Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 June 1944 — Page 12
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WHAT the President reported last night in his war bond
| + that they have evaded sea battle for many months.
Give Light and the People Will Pind Ther Own Way
THE PRESIDENT ON THE PACIFIC
speech, about the allies putting Germany's: back to “three walls at once,” had been brought to the public in the news dispatches of the past week. But he scooped the world on Pacific prospects. He even beat that old star reporter, Winston Churchill, which is something of a record. This was our commander-in-chief’s fresh good news: Unconditional surrender or “national suicide” of Japan, as a result of allied successes in Europe, can be hastened much faster “than had been thought possible.” But he was careful not to encourage the rash hope that the road to Tokyo is either short or easy—much less that we can lick Japan before Germany. Indeed, he was justifying the original Churchill-Roosevelt decision to win the war by knocking out Hitler. first. That much-criticized strategy is paying off—after being modified and improved by experience. The American high command, and public insistence that American boys should not be sent to fight without adequate weapons and planes, helped to prevent the Pacific from becoming the forgotten front. So did the danger of losing China, our essential land and air base for the ultimate invasion of Japan. And so did the enemy's fearfully rapid advance and consolidation of conquests. : As a result, the Pacific after the first year began to get a fair share of supply priorities. Not enough to satisfy our Pacific commanders, which was not to be expected, but enough for limited offensives and everything possible without undermining the war against Hitler. . rr » ~ = ~ THANKS TO the skill of our Pacific commanders and the bravery of their men, and thanks also to the miracles of ‘American production which supplied all fronts at the the same time, we not only have stopped the Japs but in most areas are pushing them back. The President says we have reduced their shipping by three million tons, overcome their original air advantage, defeated tens of thousands of their troops, and achieved such naval superiority
As indicated by the current naval bombardments of the Mariana bases and the return army bombing of Palau—the Jap Singapore—Nimitz and MacArthur are heading for the Philippines and the China coast. From the other direction, Stilwell's Americans and Chinese and the British have improved our Burma position before the monsoon, though Mountbatten’s end run is still delayed. Except for China, where the military situation is critical, the President's restrained optimism regarding the Pacific war seems demonstrated by events. But, coming from the man who has so many facts unknown to the public, it is most welcome news in the wake of European advances.
ANOTHER CEILING NDIANAPOLIS dealers in used automobiles are on very sound ground in predicting a big new “black market” in second-hand cars when OPA tries to put them under price ceiling. All the elements needed to create a black market are there—and this won't be any little easilyquashed black market like the one in gasoline, for instance. It is a practical impossibility to fix anything even approaching a fair schedule of prices on second-hand cars. Of two 1940 models of the same make, identical when they left the factory, one may now be worth $800, the other worth $400, depending on who drove them, and how. A car sold by Dealer A, with a sound reputation of honest merchandising, may be twice as good a buy as the same model sold by Dealer B, who is known as a fly-by-night chiseler. There are as many variations in quality and worth as there are second-hand cars on the market, and not even the somewhat complicated system OPA has announced can begin to cover even a tiny fraction of them. Every one of the 30 million or so individual owners of automobiles is .a potential seller of a second-hand car— presenting an enforcement problem of rare proportions, even if prices could be fixed fairly and equitably. - . = » » » IT IS TRUE that used car prices have been very high. Many an owner has been able to sell his old car for more than it cost him, new, three or four year ago. Dealers have
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contempt of the rest of the people. considering any such proposal, congress the muszzies off procurement and selective service officers of the fighting forces and let them tell the truth of their experiences with loafers and slackers. They could a tale unfold,
‘Emphasizes a Particular Mean Case’
THE RECENT sit-in strike of the Brewster airplane factory workers when the plant was about to close, emphasizes a particularly mean case. The navy, itself, made a mess of the Brewster project and the management was bad from the beginning. But, by some psychological freak, this project attracted a large aggregation of ostensible workers bitterly described by an officer of one of the armed services in highly uncomplimentary terms, When there was work to be done they wouldn't work.. When navy fliers needed planes they stalled their days away, loafing, gossiping, smoking in rest rooms, whistling out the windows, sleeping the job and striking over trivialities. The boss their union, calling himself De Lorenzo and other names, defiled the army to draft the among the sordid bums or his loyal, personal following and got away with it because he was making up the recommendations for deferments and presenting them to selective service through the company’s office. He told the army and navy to go to hell and when one of the armed guards in one of the plants, who, himself, had to belong to De Lorenzo's union, reported a bum for spending seven hours in the gent's room in two days, the union suspended him for conduct unbecoming a union man and kept him idle indefinitely by the device of refusing to hold a trial of the charges.
‘Evil Disposition Infested Others’
THE EVIL disposition, personified by De Lorenzo himself, infected others who were extremely sensitive to infection and the spirit spread throughout the job, employing as many as 20,000 men and women at high wages. Those who might have wanted to do a decent day’s work for reasons of personal decency, were stopped. This was a rotten plant and the record of the staff as a whole is a disgrace, deserving not reward but reproach. The loafers even developed a grapevine to pass the word from unit to unit when inspectors dropped in so that the sleepers could be roused and the loafers lolling on the window sills and on the floors against the walls could have time to drag their weary frames erect and make a pretense of backing up those brave fighting lads to whom some of their leaders talked so sentimental in their mocking repetition of the
celebrated “no strike” pledge of William Green and Phillip Murray. There is a large, printed record of all the evidence in this particular case for the guidance of congress in deciding on any plan for reconversion pay. Such a plan would call for selection and discrimination lest the slacker be rewarded like the best but justice
fits:
selection has been fair and feasible in picking men
which the worst share alike with the best. ‘Brewster Is Not the Only Case’
but it is not the only one. Who wants to reward the eight rubber company employees of Akron who were convicted of beating up a worker who refused to reduce his production?
affirming the convictions of the eight on charges of assault and battery, The supreme court found that the victim was taken from his machine, hustled to a parking lot and beaten and kicked, suffering among other injuries, a broken jaw. Why did they do this, these men who would now receive pensions for themselves and families for helping the brave lads overseas to win the war? In the language of the supreme court the injured man’s cnly offense was “a whole-hearted attempt to do a full day's work each day to facilitate the production of war materials.”
had to bid at fantastic figures to get cars for re-sale and | they have had to ask still higher prices to avoid loss to | themselves. But a government-fixed price that dealers say | will average $300 a car less than they paid for what they |
have in stock is not going to bring actual sale prices down | at all. If it does anything it will just drive used cars off | a
the market, so there will be none at any price. _ Even if the job of controlling second-hand car prices were worth doing—which is at least an open question— there is grave doubt whether it can be done. NRA tried it once, with floors instead of ceilings. OPA might well
take a close look at that failure before it undertakes the ||
same task. #
TOO QUIET ON THE POTOMAC LTOGETHER too much of the public’s business is being transacted behind closed doors in Washington. We don’t refer to the meetings of the joint chiefs of staff, naturally, or to other military matters, but only to affairs on which press and public have a legitimate claim to information. ; The latest instance of bureaucratic secretiveness was a meeting the other day sponsored by the labor department's bureau of labor statistics, which called in some 50 union officials and researchers for a conference.
«+ The press was barred. Why? Well, it is no secret
that labor has been highly critical of the operations of the bureau of labor statistics, particularly of its cost-of-living which many labor people say is based on out-of-date
We The People
By Ruth Millett
TOWNS AND CITIES all over the country are suffering now from a shortage of teachers, Thou~ sands of school marms have left the classroom in favor of a uniform, a well-paid war- job, or a try at the bvsines world, That is hard on the teaching profession right now, but if a fair share of these girls and women return to teaching when the war is over, it is bound to act as a shot in the arm to the profession. For in the past most young women have gone into teaching straight from the colleges. Their limited experience outside of the classroom has ‘tended to make them docile and easily bluffed into a meek acceptance of any kind of treatment straight-laced school boards hand out. It has also tended to make them seem like rather drab creatures in the eyes of their students.
Teachers Get New Glamour
The Hoosier Forum
I wholly disagree with what you say, but will | defend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.
“WHY NOT ALL WORK TOGETHER?" By Fairplay, Indianapolis
Congratulations for your article: “Why and How and Who,” J. E. K. We in Indianapolis do not want music whether you like it or not. We like good music and we also like to give credit to all who have given their effort, time and talent to the advancement of good music. To Jane Johnson Burroughs, to George Newton, to George Curtis and all, credit is certainly due. Why ignore them now? There is no one force anywhere so fine that they are beyond advice. Why not all work together instead of playing very petty politics in times such as these? In a democracy all have a voice. ” - 8 “BUREAUCRATS DON'T PRODUCE” By Voice in the Crowd, Indianapolis Ginsberg could certainly inform the readers of the Forum if he would explain how under modern circumstances the “workers could demand and receive all they produced” under socialism. Let him prove it.
(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, religious controversies excluded. Because of the volume received, letters 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 responsibility for the return of manuscripts and cannot enter correspondence regarding them.)
you can get an idea now as to how many bureaucrats you would have] to support by the time you had replaced the private managers. Bureaucrats don’t produce and they don't go cold and hungry. That much again the worker could not get. If you want socialism and to be told where to work, what to wear and eat, if you want bicycles in-
lion increase in unemployed from 1920-1928, following four million farm foreclosures? After the crash of '29, I remember saying to the agricultural committees of Congress: “For eight years I've been telling you birds that if you did not do something about the depression on the farms, it would spread to your cities, and now will you believe me?” . The reasons why nothing was done are too complicated to discuss here; but, two months before the close of the Hoover term, the Unitarian Laymen's League met in Indianapolis and an economist from Ohio State tpld the meeting what it would cost to pull the country out of the depression in 1928 (that was before most people knew it was in one!) or in 1929, or in 1930, or even in 1932. But, by the beginning of 1933, things had gotten so bad that they didn't figure it could be done and the budget kept anything near in balance. They couldn't bear to think what it would cost. But it would have to be done, Well, the war came in time to take care of a lot of the unemployment, but it would be cheaper
next time not to let after-war “pros-
stead of automobiles, if you want perity” go so far. That's the rea-
The only way in which a man] can receive all that he produces | to for him to produce all the] things he needs. In bygone years)
spun their own threads, made their
their work was hard, their hours, long and their wealth and comfort was nil. Individuals can still go back | to that life if they remove them-|
tax collector cannot find them. | They can then receive all they can produce if they like the simple life! and poverty of their low production. | As the New Deal carries us down |
The Ohio supreme court has told the story in [the trail toward socialism, we note reading history.
that it means regimentation, high cost of government and planned scarcity of production. At this stage of the game we find that under the most thrifty future ad-! ministration the nation will pay 25 per cent of its income to support,
scarcity instead of plenty, if you son we need to get history straight.
want security for the drone with individuality for no one, let me say
The little pigs that came into *he Indianapolis market were sent to
we are well on the way. {the CCC camps, those fit to eat.
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Follow Mrs. Shipp's advice and The Farm Bureau furnished volum-
demands that the effort be made in all cases. If {when people raised their own food, | continue “12 years” more with that | great “liberal party” that will give one. to fight under the draft law, the same system should own clothing and soap and candles, you a loaf of bread and write the be used in this new process lest the sentimental {they received and used all they pro-|cost with interest on your grande word, “equality,” be invoked to establish a rule by duced. Their needs were simple, son's cuff,
2 = = “I WONDER WHAT HISTORY”
BREWSTER 1S a conspicuous and outrageous case [selves to remote location where the By Alma Bender, Zionsville
An 18-year-old has written from Mitchell concerning the Coolidge administration and the prosperity thereof which he says he knows by I wonder what history. It must have been contemporaneous accounts for at the time we really did think we were prosperous. The Saturday Evening Post had a long series of articles entitled: “This Is Prosperity.” That was when I was tipped off that it
teers to sort them. My husband was The rest of the pigs made tankage, . ” o “GOOD WAY TO BEGIN THE FIGHT”
By S. Sgt. Richard &. Danforth, of the United States a
Inevitable as worry is, it is, nevertheless, of no benefit to anyone. In
all walks of life there are countless tragic and petty occurrences that mankind always must find some way of coping with. Too often the method of whipping these enemies
not consideration and analytical thought, but wholesale worrying. It is beyond the realm of logic to presume that anyone could have a total cessation from this intangible irritant. However, it is very reason-
of mankind is to give them a lot of,| = gil
the government and its public debt.| wasn't. A young Butler student said There alone is 25 per cent that the to me, “If we really were prosperworker cannot get. {ous, would we need the Post to tell
Business has to have management, whether public or private.
+ Management must be supported by
the production because men cannot | produce and handle business de-
us so?” But Florida land was booming and Wall Street was riding high, We thought we were doing fine. But doesn’t Mitchell history mention the McNary-Haugen struggle
able to expect that a certain amount of right thinking and an aggressive attitude toward this enemy is sure to bring an ease of ‘mind and a methodical procedure for attaining a victory over its ravaging effects. There are too many ways of combating the “worry foe” to endeavor
BUT THINGS will be different when Miss Smith
for farm relief? Nor the four milSide Glances—By Galbraith A ii: K
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to give a detailed directory for the worrier to follow. But, if the average person were. to proceed somewhat as follows, it is reasonable to assume that a definite beneficial resultant mental attitude will follow. : The person has a problem on his mind that is perplexing “no end,” he has been moving rhythmetically to the cyclic continuity of the apparently unsolvable ideas that haunt him. But, instead of allowing this cycle to continue unbroken, he begins at once to analyze it for its worth, thinking: *Just what is it that is bothering me and why should I let it get the upper hand of me?” His thoughts go on: “There is nothing that cannot be handled by God and so, why wouldn’t there be an inherent ability in me to take care of this thing?” 80, now he has
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staved out of drug stores and ever the moral, however, the pression—we'd dreamed of could own one of those bottles, ourselves, . We've been thinking about that story as we read about that brave ngw world of tomorrow, when every. thing will be electronic and streamlined, when well hop up to Medicine Hat in a helicopter before lunch, when we'll be chigger-free with DDT, when all our daily tasks will be done by flipping a switch and the cows—unless they, too, are mechanizsed-—will all give Grade A whipping cream. Like those drug store bottles of yesteryear, this makes a pretty picture. But we can't if, when tomorrow dawns and the gaudy eyewash won't be poured out, empty shell—-and one much like th have at home.
‘Don't Fill Me Full of Idle Dreams’
IF THAT happens, there'll be the devil to pay— and it will be American business that will do the
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“And so I say to American industry, with its plans for better living after the war, don't fill me full of idle dreams and half-baked ideas. Tell us truthfully what we can expect in 10 or 20 years, and what we'll have immediately, as soon as you get back into peacetime production. “Don’t use me for a test tube or guinea pig. I share your faith in the dreams for tomorrow, bus please tell me which are dreams and which are reality, “Can't American industry keep its vision and work for the future, but at the same time give the Amer. ican public the truth about products to be expected in the immediate future?” There's sound sense in that. And it is advice tha} American industry would do well to heed.
The Ghost Walks
By James Thrasher
WASHINGTON, June 13—~The Ku-Klux Klan, apparently dead
functions, but with authority te “meet and reincarnate.” It was surprising to learn that the Klan still existed. It is even more surprising to look back now, 20 years after its heyday, and survey the Klan's brief but alarming course in the light of subsequent events, Probably Adolf Hitler never heard of the Ku-Klux Klan, but the Klan and Hitler's Nazi party were blood relations. Their ultimate aims were different but their fundamental philosophy - was the same, And the Klan had it first. When Hitler was an ine significant beer-hall politician fresh out of prison, the Klan had a strangle hold on half a dozen state gov~ ernments, more than $,000,000 members.
A Narrow Escape for America
THE KLAN'S symptoms were distressing enough 20 years ago, but they appear today as a narrow escape. Take a comparative look. The Klan, like the Nazi party, was built on a theory of racial sue premacy. It was ‘anti-Semitic, anti-Negro, antie foreigner, anti-Catholic. Like the Nazi party, it was so ridiculous as to be laughed at by thinking people
at first. But its uniforms and drilling, its secrecy, its mume
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