoing treatment are under 4 years old. Their bunks are so arranged that they can hear little of guns or bombs if there is an air raid in progress. This was one of the first things arranged by Dr. Anna Freud. Many of the children were badly shaken when they were taken into the clinic but most of them have recovered from their unnerving experiences. o — Wool Consumption To Double
Red Bluff, Cal.—W. P. Wing, secretary of the California Wool Growers’ Association, estimates wool consumption in the United States this year, will be double the usual 500,000,000 pounds largely as a result of the conscript army’s clothing needs. *
War Shuts Off African Woods
For Furniture
Rockford, 111. — War in Europe threatens a shortage of walnut and mahogany furniture, according to Rockford furniture manufacturers. An imminent dearth of mahogany in the United States, the furni ture makers explain, is due to the lack of ships to transport the wood from South America to Africa,
where it is produced.
The present supply of walnut has been seriously depleted by a large government order for use of the wood in the manufacture of gun stocks. ' One manufacturer said that he had been lucky in receiving two shipments of mahogany recently, but expressed doubt that he could obtain additional carloads. Eighty per cent of the higher grade furniture made in the nation’s furniture centers has been of mahogany. Fortunately for the furniture men, oak, birch and maple are easily adaptable to the lightfinished and modernistic styles for which there is a decided trend. A recent survey by one manufacturer revealed that one-third o ( f the furniture makers were asking an increase of 2 to 5 per cent, onethird was asking increases of 5 to 7 per cent, and the other third had
made no increase.
COLLEGES ADD NYA SUBJECTS
Short Courses Will Carry On Work Started Earlier
Three Indiana colleges are including courses on the National Youth Administration program in their summer school curricula, it was announced today by Robert S. Richey, state NYA administrator. Indiana, Purdue, and Butler Universities aall are devoting special attention to the administration of both in school and out-of-school NYA programs. During the week of June 23 to 27, a daily three-hour laboratory period is to be held at Butler, with John Mueller, director of youth services in the Indianapolis public schools, as conference director. Members of the state .NYA staff will serve as consultants. Discussions are to be held on the procedures and technics of administration of the NYA program in high schools and colleges, and for out-of-school young persons, with the purpose of developing practical methods of utilizing the entire program. High school principals, guidance directors, co-or<7Tnators, vocational directors, supervisors of NYA programs and projects are expected to attend. Arrangements can be made for obtaining college credit for the work. Part of the program of Purdue’s workshop in secondary education, to be held July 9 to 19, is to be devoted to the administration of the NYA ifrogram. Mr. Aubrey Williams, national administrator of the NYA, will come to the conference and address two sessions and hold individual conferences. One unit of work in the Social Administration course at Indiana University this summer under Mr. Harold E. Moore is to be devoted to the administration of the NYA student work program. Members of the state NYA staff will assist in conducting this part of the course. This is the first year in the history of the National Youth Administration that it has been the subject of college courses. The University of Chicago is conducting a similar program for one month, from June 23 to July 23, with the University and Illinois NYA staffs as instructors. During the past school year there have been approximately 10.000 secondary school students and 4,000 college students employed on NYA projects in Indiana schools. In addition, an average of 11.000 out-of-school young persons have worked part-time on NYA projects in the state. o Ship Propeller Has Principle Of Gear Shift Gloucester, Mass.—A new type ship’s propeller which has a variable pitch mechanism to change the “bite” of the blades is the invention of millionaire John Hays Hammond, Jr., and George Colley, Washington naval architect. They predict it will revolutionize marine propulsion and reduce operating expenses. The inventors are seeking patents on the propeller, which, they explain, works on the combined principles of auto gears and modern airplane variable pitch propellers. Hammond demonstrated the invention by using a regular set of auto gears. He explained how the results would compare with those obtained when a motorist shifts gears to climb a steep grade. He said the new propeller would change its pitch to increase or decrease the “bite” in the water according to prevailing conditions. He added this would enable the vessel to “shift gears” in midocean, thereby retaining the efficiency of its motors while bucking a storm and continuing its journey without having to reduce speed.
Thief Probably Novice Skater
East St. Louis, 111.— A prowler stole a pair of roller skates with shoes attached from Art Lamely’s automobile. Police deduced that the thief was a novice skater, since he also took a pint of rubbing alcohol. AIR DEFENSES IN U. S. STRESS MOBILE UNITS
Key Areas Too Extended For Use Of Fixed Equipment
Washington—The nation’s vital defense areas and population centers will have to depend largely on intercepting aircraft and mobile anti-aircraft units to repel air raids in the event of war. Grand-scale fixed defenses, such as those employed in London and other important British cities, are not feasible in this country because not enough anti-aircraft guns could be produced here to ( protect all the big cities and industrial areas. That is the opinion of military experts who have made a thorough study of aerial defense problems in the United States. In their study, they had the benefit of British experience in the present war. Mobile Units Important Britain has fewer vital areas to defend from air attack than the United States would have if an enemy could establish plane bases* close to this country, experts said. Yet, even Britain has not sufficient anti-aircraft equipment to provide the kind of defenses required. London’s fixed anti-aircraft defenses. they said, must be supplemented by mobile equipment during large-scale raids. On many occasibns, they added, the mobile units have been rushed to other aeas to aid existing defenses. Most of the fixed defenses in this country probably will be concentrated at important harbors and at the most vital armament plants. By June 31, this year, the army will have 40 anti-aircraft regiments. Balloon barrage units are now being formed. —o Concrete Made With Mica Base Proves Durable Raleigh, N. C.—^Concrete that can be sliced with a handsaw and punctured with an ordinary driven nail is being tested by the ceramics department of North Carolina State College. During the recent Engineers Fair at the college, William A. Scholes, ceramic research engineer, demonstrated the new material’s versaltility by several tests with ordinary carpenter’s tools. Scholes drove several nails into a block of the new cement, which is made with vermiculite instead of sand. The block didn’t split and the nails didn’t bend. He then sawed it into small sections with a handsaw. There were no cracks and the edges were smooth. Scholes conducting experiments with the new material for the Tennessee Valley Authority, hopes the verimiculite product will come into widespread use for building low-cost, prefrabricated houses.
POWER HOOKUP DUE TO SPREAD IN NORTHWEST
Utah Bids For Inclusion In Far-Reaching Grid Project
Salt Lake City, Utah—The possibility that Utah eventually may be included in a great, inter-locking Pacific Coast and Intermountain public power grid is seen here following Gov. Herbert C. Maw’s open advocacy of power resource development. Maw, long a supporter of the federal electrification program, was elected to office over the opposition of the Democratic machine, which for eight years resisted any extension of federal control over Utah streams. In outlining his views, the governor called for “removal of the state from its island of higher power rates,” and suggested construction of a giant project in Flaming Gorge, on the Green River near the Wyoming border. Boulder Link Suggested Maw also urged the legislature, now in session, to investigate the possibility of a tieup with Boulder Dam, located near the state’s southwestern border, or the Bonneville and Grand Coulee projects in the Pacific Northwest. The governor admitted there was little immediate prospect that the program could be carried out. His words, however, encouraged proponents of the federal program and brought renewed agitation for a thorough investigation of potential sources of electric energy. Advocates of the program pointed out that line losses in the 800mile stretch between Bonneville and Utah probably would make the Columbia river impractical as a supply base. Boulder Dam is considered a more likely source, provided Utah needs could be corelated with those of Southern California. Greater Project Envisoned Some observers, however, forecast the eventual construction of the Flaming Gorge project, with linking lines connecting it with both Boulder and the Columbia River Authority. Such a connectfon would establish a power grid extending over 2,000 miles and blanketing the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah and sections of California. Because of the distances involved, inclusion of Montana and Nevada probably would be difficult without utilization of private utility steam standby plants and other generators. A few months ago, the Utqlj and Light Company accomplished a connection with Idaho and Montana private utilities for a power grid which now covers the three Intermountain areas. There has been little indication here that establishment of federal power projects would lead to elimination of private firms as distributors. Instead proponents have cited the successful operation of several Northwest utilities which buy all or part of their electricity from Bonneville and still operate profitably and with lowered rates. o CODEX SINAITICUS BURIED
London.—The oldest Bible manuuscript in the world, the Codex Sinaiticus, bought for 100,000 pounds by the British government from Russia in 1934, has been stored away in a little box and buried deep in a cellar of a country house many miles away from London.
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