Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 6 December 1946 — Page 2

POST-DEMOCRAT, FRIDAY. DECEMBER 6, 1946.

THE POST-DEMOCRAT £ Democratic weekly newspaper representing the democrats of Muncie, Delaware County and the l(Uh Congressional District. The only Democratic Newspaper in Delaware County. Entered as second class matter January 15, 1921, at the Post Office at Muncie, Indiana, under Act of March 3. 1879. ' PRICE 5 CENTS—$1.50 A YEAR " MRS. GEO. R. DALE, Publisher 916 West Main Street Muncie, Indiana, Friday, December 6, 1946.

A House Divided Tlie Republicans are going to control the next Congress, but who is going to control the Republican party ? While the President of the United States is a Democrat, no one individual will be able to dictate GOP policy. There has been much talk about factions find schisms among the Democrats, but the Republicans are hot without them, too. They have their reactionaries, ' their conservatives and their liberals. Several ambitious candidates will be sparring for the Republican presidential nomination in 1948 and that will work against unity. Sen. Arthur Vandenberg df Michigan is the party’s leader on all matters pertaining to foreign policy. However, the isolationists will not aiways*go along with him. The Chicago Tribune, published by Col. Robert R. McCormick, who dominates the GOP in the state of Illinois, likes nothing better than to snipe at Vandenberg. Col. McCormick thinks of Van as a “one-worlder.” Neither does the Tribune have any use for Gov. Tom Dewey of New York and former Gov. Harold Stassen of Minnesota. Sen. Robert Taft of Ohio will be the most important Republican in the Senate on domestic issues. While Taft has side-stepped the actual position of majority leader, he will be the power behind the scenes. He seems set to grab off several important committee assignments and will be angling to secure the presidential nomination for himself. Taft has a good hold on the delegates from the Southern states. He is a thorough-going conservative. His great handicap to his desire to attain the White House once occupied by his father, the late William Howard Taft, is that the rank and file voters do not warm up to him. He never stands well in the public opinion polls. He has too much dry ice in his make-up. In the House, great power will be wielded by Joseph Martin of Massachusetts, who is slated for speaker, and the majority leader, who is likely to be Charles Halleck, popular Indiana Congressman. Halleck is younger, more energetic and more aggressive than Martin. No Republican candidate is a cinch for the presidential nomination at this time. Dewey has the greatest popular support. He is still remembered by the public as a “gang-buster.” Stassen is second in the polls, but is likely to find it hard to get the delegate strength which counts toward the nomination. Another brake on the Taft bandwagon is the fact that Sen.-Elect John W. Bricker of Ohio is also a candidate for the highest political office. Don’t look for smooth harmony within the GOP during the next two years, because it will not be there. A lot of things will have to be slugged out.—Journal-Gazette.

The Coal Strike The chief question raised by the current coal strike, in the opinion of the Des Moines Register is “whether any society—even a democratic society—can tolerate its own periodic paralysis through the concentration of power over its life and health in a single spe-cial-interest minority, regardless of whether the minority represents labor, or capital, or agriculture, or Government service, or something else.” The Register feels that these threats to our national security must be met, no matter frdm what source they come. The Des Moines newspaper continues: “The American nation is not forever going to permit itself to be made impotent and sick in order to preserve freedom which has turned to license ... If some segments of labor have to learn that the hard way, as capital once did, they will nevertheless have to learn soon or late.” An editorial in the New York Times points out the leaders of the United Mine Workers are now conducting “an economic war against the Government of the United States” but that “the government against which Mr. Lewis has mobilized his strength is not the miners’ enemy. Over and over again it has proved itseli the best friend the miners ever had.” The Times then recalls the hard conditions which existed in the coal mining trade for many years and says that Lewis and the miners could not reform these conditions by the strike weapon. “They were repaired by Governmental action and Governmental policy. I he miners owe a debt of gratitude, which some day they will realize, to the legislative and executives branches of their Government andMo the conscience of the American people.” “Now.’ - in order to get what he wants, the limes declares John L. Lewis “has shown complete willingness to cripple our entire economy, take coal out of the bins of people pool ci than most coal miners, take wages out of millions of pay envelopes. Is Lewis really acting in the best interest of the miners and of labor when he pursues his present course? The Times answers: “Mr. Lewis professes no friendship for the unorganized public. Is he even, on the record, the most important friend the coal miners have had? The basic legislation on which he grew great was not his. His contribution has been merely the horrendous

threat, the loud voice, the bitter tongue, the needless strike which has taken more out of . the miners’ savings thkn years of hard work j can put back. He has never lifted a finger to stabiliz'e the cOhl industry, as Hillman j and Dubinsky stabilized the ladies’ garment | industry. “He has gained nothing by his wrath and { recklessness that a really statesmanlike labor leader could not have won by peaceable means. Just now he is strengthening the hands of the extremists in Congress. “Whose friend is he? Is he the coal miners’ friend? They may well ask themselves that question as they make their Christmas plans this year. And others, in real admiration for the coal miners’ skill and courage, may also ask it.”—Journal Gazette. ,

U.S. Loyalty Tests Long Needed President Truman has set in motion some Governmental machinery that should have been functioning for many years. He has i set up an inter-agency commission to screen disloyal persons from Government jobs. This is not to be interpreted as a Red-bait-ing gesture. Actually, it is no more than any nation in the world has been doing in interests of national safety. It is no more than most industrial concerns have long been doing to insure employes’ loyalty to their employer. Who can argue that Communists do not constitute a threat to our Government as lorig as they remain hidden? The people who actually retain a loyalty to a foreign nation while posing as non-Communists are those whom we should fear. Professed Communists can be handled easily. Their numbers are not great. Many so-called liberals and publications of I soudo-liberal taint will denounce President Truman'r: action in this matter. They will profess to see a threat to personal liberty and the right of free speech. We must not be nf sited.. Members of fi\e departments Justice, State, Treasury, War asd Navy—and representatives of the Civil Service Commission will comprise the new commission. Its chief task will be to find better methods for examination of potential employes, and to set up legislation that is necessary for the protection of our Government. The Civil Service Commission has tried in its limited scope to do this very thing for years. Its budget never has been adequate for the task, and it usually met with some opposition from the persons who felt such inquiries would be embarrassing. However, in 1944 it found 335 persons unfit for Government service because of disloyalty; in 1945 there were 144 and in 1946 there have been 81 classified as ineligible. One must not confuse this new commission with the Committee on Un-American Activities. The latter’s unsavory record has given out-and-out Communists much ammunition with which to fight any patriotic probe. As we understand it, the new commission will not attempt to curb the free speech or criticize the liberal views of any person as long as he is a loyal American. We cannot imagine Russia employing anyone inimical to the Soviet point of riew, nor England enrusting Empire secrets to a known traitor. Why then, should there be any question as to the propriety of this longneeded step?—Journal Gazette. Europe Is Hard Hit, Too, By John L. Lewis’ Strike Excerpt from a letter written to The Record by a former friends of John L. Lewis: “I thought I knew him well after having fought the coal battle with him in 1943 and at other times. He is not now the same man at all. His arrogance has become boundless, hi£ ambition insatiable and his reliability doubt-

Ihe first few days of John L. Lewis’ coal strike have shown how far toward actuality the concept of One W^orld has progressed. Because of John L. Lewis’ coal strike, all Western Europe had to tighten its belt. Western European Governments were forced to translate this strike into curtailed transportation, less* food, less raw material and less production within their own boundaries. When that happens, as Drew Pearson made evident in The Record Saturday, the road is paved for totalitarianism of either the left oi right. Both thrive on chaos. It may be wondered if Mr. Lewis weighed the political and economic effects of his action—effects which might persist however quickly his present strike is settled. Western Europe still is politically chaotic, pulled this way and that by the ^powerful forces of the United States and the Soviet Union. Its people surely are watching both weighing strengths and weaknesses, calculating the advantages and disadvantages of joining their economic and hence their political fortunes to totalitarian Communism or Capitalistic democracy. Mr. Lewis’ strike won’t drive any hesitant country into our arms. Europeans can be forgiven for mistaking confused laws and awkward governmental tactics for fundamental weaknesses in our system. They have this evidence at hand: One man controls the economic destinies of a group of workers who comprise less than three-tenths of 1 percent of America’s population. Yet, with their backing, he can control America’s industrial life in defiance of a Govemment which, on more than one occasion, has been unable to stop him. The results of that defiance are being brought home to Western Europeans in a tangible manner. Hew will they react? It is reasonable to suppose that some would feel that they prefer a Government which runs its country’s industry and is able to enforce its orders, while others might prefer a form of capitalism with legal safeguards against labor ever getting a commanding position.—Philadelphia Record.

Press Relations vs. Propaganda

Rep. John Taber of New York usually makes a Story when he talks about anything, and for years he has leveled criticism at what he calls Federal press agents. By “press agents” Rep. Taber means the people who are employed by the Government to collect and disseminate news concerning a particular bureau or agency. “The press corps,” said Rep. Taber, “has become so lazy that reporters want a handout on anything they put in the papers.” The Congressman was speaking of Washington reporters, of course, and he went on to say that before 1933 reporters had to go out and get the news, “and if they could write without a handout then, they can learn to do it again.” At least those are the words as quoted by reputable newsmen who bear'd the diatribe, but naturally they may contain a misstatement since there were no printed

releases,.

Rep. Taber calls the people who hahdlte press relations for a Governmental unit “propaganda staffs,” propaganda being the

publicity given out by the opposition.

It is true that the use of publicity men, press relation experts, etc., has grown tremendously within the Government and in business as well. Rep. Taber sets 1933 as the starting point. It could be arbitarily set at any date within the past 25 years. The practice of employing persons to interpret actions, rulings and official statements has been found highly efficient by Government and industry in avoiding misstatements and inequitable distribution. The practice is sim-

ply another outgrowth progress.

No one will deny that too many such persons now arte cluttering up the Federal pay rolls. Their tenure at this moment is insecure, but Rep. Taber does the press an injustice when he satys it is content to accept

handouts.

Any newsman worth his salt is not content with an official handout. He will go behind the statement to seek the real interpretation of it. Certainly the modem newsman can do without handouts. He also can write witlT a quill pen and poke-berry ink instead of a typewriter, which seems to be about the stage of the New York Congressman’s thinking. Press relations are important to any Government, regardless of the political complexion of the Administration. American newspapermen are capable Of spotting a phony and passing the information along to the public. Sound press relations are just another reason why American newspapers lead the world in dessemination of information. —Journal Gazette.

Keal Disarmament, or Humbug Three propqsals on disarmament are nc before the political and security commitb of the United Nations General Assembly, is no accident, perhaps, that the proposa of the two strongest powers, Russia and tl United States, are less specific and forthrig than that submitted by Canada with Austt lian and British backing-. The American resolution, like the Russia is distinguished for its emphasis on “prioi ties.” Where Moscow says a ban on atom weapons should come first, the U. S. deleg tion says that the forthcoming report of tl Atomic Energy Commission, which w probably include such ban only as part Of larger control scheme, should come first, ’ Beyond this, we don’t have much of a pla We say merely that the Security Coum should consider the problem, that ste should be recommended. Canada has bees more specific. She pr poses that the Security Council immediate negotiate agreements for the establishme of an international police force, that it pr pare a draft treaty for general disarmame which will include a permanent internation control commission. The test of good faith for the big powe —primarily for Russia asd America — w come on two issues: first, whether they a willing to set up an independent inspectu system whose daily operations no nation a veto, and second, whether they are able Teooncile opposing views on priorities. The Russians have not expressly deman ed a veto over the work of inspection, b that is implicit m their proposal and will r mam so until disavowed by Moscow. On t other hand, while the United States may : justified in refusing to atecept a ban < atomic weapons except as part of a larger d armament plan, we could contribute mighti to the development of the larger plan 1 voluntarily suspending manufacture of atoi ic bombs while the discussions are going c Britain s representative spoke for the woi at large last week when he said the pteoj want real disarmament this time, and not humbug pretense.—Chicago Sun.

Thanks to George W. Norris Were it not for one of the many achievements of the late Senator George W. Norris, the country would now be getting ready for its lame duck session of the old Congress. \ Defeated Senators and Representatives, even those who lost Out months ago in the primaries, would be making their way back to Washington for a final stand. New members, with their fresh mandate from the people, would not be scheduled to assemble until December, 1947—13 lotig months after their success at the polls. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch points out that all this was changed by Senator Norris’ Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified in 1933 after a historic 10-year battle on the part of Nebraska’s great statesman. Thanks to his reform, new Congresses now meet on January 3, less than two months after their election. Thus was the ancient time-lag, a relic of ox-cart and stage-eOach days, taken out of the Federal Government.—Philadelphia Record.

After Stalin—What? 1 Would MolotoV become head of the Russian state if Anything happened to Stalin? Rublic opinion outside of the Soviet Union has bteen divided bh that question. The recent publicity build-up given the foreign minister in the Government-controlled Russian press has led some people to conclude that Molotov is the heir-apparent. Stalin is now 67 years of age and is sometimes reported to be in poor health. He might crack under the strain Of his official duties in ,the Kremlin; During the war period there were four outstanding figures in world politiqis. They were Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill and Hitler. Roosevelt is dead. Hitler is presumed to be dead. Churchill is out of power. Stalin alohe remains in his origirial position. Of the four, Hitler was a spellbinder extraordinary. He loved the sound of his own Voice. He came to power oh the sentiment created by countless speeches. Churchill has been regarded as dne of the greatest orators ever produced by the English-speaking peoples. Roosevelt was a radio speaker of marvelous effectiveness and charm. Stalin is an indifferent speaker. He is a committee chairman, a planner, an organizer. So far as we have been able to learn, no one has ever thought Of Molotov as being as able as the stoical Stalin. Yet the latter has no gift of immortality and some day must turn over the reins to a successor. If the break should come soon, it might be Molotov. Whether such a change would be a loss or a gain for the Western world only time could tell. Molotov has seemed even harder than Stalin for foreign diplomats to handle. This may be because he has less power and authority. What the foreign minister says and does has to be cleared with the Kremlin. One difference between Stalin and his for- : eign minister is that Molotov has traveled more. Whether this experience in shuttling back and forth across the world has broadened the outlook of Molotov, it is difficult to say. All judgments about Russia are hard to form for the reason that we know so little about the Soviet Union. This lack of real information works to the advantage of the Russians. Stalin may be around for a long time, but the news of his death or physical incapacitation would certainly cause a commotion throughout the world for no one would know what to expect. Would Russia be more Or less militant without him? Would his passing from power serve or hamper the struggle for peace and justice?—Journal Gazette. Strain On Bi-Partisan Foreign Policy The Kilgore Committee, which was created to investigate war frauds and waste ill war expenditures, has voted down the proposal that it go to Germany to probe the United States’ occupatioh policy. It was a wise move to reject this all-expense junket but it is unfortunate that the vote was strictly along party lines. Six Democrats voted against the investigation, four Republicans f °This affair places the greatest strain thus far on the bi-partisan foreign policy that has evolved in recent months. It appears that some overzeakms Republicaris would sacrifice any gains that may have been made toward settlement of occupation disputes in order to gather material which might be used against the Democratic Party. It is a serious charge, but evidence substantiates it. Disturbing word has been creeping out of Germany recently. Perhaps there are things amiss in Germany and Austria, and if so any investigation that is conducted should be done by the properly constituted group — the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Mr. George Meader, the investigator for the Kilgore Committee made a flying, threeweek trip to Europe and returned with much rumor aftd gossip, but certainly not with enough facts to merit a Congressional Scandal hunt. The entire affair is an affront to the thinking Americans who have been hoping the nation’s foreign policy can be conducted along mature lines. At this moment there is a delicate balance ih the relations between Secretary of State Byrnes and Russia’s Molotov. Such a political junket as the one proposed could well throw the entire machinery into the discard. It is of little consequence which political party is at fault. The Democrats are not without blame ih the matter, for they, too, sense the political implications and will do all ih their power to stop it. The worst thing about the affair is that it demonstrates to the world that Americans still place politics above hational and world welfare. It is appareht the Republican Party still is in need of sober leadership that will insist on the party members exercising the responsibility which was handed them by' American voters. Instead of trying to vindicate previous stands on dead issues, they Should work With foresight and vision toward the goal of the permanent peacte that everyone desires.—Journal Gazette.

Best of Luck, Paul A word about OPA Administrator Paul PoHer. He took an impossible job last July, he had adequate tools with which to do it, he had nearly everybody against him toward the end. All that Controller Porter had left to control when he closed the door behind him was rents, rice and sugar. Paul is a handsome fellow, always goodhumored if a bit officious at times. But he wasn’t Hercules.

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READING & WRITING

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ii 11.1111 ■

JTlonore de Balzac was one of the gigantic figures of literature, and his own life story was as dramatic, as amazing, as filled with comedy, tragedy, romance, and pathos, as are his own novels. Stefan Zweig devoted the last ten years of his life to a study of the man; his superb biography, "Balzac,” is the Book-of-the-Month Club selection for December. What a childhood Balzac had! At his birth, his mother turned him over to his nurse. When he was four she farmed him out to a family of strangers. At seven, he was packed off to boarding school, where for seven more years he was starved, beaten and even, on one occaSion, put into stocks. These harsh years were t0 co l° r a h his life. # At 20 he wrote his first work—a pond?»ously dull tragedy called "Cromwell.” After this failure, for several years he wrote sensational stories that could find immediate sales, and in such epic qu&tity that no complete record has ever been made. Only after this curious apprenticeship, and as a result of a woman’s love and confidence, did he feel sufficiently secure to start writing the masterpieces for which he is known today. Balzac was always a man of extremes. From turriing out drivel, to which he never gave a second glance, he became the most exacting critic of his own work. He rewrote and rewrote each of his stories from the galley sheets, until the cost of the corrections ate up his profits. He entered into a gigantic publishing speculation and ended up with debts frdm which he was never to be freed. He made and spent more money than any writer of his time. Plebeian in his appearance, and a man of the people, the great love of his life was an enormously wealthy Russian aristocrat. "In my five-foot two-inches,” he once wrote, "there is compressed every imaginable contrast and contradiction.”

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Speaking of biographies of great French writers, Matthew Josephson has Written an excellent book about Stendhal, one of the greatest. Stendhal was born in the days of Louis XVI, died in the early years of Queen Victoria’s reign. He lived in a time of war and revolution, not unlike our own, played his role in Napoleon’s army, and went into exile #heh Napoleon fell and the Bourbons returned to France. His two chief / novels, “The Red and the Black” and "The Charterhouse of Parma,” are Mnazingly contemporary. Stendhal always bragged about being ahead of his time. "I am taking out a ticket in a lottery whose winning number i* 1935;” he said a hundred years ago. He was right; he had the winning ticket for immortality. . . „

tional and freed the operators of a former “house of horrors” on charged of violating the law by failure to have a state license. Mrs. Margaret Colvin and her son, Herschel, however, still faced charges of assault and battery and malicious mayhem. Police found aged patients chained to their beds in the nursing home operated hy the two last August. Judge W. D. Bain granted a defense motion to dismiss the licensing charges and held the act invalid on the grounds of technical defects in the title of the law and inadequate definitions of terrrts. The law was passed by the

1943 general assembly.

Prosecutor Shei’wood Blue said he would appeal to the Indiana

Supreme Court.

The 28 patitents in the home’, marly shackled to beds, were transferred to other institutions and the nursing establishment

closed.

“The legislature failed to define the meaning of the words ‘aged persons’ and the court has concluded that the act is unconstitutional by reason of its uncertainty,” Bain said. The Colvins will be tried Dec. 6 on the assault and battery

charges.

Legal Notice

NOtlCE TO NON-RESIDENTS

No. 10640-S

State of Indiana, Delaware County, ss;

Viles L. Hutchens

vs.

Forrest L. Hutchens In The Superior Court September Term 1946 Complaint: for divorce.

Notice is hereby given the said defendant, Forrest L. Hutchens, that the plaintiff has filed her coniplaint herein, together with an affidavit that the said defendant is not a resident of the State of Indiana, and that unless he be and appear on Tuesday the 21st day of January 1947, the Sth day the next term of said Court, to be holden on the Second Monday in January, A. D , 1947, at the Court House in the City of Muncie in said County and State, the said cause will be heard and determined in

his absence.

WITNESS, the Clerk and the Seal of sgid Court, affixed at the City of Muncie this 22rtd day of November A. D.,

1946.

(SEAL) Jesse E. Greene, Clerk John J. Dodd, Plaintiff’s Attorney. Nov. 22-29-Dec. 6.

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Nursing Home Act Unconstitutional Indianapolis, Ind. — A crim-

inal coilrt jUdge rUIed that the Indiana -State Nursing Home Regulation Act Was unConstitU-

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