Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 July 1943 — Page 12

FAGE 12

The Indianapolis Times

RALPH BURKHOLDER Editor, in U. S. Service

MARK FERREE WALTER LECKRONE Business Manager Editor (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

ROY W. HOWARD President

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FRIDAY, JULY 23, 1943

{0W LONG IN THE PACIFIC? A DMIRAL HORNE'S statement that the navy is plan-

ning on the Jap war lasting until 1949 has shocked a cood many people and newspapers. Especially in our | Eastern states this sounds like absurd propaganda to whip | up more war spirit. There are complaints that it will | boomerang and discourage Americans instead. Of course the vice chief of naval operations was not | trying to predict the precise date on which the Pacific No sane person would attempt that, much less admirals and generals who know that surprises and imponderables make war unpredictable. Admiral Horne was merely stating the trend. He was warning Americans that we have hardly begun our job in the Pacific. ; Far from being propaganda, that is the sober truth. | The sooner America wakes up to it the better. Our Western states are well aware that Japan is no pushover. But the East has kidded itself that, once the European war is over, Japan will fail almost automatically within a

few months. EVEN though the record has destroyed the fable of the Jap's inferiority as a fighter, there is the wishful thought that time is on our side because of our overwhelming productive capacity. shits

war will end.

es = = s = =

S Actually, time fights for Japan and will continue to do so as long as the enemy is allowed to consolidate his conquered bases, natural resources and strategic materials. Though the navy must strike an average of probability in its plans, and though 1949 is doubtless as close an average as can be arrived at, it is not very enlightening. | The point is not so much that the Pacific war may last six vears longer, as that it might last either two years or twelve—depending on what we do. If Japan were allowed to consolidate gains and to eliminate China, and if Americans were as indifferent to the Pacific as many have been in the past, certainly the war could easily last 12 years or longer. But for the same reason it can be a long war unless | we start moving soon, it can be a much shorter war if we are strong enough to begin concentrating against Japan now. The question is whether we miss the boat.

= HE MacArthur-Halsey operations in the Southwest Pacific are hard, heroic and effective in their sphere—3500 miles from Tekyo. But they are not enough alone, because island-hopping takes too long. There must also be other offensives, as well as Chinese advances. That is why the American bombing raid on the main enemy base in the North is such good news. As the Japs launched their offensive against our Aleutians from Paramushira, we are now using the Aleutians against that enemy base in the Kuriles. All of which has its influence on the Chinese and the Russians, Because we expect the United States to follow through its Pacific offensives in the South and North, and to start offensives in the mid-Pacifie, while increasing aid to China, we think Japan will be licked long before 1949. Otherwise Japan could be stronger in six years than now.

FIRE BROWN? THEN WHAT?

VW ILLIAM GREEN and Philip Murray, speaking for the A. F. of L. and the C. I. O., say that Price Adminis- | trator Prentiss Brown is failing to roll back prices, and that if he doesn’t do better they will insist on his removal from | office. We recall that many pressure bloc leaders, including some labor leaders, didn’t like the way Leon Henderson handled that job either. So they ganged up on Mr. Henderson, and he was fired. But that didn't solve any problem. Nor would the firing of Mr. Brown, Remember the Gore bill, debated in congress in 1041 — the bill to freeze everything, wages and farm prices included? Remember how labor leaders insisted, successfully, that wages be exempted from any freeze? Remember how farm leaders then insisted, also successfully, that farm prices be permitted to rise to at least 110 per cent of parity ? That's when the inflationary spiral really got started. All subsequent efforts to stop it, legislative and administrative, have failed, because they have only been attempts to escape the consequences of the initial failure to treat all classes of citizens alike. The rollback subsidy is just such futile patchwork. There can be no stabilization so long as powerful groups continue their bitter struggle to raise their own standards at the expense of others. The only hope is for everybody to be convinced that the war is not a gravy train, and that attempting to use it as a gravy train is certain to result in disaster. The president told the truth when he said “our standard of living will have to come down.” We can have no real stabilization program unless it is based on that truth.

CHILD LABOR

HE Nazis, who love Nordics, have a new plan for improving the Aryan race. They contemplate calling up Norwegian children, beginning at 10 years old, for compulsory labor service. They think to lessen resistance by taking first those whose fathers already have been forced into labor service, Having taken fathers and children, it will be a matter of charity to find some work for mothers’ idle hands to do.

{ up and down that there was no strike. been a strike a short time before and this had been | sides, the union |

There ig%no limit to the protective instinct of the Nazis.

Fair Enough

By Westbrook Pegler

NEW YORK, July 23 —I never believe anyone in our national government who undertakes to say that the man-hours or days lost by strikes in any given time was only x per cent of the hours or days worked or of any other potential. I disbelieve everything they say about strikes, because the guilt is largely theirs and the department of labor, which whips up the statistics and comparisons is theirs, too. You can’t expect any New Dealer to give the New Deal the worst of it in this very important and sensitive matter, Another reason is that they may mean one thing by a strike when the rest of us mean any concerted stoppage of work caused by a union or conducted under union auspices. We can be pretty sure that they wouldn't recognize a strike and enter it in their statistics in the operation of that device, hit upon a year or so ago as a dodge around the no-strike pledge of Green and Murray known as the committee meeting, in which the hands are forbidden to do any work for days at a stretch because they are supposed to be in session discussing the rights and grievances. I am familiar with one such stoppage which lasted around the clock for 10 days, and in an industry connected with the war effort, too, whose promoters lied There had

settled with concessions on both finally waiving its demand for a closed shop.

Loafing in Beer Joints HOWEVER, SOON after work resumed, the union

| bosses decided that they didn't want any non-union

men to get the benefit of the advantages won by their strike. Having made an open shop agreement, they seemed to be up against it but just for luck they called a meeting and strung it out for 10 days, during which the union men were theoretically sitting in their hall talking things out but actually were just loafing around the beer joints or fixing the sink at

{ home,

What reason has anyone to believe that the department of labor would give honest information to the president or anyone else on hour and production losses due to strikes and the subterfuges having the same effect? This department and the labor relations board used to encourage strikes, and the labor ions beard even helped foment them because that was part of the New Deal program.

Then the Pinch Came

THEN THE pinch came and the boys who had

waln

| been running these disturbances, amounting in many

cases to lawless insurrections against government but under government patronage, had developed a habit which they couldn't break overnight so the stoppages

. continued even though the nix was on in Washington

and Green and Murray were bumbling about their sacred pledee and excusing the proportion of strikes. which couldn't be denied or disguised, as regrettable excuses by good-natured and wholly patriotic but misguided and overenthusiastic local leaders. This made the administration look bad and soldiers over-

seas began to write bitter letters back, so then we |

began to hear that, although there were new strikes

| in the papers every day, affecting a great variety

of plants and projects, the loss was insignificant. I doubt that we ever will know just what the loss has been, Certainly this administration is not going to accuse itself with an honest statement. counting in ali the stoppages and giving a truthful reckoning of the production that didn't come off.

It's Smart Politics

THERE ARE very good reasons why it would be smart politics to monkey with the statistics just now

to make the unions and the New Deal look good. and |

one of the strongest is the effect that would be created in common citizens released from the army on the strict condition that they go to work in war plants and on others who are given their choice of such work or military service on the representation that we are short of manpower. If we can afford strikes and we have had hundreds of them since Pearl Harbor, then there is neither any need to chain any

, Individual civilian to any job nor any justice in doing

so. And. finally, T keep in mind an experience which Hugh Johnson related to me. When he was running NRA they sent him an economist, which is the New Deal term for all bookkeepers with a communistic slant, who later became one of our most bumptious and truculent rulers. Hugh had a problem one day and wanted some figures on which to base his decision

| so he asked his economist to run them up for him,

When he read the report Hugh said, “Well, I must have been wrong. This report makes me change my mind” “Oh,” the guy said brightly, “don't do that. Hold everything till tomorrow and I will give you some figures proving your point”

We he People

By Ruth Millett

FROM one-fourth to one-third *

of America’s wartime marriages probably will end in divorce, Dr. Hornell N. Hart, socioligist at Duke university, predicts. And he backs up his prophecy with impressive statistics and charts. War brides ought to make the most of a tip like that. It doesn’t mean they ought to sit down and worry for fear their marriages will be on the post-war casualty list. Instead, they should use the war's duration to prepare themselves for marriage. Chances sare they will face a different period of adjustment when their men come home and seem like strangers to them. But if they are ready for that, are prepared for a few difficult months, are willing to accept their husbands as they are rather than expecting them to be perfect—then many of those young wives can save their marriages.

Must ‘Grow Up'

THEIR REAL chance to make a go of marriage when their men come home is in using the time when they are separated for growing up, for realising that they must be understanding women, not irresponsible kids. If they dont do that if they just drift along until the war is over, they are likely to be in the unhappy one-fourth to one-third group. War wives are being warned of the dangerous period that lies ahead for them. It is up to them to be prepared for it.

To the Point—

THERE ALWAYS was a point in bringing home the bacon. Now theres eight points.

. » . IF YOU don't get everything you think is coming to you maybe you should be glad. . * . A WILD PITCH is likely to break harmony, including that of a ball team. v- . * * has shown us that it's more fun than being reduced to walking.

GAS RAT, walking to

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

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FRIDAY, JULY 23, 1943 |

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The Hoosier Forum

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

“ARE GAS RATIONING REGULATIONS CHANGED?"

By William Thomas, Indianapolis Last winter a neighbor of mine obtained from our rationing board extra gasoline coupons to enable him to take his wife to Florida on his annual vacation. Recently I applied for extra coupons to take my family to a lake in northern Indiana for our vacation. I was refused. Can you advise what change In the regulations prohibited me from jgoing 100 miles while my neighbor was allowed gas to go several hundred miles for the same purpose? ” = s

“AMERICANS WANT INDIVIDUALISM”

By Voice In the Crowd, Indianapolis. Evidently, Mr. Daacke would set himself up as a critic, whereas he is a general kibitzer. A critic is sup- | posed to know something of his sub- | dot This talk about tax programs, enMr. Daacke Is “tickled pink” when | 4 | he can distort the words and mean- forced savings, siphoning off excess

imoney, and all that—why hot tell

| ing of a sensible article and then | the cause of all excess money and

| substance to back up his)... jh fnated wages paid in factories When “American” pointed out in nasing hap» 8 are ab the root of : nearly all of it 8 recent lever gi gogo It was wrong at the start to pay MOR of his readers — in accord too hich wages in war plants, and

(it is wrong now. Try and get help Hh ith: Ne, Mp Duathe, BOW: wm stores, eating places, soda foun-

tains—and what do you find—midChrist did not teach socialism be-| 410 004 help cannot be found, and

cause He of all men was an indi- . vidualist. He did not advocate de- he sto ay SHEIGGNe 18 ue Suons stroying the rich or dividing the ar factor . | wealth, because He said, “and the | Np. War Talory wees 5s impos poor shall always be with you.” Bho High wages in war plants should taught gentleness, and co-operation ever have been allowed, unless and charity, and the Ten Com-igapnle store merchandise prices | mandments of Moses. He knew that iced along with them. Where the only hope for the poor and Un- have any store clerks, fountain emfortunate lay in the hearts of men i vees and the like got any excess who had the means to aid them. ygney that wants to be drained off? He did not expect much help for mney don't have it, and the papers the poor from a bureaucratic state. should continually mention it and because He knew that polities of grive it home to politicians, any date must play favorites, : & There must be some sincere so-! clalists, who adhere to an ideal that| T ERSONAL INTERESTS is entirely too pure to accommodate MUST BE SACRIFICED” the natural “cussedness® of man. By Mes. Thelma Barr, 52 N. Dearborn st. It seems, however, that most so-| I thought you might be interested cialistic doctrines stem either from | in this article from the “Stars and the coveting of the good fortune Stripes” of Africa, where my husof the thrifty or from a defeatism | band is stationed. I believe it ex that would yield all individuality presses clearly all the men’s feelfor a feeling of security. ings: Americans do not want socialism,| “Recently an article In Time (they want individualism. A few magazine criticized the efforts of years hence, when the per capita American troops in North Africa as debt reaches the 25 hundred or being “disappointing” and “embarperhaps 35 hundred dollars, men | rassing” will realize that you cannot get! “These men who so embarrassed

Side Glances—By Galbraith

(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.)

anything from the government unless you first put it there plus carrying charges. They will then want less politics and more facts. They will work harder as individuals and co-operate more intelligently with

realize it, they will be more honest and more Christlike. “ 4 o [WHY NOT TELL CAUSE |OF ALL EXCESS MONEY?” By Disgusted Storekeeper, Lafayette,

boy fo that fixes us up for

Jordunee on Vine Street tchup next winter!"

those who are constructive. That is| the only way out and when men)

the stores sell, to try to compete]

| tat correspondent are fighting not | for comfortable beds nor better | food, not for furloughs to allow them to see their families again, not | for time and a half for overtime, not for shorter hours and higher | wages, and not for double pay for fighting Sundays. “These men have been fighting in fox-holes, sleeping on the ground in pup tents, eating their “C” rations on the march, ducking bombs ‘and shells—in short, risking their |lives every day. And for what? We read our reward in the newspapers the other day. “Five hundred thousand men (enough for 500 battalions) who are 3000 miles from the nearest battle ground, safe in pleasant homes, with their loved ones around them, are on strike. They have cut off the supply of coal so necessary for the manufacture of tanks, guns, planes and other machinery of war «cut it off as effectually as if the enemy had sabotaged the mines. “Why doesn’t that correspondent, who thought the work of American troops in Africa “disappointing,” criticize these men who are erippling the entire nation's war effort for their own selfish interests? Why doesn’t he arouse the people to anger against parasitic labor leaders like John L, Lewis who, to fill their own pockets with union dues, would endanger the nation's freedom? Why doesn't that corres- | pondent suggest that, since the | strikers are no longer doing the | work for which many of them were deferred, they be drafted into the

who are willing to work, “No one incident since the beginning of world war II has no dis-

this coal strike. Often you, hear, ‘What's the use of fighting if they

“Nothing can so demoralize an army as the knowledge that there are half a million men at home preventing supplies from reaching the front in order that they may reecive higher wages. There is not an American soldier in Africa who would not gladly work in the mines in America <*not for the fancy wages the mine workers are receive ing but for the same $60 a month which Uncle Sam is paying us to fight for our country. “America is and always has been a democracy. An essential characteristic of a democracy is that it guarantees & man’s right to work or to quit work. But during a critical period such as the one we now face Americans must realize, or be forced to realize, if necessary, that personal interests must be sacrificed for the good of the entire nation. If a man is unwilling to pull his share of the load he must be replaced by some one who will. Only through a united effort of civilian workers backing up the front line soldier can we hope to retain the liberty we cherish. Some American Soldiers.”

s » » “OTHER LAWS BROKEN BESIDES SMOKING” By Ted Perry, 1133 Edgecomb ave. I doubt if you will put this in your column, but here goes. I have been a subscriber and reader of The Times for 12 years and I would like to express my opinion of . . . Officer Dunwoody’s « + . One-man crusade against smoking on public carriers. It seems to me that Dunwoody spends most of his time riding on streetcars to make these arrests. I would think that he could find a better thing to do as an officer of the law than be like a little kid. There are lots of laws being broken in our city other than smoking on streetears. I would like to know why he can’t make arrests for something else be sides this, . ,

DAILY THOUGHTS This Sats the Lord God; Woe un e foolish follow their own Prophets hut seen nothing 13:18.

army and their jobs given to men |: gusted the men in the service as|

are going to strike in industries|: which supply us with our weapons?’|:

In Washington By Peter Edson

WASHINGTON, July 23--If Price Administrator Prentiss M., Brown sticks to his announced ine tention of putting all future rae tioning programs up to congress and getting congressional approval before going ahead, it can mean only one thing—there won't be any more rationing. This conclusion need not ue based on any assumption that congress would be unwilling to grant approval for rationing other items. But the delay which would be involved in getting congrese sional approval for rationing some new item would simply wreck the free, unrationed distribution of that commodity while congress was making up its mind, and would only create chaos. Take, for example, what would happen if Ade ministrator Brown or one of his new deputies with five years’ business experience were to g0 before congress and ask for authority to ration clothes. Before that could be done, the war production board would have had to certify to OPA the need for rationing clothes. WPB, it is assumed, would have done all the research necessary to determine that it actually was necessary to ration clothes, but that wouldn't satisfy congress. What OPA would be asking congress for would in reality be an appropriation of money suficient to cover the cost of handling the rationing program. But before cone gress would grant the money it would have to hold hearings. First in the house, then in the senate, Passage would take months.

Remember Shoe-Buying Spree?

IN THE MEANTIME, notice would have been served on the consuming public that clothes were going to be rationed. That would start a rush on the clothing stores similar to the shoe-buying stampede Just before stamp No. 17 became invalid. The stores would be stripped clean, inventories entirely wiped. out before congress could swing into action with an appropriation to cover the cost of rationing which would still have to be put into effect. The net result would be that there wouldn't be anything left to ration, The only alternatives to such a course of action

| would be to freeze all stocks in the stores, practically | putting them out of business until congress could

make up its mind. Administrater Brown has made clear that ne further rationing programs are now under considerae tion, except for one more or less insignificant item,

which is generally believed to be a necessary rationing: of milk in some few localities where distribution is difficult. Milk is one item on which it would do no harm to give advance notice of rationing because it soon spoils and can't be hoarded,

Eight New Items

WHEN OPA experts appeared before the house appropriations subcommittee some weeks ago, they did disclose they were studying eight additional rationing programs. Two of them, rationing of cooking and heating stoves and the rationing of foods to institu tions, not affecting home consumers, have already been announced. The other six items, not yet mene tioned by name, are just being surveyed so as to be prepared in case one of the other controlling governs ment agencies should order OPA to swing into action with a rationing program. It is also known that rae tioning books four and five have been in preparation for some months, again as a matter of preparedness, The general attitude of Administrator Brown, howe ever, Is to relax rationing restrictions wherever pose sible. Brown says he spent weeks getting the war

shipping administration to bring in more sugar for home canning. He will let up even further on gas rationing, just as soon as he can. He is a great little compromiser. “Henry Clay could get away with come promises,” says Brown, “but I can't.”

Malta Story By D

an Gordon ia

IT ISN'T the easiest thing In the world to write a novel about a war and the people fighting it during the period of the conflict itself. Most books of this nature are utterly ephemeral and cannot stand the test of time. Ernest: Hemingway completed his ime: mortal novel, “A Farewell to 3 : Arms,” in 1929, more than 10 years ~ after the events which the book Howard Coffin cts took place. On the other hand, one of the greatest war books of all time, “Three Soldiers,” was written by John Dos Passos while the guns were still booming. It may very well be that “Malta Story,” by Walter Leslie River, a novel based on the diary and experie ences of Flying Officer Howard M. Coffin of the R. , A. F, will prove to be a book like “Three Soldiers.” At any rate it will long be remembered by those who read it for being a memorable tale of the most bombed spot on earth-—the tiny island of Malta which in 400 days suffered an unparalleled total of 4000 enemy air raids. ; In writing about “Malta Story” one is tempted to compare it to Hemingway's book. Both are written in the first person—the 1943 novel is narrated by an American R. A. F. pilot and the events of the earlier one are seen through the eyes of an American soldier fighting with the Italians against the Gere mans,

About Five Young People

“MALTA STORY" does not gloss over eternal truths and the meaning of life just to give the reader a lusty tale of dogfights in the air and perhaps a cheap and tawdry romance between a dashing young pilot and the nurse who is supposed to fall into his arms the minute she sets eyes on him. Instead River has painted an unforgettable picture about five young people caught in the holocaust of death and destruction wrought by enemies of civie. lization against a defenseless isle and its brave ine habitants. In the book we actually feel ourselves: living the short span allotted them-—Eddie (“High« pockets”) Streets, the kid who did not have time to grow up: Pete Steele, the first of the bunch to die in the air; Don Tedford, the nipe-smoking intellectual who found more meaning in the death around him than most find in a lifetime of living; Gwllyn James Towers, the WAAF who was called “Jimmy Towers” by everybody and taught the fifth’ comrade of the group, Howard (“Hody") Coffin, how much life was worth living if men would only give themselves a chance. h

n The language of “Malta Story” is not for the! squeamish, but then war wasn't meant for them. either. River has caught the spirit of the why and wherefore of world war II. He has found. it in the gallant defense by the people of Malta against their, Fascist aggressors, a without which not have found it possible: to invade

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