Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 January 1941 — Page 8

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ican industry can gear it. where. This is not a bill to ingrease production.

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Give Light and the People Will Find Their own Way : SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 1941

HOLD YOUR HATS, BOYS— | |

TUDY of the 1941 State Reorganization Bill, as intro-| duced in the Legislature yesterday by the Republican

- majority, leads one: inevitably ot this conclusion:

The Republican leadership in Indiana has subordinated everything to the single objective of obtaining control of ‘the State’s patronage machinery. b That is not public service. It is sheer greed.

THE PRESIDENT’S PLAN

T is a big order which the President has laid before Con: gress. Yet it is one which should be considered with

Fair Enough By. Westbrook Pegler

‘Our Merry-Go-Round Whirls Too Furiously to See Things Clearly; Qusstions. Forgotten, Not Solved

. 4 EW YORK, Jan. 11.—This merry-go-round is whirling so fast now that it is impossible to see anything distinctly and an. issue is no sooner raised than it vanishes from view and other shapeless, fuzzy : objects fly past. Questions are not settled but forgotten. In principle crooked political machines are still bad, but in practice they delivered the vote for President Roosevelt in November, and now we_ are much too busy with urgent problems of life and death to remember. So, in-Jersey City and Chicago, crooks who were useful to the Administration in the campaign escape the penalties which in ‘a less jumbled time were inflicted on Tom Pendergast in Kansas City. Labor unions which were extorting High fees from workmen for Permtission to work on defense projects get together and promise npt to strike and to moderate their graft. And public opinion hurriedly accepts that as a satis-

{| factory settlenient of the whole issue.

There is n¢ time to bother with an honest, clean

| decision whether unions have a right to lasso men and

then call out these captives on strike against the national defense, There is no time to decide honestly whether unions have a right to exact license fees from workmen. We are willing ta settle for a vague promise Dish they will not extort too much, and let it go at a ” 2 ”

open minds in Congressional and public discussions. For it is the President’s deliberate judgment of the legislation | necessary to carry out Lis announced policy of full arma- | ment aid to foreign nations which we count as our friends. The President had the right and the duty to say what | I he wanted. Now the responsibility for final decision passes | to Congress and the public. And those who object to specific provisions of the President’s plan will be obliged to bring forward constructive alternafi ives. Naturally Mr. Roosevelt wants Congress to msider and approve this measure as speedily as possible. There

should be no resort to tactics of delay” merely for the sake

of obstruction. Fortunately, however, this is & bill which can be considered calmly and at whatever length seems ad-

visable for full debate and deliberation.

There is no need for undue haste, for even if this bill were enacted tomorrow, it wouldn't make the slightest difference in our war production next month (or the next or the next. Our Army and Navy have placed orders running many months ahead, and still have plenty of money unallotted. So have the British. Presumably our production is already geared as high as the Administration and AmerIf not, the remedy lies elseo

”

” ” This is a bill to authorize the U. S. Treasury to assume the cost of weapons produced, whether they ave used by our own or some other nation. It not only provides for loans and leases of war equipment, but also authorizes the President to “transfer, exchange . . . or otherwise dispose of” such armaments. And not only to Britain, but to “any country whose defense the President deems vital to the - defense of the United States.” Such deals shall be made on whatever terms “the President deems satisfactory.” The bill has numerous other provisions. Congress and the people may, or may not, decide to vote these sweeping powers and responsibilities to the PresBut whatever the decision, -it should be arrived at through the processes of representative government, in a debate which we hope will be marked by much light and little heat. There are legitimate grounds for roid differences of opinion among patriotic citizens and lawmakers—and the: differences should be resclved in the democratic tradition | of majority rule and tolerance for the minority. The possible consequences are as grave as any flowing from the issues that decided our entrance into the World War, if not indeed as far-reaching as the great debates on slavery.

It is a decision to approach deliberately and with humility.

”

A REAL JOB FOR HENRY

UR Spanish-speaking Vice President-glett. | Henry A. ‘Wallace, announces that he hopes to visit, ‘sooner or later,” each .of the Latin American countries. Good for Henry. He made a hit in Mexico. And throughout Central and South America we are in need of the sort of good will this friendly, unpretentious Iowan is capable of cultivating. The Nazis and Fascists and Phalangists are busy as bird-dogs among our good neighhors to the soyth, fixing _ their own fences against the day when peace will come to Europe, and maligning Uncle Sam as a callous imperialist with a dollar fixation. And so, up and down the length of Latin America, the

“bloody shirt is waved by self-seeking politicians and by

European agents and sympathizers—in the face of the fact

= that President Roosevelt and Secretary Hull have long since

proved our abandonment of the hated dollar imperialism of

_ previous generations.

Mr. Wallace has a job cut out for him. And we don’t

- know of a man better qualified to tackle it.

“NOT INTERESTING”

YEAR ago the Finns were our heroes. Nothing was too good for the gallant Davids who were showing the « Soviet Goliath what was what. Gifts showered down on ‘ the Finnish Legation in ‘Washington. Today the Finns, no less gallant in defeat, are short of And what are we doing about it? Nothing. We.lump Finland with the Nazi-occupied ‘democracies and say, in effect, that to help her would be to hurt England. Which is preposterous.

Hjalmar J. Procope, the Finnish Minister at Washing- -

; on, when asked for news by reporters who stopped him

at the State Department, stated the case with fine irony: “My country is not interesting to you now-—we are;

"just Seating hunger and cold. »

: ms NEED IS GREATER

‘HE “Medical and Surgical Supply Committee of America” is shipping 225, 000 aspirin tablets, among other things, to Greece.

_Couldn’t they spare Just a couple for a man with an

FIHE Preside adopts tk | credit honest, } | none of us has | ment that they respectful trea! Are they all honest, patriotic men who oppose the | President? Of! course not, because Hitler's agents, | Mussolini's: dwindling groups and Communists all are {what might bz called appeasers. But many good | Americans opppse intervention, and we are too busy land hurried tc be fair to them. The same propaigandists and statesmen who angrily resented the gen< eral classification of New Deal radicals as Reds, {whether they were Stalinists or not, now call all men “appeasers”—a word which suggests disloyalty and icovert Hitlerismi—who disagree with the Government's (war program. Harold Ickes, for one, who has consorted with thé Communists and resented comment on that fact, called Charles Lindbergh a fifth column« ist, which is a new term for traitor. ; I happen to agree with the President, except when ne speaks of reforming the whole world, which I think is political baby-tall;, but I don’t think Lindbergh should bé¢ charged with intent to sell out his country to a foreign foe unless he then be given a ¢hance to face his accuser in a public trial and to punish him for| a false accusation. But Lindbergh will never have that chance. Events are going by too jast; we are too busy.

nt himself, always glib with epithets, e term “appeaser” to insult and disatriotic men who resist his course, and time to argue or to listen to an apn have a right to their beliefs and to ment.

8 8 ”

\HE President promises, in a blurry way, that the material ail which will be sent to the enemies df our enemies will be returned in the same form or ih the form of goods. Does anyone believe that? Jjrovanly not, but we haven't time to stop and talk ; out. It didn't even sound well when he said it, but thmething had to be said on the subject, and it was ilnpossible to say that this time the debtor nations viould pay back their loans in money. | We know they will never pay for this war equiprient in money, imarbles or chalk, but we have to be told that they will until, eventually, we come to the point of conceding that they can’t pay and that we

won't be any mojey in which they could pay us, and if they should try to pay us in manufactured stuff our Navy would sink| their cargo boats a thousand miles out to protect our standard of living from the competition of cheap] European labor. | By that time|we won’t be needing their rubber. Wie will be making rubber out of wind, will power and seaweed, and the! dirty du Ponts of Delaware will be yanked before Congress again to confess that they ddliberately conspired to do us out of our needs for us is raw material with which the British were going 0) pay |'And there is nb use looking new, we are going too fast, but do you [remember what the President said about his determination that nobody would get rich out of this war? [You can’t see much more than the outlines now, but wait until the merry-go-round sliws down and your vision clears. You'll see millionaires all right. I am afraid to think what else we will see when foe merry-go-round slows down.

Business By John T. Flynn

Congre, is Should Tread Cautiously, Try to See Where FDR's Plan Leads

NEY YORK, Jan. 11.—America is asked to take a grave step across the border-line of caution. It would seem thet the first duty of Congress is to find out where it leads. The President says we will nok acquiesce in al peace dictated by aggressors and i sponsored by appeasers. To this {end he proposes to give or lend {Britain “everything.” | On the surface this loks as if {the President merely proposed: to {wage economic war on Germany. {But two questions face us at once. | What. does the President mean {by “everything”? What does he mean by not aclquiescing in a peace dictated by aggressors? ¢ Suppose we give Britain or lend ther ships, guns, planes—and that after a few months this turns out to be not enough. | Interventionists say, “But it will be enough.” But are they sure of that? Phil La Follette says that before the war was declatled he returnec from Europe, talked with the President, and told him that if war came France would fold up—anil that the President laughed at thai. But France did fold up Now suppose thi we after a few months of giving and, lending ships, planes and guns, England is on the | verge of defeal. Then what? What will the President offer then? He says, our independence is at stake; that we are | next. Will he stop and say that “eve rything” does rot mean everything? Suppose on the jother hand our aid strengthens Britain to the point where Germany admits she cannot | conquer Britair; and abandons her attacks on Britain. And suppose Britain says this is not enough, but demands that Trance, Poland, Holland, Czechoslovakia all be restcred. And suppose Germany refuses. Then what? | i » ” » NGLAND, having saved herself from defeat, must now defeat Germany. She must reinvade the continent. Then shi will need men. With heg 50 millibn population she cannot defeat 80 mil man; without the aid of our men as well as guns and ships. What will “everything” mean then? The President says we will not acquiesce in a dictated peace. Suppose in a few months England finds herself at the end of her resources and feels our lielp is not coming fast enough. Suppose Germany offers peace permitting England to have her freedom and independenpe.and her empire—all hut cer- * tain portions that Gé¢rmany wants—but says/she will make what dispositions she thinks proper on the continent wtih separate treaties with France, etc. » And |suppose Englang, weakened beyond resistance, . agrees. What does the President mean when he says he will Hot acquiesce in such’ a peace? Does he mean that if Ergland is forced to agree he, the President, will make war on Germany alone? The consequences are grave, Where are we: going: with jal these big ard luminous words? : :

Sc They Say—

who win win the war.|

awful headache—address, Palazzo Venezia, Romic,* Italy? |

r- |

THEY all 1ose~Sinator Henrik Shipstead, asked ,

~

rr

Guther N ceded! |

, SATURDAY, IA

The Hoosier Forum

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

DENIES SHORTAGE OF SKILLED LABOR

By Ernest Morton, Gen. Secy., Indianapolis Workers Alliance

In an effort to eliminate the gains which have been made by organized labor, a ruthless campaign is being promoted by reactionary - forces all over the country. A working week of longer

hours is their demand, giving as a

shouldn't ask them to. When this war is over there |reason a vast shortage of labor.

There is no doubt that there is some such shortage in some highly specialized lines due to the fact that in the last 10 years no factory would train an apprentice. They didn’t need to because they could obtain the services of skilled craftsmen at any wage they wished to pay. They won't train an apprentice now because they haven't the time to do so. . However, there are still more than 7,000,000 unemployed laborers. Among these are clerks, hodcarriers, brick-layers, cement finishers, carpenters, tiners, electricians, engineers, etc., in addition to hordes of other semi-skilled and unskilled laborers. this statement, consult the U. S. Employment Service. ” ” ” SERVING A WARNING ON WOMEN SMOKERS By Gustav Stark

Cigaret smoking is giving women a “bloodhound facial * droop.” Women smokers’ faces are growing sharpe®. « “Lips are becoming pallid, corners of the mouth sag, lips commence to protrude and develop twitchering habits and the eyes acquire a blank stare.” The feminine , physiognomy is becoming permanently altered by cigaret smoking. : “The race has the effect of mirroring the reflections of its homeliest members and it will be the children of present-day mothers who will suffer most. One may only note the bleary eyes and pale complexion of the average smoker. This is brought on systematically by inhaling the deadly fumes of the cigaret when the blood stream becomes poisoned.” The smoker only beguiles himself in believing it’s a pleasure. However it’s a sndre and a delusion. Cigaret smoking is a barbarous habit, un-Christian and soul-

For proof of

(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.)

wrecking and in some way ‘the brain of the smoker is affected... The cigaret has its victims by the millions .and it’s. almost impossible to give up this nasty poisonous habit. te

” = = ASKS IF OPM MEANS OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY By John L. Niblack Bold headlines in your Jan. 8 paper said “Super Four Open Drive to Make U. S. Arsenal” and the sub-head said “Roosevelt counts on OPM to carry on defense of world

democracy.” Now OPM in current slang has meant Other People’s Money, which struck me as what your headline meant. It seemed to be very appropriate to Mr. Roosevelt's activities since 1932. However, I found, down in the story, the letters designate a new board: “Office for Production Management.” We are furnishing cotton to Germany, through Russia, to make the bombs which are falling on London. That makes Us angry, rightly so. Receritly the papers told of Secretary Hull authorizing a huge amount of cotton to be sold to Russia, which produces all it needs for itself. Russia is short of cotton, because it has sold so much to Adolf. You all know cotton is the base for explosives. We also are furnishing the bombs which" fall on Berlin. Pretty soon we are going to give them to England. Heigh-Ho, it’s a great war and a great world. It took us 20 ‘years and a New Deal to start recovery (?) from the first World War, ‘in which I took part. What will it take for us to recover, if ever, from this mad whirl? What democracies are we going to save? Greece, with its dictator; Turkey, with the same kind of gov-

Side Glances=By Galbraith

ernment; the Dutch colonial empire; the British colonial empire? Well, like Southey’s old man in the poem, anent the Battle of Blenheim, where the English and the German allies under Lord Marlboro whipped the French, and thousands died, it will be a “famous victory.” They have fought in Europe for 2000 years. . ” ” ” s DISPUTES ROOSEVELT ON AID TO BRITAIN By C. M. A, In Wednesday's Times I read an article: quite interesting about Mr. Roosevelt, saying that England

was fighting our war. His remarks are very timely, because it will give England the right after the war is over to say that as she was fighting our war she did not owe us anything, in fact she might send us a bill for several billion dollars for the money she has spent. . .. He tells us to be afraid that the Germans aré coming and thaBowe must go over and get them first. I do not think any real American will be afraid of that. England came over here one time. England is an industrial country. During this war she has lost most of her foreign trade. We have gotten that! trade. After the war 1s over England will want that trade back. We will not want to give it back and we know what England has done in such cases, from past history. ” ” » CLAIMS MANY MUST SHARE BLAME WITH STEPHENSON By Claude Braddick, Kekome, Ind,

I agree with The Times that D.

special consideration from Clemency Commission of the Governor. But I do not agree that the State should .turn a deaf ear to. his pleas, and consider his case closed. He should be given the same consideration as any other criminal. Vindictiveness is beneath the dignity of the State of Indiana. True, he begrimed the State, steeped it in shame; but he couldn’t have done that without the help of others, many others. The people must share the blame. It isn’t a felony to say, “I am the law in Indiana.” I could say it and get only a laugh, or perhaps the attention of the Lunacy Commission. Stephenson’s misfortune was that for the moment is seemed to be true. He was head of the Klan and the Klan was then in power. And the Klan was in power because it had swallowed a dominant political party. - And the party had allowed itself to be swallowed because it would rather rule, even from the belly of ‘a Grand Dragon, than to be out of power, and free.

SEVENTH WONDER

By JOSEPHINE DUKE MOTLEY A seventh wonder of the modern world Is man’s invention, the great airplane. I wonder if tts worth outdoes its

stain Of agony to which mankind is hurled, Writhing in pain, in torture curled To crisps of flesh, who dared disdain The power of invading bombing

plane. Oh, Ie. | we know the genius of its To taugh a at distance, fractionize the

for kings In flying ne oe lands where peace

And yeh 0 good that man can ever

OF Airplanes san, mateh their: flend-

C. Stephenson is entitled to no|§ the| i

And give plain folk adventure fit]

by Johnson Says—

Radio Debate Between Patriotic

Groups Reveals Tendency for Speakers to Get Out of Bounds

ASHINGTON, Jan. 11.—Many peoble listened to Theodore Granik’s battlers in his regular weekly radio “debate” last Sunday evening. This one wasn't a debate. It was a kilkenny catfight. ‘The subject, whether “propaganda is injuring the United States,” ‘was about the only great current question not discussed. The bout turned out to be a tussle between one team from the “America First” committee and another from the “Defend America by Aiding the Allies” group. The wrangling soon became per sonal, or at least involved persone alities—the gentle Anne nd bergh, the beloved "Allen White, “ oaths” didn’t exactly go “to -and fro : 3 across the imaged board,” but otherwise it was closer to Fultah Fisher's. boarding house than to orderly dialectic. Voices trembled with anger or some other emotion. Interruptions were frequent. Such ‘naines:as “appeaser” were called and one gladiator complained to the referee that he had been fouled, or at least “insulted.” The principle effort seemed nat. to be the arguments pro and con but, on each’ side,’ to question the motives, the good faith, and: ‘even the patriotism of the other committee,

8 » ”

HY a supposed debate on the evils of propa« ganda should . be confined, on an adversary basis, to two committees, both engaged in propa=ganda, is the least of what Lincoln called the “as tonishers” here. A greater ome is why two come mittees, both devoted to American defense but dif fering on methods, should be called upon to publicize a disunity and hostility only “short of war,” ‘by tearing out each others innards in the pitiless pbs licity of a fireside radio wrangle. The wrangle is there, but why advertise it? For example, some members of one of those groups be< gan to advocate an immediate American declaration of war and William Allen White found it convenient to leave it. For that action, the gentle Little Flower --our explosive Mayor of New Yerk City—accused this far more characteristic and experienced Amerie can of “doing a Laval.” i

This kind of dissension. among the apostles of American peace, by whatever means, is reminiscent of the Donneybrook Fair which developed during the World War on Ford's peace ship. Community thinking doesn’t seem to click no matter how high the purpose. With too little thought: of that I joined one of these intellectual communes. But these performances, plus the exhibitionism. of a third kibitzer group, the “No Foreign War” Com= mittee, have brought me into agreement with Al Smith. In these dreadful dangerous moments, there is no place for the kind of emotional high-pressure group patrioteering that at least two of these efforts are turning out to be.

4 8» J

HIS is especially true for a commentator who must express his own opinion and do it in full. For, if this most recent radio brawl brought out one thing clearly, it was that in one of these grou there is a wide diversity of opinion and that, if any man doesn’t accept the conclusion of the extremists, he may be accused of treason both to his country and to his associates. A columnist can't have a group opinion. This observation isn't intended .to criticize radio debate. This column ardéntly believes in it. ‘It certainly dgesn’'t doubt the sincerity and high pressure ,of any of these groups.. It merely intends to remark that this whole method is getting completely out of bounds. It is obviously inciting what Mr, White deplores as “war fever,” which would better be called “war hysteria.” As the Sunday shindy over the air demonstrated, it is creating hatred, intolerance and disunity and advertising them to the world. These groups’ methods. of telegraphic barrages on Congressmen isn’t so hot, either. They call for messages urging this or that position on policy in a highly complex’ and dangerous situation which the senders probably understand no better than voters in popular polls on current hypothetical questions understand what they are urging. It is just another method of mumbling, fumbling and stumbling into war, ;

A Woman's Viewpoint

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

AVE you ‘ever noticed that, when everything is going right with the world the men take thd credit, and when all is wrong they blame it on the women? Somerset Maugham is our most recent accuser. “The downfall of France,” he is reported to have said, ‘‘can be traced partly to the close ties ex= isting between mothers and sons. This leads to moral breakdown and final defeat.” It may strain your mental powers to get the connection between family affectior. and moral breakdown, but we’ll let that pass. Mr. Maugham is muttering into his mustache d, like a lot of other critics, ha run out of alibis, he proceeds to damn the ladies. Some of our owh foremost analysts of the disaster have ,ndulged in the same behavior—insisting that the United States is over= feminized, which it seems now constitutes a danger almost as great as Nazi bombs. From being the noblest of human instincts, mother love has become a kind of crime. Women who traimytheir sons in humanitarian prin« ciples, emphasizing the truths taught in ¢hureh and in the primary grades, are making their’ children soft. Maybe they don’t want to go out and commit mass murder upon innocent women and children and noncombatants, which now seems to be the masculine definition for courage, gallantry and nobility, We don’t know what sort of a world we are walk« ing into, of course, But if it is to be one dominated wholly by these masculine ideals—a vicious circle o depressions, beoms and wars—then we are against if; boldly and with vehemence. Also when women are told to bear and rear sons for the benefit of the state only, it is high time for mothers to go on strike, Gold stars and white crosses are not sufficient rewards. for such patriotism, What’s going on, anyway? Because we have bow gun war preparations, must we relinquish our most profound beliefs in the humanitarian. way of life? Are we going to fight Hideriam, by imitating it?

Watching Your Health:

By Jane Stafford

DoE let the war jitters get you down,” warns the American Museum of Safety. Worrying over the war n' 3 from’ abroad is is cai tainly futile and, according to reports - from museum and the Greater New York Safety Council it is dangerous as well. A pedestrian who could not

out tne Jame of the gas burner. She only asphyxiation from thé gas because a member of family was alert to other things than the war. Ps Incidents like this may ve extreme, but of a danger we all need to guard against. not suffer such serious accidents over the present situation, but w