Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 May 1941 — Page 14

PAGE 14

The Indianapolis Ti imes

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Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.

TUESDAY, MAY 20, 1941

STOP THAT SPIRAL

| REPORTS that President Roosevelt had. decided; a sign’ the Farm Loan Parity Bill caused another spurt in wheat, cotton and other major commodity prices yesterday. We hope the réports are untrue. Because, as the speculators correctly judge, if this bill becomes law it will shoot up the prices of staples on the commodity markets. That will increase retail prices—your cost of living. On the other, hand, a resounding veto of this bill would provide greatly needed evidence of the Administration's will to do something really effective to prevent a price-spiraling disaster. The cost of living—especially the cost of food—is already rising too fast. It isn’t yet out of hand, but certainly it needs no artificial stimulant. And that is just what this parity-loan boost would be. : : . The farm lobby argues that labor is being encouraged to demand higher wages and that, therefore, the farmers are entitled to demand higher prices. But the 85 per cent of parity Government loans made mandatory by this bill, plus the Government’s cash parity payments, plus the Government’s soil conservation payments, would give the farmers somewhat more than full parity prices for wheat, corn and cotton. And increased living costs would mean new demands from labor for still higher wages, and ‘then more demands from farmers for still higher prices, and so on.

We don’t believe a veto of increased parity loans would be unfair to agriculture. We know it would be fair to consumers, including millions whose wages have not been increased. And we know that a firm stand by the President is needed now to protect this country from another skyrocketing of prices such as the one that began in 1916 and ended with a crash in 1920. Efforts to control prices, after inflation gets under way, are uncertain at best. The time to stop a vicious spiral is before it starts.

HULL'S PEACE AIMS ; : SECRETARY HULL'S outline of peace aims is statesman- < ship at its best. It takes the public into the Administration’s confidence—which is the only way a democratic nation can achieve national unity. And it reveals that the Administration is thinking in basic economic terms. Realism inspires the post-war reconstruction program suggested by the Secretary of State: “1. Extreme nationalism must not be permitted to express itself i in excessive trade restrictions. “2. Nondiscrimination in international coh asrie) relations must be the rule, so that international trade may grow and prosper. + “3.. Raw material supplies must be available to all nations without discrimination. “y, International agreements regulating the supply of commodities must be so handled as to protect fully the interests of the consuming countries and. their people. “5. The institutions and arrangements of international finance must be so set up that they lend aid to the essential enterprises and the continuous development of all countries and permit the payment through processes of trade consonant with the welfare of all countries.” That is a far cry from the economic monstrosities of

the Versailles peace, which left Germany an easy prey for |

Hitler and his promises of revenge and conquest.

But it is even a farther cry from the Nazi: economic dictatorship which Hitler has imposed upon Europe, and which the Axis would impose upon the world. o 2 8 t J ” » SUCH world economic co-operation cannot be achieved, as Mr. Hull explains, “until we have a world free of immi- _ nent military danger, and clear of malign political intrigue.” ~The military and the political cannot be separated from the economic. - If Germany and Japan are denied equality ~~ of access to world raw materials, resources, and markets, no ~ peace treaties or disarmament pacts will make the world -safe from their warring aggression—that was the costly experience of the 20-year truce 1919-1939. ' And it works both ways: Britain and the United States will not submit tr, Axis economic: domination of the world. Not: only military peace is involved in rational economic reconstruction, but. also the political and individual free- ~~ doms which are‘the conditions of democracy. Hungry people are suckers for the demagogue and the dictator. : ' So Secretary Hull is a constructive realist when he talks peace in economic terms. The world has a right to assume that the United States—which controls a disproportionate share of the world’s natural resources and gold, and which has been one of the worst offenders in tariffs and trade barrigrs—will co-operate in fact, as he suggests. It would be very salutary, we think, if Prime Minister ~ Churchill, who has been so heroically frank in military matters, would now state that Britain agrees with’ Mr. Hull's peace aims.

JUST SKIMMING THE CREAM

Joun L. SULLIVAN, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, has submitted to Congress a plan for a larger revenue “take” from corporate excess profits. He says it is aimed primarily at the excessive profits that may be derived from the defense program. Although not pretending to understand the details of ‘Mr. Sullivan's scheme, we see nothing wrong with the general idea. : ~~ But let’s not deceive ourselves into believing that a rearmament boom is self-financing. The Government is committed to $40,000,000,000 of defense spending. Even we make an extravagant estimate that 10 per cent of s will be garnered ibprofits, and even if Congress passes a law recapturing the whole of that $4,000,000,000 profit, ormal income as well as excess, the Government still would ave to go somewhere else to get back the remaining $36,,000,000.. That “somewhere e” inescapably, i is from

Er Enough

By Westbrook Pegler

America Should Revise Her Opinion’

Of France Which Is Preparing. to Strike a Faithful Ally in EW YORK, May 20.—There is nothing to gain

and much to lose by pretending to believe that France has not joined the enemy or that it will be

possible, somehow, to resist that enemy without strik- |

ing ‘the - French people, * France, under ' Marshal Petain, is preparing to stab a brave and faithful ally in the back

with the same cowardly, treacherous timing that President Riose- |

velt, in one of his historic remarks, observed. in the disgraceful conduct of the Italian nation when France was down and bleeding. from a million wounds. This makes it necessary to revise the popular American attitude toward a selfish country, which, for years,

has shown the United States roth- |

ing but ingratitude and greed.

Whether the people of France,.

in their Heats, would prefer not to follow Petain

down that course which he. called the path of honor | and national interest, it is. futile to consider. The fact’ |

is and must be faced that they will follow him, ‘in chains and shame, into the camp of the man who started this World War, and: that every blow they

strike at Britain, whether in action or by facilitating |

Hitler’s war, is a blow at the United States. That - France would have done otherwise had the. United States sent food to the unoccu J seems a wishful and romantic argument. would have done exactly as Hitler, Petain, Dar

honor in these men who, for selfish, national terest, have turned against a noble and lo in a terrible hour. :

8 8 =

T=" is ‘great emphasis on the sufferings and sacrifices of the French people, but the truth is that they were largely responsible for their own disaster and moreover, were far inferior to the British in bravery and stamina. The British people have suffered much more with no thought of quitting, while France, as usual, has been flaunting her tatters and appealing for aid and pity but simultaneously conspiring to betray any friend, including the United States, for any advantage that might be in it. This is a dangerous situation and not the least of the dangers to the American people is the presence in this hospitable country of a great many French men and women who have arrived well-heeled, in-

stalled themselves in expensive New York hotels and |

prepared to sit out the war. Among them unquestionably are many individuals who will indorse Petaih’s pro-Nazi course and help to put his program through. : Rene de Chambrun is a French count who enjoys American citizenship of an honorary, kind, the son-in-law of the treacherous and cunning Pierre Laval, who is Hitler's chief agent in the affairs of France. De Chambrun was a soldier in the brief French war effort, but enjoys a cruising radius not permitted to ordinary Frenchmen, and it is obvious that the influence which enables: ‘him to commute between France, New York and Washington is that of the same evil power in his own country which now, has taken France into ‘the Axis.

2 8 8

HE comes and goes with special privilege, and it can be taken for granted that he does nct come here in the interests of the United States, but rather in the interests of a France which is now, to all intents and purposes, an ally or servant of the enemy. He has powerful friends here, and is a felative of Alice Roosevelt Longworth, but he is af Frenchman always, and is married to Josie Laval, the daughter of the arch-traitor. It is an alarming thoughty but the United States soon will have to face and act upon the necessity for establishing safe places of internment for civilian aliens, whether they are registered or not, whose sympathies lie with the enemy. Britain had to do this, and the United States will court the very dangers that Britain ha§ tried to avoid, if the same precaution is not. taken here. It would be very unpleasant, but in war you do not permit people to circulate freely who are devoted to the enemy’s cause, and are, by training and position, especially qualified to work treachery. Many Americans will be saddenkd by the necessity to regard Frenchmen as their enemies, but the decision wasn’t ours. France has chosen her course and,

in so’doing, has threatened the life of a nation and

a people whose affection for France and her people amounted to an infatuation.

Business | By John T. Flynn

Prof. Fisher Offers Unique Proposal; Tax on Spendings Instead of Savings

EW YORK, May 20.—One of the most extraordinary proposals made.to raise taxes for the defense -program has come from Prof. Irving Fisher of Yale University, who offered it to the House com-

mittee Siudying the subject. Prof. Fisher is a dis-'

tinguished: economist, known for his theory of the managed currency ‘based on the price index. Whatever one may think of this theory, it has beyond doubt heen an important contribution to the discussion of money theory in general. Perhaps I should recall that it was Prof. Fisher's theory of the managed -dollar which formed one of the bases of President Roosevelt’s dollar-devaluation program. Yet, despite Dr. Fisher's eminence,: the proposal he has made will set economists, particularly tax economists, hack on their heels. The proiessor urges Congress to tax spendings instead of savings. Our present tax laws—and tax laws almost everywhere—are rooted, at least in theory,

upon the very opposite principle.

There are several reasons for this. First of all, taxes diminish the purchasing power of those who are, taxed. And the country already—even in good times —suffers from a lack of adequate purchasing power.

The Government taxes the tax out of the pocket of |

the taxpayer and spends it on Government business. The loss of general social purchasing power is, therefore, not complete by any means. But the tax does sh the spending power of the taxpayer.

Therefore, as the great mass of people do not.

have - sufficient spending power to buy what they need, it is a good social policy not - to cut this ény more than is necessary.

‘8 # »

B: there is another reason. The society always has insufficient purchasing power to buy what it produces. taxes is a policy, therefore, open to question. : One of the chief values of savings is that, by going into: investment, they get spent and thus are returned to the stream of spending.. Savings which do

not go into investment become a deadening influence :

on the economic system. . This being so, what is our problem now in ‘the mate ter of taxes as it relates to savings? Are we confronted with a lack ‘of savings? Do we want. to have

the Government put its tax hands into the pocket. that. holds our spending money, in order not further.

to reduce the amount in the savings pocket? Ls The simple truth is that, while we have a lack of investment, it is not because we have a lack of savings. Savings have been on a large scale. They have been accumulating at a great rate. They are abundant—excessive, all things considered. The trouble lies in the fact that these savings do

: not flow into investment.

The proposal seems to me Tooustly unsound.

So They Say—

THE PUBLIC just didn’t appreeiate the situation George C. ‘Mar- |

-until Germany began to move.—Gen. shall, U.S. Chief of Staff. .

1 DENY that the ston of the United States is

To curtail that purchasing power by

‘THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES — Still Trying to Outsm: irt “the Machine

the Back ||

ANY

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ALE

Tw

TO

PROPERTY OF THE AXIS. ©

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

A CHEER FOR LINDBERGH AND MRS. FERGUSON By Mrs. Pearl Janis, Martinsville, Ind. Mrs. Irene McKinney wonders why the papers print Lindbergh's

‘| speeches and Mrs. Ferguson's col-

umn. I am proud to confess I am one of Mrs. Ferguson’s most ardent admirers and thankful, too, for the opportunity -of listening to Lindbergh on the radio. Perhaps Mrs. McKinney would appreciate Walter Winchell’s column of ‘divorces and blessed events more—or My Day.

2 ® ® CONTENDS HISTORY PROVES ENGLAND OUR ENEMY By Jasper Douglas, Indianapolis A small group of war mongers in control of press, radio and motion pictures are clamoring for war.

Convoys, as stated by the President, will mean war. It is the last step “short of war” and that last step is over the line. The President says, “The people must be aroused. That means that press and radio commentators are expected to lie in an effort to stir up hate until the shout for war drowns out the feeble cries of those who love - their fellow man and want peace for America. Suppose Hitler had declared war against the U, 8S. A. instead of against England. Would England have bled herself white to aid us? Ask history in which is recorded the fact that England has ‘been our enemy ever since we Zained our independence. Millions may be fooled now, but when it is all over and viewed in retrospect, those who are now shouting for convoys, even though it means war, will rank in history with Benedict Arnold, whose great crime was that he sold out our country to England. : 8 2 8 APPLAUDS EDITORIAL ON DEFENSE STRIKES By Samuel L. Bassett, 3950 College Ave. “We are doing Hitler's job for him.” A splendid editorial and ala strong statement of facts. It unfolds a situation that millions of people do not fully comprehend. I am sorry it cannot be read by every thinking person. in this. country. The paragraph pertaining to the future is timely. In my opinion Hitler, if successful, would not bombard these United States, but would, in time, institute a commercial war-

(Times readoars are invited to express iieir views in these columns religious con--troversies - excluded. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Letters must be signed.)

fare that might be ruinous to in-

dustry. He would ‘have wonderful resources at his command; could use them to great commercial advantage and save his powder. Hitler will bear watching in more ways than one. N 8 2 OFFERS A SOL! TION TO THE HESS MYSTERY By Claude Braddick., Kokomo, Ind.

Use your head, Mr. Flagstone. The mere fact that there are many angles to the Hes: incident need not confuse us for lon. We may discard them one by on: as utterly absurd and fantastic, until at length we arrive at the only ©: ue solution. By this proces: of reasoning, the Hess motive is clear and inescapable. He knew lis invincible airforce had been d¢livering knock-out blows against En:land for lo, these many months. ‘et England continued to stand. Hess went over to see what was hoi ling them up.

s ' 8 A TRAGIC PRO 'HECY ON OUTCOME (CF WAR By “A Prophet Without Honor,” Martinsville, Ind. ;

Any one who has the temerity to forecast the resul s of the war’s outcome will be considered a “Crackpot” by the vast majority of people; yet any.one who reads, listens and analyzes car. see trends that unmistakably show the weakness of the so-called democratic powers and where that weakness is lead-

ing. Risking ridicule this writer prophesies that the British are doomed to defea!, not because of a lack in courage but because their only friend othe: than their dominions, the Unit=j States, is hamstrung in its providing effective help to Britain because of confusion among the people and greed for wealth and power in both high and low places. With the Britis: Isles overrun by the Nazi hordes, the British King

and Queen wi kb: held as hostages

Side Glances — By Galbraith _

7 | ene wi sn

| "He'd get humpbacked

if he had to ¢

for the surrender of. that portion of the British Navy not sunk in battle. Then the rulers of Britain will move their government to Canada. Our own efforts here in the United States to arm against all Europe and Asia will be sabotaged by constant strikes, rapidly rising cost of living and a confusion of ideas in government and among the people much like the confusion of tongues in ancient Shinar. Hitler's Reich will then bring such an economic pressure against the United States that it will disintegrate from within, leaving the way wide open for Hitler’s military forces to occupy whatever porton of our homeland it cares to take over. Japan, as its share of the spoils, will get the entire Pacific. area up to the Sierra Nevada mountains. Senator Wheeler, because he is too ambitious a politician, will not be acceptable to Hitler as a nominal ruler over this country. Lindbergh, because of his lack of either political or military experience, will become the nominal ruler, taking orders direct from the real ruler: Hitler or his agent. Labor unions will be broken up, even as they were. broken Jp in Germany. Wages and salaries will be reduced to the lowest possible level.” Old age pensions, veterans’ pensions and all such social progress will be stopped, because all profits of business will be sent to nourish the huge military machine required by Hitler to keep down uprisings in conquered lands. Defeatism? Yes, this is grudging defeatism by one who. sorrowfully sees the handwriting on the wall.

8 #8 = CLASHES WITH CLAPPER ON FARM PRICES

By John Napler Dyer, McKe: F y Vincennes, ind. yen ey Tam

Raymond Clapper’s column in the May 17 Indianapolis Times relative to farm prices, shows a rather gross ignorance of national economy. ‘If we are to avoid inflation and deflation and repercussions and the terrible aftermath which came from 1917-1021 prices it can only be done by maintaining prices for raw material products at parity with industrial prices:.and it must be done with the same kind of price controlling machinery: which was able to hold steel rails at $36 per ton for 20 years. : Do you know that the present price rise for agriculture is merely giving the farmer 85 per cent of the cost of producing the.crops affected by the new prices? «It will take another 15 per cent price rise to give him actual production cost. Do you know that the only periods of real prosperity we ‘have had in this country, when everybody was prosperous, including the farmers, have been those years

for agricultural commodities to support the buying power of the 44 per cent of the people who constitute

: |the ‘agricultural group?

These present price rises are not political. They are économic adjustments to equalize the wage increases and must be attained if we are to finance the war, and these prices must be continued if we are to weather the economic aftermaih when peace comes.

PRAYER FOR FREEDOM

By HAZEL LA VONE STANLEY Our Father free us from weak slavery to sin: And help us win that precious victory within,

To help us be the willing slaves of right

truth and And walk with Christ ‘those paths of freedom and of light— Those paths of beauty, love, and true humility, Beginning now a sure and blessed Eternity.

DAILY THOUGHT

Better is .a dinner of herbs where love ‘is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith — Proverbs 15:17.

TO LOVE is to k

the sacri-

when we had sustained high prices.

TUESDAY, MAY 20, 19

[Gon Johnson

Says—

Oklahoma a Lesson in Americanismg By Hard Work Her Poverty Stricken . Pioneers ‘Created a Great State-

Ls, Okla., May 20.—This trip from Washinge ton to my home state of Oklahoma, and Tulsa, its most beautiful city, was made to speak at a ceremony conducted all over the United States at the request of the Congress and the President to induct into their new status all those who, either through ! neturajization or, if native born, ough reach= ing the age of 21, have become ene ‘titled to all the rights—and the obligations—of citizenship. : The celebration here was: fog only one county, but it was ate tended by. thousands to witness the consecration of more ‘than a thousand new ‘fuli-tledged citizens, It is ,a most impressive thing, ‘and, as I believe, a very necessary thing. The tendency of late has ¥ been to take our national heritage too much for granted—to stress the privileges of citi zenship far more than its duties, burdens and obliga= tions—to press the terrible error that people should: rely on Government. rather than the demonstrable fact that the reverse is the truth—that any govern ment depends soiely on the strength, self-reliance and support of its people. In short, as blunt Grover Cleve land said: “It is the function of people to support Government; nop of Government to support people.” ® ” ” z ! ’ KLAHOMA was a good place to watch this new celebration. It is the last state of the old and true pioneer tradition. Having with my own eyes seen it grow in comparatively a remarkable short space of

| time from a sparsely populated savagery to such

robust economic and cultural strength and beauty, it is difficult to forget that most of this was done by & people who came here busted—empty handed—and did most of this typically American job at streamlined modern speed, with precious little help from anybody but themselves, or any strength except that which resided in their own courage and self-reliance. Here where these events are so recent in time that: almost everybody is aware of them, these principles may be more clearly seen and believed than in olden communities which all also celebrated this. day. But they shouldn’t be forgotten anywhere or fail to he

| impressed on this new _¢rop of citizenry.

It may be an indefinite, intangible thing but it is the foundation principle of this democracy. It is the thing that made out of a savage virgin continent in so short a time so great and strong a nation. If it is ever forgotten, we have Bothing to Yeplace it and our. strength will be gone. » » T may Be that in other oterids, which never really knew truly democratic institutions, a strong society can be built and maintained on the reverse theory of man’s dependence on the: state. It could never be done here because man can’t ‘become wholly dependent on the state without becoming wholly enslaved to the state. Our people have been so indoctrinated over many generations with a horror of any suchsubservience that the change with us would be sitply impossible. ‘I like everything about this occasion except its slo= gan: “I Am An American.” The average American, with all his faults and virtues, is and ought to be so. characteristic of the principles here discussed that it - should be no more necessary for him to go around saying, “I am an American” than for a proud stallion to continue to proclaim “I am a horse.” - Who is the: slogan intended to convince—alien hearers or the citi zen himself? It is a little ridiculous. Americanism resides in principles, precepts and training that ‘we take with our mother’s milk. It isn’t any more likely to be improved by this constant sloganeering than Chinese culture was advanced by & similar repetition in Confucian schools, ;

A Woman's Viewed By Mrs. Walter Ferguson 1

HAT is the future of our peace groups? That is an ever-recurring question, My answer would be, “Splendid.” "While many members are mentally muddled, there can be no possible doubt as to issues. There are still two ways of doing business on earth—the peaceful, sensible way and the warring, senseless ways We have already chosen sides. we And no matter if every nation under the wide heavens engages finally in a titanic struggle, no . matter if our own country goes all out in the war effort, even while we co-operate in that effort, we shall still understand that a uni- ' verse committed to hatred and strife is on the wrong track. Therefore we must believe that, ultimately, humanity will Shanes its thinking on the question. Are you still for peace, people now ask me. It's like asking a doctor if he still believes in healthful living while he sees a deadly epidemic attack the population. It’s like asking the Christian if he still believes in the philosophy of Jesus, even though his own society repudiates .it. It's like asking a mother if she-still loves her child, when his’ feet may be move ing toward the gallows. Now, more than: ever, it-has been:proved that wag preparations always lead to world-wide woe. If Gers many had not been allowed to rearm, this catastrophiq disaster might. not have overtaken us. And, it seems to me; it has never been so necessary for peace groups to be encouraged. : Calling thems: traitors is an act of treason, for, in the long run, they will hold in their hands and hearts the seeds of ‘the new civilization which will come into being after thig devastation is ended. Peaceful people are always the best fighters when the need for fighting arises. The nation that supe presses its pacific elements destroys the germ of ity own salvation. Every honest person is aware that the real test of national strength comes, not while the fighting goes on, but after it is over. When such a moment arrives, the country possessing the most able peacemakers will be the gne. to lead humanity out of this wilder< ness. Our hands may be busy with -War work, but ous hearts must bet upon future peace or we are lost ine deed. . Therefore, cracking down.on peace: groups now seems to be a blunder of the first magnitude, for the shape of things to come is always fashioned by what men do between wars. The words of Jesus have never been more beauties ful or potent than today—"Blesseq are the peaces makers.” Editor's Note: The views expressed by columnists in this newspaper are their own. They are not necessarily those of The Indianapolis Times. : . '

Questions and Answers

(The Indianapolis Times Service Bureau will answer any | * question of fact or information, not involving extensive cee | .search. Write your guestions clearly, sign uname and address, | tnclose a three-cent postage stamp. Medical or legal advice cannot be given. Address The Times Washington Service Bureau, 1018 Thirteenth St., Washington, D. C.).

Q—Is there a time limit within whith a proposed amendment to the Constitution must be ratified by,

the States? tes Supreme Court has held reasonabl

A—The United. that Poe Tu ratification “must be within a ble related to The

time.” This ruling was made in 1921 and amendments proposed in 1789, 1810 fo, 1861, Court held that none of these were pending. Howe ever, the Child Labor amendment, proposed in 1924, ig still pending and has been ratified by 28 states, ‘Q—How can I get a copy of the Citizenship Manua} that is distributed by the D. A. R.? A—Write to The Daughters of the American Revoe lution," Memorial Continental Hall, Washington, D. C,, and ask for a ‘copy of their manual. It is available fe to aliem who wish to ‘become citizens. of this coun! : Q-Is Oscar Levant married?