Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 February 1940 — Page 8

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Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1940

IF. DEMOCRATS WERE SMART A N unusual and important campaign document was issued today by the Republican National Committee. - Offered as “a program for a dynamic America,” it is the result of two years’ work by a group of 200 party members, headed by Dr. Glenn Frank. : The Frank committee takes pains to say that it has not attempted to write the Republican platform for 1940. But its report probably is, in many respects, a platform preview. Its observations and suggestions, covering the whole range of national and international policies, will be widely discussed between now and June 24 and doubtless will have great influence on the platform-builders of the national convention at Philadelphia. >: In one way the Republicans might be running a risk— the risk that the Democrats will be smart enough to study this report and then, in the months before the conventions meet, carry out as Democratic policies some of the changes suggested by the Frank committee as Republican policies. As to labor, for instance. The Wagner Act, as the Frank committee points out, “was conceived and has been administered in the spirit of industrial warfare instead of ‘the spirit of orderly and peaceful procedure between labor and management . . , it has, in effect, built a wall between employers and employees.”

So the Republican committee advocates that labor's right be more firmly and fairly guaranteed by a thorough overhauling of the Labor Board and a revision of the Wagner Act. ; : The Democrats still have time to do these things. They are still running the Government, with huge majorities in Congress. They know the faults. of the Wagner Act and the Labor Board. For the good of labor, and of the country they should act now to correct these faults. : :

But that would require more smartness than the Democrats have been showing lately. The Frank committee has some excellent suggestions on other issues, as well as on labor, but the Republicans seem to feel—and they have reason to feel—that there’s no great danger of the Democrats beating them to the punches they are signalling by putting out the committee’s report at this time. :

ACTION OFF NORWAY

F the Berlin newspapers are to be believed (a piquant notion, that), then Great Britain has committed in the icy waters of neutral Norway a dastardly, illegal, uncivilized, cowardly and “swinish” act. LL ar Germany is not impressive in the miscast role of pious plaintiff against a breach of international law. Her low regard for her own word of honor is axiomatic. Her attitude toward neutral rights is guided not by law but by convenience. : yo That does not excuse lawbreaking by the British. But several circumstances of the Altmark incident tend to justify Friday’s coup on moral if not technical grounds. - The Altmark was certainly no merchantman. She was a naval auxiliary, a supply and prison ship for the late pocket battleship Graf Spee. She carried four machine guns and two anti-aircraft “pom-poms.” She had 326 prisoners taken by the Spee from British cargo ships. She had denied to Norwegian authorities that prisoners were aboard, and Norway's “search” of her was a farge. So the British Admiralty, with typical Winston Churchill resolution, ordered its warships to enter Norwegian waters and free-the British prisoners. The order was executed with a skill and Horatio Hornblower himself. rl Germany screams: bloody murder, and promises dire reprisals. But what would Germany have done if her own warships had trapped a British vessel full of captured. Germans and using neutral waters on a perjured pretense?

What do you think?

“BUT THEY ALWAYS HAVE NEW MEN” “THE Russians are falling by tens of thousands. But they always have new men.” There in 14 words a Finnish army spokesman tells why his countrymen, despite skill and bravery, must lose unless given quick help. It is obvious now that no help can be expected from the United States, save in gifts of money for relief, Government credits for non-military purchases, the limited waiving of U. S. Army priorities in airplane orders, and a steady trickle of cash donations to the Finnish legation. in: Washington. Say The job is up to the Allies. Both France and England are admittedly helping Finland, but the repeated pleas of Finnish statesmen for more outside assistance indicate that the Allied aid is far short of adequate. Large-scale assistance may be on the way right now; the departure of troops and planes would hardly be advertised. But if the Allies are offering only driblets of munitions and men, the Mannetheim Line will have to wilt completely. Even if Russian losses are 4 to 1, or more, compared with the Finnish casualties, the thin white line ~ of Finland’s manpower cannot last forever. i The struggle in the Karelian peninsula emphasizes, one important military fact: A modern defensive position cannot be stormed except with infinitely superior forces. If the predicted spring offensive by Germany actually materializes, it seems increasingly likely that it will not take the form of a frontal assault on the Maginot Line.

JUST AS WELL FRANCIS H. LUPTON, a radio engineer of Klerksdorp, South Africa, believes he knows how to communicate with Mars, but has decided to postpone the attempt until 1954. He says he needs a transmitter a million times more powerful than he can get now. We shall try to wait patiently, hoping against hope

‘kind of administration over the affairs of labor with a

lInside Indianapolis

: dispatch worthy of Capt.

A Woman's Viewpoint

88 sunshine. * From the time when th : ‘shavers we'd be doing rn

that by. 1954 Mr. Lupton can describe what's going on, in dl. V2dU ithout sc: i i into a J ie

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

Even Government: Should Not Have. Power A. F. of L. Exercises Over Fundamental Rights of Workmen.

EW YORK, Feb. 19—Can yoll imagine what would happen to a Nationdl Government which undertook to limit the number of citizens who might become carpenters, truck drivers or bricklayers, year by year, which extorted a high license, or initiation fee, from the lucky few, and, on top of that, flagrantly permitted thieving bureaucrats to sell "special temporary work-permits on the side as a private racket? : 1 Can you imagine a Government which would dare to issue to notorious hoodlums charters of privilege permitting them to acquire an .income-taxing and job-selling authority over hundreds of thousands of small citizens and then washed its hands of responsibility for the extortion and persecutions, including killings and vandalism, committed by the criminals thus empowered? “pA The American Federation of Labor represents this

capital L, and still claims total immunity from any interference with corrupt and oppressive conduct by the courts of the United States or of the several states.

® = 2

national body claims a total membership of 4,250,000 members, which would mean paid up members, because delinquents are not counted, and, incidentally, are not allowed to work, except if they pay private graft to individual racketeers holding the extortion privilege. The average dues from each member would be not less thal} $25 a year, and this would mean that these working people pay $106,250,000 every year in dues alone, to say nothing of assessments, initiation fees and permit fees. ie . x The national body gets a small cut off the top of that enormous lug, the international unions, some of which are absolutely controlled by criminals with records, take a deeper cut, and the rest of the money is used for God knows what by God knows whony

It is true that some few big showcase uniolf” ad-| -

minister their affairs with at least a pretense ¢f efficiency and accountancy, but millions of dollars just disappear and the members get no insurance, unemployment benefits or any other return, and are reasonably sure to be kicked out and thus barred from their occupations if they ask too many questions.

” ” ” :

T the present moment the national body is prosecuting a case in San Francisco, not in the public courts but in its privdte courts, in which a local leader has been suspended on the ground that he. dared to reveal the fact that the international president once served a prison term as a mackerel. Other grounds are cited, but, nevertheless, the al body .of the| American Federation of Labor is upholding the contention that an American citizen must not tell the

truth about a racketeer who has mzscled into con-|

trol of a union under penalty of economic death. . In another case the A. F. of L. threw out some union members for petitioning the United Slates Congress. "The American Federation of Labor in some respects is so rotten that the bosses are afraid even to permit discussion of reform in the councils of the or-

ganization. Reform would blast too many of the boss |.

politicians . out of their own fat jobs and their rich perquisites. SiGe” ie : The men in control abuse their powers to the great detriment of the members, the nation and the fundamental rights of all Americans. Nobody, not even the United States Government, deserves the powers that are claimed by the A. F. of L. Pee 0 :

Party's Over for the Fast Boys for The Cycle Cops Are at It Again.

HE motorcycle police were ouf in force over the A week-end forthe first time since late in December: And 66- motorists were pinched. Which means that the party is over for those 50-mile-an-hour drivers. You know, the ‘folks who use, the big thoroughfares as speedways. a If you noticed one or two black cycles and wondered why the departure from the customary white, it was simply one of 13 new bikes. Truth is, the black ones are still equipped with governors and one of the police who took one out expressed the pious hope that he wouldn't see anything he had to chase. The ice and snow, by the way, has left some of our asphalt streets in pretty bad shape. You can’t even drive on some of them without busting your springs or tires. The cold spell was so had that the street repair department is 'way behind. ” 8 o

ODIS A. PORTER, the famous chief timer, will be badly missed at the Speedway. Odie Porter was one of the kindest and gentlest of men. To petty martinets, he could be brusque and gruff. To urchins and normal human beings, he was courteous, solicitous: and accommodating. : die had timed the greatest automobile, airplane and motorboat racing contests. He had no pride of his own, but he was inordinately proud of his equipment. His favorite story concerned the first American visit of Maj. H. O. D. Segrave, the Briton: who attempted to set a new world’s record at Daytona. Segrave made his first run and Odie calmly announced the speed as he crossed the measured mile. Segrave heard it when he stopped. He got into an auto and drove back to the timing stand. He inquired ‘politely how Odie knew the speed. Odie pointed to his timing device. A bewildered expression crossed Segrave’s face. : “You know,” he said finally; “I have to wait four or five days in England.” FUE ee Ang : Riv gig Al | THE COMMUNITY FUND is a year-round: job to Perry Lesh, first vice president. . . . He works at it, week in, week out. . . . George Saas, the Gas Utility's public relations gentleman, is still having trouble with his voice. . . . If you've been puzzled by the out-and-in Texaco business at Kentucky Ave. and Capitol, here's the story: Indian Refining (the Texaco people) had the. lease, as we get it. and dropped it Feb. 1... . In moved the Anthony Wayne Parking Co. of Pt. Wayne. .. . And they handle Indian Refining products. i ox

\

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

ot

HE saddest fact of life for many of us is that|

being good doesn’t make a woman interesting. She may wear virtue as a garment and still be as dull

and prosy as a copybook maxim—so dull and prosy|. indeed that we want to run the other, way when we]. .

see her coming. he It is painful but true that most personality ladies of history were not ladies in the strict Victorian sense of the word. On the contrary, “thei, behavior, was a bit raffish and:often. not too.

3 gs

INDIANA /

Who's Been

2,

Feeding T

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

HAS KIND WORD FOR DOWNTOWN PIGEONS By Robert Taylor . : - Two peeves: Those people who clamor for- the removal of downtown pigeons are the same persons who will visit Rome's St. Peter's square and forever after go into ecstasies’ about the pigeons picturesque ‘European cities. They are, also, the same persons who are

perpetually horrified at the drab]

commercialization and lack of color in our Midwestern cities. Why doesn’t. ‘someoné give these people real causes for which to clamor— smoke abatement, for example? The Mayor, quick to pounce on pigeons, has been reticent with smoke violators. - ; I notice that the new Harrison Memorial will be established on the far North Side as a park. Why does everything go up there, making the city more and more lopsided? It is three miles from the Circle to the city limits on South Meridian St.; seven miles on N. Meridian St. Put the Harrison Memorial on the South Side (or the West Side) and distribute Indianapolis’ beauty, so that everyone, no matter where they enter or leave the city, will see some of it. eT

» s = OFFERS SUGGESTIONS TO DIES COMMITTEE By L. B. Hetrick, Elwood, Ind. + «+ « o The Dies Committee has started something and I think I can help. catch the malefactors. - If communism - and- socialism mean dividing up, the woods are full of Communists and Socialists. ‘Wall ‘Street financiers are the head with numerous tentacles extending far and wide, controlling

the inlet and outlet to every farm|,_

and home in America, forcing the people -to divide up whenever they buy or sell until ‘millions’ of people have little or no purchasing power with ‘which to buy. This in turn forces a shut-down in production because the distributing agencies can’t sell the product of labor. to paupers who can’t pay and are down because they had to. divide up with these money changers. . ... And the merchant can’t sell to the pauper until the Government borrows from the money changers,

in|

(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.) .

gives it ‘to the pauper so he can buy and -pay. . It’s the only way under the present financial system. And as”it reconcentrates through the avenues of interest, rent .and profits, it must be borrowed ‘out again, rn .0 Ele "We should not blame the President or Congress for the big indebtedness. The. capitalist system, which includes’ private control of money credit, provides no other way. . . « Even flat money finds its way back . into ‘concentration and there it stays until borrowed again. It doesn’t make any difference how much the public owes the big financiers and industrial lords because they get all the people produce anyway. It is to their interest to -thus stock-feed us so we won't jump the fence into better pastures. wn iu At THINKS OUR IDEALS “GONE WITH THE WIND”

It has been well said ‘that a

- | books they read and | enjoy.

| We are in for along stretch of

standards may be judged by the the plays they

“What then can be said of a nation whose ' “best seller” is a book that fails to portray one worthwhile

thought; a book which :-makes a heroine of an immoral hussy and holds her up ‘as an example of “charming” ‘Southern ‘womanhood? The ideals on which our country were founded have indeed with the wind” and: we are sure to reap the whirlwind. ~~. prod Ct 8.8 La Sait : FORECASTS LONG PERIOD OF ECONOMIC CHAOS. By. Earache, Anderson, Ind,

uncertainty and © chaos. Europe's economic war will not end until nearly all of the little countries over there are gobbled up. Germany will absorb all of the Balkans and part of Russia. France will extend over Belgium and Holland. England will control the northern peninsular countries to an including Finland. Italy and Yugoslavia and Spain will form a sort of federation. Red Russia and Bolshevism will be stopped at a point where Asiatic influence is felt the most. Barter will become the system of trade, and regardless of what Hull and Vandenberg say we cannot maintain our high standard of living except by cash (and .we have all the cash). If that isn’t uncertainty and chaos, I'll eat my old free silver hat.

By Reader people's * intellectual and moral

New Books at the Library

Orisit? |

“xy EAD Macy's Advertising! Rela port - Errors! Win Cash Prizes!” This sign caught the eye and arrested the interest of .aistelle Hamburger as she left Macy's Department Store.at the end of her first day’s work. ‘On the way home she invested in all the evening papers and ‘devoured every word of the Macy ads. This was her first glimpse into the new world, and one still unexplored, of advertising. When her job as a temporary ‘stenographer was finished in the

Side Glances—By Galbraith

of. the, lilting-| |

But they had something to sell besides thelr fa J

beauty--make no mistake about that. They possessed

the sort of sparkle that goes with champagne, and| “o

were as blithesome as the bubbles which rise in it. As we glance around among certain good women who lack such sparkle, it can be quickly sensed that

our most urgent need at the moment is a truce be-|

tween yesterday’s ideals and today’s behavior. As|

rare exceptions prove, it is possible for a’ woman to}

be both gay and good, even though many seem not to have found it out yet. :

There are those who make virtue so drab it’s no ;

wonder the girls view the state with suspicion, probably asking themselves what it is about fine ED that causes their advocates to be so grimfaced. And

far too many worthy people do assume the sad ‘pose. |

That fact is self-evident. They may have aspirations to martyrdom, or at least they look it, yet how much better it would be both for them and their cause if

they laughed oftener and lived as though heir good- | .

ness were a pleasure instead of a pain.

Sometimes one is obliged to doubt the sincerity of |.

their attitude since they go about dressed, so to speak in sackcloth and ashes, spreading alarms ie gloom and seeing nothing ahead but woe. | To say the least, it's a bad advertisement for their way of life because virtue, when real, is as :

them a t fi ea Pont hen data r

‘ 2-18

supposed fo eneral

a ‘a oy ¥

[che still had time to take care of

_| the business world after her sons ‘| were born? Bécause, she says, she

-ality: and J with words singing in the mind. .| Competition -was

1 .|were high for the des | ion adyertising had. come of age

| FEBRUARY SHINES | February shines through cloud and

2 In the great trees shining

‘| /And the glittering brigh "| In the nieteor in its fligh

store, she dared to ask for eziployment in their. so<called advertising department and was rewarded with

the task of being one of their two copywriters. “It’s a Woman's susiness” (Vanguard , Press), Estelle 4lamburger’s story of her hard earned success in advertising, is a story “brisk, confident, lively and interesting, candid, too, in its enthusiasms and its dislikes.” She writes of the various experiences that she faced from the time of -her first job as a copywriter in 1916 until 25 years later when she became the executive vice president of Jay Thorpe’s, Inc., in New Yors City. And in spite of this struggle

another full-time job, that of a wife and the mother of twin sons. . Why did she continue to stay in

found it exciting, she liked the sense of doing, of creating, of striving and achieving; she liked the independence of earning money, the freedom and power it gave-to do things for those who were dear to her. And because “fashion was a woman’s business,” because it “spoke to women with a woman’s voice; it offered a career to those with. crigini imagination, with eyes that saw and ears ‘that listened, stiff, but rewards deserving. Fash-

By MARY P. DENNY

Through the shades of amethyst. Shines in frosted evergreen Ly

February shines in drifted snow In the snow-swept light of old. In the ice of frozen lake t snow flake. shines in Wiconlle night.

“DAILY. TI wrath killeth the “foolish -

For: J man, and envy slayeth the silly or ~—Job : h a

$5 i

character or ‘utter . one uplifting]

“gone :

ye TT These patients on the verge of pellagra OUGHT | e labeled neuroti

MONDAY, ron. 9, 1940 Gen. Johnson.

Says—

He Doubts Accuracy of Poll Which Indicates 75 Per Cent of Our Peoplg - Favor an Embargo Against Japan. : ASHINGTON, Feb. 19.—In spite of their con« . ductors spirited defense of them, ‘I still. don’t

like Gallup polls except on well recognized issues'such * as—"“Are you going to vote for Mr. Roosevelt or Sei«

ator Taft?” ;

Take the most recent one, which Dr. Gallup says is significant insofar as it indicates among other things, the general tendency of sentiment at the moment to 3 favor “advocates rather than the opponents of & Japanese embargo.” Referring to other studies by his Institute of Public Opinion, Dr. Gallup says, “by last year boycott sentiment had grown to the point where two-thirds of the voters were in favor of a movement to stop buying Japanese goods.” ; ne ‘Now, obviously, the latter statement is absurd. Dr, . Gallup’s sampling of opinion may indicate trends, hut

it certainly does not warrant him in saying that “two=

thirds of the voters” want to stop buying from Japan—any more than he is now justified in intimating that the present general tendency is for an embargo denying the right to any American to sell anything to Japan. 2 ! ” ” »

understand these polls accurately, it is necessary to examine the phrasing of the questions they: ask. In this latest study of public opinion on: the “embargo,” the question asked was: “Do you think our Government should forbid the sale of arms, airplanes,’ gasoline and other war materials to Japan?” yl What are “war materials?” It is a highly technical question which few laymen could answer. AS the question is phrased (omitting “gasoline,” which is in a doubtful category), it asks if we should -cease to sell “arms, airplanes and other war materials?” In ordinary rules of construction “other war materials” would. mean when thus connected, explosives, shells," guns, tanks or, in other words, “direct” war materials’ or “lethal” weapons. : If that is a correct interpretation of the question, it is highly misleading for a poll. We are not selling . Japan any direct war materials, There is no law preventing it, but our Government has none. the less. effectively “forbidden” it through a so-called “moral” embargo. HE : The vice in this form of question is that if the. person questioned thinks we ought not to sell. weapons and are doing so, he is fooled by its form into an answer which Dr. Gallup has interpreted to mean that he favors an embargo—a very different matter.

» = s Bie

: oO" that point, Japan is our third or fourth biggest

customer both in imports and exports, Wé can ill afford to drop such an important customer. We have recently sold increasing amounts of scrap . metal and petroleum: products to Japan. Cotton is indirectly and in small quantities used in explosives. Scrap metal is a more important ingredient of muni-~ tions, but it is also used for other things and so also is petroleum, but only high octane gasoline is much used in airplanes. To cut off ‘all these exports without discrimination as to their use for war would be an act of - economic lunacy. To embroil ourselves unnecessarily in the Far East would be military and naval as well as economic lunacy. If the American people polled aré given the facts, or even a fair statement of the issue, it is safe bet that no 75 per cent of them: will vote for an embargo against Japan. ¢

Aviation litters By Bruce Catton Ln AE Air Industry Fears Move for U. S. Plant Seeking Yardstick on Costs.

TASHINGTON, Feb. 19.—The tremendous warboom expansion of the aviation industry .is producing its share of headaches. { : Geared up suddenly to produce 15,000 military airplanes in the next 18 months, as well as substantial - non-military production, the industry worries about things like this: 1. The Administration has let out public hints of a bad “bottleneck” in engine production. Producers say there’s no such thing. They wonder if the Administration isn’t just working up support for a bill . like one Senator Lister Hill of Alabama introduced" last spring, for a plant to provide a yardstick of pro-: duction cost in peace-time; and capable of vast expan sion in war-time. 2. Today’s vest expansion might leave the industry - face-to-face with a bad collapse when the war ends. That happened after the World War, It will be necessary to hold export markets developed in 91 countries, and in the meantime the British, though .buying : planes from us, have not stopped - exporting their

own. They, too, evidently have an eye on that after=

the-war market. : : ; isn

Skeptical of Welles’ Tour

The peace societies are reserving comment -on President Roosevelt’s'peace move until they see what it really adds up to. Cra en : Over a month ago, some of them got word that he was seriously considering an offer of mediation to end the war. When Secretary Hull began talking

_peace With neutral statesmen, the peace groups be- ;

lieved this was a good start. Then came Sumner Welles’ trip abroad for talks with the belligerents. This’ made the peace people a bit skeptical. Some fear that this could turn out to be an attempt to get a “British peace.” ; ” » ” :

Building Drive Cuts Costs

Dollars-and-cents results of the Justice Depait-. ment’s drive against high building costs are beginning to show up in statistics. ; Figures compiled by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board show a drop in building costs in six out of 10 cities investigated. The price of building a standard six-room house, comparing last-quarter figures for1939 with the same period figures for 1938, fell $49 in Chicago, $230 in Detroit, $166 in Los Angeles, $11 in Pittsburgh, $68 in San Francisco and $115 in the District of Columbia. wl co’

These figures aren't conclusiv

e—especially | the price went up in the other four cities. Justice

officials say they should be read in connection with (a) the fact that the. U. S. average price went up silghtly in that year, and (b) the fact that construction activity increased. ~~ By r

Watch Your Health :

‘By Jane Stafford

LL over the land fond mammas are urging Junior

4 A to eat his vegetablés and drink his milk “so he

will grow strong and big like Daddy.” A The mammas. and papas should know that they themselves also need to eat vitamin-containing foods such as fresh vege-. tables, milk, eggs and fresh meat, to maintain their owh strength and to protect their morale. ful Manly courage may fail and feminine poise be shattered when the diet lacks certain ‘chemicals formerly called vitamin B, scientists have recently ‘discovered. They found this out from studying a group of pellagra patients. Pellagra is a very serious ailment that used to send many a victim to the in« sane asylum, before its cure and prevention were found in proper diet or doses of the vitamin-cheme ical, nicotinic acid. 4 Long béfore pellagra sets in, its approach is her-

alded by certain tell-tale nervous symptoms: Pidgeti- || ness, oversensitiveness to odors, fatigue, sleeplessness,

headaches. More serious is the ch in personality. A brawny coal miner who used to in prize fights complained of being “scared to death” and was sure he would “pass out” if he saw men fighting with

their fists. ae

2d neurotic, or said to

ight be

be suffering from nervous

doses of the pellagra