Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 10 October 1941 — Page 1

VOLUME 21—NUMBER 51.

MUNCIE, INDIANA, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1941.

PRICE: FIVE CENTS

Lindbergh’s Americanism Is Questioned By Actions

DISPELLING THE FOG

BY CHARLES MICHELSON

delaware gets

Shown Greater Interest in Foreign Countries. At Present He Is Lecturing As An

Isolationists. .

$20,855 TOTAL

Assistance Is Given During Month Of

August

An interesting piece of information was brought to light Thursday in Pearson and Allen’s Washington Merry-Go-Round. However, we noticed Hearst’s Chicago paper left out of its syndicated col-

umn this one particular story.

According to Pearson and Allen on pages 1595 and 1596 of the current issue of Who’s Who in America, you will find a very illuminating article on Charles A. Lindbergh. It states that in this self-penned 1 autobiography his “home” is in Illiece Island, Penven-

an, France. This Island is now Nazi occupied and I n ts 111 A »gust than in any other controlled. Nearby is an island belonging to Hi.i came effective in April, 1938. eh-

workers claim-

By Charles Michelson

Some people have been inclined to be critical of the recent congressional vacation, feeling that with a national emergency on hand, the National Legislature should also be on hand. . However, that vacation has not been wasted time. The Congressmen have been able to talk to their home folks, and ! they return wiser than they went. It may be recalled that just before the holiday ex-Presi- ! dent Hoover, ex-candidate Landon and a dozen other putative leaders of the Republican party called on the House of Representatives for a more militant opposition to President Roosevelt’s defense measures, which they described as war-

tote Board To Conduct : inal Hearing On Tax Bate

mongering. That got quite a response from the minority

| The Indiana Employment Secur-! delegations—not enough to have their caucus commit the

maiiity Division reported today that Q O. P. members to an i

POST 47 BACKS LEGION STAND

Unanimously OK’s Convention Platform; Rake ‘Rank and File’

pos'

Members of Fort Wayne

G. O. P. members to an isolation policv, but fifty or more of i NTo - 47 > American Legion, unam-1

Delaware county workers received j t p em indicated favor to the Hooveresque idea/ Then they , mous} y approved the convention j $20,855 in unemployment insurance 1 u ' platform of the Legion adopted a: benefits during the month of Aug- j wont noiTie. ' > 1 the Milwaukee convention at it? ust, compared with $6,951’received | The first demonstration of what they had learned came ! meeting Thursday night in the

by county workers in July, 1941, i from Representative Dirksen of Illinois—which state the ji>ost home.

and $46,236 in August a year ago Colonel Everett L. Gardner, Division director, announced at the same time that Indiana paid out less in unemployment bene-

Alex Carrel, the same Dr. Carrel with whom Lind-; gibie unemployed . bergh experimented on a mechanical heart. He is saidj^s in AuiuS,^oni^Stiy more to be in occupied France now and is working with the j than halt the $1,050,529 'awarded Petain government which is operating with Hitler. the

All this leads the American pub-

( year. In August, 1939,

- ■ ■ -- I benefits totaled $908,777 and in

lie to wonder, when Lindbergh in j there are a few of us in this coun- j August, 1938, $2,841,029. Claims.

ln S isolationnist speeches^ makes tl y c „ mm o„ly called ta.I.tiOftl.U and sometimes referred to as oh- j v j ous mon th of July, 1941, Colonel structionists, who have been fight- j Gardner said. The division direcing Hitler’s battle * * * They know, tor pointed out that a paradox as they go about the country sow- j existed during August. Benefit ing seeds of dissension and dis- J payments increased, and yet factrust, division and disunion, and tory employment surged upward

the statement that he is motivated only by his love for his country, just what country he is talking

about!

When he left the United States in disgust a few years ago, he gave the impression to the public that he was moving his family to England to take up permanent residence there. We uext hear of him in France collaborating with Dr. Carrel on a Superman project— the famous mechanical heart. He next took time out to snoop on the extent of Russia’s air force and then to stop in Germany long enough to receive the distinguished

decorations from Hitler.

How he i£ back in America on a speaking tour for the America

First organization.

Charles Lindbergh’s cousin, Augustus F. Lindbergh, who is chairman of the Fight for Freedom Committee, said in a speech at Chicago last week that Charles A. Lindbergh and “tys unthinking group present the greatest peril to America that has ever, in our entire history, been presented—

from within.”

The speaker, a cousin of Charles Lindbergh, the famous aviator, made the assertion in an address prepared for a meeting sponsored iby the Chicago Fight for Freedom

Committee.

“Wittingly or unwittingly, knowingly or unknowingly,” he said,

inevitable disaster, that such were to reach the highest peak In the the manners and methods of Hit- | state’s history at more than 391,-

ler’s agents in other countries. * * | ,300 wage earners.

“I think that the whole philos- | Rise in the amount of benefits phy of Charles Lindbergh and his | was attributed to the unusual lay group are foreign to America ; 0 ft's occasioned by shut downs for and American ideals.” j model changes. The fact that bencLast Friday night Lindbergh i fit payments still were only a litspoke before an America First | ti e more than half of the benefit

disbursements last year indicated that shut downs were not as ex-

anti-administration people have been describing as an isolationist stronghold. Dirksen, an influential Appropriations Committee man, voted against the repeal of the arms embargo, the lend-lease bill, and the Selective Service Act. The first day of the re-convening of Congress he called

for a cessation of partizan hate.

“The President has announced,” he said, “a policy of patrolling and clearing the waters which are deemed necessary to our defense and for the maintenance of freedom of the seas. That policy is now known to all the world. To disavow or oppose that policy now could only weaken the President’s position, impair our prestige, and imperil the Nation.” . The newspapers recount that he got more applause from his own side of the House than from the Democratic side. Then we heard from Senator Capper of Kansas, who has the reputation of being the best reader of popular trends in either party. This staunch old Republican wheelhorse put it thus: “The United Statse must be kept a free and independent and powerful nation at all costs. The President having acted, the Congress of the United Statse and the people of the United States must and will support that action. There

is no other course of action open to us.” “Just Around the Corner” Again

Even ex-President Hoover, though his survey that “The actual dangers to America are less today than at any time j since the war began,” and his prophecy that Hitler is being j crushed, have a tinge reminiscent of the depression days, has j advanced to where he can say: “The President is right in

At the same time membei’s showei’ed cxiticism 011 tlx? Legioxx Rank and File, axx association ixxcox porated by two Portlaxxd Legionxxaires and one froxxx Muncie, to poll the ixxeixxbei’slxip oxx its attitude towards the national oxganization’s policies. Followixxg a detailed explaixatioix by A. R. Vegalues, Fourth district commander, of the Milwaukee con ventioxx resolutions the local post ixxexxxbei'ship without a dissentixxg vote approved of the action of the post delegates in supporting the ixational program. The members also redomnxeixded to the exeexxtive committee that a vigoi'ous publicity campiagxx be conducted thi-ough all mediums to set forth the Legion policies to the genexal public. This is the post of which W. Call Graham, state commander, is

a member.

tensive as in 1940, Colonel Gardner j vigorous protest at firing on American warships. He is right said. He also explained that someu p ro ^ es { ^ sinking American merchant ships without ade-

gi'oup at Fort Wayne. Fort Wayne, by the way, has a very large German population as also has Milwaukee where he spoke several

3CwX; headed'’by ^the’labor ^ I qufteTrot^Uon

Despite alarm about priorities I carrying contraband.”

causing unemployment in the fu- He still disapproves of the program of our sea fighters

shooting first to clear the seas, but he is enthusiastic at our

organizations, attempted to pre vent the former hero from speaking "Friday night. Wherever he has spoken there has been great dissension among various groups of citizens, citizens who should be working together to fight our com-

mon enemy, Hitler.

At several meetings there have been overripe tomato and egg throwing. In order to forestall any such uncouth demonstrations at the Fort Wayne meeting, admission was by ticket only, thus allowing a very select group to hear the great orator. At this meeting the speaker was intro(Continued on Page Four)

F. D. R. Opponents Continue To Voice Petty Nonsense But Voices Are Getting Weaker PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT is at the peak of poularity with the public. On top of that, the ratio of public support for his foxeign policies, always high, is higher than jt has been since the outbreak of war in Europe. America trusts the President arid is pretty well united in the belief that other things must wait until the menace of Hitlex-ism is cimshed finally and forever. That public sentiment is shifting more than ever to the President’s suppoxt is beyond dispute. The signs are manifold. There was the action taken by the American Legion convention and the disaffection of Senator Capper, of Kansas, and Rep. Dirksen, of Illinois, both Republicans, from the ranks of the isolationists. What accounts for this new swing in sentiment? First, of course, is the ever growing conviction that the President stands head and shoulders above his contemporaries in understanding world events. Every development in Europe and the Ox-ient proves that he has been right, everlastingly right, since the beginning of the great conflict. The second x-eason is equally important—the confusion, the muddy thinking, and the petty nonsense of the men who presumed to lead Amexica along the path of isolation. The longer the war goes on, the smaller these men shi’ink in stature. They can’t agree even among themselves. Col. Lindbergh told his fellow countrymen that ‘‘even if Ameidca entei'ed the war,” it is improvable that the Allied Powers could invade the continent and whip the Axis Powers. In other words, England- is done for, so stay out of it. Mi’. Herbert Hoover wants to keep hands off for another reason. He says “a cold survey” shows that. Hitler is sure to be defeated even without the Axis rout on the continent. He thinks Hitler is done for. That certainly is a cold survey. He and Col. Lindbergh i-eached the same conclusion by methods of reasoning as far apaxl as the two poles. Senator Gerald Nye turned a neat profit over the past sevei’al years by lecturing the public on the iniquity of war. The burden of his argument was that wicked Wall Sti'eet, anxious to protect its loans to the Allies, conspired to get the United States into the first Woi’ld War. He blandished the Wall Stxeet bogey and incidentally Hollywood, for a time in the present crisis. Then he recalled that Wall Street has no dix-ect financial stake this time because Uncle Sam is doing the lendixxg. Wall -Street, in fact, may lose a gi’eat deal through heavier taxes like the rest of us. So Senator Nye detoured. He tossed in the hated racial issue in the hope of arousing public passions and prejudices. The sorry business backfired so he is now engaged in telling the public, at least those few who will listen, that his opponents dragged in the racial issue. Col. Lindbergh tried the racial stuff, rather gingerly, but he also foxxnd it too hot to handle. Senator Vanderberg of Michigan, that wordy and voluable statesman, has x-eti’eated into a shell of silence, a trying circuxxxstaxxce for him. Two years ago he thought it was a “phony war” but now he knows differently. Rep. Ham Fish is still carrying the torch and the public greets him with customary indifference. Senator Burton K. Wheeler, the ablest of the isolationists, has reduced his efforts to petty sniping at Administration policies. The isolationists Txave been overwhelmed in the rushing torrent of history. Their silly antics have augmented public confidence in the wisdom and safety of President Roosevelt’s leadership.

ture, the effect of that factor was felt little in August, Colonel Gardner said. The deci’ease in emp-loy-xxxent in the knitting industry, particularly in the hosiery field, however, was directly chai’geable to war influence axxd priorities, Colo-

nel Gardner said.

In this county, August benefits were awarded as follows: $2,173 to residents in the rural part; $352 to Eaton residexxts; $336 to Albaxxy residexxts; $17,994 to

Muncie residents.

FARM TRUCKS TO AID IN DEFENSE

Confidential Survey Is Being Made For

Emergency

County Agricultural Agent C. A. Langston has received word that all farxxxers and others owningtrucks soon will be asked to help the War Department in its transportation planning for national defense. A similar inventory was made in England but not until that country was ixx the midst of the

present war.

The Indiana Highway Traffic Advisory Committee to the War Department, according to inforxxxation received by the county agent, will sexxd each' ti’uck owner a special national defense inventory card, which, it is urged, be filled out with ixxformation on make of the trxxck, kind of body, capacity, time of the year the vehicle is most xxrgently needed in the owner’s business, and whether in an emergency he would be willing to hire or lease it to a government agency. Similar information will also he obtained on all busses and on all freight trailers with a capacity of 3,000 pounds or more. These cards, white ones for trucks, and blue for busses, will be mailed, postage free, to the traffic advisory committee. The infoi’mation given will be considered confidential and will lye used only for planning for

national defense-

Further information may be obtained from County Agricultural Agent C. A. Langston.

o

TOUGHENING UP NEW FORM |■

giving “the tools of defense” to the democracies. He says there are other ways to enforce respect and reparation for transgression of our rights, hut he does not tell what they are. There may be some other method of preventing the Nazi raiders from sinking the “tools of defense” than by wiping out the raiders but the combined strategy of all the anti-Nazi military and naval experts have not found

it.

The conversion of noted isolation leaders is not the only evidence that America is awakening to a realization of the gravity of the existing crisis. It was comfortable to think that Russia and Great Britain would win the war and so save us ffom the ultimate peril. However, nobody—unless it is Mr. Hoover—is firmly convinced that this is necessarily so, and it certainly is far from axiomatic, particularly if we are not able to insure the receipt by the trans-ocean powers of all the aid in the shape of war machines and supplies of all kinds that we can send them. Evidence of the Awakening Perhaps the best evidence of our awakening is the recent action of the American Legion National Convention, which not only formally indorsed the steps taken by the President so far but demanded the outright repeal of the Neutrality Act, though President Roosevelt had not yet asked of Congress the wiping out of that act. True, Senator Capper and Representative Dirksen insisted that they had not changed their views as to the wisdom or efficiency of the defense acts against which they voted, but Congress having approved the President’s course, they deemed it their duty to support that decision. Whether or not they would have reached that determination if they had not heard from the country is unimportant. The fact remains that in the fortnight that has elapsed since the President announced the order to regard all raiders in American waters as piratical craf.t, there have been few evidences of German submarines, air bombers or surface war

craft in those waters.

Nearly all sinkings, which the Nazi spokesmen declared New York, Oct. 10—into the mod Hitler’s answer to the injunction to our Navy commanders to [enx melee of clashing tanks, armshoot first, appeared to have occurred previous to the Presi- ored ■“- 1

Of course, this situation may change before

KNUDSEN URGES YEARS OF SWEAT Needed to Beat Nazis, He Tells Fight For Free-

dom Rally

i New York, Oct. 10.—Wars of today ai’e won in the shops and America “mxxst sweat hard for the next year or so” to overcome the treixxendoxxs lead the Nazis hold in production of important war items, Wiyianx S. Knudsen, OPM director, said Monday night. Speaking at a Madison Square tGarden rally sponsored by Fight for Freedom, Knudsexx said in his prepared address that when “democracy is destroyed, the United States is destroyed ” “When dexxxocxacy dies ixx the : United States you will have to change the name of the place,” he declared. “From then on it will just be, a geographical region bounded by Caixada, Mexico axxd j

two oceaxxs.

“Now there is a war on and one side is sworxx to desti’oy demoexatic forms and individual freedom, whenever they exist. It doesn’t make axxy difference to me what the Nazis say or what anybody thinks about the side issues; the simple fact is that Mr. Hitler is out to get everything under one

thumb.”

Two Courses Open Kxxudsen added that we could take one of two courses—“coxxtinue at the pi’esent x-ate with a fair chaxxce that soixxetime, years from now, we finally will reach the point where our production will so outrank the Nazis’ that they will not be able to go on axxy longer,” or “pile on evexy ounce of steam we caxx and get this thing

over with.”

County Welfare Levy Only One to be Appealed From Tax Adjustment Board Recommendations Ten Taxing Units in Delaware County Propose Higher Levies Next Year While Eight Will be Decreased; Hearings Will Begin Monday, October 20th and Continue Through Tuesday. The Indiana Tax Board will conduct hearings on the proposed budgets and tax levies for the twelve townships, five towns, and the City of Muncie in Delaware county beginning Monday, October 20th, and continuing through Tuesday, October 21st. All budgets and levies as fixed for each of the above units by the county board of tax adjustment last month are subject to final approval by the state board Only one of the units have appealed their budget and levy to the state board which is the county

welfare department.

Due to a x’eductioxx of oxxe cent from the state tax rate which has beexx fifteen ‘cents for the past number of years and also dxxe to a five-cent further decrease in the coxxxxty levy made possible because of an error in compilixxg the total rate, only ten of the eighteen taxing xxxxits in this county will show axx increase for taxes collected next year while eight of thexxx will have lowei’ed incomes. Five towxxships axxd three towns ixx the county will benefit from xeduced tax levies next year while seven towxxships, two towns, axxd the city of Muncie will have advanced rates. Hearings will be conducted before the state tax board on budgets and levies for all townships except Washington ami Hamilton together with the county levy axxd the appeal on the coxxnty welfare Monday afternoon, October 20th. The town rates together

with the three units in the city of Muncie and Washington township will be heard on Tuesday after xxooxx following. Hamiltoxx township was not certified since it was not subject to the tax limitation laws. The tax rates for 1941, payable during the 1942, as now proposed are as follows: City of Muncie, $3.44 per $100 of assessed valuation which is 12 cents higher than the present levy; Albany,’ $3.50 or 13 cents lower; Gaston, $2.78 ox26 cexxts lower; Selma, $2.36, a reduction of 18 cents; Eaton, $3.21, axx increase of nixxe cents, and Yorktown, $3.05 or axx ixxcrease of six cents. Niles township coixtimies to have the lowest tax rat?, in the couxxty with $1.51 although there will be a 24-cent incx-easd in this township for next year, Haxxxilton (Continued on Page Four)

Russ Bring Out Armored Trains

dent’s warning.

this letter is published, but the period of quiescence is not

the less significant. '

Meanwhile, thousands of tons of supplies of all gorts have reached our friends overseas, and more is on the way. Flocks of planes have been ferried across the oceans, East and West, by their own wings. For reasons of military precaution, the exact numbers may not be made public, but there is no record so far of any of these failing to reach its destina-

tion because of the German blockade.

All of which is definite evidence that the President’s notice to Nazi marauders to keep out of our way, was not wasted. \

St. Louis—The army’s put a little diffex’ent touch on its “toughening up” pi’oeess at Jefferson Barracks, a selective seiwice induction center. Without axxy ex-

planation and with only one-day’s . - notice, all week-exxd leaves were ! month to Australia,

cancelled.

Later an officer explained that it was a local order to accustom the men to sudden cancellation

of Heaves.

NICKEL FROM NEW CALEDONIA Noumea, New Caledonia—New Caledonia is slated to furnish 10,000 toxxs of nickel ore to the United States and 450 to 550 tons a

China now has 10,000 industrial

co-operative societies.

FATHER HAILS GROOM, 67

Edinburg, Ind.^-When 67-year-old Alfred Kerr took his new bride, aged 47, home, the bridegi’oom’s father gave his parental blessing. The father, William Kerr, is 101.

Quartermaster Unit Mourned

Scott Field, 111.—The death of the 267th Quartermaster Depai’tment here moved Sgt. John Herron and his squad to erect an appropriate memorial. They laid out a smoothly rounded grave with a monuxnent bearing the letters, “Q.M.C” a Succulent plants, such as cactus, are able to store moisture in stems and leaves as an aid to survival in dry climate.

cars and zoomixxg airplanes Soviet Russia again sends ax-mored trains clattei’ing acx-oss the rails

to resist her invaders.

Armored trains are not new in military history. They were a weapon used in the Russian revolution. American engineers px-evi-ously aided in the construction of a special train for operations near Archangel during the closing days of the World War, and such trains probably have figured in other

Russian campaigns. o

GRIST MILL GETS ANNUITY

Brewster, Mass.—Voters have appropriated a $200 annual sum for maintenance and perpetuation of Brewster’s historic gristmill, which has become town-owned.

TIME LOWERED TO HAWAII

San Francisco. — Commercial planes between this city and Honolulu have established a new record of 13 hours, 55 minutes, for the approximate 2,400-mile overwatcr flight. , — o Slovak railroads will nearly double their bus and truck fleets in j 1941.

TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT The controversy which originated in the Portland American Legion is not likely to attain any large proportion in the ranks of the American Legion over the country. It will probably remain a local disturbance of very little consequence. It seems to have been started by Todd YV hippie, formerly of Muncie, who with several others, augmented by Clarence Benadum, took exceptions to the resolutions endorsed at the recent national American Legion convention. The American Legion, at its annual convention in Milwaukee, indorsed President Roosevelt’s foreign policy and went on record demanding repeal of the American Neutrality Act in an all-out effort to defeat Hitlerism. He urged removal of all geographical limitations on movement of American troops and approved Lend-Lease aid to Russia. When the convention got around to consideration of controversial questions, it shouted approval of the National Defense Committee’s recommendation for the adoption of the following resolution, which reads in part: “We approve and indorse the foreign policy of the President and the Congress; “We urge the immediate repeal of the so-called neutrality act; “We urge all Americans to join us in a united, wholehearted and unswerving support of our government’s foreign policy: t othe end that the American way of Ifie may survive in a world of free men. “We appeal for unity on this national objective.” “(a) The ability to apply any fraction or all of our manpower and war industrial resources promptly and efficiently—by universal military training and Federal regulation Of war supply agencies. “(b) The ability to carry war, when unavoidable, to our enemy, and thus prevent him from bringing war to us. This ability wilj require removal of all geographical limitation on movement of forces and adequate provision for corresponding plans and material. “(c) Our great potential bulwarks are the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. These oceans will be our greatest assets or worst liabilities, according to our strength or weakness therein. They represent the base of our world strategy. “We want America strong enough to meet any possible attack before it arrives and to turn the enemy back so that our homes remain intact and our families secure. If fighting is necessary to defend the United States, we insist upon being prepared to do the fighting outside of the United States.” William Emerson, commander of Robert Guy Ayres Post No. 211, of the American Legion, of Portland, states that the post has not sanctioned, and does not authorize its cooperation in connection with the “Legion Rank and File.” An association for a veteran’s organization by this name has been incorporated fn the office of the secretary of state, James Tucker, by Clarence Benadum, Tod Whipple and Jerome Hurrle. The organization is being formed to oppose resolutions introduced -t the national convention of the American Legion held at Milwaukee, concerning the foreign policies of the United States. Benadum is a resident of Muncie, Whipple is a member of the Portland American Legion Post, but Hurrle, although giving his residence as Portland, is not affiliated with the local Legion organization.

V