Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 August 1943 — Page 12

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RALPH BURKHOLDER Editor, in U. 8. Service

.. MARK FERREE WALTER LECKRONE : (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

Bo OY ¥. HOWARD

Price In’ Marion ty, 4 cents a copy; ered by carrier, 18 a week. ,

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

A Dp TILEY 5051

Give Light and the foes Will Find Their Own Woy

paper Alliance, NEA Service, and Audit Bugeau of Circulations.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1943

AFTER LITVINOFF? : SINCE nobody but Stalin knows why he recalled Ambassaic dor Litvinoff, allied officials and newspapers can only guess—and wait apprehensively for Russia’s next move. There are’ two main theories. The “Pollyanna one assumes that Litvinoff is no longer needed in Washington to. improve relations, and therefore he can now remain in Moscow to draft a post-war settlement along Anglo-Ameri-can lines. He will be aided by Ambassador Maisky, who ~ has been: relieved of his London post after many years and ~ who ranks next to Litvinoff as the chief Soviet friend of the western allies. Naive is too mild a word to describe this theory. It is an obvious cover-up, and we doubt that it is believed by the . officials who inspired it. If Litvinoff’s future task were to * brain-trust an allied agreement, he would be at Quebec today. And if the significance of the decision made several weeks ago was more rather than less allied unity, Stalin’s announcement of it would not have been timed to embarrass the Quebec conference. The other theory is that this is preliminary to separate peace negotiations by Stalin. It is pointed out that Litvinoff is the symbol of Russia’s pro-ally policy, and that hitherto ' his eclipse has been followed by a Stalin swing to the opposite policy. ‘Thus Litvinoff, who has an English wife, was the agent of American diplomatic recognition of Russia, and the world leader at Geneva for security collaboration against Hitler and the axis powers. When Litvinoff failed to prevent the British-French deal with Hitler at Munich, Stalin kicked out Litvinoff and started backstairs deals of his own with Hitler that freed Germany for war. Later, when Germany invaded Russia, Litvinoff was resurrected to become again the symbol of American-British-Russian co-operation. 4 8 i" 8 8 # # UPPORTING the theory that the Litvinoff affair presages a Russian split and and possibly a separate peace, are these other disturbing developments: The BritishRussian disagreement over the Balkans, especially Jugoslavia; the Russian-Polish break; the Russian-American disagreement regarding De Gaulle and Eastern Europe; ' Russia’s refusal to allow Anglo-American military observers full freedom on the eastern front; Moscow’s creation of “Free German” and other “free” national committees as potential puppet regimes; and Moscow’s shrill revival of demands for an immediate “second front” in the west.. . Certainly this array is too formidable to laugh off. Nevertheless, we do not believe Stalin is preparing for a separate peace with Hitler. We believe that Stalin will fight to the death as long as Hitler is in power, as a matter of self-interest. Too many million Russians have been killed. : # ” ” ; » 2 8 THE danger of a separate peace, in our judgment, is after the fall of Hitler. Stalin’s published policy, while demanding the death of Hitlerism, favors the German state "and army. Stalin's “Free Germany” committee stresses _ this policy as a German escape from Anglo-American occupation. Actually how far apart Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt are on German terms, nobody knows. But the present lack of agreement, if it continues, might lead to eventual separate peace. Our own guess is that Stalin, now that his military . offensive is fairly successful, is simply maneuvering for a more independent diplomatic position to increase his bargaining power with Churchill and Roosevelt. But if Stalin ever should contemplate a separate peace, let him first ponder the warning of one of the world’s greatest experts in. war politics: “The Germans would like to conclude peace with Britain and the United States under conditions of their separation from the Soviet Union, or, vice versa, they would

like to make peace with the Soviet Union under conditions |

. of its separation from England and the United States of America. The German imperialists have the impudence to measure the allies by their own yardstick, presuming that one of them would fall into the trap.”

Yes, a German trap is what Stalin himself on May 1°

called a separate peace.

AUSTERITY AVERTED! PERSONALLY, we have not been affected by the short-

‘age of hairpins and bobby pins. Even the narrow supply |

of straight pins leaves us manfully calm. And we can take our safety pins or leave them alone. We reserve our grousing for graver matters, particularly the paucity of thick girloin steaks, cooked medium rare and garnished with mushrooms and French fries. But to avoid being accused of an indecent preoccupa- + tion with the mundane, and an insensibility to the finer things of life, we hurry to applaud the news that the WPB ‘has allocated 427 tons of steel for use in October-November-cember in the manufacture of pins of all sorts. This is a field in which the ladies have been hard hit. ou can hear them murmuring in their embattled powder yooms: “Sister, this is really getting rugged! id And to tell the truth we had been wondering whether those upswept hair-do’s would not soon have to come mbling down—or even off, in favor of short bobs. But surely the 427 tons now promised by the gallant ald Nelson will be enough to pin up the tresses of all e pin-up girls in the country, plus their mothers and dmothers—with a margin for enough safety pins to the war babies from losing their basic uniform.

d from prison because of poor health.

he Indianapolis Times|E

By. Wosbk Per

days after my little side-trip from Rome to Mussolini's adaptation of Mrs. Roosevelt's Arthurdale _experiment at Pontinia, a fellow called up one morning and ‘said he could fix up a visit with Mussolini's girl, strictly in the interests of journalism, of course, and was. I interested. With my ‘ardent nature and my devotion to my work, could I say no! ‘Du Barry!

so baffling as on that rainy afternoon when my friend hove to at an apartment near Ii:Duce’s own estate

“| and, after the usual small ceremonies, led me into

the presence of a moist and slappy object reclining on ‘a couch and introduced me wi x8 raucous elegance of a master of ceremonies ending a microphone diseuse in a joint. below Congress on Wabash, in Chicago, for the 2 .a. m. show.

American journalist to a lady of incomparable charm, a distinguished professional colleague, the amanuensis and biographer of no less than himself, Benito Mussolini, the duce of the Italian people ard the rebuilder of the. Roman empire. She was pink-haired and portly and gurgled like

disturbing, however, her left foot which rested at an elevation on an elaborate cushion. She had, she said, the gout, in a land where the people were going hungry in compliance with Il. Bum’s commands to sacrifice for fascism and the empire.

She Didn't Hide Diamond Ring |

I MENTIONED my visit to Pontinia and the sacrlfice of their wedding rings and their precious, trashy little gold-washed lockets and watch-chains by so many thousands of poor, muddy Italian farm people and, as she floated and swashed on her pillows, Signora Margherita G. Sarfatti said that yes, the Italian people were very loyal and brave. I noticed,

and so did my friend, that as she praised the fineness

of the common people of Italy and their devotion to II Bum, she twisted a nNng on her own wedding finger which mounted two enormous diamonds. She

wasn't trying to hide it. She was beyond even that decency, a sordid, arrogant grafter and original member of thé gang who was on her way out of power and out of Italy even then, although she didn’t know it. Sarfatti’s principal graft was the journalistic byproduct of II Bum’s position. She had visited the United States and met many powers in the New Deal and some of our noted syndicate managers and publishers and had sold copy to the value of an enormous fortune in any nation’s money, much of it ghosted material under Mussolini's name. Moreover, Sarfatti had a son, a lawyer, who had been dropped into the Fascist regime and he was the man who had to be seen by any American importing agent who wanted to ship back to the United States more money than the Fascist law allowed. I have never kept a diary but I did write a letter home about my visit to Sarfatti which recently came back to me when she was reported to be in Buenos Aires, having earlier been chased out of Italy for reasons which I can speculate upon. One would be that she was very untoothsome as age came over her and had been well paid off in her special graft derived from the exploitation of II Bum’s office and such other loot as she and hers collected along the way. The other would be that when Il' Bum sold out to Hitler he accepted Hitler's anti-Semitism, She was first reported. to have gone to Paris where Italo Balbo

| and even II Bum, himself, were supposed to “have

caches of money and I hadn’t heard of her again until the New York Times had a story about her under a Buenos Aires date-line.

Deserves to Be Shot

IF WE ever do go through with our threats to destroy not only fascism but those who were bloodguilty of fascism, Sarfatti, by any fair process, should be put against a wall for she was one of the lowest’ and meanest of the whole greedy crew.

in her apartment, Mussolini's old playmate, a frowsy thing, dumpy and bilious and gouty. She is quartered in a big flat, which is, of course, a salon, and by coincidence, Mussolini’s own villa, as big as Baltimore, is only a block away but not as close as it ‘used to be, Until recently, she got 16,000 gold lire a week the U. 8. A. for articles sizned by Mussolini Ww ch is an easy way of paying off. “We sat overlong until a tasty little item in a

helped her into her scooter, shoved her into the drawing room, were given a quick howdy-do to a roomful of blackshirts-hung over with medals, daggers and. tassels, and, by a deft pass, were heaved out into the rain.” Sarfatti and her young were not the greatest exploiters of public office of their time But they were very high score. We have.had some very good hands, ourselves.

We the People

By Ruth Millett

IN OUR sudden zeal to do something about juvenile delinquency, there seems to be a danger that our courts will interfere too much with the parental privilege of bringing up our own children in the way we think best. Here's an example: An Iowa judge recently sentenced a father to five days in jail because he was accused of taking his 17-year-old son into a tavern and buying him a bottle of beer. He could hand down that sentence because -a city ordinance forbids minors from entering taverns. Most fathers probably wouldn't buy a 17-year son a bottle of beer. Nor should they.

Judgment Needed

YET IN some special instance, a father might have a good reason for doing so.. He might know, for in= stance, that his boy was drinking with the other boys —maybe on the sly. .If so, the father might figure that it would be better to invite the boy in for a bottle of beer, and try to get out of his head the idea

old

he isn’t tied to his family’s apronstrings. =

age might think it wise to teach him before he goes into service that there is a difference between a bottle of beer with some friendly conversation and going out and getting drunk just to be able to brag about it the next day. ~~ Those ways in which some fathers might reason, And it does look as though a 17-year-old kid

Pompadouri| Love, that beautiful mystery, was never

He had the suffocating honor to present an

a hot water bottle as she shifted on her couch, never | -

maid’s uniform gave Sarfatti the high sign and we

that he has to drink in order to show the fellows that |

Or the father of a boy within one year of draft

better off having a bottle of beer with his own | than eing ou: druiEing WAR 8 gang of Kids |

NEW YORK, Aug. 24—A few| F508

| American censorship across the border.

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

“SHOOTING THE DICTATORS IS NOT ENOUGH” By F. S. Hetrick

Mr. Clapper’s idea of shooting Mussolini and Hitler is all right, but he does not go far enough. On the theory that murder in mass by nations is no less heinous than by individuals, Germany should be punished in mass. For every hostage shot by the Germans, there should be a German bite the dust. Commence with Hitler and go on down the line, taking the higher army generals first and when there are no more soldiers, take the big industrialists until the score is evened up. It’s not sensible to assume that the German people are not to blame. They had the best opportunity of any people on earth to lreep posted, being 90 per cent 1iterate as against the Russians’ 10 per cent, or less. And at that, they allowed the Hitler gang to burn their literature in a public bonfire and put their best brains in concentration camps, There has ‘been a lot of ranting about the Versailles treaty, but what would it ‘have been if the Ger-

~imans had been successful™in the My letter home said, in part: “I met one afternoon | :

last war? > 5 =»

“MAYOR RESPONSIBLE FOR DISHARMONY IN RANKS” By Georgla Branaman, 121 N. Bradley st. As one who took an active part Mm |in the Republican campaign of 1942, I have been interested and somewhat amused at the repeated reports emanating from city hall of “plans” to replace Henry E. Os{rom as Marion County Republican chairman, Even the mayor is now quoted as saying that he is “only interested” in securing new leadership. It .does seem strange that Gen, Tyndall would be so dissatis-

| filed now with the same leadérship

‘that he depended upon so to elect him mayor Ro 0 really months ago. - I make no claim to having been one, of the numerous “big shots” in Gen. Tyndall's campaign for mayor (there were really more than enough without me) but I was in position to know something of the facts. After his nomination Gen. Tyndall, along with his chief preprimary supporters, demanded that

(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.)

James L. Bradford retire as county chairman, and in the interestseof party harmony Mr, Bradford graciously stepped aside. At the request of Gen, Tyndall and others, Mr. Ostrom accepted the chairmanship, the belief being general that he was the logical person to weld the conflicting forces together in the interests of harmony and victory at the polls, No one worked harder or longer or more sincerely for Gen. Tyndall’s election and the success of all of the Republican candidates than did Henry Ostrom. That I know. Throughout the election campaign Gen. Tyndall sought the advice of the chairman and he depended upon his leadership to secure his election as mayor. Today the mayor himself is directly responsible for the disharmony in Republican ranks. He could end it if he chose. Instead we are treated to the spectacle of the mayor being “only interested in securing” new leadership, according to his quoted statement in the newspapers. For. gratitude the mayor's statement should long stand as a monument to his political oareer! + A td ”. “WE ARE CONYR NITED WITH AN INFLATIONARY SPIRAL IN USED AUTOS '/ By E. L. McDaniel, 2225 E. Riverside dr.

It is a principle of fundamental law that a man-may, in his own business, deal with whom he pleases, and in the manner he chooses, 80 long as he does not commit any wrong either to the individual or to the state. This fundamental rule of the common law is further safeguarded by the Constitution of the United States, which ‘denies the right of a state to curb liberty of contract, or to take property without due process of law. This principle of law is applicable to all private business conducted by either

Side Glances=By Galbraith

FEE

EERE

an individual, a partnership or a corporation. However, when a business or ‘a property becomes affected with public interest, and by this is meant when its ownership or control gives power to those in charge to impress a burden upon the community at large, or ‘jeopardize the national economy, the law recognizes the public as having an interest in that

business, with a resulting power in

the public through its government to regulate that business,

The number “of such businesses.

becoming clothed with a public interest, tends to increase as ‘our economic development terids to become more complex. It is quite probable that all business, which supplies the public with the necessities of life, will in the course of time, become public service functions and as such subject to the control of the state, Natural monopoly and great aggregation of capital are not necessarily criteria for the determination of the public service function char-

acter of a business. The criterion |: for determining whether a given]:

business has become affected with a public interest is its consequence and influence upon the public welfare. The nations’ millions of automobiles, collectively, are said by the rationing authorities to constitute an essential part of the transportation system of America. This view is well founded because our modern economic system is virtually dependent upon wheels, This view

{further gives rise to the proposition

that the automobiles of the nation, and the traffic therein, becomes a business affected with a public interest, and therefore should be made the subject of governmental control. With the production of new automobiles, excepting military vehicles,

virtually stopped, we are confronted | -

with an inflationary price spiral in used automobiles, Cars two or three years of age, the economic life of which are 25 to 50 per cent, or more, exhausted, are priced in many instances higher than the original selling price. This situation is likely to become progressively worse with continued diminution of existing supply. It seems that a conscientious effort to check inflation would require the exercise of some kind of control over the used car business, in order to make possible the continued necessary operation of these vehicles by essential users in the lower income brackets,

2 8 = “THEN SIX PIECES OF FIRE APPARATUS PASS BY” By William A. Frise, Indianapolis

It is quite evident that Mr.|

Marshall lives an easy life and does

2d” 3

8 %)

g8 z § a

coverage ee eS I sons and with more and more ~ American correspondents arriving ‘and being refused official - press

i au a a he rent a can government agency.

are about 30 British correspondents here.

relations was created in establishing a office. This is a voluntary censorship in that if th

dian censors it will not have to again pass throug

nadian censorship has been friendly but the princip: of Canadian censorship upon news going to tk United States has to a degree been established.

Some Weren't Wanted

WHEN THE allotment of 50 places for the Amer ican press and radio was set the U. 8. OWI under- ;::

ber of men each organization desired to send tc x Canada. Some had their answers ready; some didn’t.

send reporters after the conference had. started. These men getting to Quebec after the U. S. quota was filled were advised:

2. You cannot have a green “press card” that permits you to attend the press conferences and other sessions provided to assist in the distribution of news. .. 3. Your name will not be on the list for invitation to official meetings or social occasions. You can come to Quebec, of course, and file all the news you wish, | but you will have no official standing or recognition as a newspaperman at the conference,

A Future Danger

ciple is that in the future at conferences of even -. greater importance than that at Quebec—the peace : conference possibly, and all the subordinate confer- .. ences that will follow—no free American press can

ican newspapermen can attend as long as they rep- .. resent established American press concerns.

H. V. Kaltenborn telegraphed for rooms at the Clarendon and press privileges. The war jatormation. board said it could not give him “official” standing. Broadcasts, by the way, are not subject to censorship, voluntary or otherwise. What is worrying the war information board is the.’ fact that the conference apparently is growing in: news value. It is afraid that American editors and broadcasters will send up additional men and that , will pile up a lot of more trouble for the wiB © in trying to protect the 50-man quota which apparently was imposed on the conference by some one in the American government—why nobody seems to. Bow. 5

Sirike- Waves

By John W. Love

recognition, the pressure on Phe

Another new wrinkle in American-Canadian pres: ‘censorshi;

The Cr

took to poll ‘the press in Washington as to the num- ;*

As is always the case a number made up their mind to +

1. We cannot assign you accommodations at the. official press hotel, the Clarendon, although we will _ not prevent you from eating there or visiting - news room. !

OBVIOUSLY THE danger in the “quota” PH y wr

The radio angle in the situation came up when Ne

little earlier than we should ordinarily be looking for it—in . September. ‘I wouldn’t know what to lay the new wave of industrial disturbances to, but the pollen count is high, the Japanese beetle is bad and the sun is now in the constellation of Leo, the lion, These ‘are explanations as good as .any for the premature return of unrest in Cleveland, Akron and Detroit. No matter how reasonable is the explanation for any particular stoppage, you need something alse to account for the waves of them, There have been other years when the September peak was pulled forward into August. This time the strikes will probably run on into September, barring an invasion of northern Europe, and there is little that Washington: is likely to do about it other than issue statements and appeals. These cycles usually subside in October and invariably do in November.

Labor Policy 'Soupy'

THE JUNE disturbances, always the most numerous, dried up about a week later than they normally do. The government's labor policy is still soupy, partly because of politics, partly on account of the new and clumsy anti-strike law. With the September secondary peak: in strikes coming on, these will be added to the reasons why production is not where it should be. Strikes have not amounted to anything the last six weeks, but because strikes are conspicuous and sometimes spectacular events, unlike absenteeism and materials shortages and other accumulations of ‘individual conditions, they will be reported in the newspapers and it may be difficult to get others than strikers to put out extra effort so long as these are tolerated. _But they will have to be tolerated until the labor , ig

board or somebody 1s able to invoke penalties as cor Spleuous. and Teportable as the strikes Siumelves.

To the Point—

WE SHOULD kick about not ‘Daving ‘pleasu drives! Look what Russia has done to Hitler's. °

* . ‘® PENICILLIN 18 amazingly isdessti 4 teria, destroyer. How about dropping Some, of * on Berchtesgaden? har” 2

THE AVERAGE eee KEowa. 25,000 word ali lexicographer., Why aren’t there more women, : cians? . igh

‘A'WOMAN'S page writer declares there's thing to be said about a man who stays out.

a Bao;

Hight. But Wifey SHOWS 2000 way to say Ih

THE ALLIED military government i taking. of ‘the people’s needs in occupied counties AMGOT. looks out: for the NOGOT.

CLEVELAND, O, Aug. %—.. The annual secondary rise in the... - number of strikes is coming a

Tee

press message is censored and passed by the Cana

Te SW A RL Wes

i wwe Sg : oN LE

re are approximately 1700 daily ianpiper in the United States, about 90 in Canada, and there,

permit any government to dictate how many Amer-. at’

WL rigor al