Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 5 August 1942 — Page 10

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p> RILEY 0601

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1042

CONGRESS, PETRILLO, AND LABOR ABUSES

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

loads up the club with her per-{

sonal friends, but we had plenty

trouble in the front office and up|

in the press coop, too. For one thing, her uncle gets ahold of the hotdog concession and the peanuts and programs and her brother he grabs ‘the club’s insurance busi‘ness. They jerk us out of our good hotel near the ball yard in Chicago and park us in the Hull House, ‘way to hell and gone out on the west side, and in St. Louis we wind up in a youth joint where they got youth up to 35 years old and they keep you awake

CoN GRESS, and we still say God bless congress because |, an night arguing about democracy and Russia.

it’s the branch of our government nearest to the people —congress of late has had quite a spell of feeling sorry for itself. It has declared it’s being picked on; that there is a - concerted effort to destroy its authority. : But let’s see how congress has been performing, confining ourselves just to one of many vital current issues. ; And in so doing let’s stress the constitutional fact that there is reported in congress not only the authority, the destruction of which congress views with alarm, but also responsibility. : Let's never forget that those two are twins; that one © working without the other means, first, negation, and finally dissolution. oe Let’s even recall what an English statesman pictur esquely said—“authority without responsibility, the her- ~ itage of the harlot throughout the ages.” 3 That, without desiring to draw a liberal analogy, but because the quotation is, after all, philosophically very apt. i ” " ” 8 ” 8 HAT of the attitude of congress on the labor question? Congress passed the Sherman anti-trust act. Then it passed the Clayton act, which exempted labor unions from

“the provisions of the Sherman act.

Then, because the courts got around the?Clayton act by the issuance of injunctions against labor, congress passed the Norris-La Guardia act, still further to shield labor, which throughout the years had been weak and struggling and was properly seeking legal protection in an industrial sys-

| tem which was all out of balance in behalf of capital and

the employer. And then congress passed the Wagner act, which cop-‘per-riveted the rights of labor. Now out of all those congressionally enacted laws labor turned in a few years from very weak to very strong. And labor, being human, began as capital had before it to abuse its new-found powers. ’ Came what amounts now in political terms to a labor government, characterized by vast treasuries and vast voting power. Such manifestly high-handed and anti-social practices "as racketeering and the jurisdictional strike developed, practices which called for correction, just as high-handed stock exchange practices called for correction when big business got arrogant and anti-social. 8 8 .8 8 8 8 ROM what source could the correction come? Only from _congress—by modification of the laws which congress itself had written. 2 : The abuses were brought to the attention of the supreme court. And the supreme court in effect said: Congress has given labor leaders a blank check; so long as the check is outstanding it can be used; it is the court’s duty only to interpret the law as it has been written by congress; and only congress can change the law. And what has congress done? Exactly nothing. It has the authority, but it has ducked its responsibility. We won't review here all the history of sporadic congressional attempts to act on the subject, the backing and the filling and the stalling and pigeonholing that have prevented anything from being done. Though the department of justice even now is trying

to block the over-swollen Petrillo in his stand-by-and-be-

paid-for-doing-nothing ukase, congress is mum and minus. «And so we now have a privileged class which, in many of its aspects, makes Jay Gould and Boss Tweed look like pikers. We have a cancer that endangers not only our society in general but the legitimate organized labor movement in - particular; a cancer which in wartime may only be con-

v 0 trolled by an over-all draft-14bor law which may finish up’

with the end of organized labor itself. ~~ And where is congress—with its authority and its re- ~ gponsibility—the'congress that giveth and the congress that

Tt can take away? We hope it’s not dead, but just sleeping.

CAN'T BE DONE? (COL HUGH J. KNERR, testifying at the senatorial hearing on the -Henry J. Kaiser proposal to take war cargo transportation off the water and put it into the air by building great cargo planes, said “we might use ship-

building facilities to make cargo planes for the next war,” |

but not for this. Apart from the question of whether we'd be important in the next war if we lost this one, it seems to us that Col. Knerr, a retired army air force officer, is falling into e ways of the army-navy can’t-be-done boys whom he ‘himself has so often publicly criticized. He says. his. personal experience ‘has been that no successful new airplane has been produced in less than three years. But in Mr. Kaiser we are dealing with a person who, by the record, is not bothered by such can’t~done experiences of the past. We would recommend that Col. Knetr ved. the story Mr. Kaiser, of Boulder Dam, and Bonneville and Coulee, d of how he has turned out ships since he went in for at, never having seen a launching until December 1940.

The way this war is going, and in view of the fact,

at last a man has been found who hasn't yet failed

SING HIS HOLD? : g: English Gallup poll finds that Winston Churchill's

ity is at a new low. Only 78 per cent of the Brit-|

pve his conduct of the war. ell, Britain has been Baking it on the chin, and GerBut do you jnagine that a

Well, I never did find out positively how the business about the umpires started, whether it was her or him, but she would be always saying the. oldtimers like McGowan, why they had the wrong idea about the rules. She would say the rule book was & living thing and the umpires they ought to interpret the rules for the underdogs, like if a team is behind, then you ought to give them all the close ones or spot them a few runs to begin with, because, otherwise, the rules were just the dead hand of the past and the underdog couldn't win for losing.

Then She Changed the Umps

THE WAY THINGS were going, with her trying to pitch and this scrawny lady lecturer friend of hers playing first base and this young twirp of a night school student doing all the pinch-hitting, and he can’t hit the ground with his hat, why, we were generally, pretty near always, the underdog, too. So whenever any umpire would call one against us even if our guys was out from here to Yonkers, or one of the other guys was safe without a play on him, the boss and the old lady they, and the lady first baseman and the twirp, all started yelling “Horse and buggy! Horse and buggy!” and names like “Copperhead” and “Tory,” which means louse. "Well, you remember, we lose some pretty. good umpires that year, and her and him they bulled the league into hiring some friends of thejrs who believed

like they did. After that we got some of the goofiest umpiring you ever saw.

And, Oh Yes, That Column—

I GOT CAUGHT off second base on a hidden ball one day and one of their umpires sent me home because he said it was dishonest to deceive me like that. They never allowed anybody to steal any bases on us because they said they- couldn’t encourage stealing, and we didn’t have to steal ourselves. Meantime, she gets a job writing a baseball column for the papers and she would write all the confidential private stuff we said to each other on the bench and put in plugs for her lady lecturer pal on first base. She got the old man to can two .300

“hitters because they were old-fashioned and the boss

he. would hold out news from the regular baseball writers and she would sell it herself or slip it to some friends who would sell it to a magazine for a lot of dough. Thé boys in the hyena cafe naturally got sore, because writing baseball is their regular business, but if they beef, why, a lot of her friends -write to the

editor he should can them for their scurrilous insults

against a wonderful lady—the dirty rats. And then, you remember, she goes on the radio telling the customers all about baseball and ‘drags down $2000 a week and cuts in her pals for a chunk of it, so the regular broadcaster blows his job. 5 Like I say, it was a very strange experience even when I got canned for punching the study t for calling me a tory, I still wasn’t exactly sore at

her, although, no two ways about it, if it was my old |

lady came messing around a club I was managing I would certainly belt her one right square in the snoot.

Using Airpower By Major Al Williams

NEW YORK, Aug. §5~I1 am told by those who study the foreign radio programs that the Germans are daring us to start an air - front. Well, let's take their dare. Let's have thousands of planes pouring over Germany all the time, day and night, with- |. ouf letup? The immediate objective would be the systematic and thorough smashing of German production facilities. And since these facilities are inextricably intermingled among dwellings and habitations—well, everything would have to go, as everything has already had to go in the recent past. If airpower could accomplish the complete dislocation of German mass production and German life, would not all the Nazi fronts automatically collapse? Wouldn't that collapse be exactly what we want to accomplish? * And can anyone conceive of any other means of accomplishing it In the immediate future?

Nazis Recognized Airpower we

THE ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE between the allied scheme of modern warfare and that of the Nazis is that the latter recognized airpower and

geared it to their land and sea forces, while we recognized airpower and tried to find ways for using it without disturbing the prestige of the older services. Why wouldn’t it, therefore, be the most sensible thing to utilize all the Nazis have taught us but, instead of gearing our airpower to any surface machinery, turn it looke in a smashing vertical front to win the war? I mean a real vertical front—the turning loose of all our airpower with or without land or sea forces. Each major decision in this war has been won by turning the enemy’s vertical flank. No land or sea force can move successfully until it has obtained control of the air over the combat area..I see no way or means for obtaining such complete control over the coastline of Europe as is demanded for the protection of seaborne -invasion forces. . And I see no manner or means of German defenses which could halt a full-out mass attack by air—on the vertical flank. Editor’s Note: The views expressed by columtete in this

newspaper are their own. They Are. 204 wocemarlly” huss of The Indianapolis Times,

So They Say—

Everywhere in the occupied countries resistance to|'

the Nazis grows. It began as a trickle; now it is a swelling flood; oncé we land on the continent it will become a torrent no Gestapo can keep back.—Edgar Ansel Mowrer, foreign iaiaten service, office of war information. . . y Australia ‘is a country which, without the nelp of the United States, would certainly be Jnscmplstely defended and inadequately armed.—Sir Owen Dixon, Australian

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

_ _ : “‘OUR FRONT BEGINS AT HOME’ ALL TOO TRUE” By Samuel L. Allen, 3743 W. 10th st.

Your editorial, “Our Front Begins at Home,” is all too true. It is excellent. need. Give us more and help the war effort.

are slowing down production and the plant management which are not operating at capacity. Fine work, Keep it up.

: : o o 2 “A REAL SERVICE TO ALL 1064, PARK PATRONS”

y A. C. Ballee, general superintendent Bhs and Recreation, Indisnagels is, enh

In your edition of July 23, you published a map and other data prepared by Frank Widner, showing

- {locations of city parks and play-

grounds with convenient key listing numerous facilities provided for the relaxation and pleasure of Indianapolis citizens. We have received much favorable comment on this admirable piece of publicity and I am sure it will be of real service to Indianapolis park patrons. I wish to congratulate and thank you for this fine spirit of co-oper-ation in acquainting the public with our unexcelled recreational facilities. : #2 8 . “LET'S POSTPONE ELECTIONS AND GET TO BUSINESS” By Disgusted Veteran of ’18, Indianapolis. I. note that most of the news, editorials, columnists’ articles and letters to the editor relate to abuses arlene from ‘administration polics The president devotes time to fighting Farley in order to select a New Dealer -as governor of New York. The war labor board gives Little Steel boys wage boost at the time an effort is being made to prevent, inflation. Union agents, be-

It is what wel

. Get on the men in factories whol.

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

troversies excluded.

sides getting draft deferments, are given special privileges in the East in the way of gasoline and rubber so that they will not be hindered in traveling around collecting fees from workers. They are waiting

until after election to draft boys 18

and 19. “Unauthorized” strikes in war plants still persist.

Politics never stops, even in the most critical period of the war. If

a worker should throw a monkey-

wrench into a machine, that would be sabotage, but our big shots can do the same thing. in a big way, hindering the war effort, and that’s “politics,” just a harmless game that we have to let them play to keep them happy. If we protest we are trying to stir up disunity. The axis boys and sympathizers do not

complain about ‘such monkey business; they just look on with satisfaction and contempt. - Let us postpone elections, if necessary, so that the big shots can get down to business; or will they? Take care of them after it’s all over, in our: favo’, we hope, but meanwhile we should all hang together against the outside enemy lest we hang separately. 2 8 8 “YOU'D BETTER LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE” By Bert Wilheim, 2108 S. Emerson ave. A recent news item stated that some musty brained professor had dug into the past and discovered that Messrs. Roosevelt, Churchill

Side Glances=By Galbraith

and MacArthur are eighth cousins. Chances are he would have included Mr. McNutt in the group, but Mac was probably posing for a photograph and could not be reached. This reminds me of Mark Twain. When Mark visited the grave of Adam, he could not keep back the tears; standing at the grave of a blood relative—so far from home and among strangers. However, it may not: be well to go back further, for our professor may discover that Hitler is a twelfth cousin to Walter Winchell, or Herr Himmler a tenth cousin to Harry Hopkins, or John Lewis an eleventh cousin to Westbrook Pegler. This would be sure to have a’ bad effect on public morale. Better leave the platform now, professor, and go back to your seat! you have spoken your piece, so you'd better leave well enough alone!

8 » 8 “HOPKINS WEAK, INTEMPERATE AND SELF-INDULGENT”

By w. “G. Campbell, Scottsburg. Robert Ruark’s little sketch of Harry Hopkins in Saturday’s Times is typical of the writings of other newsmen on the same subject. Hence we-may assume his observations to be fairly correct, and the style suited to the average reader’s taste. A Like the dthers, Mr. Ruark damns with very faint praise and, while relating faults, serious weaknesses of character and personal vices, his apparently amused, tolerant and slightly cynical attitude toward |such matters seems intended to disarm resentment on the part of Hopkins’ friends and: please the

_ | thoughtless thousands who see only

the story of a poor boy who has risen to great heights. These admirers of worldly success will entirely miss the implication that an extremely bad choice was probably made when Hopkins was selected to serve as the “president's right arm, his closest confidant, his most trusted adviser.” But those who know the ways of political writers and read between the lines get a clear picture of a man physically and morally weak, intemperate and self-indulgent, relying on pills and other dope to take

_} the place of clean living habits, ad-

dicted to trashy forms of entertainment. A man of some personal

|eharm perhaps, but po outstanding

ability—no quality of - greatness whatever. Yet, there sits Harry, in Washington, second in power fo-the president according to these writers, but

_ | never having heen elected to any

office by the people, spending and giving away billions of their dollars.

plain why we don’t seem to be win-

| ning the war,

‘Editer's note: Mi Mr. Campbell te]

| entitled to his, opinions. Readers

of The Times, however, who did n

“ {| read Mr. Roark's article should. be

cautioned that:the article in ques-

|| tion. offered no opinions such asf -

DAILY THOUGHT A brother offended is Hafler Io to

4 _be won than a strong city; and

their contentions are . like the bars of a castle.—Proverbs 18.19.

1{ | But curb thou the high spirtt in

: thy breast, For gentle ways are

Maybe such things as this help ex-|

In Washington

By Peter Edson

WASHINGTON, -Aug. 5.—Rae tioning of fuel oil for 1,400,000 oil-burning home furnaces in 17 eastern seaboard states is the nasty prospect for the coming winter. If that is strong language and it scares a lot of oil-burning home owners into converting -their fur naces to coal, well and good. . Nobody in government wants to ration fuel oil. It is a headache of anly slightly less migrane severity than the headaches of gasoline-or sugar rations ing programs. But the way things are heading now, fuel oil rationing in the east seems inevitable. It is due to two circumstances. First, to a conflict of authority and responsibility among the Yarns

‘government agencies responsible for making

necessary decisions to increase and conserve the supe ply. Second, to the colossal dumbness of the people in the threatened area, who have lazily refused to do anything at all to protect themselves against this shortage, in spite of repeated warnings. :

Just Look at the Warnings

FOR MONTHS THE Office of Petroleum Coser dinator, the Office of Price Administration and its divisions of Civilian Supply and Rationing, the Office

‘of Defense Transportation, the War Production Beard,

and the Department of Commerce have warned of this impending shortage and advised the people living in houses heated by fuel oil to convert their units to coal burning where that was possible. - Furthermore, the Office of the Solid Fuels Co-ordinator has been

- staging a campaign all spring and summer, urging

people to put in their coal now so there would be no trouble about getting it in the fall and winter. And on top of all this, there has been the actual gasoline shortage, stuck like a boil on the nese, to warn everyone that this fuel oil Shortage was =r Yessir, It'll Be Cold All Right og

and no phony. IN PEACETIMES, IT took 1.5 million barrels’ of all petroleum products per day to ‘keep this eastern area going. By gas rationing, consumption has been cut down fo 1 million barrels a day—a wondere ful saving. But petroleum products coming into this area now by occasicnal tanker, by tank car, tank truck, barge and pipeline total only from 600,000 to 800,000 barrels a day. In other words, the east is using up its reserves at the rate of from 200,000 to 400,000 barrels a day. It doesn’t take a dollar-a-year man or a governs ment economist to tell you that you can’t keep the . kiddies warm this winter if that goes on very long, The solution lies in a concentrated program of the most drastic action from all government and private agencies in the next 30 to 60 days. a — Decision on fuel oil rationing must come first from WPB, The rationing division of OPA does not want to ration fuel oil, but has made its preliminary studies: and will be prepared to put in a fuel oil rationing - program on schedule, even if it means reducing the existing four-gallon “A” gasoline ration to three gale. lons, in order to divert tank car capacity to hauling fuel oil. And it may be necessary to spread rationing of gasoline and fuel oil clear fo the Mississippi river, to stretch supplies. Anyway you look at it, it’s gone to be a cold wintery

A Woman's Viewpoint A By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

THE COMING ELECTION fg

sure ta be one .of the most impore"' |

tant in our history. And it’s cere tain to be unfair unless absehte® voting is made easier ‘and = couraged. Hundreds of thousands of fame ilies are moving about the counse try. Soldiers and soldiers’ wives are far from the home precinct, Under the pressure of war dee. mands, defense workers may feel they can overlook registration this year. They shouldn’t, because intelligent voting is as necessary te the life of a republic as straight shooting. Many American men are on foreign soil, and more are going. These men will be moving and fighting ' for fréeedom—so the duty of -voting for freedom will: fall upon wus soldiers of the home front, many

| of whom wear Devticonts,

It's In the Women’ s Hands

THE OUTCOME OF THE 1942 elections may be . truthfylly said to rest in the hands of American, women. Therefore between now and November one. who loves her country will obtain some wledge of its political machinery. She will study the cane didates in her city and state, and will use every effort : to get to the polls and induce others to do the same, Also another duty faces parents. Each year many ° boys and girls come of age, and few of them have. any sense of citizenship. They have taken their privileges for granted. With all their educational advantages, they have not been made aware by parents of their civic responsibilities. ‘Now we ‘shall - train them in the military arts, but how about teachs ing them to safeguard their freedom at the balioy* » box as well as on battle fronts? our boys are dying for liberty: demosrdey, and 3 we do not deserve the benefits of their sacrifice une * less we vote with sufficient intelligence to preserve ag home those privileges for which they fight abroad. <

Questions and Answers

question of fact or niokmation, sot tavelving datensivarreetl® search. Write your question clearly, sign name snd address,

inclose a three-cent postage stamp. Medical or legal savin 3 cannot be given. ‘Address The Times Washington Servive \ Bureau, 1018 Thirteenth St., Washington, ” e) 3 EE ah

Q—What does the phrase “sans origine” mean?”

A—It is French for “without origin,” and is ‘one of the standard phrases in international oom... cations, which are expressed in French. :

‘Q—What are the functions of the Bureau of Horn

eign and Domestic Commerce of the United States Department of Commerce?

-A—To foster, promote, and develop commerce industry of, the United States, at home and ak

by. gathering, compiling and publishing “useful . information concerning such od

markets.

-Q—Can new plaster be painted in y A~New' plaster, being alkaling, does. not ) good foundation. for paint. neuin lime in the plaster, Borat three to four pounds zinc sulphate water. . This solution may be appli brush or a paint sprayer and = oy Shorughly before applying tie