Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 January 1940 — Page 16

PAGE 16 — — — The Indianapolis Times

MARK FERREE Business Manager

ROY W. HOWARD RALPH BURKHOLDER President Editor

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Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 1940

LEWIS ON INGRATITUDE

REHIND those eyebrows, it’s said, lurks a rich sense of humor. If so, John L. Lewis must have found it hard to keep a straight face as he stood before the United Mine Workers convention and accused Franklin D. Roosevelt of ~ ingratitude. : Ja This, we submit, is the political year’s best joke. Organized labor, according to Mr. Lewis, hasn’t got what it paid for when it entered a “coalition” with the Democratic Party in 1936 and furnished money, speakers, party workers and votes to re-elect Mr. Roosevelt. Labor has not been given representation in the Cabinet or the policy-making agencies of Government: Labor’s views on unemployment, taxation, foreign trade, military expansion and foreign policy are not sought. Labor has no point of contact with the Administration, “except for casual and occasional interviews” ' granted its individual leaders. Labor - baiting Democrats in Congress are never rebuked by the party’s leaders.

And so now the party is “in default to the American people,” while Mr. Lewis is convinced that if the Democratic convention could be “coerced or dragooned” into nominating the President for a third term “his candidacy would result in ignominious defeat.” |

Mr. Roosevelt has tried harder than any other President ever did to help organized labor. Especially has his Administration been accused of partiality to the Lewis faction of labor. His efforts have been made immensely difficult, and the great gains he has achieved for labor are now in danger, because John L. Lewis and other power-hungry leaders persist in a foolish, suicidal war among themselves. His pleas for labor peace have been disregarded. But these facts Mr. Lewis did not mention. ;

Ingratitude ? Mr. Roosevelt might have invited John L. Lewis to share his desk at the White House. He might have named Mr. Lewis to 10 Cabinet seats. He might have ordered Congress to elect Mr. Lewis Speaker of the House and Majority Leader of the Senate. He might have let Mr. Lewis appoint all the policy-making agencies, He ‘might ' have banished William Green and commanded the Army to disband the A. F. of L. But there is no assurance that even then Mr. Lewis would have been grateful.

.. Mr. Lewis, we take it, intends to confer the inestimable benefit of his 1940 support upon some other man. Who that -may be we do not know. But the attitude of Mr. Lewis toward one President, who accepted his support and campaign contributions out of his union treasuries and then did not deliver full 100 per cent subservience, provides his Prospective candidate with something to think about.

ASKING TOO MUCH

HE Manchester Guardian thinks it is only reasonable that “we (England) should ask tolerance” from Americans “if our fight for our existence, and for theirs, subJects them against our desire to serious ineonvenience.” There they go. England is fighting for the life of the United States, which declines to risk its own skin. We are slackers, and we should be ashamed for having the gall to squawk when England pushes our rights around. That’s what the British seem to be saying. : : It is a shabby recompense for our revision of the Neutrality Act, a step which is enabling England and France to obtain airplanes they could not buy elsewhere. England apparently is |going on the glib thesis that we are so completely anti-Nazi and pro-British that she can blithely step on our toes and snub our diplomatic protests, regardless of international law. The increasing crispness of Secretary Hull's notes indicates that the idea is ill-founded. : : The censorship of our mails, the leisurely and (to us) expensive search of our ships for contraband, the forcing of our vessels into belligerent ports (which the Neutrality Act forbids them to enter), the British boycott of American tobacco, apples and other products—these things in ‘cumulation constitute an intolerable affront to our rights. England will be wise not to presume too much on American tolerance. For there is no guarantee that her popularity in America will survive in the face of repeated affronts and even of apparent discrimination against our shipping in favor of other neutrals.

TWO REAL LIBERALS

AST year when Congress was fighting over the Hatch Bill to forbid political coercion of WPA workers and other Government employees, many self-styled New Dealers were torn by the controversy. They knew the bill was right, but they preferred not to vote for it lest it “hurt our crowd.” : : Eo. > There were two members of Congress with 100 per cent New Deal records who felt no such qualms. They were Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska and Rep. Robert Ramspeck of Georgia, They knew the bill was right, and added no “buts.” They fought for its passage, they voted for it, without regard for whether “our crowd” might be hurt. They declined to confuse New Dealism with spoilism. ’ oF This is recalled now because these same two men have just distinguished themselves in another matter. ‘We refer to Westbrook Pegler’s disclosure that a former convict and gangster, who had served a hitch in a Federal prison on a white-slave charge, had muscled his way to the presidency . of an international labor union. Several members of Congress, known as friends of labor, were asked to comment on this disclosure. Surprisingly, some of them preferred not to be quoted, for fear that what they said “might hurt labor.” But there were two who did not hesitate or quibble. They were Senator Norris and Rep. Ramspeck. ‘Pulling no punches, they declared that organized labor should purge its ranks, and especially its officialdom, of disreputable characters. Labor unions, they fost could not succeed if led by crooks. They declined to confuse the welfare of workers with the prerogatives of racketeers who muscle in on.union dues. . :

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler |

Wherein He Offers Suggestions On Standards for Leaders Which Might Help the Cause of Labor.

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N= YORK, Jan. 25.—Constructive suggestions are “hot my specialty, but if Will Green of the American Federation of Labor is short of ideas he might try these on for size: First off, I would rewrite the constitution of the American Federation of Labor so as to permit the national body to govern its component units. It may be argued that this would centralize power, but, after all, in any organization or state there must be responsibility and authority at the top. To obtain the best possible ability and character for the higher positions I would limit the salaries and expense allowances, forbid all such officers to engage in other occupations or business activities and compel. them to file statements of their assets when they took office. » - I would require them to file duplicates of their income tax returns ‘with the A. F. of L. treasury, with the plain understanding that any officer who reported outside income would have to explain. Anyone who received commissions on sales of material or insurance or bonds written for emplayers would be subject to impeachment, but I would provide very good salraries—say about $40,000 for the national president and as much as $25,000 a year for the president of international unions. . : ’ 2 8 = ARTYRS are all right in holy wars, but the A. F. . of L. needn't be at war with business. It is now big enough to do business with business for the mutual advantage of labor and business and needs executives. Martyrs always feel that they are doing favors for labor, and these executives should be given to understand that they are well paid for.their work. I would establish terms of four or six years, too, so that they wouldn’t have to spend all their time campaigning for re-election. I would abolish certain extortionate initiation fees and excessive dues now required in the A. F. of L. and get down to the level of the C. I. O. The permit racket would be abolished, too. This is the racket whereby musclemen in the executive spots license non-union men to do union work and keep the license fees, while union members walk the streets. All officers who handle money would be placed under bond, which would mean that criminals would be automatically excluded because they are not acceptable risks. And I would not wait for prosecutors to take the initiative in cases of graft, assault: or murder, but would demand that they take action for labor’s own good. J 2 2 WOULDN'T denounce public officials as enemies of labor for proceeding against crooks in the unions. Prosecutors, being politicians, hesitate to go after

smeared as enemies of labor at election time. If an employer reported a unign official or agent for demanding money to prevent or end a strike or to stand off or compromise a proposed increase in

‘| the wage scale I would protect the employer from re-

prisals and press the prosecution. 1 Of course, I would comb out all the known racketeers and white-graft chiselers. That would include not only the low types, such as Bioff and Scalese, but anyone with a side line of insurance or supplies who could be shown to have done business with an employer. Side lines would pe absolutely out. I would prevent grafters from using their labor connections to promote their private interests.

Inside Indianapolis

What Our lcy Streets Mean to the Men Who Drive Dynamite Trucks.

HE ice on the streets may irritate our local motorists but irritation is a mild word to describe the feelings of the men who drive dynamite through town to coal mines and other firms. Don’t jump! Only yesterday a load of dynamite went through without any trouble at all, ice and all. . : An Ohio concern makes most of the dynamite used in Indiana mines. Two men ride the truck that brings it through. One of the men who ride the truck was very much upset when we mentioned that we worked for a newspaper. People, he said, see an article “like that” in the paper and first thing that happens some crank calls up the police to say that the truck is going to blow up and kill somebody. As a mater of fact, he said, Toledo has an ordinance that keeps them from driving through. Driving the dynamite trucks, he said, isn’t half as dangerous as folks would like to believe. He said they’d had some accidents but the fact that he and his. partner were around to talk to us was proof enough that it wasn’t too, too dangerous.- etd Only thing that seemed to bother him, besides newspapers, was ice. “I've driven through this town hundreds of times,” he said, “and every winter it’s the same thing. Ice. Ice. Ice. The streets are always lousy with ice.” ” 2 ” : BET YOU: DIDN'T know that we've got a gentleman around town who is not only conversant about the Finns’ ski war on the Russians, but happens to be pretty good on skis himself. Truth is he is a former Olympic ski champion. Honest: ; How we happen to know is that we've just learned he’s doing a paper on Finland’s ski war for the 38th Division of the National Guard, of which he happens to be a Lieutenant-Colonel. He happens to be a graduate of Sweden’s West Point and he can do more tricks on a pair of skis than a seal can with a rubber ball. The name, folks is Hans H. Skabo. He runs the engineering firm, Skabo Engineering Co. ” 8 9 > \ THEY'RE TRYING TO make it easy for you to pay your Gross Income Tax. , .. The cordiality at 141 S. Meridian St. is almost overwhelming. . . , Attendants open the door as you approach, inside two guards hover about to inquire your wishes and direct you properly. . . . You are given help in filling out your forms and the men at the cashier’s windows actually smile when they thank you for your taxes. . . . We've just heard from Hollywood that - Priscilla Lawson, who used to be known around here as Priscilla Shortridge, is soon to seek a divorce from her actor husband.

A Woman's Viewpoint

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson A STUDY of the world’s love songs, past and pres- ? sent, is interesting and enlightening. They run the gamut from nonsense to tenderest spiritual ecstacy. : . | From them we. get a composite picture of romance as it has existed through the ages—the picture of woman waiting for man’s return. Now and then it will show us a mother yearning over a prodigal son for some of the sweetest of our love songs have to do with the mothet-son theme. | Usually, however, it's a damsel pining for her absent knight, who is—you've guessed it—off after adventure or loot or another skirt. The absenteelover motif runs through most of the lyrics, like a scarlet thread woven into white cloth. And the lying fellow is forever promising to come back. From “Bye Baby Bunting” to “When the ‘Moon Comes Over the Mountain” the burden of that promise is the same, and the girl, poor sap, believes he'll finally get around to it. She's as faithful as his hound dog—and just about as smart—in the songs.

jected idea should have such’ an appeal for the gentlemen. ' I daresay ene reason they are so eager to be off and away is because their forebears for generations back were profoundly stirred by the thought of the feminine tears and .heartbreak their absence caused. It's a swell way to feel important. Men with itching feet like to believe that all the girls they leave behind will be faithful—hence the sameness of the ballads. Good sense tells them otherwise, for they know a girl would be a simpleton to depend on such tuneful promises, and would likely the Fair, who died pining for

suffer the fate of Elaine two-timing Launcelot. Yet the songs go on. I sup-

union racketeers, because they are afraid of being|

rest of us.

It’s easy to understand why this perpetually pro- |’

| always ache in the human heart.

pose it's because the nostalgia for true’ love must

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

“The U. S. Mail Must Go Through’

et 2 \E C3 >

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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.

THINKS FR. COUGHLIN TOSSED A BOOMERANG By Claude Braddick, Kokomo, Ind.

Father Coughlin’s chickens have at last come home to roost. At first Father Coughlin was inclined to denounce and disown this unsavory brood of seditionists. But when the absurdity of this was at once apparent, he chose to embrace and defend them. And thus for the first time he stood exposed to the world as exactly what he is— a mountebank, a rabble-rouser, a disgrace to his high calling.

The chickens now roosting in Father Coughlin’s dooryard are mostly a foul brood of anti-Semi-tism. Perhaps they are not so repulsive to him as they are to the But the next brood will be. For hand in hand with antiSemitism, at least in the United States, goes anti-Catholicism. And if Father Coughlin doesn't know that, then some one should kindly take him aside and whisper the facts of life. :

Surely it must be apparent now, to all but the lunatic fringe, that Father Coughlin has no conception of “social justice.” Like “Christian Front,” it is merely another of his disarming ‘“come-on” phrases, which happen to roll neatly off his sonorous tongue. Calling a rose by another name will not lessen its sweetness, nor will moronic viciousness be made less abhorrent by calling it “Christian Front.”

8 8 =» FEARS HARDSHIPS IN NIGHT PARKING BAN By Ferdinand Samper

The citizens of Indianapolis- have |

been warned. by the Police Department that the all-night parking ordinance is to be rigidly enforced. We have been told that we must put our automobiles in garages at night, or else pay a. fine. : Statistics show that there are not enough garages in the city to house all of the cars in Indianapolis. It \s going to work a hardship on the people that ean rent garages to have to walk a block or two at night in order to put their cars up. I personally don’t care to have any of our women walking through dark alleys at night in order to park their cars, in compliance with a city ordinance. I also think it will be easier to pilfer cars when they are in a garage than when they are out on the street. In my family there are four cars

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

and no garage with the house. I

near my home and was asked $10 a month rental which I can not afford. If enforced, this ordinance is going to skyrocket the price of rent for garages—an example of which I had already experienced. . +. Let us not forget that laws are made of the people, by the people and for the people. ” 8 » { CLAIMS MACHINE TOOK JOBS OF THREE MEN By M. G. Goodpasture The reasons for economic ills— I for one was employed in a city where the automobile industry is good. I was working on a line along with three other men that took us to complete the production on which we were assigned. Over the weekend there was a new. machine installed and on Monday morning we were notified our services were no longer needed. This new machine is now operated by one woman who has no responsibility whatever and

personally tried to rent a garage|

at a salary far lower than we men received. . . The machine age is not the only thing that is causing hard times. The main reason is employers hiring married women who have working husbands. It is all right for women to work who have others dependent on them, but if the married women would stay at home and cook a square meal for the head of the house, as they should, times would be 100 per cent better in 30 days.

” ” ” HOPES TO CONTRIBUTE °* SOMETHING TO PEACE By Curious, Bloomington, Ind. I have resolved to keep bashing away at this typewriter until I have accomplished something concrete and definite in. my ‘personal fight against war. In the first instance,

American economist to come right

out and say in simple and homely words, so that even I can understand it, what is meant precisely by the American Way or the American System of business. That phrase appears to me to be

standing. Leo Huberman’s analysis of Karl H. Marx, I have found, is quite clear. Now let's see something clear and easily understood about our own (?) Americanism. Most of the dope I am putting out comes straight from the Indiana University Library, so at least some of it

must be good. :

New Books at the Library

ROM its: niche somewhere between the history of a period and an autobiography, Louis Untermeyer’s “From Another World” (Harcourt) combines salient features of each literary form to illuminate phases of life, art and literature over a period of some 40 years. Poet and anthologist, lecturer, critic, a- musician and composer of talent, a lover of the drama, and, indeed, a farmer of parts, Untermeyer himself, always a lover of the fray and a jumper-in where, the strife is thickest, dominates his book. But it is his idols, his friends and his acquaintances of the artis-

tic and literary world, of whom he writes. : :

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Side Glances—By Galbraith

-350PR. 1900 oY NEA SERVICE. We. YW. EGU. 8 PAT. — | wanted to buy anything? Can't | read a sample dress tise t you steaming out of the t

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foresakers?”

Deftly, humorously, critically, or with a deeply personal bias, he cov-

ers all movements and personalities who seemed to him important, smart, or unusual, not forgetting those persecuted fellow Jews who in this new strange world have suffered exile, or lie dead, justifiably, but so wastefully, by ‘their own hands. Vignettes of the great and neargreat star his pages: Vachel Lindsey with his heartbreaking gropings; Amy Lowell, her seven sheep dogs, and her magnificent aplomb; fragile, lovely Elinor Wiley; the unpredictable John Reed, who lies dead in the Kremlin; Max Eastman, Floyd Dell, Art Young, and others on The Masses, those fiery and now incredible radicals—“By what desolate streams, are the movers and shakers, the world-losers and world-

MY MOTHER By JOSEPHINE DUKE MOTLEY

My mother has the courage to perform The countless things that I have failed to do. She’s weathered many a heavy storm And always seen it through; No matter whai the effort or the

price, She’d make the sacrifice. ;

My mother does not care what others think. : She sets her goal and works towar its end. Her chain contains no missing link. She does not bow or bend. To cater to the mighty or the vain. Such stuff she does disdain. :

My mother is severe and good and kind;

And she can be as funny as a clown. Where ‘er I look. I never find 5 Her equal, up or down. What luck is mine that she belongs to me I really cannot see.

DAILY THOUGHT

I Rave shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how H2 said, It is more blessed ‘to give than. to receive. —Acts 20:35. | Cr

I would like for some recognized]

too ambiguous for popular under- | °

_ THURSDAY, JAN. 2, 1040 Gen. Johnson Says— U. S. Should Build Up Reserves

Of Rubber and Tin, but Criticism Of Our Exporters. Is Unfair,

Vy AstiNaTOoN, Jan. 25.—Secretary Edison and Assistant Secretary Johnson are righs.. Tin and rubber are a necessity to national defense. We do not produce them, We have to import them from clear across the globe. This is becoming more dane gerous and expensive as the war goes on. But are they right in saying that people in this country who own pig-tin and crude rubber are

funpatriotic” when they sell them to the highest

bidder—even if some of the sales are to the Russian purchasing agency, Amtorg, and are exported to Russia—or to call such transactions “scandalous”? Are they not rather excusing their own incompetence or neglect to remedy a situation which long ago screamed for action—which they did not take? For several years, Mr. B. M. Baruch has heen urging that our Government purchase and impound sufficient reserves of these strategic raw materials. He actively urged again and again that some of our surplus of wheat and cotton be traded for these supplies from British and Dutch possesssions. This would have aided our agriculture as well as our defense. This column has persistently advocated such a course.

2 x »

QOME sufficient action and more or less sufficient J gestures were made, but the condition of inadequate supply revealed by this public. statement is proof enough that this dangerous condition: was not

remedied. Now at the fifty-ninth minute of the

eleventh hour, pressure is being applied to make pri~ vate owners of these stocks do what Government failed to do. The method is public condemnation and characterization of the exercise of plajn commercial rights as “scandalous.” Rubber and tin come to us from Dutch and English possessions in the East Indies and Straits Settlements. These re-exports from our country to Russia cross the Pacific. That is a far longer voyage than the trip to Russia from the original sources of these materials. Russia can get no commercial credits here. She must pay cash. There is no published record of any British or Dutch embargoes against tin: and rubber shipments. If Russia has cash to buy here, she has cash to buy there. What goes on here? 2 2 = ho T is all dizzy with. inconsistency. We do not rece ognize that Russia is at war—and neither does France and Great Britain. They have forbidden no Russian purchases so far as I know. There is no law to prevent our citizens from trading with Russia, That does not argue that we should not conserve our supplies of these strategic materials. But it does suggest that a better way to do it would be for the Government to buy them and hold them in reserve instead of the intimidation of extra-legal pressure on citizens to force an extra-legal result in both domestic and international law and at private expense—for

which the Government should bear the cost. We need tin and rubber for national defense. Even

‘more, we need airplanes and finished equipment. To

aid one side in the European war we are stepping aside with our own needs. To hamper the other, we are, without legal sanction, embargoing exports of secondary munitions to a nation which we are unwilling to find is at. war. The situation sounds fuzzy from beginning to end.

Third Term

By Bruce Catton

196 Delegates 'Promised' F. D. R, Without Voters Saying a Word,

ASHINGTON, Jan. 25.—President Roosevelt ale ~ ready has 196 delegates for the next convention, if you believe all you hear. The odd part is that no voter has yet expressed himself—and the President isn’t a candidate. . The President has been “promised” the delegates of Ohio (52) by State Democratic Chairman Arthur Limbach; of Pennsylvania (72) by Senator Joe Guffey; of Illinois (58) by Mayor ‘Kelly of Chicago, and of Florida (14) by Senator Pepper. Illinois and Pennsylvania elect their delegates in April; Ohio and Florida in May. Florida has no preference primary. Illinois has one, but it’s purely advisory; the delegates vote on which candidate shall be supported. Pennsylvania has a preference primary, but so far no one has even filed petitions te put F. D. R’s name on the ballot. : In Ohio, each candidate for delegate must say what Presidential candidate he’s for, but he can’t use a Presidential candidate’s name without the owne er’s consent—and to date F. D. R.’s consent has not been given. : In other words—no voter in those four states has even been approached on the matter . . . but the President has been told he’ll get all the delegates. J ” 2

Home-Grown Motor Fuel

Write down “chemurgy” as a word you'll hear during the campaign. Per ; Among the Republican Congressional committees seeking data on which the party will base its farm policy, is one headed by Congressman Roy Woodruff of Michigan which has been looking inte the matter of using in industry materials produced on the farm —chemurgy, in short. This committee has heard a dozen technicians, and Woodruff is enthusiastic. He suggests that if the Government would put a tariff on divers fats and oils which American farmers could grow but don’t, and if the Government would contribute everything possible in the way of scientific research, and would encourage the use of alcohol as an automotive fuel, a tremendous new market would be opened for the farmer. “To say that we could in this way use the products of 100 million acres is mighty conservative,” he says. “We couldn't do it all at. once, of course; but in the immediate future we could at least offset the 40 million acres the Administration is trying to take out of production, if we could put the power of Government and industry behind the idea.”

Watching Your Health By Jane Stafford ;

P in New York State recently there was an outbreak of sickness that calls attention again to the danger of raw. or unpasteurized, milk. In a vile lage of about 1000 population, 80 people were sick within the same 10-day period. The sickness they had fortunately was not a very serious one, though it undoubtedly was unpleasant. Its medical name is gastroenteritis, which means inflammation of the stomach and intestines. Nausea, vomiting, cramps and diarrhea are the symptoms. Like the old “sume mer complaint” of babies, it is due to poisons produced by certain germs that sometimes get into food, milk and water. J ' Public health nurses discovered some of the cases, after which the health officers investigated. They found that all 80 of the patients had obtained their milk from the same raw milk dairy. On one of the farms furnishing milk to this dairy the health officers found a woman who had a similiar illness four days before the other cases occurred. This woman had

-not milked the cows but she had helped in washing

milk cans and pails. The health authorities believe that she unknowingly infected the milk with some of the germs that had made her sick. If the milk had been pasteurized, these germs would undoubtedly have been killed. No illnesses were found in households which did not obtain milk from the involved dairy. After the dairy was ordered to pasteurize its milk no more cases of illness occurred. © JThe people in this town were lucky that they did not get a more serious illness, such as typhoid fever, from the raw milk they were using. Epidemics of typhoid and of scarlet fever, diphtheria, and streptococous sore throat have been traced to raw milk.

- Other measures besides pasteurization th a safeg: hi ry it ne [