Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 October 1941 — Page 12

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‘yeau of Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

NEW YORK, Oct. 20.—Let us ignore for the moment the merits ‘of John L. Lewis’ case in the so- . called captive coal mines and consider the nature of the United ‘Mine Workers and its government. That Lewis is a dictator and that he Tulles the districts or subQstrices af ‘his empire through responsible to him alone ; is ‘understood and Hoyer ge union movemen Died She absolute and when it .. the past pg o Ruseis and hos : : appoint sub-dictators over the : : £7 Seis a: Wi A ; are ; S5its Tis, purpose does a contemptuous violation of the Cu FENCE WS 2 h in Prance and the democratic process which he and other professional . 4 be 2b re bid 5 Pal Scandanavian countries that it will all be over in .unioneers invoke when democracy seems more appe- four weeks. Russia retreats, turns, and holds on and than: absolutism. we learn that the Nazi Army has failed. Bngland ho miners have no voice in the decisions made Jnurichies her own biltaifrieg in North Soar and we in their name, occasionally when. it is obvious &| jubilate. Germany es back filled to Lewis that they will sustain him. In other issues with gloom. the decisions are made for them. and they are in- | : Wars just don’t work that way. Every one. is a formed of the course they are to follow and required 4| little Sferent. There was a large element. of ne to he in the swift German victory. over France. Fren Not even the-scrubwomen and window washers eleménts of defense were not properly who toiled for George Scalise had less influence in distances were short, the country rich, the system. O ‘the affairs of their union than the miners have in hard roads to bring German motorized forces int the U. M. W. under John L. Lewis. The miners— concentrated action were unexcelled, 8 like the scrubwomen and window washers—had no more to say about the rates of their dues and fees and the expenditure of their money out of the central treasury and thus it was that Lewis with the great treasury of the miners under his own hand was able to contribute or lend $500,000 toward the election of President Roosevelt at a time when the money was ‘welcome.

Mr. Lewis and the Racketeers

THUS, "ALSO, the dues and fees of the miners to the extent of about $2,000,000 were lent or given like Federal grants to the states, counties and cities, | for the organization of C.. I. O. unions in other industries. : And thus, in these other fields of labor, Lewis gained a political power which is not yet broken. Lewis, the politician and opportunist, once needled ' his old enemy Will Green, the president of the A. F. of L., with. a taunt about crooks in the leadership - of A F. of L. unions, but that was no true expression of his own attitude toward racketeers. He was content to reside in the house of labor with them for years and never raised his voice or hand against a crook or racketeer, as such, until a moment when he thought he could embarrass Green by mentioning these vermin. Although his Mine Workers have taken a formal stand against Communists, Lewis cordially co-operated with them in the organization of the C. I. O.. and the explanation that he merely used them but resérved the power to destroy them when they had served their purpose for him is neither true in fact nor an indication 6f his attitude toward communism, He has not been able to destroy them but, by his encouragement, has placéd them in positions ‘of great power in some of the most dangerous areas of union organization, where they still rule‘'in the name of Josef Stalin. And the evidence all shows that Lewis, as a man who acquires power for its own sake to the total neglect or destruction of the rights of the rank and file, would be as comfortable running a Communist dictatorship in the role of an American Stalin as in a Hitleresque rulership of the American nation.

great military campaigns rapid fluctuations of public _— and fear, confidence and apprehension, with the weekly or monthly flow and ebb in the’ tide of today’s great battles. . Germany slashes suddenly at

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1941

CHURCHILL AND RUSSIA BRITISH demands of public, press, and: Parliament for a B. E. F. in Europe to relieve Germany's concentrated pressure on Russia come just four menths too late. Britons will have to stand what they eall the “humiliation” of inaction, as the Russians are standing the unrelieved carnage, since London Cabinet officers and neutral observers agree that Britain is not. prepared for a major offensive on the. continent. - Many believe that she at least could have carried out a ‘geries of hit-and-run raids to keep Hitler busy, and to lift sagging morale in occupied countries where patriots wait to co-operate. * { Though some members of the British Government are criticized for alleged sabotage of Russian aid, that cannot be said of Churchill, Beaverbrook, Eden and the Labor ministers. Nor can it be said that these Cabinet leaders, by temperament or record, are timorous. They are noted for gambling on long chances. All of which tends to confirm the explanation that failure to take advantage of four months of military opportunity was not from lack of will. That does not mean Britain is powerless, but only that Churchill thinks her limited military resources are required elsewhere. i. Behind her apparent inaction in Libya and the Caucasus, she is furiously preparing for the anticipated major campaigns of the winter, Most of the American planes and tanks have been going to the Middle East armies for “many months. . » Even if public pressure at home or from Moscow forced = Churchill to send .a “token” B. E. F. to Archangel or on Channel raids, these could not be important unless preceded by many months of preparation. And all signs indicate that the major plans and preparations have been to guard England and to fight in the Middle-East Mediterranean area. The military test of Churchill's leadership is not his inability to take advantage of the unexpected Russian situation for which he was not prepared. It is rather the win_ter’s result of his long preparations in the Middle East— time bought and paid for by the Russian dead.

§ You Can't Draw Parallels

RUSSIA WAS AN a different problem—a country of magnificent: distances, few and poor roads, masses of men to sacrifice—it was more like fighting a row of pillows than bow at a pyramid of duck- | pins. No such immediate victory was possible and the Nazis seemed to understand this—perhaps ‘not " well enough; but their dispositions were entirely dif ferent, It is hard to draw precise patallels with the past because we-have two new elements—motorized ground troops and aerial navies, But we would do well to remember our own Civil War. There also, the distances were magnificent. There also, the North had a vast superiority in both numbers and supplies, but even after Lee had been sent reeling back from Gettysburg, Vicksburg had’ been taken. The Confederacy split in two and Sherman and Thomas had defeated. Johnston and Hood in ' the central area. The outcome was by no means certain. The terrific slaughter of the wilderness cam~ paign and the siege of Richmond were yet to come, Did you ever stop to think of the situation, just before Gettysburg, with Lee's army ravaging Penne sylvania in separate columns not unlike the three= pronged attack of the Germans in Russia and threat=, - ening Harrisburg, Philadelphia and even Washington from the north and west? Even Gettysburg was a j| bit of luck for the North and, but for blunders by || Longstreet and Stewart it might have turned out differently—as did Chancellorsville and Fredericks~ burg and second Manassas,

Churchill Among Great Leaders

NAPOLEON, ON AT LEAST two occasions, within a hair’s breadth of defeat. It is on to judge this war at this stage. New elements may &' enter at any moment—for example our taking on" apen. : What was’ “the element that sustained ‘both Lin= coln and Napoleon, in spite of days as black as the pit? It was neither any cocky conclusion from momentary victory nor any confidence in victory -at every local success. It was a dogged determination to minimize all moments of apparent disaster and a sublime faith in eventual victory. Perhaps no man on earth has these qualities to an extent equal to those of Winston Churchill. That he is impulsive and sometimes unreasoning beyond excuse is apparent from many incident$ in his career

The Hoosier Forum I wholly disagree with what you' say, but will

The President's Personal Problem defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.

HIS POLITICAL ETHICS were revealed when he sullenly condemned President -Roosevelt for his refusal to pay off the political obligation which he thought he had bought with the $500,000 of the

‘PLENTY OF REAL AMERICANS TO DO THE JOB’ :

railroad transportation is the cheapest in the world. Figures gathered by the Bureau

(Times readers are invited to express their views in

THE ROOT OF THE TROUBLE

E must assume that the power of the Government can get coal mined to make steel. If it can’t, we will have to admit to the world that a

domestic tyrant named John L. Lewis won’t let us arm our- ~ selves or help others defeat tyrants abroad.

. The power of the Government might be used, as Mr.

Lewis demands, to enforce his will on industry. That would mean an abject surrender by the President and an intolerable humiliation to the American people. And it would solve nothing. It would only transfer the Government's power to Mr. Lewis and invite him to further abuses.

Or the power of the Government might be used—and

we believe must be used—to call Mr. Lewis to order.

How that shall be done is the President’s immediate

‘problem. But when it is done, unless much more is done, still nothing will be really solved, The trouble is fundamental. It is rooted in unfair laws and ‘unwise policies. It must be corrected at the root.

The mistake was not in extending labor’s rights. It

HAT is hat built up Mr. Lewis unit he: thinks himself

‘was in the official assumption that labor could do no wrong. ‘It was in adopting the theory, and sticking to it long after its fallacy was plain, that labor given power unrestrained ‘by Government: would restrain itself out of a sense of pubie Pesponsibiity and of gratitude for Sheela] privileges.

big enough to defy the Government. That is what en-

‘ables the A. F. of L. to compel waste of public funds by threatening to make trouble if a Government contact is awarded to a responsible low bidder. That is what makes

possible for “labor’s hidden holdup men” to add $1,000,-

000,000 a year to the people’s cost of living. That is why Jabor’'s war with labor can incessantly obstruct national ‘defense.

We are glad that Mr. Roosevelt is at last considering

Jegislation to deal with the situation. Legislation has long been needed, and heretofore Mr. Roosevelt's influence has .prevented it. We do not know what he now has in mind. But we know that no mere palliative will be enough. And we know that it is the long neglected duty-of Congress to ‘insist on thoroughgoing remedies by law.

The right to strike should not, and cannot, be repealed,

Jt is a basic liberty of those who work for private employers, ! ‘+. But abuse of the right can be subjected to proper penalties. The legitimate reasons that would justify strikes can be defined. Unions which strike for illpgitimate and anti-social reasons, unions which strike without full use of the machinery provided for attaining peaceful settlement of controversies, unions whose leaders use the threat of strikes to extort tribute from employers and the public—

oe in the big job. of legislating which Congress will have to undertake ‘before the trouble is cured,

RE YOUR TAX MONEY GOES - "HE principal purpose and justification of farm subsidies

"are to raise the income of farmers. In theory, when

miners’ money. John Lewis is Predident Roosevelt’s personal problem, for it was the early New Deal which raised him to power, knowing the sort of man he was, but underestimating the extent and ruthlessness of his personal ambition, All the New Dealers then had reason to know how little Lewis cared for the democratic process, but then, and, in fact, until two weeks ago, the advocates of the new order in the United States were content to let the unions run wild and get their growth by rough-and-tumble mischief at the expense of the whole country. But a change of heart was indicated by the recent speech of Mrs. Frances Perkins to the A. F. of L. in Seattle, delivered, unquestionably, under instructions from the President, calling~for strict selfregulation by the unions and, also, in a négative way, for the open shop, with a threat of legislative compulsion if the reform did not come from within. Now Lewis, the dictator, has openly challenged the President.

U. S. Aviation By Maj. Al Williams

LONG BEFORE THE war started, airmen boldly stated that airpower, with and without armies and navies, would dominate the struggle and effect a new balance of power—that the next war would develop into a hit-and-run war. This was too much for the experts and commentators on military and naval topics. The country is flooded with talk of plans for radically altering the pi strategy and tactics of our Army and Navy. But isn’t it about time for some of the military experts to tell us ordinary folks something of the complex’ problems of moving mechanized forces 600 to 700 miles through a wilderness, where roads are trails and railroads are trolley lines, and poor ones at that? A modern army is made up of men and a vast mass of machinery and tools in stupendous variety, Tanks? Yes. But what about the’ fuel and lubricants, spare parts, and tools for service and repair? How are they transported through a Toadless country swamps, rivers and ditches? We don’t yet know how to run a giant tank from Washington to New York. How do the Nazis do their job? How have they kept up with the Russians? That certainly isn’t secret military information, is it?

How Is It Done?

HOW ARE THE VAST quantities of gas, oil, bombs and ammunition kept flowing: to airdromes that are constantly m forward? How are new airports made to meet advance requirements? ‘Wire

mesh mats? Sure, but how are they transported to a | front that’s already advanced about 700 miles through

How are the dive-bomber bases kept moving forward to be within range of the fighting zones? I don’t know the answers, and I've tried hard to

find them. If we were told what it means to move

millions of men and millions of tons of hundreds of miles through a hostile coun

pment

difficult terrain, we'd have a better idea of the job | I have talked to militery experts who

ahead of us. told me frankly—but “off the record”—that they don’t know how to do that kind of

even without hostile armies in front bof

: Men without machines, Sood, am the other items that make be just a helpless mob.

the { best highways in the wor :

of ‘what must be done in modern

So They Say—

By William Fisher, Inland Bldg. The writer been rather interested in the icles in the Forum, under the name of Harrison White, and the answers directed to him, I am a veteran of the A. E. F., Co. C, Fifth Marines. I met some Heinies at pretty close quarters in the little fracas back in 1918, when we licked the hell out of them, and haven't the least doubt about having to do it again. Why get excited? . . . There are still plenty of real Americans to do the job when the time comes.

® = = ‘CONDEMNING OWN INDUSTRY A POOR ANSWER’

. 1 By Voice in the Crowd, Indianapolis.

No one has to protect the automobile industry, it is strong enough to take care of itself, However, it seems entirely in order to cry out for fair play. When a man earning his living in the auto industry declares that the industry is a “saboteur” of defense, something is wrong with the man. If he believed what he said, he would get another job as a matter of high principle. \ Before making any disparaging statements against industry a man should first look the situation over to see if he had the facts, and whether he was fair enough to present them, To be entirely fair to industry it is only necessary to remember back for less than two years when the great “white chief” in Washington | 57, assured us that we were going to have both “guns and butter.” If high officials who could look across the seas believed that, why shouldn't

: industrial leadership believe it?

We already had our peacetime] le so if we were going to have “guns and butter” we would have to build plants for the “guns.” Instead

these columns, religious controversies excluded. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Letters must be signed.)

of stopping the automobile industry for a year to tool it for war, we let it run as “usual” and built new plants for war. The U. A. W. surely should not kick about that, and they have no complaint coming on the imperative curtailment of cars. That dislodgement will be very temporary as the auto industry will make tanks and military cars and equipment that is kindred to .its tooling. . . We were wrong abouf the ‘guns

of Railway Economics, an institution which is not at all interested in defending railroad workers or their wages, show the average charge made by the railroads of various countries for hauling one ton of freight one mile. This charge per “ton mile” is the best: measure of the cost of freight transportation, In the United States, the average charge per ton-mile is less than 1 cent; in Great Britain, 2.40 cents; in Italy, 2.22 cents; in China (with cheap “coolie” labor), 2.19 cents; in Australia, 2.18 cents, and in Germany, 2.16 cents, Thus American railroad. workers produce transportation at less (han

.| half its cost in Germany, despite the

much vaunted German “efficiency”

and butter” bu’ were are certainly/and the destruction of all labor

lucky that we built more plants because there is still some doubt that

unions in that eountry. In France, Mexico, Argentina and

we can produce enough in time to|other countries, a ton-mile also costs

Hitler adds to his real estate holdings the problem becomes a larger one. . It will never be'solved by men who condemn their own job and distrust their management. This war is not to decide which union is going to boss the defense program, it is to

decide whether the world goes back

to the dark days of feudalism or if we can retain most of our individual ” tf J f ‘WAGES OF OUR RAILROAD WORKERS ARE LOW

a President; , Big os 1 Eos Gu Sarelt

The particularly farmers, are often told that the “high wages” of the railroad workers make rail freight rates too high. The truth is that the wages of our railroad workers are low in proportion to what they. produce, as is

proved by the fact that American

| save long years of ‘war, Every time|farmers and other “shippers about

twice as much as in the United States. : The American railroad passenger enjoys air-conditioned, comfortable travel at record-breaking speeds, at less than 2 cents a mile, a combination not equaled in any other country. 1 In addition to being the cheapest, American railroad transportation is by far the fastest anid most dependable, as anyone who has observed railroading in. other < countries knows. All this proves that wage rates are not what makes transportation costs low or high. The thing that counts is efficiency. For every ton-mile of freight transportation the average American railroad worker produced in 1920, he produces two ton-miles now. In other words, his efficiency has doubled in 20 years,

been practically no increase in railroad wage rates. Now the rail em-

Side Glances=By Galbraith :

ployees are fequesting reasonable wage raises. If they are granted,

portation will not be increased, because the rail workers will continue to produce more and more trans-

portation. Jo¢, each. dollar Uy: are

paid.

Jom ma sr em:

By Harrison. White, 1135 Broadway.

In your Forym of Oct. 25, 1941, _personage who terms himself

some BE oan ro

ot be a better name for me; quotes, not half statement of

- | what I said, $,N, C, ga¥s Tok even be Joa 8 Wuibe , .

\.|| DEATH THE LEVELLER

Fr}

i a {| and Dlagt, fresh laurels where) m me oS se an se :

Yet, in all that time, there has|

the cost of American railroad trans- :

—Antwerp, Gallipoli, Salo , the Skagerrack, Nore way, Greece and Malta—b his unshakable determine ation places him among the great leaders. For the rest of us, it would be well not to indulge in too many ups and downs from the war bulletins, In many ways and in the wider sense we have had all the breaks. Not the. least of them was the de-

cision of the ‘two aspiring world conquerors, Hitler

and Stalin, to tear each other apart.

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

“BE A PAL TO your son. Be

a chum to your daughtir.” This %

advice has been handed out for quite ‘a while. Fatheis and mothers find it pleasant, but life; proves that a little of it goes long, long way. Many a boy whose Dad is a real pal becomes anti-social in school, and cannot adjust hime self to association. with persons of his years, because he has tried for so long to live up to standards set by his father. He leaps from childhood into manhood and ‘never learns to be at ease in. his own age group. Likewise the girl who chums around with her mother too much doesn’t have any chums worth* speaking of. She lives in a betwixt and hetween world—a region where one is not quite mature and not quite adolescent. In some cases the harm was done because parents honestly wanted to be helpful. The establishment of a friendly relationship in the family was desirable.’ They worked toward that énd, but got something else—bad psychological returns.

Years Are a Mighty Barrier

BUT I AM CONVINCED that many others, - who took to this advice with all the avidity of ducks to water, did so because they wanted to remain yo The fear of getting old is powerful within us. e fight against age with our conscious and sub-con= scious minds, often going to ridiculous lengths fo prevent it. And one of the easiest ways of deluding ourselves about our years is to confine our social contacts to our juniors. Real association, under these circumse stances, is a great achievement—great because it’s

just about the rarest accomplishment in the world. . 5

Parents and stildren jis) id by a time gap of a generation. So stant EE aa and is deni whether Dad cari ever: get. down to" the- level of J6-year:eld Dick. Yet. ifs nighly Utsler” 8 ences separate child-and-: 0 depataing them. We do wel! to be the friends. of of llr . but We often -do harm by straining -to oe hele’ ums, -

nisi "

Editor's Note: - The views camel 1

by: newspaper are their own. They, 258, 288 of The Indianapolis Times,

,

't be a con--

soe

farm income is low subsidies should be high, and ‘when |’ farm income is high subsidies should be low. That's the theaty. But; the practice— : In 1986, when the farmers’ cash income, exclusive of

, was $8,200,000,000, AAA payments were $874,- I ——

| versity alumni who Se go G. Ruthven, versty of Michigan. | :

sidi 8.000.

This en: the farther cash income willbe abt, $10,

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