Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 February 1941 — Page 17

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Indianapolis Times (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

RALPH BURKHOLDER MARK FERREE Editor Business Manager

‘ROY W. HOWARD President

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«> RILEY 5551

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. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1941

KILL IT NOW "© OT one but several trial balloons indicate that a 3 per cent sales tax is receiving more than casual consideration as a future revenue raising measure for Indiana. We have only this to say to those who are toying with’ the sales tax idea: We know of no tax quite so unfair, so inequitable and so unjust to the ordinary wage earner. It . sucks away, a penny or two or three 4t a time, a greater percentage of his income than he should pay. It ignores the principle of ability to pay. It often causes him to pay far more than 8 per cent if his purchases are in small amounts. And, once imposed, it is seldom abandoned, for it does bring into state coffers a great sum that is more ‘quickly and easily collected than by almost any other tax

‘method. : A protest now may be worth nine a little later on.

POSTPONING AN EXPLOSION JTALIAN newspapers have been forbidden to publish lists of soldiers killed, wounded or missing. Publication is permitted only in a weekly bulletin issued by the War Ministry. ‘The change, says an announcement, was made to prevent errors “unavoidable when all papers publish lists ‘comprising thousands of names.” But there is, we think, another reason. The Fascists are trying to keep the-people of Italy’ from learning the truth. Official statements keep saying that only a few

thousands Italian soldiers have been killed, wounded or.

lost, although there is unquestionable evidence that casualties and capture have accounted for hundreds of thou-

sands. Fe : Mussolini will permit the telling of only so much as he considers it Safe for the people of Italy to know. Thus he postpones the inevitable explosion that will come when his unhappy victims learn how cruelly they have been betrayed and duped. :

DESTROYERS: THE WITNESSES CONFLICT

RESIDENT ROOSEVELT, in rounding up support for the Lend-Lease Bill, successfully raided two former Republican Presidential tickets. He produced Wendell Willkie, valedictorian of the G. O. P. class of 1940, and Frank Knox, the elephant’s No. 2 man of 1936 (though not Col. Knox's former standard-bearer, Alf M. Landon, who spoke against the bill). , But the President has been less successful at getting these Republicans to sing in the same key. ‘On Tuesday Mr. Willkie pleads for sending “five or 10 destroyers a month” to England. On Wednesday, Col. Knox, as Secretary of the Navy, says that “we have no more destroyers to spare if we want a balanced fleet,” and that he is “against depleting the United States fleet any further.” | Mr. Willkie said Winston Churchill himself had stressed to him England’s urgent need of more destroyers, along

with more bombers and cargo ships. But Secretary Knox, at the recent House hearings, indicated that the release of further warships: was so far

: RS out of the question that it would be plain silly to prohibit

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it by an amendment to the Lease-Lend Bill. He said Congress might just as well put in an amendment prohibiting the President “from going down Pennsylvania Ave. standing on his head.” > # 8 » #8 The net effect of all this, on us anyway, is befuddlement. is a vr & If the President is dead set against leasing, lending, swapping or giving away any of our warships, as Col. Knox suggests, it would be amazing if Mr. Churchill hadn’t been so informed. And it would be still more amazing if Mr. Churchill were to inspire Mr. Willkie to crusade for something against the President’s wish, , =. '° Being newspapermen and not naval strategists, we don’t know whether this country can safely spare more destroyers. We do recall that Mr. Churchill himself, when France was at grips with the enemy last June and on the edge of disaster, rejected French entreaties that he dispatch to their assistance a greater share of his Spitfires and Hurricanes. His hard decision (which later events seemed to justify) was that they must be kept in reserve for the defense of his island. Our problem, in deciding what we can spare from the naval ramparts of our own great island, is analagous. :

»

But whatever the merits of the matter, it seems to us.

that Congress and the nation, hearing one thing from Mr. Willkie and another from Mr. Knox, are entitled to have from Mr. Roosevelt himself—before the Lend-Lease Bill is put into final form and passed—a candid statement of his intentions regarding the destroyers. '

RECORD | 3 AST December, for the first time in History, the Federa

, Government had more than a million civilian employees outside Washington, D. C., reports the Civil Service Com-

mission. Outside Washington, 1,029,585; in Washington,

155,973; total, 1,185,558 (including 55,191 temporary postal. workers hired for the Christmas rush). frig There were more Federal employees outside Washington than had been on the entire Federal payroll six months.

earlier. The number in Washington almost equalled the entire Federal payroll of 50 years ago. '

THE BUSY LAWMAKERS

HESE are days of crisis, solemn days, and care burdens those who are responsible for the destiny of our nation and its states. The Washington State Senate, for instance, has made a rule that visitors must remove their hats. And the House of Representatives, arguing that with twice as

many, members it should display twice as much dignity,

then adopted unanimously a resolution that Senators must ‘take off their shoes when they enter the House. a "a "e . Lav : id

ctr te fin det | msm ier '

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

The Little Woman Is Excellent Company Most of the Time, but The Theater Stands as an Exception

NTEW, YORK, Feb. 13.—The best way to go to the 4 theater is to go alone and cold sober, because that way you can relax and sort of soak into yourself and forget about everything but the play, whereas the other way, well, look: : First you have to box around to find. out what she wants to see, and never mind whether you

because you wouldn’t say so if you did, and then, naturally, she will pick a tough one, so it will be around 6 o'clock before you even know whether you can get in. Then you have to confront her with a steak, and ali the time she is baring her pretty fangs at the rare .viands and exotic delicacies you are squirming and

heave: it in, because it is ‘way across town to the theater, and if there is anything a guy hates to do it is come stumbling in late and walk all over a lot of people. But if you even sneak a squint at your watch ‘you are hurfying her, and if you are geing to be surly, why, it would have been better to stay at home, and it isn’t every night she gets out on the town with you, so you might meke an effort to be polite if it isn’t asking too much,

NO then you have to gentle her into the hack, and tif it is rain or snow the cab has got to heave to right exactly in front of the theater or, with the silly shoes they wear, she will get her feet wet. Then you have got to ease her through the crowd end down to the seats and lay back her coat for Ler, and then her program slips off her lap and you have to fish around in the dark, and all the time during the show you have a sense of responsibility end care which is just what you go to the theater to get away from. ) In the intermissions some of them want to go out for cigarets in the lobby, and that means more traffic problems, and if she doesn’t smoke, well, you clo, and if you do go out and leave her you are something rhyming with “house,” and if you don’t, well, that is just the time when you never wanted a smoke so much in all your life. There is also the hazard that she won’t like the show. after all—which is her right, to be sure—but if you are alone and you don’t like it that is simple. You get up and go out. But if she doesn’t like it you have got to find out how much she doesn’t like it and help her not like it, but, even so, you are stuck, because they practically never give up on a show, even if it is terrible. > I mentioned that it is a good thing to go cold sober, too, without any martinis or anything at dinner, because if you do get a little steam up you are sure to be wanting a dram before the show is half over, but by the time it is all over you are cooled out, and then you have to start fresh at whatever place you go to. [And by that time you are ready to curl up to sleep right in th» middle of Broadway. A

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WHEL after you stand up and help her into her | coat and discover that you are standing all over your own hat, which has slipped out of that wire thing, and then she drops her gloves and it is slow going up the aisle, and outside there are 10 customers fighting for every hack and, anyway, they are all ‘headed the wrong way, where if you were alone you Would be out and gone in 9'4 seconds, Eastern Standard Time, and not a care in the world. They are all right and, on the average, very good company some places, but a great worry in the theater, and, anyway, whoever got up the idea that the theater is like Noah's Ark and strictly two-by-two? I marvel at that Jules Brulatour, the husband of Hope Hampton, who has been toting her around theaters, fights and all for 20 years, always two-by-two: Think of the dropped programs and gloves that guy has picked up and the problems of traffic and timing he has had to live through. All right, then, she iis pretty and all right, and she is sweet for all I care, but I am afraid I will have to say that if I had been Mr. Brulatour there would have come a night somewhere ‘way back when she would have caught me In a mood with that program and those gloves, and I would have snatched her pretty little noodle off and thrown it at Bert Lahr,

Business By John T. Flynn

British Citizens Have Enormous Investments in U. S. Companies

N EW YORK, Feb. 13.—For the benefit of the reader +,% who does not dabble extensively. in financial matters, a brief explanation of the much discussed British assets in this country may be in order. The British government itself does not have, out- } side of its gold here, very much in the way of assets, but British citizens in all parts of the Empire hdve enormous investments in the United States. For instance, Lever Bros., Thomas J. Lipton Co., ShellUnion Oil Co., and others have many millions invested in the United States. The stock of these companies belongs to “British citizens, not to the British government. However, all countries at war have the very great problem of getting essential ‘ credits—that is, the means of buying: goods in countries outside of their boundaries— and the investments of their nationals is one of the favored ways of meeting the problem. : . Great Britain has taken over the stocks and bonds owed by its own citizens in the United States and other places.. It has not confiscated them. It requires [its citizens to deposit these securities with the proper office and receive in return British bonds.

"Then these securities become the property of the

‘British government. : ; | The British government can then sell these securities in the United States and have on deposit in banks ‘here huge sums of dollars which can be used to buy arms in America. Up to the present time, the ‘British government has sold $334,000,000 of securities jin this country. Of course it still has an immense ~“zmount left. : ih Se : IN addition to securities, however, British nationals, 4 —pnd, now the British government—have im-

43 branches of British fire insurance companies and :32 American fire insurance companies and 16 American casualty. insurance companies controlled by Britain. These insurance companies have a total capital and surplus of $344,000,000. There are also enormous holdings in real estate. The British royal family owns large amounts of ‘redl

Britons are heavy investors in real estate in America. _ in addition the British own about four. and a half billion dollars of investments in Latin America and Czhada. There is not the slightest doubt, of course, that Britain has at her command resources to pay fox everything that she may need in this country this year. : Handling these payments is not a simple matter. Some kind of mechanism would have to be set up to take care of them over a period of two or three years, in ‘order not to produce severe market and exchange dislocations, but the thing can be done. ; Instead it is proposed that the United States Government, which has no money to pay for Britain’s bills here and has to borrow money to pay her own bills, should borrow another four billion dollars. to pay for Britain’s war expenditures. ;

So They Say—

{OUR ARMY, our Navy, our air corps, our factories, our farms, can outdo the best that the “psychopathocricies” of the world can muster.—~Paul V. McNutt, Federal Security administrator. : 5 A 1 » * *

‘FOREIGN POLICY ‘today cannot and- should not

be considered apart from social and economic | dori G. Winant, new or to Giga

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: J 8 The Hoosier Forum I wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.

HE’D ABOLISH CONGRESS AS ECONOMY MOVE By G. Tegeler When the Lease and Lend bill becomes a law the public should demand to do away with the Congress. We do not need them any more. Mr. Roosevelt could run the U, S. without the lawmakers. The taxpayers could save millions.. This money then could be used for 11 millions of the unemployed in our country, * » # FIVE-YEAR LIMIT FOR STATE POLICE URGED By a Taxpayer ; When one political party builds. up a partisan job for life in a government system, they put the brand of merit upon it; then a different

political party takes over and disregards this so-called “merit system,” fires all the other jobholders and puts in their own “merit system”; then the’ first party takes over again and begins to demerit the present set-up of “jobs for life in government.” It presents “The Two Dog Fight Over the Same Bone.” Speaking of “The State Police Force” it is my opinion that the present examinations and waiting list for jobs on the State Police Force. do not meet the requirements of merit for such a position; the real requirements for this job by the people cannot be had by examination. : Both parties in the last campaign promised the voters the minimum in government as a saving to the taxpayer. Every year our high schools, colleges and uni-

red-blooded Americans and at the same time gentlemen; in’ those qualifications lie every element of a first rate policeman; these jobs should not be for life; they should serve only as an experience in the life of any young man and should be for not more than five years duration, when he must step out that another may step in. When a man gets past 35 years of age his red vied has a tendency to turn in

It ;would be a nice thing to tell the world that when it motors through Indiana it will meet up

versities are turning out brilliant}.

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, religious con“troversies excluded. Make your letters shori, so all.can have a chance. Letters must be signed, but names will be withheld on request.)

with a State Police Force where everyone is. a red-blooded intelligent American and a gentleman. I believe, to save the people money, the: Legislature should repeal the state police law and every part of every other law bearing upon it, that it should be re-enacted giving it complete patrol over our highways and at the same time doing away with the sheriff patrols in the various counties, that the qualifications above mentioned be considered it would warrant good government and would do away with the idea of partisan Supreme Court review of any amendment which we now hear springing from the fight over the bone. 2 2 ” FINDS NAZI AGGRESSION NO WORSE THAN BRITAIN'S By Mrs. Mary Schepp, Martinsville, Ind. Hitler is trying to bring about a United States of Europe and he is crushing, starving, blowing to bits mankind and the workings of mankind—anything to win. He believes the German race superior and strong enough to accomplish this idea. This great war is fought for the domination of Europe. _ England is a giant octopus, her strong arms have reached out all over the globe, the sun mever sets on her vast empire, she has crushed, starved, oppressed and bled #her subjects and therefore has gained ‘domination of Europe and the seas. Surely the Americans would Know of her oppression, do they want that to happen again? : The artistocrats of England think the people of this country and all the other countries of the world trash. Halifax cannot bring himself down to a Hitler social standard, but that same Hitler in his unpolished manner is conquering

aristocratic England. The people of

Side Glances=By Galbraith

this country will wake up to the idea of what the German people are fighting for, and be in sympathy and dance hand in hand with them. Not that I am in favor of Hitler methods, but his methods are as right as England’s have been in the past. All the world has its eyes on England’s oppression in India. We may learn a lesson from India's passiveness, maybe her religious views will win for her freedom without so much as a gun being fired.

” ” ” OPPOSES LOWERING OF DRAFT-AGE LIMITS By M. R. O'Connor The very splendid letter by Mr. Stone ‘in Saturday’s Times seemed to me the soundest kind of sheer homespun common sense. If in our clamoring for national defense, we become so hysterical as to reach out and conscript our youth then wherein do we lay claim to being a democracy? The control of youth by the Government is the backbone of totalitarian system of government. The

hilated. Even now in the Congress there is. an amendment that would change

the National Selective Service Law and strike out the present ages of 21-36 and insert therefor the ages 18-21, inclusive; and make the law permanent. This proposed amendment seems to the writer a travesty on justice. To compel immature lads to give a year to military training before they have reached their majority is the death knell of freedom. Fine comb the tenets on behalf of this proposal and it reduces into the fact that the lads who have no vote, and are legally classed as infants, must bear the brunt of the man-sized job of enforced military training. As Mr. Stone says, a country will not long survive that adheres to such ruthless means of defense. . . .

¥ nN LADDIE’'S FLIGHT RECALLS PLIGHT OF RELIEFER By Earle S. Bailey

Laddie, the pooch. I cannot say whether or not it was at Government cost that the sorrowing canine was flown across the U. S. by “special plane.” But it makes one wonder. Not many years ago a man— in Indiana—working on relief .work was injured. If I remember rightly, not less than three hospitals turned the case down before he received skilled care. ? O, consistency—etc.

FEBRUARY FANTASY By MARY P. DENNY

A drift of snow down from the sky A lone elm tree uplifted high. Cupids and arrows shining bright. The joyous songs of valentine Passing along the bright radio line. . : The sway of winds through all the

day. : The glow of day. from skies of light. a The radiance of the sunlight bright. Je : The colors-of the glad sunrise Over the forest and the plain. All light reflected in one ray. The fantasy of Valentine Day Shining afar in ice and spray.

For the Lord shall Ha peaple, and repent himself or I servants, when he seeth that th power is gone, and th shut up, or left—.

state becomes the Alpha and Omega | , of life. And the dignity of the in-| § dividual as a human being is anni-| }

the ages of the conscriptees under| §

DAILY THOUGHT |m

THURSDAY, rm 13, 1041) Gen. Johnson

Urging a Study on Krock's Claim That Concurrent. Resolution Can't Terminate the Lend-Lease Bill

ASHINGTON, Feb. 13.—Col. Arthur Krock's column in the New York Times Tuesday was more important than Mr. Willkie’s testimony that day, even though it will not receive one-tenth the publicity. Mr. Krock’s effort was to analyze the pend- . ing }ease-lend measure ol: a point of vital importance. Mr, Willkie's .obvious point was to soften us up to give away more of our Navy. In support of this, he advanced points about world military and econorhic strategy that required no highly publicized trip to Europe to devise. They have all been made and argued here for six weeks. Mr. Krock’s presentas ‘tion was new, Arthur, who rarely writes until he has sifted out the possibilities of error, cried “unclean” of the provision of the Lease-Lend Bill which terminates the extraordinary powers it grants the President if and when Congress shall pass a concurrent resolution quashing them. He says that, according to constitu- - tional lawyers, this provision “was writ in water on the atmosphere.” In other words, it is a deceptive fake—splendidly null. : This is a very serious matter. The question is not too technical from the legalistic angle for lay discuse sion. The central point is this: Without a Cone gressional delegation of its own war powers, the Presie dent could not possibly exercise them. Such a dele= gation can be made, within flexible Constitutional limits, by a majority vote in both Houses. As matters now stand, the very wide proposed powers of the HMease-Lend Bill could obtain such a majority vote, They could not conceivably obtain a two-thirds ma= jority vote. J » o ” B= if they are once granted, according to Mr, Krock’s legal advisers, they could never be ree taken by Congress over the, opposition of the execu= tive except by a two-thirds majority. Mr. Krock’s reason is that the President, under the Constitution is, by his veto and approving power, a part of the law-making machinery, that while a concurrent resolution of both Houses, does not require the action of the President, yet, if it “contains a legislative proposition” it does require full Presidential action under the Constitution. Concurrent resolutions usually govern only the business of Congress with no application in the general statutory sense. The point of view of Mr, Krock’s advisers is that, since repealing a law is as much a legislative action in the general statutory sense as enacting a law, no concurrent resolution can repeal a law except subject to the President's veto. It.is a strong point and one never decided by the courts, but it certainly would be a strange result if Congress can, in part, suspend the Constitution by a majority vote but can’t restore it by less than a twothirds majority, when the Constitution itself provides that an amendment may not even be proposed except

| by a two-thirds majority ratified by three-fourthss of

the states. 8 nw» HE contrary view is that whenever Congress T grants an extraordinary power, it can condition what it grants. It can put a time limit on it and thus work its repeal without any legisldtion whatever, It can make it depend on any contingency it likes, such as some administrative finding of fact or future conditions of time, tide and weather. If those condie tions do not oceur, it does not speak. It. speaks while they continue. It becomes silent when they cease— regardless of presidential veto power and with no new

vote. If that is so in principle, then th practice Cone gress could condition its grant on the President’s favorite assumption—whether the cow jumps over the moon—or whether Congress passes a concurrent reso= lution. ae don’t know which view is right, I think the latter, but. Mr. Krock has raised a vital question at a critical time. It ought to be resolved before we get our heads in any noose. If Mr, Krock is right, some other amendment should be substituted in this bill or a principle of American Constitutional government is in

the ashcan, | )

A Woman's Viewpoint

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

LONGSIDE of an eggless cake recipe in a London newspaper is a rousing article by an English housewife, Eve Brent, who speaks her mind on an ever interesting subject—woman’s part in world mane agement. Here she goes, and she’s worth every Amers : igan’s attention: “IT am a perfectly ordinary woman. My interests have hithe erto been essentially personal— home, husband, child, friends. Bub . I am no longer content to confine my energies to this purely domes tic circle. “I know the time has come when every woman must take her full share of responsibility in the affairs of this country and of the world. It is not a new idea. Bub this war—this terribly personal war—has crystallized that idea into a firm conviction. We have got to face reality, « ‘Escapism’—a fashionable contrivance for the un easy spirit—has driven us to the cinema, the dance hall, the greyhound track in a vain effort to get away from the responsibility of making the world a fit place for our children. War and bombing have de= stroyed escapism. There is not escape from the hideous specters of human pain. There will. be no escape when the war is over, for our world will ba contaminated. “And we must work then for a better understand= ing of ourselves and a better understanding between men and women. I am not a man-hater. I have profound respect for a man who is real. But I have met so few real men. “I do not complain about their little sins, thein selfishness, vanity, obstinacy, jealousy. I can under= stand and forgive them. But I cannot understand, and I cannot forgive, their lack of virility—thein loss of manliness. i “The average man today has no conception of the power within him, the power to do anything he believes in, to inspire, to create, to live with zest and aware ness, and the power to inspire women to do the same, “Yet we women are much to blame for this, We have set him too low a standard. We have sneered at modesty, scorned manliness, despised personal ine tegrity. We demanded showmanship, slickness, ma=terial success. And we are paying the penalty for our folly. : “we look for inspiration and find none. We feel cheated, lost. We tell ourselves our men have let us down. We have let ourselves down. And I believe that thousands of women are becoming.aware of it, I believe there are thousands of women who are see= ing through the shoddy #alues of today and want ta do something about it.” ; ys “Will American women see through their “shoddy values” before similar disaster overtakes them?

Questions and Answers it toasts Fv oro Here ilaatin

question. of fact of information, mot involving

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