Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 June 1943 — Page 14

® : re ® : t \ lis Times RALPH BURKHOLDER Editor, in U. 8. Service WALTER LECKRONE Editor (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

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Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 1943

BAN ON “PLEASURE DRIVING”

IF a further reduction in gasoline allowances is necessary to help win the war Indiana motorists will accept a cut any cut—without a murmur, But they do want to know, first, that a cut is necessary, and second, that it will be applied fairly and with reasonable common sense. 2 Right now they are by no means sure of either. Everyone seems to agree there is gasoline enough in this area to provide for its needs. The shortage is along the Atlantic coast. The problem is transporting it there. We have been led to believe that every available means of transporting gasoline eastward already is being used to the full limit of its capacity. If it is not, and has not been for many months, in completé capacity use, there is a colossal and . tragic blunder that congress ought to investigate. We do not believe there is—we do believe all the gasoline is being hauled east that can be hauled. Why, then, this talk of further reductions in gasoline use here, if there is plenty of gasoline at hand that cannot be hauled to the areas of scarcity anyway? The .appearance in the picture of a New Jersey congressman described as head of a committee formed to see that the East is not “discriminated against” does not add to Midwestern confidence. There has, indeed, been strong pressure in the East for drastic nation-wide restrictions on driving on the grounds that if the East can’t have gas no one should have gas. On the other hand Todd Stoops’ Midwest Tire Conservation committee, demanding larger, instead of smaller, gasoline rations here, insists that gasoline stocks in this area are now 42 per cent greater than they were when rationing began. There should be a full, official, and authoritative statement of the facts—such as the Baruch commission report on rubber last fall—from a source that could be unquestionably believed. ! ® 8 = 8 » . F the facts do show that a cut in gas rations here is necessary then the cut, however severe, should be made at once and without hesitation. -But any cut made should apply uniformly and justly to all, without the childish and quite possibly illegal nonsense of the East’s present campaign against ‘pleasure driving.” . . The federal government has complete control of all gasoline used except for negligible quantities that are bootlegged. A cut in the ration allowance can be made instantly by reducing the value of a coupon. If there is not gasoline - enough for an “A” book driver to have four gallons a week then it can, and should, be slashed to three gallons, or two gallons, or one gallon—or whatever is necessary. We want no army of roadside snoopers in Indiana to stop motorists, demand where they are going and why, and mete out punishment on their own whim if they decide the excuse isn’t good enough.

GRAND JURIES

R the third time a grand jury attempting to probe the spending of your tax money by the county is challenged —and may have to:be discharged. Coincidence? It could be. The first jury, after months of investigating the contracts let by the county commissioners, had to be dismissed because the county commissioners gave the foreman of the jury a profitable contract. ' The second jury almost was wrecked when one of its members had to be asked to resign by the court, but he was replaced, and the work went on. Now another member is charged with disqualifying the jury by making public statements about the county-wide gambling mess. We have gone far afield from the original purpose, which was to find out why the county bought inferior meat and milk and other supplies at exorbitant prices, and why a $250,000 public building has already cost $500,000 and isn’t completed yet, and other pertinent information: about the county’s contracts. Somehow disaster seems to strike every time a grand jury looks in that direction. This county has a population of some 500,000 persons. Surely it is possible to convene a grand jury of six citizens sufficiently well instructed, discreet, intelligent, ¢ourageous and incorruptible to ‘complete a simple crithinal investigation. LB

“VLR” VERSUS U-BOATS HE best news in the cheerful Churchill report to the house of commons yesterday concerned the Battle of the Atlantic. All he said about past victories and the prospects of hopeful action ahead in Russia, the Mediterranean, and elsewhere, was important. But the Battle of the Atlantie is the key to the others, because they depend upon our ability to keep the supply line open and our ships floating. : ~. May was the best allied month on the Atlantic since we entered the war. Ship losses have been cut and shipbuilding increased until the latter now exceeds the former - by more than three to one. Churchill did not divulge all the methods of this allied achievement, but it is known that they are varied and many. Better trained gun ¢rews aboard ships, better detecting . devices, better convoy organization, more and better naval vessels including carriers—all have helped. But Mr. Churchill gives most credit to what he calls the new “VLR”—that is, very-long-range aircraft. These planes have shrunk the Mid-Atlantic area hitherto almost without air patrol. Also, precision bombing of submarine bases, assembly plants, parts factories, and of the German transportation tem, has slowed down U-boat production. Finally, for wv submarine sunk, Hitler has to find a new crew. Though the U-boat is far from licked, and though it mains the worst sin

b

Fair Enough 4 By Westbrook Pegler

DENVER, June 9.—John L. .Lewis is said to have struck against - the government of the United States. That is a false and timorous estimate of the case

by editorialists afraid to face the §

truth and a deliberate lie by New Deal politicians who: know better. Lewis did not strike. In accordance with the New Deal party’s . union ‘laws, court .decisions and teachings, he simply refused to work without a contract. In any : normal case of similar facts and equal merit, between a union and’an employer in private enterprise, Lewis would have been upheld. The government would have encouraged him, even to rioting. : A : It is set forth that the government was the employer in this case. The government was not the employer. The government did, however, resort to another of the clever little schemes, having the color of legality, which the rule of chicanery has substituted for honest dealing. The mines still belong to their original owners. The government seized them for no reason that could legitimately justify their seizure. The goNernment took them over only as a raw and flagrant subterfuge to place itself in the technical, but illegal status of

employer of the miners.

Miners Did Not Strike

DOES ANYONE have the effrontery to say that by this act of seizure the government became the owner of the mines? That would be confiscation and on that precedent the government could confiscate all the property in the United States merely by conspire ing with union bosses to refuse to work those properties without contracts or to strike in violation of contracts.

Not being the owner of the properties, the govern-

ment therefore was not and is not the employer and the miners have not struck against the government for they have not struck at all. Nor have they even refused to work for the government, for the government is not in any honest way their employer and the miners know it. But, if it should come to that, why shouldn't Lewis and the miners strike against the government? Hasn't Lewis been encouraged, time and again, by the New Deal party ito strike, riot and pillage against the lawful established government, the public authority and the peace and security of the United States? ©

Lawlessness Sanctioned

. JOHN L, LEWIS once was president of the C. I. O. Has every one forgotten that hour in the organization strike of the steel workers’ organizing committee when 40,000 of his coal miners threatened to march into a Pennsylvania city where there was no dispute between employees and employer, but only a fight between predatory C. I. O. unioneers and the workers and Lewis uttered the pious hope that surely some authority in the United States could avert the impending bloodshed? : The unorganized steel workers had made no threats. Who, then, was going to shed the blood? Have we forgotten what the civil disorder known as the organization strike was? If so, be it remembered that the organization strike was organized terror, sanctioned by the New Deal government, in which murderous tioters, vandals, and openly antiAmerican revolutionaries crossed state lines by concerted action to slay, slug and threaten free workmen and intimidate their women and children, and to smash and shatter property owned by unoffending citizens so that workers who declined to join the unions of John L. Lewis would be forced in or die by violence or starvation. ’

Who Taught John L. Lewis?

THE C. I. O. in those days ran organization strikes in many American’ communities. In one city’ in Michigan a band of imported terrorists pulled the master switches of the municipal power plant, shutting off all current even to hospitals, and then went into hiding so that their frightened, subjects, employed in the plant, and the city authorities, who personified orderly American government, could not find them to entreat them to rescind their decree. The governor of Michigan, Frank Murphy, whom

"| President Roosevelt, in reward for his delinquency,

elevated to the supreme court of the United States, submitted to this and other acts of organized violent rebellion against the government which he had sworn to uphold. j Those were the days, those were the occasions, when the New Deal party of President Roosevelt, directly represented by Frank Murphy as a New Deal governor, gave John L. Lewis tacit permission to ride down lawful government. So even if we concede today, as nobody must, that his refusal to work the mines without a contract was a strike against the nation, who was it. who taught him that lawful government in the U. S. A, is inferior to his own will, however violent and dangerous to the country?

We the People By Ruth Millett

THE GIRLS who complain that before a young man has time to get serious about them these days the army either gets him or moves him on to another location, have one thing on their side that they never seem to consider. It is the fact that they do get to meet men—plenty of men, The cream of the crop seems to be in uniform, and it is as easy as can be for a girl to meet a man in uniform. If she doesn’t meet all the men she wants to, it is her own fault. Of course, as she says, ofttimes she hardly more than meets a young man before Uncle Sam tells him to move on. But she has a chance to be with him long enough to make an impression. And there are always letters. Some of the world’s great love affairs resulted from letter writing. Remember the Brownings?

Don't Blame Uncle Sam

SO INSTEAD of fuming at fate for giving her so little time in which to work, a girl might well be grateful for having a chance to meet all sorts of men, from all parts of the country. If she’ happens to meet the right one, she won't need much time. Just enough for the two to discover that they like each other and that they ought to further their friéndship through letters for the duration. And after that, there'll be plenty of time for gefting acquainted. * So, gals, if your new serviceman boy friend gets his marching orders: just about the time you see June moonlight reflected as a glint in his eye, don’t make snoots at Uncle Sam. .

: : : ) ° : To the Point— NOW IS the time for all good weather to come to the aid of victory gardens.

THE BEST WAY for a man to keep a cook is to marry one—then she, pwants him to hire her a cook,

> o ¥ ” WE COULD almost believe that ants have started

gle menace to the allies in this war, at |

eading the 5 to see where picnics are going to

J. 4

The Hoosier Forum

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

“LABOR FORGETS BENEFITS UNDER ROOSEVELT” By R. L. Clarke, Indianapolis

From the. letters I have read in your column recently, it would seem that the members of unions, coal miners in particular, believe that the only way to gain their ends is by stubbornly forcing their demands and refusing to compromise or cooperate in any way, in spite of the war. They seem to forget that the unions became powerful and labor received its greatest benefits under Mr. Roosevelt’s liberal government. Like a spoiled child, they turned on him the moment their slightest wish was not gratified. Because Mr. Roosevelt has been patient, they believe him powerless against their might. If the unions only knew it, they are being their own worst enemy at this time. In addition to the chip constantly carried on their shoulder, they are blind to the rights of any group except their own. . .. The unions, whose members are profiting greatly by the war, are doing practically all of the kicking. To illustrate the arrogance of the miners’ leader, I quote from Time magazine: : “In Washington, John Lewis stalked into the Statler hotel room where the mine operators were conferring, slammed down his brief case and barked: ‘Genelemen, you have had plenty of time to confer and I suppose you are ready to sign a contract. You are familiar with the war labor board proposal which we accept, but we want $2 a day additional, as we originally requested. (Pause) And I do not want any one-legged counter-proposals from you!’ ” . Doesn’t that make you just love that man? » ” » “FINE WORDS BUTTER NO PARSNIPS” By James R. Meitzler, Attica

In re the case of Maddox against socialism, letters in the Forum prove the truth of the old saying, “that there are as many definitions of socialism as there are Socialists.”

Then comes . . . Ginsberg of Socialist Labor declaring they are all liars except himself. In the old days when Eugene V. Debs, and a better man never lived even if Woodrow Wilson put him in the penitentiary, was the Socialist party’s perennial candidate, the definition usually read, “The government ownership and operation of the means of production and distribution of the necessities of life. And the Communist golden rule, “From everyone according to his strength, to everyone according to his needs,” which probably reminds Mr. Maddox that the first Christians were Communists. But fine words butter no parsnips

(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.)

and Maddox rung the bell when he proved “by their fruits ye shall know them.” Stalin in Communist Russia, Hitler and his National Socialists, the church burning, priest-killing Socialists of pre-Franco Spain. And then he can review the long bloody history of Christian persecution from Arianism down to American witch-burning. . , . Ginsberg defines socialism as “a

ianism, reduced to the status of guinea pigs with a hot-eyed swarm of crackpot profesors experimenting on their minds, morals and bodies . . » degrading them to the level of hogs or dogs! Yes, my fellow citizens of America, that is what awaits you just around the corner if you succumb to Socialist hogwash! And you have been well warned! . Open your eyes and ears, stop, look and listen. , .. ” ” ” “OPEN LETTER TO INDIANA C. 1. 0.”

By H. W. Daacke, 1404 S. State An open letter to the Indiana C. I. O., Mr. Walter Frisbie, Sec. In a recent news item you expressed support of the miners’ de-

setup where the industries will be| mand for increased pay. What are

collective property of those Who operate them and will be democratically managed.” Well, he doesn’t need a political party for that. All that is needed is for the workers to pool their finances and buy out whatever industry they happen to work in. For example, the United Mine Workers buy out the mine owners and manage the business by secret ballot. If the owners won't sell, start new mines of their own and let their old employers dig their own coal. Then there would be no coal strikes. The miners would get all the profits and live the life of Riley. 8 ” ” “SOCIALIST GOSPEL IS WORLD ENSLAVED” . By Edward F. Maddox, 959 W. 28th st. Since IT have been consistently trying to prove to the people of these United States lo the many years, that socialism was just as much an alien ism as either communism, naziism or fascism, I am obliged to Mr. Ginsberg for clinching the case! Mr. Ginsberg said that the Socialist party of America is an offshoot of the “Social Democrat party of Germany!” Aside from a few sly twists and evasions, Mr. Ginsberg’s article was a pretty good presentation of the Socialist idea— confiscation or forcible seizure of all private property, banks, mines, farms, factories and the “abolition of capital,” money and the reduction of the free and independent American people to totalitarian slavery, like cogs in a machine, of jackasses in a stall or oxen yoked to a plow! “Production for use and not for profit,” there is the Socialist gospel! The whole world enslaved, regimented, rationed, welded into a

Socialist straitjacket of totalitar-

Side Glances—By Galbraith

NO ge

continue to use his

your remedial suggestions, if the owners and operators of the mines, taking advantage of the abnormal situation due to the war, refuse to make adequate settlement of these demands?

Should the miners abstain from using the only weapon they have, the strike, take it on the chin, and say nothing? The Indiana C. I. O., riding complaisantly down the stream of life, in a boat John Lewis built for them, dares to criticize the grand old man of organized labor. His foresight, his executive ability, and his dogged perseverance made possible the benefits you now are enjoying in the up-to-the-minute, industrial unionism, as against the decadent A. F. of L. craft unionism. Yes, John Lewis has made mistakes, but he who doesn’t make them is not a doer of things. The dog that bites the hand that feeds it is an ingrate. I would suggest that your membership read the article in the June Readers Digest by Wm. Hard, “Typo Union, Model for All” ” ” ” “WHY DOESN'T BOARD CHECK GASOLINE STAMPS?” By E. F.. Indianapolis The man with the “A” stamp for gasoline sure cannot be called a chiseler, because he has got to stay at home.

But I would like to know how you can get a “B” or “C” gasoline stamp so I could get out on a Sunday once in a while to take a ride in the country, but I guess all those I saw Sunday with “C” on their windshields . . . have friends... so they can get their “C” stamps. There is nothing fair about this. Why doesn’t the board put out checkers at different places and check up a little, as I thought pleasure driving was out. Is it also necessary when gasoline is hard to get for the taxis to continue driving around looking for passengers and burning up gasoline? I can’t see where they are in essential war work. They don’t allow them to drive around in other cities because they enforce the laws, but here politics has a lot to do with it and they can do anything they wish, / 2 8 = “KNOWS MORE THAN ANY OTHER AUTHOR” By R. J. Pielemeier, 35 W. Ohio st. Several correspondents to this column have implied recently that Mr, Maddox doesn’t know what he is talking about. This, I believe; is very unfair to Mr. Maddox. I honestly believe that Mr. Maddox knows more about economics, politics and religion than any other author I have ever read. The only criticism I have to make is that practically everything he knows is untrue.

DAILY THOUGHTS

I cried by reason of mine afflic- _ tion unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.— Jonah 2:2.

BELIEVE ME, the gods spare the afflicted, and do not always op~

&

In Washington By Peter Edson .

WASHINGTON, June 8.-= Practically the only suggestion

made thus far to correct ‘whate" 4

ever it is that’s wrong with the office of price administration is that the functions of control over food prices be shifted to the war’ food administration under Chester C. Davis. This suggestion comes prine cipally from farm state congresse men who, it may be assumed, don't care much what happens to food prices as long as they go up. : At first glance such a transfer might seem to tend toward simplification and centralization of control under a single agency in the interests of greater efficiency. . But the war food admihistration is giving no supe port whatever to such a reorganization and the office of price administration planners go so far as to say. unofficially that if food price control were given to WFA, it would mean the end of food price control and the sky would be the limit on inflation.

Davis and Price Control CHESTER C. DAVIS, the war food administrator, isn't a power grabber. His reputation, built up in

various Washington jobs, is that of an administrator

who works in whatever harness is put on him. : The Davis idea on price control differs vastly from ‘the current trend of thought at OPA. Davis has sald that he is for whatever formula was ordered to hold prices—meaning that he would go down the line on

policies adopted by congress or the office of economia +

stabilization. He has, however, expressed his opposition to cons trols which require a lot of policing. He has been criticized by OPA for not putting ceilings on live stock, He is doubtful about the advisability of putting ceiling prices on beef cattle at the farm level because of the

' many grades on the market and the fear that price

ceilings would induce up-grading, which would simply be another form of inflation—lower quality for the same money. : . On live hogs, he was able to bring down the price by manipulating the storage prices on corn so that it. would not be held by farmers in anticipation of higher prices, but would move to market. The corn price being thus reduced, the price of hogs came down in ratio. That was price control without elaborate

policing. :

Black Market Stimulation

HE BELIEVES that subsidies in some cases are. useful, but that any reliance on the widespread use of subsidies to stave off inflation is a misconception, He reasons that if you subsidize scarce goods, lowering

their prices, all you do is increase the putchasing

power, which stimulates black markets. He believes in keeping farm price levels which wilk support retail prices and induce production. He does not favor the incentive payment plan which the department of agriculture sponsored earlier in the year, to stimulate the growing of more oil crops like peanuts, soybeans and flax. Congress turned that plan down. 3 Davis, instead, favors the support price plan of the Commodity Credit Corp. by which the farmer gets assurance of better prices for his entire produce tion from acreage devoted to war products like the oil-bearing crops than he would get from acreage devoted to wheat, corn or cotton. The keystone of the entire Davis anti-inflationary philosophy is higher taxation and greater war save: ings. It will be recalled that he has been a federal reserve bank official. His idea is that if more of this $40 billions of excess purchasing power—the welle known inflationary gap—is drawn off in the form of higher taxes and more war bond purchases, the money simply won't be there to spend on the black’ market. And wifh excess purchasing power drained: off in this way, prices will tend to keep themselves in control. .

‘Bataan’ By Dan Gordon

BEFORE BATAAN fell to the Japanese on April 9, 1942, Frederio S. Marquardt had been associated with the Philippines Free Press for 14 years, first as a reporter and then as an editor. His father and mother came to the islands in 1901 with that original group of Amer icans who were sent over to edue cate the Filipinos after the ware with Spain had been concluded, His book, “Before Bataan and After,” is the history of an experiment in Oriental democracy—the story of the way Americans taught the Filipinos the meaning and significance of political democracy in an area surrounded by Far Eastern despotism. : Mr. Marquardt firmly believes that the United States succeeded in its relations with the Philippine Islands. The success with which Japan overran southe= eastern Asia in the early part of 1942 is for Mr, Marquardt evidence enough that the policy of the United States in fostering a spirit of independence and democracy among the Filipinos was the correct one. He points out: “Old world imperiallsm wasn't responsible for the outbreak of the Pacific war, but it helped the conquering Japanese on their way. ‘If there had been free, vigorous countries instead of colonial dependencies in Asia and the Southwest Pacific; Japan would not have overrun the homelands of some one hungred million people without any*opposition from the native peoples. Only in the Philippines was there a political foundation broad enough and sound enough to cause” the people to fight for their homes.”

Filipinos Ready to Fight AND OF THE FUTURE Mr. Marquardt, now & member of the staff of the Chicago Sun, says: “The Filipinos were ready to fight the Japanese when other peoples of the same racial stock were indifferent to their country’s fate, simply because they had a stake to fight for. The big problem after this war is over will be to give a similar stake to every people in the Far East , , : Mr, Marquardt ‘attributes much of the success of the experiment to the understanding and good will of the various governors general who came to the islands to represent the United States. The office was occupied, not by second-raters but by men high up in the list of American officialdom, among them

Paul V. McNutt, former governor of Inidana., Of McNutt, the author says that he was both

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fair and realistic in his dealings wih the Shipping 0

government and people. : 9 The question of Philippine independence from the United States is posed throughout the k. It was always of paramount importance when U. 8,-Filipino relations were discussed, the pros and cons often being influenced by econothic considerations. Mr, Marquardt gives us a clear, although at times, sure face interpretation of this basic question. ok Perhaps his picture of American economic interests: in the islands is one of too much lily-white innocence and respectability. But there can be no mistaking of the fact that on the whole “ihe laboratory of democracy in the Orient” was so much a success tha “by 1942 the Filipino had traveled so far : path toward self-respect that he not only Jap in the eye; he spit in his eye.”

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