Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 12 May 1941 — Page 8
PAGE 8
The Indianapolis Times
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MONDAY, MAY 12, 1941
HOOVER ON THE WAR DANGER
IKE the overwhelming majority of Americans this newspaper favors maximum aid to Britain short of war, as pledged by both parties and candidates in the recent Presidential election. Therefore we welcome the reply made by Herbert Hoover last night to the minority or citizens and officials who think we are in the war already and that we should set the Navy to shooting. Speaking as a former President, Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, and member of the war council in the last war, and as one who hates totalitarianism, Mr. Hoover clearly and fairly states his position: “That I support provision of the maximum tools of war to Britain; that I am convinced we can give this maximum during her next critical months only if we keep out of this war; that putting our Navy into action is joining the war; that the whole European war situation is in transformation; that America is as vet unprepared even for adequate defense; that our people are not united.” All signs indicate this is the majority view of the ecitizens in this democracy. Nevertheless the minority war faction has an equal right to its view, and a right to a democratic determination of the question by Congress as provided in the Constitution. However much the equally sincere war and peace groups may disagree on everything else, they can agree at least on the necessity of a united people if the United States goes to war. That unity—without which France and others have been destroyed—cannot be achieved by pushing or tricking the people into war. Unity can be won only by public debate based on full facts, with frank Presidential leadership, and final decision by Congress. The nation will stand by such a decision.
THE “LITTLE FELLOW”
TINDER present law, a married man with no dependents, having an income of $2500, pays a Federal income tax of 211. Under the Treasury's new revenue proposal, he would | pay $72. Demogogues cry this tax “soaks the little fellow.” But just how “little” is a man drawing $2500 a year? The Gov- | ernment’s latest statistics show that 87 per cent of Ameri- | can families live on an annual income of less than $2500. In | fact, more than half of America’s families live on less than |
half that figure.
It's hard to khow where to draw the line between the “little” and the “big” fellow. But certainly anyone who | belongs, economically speaking, to the upper 13 per cent, | should consider that he is a big enough fellow to contribute $72 to his Government at such a time as this. Seventy-two dollars won't go far. But it will buy three 75-millimeter shells. Or it will provide 71 days pay and | rations for one drafted soldier who draws $21 a month and | ie fed at a cost of 32 cents a day—and who, incidentally, | really is a “little fellow” and making a real sacrifice for his
country,
| { | 1 1
NOT GOOD NEIGHBORLY
“WICE recently movies from Hollywood have aroused | anger in Latin American countries. A picture called | “Argentine Nights” was banned at Buenos Aires after demonstrations in a theater against what was taken to be ridicule of Argentine types and customs. A film called “Mige Central America” stirred angry protests in El Salvador because it had that Republic's capital, the city of | San Salvador, confused with the island of San Salvador in the Caribbean. | We believe the moving picture industry sincerely wants to contribute to better relations with the people of Central and South America. It ought to get sound technical advice when making films about them, or for them. Sending them pictures that betray ignorance of their wavs—and even their geography—and indifference to their feelings is a mighty poor method of trying to make friends.
OF F-SIDE NE of the serious problems of the “quarterback” —as: President Roosevelt has so aptly described himself—is | to keep his team from getting off-side, his subs from standing on their heads in the middle of a game, and his waterboys from calling signals, Here are some of the antics of the last few days, which | doubtless have given the hard-pressed quarterback a head- | ache: Senator Pepper, who has a reputation at home and abroad as a Presidential trial-balloonist, proposes that the | United States seize territories of France, Spain and Portugal and that American aviators bomb Tokyo into a shambles. Of course as an individual the Senator has a right to favor such aggression against countries with which this nation is | at peace. But, because of the dangerously embarrassing reactions | abroad to this alleged Presidential spokesman, Secretary of State Hull has had to disavow such a terrorist policy. Capt. James Roosevelt, officially a Marine Corps obgerver and reputedly a Presidential agent in the Far East and the Near East, announces in Cairo that the United | States “except for sending troops, already is in the war” | Even the usually proper Secretary of War Stimson, | after confessing that the Army is not prepared for war and | will not be for a year at best, barges over into the provinces | of the Secretary of Navy and Secretary of State in propos- | ing a naval wan The sooner the President, the Secretary of State, and the chairmen of the responsible Congressional committees are left ta declare Administration policy the safer for all concerned. :
Boe Bee So A MRE
Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler
Statue of Huey Leng in Capitel An Insult te All Good Citizens Who Remember His Evil Career.
EW YORK, May 12—TIt is futile; of course, to ropose that the statue of Huey Long, recently unveiled in the Capitol in Washington, be hurled down and smashed in solemn public ceremonies, as it should be. But every conscientious citizen who m recalls the facts of Huey’s evil career will regret that the Senate lacked the character and citizenship to prevent the dedication of this insult to the whole people of the United States and to the Senate in particular.
A small delegation of Senators |
attended the rites, including the two present members from Louisiana, one of whom obtained his seat by fraud, the other as dangerous a foe to all the rights of Americans as Adolf Hitler himself. John H. Overton was elected by Huey's crooked machine by a process which a Senate committee denounced as fraud and a vicious and abhorrent political practice. He would have been thrown out if the Senate at that time had net lived in fear of the dictator. Although fraud was found, no Senator had the courage to follow up the rt with an insistent demand for Overton's removal, and he remained te mock by his very presence not merely the dignity of the Senate but the security of the people. 8 FF - 8
HE other Louisiana Senator who attended the political obscenities that recent day when Huey Long in stone was set up to leer at the body which quailed before him was Allen J. Ellender. Senator Ellender is as guilty as Huey was of every offense by Huey against the liberties of the citizen and the security of the American form of government. He was equaily guilty, and the only difference between him and Huey was that Ellender lacked Huey's initiative in perfidy and ruthlessness. He was a political straw-boss for the dictator who sat in the lower house of the Legislature during Huey's special sessions which wrote away the freedom of Louisiana's people and executed orders from Huey in plain sight of all present. He was a guilty party to every legislative and political atrocity of the corrupt Dong dictatorship, and he and Overton were guilty of a grave offense agianst the character of the Federal courts in causing the appointment of Gaston Porterie, who had been Long's attorney general, to a seat in the district court in Louisiana. Many of Huey’s subordinate thieves
sent or sentenced to prison, but the two Senators,
Overton and Ellender, and Judge Porterie, who all | ran with Huey as Goebbels, Goering and Streicher | ran with Hitler, continue to hold important office |
under the national government. Overton still could be thrown out of the Senate on the basis of the evidence obtained and the report made by the committee which investigated his election. Ellender's election was not investigated, so probably there is nothing that could be done to eliminate him, even if the Senate had the will and conscience to do so. As to Porterie’s legal right to a place on the bench, there is probably no question, but his elevation was a shocking example of the abuse of Senatorial courtesy. rg 8 8
N his case two active members of a machine so vicious that Senator Connally of Texas, the chairman of the investigating committee, said experts in machine politics elsewhere could take lessons in Louisiana, were allowed to place on the Federal bench a third member of the band no better than themselves. Incidentally, although Senator Connally’s words were bold in that report and in his oral comments
| on the floor, he did not act on his discoveries or his
principles. He ducked the wrath of Huey Loong by presenting the facts and saying, “They are here, and if anybody wants to file a resolution to oust any Senator those facts are available for that action.” Huey Long had a sound trpck in those days and a way with the rabble, and lines. There has been too much sentimentalism about Huey, and too many public men and writers have condoned his brutal conquest of a state on the ground that he was clever and, when it pleased him, a wag. That only made him the more dangerous,
Business
By John T. Flynn
Fear of Making War Unpepular May Bar Real Price Control Effort.
EW YORK, May 12 One of the obstacles in the way of dealing with prices is that there are two conflicting objectives in the Government's mind. One is to prevent inflation. The other is to make the war popular.
To prevent inflation it is neces- |
sary to take drastic steps about prices, including drastic taxes and drastic controls on profits and on costs of production. This means measures against wage increases as well as materials costs.
But the Government cannot act thus against inflationary forces without stepping on many toes, ut hurting taxpavers, You can't stop a producer from increasing prices unless you also stop the rise of wages of his workers. Checking prices means also measures against farmers. Therefore, if rational measures are taken to check prices the Government will find itself in conflict with farmers, workers and taxpayers. But the Government does not want to come into collision with these numerous groups, and to de so will be to create dissatisfaction with the war against Germany which the Government is carrying on as vigorously as it dares. The American citizen has a rather bad notion of war because of the experience of the last one. The truth is that the Americans memory of the war is not so much one of horror as is generally supposed. The last war was really a picnic while it lasted.
Had it lasted another year, the bright side of its |
prosperity would have vanished. And so a good many people would like to be permitted to enjoy the side of this war. like the war. »
® ®
AS vet carrying on the war effort wisely requires cracking down on the pichic features of war— |
high wages, high profits and moderate taxes. So, with a very politically-minded Government, voy are
not likely to get real action about prices. The Gov: | ernment substitutes instead a lot of talk, and the | price dictator inevitably becomes a man of words in-
stead of deeds
Meantime the prices start moving upward. You
could have bought lard on the commodity exchanges in January for 51: cents a pound. It costs nearly 8 cents todav—an increase of about 55 per cent. Some other price increases, in percentages, are sugar, 21 per cent; coffee, 40 per cent; rubber, 18 per cent, ang so on. Some of these prices are due to eircumstances not easy to control, as for instance pepper, which has gone up 62 per cent. But the whole em is tre mendously complicated, and one of i atures—as with many other ) delay dealing with it the more complicated it becomes. The failure to put a ceiling on prices, and then deal immediately with all the exceptional cases, was a fatal ervor. Businessmen who complain at price control as a bad thing in a capitalist economy are right, but this capitalist economy is not now in a hormal state.
So They Say—
PROBABLY in 8 college. to a greater extent than anywhere else, one is likely to fall into the tragie fallacy that everybody can understand everything if he wants to.~Christopher Morley.
THE WORLD does wot : and violence, en ht haved Drugs, 3M hse,
THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
and con- | spirators against the state and nation have been |
@ did not respect state |
You can’t raise taxes with |
fenie | If they do not, they just will not |
lems—is that the longer you |
a yf 5 a aa . s
MONDAY, MAY 12, 1941
Ts There a Doctor in the H use?
1 wholly disagree with what you say,
The Hoosier Forum
defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.
but will
SONS IN ARMY, SPOILS HER MOTHER'S DAY By a Mother, Morgantown, Ind. Mother's Day and what does it mean to us! And our boys gone {from us, herded as so many cattle. Look through the herd and you won't find ene Roosevelt. We know about this Captain stuff. Bah! I'll bet there's one mother has nol clear illustration of that lack of
worry. All right, what's the Presi: ynderstanding, and gives no indica« dent going to do with all these! mothers, old white-headed mothers,
(Times readers are invited to express their in these columns, religious con: troversies excluded. Make your letters short, so all can
views
have a chance. Letters must be signed.)
tion that he has the wisdom to that can’t stand it? | point out the real truth as it exists Who's saying send them? Why, today by reason of the ruthless acts|
| someone Sia dent have to g0 and of the aggressors in this war, and as! are cowards! v, mothers are|, . TE . | ‘not afraid. Give us something pe- | this a Sgresyan applies to and af< sides flimsy promises to lean on and fects the United States. To conclude a poliev of isolation
(we'll help. : in the present situation is a negation of both wisdom and common sense, and to fly, head-on, inte the VIOLATES WISDOM facts of history and the experience {and the aspirations of the human
By JTohn F. White, 525 Sutherland Ave. After a plea for unity based on a|race for a free and equitably ad-
. . ; | justed social life. policy of isolation for the United “ooo ccoice of this quotation is
States, in an address in St. Louis jis false assumption—its mythical under the auspices of the America conception. It is not only contrary First Committee, Mr. Charles A to the facts, though expressive of
i a sentiment that is loaded with SH is quoted as saying these iausible appeal, but is, neverthe=| words:
less, highly misieading, if not sin-| “It is only when we are told that ister, in its implications. It shows our destiny lies in Europe, in Asia, 3 Qikpesiten on the part of Mr, ; ndbergh to run away from certain | Ber od, pepe or ely and tragie situations, not from |
Before commenting on the above | lack of courage, likely, but from | quotation I want to express a belief either a lack of capacity to evalue| in Mr. Lindbergh's sincerity and his principles, or shows a disposition to integrity of character. This esteem COMPromise with despotic powers | | does not grow out of the reputation for the sake of peace at any price. | ‘gained by the courageous exploit of | It is rather significant, in this flying over the Atlantic for the first connection, to note that he has
tie—a feat that is now a commeons= Never criticized either Hitler or his,
‘place in aviation. methods, nor in indicating that he |" What I admired him for in that disbelieves in the ideology around) lachievement was his simple modesty, Which Hitler is building his power | ‘and that in the face of the tre- as a challenge to democracy. 'mendous wave of emotional acclaim! No one, to my knowledge, is now | [that made him a popular hero, he Or ever has been declaring that the | steadfastly refused to capitalize destiny of this nation rests in the | that popularity for his personal nations of Europe, nor in any one gain, of these nations. No one is deny- | And, again, his judgment as a ing that the destiny of this nation close observer and an expert avia- is resting anywhere else than in| tionist, in evaluating the relative the United States. Bu‘ this it nét [strength in military equipment of to deny that this desiny is very |the nations of Europe, his eonclu= definitely and vitally irjvolved with | sions were entitled to a considera- other people and other nations of ‘tion, had it been given rational the world who are fighting for their | heed, that might have had a bene- freedom, and are bound to us by ties | ficial influence in changing the of a common prineiple. [course of war events in Europe. | Democracy is not a craven spirit. | But giving Lindbergh these credits It springs inte action wherever is not te endow him with that threatened. It is the noblest aspir- | power of analysis essential to clear ation seeking expression by human | understandings, nor the wisdom beings, and has fought all through and the vision to point out the truth the centuries to establish itself in (and lead the way to rational eon=| human institutions. jelusions. The above quotation is a, When a nation acquires this free-
Side Glances = By Galbraith
‘® ” CONTENDS ISOLATIONISM
|
| |
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[3 ve b i 8
7 wi N 4 » 3 4] bf SEER IBEL BY NEA SEE I LO MER S TAL DE
“How can | tell my kind-Jjearted aunt that she's wonderful and | need new school supplies and that my father's turned
Ra VN RN nS Say 3 J Bri Beg
a
dom, to then play the part of renegade in refusing te help other people hard pressed to preserve their free institutions, is to yield te the lowest and most degrading of human instincts. Teo grovel at the feet of king or dictator is not the part that democracy plays in the world of human affairs. Whenever this has been done in its name has been only to reap the bitter fruits ef coercion and a disillusionment that came too late.
Democracy has always fought for its
right to live, and in a world of realities and action it will continue to do so in order to save its soul. y & @ CHARGES "LITTLE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN INTIMIDATED By R. G. L., East Chicago, Ind.
A war hysteria now engulfs the
grass roots and spouts to the skies. The little islands of sanity here and
there have the greatest difficulty to
remain free-breathing and unsubmerged above the hysteria. Little
wonder Britain can now frankly say U. B. will be in the war soon. As
Hitler would say, we are ripe for Britain's plucking, now that we can no longer be simply pro-American without at the same time being held pro-Nagi.
Why are there so few sane voices . One reason is that we little people have been intimidated. We have been teld and had it rubbed in that our leaders like the President and those around him know the situation more accurately than we can be told, and their judgment is infallible. All the university profs and experts clamoring for war so loudly intimidate us too. They are
brainy people and their judgment | Who are we poor |
too is infallible, dumb ignorant yokels to question their judgment? We little people in this democ-
racy are now made to forget that! we have a responsibility for dig-|! ging up facts, rejecting propaganda |
and coming to our own conclusions. Every hod«carrier and every cook has that same responsibility-—to do his own think ng and help run the country. It’s luis and her country, And not only do we have the right to question the judgment of the leaders—we have that responsibility. But we've been letting "George do it” for so many years now, we even let him do our headwork. Now we penalize those few who do “roll their own.” There is no better case in point than the approval given the executive in excoriating Mr, Lindbergh. This group tells us Lindbergh can't know anything about foreign affairs =that the Administration is the only competent agency to render judgment, and shame on Lindbergh for not accepting the Administration's viewpeint. One writer to the Forum has called the Lindbergh matter a farce. It is a strange humor indeed which can mistake irony and tragedy for farce. The latest Lindbergh incident merely proves what a lot of us little people have known for a long time=that the freedom of
|speech guaranteed in the Consti-
tution, that freedom of speech we're supposedly going to make the world free for is an illusion, It was proved so by the very man who would proclaim it and spill American blood for it in the rest of the world. . .
INTERPRETER By VERNE MOORE
Grows numb and cold-— When odor and touch, Tongue, ear and eye, Earth, fire and air, Water and sky Cease to engage the clay I know A new interpreter, supplanting thought, Will sweep across the dim, blue mists And penetrate the bosom Of the Great Unknown.
DAILY THOUGHT
Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly a i commandments —Psalms
all in 10 words?"
and biplanes have two sets of
Gen. Johnson Says—
With so Many Crackpot Schemes
Available We Should Be Spared Any Fresh Ideas From Mr. Keynes.
T is not hard to agree with William Guggenheim that the English economist John Maynard Keynes is no American bargain and that his new visit over here is to tell us how to do it is a second dose of economic emetiés which is not welcome. He is the guy who is reputed to have sold President Roosevelt -the idea thal spending for leaf-raking was the way out of our depression. His advice has been an evil genius so far as we are concerned, His record to us-ward is much longer than that. He was advocating in Paris in 1019, the forgiveness by us of the Allied debt while the borrowing still continued. One credit that must be givem him was support at Versailles of the American position and, by the way, of that of Winston Churchill
that the war burden on Germany must not be 50
heavy as to attempt to enslave that people. He was there, as I recall, representing the British Treasury and that pesition—the American position— at least, as the event has proved, was sound. But he didn’t support that position. Jie went home in a huff and wrote a book on the economic consequence. He abandoned the negotiations when his help might have been of use to offset the foolishness of Lloyd George and Lord Cunliffe who had promised for political purposes to “hang the Kaiser and ‘make Germany pay for the war.”
» = »
8 the debate in the House of Commons on Win= ston Churchill's vote of confidence. clearly showed, Britain is already gettirg ready to hang the blame on us for any disaster to the anti-Axis powers =or I should say power. Mr, Lloyd George observed that, while Britain is spending 50 per cent of her national income, we are not burdening ourselves nearly so much. Both British and Canadian press are laying the ground to reproach Uncle Sam in case they get licked. One of the great and unfulfilled necessities of this time is a careful official analysis of the relative burden of the cost of government as between this and other countries. Mr, Lloyd George doesn’t seem ta realize that, whereas his Government has one taxing authority, we have many. Some private studies, necessarily incomplete, show that the total tax burden— hidden and open taxes—in this and other countries is not unduly light here. God save us from any more suggestions of Mr, John Maynard Keynes. God help us to run our own serious business with due regard to our own serious problem. oh No observer of the present Washington scene doubts that it is a positive bedlam of crack-pot theor= ism with no respectable executive direction whatever, Take the confleting tax theories emanating from dif= ferent departments of government alone. The right hand seems not to know what the left hand doeth.
N that confusion one single guiding voice woul help, but must it come from any Englishman when the natural tendency of the whole race is for us to put our own interest, our own country, our own future behind theirs in the present crisis? There is toq much talk, and it is unavoidably reflected immedi= ately in London, that we are not doing our part. Take the suggestions that we use our taxing power, not for revenue, but to deprive our people of automo« tive transport by a 20 per cent tax or flat $100 im post on the purchase of an automobile—even a used car. Confessedly that is not taxation for revenue. It is taxation to prevent the use of automobiles. Why, this country is geared to automotive transport. Our whole economy and our balance between urban and rural life was remade by making cheap automobiles available to the poor. This kind of tax won't affect: the rich, who pay thousands of dollars for a car, but think what $100 added to the cost of a flivver or a used car will do to the Joad family and thousands of others in better cases. For the sake of human justice and some regard for the American people isn't there some voice to talk American, or do we have to go to Britain to imper John Maynard Keynes? "A
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A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson
N her newspaper column, Miss Dorothy Thompson has frequently accused Charles A, Lindbergh of being pro-Nazi. But in an address before 2500 people at Tulsa, Okla, she said: “Charles Lindbergh is a Nazi,” People who make such charges ought to ba compelled to prove them. A good many Americans would like Miss Thompson to give the evidence for her accusations against one who a short time ago was a hero to our sons. Her platform reasoning in Tulsa seemed weak indeed. She told us she had arrived at the conclusion because Lindbergh called his first book “We.” “And who,” demanded Dorothy, “was the other personality ome bodied in that title? A fying machine! Isn't this sufficient proof that Lindbergh is a worshipper of machines, and the machine worshipper has a Nazi mind.” 3 Perhaps the quotatign isn't word for word exact, but 2500 listeners will agree that the meaning was the same. Of course, no sane person will accept such logic. Even those who are greally moved by emo= tion must question so silly a verdict, : There's one thing to be said for Charles Lindbergh, whether you hate or love him. He has been re< markable for his consistency, and that is a virtue lacking in much of our leadership. . He may be wrong, but the person who has studied his speeches and writings must be aware of cares fully thought out conclusions. He has never given the impression that he was moved by personal hatreds, oy. anger or by fear, . He has spoken firmly, courageously rand. withous emotion, apology or quibbling. I believe he is sine; cere in his convictions, He wants us to stay out of Europe's troubles and build our own defenses, Ha thinks this war is not: different from other wars; although we are told by others that it is an Armae: geddon. (How familiar that sounds!) I am not qualified to pass judgment on Col Linde bergh's atiitude but I do admire his consistency; quits as much as I dislike the hysteria which Dorothy Thompson substitutes for thinking and reasoning in her orations. .
Editor's Notet The views expressed by eolumnists (mn this newspaper are their own. They are mot necessarily these * of The Indianapolis Times
Questions and Answers.
(The indiasapeils Dimes Service Burean will anawe: say question of fact or information, not involving extensive tee search. Write your questions cloarly, sign name and address, inclose a three-ceni postage stamp. Medical or legal advices
cannot be given. Address Ihe Times Washingten Service Bureau. 1013 Thirteenth Si, Washington 0. C.). :
Q—What is the production objective of the aire craft industry? A—~The present program calls for 36,000 to 37,000. airplanes by the middle of 1042, ranging from huge, four-engined bombers to trainers. About 21,000 are for the U, 8. military forces and the remainder for" Britain and Canada. ; . Q-—How many U, 8. postage stamps were sold las§, ?
A—In the fiscal year ended June 30, 1940, a total of 16,381,427,207 adhesive stamps were issued to posts. masters in the United States, These were valued at $466,083,304.68, excluding 60,166,750 special delivery stamps. : ; ae hat i the difference between a monoplans a ) & ON A with one set of wings are monoplanes - wings, above the
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