Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 February 1940 — Page 22

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The Indianapolis Times (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

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Give Light and the People Will Find Their own Way

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1940

MR. DIES PLUNGES

(CONGRESSMAN MARTIN DIES, back in Washington after a long illness at his Texas home, says he feels fine and is ready “to plunge right in.” His first plunge is a charge that the movie industry is plotting to stop a Dies committee investigation of subversive activities in Hollywood. a Now, there may be subversive activities in Hollywood, and the movie industry may not relish the thought of having them exposed. It may even, as Mr. Dies asserts, have “hired the highest-priced publicity service in the world” to “turn heaven and earth” against the Dies committee by “one of the darndest campaigns of ridicule you ever saw.” But many will get the impression that Chairman Dies, after an extended absence from the limelight, is making up for lost time with a somewhat lurid publicity stroke of his own. And this impression, unjust as it may be, will be the stronger because Mr. Dies has so frequently drawn attention by just such methods. He has often provided ammunition for those who want to ridicule his committee by sounding off too soon, and too loudly, about matters that needed very different treatment. ' We think Mr. Dies might profit by studying the way “the committee has operated in his absence. It has had some difficulty with Silver Shirt Pelley. It has been embarrassed because Mr. ‘Dies, without consulting the other members, authorized release of a report which seems to have represented only the opinion of the committee’s research director that practically all consumers’ organizations are linked to communism. But in general it has made an evident effort to be more fair, to avoid ballyhoo and to seek facts rather than premature sensations. As a result, it has risen in public estimation. \ i With fewer plunges by Mr. Dies, with more sober and careful procedure, the committee’s findings in Hollywood ‘and elsewhere will carry greater weight and campaigns against it will be less likely to make headway.

. DECENT LEADERSHIP

JT NOUGH influential Republicans have come forward, we are glad to note, to persuade Carl Vandivier to seek ‘re-election as county Republican chairman, To paraphrase a remark of Raymond Moley’s the other night concerning another Republican, the party “could look farther and do worse—far worse.” As a matter of

plain fact, Mr. Vandivier has been far more valuable to |

“the Marion County organization than many Republicans realize. He has brought to it a degree of integrity and “decency and liberality that it needed badly. And if the party is going anywhere it is going to require more—not less—of the kind of leadership that Mr. Vandivier represents.

USING A BLACKJACK

OFTEN criticized for acting simultaneously as prosecutor, :. judge and jury, the National Labor Relations Board now shows up in the role of executioner without trial. 3 It and the Reconstruction Finance Corp. have assumed “the power to withhold authorized loans from companies : against which the Board has issued Wagner Act complaints, : and even from companies against which it is only thinking : of issuing such complaints. An arrangement to this effect, suggested by the RFC and worked out last August by : officials of the two Government agencies, was confirmed : in letters exchanged by the NLRB and RFC secretaries ; and were made public by the House committee investigating : the Labor Board. , : The RFC undertook to inform the NLRB of companies : to which loans are authorized. The NLRB undertook to : report on any company against which it “has issued or : will issue” a complaint of unfair labor practices, and to : ask the RFC to withhold disbursements from that company : “under the loan which has been authorized.” : If, on subsequent hearing, the NLRB finds the company ! not guilty, “we will suggest that you (the RFC) resume : disbursements,” its secretary wrote. If it finds the company ! guilty, “we will recommend that you continue to withhold : disbursements under the loan. We will of course keep you ¢ informed of any action of the courts which affect the Board : ruling in such cases.” se So an employer merely suspected by the NLRB of being unfair to labor—an employer against whom no formal charge has been filed, who ‘has had no hearing before the Board and, of course, no opportunity to appeal to the courts—can be indefinitely denied the use of money which another Government agency has previously agreed to lend. Such denial could mean ruin for a company which, relying upon a loan promised by the RFC, had undertaken a program of expansion. ! | La - Between them, it seems to us, the NLRB and the RFC have cooked up a scheme that comes pretty close to blackmail. The power they have assumed might be used : with great effectiveness to whip employers into line. But ; the law gives them no such power, and no set of bureaucrats * has the wisdom to use such power without abusing it.

SPEARS AGORA CL LARA AA ALC LARA RRL LARTER SBR.

‘need for amendments that will curb the Labor Board's propensity for making its own law. And the RFC seems to have been caught sucking the same sort of eggs.

EAA A

POLITICAL OUTRAGE

PHILADELPHIA'S ‘Republican city administration has > slapped a $1 “amusement permit” tax on the Demo“cratic Women’s Luncheon Club. od We don’t blame the Democratic women for being indignant. The very idea of taxing their luncheons as § “amusement”! Obviously, the Philadelphia city administration is obtaining money u e pretenses,

STAAL a

Price in Marion Coun-:

Once more, the House investigation has demonstrated

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler - oo SH Mp Hearst Had His Faults, but Comes Out Ahead of the Ingrates Who Selfishly Turned Against Him. NTEW YORK, Feb. 16.—It is worth nothing that % much of the hate-file on William Randolph

Hearst has been contributed by petty culprits who were no better men in any phase of morals or ethics

than Hearst himself, who were glad to take his money|

for doing his work, who never did possess a measurable fraction of his ability and who were so low in

the scale of those who served him that Hearst never|

even knew they lived. If Mr. Hearst was in dirty

ure, and he apparently never violated any principle of his own, but thoroughly believed in his methods.

“As much cannot be said for men who admit that they

prostituted their ‘trashy talents for more money than

they were worth in the regular market, and didn’t}

turn square until some minor executive down the line

1 got rid of them.

The saloons and left-wing alcoves are full of alco-

holic flops and discredited mediocrities who worked|

for Mr. Hearst as long as he would have them around. When Mr. Hearst was on his career he was essentially a journalist rather. than a businessman. He could write a piece and hunch a news campaign. He left his imprint on the journalism of this and other countries, particularly»England—a heel-print if you will. ss 8 = ; ’

Bu if it be said that he was an unprincipled rich| . man taking dangerous liberties, then it follows|

that he always found high-principled poor men to sell their principles for a few dirty dimes. He was one of the giants of his day, and in his early phase was regarded as a dangerous radical and, by many, as the poor man’s pal. He was, in his main traits, the Franklin D. Roosevelt of his time. : Any client of these essays who has read this far doubtless will wonder where and when the funeral is to be and how it happened. But this is not an obituary. I put Mr. Hearst in.the past tense because his era is over. My point in raising the subject is to gheck the good faith of a school of poseurs who say “Hearst” as they would utter the word “snake.” Blase liars, bar flies, loafers and expense account chiselers who served Hearst when he had it blandly incriminate themselves now in reminiscences of the hilarious excesses of Hearst journalism-—most of which, incidentally, are subject to a heavy discount. The fact is that Mr. Hearst was.a generous employer who was years ahead of Henry Ford. He raised wages not only of his star performers and the wholesale grocers whom he sometimes brought in as editors, but of the leg and desk men, too. : s = = .

HE has been accused of stinginess by men whose stratagems for avoiding their turns to buy are notorious wherever they are known, and phony Bohemians, who deserted their families, accuse Mr. Hearst of cruelty to the families of employees who ‘were let out abruptly, even though the men were fired for cause. t Men who never worked in the newspaper business or in Chicago at all repeat hearsay accounts of bloody raids of Hearst gorillas on innccent little Ragged Dans to make them sell more of his papers. I hustled papers on street cars and corners and never saw a stabbing or heard a shot, The Hearst drivers sold each kid as many papers as he thought he could peddle and were on their way, not sparing the horses, for papers, like pancakes, are no good cold. The anti-Hearst tradition would wear better if the witnesses did not include so many Hearst failures who have turned state’s evidence. .

Inside Indianapolis

No, We Don't Have 768 Police Cars!

We took up the matter of police equipment day before yesterday and we proceeded to tell you how the annual garage report for 1939 disclosed we had 768 police cars and 465 motorcycles; how the mileage on the cars averaged 8.3 cents a mile and $1.04 per mile on the motorcycles. . Chided from several sources, Inside Indianapolis delved into the little problem. We are therefore privileged to report today that the Police Department erred slightly in preparing its report for the Safety Board, Just a slight slip, mind you. They took the inonthly reports and then multiplied by 12. ' We got the report and that’s what it says. Honest! Leroy Keach, president of the Safety Board, who knows a little more about addition and subtraction, helped us figure it out. We have 64 police cars and 47 motorcycles. We had 40 last year. It cost us 1.7 cents per mile for our motorbikes and just a fraction over 3 cents to operate the police cars. We suppose Chief Morrissey was just a mite hasty in saying that the 8.3 cents a mile was Because of our “antiquated equipment.” ; Anyway, Mr. Keach told the Police Garage not to worry any more. He said he had all the information he needed. Our guess is he’s scared. ” ” ” Li THE INDIANA STATE Employment Service got a request the other day for a clerk in a stock broker’s office. So they sent over a likely looking lad. The lad, figuratively rubbing his hands and counting his first week’s pay, stopped in on the Circle for a drink at a sods fountain and gleefully told the soda jerker about his good fortune. It might have been, too, if .the soda jerker hadn’t been an ex-stock broker’s clerk. He walked down to the end 3 ye counter, took off his apron, left—and got the Job. : : 8 2 ® PROSECUTOR DAVID LEWIS has been boasting for a long time now about his phenomenal sight. . oo Well, with Judges Louis Weiland and Henry Goett, Mr. Lewis took up badminton at the I. A. C. .« . « His aim was so poor, ye Prosecutor went to an oculist and he’s now sporting glasses. . . . Judge Russell Ryan’s getting in trim, too. . . . He sits on the bench with gone hand at his side, squeezing a handspring. . . . Elvan Tarkington’s comely daughtersecretary is dazzling Airport attaches with a beautiful ring, . « . Miss Jeannette has chosen Burford Danner.

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson Jol

ma to military experts always gives me a i They're so statistical, knowing and gondescending to the opposition. Even the renowned Maj. George Fielding Eliét, fine as he was, left me with frustrated feelings. It takes me such a time to realize again that although the subject under discussion is war, we are talking about itwo different things. Military experts, quite rightly, think of it in terms of a contest in which our side must be prepared to win, whereas I am thinking of war as a destructive force which must itself be destroyed. 1 : Military experts are necessary to national welfare, and far more so these days than the peace lovers, I suppose, although that point might be argued. But one and all they let slip some mighty queer logic. ‘Maj. Eliot was no exception. Explaining the reasons for present Army and /Navy appropriations, in a buildup not for aggressive foreign wars but purely for defense, he said that we had allowed our military forces to get shamefully down at heel in the last 15 years, and that it had been a great mistake. : It had been the custom, the major continued, for the Army and Navy heads to ask for more money

than they actualy needed. They went on the theory]

that Congress would lop something off their budget and by making excessive demands they could always get plenty. : This is not being done now, however, he said. Present requests are within reason and taxpayers ought to be glad to meet them. = Maj. Eliot

the suggestion that something might be done to curb activities of international armament manufacturing groups. “Human nature being what it is, we will have a a , ul or, human na what it is, we not also assume tha i oh

business he was a big| operator and a success, not a paltry punk and a fail-}.

Only If You Multiply by Twelves.|

also dismisses with a snap of his fingers}

INDIANAPOLIS TIMES __

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~~ The Hoosier Forum 1 wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.

APPLAUDS NEW DEAL, FAVORS THIRD TERM

By Times Reader, Bloomington, Ind.

I have read so much in The Times|

and heard so much over the radio

running down the New Deal that I} want to send my word of praise for|

the ‘New Deal. I think it is 100 per

. cent right, and I think President

Roosevelt should run for a third term... The people should give- him a third term in reward for what he has done for them. I say “on with the New Deal.” aie a : 3 8 #8 = SAYS RANK AND FILE FAVORS ROOSEVELT By Observer Bruce Catton claims that the demand for a third term for Roosevelt comes chiefly from two sources, the

big state party bosses and the inner circle: of New Dealers. He's. overlooked & third important group—the rank and file of liberals and those ‘who work for a living. (Incidentally, how about that recent survey of Fortune magazine showing F. D. R. would receive more votes for President than three other leading ‘Democrats and four leading Republicans combined?) < Sure, Roosevelt’s made some mis-takes-—some - dumb ones. But we know he’s on the right track and what tb expect ‘of him. We also know what we might expect under a Republican with the Union Leaguers taking over control. We're through with that Hoover stuff. And we're entirely skeptical about what we would get under some Demos cratic politicians and their portly henchmen. And we don’t want some elderly man in his 70s taking over the job of running this country—not right now, anyway.

8 = 2 QUESTIONS MOTIVES IN URGING AID TO FINLAND By L. B. Hetrick, Elwood, Ind.

Your editorials for some time now have a tendency to prepare the minds of the American people to being deceived again into assisting certain private financial and industrial interests to protect their interests in foreign countries. It is still fresh in our minds. . . what we got out of the other war, for protecting private interests here and yonder under the pretext of

(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.)

making the world safe for democracy. oe . What we got was a lot of returned soldiers ruined in body and mind; robbed of about everything we had through the influence of the same financial imperialists; and a depression that wrecked homes that took a lifetime to build up... . .. Yet you come around in your editorials boosting a hidden motive under the pretext of charity to Finland when you know back of it all is the same interests we sacrificed our all. for before. Our own big international financial and industrial lords, in league with English and French imperialists, bled the people here to save their interests yonder. sue. : 8 8 DENIES MACHINES : HAVE RUINED COUNTRY By Thankful American It would ‘be interesting to know en what facts Mr. R. S. bases his declaration that manufacturers and

machines sare ‘th ruination of our country. It is certainly not based on any knowledge of basic economic functions. aq : Consider the length of the working day 50 years ago and the types of work that had to be done as compared with today. Was there not a great deal more physical energy expended? And then consider what was produced by this labor—and how much, and of what quality. Can it compare with what we produce today? : ; Wealth is really not the pennies and dollars we carry in our pockets.

It is the land, the buildings, the}

furniture, the automobiles, the radios, refrigerators and clothing we can use to make life a little less uncomfortable or trying. Wealth also lies in knowledge—the ability to combat disease, to master the air and the water, to grow successful crops on the desert. And the

in these

Side Glances—By Galbraith e

United States is the wealthiest country in the world today—and the most highly industrialized!

we turn out all this wealth with our bare hands? It would be such slow work? With a machine to help us, we can prouuce 2 great deal more of our product and trade it off for a great deal more of what our fellow men are making with their machines than we could if we worked bare handed. We are producing more wealth and obtaining more wealth, in other words. ' Do you ob ject to this? . The machine is your friend. 2 ” 8 CLAIMS DIFFICULTY IN GETTING BACK ON WPA | By W. P. 8., Linton, Ind. : When the appropriation for WPA was debated in the last session of Congress, a great deal was made of the fact that WPA would encourage its workers to accept temporary private employment and then be rehired at its termination. This looked good to WPA workers and many found private employment. But when they applied for their jobs back on the works program, they found the WPA setup dead set against them. Not all of them,

_|but some. They were denied their

jobs back on myriads of technicalities invented by the WPA officialdom' to fit any case to which they desired to deny a job . ... I am a victim of this injustice and delay that has become just as integral a part of the WPA as its red tape and overbearing bureaucracy. So how can WPA expect its workers to accept private employment if it denies them jobs when their work is completed? Here is one phase of the program that WPA officials can’t blame on the project Sponsors.

ss % = FAVORS ARMISTICE TO DISCUSS PEACE

By E. R. Egan be an.armistice to consider peace

a-world blessing—a just peace. Any nation looking for a peace of conquest, an enslavement of other nations, or a peace’ which would be an interlude before another war,

to world stability or any kind of peace. nl There are adjustments in the interest of commercial development which are desirable from any point of view. They do not include the confiscation of the wealth and natural resources of other nations, no matter how their more powerful nation-neighbors may regard the necessity of such settlements. It may have occurred to even the most naive militarist that commerce upon which civilization lives today is not promoted by the inevitable disturbances and maladjustments of

war. Let us by all means have peace which means a just and lasting peace, which necessarily will be a practical and just peace.

A MAGIC CIRCLET By OLIVE INEZ DOWNING

The. wedding ring, a sacred band, That's placed upnan a well-loved hand, Speaks of love and faithful vows, The kind that deepest trust endows.

Sometimes a signet made of gold,

-—

On silver band—each signifies, ‘Eternal love that never dies,

‘| 7ts band true happiness can bring.

This ‘ small, enticing wedding ring,

“| Whether plain or gem impearled, ‘| It has the power to move the world.

DAILY THOUGHT ‘For in the multitude of dreams words there are also

| |: divers vanities; but fear thou God. |

. Z o8e

: Says—

For after all, Mr. R. S., how could p

"a thorough overhauling by Congress. .

- their own bosses.

A sure approach fo peace would |

proposals which would certainly be| J *. | hulls, armor plate and so on. 'Another—Engineer"ing—is responsible for propulsion machinery. A third

is not likely to contribute anything

of protection against

Or orange blossoms clearly scrolled |

FRIDAY, FEB. 16, 1940

Johnson

Joe Kennedy Doing a-Good Job, But Is Making Us Unhappy by His Claims to Such Great Sacrifices.

EW YORK, Feb. 16.—The poignant sadness of Ambassador Kennedy's stately refusal of the kingly crown at the hands of some nameless some body or other in Massachusetts would bring tears to the eyes of a brass monkey. “Appreciating as I must, ‘the great honor implied in this step, nevertheless I must with pesitiveness state that I am not a candidate. . . . important Government post . . . involves matters so precious to the American people . . . no private considerations should permit my energies to be diverted. ‘To my numerous friends who have been anxious to submit my name . . . consideration of public duty compels me to decline . . .” a, Take Greatheart away—he is breaking our hearts. Why should London hog all this talent when our own need may be even greater? em

FPHIS news from Massachusetts doesn’t fit with Ad reports that Chairman Burke has promised the Massachusetts delegation to Mr, Farley. ‘Arthur Krock writes that even the naming of Mr. Farley is a fast ‘one and that genial Jim is just a stooge ia hold those delegates until Mr. Roosevelt says “hand ‘em over.” But Mr. Farley has sent this writer word that Mr. Krock is wrong, that Mr. Farley wants and has been promised those delegates for his own self and ekpects to keep thém—barring a draft stampede for F D. R. Who then are the “numerous” and “anxious” friends who have been so pestering Mr. Kennedy. with temptations from the rocky path of patriotic duty? This isn’t the first time recently that my heart has bled for Mr. Kennedy. Mr. Boake Carter had a column the other day outlining in a detail that could have come only from the original sources, the terrific personal expense to which Joseph has been put as Ambassador—$200,000 “in the first 12 months . . . it is nonsense,” writes Mr. Carter, “tp retort, ‘oh he can afford it’ . . . very few men can afford to spend at that rate since they are barred by oath from doing anything to make money or guard their own fortunes while occupying public office. . '. « United States representatives will continue to be for the ‘most part social ornaments and will be taken ‘over the ropes’ by suave foreign governments . . . sO long as Congress decrees that only rich men can fill these posts.” 8s 8 8 im h WOULD like to see the words of the oath that bars ‘1 men in public office from making any money or guarding their own fortunes. Of course, there is mo such oath or any such law. I As I recall the facts, Mr. Kennedy is not only doing very well financially, but doing it in a business owned or controlled by himself or family to which. his job in London is no handicap whatever. The Somerset Imports, Ltd., is, or until recently was, largely: Mr. Kennedy's in title or in trust... That is the company which the canny Kennedy, foreseeing the. end of prohibition. used to make a small fortune importing Haig and Haig Scotch whisky, Gordon’s gin and. perhaps other spirituous liquors. ET br ds In view of the many restrictions, licenses. required and transporting and importing troubles of this troubled age, it certainly hurts no company operating in England to have an American Ambassador for a

apa. ds ; : Fhe Honorable Joseph P. is undoubtedly one of our pest foreign representatives, but we could wish ‘he would stop wringing our hearts with these sacrifices and ggnunciations. i risk WE Na

TASHINGTON, Feb. 16.—The whole argument W over the basic organization of the U. S. Navy— the system which is blamed for those much writtenof “top-heavy destroyers” and so on—is about fo get

A special sub-committee of the~House Naval Affairs Committee is beginning hearings on two plans for navy reorganization—one submitted by Congress= man Vinson of Georgia, chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee, the other by Congressman. Maas of Minnesota, the ranking Republican. on the. committee. : : goa ti andes "These bills differ widely in details, but both are aimed at the same defect—a system under. which the navy lacks a central professional ‘authority and does its work through a set of almost completely independent bureaus.. Chdinkme AR As things stand now, the navy actually has no one military head. The chief of naval operations is the highest ranking officer, but he is only in charge of the operation of the fleet. ‘and the preparation of war planes. The nine bureaus through which the navy’s routine work is done.are not responsible to him at all ] Each one is headed by a rear admiral who is named by the President; each bureau has its own appropriation. : i ong “The bureaus, accordingly, are to a great extent The Secretary of the Navy has authority over. them, but when there is a conflict ‘between two bureaus he is apt to get saddled with an intricate technical problem he is not qualified to decide. : : Benim ’ 82.8 8B fe tL LES

F.D.R. Tried It Once Li

Out of all of this, according to com ster ofitics,

come such things as the top-heavy destroyers: (Those :

destroyers aren't really top-heavy, by the way, ‘in the sense that they're unsafe seaboats) ~~ . = ° '¢ One bureau—Construction and Repair—designs

~—Ordinance—is responsible for armaments. © “i Navy Secretary Edison has been striving to set things right. He has made some shifts in personnel, and has designated the chief of the Buréan of ‘Construction and Repair as co-ordinating officer. Changing the navy’s organization is a tough. job. Back in 1914 an Assistant Secretary of the. Navy named Franklin Roosevelt was named head of a committee to study the system and recommend img, provements. Fi 2 Rn ed x

The committee worked hard and made Tecommendations, but nothing came of it. ~~. .[ “ur

Watch Your Health By Jane Stafford i

EASLES is such a common disease’ that many people are prone to consider it unimportant. This is unfortunate, because, while:common, it is also dangerous. Nearly everyone gefs measles ‘sooner or later, but the younger the person attacked, the greater

| the danger. Killing complications, usually pneumonia,

are especially likely to develop when children under three years of age get measles. Jar haig a Fortunately, there is now a very effective means measles. This is convalescent serum, that is, serum from the blood of a person who has just recovered from measles. If no convalescent serum is available when measles first breaks out in & community, whole blood or serum from someone who has had measles some time ago may be used, though more of it is necessary. hry hy EE SEE “If these substances are injected into a child who has been in contact with a case of measles, within the first four or five days aftersuch exposure, the attack is very likely to be averted,” declares. orities of the U. S. Public Health Service, “Even

what later it makes the attack much lighter anid less dangerous.” Sh ibd mL

Either one ot these ser 5 48 to. b physician, ul! a child | g S , pused to it, the family doctor should sulted yet no 1

li 5