Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 December 1939 — Page 10
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The Indianapolis Times
(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)
ROY W. HOWARD RALPH BURKHOLDER MARK FERREE President Editor Business Manager =z Price in Marion Counfee ty, 8 cents a copy; delivered by carrier, 12 cents a week.
Mail subscription rates in Indiana, $3 a year; outside of Indiana, 65 cents a month.
E> RILEY 5551
Give Light end the People Will Find Their Own Way
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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1939
BUTLER VS. INDIANA HERE will be a hot time on the hardwood in the old town tonight. Butler meets Indiana at the Fieldhouse. It will be a game between two very fast and very good college teams. It will draw perhaps as many as 10,000
persons. It is not often that Indianapolis gets such an attraction as a college basketball game between two teams which are nationally known and which are, in addition, natural rivals. The game may be the reason why not a creature will be stirring the night before Christmas. They'll be all worn out.
JOHN HANES OHN W. HANES has been in the Government only a few years. But it wouldn't be possible in this column to list
his many achievements. After the departure of Joseph P. Kennedy from Washington, John Hanes was one of the few men of large business affairs left in a position high in the Administration, one of the few who understood and believed in the New Deal's social purposes and at the same time understood that those objectives could never be reached unless somehow, some way, business and Government could be made to work to-
gether. For the extent to which bitterness has given way to measures of co-operation John Hanes is largely responsible. He helped businessmen understand the problems of Government, and helped Government understand the needs of business. To mention his activities in one field alone—that of business taxation—his often unappreciated labors for a more workable tax system are bearing fruit in greater volume for business and larger revenues for the Government. His accomplishments are far short of his goal. But who can say that John Hanes is not entitled to resign now as Under Secretary of the Treasury and attend to his own affairs? Is there any other citizen of equal patriotism and capacity willing to step forward and finish what he started? We fear there is not.
ANOTHER REMINDER O save us annoying your grieving survivors the morning after:
Send us a recent photograph and a complete obituary of yourself if you plan to drink and drive over the holidays.
TO YE EDITOR IN DISTRESS
RADITIONALLY, the one-armed paperhanger with the hives has the world’s most difficult job. But we wonder whether he should not now defer to the editor of the Daily Worker. We must confess a certain sympathy—in the strictly professional sense—for that fellow craftsman in the prob-
lems he has to face. We can’t help imagining ourselves in his spot and speculating on what we would do if we had to defend every act of a boss several thousand miles away who in the name of ‘democracy, humanity and peace” orders the bombing of hospitals and children’s playrooms. The agility required even to keep going in such a task, to synchronize your editorial somersaults with the policies of a Stalin, to like in type everything the boss does, and
to try and make it stick with readers in America—well,
Hercules had a cinch. And on the domestic scene, to get into a row with your
dramatic critic because he refused to class-angle “Gone |
With the Wind” ; or as one might say to make the party line fit the Mason and Dixon. The only helpful thing we can suggest is that ye editor depart from the defensive and take the aggressive. For example why not attack Greta Garbo in “Ninotchka”; or brag about the athletic prowess of the Russians in breaking all records ror speed in deep-snow retreat? Dispatches say they made 20 miles in a single day hightailing homeward in northern Finland. That is something, if properly publicized, to put Nurmi to shame. There are in fact a lot of approaches the Daily Worker could work on and appear less awkward than at the moment. Why not put out more about the current activities of that great statesman, the absentee president and foreign minister of Finland, Otto Kuusinen; he who so solemnly signed the treaty of mutual assistance with the Soviet Union. No doubt the puppet president is busy answering his mail and doing the other chores that fall to the lot of a puppet who though he hasn’t been in Finland for 20 years is nevertheless listed on the books as the “Gospodin,” which means bull goose, if and when. There are a lot of subjects ye editor could take up which would ease the tension.
LOOKING FOR UTOPIA
UNIVERSITY president, Dr. Arnaud C. Marts of Bucknell, recommended recently that the two major political parties pick a coalition President for 1940, to serve for the duration of the war. Such a man, said the educator, must be one with “no political ambitions for himself and willing to surround himself with advisers who may excel him in reputation and ability.” You find him, doctor—we’ll elect him.
PROGRAM NOTE
HILDREN of Germany, France and Britain will sing traditional songs of the season over an NBC network from Berlin, Paris and London Sunday at 1:15. The program will last 15 minutes, Text of the songs concerns peace and
good will on earth, 8
Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler
La Guardia's Firing of Secretary Hints Liberals Frequently lliberal In Solution of Personal Problems.
EW YORK, Dec. 23—If the papers had the story straight, Mayor La Guardia, a great and militant liberal, even a radical, and the best Mayor New York has ever had, has accepted the resignation of his secretary with the explanation that, in a moment of temper, probably mutual, the secretary called him a name and, obviously, he couldn't stand for that. Does this mean that any employer may fire any workman who speaks to him in a disrespectful way and, if so, does it follow that the employer may fire also any man who speaks ill about him, either on the premises or off? Does it mean that only great and militant liberal, even radical, public officials have the privilege thus to guard their dignity? It would seem very unjust to secretaries to expose their economic security to the peril of the displeasure of bosses who are temperamental while men at the machines are protected not only by union rules but by public opinion and, in some circumstances, by the Wagner Act. At what distance from the boss's presence does disrespect become privileged? Evidence accumulates that men who subscribe to broad theories and often insist on literal enforcement in hard cases for consistency’s sake, even though injustice be done to blameless individuals, find their
theories inapplicable to their own practical problems. » » =
AST summer Mr. La Guardia went to Washington to argue against a proposal that state, county and municipal bonds be deprived of their Federal tax exemption. To do this, he held, would be to raise the rental price of money and hamper the city in its difficult task of paying its way. The city had commitments, and this proposal would change the rules of the game after the city had drawn cards. There was truth in that, but the idea was not original with the Mayor. It had been expressed in language only slightly different by many businessmen at intervals from the very beginning of the New Deal. There was little sympathy for them, however, and I am not competent to say whether they deserved any. But their problem in some respects parallels those of public officials and Government. The latter, however, always claim to be deserving but rarely perceive similar virtue in the complaints of the businessman. The most they have been willing to concede is that businessmen are not necessarily deceitful but just hanestly incompetent and unable to adapt themselves to quickly changing conditions. 2 = sn IMILARLY, Mr. Jesse Jones warned bankers that they must slip the rubber band off their vast bankroll of inert money and put it to work in industry, but, speaking as a banker himself, was unable to say how he would go about complying with his own warning. Henry Morgenthau sends out prospectuses for saving bonds under conditions which would bring the SEC arunning with writs and powers if he were a private operator trying to borrow for a business venture. His company is deep in the red and running further behind day by day. with expenses far exceeding receipts and with no symptom of an intention to economize.
Inside Indianapolis
Excitement Mounts at City Hall
As Uncle Louis Nears Term's End.
A QUIET drama, unfolding for weeks at City Hall, reaches its climax next week. It revolves around Louis C. Brandt, president of the Works Board, whose term expires next Saturday. Now 70, he wants to retire after 10 years of service and go to a warm climate and rest. But the Mayor and the rest of City Hall are saying “No” with increasing insistence. And Uncle
Louie is wavering. Odd part is that Uncle Louie is not (and never has been) a politician. He's rather on the stocky side with ruddy features and fine white hair. He's strikingly old-fashioned, like the heavy-linked gold watchchain he wears. He can’t help reminding you of a more genial era. He came from Germany in his youth and settled on the South Side, which he loves. “I've known those people all my life,” he says frequently. When he was young he liked parties so much, he'd sneak away from home nights. Perhaps that’s why he always throws the best parties. His get-togethers are famous for their fun. There's always too much to eat. But you can’t stop eating.
UNCLE LOUIE knows almost every street and alley in Indianapolis. He knows, too, the condition they're in. He gets up at 6 a. m. and makes a walking tour of City projects. Then he looks into complaints. Like knocking at doors and asking questions. He listens intently. “I'll fix it,” he says. And he does. When the Board meets at 9 a. m. he's ready with a full report for the rest of the members. When someone makes a sugestion he likes, he slaps his hand on the glass-topped table, saying: “That's fine. Let's do it.” He likes best to reminisce about the Indianapolis of the old days. And if you mention pinochle he’ll sit right down to play. Maybe that’s why he’s been so successful as a public official. Because he’s so little like one. He's much more a delightful old gentleman who lives in a rambling house down on Pleasant St. 2 = = y
GOOD SANTAS are hard to find. . . . The good ones get about $60 a week. . . . Straight from the feedbox, folks. . . . Sheriff Feeney has sent out unique Christmas cards. . . . They're in the form of subpenas, commanding you to enjoy a merry Christmas. . .. The filling station that i: to go up at Indiana Ave. and Illinois St. will cost just about $50,000. . . . Ben Stern, former Indianapolis newspaperman and now Senator VanNuys’ secretary, passed through town yesterday on his way to Evansville for the holidays. . . . The Senator himself was in town the other day but is back in Virginia. . . . The Senator paused to pass the time of day with Mr. Nolan, the D. A.
A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson
=mbs one thing we ought to get straight and ; keep straight in our minds about Europe's war. It is probable the people involved in every nation are no worse than human beings have ever been since wars began. Most of our news is {o the contrary, which was to be expected. When the fighting starts in a big way we instantly take mental sides. It is no longer possible to see anything good about those with whom we disagree. The embers of our hate are always aglow, and how easy it is to fan them into burning flame! What we too often forget is that hate consumes us even more quickly than it can destroy our enemies. We forget also that weak countries have always been invaded by the strong; that aggressiveness and empire-building have been lauded as virtues in all our history books, and that heroes in every land are those leaders who have enlarged national territory, enriched national coffers and by fair means or foul driven hard diplomatic bargains. To the American Indians our own forefathers were cruel invaders who came to wrest their possessions from them and who did a very effective job. And once upon a time Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the U. 8S. Army made a famous March to the Sea and in the name of a righteous cause burned, looted and destroyed with as much gusto as is usually attributed only to uncivilized hordes. Martial records of the past are nothing to be proud of, so let's not delude ourselves into thinking that 20th Century men and women are less humane than those of other times. War is more horrible these days than it has ever been only because its instruments are more destructive and not, I think, because individuals are wickeder. The law of cause and effect still exists. However desperate the plight in which mankind finds itself,
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THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
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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.
QUOTES HISTORY TO SHOW MAN HASN'T CHANGED By Voice in the Crowd L. V,, it seems that in using man’s growth from the cradle to the grave as proof that nature changes, you have selected a bad yardstick. Nature would be more truly natural if man did not even exist.
If any of you think that man has changed or has more knowledge, or has risen beyond any other men, you can cure your ego by reading “So You Think It's New” by Wilfred Funk. Read of the political shenanigans .of 30 centuries ago, with their panaceas and New Deals, made work and inflation, and to
(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.)
suspicion—is of no particular importance in the case against the whole enormity of his and Stalin's cumulative series of murders.
It suggests a price be put upon the heads of this pair setting the prece-
where these things led. Read about their nudist colonies, football teams | and their medical specialists with] crowded waiting rooms and reme- | dies that science is rediscovering. | {Farm relief, mortgages, labor Hoe | bles, taxes, inflation, legerdemain in| | politics are some of man’s early) { problems. If you have ever seen a mob in| (action you will realize that it takes {man only five minutes to travel {back through 5000 years of his an{cestry, hunting for coconuts to {throw or crack. It seems that civilization can only | advance to a point where the| struggle to exist becomes lighter | and then man’s intelligence is not| sufficient to hold the ground that has been gained by the means in which he gained it. Civilization has developed machines that have made {millions of new toil-less jobs and (greater comforts for men. All men {have more goods than was possible before the machine. Can it be that man’s muscle and | self-reliance and his desire for perSonal liberty are going stale from |an easier life? Can it be that nature |defeats man and beats him back | from greater ease? Can it be that | like the moth, man flies around the| flame, hunting for he knows not what, until it is too late for individual liberty? Well, anyway—Merry Christmas to all of you—and read that book! = 2 2 URGES PRICE ON HEADS OF STALIN AND HITLER By E. R. Egan Whether Germany's peerless leader set the beer hall bomb himself for some of his renegade compatriots —his early arrival and departure from the scene gives color to the
dent for such crimes as war and disturbances of world peace which affect everyone in every nation in this modern world. Stalin’s deliberate starving of the population of a whole province for nonconformance with the particular dictum of the moment is without parallel in national crimes. ...
The case against the Hitler regime is even worse. ... Overrunning Poland was the easiest thing in the world for two powerful military regimes combined for power and plunder—and it obscured the fact their economics are as antiquated as’their politics. They should worry about how long a war
lasts; they know they can’t win, if they haven't already addled their own faculties by their chimerical political fantasies. Hitler and Stalin’s diplomacy does not invite an Alphonse and Gaston interchange of notes.
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FAVORS PROBE TO BARE CAUSE OF DEPRESSION
By L. B. Hetrick, Elwood, Ind.
There is too much written without the proper amount of significant information. The wicked flee when no man pursues. The papers are printed full of crime. Why not publish whether the criminal, rich or poor, is a Democrat, Republican, Communist or Socialist? Or whether an infidel or a believer in something or other?
Why doesn’t the Government appropriate a couple hundred thousand to find out through the Dies Committee the cause of the unAmerican thing that causes depressions, unemployment, overproduction and want—in fact, all the economic misery going on openly and aboveboard? Why don’t our scientists point out why it takes only $300 or $400 a year to keep one man and from five thousand to several hundred thousand dollars a year to keep another? Is it a difference in physical and mental construction? Why not find out by scientific analysis?.
New Books at the Library
LONG novel of contemporary China, spanning the turbulent years from 1900 to the present war with Japan, is Lin Yutang's “Moment in Peking” (Day). How the past four decades of change—inner turmoil and alien invasion—have affected the upper classes is depicted through the experiences of several rich and powerful Peking families. The Yaos, Tsengs and Fengs were among the fgrtunate few who possessed “gardens and pearls and jade. wealth and learning.” The story begins with the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, when the Yaos, fleeing from Peking, lose their 10-year-old daughter Mulan. Her rescue from kidnappers by Mr. Tseng strengthens the friendship between the families; years later, Mulen marries Mr, Tseng’s son Sunya, al-
| "My husband's hat and coat} please. We haven't time to flirts"
it is the system and not the people who must be res |
though secretly she prefers her sister Mochow’'s betrothed. Despite their strange—and to Occidentals, bizarre and pagan customs—the numerous members of the inter-re-lated clans represent people we know well; Mulan, the devoted wife and mother; the dissipated son of the Yaos, whose love for a beautiful servant girl brings both to disaster; the young widow lavishing her love upon an adopted son; the political climber who renounces his wife for an exotic sing-song girl; the old ladies imperiousl,’ ruling their children. As Mulan and her generation progress to middle-age, their children are growing up in a confusing new China of war-cry and bloodshed. Mulan’s eldest daughter is slain in the ill-starred Nationalist Revolution—a wanton slaughter of innocents. As the book ends Mulan and her family are in flight from the invading Japanese—along the Great Trek to the interior, .e Dr. Lin Yutang is author of the popular “My Country and My People” and “The Importance of Living.”
HANG UP YOUR HOPES By F. F. MACDONALD
It don’t do no good to rage, rant and rave Cause you don’t gits de things dat yo’ crave Honey chile, cheer up—said Mammy » Sage— Plenty thing can happen fore you gits to my age; Life keeps changin'—don't ever for-
get, So what's de use to worry, weep, stew and fret? Hold yo’ head high—though it rains in yo’ face— "Twas none but de turtle dat done won de race. Dar ain't nothin’ no-how as bad as it seems And joys no-way seem as sweet as fancied in our dreams So hang up your hopes on de Yuletide Tree— Old Santa may surprise you— just wait and see!
DAILY THOUGHT
For I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries, and will bring Jou £20 your own land.—Ezekiel 124.
UR Lord has written the promiise of the resurrection, nat in
books alone, but in every leaf in
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SATURDAY, DEC. 23, 1939 |
Gen. Johnson Says—
Montevideo Battle Bares Fallacy Of Panama Declaration Which Is a Form of Meddling in Europe's War,
ASHINGTON, D. C. Dec. 23.—Almost every other editorial kibitzer sounded off about the effect of the Graf von Spee incident upon tha Declaration of Panama. Now it's my turn. The Pope once drew a line around the globe dividing it in half and then gave one-half to Spain and the other to Portugal—so far as either could enter and occupy. The Panama Declaration drew a line from the Canadian border south around Cape
Horn, 300 miles to seaward of all coasts, and asserted a “right” ‘to prevent operations of European belliger ents therein. There was no such “right” in the Papal division of the globe. There is no more right or even common sense in the Declaration of Panama. In international law and American doctrine the theory is that all nations have equal rights—naval or mercantile—on the seas outside a three-mile limit from each coast, Freedom of the seas! #2 % =
The Declaration of Panama has no standing as a rule of either law or justice. It is simply a declaration of “interest” rather than right. It is just as much a rule of threatened force in violation of international law as any arbitrary paper blockade against which we have ever protested—and once fought. It can be maintained only by force, and there is none of the 21 American governments except our own that is equipped to try to maintain it by force, If we are not ready, able and willing to maintain it by force, it is a degradation of American prestige-—or even honor—to announce it. If we do attempt to maintain it by force, we are automatically in the European war—with no declaration by Congress and no assent of our people. And on which side? There can be no question about that. Canada is in this hemisphere. She has sent troops abroad to altack Germany. She hag become a central base of supplies and of aviation training and production on the British side. The President has even promised to defend her if she is attacked. So Canadian coasts are put outside of the Declaration of Panama. That double-dealing does not make the 300-mile imaginary line any more defensible in the ethics of neutrality. t 4 ” ” HE British have naval and aircraft bases within it, in the Caribbean, Central and South America and Faulkland Islands. Is there any provision in the Declaration of Panama for this? On the contrary, Although bases are as important as battleships, thera has been no suggestion of closing British bases. In the battle of Montevideo, at least one British cruiser —if not the whole attacking group—was based there, That cruiser could limp back home in this hemisphere and still be safe while the Graf had to get out of Montevideo on short notice to her death. Our moral embargo is now to be applied without any legal authority against the so-called aggressor nations as to gasoline processes, and, perhaps, gasoline, If it can be done for gasoline it can be done for anything. This Administration is boldly applying its doctrine to “quarantine the aggressors”—a doctrine opposed and denied by both the Congress and the people. It is apparently determined to mix us in the European conflict by indirection if it cannot do so by direction.
4
Dock Tieup
By Bruce Catton
Plaintive Letter Tells of 10,000 Bags Of Cocoa Beans Rotting on Ship.
ASHINGTON, Dec. 23.—The tangle at San Francisco harbor, where a six-weeks strike of Harry Bridges’ shipping clerks tied up shipping, is strikingly illuminated in a plaintive appeal which a California manufacturer recently sent to the Gove ernment. In the hold of a ship at a San Francisco pier were 10,000 bags of cocoa beans consigned to thig man. Because of the strike, he can’t get them unloaded; since he can’t unload them, they are slowly deteriorating. In a short time, he complains, the Department of Agriculture's inspectors will condemn the whole shipment because it will contain in excess of 5 per cent of mould. Meanwhile, he wants the beans in order to make products he is under contract to furnish the Army and Navy. Can't the the Government do something to get the strike settled? The Government has been trying—with both hands, so to speak—but without much luck. Labor Secretary Frances Perkins sent John E. O'Connor, of the Conciliation Service, to arrange conferences between the striking clerks and the waterfront employers. Dr. Louis Bloch of the Maritime Labor Board left Washington by plane to attempt to mediate. There followed a series of fruitless conferences, presided over by Dr. Bloch, at which O'Connor sat in. The conferences ended without accomplishing anything. Dr. Bloch returned to Washington. Cone ciliation Service and Maritime Labor Board have had discussions about the problem without result. So, while the Government has been up to its neck in the dispute, the trouble is no nearer settles ment than it was weeks ago.
Dr. Townsend Bars Oath
On his recent trip across Pennsylvania, Dr. Francis E. Townsend was besieged by members of a local old age pension club with a problem to settle. It seems two persons who recently joined the club refused to take the “oath of allegiance” to Dr. Townsend; other club members were indignant, and clustered around the doctor asking him to do something about it. “Huh,” said Dr. Townsend. “If I was joining, I wouldn’t take any oath of allegiance either. I don’t blame those new members a bit.”
Watching Your Health
By Jane Stafford
AFETY needs to be emphasized for Christmas fese tivities just as it does for Fourth of July celebrae tions. Many a child has been burned to death when clothing caught fire from Christmas tree candles, Many a youngster has been seriously injured by an ill-chosen toy which he happily pulled out of his
Christmas stocking. Few persons, in these days of pretty generally available electricity, decorate their Christmas tree with old-fashioned wax candles. These are dane gerous not only because someone may come too close to the lighted candle and thus have his clothing catch fire; another danger is that a draft could blow flame into other ornaments on the tree and quickly cause a serious conflagration. Electric light cardles are safer, but still call for safety precautions. Short circuits are the main hazard here. The connections of the electric candles or lights should be looked over to see that they are neither worn nor defective. The wiring should also be examined. Any exposed wire should be covered with tar tape. A dried out Christmas tree may be a fire hazard, If it ignites, it burns faster than a moist tree, Standing the tree in water or wet sand keeps it fresh looking for - longer, as many a housewife has dis covered, and it also prevents the tree from becoming
harp pointed ornaments on Christmas trees should be kept out of reach of children, to avoid accidents and injuries. Toys for children, at Christmas or any other time, should be selected with care. Guns, tool sets, scissors and other pointed toys may be da.agerous, depending on the age and responsibility of the child. In the excitement of Christmas, even older, naturally careful children are apt to forget the usual safety pre-
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