Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 December 1941 — Page 16
THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES ____ This Year's Yule Log!
The Indianapolis Times
ROY W. HOWARD RALPH BURKHOLDER MARK FERREE President Editor Business Manager (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)
_ MONDAY. DEC. 221011 Gen. Johnson Says—
WASHINGTON, Dec. 22.--For the last several days I have been heckling our war mobilization for too much complacency, for ree peating mistakes made in the last World War and for a general hasineseoaseusual’ frome of mind which seemed to me ave per. > RILEY 8851 vaded our efforts to date. Recent headlines encourage me to the @ive Light end the People Will Mind Ther Uwn Wap ] a | : AYO 35 . SERN Ia Bra rs, are Really SWingig a REN 3 : Re Sate ! One leading story was about ; aed ; = | the shake-up in Hawaii in which the three come manders of the Army, Navy and Air Force there were relieved of command. ' Following so promptly, as’it does, Mr. Knox's inspection and report, it inc a clear joint directive authority of our armed forces which is highly encouraging. A short time ago I pointed out that, whoever else might be responsible for that mess, there was cers go" tainly no theory on which those three commanders « could be held to be not responsible for the obvious flagrant violation of the first basic rule of warfare fms all units at all times must maintain local security.
Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler
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MONDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1041
IF NOT THE ARMY, TRY JIM FARLEY HAT this country seems to need right now isn’t just a good five cent cigar but a good siren: The writer has been through a couple of so-called “glerts” along the eastern seaboard since we got into the war in both oceans with both feet. The net of the experiences, in New York and Washington, reminds us of that line in “Once in a Lifetime” where the super-peppy general manager of a Hollywood movie declared in a staff meeting, “We'll show ‘em how to get a lot done around here without Wasting any time thinking.” It's been a case of listen for five long and two short blasts or one long and five short, or something, from that giren nobody knows; of stay where you are or get somewhere else; of go to the basement or avoid the basement; of keep calm and don’t hurry or run like hell; of stay under cover or hit for the open—of confusion of tongues and of instructions; of the blind and befuddled leading the blind. ; » s » 8 s s
JFORTUNATELY no pineapples have been dropped yet. But some might be, even in Indianapelis or Oshkosh, not to confine ourselves to Washington and New York. It seems to us that Mayor La Guardia is the key to this confusion, with Mrs. Roosevelt the runner-up. Both ap- | pear to have taken in too much territory, to the point of not being able to see for the dust. For whatever suggestions may be worth, we urge the one already made—that the whole matter of civilian defense be put up to*the Army; that Mr. La Guardia put in his time being mayor of the nation’s metropolis; that Mrs. Roosevelt devote herself to Her Day. Or, if a civilian must be in charge, we suggest drafting Jim Farley. It's an organizational job. And Jim knows I how to organize (1932-1936). He'd get us a siren we could | This Is Just the Overture
hear. THE UNION of Joe Fay, the brutal, drunken th: who slugged David Dubinsky at the New Orleans os By BW. Weer vention of the A. F. of L. last year for suggesting that | I notice some awakening in the racketeers be thrown out of union leadership, is ine | direction of guarding various devolved in the situation. Fay, incidentally, is now | fense industries around the town under indictment in Syracuse for a cowardly assault That's a wise move insofar as it on another union official who was severely Injured affects the water company, the
and he is now badly scared for the first time pert long career as a union racketeer. inne Slectrie hight ro oy and ow
He could get five years in prison if convicted, so various defense plants. he has gathered a whole crowd of high-priced law-| However, I can’t get stirred up vers and is trying to make character hy explaining | about putting guards around Mu- : We have plenty to think about matters in the papers. Fay broke a precedent re- | nicipal Court, and restricting vis-|the Irish people or their love fof ang worry about in striving for cently by requesting the Newark News to send a re- | jtors at the airport. You could take |(reedom. But to want to be free|,ayimum production and equipporter to hear his side of the case, whereas in the a ‘wagonload of dynamite to the and to be left alone is not enough. ment without raising Don Quixote past le J. ways Jnbred putilie Spite. Airport and do little more damage We now are fighting for the freedom | 50 ants of the imagination to convery sa use he feels of Ireland as much as we are for fuse and perturb our people, whose
’ . ° that the mess must be cleaned up, but realises than blowing a sizable hole in the ther f A WwW V the worst of the crooks are i Ben and hat ground. Engiang % Sita of ant i a confidence has already been rudely omans lewpoint their Irish names and church connections will cause t shocked.
I dislike seeing restrictions at the \;) om to make some contribution to scandal. He also realizes that, as on the west field, for the simple reason that it Let us prepare and guard against coast, the common cause. any possible attack by planes, but By Mr S. Walter Ferguson It is my suggestion that the|without hysteria and without fright. :
the New York victims of the crooks will not object |is one of the few places people can friends of Ireland who have any in- | ning people unduly by false alarms.
to the leadership of a Communist if, like Bridges, he {go free of charge for a pleasant will pretend to fight for h : hing trans In his Annapolis class he graduated first. As a young yr robbery, |S men and protect them (hour or two watching the big _ [fluence with people in that country * » = I HAVE AN interesting suggese om hief of he won the Nav in the firs This is just an overture to the pi end I YY 0 Darsuede. them to sitiks a wp assistant chief of staff he won the Navy Cross in the first piece Will | from wandering all around the field plow for freedom by granting us| "WARTIME CEILING ON tion’ about. Work for national dew
from systematic robbery. ports come and go. Sure, keep ‘em ] ’ ‘ give particulars from time to time. The racket is inWorld Ww ar, He later became inspector of ordnance. Not credibly big and foul and the evilest crook of the and so on but don't make it hard bases for ships and planes. PRICES URGED fense from Mrs. L. M. Coleman satisfied with service on all types of surface ships, he re- at or
Whole system is the political Skullbuster who tried | TOF them to visit the airport, This is no time for soft sentimen- [By L. G.. Indianapolis quested submarine duty. pe the | rom Rickard and whose name ® ® =» tality. We want to know if the peo-| During these trying times when women are eager to tackle some At 49 he virtually started all over by learning to be a | this. thing practical and real, I pass
Technical Skill Recognized
THE SELECTION of officers to replace these com« manders indicates a full realization by the central authority of the technical and scientific advances of modern war. In assigning these replacements the Army selected two. outstanding air generals, The naval ommander is a submarine expert. In their early 50s, these three officers had already risem to positions of high responsibility in their respective services before these assignments were made, They are all highly representative of the new type of vige orous, scientific professionals upon which we must rely for successful prosecution of the war. a
Right alongside of the story of the Hawaii shake= up was the one about the defeat in the House of Rep= resentatives of the Administration proposal for « 19-year-old base for liability for military service in the new draft legislation. I am not commenting upon the substance of this proposal because I believe any time the armed forces feel they must dip into the 19-year-olds, the Congress will then give them the power. Under the compromise proposal the limits fox military service has been fixed at 20 to 44, inclusive,
Congress Shows Mr. Hitler
THERE ARE, however, three things in connection with the House action which are highly encouraging. In the first place, the promptness in which the Cone gress is acting in these matters is proof positive thay Hitler is all wet in his belief that a democracy cah- | not mobilize itself quickly enough for prompt and effective action. The second point is that, in turning down this Administration proposal, Congress acted as the watchdog and guardian of what it considers to be the best interests of the people. . The third and most inspiring point is that the fight on the floor for the Administration proposal was led by Rep. Andrews of New York (Republican), to augment our efforts for produc-| the ranking minority member of the House Military
The Hoosier Forum
I wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire,
The Hudson River is no demarcation because the crooks are equally at home along both shores and Staten Island and Perth Amboy are equally plagued by these criminals whose operations also include some of the teamsters and the trucking business.
DON'T BAN VISITURS (Times readers are invited j TO THE AIRPORT ‘ s + on. Affairs Committee. to express their views in The Germans have such an ur- This is the stuff. It is a clear indication that gent and impelling use of their| from now on we can expect non-partisan support of planes in Russia, England and in| Administration emergency measures and also none aid of Japan in the Philippines,| Partisan opposition to them whenever the Congress Hawaii, Thailand, in Africa and| truly feels that the proposed invasion of rights is Java, etc. that it would seem that| DOb justified by the alleged necessities. \ even Germany would not be 50 This is a very vital function of the Congress a y a time like this and it is a clear proof to all the
stupid and unintelligent as to divert forces to » doubtful attack upon i A what we are fighting for is well worth
our Atlantic Coast.
these columns, religious conMake your letters short, so all can
troversies excluded.
LONG LIVE KING!
ON'T discount the stories about the new commander-in-chief of the U. S. fleet as ballyhoo. Admiral Ernest J. King needs no buildup. If ever a man seemed to fit an emergency call, he is it. If the record means anything, Admiral King is the bestqualified admiral for modern warfare in our Navy, and probably in any Allied navy. : Theoretically, he meets every major qualification brilliantly, with the possible exception of youth—and his great initiative belies his 63 years. Most others are content if they can become expert in one naval field; Admiral King is a recognized expert in all.
have a chance. Letters must be signed.)
Editor’s Note: The views by columnists in this newspaper ars their own. They are not necessarily those of The Indianapolis Times.
will be on.the tip of Al Smith's tongue as he reads | URGES U. §. SEEK AIR ple of Ireland are for us o! against | complete unity within our borders is combat flier. Rising in that service, as he had in others,
he commanded a carrier, the aircraft battle force, and | finally ail naval aviation as chief of the Bureau of Aero- |
nautiecs. » os ® = = =
ATURALLY, when the President months ago chose his first combat commander—to organize an Atlantic fleet and conduct defensive and undeclared warfare against the Nazis—he picked Admiral King as the leader with the qualifications on the sea, under the sea, and over the sea. Admiral King was the only one of our three fleet commanders who had an opportunity before Dee. 7 to make or break himself against the Axis wave. So the new commander-in-chief of all the U. S. fleets is a flying admiral, who already has been beating Hitler for several months in the vast battle of the Atlantic. Also he is the toughest disciplinarian, the most hardboiled stickler for “alert” in the Navy. If Admiral King is defeated—and he doubtless will lose occasional battles—it will not be for Pearl Harbor reasons. » ” = = = 2 | INKED with the new top admiral are two other fliers, who are in complete command of all Army services .in the areas guarding the chief naval bases. ; Gen. Emmons, the new commandant of the Army's Hawaiian department, and Gen. Andrews, chief of the Army’s Panama-Caribbean department, are air officers. But even flying commanders like King, Emmons and Andrews must have planes in order to fight them. The British put a flier in command of the Army and Navy in the Far East, but Air Marshal Brooke-Popham has not been able to do much at Hongkong and Singapore because he is short of planes. Now that our flying admirals and generals are being allowed to take over, the American job shakes down more and more to supplying enough planes! fast enough, to enough fronts, to win the war.
THE GRIM TOLL BY THEIR own admission, the Germans have sustained 578,000 casualties in the Russian campaign. That means soldiers killed, wounded and missing. No one can say whether this figure is accurate. The Russians claim it is as high as 6,000,000. American author jties in Washington have estimated more than 4,000,000, with more than a million dead. Somewhere between these estimates lies the fruth, and wherever it lies it is grim enough. : The British offensive at Passchendaele in 1917 cost 400,000 casualties, and the total American casualties of V War I were under 250,000. So it is clear that, taking at his own estimate, which must be the lowest posthe German people must be under tremendous strain. their leaders can promise nothing better than 10 more
Aviation By Maj. Al Williams
“JAPAN MUST be bombed.” Don’t tell me a national defense system can’t be revised in wartime. The British did just that when they severed the Royal Flying Corps from the control of the British Army and the Royal Naval Air Service from the British Admiralty during the last war. Realistic Englishmen co-ordis nated Engiand’s two air services into the present Royal Air Force. We will follow that example some
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BASES FROM IRELAND By O. P. A, Indianapolis
Nature has given Ireland a strategic location in the Atlantic. Naval experts have stated repeatedly that allied naval and air bases on the coasts of Treland would be of tremendous value to the democracies in winning the battle of the At lantic and to win the war we must first win that battle. Until we entered the war our government was reluctant to bring pressure on Ireland for fear of rekindling the age-old feud between England and Ireland, but now that we are in we should not hesitate to bring every pressure upon any nation in a position to help us or our allies, The reluctance of the Irish people to become involved in this war is understandable, but the time has come for them to take their stand. They owe their independence to the help and sympathy of this country and now they have the opportunity to repay their debt in a very prac tical way. No one questions the courage of
us. ” 82 8
DOUBTS COAST CITIES FACE SERIOUS PERIL
By D. B, Indianapolis The danger of a bombardment of any city on our Atlantic Coast seems chimerical. The Germans have few planes that could fly to America and return without refueling. The amount of damage they could do to New York City, for example, would be negligibie. The Germans have attacked London for months and with innumerable planes, and yet have not accomplished their aims. The planes would be subject to detection and attack on their way over and to pursuit by our planes on their return. The Germans could hardly dare to hope for the safe return of even a majority of the planes. Why should they risk so much for so little? They would not injure our morale by any such attack, but only expose their own impotence and cause us
Side Glances==By Galbraith
nas
“its the fifth child for Sam—he's ot the stage where he only
needed in order to defeat the enrmy,
we must be on the alert for the|:
same type of vulture that preyed on our people in the last war, Those who speculate in foods and other commodities, who see in this war a chance to make a lot of money, who raise prices over night for no reason at all and create misery all around us, are just as much the enemy as the Nazi hoodlums, a To call them unpatriotic is mild. The right term is “traitor” and their proper abode during the war is a concentration camp. It is to be hoped that government agencies will be established quickly which will keep these vultures in line and establish moderate ceiling prices on foods, rents and other commodities. ® = @ LESSON IN SOCIOLOGY By Willis M. Rexford, 2107 N. Delaware St. Sociology books usually tell about social evils or social problems. Different authors describe them in different ways. After reading five books on the subject, it seems to me that the following are the most urgent social evils: 1, Ignorance. (Dealey.) 2. City living conditions that cause blighted lives. (Ellwood. 3. Socially unsound legislation or home-management that fails to heed the findings of sociologists, or the findings of the weather bureau, or the observations of any other able scholars. (Blackmar.) 4. Perverted inventions used to destroy instead of benefit mankind. (Beach) ~ 5. Artificiality that causes persons to live in ways that nature didn’t intend. (Stopes.) 6. Obsolete customs that prevent
her ideas along, because they are valuable: “The other day I listened to a lengthy program on the virtue and value of free lunches for undernourished children in New York State. Instantly I thought of the homes from which these children come. Isn't it time we thought of them, since many of.our boys have been turned down by draft boards because of malnutrition?
“Will these free lunches be of permanent value ta these homes? I fear not. They serve only as a crutch in an emergency. The reactions are likely to increase parent-child problems and delinquency. If we could only help mothers in such families, train them to prepare the right foods and to manage their budgets better, we might be able to dispense with this form of charity.
“Both child and home lose something valuable when the child gets a service outside of the home which the home should provide, Giving food like this does not solve, or even lessen, the problem of undernourishment. The cause for all this. undernourishment is ignorance, since everyone knows we have enough food for our people. And the only cure for ignorance is enlightenment.
A Wise Economy
“TAKING A HUNGRY child away from his home to feed him isn’t going to build morale or patriotism or brawn for the future, I believe we should establish a home-making service which will take us directly into the homes. In the end it would be less expensive in dollars and cents, and would give something more than temporary aid. “A child compelled to go elsewhere for his food _ feels less sure of himself and his family. I've seen youngsters so upset by the experience that .they could not retain their food.. I only wish I could tell you a few of the sights seen in New York City, where I've worked with settlement houses and as counsellor for the city’s poor and sick. and where I made some of the first investigations of the enrollees for CCC. “We ought to remember that miost of our great men came from the bottom of the heap. Isn't it part of our job for national defense to put our charie ties on a more intelligent basis?” : Amen to that, Mrs. Coleman! Patriotism ‘without common sense won't get us anywhere. ;
Questions and Answers