Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 4 February 1942 — Page 10

PAGE 10 a The Indianapolis Times

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY ¢, 1942

ON THE ROAD TO MANDALAY

IPLING’'S Road to Mandalay holds the fate of the Far East. For it is the road to the Burma Road, and China is the road—the only one now—for Allied attack on the major enemy bases of Formosa and Japan proper. So the battle for Burma is even more important than the heroic defenses of Singapore and Bataan, which get the bigger headlines. This is not to under-estimate the significance of the tiny tips of Malaya and Luzon, which British imperials and MacArthur's iron men are holding on the wide flanks of the South China Sea. Though the enemy has by-passed MacArthur's stronghold and Singapore, these two besieged garrisons engage tens of thousands of Japanese troops and hundreds of planes which otherwise could be thrown into the Burma battle. Every additional day of successful defense by those garrisons buys desperately needed time for Allied reinforcement of Burma and the Indies, » = = » ® = LREADY the enemy has won an unexpected victory at Moulmein, next to Rangoon the main port for the Man-dalay-Burma Road. After capturing Moulmein at the mouth of the Salween River, the enemy is now trying to cross that river at several points between the sea and the great Shan mountains of the north. Once across the Salween, he might cut the road to Mandalay, thus isolating Rangoon port from China. If that happens, the 5000 American trucks now speeding supplies into China will have nothing to carry. This threat comes at the very moment vast Chinese armies are ready—if supplied—to play the same decisive role against Japan that Russia's millions are taking against the retreating Germans. Even with the trickle of American supplies which reached him before the recent reorganization of Burma Road traffic, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek has driven back the Japs on three fronts with terrible enemy losses. For the first time, therefore, the Allies have a good chance of recapturing the China seaboard, from which they can cut the Japanese supply lines and bomb the enemy's Formosan and home bases. A good chance, that is, unless the enemy cuts their Burma supply line first. From every point of view China, with its Burma lifeline, is the decisive factor in the Japanese war.

GETTING NO SIMPLER FAST SIMPLICITY and sensibility were what the Office of Civil-

ian Defense urgently needed. And that, we ventured | to hope when James M. Landis was named executive direc- |

tor, was what it was going to get. But now we aren’t sure. The reorganization plan just announced in Washington provides for six divisions, each with a director, and each with subdivisions and subdirectors. As just one detail, Melvyn Douglas, the movie star, head of the arts council under the Division of Information, is charged with the duty of co-ordinating the services of actors, artists and writers with the needs of the government in carrying the civilian defence program to the people. This, Mr. Landis explains, should eliminate existing confusion which has resulted in as many as 16 different agencies requesting the services of one actor or actress on the same night. Well, we shall hope for the best. But we can’t help wondering whether the OCD really needs such an elaborate organization of program planners, arts counselors, survey directors, youth organizers, nutrition advisers, physical culturists, community servers, information specialists, administrators, co-ordinators and co-ordinators of co-ordina-tors. Carrying the civilian defense program to the people is a fine idea. But after all, the people are going to need some spare time for the job of making the weapons and earning the money to pay the taxes to win the war.

THE DREADFUL DECADE

world affairs. Doddering President Hindenburg handed over the power on Jan. 30, 1933. Few people suspected just what it would mean to the world, To the great majority, even in Germany, it seemed that Hitler was a grotesque accident; that the man’s essential ridiculousness would soon disgust even his own followers, his failure would soon be apparent, the incident would pass. “Give us four years,” he cried, “and then pass judgment on us.” The four years came and went, and at their end Germany had been stripped of all that remained of its power to pass judgment on anything. The Germans have had not four years of Hitler, but nine. Hitler has succeeded if making his 10 years into a shambles that historians may well refer to as the Dreadful Decade. On Jan. 30, 1943, Hitler if he should live so long, will have completed his decade. What is done between now and then will determine whether the next decade shall be one of sunrise or sunset for free and enlightened civilization.

UP FROM THE ASHES UST 120 days after a disastrous fire largely destroyed its plant, the National Bronze & Aluminum Co. at Cleveland announced that it had tripled its pre-fire war production. One week after the fire, the first castings were poured in temporarily roofed quarters. Four months afterward production had been tripled, and in another 120 days the men promise to double it again.

se 4 : ; 5 | ter planes “soon to go into mass production.” E are now in the 10th year of Hitler's influence on | 2 a

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

DETROIT, Feb. 4-—Suppose we table for today the question why the motor industry didn't convert sooner to war production and such recrimination, which is really but the bitter consolation of peoples beaten in war, and turn to something more vital and optimistic. This nation is not defeated. It can be defeated only by such strictly internal enemies as politics, fat-headedness and a stupid belief that we are invincible merely because we say So. Unfortunately for private interests and investments the motor industry built so large and well and achieved such renowned success that it'is in every practical effect (and never mind any fine old theories of private ownership) a national asset which could be taken over just like that by the Government and with practically unanimous political approval if the owners and operators should refuse to help. The big shots of the industry are today no more able to refuse than Hitler's industrialists were. Not that they have any thought of refusing, for they are all patriotic, too; they have to co-operate to retain sven the nominal control of their property. Their industry, by and large, is as surely an arm of defense, or offense, as the Navy and now it is, as the British say, all-out, or going all-out after considerable delay.

These Sight-Seeing Tours

AS A MEANS OF noising about the country the fact that they are all-out, or going all-out, they have been conducting some sightseeing tours for quite a collection of journalists but not, however, under subsidy, such as all-expenses-paid, which is the European way. They just invited reporters out and have shown them around and I think they have in mind a hope of a good report to help them put down the suggestion that professional unioneers, skilled in harangue and conspiracy, are better fit to run these enormous plants, which were built from the naked fields in a few score years, than the financiers, promoters, organjzers, managers and masters of big machinery who developed a croupy and highly speculative engine into the national asset that it is. The workers, here, incidentally, appear to be, on an average, older than the run and many of their jobs call for delicacy and skill, although there are some operations. thought to require great talent, in which the toiler may lean against something gnawing a candy bar while the machine performs, and knowingly quits when its wizardry is done.

The Auto Business Is Gone

PRODUCTION OF GUN parts is rising and the present rate is a mild comfort, but lest anyone decide that the war is as good as won, it is still terribly short of the great demand and the figures are nothing to lard the spirit with the blubber of complaceney. A vast assembly plant which abandoned automobiles last week, with ceremonies not untinged with sadness. was well on toward dismantlement yesterday morning. Men were ripping out the assembly line, chewing great holes in the concrete floor and digging pits for the concrete foundations of new machines.

Men were shoveling up filings and scrap and jerk-

| ing great. dumb giants of mechanism by block and | tackle across the floors for removal to some great

sentral pool in which thousands of such machines, useless for war, will be stored against the peace. The work of vears and some vast investment were coming up by the roots to make way for new equipment to make anti-aircraft guns and parts of bombers. The great American sutomobile business is destroyed, gone, and the motor industry is turning, late, and with uncertain steps but with its vast power, to war.

The Real Symbcl

By William Philip Sims

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 — A little bit more of the “MacArthur touch” is all the United States needs to bring Argentina all-out for the hemisphere defense pact signed at Rio De Janeiro. Argentina is from Missouri. She is on the fence. She wants to be shown. She wants to be with the winners. Wh=n she comes over to our side it wi.l mean she has made up her mind that we have got what it takes. Today Argentina fears Germany. She does not fear the United States or Great Britain. She knows Hitler is ruthless. If she sides with the United Nations now and the Axis wins the war, she is afraid of what Hitler might do to her. She is not afraid of what the United States or Britain will do if they win. She knows the democracies will not seek vengeance. The thing to do right now, therefore—her present government thinks—is to play safe. She will postpone breaking off relations with Japan, Germany and Italy until absolutely certain the Axis can’t win.

Why There Are the Doubts

WHY IS THERE any doubt—even now? Well, Argentina has heard much about the world’s fastest and best planes and about the vast number we are going to turn out. But the Japs got to Pearl Har-

| bor, the Philippines, the East Indies and Malaya.

The Argentines heard about still faster and Somewhat cynically, perhaps, they ask what about the actual delivery now of some badly needed—even if less marvelous—eraft to Gen. MacArthur, to the defenders of Singapore, and elsewhere. They have heard about strikes without anything much apparently being done to cure whatever was wrong; about confusion in production; about breathtaking appropriations for defense purposes and about backbreaking taxation. But they remark, Washington seems to think that money spent and munitions on the firing line are synonymous. They feel about the British pretty much the same. The British, they say, control one quarter of the habitable globe and one quarter of the earth's population. Yet have not been able to bar the road to the Germans and the Japs.

What it takes to win the Argentines over is pre- |

cisely what it takes to win the war. That is why the case of Argentina is so important to us. She is a sort of symbol. The Argentines say we talk too much and do too little. What is needed to convert them to our side is some real victories both on the home front and on the line of battle.

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

So They Say—

It will be a great mistake for our people to depend upon a collapse of ahy enemy country to win the war.—Senator Tom Connally, Texas,

* * *

We must swing wide the doors of industry to every loval and patriotic worker, regardless of race, creed, color or national origin —8idney Hillman, labor head, WPB, LJ * * We do not yet have a mature philosophy of deto combat totalitarian ideas. —

HARD IS IT GoING TO MIT 2?

&

23

The Hoosier Forum

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

FROM THE HOMETOWN BOYS IN THE PACIFIC— By Corp. William Nichols 20,536,843, Field Artillery, Box 512, Schofield Barracks, I am undertaking to write this letter to you so that if you see fit you can publish it and help all these fellows in uniform out a little. I believe one of the hardest things that happens to us is not to receive a letter during a mail call. You see so many fellows walk away with a dejected look. I don’t believe any of us welcome anything

one at home. My home address when I am in Indianapolis is 1438 W. 23d St. Folks, please write to all of us that

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

to express views in

excluded.

have a chance. Letters must

be signed.)

self as into the postoffice (Uncle [Sam’s place) and up to the window, more than a few lines from some- her pennies all ready and that smile

{of faith, on her little face.

She holds out all her pennies.

| Oh, what's this she hears this man say:

“Child, they aren't wrapped.”

you know and we will appreciate it The child looks up. She wonders immensely. Old schoolmates of what difference that makes. When mine at Tech who write will be an- mother got her out a few of her swered. [pennies to buy candy, the man Any mail sent here can be marked never told her they were not Soldier's Mail via Clipper and needs! wrapped. And then the man says,

only 6 cents in stamps for postage. Also here from Indianapolis are Pvts. Norman Nichols (no relation), John Nevins, Gene Robison, Louis Waltz, Harry Rafferty, Edward Slagle. All would appreciate letters very much.

& 4 #4 “I ASK YOU—IS THIS

AMERICAN PATRIOTISM?” By Mrs. Cecil Carpenter, Gosport

A letter I read the other evening!

told of some mother whose little girl broke into her penny bank to buy stamps for Uncle Sam. After reading the letter, we wonder what the word patriotism really does mean to our people of this United States. Can’t you just vision this child standing around her mother’s knee, perhaps jumping up and down, clasping her little hands, waiting for her mother to get all her pennies out for Uncle Sam? knowing really just who Uncle Sam is but if mother and daddy say he is all right, well, he just is that. And can’t you just see her with her little coat and hat on (hurry mother), her little hand in her mother’s as she goes skipping along (hurry mother, Uncle Sam wants my pennies), her little eyes all

asparkle, her little heart bursting with confidence and pride in Pee)

{the wrong place.

Not |

“I can't take them until you have them wrapped.” Maybe her mother has gotten into This man can’t be Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam needs her pennies. Mother and daddy said so. They said Uncle Sam needs everything they could save. And this man wouldn't take her pennies because they weren't wrapped. . , . What does this word patriotism mean, I ack you, the people of our United States?

2 2 2 “HOW MANY MILLIONAIRES CAME FROM LABOR RANKS?” By H. W. Daacke, 738 S. Noble St.

A hearty welcome to the Hoosier Forum for the gentleman from Attica. Since the entire source of the national income is derived from the nation’s natural resources and the mental and physical ability of the workers to transpose them into merchantable commodities and since the workers are also the ultimate consumers of these commodities, why should he stress that two-thirds

“Dept. of Commerce” bunk?

Why should labor have only twothirds of the national income? In the first World War, about 32,-

{000 new millionaires were created,

so I ask in all fairness, how many of them came from the ranks of

Side Glances==By Galbraith

ey en et

"You'll have to ' ghieia Jor |

5

your views of the column in this

| many years now and if I don't like | {to read this or that, I don’t read it

| |you try it, you won’t burst?

|“WHY NOT EMPTY DRUMS

labor, even at the high wages he mentions? This readily shows where a great portion of the national income finally landed. With all due respect to the man in uniform, has it ever occurred to the gentleman from Attica that the workers at home are just as essential and that the hazards in the factories, mills and mines are very little different to the extent of the supreme sacrifice than those of the men in uniform?

Ed 2 2 “ABOUT TIME DUMPS WERE DONE AWAY WITH” By Mrs. C. Decker, 325 W. Regent St. In answer to a recent article on the South Side dumps I want to express my thanks to a citizen who will rise up and condemn such a horrid condition as exists in our neighborhood. Citizens on the South Side have prayed and hoped for 18 years that this condition would some day be remedied so that respectable citizens could live . , . Sometimes the smoke that belches forth from there is worse than that which would come from a volcano. Why cannot this health menace be done away with? It must be because of some selfish reasons. Someone thinks more of the little pennies in their pockets than they do of the fairness of their city or the health of its citizenry. ‘The Board of Health has shown its willingness to co-operate by placing “no dumping” signs on these menancing places but about two hours later a man from the Board of Works came down with a stout club and beat them down. Looks like someone on the Board of Works has had his gravy interfered with and could not help but show his colors. It's about time such rackets were broken up. When such pettiness shows itself it should be squashed and the citizenry should not be long doing it. ” ” 2 “IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT,

WHY READ IT?” By Frank Richey, Sunnyside Sanitorium It seems to me, Mr, I. D. Smith, that you should look at the statement of Voltaire's at the head of this column. There is a lot of truth in it even if you are a pessimist on

paper. If it is so terribly bad, why do you read it? After all, this is America! You have the privilege of reading what you please, you know: . . . I've read The Times for a good

and keep my mouth shut. Why don’t # a =

TO COLLECT TUBES, TIN?” By G. P. McGraw, 1855 College Ave. Why not place empty oil drums arcund town so good citizens will have a place to deposit tin tubes, lead, tin and aluminum foil, ete. after the manner used in the last war to collect peach seeds, etc.?

THE SOUL SPEAKS

“Here is Honor, the dying knight, And here is Truth, the snuffed-out light, And here is Faith, the broken staff, And here is Knowledge, the throttled laugh. And there are Fame, the lost surprise, Virtue, the uncontested prize, And Sacrifice, the suicide, And here the wilted flower, Pride. Under the crust of things that die, Living, unfathomed, here am I.” Edward H. Pfeiffer (1889- ).

DAILY THOUGHT

Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard. Proverbs 21:13.

move, Grandma—the enemy is using you as & shisld for infiltration in our rear" _

Gen. Johnson Says—

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 — The first recorded dollar-a-year man in our history was George Washington. As is usual in such political capers, the hulabaloo about dollar-a-year men in Mr. Donald Nelson's war-production top-side crew is due to a misunderstanding, There is not and there never has been anything to be criticized in a man donating his services. When Washington accepted from Congress his command of all our armed forces (and that included Navy) he stipulated that, while he ex~ pected reimbursement for his out-of-pocket expenses, he would accept no compensation, So he served for seven years and it was considered a brilliant example, Going even back of that in our pre-revolutionary history, most of the great British explorers and colonizers were operating at their own expense. There was this difference—the latter had some peculiar personal financial interest in the outcome. Washington had none. It is the latter circumstance and not the service without pay—or dollar-a-year—that makes us look askance at the appointment of the heads of big busie ness or their close associates to guide the disbursement of billions in public money. Are they dealing directly or indirectly with themselves?

Mr. Baruch Was Ready

IF THEY ARE, it won't do. Mr. B.- M. Baruch set the precedent for that. He was associated with the management of no business but as soon as he wags appointed he filed a statement of all his holdings. He sold every salable interest. He invested nearly all the proceeds in Liberty bonds. His friends thought this was quixotic or going further than was necessary but in a few years the pay-off came. When Senator Nye's committee started its witche hunt for 1918 dollar-a-year men, great disclosures were expected from this woolly lamb. His books wera intact. Instead of making any money out of the war he had lost millions. Donald Nelson's problem was slightly different. He is not a wealthy man. But he had a whopping salary from Sears, Roebuck & Co. ($70,000 a year). They were willing to lend him to the Government and continue his pay. But in the all-embracing activities of his new job and of that company, it was improbable that he would not some day be “dealing with himself.” So, very bravely and unselfishly, and to keep the status of Caesar's wife, he made what in some respects was a greater (if different) sacrifice than Baruch. He resigned his salary and his position.

It's Nelson's Job

THUS NELSON is in the clear (as was Baruch) himself. But in his organization (as in Baruch’s) are many jobs that absolutely require the best induse trial and managerial talent in the country. That exists mostly in big business. A question remains about these of Nelson's associates. But, as Nelson so stanchly contended, and as seems not yet fully understood, there is a simple way out of the only real difficulty. Leave it ta Nelson. It is a curious thing that nobody mentions the fact that Mr. Sidney Hillman, the labor czar opposite Mr. Nelson, is drawing a considerable sum from organized labor and that he does deal directly wita himself. He is not an impartial administrator worke ing first and solely for the interest of the Governe ment. He is a pressure advocate for the interest of organized labor.

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

YOURS TRULY IS sojourning for a time in Minneapolis, and on the pleasantest of missions—to welcome a new baby into the family. As usual, I hurried to get off on time, and during the train trip fancied I could hear stork wings flapping. Also, as usual, we waited a whole week for its coming. Except for the mother, the days just before a baby’s birth are filled with: breathless expectancy. Life is a wee bit ine credible. Here we are, everything the same, House~ hold affairs go along with reasonable regularity, We talk about the baby, but it’s rather like talking about a dream that can’t possibly come true. Even while we knit bootees and count diapers, we are baffled by a sense of unreality. We simply cannot visaalize another member in our group which seems complete already. Even so, this conversation is mere conjecture—it has no substance. It is just as if we were discussing a preposterous happening which will touch strangers but can have nothing to do with us, But we count the days, like everyone else, and sure enough it comes —our Big Moment,

The Result Is Amazing

WE MOVE IN A body to the hospital, and after the mother has been wheeled away the others make aimless conversation and get under the feet of doctors and nurses. Ours is a peculiar form of insanity with which, I suppose, they are trained to cope. Then, after what seems interminable hours, a nurse, her mouth still trussed up, sticks her head in the doorway mumbling, “It's a girl.” How the tension eases, We laugh and chatter and have that all-gone feeling inside, and very soon here comes the precious herself. The attendants give us a peek. There's our very own baby, nesting in her white wrappings like a flower in snow. Tiny blossom face, tiny hands beating the strange new air, Her eyes are screwed tight shut, ignoring us. And then what does the chit do but yawn right in our faces. The result is amazing. At once we are flooded with a feeling of possessiveness. She is ours; she belongs, as if she had always been here, Funny how quickly such love overflows our hearts. Incredible that one-hour-old Carole Shartel Ferguson should be already such an important member of the family, but so, in His goodness and wisdom, God has ordained.

Questions and Answers

(The Indianapolis Times Service Bureau will answer any question of fact or information, not involving extensive ree search. Write your 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, 1018 Thirteenth St.. Washington, D, C.) Q—How long must an employee of the United States Postal Service have served before he is eligible to transfer from one branch of the service to another branch? A—Either as a regular employee or a substitute he must have 1224 hours.

Q—Why are horses with broken legs usually shot? A—Because it is seldom possible to cure them, without expensive treatment, including a sling to suspend the horse so as to keep his weight off of the injured leg. Work horses are seldom treated for broken legs because the cost is prohibitive. Valuable horses are usually shot, hecause a broken leg can seldom be set so that it will be strong.

Q—What method is used to prevent the formation of barnacles on the hulls of ships?

A—Common practice all over the world is to scrape the bottoms and paint them with copper paint

EVIL: EVENTS from evil causes Aristophanes, 1

about once a year.

ESDAY, FEB. 4, 1942,

3