Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 December 1942 — Page 22
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Memberof United Press, Scripps = Howard News-
Service, and Audit Bu- ~~ reau of Cireviations,
: Asc PROPOSAL
resulting in a strike—between a union; representing mu-
- Newark, N. J., and because there is a controversy between a union representing transport workers and Mayor La ~ Guardia’s board of transportation in New York City.
. public employees are unable to get fair treatment from
- tives of organized labor—are appointed, not elected, and
‘abundantly clear, have no right to strike—though we
. We are certain that congress never intended the president
ing communities. And the resentment of tens of millions
“cuipied islands of . the, Pacific will suffer from lack of re-| nents: ing manpower, weapons, ammunition and med-
~ shipping. shortage, :
LJUST how many of Japan's merchant ships have been sunk
i about half that amount. All agree that she is not able to Build as many ships as she is losing. Yet her demands for
_ the total may reach 8, 000, 000 tons, and for 1943 double i that amount.
‘RALPH BURKHOLDER " Editor, in’ U. 8. Service Pa WALTER LECKRONE 4 Editor
"Owned anil published | “(except Sunday) by. ‘ty, 3 cents a copy; deliv- _ Indianapolis ‘Times ered by carrier, 15 cents
E ishing Co. 214 W. Bwek ; lang =, Re : “~Mall rates in Indiana, $4 a year; adjoining states, 75 cents a month;
‘paper Alliance, NEA others, $1 monthly.
"Price ia Marion Coun- |
s| Frankly Spock |
By Norman E. Isaacs
WELL, THE picture is grow- | ing clearer every day. Gen. Tyndall was elected mayor—and he’s going to he mayor, party politicians or no party politicians. His ‘board of safety alone’'was enough to scare the pants off every two=bit gambler in‘ town. Just the name of Will Remy was enough: One big (I mean big, tgo) politico went rushing to the general, say- , ing: “Hey, look! This guy’ll put us all i the Ee That tickled the old war-
good idéa for a lot of people.” The general ‘has been sitting up in his office on N. ‘Delaware-st;, going through the ‘lists of men he wanted’ ‘for his hoards, and looking with amused dis-
i 5s ‘taste on. the frenzied scamperiings around of politicos
HE question: now wv before the war labor hoard i is whether
of slate, county and city PR It comes up because there is a controversy—at one time
‘nicipal garbage collectors, and the city commissioners. of
Union spokesmen contend that in these and other cities
“biased” and “dictatorial” public officials. They urge the federal government to overrule these local officials. They believe public employees wouid get more generous treatment from the war labor board. And they might, since the members of the WLB—one-third "of them representa-
“are far removed from responsibility to the taxpayers of any city, county or state. Union spokesmen further contend that success in the war effort requires that public employees should have access ‘to the same federal agency which undertakes to settle controversies between private industries ‘and:their employees. oe La : # = 8 UT: there is a great difference.” Private employees have, but have promised not to use, the right to strike. Government employees, as President Roosevelt once made
think the present proposal:is ‘plainly an attempt to win federal recognition that such a right exists. ‘We believe it is an exceedingly dangerous proposal.
to have or to transmit to:any federal agency. power, to dictate employer-employee relationships of the sovereign states and their subdivisions. And even on the grounds of expediency it would be a mistake, The proper remedy of aggrieved Pvarnmental workers B through appeal to public opinion in the state, county or ‘which employs them.’ Suppose the war labor board— 3 it § is being urged to do—invites these workers to shortcut’ that! Femefy, and’ apply: to Washington for what they want.” The unions weald be. pleased. Those who seek, to make the war an excuse for centralizing all power in the federal government would be delighted. : But the federal government would assume the incredibly: difficult task of enforcing WLB orders against unwill-
of citizens and taxpayers against this invasion of their right to control their own local affairs would do untold harm to the war effort.
TOJO CONFESSES WEAKNESS
WHEN the Tokyo and Washington governments agree in war statements that is news. - Secretary Knox on Monday said Japan had been seri-
ously! crippled by shipping losses. “The time is actually . close,” he predicted, “when the Japanese forces in the oc-
ical Supplies, for the lack of ships to transport them.”
* Dictator. Tojo on Tuesday confessed to his people that Japan had “entered a critical point in the war” because. of “The success or failure of southern reconstruction (i. e:. conquest) chiefly depends, we can state without ‘exaggeration, on the efficiency of water transport,” he explained. “It is the natural outcome that Japan does not have surplus vessels, for Japan must maintain transportation within the extensive area of the greater . East Asia sphere while ‘she: ‘must continue her gigantic operation, Sontingously: fighting’; one decisive battle after another.” ; 8 8 8 i : # ” »
is not known—some estimates are as high as 900,000 tons. Her annual replacement capacity is believed to be
shipping increase with each - American -counter-offensive, as in the Sclomons and New Guinea.
Of course,’ America also has a serious shipping prob- |
lem, in the Pacific and Atlantic. But while enemy shipyards ~ are falling behind, ours are driving ahead. Compared with out 100,000-ton production in the month of Pearl Harbor, "the output this month will be 1,1000,000. For the year 1942
. We are also believed to-be far outdistancing Japan in nayal Ronstruction. In submarines we probably have almost twice ‘ag many built and building as our 113 of ‘a year ago.
Our aircraft-carrier, battleship, cruiser and destreysr © out-
pie as December Jeumehings show.
~ .. un. 8 ie
: recent. naval losses - agp much lower thai the
. “in the sinking of 2 a cruiser and damage to three |
and ant imspecifiod number pli . Guinea. fires MacArthur’ s planes on Tues-
Bi figures, to. be sure, would mean much more if we
: .who were promising all things to all people, making a
‘bunch ‘of commitments they couldn't ever keep. They'd elected a mayor, but they hadn't found i out. yet.
| Needed: A Revised Merit Law
MY OWN GUESS is that we've elected man who's going to work hard at the job of being mayor. Perhaps we won't agree with everything he does, but we're going to have to admit that he’s giving it the ‘best he’s got. The way I get it, he’s not satisfied with the police and fire «department merit law. He wants a merit law, but he wants one that works better than this one.
,| He's got the idea that the promotions within the de-
partment are all cockeyed and handled on a favoritism basis and he’s right. What we ought to have, and what Gen. Tyndall may come around to promoting, is a full-fledged merit system which is handled by a merit board which. has the powers to grade as well as to give tests, and which: will set up minimum standards for every position on the two forces.
Yessir, They're Certainly Squirming
IN OTHER WORDS, you have a sergeant’s examination, let'sisay. Fifty men take the test. . Thirty pass. Well, all 30 are then qualified for sergeants’ jobs, but there are only two vacancies. The safety board ‘could’ then fill the two vacancies with any two men from this list of 30. That's a whole lot better than our present system, which gives the merit board the right ohly to give. examinations for entrance to the departments. Why
1 we ever called it a merit law is beyond me.
Of course, the mine-run politician would like to put the thing back on the old basis in which anybody could buy his way into the department for $250 or $300 and promote himself from time to time with additional “contributions” to the right quarter. We've come a long way from that benighted day and I have an idea we may go a long way further | when the general gets going good. I guess I have a touch of sadism. Watching these politicians squirm as they see Gen. Bob operate gives me an unholy delight,
Municipal Unions By Fred W. Perkins
WASHINGTON, Dec. 11.—The question before the national war labor board today is whether it ean dictate to cities, counties and ‘ states in their dealings with unionized public employees. The issue involves the constitution, with its reservation of rights to the states “and the people” The extent to which the war justifies federal intervention in local governmental affairs is under test. Three cases heard day before yesterday by the NWLB presented parts of the problem: Whether a federal war-winning interest is’involved in disputes of unions with the public transportation system of New York City, the garbage-collection and streetcleaning services of Newark, N. J.,, and the gas and water service of Omaha, Neb. The board wants to know whether it should take jurisdiction in these cases. If the answer is “yes,” hundreds of other municipal cases will be on its doorstep. The decision rests with the four “public” members of the board, since the labor members say “yes” and the management members say “no,”
Two Very Practical Questjons THE PUBLIC members are up against two prac-
;tical questions in addition to their decision on the
constitutional phase of the matter, issues.are:
1, A new congress will meet in January. In both house and, sehate the Democratic party, which has encouraged advances by organized labor in the past 12 years, will be considerably reduced. The new congress might decide to curtail the powers of the NWLB. 2. If the board should decide to move into these
The practical
‘cases, how could it enforce its awards against local
governmental units that objected to its decisions? To ‘date, enforcement of resisted awards has been accomplished by orders from the president for the army or navy to take over industrial plants. Nobody yet sees a possibility that the federal government would send armed forces to take over municipalities for such a reason. The loud knocks on NWLB’s door come from aggressive leaders of several new unions that are cultivating a field of several million potential members in city and county employ. They argue that there is no difference here, so far as ‘concerns the rights and usages of collective bargaining, from the industrial fields in which the board has exercised wartimeauthority,
China's Future By AT Stesle
CHUNGKING, Dec. 11 China’s military men are looking toward the future and, although they have as yet no detailed program of after-war aims, they do see the post-war picture in some of its details most clearly and here is the way they look at it, judging from talks which I have had with various leaders: After the war China will insist upon absolute sovereignty ~ over Ter ott. territories, including Manchuria. No sphere
‘ol Zoreign’ influence will be tolerated.
- ‘The Chinese government would insist upon the unification of the entire country under one adminis-
J tration and with all its armies under one command.
Reverence for Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, strong : discipline and deep indoctrination in the po-
. are the things that strike one most about the military and political schools.: Of the greatest: importance are rr over the country. = Every year for. years these academies ‘or
e. Pacific. But, even though wo must
Jiscipiined and well
/ hie
horse no ‘end. “Well,” he rumbled, “it might be a |
‘liticals of the Kuomintang as.opposed to communism ||
UH-
J WE PICKED ANEW CAAIR MAN
_|of depression. small Anierican city in the round, fairly prosperous
The Hoosier Forum
I wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.
“HOW CAN WE TELL ANYTHING ABOUT ANYTHING? By Mrs. R. G. Ledig, R. R. 16, Box 631-R. Regarding your article in Tuesday's Times on fuel oil rationing, “You should have used only 17 per cent of fuel oil ration.” While you are publishing that I
‘| wish you would publish the fact that
no one of my acquaintance who burns oil has had any indication from the ration board about how much oil we will be allowed to burn, So how can we tell anything Shout anything? EJ ”» ” “WHY I THINK THERE IS NO HOUSING SHORTAGE” By M. Burkett, 1428 Park ave. Despite occasional letters like Mr. Fechtman’s, I submit that there is no real shortage of housing here for the families of defense workers, and this is why I think so: When people are seriously in need they don’t . just complain to the papers who can do nothing for them, but to the authorities who stand ready to help them. And the regional office of the United States housing authority in Chicago, which has available a very large sum expressly appropriated by congress for defense housing in Indianapolis in case it should be needed, has received no urgent requests from defense workers that this housing be started. There were to have been 1250 family dwellings, presumably for workers with children, not prefabricated but permanent, complete homes in every sense, to rent at extremely moderate rentals such as are in effect in most federal housing projects throughout the nation. A citizens’ committee worked to bring the need for such housing to public attention and a commission appointed by Governor Schricker did a Trojan research job, which ultimately resulted in the granting of federal funds. But did the defense workers who were to be the beneficiaries lift a finger to further the project? All they've done is fill the unheeding air with futile-cries, and write emotional and useless letters to the press. I have yet to*hear of a single
badly enough to: write the Chicago office about it. It’s clear the shortage isn’t very desperate or the authorities would
defense worker who wants housing |:
(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)
be swamped with demands that the project be started immediately. » ! 8 » “ALL MEN OF 38 AREN'T WEAKLINGS” By Mrs. Garnette Hull, Indianapolis. I was returning home on the streetear from the job I have held since the last war made me a widow, and I overheard the two ladies in the seat ahead of me commenting with great pleasure on the fact that their husbands who were over 37 were to be spared from the draft. This is hardly good news to those whose husbands, fathers and sons must be taken because of it. It is particularly ironic to me. My husband wasn't too young or old for the last war, Every shot counts no matter who fires it. My youngest son has already gone and now my other son, the father of-two children, must go. The army maintains that men of 38 and over aren’t strong enough to serve. It hasn't been quite so considerate of my son, who was accepted despite a healed calcified area on his lung, and is now overseas. We have countless instances of young men in poor health who have been snatched up ; without much thought. All men of 38 aren’t weaklings. They present plenty of ability when it ‘comes to bowling, hunting and fishing and sitting in on all-night poker and liquor sessions. Those who have enjoyed years of married life without fulfilling their obligation to have children have certainly given nothing to their country. ~ ” »n » “MUST POLICEMEN RIDE FREE AND HOLD SEATS?” By G. B. L., Indianapolis. .Last Friday while going to work at a defense plant I rode downtown on an E. New York st. bus, No, 425.
radecasiuns have he Siting o oman: of se :
Side Glances—By Galbraith
A sergeant of the police department was on. the bus. I tried to sit in the same seat with him but we were both too big for one seat so I got another one. As we came nearer downtown another sergeant got on and although hej was as large as I am, he did hold his seat with the other policeman. But neither one got up to give| their seat to anyone of several who were standing up when the bus arrived at Market and Alabama. On Saturday I saw the same thing happen with the first policeman I mentioned, again, when other men gave their seats to women, but he never moved. I have yet to see a policeman pay fare and am wondering if they have a preference of riding free and holding a seat also.
» 8 » “CAN WE IN AMERICA EVER BE FREE?” By Haze Hurd, 830 S. Addison st. -I have read so much criticism in the papers of late about our public
institutions and the way they are|-
operated. I wish to have a word. If what has been said is true we had better get busy and do something about it. But the question comes, what shall we do? It seems to me someone should suggest some
way out of this muddle. We have had jails, penitentiaries and other places of punishment for crime from the time Nimrod built the city of Bable on the river Euphrates to the present time, and just let someone commit a crime and the first thing you hear from most people is “He ought to be punished.” Seems fo me punishment originates in the minds of the people and they can’t think of any other way out. And crime is on the increase. I do not believe in the philosophy of physical punishment for crime. I think if physical punishment for crime would cure this evil of crime the world ought to have got well of its ailment over 1000 years ago. Eugene V. Debs said, “I am not free as long as there is one man in jail.” I want to say, can we in America| ever be free until every person of every nation and every race is free, including the Germans, the Japs and our Southern Negroes have a right to ¥ote? » " “DEFENSE WORKERS CARRY THEIR END OF THE FIGHT”
By, Asahel R. Gwinn, 3034 Sth ave, E., . I'd like for this letter to be print-
‘led in answer to ‘the letter printed land signed Dec. 4, 1942 by Eugene
H. Stringer ot 132 N..Denny st. In behalf of our boys in service and in our defense plants and all of
wasn’t for the defense workers you loathe so much to hear about, your non-essential - business wouldn't
DAILY THOUGHT
The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or ‘much; but the abundance of the
& ‘rich will not suffer him to sleep.— De) Ecclesiastes 5:12.
f
[Indian ji Role
rom The N.Y. Times
a? tor's Note: The following column Is Topi : 40 The New York Times:
IT IS NOW quite proper to say that as Indiana goes so goes the nation; or else! For sons of the Hoosier state among them have taken over pretty nearly the whole of our civilian lives. Paul V. Mc= Nutt, tells us what kind of work to do and where, Claude Wickard tells. us what kind of food to eat and how much. Elmer Davis tells “us what to say. Byron Price tells us what not to say. Compared | with such broad areas of the common life even the A. rubibér czars and petroleum czars are of secondary
moment,
“If to ‘these four new rulers of our destinies we add ‘orie_ of the earliest of our non-governmental czars— ‘Will Hays of Indiana and the movies—it would seem | that. comparatively little of our national life remains ;} unaecounted for. This. is as it should be. After so many rumored changes the Middle West is reasserting itself as the heart of the country, and Indiana is very near the
| middle of the Middle West. . . . Hoosier Main Street
"IN. THIS Indiana of the middle-of<the-road tems per is located Middletown, tha: microcosm of the petty bourgeois life as depicted in a celebrated socioe logical survey on the eve of the 1929 collapse. A curious fate overtook Middletown in the years The investigators had portrayed a
and fairly happy; very Main Streety, no doubt, dull and stuffy, but snug and comfortable. But in those frightened years after 1929 it became the fashion to speak of life in Middletown as lying somewhere between Upton Sinclair's “Jungle” and “Les Miserables.” Actually, life in Middletown was the Penrod-ande Sam civilization of Mr, Tarkington, though undeniably Mr. Tarkington's chief interest was not with the people on the other side of the railroad tracks.
It Brought No Spiritual Change
SO SET are Indiana and its Middletown in their ways that even an economic cataclysm like that. of 1929 brought no great spiritual change. Business depression registered sharply enough on the political dial, as we have noted in the presidential election figures. But this was only the traditional American way of responding to hard times, When the sociological investigators came back to Middletown for a second test around 1936 they found no ideological revolutions. Middletown held fast to its moorings The inquirers could not report any “class feeling” and had to be content with group feeling. There were! no traces of an American variety of “fascism.” A commentator on the second “Middletown” ree port five years ago, writing in this newspaper, found Middletown-Muncie—for it was no other—a “sober, hopeful, well-meaning city” whose inhabitants “want to believe themselves country-town Americans grown up.” Another very brief summary of this second Middletown report said, “Babbitt still runs Middletown. ” Babbitt or no Babbitt, 1t 1s still Middletown which rules. Indiana and it is four Indianians in early< middle age named Paul, Claude, Elmer and Byron who now run .a considerable part of our war efforty which is quite reassuring. pai
The Darlan Case By William Philip Simms
‘WASHINGTON, Dec. 11.—De= spite the continuing tempest in certain English and Americah
circles: against our battlefield diplomacy in North Africa, there seems little likelihood of a change until ‘the tide of battle turns in Tunisia. President Roosevelt is noted tor his opposition to horse-swapping in midstream. And right now the whole North African enterprise, and with it the future course of war, is in the balance, This, then, is hardly the time to yank Lieut. Gen, Dwight D. Eisenhower out of the melee merely to settle a political dispute, important though that dis pute may be. I have just heard one of the presi dent’s most trusted advisers remark that this coune try’s No. 1 aim is to win the war. If that isn't done, nothing else atters. The president has expressed himself on the subject but once, and that was to say, first, that Eisenhower had his backing in North Africa, and, second, that the American commander's arrangement with Admira) Darlan and the other authorities there was only temporary. Some close to the White House resent the implied lack of faith in the president's word, and the apparent attempt to force matters even while the battle for North Africa still rages.
It Doesn't Make Sense
WASHINGTON was not shooting in the dark when it launched the North African campaign. In fact few, if any, American expeditions ever had bets ter diplomatic preparation.
to take over the ground thus won and supplang those who helped win it. They say that Darlan cane not be trusted. Admiral Darlan may be the arch-traitor some of ‘his fellow countrymen are calling him. Perhaps, as ‘has been charged, he may join hands with the Gere mans and the Spanish in Morocco and cut the Amere icns off from the Atlantic. However, it is pointed out. here, if Darlan is the unprincipled villain he is pictured, to fire him now would merely precipitate a showdown just when the fate of France and the allies is being contested among the hills and valleys of Tunisia.
We the Women
By. Ruth Millett
gave up her full time job to take care of her little boy one mother said, “I suddenly realized how much more of my time he wanted and needed. He was well taken care of, but I was with him only on Sundays and for an hour each day. I decided right then I'd do something
DAVSIC
‘Today, however, there are those who are impatient
¥
She lt it I he ay a