Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 September 1942 — Page 20
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~ rmmaz, SEPTEMBER 11, 1942
THE RUBBER REPORT’ THE Baruch committee has done a magnificent job on
rubber. Its report ought to shock the government into |’
jmmediate action and the people into willing acceptance of the stern measures that so obviously are necessary. Among
them: .Nation-wide gavoline rationing to cut down use of
tires “A strictly enforced ‘nation-wide speed limit of 35 miles an hour. ‘Compulsory tire inspections. : A complete reorganization and consolidation of - government agencies concerned with rubber to end the present division and conflict of authority. A strong and capable rubber administrator, appointed by the chairman of the war production board, with full power—. To “bull through” and speed up the present syn-‘thetic-rubber- program, enlarging it but substituting no new processes for those already adopted. The: people knew that fumbling, bumbling and confusion had made a mess of rubber. That is why the president had to appoint the Baruch committee. Now the people are tod that the situation has become— taken immediately this country will face both a military
and a civilian collapse.” ¥ 8 ” # THE men who say that are not reckless alarmist. Elder Statesman Baruch probably knows more about wartime production problems than any other American. President Conant of Harvard and President Compton of Massachusetts Tech are renowned scientists, experienced seekers after truth. These three have had the assistance of the best specialists shey could find. Their conclusions cannot be brushed aside. The report won't please everybody. It won't be liked by those who think they have a right to drive as usual if they live where there’s plenty of - gasoline; by politicians too soft to ask the people for sacrifices; by farm-blockers who want to set up, as a competitor of the present synthetic program, a completely independent program to use grain alcohol ; by pepole who keep rushing in with new synthetic processes and want everything else stopped. But we believe it will appeal to all who realize that this country’s most important two jobs right now are to “keep our armed forces fighting and our essential civilian wheels
turning.”
The Baruch Feport | is a blueprint for getting those jobs:
done.
F.D.R. PASSES A LAW RESIDENT ROOSEVELT has passed a law forbidding employers to pay double-time wages for work done on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.as part of a five-day, 40-hour working week. ‘This law—Mr. Roosevelt calls it an executive order— probably will be widely popular. “Penalty double-time” pay for work on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays is something that labor unions demanded, and many got written into contracts, in times when employment was scarce and labor was surplus. Most people think it an utterly absurd brake on production in war times. Farmers, in particular, have been outraged by it. - Months ago the top officials of the A. F. of L. and the C. 1. 0. promised Mr. Roosevelt that all their unions would surrender “penalty double-time” for the duration. Some unions have kept the promise, many have not. In at least one: case a C. I. O. union which kept the promise was de‘feated in a plant election by an A. F. of L. union which
told the employees it would see that they continued to get:
: “penalty double-time.” So now the president has passed a law aking it awe from all unions. ;
” ”» 2 (CONGRESS would have passed such a law long ago, if Mr. Roosevelt had not steadfastly opposed the idea of congress passing any law affecting the “rights”—or even the wrongs—of organized labor. : Coming just now, the president’s new law is ammunition for those who are trying to persuade congress to put ‘tight ceilings on farm prices but leave control of wages to Mr. Roosevelt's discretion. They can say: “See, the presi-
dent can be firm with organized labor. He can hold unions |
_to their promises. To be sure, he hasn’t said how he will : stabilize wages, but here is evidence that he means business. Trust him to handle these labor matters with his war powers.” ‘We think congress will be a sucker if it falls for that line, It isn’t a question of congress trusting the president. It’s a question of congress doing its duty. . ‘Making this country’s laws, whether they affect labor, agriculture, eon-
tracts, or what have you, is the duty of congress, - not. the |
duty of the president. Why is congress getting all the blame for the failure to stop price inflation? Because yielded to Mr. Roosevelt's wishes, left wages to “handled by him, and then tried to protect agriculture
. So dangerous that unless corrective measures are |
Ri
2 sharp demonstrations of the great power that Mrs, Eleanor Roose-
' NEW YORK, Sept. 11.—In the | - - last few: days we have had three}
velt wields over the lives .and cn
fortunes of the American people. "First, there was the so-called
congress of the militant youth of} 53 nations in Washington last{ .
week under the nominal auspices :
‘of the International Student
Service, which is Mrs. Roosevelt's | | own. youth movement, as distinguished from the} Catholic and other youth ‘movements. Mrs. Roose- |
velt’s own youth movement is. a descendant, by a £ devious line, of the Communist front youth fakes | W\! with which her bumptious friend, Joe Lash, has been | \i
associated, boy and man. for a dozen years. Zed Last week a lot of youths assembled in Washing-, ton, loud, ballyhoo was sounded, and President Roose-
velt. then gave Mrs. Roosevelt's New Deal youth front |
the highest recognition by delivering an. important speech to the assembled delegates. Ar On Labor day, the. president, in both his speeches,
advanced the proposal that. individual incomes should.
be taxed in such a way “as to give ‘the practical
‘equivalent of a top limit on an individual's net in- : come, after taxes, approximately $25,000.” :
Originated in the U. A.W.
MRS. ROOSEVELT first indorsed this plan s as wg constructive suggestion” last April, a few days after it had originated in the United Auto Workers of the C.1.0., the same organization which struck the North American Aviation plant in Los Angeles before Hitler attacked Russia and at a time when tne Communists in this country were doing their worst to cripple the effort of the American people to arm for inevitable war.
The president, himself, denounced the commu- 5
nistic inspiration of this blockade around the plant and sent troops to disperse the rioters and provide
safe and free access for American: workers to their
war jobs. It was never a real strike; but only ¢ an attempt by agents of a foreign power, meaning Moscow, to keep the United States and Britain helpless in the face of Moscow's ally of the moment, Adolf Hitler. - The unioneers turned patriotic after Hitler struck
Russia, and last April proposed the $25,000 limit on | :
individual incomes of Americans.
What the Fine Print Revealed
THE UNION BOSSES offered, in return, to-“fore= |{-
go all demands for double pay for Sundays and holidays and time and a half for Saturdays.” This offer sounded so generous that naturally it aroused suspicions. These were soon confirmed. The fine print revealed that the unions would waive such extra pay as to workers whose two days off per week occurred between Sunday and Saturday. Naturally, in the course of their regular five-day, 40-hour week, those workers would work Saturdays and Sundays, and would not deserve overtime pay, but there were hardly any of them, Mrs. Roosevelt thought this $25,000 limitation was very nice, and a few weeks later the president offered the idea to congress which rejected it on the ground that it set a top limit on individual earning power. So now he has rejiggered it slightly, substituting a tax to accomplish the same effect. It is still an original contribution by a group which tried to disarm the American soldier, but Mrs. Roosevelt gave it a big boost and the president has offered it to congress twice, this time in the imperative voice.
"The Lady Is Overmodest" -
THIRDLY, IT WILL be noticed that Paul McNutt, after many {false starts, finally has ordered that workers in certain industries in the West and Southwest be forbidden to change jobs without obtaining, in each case a “certificate of separation” from the U. S. employment service. The certificate will He. very hard to get. This follows Mrs. Roosevelt's line, too, for, also. during the month. of April she sounded the first proposal of the administration that “all of us, men and women in thé services and men and women at home, should be drafted and told what we are to do.” Mrs. Roosevelt explained that this conclusion -had come from “a very interesting discussion. Sunday afternoon in the White House.” Mrs. Roosevelt is overmodest when she insists that : she is only a private citizen who wields no influence on the government. The lady is oné of our rulers and is the author or co-author of some of the mest drastic changes in the status of the American people under their government. ;
On the or Fool
By Leland Stowe
MOSCOW, Sept. 11.—Ever since the time, early in the Spanish war when Nazi bombers wiped out the Basque village of Guernica, killing hundreds of helpless civilians, German planes have been ravaging ‘cities’ and towns from one end of - Europe to. the other. ‘" "This war correspondent has yet to encourage a single German prisoner who has given as much as a
hint at any regret over the con-|
sequences. Now from inside Germany comies interesting testimony to the effect that the Germans cannot’ take it with anything like the relish with Wale ‘they have been dishing it out. : ‘Apparently the RAF’s SOHNE and ‘summer bombings of the Rhineland’s industrial centers have at last impressed many Germans with what aerial ‘de-
struction means—what their own fliers have. beerig,
doing to Spanish, Polish, Norwegian, Dutch, Belgian,
| French, British, Jugoslav, Greek and Russien homes
over a period of more than four years. Anyhow, this letter comes from Darfeld, near
‘Duisburg on the Rhine. It was written by a German | ‘woman on July 28 and found on the body of Willi
Rocky where he was on the Rzhev front recently. .
Queer That They Don't dike It
‘THE ENVELOPE WAS made of cheap, thitek paper and the handwriting such that in German: script it took a few minutes to decipher. about air raids in Germany “The Tomi (mean 3 a awful io; of
-
appeared a letter written by me in
and the fences are in good condi-
F¥% wowpropuse to take up ons of
Side Glances—by Galbrs i
The Hoosier Forum
1 wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.
“AN AMATEUR BLUEPRINT FOR OUR BASIC ECONOMY” By Raymond H. Stone, 531 E 56th. st. Here is an amateur. blueprint for our basic economy.
First, we will win trade by trad-|
ing and protect it by force of arms when attacked. Second, 45 degrees W. to 165 de-
in the air by adequate two Jocean navy backed by Jand-based; 10
Pie resumption of ‘specie payment by the treasury’ on demand. wow ow “WE FARMERS FIND OURSELVES BETWEEN TWO PINCERS” By Horace Chadwick, Morristown In this column on Aug. 8th, there
which I stated that from my own observation and from information received from others, I had learned that, all over the country, on those farms that are occupied and ‘operated by their owners, the buildings, as a rule, are unpainted and the ferices are run down, while on those Arms that are owned by persons. who live in the cities but are
occupied ‘and’ operated by tenants, the buildings are ‘newly painted
tion. I stated that, in my opinion, this condition of affairs is
living and have no surplus for painting and fence building while the city owners of farms having other sources of income than their farms have a surplus which enables them to. keep their farms in
my opinion, this state of affairs is due to two laws of long standing.
grees W. we will police at sea and|
| protective tariff law. «ve
at | mild affair compared. to our’ present
rich, and of course contributed lib-
due to theit fact that the real, the “dirt,” farm-|’ ° ers make only enough for a bare|:
tip-top order. I also stated that, in|
{Times readers are invited fo. ‘express their views in these columns, religious controversies excluded. Make your letters short, so all ‘can have a chance. Letters must be signed.)
those laws and discuss 1t as. briefly
: We had no ‘protective tariff till the Republican party‘-came into power in 1861. With Abe. southern members of ‘congress on’ “vacation it was an easy matter to pass a protective traff law, but it was 8 very
tarift law. About every 10 years there has’: ‘been. ‘a ‘revision of’ ‘our tariff law and each time: the. Thites were increased. The manufacturers received ‘the benefit of this protection for many years and as & consequence grew
erally to the campaign funds of the Republican party. After a number of years the wage earners conceived the idea that they were entitled to a share of the “swag,” and “organized ‘their unions. These unions at first were weak but grew steadily stronger. With the} incoming of our present. administra-| tion and the appointment of Madame Perkins as secretary of labor,
the manufacturers behind the ‘pro-|, tective tariff law walls, hd he
on farm products the farmers receive no benefits therefrom. : The farmers of this country produce a surplus of all leading crops. That surplus must be sold in foreign
reduces the prices on the portion sold in this country. to We world level. When the New Dealers came into power they realized the sorry plight of the farmers. They. proposed that the farmers should boost. the prices of their products by the killing of young pigs and by the plowing under of grain crops. They paid the farmers a bonus for raising fewer
This bonus has. been nearly a billion dollars annually, for several years. , . One thing the. New ‘Dealers - did not seem to realize is that when the production of goods - is lessened by high tariffs: and ofher restrictions, the prices of those- goods will ‘be raised to such a point there will be be sold and as a result there will be
upon our farms. This is Just what occurred in this country: And then the New Dealers conceived another bright (?) idea. They granted pensions out of the U, 8. treasury to all unemployed persons. Just. héw much has been paid in such: ‘pensions I do not know. I
farm. It is not easy out.here to get at statistics. 3 ‘All of what I have “tried to narrate has proven that the New Deal bas followed a course that made ‘many votes for a third term, but I 1do not think it has produced general and well distributed prosperity. . . . »in- 8 “PEGLER’S FEUDS HAVE NO PLACE IN THE PAPERS” By Norman Glenn, Frankfort y. We may not agree with ‘the ‘other
O|sellow but we do like to know his| o-
opinions upon major topics of today. However, we like these opin-
unprejudiced way and. not in .bitter sarcastic satire that tells of personal grudge. is this disgusting when the writer is a jour-
| will “see ubiquitous armies -of
markets at world prices, and that
animals and planting smaller crops.{
unemployment in .our factories and}: ’
own, live upon and operate a small}
ions to be given in an intelligent, |
SOMEWHERE IN AUSTRALIA, Sept. 11—With American
.
| night with Africa’s endless fires burning in the ’| all around them—burning ‘in order ‘| juicy enough for deer, buffalos, harte
new
that new | artebeests and ¢ wild beasts will spring up in its place. They learn to recognize the minute noises of the. f ; ‘ upon. maneuvers and learn to call the jungle by its native name,
| “Poli.”
~ Por the first few days they will continue wearing
| their sunhelmets after 4 o'clock in the afternoon, un- °{ mindful, as newcoiners, that taking them off is as
wana Swahili, ‘that Arablc-based lingua Franca of the central lake peoples.
‘Never a Blow Struck!
THE YANK IN the Congo will learn to take quinine twice daily and hope that with the chief source of this protective drug in Java cut off by the Japanese, the cinchona orchards, started in the well-run neighboring former German-Belgian man= date of Ruanda Urundi and around Lake ¥ soon yield the remedy. The soldier will learn to respect the
[ing natives and the native commissioner in his jpnely task of taxing and administering the tribesmen, Th soldier will never see a blow struck by White Aghia}
-1 black.
And even the ordinary private may get 5 ‘chance
| to meet Consul General Patrick Mallon of Cincinnati,
bantam-weight American diplomat and one of the ablest state depar@ment officers in the world. Mallon has gained the confidence of the Congo’s ‘governor by a combination of native wit, dignity and consistent refusal to ask any favors whatever for. his government. What was the nature of negotiations bringing United States troops to the Congo is still unrevealed but it is certain that it would have been impossible without the groundwork which began when Mallon arrived from Singapore about four years ago:
"Peace This Time Must Hold"
IF THE YANK in the Congo resembles his brothers elsewhere, it will interest him profoundly to observe whether and how soon the American war department, state department and navy department will take the initiative and begin working out a system for the anent defense of the Congo ‘along such lines as Caribbean and British possessions ‘leased ' for protection under the pre-war destroyer exchange. In the far vaster panorama of the ‘Pacific where it is clear that only a permanent system of air and naval bases from “Australia through Singapore . Cavite can push back and hold the Japanese, _— problem of making Pacific defenses on an enduring scale having been overlooked before the war is still being only unofficially discussed because the hostilities themselves interfere. The threat to the: Congo, however, is still far enough away to permit io} ‘term plans. - One fixed demand of the American .soldier everywhere on foreign soil is that peace this time must hold. And anyone talking with him soon discovers that the soldier hopes that his leaders will create a system which give him permanent political preparedness, as in leased Atlantic bases, rathyr than emergency summons to unprotected quarters’, of the globe—like the Congo.
Peter Edson is on vacation.
A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson
2 :
exaggerate: when “she says that “chaotic conditions will prevail un"less ' housekeeping burdens: are
Ing into war industry. In many places they already prevail. It looks now as if the Ameri home would be our ‘most . tragic war casualty. Women all over the nation should concern themselves with ways of ‘holding is tottering walls together %0 that it éan be fully Te stored after the struggle ends.
a housemaids and mothers are being taken out or - homes, ‘A mother is forced ‘to consider her 1 no matter bow much she may. wish to help the war effort. There are only three ‘methods. of procedure. open to her: She will have to let them roam the streets,
look after them. -
‘A Vicious Economic Circle . Cd
UNFORTUNATELY, AT present there are not half ‘enough nurseries to fill. our needs. Gn top of his difficulty, thousands of working women to do sir housewok or “t
RC = fo S
nomadic Bangalas, the lower river people, or King-
both Protestant and Catholic, in their work. of es.
MRS. ROOSEVEL T does vio :
lightened for women who are mov-
. "The situation presents knotty problems. With in- SFA
gr Jock them 1 Gay Wiese or Bire mew fo. |