Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 26 January 1942 — Page 8

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The Indianapolis Times

RALPH BRURKHOLDER MARK FERREE Editor Business Manager

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Give Light and the People Will Finda Ther Qwn Wap

MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 1042

THE PEARL HARBOR REPORT

“'T HE report speaks for itself.” That succinct comment from Secretary Knox sums up the effect on the reader of the document which has come from the Pearl Harbor investigating committee. ; We think it should be read by every citizen. It pictures the drama that accompanies and the pathos that follows the Maginot state of mind. Failure to believe that the impossible can happen; failure to heed; failure of the Army and the Navy to co-oper-ate—and then disaster, death, and wrecked careers. Somehow or other we are reminded of the days when the Army and the Navy were squabbling over whether West Point should play Annapolis. The same spirit seems to have prevailed bver Oahu. But this time the game wasn't football. ”

» = N ALL the tragic history of might-have-beens there is no incident more worthy of the pen of Victor Hugo than

the one about the non-commissioned officer who wanted

to learn. To the Army had fallen the responsibility of installing and operating an aircraft warning system. This was being used only part time. It was unmanned as usual at 7 a. m, on that fatal Sunday of Dec. T. The non-com who was being trained asked permission to stay on. It was granted. At 2 minutes after 7 o'clock he detected a large flight of planes about 180 miles away. He ywrted it to a lieutenant, described in the report as in-

ep experienced. The lieutenant, concluding that the planes were friendIv. took no action. The attack hit at 7:55. In those 53 minutes the whole course of world history could have been changed. That story will never die but will be told forever as a | symbol, If we as a nation are to learn and benefit from the errors of complacency we can be prodded by no more pow- | erful force than that contained in the language of the Pearl Harbor report.

By Westbrook Pegler

Fair Enough

NEW YORK, Jan. 26-—I covered professional and amateur sport throughout the era of wonderful nonsense when we gave ourselves over to a passion for games and gain and met or observed all the great American athletes of the time, both men and women, ighorant and educated, the well-born and the lowly. There were many tine, clean characters among them of whom no disparagement is meant in observing that Joe Louis, the prize fighter, seems to a distinct degree the most admirable.

His virtue as a citizen and sportsman is accentuated because he is a Negro and risen from cabin poverty and it would be dishonest to deny that the merits of a conspicuously good colored man are overemphasized to the same extent that, in general, the faults of a disreputable one are overemphasized. Some years ago, when Louis was on his way up, the writers on the sport side wrote amusingly of his drowsy indifference and his frugality of words. He could drop asleep like a tired dog in from the field, all oblivious ;of the ribald crew around a fighters camp, on the day before an important fight or even a few hours before ring-time. This, for a time, was taken to mean that he was a dumb field hand. But the quality of the answers which Louis did return in s6 few words presently proved that he was uncommonly wise, for they always covered the ground or frankly "and briefly hedged the question.

Generous and Brave

NO OTHER SPORTSMAN on the professional side has ever matched the qualified generosity of Louis in risking his championship, a business asset of great value, in his recent fight with Buddy Baer and donating, entire, his share of the purse to the Navy's Relief und. Other men have given their lives, including the almost forgotten but knightly young American, Lieut. Calnan of the Navy, who had been selected to personify the ideal of American sport in the Olympic Games and was lost in the wreck of a dirigible. Others have been and others will be lost in battle, but Louis, too, is a soldier now, and if he is withheld from the realities and especiaily protected from the normal risks of war to be exploited as a money raiser and morale builder that course will be inconsistent with his conduct and remarks to date and the

serious fault of the Army, itself. Men wonder at the instinetive tact and sporting decency of Louis’ little, breathless comments on the air whan a fight is just over. He has never been heard to complain, explain or withhold honor from | an opponent. | “Were vou hurt, Joe?" ! “Yes, he shook me up pretty bad there in the third * “Will you fight him again?” “Yes, he is a nice boy and a good fighter. I would like to fight him again”

Taking Care of Max Schmeling |

MAX SCHMELING STRUCK him an unintentional foul after the bell which started his collapse in their first fight, but he made no issue. But, for contrast, when he unintentionaliv fouled another opponent, the white boy howled with outrage The only opponent he had reason to hate, per- |

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES One “V’ That Doesn't Stand for Victory!

MONDAY, JAN. 26, 1942

The Hoosier Forum

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

DENIED JOB BECAUSE HE MUST REGISTER

By Don Pemberton, 2048 S. Arsenal I am a boy of 20, in good physical condition. Because I have to 16th 1 Even the State Employment office savs, “We are sorry, you will have to register.” Will someone give me a good reason why? In six months or a year

Ave.

sonally. racially and politically, was Schmeling, Who (we hove of military age may be in!

had said that he was a member of the master race, ! that Louis recognized this and that therefore “the |

PRESS AGENT A LA MODE

WEVE geen some fancy names for press agents. Such as “public-relations engineer,” for instance. But Archibald MacLeish, director of the Office of Facts and | Figures in Washington, takes the cake. OFF's press agent, | ex-newspaperman Ulric Bell, has the formidable designa- | tion of director of the “Bureau of Media Liaison.”

IT MUST BE DESERVED

DISTRUST of John L. Lewis seem labor movement almost as widely as outside. that's saving something. For years most of the general public has watched Mr. Lewis with sugpicion and fear. He has been credited with a ruthless appetite for personal power over labor, industry | and government. and ambitions. His apologists hate contended that he was misunder- |

2 to prevail inside the | And |

stood—that the rugged exterior concealed a heart of gold | AY \

throbbing with unselfish devotion to those who toil. In the last few days many of those who know him best, have been his closest associates in unionism, have revealed their real feeling about John L. Lewis. It dovetails with the feeling of the public. And it seems to us to justify the conclusion that such unpopularity must be deserved.

who

= = = =

N HEN he sprang his sudden proposal for labor peace, a week ago, our first impulse was to take it at face value—to forget that Mr. Lewis had been the prime mover in causing and prolonging labor's civil war: to forget, even, that only a few weeks before he had been willing to ston production of a most essential defense material in order to extort a nonessential victory for his miners’ union. We assumed that, of course, he had first consulted the leaders of his own faction, the C. 1. O.; that his proposal | had their approval, and that, therefore, it might open the way to a genuine “accouplement’™ of great benefit to labor | and the war effort. Our assumption was wrong. Philip Murray, than whom no man had been more loval to Mr. Lewis, very quickly disclosed not only that the peace proposal had been a complete surprige to him but that he regarded it | ag an act of treachery comparable to Pearl Harbor. | Many other ranking labor officials, in both branches. | have made it plain that they suspect Mr. Lewis of a blitzkrieg attempt to dominate the entire labor movement. | The A. F. of L. has asserted, officially, that its officers | “wouldn't touch him (Mr. Lewis) with a 10-foot pole.” | |

x = » * s

ND now President Roosevelt has put over a peace plan of his own—a plan, not to reunite A. F. of L. and C. | I. 0, but to adjust their differences during the war | emergency through a joint committee, with Mr. Lewis conspicuously excluded from membership, and with the President himself as final arbiter. We hope this plan will be successful. One of its main purposes, obviously, is to subordinate Mr. Lewis, to prevent | extension of his power in organized labor, and so far as! possible to confine his influence to a comparatively small | personal following in which members of his own family are prominent. If that purpose is achieved, it will be a good thing for labor and a good thing for the country.

IS THIS NEEDED FOR VICTORY?

THE budget gives the Office of the Architect of the Capital an increase of $106,704, and the Botanic Garden an

This and That

He has been accused of dictatorial acts | i

increase of $1320.

navgur® knew he could not win, For that, Louis |

; briskly and fiercely knocked Schmeling’s body out | { of plumb like a bombed building with a right-hand

smash beside the spine and humbled him and his Fuehrer before the world in a very few minutes. But even then he did not gloat. No other fighter has so cleanly refrained from | mean excuses or legitimate complaints in moments | of great excitement or so generously praised his | vietims.

By Peter Edson

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 —Japan | has six cities of more than a mil- | lion population — ‘Tokyo, Osaka, | Nagova, Kyoto, Kobe and Yokohama. . . . Tokvo, with 6.800000, is third largest eity in the world. . . . | Japan's total population is 105 million. . . . In 1939, last full year for which Japanese statistics are available, Japan's imports were 2.9 billion ven, her exports 35 billion | ; : yen. . . . The yen, once worth 50 cents, is now worth approsimately 23 cents. . | | LatinAmerican trade with Japan has amounted to only 4 per cent of the total. . , . French Indo-China and ! Thailand supplied oniy 1 per cent, but this figure will vise under Japanese southward expansion, . . , Of Japan's exports to the yen blo¢ countries, amounting to 49 per cent of the total, 21 per cent went to Kwantung, 15 per cent to Manchuria, 12 per cent to occus pied China. . . . The United States has normally supplied Japan with 34 per cent of her imports, taken 16 per cent to 20 per cent of her exports. . . . Japan ranked as our third customer, behind Canada and | Great Britain only. . , . U.S imports from Japan in 1940 totaled $158 million, silk accounting for $105 million, the rest being principally tuna fish, tea, crab meat and textiles. . . . US exports to Japan were | 2227 million, principally raw cotton, wood pulp, petro- | leum, iron, steel, copper, machinery, autos, aircraft and parts U. S. investments in Japan in 1936 were $64 | million. U. S. holdings of Japanese bonds, as of Jan. 1. 1941 were £105 million. | . | Japanese trading investments in the U. 8S. in 1937 were $48 million.

Pastors to Get Tires

CLERGYMEN will be permitted to buy tires on the |

same basis as doctors and nurses. . . . Around-thes

clock operation of the shipyards is planned by stag- | | gered six-day, 48-hour weeks for 370.000" shipyards

workers, time and a half being paid for everything over 40 hours. . . . The country's war effort has stimulated the taking of aspirin. . . . More than 2000 of the nation’s 19000 moving picture theaters are closed. . . . War industry workers last year moved into 18.000 new U. 8S. Housing Authority dwellings. . . . More than halt of the nation's seven million sheep are in the 11 corn belt states. . . . A new Washington slogan is “Today's expenditures are tomorrow's taxes.” | , . The new corps

| of field artillery observation fliers will be trained to

fly their putt-putts 15 minutes or so, then land and hide their planes. . .. Have you given your half-pint | of blood for storage? i

So They Say— i GO AHEAD and buy your food supplies as usual, | and tell any merchant who urges you to stock up on 4 foods for the emergency that he is doing our country | a serious injury.—Joint statement of OPM and Agriculture Department's Consumers’ Council, i

» »

WE HAVE helped the states with their relief, | roads and a lot of projects in the past and now they | might turn around and help us—Chairman Dough- | ton. House Ways and Means Committee, urging state economy’, i

These soldiers of the production line, like the sole | diers at the battle front, have taken the offensive against the Ni Japanese, and Italian slaves.—Une dersecretary of War Patterson, in tribute to workers who gave up thsir holiday to increase production,

» .

some mudhole fighting for our country. Well, all I have got to say, if we are good enough to pack a 30-30 rifle, surely we are good enough for a job until we have to RO. g & # “KING WILLKIE IS DEAD LONG LIVE KING HAYS"

6 Middle

. .

By W._ Seott Tavlor, Woodruff Place

Kicked off the continents of

Europe and Asia, the chronic savers GIVES

a* the spigot and loser: at the bunghoie, to whom we owe the fact that we have to spend a hundred billion to do a job that could have been

done with half a billion, if spent at Crowd:

the right time, are whining, as usu-

al. about the number of Govern- of the Reuther Pian

ment employees in Washingon, about the money spent in the service of all the people, instead of for the profit of the bunghole losers, personally and exelusively. Fearful, as always of the dangers from within, rather than those from

Drive, Re and better World War on each|

| | | i

without, it is they who provided the,

country with the scarcity of the

{means for olir defense, the scarcity | without which they could not main-|

tain the prices essential to private profits.

These bunghole losers now pre- quickest way to accomplish this.

sent us with a new candidate for President—a dark horse who,

other “quarterback,” meant it. Old Guard Republican faction has no equal. At the psychological

holding up his train, Will bursts upon our view, With a flag

| | |

un=|t suggest that you go to our neavest| aap . . |like Mr. Willkie, bears no recent! U. A. W. A. local office or go to the| Vith our war program, and the sure

|scars of battle, When Mr. Hoover regional offices in the K.of P. Build- | and certain fact that such will con{said that Mr. Willkie was just an- ing, Indianapolis. he evidently For showmanship, the that the auto industry can turn out

moment, be converted as soon as possible | tion and lend-lease program, who when even Democrats Schricker and They are doing it now, since Pear] have had the responsibility and | Bays have to appear as page boys, Harbor, why couldn't they do it|Power over labor, industry and manHays before?

lin one hand and Hollywood glamour nomical production on war supplies, |

[leased for defense work.

with the existing idle machinery and floor space, without waiting to build the new plants and manufacture the new machines that you

mentioned.

(Times readers are invited their these columns, religious con-

Make

your letters short, so all can

to express views in

troversies excluded. »

“TOO MUCH TINKERING WITH WAR PROGRAM"

By The Watchman,

The Truman Committee has revealed gross inefficiency in our proin the other, this relic of ship- duction of war materials. There is scuttling days appears as a symbol yu great hue and cry raised to put of Republican unity—a man without the blame solely on labor and in-| a scar, a bunghole loser without aldqustry. But let us examine this flaw. | serious situation by the light of] King Willkie is dead; long live truth and in accordance with the King Hays! | facts. How else can the savers at the| Who was boss, and in full control] spigot and losers at the bunghole!

J ner 40 midi os (of the whole construction and proump anot 1er 40 million paupers w duction program, while these strikes, the lap of their successors or a big-

{lags and dangerous delays were hap-

~ »

have a chance. Letters must

be signed.) Indianapolis

| pening? It is easy to lay all the blame on {labor and industrialists, if we close our eyes and ears to the cold hard facts. These little fellows were directly and firmly and rigidly conThe trolled and directed by an inner | council of high ranking political apThe following are the main points, pointers Who were, and are, directly | which you 'esponsible for the whole flop of our asked for * |construction and production of war : materials. They are confirmed po-| 1. That all skilled men who were

worki t dst b litical experimentees! ray op ox | DN Tn Au.0 protuclion be re jo Ih has been well known that Mr.

| Knudsen had very little real execu- | tive power, Everything had to be| PATA SRY WRIA {approved by the inner council. The GoNVarlell 10 war work, | strikes could have been stopped, the

3. That the auto industry pool its, : : . : production resources for work, | inefficient and lobbying industrial

generation? ” » » S THESE AS MAIN POINTS OF THE REUTHER PLAN

By D. Reece, New Castle Information for Voice In

2. That all idle machinery and floor space in the auto industry be

: : | ists could have been fired. There is ‘Oe Sal , . . 4. That a co-orcinating board be! only one honest and accurate conrepresentatives from

set up, with ai : ‘ | clusion concerning the whole disie Govertiniit, labor and capital. oo ceful and dangerous state of af-|

to make a study of the best "4 tars and that is: There has been|

. ._|too much political, social and ecoHf you need an explanation df this, omic tinkering and experimenting

(tinue to be the case as long as a clique of radical left-wingers keep | control! The top bosses, who have had control of our construction, produc-

As you see this plan does not sav

war goods without interruption; but it did ask that the idle machinery]

| spent. are Harry Hopkins, FranWhat we want and need is eco-| Ces Perkins, Sidney Hillman and | Mr. Knudsen. My opinion is that {this group and the policies they

Side Glances=By Galbraith

pursued have and will continue to make political capital of our war program. ‘They should be fired!

Playing politics with the war

“This national economy program won't affect me. My wife is very economical—we do without practically everything | need!"

| program, on which our national | security depends, keeping boon- | doggling, inefficient, radical experi- | menters in the seats of power and authority, appointments of Com- | munists and fellow-travelers to positions of power is the sure road to [ruin and disaster! | The only remedy, the only safety lis to put nothing but patriotic Americans on guard!

FOREBODING

How shall IT keep April When my songs are done--How can I be silent And still feel the sun?

I, who dreaded silence, I, who April-long Kept my heart from breaking With the cry of song.

How can I hold sunlight In my hands, like gold, And bear the pain of silence When my songs are old?

Hazel Hall (1886-1924)

DAILY THOUGHT

I will both peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. ~Psalms 4:8.

TO BE TRUSTED is a greater compliment than to be loved George Macdonald,

lav me down in |

Gen. Johnson Says—

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26.—Nobody knows, even in terms of astronomical billions, what this war will cost and has cost us already—the undisclosed damages at Pearl Harbor—the moneys and goods we have supplied to antiAxis powers that will never be returned—the domestic losses among small business enterprises suffered and to be suffered as we go along —the losses to labor now due to prioritie§ and future losses yet unmeasured and unmeasurable. Much of the vast equipment we are making is ab= solutely indispensable now, A day will come when most of it and the hundreds of millions of dollars in plants we have built to make it, won't have as much salvage value as would be left if it were all burned in one collosal fire. None of this includes our multiplied losses if we enter the arena of world combat and are not confined, as now, merely to outpost actions and skirmishing at sea. The possibilities of loss, which must be paid.out of American pocket-books are staggering. There is no way to avoid this if we are to cofitinue in our announced pelicy of waging war “any place on earth” where a pro-Axis force threatens to fight,

World War | Lesson Lost

THERE IS NO USE protesting this, because it can't be avoided, but there is one additional element that seems to be little understood. That is that the sum total of this unprecedented cost can be multiplied by two or three without bringing us any benefit or adding an ounce of material or manpower to our total effort. Prices always rise in war, and in such a world-wide war as this, there is no limit to that multiplier. World War I cost us 213 per cent of what it would have cost if prices had been controlled. It cost the central and Allied powers nearly three times what it would have cost at pre-war prices. Now surely, here is a catastrophe as much to be avoided as the Mss of a major campaign and the destruction of armies. It is also quite apparent from our first World War experience that it could be avoided. Fistfuls of new theories as to how to avoid it indirectly have been advanced, higher taxes. forced savings, restricted borrowing power—for example, These are all theoretical and untried,

It's Really Very Simple

THE SIMPLEST AND most direct way to avoid them is to control them and make it unlawful to charge any prices higher than the existing and already partly inflated structure. That is generous enough in all conscience. It is already estimated that this war has cost us $13,000,000,000 more than it would have cost at pre-war prices. Of course, that can't be done unless all prices are controlled, because any rise in any big segment of the price pattern tends to pull the whole structure upward, This is especially true of the prices of labor and farm products. Both enter importantly into the cost of everything that moves in commerce. You will get few arguments out of any authorities on the truth of that proposition. Yet, here on a front as dangerous and important as any battlefield. in a proposed campaign like this price=fixing job, we have had and can get no action worthy of the name,

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

MY MAIL INDICATES that a great many young women want to take a short cut into the nursing profession. Since this method of helping our country appeals to them most, they are critical of the strict regulations which keep them out.

“Why be so particular,” they ask, “when there is said to be a scarcity of nurses?” This attitude may be due to the urgency of youth, or perhaps it is a hangover from the time when war was supposed to be glamorous. The movies have carried on bravely about the glamour part, and so many a damsel visualizes herself as a uniformed angel of mercy, ministering te a wounded hero who resembles Clark Gable or Errol Flynn. : Nursing is a most serious business, a life and death matter. And while every woman may learn to give Lelp on the practical side, it would be a tragic mise take to lower the standards of the profession for any except most imperative reasons.

Discipline Is Essential

PRACTICAL AID consists in many months of such servile tasks as carrying out slops, mopping up messes, dressing bloody wounds, manipulating bed pans. Every calm, efficient nurse, who now seems so sure of herself, so capable in any emergency, went through hard training in this distasteful work. There are educational standards to be met, too, and these are resented by some of the aspiring girls, Yet, when we take a long view we can easily see how necessary they are. What, for example, is the one quality most needed in the good nurse? Discipline, would be the answer, I think. Those women in white must have trained minds in trained bodies and knowing hearts as well as wise heads. They require much knowledge of medicine and human nature. Nurses aren’t turned out in job lots, like mechani= cal gadgets.

Editor's Note: newspaper are their own, of The Indianapolis Times,

The views expressed bv columnists in this They are not necessarily those

Questions and Answers

(The Indianapolis Times Service Bureau will answer any question of fact or information, not involving extensive ree search. Write vour question clearly, sign name and address, inclose 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 is the nationality and meaning of the surname Maurer? A-It is a German surname, derived from the Teutonic and means a mason; a bricklayer.

Q—Can you identify and recommend a cartridge for an old rifle marked “Erfurt-1917" which has markings of 3 to 20 on the sight? A—The rifle undoubtedly i® a 1898 model Mauser, manufactured in 1917" in Erfurt, Germany. Its caliber is 8 mm, and the best cartridge available in this country for it is the 170-grain, soft-point, Remington,

The sight markings refer to meters—300 to 2000

meters. The U. S. equivalent to one meter is 39.37 inches.

Q—How much money was found in undeliverable mail at the Dead Letter Office of the Post Office De-

| partment in 1940?

A-—-1In 61,130 letters, a total of $85,326.69 was found,

Q—-How many man-days have been lost in defense industry by reason of strikes? A—The ce of Production Management reported that the number was approximately 26,000,000 from

June, 1940 to Oct. 31, 1041,

—— A ay Ripl R SBR