Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 April 1944 — Page 6

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tract—‘"or else.”

PAGE 6 Saturday, April 29, 1944 ROY W. HOWARD WALTER LECKRONE MARK FERREE Presidefit Editor. Business Manager

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by Indianapolis Times Publishing Co., 214 W. Mary. land st. Postal Zone 9.

Price in Marion County, 4 cents a copy; delive ered by carrier, 18 cents a week.

Mail rates in Indiana, $5 a year; adjoining

ber of United > states, 75 cents a mcnth;

gs a oa ‘others, $1 monthly. ice, and Audit Bureau

of Circulations. RS RILEY’ 5551 Give IAght and the People Will Find Their Own Way

BUT WHERE ARE THE TROOPS? N Chicago an employer whose operations the government considers essential to the war. effort refuses to sign a contract with a union of his employees and the union, in retaliation, takes steps that interfere with those operations. Quite promptly the President of the United States orders_the army to seize the business, and soldiers drag its elderly chairman kicking and squirming out of his office as the gov ernment takes over. In Indianapolis an employer whose operations the government considers essential to the war effort refuses to sign a contract with a union of his employees and the union, in retaliation, takes steps that interfere with those operations. Do the troops march in here, too? Well—not exactly. You see this Indianapolis employer

. . . . . | is Daniel J. Tobin, general president of the International i the gates and intimidating the workers, thus inter- | | rupting production. It is not necessary that the goons !

Helpers, a great and good friend of the New Deal and high |

Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and

in its councils. The Chicago employer, is Sew ell Avery, head | of Montgomery Ward & Co. The ) * = = 2 8 = EXCEPT for the outcome, there isn't much difference between the two labor disputes. In each a labor union sought to negotiate a contract with an employer. Both employers refused to negotiate. Both unions appealed to the War Labor Board for support of their legal rights, and both took similar actions that halted distribution of their employers’ products. The War Labor Board ignored the appeal of Mr. Tobin's employees. It ordered Mr. Avery to sign a conMr. Avery defied that~“order, and the presidential order that followed. Soldiers with bayonets

seized his business by force and the federal government |

operates it today. Mr. Tobin first ordered all the union employees fired—

and action specifically prohibited by the Wagner law—then |

backed down and rescinded their discharge under heavy criticism, Up to today he still had refused to negotiate a contract. - And up to today there had been no stern orders from Washington, no sound of marching feet in E. Michigan st. —and not a bayonet in sight around the offices of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehouse-

~men and Helpers.

FRANK KNOX

HEODORE ROOSEVELT often said a man should “live |

life up to the hilt.” Frank Knox, who followed T. R. up San Juan hill, and

followed him in politics from then on, was never short in|

following -that maxim. As a youth he was poor—in language popular in recent years he could almost be said to have been underprivileged. But Frank Knox was not a fellow to waste time sympathizing with himself. By working hard and making good on his opportunities he achieved wealth and influence. small-town newspaperman, he became general manager of | a chain of metropolitan dailies, and crowned his business and professional career by becoming owner and shirtsleeve | publisher of the great Chicago Daily News. He was a Bull Moose leader, a Republican nominee for vice president, but gained his only public office—and that | a high one—as an appointee under a Democratic adminis-

tration. And he took time off from journalism -and politics | to be a combat soldier in two wars and secretary of the |

navy in a third. = ” » 2 » ” A STOUT PARTISAN in peacetime—there was no more vigorous critic of the New Deal in the balmy ’30s— he forgot politics when war clouds gathered. It must have been a source of great satisfaction to Frank Knox that, at the age of 70, he could take an active and important part in this war. One of his last acts was to urge on business and labor leaders the need of compulsory service in war industries to provide for the impending battle of Europe. Another was to attend the funeral of a former business partner—and there he was stricken. Frank Knox's life was rich in rewards. It was a “life up to the hilt.”

DEWEY'S FOREIGN POLICY

HERE was more statesmanship than politics in Governor Dewey's foreign policy address Thursday night. The fact that he chose to put himself on record is, in | itself, significant. Me is sitting pretty as a potential draft | candidate for the presidency; under the political rules, all |

he has to do is keep his mouth shut and coast into the |

nomination. But, whether he is or is not a candidate, he takes a stand on the hig issue. It is not a partisan stand. He does not try to copyright for one party the common aspirations of our people, as some others have done. —the isolationists and international extremists—with the

vast majority in favor of the responsible American world |

collaboration pledged in the bipartisan Fulbright and Connally resolutions. Unlike shortsighted politicians who magnify minority division for campaign purposes, he emphasizes that America is overwhelmingly united in war aims and peace aims. And he gives Secretary of State Hull deserved credit for stating them. u ” 2 un ” 5 BUT MOUTHING fine phrases won't win the peace, any more than the war. Dewey's clrief contribution to this discussion is his warning that words are not enough, The thing that troubles Dewey is the apparent conflict between officially stated American war aims and daily developments abroad:

“Germany and Japan must not only be utterly defeated

and completely disarmed—they must not be left in a post- - war environment which might enable them: to maneuver

as a balance of power. After 1919, lethargy, jealousy and power politics resumed say among the allies . . . if after this war we reproduce the same political climate, we will get the same results.”

The Eoverslr, who rarely discusses foreign. policy, : than s

The Indianapolis Times

A

He does not confuse the small minorities |

ome who talk 50 much about it.

Fair Enough By Westbrook Pegler

NEW YORK, April 20.—I won«der how many of us understand

Roosevelt claimed for himself in ordering the' army to seize the private property of Montgomery Ward and throw out of .the place Sewell Avery, the company executive who represented the owners. By - the same process, Mr. Roosevelt could seize and operate through one New Deal agency or another, any newspaper or radio station in the United States after the simple preliminary of instigating a labor. dispute through some co-operative union: official. He could seize and operate them all,

"What {sa Labor Disturbance?

HE CLAIMED his authority for this seizure under the war labor disputes act which was super-imposed on the lop-sided labor relations act. The labor disputes act was intended to prevent stoppages in war ‘plants, but is so phrased as to authorize the seizure of + any plant or facility equipped for the. manufacture or production of any articles or waterials which may be used in connection with the war effort, where a labor disturbance occurs. Documents, printed on presses from type set by linotypes, may be and constantly are used in the war effort. Radio communication is used in the war effort. Therefore a newspaper plant and a radio station both are plants and facilities subject to seizure by presidential order and to operation by bureaucrats from Washington in the presence of a labor disturbance which interrupts operation.

a strike of the legitimate employees of the plant or facility. It could consist of a gang of goons patrolling

produce any workers. ance and Mr. Roosevelt's power comes into operation.

legitimate authority to represent the

'Not Fantastic or Quibbling Suppositions'

A MEMORABLE case, sufficiently to justify seizure | of a theater, occurred in New York a few years ago. A play which required no instrumental music but did require a few bars of the “Stars and Stripes” and “The Marseillaise” from a phonograph record, was picketed by the local racketeers of Jimmy Petrillo's musician's union. The union wanted the producer to pay a number of theoretical musicians for playing no music. This was a racket, pure and simple. No employees were involved. Actually the money was to have been paid into the racket, not to any individual musicians. The local set pickets in front of the theater and Mrs. Roosevelt, who had tickets for the play, recognized this situation as a labor disturbance, refused to cross the picket line and went elsewhere, { Morale is an article or material used in the | war effort and amusement is recognized officially as one of the materials from which morale is built. In such a situation today Mr. Roosevelt could send the army to seize the theater. These are not fantastic or quibbling suppositions. They are thoroughly consistent with the seizure of Montgomery Ward, which is not operating under gov- { ernment contracts for the production of war material but is a retail business selling homely domestic articles for clvilian use. Naturally some such articles may be used in the war effort. It would be almost impossible to think of any article which could not be s0 used.

"Private Property in Peril of Seizure’

AVERY WAS ordered to extend a union contract which had expired. He refused, insisting that he had no right to assume, without proof, that the union still represented the employees. The union then called a strike, or labor disturbance, and that was Mr. Roosevelt’s excuse to call on the army to ‘seize the property and turn it over to his department of commerce for | operation. The effect of this coercive use of the authority of the war labor board and the President's war powers has been to compel workers to join unions in vast numbers of cases and, in others, to make them keep up their membership whether they wanted to or not. It has been a great help to the unioneer, the racketeer and the Communist who have thus increased their membership and their loot and established themselves more firmly in power over not only the workers but the property of law-abiding citizens, many of them away at war and many of them with sons at war. And, finally, it has placed private property, in no way | involved in the actual war effort, in peril of seizure and the owners in peril of eviction and dispossession at the whim of any group calling itself a union even though there be not the slightest evidence that the authors of the disturbance legitimately represent a single worker in the plant.

|

‘We The People ‘By Ruth Millett

surprised Americans when they saw pictured in newspapers and magazines the house in which “Commando” Kelly was born and to which he recently returned. But to the Kelly boys—seven of whom are now in the service— the “shack” was home, And it must have been a good home. For out of it came a soldier with such courage and resourcefulness that he became a national hero, decorated with the Congressional Medal of Honor, But Americans overlooked all that when they saw a picture of the hero's house. All they saw was that it was a shabby place, jammed up against other | houses. And they were aghast when they read that | it had no bathroom, that the bedroom where once the hero and his brothers had slept was an attic, in which | single cots stood in a neat row.

| | |

|

| ‘Be It Ever So Humble'

| THE HOUSING problem has received so much attention in America that we have forgotten it isn't as important as our “home” problem. The Kelly boys had—and still have—a home. A | home now privileged to display a service flag bearing seven stars. A home présided over by a widowed mother who gave her children the best that she, with their help, could provide. America is full of such dwelling places as the Kellys call home. Walk down the humble streets of the nation and count them—one, two, three, or more service stars in the windows of what some people call “shacks"—but which also are homes worth fighting for. A home, after all, isn’t a pleasing picture on a magazine cover, boasting a pile ot shiny’ plumbing and a two car garage. A- home is privacy from the outside world, the place to which, wherever we are we want to return,

eur

So They Say— ;

WE SHOULD not wait until everything is over and then go hat in hahd to the peace table, asking for things we won't get, Let's get them now while the getting is good.—Rep. Earl R. Lewis of Ohio, . _- » THE SALESMAN will occupy a more important position in the post-war world.» We must find ways

industry can produce. This is the only way in which 'a permanent prosperity can be maintained.—~John W, Thomas, ;

.the extent of the power President,

What is a labor disturbance? It is not necessarily !

All they need do is create a labor disturb- |

The Hoosier Forum

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

|Siretch Battle’

; apport the senator: he said that a Gition

“HOW CAN MOTORING PUBLIC UNDERSTAND?”

By Joe Saunders, 3526 College ave. In a recent editorial,

ticular attention to a column written by Marshall McNeil which quoted some statements made by one Shad Polier, director of OPA’s| gasoline enforcement division, on the necessity for better compliance] with the rationing program. The] Times editor certainly has a keen sense of humor! The voluble Mr. Polier yearns for a “more general understandigg of the’ (rationing) problem,” yet OPA has just found

of “Price Control Analysis,” a work prepared by the Research Institute of America, explaining OPA’'s regulations. How then could the motoring public possibly be expected to understand the intricacies of a] rationing system which even the

unable to fathom? Perhaps when Mr. Polier and, bis’ fellow bureaucrats have absorbed | the contents of this revealing vol-| ume, they will be able to explain just why OPA and PAW have, for} four long years, restricted the out-|

possible for the independent oil

the Times | admonished its readers to give par-|

it expedient to purchase 8000 copies |

put of crude oil by making it im-|

{Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, religious controversies excluded. Because | of the volume received, let- | ters should be limited to 250 | words. Letters must be | signed. Opinions set forth | here are those of the writers, | and publication in no way implies agreement with those opinions by The Times. The Times assumes no responsi bility for the return of manuscripts and cannot enter correspondence regarding them.)

| table industry operating in the open,” that OPA and PAW have

showered with so many favors! | intellectual midgets of the OPA are | Evidently they have plenty of gaso=|

{line to supply the full amount] | legally provided by ration coupons, | plus millions of gallons for the black | market. Obviously they are will|ing to sell to any and all comers; |and since they. either own or con- | trol most of the filling stations, it [is hardly likely that they are over!ly perturbed about the ethics in-

“WHY, IT'S just a shack,” said |

to assure the complete distribution of all goods that |

volved in the operations of black]

ompanies to operate their wells Corp P markets.

without financial loss. Many of us have a lingering suspicion that this | policy has been motivated by a eral public understanding” that Mr.} sympathetic feeling for the acquisi-| Polier is so concerned about, tive susceptabilitles of the big oil | would suggest that there are some barons who buy most of their crude things about the gasoline rationing oil from the independent com- program that the general public, panies at attractively low prices, dumb as they are supposed to be, fixed by thesg two government | have come to understand quite agencies™ | clearly. For one thing, they are Nevertheless, thi restrictive, fully convinced that gasoline rapolicy forced the independents to|tioning was not born of necessity, cap some 12,000 stripper wells in| |but to satisfy the demands of mili1943 and about 32,000 during the | [tary “brass hats” who want the preceding three years. Now, after] | whole populace plunged into a wild their former pretexts for rationing | orgy of war hysteria so they will be | gasoline have been exploded, OPA |all primed for another nation-wide] and PAW have suddenly discovered | witch hunt when the shooting is | that there is”a serious shortage of | over. lcrude oil, and that drastic ration-| Another thing they understand, {ing must be made in order to pre-|is that this: ‘established and repvent a universal famine of gasoline.|utable industry” is constantly The black market has almost made | weakening the octane rating of the the rationing program a joke (or|gasoline they sell to civilians, but a tragedy), hence Mr. Polier and |with the connivance and approval Mr. McNeil have hastened to issue a {of OPA and PAW are charging the clarion call for all good citizens to|same price that was fixed for standcome to the aid of their cherished |ard quality gasoline. On April 19, OPA. 1944, Mr. Ernest L. Hughes, director But who furnishes the gasoline of marketing for the PAW, anfor the black market? Surely it|nounced that this “weakening” proc-

Side Glances—By Galbraith

ut |

ride through this

As for the matter of a “more gon- |

must be this “‘established and rep- | ess is to be intensified and that |

"] dead have gone i heirs ond dois more money than ao on

motorists will be “plenty lucky if they get half the normal mileage from gasoline during the next few months. This means that motorists will pay double price for gas, plus a tax of 5 cents per gallon on both {gas and water. Are we to expect that OPA, which bases its distribution of gasoline coupons on a mileage basis, will increase its coupon value to maintain original mileage allowances or will it continue to bless this reprehensible form of thievery as it is now doing, and to indulge in the futile hope that black markets will fold up because of “widespread voluntary compliance by honest businessmen and consumers.” #1f OPA and PAW are so anxious for “honest voluntry compliance” on the part of gasoline users, they should quit dealing from the bottom of the deck and show some dis- | position to play the game honestly and decently themselves. The motoring public doesn’t need to] study any books from the Research | Institute in order to understand | the dev.ous methods of the OPA, | nor to recognize the fact that Mr. Polier and Mr. McNeil have merely | thrown up a smokescreen to ob- | scure official chicanery. I trust | that The Times will see to it that | both of these gentlemen get a copy | of this article, and if they think it is treason, let them make the most of it!

i

= I|“LET US GET TOGETHER” By H. W. Miller, Indianapolis Will you please come to our rescue gnd print this in your Hoosier Forum column? TI think it is time that we poor Allison workers who are so unfortunate as to have to ride the city busses to and from work got together to see if some-, thing can't be done about transpor-

into town. Every. evening there are from 67 to 70 people crowded in one city bus and all we can hear is the driver saying step back in the bus, please; and on more than one occasion all the people could not get on the bus and how they get into town from then on, I don't {know and I don't think the bus company cares, either. v Now I happen to know that the Indianapolis company charges are about the highest in the country and now they are fighting to get an increase in fares yet they don’t want to pay enough wages to get 'men to drive the busses. Let them | pay their help what they are worth land cut out this extra 2 cents for transfers and give us a little better service and they will get more passengers and make more money in the long run. I know people { who live in Shelbyville and Lebanon and other small towns who get home from work before I do and I live right here in the city only two miles from the Cir¢le. Now, all you people who have been complaining about being packed in Allison busses like hogs, let us get together and do something through the Times Forum.

® “HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD”

a »

By Viola Hackerd, Frankfort :

May I take this method of expressing the opinion that Ruth Millett “hit the nail on the head” in her ‘ article entitled: “What The Teen-age Girl Needs.” This positive set of ideas that most girls live by is the better way to reach some of the troubles and misunderstandings between the boys and girls and their parents.

- DAILY THOUGHTS

When pride cometh, then cometh shame; but with the lowly

tation. I am referring to 5:48 in| the evening when we go out to the; south gate to catch the city bus]

By Thomas L. Stokes

MIAMI, April 29.—The forces trying to defeat New Deal Senator Claude Pepper in the hot primary here and concentrated - behind County Judge J. Qllie Edmunds of Jacksonville are putting on the heat in the final stretch in an ef« fort to produce a stalemate im next Tuesday's election, ~ They are hopeful that Senator Pepper will be unable to win & clear majority against Judge Ede munds and the three other cane didates for the senatorial nomination so that a rune off will be necessary between the senator and the judge. The date for the second primary, obviously - required to decide another contest, the four-cornered gubernatorial race, has been set for May 23. Senator Pepper is conceded the top individual vote in next Tuesday's primary. His camp is claiming the necessary majority over the field, but is still working desperately as if not sure of their forecasts. Sketchy newspaper-polls show the senator running ahead of any of the other candidates, but with the total vote for the other four slightly larger. The polls are nog taken as conclusive.

Pepper Enjoys Advantage of Position

SENATOR PEPPER admittedly enjoys the advane tage of position. A sitting senator, closely identified *

|- with the New Deal administration, he is cashing in on

the personal popularity in Florida of President Roose« velt which he cleverly exploits at every opportunity, Because of his position in Washington, he exercisey, certain power and influence which has helped him, particularly in building up an effective state machine, In a speech here, Judge Edmunds charged tha war contractors are being threatened by reprisals unless they contribute to the Pepper campaign fund, He said that renegotiation is being held up beforg them as dh avenue of retaliation, “This,” he shouted, “is a scandal.” Referring to, the great number of fed in the HN ii hag

have been put on the rolls for the campaign, but he

' gave no figures, cited no proof.

Judge Warms Up to Campaign '

AGAIN AS in his previous speeches, the judge argued that President Roosevelt is not an issue in this campaign and sought. to ridicule the senator's claim that his re-election ja necessary to help win the war. Te the contrary, he declared, the senator has hampered the war effort by inflammatory speeches, beginning before the United States entered the war, which have embarrassed military and naval officials in their conduct of the war. The judge, who has the stern platform manne$#

{of a zealous lay preacher, is warming up as the

campaign nears its end, throwing off his wraps, strike ing harder at his opponent. Senator Pepper, like« wise, is again the flaming orator, sweating it ou from every available stump—and through every availe able pore. He faced a real uphill battle when he rushed home early this month on the call of friends here, His lieutenants were -worried, and admitted it. The racial issue, exploited by one of his opponents, Millard Conklin, champion of “white supremacy,” was fanning up a flame along the bayous and in the piney woods,

Pepper Backers Are Confident ‘

SINCE HE has been campaigning—and he is very effective—his managers have become more and more optimistic, until now they are saying it's all over, confidently boasting that the senator will win in the first primary. The Negro issue, intensified by the supreme court's decision outlawing the “white primary” is being kept alive. In his speech here Judge Edmunds said the people of Florida “will settle: this problem peaceably but it will be solved in their own way. It will be solved in accordance with southern traditions.” The | southern tradition is that the Negroes don't vote. The voting issue does not exist in this primary as a practical matter, since the registration books were closed before tha Texas decision. . Senator Pepper's weakest spot is in Jacksonville, { the home of his chief opponent. The judge is popular there. Recognizing this, the senator combed the city and Duval county early this week from beach to railroad shops and shipyards.

Pacific Questions By Ludwell Denny

WASHINGTON, April 29. Gen. MacArthur flanking movement has cut off another Jap army. Hollandia, one of the two northern New Guinea beachheads taken in the amphib= ous movement, is only about 1100 miles from the Philippines, - Mace Arthur is returning, as he prome ised, and with 500-mile strides. This advance, apart from its strategic significance, stimulates discussion of the two questions which always arise when MacArthur is in the news, One is whether he is getting adequate military supe port from Washington. The other is whether he is g presidential aspirant. The general himself has ofted provoked the first question, and he has carefully ree frajned from silencing the second.

Answer to the Old Complaint

APPARENTLY THE long hop to Hollandia is a answer to the old complaint that the general has to

operate on a shoestring. His naval and air forces were not small. Moreover, there seems to have bee

mand by allied commanders everywhere and the fact that the occupation of the three vital airfields and the port of Madang was completed a few days after the landings indicates strength ongsMe ground. Of course, he is not getting all he wants. No commander ever does. If this war is to be fought on a global basis, then manpower, planes, ships and sup plies must be apportioned among all fronts accordir to the needs of over-all strategy. It is no secret tha there is a larger American concentration now for tt western invasion of Europe than in Italy or the sout’ west Pacific. But there is no evidence that the Mi Arthur front is getting an unfair deal. The Hollans offensive indicates the contrary. MacArthur's recent statement, on his cor spondence with Rep. A. L. Miller of Nebraska, been widely interpreted to mean that he is a pr. dential aspirant but not an active candidate for nomination. The general and the congressman he deny that MacArthur intended to agree fully wi Milier’s sweeping attack on the administration. Ths also agree that the general did not authorize publica! tion of the correspondence,

Most Think Statement Hurt MacArthur

MILLER THINKS this has ‘advanced the. | Arthur-for-President movement: “I feel that. publication of the letters has again thrust the ger. back into the interest of the public. A thousand fir... have been started which eventually will have good results.” Although MacArthur in his public statement ree peated that he did not “seek” the presidency, he wag careful not to head off any draft movement. He said the high process of public choice of a President is

decision,” and also that “my sole ambition is to assist our country to win this vital struggle by tt" fulfillment of such duty as has been or may be a signed to me.” © ° - Most | Political observers think this. statemen| hurt MacArthur, and that in

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