Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 November 1939 — Page 12

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Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

'Ham and Eggs' Must Have Been What Communists Meant in Their

Gen. Johnson ! [Says— Hii

Behavior of Shoopers During

1e Indianapolis Times (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

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

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You Sure Wowed "Em | That Time, Frank!

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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1939

HISTORY REPEATS

SHE Germans are marvelously ingenious when it comes * to tangible things. They are great technicians, great precisionists. Some of their drugs and cameras and fine instruments are tops. But when it comes to dealing in - the imponderables of human thinking, they are often remarkably ham-handed. : It was the same story in that other war. The “scrap of paper,” Edith Cavell, the Lusitania. This time we have * had the cynical bedding-down with the reviled Bolsheviki, the sinking of the Athenia, the herding of Jews into a Polish ~ “reservation,” the cold-blooded slaughter of the Czech students whose sin was patriotism. If a man were to* set out deliberately to build up a hostile world opinion, he could hardly do a better job.

T is interesting to see Frank McHale and Bowman Elder, brain-trust of the McNutt-for-President organization, scurrying around trying to disassociate themselves from the Two -Per Cent Club. 3 This is one of the more notorious political shakedown schemes in the United States, even though legalized by "state law. And we can understand readily why McHale and Elder should give up their posts in the Two Per Cent : organization. It can’t do a Presidential candidate any good to have his campaign managed by two men who perfected “one of the juiciest political money-raising schemes ever devised in this country. : But we're very much afraid that, even though the divorce is official and public, McHale and Eller cannot deny the child is still theirs. Their close assocjation with the club may be over, but the scheme they greated will continue to plague them in the next 12 months.

. LOST—$100,000,000! ESPITE an apparent setback last night there is still hope in some quarters at Detroit that settlement of « the longest big automobile strike in American history is near. : If it should come before Thursday, as the negotiators at Detroit hope, it will provide real reason for Thanksgiving. What the Chrysler strike has cost, since its beginning 46 days ago, is not pleasant to contemplate. More than 55,000 Chrysler employees and some 15,000 workers in the Briggs Body plants have been idle. At an

average wage. of $6, they have lost pay at the rate of |

$420,000 a day. Estimates of the workers made idle in rubber, steel, parts and other related industries run as high as 50,000. Place them at only 25,000, and their average wage at $5, and they have lost pay at the rate of $125,000 a day. The corporation, according to one estimate, has failed to produce and market about 5000 cars a day. Averaging $800 a car, this means a loss in gross sales of $4,000,000 a day and a loss in net profit, at about $50 a car, of $250,000 a day. There are 11,000 Chrysler dealers, salesmen and service employees, whose losses no one seems able to estimate. And there are thousands of merchants, landlords and others whose receipts have suffered during the strike. The Detroit Board of Commerce asserted the other day that the Chrysler dispute was reducing purchasing power in the United States by at least three million dollars a day. Discount that one-third, and this one strike has been almost a 100-million-dollar drag on national recovery. The U. S. Labor Department’s conciliator, James F. Dewey, is entitled to credit for good work in bringing the two sides together in the Chrysler strike. But how much better if the same settlement had been reached—as it could have been reached—without a strike! ‘Neither side will obtain any concession now that could not have been better won while the assembly lines kept moving. Again it has been demonstrated that this country

needs for all industry the system’ that works so well for

the railroads—Government mediation, well-considered, well conducted and accepted, to bring labor and management together before work stops rather than after strikes have done their damage.

ATTITUDES : THE student editor -of a University of Detroit publica+7" tion wrote an editorial criticizing the “puritanical attitude” of Michigan's elderly Governor, Luren D. Dickinson. When the faculty refused to let him print that editorial, he

wrote another, criticizing university policy, and was ousted.

from his job. Now Governor Dickinson has writtén to the university as follows: : . “While I do not profess to be familiar with all the circumstances in this case, I would feel rather badly if I knew that this youth was being punished because of any unfavorable opinions he may hold of me. I believe that criticism, favorable or. unfavorable, is good for public officials, If young Mr, Kavanagh (the student editor) gave his honest opinion, I would be the last to censor him. In fact, I think I would be glad to commend the young man for his fearless interest in public affairs.”

We, too, have had occasion to comment on the “puri-

tanical attitude” of Governor Dickinson. Now we find it.a real pleasure to say that his attitude toward freedom. “of opinion, as revealed in the letter above, is wholly to be

admired.

- diggings near Dahlonega pans out as rich as its rerers hope. | “And how convenient for the Government! The gold to be shipped only about 250 miles before it’s aderground again at Ft. Knox, Kentucky.

Mail subscription rates 65

RILEY 5551

Notion of 20th Century Democracy.

'@QAN ANTONIO, Nov. 20—Having seen at close - range the recent antics of the gimmies, drunk on democracy, in California and Ohio, I have begun to taper off the stuff. The Communists discovered our weakness for it a few years ago and told us that Stalinism was 20th Century democracy. That hurt the feelings of us who had fallen into a habit of thinking of democracy as just something that guar anteed one man’s rights, against another’s wrongful doings, and held it to be, all in all, a beautiful thing, like love. But the Communists were right, and they can have 20th Century democracy and Stalinism, too. The procedure in California was strictly democratic. Some racketeers got together with a few dollars borrowed from ‘a criminal lieutenant of the Los Angeles police force named Kynette, now under life ‘sentence to San Quentin’ for blowing up" an enemy’s car with a bomb, and began a radio ballyhoo for an old-age pension scheme called Ham-'n’-Eggs. One of the promoters was a convicted swindler and a

a gaudy failure with little people’s money in a thrift investment company; a third had sort of oscillated around in the heavenly company of Father Divine's Angels in the local outpost of the Harlem Heaven. i a y HEY wheedled pennies out of the aged poor at the rate of $3000 or more a day, and got enough signatures, and many to spare, to compel the calling of a special election under the democratic system. Twentieth Century democracy was clicking. But in their proposition they undertook to rescind most of the Constitution and many of the laws of California, abolish human rights and property rights and place legislative power in the hands of three men to be appointed by one man who was identified by name and address on the ballot as the one who must become dictator of California within five days, with the right to appoint his successor im” the event o death or recall. : That is democracy—the rule of the majority even though the majority pass sentence of death on de-

mocracy. In this case one-third of the electors did vote against democracy, although very likely none

or knew what it was that they were voting for beyond a superstitious fancy that they were voting themselves $30 a week. ” » » REAT economic decisions and disguised schemes to destroy democracy contained in proposals 10,000 words long are not for.the:people to vote upon. The: people are not that intelligent. And in any case they shouldn't have the right to destroy the American republic or any of its component republics through mob action at the polls. : The American system provides for a legislative branch, too, and this Ham-'n’-Egggs proposal would have by-passed on the California Legislature, leaving that body few of its powers. The Legislatures of the states and nation have included some sorry clucks and clowns, but at their very worst these bodies are much more intelligent and conscientious than a mob out looting—which is a fair description of those hordes who turn out to vote away other people’s rights and pillage the lawful ownings of their neighbors.

Business By John T. Flynn

Railroad Reform, Anti-Trust Law Enforcement Urged on Congress.

EW YORK, Nov. 20.—As Congress will assemble “Nin about six-weeks; it is about time we began to take our eyes off Europe and ask what we are going to do about our own affairs. Leaving out the question of social reform for the moment, merely in terms of recovery what are the chief objectives to be sought? As recovery means a resumption of private investment, what can be done to speed up that movement? I suggest the following measures: 1. Without delay Congress and the Executive should ‘set about cleaning up the railroad mess. First of all, plans for Government financing of the roads should be abandoned. Next a new bankruptcy law should be passed which will (a)remove management, bankers, promoters from the seat of power in a reorganization and (b) facilitate the squeezing out of all dead capital from the capital structure of the roads. 2. Congress should without delay name a come mittee and charge it with a thorough but speedy investigation of the building industry to strengthen laws against all destructive practices in that industry. It should appropriate whatever sum the Attorney General needs to proceed with vigor and “Hispatch against every violation of the anti-trust laws in the building industry. x

Stabilizing the Dollar

3. It should increase, if necessary, the appropriation of the SEC to enable it to move with the most effective speed in reorganization of holding company structures in the utility field. - 4, It should revive with a hitherto unknown vigor anti-trust law activities -of the Attorney General's office but should serve notice ‘on business that all further dallying with price and production and restrictive combinations of all sorts will be ruthlessly fought. : 5. It should take immediate measures fo put an end to the purchase of gold, changing the stabilization operations to the stabilization of the dollar in foreign exchange rather than the stabilization of gold. 6. Congress should declare its intention to pay for all armament production in cash out of taxes and

| not out of borrowed funds.

7. There should be a complete and definitive overhauling of the tax structure, eliminating all commodity taxes save those for regulatory purposes and establishing an equitable graduated income tax which would lower and broaden the tax base.

A Woman's Viewpoint

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson fs

HETHER we celebrate Thanksgiving on the 23d

or the 30th we ought to make it an occasion |

for rejoicing. Not merely by eating too much turkey

of big| }. words, huge, heavy words like liberty, democracy and | } F

take a little time out to count our

as the old hymn admonishes. a Thanksgiving is a day given over to the use

Americanism, and we may be sure they will be tossed about thoughtlessly this year. Again, we shall be

urged to think of our forefathers and what they did| §

for us. ’ Which is all very well, of course, only I believe it

might be better if we thought a little more about our- |

selves-and just how we shall proceed to repay the forefathers for their .trouble. It wouldn't do any harm in 1939 to bring Thanksgiving down from its high patriotic plane to the level of simple and obscure lives —like yours and mine. : Our well-being depends upon the national wellbeing but we cannot forget either that the country’s good rests also upon the character and contentment of its individual citizens. i Let us think then of all the lovely homey things that are ours. The armchair by the fire; red leaves on the maple tree outside the window; God’s soil and sunshine, the coziness of little homes, and the light of

love that glows at us from eyes which are dear. De- |.

mocracy has no meaning if we lack them. Life itself has no meaning. Knowing that, perhaps we should determine this year to see that every American possesses them, and instead of pledging ourselves to

succor the world, resolve to make our land a place. where every humble man and woman can have reason. hanksgiving Day for simple joys, |

to feel grateful on

ordinary creature com fe and for peace, -

son of a convicted swindler, too; another had achieved

but the Communists had read the proposition through

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

SAYS FARMERS TAKE JOBS OF CITY MEN By B. L. ron The Times carried a headline Wednesday on the President of the Indiana; Farm Bureau's proposing a ban on poor relief bonds and asking for a law requiring able bodied reliefers to work for their baskets. Why doesn’t Mr. Schenck propose a law requiring the farmers to work

‘| for the benefits they get for their

farm crops they don’t raise?

If the farmers would stay home and tend their farms and let the

there would be very few reliefers to worry about. It is a eemmon thing now to see a farmer working in a factory in town making $8 or $10 a day and crying his head off hecause he can’t get some poor devil in town to go out and tend his farm for him for $15 a meni and all the straw he can eat. , « « "= ® 8

OPPOSES STAMP SYSTEM FOR INDIANAPOLIS : By Vox-Popper-Offer, Dublin, Ind. So the powers that be in Indianapolis are trying to get the stamp-instead-of-currency policy installed in WPA and relief administration there. We are sorry to hear it and wish them the worst of all possible luck. (And we are not among those present on WPA or relief, thanks be to God.) Here's the biggest reason why we don’t approve of the stamp system: The stamp system is just one more means of putting a stigma upon the unfortunate people who are forced by circumstance to submit to WPA and relief in order to exist, Already the terms “WPA worker” and “reliefer” are current in our vocabulary. They have come to mean a certain “type” of person, and a type which the majority of us look down upon. “WPA Worker Killed on Job,” a headline reads, If that same man had been employed by private enterprise at that same job, there would have been no headline. But a “WPA worker” is front-page news. Why? Oh, propaganda, what sins ‘are committed in thy name! Taking cash from the individual

a book of blue and. orange stickers is a stride toward the denial of the rights of man and, we fear, a veritable leap toward fascism: A great

and placing in his hands instead

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

many people find it hard enough to be on relief or WPA, either for reasons material or spiritual or both, particularly in small communities and familiar neighbor-

unemployed have the jobs in town|hoods

What official or committee of offi cials is justified in breaking down the last. bulwark of a poor man’s self-esteem and robbing him of his ability to keep face with himself and his neighbors? It would be well for wise men to allow a poor man to keep his face—in order that he may have another cheek to turn, if and when the occasion arises. 8 nn =» PREDICTS GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF UNIONS By Citizen One of our ‘state ‘A. F'. of L. labor leaders said in Washington, “So far as the A. PF, of L. is concerned, the fight has boiled down to a question of William Green's democracy against John L. Lewis’ dictatorship.” What a joke, The rank and file of the A, F. of L. never has voted for William Green for their president and probably

never will. Such important work is done at the conventions which are ruled by powerful committees which railroad through their legislation, most of it unanimously. Some A. F. of L. international unions have not held elections of officers in years. Such elections might bring new fortunate high-salaried labor leaders and wake up organized labor. The horse and buggy days are gone. This is the stream-lined machine age bringing with it in the future rigid government control of labor unions, thanks to “Organized labor’s stupidity. . 8 SAYS DEBATERS SHOULD AGREE ON DEFINITIONS By Claude Bradick, Kokomo, Ind. The ancient philosophers, before conducting an argument, always agreed first on their definitions. They considered this essential to a clean-cut decision. And modern philosophers might do well to follow their example. It is useless to argue the merits and demerits of capitalism, for instance, unless each participant knows what the other means by the broad term “capitalism.” And the same goes for the endless disagreement about. which of our public men should be known as statesmen and which as mere politicians. Now I, myself, have only the vaguest notion of what capitalism is. In that quarter I can be of little help. A statesman, however—and here I speak with confi-

dence—is merely a politician, mellowed a hundred years in his, grave.

New Books at the Library

OUD cries of delight, we'll wager, will greet this big, readable volume, “Woodcraft,” (Barnes) by Bernard S. Mason. Scout masters, teachers, practically all boys and many girls as well—in fact, all out-of-doors lovers, together with many a tenderfoot who enjoys a vicarious bout with: Dame Nature— will vevel in this treasure of outdoor information, and enjoy the easy, genial and enthusiastic presentation of the subject. + Mr. Mason divides his material into three parts: Campcraft, Woodcraft, and Crafts of the Woods. Campcraft ‘imparts much fas-

Side Glances—By Galbraith

pra te

the uprigh |: thyself u

cinating woods-lore, including the making of shelters, from the simple “brush den” to the fashioning of tepees, log lean-to’s, arid bark houses. These are skills to test the ingenuity of the amateur woodsman and imbue him with the sense of a man’s power. For axmanship, representing a step forward in civilization, the author has the greatest respect. “I like axes,” he says, “I like to have one near me always to speak of simple living in’ a cityworld of mad and whirling things.” Woodcraft teaches the secrets of preserving precious food by caches, work with bark, the making of rope and cordage, the fashioning of the pioneer shaving horse, and the making of hunting knives. Here also are chapters on ‘“woodcraft knicknacks,” camp furniture, and the story of fhe Council Ring, that sacred inclosure into which the g woodsman does not walk. Well thumbed and worn with honest use will be the section on Crafts of the Woods, wherein, replete with pictures and figures, one finds directions on “how to make

| it.” Into this hardwork go rawhide,

buckskin, horn, feathers, and

| gourds, and out of these materials,

worked with skill, patience, and loving care come the lovely and useful objects so invaluable to our Indian forbears and so necessary to the life on the trail today.

. THE MASTER PAINTER By VINIA BERRY He dips his brush in haste, . Then steals out in the night, To make a lot of etchings "On glass before it's light!

He hurries through the forest Along the countryside, And duplicates the scenery He sees while in his stride,

A master is this artist— " He's known by everyone. His work is free to all, Jack Frost is having fun!

DAILY THOUGHT

With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with ‘man thou wilt shew ht—II Samuel 22:26.

| fattening, not to mention that it is likely

War Proves Government Is t in Ban on: Spy-Hunters, RK, Nov. 20—This Administration was never more right than when {it ‘declined to countenance civilian spy-hunters—whether deputized or not, = : They were a literal curse in the World War when this country had a bad case of spy-jitters, We had several volunteer Gestapo organizations and an incredible number of willing workers eager under some color of Federal authority, to translate gossip into nameless accusation and capitalize neighborhood grudges by turning in their pet hatreds. Some departments of government encouraged it, In the selective draft we began to get bales of scure ‘rilous stuff about members of, all draft boards and about registrants for the draft. They were ‘“pro-Germans,” “saboteurs,” “traitors”

and “enemy agents.”

Most of these draft officials were working their

| heads off for nothing and in the most sacrificial spirit

of public service I have ever seen. That system exe poset their private lives down to every irrelevant pecadillo, indiscretion and wild-oat sowing that could be asserted from their flaming youth to the rotund middle age in which most of them resided—and nearly all on the basis of rumor, gossip. and irresponsible statement. :

8 ” » AS for the boys registered in the draft themselves, it was even more despicable. ‘Those kids were merely standing to receive what orders Uncle Sam might give them. But from the moment any was up for selection for.service this flood of scurrility was ape to flow on . : Most of it came from people not themselves avail able for military duty—congenital witch-finders who called this character assassination “doing their bit” in. the war. From the volume and detail of their work, we judged that they were throwing themselves into that kind of activity in a kind of sadistic orgy. Thers were tens of thousands of them. I have never seen a side of the character of at least some Americans that seemed more shameful, - As soon as the nature of these amateur OGPUS became apparent, we gave orders both in the draft and later in the service of Army supply to return all their tens of thousands of communications unopened and to refuse them either access or- recognition throughout both systems, : :

. » ” » * JHE preventive police activities of any Government are a necessary invasion of private rights. They can be permitted only under direct and drastic respone sibility. A cop in uniform or a plain clothes dick acts constantly at his peril. All professional law officers understand this and know ‘and usually respect the limits beyond which they cannot go. Under that system there are remarkably few ine stances of the “insolence of office” to which any publio minded citizen can object. ; ! fase But the moment this necessary intrusion is per mitted to irresponsible amateur snoopers, reformers; do-gooders and self-appointed censors of the morals’ and civic duties of their neighbors—look out. There is no such danger of spying, sabotage and “subversive” activity as cannot be handled by respon sible officials with necessary additional operatives. We can far better afford to pay for more professionals than to subject civic rights to amateur detection,

It Seems to Me By Heywood Broun Fiend

Allied Economic Co-Operation Held Possible Forerunner to World Peace.

EW YORK, Nov. ‘20.—According to dispatches from abroad, Paul Reynaud, French Minister of - Finance, has begun to talk of economic co-operation between the Allies. This might go to the length of a common currency and a customs union. If anything of the sort is done, it will probably be designed as nothing more than a war measure. But, sooner or later, even out of war, some good thing must come, and even such a restricted seedling could be the germinating force of a United States of Europe. It is well not to get ahead too fast, but once that

has begun we may be really on our way toward a

truly functioning League of Nations. In the long run I believe that we will be compelled to learn the undere lying economic causes of world strife. Hh In the field of international politics we must rid ourselves of the trade lane hog, just. as in domestic fields. There must be rules to outlaw the tuinip squeezer. Nations and individuals have lived, and very. badly, too, upon the ancient fallacy that it is possible to coin prosperity out of the misfortune of others. The fallacy persists because upon the surface it is possible to make a case for the theory that even the most evil: wind will blow bounty into some corner or another. In short runs it would seem that the exploiter of labor, for all his sins, drew fair rewards out of the sweat and toil of the underprivileged. And yet over a stretch of time such practices bring good to none, and the malnutrition of the cabins comes home to roost upon the roof of the manor house, Nor is there any permanent health in either the political or economic theory of looking upon other lands and saying, “Let them stew in their own juice.”

All on the Same Boat :

There is a school of political thought, very power= ful here and not unknown in other lands, which proceeds on the theory of “all for us and the world well lost.” It endures under the smug assumption that the earth is a three-deck steamer. For our land we would reserve the promenade and take no thought of those who have to travel steerage. But, like a luxury liner, there is a common hull and the water . line. When the icebergs rip through the plates democracy rushes in through jagged wounds. It is then that both stoker and first-class passenger come to the same level as the Atlantic creeps up and up upon the superstructure. i : The peace of the world will come only when all of us realize that we belong to the same society. We are members of an organic body. The toes concern us and the fingertips. If any member bleeds, those drops are drained from the entire system.

3 -

Watching Your Health By Jane Stafford ~~ HE hearty Thanksgiving dinners of the past gob a bad health reputation, but Thanksgiving dinners can follow traditional lines without being unhealthy, if they are planned with the principles of nutrition in mind. - = : :

_ Turkey or some other kind of poultry being the main course of the meal, it is well to remember that

- these foods are rich in fat. The fat content of turkey

is given as 23 per cent, and goose ranks even higher. If you finish the meal with a suet pudding and hard

| sauce, which is made with butter or other fat, you

to be both fat and ) to give the diner a more than comfortable feeling of satiety. Fat foods, because they slow down -digestion,. may make you feel too well-filled if you eat much of them. Cranberries, another traditional part of the feast, are pot so good a source of vitamins and minerals as you might think from considering them a fruit. But you can be sure of getting plenty of vitamins and minerals if you eat green, leafy vegetables at the Thanksgiving dinner, and if you remember to drink your full milk ration and eat some fruit sometime during the day. | apse AA If you have given up the idea of suet pudding for dessert and are wavering between mince ple and “rest ple

can see that the meal is going

pumpkin pie, consider them in relation to of the meal before you decide. If the mince pie is made with meat, remember that you have already served this class of food in the turkey or o .poul= try. The raisins and other dried fruits of this pie are rich in sugar and consequently high in fuel value,

This makes them valuable as foods, but you may not

want to add so much fuel value to the rest of your Thanksgiving dinner, npkins are 90 per cent water, with about 5 per cent carbohydrate, so the chief fuel value of pumpkin pie depends on the pasiry and whatever is added to the pum]