Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 December 1942 — Page 18
| PAGE 1¢ The Indianapolis Times
ROY W. HOWARD RALPH BURKHOLDER President Editor, in U. S. Service MARK FIMREBE . WALTER LECKRONE Business Manager Editor (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1942
U. S.-.CANADIAN PARTNERS
FTHE U. S.-C anadian agreement on post-war economic aims ~~ and Foreign Minister Eden’s statement to commons on peace problem: are welcome evidence that the governments are not repesting the 1917 mistake of postponing reconstruction plan: until after the armistice. Winston Churchill’s Sunday broadcast, stressing the prior task of winning the war, had aroused fears that the planning job was being pushed aside. Now it develops that Cordell Hull, with his usual happy combination ¢f the ideal and the practical, is trying to translate into 2 ction the laudable generalities of the Atlantic charter. On (he principle that the way to begin is to begin, and the place to begin is near home, the secretary has been carrying on negotiations with Ottawa.
Of course the plan is not complete. It will require elaborate dotting of I's and crossing of T's by the executive experts, and e' ontual ratification—in part at least—by the legislative bodi:s. But already there has been sufficient meeting of mirds to produce a formal agreement:
“To co-operate in formulating a program of agreed action, open to participation by all countries of like min |, directed to the expansion, by appro‘priate inte: 1ational and domestic measures, of production, en: loyment and the exchange and consumption of goods . .. ; to the elimination of all forms of discriminai ory treatment in international commerce, and to the eduction of tariffs and other trade barriers; and, n general, to the attainment of all the economic ob iectives” of the pact of Aug. 14, 1941. n
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” " s HUS they « xtend the wartime Hyde Park and Ogdens- . burg agree nents, revive the reciprocity treaty principle which Canada ejected in 1911, and project a closer Cana-dian-American partnership.
This is a ar cry from the system of British imperial preference, wh ch Canada accepted in 1930 te the detriment of American &1.d other trade relations.
As is to le expected from anything Mr. Hull has to do with, this 's no exclusive setup by which two nations hope to create their own little haven of co-operation at the expense of the rest of the world.
On the con irary, it is open to “every other nation or people of like mind” who wish to join for their mutual advantage “tl 2 betterment of world-wide etonomic relations,” and “enduring world peace.” The reaso 1 the United States and Canada are starting it is that the, “seek to furnish to the world concrete evidence” of how it can be done. Vo We hope the Washington and Ottawa govermments succeed in this great experiment, and set an example for others. We | lieve they can,
"NO. 1-1071-"LOF-5-NOBU-COS-WPB
YES we hae no idea what that means. Except that it’s the title of a war production board questionnaire demanding infomation from manufacturers of cosmetics and drugs. : But “No. 1-1071-PLOF-5-NOBU-COS-WPB”—if only it were easier to pronounce—might become a slogan almost as popular-as “I>cmember Pearl Harbor!” -
For, afte: taking a look at that sample of bureaucratic inquisitivenes, Senator Byrd's economy committee has oted a full investigation of the great Washington quesnnaire ind istry. - And not vi. minute too soon, either. . .
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“PAPER work” is swamping the country. Every federal agency, apparently, is free to broadcast commands for information without any “Please” whenever its ecoomists feel 1112 urge to compile a new batch of statistics.
Big businesses, in this time of manpower shortages, must employ whole regiments of clerks to compile reports for the gove: nment,
The own rs of small businesses have to burn the midnight oil. < And or nary citizens are getting quiz dizzy.
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Certain!" the American people are eager to give their government :ll the information it really needs. But there is every evidc-hce that the government is demanding a huge volume of information it doesn’t need; that in many cases two or three or more different agencies are requiring reports on the same subjects, and that most of the question‘naires are uinecessarily long, complex and baffling. f J AT best, here is a tremendous waste of time, money, paper ail ink. At worst, as Senator Vandenberg said in _ sponsoring fe investigation, many people suspect that the ~ government 's storing away data “to be resurrected at some later day for some ulterior purpose.”
bo So, except in the bureaucracy, there will be applause for the dete: mination of Senators Byrd and Vandenberg to make every government agency “tell what it does” with _ the. questionnaires and reports it requires from business ‘and the people generally. .. - And it's encouraging that Secretary Morgenthau and * Budget Director Smith, as members of the economy committee, and ag ced to the investigation.
That indicates that the adminstration, itself, feels con- : give effective help in curbi the inquisitorial
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Fair Enough
By Westbrook Pegler
NEW YORK, Dec. 3—Our marvelous moving picture industry has portrayed most phases of our life and politics, exaggerated some of our faults, but it is beginning to seem odd that it has never done a show dealing with the greatest domestic problem of the time, namely, the growth of our subgovernment under the New Deal party. We have interesting and historic material here and the total avoidance of the subject suggests that the art of Hollywood is politically sensitive and, not to use a harsh word where a milder one will do, a bit of a trollop.
The national government, itself, could not be E
expected to turn out one of these documentaries, at public expense, portraying the persecution of the ‘helpless individual worker and the harassment of the employer by the professional unioneer in league with the labor relations board, for that would be bad politics and all our government propaganda has for its first purpose the glorification of the policies and practices of the party in power.
It Would Be a Super-Duper
THE SORT of film that I have in mind would be one of those supers on the order of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” which portrayed the United States senate as a gang of scoundrels and cowards. My film certainly would touch up the subject of communism and sprawl out over the whole field of graft, brutality, rioting, intimidation, the movement of goons across the state lines to blockade legitimate industries, boycotts, waste and the collusion between the boss unioneers and the national government of a country which, in spite of all this, has the gall to contemplate a draft of labor into the closed shop or its variations. :
And Here's the Pegler Scenario
MY SCENARIO would start with .a common American, one of the little people as they are condescendingly called, and would show him harassed at his work, spied upon and tormented in his home, on the street and by phone, lied about, beaten and thrown out of his job because he wouldn't put himself in the hands of some remorseless Muscovite from out of town or pay $100 and a heavy income tax to a crook of the type of Mike Boyle. It would show a young shyster from the labor board tormenting the employer because he had the American gumption to tell the people in the plant that the unioneer was a Communist or a grafter and, by this exercise of his constitutional right, had put himself afoul of the Wagner act. It would demonstrate that this act is a fraud on the American people in that it viclates its own piously stated purpose by compelling our little man to accept a bargaining agent whom he did not want and certainly would show a few of the gaudier drunks tearing up money at the national conventions of the A. F of L. And it would not fail to emphasize the blood relationship between all this and the “Party ¢f Humanity” as the gorillas called the New Deal at the third nomination in Chciago.
History That's Been Neglected
NOW THIS is important American history which has been developing in ‘our midst all these last 10 years and yet, such is the state of our arts that not a single frame of the scene has ever been put on movie film, nor a fiction book nor a play produced about it. : I did hear of one play on the subject but, whether because it wasn’t a good play or for ulterior reasons, it never was put on the stage. It is not inconceivable that if a good play were written the unions would refuse to man the cast or the house and that a similar censorship would prevent such a movie, but as to the movie, that would be a secondary boycott. The first verboten is the movie industry which is playing along obediently and agreeably with those who, like Henry Wallace, believe that the rights guaranteed by the bill of rights can be practiced to excess.
To the Very End
By Donn Sutton
LONDON, Dec. 8.— Grapevine gossip that “Germany is cracking up” and “the war will be over by spring” is being. circulated by the Germans themselves—for foreign. consumption. Nazi secret agents abroad are i known to be instigating whispering campaigns about Germany's “rottenness within.” Rumors of EN serious unrest inside the Reich : ; are being planted in and relayed from “neutral sources,” a now-familiar German propaganda technique. . The Germans thus hope, it is said, to pull out of the North African-Russian fire a complacent slow-up in the war production efforts of the allies and an increase in the grumbling of civilians who have been deprived of many of the pleasant things of life.
The Army Men Are Under No Hlusions
MILITARY ANALYSTS here, however, are convinced that only a direct physical attack upon Germany proper—and a crushing defeat administered perhaps at the cost of hundreds of thousands of allied lives—will spell victory for the united nations. It is recalled that even though 50 German divisions may have been smashed in the Russian fighting and several others demolished in Africa, Hitler always has been credited with having 320 divisions under arms—which leaves him still with a great reservoir of manpower for the continuance of the war. Realistic observers here believe the Germans will go on fighting to the last because of a mounting terror of the fate that might be meted out to them by victorious and vengeful enemies—the tortured Poles and Czechs, the wrathful Russians, the blitzed Britons, the humiliated Scandinavians, the exploited French, the hard-boiled Yanks, -
‘Young Matriarch’ By Stephen Ellis
G. B. STERN, the British writer, is without doubt one the world’s most prolific penwomen, There must be some two dozen novels to her credit, at least four books of short stories, several plays and some volumes
classified as “belles lettres.” But, by all odds, the most charming and intriguing of all her works is the continuing saga of the Rakonitzes, that amazingly flamboyant family which delights in tearing each other apart in family feud after family feud, but which can present the most solid family front in all literature when one of them is attacked from the outside. i All of which leads up to the fact that Miss Stern hgs just issued her latest in the saga, this one “The Young Matriarch,” bringing the clan from the postwar era right up to Dunkirk. ; I think it’s needless to point out Miss Stern exquisite skill in this type of portrayal. Anyone who
has ever read “The Matriarch” knows very well how |
much warmth and vividness she can put into her certainly
THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES — ‘Birth of a Beautiful Idea
eh als
The Hoosier Forum
I wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.
“WHY DO SOLDIERS HAVE TO BUY WAR BONDS?” By a Young Reader, Danville
In view of the argument about soldiers in the United States army having to take part of their fighting wages to buy war bonds and stamps, I would like top say this much: Isn’t it enough that a soldier gives his life for the liberty and happiness of this country without having to put their money into bonds and stamps? They, in all probability, bought bonds and stamps before they were inducted into the army. Not that I am against buying bonds and stamps—I am not, it is strictly o. k., but I do think that we can get along very well without the soldiers having to buy bonds and stamps. Think this over and I think you'll agree,
» ” » “WON'T YOU HOUSEWIVES SHOP IN THE DAYTIME?” By Rebecca R. Shields, Allison Engineering Co.
There is a situation existing regarding shopping conditions which can be remedied, but only by cooperation of the customers. I am a widow employed in a defense plant 48 hours a week which means that beginning with Monday night I really have only four more shopping days until Christmas. Last night (Monday) at 6:30 p. m. I went to a counter where Girl Scout materials are sold to purchase some gifts for my two daughters and since there was just one woman ahead of me I thought it would take only a small time to make my ‘purchases. However, this woman was about 30 minutes in making her purchases (she evidently had not decided what she wanted before she got there). I do not believe that she was a defense worker, first because she was wearing two beautiful diamond rings and a diamond wedding ring, and second because her appearance showed that she had plenty of time to dress and her unhurried manner showed that she had plenty of leisure to shop. (When you work in a defense plant you usually dash downtown without a hat because coat rooms are too crowded to wear your hat to work, and you don’t have much time for good grooming.) Now I know that this customer had a perfect right to go shopping
'By Lieut.
(Times readers are invited
to express their views in these columns, religious conexcluded. Make your letters short, so all can
Letters must
troveries
have a chance. be signed)
on Monday night but I don’t believe that she would have if she realized what a hardship it is for many people to buy and how tired and rushed the clerks are. Restaurants are crowded because all the shoppers are downtown to eat and many times the wives of men employed in defense plants may take the evening out to meet “hubby” and have dinner “out.” Many times I have given up eating until I get home around 9 p. m. because I hated to waste precious minutes waiting to eat. Wor’t you wives or unemployed women please help the women and
girls. who do work by doing your)
shopping in the daytime? We will certainly appreciate it.
8 a" «] HOPE 1 GET MY CHANCE TO HELP EM OVER THERE”
James W.
Pickett, Va. Yesterday being Thanksgiving, I couldn’t help but think of my home (Indianapelis). Naturally when one thinks of his home, he remembers his home town newspaper, When home, I used to write you once in a while in regards to the Hoosier Forum. Since that time, I have been wondering what was being printed in answer to the questions and speeches on the actions of the American soldier. In some of them I remember a few people saying “Where are we going to get these trained men to fight the soldiers of our enemies?” Well, I just wish it were possible to answer those questions now. I wonder if they're still thinking that a soft American could not knock hell out of those whom he has to come in contact with. . . . At present there is only one thing that worries me—that is those that
are over there now will mop ’em
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stories. And as the years pass she - seems
Side Glances—By Galbraith
Henricks, Camp
‘ |this struggle
up before I can get in a chance to help. ... » sn » “WHAT'S WRONG WITH GETTING A CHIEF FROM OUTSIDE?” By A Little Business Man, Indianapolis.
I think you are to be complimented for keeping us posted on this police chief situation. I voted for the Republican party myself, but I did so in the belief that they would clean up this mess in our city hall and not give us still more of the same. If there is nobody on the police department suited for this very important job, what is wrong with bringing in a man from outside?
tJ » # “LET'S QUIT GROWLING AND FINDING FAULT” By Osear Houston, Elletsville
Gentlemen, get “your petitions of protest ready. Get our congressmen on the job. We already have sugar |and coffee and fuel on the ration {list, meatless days are just ahead, gasoline rationing is here, But of all things, the order has gone out to ration shirt tails. They are to be three or four inches shorter. While that in itself is another invasion of our constitutional rights ‘and privileges, personally I feel it will give me a break because I am about shirtless anyway. I have long since been detailed to make new collars to repl#te the worn out ones. Of course it will work some hardships on me because the life of my shirt depends on the length of the tails both fore and aft and it will greatly reduce my wife's production of replacement collars. I have said all along we would be lucky to win this war even with the loss of our shirts. According to Senator Willis we have already lost our fleet in the Pacific. The senator got that over the grapevine route and lent it his support by publicly announcing it for political effect. It’s time we think more about the boys at the front and a great deal less about self. The boys that are facing real hardships and sacrifices, meeting our enemies face to face and without complaint are fighting and dying that we may live and be free to breathe the pure air of God’s country. If our boys are willing to make the real sacrifices common decency suggests that we quit growl-
‘ ling and finding fault with every-
thing we are told to do to help win for freedom and decency. yx ” 2 » “ABOUT TIME THESE PEOPLE LEARN SOME RESPECT” * By John Karr, 736 Lexington ave.
I have a son who left a good job, a wife and home and enlisted in the U. S. navy. He came home last week on his first furlough. He bought a round trip ticket on the . « » railroad at Chicago. After his furlough was over and he wanted to go back, he could stay one more night by riding the . . . streamliner, but was informed that this train did not cater to men in uniform and would have to buy a special ticket. which he did and was refused a refund on the ticket which he held. I think it is about time some of these people, who because of their jobs are exempt from service, are taught .to have some respect for service men. ; If the U. 8. uniforms were good enough for men like Washington, Grant, Lincoln, Roosevelt and the boys who fell in Flanders they ought to be good enough to ride on a lousy railroad train.
DAILY THOUGHT
Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong.—Joel 3:10.
THURSDAY, DHC. 3, 1048 In Washington By Peter Edson
. WASHINGTON, Dec. 3.—Don' be surprised if Gen. Charles de Gaulle is invited to show up in Washington one of these days, for the affairs of the organized Frees \ or Fighting French versus the exVichy or Admiral Jean Darlan French in ‘North Africa -are becoming so involved that only a direct showdown can resolve the differences. From a “neutral” American point of view, it is possible to appreciate how Gen. de Gaulle can have no love for Darlan, and in the same breath it is possible to justify the deal which Lieut. Gen, Dwight D. Eisenhower made with Darlan in North Africa. That deal unquestionably made possible the speedy American occupation of North Africa and it saved thousands of American casualties. But in trying to reconcile de Gaulle to this course of action, the Americans and the British have to negotiate with a most difficult personality, That is where much of the trouble comes in. The Washington grapevine on de Gaulle is that he has become exceedingly hard to get along with. Even some of his most ardent followers say he now sure rounds himself with pictures of Napoleon and has a complex.
He Has Become a Symbol
BUT IN ALL the belittling of de Gaulle, one of the greatest difficulties is that de Gaulle has become ) a symbol. He was the first and almost the only .
[ French general with guts enough to fight.
At a time when other so-called French leaders
were collaborating with the Nazis all over the place, de Gaulle wanted to keep on hating Hitler, and you can’t kick a man around too much for that. If there had been no de Gaulle there might have been no figures of stature 1&rge enough around which to rally the Free French movement. Now known as the Fighting French movement, it has its official headquarters in London and operates through a French National council
Where the Trouble Probably Began
ALL THE members of this French national coun= cil are known as counselors instead of ministers. - Bu§ if you were asked to name any one of these top men, you couldn’t do it to* save your life and that is the tipoff on how much standing the Fighting French movement would have if de Gaulle, as its head, were lopped off. All these members of the council are in the same position as Tom Jefferson, Jim Madison or the Adams boys back in 1776. What standing would they have had if there hadn't been a George Washington around whom they could rally? It is not disrespectful to suspect that the men in the French national council in London may not be of the stature of Jefferson or Adams, for many of de Gaulle’s own troubles would seem to stem from the pulling and hauling among his counselors. Since he was a symbol and the only hero the Fighting French had to rally around, it was perhaps natural that he should become the head of 8 'movement and fall into the clutches of the politigians who would insist that he demand recognition (and stars \ yanking him around in every dire€tion. Gen. de Gaulle’s troubles probably began there.
Shakier Than Ever
By Thomas L Stokes
WASHINGTON} Dec. 3.—Morale in Italy has suffered a. more severe blow from the R. A. F. raids than might be gathered from the clues available publicly, it is ine dicated here. Peace demonstra= tions recently in Genoa, after one of the devastating British raids - there, are symptomatic of a hys- : teria which, it is believed, cere {tainly is prevalent in other big : centers of attack, Milan and Turin, Reports are coming in that Mussolini is ill and that his son-in-law, Count Ciano, is cooling off to« ward Germany. ' Ciano, it is said, failed to go te Berlin recently when invited. An analysis of reports brought back by British fliers show two symptoms of weakness in Italy: 1. Her air defense apparently is inadequate, a® indicated by the very low percentage of British losses, 2. Her cities .apparently lack adequate air-raide shelter systems, which not only is creating public de mands for protection, but also undoubtedly is cone tributing to the panicky situations that develop.
Railroads Disrupted by Bombings
GERMANY IS reported dispatching additional anti-aircraft guns to her wobbling ally. But Gere many cannot devote too mueh attention to Italy, bee cause of her preoccupation with so many other fronts, One important result of tlie British raids is that the derangement of the Italian railroad system, I$ has complicated Germany's problems of getting ma« terials into Italy for transshipment ta the North African front. At least one newspaper in Italy, “Core riere Mercantile,” has frankly admitted the inability of the railroads to meet this added burden, Reports keep reaching here that there are stretches’, in Italy where the populace would offer no resistance to an invading allied army, and Germany undoubte edly is cogniZnt of this vulnerability.
We the Women
By Ruth Millett
SHE CALLS herself a “Victory Girl” and is proud of the title, What she really is— pitifully enough—is just a silly little high school girl who, lacking in judgment, experience, and common sense, thinks the war is excuse enough for a girl's going off the good standard. : All over the country there are girls messing up their lives while they are still too young to realize the stupidity of their wartime philosophy. In New York, former Magistrate Jeannette G. Brill recently warned that schools and parents must get busy and control this nation-wide wave of delinquency,
Young Friends Are Best Friends $
PARENTS OF 15, 16 and 17-year-old girls should have a flat rule that they can’t date any one, except home-town boys they have known for years. Not that a young man isn’t a safe date for a girl just because he happens to be wearing a uniform. But servicemen are too old for young girls. ~ And neither the girl nor the parents have any way of knowing much. about a soldier or sailor who is only { a transient in the town. : To take the place of dates with strange servicemen, parents should see that their daughters have a lively social life with kids of their own age. Parents who assume complete responsibility for the
behavior of their teen-age daughters instead of throw.