Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 May 1940 — Page 14

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The Indianapolis Times

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

ROY W. HOWARD RALPH BURKHOLDER MARK FERREE President

* Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Iimes Publishing Co, 214 W. Maryland St

Member ot United Press, Seripps « Howard Newspaper Alliance, NEA Service, and Audit Bue reau of Circulation.

Qe LApht and the People Wilt Find Thetr Dwn Way

TUESDAY, MAY 1, 1040

WHOM ARE THEY LEADING? OW that President Roosevelt once more has called for passage of the Hatch Bill, one wonders just whom the so-called leaders of the House of Representatives are leading. Certainly they are not leading for the Administration. Mr. Roosevelt speaks for the Administration. They are not reflecting the views of their Democratic colleagues in the Senate. When the Hatch Bill was passed by the Senate a larger number of Democrats voted for the bill than voted against it—and Democratic Leader Barkley was a conspicuous champion of the measure. They are not, in our opinion, leading a majority of the Democrats of the House. The party margin is overwhelming in that body—and any measure the party wants to defeat it can defeat. But the only movement in which Bill Bankhead and Sam Rayburn are leading is that designed to keep the Hatch Bill bottled up in the Judiciary Committee to avoid a roll call on the floor of the House,

LET'S BE SPECIFIC : OST of the articulate aspirants for the Presidency are stressing their high resolve that this country shall be kept out of war. Some of us are old enough to recall that in the campaign of 1916 Woodrow Wilson put a similar emphasis on his determination to keep the peace. And look what happened. These glib and sweeping declarations against going to war are of no great value. To be convincing, the candidates should get down to the specifications. They should tell us their reactions to such questions as these: Do they support the cash-and-carry policy of the existing Neutrality Act, under which we have temporarily waived our right to the freedom of the seas, and under which our merchant marine has escaped without a sinking?

Do they approve the release of advanced types of our war planes for sale to the Allies? Would they favor the release to the Allies of such military secrets as the American bombsight ? Would they favor the American occupation of Greenland in the event of a threat of Nazi seizure? Or after a Nazi seizure? If the Netherlands are overrun by Germany, would they advocate American occupation of Dutch property in the Caribbean—Dutch Guiana and Curacao, particularly? » LJ = = = - If the Allies run out of money, say two years hence, would the candidates forbid further shipment of planes and other supplies to them—even though it was apparent that such action would guarantee a German victory? Or would they recommend repeal of the Johnson Act and modification of the Neutrality Act in order to let the Allies float loans in this country? If Japan moves in on the Dutch East Indies, thus blanketing the Philippines, would they remain passive? Have they plans for assuring our continued access to the rubber, tin, quinine, etc., for which we depend on the East Indies? Have they worked out a program for the defense— militarily, politically and economically—of this country in the event of the defeat and subjugation of England and France and the capture of their Navies? Those are hard questions, and we don’t pretend to know the best answers for all of them. But it seems to us that these undocumented promises to “keep us out of war” would be more impressive if backed up with specific replies to some of the above.

TOM, BEN AND BUREAUCRACY THE Senate Judiciary Committee has voted unanimously to clear the way for early Senate debate on the LoganWalter Bill. Majority Leader Barkley having failed to block the bill, the team of Corcoran and Cohen is now making a desperate effort to rescue the Federal bureaucracy from this proposal for checks and balances to prevent abuse of its powers. Many Senators heard from Tommy or Ben that the President wants the bill defeated. The House has passed this measure nearly 8 to 1, fewer than 100 Democrats voting against it. Sixteen members of the Senate committee have now refused unanimously to be party to a plot to smother it. And we believe the Senate, having debated it thoroughly, will pass it. But even that probably won't convince Messrs. Corcoran and Cohen of a fact which apparently their best friends won't tell them—namely, that Congress is weary of their advice.

REPORTER HEATH URTON HEATH of the New York World-Telegram, a Seripps-Howard newspaper. has been awarded the $1000 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished reporting in 1939. Mr. Heath's achievement was a series of articles exposing frauds perpetrated by Judge Martin T. Manton of the Federal Circuit Court. Knowing of the months of painstaking work done by Burton Heath on this assignment, we know that he richly deserves the honor. He undertook what seemed an almost impossible task. Judge Manton had great power and had used it to cover up the evidence of his financial manipulations. Mr. Heath dug and kept digging, finding one bit of evidence here and another there, piecing them together, checking and double-checking every fact, until finally he had the stary which drove Judge Manton from the bench and landed him in a Federal prison. The Scripps-Howard newspapers are proud of Distinguished Reporter Heath and especially proud that this Pulitzer Prize, awarded for 1938 to Thomas L. Stokes of our Washington staff for his seribs exposing political abuses

of WPA in Kentucky, has gone for a second successive year

Fair Enough

By Westbrook Pegler People of Today Have It Tough?

Huh, What About Cigaret Lighters |

and Such Things in Pre-Zipper Era?

EW YORK, May T7--Sometimes when people complain about modern existence I wish I could whisk them back to a primitive day when the going was really tough. I have in mind such a little thing as the lighting of a cigaret in a car, a simple and non-hazardous operation now, but one which was fraught with hardship and danger within the memory of us hardy survivors of a time when the means of existence were crude and life was lightly held.

The method of the moment, borrowed from toe morrow, permits the driver to obtain a lighted cigaret by pressing a button on the wheel, whereas I can recall, as if it were yesterday, when it was necessary first to fish around for the cigaret and then to jab an electrical dasher and wait until it got red. At that point it would click and was ready for use, But it was impossible to remember which dasher was the one for lighting cigarets, and there was a great deal of groping at the choke and light buttons, with consequent loss of concentration on the road and risk of disaster, Then, having lit the cigaret, the primitive American often couldn't readily locate the hole to reinsert the lighter, and his fumbling with the right hand while the left hand held the wheel often led to infelicity, as when the wife of the driver would say, “here, give me that crazy thing and watch your driving. Smoke, smoke, all the time, and put the car in the ditch.” ’ ® = @»

N my day the driver had to be a giant of physical endurance, for he was called upon to give traffic signals by hand and even had to shift gears by a lever which came up through the floor, We never thought to see a day when a flip of a little thing on the shifting handle would set signals blinking at the stern or, for that matter, when a handle would sprout, like Pinocchic’s nose, from the steering post and gears could be changed by a simple finger motion. But those were the days! Those weré the days when, in some cars, those in the front seat had to climb out while the man removed the cushions to put in gas and people thought nothing of dragging theme selves laboriously on foot, 15, 30 or even 50 feet to the hamburger stand instead of sitting in comfort while cute little numbers in bare legs took the orders and brought them out on trays, and--perhaps not many remember, but I give you my solemn word I do— when you had to work your windshield wiper by hand! . ® 8 = OMETIMES I wonder how we came through it, but then it didn't seem so hard. We had never heard of gzippers and everyone used buttons, hooks and eyes or, for some purposes, laces, and the cigaret holders had to put up with what would drive people to revolution now. Still, I don’t really believe we complained as much as people do now. Of course it was a nuisance to pry up the cap of a milk bottle with an ice pick instead of lifting it neatly off with a flap. It was a hardship, too, to empty the pan under the ice box and chip off hunks with a pick for highballs instead of lifting off neat cubes, but, as I say, it was what we were used to. You probably won't believe that our radios had ear phones instead of loudspeakers or that within the memory of people now alive the rubber wash-wringer, with its deadly rollers, was in common use instead of the mechanical dryer. Looking back now, I don't see where we got the courage to carry on. But I sincerely believe the answer was character. If you want my opinion, character is the crying need of the American people today.

Inside Indianapolis

We Produce a New Type Shell; And Our Local Derby Experts

NE Indianapolis firm is now engaged in the mass production of a new type of shell for a foreign government, a shell that the U. S. Army has rejected. The U. S. turndown apparently didn’t bother the foreign government (we don't know which it is) and it ordered enough of a supply to assure mass production for some time to come. The shell is designed to shatter into more fragments when it explodes than do the shells now in use throughout most of the world. Company officials say that the new shell puts more soldiers “out of commission” than present shells. Casualties will be higher, they say, but fatalities smaller. “After all,” they say, “that is what any country wants them to do—put the greatest number of the enemy out of commission.” The company isn’t secretive about the shell but they can't make any public announcement unless the foreign government gives its consent. So far, that consent has been withheld. We don't have to say, do we, that the company was disappointed that the U. S. Army turned thumbs down?

= s ” GALLAHADION'S VICTORY IN the Derby may have been a surprise to most of us but it wasn't to two local Legionnaires (Robert E. Kennington No. 34 Post). . .. Thomas D. McHugh had $5 on Gallahadion’s nose. . John Paul (Mike) Dean must have had at least a thousand on the winner the way he was strutting around town. . . . And speaking of sports, there is one Louisville pitcher who will be watched with some interest when the Colonels play the Indians here. . . . He is Sam Nahem and his sister is Mrs. Edward Dayan of the 3741 Watson Road Dayans. . . . We've been meaning to mention to Mr. Arch Bobbitt that his Republican State Committee is wasting postage noney. . . . They keep sending out envelopes marked “News Copy” and there is absolutely nothing in the envelopes. . . . Honest, Arch!

= ” - WE'VE JUST THIS MINUTE heard about a little Girl Scout who asked a woman at 42d and College to buy some cookies from her. . . . The woman said she would if the Scout would run across the street to buy her a penny postage stamp. . . . The Scout did, but when she returned she found the woman and her cookies had disappeared. . . . There have been three giant “E's” atop the International Harvester plant on Brookville Road lately. . . . They have been painted several colors, never the same hue at the same time. . . . Somebody finally got around to asking what the point was. . . . It turns out that International is going to put up a giant sign. . . . There are three “E's” in the firm name and they've simply been testing the best paint to resist the fumes from the ventilators so that the sign won't discolor.

A Woman's Viewpoint

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

EAR ADMIRAL JOSEPH TAUSSIG asserts boldly that war between the United States and Japan is inevitable. It's enough to make your head swim, the way the military experts switch enemies on us overnight and in mid-stream. Here we are all hot and bothered about stopping Germany, when along will come another of 'em warning us to be on our guard against Stalin, who is really the bad man of the Eastern Hemisphere. Then, just about the time we work up enough indignation over that, a Taussig admonishes us to watch out for Japan because she plans to impose her culture on the world, and if we don't want to look sick we'd better prepare to nip that idea in the bud-—nip old Nippon, so to speak. Anyway, the whole thing is very depressing. And the more you heed the generals, admirals and other experts, the worse you feel. They can dig up enough potential foes in one day's raking to keep the next 10 generations of Americans making armanients and fighting. It seems somebody is always hell bent to take over the earth—and it's up to us to stop them. Now this calumn is frequently reminded by readers that it is not an authority on military matters. Maybe so. But it is beginning to suspect that nobody else is either. There are entirely too many “authorities” broadcasting too many different themes—all gruesome, _ out of dlueriined raorss, howerst OR a Ts ab , Aaia is a §

+ " il ota

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

You Asked for It, Samson!

The Hoosier Forum

I wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.— Voltaire.

WARNS OF DEPRIVING ANY GROUP OF RIGHTS

By N. W.

I don’t like the Communists either. BUT—all history keeps repeating that when you deprive one group of its rights, all others eventually follow in their path. The Legion, the women’s clubs, and all those fighting the Commies ought to stop and think. Who knows but what the same weapon will backfire and have them deprived of their civil rights?

» ” » SAYS DEMOCRACY MEANS SERVING EACH OTHER By Voice in the Crowd In trying to be facetious the other day one of the Communists, (who only writes in the Forum in an effort to ridicule my loyalty to the American system of serving each other), wisecrackingly remarked that if “the unemployed took in each

other's washing they would have prosperity.” Ridiculous as it was meant to sound, this party gave a very good description of American business, because figuratively speaking, “we

a pack of cigarets, get your hair cut, take a streetcar ride, get your shoes shined, or just a lot of little things done or bought and you have played a part in American business. You pay for these things out of wages that you might earn by helping to build automobiles or washing machines and what not, for the people who serve you. That is all there is to business, there is no secret to it, nor any mystery. Regardless of what the quitters, Reds, Pinks and Fascist Technocrats say or think, we could all live in plenty simply by serving each other in the manner that our fathers did and we would all enjoy the new things in life, except for one thing-—the tax collector. Every time you spend a quarter the tax collector cuts its purchasing power to 18 cents or less. Why all these taxes? Well for 40 years, and especially during the last seven, organized groups have caused the politicians to erect a lot of bureaus to regulate the other fellow. These bureaus cost money but the politicians get soft jobs and are willing to keep them. On top of this we stuck our nose into a foreign war for which we still have to pay. So we have taxes and we have to

do each other's washing.” You buy|

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

work them out by the sweat of our brow. Ask Mr. Roosevelt, Ford claims that the politicians are on their way out. If this means that they will take their bureaus with them, our children will see an economy that is satisfactory to all and it will be American. » un = SEES U. S. HELPING TO DESTROY DEMOCRACY By H. L. S. Those Godless Communists of Russia and America must be chuck=ling up their sleeves to see the Christian nations engaged in mortal combat destroying themselves, so that the remains can be put back together after the war under a more sane humanitarian ideology. The Christian nations destroy life wantonly to acquire land holding

natural resources which is the gift of the Creator to all mankind. No wonder the Communists laugh at such perverted religion. War is a horrible thing if practiced by

Communists on a nation of Christians but it is a sacred thing if practiced by Christians against Christians. We prattle of all men being created equal but deny the brotherhood of all mankind under a Creator who rules over all with universal law, to which he holds all men accountable for every thought and action. It is a shame that our American newspapers should daily headline this sordid, gruesome destruction of human values. Democracy is being destroyed by those who most violently claim to be its advocates. War is the most deadly enemy of democracy. We have not yet learned to live and let live so we can live unselfishly and prosper more abundantly. America is helping to destroy democracy and the economic system of free enterprise when it supplies the death dealing instruments of war for this ungodly struggle. » ” on ADMITS LACKING PLAN TO BRING RECOVERY By Claude Braddick All right, Reader, you win! I don't have a plan to bring about recovery. (There are only a few of us left). WPA, PWA and CCC are all political schemes, while the Townsend Plan is not; and the dollars spent by a Townsend pensioner will magically bring recovery, while those spent by a WPA worker is sheer, stupid waste. I give up, Reader. You win!

New Books at the Library

OM the pen of still another writer has come a new novel about the famous Bronte family “These Were the Brontes” (Macmillan), by Dorothy Helen: Cornish. In the grim, forbidding old parsonage we see them first as children, playing together in the graveyard adjoining the house, and on the wild moors which surrounded the little village of Haworth. They were precocious youngsters, content to confine play only to themselves and their imaginary companions. Lonely, too, after the death of their mother and the two older sisters. And soon, school days for Charlotte

Side Glances—By Galbraith

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{corm eo uv service. i. 7. neo. uo FAT. OF. ol

and Emily divide the little group again. As they grow older it is the story of Charlotte and Emily that interests us most. These two, so different, yet so alike; Charlotte, the prim, conventional one, afraid to let loose her emotions, yet longing for fame; and Emily, passionate, loving, a child of nature, whose deepest thoughts and feelings she keeps locked in her own heart. Not until her return from Brussels, where she had been so greatly influenced by M. Heger, did Charlotte find herself and understand her genius. Then, through her persuasion, the family starts writing in earnest, and the works of Currer, Acton. and Ellis Bell are presented to the world. A fascinating story this, of the strange and talented Brontes, whose name has long stood for romance and tragedy to their many admirers.

SPRING QUEEN By JOSEPHINE DUKE MOTLEY It's houtceleaning time with eons of rt, With arms that ache and backs that hurt, And queens may be seen from most any street Through grimy windows or ones freshly sweet. Her majesty wears an apron quite

gay And battles with dirt through the livelong day. Her manner is as demure as a mouse, But’ she can work miracles with a house. With broomstick for sceptre and dust cap for crown, She rules her realm and deserves great renown; Yet few drink her toast and few sing her praise, Mankind’s so beset with ungrateful ways.

DAILY THOUGHT

Take you wise men and understanding and known among your tribes and I will make them rulers over you.“— Deuteronomy 1:18,

COMMON-SENSE in an uncom-|

TUESDAY, MAY 7, 1940

Gen. Johnson Says—

8 ASHINGTON, May 7.—Adventurers are begin« : ning to plan to win the nutty offer of a million dollars by Samuel Harden Church, president of the " Carnegie Institute, for the capture and delivery of Adolf Hitler unharmed to the League of Nations for trial for “his crimes against the peace and dignity of the world.” . The offer and efforts to win the reward are too trivial for comment. But, as an index of war hysteria,

it is not trivial—especially when a member of the ‘ House Foreign Affairs Committee says that the offer expressed “feelings that probably are shared by 90 per cent of the American people.” Most of us are convinced that Hitler is a heel, but how many believe in an American subsidy of interna-m tional kidnapping? What is proposed here across national boundaries is exactly what, in the so-called Lindbergh Law, we made punishable by death if cone ducted across state lines. " ” ” is attempted to be vindicated by moral indigna= tion. That is the sentiment advanced to justify lynching. It is a violation of international law. We also have American laws which prohibit recruiting or. filibustering against any power with which we are at peace. Filibustering and soldiering-of-fortune are at least above-board and in some sense heroic. This ridiculous attempt at subornation of kidnapping, reaches down into the Dillinger underworld to adopt tactics of gangsterism condemned by Federal statutes and those of every state. That is the lawless American proposal being broadcast across the world without a word of rebuke from any official source. ‘s “Hang the Kaiser and make Germany pay for the war!” That was the slogan either tacitly adopted or permitted to go unchallenged in England and France as a statement of war objectives sufficiently simple for popular digestion. Every statesman knew neither was possible but it was good war diet. It returned to haunt them at the Versailles Peace Conference. Riding roughshod over American objections, they made an impossible war-breeding peace. < Without infamy they could no more have hanged the Kaiser than Abraham Lincoln could have hanged Jeff Davis. Yet their action in suffering such a senti« ment in the war years is partly responsible for the curse that has come upon all countries today. EJ o ”

LSO, because of that sentiment-seeking, the kind of notoriety that is promised to be fabulously, rewarded in the Church-Hitler fantasy-—ex-Senator and (now ex-convict) Luke Lee of Tennessee actually attempted to kidnap the Kaiser and came close to doing it. It gave the head of every Allied and asso= ciated power goose-pimples. Unlike Jeff Davis, who could have been charged with treason, there was no law of God or man under which the Kaiser could have been tried, much less executed. Terrible, destructive and inhuman as have » been the acts of Adolf, the discredited and almost non-existent League of Nations has no jurisdiction, sanction, equity or law under which to bring him to trial—much less to sentence him. Certainly no Amer« ican has an excuse to kidnap him or to procure his * snatching. Mr. Church's absurdity is trivial, but any sucker American approval of it is dangerous. w

Business

By John T. Flynn

Relief Should Not Be Turned Back to , States as Long as U. S. Finances It

EW YORK, May 7.—It is getting to be popular in Washington to be against anything the New , ' Deal is for. In the growth and spread of that tendency a lot of things that are very bad might very well come to be popular for no better reason than that the New Deal opposes them. One of the points on which Republican candidates * are laying stress is that the administration of relief should be returned to the states. This is one of those plausible policies which gets quick acquiescence from the casual listener, It does not look so good after ae little inspection. It must be conceded that relief, as administered by the Federal Government, has been open to grave criticism. It has been made an instrument of political pressure. It has tended to give the Federal ¥ politician a power he ought not to have. Above all, it has given the President powers with which no execu~ tive should be intrusted. The demand for returning relief administration to » the states takes much of its force from this criticism. A Democratic President can exert power through relief funds in states which are normally Republican. If administration of relief were returned to the states, the local leaders would be able to exercise that power ¥ in their own behalf. There is, however, a fundamental objection to lodging in the local communities the administration of relief paid for by the United States. »

Political Power Should Go !

I think it ought to be accepted as a principle of administration and taxation that the Government , unit which administers any function should also pro= vide the funds for that function. Convérsely, the Gov« ernment unit which provides the funds should ade minister them, It is not wise policy to have cities spending funds raised by the states, or states—as in & New York—voting funds which must be raised by cities. It is quite as bad to have cities and states spending funds that must be provided by the Federal Government, + The only way to obtain a moral and intellectual integrity in the administration of funds is to have those funds raised out of the pockets of the constie tuents of those who administer them. If, therefore, the states are prepared to provide * the funds for relief, then there is every reason why the states should administer them. If they expect the Federal Government to go on providing those funds, there is every reason to keep their administration out; , of the hands of the local authorities. What has got to be done is to organize relief upon a basis which deprives the President of the power to use such funds to build up his own political machine

and advance his own political objectives. hd

Watching Your Health .

By Jane Stafford

IGH heels on women’s shoes have long been critie cized as unhealthful, and yet there are many women who say truthfully that they cannot com- i | fortably wear low or flat heeled shoes. The truth of ‘ | the matter, apparently, is that the height of shoe ( heels should be determined on an individual basis. You will be most comfortable on heels that measure up to the requirements of your foot. Directions for determining the required heel height are given by Frank R. Ober of Boston in a special * report to the American Medical Associatiom. According to these directions, the person being measured for heel height sits with his or her ankle resting on the examiner's hand. The knee is extended com=-, pletely, that is, not bent at all. The leg is level and all muscles in the leg and foot are completely relaxed. The examiner then turns the foot out slightly and gently bends it back, bringing the toe end upward until it will go no farther under gentle manipulation. * He then measures the distance between the sole of the heel and a plumb line falling from the toe joint. This distance will give the height of the heel necessary for the person being measured. < “Any heel lower than this,” says Dr. Ober, “may cause pronation of the foot, spreading of the fore foot and pain and cramps in the calf of the leg and aiso cause callosities to form under the ball of the ! foot. It may even cause symptoms of knee and ™ back strain.” i The highly arched foot, he explains, is likely to be associated with short heel cord. When a person with this type of food stands, pronation and lateral squate ting of the feet are necessary in order to get the heels on the ground. When such a person stands on tipgoe, the pronation disappears. People with this type of foot, Dr.

ys, are