Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 10 June 1942 — Page 12

aa

| PAGE 12 The Indianapolis Times

ROY W. HOWARD RALPH BURKHOLDER MARK FERREE President Editor Business Manager

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

Price in Marion County, 3 cents a copy; delivered by carrier, 15 cents a week.

Mail subscription rates in Indiana, $¢ a year, outside of Indiana, cents a month.

«Sp RILEY 8551

Give Light and the Perple Will Fina Their Own Way

Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times Publishing Co, 214 W. Maryland st.

Member of United Press, Seripps - Howard Newspaper Alliance, NEA Service, and Audit Bureau of Circulations,

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1942

HISTORICAL NOTE

R EADING about the pageantry and pomp at the funeral of Nazi “Hangman” Reinhard Heydrich, we gather there hasn’t been anything like it since those last rites of the Chicago gangsters in our own prohibition era.

“SITUATION IS GRAVE”

HINA’S situation is “grave,” according to the Chungking government. When the Chinese use that word it is time to take notice, for they have fought five years

without complaint. Japan is now determined to knock out China at all costs. For this purpose she has started five separate offensives, from the north, east and south. China’s only remaining supply route is the small one from Russia, and the new and inadequate air line from India. In its appeal to the United States the Chungking government says: “Send us three things—first planes, second planes, third planes.” But, unfortunately, China is the victim of her own valor. She has fought so long without planes that her allies, pressed for equipment on other fronts, are apt to think she can hold somehow without air power. That attitude explains in part why China was promised so much but received so little aid when the Burma road was still open. The chief hope now is that the allies’ unnecessary defeat in Burma, through failure to deliver the promised planes to our Gen. Stilwell, has been too costly a lesson to forget. President Roosevelt was largely responsible for opening the new air line between India and Chungking. If he can obtaih the quick transfer of planes from the middle east reserve for the Chinese front, the Japs can be stopped. ® » ® = = ” N fact, Gen. Chennault, Yankee commander of the A. V. G. Flying Tigers—the most deadly sky fighters in the world—says that with 2000 American planes he could “wipe out” the Japanese air force. And Chennault so far always has done much better than his promises. According to Senator Thomas (D. Okla.), who handles army appropriations, our plane production is now “nearly 5000 a month.” There are many reasons why we should send planes to China—reasons of sympathy, of past pledges which we have not fulfilled, of needed encouragement to a valiant but bleeding ally. But the best reason is that China stands between us and Jap invasion, just as Russia stands between England and German invasion. If the huge Japanese armies are released from China by victory, it will be a dark day for Siberia and Alaska. Meanwhile, China holds the only belligerent airfields within bombing distance of Formosa and Tokyo. Those airfields are ready and waiting for American bombers to use them against Japan—unless the enemy takes them first, as the Japs have taken several of those fields in the last week. The quickest, the easiest, the cheapest way to hit Japan hard is to rush American planes to the waiting A. V. G. pilots—the fighters whose score against the Japs is 80 to 1.

TYPEWRITERS AWEIGH, MY LADS!

HIS war is getting serious. The navy is about to jettison shiploads of paper work, reef in acres of reports and scrape off bushels of bureaucratic barnacles. At least, Secretary Knox says it is. Five hundred navy department officials and subofficials, in mass meeting assembled, have been given “full speed ahead and damn the red tape!” orders. Time-honored (and time-wasting) forms are to be reduced and simplified. Naval business is to be conducted in war tempo. Admiral King, commander-in-chief of the fleet, has issued instruections to cut by at least 50 per cent the number of seagoing typewriters, mimeograph and multigraph machines “throughout the operating forces.” Each battleship will lighten its present battery of 59 typewriters; each aircraft carrier will reduce from 55, each cruiser from 30, each destroyer from 7. Officers and men, the admiral explains, are to do more fighting and training, less report writing. Even more startling is the action promised on the Washington front. Civilian executives of the department will be promoted for curtailing their office forces and eliminating unnecessary functions, instead of increasing both. The impression that “the grade of a position is determined solely by the number of persons supervised” is acknowledged by Secretary Knox to be widespread. But he says it’s false. Widespread it surely is, being Article 1 in the creed of all the bureaucrats in all the departments of government. If the navy can sink that armor-plated enemy of efficiency "and economy, that will be a victory worthy of prominent place in the history books.

HAWAII REMEMBERS

THERE is one place where, you may be sure, the busi- |

ness of remembering Pearl Harbor is operating on a 24-hour basis. We mean Hawaii. The treasury, in announcing that total sales of war savings bonds in May ran 5.7 per cent above the $600,000,000 goal, revealed that Hawaii bought six times its quota. Hawaii has seen war face to face. And today its citigens are subject to restrictions and responsibilities compared to which the current dislocations and inconveniences on the mainland are petty indeed. But do they say, “We're doing enough”? The treasury’s figures are answer enough. Hawaii's example is a pre for all of us to follo

freee THE INDIANAPOT

Fair Enough

By Westbrook Pegler

NEW YORK, June 10—I have been honored lately with demands from several unions and groups of unions that these dispatches be suppressed, and I take encouragement because such expressions indicate that the Communists and corruptiogeers in the labor movement at last sense a great rising of popular resentment. The New York Newspaper Guild, from which I resigned when I became convinced that it was an undeviating follower of the Communist leadership, adopted a resolution insisting that I be dropped from the Stars and Stripes, the weekly newspaper of the various American expeditionary forces, and sent a copy to Gen. George C. Marshall, the chief of staff. I didn’t even know I was running in the Stars and Stripes and I would be inclined to agree with the guild if it had argued that all controversial political discussions are unwise editorial selection in a paper published for the armed forces. But the guild protests on no such basis, insisting only that the opinions and observations and the statements of proven fact to which it objects are unpatriotic because they are offensive to its own taste which, as I have said, is Communistic and that is quite a different matter.

‘Boycotts Can't Be Put Over Now'

AS A MATTER OF fact, these pieces are alive with loyalty to the United States and the constitution, but also with resentment against political exploitation of the war by union criminals, by the ruling administration of the country and, of course, by the Communist party and its agencies and fronts. They also denounce and expose thievery and extortion by unions and the impressment of millions of American workers into unions not of their own choosing which then presume to speak for these captives. Another such demand went to the Vindicator of Youngstown, O., a couple of months ago, this one under the name of Ralph Hazen of Truck Drivers’ Union, local 214, accompanied by a threat that if these “obnoxious” revelations and discussions of fact be not discontinued, a campaign would be instituted asking all union men to boycott the paper. Of course, if such a campaign could be put over, a newspaper could be put out of business or compelled to trade its editorial independence for its life. Theoretically, this boycott could be made to stick. Practically, however, it can’t be done because the workers at last are onto the union bosses and realize that they yell for suppression because they are embarrassed by truths which, in their corrupt and subsidized union publications, they always try to conceal.

"It Shows Their Desperation’

THERE HAVE BEEN a number of other threats of this kind, but the only city in which I am sure I was dropped under pressure was Providence, where there is a large and noisy Fascist Italian community, and even a street named for Mussolini, whose political padrones resented utterances hostile to the duce, fascism and the people of that enemy country. I cannot say that the pressure caused the resuit. It may have been only a coincidence of honest editorial judgments and expressions of alien and anti-Ameri-can resentment, but the thing was in my, perhaps biased, view unfortunate. Now we have still another case in which the C. I O. council of Ft. Wayne, Ind, demands that the Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel throw out these dispatches and asked that the department of justice and the La Follette committee investigate William J. Gross, the editor of the paper, which was isolationist in viewpoint until Dec. 7. Mr. Gross replied by disclosing that Parke Kreachbaum, secretary of the council, had been active in organizations which, in the view of Att. Gen. Biddle, as expressed in his opinion in the Bridges case, could be regarded as Communist party fronts. The objections to me included a charge that I am a red-baiter, which I certainly am, but there was no denial that Brother Kreachbaum was a member of front organizations or that he was also an isolationist of the Communist wing which turned interventionist when Hitler attacked Russia. These incidents are not alarming but, on the contrary, show the desperation of the racketeers and Communists in the union conspiracy.

Frankly Speaking

By Norman E. Isaacs

THIS IS IN defense of Rep. Louis Ludlow, the congressman from this district. You probably will hear a lot in the next few months about Louis Ludlow being an “isolationist,” or a “stodgy old fool,” or that “he is always behind the times.” It is true that Ludlow did not see eye to eye with a lot of us who thought President Roosevelt had everything pegged perfectly. But don’t confuse Louis Ludlow with the isolationists like Ham Fish or that miserable group of brazen pro-fascists in the house. Louis Ludlow all his life has been a sincere and devoted pacifist. Thousands of those who now beat their breasts in patriotism were the same way. Ludlow never attached himself to any anti-Roosevelt bloc, He voted against high defense appropriations as a matter of principle, his principle—not someone else's.

Ludlow Hard Worker

REP. LUDLOW has won affection and regard in this district from both Democrats and Republicans. He has been one of the hardest working congressmen of his generation. No request has been too small and none too big for Ludlow to tackle. A great many persons have laughed at “old Louie” for his devotion to his constituents. While other congressmen swere making flowery speeches—and asses of themselves—Louis Ludlow was busy serving his people. No, Louis Ludlow can’t make a good speech. He just sort of bumbles along. And, no, he isn't very prepossessing. He's a big, ungainly looking man with a shy expression. And no, he’s never been a tubthumping New Dealer. He's just been a swell congressman—honest and sincere and loyal and decent. Those things still count. The Paul McNutts may make the headlines. But the Louis, Ludlows build careers.

So They Say—

Listen, brother—there’s not a damned thing left in Cologne—Sgt. Bud Cardinal, R, A. F, of Ft. Worth, Tex. * » . . Look forward now to the days after the war, not only as a tonic but as a means of building in the very midst of destruction.—Dr, Ada Louise Comstock, president of Radcliffe college.

* - *

Anyone is a good sport and willing to stand a full share of any necessary cut—so long as there is reasonable assurance he is not being a sucker for the smart boys that might have an in or be willing to take a chance.—George A. Renard, secretary National Association of Purchasing Agents.

. . *

The finest young men I have seen in my three wars for this country. —Lt.-Gen. Hugh 8. Drum, U. S.

* x

,

Socks for Soldiers!

gue

RE,

pres. NE

gar at

vil

orc ab S SE

SG

The Hoosier Forum

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

“MY NOSE MAY BE BLUE, BUT IT ISN'T RED...” Martha H. Cooley I am indignant at the editorial “Bluenoses Never Learn.” My nose may be blue but it isn’t red like some of the devotees of the product

you are shielding. Do you have to take a definite stand from a personal or paper policy's sake? We are trying to give our boys the best in the way of food values, to keep them clean and mentally alert, then offer them something that makes them gross and sodden. We know laws against murder, dope peddling, ete, do not prevent but they do a powerful lot to keep it checked. Why not put those things to them with a “take it or leave it” label? I may be a “blue nose” but I also have four boys that are my concern. They are clean living, not because I gave them the liberty to “take it or leave it” I protected them until they developed a background of judgment of their own. An individual or nation cannot break laws of decency and integrity without being “broken” by the law, just as

~|sure as a law of gravity works.

$ # “SEPARATE BLOOD CENTER DIRECT SLAP AT NEGROES" ms So ath T. Fountrey, 2233 N. Capitol

I have just sent the following letter to the Indianapolis branch of the American Red Cross: “I deeply resent the inference in your letter (of May 28, 1942) that my blood (and that of other American Negroes) has .to be taken and processed separately from that of other races and nationalities. “In trying to appease the whims and un-American prejudices of some individuals or some self-appointed guardian of the ‘myth of white supremacy’ you, the American Red Cross, are wilfully insulting and humiliating over 38,000 loyal Americans in Indianapolis alone. “To say that a separate center need be established in order that Negroes as donors might make their

(Times readers are invited to express their these columns, religious conexcluded. Make your letters short, so all can Letters must

views in

troversies

have a chance. be signed.)

contribution to such a worthy project is a direct slap in the face of those donors... The American Red Cross has been entrusted with a great responsibility and they alone must answer if the supply of plasma is inadequate for our wounded heroes. “This needless humiliating of black Americans thwarts ‘the all

out war effort’ of our loyal citizenry. It is inconsistent with the plea of President Roosevelt's in which he strongly urged ‘that in furtherance of national unity we guard against all forms of racial discrimination.’ It is inconsistent with the finding of the American Medical Association which shows conclusively that there is no sciene tific, medical, or social basis whatsoever for the discrimination against the use of Negro blood. It is inconsistent with the democratic principles of which we boast and give our lives for. It is unpatriotic and causes discontent and doubt among a large per cent of our population. “Despite the fact that you boast of having received blood donations from some 30 odd nationalities, you further insult the American Negro by refusing to include him along with the others. “I, too, am an American and will at all times do my part to serve the best interest of my country, but under no consideration will I voluntarily subscribe to segregation and discrimination to show my patriotism. “Please remove my name from your file as a voluntary blood donor.”

Side Glances=By Galbraith

« aw

7. M. REC. U, 8, PAT. OFF,

"The office called and said not to worry about a thing during your

vacation—your substitute

just swung that big

&

“DON'T LET DRYS USE FORUM

AS A SOUNDING BOARD!” By R. W. McDermond, Indianapolis. What is this going on: A concerted drive by the prohibitionists? Lately, I've seen entirely too many letters from individuals in the newspapers clamoring for a drying up of the army camps and for prohibition, So many of them have the same tone and theme that it looks more than coincidental. I suspect, Mr. Editor, that these people are all part of a nation-wide movement to bring prohibition back and that they're operating under the same old letters-to-congress scheme. At the moment they're writing their newspapers, too. Surely, the people of this country are not so hare-brained as to have forgotten the tragedy of prohibition. We lived in the wildest and craziest era in all history. Heaven knows how many people were killed and poisoned—all because of the drys’ witless stubborness to force prohibition onto a country that didn't want it. Don’t, please don't, turn the Forum into the sounding board for these people. ” ” ”

“SAFETY ENGINEER DOING

A MAGNIFICENT JOB” By Observant, Broad Ripple So many people are inclined always to criticize and never to praise. I'd like to point out to all these people the many great improvements the new safety engineer has already made around town. You can now drive downtown in the morning without having to duck and dodge around parked cars and you can get home at night the same way. There is very little convenience to any one. You can find one-side-of-the-street-parking enforced and proper lines painted on so many narrow north side streets. You can now get across that terrible corner at Washington, Illinois and Kentucky, thanks to the brand new safety island. And pedestrians on the busy downtown corners now don’t have to worry about left and right hand turns during the rush *hours. Pedestrians can now go straight without having to tremble with fear. Yes, we now have a safety engineer and he seems to me to be doing a magnificent job. More power to you, Mr, Loer. ” ” 2 “WE'LL NEVER WIN WITH

THE JIM WATSONS” By W. B. E,, Indianapolis, I notice that “Frankly Speaking” took off on Jim Watson the other day. I applaud that highly. Jim Watson brought nothing to this state but ridicule and disgrace. Indeed, it was Jim Watson and his clique who brought the whole Republican party in this state to the depths. . .’. I remember well the terrible Lake county incident when Jim was voted out, but counted in. . , . There i8 a group of sincere Republicans working tirelessly to get rid of the Jim Watsons, to do away with this terrifying reactionarism

that is so like the Democrats of

the South. Eventually, these men will succeed and they will give the Repulicas party a new lease on e. Then the public will have its chance to vote in the honest and sincere men who want to give decent public service and we can get rid of the corrupt forces which now control so many elements of our government, But we'll never get rid of them so long as all we have to put up are Jim Watsons:

DAILY THOUGHT Greater love hath no man than

this, that a man down

he hi

to carry arms.

a

In Washington

By Peter Edson

WASHINGTON, June 10, == This is the craziest country. That's ' what makes it so wonderful, but at the same time so exasperating and oh, so funny. Not the unfunniest thing in Washington lately has been the rip-snortin’ rampage of that roisterous river man, the Hon. Kenneth McKellar, Memphian and senior senator from Tennessee, Senator McKellar is out to save the country by cutting expenses, a noble ambition if there ever was one, but the way Kenneth goes at the job is something to behold. His methods are those of a surgeon going into an operating room blindfolded, a doctor prescribing amputation at the hip for a sprained ankle, a veterinarian applying his horse pistol to relieve the animal of its pain. There is, for instance, an unheralded outfit in your government called the Export-Import Bank of Washington. Its function is to finance and facili tate the exchange of commodities between the U. 8. and foreign countries, and to assist in developing the resources and stabilizing the economies of countries in the western hemisphere.

Profits Over $12,000,000 Mark

IT FUNCTIONS VERY quietly, has only a small staff, hires no publicity agent. It is one of the very

few government agencies which turns back into the treasury more money than it spends. Its profits are actually over the 12 million dollar mark. Its loans have represented an investment of more than $700 million, yet not one of them is in arrears and none ever has been defaulted. The expenses of this bank have been running somewhat over $100,000 a year, but because of the war emergency, they were estimated for the coming fiscal year at $207,000 and legislation appropriating this sum of money passed the house as part of the independent offices bill, In the senate, however, Mr. McKellar launched an all-out attack, and one of his shots had the effect, not of reducing the export-import appropriation, but of killing it entirely. The export-import bank was simply put out of business, with no thought of what would happen to the hundreds of millions already invested. } Now isn’t that a heck of a way to run a country?

Consider the Effect of It All

IT SO HAPPENS that the people who run exporte import aren’t worried. They say the appropriation will be put back when the bill goes into conference to reconcile differences between the senate and house versions. Senator McKellar has been seen, presums ably, the bank’s importance has been explained to him, and he has promised to be good. At home, the political effect of all this monkey business is that Senator McKellar gets credit for being a great economy-minded statesman. But consider what the effect of this grandstand politicing may be in foreign countries. There, the word is spread that the senate has killed the exe port-import bank. Any loans or credits being nee gotiated for the movement of war supplies must come to a temporary standstill. Every loan outstanding bee comes uncertain, for if the bank is to be liquidated, funds outstanding presumably would become collectable and loan funds authorized but not yet drawn on by foreign countries would no longer be available, The war effort is thereby impeded. And the word goes round in foreign capitals that this is typical Uncle Shylock good neighborliness— Uncle Shylock gets his cousins over the banker's barrel and then forecloses. A lot of fixing is then required to reassure everyone that Congress didn’t mean it-—that this was simply a cantankerous old cuss showing off,

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

JUNE 22 HAS BEEN proclaimed Aid to Russia day. Many Americans say the Russians are fighting our war for us. I've heard .: several, notably Edgar Mowrer, famous foreign correspondent now connected with the office of facts and figures, insist that we should pay them for using our arma ments. Maybe we will some day. We've already done screwier things. Anyway, it is fitting that public attention should be focused on the Russian scene. We must always respect men and women who are brave enough to die to defend their homeland and their convictions. But some common sense is also desirable as we approach this question, It is true that Russia fights our enemy, but she would not be doing so if our enemy didn’t happen to be on her soil. Only because of a peculiar turn of events*are we benefactors of her military might. Yet history will record that she held back our foe while we were preparing for battle. “And for that she deserves our whole-hearted gratitude. But our allies are fighting and dying for their homelands as well as for us, although to hear some people talk you'd never think so. :

Let's Keep Some Self-Respect

WAR ALWAYS BRINGS out the worst traits of a nation—as well as the best—and certainly our worsg national trait is hysteria., And Communist sympa~ thizers are now keyed to a new emotional high in sounding the praises of Stalin's people. : : Admittedly after the last war we behaved foolishly about Russia. Closing our eyes to all the brave new movements going on there, we laughed at social exe periments which in due time will help reshape our own democracy. Now it seems, in order to strike a balance, we're asked to dash to the other extreme and worship what we once hated. Altogether it makes us look a bi silly. Russia fully deserves the praise she receives. Bug the tendency to underemphasize our own part in the war mounts to ridiculous proportions in some quarters, . Let's keep a little self-respect. - The people of our country deserve bouquets, too,

| They are pouring out their wealth and their life:

blood to help Russia.

Editor's Note: newspaper are their own. of The Indianapolis Times,

The views expressed by columnists in thie They are not necessarily those

Questions and Answers

(The Indianapolis Times Service Bureau will answer any question of faet or information, not involving extensive res 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 BServies : Bureau, 1013 Thirteenth St, Washington, D. 0.)

Q-In tourihg through the states, is a permit ree quired to carry a revolver for protection? A—-Approximately half the states require a permié Q—What is meant by the “Bloody Angle” In the section

Civil war? ea AT to ‘of the

Le. Ey ts w : CA ! mi a