Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 21 April 1944 — Page 2

POST-DEMOCRAT, FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 1944.

THE POST-DEMOCRAT ^ Democratic 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, *t 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 21, 1944. Better Stick to ‘Normalcy,’ Gov. Bricker Gov. Bricker in his speech at San Jose Sunday was back in the safe and shallow waters of hazy generality, after having tried at San Francisco to swim in oceans dangerously deep and unknown to him. At San Jose he proclaimed ten articles of “faith.” He had faith, for example, in strong soldiers, the republican form of government, Divine Providence, the natural resources of America and the traditions of the past. That’s the sort of speech in which Gov. Bricker is adept. And 4t gets him into no trouble. Surely none will criticize his joy over the fact that there’s coal in the ground and muscle on the soldiers. But, judging from his Commonwealth Club speech at Sap Francisco, he senses that the electorate may want more specific reasons why he should be President. Hence the governor assayed to tell why we were “dragged” into the war. Those who really love him and are capable of blushing must have blushed at the result. Probability is, according to Gov. Bricker,that we’re at war because of “the New Deal’s weak-kneed obsequence to the Nazi and Jap warlords.” A leadership “enlightened and I courageous,” he opined, would “by strong and aggressive action” have saved the lives of “thousands of our boys and well could have prevented war.” He even waxed so bold as to try to document his charge; Japan, he remembered, conducted aggression against China “while we were shipping scrap metal, gasoline and oil to help build up the imperial war machine.” All of which impels one to inquire: Where was Gov. Bricker before the lights went out in Europe and Asia? What brave warnings did he utter before Hitler and To jo said nothing. It is not, for instance, on record that he raised a syllable of support for Franklin D. Roosevelt after the President, at the Outer Drive bridge in Chicago in 1937, suggested a quarantine of aggressors. Perhaps Gov. Bricker did not denounce that speech, either. But we know what the nationalists now behind him said about it, and about the entire, uphill fight of the President to arouse America to its mortal danger and prepare her for it. They called him a “warmonger.” In April, 1940, the Chicago Tribune, which now beams on Bricker, was saying that the beginning of “American fortification on Guam will be the the signal for a war.” Less than six weeks before Pearl Harbor this same Tribune — which subsequently has claimed, like Mr. Bricker, that the administration should have “foreseen” Japan’s action—was asserting: “She (Japan) cannot attack us. That is a military impossibility. Even our base at Hawaii is beyond the effective striking power of her fleet. v It is a sorry fact that America, including the President, indulged in as much appeasement of the fascists as was the case. But it is also a fact that Mr. Roosevelt was the outstanding prewar leader of all the world’s democracies against the totalitarian power; and that over the opposition of men now supporting Gov. Bricker, he managed to prepare America. The obstructionism of the isolationists, in and out of Congress, was by all odds the chief barrier to a still more vigorous program to stop the dictators before they were ready for war, and for fuller American preparation for defense. Better stick to “normalcy,” Gov. Bricker. You and your supporters are out of your depth in matters of statesmanship.—Chicago Sun. y GOP ‘Victory’ Program: Looking Forward to ‘1929’ What Republican National headquarters needs is a mirror. A big mirror. Could the GOP leaders see themselves as others see them, they would instantly recognize the truth, wisdom aW warning in Senator Harry S. Truman’s charge that Republican leadership has “subordinated the hope of victory in war to the hope of victory at the polls.” Truman is one of the ablest, most levelleaded men in Washington. Far from being a rabid partisan he has been head of the Senate Committee investigating and criticizing—constructively—the whole war program. A few of the more partisan Democrats have looked askance when Truman’s group uncovered some of the inevitable mistakes in a gigantic and unprecedented war program. But Truman has put victory before partisanship. He has a right to ask the Republicans to do as much. Says Truman: “The Administration has not taken the position of hiding mistakes. Its policy has been to bring them out into the open so they can be corrected. This has led some of the guiding figures of the Republican party to seek a special advantage for themselves by harping on the mistakes we have brought to light. “These Republican leaders are, I believe, riding to their own fall. But meanwhile

they ride roughshod over the public interest and over the cause of their country at war.” It is not a new phenomenon, this concentration of GOP interest on political instead of military victory. Going back through our files we find few instances when Old Guard Republican leaders have come forward with constructive proposals to intensify the war effort. With some exception of course: Men such as Wendell Willkie, and Governor Wills, of Vermont, who in January called the old-line GOP leadership “your year locusts” who threaten to blight the prospective “victory crops” of the party in 1944. Well, the GOP Old Guard has eliminated Willkie. The “four year locusts” are virtually in full control. They include such men as Harrison Spangler, whose interest in the soldiers was not whether they should vote but whether they would vote Republican (remember the poll he took?); Governor Bricker, of Ohio, who has said little about the war, much about Roosevelt’s ‘shameful disregard of the nation’s law and the people’s liberties . . . and its reckless spendthrift mismanagement”; Congressman Calvin Jones, of Illinois, whose statesmanship is measured by his protest against a foreword written by President Roosevelt in Bibles sent to servicemen. GOP leadership has been negative because the GOP has negative leaders. Many Republicans find difficulty in stomaching that leadership. Even the Saturday Evening Post called its attitude “the sort of thinking which, even in the case of party victory, betrays the nation.” That is why GOP national headquarters needs a mirror. The reflectionvwould show that the Spanglers and their kind are not looking forward to victory—but backward to 1929.—Philadelphia Record. V Lease-Lend Lies The first .lease-lend was enacted March 11, 1941. Early the following summer smear stories were being circulated, with the isolationist press leading the smearers. The rumors were aimed particularly at the British, who were accused of reselling American leaselend goods, charging cocktails to lease-lend, etc. Finally, in August, President Roosevelt was forced to brand the rumors deliberate lies and Nazi propaganda. But the smears continued. Radio Berlin and Radio Tokyo found them so much to their liking that they adopted them for their own and kept plugging away. Russia, Australia and the French were added to Britain as targets. So we welcome the full statement of Foreign Economics Directolr Leo T. Crowley, listing the lies and tracing them to their source in Germany and Japan. He nailed again the old lie that the British in Washington were charging whiskey parties against lease-lend, and the newer lie that the Russians were using American butter to grease their boots. Charges that Rumania was chiselling on goods supplied by Germany by reselling them to Hungary wouldn’t make much difference to what remains of Hitler’s Axis. His satellites are held in line by force. But dissension can be serious among the free Allies of the United Nations—and in such dissension is Hitler’s only hope. We hope that Crowley’s statement to the House Foreign Affairs Committee will end the rumors, and that Congress will extend the lease-lend act for another year overwhelmingly and promptly. — Philadelphia

32 Millions for War: How Much

for Peace?

On one and the same day the House Appropriations Committee approved a $32,000,000,000 program for increasing the U. S. Navy

by 40 percent;

And War Mobilization Director Byrnes’proposed a system by which postwar unemployment would be alleviated, through Federal payments to supplement jobless insurance

now paid by the states.

Suppose Byrnes had proposed to spend 32

billions?

The headlines would be black today with outraged protest. Senators and Congressmen would be whaling “that New Deal,” furiously attacking the waste and extravagance

of “that man.”

Long ago, in the dark days of the early 30’s, The Record coined a slogan: “Lets’ Fight the Depression as We Fought the

War.”

Not even Roosevelt in his “First Hundred Days” could convince the nation that it was worth spending as much for prosperity and peace as for war and destruction. Yet that issue faces us again, as Byrnes makes plain. Time to begin thinking about our answer. Byrnes’ program calls for rapid closing of unneeded industrial plants; protection for farmers; reduced postwar taxes, etc. It is so sensible, so elementary — and so mild—we cannot imagine anyone objecting. Yet it is only a starter. It merely proposes to cushion the worst effects of demobilization. It offers jobless insurance instead of job insurance. It is a transition program— not a remedy for the maladj ustments which we failed to correst fully last time. Where, then, you may say, shall we start? Let us start in our own minds. Let us start by convincing ourselves that Mr. Byrnes would not have been crazy but merely sensible had he proposed spending 32 billions for peace-—just as the House committee O. K.’d

it for war. Stuart Chase warns that we are headed for trouble if we permit postwar recovery and reform to be impeded by the question : “Where’s the Money Coming From?” Russia had no money for her five-year plans; the Duce was broke when he invaded Ethiopia; Hitler was bankrupt when he proposed to rearm Germany; and no nation,.before the war, had “enough money” to wage war. But Russia completed her plans; the Duce captured Ethiopia, Hitler rearmed the Reich, and no nation is now pulling out of the war because it “hasn’t enough money.” The answer, of course, is that the real wealth of any nation is not its money but its resources and manpower. Prosperity and -peace depend upon using our resources and manpower as successfully in peace as in war. That’s why we must prepare for peace — in our own thinking. That’s why we must say to ourselves that while programs such as that proposed by Director Byrnes are fine and essential as a cushion, we must go farther—and fight off depression as we fight a war. Abbott and Costello recently dusted off a World War gag. Costello, an aviator, was sent to put the Berlin-Vienna railway out of commission. In 15 minutes he reported back, said the job was done. Without using a bomb. Abbott was dumfounded. “What on earth did you do?” he demanded. Costello shot back: “I sneaked into the station and tore up all the tickets.” We know, of course, that no railroad ever stopped running for lack of tickets. Why should our factories stop running for virtually the same reason?—Philadelphia Rec-

ord.

V Do We Fight Black Market the Wrong Way Round Is OPA fighting the black markets backward? We are beginning to think so. With another murder attributed to gang wars, the new peak of lawlessness in the gasoline black market is dramatized sharply. Despite OPA’s best efforts, the situation seems to be getting worse and not better. A parallel problem exists with respect to liquor. No American in his right mind would propose taking away a single drop of gasoline or alcohol from military supplies. The government now takes what it needs for the war—and lets OPA distribute what is left among the civilians. Our crisis is in that civilian distribution. It is no mere accident that lawlessness has increased as supplies of gasoline and liquor have been cut down for legitimate users. Frahkly, for example, we know that today all legitimate coupons are being honored. In addition, an estimated 500,000 gallons—some say more—are being sold black marketwise in this area alone every month. And black market activity has shown a sharp increase since the last of the cuts in gasoline coupon values last fall. So we seriously ask this question: Why not fight the black market by boosting instead of cutting the values of the coupons of legitimate users? Then legitimate users will tend to mop up the available gasoline now going into the black market. There is no use telling some people not to patronize back markets, or bootleggers. Nor is there much use telling a lot of others not to do so when they see neighbors well supplied—even those with “A” coupons. Neither is there much point in telling a citizen who honestly needs gas in his work, and who can’t get it from'his ration board, that he is unpatriotic in buying what he can where he can. Especially when he sees “C” cards given to people who don’t need them. In rationing—of liquor, gas or anything— there is a point where the old law of diminishing returns begins to operate. There used to be the idea that a business only needed to raise prices to get more income; a city to increase taxes to get more revenue. We learned differently. We found that when a tax rate or the price of a commodity passes a certain point—receipts fall off instead of increasing. Similarly, when rations are cut below a certain point—the net result is merely to shift more of the rationed article out of the legitimate market and into the black market. Each additional cut in rations sends more consumers to the black markets. Chester Bowles, OPA director, not long ago said he believed that if it were not for the black market, gas rations could be boosted 25 percent. Maybe if we boost them 25 percent for the legitimate motorist, he will get the gas— leaving little or none for the black market. The present system of piling ration cut on ration cut is not working. The other way ought to be worth a trial at least.—Philadelphia Record. V Let the People Know Secretary of State Cordell Hull has received much favorable comment on his address on foreign policy which was delivered last Sunday evening. Naturally he did not satisfy everybody, but we believe most Americans will agree that it would be a good thing if he would address the public from time to time, explaining what is going on in the field of foreign relations. The people and their representatives will have the final say on the question of foreign policy and they cannot formulate sound opinions without adequate information. It is dangerous to the cause of world cooperation to leave the public in the dark. It is dangerous to have citizens misinterpret

what is going on. Mr. Hull’s talk did not clear up all the questions which are being asked in the United. States today, but it did help. Some of the best newspapers have said they thought the secretary of state was surprisingly candid in his discussion. < Diplomacy is a delicate field of operations i and a secretary of state must be very, careful j what he says and how he says it if he is to | avoid hurting his program. But no program i which Mr. Hull may work out will be adopted j unless it has the support of the people of this country. A treaty must be approved in the. senate, not by a simple majority, but a twothirds majority. Mr. Hull also remembers that Woodrow Wilson’s failure was attributed to the fact that he did not have the support of congress. Therefore, he proposes to work with congress and ask congress to work with him. That is all to the good. What Mr. Hull seeks for the postwar world is not Utopia. He is too hard-headed to believe in anything so fantastic. He does seek j to prevent, through international co-opera-tion, another world war within 20 or 25 years. That is something in which any practical person is interested. If it is done at all, it must be done on a practical basis.—Journal Gazette.

y Experienced Leadership for Planning As the eventual defeat of the Axis becomes more certain day by day, the postwar world hurries toward us, and postwar planning demands attention now. The public places its faith in the Democratic party because of its experienced leadership. These are the administration’s objectives for postwar America: Full employment for all employable. A job for every man and woman released from the armed forces and war industries at the dose of the war, with fair pay and working conditions. Equal access to security. Equal access to education. Equal access to health and nutrition. Wholesome housing. For several years government agencies have been working on programs to fulfill these objectives. President Roosevelt sent the reports of the National Resources and Planning Board to Congress, March 10, 1943. Congress likewise has before it the 1942 and 1943 reports of the .Social Security Board. Legislation has been introduced covering parts of all these reports. The public favors the Democratic party because it refuses- to be hampered in the prosecution of the war effort, and at the same time is planning for a lasting peace and a great postwar period in the United States. —Plymouth Daily News. y - Primaries Mean... Back in 1910, in the Taft Administration, States began to adopt preferential primary laws. The idea was to give the people a chance to express their preference for candidates for President to be chosen at national conventions —to reduce the power of the political bosses. It wasn’t a direct primary, of course, like the primaries for Congressmen, but it was considered a forward step in progressive government. The preferential primary has taken some of the control away from politicians in smokefilled rooms, but it has failed to give the people complete freedom in expressing their choice. It has let some air into the old system, but the results are often far from clearcut. The Wisconsin primary last week did show that the Republicans of that State were agaipst Willkie, and for Dewey. But the two primaries this week can be figured almost anyway. In Nebraska, Lieutenant Commander Harold E. Stassen won a resounding victory. But the political experts could dismiss that by calling him a favorite son (as he was in Wisconsin) from neighboring Minnesota and point to the write-in strength of Dewey. Then, too, the total vote wasn’t much over 55,000—compared with the 352,000 votes for Willkie in 1940. In Illinois, General Douglas MacArthur, who hadn’t authorized use of his name, won a resounding victory, too. He had the backing of Colonel McCormick’s Chicago Tribune —and ran against a politically unknown real estate dealer. The Illinois vote, too, was light —a total vote not much over 500,000, compared with 2,047,000 votes cast for Willkie in 1940. The preferential primary is a good hunting ground for favorite sons, and not much more.—Philadelphia Record.

Gross Income Tax According to a statement by Gilbert K. Hewit, director of the Gross Income Division, 34 per cent of the population of Indiana paid Gross Income taxes for the year 1943. This is a gain of 23 per cent over the year 1934, the first year the law went into effect. In that year 302,562 returns were filed compared with over 1,000,000 returns in January, 1944. This indicates that while one out of every 10 persons paid the tax in 1934, there is one person out of every 3.4 individuals who paid in 1944. This law was enacted by the Democratic •legislature of 1933 to broaden the tax base and relieve the heavy burden on real estate and personal property. It has been a decided success.—Salem Democrat.

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 establishment 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 Civilian Conservation Corps and Reforestation. 16 The National Youth Administration, aiding thousands of underprivileged 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

notice or ri Bi.ic hearing on AMENDMENT OE ZONING ORDINANCE

Notice is hereby given to the citizens of Muncie, Indiana, that public hearing i n an amendment to the Zoning Ordinance, which is now pending before the Common Council of the City of Muncie, Indiana, will he held in the City council chamber in the City Hall at 7:HO p. m., on the 1st day of May, 1944, at which time and place any objections to such amendment or change will be heard. The proposed amendment or change to be made is as follows: To amend, supplement and change the present Zoning Ordinance of said City cf Muncie,. Indiana, so as to transfer to the business district, to the six hundred (600) square foot area district and. to the eighty (80) foot height district the following described territory In said City of Muncie, Indiana, to-wit: A part of the southeast quarter of Section ten (10) Township twenty (20) North, Range ten (10) East, described as follows: Commencing at ,a point eight hundred forty-five (845) feet east of the east line of Beacon Street and in the north line of Washingtoh Street produced; running thence in a northerly direction and parallel with the east line of Beacon Street two hundred sixty (260) feet; thence in an easterly direction parallel witli the north line of Washington Street eighty-five nhrf HtS feet; thcnOe in a southerly direction parallel with the west line of Wolf Street two hundred and sixty (260) feet to the north line of Washington Street; thence in a westerly direction with the ntrth line of Washington Street eighty-five and five-tenths (85.5) feet to the place of beginning. A part of the southeast quarter of Section ten (10) Township twenty (20) North, of Range ten (10) East, described as follows: Beginning at a point in the North line of Washington Street, six hundred ninetyfive and five hundredths (695.05) feet East of the East line of Beacon Street produced (the same being the southeast coiner of a tract of land conveyed by John R. Retherf(rd, Receiver, to the Fenny Manufacturing Company by deed dated February 24, 191.17; and running thence east along the north line of Washington Street, one hundred fortynine and ninety-five hundredths ( 1 49.95) feet; thence north parallel to the east line rf Beacon Street produced, two hundred eighty-two and one-half (282%) feet more or „ Less to the center line of Gilbert Street produced; thence west along, the center line of Gilbert Street produced and parallel to the north line of Washington Street, one hundred forty-nine and ninety-five hundredths (149.95) feet; thence south parallel to the east line 6f Beacon Street produced two hundred eighty-two and one-half (282%) feet to the

place of beginning.

Said proposed ordinance for such amendment or change of said present porting Ordinance has been referred to ’the City Plan Commission of said City of Muncie, and has been considered, and said City Plan Commission has made its report approving the same; Information concerning such proposed amendment or change is now on file in the office of said City Plan Commission, for

public examination.

Said hearing will be continued from time to time as may be found necessary. In Witness Whereof I have hereunto set my band and affixed the seal of

the City of Muncie, Indiana,

(SEAL)

J. CLYDE DtTNNINGTON City Clerk, and Clerk of the Common Council of the City of Muncie, Indiana, this 14th day of April, 1944. April 14-21—PI.) An infantry corporal fired only three shots from his Army rifle to bring down three German soldiers at a range of 900 yards while in action against the enemy on the Italian front.

NOTICE State of Indiana, Delaware County, SS: In tile Delaware Circuit Court, April Term, 1944 No. 18875 Earl O. Lake, et al vs. Samuel W. Harlan, et al Notice is hereby given to the defendants in said cause, namely, Samuel W. Harlan, Juliet S. Harlan, Jennie A. Smith, Frederick H. Bruns, W. It, Mocre, Frederick H. Bruns, Trustee, Charles Wilson, Mildred Perkins ami Arthur Perkins, the unknown husband, wife, widow, widower, child, children, descendants, heirs, surviving spouses, creditors, administrators of the estates, devisees, legatees, trustees, executors of the last will and testament, successors in interest and assigns, beneficiaries, respectively, of each of the foregoing named persons, all of whom are unknown to plaintffs; all of the women once known by any of the names and designations above stated whose names may have been changed and who are now known by other names, the names of an of Whom are unknown to the plaintiffs’ and the spouses of all of the persons above named, described and designated as defendants in this action who are married, the names of all of whom are unknown to plaintiffs; that the plaintiffs in the above entitled cause of action have filed their ccmplaint in the Delaware Circuit Court to quiet their title to the following described real estate in the City of Muncie, Delaware" County, Indiana, as against all demands, claims and claimants whatsoever, and against said defendants and each of them, and agaihst any and all persons whomscever and against the whole world, to-wit: Ninety-eight (98) feet of equal widfh off of the entire north end of Lot numbered One Hundred Seventyfour (174) in Block Eleven (11) in John J. Perkins Addition to the City of Muncie, Indiana. Forty-seven (47) feet of equal width , off of the entire south ends of Lots numbered One Hundred Seven-ty-three (173) and One Hundred Seventy-four n74) in Block Eleven (11) in John J. Perkins Addition to the City of Muncie, Indiana. Ninety-eight (98) feet of equal width off of the entire North end *■ of Lot numbered One Hundred Seventy-three (17:;) in Block Eleven (11) in John J, Perkins Addition to the City of Muncie, Indiana, ti gether with an affidavit that each of the above named defendants is a non-resident of the State of Indiana, or their residence upon diligent inquiry is unknown, and that unless you and each of you be an appear in the Delaware Circuit Court, said Ccunty and State, on the _24th day of June, 194A, at the Court House, in the City of Muncie, in said county and state, the said cause will be heard and determined in your WITNESS, the Clerk and seal of said Court, affixed at the City of Muncie, Indiaha, this 14th day of April, 1944. JESSE E. GREENE, Clerk cf the Delaware Circuit Court McClellan & McClellan Attorneys for Plaintiffs Apr. 14-21-28 NEEDED FOR A JOB

Chicago.—Obsolete police pistols to be put in the hands of the European underground are being sought by a British representative, the Public Administation clearing house reported. “If they are good for one.more blast they can be used against the oppressor,” they said.

More than 10,000 training aircraft are in use by the British ’Commonwealth air training plan.

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