Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 8 February 1940 — Page 16

Aun 10 = :

The Indianapolis Times (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) !

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

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po RILEY 5551

Give Light and the People Willi Find Their Own Way

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1940

RUSSIA AND THE ALLIES R ECRUITING by Finland is permitted in England. Muni- " tions from Italy for Finland are transported across France. The governments in London and Paris have promised to give Finland such help as they can. But still they are at peace with Russia. AS How long this can go on, there is no telling. But if ever the Allies and Russia find themselves at war with each other, momentous steps may be expected quickly. The Russo-German pact might then become a full fighting alliance, for one thing, merging the two wars. The pressure on Sweden and Norway to throw in with Finland and the Allies would grow. Allied aid could reach the Finns safely only via Scandinavian soil. The possibility of Italy’s joining up with Germany would diminish. Mussolini, the arch-foe of communism, would hardly choose to fight on Russia’s side. Turkey would be put to a test. Her alliance with France and England exempts her from having to fight Russia. But it would be no surprise if she permitted Allied warships to enter the Black Sea, where Russia's piddling fleet would be overwhelmed and such ports as * Odessa and Batum exposed to siege. : In the meantime Germany and Russia would probably be making hay in Rumania and kicking over :the whole Balkan cauldron. : : Perhaps none of these things will happen. But the Allies have not garrisoned the Near and Middle East with several hundred thousand men just to sunburn them.

IT SMELLS ENATOR JAMES F. BYRNES, the Democrats’ pourer-of-oil-on-troubled-waters, suggests that this Congress appropriate only enough money to run WPA through a part of the fiscal year, and leave to the next Congress the task of providing for the remaining months.

This: too-clever scheme is designed to enable sitting lawmakers to aveid—until after the elections—the necessity of either voting new taxes, or voting to raise the legal debt limit, or appropriating beyond that limit. > But we have a feeling that the people are not—as this _ proposal implies—‘“too dumb to understand.” And if it is carried out there probably will be a lot of our present lawmakers who won't be members of the Congress which meets next January.

LABOR’S STAKE IN MORE TRADE

HE United States granted some mild tariff reductions on wearing apparel in the trade agreement negotiated with the United Kingdom in 1938. As a result there have been some moderate increases in imports. But do the workers in these trades feel injured? Not the International Ladies Garment Workers. The general executive board of this union, under President David Dubinsky, has adopted a resolution declaring that the reciprocal trade agreements have benefited American consumers generally and garment workers in particular. The union wants the Hull program continued three more years. The resolution points out that in the economic slump which followed the Smoot-Hawley “embargo tariff” of 1930, “employment in the women’s garment industry fell by 20 per cent while payrolls were halved.” ;

And in the general business improvement which has accompanied the rise in exports and imports, under the Hull program, employment in the women’s clothing industry has risen 47 per cent.

The resolution is so wisely conceived and well worded that we feel justified in quoting liberally from it. Especially that part which suggests that it is time for organized labor to revise its attitude toward tariff policies: “For over 50 years workers have been told that tariffs must be kept high in order to safeguard their wage standards. While only a minor portion of our gainfully employed population—not over 10 per cent—are within range of ‘tariff protection, the wages in industries protected by the ‘tariffs are, in most instances, below the average for American industry as a whole.” | And that part which emphasizes how the Hull program spreads its blessings: “The increased purchasing power among workers in ~ the expanded export industries, as well as among the workers in the transportation and handling industries, has caused a greater demand for goods in other countries and trades not directly interested in foreign commerce. Clearly ; ie program deserves labor’s support.”

MAJ. BOUDREAU TRANSFERRED NAPOLEON BOUDREAU is as good a name as any we can think of to fit an expert army organizer. That much, and more, Maj. Boudreau proved to be during his five years here as unit instructor and executive officer of the - 535th Coast Artillery Corps, Anti-Aircraft Regiment. In that brief time Maj. Boudreau, now soon to be transferred to the Philippines, revitalized the Indiana branch of the Army Reserve. He has built it up from a nucleus of 20 officers to its present strength of 90. Under him the unit has won important state and national trophies. But he has found time, too, to take an important part in the fraternal and religious life of the community. He will be missed, not only by those of the Reserve, but by all who came to know him as an affable gentleman and useful citizen.

JUST THE MAN

ENRY FREES, a 62-year-old unemployed circus acrobat, is running for Congress in Indiana. When not standing on his head for the photographers, it is reported, Mr. Frees makes speeches for the Townsend Plan, If he can only learn to do both those, tricks at the same time he'll be right at home in Congress. :

Ci

i Fair Enough

By Westbrook Pegler = Some Flag-Waving Patriots Seem

To Forget - Constitution Protects|

Those Holding Contrary. Opinions.

EW YORK, Feb. 8—I have begun to doubt the wisdom of confronting every organization and all individuals with a disavowal of communism and fascism and saying, in a leering way, “sign here.” That practice encourages the loathsome patrioteer to drape the flag around him like a shawl and go around putting people on a spot who are better citizens than himself. & It contains an insinuation that the organization or person in question is a doubtful case and that

compliance is a sign of cowardice or refusal a sign

of sedition. Of course, every loyal American hates communism and fascism and, on proper occasions, takes the oath

of allegiance with dignity and solemn feeling and is| willing to take it again, as the officers of the military |

establishment and public officials do. ~~ But no man or woman should be required to_stop dead in traffic and repeat the oath for anyone who takes it on himself to go on the prowl for traitors.

| # n s

HERE is a time and place for everything, and, although patriotism is never really out of place,

| organizations and people have other busienss besides

denouncing communism and fascism. Anyway, Americans have a right to believe in communism or fascism. We can forbid actions but not beliefs, and we have laws and police to take care of situations in which persons who so believe attempt to overthrow the Government by violence. To me belief in these “isms” seems inconsistent with Americanism, but the Constitution doesn’t see it that way, and there is no profit in destroying the Constitution just to beat someone else to it. There is no law by which any group can be compelled to adopt any resolution, and none should be penalized for exercising its rights. If a group or individual is following |a line, Communist or Fascist, that will become plain in time without our resorting to tricks. We have been witnessing a violent, organized propaganda to the effect that all citizens who are not Christians of the most conventional, churchgoing type are necessarily atheists, and therefore enemy aliens. rd 2 2 2 OW, a man has a right to be an atheist, and he may be an atheist and a reactionary Republican

at the same time. Or a man may be a Christian in his own heart, according to his own interpretation of Christianity but not a church-Christian—and, in

fact, an opponent of churches—and still be a loyal, ||

law-abiding American. But if we come to the point of admitting that unbelief in religion or non-attendance at any church is proof of communism and somehow punishable, we are on the way to an inquisition and the establishment of a religious racket under Government sanction. In that case a man could be challenged on the street, by any hot-eyed fanatic to declare his belief in religion and show his church credentials, and mauled around or jailed as an enemy of the state for failure to affirm. The right to be a |Christian is established and respected everywhere inthe United States, but the right ‘to be an atheist is equally important. And it should be added that a| patriotic atheist does a little more than his share as a citizen, in view of the fact that he pays taxes to carry the heavy load imposed on all taxpayers, including infidels, by tax-exempt church properties.

Inside Indianapolis

One of Sonja’s Partners Bounces! And a Few Bits of This and That.

N added attraction at the Sonja Henie ice show last night was the tumble taken by Harrison Thomson, one of Miss Henie’s two partners, in the opening pairs number. Coming to one of those breath-taking quick stops, the graceful Thomson bounced to the ice and right back up again. : If Sonja thought anything about it her face didn’t show it. . So You all know by this time, of course, that the incomparable Sonja herself touched the ice (in New York) with her $35 silk panties when she was dragged down during a spill. They say that Sonja herself has never taken a tumble since.she’s been a pro. The miraculous part of the whole show is really why they don’t fall a dozen times a night. Miss Henie is everything they say she is. After a while you get to forgetting she’s on skates at all, she’s that graceful. #9 4 ONE DOWNTOWN DRUGSTORE cigar counter hands out 1250 books of matches a day (at a cost of $1.39) to keep its cigaret customers happy. ... They don’t mind doing it, even if it cuts down their 6-cent-a-cartcn profit on cigarets, but it sort of makes them mad for folk who don’t buy anything to come in and ask for matches. . . . Indianapolis blind persons make an average of 30 calls a month for the Braille edition of “Reader’s Digest” from the Braille Division of the State Library. ... The library has six Braille editions, each requiring three large. volumes to equal the printed version of the magazine. . . . Our local bookies shut down tight first part of the week for the first time in moons. . . . The reason was that the word was passed along that the Federal men were coming in to investigate. , . . They didn't show so they opened up again. . 2 8 =

"IT HAPPENED YESTERDAY at the Court House lunchstand, which is one of those places where the waitress shouts “Two up!” and out comes eggs. . . Frank Beckwith, well-known attorney, was standing there when a friend he hadn't seen for some time dashed up. . .. “Hi, Frank!” shouted the friend. . . . They shook hands heartily, paused to gossip.. .. And a couple of minutes later discovered that the waitress was paging the party who had ordered that “hot frank” , . . Mr. Beckwith’s friend decided to take it He ate if, too. :

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

ITH every female in| the -land determined to have a charming personality or die trying, recipes for success abound. “Leave the ‘I’ out of your conversation,” says one authority. “Remember to say only flattering things to those you meet,” croons another. “Respect the opinions of your friends,” advises a third, “and stick to subjects in which others in the group are interested.” ) Now these purely theoretical items may well be taken with a grain of salt by any person who wants to have a little fun in life, Dragging a ‘charming

personality” around everywhere you go is like weigh-|

ing yourself down with a ball and chain. Fling discretion to the wind, say I, and let the other fellow be bored for a while. Life is hard enough as it is, what with making a living, bringing up the children and scraping tax money together, without saddling all the nicest people with the burden of being bright and entertaining to the bores. The housewife gets the worst end of thi deal, too. Everybody tells her to be good and let others be clever. So she feels obliged to listen to the fulminations of those who—because they are occupied with merchandise and ledgers and such stuff, whereas she attends to the fundamentals of living, to birth, death, children and love—declare themselves more capable of carrying on intelligent conversations. “Don’t talk about your children,” they're always telling her. “Discuss your garden or some other hobby.” ‘Fiddlesticks! A woman can be twice as tiresome talking about her dahlias as she is on the subject of her babies. Any hobby, unless it is shared by the company in general, can wear the listeners out in no time. Indeed, most of the foolishness dished up about conversational popularity goes, against common sense. The only good talk ever heard is that made by those who discuss familiar topics in which they are most

vitally interested. Everything else is boilerplate.

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

THINKS JAIL TERMS WOULD END GAMBLING By J. O. B. : I notice that Judge Ryan compared the fine he assessed against Tom Dillon to the payment of income tax. That is just the way the professional gamblers regard a fine. They look on a fine as a sort of license to engage in their illegal business. This will never stop professional gambling. When the Courts give jail sentences as provided for in the law, professional gambling will be on its way out. so

82 2 =» WANTS PROPERTY OWNED BY ALL THE PEOPLE By Jasper Douglass

From the days of Abraham the owning class has been the ruling class. There have always been one set of men living by profits from

.the labor of others, and another

vastly larger group compelled to labor for what the lords were willing to let them have, and always that stipend was measured by the cost of existence. This has grown up through the ages until we have now reached a time when a few own and control the lives of the masses. Under the capitalist system there is no limit to what wealth one man or a few men may acquire. No man could possibly earn by his own mental or physical labor a million dollars, yet there are those who make hundreds of millions, all of which was produced by the brain and brawn of poor men, women and children who were forced to live in direst poverty. It is absurd to say that these men, some of whom started with a dime, have a just right to what they have amassed because of superior ability. Fortunes of a hundred years ago have been handed down from father to son and almost all of the Multimillionaires inherited their wealth, and so large were the sums inherited that they are not able to spend 1 per, cent of the income so that the pile accumulates. Children are born owning millions which they will never be able to spend. Yes, capitalism has always existed and the owning class has always been the ruling class. And even now, this is a necessary arrangement, but if it is possible for 10

share in it?

(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.)

or 50 men to organize a stock company of which they own a part, would it not be better for one big company to be formed of 130 million and each owning an equal

; ® 8» = CALLS SPENDING CHIEF PART OF CAMPAIGN By Daniel Francis Clancy, Logansport, Ind. Headline: “Survey Reveals Spending as Big Campaign Issue.” In an American political campaign, spénding is not an issue—it IS the campaign. R. C. Morrison, a British M. P,, recently declared In a speech that he was willing to bet that fighting in the war would cease this year. When his assertion was published he received 200 offers of wagers amounting to $8000. If the public over here would react like that after some of our politicians spouted off, the boys might become less bombastic. !

FINLAND AS ‘MENACE’ TERMED LUDICROUS By A. B, The letter of Jan. 30 signed by W. F. W. presents some curious delusions concerning the Baltic mess. W. F. W. claims Russia acted as any first-class power in “rectifying” the Finnish situation. The relations of Finland and Russia prior to 1939 indicated that the Finns were as menacing to Russia as the Dutch were to England. Could anything be more ludicrous than Finland “menacing” Russia? ; Finland, Poland, Esthonia, Lithuania and Latvia were not ceded to the Allies by Russia but by Ger-, many. The Germans, gaining the’ territory in the treaty of BrestLitovsk, hoped to create the independent countries which the Allies subsequently set up. Russia, according to her Bolshevist treaty signers, was glad to rid herself of the territory imperialistically obtained by the Czars. Bessarabia never has been indepedent but always a bone of contention between the Russians and Rumanians who inhabit it. European boundaries depend on the criteria used to determine them. W. F. W. is evidently willing to return to the map of 1900 as constructed by imperialism. We must

agree there was little ethnic justice in that setup. Y :

New Books at thie Library

ROM a small country town comes Clay Abernathy. On the last evening of September he meets at “Miss Susie Slagle’s” (Harper), a boarding house for medical students, the five other boys who, with him, are to make their home there during four years’ intensive studying at Johns Hopkins. Augusta Tucker says that all her characters are fictitious except Kelley, Halsted, Welch, and Osler, who were the gods of medicine during those years before the World War. But her potential young physicians and surgeons are just as real, each

Side Glances—By Galbraith

U. 8. PAT. OFF.

how to cook it, but | don't know how to it's not going on the menu,

with his own distinctive character and idealistic aspirations. These young hopefuls are gwed by the portrait-lined stairway in the shabby brick building, but informal pictures of those same great men in the dining room at Miss Susie's make them realize that they are following in worthy and inspiring footsteps. Miss Susie, plump, white-haired, with an “hour-glass figure,” who has kept a boarding house in Biddle St. for 27 years, knows each boy with a profundity that would amaze his own mother, and she loves them all. The hard work and tragedy, the joys and sorrows, the hopes and ambitions of this group of boys are carried through those four trying years. Though the actual story is subordinate to the main theme—the high hopes and possibilities of the med-

. ical profession, Miss Tucker gives a

vivid, true-to-life picture of student life. at a great university, of their training and recreation; and never-to-be-forgotten pictures of Baltimore, its customs, and its spots of beauty. The story itself, with each individual, lovable character, will linger in memory for years to come.

I WONDER By RUTH E. STEFFEY Poor Winter, once so much a tyrant, Must be so very weary. He looks so old and wrinkled— His eyes so dull and bleary! I'm sure he'd like a long and Undisturbed vacation ‘ Why must dear Spring be late She thinks it's a tradition!

Oh, listen—can you hear A faint, elusive breathing? I wonder could it be That Winter will be leaving? That underneath this blanket, This show now soiled and dreary—— Sweet Spring is peeping coyly With eyes real warm and cheery!

DAILY THOUGHT

When thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be a sin | in thee.—Deuteronomy 23:21.

HASTY resolutions are of the

nature of vows, and to be equally | avoided. —Penn,

i tee has dealt with the Labor Board.

sult a physician at once,

__ THURSDAY, FEB. 8, 1940 Gen. Johnson Says— Labor Saving: Devices in the Home

Freed Women for Private Jobs And Contributed to Unemployed.

ASHINGTON, Feb. 8—Miss Anderson of the '¥ Women’s Bureau of the Department of Labor, warns Madam Perkins in a formal report that “family life in this country will suffer serious consequences if a prejudice against. women workers marrying is ale lowed to spread.” Doesn't Miss Anderson really mean ‘a possible prejudice not against working women marrying but against married women working—especially in jobs more appropriate for men? - : In his intensive breeding campaign for German

supermen, Adolf Hitler provided .loans for marriages and agreed to knock off part of the debt for each ree

| sulting child.’ This is reported to have added con-

siderably to the German labor shortage. Enough of the girls stopped work, stayed home and had babies to increase the jobs for men sufficiently to make a minor Nazi problem, The displacement of men workers by women in this country as compared with 1910 has gone steadily forward, The various censuses showed a decline in the percentages of jobs held by men, as follows: 1890, 82.8 per cent; 1900, 81.9 per cent; 1910, 78.7 per cent; 1920, 79.5 per cent; 1930, 78 per cent,

8 8 =»

HAT amounts to a decline of 4.8 per cent which applied to the total employment of almost 49 million in 1930 shows a replacement of men in ‘about 2,350,000 cases—which is a lot of jobs. In the World War our “work or fight” order was deliberately designed to force men out of any jobs that women could do. France is doing exactly the same thing now. ; One of the bitterest complaints of our returning soldiers was that women had taken their jobs and they couldn't get them back. The figures just quoted, which I computed from census reports do not indicate that it was this war replacement which was responsible for the lack of jobs for men. On the contrary, in the course of a constant 40year decline in the share of males in jobs, the only break was in the period betwen 1910 and 1920—the war years—when the percentage of male to total em= ployment actually rose from 78.7 to 79.5 per cent,

NOTHER powerful cause is working here. It Is a form of “technological” unemployment. In our pioneering and development days when “Adam delved and Eve span” being a woman—whether married or not—was pure drudgery. Many a sturdy founding father wore out and buried from two to 10 wives in the course of a lifetime—having babies, making soap, bread, butter, beer and candles—spinning, laundering,

-clothesmaking, cooking, preserving food, curing hog

meat, hewing wood, drawing water and educating, nursing and bringing up children. . I have seen my own mother do most of these things —and cook for 30 migratory harvest hands. Married women once were working all night—but not for wages —only for love and frequently not even getting that, The “pioneer mother” was just a sort of super-squaw. All this is changed. The canning, home building, mass production, electrical, gas and business and household appliance industries did it. Taking care of a home and family is now only a part-time job. The lady recruits to business and industry have contrib« uted to the unemployment problem, but how can you keep the gals at home when there is so little there to do?

NLRB Probe

By Bruce Catton

Committee Not Nearly as Rough as Expected, Leaving Capital Puzzled.

ASHINGTON, Feb. 8—One absorbing mystery right now is the way the famous Smith commitIt has been ne expected

rough, but not nearly as rough as every it to be. : The committee spent months assembling documents to use as exhibits, and used only a fraction of them. Instead of calling in everyone who had a grudge against the board, it confined itself almost entirely to board employees and board records. Then it swung around and invited Board Members Madden and Smith to take the stand and answer the charges that had been made. This isn’t at all what was anticipated, and it has people guessing. Ome curious accompaniment is that while most Congressmen seem to feel the labor act will be amended, hardly any are expecting any really

drastic changes to be approved. #2 8 8 | A movie that will pick up where “The| River” and “The Plow That Broke the Plains” left off has been filmed and will go to the theaters by spring. Photographed by Bob Flaherty for Pare Lorenz’ U. 8. Film Service, it is tentatively titled “The Land,” and deals with the way soil erosion and mechanized agriculture are driving people off the land. . | Department of Agriculture officials, who fathered the idea, are excited about it. ! : ® x = |

ot

The War and the Weather

It sounds like a gag, but the Weather Bureau really would have been able to give the country better advance warning of that recent cold wave if there hadn’t been a war in Europe. | That works out like this: The war has raised hob with the Bureaus reporting service. | European meteorological stations are no longer sending reports on weather conditions, and ships at sea have stopped sending reports because they're afraid submarines will spot their position. Most important of stopped reporting. : This particular cold wave got started up in Alaska} and it seems atmospheric conditions in eastern Cane ada and the Great Lakes region were such that there

{ all, Canadian stations have

‘wasnt anything to keep the wave from going right

down to the Gulf. Weather Bureau had no dope from Canada and hence couldn't forecast Just where the cold wave would go.

Watch Your Health

By Jane Stafford

« a LABORER blistered his hand on a shovel and blood poisoning caused his deat Between the lines of that single sentence from a New York State Department of Labor report can be read stark tragedy: A useful human life destroyed when, possibly, it could have been saved: perhaps in addie tion a family left fatherless and destitute. That sentence also carries a grim warning to those inclined .to neglect minor injuries. = Blood poisoning is caused by. germs, chiefly the: pus-form-ing germs of the staphylococcus and streptococcus families. These germs are all around us, on everye thing we touch and even in our mouths and. skins, Ordinarily they are harmless, but when they get into the blood; they may be serious trouble-makers, Don’t make yourself miserable worrying every time you prick or cut your finger or get a blister, but take sensible precautions. First, keep the injured place clean. Don’t dab it with your handkerchief or anything else that is not sterile. If the cut is a small one, let it bleed a moment or two, as this will help to wash out germs. Then blot up the blood with a piece of sterile gauze, apply some antiseptic solution, such as tincture of iodine, and finally put on a sterile bandage. For blisters (except those due to burns) the American Red Cross first aid directions tell you to apply a small amount of mild tincture of iodine to a point at the edge of the blister, Sterilize a needle in an open flame, being careful not to touch the end after sterilizing, and puncture the blister at its edge. Gently press out the water or blood, applying the pressure at the outside margins, and put on a sterile dressing. If you are not sure you can do this safely, better have a physician take care of it for you. And in all cases, if the cut or blistered spot shows signs of festering or pus, con-

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