Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 1 April 1941 — Page 12

PAGE 12

The Indianapolis Times

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

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Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 1941

PROGRESS ON THE LABOR FRONT

HE first four strikes turned over to President Roosevelt's new Defense Labor Mediation Board have been terminated. One was settled before the board took formal action. In the three other cases, negotiations will continue between managements and unions in regard to wage and other demands. But in all four cases production of vital defense materials is resumed, after long stoppages of work. Many fears have been expressed that the new board would be ineffective. Certainly, however, it has made a splendidly effective start. And while obviously this 11-man board cannot act in every labor-management controversy, we hope some way can be found of referring to it those disputes which threaten to result in serious strikes—before the strikes begin. The unions, fearful as many of them have been of even * a voluntary restriction on their right to strike, will gain by continuing to work while negotiations proceed. There will be more public sympathy for their demands, and less clamor for the restrictive legislation which numerous memsbers of Congress are eager to enact.

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Encouraging, also, is the action announced by the executive council of the American Federation of Labor building-trades department. It makes a solemn pledge that work on essential defense projects will not be stopped by jurisdictional disputes between any of its member unions. And it instructs all local unions to comply with new policies in the matter of “permit moneys, privilege dues and initiation fees.” If the unions can't supply all the building tradesmen needed on a defense project by an employer who is recognized as fair, non-union men may be hired. No “permit or privilege moneys” shall be collected from such men under any circumstances, and no initiation fees unless and until they are found qualified and actually accepted into union membership, in which case the fees shall be “the minimum possible in view of the benefits received.” It remains to be seen whether the local unions will comply with the new policy. If they're smart, they will lean backward to comply. We congratulate the building-trades department on at last recognizing the evil and doing something, which we hope will be effective, to curb it. a ” a =

# #

On aneother-front, the shutdown of the bituminous coal industry can hardly be called encouraging. But at least there is a considerable reserve supply of coal to keep defense and other industries going. And while there have been similar deadlocks in soft coal before, an agreements is always eventually forthcoming.

THE SHIP SEIZURES

RESIDENT ROOSEVELT and Secretary Morgenthau, it seems to us, were clearly in the right in ordering the seizure of the German, Italian and Danish merchantmen in American ports. They acted upon what proved to be a responsible tip that sabotage was in progress. The Coast Guard—which by the way handled a large and delicate order with traditional efficiency—caught Italian crews redhanded, wrecking their engine rooms under orders that obviously originated in Rome. Justified as Italy may have been, as a belligerent, in undertaking to scuttle or incapacitate these idle bottoms, the justification of our course is plain—by law and common sense. It will be applauded by the American people, who also will approve official assurances that taking these ships into protective custody was not planned as a step preliminary to making the vessels available to Britain by using them to help the British. For that might be too raw an invitation to retaliation; it might easily take us beyond the “short of war” status in which Secretary of: State Hull puts the seizures.

WE DEPEND ON EACH OTHER

A CERTAIN effrontery which almost staggers one bulges out of a recent statement by a manufacturer to the effect that if a million leaders in industry, transportation, and learning were eliminated, the whole population would starve. Unanswered question is: would the population come closer to starving then, or if the farmers were eliminated who produce our food, or the workers who produce our industrial goods? The whole question then becomes silly. Each needs the other, and a modern civilization can by no means survive without either. Life might be sustained after some fashion even without those who happen to be in positions of leadership today. But it would be a primitive life that nobody wants to lead. We depend one upon the other. When shall we realize

REGRETTED WORDS

ICTATORS should be seen, but not heard. The less a dictator says, the better off he is. Even Hitler might look a degree less bad today if he had never made those speeches about “this is my last territorial demand in Europe,” and all that. But Mussolini! Silent for months until his one recent despairing admission that Italy has no hope except as Germany saves her, he was for years the speech-maker and chest-thumper of the axis. Like this, in 1985: “Three cheers for war in general!” Yep, war in general. But not war in Albania, Libya, or Ethiopia. ¢

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Job for Blimp

By Maj. Al Williams

Cigar-Shaped Craft Not Suited for Air War, but Would Be Ideal for Sentry Duty Against Subs at Home

NE of the little-considered machines of airpcwer is the non-rigid airship. Just as a modern navy has many different types of craft, and a modern army is equipped with many different types of troops, guns and equipment, airpower has various Weapons for various jobs. The non-rigid airship, a helium-inflated, cigarshaped balloon, usually is powered by two light aircraft engines. It is small and it retains its shape through the internal pressure of the helium. It is flexible, having no stiffening structure fore or aft, as in the giant rigid airships such as the deceased “Hindenburg” and the Navy's great “Macon” and its sister ships. In desperation, the Germans used their dirigibles in the last ; war for bombing London. These great, slow air vehicles were fairly easy shooting for the anti-aircraft guns even of that period, and the swifter airplanes took heavy toll. Before the end of the war, the Germans confessed that dirigibles were “out” for active operations within range of aircraft or anti-aircraft batteries.

” ” ” IY the present war, the stage setting is impossible for any type of airship, dirigible or otherwise. But as the geography of war is shifted, weapons hitherto unusable become immensely valuable. Camel-mounted troops are at home in desert warfare. Aircraft carriers are at a sad disadvantage in narrow waterways or any sea zone dominated by shore-based aircraft. And so on. Separated though we are from combatant nations by 3000 or more miles of ocean, and thus free from attack by major fleets of warships or planes, we might find enemy submarines lurking near our harbors and along our coasts. This is the only type of weapon which might be used effectively against the continental United States. Our patrolling fleet units of subchasers and mosquito boats and all the types of warships might be delegated to coastal anti-submarine work. We would maintain our aerial patrol of the coasts with flying boats and naval air units, even using land planes for this over-water job in case of unexpected pressure. Into this situation the small, non-rigid airships would fit effectively, Air defense of any kind is a deadly menace to the submarine, a slow-moving vessel which lies in wait, like a motorcycle cop, for passing traffic. The non-rigid airship can loaf along at greatly reduced engine power and even halt in the air to investigate suspicious areas. For anti-submarine patrol it is more effective than the bomber or flying boat. ”

AVAL records tell of many shipwrecked men be- |

ing passed over, undiscovered, by searchers in fast-moving planes. A change of light on the water, a path of sunlight, may conceal details from plane observers. In one case, in the last war, an airship spotted a patch of oil on the water. A patrolling plane had circled for half an hour or more and then flown away. The airship, however, throttled down its engines, sat overhead and watched that patch of oil, which was moving, but so slowly that the plane observers couldn't detect the movement. Eventually the airship men saw a submarine, dropped a bomb and finished the job. Lighter-than-aircraft enthusiasts have been working gallantly and against the opposition of Brass Hats who don’t understand the peacetime or wartime capacities of the airship. Airship pilots recently have experimented in anchoring their craft at sea and in harbors. At sea, they have successfully paused in the air, refueled and changed crews by contact with surface ships. With this operation perfected, they are ready to patrol off-shore sea areas for days at a time, Airmen maintain® that they could be the best sea sentries along the American coasts, relieving our limited naval air forces to handle sea zones within enemy ranges. An Arab in his flowing gown might look strange on Broadway, just as a Broadwayite would be strange in the Sahara. The airship can be discounted for operations in Europe's war, but it is a natural for patrolling the American coastlines against enemy submarines.

(Westbrook Pegler is on vacation)

Business By John T. Flynn

Shipping Biggest British Problem; Help From U. S. Faces Long Wait

EW YORK, April 1.—Continuing an attempted estimate of the economic position of the warring countries of Europe, here are some facts on Britain's shipping problem: There seems little doubt that the greatest puzzle Britain has now to face on the economic front is shipping. The British can get the necessary supplies if they can keep the ships running and landing. R. H. Cross, Minister of Shipping, told the House of Commons at a secret session that Britain is going to be faced with a really difficult struggle at sea this year. England's only hope of getting the necessary ships lies in America. The question, then, is, can America supply them and will she? : There is altnost no limit to the number of ships the United States can build, given time. But it does take time. By the end of 1943 the United States can have a large fleet of vessels flowing from the ways. But Britain needs ships now. And her only chance of getting them is from our own Mer-

chant Marine or from Allied vessels laid up in the |

Western Hemisphere. As to getting ships out of our own Merchant Marine, the President told his press conference on March 14 that the United States had no merchant ships to give away. That is probably true. America has a lot of ships, but only a limited number of transoceanic merchant ships. But as foreign ships, have, for one reason or another, been withdrawn from American trade, our own needs require all the ships we have and more—even our defense needs. There is some talk of using our coastal ships for British trade, transferring their cargoes to railway traffic. ” ” » UT we have only 113 freighters in the coastal service which could be used in overseas trade. The Maritime Commission has 128 ships of 1,000,000 tons capacity under construction, but they will not be ready for some time, It is planning to build 200 more, but ship-ways have to be constructed for these—and the ways have not yet been started. The Germans have been sinking British ships during the three weeks since the new spring drive started —that is, up to March 17—at the rate of 120,000 tons a week. This is roughly half a million a month. If the sinkings continue at this rate it will mean that destruction of 4,000,000 tons by the end of October. To keep Britain's shipping facilities at her present figure we, along with England, will have to find 4,000,000 tons for replacement between now and October— and there does not seem to be very much likelihood of doing that. The British needs will be even more serious if Germany can demolish more of Britain's dock facilities, forcing her to lighterage unloading, as this will greatly reduce the efficiency of the ships she has in service, On the wilole, therefore, this is the most serious problem England faces in the field of supplies. And on its face, it looks as if there were no way to meet the problem save by finding some means of crippling Germany's plane and submarine and surface attack on her trade routes. That, of course, is a military problem, not just an economic one,

So They Say—

WE HAVE no choice as to whether or not we will be attacked. . . . Our only choice is whether or not we will resist.—Col. William J. Donovan on his return from Europe. * * Me THERE is a great deal to be said for anything that brings men—any human beings, as a matter of fact—closer together.—Private Sidney Kingsley, in civil life a ssuccessful playwright.

{ through the press if the New Deal

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The Hoosier Forum

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

CONTENDS UNITY UNDER NEW DEAL IS IMPOSSIBLE (With the publication of the fol-

lowing letter, The Hoosier Forum considers this matter closed.)

By Daniel H. Carrick, 826 Spring St,

Indianapolis.

In answer to James E. Hawkins’ statement criticizing me where he says, “I was amazed at the psychological fanaticism of his argument.” Hawkins means that he is amazed | because I am not asleep, but am awake to the deceptions of the New Deal. . . . There was no New Deal and no Youth Congress before the Roosevelts took office, and there was no widespread labor troubles through | the C. I. O. which has demolished |

millions of dollars in property and caused the loss of the lives of many citizens, and now threatens the whole defense progam of the nation.

Roosevelt is the founder of these

evil setups called the New Deal |

which first started with NRA which |

the Supreme Court found uncon- | stitutional. If the New Deal in| America is not Communistic, then there is no communism in Russia, because both deals are alike. would not dare to express myself

nad full power. My other critic is Mrs. Moore, | {who feebly talks about unity of the nation. . . . She does not know the country is torn to pieces and no unity anywhere on account of the New Deal. If the American people wish to have unity they had | better get back on the American | platform and discontinue the New Deal. » 2 n BLAMES ISOLATIONISTS FOR OUR PRESENT PLIGHT

By Marshall E. Hanley, Beta Theta Pi House, Bloomington, Ind.

In 1917 we fought to make the worid safe for democracy. Today we are disillusioned. Why get taken for a sucker a second time? Only the ignorant will let themselves be fooled again! But who are the ignorant: The people who said that the nations of the world must plan for order, or the people who thought the job was finished in November, 19182 Who are the ignorant: The people who claimed that “foreign wars” are nobody's concern, or those who

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, religious controversies excluded. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Letters must be signed.)

thought the United States had an interest in the peace of Europe and Asia? Whose advice did we take in 1919: The isolationists, or that of the people who wanted to set up a world order? What has been the result of following the isolationists? They said we didn't dare enter the League of Nations or we would fail to collect the war debt. We followed their advice. We didn’t collect the debt. They said we didn’t dare enter the World Court or Europe would be making decisions affecting us. We

| took their advice. Today we find a

hostile world changing our whole economic way of life—not to feed, clothe and shelter but to Kill. They said we shouldn't have any relations with the League or we might get mixed up in foreign entanglements. We have followed their advice. We have the first peacetime conscription. We are giving, not lending, to Europe. We are not so much worried about getting mixed up in Europe as we are that our last friend on the continent will be destroyeti. They said we should not boycott Japan. We didn't. Now we are threatened with having to face our own products made into deadly weapons. They said isolation was the best policy. We followed their advice. Now we are in danger of being really isolated. It is not now a question of fighting in Europe; it is a question of fighting with our backs to the wall and a whole world against us. And still the isolationists pose as the friends of America! We now ask, who are the ignorant? ” ” TAKING ISSUE WITH MRS. FERGUSON By Claude Braddick, Kokomo, Ind.

Mrs. Walter Ferguson is a splendid writer, whether she is writing sheer nonsense or what passes in feminine circles for logic. But when

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she states that the public appearance of the feminine knee was the ranking horror of the last war and prays that we be spared at least that horror this time, she has allowed her feminine eyes to betray her into a ludicrous error. Most any man could have told her that the public appearance of the feminine knee, far from being a horror, was the ranking compensation for the real horrors of the war. About the only thing we got out of it, in fact. But how can you explain all that—to a woman! What could be more diverting, for instance, than watching a blushing dame in a public conveyance wearing a skirt three inches above her knees (because that was the style), and spending the whole blessed trip in fruitless endeavors to pull it three inches below them—because style or no style, she had an innate sense of modesty. To a feminine onlooker, that thrilling scene was only a dull horror!

” » » DENIES STRIKE LABOR'S ONLY WEAPON By Voice in the Crowd, Indianapolis It can readily be stated that Mr. Taylor is wrong in his claim that strikes are “labor's only weapon” to force an understanding.

TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 1941

Gen. Johnson Says—

Suggests Reading Army and Navy

Publications to Keep Abreast of Modern War and Our Own Effort

ASHINGTON, April 1.—It isn’t the business of a newspaper column to be boosting another publication but maybe it is all right when the magazines are a non-profit organization published purely in a public service: Also this boosting isn't done to help : the magazines themselves which are supported by the subscriptions of Army officers and therefore do not need it. This column is written in the interest of its own customers because of their intense interest in this war toward which we seem to be drawing closer every day, and of the general lack of definite information about it; and especially about the rapid organization of our own very formidable defensive forces. This reference is to the excellence of the “house organs” of the various service journals—engineers, ordnance and artillery and especially in this instance, the infantry journal. This column toucned on this subject a year ago but apparently it did not click. The great German victory of Western Europe last spring was the most spectacular operation in all history—dwarfing into insignificance even Hannibal’s “perfect” battle of Cannae or anything Alexander, Caesar or Napoleon ever did. Yet precisely how it was done or even how it happened er who were the principal actors is not yet clear and pemiaps will not be clear for a long time to come. ” n » HAVE read every one of the fragmentary acoounts and reports of it that have come within my reach with a result of complete confusion, incredulity and uncertainty. The leading article in this month's Infantry Journal, on that swift campaign, is by far the simplest, most coherent and understandable explanation of what otherwise seemed a miracle, It boiled down to this—the French believed, and published to the world their belief, that the Forest of Ardennes and the barrier of the Meuse were natural obstables so tough that the Germans couldn't splash through 1t without long preparation, and accordingly garrisoned it with a relatively contemptible force—opposing horse cavalry divisions and some too slender infantry and armored troops against German Panzer force, overwhelming in striking power, weight of metal and speed. The Germans, who knew every inch of that ground, didn’t believe that, but did not publish their disbelief. There was nothing new about their tactics or their strategy. The former had been fully revealed in the Polish campaign. The strategy was the same “run around left” end of the 1814 attempt with only these changes—that Holland, Denmark and Norway had to be "violated as well as Belgium, and that there was no need to “weaken the right wing,” to hold back Russia, as in 1914. But all this had been certified to the French the year betore, as to Russia, and the month before as to the Scandinavian countries. The primary reason for the swift defeat of France was not economic or political. It was almost incredible stupidity on the field of battle. un un a

T 1s not the purpose here to expand the debate on the Battle of France but again to call attention to this service of easily digestible and expertly prepared information on all such subjects of intense popular interest just now. Most civilians are slow to tackle such reading fearing that it is “too technical.” This stuff is being dished up in a form so simple that the average reader can take it in his stride without professional aid. The current revolutionary changes in the weapons, armor, organization, tactics, equipment and methods of our troops are made equally digestible, and they are so great that the average civilian observer can hardly hope to know what is going on or may be expected in the world without some knowledge of them. These too are covered in the modern graphic newspaper style. We are building a great army, the equal of anything on earth, and that is the principal hope and interest of most of us today, but to be confident of that, we have to know something about it, and I don’t know any easier way to learn than in these service magazines, some of which are on the news stands.

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

Strikes, like war, are the climax of failure to understand. After alll of the name calling and refusal of one or both sides to understand or co-operate with the other comes the desire to do meaner things, things that really hurt. The result of strikes, like the result of war, is de-

feat for both sides. Strikes and war do not lead to ensuing peace and understanding; they only lead to more strife and put an understanding and co-operative relationship farther from reach. Men have a right to quit jobs and to seek better ones, and they can do it peacefully, but just hecause a group of men believe that they can force moe pay and shorter hours is no indication that their claim is a just one or that they should damage their industry and themselves by a strike. Before labor can have a job other men with ambition and initiative must invest money for buildings and facilities, they must make plans for production and marketing and building of a financial structure that can weather slack times. These men have also a right to be understood and it behooves labor to understand them. Labor and management are inseparably tied together, neither can proceed alone, and the strike will defeat them both. Most of the strikes today are where wages and conditions are good, and they are inexcusable and damaging to our national defense. Tt must not be assumed by those who work only with their hands that they are the creators of all creation, because they are not. It was this attitude that brought labor to slavery in Russia, Germany, Italy and France. It was the labor monopoly in England that prevented a preparation for defense that would parallel the preparations of Hitler for six years before the war and thereby involving us now. Several years ago the English writer Wells, stated that America was “a race between understanding and catastrophy.” It seems that soon we must reach one of those goals. Strikes will not lead us to the goal of understanding.

HABIT

By JANE SIGLER To be a fool on All Fools’ Day Is not so bad, but I have found I go right on and do a lot Of foolish things the whole year round.

DAILY THOUGHT

And David knew that Saul secretly practiced mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring hither the ephod.—Samuel 23:9,

HE WHO HAS injured thee was either stronger or weaker. If weak-

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

MERICAN girls are trying their best to commit suicide. And they are aided and abetted in the effort by their parents. Does this sound like the maunderings of a mental incompetent? It isn't. Actually the news comes in the form of a statistical report from one of our large life insurance companies. Here is the low down: Among young women the death rate from tuberculosis, which we think we have licked, is alarmingly high. Eighty-two per cent more girls than boys die annually from the disease, and it gets in some of its deadliest work among women of child-bearing age. There's not much need to ask the reasons for this alarming news. We all know them. But, in order to remind us, the report sets them down in black and white: “Modern fads of slimming and diets, late hours, wider use of alcohol and tobaccos as well as industrial competition based on the false assumption that the two sexes are physically equal.” Then, in the final paragraph, it gives a very good suggestion for doing something to change the condition. This suggestion involves modern parents in a big way, and it can only be hoped they will give it some heed. “The best protective measure, is a large and heavy parental foot, firmly planted on the too ultra-modern idea of pleasure. Present-day' notions seem to call for parties that last far into the morning hours and other excesses. Young ideas may change, but physiology doesn’t. Ample sleep and wholesome habits are just as necessary as they have ever been.” It hardly seems possible that American women, with all their opportunities for health and happiness, would deliberately set about to kill themselves by inches. Yet that is precisely what a good many do. In order to get back their pretty figures young mothers starve themselves; for fear of not being able to wear Size 12 girls smoke when they should eat; hordes of persons of every age wreck their bodies and brains with cigarets, alcohol and loss of sleep. From the looks of this report, maybe we ought to crack down on the diet faddists and the clothing de= signers in the interest of national defense.

Questions and Answers

(The Indianapolis Times Service Bureau will answer any question of fact or information, not involving extensive ree .seareh. Write your questions clearly, sign name and address, inclese a three-cent postage stamp. Medical or legal advice

cannot be given. Address The Times Washington Service Bureau, 1018 Thirteenth St., Washington, D. C.).

Q—What does the term “run-away shop” mean in connection with labor? A-It refers to an employer who removes his place of business in order to avoid bargaining with a union representing his employees. This has been held to be a violation of the National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act. Q—How much is the Federal excise tax on do= mestic distilled spirits? A—Three dollars a gallon, Q—Who are the Genro? A—The “elder statesmen” of Japan, was an informal body of confidential advisers to the Emperor, composed of nobles and statesmen who had retired from public life. The body was practically abolished in 1922. .

er, spare him; if stronger, spare thyself.—Seneca. l