Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 28 May 1941 — Page 14

' PAGE 14

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. WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 1941

THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS.

IV calling the people to all-out preparedness for defense the President has made the one appeal that can unite this mation. Interventionists, non-interventionists, and the undecided, all demand that we arm—quickly, fully.

~The President left unspoken the words of undeclared war urged upon him by the hysterical. For, however strongly the President shares their hatred of aggression and fears its menace to this hemisphere, as Commander-in-Chief he knows that this nation is unprepared and that the unprepared face defeat. = : ne-ocean navy ‘cannot and the Far Pacific at the same time effectively. And we are without major air strength because it has been netessary to send our production to friends in Europe, Africa and Asia. hr Therefore our role by netessity, as well as by choice, has been that of “the arsenal of democracy.” And that is our only possible effective role for many months to come.

If we went into a shooting war soon—which God forbid ~there would not be more weapons; we would hdve to cut off the supplies to Britain and China to arm ourselves. And the American public would see that its boys were armed first, regardless of the consequence to any allies. : 8 8 = : » SIDE from his reiteration that the Axis is a menace to the world, and that we would be endangered by Axis

control of island bases across the Atlantic, he hinted three

ew moves:

1. That he would act if Hitler tried to take over the Azores, the Cape Verde Islands or Dakar.

2. That he would take “all additional measures neces-

gary to deliver the goods” to Britain, and to reassert “free- |

dom of the seas,” : 3. That he would speed defense under his new emergency proclamation. ? 8 : Comment on these is restricted by the President’s _vagueness as to ways and means. X

© As to the first, we hope he would not attack bases - across the Atlantic without Congressional authority.

: We do nat know what more the President could do to assure delivery of British supplies; except Neutrality Act repeal, which he does not mention, or convoys, which he indicates are not the answer, or the patrol already operating —nothing, that is, except ordering the Navy to fire on Ger“man ships or planes. - % = = 88” S to the new proclamation, we don’t know the difference between an “unlimited” emergency and the kind he declared in September, 1939. Whatever he has refrained from doing under the old proclamation and the Lend-Lease Law has not been for lack of power. His power has been virtually unlimited—about the only exception being the constitutional reservation that Congress alone.can declare war. ie In any event, the entire country can agree that the sooner the President uses his vast powers to speed defense production the safer and more united this nation will be. For a long time the country has been waiting for him to put that program into high gear, and to crack down on all obstructionists—whether leaders of capital or leaders of labor, bureaucrats or military brass-hats. ‘SN When the President actually does crack down, when the President under his unlimited emergency powers takes . decisive steps that really prevent stoppages in defense production, that action will be more eloquent than all his words

of last night. :

THE VANSITTART MYSTERY -

THE HESS mystery is much more exciting to the public,

put the case of Sir Robert Vansittart is hardly less interesting to world capitals—including Berlin. Those who never heard of Sir Robert will not be much impressed to learn that his “case” consists of nothing more dramatic than the announcement that he is retiring at the age of 60. But just as the world scans the Hess theatrical dis“appearance from Germany as a clue to Hitler's mind, so diplomats study Vansittart’s orthodox “disappearance” from the British Foreign Office for an indication of Churchill’s next policy. ; Far-fetched as such a comparison may seem, it is a fact that Hess had little or no influence on German foreign policy and that Sir Robert has -had more influence on British foreign policy than any man alive. : When he refused to swing to a pro-Hitler policy, the - Chamberlain-Halifax powers early in 1938 kicked him out— or rather, since they could not afford a scene, they kicked him upstairs to a new and harmless title of “chief diplomatic adviser.” But since the fall of Chamberlain he has been a potent leader in foreign policy, and particularly in anti-German as well as anti-Nazi policy. When his policy was attacked in Commons, Churchill defended it. Diplomats are wondering why he is being dropped, or at least allowed to go now when British diplomacy faces the gravest test In empire history. Certainly ‘not because he is 60, when Churchill is 66.

WORK TO DO ei | vy : THE CASE of the savage Motilone Indian of the Vene-

zuelan jungle is cited graphically by Lee Miller, Secripps-Howard correspondent. The Motilone lives beyond

the big oil fields, has no truck with the outside world, uses

bow and arrow, carries no firearms, and preys on hapless |

misadventurers. The Motilone kills by stealth, just for the sake of killing.” ; What should be done? Why, of course, the Motilone glvilized. He ¢ pxchange his inefficient bow

fight in the Far Atlantic

Fair Enough

By Westbrook Pegler

Senator Overton Late, He Should Have Criticized Senate Committee

Which Called ‘His Election a Fraud.

EW YORK, May 28.—Senator John H. Overton of Louisiana, who obtained his seat by fraud in the election of 1932, is aroused by a statement in these dispatches that he was elected by fraud. Senator Overton fearlessly denounced this statement and : the author thereof on the floor of the degenerated but only remaining deliberative body of:such prestige. The degeneration of the body in question picked up speed when the other members failed to throw Senator Overton out and to throw out his political patron and boss, Huey Long, who organized and engineered the fraud. It sprinted again when Senator Allen J. Ellender was seated from Louisiana, for Senator Ellender had’ not merely assisted in the first actual experiment in the Fuehrer system. in the history of the American republic, but had assisted in the Overton campaign. But Senator Overton is late, and he denounces the wrong writing.and the wrong person. He should have denounced the report of the Senate committee which investigated that election and reported the fraud. And he should have denounced Senator Tom Connally of Texas, who submitted that. report and

tion which was half-hearted at best, and had been delayed a long time out of political fear of Senator Overton’s Fuehrer. ” »

TT HE report, incidentally, dishonored the Senate in- _ stead of vindicating its honor, for it was allowed to lie there like the picturesque mackerel of a memorable oration, and no Senator had sufficient regard for American rights to demand the action which it obviously invited. } Yes, Senator Overton's colleague, Tom Connally, was the one who reported to the Senate that the device of the dummy candidate—a scheme so intricate in its perfidy as to require intense study and so crooked that the report described it as “a vicious and abhorrent political practice”—had been employed in that election in Louisiana. The report .of the Connally committee not only advised the Senate that this “vicious and abhorrent” device had been used, but added that it was “a fraud upon the rights of the citizens.” It also condemned ‘the practice of coercing city and state employees to pay assessments for political campaign funds” which had been used in this campaign and mentioned by name the boss crook of the Long dictatorship, Seymour Weiss, now sentencéd to prison, who, in one of the early hearings on the fraud, challenged GenSamuel T. Ansell, the counsel for the United States Senate, to step aside. The Senate took no steps to redeem its honor in that particular, either, although Gen. Ansell, reporting as counsel, wrote: “The evidence of record shows that Mr. Overton’s

less and lawless operations of a system . .. conceived in and maintained by .organized lawlessness.” # Bh -9 :

“IL;RAUD, corruption, force and intimidation were the deliberately chosen means for dominating the election, and by these means the election was dominated,” Gen. Ansell wrote. “Mr. Overton was Senator Long's creature and the system's representative. Mr. Overton's election was the object and product of this systematized lawlessness. . The rule of lawlessness was the only law that governed Mr. Overton’s election. The Constitution of Louisiana was utterly ignored, the sanctions of all election laws were swept aside, and thus the machine could and did proceed upon its ruthless mission without fear of legal consequences.” : : There has been a large literature on the obliteration of the rights of citizenship under Huey Long in Louisiana, much of it Sunday: feature stuff produced by writers who did not know the deeper facts or lacked the intelligence to appreciate the meaning of Huey’s activities. A new book which appeared lately, however, called “Louislana Hayride,” and written by Harnett T. Kane, a New Orleans journalist, should be read by all Americans who want to know how close they were to losing to Huey Long the freedom that has been indifferently inherited from previous generations. Huey, with the aid of such men as Owerton and Ellender, now sitting in the United States Senate, was hell-bent to Hitlerize the whole American people, and Mr. Kane is the first book writer to show exactly how he was doing it. And Senators who, on Monday, gave character testimony for Senator Overton plaggd Senatorial courtesy above the honor of the Senate and above the freedom of the ballot, whence all the other freedoms grow. ;

Business By John T. Flynn

Plastics Eventually May Displace Steel But the Day Seems Far Away.

EW YORK, May 28.—The biggest part of the

story of modern American business is the story of materials.

nace and mass production methods has transformed the whole face of America, so that the age in which we live continues to be called the steel age. But now, for the first time in over half a century, the kingship of steel is about to be challenged. The challenge comes from synthetic materials. And the steel men, who have been meeting in New York to discuss their affairs, have done quite a bit. of discussing among themselves of. the new materials—plastics. Kettering, the wizard of Gen-

years ago that the coming phase of man’s materials marks the highest point he has yet reached in civilization. Up to now, says Kettering, he has been robbing birds’ nests, killing chickens, stealing milk from the cows for his food, murdering animals for his

* shoes and getting other materials in ways quite as

primitive as his ancient ancestors. But now, with the aid of science, he is learning how to take the dead clays and soils, the air and water of the earth and make them into almost anything he needs. : Steel men now actually see modern practice .chal-~ lenging steel itself in certain markets. First we made our automobile bodies -out of wood—like the. buggies —then out of steel. And now there is talk of making automobile bodies out of plastic materials. Airplane bodies are already being made from plastics. ” s URNITURE, dishes, drinking utensils, house walls, house roofs, all sorts of things are now the product of factories which also manufacture their raw materials—plastics. The great question in a business way is—will plastics displace steel? Of course they will not replace steel for many things, but there is a whole range of construction where they will.

immediate threat to the steel business. The very growth of the plastics business has aided steel, for it has called for immense uses of steel to produce materials where but a small amount of steel was used before. : : Steel for plants, for machinery to produce plastic materials will’ more than make up for the loss to the steel industry of certain markets.

So They Say— THE YANKEE'S ability to make and repair his ‘own weapon that won our War for Inde-

IT W

pendence.—Merrill C. Meigs, OPM. 3 . .

WE DARE NOT RUN the risk of being left alone in a hostile world to face a showdown struggle between two ways of life—Sidney Hillman, associate director, OPM. - Gl.

aircraft section chief,

OULD MISS LIVING E. Sunny of Chicago on

THE INDIANAPOLIS T

Come On---Get It Over With!

elaborated on it .from-the floor after an investiga- |

selection was only one predesigned result of the ruth- {

The arrival of steel by the modern Bessemer fur-

eral Motors research, said a dozen

However, steel men do not think that there is any |

i

’ WONDER

SOFTEN AT :

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

DEFENDS EXPLANATION OF THE HESS CASE

By Claude Braddick, 507 N. Main St, Kokomo, Ind. Mr. Flagstone, the Plainfield neophyte, contemplates the study of trigonometry. I feel I should warn him what unless he first grounds himself in the elements of simple deduction, he cannot hope to succeed. One does not scale a ladder by beginning at the topmost rung. Neither can one grasp the intricacies of higher mathematics without first comprehending the significance of two plus two. : Mr. Flagstone refuses tc accept my theory that Hess flew to England to see what was holding them up, basing his objection on the fact that Hess landed in Scotland, Of course he landed in Scotland. But that fact does not invalidate my theory. Rather it lends it credence; gave rise to it, in fact. Where would you go to see what was holding something up? Why around behind it, of .course. And how should I know what was holding them up? I didn’t fly to England.” The fellow’s name was Hess. Remember? Or you might contact Ernie Pyle or Wendell Willkie. Both came away with the visible impression that something was holding them up-—something fine and inexplicable—which would never let them down. . 8 ” o& . VETERAN TRADE UNIONIST PLEADS FOR UNITY

By L. E. Worthall, 3311 Central Ave. The writer is a trade unionist from the old school, antiquated enough to think that in times such as these we should stand behind the Government as one people, intelligently aiding to solve this perplexing problem of foreign and domestic policy. : j : The workers. seem to be attacked from everywhere. Big business, as per usual, wants to gain “bigger” business and let the wage earners be the fall guys. While I do not believe that there should be a law against strikes, -I'do believe that there should be an immediate. investigation in all plants where disagreement between workers and management are in progress and investigate employers as well as employees and place responsibilities

{not

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

where they duly belong. There should be no stoppage of work in any ‘government project—no bottlenecking O0f any preparedness program. I am convinced that we have some Nazi and Communistic Influences in petty officialdoms of some local unions. They are the “borers from within,” but what about industrial management where Nazi influences are very pronounced? I sense that we have more Naziism and patrioprofiteering = among big business than you find among labor. To my way of thinking, it is the selfish industrialist who figures in callous dollars and cents patrioteering, rather than devotion to his country. who is much to blame. Strikes on jobs where government work is on much be stopped, but, why place all blame on the workers? Go to the industrialists, investigate them, they too should be brought into the picture. Labor is loyal in spite of the occasional traitor. Labor

to England, but industrialists must take. advantage of labor's loyalty to our country, nor its pledge to aid the valiant British in their fight for freedom, and repeat the fabulous profits of the last war. ” ” 2

SPEAKING A GOOD ‘WORD FOR THE UNIONS

By Tom Berling, 2823 N. Olney St. Attention Westbrook Pegler and James Meitzler of Attica, Ind., who Jan. 1, 1941, were so bitter in their criticism of Unions of the Building Trades of the A. F. of L. : I quote Brig. Gen. Brehon Somervell, Chief Construction Division

ton, D. C. “In--July, 1940, the Nation was suddenly plunged into a preparedness campaign that taxed- all the resources of industrial brains, management and organization, as well

itn

J

in these fateful his 85th

Side Glances — By Galbraith

i ~ ~—— en

al

5-28

remember if |

almost unanimously favors all aid

Quartermaster Division, Washing-’

as the skill and craftsmanship of Labor and the patriotism of both. The challenge I am happy to say has been met.” End quotation. So it looks to me as if the job was completed as usual in a satisfactory manner. In the meantime what has Pegler accomplished? Twenty-four years ago I paid a week’s wages to join the Carpen-

-| ters Union. You can join it today

for a week’s pay. I had to pay and so will Mr. Pegler or anybody else who wishes to play in the building game on the Union side. So what? ” ” ” DOUBTS CLUBWOMEN FAVOR NEW AEF,

By Mrs. Myron R. Green, 3317 Central Ave. On the night of May 23, the Columbia Broadcasting Company out of New York announced that the majority of women members of the General Federation of Women's Clubs meeting in Atlantic City had voted for all possible aid to Britain, including an American expeditionary force if necessary. (I did not see this statement verified in the local press.) ; This is a monstrous thing, if true —monstrous and. unnatural to believe that mothers, even if they had the right to sacrifice the lives of their sons and the lives of other mothers’ sons, would vote thus, how-

‘ever idealistic they may feel. The

first World War proved so conclusively that this dreadful bloodshed and waste of property settle nothing. Surely, they can no longer believe this claptrap about saving democracy. Then this talk of losing our economic status! As Dr. Robert Hutchins said, “The loss of all the foreign trade we have had in the last decade would cost less than one year of war.” The. Columbia Broadcasting Company announcer made this statement about the women’s vote, yet The Chicego Tribune reports this on the convention, namely, that “10,000 women hailed Hutchins’ (Dr. Robert Hutchins, president of the University of Chicago) . plea for peace while Donovan's war speech was met by silence.” ‘In a recent nation-wide survey by the National Committee to Keep the United States Out of War, 94.9 per cent of American women are Opposed to our involvement in the present conflict and-to union with the British Empire. Only 5.1 per cent voted for active participation and three-fourths of that number were in the eastern seaboard states. Who will call this 94.9 per cent of American women pro-Nazi? Senator Pepper, Walter Winchell or Senator Glass? : ” o 8 OFFERING A SUGGESTION ON BUNDLES FOR BRITAIN

By Mrs. Pearl Janis, 160 N. Main St.

.. Martinsville, Ind.

I would suggest sending Walter Winchell, Bishop Manning, Carter Glass, Senator Pepper and the Rev. D. A. Sommer as Bundles to Britain. Of course they would have to be reconditioned like most other Bundles, but they might be of some service. P. S. And also Windy Willkie— and I voted for him.

LET THEM HAVE PEACE By JANE SIGLER

They - sleep beneath the fragrant ‘wreaths— Those gallant souls who died to free

All nations from the threat of war,

To lift the yoke of tyranny.

And as we meet to honor men ‘Who bravely fought and fell, we pray : That God will keep them unaware Of conflict in the world today.

DAILY THOUGHT

Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear the Lord, and depart from evil.—Proverbs 3:7.

HE WHO does evil that good may

come, pays a toll to the devil to let

ri him into heaven—J. C. and A. W

. Chief.

.1939.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 128, 1941 Gen. Johnson Sivyse-

Poll of War Sentiment in Our Army Fortunately Cancelled Since It Would Have Been a Grievous Error.

ASHINGTON, May 28.—'Dr. Gallup . . . may, \ with the approval of Secretary Stimson, . poll our armed forces (on the question of war or peace). Of course that venerable warrior, Mr. Stimson, expects a satisfactory result.” So said Senator Wheeler in a widely publicized anti-war speech in New York City recently. !

This project, or the intention to carry such a project out, is ob- _ scure. Secretary Stimson is quoted in the press as having abandoned . the idea. Nevertheless, there is a matter here serious enough to warrant discussion in case the project should be again revived. Such a poll, of such people, on such a question, would be as great a scandal as ever disgraced the Army. In the first’ place it is no part of the duty of the armed forces in actual service to express opinions on public and partisan policy. Since Woodrow Wilson, at least, there has been no politics in the Army. - It is the most corroding and disruptive force in miljtary experience. It is a first principle that the Arm

“shall be loyal in action to whatever Administratio.

the people elect to govern. ‘Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do or die.” i

8 ” »

HAT may sound totalitarian, but military com- ; mand and service are necessarily totalitarian. It is a gospel long accepted and acceded to in the military creed. You can’t have a dependable defense and not meet and accept it without question. In the second place, what would such a poll be worth? For the reasons just stated, men in military service are not free agents. For any lack of subservience they can be disciplined to the point of ruin with no legal or other redress and at the abso--lute dictation of a single man, the Commander-in-Such a plebiscite would be of no more worth than a Nazi election. You vote “Ya”—or else. Furthermore, the whole idea of an army voting on whether it wants to fight or not, or how, is evil for two reasons. First: a Soviet command which submits every military question to a debating society has been proved over and over again to be foredoomed to defeat. Second; what would you expect a good soldier to say on the question of fight or no fight? What would you expect a duck to say on the question of swim or no swim? Fighting is why soldiers were made and, especially among younger men whose fate it is to seek “the bubble reputation even in the canron’s mouth,” you are almost sure to find eagerness to test their worth in the profession to which they have been trained since boyhood. : x ” ”n 2

NE of the greatest mistakes of Theodore Roose» velt's life was signing the famous round robin of officers demanding: withdrawal of troops from Cuba. It was probably right in its demands, but it had the vice of all Soviet soldiering and the additional vice of seeking to conceal its leadership by signing in a circle. ; : : & The Gallup type of sampling poll is supposed to be a somewhat secret ballot—an expression of opinion without. disclosing the responsibility of the author. On a question of such vital national concern as that of war or peace, who wants to be guided by an anonymous letter? Who wants to be thrust into war by the urging of men who have not the guts to stand for their views in the open ‘and under their own names? Maybe this will turn out to be tilting at a straw man. Let's hope so. No more vicious suggestion was ever discussed, must less suggested. /

A Woman's Viewpoint :

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

N= and strange suggestions about woman's part in national defense are made daily. Some of them might be more disruptive than helpful. Bus since it has become fashionable to offer them, here's my nickel’s worth. ; . za While boys prepare for military service the girls should get ready for political duty. It takes no more courage to be a good soldier than fo be a really excellent state legislator. And the moral degeneracy evident on the political scene, from the home pre= cinct clear upstairs to Washing= ton, presents a definite danger to democratic principles. One can defend or betray one's country on several fronts. “ Whatever happens after tI% : present emergency, I.believe we all realize that political reforms are in order. Old ways are passing and new ones must take their place, and it’s up to the women to help make those new ones better than the old. : There is nothing more important to us than politics and politicians. Through them our democracy will survive or perish: i : Women as a whole are no more capable and no more virtuous than men, but since men and women occupy the earth together, and since we must always suffer the consequences of masculine political mistakes, it seems only right that we should help make them. Women have leisure. Their brains are fair, and so there’s no good reason why they should not prepare themselves now for citizenship duties. They ‘could ng nothing better for national defense than learn to vote intelligently and to fit themselves and their daughters and sons to hold political office.

Editor's Note: The views expressed bv columnists (n this newspaper are their own. They are not mecessarily those of The Indianapolis Times. 4

Questions and Answers

(The Indianapolis Times Service Bureau will answer any question of fact or information, not involving extensive (oe 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 8t., Washington, D. C.).

@—Since paper containers for milk are muc cheaper than glass. bottles, why does the dairy indus=try continue to use glass bottles? : A—Paper containers cost about one cent; quart glass bottles cost from 4 to 5 cents, but the paper con~ tainers cannot be reused while the glass bottles may average 30 to 35 trips before they are lost or broken. Q—I have just received my “first citizenship papers” and want to know if that makes me liable for jury service? . A—-No. Persons with “first papers” are still aliens, and only full citizens of the United States are eligible for jury service. Eg Q--How much has the population of San Francis increased in the last 40 years? A--In 1900, it was 342,782; 416912 in 1910; 506,676 in 1920; 634,394 in 1930 and 634,536 in 1940. Q-—What is the per capita consumption of cigarets in the United States? a A-—It was 1,373 in 1940, compared with 1,315 in

Q—What proportion of the Senators and Representaties in Congress are lawyers? : : A—In the Seventy-seventh Congress, as elected out of 96 Senators, 61 were lawyers; and out ‘of 435 Representatives, 223. were lawyers. . > Q—What is the difference between nitroglycerine and dynamite? ° : . A--Nitroglycerine is a liquid made by treating glycerol with a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids. - Dynamite is nitroglycerine absorbed in Kieselguhr or

other ,porous material. : ; Q—When.did Victor Emmanuel III become King

of Italy?

A—Upon the assassination of his father, July 1900. : A Q—What proportion of the population of United States is regularly enrolled in public schools and colieges? vial A—About one-fourth, or 32 million persons, ac-] cording, to a recent annual report of the