Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 April 1940 — Page 12

T he Indianapolis Times

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

RALPH BURKHOLDER MARK FERREE 4

ROY W. HOWARD Business Manager

President

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Gp RILEY 5551

Give Light and the People Will Find Thetr Vwn Way . :

TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 1940

STILL GOOD BOX-OFFICE F there was any question about Thomas E. Dewey being top box-office, it must surely have been dissipated with his reception here yesterday. And this in a state where ~ glamour in Presidential candidates is not precisely a novelty.

NORWAY BETRAYED THE apparent brilliance of the German landing operations "in Norway is woefully tarnished as the truth develops. The Nazis didn’t fight their way in, or conquer by: superior strategy. They were let in by traitors. ; “It is a shameful story, a story for which a place must be reserved alongside those of Judas and Benedict Arnold. That citizens of peaceful, prosperous, decent Norway, citizens who had heard of Austria, of Czechoslovakia, of Poland, would betray their fatherland to Hitler is too odious and amazing a thing to comprehend But the facts seem plain enough. Loyal Nor egians, backed by the British who now claim positive progress for their rescue party, have more

reason than ever to press their resistance. 8

a

# s “ The shocking reports from Norway provide an unexpected setting for President Roosevelt's-address to the PanAmerican Union in Washington, in which he said: “The co-operative peace in the Western Hemisphere was not created by wishing; and it will require more than words to maintain it. In this association of nations, whoever touches any one of us touches all of us.” | If Hitler's political sappers could so undermine the defenses of Norway, it is possible to conceive a similar undertaking in this hemisphere. Mr. Dies reported the other day that he had information about a Russo-German plot to install a stooge government in Mexico. If plotters controlled from Berlin or Moscow ever undertook a Norwaystyle putsch in Mexico, or elsewhere in the Americas, the other nations of the hemisphere would have a very nasty problem on their hands.

Though President Cardenas is a padical and a revolu- _ tionary, he is generally credited with a policy of Mexico for the Mexicans, not Mexico for the Muscovites or the Brown Shirts. Yet ‘there may be forces at work in his country behind his back, as they apparently were at work in Norway without King Haakon’s knowledge.

Senor Cardenas would do well to check up on such possible dangers. Certainly he realizes that the introduction of a new Mexican regime tied to the apronstrings" of ‘a |

European dictatorship would force invocation of the Monroe Doctrine.

OBEY THAT IMPULSE!

LONG about this time of the year comes the Great American Urge. The first sunny days, the first birds singing around the corner of the house, and your average man’s hands itch for the heft of a spade or the feel of a paint brush. And his

wife's thoughts lightly turn to slipcovers and new paper for. the dining room,

It’s a laudable urge, and, what with bushes: a little better during the past year there ought to be an awful lot of slicking up going on pretty soon.

The best of it is that, especially on ‘the outside work on the house and lawn, you not only get the satisfaction and Joy out of it yourself, but the sum-total of it all raises the tone and looks of the whole town, and everybody shares in the general brightening-up.

; Let's make Indianapolis shine this spring as never beore!

HERE’S THAT BLOC AGAIN EMEMBER the dime-an-hour bloc? It's back on the

scene in Washington again, and stripped for action. List year, the legislative servants of various lowwage industries got together behind the Barden Bill, a bill to cut the heart out of the Wage-Hour Act by stempling these particular industries.

Friends of the act prevented a vote on the bill last year. But now the measure is scheduled for debate in the House within a few days, And there appears to be a serious possibility that it will be passed. The issue, stripped of sophistry, was aptly summarized by Senator Murray of Montana on the American Boru: of the air. Mr. Murray said:

“The question is: Shotild any group of industrial weil ers in the United States be paid less than 30 cents an hour? Is a wage of 30 cents‘an hour too high for the woman worker who toils and sweats in the cannery? Is 30 cents an hour too high for the homeless itinerant laborer, who has a job only a few weeks a year in the fruit-packing | shed? Are we to-admit that 30 cents an hour is too much to pay a man who spends his life toiling in the cheese factory, the ice cream plant, or who must earn his livelihood shelling pecans? Is 30 cents an hour too high for the worker in the lumber mill?” Congress will decide. Look at it this way: Suppose we say that we don’t give a tinker’s dam how many of the necessities of life the lower one-third ‘can purchase. Suppose we pretend, for argument’s sake, that we don’t care whether a cannery ~~ hand can save enough out of his pay to buy a radio on installments, or a fifth-hand flivver, or an overcoat, or a magazine, or a ticket to the movies.

0..K. . It's nothing to us. We'll look the offer way, But ‘what about the radio manufacturer, the afitomobile manufacturer, the textile and garment manufacturers, the publishers, Hollywood? What happens to their markets? _ We don’t believe the dime-an-hour bloc has deliberately ‘set out to destroy markets, monkey-wrench the national economy, or fertilize a potential field for subversive agitation. But if those were its intentions, it could hardly find

‘fp Call it coincidence if you will.

Oil for Japan

By John Thompson |

U. S. Embargo Offset as Nippon ~ Completes Deals With Mexican And Anglo-Persian- Interests. | GAY FRANCISCO, April 16.—Japan’s military, naval and industrial machine: will henceforth be oiled

with Mexican and British products instead of American. :

nomic angles, the Japanese have succeeded in break-

| ing: through the virtual oil embargo which_had been

instituted against them by American oil concerns since the abrogation of our trade pact with Japan.

The fact that this embargo was financial rather than economic didn’t alter the situation as far as

| Japan has been concerned. The oil companies had

refused to ship petroleum products to Japan unless the money was right on the barrelhead. The Japanese, unable to produce the cash, began. to look for other sources. They have just signed contracts with Mexico for 2,500,000 barrels of oil and with the Anglo-Persian oil interests for another million barrels. The Mexican oil will not begin flowing Japanward until next month, but the British are reported to have started shipping from Persia. ; 2 8. =n . HE Japanese are elated over this victory, to say nothing of the Mexicans, who are of the opinion that they may yet beat the game. The Mexicans have had to be unusually liberal in their terms to the Japanese. They have overcome one of the most difficult phases of selling oil from

their Atlantic seaports to the Japanese, by granting a rebate of 30 cents a barrel below market price.

Panama Canal tolls and at the same time to get the oil cheaply enough te overcome the increased cost of sending their ships several thousand miles further to get Mexican instead of California oil. The idea of a pipe line across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the Pacific for the shipment of Mexican oil evidently is abandoned for the present. « » » T= Anglo-Japanese oil oh on the other hand, foreshadows a certain amount of political understanding between the British and the Japanese in Far Eastern matters. Nothing is definite yet, but rumors of such a situation are current all over the Pacific area. "The United States may .soon be approached with a new proposal for some sort of a deal in the Pacific, by which the Japanese will make certain concessions, to be matched by the British, and with Uncle Sam expected “to come in. So far, Washington has stood pat on its present position in the Pacific and in China, but both London and Tokyo—at least some factions there—hold that the world situation is changing too fast to permit the American position to remain unchanged.

(Westbrook Peglers s regular column will appear tomorrow.)

Inside Indianapolis

The Governor Treats the Mayor; And On Numbers, Births & Courts.

OU might have thought that after that big political conference the Governor and the Mayor had last week that there wasn’t much left for the two to discuss. Well, that may be. All we know is that the Governor and the Mayor were joint guests of honor at a sumptuous ‘dinner last week. After their meal and their speeches (non=political), they decided to hunt up a movie. They took the Governor’s chauffeur along, too. They said that,not. a word was exchanged about politics on the way home, The Governor paid for the show. The Mayor, though, couldn’ remember the title. Something about a girl, he said. ” » ”

EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE we get around to noting the folks who draw the same telephone numper as their house number, or vice versa. But we've just found out about Frank S. Pittman who has ‘em all beat as far as we're concerned. Mr. Pittman lives at 5671 Washington Blvd. His home telephone number is BR-5671.- The: license number on his auto‘mobile is 5671. We got to wondering what would happen if Mr. Pittman happened to get himself another car. Well, we found out he does have in his busi=ness. The number is 1765—just the reverse of 5671. We know better. .

2 = ”

NEATEST THING ISSUED LOCALLY for years in the way of birth announcements is that of-the LeRoy George Gordner’s. It is a full size English Theater program, replete with advertisements. Date of the production was April 7, 1940, at “St. Vincent De Paul's 27th St. House” and it was the world premiere of “It’s a Boy.” The starring role was given to Fritz Rudolph Gordner. The program goes SO far as to list the acts, the musical numbers, the staff, the customary credits, and program notes. “Who Knows?” is listed as the next production of the Gordner Repertoire Company. #” #" #”

CIRCUIT JUDGE COX held a hearing yesterday in connection with the new Magistrates Court Act. One of the witnesses was Walter Bradford, Wayne Township Justice of the Peace. Mr. Bradford told Judge Cox he had two “J. P. offices,” one at his home and the other in Speedway City. The latter, he said, was established at the request of Speedway City authorities. He said that the reason was that the constable there was so busy he didn’t have time to look for law violators. The constable, said Mr. Bradford, was head of the fire department and street commissioner and lately has been digging a trench for a water main. And anyway, Mr. Bradford added, he. didn’t have a Imitoren,

“

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

O matter how traveled she may be, a woman's - greatest adventure is her journey to the ma-

ing her first trip you're bound to think, “Mother’ll be right with you, Darling”—only Mother isn’t. It’s the most helpless feeling—as if you were a

person standing on the brink of a broad stream waving feeble encouragement to the one stepping off into its waters. Maybe the force of your love helps "a little, but if we stick to the practical side we know it is the doctor and nurses who do that. .- But what could be more wonderful than to have your little girl come back to you, this time with a child of her own? Life’s high experiences can be counted upon the fingers of one hand, and certainly the arrival of a new grandson marks a red-letter day in any woman's existence. Here at last is that baby we've been talking about for months. To everybody else he probably looks exactly like a million other babies. ‘But everybody else is profoundly ignorant on that subject. ‘We take our stand with the mobs of gloating relatives who mill around .the windows where the infants are put

the “One Baby,” we look down our noses at them because they are not able to see what is so obvious— that our baby is by far the most beautiful and wonderful child in the place. All the while, too, your reason jeers as. your emotions take full charge of your being. it snickers. “What a spectacle you are making of yourself, Yo can’t imagine how silly you look. “Why not use a little sense about this?” . The answer is, you can’t. to use. And it’s just as well, I think. For when men and women touch common humanity through common experiences they are truly alive. Who wants to be unusual or different or sensible when the miracle of a baby is there to look at? It is much better to

§ ings on. t $ mah who

“In two moves which have political as-well as eco- |

The rebate will enable the Japanese to pay the |

ternity ward. And when it's your only daughter mak-

on display. Though every person has eyes only for |’

“Aha, Old Girl!” |

You haven't any left’

feel as if your insides were turning’ » jelly. Bless- | the evokes once more the old

‘The Hoosier Forum

1 wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.—V oltaire.

WANTS ‘MR. TAXPAYER’ TO RUN SCHOOL BOARD By a Former Taxpayer The writer hastens to place in

| nomination for election, or appoint-

ment, to be, not a member of the School Board of Indianapolis, but to constitute the whole board with full

formally promulgated there shall be no appeal, the highly enlightened “Taxpayer” who graced your Hoosier Forum, today. No delay—do it now! The welfare of your schools requires immediate action,

No longer can you trust the conduct of your schools to men and women who because of their college training have become unfit to be trusted. The ability and judgment displayed by Mr. Taxpayer make him the logical man to put in full control of your entire school system. Mr, Taxpayer went to school 50 years ago, and distance lends enchantment to his views. Your shools need a leader with just such a background. But—just as I was about to close this letter, a neighbor lad, a high school junior, came in, looked over my shoulder, disapproved, .and asked to write a concluding paragraph, I yield to him, but I disclaim any responsibility for the opinion of this modern upstart. Selah. “Mr. Taxpayer, ” his ilk, and their ancientry cannot and will not be heard seriously in modern times. He and they are quite as ignorant as they seem. Whatta World! 2 2 LUDWELL DENNY'S ARTICLE CRITICIZED By Ralph R. Canter Jr. “If war comes for our country, it will be as a result of such articles as Ludwell Denny’s (who, if I remember correctly, was former editor of The Times). His statements concerning the involvement of the United States will do more to make

war seem inevitable than anything else he could write about. Of course we must face the facts; of course we must not disregard the events in Europe; but when we dwell constantly on the possibility or probability of war, the public will accept the war as a future mat-

1 ter of course. Everybody will con-

Side Glances—By Galbraith

power, and from whose edicts once|

|such statements.

(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.)

sciously or, unconsciously be preparing himself for this thing that is to come. It is not only Mr. Denny, but all our other columnists. Our greatest threat of war, I believe, will come from such a resigned acceptance to the inevitability of our involvement. I'll go if it comes, but I certainly don’t want to kill. I would rather fight these people who write Of course they have to fill up space with something, but let it be hope for the future, not dark pessimism. ls a. ORIGINAL TOWNSEND PLAN

DISCARDED, IS CLAIM

By Claude Braddick Since my recent letter, in which I deplored the fact that voters in the Fifth Congressional District | would have no other choice than to vote for a Towsendite, I have learned that Marvin D. Myers, of Hillisburg, has filed to run against Wolf in the Democratic primary. Of Mr. Myers’ program, however, I know nothing at present. ‘It is well to remember, too, at

this point, that the Townsend Plan as such no longer exists, except per-

haps in the minds of some of the

more fanatical club members. The original plan, with its $200-a-month benefits and compulsory spending, |: to be financed by a 2 per cent sales tax, was demonstrably absurd, and the impossibility of its establishment. was soon apparent, The plan has accordingly undergone gradual modification. Today when a person speaks of the Townsend Plan it is more than likely that he has in mind a universal old-age pension of $50 or so, to be financed by a tax on incomes, : T Jr # = = da WANTS AMERICA 2 TO HONOR MOTHERS By Curious To Bull Mooser, ‘Crawfordsville: Statistics show that the population of the U. 8. A. will become stationary at our present rate of increase by 1960. It seems to me we

ought to figure out some way to honor women who present sound and normal babies to us on the date of their first birthday. If good people are not important in this country, what is? I would like to stay out of this war, but the only route seems to be for Germany to put a britzkrieg on west Europe, then tell us. “Now you stay at home and we will do likewise.” That would be a good bargain and we could help them keep it, but if we go over there again we

are just plain nutz!

New Books at the Library

HE clipper ship Cambodia T fought for her very life in a vicious squall, side-slipping and plunging to the terror of her strange assortment of passengers. Joan Buckley wasn’t afraid because she no longer cared for anything. But the wealthy Dutchman

had an important rendezvous in.

Singapore. Hugh North, of the U. S. Army, was anxious to fulfill a secret mission. The White Russian shared his interest in an important new metal and its inventor. The

"Feel pr gettin’ inda pif

English noblewoman was much too dignified to show any fear. Irene Walsh, reporter, and Made Sayu, dancer, had their own private worries. Before the journeys end, Irene’s fellow passengers watched her flushed cheeks and listened to her gasping breath, unable to help the mysteriously dying girl. Safely in Singapore. at last, Hugh used strange means to solve the crime—visiting cocktail lounges, dancing, dining, attending elaborate parties. But behind a devil-may-care attitude was a keen mind, working day and ,night with all available clues—some choral, a water-brush, a barking Pekinese, a bottle of aspirin, and a water glass —to a successful and dramatic solution. ~ Van Wyck Mason adds another Hugh North story to his already popular collection. You'll find “The Singapore Exile Murders” (Doubleday) fast in action, racy in dialogue, and never failing in interest.

MISERY - By MAUD COURTNEY WADDELL

One night along the street where thin snow whirled 1 came upon a huddled dog, Its poor frame wracked by cold and

pain. 1 bent more low to speak some ‘word of comfort And found its head too weak to move. I only heard a feeble whimper that held all the pain And all the misery of the forsaken and the maimed. And as I hurried on to seek some aid I plainly saw in this poor creature’s

all hans pitiful and horrible suffer-

ing That men in battle know When left to die alone upon the SNOW.

DAILY THOUGHT Now therefore let™it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for-. ever: for thou blessest O Lord, and it shall be blessed Jorever. Chronicles 1

‘them during convalescence.

Gen lebron Says—

Erg

Proposed Abolition of CAA Safety Board Is a Step Backward and Public Should Join Pilots in Squawk

ASHINGTON, April 16.—Up to 18 months ago, . the chief beef of this column was the appalling series of commercial airplane accidents and the sloppy work and unsatisfactory reports of the Bureau of the Department of Commerce in charge. Under the former Secretary it was a political pot house and the influence of big aviation interes was not conspicuous by its absence. Then, after four years’ effort, Senator McCarran got his bill through setting up the Civil Aeronautics Authority as an independent non-partisan agency. . It separated executive function from judicial and legislative ones, put the former in the hands of an administrator, set up an independent. safety board to plug up the ghastly gap in the departmental administration. The Authority was promptly manned with competent experts. . This column hasn't seen anything to kick about for more than a year in which about 815 ‘million passenger miles were flown without a death—&n uns precedented safety record. CAA.is not entifled to all the credit, but it rates its share. It is now pros: posed, under the Reorganization Act, to:abolish the Safety Board and reduce the authority to old status as a bureau of the Department of Commerce--right back Where we started from. ” o »

N defense of this it is said, according to the Amere. ican Aviation Daily, that Secretary Hopkins is well informed in aeronautics and is not a politician. If Harry is an airman, how did he get that way? If the other reason had said: “Not a good politician™ it could pass. But Harry is the author of the great back-firing 1938 purge, of “tax and tax and spend. and spend and elect and elect” and of such a political use of WPA billions that he had to be hastily. kicked upstairs into the Cabinet in order to avoid a Congressional investigation that would have gooked him and the Administration too. The big travel-aviation interests are not say. ig a word. The dope is that the change will go through if they do not oppose it. It is doubtful if they will, but the gir traveling public ought to join the air pilots in forceful opposition. These are the people whose hides are endangered.

” tJ ”

HERE are only two apparent reasons for wrecks, ’ ing a unit that was working so well to go back

to a system that wasn’t. One is politics and the

an

.other is amateur professional piddling with an ots

ganization chart in the rarefied academic atmosphere of the Brownlow Committee. Neither is good enough, Politics is what we don’t want here. The best ree organization chart in the world is no good without, the right men in the proper places with unhampered. opportunity to do their stuff.. This move not only fails to let well enough alone’ by a step back to a tried and condemned failure, but it is highly probable that it will result in resignation of the three best men in the Authority, including the adminisiistor SPATE plugs that made the syste wor

Business By John T. Flynn

Chains May Need Attention, But Patman Bill Is Wrong Approach

EW YORK, April 16.—Congressman Wright Pate’ man, author .of various price-fixing measures to save the little businessman, now has a bill before the Ways and Means Committee to tax chain stores, Proponents of the measure say the chains are tends’ ing to become great monopolies, that soon they will eat up all the independent merchants, that they draw - sustenance from the towns in |which their units operate away from the local businessmen, etc. Those opposed to the measure stress the savings. made possible by the mass purehasing and distribute.

ing of the chain, point out that they spend money

in the towns as well as take it away, hire local people, engage in local activities, etc. In the weltér of arguments pro and con, the basieproblem in the whole issue is lost sight of—and it is’

very doubtful if Mr. Patman’s bill is the solution of it,

There are two important phases to this problem—e one, that of the consumer, and two, that of the whole subject of bigness. As to the consumers—the great, unorganized mass of the people—almost the only break their pockete books get in our society is in their ability to buy where prices are cheapest and quality is best. There can be no doubt that’ the chains—some of them, at. least—have done a job here which may well be 5 lesson to the independents.

Impartial Inquiry Urged gr i

As a matter of fact, the independents—botl wholesalers and retailers—cannot in fairness any: longer use this argument against the chains, since they have proved its validity in many cases by themselves forming into co-operatives and buying pools and doing the job as well as the chains. But it is possible—and here the problem of bige'

‘ness enters the question—that a chain may become

so large, so unwieldy and so unsusceptible to sound: business management that its service :to the come munity becomes no better than that of the small,’ unintelligent, often fly-by-night independent. And it then has, in addition to this, the social implications . of size itself. No one seeius to know just ‘when or at just what ' point a chain reaches this condition, any. more than anyone knows that completely independent units would be the solution of the problem. The independs.; ents are by no means unorganized—in fact they are: among the most vociferous demanders of that “Gove: ernment interference” they profess to hate so uth, But might it not be a good idea, instead of pass a bill every time the independent merchants: dema one, and then passing another demanded by he. chain advocatls, to have the whole subject studie dispassionately and scientifically by a group made ole neither of chain-store advocates nor “friends of the. little businessman”? :

Watching Your Health By. Jane Stafford J

F you are one of the many thousands of persons who have been treated with sulfanilamide or sule fapyridine for pneumonia or some other infectious disease for which these chemicals are effective remee« dies, you may be worrying about recent raports that: sulfanilamide and sunshine do not mix well, A numes ber of persons have apparently become confused op. alarmed through misunderstanding the matter. Here is the situation: Shortly after sulfanilamide: and related chemicals were first used, physicians: noticed that some patients, when exposed to sunlight. or ultraviolet rays from an artificial sunlight lamp alfes ihe sulianfiamide ireaiment, developed a skin ra n some patien the rash might i ya severe and troublesome. e 5; be ne The condition does not, always occur, hi we w Sets is no need to worry about going outdoors untanning on the beach this summer if pie de i given during the winter or spring. The effect of light on sulfanilamide-treated persons is Immediate, not remote} that is, the rash will only develop within: a short period after sulfanilamide treatment. Pa ghia recovering from a severe illness may think that: lamp treatments or outdoor sunbathing would: help If they. start the sune shine treatment too soon after taking sulfanilamide, they may have the skin rash. Very likely, howevet,. their physicians will warn them about the situat:

‘In any case, it’ would be Wise to consult a ph “before taking either artificial or Raju