Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 December 1941 — Page 14

/

a

=

® The India

» 2

napolis Times

ROY W. HOWARD RALPH BURKHOLDER MARK FERREE Business Manager (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

President

Editor

Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times = » Publishing Co, 214 W. E= Maryland St.

Member of United Press, Scripps « Howard Newspaper Alliance, NEA Service, and Audit Bureau of Circulations.

@ive Light and the People Will Mad Their Own Wap

Marion 3 cents a copy; delivered by carrier, 12 cents week,

BEEAL

@ RiLEY 855

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1541

ONE WORRY GONE HIS country has plenty of things to worry about, and it may have acquired some new ones recently. But we predict confidently that it will be a long, long time before anybody needs to do any more worrying over the morale of the men in the Army and Navy.

THE KNOX REPORT HE net of the Knox report on Pearl Harbor is that it could have been much worse. That is cold comfort to the bereaved families. And it dees not help the defenders of Midway, Wake, Guam, and the Philippines, who might have been relieved by the ships and planes lost in Hawaii. Neverthless, under the circumstances, we were lucky to get off with the loss of one battleship, five other ships and many planes, and damage to an undisclosed number of vessels which can be repaired. Rumor had it that most of our Pacific fleet was sunk, but Mr. Knox says it is at sea chasing the Japanese. Scare reports had the Pearl Harbor base itself degtroyed, but the Secretary of the Navy indicates very little

damage.

The heaviest loss, which was in planes, can be and is being replaced.

THE thing hardest to take—for the public, and even more for the Army and Navy-—is official confirmation that those in authority were caught napping. “The United States services were not on the alert against the surprise air attack on Hawaii,” Mr. Knox

reports.

targets.

Of course that was pretty clear from the beginning, though Americans have been hoping against hope that something, somehow, might explain it away. But in view of Mr. Knox’ unqualified statement, that part of it must have been very bad. Probably there never will be—cannot be—an adequate explanation of why so much of the fleet was week-ending in port when it was under an alert order, of why so few planes and ships were on dawn patrol, of why none of the many warning measures gave the alarm, of why so many Army and Navy planes were bunched on the ground as perfect

Anyway, the initial negligence in high places was atoned for by the heroic response of the men and officers of the Navy, Army, and Air Corps when the attack began. Mr. Knox’ description is inspiring; never have trapped soldiers and sailors fought more valiently, and effectively, as the relatively small loss proves. The test of a fighting man is his ability to recover from surprise attack, or defeat, quickly. Our services proved that at Pearl Harbor,

PERHAPS it is a good thing that the United States and its armed forces learned the tragic lesson of over-con-fidence in the first minutes of the war, rather than eight months later like the British—-or, like the French, too late. That necessary steps now will be taken by this Government is to be assumed from the initiative and speed with which Secretary Knox made his Hawaiian investigation and from the honesty of his public report. Instead of sitting

in his office, he flew to the spot.

his report came clean. That is action. May all those who fight for us at sea, on land, and in the air, know that America’s faith is with them. America’s reply to Pearl Harbor, and to any other temporary defeat that may come, was made long ago by Gen. Washington in the darkness at Valley Forge: “Soldiers, American soldiers, will despise the meanness of repining at such trifling strokes of adversity. Trifling indeed when compared with the transcendent prize which will undoubtedly crown their patience and perseverance, glory and freedom, peace and plenty to themselves and come munity—the admiration of the world, the love of their country, and the gratitude of posterity.”

FOR THE RECORD HE white paper which the President sent to Congress is useful for the record. Historians in some happier future can read this itemized bill of indictment of a barbaric aggressor in “amazement, sorrow, horror and disgust.” But the American people do not need the written paper. They have read the record in blood. And, if there was the slightest doubt before, within a few minutes on Dec. 7 they learned enough about Japanese and Axis treachery. to last them a long time. Now America is doing something about it. As the President said in his Bill of Rights address last

night, aimed at all the Axis powers:

Instead of covering up,

“We covenant with each other before all the world, that having taken up arms in the defense of liberty, we will not lay them down before liberty is onec again secure in ~ the world we live in. For that security we pray; for that gecurity we act—now and evermore.”

BACK RED CROSS TO THE LIMIT HERE'S another thing every citizen can do, no matter how far he is from the fighting line. He can back the Red Cross, which furnishes not only

frst

aid for men in the Army and Navy but also relief for

eivilians—men, women and children—who suffer from raids or other enemy action or who must be evacuated from their jomes as a precaution. The Red Cross was on hand in Hawaii and the Philipss when Japan's first dastardly blows were struck. It | be on hand abroad or at home whenever the suffering i distress of war call for immediate, expert help.

eB. .

and vital |

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

NEW YORK, Dec. 16—It has by most Americans that there is to be neither profit self-seeking in this those many patriotic konestly and bravely President Roosevelt's war the time of the blow are to be granted amnesty, 80 to speak, by the maJority who agreed with him all . Amnesty, of course, is not right word, but I mean that they are not to be nagged or impugned and I think

Yolt, wil get the idea, Man was within his rights, even performi his duty as a citizen, in opposing every one of the President's war policies until the very last hour of peace if he was so minded and there were among onists many fine Americans whose position was maintained throughout the long dispute only Some"or hem a vay em use very intemperate langu In their opposition but that, too, is an A privilege which, incidentally, was exercised with equal enthusiasm by many of these adversaries in the fight, And, furthermore, the genuine isolationists was consistent which cannot be said of those who called this & war of British imperialism and fomented the strikes at North American, Allis Chalmers and Aluminum up to the day when Hitler struck Russia and coined the slogan “The Yanks Are Not Coming.”

‘The American Deserves Respect’

THESE WERE THE COMMUNISTS, both imported and domestic, who now pass for patriots because they indorse the war but gave that indorsement only because Russia was attacked. As between the genuine American who opposd intervention and held his position until the Japanese attack but then changed for patriotic reasons and one who followed the party line, the American certainly deserves the greater respect and trust. No American in Russia would be allowed to agitate for the freedoms which constitute Americanism, and while Communists enjoy the right to agitate here, the tumult of war should not be permitted to obscure the fact that although they are among us they are not of us. They are now confronted with an inviting opportunity to make progress, for they will turn to with enormous zeal in the general war effort and any alarm sounded by such as Martin Dies, for example, will be denounced as disruption. Profiteering by industry seems to be out of the question except by act so plainly criminal as to invite quick punishment because industry has been to a large degree commandeered and the process is spreading rapidly. In very little time war will be the principal industry of the nation under Government direction and many enterprises which are not essential to the war effort will submit quietly to euthanasia in the interests of national safety.

‘They Need Ceaseless Watching’

THERE WILL BE political fixers who will profiteer on war orders in the guise of lawyers and contact men but in many cases they are a necessary evil like the parasitic agent in Hi . Their personal acquaintance in Washington and knowledge of the industrial war scheme enables them to save time in negotiations and their profits will be taxed heavily. Anyway, when it is all over most of them will go broke like the flash millionaires of the other war. In this situation the Washington mind continues to think of American labor as the membership of the two big, rival unions which, altogether, number not more than about 8,000,000 members, many of them unwilling captives as compared to the vast total number of working citizens. It is well that these unions have decided to cooperate now, for they couldn't well refuse, but this unavoidable co-operation undoubtedly will be exploited constantly for political gain by the leaders. They certainly will make some political gains, but they need ceaseless watching and opposition lest their ambition déstroy some of the very freedoms that the whole people are fighting and working for. These organizations are not American labor but, by the studied design of some of the union bosses amd through the ignorance of others, and with the encouragement of many miscalled liberals in Government, they are pressing toward permanent changes in our system called reforms or gains which are to he found only under the very system which the nation is fighting to destroy.

The Singapore Story By Wm. Philip Simms

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16. —Plans for an inter-allied war council to map the grand strategy of the war on all fronts, and to pool resources and allocate them where they will do the most good, are understood to be in preparation. The council probably will sit in Washington, since the United States is becoming increasingly the industrial, economic and financial nerve center of the combined effort against the Axis. The likelihood of such a step was revealed in these dispatches last Thursday. Confirmation came from London over the week-end. It was also confirmed that a formal alliance among America, Britain, China, the Dutch East Indies and Russia is in the making. This pact would ban a separate peace. Smaller associated nations would be invited to sign. Lord Beaverbrook’s London Evening Standard backed the growing demand for a joint board of strategy to synchronize Allied war efforts and allocate pooled resources. The Allies can't win, said this organ of Churchill's right-hand man, if they merely defend themselves individually or individually attack the Axis. Both their fighting and the use of their resources must be co-ordinated.

Unity of Fighting Command Unlikely

RUSSIA, CHINA, Britain, The Netherlands and the United States, it is pointed out, are all actively fighting the Axis in Europe, Africa, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Philippines, China, Malaya and other places. The war in the Atlantic must be co-ordinated with the war in the Pacific; the war in China with the war in Russia; and so on. And the relative importance of each of the fronts must be weighed in the common scales. From London, too, come re of increasing demands for a unified command. Capt. Edgar Granville, a member of Parliament, said such a step should be taken. He also asked that a single council be created to unify war policy. The feeling here is that unity of actual fighting command is hardly feasible at this time—at least in-

fight.—Gen. John J. A.B F in World War 1. . ’ : It's the last shots, not the first, that count.—War Secretary Stimson.

-. -. . One of the great things at stake . . . is than the preservation of private enterprise . .

‘an Sve Biufit Companion truth is that if private en

DA

New Name on a Great Scroll of Honor!

a -

The Hoosier Forum

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

“ONLY WAY TO HAVE PEACE IS TO HAVE BIG STICK” By Arthur S. Mellinger, 3500 W. 30th St. . . The only way we can have peace is to maintain the best Army, Navy in the world in cooperation with the entire Western Hemisphere to maintain such an order.

A traveler said the other day that he had been acquainted with the Japs for some time. The reason they attacked the United States, we were the most humane nation on the globe, so they could negotiate a more favorable peace. Well, I don’t now, never have, nor ever will trust a Jap; they can’t be trusted. ® os . “LET'S SHOW THE AXIS WE CAN DO IT AGAIN” By Margaret Stearns Reese, R. 4, Box 3684

For nearly two years I have tried by the written word to influence readers that all these strikes were going to be bad for the country in event of war. I was accused of trying to create war hysteria by simply writing down facts as I saw them.

The truth of my theory came home to the United States at Pearl Harbor. Even now, we cannot know the vast damage and unforgivable loss of life. Blood and tears for the whole nation, and those who should have been sweating in the defense factories, thanking God they were not on a firing line, were. on strikes.

Why did it take a murderous attack like the one Sunday morning to arouse Americans to a feeling of loyalty and galvanize them into action? ...

From this day forward it is the duty of every man, woman and child, to repeat no rumors, to go on our way calmly and earnestly, doing nothing to arouse suspicion, doubt or mistrust in the minds of others. We must go into this war with our chins up and keep them up. We must do without nonessentials cheerfully. Instead of spending money foolishly, buy war stamps with your change. If it takes something like the attack of Pearl Harbor to jar us out of our slumber, then our country would be better off without us. What a price to pay for unity! . .. I sincerely hope we shall see more than a war in all this conflict. . . . That we can see the word of God being fulfilled daily and that every

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, religious con

excluded. Make

your letters short, so all can

troversies

have a chance. Letters must be signed.)

mother and father will turn to the churches they perhaps have forgotten, and learn to pray again. We must make up to the boys in the service from here on by supplying the machines and ammunition that are not only their own lifelines, but the lifelines of the whole civilized world. Let's show the Axis powers we will do it again, No more strikes—full steam ahead. Remember Pearl Harbor!

fy 8 8 “CHANGE NEEDLE, WATSON,” MADDOX IS TOLD

By H. W. Daacke, 736 S. Noble St. In his article in the Hoosier Forum of Dec. 9, 1941, captioned “Opposed to all Isms, Maddox reiterates,” he used repetitive state ments, or should I say “quasi-repet-itive” to the fifth degree, as follows: No. 1, Socialism, Communism, Naziism and Fascism. No. 2, Nazi, Fascist and Communist. No. 3, Nazi, Fascist and Communist. No. 4, Nazi, Fascist and Communist. ’ No. 5, Communism, Nazilsm and Fascism. Why use Socialism in the first statement and omit it in the other four? My suggestion is to omit it in the first statement if the consistency and intestinal fortitude is lacking to carry it through the other four, Ohange the needle, Watson, ” ” ” “LEAVE OUT GOVERNOR'S AND MAYOR'S PICTURES, T00” By Robert P. Donahue, Bdgewood I have been a reader of your paper for quite a few years and this is my first contribution to the Hoosier Forum and would be pleased to have my “bit” published. Several weeks ago one of the contributors stated that it was not necessary to show pictures of Hitler

Side Glances==By Galbraith

iY I | na ya for fire

2-8 -

r and no fever—ye i might find

and Mussolini and I certainly agree with: this suggestion, and would like to go a little farther and ask why it is necessary that every time I pick up your paper I have to see our Governor Schricker and Mayor Sullivan pictures in it. We have seen enough of their pictures published as well as Hitler's and Mussolini's to know what they look like: , « « I might add that it would be a good thing to cut out the publishing of pictures altogether because our Government asks that we save all paper possible and this is one way to do it.

4 8 8

“WAR'S DELAY HIGHLY VALUABLE TO THE U. 8.”

By Claude Braddick, Kokomo Are you one of those who have reviled your Government for its long-continued policy of allowing oil and scrap iron to go to Japan, thus aiding her to war on China, and eventually ourselves? Do you not know that it was the cessation of this policy that precipitated the present war?

Did you not know that once these embargoes were laid, Japan would have no other choice than to fight ber way out, and quickly, or renounce her dreams of conquest? Would you rather have seen war come to us—a nation geared to peace--one or two years ago rather than now? If so, go on reviling. Our Government's policy, it is true, was one of appeasement, indulged in the fond hope of avoiding Pacific war. Is that reprehensible? Actually, it brought a precarious delay. But that delay was valuable—far more valuable to us, I should think, than to our enemies. The United States has made no demands on Japan. Japan, on the contrary, was insisting we restore her shipments of vital war material, The people and Government of the United States stood ready to do this, provided only that Japan be a good fellow, something which Japan had long since decided not to be.

“KEEP THE DISASTER BOYS AND GIRLS MUZZLED”

By Lightning, Indianapolis Saw in the papers this: 30 to 40 columns of hair raising news, enough to set any normal human high-tailing for the far end of the pasture; description of bomb horrors, blackouts, generally cussed pessimism, then down In one corner an eighth of a column this: “keep cool.”

big windies detailing various blitz

| terrors or raid tragedies all so re-

alistic that I saw children stiffep and get big eyed, then a pitch peddler twice telling what to do in a pinch: “Keep cool” he says. Keep the disaster boys and girls muzzled; they are helping the big bloat Adolf and the Son of Heaven.

Pack, oe, away, and welcome

Y, . With night we banish sorrow; Sweet air blow soft, mount lark To give my Love good-morrow! Wings from the wind to please h mind A ”

Notes from the lark I'l borrow; Bird, prune thy wings, nightingale

To give my Love good-morrow;

To give my Love good-morrow Notes from them all I'll borrow.

~Thomas Heywood-— (16497) DAILY THOUGHT For God hath not given us the

spirit of fear; but of , and of love, and of fn a

Then, heard on the radio a dozen|

SWEET AIR BLOW SOFT |

TUESDAY, DEC. 16, ‘TOM

Gen. Johnson Says—

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16. —“Hitler’s flaming action is the most fateful. news in. years. It was inevitable. Up in that Teutonic corner of Europe has lived a fight: ing race that has been permanently. licked by nobody since the first word of recorded history. Auguse tus, the. greatest of the Caesars, sent Varus up there to do it, and all he got out of it was the worst trimming ever handed a Roman general, and a hairsbreadth escape from destruction of the empire. That ended the Roman attempt at subjugation. “Charlemagne tried it and decimated those early Heinies. They were on his back almost before he: could turn around. Frederick the Great lost for them ‘all save honor,’ only to come back as the most threatening military force in Europe. Napoleon trounced them brilliantly, and himself invented a limitation. of armaments to keep them down. But out of | Prussia came the idea of the ‘nation in arms’ or a universal conscription—a direct product of Napoleon's own limitations on German arms. It drove Bonaparte - ‘to Elba and St. Helena. Sixty years later it almost destroyed France. A century later it endangered the whole world. “I am not approving it., I. am only stating a’ plain record of 2000 years 6f human experierice. We ourselves helped to prove in blood and treasure that there are no supermen—German or otherwise—but that did not change one of the most obvious facts in human history—that the Germans are a fighting people and that nothing will remove their threat of force save a threat of greater force. 2

‘Starts Catastrophe on Its Way’

“JUST TWO THINGS have kept the peace of . Europe in the past few years—one was the British ' fleet and the other a potential one hundred French ° divisions fully equipped. Modern war on.land requires a big and efficient modern industry. The Gere mans have a much better one than the French. “Today I think the French Army, with its Allies, could march from one end of Europe to the other— but not after the Germans rearm with modern equipment. Fully equipped, they would be a military na- : tion far superior to the French and, on the slightest : provocation or no provocation at all, could bring down on the world a new 1914 or worse. ‘This mad move of Hitler's starts catastrophe on y its way. From his barbarous persecution of the Jews : and his ruthless murder of his political opponents, the world knows that he stops at. nothing of-ethics, mercy or humanity, and he certainly would ‘not: be stopped at a political boundary by so slight a thing as the peace of the world. ...”

Don't Under-Estimate Hitler].

THE ABOVE was taken frem the first column I ever wrote, It was wrifeen on March 15, 1935. I have caused it to be recarried in my column at the request or many of my long-time: readers. “It is not in any sense a matter of “I told. you so.” I do want to stress the fact—as I have stressed it for years—that Hitler's Germany, armed to the teeth, is a ruthless machine oe Segurucsion that can only be stopped by destroyg it. This can only be done by a more efficient, more powerful machine. We have the potential power, brains and guts to do it—and we can do it. But we must not make the tragic mistake of under-estimating our enemy. y Everything I have recently said about the difficulties of this job goes double with those little ones of . .. Nippon on our backs. The kind of courage that our_Marines are show= ing in their magnificent defense of Wake Island, our Army in the Philippines, and our Navy everywhere, mush, be demonstrated by everyone of us if we are 0 win. Sagriices will be required which will “try men’s souls.’ p

s—

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

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

ONE THING SURE—the soldier boy will be eating better from this day forth. There's a woman

food consultant in the Quartermaster’s Corps—Mrs. Meryl P. Stone-—a number one authority on dietetics. So, if the army chow is not ekactly as good as that dished up by Mather, it will undoubtedly be better than it used to be. I honestly believe public morals and health and spirits would be vastly improved if women could do all the cooking. The men are responsible for many of our ills, and none is so widespread as the bad digestion which follows continued eating at public places where the meals are slapped together by some male “expert” who knows no more about the drt of seasoning than an ant knows about Arcturus. Listen to the wails of people who are obliged to eat out day after day. They may be able to afford the most expensive restaurants, but you'll hear them come plaining just the same. .They soon grow tired:-of the food everywhere. Their sense of taste is afflicted by the deadly monotony of their fare, and no matter how well it is garnished, they will speak longingly of “home cooking.” i

Leave It to the Women

AND, AS I'VE said before, home cooking means a woman cook. Nobody gets tired of Mother's table. She may not be able to dress up her fried chicken in lace drawers, but Boy! does she know how to fry it! Her mashed potatoes are always hot and fluffy and delicious. And when I think of the mountain of spuds, reduced to a state of run, and fit only for the pigsty, to which I have sat down in public eating places, I know why Nature provided the poor potatoes with so many eyes. So they could weep their mangling and mashing —their watery gooiness—their ruin at the hands of so-called chefs, And ‘gravy--but don’t get me started on that, The stuff that passes. for gravy in thousands of eating houses in the land is enough to turn the stomach of an ostrich. Bede The only good gravy men know ‘how to make is

ly g -political and financial--in the kitchens their concoc-

tions are an insult to the great American. tradition.

Questions and Answers

(The Indianapolis Times Service Bureau will answer any question’ of fact or information, net involving extensive research. Write your guestion clearly, sign name snd address, fdclose a three-cent postage stamp. Medical or legal advice cannot be given. Address The Times Washington Service Bureau. 1013 Thirteenth St. Washington: D. C.)

Q—What causes books to decay? A—Paper, cloth, thread, ddhesives and leather, the organic constituents of books, are susceptible to decay from chemical changes: brought about by deteriorative components of the book materials, or by exterior influences such as sulphur in the air, and sunlight. There is also the rotting effect of mildew which results from spores carried by the air. All of these deteriorative actions are stimulated by certain temperatures and humidities. The abrasive action of dust is also a factor.

Q—How much heat is dissipated in the manifold of the. average 6-cylinder automobile engine when it is operating the car at a speed of 25 miles per hour? A—The National Bureau of Standards says that about one-half of the heat produced by the combustion of the fuel, or over 50,000 B. t. u. per hour, is carried out in the exhaust of an average automobile

to show

ust of Sl eI Ci