Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 15 April 1943 — Page 20

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RALPH SURKHOLDER Editor, in U. S. Service

WALTER LECKRONE - Editor

Prico. in: Marion (Couns ty, 4 cents a copy; delivered by carrier, 18 cents a week. :

Mail rates in Indiana, $4 a year; adjaining states, 75 cents a .others, $1 monthly, .

“ rue sor

Stor Uh and the Pepe 78 Ts Thar un Wor

“THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 1043

"DEMOCRACY, MODEL 1943 |

Be oy Tv owaratom the ‘Sltas VE Gol. cternsl hostility to every > form of tyranny over the mind of man.”—Thomas Jefferson. SPEAKING | in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter this week says the newspapers, the magazines, the radio, the movies and polls of public opinion are making it hard to maintain democracy. © ‘One wonders what Mr. Frankfurter means by democracy. What Mr. Jefferson meant is reasonably clear. He .wrote it into the constitution of the United States. Freedom of personal action limited only by the rights of others. Complete freedom for every man to read what he wants to read, hear what he wants to hear, see what he wants to look at. And from Mr. Jefferson complete confidence that ordinary men -have the intelligence to view all sides of any issue and make up their own minds. Mr. Frankfurter expresses no such confidence. Opinion, he says, is being regimented and judgment confused by misuse of these channels of information. . To be sure a policy that Mr. Frankfurter might consider “misuse” of press and radio might without change . be considered very excellent and proper use by the Re- + publican national committee, for example. This again is ¢ something the people themselves have the power—and, we firmly believe, the discretion as well—to determine. Mr. I Jefferson believed that, too. : , . In.other particulars, also, Justice Frauktorter dissents. # + The statements of Thomas Jefferson no longer hold ‘good, * he told the audience assembled to honor Thomas Jefferson’s memory, because Thomas Jefferson never could have contemplated the problems of today. . “He was concerned with the abolition of unnecessary . Social restraint,” said Mr. Frankfurter, “and could hardly - foresee that this is not at all identical with the creation. of * necessary social control.” "There have been other attempts at revision of those ~ basic precepts Thomas Jefferson laid down 150 years ago— such as Vice President Wallace's proposal that we must ' change some of the liberties guaranteed Americans by the bill of rights into closer eonformity with the Russian con3 ‘cept of democracy. There have been continuing assaults . against the principles upon which this nation was founded and grew great upon’ the Epecions plea that times are - different now. : Only--the- language is different,- _Across- “the years Thomas Jefferson speaks as clearly as ever to Americans —but to little men who do not understand him it seems an alien tongue.

i i THOSE DUMB JAPS NFORTUNATELY, the . Japs are so dumb they don’t ~ accept our rules for the Pacific war. While we insist it : is only a sideshow, until. we win the ‘European war, the Japs refuse to wait. With the discourtesy. which characterized their sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, their thrust at the rear of Singapore, their surprise seizure of our Aleutian back door, and their recent Burma successes, they continue to push their ~ offensives in many directions. This has our Pacific commanders and allies worried. The Australians and: Chinese are pressing Washington hard for more action, and so is Gen: MacArthur. Mme. Chiang Kai-shek and Foreign Minister Soong, the U. S. army and nayy mission headed by Gen. Kenney, and now Australian Foreign Minister: Evatt, Have ut the case before the president. x In fairness to the president, it must be ; rodiinltol that * he cannot please everybody. He cannot give Churchill’ and Stalin all they want and send. Eisenhower all that is needed there, and have ‘enough left: over for China, the Southwest Pacific, Hawaii and the Aleutians. eld As for the: ‘much-criticized stiutegy of oncertrating against Hitler first—instead of treating the war as a global conflict in which the Pacific is of équal ‘importance—that was dictated ‘by ‘Churchill and. ‘cannot ‘be changed at this late date, But: this ‘dteategy can be applied, and the allied Pacific. commanders: still be given mre ‘of the large inc..ase in new planes ; and. ships than they have been getting. “Whether ‘or ‘not ene: agrees with the recent report of the Institute ‘of Pacific. Relations that “Japan is our ny,” most Americans probably share.the Austhat it would be “suicidal” to give Japan time to consolidate” her. great gains in , glratogic materials and

oo:

selves or the public. ion of the Aleutians was “unimportant” and Jap power the Southwest Pacific has been “broken” by many Amerin “victori

But that. is not theaiory of our commanders on the| Aleutian conimander reports: that the enemy |

ot. Qur: ‘aimost completed airfields on Kiska and Attu—which

ashington thought impossible. Gen. MacArthur and his of ground forces, Gen. Sir Thomas Blamey, | ci

f larger Jap force than ever in that theater...

‘We are not licking the Japs and are not ‘even keeping |

m on’ the’ defensive; we cannot until our heavily out-

ships. The American and allied forces of army, navy

‘marine corps in the Pacific have accomplished much little; but they are iu dusperate need of more, TE

‘carrying out instructions.

many I ein officials have been kidding Shem. To hear them talk, the Jap inva-|

slln Nadia

“|By: Peier Edson

: WASHINGTON, April 15.~Tvwo | hundred ‘million dollars due ship |

owners as payment for seizure of

their yessels by the government 15°

‘now tied up by inability of government lawyers representing the war

shipping adnfinistration and the I's office to agree |

controller "on ‘interpretation of the law sup-

posed to determine rates of payment. It is a perfect example of |

a lovely lawyers fight, of a snarl in government red tape, of a bottleneck in adminis-

trative procedure which, if duplicated in war produc- |

tion, would be termed downright sabotage. The issue hasn't received as much attention as it probably deserves because it is a bit complicated, also because it got buried and involved in the futile attempt of Senator George D. Aiken of Putney, Vt, to stop the reappointment of Adm, E. 8. Land for another term as chairman of the maritime commission and war shipping administrator. 3

Delay Hamstrings Owners

BUT FOR weeks the maritime commission and controller general's office lawyers have been arguing the matter without coming to any conclusion, and so hamstrung are some of the ship owners by-this delay that in the last few days they have been meeting with the war shipping administration in an effort to

work out some kind of an interim agreement, pending:

final adjustment. Under the law, the ship owners could accept 75 per cent of the compensation due ther, but if they did take this payment, they would be forced to sue the government for the balance and there would follow a long string of court actions. Naturally, ship owners and the war shipping administration both want to avoid that further tie-up. .This case in the first instance goes back to the fifth

amendment to the constitution which says that pri-

vate property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. If the government seizes a privately owned ship for war cargo service, for instance, the owner shall receive just compensation.

Ship Values Rising

ON SEPT. 8, 1939, the president issued a proclamation declaring the existence of a “limited national emergency.” That was right after Hitler started marching, you'll remember. = At that time, ship values were low. On May 217, 1941, ‘the president issued another proclamation, declaring ® “general national emergency,” and further bringing into operation the power of the maritime commission to requisition shipping, By that time, ship values had risen, partly because there was a greater demand for shipping, partly because of submarine sinkings in European waters. Therefore, the maritime commission, which did not

begin to requisition ships until after May, 1941, set a

payment scale on shipping it requisitioned, higher than the value of 1939, but lower than the value of May, 1941, and proceeded to order the treasury to recompense owners af seized vessels accordingly.

Impartial Opinion Given

BUT ALONG comes the office of Controller Genefal Lindsay Warren to say no, the maritime commission rates should be based on rates in effect in 1939, or nearly two years before the maritime commission began to requisition vessels in any quantity. ; Congress, through the house merchant marine and fisheries committee and the senate commerce committee, had already been asked to clarify the law, but that got nowhere. So an impartial arbiter was called in, in the person of William D. Mitchell, to investigate and write a memorandum. Not to seftle the case,

‘mind you—just’ to write a memo. He did. It'is a

masterful composition, in simple, direct English unusual to find ina‘ lawyer.” ‘It recommends that the commission apply to the attorney general for an opinion. So far, that has not been done. Apparently that would be too simple.

» ~ 8 Westbrook Pegler is on vacation.

‘sland’ Secrecy

By William Philip Simms |

WASHINGTON, April 15. — Benito Mussolini's choice of a place to hold a conference was an island in the middle of a E northern Italian lake where there Wo Was no room for newspapermen. What he wanted the world to know about the conference he would put into a handout and dispatch by rowboat to the waiting correspondents ashore. That, in effect, is the White House formula for the international food conference scheduled to meet on May 18 at Hot Springs, Va. The

" “island” will be the 600-room Homestead hotel, in

the middle of large grounds on the edge of the town. Correspondents will wait in the town for handouts.

They will not be allowed ‘inside the hotel nor, it is]:

said, on the broad acres around it.

Carrying Out Instructions

IT IS CLEAR that neither Secretary of State Cordell Hull nor Under Secretary Sumner Welles had anything to do with these arrangements beyond I have attended many International conferenees, both in Europe and South America, where one or the other of these diplomats took a leading part. Mr. Hull or Mr. Welles was always available, day or night. In general the public was kept reasonably and authoritatively informed. ‘The meeting of American foreign ministers last year at Rio de Janeiro, for example, was a far more explosive affair than the Hot Springs food conference ought to be. Yet accredited correspondents from .almost every part of the world moved about freely. They lived in the same hotels with the delegates. They had access to all places of meeting. Obviously,

‘they could nqt sit in at. executive sessions, but they:

Souls and did talk with the delegates as they came ou Mr. Welles, who headed the United States delegation, met with the American correspondents at least twice daily, and oftener when events warranted.

Leaks Certain to Occur

LEAKS ARE bound to occur. Some of the foreign

—T ALAR AFTER CARL ROSE

1 wholl

The Hoosier Forum

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

“HAVE WE DONE ENOUGH TO HELP?” By Mrs. F. L. W., Mooresville

I've written to your column quite a few times on the pros and cons of different subjects, but this time it is of an entirely different nature.

People don’t go around telling their dreams now, or don’t they? This might be the result of reading so many war stories and books, and hearing so many radio experiences and mixed up with just a little worry of keeping four small sons and a daughter in line. But also, it might be that wee small voice of conscience having an extra word. Therefore, believing that this “nightmare of mine, ‘since it struck me with such.terrific force,

might awaken a few others, I want

to burden you with the details. . .. It seems that we were having a great meeting and hundreds and hundreds of people were there very busily and very noisily getting assembled to hear someone speak. All of a sudden the public address system broke loose with the warning that by some advance tip they had found out that the huilding that we Were occupying was to be bombed and that bombers were five minutes distant. It advised that all run to seek. shelter in a wooded hillside section a - short distance away. : A wild, screaming, screeching mob broke out of the building, running, trampling, pushing, sheving, crying

{out for their lost ones. Mothers and

fathers "carrying straggling, crying babies and wee tots. Old people begging for someone to help them get-away. ‘The distant whirr of motors could be heard and the melee became more frantic. Everyone could be seen running, praying, trying to get to cover. I can remember trying to our two smaller babies and my friend pulling the larger boys along. . Most everyone had fallen to the ‘ground or were on their knees praying for help. The air was full of prayers and: sobbing and crying. The shout went ‘up that we were trapped, that they were ciroling us} ‘That we were surrounded by enemy Sure enough they were circling ‘and our whole group was ‘surrounded. The circle’ of bombers :

(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.)

dropped flame throwers and spreaders and the crackle of dry wood was heard all around us. The prayers, the moanings became louder. And the bombs started falling! I screamed as our chubby little two-year-old darted from my arms toward an unexploded bomb! Luckily enough, my scream awoke me. I heard the roar of an airplane motor and after I had collected my horrified mind enough I realized that it was our regular scheduled plane going over at. its usual time. I've lain awake the rest of the night just thinking—thinking have we done enough that this will not come to us? May the Lord deliver us from anything so_horrib , but as we know it has happened to our neighboring friends, and similarly it has happened to our boys over there. Because I have a conscience I have examined myself. Have I done enough to help the war effort? Hereafter I won't even think of the big deductions in our pay check for war bonds, victory taxes and Red Cross drives. There are many more things more important I'll forget about the ref tor I'd like .to-have now, and continue to use my worn out washer if we can be free! I'll get those tin cans. ready if it is » big Job! That's the least 1 can

do.

rn work’ harder than ever on our victory garden. I'll answer . those letters more promptly to the in the fray, Ill be thankful’ that there is. at least one landlord that knows .children need a home when

their parents can't buy one.

- And most of all, if and when my husband is needed and is called, although it will mean hardships with so ‘many small ones, I'll send-him away bravely. We . mus Jeep America free!

Side Glonces—By Galbraith _

Py There just can’t be anything more important. And now, my friends, if this has bored you, let us hope that it doesn't take a real nightmare to wake us up, which then would be too late, I don’t think I'm the only one that’s been asleep. Do you? # » ” “A DIRECT INSULT TO PATRIOTIC AMERICANS”

By Warren A. Benedict Jr., 2019 Madison ave.

That rider repealing the $25,000 wage limit and the way it was put over constitutes about the most loathesome and contemptible thing congress has done, It is a direct insult to the patriotic Americans at home and abroad who are so nobly serving their country. The dastardly method of putting it over, tacking it onto a war emergency bill that had to be passed, rates high in the annals of political depravity. Those who engineered this bit of shyster politics should be particularly singled out for refirement at next year’s primaries. The congressnien responsible for the rider can be divided into two classes, namely (1) the rabid New Deal haters who loathe Roosevelt vorse than they do Hirohito, and (2) those congressmen who owe more to the profiteers than they|' do to their country and their constituents. In this all-out war we are all called on to make sacrifices. Foremost are those patriots who have left good homes and jobs to face the hell of war at $50 a month.

At their present salaries they| gs

would have to serve over 40 years

to earn what our misrepresentatives| {

in congress have decreed is not enough for some stay-at-home war profiteers. Just imagine how inspir-| ing this bit of class legislation must have been to those boys abroad, Even in England, where the government is considered conservative, a $15,000 salary limitation is taken for granted. I believe the people will remember this in the primaries and elections that come next year. And unless I miss my guess, a lot of those

“BACK SEAT DRIVER FOR THE NATION” By Emilia Gevisk, BR. D, 5, Hammond We hear rather frequently of Mrs.

wouldn't consider that work, especially with someone else. paying ex-

And how, under any circumstances, is Mrs, ‘Roosevelt qualified to tell others what to do? Being wife of the president doesn’t endow

attitude tows, women planning Wisls 0

4 é § 3 1 ¢ soles RT A AR vm FoR. y { J Trip e-Job IV

By Thomas L. Stokes

wes. owns Oper bor an TRAE Coron German corporate giant, mother of cartels, ehicl 1g many tieups with American interests involving stra tegic war materials, These contracts, covering ' patents, priogs, und ¢ division of wdrld markets, were dissolved in of justice department anti-trust proceedings. °

Company's Property Seized Vif ‘ op

FUNDS OF General Aniline & Film In this coun; try were impounded by the treasury, and its property was seized by the alien property custodian, . The coms pany produces drugs, chemicals, dyes and photographie supplies, among other things. Smoke began to appear this past week ini New York when there was circulated in flnancial quarters a list of nine new directors reportedly selected’ by Leo Crows ley, alien property custodian, What excited interest was that two men on the list were directors of the Standard Gas & Electrie Co., of which Mr. Crowley is president and chairman of the board at a reported salary of $75,000 Another was a Chicago broker who deals in Standard Gas & Electric bonds. Others were tied up in inters

Electric directors who is emerging at the top’ of a new industrial empire, :

Heads New Industrial Empire

THIS IS VICTOR EMANUEL, president . of the Aviation Corp., a rapidly expanding aviation enterprise. Mr. Emanuel, who is chairman of the finance committee of Standard Gas & Electric, heads the purported lst of new. ditectors of Gerieral’ Antling & Film, Mr. Crowley is a triple-job man. He holds two government jobs—he is alien property custodian and chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp~~as well as his private job at the head of Standard Gas & Electric. When the purported list of new directors was read to Mr. Crowley he said that “some of them” were on the list of 25 to 30 men who were being considered, and that this partial list was apparently being “pede dled around” New York by certain interests for their own purposes. “There seems to be some question as to whether I'm going to name the men, or somebody in New York,” he said. “As far as I'm concerned, I'm going to name them, “I have my own reputation to maintain. I have more to lose than anyone else, “Only men of the highest integrity will be selected.” . The board, he said, will be completely “American~ ized.” President of General Aniline & Film in its reorsy - ganized state is Robert E. McConnell, New York investment banker, a

Engineered Recent Merger

MR. EMANUEL recently engineered the merger Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee under his Aviation Corp. Tom Girdler, chairman of the board of Republic Steel, is the big figure in Consolidated and Vule tee. Mr. Emanuel is a director and member-of the finance committee of Republic -Steel.He also is president and chairman of the: board of the Aviation & Transportation Co., which grew out of the old BE. L. Cord interests and is now under the Avis ation Corp. tent, Aviation & Transportation owns 25.08 per cent of the New York Shipbuilding Co. Others on the purported list of new Aniline & Film directors: Thomas A. O'Hara, director of Standard Gas & Electric: Matthew J, Hickey Jr., president of Hickey & Co., Chicago, who deals in Standard Gas & Electrie bonds; Henry Lockhart Jr., chairman of the board, New York Shipbuilding Co., and -a director of Aviation & Transportation; John Hertz, director of Consoliw dated Aircraft; William H, Coverdale, director of Re= public Steel, among other connections; Charles D. Makepeace, director of several corporations; Herbert Gallagher, and Louis (Johnson, formerly assistant 480s

Nan] ol as,

We he Women

By Ruth Millett

HAVE BRITISH women gained nothing for themselves, as wame en, out of their whole-heartedly courageous participation. in ig

war? They have gained little if. Willine, Hoey Baveridge's define tion, of the “ideal wife” is still the popular one among the men of

most, she might get a

a reputation for being 1 tual. Maybe (and that is the fear) more inte than her husband.

‘Silent Without Being Stupid’

husband's wit, intelligence, shouldn't be earnest. If she is herself and her own ideas and 1} to try to do something about terrible. And she should be silent, without

band do all the talking. She might have to contribute conversationally, since she isn’

‘to be stupid. But a woman’s

bly be important. Maybe Beveridge was joking when definition of the ideal wife. ‘If he wasn women have cguse for alarm. For it isn’t good to have a man

To the Point—

| MOST POLIS sre finding it hard fo. em el

ITS ALWAYS tar einer hen pod together-—-but; the Samm; hreaks hen

a —

locking directorates with one of the Standard Gas & . |i