Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 September 1941 — Page 14
ROY w HOWARD : RALPH BURKHOLDER © MARK FERREE | resident 6 / “7 “gaditer YT ‘Business Manager i a SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) :
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- RILEY | 51 Give Light and the People: , win Find Their oon way :
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1941.
UNITE_AGAINST INFLATION! ! a ] HE case against inflation has never been better nor more strongly put than it was the other day by Secretary Morgenthau. Never was it more clearly shown that all must unite against it, or all must go down together beneath it. It is folly, the Secretary said, for farmers to push prices up by creating scareities, for labor ‘leaders to continue to seek repeated and regular wage increases that only increase costs and prices and thus wipe themselves out, for landlords to charge all the traffic will bear in crowded defénse centers, for businessmen to seek exorbitant profits or bankers: to hike interest rates. Each, seeking to advance his selfish interest, is contributing to a downfall which might engulf all. Wisdom, restraint, and sanity, not on the part of a few officials, but on the part of millions of exdinaty People, is’ all that will saye us.
A GUN AT OUR HEAD IN the midst of a supreme national crisis John L.- Lewis _has put a gun against the forehead of America. Yesterday U. S. warships started profecting lend-lease shipments. . The shooting may start at any moment. © * And this is the time chosen by Lewis to call out 44,000 coal miners in a strike which, if it lasts long, will make successful war impossible by cutting off the supply of arms and ammunition with which to conduct it. The strike at the so-called “captive ities” has closed all but a few of the colleries upon which the nation’s steel mills depend for continued operation. * These mills have . never completely replenished their coal stocks since the “strike last April, which cost a loss of 370,000 tons of ingots —enough to build 12 battleships or 8000 medium tanks. Now they are again faced with similar losses. -- The strike does not involve wages, hours or working conditions. - Its sole ‘object is to force the steel companies to accept a closed shop and the check-off of union dues. We believe most citizens—yes, and most union members— will deplore what Lewis has done in this dire emergency in his effort to compel submission to his demands. s = s # 2 ” HE “captive mine” strike caught both miners and operators by surprise. It was John L. Lewis who gave the word that sent the men out. The National Defense Mediation Board recognized this situation by calling on Lewis to let work resume at once, pending a hearing on the con- | * troversy. He refused. And he issued a none-too-thickly veiled threat to spread the strike to other mines unless he gets what he wants. Meanwhile, in the Pennsylvania anthracite fields, 22,000 other coal miners are idle because of a strike in rebellion against increased dues and assessments levied by the Lewis union under a closed-shop, check-off contract with the mine owners. : : And so, as we stand on the verge of war, with the President pleading for all-out production, we have the steel
industry threatened with paralysis by a fight for the closed | ’ . 5; : {Ja pan s Dilemma
"Before taking on: Hitler, Mr. President, isn’t it first
~ shop, and a big anthracite field already paralyzed because : it has the closed shop.
: necessary to take on 3 Lewis?
FINLAND'S 'BLUE-WHITE BOOK JF anything were needed to stir the’sympathies of America <= for Finland, twice the victim of unwanted wars within a little over a year, her new Blue and White Book would inspire that friendship. As it is, this revelation, with the eloquent preface by Minister Hjalmar. Procope, confirms America’s sympathetic attitude. : After all allowances are made for the olopagsnda nature of any Government's “white paper’ in wartime, there is ample evidence: that the period of so-called peace between March, 1940, and June, 1941, was Hell for Finland. - The book of documents aims to show that— . : Finland observed the hard peace treaty, and Russia’s - after-thought impositions, concentrating on reconstruction instead of revenge; and that, despite Russia’s effort to wear her down to a state of vassalage, Finland did not use the opportunity afforded by Hitler's invasion of Russia until - after four days of Soviet bombing of her homeland. f The American public has refused to go along with Britain in blaming the Finns for fighting. While London has stressed the help-to-Hitler factor, which is an undesired but inevitable by-product of Finnish defense,” Americans generally have cheered the current Finnish Victories,
ow, Rowevars that the Helsinki Gov neni ‘admits it has regained the conquered territory, some Americans Four the Finns may grab Russian territory. Our Govern- . ment is reported trying to persuade Helsinki to stop fighting. ° Vaino A. Tanner, Finnish Minister of Trade and Agriculture, while hinting that the war may end soon, indicates e Finns will continue to fight until they obtain an undened strategic frontier. Some Finns want Leningrad, while others would take most of the Russian border area between Leningrad and the Arctic. ¢ It is not for us to tell the Finns what to do, and certainly not to insist: that they trust Moscow. Nevertheless, we hope for their sake and for the world that they will find a truce to their own advantage. We do not think Hitler is going to win, or that they can afford to defy Britain. And we are convinced that incorporation of Russian populations in Finland would cause the kind of national indigestion Which would Weaken instead of strengthen our friend.
Hd, RAH, TEAM!
JEW S ITEM: The coach of Xavier Caiviriys has offered |
the coach of Georgetown '(Ky.) University six points
fore the game begins. “That's nothing. Roosevelt, and Churchill offered Hitler
By y Wasibrook Pegler
NEW. YORK, Sept. 1 ~—I hope | you can stand a little more treat~ ; ment of ‘the subject of the HodGafvletst ‘and Common Laborers’ Union, ‘because this incredible organization’ ‘is holding its first con-
vention in 30 years in St. Louis.
“this. week and I want to direct ’ attention to this historic event. I have just been studying the
constitution and some of my ac-
| cumulated notes .on the Hod-
: This whion: ‘was in 1903 and held several
‘conventions up 10:1911, when the boys met in Scran- | ton dnd elected Dominick -D’Allessandro of Quincy, _Mass., president. ‘In all the 30 years since then the |. piicers ‘have put. their heads together and filled all
vacancies in:thé official list known as the ‘executixe board. D'Alessandro ‘died in 1926 and the
executive board elected Joseph Victor Moreschi presi- | dent. The board has been self-elective and self-per-.
petuative all this time and death has been the only
cause of vacancies, The constitution is almost as comic and as terri-
fying in its brutal sontempt for the rights of Amer- |
jcan citizens as that of Jimmy Petrillo’s musicians’
union which contains s clause empowering him to |
cancel any part of the -constitution .or all of it and
substitute his own will as the governing force. The:|
Hod-Carriers’ constitution entrusts the governing power to the executive board, but doesn’t even trouble to say who shall compose this board, although in prac tice it is composed of Moreschi, the president, Achilles
Persion, the secretary-treasurer, and six -vice presi-
dents.
Less Than 10 Per Cent Voted
PERSION WAS ELECTED at the Scranton convention, but he is the only national officer who ever was elected and he has never been re-elected since, because no elections have been held. ; The constitution
provides that the elections shall be: 'held: at the con- |
ventions which shall be called every five years but, of course, if there are no conventions there are no elections and the bosses just carry over. . ..‘/
The constitution says the headquarters: shall be in ; Quincy, Mass., “and cannot be removed therefrom |
only by a general vote of the local union or delegates in convention assembled.” Whether that is an error of grammar or an intentional trick I can’t say but,
anyway, the national headquarters was moved to |
Washington in April, 1940.
“+ Every five years Persion is supposed to poll the:
membership as to whether a convention shall be held and Persion says he has faithfully done this and that each time the vote against a convention ‘has been overwhelming. This may be so, but, according to his own figures, less than 10 per cent of the members
voted and, moreover, the vote is taken by the bosses of the local unions, few of whom would encourage the.
idea of a ‘convention which might arouse troublesome ideas about democratic procedure and imperil their rule. = Then, too, the constitution further guards against the risk of a successful vote by those who ‘might desire a convention by requiring a two-thirds vote of those voting to carry the proposition.
The Heat's Been Terrific UNDER THE CONSTITUTION the ‘president may
“depose the officials of a local “in .case a question arises
between ‘the officers and the members”. and appoint a sub-fuehrer from national headquarters to run the union “until harmony has been restored.” This means,
‘and in practice has meant, that if the rank and file - demand an accounting of their money Moreschi may
send in his own or appoint as his representative the very locai officer that the members are challenging. Whenever he wants to take over a local all he has
“to do is imagine that “a question” has arisen. He then
has constitutional authority to put in his man‘ who need not call any meetings and he has the right to
b all the books A: gra and papers of the: lea) 80 that the” ‘one would let such a spectacle hap-
rank and file can’t prove.anything in court.
Remembering that there has been no convention’ «in 30 years, how do you like this provision of the con-
stitution: ‘That between conventions the self-elected and self-perpetuating executive board shall have en“tire control of all judicial business, including charges
by individuals and quarrels between: locals and that
“their decisions shall be final unless reversed by the international union in convention assembly”? By what process it was decided to hold a convention this year I do not know, but I think the weather had something to do with it. I mean the heat. The heat on this union has been terrific in the last two
years, a fact from which these dispatches derive some
little satisfaction.
Editor's Note: The views expressed by columnists in this newspaper are their own. They are not necessarily those of The Indianapolis Times.
| By William Philip Simms
WASHINGTON, Sept. 17.—Behind Japan’s somewhat more conciliatory = attitude = toward the United States is a recent report to ‘Premier Konoye bluntly stating
that, as matters now stand, Nip- |
pon could not hope to win a war ‘against the United States.
Only if Britain and.Russia col-
‘lapsed, leaving the United States
with the bag to hold-in Europe and fhe Atlantic, Prince Konoye’s j advisers are said to have told him, would Japan be comparatively safe in challenging the then vastly curtailed Pacific fleet of the United States. Berlin, it is said, is bringing increasing pressure to bear on Tokyo. Even if Leningrad, Moscow, Kiev and Odessa are soon captured, Berlin now expects the Russian campaign to continue through the winter and, possibly, into next summer. +'This means that Hitler must do two things: He must find more gas and oil for his constantly expanding war fronts, and, second, cut Russia’s lines of supply from America and Britain via the Middle East and Vladivgstok. Hitler, therefore, is insisting on help from his Japanese partners. Faced with this situation, Prince Konoye is said to have taken stock of Japan’s posittion. Intervention in the war on the side of the Axis, he was informed by his own agents in this country, would ‘spell almost certain war with the United States. So would invasion of the East Indies, or an attempt to stop American supplies on the way to Vladivostok or the Middle East via Singapore and the Indian Ocean.
Japanese Are Noted for Caution
Japanese, in international matters, are noted for their caution. They look before they leap. If they think the chances for success look good, they go ahead. Otherwise, they hold back. In any event, Prince Konoye is said to have called on the country’s key ‘men and asked for figures— especidlly in heavy industry. The military and naval angles he already knew by heart. ~Japan’s captains of industry are said to have informed the premier that, despite remarkable progress, the nation was still in no posititon to wage a colossal war of machines with a power such.as the United States. While she might do well to commence with, even win victories, she could: not. replace the ships, tanks, planes, guns and what ‘not once they were destroyed. The productivity of Japan's heavy industry is reported to have been placed as low as one-eighth. that
of the United States—with the ratio steadily increas.
ing against Japan—and only half that of Britain. And the difference in equality, it was added, Was even more deplorable. : . Given access to East Asia and. the South Pacific, Japan would have all she needs of the. principal com-
modities she now lacks. But, it is admitted, if she
went to war with the United States she. would r them now, not some time in the dim future.
So They Say—
Personal’ life understands and today it is encom
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sonal influénees hat threaten to : Wipe it out alto- vk
is the only life the average man v
| at. the on ‘of the Atlantic helps nobody but Hitler.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 17—The die was cast in favor of our entrance into World War IL when "the Lease-Lend Bill Was . passed form. a over-
) Tne iter “shoot first” spegch was sure to follow after that sooner or later as day follows night. Long 280. hin golmnn wrote: “A Bont of m ons on the docks © ©. Liverpool is of vital value to he of munitions in the hands of bir trbops great aid to our defense: Buta ton of munitions
If there are great losses of this precious bought stuff; % long will it be before our" own fublic is going to ask: * “Are we spending these just to sink them in the sea?” «| This column has advocated ‘a different course— aid ‘to Britain but with a ‘greater legislative control over its disposition and 'without delegating to the President an almost unlimited power to engage us in
f |war at any time and at any place on. ‘the earth's
“The Hoosier Forum
1 wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.
ANOTHER MRS. J. H. A. TAKES UP WHIPPING POST ISSUE By Mrs. J. H. Allen, 634 N. Hamilton Ave,
I would like a little space in your|
Hoosier Forum to answer Mrs. J. H.
1A., as that is my initials and I don’t
want my friends to think that I would be. so cruel and inhuman. . No matter what the crime, I could not suggest such punishment. I thought we were civilized but I guess we are not. I would leave the answer to the judge. I would say take away cars and]
| ticense. Of course I think drunken
drivers and careless drivers should be' punished. I don’t believe in capital punishment either, No matter what the crime, Surely no
pen here in our fair city. That would be worse than Hitlerism and I for one could not witness such a terrible thing. ® # = : AGREES WITH G, C. D. ON “RED LIGHT” CHARGES
By One Who Sees, Indianapolis.
I get G. C. D.’s point finally and I think ft is a good one. I went down ‘and took a look at Market and Illinois Sts. and what I saw appalled me, too.. There is no utter reason why our soldiers have to be subjected to this disgraceful sort of thing. It’s high time the police department started getting rid of these street walkers. It seems to me this situation was cleaned up a long time ago and: it’s highly disturbing to see a repetition of it at a time like this. . # » " THINKS FAIR RENT MOVE JUST SO MUCH WHITEWASH By a Tenant, Indianapolis I rented my house about a year ago. The rent had just been raised to $18. I was earning $20 a week and thought I could pay thal much and still take care of my wife and three children. This house is half of a double, four rooms, electricity, gas and water in the kitchen, no basement, no garage, but a rat infested, fire trap woodshed, fences ready to fall. I have not asked him to do a
thing to my side and he hasn’t since I rented it. Two months ago I laid in winter fuel and he knew this. Saturday when I paid my rent, then he told me the rent would be $20 a month. I tried to protest but he said that I could look around and try to find ‘a house cheaper or better
(Times readers dre invited fo express their views in “these columns, religious con‘troversies excluded. Make your letters short, so all can’ have a chance. Letters must be sigried.) :
for the same money. He also said that taxes had raised and the cost of the upkeep had gone up so there was nothing b do but raise the rent. He gave $2750 for this double two years ago, put no improvements on it and expects to get $40 a month return on it. If that isn’t gouging, profiteering and racketeering, what
would you call it. I dont | blame him alone. I think that all these newspaper items about going to appoint a commit-
:| tee to investigate the soaring prices
of rent and foods is just a go sign for them to go ahead and raise and when they get the prices as high as they want them, then an investigation will start just as camouflage which now seems i be our way of life. sw le» SOME COMMENTS ON PEGLER AND LABOR IN PARTICULAR
By A. J. Schneider, 504 West Drive, Woodruff Place.
spondents have taken it upon themselves to try to “justify” the activities of organized labor and to castigate Westbrook Pegler for his exposures of the inner machinations in various unions. There is, how-
‘ lever,. another and far more im-
portant angle which apparently both have overlooked—and I am taking
. |the liberty to point out some factors
worthy of -consideration by everyone. I am doing this at the hazard of being considered a union hater; but if the truth were known, I am a very strong believer in organization —if properly inspired and intelligently directed. If this thought were remembered throughout these remarks, Bb will not’ place me in a wrong light As a result of pressure from labor groups, labor’s Magna Charta was enacted. If I can understand the English language, I see nothing in the Constitution of the United States nor in the so-called Magna Charta giving one labor group or leadership the life and death. power over its members or any. other individuals. Yet the sti leaders of labor organizations conspired to usurp the prerogatives of their members by
insisting upon a “closed” shop. Fd I interpret. the
Side Glances—By Galbraith
law, elections are to be held to de-
‘| percentages, there are perhaps no
Recently a number of your corre-|! : the top, where it not only hurts the}
: ay for the Civil War was ten-|
- we I given ren our ‘hearts away,-a
termine ‘which ‘labor group shall be the bargaining agent. BUT the law does not give permission to exclude members of other groups from. opportunity to live and earn in such places of employment merely because they happened to be in minority. Minority rights”must be protected. . Organized labor groups include a membership of some five millions, who with their families do not represent more than 10 per cent of our population. By what right, divine or otherwise, does this small mijnority inconvenience and harass the great majority, through strikes, delays through internal quarrels, and increased commodity costs? Should not these labor groups have a little consideration for those who are financing their battles? ., . . - Has any strike or other form of labor strife brought advantages to the members without resultant increase in dues and assessments, also increased salaries for the leaders? When will the rank and file awaken to the fact they are being used as dupes for. the greed of the few at the top? . Mr. Pegler has dwelt at length upon the crooks in the labor movement, but I feel he has done himself and his campaign an injustice. The pitifully . small number of
not merit the effort. Based upon
more crooks among labor groups than among employers, clergy or
unorganized but members a§ Well} That is the important point for the{ union man to consider. Mr. ‘Pegler| is doing him a very great favor to open his eyes to this fact. . .7" 1 #2 8 B® pi : WANTS DEMONSTRATIONS. X FOR DEPARTING DRAFTEES By Howard H. Bates, 2250 Park Ave.
During the Civil War the citizens of Indiana: kept closely in touch with the Indiana troops in the field. The archives are full of letters back and forth relative to the comforts and aid provided for the men. It is true, of course, that to date our men have engaged in no battles. It is also true that the Federal Government makes splendid provision for the men. : However, I wonder if some of our Indiana units would not’ welcome a personal ‘visit from a delegation of Hoosiers.
Reserve battalion from Indianapolis? These men left Indianapolis with virtually no public: ‘demonstration of any sort. - When they marched out there were ‘very few, cheers "and certainly no ' great “show” to make these men feel that we honored them and wanted them to know how we felt, : The same was true at the time the Naval Reserve units left the city. The National ‘Guard units left their armories and marched to the station in the midst of a great
Wanee. ry regiment leaving Indian-
dered a public demonstration. Every regiment was cheered as it marched through the streets to the old station on South st. At. the time of the World War the 150th and all other Guard units
Every group of selectees leaving our city at this time should have a “send-off.” Soldiers are men and ‘men are
matter how much the troops them-} selves disclaim ga desire for: -demonna the citizens shoul” insist
“NATOR By W. NO ORTH The world is too much. with us; late and soon;
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers, : Litile we ses in Nature that is 8
DAILY THOUGHT There is no covered, that shall not fishing cave neither Dake Ta, 28 shall. Bot. be known |nam
crooks he has been able to expose,| out of possibly. five millions, does|
'were cheered as they paraded in| ° the city prior to departure; :
boys grown up a little and nol
| Grove of Big Trees some miles. south of it. lit was granted to the :state: by Act of Congress. | recreational purposes, but actual control of the
surface. However, when - the Lend-Lease Bill passed it recognized that the present menacing ‘consequences were- unavoidable and that engagement in war was only a matter of time. The nearer such a time approaches the less-latitude we shall have in opposing specific acts of executive discretion. . I have not criticized the President's “shoot first” speech because I thought it was. a. logical .and inevitable consequence of the events that came before ii 2
It Could Be’ More Frank
BUT IT DOES SEEM to me that the argument it ‘contained could have been more frank and realistic— especially that part about “freedom of the seas.” His is not really the ancient American doctrine of sea«
rights of neutral nations fo engage in peaceful-come merce. That is not ' what we are about to vindicate. It is a new assertion of a right to engage not: in neutrality but in belligéerency without taking full part in the war and full responsibility for it and to shoot it out with any belligerent that interferes. That also may be inevitable and thoroughly de<
war and the coming into full strength of over-water. and under-water fighters. - We are not discussing that question here but only, the apparently unshakable habit of some of our lead ers of calling hard subjects by soft names, of sugar< coating every nauseous pill and of rarely putting issues before our people in terms of forthright fact.
"Let's Abandon Fuzzy Hypocrisies" THERE IS NO MORE freedom of the seas. That's
one of the principal paragraphs in Mr. Wilson’s Fours teen Points. But it was scuttled at Versailles and it
was the British who scuttled it. They wanted domination of the seas—domination by-them on some kind of understanding with us. That was also'plain at the Harding limitation of armaments conference. The Neutrality “Act Which Mr. Roosevelt himself sponsored and supported was not for “freedom of the seas.” It was for surrender of a large part of that freedom. Place its pale remnants alongside the Lease-Lend ‘Act and the “shoot first” speech:and you will see that they are complete contradictions. think the air would have a purer odor and our people would understand our position better if these fuzzy hypocricies were abandoned. I think that it should be said frankly that we are out for joint domination with Britain of the seas by force of arms and that we should repeal the neutrality acts. Maybe that is not what our people want to do but, whether they want it or not, that is what eur Government is doing and in a democracy: si 3 Shou be made sbundantly clear. pe
THE LreE B
out. The defense program demands his sacrifice, or so we 3 told on the excellent authority the Federal Government itself. I shall mourn his ‘departure. For the little business:man has been such a good citizen it seems a great pity to obliterate him. Long before the defense program ‘started he was being slowly .§trangled to death by red tape, It won't: lake" HiggH of an effort to finish him off, ~In his heyday heé may have been lax in several respects, and somewhat on the grasping side, but he could generally be counted on to do the square thing. If he stayed a little business man, you could be sure he was O. K. For a long time he was an American symbol— the embodiment of individual dignity, And he was something more, He was a human being. He knew the first names of his workers, and whether they were happy or miserable at home, and how their children were getting on. He took a personal and sincere interest in their welfare. Maybe he didn’t pay big wages, but when they got into a jam he was & friend as well as an employer.
He Dies Gallantly, Too
IN ODD CRANNIES of our land he still exists, clothed in his old virtues. One can’t help but grieve to know his -days are -numbered.- Every small town has a little business man who can be depended upon
to come to the aid of the community in a pinch, He contributes to the churches and the Chamber of Commerce, and ‘takes a pride ‘in making Lis
What has become of ur Marine {towm the best little town in the state."
‘He is a good neighbor above everything, snd although his life has been a horrible economic strug ge for some time he still believes in the United tates of America and the Bill of Rights. Considering what is being done to him, that’s an admirable attle tude, don’t you think? .. ‘I. like the gallant way ke dies, too. In sp ite “of governmental red tape, and high taxes, and Pebulls from Federal bureaus, he’s still fighting. When he is gone something truly fine and Ameri can Will pass: The. cold-blooded, machine-hearted functioning . of | big business—which can’t -be other wise, because it is so big—will gradually destroy friendliness, warmth and mercy in industry. When that happens we may Lave something’ efficient and powerful, but it will be neither: democratic nor Ameri.
E
Qisdon end ‘Answers (The Tndisnspolls Times Service Bureau will answer any
search. Write your questions clearly, sign name snd address; inclose a three-cent postage stamp. Medical or legal. advice cannot be given. Address The Times Washington Service Bureau, 1018 Thirteenth. Siy Was Washington, D. C.)
Q—Which State had the. | the first State Park? ln A—California. It was the Yosemite Valley, an area embracing the valley itself -and.-the Jn fe »
and its development were delayed about 10 years adverse claims of settlers in the area. 'The Yosemi National Park was created in 1890 and in 1905 ° California State Legislature . an Ad cession by which the valley and grove were returned to the Federal C Government to be included m8 the’riational par Q—How many dry-cleasing establishihents are n a| the United States? : A—Approximately 15,000 in 1040, pressing shops and tailoring establishments, Q—What is the title of the ‘composition otuyed by, Edmond O'Brien in “A Girl, a Guy and a Gob?” " A—“Traumerei,” by Schumann. iS HOW did the Grek Tons soe he a their the tact
and Florida.
fensible in view of the changed practices of modern
the cause for which we fought World War I. It was .
BUSINESS MN in the U. 8. A. is due’for a fade- ;
guestion of fact or information, not involving extensive’ res
abrir
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