Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 August 1942 — Page 10

to its great adventure.

AGE 10

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po RILEY 551

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

paper Alliance, NEA ce, and Audit Bu-

Teau of Ciroulations. . | ScR1PRS = HOWARD]

MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 1942

CAN'T BE DONE? ;

“T“ the prophet of the utterly absurd, Of the patently impossible and vain— And when the thing that couldn't has occurred,

Give me time to change my leg and go again.” —KIPLING, SONG OF THE BANJO.

THE writer of this editorial sa saw the 4th of July launching of the first victory ship to go down the ways at the Henry J. Kaiser yard in Vancouver—6,000,000 pounds of

steel sliding into the water from a spot which six months

~ before had been a marsh and a dairy farm. ; Around the scene everything was white and shining, nothing like the usual old-time black and gray shipyard. No modern factory anywhere presents a cleaner or more inspiring sight. Which, by the way, means much in the morale of the thousands of workmen who sat on the beams and cranes and cheered their creation as it went To those workmen the Kaiser company in its booklet for the occasion gave the credit, for two world records—one, making ready the yard in 85 days; second, building the ship in 80 days, 25 days better than the best time up to then for any maritime yarg Dormitories, hospital, restaurant to feed all entployees; a complete and self-sustained city—are all a parteof the pperating plan. And this is only one of many Kaiser yards, in Oregon and down the coast. And back of this streamlined, mass-production shipbuilding are the Kaiser-constructed Boulder, Bonneville and Coulee dams, and ‘all manner of Kaiser building projects preceding these—roads, bridges, and what have you—many once classified as things that couldn't be done. It is to be noted that this natural-born builder had never seen a ship launched until a year before Pearl Harbor. And now Kaiser wants to build giant. cargo planes. The general idea being that since we're in an air age maybe we'd better get out of the water, use at least some of the materials we are now putting into ships, and turn them into air fleets. We are in a 300-t0-400-mile tempo of the fighting side and still on a 12-to-30-mile-an-hour schedule on the freight and supply end. #” s » : ” # 0, it looks as if we have in this fellow Kaiser another one of those uninhibited geniuses; a tremendous national - asset at a time when, God knows, assets are needed. It’s interesting to speculate on. whether his genius isn't due in part at least to the same thing: that made men like Thomas Edison and Henry Ford brave the slings. and sneers of an over-academic nation. that knew so much it had become imaginatively muscle-bound. : We heard in Portland that neither Kaiser nor his son Edgar, a chip off the block, had had college education. Edgar, it seems, was once asked where he went to school and answered, “1 went to school to my dad.” . Now far be it from us to belittle the ‘idea of ‘formal education, but we do believe its net effect often is to teach ‘the things that can’t be done at the expense of things that can be done. Every now and then a Ford, who left school at 15, or an Edison, who had three months’ schooling altogether, or a Kaiser, comes along unencumbered by ~ intellectual lumber, changes the wholé course of history. Or such a one may even be college-trairied, a Billy Mitchell,

: ~ for example. Anyway, we are in a world revolution, and

Kaiser is a rebel in matters of doing the impossible.

. So we think he ought to be given his head. And that : the maritime commission is entitled to a lot of credit for | Prog re S S Re po rt

having imagination enough to let him show what he could |

do in shipbuilding. And that Donald Nelson is to be

commended for being open-minded: on the Kaiser airship

~ proposition.

Ev For this war has come to a pass where we'd better | be open-minded toward the new, instead of suffering from | 2

too much reverence for the old. In short, we'd better be

willing to try anything once, especially when thé one who | | proposes it has the record of successful accomplishment |

that Henry J. Kaiser has hung up for himself.

FABLE OF A FLASH

| ONCE upon on time there was a sports writer who shall

be here unnamed. His speciality was sidelight stuff. On that he was good, very good. But he didn’t actually do the reporting of the details. ° So he urged his boss to let him try the blow-by-blow, round-by-round trick. The boss yielded. : Now it happened that this sports writer was full of likes and dislikes. He liked Tommy Gibbons and he disliked Harry Greb. So when the fight sturiod the aceon came through ‘somewhat in this manner: | “Gibbons lands uppercut on Greb’s jaw. left hook to Greb’s kidneys. Gibbons left-and-rights to Greb’'s middle. Gibbons socks Greb in solar plexus. Gibbons pounds Greb to the ropes. “Flash! Greb wins!” | We think of the incident frequently, as it seems to symbolize our ‘rose-tinted “Aleutians unimportant” attitude toward the way this war is going. Pray God that we may wake up to the realitips before we get the Bash that “Greb wins”:

Gibbons gets

AXES AND TURNIPS

QENATOR GEORGE'S idea of fixing the tax Jaws. 50 that debt-burdened business can ‘meet their obligations kes sense even if viewed only from the treasury’s, selfish ferest. : ; ‘Taxes come before debts, and if the tax talks 80 much

at there is not enough left to pay debts, the taxpayer - And the treasury loses another source of

broke.

| work, its worries and its joys.

'1 21,050 large signal corps : “Enough iron for 13,221 two-and-a-half-ton army | |:

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

NEW YORK, Aug. 3.—~The 40hour week may be all right just as an added starter in the table of weights and measures and, as they say in congress, for other purposes. But the notion shouldn't

be allowed to jell into a confirmed | -

American principle that 40 hours a week, divided into five eighthour days, is the limit beyond which the worker begins to get pale and wan and lose appetite and weight and his efficiency falls off. I have worked

_more days of 12 hours than days of eight in my time

in the newspaper business and I believe that nowa-

days my hourage, as I suppose the statisticians would

call it, will run even higher. I can’t be sure what it is, being my own boss and having no time clock, but it seems to me I am always reading something, going to see somebody or calling up somebody about a story or: writing ‘one. My health, nevertheless, I am sure Brother Green ‘of the

A. F. of L. will be glad to hear, remains fine and my |

severest critic will admit that these essays continue to sei new standards of excellence.

The Hangovers Were What Hurt

IN LONDON, I alternated first with Hal O'Flaherty and then with Bob Getty on a night trick which ran from 9 p. m.

until 7 in the morning, with ho time out for lunch |

because there was no place open for lunch, and seven days a week for four weeks at a stretch. At the end of a trick we got a couple of days off to get plastered and adjust ourselves to daylight. There was a lot of muttering done and I could turn in a fair job of sulking, but we were shorthanded and the work had to be done. And anyone who breaks down and dies from such hours at such work is just delicate. The hangover from the brannigans that followed a month on the night side hurt more than the work. Forty hours of pick-and-shovel work, or even four hours probably, would put me in a hespital, and so great is my personal abhorrence to such toil that I think 40 hours is a bargain figure in this sphere. of work, if the fellow really works. The same goes for coal mining and I think a truck driver shouldn't have to push one of those big double-jointed boxcars over the’road more than 56 hours a week. "

The Heroes of the Assembly Line

I HAVE BEEN IN factories and smelters where, at a glimpse from the outside, you would picture toilers grinding themselves up in the great industrial machine, and have seen men putting forth surprisingly little exertion. It isn't geing to kill a man to press a button and watch a machine do the work even if he puts in six full 12-hour days. You would be sur= prised to see how soft some of those jobs are. Not all, but a lot of them. The hokey-pokey cart is always touring the plants and these formidable roughnecks may be seen chewing and sucking away on coco-walnutto-cruncho-creemee kisses and scratching their shoulder blades against a post until a bell rings, indicating that the machine is through that particular job. The hero of the assembly line then comes to and presses the button to stop the power and that is the extent of his “all-out effort for the four freedoms everywhere in the world. Under the feather-bedding practices of railway labor nowadays a man could put in 96 hours a week on the job and never suffer from. anything worse

than boredom. Railroad workers are paid almost as

much money for loafing as they earn by working and railroad labor relations are one great fake. You are always hearing about the marvelously fine labor relations of the railroads, but the reason is that the management never wins a contest, and management can’t strike.

An Un-American Hitler Stooge

I HAVE A LETTER from a woman in Liberal, Kas., who outlines her day as a farmer's wife. It runs from 4:30 a. m. until 10:30 at night, including three big meals for a lot of farmhands and doing around the house and caring for the pigs and fowl “As Harry and I set on the porch each evening,” she writes, “we give thanks as we talk over the day’s We are laboring for victory now and for the world of today and for our children and their children. I cannot but believe that greater faith and less talk is needed to bring victory for our brave soldiers.” That sounds quite pious, but she is probably an un-American, labor-baiting Hitler stooge working outrageous hours to nullify labor’s gains.

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

Editer’s Note: newspaper are their own, of The Indianapolis Times.

By S. Burton Heath

CLEVELAND, Aug. $—This may be the time for a progress report on consumer goods which . we have given up, as an incident of our entrance into a total war economy. The: war production board issuied such a summary the other day, in skeleton form-—a factual document. as government publicity property should be, and ” : unadorned with adjectives. - By government order, production for civilian use has been stopped in domestic oil burners, mechanical refrigerators, ‘washing machines and ironers, electrical appliances, electric ranges and fans, fishing tackle, golf clubs, metai household ‘furniture and signs, musical instryments, radios, out-

board motors, many toys and games, vacuum Cleaners, |

vending and amusement machines.

There has been sharp curtailment in the manufacture of baby carriages, bedding and mattresses, bicycles, caskets and burial vaults, church goods, cutlery, domestic cooking and heating stoves, coal stok-

ers, hot water heaters. and tanks, ice, boxes, fountain | ,Joens and mechanical pencils, hair: and” bebby pins,’

incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs, - jewelry, kitchen and household utensils, ' portable electric lamps and shades, razors and klades, and sewing machines.

Good Exchange? , You Bet!

QUITE A LIST, isn’t it? gained?

Enough rubber for 9005 flying fortresses plus.

18,011 medium’ tanks. Enough aluminum for 2434 flying fortresses. Enough copper for 260 destroyers.

Enough steel for 109 Liberty ships plus 33,333

flying fortresses ‘plus 12,820 medium tanks plus 4208 destroyers.

Enough lead for 12,544 medium tanks plus 26.509

‘armored trucks.

Enough brass for 1371.76.00 rifle or mackine gun

cartridges. : , JHouSh Hn fhe 6 destroyess. ' Enough zinc for 11,037 1 ton ‘pontoon bridges plus 14330 medium‘ tanks’ plus 63687 armored cars. plus radios.

cargo-mover trucks, Enough nickel for 2100 medium tanks plus 4600 armored cars.” no Eijough izoistum fo for 1047 medium tanks plus 0)

WHEN I was a cub with the U. P|’

And what have we |

to the ‘Wheel!

SHUX. we CAN'T" Lok! BRING ‘EM ON/ | GOTTA REMEMBER TO BUY ANOTHER

WAR STAMP ONE OF Ton88

The Hoosier Forum

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

“BIG, FAT MEN NOT GIVING SEATS TO THE WOMEN” ‘By A Woikin’ Gal, Indianapolis ' I've noticed more men riding streetcars and busses lately, due to the tire-saving situation. Also, I've noticed a lot of big, fat, well-dressed men holding their seats instead of offering them to ladies who sometimes have to s up all the way home. . Maybe that's what we women get for the right to vote and other privileges since we have been considered on the same plane of equality with. men. Or maybe it ‘is on account of these certain men not being used to paying fares on streetcars and busses and feel they must get their money’s worth. ~~ But I think we women who work and have to stand on our feet all day long deserve a little bit of .consideration. I'm sure I sympathize with men in overalls: who have a hard day in the factory, .etc., but not with these others who heed plenty ‘of exercise. This war business has put the

o # 8 “PLEASE WRITE—AND AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN By Corp. Ral on Dane 15086429, 80th r

Fighter Sq. ., A. P, 0. No. 923 c/o gor San Francisco. Cal,

anapolis, where I ‘was born and reared and where I am. proud to. be from. Also to those who have sons,

work has contributed much toward the winning of this war. . , . Although many. parts of Australia resemble Indiana, it could never

take her place. We, here in Australia, think. a great deal of the loved ones and of our homes we left ‘behind. Though we are thou-~

country back on its feet—and how!

I am writing this letter as an) appeal to my many friends in Indi-}

husbands and ‘sweethearts ' in R armed forces, and .to those whose’

(Times readers are Invited their views in these columns, religious conMake

iatters short, so all can

to eipdress

troversies excluded. your have & chance. Letters must

be signed.)

sands of miles from home, our thoughts are always there. The only way to bridge those thousands of miles is by mail. That

{is. why :ve consider mail call the

most important feature of the day. If one could only watch and pry

into th: minds and hearts of those who have received ‘letters, it would fill more than a book; also to those who havz not received mail the feelings of ‘their hearts and minds cannot, le described. When we look up to the star-filled ‘sky at nights, we can see you there at home anid our hearts are heavy. So I appeal to you, to those whose kin are scattered over the many fronts of this war, write and write as often as you can. They will ap-

‘|preciate it more than words can

tell. |. | ‘Many times I have wished I was home, home in good old Indianapolis, walking on Washington st. and the Circle; but we have a job here to do so we're going to do it and finish it. . . | 2 = 8 “PEGLER ONE OF A GROUP AIDING: ADOLF HITLER” By D. k Y.. Indianapolis Pegler is obviously one of a group who have an objective which may or. may not develop into serious consequenecs. That is, to thoroughly discredit the leaders of our government during the conduct of the war, thus bringing about a complete breakdown of morale and division of purpose. If Hitler had his own paid propa-

Side Glances=By Galbraith

.complish his purpose as effectively

. am the Lord your God, which

gandist carrying out specific orders to create disunity (which he has boasted he: could do) in the United States, he would be unable to ac-

as is being done by the aiorementioned group. The small contingent that Pegler

continually condemns in his column are. small potatoes compared to the real enemies of democracy in the United States. Hundreds of freedom’s enemies have recentfy been indicted by the government. Their followers both vocal and silent’ will number well into the millions. They represent, collectively, the most dangerous element the country has ever known. Pegler writes, “the president's’ opposition is composed almost entirely of good Americans.” This isa typical Hitlerian lie. The opposition is composed of some good Americans and, the Bund, the Silver Shirts, the Coughlinites, the Christian Fronters, the Mobilizers, the Vindicators (one = million alleged by Senator Reynolds), the Gerald Smith commitee of one million, the McCormicks, Pattersons, Moseleys, Ham Fishs, Clare Hoffmans, Martin Dies, remnants of the America First committee, Standard Oil (recently sued by stockholders for one hundred million dollars, charging “conspiracy of creating a world monopoly of essentials in the chemical and oil fields,” which injured the United States and aided the Nazis). Also National Association of Manufacturers, hundreds of pseudo patriotic organizations and thousands upon thousands who have no conception what this war of all wars is being fought for and apparently are not interested:in finding out. This adds up to an unwholesomely large number of not-so-good Americans who comprise the president’s opposition and who are not ‘interested in making democracy really function,

2 ” 2 ‘HISTORY'S GREAT SOLDIERS WOULD BE REJECTED’

By a Doctor, Columbus.

In these days when bodily fit-| ness is emphasized by our Selective | Service System, and the war department and the public is decrying the general poor health of our young men, le’ us look back upon the physical disabilities of some of our greatest military and naval men of history. Gen. George Washington wore false teeth; Gen. U, S. Grant would be rejected for alcoholism; Julius Caesar suffered from epilepsy; Genghis Khan had paranoia; Bismarck was overweight; Wellington, who never lost a battle, was underweight; Napoleon was constantly distressed with stomach ulcers; Horatio Nelson lost an eye and an| arm in battle, but led his fleet to victory, and Kaiser Wilhelm, crippled by a withered arm, could direct the imperial armies and chop wood without handicap. They would, have been rejected were they called: for military service today.

DAILY THOUGHT And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God; and ye shall know that I

_bringeth you out from under fhe burdens of odus 6:1.

ostly froth and bubble;

the Eeypllans-»Ex- 7

gisnd lk tone?

MONDAY, AUG. 8 1942 :

In Washington

By Peter Edson

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3.—Big, bald, bespectacled, bottleneckbreaking Henry J. Kaiser, who builds things people say can't be built, breezed into Washington likey the western tornado he is, wearing smiles and a double-breasted ‘blue’ suit, radiating so much ‘confidence he didn't even bother to take off his vest though the tem= perature and the humidity were terrible. On his first day he ape peared before two senate investigating committees, made a speech at a luncheon, held a press conference

for gal reporters, and though he didn’t make one

specific statement as to how he was going to build 5000 cargo planes, after five minutes with every group he had everyone convinced he could build a ladder to the moon. He had everyone agreeing with everything he said, eating out of his hand, nominating him unofficially to be war production boss. : To sultry, befuddled, politico and bureaucrats ridden Washington, he brought a fresh breath of assurance America could win this war.

'The Kids Will Never Be Licked"

WHAT ‘IS THE SECRET of Pop -Kaiser’s success? He. denies he is a genius. He disclaims being a miracle man. He isn't much to look at. He says he can't make a speech. Yet he has more personality than a movie star and he could probably talk a lighte ning rod salesman into buying snake oil. He has even talked the boilermakers into believing it will be all right if he builds planes, though that rheans the boilermakers lose their jobs. He is enthusiasm pere sonified. He says constantly, “I am thrilled!” HaY is terrific. . F Build cargo planes? “There is nothing to that!” he says easily, and somehow you believe him. If he has any secret, it is that he can make people do things for him, Take Bconeville dam. Army engle neers weren’t sure it could be built, Kaiser tackled the project. His associates sat up with him till 4 a. m. to talk him out of taking the job. But he put a couple of kids in charge—one was hig son—and they built the dam. “The kids of this country will never be licked,” ine, sists Kaiser, and somehow you get to believing the war will not be lost, after ail.

| Doing Things Never Done Before

KAISER'S OTHER SECRET seems to be in reduce ing every problem to its lowest common denominator, He asks what shipyards have that apply to aire plane building, and he answers that they have area, They have terminal facilities to handle 150 carloads of materials a day and they don't have to come in on rubber. They have water and housing and labor supply, and an orderly flow of materials and parts. Forty per cent of the cost of a ship, he says is in auditing, servicing, checking. Another 25 per cent is in outside purchases of parts and materials. That leaves only 35 per cent of the job to do in his ydrds and he ends up with an assembly line operation. Simple, isn’t it. ; ’ “Half of America,” he says, is doing things it never did before, and the other half is waiting to be told to do things it never did before.” That thrills him.

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

TODAY'S CONTRIBUTION 1s a letter from an alimony payer:

“My name appeared in the paper last evening under the } caption, ‘Enlisted for Service,’ but’ the report was wrong, because I had incorrectly assumed that this was a free country, where a man could voluntarily join the armed forces to serve his: native land. I had not learned that freedom is just an abstract theory when I filled out the application forms and took the physical examination for enlistment in the navy. : «Yet I had not forgotten, Mrs. Ferguson, that I was obligated to pay alimony, to ‘an ex-wife. How can a man forgét when he is forced to live in a back room for two years in order to: meet alimony paye ments, as well as the payments on a home occupied by the ex-Mrs. and which will belong to her when all the payments are made. “Mine was an error of reasoning. Since I had 8 message from the president asking me’ to report for induction into the army -on- Aug. 23 there seemed nothing wrong about enlisting in the navy, where a slightly better compensation was offered in return for specialized service. This, I figured, would “enable me to continue my tribute to freedom where army pay would not.

' Alimony Judgments Ave Final’

“But I was wrong again. The navy will have no part in alimony obligations. Nothing short of a court order waiving judgment will be accepted. “What does it take to get such an order? Well, in Oklahoma, where I live, justice decrees ‘that alimony judgments are final. In our language that means the court won't be an Indian giver, come hell or hi water. A frientily visit to the judge produces nothing. Did I say nothing? Again I am wrong. “It does produce a lesson in our brand ot freedom. It appears that an alimony decree isn’t exactly like a millstone around a man’s neck. It is more like the hangman's noose that can be held firmly by the exe wife and pulled by her at will. . “Excuse me for a lengthy lament. Il end it / quickly by saying that a man does have some liber ties in our country. He is able to send telegranis, consult lawyers and run up a lot of extra expense to

| get in touch with the lady who holds the noose, and | if he begs her hard enough and humbly asks the

court’s permission, he is allowed to fight for Amerie can freedom even though he has none in his pere sonal life.”

‘Questions and Answers

(The Indianapolis Times Service Bureau will answer tay question of fact or information, not ‘involving extensive re= ‘ search. - Write your ‘question clearly, sign name and’ ‘address, inclose a three-cent postage stamp, Medical or legal. advices eannot be given. Address The Times Washington Service Bureau, 1013 Thirteenth St. Washington, D. €.)

Q—What is candle: power? “el, ; A—TIt is the unit’ in: which" ‘scientists: measure the strength of light. Originally it was the strength.of the light given out by a ‘standard candle made of a certain kind of wax and of a certain fixed size. Scientists now measure it in an electrical way, but the amount of light in one candle power is still’ supposed to be the same as that which ‘was: produced. by the old . fashioned candle. A light one candle power strong is! just about visible a mile away on a clear dark night.

Q—When an alien woman became a citizen by marrying a citizen of the United States before Sept. 22, 1922, how can she prove her citizenship? ; A-By showing her birth and marriage certificates and proof of the citizenship of her husband. Q-—How many foreign born persons were in a United States in 1940 and how did the number compare with 1930? ; = A—In 1940 there were

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