Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 February 1941 — Page 14
PAGE 14 _
: The Indianapolis Times
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Ae RILEY 5551 |
Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1941
LEBENSRAUM
THE Japanese government is adopting another record-
Dredking mutimny budget, inereasing the burden which 2
ple must bear to carry on the war in China
the Japanese p : : will provide
and the other adventures which, they are told, them room to live. be It is an ironic commentary on this quest for living room that the burden it imposes—the sending of so many men to war, the privations of the people at home—is causing a gain in the Japanese death rate and a huge slump in the birth rate. One authority estimates that Japan’s population growth, normally about a million a year, slowed down to 300,000 in 1939 and may have reached an actual standstill in 1940. The same Japanese newspapers which proclaim that their race must have space for expansion are urging Japanese women to bear more children so that the race may
not grow less.
FOR UNSELFISH SERVICE
THOSE ‘who know A. E. Baker will applaud the Community Fund’s selection of him as the 1941 honorary Fund member in recognition of “outstanding and unselfish service | in the public welfare.” £3 © A. E. Baker is not a wealthy man devoting time fo social good because his time is not needed elsewhere. Mr. Baker has given freely of his time and his energies because, he is made that way. To him there is no greater service than aiding the poor or the young, regardless of the inconvenience to him. : ; : We congratulate Mr. Baker—and we congratulate the Community Fund on a wise choice.
VIOLENT PICKETING
FT HE U. S. Supreme Court has held that the states can, if they desire, give their state courts authority to issue injunctions against picketing when violence by union members is closely associated with the picketing. This seems a reasonable decision. It does not limit the right to picket peacefully and we think it does not abridge free speech, despite the contrary opinions of Justices Black, Douglas and Reed. As Justice Frankfurter said for the majority, the Constitution was not meant to shelter “utternee in a context of violence.” Violent picketing is not “an ppeal to reason” but “an instrument of force.” State courts, of course, should be extremely careful in e of the injunction against labor unions, limiting it to the estricted field sanctioned by the Supreme Court. But we lievetthe country will welcome this evidence that the Sureme Court recognizes some circumstances in which the law can curb union excesses. Especially so after the other recent Frankfurter decision, holding that the Government |cannot invoke the anti-trust laws against a union which attempts to destroy the business of a wholly innocent employer because it is having a jurisdigtional fight with another [union. |
WHY THE WIRETAPPING RUSH?
THE great Justice Holmes called wiretapping a “dirty business.” “Writs of assistance and general warrants,” said the great Justice Brandeis, “are but puny instruments of tyranny and oppression when compared with wiretapping. And in 1934 wiretapping by Federal agencies was outlawed by Congress. al A ny proposal=to restore it should have careful consideration, with every chance for opposition to be heard and : ablic opinion to be informed. Yet the House Judiciary, ittee is being pressured to end its hearings—hearings which thus far have consumed less than four hours and have been obscured by public and Congressional absorption in the lend-lease debate—and to urge speedy passage of a pping bill sought by the Justice Department and its Federal Bureau of Investigation. e Hobbs bill is not exclusively, or even primarily, a defense measure aimed at spies and saboteurs. Under it the head of any Government agency who has investigators and detecttves at his disposal could authorize them to tap i whenever he found reason to suspect that a felony | ‘might have been, was being or might be about to be com-
Such agencies as the Interior Department, the National i Relations Board, the Income-Tax Bureau and many * | others, as well as the FBI, could go into the “dirty busi: ness.” Abuses and invasions of the rights of citizens would be certain. The danger to labor has united the A. F. of L.,
Fair Enough By 'Westbrook Pegler
‘Much About Mrs. Roosevelt Can Be Explained by Remembering That She's an Excellent Politician
EW YORK, Feb. 11.—After years of masquerading as a rather naive but always well-mean-ing amateur fuss-budget, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt lately, has been revealing herself as an active proponent of power-government. : Mrs. Roosevelt has become bolder or incautious in the last few months, particularly since the second re-election of her husband, and on Thursday she attended a rally of an electricians’ union of the A. F. of Ii. in New York and joined in whooping “God ‘ Bless America.” The union, whose members Mrs. Roosevelt addressed, has a strike on in which rioters recently outnumbered and mobbed New York police, and is pursuing a policy similar to that of Sidney : _ Hillman’s organization, which apparently is to eliminate the small operator by economic ruin, consolidate the business in a few big
survivors and then take over the industry under
union management. Mrs. Roosevelt’s partiality to collectivism has been apparent for a lomg time, but always in the guise of a warm, humane desire to promote brotherhood and willing co-operation, a pretense which she still maintains in words. But is is becoming apparent that her purpose is to discredit as selfish and undeserving reactionaries all who reject her advice and thus subject them to the many ingenious forms of persecution which labor unions employ to capture unwilling members.
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H™ ATTENDANCE at the rally of the strikers was a valuable act of .ballyhoo for the union in a labor dispute, and obviously was intended to create a political effect, although Mrs. Roosevelt, of course, still will pretend to be aeting only as an individual citizen who does not partake of her husband's office. She offered this pretense in her enthusiastic encouragement of the Communistic Youth Congress. which continued until the Congress became so notorious that it would have been an unbearable political embarrassment to her to. continue the association. She remains a deadhead member of the Newspaper Guild, although she is absolutely ineligible for membership under its constitution. : Thus, in most matters of coverage, Sister Roosevelt can expect a favorable break from her brothers and sisters in the Guild. The Guild, of course, will deny that membership in and loyalty to itself, could effect the objectivity of its members in their reporting of news, but it repudiated its own contention on this point when it required Chief Justice Charles fiyans Hughes to resign from the American Press Society on the ground that his. strictly honorable membership in that body might sometime affect his
“judgment on a hypothetical issue between the Guild - and the society before the Supreme Court,
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RS. ROOSEVELT is extremely shrewd in her manipulation of her publicity, as was observed by the observing when, after election, she made print in a large way With a story of her great generosity in giving away all the earnings which she had acquired by exploiting her husband’s office as a journalist and lecturer,
The fact still remained that the question was not what she did with her money but why it was paid to her. ° ? Lately Mrs. Roosevelt was quoted as having said that the President could take over Henry Ford, and ‘soon afterward the President himself reiterated this contention in slightly modified form, not failing, in\cidentally, to cast a smear on Ford, who is engaged in strife with the C. I. O. and the Labor Relations Beard. The effect of Mrs. Roosevelt's shrewd and deceptive campaign will be minimized if it be kept in mind that she is always a politician, that James A. Farley long ago described her as one of the ablest politicians of his acquaintance, and that her objective is collectivism. Her innocent, wholehearted, humane enthusiasm, the whooping awkwardness and the | baby-kissing in its many variations, areg only a disguise. ’
Business By John T. Flynn:
Lend - Lease Bill Would Permit F.D.R. to Lend Arms Now on Hand
NE? YORK, Feb. 11.—Those who object to giving
- the President the vast powers granted in the Lease-Lend Bill are told that in the end Congress has a complete check on the President. That is to say, while the president is authorized to buy defense materials for Britain or any other country that appeals to him, he capnot do it until he gets the money. This bill does not appropriate the money,*and so opponents of the bill are assured that as each expenditure by the President is proposed Congress can give or withhold the money. This statement has been repeated by everybody wh) has suprorted the bill, includirg Cabinet members, and yet it is not true. 2 And since it is not true, there is a feeling among many that the President and his aids are not being frank with the American people. I have read with great care all of Secretary Morgenthau’s testimony. He admits freely that we can do nothing for Britain under this bill which will have any effect for some time in the field of ordering new material. But he does admit that the bill would permit the President to sell, lend, transfer “defense materials that we have on hand now” and “which they might need at any time.” : In other words, I cannot read the Secretary’s testimony without being convinced that the object of
. this bill is to enable the President to turn over to
England materials—destroyers, guns, planes, ships— which our Government now has.
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OW the Government has received from Congress authority to build many billions of dollars worth of planes, guns, destroyers, and the money has been appropriated for these. No further appropriations are necessary. And this bill gives the President the power to turn over to Britain any of these things so that he can do it without getting any further appropriations from Congress. Within the last two weeks Congress has authorized
_ the C. I. 0. and the Railway Brotherhoods in opposition : ais bill. The danger to businessmen, to politicians, to | anyone for whom Federal bureaucrats might desire to make trouble, is equally great. : / If wiretapping is necessary as a defense measure, that fact should be proved. It has not been proved, and it seems highly doubtful that smart saboteurs or spies would trap themselves ‘by discussing their secrets on the ‘telephone. This pressure for rush action, under cover of the defense emergency, to permit general Federal use of a weapon more gerous to the innocent than to the guilty should be sted and rebuked.
A FROM IDAHO 337194 ODAY’S citation for attempting to kill two birds with one stone goes to Governor Chase A. Clark of Idaho. | He has cut the travel allowance of state employees from $5 a day to $3.50. His idea is not.only to save money for p taxpayers but also to “avoid a lot of divorces,” on the ory that employees whose expense accounts are limite
the building of 200 new cargo ships. The money has been, or will be, appropriated for these ships. Nobody
| has said anything about these ships being for Britain.
On the contrary, much has been said about the necessity of building up the American merchant marine. - And we find a writer, who is close to all this, writing with complete assurance that these ships are being built for ‘Britain. 4 . Where did he get this information? How does it happen that he has it and Americans have not got it ~-not even Congressmen? 3 The simple truth is that what Britain wants under this bill is not so much new orders for materials, but the right to get those materials already in existence and either built or being built for the United States Government. : Since no appropriations are needed for these things, the supposed check on the President's power through the Congressional power of appropriation is completely lacking. .. :
Wiel
So They Say— aay Soper ret are pre i lh Ge
it.—Dr. Philip D. Wilson, Columbia University surgeonprofessor, just returned from England.
50 a day will
' UNDERGRADUATES of today are seemingly
THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
You Really Should
One Time
TUESDAY, FEB. 11, 1941
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Hoosier Forum
I wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.
FORECASTS A GREAT TRIUMPH FOR SCHRICKER By Claude Braddick Kokomo, Ind. The Government of the State of Indiana now enters chaos, and no man can foresee the end. But two things at least seem certain: Some high-priced lawyers will have the
time of their lives, and Governor Schricker, by virtue of his native intelligence and the.impressive authority vested in his office by the Constitution, will emerge a victorious and outstanding figure. s » » A PAT ON THE BACK FOR WESTBROOK PEGLER' By Voice in the Crowd A lot of comment has been made against Pegler's quarrel with racketeers in the ranks of leaders of labor. Much of this adverse comment comes from some of those who
should welcome it most, and whom Pegler attempts to protect—the men who pay the dues, that support the locals and headquarters as well. Many people do not like Pegler, many do not understand him. For Pegler it can be said that he has un-
leadership positions that only the most righteous of men should fill. Don’t forget that if Pegler was not on solid ground he would have been charged with everything from arson to high treason and by now would have been hanged, electrocuted and shot by the firing squad. : It seems that Pegler has never written a word that challenged a man’s right to belong to a on. His fight has been entirely against the racketéer who lives by other men’s sweat. Our national wellbeing is founded on tolerance. Minorities of every race, creed and American ief must be tolerated, protected and heard. Exactly equal to a man’s right to join any church and worship as his private judgment dictates, is his right to join a union of hi- 1oice. Exactly equal to a man’s ri, . to protection against being forced or coerced to belong to any church, lodge of movement with which his private judgment disagrees, is his right to protection if he does not desire to join a union. Nothing can be said against the man who joins a union and nothing could be said against the man who can earn his bread (ofttimes at
covered some very bad- scamps in}
(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, religious confroversies. excluded. Make your letters short, so all can “have a chance. Letters must be signed, but names will be | withheld on request.)
higher than union wages), as an independent. If we are to remain as free men it is far more important that any young man can learn any trade of his choice, without coercion or restriction, than that any group by reason of their united strength have agreements to work at “well over a dollar per hour.” Sooner or later public opinion must solve the problem of the American “taxpayer who wishes to work on an American project, but cannot afford or does not desire to join an organization. There is plenty of room and plenty of work for all of us. 1 ‘ ” 5 ” DEPLORES ‘HAIR-SPLITTING’
IN LEND-LEASE DEBATE By E. R. Egan, St. Croix Falls, Wis. If the wise men in our legislative halls with their hair-splitting conscience and. hare-brained schemes of camouflaging their own purpose would give heed to their more practical brethren we might have gone farther, in- self-defense and aid to Britain, suey ese to the hardiest dictator for reflection upon the probable result of taking on a powerful democracy. Jf these wise ones once got under the dictator's heel they would find small chance of airing their antipathy to war or. anything else much but der Fuehrer)s dictum. The time given to anticipating a dictatorship in this country and trying to make the slightest gesture of efficiency into a dire scheme of the Administration for a dictatorship is a bit humorous—even all things considered, if it were not in, effect of giving aid and comfort to the arch enemy of democracy. As a supporter of, the lend-lease bill, or any other scheme of aid to Britain, and France, and with the utmost respect and admiration for
Side Glances=By Galbraith
the Beards and Lindberghs and oth-
’
; S_A
er distinguished citizens, it would be more to the purpose to invite Army and Navy officials to testify to the urgent needs and advise the probable comparable strength if put to the test—and what in their opinion could be expected and base their reflections not to say prompt decisions upon practical phases of the situation. The time for listening to idealists and propagandists passed with the Battle of France. We should have been convinced of the necessity of immediate consideration of the problems of defense and aid to Britain,
» ” » SAFETY AND THE GIANT AIRPLANE By W. F. Weiland We are shocked when the largest size airplanes crash. We take great pride in these modern achievements, but those who design thém surely are not greatly surprised when they crash. lb Théy are encouraged to build them ever larger because aerodynamic efficiency increases with size, but they also know that safety
decreases with size due to the necessity of contacting ground. The larger the airplane the larger the landing field must be. Large land-
not common except in such areas as the state of Kansas.
size in the case of airplanes designed to rest on water, that is providing there is plenty of water near the flight and the water is free of floating objects. - : » » 8! WIDOW PROTESTS
|lOLD-AGE PENSION LIENS By Pensioner In answer 0 James R. Meitzler of Attica: I herewith state, being a widow by the will of God, not myself, I applied for an old-age pension and received for one year the amount of $14 a month. - Out of it I paid taxes amounting to $75 a year, besides keeping up insurance on’ my home, and also life insurance. - The latter I turned in
as security to-the Old-Age Pension Department. I could not meet all my expenses with only $14 a month, so I rented out a couple of rooms to get money for fuel, food and clothing. No sooner had I done this than comes the investigator and takes away my pension. ' They still have my insurance policy, the lien on my home and a judgment against my name so that I could not sell even a piece of my furniture to buy a loaf of bread if I wanted to. Don’t you know that for every dollar we earn they take it off our pensions, and so penalize our every effort to help ourselves? I have paid taxes in. the city of Indianapolis for the last 45 years. If we were lazy we could not have accumulated enough money to buy a home. I never was a pauper in my life, or a loafer, until the state
|made me one. Someone ought to
make you eat those words, Mr. James Meitzler!
- MAGIC
By MARY WARD The moon is small Against the sky; Yet it lights all To glorify. Half-moon, a. boat, By stars convoyed— Magic afloat And unalloyed.
DAILY THOUGHT
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy in vain; for “the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. —Deuteronomy 5:11.
TAKE NOT His name, who made nouth, in vain; it gets thee
oe
ing fields for emergency landing are| |
The safety factor increases with| &
Gen. Johnson Says—
“Amendments of Lease - Lend Bill
Have Removed Many Objections But a Few Defects Still Remain
ASHINGTON, Feb. 11.—The lease-lend bill, as it passed the House amended, carries a lot of. meaningless window-dressing but it meets tne principal objection of those whose only real opposition was because, in its original form, it almost completely transferred the power of the purse from the Congress to the Presie dent. | An unqualified power to “dis« pose of . . . ‘any commodity . . « for defense . . . to which the Unite" ed States . | . has or hereafter acquires title, . possession or cone" trol” would have ‘heen power to give away all/the gold in that hole in the ground in Kentucky, all’ the silver at West Point, all the" surplus ‘stocks of farm produce: owned or controlled by the United " ‘ States, all the Army and Navy equipment we now have or may hereafter acquire, It has been said, that no such power was ine: tended or would ever be used. So—well, why grant it?" The good faith of the Administration in disclaiming any such wide purpose or intent was pretty well evidenced by permitting the amendment limiting the value of certain defense articles to be disposed of “procured from funds heretofore. appropriated shall not exceed $1,300,000,000.”
Of course, there is no limit on futuré appropriae tions, but as to them Congress still keeps the “power of the purse.” The important point is that without’ that amendment, the total field in which this aue thority could have been executed might have exceeded 50 billion dollars. What is it now? A :
As to articles “procured from funds heretofore appropriated”—guns, planes, ships and the like— clearly it is 1.3 billions of dollars of value. But how about; that gold hoard of billions for example? Was” that procured “from funds heretofore appropriated?” A miner brings new gold to a mint and, for prace tical purposes sells it. It is of itself a basis of money, The Government issues money for it. No appropria« tion is necessary. The amendment does not restrictthe President in disposing of such gold—the foremost “article of defense.” To much of our vast hoard, the 1.3 billion limit does not apply.
A similar objection probably applies to other come modities which were not “procured from funds heree tofore appropriated”—a field too complex to discuss in this limited space. I am informed by some Con’ gressmen in charge of the legislation, that. the 1.3 billions is a limitation designed to cover all these things and that if it does not, it will be made to do sa,
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If that is done, it would deflate 75 per cent of the valid objection to this bill. It is hard to see why it should mot be done. The obscurity as to the true effect of the limitation in this regard is very real and this is no time for obscurities, The amendment requiring [consultation with the: Army and Navy staff chiefs is pure hokum and, in a sense, an affront to the President. The caution that nothing in this act authorizes the convoy ‘of other vessels by naval vessels is worse than meaningless and ought to come out. Under existing law, the Prese ident can convoy American vessels—except in combat zones, He ought. to have that authority. That is what the Navy is for. Under existing law he could not convoy foreign vessels—except by violating the spirit if not the letter of his authority—which ought not be assumed. : 3 The time limit (June 30, 1943) except as to come mitments, does not mean very much. That is time enough te give away or commit our shirt and pants. The amendment permitting terminating of these powe ers by joint resolution was necessary to prevent grante ing extraordinary powers by majority vote which could not have been retaken over a veto without. a two-thirds vote ; Much has thu§ been done to reduce this legisla= tion to the bounds of prudence, necessity and reason, It is not enough, but it is a great step toward unity, toleration and intelligent use of the Democratic ine < stitutions of debate and compromise,
A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson
fh B. SELTZER, editor of the Cleveland Press, comments as follows upon reports made by two prominent. Y, W.\C. A, officials: - “We have felt for a long time that women see more clearly in- the presence of trouble than men, and, even more important, that their hearts seem to comprehend the small boy complexes that seize grown men in control of world affairs when they are faced with things they do not understand, and therefore fear. Miss Richarde son and Mrs. Elliot tended to ace centuate the feeling of comfort we - all experience when intelligent and discerning women are im the ime mediate neighborhood to help men in their sense of direction when they lose the compass.”
These are brave, true words, . .
Every intelligent man at one time or another comes face to face with the fact that his world eannot be managed well witheut the wisdom of women, He is aware of it many times in hig personal experience; he realizes it over and over again in community crises; and, when international troubles begin, the first thing heard is the masculine cry for feminine help. Men lean upon our love; they are nourished by our strength; they perish when our vision fails. : Does it not seem strange, then, that they so pere sistently refuse to consider our opinion until they get into some sort of a jam-like small boys who ignore their mothers until their own mischief finds them out and they run to the maternal arms for comfort. Women are not fairly represented in our Congress or our Cabinet; they outnumber men in the popula«tion and so, according to numerical strength, do not enjoy equal political rights. . That may be of small consequence, however. But it. seems to me of very great consequence that intelligent men are so muchinclined to ignore the opinions and feeling of dise. cerning women—except after trouble arrives. a There are multitudes of stupid females in the country, of courSe, although there is no noticeable dearth of stupid males, either. Yet, if our democracy and perhaps our civilization itself are to be saved, we know that the intelligent people must join tegethes to do the saving. : | . . And how is this to be accomplished unless men ses. that the one force they steadfastly refuse. to try te understand and which they therefore fear most is their own womenkind? 7, “a Family troubles often bring individuals into closer unity. Perhaps these parlous times will create a be ter understanding between the men and 3% of Uncle Sam's family, At any rate, we can hope fo, |
Questions and Answ
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