Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 March 1941 — Page 12

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The Indianapolis Times

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) ROY W, HOWARD RALPH BURKHOLDER MARK FERREE President Editor Business Manager

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reau of Circulations. RILEY 5551

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 1941

AID FOR BRITAIN—AND TAXES N passing the Lend-Lease Bill, the Senate exhausted several long day and night sessions in spirited debate—and in the final roll call 31 Senators voted “no.” ! But yesterday the Senate passed the seven-billion-dollar appropriation to carry out the lend-lease program, with just a few minutes of discussion and no amendments offered— and only nine Senators voted “no.” Thus does our representative government function with gpeed and unity once a policy has been decided. Senator Adams of Colorado was one of the “no” voters on lend-lease. But yesterday he had charge of steering the big appropriation through the Senate. He handled the job with dispatch, saying, “I thought and still think the program was unsound in principle and apt to bring danger, catastrophe and disaster to my country. But having laid down the policy, Congress should—and I think it must— implement the bill by providing adequate funds.” British representatives, the Senator reported, have already announced that the seven billions will not be enough. And when they ask for more, he said, Congress must provide more. Senator Vandenberg of Michigan, another minority “no” voter on the policy but a “yes” voter on trying to make good on the policy, expressed the thought succinctly: “You can't go halfway down Niagara Falls.” ”- ” » » » ” One step leads to another. We promised aid to Britain, Greece, China and others. We must deliver aid to Britain, Greece, China and others. And we should try to pay as much of the bill as we can out of our own pockets—lest the whole burden be passed on to future generations. Senator

Connally, speaking for those who think the policy wise, and | Senator Taft, speaking for those who think it unwise, | agreed on that. “The tax bill,” said Senator Connally, “is | probably going to jerk some people out of their boots.” The program of huge expenditures for our own defense, | and huge subsidies for the defense of Britain and other friendly powers across the seas, is a national progam. The majority has spoken, and the whole people are acting. And the whole people will have to pay the bill. Congress can make the whole people pay the bill by levying hidden taxes that increase the prices of the things the people buy. But we hope Congress will show more courage and lay assessments that are visible and direct—on each according to his ability to pay. That can best be done by broadening the base and strengthening the rates of the tax on individual incomes. And the base should be broad enough to include all citizens who are staying at home and enjoying greater comforts than are provided the young draftees in camps at $21 to $30 a month and keep.

NOW WE PAY THE PRICE

MERICA is now paying the price, in the midst of a great emergency, for the prodigal waste of a vital natural resource during the last few years. There is an alarming shortage of iron and steel scrap, one of the essential raw materials in open-hearth steel production. Present visible stocks in the important Pittsburgh district are sufficient for only two or three weeks of operation. It takes more than a half-ton of scrap to produce a ton of steel. In a typical operation, one ton of steel requires 1190 pounds of scrap to 3337 pounds of iron ore. More than three years ago prominent steel men warned the Government that iron and steel scrap was being shipped to Japan at an alarming rate. Other organizations, incensed because American scrap was the backbone of Japanese armaments manufacture and the weapon with which thousands of Chinese were being bombed to death, called for an embargo on shipments. Yet, until late in 1940, such shipments continued, and from 1932 until that year more than 22 millions tons of scrap were exported, the bulk of it to Japan. The shortage of scrap caused by this wasteful and perplexing policy of helping arm one of the nations against which we are now arming is further intensified by a Government policy of freezing scrap prices without allowing differentials for various districts. In an effort to prevent a runaway price spiral, the Defense Commission recently established a ceiling of $21 a ton for the Pittsburgh district, which has to import more than half of the scrap used by its mills, Steel men complain that this price does not allow scrap producers a sufficient differential to pay freight costs, and therefore they will not ship inte Pittsburgh. But while this policy may he an important factor, the big trouble is that the United States poured its scrap across the seas for years in defiance of public sentiment and in spite of the warnings of the steel industry. Now we are paying the price.

THE FARMING-OUT PLAN

O phase of national defense is more important to the speed of preparedness and the long-time effect of this great buying program than the farming-out plan, on which officials of the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of Production Management and the Labor Division of the National Defense Advisory Commission are working. Theirs is the difficult job of bringing into the defense picture as sub-contractors large numbers of small industrial plants, tooled for other purposes but able to make parts for munitions, Morris L. Cooke of the NDAC’s Labor Division points out that this farming-out of sub-contracts may also help to solve the inevitable problems that will confront the country when the defense effort ends. The idea, as he explains, is “to bring the work to the men rather than the men to the work,” thus avoiding disruption of community life in some places and congestion in others; to save the Government cost and time required

to provide new housing and community facilities; to make !

labor conditions more stable and labor turnover less; and finally, as the emergency passes, Jo lighten the problem of gconomie, social and governmental readjustment,

| refuse to let other Americans do it.

Fair Enough

By Westbrook Pegler

Were the Times Not So Perilous, It Would Be Fun to Chide F. D. R. on His Present Difficulties With Labor

EW YORK, March 25.—In other times and circumstances there might be ironic mirth in the present predicament of President Roosevelt as the greatest individual employer of labor in the United States, beset by strikes and bedeviled by the lawyerism of professional labor bosses who have studied the law and the tricks of their trade and know their rights. If the conditions were not so alarming it would be mild fun to point to President Roosevelt as a man who enjoyed the worry and harassment of the private employer when a good many. labor bosses were black-guarding every business which would not instantly meet all demands in full, and the Labor Relations Board was inciting them to go to it. But, unhappily, President Roosevelt in the role

| of the greatest individual employer of labor in the

United States, is also the bargaining agent of the nation and the general manager, so to speak, of the whole American firm, He invited and was given the job of war-President and now, as war-President, he finds himself in a situation much the same as that of the individual businessman which, in less dangerous days under the New Deal, was so very amusing to the political epitheticians and stink-bomb publicists of the extreme left. ° ” » » RESIDENT ROOSEVELT gave these powers to these private organizations and now in a terrible emergency, when every hour's work counts, they are being abused to the detriment of the nation. In this situation the discomfiture of the President is shared by every American and the national, popular sense of humor is not equal to the effort of forcing a laugh at the President's expense. After all, President Roosevelt is the man who has the first responsibility in the United States today. If this country fails to defend itself through the refusal ot some of the organized unions to permit production of the materials of war, history will blame him just as the responsible head of any organization is blamed for disaster. But just now the greatest task of all his strenuous career in leadership is embarrassed by the dogged refusal of a few spoiled and headstrong unioneers, some of them very ignor-

ant men, to treat the Government any more reason- |

ably than they have been encouraged in the past to deal with individual employers. It is not merely

that the unions concerned in these strikes and the | haggling delays refuse to produce the stuff them-

selves. . There are millions of Americans, both union members and non-union workers, who would be glad to turn in with a patriotic will and work fast for long hours at wages to be set by the Government on a fair reckoning of the employers’ profits and their own living costs. But the unions concerned not only

| refuse themselves to produce the tools of war but

: And union politics and practice are such that a few arrogant

| or traitorous unioneers, no small proportion of whom

are Muscovites devoted to the destruction of the United States, can prevent loyal Americans from smashing through their picket lines and turning out the guns. ” ” 5 A ao men would be willing to do just that this very day if the President were to issue a call in the interest of national safety. But Mr. Roosevelt is committed to the fallacy that a union charter is a certificate of high purpose, and that unions have rights and interests superior even to those of the nation which permits them to exist. And they surely would cease to exist if this nation should fall for lack of the very materials of war which some unions now forbid production. There are no labor unions in Germany, Russia or Italy, and there would be none here if this obstruction of war work should make it necessary for the sailors and soldiers to meet the enemy without weapons. But President Roosevelt now cannot challenge these unioneers directly without the sacrifice of some of the favorite political catch-phrases of the New Deal, and so he has to wait until public opinion comes to a slow boil, at which time, I predict, he will make a hold move to break their power and, in so doing, accept credit for a long and thankless campaign of investigation and revelation carried on by others.

Business By John T. Flynn Brisk Bidding for Labor Is Likely

If Defense Production Reaches Peak

EW YORK, March 25.—For a long time now, the line which marks the business index has been moving up. In the last few weeks, however, it has seemed to hesitate. But this must not be taken too seriously, It will start its upward march quickly enough. Mr. Knudsen tells us that in a few months—July at the latest— some 784 new plants in which the Government has a stake of two billion dollars will be finished and ready for business. When this happens there will be a very considerable push given to new production. Meantime many other plants will be coming into production. A large number of plants have been shifting over from makiig their standard product: to making defense products or parts. This has taken time. week sees more plants ready to resume production on the defense program. But this is going to bring the labor problem to the fore. The thihg that is going to cause the trouble is not the union and the striker. It is the labor “raider”—the bidding that goes on for workers between defense industries and non-defense industries.

Washington is toying with the idea of priorities | Priority will enable | the defense industry to get the first call on labor, as | in the case of raw materials, but it will not prevent | non-defense industries from raising the price of labor | or from raiding other non-defense industries of their |

for labor to meet this situation.

labor supplies unless the Government, goes the whole

way and forbids any employer to hire additional help | without a Government permit or certificate of ne-

cessity. » » ”

HIS is a pretty drastic measure and would be obeyed with no end of grumbling and cussing. The problem at this point presents much difficulty. The laborer himself sees in this situation the oppor'tunity to sell his labor in the highest market and he will resent bitterly any attempt by the Government to check him in those industries that are not essen= tial war industries. - 3 But if the wages go up in the non-war industries it will be very difficult to persuade the workers in the more essential defense industries to work for less. In other words, it was in the non-defense industries

during the last war that the bidding for men estab-

lished such high wage rates.

If Mr. Knudsen's estimate is accurate—that we must increase labor hours by 60 per cent and find |

4,000,000 additional workers without delay—we are certainly going to see plenty of pressure for higher wages before the summer is over.

So They Say—

WHEN SHALL we learn to liquidate our fools?— George Bernard Shaw, British playwright. ’ * . » .

” ” ” | WE ARE BUILDING on this continent an inter- |

national system based on the principle of co-operation

and mutual helpfulness.—Dr. Leo 8. Rowe, director- |

general, Pan-American Union. #8 ” ” TIME, right now, is more than money—it is security. —Undersecretary of War Patterson.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Been Following the News Lately?

QD WA FRWAYS <=

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Fh: > - Re * - od AT i AE ra oe O I PW po # a SR SR Lo -

“We

Fame for]

I wholly defend to

The Hoosier Forum

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

MURALIST BENTON (EXPRESSES HIS THANKS | By Thomas Hart Benton Last Saturday at Bloomington in [the University’s new Auditorium the

mural history of the State of Indi-|

{ana which I painted in 1933 for the State's exhibit at the Century of Progress Fair in Chicago was shown [to the public in its final setting. 1 (was there at the dedication in a stif shirt with many other stiff {shirts and no doubt some stuffed jones. It was a big occasion. Every|body made speeches except those {who had done any actual work on {the project dedicated. This is usual lon such occasions, but before I re[turn to the wilds of Missouri, where |I now live among coyotes, jackrab- | bits, bankers and art lovers, I want (to say a few words of appreciation to the people of Indiana. First, I want to thank the tax{payers of the State for the currency that came my way when I did the painting job now perma{nently installed. Some of the tax- | payers, I remember, didn't like that {job when they first saw it in 1933.

{gotten fheir aversion and for allow{ing the final installation of my | paintings to proceed in peace. After the taxpayers I want to thank the men who took their money and spent it on me and my doings.

standing and help of Col. Richard Lieber, who put his faith in my intention and ability to live up to a

[minds

(only which is dead. Living still, my! (thanks to Harry. | Let me thank them for having for-|

{who accepted the murals for his|

I want to express a very) special appreciation for the under-|

| Biddle who was so willing and help-|tory and learning to make them |

hunting. If it isn't a piece of Greco-Roman junk, it's a Chinoiserie or piece of Mayan refuse they must find to slough over their crea[tions. I feel very happy that our | Indiana Auditorium architects had | at least the wit to go antiquing in Indiana. Gilded spittoons of In-| diana's tobacco chewing era are more appropriate to my murals, | even when they hide them, than Greco-Roman statues or Mayan reliefs. glittering eye on the taxpayers) naa ol money even when it is sunk i an WARNS OF DISTORTING acre of controversial painting. May- LESSONS OF HISTORY be it is the laxpayers rather than By Edna G. Vonnegut, 5324 N. Delaware St. |

the artist who should -pass out the : : We [thanks here. . Spring housecleaning has pre- |

After Ross Techmeyer got the vented me from returning promptly |

(Times readers are invited

to express their views in

these columns, religious conexcluded. Make

{ a | | vour letters short, so all can

| troversies

have a chance. Letters must

be signed, but names will be |

withheld on request.)

pictures wrapped up in storage!to the field after Mrs. Levan’s latest Harry Engel of the University Art sally. However, my broom may be Depariniens heb) nem slive In Nei eeded, since the argument seems

yapping over their value. A brave to have become entangled in cobman, Harry. Not many professors! webs. would dare to pass affirmative judg-| think that the point at issue is ments on the work of a contempo-| whether or not one should consult | rary. Professorial status is best the wisdom of the past for help in| maintained by reverence for that present difficulties. There is no dis-

agreement on that; we should not

Bringing this letter to the imme- deep into history and literature for diate present let me make my bow wisdom to understand and solve to President Wells of the University present problems, go ah | But we should also exercise care Auditorium and who, also risking all hot, to distort the lessons of past kinds of future assault on his experience and the concepts of litesthetic judgment, publicly speaks in erature. Indeed, one of the worst of approval of them. Herr Hitler's many crimes against Thanks also to Secretary Ward G.| civilization is the distortion of his-

ful during the first period of in-|gerye

the Nazi purpose. Nor should Thanks to the] pre

also we forge a chain from the past to

| stallation.

| is the same amount. | gaged while I draw.

| & For Mrs. Levan seems 10 j

| only scour the surface, but delve 3

Each |

hard contract and who let me work|whole of the Controller's office and out all the technical and creative special thanks to the craftsmen on details of that contract without in-|the building job, the carpenters, terference. I made the paintings|the painters and the other regular but Col. Lieber took the public risks| guys who saw that I was just a involved. workman like themselves and made I feel, therefore, that his name/it easy for me when we had to adas well as mine should be stamped |Jjust the murals to their places. lon the hall of murals. The History| At the end let me say how beaulof Indiana was in fact a joint un-|fiful is the building where my |dertaking. It could never have | Paintings have finally found their | |been done without Richard Lieber’s|Setting. To Eggers and Higgins and S115 |to Al Strauss, the architects, I make willing that it should be done. i : : my final bow. Their hall of murals Another to remember at this time | impressive. Especially impressive {is Tom Hibben, intelligent architect] oat = {and good friend who brought me|

are the great gilded spittoons which they have placed on the stairs to

jout to Indiana from New York and (hide as much of the side wall paint=-

{ who with his Hoosier pals, Bob Rob- lings as possible. Architects are |erts, Wally Richards and Paul wonderful. They make useful, beau- | Brown, saw to it that I met Indi- (if) and frequently exquisite struc-| {ana people and got the help and {yres as in the case of the Indiana {information necessary for the con-|University Auditorium and then! [tent of the mural. they dig around in all the junk Then there is Ross Techmeyer to|yards of the past and pick out the {hank who after the paintings were! most irrelevant decorative accestaken down in Chicago took the sories they can find and obliterate | responsibility of their care and saw | what they have created. (to it that they were turned over to| From Frank Lloyd Wright down, {Indiana University eight years later |or up if you will, the modern archiin perfect tondition. Ross keeps al!tect feels impelled to go antique

| present, grown cobra coiled in the garden | path before determining by whose fault he got there or sitting down to a discussion of the history of cobras and how they breed.

hold us

threatening now. Wisdom, past and |

warns us to kill a full-

Mrs. Levan asked me to outline my application of the Platonic parable, no objection to repeating that Nazi Germany is the land of the cave where men and women live in darkness, chained from childhood. However, the analogy does break | down, because those Germans who | have gone up into the light dare | not go back; for all who Lave tried | to bring the truth from the world | of light into that dark cave have been silenced by the concentration | camp or the executioner’s ax. The contention in my original letter, to which Mrs. Levan first | took exception, was that Herr Hitler and his crew are the real warmakers, that it is they who will war. Partial confirmation came recently from a Nazi spokesman

impotent before dangers |

I did do that, but I have]

who said in effect that they alone

Side Glances=By Galbraith

determine war. He said further,| “Whether this assistance (to the! democracies) from the United

States constitutes or does not con-|

"I'd like to ses some tqys for children who are a little brighter than the average run."

SOLILOQUY

Somehow, at times, you seem unkind; You tax and vex and probe my mind. . You are not very much for looks: Still, withal, you're my old school books.

DAILY THOUGHT

And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; | and there he died by the ark of God.—II Samuel 6:7.

| VENGEANCE comes nat slowly either upon you or any other wicked | man, but steals silently and impergeptibly, placing its foot on the bad. ~Buripides,

- Gollan SAT. ¢

New Books

By Stephen Ellis

S. J. Woolf Paints an Enduring Portrait of the Last Few Decades In ‘Here Am |," an Autobiography

I HAVE just put down one of the most fascinating books I have read in years, It is called “Here Am I"* and it is ostensibly the autobiography of that eminent artist-turned-journalist, S. J. Woolf. But i is far more than the story of Mr, Woolf's lifs. It is the story of Wis times, 4 story told with honesty and grace and simplicity. The great names of the last few decades become more than just headlines. They take shape and form and dimension. Some of those big names shrink to little men, some take. added stature, For my part at least, I take Mr. Woolf's appraisals as fair and honest—the judgments of an artist looking at life with tolerance and objectivity. Mr. Woolf It is literally one of those rare books you don't want to put down. Its intellectual honesty and straightfordwardness is refreshing in this day of elaborate and colorful phraseology which succeed only in confusing rather than enlightening, ”n un on AMUEL JOHNSON WOOLF came from an artistic family, a group of people he sketches with infinite tenderness and understanding. His father was like so many of our fathers, kindly, tolerant, optimistic, but completely impractical. The family went, through stages of opulence and then privation, but, nothing was allowed to stand in the way of the youngster's ambitions and desires to become an artist.

He did become one—a portrait painter of national reputation, although Mr, Woolf leaves the latter part unsaid. During the World War he served overseas both at the front and behind the lines, sketching Intimate pictures as he saw the war.

He became a journalist (and a good writing man, too) through an engaging experience while trying to get George Bernard Shaw to pose.

” "” »

RR =auren at Shaw's home, he wrote a letter. He received a postcard saying: “I have now considerable experience as an artist's model. but my terms—about $3750 a hour—are prohibitive, Also I shall not be disengaged for a year to come.” Mr, Woolf wrote right back: “Your price for posing is acceptable to me, My price for a drawing You do not have to he disenI wish you could pose this afternoon and sign the drawing today, think what it.

| would mean to the American people to have two vital

documents signed on the 4th of July.” That afternoon Mr. Woolf received the phone eall. From that point, he became not only an artist, but an interviewer. Since that time his work has carried him into the world of action. In this book he translates this action into contemplation and analysis. Fully 500 persons tread through the pages, some lightly, some softly, but all living and vibrant and colorful, Don’t miss it! ‘HERE AM I, by 8. J. Woolf. published hv Random House

33 39% BR: with Index of names. Illustrated with sketches by

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

RESIDENT ROOSEVELT has what he wanted--the power conferred upon him by the passing of the Lend-Lease Bill. The majority of the American people have what they wanted—sanction for all aid to Britain, The next logical step—if we take it—will be the sending of troops to Europe. Let's not flinch, for we are up against the final fatal issue. What does all-aid mean? It is for us to say, and the only way we now have of saying it is to speak directly to our President. This new law, though not a declaration of war in the traditional sense, has moved us to the brink of it. Practically speaking, I think, we have put the decision into the hands of one man—our chief executive. Therefore, it is now the patriotic duty of all who do not favor mind Mr. Roosevelt of his solemn pledges made four months ago. During his campaign for re-election he was unequivocal. in foreign wars and we will not send our Army, Naval or Air Forces to fight in foreign lands outside the Americas, except in case of attack.” In Boston he spoke directly to fathers and mothers, assuring us that, “Your boys are not going to be sent. into foreign wars.” We have one thing then to depend upon—the pledged word of our President—and we helieve and hope he means to keep it. But it will be easier for him to do so if we make known to him our wishes and trust. The obligation is ours. And the dividing line has been reached at last. We must make up our minds now, at once. It is clear that some citizens feel it necessary to take the last step rather than seem to fail the democracies abroad. We can and should respect their opinions though we may not admire their judgment. But let us remind ourselves daily that the are in the minor=ity. And being in the minority, they should not be permitted to bulldoze us into agreement with them. On March 10, according to Dr. Gallup, 80 per cent of our population expressed their desire to stay out of the war. The mothers of the nation are stubbornly opposed to foreign conflicts, in spite of what is said by a few outstanding feminine leaders. Tf democracy exists here, the issue, then, does not depend wholly upon the President, powerful as he is. It depends upon us—the American people. What are we going to do about it?

Fditor's Note: The views expressed by columnists in this newspaper are their own, They are not necessarily those of The Indianapolis Times.

Questions and Answers

(The Indianapolis Times Service Burean will answer any question of fact or information, not involving extensive research. Write your questions clearly, sign name and address, inclose a three-cent postage stamp. Medical or legal advice cannot be given. Address The Times Washington Service Bureau, 1013 Thirteenth S8t., Washington, D., C.).

Q.—Name the author of the book, “England Expects Every American to Do His Duty,” and state what it is about. A.—The book is by Quincy Howe, and deals with British propaganda in this country. Q.—How does the Momsen “lung” enable men to escape from a sunken submarine? A.—The lung consists of a rubber bag containing oxygen, attached to a nose clip and mouth tube. The man, with lung attached, enters the compartment. A buoy with a line attached is released and rises to the surface of the water. Each man, in turn, climbs the line slowly to the surface to await rescue by surface vessels. Rate of climb is no more than 50 feet a minute because a man rising much faster would suffer from the “bends.” Q—What was the cause of the unusually cold summer of 1816, when there was a killing frost and snow in every month of the year in New York, Pennsylvania and New England? A.—One theory is that the condition was caused by terrific volcanic explosions which disseminated volcanic dust through the atmosphere and prevented sunlight from reaching the earth? ; Q—How many children between the ages of § and 17 are enrolled in the Public Schools in the United States? A—Approximately 26,000,000. Q—Does any State exclude propertyless persons from voting? A—No State actually excludes propertyless persons from voting, but in Alabama persons may qualify under a tax-free property. qualification or under a literacy test: in Georgia persons may qualify under five heads as follows: Property, literacy, honorable service in any U., S. war, descent from those whe thus served and good character; in Rhode Island, length of required residence may be lessened by own= ership of property.

participation in foreign conflicts to re--

Once he said: “We will not partitcipate -

TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 1941 -