Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 26 January 1943 — Page 10

AGE 10. Seis — [he Tndiatapolis Ti imes Y W. HQWARD ; RALPH BURKHOLDER sident ) ‘Editor, In" U." 8 Service

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Give Light and the People wi Find Their Own way

_ TUESDAY, JANUARY 2 26, 193

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| RICKENBACKER TO WORKERS : Cart. EDDIE RICKENBACKER probably is not dis- ™ turbed by the harsh remarks of some union officials wut his advice to war workers at Detroit. He has looked 5 ntly, too closely in death’s face to let criticism keep from saying what he believes should be said. >We do not question the right of C. I. O. President Philip Murray to assert that Capt. Rickenbacker “is either misinformed or doesn’t understand.” Or the right of United Auto Workers’ President R. J. Thomas to charge that Capt. Rickenbacker was “repeating anti-laber propaganda handed out to him by the manufacturers,” We do question their wisdom. For the substance of what the gallant captain said was simply this:

h

The soldiers “don’t like to hear about strikes, slow-'

~ downs and complacency” at home. There should be less absenteeism in the war plants. If groups of men were brought back from “the hell holes of the world” and placed in uniform te work side by side with these now in the So would soon find out whether you are doing yeur maximum.” * Law should guarantee that returning soldiers and sailors can get jobs without having to join unions, shall have equal rights with other employees, shall not lose employment seniority because of military service, And, “try a ~ little harder. Do a little more. That little more may save ..the lives of thousands of your fellow citizens. Capt. Rickenbacker, we think, would ‘be the last to maintain that workers are to blame for all the impediments to home front production. To accuse him of being a mouth‘piece for anti-labor propaganda is ridiculous. He is giving ‘labor honest, friendly, constructive counsel—for its own as _ well as for the country’s good. "And if Messrs, Murray, Thomas and other officials of ~ organized labor were not so immersed in plans to maintain and increase their own power, they would thank him - for what he says and they would join him in urging workers to greater efforts.

EDDIE FLYNN’S STRANGE DEFENSE 0SS FLYNN'’S defense before the senate foreign relations committee was on the same level as his nomination to be U. S. minister to Australia. His nomination was “in payment of a party political debt, and his defense was that he is not dishonest.

Assume, for the sake of argument, that his excuse in-

the paving block scandal was the truth: Where does that leave him? An honest man, so naive, careless, and stupid that he is irresponsible. - Accept his excuse for making “Dutch Schultz” his deputy sheriff—that ‘he didn’t know ‘the gangster’s real name—and where does that leave him? <'Again, a carelessly irresponsible official. =. Apparently it did not occur to the defense that this { buildup is not .precisely the kind needed to qualify Mr. 3 1 Flynn for the post of the American minister to Australia, 1 who should " so honest he/is above suspicion, but who also © is expected to be responsible: and alert, In addition to havting specific qualifications, . 3 s x = HE only diplomatic qualification advanced for Mr. Flynn was that he once met some foreigners as a world’s fair official of sorts, all of which is very funny, But the Pacific situation, into which Mr, Flynn would move as a key figure, is not amusing business—neither to

our fighting men out there, nor to their parents here at |

: home, nor to the U. 8. senate. t The Australian post is particularly difficult today. The ‘ man filling it is our ranking Far Eastern expert, Nelson * Johnson, who has spent his life in that branch of the diplomatie service. Australian relations were considered so { important that he was transferred from his eritical Chinese post to take charge. Now that he is “retiring,” the best i trained successor can be none teo goed. Here are some of the’ problems: ¢ Part of Australia’s troops are not allowed to serve outi gide certain areas. : Australia demands of Washington and London a larger | voice in allied decisions. . Australia objects to the strategy of making the Wat in ! the Pacific secondary to that in Europe and Africa. ; New military and economic ties, ax delicatc as they essential, are being fcrmed between our two countries for vietory and post-war partnership. » . 8 2 » 2 8 “HESE are but few of the more obvious complicated prob- = lems, which our envoy should know as intimately as Boss ‘lynn knows the intricacies of ward heeling in the Bronx. et neither he—nor the Democrats who would no longer &t ‘him as chairman of their national committee—

that he has any special training, background, expe-| , or expert knowledge that fits him for bi grave

responsibility. Can’t the president and the senate Deigtortats. find e way of paying a party debt to “Dear Eddie” without ting him on the diplomatic service as an international ity? He is no.more qualified to steer our South Pacific

Halsey.

AF (PLANT _ ; ] RE are eight stars on the service flag in the window of | Mrs. Charles Hubans' home at Monessen, Pa. Her

than to take over the command of Gen, MacArthur

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

NEW YORK, Jan. 26—Presi-|

dent Roosevelt's belated order the anthracite men go back to mines after the country had] more. or less cheery resumption of work by the strikers may seem solve something but that we are just where we before, Ns des No decision has been made on the grievance of the men who were sore ovr an ncreae in thelr dues, Sak of tasation

penalty and it is still the policy and purpose of United States government to use weapon with which to drive ostensibly free into unions, subject to their laws iis ruiers and {I politics and taxes,

Advertising in Pamphlets

impaired, their, right to do as they the

ALREADY THE UNIONEERS have discovered that :

the war manpower program, the mild but potentially coercive form of civilian labor conscription, was made for them and are advertising in pamphlets that the individual worker cannot get a raise unless he delivers himself to the union, in which case he can, Most alert to this opportugity is an organization of

‘clerical workers and other office help conducted as a

cell of the Communist party which, by the cperation of the government's policy, thus stands to win revenue with which to promote the destruction of the American government, the party’s first aim. ‘The opportunity thus created to plant party spies in confidential positions in the offices of American business firms is not one that the Communist union-

gers will overlook nor one that American employers

should ‘minimize as the hallucination of a red-baiter, because once the union has enticed a majority of the office staff into its membership it may demand a contract and the boss. may then not fire a spy for spying except upon conviction in some public court.

McNutt Evadés the Issue

HE CAN'T HAND out raises on his own initiative to adjust wrongs and head off the union and if he discovers that cenfidential information is leaking out of his office into the union meetings and publications he can’t hire any private detective in the guise of typist or file clerk to trace down the spy because that would be illegal "espionage against the American worker in the eyes of the New Deal law. Paul McNutt, a sly-and plausible man, has refused to give a yes or no answer to the question whether a person driven out of some nonessential occupation and required to work on a war job will be proteeted in his legal right not to join the union at the plant in question or given his choice between idleness and hunger and a charge of clackerism and submission » the highbinders. It is no answer but an evasion to say, as Mr. MeNutt does, that “excessive dues’ are exceptional, which is a false statement, anyway, or that “occasional " abuses” are insufficient cause to condemn the entire “labor movemgnt.”

Situation Existed Before War

MR. McNUTT KNOWS that the unions have been operating a colossal shakedown all over the country, extorting hundreds of millions of dollars directly from the workers’ pay envelopes and indirectly from the U. S. treasury and the whole body of taxpayers; that the government protects even the foulest racketeers and’ the most insidious Communist enemies of the American people from any requirement for any accounting or decent administration, that “abuses” are not, as he suggests, “occasional” but systematic and the rule, and that the union movement is no mere identical with the “labor movement” than the utterances of the Rey, Charles E. Coughlin are identical with Christianity. : ‘ This is a situation that existed before the war, which called for redress by legislation before Pearl Harbor and which is now being exploited more vigorously: than ever under’ cover of the national perl],

In Washington

By Peter Edson

WASHINGTON, Jan, 26.—The 78th congress—the one that is going to be the most historic of all times—got off to a flying start. Over 1000 new bills were introduced the very first day—759 in the house, a more modest 239 in the senate. | Yes, sir! ‘This new congress means business. In addition te the 1000 and more new bills, there were over 800 private bills and resolutions.

Taking a closer look at all this back-breaking. .| load of propesed legislation, you discover that a lot

of it isn’t so new. Hundreds of the proposals are legislative chestnuts that didn’t get roasted or pulled out of the fires of oratory in the last session, or the session before that or the one before that. The chances are that nothing will happen: to 90: per cent of this legal litter in this session, either. You might expect that in wartime, all these proposed bills presented before the most historic session of congress would be of tremendous import, all necessary to the winning of the war. The . hard, cnld fact is that most of it is utterly trivial,

Dogs, Drys and Dry Cleaning

TAKE A few samples: From the Hon. Usker L. Burdick of Williston, N. D., a bill to prohibit experiments on living dogs in the District of Columbia. From the Hon. James J. Hefferman of Brooklyn,

N. Y., a bill to provide free laundry and dry cleaning |. to members of the armed service while on active |

|, duty. From the Hon, Clinton P. Anderson of Albu~ quergue, N. M,, a bill to authorize a per capita pay-

ment of $10 to the members of the Santa. Clars 4

Pueblo of New Mexico. , From the Hon. Fred A Hartley of Kearney, N J.

8H) Jo. sepals boslsi contests tn, the Disrigh of |

proposals don’t. get reported in the newspapers, and it's: rat as well.

Columbia.

+ Now most of these world-saving

They are not news and they will most all die a-bornin’, Yet they are all important and the con-

gressional obstetricians in their committee room legis-

lative lying-in wards must pay attention to every

.| one of the brain-ckildren thus conceived.

Democracy at Work

‘REASON THESE seemingly petty proposals: are important is that this isa democracy and the mere

war as 8 special | §

The Hoosier Forum

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

“WE SHOULD GIVE LUDLOW A BIG HAND” By Lillian Dinehart, Indianapolis We should give Rep. Louis Ludlow a big hand for trying to bring the limelight to bear upon a most peculiar setup—the cost-plus contract system—wherein a man who has -heretofore earned $175 per {month suddenly becomes worth $400 per month, that is, as soon as the government starts paying the salary. This war is costing the taxpayer enough without setting up such a pernicious system. There is something terribly wrong somewhere and if Rep, Ludlow can do something about it, we should all be verv grateful. Let’s write and tell him so, My letter is in the mail today.

5 8 8 8 “USE OF FINEST FOOD FOR JAPS IERRITATES ME”

Bloomington

I agree that it is not: quite fair that many children must go without meat, milk and eggs while many dogs have the best of meat. There is available dog food, scientifically prepared, probably better for the dogs and no more expensive than meat, which leaves choicer cuts of meat for human consumption. However, what irritates me almost

| to distraction is the use of the finest

of meats and vegetables to feed Japanese in centers, and allowing them to waste much, as described in The Times a few days ago. The Japanese could eat a little plainer food, and a little less. We Americans are learning how so that we can pay taxes, some of which are to feed these Japanese. I may be cruel-hearted, but I would feed the worst old cur in the world before I would pass out many luxuries to a Jap.

“WILL CORN FARMERS BANKRUPT THEMSELVES?” By James R. Meitsler, Attica Jan. 12 was farm mobilization day. - President Roosevelt and other high functionaries heaped praise on farmers for producing increased numbers of livestock and the corn to feed and fatten them. Then for the. purpose of keeping

By Estells R. Dodson, 118 8, Clark ot

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

be signed)

excluded.

prices down for the unions and maintaining a large margin of profit for stock, poultry, and dairy farmers at the expense of corn growers, this reward for raising the greatest corn crop in history was handed the corn farmers. The office of price administration, at the direction of Economic Stabilization Director James Byrnes,

'with the approval of Secretary

Wickard, placed a ceiling of $1 a bushel on corn at Chicago. Jan. 11, corn was 88 cents a bushell ‘at Attica. Jan, 12, after the price ceiling order, the price dropped to 85 cents. Now if corn was selling at $2 a bushel at Attica, as it did in world war I, a ceiling at $2 would be justified. But a $1 at Chicago is only a peacetime price, In 1024, in the local market, I sold corn for $1.09, in 1925 at $1, 1928 90 cents, 1928 85 cents, 1929 95 cents, 1930 87 ‘cents, 1936 «cents, 1938 $1.10, These were n he highest prices paid nor was there any outery of in-

flation. Sécretary Wickard is asking corn

growers to plant 11,000,000 more

acres than last year, Labor, tools and fertilizer are higher priced than last year. Will corn farmers bank-

rupt themselves to make big profits

for hog, cattle, poultry and dairymen and subsidize the eonsumer with cheaper food? Not if they followed the labor unions. ’ :- Compare 85 cent corn with union

‘wages, the 40-hour week, pay and .one~half for overtime. ...

High wages for the unions plus 50 per cent more for. increased work. Big profits for the stockmen at the corn growers’ expense. For the men who raise the corn that feeds the animals that America and

her allies eat, “baloney.”

Side Glances—By Galbraith

Li Pa i attr te

fact that all these trivialities can get consideration | E5

of & kind in the halls of congress is proof that de- ||| . mocracy is"at work. For jn a democracy, fhearetically, | every Joe Doakes is Sonsidsted Imp, even if

| ing of the boom in 1929.

“WE ARE RECEIVING GREAT BENEFITS FROM BRITAIN” By 1. Well, Indianapolis In Mr. Walsh's letter of Jan. 15 he says “. . . I should like to state'a few facts which I know to be true,” and continues, referring to the English, ¢ .. they have never cared for us , , » they think of ‘us all as morons. , , . eating in England amounts to a religion , . . they are ‘nappy in the thought that we will soon be as bad off as they are...” I would like to know by what stretch of the imagination Mr. Walsh's highly personal generalizations can be considered “faets?” I am much more impressed by what Mr. Walsh calls the “sob stuff” of Mary B. Cochran which lacks the great personal bias of Mr. Walsh, but has the advantage of fact to recommend it. Mary Cochran points ouf, as do many others who read and evaluate, that we are receiving great benefits in return for our lend-lease aid to Britain, so it is apparent that our aid to Britain as well as {fo our other allies is not merely humanitarian, but expedient. 2” 2 2 “PROSPERITY IS BOGUS WHEN BUILT ON DEBT” By James R. Meitzler, Attica In his message to congress, the president demonstrated how the incentive of a paying demand brought about a phenomenal increase in factory production though paid with borrowed money. When he promised prosperity after the war he exhib-

ited naivete in assuming borrowing could go on forever, He sald: “The people at home and the people at the front . .. are wondering about , . , freedom from want. To them it means , . . they will have the right to expect full employment . . . for all in America who want to work. They want assurance against the evils of all major economic hazards — assurance that will extend from the cradle to

the graye. This great government |

can and must provide this assurance.” In contrast to this babyish life he. goes on: “They are eager to face

*| the risks inherent in our system of

free enterprise.” Then back to the bottle-feeding: “They want no get-rich-quick era of bogus prosperity which will end for them in selling apples on a street corner as happened after the burst-

security of the individual, or the family, should become the subject of national debate the country knows where I stand.” " Yes, Mr. President, we know where

{ [you stand. You stand for waste, ex- » travagance and de

bt. Debt such as this nation never before knew. Bor-rowed-money prosperity ends on pay

Your prosperity is bogus. More bogus than the Wilson prosperity built on war debt. More bogus than the Coolidge-Hoover prosperity built

| |on rebuilding Europe debts.

Your prosperity from the time you took office until ‘now is built on

| debt. A peacetime debt beyond con- | ception, A wartime debt beyond

comprehension. A debt that neither

#1 | promises prosperity nor guarantees | | freedom from want. Your boom

bursts, Yous: bogus DROPS ends

wa ny Bf he co sr

‘DAILY Totem

«+o If the

~~ TUESDAY, .

Frankly. Speaking

By Norman E lsaacs |

THIS MERIT LAW fight, which seems to be growing hotter every day, is hardly a brand-new development, The fact is that the first rumblings ; became clear ss long age as last winter. That was when James K. Northam, Gover= nor Schricker’s chief deputy attorney general, took part in a pub~ lic debate, arguing that the pe tronage - system was superior to * civil service. Two months later, as astute and wise a political server as Clarence Jackson was heard in another ting making caustic comments about the “ideals ic” prattle of merit law supporters. Exactly where the superintendents of the various institutions stand remains a mystery. Most of them have told friends of the merit law that they are all for it, but word keeps coming back that they have expressed an entirely different view to those who are seeking to kill the act.

The Charges . . . and the Facts THERE HAS BEEN, unfortunately, a good deal ot misinformation given out concerning the merit law, For instance, at a meeting only a ‘few months ago,’ Wallace O. Lee, president of the board of trustees. ot Central - State hospital, got to his feet and charged that under the qualifying examinations as laid down . by the personnel board, half of Central's employees had flunked. Rowland Allen of the merit board leaped to his feet immediately to rebut this statement.

The fact was that only five of Central's staff were in danger of losing their jobs-=and that they hadn' t. Leonard Johnson, the much-maligned director of the personnel division, tells me that of the 3200-0dd employees under merit, 2800 have already been given their qualifying exams—and that less than 10 have losk their: jobs as a result! Some political leaders have charged that: the examinations have virtually divested superintendents of all control Whatever over their staffs, Johnson makes only. the wry comment that of the 3200 positions, a total of 1441 of these jobs are handled directly by the superintendents, whbsemploy dir with their own examinations. In ether words, 45] cent of all the people under merit are hired by the superintendents themselves,

Are These Visionary Social Workers?

THERE HAS BEEN, from time to time, biting comment made about the examinations themselves, If you were to believe these statements, you would be convinced that the tests) were drawn up by visionary social service workers tho talked in some strange language. A Johnson just smiles il terly when you mention that. He peints out that he has a list of cojlaborators as long as your arm. On one examination, his records show that Leroy J. Badoll % Wallace Lee's assistant at the Power and Light , has served as an oral interviewer, In the case of hiring a personnel assistant, he ob tained the help of Forrest Kirkpatrick, R.C.A.’s per» sonnel chief, J, Bradley Haight, director of the U. 8, employment service here, assisted in the examinae tion given interviewers. When it came to testing sales supervisors, the eral interviewers included J. H. All.

‘top of the American United Life Insurance Co. wad

A. F. Hook of the Hook drug firm. In the exam for sanitary engineer, assistance came from Cecil Calvert, the Water company’s superintend+ ent of purification, and when it came to judging at~" torneys, Johnson obtained the help of Dean Bernard Gavit of the I. U. law school, Judge Herbert Wilson, Elbert Gilliom and Francis M, Hughes, among others,

'Only Whetting Their Appetite’ SO IT HAS GONE all along the line, The merit board made a list the other day of 38 different in-.¢ stances in which the director had been instructed te waive requirements which are looked upon as being practically holy in civil service states. But as Rowland Allen points’out, every one of these moves to make the law more palatable to the superintendents and politicians has served only ‘to whet the appetite of the law’s opponents for its complete destruction. There are 21 states with civil service laws. The oldest is in New York, where the system becomes 60 years old this year. Massachusetts’ system is 568 years old, Wisconsin’s: 38, Colerado’s: 36, New Jersey's 35, California’s 30, and so on, It is significant, perhaps, that New Jersey's is one of the best administered systems in the nation and that “Boss” Hague has apparently never managed to tinker with it, if he has even tried. Last winter, when the first squeals became audible, Johnson sent a letter to all the 20 superintendents aske ing for direct criticism and suggestions, The letter wag dated Jan, 31, 1942, This is Jan. 26, 1943. And, to date, there nave been a total of three replies.

We the Women

By Ruth Millett

A THE FIRST LADY has always been good about answering questions. Instead of taking “the president's wife is beyond: Tee proach” or “what business is it of yours?” attitude, ‘she has an

\

a

swered all kinds of queries during : her 10 years in the White House.

She generally has answered’ them well, too. Put when sorme= “body wanted to know if she n= tended to curtail her travel out of regard to the general request that civilians stay pus as much as possible, Mrs, Roosevelt made an uns fortunate reply. She said she didn’t intend to “as Tong as I can make enough money writing ‘My Day’ to pay my own expenses.” If she had said that she- would Keep on because she felt it was good for the president's wife to keep in touch. with various sections of the country op because she could help her husband by reporting to him on the things she sees and hears during her travels: or if she had said she thought it was good for the morale of the people to be able to see and talk to the president's wife; or that a : writer legitimately travels in ‘order to intorm msg ; and others—then she might have made a case. But when she said she would travel as she made enough money to pay her own way, set a bad precedent,

Can Afford Trips, Teo

THE WOMAN who is working and has more money to spend than her life can afford to travel, too. _ She can afford week-end and {friends in neighboring wns, to or even to ow there