Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 August 1941 — Page 12

| PAGE 12 eee maa The Indianapolis Times

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1941

CONTINUE THE INVESTIGATION

HE Safety Board took the only action possible yesterday when it removed Fred C. Kennedy as fire chief, demoted him in rank to acting captain and withheld his pay until restitution is made for work done on his home by City employees. There seems to be no question about the punishment being thoroughly deserved. It was a cheap sort of chisel on the part of a well-paid public official. By itself, such conduct ought to raise serious question about his right to head one of the city’s most responsible offices. The Safety Board has not revealed all its evidence. If any other officials in the department have been receiving similar favors, now is the time to clean out the situation once and for all. The investigation should be continued until the Board is satisfied the department is clean.

WHOSE PUBLIC BUILDINGS? HE City Council of Oklahoma City, by unanimous vote, has denied use of the municipal auditorium for an address by Charles A. Lindbergh. Says Councilman A. P. Van Meter: “We are not denying Lindbergh freedom of speech. He can go out on the street corner and talk until he gets tired. We just don’t want him in our public buildings.” As if a public building would be profaned by the exercise therein of a public right. As if those among the people of Oklahoma City who want to hear Lindbergh have no right to hear him in one of their public buildings. As if— assuming Lindbergh's opinions to be as wrong as Councilman Van Meter and his colleagues apparently believe— a public auditorium were not the most appropriate of all places for the public to listen to those opinions and understand their wrongness. No, the councilmen are not denying Lindbergh freedom of speech. What they are denying is that free speech, unless they happen to agree with what is to be said, belongs in “our” public buildings. Contrast their attitude with that of Prime Minister Peter Fraser of New Zealand, leader of a country actually at war, who on the same day said in Washington that he “would like very much indeed” while in this country to meet and talk with Lindbergh’s fellow isolationist, Senator Burton K. Wheeler. “Progress can be made in the defense of democracy only by such meetings and discussions,” said Mr. Fraser.

SOLDIERS CAN'T STRIKE OHN HABINYAK'S court-martial sentence—10 years and nine months in Federal prison—has been commuted by the War Department to three years in a disciplinary barracks. If he behaves well, Habinyak may be released in 30 months. Many people will think this drafted man is still being too severely punished. As a miner in Pennsylvania, he said he had earned $10 a day, and he objected to working for $21 a month as a soldier at Ft. Bragg, N. C. He spat on the floor, and refused to clean up the saliva, and he disobeyed other orders—to clean the floor around his bed, to clean his mess kit, to pick up concrete blocks from a road. Even three years of imprisonment for such offenses does seem, from a civilian viewpoint, to be terribly drastic. But suppose all soldiers adopted Habinyak’'s attitude and refused to obey orders. We can’t have any kind of an Army without discipline, and no Army can have discipline unless the soldiers know that the penalty for insubordination is more than a slap on the wrist. Yet it's also true that we can’t have a real Army without equipment. And many soldiers at $21 a month must find it difficult to understand why men in factories producing the equipment should be free to refuse to work whenever they're dissatisfied with their far higher wages or for any other reason.

THE BIGGER, HIDDEN BURDEN

THERE will be twice as many Federal income-tax payers, if the Senate Finance Committee's version of the revenue bill becomes law. There will be twice as many citizens with a conscious pocket interest in economy. Instead of one-sixth of the total number of Americans, two-sixths will be eagerly concerned with getting a dollar's worth of defense and good government for each dollar they have plucked from their purses. But that doesn’t mean that the other four-sixths of the people won't have a stake in the Government's fiscal policies. To the contrary, they will continue to have a very real interest. Though they may not be touched by direct income taxation—for their incomes are below even the. proposed new taxable levels—they will continue to carry a major ghare of the burden through indirect taxation, hidden levies added to the prices they pay for everyday goods and gervices. Even if the income-tax exemptions are reduced to $750 for single persons and $2000 for married couples, and even after the much stiffer income rates are imposed, the Government will still be getting most of its revenues from invisible taxes—the taxes to which President Roosevelt referred when he said they are “paid in the sweat of every man who labors.” The most unfair thing about hidden taxation is that it falls heaviest upon those who are least able to pay. i Another thing to remember is this: Whenever the jncome tax base is broadened, the bulk of the additional pevenue comes from the people who are already in the taxable brackets. For instance, the base-broadening which the Senate Committee proposes, will yield some $300,000,000, but only about one-tenth of that will come from the pockets of the new taxpayers. The rest will be paid by those who “are already on the income-tax rolls. And the higher a man’s

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Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

Hendrik Willem Van Loon Enters The Picture in Connection With All the To-Do About Fadiman.

EW YORK, Aug. 27—Our fat friend, Hendrik Willem Van Loon, comes lumbering to the defense of his wounded comrade, Clifton Fadimapn, the killingly clever pundit of the air, the screen and the printed page, but just what Mr, Van Loon defends him against I am unable to say. Mr. Van Loon, who calls himself a student of abnormal psychology, declares that I recently attempted to assassinate his comrade’s character. I would be the last to deny that Mr. Van Loon is a student of, indeed an authority on, abnormal psychology, for he has had inviting opportunities to pursue his studies in the circle of his acquaintance and in the realm of introspection. Any man so obsessed, would be bored by normal n men, and normal men, in turn, find themselves ill-at-ease or, in a word. ill, in the presence of abnormalities. Now that Mr. Van Loon mentions it, I realize that this could have been why I have always felt a robust aversion to this buxom Continental with his lacy mannerisms and his flouncing furies. Possibly thi§ boast of Van Loon's explains why he asserts as character-assassination the simple presentation in print of some political sentiments which his comrade, Fadiman, wrote for the Communist publication, The New Masses, To the normal mind, a man’s professed beliefs are his privilege and his boast. You do not charge aman with his professed beliefs, but Van Loon, his mind dwelling on the abnormal, seems to hold that there is something shameful in Mr. Fadiman’s principles, noisily declared in Communist company in a Communist publication, and that it is vicious to take him at his word. ” 2 o

N PRESENTING Fadiman'’s credo, I did not suggest that it was a confession of guilt, I just quoted him back to himself and asked him if he recognized these sentiments and remembered who wrote them. Before I published this memoir, however, I telephoned Mr. Fadiman to invite his comment. His reply was that he had written this declaration quite a long time back and that he did not know that The New Masses intended to publish it under a heading which committed the contributors to Communism. For what it was worth, I presented his explanation, remembering. however, for myself, that there is a cousin-breed of cats known as fellow-travelers which runs with the Communists and observes their social and moral forms but lives on better fare. But I am sure Mr. Van Loon would not call his comrade a fellow-traveler, for they are held in contempt by Communists and non-Communists alike as a flinching, mincing lot who lack the courage to join the party and run like hares from the Redbaiters. I did not attempt to classify Mr. Van Loon’s comrade, therefore, but just presented his own declaration and the explanation and let it go at that. ” ” 2

AM afraid I can't allow Mr. Fadiman to recant as glibly as he tried to and my authority for this position is Mr. Fadiman himself in an essay published only last week. Discussing a new book by Dr. Hermann Rauschning, the backslid Nazi, entitled “The Conservative Revolution,” Mr, Fadiman coldly rejects Rauschning’s statement that he really didn’t mean it when he was practicing Hitlerism in Germany. “Suppose,. Dr. Rauschning,” he writes, sternly, “we stop being subtle and hochphilosophic and state a simple fact or two. It would seem to most people that anybody who is familiar with Hitler's speeches (as you must have been) was aware that his central appeal lay in an inflammatory invitation to murder a helpless minority.” He then holds Rauschning irrevocably bound by his earlier choice and I now find Van Loon accusing me of character-assassination in applying Fadiman’s own rule to Fadiman, himself, But surely Van Loon dishonors his comrade by this defense, for he craves an indulgence that his pundit friend bitterly withholds from another. And he argues that his friend's declared beliefs were somewhat despicable, which is a hell of a way to treat a comrade. Van Loon, out of his knowledge of the abnormal, suggests that in my youth I may have wished to be a policeman or a writer. I believe that is what the abnormalists call the field of suppressed desire and the fact is that I did have a longing to be a ball player. I suppose Van Loon, too, may have wished to be something else, say a milliner, or a nurse.

Russia's Role By Ludwell Denny

ASHINGTON, Aug. 27.—The biggest news since Hitler turned from England to invade Russia is the Nazi admission that the Battle of Russia will run into the spring. But, even if true, that is not enough to assure eventual British victory. Of course this confession of the Berlin spokesman, two months after the start of the campaign which was to last only a few weeks, reflects the first failure of blitzkrieg methods. And it is all the more significant coming in the midst of current Nazi advances. But military experts here are restraining their optimism, because there may yet be an unexpected collapse before winter, and because even Russia's resistance with the help of winter will not be suffi- : cient, unless she is strong enough for an cffensive in the spring or before. The war of attrition, which has followed the lightning war, can destroy Russia just as effectively in the end unless larger Anglo-American aid is quickly forthcoming. For Russia, as in the days of Napoleon, can outlast any enemy in the attrition of manpower; but she alone cannot match Germany in mechanized replacements. There are groups in official London and Washington which would be only too pleased to have Russia washed up this fall or early in the spring. They think she already has provided the needed breathing spell for Britain to arm and win the war next year. With Russia out of the way, there would be no embarrassing presence of the Soviets at the victors’ peace table or in postwar Europe.

2 ” »

UT the Churchill-Roosevelt group does not take that shortsighted view, for very realistic reasons: 1. Even with this important breathing spell, it is probable but’ not certain that England next spring could withstand a full German attack. 2. Granting that England herself could hold out, it is improbable that she could prevent Nazi conquest of her Middle East empire and even India, if Hitler instead of Stalin controlled the Russian gates to the East and its oil supplies. 3. Assuming a near-miracle in which Britain held the Middle Fast and England, the result would still be a victory for Hitler, for he would still hold Europe and Russia. The highest British generals have admitted that Hitler cannot be defeated except on the continent, and that Britain alone cannot do that. 4. Thus the only apparent alternative to Hitler victory, at least over Europe, is that Russia be able to fight next year—either Russia, or an American expeditionary force of millions. Even an A, E. F, could not make up for the loss of Russia. There is grave doubt whether the world’s total shippihg tonnage would be enough to transport and supply an A. E. F. of sufficient size—assuming the improbable, that an A. BE. F. could land on the continent. 5. Russia, not hard-pressed Britain, is America’s best peace balance in the Pacific, and best victory balance if Japanese war comes. So, although Russian resistance to date may have saved England from invasion, continued Russian resistance next year is apparently required to prevent Axis victory over Europe-Africa-Asia, including much of the Pacific.

So They Say—

A LOT OF people are dreaming because they don’t realize the seriousness of this situation where we are up against a world movement and unusual steps are required. —Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd. = * =

I AM JUSTIFIED in saying that the best bombers

income, the larger his share of the increase, That's fair.

we've had came from the United States.—Lord Beaver-

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Put That in Your Pipe and Smoke It!

—— Cypser

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The Hoosier Forum

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

PUTS IN A PLUG FOR WESTBROOK PEGLER

By S. Richard Peters, an Ohioan. I regularly read Westbrook Pegler's column “Fair Enough” for it really does impress me. This man certainly does hit the nail on the head. His sound, straight-from-the-shoulder facts expose the crooked schemes of Communists, racketeers and politicians who have somehow acquired the public's trust. Many shady characters and Government officials have called him the garbage man of journalism, etc, but he never prints anything that he can't prove, except his own opinions. It is a shame that American journalism can’t produce more men of Pegler’s caliber. If you want the unimpeachable truth concerning this so-called democracy of ours, read his column daily. You may be suprised! 2 2 ” URGES SOME THOUGHT FOR OLDER FOLKS By M. R. S.. Although the summer is nearly over, now is the time to plan next year’s recreational phase of our

parks especially as it touches vital interests of our older people. In the past, altogether too much emphasis has been laid on recreational facilities for our youth and altogether too little on those that would be of use to men and women in the twilight of their life. Like the youth, the aged, too, must be occupied in some wholesome activities. ‘ We owe much to our fathers and mothers, yet we do so little to make them happy in their ol@ age. A great majority of the aged depend financially on the support of their children, or institutions, and I believe every son and daughter would gladly take care of their parents as far as the necessities of life are concerned, but in most cases it is beyond their means to provide proper recreation for their parents. I recommend that cities provide suitable games &uch as shuffieboards, dominoes, charades, horseshoes, card tables, etc., for those old folks. During the summer public parks should be utilized for this

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

views in

purpose, while in winter months public social centers should reserve a nook or two for their own activities. We take care of our children and adults by providing for them playgrounds, swimming pools, tennis courts, baseball diamonds and many other facilities. Well, I propose, that we also take care of our old people now that they have outlived their industrial and commercial usefulness. Let us eliminate this social injustice and let us give our old parents a chance to enjoy to the fullest measure their old age.

¥ 8 =n BELIEVES FIRE DEPT. CASE IS NOT AN EXCEPTION

By a South Sider, Indianapolis. An interesting thought arises in connection with the Fire Department case, in which the Fire Chief apparently ordered one of his men to work at his home while on duty. Everybody knows that this kind of petty chiseling is part and parcel of politics. Chief Kennedy probably isn't any more guilty than a couple of dozen other officials — city and county — many of whom possibly get away with lots worse. His crime seems to be getting caught. How about the others?

,y 2» WANTS WHEELER TO MAKE HIMSELF PERFECTLY CLEAR

By J. W. T., Indianapolis. I, for one, am finding it terribly difficult these days to get Burton Wheeler in his true light. Once upon a time, I believed he was a true liberal. A liberal is one who is not dogmatic. A liberal is one who will readily admit he was wrong on anything, minor or major. But since the issue of American aid to Britain has arisen, Burton

Side Glances=By Galbraith -

"It'll soon be fall, Maw, and we'll be seeing the last of the robins and summer relatives!"

Wheeler has become one of the most

opinionated man in all America. He will not admit he erred on even a single minor point. I could understand. his disliking Hitler and yet opposing any American participation in aid to the democracies. But I cannot understand a die-hard policy in which he utters not a single word against Hitlerism. This seems to be a peint that is being overlooked. Are Wheeler, Lindbergh, et al, sincerely against Roosevelt's policies, while detesting naziism as greatly as does the President? Or are Wheeler and Lindbergh actually in sympathy with the Nazies? I don’t think any outsider can give the answer. It's up to those gentiemen to make themselves clear.

¥ 8 2» SEES ‘EIGHT POINTS’ AS PUTTING US IN THE WAR By Edward F. Maddox, 959 W. 28th St,

There is so much propaganda being fed to us Americans and most of it is so cunningly disguised that it seems to me, part of it, at least, should be explained. The idea, and crafty policy, being pur-

pede us by fear into sheoting war in the Atlantic, is to have the responsible leaders disavow any desire or intention of wanting to get us in the war with men, but to gradually get us so deep into the war effort on the economic and financial front, and to edge us so close to the precipice and to scare us so bad that we will insist on jumping into the abyss.

Whoever says the “eight points” do not commit us to active participation in the war is deceived. Let me remind you, fellow Americans, that we have already been told that “we have a war to win, which must be won by tough nard fighting,” and we have been given a hint that we are already in the war and are too dumb to know it. Union now would put us in the war! The eight points would put us in the war, because those objectives are all predicated on “the. final destruction” of several nations. Let us be honest and sensible and not be stampeded by fear, deceived by guile nor fooled by propaganda. Let's stick to facts! The platforms of both Democrats and Republicans in last election, the pledges of both candidates, and the desire and determination of a large majority of our citizens favors a strong policy of national defense, aid to Britain—short of war, and a desire to see peace among all nations. That is our real national policy, proposed by our political parties, accepted by both candidates, approved by the people and implemented by acts of Congress. What honest patriotic American can deny or repudiate this sensible foreign

policy?

AMERICA By FRANCES RICHMOND

I've never been in foreign lands Or crossed the briny sea For I was born in America And it’s good enough for me.

I speak no foreign language With an accent on the (T) I just talk plain English And it's good enough for me.

I don't like Hitlerism I live where folks are free Where waves the old Red, White and Blue And it’s good enough for me. -

I've never been where bombs fall Bringing death and misery; And we don't want it over here, This is good enough for me.

DAILY THOUGHT

Be not afraid, only believe.— Mark 5:36. 8 2 ” GOD IS NOT DUMB, that He should speak no more; if thou hast

wanderings in the wilderness and find’st not Sinai, ‘tis thy soul is poor.~Lowell,

—

oe WEDNESDAY, AUG. 27, 1041]

Gen. Johnson Says—

Military Business Is a Grim One And Draftees Must Learn That Obedience Ranks at the Top.

ASHINGTON, Aug. 27.—This column is unpleas« ant to write and almost sure to be misunderstood. Nevertheless, since the War Department has announced that it is “amazed” at a 10-year senfence assessed by a court-martial at Ft. Bragg on Draftee Private Habinyak, for direct disobedience of the orders of an officer, I think it is a duty to write it, Aside from treason, the two most serious of military offenses in our own and all other armies are “sentinel sleeping on post” and “direct disobedience of the orders of a commissioned officer.” In shooting war, especially in presence of the enemy, the possible penalty for either is death. Aside from all sentimental considerations, you can't build an army on any primary provisions less harsh. No reported War Department “amazement” can be very convincing in view of the fact that its educational literature and regulatory mandates stress this point. The truth is that this embarrassment comes at a time when the department is justifiably under fire for low morale and discipline and busily engaged in blaming everybody but itself. ” ” ”

HIS is not at all to say that I approve the han dling of the Habinyak case. In the first place, inexperienced officers are the harshest with enlisted men. In the second, inexperienced courts-martial are the most apt to assess extreme and inconsiderate penalties. The fault here was in some whipper-snapper down the line, who didn't sit down with this poor, uninformed and reckless kid in his new quarters, make it clear to him what he was up against, explain to him why it had to be and avoid this incident altogether. I referred in this column the other day to one of my own most poignant memories. One of the finest kids I ever commanded got the idea, from sweetheart trouble, that he had to get out of the Army quickly and that the best way to do it was to refuse to obey an order, get perhaps a year in the guardhouse—and a dishonorable discharge. I did argue with him, but he refused to mount his horse for cavalry drill in front of a whole troop—over and over again. I should have sent him back to barracks and gone more patiently over the case after drill. But a whole squadron was waiting. I took an irretrievable step—sent him to the guard house under general court-martial charges. He also got 10 years and I have never ceased to re.gret it, I always hated court-martial procedure and during many years of service never preferred courtmartial charges against more than a few men in unavoidable cases. . } 2 ”n on

UT this question is a puzzler, especially at the beginning of the formation of an Army. The safety and success of everything depends on unquestioning obedience of deliberate orders, even if they” mean death. All soldiers must feel that to the marrow of their bones. Obedience must be second nature. Early in the World War some soldiers in Texas mu tinied and killed some civilians. They were hanged by court-martial sentence ale most immediately. That time the War Department was not merely “amazed,” it was in a panic. But almost unanimously the national press applauded the result. : The Habinyak sentence got prompt review and the humane commutation to three years was probably just. Some discreet shifting of impulsive and inex perienced commanders may still be needed, but no impression should be given that well-instructed men can wilfully disobey direct orders and escape with a slap on the wrist. War and military service are a grim business.

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

BOUT 18 months ago the little city where I live was in a dither about raising funds for Finland, Cynics were sharply reprimanded by pulpit and press, and their social prestige dipped like a thermometer in January because all the prominent people were eager to do something for the brave Finns. An uncritical reference to Ruse

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faint interest in the doings of the

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U. S. 8S. R. Being interested proved vou had communistic lean= ings. No one ever gave you the benefit of the doubt and conceded that you might want merely to inform yourself about outside go= ings-on. Well, things are very different now. The Finns are still brave, but how misguided! And Russia has become smart, courageous, noble— worthy of every aid. 1 shall always count it as a thrilling experience that I witnessed this softening of Tory hearts—and saw the fingers of my capitalistic friends clasping those of Comrade Joe Stalin. It only goes to prove a long-standing contention of mine: That nearly every man eats his own words sooner or later. I'm just a little worried about one thing. Now that we've espoused the cause of Russia against Finland, reversing our protestations of yesteryear, what sort of arrangement will be made with Uncle Joe when Hitler is licked? It won't be like Comrade Stalin to demand the littlest piece of pie. When the day for settlement comes, will we have to appease or fight the Russian Bear?

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

Questions and Answers

(The Indianapolis I'imes Service Buream will answer any question of fact or information, not involving extensive ree search. Write vour questions clearly. sign name and address, inclose a three-cent postage stamp, Medical or lexal advice cannot be given. Address The Times Washington Service Burean 1013 Thirteenth St. Washington D. C.)

Q—If an alien is deported, are his American-born children and wife compelled to go with him? A—No.

mezzo apply in music? A—A fantasia is an instrumental composition characterized by freedom of imagination, not restrict= ed by set form, and often improvised. The middle section of a sonata is sometimes called free fantasia. Intermezzo means intermediate, and applies to a lighé musical number used between the acts in an opera, ete. Q—When a child is born to American citizens in a foreign country, where should the child’s birth be registered in order to give him absolute proof of his citizenship? : A—The birth should be reported to the Amere ican Consul who will advise the parents hew to pro tect the child's American citizenship. Q—When was the Empire State Building in New York City completed? A—It was ready for occupancy in May, 1931. Q—How are Governors of the States divided with respect to their potitical parties? A—Twenty-eight States have Democratic Gove ernors and 20 have Republicans. Q—What is the lowest commissioned rank given to physicians and dentists who enter the U. S. Army? A-—First Lieutenant. Q—Who engrossed the Declaration of Independence on parchment at the order of the Continental ° Congress. A—The work was assigned to Timothy Matlack of Philadelphia, clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly. Q—How can the speed of an automobile be deter= mined, knowing the engine speed, diameter of wheels, and gear ratio? A—The McCullough formula for finding the speed is: e speed per minute times diameter in inches

s: Engin of the rear wheel times .002875, divided by the gear

_ ratio of rear axle, Gas

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Q—To what do the terms fantasia and inter ¢