Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 May 1943 — Page 18

mes RALPH BURKHOLDER Editor, in U. 8S. Service

ROY W. HOWARD President MARK FERRER Business Manager

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FRIDAY, MAY 7, 1943

COUNCIL VS. COMMISSIONERS

HE anguished outcry of the Marion county commissioners against the Marion county council is not likely to be taken very seriously by anyone who knows the records of the two boards. : Marion county commissioners awarded the contracts for meat for Sunnyside tuberculosis sanitarium at prices as much as one-third higher than current market rates and federal price ceilings, now under grand jury investigation. Marion county commissioners awarded the contracts for milk for the same hospital, delivery of which was stopped after the state board of health inspected what the county commissioners had bought, another deal that is under grand jury investigation. Marion county commissioners, past and present, have had charge of the $263,000 building job at Julietta infirmary that has already cost the county $500,000 and is still unfinished after five years—but also under grand jury investigation. Marion county commissioners, while their own conduct of their own office was being investigated by a county grand jury last winter awarded a profitable contract to the foreman of that very grand jury, thus temporarily halting the inquiry—and a new grand jury is investigating that, too. > 8 g & HESE are the public servants who complain that the Marion county council is invading their legal rights by proposing that their requests for more money than the county budget provides should at least be unanimous. These are the men who charge that council members have a “world saving complex” that interferes with ‘necessary county expenditures.” Marion county council members may, indeed, have a “saving complex” but as far as we can see it is directed solely toward saving the money of Marion county taxpayers from needless extravagance and reckless waste—if nothing worse. Its members, since the present council took office, have scanned carefully and sensibly every request for extraordinary appropriations, found that upward of half of them were just plain waste, and saved the county and its taxpayers many thousands of dollars by refusing money unless money was clearly needed. Their record in office is one of outstanding public service, and it is unlikely to suffer much from wild accusations by officials whose own fitness to continue to administer public business is at least open to question.

WARNING TO LABOR LEADERS

HE senate’s 63-to-16 vote for the Connally anti-strike bill, so called, is significant. For the first time in many years the senate has undertaken to do something to curb abuse of organized labor's power. Heretofore it has made itself a graveyard for any legislation opposed by the labor lobby and the administration. We're not sure that what it has done ig altogether wise. Aroused by the defiant tactics of John L. Lewis, it has acted in haste and anger. The Connally bill obviously is not the result of careful, thoughtful consideration, and at best it is superficial, being aimed at the end results rather than the basic causes of the labor evils that afflict the nation. The bill would specifically authorize government seizure and operation of any war plant closed by a labor dispute; make it a crime punishable by fine, imprisonment or both

to instigate a strike, slowdown or lockout in a plant under

government operation; give the national war labor board more clearly defined légal status and increased powers ta deal with controversies that threaten to interfere with war production. It would do little or nothing, as we read it, to require more responsible use of the vast power that congress and the administration have placed in the hands of John Li. Lewis and other union officials. 2 = » 2. = = OVERNMENT seizure of strike-bound plants may be necessary to insure continued production, but the threat of it doesn’t alarm labor leaders and doesn’t prevent strikes. Lewis, for inktance, plainly believed that he had won a victory by forcing the government to take over the coal mines—and it is still by no means as certain as the country ' wishes it were that, as a result of this move, Lewis won't get just about all he wants. The fact remains that only 11 Democrats, four Republicans and one Progressive opposed the Connally bill in the genate—the branch of congress that previously has allowed its labor committee to pigeonhole other and, we think, bette measures passed by overwhelming majorities in the house. Time and again the leaders of organized labor have been warned that they were endangering labst’s essential gains under the New Deal by resisting all corrective legislation. They have been told that abuses continued would arouse publie indignation which even the senate eventually would not dare to ignore. The vote on the Connally bill fs the most impressive warning yet, and labor leaders who yefuse to heed it will be traitors to the workers’ cause.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION WE are pleased to report, without comfhent, that the way production board has created at least two new advisory eomimittees which have met and organized and already are

t work. os One is the auto wreekers industry advisory committee, ponsisting of 12 men. It met in Washington, The other is the bart and barnyard industry advisory committee. Tts members suggest that industry workers be permitted to wear distinguishing badges or buttons to “give the employee a sense of hig own importance in the war pro:

Fair Enougt By Westbrook Pegler

TUCSON, Ariz, May 7.—Perhaps I am overdoing the story of the desert internment camp for Japanese at Sacaton, Ariz, but the remoteness of the place and military secrecy have made a mystery of the present state of

myste the 14,000 in the reservation and |

~ the mystery made me inquisitive and I figure that you may be, t00. I made a return trip and this . time I went over the place with Leroy Bennett, a civilian from San Francisco who is the camp commander, and found him not at all reticent or evasive except on one point. That point was a report that when the news came out of the murder of a number of Jimmy Doolittle’s men by the Japanese army, some of the patients in the camp hospital cheered. Mr. Bennett said the report had been circulated by a nurse in the hospital and probably was exaggerated and proposed that we interview the doctor in charge at the time. I said, “Why not interview the nurse?” And he changed the subject.

A Lot of Them Hate Americans

WE DID not see the nurse but, after all, it may not be so very important because it is frankly known that some of the inmates who were born in Japan, and most of the Japs of American birth who were sent back to Japan for education, are loyal to the emperor and hate us and are, by our standards, savages like the Japanese soldiers. Mr. Bennett may have thought the incident would provoke some of our people to lynch individual Japs of certified American loyalty who happen to be loose in the land and provoke the Japanese army to slaughter more helpless American captives in reprisal. On all other points he seemed to be quite straightforward. The tract consists of 7000 acres belonging to the Pima Indians of the Sacaton reservation who are farmers and the war relocation authorities pay the Indian agency of the department of the interior $20 a year per acre rental The Pimas farm casually and the Japs intensively and they have 600 acres under cultivation and 1280 acres broken but their farming is limited to a little more than they need for their own food.

Cannot Sell Surplus Food

THEY GROW some surplus which they send to the Poston relocation, or internment, camp at Parker, Ariz, the largest of them all, with 17,000 inmates, and to another camp at Tulee Lake Cal, in exchange for stuff which the others produce—potatoes, for example. Mr. Bennett says his Japs could farm 5000 acres if they had the machinery and permission to expand but they are limited, in the presence of a food shortage, because this camp is not allowed to sell anything in the civilian market in competition with the free American farmer. The camp is run on the institutional rationing system. There nas been no butter for a long time but they do get oleomargarine and a meat ration of two pounds a week. : They have one mess hall for each block and each block contains about 275 persons in 14 barracks governed by a block council. Most of the councilors are alien Japs because they are the elders of the community, but the high council consisting of one representative from each block is composed entirely of American-born Japs. When offered a chance to volunteer for the American army, a high percentage of the native Americans who were educated in Japan refused to forswear allegiance to the emperor and the response of those who were born and educated here was small, too.

Disloyal Are Dangerous

THE RELUCTANCE of this latter group was explained as being due to the fear of the parents that voluntary enlistment would bring reprisals on their relatives in Japan. Their idea is said to be that if the youngsters are drafted, that is different. They have to serve. However, 70 have left here as enlisted soldiers to be teachers in an army language school and 105 who have volunteered are still awaiting acceptance. Nobody has escaped so far but quite a number have gone A.W. 0.5L, and an editorial in the little camp paper admits that some have swiped bikes and camp trucks and gone visiting Casa Grande and Chandler where some got drunk and “created a generally unfavorable attitude among the residents of the towns.” The solution that appeals most to the eivilian management is segregation of the loyal from the disloyal on the basis of individual examination and observation, then the release of the loyal American Japs and the induction of the eligible loyal men and boys into the army as Americans. Right now the disloyal are dangerous men because there is no censorship on any mail of express, so they may arrange conspiracies and receive shipments of guns, knives, ammunition, maps, radio sets and hand grenades without the slightest restraint.

In Washington

By Peter Edson

WASHINGTON, May 7-—Be-fore stewing your juice to a scorch on the post-war, international freedom of the air issue, you might care to bring yourself to a boil over some of the intricacies and inconsistencies of conflicting state and local regulations which now bother domestic airlines. Today, there is top regulation of interstate air traffic and safety by the U. 8. civil aeronautics act of 1938 which is all to the good as far as it goes. But below this federal control there is gradually being developed a maze of varying state codes which hamper flying aeross state boundaries. ? Twenty-four states now have their own specialized, local aeronautics commissions of boards. Five states have given control of their alr rights to the state railroad or public utility commissions, Bix states have vested control of the air with the state highway commissions. | In only 10 of the 48 states is there relative freedom of the air, subject to federal regulation only.

Fear Multiple Taxation

TAKE JUST the fundamental requirement of “Sicensing: 35 states require that both aireraft and airs nen must have federal licenses.

| Outward Bound!

The Hoosier Forum

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

“PARENTS GET THEM OFF THEIR HANDS”

By Ruth Taggart, 4149 E. Emerson ave. Backing up the article by Mr. L. + + « May 1, about the “punks” as he called them, yes, that is just right. It isn’t just in Brightwood, it is all over Indianapolis like that. You go in a place to eat after a show—there they are, you go to af drug store—they are there, always up to some silly noise, in a scuffle, never on their chair five minutes. And in some places you cannot get service because of them taking up the time of the waitresses. Parents let them go to get them off their hands, and little do they care about the trouble they are out causing others. The shows are the same. , . . Yes, someone had better do something about it. 2 2 2 “HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO MINE YOUR OWN COAL?”

By Ruth Bryant, 3722 W. Tenth st. To M. Shumway. I read your article in The Times . and can’t say I agree with you about the miners. And why just John Lewis? He is like a lot of people, I suppose—the farther his head gets above the crowd, the more likely he is to be socked with a rot= ten apple (criticism). He is not always right, but then besides you and me, who is? As for the miners, I dbn’t think they are ever paid enough money, no matter what it is. It is not enough to go down into the earth and work like they do, and they never gain, and it never ends. The grind of their lives goes on. In most mining towns everything is owned by the mine owner, so he gets back all he pays the miner. It is a swell setup—if you are the mine owner. How would you like to mine your winter's supply of coal just once? Your reference to the miners be= ing glad sometime in the future to get one-third of what they are getting now will affect us all, except our profiteers of which we weren't to have any in this war. But then, no profiteers—no war,

A soldier is called on to give his

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

life, if need be, for the duration of the war. A miner goes down each day all of his life knowing that he may never see the sun again. Both these groups are very important to us; not just now— they always have been, and will continue to be. There seems to be a theory that now is a poor time to talk about money, especially if the working man is doing any complaining, But I seem to remember there was an awful howl about the $25000-a-year salary limit for anyone. I suppose a miner makes just about that amount and it was he I heard erying. As ~ for being American, you couldn't find one anywhere who wouldn't donate a day of every week at his job if the government and the boys would benefit by it. Of course the factory or plant owner couldn't do that because his expenses are too great, and lucky, lucky us, we don’t have any expenses, # & » “AMERICANISM STANDS FOR RIGHTS, NOT WRONGS”

By Ira E. Cramer, 1827 Ohio ave, Connersville, adds

“Voice in the Crowd” amendment to his first definition of

Americanism. First he said it means “many things.” He sticks to his guns that “it” is not one thing but many. Now, he adds, “it is a buildup of many things.” If it is many things, then a buildup of many things, what have we? His definition is growing. “Many things is a buildup of many things” is how it reads to date. . . . I defend his right to eat his own cake of many ingredients, pass it

Side Glances—By Galbraith

to whom he likes; yet “include me out.” It is like her first cake buked by a newlywed . . . from a printed receipt. She placed in many things with care. It was so thin she poured it in a bakepan. After baking, she poured it out again. It looked not right. She carefully re read the printed list of many things. She had in everything exs cept flour. I think “Voice in the Crowd” has in everything except Americanism. Why I asked a plain definition: Some seem to think it is moral freedom to do either right or wrong and mutual agreement to defend each other ih so doing. I deny that. I say true Americanism is one thing that credits the average man with enough God-given common sense and meral courage to judge petween plain moral rights and wrongs, and it stands for people's God-given rights, and not for their infernal wrongs.

” - » “PEOPLE LEARN HUMAN RIGHTS COME FIRST” By Haze Hurd, 830 8. Addison st

In answer to Edward F. Maddox’ letter of April 29. Mr. Maddox, I am surprised that you got it in your mind we wanted you to quit the Forum. Please keep it up. Your ridiculous articles are doing good. They show some of us just what some of you Republicans would do if given a chance. The same old thing=two chickens in every pot, but you did not say what pot. Then when the hungry marchers went to Washington to get the leg of one chicken, they were run out by soldiers. , . . Did you ever read of a certain king who told his hungry marchers to eat dandelions, and the queen said if they did not have bread, then eat cake, And what happened to them? I don't know what you mean by New Deal and communism and socialism and totalitarianism. Just tell us plainly what you mean and it may be just what most of us want. Quite a lot of us are sure we never want any more Harding ism, Coolidgeism and Hooverism or like the present setup in the legis lature. If you have some system that is really superior to the one you call New Deal then you need not’ have any fear. But one thing is sure regardless of names. . Regardless of systems, the system that best serves the masses of the people best is the one the people will choose, People are learning human rights come first, even if it takes a fourth or fifth term for the best friend laboring people ever had in the White House, and I can't quite understand how you know so well just what the president has in his mind. » eh ® 8 @» ‘SQUIRRELS WORSE THAN DOGS IN GARDENS’

By L. H,, Indianapolis People are worrying about the dogs on their victory gardens, and they don’t do half the damage the squirrels do.

ear, We aren't allowed what can we do with our gardens?

DAILY THOUGHTS But foolish and unlearned ques tions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes~II. Timothy 2:23.

ertilizer Feud By Daniel M. Kidney

WASHINGTON, May 7-The first salvo in what may prove to be 'a major Washington battle has been fired by Senator Lister Hilly (D. Ala). In an hour-long speech to the senate Mr. Hill belabored the come mercial fertilizer industry and its supporters in the agriculture de« partment for not adopting, in the interest of increased wartime food production, the TVA program of super-phosphate - fertilization of farm lands. His particular point was that WPB has refused to approve priorities for TVA to construct a phosphate plant at Mobile. A $3,000,000 appropriation was voted for the plant last year, and the total cost was estie mated at $4,800,000. This plant would be used to produce the phose phorus for munitions that is now being made a$ TVA’s Muscle Shoals plant, which would be returned to the production of phosphates for farms.

Denies Surplus Capacity

THE FERTILIZER industry insists, Senator Hill said, that there is already ample plant capacity for phosphate production and that some plants already built are not in use, 3 “That surplus capacity to produce, reported by the industry and confirmed by one official of the depart ment of agriculture,” he said, “would be no surplus a$ all if the need of the land for vitality to produce its limit of food were to measure the demand. “It would be no surplus at all if the efficient use of manpower on farms were given a consideration. That capacity is surplus only if traditional policies with respect to encouragement of the use of phosge phorus on the soil are permitted to prevail. It is sure plus capacity only if we freeze forever in the fertilizep industry a vested interest in soil exhaustion.” [Citing the pioneering in this field by Dr. H. A. More gan of TVA, Senator Hill reported: “The program was begun by TVA in 1035 to test out the new plant foods developed in the laboratories of the authority located in my state. Il has been care ried out in co-operation with the extension services of the land-grant colleges.

Same Manpower, More Food

“IT HAS expanded during the past few years until today 41,951 farms of over 6,000,000 acres in 29 states have been enrolled. On those farms produce tion of war foods—meat and eggs and dairy products —has already been increased by an average of more than 30 per cent, with no additional machinery and without any increase in manpower, “No farm labor has been imported for those farms; no men have been called home from factory or from camp. On the same land the Same men, with the same equipment, increased production by en average of a little over 30 per cent. They did it by putting phosphoric pentoxide on their land. “Phosphoric pentoxide, usually referred to as phos phorie acid, or phosphorus, is the life-giving element made available to the farmer in phosphatic plant food, The average use of phosphorus on those demonstration farms was 17 pounds on every acre devoted to crop and meadow and pasture, That was the average use which resulted in an average production increase of more than 30 per cent. “On the most successful farms in that demonstrae tion program, production of the foods we need today soared more than 60 per cent over the previous maxie mum, but likewise without the use of more machinery

and without more manpower. On those farms asd

much as 30 pounds of the mineral were applied te every cleared acre.”

See Nationalization Attempt

SENATOR HILL said the average use “where cone ventional and obsolete fertilizing practices are permits ted to prevail” was “only two pounds per acre of crop ” and meadow and pasture land.” P. H. Groggins of the agriculture department's chemical division, an expert on fertilizers, said he hadn't seen the Hill speech, but that “there are two sides to that story.” He said he sided with the ine dustry in regard to present plant capacity. Charles J. Brand, who represents the National Fertilizer association here, grew irate after a single glance at the Hill speech, which covers 16 pages in the Congressional Record. “This is an attempt by certain administration men to nationalize the fertilizer industry,” he sald. “They want to ration fertilizer, despite the fact that they haven't been successful in rationing food*

We the Women

By Ruth Millett

IN NEW YORK city, high school girls who think they want to be nurses were taken on a tour of the city’s hospitals, in an effor$ to recruit 3000 students for schools of nursing in that city. They were given a chance to see for theme selves what the work {is like, Nursing wasn't glamorized for them or made to sound easy. They were told that nursing is hard labor-=but worthwhile. Why should not that same thing be done in cltiep, and small towns all over the country? + Nurses are desperately needed in the armed forces and in civilian life, Not nearly as many girls as are needed are entering nurse's training, Maybe more girls would be interested if they were taken through the hospitals of their own community, had their questions answered about training, pay and requirements for getting into this important wor And if they were told the real need for nurses _s exists today.

Must Be Shown the Way

GIRLS OF high school age are pretty high-minde ed. They want to do something worthwhile lives, Right now they especially want to in the world's work. But they need to be shown the way. They need be told where they are needed and how they can As long as there is no drafting of woman p it is necessary to sell girls on the jobs they to do. It shouldn't be hard as important as nursing. It wouldn't be, if small, would see that school were given a chance to about hospitals and their ent

.