Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 May 1942 — Page 16

- Editor - ~~. “Business Manager (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) :

en a copy; delivered by carrier, 15 cents a week.

Mail subscription rates in: Indiana, $4 a year, outside of Indiana, 75 cents a month.

pa RILEY 5551

Give Light and. the People. wi Find Their Own Way

THURSDAY, MAY 7,1043

REMEMBER CORREGIDOR! SHE tributes all of us are paying the heroes of Corregidor make us feel better. But words are not enough. It was their acts that counted. 'Only our acts count now-—on the {home front, on the production line, and in battle. The men of Bataan and Corregidor, who won ‘such glory, were not fighting for glory. ‘Soldiers and sailors trained to obey commands, they were not fighting simply : because they were ordered to fight. Neither martial dreams, : nor the discipline of habit, drove those men to the heights of valor or susfained them against impossible odds. They did not love war. The: romance of the ‘tropics wy was not in the bloody foxholes of Bataan or Corregidor’s blasted corridors. The joy of life for them was in a home i and a job far away. . - They fought not because they liked ‘it, not because it ‘was fun, not because it was heroic. They fought to save America. : : By their grim ‘stand they bought America: five. months of precious time. Five months to. produce planes, tanks; guns, - ships. Five months to train troops to fight dnd civilians to sacrifice and to work harder. - Five months to prepare for the offensive: - Five months to avénge Pearl Harbor and Manila. 8 ” . . 8 » 8 OW have we used those months? Let every American answer in his own heart—from the president on ‘down. Let every general and admiral answer, every politician and editor, every labor ‘leader and farm lobbyist, every supply contractor and bureaucrat, every clubwoman and housewife, every merchant and consumer, every. employer and worker. How many of us today can cheer the courageous Corregidor without wishing we had been more worthy of their heroism? . | We know that our effort on the home front too often ; has been slowed down by politics and pressure groups, by profits, strikes, hoarding, soft habits. : Slowed down by red tape and inefficiency, but the mefirsters—and the gimmes. . Remember Corregidor!

ah 2

THAT LONG COUNT AGAIN jo R sheer confusion, inefficiency and mismanagement, - nothing that we have ever seen approaches the central vote count being carried on at Tomlinson hall, The central count was—and is—an excellent idea. But the whole basic theory of simplification and speed has been . scuttled by political management. We wonder when Marion county will wake up to the fact that its elections will never be well. conducted .or counted so long as the party chairmen are permitted to name their personal representatives to the elections board. i The complete central count system is staffed with . appointees of the two.county chairmen. The mystery is ~ that the ballots get counted at all, much less two or three ‘days behind time. Xe The central count will be solved when the people get their fill of this stupid bungling and.demand that the legisa lature do somsthing about it.

_ GETTING RID OF CONGRESS BUSINESS men used to cry for congress to go home and

== stop threatening to pass laws. Now labor’s doing it. An editorial in the American Federation of Labor news ‘service urges that congress adjourn as soon as possible. . “All our representatives in congress and one-third of _our senators are up for re-election this fall,” it says. “They ‘won't do themselves: any: good by continuing to blabbermouth as usual. . The voters want less talk and more action. ‘So let's send’ ‘congress’ home.” | We think that many voters feel there has been too little action from congress on some matters, and too much talk. And ‘we can understand the postion of the A. F. of L. news letter. As long as congress stays in session there's always a chance that it will work up enough courage: to act on: subjects that the A. F. of L. wants left alone. ‘But we don’t believe most voters ‘want | congress to

adjourn at this time, when. the -duty of. every branch of |

e' government is to be on the job. And surely Presient Roosevelt doesn’t want congress to quit. - For he~has- said that he will ask promptly for legislaon that may prove necessary ‘to insure the working of of the seven vital: points’ in his program to stop the cost-of-living. spiral... Organized .labor has. not yet made it ‘clear that it: is le-heartedly for the point which calls for stabilization f .wages: - If the A. F. of L. should.succeed,in its camgn to send congress home, there would be delay for any islation that the president might want, ahd. delay. might the spiral get beyond all control.

| a Ah NG OPA these days can't be any bed of roses. Here

are some sample questions ‘asked of OPA by dress

nufacturers:. “Why was. the. length of" children’ 8 Jackets started

the same point: in the 7 to 14 size range (a7 inches for ). as in size 4 (also AT inches) ? Will you explain the aph- on ‘tucking, shirring: and pleating? Why can’t or slacks be made with a separate leather belt? What the size of ‘dickeys? Are peg-top pockets of. selfal permitted on a wool dress?’

gums those, trot out both the wisdom. and tact of

s| Fair

Enough By Westbrook Pegler

NEW YORK, May TI have decided. that I am just about the _most liberal liberal in the United States at this writing.. I am what you could call a reactionary liberal which may sound like a contradiction of terms, but isn’t. It means one who has reacted against liberalism gone to bigotry which is what has happened to most of the old . liberalism. It was, I guess, ‘along about 1934 that I first felt a ‘sensation that those whom 1 had formerly respected as leaders of liberal thought were going haywire. . One, for example, who had done a_big business in liberalism and went in for all the showy affections, such as dirty flingernsils and the 30-day shirt, suddenly let fly the idea that freedom of speech might reasonably be denied to persons who couldn't be trusted: to exercise it with a due regard for the feelings of adversaries. Most of them, by suggestion if not by an outright expression, also revealed a belief that all business was bad, not because of any specific fault but just because it was. business.

"Gossips! Liars! Truth-Twisters!"

I NOTICED THAT liberals could break down and yowl over the pinched and sallow children of the mill towns whom they had seen slumming and wail about the squalor of it all while sitting around in comfortable homes or: saloons, but were absolutely insensitive to the predicament of kids who are denied the counsel and presence of a father or mother just because one parent or the other decided to jump the fence.

If a miner was killed in an explosion, leaving‘ a fatherless young one, that was awful, but if a wellheeled liberal abandonec his kids to chase some floozy, or just because the old lady could talk him down on his liberalism, that was different.

I discovered that they were awful gossips, liars

and truth-twisters, too. You can’t throw such con-

siderations out entirely.in estimating the liberalism |.

of a man professing to be a bleeding heart.

Now Take’ Wrong John Lewis

AND, FURTHERMORE, their liberalism itself was very narrow, in that, for example, men and women who had been bawling against regimentation went tail over tincup for NRA and the dole with its plain implications of mass ‘dependency on the largess of the party in power which would surely exploit that dependency, and did, and for laws which would compel every one to join a ‘union.

. Even then I could see what Wrong John Lewis was made of and would tell them he. was a dictator and that their plan would deliver the whole people into the power of Lewis and others like him and ‘they would say I was. just ignorant.

Most of them have turned on Wrong John since then, but not because he has changed or the laws have changed. He has just been taking advantage of those laws exactly as I predicted and it isn’t even for that they have repudiated him. He has been repudiated because he broke with F. D. R.

"La Follette a Cold-Eyed Bigot"

I USED TO SEE some liberals buzzing around Floyd Olson, the Scandinavian Huey Long from Minnesota, and, knowing myself, that Olson was.a dangerous man, with vast ambition, I began to edge bdck. You couldn't express it very well, but any real liberal could tell that this man was poison and yet he enjoyed a wonderful buildup. : I think Bob La Follette and Bob Wagner are coldeyed bigots as indifferent to brutality against and suffering by people who will not do their way as any of those prohibition persons who chortled at-the blindness, paralysis and death of poor: unfortunates who only sniffed a little mule. Now, me, I am a no-discount liberal and I saw the light, as you might say, when the mock-liberals began traipsing with the dirty Communists. The nerve of them telling Americans we have got to do their way because they know what is best for us.

How About If?

By S. Burton Heath

WASHINGTON, . May T7—"Let me congratulate you with my full heart upon your first issue. It. is well that you did it in black and white. . . . It hits the bull's eye with every paragraph; it is straight from the shoulder... It speaks the truth.” When Gerald L. K. Smith; onetime pal of the late Huey Long and member of William Dudley Pelley’s seditious Silver Shirts, announced publicly that Senator Reynolds of North Carolina had written him the above panegyric about the first issue of “The Cross and the Flag” the natural reaction was utter disbelief. “International Conspirators Seek to Destroy America’s Sovereignty in the Name of Wartime Emergency and Peacetime Chaos” is the subtitle of one patriotic offering in this magazine which Senator Reynolds was said to have praised so eulogistically. “Will Refugees Take Jobs Left Vacant by the Soldiers?” inquires the title of another. “Is President Roosevelt Being Used by the Red Smear Artists?” asks a third, and “Sir Stafford Cripps—Whose Man Is He? Churchill's or Stalin's?” demands a fourth,

Come, Come Statesmen! .

“YOU WITNESS A crucifixion of middle-class | industry surpassing even the liquidation ‘of similar groups during and following the Russian Revolution,” writes Smith of the automobile ban made necessary by steel, rubber, and plant shortages. “Ain't it the truth,” Smith said Reynolds agreed with these dicta. _ Now Senator Reynolds publicly admits that he actually. wrote Smith such a letter. Does this mean the senator approves the obstructionist, defeatist tone of the publication and" the fascist record of its publisher? And what of Rép. Roy Woodruff of Michigan? Has he taken the public printer to task for making him appear, in the Congressional ‘Record, to have inserted an editorial from the Cross and the Flag which says very clearly that the entire administration in Washington is made up of “porch climbers, confidence men, and snake-oil salesmen . . . political racketeers, propagandists, and character assassins?” Senator Nye has admitted corresponding with Smith, but are Senators Taft, Vandenberg, Brooks, Wheeler—and Congressmen Woodruff, Rankin, Taber, Rich, Hoffman, Shafer, Short and Jones—content to rest: under Smith's description of them in the Cross

and the Flag as "sel]..Statesinen - Wiicse. Words ve |

shall quote”?

Come, come, statesmen, this is no ‘time to Be;

wBgyeen., It’s. time for some explanations.

So They Say

The governments of Latin America would not: have the slightest difficulty in mobilizing a force of 500,000 volunteers to fight with ‘the united nations.—Fernandes Artuelo, , TSueyan peofessoe

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

“WHAT I SAW WAS AN EYE-OPENER FOR ME”

I had occasion to wait in ore of our downtown parking garages.the other evening for half an hour, and what I'saw and heard there was an eye-opener to me, Every

car that comes down the ramps takes impartial punishment from the youngsters entrusted by Mr. and Mrs. Public with its “safe keeping.” At one time, three were brought down simultaneously, with their 12 tires screaming so violently at each turn, that I had to restrain myself from seeking an air raid shelter. Incidentally, the owners of those priceless vehicles didn’t show up to claim them for 10 minutes, ‘so there wasn’t even the pretext of a rush order. - The only apparent reason for the demoniac speed was a rather torrid love affair one of these professional drivers was conducting over 'the counter between races. Can’t someone explain .to these gentlemen that 98 per cent of our rubber supply is in Japanese hands, and that they are in an excellent position to help conserve what is left? And that they even owe it to their customers? Or, would it be worthwhile when love awaits on the ground floor? ” ” # “WATCH THESE MAIL TRUCKS ZIP IN AND OUT” By An Observer, Indianapolis Almost every edition of The Times carries a safety. story. Most of the stories tell us to drive slower and more carefully. This is good advice and would probably reduce the number of traffic accidents if everybody heeded it. It “seems there are always some drivers who try to see how. much speed they can pick up between traffic lights and how. suddenly they can stop when the light turns red. This has always seemed to. me: to be true of the drivers of the mail pickup - trucks. = Just stand ona corner some day and watch these postoffice - trucks zip in and .out of traffic in the downtown streets and ‘then come to one of these

By Dorothy A. R. Shirley, §740 Broadway terrace : :

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

‘troversies excluded.

breath-taking stops at the ehange of the light. . : I believe these trucks could ‘Keep to a regular schedule just as easily at a little slower pace, save some wear and tear on tires and brakes, and certainly . save the: nerves of lots of people. . 8.8 8 “WOMEN SHOULD ATTEND TO THE BUSINESS OF WOMEN” By Mrs. R. W. Clift, Mooresville ; Hold up a spell. there, Mr. L. J. Sullivan, ‘for I would a word on your prize peeve. . Let's start out in dignity by saying our president and our ‘president’s wife or Mrs. Roosevelt. Just Eleanor ‘sounds, oh 80 obviously as if ‘we don’t like her, don’t you-think? . 1’ thing Mrs.® Moore" should get that back number forum and - define. it—where you were ‘supposed to have - designs on the fair sex|. with’ your No. 2° iron. I am sure I didn’t overlook anything. = = I'don’t think Mrs. Roosevelt has anything * but good. intentions in any of her endeavors, but be that as it may, she is ‘being a little presumptuous in a lot of her ideas. Look, how far would we ordinary housewives get if we should ask for a column ‘in The Times, telling when the: ‘big river fish were up or how ‘many furs we caught in one night, or that we found a very unusuai flower in’the woods or that our husband" saw a very interesting movie? Or, how really “beautiful and clean everything looked Sunday morning after that storm the night before. -: : There would ; have to be a mark of ‘distinction somewhere signifying that we were a bigwig or no. one

would - even read. it - if - we" could jC. I. o. vote would turn’the offend-

talk. them out of ‘the space. . .

Why can’t women do what wom-

Side: Glances—By Galbraith

‘len were made for, just: be gentle,

kind and help in churches, help each other with- their babies and then ‘the husband :could look at them and think how lucky he was in: his choice. Oh it will work, ladies, if “you: try. . . . Women should “attend to the business of women and let the men alone as it really, will help the morale of men and they can do a better job. IX am .sure -our much neglected youth would “benefit. to the good of our future generation, and maybe get some vitamins that are only found in a good boiled dinner. I don’t’ think your wife resents the threat of the No. 2 iron you conjure in your wrath on the brass hats, Mr. L. J., if she is what God made her to be and not a modern Lot's wife who: is always looking around to see if she missed anything. If things keep going in the course of a score or.so of years the men will have to wear armor plate to ward off the No. 2 bullets that the women. will be persuading them with, My husband doesn’t have to either wait for his supper or wonder where I am when he arrives from his work. We : are a ‘well satisfied, thatik fate. 2 2 » “WHERE WAS THE LABOR VOTE, MR. FRISBIE?’ By J.'L. B., Indianapolis . Walter Frisbie, a functionary ‘of some sort -or -other in the state C.I. 0. councils, is- a frequent contributor to the Forum. I have observed that his lefters, sometimes directed to congressmen and other public. officials, are slightly arrogant in their intimations unless the said congressmen or public officials

yield to the C.1.O. line of think-

ing. Recently, Mr, Frisbie sent letters to all congressmen in Washington containing - a somewhat guttural threat veiled under ‘a thin: veneer of intellectual paternalism. I forget the nature of the issue Mr. Prisbie was promoting but he ‘brashly ‘told each ‘congressman to vote the “C.1.0 way’—or else. He meant, of : course, . that the

ing congressman | out of office. I am trying to imagine Mr. Frisbie’s. feelings’ after: digesting the. re-

“| sults. of Tuesday's primary.”

The; single incumbent congressman turned out of cffice was: Rep.

' |Schulte. N.

Tt had long been an accepted fact

|that Mr. Schulte had the labor. vote.

Where was the, labor vote Tues-

day, Mr. Frisbie?

a.m in “WHO DO EASTSIDERS

|, | THINK THEY ARE?” 1 |By A 7A, Kentucky War Worker's : Wite, In-

My word, who do. these, eastsiders

interesting to Resid a few ne: .gressional minds. These. nasty thoughts are inspired’ by - the recent actions of the congressional appropriation: committees. ‘in considering war emergency funds for the U. 8. conciliation service. This: is the

depariniont of government which seeks to bring about

peaceful settlements. of disputes between employers and employees. In other words, the conciliation serve ice tries ‘to prevent strikes by ‘settling’ management labor scraps before they reach the slowdown, walkout, lockout, pickét line and assorted violence stage. No one has ever questioned the motives of the conciliation service and this is practically the only Shing.in the department of ‘labor With: which ng one ever finds fault.

A Mountain of Disputes

THE CONCILIATION SERVICE operators have been. busier than bird dogs at a field trial. Working conditions have been changing frantically as the ine dustrial machinery has been shifted from civilian to war production. Changes in working conditions:iead to disputes. by:the hundred. Pressure is on labor and management, everything is. unfamiliar, workers and bosses are green, nerves. are raw, tempers are short

and, flareups inevitable. "» Likewise, the need for conciliation increases under

no-strike agreements now in effect, rather than dee creases. ‘The need for settling disputes promptly be= comes more important, to keep’ them from growing into outlaw strikes. On May 1, for example, there were on record in the office ‘of the director of the conciliation service, Dr. John R. Steelman, only five strikes involving 351 workers, affecting war production. however, there were 1200 disputes on record, each

| calling for the services of a conciliator,

Get This Picture Straight

TO HANDLE THESE fights, Director Steelman has available about 120 conciliators—men trained in labor relations and experienced in getting ‘both sides together to sit down and talk out their differences, This means that each of his 120 mediators had an average .of 10 fights to umpire. To remedy this situation, to speed up production, Dr. Steelman :asked for enough money ta hire 100 more conciliators—approximately $226,000. The subcommittee approved. ‘A recommendation for a supe plementary appropriation was made to the full come mittee, to be included as part of the 19 billion dollars —yes, get that—$226,000 increase to a 19-not-million-ig sixth upplemental Sppropriation

They Call It Practical Economy

WHEN THE 19 billion, dollar bill was considered by the full committee, some congressmen took exceps tion to that $226,000 item for more. labor peacemakers, The argument of these statesmen is reported to have run something like this: “Labor disputes? There shouldg’t be any. What: does Steelman meanyby having 1200 labor disputes?” They cut the 6,000 down to. $76,000, although they let the 19 billion. dollars go through without much question. The senate: raised the $76,000 back to $226,000. The bill went back into conference. . But would the house conferees budge? Not much. Grudgingly they put the amount at $113,000, half of what the senate approved, but they wouldn’t give another dime. This is what some congressmen call Practica)

economy. -

. \

A Woman’ S Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

HAVING COME TO Washington by train, I decided to leave by | bus—a decision which has left me rich in fascinating observations. Every public conveyance is - jammed “to the doors these days - and the best place for a good American is home. Travel, ex cept: when prompted by necessity, will soon be out. At Richmond, Va., first change > on, the way to. Durham, N. C. on

the unpleasant facial expressions, pet corns were being heavily trampled. The day was Re aatog, besides, which didn’t help dispositions.’ . Although persons serving the public along the Atlantic seaboard don’t always match the gracious: ness-one finds everywhere in the Middle. West, and especially in Texas, the clerks, ‘drivers and baggage men were invariably ‘patient.’ Their faces remained as unsmiling as death masks; ‘but they never failed to give sensible, answers to: foolish questions, (and, under the: present stress, their fortitude is certainly

remarkable. . A day ‘with any: bus driver or’ train

conductor makes you wonder what saves them: al from going nuts. ;

Life Is Like That PASSENGERS INCH their ’ way about, dragging wraps, parcels and lighter luggage along. There's no one to.go to for information when the human tidal waves surge . in. You simply take your chance. And when’ ’ journeys end in mothers meeting: igo after long separation, - no - ‘inconvenience lingers in the memory. .

Perhaps, 1° thought’ attreward, “life is like hat,

‘Maybe it's nothing’ but ‘a confusing: bus trip-—a mad

scramble to get aboard and find’ good: ‘seat; charge ing vehicles and repeating the process; seeing please ant and ‘disagreeable ‘people on the route; wondering what of sorrow and’ fear is behind their faces; being tired and bedraggled: and lonely, but with lovely glimpses of of flowers and trees and: grass along the way and the: sound in one's ears of kind Words’ and birdsongs. Bewildering confusion, erushiis ‘tumult—and’ then, at the end, sudden cessation of motion. And there's

a face you love and two efes shining (welcome 48 yon “

come into a strange place.

| sobs should use one social security account number for ih mrlgtes so thaw wil ut 4 red on the, taxes paid for old-age and survivors. insurance. :

Q-How many men between the ages of 1 snd |

are therein the United States?

oi Meh 0a Sts cmesaind 10

At the same time,

BT a

Ree