Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 21 March 1942 — Page 8

ROY W. HOWARD RALPH 3 : 3 Editor s Business ‘Manager (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) = =

Give Light end the People Wl Find Thew Own Woy SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 1043 4

RE®- HOWARD SMITH of Virginia, it seems to us, is talking dangerous nonsense when he publicizes alleged rumors that labor will go on a general strike if the 40-hour-week laws are amended to eliminate the requirement of time-and-a-half pay for overtime work. We happen to think that the 40-hour week in war in- | dustries should be abolished for the duration. One good reason is that it would mean a substantial reduction in the cost of armaments. Another good reason is that conditions which prompted adoption of the 40-hour week—depression and widespread unemployment—have ceased to exist. The problem now is not to spread work, but to get more work done. The shortage now is not in jobs but in workmen, especially in the skilled trades. But surely this is an issue that can be decided on its merits. Congressman Smith has no right to impugn the patriotism of American workmen. They are just as loyal as he is. And most of them, we dare say, have a stronger faith than he in democratic processes. Many of the workers involved fought for their country. in the last war, and. have sons who are fighting in this one. They are just as eager as Mr. Smith could be to get weapons into the hands of the soldiers. ; - It is hysterical for Rep. Smith to talk of a labor insurrection, whatever the outcome of this debate. If the weight of evidence leads to a decision in favor of a workweek longer than 40 hours—which we think it inevitably must—American workmen not only will abide by the decision ; they will make good on it. If a 48-hour week is decided on, they will work 48 hours with the same spirit as the men who are doing the overtime fighting. For they will recognize, quite as much as Rep. Smith does, that this is necessary when our nation is in peril.

THE SPEAKER SQUAWKS

OUNDED birds flutter. That explains the squawk from Speaker Sam Rayburn about the storm of protest congress is facing. Says Rayburn: “Not from one section of the country, but from every section are coming letters and telegrams; many of them are insulting. They come not from Democrats or Republicans but from every class and section . . , ; “Meetings have been called in various sections of the country . . . which usually turn into indignation meetings.” Then the speaker warns that these meetings may “make the headlines in Berlin and Tokyo,” and urges that it would be “much better for the safety of the country and our war effort if they were turned into unity parades.” We make bold to suggest that the outfit which can turn those meetings into unity parades is none other than the government at Washington, of which Mr. Rayburn is a conspicuous and usually very capable leader. The protests are against what? Non-defense spending, boondoggling, pingpong co-ordinators, .glide dancers, . self-allocated pensions for congressmen, special privileges for pressure groups, such costly and clinging vines as the national youth administration, which just won’t be weaned,

Pullman farming, and all that thick coating of expensive | B

barnacles which are slowing the speed of our ship of state. |

” 2 » ” s ” E are fighting for democracy. Does Mr. Rayburn expect the people to lie still and like it? Dces a democracy get lean and strong and effective by turning Pollyanna, winking at conspicuous faults, and calling everything perfect no matter how it stinks? Democracy’s greatest strength is its capacity for correction through self-criticism. A very dangerous trend is developing. It is symbolized by just such talk as Rayburn’s. It it a trend on the part of those who govern to camouflage inefficiency under the cloak of patriotism; to call all criticism axisinspired; to say it is giving aid and comfort to the enemy. From the politician’s point of view such a shield would be soothing for a while. But you can’t cure a cancer with .a blanket, The ‘country has turned vocal. It is exercising as never before its constitutionally given right of petition. It will not be fooled by a hush-hush plea from Washington in the name of unity. We'll have unity when Rayburn and the rest have done their bit.

BEST SELLER THE best selling book in America today has not been reviewed in the literary columns or selected as the outstanding publication of the month. It is the Red Cross First Aid book, and it’s even outselling the Bible. § More than nine million copies have come off the press since Pearl Harbor, and the printers are trying to step up their production beyond the current 100,000 a day. Red Cross headquarters estimates the book’s readers are enrolling in first aid training courses at the rate of 40,000 a “day. Such words as tourniquet and pressure point and traction splint are finding their way-into our everyday vocabulary, é These figures prove that there are, throughout the country, persons who realize that “it can happen here,”

and who will ‘be able to meet the emergency when and if

HE worst, news to come out of Germany in a long time is that Hitler is recalling his dismissed generals, who

history of

its general features can be re listed the most brilliant in the world’s long war. It is remarkable first, they say, for the orderly withdrawal under long and continuous attack, an action the rule-books teach is impossible except with the most seasoned troops. MacArthur had some of them, but he also had others that were “very green.” : ; : ;

Advance Kept Stumbling

IN THE SECOND place, MacArthur apparently evolved a successful method of dealing with Japanese “Infiltration,” the Indian warfare of the jungles that worked miracles for the Japanese in the Malay pen-

insula but has gotten them no place under similar |}

conditions in Bataan.

MacArthur solved the problem of the withdrawal | fs by a series of concentric lines, when it became neces- | sary to save his army from destruction with the |

resulting loss of the last outpost in the Philippines, Every foot of ground was fought bitterly and with heavy losses to the attackers, but the Jap advance kept stumbling over these rapidly prepared positions. + Each time they were halted, the Japanese were compelled to bring up their heaviest artillery and into action, difficult enough in itself in the Philippines jungles and complicated by the

Guns Kept Far Forward

SOMEHOW THE GUNS of the Americans. and the Philippine soldiers were kept far forward, with proportionately few losses. One of the brief communiques issued in the course of the fighting makes specific mention of “our counter-battery” fire. Eleven Japanese batteries were blasted into silence in a single day, it says. : Sheer weight of numbers of men and guns and screaming dive-bombers made it impossible for the

thinly-spared defenders to hold these positions per- |.

manently. But each withdrawal was to a new, carefully chosen line, and each time the defenders were

brought closer together until they had only 15 miles

of actual front to hold. The Japanese first tried MacArthur's right flank. Failing there, they moved to the left, only to find that MacArthur had made a powerful and unexpected attack on his own right, upsetting the whole Jap program. For the next two months the line was relatively stationary. The latest phase of the fighting currently extends from a point north of Abucay, on the peninsula’s east coast, west and south to a point midway between Marong and Bagac. No figures of MacArthur’s strength have ever been disclosed, but the Japs were believed to have used more than 200,000 crack troops in the effort, so far futile, to dislodge him.

| Westbrook Pegler is on Vacation

4 ‘Free Speech By Helen Kirkpatrick

LONDON, March 21. — The freedom of the press has been challenged by Home Secretary Herbert Morrison in the view of most of the newspapers here and a storm has arisen which may result in Morrison's leaving the government sooner or later. For the second time in recent weeks, Morrison has challenged

freedom of speech in a manner which has aroused antagonism in both parliament and the press. On the previous occasion he had to defend action taken to prevent a broadcast on defense regulation 18-B—under which persons may be detained without charges being preferred. - The agitation over that died down quickly. His announcement that the government might suppress the (London) Daily Mirror is not likely to die down as quickly as he has aroused virtually the entire British press against him. ° Most of the great national papers make it clear that they deprecate the conduct of the Daily Mirror but also they warn the government to proceed extremely cautiously in putting into effect defense regulation 2-D. This regulation was introduced at the time of France's collapse when Britain’s position was perilous in the extreme. It was designed to prevent any unscrupulous persons from fomenting opposition to the prosecution of the war.

‘The Purpose of This War' : THE BULK OF the newspapers regard the Daily

Mirror's editorials and some of its articles as in ques- |,

tionable taste—as lurid and (some) as irresponsible. Few, however, regard the paper as fomenting opposition to war. The cartoon which Morrison particularly criticized received an entirely different interpretation from most of the press and the majority of the people to whom I have spoken.. It was a picture of a shipwrecked seaman clinging to a life raft with the caption, “The Price of Petrol Has Been Inereased One Penny.” Morrison seemed to think that this meant an extra penny for vested interests whereas the public thought it was a warning to them that, whereas gasoline cost them a penny more, it cost seamen their lives. The Daily "Express is to enable every man to be able to speak his mind and pray to his God; to have the right of trial by his peers if he is accused of an offense. Unless and until the situation envisaged . . . is upon us, we must preserve the fullest possible use of the most democratic machine available.” : The London News Chronicle, Daily Mail and Daily Herald all support this view. The Daily Telegraph is the only one supporting Morrison. ; 2

So They Say

| I am sure that every American, if faced individually

with the question as to where Gen. MacArthur could best serve his country, could come to only one ; —President Roosevelt, ~~ ~~ i answer.

skillful , ‘aggressive use which MacArthur made of his own artillery. a

el. says: “The purpose of this war

: A ® . ; : . : - The Hoosier Forum 1 wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.

“SAVING TIRES IMPOSSIBLE ON STREETS LIKE OURS” By Walter Smith, 2034 S. State st.

I have read your article on the conservation of automobile tires. I am willing and ready to -abide by this demand. But I can’t see how I'm going to be able to do this, as the present condition of some of our city streets is deplorable. I live on'S. State st. and believe me it is in such a horrible condition it would be difficult to describes As I understand, ruts and holes are just as detrimental to saving tires as traveling at high speeds would be. The request to save tires is almost ridiculous when one has to travel such streets on his or her way to and from work. Why then is the conservation of rubber usage a daily request when the conditions of certain streets in Indianapolis makes it almost impossible to comply with? tJ 2 ” “SERVE LABOR BETTER BY TALKING ARBITRATION”

By D. M. Reece, New Castle

Mr. Davis (Friday 13th paper) contends that he is for organized

-|labor and an official of the B. of

R. T. I can hardly understand an article like this from a man of this type. It seems that he does not understand much’ about the dues charged by most unions or how they work. a He talks of the O. I. O. blackjacking men into paying from $100 to $300 initiation fees to work on defense contracts. The U. A. W. A, which has more. men working on defense than any other -C. I. O. union, cannot charge over $15 initiation fee by its constitution The fee is usually less than $5 for new organizations. The dues are $1 a month, and the U. A. W. A. convention can vote only a $3 assessment in a year’s time. If I remember right, this is considerably lower than the B. of R. T. Now I do not want anyone to think I am taking a crack at the B. of R. T. Every penny a member spends in it, they get many back in job security and benefits, but I do not understand how any of their officials can condemn dues such as these, or know so little of the labor

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, religious controversies excluded. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Letters must be signed.)

movement as to make statements as he did. He talks of the good feeling between the management and men. If I remember right they had some pretty bloody strikes when they were a young organization. The men and management have merely learned in experience that they have to work with each other, The newer organizations and their managements are learning it now. Most of the U, A. W. A, contracts have an arbitration clause if the union can obtain it. Where they have these, the strikes have ceased as they did on the railroads. If Mr. Davis is for organized labor he would serve its purpose better by talking this arbitration plan which has proven successful on railroads rather than ranting about the dues unions are charging when he knows nothing about it, 8 o ” ‘THAT DEFENSE WORKER’ IS BACK AGAIN .,, By “That” Defense Worker, Indianapolis Attaboy, Dwiggins, I didn’t know you had it in you! Now, let me see, I'll have to give this a good think, Hm---« 1. That paragraph really puts me in my place. Or does it—? Everyone agrees with that statement and it’s too darn bad I had to get the heat turned on the foreman. He is a good man—able and conscientious. But how many of your guys have called him a blankety-blank lying so-and-so for this and for that silly excuse, like “where’s that raise” —“how about my transfer”—“he’s just a company stooge,” etc. etc.? And how many of your guys have really worked as hard for nim as he has for them? You can cuss me and rave all you like but I have not hurt him half as bad with the

Side Glances=By Galbraith

I —_——

|as’ recently

company as some of your guys with their hypocritical actions. Gosh, I lost my temper and went right on through No. 2, didn't I? Well, anyway, youre so strong—I mean all 30 of you—for him as Dwiggins’ letter implies, let's see you pitch in “for the duration” and prove me a ligr. 3. And who isn’t proud of our own product? : 4. I don’t have to answer that one either. , . . I've closed my eyes and ears to a lot of things I disliked to see, also. But never again. 5. That was alsc a general statement, not intended as personal. Why don’t all of you spend your thoughts on how to improve or speed up your own operation in your department? 6. Of course ’s does not tolerate carelessness and lack of interest. That's just another generality. 7. Ha! Ha! I put one over on you there. I didn’t mean all “50 different functions in a week.” Did I say so? - 8. There’s another misconstruction of a statement. I merely put a pair of shoes out in the middle of the floor and anyone whom they fit may wear them—in any department. As for leaving the plant after midnight you're not naive enouzh to try to pul ~that statement over! As for my statements “constituting an act of sabotage,” no one ever heard me make any of these statements—“If our raise isn’t on our check, let's walk out”; “ is making theirs,” why shouldn't we?”; Let's get ours while we, can,” ete., etc. And as for “undermining the morale of all defense workers”— well, all I have to say is that you cannot undermine the morale of

faults unless he is a quitter. . , . ” ” » . “MAKE TRAFFIC ENGINEERING REAL HE-MAN JOB” By H. W. Dascke, 736 S. Noble st. I don’t agree with the recommendations of Paul F, Stricker, of the National Safety Council, as recently published in the local press, of regulation for the pedestrian only, to relieve the deplorable traffic condition in our city. Such conditions can only be remedied by drastic means and as such I suggest the following for consideration: Any one man of the present traffic squad with averagé intelligence (the present traffic engineer in-

‘|cluded in the eligible list and pre-

ferred). should be given a 30-day vacation with salary and expenses included in any city that has a high standing in traffic regulation and an efceptionally low death rate in traffic accidents. I don’t doubt but what the National Sdfety Council could furnish a list of eligible cities. When he returns from his vacation make him the city traffic engineer, not in ‘name with salary attached, and subject to the whims of § politically minded so-called safety board or of an appointed political chief of police, without any merit system regulations, but a real heman job with all the responsibility the name and salary implies, and then if he does not have the ability and intestinal fortitude to show favorable results, have him make way

for a better man and continue un-

til we find the man that can do the job. . existence of such a spectacle : ied in the of all wrist, for a number of traffic viola-

tions, would be an utter impossibility.

DAILY THOUGHT

Great men are not always wise.—Job 32:9.

"| KNOWLEDGE is proud that he

| the aid of Darlan, Laval and

an American by showing him his

William Philip Simms

- WASHINGTON, March 21. Adolf Hitler may shortly nullity the Nasi-French armistice and enforce a whole new series of .demands on France as though she were freshly vanquished, accord ing to reports received here, Furious over what he regards as. France's calculated refusal to “collaborate” with Germany with- . in the meaning of the word as he Z interprets. it, Hitler is said to be on the point of taking steps to force Vichy’s hand. The Nazis have tried by every means short of Possession of France's fleet and her b Africa. But, despite er collaborati nists, the 85-year-old Marshal Petain has barred the way, .. Now, apparently, comes the straw which may break the Nazi camel's back—the trial of the French i at Riom. For a long time Hitler has been counting on those trials to provide him with a resounding vine

dication for everything he has done and Y hands of : blood. ® van ta

'Final Proof" of French Perfidy

BUT THE RIOM trials have done nothing of the sort. They have not made out cases against Daladier, Blum, Gamelin, La Chambre and the others. accused as “tools” of England and the United States, nor yet charged them with helping to bring on the war at all

The testimony has taken an entirely different . direction,

It has been military, rather than political, in char. - acter. And if the prisoners at the bar are found guilty it will be solely because they neglected to make

.| France strong enough to lick Germany. For the gist

of the testimony thus far is that France lost the war not so much because the Nazis were supermen but because France was inexcusably weak.

This seems to be regarded in Berlin as final proof of French perfidy. The Germans find this so utterly “incomprehensible” that something will have to be done about it promptly. :

What Hitler will do will probably be known shortly,

Situation Is Now Changed

UNTIL RECENTLY, Petain had the strong backe ing of Gen. Weygand in North Africa. At a sign from Petain, Weygand would have made things exe tremely difficult for Hitler south of the Mediterrane ean, and the signal might have been given if Hitler had gone too far,

Today, however, the situation is - somewhat changed. Weygand is no longer in’ Africa. He has been supplanted by a man more amenable to Darlan, Japan has entered the war. The allies are fighting in the Pacific, in Asia and in the Antipodes as well as in the Atlantic, in Europe and in Africa. And, lastly, there is the reason that the axis must win the war this year or else. So Hitler must take chances. If his victims refuse to “collaborate,” doubtless he will try force. He would not hesitate to scrap the articles of capitulation, resume where he left off in 1940, occupy the rest of France and take over the French fleet and naval bases.

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

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

THE BEST BIT of axis propae ganda these days is the cynical old wheeze, “It's no use to write your congressman.” Don't you ever believe it. Letter writing is a major chore to most of us, but if you labor under the delusion that your elected representatives pay no ate -tention to the mail from home you'd better take the trouble to investigate the question—that . is, if you believe in democracy and want to see it work, ° Sure as you're born, it’s working now. The huste with which the congressional pension bill was ree pealed proves it. A capable young western congress« man told me the other day that within the past fortnight he had received 7000 letters from disse gruntled constituents who were angry about labor’s attitude. And a senator of long years’ service cone tends that no official would dare ignore the trend of his correspondence.

Write Your Congressman Today!

AFTER A WHILE these lawmakers acquire a sort of sixth sense about mail. They are able to tell the difference between letters inspired by organization efforts and those carrying the expression of strong individual opinion. And they insist that the voter can always be sure of a hearng if he takes the trouble to write. : He doesn’t need to use flowery language, nor show specialized knowledge of the subject under discuse sion. As a voter he is entitled to the notice of his representative and he gets it. . Mail ‘pouring into Washington from home is not just some extra poundage for the postman to carry, It is really the pulse of the republic, the very hear beat of democracy, which will survive or perish de pending on whether the folks back home are too lazy to make themselves heard, or smart enough to use the power they possess. Maybe you don’t like to write letters—but this is one time you must not indulge your indolence. Obey that impulse; write your congressman today.

Questions and Answers

. (The indianapolis limes Service Bureau will answer any question of fact or information, not involving extensive re~ search. Write veur question clearly. sign name and address, inclose a three-cent postage stamp. Medical or legal advices cannot be given. Address The Times Washington Service Bureau. 1018 Thirteenth St. Washington D. OC.) ;

Q—I was born in Scotland and came to the United States as an immigrant in 1922. In 1923 I married a native born American citizen. Recently I was told that I did not become a citizen through my marriage, Is that true? Ni ok : A--Only the alien women who married American citizens before Sept. 22, 1922, became citizens. . You should register immediately as an alien and apply for your final naturalization papers. As the ‘wife of a citizen you will not need to make a declaration of ine tention. :

Q—How should I place a thermometer to get ace curate readings of outside temperatures? ‘A—Expose the instrument. in a latticed shelter in an open space away from buildings and about four to 10 feet above the ground. If a shelter is not available, it may be placed outside a north window so that it can be read without opening the window. oe ~ Q—What useful materials can be reclaimed from used auto batteries? : : A—Approximately 85 per cent of the lead can be recovered after the battéry is no longer useful. liftle crude rubber is used in battery manufacture, -there are no restrictions on the manufacture of

products from such rubber. Q—How many men were killed in the army ms~