Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 24 May 1946 — Page 1

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Muncie, Indiana, Friday, May 24, 1946.

FRIDAY, MAY 24, 1946.

YARDMASTERS ON JOB Chicago — The railroad yardmasters of America, who represent 75 per cent of the country’s yardmasters, today ordered members to stay on the job and charged that striking trainmen were using “threats and other pressures” in attempts to force them to walk out. M. G. Shock, president of the brotherhood, said his union would fight such threats. “No strike has been ordered by the Railroad Yardmasters of America,” Shock’s statement said. o CLUB MANAGER RESIGNS Chicago — James J. Dykes, manager of the Chicago White Sox since 1934, resigned today, it was announced by vice president and general manager Leslie M. O’Connor. • o TRUMAN TO RUN IN ’48 New York.—Secretary of Commerce Henry A. Wallace stated flatly last night that President Truman will run for re-election in 1948. “And I am going to support him,” Wallace told reporters at LaGuardia Field who asked him if he would be a candidate for the presidential nomination.

REVEALS CANDIDACY Indianapolis — Thomas C. Williams, clerk of the Indiana Supreme Court and Appellate Courts today announced his candidacy for renomination at the Republican State Convention June 13. A native of Jeffersonville, Williams was elected to the clerk’s post in 1942. Williams said he had the endorsement and suppart of the GOP organization in his home district, the eighth.

PRICES SOON Chicago — Prices on all fresh vegetables soared upward in an unprecedented advance on the wholesale markets today, as Chicago braced itself for a food pinch. o EMBARGO ON MAIL Washington — The rail strike forced a drastic curtailment tolay in operation of the nation’s fast postal 'system. Mails received a priority for vailable plane and motor carrier pace. But higher priorities for yven more essential items made it impossible to move more than a fraction of postal traffic normally handled by rail. o TWO GIVEN LIFE Columbus, Ind. — Willie Lee Hopkins, 29, and William Steele. 26, both of Gary, were sentenced to life imprisonment today after they pleaded guilty to charges growing out of the shooting of State Trooper Robert Bennett last February. The two negroes wil be turned over to Indiana authfrities at the end of five-year federal prison terms which they are now serving for violation of the Dyer Act (auto theft). Bennett was seriously wounded when shot five time after stopping a car in a highway near here for a routine traffic checkup. o ANOTHER BROWNQUT SEEN Washington — Twenty-one eastern and middlewestern states, plus the District of Columbia, today were promised a compulsory brownout next week unless railroads and coal mines are in operation by Monday. Edward Falck, director of CPA’s office for emergency controls, said either a rail or coal stoppage continuing into next week probably would force these restrictions. o NAVY TO RUN RAILROADS Washington — The Navy today ordered all commanding officers in the United States to make an immediate survey to determine the naval personnel who have had any experience in railroad work.

As Wisconsin Went So Will Indiana ■ Anti - LaFoUette Robert LaFoUette, Pro-Liberal and Progres- HACKS AWAY AT aw Had Approval of Taft-But Wiscon- T||E HEALTH BILL

sin Voters Attacked Him As a Radical and Finally Turned Him Down — A Similar Condition Exists Where Another Liberal LaFoUette Is Seeking the GOP Senate Nomination—However It Is Anticipated That Hoosier GOP Elements Will Repudiate Him for a Man Named Jenner.

A short while ago, Senator Bob LaFoUette of Wisconsin officiated at the demise of the Progressive Party of that state which has distinguished father organized back in 1924, and which had sent Bob the Younger to the United States Senate for a notable

career.

On international matters, the younger LaFoUette has displayed much of his father’s well-known

isolationism, but on the home front he has been (as was his father) pro-labor and liberal. For this reason, he has been able to carry water successfully on both shoulders—appealing to the reactionaries, who are essentially isolationist, on the one side, and to the liberals, who are pro-labor, on the other. When recently he returned to the Republican fold, the event made headlines all over America,' and there was great (apparent) rejoicing in Republican circles. But it is significant of just how reactionary the GOP organization has. become, both nationally and in states supposedly “progressive.” that though the Wisconsin LaFollette’s isolationism got him the god-like nod of no less a topnotcher than Robert Taft, the Republicans of Wisconsin could not stomach him because of his— otherwise—liberalism. A letter from Taft went the rounds of the Republican state convention, plugging for Bob. In it “the great compromiser” said: “With regard to Wisconsin, I hope La Follette is successful. I get on with him very well and would have no difficulty in agreeing with him on social welfare measures.” (Taft has a neat way of getting on with people who introduce or uphold social welfare measures. The stilletto is worn up his sleeve, but he knows how to use it to best advantage. The method is known as “Amer\dment.”) Taft also put in a good word for La Follette on the grounds that the latter “disapproves so strongly of Stassen’s foreign policy, I don’t think he will ever get into that controversy.” Nevertheless, and in spite of this sanction by the man whom Thomas S. Stokes recently described as “pefhaps the most effective Republican in Congress and in Party leadership—and a formidable factor in the 1948 presidential convention” — new national GOP Chairman Carroll Reece himself being known as a “Taft man” Bob La Follette was attacked repeatedly in the Wisconsin convention as a radical, and it was said by Wisconsin Republicans, as Indiana Republicans are saying of his distant cousin Charles M. La Follette,. that his support of much of the New Deal’s legislative program had made him “unfit to represent the Republicans in the Senate.” And so the Wisconsin Republicans turned down Bob, and nominated instead a young Judge, Joseph R. McCarthy—as the Indi-

ana Republicans will almost certainly turn down Charles, probably in favor of a young attorney

named Jenner.

Charles M. La Follette has said he will not run as an independent. It is probable that Bob will. But whether he can be elected, after

Taft’s Hired Girl Fridiay Fights Insurance System Although the Republican Party has not yet taken a stand openly against President Truman’s proposal for a nation-wide health insurance system to make better ( medical care available to all, the Republican National Committee has, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, assigned a hatchet woman to help G.O.P. senators chop at the Wagner-Murray-Din-gell Bill, which implements the President’s proposal. Hearings on the bill are now being held by the Senate Committee on Education and Labor. Senator Donnell (Rep., Mo.), is leading the fight against the bill in committee, while Senator Taft (Rep., Ohio), who is Boycotting the hearings, speaks against it from the platform and over the

radio.

The Doctor Prompts The national committee’s assistant to the senators is Dr. Marjorie Shearon, who sits next to

the Party to which he led back his | Donnell at the hearing

own cohorts, has turned down, remains to be seen.

him

IDEA MEETING OVER WEEKEND

Alvin Johnson Named Secretary State Democratic Committee

RETURNS TO CAPITAL Savannah, Ga. — Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Army Chief of Staff, today cut short a vacation on the Georgia seacoast and announced he had been ordered to Washington immediately for an emergency conference on the railroad strike.

SENATORS ANGRY Washington — An angry Senate, aroused to fever pitch by coal and rail strikes, rolled today toward enactment of stringent un-ion-curbing legislation. Advocates of strike restrictions foresaw speedy victories as the aftermath of a 14-hour session which lasted until 1:15 a. m. today and saw them batter one major triumph through opponents who had stalled action for two weeks. The Senate meets an hour early at 11 a. m. today to resume their drive for a labor Bill.

(By United Press Wire) Indianapolis, May 23 — Activity in Democratic party ranks picked up speed today as state leaders announced plans for the weekend meeting of the Democratic Editorial Association and issued the official call for the state convention June 25. The state Democratic Committee also had a new secretary. He was Alvin C. Johnson, Indianapolis attorney, named by Chairman Pleas E. Greenlee to succeed Charles A. Skillen of Winamac. Some 200 Hoosier editors and guests were expected for the editorial session. John A. Watkins, publisher of the Bloomfield World, will be the principal speaker. Greenlee yesterday officially called the 1,949 delegates to the state convention at which Democratic state candidates and a senatorial candidate will be selected. The convention will be held in the State Fairgrounds Coliseum. Hugh A. Barnhart, Rochester publisher, was scheduled to turn over the reigns of the Editorial Association to Robert P. O’Bannon, Corydon, during the meeting Saturday. Marion T. Ayrse, Shelbyville, will become vice president and Curtis Hostetter, Lafayette, secretary. A new treasurer will be elected. The editors and publishers will hold a business meeting to organize for the approaching campaign. Prominent Democrats scheduled to attend the session included Judge Sherman Minton; former Governor M. Clifford Townsend, National Committeeman Frank McHale, and newly nominated Democratic congressional candidates. The state committee’s new secretary, Johnson, is a World War II navy veteran and has been active in Democratic politics for (Continued On Pace Three)

Resolution Lauds Fred Bays The following resolution was adopted by the Democratic State Central Committee in executive session on May 18, 1946, at State Headquarters, Room 205, Claypool Hotel, Indianapolis, Indiana: RESOLUTION WHEREAS, Fred F. Bays for seven years has served the Democratic Party in Indiana as Chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee: and WHEREAS, through these years he has served the Party, the state and the nation with unswerving zeal and complete and unselfish devotion to the high principles of the Democratic Party and of its great leader, our late beloved President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt: and WHEREAS, he has decided to resign as Chairman of this Committee: and ' WHEREAS, he has won the admiration, the respect and the sincere regard of all with whom he has worked; therefore, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Democratic State Central Committee express its sincere regret at losing such a faithful and able executive, and hereby extend to Fred F. Bays our deep appreciation for his splendid service, his keen interest, his never-failing regard for the high principles which we stand committed to carry on, and the effective and efficient manner in which he has conducted the responsibilities of his office: and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that in further expression of our appreciation we hereby tend h>m a vote of our present and continued confidence and approval.

table and prompts him.

“For a little slip of a woman,” says the Post-Dispatch, she’s a tower of strength to Donnell, frequently whispering advice and suggestions to him and handing him sheafs of documents, statistics and precise charts. She-per-sonifies the G.O.P| because, as she told The Post-Dispatch, she’s on the payroll of the national committee as a ‘research analyst.’ “It was at the suggestion of Senator Robert Taft, Dr. Shearon said, that she undertook to act as a sort of research advisor on social security matters to Republican Senators. It will be recalled that Senator Taft stalked out of the hearings of the Education and Labor Committee in high dudgeon recently when Chairman James E. Murray (Dem., Mont.), threatened to have him thrown out

bodily.”

(The reference is to Senator Murray’s threat to call a Capitol Guard to take Senator Taft from the room when the latter insisted on interrupting Murray’s reading of a statement at the opening of the hearings. Murray told Taft that he would have ample chance to make his own statement later, but Taft persisted in breaking in on Murray’s remarks, in defiance of the rules of order.) 100% Attendance “For somereason,” says the Post-Dispatch, the iron-tonsilled Taft hasn’t been back since, but sir\ce then Dr. Shearon hasn’t missed a session. “Senator Donnell, it develops, has been slightly immodest in taking the spotlight as the main foe of the bill, in view of Dr. Shearon’s vital role. To spectators she seems to be the power behind the oppositionist throne. 'Continued On Page Three) gopWriter SEES DEFEAT

Claims Republican Party Is Still Same Old Crowd

Ernest Fellow, writing in the March issue of The Republican, an official publication of the Republican Party, comes out and says what everyone has known all along—that despite the tubthumping and spurious “me too’s,’ the Republican Party is still the same old crowd up to the same old things. Hear Mr. Fellow on the subject: “The upsurge of Republican confidence is not based, apparently, upon anything that has happened within the Republican Party. Except for a somewhat more active national organization, nothing new seems to have been added to the party recently. On the surface, at least, it looks very much like the«ame old partythat lost four Presidential elections and every Congressional campaign between 1932 and 1944— the longest drought for the GOP since Lincoln led the party to its first national victory in 1860. “Many Republicans have raised their voices in support of a more aggressive program designed to broaden the base of the party’s support. Otherwise, the GOP appears to be approaching the 1946 and 1948 campaigns with exactly the same state of mind which contributed to its previous defeats.”

U.S. STAGGERED BY RAIL STRIKE Food Supplies Dwindle, Steel Furnaces Are Banked, Mills Closed Washington, May 24—The worst strike in its history staggered the nation today. From New York, to Chicago, to San Francisco, to Peoria the impact of the strike of railroad engineers and trainmen disrupted the lives of millions of persons and, in same way, reached into almost every American home. Except in a few instances, trains were not running. Millions of persons were stranded, cut off from their home or their jobs. Row after row of freight cars jammed the rail yards from coast to coast. This rail life lines of industry and commerce were severed. Industry felt the strike blow within a few hours. Steel furnaces were banked, and the big mills began to close. The automobile companies prepared for an inevitable shutdown. The Studebaker Corporation at South Bend, Ind., announced it would close at 2:30 p. m. today, and General Motors Corporation prepared to shut down its vast factory system within two weeks unless the rail strike is settled and coal production brought back to near normal. The coal mines were closing rapidly, and a spokesman for the industry said 90 per cent of bituminous production would be halted by tonight. Food supplies dwindled, and some big cities felt the pinch almost at once. The government moved in to try to keep essential goods moving by plane and truck, and the Post Office Department placed an emergency ban on all mail except first class letters and postal cards. Other government officials prepared to impose a severe brownout on 21 eastern and mid western states by next week if the strike continues. As the strike spread its paralysis’ over the 227,000,000 miles of U. S. railroads, the Railroad Yardmasters of America charged at Chicago that the strikers were using threats and “other pressures” in an attempt to get them to join the walkout. The yardmasters organization urged its members to stay on the job. Although food shortages already were turning up in Chicago, a spokesman for the American Trucking Association, said there would be enough trucks available to haul essential foods into the nation’s second city. He said there are more than 10,000 long-dis-tance trucks available for the emergency,, and these can bring in a million pounds of food to Chi-

cago.

Meanwhile, on the Chicago wholesale markets prices of all fresh vegetables soared upward. Potato prices went up as much as $1.25 a hundred pounds. o : Travelers Are Stranded In U. S.

Chicago, May 24. —Practically every airplane and bus in the nation was pressed into service today as stranded travelers turned to any means of transportation available as a result of the rail

strike.

Bus stations and airline offices throughout the country attempting'the impossible task of absorbing thousands of railroad passengers, were jammed to capacity, with crowds exceeding even wartime loads. Mobbed bus companies called in extra crews and put “everything with four wheels” on the road to take care of the overflow. Air lines reported an unprecedented demand for seats, and private charter companies were deluged with calls. In many areas, the sale of bus tickets was limited to service personnel, and air plane reservations were subject to cancellation up to flight departure time. Passengers were warned bluntly that they might be “bumped” anywhere to make room for a mounting volume of priority cargo. Arthur M. Hill, president of the National Association of Motor Bus Operators, estimated that the nation’s bus lines could carry 25 per cent more passengers by “packing them in the aisles.” Hill, in Chicago attending the operators’ annual convention, emphasized, however, that “we can’t hope to carry the volume of traffic the railroads handle.” “We are using everything we have,” he said, “but it isn’t much. To do the work of the railroads we would have to increase our capacity by at least 400 per cent. Bus terminals in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Los Angeles and other metropolitan centers were jammed and overflowing into the streets as frantic travelers fought for seats.

Republicans Have Mess To Clean Up In Liquor Smoke

Republican State Administrators Have Exploited Beer and Liquor Business—Have Used It As Patronage for GOP Favorites -Fred Bays Had Been Divorced From Liquor Patronage for Many Years—Cleaning Up Mess Is Campaign Issue of Old Guard To Obtain Votes This Fall. Their ugly heads are rising again. This was the final sentence in an editorial by the Indianapolis News and reproduced yesterday as nearly a quarter page advertisement in both local daily newspapers under the heading Political Smoke and Liquor Control Fire. It would appear that the purpose of the manuscript is to place all blame for any disrepute of the liquor business in Indiana today upon the Democratic party and its leaders. The article apparently is setting the stage for the 1946 political campaign in favor

of the Republican party. The lusts or political power and profits are referred to as being the

TRUMAN ACTS TO INCREASE FOOD

President Seeks To Stem Sweeping Famine

Abroad

Moving in to stem the sweeping spread of famine abroad, the Administration has ordered a qut of 25 per cent in the amount of flour millers may deliver for consumption here at home. The reduction is expected to allow corresponding increases in shipments of wheat and flour to starvation areas. Upwards of 20,000,000 bushels of wheat, and possibly as much as 25,000,000 bushels, is expected to be released, and, when processed, should provide enough bread for 20,000,000 people for three months. Previously the government issued a series of orders designed to break transportation bottlenecks in this country and to stimulate the greatest possible conservation and shipment of essential food supplies to famished

peoples.

Transportation Opened. Rail priorities were established for wheat, corn, meat, and other vitally needed foods, and additional shipping was allocated for movement of food overseas. Controls were set up for inventories and exports of wheat and flour, and the Administration halted the use of wheat and limited the use of other grains in the manufacture of alcohol and beer. The amount of wheat extracted in making white flour was raised from 72 to 80 percent. A wheat purchase certificate plan was instituted April 1 to speed wheat from farms to consumers and shipping points. By this plan, farmers are issued certificates for their wheat production which allow them to choose any day between the selling date and April 1, 1947, to take payment enabling them to take advantage of peak prices. The Administration is also offering a bonus of 30 cents a bushel of wheat delivered under the certificate plan by May 25. To be eligible for this bonus producers must select a date for payment between the date of delivery and June 15, 1946. Inventories that millers and food manufacturers may hold have been further restricted from a 30 days’ supply to 21 days’ supply effective May 1. In addition, the Administration asked farmers to raise their 1946 production goals, launched a na-tion-wide chicken price-support program to aid producers in mar(Continued On Page Three) GOP GAM ON WALLACE FAILS

Clear Party-Front Attack Which Is Beaten By Few Votes

Northern and Southern Democrats formed a solid front in the House on May 3 to bat down a Republican-hate-Henry Wallace attempt to deprive the Commerce Department of needed funds in the State, Justice and Commerce appropriation bill. The House, however, passed the bill and sent it on to the Senate. It was a clear party-front fight and the Republican attack was beaten down by margin of one vote. Speaker Rayburn, Democrat of Texas, saved the issue. Following a roll call on an amendment to slash some $4,500,000 from the bill channeled for additional personnel for the Department’s reorganization, the vote stood: Ayes, 127; noes, 126. Speaker Saves The Issue The Speaker voted “No.” When a tie vote occurs, an amendment

is lost.

Republican Leader Joseph W. Martin, Jr., of Massachusetts, demanded a recapitulation but the result stood. In the course of the debate, Rep. Louis C. Rabaut, Democrat,, of Michigan, defending the appropriation against attack from Rep. Charles W. Vursell, Republican, of Illinois, said: “. . . Can it be possible that the members of this House have forgotten the vacant stores that stood all over this Nation after World War I, after they had the spiral of inflation and the grand crash? . . . Can it be possible that they have forgotten all about the people that were wiped out financially. . ...? .

ugly heads which would destroy public confidence in the regulation of liquor traffic in Indiana. Now that during the past year the Republican state administration has completely exploited the beer and liquor business directly thru the G.O.P. political organization it is today announcing that such business will be removed from political control in their own way. So far their way of removing the business from political control has been to use it as patronage for Republican favorites. The Democratic party nationally was responsible for repealing the prohibition amendment after years of bootlegging, high-jacking, and Ipw violations during the prohibition era completely disgusted the general public. In Indiana, a Democratic state administration attempted to regulate liquor traffic by laws but never did they place control directly within the powers of a political state chairman and county chairmen who make up a state political organization. It is definitely known that Fred Bays, who until last Saturday was Democratic state chairman for seven years, was entirely divorced from any liquor patronage or control such as William Jenner exercised these powers while Republican state chairman during the past year. Neither did Democratic county chairmen in Indiana possess the privilege or powers to approve or disapprove liquor licenseing in their own communities such as the G.O.P. program of control included in the past year. It is known that many Republican county chairmen resented this method of control because it became a nuisance to them but it remains a part of the plan to keep a political hold on the liquor business for the G.O.P. state organization and administration. In Delaware county and Muncie all four wholesale beer permits were denied former holders of the licenses and turned over to Republican political workers. This same policy was adopted throughout Indiana and yet the G.O.P. state chairman claims to take the liquor business out of politics. The facts are that the liquor business has been more deeply entrenched in the hands of politicians during the past rule of Republicans in Indiana and the yelping about cleaning up their own mess resounds a campaign issue to obtain votes this fall.

WOMEN SEEK SOLON'S SEAT 15 Women Are Campaigning For Congress This November This year more Democraitc women are seeking election to national posts than ever before. Fifteen are campaigning for Congress and one rs~a candidate for the governorship of South Dakota. Five Democratic women now in the House are running for reelection. They are Mary Norton, of New Jersey; Emily Taft Douglas, of Illinois; Helen Gahagan Douglas, of California; Chase Going Woodhouse, of Connecticut, and Helen Douglas Mankin, of Georgia. The other women campaigning for the House are: Mrs. Olive Remington Goldman, of Urbana, 111., wife of a University of Illinois professor, who is opposing the Republican incumbent from the 19th Illinois District, Rep. Rolla C. McMillen. Catherine Falvey, of Somerville, Mass., a major in the WAC. Miss Falvey, in her early thirties, is a candidate for the 11th District seat now held by Rep. James Curley, who is not seeking reelection. Judge Sara Hughes, Dallas, Tex., district judge, who is a candidate for the Fifth District seat now occupied by Democratic Rep. Hatton Sumners, who will not seek re-election. Mrs. Ruth W. Kingman, of Berkeley, Calif., who is running for the Seventh District seat of Republican Rep. John J. Allen,

Jr.

Mrs. Lolly O’Connell, of Anniston, Ala., who is opposing Rep. Sam Hobbs, Democrat, from Alabama’s Fourth District. Mrs. Elizabeth Chilton Murray, of Fairfax, Va., who is running against Democratic Rep. Howard Smith, of the Eighth Virginia District. Mrs. Margaret Afflis, of Delphi, Ind., who has announced for the Second District seat now held by Charles A. Halleck, Republican. Mrs. Martha Sharp, who is running for the House in the 14th District of Massachussetts. Miss Camille Geaneau, who is (Continued On Page Three)

The New Chairman Speaks In accepting the chairmanship of the Democratic State Central Committee of Indiana, I first of all want to thank the Democrats of the State for the honor they have conferred upon me and the opportunity they have given to me to serve the Party, which I pledge to do with relentless devotion. It shall be my sincere purpose to unite our forces and to welcome every Democrat and every person in the state who desires to affiliate with the progressive and constructive program of the Democratic Party. I want to make it very clear at the outset that as State Chairman I shall insist that our platform to be adopted at the coming state convention shall go on record in no uncertain terms in divorcing politics from the beer and liquor business in Indiana; and that the platform further declares that our Party go on record as favoring legislation so positive in its meaning that there can never again be the slightest chance of any connection between these forces and government. I want further to declare that the state convention will be an open convention at which any Democrat or his friends will be free to enter his name in the convention for any of the offices to be nominated. It will be useless for any aspiring candidate to ask that I as State Chairman or the state organization use our position to nominate him or to block out any person desirous of a nomination. I shall bend every effort to heal all Party differences and I shall continuously endeavor to keep the Party in the hands of the people and truly representative of the Four Freedoms and the other humanitarian principles so valiantly fought for by our beloved President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. PLEAS GREENLEE, Indiana State Democratic Chairman.