Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 December 1939 — Page 16
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The Indianapolis Times
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RILEY 5551
Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way
" FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1939
THOUGHT FOR TODAY “THE figure of Stalin is an unfaltering inspiration to the American working class in its struggle for peace.”— From yesterday's Daily Worker.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOE
HE Russians have always been great for ceremonies and holidays and observances. It was so under the czars and the church; it is so today under Stalin and the gay-pay-oo. Nothing could be more natural, on the occasion of Stalin’s 60th birthday, than for the Red Army to take the simple tune of “Happy Birthday to You” and orchestrate it in the grand manner, with the violins replaced by the scream of wind past wingstruts and the shriek of bombs rushing earthward ; the brasses and tympani yielding to the crash and thud of the explosion; the moans of invalids, helpless in exploded hospitals, supplying an eerie obbligato. Mr. Stalin should feel mightily complimented. But wait until April 20. That's Hitler's 51st birthday. Surely his boys won't let the Commies outdo them. Maybe, even now, they are lining up a nice little birthday objective that will show the Russians a thing or two. Like scuttling half a dozen ships all in one glorious day, maybe.
A LETTER FROM GERMANY .
HE following five paragraphs are from a letter which a German-born American received from home: “ .. It took four weeks for your letter to reach us. A long time to be without news from loved ones. We
Fair Enough
By Westbrook Pegler Judge Would Face an Embarrassing
A Communist, Brings Libel Suit.
EW YORK, Dec. 22.—A very interesting but embarrassing question will be dumped in the lap of some unfortunate judge one day soon. Let us take a hypothetical case of a man who has been called a Communist in print but claims that he is no such thing, and sues for libel. The first point would seem to be: What is a Communist? On this issue those who stoutly profess to be Communists have been unable to agree. They are divided into many bitter sects, each claiming that all the others are impostors or heretics. Most of them were comrades together in the past but fell to fighting, as Communists will, over questions of doctrine or program. Most of the revelations produced by the Dies Committee consisted of snitches by men who had taken part in various villainies against the United States, but said nothing about these activities at the time, and even now are blowing the whistle only for revenge and not in contrition or for love of the American system of government, tJ 2 2 UT it would be comparatively simple to weigh the claims of these snarling groups and recognize one as the legitimate Communist organization. That problem is easy compared with those which would still remain. It must then be decided whether actual membership in that particular group must be proved in order to justify the accusation. And it must be determined whether it were libelous to call a man a Communist. Would it be an accusation?
munist by mistake would seem to be merely an error, and a pardonable, even justifiable, error if he had made speeches or followed a course suggesting such a belief. Up to now even membership in the organization which calls itself the Communist Party is not illegal. The Communists—to give them all, of various sects, a name just for convenience, are agreed on only one point, and that one a contradiction. They all claim to be the true Communists, but they all agree that to call anyone a Communist, even a real one, constitutes Red-baiting and thus fascism. = ” ” N their part all of them are glib with accusations of fascism which they hurl at almost everyone who disagrees with any of them on any point. And not even the actual fascists of the various strong-arm groups which profane the name of Christianity with their evil propaganda, borrowed whole from Hitler, are more cruel or dishonest in their slanders and imputations than these radical groups of the left. Not for judicial purposes but for personal guidance of the individual there is only one workable process.
think of vou every hour, believing you are fearful of our safety. Do not be afraid. What must happen, will happen. “All this is terrible. Hardly have we forgotten the World War, and now this. We have so many memories of times past, and are wondering what is going to happen now. We hope all will come off for the best. We would like | to write and tell you of so many things, but we are not permitted to write about conditions here. “We can only tell you that thus far we are all well, |
| | |
and still together. Yesterday, our family group went to | grandmother’s house. We feel so sorry for her. It is her fourth war. She told me she wished she could join grandfather in his grave. Then, she said, she wouldn't hear or see anything of what was going on. “You remember the last war? When the two of us | had half of one herring rationed to us per week? The food | problem is always the hardest. It is to be regretted that you cannot send anything. “We all hope that there will be a peaceful end to all this business—soon. But from all appearances, it will probably be a sorrowful Christmas.”
PROMISES
* A VERY handsome prize” is offered by President Roosevelt to Senator Taft of Ohio for a bill of particulars on how a Republican Administration, as the Senator says, could balance the Federal budget in two years. The challenge is, in one way, effective. The voters’ faith in political promises of a balanced budget is weak, though their fear that perennially unbalanced budgets will lead to disaster is strong. There is one man who has been prolific with such promises. We mean Mr. Roosevelt. “To secure the one sound foundation of permanent economic recovery—a complete and honest balancing of the Federal budget,” promised Mr. Roosevelt in a campaign speech on Oct. 19, 1932, “the first and most important and necessitous step . . . is to reduce expense.” “We should plan to have a definitely balanced budget for the third year of recovery and from that time on seek a continuing reduction of the national debt,” said Mr. Roosevelt on Jan. 3, 1934. “It is evident that we have not yet reached a point at which a complete balance of the budget can be attained,” said Mr. Roosevelt on Jan. 3, 1935. But, “the country will henceforth have the assurance that, with the single exception of this item (work relief), every current expenditure of whatever nature will be fully covered by our estimates of current receipts.” “Without this item (relief) the budget is in balance,” said Mr. Roosevelt on Jan. 3, 1936. “The 1938 (fiscal year) budget is in balance; and, except for debt reductions . . . will remain in balance,” said Mr. Roosevelt on Jan. 8, 1937. “I propose to use every means at my command to eliminate the deficit during the coming fiscal year,” said Mr. Roosevelt on April 20, 1937. “The proposed budget for (fiscal) 1939 . .. will exhibit a further decrease in the deficit, though not a balance between outgo and income,” said Mr. Roosevelt on Jan. 4, 1938, urging “every effort” to hold normal expenditures “to approximately the present level, thus making it possible, with the increase in the nation’s income and the resulting increase in tax receipts, not only to balance future budgets but to reduce the debt.” No lack, there, of promises to balance the budget; of promises to do it in two years or less; even of statements that it had been done. But no balance. And lately, since the recession put the New Deal spenders back on top, no prospect of balance save in that vague future when the nation’s income gets big enough to support the “present level” of spending—a level which continues to rise. We can understand lost faith among the voters in budg-et-balancing promises. We can understand why even Mr. Roosevelt might be losing faith in his ability to do the job by either of the methods he has so often advocated—Iless spending or more income. We don’t know whether Mr. Taft could do the job, but we do know that the need to get the job done is now more imperative than Mr. Roosevelt said seven years ago. ?
of the miscailed Christian Front, even though they do not admit membership, are commonly regarded as Fascists, and nobody more readily condemns them on this circumstantial evidence than the Communists and those with a high degrees of tolerance for Ccmmunists. By the same process those who persistently associate with Communists will have to put up with a
| general suspicion that they are Communists them-
selves. It is not a precise method, but it is the best one that has been worked out to date.
Inside Indianapolis
Homer Capehart to Run for Minton's Senate Seat, Is What We Hear.
ERTAIN friends of Homer Capehart insist that there is more truth than rumor to the story that he has decided to seek the Republican nomination for U. S. Senator. . . . They declare that the contention that Mr. Capehart has heen shoved into the background is erroneous. . . . Their view is that Mr. C. put himself there purposely . .. And that he has decided now to walk out in front again. A lot of Republicans are definitely counting on Raymond Willis to be in the Senatorial race . . . Another name being talked about is that of Charles Halleck, the Congressman. . . . All three are strong names from the G. O. P. viewpoint. Many Republicans consider Minton the weaker Democrat than VanNuys. . . . They contend that the state is more conservative in its approach than it was in the lush days of the New Deal. ... And that VanNuys got a lot of support from Republicans last year. . « » They say Minton has been too lock-stock-and-barrel a New Dealer. . . . And that a strong Republican can whip him. . . . Paul McNutt or no Paul McNutt. "” = »
THERE'S A REPORT extant that Tom Devine may take the old Academy of Music at Illinois and Michigan and turn it into a night club. . . . The fight over the milk price starts now. ... All the organizations which protested the rise originally are sure to start pounding harder than ever now that the State board has ordered the 1-cent boost kept until May 1. . . » The Indianapolis Ad Club held a “Tom and Jerry” meeting vesterday. . .. No speeches. no order of business. . . . Just Christmas cheer. . . . Did you know that Ayres downstairs lunchroom has tables reserved for those who don't smoke? , . . And if you get there and wan't to smoke you've just got to move? . , . Well they have. . . . Give a big hand to the volunteer workers at the Christmas Clearing House. . . . They work long and hard. ... And get nothing.
SPEAKING OF ORCHIDS, hand some to the pupils who put out the Christmas edition of the Shortridge Echo. . . . It's not only clever, it's very attractive. . , . Miss Peggy Trusler is editor-in-chief. . «+ If you're observant during tomorrow's big Christmas shopping rush, you'll notice our firemen helping the crowds. . . . And prominent amcng them will be Bernard Lynch, fire prevention chief. .. . Take Indianapolis and then draw a 15-mile radius line around it. . . . Know how many billboards there are in that area? . . . About 1700 or 1800. . . . That's right. . . . Joe Hanna of General Outdoor Advertising told us. . . . And he ought to know,
A Woman's Viewpoint
By Mrs. Walter Ferguson
HERE'S one thing to be said about sex—it's always with us. Sometimes it seems rather stupid not to take it as we do mumps, measles and hay fever—without so much fuming. But Americans aren't made that way. We are evangelists at heart, and consequently about every 20 years we pitch in to do some tall sex reforming. Either we decide to be brutally frank about it or we shush-shush at the mention of the naughty word. The tides of public opinion ebb and rise so that what one generation regarded as a sin the next accepts as a mere error of emotional judgment. During the Victorian Age mothers fell down so hard on the job of imparting the Facts of Life to their daughters that we decided to have the school teachers take it over. Later they were joined by the psychologists, and for a time there was such acciaim we presumed the sex matter had been settled once and for all. We were wrong, it seems. Juvenile delinquency rides today with the frequency and regularity of the Lone Ranger. In communities where records are available we find an alarming number of young unmarried mothers, and the figures would probably be increased save for the even more shameful abortion records. As always, youth walks about in a fog of bewilderment. But why should we be surprised at that, since adults are not quite clear in their minds on the subject? The older ladies and gentlemen make rather a hash of their own problems. Perhaps we'd better face the truth then by ad-
mitting that problems of sex are not likely to be !
solved in our generation or any other. Education at
home and school is certain to help, but the emotions | of the human heart are not subject to mastery by |
rules.
Being both an ecstasy and an affliction, sex is |
certain to pester humankind as long as the race endures. Arengt we presumptuous to believe we are smart enough to manage it in our time?
Problem if Someone, on Being Called |
It is my understanding that it is no offense to be- | lieve in communism. Therefore, to call a man a Com- |
—_—
THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES Under the Mistletoe
An A A A i Sb a Yh 1 TET
i.
BRIDGES ¢
(a)
BRICKER
5 \ t
(EN
FRIDAY, DEC. 22, 1039"
Johnson
Gen. Says—
Viereck's Book Purporting fo Tell ‘The Truth Behind the House-Wilson
Break’ Is Termed 'Muck-Raking.'
ASHINGTON, Dec. 22.—The most ghoulish piece
; of muck-raking of recent time is a publication: ‘The Truth Behind the House-Wilson Break,” by George Sylvester Viereck. Affecting to quote the une written words of a dead man—Col. House—about his estrangement from another dead man—Woodrow Wil son—Mr. Viereck writes: “No matter what pretext was given, there were only three reasons for the break. They were Mrs. Wilson, Admiral Grayson and Bernard M. Baruch.” “When a last meeting between the two friends,” says Viereck, “might have saved at least the wreckage of their dream (League of Nations) again Mrs. Wilson interposed. House lost a friend. Wilson lost the hope of being the Messiah of a new day and the world lost its chance of salvation from most of the ills that vex it today.” Thus another dead man (Cary Grayson) is dragged into responsibility for upsetting the earth. For all this character assassination not a single piece of direct evidence is presented—nothing except the second-hand relation by a prejudiced publicist of the asserted words of a disappointed political intriguer who himself has passed beyond the veil. o » »
F all the characters in this play, only two remain alive. Edith Bolling Wilson and Bernard M. Baruch. Baruch can have little to say because little is said against him and all that is specific is probably false. Little is said but much is implied. “Without
| Baruch, Mrs. Wilson and Grayson could not have im- | posed their will upon the country—Baruch, House
felt, was the brains of the combination . . . (through) his uncanny fascination—Grayson succunbed to the
| magic of Baruch.”
Heagiowy
Persons who associate themselves with the hate-groups |
The Hoosier Forum
1 wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.
| directly. | and through Mrs. Wilson. . | He has a restless mind and‘a grasp for power. ...
SEES SECURITY AND WORK AS RIVALS By Raymond H. Stone There have been two strong forces in American politics since 1912. One is the desire to work; the other is the search for security.
These two are now engaged in deadly rivalry swith each other for first place in public policy. There
can be no security for anyone ex- | cept there be opportunity for all |
who are willing and able to work. America dares not “play safe.” Work for both capitalist and laborer is what the nation needs. 2 ” o SEES MISCONSTRUCTION OF BILL OF RIGHTS By W. H. Edwards, Spencer, Ind.
Answering Voice in the Crowd's|
latest (Dec. 9) I will agree with | him that no one knows what Fascist means, I agree that we will
not be well again, economically, until political rackets are eliminated and political practices are driven back into the confines of the Constitution. But let me add that some business practices and | economic rackets should also be]
eliminated. |
‘leven some men who are
(Times readers are invited to express their these columns, religious cone troversies excluded. Make your letter short, so all can have a chance. Letters must be signed, but names will be withheld on request.)
views in
|
[not democratic in form but is re- { publican, | waste wages for drink instead of feeding and clothing their families cannot be considered social equals to law-abiding people. Many men of much wealth, however, waste thousands in drink and aebauchery; in the {higher social brackets. The money life of all the peopde. ... V. I. C. probably is not a Fascist, but all of his writings in the Forum sound a strong note of reactionism (far beyond mere conservatism. ” on ”
| QUESTIONS EFFECTIVENESS OF M'NUTT CAMPAIGN By Harrison White In the early summer of 1918 I at-
We should be allowed to live as tended a hearing in the capitol at
1
individuals, as V. I. C. states, except that our individual lives should not be allowed to transgress the individual lives of our fellowmen. Where the general welfare is hampered by individual greed for wealth and power, then individualism should be subordinate to the general welfare.
V. I. C.’s contention that people
can do more good for themselves at
less cost and should not clamor for the Government to do things for them is so complicated that it would take much more space to answer than I can hope to get in this Forum. Briefly stated, though, the Government has been doing things for people throughout its history. Mostly it was doing things to help wealthy people gain more wealth. His contention that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights outshine anything ever written disputed. But individuals, even learned lawyers, disagree sometimes on the meaning of Constitutional provisions. And too many people. like V. I. C.,, construe the Bill of Rights as a protector of property and money over and above the protection of humanity. I agree that our Government does not guarantee social equality. I agree also that our Government is
cannot be]
| Helena, Mont, before the “war {board.” Governor Stewart was chairman. A Mr. Dunn, an editor of a labor paper, was heing tried for sabotage. Burton K. Wheeler defended Dunn. Dunn was acquitted and Mr. Wheeler then and there won his spurs in line of duty from the Left Front. So the Left Front put Mr. Wheeler in the United | States Senate, Should the President not run
I agree that men who
so wasted is a tax on the economic
again, John L. Lewis with the C. I. O. can and will support Mr. Wheeler over our favorite son, |
whether or not Mr. Roosevelt likes | it. Mr. Wheeler showed mettle in| his fight against the “court pack-| ing” program and for that reason would get the support of the Dem- | ocratic South over our favorite son. It is also a foregone conclusion that | Mr. Farley would throw his support to Mr. Wheeler over our favorite son. Unlike the McNutt spoken of in recent editorials, Mr. Wheeler always let his left front know what his right front is doing. This thing of Paul not letting his left wing know what his right wing is doing presents the kind of politics that goes to the left front and says “I am keeping company with the conservatives so we Socialists can put this thing over”; then goes to the right front and says “I am keeping company with the left front so we conservatives can run this thing.” The man who trys to make believe he can be left and right, up and] down, black and white, out and in, over and under and conservative and liberal all at the same time and never be wrong, leaves me wondering with Harold L. Ickes—what chance has Paul? n ” on
| WANTS TO READ BOTH SIDES OF QUESTIONS By P. S, Thomas
I have lived in Indianapolis 22 years and have taken your paper all that time. I thought it the best in the city, but for the last five years I don't think it so good. The reason is that you dont’ seem as willing to print both sides of the question, whether Democratic or Republican. Seems to me you are all Repub-
ilican,
New Books at the Library
ARY ELLEN CHASE {is best known to the public as an jauthor, particularly for her two fine, best selling novels of Maine sea-faring folk, “Mary Peters” and “Silas Crockett.” But she is also a teacher, and, unlike many others | who have forsaken the profession {upon gaining a literary foothold, she considers teaching itself a great, exciting, and soul-satisfying career. “Goodly Fellowship” (Macmillan) is her biographical record of 30 | years’ experience as a ‘“schoolmarm.” In her small native village
Side Glances—By Galbraith
| corn. 1939 gv wea service. INC. T. M. REG. U. 8. PAT. OFF.
"Sara is bringing her college roommate home for the holidays, and she wants us topaint the house and get a new car ~~
in Maine schooling was thorough and supplemented by home instruction. Love and admiration for knowledge and good books were instilled in her by her parents and first teachers. Her sophomore year at the University of Maine was temporarily interrupted by her father's placing her ii» a backwoods school to teach with the aid of a razor strop; after graduation she journeyed to Chicago to be near a teacher's agency. Mindful of her mother's injunction not to go west of the Mississippi, she thankfully took a Wisconsin school. Successively, she taught in Chicago and Montana; went abroad to perfect her German; worked for her doctorate at (the University of Minnesota, remaining for some years as instructor; and, in 19626, became Professor of English at Smith College. | There she has been ever since, with occasional time out for writing and lecturing. “Goodly Fellowship” is the testimony of a happy life dedicated to a noble vocation. Miss Chase has long since graduated into the distinguished ranks of the most brilliant educators of our day; but in restrospect, her sunny, mellow ‘humor and sense of modesty make 'real and amusing the tribulations of ‘an inexperienced young teacher trembling on the threshold of her first school.
| | HAVE WE NOT TIME By MAUD COURTNEY WADDELL
The child loitered to watch a bird in graceful flight, |Or an ant carry a burden many times its size. The impatient man hurried by with a worried frown. {The woman rode in a car with eyes strained and cold. And down in the quiet lane, sheep stood still and stared.
DAILY THOUGHT
Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. —The Acts 13:28.
essary and proper work of
F® sary ana is the most necC
ry man.~Lord Herbert,
Yet, “Baruch never had any influence over Wilson He exercised his influence through Grayson . . He is very ambitious.
An American Disraeli.” All the facts about the break between House and Wilson may never be known. From long and irtimate friendships with two of the actors here staged by Mr. Viereck—Baruch and Grayson—it is betraying no confidence to say that neither of them knew finally and
fully.
u 2 EJ
T= break happened in Paris at the peace conference long before Mr. Wilson's illness. It hap=-
| pened because of something that Col. House had done,
or Mr. Wilson had thought he had done, during Mr. Wilson's absence from Paris between the tentative drafting of the covenant and his return to find himself confronted by a bitter struggle which smeared most of his 14 points. He seemed to feel that Col. House had forced his hands to certain concessions by conversations or commitments to the Allies, With this kind of thing neither Admiral Grayson nor Mr. Bernard Baruch had anything to do. In the ensuing months, after Mr. Wilson was étricken, Grayson may have learned more details, but that tight-mouthed confidant and medical adviser of
,six Presidents was accepted as such because of his
reputation for never leaking anything—even to his closest friends. Maybe some day his papers will be published and this secret may or may not be un-
covered. : . Of only one thing I am certain. Mr. Viereck's
biased and unfair screed hasn't uncovered it.
Budget Cuts
By Bruce Catton
F.D. R. Determined on Slashes, but Pressure Groups May Upset Plans.
ASHINGTON, Dec. 22—Although the heat is 6n for reduced expenditures as never before in the history of the New Deal, there are grounds for suspecting that when the dust settles the budget will look quite a bit the way it looks now. It is certain that the President gives every indication of being determined to slash the budget. Budget bureau workers who reduced various department and bureau estimates to what they thought was absolutely rock bottom have been startled to find the White House cutting them further. But Congress votes the money and in some fields, at least, there is going to be plenty of pressure on Congress to be liberal. Take agriculture, for instance. Estimates for the department as a whole (not counting the AAA program) are said to be coming down 25 per cent at the President's insistence. But the farm organizations can be depended on to howl long and loud over that sort of thing, and Congress can be depended on to listen. And while no Agriculture Department employees would dare protest publicly at reductions ordered by the President, you can't keep them from quietly see= ing to it that the farm organizations understand the full weight of the cut.
A Case in Point An illuminating case in point occurred just the other day. Appropriations for the National Youth Administration are scheduled to drop by 30 per cent, according to reliable reports. But at the same time
‘these reports were beginning to circulate, a_group of
industrial, educational and labor leaders were issuing a report declaring that there should be an immediate increase in public expenditures to take care of the nation’s 4,000,000 jobless youths. If, then, the White House submits a drastically reduced budget, and Congress—acting under pressure from “back home” and from this, that and the other pressure group—puts the budget back up to something like its present size, what happens? Well, in that case, the President won't have to listen to sO much balance-the-budget talk from critical Congress= men at the national political conventions next June.
Watching Your Health
By Jane Stafford
ROBABLY few of the many people busy trimming P Christmas trees this week realize that the tra-
ditional red and green Christmas decorations may appear as yellow and gray to two, three or four out, of every 100 persons. These people are color blind. Even the newer blue shades in Christmas decorations will appear only gray to those of them who are coms=
letely color blind. y The first scientific study of the condition was made
the distinguished English chemist, John Dalton, at Bye end of Eo Eighteenth Century. Dalton himself suffered from color blindness of the kind now called red blindness. This is the most common kind of color blindness. In typical cases, the red color blind person sees the red, orange, yellow and green of the spectrum as vellow of different shades. Green-blue appears gray, and blue-violet and purple are seen as blue. Totally color blind persons see only white, gray and black shades. The red-green color blind see only the yellow and blue of the spectrum. The condition affects men far more often than women, and is hereditary. Dalton had a brother who was also color blind. The degree of color blindness varies in different persons affected by it. Many of them recognize green and red, even though they do not see these colors as green and red. They are able to distinguish them from other shades and after hear= ing others call these shades red and green, the color blind will use the same names for them. When it comes to matching colors, however, their defect shows up. This fact is used in some tests for color blindness, the person under examination being required to match skeins of wool. Color blindness may be a dangerous. defect. In a railway engineer, for example, inability to see the red danger signal may cause disaster. In all civilized countries tests for color blindness are now requiréd for those who in railways or on ships may be re sponsiblewfor interpretation of signals.