Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 November 1939 — Page 22

|Gen. Johnson

Criticism of Wallace Is Unjust; ~~ Third Term a Domestic Issue and ‘ Not Related to Neutrality Debate. Sh } NOLUMBUS, O, Nov. 2—TIt is a little hard to see why Steve Early slapped. Secretary Wallace's ears | down for saying something about the war giving the | President a third term, It is true that the neutrality | debate was still going.on and that the Administration, ‘had requested that politics be kept out of that—which was admirably done by both sides. But a third term's is a domestic and not a foreign question. It is af- go fected by the war, but not by debate on the Neutrality Bill

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= — ——— I'he Indianapolis Times (A SCRIFPS-HOWAED NEWSPAPER)

‘ROY W. HOWARD RALPH BURKHOLDER MARK FERREE esident Editor Business Manager

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

Ham-and-Eqgs Is Not a Pension ; Plan, but an Absurd Scheme to Turn | California Over to a Dictator.

OS ANGELES, Nov: 2.—:The incompetents, failures, | half-wits and thieves whe rule the emotions of ‘this. city have got something at least in the issue known as ham-and-eggs, which goes to the voters of California on Nov. 7 in the form of an amendment to the State Constitution. . This is a proposal to create an absolute dictatorship. It is the most audacious, the most absurd and, at the same time, the most horrifying suggestion ever presented to the voters of any American community. Disguised as an old-age pension plan whereby all persons who are rising 50 years and who are, with variations, citizens of California, would receive $30 every Thursday, this incredible fraud is no pension plan at all but an invitation to the voters to elect either of two designated individuals to a position to be known as that of “administrator.” .

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Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1939

“MUTUAL ASSISTANCE’ : (COMMISSAR MOLOTOV'S revelation of Russia’s proposi- © MM sion to Finland reminds us of the story of the darky named Mose. A fellow with ideas met Mose on the river “See that rowboat, Mose? Borrow, it. Then borrow a

¥ 4 - It the third term issue is to be shushed only until | the embargo is lifted and then turned loose with re- i newed vigor, that doesn’t sound like keeping politics : | out of foreign relations. It sounds like a very clever . | use of the politics of silence to affect foreign policy. & . It becomes an attempt to fool somebody—to sup= press a true intent that might hinder getting what

saw. And now you see that driftwood out ‘there? You snake it ashore, cut it-up and cord it, and I'll give you half.” Finland, “invited” to send missions to Moscow, is “asked” to shift a few borders and to make way for a Russian naval base on some strategic Finnish soil. ; This, to Molotov’s way of thinking, is very niagnanimous. He describes the plan as meeting Finland half-way. " The. scheme includes eertain other “exchanges” by which Russia would acquire some islands in the Gulf of Finland, and shakes down to this: : 2s That Russia would end up with complete control of the

The promoters have had the effrontery to name, in a proposed constitutional amendment, two men, one of whom must be selected by the Governor. These two individuals are Roy G. Owens and Will H. Kindig, both of Los Angeles. Neither, by previous achievement, would deserve better than alarm, even though they were running as nominee and alternate for the post of boxing commissioner. 2 8 =» HIS is the most astonishing proposal ever conceived in this or, for all my knowing on the subject, any other country, not excluding Germany or Russia. It is proposed that the people deliver the whole life, freedom and property of the state into the hands of either of two individuals whe nominated themselves. Huey Long was a prim and modest constitutional statesman by comparison.

you want only long enough’ to get it and then only, : to tell the truth. Mr. Wallace, accused of being dumb to blow off that way and by the White House itself of “not con=- * sulting the victim,” is far from dumb. He is just neither slick nor subtle. He is too frank and forth. . right to play inside political baseball unless the coach is right there to tell him what to do. This time the coach was 3000 miles away.. So Henry became “he who gets slapped.” Ne X : : £ =» HERE was a reason for that, too. It was a good ’ way to recover Henry's tumble and he happens | to ‘be so modest and loyal that, even though he is & ; “Cabinet Minister, he wouldn't protest. : » It is pretty puny stuff. The essence of what the ; Secretary said was little more than that the war *

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has increased third term chances for 1940. This is . certainly true. It is far more certain that the war jay therensed Democratic chances which were slipping § a y. . J . x , i » 1t is true; so why shouldn't it be said? I findthat @ @ all kinds of people: take it for granted wherever I 894 and none contests it. In Pennsylvania, Michigan, « .§

The amendment itself runs up a score of about 1500 words. It backtracks, contradicts itself and the Amer- | jcan Constitution and gets lost in such fogs as even the most earnest bankers and economists have been | unable to penetrate. But it doesn’t fail to provide that either Roy G. Owens or Will H. Kindig must be { named administrator, with power to suppress strikes,

. Baltic, would be in a position to take over Finland without ~ having to fight, and would have a pistol pointed at all of the rest of Scandinavia. : This is called mutual assistance, and is offered by the

| same Russia whose custom it is to protest sanctimoniously | | against imperialism. Not the least unpleasant of the by-products of war and power politics is the way your intelligence is insulted.

THE DRESSING ISSUE | FOR once, President Roosevelt has failed to get at the * heart- of a question. The real Thanksgiving problem is not the date but the dressing. Unless something is done pretty soon about the subversive activities to which the stuffing of the bird has been subjected in recent years, blood is likely to flow in the streets. : : A hasty survey by our men, operating at full Gallup, ‘shows that public sentiment is aflame over the foreign isms introduced into turkey dressing by saboteurs disguised as cooks—all definitely un-American. Instead of sticking to » the stale bread and simple seasonings of our founding grandmothers, they have introduced fancy fertilizers, chopped Inner-tube and Venetian blinds. o The American public, Mr. Roosevelt, may stand for an occasional oyster—although those of oldest stock feel that oysters should be served separately at Thanksgiving time as escalloped oysters. It may even accept, at other times, the German “wurst” under the not-debts-but-investments terminology of “hot-dog.” But, sir, it will not much longer stand for infiltration into American kitchens of fellow-

travelers with the Syrian shallot, the Sicilian garlic and the |

alien aniseed. : | American dressing for Americans, Mr. Roosevelt, should be as dry as a speech by Calvin Coolidge. Jlts condiments are few and homely. Its essential flavor comes from the turkey. Yet—unsatisfied with introducing figs, raspperries, liverwurst, whipped-cream and occasionally the boose of an abandoned freight train—these no-good bummers from afar have made dressing a soggy mess unfit for anything but launching a ship—if you have a ship. Things have gone too far, and advancing the date may pnly shorten the time before the people take something into ~ their own hands besides a drumstick. And, oh yes, Mr. ~ President—to heck with chestnuts.

‘NEEDED ON THE JOB’

= (CONGRESSMAN MARTIN of Massachusetts, Republican leader of the House, announces that he will oppose any

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forfeit property and money, suspend the debts of favored individuals, discredit the credit of the state and its counties, cities and towns and spend mon at will, : # 8 = HIS is not the simple, screw-ball dream-book proposal which was voted down once before. The $30-every-Thursday lure has been retained only as a lure and is, by agreement even of those who saw some phantom of possibility in the previous plan, a fake. Nevertheless, the C. I. O. element of the labor front has indorsed the fraud, even though the membership and most of the American leaders know it to be a fraud, as an act of gratitude. Ham-and-eggs voted against a reactionary anti-picketing law last time, and the C. I. O. andgmuch of the A. F. of L. element have now given aid and comfort to a plain Nazi, anti-labor movement as a return favor. The C. I. O. influence was delivered by the Communist leaders dominating the subsidiary C.I.0. units against the will of the rank and file. Many of the a and file probably will vote against the dictaigrship. ; But if ham-and-eggs should win, the Communists of the C. I. O. would expect to move in and help administer the amendment in the expectation of bankruptcy and rioting.

Business By. John T. Flynn :

Overburdened Cities May Be Unable To Finance Further PWA Work.

A TEW YORK, Nov. 2—In the last seven years every city in the country has received large grants from the Federal Government for all sorts of improvements. BES Cities have fought to get these grants, which have enabled them to provide employment for their idle people. But the PWA grants have not been all just grants. An immense sum has been loaned by the Federal Government to the cities or the cities have been compelled to put up a substantial percentage of the cost of the improvements. : One obvious result of this, of course, has been to plunge the cities deeper into debt. Perhaps this was unavoidable. But at least the people who live in cities should understand what they have done. In selecting public improvements, the cities usually do so with seme discrimination—weighing the needs, the cost of upkeep, etc. But in these last seven years the idea foremost in their minds was not the character of the improvement, but the necessity of getting Federal money to come to town. The great objective was to get as much as possible and as quickly as possible. The haste precluded good

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FAVORS ROOSEVELT’S NEUTRALITY BILL By J. P. Glendy, Scottsburg, Ind. The arms embargo is un-neutral as it affects one side only. I hope

President Roosevelt's plan of cash and carry will be adopted. While Germany has Russia with its- inexhaustible supplies to draw upon, we shouldn’t place an embargo on arms that would keep the Allies from obtaining them here. | I view this fight to a: finish over there as the Armageddon, the final struggle between civilization and barbarism. . 2 = 8 CAPITAL PROPERTY OF . MASSES, IS CLAIM : By Voice in the Crowd

“Shades of medievalism,” cries Sprunger, yet the theory that he represents and refuses to explain dates back to tribal ownership with not much to own but a dictator chief having title of all. What is it about Capitalism that is so bad for the masses? Capital is the property of the masses. Pools of capital develop from earnings put into savings accounts, life insurance : policies, stocks and bonds that the thrifty buy, as a means of protecting their savings. The capital pools are made up of the savings of the masses. ' Only where human rights are considered first, is the right of private ownership respected and real ownership by the masses of the economic mechanism possible. At

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

(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.)

Do you like the way it is handled? Well, neither does anyone else; but it is a sample of how things are handled when politics are supreme.

Now you say that the Government

“linsures the bank deposits. Well, you

are right, but again who is the Government? And who will make good

‘that insurance if it must be paid?

Your first answer should be “all of the people,” and your second, “all of the people who have saved something to pay with.” : Once again, if you believe that the capitalistic system is one of scarcity, where did all of our automobiles and beer bottles come from? : 2 8 8

THINKS WE ARE UNDULY EXCITED OVER WAR By E. J. C., Crawfordsville, Ind. " Aren’t we unduly excited about the “danger of getting into the Eu-ropean-war®’ Who is going to “get us in?” When the prevailing intelligence

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our entering the present conflict;

when the press, following suit, is] "in the driver's seat—but it is a more dangerous spot;

for it; when a majority of our Congressmen, with their ears to the ground, say it is the thing to do— then, and not until then, may we figure that there is some likelihood of our mixing in the present mess. Those conditions describe 1917, but not now. = Please let us remember that we are to a considerable extent a selfgoverning people, and quit imagining that we are being pushed around. : 8 2 iNsidTs ENGLAND SHOULD PAY DEBT By Curious, Bloomington, Ind. In political science; economics, art and morality, it is said that the lines must be drawn somewhere. Well, shades of darkness and light, where can the lines be drawn? Right wingers are supposed to be monarchs, plutocrats, oligarchs, dictators, Communists, Fascists and Nazis, and left wingers are supposed to be Socialists, Communists, Democrats, etc. So what? ' 1 am in favor of England and France paying all debts to us up to the last penny or giving us territory in this hemisphere equal to the debts before we even so much as wink at them in approval of their conquest against, Hitlerism. We might ask Chamberlain who is responsible for the conditions that

of almost every community favors

gave rise to Hitler, et al.

| er than mere pacifist sentiment in 1916:

Indiana—among the most hide-bound, old guard, ; realistic Republicans and Tories, it is accepted with : p»-

as little argument as the weather—albeit mournfully. Moreover, Mr. Wallace is ‘merely in temporary . eclipse. Just as soon as

toms of Administration third-termites. Then Henry ; can come tail-wagging out of his doghouse. 3

s » 2» *

the Neutrality Bill is law, ? the welkin is going to ring again with the joyous tom= «

“YT is an {ll wind"—and the war was a great break } PA

for the superlatively lucky Mr. Roosevelt. That «

goes with just one dangerous exception. The senti-

ment of this country for keeping out of the double- {|

crossing European brawl is very strong—much strong : it ‘has the ‘odor of a singed cat which dreads ican diplomacy, the‘ piling up and publicizing of all {

This time ¢ e fire. § The steps-that lead to war—propaganda, biased Amer- *

irritating incidents on one side and the suppression » g

of those on the other—all this kind of clever 1916 and 1917 poker playing has been thoroughly exposed and is pretty well understood. BET . This Administration has been put back squarely

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than before. If it points toward a powerful armed neutrality and peace, it can perpetuate itself. If it allows its sympathies to guide its action toward intervention it could make the 1940 issue “war or peace” -and lose its shirt. NE

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lt Seems to Me By Heywood Broun ~~ This Is a Troubled World, but Man

Is Rugged and Will Find a Way,

EW YORK, Nov. 2—This is not a fascinating world. Certainly not a good one ‘if looked at wholly upon the surface. And yet I cannot go wholly ; with those who say that civilization is dead or dying. * What they really mean is that death will conquer life. It won't. It never has. go There is encouragement in turning one’s eyes : away from rational beings toward the kingdom of « less intelligent creatures. In the forest you will not;

PERE AS SR GTN E NS

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hypocrisy, either. The animals, the birds and insects : live by taking in the heart's blood of one another. ; But they issue no documents of justification. If a:

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find peace. But you don’t run across pretension and j .

frog eats a fish he does so without any preliminary # » T

preparation of propaganda. And perh he falls prey to a turtle. In that event he croaks and dies, | but, like all others in the animal kingdom, he must accept the fate as part of an ordered existence. | Life and death in the woods goes on without argu :

ment and passion. Certainly the frog has no desire | «

to exterminate the entire finny tribe. On the con- « trary, it is his wish that they should be multiply so that he may maintain his table. give and take the whole way through. .- . And the encouraging. fact is that nature in the.

fruitful and is: ¢

national planning. It resulted in great costs. ik

The Taxes Must Be Paid

Now this was well enough from one point of view because it gave work to men. It was delightful from another point of view, that it brought Federal grants

raw is fecund; the answer to life's riddle is decidedly , 0 “yes” rather than “no,” and even the amateur agri=: culturist cannot fail to be impressed by the fact that: >" | | he

the present time the great republic of ours stands alone in this ownership. Anyone who is for the masses should protect the savings of the masses, Now, Mr. Sprunger, the way that

motion to adjourn the special session of Congress. He says: “In my judgment, the people of the United States want

Congress to remain in session, to devote itself to the diffi- the seed of the future is widely spread. Great oaks:

| from little acorns grow. Most of the acorns are’

New Books at the Library

Be “ rN

cult task of keeping this country out of war and improving £ our domestic situation. There are still nearly nine million unemployed people who must be given consideration; our farmers in many sections are in real distress} we are ex- ~ periencing a tinsel war boom, without real prosperity or solid business recovery; the railroads are in need of longterm legislation; serious problems of national defense demand immediate attention.” : : Another Republican, Alfred M. Landon, says: . “The Congress in session is our greatest safeguard for peace. . It is far more important than any automatic legislation.\. . . In session it keeps its hands upon the reins of Government. Furthermore, it is in line with our constitutional conception that the chief executive is not alone in his responsibility for foreign affairs. If the nation is in peril, as the President’s proclamation of ‘limited emergency’ ~ indicated, our Congress is needed on the job in Washington.” Po We'd like to hear Democrats speaking up.to the same effect. Republicans Landon and Martin have a real issue here, a good issue—too good to be monopolized by one party.

THE FLAW IN PETITIONS MORE than 400,000 Ohio voters signed the: petitions which have forced onto the state’s ballot, for Nov. 7, the mathematically unworkable Bigelow pension plan. . Many of the petitioners no doubt believed sincerely that the plan would work. Others probably signed just to oblige a canvasser. And perhaps some of them were like the’ University of Michigan upperclassmen who signed, without reading, a petition circulated by freshmen. It read, in part: “We furthermore declare that the freshmen are our superiors in wit and wisdom, and that our stupidity is surpassed only by the mental lethargy of the overpaid faculty that teaches us.” _ ~: 7 : “We hope all the Ohio petitioners, and likewise the California ham-and-eggers, know just what they're voting on, come Tuesday. he = &

\G MONEY : OQ men were arrested in a WPA printshop at Mil- * waukee, the other day, after they had printed $12,600 worth of counterfeit $5 and $10 bills on a power press. ~ Counterfeiting, of course, is very, very wrong. But

is, at least, can be said for the two Milwaukee men : They |

to the town. But it was quite ‘serious from another angle. It forced the cities to borrow from the Gov=ernment in some cases and from private lenders in other cases. And cities which began the depression desperately in debt are now more deeply in debt than ever. ; . Therefore we have added two burdens to the cities. We have added the burden of servicing these new debts —paying interest and amortization, which means increased local taxation. It means also servicing and maintaining the projects themselves, which also means increased taxes. f And this increased taxation does not mean taxes upon the rich, but taxes on the middle class and the poor since it is they. who, through sales taxes and rents, pay all the taxes of the town.’ And as we seem to be about where we were on recovery, the great question arises—can the cities in their present financial conditions afford to make any

sume the upkeep of any more construction?

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

HE evil influence of war has never been better exemplified than in the battle over Col. Lindbergh and his brand of patriotism. x : Even war on the other side of the world can arouse our cruel and insane instincts—as. witness the mud slinging that goes on between certain groups, who shout that their only desire is to right the wrongs of suffering humanity. In order to do that, they resort to the mean device of traducing a national hero. Can it be forgotten that -a German-born citizen named Hauptmann was electrocuted not many years ago for the kidnaping and the murder of Lindbergh's first born son? But that, you may say, has nothing to do with the case— yet how could it possibly be otherwise? History is merely repeating itself, it seems. It was to be expected that Col. Lindbergh should endure the cursings of his countrymen for daring to speak his ‘convictions. He walks in the footsteps of a great father, for Charles Lindbergh Sr. quite literally died ‘of the abuse he brought upon his head in trying to prevent his country from dashing off to save the world in the last war. : To be sure his story is not In ‘blackens too many fair names of patriots who in that day served America with lips instead of heart. But from the record one fact stands clear and shining. The Lindberghs are Americans worthy to live in

to ‘suffer persecution’ for their ‘opinions and stanch enough to defy mabs. So i Lindbergh have suffered enough at our hands, and that it’s time. to call

ere trying to operate one sure enough self-liquidating | anytt ing

more loans, to enter into any more projects and as-

A Woman's Viewpoint

uently told. It] }-

legends, like all our patriots who were brave enough |}

It seem to ma. that men by the name of Charles || off our hounds of hate from their |}

the public debt can be paid off under the capitalistic system is exactly the same way that an individual pays his debts. Our republic is composed of 130 million individuals. It is not a homogenous mass of people, having all of its brains in one head, and when individuals do their bit toward taking care of their responsibility along with the others, the debt will be paid. - And I am for feeding of the honest hungry. I detest a system of relief that robs the recipient of all of his comforts and allows the administrators of relief to buy two cars at a time and wax fat. Relief is not a prop to capitalism—it is a free na-

HE histories of mankind which

we possess, are, in general,

histories of the higher classes. What is needed , . . is a history of the common affairs of daily life, and the most important of every-day human interest, is, of course, the nature and adequacy of the food supply.” We who live in a “golden age of abundance,” made possible by the intellectual and seientific advances of the past century, can scarcely comprehend ‘the tragic eras of famine and pestilence which recurrently have plagued the world—even though Asia in our own. day has ex-

tion’s recognition of human values.

perienced the- deadly scourge. For

Side Glances—By Galbraith

| order, an age of strife, the relent- “| |less grip of growing scarcity and

centuries the rich suffered during famine as intensely as the poor; acorns and tree bark were often the only foods that gold could buy.

Food and freedom, progress and culture, food and its economic connection with population, constitute the fascinating subject of “Hunger and History” (Harper) by E. Parmalee Prentice. It is difficult for us to imagine a world meagerly fed and clothed by hand labor, witha scanty bit of grain a farmer’s entire crop yield; white bread a great and costly luxury, and eggs, milk and butter practically unknown. It is significant that the great progress in agriculture has been made since 1800; prior to that, the

{unsatisfactory farming methods for

centuries past had made the imminence of starvation an ever present factor in human history. “Commercial developments and scientific progress,” says the author, “have rescued man from a world of want so quickly that sons do not know

! |lnow their fathers lived. They are ' |unable to value abundance at its

true worth.” But, the author warns, if we may judge by past history, this happy condition is but transitory. /Thi world’s. population is at present comparatively small, and we are reaping all the benefits of the machine age. Should the population increase too much he prophecies the

‘| world two centuries hence may ex-

perience again “a period of vast disthen, inevitably, pestilence.”

trampled under foot and come to nothing. But each ,

a . .

autumn they come on in wider and more generous waves than any attacking army. Ee

Don’t Sell Humanity Short Late

I am far from thinking that political and economies’

problems can be solved by sitting back and saying, “Oh, what's the use?” On the other hand, I am constitutionally opposed to Cassandras of either sex. Humankind has been swept by floods and fires and:

earthquakes and managed to maintain itself. No little *

man named Hitler can upset the entire a As far as specific suggestion goes, I do believe that: those things which- should -be. done ought to be done quickly. Nevertheless, delay is. less than fatal. ; Mankind muddles through. That is less than the, best way, but there is still some consolation, upon. even the most gloomy day in world history, in re-. membering that times have been tough before and yet something less than fatal. | Lael i Man should never forget that he Is a “rugged: and an indestructible individual. He deserved a long’ count. He can be knocked groggy and still get up.to:

le cart.)

win a victory. And when the best forces in the world: @

are checked or defeated the cry should never be. “We are licked.” After a defeat the shout must be, “When do we fight again?” Never sell h 1d short. ¢

Watching Your Health | By Jane Stafford An atin

HE latest news fresh from the laboratories where scientists are developing methods of vaccination against diseases ranging from smallpox to influenza has just been presented to the American Public. Heal Association. = J ast gt Scarless vaccination against smallpox i development, but it is not recommended ‘protection ag ngerous an plague. The protection it gives is not as certain lasting as the kind that shows a scar, so a second vaccination, by the usual methods, six mon the scarless one, is strongly advised,

Wi 4 &