Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 December 1940 — Page 8

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The Indianapolis Ties

@a SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

ROY W. svi RALPH BURKHOLDER President : Editor -

f J fie | Ith,

aise Ah and the People win Find: Thelv own. Woy | | SATURDAY, DECEMBER kf 1040

A REALLY “GOOD RISK”

“Where your treasure 18, there - arth also” | Matthew Vvi:21. : fF

TAKING ‘that as a text, Jet's pursue further, in the interest of realism, the credits-to-Britain- matter, as it

relates to ‘President Roosevelt's Cleveland pledge—*'the :

first purpo e of our foreign policy is to keep our country out of war. “How does credit extension affect our state of mind toward participation in war? Li TE we are wise we will benefit from the history of our own generation and see if there isn’t ® better, safer and more practical way to aid Britain, and ourselves, than the one we followed before—the one which ended with Britain in default and us with the title of Uncle Shylock. - 2 ‘» £ » 8. 8

The subject of bn came up early in the first World

War. The House of Morgan asked the State: Department

if there would be any objection to a private loan. William Jennings Bryan on Aug. 10, 1914, ‘objected, saying “money is the worst ‘of all. contrabrand because it commands everything else But the pressure of direumstantes soon. changed that. Historian Thomas A. Bailey in his “Diplomatic History of the United States” aptly describes the process: - “At the outbreak of the war the United States had been wallowing in a depression more serious than the panic of 1907; but the phenomenal development of war trade

ushered in an era of feverish prosperity. At first it was

‘not necessary for the Allies to borrow money; they could

use the large American debits in Europe. But as the months slipped by these were rapidly exhausted. It soom became apparent that if loans .on credits could not be obtained’in the United States, the mushroom traffic in war supplies would. abruptly cease, and the nation be plunged back into dreary depression. In short, the trade was perhaps as essential to the economic life of America as it was to the military life of the Allies.” President- Wilson reversed the State - Department's policy, And there went the ball game. : 2 ” ” 2 ”2 2

By August of the following year Treasury Secretary

McAdoo was writing (the President: “Great Britain is our

best customer a her purchases have enormously increased . + the high prices of food have brought great prosperity to our farmers, while the purchases of war munitions have.

set factories going to full capacity . . . great prosperity, is

coming . .. it is in fact. already here. It will be tremendously increased if we can extend reasonable credits to our customers.” Then State Secretory Lansing threw in his weight. And so the fiscal story unfolds. You know the rest. How we got in, and how we came out. In December, 1933, Britain quit paying. | 2 2 8 | 2 » » Today our sympathies are with Britain—even more so than then, for there was a time back there when we were in bitter controversy with her over freedom of the seas. If and when she runs out of money, how ghould, she get from us financial aid? : We think there is an answer. Profiting from our own experience as both Uncle Shylock and Uncle Sap and from the truism that a “loan oft loses both itself and friend” why not this time make it a business proposition? . We need certain, real ‘estate. England now owns it. Her Caribbean possessions ‘and Bermuda are of little strategic value to her but of great importance to us. We could afford to pay a. steep price. Why not deal? “Why not clear the books? Why again travel that same dismal road of I. O. y. 8 and ill-will ?

MeGRADY BACK ON THE JOB BACK to Washington, where he will certdinly be useful in the months ahead, goes Edward F. McGrady. The former pressroom foreman, labor organizer, A. F. of L. lobbyist, NRA adviser and Assistant Secretary of Labor is taking leave from his vice presidency of the Radio Corporation to serve as labor consultant to Secretary of

“War Stimson.

When labor disputes thresten defense production, it will be: a satisfaction to know that this veteran troubleshooter, domestic diplomat and practical philosopher, who has served labor, industry and governmen} with equal success, is on hand.

2, 300,000 IDEAS : (CELEBRATIN G the 104th anniversary of the date when the U. S. Patent Office began numbering inventions,

fhe Inventors of America are presenting a great display of |.

their brain-children at Los Angeles. Says the organizghion 8 president, Albert G. Burns Sr., of Chicago: “In 104 years Americans have patented 2,300,000 inventions, which is more new ideas than the rest of the world has had since the beginning of time.” : © Mr. Burns is taking in quite a lot of terriioy and a

humber of eons. And the 2,300,000 inventions, to be sure,

include a very large number which never:proved commiercially profitable, many of them being more funny than practicable. For every Edison, ten thousand lesser geniuses have been unhorored and unsung. , Still, that is a whale of a lot of ideas. And" among them,

in for years more than a century, have been most of the

inventions which made possible the machine age with all its advantages—and all its woes. So the Inventors of America have something real to celebrate, and we welcome the. pronouncement of President Burns that their numbers and the

; : fertility of their imaginations are still increasing.

HOW LUCKY WE ARE

‘HE Census Bureau reports 150,362,326 persons.i now liv-

ing under the American flag. We've had no definite ny. re, dying. finde other flags...

Fair Enough 1

[ey Westbrook Pegler

: ‘voted on inst, question» few ro

paign in. which Bot candidates 4

spoke practically alike on the is-|

sue of war—an issue slightly dis-{ §&

guised as full aid to Britain|

“short of war,” and Mr. Willkie,

pines; Yas Torsed d 49 hop Wp his

Hitler, and while

following hoped that he would be able to.stand off actual participation or stand it off longer than President Roosevelt might, thus time for rearmament, there was no substan-

‘tial footing for either hope.

ency, but did not take back, and finally won a popular victory over an opponent who differed on the issue only in the imagination of the people. What else is the United States arming for but for war against the dictator who has openly proclaimed his hostility to the plutocratic nations’ and has attempted to encircle this one with powerful enemies of similar mind? Hitler was sighting down the barrel at this country in those eéxpfessions, and it would be foolish to hope that, having conquered Britain and finding the United States still incompletely armed and still inept in the use of arms in hand, he would then make kindly -overtures to a nation whose President was elected on the record which Mr. Roosevelt had established, ; > ® ® & == is plenty in that record to date, including the sale of destroyers to Britain, to provide Hitler with an excuse for war against the U, 8. A, and it will be remembered that the American people not only gave that deal their enthusiastic indorsement but, by their vote, approved the method of it, which was questionable.

The little hitch over the matter of tick or credit].

for Britain in the. purchase of war tools here will be settled without too. much parley. Possibly, by haggling while there is still time, the British will be forced to let go Bermuda and some other toeholds in American waters, but, one way or another, a na-

tion so far committed as this against such a danger- }

ous enemy will find a way to furnish ships, engines, planes and other war material without any other limit than the American capacity to produce, minus home requirements.. - No doubt these transactions will be called sales for book purposes, but past experience under more favorable conditions shows the futility of hoping to collect. Even with victory, the British would be so badly broke and shot up at the end of this war that any settlement of debts by ofilodus methods would be laughable. ” 2 ” ’ ARTICIPATION might not include the presence of an expeditionary force. - Both candidates told the people that they would not send troops to Europe; but there was a -eatch :n that. The requirements don’t include trodps, and,. anyway, the situation is so precarious that an American’ expedition might be caught in a defeated and hostile country. In a state of war this country would suspend temporarily, hoping to get it back some day, much ‘of the freedom of our present state and go under discipline to produce results that are not being obtained how and cannot be obtained under our traditional system. Without a state of war, everything lags. The only man who has made. a conspicious appeal for a policy of impartial detachment is Col. Lindbergh, who was howled down not only when he spoke but on election day when the people repudiated: his optimistic belief that a victorious Axis would let this nation be. Given a choice between two toughslalking candidates for President, they picked the one whose talk was slightly more belligerent and whose record even then was one of informal or disguised participation in the form of aid to Hitler's enemy.

Business By John T. Flynn

Deficits for Defense as Disastrous As Those Incurred in Peace Time

EW YORK, Dec. 7.—There seems to be some sort of notion that while it is a dangerous and even disastrous thing for a nation to pile up a national debt for peacetime projects, -the argument does not hold good for wartime projects.’ . Of course no one objects -to. preparation for national defense: Many object to hys“terical preparations, not -for national defense, but for'aggressive " military actions abroad. : But, while men can argue this point and disagree endlessly, there is no room for argument about the roposition that, if deficit financBe is dangerous for one thing, it is just as dangerous for another. *! A great ‘many men were in a - state of grave apprehension about ‘the increase in our national debt at the rate of three billion a year. The same men now view with complete complacency its increase at the rate of 10 billion a year or more. They may be able to make a rational argument that the increase is now imperative be of some terrible danger that threatens us. But they ot get away from the. proposition that if Plow billions a year was dangerous, six billion is twice as dangerous. The truth is that most people do not stop to ponder on" the danger inherent in a vast public debt. Public debts have wrecked at one time or another every government in history The vast debt of Britain—before this war—was one of her most seripus evils. It had become a drain upon the income of the whole. population, particularly the poor population. The debt which she is now contracting will ctush her economically when the war is over. There is not the slightest doubt of that. She will have to fina some way to get rid of it. Repudiation of some kind—either outright or by devaluation—will be the only escape for her. LoL 8 8. : : OW it is into this disease of ations that we are slowly pushing ourselves. We shall, in the future, have to find billions evéry year. to pay interest on that debt. In other words, after the depression is over—and it must end one day if ‘we will ‘use our

heads—we shall have to provide. each year for in-. terest as many billions as ‘we must provide for relief |

and recovery now. . : The public debt will become the great persisting, endless. issue .of our politics. It Br bedevil every other issue and every other problem we try to solve. And once put up .to a hundred billion, where it is sure to go, we will never decrease it. We will continuously increase it. The very burden of interest will compel us to increase it. This will happen whether we increase the public debt for peace-time relief or for defense. The subsequent economic consequence will be the same, Unfortunately, because we are now pushing the debt up

for defense purposes, we have forgotten all about

the consequences of it. We act as if the reason for the debt in some Hyslerions way protected us from its consequences. ;

So They Say—

- ‘THE AMERICAN national defense program can be accomplished only by work. It can’t be accomplished by arguments about who won't work and how much he won't do.—C. E. Wilson, acing president of General Motors ‘Corporation.

THERE are some Sole ip ae open-minded; so much so that they live In a vacuum.—Bishop W. 'T. | Manning of of ihe Protestant of

y: hel = candidates ‘hurled de- ; e that some of the Willkie

President Roosevelt was scolded for his belliger- :

The Hoosier Forum

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

THE WORST, TOO By Mrs. Lloyd Apt, Delphi, Ind. : Soon the Legislature will be in

session. . I have had Republicans tell me it

Indianapolis when that meets. Do you know anything about it? I hate to repeat what I have been told, but I suspect it is frue. The Representative from is a disgrace. . . . The one from County is just as bad. ... Why don’t you. print an editorial about it; or do you dare? I think most of the people know anyway, don’t you? - $2 8 8 A LOUD BOO FOR PEGLER AS A POET

By Daniel Francis Clancy, Logansport, Ind. Westbrook Pegler in his column of Nov. 26 expressed himself on the subject of poetry. : No humble, war-weary Pilgrim was this, come with bared head and soft tread for solace to the Palace of Parnassus—but rather a ragged barbarian looking for more feeble foes to kick around that he might re-establish his prestige. "And so, as. a poet of prominence (or, shall we say, as one of the Parnassian Palace - Guard) I- peek around 8-door to eye this vulgarian in the vestibule—this savage leaning on his war-club, rubbing his unshaven chin and looking the joint over—this ragged ruffian come ‘to maul the Muse. I am, in fact, here to expel him or in language he would understand, bounce him ‘out on his ear. Parnassus, Pegler, ain’t no push-over! “Starts nowhere, goes nowhere, means nothing, but resounds in a sort of way. In short, poetry.” So says Pegler, the pugnacious philistine. Studying the column in question in search of some coherent sentence to take issue with, I am forced to conclude that the whole thing seems to start nowhere, get nowhere, mean nothing, but resounds in a sort of way—in short, Pegler, ” 8 8 JUST FRIGHTENED, SHE TELLS CRITIC By Sideline Sittin’ Lil : Mr. Paige, you put your - finger right on the danger spot in America! That inertia that settles over

is terrible the things that go on in|

(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.)

our people between elections, like 2 self-administered anesthetic; every four years they take a vital interest in their government bodies, make a determined fight for what they think right. After election they drift back into complacent indifference, and the termites return merrily to their work! I don’t think 1 am un-American because I refuse to be anesthetized; I am a very frightened American, hoping I may awaken others to the danger into which I feel my beloved country in drifting. . .. Thank you “Good Loser” for the kinder tone of your second letter. My ears tingled for days from the “cuffing” you gave me in-the first one! ” ” 2 FAVORS PLAN TO FEED STARVING EUROPE By Bertha J. Randall, Noblesville, Ind. Two great “questions: (1). Who will win the - war and (2) will the farmer. with his billions of surplus bushels of wheat and corn let Europe’s hungry starve? A peace worker said that when the Democracies get so exhausted fighting, Russia will step in with her Communism and win the war. The U. S. with its large commitments is being slowly drawn into the war; financing Great Britain’s war, etsablishing military bases, loaning great sums to China and all involve us to such an extent we will have no way of turning back. In last week’s Town Meeting of the Air a good solution was offered by the Ambassador from China. It was that the League of Nations be re-established with enough force behind it to keep nations from destroying each other. Raymond Wilson as the leader of Friends International Institutes

urged immediate mediation by our

Side Glances—By Galbraith

[Made Guest. for Fame

Government, | before further involvement. He suggested that the U. S. become. host to the League of Nations at least temporarily. He also commended Mr. Hoover's plan of feeding the hungry of Europe. . . It is a problem | that must be solved at once before famine and pestilence wipe out the peoples that the shot and shells have spared. Isn’t it time we quit worrying about who is sitting in the Presidential chair and direct our thought to some réal questions and how to solve them? ¥ # =|» HOW TO HELP GREAT BRITAIN Charles H. Eyles I am writing to you as an average American citizen. I have no axe to grind. I represent no cause,

faction or organization. I have nothing to gain. But in common with millions of

other liberty-loving Americans, I].

do have an interest in the b:ave British people who are fighting for Democracy and against oppression and dictatorship.

And I want ot do something|i =

about it! Here is my suggestion:

Let the spirit of good will at the| i Christmas season prompt us Ameri-| cans to spend some of our gift] products] } marked “Made in England,” “Made] | “British-Magde” or}

shopping money for

in Scotland,” whatever the designation might be.

If adopted all over the United|i States, ‘the aggregate would be im-|

pressive, helpful and a most convincing Yuletide greeting to | the courageous British in . their battle for life. : ” o 2 SQUAWKING BACK AT G. 0. P. SQUAWKERS

By A Times Reader For 22 Years

Speaking of 22,000,000 votes, just how many of them were Nazis and Communist? You can bet not one of the hundreds of thousands, yes ‘millions of them, voted for Mr. Roosevelt. In Indiana, for instance, how come Mr. Schricker was elected over Mr. Hillis by the Republicans, and Mr. Boetcher? Couldn't be because they are Germans, could it? I personally know Republicans who hate the President and all he stands for, but are the first ones up there to sign for their compensation checks when they get laid off. Did we have old-age pensions, blind | pensions, mothers | pensions, social security or compensations and dozens of other good things we have now under the Republicans? Yes, and where did the Republicans get close to $600,000 in Indiana and 35 or 40 millions all over the United States to fight Mr. Roosevelt? They made it under the Roosevelt prosperity. - The millions spent to fight Mr. Roosevelt would buy a‘lot of food, clothing and cars.

MARQUE LIGHTS By LORRAINE FREE LAWSON

| Ah Fame, that is so starry bright—

Oh shimmering, incontant light, Your dazzling brightens darkest night. |

Once did 1 grasp your marble hand, For then did I well understand The Joy Fame finds in every land.

How heedlessly you went your way, Welle J Jeljed through the night

Not a z which: to beg or pray.

Yet while I strove to gain my dream, A constant light—a Love supreme all ‘futile seem,

Now, when argues lights acclain

Fame's tribute to ‘my loved kaie’s 3

or Navy.

able to, live comfortably in close contact with a varie~

Gen. Johnson Says—

Defense Speedup Unlikely Until A System of Priorities Having General Application Is Adopted

ASHINGTON, Dec. 7.—Perhaps the most obe vious @bsurdity in our present limping ‘produce tion program is inadequate use of World War I prine ciple of “priorities.” Thus far it has been applied principally to say who shall have first call on the Sithiae Sndustly's "iiput of fin- ; goods. at, does nothing to speed production. It is merely a rule for dividing up what/is ready, or may later be, produced and that only in a single ‘narrow

The 1918 system ‘was d to’ speed all defense ¢ digs

tion money in all the avenues of defense production. = - For csample, the average airplane factory Ais principally an assembly plant. While there is more or less machining—depending on shop practice—and in some cases even forging, the speed of that plant is dependent on the promptness and dependability of its receipt of finished or semi-finished goods from dozens and dozens of suppliers, The priorities system must cover these as well as the airplane or assembly plant itself if it is to result in a real speedup. They also must be able to get their supplies—whether of raw materials or of process parts—and their service of finance, trans~ portation and power without any avoidable delay.

| ® 8 =» T shouldn't require any argument to show thas the pressure of this kind of system, working unie 'versally throughout defense industries could provide

an astonishing increase in speed. It shouldn’t require any argument because we tried ® in 1918 and it worked. Extending this illustration from he aircraft industry to the whole field of armament shows another great need to apply the universal priorities system at once. As was shown in this column recently, armament production must be balanced. There is not much sense in producing rapidly planes and tanks designed for the use of cannon and heavy .machine guns unless you are.producing the cannon and machine guns and training their technical crews just as rapidly. That principle governs the whole rearmament proble It is just as haywire to apply priorities to one field of an entire armament program and not to the whole project in intelligent balance, I have heard it objected that this is a task too intricate—that it would require a vast staff to inspect and regulate tens of thousands of separate factories. That is not correct. People who say that have not studied the system of the World War. ie . 8 = BE is very simple. In co-operation with the Army and Navy, the director lays down the broad schedules” of what classes of finished goods are needed first—priority Al. Any contractor accepting an order for those goods gets that rating from the priorities commissioner and sees that his sub-contractors get it too to 'the extent 8f their orders from him. That priority certificate attached to a purchase of transportation order of these manufacturers, with= in their contracts, is binding on every supplier: in the country. Thus, items of armements get the absolute right-of-way through the whole American production system—swiftly and simply. Intricate regulation and inspection? It doesn’t follow. The system polices itself.” The instant that there is any monkey business with a priority order, about a dozen manufacturers prejudiced ! thereby will cry out. The Government will move in. If won't have to move In very often. Trifling with

defense is economic suicide.

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

WISH the men would make up their minds ahout woman's place in the national picture. For that matter I wish we could make up our own minds. Hardly a year has passed since some of our leading he-men and an infinite number of small fry were all for shutting the gates of industry against us. They said the economic balance was upset by fem- _ inine weight, and that we ought to pack up our cosmetic kits and go home where we belonged. ‘They said we were wrecking the financial structure of the country and making life a misery for everybody . x | But listen to them now. Wha$ a different tune they sing! Ita’ chorus goes like this, ladies, how we need you!” 3 We are importuned to get the old morale out of mothballs, to put pep into the cone Soription act, to give socks and kisses to the soldier boys, to learn nursing, ambulance driving, munition making, in short to prepare to step into the worke ingman’s shoes when he steps out of them. Another faction insists that women must set aboud instantly to preserve the American home—to make it impregnable against the assaults of immorality, National unity must be our first thought, says another bunch. We should teach democracy to our children so that our way of life shall not perish from the earth.

As for thrift—boy!—that’s really our biggest Jobs. Yes sir, we're in demand now and compliments are: coming our way. Critics who lately called us selfish, mean-souled, greedy, luxury-loving leeches, insist that the country will be sunk unless we behave with the traditional feminine nobility, and at the same time turn our hands to any sort of work that needs doing. Of course, if the worst comes we'll be expected to greet the. homies with lifted chins, too.

Watching Your Health

By Jane Stafford ait:

UITE a number of people whom we call “odd,” or “peculiar” or “queer” are able to take care. oo. themselves and be useful members of society in rede ian life. The very habits they have developed, their seclusiveness, or the they do which have earned for them the label ‘odd” are ways they have found for protecting themselves from undue stress so thas they can continue to take some part in community life, at least to the extent of earning a living and keeping out of harm or trouble. Such people, however, do not belong in the Army Mental ailments that may not: seriously interfere with a man’s civilian job or status may make" him unsuitable for military service and should be considered as cause for his rejection by Selective Service examining physicians, C. A. Dykstra, director: of Selective Se , has ruled . “Military life requires: that the soldier: shall be

gated group of other men,” he e “cane not depend on any self-evolved p

that s ry