Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 30 May 1947 — Page 1

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VOL. 28—NO. 26.

THE

POST-DEMOCRAT The Only Democratic Paper In Delaware County Carrying the Union Label

MUNCIE, INDIANA FRIDAY, MAY 30, 1947.

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TO TESTIFY IN COURT Washington.—Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower appeared in federal court today to testify in defence of former Congressman Andrew J. May who is on trial .on charges of war fraud.

TO RETAIN ORDNANCE UNITS Washington The Army is planning to... retain 29 ordnance plants and 13 chemical plants in stand-by condition for use in event of emergency, the House appropriations committee report-

ed today.

The “stand-by” list under consideration includes three Indiana ordnance plants—the Indiana arsenal at Charlestown, Kingsbury ordnance plant at LaPorte and Wabash river ordnance works at Newport—and the Vigo chemical plant at Terre Haute.

NEW SPELLING CHAMP

Interests Of American Farmers Given A Slap

Washington — Fourteen-year-old Mattie Lou Polland, an eighth grade pupil in a one-room schoolhouse near Thomaston, Ga., won the national spelling championship today by rattling off “chlorophyll” and “maggoty.” Mattie Lou emerged the winner over 34 other boys and girls, all under 16, who won regional titles in the annual spelling bee sponsored by the Scripps-Howard and other newspapers. Her prize of $500 cash and a two-day trip to New York will be awarded to her formally at a banquet tonight.

HEADS TOWARD OZARKS. St. Louis— An Indiana preacher and his cow rattled through the Ozark region today, their chartered box car proclaiming “milk served at all hours,” enroute to a mission in “the country God forgot.” The Rev. Lawrence Layman, 32, Fort Wayne, Ind„ said on a brief stop here that he had milked the gift cow, “Fideliz,” twice since they left Fort Wayne yesterday.

PROGRESS IN COAL TALKS. Washington — Southern coal

producers reported today they are “making progress” in negotiating a new contract with the Unit-,

ed Mine Workers (AFL). L. E. Tierney, chairman of the

joint operator-miner wage conference, told reporters discussions were continuing on the operators’

ideas for a new contract. Tierney did not give any de-

tails but he said the union had not yet made any demands. He said that “we are making progress.” The negotiations were recessed for the Memorial Day week end until 10:30 a. m., June 3.

. ■—-—o ■ •

FINDS TRACE OF POISON. Chicago — Dr. William b. McNally, coroner’s toxicologist, said today he believed the death of Julius (Dolly) Weisberg, convicted murderer, was caused by strychnine poisoning. Weisberg died in the Cook county death cell May 20, just 60 hours before he was to have been electrocuted for killing a man in a barroom brawl. He had been listed officially as the victim of

a heart attack.

Today Coroner A. L. Brody said his toxicologists and pathologists had found 0.31 grains of strychnine sulphate in Weisberg’s stomach, 0.055 grains in his liver and traces in the kidney and brain.

J o

WALLACE’S PREDICTION Denver — Henry A. Wallace today predicted the Republican party will destroy itself within the next 30 or 40 years. The former vice president told an overflow crowd of some 1,500 University of Denver students what “Republicans simply cannot be trusted with national affairs.” “The chaos created by a Republican Congress will destroy the party and will make depression inevitable,” he asserted.

GAR VET, 105 Aurora, 111. — The winter-llke weather besetting northern Illinois will break a long record of Memorial Day outings for Illinois’ oldest civil tfar veterans, his family announced today. For the first time in 10 years, Daniel Dedge, 105, last survivor of Aurora GAR Post No. 20 will not ride in the Memorial Day parade. His daughter, Miss Mabel, said the weather was not fit for him to be out in. Wedge has been bedfast most of the past 16 years, since he broke a hip. But on Memorial Day, friends have put him In an ambulance so that he might ride at the head of the city parade. o — Meet “Mr. and Mrs. George Spelvin — Americans.” They’re Westbrook Pegler’s famous characters and star in a great new Entertaining feature by the famous columnist. Begin it in Pictorial Review, the magazine distributed with the CHICAGO SUNDAY HERALD-AMERICAN.

Agricultural Appropriations Committee Proposes To Weaken the Farmer—Operated Conservation Program This Year and To Bury It Next Year — Production and Subsistence Loans Will Be Reduced, Which Is Not Consistent — Secretary Protests Slash In Funds.

Secretary of Agriculture Clinton Anderson in reporting on the USD A Appropriation Bill has made the following interesting comments:

Washington, May 23, 1947 The Department of Agriculture

Appropriation bill reported out today by the House Appropriations Committee directs a sharp cut at the interests of the American farm family and the general welfare. The greatest harm is done through attacks on the conservation program, the price support program, and assistance to veterans and small farmers. While I appreciate the need for economy, the Department already had reduced its personnel and budget below prewar levels. The number of full-time employees in March of this year was more than 10,000 below March 1940. The Department of Agriculture is now operating on a budget nearly 375 million dollars smaller than in 1940. The cuts now made by the House Appropriations Committee represent an additional reduction nearly 37 percent below the amount

available this year.

If the Congress followed the recommendations of the committee it would in effect be saying to farmers: “The policy legislation on the books means nothing; you have to fight for your rights every time an appropriation bill comes up.” The commitee action nullifies or drastically restricts the effect of several national farm policies which Congress has adopted and to which both major political parties have pledged continuing

support.

Thus is raised a fundamental issue which the farmers and the people of this country recognize as being out of keeping with the times in which we live and the situation in which the problems of our argiculture involve wbi-ld-

i wide considerations.

Because farmers are now, in the words of the Committee, “self-re-liant,” the Committee proposes to to weaken the farmer-operated conservation program this yehr and bury it next year. Debate and voting records on the Department’s 1947 appropriation bill,

AUDITOR BURCH IS COMMENDED

Courage Of One Republican State Official Is Lauded

when it was before the House on March 8, 1946, indicated deafly that Congress committed itself to a 300 million dollar agricultural conservation program for the current calendar year. The committee action would cut that about in half. This is the first time it hbs ever come to my notice that a Committee of Congress has recommended to the Congress a violation of its own contract. The Department was authorized to set up the 1947 ACP program on a 300 million dollar basis. Representatives of the Department, through farmer-elected committeemen all over the nation carried that assurance to the farmers. I still believe the Congress will not repudiate its promise and repudiate the actions it directed the Department to take. I intend to urge the Congress as strongly as I can to restore this item to 300 million dol-

lars.

farmer-committee system of administering agricultural programs. jThis is the same farmer-commit-tee system which served the nation in combatting depression, which turned the tide againts soil destruction and which geared farm production to the requirements of war and the reestablishment of peace. These farmerelected committees, which have their authorization in the Agricultural Conservation Program, carry a great many responsibilities including vital duties in price support operations. They represent one of argiculture’s greatest

assets.

I am equally concerned over the practical effect of the bill’s provision depriving agriculture of the use of Section 32 money which is to nullify both mandatory and permissive price supports on perishable commodities such as fruits, vegetables, milk, poultry and potatoes. Section 32 money has always been the sole source of funds for price supports on most perishables. It is the sole source of funds used to distribute govern-ment-owned perishables to public institutions and school lunch pro(Continued On Page Three)

Lest We Forget

MEMORIAL DAY

By Jessie H. L. Thomas The Flag is draped, the bugles

blow.

The portly speaker’s voice is low, But rises with dramatic speed.— “Our hearts today with sorrow

bleed

For this young lad who gave his

life

So nobly in the recent strife! He fell upon a foreign sod, Unknown his name, to all but God- • Today we ate assembled here To heap our thanks upon his bier. What did he die for? Liberty, And justice, and democracy!” (A raven croaks from a nearby

tree

“Don’t forget Farben-Industrie! And National Oil, and the Chemical trust, And Steel and Munitions—war or bust!” Then an admiral in his gold Intones, “My friends, in me behold The bearer of a warning drear— Another war is almost here! Why talk of peace? The only way Is—arm to the teeth! Begin today!” (The bird remarks, “The same old stuff! You guys just never get enough! You try that after every war— That bloody bleat we’ve heard before!”) But a mother fondles her small son’s hair, And thinks, “Perhaps it’s your daddy there Beneath the flag. In Italy He died, and never came back to

me.

The committee action would al- Next 'thing they’ll want to take

so cut administrative expenses to an extent that would make the

program ineffective and would have the Congress commit itself against continuing the program next year. Because of wartime damage to the soil, we should reemphasize, not reduce, the effectiveness of the conservation program. We in the Department cannot favor a death warrant for the

you, too. And tell you what to think and do. Then the Big Shots will start another war,—And I just can’t stand it any more!” The bright flag ripples, fold on

fold,

As a solider’s honor is extolled. But the boy over whom the words

are said

Is just as dead ... is just as dead.

Shoe On the Other Foot The shoe, apparently, is on the other foot. State Senator Clyde R. Black, secretary of the State Flood Control and Water Resources Commission, self-nominated Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor and one of the chief “deplorers” when the recent legislature adopted a resolution condemning the use of Federal aid, has been spending much of his time in Washington asking for a hand-out. And it is to be presumed that his trip to the nation’s capitol is being .financed by state funds. Senator Black, one of those Republican stalwarts who wants Indiana to be self-supporting, is asking for $1,500,000 in Federal funds for flood control projects in Indiana. Such a grant might prove a double-purpose aid to Senator Black. It would give the state what he believes is a necessary improvement and, at the same time, would make his administration of the flood control commission look a little better, since it is to be, admitted that there has been more flood control talk than action since he, and his Republican fellow-members of the General Assembly created his $6,000-a-year job. Again let us repeat the Republican policy regarding Federal aid: “We don’t want it unless we can get it.”

Courage of one Republican state official in insisting on Constitutional government in the face of a deliberate treasury-looting job by his colleagues is to be commended. In refusing to pay salaries to five state officials and employes who also served as members of the 1947 session of the Indiana General Assembly, A. V. Burch, Auditor of State, merely is supporting a Constitutional provision designed » to forestall a vicious practice. It is inconceivable that a person who is the head of, or employed by, any state department could sit in the General Assembly and act, in an unbiased manner, on legislation affecting the department with which he is connected. Although Mr. Burch deserves a world of credit for his courage in “standing up” to a hostile crowd of politicians in the Statehouse, it must be remembered that the matter probably never would have been aired had it not been for an alert Democratic minority in the Eighty-Fifth session. It was the Democrats, who, on the very first day of the session, questioned the Constitutional right of these men to sit as members of the House and Senate. (Continued On Page Three) O Stassen, Wallace Are In Accord When Henry Wallace returned from his trip to Europe he recommended that America contribute 15 billion dollars a year for ten years to the reconstruction of Europe. The idea was poo-pooed by the reactionaries in both parties. Now Harold Stassen who also has just returned from Russia and Europe comes up with the same idea. He suggests that we contribute a tithe of our national income to the reconstruction of Europe. At the present rate of national income that would amount to almost the identical sum recommended by Wallace. It is good to see the liberal leader in the Republican Party agreeing with the liberal leader in the Democratic Party on this important issue. If the liberals of all parties could just forget about partisan politics they might get together on a program which would bring peace and prosperity to the whole world.

'EE 4

Republican Strategy Is Revealed By GOP Chair-

man Carroll Reece

GOP LEADERS ARE CONFUSING

C. L. ARRINGTON

In a recent speech delivered to the voters of Rhode Island. Mr. Carroll Reece, chairman of the Republican National Committee revealed the Republican strategy for 1948. The principal line of attack will be to accuse the Democratic party of being Communistically controlled. This- conclusion is reached by the following line of reasoning, according to Mr. Reece. The Democratic party

will have the support of labor, j by too many self-appointed Re- j and labor is Communistic and | publican leaders setting them-

Too Many Republicans

Set Themselves - As Party Spokesmen

The current confusion caused

Moscow controlled. Therefore, the Democratic party is communistically controlled from Moscow. Senator Green (D.R.I.) did not like the idea of having Reece attack his party, in his own state, as being communistically controlled. Therefore, he secured time on the radio to reply to Reece’s charge. . On May 21 Senator McGrath (D.R.I.) had the speech read into the Congressional Record. Green said in part, after accusing Reece of having insulted “the intelligence of the whole American electo-

rate.”

“The line of argument is essentially, first, that the Republican victory in the election last November was not conclusive; second, that the Democratic party in the next election will have the support of the working people of this nation and; third, that be-

selves up as party spokesmen has Indiana voters, looking to the 1948 elections, wandering about

in circles.

Talkative Homer Capehart issues almost daily, some statement of party policy and immediately Governor Gates denies the Senior Senator has anj r authority, by virtue of his standing within the GOP, to say anything of particular importance. Likewise, Republicans in Congress, many of whom were elected on promises of an “across the board” tax reduction by Rep. Knutson, now find the promise impossible to fulfill and deny Knutson was speaking with any degree of party authority. There is a long list of prom-

Lynching Is Vindicated, Justice Murdered and Basic Principles of Americanism Is Slandered By South Carolina Justice — Verdict Indicates No White Man In State Would Be Punished for Killing a Negro —Recent Demonstration Indicates Need for Federal Anti-Lynching Law. An all white jury which sfat at Greenville S. C. to hear the case of 28 white men indicted for the lynching of a young Negro, Willie Earl, has returned a verdict of not guilty, and all the murderers of Earl are set free and given the green light to carry on with their lynching. The verdict seemed to give assurance that no white man in S. C. would ever be punished for killing a Negro. During the last 99 years hundreds of Negroes have been killed by whitemen in S. C., but not one of them has been found guilty of murder and executed.

The Declaration of Independ-

ence declares that “All men are created equal.” This is not taken to mean that all are created with

Wild pledges about budget reduc-

cause of this fact the Democratic j tion now are beginning to take j-—. j — on the appearance of jokes; lift-

ing of price controls were to result in a “leveling off” of retail prices and increased production, but the consumer is aware of spiraling prices instead of stabilization; they have failed to come through with anything construc-

tive regarding housing.

The single accomplishment of the bungling Republican leadership is the resolution restricting the Presidential tenure to two terms, carrying the implication that voters of the United States do not have- enough common sense to decide for themselves how long they wish to continue

a person in public office.

RECOmONTO

GOP DEMANDS

party is dangerous, communistic, Moscow-dominated, and a threat to our American way of life in the future-as Mr. Reece puts it for

the next hundred years.

“I agree with the Republicans when they predict the Democratic Party will have the support of labor. It wil have the support not only of organized and unorganized labor but also of America’s small-salaried office helpers, America’s small farmers, America’s small businessmen-of America’s little people, her Wage earners everywhere. And there are good reasons-reasons to be found in the record of performance of the Democratic Party, and also of the Republican Party-why that support will be given the

Democrats.

“But when a political spokesman attempts to sell the nation the idea that the support of labor means communism, that politician not only casts a slur on the patriotism and loyalty of the wage earners of our country; he delivers a slap in the face of our entire body politic.” After asserting that Mr. Reece could not justify his charges in view of the fact that the Democratic Party had taken steps to rid the federal government of employees who hold the communistic line, and the program to retain Communism in Europe, Senator Green stated what he thought to be the real difference .in the two parties. “The Demo(Continued On Page Three)

ises and denials that has piled f( o Ua i physical strength or equal since the November election, intelligence, but that all have

equal rights before the bar of justice. The episode in Greenville, S. C., believes this principle set forth in our Declaration of Independence and shows that the Negroes of the south have no protection of the law against a white

mob.

26 of the 28 men had signed statements asserting that they had participated in the lynching of Willie Earl. The law of S. C. provides the death penalty for those who are accessories to the facts before a murder. While only one or two of the mob may have been guilty of actually killing the Negro, it appears that the adherence to the law of the state would have demanded the death penalty for all those proved to have participated in the lynching. The jury seems to have had more respect for their racial hatred than for the law of their state. The defense attorney seemed to be very happy that Earl had been lynched, and intimated that the mobsters had done a great service to their state by killing the Negro. He compared the lynched man to a mad dog which should be sl)ot down on sight, according to re-

ports.

Earl was taken from prison at the point of shot guns in the hands of the mobsters. He was being held as a suspect in the stabbing of a taxi cab driver. No evidence had been presented to prove that he had anything to do with the stabbing of the white man. Therefore, for all the men who murdered him knew he may have been innocent of the crime. Be that as it may, Willie Earl had, or should have had, a right to be heard in court and dealt with in manner becoming law and justice. ' 1 ; The following editorial lifted from the Chicago Sun May 23 hits the nail on the head. ' They made some propaganda for the Russians in Greenville. S. C., Wednesday. The jury which acquitted all 28 defendants in a lynching case, notwithstanding the confessions, of the accused, played right into the hands of anybody who wants to magnify the shortcomings of American democracy. That, of course, is secondary. The cardinal shame of the verdict is what it denotes of the state of public opinion (white) in £outh Carolina. Despite the sternest injunction from Judge J. Robert Martin Jr., who earned the nation’s respect for his courageous conduct of the trial, the jury clearly did take into consideration the race issue that underlay

Senator Capehart Wants More Recognition Back In Indiana

Demands of Senator Homer E. Capehart and other Republican members of the Congressional delegation that they receive more recognition in Indiana G.O.P. affairs are receiving considerable support from the Republican press

in Indiana.

Although it is known that the I^epublican editors have not been happy about everything since one (Continued On Page Three) bureaTtroOble FACES LEADERS

Two Volumnnous Tomes Give Regulations Of 41 Agencies *

eroes.

MEMORIAL DAY - tvlien all oj- us unite to konor our country's k

to recount tkeir Lraue deeJs and tkeir sacrifices ~ in tke spirit oj - solemnly rededicatirG* ourselues

to tke ki^k ideals of Our Democracy.

Republican state administration officials who decry bureaucracy on one hand and create them by act of legislature on the other, are smack up against more trouble. . • : They are having printed two voluminous tomes which are supposed to contain the rules and regulations of 41 boards, bureaus, commissions and departments. That idea was thought up by the 1945 Indiana General Assembly without regard to the well known fact that such rules and regulation's in many cases are being frequently revised to meet existing circumstances and that a fixed set of rules is well nigh an imppssibility. The legislature then proceeded to set up two appropriations of $5,000 each to cover the work. One appropriation already has gone down the hatch and ihe secretary of state’s office has expressed doubt that the remaining $5,000 will finish the job. The rule books consist of 2,400 pages with regulations on one division alone covering nearly

600 pages.

After distribution to various state and local agencies, remaining volumes are to be offered to the public, “at cost.” The joker seems to be that nobody knows how much the things are costing—except they are cost-

the case. It was the old story of white supremacy — the story of one law for white men and one for black, the story of mob passion and lynch law excused by their being vented on a member

of a particular race.

Despite the result, we suspect that the Greenville trial will make history. It was the first notable case in the South where the state officials and judiciary swung into action vigorously, fearlessly and impartially to bring to justice men who had taken the law into their own hands. Usually ihe condition of public opinion is such as to divert the official agencies from the discharge of their duty. In Greenville, at least there was a trial, and for the most part a fair one. But the verdict was not fair. The currents of prejudice ran too deep. Though the State of South Carolina cleared itself of complicity with the people of South Carolina, whose mood and outlook conditioned the thinking of the jury, still carry

the stain of injustice.

One, more demonstration has ratified the need for a federal anti-lynching law. One more disgrace has marked out the long path of public education in democracy and citizenship

stretches ahead.

that

Philadelphia In Bid To Democrats Philadelphia has made its bid for the Democratic National Convention of 1948. A delegation, from Pennsylvania visited .Gael Sullivan, executive director of the Democratic National Committee, *nd told him why: the*, party should hold its great quadrennial gathering in that State’s metropolis. The conferees with Mr. Sullivan were Senator Francis J. Myers, Mayor David L. Lawrence of Pittsburgh, who is also Democratic National Committeeman from Pennsylvania; Democratic City Chairman of Philadelphia Michael J. Bradley and Albert M. Greenfield, chairman of the Tourist and Convention Bureau of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.' Democratic headquarters was assured by the delegation that the city of - Philadelphia,* in its accommodations and inducements offered the Democrats, would majteh any th&t it had held out to the Republican Party for the latter’s convention, which will be held there. One of the arguments set forth in favor of the East was the more advanced development of television broadcasting in that area.

ihg too much.

Hobart’s Coin’Fishin’ Mr. Creighton, the Mr. Speaker of the 1945 Indiana House of Representatives, and one of the dozen or so of the “Gatestapo” who are hoping that King Ralpli will lend an appreciative ear to their pleadings for the gubernatorial nomination in 1948, plans to take a large group of G.O.P: kingpins on a fishing trip in upper Michigan, early in June. Of course, if the boys get tired of the sport and decide to talk politics, particularly 1948 politics for awhile, that will be perfectly 0- K. with Mr. Speaker; In fact, most political observers believe that is exactly what Hobart had in mind when he carefully selected his list of guests. Things went a little wrong from the start, however. King Ralph already has said he would be “unable to attend.” If that is the case, Hobart may as well call the whole thing off because any decisions reached by any individual or group within the party, regardless of their party loyalty or service, would be null and void unless given the King’s nod. Since the head of the “Gatestapo” has made it known he will not be among the jolly, politically-minded Izaak Waltons, it is reported that a depressing air hak settled over an otherwise promising expedition. Most of “the boys” figure it this way. “If it’s too hot for the King, it’s too hot for me.” At preseift, it appears that marine life in beautiful Lake Gobebic, far to the north in the neighboring state of Michigan, is in little danger of attack from a vicious horde of .Hoosier anglers.