Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 1 December 1941 — Page 12

ie the nation gets a dollar’s

oh To gt i i . 8 > 2 P "I'he Indianapolis Times ROY W. HOWARD RALPH BURKHOLDER President ~~ ~~ ° mditor (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) = Brice in Marion County, 3 cents a copy; deliv-

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EP» RILEY 5551

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Owned and ‘ published: - dally lexcept Sunday) by

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MONDAY. DECEMBER 1, 1941 |

TOJO TALKS BIG AMERICANS “are not stupid enough to get hysterical " about the statements by Japan’s prime-minister general, which grow increasingly provocative and. insulting to the United States. The public here understands, after long experience, to expect almost anything of the Japanese militarists. It is what they do, rather than: what they say for home consumption, . that concerns us.

DEFENSE BROKERS ON THE CARPET ~~ AT. last an investigation of “defense brokers” has been ordered. Hearings will open in Washington Wednesday, before the House Military Affairs Committee. And none too soon. i When young men are being drafted from their private careers to serve in the Army at $21 a month, when heavy taxes have been imposed and the mounting public debt makes still heavier taxes inevitable, it is indefensiblé for . anyone to take a rake-off from the natjon’s emergency. The people are quite willing to make sacrifices in the interest of the national security, but they ought not be called upon to feather the nests of the “practitioners of influence” who are reported to be collecting huge commissions for serving as middlemen in the procurement of Govern- . ment contracts for munitions. . “We take pride in the fact that our own Washington reporter, Thomas L. Stokes, did the first exhaustive job of disclosing some of these shady deals. . But a newspaper reporter is necessarily handicaped in such an inquiry. He can write only what he learns from public records and from. testimony voluntarily given to him in the course of patient, plodding questions. 3 2 » » 8 ® % A CONGRESSIONAL investigation, with its unlimited power to subpena evidence and compel testimony, offers the most effective means of stopping this evil. : By giving pitiless publicity to its findings, and following through with remedial legislation, it can make sure that worth of munitions for every dollar spent. - * If the forthcoming hearings are conducted. as they should be, we suspect they will disclose facts which will shock the public’s sense of decency. We hope that one result will be passage of the Hatch bill now endorsed by President Roosevelt, which would forbid “practice” before Government departments by former Government employees within two years of their retirement from the Federal pay roll. We further hope that another result will be legislation strictly. limiting the profits from defense contracts—and a law which will not permit any middleman’s take to be included as a part of that profit, °

LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT IT k JDPLOMATIC correspondence is a fearful and wonderful ~ thing. It has become both fearful and more wonderful since 1939. . oC © Take the German reply. to a series of notes from South ‘American countries protesting that the wholesale and random shooting of hostages is a brutal and a barbarous thing. ~The Nazi answer was that it “does not wish to receive oral or written observations of third states on this ques“tion.” } In short, there is no answer, so there is no use in trying to make one. , Which is, we suppose, about as good a way as any io answer the unanswerable,

THOSE WHO BETRAY LABOR QO now William Green has come out boldly with a state- . ment that the conviction of Browne and -Bioff serves

“the highest and best interests of the workers of the na-’ ~ tion” and “ought to serve as a warning to those who seek:

to use the labor movement for exploitation purposes.” + And Mr. Green’s Publicity man, writing in the A. F. of L. Weekly News Service, elaborates:

“We regard the conviction of these two men as an en-' couraging and constructive development in the growth of

the labor movement in America. . . . The A. F. of L. itself is no police force, no grand jury, no prosecutor. It cannot

~gaove against wrongdoers- in any autonomous national or:

international union because it has no legal authority to do 80. But it does call upon the prosecuting authorities of our nation, states and cities to proceed agdinst the betrayers of labor under Federal, State and local statutes just as fearlessly and effectively as the Government did in the Browne-Bioff case.” : What a confession! ' The great American Federation - of Labor cannot move against betrayers of labor in its own unions! : | 8 2 = # 8. = THE truth, of course, is that the men at the top of the A. F, of L. do not want.to move, They need no “legal authority” to speak the truth about crooks in the labor - movement. They need only moral courage, . And that they have not shown.” ~~ * a. Westbrook - Pegler, who does have moral courage,

_ proved long. ago that Browne and Bioff were racketeers and |

traitors to labor. - Where was William Green then? He was, denouncing Pegler. He was upholding’ Browne and Bioff. He was presiding at the 1940 convention which _over-rode all protests and re-elected Browne a vice president of the A, F. of L. = ~ Thurman Arnold, who does have moral courage, says

“that Federal law should protect the public against the bil-~_lion-dollar-a-year levy'.extorted by “labor's hidden holdup

men.” ‘Wherd is William Green? He is denouncing Arnold. | Agents S 1 ni e of unions to restrain trade for purpeses having nothing to do with their legitimate

He is proclaiming the “right”

demands Arnold’s ouster from office, : The racketeers trayers of labor,

~ objects. He is presiding at the 1941 convention which

”- =

| Sayre, industrialist. who get caught are not the only be- |

Enough By Westbrook Pegler

NEW YORK, Dec. 1—The

roled three Communist: murderers who procured the brutal murger of ge W. Alberts, a ships

March 25, 1936. . The murderers thus turned loose by an agency of a state administration which has been strongly sympathetic toward Communists in the union politics + of California are Earl King, 48, secretary of the Marine Firemen’s, Oiler, Water Tenders and Wipers’ Union of the Pacific; Ernest G. Ramsay, 37, a “patrolman” for the union, and Frank J. Conner, 44, who was the union’s delegate on the S. S. Point Lobos. ; The murderers all had fair trials, exhausted every legal appeal and entered San Quentin Prison on Jan. 23, 1937, to serve terms of from five years ‘to life. Having served less than the minimum, they are

Communist union interests similar to, the highly profitable racket which operated in the interest of Tom Mooney for many years.

‘Long Enough,’ Says Olson

- GOVERNOR OLSON, whose state administration is known as the Little New Deal and has duplicated in miniature the New Deal’s tolerant pelicy toward Communists, expressed his attitude toward these murderers when he said a few weeks ago, “They have served a long time. I think they have just .about served all their time.” The pardon racket campaign was conducted on the proposition that the incarceration of the. murderers for the wanton killing of a ship’s officer in retaliation for his anti-Communist attitude was a blow at organized labor. The fact is that the Communists had muscled into commanding positions in the union according to the procedure dictated from Moscow and were using this union for the Kremlin’s purposes. It was also represented that the killers did not intend to kill Alberts, but only to beat him within an inch of his life. If that was the case, their judgment of distance was faulty, for Alberts was stabbed to death by men who attacked -him with admittedly felonious intent.

Accuser Not Paroled

GEORGE WALLACE, another murderer, who confessed that he was one of the party of killers and said King hired him .and others to kill Albetts, was not paroled. He had turned state’s evidence against the killers and against the party, which, of course, is a serious offense in California. Moreover, he had two previous convictions for assault, which ' latter consideration provides technical grounds for continued punishment. _ Wallace’s story was not unsupported, but was corroborated by two other officials of the union wko said King admitted to them that he hired Wallace to kill Alberts. . Wallace said King promised him $150, but paid him only $60. Wallace said Ramsay participated with King in the conspiracy to procure the murder and led the killers to Albert's ship. Another Communist named by Wallace as one of the actual killers escaped arrest and has managed to reach Russia, notwithstanding the discriminating attitude of tke Soviet Government toward visitors from the United States which makes it impossible to enforce a formal order of deportation against the wife of Earl Browder.

Among Those Still at Large

ONE OF the union officials who corroborated Wallace’s story admitted further that he helped

in this project he was assisted by a San Francisco organizer of the Communist Party and editor of a California Communist paper who is still at large and still engaged in the anti-American activities of the party in California. . . Alberts’ offense was that he could not get along with Communists in the crew of the Point Lobos and had caused the dismissal of several saboteurs. For that he was marked for death by the party enthusiasts and Conner, a member of the ship’s company, “fingered” the condemned American sailor to the execution party of the Kremlin. ' There is absolutely no doubt that the three men released from prisen after four years and a fraction

-are murderers. They were duly convicted and there

is no legal question of their guilt of a crime which was described by Earl Warren, the Attorney General of California, as “a beastly murder.” They are not exonerated but paroled as murderers. :

A Jewish Army By William Philip Simms

. WASHINGTON, Dec. 1.—While the Nazis threaten the Caucasus and the British engage in a touch-and-go battle against the Axis in North Africa, 66,000 young and physically fit Palestine Jews wait vainly to get into the fighting, according to the American Palestine Committee here. The Jews, a committee spokesman said, have literally begged the London government to let CL : . them form three or four divisions —to serve as a British command and anywhere the British say. Prime Minister Churchill, it is further stated, has indicated his willingness. But, it is charged, “intriguing bureaucrats” somewhere down the line continue to prevent action. ’ The American Palestine Committee is headed by Senator Robert F. Wagner (D. N. Y.), with Senator Charles L. McNary (R. Oré) as co-chairman. Its membership includes 67 Senators, 139 Representatives and 22 Governors of states. This committee is now seeking a means of bringing the matter to a head by a resolution in Congress, by diplomatic action through the State Department, or otherwise.

Some 12,000 Now in Service

PALESTINE JEWS, it is explained, are now permitted to emlist as individuals in British units. At first, no more were accepted than there were Arab volunteers. But as the Arabs showed little inclination to enlist, this regulation has been somewhat relaxed.

- Some 12,000 Palestine Jews are now serving under

British colors. : The present demand for a Jewish military force is not without precedent. What was popularly called a Jewish Legion was created during the World War. “The desire of the Jewish people to place a military force in the field,” said a statement, “is based on the elementary right of self-defense. The same right is being exercised by the Poles, Czechs, Norwegians, Free French and others who are now fighting under

flag and insignia. : ; “The Jews are at a loss to understand why this right should be denied to them.” 3

So They Say— Alcoholism is based on a tripod

cessive fatigue, and a desire to Moore, director, Washington Hospital, Boston * $ *

Children want to belong to something. If Federal, state and municipal governments cannot offer them

of boredom, ex-

together

) in unwholesome gangs.—James president, :

N. ¥, Board of Education. » *

B. Little, president, N. Y. Association of nts. ii Fh ae

- *. ] * x : The forces trying to divide all gn against each other .. . may perhaps: succeed if American citizens

wae Le : Poverty and immorality are not

"California Parole Board has pa--

' engineer,’ at Oakland, Cal, on.

Now released after a campaign conducted by the

Wallace get away after the killing and added that

unit with their own flag but under.

British command as distinct units under their own J

escape—~Dr. Merrill |

Supervised clubs and play spaces, they will horde | |

Food will win the war and write the peace.~H. Couhty

we forget we are | |: above everything else—Morris | |

synonymous.— | ,

® | that performance.

The Hoosier Forum

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

‘YOU'RE RIGHT—IT WAS MR. UPTON SINCLAIR By H. W. Daacke, 736 S. Noble St.

In your Hoosier Forum of Nov. 24, 1941, C. O. T., East Chicago, credits the “Brass Check to Sinclair

{Lewis. Is that correct?

If my memory serves me correctly, Upton Sinclair was the author of the “Brass Check.”

® a #8 ‘UNIONS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF TOO-LIBERAL LAWS

By W. H. Edwards, Spencer * Jack Hayes in the Forum of The

in his letter approving strikes. Instead of Congress being “anti-la-bor,” as Mr. Hayes claims it to be, Congress has lent over backwards in approving pro-labor legislation, thereby clamping the general: ‘pub-

capitalists and equally ruthless labor leaders who are now becoming known as “Labor’ Racketeers.”

The greedy capitalists, in order to keep prices of their products high, entered into agreements to restrict the amount of goods that would be manufactured. Then the labor racketeers, taking advantage of the national crisis, began a policy of bludgeoning workers Into their unions. Neither the capitalists plan of restricting production nor the labor racketeers plan to bludgeon workers into their unions contributes to sound government: both are private organizations with no official governmental powers. Yet the labor unions, taking advantage of too liberal laws, are now challenging legally constituted government. :

8 Mr. Hayes cites the increasing costs of living, He fails to recognize that much if not most of the increasing costs of living are a result of increased wages, and that some of those increases have been given through buldgeoning tactics on the part of labor goons to the detriment of the -general’ welfare. Mr, -Hayes also ignores the fact that the increasing cost.of living is bearing down hard on low income people whose ‘total incomes are individually less than onethird of the incomes enjoyed by the rampaging unionists. : Tke people of this nation are not

Times (Nov. 25) misses the target

lic between the jaws of ruthless :

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

troversies

anti-labor; they want labor—union or non-union to have the highest wages possible and the best working conditions possible within a sound national economy—within the law. The vast majority of the public demands that unions be governed by the same laws that apply to each individual citizen, nothing’ more. Is that demand unjust?

a ® a 8 ‘THEY ARE TURNING OVER IN THEIR GRAVES!

By Non-Cultured, Indianapolis Americans, shouts Dr. Robert Ley, Hitler’s henchman, should establish 4000 years of culture before calling Germans and Italians barbarians. Thanks; afraid we can’t wait," A culture is best estimated, it seems to the crude American mind, by its fruits. The fruit of the culture so reverenced by Ley is now on exhibit throughout all that part of Europe now covered by the *new order,” and it’s rotten fruit.

The United States ought to glory in the fact that it doesn’t have 4000 years of such “culture” behind it. Mark Twain slaughtered once and for> all the European appeal to the authenticity of age. A caustic Frenchman sneered that in that raw country so little attention was paid to antecedents that scarcely anyone knew who his own grandfather was. Twain admitted the soft impeachment, and added that in France a man was lucky to know who his own (father was. oh! The ' important thing about a cultural inheritance is not “what was it?” but “what are you doing with it? 4 Behind all the roaring of Dr. Ley there is a rustling murmur. It comes from all the great figures of the past, who created the 4000-year-old

cultural tradition of which Ley

Side Glances—By Galbraith— or

Justice Byrnes, U.S. Supreme Court,'in “anti-Okie” |

dares to brag, the artists, the writers, the musicians, the statesmen and philosophers. They gaze with blank horror down the corridors of time at the reversion to barbarism being engineered. The rustling grows louder, : Yes! They are turning over in their graves! # » 2 ‘OUR TROUBLE NOT FOG ALONE, BUT SMOKE’ . By R. G. T. Irvington I noticed with considerable interest some time ago a series of articles in ‘The Times by Richard Lewis about Mayor Sullivan's determination to eliminate the smoke nuisance by-educating all the public to proper firing methods. LE Mayor Sullivan went to ‘St. Louis and one of the local newspapers quoted him "as saying that he thought we were better off on smoke control than St. Louis was. He said he was against any drastic ordinance. . The other day we went through

been in Indianapolis and I've been here 40 years, I know that it was not all smoke, that there was a good deal of fog in the air, but there also was a great deal of smoke because you could taste it and smell it. In addition, the Mayor himself said the smog became very bad when people started firing up in the mom-

admission that our trouble the other day was not fog alone but smoke. We cannot educate 100,000 home owners to proper smoke control. We have to have some kind of law with teeth in it. I know the argument is that we’d have to pay more for coal. But isn’t it better to pay a little more for coal and save. a great deal more on cleaning bills and on doctor’s bills? © 2x It seems to me that too many people of my acquaintance ‘are constantly afflicted with sinus and .cold troubles. I know at least five doctors who say that smoke is the root ofitall..,. 2 2 2 ; ‘MILLIONS KNOW CHIAILLAUX’ PATRIOTISM UNQUESTIONABLE’ By Not a Legionnaire, Indianapolis Your liberal “Voltaire column” lately carried a letter headed: “Time somebody questioned Chalillaux’s patriotism.” Now millions know that Homer Chaillaux’s patriotism is as unquestionable as the fact he wore his country’s uniform in its defense. Not even the impartial hos-

‘| pitality of The Forum quite covers

slander. . , . . 7 : To term him a Quisling transcends veracity, decency, revealing merely animosity, prejudice and worst of all, ignorance of facts. Mr.

|Chaillaux’s “own peculiar little - | yardstick” is neither just his own

nor peculiar, It is that of a nationally accredited activity’ aiming to sift facts as to all “isms” including Naziism. . His yardstick is also that of millions of Americans evidently better informed than the critic from

associated with several communist

|“fronts.”

*' AIRLY BEACON Airly Beacon, Airly Beacon: O the pleasant sight to see

Shires and towns from Airly Beacon s . While my love clim'd up to mel

Airly Beacon, Airly Beacon;

O the happy hours we lay | Deep in fern on Afrly ;

+ dayl Airly Beacon, Airly Beacon; | O the weary haunt for me,

alone on Airly Beacon, . “With; is bay on my Eee! .

| { ¥ —Cnarles Kingsley (1819-1875). DAILY THOUGHT:

| . Thé wise shall inherit glory: |

but shame shall be the —Proverks 3:35,

“use the “G” nomenclature on this side of

remarkable.

the worst smog experience since I've

ing. In other words, there is plain| §

Cumberland. Mr. Dreiser has been|

Questions and Answer s

Beacon, | second Dempsey-Tunney. fights? ..-

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1.—The assignment of Brig. Gen. Brehon . Somervell as G-4 of the whole Army passed. with . very : little notice. Perhaps it is just as well. ~ It is a. lot better to save the plaudits for the end of the chap‘ter than to get the red fire first and the dead cats last. I ought to know. The latter is the way

it happened in the NRA.

One reason for ‘the lack of . public attention is the peculiar way of naming the very biggest of Army jobs. “G-4” means the division of four of the general which is charged with the procurement, storage, transportation and delivery of all supplies of every kind for the land forces and for much construction. . Considering the magnitude of the production

program, it is about the biggest job of its kind in the world. :

The World War General Staff of our Army didn’t the Atlantic,

It was copied in the A. E. F. from the British system

but the matter of names was of small moment. Our G-4 in America was called the Division of Purchase, Supply and Traffic. - Gen. Goethals was'in. charge of all three. My own general staff assignment was that of purchase and supply and hence ‘was about two-thirds what Gen. Somervell is undertaking. His is like Gen. Goethals’, / las ;

His Work in New York

In view of the much large program, his task is mine (as it was) multipligd several times over, I mention all this as a little preface to show that I know something about its nature. = TI also know something about Gen. Somervell. He succeeded me as Administrator of WPA in New York City. Just before that he attracted the attention of the President by his work in planning and construction of the Florida Ship Canal. He got his orders one morning and before Congress could ‘get around to stopping the project he had that great ditch well along in construction in a matter of & few weeks. I doubt if there are many equals to

a

His work on WPA in New York City was equally We hastily put 220,000 ‘men to work in abbut six weeks before he arrived, but it was naturally a helter-skelter- sort of a job. He organized that effort so that toward the end it was nearly the equivalent of civilian engineering projects,

‘although there have been few to equal it in size'and

complexity of administration. LE His Path Is Upward eT

SINCE THAT TIME, and during his ‘constantly increasing war responsibilities, his record has shown no downward dip. In short, what we have here is one of the first proved shining lights of our top-side Army command. If I £m any judge, he will do one of the oustanding jobs in its class: of any nation in the war. A Of even more significance is the wholly healthy tendency shown by centration of all construction work Corps. po He : We are moving towards centralization of power in the ablest hands and with the mdst direct responsie bilities. Considering the terrible confusion, -overe lapping, ineptitude and uncertainties of authority in 50 many of the other Government efforts this is highly encouraging. !

Right Man for the Job

ESPECIALLY IS THIS true in view of the fact that it is pretty well known that it is only part of a well-considered general plan in both the Army and the Navy to apply similar principles throughout. It must be kept in mind that the General Staff is not an operating agency. It plans -things, keeps wires from crossing, supervises their execution and must be regarded as part of the few powerful units, not of the hands, but of the composite brain of the /Commander-in-Chief, and of the Chief of the. Gene" ‘eral Staff acting for him, AL ge oe Gen. Somervell will dig no more -ditches like the Florida Ship Canal but will see that they are dug in the best and most economical manner possible. That kind of thing is not the 1/100 th part of the things for which he will be responsible. He must see that the Army is clothed, fed, housed and moved better than any other Army in the world. I wouldn't know how to pick a better man. y

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

‘MRS. SMITH—and that isn't her name, of course—is past 60, At this season last year she sufe fered from arthritis and head colds. Her mouth turned down at the corners. In short ‘she ‘was a gloom-spreader. wl ‘Maybe she had a right to be, at that, for she was lonesome and. bored. Her house, which had once been filled with a large and noisy

i family, was empty. She had been widowed and, with as d not keep

‘up socially with the Jone$es who had at one time

chased after her, cas Mrs. Smith is a changed woman today. You should see her! No longer finicky about dress, there’s g light in her eyes and an expression of de tion on her face. She laughs easily. And she is so busy she can’t find a minute to mope ries. She has committed herself to a task and, sneer if you will, that task is to lick Hitler. :

It Does Your Heart Good . -

YOU SHOULD SEE her lecturing to her knitting class, managing Bundles. for. Britain: groups, lending an occasional helping hand to the Red Cross and col- 5 lecting funds for China. Multiply her by a million or more. American women, who:have climbed down off the shelf where they had been neatly tucked to

repose like nite old ladies for the remainder of their

days, and you realize that a transformation has come ‘over some members of the bored segment of our pop.

"It ‘does your heart good to See how energetically they charge to their jobs and what a marvelous lift they get from a fresh feeling of usefuless. : . "i - Enormous benefits could come out of democracy, and its existence would not be threatened so often, if we were as interested in making it function as we

are in defending it. At least the middle-aged Amerie ¢

can woman is becoming aware of the immense pogsibilities for usefulness she has and has always had, The emergency has lifted her morale—and Grandma

“Smith is happier than she used to be. i

npr ete oR . Editor’s Note: The views expressed by colufinists in this newspaper are their own. They are mot pi pil those of The Indianapolis Times. a Hd

(The Indianapolis’ Times Service Buren. will answer any question, of fact or information. not involving extena.iei 3 seatch. Write your question clearly, sign nkme and 1 inclose a three-cent postage stamp. Medical or legal advice . camnot be given. Address The Times W, Bureau, 1013 Thirteenth St. Washington. Db. 0) ] BoE | — A : Q—How much time elapsed between the first and A—A year lacking a day. - ‘The first bout occurred at Philadelphia, Sept. 23, 1926; the second, at Chicago, Sept. 22, 1927. °C TOW CON Q—Who was Copernicus? What: his parents? HEA oN yo A—Nicolaus Copernicus was a famous Polish tronomer, born at Thorn, Poland, He B { at Frauenburg, East sia, May 24, 1543, was a Pole and his mq wi ig

about her personal wor-

as13; died" |

this appointment and the con~ 4 | in the Engineer ¥

4

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