Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 August 1942 — Page 16

Ee todianapollc Times,

ROY W. HOWARD RALPH BURKHOLDER MARK FERREE resident : Editor Business Manager (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

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> RILEY 5581

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

3

THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 1942

DON'T WASTE MORE TIME

(CERTAIN LY there must be quick action if the president's anti-inflation program is to be saved from collapse. Thirty more days of delay might easily mean, as Mr. Roose‘welt says, that the whole situation would get out of hand. So it is encouraging that the president promises new steps to control the cost of living. What steps he has in mind may not be fully known until he explains them to the country and to congress, on or about Labor day. But there “is no mystery as to why the program is in its present dire extremity, and the kind of action necessary to rescue it i is no secret. ; More than a year ago Bernard M. Baruch and others began ‘warning that wartime price inflation could be prevented only through over-all controls, made effective by law, on all prices, including farm prices, and on wages. These warnings were disregarded. r Se » » - ” » # SIRST the president and congress tried piecemeal price fixing for a few industrial commodities. That failed: Then the president wanted ceilings on all prices—but wages

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= were different. Congress mustn't touch wages. Mr. Roose-

welt was sure that the labor unions, grateful for all he had done to help them, would be reasonable in their demands for more pay. But gratitude didn’t go that far. And the farm bloc, seeing labor get special treatment, demanded special treatment for agriculture. The result was that congress voted 110: per cent of parity and other “rubber”. into the farm-price ceilings. Both wages and farm prices continued to rise,.and the cost of living with them. Last April the president realized that something more had to be done. He announced there would be an all-em-bracing, simultaneous attack on all the factors that were pushing the cost of living up. Congress should tighten the elastic farm-price ceilings, but congress still mustn't ich wages. Mr. Roosevelt would have wages stabilized general at existing scales” by the war: labor board. But wages are still moving upward, in some cases by order of, in others without reference to,’the WLB. That being so, _ congress still refuses to permit real control of farm prices, the cost of food is climbing, and the Widlepriceneling structure bingajens to blow.

TEP by ton it hss been demonstrated that Nr. Baruch was right. : But even now Mr. Roosevelt apparently is not willing * to adopt the Baruch formula all the way. Washington re- - ports say that he hopes to fix everything by executive . orders—one, pérhaps, creating a new superboard to undertake control of wages; another, maybe, providing agricul- * tural subsidies in place of higher farm prices. He considers the situation too serious, the danger too immediate, ~ to permit time for that. : Why has the situation become so serious? Why is the . danger so immediate? How did the anti-inflation program get within 30 days of disaster? Not for lack of executive orders, but for lack of legislation. Precious months have been frittered away on attempts to control some prices by ~ law without controlling wages and other prices by law. These attempts haven't succeeded. They won't succeed. And now time is indeed too short for anything less than the all-out attack that Mr. Baruch, in his wisdom, urged 80 long ago.

“THE RUML PLAN IS NOT DEAD

HE treasury “experts” objected, so the senate finance

committee “tentatively” voted down the Ruml plan to ||

put the income tax on a pay-as-you-go basis. But we venture a prediction: like it, will sooner or later be adopted. For here is one tax that is so simple and so fair that the people understand it. And under our democratic system the people when they demand it get what they want. : “Experts” can’t bear anything that is simple. They thrive on complications. If all things were simple, there ‘wouldn’t be any need for “experts.” If all taxes were gimple, the tax “experts” would have to get out and do smething else for a living. Through the publicity on the Ruml plan, the taxpayers. have learned that it is possible to get out of hock to their vernment, that it is possible to put their income tax on cash, pay-as-you-earn basis, without the treasury. losing y revenue, Having learned that, they will refuse hereafter to be confused by the mumbo-jumbo of the “experts.” They will jot be satisfied with anything less than a ciean break with st methods of \one-year-late tax collections. They will ot be satisfied with anything less than a square deal.

NCOURAGING SO FAR” IX7ITH commendable caution the navy department makes no prediction on the outcome of the great second battle the Solomons, still raging in the south Pacific. Its only mment is that results “are encouraging so far.” Figures received to date on enemy losses—13 ships hit planes down—justify that tentative optimism, -Qur losses are not listed, though an earlier communique

ed they were not serious in the opening action. Only :

American planes are reported lost. The best proof of the grave importan that Japan is counter-attacking, and J

“and carriers, to affect naval control of the mid-

HK our losses are much larger than theirs, they |

y will be strong enough for more offensives north ; th. Bu if they suffer more—on. top. of their earlier | *

L efinite naval superiority in- the again,

‘since ‘Pearl Harbor.

This plan, or something 1

of this battle | risking such a] naval and air force to retake the southeast Solomons. ‘Apparently enough forces are involved, including cap- |

Fair Enough

By Weskhosk Be Pegler

NEW: YORK, Aug. 27. — The Atlantic ‘Charter and the four freedoms are good propaganda among -the other races of the world and, as such, should not be

argued too seriously here at home,

but ‘Americans and the British and,

we may hope and suppose. the

Russians, and, of course, the Ttal-| °

jans and Erench, should be satis-

fied with nothing less ‘than the 3

extermination of the German nation as a menace to the peace and safety of the world. Anything short of total obliteration of Germany as a

nation will be a compromise with the cause of the

second world war in 25 years and the mere destruction of Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels and the gestapo will not cure the evil. These men merely express and direct the German nation which firmly believes that Germans have special rights superior to the rights of all others and which cannot live without killing. The plan for a beautiful peace ignores the nature and history of Germany. It is a rogue nation, so bad that it has forfeited its right to:live and the rest of humanity should not feel called upon to take the risk

and assume the task of reforming and incorrigible andy{

incurable killer.

Just an Habitual Criminal

THE REST OF the world will be too busy with its own urgent tasks when this war is over to undertake to police and educate Germany into the ways of civilization. . Obliteration of the German nation doesn’t mean a massacre of 50,000,000 or 80,000,000 Germans, but it does mean the extermination of Germany as a state. As individuals, Germans are capable of very passable decency, and the export Germans who came here to escape the brutality of Germans in the mass at home have been and have begotten fine Americans. But, as a nation, they have put themselves in the position of an habitual criminal with a cunning intelligence and suave manners who has finally committed a murder so outrageous as to prove that society can’t do anything with him,

Deportation Is One Phase

DEPORTATION OF MASSES of them seem to be one desirable phase of the plan, for it is when they are Germans all together in Germany that they are most dangerous. They have a belief that some special quality passes from their own‘soil. into their bodies and souls and are capable of a morbid self-pity which whips them into horrible furies and sets them ‘on the walpath again and -again. Their. lands should be taken over by outright conquest and de-Germanized, though it take a hundred years to exterminate the spirit that makes: them so dangerous as a nation, and it is to be hoped that this time the victors will not soften up and forget to carry out the threat to put to death every German man or woman who can be -shown to have had a responsible part in the planning of the war, the execution. of hostages or the invasions of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, Denmark and the Low countries.

Yes, It Will Be a Messy Task

THIS WILL TAKE strong determination, for it will be a messy task, and the whine that went up from Germany in the years of the Versailles treaty

.will be heard agair but louder. But the allied armies are now teaching soldiers that they must be tough.

and kill, and the various governments .of the victorious countries when this war is done should be just as tough in the execution of their phase of the task. Other nations have disappeared and the world has rocked along without them, and it should be kept in mind that this nation will disappear if Germany wins, The United States will be destroyed if Hitler has his way, and a country which has accepted war on the understanding shat the fight is to the death should not hesitate to destroy the German nation if victory is ours. Few outside Germany would mourn her passing, but the whole world would suffer from the failure of the victors to put an end to the menace.

Editor's Note: The views expressed by columnists in this newspaper are their own. They are net necessarily those of The Indianapolis Times.

Stop the Strikes!

By S. Burton Heath

CLEVELAND, Aug. 27.—Apparently nobody wants strikes, particularly in war plants. Responsible union officias. have promised that the “right to strike” will be waived during the war. The dues-paying membership does not want to strike; it wants to work, earn a good living and help beat Hitler. Surely employers do not want strikes. And ‘We, the public, hate them like the poison they are. Why, then, should there be a paralyzing parade of strikes, “vacations,” “holidays,” and work stoppages under various hypocritical pseudonyms? .Pridcipally, we believe, because thousands of subordinate professional labor union officials, are too ignorant to ‘realize that the war has changed both the underlying situation and the popular psychology. Most of these minor “leaders” grew up in an era when workers were exploited, when employers were arbitrary and unreasonable, when the way to “leadership” was. to achieve some new gain for the local at

a -

|| least once a year—a little more pay, a little shorter working day, some additional vacation or sick leave

provision—anything that would demonstrate that the “leader” was on the job, earning his salary by forcing concessions out of the boss. :

Squeeze Out the Middlemen

SUCH MEN APPARENTLY do not realize that |

for the most part, their constituents, now are very well paid; that workers are more interested in war

| production than in such ideological considerations as

the union shop; that there is no surer way of injuring the institution of labor unionism than to foster strikes or stoppages which will delay war production. The topmost leaders. of unionism, both A. F. of L. and C. I. O., are as patriotic as the rank and file of Americans. The workers who make ‘up the unions

are as patriotic as the soldiers and sailors in uniform. |

It is high time that these two groups get together and squeeze out the relatively few middlemen, occupying strategic positions as local officers, shop stewards, etc, who are bringing unionism into disrepute. This is not a reactionary viewpoint. actionary, who hated unionism as ‘such, would not

seek to induce unionism to clean house and w-|| # operate in the war effort. He would fry: {4 proveke : excesses.

marvelous

A good re- |}

YOU THINK 8 THIS 4 ow WOULE HELP. anv? 4

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

“LET’S BE CRITICAL, BUT FAIR, TOO, TO NELSON» By A Businessman, Indianapolis.

Let's be critical. Let's be hardboiled. But let’s be fair.’ Donald Nelson has made mistakes. not obtained from the national industrial machine’ its full potentialities. He would be the first to concede that.

It is doubtful, however, ‘Whether any man could have accomplished more under the circumstances. Under Nelson we made the most transformation from peace to war economy any people ever has made. We exceeded our most ‘optimistic hopes. We moved so fast that preduction got ahead of materials. Obviously, now, we have reached a stage where we need an efficient over-all inventory control system for critical materials. Mr. Nelson should have foreseen that and provided for it. But so should a lot of other insiders. How many of Nelson’s critics can demonstrate that they saw the need sooner than he did? s =m “I AGREE WITH PEGLER ON HIS NEW DEAL VIEW” By Hallie A. McBeall, 4833 Guilford ave. For 10 years I have fried to fathom the meaning of the very ambiguous term New Deal and its even more ambigudus interpretations by its professed practitioners, only to become more" and more befuddled by my study of the same, Born and reared a Democrat, I would like to remain. one to the end of my life. However, I can find nothing of the staunchly fine old Democrat party in New Dealism as set forth by Westbrook Pegler in the Aug. 24th Times. And the worst of it is that every word he wrote on ‘that date regarding the New Deal and its leaders .is ‘absolutely true. I saw this ‘more in sorrow than in scorn. : Also, I don’t believe Mr. Pegler]

He has}.

(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.) :

means merely 5 “scold” - (as some have said. repeatedly) ‘put, rather, to do a. real service for all his countrymen (including New Dealers themselves). If the New Deal is the great humanitarian panacea its practitioners claim it to be, then why does it not divorce itself from the pettiness, inconsistencies, sophistries. and exploitations which make any thoughtful person -doubt its soundness and sincerity of purpose? . I cannot “string along” with a party which repudiates nearly all of the principles upon which the Democrat party was founded® and substitutes for same the “tax, spend and elect” philosophy of Harry Hopkme ans political subservience to “Little Hitler Hague and his ilk. Any eolumnish who writes of cure rent political evils as does Westbrook Pegler, night after night, is a - most ‘courageous person. Any newspaper which publishes his writings continuously is a most courageous ‘publication—and 1 am grateful to The Times and Mr. Pegler for. their timely and truthful lsmwork. ® =» = “SEPT. 14 OUGHT TO BE NATIONAL ANTHEM DAY” By Wayne Hodgson. I would like to make the suggestion that, starting this year, Sept. 14 of every year be known as National Anthem day, to stir up a more patriotic feeling for our

country and the author of the

piece, Francis Scott Key. This year, with our nation en-

Side Glances—by Galbraith _

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0g PRRs Se p EB > ae aR) A {a a

& , fuieboin et

so ation of hutrigtionian; 18 wa phoducion i] hg

depriving labor of much of the gain’ it bas achieved ia he gash 19 yours.

So They Say—

I'm glad to be home but) I'm ready to 7 SA

| four-day

gaged in fighting ruthless enemies in an effort to preserve our freedom and democracy, it. behooves every one of us to do our bit for the great cause of freedom and to foster a greater love for our flag and our nation. It ‘was on Sept. 14; 1814, that Francis: Scott Key wrote the “StarSpangled Banner” at Ft. McHenry, a song that later became our national anthem. He was inspired to write the. piece as he saw .the flag waving in. the breeze above ‘the|. fort, and ‘it should now be our duty and our privilege as loyal American

citizens to instill in the hearts of

all a feeling of love and great respect for our national anthem. It should be the duty of every American on Sept. 14 to stand at

attention while the “Star-Spangled

Banner” is being played: ‘8m = “OFFICIAL STRIKE RECORD DOESN'T TELL THE STORY” By R. C. G., Anderson, Ind. The National Association of Manufacturers has made a study of “strikes since Pearl Harbor,” covering the first six months of 1942. During that period the N. A. M, learned of 21 consequential walk-

outs, involving from as few as 11§

employees up to as many as 12,392. Most were short. They cost, in six

months, 7,176,344 man-hours, ‘which is equivalent to 3588 man-years. That does not seem very large in our man-power economy. It represents a decimal of 1 per cent of the men engaged in war work. But I feel, with Mrs. Elinore Herrick, New York regional director of the national labor relations board and one of the ‘truest friends organized labor evey had, that “one strike in a defense plant is one too many, even though it may have been provoked by the employer, as often happens”, I also agree with the N. AM that “the percentage of workers invelved in strikes is not important.

| Where the strikes occurred is im=

portant. One-ten thousandth of 1 per cent of all workers might : paralyze the production of planes or , if they struck.” Moreover, the figures ‘compiled by the N. A. M. are not truly representative of the seriousness of the labor situation today. They have

‘1 to do solely with strikes, and most

labor disturbances which are delaying war production’ are not, tor-

1 mally, strikes.

Eight hundred C. I. O.ers ih Detroit, seeking higher wages, took a “vacation.” _ There was ‘no strike. ; Twenty-nine~C. 1. Ours in Tren-

|| ton closed down two departments

son might step up and offer a _solution to the Finnish problem. ~ which now is so complicated that it's harder to figure out than the relationship of Gloria Swanson’s

i _and ‘Constance Bennett's “present

like an old-time Hatfleld- McCoy : mountain feud. Who is’ mad at whi. whom is ‘aiding who and what for, ‘have been somewhat lost sight of, but one thing. 5 sertaln-the ‘feud is still on. on The Finns are still for Pisland, first last and: an the time, but in fighting for their beloved independence, they have got their fur-lined britches snagged on every point of an antlered dilemma.’ Talk about history ' repeating itself! Not: ‘here, for you will search th& pages of history in vain to find any parallel for this Finnish predicament. :

Finns themselves are playing this chess game for

| a stalemate. Their strategy seems to be to sit tight

until perhaps both Germany and Russia are worn out. Should this happen, Finland has a chance of winning her war. Otherwise, how can she?

Kk Gets Worse as You Go Along

SUPPOSE SOVIET RUSSIA should tell the Finns to write their own ticket on a peace treaty and that the Soviet could offer satisfactory guarantess that 1% would abide by the terms. Because thers was no such guarantee when peace feelers were made by i United States last November, nothing happened. But suppose such a guarantee could be made today, could Finland make a peace? The answer is probably no, because to make pesce with the Soviet, Finland would have to make war on Germany, because in northern Finland there ae trom six to 10 German divisions, They may be a smaller force than the * pinnish army, but the Finns would be no match against :

could apply from the south. The _strangle-hold which the Nazis now have on. Finland makes her position almost suicidal.

to break with Germany would be for a united nations force to reconquer Norway and then defeat the German army occuying northern Finland. That, too, is practically an impossibility for all this northern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula is 2 mountainous, ‘ roadless, forest wilderness—the most difficult terrain in western Burope over which to age, warfare.

‘Right Smack ‘in the Middle

. FINLAND, IN OTHER words, is caught in the middle. Even taking into consideration the pre-Dec. 7 sympathies of refusal of the American government to follow the lead: of Great Britain in declaring war on Finland, the “present position of the Finnish government is most certainly ‘not satisfactory to the United States. ae From German air bases in northern Finland, Ger~" man bombers can range from Murmansk to Archs* angel, destroying. American ships carrying. American supplies to an American So the showdown must come. Ideals, ideology, are all mixed ‘up in this muddle; a Finland, a democracy like the United States, is allied. with the German totalitarians, fighting the Soviet. totalitarians who are allied. with the United States, which is at war with Germany. » Just uy to make sense iy ol. that.

A OR oe

A Womal' s Viewpoint | By Mrs. Walter Ferguson a ae

about war that creates a spirit of: amorous anarchy. Whatever the: reason, my mail has seldom cons ' tained so. many wails from women suddenly confronted with one fact of life they nevér knew before— ‘the fact that love can die. =~ “= A letter from a Pittsburgh

trate. ' Her story follows ‘the usual: pattern. Briefly, we have a happy~ American family—father, mother -and one child” Father gets a chance to improve his financial situa-" tion by taking a job in another city. Mother stays” home to care for a relative who is ill, and to await further plans. pr After six months the father's visits grow less frei-

confessing love for a new lady friend. The same plot you see, the same old heart aches, and the same old struggles to make a “fresh start. But glamor’ gets in her deadly work when she can. ‘Mother loves” : daddy, however. Child loves daddy—yet daddy re-" mains infatuated with the other woman who Is deter-" mined to have him.

This Curious Modern Attitude. eal a

THE QUESTION BEFORE us’ then, is, shall” mother give daddy a diverce or shall she stick it out” for the sake of the child who has illusions about het” as| father’s character? It seems to be a question none” can decide for another.

L

-~ -

curious modern attitudes. ' Nine out of 10 people will"

imagine how such an idea ever took root in the: public” mind, but there it is. The man is relieved of all major responsibility for the catastrophe by the silly | excuse, “She couldn’t hold him.” : It is taken for granted that the male animal has no powers of resistance. Indeed, from ourrent news, he must be mush in feminine hands—except those ofs his wife, of course, since she seems fo exert no in-g fluence on him whatever, “Society does not condemn him for the destruct! of ‘the home, business never gives him a frown, 4 even the church only taps Him " lahily ‘on ‘the Of course, if we could forget thé mching | i best ending would be to have daddy marry A lady friend and live unhappily ever after—as he : ys does in such cases. x

cannot be given. ! Sura 13 Tews oi. Waskingen:

Aen Februar, 1041, _ Q—Will the sugar supply of the

| 1942 be lower then that of 1417

The only development which might enable Finland :

ally, and that is nok good...

woman is es good as any to fllus<.

However, it brings into the oper one of the ‘most * blame the deserted wife for the tragedy. I can’t”

| Sooner, rather than later, however, this thing will & have to be solved, in spite of the fact that the

|

that northern army and the squeeze that Germany »

the United States for Finland and the -

fF

x

. THERE MUST BE something.

quent; he pleads stress of work. Suddenly, he's back, ~

¥

»