Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 February 1943 — Page 12

y (except Sunday) by: ~ Indianapolis Times Publishing Co., 214 W. ‘Maryland st.

Member of United Press, pps = Howard Newspaper Alliance, NEA Service, and Audit Bugeau of Circulations.

Mail rates in In

states, 75 cents a month; others, $1 monthly.

ES» RILEY 5581

' Give Light and the People Will Find. Their Own Way

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1943

FARM SUBSIDIES

QOME of the thinking on inflation that is eRbressol from ~ Washington still seems a little foggy to us out here in Take the matter of “incentive payments” to farmers for instance. This week a congressional subcommittee Tefusad an appropriation of 100 million dollars which the partment of agriculture had planned to use as a sort of nus” to farmers who produce more than their original quota of some crops. The other way to induce more pro‘duction, of course, is to let it be a little more profitable to produce. This, the Washington thinkers contend, is “inflationik ” That is to say, it is inflation to let consumers who . now have more money than they have ever had, pay farmers ~ 100 million dollars more for their crops Hirongh higher prices, but it is not inflation for the government of the United States, which now has less money than it needs, to ‘borrow 100 million dollars and pay it to the farmers as a “bonus.” In either case the farmers get the 10Q million doliars Whatever inflationary effect the distributiontof 100 millions may have will in no way be changed, whether the cash comes out of the pockets of shoppers at the grocery or . sthether the treasury borrows the money from these same shoppers and pays them interest on it. : 2 8 8 ‘es #8 =» CONOMIC Director Byrnes, who says he sees sothing inflationary in raising the incomes of war workers 30 per cent to get 20 per cent more production, seems alarmed lest an increase of ‘5 per cent in the income of farmers to ~ get 5 per cent more production create inflation. bs The facts are, any increase in anybody’s income, whether by government subsidy or by higher prices or by ‘higher wages, will be inflationary as long as there is more "money with which to buy than there are things to be bought. : The real catch in the farm situation is that if farmers a get more for their crops the price of groceries may rise, 2 and if the price of groceries rises even one notch, organized ; labor will demand higher wages. And who in Washington can refuse such a demand? ~The “incentive payment” plan is simply a device to _ keep the price increase temporarily off the grocery bill, and add it, with interest, to the tax bill our children and our grandchildren will be paying.

.

WHICHEVER YEAR'S TAX IS HIGHER

JIN THE testimony on the Ruml pay-as-you-go income-tax ~ plan, practically all witnesses agree— 1. That the treasury would probably. collect more money under this plan, because national income is rising, and because taxes would be collected at the source before taxpayers had a chance to spend all they earned; and 2. That the taxpayers would be better off under this % plan, beeause it would rid them of income-tax debt.

. Yet the treasury opposes the Ruml plan, the essence of which 1 is to base this year’s income = on this year’s income rather than on 1942 income. h Most of the treasury’s arguments were demagogic bom‘bast. But the treasury did offer one possibly valid criticism ‘of the Ruml plan—which is that a few taxpayers who happened to have unusually large incomes in 1942, and smaller pcomes in 1943, would pay a lesser tax than they should pay. A man who made a lot of money on a war contract in 942 might be an example. : 8 # 2 » 8 # VERY well, why not close this loophole? Neither Mr. Ruml nor anyone else advocates giving anybody a tax dfall. Why not provide that each taxpayer must pay his tax on whichever year’s income is the larger? If he made more money in 1942, he would be taxed on his 1942 income. If his 1943 income is larger, he would be taxed on that. © Under such a formula, proposed by Rep. Louis Ludlow f Indianapolis those “60 millionaires” Randolph Paul rantd about would have to pay through the nose. That should ake Mr. Paul happy (though it probably wouldn’t). Any- , at the beginning of 1944 all taxpayers who could meet e terms would be out of debt to their government. + 8 " 8 ” ” 2 N “exception. to the whichever-year-is-higher rule, we think, should be made in the case of men entering the

would owe a tax of $268.80. If he entered the army the of this year, at $50 a month, his 1943 income would be

Of that, $22 a month—or $264—would be deducted.

om his pay and sent to his wife. The soldier would have 36 left. It is not likely he could spare any of it to pay at Jeon 80 tax debt. He shouldn't have to pay. Nor

3

$4 a year; adjoining

By Westbrook Pegler

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17—Aft-

er a long brawl with the adminis- |

tration and the unions it appears at last that the congress of the U. 8. A, in this session, will adopt some laws intended to place some responsibility on the union movement and protect the whole people and the individual worker from the reckless behavior of this overgrown, undisciplined political giant. Ny At this writing the program calls for an amend-_ ment to the old Copeland anti-racketeering law

-| whereby unions would be deprived of their present _| right to commit highway robbbery and extortion, the

compulsory incorporation of unions, public accounting

of their funds and a provision to forbid political con- |

utions from union treasuries in elections of candidates for national office. In the house, the Republicans, who in the past have been inclined to rib the Democrats about union atrocities but unwilling themselves to risk the initiative because they feared the so-called union vote, have agreed to go along part way this time. “They will support incorporation, accountability for union money and the forbiddance of campaign contributions as their labor program.

Amendment Out of Committee

THE ANTI-ROBBERY and extortion amendment, offered by Sam Hobbs of Alabama, has been reported out of the judiciary committee and seems likely to pass the house, at least, and, although the Republicans are not committed to this reform, there is every reason to expect that they will help to pass it. : A sub-section of the Hobbs bill, a’ revival for duration of a law used in the first world war, would outlaw interference with interstate shipments of war materials and all troop movements. That seems a reasonable proposal for, after all, not even a union should have a right to commit such interference even for the advancement of its own interests, which the supreme court has held to be superior to the public, but it is not sure to pass. There has been so much ‘ballyhoo about the sanctity of unionism under the New Deal that this restriction might be defeated or just silenced as a reactionary attempt to disarm labor of its best weapon.

'A Country Bonesetter'

NO POLITICAL DOCTOR, but merely a country bonesetter, I would say that the proposal of incorporation is not very important among the others because once accountability’ becomes fixed and political contributions are forbidden, the unbelievable very, racketeering and political corruption already revealed in the papers and in the congressional hearings will be curbed and the results to be expected from incorporation will be achieved anyway. One fact which few members of congress and not many of the people, including the workers, realize, is that comparatively little of the loot collected by the unions finds its way into the big national treasuries. The local unions collect most of the graft and it is not clear that under a federal law they, too, would have to give accounts, although they would hot be

allowed to donate to any party or candidate in an'

election to any national office,

'Fan Mail Registers’

THIS FACT is clear today that congress has turned dh the administration in the whole matter of privileges of the unions. The administration has yielded nothing and. any part of this program, which is the independent action of an angry and rebellious congress, that finally becomes law, will be a rebuke

| to the whole administration and the New Deal party

from the’ president on, down through the supreme court, which inflamed the voters with its shocking decisions, and the social political bureaus, to the most obscure statistician. ' This change registers the fan mail that the members of the national legislature have been receiving from the people back home and the sentiments which they heard on their home grounds at election time. They have been convinced that the people are not with such union bosses as William Green of the A. F. of L. and Philip Murray of the C. I. O. and are not just ready for but demanding reform. In fact, some ofthe more conscientious union men want reform as the only alternative to the destruction of the union movement,

In Washington

By Peter Edson

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17—=U. S. war-time trade with the remaining _ half-dozen neutral countries today involves some of the most delicate dealing and hoss-swappin’. in: the long and frenzied story of American foreign commerce. It is touchy business because, in most instances, it involves economic warfare, in the thickest of the fight + and no holds barred. It involves buying and selling and sometimes outright barter in competition with the Nazis, who are in direst need of many of the commercial prizes of this fight. Ordinary rules of business don’t go:in this trade, ordinary laws of supply and demand don’t determine the prices. It is cutthroat competition from the start. The fancy $4 economists’ name for this wartrading is pre-emptive or preclusive buying. That means simply buying up’ all available surpluses of things the enemy wants. Whether the United States needs these purchases from these particular neutral sources is beside the point, though in practically every case pre-emptive buys can be used in the American war effort. Early in the game, Jesse Jones and his reconstruction finance corporation boys decided that a lot of these deals might be questioned if they were made by the usual RFC subsidiary war materials purchasing corporations, and since all the preclusive purchases were secret anyway, a separate company, the U. S. Commercial Corp., was organized as a goverrimentowned subsidiary to go into this kind of business exclusively. How does it work?

ol Octgians and Outbuy the Neiis TAKE SOME purchases made in countries like

Portugal and Spain. Stuff the United States is buy-

ing in those neutral countries includes tin, tungsten, cork, and other material. Now even before the war the United States had a normal cork import business with these countries. The Germans have no right to interfere with a neutral country’s normal trade, so the cork business can

go right on, shipped in Spanish or Portuguese ships

packs. : But suppose the neutral ship carries tin or tungsten or wool-—-commodities which the United States nor-

| mally did not import in quantity from Spain and : oa Portugal before the war. If a neutral ship is caught ‘| carrying such contraband, under the laws of war the : Germans have the right to seize the cargo or sink the §

ship. Ee lk of the pre-empiive purchisses must, there-

on eR through the U-boat blockade, which adds to the risk 1 * | of this ticklish business. a a

3 it ints sevud eo, ifs at least second we front. ts of the U. 8.

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

&

“EVERY MAN AND WOMAN SHOULD BE FINGERPRINTED” By Edmund J. Rocker, 1324 W. Washington st. .

I have a suggestion that I have written to President Roosevelt, Paul V. McNutt and Congressman Louis Ludlow: That under the new manpower act that is now in the hands of congress for drafting men and

women, there should be an amendment made that every man and

for drafting of labor in defense plants or farms. There are millions of women and men who have never been fingerprinted and that must have proper Identification before, being employed. I have known of hundreds of cases where both men and women had a job to go on but had to wait two weeks until an O.K. came from Washington, D. °C., before they could go to work and that was a loss of millions of man and womanPowe: hours and thousands of dolars. ee 0 0

2 8 = o “COUNTY BETTER OFF IF PLANNING IS DROPPED”

By Bert Wilhelm, Pres., Property Owners’ Protective Assn., 2106 S. Tears Avs.

At every meeting of the Indiana

duces a planning bill which generally emhodies more or less restriction on the development of suburban

territory. f It is well known that those living in or owning property in the suburban areas are not interested in such measures and have never made the slightest demand for such a law. The average citizen of Indianapolis or any other city affected is not interested; in fact, the sponsors of such a bill could not name 50 property owners who have the least thought of such a law. Then why the bill? Only another move to place a committee of political chairwarmers on a good salary with nothing to do but dictate to honest taxpayers. The average suburbanite wants from one-half to five acres of land. Naturally he wants that all in one parcel. A parcel of land the size of

woman be fingerprinted for propery identification to be on hand ready|’

general assembly someone intro-|

| tive clause.

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

the average city lot, say 35 feet by 140 feet, is of no value in the suburbs. The parcel is too small to tall a septic tank and drain successfully or in keeping with the state law. The lot is too small for a garden or shrubbery and unless it is on a paved road there is no law to" maintain streets or alleys or install public utilities. . However, the great unknown power behind a planning movement

wants all suburban property out to conform with the streets and

Grove or Speedway City have not sprawled across his mental picture. To those who care to go into this matter, they will soon have an opportunity, by reading a list of suburban lots offered for sale for delinquent taxes, the same lots that have been offered for years. Why clutter up the county records with more such frozen assets? This is’ what happened: A subdivision was platted and approved by the planning board. Streets and alleys were dedicated, but there is no law or never was a law whereby these streets can be improved, and there never has been any loose money for that purpose. The next move was to put a restrictive clause in the deed for building of houses costing $3000 or more. Loan companies could not see value and could not finance such high-priced homes on such a plat and could not loan on a cheaper house on Bcoount of the. restric-

Some purchasers paid for their lots. They could not build for the reasons mentioned. The balance of the subdivision was sold for taxes and there is no restrictive clause in a sheriff’s deed. The result was that. the home purchaser was unable to realize on

his investment. He lived up to his

Side Glances—By Galbraith

alleys of Indianapolis, even if Beech}

~ with his lips to, do evil, or to

agreement only to see shacks raise up all around him on land sold for taxes. The hundreds of vacant lots and

- 1the countless lots sold for taxes or

growing up in weeds which serve as a neighborhood dumping ground, insect and rat incubator, will convince anyone except a politician try-

ling to creat another political job

that Marion county will be better off and suburban: dwellers will be happier if .the planning board scheme is dropped completely. " # ” “A PROTEST AGAINST COOKIE-SNITCHERS” By D. G. Lucas, 1227 Windermire st. In Mrs. Nell B. Purky’s comment on the controversy between V. C. Dearborn and myself over the mat-

‘ |ter of the rent board's decision to

fix the rent for this house at what it had been during the previous 10

d|years, she missed the point of my

article entirely. The fact that V. C. Dearborn, my rental agent, in order to make a case against the rent board, made a piker of . . . me, interested Mrs. Purky not at all. Mrs. Purky, in speaking of the rent board, said “they go out-of their way to protect fellows like you.” There she is right. That is exactly why the rent board was created. Let -her understand things correctly and give thanks. If it were not for price control boards of which the rent board is but one, she would now, if history is any criterion, be paying $1 a dozen for eggs, and the same for a peck of potatoes. Those are exactly the prices I paid for the’ articles mentioned during the last war. Everything else was in proportion and everyone thought he was getting rich. When the bubble broke 100,000 farmers, businessmen ‘and others including myself found that we; too, were broke. In a war-born epoch, when the governor belt has slipped and the engine is running wild, price con-

can keep the machinery from being wrecked. My regret is that the government, itself, is addicted to sac-

{ rificing. character for the sake of ex-

pediency and gain. Instead of making price control 100 per cent effective, it allows certain vote-producing groups to reach into the cookie jar while cracking the knuckles of others not big enough to reach that high. ... The rent board, like every other price control agency, is doing the best it can to keep the lid on the

|jar. The government gave them a

badge and a club and told them to watch the cookies. The immoral feature of the whole set-up is that the government has pets—this time it happens to be labor organizations;

to filch from the jar with impunity.

ticle of Jan. 28. That article was

‘| written in ‘basic protest against all

the dirty little hands, including the government’s own, that would snitch for cookies at the sacrifice ‘of principle, equity, justice and truth. “As I see things, our individual citizens slap at flies and complain of gnats while a soul-poisoning, de-|

SS ————————————————— DAILY THOUGHT Or it & soul swear. ! do good, whatsoever it be that a man.

trol boards are the only device that |

and those favored ones are allowed|

| It is not me vs, a rental agent| that caused my Hoosier Forum ar-

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17—Price Administrator Prentiss Brown is quietly “reforming the Feformers™ at OPA. x * He is clipping the wings of some of his subordinates-in an effort to arrive at a more sensible approach to rationing and: price-

Suddenly, and with some surprise, these subordinates have learned that the amiable ex-sena-tor intends to be boss. They learned it from his own lips. He is.no" desk-pounder, but they got. his meaning all right. = Tt tdok Mr. Brown about 's month, affer Sie moved into the office vacated by the volcanic Lebn Henderson, fo learn the ropes and find out’ who Was who. )

The Vice. of. {Bureaucracy - TIE nee

IN THE COURSE of this education; hernotiosd that announcements were ‘made in his name, that policies were presented to the public—some through official, some. through unofficial channels—about

which he was not consulted. It was not exactly a. new pheriomenen * Mr. Brown, since he had seen it from the outside, from congress. He knew how the key personnel of govern-' ment agencies quickly form into closed ‘corporations and how they try to encircle the newcomer and Tun the show. It is not hecessary to go far for a shining example of this. process, an example in which Paul V. McNutt, war manpower commissioner, is the ‘victim. It is the vice of bureaucracy. Mr. Brown doesn’t intend to let it happen to him. . So he has laid down’ the law. “He is to be boss.

More Practical Approach

IN MAKING it plain that he must be consulted on all matters of policy, that there are to be no sub-rosa announcements, he also sketched his general idea of a more practical approach to OPA problems. And his idea is that the public and ‘businessmen are to be treated as human beings, with less harshness, with more attempt to understand their: viewpoint. - . Mr. Brown has an understanding of public reac= tions. He kriows how people may be more easily led along the difficult paths necessary in war. Already he has discovered some red-tape processes in rationing that might be.eliminated. : He has, instructed his subordinates against indis~

| criminate injunctions. against businessmen. This does:

not mean that enforcement is to be less strict. But businessmen must be given a chance to tell their side, of the story. For in some cases misunderstandings are responsible, Tot, intentional, stiempts to evade

regulations.

Inside Clique Sepielhéd

THERE WILL BE more consideration to members of congress, which should reduce. friction at the capi tol. Congressmen are to be treated like human beings.

Gestures of appeasement, in the way of appointments, will be forthcoming. It is likely that more. businesses men will be brought into OPA. Mr. Brown became particularly sensitive to. the. operations of the inside clique of Mr. Henderson's regime when Richard Gilbert; OPA lawyer and econe: omist, announced : that price outs: were .to be ‘used: to regulate profits. ' . | t This was not Mr. Brown's iden. He regards the tax. laws and the renegotiation of contracts as the, way to reach excessive profits. ; That is the sort of polieymaking by subordinates which ‘he has stopped... “

‘Pavement End - By Stephen Ellis

CHARLES G. FINNEY is a frank man who doesn’t seem to have any illusions about his writing. He believes his first: book, “The Circus of Dr. Lao,” is re-’ garded as a freak.. His second. book, “The’ Unholy City,” is quite definitely a ‘flop, he admits. - Following his example.of such frankness, I. must say I don’t think much of this third’ book, either, Mr. Finney says he is working toward some new literary: form within the physical -limits and. appearances of the novel and that he: doesn’t believe it 1s necessary. to “classify” his book as to type. “Past the End of the Pavement” may * that new literary form and your reviewer may be. Just too slow: to catch on to it. - ” - It is a story about Tom and Willie. Farrier, two boys who are enthusiastic “tamers” of wild animals and insects. They gather up water beetles after a rain and get into a fight with two neighborhood girls who object to seeing water heetles confined in a tub. © They hunt: frogs and turtles in the ponds and: creeks near their home. They buy a drake who are rorizes the neighborhood. And 80 on.’

The Plot?

MR. FINNEY’S characters are cut and dried ‘as are ’ the situations in the story. Their conversation is full of bromides, And the plot—I didn’t find it. : Frankly, the story is too naive for oldsters and too tame for youngsters. Mr.’ Finney must have wtten it for his own: ‘pleasure. a

8 2

PAST THE END O HE 2 268 pages; Henry, Holt & Ca.

We the on

By Ruth Millett

AVEMENT, by Charles G. Pager New York City; $3 2.

PLENTY OF housewives with’ some extra time on their hands haven't found their places in the But there fs going fo b8 plac for many of them as moi

mothers are working in factories. Seeing. that. the children are: properly cared: for should bea family problem, but in- many cases it isn’t. The par< ents shirk the responsibility and the community must asume it until something better is: worked out. ~~ In New York the call has gone-out for volunteer” workers between the ages of 21 and 50 who are willing to spend three hours a day, ‘days a week, feeding, diapering, entertaining and guiding, children. AB, the city’s volunteer shelters. . . . : : Women ‘who live. in- cities: that already have shelters or in production areas that will provide

AAR

such. them

belie Jorg, now have 4 chance’ th dp SOmEINg Vise" : mocracy-destroying virus is squirted | ful, AIRS A * | into our veins by Washington. st