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

Editor, in U.S. Service WALTER LECKRONE

Brice of Marioh. Coun

ty, 3 cents a copy; deliv |

ered by carrier, om a week. h

‘Mail rates in Indiana,| $4 a year; adjoining}

states, 75 cents a. month; others, $1 monthly.

= RILEY 551

. Give Hans. and the Penile. win Find Their. own. Wor :

Alliance NEA

SATURDAY, ‘SEPTEMBER. 12, 1942

His views are a hot actly news. The papers have made

Bo bold as to predict, time and again, that the teen-age

d not be invaded before election day. Perhaps that 4s unduly cynieal on the part of the press, for there is a ‘justifiable reluctance to take these boys, So new to the razor, and put them on the firing lines. - -But a great many undesirable things are necessary in is war. The fact is that the army would greatly prefer the resiliency and stamina and recklessness of youth to the sagging, brittle specimens of which the more mature ‘brackets of the draft yield too many. : The fact probably is, friend, that your 18-year-old son could: lick you: So==¥ho will do the better job against the pemy? a Of course it wil be tough to call up these kids." It’s ough to have to call up anybody. But there is this about t: If our sons must be inducted, most of us would rather bee it done early enough for them to get a- thorough traing and hardening before they go into action. “We: hope: the president, in deciding when to call the 8s and 19s, will heed the advice of the army rather than %he autumn jitters of his political counsellors, who it is

quite possible are dead wrong, anyway, about the Ballot-hox

parts of a Yeen-age draft.

(CHURCHILL FORGETS BURMA DRIME Minister’ Churchill told commons that “the situation in India at this moment gives no occasion for undue despondency or alarm.” Not so long ago he felt that way about Malaya and Burma, until the easy J apanese conquest with native aid.. Just ‘what will have to happen in India before Mr. Churchill begins to worry about it, and do something effective about it, is hard to.understand. According to. his own statement upward of 500 persons have been killed there; not counting the thousands injured and imprisoned. He deScribed- what is occurring there as “a revolutionary movemen 7 He .gaid the “communications” of the military forces. guarding the Assam frontier have been “especially |. attacked” by nationalists, who: may have been “aided by Japanese. fifth-column Work. ” And he spoke of Jap “inva‘sion not far o ' el Americans wold suppose that this official pléture was ‘bad enough to “alarm” even Mr. Churchill. On the contrary, he reported, this situation. “is, on the whole, reas-

8 # 8 8: Ae OR -Mr. Churchill to think that India is safe while the nationalists are in revolt, that it is not necessary to )egotiate a truce for Indian unity to help win the war, gems almost as fantastic as Gandhi’s original idea of saving India and China by talking nice to the invaders. . We Americans may-not know much about India, but do "know that’ similar Churchill policies and reassur3 ces failed to save. Burma. We do know that the Burma failure has: jeopardized China and the ‘entire war effort against Japan. We do know that the object of the United tates in sending American troops and munitions to India, “Mr. Churchill’s request, was not to get caught in the ndian-British conflict; it was to fight the Japs. The British government has two obligations. It must eet force with force in an effort to curb ‘nationalist vio ice and sabotage. That it is ‘doing. ‘But it must also find

jome compromise - .agreement with the more reasonable] §

tionalists, ‘who ave réported ready for -a united effort pst the Japs. That it is not doing. If the Churchill cabinet cannot convince the Indian

ple that this is their war—as the Russian people, and | & ‘Chinese people, and the Filipino people believe this is|

their war—only the 2 axis will profit bys that failure. That

£700 MUCH TIME E'RE delighted to hear President Roosevelt promise ick action on. the Baruch committee’s recommenda-

including ‘the appointment by Monday of a rubber,

ministrator with full powers. It will take time, as Mr. Roosevelt said yesterday, to up the machinery for nation-wide gasoline rationing. not, let us hope, too much time. h time that the machinery wouldn’t get into operation il after election day.

Leon ‘Henderson's office of - ‘price administration, the

authority, is said to be still working out details, ‘a job, of course. But the OPA has had extensive i with: gasoline rationing: in ‘the’ Eastern states. Jenderson became an advocate of nation-wide rationing y months ago. He knew it ought to come, and he and

on in .

Not, for instance, so

‘own street, had such cards. =N that men who warked: in’ defense: plantsswere being he oe ad EE On Ee re i a a at L assistants must have done a lot o g about -how | take | h3t into effect. Sf na ue Ts anrious | :

: CE Sento La NEW YORK, Sebi. 12.—~It would .

be good for our nerves to face the

really allows and that the 2 instinctively permit this to be one 4

Aa, wore he formation out of the pape

out for the strict letter

of every i be Sr Ios Th ‘and the Japs by losing the We suspended some of our

-| man world war and got them back soon afterward. | 2

fact that whenever our country gets | 2

In 1933, whether or not with sufficient reason, we got | i afraid of ourselves, afraid we were on the point of | 3

going nuts and demolishing our own house, and were

willing to place in the hands of a new and plausible | Fess but untried set of national leaders, who were com- | {i

parative strangers to us, powers of government which

normally were reserved-to the states and other sub- | ‘ divisions of the people.

The States Became Parasites

THAT CRISIS MAY have been exaggerated but, |

anyway, it worked and we got into an easy habit of expecting Washington to mow the lawn, wind the clock and change the baby. The states became para-

sites on the national government and masters of the |

mendicant art of moochery and even fell to preying on ‘one another through a tangle of Balkan taxes on interstate commerce. We were still -in that weak frame .of mind when this new fright, the war, blew. up and it was easy

to go the rest of the way, giving the executive branch

of the national government powers over us equal to its tremendous responsibility to us. “If this natiorial government should lose this war for us we would be pretty sore at all concerned, from President Roosevelt on down, but we are sensible? enough to understand that in order to run the fight with the. least possible interference, the government must be ‘able to give orders in matters in which normally it would be presumptuous of the government even to make requests.

Even "Antis" Are Going Aling

YOU FIND THIS acquiescence even in men who are red-hot anti-New Dealers. I have in mind the remarks of one of those on the subject of the price and wage controls. He realized that this would blast (® the constitution. to confetti, but he said inflation would be worse and he was willing to go along, trusting to the people to reassert themselves after the victory. What right has the national government to step into a sovereign state of the union and tell a man who has built a dwelling house for a rental income property that he. must not charge more than so much. rent? Why pick on him? Why not tell a newspaper publisher how much he may charge for advertising space or single copies sold on the streets? The answer is that it isn’ right to regulate any such prices, but that, nevertheless, the people are willing to stand for it wherever the : government, charged with the duty of winning the war, decides that ‘Tegulation is necessary in the interest of all.

What Else Is There to Do?

“IN NORMAL’ Cr Would. ‘all yell overs a and Hitlerism ‘and we would’ be ‘dedd right, but there you

‘are again with your popular instinct to put the con-

stitution in methballs for the duration and a bit. I doubt that anyone likes this sort of doing, except our bolos and pinkes and those administrationists who always did. think the people needed managing, but I suppose you have noticed that those anti= administration. papers: which Were yelling for controls and a firm-labor palicy have had no criticism to

offer on constitutional grounds of the -ideas which

the president has set. forth in his two orations on Labor day. You can’t ‘have controls ‘and a decentralized, strictly constitutional government, too, but if you don’t have controls Hitler stands a better chance to

lick us and, licked or not, we surely would have in-

fasion,

*

Not A Fable

By S. Burton Heath

~

>

WASHINGTON, Sept. 12— This could be the fable of the

ensign’s father who demanded a |

~B card. In that event, it could be told as follows: Once upon a time, on the east ern seaboard of the United States of America, there lived a man in early middle life whose beloved

college in the midst of a terrible war. This man’s son enlisted in the naval reserve, and immediately upon graduation he was commissioned an ensign. And - went away to fight for his country Now this father, and his wife, were: very proud of Now: son, and of their son’s desire to help save his country from destruction and although they were too. old to fight, themselves, they too wanted to: help, | $0 ‘when their country decreed that those who lived on the eastern seaboard must confine themselves: to ‘four gallons of gasoline + week, to save transpor;ation: of our war pirposes and to save rulber. for the use

of fighting men, this father and mother consented |f) | = = willingly, never dreaming of trying to chisel a. few |} more gallons of gas by making a fuss about. nos being I

able to get to fheir summer camp. wy Playing the Axis. Game

IN

BUT SOON this father, as he waited for the omni 1 bus to take him to his work, noticed “that almost| |

every automobile that passed had a B card or a. C

card, permitting its owner to have exira- gasoline).

His subordinates, including some who! lived on his

‘| conclude : that whatever heaven is}

| helps out a lot. Why doesn’t it ap

‘lup all indulgences stored up within

son was graduated from a famous |:

—possibly because they didn’t understand it. Aviation, as an arm of modern warfare, has had to force: its ‘achievements ‘down the throats of those Sharer

a ; | with the hanagement of warfare, Ti This Is an Idea War

| FOR THE. FIRST 10 or 12 months of this war

| ‘we were flooded with cockeyed estimates of what. Hit-

The Hoosier Forum

1 wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say fi=Voltaire,

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, religious controversies excluded. Make your letters short, so all can - Letters must

THAT ‘ABOMINAL’ LAW, PRINCIPLE AND PRINCIPAL—

Robert S. Thomas, minister, First Yyterian church, Lebanon pan ny Te. Even

Don’t worry, Mr. Tages! the angels make mistakes—so how could a newspaperman know the} difference between “principle” and “principal,” even if he was astute enough to catch the humor in Senator McBride's published horror|

. have a chance. be signed.)

“|brightest of whom will some day

over the “abominal” merit principle (note spelling), in his column of The Times issue, Sept. 9th. Some of the rest of us wondered, too, if the senator's incorrect spelling wasn't probably indicative of some other things about his qualifications as a “public servant.” But, when Mr. Isaacs spelled “principle” “principal,” one has to

abominal merit sys

designed for newspapermen and politicians, ability to spell correctly isn’t a prerequisite for entrance thereunto; and in the same manner, ministers don’t have to’ depend on not splitting infinitives, or refrain from ungrammatical errors to get, into paradise. But. I hope to high heaven that having a social conscience is such a prerequisite—and there Norman Isaacs and The Times part company from the senator. For an editorial policy which attempts to interpret social issues from the point of view of the “trow-dodden” and oppressed, The Times is tops—relatively speaking, and Norman Isaacs’ column

who is right.

haven't seen him since,

pear more frequently? ; If it doesn’t then Westbrook Pegler’'s ' inconsistent skimmings from the top of the hetereogeneous stew he calls his mind may so sub-|3 oo tract from The Times’ accumulation of merit as eventually to use

above referred to.

the pearly gates. So beware, for I'm afraid that the newspaperman’s Gehenna is hotter than the place all hell-box’ contents go to. : But there are no absolutes—and I'm sure the senator's righteous mn-|¢ dignation’ over the heresy of the “abominal” merit principle (at least: he spelled that right) is pretty well rationalized in his own mind. maybe even he has a chance. ! Yours for ridicule of fat (or fat sounding) politicians. The best way to clean up politics is to laugh at ‘politicians who need cleaning up. By Grafton 'M. Atwater, Greemeastle

j 'I''see in the Tuesday copy of your paper in the Hoosier Forum

Side Glances—By Galbraith.

a letter written by Claude 8. McBride, state senator, Jeffersonville, Ind. The heading of this article is as follows “I have always opposed

" Now the purpose of this letter is not to take any part in this argument of for and against the merit system, “There may be two sides to the question and I do not know

For 20 years I have been a country school teacher here in Putnam county and I have never met this Rowland Allen, nor Ketchum nor even Governor Schricker, aithough|® the latter made a speech here in the country school one night in 1940 and he talked like the right man for the job so I voted for him and

The reason 1 am writing you this letter is to call your attention to a misspelled. word in. your column It is possible that Mr. McBride sent it to you with the wrong spelling and that your proofreaders did not find it, but I hardly think so, he being a senator from. three counties. I am afraid the fault is with your good paper and ‘this is the first time I have caught you in a mistake of so

as I have spelled it above. My copy So,|of Webster's is 20 years old and

“belly.” It is easy to. ‘understand that “abdominal’ refers to the abdomen ‘or “belly.” “Abominal” could have no such derivation, even under|s

the .most liberal construction possible. . It is my opinion that a serious mistake in the use of the English language has been made in your paper. In the interest of our students, who have just now started back to school and will be our ‘future citizens—yes and some of the

sit in the state senate—please make public correction of this very obvious and : serious mistake.

Editor's ‘Note: Senator MeBride’s spelling was followed by The Times. In two places, he used the spelling “abominal” in one other “abominable.” The Times, Mr. Atwater, made no: error. “THERE OUGHT TO BE A 5-MILE BLOOD DONOR LINE” By John . A Frjend, ‘Ex-National Commander, Ex-Prison War Association, World Wer I, Greencastle . - It gripes me to see the Red Cross ad in the daily papers of Ingdianapolis. ‘Why, there ought to be a five-mile line waiting 24 hours a day to donate blood to our wound, ed and dying! “People by the thousands about the city streets daily, their happiness, liberty and freedom protected by the boys fighting their war; sure it’s two or three thousand miles away, but it’s still our fight and boys are dying on hospital cots just because some are afraid to be stuck in the arm for a pint of blood. To donate, iT simple, just step into the Chamber of Commerce building, go to the second floor and tell the Red Cross girls you want to donate, they take your pulse, temperature, blood test and heart

you get orange juice and are laid on a cot, a needle in the arm that doesn’t hurt and then the tube with the hollow needle. It doesn't hurt enough to even flinch. . . . Now 1 appeal to you one and all who can possibly spare the time and have good blood to donate and

PAMILY MEN ‘WANT ONLY

It was simply following

action, ask a few questions, -then| fatter pay envelope have upon a* decision to

‘honest answers are given no group

save ope who is keeping the Japs| {snd Huns away from the U. 8. 4 4

ler; was going to do and what he couldn't do. That was all defensive thinking. We dwelt on calling the axis outfit the "BEEressurs.” That, to me, was nonsense, You've got to have runs w win ball: games, anid you've got to make runs only while your side is batting. In war, you can take your turn at bat without waiting for the enemy to tell you that it’s your turm This is an idea war—a war of making full, efi< .clent use of the machinery and science all around’ us Genghis Khan's horses were all around him ‘an‘ths grazing lands. He didn't build horses. He had them, and he merely used his imagination. ‘to employ them effectively. - , It’s a quick, hatd-headed survey of projects still in the experimental file that will present the answer for a shortened war.

Vast Numbers of Small’ Planes 1 DON'T SEE néw we can possibly evade Arying

"present ground army in: the air, not in big Planes, but in vast number of small planes, Any man with normal vision, able to pass: a draft board physical examination and to qualify for a motor car driver's license can be taught to pilot 3 light airplane. We all know something of the grand morale of the marine commando groups. : Just imagine what it ‘would mean if they: were assigned as the nucleus of America’s flying. army— flying light sifplanes--Ameriee's air cavalry. -

! ‘Peter Edson is on vacation.

A Woman’ S Viewpoint By. Mrs. Walter Fargusoh

FROM. MANY sommitiel 4 come reports of a. teacher short age. Hundreds of rural schools will be closed this winter because 3 thetpi ain nd women to preside in PD This, coupled with the dis+ : torbling news from large cities " about ‘neglected : - babies: whose ‘mothers are doing industrial work, brings home a painful fact, Children are the chief sufferers when . their. elders make War, " “The need for increased military production presses upon the hearts ‘and minds of everyone. There is a powerful’ urge within us to: tackle the ‘main job so that victory may be won quickly. And it is not surprising that women, mothers. and teachers Ane cluded, ‘should share the feeling. “- Srey G

many of them unconcerned about the welfare of today's children. Yet what shall we gain, if, in wins ning a global war, we fling away the basic’ materials needed to build tomorrow’s democragy®.: : FF 2

"Let's Have Truthful Answers’

THE GREATEST treasure of our. country is not its ‘material wealth nor its productive possibilities, nor even its manpower. ‘The cradles of the nation contain our. intangible riches: ‘whose worth. cannot be “esti

determined

3

and decent homes.

troubling question: How. much influence - one your job? It is not a polite question, I admit, wholly

“It is generally conceded that men g0 where they can make" the most’ war to save civilization doesn’t change i

Barta, 1013 Thiriendh: $6, Washingion, O er

tion can tier 2 wn 0 risers of wat

out the business of putting a large section of our

“Today millions &f Americans dre coktonted. by. a