Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 May 1942 — Page 10

The Indianapolis Times

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MONDAY, MAY 11, 1943

} ALL RIGHT, BE SELFISH

OUR quota of war bonds is easy to figure. It is 10 per .per cent of your income. Nobody will object if, in a moment of enthusiasm, you exceed that quota. To buy your quota is a patriotic duty. Or, if patriotism ‘is not enough, investment in war bonds is a privilege. In’ this uncertain world there is no more certain investment than your country’s promise to pay. Be patriotic, be practical or be selfish, but don’t forget your war bonds.

CHURCHILL WELCOMES CRITICISM R a leader who has lost three of the last four by-elec-tions, Prime Minister Churchill in his speech yesterday took a most effective tack with his critics. He recognized the demand of public and press for a second front, instead of calling his critics fifth cqlumnists, he actually praised them. It was not an oratari trick either, He accepted the motive and purpose of this popular pressure for more vigorous conduct of the war. Indeed, he found in this criticism the most encouraging evidence of the morale that wins wars. He welcomed this as proof of the people’s militant spirit, both in England and America. How inspiring, he said, that mass meetings in Trae falgar square are shouting for more fighting—instead of pleading for a defeatist peace. Then the prime minister's pledge: That the government must not fail such people in daring or wisdom. He did not even lecture them on the superior intelligence of those in high places, and the dangers of obstruction and disunity.

A SURPRISING attitude for a govern ens he take? Not for a British government. The right to cuss his government is the most precious heritage of the humblest Englishman. That is what he means by democracy. That is why Hitler could not bomb him into submission. That is why he will fight to the end, win or perish. And it is the genius and glory of those who govern England that they admire this charater of freemen. More than admire, they use it as England's greatest strength. So the prime minister learns from his critics, knowing that common men who share their government’s decisions fight harder and longer than goosesteppers that finally crack. i Everywhere British fortitude is admired—not least in Germany, which has never been able to match it. | Dictators who demand unquestioning obedience of the le do not understand that the Englishman’s fortitude is the result of his individual freedom. Nor do fair-weather friends of democracy, who think that civil liberty should be laid away in moth balls for the duration. We are proud to be an ally of the English that practices democracy while it fights for democracy. America must do no less. jy

THE SAD CASE OF MRS. TWOMBLY Miss NANCY RANDOLPH, society editor of the New York Daily News, is keenly distressed over the fate of families in the Newpoft-Park Avenue set “if President “Roosevelt was being literal” in proposing that big incomes should be limited to $25,000 a year after taxes. Many members of this set, says Miss Randolph, “have for years,” and even generations, arranged their lives on such a scale that their fixed, almost uncuttable expenses top that figure many times. . . . Unless Mrs. Hamilton McKay Twombly (the former Florence Vanderbilt), for instance, wants to dig into capital, how can she continue to pay such household salaries as the one she pays to her famous chef? According to reports he gets a cool $25,000 a year for concocting delicacies for the Twombly board.” Well, Mrs. Twombly may be facing a distressing predicament, but hers is hardly the case we would have cited if we had been wanting to argue against the President's proposal. After all, the Twombly board might survive with fewer delicacies for the duration. But think of the famous Twombly chef, who may have to give up his $25,000 salary ~ for the wages of a mere plebian cook before this war ends.

LET TVA ALONE

HE senate-house conference commi.ice saould eliminate Senator ‘McKellar’'s amendment to the independent offices appropriations bill which would require TVA to turn in to the treasury its revolving fund of approximately $30,000,000 and to operate hereafter on appropriations made by congress. One reason why TVA has been free from the scandals that sometimes accompany ownership is that congress set it up to be independent of political control, and permitted and encouraged it to manage its financial affairs with an ‘incentive—such as a private corporation has-to increase its income. - Any step which makes it less a husinessdiike entity, and more subject either to congressional politics or federal bureaucracy, is reactionary. It is not safe to give politicians control they do not now have over the non-political and efficient TVA board.

PLEASE USE WITH CARE

NLY nine no-longer-so-old men can know whether the : Supreme court’s wire-tapping decision was influenced by the war emergency. In any event, it is good news that our counter-espionage agents now may, within limitatiqns, ‘utilize information obtained when spies and saboteurs use the telephone. ~~ This privilege should, however, be surrounded with very possible safeguard. The stiffest punishment should

cargoes.

Second Front By Major Al Williams

NEW YORK, May 11.—“Ready |

or not, theyre comin’” That seems to be the warning. And if the axis gang have a grain of sense left, they see this message as plainly as you read it here, and they see an invasion coming against them. Three years of war and two solid years of de--feat are building a public demand in England for an invasion of Europe this summer, and the fever is spreading over here. I don’t know whether the British are ready for a major invasion and the establishment of a second front in Europe. I am reasonably sure that there are at least three million well-armed and well-trained soldiers in England. I don’t know whether the British air force is strong enough to take and hold dominance of the air over any combat zone. The British aviation don’t imply that the British are ready. In fact, they do imply that they are on the way to air superiority—

which means they are not ready yet.

A second front in Europe would be a mighty fine thing just now. It would upset the Axis program ne end. But such vital moves must never bé decided by public clamor.

Why Give Away Our Advantage?

THE GREATEST ELEMENT for success in this war is surprise. The most vital factor is air superiority. No invasion against any land position from the sea, on a scale required to establish a second front in Europe, can ever ‘he attempted without first getting air superiroity in the air over the beachhead. the harbor or the point of debarkation. The axis knows this just as well as we do. It knows, too, from evidence on all sides, that the invasion is coming whether the British are ready or not. 'The only unsolved factor left for the Germans is to discover the point at which the invasion will be launched. They will attempt to do that," if they haven't done it already, by increasing their air scouting efforts. Why do we have to give away our “timing” advantage and leave it to the enemy to find only the “where?” The invasion of Europe will have to be preceded by an air invasion of gliders and paratroops to seize airdromes and hold them until they can be readied to accommodate supporting air forces. The tip of this invading spearhead will be a smothering superiority of single-seater fighters to drive the enemy single-seater units from the air. As this phase is completed, the low-flying, groundstrafing and dive-bomber planes will smash the ground defenses. And then will come the troop gliders and the paratroop units.

Watch for the Air Attack

THIS IS WHAT IT TAKES to open up a second |

front in Europe. This is no original plan. It’s the hard story of how the flying weapons fit into this war and how they must be used. After these phases of the invasion are completed, then will come the barges and ships, transporting the land army forces and millions of tons of munitions. But again I ask. why do we have to tell the axis gang every time we contemplate doing anything? They have sprung one surprise after another on us. By this time we should be alert to expert them to do exactly the opposite of what their stage shows indicate. When a Nazi talks “poor mouth,” look out! His plans are all set for some sort of vicious stab. One thing we must remember is that, wherever the aXis intend to move, it won't move without disclosing its objective by a massed air attack, which means the marshaling of vast numbers of planes, air force stores and supplies. Without knowing who is going to attack whom, and where the attack will be launched, we can be certain that the first tip-off will be a major air offensive. But, while the right to criticize the political conduct of a war is essential to a democratic people, thé“planning of its strategy and tactics is a function of the military, naval and air leaders.

Over The Hump

By S. Burton Heath

CLEVELAND, May 11.—If Admiral Stark’s optimistic statement proves correct, and we actually are bringing the submarine menace under control in the Atlantic, then the tide of this war has turned. No layman is in position either to confirm or to deny the adiniral's disclosure. We don’t know how many ships were being sunk in the past, nor do we know how many are being sent to the bottom today. For military reasons, which we are obliged to accept even though we sometimes question their soundness, the public has been kept completely in the dark both as to our losses and as to the retaliatory vengeance we have exacted. We do know, from a long series of official statements on both sides of the Atlantic, that shipping is our worst headache. When we were attacked, we had inadequate facilities for supplying our allies, bringing raw material into this country, transporting expeditionary forces to the fighting fronts and servicing them while there. Sinkings have exceeded launchings, so that as of today we are worse off than we were last December. Experts say that one may speculate intelligently that we have averaged a loss of at least two ships a day. By the end of this month” we expect to be turning out two ships a day, ready to.go to sea with On that basis we would be just about holding our own.

Come Decoration Day . . .

BUT TWO SHIPS a day is only an intermediate point. Our goal is to produce 750 vessels this year and twice as many—an average of four a day—in 1943. If Admiral Stark is correct, even to.the extent that we can count upon holding the U-boats to their present effectiveness, then by Decoration day we shall have climbed over the shipping hump and start coasting down on the sunny side, Nobody knows what the total will be. At the beginning of 1941 we had 1150 ships with a combined gross tonnage of 7,078,000. Last year we built less than we lost. This year and next we are adding 2300 craft with a gross tonnage of roughly 12,000,000. So by the end of next year we shall have something fewer than 3500 vessels with a gross tonnage of less than 19,000,000. At the beginning of 1941 the British possessed 2664 ships of 16,806,000 tons. Japan, third maritime power, had only 898 vessels grossing 4,754,000 tons. Knock off what you will for sinkings. Your guess is better than any figure that has come through the censorship. It still will be safe to say that—if Admiral Stark is right and we have brought the submarines under control—from the middle of this year thenceforward we shall have begun to break the bottleneck which is handicapping war production and preventing us from taking the offensive against Hitler and Japan.

So They Say—

Peace must not be a Pax Britannica, or a Pax Germanica, but a pax humang.--Rabbi A. H. Silver of Cleveland.

_ America will not jeopardise | sos. for. the geile

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES __ Spring Song!

The Hoosier Forum

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

“HOPE JUDGES WON'T BE IN LIQUOR BUSINESS”

By C. R. W., Indianapolis. Now that the campaign and primary are over and the November election is still a long way off, may I offer this sincere hope: That-the time will come: When judges won't be in the liguor business. When men with court records will be afraid to run for law enforcement jobs. ' When the counting of ballots won’t depend on who wants to be a county chairman. When civilian defense heads won't have political aspirations. ”n 2 2 “PRIMARY A GOOD LESSON FOR LABOR HERE” By A. B., Indianapolis, The primary should have been a good lesson to labor, Labor said Oscar Hagemier shouldn't be nominated for prosecutor. But he ran way out in front all the way. The C. I. 0. said it had to be Tom Sullivan for Democratic sheriff but he never was in the race. Labor was violent against Judge Joe Markey and brought out their own candidate, Jacob Weiss. But Markey won. Labor indorsed Henry Ostrom and said General Tyndall couldn't win. The race was a photo finish. ” ” » “THESE BIRDS TRYING TO SABOTAGE CENTRAL COUNT” By An Old Timer, Indianapolis. The letter you published Saturday from “The Worker At Table 58” certainly strikes my funny bone. Here is some fellow arguing that everybody is hard at work “calmly” and “efficiently.” I'd -think that the facts speak for themselves. This is the slowest election count in all history. I doubt whether any backwoods county any-

where in the union ever went through such a long-winded, bare-

(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.)

foot method as we have. This is Saturday evening as I write this, four full days after the polls closed and we still don’t know who has been elected. I see where you published an editorial attacking the political mismanagement of the central count and where another newspaper jumped in to uphold central count. I think you were too kind toward the politicos who are running this shindig. If you want my frank opinion, I think these birds have been hard at work all week, trying to sabotage the central count.

sn a “EAST SIDERS ARE LEAST

FRIENDLY IN THE CITY”

By a West Sider, Indianapolis To the Kentucky war worker and

all the other defense workers If

heartily agree with. you about the East siders. They are forever bellyaching about one thing ahd then another. They consider themselves better than any other neighborhood in the city. Nary a month passes without some news in the papers where they are objecting to one thing and then again it’s another thing. You will always find that the East siders are the least friendly people in our city. That’s because they consider themselves, oh, so much better. It’s the fault of the city officials for letting them have their way every time just like some spoiled children, : You never hear the West siders kicking about every little thing. . . . We knew these defense plants had to go up. So we didn’t squawk. We consider our homes dear to us and we have just as nice homes, if not

Side Glances=By Galbraith

| 3 5 pe som 1000s sown, 3.0 0.8. ur on "My wife used to buy out a ‘whole store in one afternoon before this ‘carry your bundles and hole, national

better. But we are taking those risks for Uncle Sam.

It is indeed patriotic to pick up the paper and see where the East siders have objected to something that will help all those poor people who have left their homes to come here to work and live and then find out that when the government is trying to help them, it’s some people always sticking their foot in it. I hope they don’t get by with it this time,

Nd ” ” “UU. S. SHOULD DISCRIMINATE

BETWEEN LANDLORDS” By a Mortgage Holder, Indianapolis This “rent ceiling” seems to me to be a very unfair business for this reason. There is no discrimination for a landlord who has his property clear and no mortgage on it and from one, like myself, a widow with no income, too old to work and who is living off of a little savings (dwindling fast), and who did not get enough from her house to pay upkeep (just taxes and mortgage payment) until I raised on my rent, which, out of sympathy for the advantage being taken of renters, I did not raise until a tiny bit in September and but very little bit March 1st (at tne insistence of many who said I was not getting near the worth of it) and even now not getting anything for future upkeep till I pay myself back for two years for upkeep which had to come out of my own pocket. These landlords who make anything above upkeep and taxes on clear property and especially who have an income should have to reduce, but there should be a discrimination. 2 ” ” “TIME COUNT WAS TURNED OVER TO COMPETENTS” By S. H., Indianapolis. The law setting up the central count for Marion county primaries only went half far enough. It brought out into the open the incompetence of those who count the votes, but it extended the torture. It definitely did not provide an efficient system. The slowness of the count results naturally from the hiring as tabulators of people whose only qualification is devotion to some political machine or other and whose chief purpose: is not an honest count but the largest number of hours’ pay possible, A child could have tabulated the votes faster than some of the doddering, staggering politicians who were in Tomlinson hall. It’s time the central counting was turned over to somebody who can count. Maybe it's the next job for our schoolteachers, now that they have become servants of all the public in sugar rationing.

2” =» “WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTING SYSTEM?

By J. C. D., Irvington. What is wrong with this counting system? I remember when we used to know Tuesday night about 19 or 11 o'clock who had won what. It sounds to me as if the county political parties had discovered a new way to distribute patronage and that the public be hanged. That we're not entitled to know who has been elected. I'm for going back to the old sys-

DAILY THOUGHT

In the greatness of thine excel lency thou-hast overthrown them that rose up against three: thou sentest forth thy wrath which consumed them as stubble.--Exo-dus 15:7.

In Washington

By Peter Edson

WASHINGTON. ~May 11. = There has always been considerable mystery about the mythical “White House Spokesman.” ..He’s the fellow; you know, who knows everything. Without having body or soul or a name decent enough to baptize a man with, he nevertheless. is able to hand out straight stuff that the No. 1 man living in the White House can’t or doesn’t . care to be quoted on. But the White House Spokesman, it now develops, has pups, or maybe they should be called his uncles and cousins, whose names don’t show in the telephone book or the Census Bureau records, because they haven't any names. The latest addition to the official family of the White House Spokesman—remember the one Calvin Coolidge had?—is this “Sweet Young Thing Who Came to Dinner.” She's the dumb cluck guest who asks just how Gen. MacArthur got out of the Philippines and where did those planes come from that bombed Tokyo. She is a kind of an invert Charlotte McCarthy or Graceless Allen who sits at the president’s right, if not on his knee. Instead of giving dumb rs to his smart questions, she asks dumb auestions thas he can give smart answers to, like telling that M Arthur escaped in a rowboat and the planes were based on Shangri-La.

Then There's the Business Man

IN THE WHITE HOUSE minstrel show, this Sweet Young Thing Who Came to Dinner is the straight woman, feeding the lines to the other member of the troupe for these terrific wows. It's the best act in Washington today. But the Sweet Young Thing Who Came to Dinner isn't the only member of the White House Spokesman’s office. There's That Business Man, Remember him?

That Business Man hasn't been heard from lately,

but he’s the fellow who used to call at the White House during depression days and tell the president, who would then tell his press conference that the country could easily stand a national debt of $75 bil=" lion, Oh boy! But isn’t that funny today! It has taken about eight years and a war and $120 billion debt for that one to sink in and be fully appreciated. Then there is The Professor of Economics. . He

| wasn’t exactly in the original Brain Trust, but he’s

there now. That is, he writes letters there now. Like the Sweet Young Thing Who Came to Dinner, The Professor of Economics feeds his lines to the boss for the comeback. The Professor, for instance, writes in to the White House saying that federal non-war expenses should be cut. Economy is a silly thing to write a letter about, but it gives the boss his cue. He comes back with a “Where?” that simply leaves everyone dumbfounded.

Aha, Donald Duck!

® THE SAVING GRACE of the American people is that they have a sense of humor. It’s worth fighting for, and “freedom to laugh” should be added to the other four freedoms. Contributing to that enjoyment, this department would like to suggest that as a curtain raiser for the next. fireside chat there be a round table of the air discussion of the war at which the characters would be The White House Spokesman, the Young Lady Who Came to Dinner, That Business Man and The Professor of Economics. It might be a little difficult to tell the voices apart, or distinguish them from The Voice, but a couple of | lessons in ventriloquism would fix that. And just as on “Information, Please!” there could be guest stars. For instance, Harold Ickes.

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

TALKING WITH WOMEN in various parts of the country, one discovers that the organizationminded ladies ardently favor the " women’s army and navy auxiliary corps plan, while the housewives are cold to it. This should not be surprising, for group thinking is apt to dom=‘inate the individual even while her reason protests. Military fever is highly contagious and many of our women have caught it. But what is this. war all about? As I understand it, it's a war to end oppression and to establish freedom over the earth. It's going to cost us a whale of a lot of money, while the toll of American blood and dreams will be immeasurable. Therefore we ought to inject what common sense we possess into the effort, Our main objective is early victory. In spite of everything, that end must be kept in view. That's why it seems to me a tragic mistake for our women to ask Uncle Sam to take a detour on his military march in order to establish a lot of new positions and to use money, energy and thought in setting up military innovations which we: aren’t sure will work, If they flop, you can be sure women will get the blame for that, too.

It's Not a Women' s War

THIS IS NO TIME for experiments, and what else can we call women’s induction into the armed forces? The argument that England, Canada and Ching have put them there doesn’t hold water, either. Our situa tion is not comparable. What we need most desperately is an all-out effort to get the men’s army into shape and to produce Jesiy of implements of war, There’s work enough in that line to keep women busy. Anyway the army auxiliary plan seems to have struck several snags in congress. One can imagine that our legislators have been hearing from home. Even the talked of project to register women has been dropped for the moment, because it would be too expensive and is not now considered necessary. The answer to all innovation moves lies in that word. Is it necessary? Will it hasten the moment of victory? =If so, let's have it; if not, let’s drop the idea. For this is not a war to give rights and prestige to American women, not matter how much we'd like to have them. It's a war to defeat Japan and Germany. Anything that slows it up should be taboo.

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

Questions and Answers

_ (The Indianapolis Times Service Bureau will answer any question of fact or information, mot involving extensive research. Write your question clearly, sign name snd address, inclose a three-cent postage stamp. Medical or logpl advice cannot be given, Ad@ress The Times Washington Service Bureau, 1013 Thirteenth My Washington, D. oe)

S——————— &

Qo which government office Mould’ are ‘write about selling idle machine tools?

~ A—Chief of the Tools Branch, War Production Board, Washington. ; @—What is the differerioe between iron and steel? A—Steel is iron which contains a very small

amount of carbon and other elements. The catbon ~.

Wakes she: Jon atoms Amnge Snemscives SomeNnat differently. They stick tighter to each that makes steel tougher and harder than p Fo

A GREAT man is made up off _

a. Te mean in Shae: Lear?” 5