Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 June 1941 — Page 20

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Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

RILEY 5551

FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 1941

SIC ’EM ADOLF; SIC ’EM JOE T'S too bad that all this talk of war between Germany and Russia seems to be ncthing more than rumor, so far. ‘That's one war we could really favor—one war in which every battle, regardless of the outcome, would be a victory for all democratic peoples. If the Nazis and the Commies ever get to fighting, we'll be glad to whoop it up for botn sides, and we'll hope they keep at it until they knock each other out. And besides contributing to our own peace and "security, the reciprocal destruction of these dictatorships might even liberate the German and Russian peoples. Such a conflict would have a very edifying collateral effect in our own defense industries. The local Muscovites would wheel and turn with the party line. And instead of agitating for sitdowns, slowdowns and strikes in our defense industries, they would soon start ranting for the speed-up, the stretch-out, and lend-lease weapons for Moscow. : Yes, a war in which those two tyrannies would systematically go about the business of wiping each other off the face of the earth would be something almost too good to be true. Foreign policy would be simpler then. It could almost be boiled down to the formula of the Oklahoma farmer who said, “When two tomcats get to fighting, just let '’em have at it—and then shoot the one that gets away.”

TAXPAYERS TAKE NOTE

WED like to call the attention of taxpayers to some enlightening testimony in the House investigation of that smelly asphalt deal at Eglin Field, Florida, which has splattered such notoriety about Senator Claude Pepper. Henry B. Dyche of the Treasury Procurement Office told about the conference at which the Florida Senator appeared, along with the lobbyist for Pan-American Petroleum. Corp.—ex-Congressman Millard F. Caldwell—to try to persuade the Treasury to award the contract to that company rather than the low bidder, a Georgia corporation. * The Senator, Mr. Dyche testified, proposed that the contract be readvertised for new bids, and said that if ‘this were done he wonld guarantee that the Government would save money and that Pan-American would quote a cheaper price! ‘The inference seeras obvious. * Why didn’t the oil company quote this cheaper price in the first instance? -~ : Too much of this sort of business is going on.

BANKS AND SAVINGS BONDS ba \OR more than a decade now it has been unfashionable to say anything good about bankers. oe But it seems to us some praise is due the banks for their co-operation with the Treasury Department in” marketing the defense savings bonds. They are performing this service without fee or profit—and at some immediate disadvantage, for whenever a bank sells a' bond to a customer, that bank’s deposits are usually reduced by the ‘amount of the purchase price. The long-range benefits which will accrue to the banks from this program are the same that all businesses and all citizens will share. The first purpose, of course, is to finance defense. . But another important objective is to “prevent what could be a perilous price inflation.. Inherent in the huge expenditures for armaments are the potentialities of another boom-and-bust: cycle such as the country experienced during and after the First World War. There are two over-all methods of diminishing this threat. One is to tax away a good portion of the people’s increased earnings—and this a ballot-minded Congress is too $imid to do on anything like an effective scale. The other is to channel off a part of the expanded purchasing power into these 10-year bonds. The banks are helping to do this by making the bonds easily obtainable. : : The bonds are a good proposition individually as well as collectively. The purchaser runs no risk because the Government guarantees to refund at any time not less than the purchase price, and if held long enough the bonds will pay a good return. They are for sale at postoffices as well as banks. $18.75 buys a bond which in 10 years can be cashed for $25; $3R50 buys a $50 bond; $75 buys a $100 bond.

1,300,000 MORE JOBS A ANY men and women have gone back to work. But we haven’t seen anything yet. M. J. Kane, assistant chief of field operations of the labor division of the Office of Production Management, says that at least 1,300,000 more men and women must be employed in major defense industries before the year ends:

:

285,000 building ships, 250,000 building tanks, 100,000 mak-

ing munitions, and 400,000 producing airplanes. There probably are not that many people available at the moment with the required skills. But before the end of the year many of those who are now in apprenticeships and vocational training schools will have begun to have such skills. We are just beginning to roll. Before the end of the year our industrial machine will be under way. Every minute counts.

UNPLEASANT TASK |

ROBABLY the all-time high for an unpleasant assignment would be to be a member of the Italian army of occupation in Greece. 1 Mussolini announces that Hitler has graciously consented to give Greece to Italy as its share in the swag, or, as it is now called in totalitarian circles, “living space.” , Every Greek knows that the Italians never conquered them. Every Greek has not only hatred but contempt for Italian Fascists. Being one of the soldiers assigned to holding down the Greeks is going to be one of the less-pleasant SS : ; in some cases,

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ugh By Westbrook Pegler Citing Some Reasons Why He Has Changed His Mind About Favoring A Labor Government for the U. S.

EW YORK, June 20.—There was a time a few years ago when I might have said in a glib, un-~ thinking way that a government of laborites—meaning professional unioneers—would be a fine thing for this country. I mean an abrupt change from our accustomed makeup and balance - to an outright labor administration under a labor President and with a labor majority in Congress.

Fair Eno

sons about the intelligence, polit ical and personal ethics of some labor leaders which convince me that, there is not-a single individual in the whole movement who can run a union, much less the United States, withouf ripping the Constitution to tatters. It is not merely that the leadership is topheavy with low-grade, union politicians of the Tammany or Jersey City type, racketeers, convicts and Communists to such an extent that the average is far below that of the Republican and Democratic Parties at their worst. That fact is alarming enough, but to that fact we must add the truth that wherever the Jaborite finds himself full of power he immediately proceeds to abuse it like a lower-case Mussolini or Hitler, Or if he isn’t burly enough by nature to abuse the power himself he permits others to abuse it in his name, as Dave Beck of Seattle has abused the. power delegated to him by that pious and earnest but ineffective old monument, Dan Tobin, of the teamsters. Mr. Tobin is a living summary of all the civic, domestic and religious virtues, but, for efficiency’s sake, he appointed Beck as his Col. House or Harry Hopkins, and Beck, thus muscled and armed, proceeded to establish.a dictatorship as arbitrary as any in Europe. : ‘n 2 »

I a parallel case a labor president of the ‘United

the people around, tax them’at will, govern by decree, limit the number of delicatessens, laundries and pubs in any given area and determine who must positively not be hired and fired. Also, in a parallel case, the citizen would appeal to the public courts only at his gtave peril, for the unioneers are all dead set against the courts, although you may be sure that Mr, Tobin,

| for example, would appeal to them within the hour

were I to call him a crook, as I ardently do not. The union movement is so laced together by ties of loyalty, politics, venality and mutual interest that a labor President and a labor Congress could not give thg whole community a fair administration without violating their first loyalty, which is given to the unions, Or if the President and a. scatfering among labor's Congressional majority had the conscience to attempt to serve the country impartially, the rest of labor's Congressional strength would gang up on them. : | : : 2 8 =» oh HE leadership of the organized: unions has produced no man as yet who could be trusted with thé dangerous responsibility of high national office, except be surrounded and outranked by officials of normal mind to veto his errors. John Wrong Lewis was one of the strongest leaders, and he made a good press for himself with a coterie of politically callow bleeding-hearts of the Fourth Estate in the ‘early days of the New Deal. But events have shown him to be erratic, dictatorial and a man who made words pass for wisdom until he finally talked himself out of the picture with a campaign speech that sounded like the Fourth of July oration of an old time county chairman. ' But even at his height, Lewis did not trust all his own rank and file to vote their choice or pay their dues willingly, and that fact may be taken as a faint indication of the fate the common citizen would have suffered under him as President. ° : I believe that seven or eight years ago a great many Americans would have said it was time to give labor a chance to run the country. But nowadays the proposal would be howled down in wild alarm, and . most angrily by workers who know by experience what a calamity that would be. a

Business By John T. Flynn

Asking Auto Makers Keep Prices , Down Wrong Way to Meet Problem.

EW YORK, June 20,—The OPACS—the pricecontrol agency of the Government—is asking for a law to authorize it to control prices. In the meantime it is attempting to prevent-an increase in automobile prices by voluntary action of the automobile industry. Up to now the Government apparently has believed that it could prevent price increases through this voluntary action by producers. ‘Various appeals have been nrade to industrial groups to keep prices down. Nothing could be a greater waste of time. In the automobile industry it might work because the number of motor makers is small. They might be able to work out agreements. But the motor makers are merely the last stage in the proc- ; ess of manufacture. There are thousands of parts makers whose products go into automobiles and whose prices affect automobile.prices. To secure voluntary action among so many and so diverse competitors would be very difficult—indeed, impossible: : It would be impossible for human as well as for economic reasons. Among: so many there would always be enough recalcitrants to make full agreement impracticable. And they in turn produce goods which are also the product of many materials and parts, .and the price of those goods is a' composite price of those parts, as well as of labor. . In the end we have to recognize that this whole subject of price control is one which can be attained only by the Government assuming that we want price control.

2 ” ” UT other forces-are working against veluntary agreements to hold prices down. Automobile manufacturers, I understand, have agreed to cut production of cars by 20 per cent next year. therefore be far fewer new cars for sale.than there

with far more money with which to buy them. Therefore there will be more customers in the field for fewer cars. : .

prevent these increased car buyers from bidding for

sure will push up the price, one py or another. . In the end, those who canno more money on their hands to spend for luxuries, and the reduction in car buying will release an additional amount of money to spend on other things—travel, furniture, etc. By preventing these funds from flowing into the automobile stores we will detour them into other stores. with a corresponding pressure on other lines to increase prices there. . The simple fact is that the whole system™is so ‘ interlaced and integrated—that economjc force exerted in one place is communicated to so many other places —that you cannot hope to pour immense purchasing power into people’s pockets without having it find its way into stores with a corresponding price increase. There is only one way to deal with the prices. You must institute Government control, and you must tax ruthlessly, to'draw back to the Government the purchasing power the Government has created. If you do not wish to do that you must admit you are going

| to do nothing about. it and quit kidding the public.

So They Say— ALL OF US have ‘too much information 4nd too

little knowledge; few have wisdom.—Charles E. Brink‘ley, president Baldwin Locomotive Works, ik v * ® *

THE NEED of the sense of our 1if

Since then I have learned ‘ies-

States would appoint regional gauleifers to shove. .

~ Waiting to Hear From Joe

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THINKS EMPLOYERS TQ.BLAME FOR STRIKES By Mrs. C. Wilkins, Connersville, Ind.

I would like to answer Mr. James R. Meitzler’s article in Tuesday’s Times. If the newspapers really knew of the employers cutting wages, increasing working hours, etc., do you think they would publish it or anything else that happened in the factory, excepting about the laborers’ activities? : Maybe the employer has made his contract with the Government and willing to produce, the men are just as willing to produce and will do so providing they are treated fair. They, in most cases do not agitate any strikes unless absolutely necessary. You never see anything in print about the employer's side but oh, the poor working men get

the works. ‘

Has Mr. Meitzler ever worked in a factory? I have for a good many years. We have a C. I. O. union and have had very little trouble, for our employers and committee get together and thrash out their difficulties, and we don’t always get our way. If Mr. Meitzler pays rent, or buys groceries or any other necessity of life, he ought to realize these workers have to have a living wage especially now when everything is raising in price. ; The workers are only asking for decent wages and when the wages are cut, that is what causes strikes with some other things that happen in a working man’s day and I will repeat again, those things never get to the newspapers. I will sure be surprised to see this in print. 8 ” ” DENIES HAVING ANY HATRED FOR ENGLAND By Jasper Douglas, 127 E. New York St. Mr. Robert Bruns in his letter in this column Monday has accused me of! hating England, simply because I can see no reason why we. should be tangled up in the mess in wkich- England is a part. I do not hate England. I regard all men as my brothers, regardless of race, color or religion. He says my knowledge of history is incomplete. I admit it, but I have read the history of my own country and it tells me that our forefathers had to fight England for the freedom of the American colonies in 1776, then again in 1812-14. In our Civil War, England gave all aid possible to the Southern Confederacy, running blockades of Southern ports to get supplies to

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

the enemies of the Union, and while permiting Confederate ships to get supplies in the British West Indies, denied that right to Northern ships. In the First World War, we sent our boys over there to save the empire and as I remember it, they were carried on English ships and England ‘had the nerve to charge this Government for their passage. New York bankers loaned money to England. only after payment had been guaranteed by President Wilson. After all these years no attempt has been made to repay those loans. I suppose the U. S. has paid the bankers and bled the people in taxes. Now, we have the lease-lend plan, which is all bosh. Everyone knows that England will never pay for any of it. No, I do not hate England, but I do love my own country an hate to see it fall into the hands of a small group of warmongers who are bent on sending our boys to kill or be killed. Billions borrowed to give aid to a foreign' country when as many millions would have been enough: to so arm America that no combination of nations would ever dare attack us. #4 A burden of taxes that will sap the life out of our children’s children for a century to come all because our rulers have sold us out to a foreign power. Mr. Bruns says we must have lunity. We Have almost a unity of opposition fo war. More than 80 per cent can ‘see how our liberties are at stake and the lives of millions, and are begging - fe dent and Congress to stay out and let America mind its own business and prepare: for defense. . We. do not have to depend on any other country to defend us. A 8 o ” OPPONENTS OF WAR ly, COULD KEEP U.-S. OUT By J. R. C., Indianapolis If every man and woman in

America would read the book or article in Reader’s Digest. on “Hell

Bent for War” by Hugh S. John-

There will |

were last year. But, as a result of the defense spending, there will be far more people wanting to buy cars |

Nothing these producers can do voluntarily will the cars. And somewhere along the line this presbuy cars will“ have i

Side Glances - By Galbraith

onsibility has ex-

son, I think we could become united on the vital interests of our country. The people who are unconsciously permitting this country to drift into a’ war which would bring nothing but horror and disaster to us would become aroused and take immediate steps to prevent any further action in this direction. - It is up to us to be sufficiently armed to protect our own shores and give what material aid we can to Britain, but never under any circumstances to ‘allow our men become involved in the conflict. Last November we chose a leader who ‘promised that our Army or Navy would not be sent to foreign shores. It is up to us to see that our President keeps that promise. son 8 PROFITS AS BASIS FOR WAGE-INCREASE DEMANDS By R. 8S. F., Indianapolis Demands for wage increases are often’ based on the theory that companies showing increased earnings should share them with their employees. Is this theory sound? To the extent that increased earn~ ings are due to better management, management and stockholders are entitled to them. To the extent that they are due, to monopoly or evasion of the antitrust laws, they

d | rightfully belong to the consumer.

Only to the extent that labor does more or better work should increased earnings be paid out in higher wages. The employee of a high-profit company who works no harder nor more skillfully than the employee of a low-profit company at the same class of worky surely has no moral claim to higher wages simply because his employer makes higher profits. . All too freyuently there :are unjustified differences in wages for the same kind of work in the same industrial region. These should be eliminated. To vary wages according to profits would not eliminate but accentuate them. : If the aim {s a better distribution:of income — certainly a very worthy aim—wages as the instrument are inferior to taxes. TNEC studies disclose a high concentration of wealth; 50 per cent of corporate dividends are received by 75,000 individuals. But they also show that about 4,500,000 stockholders receive less tian $100 annually

in dividends.

Wage increases designed to enlarge labor’s share at the ekpense of capital hit these small stockhold~ ers along with the big. Steeply graduated income and inheritance taxes can accomplish the same purpose and without penalizing the savings of wage-earners or small businessmen. ’ » » =” OLD DOGMAS FIGURE 0 IN PRESENT CONTROVERSY By W. O., Indianapolis I_have always. taken the saying “might makes right” with numer-

|ous grains of salt.

Charles A. Lindbergh has retained a. faint ‘trace of logic plus a desire to over-emphasize that primitive phrase. \ If Hitler's might makes Lindbergh right then let's give the world back to the Indians. Survival of" the fittest, medicine men and the barter system are not exactly new

{social developments, Mr. Lindbergh.

CUCKOO CADENCE

By OLIVE INEZ DOWNING The cuckoo, with his uniform Of dullish brown and somber gray, Is not so often seen about— For much in hiding he will stay. He is indeed a friend to man, For caterpillars are his food, And many insects, larvae, grubs He also carries to his brood. His “nod, €00, €00,”: Or "“COW, COW,

cow’ He croaks aloud with might and

Then someone wisely nods his head | And says, “That call presages rain.”

DATLY THOUGHT

For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of the partition -betweeen 1

(Gen. Johnson Si i Soi dh

| had understated its

‘FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 1041

x ¥ . -

Ickes Blames Aluminum Co. for Threatened Shortage But Truth Is Fault Lies With Administration

3 ASHINGTON, June 20.—It is pretty early to ba - hunting alibis and scape-goats for the “losing of a war in which we are not engaged, in which we have no business and in which most of our people* do not wish to be engaged. But Oil Douchie Ickes is

already doing it. “When the story of this war comes to be written, if: it has to be written that it was lost,” he says, “it may be because of the recalcitrance of the Alums inum Company of America.” He even supported a suggestion that.‘ the Government “take over” that industry. : The ire of Ickes seems to / be his assertion that the Aluminum Co, had overstated its productive capacity and that when ‘the great defense orders came they created a threatening shortage in -alum« inum. The truth, as everybody who has watched the’ development of the defense am knows, is that this Government, up to as late as six months ago, requirements for aluminum by as much as 50 per cent. Except for this unspecified load there was no aluminum shortage in America. -- This column holds no brief for ‘the Mellons. controlled Aluminum Co., but in stating facts, a little _ bit of barnyard truth of the sort for which he 18 called “Honest Harold,” wouldn't do Mr. Ickes much’ harm in his new respopsibility.

® x» “when the story of this war is written” there is going to be a chapter on its loss through “short age” items such as tin, rubber and aluminum, thers will be only one real culprit—guilty of lack of prude. ence and foresight—and that will be the Administra tion of which Mr. Ickes is so vocal a part. Over and over again by many voices, including this column and long before these questions became acute, thes necessity for laying in vast reserve stocks and for conservation and substitution was urged to no avail, Now the only official intelligence, imagination and’ invention that seems to be available is to cut down on supply of civilian necessities—tin, rubber, wool, automobiles, petroleum and even milk and cheese, Gasless Sundays and heatless homes. Our people are willing to make any necessary sacrifice, but the outstanding lession of industrial mobilization of the World War seems to have been. forgotfen in this blind, belated, hit-or-miss manage ment of war production. It is that civilian morale is as important as military morale.: Nobody in the: swollen and rapidly expanding Washington bureauc= racy seems to be charged with watching that angle, . In the meantime, civilian supplies and facilities are dwindling, prices are soaring, there will be a shortage of freight cars to move this year’s great: grain crop and nothing visible is being done to pre-. vent it. In view of elevators now from one-half to-three-fourths full before the crop moves, this may prove tragic.. » ” »

ONSIDER this example. The lid is going down on" i automobile and tin consumption. We are told” that the Robin Moor carried no contraband. This is what the mate of the Robin Moor said about his cargo to the German submarine commander. “I told the commander we had , . , for South American ports. . . nothing . . , but such merchandise as pleasure cars (automobiles) . . , automobile parts we cannot carry in the hold .. . the only motors were automobile pleasure car motors. ‘What is the rest of your cargo? he asked.’ ... Nothing but tin plate.” Nothing but tin plate! So, for war purposes, America is going on zero rations for tin, 50 per cent rations for automobiles, and for the Atlantic coast, on reduced rations for petroleum, of which we have a vast surplus and our outbound freighters are carrying’ to South Africa, automobiles, automobile parts and otherwise—“nothing but tin plate.” For our inexcusable lack of earlier preparation, for our blundering, wasteful and inadequate preparation ‘now, for encouraging influences: which have created Communist-inspired strikes and labor stoppages, ine dustry is not to blame. Government is to blame. We could all forget that, but, now when we should have- good-will, unity and intelligent guidance, all that Government has to suggest is that industry should be blamed, “taken over” and kicked around. It is certainly a masterful way to get production and the co-operation upon which alone production de pends. : ‘

Editor's Note: The views expressed by columnists in this .mewspaper are their own. They are not necessarily those of The Indianapolis Times. df

New Books By Stephen Ellis

NTERPRISING is the precise .word for “War in the Desert” out today. It is a book that ace tually rivals the newspapers’ grand coverage of the: war, for ‘it is one of the first eye-witness reports of_ the battles waged in North Africa and Syria. . The author is a Free Frenchman, Raoul Aglion, who traveled in high diplomatic quarters in the Middle East and after he resigned just stayed in the middle of the shooting and has now put down on paper what he saw. ! While his story bounces around a bit here and there, his telling of Wavell's “Army of the Nile” is fascinating reading. He paints a graphic picture of a polyglot army, made up of British, Irish, Austra lians, New Zealanders, Indians, Greeks, Maltese, Hindus, Sikhs, Ghurkas, Polish and White Russians, Free ench, and’ Jéws and Arabs .from Palestine, all speaking different languages and yet welded into one powerful and cohesiye fighting unit. M. Aglion’s admiration for Wavell is almost boundless. He cannot say too much in his book for Wavell’s tact and finesse in handling this curious army, not to mention his unquestioned military genius, Don’t get the idea, however, that this is entirely an adventure yarn of life with the soldiers. M, Aglion has attempted to give some of the background for , what is now happening in and around Suez and while this part of it is slightly hard going, there is a great deal of interesting material for those who need this type of explanatory material, : M. Aglion’s chapter dealing with the Free French are particularly enlightening. He knows his Syria and some of his stories may give you the key to what fuay eventually be the result of the battle now. go: ng on, oF oh a There is a great deal fo be said, tod, for this kind: of publishing venture, It is not often that fhe news: gathering agencies can be rivaled by the book. pubs, lishers, due, naturally, to the time element, but thig is one time that you can point to definite competi«; tion. And rather than frown on it, we welcome it, In other words, here's the kind of stuff in a book that usually makes Page One.” Try it.

WAR IN THE T: ttle dor ‘Africa. 3 gion. Sod pages, Bl trated. Bod paper maps, efinc Voit oy

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, i gh > 3 Questions and Answers: | (The Indianapolis Times Seryloe Bureau will answer any question of fact or information, mot involving extensive ree ~~ search, Write vour questions. clearly, sign name and address, Ry Cs Bh a gL A Bureau. 1013 Thirttenth St. Washinglen. D.CY BU

Q—~Does the Federal Communications mission receive many applications for amateur operator snd = station licenses? LIVE i Sheik 5 - «« A~The Commission receives more than 100 ama« teur applications a day. . About one-third are for new licenses for tors and stations. The license of amateurs’ is three years. we, or : n Island and how large is it? _ A—It lies between South Shetland Isles and Palmer ‘Peninsula as Jt curves northeastward from the continent of Antarctica. It is a volcanic island % about Furi m north to south, and nina | . ‘ id ah § Whe BL Aas 3

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