Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 11 February 1944 — Page 4

>

POST-DEMOCRAT, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1944.

THE POST-DEMOCRAT & Democratic weekly newspaper representing the Cemoci'ats 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 w.. Muncie, Infliana, Friday, February 11, 1944. Discharge Pay Only the Beginning At the end of the first World War the country’s returning soldiers and sailors were given a ticket home and musteringout pay of $60. And then they were’forgotten. That must not happen this time. Thanks to the vision of the Roosevelt Administration, men and women in uniform will be treated gratefully and generously. All with 60 days’ service or more can be sure of discharge pay of at least $300—five times th^t of World War 1. But our fighting men should not be given $300 or $350 or $400 and then forgotten. Mustering-out pay is but the first step in the President’s balanced program for adequate care of the veterans. Other points are included in bills for social security credit and for unemployment insurance now before both houses. Yet to be put in legislative form for introduction to the Congress is the rest of Roosevelt’s program: Federally financed education, liberalized hospitalization and pensions. No part of that plan can be put off. Each day of delay in putting the entire program into operation increases hardship now among the mounting thousands of demobilized men. Each day of delay retards the testing of the machinery and effecting of whatever changes experience may dictate in preparation for the time when the war ends and the great flood of our fighting men comes home. Congress appears to understand the need for haste. It has made a good start on mustering-out pay. It must not rest until it finishes the job —enactment of the President’s entire program. OPA Set UplsNot All Bad There are some who actually would have the whole OPA eliminated. They want the bars down with no control on prices, come what may. These unthinking people, it appears, are not worried about inflation or what disastrous results it would bring. Their contention is that the OPA is a mass of bungling, a bad dream hatched up by bureaucrats to annoy the public. In so vast a scheme there is bound to be some bungling. No plan of price control so gigantic could be otherwise. However, in its broad operations, it has been of immense benefit. We would rather have it, with all its annoyances than no control at all. In the first place it is designed to make a fair distribution of supplies, sugar, tires, - gasoline, etc., which is done by rationing. The person with money cannot lay in a supply for himself and let his humbler neighbor go without. The first duty is to see that the government forces are supplied with the materials and goods, and make a fair distribution of the remainder. It also holds the line on prices and controls the avenues that might lead to inflation. One has only to think back to World War I to know what we mean, or remember what happened in Germany and France following the last war. Yes, there are'many who think their feelings are hurt. The real truth is, the fellow who is so bitterly opposed to price control thinks that it’s all right for the other fellow, but he doesn’t want to be curbed himself. Too many people and too many interests want “their” while the getting is good, but don’t care a tinker’s damn about the general welfare of the nation. Any thinking person will have to agree that OPA has helped stabilize the national economy, has prevented runaway prices and has kept business on an even keel. When the war is over and we return to normal conditions we will all then realize that OPA has at least prevented the catastrophe of inflation. We say this knowing full well that many of its phases could be greatly improved upon in its administration; we realize that there are loopholes through which the conniver mayslide; we have seen gross injustice in its administration. But with all its shortcomings, it’s doing an invaluable service to the nation. HECKLER — Remember the $1.00 per dozen for eggs; the $1.88 a pound beefsteak; the $1.00 per quart milk; the $14.00 socalled silk shirts; the cheap sugar; the cheap flour and the million and one other things. Them were the good old days the Republicans want to bring back to us. Let’s eleminate everything Democratic and have those Hoover, Harding and Coolidge days back before the war is even over.—Sterling Farm-Journ-al. y Double-Talk On Dec. 3 Landon told- the press, “I believe it would be disastrous for the country if the Republican party indorsed the Moscow poli-

tical arrangements.” But on Dec. 8 Hoover issued a written statement declaring, “The Governor (Landon) did not, take h position in opposition to the Moscow Pact, either in his public statements nor to me personally.” After a 40-minute talk with Hoover, it seems that Landon agreed to leave all of his political opinion in Hoover’s hands. Hoover’s strategy is to avoid a head-on clash over the Teheran and Moscow Agreements, while muddying the waters by suggesting hidden agreements and by identifying these United Nations pacts with the rnumbo-jum-bo Mackinac plank written by Hoover-Spangler-Taft forces. Landon had also hailed Dewey as “the outstanding possibility” for the ’44 G.O.P. ticket. Apparently fearing the kiss of death, Hoover told the press in his written statement on Landon’s revised thoughts, that really Alf hadn’t meant to endorse any particular candidate. All a mistake.—Facts For Farmers. V Kent Views With Alarm Frank Kent, who has spent a decade viewing the New Deal with alarm, has a new fear. We are terribly unprepared for peace, he laments ; we haven’t any post-war plan. So in an eloquent tribute to Bernard M. Baruch (who is preparing a report for the President and Mr. Byrnes), he declares that Mr. Baruch must save us by outlining “the basic things” necessary ‘ to convert to a peace economy without devastating unemployment.” Mr. Kent’s apprehension comes belatedly. Many people felt that Congress was foolish to destroy the National Resources Planning Board—one of the functions of which was to devise postwar economic plans — but Mr. Kent was not among them. When he wrote last April about Washington officials engaged in postwar studies, he lumped them together as confused and nonsensical “theorists” bent on “shaping the future.” That was a good joke to Mr. Kent then—imagine those long-haired fellows trying to “shape the future.” Now the end of the war is nearer, and he suddenly discovers that “devastating unemployment” would be a dangerous thing. / This newspaper shares Mr. Kent’s respect for Mr. Baruch, but one of the reasons is that the latter has never believed the country’s economic problems—prewar or postwar—could be left to solve themselves. He knows that the government, in our capitalistic democracy, has a responsibility toward the citizen’s right to earn his daily bread. Mr. Kent seems to agree, at last, insofar as the immediate postwar period is concerned; the evidence does not show that his newfound vision runs beyond this. The Fourth Term The action of the Democratic National Committee in endorsing President Roosevelt for a fourth term may be “viewed with alarm” by orthodox exponents of American political philosophy. But, however, orthodox we may be, we are constantly haunted by the fact that “things are different” in this, the greatest national crisis in history. As much as we may be determined to stick to the good, old ways, we cannot be complacent about matters for an instant. This war is so collosal that the average citizen takes one of two attitudes toward it. He may hide his head like an ostrich, or he may march out courageously to meet the situati< n as best he can. The realistic attitude must supercede the orthodox or we perish. We believe the Democratic National Committee took a realistic view of the situation, rather than attempt to hang on to the good old ways of procedure during this grave emergency. If the Republican party has a more capable candidate for the presidency than President Roosevelt, that party will surely produce him. From the Democratic standpoint, there is no other choice than to renominate Mr. Roosevelt. It is the one and only realistic and safe procedure. President Roosevelt is as “collosal” as a candidate as the war is collosal, and, as much as he no doubt wishes to retire, the nation must hope for his continued services until the day of Victory is assured.—Bloomington Star-Courier. First Things First Successes in the off-year elections last November seem to have made the old guard Republican leaders, drunk with anticipation of power. They have become obsessed with the idea that they can win with anybody. They may be fooled about that. They have been playing fast and loose with the public’s confidence. It is possible that a reaction against them already has set in. The Republican reactionary leaders are convinced that the people will vote their petty irritations next fall. But will they? It certainly is not very flattering to them to think so. The people are vitally interested in the two big goals of winning the war and winning the peace. The old guard seems to be bent on deadlocking the Republican national convention with a three-way split between Willkie, Dewey and Bricker. Once it becomes deadlocked anything may happen. Dewey may be kicked out of the picture along with Will-

ki e

The G. O. P. started 1944 with what looked like at least a 50-50 chance of winning in November. That chance may be threadbare by the time the “four-year locusts” get thru chewing on it. The reactionary leaders seem bent on making the history of 1920 repeat itself, with, perhaps, a return of isolationism and all. But

the people have learned a lot in the last 24 years. They have remembered a lot, too, including Harding and the Ohio gang. The policies of this year is unimportant as it may affect the personal fortunes of partisan politicians, Republicans or Democrats, but it is very important as it may affect the fortunes of our nation bent on winning the war and the peace. The Republican leaders ought to sober up from their power jag and work out a constructive program and nominate their ablest candidate, not for political reasons, but for patriotic reasons. We believe they are kidding themselves if they think the people are going to vote for any kind of a political hack in 1944, in the midst of war. The voters will be thinking hard as to whether they ought to change the national government in wartime. If they get the idea that such a change will delay the winning of the war, while the new leaders try to familiarize themselves with their jobs, there is not likely to be a change. That slogan about not changing horses in the middle of the stream has a powerful appeal and a strong following/ The Republican leadership, as well as President Roosevelt, is on trial. The fathers and mothers who are furnishing the sons to fight this war want results. They want to get the war over and get their boys home. Nobody can blame them for that. It stands to reason that they will vote for those they believe most likely to get the results which they desire. In the interest of the national welfare, both parties had better substitute statesmanship for “politics as usual” all the way up and down the line. — Journal-Gazette. y Hamilton and Willkie John Daniel Miller Hamilton, the 51-year-old boy wonder, whose principal claim to political fame is that he was Republican national chairman in 1936 when Alf Landon carried only two states in the presidential election, made a radio speech the other night. He was attempting to reply to the previous address of Gov. Wills of Vermont in which the governor described Hamilton as one of the “four-year locusts” which plague the G. O. P. Hamilton claimed that there is a “Willkie blitz” on to capture the Republican nomination. He over-looked the fact that there is a “blitz” on to prevent Willkie from getting the nomination. Hamilton and his crowd are ganging up on Willkie in an attempt to “stop”

him.

The men with whom' Hamilton is associated are not likely to inspire much confidence in the candidate which they back. Their tactics are too much like those used in 1920 to nominate Harding. As John S. Knight’s Detroit Free Press

says:

“The answer to Hamilton’s complaint is for candidates other than Willkie to get out and show the people their convictions, their abilities and their persons more effectively than they have to date. By over-emphasiz-ing the importance of party leaders, John D. M. has unwittingly revealed one of the big reasons the G. O. P. has also-run since 1932.” If the Republicans have a better man than Willkie it is time they convinced the Republican voters of the fact. If they do not have a better man than Willkie, why, of course, they ought to nominate Willkie. Each party should put its best forward in 1944. The best will be none too proud to furnish leadership on the perplexing problems which lie ahead.—Fort Wayne JournalGazette. y Hoover Alibi After all these years, Herbert Hoover is trying to alibi for the blood-shed that occured during the famous bonus march on Washington during his term as President. And who do you suppose he would make the goat? One of the nation’s greatest military leaders, General Douglas MacArthur. Perhaps, politically, we shouldn’t be defending MacArthur, but when Herb'tries to pass the buck on that deal, especially to a fellow who’s doing the job for his country that MacArthur is, we think it’s deserving of mention. In trying to shift the blame to MacArthur, Herbie said, Drew Pearson reports, “I got the blame for that incident, but I never instructed General MacArthur to operate as he did on the bonus marchers. I merely ordered him to ‘handle the situation,’ as chief of staff.” He said he didn’t think it was necessary to fill Pennsylvania Avenue with tanks, or to burn the personal belongings of the veterans. But if he didn’t think so, why didn’t he do something about it? It’s a little late in the day to sing out abilis, and no one is going to accept Gen. MacArthur as the goat. V Republican Cheering We do not understand why the Republicans have been doing so much cheering about the victory in a special election in Philadelphia—it’s almost like them cheering over a victory in Vermont. The Democratic party in Philadelphia is purely a Roosevelt party. Until the New Deal came along, Philadelphia was as solidly Republican as Vermont. The Republicans still have the machine and have held on to the City Hall throughout the Roosevelt administration. But when the people turn out for a national election, they don’t vote machine politics. And Roosevelt backers in Philadelphia say that if he is a candidate this fall, he’ll carry the city by at least 100,000 votes.

73-27 The United States is to provide more troops for the invasion of the Continent than the British, Senator Edwin Johnson of Colorado,, who professes to know and probably doesn’t, says 73 per cent of the troops are to be American and 27 per cent British. Yet it is a military secret. Well, what had we better do about it? Stand up for our rights and cut our quota to match ? Of course the general staffs have figured out the invasion technique after months and months of conferences. They have assembled a vast amount of information, they know exactly what they will meet with on the continent and what it will take to overcome it. They have made their plans and are about ready to start the invasion. But then, the fault-finders say this thing is all wrong; it is going to cost us more than it costs Britain. It is curious about figures. Britain has one-third as large a population as the United States, and inferentially one-third the potential military strength. From these figures it would seem that it would be fair for Britain to furnish only one-third of the men for the invasion. How easy it is to be wrong. No one would ever have known it had not the objectors discovered it. Now look at this argument put out by the joint chiefs of staff: “The British with onethird as large a population as this country already have a considerably larger number of troops in the Mediterranean theater than we. For other European operations they are going to put in everything they have got and we are going to put in everything we can get there.” To an ordinary person it would seem that would be the sensible thing to do, seeing that here are two nations who are partners in this war and whose very existence depends upon their winning. But Senator Johnson comes out now with the figures and shows that win, lose or draw, the United! States is going to get the worst of the operation. Look at the figures: 73 per cent to 27 per cent! Isn’t that awful, or something? But look how Russia is getting the worst of it in this war. She is furnishing many, many more men than any other of the Allies, probably more than all together. Is that fair? Why wouldn’t Russia be justified in cutting down her fighting force on her front to match the number supplied by Britain on the other front? Has anyone called this to the attention of Marshal Stalin ? Hadn’t we better send him a cable right away ? There are several Senators, not to mention a number of Representatives, who can sit in their offices at Washington and by a little concentration run this war better than Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin or any of the military and navy leaders on the ground. We know that is so, because these Senators and Representatives are always finding something wrong with the way the war is being run. Why does not everyone else resign and let them take charge and go ahead and win the war? And look at what the United States is pouring into the war in the way of material. We are furnishing the ball, the bat and the catcher’s glove while the others of our allies are bringing along only the water bucket and dipper. Is that fair? Look in the rule book and see what i + says. We are paying the expenses and they are fixing to grab all the money that comes in through the gate. Like as not all we will get away with will be our hides. Isn’t that awful ? Oh, shucks. Let’s take our ball, bat and glove and walk out on the whole game^and come home.—Charleston Gazette. y Draft Roosevelt Movement How strong the draft Roosevelt movement is becoming among the people, including many Republican voters, is shown in a recent poll at DePauw University. Forty-two representative students taking work in current history were questioned. Of the group, 23 werfe Republicans, nine were Democrats, one was a Socialist, and nine expressed no preference. But while the group was overwhelmingly Republican in politics, 20, or almost half, believed that President Roosevelt should run for a fourth term. Although only nine were listed as Democrats, 18 said they would vote for Roosevelt, 19 were against and five-did not answer. If the President gets that kind of support from a group which is more than two to one Republican, what can be expected from the nation as a whole? Robert E. Elder, instructor who directed the survey, said the poll showed that a majority of Americans believes that Roosevelt should run for a fourth term, and he drew the conclusion that Roosevelt would stand a good chance of re-election. Auto License “Red Tape” Been having a little trouble getting your automobile license or driver’s license? Is the “red tape” a little confusing? Well, put the blame where it belongs. We hear a lot about “red tape” these days and some unknowing or misled persons have gone so far as to blame the Democratic party and the New Deal theorists for the difficulties in getting plates. A lot of folks stand in line for a considerable time and find when they get to the window they cannot purchase the licenses for they do not have a tax receipt or one of the blanks signed by the treasurer or the assessor. A lot of folks are made unhappy, and the situation grows worse as the deadline jam nears. If you’ll just look at the bottom on one of those slips, you’ll notice that it says “Pursuant to Chapter 124, Acts of the General Assembly, 1943, etc.” explaining the law. Need we mention that the 1943 legislature was Republican controlled?

In fact, even though it’s winter, vou wouldn't think so to look at these starlets enjoying a “coke” ifter a din in a nearby pool.

FEED SCARE PART OF SUBSIDY FIGHT Dewey’s Utterances Conspiracy To Wreck Food Program As part of the nation-wide con spiracy to wreck the war food production program and to plunge the country into inflation, a tremendous feed-scare campaign is being whipped up in the northeast. For months, Governor Dewey and his political allies in the Hoover camp have been laying the ground for this feed-scare which has now reached the boiling point. Though dairy and egg production hold top ratings in the war food program, Northeast farmers who specialize on these vital products have been subjected to a barrage of propaganda telling them to liquidate livestock because of the allegedly acute feed shortage. AcGially, the terminal elevators at Buffalo, New York, are bulging with grain. So choked are these elevators that the War Food Administration has had to arrange for the winter storage of 15 million bushels of feed wdieat to be held in ore-boats at the docks. The Northeast now has a larger supply of grain in storage than ever before in its history, and a larger proportion of these stocks than ever before now consists of feed grains. Two years ago, the Co-operative Grange League Federation Exchange, the largest feed distributor in this area, reported that the Northeast usually has feedstocks, in winter as well as summer, sufficient to carry livestock for only 21 days. At the present time, the Northeast has a supply of feed capable to carrying its livestock for nearly six months, even if Governor Dewey and his 9-state G.O.P. governors should decide to secede from the rest of the United States. Governor Dewey sent out his hand - picked Emergency Food Commission to make a tour of the Midwest and bring in a sensational feed-famine report for his 9state conference. As chairman of Dewey’s food commission and di rector of the Co-operative Grange League Federation Exchange (GLF), Mr. H. E. Babcock apparently did not stop to inspect the glutted GLF elevators in Buffalo, where ore boats found all facilities jammed. Babcock’s tour was used to provide window - dressing for the Dewey-Hoover howl that the “bureaucrats” in the administation are creating a food shortage. As a spokesman for the National Association of Manufacturers, Hoover

proposed several months ago that we “ration down our own consumption” to meet the food shortage. Similarly, Governor Dewey has repeatedly called for a shift from a meat diet to one of soybeans and cereals, while urging Midwest corn-hog farmers to “kill the little pigs” and the Northeast dairy - egg farmers to liquidate their “livestock.” For months,, the Northeast farmers have been bombarded by feedscare advertisements. For example, a large ad appeared in Frank E. Gannett’s American Agriculturist back in Aug. 28, 1942, crying, “THE FEED SHORTAGE IS REAL . . . THE NORTHEAST IS OUT ON A LIMB.* Be ready to take and store ANY kind of grain whenever it comes in.” (Emphasis, his.) Before making his tour of “investigation,” H. E. Babcock wrote in the American Agriclulturist: “BE SURE OF YOUR SUPPLIES, FEED AND GRAIN FOR YOUR POULTRY AND DAIRY CATTLE FOR' AS LONG AHEAD AS POSSIBLE! Don’t take the promises of salesmen; they don’t know. Get the feed on hand in your barns and grain in bins where you can see it and protect it with a shotgun if necessary. Make plans now as to how YOU WILL LIQUIDATE YOUR POULTRY AND LIVETOCK ...” (Emphasis his.) By fomenting panic-buying, the Dewey-Babcock-GLF forces have incited runs on the dealer-stocks and thus created artificial, local shortages. Just as a rumor campaign ■ can start a fatal run on even a solvent bank, so has Dewey’s feed-scare campaign caused local shortages even though terminal elevators are overflowing with feed. Another example of made-to-order feed-scarcity was brought to the attention of Senator Guffey (D., Pa.) by a committee of 120(! small, independent feed mixers. This committee, bedded by Mi. Philip Markley of Philadelphia, charged that big feed and milling interests are withholding grain and high-protein feedstuffs from independent mixers and are engaged in buying up the mills of the little fellows who are forced to the wall. Farmers report that, with the feed-scare going on, they are being charged exorbitant prices for low-quality feed. Complaints are widespread that feed-formulae are being so juggled as to create the food shortages which the HooverDewey : Babcock tribe have long been prophesying. Back of the whole feed-scare is the political conspiracy to block the administration’s subsidy plan to bring on inflation. By pushing up the price of feed, on which there is no real ceiling, selfish forces have sought to force the farmers to get on their inflationary bandwagon and to join theii campaign for higher retail milk prices, higher food prices in general, and even for inflation itself. The big milling companies in the National Association of Manufacturers have staged a powerful lobby to push up their prices and to knock out the proposed subsidy on flour and feed. Similarly, Borden and National Dairy, the two main arms of the dairy trust (both are members of the N.A.M.) have been demanding higher retail prices instead of subsidies to the farmers. It should be noted that the dairy and feed inTerests are working together in the feed-scare campaign here. The N. Y. Dairymen’s League which serves as country handler for the Borden Co. and carries the ball politically for the milk trust, is one third of the GLF Exchange, whose initials represent the Grange, Dairymen’s League and Farm Bureau Federation. Governor Dewey and his allies in the Hoover-NAM camp seem determined to create the havoc which they accuse others of causing. They have chosen to throw their monkey-wrenches into the food production program at the very time when war food needs are at an all-time high. Their feedscare campaign has been carefully timed Jo aid the inflationists in the congressional fight on subsidies. It also comes at the very time when the United Nations are planning their big offensive against Hitler and when our home-grown fascists are clamoring for an “easy peace”—to preserve fascism in Europe and perhaps bring it here. Only one in 20,000,000 meteors actually strikes the earth; the rest burn up in the air.

Drive In and Get Acquainted

WITH

SMELL PRODUCTS

KILGORE mo JACKSON STS.

THE SHELL SERVICE STA.

GLENN BUTTS, Mgr.

Courteous Service