Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 February 1943 — Page 10

RALPH BURKHOLDER | Editor, in U. 8. Service

WALTER LECKRONE ~ Business Manager. 3 : Editor : A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)’ i

Price in Marion Coun-

‘4 cents a copy; deliv-

RTs cafrier, 18 cents § werk

Give Light and the People Will Find Their On way

SATURDAY, ; FEBRUARY 6,103 3

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JOHN L.ISN'T FOOLING = = ~~ OHN L. LEWIS has demanded $2 a day wage imereases for his 450,000 bituminous coal miners, will demand that much or more for his 90,000 anthracite miners, and don’t kid yourself that he doesn’t intend to get it. He's plainly just as determined now as he was in the i before Pearl Harbor, when he wrecked President Roosevelt's national defense mediation board because it uldn’t grant him a closed shop in the “captive” coal mines and when he got exactly what he wanted, although the “country had understood Mr. Roosevelt to say he never would by the methods he was using. > Of course Mr. Lewis’ present demands, if granted, will destroy the “little steel” wage stabilization formula and ' make a skyrocketing price inflation certain. If they are reused, he is perfectly capable of calling a nation-wide coal strike, maintaining it as long as he considers desirable, and wrecking the president's national war labor board. ® #8 8 8 8g JOHN L. has decided that inflation is inevitable and that his miners might as well get theirs in advance of the ‘general grabbing. : He judges that the administration and congress will | never ‘take the politically risky steps that must be taken if : the cost of living i is to be kept down, will never enforce firm ~ ceilings on farm prices or impose the necessary sacrifices

and inconveniences on the members of blocs and pressure.|

: groups. ~~" And there’ s an impressive lot of evidence that his judgnient is correct. The C.L O. and the A. F. of L. will follow Mr. Lewis’ lead. In fact, Phil Murray and Bill Green have already started, and the big railroad. unions are out ahead of them, Mr. Roosevelt has fondly imagined that he could keep Messrs. Green and Murray in line with his wishes, but they’ re more- afraid of John L. Lewis than they are of the

president of the United States and, in view of all that has

“happened in recent years, they have reason to be. = No, Mr. Lewis’ isn’t fooling. He might still be stopped "if the administration would really fight its alleged war on inflation. But there isn’t much time left for that, and “it would require much more courage than this administration has ever shown in its Gealings with labor: leaders and farm leaders.

COMPULSION ON WORKERS |

POWER, CHIEF McNUTT’S order, télling men in|

3 of ‘many ~#non-essential” occupations to get into war s or be drafted, is-being criticized on the ground that it an indirect method of compulsion on workers. 1t is that. There is no law specifically authorizing Mr. / McNutt to compel any worker to move into a war job. And

~ the order has this additional defect, that women, and men

ho have reason to believe that age, physical handicaps or other disqualifications would prevent them from being

drafted, can tell Mr. McNutt to go jump in the lake and

stay in their non-essential occupations. Yet, we: suppose that there is no law forbidding Mr. McNutt to enforce this order as well as he can, just as there probably is no law that people who refuse to take war jobs can’t be deprived of their gasoline and food rations. If not this indirect method, then what? A good many |:

e argument. - : We don’t say it may not have‘to come. But we do say

TENNESSEE has abolished its poll tax. Seven states—

Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, South Caro-

, Texas, Virginia—still will not permit their citizens to |

ote unless they pay poll taxes. They should follow Tensee’s example. | Members of congress from. these southeti states are itterl; opposed to federal legislation to wipe out poll taxes. heir contention that the federal government has no right Gietale voting qualifications to the sovereign States has

But poli: taxes have no merit They are a a device to dis-

chise the poor. If these southern states do not want

ional legislation to rdictate the qualifications for their § they should get rid of their anarchronistic voll taxes; |

& +

i E GOVERNMENT. ‘MOVES’ OURTEEN HUNDRED moving men, working three ig] t-hour shifts daily, are required to handle the conferring of goverhment agencies in Washington, to the federal works agency's service division. times since Pearl Harbor there have been as many as n the job, moving office equipment from one office

CULE

her, one floor to. another, one building to atiother, |

one side of the Potomac to the other. : An with all that moving, a taxpayer mourns, the gov-

still seems 8k: times to be Waking eighty Tittle

nyway,

Parr

WASHINGTON, Feb: 6—Our | deeply impressed by the fight of . the Russians against the invinciBle legions of Hitler's master race, . that, without consciously RE oat. ing the American effort so far, nevertheless this nation has been over-modest.

" {he United States has done and,

! for that matter, two years ago, when the first draftees

were still playing soldier with stove-pipe cannons and laundry-wagon: tanks, neither did we.

The Russian effort had been more. impressive |

for two reasons. { ‘First, they had been pathetic clowns ‘their little war with Finland, which Goering recently denounced as a el come-on intended to deceive the beloved

fuehrer.

“It seemed to Goering that the Russians played a | ruse on the fuehrer in manner of an old-time pool |

shark, who ripped the table with his awkward lunges and knocked the balls through the skylight until the bets were down but then dropped them in the pockets from all”angles and picked up the rent. +'Second, the Russians were not fighting a heavyweight in a 12-foot ring but all over a boundless lot. When they had to give: ground, they could give without finding themselves in a corner or ‘on the

ropes. A New Way of Life

and thoroughly prepared otherwise, whereas the American people were still making and buying automobiles and deceiving themselves. Henry Kaiser said in a speech to a lot of industrialists and factory workers in Boston a few weeks

ago that God had been very ‘good to the American | | people.

For, he said, if Hitler had invaded England after Dunkirk when the British had left most of their stuff .on the beach and were actually begging us for old 75s and even .22 rifles for their soldiers and home guards, and if the Japs had invaded us on the west coast, Britain would have fallen and we had fewer troops in the entire United States than the British later surrendered at Singapore. All that is past now, however, and the United States not only has some millions under. arms and trained to use them but is fighting in some plgces that few Americans ever heard of and producing weapons, planes and ships at a rate: appropriate to’ the military effort. Moreover, the effort grows by the day and, on the civilian front a people accustomed to leisure and luxury have, in a littel more than a year, adjusted themselves to a new way of life, - °

A War of All People WHO DID all this?

men who turned the big industries from the works

| of peace and commerce to.those of war certainly

were not New Dealers, but a class who had been reviled as torch and copperheads for more than eight years.

they have been greedy, obstructive and obstreperous all the way and their record, when it is over, will surely receive the attention of ,veterans coming home to take their part in political life. No, this has been a war of the whole American people on the: home front as. well as in the field in which no demagog can say that the sons of the poor were sent to fight the battle of the rich or that the president and his party had to fight an enemy at home as well as on the fronts. There has been mean and. Cheap political Prastice ‘but not among. the ‘people.’ :

Nobody Asks How ‘Much

MEANWHILE, incidentally, the Americans have kept the Japanese off the backs of the Russians and, without any thought of ‘a reckoning or a post-war debt settlement have given the government authority

to send' the. Russians machiiery, weapons, planes and

food turned out by Americans in quantities .that no= body even asks to know. Nobody asks how much has been sent to Britain, Australia or China, The main thought is only that there must be enough, whatever the effort and the scarcity at home. The mighty Hitler and the mighty Stalin prepared for this war for years but the peaceful, naive Americans who were afraid they had gone soft and raised a silly generation of rug-cutters have done this ‘much

in a little over two years and are only beginnin open their pores. 2 hee) 810

«In Wethingion By Peter Edson

WASHINGTON. Feb. 6.—Somebody will probably want the matter investigated before or after the war is over now that the army has become the world’s biggest hotel owner and operator. Statler -ang Harvey and the other chains are ~pikers by comparison, for Uncle Sam has in his possession, either by purchase or lease, more than 50,000 rooms in 484 ‘hotels—bridal suites and all. When and if an investigation does come, army mei have their answers for all the long-term leases and outright purchases of some of the biggest and most luxurious of hotel proptries in the country, ; And one thing is sure, they'll: be morally backed up by many of the owners and mortgage holders, a

on’ the walls of ‘the empty lobby as an ultimatum to | fold up. Only nine of the 434 hotels were purchased out-

"de luxe white elephants outside an Indian maharajah’s 200. To arguments against these purchases, army men

low that it was cheaper to buy than to lease.

Bought Below Appraisals -

Phe list: = : In Chicago, the 3000-room Stevens, which is being used as a signal corps training school, and the 600room Chicago Beach, now an air force hospital.

“« people, like the Germans, are so |

BUT THE RUSSIANS obviously were well armed |

: Well, no particular political group did it, for the

The unions. can claim no part of the credit for

lot. of resort people were interpreting the handwriting |:

right, and included among them are some of the most | |

At White ‘Sulphur Springs, thé swank 700-room |= Greenbriar, which housed the German and Jap: diplo- :

"The Germans never thought a | free counfry could do as much as |

1 (ii f | |g

The Hoosier Forum I ‘wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say. t —Voliaire. ae

{

“PLEASE PUT ON THE SOFT PEDAL” By C. J. Oval, Oval & Koster, Indianapolis Please put the soit pedal on your

news items concerning all’ young|

men of draft age are going to be taken by Uncle Sam unless :engaged on defense work, - These items appearing in the newspapers have thrown bombshells into factories who already’ are having much trouble in obtaining Tabor. If jt must be done, let it be done without shouting ii from the housetops. How are we to pay taxes if we cannot get employees to do our work? The shutdowns of hundreds of business concerns for lack of labor is a very serious matter, and we hope that you and. the powers of Washington will think twice before ‘giving this ruling any more pubiicity, . . 8 “MUSIC MUST BE A PUBLIC INSTITUTION”

By Elmer Kruse, president of Musicians Union of Indianapolis

To the readers and citizens of Indianapolis: . I would like to say a few words in support of the bill introduced in the house of representatives Friday, Jan. 29, by Mrs. Nelle B. Downey

and Mr. Earl Teckemeyer, a bill]

urging the support and continuance of our symphony orchestra by a

.| special tax levy—it is my sincerest

wish and hope that this bill ‘will get the united: support that it truly deserves. Whatever happens: we must not lose this most progressive. cultural institution now. As well as anyone, and perhaps better than mest, I. know fully the background of this splendid organization and thé people who have made it what it is—the two eminent conductors, the founder, Mr. Ferdinand Schaefer, the present splendid musician, Mr. Fabien Sevitzky, and all the fine musicians who have so loyally worked and supported the orchestra from its Reginning down to the present time ‘even through the dark days of its birth when they ‘worked for little or no Tremuneration, carried on only by their love cf music jad their hope of a

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

future fine orchestra. That faith has been justified for we now have that fine orchestra. I say again we must not lose it, > In the face of ever moti taxes, perhaps: there are those who will say we can dispense with these things until victory is won. But the

more thinking person realizes that we cannot ‘anymore dispense with art and its culturai aspects than we

can do without our religions, what-

ever they might be. Thess are the things we must cling to, in a world gone mad. Now, if ever, is the time they should prove their worth. That they do prove their worth is the ever-growing love of’ good music evidenced by children and by the boys in the service, most of whom, were children only a few years back. Music . . .. must be a public institution, supported in some way by the state, giving its greatest good to everyone at the least cost. 5 ree “SHOULD NOT ACCUSE SOMEONE UNJUSTLY” By E. C. B., Indianapolis .In reply to a letter written by Mrs. N. K. in your editorial page on Feb. 2, 1043, 1 would like to state that being a police officer of the city of ‘Indianapolis myself and in a position to kriow some of the functions of the department, it is a little tiresome. to- listen to some of the complaints and criticisms that are heaped .on the shoulders of the officers that do most of the work when the person doing it: does not know the first iota of what they are

talking about. - After all; we officers are just Hite man beings and not super men. For Mrs. N. K.s information, the officer there was not a city police

Side Glances—By Galbraith

answer. that the purchase prices of these nine were sof. °

mats for a time but is now an army general hospital. | |. «

At Palm Springs, the 150-room El Mirador itself,

general ‘hospital. : Ate Nautilus, both ‘air force hospitals

and the 280-1 ; En hospital. ugusta,

‘formerly playground for the movie stars but. now a 1. , the 400-room exclusive Miami-Biltmore 1 : ‘Ark., the 500-room Eastnan, likes

1 over my tub and emp 4 | tents all. over my yard.

officer at all but a railroad detective from the Big Four railroad. There are several hundred officers in town who have uniforms similar

ito the uniforms of. the “city police

officers. Before this ‘lady makes such a public: statement she should be more specific ‘and nob accuse someone unjustly. Another statement was made in the Feb. 1° issue by someone that the accident rate was increasing in the city and why don’t the police do something about it. In Dec., 1941, there were 958 accidents in the city. In Dec. 1942, there were 512; ‘In Jan., 1942, there were 700. In Jan, 1943, there were 436. : This is not a ‘guess . but figures from the traffic office, which is open to the public if they would but take time to investigate before criticizing and making guesses. : : i: an. “PEGLER MAKES MIGHTY INTERESTING READING” By R. L. Clarke; Indianapolis Mr. W. H. Edwards states in your column that he gees, Westbrook Pegler is getting “ribbed severely for his disclosures as a writer.” However, I recall only one criticism of Pegler recently—all other articles have been in his" defense. In Mr. Edwards’ long column in which he uses many words but says very little, I gathered that he was trying to convey’ the impression that ‘crookedness existed for a long time, which doesn’t seem to be a particularly good reason for condoning the evils in todays union racketeering. Too much power is a bad thing for any group, whether in the hands of union leaders or capitalists.. I do not recall Pegler siding with any particular group. ; As Ernie: Pyle remarked once about ‘Pegler, “He's agin’ sin.” This - has been . apparent in his writings and -he seems to be continually burned up about some evil or other, and all tome in for an equal amount of hell: | Anyway, it makes mighty interesting reading. % 2 8 » “HEAPS OF ASHES LYING ALL AROUND” By Matt Tromt, 224 Spring st. 1 wish to enter a vigorous protest: anent the slovenly way the: agh> haulers treat ‘the. citizens of"

- | neighborhood, - It's a erying shame

and ‘an outrage. 5 There have been and are: ‘heaps of ashes lying all around: this dis= trict even since the first of Decom~

{ber last. - The writer does not ‘aim

to knock the working man, but this situation is becoming, intolerable. . 1 saw this actually happen. Two. ash-haulers came by ‘ here and everything was. ready fer them, but some urchin or other hs to. put one tin can on top Ry The haulers (deliberal turned ‘the eon=

5} “Now ev neighbor has the same complaint to _make—namely, every-,

| one practically has heaps of ashes

“all over. Cannot the city

| | scattered }|ctesnine department see to this,

eyesore Ht cannot 1.8m going to the ‘board and a

| For probably no single policy in our History

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6—The

| United States is now. working out

a policy which may mean success

or failure for our future. sifhorne., foreign. commerce.

wi 5iF Space A committee of six men, sclected from _

among the country’s top-ranking officials, is conducting the study upon which the national policy will be :

: These are Adolf A Berle Jr., assistant secretary of 2 state; Robert A. Lovett, assistant secretary of war

1 for air; Artemus L. Gates, assistant secretary of the

navy for air; Wayne C. Taylor, un retary of commerce; L. Welch Pogue, pions civil aeronautics board, and Wayne Coy, director of “the officer: jo emergency management.

Foreign Powers Interested in 3

THIS IS.a distinguished group; as well" AR is mote’ important than this one is destined to he—not even excepting the Monroe Doctrine, the open ‘door: poliey,. nor our 150-year-old advocacy of freedom of the seas, + When completed, the report will go to the White House, the state and other departments, and before we hear the last of it laws will be framed in congress and international agreements negotiated, all based on. . the studies now going on.

3

The British and. other foreign governments ae a

vitally interested in this same new doctrine: of frees . dom of the air, especially our particular solution of it. - At present, every country has complete sovereignty in the air above its soil and for the statutory distance :.

at sea. Before a foreign air line can operate to, or .

through, this’ air space it must obtain the specifies consent of that country.

A Tall Order!

“FREEDOM OF THE AIR” would change all this, It means that any air line of any nation might have access to, and presumably ‘through, the air space of other nations, subject only to reasonable. safety and .

traffic rules—just as the surface ships of one nation

have access to the harbors of other nations.

By its very nature, therefore, “freedom of the alr® A

is not a policy which a single nation could very well adopt alone, Most of the nations of the world would ..

have to adhere to it or the advantages which proe .

ponents claim for it would be nullified.

Before the United States makes up its own ind

regarding “freedom of the air,” therefore, it mu first arrive at a very. definite conclusion that su policy would be beneficial and, second, that the other

principal powers would play ball with us. And that

alone is a tall order.

Spell of Egypt By Stephen Ellis :

VICTORIA WOLF'S new book, is a romantic novel. than that.

The action is laid in Egypt of the 1920’s—a peace 4

- time Egypt. : past generations hidden by the desert forms the

A search for tombs and treasures of

“Spell of Egypt™ * . It could hardly bé ‘called more

background for the love story of an English , o

ologist, Roger Conway, and, his secretary, Sonya, .

Russian exile. : At the start of the expedition, "a fortune teller :

predicts tragedy and death to seven members of the :

troupe. And-as tombs of. ancient Egyptian Kings are unearthed, the. prediction ‘begins to bear fruit, and thievery, illness, death and petty jealousies arise to thwart the progress of the expedition. £3

Story Moves Slowly

BRIEFLY, that is the plot of the book. Obviously, v7

it is thin and rather trite. There is little action to -

-| keep the story moving, and the characters seem stilted

and unhatural. The book’s one redeeming feature is the expréssion of random pnilosophies by Sonya, who tells ‘the story, but even this is ‘offset by the, author's irrifating

| habit of changing tense frequently without warning

or apparent reason. The book could be.classed as escape literature, and for those who want to ‘get away from it all” it probably would ‘provide a momentary refuge. How ever, the return to reality will be immediate.

“SPELL OF EGYPT,” by Victoria Wolf. York, $2. 50.

We the Women

By Ruth Millett

B. Fischer, Now

person other people like to have .

around. You don’t need money, great wit, or even a “C” sticker |

on your automobile. All you by

to do is to follow. three simple - —

rules. : Keep your troubles to youtselts

Most. people .are going around °

* talking about their troubles these days. You know how it is. Theyre - worried about the member of the family who is in

the war. They're worried about taxes. Everybody ing the family has a cold. So if you don’t make anyone *

listen to your troubles, you'll: "be a blessed relief. 28 gi Fe

Start an Epidemic of Enthisiasm

SHOW: SOME enthusiasm for living. | “Peop ) so ‘engrossed in ‘the war that it is easy for them to forget that it doesn’t hurt the war -effory for them enjoy the things they still have and the things | are still able to do. The person who still knows ho! to have fun can give a roomful of people a lift. X thusiasm for life is catching —so dry to see

quaintances. Don’t make tloamy predictions 1 bs

future,

be lad o's you comin.

5 the Point— 2

© WEIGHT MAKES fat pepe puff smart; the pifing will make thems wait,