Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 July 1941 — Page 12

PAGE 12 ——meacees : The Indianapolis Times

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* WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1941

7 .

NOT ENOUGH THE War Department, faced with a growing demand in © Congress and the press for establishment of an.independent air force, recently took a halfway measure. - It thought up a new title for its air arm, which is now to be known as the Army Air Forces. And it created for this unit a staff of its own, patterned closely after the general staff of the Army itself. :

This is what War Department officials call “autonomy,” rather than independence. The status of Army aviation becomes somewhat akin to the status of the Marine Corps in the Navy. If this were a transitional step, a prelude to the real weaning of aviation from infantryman -control, it would be something to cheer. But it is nothing of the sort. © The fact is that Army aviation remains under the thumb .of men schooled and steeped in the lore of ground warfare. Maj. Gen. Arnold, Chief of the Army Air Forces, remains a subordinate of the infantryman Gen. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the Army. And, able and even brilliant as we believe Gen. Marshall to be, he is surrounded by a general staff of some 408 officers of whom only 19 came up through the air arm, : : Nineteen out of 408! In this day and time when aviation is the paramount factor in almost every battle, that figure speaks for itself. And what it says is not reassuring. Congress ought to get busy with the hearings it has been talking about, and find out for the record what the experts on both sides of the independent-air-force argu ment have to say. ;

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WILL POLITICIANS SACRIFICE?

HE ‘honeymoon months” of the defense boom are almost

ended and a long period of higher prices and short- |

ages of all kinds is at hand. So warns Leon Henderson, the Price Administrator, in an address. of unusual frankness—a forecast of difficult times to come when “every person will be touched, and many will be touched harshly, by the defense program.” We're glad to hear Mr. Henderson speaking out frankly, telling the American public that there is no easy solution for the problems it faces. Soon, he said: : “Customers ready, eager and able to buy will be crowding the market places and stores, but manufacturers will be unable to get enough raw materials to satisfy demands. All of us will get tired and sick of hearing that uinfamiliar word ‘shortage.” , ', . ‘Shortages have brought the high cost of living back into the prospect. We will deceive ourselves if we believe that the cost of living will level off shortly and everything will be all right. . . . Before long now there will be more purchasing power running around hunting some- * thing to buy than there are goods available. If that occurs to substantial degree, no power on earth can prevent inflation.” : ] : Mr. Henderson was speaking especially to businessmen ‘and housewives, warning of the sacrifices they will have to make. Most citizens, we believe, are ready to make sacrifices when they understand the need for them. Perhaps it is a graver question whether there exists in Washington the political courage to do the things that must be done if the calamity of price inflation is to be avoided. ” » : ” ; : : ” 8 8 Will the Government “sop up some of this excess purchasing power” (Mr. Henderson's words) by increasing taxes, not only on the comparatively few upper-bracket incomes, but also on the lower-bracket incomes whose purchasing power counts for more because they are so much more numerous ? Will Congress stop the insanity of continued pumppriming in a time of vast defense spending by reducing the “ordinary” expenditures of Government? Will the Administration and Congress support Mr. Henderson in his announced determination to stiffen control “of prices? For instance, will they act to discourage wage increases except in businesses that can absorb them, which Mr. Henderson admits some businesses can’t? Or will they resist the higher-price demands of farmers—such demands as those recerftly granted which, he acknowledges, are the ‘main explanation of the rise in domestic food costs? In short, will the Government risk sacrifice of popularity with politically powerful groups in order to protect the whole country ?: We have seen discouragingly little evidence of willingness to do that; but certainly Mr. Henderson’s candid warning of the consequences of failure to do it has set a good example. J

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FAST TIME—FOR DEFENSE PDAYIAGHT saving is a blessing to some people and a burden to others. A great many farmers, in particular, have been traditionally against it. There are persuasive © arguments both pro and con. ; Persuasive, that is, in ordinary times. But today, the world being what it is, and the state of our defenses being what it is, the normal arguments for and against daylight saving are academic. The threatened shortage of electric . power: overshadows all other considerations, . Electricity, more electricity than this country has ever produced before, is necessary if defense industries are not to bog down for want of current. Daylight time conserves power. Therefore the President asks Congress for authority to require “fast time” in such areas, and during

such months, as he finds necessary. “

Sixty-seven per cent of the people interviewed in a recent Gallup Poll were in favor of daylight saving, with 14 per cent undecided and only 19 per cent opposed. It seems likely to us that the anti’s and the undecided ones will accept fast time with good grace when they understand that the purpose is to put more power into defense. ° ngress. should grant the President’s ‘request with-

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

Circular Jssued by Bureau of Mines Shows Large Loss of Life Caused By Men Smoking Against Orders

N= YORK, July 16.—Offhand, it may be hard to imagine a more dreary item for summeY reading

of Mines of the Department of Interior, but as today’s offset against the propaganda of the Communist con=spiracy against American industry I cite from such a document issued last January. Within the past year a considerable stir was created by propaganda - purporting to show that mine disasters were due to the ‘greed and inhuman indifference of soulless corporations which op‘erate mines and to the lack of legislation to make them guard better the lives of men engaged in an occupation which is extremely dangerous at’ best. . The needs of laws to protect mines from risks which can be reduced by compulsory safety measures will be generally acknowledged, but the fact that miners themselves have been responsible for many of their own disasters has not re« ceived appropriate emphasis in this obscure mimeographed document of the Bureau of Mines which, being a political principality of the empire of Harold F. Ickes, certainly cannot be suspected of partiality to American free industry. . * ; ® 8 .

HIS paper says that “men engaged in the hazard- . ous occupation of mining indulge with the utmost indifference” in the habit of smoking “under circumstances that may jeopardize not only their own lives but those of scores—even of hundreds—of their fel-low-workers as well. The old adage that stolen sweets are the best . . . when applied to the practice of smoking surreptitiously in a coal mine, especially in a gassy mine, is without ‘even remote foundation.” “Smoking,” says the circular, “has been the cause or the suspected cause of many gas explosions and black powder ignitions and has resulted in numerous instances of injury, loss of life and destruction of property. Many fires in both coal and metal mines, causing loss of life, have been caused by smoking.” The circular then says that in the first seven months of 1940 there were at least three ignitions, “possibly as a result of smoking,” and adds that between 1839 and 1939 ignition from either open lights or smoking was responsible for 23.7 per cent of the mine explosions of which records were available, 2 8 » F 130 explosions in the Alabama mines 76.9 per cent are attributed to open lights and smoking. The Bureau admits its inability to determine positively how many disasters were caused by smoking and how many by open lights, but says that for more than 100 years these have been the important causes of disastrous mine explosions. ° The circular says the conclusion definitely is supported that smoking caused an explosion in Bartley, W. Va, on Jan, 10, 1940, in which 91 men were killed. Although the men were searched daily for matches and smokers’ articles, cigarets were found in a miner's jacket, and the Bureau holds this to indicate strongly that this man and probably others smoked in the mine that day. 7 Enforcement of laws and rules against smoking is difficult, the circular grants. Miners hide smoking materials in their lunch buckets, between slices of bread, in their thermos bottles, in their shoes or socks or in hidden pockets in their underwear, and the responsibility of miners for disasters is bluntly summed up in an official finding of the Bureau of Mines that “the laws and regulations against smoking are being Violsien with impunity, causing. much needless loss 0! ee”

Business By John T. Flynn Incomes Rise, But, Unfortunately,

There Are Fewer Things to Buy

EW YORK, July 16-—Government officials treated us to two -statements in the same day. The Department of Commerce -informed us that in May the nation reached a purchasing power which was at the rate of 86-billion dollars a year. Donald Nelson of the OPM informed us that we face a period of shortages for the ‘public instead of the abundance to which we have been accustomed. Here, then, are two phenomena: No. 1—vastly increased amounts of money in the hands of the people. No. 2—noticeable and then marked decreases 'in the amount they can buy. The gap between these two factors is going to play a powerful role in this country in the coming x ig year. People who enjoy rising incomes want to spend them. They will take them to the store. When they get there, they will be chagrined to discover that there is not as much in the store as there used to be. : What will happen then? The storekeeper is going to have a great battle with himself to decide not to hike prices. ow can he decide who shall get what he has to sell? There are only two ways. One is to raise the price and thus cut down the number of customers, selling to those who have the money. The other is to hold the price stationary and sell to those who arrive first. But either way there will be trouble. Thus from England one hears stories of discontent because of the difficulty of buying certain items. The storekeeper sells to the Arst customers who appear. The first to appear are those who get there when the store opens. Thus there is a crowd when the .store opens and very soon the storekeeper’s supply is exhausted, 8 8 8

stand in line longest? In places it is those who do not have to leave to go to work. In other places it

to remain in line. ‘There is a pleasant little illusion here that we shall settle the matter prettily by controlling prices. Controlling prjces does not settle it. Furthermore we are not going to control prices. There is little sign of any desire really to control ‘prices.

the price of which he does not want to see controlled. The Administration is soaked in political thinking and is not going to ed one drop of its precious popularity to control #ny price in which any important group is interested’ The one solutiofi is rationing. That is not pleasant. But it is nof fair to say that essential goods shall go to those who have the most money, leaving the others to go without, or that they shall go to those who have most time to stand. in line, The honest and the just way is by rationing. Is there anybody in the Government with the rudimentary courage to propose that? : :

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So They Say— EVEN MORE important is it for us to strengthen our unity and morale by refuting at home the very theories which we: & fighting abroad.—President Roosevelt. { da .

FIRST, we will‘tr§ to bring the. jobs to the machines. If we can't & plish that, we will bring the machine to the job—Director Knudsen, OPM.

DEMOCRACY presupposes freedom of decision, and freedom of d 03 ‘necessarily involves personal Jesponsibility.—Archibald MacLeish, Librarian Congress. “a s

IT'S BABY TALK to go crying to the Government for parity. If we use our co- tives, we can parity by our own efforts.—~I. H. Hull, Indiana Bureau manager. ” Ms Cn

than an official circular of the United States Bureau:

‘prove that we: shoul

HO is able to get there earliest? Who is able to

is those who can afford to pay servants and employees

Every Congressman has some article in his district,

of »

| INDIANAPOLIS TIMES ES Book Ends?

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jas : DA Y 4 ¢ 18, 1941

fy

The Hoosier Forum

1 wholly disagree with what you say, but will - defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.

CHEERIO, GENERAL; HERE'S WORD OF PRAISE By P. A., Indianapolis. So the poor soldier boys had to march 15 miles for yoo-hooing? Well, here’s averages— The housewife walks eight miles a day. The mailman, 15 miles. The interne, 25 miles.

marched 15 miles one day and one fell by the road. - Poor soldier .boys. Poor Gen. Lear. He has the instincts of a gentleman and he doesn’t know how to make others accept them tactfully. Poor Gen. Lear. He was raised in an age when women were bundled women and men had respect for them. Now see what's happened—maybe he’s jeopardized his career and everything, just because of an out of date attitude. This is 1941. Women wear shorts. They know how to take care of themselves. Men, don’t show your feelings. Especially men, don’t be gentlemen. Oohgress might punish you if you ” EJ 5 REBUKES CLAPPER FOR CRITICIZING LINDBERGH By H. C., Indianapolis,

In Mr. Clapper’s column he seems to stress that Hitler is coming over and attack the U. S. A. like all other war mongers. If this Administration continues to give all-out aid to the trouble maker of Europe (England) and now to that bloodthirsty, God-hating vulture, Joe Stalin, at the expense of our country’s defense and our people's welfare, Hitler may attempt it, maybe. Mr. Clapper reprimands Lindy on his views about keeping this country out of this European war. Lindy has warned this country and some European nations of Hitler's great armament program and was rebuffed. He still gives facts to keep out of this European war. Lindy is for America. He is an American that ‘can’t be touched by propaganda money, he is against giving all our war materials to England and the rest of the world, thereby neglecting our .own defense. Mr. Clapper should give more attention to the vicious utterances of these war mongers, Knox, Stimson, Donovan, Willkie and Halifax and ethers that are trying to plunge our country into that European conflagration. They are willing to sacrifice the lives of our American boys on foreign soil, so that this

The yoo - hooing: soldier boys|-

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

Administration can divert our attention from our internal strifé of their faults and failures. Turn your criticism on the people really responsible for the confused state of affairs in our country, Mr. Clapper. f J 2 TAKING A SLAM AT BLUE'S VICE CAMPAIGN By a Citizen and a Voter Since Sherwood Blue iz busying

he has been for several months. Why this flare-up over \a condition that has existed for some\time? His oath of office did not beginjust this week. Is this vindictiveness bn account of the decision on the Ripper Bill, unfavorable to Republicans, or did he have a dream of a future election in which he would strive for a bigger plum? If he did, he may well forget it, for he is dead politically from, here on in. ... If “Little Boy Blue” is sincere and conscientious and not four-flushing in his clean-up, let him close the immoral houses, scattered throughout the city, where God's laws are violated and souls are ruined. Let him stop the abuses in taverns where persons are indulging in drinking to excess and are guilty of other vices, and where young persons are coming in contact with lewd characters. Quit “blowing your horn, Little Boy Blue”—quit playing politics and administer your office in justice and fairness. , fw.» FEELING ASHAMED OF U. S. LEADERS By A. L. N., Indianapolis. There are times when’ even children have a right, to be ashamed of the acts of their parents, yes; perhaps justified in hating them. It seems that the time is approaching, when every honest, respectable American has a right to feel ashamed of the agts of our

leaders. § Surely no real principle is in-

Side Glances — By Galbraith

volved in this: universal murdercrusade. One day we are led to believe that we are fighting for a just and righteous cause alongside of our friend, next day we are asked to stab him as our enemy. What an irony? It is not the bestial craving for selfish power among the leaders of

|the nations that has placed us in

this devilish mess? If President’ Roosevelt and his rubber-stamp Congress had any conscience at all, they had all reason to blush. - |

By Wm. Ta lor, Morgantown, Ind. \ ler, I owe you.an apelcan easily live on 50 cents y because you own a farm

nd have your own meat, potatoes, etcy with no rent to pay. I live in a farming community, ‘know something of the farmer’s problems and sympathize with them. However, if you had no farm and found yourself walking down the road with nothing but the clothes on your back, you could not even get started on the path to decent living, much less save enough in a lifetime to purchase a farm. Your argument reminds me of a farmer who said he bought his farm on 50 cents per day. ‘I figured up the 50 cents and found that if he had paid the 50 cents each day on the principal with: no interest, he still had 105 years to pay. Your argument on wages being the whole fault of high cost of living is ridiculous. Compare the subject in relation with the farmer. It would make no difference if the price of corn was $10 per bushel, if the purchaser, who is the consumer, had no $10. The farmer in that case would have the corn and no buyer. The farmer has been underpaid, ‘both on his investment and hors of labor. However, if the millions of people, who consume the farm products do not have the money to pay the price, the farmer has no market. The world war was proof of this. Butter—85 cents, eggs —80 cents, hogs—$24.50, corn—$2.40 bushel, and the working people paid the price because they were earning the price. Suppose that occasional labor you hire at threshing and haying time depended on you for a living. I am afraid the standard of living would take a nose dive, never to return. I understand why a farmer can't pay the price of a decent living, but I‘don’t understand why you protest the union men going after the Fords, Girdlers and such, whose enormous profits reveal they can afford to pay the price. : Certainly you favor the Farm Bureau. The organization does you a good service of material benefit. They have had tremendous help and support from organized labor. We receive material benefits from our union (bureau to you) in a like manner. Why should not labor organize

|for their own benefit? You find that every type of business has some kind

of organization such as the manufacturers’ association, the canners’ association, etc. Why you bellyache about the workers having an organization is beyond me, unless class distinction is still in practice. , , .

SIMPLE THINGS By VINA RETTOP Life's made up of simple things, A cabin, slippers and. smoke rings; An easy chair, a dog—a book— Fields of green, a comfy nook.

Yes, life’s made up of simple things, Goldfish—perhaps a bird that sings; A cheery word, a peaceful night, A feeling that everything's all right.

A happy ending—I will contend— May be enjoyed with just one friend. A beggar may find what's missed by

For life's made: up of simple things.

DAILY THOUGHT

Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of oan : : -112:4,

NU , " Et. i

|Gen. Johnson

Says—

q : "Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth’; That's as Good an Answer as Any To the Con'fusion in Washington

YY =moTon July 16.—Do you want to know what is the matter with things in Washington? “Too many cooks spoil the broth.” For example, here are some verbatim excerpts of official orders or announcements. Here is one of July 9th from the : labor division, Office of Produc tion Management, announcing a “new and concentrated approach to the problem of filling skilled labor and man-power require ments.” It announces that the “labor supply branch of the labor division is directed by Commis sioner Arthur S. Fleming” and later on says: “Associated with Mr, Fleming in developing the work of the labor supply branch will be the following officials:

: A 1. Chief of the United States

: Employment Service. 9. Chief of the training-within-industry branch, labor division, Office of Production Management. 3. Chief of the defense training branch, labor ivision, Office of Production Management (director f defense trai ‘Federal Security Agency). 4. Chief of the priorities branch, labor division, Office of Production Management. 5. Chairman Labor Relations Committee, labor division, Office of Production Management. 6. Minorities adviser, labor division, Office of Pro= duction Management. 7. Chief of Negro employment and training, Office of Production Management. - 8. Acting Commissioner of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor. 9. Director of the division of training and ree employment, Works Progress Administration, Federal Works Agency. : 10. Chairman of Committee on apprenticeship training program, division of labor standards, United States Department of Labor. 11. Chief division of research and statistics, Bue reau of Employment Security. 12. Members United States Civil Service Come mission,” » » # LL present or accounted for except Muddom Perkins, the CCC and the National Youth Administration which latter seems to be doing as good a job along these lines as any. But how are you going to administer anything with such a hydra-headed monstrosity as that? And get a load of this as an example of who is the boss in the Office of Production Management itself— directing production for defense. Remember what has just been quoted is a detail of what goes on in only one division of that overhead. Here is how “regulation Number 7,” from G. H. Q. has to be signed and attested: : William S. Knudsen, Director General Sidney Hillman, Associate Director General. Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of War Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy John Lord O'Brien, General Counsel Attest, Herbert Emerich, Secretary.

HAT is a right smart number of commanding generals for one effort. This ukase, by the way, was one setting up “defense industry advisory come mittees” for the various industries working on defense production, As far as American war experience goes, it provides the most cock-eyed hodge-podge of nothing at all that could well be conceived, There was a model that worked in the War Ine dustries Board Committees of industry, called war service committees, sitting opposite, committees of the various Government purchasing departments, called commodity committees. Demand (Government departments) was thus ine troduced to and invited to sit in with supply (the organized industries) in order to find the best and quickest sources of production and prevent conflicts, This order doesn’t do that. A Divine Providence alone knows what it does do. But it seems to try to mix thkm like the old greasy spoon restaurant formula for scrambled eggs on toast “Adam and Eve on a raft—wreck ’‘em!” On top of all of which, while Mr. Knudsen, et als, are setting up these as their industry commit« tees, Leon Henderson is setting up a parallel and rival industrial organization of the same kind. Mr, Knudsen calls the automotive industry together on one day, Mr. Henderson on the next. It is enough to stagger an inebriated jitterbug.

A Woman's Viewpoint

‘By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

ILLIAM SHIRER'S “Berlin Diary” should be a “must book” on your list this summer. It's easy to read and it serves up information on every

e. It is fine to have verified what we have long wished to believe—that the Gere man people didn't want this war —although it may make us a lite tle uncomfortable to learn that the German army is the most democratic in the world today. Mr. Shirer reports that it has practically eliminated the old caste system. The generals over there march with their troops. The tone of the book is pessi« mistic, and we can't blame any man for feeling that way when we follow the author upon his assignment of trying to report truth: from such a heavily censored country, Maybe I'm simple minded, but I got a big lift from the book. The only reasonable explanation for that is that I seem to be one of the. few beings who still believes in democracy—that is to say, I believe In it so strongly I am sure it can never be destroyed, no matter what happens. “Such a silly sentimental fool,” I can imagine certain well informed people saying, which is all right with me. Not only from my Bible, but from my own personal experience, I know that faith is the substance of things not seen. We exist today in what someone calls a state of ethical chaos; fear spreads a moral miasma over the land, darkening our spiritual horizons, If I were asked to pul my finger on the gravest peril now threatening freed I should say instantly, “Doubt of its strength and fear for its survival.” The future has never , and probably will never # be, secure for men and women. But humanity has managed to crawl up from a good many slimy places and to get itself out of several bad jams. I'm still betting on it. In no country, not even Germany, did the people want war. And in dictator-ridden lands, too, the people will one day take things into their own hands. I could as quickly renounce my belief in the ultimate triumph of Christianity and will as to repeat convincingly the defeatist codes ut death coming for democracy. \ Men who want and deserve liberty won't be with out it long. Life has a meaning beyond and above the circumstances of today. People who loge sight of that fact and give way to fear have already lost their chief treasure—faith, Editor's Note: The views expressed by oolumnists in this newspaper are their own. They are net necessarily of The Indianapolis Times .

Questions and Answers

(The Indianapolis Times Service Bureau will answer any question of fact or information, met extensive research. Write your questions clearly, sign name and address, inclose a three-cent postage stamp, Medical or legal advice eannot be given, Address The Times Washington Service Bureau, 1013 Thirteenth St. Washingten. D, C.)

What is a C peace? ax treaty of peace so severe that it means the