Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 12 April 1946 — Page 2

POST-DEMOCRAT, FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 1946.

THE POST-DEMOCRAT i Democratic weekly newspaper representing the Democrats of Muncie, Delaware County and the IPth . 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 12, 1946 Face the Housing Realities with Wyatt We hope the government’s ban on non-es-sential construction will bring discussion of the Wyatt housing program down to earth. The debate has been soaring into the stratosphere of theory, getting more and more remote from the realities before us. The stringent restriction order, stopping all building except that certified as essential, may act as a douse of cold water, a remindr that this is no picnic, but an emergency. The six Republican governors who met at Des Moines this week showed little appreciation of the emergency. They whooped it up against OPA. They took for gospel Gov. Vivian’s didactic fustian to the effect that “the one and only way to bring about increased production ... is to allow the ancient and basic law of supply and demand to operate.” The “ancient and basic law of supply and demand” has not provided good housing for the bulk of our population in the past, and certainly will not provide it for veterans of average income now. The worshiper at the shrine of supply and demand dwells in a dream world. turer of new materials, may get into the busiBut the veterans' need for a house is real. His inability to pay inflated prices is real. The housing inflation that has already taken place is bitterly real. Are we to face these facts, or evade them? Mr. Wyatt yesterday asked the Senate to restore his proposals for incentive payments to materials producers and price ceilings on existing homes. Both measures are essential if 2,700,000 veterans’ homes are to be built and the real estate inflation stopped. In the weeks since the House cut out these vital elements of the program, the special interest lobbies have exposed the motives of their vicious fight against it. The big materials producers fear competition. That is why they oppose incentive payments—because they fear some rival brickyard, some new cement plant, some manufacness they consider their own, The real estate lobby, frankly and boldly, desires a real estate inflation. £)ne branch of that lobby, the Real Estate Foundation, has ccfrn'e out for a bill to pay every veteran between $500 and $2,500 in cash with which to buy a home—a subsidy which would cost three or four times what Mr. Wyatt has proposed. The real estate lobby, in other words, does not.object to subsidizing speculation. It only objects to subsidizing the production of housing which veterans can afford. Shall the Senate yield, as the House did, to these two antagonists of the Wyatt program—business-as-usual and inflation? It cannot do so without ignoring the realities that confront the house-hunting war veteran. The “one and only way- to bring about increased production” is not to take the lid off prices. While everybody agrees that some rhaterials prices can safely be increased — some, indeed, already have gone up—expej’ience and common sense show that to get sharply increased production without driving the cost of completed homes out of sight, the cheapest and soundest method is that proposed by Mr. Wyatt. We used that method : to equip our young men with weapons. We : should use it to produce houses for their families.—Chicago Sun.

An Outgrowth of Laxity Press association reports of thwarting armed uprisings in Germany among die-hard Nazis can mean a lot or nothing. Careful reading of the dispatches fails to disclose much as to the actual violence alleged, but a great deal about a roundup of Nazi suspects. One counter intelligence official is quoted as saying not a single suspect escaped the dragnet and that appears a little too sweeping for general consumption. It is only natural that there should be in Germany great numbers of persons who wholly dislike the Allied occupation, whether or not they were Nazi ringleaders prior to the end of the war. It is only natural that plo4s would follow and movements begin toward eventual overthrow of foreign rule. That such things exist, only the most naive could doubt. The roundup of Nazis may furnish combustible fuel for fire of continued occupation. Far-sighted persons here and abroad long have preached that occupation must continue for years, but there is opposition in the United States to extension of the draft as a means of furnishing men for the policing of occupied lands. Perhaps the current publicity on internal affairs in Germany is somewhat studied as to its effect on American thinking. It is possible. Another fact that tends to discredit the “plot story” as a major accomplishment are the recent scandals at Frankfurt and other places where wholesale “fraternization” has turned the grim business of war into a 24hour daily love feast. Some of the most flagrant cases are being dealt with, but reports in the press and personal stories by returnees are proof that too many military government officers place personal pleasure above world security. So, the overplayed stories of plots and uprisings were to be expected as a counter measure against unfavorable publicity. Regardless of the motives behind the af-

fair, it is clearer now that constant vigilance will be necessary in Germany for a long time. A dream as grandiose as that of the Nazi party does not vanish from the human mind in an instant. Military occupation always will be stern business or will not be worthy of th name.—Journal Gazette. o Interesting Conjecture A most revealing document is the diary of former Secretary of WaT Henry L. Stimson which has been submitted to the Pearl Harbor Investigating Committee. The dairy is not important because of any new or startling facts, but because it sums up the Pacific situation as it existed in late 1941. Japanese aggression was being watched fearfully in Washington. A blow was imminent, but it was believed any move against American installations would occur in the Philippines. How wrong this guess was is a matter of history. However, the most significant thing about the diary is the fact that Stimson urged President Roosevelt to order an attack on the Japanese without further warning — to create, in other words, a Pearl Harbor in reverse. That such drastic action was spurned also is a matter of history. It is interesting to conjecture on the course of the war had the United States taken the initiative and launched a carrier blow with complete surprise at some strategic Japanese anchorage or base. It is reasonable to assume that Japan would have suffered as heavily as we did at Pearl Harbor and that she could not have recovered as quickly because of her production limitations. That then would have given this country a Naval advantage it was not to know for more than a year. Its Pacific fleet would have been intact and the Philippine landings could have been strongly opposed and probably repulsed. Naturally, any number of interesting, but inconclusive, situations can be imagined while theorizing in this manner, but a surprise blow such as envisioned by Secretary Stimson would have altered the course of the war in our favor. But such a course would have run counter to all American tradition and ideals. A surprise blow at Japan would have stamped us as the aggressor, a role unfamiliar to Americans. Too, public opinion was not crystalized in this country at that time and it remained for the Japs to do it. The ethics and morals of such a proposition could be debated for years without conclusive result. We now know that had the United States taken the lead we would have been spared the loss of our fleet and the lives of thousands of men. It may be that ideals are good things to have—even in warfare.— Journal Gazette. o Freedom—or Slavery We face one of the greatest choices of history. It is not alone a choice of government— government by the people versus dictatorship. It is not alone a choice of freedom or slavery. It is not alone a choice between moving forward or falling back. It is all these rolled into one. It is the continuance of the civilization as we know it versus the ultimate destruction of all that we have held dear—religion against godlessness; the ideal of justice against the practice of force; moral decency versus the firing squad; courage to speak out, and to act, versus the false lullaby of appeasement. The American people must decide whether these things are worth making sacrifices of money, of energy, of self. They will not decide by listening to mere words or by reading mere pledges, interpretations and claims. They will decide on the record—the record as it has been made—the record of things as they are. x x x This editorial says what we think. But we did not write it. It was written by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It is from his speech of July 19, 1940. It is as true today as it was then.—Philadelphia Record. o The War Against Cancer Cancer killed 607,000 Americans between Pearl Harbor and V-J Day—more than twice as many as were killed by the Germans and Japs. One out of every six deaths among people of middle age is caused by cancer. Cancer threatens death to 17,000,000 Americans now living unless something is done to stop it. Today in the United States between 700,000 and 1,000,000 persons are suffering from cancer. This year the dread disease will kill 2,000 American boys and girls who will never live to see their twenty-first birthday. Because of these and other equally sensational and arresting facts Cancer Control Month is being observed here and throughout the nation during April. As a part of the all-out campaign against cancer, funds are being raised to* carry on the fight. Allen county’s quota is $16,000. This war against a terrible disease is certainly worth while and is deserving the support of everybody. Aside from the fear, the pain, the broken lives and the horrible deaths, the economic cost of cancer is terrific. — Journal Gazette.

Inflation has to do with wages and prices as they relate to the cost of living. In an inflationary period, wages, prices, and the cost of living go up, but they do not rise at a steady pace; they go up faster and faster, in a sort of race, and at the end, the cost of living outstrips wage increases and increases in -the prices received by farmers.—Organized Labor, San Francisco.

To Cinch the Ladies’ Votes Woman’s voice is being heard on Capitol Hill, and in a most terrifying manner. Representative Landis of Indiana discloses that many congressmen are receiving letters from ladies which threaten, in substance, “No nylons, no votes.” Let these harassed gentlemen ponder the example of Mohandas K. Gandhi of India, himself often described as “a superb politician,” and the looms and spinning wheels of which he once was fond. In this election year the wise representative will be found whirling away the hours in the House chamber with a hank of nylon yarn (if he can find such) at his feet as his chubby fingers run up a sock for a female constituent.—Chicago Sun.

The Army ‘Caste System’ Good morale is vital to any army, above all to a citizens’ army, such as ours. Military discipline requires that some men give orders and others take them. But it does not require that those who take orders must be treated as an inferior species. That they frequently have been is all too well established. “Gripes” are inevitable; but many of them —such as those arising from recent exclusive sale of nylon stockings to officers—are justified. The Army has taken three steps which foreshadow democratic action against the “caste system.” The first was the appointment by Secretary of War Patterson of a sixman board of high caliber to study the problem; second was an order providing similar uniforms, except for insignia, for officers and men; third was the establishment of a civilian board to overhaul and modernize court-mar-tial procedure. All three are causes for hope. —Chicago Sun. Whitewash at Lichfield Criticism of the Army caste system has centered frequently on the cruelty of the courts-martial procedure toward enlisted men and its delicate protection of officers. The Army’s pretense of “reform” dots not jibe with the sensational charge of Capt. Earl J. Carroll, government prosecutor at the Lichfield trials, that top officers ar bing whitewashed. Testimony has shown that the Lichfield camp was a hellhole of brutality, in which American soldier-prisoners were slugged and shot with at least the connivance of commanding officers. A sergeant has been convicted and seven officers face charges, but the top ranking defendant is a lieutenant colonel. Capt. Carroll accuses the Army of rigging the prosecution to coyer up for higher officers, even by ml^ti'eating witnesses and bribing low-ranking offenders to exonerate their superiors. President Truman has the power to order the War Department to court-martial every officer engaged in the whitewash game and to give Capt. Carroll full authority to uncover all evidence against even the highest responsible general. If that doesn’t work, a congressional investigation will be in order — Chicago Sun.

Oil Conservation Needed The importance of oil as a factor in international relations cannot be over-estimated. The Russian-Iranian controversy has a petroleum base, SO' do British Levantine interests and the United States is not without grave concern with what happens in the Near East. Reports of the world oil supply vary greatly. The Council of Foreign Relations has warned that new oil discoveries in the last 109 years have not kept pace with withdrawals on a basis of peacetime consumption. The United States is reputed to hold 20 per cent of the oil reserves of 21 billion barrels. Considering that the United States in 1944 withdrew 1,700,000,000 barrels of oil, the reserve would last only 12 years. And remember, too, that the United States provided 80 per cent of the oil used by the Allied in World War II. The Mead Senate Committee says the United States 'could not provide the oil for another war of such magnitude. On the optimistic side are the views of Dr. Gustav Egloff, research director for the Universal Oil Products Company, who believes we only have begun to tap our petroleum reserves.^ He believes known oil reserves will last for another 250 years. Says Dr. Egloff there are 600 billion barrels in known reserves. The Government cannot afford to gamble with such varying opinions. Until one is verified and the other refuted, careful consideration of oil resources is highly important. —Journal Gazette.

The Children’s Hour We are beginning to feel guilty about our youth. -—- To think we wasted it playing baseball, marbles, sneaking into the circus, drawing mustaches on subway ads. We should have been trying to make something of ourselves before rounding the ripe age of 12—a bank president or something. Today’s young people make us feel so ashamed. In only a couple pages of the news the other day, we learned: 1. A slip of a girl, Jane Albrecht, of New York, has written a novel, “The Phantom Year,” at the tender age of 17. Simon & Schuster is publishing it. 2. Lena Pearl Lindsey, in Memphis, Tenn., is onl^y 14—and already she not only has been married, but divorced, too. 3. In Italy, a barefoot boy in short pants, Pierino Gamba, conducted a two-hour program of the symphony orchestra of Rome’s Royal Opera House, won plaudits of the audi-

ence. Pierino is 9 years old. Where will this sort of thing stop, this adult achievement by juveniles? If the mad drive of ambition becomes general among children, what of us grown-ups ? There won’t be anything for us to do but sit back and watch them—and write home to Junior for money. — Philadelphia Record.

Congress and World Law Congressional action ought to be speeded by the State Department’s declaration that it favors American acceptance of compulsory jurisdiction for the International Court in a wide category of cases. Two resolutions to approve such acceptance have been introduced in Congress : — one by Senator Morse of Oregon with 14 Senate associates, the other by Representative Herter of Massachusetts The Morse resolution has been pending for months, but no hearings have been held on either measure. If Congress would give the world a practical lead f^r the rule of law, It should lose no further time in advancing to affirmative action. If we are to move toward world government, compulsory jurisdiction by the court should be accepted universally for cases proper to it. At the San Francisco conference, China was the compulsory universal jurisdiction. We should have been, too. But the statute of the court does not provide for acceptance of comulsory jurisdiction, by any states willing to accept it, in legal disputes concerning: “the interpretation of a treaty; any question of international law; the existence of any fact which, if established, would constitute a breach of an international obligation; then nature of extent of the reparation to be made for the breach of an international obligation.” Under the Morse resolution, similar to that of Representative Herter, America would recognize the court’s jurisdiction as compulsory, in any such disputes, with any other state accepting the same obligation. The sooner America takes that stand, the sooner can we hope for universal jurisdiction. It will do no good to “wait and see” how the United Nations, and the court of which it is the judicial arm, work. To make them work it is necessary to 'support them, practically, by giving them proper work to do. — Chicago Sun.

Use for Gold! There is going to be a new gold standard. But before conservative worshipers at the ! shrine of the Golden Calf start cheering too loudly, let us explain. It’s not the kind of gold standard that will bring joy to the professional manlpulai ters of currency. It’s a gold standard for scientists, not

bankers.

Our scientists are a lot smarter than bankers and smarter still than medieval alchemists. Instead of trying to turn other metals into gold, they have transformed gold into mercury atoms. The new mercuiy atoms made from gold give off a little ray of green light, which is expected to give the world a new and more accurate standard of length. For the waves of the green light do not vary in length by more than 50-billionth of an inch. That’s about 10 times more accurate than the previously used cadmium light. The discovery was made by atomic scientists of the Navy Electronics Research Laboratory and of the University of California. The thing worries' us. It’s true we have found a new use for the $20 billion dollar gold hoard at Fort Knox. But it takes only a half cent’s worth of gold to make one of the new lamps. * YOU figure out how many lamps can be made from $20 billion worth of gold — Philadelphia Record.

o

Many Times ‘No’ Although the proposed—and postponed— atomic bomb tests in the Pacific are horrifying enough to think about just as is, 30 persons have added a grisly note by offering to be part of the targets. Most of the 30, it seems, are tired of it all. One, however, not only isn’t weary but is a candidate for Mr. Bravado of 1946. He wrote: “Fifty per cent of our population are alcoholics” (a whopping exaggeration) “and as an alcoholic I offer myself as a guinea pig. P. S.—I’ll bet you $1,000 I’ll live, too.” Task force headquarters is saying “no” to all 30. It should give the professed alcoholic a triple refusal. If he were to win that bet the cause of sobriety might to set back for the next 500 years.—Chicago Sun. o During the war years and before, labor has made concerted efforts to protect the stake of the consumer in collective bargaining. Time after time labor lias sacrificed gains that might have thrown the nation’s price structure out of gear.—Camden (N. J.) Union

Reporter.

It’s the people who will pay for more NAM profits if the lobbyists win the battle against price control. The people don’t have a million bucks for full-page ads in the papers— but it takes a 3-cent stamp to writer a letter to your congressman insisting that he vote, for renewal of the price control act now. And, take it from the NAM, letters and wires from the people count with Congress, because they mean votes.—The Union Times, New Haven, Conn.

We have got to live in this great nation of ours as friends and neighbors, and the atomic bomb has made it absolutely necessary that the whole world live as friendly neighbors. —The Butcher Workipan.

Making Trim Garden Rows Calls for Precision Care

For Larger Seeds Make Drill With the Hoe Blade.

When flowers or vegetables are grown in rows, the layout of the garden should be a precision operation. The garden should be rectangular, the rows parallel and straight. An exception is made for hilly country, where the wash of soil should be checked by contour planting. Here rows should run at right angles to the slope, but they should still be parallel, though on rounded slopes they will be curved. Serpentine, slanting or uneven rows will double the work of cultivation, and give an appearance of incompetence to the garden. Rows are spaced with varying distances between them, depending on two factors: The needs of the crop, and the convenience of cultivation. In rich soil vegetables may be spaced more closely than in poor; but when spaced too close together, it is difficult to cultivate between the rows. For crops growing twelve inches tall or less, rows may be spaced 10 inches to a foot apart and cultivated with hand tools. For cultivation with a wheel hoe, eighteen inches is likely to be found a minimum distance, since it is necessary to avoid disturbing the roots of the vegetables, whatever tool is used. Taller vegetables, and those that make vines, large bushes, or have a sprawling habit, must be given more distance between rows. In small gardens, 4 feet will usually

For Shallow Drill for Tiny Seeds, Press Edge of Board Into Soil.

Use Hoe Handle to Make Drill Foi Medium Sized Seeds.

be the maximum distance, given only for such crops as bush squash and cucumbers.* After you know where the rows are to be, a line should be stretched to mark the first row. Some gardeners use a straight, narrow board as a ruler to make the row straight. A garden line is likely to be more convenient; heavy lines wound on iron reels are handy, but any strong cord stretched between two stakes will do. Using the corner of a hoe, draw in the soft soil a shallow trench with this line as a guide. This is known as a drill. In the spring a very shallow trench is called for, in which to sow small seeds. Some prefer to use the end of the hoe handle rather than the corner of the blade. Others have small hoes which they like; but it is more a matter of touch than the tool. For small seeds such as radishes, onions, carrots, lettuce, and endive, a drill half an inch deep is enough. A little deeper for beets and Swiss chard, and an inch for peas, beans and sweet corn will be sufficient. Shallow sowing is preferred nowadays in the cool, moist spring, but make drills a little deeper when hot weather comes. The chief point to watch in making a drill is to keep it straight. Use the line as a guide, but do not put any pressure on it, otherwise you will Vasily swing it out of line.

Vets Eager To Learn Quickly Pittsburgh .— College - minded war veterans, accustomed to the Army’s accelerated training methods, are looking for similar “hurry up” courses from civilian

schools.

A United Press survey of the city's smaller technical schools brought forth a consensus that the former doughboy lacks the necessary patience to “sweat-out” long term schooling. However, most supervisors and instructors agreed that he is determined to “make something out of himself.” “These boys aren’t looking for something easy in line,” declared L. C. Harrison, district manager of the Central Radio and Television School. “They are willing to Learn and correct their deficiencies. Their only objection is time. Time seems to be the most important thing to

them.”

Mortuary School ‘Filled’ In conducting its inquiry, the United Press canvassed a crosssection of institutions that specialized in comparatively short courses of technical work. The survey revealed a surpising number of veterans interested in such fields as music and—strangely enough—undertaking. Ironically, the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science reported a “peak number” of veterans registered in its 12-month course. Dr. Otto S. Margolis, one of the directors ahd secretary of the school, said 40 ex-servicemen were turned away last January, “because they would have flooded the field.” Most of the schools are bulging with veterans, the survey reported. Instructors were in accord over the following: the veteran is eager Jo “hop on the band wagon” of competitive enterprise; he has been quick to realize his limited abilities; and, once registered In j a school he studies a good deal harder than most non-veterans.

Classes For Disabled Some schools have been quick to respond to the ambitions of physicially handicapped veterans. The Central Radio and Television School and the LaSalle School of Beauty have opened classes for wounded servicemen. Two schools for speech correction said “a number” of their students are discharged veterans who lost partial use of their voices during the

war.

Music is another field which has attracted the veteran. Mrs. Grace Tower, president of the Pittsburgh Piano Teachers Assn., said ex-GIs are flocking to members of the organization for instructions. “The boys found out . . . that music is a good remedy for their postwar jitters with which many of them are afflicted. They say piano-playing steadies their nerves.” Women veterans are represented throughout the city’s business and modeling schools. But even in such institutions as the Robert Morris School of Business and the Noble-Thompson Institute of Business, male veterans largely outnumber the female.

“Stop Me If...”

John Griggs, star of Mutual’s “House of Mystery” series, is .vice president of the United States Rocket Society, whose plan is to send the first rocket to the moon, and claim the lunar body in the name of the United States. “We’ll stake a claim,” says Griggs, “just as the pioneers did. Our plan is to make a rocket large enough for a complete crew and supplies—then watch our smoke!”

Miller’s Flower Shop FLOWERS for all OCCASIONS Closed Sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Funeral Work a Specialty RUSSELL MILLER, Prop. 5th and Vine Sts. Phone 8286

JEFFERSON FOOD MARKET

AT JACKSON AND KILGORE

730 W. Jackson St.

Phone 7714