Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 May 1941 — Page 23

PAGE 22

rr * » . he Indianapolis Times

(A SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWSPAPER) i MARK FERRER

RALPH BURKHOLDER Baivor

ROY W. HOWARD President

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» RiuEv SS \y

Give LADKE ond the People Will Ping Theo Own Way

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FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1981

THE PRIMED PUMP RUNNETH OVER “SAE have only just begun to build up our military and air defenses. At least a year will pass before we can have our army and our air force adequate.” So says Secretary of War Stimson.

That being the situation—a condition not a theory— | So

what te do? | Clearly, all-out for production and for training. What | does that mean? Every hour lost adds to our danger. Every hour gained

decreases the danger. Apply that obvious conclusion in | any direction you look, and we can’t stand for a single hour | idleness in our defense plants, whether the idleness be | due to management or labor. Nor can we stand for priority | peacetime production over defense production. All bureaus, all spending, not connected with defense or the normal operation of Government should be abolished. | We are definitely suffering from a time-lag in our | thinking. We are still looking from a peacetime depression of view at a scene that has completely shifted. Take CCC for example. The most effective, we think, all the ideas in our nation’s fight against the depression. Yet today it is competing with the Army, both in terms of what it costs and in terms of manpower. Militarization of the CCC was properly opposed at one time because it affected only poor boys. But now the Army is taking both poor and rich. Furthermore, if the COC boys don’t go into the Army they are of the age to make good defense mechanics and thereby supply much needed labor. Every depression-relief activity should be given the th Jook-over, to answer the question—is it still needscrap it. If in part, maintain only the | t can, day by day, justify its existence. is won't De easy. For bureaucrats and pressure | entrench themselves quickly and strongly and propa- | ke rabbits. But the operation must be performed if | to get really prepared. are | priming a pump which has long since run |

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THE MINERS LAW TH E Presidents signature has now made law of the bill for Federal inspection of coal mines. We're happy to | have had & part in the successful fight for this legisiaand we hope it will accomplish all that its chief spon- | e United Mine Workers, expect in greater safety miners. It gives the Federal Bureau of Mines authority to but not to enforce orders based on its | police powers in this fidld remain with the

But the Federal |

WR % 3s

nspections, All mspectors of the several states. by making public reports of what it discovers and

18S.

NY wu

2 by the state inspectors, thus reducing the fearful toll | ne accidents disasters, That is the theory of the law. Its efficacy, in practice, jepend on the selection of capable, fearless and incorruptible Federal inspectors. The Bureau of Mines is under the jurisdiction of Secretary of the Interior Ickes. We hope | he'll give plenty of personal attention to this new duty, doing everything in his power to see that safety standards yall coal-mining states are made as satisfactory as a few states have proved they can be made.

av Gai

{ |

“VY” FOR VICTORY | THE London military correspondent of The Christian | Science Monitor, R. Maillard Stead, reports that the people of several occupied countries are talking back to the vaders by writing the letter “V” on walls, on the » underlining it in notices posted by the Ger

“wy

German

for

[he “\ and Belgium. It has become a symbol of all opposition to | the Nazis. The first and second fingers of either hand, held up to form a “V,” is the sign of secret opposition to the cdn- |

errors.

R

Qu But should he “win,” the ubiquitous letter “VV” will mock his victory and in time brand it as hollow. Remember the trouble made for mighty England by little Ireland. How can Germany keep a dozen Irelands under the heel? How can the Nazis hope to rule the Dutch, Belgians, French, |

win,

Italians, Danes, ‘Norwegians, Poles, Czechs, Magyars, Ru- | manians, Jugoslavs, Bulgarians and Greeks—their present | victims and “partners”?

CONSTANT CORRESPONDENT A LTHOUGH we never met him face to face, we feel that | “® we lost an old and good friend when Charles Hooper ! died at San Francisco. He claimed to be, and he probably | was, the all-time world’s champion writer of “letters to the | editor.” In 40 years Mr. Hooper wrote something like 78,000 letters, sending them to mewspapers in Indianapolis and | other large American cities. It finally became his sole | occupation. Born in New York, he lived for many years in | a tourist cottage at Coeur d'Alene, Ida., where Ernie Pyle | once visited him. As a youth he had studied for the min- | istry, but he decided he could more effectively “expose | error. correct abuses and reform evils” by means of the printed word, and that his words were most likely to be | printed as contributions to “letters-to-the-editor™ columns. Long ago we lost count of the number of missives we re- | ceived from Mr. Hooper. We didn’t print all of them, but | we used a good many. They covered an astonishing range of subjects, they were always written with great care, thoughtfulness and good temper, and they were almost invariably brief—qualities, all, that appeal to busy editors.

FOOTNOTE ON SPRING GPRING is that time of year when you even get tired restingd i ada

of

=

| the workers themselves show President | onto the plot and will not stand for it.

“victoire” —British victory—in France |

| works

| able.

| of the public is not too plain

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

Quoting From Mr. Heath's Book He

Reveals Wagner Favored Changes

3 “3g fg22 318s cl

sode has never been publicized » » »

“COENATOR ROBERT F. WAGNER, a Tammany man who has risen far above his background,

| was established as a humanitarian, a liberal and a

friend of organized bor before Franklin Roosevelt had any citable record in any of those 1 . Be has sponsored several of the New Deals sounder contributions to sdcial progress Notably the well-in-tentioned and potentially desirable National Labor Relations Act.” Mr. Heath then reveals—and if I did not believe his word could be accepted as guaranteed truth I would not pass it on—that in the fall of 1938 a New York newspaper which had always supported and wished to indorse him anew assigned one of the ablest journalists in town to discuss with him his views on certain Specific amendments to the act. Mr. Heath says Mr, Wagner to

infrequently do, he stipulated tha

mitted to see the copy before publication, and the

reporter accordingly took it to the Senators office.

{ “The Senator never saw it,” says Mr, Heath. “A |

partner informed the newspaperman that although Senator Wagner still believed the law required re-

| vision, he had decided not to admit it or discuss | | the matter.

“Not long afterward IT mentioned the episode to an intimate friend of the Presidents and the Senators, who had expressed curiosity and resentment

because the newspaper had opposed Mr. Wagner's reelection.

“Senator Wagner telephoned the White Rouse that night and told the President that he had given

| the interview and what he had said’ the friend told

me,

Wy E WAS told that he must stop the Interview that no matter what he thought he must not

| admit publicly that any flaw existed in the act: that | to agree to the slightest revision would appear to be

& Sign of weakness, “I know Bob would like to see those changes

| made to silence justifiable criticism of the act and

to Torestall resentment resulting from abuses, but

| he doesnt Teel that he can act until the President | IS ready.

“The President,” says Mr. Heath in closing the

| subject, “is mot Vet ready te let Senator Wagner | &ct on his convictions.”

This Jaw, with its threat te economic recovery

| and fis cunning, concealed purpose of driving all

warkers into one political class group at the service of the Administration will be amended only when Roosevelt, Mrs. Roosevelt and Wagner himself that they are Then, of course, the President will say that he has discovered

| these flaws and that he has decided to recommend

changes, which will deceive some, of course. dut will get results, which is all anybody wants, anyway.

Business By John T. Flynn

Scolding Businessmen and Trusting Luck Is No Way to Keep Prices Low.

EW YORK, May 9 —Every few days one hears of meetings of businessmen in Washington, A representative of the Government shakes his fist at them, lectures them about prices and wams them © be good, to keep them down voluntarily—or else. There are a good many ways of wasting time—but this is about as good & way as I can think of. There is a childlike notion that in & time like this the raising of prices is the deliberate, calculated scheme of wicked men. Those who hold this naive opinjon imagine that the evil can de averted by inducing the men who raise the prices to refrain from doing so. If everybody will be nice and patriotic and good, then all will be well. But that is not the way it The making of a price on a piece of merchandise is the product of a good many things It is the product of ail the elements which go into the making of that piece of poods—materials many of them: transportation oosts, cost of money, cost

| of labor, and many other things.

Price rises in many of these things are unavoidSome of them are the work of the Govern. ment. Demand for materials in haste extra cost. side-tracking peace-time orders—all these things work their way into the higher costs of what the Government orders. These higher costs affect the cost of many peace-time products. » = =

FTER a while there is hardly any other way for the producer—and the merchant—to decide who will get his product except by the price method. In a few months so many of these factors are at work in so many places that they are hard to locate. One producer finds himself forced to raise the price of his product. He is not so efficient a producer. His costs are high. In order to keep from losing money he raises the price, not to make a bigger profit but to’ keep out of the red. When he does this another producer in competi-

tion finds he can do the same thing. He may be !

a low-cost producer. In fact, there is some pressure in the trade on him to lift his price to the same level as his high-cost competitor. And so he is able to make a greater profit, not wholly because he is aiming wickedly at this, but becsuse the various pressures force him in that direction. It is, in fact not a simple matter, Hoe Rue are to be kept down while at the same time billions of purchasing power are pumped into the hands . But at least one thing is plain, and that is that it is not to be accomplished by calling businessmen to Washington,

lecturing them, threatening them and leaving the |

whole job to luck

So They Say—

WE REFUSED to organize the world as a living space for all when we had the power in our —Prof. D. F. Fleming, Vanderbilt University

- - but taf gn Ig

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Ready for the Next Wh

FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1943

irl!

Se

|

The Hoosier Forum

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

| IMR. MEITZER CLAIMS CREDIT FOR HIS LETTER | By James R. Meitzier, Attica | Pardon me but I am the writer of the article headed, “Favors Convavs to Aid England” that appears lin the Forum of May § instead of | the other letter. | Mistakes will occur in all families

= ® » VEXPLAINS INTENT OF | PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT LAW | Bs Tk 3. Noll Jr., 911 Merchants Bank

i

| I was interested in reading Inside | Indianapolis of May 7 in reference [to the proposed improvement of sidewalks in Indianola Ave. from '$lst to 634 Sts.

There seems 1 be some misunderstanding about the rights of resident owners and non-resident owners relative to public improvements where the cost of the improvement is assessed against the property. Under the statute both [classes of property owners have a | voice in the matter of proposed im- | provements, | In effect, the statute provides the following: Where an improvement resolution has been confirmed and ordered dy the Board of Public Works at a public hearing, then the improvement shall be made, unless a majority of the resident property owners file their written remonstrances against the same within 10 |days. However, if a majority of the resident owners do not remonstrate | but a majority of all property owners file their remonstrances within the 10 day period these owners may if they wish take an appeal to the! [proper court which decides whether {the proposed improvement shall be made. Therefore, a majority of the resident property owners remonstrating will automatically pre{vent Yan improvement from being ‘made; and & majority of all property owners can prevent the improvement from being made, providing they take an appeal to the [court and court decides in their | favor | This Jaw might st first seem somewhat unfair to non-resident owners who object to an improvemeant. However, the theory of the Jaw is to give the persons actuglly residing upon the street a greater voice in the matter of public improvements because they are the ones who have to use the street and are injured more hy the lack of im-

provements than a

assumes the privilege of

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

non-resident owner. The Jaw attempts to prevent owners of large blocks of rental property and vacant lots from keeping resident owneys Hom obtaining improvements which they want and in many oasés need very much from the standpoint of safety.

x = ® TERMS LINDBERGH AND WHEELER “FAKE HEROES” By Clyde P. Miller, R. R. 13, Box 130 So the smearer says he smeared! Nothing strange about

that. You know the type. The insult spewing egotist who blatantly viciously slandering any one with whom he disagrees, yet is horrified and outraged by the slightest criticism of his own notions as due to nothing but mendacity, ignorance or consummate gall. These supercilious bigots, from the high sanctuary of their own smugness, shower curses upon: others, but regard any natural reaction of resentment as an unspeakable sacrilege of their gospel of contemptuous hate, Any reference to that type brings to mind immediately those self ap-

is

pointed arbiters of national policy!

and high priests of American negation, Wheeler and Lindbergh, who anoint the tools of the wrecking crews of democracy throughout the

(world. . .

The Quicker America ignores these

fake heroes and faise prophets the

better. We should join forces with England at once in full collaboration in this war. Convoys? and more; expeditionary forces if necessary. The more and the quicker shooting the better. Delenda est Hitler! = » » CHARGES ISOLATIONIST CLAIMS LACK LOGIC

By Clande Rraddick, Kekome

Gen. Johnson says, “To call a man a ‘Copperhead’ because he believes and says that Britain may be defeated is just about the limit of

Side Glances=By Galbraith

produces | Overtime, rush transportation demand, |

OMRON BY NE SERRE. TM NEUE

"We'll stay at Cousin Lou's——and they can't say they haven't a spare room, because we know their boy has been

Yes, |

cock-eyed un-American sentimentality.” | Brushing aside the fact that | Roosevelt did not use the term | | “Copperhead” in reference to Lind- | bergh, let us pass on to the rest of | [the charge. Everyone knows of! | course that Lindbergh has reiterated | the statement that Britain is cer- | {tain to lose; was in fact doomed | from the start, and that nothing America can do will possibly avert that doom. There is a vast dif-| ference between that and saying “Britain may lose.” Most of us agree that any nation en in war “may lose.” Only Lindbergh and | his followers agree that Germany | may not. | If there is any merit in the “isolationist” viewpoint, then jt is most {unfortunate that those who present it are so lacking in Skill and logic. Mrs. Levan, a Forum writer, pre|sents her case as well or better [than most, yet even she falls vie- | tim t% her own contradictions. After months of insistence that this’ war is of “economic” origin, and inferring that England was stifting Germany's trade outlets, she says in a recent letter that if Hitler wins | “we may be sure that it (trading) will be done as it has always been done-—if the buyer needs the goods badly enough, he'll come to terms with the seller.” If that is true, then why was it necessary for Germany to start an “economic” war? ” » - CONTENDS FACTS ARE 'ON LINDBERGH'S SIDE By B. C., Indianapolis

Much has been said recently con-

cerming Lindy, especially concerning | 3 his loyalty to the U. S. A, He has}

been termed anvthing from a Copperhead to an out and out traitor. Yet his predictions concerning the amazing strength of the German air force has been borne out hy the results thus far in this war. Lindyv's father, the congressman, was likewise branded because of his| unwillingness for the United States) to enter the last war, as he feared | the results and also knew the coun-| {try was unprepared. Today it is known that the AEF had to fight | with borrowed equipment when it | landed. | I do not question Lindy’s patriot ism as I see in his speeches a warns ing to us to stay out of the intrigues of Burope. Certainly, it is something we should consider very seri ously because in the Arst place it | Was these very same entangling in- | trigues that our forefathers.sought {to escape when they came to this country. | Of course, he said that England was doomed to defeat in any event, with this I cannot agree, but neither can I see where it should brand him a traitor or unpatriotic. If béing | patriotic means cheering the Union (Jack first, last and always, then I {am definitely unpatriotic because the red, white and blue ges all my cheers.

TO GRANDMOTHER

By JANE SIGLER

You gaze so often into starlit space, As if vou might be looking through the gates | |Of Heaven, and had glimpsed the smiling face Of someone there who beckons you and waits. You put a trembling hand behind your ear— Is it to catch the far sweet melody Of some angelic song, or do you hear The voice of One who said, “Come unto me”? Your lips move as in prayer. Do you ask Him | To guide you on your journey home, | to set |A beacon yonder that will not grow dim; And when departure is at hand, to let

| Tt be no more than if you were to go Down garden pathways when the sun is low?

DAILY THOUGHT We ought to obey God, rather than men.—jcts 5:39. OBEDIENCE decks the

v

»

| ocean free of challenge to our sheres.

Gen. Johnson Says—

Passage of Lease-Lend Bil Made

Convoys Necessary but Our People Were Not So Informed at the Time.

ASHINGTON, May 9.—<This question of convoys Wie essentially settled when the Lease-Lend Bill was passed in its particularly subtle form. It almost certainly meant convoys. Convoys almost cers tainly wean war. This was not made clear to our people. In fact ig obscured.

American defense and would us responsible for any world strategy to preserve the British Empire regardless of its effect on our defense. Just now we are about td reap ; the logical consequences of ' the bill in the form it passed, We are going to convey vegardless of its almost certain result of war. If that were a question of trying to insure delivery of the

| goods to the British Isles; I could not oppose it, be

cause I belleve that, contrary to my opinion, repre sentatives of the people in our democracy overwhelmsingly approved it. But I think they were not fully or frankly advised then and are not being fairly advised now, All the advocates of our immediate involvement in war now stress only what they call “the Battle of the Atlantic.” We are to convoy goods to the Britsh Isles to defend them from an invasion and as an advanced base for us in the Atlantic to keep thas Is that what we are about to do? ® =

HAT is what Secretary Stimson’s sincere and measured appeal for war says. But that is net what Secretary Anthony Eden .told the House of Commons. That is not what S>nator Pepper, told our Senate. Mr. Bden wants “United States war materials” to reach “the battlefields in Asia, Africa and Europe.” He said he “welcomed the immense step forward by the U. 8. A. in deciding to send ships to the Red Sea.” Senator Pepper wants us to “bottle up” the Jape anese navy and seize parts of Africa at the same time, He suggests that we could begin on Japan and with 5) American bombers “make a shambles, out of Tokio.” He vaguely hints that some of those bombers are on the way. What have these wrgings, whether of Eden or Pepe per, got to do with the defense of America in the Battle of the Atlantic? The only argument I ever heard was that if we entered naval warfare in the Atlantic, it would release additional British aircraft to battle in the Eastern Mediterranean. But how would that help us in the Atlantic? What would 1 do to our naval defense in the Pacific? It would, of course, give us a bigger danger. (mot lesser one) in the Atlantic. It would embark us in a “two-ocean war with a one-ocean navy,” and so impair our prese ent impregnable defensive position in the Pacific,

=

OW is that defending America’s ocean barriers? Of course it isn’t. It is buttering our meager resources too thin over the whole face of the globe, It may be true that this is because the British Empire in all the continents is already buttered too thin ta defend itself everywhere, but that is not our fault and it is not our obligation. It may be that the English should shorten their lines to increase their defense. That is their business—not ours. Neither is their failure to do so any reason for us to extend our lines beyond the limits of prudent defense, We seem to have assumed a responsibility for the British Isles and for aid to the British navy in the Atlantic Ocean. We did that solely on the arguement that it would defend us and assumed no oblie gation beyond that. But who is going to decide our part in this impending war--Winston Churchill for Britain or Franklin Roosevelt for the U. 8. A? That is the real question at this juncture and not all this name-calling and yamming over incidental issues.

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

N a recent magazine article the First Lady advoe cates a year's draft of young women for compule sory service, with the same wage and subsistence drafted men now receive, I doubt that this would be good for the girls, and the only results for the country might be to sink us a little deeper into debt,

It has been proved that mili= \

tary training conditions men. to work in unison toward a common aim-—and that aim is the creation of a powerful military machine: They learn to take and sometimes to give orders, but for this very reason often find it hard to ade Just themselves later to the fres ways of democracy. Sometimes they lose mental initiative. This is not surprising, for we know now much easier it is to obey commands than to think things through for ourselves. Alf compulsory service results in a mechanized national mind, and this sort of thing is definitely dangerous to the democratic ideal. 1 believe we should teach girls to be useful works ing members of their society, but surely Mrs, Roose velt is well aware that such movements are already under way. Seldom in our history have women been so alert to their responsibilities. Young, old and middle-aged they are moving like a surging tide into every place where they are needed. If we acted upon the advice of the President's wife, we could be sure of only one outcome—the .taxs payers would be saddled with another great financial burden. We reslize the lure of working in groups, It is sometimes the best way to get results. However, women’s most important work, if our homes survive, will always have to be dope individually instead of collectively. The rebellion against domestic life in the past has sprung mainly from its solitary nature, When tha dishes have to be washed, the housewife works alone in her kitchen. She may miss the excitement thas accompanies group effort, but the peculiar nature of her job requires individual initiative. I may be wrong, but I'm firmly convinced that anything designed to.cause women further to imitate men in their behavior and thinking will be detrimens tal to the nation’s welfare and to hoth feminine and masculine progress, 3 3

Bditor’s Note: The views expressed be ootumnists in this newspaper are their own, They are net necessarily those of The Indiananolis Times.

Questions and Antwers

(The indianapolis Timea Servies Bureas =i} answer ang. queation of fact or information, net invelving extensive ree. search. Write your guestions clearly, sign name and address, inclese a three-comt postage stamp. Medica) or legal advies cannot be given. Address The Times Washington Servies. Burean, 1012 Thirteenth St, Washingten, OD. C.). Q-~What happened to the camels which were ime ported into the United States in 1856 and 1857 for the use of the Army? A--Some were sold to circuses, some to individuals, and some were turned loose in the rough and‘ unine habited country of Arizona. a Q-—-Was Fred Lowery, the whistler with Horace Heidt's orchestra, born blind? ; A--No; he lost his sight when he was two years old, Q-—How many department stores are in the United States? \ A=The 100 estimate was 6790. Q-—What is a three-point landing of an airplane? A—A normal landing, when the two main wheels and tail wheel or skid touch the ground simultane.

Q—-How many words are in the 1890, 1900, 1910, Ain = ae 1 000; 300,000 in “19003 | 000; : 400,000 in 1940; and 530,000 in 1040. . :

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