Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 4 February 1941 — Page 13

PRICES OF FOOD UNDER SCRUTINY

26 Inquiries Going on Now; Break, Milk Costs Drop in Areas Already Probed.

This is the last in a series of articles on giant monopolies and their effect on the defense program.

By THOMAS L. STOKES Times Special Writer

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4—In previous national emergencies food was one of the essentials exploited by profiteers. Today, however, the Justice De-

partment, through its Anti-Trust Division headed by Thurman W. Arnold, has a weapon against such practices. The weapon is the nation-wide investigation it has started into restraints of all i sorts which inMr. Stokes crease the price of food. It is gathering together a surprising body of evidence, which already is being laid before grand ‘juries and which has resulted in the indictment of 11 baking companies serving Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. This Anquiry will be valuable in providing a constant watch on any attempted capitalizing of the na-tional-defense emergency by profiteers, though originally the attack on food prices was undertaken as part of the Arnold campaign to reduce the cost of living by breaking down artificial barriers. This was begun successfully in the drive against the building-trades rackets, . a drive that already has brought millions of dollars in savings for home builders.

26 Inquiries Under Way

‘Some 26 investigations are in progress, with particular attention to bread, milk, meat, fish, cheese, canned fruits and vegetables and fresh fruits and vegetables. Grandjury action is imminent in a number of cases. (The building-trades investigation already has resulted in 99 indictments against 1538 defendants, and in 122 civil suits to enJoin unlawful acts). The efficacy of the Arnold antitrust attack is demonstrated by the fact that the price of bread dropped a-cent a loaf in Philadelphia, a considerable part of Pennsylvania and all of south New Jersey after the Justice Department had started its inquiry. Also, a price war in Philadelphia stopped, and several small baking companies were able to reenter markets from which big companies had driven them.

Squeeze Out Water .

Similar results were shown following indictments in the Chicago milk cases, which are still going through

Before City Can Erect Structure.

By EARL HOFF Nearly 300 Negro boys have their future happiness tied up in a heap of lumber stacked alongside the home of Mrs. Alice Gartin, 2255 Hovey St. That stack of lumber is the future Boys’ Town clubhouse. It’s only about two blocks from where the Park Board says they can erect | it in Douglas Park. Bur to be exact, the material is $750 away from Douglas Park. That's the amount of money the

fore the Park Board can apply for a WPA project to erect the structure. For the group, it’s almost an unsurmountable task. of nickles and dimes to total $275. With that they purchased an old portable building that once was used by School 86, 49th and Boulevard Place.

Dismantled Portable

They dismantled it and moved the material, to Mrs. Gartin’s home. Then they went broke. Now, they don’t know where they're going te get the necessary $750. That fund would be used to sei up the portable, build a basement and heat and light the building. Right now the boys have a small, dilapidated building at 27th and Ralston Sts. Their Adult Council is able to scrape together $5 a month for its rent and heat. When about 35 Boys’ Towners as» semble in the clubhouse after school, the one-room building is packed. There’s hardly room for two members to swing paddles at the ping pong table that was given to them a year ago and which has nearly been worn out by constant use. This struggle for happiness for under-privileged boys really had its beginning four years ago when W. F. Fuller opened a roller skating rink in the neighborhood.

Boys Broke Windows

Mischievous boys with time heavy on their hands nearly drove him to distraction heaving rocks through windows at the rink as fast as he could replace them. He figured there was only one way to stop this. He decided to make friends out of the boys. He invited them to a free matinee. They flocked to the rink. The little fellows had to borrow their big brcthers’ shoes, because the rink didn't have any small-size skates. From then on the youngsters became friends of Mr. Fuller. He put some of them to work. He realized that the youngsters had been mischievous- because they didn't have anything else to occupy their time, Two and a half years ago when the Boys Town movement swept the country, the boys were organized into such a group. Three hundred joined and got membership cards. ‘They ranged in age from

eight to 17. The parents were organized into|On cold days the wind finds cracks

boys’ adult council must raise be-|-

It took a lot

an Adult Council whose members besides Mrs. Gartin, are Elsa Jackson and Mrs. Ada Douglas. The board of directors is composed of

Gary Jacobs, Bert Douglas, Mrs. Ollie Taylor and Mr. Fuller. Although only about 40 boys are active, the roils of the Boys’ Club still contain the names of approximately 300. More would be active if the facilities were better. At first they had quarters in several small buildings near the roller rink. One still bears the pretentious title of “Townhall, Office of Mayor.” These quarters were unheated and the parents of the boys finally arranged for their present quarters.

Future ero of 300 Boys Tied Up in Lumk iy Which Can Be Turned Info Clubhouse If $750 Is Found

Money Must Be Provided |

A sum of $750 stands between this heap of lumber and a practical clubhouse for the underprivileged boys.

“Townhall, Office of Mayor” marks the Ralston Ave. boys’ first clubhouse which was unheated and too small.

in the walls of the structure and the stove in the rear of the room is too small.

When there is any large affair, the boys move into the roller rink. It’s been tough sledding, Mr. Fuller said, but the directors of the Boys’ Town have succeeded in keeping the youths out of trouble by keeping them busy. If they can get together that $750, however, they feel that everything will be smooth sailing but they don't know how theyre going to do it. Right now Mrs. Gartin is directing a rummage sale of garments and woodwork objects the boys have made. The Adult Council feels that every little bit will help.

the courts. Immediately after the indictment, the price of milk in Chicago stores dropped from 10 and 12 cents a quart to 8 and 9 cents. Prices began to climb again when a demurrer to the indictment was sustained, but they dropped back to 812 cents in stores when the Supreme Court upheld the indictment, though the price of milk delivered in bottles did not fall. Basically, Mr. Arnold’s objective is to squeeze out the water, or excess profit, taken by the middlemen, distributors, processors and the like at the expense, so the Justice Department says, of the farmer who gets too little for his produce and of the consumer at the other end who has to pay too much for the necessities.

FUND TO SELECT '41 HONORARY MEMBER

The 1941 honorary member of the Indianapolis Community Fund will be named at the 21st annual Fund meeting to be held at 6:30 p. m. Monday at the Columbia Club. An honorary member is selected each year in recognition of “outstanding and unselfish service to the public welfare.”

Dr. George Arthur Frantz, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church will speak. Mrs. John A. MacDonald has been appointed chairman of the committee on arrangements for the meet-

ing. . Assisting her will be: Mrs. Roy E. Adams, Mrs. Dorothy Buschmann, Mrs. James F. Carroll, Miss Grace Crandall, Mrs. Brandt C. Downey, Mrs. J. P. Dunn, Mrs. Anna S. Elliott, Miss Myrtle Johnson, Mrs. * Harry Krauss, Mrs. Walter Kruli, Mrs. Oliver Martin, Miss Kathryn McPherson, Mrs. John Messick, Mrs. Boyd Miller, Mrs. J. L. Murray, Mrs. PF. B. Ransom, Mrs. M. E. Robbins, ‘Mrs. Bertram C. Rodda, Mrs. David Ross, Mrs. Almus G. Ruddell, Mrs. Karl R. Ruddell, Mrs. W. B. Schiltges, Mrs. A. C. Sinclair, Mrs. Frank Streightoff, Mrs. Wolf Sussmann, Miss Gertrude Taggart, Mrs. John A. Towns, Mrs. H. P. Willwerth, Mrs. Walker Winslow; Mrs. E. W. Wright and Mrs, Donald A. Mor-

JAPANESE RAISE G00D WILL CRY

Matsuoka Says He Doubts FDR Wants War, Hopes For Better Relations.

TOKYO, Feb. 4 (U, P.).—Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka {told the House Budget Committee today that he did not believe President Roosevelt desired war with Japan and that he himself had not abandoned hope of improving JapaneseAmerican relations despite Japan’s alliance with Germany and Italy. Responding to questions, Matsuoka said: “Even today I do not think that President Roosevelt himself desires war with Japan. Mr, Roosevelt .apparently thinks that JapaneseAmerican relations can be adjusted if Japan accepts his views.”

Outside Nations Blamed

He said he believed he had made clear to the American people, during the course of discussions in Parliaraent, that while Japan’s diplomacy revolves round its alliance with the Axis powurs, it has not abandoned hope of improving relations ‘with America. Yusuke Thurini, a committee member, said that maneuvers of outside nations were more responsible than Anti-Japanese Americans for the present strain in relations.

Land on China Coast

“1 think that cold figures showing that Japan’s economy can be established without dependence on America and Britain would be the best means of eliminating America’s underestimation of Japan's power and thus would assist in adjustment of relations,” he said. It was disclosed today that Japanese troops under the protecting guns of warships had made a surprise landing on the China coast above British | Hongkong ostensibly to cut a supply route to

rison.

the interior of China.

Waits Penalty

for Making

Woman Cotton Field Slave

TEXARKANA, Ark, Feb. 4 (U. P).~—Jésse Miller, 42, a gaunt and stooped man who knows the trials of prison life from a term in the Arkansas penitentiary, today learns what the Government considers a fair price for Kkidnaping his stepdaughter from her husband and making her a slavé in the Texas cotton fields. A Federal jury yesterday found him guilty of violating the Lindbergh kidnaping law. Miller's leathered, unemotional face whitenéd, and he swallowed, but he said

nothing. The Lindbergh lay ores 3 . maximum penalty of dea u Federal Judge Harry J. Lemley and the Federal prosecutor agreed that Miller’s crime did not warrant his “execution. Judge Lemley ordered “him back for sentencing today. Mrs. Miller was tried on id same charge, but Judge Lemley instructed

said the evidence showed that whatever she had done tc her daughter was done because of Miller’s intimidation.

Miller was convicted of luring Mrs. Dorothy Garner from her home in De Queen, Ark. in August, 1939, when she was 17 and had a new born baby, with a message that her grandfather was dying. When she arrived in McKinney, Tex., to see her grandfather, Miller put her to work in a cotton patch. He thought she should pick at least 250 pounds of cotton a. day, and when she didn’t, he beat her with, iron bars, stovewood ‘and leather straps. One witness said that the flesh was “beat or stomped” off her feet until the bone was visible. Mrs. Garner picked cotton and chopped wood for the Millers six

the jury to find her not guilty. He

months before she escaped.

John R. Morris, United Press Far Eastern manager, has just concluded an extensive tour of the Far East. He presents his findings on China’s position after four years of war.

By JOHN R. MORRIS United Press Staff Correspondent

HONGKONG, Feb, 4—China is prepared to carry on her war against Japan indefinitely and to take the offensive if American aid is provided in sufficient quantities.

The Chinese are suffering from]:

internal difficulties—some of them serious—as a result of four years of devastating warfare but they feel that their strength now is increasing relative to that of Japan. China's leaders have assured me that they do not fear a break with Russia which would cut off Soviet aid. Nor do they believe a fundamental Russo-Japanese rapprochement is likely. Other evidence

situation despite current ditficulties

between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communists. China, is beset with internal problems—mostly economic, but some of a politica] nature. The same, however, can be said of Japan, particularly in view of the sweeping Japanese aspirations in the south Pacific at a time when the war with China is still going on.

Currie Report Awaited On the military side China is now

‘holding her own against Japan. The

Japanese have made no territorial gains in China in recent months and have withdrawn their forces in some areas. China, however, cannot expect to take the offensive without far greater aid from the United States than she has yet obtained or been promised. But China has been encouraged greatly by American aid. All classes of Chinese with whom I talked felt that the United States held the real key to the Far Eastern situation. I found no sign that the Chinese have been dismayed by the military odds against them nor by economic difficulties which admittedly are causing great hardship to the Chinese people. Confidence in increasing U. 8. aid has been an important factor in maintaining Chinese morale. Experienced American observers expressed hope that Lauchlin Currie, U. S. fiscal expert now on his way to Chungking, would be able to recommend a comprehensive program of aid for China when he returns to Washington

Russian Aid Less

It seems apparent that China is ready to accept not only American aid but American advice on the best means of utilizing. credits and materials from the Unitéd States. The importance of such advice is emphasized by the internal crisis through which the Chungking Government has just passed. I was told that the tangible U. 8. aid given Chiang Kai-shek was his strongest weapon against the whisperings of peace advocates and in

seems to support their view of the||

China Can Fight Indefinitely, Feels U. S. Holds the Real Key

dealing with the Chinese Communist forces. Russia has slackened her aid to China in recent months, but this appears to be due more to Russia's own military requirements because of the war in Europe than to any serious change in Russo-Chinese relations. American aid and British action in reopening the Burma Road have hardened Chinese opinion against Japanese peace feelers. Traffic moves over the Burma Road despite constant Japanese bombing attacks. The same is true of the other roads in the Chinese network.

HOOSIER MINER KILLED

SULLIVAN, Ind. Feb. 4 (U. P.) — Estel M. Arnold died last night of injuries received at the Peerless Coal mine when he was struck by a coal car. He was 41.

eaps

WILLKIE TALKS WITH DE VALERA

Returns to London Before Starting Return Flight To U. S. Tonight.

LONDON, Feb. 4 (U, P.)—Wendell L. Willkie paid a flying visit to Eire today to confer with Prime Minister Eamon De Valera as he brought’ his inspection of Great Brittain’s war effort near an end. Mr. Willkie lunched with De Valera in Dublin and reported that in the course of “a very long talk” he discussed the European situation and international conditions and— presumably—Eire’s neutrality. He flew to Dublin from Manchester, lunched with De Valera and by late afternoon was back in Britain. He landed at Liverpool on the return trip from Dublin and continued immediately to London by plane. Mr. Willkie was to leave Britain tonight for Lisbon on the first stage of his return journey to the United States, where he will testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on President Roosevelt's lease-lend bill to aid Britain.

Mr. Willkie chartered a commer-|q

cial plane for the trip to Dublin. His departure from Manchester had been unexpected. Before leaving he said: 71 want it understood that I shall nat attempt to influence De Valera in any way. I merely want to ask questions and talk to him across a desk so I can have a full and com-

plete picture of the war situation. city

There is an awful lot I feel he can tell me that would be of great hterest in the United States.” Mr. Willkie's discussion with De Valera was believed to center on Irish ports and air bases, which British Prime Minister Winston Churchill has said were vital to proper protection of British overseas trade routes.

THIS NAVY PROJECT WILL COST A DOLLAR

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (U. P.).— The Navy is paying only $1 for a project which probably will attract more attention than any or all of the $100,000,000 battleships in the fleet. The three red steel radio towers, 450 to 600 feet tall, standing back of Arlington cemetery are to be razed

to make access to the new national | :

airport safer for airplanes. It awarded the contract for this job to the Long Island Machinery & Equipment Co., Inc., New York. The

sum—$1.

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PROFIT ON FOOD

Germans - Blame Shortage

On ‘Illicit Trading’ '

~ And ‘Corruption.’

By DAVID M. NICHOL

Copyri n 1941, bv The Indianapolis Times mw i The Chicago Daily jhe

BERLIN, Feb. 4.—The Bdicln food situation; which the representatives of the Hoover Commission here say is critical, is attributed by

the Germans, in part at least, to! &

the extent of ellicit trading and profiteering. “For weeks and months the newspapers of this country,” says a re-

cent account in the Brusseler Zéitung, published by the Germans, “have béen full of reports of the

most scandalous cases of profiteer-|.

ing and corruption, Matters became more appalling from day to day. The people cannot buy potatoes, bread, meat or butter, in the ordinary way, while profiteers and are filling their stomachs and their pockets.” The illegal trade is well organized, the paper said.

‘Officials Unmasked’

“Burgomasters are unmasked as flour-profiteers, police officers arrange for truckloads of pctatoes to reach the city. Officials of - the food card distribution depots embezzle tens of thousands of cards and organize a profitable {rade. Wherever one looks there is corruption, irresponsibility, disorder—the whole, one big scandal. “And Germany is being asked to! supply food under conditions of this | kind! It almost sounds like cynicism but there is method in it. They want the Reich to be responsible if the people should starve. The Germans have promised help but only on the condition that illicit trading is eliminated. The Reich must have assurance that its deliveries do not disappear in these channels.”

Demand ‘Submission’

These conditions for German assistance have been stated in somewhat different forms on other occasions. * A Belgian delegation which came to Berlin Jan. 14 was told, according to reports from the same newspaper, that the Belgian people must “submit with discipline to a regulated food and economic policy.” The paper has been the medium also for repeated assertions that the Belgian courts and-officials must adopt a more severe attitude. It is reported that there were 7000 cases of illegal trading detected during November and that 1250 tons of food were confiscated as a result. Fines of 700 to 7000 francs were of no avail, it said, because traders often made 10 times that in a single ay. Bread Is Missing Some of the troubles seem almost to be deliberate efforts by the their German conquerors. The Brusseler Zeitung reported, for example, that on one recent day it was impossible to buy a load of bread in the entire

“Strangely,” it said, “all the bakers had run out of flour on the same day although cookies and cakes

sugar, eggs and such, were still

Coroner Frank Nance of Holly wood opens an inquest ‘today into the death of Dolores Delmar, 29-year-old dancer, who leaped overboard Sunday from a yacht. He

issued subpenas for Alice Dere, her roommate, Arthur Hamburger, Southern California millionaire, and Robert Tracy, film actor, all of whom were aboard Hamburger’s yacht.

FEAR ARGENTINE RULE BY FORCE

Observers Report Rightests Show Teeth Over Ouster Of Oritz Partisan.

By ALLEN HADEN 14) by The Indianapolis Times he Chicago Daily News, Inc BUENOS AIRES, Feb. 4 .(U, P). —Political disorganization is carrying Argentina slowly but surely towards the collapse of representative government and its substitution by a government relying on force. So far, outward constitutional forms are maintained but, with the premature ousting of Octavo Amadeo, a partisan of President Dr. Roberto M. Ortiz, from the post of Federal Interventer of Buenos Aires Province, and his replacement by Admiral Videlia, who was Minister of Marine under the term of former President Gen. Augustin P. Justo, Rightist elements are beginning to show their teeth. Amadeo was due to be removed, anyway, say Conservative Party circles, but not until late in February . Debate in the Chamber of Deputies over the question of intervention in Santa Fe and- Mendoza provinces, in order to replace fraudulently elected Governors there, apparently hastened the appointment of a Conservative Party man in Buenos Aires. This province provides the largest single group of electors in the Presidential elections. The party controlling Buenos Aires province has a good chance to win the Presidency. By controlling Buenos Aires and a couple of small provinces, victary in the Federal con-

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| Landis warned. aE) short of war and beyond the limits [» =

WAR AID GURB -

Present Course Will Send U. S. Into Conflict, He Tells House.

By DANIEL M. KIDNEY Times Staff Writer. i WASHINGTON, Feb. 4.—Rep. Gerald W. Landis (R. Ind.), a World War veteran, today termed United States participation in that conflict a mistake and urged that we not aid England to the extent of being . drawn into the present war. His speech was delivered in the House in opposition to the lend-lease-aid-to-Britain bill’ now up for = debate. : “The course we are pursuing is bound to involve us in war,” Rep. “If we aid Britain,

of the Neutrality Act, it ultimate., means war.

Wants Bases in Return

“We should give aid to Britain, China and Greece on the basis least likely to involve us in war. We should continue to aid them by fur~ nishing war materials which are not vitally essential to American defense.

title to naval and air bases in Canada and the West Indies recently leased from Great Britain, | We should also trade them war sup= plies for strategic materials such as tin, rubber, manganese, nickel and chromium, & “Britain is now receiving about °

duction of the United States. How many more planes can we give them without neglecting our own défense? |: Our first obligation is to build an impregnable defense for America in order that no foreign power or com=bination of powers can successfully attack us.” wd

Opposes Power Grant

Citing our entrance into the World War in 1917 “to make the world safe for democracy,” Rep. Landis said we got nothing from it but “a several - billion - dollar war debt, thousands of wounded young men and shiploads of flag-draped coffins.” He will oppose the lend-lease bill because of its grant of power to President Roosevelt, Rep. Landis concluded. Ja “We must keep America out of Europe and Europe out of America,” he said. “As a veteran of the World War, I fervently believe that we should never again-soak Europe's I soil with American glood.” 7 After enlisting as a private at = Camp Taylor, Ky., Rep. Landis was discharged at the close of the World War as a second lieutenant of ine fantry at Camp Upton, N. Y.

MANHATTAN NEEDS TOW TO MAKE PORT,

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. Feb. 4 (U. P).—A preliminary inspection { of the 24,289-ton United States liner Manhattan, freed at last from a sand bar, revealed today that she would be unable to make port under her own power. United States lines officials said she would be towed by tugs to a drydock at Newport News, - Va., or New York. x The Manhattan, en route to California ‘with 199 passengers, went aground off West Palm Beach Jan. 12. She was floated just before mid=

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