Muncie Post-Democrat,Muncie, Delaware County, 16 April 1943
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THE POST-DEMOCRAT A Demcfcratic weekly newspaper representing the Democrats of MunCie, Delaware County and the 10th Congressional District. The only Democratic Newspaper in Delaware County. Entered as second class matter January 15, 1921, at the Post Office at Muncie, Indiana, under Act of March 3, 1879.
PRICE 5 CENTS—$1.50 A YEAR MRS. GEO. R. DALE, Publisher 916 West Main Street
Muncie, Indiana, Friday, April 16, 1943.
Business Bad, Senator? Senator Raymond E. Willis is back in the headlines again, this time with a bright idea on some kind of a scheme by which the government could pay newspapers—especially small dailies and weeklies (of which he has one)—for disseminating information on government affairs, rationing, the war effort, etc. A proposal is now being considered to appropriate funds for advertising bond sale drives, but now Sen. Willis wants to get paid for passing on to his readers news on rationing and such. We can’t agree with the senator. We don’t know of any publisher who wouldn’t welcome a little additional revenue, but the Willis plan isn’t the way to get it. In the first place, anti-administration newspapers would immediately complain that the releases were ‘‘colored,” they would find “political propaganda” in ever the most commonplace release. And it would be mighty embarrassing to carry a paid government release in one colump, accepting a subsidy from the government, while attacking the government’s spending in another column. We know that if the situation were reversed —if we were operating a newspaper whose editorial policy was in opposition to the administration, as is the case with Senator Willis—we wouldn’t want any part of the program. No Republican published is going to trust a Democratic press agent, and viceversa—there are too many dangers both ways. The nation’s newspapers, large and small, have been doing a grand job in publicizing such things as the rationing program, the bond drive, and the salvage campaigns. And they haven’t been receiving anything but a few thank you letters and what revenue they can get from locally - sponsored advertisements. But that’s a newspaper’s job and we don’t know of any publisher who has complained about it. If Senator Willis can’t keep his readers posted on the rationing program and other war-time information without being paid by the government for it, then he’d better advise his readers to take another newspaper or get out of the publshing business. Despite the influence of the Republican salary-grab legislature, this isn’t any time to be digging into the treasury and asking pay for a job the “free press” the senator so often worries about has been doing so willingly and so ably. Even those newspapers which score the President daily have kept faith with their readers in keeping them posted on rationing regulations, bond drives, salvage campaigns and such. “Covering” the news is a newspaper’s first responsibility. News is what newspapers sell (for even the advertising space is dependent upon the medium made possibly by the news.) When news columns in a newspaper can be bought, by the government or anyone else, our free press is gone. No, Senator, you’d better give it up and figure out another way to boost your publication’s revenue if you’re having trouble. V “They, Too, Are Human...” Are there no Germans with whom the rest of us, after this war is won, can cooperate toward a peaceful world? The question is raised again and again, as prospects for reeducation of the German people are discussed. It is said the younger generation is thoroughly Nazified and that, as for the oldpr generation, all Germanism is a form of Naziism. People who argue thus conclude that the German problem is all but insoluble. But a recent issue of The Nation carries this interesting translation which it states is from the Alemanne, a Wurtemberg paper: Who does not know the presumptuous prattlers who, in this difficult time, undisturbed by the actual facts, express their “objective” views? Who does not know those impudent fellows who, whenever a word is uttered against our enemy, reply, “But they too are human beings”? They even try to justify on military grounds the criminal English air attacks on German women and children—for one must be “objective.” They are the people who regret that the German newspapers and radio do not regale them with the so-called English, American, and Russian army communiques, so that they might form an “objective” picture of the situation. They would like to have the German press sacrifice its precious space and set before them for breakfast Churchill’s and Roosevelt’s lying propaganda speeches. For people outside Germany it may be hard to believe that anyone is left inside Germany who shades a faith in universal values. But from the Alemanne’s outburst one gathers that editors of Nazi-controlled, papers know of such persons, and that an ordinary German citizen could point out a few among his neighbors. 'Then, too, one might look in the concentration camps. If reeducation is an answer to the problem of Germany, evidently there are Germans who will be ready to help with the task.—Christian Science Monitor.
POST-DEMOCRAT, FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 1943.
Research Goes On Because of the war the 200-inch telescope cannot be completed. Physicists who were devoting their lives to probing the secrets of the atom have abandoned their cyclotrons to improve death-dealing weapons. Mathematicians who once constructed new relatives universes now solve problems in ballistics. Biochemists who studied the chemical process of the body and searched out new vitamins and horrmones now deal with the problems of nutrition. Progress has necessarily been interrupted to wage a war which is a struggle for cultural survival. What this interruption means Is apparent in the present report of the activities of the Rockefeller Foundation, which for many years has encouraged' research wherever there were distinguished scientists and good laboratories. The appropriation for 1942 of $8,227,867 was $1,000,000 less than for 1941 so that work in the natural sciences was of necessity curtailed. There is regret in the report, yet an ungrudging acceptance of the cause for which the war is fought and a clear declaration that long-time projects must be continued, so far as that is possible for the sake of the next generation. The fruits of the long-range policy are apparent. Because the Foundation has succeeded in controlling yellow fever in South America it is able not only to aid our troops in Africa and the native population but to pile up more knowledge of a disease which can take more lives than bullets. Because malaria was intensively studied for years, the army knows how to cope with it in parts of the world where it is impossible to drain swamps and fight mosquitoes. Because China needs food, the program of agricultural research and rural reconstruction is carried out as if there were no war. Because cultural values must be preserved, libraries and museums are supported and the social sciences encouraged. Despite the war it is astonishing how much the Foundation has succeeded in accomplishing. There is no slackening of effort where science can still be practiced. Research in what is still called pure science is regarded not as a luxury but as a necessity. The sum of $8,227,867 is a mere trifle at a time when more than that is spent in an hour of war, yet it does much to keep the lamp burning and to preserve a cultural pattern which it would be difficult to re-estab-lish if research in the natural and social sciences were completely ignored. — New York Times. y Commodores The bill passed by Congress restoring the rank of Commodore has been sent to the President. It was desired by the Navy to give naval officers of small groups of ships the status of flag-officers. In the British navy the rank of Commodore is given temporarily only to senior officers commanding detached squadrons. In our Navy it was abolished in 1899. 'The curious thing about it is that until 1862 it had no legal existence in the United States. So the generations of boys brought up to adore the early race of American Commodores worshiped a fiction, revered a mere courtesy title. That makes no difference. Our heroes are genuine, if incorrectly labeled. Captain John Barry was our first American Commodore. It is a fact almost too good for history and worthy of legend that Commodore Barry got the future Commodore Stephen Decatur appointed midshipman. Perry of Lake Erie and Perry of Japan were Commodores. Commodore Preble is a name yet honored. Thomas Macdonough, conqueror at the Battle of Plattsburgh, was a “mastercommandant.” For that victory Congress thanked him and made him captain, the highest naval rank at that time (1814). If our old Commodores were illegal, it’s too bad we didn’t know it; we should have loved them all the more. They had hearts of gold and tempers of greased lightning. They invariably carried less metal than the other fellow, whom they always licked. They took the Beys by the beard. These boyish exaggerations were nearer the truth than much written history. May the new Commodores have the right of Commodores of the first creation.—New York Times. V ^ Family Is Protected Each Anierican family is due to save an average of $500 by the end of this year if the cost of living can be held at its current level, Prentiss M. Brown, OP A administrator, reveals in a signed article in tiie current issue of The American Magazine. “In 1942, price control saved consumers —you and me —, nearly $6,000,000,000,” Brown pyrites, “This amounts to about $140 for each family unit. By the end of 1943, if prices are held level, consumer savings will total $23,000,000,000 or more than $500 for each family unit.” “Since the war in Europe began, in September, 1939, the cost of living has risen 22.1 percent,” he says. “In the corresponding period of the last war, the cost of living rose 41 percent. “Even more cheerful is the fact that since price controls were established, the cost of living has gone up only 3.8 percent, and the rate of increase is not being accelerated. The latest monthly increase is but two-tenths of a point. “Price control is also drastically cutting the cost of the war,” the price administrator declares. “In 1942, price control saved the government $25,800,000,000 on war purchases,” he reports. “That is money we shall not have to pay in taxes. By the end of 1943, if prices can be held level, the savings will amount to $78,300,000,000. That saving is 2(4 times greater than the total cost of the last yar.”
Governor Rejects ‘Gold Plated’ Mansion Pointing to the need of conserving all pf the state’s resources during the present emergency and to other more vital demands upon the state treasury, Gov. Henry F. Schricker, rejected the proposal to purchase the Trimble property on North Meridian street as a governor’s manson. The proposal to purchase the property, at a cost of approximately $85,000, was made by the Republican controlled legislature, but approval of the governor was made necessary before the state could exercise the option taken by the budget committee. “For well considered reasons which I believe to be economically sound and especially pertinent to present day conditions, I have decided to. withhold my approval of the proposed purchase,” the governor declared. “After the war is won and peace has been restored, there will be plenty of time to give thought to the future comfort and residential requirements of Indiana’s governors. Just now, nothing is more important than the husbanding' of all our resources in support of the war effort, and also the reconstruction problems of the post war era. “The staggering tax burdens of our people, both today and in the future, preclude present consideration of improved living accommodations of public officials,” he said. “I am confident that my immediate successors, whoever they may be, will cheerfully yield full support to those conclusions.” The governor declared that Indiana would need all of its resources after the war, and much of them “even before the war ends.” He pointed to the critical situation existing in the state’s penal and benevolent institutions, where there are hundreds of vacancies because the state’s wage scale does not permit the institutions to compete with private industry for personnel. Other employes, who remain in institution work, are going to other states which pay higher wages, he said. “Although we are in war, although we are in a state of extreme emergency, certainly this is no time to let our institutions ‘go to pot’,” he declared. “We have a responsibility to our wards and they must be cared for.” The governor always has been sympathetic with the needs of the state’s institutions and regards their operations as one of his most important responsibilities. The $85,000 which would have been spent on the new mansion would go far in relieving the current situation in the institutions he pointed out. The governor declared that the personnel problem was the major one facing the institutions. Although operating costs have risen, steadily, the self-sustaining program outlined for the institutions by the governor has kept increased costs at a minimum. Approximately 90 percent of the foodstuffs •used in the institutions now are produced by the institutions themselves and an expanded program has been aranged for this year. “B u t it takes trained men and trained women to operate these expense-saving programs and to carry on the other necessary duties—even though we are in war, our institutions must operate—expenditure of state funds would pay far greater returns there than in the purchase of a new home for a single family,” he said. The Trimble property is one of the most pretentious in the city of Indianapolis, containing such rooms as a $19,000 bath. The property is surrounded by a high metal fense, trimmed with gold paint, and the furnishings are valued at many thousands of dollars. The present mansion, a mbre modest structure, is located on Fall Creek boulevard. It is owned by the city of Indianapolis, which gave the state a 99 year lease on the property. y Do Not Fear! More people than you realize are retarded in life, and often completely torn to pieces, by their fears. Their fears become so habitual and discouraging to their best daily effort that they are often prone to surrender entirely to them. Hence, they become slaves to them to such an extent that fear is the foremost trait of their lives. Do not fear! Your part-is to live up to the best you may know and trust that the end result will be favorable . . . Do not fear! Most of those who fight will return. Those who do not will not have died in vain. There are some things greater than the preservation of physical life. Do not fear people, or things, or imaginary forces. Do not fear, anything except the violation of truth, as you know it. That alone should be the basis of fear.—Arlie B. Davidson in the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser. V How Customs Arrived Most Americans are familiar with the fact that in Great Britain and continental Europe automobile drivers move on the left of the highway instead of the right as in the United States. A few days ago the government of Panama decreed that, hereafter, traffic in that republic should “keep to the right.” How the left-driving habit developed in Panama illustrates how many old world customs came to the United States. It seems that the first hack drivers in Panama, before the days of automobiles, came from Jamaica, a British colony. They brought with them the habit of driving to the left of the road and the custom became implanted in Panama.
Bread On the Waters One of the major disgraces of the Nazi regime is the deliberate suppression of scholarship. If the German Government had been only half as foresighted as it was supposed to be in preparing for war it would not have exiled so many eminent scientists who were liberals or technically unacceptable. Germany’s loss has been our gain. The professional emigres who have found places in our universities and research institutions have filled many a gap. If American science is now fire-eminent it is partly because of this unexpected accession. Particularly is this true of mathematics. Without first-class mathematicians there would be little technological and scientific advance. The men who give us universes that expand and contract and who explore the atom with nothing but equations have changed the outlook of the world. What was common sense yesterday is nonsense today. Thanks to Hitler’s monomania, these dreamers are waging war against him in .their own way. They teach officers who must know mathematics if they are to deal with heavy artillery, airplanes and meteorology; they solve problems in ballistics, with the result that artillerymen in North Africa fire shells at Rommel with deadlier accuracy; they assist the chemist with mathematical demonstrations of what is possible and impossible; they explore mathematically the possibilities of light, heat and radio waves, so that designs of optical instruments and radio sets can be improved. And all this they do not in a spirit of revenge but of gratitude. In the annual report of the Rockefeller Foundation Raymond Fosdick all but gives thanks for Hitler’s folly. Not in vain did the Foundation cast its bread on the waters. Take Gottingen, for example, which once had the finest school of mathematics in the world. A grant of $275,000 not only saved the school from extinction after the last war but raised it to a new height. Now most of Gottingen’s professors are here, hurling equations at Hitler with telling effect. Moreover they are still supported. Fellowships have been granted to twenty-eight of 131 driven out of Europe, the International Review of Mathematics has been kept alive, rare mathematical publications have been microfilmed. And now we lead the world in mathematics. When the social history of this war is written one chapter will surely tell a story of the greatest intellectual emigration to this country that ever occurred. And perhaps the military historian will have something to say of the contribution to victory made by men who helped to win battles with the aid of equations.—New York Times. V Rationing Improves Health Now that meat is rationed it is refreshing to Hear Dr. E. V. McCoiium, of Jons Hopkins, assert that meat can be entirely eliminated from your diet and your health will not suffer, provided you consume sufficient quantities of other high protein foods, such as milk, eggs and fish. ' i The limitation on our meat eating, however, will probably prove to be beneficial whether the average American likes the idea or not. This also goes for other restriction upon the diet of most of us. From Great Britain comes a report saying that despite the drab wartime diet the death rate is the second lowest in British history and the birth rate is the highest in ten years. The decline in the death rate shows that the people of the British Islands are standing up to the emergency. Sir Walson Jameson, Chief British Health Officer, offers his opinion that “t h e plain nutrition brought about by wartime conditions has had more to do with the good health we are experiencing than‘any other factor.” This recalls the old saying that most Americans dig their graves with their teeth. Over-eating is a common fault and the consumption of rich foods entirely too prevalent. What diseases result from this national habit may not be altogether known but certaiply the present restriction upon foods will not impair the health of our people.— Terre Haute Advocate. V “Black Marketeers” The utility of standard, region-wide price ceilings in the American anti-inflation and rationing effort will quickly appear, we believe, in the matter of peat distribution. It should be a potent implement in rooting out “black markets.” For housewives will henceforth know — and know regardless of where they shop — just what the price of a given cut should be. If it’s higher than ceiling they will immediately know they’re dealing with a ceiling violator, or a “black marketeer.” In a Nation girding for sacrifices such a designation should not be popular. Thus, the policing job can be largely transferred from endless corps of government employees to consuihers, and bring into immediate play the pressure of public opinion, as well as the law. Under such circumstances it will not be so easy for a wholesale, nationwide enterprise, such as the Government charges had its headquarters in New Jersey, to flouish, and to overcharge consumers, according to official cairns, some $2,000,000. If evidence produced in court supports the counts enumerated in the indictments, we beieve it will be shown such mushroom growth was chiefly possible because consumers could not possibly be acquainted with the varying ceilings in each store and sometimes paid blackmarket prices without knowing it.—Christian Science Monitor.
GAS Is an economical servant in the home. It is also serving as a vital part in war production. Be patriotic. Help conserve gas by keeping your present equipment in good repair for higher efficiency. Central Ind. Gas Co.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE SERVICES “Doctrine of Atonement” is the subject of the Lesson-Sermon in all Churches of Christ, Scientist, on Sunday, April 18. The Golden Text is: “Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Galatians 1:3, 4). Among the citations which comprise the Lesson-Sermon is the following from the Bible: “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me y^ might have peace. In the world yeshall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:28, 33). “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee” (John 17:1). The Lesson-Sermon also includes the following passages froin the Christian Science textbook,“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy: “Jesus mapped out the path for others. He unveiled the Christ, the spiritual idea of divine Love” (p. 38). “Such indignities as he received, his followers will endure until Christianity’s last triumph. . .. He overcame the world, the flesh, and all error, thus proving their nothingness. He wrought a full salvation from sin, sickness, and death” (p. 39). o Wags Receive Good Treatment in Army Denver, April 16.—If your dog is in the army, relax. The pup is okay. Captain D. V. Baker, public relations officer at Camp George West near Denver, disclosed today the army works its dogs only from 6 a. m. to 5:15 p. m.—and feeds ’em well. Camp West, besides being the headquarters of an M-P battalion, is a post-graduate school for dogs enlisted as army sentries. The canines who make the grade in preliminary training N are sent to Camp West for final touches on their army education. Captain Baker says life at the dog training camp is an easy routine. Reveill sounds at 6 a. m. The pups eat at 7—on horse meat, cereal, potatoes and milk. Then they go to work. Lunch is at noon, dinner at 4:30 and retreat at 5:15 p. m. After that—well, a dog’s time is his own from then until the next morning at 6 a. m. Cleveland Hunts for 6,000 Points Cleveland, April 16—The city police force .together with a posse of determined Cleveland citizens, are searching for two fugitives from the OPA. The object of the search is sixthousand ration points in the form of two fat, healthy and very lively hogs. The hogs, whose brains are valued at only two points, sneaked off a farmer’s truck yesterday with two of their buddies. Their buddies weren’t so smart, though. They were captured. But the two porkers still at large have succeeded in outrunning the citizens’ posse and the entire police force. Several times the pigs have been seen in a new location. Each time they escaped to their hideout. The farmer who lost the hogs gav^up the chase this morning.
Suggests Dividing Sheep from Goats Washington, April 16. — Senator Chandler of Kentucky believes the sheep should be separated from the goats in Japanese concentration centers. He suggests that lloyal and disloyal Japanese-Americans should not be allowed to mingle— as at present—in the same camps. Japanese-Americans willing to take the loyalty oath, Chandler believes, should be in military service or at essential jobs. Those, who aren’t loyal, he adds, should be kept apart from the rest. Chandler’s suggestion was contained ir a report made in conjunction with Senators Wallgren of Washington and Murray of Montant. The trio rdbently completed an investigation of, six concentration centers. Their report states that strife and trouble exists at all the camps—and particularly at Manzanar, California— because of the two Japanese groups’ hatred for each other. o Senate Absenteeism Is Openly Discussed Washington, April 16. — Senate Democratic Leader Alben Barkley of Kentucky says he will urge an Easter recess after final action on the civil service pay bill and the Guffey coal act. He explains: “A vacation would be good for the Senate and the people.’’ Yesterday, Barkley directed some pointed remarks at his colleagues in these words: “There has, been a good deal of criticism on account of absenteeism in factories and war plants. The first thing you knoAv,” he continued, “there may be such criticism directed against the Senate and not inappropriately.” He added: “It has gotten to be a habit of senators to be off on one mission or another instead of here in the Senate where they are supposed to be.” o 2nd War Loan Drive Pledges Are Made Indianapolis, April, 16. — Executive State Chairman Eugene Pulliam of the Indiana War Finance Committee says that pledges of 6<t million dollars already nave been received toward the state quota of 125 million dollars in the second War Loan drive which will start on Monday. Pulliam’s announcement was made during the statewide rally addressed by Secretary of Navy Frank Knox last night. Several thousand Hoosier citizens attended the affair in Cadle taberacle and were entertained by blue jackets from the Great Lakes Naval Training Station directed by Lieutenant Commander Eddie Peabody. Governor Schricker, who introduced Knox, predicted that Indiana, which led the country in meetilig its quota for the first War Loan campaign last January, will lead the natiop again in bond purchases during the approaching drive. o HONOR TWO HOOSIERS. Washington, April 16. —The war department discloses the award of further honors to Indiana fliers. This morning’s announcement at Washington says that Staff Sergeant Paul Mathias of Bedford and Sergeant Jarqes Agree of Nebraska, Indiana, will receive oak leaf clusters for their air medals.
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