Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 12 November 1942 — Page 21

re Indianapolis Times

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

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1942

GOOD NEWS FOR HITLER YESTERDAY was Armistice Day. | = In Indianapolis five thousand union men refused to work on vital war construction jobs—because the Govern‘ment of the United States would not authorize time-and-a-‘half pay for the “holiday.” Out of a week full of gloom in Berlin and Tokyo that ftem must have been a bright spot of cheer. Forty thou‘sand hours of American production—lost forever. Time ‘enough to have built 100 barracks at Stout Field, where American soldiers need barracks. Time enough to have built an army bomber. Time enough to have built three army tanks. pl Forty thousand hours of work—donated, free, to Adolf Hitler. a 2 = 8 , 8 = ® . XW7ESTERDAY was Armistice Day in North Africa, too. © In North Africa American soldiers—some of them, no doubt, from Indianapolis—smashed forward across the desert toward the enemy. Some of them have had no sleep for 76 hours. None of them has had a day off in weeks. | Most of them are paid $50 a month. They did not get ~~ fime-and-a-half for Armistice Day. ® 8 = s = 8 | A T least five thousand members of building trades unions ~ 4% oh Indianapolis apparently do not care about that. They want time-and-a-half—or else. "If the leaders of the unions involved in yesterday’s disgraceful exhibition—and the members who tolerate such leadership—are trying to destroy unionism, and all the | good it stands for, they could hardly have chosen a better | way to do it.

GOOD RIDDANCE THOSE citizens among us who felt that members of the i German-American Bund might conceivably be Joyal Americans at heart have a lesson to learn from the trial of Charles William Soltau, the 33-year-old Indianapolis man ~ convicted here yesterday of draft evasion and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. _ Soltau’s testimony was brazen. He told the court that he and his parents and all his grandparents except one were born in this country, he conceded that they owed everythin they have to this nation, and yet he insisted: : “We owe a great deal to our German blood.” This is the insane doctrine that has led this world into the bloodiest war of all time, the doctrine of the “master race” which the Bund was determined to bring to the ~~ United States. E Federal Judge Robert C. Baltzell expressed the sentiments of every decent American when he said: “I have never seen a more contemptuous fellow in this court. I am going to sentence you for five years and I am going to do all that I can to see that you serve as much as possible. Take him out!”

= A MERICANS, in their jubilation over the armistice in French Northwest Africa, should not conclude that the worst is over. The task of the A. E. F. is just begun. ~The first step was taken brilliantly. There were three initial risks. In such a record-breaking concentration of ships, planes and troops there was danger that co-ordination would be imperfect—but there was no slip-up. There was danger that many of the convoys would be sunk by axis subs: or planes—which did not occur. Finally, the French might have offered major resistance to the A. E. F. as they d in Syria against the British—but the Hull policy had won over most of the French. ~ Just as the American plan operated on schedule, so Hitler countered with exactly the immediate moves expected of him. He threw German and Italian forces into strategic Tunisia; and he violated his armistice with Unoccupied France, which Vichy had sold its soul to obtain. So the first brief phase of the campaign ends with the allies secure in Morocco and Algeria, with the axis taking ‘over the remainder of ‘prostrate France and trying to add Tunisia to its weakly held Libya. > 8 = # 8 8 8 HE second phase will follow immediately, if it has not {already begun, in the battle for Tunisia and the battle for the Mediterranean, merging with the Libyan conflict. | The allies start with an advantage. Though Gen. Montgomery’s army from Egypt has ailed to catch Rommel, it has knocked out most of his forces and is chasing the remnant into Libya. From the t, Gen. Eisenhower's Yanks are racing toward Bizerte and Tunis in the north, and along the Algerian-Tunisian tor road to Tripoli in western Libya. : At sea the allied fleet is for the moment superior to ie enemy. The balance will be affected by what happens the French fleet, recently at Toulon. The Italian fleet probably more formidable than popularly supposed. : # #® ® T 8 fF J 2 'OBODY knows what Hitler will do next, of course. He might go all out to rescue Rommel, hold Tunisia and

sontrol the Mediterranean— which would involve diverting

ength from his Russian front and Western Europe. Or might drive on Turkey, to divert allied force from Africa d flank the Russian defenders of the Caucasus. Or he t violate his renewed pledge to observe Spain’s neu-

te stab at Ireland or England.

‘Whichever way he moves, we must remember that the

is still strong, still cunning. Just because the A. cornering him on one front, the British on 2

ty, 3 cents a copy; deliv- |

| part of Russia's motive in going to war.

Fair Enough . ;

By Westbrook Pegler

NEW YORK, Nov. 12—Senator |

Claude E. Pepper horned the keynote of much current speaking and thinking on the subject of our relations with Soviet Russia when he told the Congress of AmericanSoviet Friendship, whatever that: is, last Sunday that “it behooves us to be worthy of such a friend as Russia.” That kick-me-I-love-it attitude * runs through the utterances of Wendell Willkie and Joseph E. Davies, too, and this propaganda is running so strong that a challenge is in order. : The hard fact of the case is that Russia is fighting for her life and not for ours and has done nothing for us in this war. Everything Russia has done she has done for herself, and while it is very fortunate for us that Hitler was fool enough to tackle Russia and thus get his ‘armies chewed up by an opponent whom he, like the rest of the world, grievously underestimated, the truth remains that altruism was no

'What About Russia's Debt?’

June 22, 1941, was a lucky day for the United States and Britain, too, and the Russian people have been wonderful fighters on our side. Cordiality between the governments and peoples certainly is to the advantage of both countries and when the war is over, if there is to be any peace, Russia and this country -must get along. But what is’ the reason for this business of our debt to Russia, anyway? v What about Russia's debt to us? They were Americans, or many of the best of them were, and not Communists, either, who went to Russia and provided the intelligence that built up Russia’s industries, and a glance at the map will show that it is the fighters of the United States in the Pa-

cific who are keeping Japan too busy to attack

Russia now.

‘Took on Japs to Help Russia’

NO AMERICAN would be fool enough to say, nor any Russian fool enough to believe, that the U. 8S. A. took on Japan to help Russia, but it is just as silly to suggest that Russia has any other motive in fighting Germany than to annihilate Adolf Hitler, win back what he has taken and, presumably, to shove into Germany after the collapse and teach the German people a lesson they have been needing for a long time. Undoubtedly Stalin and the Russian people have been a little sore at us because we couldn’t get at the

Nazi while they couldn't keep out of his way. That |

is understandable, 4nd probably the heat will cool from now on as the war proceeds in Africa, and, as it is hoped, later moves over into Europe through Italy. How much war material and machinery we have sent them, or whether we could have sent more, the American people just don’t know because the government can’t tell us without telling Hitler, but it is a cinch the Russian people don’t know any more than we do about it.

'This Stuff Gets Annoying’

BUT IT COULD be mentioned that we would have been in a position to send quite a lot more if the dirty Communists in the United States hadn't engaged in deliberate sabotage of our earlier efforts to change over from the works and methods of peace to those of industrial war. . . Yet I don’t hear anything on the subject from Willkie, Davies or Henry Wallace, and I call to mind the fact that President Roosevelt let the chief conspirator, Earl Browder, out of prison where he belonged, as a means of ‘promoting unity. Since when has our justice, the beautiful free system in which even an enemy gets a fair trial before a decent court and an unbiased jury and hds the right to appeal, been intended to promote unity? Our system is intended to administer justice and has no other legitimate purpose, but this enemy within was given his freedom as a political favor. It is all right to preach amity and understanding between the American and Russian people, but this stuff about our great debt and our unworthiness of Russian friendship gets annoying.

Editor’s Note: The views expressed by columnists in this newspaper are their own, They are not necessarily those of The Indianapolis Times,

Frankly Speaking

By Norman E. Isaacs

THE REPUBLICANS who are doing so much talking about our “next” police chief are doing Mayor-elect Robert H. Tyndall no great service. As usual, the politicos are interested in getting a man in office they can “handle” and the general is being subjected to a constant battering of advice of all kinds from his “friends.” Let’s get some of this straight: : The merit law calls for the promotion to chief of an officer of a rank not less than that of lieutenant. Plus that, he’s got to have some merit training. What the politicians would like to do, of course, is to promote some patrolman or sergeant to lieutenant in the morning and have the mayor name him chief in the afternoon. What a violation of every spirit of the law that would be! oo It is already being told on the street corners that the present safety board has been asked to promote one patrolman to lieutenant right away. So you see this is not all gufl. .

He Wants to Be Mayor Himself

THERE ARE INDICATIONS that Gen. Tyndall doesn’t fancy this tricky footwork anymore than you or I do and that he is resisting the efforts to plant some stumblebum on his administration. If the Republican politicians were smart, they would be clamoring for an extension of the merit principle, for the appointment of the highest-caliber man on the force to be chief, and for a completely free, hard-hitiing police department to serve in the city’s best interests. But politicians are always the same, regardless of what party label they bear. “The one bright spot at the moment seems to be the general’s inclination to want to be mayor of Indianapolis himself. Po He has an opportunity of doing some real things for this city and if he’s so inclined, he’s going to get a lot of help from citizens who don't cotton to the two-bit ward heelers.

So They Say— We are approaching the point when the war fronts and the home fronts in enemy countries are ripening for far reaching developments. ‘Once the time has come to take the offensive and strike while the iron is hot, it would be folly to delay and over-prepare, and perhaps miss our opportunity —Prime Minister Jan Smuts of South Africa. * J » war calls are 8

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The Hoosier Forum

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

“FARMERS SHOULD QUIT JOBS IN DEFENSE FACTORIES” By A. T., Shelbyville.

If the farmers would quit their jobs in the factories and defense plants and go back and do their work instead of trying to hire men to go out to their farms and work for a dollar or two a day while they work in town for $8 and $10 a day and then holler that they can’t get help on the farm.

I say they should take these men in the army, they come in town and hang out at the beer taverns and pool halls and then can’t understand why they can’t get help. I am an ex-service man and would go back if I could pass, and would be glad to have a job in a defense plant. ‘I think all the men who fought for $1 a day in the other war should have a job making some of this big money now.

2 8 8 “NEGROES NOT GETTING A

BREAK IN INDUSTRY” By A. R. G., Indianapolis. I have been reading the articles in The Times for the last few days about the manpower shortage at Allison’s. Well I, as any other American, would like to express my views on the subject. First of all, this is first-hand information. I have worked here for the last three years and really can give you the setup behind this manpower shoriage. . . « It seems to me that a great deal of favoritism is played as to who gets this job or that and discrimination against the Negro is at its height here. . . . Now they say there is a shortage here and men can’t be trained fast enough to fill the jobs and yet there are hundreds of Negroes employed here as part washer and janitor who have enough training to enable them to fill in some of these vacancies and. relieve some of this manpower shortage which should not exist. They are bringing women in here by the hundreds and three-fourths of them, after receiving their training, are doing nothing but occupying space. Some of these jobs women can’t do and every time one of us colored fellows asks for a better job we are told that things would

(Times readers are invited: to express their views in these columns, religious con“troveries excluded. Make your letters short, so all can have a chance. Letters must

be signed)

be better for us in the future. I've heard this for the past two years. This is one of the reasons, and perhaps the main reason, why there always will be a shortage of skilled men here... . I'll probably get fired if they knew I wrote this letter, but it doesn’t matter, because I am quitting soon to seek employment along other lines, but before I go I most cer tainly would like to have you print this article. , . «

: 2 8 8 “NEGRO STUPIDLY LABELED IN NEWS OF THE DAY”

By Andrew William Ramsey, 147 W. 22d st., Fl.

It has been a matter of grave concern to me for some time to notice the disservice to national

unity and to the morale of the Negro citizenry of this country which the public press is rendering by its stupid labeling of the Negro whenever he appears in the news of the day. There seems to be a conspiracy on the part of the editors of these purveyors of public opinion to present the Negro as biologically, economically, politically and socially different. Why otherwise would the press play up the race of the actors in ifs news column when the race of the individual is not the news issue involved? Why such items as “Killed in the accident was John Jones, Negro,” “Negro Robber Sought,” “Set Rites for Negro Physician,” “Dorothy Maynor, Negro Contralto, to Sing,” “Negro Vandals Caught,” just to mention a few typical cases? It is notable that no other group in America gets such careful labeling. ... I believe that if we are ever to have that cohesion and unity necessary to win over the foes of freedom this policy (which The Times, once

Side Glances—By Galbraith

bulation through |

almost blameless, seems more and more to favor) must be abandoned for one of complete fairness and

courtesy. » 2 =

«YOU SEE WILLKIE ALL UNDRESSED FOR WHAT HE IS” By Fred Boyce, 1225 Reisner sf. Replying to Mr. J. Dinney, Columbus, Ind., your letter regarding the brand for Mr. Willkie is about two weeks too late, for you see he has already branded himself as a liar. “As you well remember his great and wonderful speech from coast to coast it went: The president is doing nothing. He is not sending materials to our allies, he’s not doing this or that. What should be done? And then like an explosion he opens up a second front with everything under God’s sun to fight. So my friend, you see the true Mr. Willkie all undressed in front of the whole American nation as for what he really is. . Oh, yes, I' almost forgot. The Republicans wanted to win an election. . . . : Mr. Dinney, you won’t have to worry any longer about Mr. Wendell Willkie’s brand for he has already done the job. . « « i” # 2 “WE HAVE THE BIBLE AND WHITE MEN HAVE THE LAND” By Ed Bayless Jr., 4928 Guilford ave. Recently I read a very interesting article written by an explorer who had just completed a trip through Africa. An outstanding excerpt from his report was the following quotation suppesed to have been the words of an African native. “When the white man came to Africa he had the Bible and we had the land. Now we have the Bible and the white man has the land.” Food for thought, isn’t it? 8 ” ” “PLENTY OF TYPEWRITERS IN ALPHABETICAL AGENCIES” By R. S., Indianapolis The army appears to be in urgent need of about 600,000 typewriters, and the government is asking that business firms relinquish all extra machines for that purpose. I wonder how many extra machines the average wel-operated business has. And I am beginning to wonder greatly just what the total would

1 be -of typewriters that government

agencies have which they honestly do not need. a I sincerely believe that most of the badly needed 600,000 machines could be painlessly extracted from

those federal offices would actually not notice the machines were gone for several days.

New York and in Washington. 1 have seen one office in New York that has seven machines, none of which was in use during more than an hour that I was forced to spend there. The girls were wandering about aimlessly, except two that were on the telephones, giggling to the party at the other end. I have visited the same agencies many times. I have rarely seen their machines in use. I have never seen as many as 50 per cent in use. EE SRE

DAILY THOUGHT But let him ask in faith, noth-

| ing wavering. For he that waver-

eth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.—James 18, :

some of these alphabet agencies. |: Likewise, I think that many of}:

My work has taken me to quite : a few government offices, both in|,

ln Washington

: |By Peter Edson

-

\ . WASHINGTON, Nov. 12.—The Washington farm lobby—meaning not the farm bloc in congress, but

pullers for the organizations of big farm operators as opposed to the small farmers and tenant farmers—has apparently started a campaign for the scalp and hide of Secretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard. ~The technique which the farm lobbyists are employing is an old one to Washington, consisting chiefly in spreading the rumor that Wickard is about to resign or be kicked out.

word of truth in this whispering campaign; but the

present an interesting bit of background on how this farm lobby—the most powerful in Washington—seeks to achieve its ends. In their effort to sabotage Wickard the big farm organizations are trying to make out

‘| that he is the man who should be blamed for the

Democrats’ setback from the farm states in the recent election. :

He Foresaw the Possibilities AS A MATTER OF FACT Secretary Wickard had

icies might have a few political repercussions, and the inside story is that as far back as last summer the

White House suggesting that in dealing with ceilings on farm products every effort should be made to step up food production for army and navy, lend lease and united nations requirements. . By paying tribute to the farmers’ demands it was felt that the anti-administration attitude of the farm lobby could be overcome. Instead of following this tact, the admjnistration set sail in a direct course heading right into the wind against congress for failing to put ceilings on farm products, with a general blast against the 75 per cent increase in farm income and the 85 per cent increase in farm prices.

: Greatest Attribute Is Courage

THERE IS NO real reason why the secrethry should be scared. He has fought the farm lobby before in all its grabs for more power in department of agriculture policies, and in opposing aid to small farmers and tenant farmers. Wickard is a real dirt farmer himself. He is today the youngest member of the cabinet. Wickard’s greatest attribute is his courage. At one time he suggested the 110 per cent parity ceiling. He did it because he thought that was necessary to get 100 for full parity. When the program of war showed that 100 per cent parity would be enough Wickard had the guts to say publicly that he had been mistaken. It was the first time that any political figure had ever admitted error and that is a record that probably will not be equaled soon.

In the Desert By Richard Mowrer

WITH THE BRITISH 8TH ARMY, Nov. 12. — Three dejected Italians this morning tried weare ily to give themselves up to us, but we couldn't be bothered. When they saw our car coming they stopped walking and one of them saluted hopefully—he obviously had been turned down many times before. There are so many would-be prisoners wandering around the desert now that you don’t pay any attention to them. You simply cannot be bothered. The advance is too rapid, and it’s all we can do to keep up with it. Throughout the daylight hours the main road is jammed with traffic going westward, yet there are no signs of the Luftwaffe. We haven't seen an enemy plane for two days except wrecked ones.

The German Officers Eat Welll

24 hours. We are wining and dining on the Wehrmacht’s supplies: Lots of beautiful canned tomatoes from Italy, highgrade sardines from Norway, Italian mineral water, French wines (grand vin I’Abbaye des Carmes)—we've found only empty bottles of Mumm; Cordon Rouge and Reims champagne marked “reserved for Wehrmacht, not to be sold”—spaghetti, a whole gorgonzola cheese, German gingerbread, salty biscuits, hazelnuts, almonds, German sausages and chocolate. We are eating canned produce from Nazi-conquered nations in Europe rather with mingled feelings than outright relish.

land way back at El Alamein—that German corpse now only skin and bones and uniform, that weird double row of dummys oldiers set up by the Germans to fool Australian patrols in the night, those piles of junk, clothes and equipment—we’ve been bitten by enemy fleas: I once looked down into an abandoned dugout and could see fleas hopping about on a mate tress. : We are moving on again. There is barely time to write, even. If we halt too long, that mass of traffic will overtake us again. Besides we've heard the

That's due west from here.

We. the. Woiren

By Ruth Millett

LS

for the young girl who is dating a

sense of humor. : She’ll need the sense of values

of a uniform and the impressive ready to risk his life for his coun-

love when she isn’t.

the young man. - : For the sense of humor is the best guard a girl can have against falling for the “there’s so little time and you're so lovely” line of persuasion.

They're the Old, Old Lines IT WILL STAND her in good stead; too, if the

. She won't be taken in by those old lines if she has enough of a sense of humor to see them for what they are. ‘don’t date them, most of them won’t have many dates) and they can help the soldiers have fun, too. But : let a uniform get the

the paid, kept fixers and wire .

It can be stated authoritatively that there isn’t a

motives behind the effort to have Wickard discredited

foreseen that the administration’s wartime farm pol- :

department of agriculture sent a memorandum to the

OUR STANDARD of living has gone up in the last.

More than anything else, though, we've got the . enemy’s. fleas. Ever since we crossed the old no-man’s- |

Americans have landed in Algeria and Morocco.

TWO THINGS are important

soldier—a sense of values and &

so that she won't let the glamour thBught that her young man is |

try, put her in the frame of mind where she thinks she is deeply in |

And she may need the sense of humor to cope with

young man gives her a “this is war” pep talk—or plays on her emotions by hinting sadly that he may never ° ‘}-come back. : Siemon a

Girls can have a lot of fun dating soldiers df they

4