Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 March 1942 — Page 10

| farmers are sick takers of treasury

He wants to use

They certainly shohld be smaller this year.

knows what that

. all right by the Irish line.

a a TT —

| Their letter to

‘Price in Marion Coun~ ty, 3 cents a copy; deliv~ ered by (carrier, 12 cents a week,

Mail Sibscriphion Tae Sales "In - Indiana, outside of Foo Toll

cents a month.

oo RILEY 5651

Give Light ond (the. People Will Find Their Own Way

pps = - Howard Newssr Alliance, NEA

MONDAY, MARCH 9, 1942

| WHAT DO FARMERS WANT?

“HE public has a an impression that the congressional farm bloc is fighting— r 1. To prevent fronts of farm prices cent of parity, and, | - 2. At the same time to keep on giving farmers huge

below 100 per

government subsidiés such as were necessary when agri:

culture was inl the depression dumps, But, spokesmen for farm organizations tell us that nd tired of being objects of charity, andouts, wards of government. They

say that if the farmer could get parity prices on the

: ‘market they’d glad y see subsidies discontinued. And

they say that under the mew price control law, in view of the increased demands of |wartime and the increased buying power of consumers, farmers could get parity prices on the market—if the-government wouldn’t hold prices down by selling its surplus stacks below parity. President Roosevelt, of course, has a different idea. surpluses to hold prices down, which consumers a billion dollars. Then he ers, out of the treasury, the difference

he says would save wants to pay the f

between their market prices and parity.

8s = .| 8 & 8

WE can see why | the administration might want to keep on paying ail Government checks distributed to

farmers have a nice political effect. And their distribution

makes jobs for many bureaucrats. Last year the various government cash benefits to farmers totaled $586,000,000. But, according to present plans, they'll be a sizable chunk. Congress right now is being | asked to appropriate: $450,000,000 for soil-conservation and acreage-reduc-tion payments; $47,462,000 for benefits to sugar growers, which are absolutely unnecessary with a sugar shortage on; $89,000,000 for|the food stamp plan wihch helps to keep farm prices up; $8,573,000 for crop insurance.- And, in addition, to authorize the secretary of agriculture to pay whatever is necessary to insure full parity income. No one nount might be, but i payments last year were $210,000,000. Would the farmers be willing to give up up these subsidies in return for a promise that the government won’t interfere with farm market prices below the ceilings of the price control law? We don’t know. But if the farm bloc were. offering some such proposition as that—well, a lot of citizens who have heen cussing agricultural “greed” might revsie their’ opinions; Among other things, it vould abolish the jobi¥ of whole

regiments of , agriculture department officials and em-

ployees, who: might usefully be converted to war work. It ; it “possible for the department to get le an the $16,000,000—that amount equaling the total annual incomes of about 16,000 average farm families—which it is asking for travel expenses ; in the next fiscal year. |

1 | 4 |

KELLY AND O'HARE VS. DE VALERA

THAT eminent non-fighting Irishman, the Spanishblooded, New York-born De Valera, has not read the newspapers lately. He has been seated in the Dublin libraries, thumbing through the journals of 20 years ago, in order to maintain his mad on against the English.’ He has paused only long enough for a tepid cup of tea and a lady finger. It is a pleasure ts point ‘out to that gentleman that a couple of Americans named Kelly and O'Hare have done As everyone knows, excepting perhaps De Valera, the late Colin Kelly dive-bombed a Jap battleship and Edward O’Hare shot down six Jap bombers in one engagement. The Irish—excepting those left in Ireland—can still hold their heads high, no thanks to you, Eamon De Valera.

AWARE? OF COURSE NOT!

THE 254 members of a Compressed ‘Air Workers Union in New York have written to William Green, president of the America Federation of Labor, asking him to help Segtears from the International Hod Card Common Laborers Union, which has

men who do the an and dangerous underground labor on tunnels, subways and bridge and bulking foyndations, , Green says: “As you are aware, racketeering in our: industry falls

nto three main categories—running local unions as dues-

ecting rackets; the kickback or payment by the workers ! part of thei ‘Wages to corrupt officials in return for heir jobs, and acceptance by union officials of bribes from actors for jagreements under which members of the on are compelled to work for wages lower than the iling scale,

“All thesé hy on types of activity hdve provided enor-

or. r unscrupulous union officials in the con- + « You will of course sppreciate that the in this field goes far Bo anything

i

hey valine that the are? ‘man is Souls | nention of racketeering in the A. F. of L.? |

de rst: nd how diligently he strives to avoid

ig wrong with the way the bosses of

ering ™ [By John W. Love

‘complete goods, we would still have to be convinced it were better to have all-out rationing than to let prices of non-essential goods rise without limit. Perhaps Mr Morgenthau meant rationing of the essentials only, but even that would be quite a job.

Rationing of Clothing, Too

SUGAR RATIONING is to be only the beginning, }

of course. The ration books can be used for a number of things. Gasoline rationing probably won't be far behind, but, in most areas, designed more to save tires than gasoline. Rationing of clothing probably will have to be un~ dertaken if the war lasts as long as it's likely to. The British have a point system which covers inost articles of clothing, and something of the kind will have to be adopted here if stocks of textile fibers are drawn down too far. A man who bought an overcoat would not be able to buy as many suits or shirts, nor the woman who bought a coat, a8 many dresses. It would be hard to make it work equitably in our various climates. Imagine the grief in trying to apply a point system to rationing of foods of all kinds, furniture, household equipment, jewelry and the like, but maybe Mr. Morgenthau doesn’t think of all these as consumer goods. Some of them might be put into non-compet-ing groups, to accommodate people with larger incomes.

We'd Have to Be Very Scared

MR. MORGENTHAU proposed complete rationing, or something or other, as the only thing he believed would halt inflation. In doing so, he revealed his doubts of the ability of the new price-control law, or any price-control law, to control prices. He also as much as admitted that the taxes he suggests, stiff as they are, would not be enough to prevent inflation. Strange as it may seem to people in the middle incomes who read the table of taxes he proposed, enough spending power would remain to bid up the prices of goods whose volume of production was reduced below the amounts sufficient to go around. * Every product going under rationing would throw the surplus purchasing power over into a narrowing list of unrationed goods, themselves being turned out of the factories in smaller amounts. The current trend of used-car prices shows what would happen in the field of all second-hand goods where the price-control law was not operating. The logical remedy for inflation, of course, would be to ration everything, but complete rationing would be extreme regimentation. Americans would have to be much more scared than we are now.

Westbrook Pegler is on Vacation

Aviation By Maj. Al Williams

v

WHEN A MAN finds himself in the middle of a brawl, it is stupid of him to waste time arguing about how he got there. There is only one sensible thing to do— come out slugging. We are in a " brawl, the axis gang is breaking up our furniture, and we've got to fight our way out. What does a hard estimate of our situation produce? First, all the active combat front: are 3000 15-7000 milles trom our ‘chores, To the East, we are frying to bolster the English materially against invasion. Still farther to the East, we are trying to get munitions to Russia over greatly extended lines of communication, The English and Russians are comparatively short of everything necessary to whip the Nazis. Selfpreservation being the basic law of nature, they insist

that the war on their fronts is the most important

and must be won before war on any other front can register victory. That may be true in a strict military sense, but the law of self-preservation applies to us, too. Therefore, first for us is self-preservation for the United States. On this foundation only can eventual victory be built.

Get at Japan Proper!

" IT IS SUICIDAL daydreaming to kid ourselves about Japan's extended lines of communication as she forces her way into India and toward Australia. Japan is working from bases, presumably adequately equipped—an entire line of them extending from Japan proper to Formosa and the Asiatic coastline, no two of them more than 1000 miles apart. Nevertheless, as Japan extends these bases farther from her home munition-producing centers, she is pushing a vast salient south and southwest. All her national effort is moving in these directions, where the lines of communication are favorable to her and

unfavorable to us. And our communications lines— | 7000 to 9000 miles—are the longest ever contemplated 1

in warfare. We'll never lick Japan by accepting her strategy and fighting the war on her lines of communication

terms. We've got to get at Japan proper to win this |

war in the Pacific. Japan proper is only 2174 miles

from our Alaskan base of Dutch Harbor. Obviously,

this is the path to Japan's heart. Why don’t we take it? If we are carrying the war to the enemy, why don’t we use our shortest, most advantageous route?

So They Say—

Hoarding helps Hitler regardless of whether it's |

sugar or shoelaces, canned goods or clothing.~Price Administrator Leon Henderson. .

8, mar ALMURT

The Hoosier Forum

I wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to 0 say it.— Voltaire.

“FITTING. TO NAME NEW / SHIP THE JACOB JONES” By an Ex-sailor, Indianapolis The United States Navy has lost two destroyers named Jacob Jones, but it is still a good fighting name. It is a name which brought much glory to the Navy and to officers and crews of the two destroyers. This first Jacob Jones was sunk

New Jersey, Feb. 28, 1942, pounded by an enemy submarine with more than 100 sailors dying for their country.

Few persons may know, however, that the Jacob Jones for whom the ships were named was quite a hero in his own right. ‘After giving up the study of medicine for law, he left both professions in’ 1799 to sign on as a midshipman on a naval vessél which fought the Barbary pirates. He was their prisoner two years, but escaped to become one of the hardest-hitling commanders in the War of 1812, capturing an enemy ship and eventually squaring accounts with the pirates. It would be fitting if another destroyer were named for this fighting man to deal out vengeance for the loss of the other Jacob Joneses and their gallant crews. ® 8 =» : “TODAY'S HOG PRICES ARE NOT RELEVANT” By James R. Meitzler, Attica.

Because union carpenters get $1.25 an hour on defense projects is not considered a good reason for denying more money to a 25-cent-an- | closed hour man. Yet H. W. as an argument against parity for grain growers, broadcasted one vegetable had a price increase of 39 per cent. And S. Ellis quotes the top price of hogs at $12.65, a year ago $8.30." The stock raiser could pay $1 a bushel for corn and make money at present. prices. Feb. 27, top price hogs, Indianapolis, $13.15, wp 75 cents. Is the fact that hogs are $13.15 a hundred pounds or celery 15 cents a bunch proof that

Dec. 6, 1917, with a loss of 64. The|: "|second Jacob Jones went down off

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, religious conMake

your letters short, so all can

troversies excluded.

have a chance. Letters must be signed.)

grain prices should be forced down and kept down below parity by our labor-minded administration? -. Today's hog prices are not relevant. Grain is to be kept below parity to induce the production of more hogs, cattle, poultry and dairy products. More and cheaper. The eggs are being set, the pigs farrowed and the grain grower is the goat. Compare the administration’s hostility to parity prices for grain with its attitude toward the attempt. to keep wages at one level. Abolition of the 40-hour week, pay and a half for overtime, double pay for Sundays and holidays. All fought to a finish by C. 1. O, A. F. of L. and the President. And C. I. O. demanding $1 an hour more and no ceiling,

8.8 ” “LET’S BE UNIFIED EVEN IF IT DOES HURT” By Mrs. Ex-Soldier, Mooresville In reading this daily column I am reminded of pre-election days when political wolves were relentlessly clawing at the throats of their opponents and then when the contest all took their defeat with as much grace and good sportsmanship as possible and united to make a

Side Glances— By Galbraith

The Japs and the Nazis won't wait for our family || |

squabbles to be settled. That is why it is our job to et blow out the bottlenecks strangling production.—Ernest | a

_Kanzler, fof automotive branch.

Those who have & Nordio character but who 47s -

{once again

didn't suffer nearly so much typing good things about Russia as he did when he was photographed for his column. . Mr, Scharrer’s rather biased opinion of Pegler, along with all the complaints and grouches, is a rare spice that, thrown into the cake of news each day, really makes it digest better. It would be worse than war if there wasn’t a difference of opinion. - Let's all try Mr. Pegler’s strategy and be unified even if it does hurt,

for anyone can. do: things easier

when the style isn’t cramped. » 8» “PERHAPS FARMERS WOULD BE SMART TO QUIT”

By L. P. Morgan, R. R. 2, Box 591 I wonder if you would have the courage to tell us farmers how you arrived at your conclusion that led to your support of the -Roosevelt attitude against the farmer. As I have told many farmers, I feel that you are sincere. But we would like to know by what method of deduction you arrived at your sincerity. The farmer hes every dollar he has invested in his business. Whether he eats or not depends entirely upon his labor. If he is inefficient he doesn't have a business agent to hold his job for him, he just loses all of his possessions and his life’s work. So, he is on the job 24 hours a day. Besides the hardest kind of physical labor, he has to do a lot} of planning and if these plans fail, he is the one that pays. Did you ever stop to consider that, if the farmer’s lot is as easy as you seem to think it is, why there is such a scarcity of farm labor? Why we cannot even keep our sons from going to the city? I know you will

The farmer's market has always been a good market for the nation because all that he earns must into new machinery,

!

But the ‘farmer tries to carry on. He’

borrows money. To do that you must have character. He enters upon his season of gambling with the weather and The farmer hasn't made any money yet, but you would like to fix it “so that he positively will (not make any money. This year i is more serious because the farmer's expenses are beyond his reach if he

value out of $1000 worth of property.

worth of second-hand rubber he gets

But Leon is funny that way. He just doesn’t-seem to give a damn. That's éxactly what he is doing to the & 2 dealers. He won't let them sell ot Ee and second-hand cars and he won't buy them, He wants them for a reserve. : ‘ .

og be (EEL

a

"This Hare-Brained Lunacy’

IT WILL COST ‘the dealer somewhere around $20 a month per car in interest, expenses, rent, insur-

and try to auction them off to satisty the debts.

It has not been stated what . then. Maybe Leon will buy’ them in for 10 cents on the dollar—or something.

Now fypowrlier donicis and the pata Yon. pis lic that uses typewriters are threatened with the same kind of deal. The government doesn’t say it wants the typewriters. It only wants to use the typewriter factories. But it wants to “ration” the distributed stock among “preferred” users. The only preferred users that are apparent are the reputed 30,000 regular and part-time copy writers of handouts for government agencles, but there may be Some other purpose in this apparently hare-brained ° unacy.

Horses? Where Are They? 3 F rf

‘NO, IT WON'T do to say “we will go back to’ horse and wagon days.” In the first , population has so dwindled that it would. for bring saough bores 10 do ihe work fo man than it wouldito grow Brazilian rubber. The great wagon factories are all gone... In the present steel shortage there would probably not be enough available to build and equip new plants and provide for the wagons. themselves. ‘Then there would arise the question-of a leather deficiency to manufacture the miles of harness needed o pull the vehicles. If all this were avoided we would: still have to consider the. problem of re-distributing into much _ smaller and more numerous units the farm supply and marketing villages, two-thirds of which are now too distant from the farms they now serve to continue by wagon only without the loss of millions of man-hours of farm labor. It would be well for Mr. Henderson's bright young theorists to learn something more about their country than Shey san get in a college, a book, or at Washington, D

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

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson, i

\ .. WISHFUL THINKING about i post-war marriage relations is al- ' ready evident. For instance,’ the Ladies Home Journal comes out with the notion that men will be a big help around the house when “they return from military service. By that time, it is hinted, they may have grown-so neat ‘in their * habits that they'll crack down’ on

- slovenly wives and generally de- «

mand more neatness from their helpmates. Even if this were true it would not-be ‘desirable, and the peculiar nature of man causes us to discredit tl.e dream. Army training is sure to improve boys in many ways; although it probably won't transform them into first-rate housekeepers. At lédst, we hope it won't, mainly for the sake of our own morale. - The deepest satisfaction known to woman is that which derives from the idea that her chief duty in life is to feed, S90the ond ypanage:iis Thative male;

Bumblers, That's What!

EVERY WIFE DELIGHTS in the belief that her husband would be miserable without her to look: after his comfort. Men are always little boys to the en who love them, and one reason loved is because they are bumblers aroun Perhaps this is the wrong attitude, bu the fondest feminine delusion and we ho not destroy it. Nor do we take kindly to the ol that men will emerge from: finicky, domestic naggers. That wg dhs Sherr a reversal in the behavior of the sexes. Long training in reat. habits is bound to have effect. Perhaps, ‘if the war lasts long eno boys ‘will turn old-maidish, but if we known H nature it won't be permanent, girls. has been trained from childhood by women fo in the tradition that it's mother's place ; manage the home and that dad and the leave that job to her.

xemplary ; when he gets back he won't pick up after there's a woman within ii distance to for him.

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