Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 January 1942 — Page 8

PAGE The Indianapolis Times

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

*

Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times Publishing Co, 214 W, Marylang St

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

ty, 3 cents a copy; delivered by carrier, 12 cents a week.

cents a month.

«E58 RILEY 5551

Give Light and the People Will Find Thetr Own Way

SATURDAY, JANUARY 24 1942

EVEN WAR IS NOT WORLD'S END

- i N a fast triple play, allow us to pass on to you a series of | most interesting quotations assembled by President

Marsh of Boston University, reproduced by James Truslow

Adams in “Barron's,” and now here set down once again. They're worth it. Wilberforce, 1801—°I dare not marry—the future is so unttled.” Piit. 1806— There is scarcely anything around us but ruin and despair.” : Lord 1848— "Nothing can save the British Empire

Siva Frachi re Shaftesbury

Disraeli. 1849—"In industiv, commerce. and agriculture there is no hope.” ington. 1832—"I thank God I shail be spared from seeing ruin that is gathering about us.”

Well

the consummation of the

GOOD NEWS WITH BAD

HE Singapore situation and MacArthur's position in the | Philippines are critical. The Japanese are pushing into

the Dutch Indies, and have invaded outer island defenses of Australia. Even in Libva the British are falling back. | rom the Australian and Dutch Governments come frantic appeals for help. Is there time? Can American reinforcements reach there before the Japs cut our supply line to northern Australia and the Indies at the strategic Torres Strait? Can British reinforcements from the Middle East and India reach there before the enemy takes Singapore and the Burma bases? If Churchill will send to the Far East most of the American-made planes now held in reserve in Egypt and the Middle East, they probably can arrive in time to check the Japs. If Churchill has not reversed his policy of inadequate aid for the Far East, there appears little chance of holding Singapore, the area's most important strategic point. In any event, the aid Britain can send of an emergency character and soon exhausted. Her Middle East | reserves are not large, and her industries in India produce small arms and equipment rather than the much needed bombers, submarines and tanks. e biggest part of the supply job falls on United s factories and on the long trans-Pacific communicaline. Can we do the job quickly enough? There is no clear answer. But it looks more hopeful than a week ago.

I in

th

= » = M 5 HIS moderate optimism is based on a report given the press by a high Washington official who is in a position to know all the facts. According to him, the Army has now completed the tremendous task of reinforcing our newly exposed first defense line, the West Coast, Alaska and Hawai. This Army movement invoived 600,000 men and a large part of our combat air force. Until that was done we could do little to strengthen he southwest Pacific defense line. But the inference of his high official is that most of our combat-plane production is now being rushed to the Indies front as fast as it comes from the factories. | If true—and we believe it is—this 1s the best news we have heard since Hitler's Russian retreat.

& L 4 L

GIVE THEM THE GUNS

IX weeks ago the Navy announced that it was beginning to arm American merchant ships for voyages into war | zones, in accordance with the Neutrality Act changes which | had just been made. Few then foresaw that in so brief a time war zones would extend to the shores of the United States—that | within sight of California beaches enemy submarines would be attacking American coastwise shipping—that rescued survivors landing at Pacific ports would be saying: “We only wish we'd had a gun. That sub was a perfect target. It loomed up like a skyscraper.” Presumably the submarines are Japanese, and operating far from bases. Presumably they're few in number. And presumably, in time, Navy bombers will get them all. Meanwhile, we're proud that American seamen who cisk their lives plying our own coastal waters with oil and lumber are ready and eager to defend their own ships. We hope the Navy can very quickly give them the guns they're asking for.

STAMP RACKETS

HE Axis nations, he Treasury Department, have | been working a stamp racket. They have been printing great numbers of new postage-stamp series in occupied | countries, shipping them over for sale to stamp collectors | in the United States, and so acquiring American dollars— some 20 million of them to date—to fight us with. | The Treasury has moved to stop this business. It has | instructed our customs collectors to block the importation of stamps from Axis nations and their conquered victims. | And it is appealing to American stamp collectors to co- | operate. ; Our stamp collectors, we are sure, will respond will- | ingly. Indeed, we seem to recall that many of them started asking for relief from a stamp racket long ago. That was | when Jim Farley, as Postmaster General, began issuing | new series of United States stamps in such numbers that many philatelists well nigh went broke trying to buy all that were needed to keep their albums up to date.

~~ #

Says {

i

IS THIS NEEDED FOR VICTORY?

EXT fiscal year’s budget allots $£7.497,510 to the Gov- |

ernment Printing Office—an increase of $2,247,460

Price in Marion Coun-

Mail subscription rates | in Indiana, $3 a year, outside of Indiana, 65 |

{ change-over.

i raid blackouts.

over this year. Are we trying to win the war with words?

=

——

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

NEW YORK, Jan. 24. — The Naval Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives presents some figures on the riches of unions engaged in the war industries and recommends legislation requiring unions to register with the Government and file pertinent

information about their officers, |

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

SATURDAY, JAN. 24, 1942

Cutting the Gordian Knot!

membership and financial condi- |

tion.

The figures themselves meaningless and. moreover. probably can be discarded as false, because most unions refuse to tell even their members truly how much money they have, how much they collect and how much they spend and what for. You ought to get a copy of the 30-years’ report of the hod-carriers’ union when, at last, the boys were compelled to go through the form of a convention a few months ago. It compresses the financial record of 30 years, millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of working men into a few pamphletsize pages. This is the outfit which, nevertheless, has had the gall to straddle the roads leading to prac-

tically all war construction jobs and stick up the poor |

American workman for anywhere from $19 to $50 as the price of its gracious permission to work.

And They Ought to Know

SEVERAL MONTHS AGO estimated that the annual income, of the unions was about one billion— billion, not mililon—dollars a year and an old-time professional labor skate, as the unioneers are called in their own set, told me afterward that in a discussion with several other professionals the conclusion was reached that I was at least a half-billion—half-bililon, not half-million—short. They should have a better idea because they are old hands in the business, but even they could only estimate and guess because most of the unions guard their secrets as the Navy guards its codes The committee's figures seem very demure to me. I won't go into them except to present a sample and make a face. The sample says the net assets of 117 national and international unions with 6,085,832 members on a certain®*date were $71.915665 which seemd Just plumb ridiculous. Why six million head would pay an average of $100 a vear, which would give us 600 million dollars a year right there, exclusive of accumulated wealth. And these unions don’t put out much for legitimate purposes, you know. A few nickels for rent, stamps and

office help and some fake unempioyment and burial

benefits and there you are.

Lion's Share to the Locals

BUT MAYBE THE committee doesn’t realize that the greatest graft goes to the locals which keep most

of the initiation money and dues and pay a per capita | to their parent unions which, in turn, dribble a few | pennies a month per head into the A. F. of L. and |

the C. I. O. But six million head paying a per capita of 35 cents into these nationals and internationals, this being the standard rate, although it does vary, would donate $2,100,000 a month, or $25,200,000 a year.

I am not very good at arithmetic, but get out your |

own pencil and do it for yourself. These nationals and internationals would have an income of $25.200,000 a year, exclusive of special gyps and their parental share of the initiation money, and vet one of our most important Congressional committees is willing to report without comment that their assets are only, roughly. $72.000,000. What have they been doing with Those total assets after all the vears of existence of these unions are less than three vears' income Well, anyway, it is a comfort that the committee

recommends legislation to establish at least some au- |

thority of Government over these unions. It isn't a minute too soon to do this, because if the A. F. of L. and C. I. O. get together and combine their legal looting power they will collect two billion a year and, no exaggeration, it will be just goodby republican form of government in the U. S. A.

Daylight Saving

By Thomas L. Stokes

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24. —Daylight saving, which goes into effect nationally at 2 a. m. Feb. 9, will cause some temporary complicalfons and some 1eadjustment of habits. But officials here say they feel sure the people will accept the change in a co-operative spirit— despite protests on behalf of farmers, duck hunters and others voiced during Congressional de-

| bate on the legislation—in view of the necessity of | conserving every possible kilowatt of power for war | production.

A problem is presented by the trains, airplanes and busses that will be in motion at the time of the In the case of trains, particularly, this requires a careful adjustment of schedules. The carriers are at work on the problem. Some hardships may fall on people in areas which

{ have been arbitrarily moved in recent years out of

their natural time zones, as regulated by the sun, into other zones, and which therefore. beginning Feb. 9, will be two hours instead of one ahead of sun time. For example, ail of Ohio was shifted to the Eastern time zone in 1936. giving communities in western OLio an hour of daylight saving the year around. Southern Michigan also was shifted from the Central to the Eastern zone. Last year all of Georgia was moved into the Eastern zone. Western Georgia had been on Central time. The Interstate Commerce Commission had authority to hear complaints of particular situations

which might work hardships. and to make adjust- ||

ments,

A Two-Fold Purpose

THUS FAR IN the new situatien it has received | This comes from Idaho. which, | { by act of Congress in 1921, was permitted to move | | the portion of the state south of the Salmon River | from the Pacific time zone to the Mountain zone, an |

only one petition.

hour ahead. Idaho now wants a shift back. But the

| commission had advised that relief is possible only

through Congress. Unless the change is made, Idaho will be two hours ahead of the sun after Feb. 9.

It was to take care of particular situations that |

Leland Olds, chairman of the Federal! Power Commission, urged that the President be given power to order daylight saving where and as needed, but Congress instead enacted the flat one-hour advance for the whole country. Daylight saving has two objectives: (1) To conserve power, and (2) To get people out of factories and business houses and into their homes for airThe power conservation is directed at the peak load between 5 and 7 p. m. when there is normally an excessive power load due to lights in business houses and factories, street lighting, trans portation agencies, and the like. The early closing of business houses and industrial plants not on a 24-hour war basis will lighten this load.

So They Say—

: THE PUBLIC must be protected from exploitaiton.—Leon Henderson, price administrator.

I DO NOT subscribe to or support, directly or indirectly, any agitation which would promote antag-

{ are

the dough? |

rens.—Henry Ford. dings of all three of her daughters and never saw her shed a tear!”

°

The Hoosier Forum

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

stars as to who was to make these personal tours. One outstanding star realizing the importance of this publicity said she would go and pay all her own expenses. On that ill-fated trip was a stewardess who surely has loved ones who mourn, there was a mother who left three sons to mourn a sister and a mother; there was a fine outstanding pilot, does his death mean nothing in this crucial day; there was a wife rushing to her husband who was an Army

“WHAT ARE LITTLE THINGS 'LIKE NAZI MENACE?” By Edmund P. Leane, 32 W. S{. Clair St. To "Non Smoker” re Jan. 20, | Hoosier Forum: | In times like these it strikes me] {that you have dealt a stanch blow to the evil of all evils now confront-| i ling us. What are little things like] have a chance. the Nazi menace, Japanese conquest land similar world trivia compared! [to a tired defense worker offend-

(Times readers are invited their these columns, religious conMake your letters short, so all can

to express views in

troversies excluded. Letters must be .igned.)

ing your outraged noses by sneak- deed, one of those whose vote was |

/ing a few “drags” in the back seat bought in advance with a job, has| goer ready to leave for parts unof a street car? the temerity to enter our courts of|

| : ~ known; there was a publicity man That there can be no Utopia is 'UStice to try to collect almost agp, ng goubt has a family and again demonstrated. No matter| a0" dollars wy } Begtipling 2 then most valuable it seems to me how perfect our social patiern may| hE Se a unger . 2 he. | were the 15 men whose hearts were ‘be there are always omnipresent Es AT ri “ablaze with patriotism and life. to i those in whose veins will forever!

® 0S oY a this! them were so important. Back of | flow the stale bilge of “reformama.” So © Paying. Sota parties 10 VMS them is the history of 15 mothers {i I am impressed by your words:

“negotiating” racket are equally| wn, went down in the shadow of " : ; (guilty of a conspiracy to defeat the! G , Sic Semper Cigaret Fiends! the valley to bring them forth. per Yam * {purpose of defense bond and stamp! “} son't know if 1. ¥. (I wits they sales. Ang I submit that our Offi aq given their name) is a mother . [cials are little better than fifth! tho has ever given her flesh and columnists or saboteurs if they neg-| 100d to the defense of this glolect to break OF this praciiesl,;.. ;.ng of the free and brave. ruff Place cause refunds to the Treasury and If not, she knows nothing of the 5 , Pegler’s column today is one | Punish ihe oifencers : ‘heartache these mothers are en- | which upwards of a hundred million| Defense bond and stamp sales g,png today. Carole Lombard's ‘Americans should read and re-read, have been far below expectations, , emory will receive due recogni-

each time they are called upon to Which is attested by the frantic) iq, hone of us need to worry about buy defense bonds and stamps. Un- efforts used to pep up the cam-

‘that. But whil i fortunately. it is my humble opinion Paign. But once the people are as-| paing given iiss To on rs that Pegler did not avail himself of sured, by acts, not words, that our | pray for all ‘who mourn the most outstanding examples. And Dene and Se Be going for roa gp : at the risk of being called unpatrio- the purpose intended, the campaign ; tic, I should like Re call aren will go like wildfire. RN IY op PRAYs to the facts which all of us are Under existing circumstances, | OF LOMBARD PINE aware of but have failed to accord Carole Lombards heroic gesture was| BY JVilliam Stokes, P. 0. Box 52 ‘proper importance. 'in vain. Official acts which we took| ‘hile tributes are being made For instance, that unnecessary It our stride as a matter of course 41d EAR rial ie wi $8000 job that Mr. Pegler poses as before, are definitely out today. (0 v 5 a ons of a Dopuiag and wiping out the income tax pay- And they must be boldly and pub. /HiIER re ove aa picture: seb ‘ments of 320 average $25 taxpayers, liCly stamped out before the masses of BL S aus oa bereantags similarly wipes out more than 425 ©f Working people can see any ECan Toh lfzes, STen wile defense bonds of the $25 denomina- Worthwhile purpose in investing oa wi } 2 STEAL Bi Jenily won ition. Considering the almost a their pennies and dollars — merely pin on Ni umwedin he million of these unnecessary jobs !0 finance the Babylonic political Sak 3 1 ay Dejan created to buy votes in advance, | Whirlpool in Washington. as Po ee rs I Toe jIost of Sem Wo pe fo ££ » =» men were on active duty for their p § DY JVI. Averageman, will.paCk OF THEM IS THE country! not contribute one bit toward the} | In spite of the regrettable but

: : y OF 13 THERS” |all-out campaign to defeat the Axis| HISTORY O 5 MO S necessary tendency to accept as a matter of course the deaths of men

| powers. By C. M. Darby, 1513 E. 70th St. Consider, also. the millions of dol-! Yes, much publicity is being given in the armed services, it hardly lars that are tossed to the dogs, the tragic death of Carole Lom- seems fair, sufficiently respectful or through the unique graft collect- bard. It is ever so with a star from wise at this time particularly to ing racket of “commissions for ne-|movieland. There has been quite record the passing of so many pa- | gotiating™ defense contracts. In- a bit of rivalry among the feminine triotic and highly trained men { ! with the statement “21 others were killed also.”

Side Glances=By Galbraith If for no other reason, it must

4 & » “CONSIDER THE MILLIONS TOSSED TO THE DOGS”

By A. J. Schneider, 30f West Dr., Wood- |

be remembered that at least a ‘dozen of the “21 others Killed” were officers who had spent many months, perhaps years, at heavy expense to the country and at much sacrifice to themselves to perfect their training in measures and activities calculated to assist in the defense of our country and to protect the lives of our citizens. Furthermore, at any price, we can ill afford to lose any military man in the gigantic emergency in which we find ourselves. Most of the “21 others Killed” having been soldiers, they, of course, would want nothing more than the honor of having died in the line of duty. But we, their debtors, should honor their passing and memory fittingly in every way, particularly in the spread of public information.

MY SONG

My song that was a sword is still. Like a scabbard I have made A covering with my will To sheathe its blade.

It had a flashing tongue of steel That made old shadows start, It would not let the darkness heal About my heart. Hazel Hall (1886-1924).

- DAILY THOUGHT

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.—Romans 13:1. |

THE HIGHER A man is in grace, the lower he will

-

| teegp.—~Spurgeoit. =.

Pow

wy

1942 BY NEA SERVICE. INC. T. M. REG. U. S. PAT. OFF.

7-24

"Why have a wedding if you don't cry? I've attended the wed-

£

Gen. Johnson Says—

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 —Just now the name of Senator O'Mahoney is not one to conjure with around here. It is said that his suggested amendment would kill all the good there is left in the price bill. That is absurd. You can't kill a corpse. As everyone know, the purpose of the price bill is to prevent a rapid runaway of prices of the things we must buy—especially of necessities of life. This it proposes to do by making it illegal to buy or sell at prices higher than the Price Administrator approves. The two principal elements of the price of anything are: First, the cost (wages, hours and working conditions) of labor; second, the cost to the worker of what he buys—principally food and clothing—farm prices. If one of these elements goes up, it drags the other one with it. If the cost of labor goes up, the price of what the farmer buys goes up with it. Immediately then the. farmer is entitled to higher prices, Under the original bill he would get them. But here you are again. The higher farm price entitles labor to higher wages. Labor gets them. At once the price of what the farmer buys goes up and labor wants more wages.

F. D. R. Had Right Idea

THE PRESIDENT'S ORIGINAL price bill tried to prevent that by applying the formula to all except a handful of unimportant things. But labor and farm prices are among the most influential segments where rising prices rapidly ine crease the whole cost of living and decrease the value of the means we have left to meet the new costs-—wages, salaries, incomes, savings and so forth, Accordingly, the President proposed to include both workers’ and farmers’ prices in the area of price control. When organized labor came to be considered, it refused point-blank to submit to any price control at all—and organized labor is too powerful for any cringing Congressman to buck. Immediately every attempt to control wages was dropped out of the price bill. This was bad enough to make the price bill a mockery. It left farm prices and, indeed, the monthly budget of all of us about as helpless as a one-legged man in a pants-kicking contest. Right then, it would

+ have been better to have no bill at all than this thing.

It's a Phony, Anyway

BUT THE PUBLIC with low and ominous rumbling was demanding a price bill. So a political trick was pulled. The labor provisions simply disappeared and the flexible ceiling over farm prices was not to be fixed lower than would be enough to give the farmer the greatest buying power he has had since the fatal Twentieth Century had begun. There was no great howl about this because that is “parity” price—something the farmer has been contending for and promised by both political parties for many years. Senator O'Mahoney threw a monkey-wrench into the machinery of that broken-down jalopy, too. His amendment adds 25 per cent to the highest future permissible price ceiling for the farmers. Of course that made the situation almost or quite as bad as it would be with no price hill at all. For this, his name is now anathema. But I wonder. He invented a sleazy substitute for a futile bill which furtively rendered only lip service to the principle of price control but would destroy it secretly and entirely. The public clamor might be stilled, That should not happen. His amendment should make it plain to everybody that the whole price control proposal, leaving out labor, is a phony.

Editor's Note: The views expressed by columnists in this newspaper are their own, They are not necessarily those

of The Indianapolis Times.

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

I DROPPED into the Red Cross sewing rooms the other day, and such a humming you never heard. The place was as busy as a hive of bees. Women, women €very= where, all sizes, shapes and ages; grayhead and golden locks touching, while some puzzling stitching problem was explained. This, said my heart, is how women should work all the time— moved by compulsion to help othe ers and to bind up the wounds of a sick world, whether such sickness be the results of war or peace conflicts. : Presently, above the buzz of many conversations, my ear caught and was held by the voice of a small, timid, middle-aged woman who was talking to the supervisor. Shamelessly, I listened. «I worked with bandages before,” the voice went on “I like that and can do it fast. No, I am not a knitter and 1 can’t sew well. But I want to do something. You see, I have a son in the Philippines, Yes, he’s all right so far. Only its hard to be still, because I go on thinking and remembering too much, I must help. That's the way I feel. When do you think the bandage work will start again?”

Things to Be Done at Home

“SOON, I HOPE.” The supervisor spoke quickly, because the voice was quavering a little. “Just as soon as we get our supplies. It seems to me, while we are waiting for them. you might catch up on all your odd jobs at home. If you're like me,” she laughed, “you have plenty of things that ought to be done before the big rush starts. I'm advising all our women to get those attended to first, so later on, when we have our full quota of materials, we can really turn out the goods.” “You're exactly right, too,” was the reply, and by this time the quaver had vanished. “I've put off an awful lot of things because I was upset about the war, It's foolish, I know. I'll go straight home now and get my cleaning done so I can be ready as soon as the bandage work begins. That's sensible, isn't it? Anyway, the last letter IT had from Jim, he said he always thought of his Mom slapping a dust rag around. He and his Dad used to tease me so much about my house cleaning. He's such a sweet boy. Well, I'll run along now. You'll be sure to phone me, won't you?” She trotted happily out. I couldn't see the sue pervisor’s face because of the tears in my eyes.

Questions and Answers

(1he Indianapolis Times Service Bureau will answer any question of fact or information. not involving extensive research. Write vour question clearly, sign name and address, inclose a three-cent postage stamp. Medical or legal advice cannot he given, Address The Times Washington Service Bureau. 1013 Thirteenth St.. Washington, D. C.)

Q-—1 know a man who received a draft deferment as a necessary man in agriculture. He is now working in a factory, but his deferment still holds. Is this legal? A—According to draft regulations, the man should report his change of occupation to his local draft board. It will probably be necessary to re-examine the case and pass on further deferment.

Q—What is the average cost of installing a soda

be in his own es-| fountain in a drug store?

i