Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 March 1940 — Page 22

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‘he Indianapolis Times | (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

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THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 1940

WAITING, WAITING

NOTE to Secretary Morgenthau on a pending income

tax matter: When are you going to drop that other shoe?

ITALY’S COAL : N the surface, it looks as if England is taking an awful risk in putting the screws on coal-hungry ‘Italy. If the detention by England of Italian colliers, homeward bound with German coal loaded in Holland, were to reinvigorate the rusty fellowship of the Axis and throw Mussolini into the war alongside Hitler, there is no telling what might happen. ~ Italy’s naval and air strength, her strategically situated bases in the central and eastern Mediterranean, would be a real embarrassment to the Allies if thrown into the war. They might even be a decisive factor. But there may be a lot of hidden-ball stuff here. It is unlikely that Italy will go to war over the single issue of the coal seizures. She will go to war when and if Mussolini thinks he has picked the winning side and sees the chance of a lifetime to make a quick territorial profit.

“Italy. must Nave coal in order to live. But she. can get |

coal from other places than Germany. England's mines need orders, and her miners need jobs. American coal is available, for that matter. If Italy went to war against the Allies, she could get no coal at all—except for a trickle through the congested Brenner Pass. There may be wheels within wheels. Mussolini doesn’t want to affront his Axis partner. Perhaps a show of force by England, and a few indignant gestures by- Italy, are needed for the purpose of impressing Hitler with Mussolini's “reluctance” to change coal dealers. But that’s just guesswork. If Italy’s loud squawk is in good faith, and if Mussolini should decide that his prestige required satisfaction, there might be the devil to pay. There is little in the recent record

‘of British diplomacy to inspire confidence in London’s ability

to talk down Mussolini. POLITICAL RAID FOILED

AST year was an odd-number year. This is an evennumber and election year. Which explains the surprising exhibition in the Senate yesterday. Last year, with no dissenting votes and only a little

grumbling, the Senate passed the Hatch Act, the primary |

purpose of which was to require Federal employees to work at their jobs and not spend their time electioneering.

Yesterday the Senate almost undid that reform. The

amendment by Senator Miller of Arkansas to cut the heart

out of last year’s Hatch law failed by only three votes. And what a line-up! The explanation, of course, is that these same Senators have been doing some payroll packing of their own—placing their political friends in Federal jobs back in their states. Last year it was all right for those friends to give full time to their jobs. But this is an even-number election year, many of the Senators are up for re-election, and all of them want to exert the maximum influence in the forthcoming political conventions. Hence this effort to assert the Senatorial prerogative of putting the buzz on the Federal jobholders—the U. S. Attorneys and their assistants, the Internal Revenue Collectors, the U. S. Marshals and their deputies. But the effort failed. Fortunately, a majority of the Senators either had no political advantage to gain from the Miller amendment—notably the Republicans—or had a sensitive regard for rank-and-file public sentiment. With the defeat of this political raid, the enlarged and improved Hatch measure moves on toward Senate passage. And after the Senate comes the House. There the fight

- will be even more bitter—just as last year. The spoilsmen

not only will resist the new proposal to extend the no-politics

. ban to state employees paid in part by Federal funds, they

also will try to emasculate the law in respect to Federal

~ employees. So keep an eye on your Congressman. After all, it is |

important to you as a citizen to learn whether he is a lawmaker who champions clean government, or a job-hunter who thinks the public payroll is his private political preserve,

OTTO RCHDUKE OTTO VON HAPSBURG, pretender to the non-existent throne of the non-existent empire of Aus-tria-Hungary, is a visitor to our shores. . He says he has come to study the governmental principles and practices of our Union of States. When the ‘war is over, he thinks it may be necessary to form a federal union of the little Danubian countries—and, of course, Otto will want a hand in that, if and when. g Others say he has come to drum up American support

for his lost cause.

Otto is not likely to make’ leh progress in ‘such an endeavor, but at.least he can be assured that his will not be the fate of the last Hapsburg who visited this continent and attracted public attention—Maximilian, for a short and bloody period’ the Emperor of Mexico. That’s about the least that can be offered to Otto in welcoming encouragement. “And the most he can hope for— this pleasant young man who inherited the tradition but not the substance of Maria Theresa and Franz Joseph—is some such sentiment as that expressed by Francois Villon, who wrote concerning a “friend” of his— : “To Messire Noel, named the neat "¢ By those who love him, 1 bequeath. A helmless ship, a houseless street, A wordless book, a swordless sheath, An hourless clock, a leafless wreath, A bed sans sheet, a board sans meat, A bell sans tongue, a saw sans teeth, To make his nothingless complete.”

‘| would virtually come to a standstill.

By William Philip Simms

Mussolini Eventually May Decide To Fight With Hitler but Not

Italian ships laden with Nszi coal, and London’s

.not bring war. come in this spring. But not over this particular in-

solini has made up his mind that the time has come to throw in his lot with Hitler.

and a nuisance. Neutrals certainly find it so, Germany has not hesitated to sink any ship that has come within range, whether Allied or neutral, and the Allies are holding up and searching all comers for contraband no matter how loudly they howl. But unless these practices become a real menace to vital national interests, neutrals ave not likely to make them | a cause of war, per se. x 3 8 # 8 \HE Italian note to Britain suggests that Rome -alreacy considers the issue vital. “In particular,” it says, “the Fascist Government wants to place the greatest possible emphasis on the illegality and gravity of the decision . . . to place under control measures the imports of German coal into Italy by sea—all the more so as the British Government knows that the coal in question represents an immutable necessity to the life and work of the Italian people.” Technically speaking, the Italians are entirely right: Italy does lack coal. of her requirements. Without it, quite as Rome indicates, “the life and work of the Italian people” For Italy it would truly be.a ecrisis of major magnitude. She would have to fight or die. But that is not the whole {ruth. Italy is dependent on foreign coal but not German coal. She can obtain all the coal she wants nearer home than Germany. Britain is one of the greatest coal producers in the world. She mines 40 per cent more than she’needs.

ehange for Italian goods. . If Italy does not care to trade with Britain, she can even buy coal in the United States.

beh » 8

implies. The crux of the matter lies elsewhere. What the British want is to swap Welsh coal for Mtalian manufactures useful in carrying on the war against Germany. And that naturally irks Italy, which happens to be Germany's ally. If Italy has to go to England to load coal, TI Tevere said in an inspired editorial, the British know that “it js logical that our ships should transport arms there.” ‘That statement is probably not far from the truth. But. from the British point of view, at least, the reverse of the picture is just as true. Having to go to Germany to load coal, it is logical that Ttalian ships should transport arms there. Which is precisely what the British are determines shan’t appen. The whole purpose of the blockade is to isolate Germany by water from the rest of the world, and as long as Britain commands the sea lanes it is most unlikely that she will abandon the job.

(Westbrook: Pegler is on vacation.)

Inside Indianapolis Getting Proper Scenery for a Play; And the Tribulations of Mr. Holt.

RIMINAL Court will be the scene of a play next Monday and Tuesday nights when the Pretenders Club puts on “The Night of January 13th.” The scene of the play is a couriroom and so the Pretenders are going to put it .on with the real trimmings. The Pretertders Club is a private group. It has about 40 members. Theater) is directing next week’s performances. The prosecuting attorney is going to be Leonard A. Solomon (Victor Furniture) and the defense attorney will be Dr. Louis” H. Segar (the pediatrician). person on trial will be Mrs. Roger A. Kahn (Mr. Kahn is with National Furniture).

form of subpenas have keen sent out to just enough people to fill the courtroom. 3 2 x 8 ; ; HENRY DITHMER AND Chief Mike Morrissey ganged up on Arthur Holt, Kiwanis president, at the meeting yesterday in the Columbia Club. , . . Somebody “stole” Mr. Holt’'s Kiwanis button and when he couldn’t produce it, four of the Chief’s brawniest men escorted the Kiwanis president out of the meeting. . . . He had to borrow a dime (to pay the penalty fee) from one of the officers to get back. . «+ O. C. (Pop) Kerr, one of the lustiest of Butler’s rooters, is spry again around his North . fide drugstore after a 10-day siege of the ‘flu. .'. . dispute between the State Tax Board and the inter Township Assessor (Mr, Cunningham) about. whether deputy assessors can force their way info homes is bound to worry a lot of folks. . . . Well, one way to make sure the person is a deputy assessor is to make him show his dog license tags. . . . ‘Thats one sure way of making him provide identification. # 8 =» ; : ADD UNEXPLAINABLE EVENTS: It happened ‘| Quring the pre-game traffic crush on the way to the Coliseum for the Indianapolis-Pittsburgh hockey game night before last. Several cars jockeyed into position at the stop-arid-go signal at Meridian and 38th. In the front row was a delivery truck and a passenger vehicle. The driver of the auto was

a woman. She turned and grinned impishly at the truck driver. The truck driver looked at her solemn-

hand and extended it fanwise. (You know). Without dimming her smile one: whit, the woman returned the salutation. Then the signal. changed.

A Woman’ s Viewpoint

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

1= gayest news in many a moon is that about the “revolt of women” against census questionnaires. - It seems that Congress is besieged already by infuriated females who are making threats of go-

| ing to jail rather than answer the intimate questions|

about age, salary and stdte of matrimony which the census takers will be expected to ask. We hope the revolters keep up their steam. We are not optimistic, however, since the sex is forever in a ferment about something and most of our revolutions peter out into feeble squawkings. Probably the census questions are nothing to get mad about. Perhaps we are much too sure that somebody is interested in our affairs, and see snoopers where only benefactors stand. Just the same the woman’s revolt is a healthy sign—a portent that one of these days we may ectually realize our strength. Right now we are merely flexing our muscles, so to speak. But the time is coming, we think, when

use it in ways which are effective. There have been many more important reasons for feminine revolts than this census business. However, isn’t it an acSecurity isn't likely to move American women to tell

greeted by sweetly smiling ladies who will fib about

centuries it is much foo buoyant over its powers. No, ‘gentlemen, you've set yourselves an: impossible

Solely Because of Fuel Seizures. i

ASHINGTON, March 7.--Despite the hullabaloo re - over the British blockade of homeward-bound}. ’

Italy may come into the %yar. She may possibly a

cident. If there is war, it will be solely because Mus-|

The war on shipping in the zone around. the} British Isles, France and Germany may be a danger].

She produces a bare 4 per cent|

This coal Britain has already offered to Italy in ex-|

O Italy is not dependent on Germany, as her note| |

David Millikan (of the Civie|

The showings will be private and invitations in the |

ly for a few seconds, then slowly raised his right

cumulation of trifles that causes men to go berserk?| | With the present emphasis on youth even Social.

ther birthdays, or by viragos who berate—and also] | If the Government thinks to break a habit of| |

{ask this time, - Betiers he . realistic now than red-| | faced later. Sel

rejection of Rome's protests, the incident—fself—will i

— 7 200° roy

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

THINKS WE NEGLECT INDIANA PRODUCTS By Nelson Alley Nothing is wrong with our State except that entirely too many of us get up in the morning at the alarm of a Connecticut clock, button a pair of New York trousers to Ohio suspenders, put on a pair of shoes made in Massachusetts, wash in a Pittsburgh tin basin, using Cincinnati soap and a cotton towel made in New Hampshire, sit down to a Michigan table and eat pancakes made of Minneapolis flour with Vermont maple . syrup and Kansas City. bacon fired on a St. Louis stove. We send. money to Ohio for tires. And at night, after smoking a Pennsylvania cigar, we crawl under a New Jersey blanket to be kept awake by a poodle dog, the only home product on the place. We wonder all the time "why ready

‘money and prosperity are not more

abundant in this wonderful state of ours. 8 8 8

DENIES EXISTENCE OF CLASSES IN AMERICA

The | By Voice in the Crowd

My viewpoint may differ from A. J. Schneider’s, but my expressions are not contradictory. » My claim that America is not divided into classes and that one class does not oppress another, is not a theory,-but knowledge gained from facts. Knudsen, president of ‘General Motors, was a poor man and an immigrant; he rose from the bottom ‘to the top. Henry Ford and Walter Chrysler were poor machinists at the turn of the century. Who oppressed them? If you will study the. lives of our industrial and

business giants, you learn that they came from lowly starts. Big men simply have something that

most men do not have; a little better mind, a little more vision, or a

little more energy, but something |-

that helps them to rise. In going up they create new jobs and they take away from no one. These men will tell 'you that

America is not divided into classes,

because they started in poverty and rose to the top; and aside from a little age and development they are the same as when they started —three meals a day, a little sleep every night, Willing to assume re-

Side Glances—By Galbraith

| with you.”

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

sponsibility, but possessing faculties that most men do not have. Strip them of their wealth and position and they will still be giants amongst us. They were big men when they were lowly, because big men come from: there. No one started more lowly than Lincoln. Americans have no time to oppress anyone. If a man is on the bottom and has what it takes, and works as a man must work to rise, he will rise and he

| will ind no oppression. Nearly 2000 years ago Christ said, “and the poor you will always have I believe that the poor in America fare better than any poor on earth. Now there are a lot of poor in the South. The South raises the two most competitive crops in the world. “They don’t make a profit, and when you don’t make a profit you just stay poor—just as a man would stay wet so long as he stands in the river. There are millions of people in the South who would rather fish than go to school. Now it is just awfully hard for a man to get ahead if he cannot read or write. The South is beginning to industrialize instead of

and the South will take care of the South. All of the Southerners that I have known were as satisfled with their lot as anyone else is with theirs, and I cannot’ help but believe that a little politics is mixed with sympathy that starts in Washington. : : 8 8.» TERMS LENDING MONEY TO FINLAND FOOLISH By J. E. P. Poor Hoover. He is so hurt and troubled over the suffering of the poor people in Europe. Justice Hugo Black said once the tracks a man made 10 years ago will be the same today unless there has been a catechetical change. What a change of heart Mr. Hoover

the hungry Americans marched to the White House, begging for relief, and this sympathetic man

called out the National Guard. Or does he just specialize in foreigners? Or is it hard for one who has been in the limelight so long to be put out of sight and is Mr; Hoover using this to get back on stage again. I suggest that Mr. Hoover, if he wants to lead people, go to Europe, where he is not known as well Who is going to pay back these loans after Russia and Germany have finished mopping up Europe? I know The Times is favoring this move to help Europe, but I still say it is. crazy. I say give Americans American blessings. Our greatest problem, employment for Ameri-

waiting for a better price for cotton,

cans, hasn’t been solved yet.

New Books at the Library

N the preface to Oscar Levant’s “A Smattering of Ignorance” (Doubleday) 8. N. Behrman remarks of .Mr.. Levant that “you can’t always take him and you can never leave him”’—a remark which one may well understood after reading this volume Composer and concert pianist, music critic, one of the stars of that gay company which scintillates weekly in “Information, Please,” Mr.

American women, realizing their power, will want tof | -& ¥ ant

their age. The poor census takers can expect to be! i

"That number 6 is the best man on the o. ioam=clock at the way yho “hooks those uppercuts—just like Dempsey!"

| [nis music.

Levant has ranged the musical—and other—fields from New York to Hollywood. He has written music for the movies and for musical comedies, has composed “classical” music for both romantic and modern strain, and best of all for the purposes of his book, has done an enormous «|amount-of falking and listening in the company of musicians, directors, critics, and actors of all kinds. His fund of anecdotes, illuminating, amusing, often malicious, is seemingly limitless. He comments on the temperamental fireworks occasioned by the inevitable feud be-] tween the symphony orchestra and its conductor. From his experiences in Hollywood he has gleaned such invaluable information as what strains of music are invariably used to accompany ordinary foggy weather (as visualized by the movie pro&@ucers) what is used for “special fogs’—those which presage prison breaks and bank robberies—and what compositions furnish an eéspecially effective background for walks in gardens and for “bicycle rides in the country that the daughter of the Prime Minister (English) takes with the leader of the Black and Tans (Irish) in Sinn Fein pictures, before she discovers that he is one of ‘those’ people.” His is a trenchant humor, which he directs against himself as well as others. But he is generous, too, where he admires} and the section called “My Life,” wherein he writes of himself and George Gershwin, is the warm testimonial to his unreserved admiration for the man shy

A GOOD WISH - By ROBERT 0. LOVELL

May my having’ been here prove. to be worth while and something ve done do somebody good.

DAILY THOUGHT The Lord also will be a refuge

for the oppressed, a. refuge in times of trouble—Psaim 9:9.

LIVE NEAR TO GOD, and so all

| a total of 42,500 men) and also .

| order will be delivered by September 1941,

must have had since the days when Palen is ly to follow the Senate's action in vote

‘| for example, are so muscle:

’ Cen 3 ohnson

Says—

General Staff Testimony Before Senate Group Confirms Belief We . Have No Usable Army at Present.:

ASHINGTON, March 7.—Here are a few sketchy '¥ excerpts from the testimony of Army general staff officers before a Senate subcommittee: “The President executive order . . . directed that the enlisted strength” of. the regular Army be increased to 227,000 . , . National Guard ‘to 235,000" (total 462,000 or about’ what Finland had) “. . . with" the increase . ... we have. been enabled to form . five triangular infantry divisions” . (peace strength: each, 8500 as compared with 30,000 in: World War, or . corps troops for, ohe Army corps . we have conserved man-power, and have been able to conserve fire-power with mod= ern weapons , ..” ; Question: “How many anti-aircraft guns will you’ have at the end of this fiscal year?” / “Answer: “I would prefer not to put the Afgures in

the record”. Question: “torhe statement is made in the press:

| that the United States will thus have fewer anti=-

aircraft guns than is provided for the defense of the

| City of London?”

_ “Answer: “I understand ‘tbat there are 144 heavy anti-aircraft and 48 medium caliber anti-aircraft in

the “defenses ‘of London. The guns we have on. All but

48 will be delivered by November 1940.” (This figures’

8 rate of delivery for the last 48 of a Inde over four

guns a month.) ; s » ” UESTION: “How many new rifles have yous” - Answer: “We have got -all five divisions equipped,” (42,500 men, not all riflemen.” . Question: “Well it has all been in the press « .., that you have got about 22,000 or 23,000. I: want to know whether that is so?” “They are being made.” (Here the questioner, Senator Byrnes, mildly blew: up and got this) “We are getting them at the rate of 4000 a month and we have on hand 24,000 or 25,000 for 42,500 men). By June 1942, we expect to come plete those now on order, 149,628.” (This figures a rate from all sources of less than 5400 a month. It probably includes a speed-up at the end.) But listen to this: Answer: the production is 200 per day (6000 a month—not 4000.) We have an order for 65,000 with the Wine chester company. They will not come into maximum production for a period of 18 months; but we ex--pect them to complete the contract for 65; 000 ) by June: 30, 1942.” ; 2 = =» » ~HESE answers taken thus uhekplained. are CONe tradictory, evasive and do not add 4p to make” sense. If the rate is now 4000 .a month, by June 30, 1942, it would yield 132,000 rifles. Skipping the “200 a day” contradiction and allewing for a speed-up to get 149,628 in this period, that speed-up would be. only 13 per cent on the average—and then yield only 149,628 rifles for a force of 462,000 men by June 30, 1942. This is the new streamlined organization which is going to expose fewer men but have more fire-power “with modern weapons.” I do not take these fragments from the record to criticize the general staff. I know what ‘they are up against—with a political civilian overhead. But if this column ever needed any confirmation of its repeated assertions that the country is being kidded .and that we have no modern or even usable Army either in existence or in Feasonable prospect—here™ it is. -

Food Price “Probe

By Bruce Catton: Arnold Alsé May Inquire Into War: Materials Cost With Exira Funds.

ASHINGTON, March 7.—A broad expansion of Assistant Attorney General Arnold’s anti-trust

ing additional funds for his division. This expansion, Arnold says, will probably bring; about two new nation-wide investigations 1. A study of the costs of food distribution, fnclud= ing an investigation into milk costs all over the coun« try, and a thorough survey of the problem of inter« state trade barriers. 2. An equally comprehensive study of the costs of war materials such as are being purchased in the Gov= ernment’s huge rearmament program. The budget sent up to Capitol Hill by the Presi’ dent had the anti-trust outfit slated. for a $100,000 cut: from this year’s $1,309,000. - This would have pulled. the teeth of the famous building costs investigation, Arnold estimates that at the least it would have meant * pulling grand jury investigations from five cities. = = ter a good deal of debate, the Senate voted to.: rt the cut and add another $100,000. This isn't by any means as much money as Arnold thinks hisdivision could use profitably, but it makes some ex< pansion possible. ’ “We ought to have another million, but a hundred thousand is better than a kick in the pants, ” he says,: philosophically. : [ie

Many Requests for Inquiries ir

Arnold looks on the food cost study as fully ay important as the present investigation of building“ costs. The anti- trust division has received numerous re« quests for work in this field. It has been asked by" consumer groups to study price spreads in the distri=bution of ice cream and cheese, by farm organizations ~ to look into the costs of containers used in canned goods, and a group of Senators and Congressmen rep"

resenting farm states have asked it to duplicate in the:

nation as a whole the milk-cost study made in Chis" cago—where, before the case even got through thecourts, retail milk prices fell from 13 cents to eight. and one-half cents a quart. The matter of keeping down war material prices: has had a prominent place on his calendar for months, ; “The Government is going to spend enormous sums. - for these things,” he says. “The question is, will that -

money be a stimulus to business, or will it simply raise. - prices—as the housing. Subsidies- did in New. York?" >

Watch: Your r Health.

By Jane Stafford psig Wo ‘the worst; wintry + weaihet over and: is sunk

shining more brightly every day. most peoples

are beginning t& feel the lure of the outdoors and look forward to the spring and summer sports se

Outdoor exercise is so good for-the health that 1 medis-

cal and health authorities advise getting some every. : day, winter and summer, if possible. It is also good, beauty treatment, and if you want to lock your bes * in the Easter parade, it is not too soon to start exer< cising for the glow of health We ‘can ‘add to: ape’ pearance. - Bt One of the things gs ‘exercise does does for you is. crease the circulation of the blood. Since the: carries nourishment to all tissues of the body and takes away waste from them, you can see the ade: vantage of helping it to circulate. Exercise also helps ; strengthen m s, so if you have been leading sedentary life al winter, your muscles may come flabby. Every movement that is max destruction. of certain body cells. AT such waste of tissue is replaced, usually with a_ thant ‘was déstroyed. This yeplacement speeded up by exercise, That 1s

portant: in the. body is the. Th : you let this muscle get. flabby’ through and lack of exercise, the result maybe - Not all people can stand the of exercise. ae undertaking & | s or program, yout should consult your physician snd from: hil what varieties of game

you, : | should a ote with a amount and | ually work up to longer periods:

“and ‘more v

“Right now in the Springfield Armory. 3