Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 September 1939 — Page 10

PAGE 10

The Indianapolis Times

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

ROY W. HOWARD RALPH BURKHOLDER MARK FERREE President Editor Business Manager

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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1939

HOW TO KEEP OUT SINCE the big idea is to keep out, the question follows: How ? We think the answer lies in a coldly realistic recognition of the fact that the first law of man is self-preserva-tion. . : While in 1917 there were many issues, economic and military, we got into the World War primarily because we worked ourselves into an emotional jag. We got drunk on what we thought was idealism. We went holy-roller. We mistook shouting and singing for religion. Result—disillusionment. ; It is not necessary to enumerate all the details of that disillusionment; American boys who had given their lives for peace betrayed by the makers of peace; what happened to the 14 points when they fell into the hands of the power politicians of Europe; to the League of Nations; or the story of the war debts and of big-hearted Otis turned into Uncle Shylock in the propaganda of those for whom we had gone to bat. We did not save the world for democracy; we did not save democracy for the world. We just burned our fin-, gers to the bone, poking into a fire of European intrigue which had been smouldering for centuries. So, for God’s sake, let's benefit from experience. we can’t do that, then it’s nobody’s fault but our own. As to where our sympathies run, that’s clear. And, in so far as we can help without becoming involved, okay. But let’s judge every action by whether what we do is in the interests of the United States of America. Let's cut out the crusading. We don’t need a revival. We had one. And let’s remember that the greatest service we as a nation can do is to keep our health and our poise against the time wher we may be called upon to help bind up the wounds of a world now once more torn by war.

IT BECOMES A CRIME TO LISTEN

S war began the Nazi Government proclaimed a law

under which anyone in Germany who listens to a radio broadcast from a foreign station is subject to a penitentiary | term. Those who spread reports from such broadcasts are | liable, in special cases, to the death penalty. . Thus the Nazis seek to protect the morale of the | German people against propaganda from abroad. Germany's leaders, historically, have been tragically inept at understanding the psychology of other peoples. It must be doubted whether they understand the psychology even of their own people. For, if we know human nature, this law will stir one of the oldest, strongest instincts of the race—curiosity. People in Germany, now shut by their rulers into the dismal prison of war, will risk arrest and even death to learn | what the radio and the press of other countries are saying. | What could more surely cause intelligent Germans to doubt the truthfulness of what their Government tells them | than the discovery that their Government fears to let them hear the other side? What, they will inevitably want to | know, is this foreign propaganda of which the Nazi prop- | agandists are so afraid? What broadcast from abroad could | have worse effect on their morale than this warning, at | the very start of war, that to seek information has become | a crime?

| | |

SABOTAGING THE HATCH ACT

T will not be hailed as a monumental issue at a time when the world is catching fire, but here's something for the come-uppance file: The Department of Justice, in almost its first specific application of the Hatch Act, has ruled that it is all right for a U. S. District Attorney and an Assistant U. S. District Attorney in Pittsburgh to continue in their jobs although they are candidates for state political offices. When Congress passed the “no politics” law, Senator Hatch, the author, interpreting “its clear intent, said that “any Federal official subject to this act, who is a candidate for another political oftice, should forthwith resign or abandon his candidacy.” And Attorney General Murphy declared he would enforce the law “up to the hilt.” But now we find Mr. Murphy's department, apparently at Mr. Murphy’s direction, saying the two men in Pittsburgh can stay on the Federal payroll and run for public office at the same time, providing that meanwhile they “refrain from addressing public meetings or otherwise engaging in political activities prohibited by the Hatch Act.” (Don’t laugh, that qualifying phrase was written with a straight face.) Mr. Murphy is a man who doth protest much his sincerity, but in this performance he seems to have established something of a new high in hypocrisy. Let’s not forget this incident.

PSYCHOLOGICALLY SPEAKING R. FRANKLIN FEARING, Professor of Psychology, University of California at Los Angeles, says: “The mental effects of war are extremely complex. Among the more important is a loss of faith in democratic processes and an increase in belief that a strong man at the top can save us. “All forms of social freedom are curtailed, and a fear and persecution of all minority groups particularly labor organizations will probably develop. “Since war serves no human or biological need but is essentially a pathological state and violently interrupts all the natural activities of living, its effects on all participants are serious. “If war is prosecuted for a long period, it is necessary artificially to inflate enthusiasm and artificially to deaden normal reactions of fear and horror. This is likely to result in serious psychological changes in the individual and to

increase the jsychoses of frustration.” % *

% All of which is an academician’s way of touching on a small phase of a large subject which Gen. Sherman cov-

ered completely in three words: “War is Hell!” -.,

Fair Enough

By Westbrook Pegler

Claims Nation-Wide Theater Strike Will Show Stagehands Have Imposed Terms That Imperil the Industry.

EW YORK, Sept. 2.—If the stage actors and presently those of the screen decide that they must strike next week to check the attempt of the Stagehands’ Union to take them over and soak them for an income tax, in addition to those which they already pay the state and Federal Governments, that will be a benign disaster, worth enduring for the good

it will do. This strike will inform the public of the effrontery of the Stagehands’ Union and reveal one of the most important reasons why the stage has almost ceased to be. That reason is the Stagehands’ Union, and one result of its rapacity and bulldozing arrogance is unemployment of actors, which, in turn, has resulted in demands from over on the left wing for Government funds to revive the drama so that it may be led up an alley and clouted over the skull again by the stagehands. The current scrap concerns an intricate problem of jurisdiction and union politics, and the public probably is inclined to laugh it off as a temperamental spat between a tribe of eccentrics who rouge their faces and speak recitations on one side and & gang of horny-handed sons of toil on the other. The fact is, however, that if this fight extends to Hollywood it will rebound out over the country where the stagehands control the projection rooms of the local movies. » » »

HE stagehand is what? He does the mechanical work. Most of the work is such as might be learned and performed competently by anyone with normal intelligence after very brief training or observation. The regulations which have been forced on the theater are such that, even though a show has no scenery at all and uses no curtain, the company, must, nevertheless, pay high wages to members of the Stagehands’ Union to hang around and play pinochle. Otherwise the union will strike the show and compel the actors to walk out in sympathy, but against their will. The actors, for all their vanity, are democratic people who chum with the crews while at work, but in the cultivation of this fellowship they are the people who have made the sacrifices. o = =

HE stagehands twice have co-operated with the actors in labor troubles with thc producers who employ both crafts—first in the great Equity strike just after the war and a few years ago in Hollywood. That was pally of them, to be sure, but during these years the stagehands have fallen into the power of a dictatorial leader who recently has discovered that his union is entitled to jurisdiction over the actors as well. Members of various unions within the stagehands have tried to break this power, but individuals -are afraid to become too obstreperous lest they lose their standing and their jobs. The actors, being old hands at the publicity game, will put up a fight and, if public opinion has anything to do with the outcome, are reasonably sure of victory. If this case comes to

a showdown it will be shown that the stagehands, !

in return for the help they gave the actors, for which they are always patting themselves between the shoulder blades, have helped themselves to conditions which have almost killed the theater.

Business By John T. Flynn

Even Discounting Effect of War Business Rise for U. S. Is Indicated.

EW YORK, Sept. 2.—Leave the European war prospects out of the picture and what is the outlook for business in this country? That's a natural question around Labor Day. My own answer is—a moderate rise until the end of the year. Of course, at this season, people are streaming home from vacations, producers and merchants are

| making plans for the fall schedules and the usual out-

look is for improved business. This year businessmen themselves are making very optimistic forecasts. But it is natural for men to hope for the best and these must always, even in the best of times, be subjected to some discount.

Private business itself is moving along about as it |

has in the last four months—about as one would expect with the season. But in addition to this the Government has expanded its spending very much. In August it spent about 145 million dollars more than last August. Tn July it spent about 75 million more than in 1938. If it keeps up this pace—and it probably will—this ought to be sufficient, added to the more or less steady tone of business, to provide a moderate rise until the Christmas holidays are over.

Fear of Our Entry a Danger

It would be a mistake to promise more than that. And this is all based upon factors which are purely domestic. How will the war affect this outlook? Tt will be easier to tell when we know the groupings of the two sides. This can make a very great change in the flow of our trade, Already the war has made an impression on certain of our industries, such as the airplane industries —and a growing number of others. There is no doubt that war orders for food and clothing will stream here if general hostilities begin. But it is a reasonable conjecture that this will not be sufficient very greatly to affect the general course of business between now and Christmas. There is one danger spot. That is the fear of our getting into the war. If businessmen—particularly businessmen in the investment industries, like building—once become convinced that we are sure to go in the effect will be disastrous. That is a very perilous and deleterious piece of pessimism and fatalism to sell

American business now. Nothing coul Boat g uld do it more

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

BW a vice instead of a virtue for women to absorb themselves completely in affairs of their own households. This is the opinion of Maude Royden,

famous Englishwoman, and ohe of the greatest fem- | |

inine thinkers.

What is true for her countrywomen is true also | Although we have more | liberties and opportunities than our British sisters, | a large group now urges the feminine part of our |

for American housewives.

population to stick to its knitting. Such advice may be good in ordinary times, but these are not ordinary times. When the farm is on fire the farmer's wife lets her work go and speeds to prevent the spread of the conflagration. Well, sisters, our world is on fire. stack up the dishes and get to the rescue?

It really won't make much difference how well our houses are kept if we can’t stop the destructionists from blowing them into smithereans. Bringing up babies is a noble endeavor, although in a good many places nowadays it seems a stupid one.

Why not

As Dr. Royden suggests, can we conscientiously | leave international affairs and economic problems | Certainly not, unless their | methods show speedy improvement. Today the world, | as they run it, is sailing fast towards complete dis- |

wholly in men’s hands?

aster.

Dr. Royden's logic is irrefutable, I think. Parlia- |

ments and Congresses, she contends, exist mainly for the purpose of building and maintaining countries fit to live in. For this task, an all-around knowledge of human nature is required rather than any training in specialized subjects. Because women understand human nature better than men, because their instincts are more protective, they should be helping with every political and economic enterprise,

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

and futile |

SATURDAY, SEPT. 2, 1939

‘Again’ —By Talburt

ArE— ET TIT RC La 4 :

The Hoosier F

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

orum

FEAR CIVILIZATION IMPERTLED BY WAR

By Forum Fan

Thinking people now realize that the ending of the great World War brought no definite solution to any problem. Over eight million human beings slaughtered and even more disabled only to sow the seeds of |future discontent and whet the appetites of ambitious dictators!

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

views in

And the next war. What of it and | even more important, what will its ending mean? It now seems that it could end in the complete destruction of civilization, with Hitler the supreme ruler of the greater part of Europe or | with Hitler's overwhelming defeat | and the victors fighting over the division of conquered territory. At any rate it will take its toll of human misery and suffering, de- 2 Br =» struction of property and economic THINKS HITLER AND unbalance for years after its ending. | STALIN BLUFFING Great men of all nations recognize | these facts. > % W» DEMANDS SHELTER

FOR NEWS VENDORS |By S. C. Williams

than the stands, a hazard? The citizens of

law-abiding citizens and not a bur-

snows and rains set in.

By Edward ¥. Maddox

still forget

for time. They are enemies and don't you

| | teach day, I cannot help but notice to overthrow and pity the news vendors. munist-Anarchist regime the sun and rain, on another a crip-| aggression pact is a farce and pled man, on another a blind man, | fabrication.

These afflicted persons are com-|Socialist-Communist, pelled to make a living this way and | movements in the United States. without shelter, A shelter is pro-| 1 have said and still say vided for dogs, cats and other ani-

lon corners, which are a foot higher

Indianapolis| WPA people have plenty initiashould awaken to these facts, and | peop Ede

try to help these people, who are

'den to the taxpayers. to get some | i2mily of six live in an automobile. sort of Shere oe Ay winter | Lousands of others contrive to live

Both Hitler and Stalin are des- [subtract it or multiply it and you perate, tricky and merely sparring deadly it. Each is trying to outsmart the other. On my way to and from business The way Germany and Italy fought | from this lay-off but not from comthe Socialist-Com- | in Spain On one corner sits a blind lady in [ought to convince you that the nona My “campaign of exand so it goes all over the city.|Posures” has been to expose the suffer, They will not follow my sug-Nazi-Fascist | gestion of a tent city, I know.

that | the devil take the hindmost.

when the real clash comes in Europe it will be between fascism and communism. I still say so, I realize | the great humiliation the Socialists, | Communists and Nazis in this coun[try feel. Tt sure takes the prop out {of their propaganda. The Swastika | and Hamstika is a banner of strange | device. The American Eagle suits | me better.

h-» » [ESUDS RELIEFERS FOR THEIR INITIATIVE

| |

[By W. C. G.

(tive. If they did not they would scon |be as extinct as the Dodo bird. A

somehow after being thrown in the street. Families live on $2.10 weekly. Try to stretch this to cover food, clothing, rent, fuel, ete. It takes more than initiative. One must be a genius.

You can take nothing, add it,

still have nothing so I wouldn't {worry about WPA people becoming loan sharks, attorneys or ah advertising genius. Business will suffer

petition, I predict that those who shout the loudest now to stop WPA will increase the volume in asking its re(turn. In the meantime people must

It will be every man for himself and

ciety, but these human beings have to sit in sun and rain to exist. I have discussed this matter with | several reliable businessmen and]

mals, as a rule, by the Humane So- | | |

New Books at

the Library

(have been told that this shameful | |situation was caused by the power | {of certain business concerns here,| | who desired the monopoly on the| magazine trade, and used their in- a remarkable man, “An American [fluence to get these stands off the | pDoctor’s Odyssey.” will find in his [streets entirely—-this was compro- new book, “You're the Doctor” (Nor- | mised by the issuance of an order ton) some explanation of his amaz{taking the top off stands, claiming ing energy and enthusiasm. {them to be a traffic hazard. This second book offers informaIf these stands are a traffic|tion in many fields. For the everhazard, why are not the trash boxes growing number of readers who are

| Side Glances—By Galbraith

| « Ware

PR, 1939 BY NEA SERVICE, T. M. REG. U. 8. PAT. OFF.

"You're just wasting your time, Jack—his parents are the smallest tippers in the building!"

HE thousands who read and] enjoyed that autobiography of

becoming diet-conscious, he discusses vitamins and calories, our | good old friends, proteins, carbohydrates, starches, minerals. His career in the public health service furnishes him with exciting ma|terial upon the work of such agen[cies in the interests of sanitation, {pure food, pure water, pure milk. [For those who are not content [merely with the practical conclu[sions which he draws from his knowledge of medicine and physiol- | O8Y, disease and health, Dr. Heiser | tells something of the research and | discoveries which have made possible inexpensive and scientifically wholesome diet, inoculation, and disease prevention through the con[trol of environment. | Dr. Heiser is an energetic man, land his book shows it. He is a doctor who follows his own prescriptions—exercise, sleep, simple and | not too abundant food. He is ap-| parently one who can “watch his health” without coddling himself. “I, a man in my mid-sixties,” he writes, “am hale and hearty, fond of swimming and riding, certain, no matter how hard the bed, to sleep soundly and to awake with pleasant anticipation of an arduous day's work, or ready, perhaps, (for strenuous travel.”

SEPTEMBER LIGHT | By MARY P. DENNY | | |

Softly falls September light Over wood and meadow land Reaching out one golden band Binding east to western strand In a glory light divine. Shining far a glowing line. Shining bright in autumn tree Glowing in the golden rod Looking upward from the sod. All the world shines forth in gold As the autumn days unfold.

DAILY THOUGHT

Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.—John 8:51.

1, >> God, and he will dwell with and he will

to t! Yoh a te

Gen. Johnson Says —

We Were Drawn Into Last War Because We Were Weak, but It's Certain That Won't Be True Again.

ASHINGTON, Sept. 2.—If a general European war comes, both those who think we can and should keep clear out, as does this writer, and those who think we should get in, directly or indirectly, are agreed on one thing. We should make ourselves Very strong. The war babies want us to be strong to fight and conquer. The anti-war advocates want us to be too strong for anybody to attack us. That is exactly what we did not do in the early years of the World War. We did just the reverse of that. The War College was ordered not to make secret plans of what we might do if we were threatened. We made not so much as a gesture toward getting our industry ready for war, As a consequence, both sides literally walked all over us. England gave us as many legal causes for war as did Germany. England seized our property, interfered with our meils and even blockaded our ports. The Germans sank our ships and destroyed American lives, The British only destroyed our property. We stayed weak to keep out of war and we were drawn into war because we were weak. The lesson seems to have been learned. Nobody of importance is asking us to remain weak now, 5 ” n REPARATION for industrial mobilization is as important as preparation for military mobilization —perhaps more so. The principles of proper industrial war organization were well proved in 1918. Just now, at least, it seems that they are not forgotten, But the field in which those principles must work has been radically changed. It will make a great difference in any approach to action. In those days, the Department of Agriculture was principally just an advisory bureau. It had very little control over production, processing and distribu tion of food. Therefore, Mr. Hoover's Food Adminis tration had to be set up and granted wide powers, Today Mr. Wallace's cabinet department has far more powers than Mr, Hoover's ever had, except that it lacks the power to license food distributors. The railroads were less under control of the Ine terstate Commerce Commission than they are today. A railroad administration had to be created. For similar reasons we had a War Trade, War Finance, Fuel and Capital Issues Administration. The Federal peace government now has permanent units for some of this work. It approaches the regulatory powers of the 1918 war government. This is true of the S. E. C,, the Labor Board, the Maritime Commission, the Wages and Hours Administration and the increased powers of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation—to mention only

a few. » ” ”

HE new War Resources Board will have to consider this vast change before it follows too closely the successful War Industries Board pattern. In those days the Board had only to deal with other emergency administrations over which it had at least a loose control from the beginning. But these permanent administrations will cross paths with the new Resources Board at every turn. The situation suggests most unusual diplomacy, very masterful board members or a Kilkenny cat fight. This board is composed of very able citizens, If it should ever get into actual operations, I think some of them will be disqualified by reason of their indus=trial and financial associations. Now, while they are merely advisory, that is not true. If anybody can work out this organizational tangle, they can.

U. S. Roundup

By Bruce Catton

Bountiful America and Her Fine Citizenry Seem Too Good for War.

ASHINGTON, Sept. 2—No one who returns to Washington at this time, after a tour through the country, can fail to be impressed by the thought that it will be a tremendous tragedy and a colossal blunder if the leadership down here does not find some way of keeping America entirely out of any catastrophe which may befall Europe. Any trip out into the nation today is bound to give a thoughtful person two firm convictions— First: In spite of our unsolved problems, we still possess an empire whose riches are almost untapped, comparatively speaking. Second: The human material the country has to work with is made up of as fine a set of folks as any nation could possibly ask for. The sheer physical richness of the country fairly hammers on your eyes as you travel. Your train flashes by great mining areas whose only fault is that they produce too richly. Your car winds through fertile lands whose one flaw is that they are too fertile. Your plane goes over an industrial empire which would be without a flaw if only it wasn't equipped to make more things than the country can handle right now.

A Pretty Swell Bunch

After you have looked at such things day after day, you begin to understand as you never understood before how much our attention and our effort ought to be turned inward, not across the seas—and what a tremendous, lasting boom will get under way once we get the knack of making all of this richness work for us and not against us. Then there are the people. ,.. It isn't just a matter of their being friendly. There's a competence to them, an industry, an in=born desire to get on with one another, which sticks out even in a country which has to worry about strikes and relief labor and economic royalists. We don't know our luck. We've got everything. Over in Europe the thunder-heads are blotting out the sunset; mavbe it's going to be night over there for a long while, a night filled with terrible things, the flames of stricken cities and the cries of anguished children. But we—we can miss it, we must miss it, we've got to miss it—because, over here, we're waiting for the dawn.

Watching Your Health

By Jane Stafford

GOOD many people have the idea that it is foolish to run to the doctor for every little ache or pain. They prefer to take a dose of this or that for their headaches or indigestion or sore throat, and to keep on with their usual activities, regardless of how miserable they feel. Such a course is unwise for numerous reasons. In the first place, the ache or pain or sick feeling may be the beginning of a serious ailment for which prompt treatment is necessary. Besides the danger involved in delayed diagnosis, the habit of doctoring one’s self has other marked dangers, as the U.S. Public Health Service points out. An important one of these is the danger of forming the drug habit. Another great danger is that of wrong-or-overs dosing. When a doctor prescribes medicine for a patient, he has studied the patient carefully, examining him end asking questions until he knows as much as possible about the patient and his illness, Then he decides how much of any particular kind of medicine the patient requires. Doses of medicine of the same quantity do not fit all people. Most laymen do not know this fact, and when they start doctoring them=selves, they are in danger of taking an overdose of a remedy that may do great harm if taken in quantity. Some people seem to act on the idea that if a small dose of a medicine will do a little good, a large dose will be practically an instantaneous cure for almost anything. “This sort of reasoning, applied to many medicines, may lead to the grave—often with a lingering death as a prelude,” the Federal Health Service warns. “This statement is especially true in the case of many headaches and stomach remedies. One cannot be too cautious about taking them. “Never guess about your own trouble,” the warning from Federal health authorities continues, “If it becomes necessary for you to cure a disease, don't run the risk of prescribing for yourself. Get a doctor's You may hit on the right thing but the { »

luck.

overwhelmingly against such