Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 1 May 1941 — Page 19

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The Indianapolis Times

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THURSDAY, MAY 1, 1941

A BETTER DUNKIRK

HE successful British evacuation of Greece, as reported to Commons by Prime Minister Churchill, seems even more miraculous than that of Dunkirk. More than three out of four of the British expeditionary force, or more than 45,000 of the original 60,000 men, were loaded on ships and carried to safety, according to these incomplete official figures. This task was even more difficult than Dunkirk, where an estimated 335,000 were rescued. There were relatively more boats available in England for the short channel passage, and also the British were able to command the air over Dunkirk for a few hours. But there were few British ships off Greece, and the Nazi bombers had many days in which to destroy them before as well as during the evacuation. Of course miracle is not the word for such feats, though there is doubtless some luck involved—the element which otherwise has been so constantly with the Germans rather than with the British. But obviously the chief reason for this success is that the men of the B. E. F. are superb and heroic soldiers, led by cool and brilliant strategists. Certainly the retreat was masterly and at a minimum cost, considering the numerical and machine superiority of the enemy on the ground and in the air. We can pay tribute to the mastery and blessing of this evacuation, without blinking the disagreeable fact that a major defeat is a major defeat, however brilliant the retreat.

NOT A SWELL JOB N far-off Hongkong the President's eldest son, Capt. James Roosevelt, told members of the American Club: “The people at home are doing a swell job in the defense program . .. it is significant that less than one-quarter of 1 per cent of the workers are affected by industrial disputes.” It would be highly significant—if it were true. But, as Capt. Roosevelt spoke, nearly 400,000 coal miners were still on strike. Agreement to reopen the mines came a little later. Before the mines actually are reopened a full month of production will have been lost. This one industrial dispute will have cost, directly, more man-days than all the strikes listed by the Labor Department in the entire year 1940. | And the loss, much of it, can never be replaced. The | coal mines will reopen. Then, after some days, the coke ovens will start up again. Then, after more days, the steel furnaces will get back into blast. "Then, finally, steel production may go to full capacity. But full capacity, though it may be increased in the future, is a present limit. No speed-up, no overtime work now, can stretch that limit to make up for all that has been lost. So the coal strike will continue for months to affect not only 400,000 miners, but production schedules throughout many industries. Shipyards, arsenals, airplane factories will feel the pinch. Soldiers waiting in training camps for guns and tanks will feel it. God grant that Americans may never have to pay the price that Frenchmen and Englishmen have paid for arms that might have been produced | —but were not.

PIONEERING IN MUSIC NDIANAPOLIS has every reason to look with interest and gratification on the second annual Ail-American Festival of Music to be presented next Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday by the Arthur Jordan Conservatory. This city is doing a job in awakening a consciousness of American music unrivaled by any other community, large or small. It was here that’ the vast stores of Stephen Foster’s works were collected and made complete by J. K. Lilly. It was this city’s young symphony orchestra which blazed a trail by presenting at least one piece of American music on each ccacert and Fabien Sevitzky has been honored several times for his ardent advocacy of American music. Now the Jordan Conservatory is showing the way to other music schools of this country with its All-American Festival. The festival is entirely free. Tickets are needed only for the final night’s concert of the Conservatory orchestra and choir under Mr. Sevitzkyv’s direction. The festival's inauguration last year was such a success that it was impossible to accommodate all who wished to attend. This city’s musical leaders deserve a great deal of praise for their efforts to acquaint students and public alike with an understanding and consciousness of our own American music literature.

MERCHANTS AND PRICES

BUSINESS conference in Washington is no rarity these days, but one that meets there tomorrow seems to us deserving of unusual attention and best wishes. ‘It was called by Secretary of Commerce Jesse Jopes at the request of the Retailers’ Advisory Committee, an organization which through affiliation with 52 national trade associations represents every branch of retail merchandising. country with information which they can use in helping national-defense agencies to prevent skyrocketing of prices. The fact that leading retailers are so actively concerned about prices is one of the most hopeful signs of these times. They know, from bitter experience during and after the last war, that runaway prices are bad for their stores as well as for their customers. While prices were soaring, they lost volume of business. When the inevitable collapse came, they had to take disastrous dollar losses on huge inventories of high-priced goods. it to happen again. In that, merchants and customers have an identical interest. The co-operation of retailers with the Government to insure fair prices, and to resist unjustified increases, is a service tq you. :

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Its purpose is te equip merchants throughout the |

They don’t want |

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Fair Enough

By Westbrook Pegler

Big Hunks of Arizona Given Over To Indians and Much of It Is Desert But Not the Kind Mussolini Got

UCSON, Ariz, May 1.—Old Brisbane was a great hand at the sort of pieces which this one would like to be, but I am not much good at it, and probably will stammer: and gag and may rip it out of the mechanical writer and throw it away. Old Doubledome, or Big George, as the cartoonists in the Hearst hyena room used to call him, would go tooling across country in a train of cars and talking to himself in his recording machine about the prairie dogs and cacti, erosion, irrigation, light-years and the remarkable investment possibilities of some locality in which he just happened to have a patch for sale. And in no time he would be finished with another installment 2 of a column which had more readers than any other in the history of the package-goods editorial trade—except, perhaps, Odd McIntyre’s. This is about the astonishing state of Arizona, which is new territory to me and, from the look of the map, appears to be firmly in the grasp of Harold L. Ickes or otherwise retired from private ownership and the tax rolls to the extent of at least half of the total area. Three Hopi and Navajo Indian reservations in the northeastern part of the state alone ap=pear to cover more ground than all of Connecticut.

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ND there is an almost unbroken strip ranging in width from about 50 to 100 miles extending from the Utah line to Mexico all given over to national forests and parks and Lebensraum for those native tribes who were Hitlerized out’ of their ancient heritage by the rather recent forebears of our currently righteous race. This section where I am, in the southeastern quarter, is mostly desert but not of the sort with which Britain and France tried to bribe Benito (The Bum) Mussolini to quit blowing out his face and, for goodness’ sake, behave. That was low-down desert and not worth a damn, whereas this desert grows castus of a hundred kinds and tomatoes, hay, cotton or beans if you squirt a little water on it, and seems to be underlaid with copper and silver and some gold. The cactus isn’t worth much except as scenery, but scenery is no negligible crop, especially since the war has quarantined most of us to our own country. And in addition to the scenery there is a climate which is good for tuberculars, for some arthritics and certain types of asthmatics. Along the beds of the streams, most of which vanish between rains, there are cottonwood groves, and on stretches of table land and foothill country there are herds of meat cattle.

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HE cow business seems rather puny, however, and the story is that the city dudes have crowded the kine off the range in an economic squeeze that was meant for no such thing. The native ranchers began taking in a few vacation boarders, mostly in winter, and discovered that by providing a little rude luxury, such as showers and other plumbing in rough-hewn, glamorized ranch-hotels, and selling cattle by the slab, medium-rare, in campfire settings, they could earn enough to retire from the cattle trade. Meantime, quite a lot of city people, always pining to get away from it all, took down some .of their money and bought, at high and careless prices, large areas of grazing land on which they went in for ranching in a half-serious way. Well, as some of the regular ranchers prospered in the boarding-house trade others found themselves competing with extravagant amateurs who didn’t have to show a profit, and even with some who preferred to run up a loss for income tax purposes. ? The result has been that the shore-enough rancher can’t make it pay, and is waiting for the dudes to get sick of their fad and abandon their lands, wells and buildings at sacrifice prices to people who can raise cattle at a profit on a fair investment. Furthermore, a lot of the cow hands have been hired off the regular range to act as guides, and some of them as gigolos for the vacation trade at higher wages, plus tips—which also amount to something. I guess I won't tear this up, after all. Maybe I will even run on some more, although it is nervous going, because some of the locals are sure to feel bitten on the hand if I don’t say real nice about hereabouts, with no discount whatever—which somehow ain't my way.

Business By John T. Flynn

Laying Down Some Guideposts for Postwar Trade With Latin America EW YORK, May 1.—If we can base our rela-

tionships with South America and Céntral America upon the firm foundation of faithful ex-

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clusion of European power politics, we can then be- |

gin to lay down some general guideposts for our economic dealings with those countries. These economic dealings take several forms: (1) Merchandising our goods to them and buying their products; (2) investment in their industries; (3) financial transactions. The simplest of these dealings is the first, which has to do with the process of buying and selling our products and theirs. This phase of our dealings is less fraught with subtle dangers than the . others. But it spreads before us a whole list of problems. First of all, these countries will buy from us only those things that they need, and we in turn will buy from them only those products we need. Neither will trade with the other out of just neighborly love. As it turns out, we have many things South American countries want, while they have many products important to them which we do npt need because we produce surpluses of them ourselves, It is our inability or unwillingness to buy their products that makes it difficult to sell them ours. And, up to a point, there is not much we can do about this. But beyond that point there are certain measures we can lake. We can, for instance, encourage in South America the production of those things we need—rubber is an outstanding example and something is already being done along that line. products. Next, we can make a re-survey of the various trade

barriers which we have built with our tariff and other | laws and orders designed to protect our own products

by excluding South American products. ” ” ” HE question of short-term credit is another im-

portant point. Here we will have an undoubted advantage over other competitors, particularly Ger-

That are many other such |

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES Spring Tonic!

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The Hoosier Forum

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

OPPOSES TRAINING CAMPS FOR OUR YOUNG GIRLS By Dr. Robert F. Buehl, 1906 S. Meridian Recently and at other odd times, I have noticed comments made by Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt to-wit— that it would be fine if we had training camps for the young girls of the country—I presume to toughen them up—for we have heard so much lately how soft we all are. I can assure Washington and the bureaus entrenched there that my daughter will never enter a training camp to be toughened up. I hope | other right-minded parents will also | | go along with me in that line. The | ideas of Mrs. Roosevelt smack tool! ! much of Communistic Russia. Sure!ly in her mind she does not have ideas of compulsion? n ” » LAUDS THE LINDBERGH ‘TYPE OF MENTALITY’ By R. G. L., East Chicago The screws are being tightened almost feverishly now to get us into Hitler's war, aren't they? Can| we keep our sanity and remain out of it? Lindbergh gives a few facts as he sees them. Because they are not complimentary to Britain, because there is in them none of the wisn- | ful “faith” of our interventionist

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

to express views in

musn't get roiled or flustered or they lose command of a situation. I must be one of those terrible “defeatists,” too.

¥ wu CLAIMS NAZI HELPED BY AMERICA FIRST

and their sympathizers are attracted to these meetings, for the leaders of America First and their speakers are striving with might and main to sabotage and nullify the program of aid to those countries resisting Nazi aggression which the Congress of the United States after months’ long deliberation and with the support of the bulk of the American people adopted by overwhelming majorities. The Nazis in this country know full well that if we assure the delivery of the arms and supplies promised to Britain and her allies, Hitler can never achieve his aims of world conquest. The interest of the Nazis in the America First Committee is also

prominent lady member of the

By John A. Morrison, Director, Chicago Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies The leaders of the America First Committee have proclaimed on numerous ° occasions that they neither wished nor would accept support from Nazis and Nazi sympathizers in this country. It may be, therefore, of interest to the readers of The Times to learn from one who was there something of the character of the audience which attended the America First rally in Chicago last »_ek which was addressed by Col. Lindbergh and former Rep. Pettingill.

During the course of his lengthy and somewhat windy harangue, Mr.

| Government, President Roosevelt | announces publicly he is “sorry that type of mentality should be in high places.” A very obvious comment comes to mind, but I refrain from voicing it. But others will, no doubt. However, if Lindbergh is high place, he forged it for himself. And if what he said is defeatism, and a “type of mentality” to be sorry for, it might surprise F. D. R. to know of a special attorney in the Department of Jusice working out on the West Coast who believes Britain wiil collapse next month and is not particularly secretive about it unofficially. Other Government employees feel likewise. I'm not going to give the name of the man except to add that he does more work than five other attorneys combined, according to word received. So just where does the President get off in smearing a private citizen for speaking his mind? He must have been roiled. But ycu know commanding generals

in aj

Pettingill had occasion to quote from {a speech by Winston Churchill. At the bare mention of Churchill's name there was a chorus of “boos” from all parts of the audience. Sub- | sequently when Col. Lindbergh said | that “up to date she (England) has | lost every major campaign in which she has participated”—apparently overlooking the Libyan campaign in which half of the Italian army of 250,000 was destroyed by a British force of less than half its size, and also the East African campaign now drawing to a successful close—there were resounding cheers.

In view of the fact that a majority of the American people strongly desire a Britisa victory, it is not difficult to identify the source of the “boas” and the applause. Any doubts as to the character of a large part of the audience were removed by the amount of German and broken German-English one could hear all over the hall and in the street in front of the hall. . . . It is not surprising that the Nazis

Side Glances=By Galbraith

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many. But a full development of this phase of the |

export and import business’ with South America should be studied. The credits I refer to are shortterm trade credits rather than long-term investment credits, which is another phase of this subject. The next point has to do with South American buying and selling with other countries. No matter what we may do, these countries will have large volumes of products which they can never sell to us because we have 1 need of them. ‘ We, ourselves, exercise freely our right to trade with every country in the world. We must therefore scrupulously refrain from attempting, for political reasons, to restrict South America’s right to do the same thing. We must not attempt to put credit difficulties in her way. We must not criticize her because she does what we do—sells her products to any nation which is willing to buy them.

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‘So They Say—

TAKE GEORGE WASHINGTON, for instance; he had an awful time with his teeth, but he was a

mighty good soldier.—Dr. Roger I. Lee, president-

Leman BV NEA SERVICE WH. aanbus tof A —, g= J

"Grandpa, does this ta charge more for extra passengers?"

elect American College of Physicians. * * MANY SKEPTICAL observers say that inflation is inevitable . . . I this most emphatically.—Leon Henderson, price » OEM, : :

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{Adolph Hitler's

| Committee who, thinking to give | her organization a clean bill of | health, boasted that they had re‘fused a check of several thousand | dollars because it was offered to them by a Nazi sympathizer! The Nazis in this country are merely reflecting Berlin’s attitude | toward the “America First” Com- | mittee as expressed by the Nazi 'short wave broadcast on Jan. 22d i as representing “true Americanism” land “true patriotism.” But in spite of the fog of misrepresentations, evasions and half truths issued by Senator Wheeler, Col. Lindbergh and the lesser ornaments of America First, the American people have maintained their rugged common sense and realistic attitude toward the security of their country. According to the Gallup Poll released today, 71 per cent favor convoys if it appears certain that Britain will be defeated unless we use part of our Navy to protect ships going to Britain. This, in spite of the fact that it is clearly realized that convoys may lead to actual hostilities and in spite of our hatred of war, a feeling shared by the peoples of all democracies. How long will we permit the {Nazi Fifth Column to sabotage the |expressed determination of the | American people? How long will lsincere Americans blindly lend themselves to Hitler's purposes? $ #8 READY TO FIGHT AGAINST HITLER By C. F. L., Indianapolis I do not have any love for the British Empire, but I will reluctantly admit that the aid-to-Britain issue has increased to a far greater and more important viewpoint of Aid-to-World Freedom. The eminent, over-ambitious intentions have been made all too apparent—world conquest, and ruling it with the iron hand of naziism. Active participation against Germany’s intentions should be favored by every freedom-loving American; even if it means sending our men overseas again. I'm ready to go.

RADIO OF MAY

By MARY P. DENNY I hear the radio of May Through all the sunlit hours of day. The rapture of the music of the wind Sweeping afar from tree to tree One ringing gloria full and free. Through forests deep the robins sing. In soft lush grass the crickets ring. There is a glory in the air. The joy of spring is everywhere. The water brooks ring loud Over the shining glimmering rock Where all the wild birds flock, Then rise in light unto the cloud. All life rings far upon the radio of

May Through hours of bright spring day.

DAILY THOUGHT

The fear of the Lord is the beStining of knowledge. — Proverbs By

AS SOON as begun to fear Rave ceased to fear.—Schiller,

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clear from the chance remark of a|

n which America First was praised | J

THURSDAY, MAY 1, oar | Gen. Johnson | 4 # 3t Says—

Lindbergh Was Not Petulant |

Resigning Because F.D.R.'s Remarks Left the Flier No Other Course

ASHINGTON, May 1.—Col. Lindbergh's resignae= tion from the Air Corps Reserve has been criti= cized even by some strongly interventionist editors who approve his courage but disagree with his senti= ments. For example, the New York Times thinks his resignation ‘was “petulant action.’ The New York Herald Tribune also thought his resignation was res grettable. , These opinions, I submit, stem from a lack of familiarity with military ethics in our highest traditions. There was no obliga= tion whatever for the Government to accept that resignation. “the other hand, there was a distinct obligation for Lindbergh to re= sign. : When a commanding officer te a a Junior that in the former's opinion the latter is unfit to serve and ‘especially when he says that the disqualification is for disloyalty or, even worse, for a kind of treason, that junior, in our honorable military tradition of the Regular Army, has three possible courses. One is to step into the next room and blow out his brains. A second is to demand a court-martial or commission of inquiry. A third is to offer to resign. : » ” n

fie hari-kari aspect of the first is among the old= est of Roman and Samurai traditions. It. is harsh and somewhat theatrical but it is not unknown to our sérvices. Behind the scenes, the military pro= fession is a kind of cult of honor in which death is a consideration considerably below that of dishonor, It must be so if the stiff backbone of proper armies is to be maintained. But that rarest and most bitter of remedial protests implies some shadow of guilt, mistake or fault—obviously not possible in Lindbergh's case. : Under the Articles of War, while regular officers, or Reserve or National Guard officers on active serve ice, could demand, as of right, a court-martial or mili= tary commission to investigate and vindicate or cone demn any such charges by a superior. A Reserve offi= cer not on active duty has no such right. : :

« There remained to him no other course buf to re sign his Reserve commission and there was no petu= lance about it. He would be a heel if he hadn't ofe fered to resign. He had been practically told by the Commander-in-Chief that he was unfit to serve his country.

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RESERVE officer below General rank is in a quaint position, He has no military authority," no military obligations, no duties, He is simply a free civilian who, without waiting for any draft board, any enlistment ballyhoo, any pressure of any kind, has said “here are my name, address and qualifica= tions. Without regard to what others may do or have done to them, without regard to my own personal for= tunes or wishes, with no period of notice and without further formalities, I promise to answer any call of my Government to go wherever it may send me.” Until such a civilian is called, he has the same right of free speech and expression as any other Amer= ican. After he is called, it is a very different matter. No officer on active duty can be in a position of opposing or even criticizing his superiors, of whom. the President is the highest of all. x That about sums up the case of Mr. Lindbergh, The criticism that was made at the White House. that he published his temperate letter announcing’ his resignation before it was received in Washington, or there was any chance to reply, seems to be completely answered by the fact that the President unexpectedly assailed him in a public press conference without giving him any hearing or any ehance to defend himself. :

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson |

O

ginia Woolf, who not only wrote breathtaking prose, but whose life was a constant quest for truth, drowned

NE of the finest feminine minds of all time merged with eternity when the great Englishwoman, Vir

herself near her home in Sussex, Those who loved her spirit can understand the urge for self-destruction, as she watched the world for which she had held hope fall to pieces. - i . Miss Woolf was a passionate devotee of peace, believing that humankind can never find sur= cease from its woes in war. I J think she died for her ideal as | heroically as any soldier who gives ; up his life for a lost cause. . where she was there is no peace, nor will there be for decades to come, : Europe is a madhouse. Undying hates are being bred there. It will take genera= tions to wipe them out. This war sprung directly from seeds sown by the last one and will in turn, I fear, bring on a horrible harvest of revolution and perhaps other major wars. Yet our leaders are asking us to get into it. No, that is not quite true. They are not asking-—they are baiting us step by step, and with—of all things— promises of peace. Every move has been preceded by a solemn statement that it was the only way we could keep out of the fighting, from repeal of the Neutrality Act to passage of the Lease-Lend Bill. It was these promises that moved the people to sanction Congressional action. Yet the President's signature had not been affixed to the Lease-Lend Bill when talk of convoys began. ? We are not yet prepared for aggressive war—and / everyone knows it. It is also clear, I think, that it’ will require millions of our men, as well as enormou, supplies shipped across the Atlantic, if Hitler is to whipped as our President says he must be. ; And after all this is done, and our utmost strengt. has been expended, what assurances do we haye tha: our will can prevail in that unhappy continent blighted by constant tumults? We have something. precious to humanity right here—a land of Freedom where the oppressed of all nations have found and still can find refuge. For God's sake, let's keep if,

Editor's Note: The views expressed by columnists newspaper are their own. Thev are not necessarily of The Indianapolis Times.

Questions and Answel

(The indianapolis I'imes Nervice Burean will answer any, question of fact or Information, not involving extensive. tes search. 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 St. Washington, D. C.).’ IVE

Q—Are workers in defense industries exempt fr training and service under the Selective Service A—The act specifically provides: “No deferment from training and service shall be made in the case of any individual, except upon the basis of the status of such individual, and no such deferment shall be made of individuals in any plant or institution.” This means that workers in Navy Yards, aircraft man facturing plants, or any other defense industry, not be exempt simply because of their place of ems ployment. Each registrant will be judged individully, sh his importance will be decided by tne draft ard. Q—By whom was the declaration of war against Germany in 1917 signed? A—By Champ Clark, Speaker of the Ho Representatives; and Thomas R. Marshall, President of the United States and President of | Senate, and “approved” by Woodrow Wilson. Q—What was the original meaning of the

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“cute?” A—Sharp, shrewd, clever. Q—When was the song “Mexicali Rose" lished? A—in 1923, in Los Angeles.

Q—How many deaths in New .York tributed to the blizzard of March 12, 1

A—Twenty lives were lost and the age was 20 million dollars,

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