Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 July 1941 — Page 16

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"The Indianapolis Times (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) :

ROY W. HOWARD RALPH BURKHOLDER MARK FERREE Business Manager

Price in Marion County, 8 cents a copy; delivered by carrier, 12 cents a week. Bi

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

Member of United Press. “Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance, NEA ' .. Service, and Audit Bu-

‘reau of Circulations, RILEY 5551

THURSDAY, JULY 17, 1941

KEEP THE FLEET IN THE PACIFIC! *

“HE mining of Manila and ‘Subic Bays in the Philippines, 7" and the fall of the Japanese Cabinet, are but two of “many signs that the Far East crisis is approaching a showdown. Japan has made new demands on Indo-China, re‘called shipping, restricted the Kobe base, protested Amer-

ican delays in clearing ships. Russia has mined her Siberian |

waters, The United States, Britain, and the Dutch East Indies are holding important consultations. The natural reaction of Americans, who have been warnéd so often before that war with Japan impends or that everything depends on a Tokyo Cabinet shift, is to keep their fingers crossed. But just because we have escaped Before, we may not always be able to laugh at the “wolfwolf” cry. The long advertised German-Russian war . missed schedule many times, but it finally arrived with a bang. Therefore the United States Government is taking emergency measures at Manila and elsewhere, just in case. As for the Tokyo Cabinet collapse, most Japanese politiciane today are only fronts for the militarists and terror‘ists in the saddle. They used the strong Matsuoka as for‘eign minister, just as they bossed the weak Prince Konoye as Premier.” Even if liberals and anti-Axis men are named to the new cabinet, their policies and even their lives will be at the mercy of the military dictatorship. Certainly the United States will not provoke war in the Pacific. Now, more than ever, this nation needs and wants peace there. In our judgment, retention of American -naval and air power in the Pacific will do more than any‘thing else to prevent war—regardless of British demands in the Atlantic, and regardless of Japanese Cabinet changes.

THE WHY OF DISCIPLINE

“(NE dispatch says the boys of the Yoo-Hoo battalion are

indignant over criticism of Gen. Lear who disciplined

- ‘them with that long hike in the hot sun. That reaction

‘from the soldiers isn’t surprising. Here is some illuminating comment from an ex-soldier: “The power of discipline is undoubtedly abused by some officers, just as authority is abused by some people in every walk of life. However, the purpose of military discipline is not to inflict unnecessary or silly restrictions or punishment on a soldier, nor to justify the existence of a com‘missioned officer. The purpose is a fundamental and important one—to save the lives of soldiers. “I believe that for the most part discipline in the Army

8: onforcod properly and not abused; enforced in the spirit

of its purpose, which is in the interest of the soldier and his life. Obviously, well-disciplined troops who obey commands promptly and are completely trained in team work— which is what discipline fundamentally is—are less likely to die of drinking bad water or eating poisoned food, or blood-poisoning from uncared-for blisters, or intestinal trouble from over-indulgence in canteens, or ailments due to

. improper hygiene, or in combat from bullets and other

ipstruments of death, than those soldiers who are not trained to obey. The whole thing has a highly practical and highly desirable aim. z ; # & 8 2 8 = “You never hear old soldiers boasting about how easy ‘Old So-and-So’ was. You always hear them boasting how

hard-boiled their commanding officer was. It is not only a

“matter of pride in the ability to endure severe living—it is an intuitive sense of safety which causes the soldier to respect, to follow, and, deep in his heart, to like a strict

rather than a loose disciplinarian,

: “So, if I were a soldier in that particular battalion, and much as I might resent the severity of this action of Gen. Lear’s, I would choose him as a pretty good man ‘to cross

the river with’ when the going got tough.”

HERE'S ELMER AGAIN

FT HE Government now has stored away in various vaults about 42,000 tons of silver bullion for which it has no

earthly use. It is buying still more silver at 71.11 cents an

gunce—far more than its price in world markets—thus paying a handsome subsidy to a few Western mine owners. The silver-buying program ought to be stopped. The

men and materials now producing silver ought to be turned

to production for defense. Part of the surplus silver ought to be made available to substitute for industrial metals of which there are shortages—for instance, to replace tin for lining cans. = But the mere suggestion of such sensible action out- ~ rages the Senate silver bloc, headed by Oklahoma’s Elmer of homas. This bloc now asserts that the size and weight of the silver dollar may have to be reduced “to regulate the value of the dollar to that point where the people can meet”

, mounting debts and taxes—that “our large accumulation

of gold and silver monetary metals will go a long way toward liquidating our national obligations.” In other words, the Government should keep all its silver and continue to buy more in order to help the people. “But how would that help the people? The answer is, it wouldn't help them at all. i : ~~ Reducing the size and weight of the silver dollar would be a way of inflating the currency. The less the silver in the dollar, the more dollars can be made of a given amount \of silver—or, since acual silver dollars have gone out of use in most parts of the country, the more paper dollars can be issued. Senator Thomas is riding his same old Hobby, the theory that prices should be raised by making

gE money cheap and plentiful.

But with prices already rising alarmingly, with the sat of uncontrollable inflation through the defense proa one of its biggest worries, this country has no more d for producing more inflation by manipulating silver n a drowning man has for a couple of anvils. The reason by the silver Senators for continuing the silver-

Aviation By Maj. Al Williams

There Is a Limit to Efficient

B-19 Bomber May Have Reached It.

PriBuRH, July 17.—Some headline writers seem surprised that the gigantic B-19—the Army's 82-ton bomber—actuslly flies. The big plane has wings and engines and rumor has it that it was designed to fly. What it can do besides flying is the : question of great importance. For a given type of fabrication there is always a limit to efficient proportions of any structure—a point of diminishing returns, For so much, you get so much: and then for so much more you get so much Jess ‘than you expected. Nature and engineering seem to tolerate expansion only so far. For the most advanced method of fabricatifg wing and ship structure, the B-19 may well represent the limit of size. If so, all we have to do is to devise a new method for strength in aircraft structure at a lower weight per square foot of wing area. If aeronautical engineers built our present allmetal, skin-stressed planes on the exact plan scheme of the early wooden planes, installing a miece of metal for each piece of wood, our present air speedsters would never fly. New dimensions—new engineering—new technique.

8 =» 8

« TAPANESE on fence, trying to find ‘firm attitude’ due to Russo-German war,” says another headline. I hope our Naval strategists are not fooling themselves as to the type of hit-and-run whrfare that would be fought between the United States and Japan among that nest of Japanese submarine and air base network of islands in the Far East. Many Americans don’t realize Japan's determination to make full use of. the present hostilities as her only chance to carve up the British Empire and dominate Asia. If the Japanese are on any fence, it’s not a matter of which way theyll jump, but when. And when they jump, we will see Europe's hit-and-run naval warfare revamped to fit the Asiatic zone of combat—airplanes and submarines,

HE Douglas twin-engined ground strafing and light bombers (DB-7s) which we are supplying to the British and our Army Air Corps evidently are sweet-flying and high-performance warplanes. They not only can carry a sizable load of bombs, but they can maneuver remarkably well, The bombardier is in the nose of the ship and the pilot right behind him. Each man has a flock of light and heavy machine guns at hand. The bombardier can bail out in an emergency by opening the door underneath his cockpit. There's no way for the pilot to get out, though, because the propellers are right behind him, except by stalling the ship and causing himself to be tossed out when she whips own,

Business By John T. Flynn

Arms Will Lag Until We Settle The Question of Where to Use Them

EW YORK, July 17.—Congressman Joseph Martin thinks that defense has been bungled, but he was careful to leave out any opinion on the question whether America should send men to Europe to fight. His aftack was wholly on the economic front—the sheer business of producing war goods. : _ The question cuts pretty deep, of course. And it is a very serious _guestion whether the problem can ># be dealt with at all unless the use to be made of the arms is to be considered. The use to be made of them is a political ‘question; the manner in which they are to be employed is a military one; the means. of producing them is economic. But the economic problem of producing cannot be determined until it is known what arms are needed, which is a military matter. And the military men cannot determine what they need until the political question is settled. At the moment the whole problem is bungled because of the utter confusion of the political question. What are these arms to be used for and where? If they are to be used in Europe and Asia, then the kind and amount of arms to be produced is wholly different from the kind and amount to he produced for defense of this hemisphere. If the object of producing is to defend the Eastern Hemisphere, there is nothing foolish from a military point of view in sending the bulk of what we produce to Europe to the. British. But if the idea is to defend the Western Hemisphere, then not only are we making the wrong kind of weapons but we are making a mistake by sending them abroad.

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HE production machine is geared to produce so ‘A such. If we produce more than we need, or attempt to.produce more than we are capable of producing, we will certainly run into trouble. And that is precisely what has happened. Managers, department heads, laborers, manufacturers—all are being blamed because they have had a job handed to them which, in the very nature of

is impessible. The failure of our people and our political critics to understand the precise nature of the attempt suddeniy to transform a vast peace-time industrial machine to a war-time one is at the bottom of most of the criticisms. And as one reads the comments of military and naval men it is equally clear that they do not grasp the character of that machine. There is almost no limit to what we can do if we are given time to make the necessary adjustments. J them will take several years—quite a few indeed. But the war groups are in-a hurry. They “want them made at once—next week, next'month— when that is impossible. Then they begin to blame other people, to get cross and out of patience. The one way to get defense in time is to limit it to defense—defense of this hemisphere. But we might as well be honest—as ] men are among themselves—and admit that we are not doing that. We are working to defend another hemisphere. The ob is too big. :

So They Say—

IF ANYONE STILL believes that anything short of superior military power can prevent world conquest by Hitler, then indeed we can only wonder af the credulity of the human race—Pr. Calvin B. Hoover, economist for OPACS. . : ®» *

THERE IS nothing worse than the feeling that nobody cares about us, and right now a good many of our soldiers feel that nobody cares about them.— John D. Rockefeller Jr. speaking for the USO driye, Ww * *®

THE KU-KLUX KLAN . . . is now supported by the German government and I trust the good people of Spartanburg County know this—Governor Maybank of South Carolina. * % ® WE WANT TO show the Ford Motor Co. that the U. A. W.-C. I. O. is an experienced, steady-going organization that lives up to its agreements. F. Addes, secretary-treasurer U. A. W.-C, I. O, ’ $ " Ww «

COMMUNISTS’ support of the defense program in order to aid the Soviet Union does not ik i the reasons why labor fights them as deadly enemies.— William Green, president of the A. F. of L. * #

MOST Americans are overweight just because they take too much relaxation and too little exercise.—Nelson Bennett, model, who at 50 has not changed a measurement in 2¢ >}

Teams. _ WE HAVE TO ,

HU0O1 DICH

program turns out to be the most compelling reason

tions to our peo-

Size of Aircraft and the Army's |

things, in a democratic society which is also human, |

Lp i

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

Forum

A LOUD PROTEST FROM DREXAL GARDEN TAXPAYER By Clarence E. Williams, R. R. 8, Box 52

owners have to pay taxes, when they don’t come out and cut the weeds on the highways and put up some slow signs for traffic in the Gardens. We don’t have any sewers and children going to school should have a walk to protect ¢hem from speeders. A child or grown-up isn’t safe the way they drive out here. . . . There are speeders out here with bugle horns that blow from 5:30 to 6:30 every day. . . . Will the City and Chief of Police take care of this? » ” ” HE URGES AWAKENING BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE By H. F. L., Indianapolis. : Mr. Ickes is right in saying Lindbergh is nothing but a Quisling. He, along with Wheeler, Nye and Fish, should be placed in concentration camps. We do not need their kind in America. Col. Frank Knox is right, too. Now is the time to clear the Nazis off the Atlantic. Some people, including your editorial staff, are too dumb to see the danger that confronts the U, S. You are afraid to take the first step in meeting the issue. Suppose the medical profession was afraid to quarant an epidemic? We certainly would not combat the situation very well. It is always easier to prevent anything than cure it. i Lel’s wake up before it is t late, ; ] | 8 = = UPHOLD INQUIRY INTO LEAR EPISODE By Mrs. M. C. 8., Indianapolis . This is in reply to Clara Cheadle’s letter on the Lear episode. I, for one, very much disagree with her in her feeling towards our] Congressman in investigating the matter of Gen. Lear. : I have a husband in a branch of the service of the United States and know that if this investigation is

Why do Drexel Garden property|,

able-bodied seamen of the fleet as

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

rimanding Gen. Lear it might do away with some of the smart alecky actions of some of the officers in our Army and Navy. I am sure the. soldiers meant no disrespect in their actions toward the girl golfers. I am proud to have my husband serve his country, but I want him to be treated like 3, human being, and net the target for a superior’s anger or spite. & os ” FAVORS BUILDING U. S. AIR BASE IN BERLIN By Haze Hurd, 830 8. Addison St. I see where the Rev. Daniel H. Carrick of 620 Spring St. has begun to preach his hate again in the forum. . , . Yes, my ‘dear preacher, we Yanks will build us an air base in Iceland, or Ireland or any other place we choose. And if the folks

over in Hitler land get too smart we might build us an air base in Berlin, » 5 = URGES NAVY AS CAREER FOR YOUTH By Raymond H. Stone, 531 E. 56th St. The strength of the United States Navy is that admirals can rise from

well as through appointments by members of the House of Representatives. There are thousands of sturdy lads in the land between Denver and Pittsburgh who have the will and intelligence to climb the ladder

made and steps taken toward Be htuday in the Navy.

of the mainmast. : The regulars are the men needed

Side Glances = By Galbraith

"Let's wait ve or three days more before we writs the boy friends

lor if Gens. Grant or Lee prepared

A SLAP AT VANNUYS FOR OPPOSING SMITH

By D. Kieisher, 216 Hendricks Place I see Where far-sighted Frederick VanNuys has broken loose again. Away back in third term days when our President was a total flop and the welfare of all the country, even Indiana, was at stake, our dear Frederick would knock, knock. Did any one ever hear him say any man was on the up and up but Frederick VanNuys? But it looks as if he has almost slipped out of print; no big shots to smirch he takes on our collector, Mr. Smith, Your paper of the 13th states he has found a way to dispose of the Collector. Have any voters asked for this? If efficient service is concerned, Mr. Smith could back our dear Senator off the map. If he is so profound in his wisdom does he not know the ones he smears carried him into office? Of all the conversations I have had of late this Mr, VanNuys had better attend to his knitting and not so much chastisement of

Gen Johnson

T grade of brigadier general by selection rather

| and “having writ moves on nor all

best man in public office we ev had. Or I will bet him 10 to 1 tha this is the last public job he will ever hold. A few more of you votes should tell him so,

” ” ” QUESTIONS PEGLER’S THINKING ON CITIZENSHIP By D. V., W. 10th St. No doubt Mr. Pegler is.some thinker, but when he thinks a perSon has to be American-born to make a real ‘American I think he should think of thinking a little deeper. y 2 2» THINKS LEAR INCIDENT HURTS ARMY MORALE

By D. T., Indianapolis It is too bad that at the time of this national emergency, when the efforts of the country are strained to the utmost to build up an efficient, well - equipped, well - trained army, that the antics of fussy Gen. (Yqo-Hoo) Lear should je allowed to have an adverse influence on the mora'e of our soldiers. To have discipline it is essential to have respect. It is impossible to think what the reaction might have been if Washington had spent his time shooting craps at Valley Forge

themselves for battle by a rousing game of ping-pong or puss in the corner. Isn't it about time that some of these crusty, old brass hats were retired to the security and safety of their clubs and the command of the troops in the field be placed in the hands of officers who know what it is all about?

JULY BROADCAST By MARY P. DENNY I. hear the music of the day Through all the shining summer way. The imu of the tiny cricket The song of robin redbreast in the

thicket, The ‘lilt of lark from blackberry bush The far off note of the brown

~—

. The south wind over fields of corn, The song. of wild bird in the

morn. | The music of the swaying green grass. The glory where red cardinals pass. . The low sweet melody of the falling rain Ringin ng forever more in silver All notes of day and starry night Reaching unto the mornin I hear in broadcast pop is DAILY THOUGHT -

There is not a just man upon SH rl go Se Te

MAN IS his own star,

13 Del lel JAH,

the

THURSDAY,

Soysee- 0 B

Army Promotions Based Strictly On Merit But It's Quite Difficult To Gauge Real Ability in Peacetime,

ASHINGTON, July 17.—As has been stated hers before,” this new business of promotion to, the an seniority is all right. This writer shouldn't kick. H® was a brigadier general at 35—the youngest between the Civil War and 1918. Not onl that, but he declined & si promotion some months before ih favor of an older officer whom he thought more suitable to the spe cialized job in question. He wal promoted from a rank of captain, ~ The recent considerable flock of appointments to new stars, some cases is obviously warrantes and in others, I dunno. The trous ble is this: Few of these ap Bg. X. pointees have ever been put any real test. The appointmen are made on the extensive and meticulously kept “records” that follow an officer from his first coms mission to his last farewell, Re Every commander under whom he has servell has to report on his performance whether he observed him for a month or a year. The method of rating is quite arbitrary. The highest that can be given is “superior.” If you haven't got & consistent record of “superior,” you are out of luck and one two adverse reports, whether from prejudice, fa x or amply justified, can ruin you.

o o #

OW there is such a thing as Army politics. 9 No cases than one, the colonel’s lady, if n has a finger in that pie, Kipling “Make Your Peace With thq

Judy O'Grady, was right when he sang, Ladies- and the Men Will Make You, L. G.” » Furthermore, there is the knowledge that change ing C. Os have this power, month after month ang

year after year of the moving finger which writes your piety no® wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all your tears wash out a word of it.” aly t in the stern test of war, there is a danger that this system may become a test in servility, lack of independent opinion, and hand-shaking. In actual conflict, it is different. No matter what the movin finger has written, boldness, leadership, courage an ingenuity, producing results, stand out like Mars ah Perihelion whether on the battlefield or in the serve ices of supply behind the lines. Another thing, there is no assurance that mera youth, without some added quality proved, or mers age without some known disability in courage and vigor, is any universal touchstone. It is true that the greatest world conquerors in history were re< markably young. . ; - By all odds the greatest was, and probably ever will remain, Ghengis Khan, (Spelled 25 ways.) started at 19. But let's not forget that his greatesgf conquests and campaigns were conducted after he was 57. In the probable order of their lesser geniud were Alexander, Caesar, Hannibal and Napoleon. They, too, were all young men for their rank. a was Scipio Africanus in the campaigns that defeats Hannibal or Wellington, who was only 46 at Waterlog;

UT these all-conquering infant prodigies were rash. ‘Their conquests crumbled with their deaths, They were all obsessed with delusions of grandeur and sophomoric ambitions to run the world, In less spectacular, but more profitable, roles we shall find Pershing, Hindenburg, Foch, Lee and, on the more favorable side of 50, but no children, Grant, Sherman and Stonewall Jackson. All of us know plenty of men past middle age with far more energy, initiative and even ambition than some of lesser years. It would be a shame in oul. present dearth of professional and experienced mili tary minds to shelve completely so many excellent. soldiers and sailors as seems to be on our prograny for the skids. > Some .may not be good for active field servicey but when we think of all the jobs that have to ba done in training, supply and other services equally necessary, what kind of economy of manpower, train intelligence and Federal investment in these facili is it to go all-out to amateurs and let these ex grow into human turnips on Government peljsions Surely there is some sensible middle ground, both selections and benzining,

ives

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

1= stand taken by the Roman Catholic clergy ia, Germany, where complaihts were read recently from the pulpits about Nazi interference with ree ligious creeds, are receiving paeans of editorial praise. in our country. And it is all deserved, However, it : "comes as something of a shock tq find those wMo are so generous with compliments for the moral courage of German churchmen, using a lot of newspaper space ta damn religious groups in the United States when they take practically the same attitude in opposing certain military man< dates. The fellow who raises his voice here for caution, compromise or peace is branded as renegade. Hig stand elicits a different definition "© of courage. There are many evie dences in our country today that we are drifting far. from our original concepts of democracy and casting" away those principles which we are arming to defend, For example, consider this classic remark from the ex-Republican leader, Wendell Willkie: “I do nok: think the American people want the President to fols. low them but they want to follow the President.” At th nt the vords may be true—but if they: are, then we have already discirded our heritage of: freedom. Even though Mr. Roosevelt were right idl all things and infallible in judgment, the statemenf would still be questionable. » Because they believe in a government “of, bj and for the people,” and are willing te fight and die for it, our citizens should resent any suggestion of evasion of duty in making their system function. - We have no moral right to ask our President to take full responsibility for foreign or domestic policies, If the way followed is the right one, the credit must be ours, and if it js wrong then we must be ready to share the blame for the mistakes. Any other course for free men and women is unthinkable,

VEY Vid

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Pay - -

Editor's fore: The views expressed by columnists In this” newspaper sro their own. They sre nos necessarily those of The Indianapolis Times, ; .

Questions and Answers

(The Indianapolis Times Service Bureau will angwer any’ question of fact or information, not involving extensive ree search. Write your guestigns clearly, sign name and address, inclose a three-cent postage stamp. Medical or legs) advice. .

cannot be given, Address The Times Washington Service Bureau, 1013 Thirteenth $t.. Washington. BD, £.) -

| Q—Have commereial fairs and expositions been

held in during the war? id In Germany du doin of products to | and

foreign buyers have continued to be held uninterrupts

@—Who organized the le Squadron of Ameri can fliers with the BR. A. F. in England? A—Col. Charles Sweeney. When he tq

“this country for the purpose of trying to get his famil

ut of France, he command to Come mander William E , # former officer of tha

U. 8. Marine Carpe. ; QI recently discovered that I was born in Canada and was brought to the United States hy my parents

Fa! Tay

b when I was an infant,

very young and I was by strangers, no proof that my parents ever became citizens, | ! A Bly at Jou nearest office, ‘oannot, register there, write to Department of C., and ask for