Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 February 1938 — Page 12

PAGE 12 rE A The Indianapolis Times

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

ROY W. HOWARD LUDWELL DENNY MARK FERREE President Editor Business Manager

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THURSDAY, FEB. 3, 1938

PROTECT THE WAGNER ACT

HOROUGH Congressional investigation of the National Labor Relations Board is justified, we believe, not only on the basis of charges presented to the Senate Judiciary Committee by Senator Burke, but by charges commonly made throughout the country for more than a year. If the Board is not guilty of the things of which it stAnds so widely accused, then it has no reason to shrink from an investigation, presuming that the inquiry would be a real search for the truth rather than a smearing expedition. This paper supported the Wagner Act and still believes in it. We believe that the right of collective bargaining is firmly established as Governmental policy and that it should never be abandoned or emasculated. But charges have been made that the National Labor Relations Board has not lived up to the spirit or letter of the Wagner Act. The Wagner Act was written in a spirit of impartiality as regards labor organizations—be they A. F. of L., C. I. O. or independent—so long as they represented the will of the workers and were not dominated or inspired by employers. The Wagner Act also provided for quasi-judicial functions to be exercised by the administrative board in determining the facts in labor controversies. And it goes without saying that the spirit of our system of government contemplates fair and impartial hearings under such circumstances. But charges have been made that the Labor Board has shown obvious bias in favor of one form of unionism, and that its agents in many parts of the country have been unfair and have assumed and exercised powers not contemplated under the terms of the law. These charges have led to widespread hostility and suspicion. The proper procedure, therefore, is to conduct a complete investigation, bring the whole story into the open, and clear the air. If these charges are true, then the Labor Board itself is bringing the Wagner Act into disrepute, thereby playing into the hands of opponents. For that reason, friends of the Wagner Act should welcome a Congressional investigation.

WISDOM IN THE PHILIPPINES

ORD comes that political leaders in the Philippines have decided to bury the hatchet, drop all further talk of immediate independence, and pull together for a fair, life-sustaining trade pact with the United States. If the truce stays put it will mark, in our judgment, one of the most constructive steps the Filipinos have taken in the two-score years since the American flag first floated over the archipelago. It is natural for a people to desire independence. And it is laudable for their leaders to espouse so worthy a cause. But not at any price. Political independence without economic independence is not worth the paper it is written on. Which fact has not, at all times, been kept to the fore in the Philippines. The present independence act probably is all anyone could reasonably expect under the circumstances. The islanders demanded it in a hurry and selfish American groups did all they could to shove it through. So it has many shortcomings. It is unfair to the Philippines because it is not based upon a frank statement to the Filipinos of where their real interests lie. And it is unfair to the United States because it was framed largely for the benefit of a few small and greedy interests instead of the larger, long-haul interests of the American people as a whole. In Manila as well as in Washington responsible leaders apparently are now beginning to sense that to carry out the terms of the Tydings-McDuffie Act as written would be a bad thing for both countries. Filipinos say it would spell ruin for the Commonwealth because its economic life depends upon close ties with this country. And Americans, among other things, admit it would be throwing away some $50,000,000 worth of trade annually to our rivals. The reported truce in the Philippines should give time for some clear thinking and sane planning. If we on this side of the water show equally good sense, there is reason to hope that Philippine-American relations may now at last be put on a more honest and more mutually beneficial plane than ever before.

THE BASKETBALL ARGUMENT

HE current discussion about basketball and the health of grade school and high school boys is not without merit. Basketball is a strenuous game. Indiana has every right to be proud of its great basketball players. But Indiana also ought to know all sides of the problem. Periodically there have been protests about the game being far too strenuous for youngsters. Even the Legislature has talked about enacting laws to regulate the sport. While school officials have ridiculed the charges, the trend has been toward shorter schedules, toward tournaments with fewer games. Now the discussion has started again. It is about time the matter was given a thorough airing. Let us have free and open discussion so that parents and players alike may know the facts.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

F we did not know from other symptoms that the depression was doing a little encore, we could guess it by the names in the headlines. Father Coughlin is back on the air. Dr. Townsend springs to life again with a threat to defeat any Congressman who votes for less than a $200-a-month pension. And the late Huey Long's successor, Senator Ellender, recently polished off a five-day filibuster against the antilynching bill.

WE CAN'T BUILD WITH TRAT - IT'S FULL OF

YERMITES

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

Columnist Wonders if Roosevelt Has Decided His Forebears Were Wrong in Accumulating Fortunes.

NEW YORK, Feb. 3.—Mrs. Roosevelt's

book, “This Is My Story,” neglects to

answer an important question which is sure to occur to anyone who was not born to riches. Although it speaks glibly of inherit-

ances, of European journeys, of estates on Long Island and up the Hudson and on Campobella, and of nurses, governesses, butlers, valets and cooks, it says never a word about toil. Dozens, possibly as many as a hundred, of Roosevelts, Delanos and other members of the clan are introduced, all seeming to have sources of income, but the only mention that I can recall of anyone’s intimate involvement in the task of making a living as most of us work it is a reference to someone who “went to business.” Now, mention of this peculiar- : ity will be taken by some as a a } dirty dig at the President and his A J, i program, but that is not my pur- SAR pose. But the President, from time Mr. Pegler to time, has given an impression that he heartily detests some people who by their own skill and diligence accumulate wealth, starting from scratch, and that he wants to discredit that which, for lack of a better word, may be called success. The President appears to promote the idea that it is shameful to make a lot of money, and inasmuch as money is the yardstick by which success is measured in this primitive country, his attitude seems to threaten ambition. 8 »

NCOME, like taxes, is produced by the sweat of those who toil, but in the case of the man or woman who sees opportunity and works hard to exploit it, possibly after an early career of drudgery and little or no privilege, the degree of the indictment should be second or third, at worst.

Mrs. Roosevelt writes that her grandfather Hall never engaged in business but lived on what his father and mother gave him. Her father took part of his inheritance to go around the world and hunted in India, after which he engaged in business—an evil occupation these days. In 1908 Mr. Roosevelt went on a trip with his uncle Warren Delano to inspect some coal mining property in which the family “was interested” in Harlan County, Kentucky. ” ” = HE clan in its various branches must have enjoyed a good income in those days from the sweat of those who toiled, and Mrs. Roosevelt gives an impres-

sion that the property from which the income came was inherited. The President himself was endowed so that when he came of age. and married, he did not have to take his bride for a nickel car ride, and then to a home in a furnished room with a gas plate in the corner for light housekeeping. Now he has had all the luxury and pleasure and freedom from necessity and care, and his future is assured. He may have decided from experience that it is not all that up-from-under people think it is. I am not sure I get Mr. Roosevelt's idea. He and his lived the life of Riley, and largely on money which just rolled in. Are we to understand that he now thinks it was wrong of his forebears to accumulate that wealth and of him and the other heirs to live on the dividends?

Business

EW YORK, Feb. 3.—The New York Stock Exchange has finally got around to a proposal that it will reform itself. Which proves again that the mills of the gods do go on grinding. In 1933, as the Pecora investigators began their study of the Stock Exchange, Richard Whitney, then Exchange president, told the committee representatives that the investigation was all a lot of nonsense, that the Stock Exchange “was a perfect institution.” It turned out to be not so perfect. About a year later the Exchange boasted that it had put into effect a whole batch of reforms, which was odd indeed for an institution which considered itself perfect. Then, in compliance with various suggestions from the SEC, the Exchange has voluntarily in the last two years put into effect various other reforms, making it that much more perfect in comparison to the perfection of which Mr. Whitney boasted in 1933.

B% apparently this was not enough—certainly not for the penetrating and persistent Chairman Douglas of the SEC. Mr. Douglas put his finger on the very heart of the Stock Exchange problem when he came to the conclusion that the character of the control of the Exchange practically made real reform impossible. From its beginning the Exchange has been under the control, not of the broker element especially interested as representatives of the public, but of the speculating and gambling element especially interested in their own operations on the Exchange.

The Hoosier Forum

lI wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to sey it.—Voltaire.

DEFENDS VETERAN RAILROADERS By Another Locomotive Fireman Since “Locomotive Fireman” in the Forum didn’t explain what is meant by senior engineers and firemen, I will. It means they have come through the very same trials for many years that he is experiencing right now. I've been a fireman for 25 years. In that time I've been furloughed onto the extra board, had only two days’ work in two weeks, etc. I don’t have our home paid for yet and have five children in school; therefore, I need every dollar I can make, but in 1932 they decided to help the extra man, so we “old heads” that had worked up to reguJar jobs were asked to give two trips a month to the extra board. That is still being done. They are called “Hoover days.” Does that look like we are keeping men out of work and on the streets or on relief? We didn’t have anything like thal handed us when we were on the extra board, nor did we ask the “old heads” to give up what they had labored for years to attain and give it to someone that had been there only a few years. It takes years of experience and plenty of grit to be an “old head” railroader. ” = ” DECLARES WARS FOUGHT TODAY WITH WORDS By B. C. Just before dawn, a strange automobile filled with soldiers has been seen to approach as near Madrid as the fighting lines permit. Picking a position where the wind is favorable, this unit shoots huge skyrockets over the city. The rockets burst, and thousands of small sheets of paper flutter downward. On them is Rebel propaganda: “To prolong resistance is to sacrifice life needlessly,” “Soon all Spain will be ours.” Americans will remember how our forces worked the same dodge on the Germans in the concluding months of the World War. “We are not fighting the German people; we are fighting your masters.” “We have food; better surrender.” It is believed by many students to have been a big factor in the final German collapse. Increasingly, day by day, the world’s battles are being fought not only by bomb, but by bombast. = z 2

ROOSEVELT POLICIES SEEN AS BOOMERANG

By a Democrat

I read in The Times where our City Board of Works is complaining about receiving 24 identical bids on cement to be sold to the city. A majority of the Board is Dem-

By John T. Flynn

Fault of Stock Exchange Has Been Control by Speculative Element; SEC Chairman Is Seeking Merely to End Domination by This Group.

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, religious controversies excluded. Make your letter short, so all can have a chance. Letters must be signed, but names will be withheld on request.)

ocratic. President Roosevelt is supposed to be a Democrat, and he has been preaching and legislating uniform prices ever since he has taken public office. As an example the coal I buy does not vary in price one cent at any coal yard in the state. Competition is the life-giving element of all business. Roosevelt has eliminated all competition and the Democrats in office don't seem to like it. I am glad to see that the price fixing policy of Roosevelt is acting as a boomerang on public officials who claim to support President Roosevelt. As public officials, don’t they know that the price on a bid doesn’t decide who shall be awarded the contract? The statute under which public bids are made provides for the “lowest and best” bid. Ah! That word “best” is the joker. These Democrats can’t run the country forever. They can have their 2 per cent club and ports of entry, but don’t lose faith. It can’t last. # = n COLLAPSE OF DEMOCRACIES SEEN IN REARMAMENT By Political Observer The European scene is developing ominous clouds which foreshadow the coming storm. England is proceeding with a seven billion dollar rearmament program. This is England’s answer to the armament program of Italy and Germany. Italy and Germany's rearmament is the result of desperation and frustration of these two nations to

THE HEART LEAPS UP By KEN HUGHES

Just to see an empty sky Perhaps to feel the reason why, You are alone. The grate of warming flames, And to hear familiar names, Mother and home— Bring contentment. Doubt may circle your belief, Nothing bring the heart relief, But Prayer and God.

DAILY THOUGHT So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.—I Kings 2:10,

EATH has nothing terrible which life has not made so. A faithful Christian life in this world is the best preparation for

the next.—Tryon Edwards.

enjoy the fullest possible use of their own economic organization to produce goods and services for worldwide consumption, so that they in turn might obtain the goods and services which other sections of the globe provide for exchange in world markets. Instead of letting each nation provide the utmost possible volume of goods for international exchange, the policy is to restrict the flow of goods across national boundaries This policy forces poverty upon the masses. The politician's answer and solution is rearmament. This really aggravates the result of the restriction policy. Efforts spent in constructing means of destruction are worse than wasted. England, France and the United States were responsible for the Versailles Treaty, which continued the World War purpose of destroying the competition of the conquered nations for world markets. That policy has forced the conquered nations to rearm to compel the conquerors to change their attitude of domination to one of respect and recognition of the conquered nation’s place in the natural scheme of world relations. The conquered nations in their state of degradation have brought other nations to despair politically and economically. Now the United States begins a policy of building meant to destroy world peace and further dislocation of national and world trade. Instead of recognizing the cause of international conflict in restriction of world trade and meeting the prob-

lem with intelligent removal of the:

barriers to it, our leaders propose still further aggravation of the causes by building more barriers and thus insuring the collapse of the “have-not” nations. This will insure the collapse of the democratic nations which deny others the right to normal opportunity to contribute to world trade. ” ” ” READER AND MENCKEN AGREE ON POETS’ WOES By Daniel Francis Clancy, Logansport “My peace of mind is often troubled by the depressing sense that I have borrowed too heavily from the work of other men,” said Prof. Albert Einstein. I always knew that Bertie and I had something in common. ... Senator Josiah. W. Bailey entertained the Senate a few days ago with a disquisition on the habits and mental processes of Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior. Boy, that's what I call creative statesmanship — this dealing with the mental processes of a Cabinet memMer. +. . Says H. L. Mencken: “No catastrophe that could conceivably overtake a lime and cement dealer, a curb broker, a lawyer, a plumber . .. is to be mentioned in the same breath with the torments that, to the most minor of poets, are familiar incidents of his professional life.” Ah, yes—we suffer.

Gen. Johnson Says—

Inefficient Distribution ~~ System,

Not an Extortionate Profit, Is To Blame for High Cost of Food,

VV ASHINGTON, Feb. 3.—Norman Cous-

ins, associate editor of Current History, has written a very significant piece for its February issue, called “Food for the Trust Busters.” . According to this article, there is a sock< full of unexploded dynamite kicking around somewhere between the Federal Trade Commission, the Senate and the White House. It is a report on agrie cultural income and the consume er’s dollar, which cost the Trade Commission $150,000. It is said to have been suppressed, or at least not printed and published due to some pressure, presumably by lobbyists of the “food trust.” This is presumed because the report is alleged to show that there is a food trust powerful encugh to fix not only the price which farm ers receive for some cash prode« ucts, but also the price which cone sumers pay. The facts or findings are not developed very fully in the article, but the assertion seems to be that the “food trust” operates principally on most dairy products, flour and many bakery products, and on meats and animal fats, This is the hottest kind of a potato. If there is an extortionate monopoly controlling what people eat, the public will have no patience with that. If the recent flery Administration threats of big-time. trust-busting mean what they say, this is the most dramatic political field in which they could operate. .

» ” ” UT in reading Mr. Cousins’ article carefully, I do

not see that the case is completely made there, There undoubtedly has been a great corporate cone centration in the food businesses. But to pass from - that to a conclusion of extortionate control over prices is not so easy. : All food prices have risen. It was Governmental policy to make them rise. From whence did they . rise? From destructive depression lows. It is true also, that profits in these industries have increased. But from whence? From destructive depression losses. The significant figure in all these monopoly ase saults is the percentage of profit to the alleged monopolist in the price he charges. .

» n on VERYBODY knows that the character of service in all these industries has increased marvelously. The essential question is—is the public interest ime paired? Is the charge for that service too great? This article is completely silent on that peint and that is the only point about which the public cares

very much. : The truth is that our distribution system is terri< ble. The farmer gets too small a proportion of the: consumer's price. Waste and duplication in" getting - his product to the consumer's table costs too much— - not in extortionate profit, but in an inefficient system, There is good ground for believing that greater, - rather than less, concentration in our food gathering ° and distribution system would be better for both - farmers and consumers, But if there is greater concentration, there would have to be public controls rigid enough absolutely to insure against extortion in either" price or profits.

Hugh Johnson

According to Heywood Broun—

Republicans Usually Go the Democrats One Better in Their Slips; G. O. P. Speakers Make It Seem They Want to Be Back in the Nineties,

There was a time when the great investment-bank-ing houses exercised a powerful influence over the Exchange. There are, of course, some who think that influence still persists, but I doubt if it does. The Exchange has been a “perfect institution for those members who know how to use its mechanisms to get rich quickly and easily speculating for their own accounts with their inside information and their special facilities for getting the drop on the public speculator.

RIMARILY the Exchange has seemed to be a great market place for the buying and selling of securities. Actually it has been a great casino where a comparatively small number. of highly trained and expert gamblers have played against highly inexpert outside speculators. The investor, of course, got squeezed between the two. The trouble has been that the Exchange has been under the dominion of its own speculative element and hence its rules, its ethics, its outlook on financial and other economic questions has been colored completely by this interest. Mr. Douglas is driving, not to displace the Exchange as a self-governing unit in the securities market, but to force this element out of control and to insure a control that will be in the interest of the public investor. The report of the Exchange's committee proposing certain reforms is the first real break in the direction Mr. Douglas wants to go. Every businessman, every corporation, manager, every inyeshor in securities will certainly wish him well in this ve, :

EW YORK, Feb. 3.—Whenever a Democratic official stumbles some Republican always goes him one better by doing a complete nose dive. Two spokesmen for the G. O. P. began to unlimber the artillery last week for this year’s Congressional elections. In Topeka Glenn Frank asserted that Roosevelt was a Fascist who forced legislation through a rubber stamp Congress. That would scarcely seem 8 timely topic, since hardly a man is now alive who can remember when Congress last got down to the business of taking a vote on anything. To be sure the filibuster against the antilynching bill was carried on by Democrats, but the Republicans were almost solid in voting against cloture. By this adroit piece of strategy the G. O. P. handed the bulk of the Negro vote back to the Democrats who had been in grave danger of losing their new electoral allies. ” » ” T is quite true that Dr. Frank in his Topeka oration spoke against the danger of “pressure group” in American politics, but I imagine that as Election Day draws near there will be specific appeals to “the honest agriculturist,” “the toiler,” “the small businessman.” “the American Legion” and all the rest of them. While Glenn Frank was holding forth in Kansas, Rep. Charles A. Halleck of Indiana was seeking to arouse the country with a speech in Niles, O. Mr. Halleck seems to feel that the paramount issue before the people is William McKinley and “sound money.” Increasingly, it becomes evident that Republicanism is less a political faith than a nostalgia.

party functions chiefly on a yearning to be back ‘17, the gay Nineties. Glenn Frank’s appointment was supe.» posed to be a sop to youth and the new liberalism, Glenn has barely passed 50, which makes him practically the youngest living Republican, but he, too, seems to look backward. - Thus, in his Kansas keynoter he tried to revives. interest in Jim Farley's slip about “a typical prairie’ State.” » » - IORELLO LA GUARDIA is the only Republican who seems to be aware of the fact that a large number of voters live in urban communities. And Fiorello is only a companionate Republican at that. : It seems to me that Glenn Frank ought to go into - rigorous training before he sets out to build a platform ° for the Grand Old Party. He should first learn to construct a sentence. Just try to scan this extract - from the Topeka masterpiece: ; “Tonight I want to express a point of view respect« ing the last five years of national administration and to suggest, in part at least, the problem which the record of these five years puts to the Republican Party as the opposition party charged with the moral obligation to critically observe and responsibility to pass judgment upon the party in power.” 2 To borrow an old gag from an old vaudeville act I doubt very much whether the Republican Party is “charged with a moral obligation.” I think it is charged with soda water. Certainly under the leader ship of John D, M. Hamilton it has become the almpst perfect chaser

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