Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 4 February 1943 — Page 14

-e

RALPH BURKHOLDER _Editor, in U. 8. Service WALTER LECKRONE Editor :

¥ W. HOWARD

others, $1 monthly.

pr. RILEY 5551

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

p Alliance, NEA. rvice, and Audit Bu- = of Girculations. PED

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1943

MR. PAUL | TALKS-AS-HE-GOES

2 A® we read the testimony of its general counsel, Ran3 dolph Paul, the treasury thinks pay-as-you-go taxation 3 is a desirable thing—like swimming; indeed almost man0 datory—like taking a bath. And it’s quite all right to hang our clothes on the hickory limb, but we musn’{ go near the water.

In about four hours of talk and double-talk before the house ways and means committee, Mr. Paul, displaying the genius characteristic of treasury experts, managed to turn . a simple ‘thing like the Ruml plan into a very complicated ~ and difficult problem. Sure, he was for pay-as-you-go, just as all politicians are for home and mother. But it wouldn't do at all, as Mr. Ruml has proposed, to get on a pay-as-you-go basis by simply paying-as-you-go. : He couldn't agree on the idea of starting in now to : | Day taxes this year on this’ year’s income. Not unless, at : ~ the same time, we also paid this year the taxes on last year’ s income. Admittedly, that would be double taxation. Also ads mittedly, lots of taxpayers wouldn't have that much money to pay. And he wouldn’t want to treat such taxpayers harshly. | Yet, he couldn’t agree to forgetting or forgiving 1942 taxes—that would be wiping out a large chunk of the government’s assets, maybe 10 billion dollars worth.

But would the treasury’s receipts decline any if congress just declared that taxes paid in 1943 were assessments E against 1943 income, instead of against 1942 incomes?

. . No, probably not. The treasury would collect no less money. But, still, Shere. were those “assets,” and so on “and on....

Mr. Paul's testimony didn’t make much sense. It seldom has made much.

Next witness!

HITLER RETREATS

USSIA’S victory at Stalingrad and on half a dozen fronts, aR plus the gloomy tone of Nazi anniversary pronounce- © ments amidst British bombs, has resulted in another wave "of allied opti#iidnd." This is natural, for here is definite evi- * dence of that turn in the tide of which President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill spoke.

: The comeback of the Russian army, after its long reL treat, is one of the most remarkable in history. The fight- : ing quality of the Russian soldier, the skill of his generals, : - and the grim fortitude of the civilians behind the lines, are = granted now even by the Nazis, who so recently scorned them. The Russians have exploded the myth that’ Hitler's . largest and best -armies are unbeatable. ~ We would be very foolish, however, to assume that it ~ is all over but the shouting. The bitterest fighting is ahead.

Ee his strength is no more than dented. By sacrificing upward E of a third of a million suicide troops in the Stalingrad pocket, | Hitler has gained time for an orderly retreat and has saved = his major armies. There is no rout. : :

8 8 = 8 =»

N the north and center, after partly lifting the siege of r = Leningrad and taking Velikie Luki, the Russians have . been held. Germany still has the Rzhev-Vyazma finger ~ pointing at Moscow. In the south the Red army advances _ éontinue toward Kursk, Kharkov and Rostov, and threaten Nazi forces fleeing the Caucasus.

» But the Nazi line is still beyond the key bases and transport network from which Hitler launched his 1942 3 drive. He holds the Ukraine and most of the great Donbas ' industrial area, and the Crimea with its naval bases. Far from being broken, the Nazi main armies doubtless will attempt counter offensives in the spring. Their success or failure will depend in part on how many supplies we are able to send to Russia, and whether the western allies _ ean clean out Tunisia in time to start an early Euxopean invasion. i Overconfideice at this critical moment could be disas, frou for us. !

'E NEWE ARMY DOGGE HOUSE

E don’t know when we've been so intrigued as we are . by the war department’s announcement that empty . whisky barrels ‘are being cenverted into kennels for the Rrmy’s dogs of war.

The resourcefulness of the dnknewn geniys in the quarjermaster corps who figured out this new type of military housing—the passion for economy which has whittled the gost of a barrel kennel to $3.50, compared to $30 for the orthodox type—the solicitude which has provided the kennels with slant roofed front porches for pooches— e alertness of the department’s information staff, which ; i a 400-word release about the innovation, comwith a literary reference to Huckleberry Finn, who ived in solid comfort for months in a hogshead”—all these ave us lost in admiration and wonder. . Many a man has been sent to the doghouse for aiiwisely nizing a whisky. barrel. Many a taxpayer is wondershat ort of a barrel he will find most comfortable, a 1 15. But this, to our knowledge, is the first in ; ] history that 4 dogs have moved from doghouses |

he e. Indianapolis Th imes |By Westbrook Pegler

Cs a year; na states, 75 cents a month;

| our embattied capital are wont to raise refined hell -| of spirituous refreshments. ig The plant is called El Patio and the props are John | 9»

| Longo and Larry Kelly, Brother Kelly is treasurer | of the building fund of local 74 af the building and

Despite Russia’s magnificent gains and Hitler's losses, |

ject apologies to the gAucient’ ,

[Fair Enough

#

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4—This is a sad story, mates. It seems that our government,

meaning to raise a few more jits

and Japs with, decided last year that anyone possessing any drinking liquor with intent to sell, must declare the same and pay a tax of $2 a gallon and that the pro‘prietors of a local rejoicery where the ‘beauty ang the chivalry of

~

by night, reported that. they had on hand 600 gallons

common laborers’ union, which has a membership of about 17,000. As a routine matter, an inspector of the alcohol ‘tax unit of the internal revenue called to see if the stock on hand squared with the amount declared in the return, which was 600 gallons and, sure enough, it seemed to. :

Sniff Uncovers 300 More Cases

BUT A LITTLE later one of the operatives happened to sniff the air downwind from the El Patio, and went back for a second look, finding among the declared merchandise stacked in a roof off the business office of the joint, about 300 additional cases. This aroused the agent's suspicions, so he went down to the cellar to have a peek, and there saw a wooden partition and asked what was behind that. Mr. Longo said there was liquor behind that, the private property of Brother Kelly of the laborers’ union, bought as an investment. But Brother Kelly was in Florida celebrating labor's gains under the party of humanity and it couldn’t be opened as Brother Kelly had the key. So the agents thought they would go to the new headquarters of local 74, completed early in 1941 at a cost of $135,000. There they found another similar partition, made of tile, and askdd what was kept in there. “Union records,” /said a kinsman of the absent Hon. Bro. Kelly, but the agents disbelieved him because most unions don’t keep records. Brother Kelly's kinsman proved to be in error, for the contents of the hidden room were not records but about 250 gallons more of choice merchandise.

$30,000 Is No Trifle

THE AGENTS then returned to the El Patio, jimmied the door of the room under the sidewalk and took the stock into protective custody. Altogether they picked up for: safekeeping ‘about 4000 gallons. These developments brought Brother Kelly back from Miami, untimely and posthaste, for the value of the goods, alone, reckoned at $30,000, is no trifle

club running for him on the side. He said the undeclared goods-was in no part either his nor Mr. Longo’s but the property of his union, bought to. animate the 17,000 brothers at a jollification to be held some time next fall to celebrate the defrayal of the mortgage on the $135,000 home of local 74. : Against that version. however, the agents must weigh the word of Mr. Longo, who said Brother Kelly had bought the extra goods found in the El Patio as a personal investment and the recorded fact that nearly all of it was ordered by Longo and receipted and paid for by him.

One Case Per Brother

IT IS NOT to be wondered ‘that the agents are skeptical, for the union premises would hold only a small fraction of the brothers gathered for a mort-gage-burning and on an evening's ration of about one case per brother, it probably would be necessary to funeralize most of the merrymakers, a severe drain . on the burial fund, and replace the tidy little $135,008 home. Or, if the full membership of 17,000 were to attend, the ration would be about one bottle each and it would be necessary to hold the ceremonies in Mr. Clark Griffith’s ballyard. In which case we might have to replace the whole ‘city. of Washington.

Jn Washington

By Peter Edson

/ WASHINGTON, Feb. 4—Ralsing chickens has become such a science that poultry fanciers say a brood of hens or fryers, can be kept in a small basement pen without any trouble or smell. The chicks are fed cod liver oil in lieu: of sunshine, and not getting any exercise, the meat is wonderfully tender. Because of this development a lot of people have figured they would raise their own chickens in the back yard or the attic, and so beat meat rationing. But department of agriculture experts, while admitting ‘this is a good idea, point out that most cities have ordinances against keeping chickens in town and advise a checkup on local zoning laws before building a pen or buying baby chicks,

From 50,000 to 475,000

NELSON ROCKEFELLER’S Inter-American Af-. fairs magazine, “En Guardia” (On Guard), which started out with a circulation of 50,000, is now up to 475,000 for the combined Spanish and Portuguese editions. Idea of the magazine is to sell the U. S. war effort to Latin American big shots. The magazine is not for sale, but is free to the right people—that is, to diplomats, politicians, local officials, and businessmen who should be made friends and influenced. War. Labor Board Chairman William H. Davis is one of the topflight Washington efficials who laboriously writes his own speeches. He tries to put something worth listening to in every one. ; . At Boston the other day he let go of this one: “The world is a little topsy:turvy these days.

hold wages down, and employers standing in line asking the government to let them be raised. I shouldn't be terribly surprised some morning to read in the newspaper that the Communist party had gone on record against taxes on corporate income. »

75,000 Queries on Pay .salary stabilization orders were put into effect, some by regional offices of the wage and hour division,

which handles these .matters in the first instance. Three-fourths of the inquiries have come from em-

WLB's” to handle all labor disputes,

gs theyre going to- have to 99 omething al

to buy things to shoot Germans |

EA RVR

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

>

even to a prosperous unioneer with a boomtown night |’

Here's | the Roosevelt administration bending every effort to |:

IN THE THREE months since the wige and 75,000 inquiries on pay increases have been received |:

load of 7000 more decisions to be made in the capital 1 Getting out from under that burden, the board will soon open 12 new regional offices with 12 “Little x

Office of price administration's ‘rationing heads ||

“DON'T STOP LIKE THEY STOPPED US” By George Turner, 1026 N. Beville

‘Lenity is urged for the German people, by Otto Strasser. Yes, Otto, no doubt you and the rest of! the Hitlerites can begin to see the handwriting on the wall. . . . As a’ member of the A. E. F. in 1918, I cannot fail to remember your arrogance while the going was good. Neither can I forget your whining and sniveling when things began to get tough. But I hope for the peace and welfare of the world that there are still enough men at ithe head of our government that do remember 1918 ‘and don’t stop like they stopped us with the job half finished. ” ” ” “FAIR PLAY DEMANDS BOTH SIDES BE HEARD” By Joseph Van Briggle, 2706 E. 40th st. Every man is entitled to his day in court and no man should be adjudged guilty of any crime or misdemeanor and without due process of law and before a jury of his peers. Who believes this? Do you? Why then must; we citizens stand by and see the business reputation of one of our neighbors ripped away without giving him his day in court?

such victims of careless justice forced to advertise in newspaper columns to defend their good names. Must we continue to tolerate a system of bureaucracy, local as well as national, that forces men to defend themselves in newspaper columns instead of courts? I for one think it is time to call “halt”! This milk company case is only the latest. It should be the last. I do- not propose that they are innocent, but I do propose that no board, bureau or newspaper fis qualified to judge their guilt or innocence. American standards of fair

play demand that both sides of a

controversy be heard and our American way provides courts and juries

to hear the case.

It is bad enough for a company or man to lose money this way, but when we strip anyone of their good

It is terribly distressing to see.

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, religious con- . troversies excluded. Because of the volume received, letters must be limited to 250 . words. = Letters must be signed.)

name we should be extra careful of how we do it.

t ” ” “MY HAT GOES OFF : TO COUNTY CLERK TILSON” By Miss Lois Burke, Indianapolis My hat goes off to County Clerk Tilson for “slowing up” the professional. bondsmen to some extent. This group should be punished for perjury when false affidavits are made by them. ; Just because they are friendly with the courts is no reason for this group . . . to be given any al privileges. Prosecutor Sherwood Blue should also be commended for co-operating. ws The taxpayers can well use the money due the county from forfeited bonds to help pay the everincreasing cost of government,

“WE HAVE TAXES APLENTY ALREADY”

By Hal J. Wilson, 2630 Southeastern ave.

Of all the crackpot ideas for our legislators to come forth: with, this taxation of the public for the support of the symphony orghestra is the limit. If the public in general ‘derived any benefit from it, then there might be some justification for such action. But to try to cram music that one in 10 does not appreciate and doesn’t understand, down the throat of the public at large, is a downright outrage. Our radio dials cluttered too much now with music that has no merit except it gives some poor musicians a means of livelihood. We certainly have taxes aplenty already to pay for idle jobholders and to carry on our.war for freedoms. We

hes o o

Side Glances—By Galbraith

i Se rt pr 1

rr meme a

should be looking for some place to cut taxes rather than to add more. If the symphony cannot be supported by the idle rich who get the benefits of it, or live by its merits, then I say let it die. In times like these it seems to me that our legislators should be engaged in some legislation for their money, which would relieve some of our burdens, not add to them. Why not, instead. of one-fourth of the gross income tax, let's kill it all? The state does not and never has needed it. 8 » 8 “SUBURBAN AREAS 1 SHOULD DEFEAT THIS BILL” By George 1. Poince, 4401 W. Wash, st. Every resident of Marion county should do everything possible to help defeat house bill No. 171 that would extend the boundary lines of Center township to coincide with the city limits, thus reducing the size of surrounding townships, and in effect dissolving their partnership with the. city ‘in responsibility for payment of township administration costs and poor relief. Regardless of claims made by its city sponsors, it has in it the possibilities, for the city, of helping

solve, simultaneously, its two great problems of slum clearance and re-

‘| ducing the high city tax rate, and|

for the rest of the county, of becoming -the dumping ground for emigrant city slum population, with consequent increase in. relief load, tax rate, and a depreciation in suburban living conditions and property values, a condition similar to that which has plagued the city inside for years, with the difference that it has always had the help of the townships outside to pay its proportionately larger poor-relief costs, > - Now the city may be planning, not expansion, but slum clearance, reclamation and restoration of values in blighted areas, particularly of the downtown district. By a program of condemning, vacating and improving, the occupants of these areas would be forced out into the country and suburbs where slum clearance methods could not be enforced. Then with Indianapolis all in one township, it would no longer be responsible for helping pay outside poor-relief costs. With downtown values restored and freed from a poor-relief load now reversed as to location, the city could reduce its tax rate to a} point where investment and industry would no longer opposé annex. tion or location in the city and this would still further strip the outside townships of concentrated taxable wealth. ’ What would they then do, with taxes equal to city taxes or more, but no city improvements and the city unwilling to annex them? - This is not fantastic. It has hap-

pened elsewhere in the country and

it. can happen here. . . . This vicious bill is advancing without opposi-

tion. sae It is too late to organize, ’

so. private protests and appeals to the governor is the only recourse. . I am not an obstructionist, but if wants this measure,

‘equalizing relief on a county or state-wide

| | bhsis. This would benefit the city ar ao rotec ne Suraland suburban

av

| evaporated. | job of arbitrating the dispute between Rubber Ad

BE things are still - getting mn destructive work. Tme rubber. ‘mess—because it affects the daily 1 of practically - every American, because it involy

| danger ‘of both military and economic disester, and , iy

because it has broken into the limelight at mt | intervals ever since Pearl Harbor-—probably is the outstanding example of the “confusion in Washing

ton" which has'led to demands for a Tealwar ca It Wight Have Been Different i

# a

THE RUBBER mistakes could nok Have bekn=.

i if President Roosevelt had created such a: | cabinet in December, 1941. Some of were 1 before that. ¥idy . Posey

But if the top officials concerned with : phases of the rubber’ problem, which means most lot + the so-called “czars” who are. trying to manage" the. war effort, had been able to get their disputes i

| quickly in the last year, there might be a ditte bs story to tell today. 3 The idea behind the war cabinet: proposal " hat.

responsible officials, . instead of fighting : endl ih ‘about their differences, would meet with the president frequently and regularly, would have opportunity to - debate their cases before him, and would have a 4

“| of getting prompt decisions from him.

Hope that the rubber program could. "now go ah without personal decisions by Mr, Roosevelt have

He had delegated. to Economic Director Byrnes istrator Jeffers and the army and navy over. relative priorities for synthetic-rubber plants and for esc rh vessels and aviation gasoline. Toa Last week-end Mr, Byrnes seemed to have settlec that for a while,

More Bitter Than Ever

BUT THE WHOLE row has broken out 5 bigger and more bitter than ever, in testimony y Mr. Jeffers and Undersecretary of War Pat before the house military. affairs committee, and 1 in evident that neither ‘Mr. Byrnes nor any other dential deputy can ‘decide the issues of the controversy. Mr. Jeffers renewed his charges that milits authorities were blocking his efforts to “bull thro the synthetic program in accordance with the Baruch. committee’s mandate, his “road. map out of chaos.” © Mr. Patterson, backed up by Undersecretary of : the Navy Forrestal, asserted that Mr. Jeffers’ demands, if granted in full, would delay the high octane-gasoline program four months and cause a loss of production of 15,000 planes. He added that Mr. Jeffers’ charges were founded “nog upon th but upon irritation.” } Mr. Patterson also made it Snows that he a Mr. Forrestal had advocated, and that Mr. Jeff had opposed, a seven-point rubber conservation gram far more drastic .than anything Tecomment by the Baruch committee.

Only Chief Can Settle Issues

IT WOULD HAVE banned almost all Sunday and. holiday driving; limited commercial truck movements 3 ‘to “absolute essentials”; stopped long-distance bus’ and truck lines; required sale to the government of all spare. tires on private autos and of about 7,000,000 passenger cars, to take them out of use, | Only the commander-in-chief, it is evident,

w.

|

‘| settle issues so far-reaching, involving a choice o

a compromise between possibly crippling interfere! with the military arms and restrictions on the rubber program which Mr. Jeffers, with the prestige of the Baruch committee behind him, insists would mean disaster on the , home front and the fighting. fronts alike, There is, of course, the possibility that congress, increasingly impatient with the recurring outbreaks of rubber trouble, will move in and attempt to enforce its own notions for handling the situation over the heads of the president, Mr, Jeffers and the army and navy oficials,

{

We the Women by ik Mili ; ; Pre : ol

THE “WIVES they left behind them” are ‘trying “hard to make the best. of living alone while thelr husbands are away helping ta fight the war—but they aren't all doing the best possible job of it, A great many of them started off with several wrong ideas. For ~ instance, they refer to themselves as “widows’—which is ‘about as ; dreary and hopeless a iin word as they could have selected. It has a depressing effect on them, and makes them, seem like objects of pity to others, 30 Instead of saying ‘Living alone is going to be life for some time, and I might as well plan to get ai much, pleasure out of: it-as I can,” many of them living entirely in: the past and in the future. “They make themselves miserable remembering how used to be and worry about a future that they ca foretell. : VE 3

Make the Most of Today

THEY ARE BANDING together pretty well, goin around in groups, but not always getting any enjoyment out of each other’s company. Their huss bands are enjoying their association with other men that the war has afforded ‘them. But too often the wives plan get-togethers in a “since there Is Homing better to do” frame of mind. And what is even worse’ ‘for them, they all too frequently think of themselves asd a "and accept all that is offered. Their men don’t fe they deserve sympathy, and neither should the wives, : “No one knows how long the war will last, so 0 {ip best thing for the wives who are left ‘behind to do is to make not only the best but. the most of today, ; and not be “widows” before their time. <

A - . To the Poinka WOMEN DON'T worry over the fact that baie tis year a Just ast year's trimmed over. * * 8 IT WAS ANNOUNCED at the Nazis’ 10th versary celebration that Hitler was with his One wey of saying he’s on his way home, . * "OH, FOR THE LIFE of a beetle. tispense with food for three years.

. . *

A wis of your own will help -yoi better than a will of a rich relative,