Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 October 1942 — Page 22

e Indianapolis Times

RALPH BURKHOLDER Editor, in U. 8. Service WALTER LECKRONE Editor ’

Price in Marion Coun- . ty, 3 cents a copy; delivered by. carrier, 15 cents ‘a week. :

Mail rates in Indiana, $4 a year; adjoining states, 75 cents a month; others, $1 monthly.

Ep RILEY 5551

~

Owned and publishéd daily (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times Publishing Co. 214 W. Maryland st. 5

Member of United Press, Scripps - Howard - Newspaper Alliance’ NEA ‘Service, and Audit Bu‘reau of Cireuladions.

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1042 A BARUCH COMMITTEE FOR MANPOWER THE manpower muddle needs the Baruch committee treatment. : The problem of getting the right men—and women— in the right jobs at the right time is one of the ‘toughest this country has ever faced. And dne of the most important. » It hasn’t been solved, it isn’t being solved, and apparently it never will be solved by the present methods of approach. » ~ It is, like rubber, like food supply, like anti-inflation measures, like many another of Washington’s wartime problems, a victim of indecision, divided counsel and conflicting authorities. | “We can raise an army and navy big enough to win the war and at the same time provide the war industries, the farms and the essential civilian industries with workers. We ‘can, because we must. But to do all that we must have a master plan for the use of manpower. And though the need for such a plan has been evident for many months, though Paul McNutt’s war manpower . commission has been in existence for nearly a year, no “master plan i is in evidence. ~ 2 = | ; 2 8 = . 4 Rai is not to single out Mr. McNutt for special criticism. Nbt until last week did the war department issue any adequate statement as to the size of the army it intends to raise and equip. There has been little co-ordination between the manpower commission and the selective service. And it is true, as Mr. McNutt tells congress, that he has no power to compel employers or workers to obey his orders. Mr. McNutt wants compulsory-service legislation, and promises that a proposed draft will be submitted to the president within two weeks. But his own managementlabor policy committee contends that such legislation is not yet necessary. The big labor organizations take the same stand. And the Tolan committee of the house argues persuasively that until there is better machinery for mobilizing manpower, an attempt at compulsion would only cause } mreater chaos. » » » AS yet, in oul opinion, most Americans are not convinced . of the necessity for drafting workers, and emphatically are not convinced that compulsory service would be applied intelligently. This whole subject should be referred to a non-political committee of unbiased, thoughtful and public-spirited men, not necessarily the same who served so effectively on the Baruch rubber committee, but of comparable caliber and prestige, with instructions to recommend a master plan and a real solution. That would take a little time now. But “in the long run it would save both time and trouble.

THE DRYS WILL TRY AGAIN

THANKS to the leadership of Senator Alben W, Barkley 7~ and to the good sense of a majority of the senate, the Josh Lee prohibition-for-soldiers amendment has been given _the whipping it deserved. 7 ' The senate voted to refer Senator Lee's proposal to the military affairs committee, which is already on record as wanting no part of it. } So, let us rejoice. But let’s not slip into an attitude of that’s-over-now-we-can-forget-about-it. Mr. Lee and other drys, who are old enough to remember the evils of the noble experiment but just don’t give a damn, will come knocking at the door again. : Of course, they won’t propose national prohibition—at first. They ‘will just want to protect “our boys”—who, it - strikes us, are themselves doing the only, protecting that is of value right now. They'll use this-dodge and that in trying to slip a wedge under the right of American troops pnd American civilians to enjoy a glass of beer or a highball. So, just keep an eye on them. And don’t forget the aame of Josh Lee, the ex-boy-orator from Norman, OKla., ‘who tried—and will try again—to ride to fame on a proposition which his colleague, Senator Tydings, aptly called the “Capone amendment.”

KAISER ON COMPETITION ENRY J. KAISER has reduced the man-hours of labor in constructing a 10,500-ton victory ship from 900,000 to 375,000. That's how the 10-day record was set. He expects to reduce the man-hours to 300,000. And here is his most interesting and significant comment , ., . that he doesn’t expect to hold the record. “I don’t think we will he out in front very long,” he says. “I certainly hope not. This is something America can do. It is America. That's what we live on—free competition, something we have on all our enemies. And that is how we will beat them. We constantly devise new means of producing with less work, so we can produce more. “For example, right now we have a cement plant producing five million barrels a year. We have every method and time-saving device available and are constantly advancing. Even if Japan furnished labor free for a competitive plant we could still compete.” ' 5 Stressing that costs are lowered in ratio to the competitive system’s ability to reduce the man-hours required for building a product, Kaiser warns of industry’s tendency to depend on “help from someone, or from government,” and ‘he also warns of the deadening influence of monopoly. | Free play of the competitive system, ~unhampered by rnment subsidies on the one hand, or monopolistic | 3 on the other, i is indeed the American way. And

-tonners is the living example |

Fair Enough”

By Westbrook Pegler

NEW YORK, Oct. 23—Have it| 1

your way, and you may be correct in hoping that ‘ex-Justice James F. Byrnes will give an intellectually honest and non-political administration of the office of di- ' rector of economic stabilization, but you have to judge him by past performances and -that opinion which he read in the Teamsters’ - case runs dead against you. Imay

harp on it, but it is terribly im-

portant to all Americans, for it constitutes a-license for a brown shirt army to prey on the whole community, subject, of course, to some molestation by local prosecutors, most of whom, however, will be of the party in power and thus political partners of the goons and not likely to trouble them much. Moreover, the local prosecutors take their law from the supreme court and they would not want to prosecute a goon for extortion, as such, under a state law, knowing that the supreme court, speaking through Justice Byrnes, had sanctioned and sanctified the same thing under the definition of legitimate union activity and under another law.

"Why Should They Work?'

HOW DOES THIS opinion constitute a license to a brown shirt army? Well, if a gang calling itself e union, as in the Teamsters’ case, has a right to stick you up on the road when Jou are delivering a load of produce and make you pay tribute without offering to work for the money, as Justice Byrnes admitted the teamsters did, what is to prevent other gangs from adopting the same racket under the same immunity everywhere? Why should they work for a living or for the war? Suppose you are running a little shop or a store. Along comes a member of the gang and says he wants $10 a day from you. You say nothing doing, so he comes back with some more of the gang and beats you up, so you pay and pass on the cost to your customers through increased prices. Certainly you have local laws against assault and robbery, but remember this gang is a union -and that the supreme court has held that congress recognized this kind of doing as legitimate activity. Did the teamsters really beat up people? * Let Justice Byrnes answer that: “There was sufficient evidence,” he said, “to warrant a finding that the defendants . . . did use violence and threats to obtain” money from the owners of each truck entering New York.

‘Refused to Work for the Money"

DID THEY REFUSE to work for the money? He answers that question, too, in these words: “In several cases, the jury could have found that the defendants . . . refused to work for the money when asked to do s0.” - Chief Justice Stone, dissenting, said: “There is abundant .evidence . . . from which the jury could have concluded that . . . the payments were made « « « to purchase immunity from the violence of the respondents and .for no other reasons; and that this was the end knowingly sought by respondents,” meaning the defendant teamsters, many of whom were not workingmen at all but common, low-down criminals. He added that “when the anti-racketeering act was under consideration by congress, no member of congress and no labor leader had the temerity to suggest. that such payments, made only to secure immunity from violence and intentionally compelled by the assault and battery, could be regarded as the payment of wages by a bona fide employer, or that the compulsion of such payments is a legitimate object of a labor union, or even was made so by any statute of the United ‘States.”

The Teamsters Come Through

WHAT ELSE? ve : Well, old Dan_Tobin, the head man of the Teamsters, is a kiver-to-kiver New Dealer and no wonder, after that Byrnes decision, and his council has decided to spend out of the kitty containing $1,500,000 of idle money -as much as may be necessary tc elect a New Deal congress. And the A. F. of L. is demanding an “investiga-

tion” of Thurman Arnold, the assistant attorney gen- } eral who brought the action against the teamsters in

New York, for daring to challenge the right of unions to commit highway robbery. Do you think I am overdrawing this and needlessly casting doubt on Mr. Byrnes’ fitness by reason of his past performances, before he has a chance to get started on a job that means everything to all of us? I certainly hope I am.

Editor's Note: The views expressed by columnists in this newspaper are their own. They are not necessarily those of The Irdianapolis Times.

Our Pioneers By Richard Lewis

ADD LeGRAND CANNONS new novel, “Look to the Mountain,” to the list of American literary greats. In scope and power, it is an epic, told in a rugged, straightforward style which falls occasionally into pungent vernacular, An epic implies heroes. Mr. Cannon's colonists appear heroic to posterity, but not to themselves. The first pioneers in New Hampshire, they faced a job. of heroic proportions and they had to be of heroic stature to survive. : Whit Livingston left the snug town of Kettleford to find a home for himself and Melissa in the no ern townships of New Hampshire province. Back |in Kettleford, there was no more room: for a young man to make a start in life. In sight of the sunlit slopes of Mt. Chococura, on whose misty summit Whit felt “sartin” Indian spirits dwelt, the young man chose 100 acres, more or less, of rich interval and forest land, marking the corners by the giant forest trees,

ps a Nation , WHIT carried the half-frozen Melissa the threshold of their dark, cold cabin, they . were 20. By the time they were 30, they emerged from the pioneer stage as New England farmers with two young sons and a team of the finest oxen in

Ta h township. longer did Melissa have to spend the long, bitter pcs alone. Neighbors had come. The town of. Sandwich had grown. Already, they had held the first election. And at a place near Boston the farmers hed fired on “Britainer” troops. Whit couldn’t remember the he of the place, but history recalls it as Lexington. . The most impressive feature of this novel is the absence of the usual balderdash which clutters up so many pioneer novels. Whit and Melissa and the

folks who carved their futures out of the forest are |

entirely believable pegple who set forth into the wilderness without July 4 oratory on their lips, Pioneering happened to be the business they were in. If they were successful at it, they survived. If not, they quietly perished. There is a genuineness in this work seldom felt in historical novels. For the first time, perhaps, you feel you know who the American pioneers really were. Mr. Cannon shows you with a singular clarity who - they were, for he is one of their descendants. They ‘were the kind of folk whom we have come to describe is Sue time us “ihe common man." They creates 8

RT

The Hoosier

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

Forum

“AID LAFOLLETTE IN HIS FIGHT ON DRY AREAS” By C. A. Wililams, R. R. 1, Plainfield

To you and you, Mr. and Mrs. Public with a human understanding, Senator Robert M. LaFollette is right in his fight against the dry zones being placed around army

year-old boys. If these boys are old enough to serve the nation, they are old enough to eat and drink the fruits of the nation. When a boy enters the army or navy of this nation he becomes a man and should be looked upon and treated as suéh. If these camps are going to be turned over to the temperance union or any other old maid generals it’s time for the camp commanders to step out and let them fight this war. It should be left up to the camp commanders to say what his soldiers may drink. +There are few boys but what are proud to live up to camp rules and regulations and there are not many camp commanders but what will stop anything that’s not good for his soldiers. Public, give Senator Robert M. LaFollette enough support to kill this bill so dead it will stay dead.

t 4 ” ” “YOU SOUND LIKE A STUFFY OLD MAID TO ME” By Mrs. J. H. Kennedy, ‘1515 Asbury st.

I read the letter of Mabel Taylor in your Oct. 15 paper and I must say that I didn’t think there were such people in America. Have you ever been married, bel Taylor? If you have, then you should understand what a joyous occasion it is. If you haven't, well maybe you are jealous because it isn’t your marriage that’s being celebrated.

You sound like a stuffy old maid to me.® Every since there have been weddings ‘there have been loud celebrations. So. why stop it now just because we are at war? Now is the time that we need every bit of joy and gayety we can get. Are we to go around with our chins on our chest and our eyes to the ground? I say no. merry while we may. I don’t mean foolish hilarity. But if people can

and navy camps for the 18 and 19-|

So please, Mr. and Mrs.{pe syre that it is a well grounded

Let’s be|say

(Times readers are invited their these columns, religious conexcluded. Make

your letters short, so all can

to express" views in

troveries

have a chance.’ Letters must

be signed)

§

still get a kick out of tooting car horns and go around the Circle when they get married, let them. And thank God that we stlll have the right and freedom to do so. As for banning car horns, that’s ridiculous. Don’t you think Indianapolis is too big for that sort of thing. We don’t need those saps that fly down the street with their horns going full blast. But ‘the motorist who gives a warning thot to the lagging pedestrian or the child crossing or to the unfortunate blind is in my opinion as necessary as a traffic signal. So I say that the next time you get ready to complain, Mabel Taylor,

complaint in the interest of us all and not some silly something that is doing no one any harm. And especially you. P. S. And I've been married years.

” 2 2 ‘PRESS SHOULD BE ASHAMED TO PRINT SUCH LETTERS’ By Virginia Victor Kelly, 5850 Forest Lane There have been appearing recently in the press letters from readers who object to gasoline rationing. One said: “We have more than plenty in our own backyard and rubber is the alibi.” Then he called on the” voters to punish the party whose lack of {foresight puts us in this mess. I am not concerned as to which political party he meant. He was incensed because he might have to do without gas and tires. Every thinking American knows that the purpose of gas rationing is to save tires. An easy way is to : “Let them drive their cars and when the tires are gone, then they

can walk.” But that is not the.in-

Side Glances—By Galbraith _

{ashamed to print such messages. In decency to those whol

telligent solution. We know that those tires will be needed long before new ones are on the market. We know, too, that millions of Americans are so unconcerned about the blood that other Americans are spending for them all over the world, that they cannot be trusted to make voluntary restriction of their driving. I have three sons scattered about in far-off places—I never know just

where—those boys of mine are prepared to give their lives if necessary to permit this selfish motorist. to retain the freedom that enables him to write articles| to the newspapers objecting to the war policy of his government. How long would he last in Germany? : He wouldn't dare breathe such. a’ thought. even to his immediate family circle. |. Yet he is not capable of thinking of many mothers’ boys and their sacrifices, giving up their homes and loved ones, their jobs, and, yes, even their very lives. . They could find many more desirable ways to spend their lives, indeed. It is true we were not prepared for this war. It is.a war of machinery and movement and if we

had faced the world picture realis-{

tically and gotten [the machines ready, thousands of -American boys’ lives migh" have been spared. This administration cannot be -blamed for that lack of foresight. My boy who was wounded at Pearl Harbor wrote back lamenting that

the American people had not lis-|

tened to F. D. R. On nine measures of - foréign policy designed to prepare this country for war, practically every Indiana congressman voted “no.” My boys are now helping to Ss for those reactionary votes. This’ man-isn’t ready yet to sac-

rifice a little driving pleasure. Is it|

any wonder that some parents with sons in the service become bitter when they see such babyish letters in the press? . FP. D. R. is president, and he is so much better able to lead us than the selfish people who spend their

time hating him -and {trying to|} sabotage the war effort, that the|}

press ‘should weigh closely and be. selfish

are making real sacrifices, why not ignore the others? | Since there seems to be necessary a lot of hating to win this war, why not get our hate in the right place (our enemies) and utilize the balance of our emotions and energies to constructive effort and co-opera-tion?

Editor’s note: Mr Mrs. Kelly raises one interesting | point. The Times does not indorse the views of any. reader whose letters appear in this Forum. There still exists freedom of expression’ and this Forum is proof of that, Once more we call attention to Voltaire’s phrase atop this column. | 2 # | = “FRED BAYS MIGHT MENTION

THIS RECENT PUBLICATION” ’

| By O. F. Overstreet, Greencastle

Since Fred Bays has taken it upon himself to instruct the Federation of Clubs what to read, he might mention a recent publication, “Lin~ coln and His Fifth Column.”

DAILY THOUGHT Thus saith the Lord of hosts: If thou wilt walk in My ways, and iff thou wilt keep My ‘charge, then thou shalt also judge My house; and t also keep My courts, and I will give thee places to walk among’ these that stand by.—Zechariah : 3M.

Sue BUDS

‘Who saved her bas

| that

In Washington

Edson

A

By Peter

! i WASHINGTON, Oct. 23.—The * . easiest way to understand this new 5 per cent Victory tax and what it may do to you is to take a typical case and try to spell it out to show what happens to the 5 per cent the boss will start }

' taking out of your pay envelope ..

after Jan, 1,-1943. The typical case will show jhow you will get refunds, if any, for this deduction, and it shows how you get credit for the amount you subscribe for war bonds. and stamps, for the amount you pay in life insurance pre= miums, and for the amount you pay on debts cons tracted prior to Sept. 1, 1942. So take the case of one James (Jim) Dandy, mar~ ried, two children, earning $60 a week all through 1043, buying his home and paying for it at the rate of $30 a month, half of it being interest and the other half payment on the principal. Assume that Jim Dandy carries life insurance to the amount of $5000, which costs him $100 a year in premium. Assume also that Jim is having 10 per cent of his pay deducted weekly for the purchase of war savings bonds. Now this is, of course, a phony and incomplete. and’ maybe impossible budget, but it will show how this Victory tax thing will work.

First $12 a Week Is Exempt

IN THE FIRST PLACE, the Victory tax does not apply on the first $12 of every worker's weekly wages; People who earn less than $12 a week don’t have to

2.

pay Victory tax. But when Jim ,Dandy’s boss makes -~-

up the payroll each week, he will have to subtract $13 from $60, which is Jim’s weekly pay rate. That leaves $48. The Victory tax is 5 per cent of this $48, or $2.40 a week, taken directly from Jim’s pay envelope before he gets a look at it. - For the year 1943, Jim’s Victory tax of $2.40 a week for 52 weeks will .amount to $124.80. Jim himself will’ account for this money when he makes his first Vice tory tax return before March 15, 1944, making his cal culations somewhat as follows: Having contributed this Victory tax, Jim is theo~ + retically entitled to certain post-war refunds. Counting his family on July 1, he learns that he has one (1) wife. The entitles him to 40 per cent res fund. They have two.(2) children. He gets a 2 per cent refund on each, or a total of 44 per cent refund on the $124.80. This is the sum which Jim’s boss had already taken from ‘his pay envelope "during 1943; Multiplying it out, 44 per cent of $124.80 comes to $54.91, the amount of the so-called post-war reftind; Does Jim get this refund and if so, when and how? If Jim had no insurance, no debts, and was buying ne

war bonds, he could not. get this refund till after the war is over.

Get It Quick :

BUT JIM MAY be dead by then, so the Fo for him to do is take this refund as a credit against his income tax. To get this credit, Jim must show that he has made payments on insurance, paid off debts, a fought war bonds to an amount greater than In Jim's case, his $100 insurance payment is enough to entitle him to this credit, but he has in addition payments on the principal of his mortgage amounting to $15 a month or $180 a year, and he has been buying war bonds at the rate of $6 a week for 52 weeks or $313. total is $592, but las far as saving him money on his tax bill it is mostly window dressing, for all it permits him to do is get credit for his refund of $54.91 now, instead of having to waif till after the war is over to collect. The way Jim gets immediate credit for his $54.91 is ‘this: Jim’s boss took $124.80 out of Jim’s wages as Victory tax. Jim is entitled to a refund of $54.91. Subtract the latter from the former and you get $69.89, which is the real amount of Jim's Victory tax, Jim can realize on this $54.91 refund on March 15, ‘1944, by entering this sum as a credit claimed in’ advance on the payment of his regular income tax on his 1943” earnings.

Talk About Headaches!

AT JIM’'S SALARY of $60 per week, gross, his regular income tax would be around $160 a year—say $164.91 to make it easy. But since he is already credited with having paid $54.91 too much Victory tax, Jim can deduct this $54.91 from the $164.91 and

.he can get by with an income tax payment of only

$110; neat. What the Victory tax amounts to, “therefore, in part payment of income tax in advance. It lightens the income tax you pay year-after-next by making you pay a little more the year before. Maybe that’s one reason for calling it a Victory tax. It’s a victory for the tax collector, only he’s going to have his troubles when he tries to explain all this complicated and confusing business. Talk about headaches. Wait till pre-March 18 1944, 5 0 4

A Woman's Viewpoint By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

WOMEN SCOUTS from the war production board in Washinge ton are traveling about the eoune try in a so-called educational effort to inspire, scrap contribution from housewives. ¢ If this were not so expensive it would be funny, for there is something humorous in the grasse hopper begging the ant for help, And certainly the ants of our time are the homemakers. They are the only native Americans who have ever f material things. Most of them are both sentimental and sensible, and so they hold on to the used gadgets they have loved and put aside items which they feel might be useful later on. Today their trash is handy tuft for Uncle Sam and the men have sent out an"SO3 for it. Winter has descended upon our male grasse hoppers and it's a good thing everyone didn’t listen to the pet theorists of those who have been Preagiis ing waste for a decade.

You Can't Make Character

‘IT USED TO BE PAINFUL to move about the country, because the sight of good used cars filling scores of vacant lots, of half worn material piled in

- junk yards, and of farm implements left to rust and

rot in all kinds of weather outraged our housewifely instincts. Having been taught by a grandmother threads, there was something outrageous in the sight of such universal carelessness, We are eme from a period which will be noted in history for its crack-pot economic ideas. The de struction of food stuffs and of machine will be ree garded some day as a major scandai—because, what<f. ever new political ‘isms may teach, thrift, like Vs is a fixed virtue. What's more, it must be bred into a people, ; , You can’t produce character, as

| guns, by working double shifts and ‘cause we were rich and su

have wasted our mbsience like the prodigal beliavior We afe wiready Jving to ! ‘The war will ) back ihe clock of time. I at i end.