Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 15 March 1940 — Page 20

PAGE 20 The Indianapolis Times

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FRIDAY, MARCH .15, 1940

.THE TRAGEDY OF FINLAND— : __As told by Foreign Minister Tanner: “We made one mistak®—the mistake of being small. ” .

SPEAKING OF SNOOPERS— T is good to see emphasis placed on the protection of civil liberties, as in Senator Wheéler’s proposal to investigate " wire tapping and in the current demands for more information about activities of the Federal Bureau of Investi-

gation.

that subject, how about the income-tax snooping against. Paul McNutt, to which Raymond Clapper has referred as a “job of slow-motion political assassination” and.a “major campaign atrocity” ? Whether you do or don’t like Mr. McNutt as an individual or as a Presidential candidate, you can hardly fail to agree that he is getting a dirty deal. For seven months internal révenue agents, sent into Indiana, have been snooping for evidence of income-tax evasions. Their work is supposed to be secret, but rumors about it have been circulated all over the country. And Washington officials, by refusing. to say whether any evidence has or has not been found, are crucifying the victim of the activity. * Mr. Clapper, in his column Wednesday, charged that the” Admini€tration is responsible for putting Mr. McNutt ~ into “his helpless plight under this slow torture.” Here is something that demands investigation by Congress, quite as much as wire tapping or the doings of the FBL to accomplish dhe political ruin of Paul McNutt, they can be used in the same way against any man in public life. They can be used to punish any citizen the Administration does not like. And the evidence is plentiful that they have been so used. While going after snooping as a menace to civil liberties, let’s make it a thorough job and go after those under whose orders the revenue agents become instruments of punitive politics. :

POLITICAL PURSE STRINGS

«

OF course the Bankhead amendment was put into the |

Hatch bill for the purpose of sabotage.

Senator Bankhead and most of the others who voted for it were not animated by any desire to promote cleaner politics. Their strategic objective was to make the Hatch bill unpalatable to the Republicans who have supported the measure solidly, and by alienating Republican votes to bring the ultimate defeat of the whole reform. But to our ‘way of thinking the Bankhead idea isles the Hatch bill an even more desirable measure. We hope it will remain in the bill and go into the statutes. . Specifically, the Bankhead amendment provides that any contribution in excess of $5000 to a political campaign or party committee shall be considered a “pernicious political activity.” It fixes the penalty at not less than $5000 fine and not less than five years in prison. The penalty is ~ excessive, since lesser punishments are meted out for murder, but that can be modified. However, we see no reason to modify the basic provision. For few practices in American politics are mere pernicious or more corruptive of democratic processes than large campaign contributions. We all remember how the big-business boys who kicked in to Joe Grundy in 1928 later descended on Washington to demand, and get, the pay-off — the Smoot-Hawley tariff. And we should not soon forget how John L. Lewis, after giving the Democrats in 1936

some $470,000 of United Mine Workers’ money, was out-

raged because President Roosevelt wouldn't change the initials of U. S. A. to C. I. 0. In that '36 campaign the du Ponts of Delaware forked over $620,570 and the Pews of Pennsylvania $312,976 to the Republicans. If Alf Landon had won, you may be sure that spokesmen for the du Ponts and the Pews would have tried to call the tune in Washington. We see no reason why there should not be a limit of $5000, or even a smaller amount, on the size of the mortgage which any individual can hold against a political party. It is said that the Bankhead amendment will test the sincerity of the Republicans’ espousal of the Hatch act’s principles. Very well. It is a fair test. Incidentally, it is ~ a fair test also for Senators Bankhead, Connally, Minton, et al, who have been so apoplectically denouncing Republican slush funds. Now that they have put the $5000 contribution limit in the Hatch bill, will they vote for the measure on final passage?

60 AND HEALTHY

‘HE Salvation Army is now quietly observing a series of nation-wide celebrations to mark the. 60th anniversary of the landing of the first small “Army” contingent in New York. Always in the foreground when help is needed during emergencies and after major catastrophes, the Salvation Army distinguished itself particularly for its successful efforts to be of service to soldiers during the last war. The Salvation Army has amply proved its merit during its 60 years in this country. It deserves to be supported in its ceaseless campaign in behalf of the unfortunate.

BRIBE VS. PROMISE

WILLIAM A. BURKETT, who offered tos serve without pay if elected to Congress, has been ruled off the ballots in Nebraska. The Secretary of State held that Mr. Burkett’s promise to let the taxpayers keep his salary, a, thing of value, constituted an attempt to “bribe” the voters. Other candidates for Congress need not feel appre- _ hensive. They can preserve their places on the ballots by sticking ta_the time-honored custom and promising things of no vals, #

| might even menace G

This is a time for vigilance against snooping. And on

If internal revenue agents can be used in this way |

Duce’s Ace By William Philip Simms

“Battle Front, but Allied Success

‘There Depends on Italy's Stand.|

TASHINGTON, March 15 —Now that the war in Finlapd has come to an end, the key to the

conflict between the Allies and Germany rests more than ever in the hand of Benito Mussolini. Whether the war is terminated by diplomatic maneuvers, or settled by a body-and-soul-rending collision on some far battlefield as yet unknown, the

side that wins will need the help of the Italian Duce. The Maginot Line and the West Wall, military

other. Few believe the blockade will decide it, as matters now stand, or any aerial blitzkrieg. Thus, as the defeat of Finland removes the possibility of a smashing blow against Russia and. Germany from that. direction, the basin of the Mediterranean and Black Sea are the most likely scene of future gecisive action, Naval men say an Anglo-French fleet should easily be able to sweep the Red fleet from the Black Sea. An Allied army composed of Turks, British and French should then be able to drive the Russians out of Georgia, in Transcaucasia. There is said to tbe much native dissatisfaction there against Soviet rule. If the poor sh the Finns is any cri any via the Ukraine.

yo eee : UT it would be folly for the Allies to start anything in the Near East or thereabouts without first making certain of Italy’s attitude. Were they

intervention against them might prove disastrous. Italy could and would cut France's: and Britain's lines of communication through the Mediterranean, mortally endangering their forces in the field. True, Britain and France couldy bottle up Italy by closing Suez and Straits of Gibraltar. They might play havoc with her African colonies. But all that would not get their ships past Italy’s bombers and submarines concentrated in the vicinity of Sicily. At least, not for a long time. So, at the very minimum, the Allies must make sure of Italy’s absolute neutrality. If possible, she should be brought into the war on their side. Gérmany would at once become vulnerable, not only via the

She would be compelled to use up her limited war reserves—now believed to be sufficient to last indefinitely the way the war is going at present.

8 8 2

RIME MINISTER CHAMBERLAIN is regarded as a realist. He is said to hold that however high one’s ideals may be, the world must be faced for what it is, not for what one would like it to be. That being the case, diplomatists, of the realist school here maintain that he should lose no time coming to terms with Mussolini. Years ago the late Franklin-Bouillon, president of the foreign affairs committee of the French Chamber of Deputies, said that Britain is always half an hour too late. He told me that war with Germany was inevitable because Britain could not make up her mind to join France in time to check the rise of Adolf Hitler. Britain, he said, always hestitates until: the disaster is upon her before deciding to do something’ which, had it been done a little sooner, would have saved the day. After Finland, some are now wondering whether Britain will again be half an hour too late—this time with Italy. :

(Westbrook Pegler Is on Vacation)

Inside Indianapolis

How Politics Conditions the Primaries; And How ‘a Friendly Boss Can Help

T may have been noticeable to you that in the flurry of announcements for political offices, the more astute office seekers are steering clear of things like jobs-on-merit and city manager planks. The reason is simple. Politicians do not consider the primaries here as anything in which the public can control. They have learned, through experience mind you, that it’s the gentlemen who have the “organization” behind them who win in the primaries. And so the smart fellow stays completely away from any issues that the political bosses frown upon. Being brash, we'd say that in Marion County it isn’t healthy at primary time to be for: 1. Any kind of merit system. 2. Any kind of city ‘manager idea. In other words, in May a politician promises only that which his party chiefs approve. In November, he can promise anything. ' And does, too.

2 = 2

ONE WELL-KNOWN YOUNG business executive has been Working very hard lately. He's been down ‘at the office by 8:30 or 9 every morning and rarely away by 8 at night... Half the nights he’s been plugging away until 2 in the morning. His boss has been very sympathetic, giving: friendly counsel and advice. The boss has been coming in about 10 (or later) and leaving about 5 (or earlier) but has been nonetheless interested. The payoff came last week-end. To put it in the young executive’s own words: “I got to going so hard the® boss had to take last week-end off to rest up!”

s 8 =

IT TOOK TONY HINKLE an hour and a half yesterday morning to open up all the ticket mail orders for the N. C. A. A. tournament. . And on top of that he got a wire fa the Springfield, Mass., team saying that two of the boys were so big they'd have to have double berths if they traveled Pullman. . . . More worries for Mr. McCracken of LU... We know of a chap who took a friend and his 5-year-old daughter out riding last Sunday. . . At a railroad crossing, he turned and said: “See the choo-choo, Rachel?”. . . Rachel said yes, she did, then lapsed into silence. . . . Two blocks ine, she said quietly: “You know, we call them Ia, ”»

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

“ T 5 o'clock the neighborhood grocery was crowded with latecomers shopping for a loaf of bread, a bottle of milk or a pound of tea. Four small boys moved in and out, skirting dangerously close to heavyfooted grownups while trying to wedge themselves next to the counter in the hope of being noticed. Men and women continued to brush past, and every time a busy clerk showed signs of looking to-

ward the children some adult demanded attention— |

and got it, by sheer size and the power of a dominating glance.

small boys served. No doubt ever$ one of them got a scolding at home, too. their reception after being sent on a hasty errand

harangued my own youngsters so often about happen-|

that I am inclined to side with the kids in some of their difficulties with Dad and Mom.

us. It isn’t often we stand aside to await our turn | when the person ahead is only waist high. In the abstract most of us have a great love for children. We speak sppesligly of them, and are eager to sacrifice ourselves in their interest. Also we contribute to welfare movements in their behalf.

infants we talk and write about are beings who never actually existed on this earth—angels of innocence and purity having nothing in common with the small boys and ig who live in the neighborhood and dig trenches in our flowerbeds or persecute our pet dogs. Our everyday behavior to children is much less considerate than the “noble expressions we use in discussing them. Rare is the adult who treats little “people. with ny sane courtesy he shows

* Near East Only Likely Decisive|.

men hold, will probably continue to checkmate each|

g made by the Reds against | jon, it is believed the Allies}

to become involved in conflict in that area, Italian|

Black Sea, but t:=ough Brenner Pass and Austria.|

Only after the last of them had departed were the It wasn’t hard to picture from which they came back 30 minutes late. I have| - ings which later turned out to be none of their fault|

The poor little tads hardly ever get a break from

But we are so carried away by ‘imagination that: the -

. THE INDIANAPOLIS TIM S

Peace >

The Hoosier Forum

1 wholly disagree with what you say, but will fejend to the death your yin; to say it.— Voltaire, ,_

CLAIMS FORD PROFITS BENEFIT HIS WORKMEN By Voice in the Crowd

It doesn’t seem that Earl Haupt makes a point in his dispute with Mr. Meitzler’s definition of capitalism. Mr. Meitzler undoubtedly erred in his name calling, but his definition of capitalism was a fair definition.

. It is-true, as Mr. Haupt says, that some capitalists have become billionaires, but what of it? Mr. Ford is doubtless a billionaire and his wealth is in buildings and machines and tools, not used by Mr. Ford, but by his 100,000 workmen who earn their living under excellent working conditions by using the tools provided by Mr. Ford. Ford is a billionaire because the profits have been plowed back into the business

since the business was started. "All

of these profits have accumulated to give work at higher wages and better working ° conditions to more men, and better cars to more customers. Where profits are plowed back for expansion and improvement it is the workmen who use and benefit from that capital. The only way the owner could benefit would be to withdraw the profit.

Where profits are left in for the benefit of labor, it makes no difference who owns it; all get the benefits, but the man who by his building and ‘management of the enterprise has proved his worth is right-funy-at-the "helm. By what bette!

“acid test could we select leadership

for men? 82 & 8 DOMESTIC FARM PRICE CONTROL ADVOCATED

By Edward F. Maddox"

So important to the general welfare of our people is the recovery and stabilization of our economic system that all genuine Americans should be better informed as to the fundamental causes of depressions and the remedies possible of application.

As I have stated before I believe Government regulation and supervision of our home market prices for farm products is the first necessary step to bring economic security, jobs and prosperity back to our people. First things come first and farm prices control, or affect, the wages of the workers and" the volume of business and profits . of industry. The prices of wheat; cotton, corn, hogs and. cattle practically control Jur whole economic system and must be protected if we ever expect to be free from continual and ruin-

(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.)

ous fluctuations caused by market conditions in foreign countries. I have been advocating regulated horhe market prices for farm products for several years. I have suggested this plan to Presidents Cool-

idge, Hoover and to Secretary Wal-}

lace and William H. Settle of the Farm Bureau. I also sent.an outline of such a farm plan to Marvin Jones of the House Agriculture Committee.

The plan is to guarantee the farmer about $1.20 pew bushel for wheat, 15 cents a pound. fot cotton, from $8 to $10 per cwt. for hogs and other farm prices in proportion. In the case of wheat and jcotton present prices are completely controlled by world prices. So we would set a legal standard price on wheat at the mills or point of manufacture and sell our surplus at world prices. The loss on exports would be raised by a processing tax. We would all pay the tax, not merely 'to help the farmer but to protect our own wages and jobs. Cotton would be handled on the same plan.

I see that Gen. Johnson favors almost the same plan and says it

1is the only one that will work. = He

says: “A winning farm program is comparatively easy—a direct and simple subsidy on domestic consumption financed by a processing’ tax . ..” In that way we can have American ‘prices for American products and we should all be willing to pay a small tax to protect our prices, jobs, wages and profits from cutthroat foreign competition. 2 8 =n : SAYS G. 0. P. WOULD TAX LOWER INCOMES By W. Scott Taylor Small businessmen who erpect lower taxes should study the Glenn Frank Committee recommendations. There is no definite promise of lower taxes—except. for the big incomes in the higher brackets. On the contrary, the Committee issues a definite warning that if higher taxes are necessary, they should be faced

courageously by taxpayers in the

Side Glances-+By Galbraith

middle brackets. There is no deflnite promise to reduce the hidden taxes-on purchases by the poor. But

- |there is a definite promise of taxing

lower incomes that are now exempt. In exchange for the shift of the burden from big backs to little ones, the Committee promises to promote a set of new frontiers, the detailed plans and specifications for which are forthcoming around the corner. This is a “heads I win—tails you lose” gamble on a pig-in-the-poke. It is offered by those who still hold the world’s championship for the peace-time destruction of small businesses and savings. It is dedicated to those who have short memories, in addition to those of whom there is one born every minute. “The people are burdened with a backbreaking load of taxes” says the Committee. But it leaves no doubt who it has in mind when it says: “The people.” ” ” ” CLAIMS ALIBIS OFFERED TO DEFEND CAPITALISM By Marion F. Meredith Mr. Maddox; in his attempt to

reply to Robert Luke, merely ex-|.

poses his lack of understanding of the social sciences. He gropes frantically for alibis to try to purify the /capitalist system. All he can suggest is governmental regulation

and stabilization of prices and

wages which lead directly to fascism. The catch is, who has control of our Government? How many Senators and Congressmen can Mr. Maddox name who are not! either corporation lawyers .or bankers? Every few years we have the privi-. lege of voting for a new group to repress and exploit us, whom we have no voice in nominating—if we can pay for the privilege, that is, poll tax. Is this democracy for the ma-/ jority who are the workers, or is it democracy merely for the 60 families? Isn't this taxation without representation? The very issue our forefathers revolted against in 1776. Mr. Maddox will probably call this communism. If so, how long can the truth be suppressed? I am an ex-soldier and not too old to fight for true democracy. 8 8 _n» WANTS PAPERS TO PRINT THE BILL OF RIGHTS By Curious, Bloomington, Ind. I was very much interested in your two editorials on March 5 about “Wrong Direction” and “The Doctors and the Carpenters.” Thurman W. Arnold, whom you mentioned, is the author of a very economic book, “Folklore of Capitalism.” He is like F. D. R. in that he believes in looking out for the “forgotten man.” I have never heard a Communist, because I have never seen one, but they do print things that stir the ‘intelligence and cause the curious to become investigators on their own initiative. The only newspaper in America in which I have ever seen the Bill of -Rights in print was the Daily Worker. I would like to see some of «the Indianapolis papers. print it and reaffirm it.

: \ MARCH SHINES | By MARY P. DENNY

March shines / " Through silver mist » And shades of amethyst. March shines * In tulip bright In wonder of the jonquil ' And beauty of the daffodil. In springing grass Where robins pass. In blackberry brush Where the blue birds sing And in the wake of the thrush. March shines in everything. And in the joy of life doth sing Through all the days of spring.

DAILY THOUGHT

And if a soul sin, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the Lord; though he wist it not, yet he is guilty and shall bear his iniquity.—! viticus 5:11.

. FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 190 . Gen. Johnson

Says— Feil oa L

Britain Should Understand U.S. Is Serious in Protests, Not Blustering ~ To Deceive Our People as in 'I7,

V7AsEoTon March 15.—A columnist colleague says that the London Sunday Dispatch asked

“some of 1s” to explain why “when we in America are

so opposed to Germany we should be irritated over °

| the Britishsblockade activities which are designed to

bring Hitler to his knees.” The explanation was in part: “In .protesting against some feature of contraband controls our State Department was seeking, I think, to keep the record “straight. In this it undoubtedly had the support of American public opinion but largely for the same reason . . . all we are asking, I think, is that in using the blockade, Great Britain be as considerate -as possi ble of American sensibilities . . .” I also was “one of us.” so queried by the London Dispatch. It wasn’t the first time. After Lord Beaverbrook stuck his neck out on what he intimated was our tardy insufficient participation in the World War and our position on the war debts, I took a. crack at his argument. He cabled me an opportunity to defend myself in his papers. +I regarded that as I regard this offer to defend, in the British press, the Amere ican position on the blockade, as an impertinence. - 8 ” ® > *

F the State Department’s protest of outrageous violations of our neutral rights at international law are not intended to mean what they say but only to “keep the record straight.” then Senator Borah was right when he fumed that it was Just a kind of Brite.

ish embassy. - If it is just to “keep the record straight” let's ask, “to keep the record straight with whom?” There is only one answer: “With the American people,” or (as the reply in question puts it) “American sensibilities.” - But that wouldn't be keeping the record straight. I% would be keeping the record crooked. It would be something like the actions of our Ambassador to England during the World War, who used to present our protests over violations of the freedom of the seas with what amounted to advice that they were for

| American home consumption merely and ought to be

ignored. That, like what is now suggested, amounted to betrayal of the trust of an entire Ration. Po w’ . » 8 2 ‘

Y columnist friend does not condone this kind A of bad faith because he says that this policy has the support of the American people. - That absolves him, but it amounts to saying that we don’t care if our own coasts are blockaded, our announced neutrality policies flouted, our mails violated and our imports fygm neutral ports as well as our exports to neutral pérts confiscated—all in as clear a violation of international law as piracy is—we don’t care if only our Stale Department will bluff and bluster—and do

' nothing bout it.

I don’t believe it. In the first place, I don't believe that Secretary Hull would stoop to such \shadowe: boxing and, in the second, I don’t believe the Amers ican people would condone, it if he should. : There is no doubt of American hatred of Hitler and sympathy with the Allies—up to the point of engaging in either military war or the more deadly and modern form of war, economic.war. But I can’t see wherein we owe any apology or self-justification fo the British press, much less any request that they let us bluster to save our faces, but not to take it seriously. I think the expression of such an opinion greatly weakens our State Department's position, or or what in honesty it ought to be.

Rail Bill Blocked

By Bruce Catton

Protecting Labor.$ Stumbling: block In Proposed Plan’ to Aid Roads,

TASHINGTON, March 15.—A fight over how much protection labor ought to get when rail« roads are mergéd is the chief thing delaying the omnibus transportation bili—the big “reform” the raile

roads want so badly. ah | : A Senate-House committee is welding together the Senate’s Wheeler bill and the House's Lea bill. Basically they are much the e; what the railroads tikd is that they put water carriers under the Interstate Commerce’ Commission. Big difference is what they say about mergers. The Wheeler bill simply says that in mergers thera must be “a fair and equitable arrangement” for labor, the I.-C. C. to be the judge; ‘the Lea bill flatly forbids any merger that would: Je luce employment or cut workers’ pay. The railrcads Ralsitaly want the former clause. It has been okayed by all the railroad brotherhoods except the Trainmen’s. The latter found an ally in Congressman Harrington of Iowa, who got the clause they like into the Lea bill and is now keeping it there by a novel parliamentary maneuver. Harrington circulated a petition demanding that the committee keep his clause in the| bill—and got . 275 congressmen to sign it. s ” ”

Committee Plugs Loophole

When the Smith committee was drafting its bill to change the Wagner act and the Labor Board, lots of model amendments covering different points: were Submitted by organizations anxious to have the law modified. The committee threw out all samples and used its ‘own language—except in the case of the “free speech” amendment, where it used the one the A. F. of L. had handed in. “It was too drastic even for us old conservatives, though, and we had to tone it down,” says Congressée man Stith. “It didn’t give labor enough protection, The way fhe A. F. of L. wrote it, it would be lawful for’ an employer to talk with hi§ workers about unioniza« tion ed the talk wasn't accompanied by an ‘act of discrimination.’ “You could drive a horse throygh that. Why, under it, an employer could call in 4 worker and say, ‘Bill Jones, you've worked for me 20 years; but you old so-and-so, if you join the union I'll fire you’—and the law couldn't have touched him. So after the words, ‘act x Siserimination, we added, ‘or intimidation OF . -coercion’.”

Waich Your Health

By Jane Stafford

(Cases histories of‘vhiildreh with poor eyesight recently. reported to the National : Society for the Prevention lg Blindness. _contain : many hints for parents. ¥e ¢ : For example, 4-year-old ard who was “Una | usually clumsy and frequently~ hurt himself falling over objects,” clung constantly to his mother and depended on her’heavily for help with his dressing and feeding.” No one in the family realized that Riche” ard could not see well, and of course Richard was too young to be able to tell about his poor vision. When he was examined by an eye doctor and given properly SDrged Raid Bo Bed see normally, he learn ess an and to hape pily with other children, Vay P This case and that of 83-year-old Joan whose mother thought her squint was a habit that the child could be made to stop, show that parents need to be alert to the possibility of eye defects in their chil dren at an early age. Many cases can be found and perhape i trouble corrected before the ely starts 00 Another point parents need to consider is the eye defect may affect their child’s The defects of course must be corrected, but the child should not be made miserable by constant nagging to do his part, nor should he be Pampered and babled because of the En Parents er how th handle even. ven. so sinple a matter as getting. Stes for the near-: sighted child. One common mistake is made by: the mother or father who asks the doctor, in front

ot & sha, ¢ “will she always have to wear eye-glasses?”

to the child that the