Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 28 April 1941 — Page 10

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The Indianapolis Times

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

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p> RILEY 5551

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

Membe:! of United Press, Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance, NEA Service, and Audit Bureau of Circulations.

MONDAY, APRIL 28, 1941

CHURCHILL IN ADVERSITY | F Britain wins, the victory will come because of that quality in the British makeup which was symbolized by the Churchill speech of Sunday. The bull-dog quality, reflected in cartoons and in the very face of Churchill himself. The ability to take bad news on top of bad news and still go on. Jugoslavia down, the Grecian victories wiped out, Athens falling—all in three weeks—and the British expeditionary forces in retreat. And vet Churchill, viewing the future with fortitude and hope, and no slightest sign of a quiver in the voice that carried to a worried and beset world one of the greatest of his orations. It was Kipling’s | “if” in action. That, contrasted with another national trait—the German. Great while winning. Scuttlings and suicides in defeat—if and when the tide turns.

Price in Marion Coun- |

Air Line Curb

By William Philip Simms

| Strong Contrast With Nazis' Efforts

ASHINGTON. April 28.—The Civil Aeronautic | Board's announcement indicating that further | commercial air route expansion is unlikely until the | | end of the war, may prove. as a policy, to be some- |

thing of a boomerang. No new routes are to be estab-

lished, the board has ruled, with- |

out approval of the Army and Navy—this step being taken to conserve aviation materials and

personnel in the interest of na- |

tional defense.

of national defense.” human, it is pointed out,

of its own requirements. as there is now—and will continue to be—an increasing clamor for planes in Britain, China and elsewhere as well as in this country, the commercial lines are more than likely to have their needs slighted.

Yet their needs at times, may very well be para-

mount. Administration spokesmen are fearful lest the Nazis may obtain a foothold on the Western Hemisphere. They point out that already the Ger-

mans have numerous air bases in South America and | that these would prove useful if and when Hitler tries | to this side of the |

to extend his “living space” Atlantic.

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N the authority of eye-witnesses, the writer can | state that the Germans are now taking long chances to bolster up their aviation position in South | America. They are not allowing the war to stop them in that part of the world. They are sending new planes and flying equipment through the British

| blockade for use of Condor and S. E. D. T. A, main

WORSE THAN A BLOCKADE : \ HY talk of stopping Hitler if we can't stop the coal | strike? Why patrol the seven seas if our Government can't prevail on John L. Lewis and the mine operators to resume production in that industry basic to our aid to Britain and our own defense? The four-weeks-old coal tieup—now, in essence, a sym- | pathetic strike so far as Northern mines are concerned— has gone far already toward slowing down America’s effort. If much longer continued it can become more effective than would be a blockade of our own coasts by the combined fleets and air forces of the Axis powers. The Northern mines, upon which most of the great heavy industries depend, have agreed to everything demanded by the United Mine Workers. Were these mines reopened today the men would have a dollar-a-day pay raise, paid vacations. a union shop, check-off of dues—concessions gained this year and in the negotiations of two years ago. Mr. Lewis asks them for nothing more. And yet the mines don’t open. True, there conflict between the Northern and Southern branches of the industry as well as between the union and the Southern operators. The Northern mine owners are in hearty accord with the union's demand that the Southern mines give up their 40-cents-a-day differential | and pay the full Northern wage scale. But, if Mr. Lewis would permit it, the Northern mines would reopen. Their owners couldn't stand out against public opinion if. being able to get miners, they refused to resume production because of a wage differential which has existed previously and which was created with their sanction. | Mr. Lewis, however, won't let his Northern union mem- | bers work until the Southern mines meet his terms for his Southern union members.

» 5 ~ » ~ Coal is as essential as iron ore in making steel. Pigiron is produced by mixing coke (roasted coal) with iron ore, iron scrap and limestone in a blast furnace. No coke—no | pigiron. No pigiron—no steel. No steel—no guns, no tanks, | no merchant vessels, no battleships, no airplanes. In the roasting process which produces coke there are extracted from coal the gas which heats the steel furnaces |

and the many coaltar by-products which are essential to our

chemical industries, especially to the manufacture of

explosives. | Thus far. the more modern by-product coking plants have not been shut down—though their coal supplies are dwindling dangerously. But the old-fashioned “beehive” coke ovens, which were pressed into service after many idle years in order to meet defense needs. are down. As a result, seven blast furnaces in the Pittsburgh district alone have closed, half a dozen | more will grow cold unless coke is forthcoming, and production hy others is reduced. If the coal strike continues, says the Office of Production Management, steel operations in general will be cut to 85 per cent of capacity this week; to 60 per cent next week. Even after the strike ends it will take a week or 10 days to turn out enough coke for the idle blast furnaces. These furnaces in turn will have to be relined, and it will take perhaps 10 additional days to get them into blast. ~

» » = Already, production has been lost that can never be regained. Each day the lost production becomes greater. And, unless at least the Northern mines reopen soon, the modern ' by-product coke ovens—those which produce tars, chemicals, oils and gas as well as coke—will go down, spreading paralysis through the chemical and explosives industries. The President of the United States has appealed for a resumption of mining. The National Defense Mediation Board has failed to end the tieup. It's about time for someone to demand-—not to request or beg—that Mr. Lewis and the Northern mine owners, between whom there is no con- |

troversy, give the word for mining to resume.

CAUSTIC COMMENTARY THE most caustic comment on the terrible toll from accidents which a civilized society permits every day in the vear comes from James B. Forgan, Chicago Red Cross official. Great Britain's loss of life is actually lower today, in the very face of the German bombings, than it was in peace time, says Forgan. Does that seem impossible, when thousands are being killed by bombs? Forgan says it’s true. Thousands have | been trained in first aid, accident prevention, nutrition, hygiene, and sanitation. A large proportion of automobiles have been removed from the highways. Result: More lives saved than Hitler has snuffed out in months of blitz-bomb-ing. It shows what could be done in the peaceful United States if safety and health measures could be made as effective here as war has forced them to become in England.

| | | | | { |

| | | i i

| affiliate

| him $21 a month.

{| Latin American subsidiaries of Lufthansa.

Just prior to the war, Germany was operating a mail service between Berlin and Santiago, Chili, via West Africa, Natal. Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. From Rio they had a line over the Andes to Peru and. via their affiliated Llovd Aero, to Bolivia. They also had a lot of plans—including. among others, a line into Colombia and to the Galapagos Islands, within easy hombing range of the Panama Canal. Then came the war. For a time Nazi efforts along the South American airways lagged. But not for | long. While they could fly the Berlin-Natal leg of the journey. they could and did cultivate their South American routes intensively. Instead of recalling its personnel for service in the German air force, Lufthansa turned its fliers and technicians over 10 Condor.

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N March. a Nazi freighter dropped anchor in Rio. | There she unloaded a big tri-motor job, a Junker transport, along with 25 tons of spare parts The | freighter had run the British blockade. This she did in large measure to keep the Nazi air lines going. | But that was not all. Three weeks later the | freighter “Hermes” rolled into Rio with still more Junker transports for Condor and Vasp—the Brazilian Vasp connects Rio with Sao Paulo. famed German center in Brazil. The Fascists, for a time, pretty much passed out of the South American picture. But now they are also beginning to show new signs of life. Argentina has given L. A. T. I, the Italian line from Rome to Rio. the right to come on down to Buenos Aires and — with Chili's consent—on to Santiago. L. A. T. I ships are described as big cream-colored beauties rimmed with green. They carry a crew of four. At the outbreak of the war, the Nazis had 19.000

| miles of airways in their South American service, the ! Prench 3000, Dutch

1000. and the United States 30 000. Pan American Airlines admittedly had to fight up hill for every mile they have. They say they are still fighting to keep the American flag out in front. But if hamstrung too much by the war—and the Axis opposition is not—the going for the Yankees may become pretty bumpy.

| i i

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(Westbrook Pegler is on vacation)

Business

| By John T. Flynn

Exemptions Should Be Cut So That All Share in Defense Cost

EW YORK. April 28 —Recently William McC. Martin, president of the New York Stock

Exchange, was taken into the Army through the con-

scription route. Li William Martin is a young man of great ability, high character and becoming modesty. He was, therefore, probably as much annoyed as anyone else by the spotlight thrown on him during that incident. The point that seemed to intrigue the public most was that young Mr. Martin could be taken into the Army end that his $48,000 a vear salary should change into $21 a month. The incident brought into prominent focus a feature of the draft which is not generally considered. It is not merely the draft of a man’s physical powers: it is 8 tax as well. At least it has the same effect as a tax on the individual, if not on the Government, for it deprives him of his power to earn money. In the case of Mr. Martin it takes Away him $48.000 a year. In the case of a $50 a week employee it takes from him $50 a week ana gives

from |

Now. however, if by a tax the Government uandertook to take away from Mr. Martin or anyone else | all of his $48.600 income less $21 for spending money | and an allowance for food, shelter and clothing, this | would be regarded as a tremendous sacrifice, almost too great to be borne. And this tecomes a pertinent

| subject now as the Government faces the problem

of raising funds te pay for the new Army. The sum of $3,500.000.000 is not going to pay that pill. Yet that is the sum which the Treasury now proposes to take by taxes on top of the existing taxes. Various tex plans are being discussed But the Government should keep in mind only three considerations in laying the tax: n

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IRST. what tax will bring in the largest sum; second, whai tax can be levied with the greatest equality of sacrifice; third, what tax will cause the least danger to the economic system. One of the chief dangers. so far as the econcmic system is concerned, is the effect which excessive taxes carelessly laid may have on investment. That, however, is not to be too much worried about here since the war itself, the immense borrowings of the Government and the general economic situation are going to kill off investment effectively until this is over. What we have to worry about on this score is | to protect the economic system from the shock of | peace when the war ends, and from the dangers of |

! inflation as an escape [rom defla‘ion.

This being so, the tax for our defense and the | British Empire's war should be aid in such a way as to spread thes sacrifice over every shoulder. For this purpose, the first thing should be to | abolish all exemptions save a very small one—that |

| is to lay the taxes and fix the rates on all incomes. |

regardless of how small they are. i The next essential is to take whatever steps are |

| possible to get rid of tax exemptions on honds.

It will be a source of grave discomfor: if the working man is taxed on his small earnings, as he should be, while the holder of Governmsant bonds can draw his easy income without paying his share.

So They Say—

IF AMERICA is to be free, America must help wherever freedom is threatened. —William Allen White, editor. |

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THERE IS no neutralitv. We are confronted with a danger. Let us go to meet it with arrogance. —Ezequiel Padilla, Mexican secretary of state,

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

CAA Order Against Expansion in |

In_Enlarging South American Routes |

planes and more |

| Government.

‘and not. a few of the foreign trou-|

Government. combed our

'cans heading this nation and quit!country!” playing politics and soft pedaling?

"up on loud demands for the preser-'away from them not only the free-|

|playgrounds and give our Army American freedom for themselves. |

MONDAY, APRIL 28, 1941

Stand Back Boys--Give Him Air!

mE. "

— BARE SPENDERS

The Hoosier Forum

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

Hitler. O! No! They would let] others suffer while they themselves| are getting fat on American dollars. All of which sounds something like eating the cake and having it too.

Why, even Hitler himself would not be proud of such hypocrites, Why does America tolerate these! people? Well, they are just lucky. | It can only happen here in America. | I am confident that the American | public opinion will eventually de-| wreck our factories and institutions? | velop a common law censorship [ Tt, would be far better if some of our against these inconsistent Hitlerites. ! | {leaders would read and practice] 2 x =» TO STOP PUSSYFOOTING | Thomas Paine’s “Age of Reason” in- [PUZZLED BY U. S. By C. HS {stead of pussyfooting with democ-|ATrruUDE IN CRISIS Like millions of other Americans 1 T8¢V: am wondering where this nation is] * % Ww : | eas & re Will someone try to clear the fog headed. Within the memory of TENTS J : is lin which I find myself most of the

many hovs now called into Army " J service, this nation fought in the APPEALS TO COWARDS time, concerning the trend our U.

first World War as we were told, to/By J. E. S., Indianapolis S. Government Is taking in this preserve democracy. Greed, lust and) Chuck Lindbergh and Burt Wheel- | 4qc0 personal ambition on the part of!eyg speeches can be boiled down| i Government leaders has againlinto the following: thrown the world into conflict. | “Come on, all cowards, join us Here in the United States from let us kisseth Hitler's hands for fear | the President down Government he spitteth on our lands.” | Officials have Ree nung ge Neither of these comrades have | munists and Fascists tear our naahi ATW Te We ever expressed any horror at theltjona] defense effort to bits (the have democracy if we are not good Hun's enslavement of minds and!c. 1. O. and A. F. of L. leaders) Americans, and if we are good podies nor any sympathy for the while Hitler and Mussolini sit back Americans how can we stand pro-'prave English and the enslaved ang smile at the good job their men crastinating while foreign influences countries. They are “Hitlerapes”;|are doing over here? destroy the very foundation of Our they ape Hitler in his callousness | Why isn't something done to for- |

and exp? ESSIonS. eigners when they are exposed and We would wish that Lindbergh |proved to be doing everything they take a non-stop flight to Germany possibly can to destroy eur nation— and take with him his fellow trav-|like so many that Walter Winchell eler, Wheeler. exposes? ; y ; iil » » Why are certain organizations, year Mp gig ee INSISTS PRO-NAZIS such as the German Bund and the

organizations, many {hat have ARE INCONSISTENT Communist Party protected and let |

take our Government six months to | | Americans” so utterly inconsistent? | one Joa Jecide = important If they are criticized for riding on [questions of national defense when Hitler's wagon while hiding behind (Inder oS et stahces yi Should American dollars, they get very up-| Mogi, ie gor set declaring: ‘We have the right “The Germans could come over to express our opinion; this is a free I COLTOy Us While on Gov . 4 i: ernment argued over some minor H ; A Tet ig dare advocate Nazism... i.;) for our defense or otherwise. onest Americans are getting fed the very regime that would take |, this politics, just plain ignorance

or 'vhat?

CLAIMS ISOLATIONISTS FIGHT FOR AMERICA

(Times readers are invited their these columns, religious conexcluded. Make your letters short, so all can Letters must

to express views in

troversies

have a chance. be signed.)

[up the rats sent to this country to » CALLS ON LEADERS

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Indianapolis

[By Floyd A. Baker. 1451 S. Whitcomb St.

| |

Why do we keep supplying Japan . [with war materials so that they can "slaughter the Chinese people, and at any moment turn on us? Why? Why does our Government let Com-

Three times Franklin Roosevelt has been elected President and as! many times he has taken a solemn) oath to uphold our laws and protect

this nation. During these eight "

have entered service and honeyindustries. They have been permitted te run loose like mad dog endangering a community Isn't it about time that our Government show the caliber of Ameri-

ble-breeding stripe

vation of democracy while those!dom of speech but also all other | of foreign influence are permitted! freedoms which they enjoy under y ww =u to gnaw like rats at the foundation |our democracy. QUESTIONS LINDBERGH of our Government. Isn't it time to; They would like Hitler to win | as WAR EXPERT build concentration camps instead of | Europe, yet they want to Ferein hiv Mis. 5. ‘ni dianagelis.

How strange that a man like Col. | Lindbergh should enlighten the] American public concerning the real | {issues and prospects of this war! { | What has he ever done, what has |

'he ever studied, what has he ever| |experienced that enables him to be| |so cocksure about everything mili-| |tary. economic and sociological— land especially so cocksure about his | own intelligence and vision? Surely | the paramount thing wisdom and | experience teach is the impossibility | of being didactic about anything in war or life, for that matter.

PREPAREDNESS

By DANIEL B. STRALEY Build us a navy, an air fleet, too, And man them each with a trusted crew, And build, build, build to guard our shores For the ocean winds bring tales of wars.

some practical experience rounding They would not go there and help |

Side Glances=By Galbraith

Lean not upon the watery plain For fleets have crossed and may again. Be not beguiled by wolves in fleece But arm for war for that builds peace.

Build us a navy, an air fleet, too, And man them each with a trusted crew, And build, build, build to guard our shores For the ocean winds bring tales of wars.

DAILY THOUGHT

Thou shalt not kill.—Exodus 20:13.

MURDER itself is past all expiatioh the greatest ne, which nature doth abhor.— Ws. Tar

very {ime a clerk announces the price

"Stop saying 'Wow!''e : of & hat!"

| than any conceivably possible tax program | moving in that’ direction, too, but again lamentabhly

| gram of education headed by

Gen. Johnson Says—

There Are Indications That Steps

Taken Now to Spur Defense Effort May Injure Our Post-War. Economy

ASHINGTON, April 28. Whatever sacrifice is necessary to increase production of war materials must be made. There is no opposition at all te that. The American people need no Paul Revere on that principle. But the phrase “whatever is neces sary” must be made to mean something definite. It is easy enough for men sude denly pushed into responsibility for war-mobilization to go the easy route—to say “it doesn’t make any difference now what may be the eventual repercussion of confiscatory taxes on our economic system. We will boost them to the skies. This will take away from all classes of people money to spend for the usual attributes (if not necessities) of American life and make more industrial capacity available for war production It is easy also for them to sav “cut automobile ror some other) production 20 per cent. Make it harder for people to buy automobiles by shortening the usual period of loans to pay for them.” It is easy, too. hy too arbitrary an application of the powerful principle of priorities to choke off too much or all of the process of American production and consumption for civilian uses. »

UCH is the kind of urging that is coming out of Washington in a chorus from OPM gentlemen which is swelling in volume. If it is necessary for our normal econoinic system to go into indefinite hibernation, without regard to consequences at the end, no voice will be raised in protest, least of all this voice. But, easy as they seem, are these the necessary first steps in geing about this business? Are they wise and prudent steps in the winning of the war? Above all, are they intelligent steps in view of as great a goal—survival of the war? I make hold to doubt it. There is a wealth of recorded experience left over from 1918. Something of this sort was done then. When the smoke cleared away, it became clear that, in many respects, in panic, hysteria and bad managerial engineering we put an unnecessary crimp in our economic system from which it has never yet quite recovered. It is generally conceded in Washington that, whila we have crowded a few great industrial corporations with mountainous orders, a vast number of small foundries and forging and manufacturing plants are left with little business—and some of that declining, While steps to control over-ordering, unnecessary building up of stock-piles and even some conservae tion and substitution of uses of such strategic come

» »

| modities as steel, tin and aluminum have helatedly | begun, they are not yet producing much effect. | emphasis has been on the cry of shortage and “elimi- | nate all but war production.”

The

” » ”

ROPER price control can he many times more effective in preventing inflation and reducing costs We are

late and not yet effectively. All these things had been spelled out in A B © language by B. M. Baruch and others for a vear— two years—before any attention was paid to them and not enough attention is being paid vet. It is so much easier to raise taxes and cut off civilian consumption. One of Mr, Knudsen's assistants, Mr. Batt. told industry recently to stop thinking about what would happen after the war. Maybe that is good advice for industry, but it is poor psychology for men in charge of industrial production, In the war itself, civilian morale is just as impor tant as military morale. After the war, civilian morale is everything and preservation of our ecoe nomic system to the maximum extent consistent with present productive efficiency is absolutely necessary to the permanence of both our political and economie system in the great erisis in world trade which is bound to follow this volcanic human eruption—no matter which side wins. In this rising hysteria, let's trv to retain at least a grain of foresight and judge ment,

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

ERE are a few paragraphs from a letter fo this column hy a group of women in E! Paso, Tex. “Undoubtedly thousands of mothers in this coun= try realize by thls time that men alone cannot solve the social, industrial, political and war problems we face with ever increasing regularity: “It is true, as you said recently, if women who have the time and energy to make bridge a consist« ent pastime would turn their ace tivity toward social problems, us ing the same degree of confidence and persistence, they could become a mighty force. We wonder whether a well-organized program along these lines could be introduced into women's clubs and the P.-T. A. "These women are all vitally concerned with the adult life of their sons. There is an ever-growing feeling that when a woman has devoted 20 vears of her life to rearing a boy who will become the target for one well-aimed shot, or a skilled killer himself, her work is futile. “Men now appeal to us for help, realizing that it will take the united intelligence of every adult to rid civilization of this social cancer, We operate with a war, and it returns with bigger and more dangerous growth. Evidently war is not a cure for war,

“But we no longer have yellow fever and other plagues because we did something to destroy them; surely we are not incapable of undertaking the task of getting rid of this greatest of social scourges? Surely some antitoxin, some serum, can be found for it. ‘If ‘not, wg are scarcely worthy of our position in society. “Can we not begin to formulate plans for a prothe women of the nation, making it a woman's crusade? We believe that a great many men are hoping for such a develope ment and would lend active support” Such sentiments offer proof that women are hee ginning to be profoundly stirred by a sense of ree sponsibility. They are asking themselves: “What , must I do about all this? If T am a citizen of the country, in what way can I serve it? How can I best fulfill my domestic and maternal obligations?” Now they may work hard during periods of emer= gency for war aims, but their hearts are not in it. For women know, by some deep, intuitive sense, that war gains no objectives and brings no peace. The more they suffer through the coming one, the more they will be moved to toil afterward for something nobler, The point to remember is that their intellects are waking. Historians may some day record this period as the Great Feminine Renaissance.

Fditer’s Note: The views expressed hy columnists in this newspaper are their own. They are not necéssarily those of The Indianapolis Times

Questions and Answers

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

Q—Does the Lend-Lease Act authorize the use of American naval vessels to convoy merchant ships to England? A—Section 5, paragraph D of the act declares: | “Nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize or to permit the authorization of convoying vessels by naval vessels of the United States.”

Q—What did the Columbian half-dollar of 188% commemorate? A—The World's Columbian Exposition, in Chicago

in 1893, to sommemorate the fourth centenary of ‘the 3 Aerie ; ;

‘of £ |