Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 30 January 1942 — Page 20

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The Indianapolis Times

ROY W. HOWARD RALPH BURKHOLDER MARK FERREE President Editor Business Manager

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 1042

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. PRESIDENT

ONDAY, Jan. 30, 1882—at quarter to nine my Sallie had a splendid large baby boy. He weighs 10 pounds without his clothes.” For the vital statistic thus set down by James Roosevelt in the diary of his wife, 60 years ago, America has cause to rejoice. Franklin D. Roosevelt has not always been a universally popular President. Nor an all-wise one. This newspaper has heckled him more than once, and may yet do it again. But we are glad he is in the White House today. If our President or Presidents since 1933 had been of a different type, we might well be in worse case today than we are. It was Mr. Roosevelt, remember, who reversed the policy of starving the armed services. Ill prepared as America is today for the quick disposal of its enemies. it would have been far less ready had it not been for this one man. Which is something to remember gratefully on his birthday. The country also has cause for self-congratulation in the fact that its war leader is in truth a leader; that he is a man of abundant energy and robust action, despite the bodily affliction he has borne so cheerfully since 1924; that his powers of physical and mental endurance seem to prosper on over-work, and that he retains in full measure his electric charm and sense of humor, qualities that will help the country as well as himself through the hardships ahead. Happy birthday, Mr. President.

WHAT IT TAKES FOR UNIFIED COMMAND

BOSS has been put on the job in Hawaii. It happens | that he is an admiral and that the head of the Army |

‘e b er way | ° It could have been the oth ¥ | the present-day Parisian political sense of the word.

there is his subordinate.

around. The important thing is that the change in the system

tributed so much in blood and tears and regret in the Pearl Harbor tragedy. The ancient enemy complex as between the Army and | the Navy, which has flourished so long, from football field | to battlefield. must go. And this announcement of a unified | command in our most important rampart—the rampart we didn’t watch—is good news for the nation.

Further good news is that the same system has been |

set up at the Panama Canal and in the Caribbean and is being considered for our other outposts.

A ‘ »

associate for whose judgment we generally have the

highest respect, but whose contention in ‘this matter

doesn’t seem to stand up. He says:

“Shall we allow an Army man to decide the delicate question of naval strategy and send a fleet out to battle

when it should play safe?” or vice versa—as Army, Navy and air relate to each other? “Yes.” the contributor continues, command when we have produced unified commanders. That can’t be in this war, It will require that we have trained men by graduating them successfully from all three schools. Until then it is much safer to let each command what he knows.” The commentator is an editor and a doggon2 good one. He is boss of a newspaper. But he has never graduated from the composing-room, the stereotyping-room, the pressroom, the want ad department, the bookkeeping or circulation department. He wouldn't be worth a hoot at fixing a dvmamo or truck. If he could do all that he'd be mentally as well as phygsically muscle bound. And he wouldn't be an editor. = "” » = 2 2 HY, then, is he a good editor? Because he has savvy, knows what he doesn’t know and admits it, and knows how to select men who know what he doesn’t know—and then to work with them. He has a long experience and a vast knowledge of what a newspaper operation is all about, but that doesn’t mean that he can repair a typewriter. When vou find that combination of common-sense, humility, tact and leadership, you find a success, whether the field be industrial or military. Therefore, in the final shake-down, how well the new unified commander does his job, in Hawaii, Panama, the Caribbean, or elsewhere in the world is a question of whether he, like the editor we use as an analogy, “has what it

takes.” Or, to sum it another way—Newton D. Baker wasn’t

a great secretary of a winning war because of his knowledge of tactics.

ROADS TO VICTORY

N all the blizzard of dollars that is being blown into the war effort, it is hard to find 20 million of them that will be used anv more profitably than the 20 just advanced to five Central American countries to finish the road to Panama. These countries, already closely tied to U. S. economy, will be all the more so when overland communication is possible. The ability to truck supplies and equipment to the Panama Canal might save that artery in some emergency when sea communication should be interrupted. It's hard to see how we can lose on this one. And now how about the road to Alaska? The same considerations apply, and they may be even more urgent, perhaps sooner than we expect. Should the Japanese offengive in the South Pacific succeed, what more natural than for therh to turn on Alaska with most of their fleet and a

huge landing force. A road to Alaska might turn the tide.

[| or x .“ . | within a hundred “million dollars how much money should eliminate the “not-speaking-to-each-other” attitude |

of the two branches of the service—the attitude which con- |

LL of which has to do with a comment we have from an |

“Let's have unified |

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30. — The House of Reépresentatives recently passed by an overwhelming vote the Smith Bill to curb the power of the union politicians. The hill then went to the Senate, where it is now being smothered obviously under orders from the White House. Thus, again, the function of the legislative branch is being defeated and the citizens of the nation are being sold down the river by their elected Representatives in a treacherous betrayal of trust. Meanwhile, President Roosevelt has moved into the situation to box up John L. Lewis in a trap of his own making and has made a deal with the bosses of the A. F. of L. and the C. I. O. whereby they and their power over the workers will be utilized for political purposes, but not necessarily for national defense.

Lewis made a false move when he tried to muscle | into the commanding position in a reconciled and

consblidated union organization embracing the A. F. of L. and the C. I. O. He was quickly and publicly slapped down by Philip Murray, the C. I. O. president, and is now discredited, although he is a resourceful and power-hungry dictator in his own union, the Mine Workers, and may not yet be counted out.

Family ls Still Dangerous

HE AND HIS FAMILY are tremendously ambitious and audacious and as long as John has the treasury of 385,000 Mine Workers under his personal hand and his brother, Denny, has command of the C. I. O. Construction Workers, a union which is a sort of camp for miscellaneous captives anc helpless waifs, they will be dangerous not only to the whole mass of workers but to the nation.

As soon as Lewis had been publicly rebuked by Murray, the President, with his great sense of timing, moved in to recognize the A. F. of L. and the C. 1. O. as the controllers of “labor,” although they both embrace only a very small minority of the total of em-

ployed citizens and, as has been observed before, in- | clude countless captives who were driven into their corrals by man-hunting organizers, many of whom,

like professional hunters, receive a bounty of so much per head.

This leaves Lewis on the outside and confers on

William Green, with his following of underworld criminals, a nominal or apparent power which doubt-

| less flatters that strange, bumbling consort of thieves | ‘ and ignorant gauleiters. That power, however, is

illusory, not real.

Just Asking for a Dictator

THE PRESIDENT is using the bosses of the A. F. of L. and C. I. O. for his own political purposes which plainly and irresistibly tend toward a totalitarian state. Although the flattered bosses think they are co-operating, they are, in fact, only collaborating in

No single man or woman in the United States, in out of the totalitarian union movement, knows

the unioneers skim off the pay of the worker every year. It is well beyond a billion a year and the power of this money at the polls in cities, states and con-

| gressional districts is approaching a point at which

it will be sufficient to buy the election of mayors, governors, legislatures, congressmen and senators | obedient to the boss-unioneers who, in turn, would serve the political program of the President. At the end of President Roosevelt's term, the unioneers might boss the next man or, if he were an efficient

| dictator, the dictator might boss or even liquidate { them and centralize the whole power in himself. The Senate is inviting this future in obedience to | read where Churchill stated “Bi intimations that the President prefers to handle the 3 :

union matter in his own way.

Aviation By Maj. Al Williams

I HAVE A HUNCH that one of the most highly advertised combat planes, the performance and flight characteristics of which have been challenged vigorously, will soon be tagged obsolete and manufacture discontinued. ‘The aircraft company which produced this plane will be assigned to manufacture a thoroughly modern combat plane known as the P-47. This new P-47, a single-secater fighter, is one of the world’s finest. Its performance at extreme altitudes is reported phenomenal, largely because its engine is supercharged by an exhaust gas-driven turbo supercharger, It is good for actual fighting abdve 40,000 feet. Its fire power is stupendous. I inspected a P-47 the other day and I was tremendously impressed with the terrific potentiality for destruction such a weapon can be in the hands of one man, I can’t give you any of the details of this P-47, but it is really tops and no fooling. It is now being built by the Republic Aviation Corp. on Long Island. The designer is an American citizen of Russian birth, Alexander Kartveli, a quiet, publicity-shunning aeronautical genius.

What Barrage Balloons Are Doing

THE BRITISH HAVE released photographs of a shot-down Heinkel bomber equipped with a veritable cow-catcher built out in front of its wings, motors, props and fuselage to ward off the cables of captive balloons. These cables are a fearful menace to invading air raiders. They are there, somewhere in the murk and fog before him. They can sever wings from planes like razor blades cutting cheese, If this device is actually being widely used, it is a confession by the Nazis that the British balloon barrage is taking a high toll of their bombers. How efficiently it works, or whether it works at all, is not within my ken. The leading edges cf the aerial cow catcher must indeed be rasor edged if they really cut the balloon cables. Impact with a cable, by a plane traveling 300 to 400 feet a second, must mean a terrific shock throughout the plane,

So They Say—

The people of the United States must understand that while the Government of my country, under Acting President Castillo, is conservative and even reactionary, it is not Nagi and it is not Fascist— Angelica Mendoza de Montéro, Argentinien writer.

* * *

Whatever hardship may bé in store, we shall face it together; it shall be distributed fairly and borne by all in their fair proportion, in accordance with their ability to carry it—Treasury Secretary Morgenthau. » » * Will-power as such it likewise & effective counter-poison against defeatism Stefan . Possony, Institute for Advanced Study, Princtton :

* * *

My faith iz unchanged that the people of the Philippines and the United States, fighting side by side, with God's help will presently write that happy ending to which we have long aspired — Associate Justice Frank Murphy, U. 8. Supreme Court,

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The Hoosier Forum

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

“WHY DOESN'T CANADA ORDER CONSCRIPTION?” By Sister Teresa Patricia, Logansport I read an article in an issue of last week's Times where conscription was thought necessary now in Canada. At present, Canadians are not obliged to fight outside of Canada. However, American boys (Yanks they are called by Britons) are now in Ireland. Part of Ireland is neutral, yet so close to England! Why doesn’t Canada and Ireland order conscription in order to hasten as-| sistance, like we, way over here, are| doing? There are many American planes, now in England, vet only yesterday |

A. EB. PF, Coming, Yanks to Bomb Reich!” I do hope Mr. Winston Churchill will never make a repetition of the statement he made after the First

staying at home, keeping out of war and minding its own business.

2 2 ” | “SOMEBODY TELL PEGLER RUSSIA IS OUR ALLY” By J. D. Ward, Rushville

’

World War about the United States)

(Times readers are invited their these columns, religious con: Make

your letters short, so all can

to express views in

troversies excluded.

have a chance. Letters must be sigritd.)

the Communists in our present difficulty with Japan—at least a few airplane bases. If Mr. Pegler keeps sniping at the Communists, will this help us any? Such remarks directed at our ally must be con- | sidered indirectly as hostile to the

lu. 8 A.

Naturally the American people would not care to have the Communist Party take over the U. S. t the idea that a mere handful of Communists—some 30,000 could take over our great country is rather an absurdity, The great majority of the American people are quite willing to let Russia have the Government of her choice and, at least since the recent agreement of the Allies, she agrees to let us have ours. During the last 10 or 15 years

If the Allies are to win this war it is the duty of all of us to pull together. And, I am pleased to] note that this is rapidly taking place. However, I notice that Mr. W. Pegler is still carrying on a little private war of his own with the Communists just the same as if nothing had happened during the | last year. Somebody ought to let Mr. Pegler in on the fact that Soviet Russia is our ally in this war and it is about time for him to change his | tune as so many others have done | already. Naturally Russia knows very well what is printed in the U. S. press and can we blame them if they retaliate with hostile remarks in their own papers as in the case of the comments on the Philippines. Furthermore if they get the impression that the U. S. A. is hostile rather than friendly they might make a separate peace with the Nazis—a peace that Hitler would undoubtedly be very, very glad to arrange at this time. , . . Furthermore, it is barely possible that we could use a little help from

| some newspapers in the U. 8. have carried on a campaign of Red baiting which may be a throw-back to the witch hunts of Puritan days. The word Communist has been bandied around until it may mean most anything from a man who wants a 5-cent raise to a Stalinist. The reading public is rather tired of it. Personally the impression it left with me was that the writers felt that American democracy as a form of Government could not compete with the Communistic form when offered on their merits and therefore the common people would have to be scared away from such ideas. I say that American democracy is the peer of any govern= ment in the world and that the American people, being not so dumb, know it. . . . The only sensible course for us lies in friendly relations and close collaboration with Soviet Russia as well as our other Allies, then this war can be won and the peace which follows, in spite of our bad beginning.’, . .

Side Glances==By Galbraith

"Oh, srg she wants do

FREE

in the war effort, but she's waiting for unit with & uniform she likes!"

| BY SN BEE NT BONDE | evr 8 | v |

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|ures, was not good enough. val Affairs Committee report, which showed that shocking profits have

| port on Pearl Harbor, which showed {childish lack of co-operation be[tween Army and Navy heads be-

| scourged us to an elevation where

“UNITED NATIONS HAD WAR FORCED UPON THEM”

By A. L., Indianapolis What I think of war: It is the most disgraceful thing that men can do to one another. I often ask myself, how can man, who was created in the image of God and believes in a hereafter, and all are familiar with their religious teachings, make war on one another as they are doing and have been doing and for {what reason? Since the war is on, one thing is certain: The United States, England, China and Russia did not want war, They were forced into it by Hitler, Mussolini and the Japs. There is only one thing we can do —and I am sure we are going to do it—and that is to win the war and take social, economic, polictical and military inventory and find out once and for all whether or not it is more advisable, payable and reasonable and more just for the nations of the world to live in peace than bloody war. I stated that the United States, Bngland, China and Russia did not want war. But they are guilty for allowing the three nations, Japan, {Italy and Germany, to force the war on us and on themselves, When Japan, Italy and Germany stepped

that was the time to put them in order. As to the question when will the war end, I wish to say if Russia will continue her victories for the next 30 days and drive out Hitler from Russian territory and the United States and England deliver one blow to the Japs, the war will be over the coming summer and the United States in particular and the world in general will celebrate two Independence Days.

2 ” ” “AMERICANS ASK NO MORE THAN THE TRUTH” By ©. E. B., Indianapolis The American people ask no more than to be told the truth. They will not be content with less, Three times in recent weeks, Uncle Sam has held up a mirror in front of himself and said, “There, old uglymug, how do you like that? Mirror No. 1 was the Truman report, which showed that our prewar industrial production setup with its dollar-a-year men, its persuasive methods, its half-meas-

Mirror No. 2 was the Senate Na-

been made on some contracts. Mirror No. 3 was the Roberts re-

fore Pearl Harbor, and complete miscalculation of the danger of attack with corresponding failure to prepare for it in the face of plain warnings, We didn’t like what we saw. None of us liked it. What are we going to do about it?

HOPE When I was a little boy, I foliowed hope and slighted joy. Now my wit has larger scope, I clutch at joy and heed not hope.

At least that doctrine I profess, For there I know lies happiness; But hope; for all the shifts I try, Will be my sovereign ’till I die. Gamallei Bradford (1863- )e

DAILY THOUGHT

The good shepherd giveth his life for*the sheep.—John 10:11.

THE STERN hand of fate has we can see the great everlasting things that matter for a nation; the great pinnacle of sacrifice pointing

like a rugged finger to heaven.—

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Gen. Johnson

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30. — An automobile is not like the famed one-horse chaise which ran its allotted span of 100 years and then collapsed into kindling wood in every part. Its average life is usually figured at about seven years. Sometimes it is g fraction of that. A vital part goes sour and unless it can practically be made over it will never again be the same old wagon. Already I am getting reports of abandoned cars in ditches. One is of the case of a Southern school bus. One tire went hopelessly bad and, under local regulations, there was no way to replace it. Of course no automobile can run on three tires. As has frequently been remarked here andgelsewhere, this country has been thoroughly motorized in both farm and city living, The change from the days of shank’s mare and horse and buggy has practically remade the map.

It Took a Long Time

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS ago rural distribution of the products of industry was roughly based on distribution points (country stores) serving an area roughly seven or eight miles in radius. With horses and wagons that donsumed a farmer's day to do his marketing. . With the coming of the automobile all that could be done in a couple of hours. The farmers sought better markets and the cross-roads stores began to disappear. A similar and more familiar change occurred in cities, and especially among factory workers, as the urban population began to overflow into the more pleasant country. It took years to make this change and it will take years to unmake it. It is easy to talk about going back to the wagon, horse and buggy. But where are they? The manufacturer of horse-drawn transportae tion—once a leading industry—~has now practically vanished. The horse and mule population has been decimated.

A Catastrophe Possible

THE SUDDEN CRACK-DOWN ban on automobiles and new and second hand tires is likely to create a catastrophe if something isn’t done. It is not an impossible problem, but it is a major one. There are perhaps 27,000,000 more or less usable automobiles to do our motor-driven work. The hours and days that many of them stand idle and the small extent to which this capacity has been used, even when they are in service, has been one of the most disgraceful wastes in history. Here are the elements of a solution. It will take organization, rigorous control and the co-oepration of everybody, but we have a right to expect that at such a time. The whole transportation problem is a unit—rail, air, water, commercial truck and privately owned trucks and automobiles, A single controling head of all, governing a nation-wide volunteer directing net in every community, could cut down our past woeful waste of these facilities to a point where war restrictions, instead of bringing great slowing up or paralysis of our motorized economic system, would be merely an inconvenience.

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

ANYONE WHO THINKS this war has backed glamor off the boards doesn’t get around much. Or he may be the victim of wishe ful thinking. Signs all point in another die rection. Full-page ads now exhort girls to uphold the morale of their country by looking their very best. It's put out im roadside posters that women must be trim and pretty so the soldiers won't feel they are fighting to protect slatterns and hags. Perish the thought! & And, since American women have set a pace for women the world over, and are by all odds the best dressed, the smartest, the fastest talkers and the slickest groomed, we can’t let down. So our doom is sealed, sisters! And I don't mind confessing that I was reconciled to the war only because I had thought the vanishing corset might allow us to take a good breath and relax for a spell. At least for the duration,

We'll Die Trying

I HAD VISIONS of a world in which women would give up their lipsticks and cease to comb their hair into the dessert. I thought we would be so busy with real work that we could forget our looks for a while. It was only a dream. Life will get tougher and tougher for us females. To the manifold jobs on the home front will be added various kinds of public war work. And, besides, we shall have to put on extra layers of glamor. Not for a moment can we let our efforts lag in our perennial battle—the conflict against age and uglie ness—those foes more formidable than Hitler, “Keep your appearance,” is the way it goes now, “Do it wholeheartedly, as you've never done it bee fore. Remember, it’s your sign to the world that you believe in ultimate victory.” Honestly, we don’t believe in ultimate victory over old age and wrinkles. But come what may, boys, we'll die trying!

Questions and Answers

! (The Indianapolis Times Service Bureau will answer any question of fact or information, not involving extensive research. Wrife 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 8t.. Washington, D. ©.)

Q-—My fiance has been drafted and is now in camp, but I do not know his address. How can I obtain it* A—Write to the Office of the Adjutant General, War Department, Washington, D. C., giving the man’s full name, the date of his induction, his last known address and any other pertinent information about his service. You will proktably not be able to obtain the addressNuntil at least a month after he has been sent to camp. ;

Q—Where and when was Winston Churchill's mother born?

A—She was Jennie Jerome, daughter of Leonard Jerome of New York, born in Rochester, N, Yq in 1854,

Q-I have just been notified that I am to be sent to military camp in two weeks. What personal possessions should I take with me?

A—The Army furnishes all necessaries, but you may want to take a few extra items. The following is a suggested list: Shaving kit, toothbrush and toothpaste, a few handkerchiefs, soap and soap container, tan shoe polish, brush and rag, unbreakable mirror, pocket-knife, sweater or windbreaker, pajamas, wrist watch, and an extra pair of shoes, high tan ones if possible.

Q—How many brands of cigarets. are manufactured in the U States?

i

David Lioyd George.

A~The estimated number is 213,