Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 24 March 1944 — Page 2
POST-DEMOCRAT, FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1944.
THE POST-DEMOCRAT 4 Democratic weekly newspaper representing the Oemocrats of Muncie, Delaware County and the iCfh Congressional District. The only Democratic Newspaper in Delaware County. Entered as second class matter January 15, 1921, Rt the Post Office at Muncie, Indiana, under Act of M^rch 3, 1879. ” PRICE 5 CENTS—$1.50 A YEAR MRS. GEO. R. DALE, Publisher 916 West Main Street Muncie, Indiana Friday, March 24, 1944.
The Spirit of America By Leonard V. Finder, Public Relations Counsel, New York City. Although the United States frequently has been described as a nation of pragmatists, of business men and money seekers, it possesses a pecularly deep spirituality which becomes most marked during times of crisis. With the present commemoration of Washington’s birthday, this phenomenon becomes particularly clearly defined once again. The story of Washington kneeling in the snow of Valley Forge to pray for divine aid to relieve the bitter suffering of his tattered soldiers is familiar to every American schoolboy. The mystic soul of Lincoln, groping for religious expression and resassurance, is to be found in all of his speeches. And the spirit of today, similarly, is typified by the truism that there are no atheists in foxholes. The men who founded and built America were men of faith. The soldiers who share the present counterpart of their earlier struggles, likewise, participate in that faith. It is only among Americans at home that an appreciable minority can be found which does not join in that community of spiritual inspiration. Washington helped set the pattern for the religious emancipation from intolerance of the United States—already stated in ringing terms in the Declaration of Independence s “all men are created equal’’—when he wrot to the Jewish congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, his famous letter advocating “to bigotry no sanction,’’ and again when he had Major Isaac Franks serve as the Grand Marshall at his Presidential Inauguration. The contemporary examples of interfaith unity and unselfish sacrifice—such as Colin Kelly and Meyer Levin; the moving tale of the four chaplains of the Protestant, Catholic and Jewish faiths who went down with their ship in common martyrdom; and, currently, of Lieutenant Nathan Gordon who set his plane down four times while under attack in Japanese waters in order to rescue his comrades whose plane had been shot down—are innumerable and should deepen the pride and thanksgiving of we who are their eternal debtors. Those comparatively few persons who still believe in religious or racial bigotry, who deny their Christianity by their denial of the basic principles of the gentle Nazarene, who accept the Nazis’ doctrine of racial superiority, such individuals are not only saboteurs of the war effort but also they are the vandals who desecrate our spiritual inheritance. As against them, the vast body of Americans, consciously thankful for the truly religious spirit which above all else has made this nation great, are genuinely the children of the Father of their country; they are the men and women into whose keeping can be entrusted the preservation of the best of our American traditions. V Speak Out, Gov. Dewey The New York Times believes that Gov. Thomas E. Dewey ought to clarify his position in the Republican race for the presidency. The Times thinks that he ought either to get in or take himself completely out of consideration. It cites the official record. On August 24, 1942, when he accepted the Republican nomination for governor of New York, Dewey said: “Let me say right now that I shall devote the next four years exclusively to the service of the people of New York state.” On February 25, 1943, shortly after his inauguration as governor, Dewey’s secretary said, in a statement authorized by Dewey: “He is not and will not be a candidate for any other nomination during his term.” The Times points out that while Dewey is still not a candidate for the presidency, the statement is made continually by his followers without contradition from him that if he is offered the party’s nomination he will have no alternative but to accept it. The editorial then continues: “The situation thus created is unusual apd, so far as the processes of public discussion, and democratic decision are concerned, unfortunate. Mr. Dewey is at this moment unquestionably the leading Republican candidate for the presidency. But because Mr. Dewey is, by his own choice, merely a receptive and not an active candidate for the presidency, he cannot take the platform to debate national and international issues. “Barely three months before his party meets to choose a leader whose immense responsibility it may be to finance the greatest war in history, to make the peace and to start the whole world on its way to recovery, Mr. Dewey is silent on the sidelines.” Where does Gov. Dewey stand on these issues? The public does not know. “He cannot discuss measures to win the war, like the proposed national service act. “He cannot discuss problems of federal taxation. “He cannot discuss nation-wide strikes or the way to put an end to them. “He cannot talk about the shape of the forthcoming peace or the extent of the commitments we should make to it. “For all these matters are national issues;
and, by reason of his own self-imposed committments, Mr. Dewey is not a candidate for national office. “The unfortunate consequences of this situation are not measured only by the fact that the great public debate of an election year now goes forward strangely without the participation of the most likely nominee of die Republican party. Equally unfortunate is the effect on the elective process itself. “Mr. Dewey’s voluntary withdrawal from the debate permits politicians in different economic groups and in different sections of the country to interpret his silence on controversial issues as they wish to interpret it for the sake of the most practical political results. “Thus, in parts of the country where oldtime isolationist sentiment is still Relatively strong it become possible for local Republican leaders to recall Mr. Dewey’s speeches of early 1940, without the benefit of the correction that would be supplied by a strong and continuous affirmation of his position now. “In other parts of the country, and .on other issues, it is possible to reverse this practice. In short, as matters stand, Mr. Dewey tends to become a man of all colors to all people. To the extent that this happens, the pre-convention campaign loses meaning. “We believe that this situation should be ended promptly by Mr. Dewey’s own choice. Either Mr. Dewey ought now to reaffirm the statement made when he accepted his nomination for governor, to the effect that he will ‘devote the next four years exclusively to the service of the people of N e w York state’; or he ought now to announce that, while this pledge was given in complete good faith, it is necessary for him to depart from it. In this case he should address himself boldly and frankly and vigorously to the great issues of the day, so that the nation, and more particularly the delegates to be chosen for the Republican convention will know clearly where he stands.” Neither Mr. Dewey nor any other candidate should try to win the presidency in this year or any other year by being all things to all men. That is the way Warren G. Hardmg won it and the results were tragic. — Journal Gazette. y_ Whose Free Speech? Mrs. Elizabeth Dilling wants the Department of Justice strung up by the thumbs for prosecuting a sedition case. They are for free speech, these tireless guardians of the republic. Meanwhile: Representative Martin Dies, backed up by Clare Hoffman, wants to silence Walter Winchell. Representative Fred Busbey of the Chicago Heights district, a recent recruit to the Dies brigare, wants to silence Louis Adamic. Free speech? To the iso-nationalists, it all depends. When a man denounces the war, he merely exercises the right of free speech. When he denounces the Nazis and their ad- J mirers, he becomes a spokesman of “disunity.” If he speaks on fascism’s side, holding him to account in the courts is intolerable Representative Clare Hoffman of Michigan wants the F.B.I. strung up by the thumbs for investigating a report of seditious activity in a Connecticut hotbed of Nazi propaganda, prosecution; if he speaks up fof freedom, he must be silenced. Somehow, it doesn’t sound like the Bill of Rights. V i. \ Needed: Some Initiative From Democrats The most irritating political fact in Washington is the virtual paralysis of responsible Democratic leadership in Congress. The nation’s future may be largely determined in the coming election, and the party leaders have, in Mr. Roosevelt’s policies for victory in war and peace, a cause worthy of strong champions. They are not championing it. They hug to their breasts the chilly memory of the Barkley revolt, and- the initiative in political affairs passes by default to flepublicans. The G.O.P. is playing a shrewd game. Its only affirmative policy is pure obstructionism, and for the rest it is content to let Democrats wrangle. It maneuvered matters, on the servicemen’s vote bill, so that Tom Connally and John Rankin—Democrats both —appeared to be the principal wreckers of a federal ballot. Actually the Republicans themselves, the vast majority of whom voted against the Lucas-Green bill, bear responsibility for an attempted fraud on servicemen, but they kept quiet most of the time, except on roll calls, while Rankin did the ranting. XXX Democratic leadership is letting the Republicans get away with another trick by appointing a special committee on tax reform. This is sheer bandwagon stuff. A major factor outrageously complicating the income tax this year was the Victory Tax —kept in the law, over administration protest, by Republican votes. Yet John W. McCormack, Democratic House leader, does not nail the G.O.P. on this magnificent irony. He weakly complains that the new committee is “by-passing” the regular ways and means committee — and what do the people care about that? XXX Most shocking of all Democratic blunders is the way in which Republicans are allowed to scandalize the administration. Jessie Sumner’s speech on Tuesday, assailing the European invasion, was compounded of recklessness and malice, yet not a Democrat got up to denounce her. Time and again such incidents are paralleled. Representatives Fish
and Woodruff, Busbey and Hoffman spout inflamed attacks on the President’s leadership, and vicious anti-Roosevelt propaganda goes over the press association wires as legitimate “news,” yet no Democratic voice is raised to challenge their partisan venom. The Democratic party, burdened with an incubus of wornout Southern reactionaries, inevitably has a hard time functioning as the mstrument of truly progressive policies. But the party’s split personality is no excuse for r 'complete lack of energy and discipline. Fresh blood in the national committee is no substitute for a little initiative on Capitol Hill. The American system, for weal or woe, is a party system, and liberalism’s voice is weakened when the entire burden is abandoned to the White House.—Chicago Sun. V You Tell ’Em, Charles— One of Indiana’s Republican Representatives, Charles A. Halleck, chairman of the G.O.P. Congressional campaign committee, has proposed a Republican letters-to-service-men campaign aimed at capturing the soldier vote in the forthcoming presidential election and blocking a fourth term for President Roosevelt. Halleck called upon all Republican women to write and “tell the boys the truth about the manner in which the administration has misused its powers, how it has fought to kill representative government, how it has tried to make over America while real Americans were busy working to win the war. “No political censor could blue-pencil millions of these messages sent from loyal American mothers, sisters and wives, if any bureaucrat dare try it,” Halleck said. Yes, Charles, tell the boys the truth. No one would even think of censoring the truth. Tell them how on June 30, 1938 you voted against the fortification of Guam. Tell them how you and your Republican colleagues on November 3, 1939, voted against the modification of the neutrality law to permit more specific aid to the Allies. Tell them how you and other Republican Representatives voted to cut 2,283 planes and $37,000,000 out of the army appropriation bill January 22, 1939. Tell them how you and other Republicans have played politics with the Administration’s efforts to prosecute the war to an early victory. Tell them how you stand on the soldier vote bill. Tell them how you voted to override the veto on the tax bill so that more will be left for the boys to pay when they return home. Yes, Charles, tell the boys the truth. If the boys get the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the TRUTH it’ll be a Democratic victory in 1944. V Barkley and (he Congress Tax Bill Few individuals in the United States in recent years have received as much attention as have Senator Alben Barkley and President Roosevelt in the past two weeks since Senator Barkley denounced the President’s message vetoing the tax bill. To the editor of The Democrat it seems that there has been too much concern about a disagreement between the President and his Majority Leader in the Senate. There has not been nearly enough concern about the cause of the disagreement,—the tax bill. With Florida booming as never before, with million-dollar days at race tracks, with the stores selling more of everything they have in stock than ever before, with people eating better than they have in years and with people spending money by the thousands as compared to hundreds of dollars of only a few years ago, it seems foolish to us for Congressmen to stand up and say that people “can not” pay higher taxes. While the young men of the nation are giving their lives our national representatives are too much concerned with currying favor of timid taxpayers. A tax bill which will raise 214 billion dollars, as large as that sounds, is entirely inadequate for the 120,000,000 at home to pay while the other 10,000,000 of our population are fighting to keep our nation free. They give their all. We should havo a bill four or five times larger than the one which came out of the politically-minded Congressional committees. The exact words or insinuations in the President’s veto message seem of little import-, ance and only passing interest, it seems to us, in comparison to backing up the boys in the Armed Forces and paying as we at home should be paying in this terrible condition of slaughter we find ourselves in. A law calling for much higher tax payments is needed. Corydon Democrat. Fate of Democratic Party “Worries” GOP Press The Indianapolis Star, according to a recent editorial i£ greatly worried because there seems to be no one to “Stop Roosevelt.” No one, that is, in the Democratic party. The tortuous reasoning by which the Star arrives at a conclusion that this is something for a Republican paper to worry about is' hard to follow in view of the fact that the whole tone of the Star’s editorial page is that most any one the Republicans nominate can beat Roosevelt. Why, then, should they worry about the prospect of his nomination? Some illumination is cast on the subject farther down in the editorial referred to however, when the writer says the “New Deal party has no foundation on which any \ other than its author can stand.” This, says the Star, is a pitiful situation “for one of the two great political organiza-
tions in a country that has traditionally conducted its politics on a two party basis.” Apparently so long as Roosevelt is a candidate the Star thinks we will have only a one party basis and in that they seem to have past history on their side. “The New Deal,” it continues, “is offering nothing except a candidate who has given no hint of what may be his platform of what he may do.” Nothing to go on except a mere twelve years of performance. Roosevelt, the newcomer; untried, uncommitted! That, in the parlance of the day, IS a laugh. Meanwhile, to sadden the Star further, the latest Fortune poll shows Roosevelt’s popular following has picked up 2 per cent since last fall and that now he is the choice of almost 42 per cent of the electorate against 33 per cent who would prefer a Republican president, the other 25 per cent being undecided. V Hannagan Speaks Robert E. Hannegan, chairman of the Democratic national committee, asserts that it appears to be the purpose of the Republicans “to seek to rise to power upon the irritations and dislocations that are inevitable in our mobilization for total war.” He drew that conclusion from “the statements of aspirants for the Republican nomination and the actions of the Republican leadership in Congress.” “Such a policy betrays a woeful lack of understanding of the American people,” Hannegan added. “Do they think the suport of the American people can be bought by promising more gasoline when our bombers need it to blast Berlin and Tokyo ? Do they believe that more sugar will gain somebody’s vote when industrial alcohol is needed for munitions for ourselves and our allies ? “Do they feel that promises of higher prices to groups of producers will invite support when this administration is battling valiantly and successfully to prevent inflation and to protect the value of the fighting man’s dependents? “The record of this administration is brilliant. It is a story of an administration sensing the needs of the country and applying the necessary remedy. “Seeking popularity, seeking support from whatever source it could be won, the opposition has toyed with the welfare of America.” V Soldier Legislation Committees named by presiding officers of both houses are putting the finishing touches on the soldier vote legislation to be considered at the special session of the Indiana General Assembly. As now drafted this measure provides that cards distributed by the federal government to those in the armed services, when filled in, will be acceptable not only as an application for national, state, and county ballots, but will automatically register the applicant. Another amendment of the election law will give the state and counties leeway in the selection of paper to be used. This is to be done because of the paper shortage and also because the armed services may request that ballots be printed on lightweight paper to reduce the plane leads where transportation is by air. While considerable time is being spent on the soldier vote issue, don’t overlook the home front. No one can vote in the primary or general election in Indiana unless registered. No one is too busily engaged in any kind of work to check his or her registration. It is the duty of every person to exercise his right of franchise but this cannot be done unless he is registered. Registration closes 30 days before the primary election. 'Speaking of the soldier vote, Indiana’s 8 congressional representatives could not miss the opportunity of letting their constituents know they could read and write by engaging in a belated blast after the exchange of telegrams between Senator Raymond E. Willis and Governor Henry F'. Schricker on a special session of the Indiana legislature for the purpose of enacting the necessary legisla-
tion.
Willis sent the governor a wire urging him to call a special session on the soldier vote problem—the contents of which appeared in newspapers before the governor received the wire. The governor replied that months ago he had signified his intention of calling such a session at the proper time. As far as the governor was concerned, the issue was closed with his reply to Willis. Net so, however, with the publicity seeking congressman. He said the ^governor used “intemperature language” in replying to Willis and with “attempting to make a political issue of the plans for a state law arranging soldiers’ ballots!” Governor Schricker is not attempting to play any politics witti the soldier’s vote. He is merely waiting on congress, of which the attackers are members, to enact legislation so that a special session of the Indiana legislation can be called. Wolf, WoJfJsGOP Cry Some of the Republican congressmen are ready to cry wolf, wolf, wolf at every turn. Representative Forest Harness is always crying about federal expenditures and state’s rights, but lie is willing to get all the federal money he can for his own political betterment. War department representatives recently informed Harness 4Lat $2,000,000 was ready to be spent on flood control in Anderson, Peru and Wabash as soon as those communities complete such necessary details concerning leases, rights of way and easements. Harness requested the flood control protection, so consequently there was no crying when he received that which he had requested.
This Is the Record—Don’t Forget It Shall We Trade All This for “Free Enterprise?” For those who may have lost confidence in the President as champion of the common man, we list below 27 important social, economic and governmental reforms sponsored by the Roosevelt Administration since 1933. We print the list merely as a reminder for those who may have forgotten. 1 Establishment of a sound banking system. 2 Creation of a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to guarantee bank deposits. 3 Organization of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation to save g» homes from foreclosure. 4 Saving farms from foreclosure by establishmeilt of the Farm Credit Administration. 5 Rescuing agriculture from disaster through the AAA and the Soil Conservation Act. 6 Providing truth in the -ale of securities and protecting the security of investors through the Securities and Exchange Commission. 7 Slum clearance. 8 Reduction of farm tenancy. 9 Old age insurance. 10 Unemployent insurance. 11 Federal aid to the crippled and blind. 12 Public works projects, carried on to provide work and to build thousands of permanent improvements. 13 Distribution of funds through the Federal Emergency Relief Administration to save starving people who had reached the end of their resources. 14 Enactment of minimum wage and maximum hour laws. 15 The Civiliari Conservation Corps and Reforestation. u 16 The National Youth Administration, aiding thousands of under- ( privileged young people. 17 Legislation abolishing child labor. 18 Reciprocal trade agreements. 19 Stimulation of private home building through the Federal Housing Administration. 20 Resettlement of farmers from marginal lands that cannot be cultivated profitably. 21 Getting electricity out to the farmers through the Rural Electrification Administration. 22 Water conservation programs. 23 Drought control and drought relief. 24 Crop insurance and the ever normal granary. 25 Assistance to farm cooperatives. 26 Conservation of natural resources. 27 The National Labor Relations Act. The records speaks for itself.
Legal Notice
Legal Notice
NOTICK TO NON-itKSlOENTS State of Indiana, Delaware County, ss: ' Lyman H. Stuby vs. Alltha A. Stuby In the Delaware Circuit Court January Term, 1944 Complaint: Divoroe No. 18744 Notice is hereby given the said defendant Alltha A. Stuby that the plaintiff has filed his complaint herein, for divorce together with an affidavit that the said defendant Alltha A. Stuby is not a resident of the State of Indiana, and that unless she be and appear on Saturday the loth day of May, 1944, the otith day the next term of said Court, to be holden on the first Monday in April, A. D., 1944, at the Court House in the City of Muncie, in said County and State, the said cause will be heard and determined in her absence. WITNESS, the Clerk and the Seal of said Court, affixed at the City of Muncie, this 13th day of March A. D., 1944. JESSE E. GREENE, Clerk John J. Dodd, Plaintiff’s Atty. March 17-24-31 Legal Notice NOTICE TO NON-RESIDENTS State of Indiana, Delaware County, ss: Nathaniel Howard vs. Annie L. Howard In the Delaware Circuit Court January Term, 1944 Complaint: Divorce No. 7962-S Notice is hereby given the said defendant Annie L. Howard that the plaintiff has filed his complaint herein, for divorce together with an affidavit that the said defendant Annie I,. Howard is not a resident of the State of Indiana, and that unless she be and appear on Thursday the 18th day of May, 1944, the 34th day the next term of said Court, to he holden on the second Monday in Anril, A. D., 19'44, at the Court House in the City of Muncie in said County and State, the said cause will be heard and determined in hor absence. WITNESS, th Clerk and the Seal of said Court, affixd at the City of Muncie this 13th day of March, A. D., 1944. JESSE E. GREEN, Clerk Ogle & Ogle, Plaintiff’s Atty. March 17-24-31. BURNED FATALLY IN RESCUE ATTEMPT
Chicago, March 24.—Mrs. Delia McFall, 45, was burned fatally yesterday in a vain attempt, to rescue a five-year- old orphan, Raymond Sircher, from a fire that swept the upper part of her one and one-half story frame dwelling. The child, a ward of the Catholic Home Bureau, was boarded with. Mrs. McFall. The child’s body was found besides the bed in an attic room where he had been ill with a cold. Mrs. McFall was in the kitchen when she saw smoke from the stairway. She rushed upstairs but by this time the attic was in flames. Her clothing caught fire and she slipped and fell down the stairs. She died at Holy Cross hospital seven hours later. o— The Aactic Tern is the champion long-distance bird. Its annual trip totals between 10,090 and 11,000 miles from its breeding
grounds.
NOTICE OF THE PASSAGE OF AN ORDINANCE
AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND SECTION 3 OF AN ORDINANCE ENTITLED “AN ORDINANCE REQl IKING PROTECTION SERVICE AT CERTAIN RAILROAD CROSSINGS AND REGULATING T H K S P E E D O I TRAINS WITHIN THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF THE CITY OE MI N< IK, INDIANA,” APPROVED SEPTEMREK
14,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MUNCIE, INDIANA: Section 1. That Section 3 of tho above entitled ordinance be and hereby is amended to lead as follows: Section 3. That there shall he furnished and maintained by the Nickel Plate Railroad, its lessees, successors and assigns, protection service to the general public throughout the twenty-four hours of each day at the crossing of its railroad tracks with South Liberty Street, and at the crossing of its railroad tracks with Council Street in the City cf Muncie, Indiana. Section 2. That this ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage and publication as provided by law. Passed by the Common Council of the City of Muncie, Indiana, this 6th day of March 1944.
HARRY A. KLEINFELDER President of the Common Council of City of Muncie,
Indiana. Attest:
J. Clyde Dunnington
City Clerk
Presented by me to tho Mayor of the City of Muncie, Indiana, for his approval and signature this 10th day of
March, 1944.
J. CLYDE DUNNINGTON.
City Clerk
Approved and signed by me this 10th
day of March, 1944. JOHN C. HAMPTON.
Mayor of the City cf Muncie,
Indiana Attest:
J. Clyde Dunnington. City Clerk March 17-24
Legal Notice
NOTICE TO TAXPAYERS OP HEARING ON APPROPRIATIONS In the matter of the passage of certain ordinance by Common Council of the City of Muncie, Indiana, Dclaw.i e County, providing for special appropriations of funds. Notice is hereby given taxpayers of the City of Muncie, Indiana, Delaware County, that a public hearing will be in the City Hall, Muncie, Indiana, on the 3rd day of April, 1944 at 7:30 o’clock P- m. cn an ordinance making special and additional appropriations as ' follows, to-wit: Out of the General Fund: To the Police Department, Item No. 343 Medical & Hospital— $331.35. To the Office of City Controller, Item No. 58 Contingencies—$232.66 Out of the Park Fund: To the Department of Public Parks, Hem No. 726 Power Mower—$1500.00 Item No. 727 Tractor & Attachments —$1400.00. Taxpayers appearing shall have the right to he heard thereon. If said additional appropriations are determined upon, a certified copy of ^such determinaticn will be filed with the County Auditor, who will certify a copy of the same to the State Board of Tax Commissioners, and said State Board willfix a time and place for the hearing of such matter as provided by statute. Common Council of City of Muncie, IndianaJ. Clyde Dunnington, City Clerk Mch. 17-24 The earliest paper was made of cotton.
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