Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 8 November 1939 — Page 14

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~ daily (except Sunday) by

the United Press survey of Thanksgivin

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(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

MARK FERREE Business Manager

ROY W. HOWARD RALPH BURKHOLDER Editor

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8» RILEY 5551

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

Owned and published F

The Indianapolis Times Publishing Co., Maryland St.

Member of United Press, Scripps - Howard = Newspaper Alliance, NEA Service, and Audit Bu- E reau of Circulation.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1939

FREEDOM, DE LUXE . ARDLY any more striking demonstration of liberty was ever presented than that which has been displayed in this country in connection with the 22d anniversary of the

Bolshevik revolution. Here is the picture: Earl Browder, of fake passport fame, Secretary of the

' Communist Party in the United States, exercises the right

of free speech to preach revolution. He calls for the Communists to bring about “a quick transition” here, similar to that in Russia in 1917. The country is ripe for it, he says, and asks his comrades not to be dismayed at the smallness of their numbers. He draws what he would have accepted as an analogy to Russia 22 years ago and urges a taking-over here such as happened then. And nobody stops him. That indeed is democracy and freedom of speech, working in high. ‘And from across the sea, celebrating the same anniversary, Premier Molotov takes advantage of another of democracy’s precious rights—freedom of the press—in America. Featured in American headlines and news dispatches is the old, familiar world revolt, the cry of “proletariat unite.” oo Between the two of them quite a ride has been taken on the back of our liberty—the liberty they so detest. But that’s all right. Because that’s what liberty is for. So long as we keep it we will never have in this nation communism, fascism or any of their dictatorial cousins, uncles or aunts.

But it would be fearful and wonderful to behold the

liquidation in that land of Browder’s dream if somebody who didn’t like Stalin should mount a soapbox in Red Square and express himself as did Browder in the land of the free. He'd be so full of holes in 20 minutes that he couldn’t screen out sparrows.

MUCH TOO CLEVER

“THAT'S a slick deal about those ships,” we heard the man on the street say yesterday. He sizes it up. . Regardless of the legality of the move, the proposal for sudden transfer of American vessels to foreign registry will be condemned, like the court-packing plan, as “too clever.” The object of all the debate on the Neutrality Bill was to keep us out of trouble. But there's trouble in this issue before the ink of that bill's signature is dry, and before the rattle of trains taking the lawmakers out of Washington ‘has died down.

er” Trouble, more internally, we think, than externally.

‘And war fever starts internally. Heat, emotions, aroused among the drojstiones who already are charging that the country has béen gypped. Doubt and bewilderment rising in the minds of non-isolationists. Resentment from sea labor, already thrown out of work by the Neutrality Bill, but, whether logically or not, protesting the substitution of alien crews in the very ships where the American sailors have been working. Ammunition for the commies and the fellow travelers. As a cold business proposition, under the wife’s name, horse-trading, presto-change and David Harum code of a

- bygone day, the transfer’makes sense. But, in the warmth

of that new moral climate in which we are now supposed to be basking, it stinks. * It would have been much better for the peace of the country had Congress appropriated a few more millions of deficit dollars to bail out the shipping companies and shipping labor than to have had this thing happen—a thing described by Senator Tom Connally, ardent repealist, as “a shrewd way to circumvent the act.” But Congress—credulous Congress—has gone home.

IT’S LABOR’S JOB

AST May a special committee was appointed by the American Federation of Labor’s building trades department to u ertake settlement of a nation-wide jurisdiction dispute between the Teamsters’ Union and the Operating Engineers’ Union. ! THe committee has now reported its decision. It isn’t necessary here to go into details. The general public has little interest in which union’s treasury, for example, shall collect dues from the men who drive motorized concrete mixers. But the general public has a great deal of interest in disruption of the building industry by a quarrel between two’ unions over questions of that sort. And the building industry in many cities has been tied up by such quarrels. In Washington, D. C., matters reached such a stage that the Government moved in recently and indicted officials of the Teamsters’ Union on charges of conspiracy in restraint of trade. oe When those indictments were returned we said that

* labor ought to make Government action unnecessary by

settling its own jurisdictional disputes. It’s too bad that the A. F. of Ls special committee didn’t act more speedily. But we applaud the fact that it has acted, and we hope the A. F. of L. and the unions concerned will see that the decision is obeyed and made a precedent for prompt settlement of other fights inside organized labor over matters having nothing to do with wages, hours, working conditions or

* other legitimate objectives of unions.

DIVIDED

IF the dictatorships want evidence that the American people are divided right down the middle, let them examine entiment. Twenty-three Governors say their states will observe Nov. 23, the date proclaimed by President Roosevelt. Twenty-three others are sticking to the traditional “last

Thursday,” Nov. 30. Colorado will celebrate on both dates,

d Texas is still undecided.

But the dictatorships, we imagine, won't care to say

auch about this matter. After all, a country that can suport two Thanksgiving Days this year might be a trifle dif

Lone Hand

By Ludwell Denny

Congressional Leaders Content

For Next Two Months, Anyway.

ASHINGTON, Nov. 8—The reason Congressional leaders are not remaining in Washington

.| to share emergency responsibilities with the President,

as he originally proposed, is that he wants to play his hand alone and they are glad to let him, For a variety of reasons, they are anxious for the President to take full responsibility during the next two months. On the surface this looks like a paradox, coming from leaders who in the main are accusing the President of usurping Congressional powers and who are preparing to cut his powers at the next session. ; But they realize that if his current policies work, he will get the credit whether they are here or not, If those policies turn out to be unpopular, they want to be in a position to put the full blame on him. This attitude is a compound of political strategy and of cowardice. Many members of Congress opposed continuation of the special session because they feared the hot spot of decision. en ® » ”

JR ousLicay leaders are playing politics as

Roose-

Hoover's invitation to share responsibility in the 1932 emergency. Garnercrat leaders hold the balance of power in Congress, and hope to prolong the “Garner= Roosevelt alliance in the regular session on a conservative basis. But. they can’t afford to tarry in the New Deal camp when their own troops are far away -at

home. Mr. Roosevelt himself is in a much less decisive mood than usual on domestic policies, and therefore is glad to be rid of the Congressional leaders. On foreign and defense policies, the President is fearfully clear and rolls his own—in effect, he is his own Secretary of State, War and Navy. He intends to help the Allies without involving the United States in war, and to build the largest regular military establishment in our history, 2 a 8 B® that program plays havoc with the budget and with New Deal social zeform. Mr. Roosevelt has to remake much of his“domestic program, and doesn’t know which way to jump. He does not know what to do about taxes, prices, farm subsidies, relief and social service appropriations.

His conservative spokesman, Senator Byrnes, has released a trial balloon for cutting other expenditures

oppose cutting the social services or relief as long as there are 9,500,000 unemployed. !

The President is up against one of the most critical decisions of his career. It is perhaps only human that he put off the decision until January, or longer if possible. Maybe by that time the anticipated European peace offensive will have succeeded or failed, and the New Deal economists’ prediction of a winter slump will be proved or disproved. . :

Business By John T. Flynn

$30 Pension Backfires in Texas; Aged Getting Less Under O'Daniel.

EW YORK, Nov. 8.—Every two years some robust promiser rises to power on a plan to redeem the aged from penury and want. Last year, with the aid of a swing band and a radio station and a stream of tall talk, the Hon. D. Lee O’Daniel got himself

elected Governor of Texas. He was no such apostle of the good life as Dr. Townsend. All he promised the people of Texas was $30 a month after they reached /the age of 65. . After these fellows get into office they pass out of the news outside their states. And the public never gets a very clear idea of just what happened to the promised abundance. So a perfectly legitimate question now would be—what ever happened to O’Daniel and his $30 a month? : : What happened to the old folks in Texas is soon told. Before O’'Daniel was elected they were getting an average of $14.24 a month. But only last month this rather humble ration was cut by $6 to $8.24. But why? Isn't O’Daniel reli What has happened to the $30? Or better still, what has happened to the less than half $30 that they were getting? . : Of course it is one thing to promise $30. It is another thing to find the money. Last year, in order té&, pay the $14.24, the state had to borrow $2,230,000. When the Legislature met this year it remained in session longer than any other Legislature in Texas history. But it made no provision for paying the $30 pensions. In fact, it made no provision for paying half that sum. Ey

Extra Session Refused

The Governor had a bright idea. He appealed to the people to tax themselves voluntarily. He wanted to pass the hat. Needless to say, that proposal fell upon ears of stone. The Legislature had an idea. Pension furids are raised on sales of liquor and tobacco. It—the Legislature of once dry and virtuous Texas, home of Senator Sheppard of 18th Amendment fame—called upon the people to smoke more cigarets and drink more liquor to raise more revenues. The Governor refuses to call an extra session because he says the law-makers who could not find time in a long session to raise the necessary funds will certainly not be able to do it in a short one. But meantihe the $6 is lifted out of the meager pension envelopes of tlie people who were promised $30 when they were getting $1424. a month. There is one commodity these pension Messiahs will not deal in—that is brass tacks. When the Oklahoma electorate was being promised $30 a month, I asked Alfalfa Bill Murray where the $30 a month was coming from in a state with a 20-million-dollar deficit. He said that' was a matter of detail to be settled after election. O’Daniel’s punishment for promising $30 and then cutting $14 pensions to $8 will be to be flung out of office by some new Messiah who will promise $60.

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

OT long ago I happened to fall in with a group N of young women who are the wives of traveling salesmen. - We used to call them ‘“drummers”’—or can you remember that far back? : These men have been- the butt of vaudeville jokes ever since the first of their kind took up a sample case and started on the squirrel-cage existence which marks the profession. In this case, as in so many others, truth is drabber than fiction, since these hard-working men usually spend their lives in stuffy hotel rooms or cooped up in dirty trains, or motoring over asphalt and dirt in all sorts of weather. Indeed after we have stripped the fake glamour from their careers they stand forth as social martyrs. Even so, they can’t hold a ‘candle to their wives when it comes to courage and gumption. : The fact was brought home to me by the girls 1 met that day. And they were hardly more than girls, yet each kept her home fires burning brightly in the ancient way of women. Some of their men were away three weeks at a stretch, while the more fortunate could count upon John or Bill or Bob for every other week-end. They had to contrive amuse-

they had to bring up their children without a father’s help. There was: no word of complaint, but behind their talk Sounded wistful notes. *What strange kind of a world is this—their hearts must have been wondering—where, in order to make a living, a man is obliged to be absent so much from his home? They share the sorrow of all women who, since the dawn of history, have said goodby to husbands—explorers, warriors and adventurers who traveled up and down the earth selling their wares or searching for riches. I can’t tell you how much I admire these pretty young vibrant Penelopes of our

To Let Roosevelt Manage Things |

velt played politics when he refused President |

to help the Army and Navy. But the New Dealers |

‘ments for themselves or be socially marooned, and |

time who seem quite as faithful and valiant as the iady of the Homeric tales. ~~.

The Hoosier Forum

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

URGES LIFTING EMBARGO ON CHRISTIAN IDEALS By H. W. Shea ha In the days of embargoes, why not lift one whose menace to all

humanity has brought suffering indeseribable—the embargo on Christian ideals. We have lifted the embargo of destruction in the name of democracy. Now let us lift the embargo of Christian living, in the name of Christianity. Instead of sending to our fellowmen the instruments of death and destruction, let us send them the ideals of the,Jesus of Nazareth, with the ways afid means of life and love, Send them faith instead of distrust, love instead of hate, and charity instead of greed. . . +. That strong men and women of character may develop a society through which justice, law and order may be established in the nations of the earth—that there may be the transformation of mind and soul of all people, from selfish purposes and a sincere love of one for another, to stand by their ideals....

8 5 =»

URGES INQUIRY ON LACK OF INVESTMENT

By Voice in the Crowd

It seems that if the press would protect its freedom it would find and prominently display facts that are behind or aside from the news, in order to direct public thinking into channels that are based on facts. Thus, when a claim is made that out of a 68-billion-dollar national income, 19 billion dollars went into savings after paying 16 billion dollars to all divisions of government, while the national debt increased by four billion,” the truth should be sought by the press that hopes to remain free. Bear in mind that living costs also came out of the 68 billion income. Taking for granted that such savings were possible, the press should discover and point out why only “six or eight” billions could find space for investment, if such is true. ; Perhaps the press already knows why business that could use money to modernize and expand production and develop new products, has refused the responsibility of using outside money, when. it does not know today what the rules of the game will be tomorrow. Perhaps the press already knows why sound banking houses are restricted from

(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 wiil be withheld on request.)

making sound and recovery-helpful loans by regulatory restrictions that are hypercritical. Perhaps the press already knows that some of our supposed = security reforms have added to insecurity and have driven many small businessmen out of business. ’ When the thought is abroad that the only way to keep money in circulation is. to take it away from its owners and let it filter down through a million officeholders, the press should (at great expense if necessary) find out why we must be so wasteful as to build a continually bigger = Government expense and circulate the confiscated money through the politicians. At 45 billions the national debt is an obligation on each man, woman and child of about 350 dollars. The two existing generations should be able to pay it. The first step in paying it is to stop it from getting larger. But don’t get the idea that it must not be paid, or that the debt

: | blueprint.

SEES WAR ULTIMATE IN PLANNED ECONOMY By Puzzled ; War is the ultimate in “planned” economy. In war the individual ceases to exist, save as an instrument for the execution of the plan. Civil rights and property rights cannot co-exist with a military The enjoyment of living is submerged in the struggle for life, The state becomes “total-

itarian” in war, to wage war against other states which became totalitarian before they engage in war. In the powers which the government of Great Britain has attained for itself within the last: year, is the power to ‘seize at a moment’s notice any property or undertaking whatsoever, except land. . Is, this the price the landed aristocracy of England demanded for such participation in the war as they may offer? Would war have been declared if this exception had not been made? What is there so sacrosanct about land, the source of supply necessary to the: existence of the nation? Why is the property of the landed aristocracy exempted from seizure? Whom are the English workers fighting for? Who controls the State? Why are Britain's 55] million colonials in a state of semistarvation? Senator Bridges says we, too, are

does not stand between your children afid liberty.

New Books at the sibrary,

being driven toward a “planned” ‘economy. :

THEN Cecile Hulse Matschat sails from New York to join her new husband, her baggage includes a lacy trousseau, her grandmother’s clock and silver, and a lovely set of dishes—for use in her tropical camp homes! : At Havana she smuggles four chickens on board—these with an eye on far-off eggless jungle dinners! At Bahi her adventures begin when she is met by the “Duke,” her: civil engineer husband, whose jobs ‘take them to many a remote wilderness. In her home on each job, Matto Grosso, Amazoniak, Patagonia, Bolivia, the Gran Chaco, Darien and

ith

4 : Ir Samuel 1:27. |

the British Honduras, Mrs. Matschat keeps house in her “Seven Grass Huts” (Farrar) like any native woman, with plenty of time out for adventure. Her story-book eseapades, illustrated with her own clever drawings, include a hazardous solo trip over a frail rope bridge—during which she shoots the coiled snake on the other bank, secures a stfong new rope for the rest of the party, and thus proves her worth to her husband’s skeptical guide. “‘Another time she is forced to sing hymns all night, while a mad Scotsman accompanies her on his bagpipes. Again she is held captive by Lacondones because she possesses that precious thing, salt, She and her husband are driven from their location when a native Death God warns them of certain death. One night she tenderly nurses an ailing Indian, enly to find the next morning that his only trouble was that his wife was having a baby! With a light touch and decidedly humorous - vein, Mrs. Matschat writes of a land and a life she loves, and the fun and wonders of tropical jungles. Her enthusiasm surmounts fever, fear and cockroaches in the food. Travel, biography, adventure, history, whatever you seek, this pook fulfills every expectation. et see Be —

: MAYBE ‘By ANNA E. YOUNG

Maybe unaware we spoke a word “That helped some worn weary soul.

And aided someone to his goal.

Maybe before it ever escaped We stifled an word. : Maybe we accepted some slight, | some hurt, PEIN : By pretending it never occurred.

Maybe unconsciously we handed .a|

. cup : : : To a disheartened, footsore friend. Maybe these things are aiding us. To that road that has no end!

DAILY THOUGHT

. How are the mighty fallen, ant the weapons of war perished—

erwurst sandwiches and a jar

SOr

"schools do keep up

Gen. Johnson

Says— 4 Soldier in Static War Consurhes No More Than a Civilian Which Is

EW YORK CITY, Nov. 8—One reason for not expecting an American war boom is that in

campaign ‘consumes from three to eight times as

of these commodities than a civilian. In the World War the furious activity brogghi a consumption of food and textiles and a destru of metals and. chemicals that was terriffic.

the bottleneck of all supply programs, try the ship-building program was the tomer for steel and other metals. We increased our

tries. So great was the demand for steel that we had to stop all building construction, all manufacture of so-called “pleasure” automobiles and even

They still wore ‘em then. : " i : 8-8 8 >

fire” and other mass consumption ‘tactics shot Due to the wide use of barbed wire on all fronts any

material. : There just wasn't half of the requirements. outright governmental price control. As it was, our own war cost was nearly three

as compared with 13 billions in pre-war dollars.

is nothing in the forseeable future to compare with our fantastical World War boom. 3 s un 8

NN only is the probable demand only ‘a fraction

States, are very much greater. Canada can and will take care of a much heavier percentage of

French have been developing their African possessions toward a greater “self-containment” in food and cot= ton. There is nowhere near as great a threat to Britain's sea-borne commerce. That fact leaves more

African mines.

times as large as in the World War. Our producing

up before we hit the twenties is too great industrial miracles. Such recovery as we have

to be betting money om any

good reason why it should not continue.

It Seems to Me By Heywood Broun

lows in his father’s footsteps. There are properties,

to the third or fourth generation, and of a novelist send pieces to the magazines. news-gathering strain seldom persists. The general

sponsibility for any family.

He grouses a great deal about the game in which he

til he has left that part of his life behind.

who failed to say, “My boy, knows and flee this job before it is too late.”

Mostly. they told me

frankly I'm glad I did not listen t older men.

No, the newspaper craft is a ( though there are not enough jobs to go

be set down as a final criticism.

They Manage to Get Around

There are few men who can travel as far on a foot pound of energy. as a reporter who knows the ropes, Naturally, perately hard. Back along ‘about 1910, and for the next five years, I was a glutton for punishment my-= self, Very quickly one learns how much can be done with a twist of the wrist. And I have always found the coasting better in a city room than at-St. Moritz

from his peculiar ambition to be a college professor I would certainly try and push him into reporting.

of fighters as they perform in those 15-round bouts tagged, was a master in pacing for his spot. go in and throw right-hand punches in every stint

and break his hands beyond repair. : If I could have my choice between being a firstclass writing man or the heavyweight champion of

machine you can sfug with bare knuckles.

Watching Your Health

By Jane Stafford

cal and educational authorities agree that there are three reasons for these small patients to continue their school work. SH ; In the first place, the child’s physical condition

mind will be occupied and kept away from his misfortune. In the second place, school in the hospital may’ help the child to select and secure training |

b some vocation: This is particularly important because

many of these children : suffer: from some ailment

‘pital. ‘They should be helped as early as possi earn a living and to achieve the satisfaction of becoming self-supporting and independent. ia ~ School in the hospital is advised in the third place ‘because it enables the child-to keep up with his grat

even though he must be in bed for a long

Pa

‘Standardized tests have shown, according to the "U. S. Office of Education, that children in he J with their grades and make same progress that normal children make in regula

+ About 60,000 boys and girls: in the United : hut 80000 boys and. gis in the United

disease, "spend from six months to ears hospias” These sre tae Children. for. who,

this static war there is no subh consumption of goods * as occurred in the World War. A soldier in an active -

much food, cloth, leather and steel as the same ine dividual in civilian life. But a soldier inactive in - ‘billets and barracks or camp uses little if any more

In April, 1917, 800,000 tons of shipping were sunk. Ships were 1In this coun= principal cus- \’

shipbuilding capacity 10 times and similarly multi= = plied activity was going on in other industrial coune «

N=» developed artillery ‘methods of “drums away incredible tonnages of metal ahd: chemicals. great strategic retreat called for shiploads of fencing

enough of anything to meet = The only reason that prices did not go to an absolutely: destructive inflation was

times what it would have been in 1913 dollars—39 billions in war currency

It is only necessary to recite these facts and come pare them with the situation today to realize there °

of what we saw 20-odd years ago; but the Allied . . reserves and sources of supply, other than the United

British requirements. Ever since the World War, the

available to her the tremendous food and leather re- . sources of the Argentine and even Australia and her .

As the Department of Agriculture has pointed out, surplus carry-overs of {ood and textiles are many

plant is not even extended. The lag to be taken . normal economic stride of the

had was overdue. If reasonable confidence can be maintained there is no

News Gathering Good Life, but Few. 3 Reporters Urge Sons to Carry On. :

N= YORK, Nov. 8.—Unlike any other crafts the + son or daughter of the newspaperman rarely oe 2 of '< course. in which a founder’s name has been’ preserved 8 even the nieces ... But the *

The reason probably lies with the reporter himself, 2

look at this son and heir he is inclined to recommend = the lad that he prepare himself for ditch digging or ©. some other occupation which will keep him in a nice : cold sewer. It isa curious tradition of American jour= “: nalism that no one is supposed to speak well of it une -

pc a this and on such occasions as he gets a good - :

I began in days before my voice had wholly + changed, and there was never an old newspaperman -° take the advice of one who

to get into business or study “- engineering. By now it is too late for flight, and .

way of life ale °- around. How- °.

ever, since this situation obtains elsewhere it cannot - I have run across those who worked dese

or Lake Placid. If I could convert my own son away

Naturally I wel advise him to grow a mustache ~ and pick a writing name which is Yess cumbersome, - But chiefly I would tell him to watch the better crop :

for titles. - Tony Canzoneri, until the night he got “= ) himself and waiting "Any journalist who figures that he can ° which comes his way will wreck his nervous system °°

the -. world I'd grab the typewriter in a minute, On the

HILDREN who have to spend more than a week or two in a hospital should go to school, ale ! though the school will have to come to them. Medi- ,

will be helped because while he is-doing his lessons his =

| which will always handicap them somewhat, even, Maybe some act of ours reached out though they recover sufficiently. to leave the hos= ble o

‘And a suitable vocation which will enable them to

ow»

%

Another Reason for Lack of Boom."

prohibit the use of steel stays in women's corsets, , +

feeling seems to be that one reported is sufficient re- -