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

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MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 1940

ASSAYING THE NEW DEAL

E'VE been hearing and reading much Democratic com-

ment on Wendell Willkie’s acceptance speech, and the |

substance of most of it seems to be about this: That Mr. Willkie agreed with Mr. Roosevelt on foreign policy, approved most of the New Deal's domestic reforms, and did not prove that he could do a better job in either field than the President has done.

Congressman T. V. Smith of Illinois, one of the fairest and most intelligent of all New Dealers, paid high tribute to the speech. He called it “magnificent.” But Mr. Smith went on to say, what Mr. Willkie offers is inexperienced leadership for the same tasks to which Mr. Rocsevelt can apply experienced leadership. : It is true that both candidates indorse selective service training for defense manpower. It is true that their general attitudes toward foreign policy have much in common, For these agreements the country may be thankful, since they offer hope that partisan differences may stop at the water's edge. Yet Mr. Willkie, sought—successfully we think— to make it clear that there is a fundamental difference. He would consider it his first duty as President to keep America out of war unless it were attacked, whereas he charged that Mr. Roosevelt, by some of his utterances and acts, “has courted a war for which the country is hopelessly unprepared—and which it emphatically does not want.”

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T is true that Mr. Willkie indorsed the principle of most of the reforms undertaken by the New Deal.

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These are reforms which real liberals have always |

favored. By proclaiming his belief in them, we think, Mr.

Willkie revealed his essential liberalism as contrasted to the |

essential reactionism of Old Guard Republicans who have damned all the works of the New Deal. But there are two Roosevelt policies which Mr. Willkie condemned emphatically, and these are the two which bear the seeds of destruction for all of the New Deal's desirable reforms: 1. The policy of trying to spend the country rich. 2. The policy of stirring hatred and class division. Most of us have never ceased to believe what Mr. Roosevelt proclaimed in 1932—that a government or a family which lives beyond its income every year is headed for sure disaster, But this Government is living beyond its income every year, with outgo gaining constantly. And the people—even those who have benefited directly by New Deal spending—know instinctively that this is leading to disaster. j The Government, then, is not secure, and a govern-

ment that is not secure cannot give security to its people. |

It cannot guarantee that internal security against poverty and greed which is the objective of the New Deal's reforms. It cannot guarantee security against external dangers. And a people split by hatreds can neither cure their own ills nor effectively resist aggression from without.

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YO what Mr. Willkie proposes is not merely to do better what Mr. Roosevelt has attempted to do, but something much more. He proposes to rescue the Government from its drift toward disaster and to save the reforms instituted by the New Deal; to stop spending for the sake of spending, and to spend only for the sake of results; to stop merely trying to divide what wealth we have, and to start creating more wealth; to stop making the country weak by setting its people against each other, and to start making it strong by uniting the people for production. The Democrats have better grounds for saying that Mr. Willkie did not explain Saturday precisely how he intends to do these things. But this was only the first of many speeches he will make. As the campaign proceeds, and especially if Mr. Roosevelt sees fit to accept the suggestion for a series of joint debates, Mr. Willkie will have abundant opportunity to discuss proposed methods. What he presented at Elwood was a diagnosis. We believe it was an accurate diagnosis. The people will judge Mr. Willkie, not by the clever phrases with which his opponents are trying to dismiss him, but by the logic and force with which he offers his remedies.

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WILLKIE ON THE RADIO

HE Willkie speech was much better to read than to hear. In what the radio experts call diction Mr. Roosevelt up to now has it all over Mr. Willkie. That is important—tremendously important—in the campaign of this ysar of our lord 1940. It is something that Mr. Willkie's best friends should tell him. And he ghould do something about it. Demosthenes used a pebble. Mrs. Roosevelt, we understand, employed a teacher in intonation. Anyway, it can be done. Mr. Willkie's chief fault is a slurring of words, and a tendency to stumble and to backtrack. We listened to the original and then again to a re-broadcast. These slurrings were conspicuous—flosophy, instead of the full articulation; princples, likewise, biieve; smlar; clamity; oppsite; mtenance; obslete; unistates. Now all that shouldn’t be consequential, but it is. It’s a condition not a theory, When it comes to vote-getting in this day of radio and audiences by the million, teamwork among the organs of speech is vital. How the vocal cords mesh may be more important than how the Hatch Act performs. An Adam’s apple may win the election and determine the destiny of nations.

WE don’t think how a thing is said should be anywhere near as important as how a thing is thought. But in

campaigning, it is. So, thus early in the campaign, Mr. Willkie should take

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heed of this problem and realize that he is up against the

greatest epiglottis in the known world,

Fair Enough

| By Westbrook Pegler

Newspapers Are Urged to Avoid Favorable Mention of Night Spots Known to Be Violating the Law

EW YORK, Aug. 19.—In connection with the order of the New York Police Department requiring the proprietors and all employees of night clubs and cabarets to give their fingerprints I suggest that our business—meaning the newspaper business—has been pretty careless in serving as capper for the kinds of joints and personnel that Lewis

have publicized and glamorized places which we well knew to be gambling houses, and we have sometimes ballyhooed in gratuitous reading matter as picturesque certain individuals whom we have known to be hoodlums. A case in point is a crummy little politico-under-world character who was a bootlegger all through | prohibition, who is a lifelong associate of criminals land, in his younger days, was indicted for a gang murder. but let go without the formality of a trial. A few months ago I read one of those whimsical pieces about his picturesqueness in dealing with a bowl of spaghetti—which was quite amusing, to be sure, but which failed to convey a correct impression of his character, which is bad. ¥ 4% 8 N Chicago, during the Democratic convention, there was another feature story on the same hoodlum which also celebrated his quaintly slangy personality, and again, it occurred to me that the public was being sold a bill of goods, or, as you might say, shilled, on behalf of a thoroughbred no-good. Gambling may be right or wrong morally, but the | plain fact is that the law runs dead against it | everywhere, except in the state of Nevada and that, | therefore, wherever a gambling house operates more | than enough time for the police to find it and kick it in someone is being bribed. In other words, someone 1s selling to a criminal, or even an organization of criminals, the right to violate a law. We shouldn't be a party to any such conditions, hut we certainly are when we not only accent part of their profits for advertising and give them news publicity, knowing what goes on. The fact is that to some: extent in New York— but to a less extent here than elsewhere—the underworld has taken over an important phase of the amusement or theatrical industry.

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» HE poor ham who yowls and squawks into the microphone, the droll wags called masters of ceremonies, the little dancing dolls and some really first-class performers who ought to have better presentation, would starve if they had to rely on the stage of vaudeville and musical comedy, because the

| public insists on pawing at hunks of meat and french | fried potatoes and drinking scotch or rye while taking its amusement. or night club business were not, at heart and incorrigibly, a rogue business and infested with criminals of all kinds.

»

We certainly sound silly yelling “corruption go!” on the outside of the same edition that carries paid copy and free feature matter for such traps.

Inside Indianapolis

Willkie Rooters, Home Early, Give Traffic Handlers Pat on the Back.

| ILLKIE rooters from here returned with high | praise for the handling of traffic in and out | of Elwood. . . . Polks who didn't expect to be back

| for supper rolled in between 6 and 7 p. m. . . . There was little sickness . . . barbecued ribs and chicken and

dumplings were ruled out and only light food was |

| served. . . . Heat prostrations were few. For those who looked for Homer Capehart right after the show was over might be interested to know that he zipped out of town pronto to supervise a new business project in Ft. Wayne. He was up all Friday | night. = un ” THE WORST POLITICAL prophet in town, according to the soda fountain patrons at 13th and Pennsylvania, is Joe Tynan, secretary to former Mayor Kern and present chief deputy for County Auditor Hannah Noone. Three months ago Joe made a dozen | predictions on political developments, His score was 8 per cent, o n WEATHER COMMENTS on the streetcar: “No, I didn't get up to get blankets—I just curled up and shivered. Did I love it!" “I ran the fan last night just for fun—turned it around and let it blow the other way.” “Supposin’ it had rained Saturday!”

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on

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WILLKIE DAY was a dull one for the Indianapolis traffic court (ruled by Democrats). The court heard only three violators, convicted one (chauffeur of a G. O. P. national committeeman) and didn't collect a dime from him. y » y » BOBRY BOWES (son of Sealfast's Robert M, Bowes) launched his business career the other day. He and a playmate gathered goldenrod and tried to peddle it on 38th St. He came home crestfallen. “How did you do, Bobby?” asked his mother, “Oh, we had the worst luck,” Bobby replied. “Everybody just sneezed and walked on.”

= # THE INDIANA THEATER'S

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news reel shows order. . . The boos and cheers almost blend. . The cool weather didn't hurt attendance at the World War Memorial Plaza stone benches last night, . ' Noise highlight along N. Meridian St. Saturday night was the mingling of a “Just Married” party and a string of Willkie rooters coming home from Elwood.

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

F vou are feeling discofiraged about American life, as all of us are apt to do at times, a vacation in the Colorado Rockies ought to cure your worries permanently.

parently having a wonderful time, Not only Dad but Mother and the kids, little and grown up, tramp trout streams and fall into the simple life with zest and enjoyment. Trailer camps, dude ranches, resort hotels and mountain cabins offer the same edifying sight—family groups vacationing together. Cars crammed with

| over stony trails. It gives you a warm feeling in the

| region of the heart to realize that, for many, this

| outing is the high spot of the year.

ties and bit'ernesses can Ye healed. Nature is a splendid doctor and the combination of Nature with long days and nights spent cozily together, the small family alone, learning all over again the sweet secrets of companionship—are these not the best remedies for domestic ills? While I have always believed men should enjoy an occasional recess from matrimonial bliss, and that mothers ought to have a vacation from their children, children from mothers and wives from husbands, still it’s a healthier sign when households adjourn business and take off in a body for a period of play. For, of all the memories which follow us down life's long trail, none stand out so vividly as the mo- | ments when we laughed with those we loved. Fun shared together cements friendship, strengthens passion and fortifies affection.

a good many otherwise excellent parents forget that laughter and play are treasures too, rich treasures of

heritages we ci leave to our children, -

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F000,

Valentine, our Police Commissioner, has in mind. We |

That would be all right if the saloon |

The newspaper business doesn't need or, anyway, | shouldn’t take ads for dumps which we know to be | dumps or whose proprietors we know to be hoodlums. must |

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES | Goodby Jim--Take Keer O'Yerselt!

LOOK

HITTER WE

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ar THAT

SCORE { AND YOULL

HAD GET

MONDAY, AUG. 19, 1940

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VON KEE CONTRACT

DR: GALLUPS SCORE BOARD

WILLKIE — 304 FO, == 227

Gen Johnson Says—

Are Destroyers Obsolete, Then How Can They Help Britain? If Surplus Why the Cry to Increase Our Navy?

EW YORK, Aug. 19.—The fight to sell 50 of our

destroyers to Britain is led by the two whirling

| dervishes of the third-term assault on American tra- | dition—Senators Josh Lee and Claude Pepper. Each

The Hoosier Forum

I wholly disagree with what you say, but wilt

defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.

WARNS AGAINST THOSE | AFRAID OF MINORITIES By Mrs. Marv Burton

So sorry not to agree with { W. R., Homer Chaillaux, chief |of the American Legion '"Un-Amer-ican Activities Committee,” will not take back the statement he made against the children of Loyalist Spain. I do not understand why the men of the Legion, loyal Amerjcans... son to their own liberty. . . . Watch out for those who prate about freedom and are “afraid” of minorities, even of innocent kids “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” , . .

{ n n on ' DEPLORES DELAY IN | MUNITIONS CONTRACTS

By Kenneth Ogie, chairman, Indiana Com- | mittee for National Defense Those who question the need for | citizens organizing themselves into | groups that therafter petitioning | their Congressmen concerning this (war, our national policy, and the defense structure we are now en(gaged in erecting, are invited to direct their attention to two current (developments in Washington.

One of them relates to manufacture of munitions. A news service | reports that contracts for approxi[mately 4000 planes are nearing | (God save the mark) the point of signature since a basis “has been worked out for proceeding with work on new planes and completion | of new tax and amortization laws.”

In this connection it should be

| noted that a new release fully as] | authoritative

as the one above | quoted, concerning signed contracts |

s.|

can't see through the trea- |

d

n

(Times readers are invite

to their views |

these columns, religious con-

express

troversies excluded. Make

| your letters short, so all can

have a chance. Letters must

a eS

{ be signed, but names will b |

| withheld on request.)

| with all its power that tremendously serious errors of omission like the one above cited are not repeated. Equally important is the delay relating to troop training. It was apparent early this year (and no “inside information” was necessary) that drastic steps were needed if we were to exercise real prudence relating to basic defense. We count on using the Guard in case of an emergency, and the rawest rookie must know we have never given the Guard a real chance to prepare for the emergency. Early this year much of the country and certainly the Congress must have guessed that the Monroe Doctrine might be under threat of aggression before year’s end and that, therefore, we would have to | provide more than just a navy and an air force to implement a funaamental part of our foreign policy. This could oily mean one thing. Our every experience since the Revolution has told us, backed up by the declaration of every President who had to fight a war, that voluntary enlistment was no good, unfair to the volunteers, and unfair to the country, yet Congress debates the matter at this date, namely the middle of August, with the United States virtually unarmed |

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{ | |

| States

President Roosevelt and Wendell Willkie in rapid-fire | lem could’ just as well have found

The place is filled with gallivanting families ap- |

| people and baggage speed up the highways or crawl |

Here, while tired bodies rest, weary minds and aching hearts may also find peace. In this serene land | quarrels are forgotten and thousands of little animosi- |

While we busy ourselves storing up earthly treasure |

the spirit, and that happy memories are the best

or items “cleared” (which the public took to be the same thing) has come along regularly for many weeks only to be contradicted a few days later. Furthermore, even if it is at last true that the problem relating to amortization of new plants for munitions has finally been attended to, it does not excuse the wholly needless, disgraceful and, perhaps, disastrous dillydallying that has | taken place over the last 90 davs. This particular and peculiar prob-

an answer in May as the middle of August. The public ought to know that this is true and should insist

[in the midst of the most potent | aggressors in the world's history. | Considering the lessons which |ly a year's time, one might well | wonder whether it is possible to rouse this country in time.

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| SEES INDIVIDUALISM STILL IMPORTANT

[ By Arthur S. Mellinger |

| The fact that Jim Farley has resigned as Democratic National | Committeeman shows the average | voter that the Democrats themselves

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Side Glances—By Galbraith

"Now lst's make up our minds—Ronald wants to gs to the

«Aart museum and you want to see Mickey Mousel'

1

know that the handwriting is on the wall, and that their days are| numbered. The present conserip- | tion controversy, and the third term| issue, should be sufficient subjects to defeat the Democrats in November, | I urge everyone to talk and ex-| press his opinions, but when they, go to the polls this fall to vote, they | should vote according to their judg- | ment remembering the Democrats | failure to live up to their promises We are made up of a myriad of individuals who have many opin- | ions, therefore it would be inevitable for us all to agree. The United as a democracy has de-| veloped through years of inter-| change of thought. The govern-| ment has been perfected to a de-| gree hitherto unknown, and we, as individuals enjoy a freedom that no other peoples have enjoyed. The, idea of the individual being the most important factor is being ridiculed by the proponents of the state supremacy. This phenomenal prog-| ress has been made by individuals. Two per cent of the total population does the thinking for the other ©8 per cent. Take Benjamin Frank- | lin, Thomas Edison, and a number | of others out of our American history, and progress would have been exceedingly slow. I read the other day that a noted General stated that in the modern! warfare that the individual meant nothing. Then it seems to me. he contradicts himself because aren't Hitler. Mussolini and Stalin, individuals? . ..

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CLAIMS DRAFT BILL FAIR AND IMPARTIAL By a Satisfied Customer In answer to Mrs. O. M. Cleave of New Castle, Ind.: The only logical reason any news- |

Van- |

| have been screamed at us for near- | paper would indorse the Burke-

Wadsworth Conscription Bill 1s Be} absolute fairness and impartiality in distinguishing between the rich and the poor man’s status. would .gprve the country shoulder to shoulder. That is the whole issue—but so few citizens realize it. You are laboring under a delusion when you try to confuse the facts. As to President Roosevelt, he is trying with every means at his command to preserve democracy for this and generations to come, hy preparing us to defend our shores, our people and our way of | life. From a personal standpoint: How could you compare our government to “Hitler's” when legislation was enacted bv us that helped you and | thousands of others to save your home here. Would Hitler do that for you? | As far as the “War Party” is con- | cerned, that is only partisan politics | and we genuine Americans accept it

man They

at its face value,

BEAUTY By VERNE S. MOORE The beauty that men strive to chain is free | To flash, and wane, and die and cannot be Depicted by the deftest song or brush. The real alone can bring longing and Despair, the admiration and the Joy, Each beauty has its grace, Such is my thought of you and it| is true I cannot hope to see you as you are That others too may see. not try.

the

individual

I shall]

DAILY THOUGHT

Moreover the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed 7:20,

WICKEDNESS, when properly punished, is disgraceful only to the offender.—C. Simmons.

| the war industries.

| serious diseases, he should be given as many | tective aids as science offers. | vaccinated against smallpox before entering school.

| has a right to be as fanatical as he pleases—as Pepper | is for old Doc Townsend's cruel deceit of the aged: as | Josh is for the uncompensated confiscation of property. But should we pay much attention to such emotional gentlemen on so grave a question as direct involvement in this war by detaching to it a part of our Navy? During our Civil War, Great Britain permitted swift Confederate commerce destroyers to be fitted out in British ports. They gave the final push to our once-supreme merchant marine—a blow from which it never recovered. The British finally admitted that for this sort of illegal participation in undercover war, the offending country is responsible in damages for every loss its unlawful act has imposed. Apart from any such quibbling as Josh Lee is doing to make a mockery of statutory and treaty obligations, let's not overlook the Alabama claims. They involved, in the main, only two wooden ships. What would 50 destroyers involve? ”

HERE are some vital

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factual questions which should be considered. Are these vessels “obsolete”? If so, how can it be urged that the life of the British Navy depends on them? Are they “surplus”? If so, why are we in such concern to double our Navy and in more concern be cause it will take so long? Is disposing of 50 destroyers and 200 guns the best wav to start? Will their detachment weaken our Navy? Under ou policy of policing the seas of half the world, obviously it will, The “pro-sale” argument is that we are in danger of immediate invasion if the British Navy goes down. If that were true, will these 50 so-called “obsolete and surplus” destroyers save the British Navy? Will the with-holding of them injure its safety? No authority has been willing to underwrite either of these pre=posterous conclusions. n

” AS I understand the position hitherto taken by Admiral Stark he would have opposed this transfer on exactly the arguments here indicated. Josh Lee says Stark wouldn't oppose it now. Mebbeso. Any official, like Harry Woodring, who opposes policies of involvement gets replaced by such amateur war lords as Headlong Harry (Wrong-Horse) Stimson, who scents the battle from afar and snorts to get into it. The absurdity of this whole position is plain. It starts out by saying that our safety depends on the

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{ British Navy and the British Navy depends on us.

These destroyers are worthless and. therefore, we can let them go. They are indispensable for the British Navy and, therefore, we must send them. I doubt if a sillier contradiction was ever seriously advanced. If our defense depends on great Britain and she is so seriously threatened, then not 50 “obsolete and surplus” destroyers, but the whole strength of America should be sent at once. War-minded politicians do not dare directly affront America with anv such repetition of 1917, So they proceed bv indirection, thus to involve us further and further to a point beyond which there can be no retreat.

Business By John T. Flynn

War Industries Hard to Define, Which Complicates Tax Problem

JEW YORK, Aug. 19.—Statesmen, near-statesmen and business are having a hard time with the subject of taxes to pay for the great war preparations. Some don’t like the proposal for an undivided profits lax, some do not like the plan for an excess profits tax, and various other people do not like various other kinds of taxes. A good deal of the confusion arises out of what seems to this writer a mistaken notion—namely, that some particular group in the society must be found who have a special obligation to pay for the cost of a war. The fundamental error is in assuming that the cost of the war should be paid for principally by those who profit by the war. The mistake at the bottom of that is that those who profit by the war can be singled out and isolated. They are supposed to be (1) those engaged in war industries and (2) those whose incomes are higher since the advent of war than they were befere Both these assumptions are false. It is false to suppose that the financial benefits of a war are to be found in the pockets of those engaged in the war industries. To begin with, vou cannot identify a war industry. The battleship building yard is a war industry. But so are 50 or 60 other industries that supply it with iron, wood, canvas, paint, copper, nickel, bedding, hammocks, etc., and so are the raw materials industries that supply material to them. A town has a small mill that produces a special kind of spring for beds on ships. Nothing could look less like a war industry. But from idleness it springs to activity and along with it the wire mill and

( the merchants in the towns where the spring fac-

tory and the wire mill are located. Defense Must Be Paid For

All these enterprises are as much beneficiaries of the war industry as the shipbuilder himself. And so are the food factories, the farmers, the clothing stores and shoe stores and manufacturers whose products go to the employees of all these enterprises. War industries and the special beneficiaries of war industries cannot be located and segregated from all others. If defense is necessary, it must be paid for. It is establishied for the benefit of all the people—not just It should be paid for by all the people, whether they are engaged in war industries or not, Furthermore, it should be paid for. It should be paid for not as a penalty upon our people for getting mixed up in war, but in order to protect the economic system from ruin. It must be paid for or passed on to the next generation. But to pass it on, we must use borrowed funds that produce an unhealthy stimulation and are sure to be followed by a collapse If there is one thing that is just as important as protecting our shores from invasion it is protecting cur economic system from further collapse after a war in these troubled years.

Watching Your Health

By Jane Stafford

UNIOR, who starts to school for the first time this fall, is probably already thinking about the new experience in store for him in another two weeks

| or so and is looking eagerly at the supplies of pencils,

books and tablets appearing in store windows. His

| parents are probably thinking about the opening of

school in terms of new shoes, uniforms or other clothing. If they are wise, they will also be thinking about a health check-up for Junior before he starts to school. He should have had a thorough examination by the family doctor in the spring. This would have allowed the entire summer for correction of any defects the doctor might have discovered. It is not too late to start the procedure, however. Most mothers realize that when children start to school is the time they begin to have measles and whooping cough and all the other childhood diseases. They are likely to catch them from other youngsters in the schoolroom. Junior can he protected from many of these childhood ailments, however, and since they are really proEvery child should be

Junior can also be protected against diphtheria, whooping cough and lockjaw, or tetanus. There is even hope that within another year or two it will be possible to vaccinate children against measles.