Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 June 1944 — Page 12

a week.

states, 75 cents a month; others, $1 monthly.

al RILEY 5351

Give Light ond the People Will Pind Their Own Woy

ered by carner, 18 cents

Mail rates in Indl ana, $5 a year; adjoining

must drive from its midst its racketeers, adopt democratic procedures and account for its

MR. NELSON'S GOOD PROGRAM

(CHAIRMAN NELSON of the war production board announces an excellent program for helping industry to prepare for a swift transition to high levels of civilian production and employment when war orders are completed. War needs, he says rightly, must come first. Industry, labor and government must exert the greatest efforts to get and keep military production up to schedule. That means “precious little” more output of civilian goods now. But, subject always to the condition that nothing shall-

interfere with the war, certain important steps are to be

permitted.

Manufacturers may obtain materials to build working

models of new post-war productions, and may buy machines, tools and dies to make these and other products in volume.

Restrictions on civilian use of aluminum and magnesium are to lifted, and supplies of less abundant materials will

be released as the situation permits.

AND MR. NELSON stands. firmly against use of WPB's emergency powers to regiment the national economy

during reconversion. Newcomers are not to be barred from competition with established companies. Producers with

no war contracts, in areas where manpower is available, will not be held back because others, with unfinished war work: or in tight labor areas, cannot yet reconvert. It follows, we

believe, that schemes for imposing “production quotas,” in

an effort to preserve the pre-war competitive positions of various companies, should be rejected. For, as Mr. Nelson

says, the public interest must be the controlling factor.

Public interest will be best served by preventing unem-.

ployment and by combating price inflation. That's what the Nelson program, with its emphasis on encouragement to all who can produce goods for the civilian market, aims to accomplish. And we think Mr. Nelson is thoroughly right in contending that workers and employers who are required to stick to war jobs until the fighting stops will do so with better spirit if given assurance that determined efforts are being made to prevent a shortage of post-war jobs.

PEARL HARBOR PROBE

THE house military affairs committee makes it obvious

that there is a great deal more behind the fiasco at Pearl

Harbor than the public yet knows,. Whether or not its

charges against Col. Theodore Wyman Jr. stand up, the very

fact that such allegations come out, for the first time at this late date, makes it clear that the whole sad business needs a thorough, honest and final airing. It seems incredible that there is any security reason, in the nature of secrecy, why the matter should not be cleared up immediately. The armed forces do not want officers now engaged in fighting our enemies to be brought back to give testimony at courts-martial; and that is proper. about at least an inquiry by deposition that will clear up part of the mystery?

We hate to hink that here and there around the world

there may be other officers against whom such charges as those against Col. Wyman might pop up from time to time.

THE QUIZ KIDS

BUSINESS men, large and small, will hail with delight the news that the Advisory Committee on Government Questionnaires, in co-operation with the Budget Bureau,

is making progress in paring down the number, size and complexity of the quiz papers that flow out of Government bureaus.

Along with the ordinary problems of staying in business, the complications of tax laws, renegotiation, and wartime labor problems and controls, business men have had to wrestle with a multitude of questionnaires, the purpose of which has not always been clear.

The business men serving on the Advisory Committee figured out, for instance, that collecting data on employment requires no fewer than 300 different questionnaires. They pared down two OPA forms from 24 pages each, plus 16 pages of instructions, to two pages each with one page of instructions. The committee succeeded in killing 1165 out of 9697 quiz papers submitted for study, and is now tackling the problem of “bootleg” —unauthorized—questionnaires sent out by regional Federal offices. .

This work is valuable. It will save man-hours, money,

time and tempers. It will help business men get on with the job of producing for the war.

PROVISION FOR THE VETERANS

HE passage by congress of the “G. I Bill of Rights” was a simple act of justice to the men who are fight-

ing the war, and a fore-handed acknowledgement of the debt society will owe the war veteran. The unanimous vote in both houses indicates the breadth of its public acceptance. The bill is revolutionary in that it provides, while the war is still on, for the help a veteran may expect after the fighting, when he returns to re-establish or rehabilitate him-

elf in civilian life.

~ Under this measure, now before the President, the

| veteran will have—in addition to his $100 to $300 dismissal . _pay—assurance of help in finding a job, unemployment

£8

payments for 52 weeks if needed, opportunity to complete his education, loans to buy a farm, h

or business, and

The veteran of world war I got only his $60 dismissal was established, six years before it was expanded, , before provision

No?

4

But how

rs bef as made for loans to veterans. ‘time, it won't be necessary for veterans to be in| ™

activities both to the public and to its own ship. And, if the reluctant few refuse to follow démocratic procedures, then, under appropriate legislation, such matters be regulated.”

'And Who Is This Thomas?"

‘LET US take this nonsense apart. Note first, please, that Mr. Willkie hasn't the gumption to say this for himself. Instead all labor leaders must recognize what some leaders are saying and so forth. He doesn't advooate regulation by law. He says this must come if something else doesn’t happen. And who is this Thomas to whom he pays such dignified respect? Thomas is president of the United Auto Workers of the C. I. O. which predominates in the manufacture of planes and vehicles for the war. His union has a shameful record of strikes over contemptibly petty issues. There have been U. A. W. strikes over the smoking rules in factories, strikes to make rapid, efficient, conscientious workers slow down, strikes over personal scuffies between professional union hecklers and plant foremen and one big strike over the union affiliations of teamsters ‘delivering carbonated bellywash to the stalwart patriots of his following, so ‘that they may suck sweet water through straws at their work like children at a eircus, His sub-leaders include some of the dirtiest Communist conspirators in the land who tied up production in bottle-neck plants when Hitler and Stalin were allies and undoubtedly cost the lives of American, British and, eventually, even Russian fighters. These men, nevertheless still retain their union offices and their deferments in the draft as essential men.

‘Better Cut Out the Monkey Business’

THAT GIVES you a rough idea of the type of union leader to whom Mr. Willkie makes a bow. And what did Thomas say? He said his subjects had better cut out the monkey business lest the re. turning fighters take their revenge on the whole labor movement. And that was saluted as a great statesmanlike declaration. Most of us know who Dubinsky is, but for the bene-

of the garment workers and is flying high on the gas-bladders of an inflated reputation. His union has collected from $2 a head to an entire day’s pay, ranging from $6 to $11, all over the place for various European relief funds and underground or espionage activity in the enemy countries. Like it or not, American workers had to shower down. Ordinarily, Dubinsky gives a strict account of his ‘money but in this seéret activity, of course, that can't be done. But by what right do a lot of men with their roofs still in European soil presume to levy a compulsory tax on American workers for espionage in foreign countries? This is dangerous business and may be illegal, for we have laws against traffic with the enemy and private relations with foreign governments. Anyway, none of this activity, including the charity, is a proper function of an organization chartered by American public opinion for the sole purpose of bargaining with American employers on behalf of American workers,

'Does That Legitimize the Strikes?’

ACCOUNTANCY DOESN'T guarantee legitimacy in the use of funds accounted for. Suppose a union taxes its members a million dollars to be split among the executive council and accounts for it all to the penny. Does that legitimize the scheme? Dubinsky accounts for the vacation funds contributed by the employers under union compulsion. But that doesn't mean that each member received the full amount paid in to his individual credit. And the tedious repetition to the word “democratic” ignores the fact that Dubinsky’s union arrogantly commands its members, regardless of their personal politics, to turn out for political rallies for radical candidates under penalty of a cash fine for failure. I think Mr. Willkie knows all this and so I say he is trimming when he would have the Republicans believe that he is earnestly intent on destroying a menace to the liberties and rights of every man and woman in the United States by the high-sounding but meaningless device of accounting for union funds and activities. The remedy is to forbid certain methods of collecting funds, certain uses of the funds and certain activities, But don't expect Mr. Willkie to say so.

We The People

By Ruth Millett

EVERYBODY is complaining about the poor service they encounter these days. But nobody seems to be doing anything about it. A traveler tells about the sur liness of a railroad porter, but if on Mae, you ask, “Did you tip him?” the is answer is usually, “Why, yes I } did.” A A diner-outer complains about A the waitress who practically threw the silver at him, but he left his customary tip, nevertheless, Everybody knows by now that slowness and less than perfect service can’t be helped these days, with the labor turnover what it is. } But everybody also knows that the patient public is having to put up with a lot of rudeness and take-it-or-leave-it treatment that is entirely uncalled for— even in wartime.

Would Have to Stick Together

AND THEY'LL continue to put up with it, unless they voice their protest. And what better way to start than to scale their tips according to how courteously or discourteously they are treated, leaving nothing at all for the person who is completely disinterested or insulting, For such means of protest to be effective the public would have to stick together, of course. If only an occasional person voice his protest by walking out without a tip the offending worker would just say, “Another crank.”

But if the tips stopped coming, discourteous help | would get the point and come down off their high horse. '

The public deserves sloppy service and discour-

tesy if it is meek and submissive enough to continue to tip those who dish it out.

So They Say—

WHETHER THERE is to be a complete demobiliza-

the war before the veterans | "or war production will be determined at the peace

tables. We may never go back to the low level of

A. Appley, former executive director.

fit of these who don’t be it said that he is president.

/

The Hoosier Forum

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

|

“THE GREATEST DEBT-MAKERS" By Benjamin Stevens, Indianapolis This is the greatest country on earth, the country that has built itself up to what it is under the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and to think that we have people among us that would like to see them discarded and go back. to. what our good old country had “before our forefathers made it free for us. I just wonder if Mrs. Haggerty—and all others of her way of looking at the matter—thinks this freedomloving United States wouldn't have enough red-blooded Americans left to get another Constitution and Bill of Rights if we should, through New Dealers and traitors, lose the one we have. There are so many Shipps, Haggertys, Smiths, E. E's and what not that have told us so much about our hard times under the Hoover administration, I wonder if they can come forward and also tell us what caused those hard times. - Perhaps their thoughts are all for the present with none for the front or the rear. Let us hope the New Deal advocators will come forward and tell us all about what has taken place since 1914 and the effects it has had on the country’s providing. They can recall the doings during all those years. Folks, it is no longer “No Election” Haggerty for she has consented that we can have our election as usual this coming November. Then we will know on what we stand, be it solid rock or New Deal quicksand with its mountain of vast debt to pay. The great leaders? The New Dealers? What have they been great for? Oh, yes, the greatest debt-makers the world has ever known.

The point I have never been able to figure out is this: How can a mother or father with children who will have to shoulder the burden that they have helped place upon them look them in the face and say: “I love you so much”? Is it true they have never had any thought as to the future whatsoever? It seems they only have room in their minds for the thought of smooth sailing on the New Deal's coattails. ‘The only excuse they have been able fo think of in defending their broken promises is that the enemy is not over here with war equipment bombing our buildings and children, which sounds very good. We all know that, so why tell us about it? We could easily take care of that but it is going to be a man-sized job to take care of the enemies we have among us trying to put our Constitution and Bill of Rights out of action. But I think

(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 responsi bility for the return of manu. scripts and cannot enter correspondence regarding them.)

we will find just that one-size man in November and we will win this war and still be holding to the Constitution and Bill of Rights, with all our sitdowns, sitouts and walkouts by our New Deal striker’s, and money and property grabbers. 1 suppose we should give our New Deal advocators the benefit &f all doubts, for all anyone knows they may be doing the best they know how, we hope. Why put freedom out of our country while our boys are trying to save freedom in Europe? Would they have to come home and do the same thing here?

8 8 = “DISGRACEFUL WAY TO MEMORIALIZE” By a Visiter, Indianapolis,

The fountain on the World War Memorial Plaza may be beautiful, but the thousands of visitors to your city don’t know it. I understand a petty question of who will supply the water is the reason for the inactivity.’ It is a disgraceful way to memorialize. ” ” . “IT IS PROTECTED HALF-HEARTEDLY” Voice in the Crowd, Indianapolis

Elmer Johnson who condemns Republicans as a class because of the Lyons error (which the Republicans themselves have now corrected) should now give an honest opinion on New Deal errors that cannot be corrected. He shéuld give an unbiased opinion on why Hugo Black, an ex-Klansman; Frankfurter, a foreign born, arid an ex-governor who was afraid to maintain order in Michigan, are seated in what should be to us the holiest and most unbiased court in the world. The supreme court is a vulnera-

Side Glances—By Galbraith

1/7

Jand the use of WPA for political

ble American frontier and it is half-heartedly protected by the people and the clique that governs by directive and decree.

s =» = “MORALE HAS HAD DEFINITE BOOSTING”

By Cnt Yoeman Jack H. Kerkhof,

U RB. Thanks a million for publishing the article I sent to you some time ago. The response that I got in the way of mail from fellow Hoosiers on the far flung corners of this muddled-up world of ours was a great boost’ to my somewhat “petered -out” morale. Morale throughout the allied peoples has had a definite boosting now that the invasion is under way.

» » » “IT OUGHT TO BE STOPPED” By Mrs. C. W. Hess, 5121 E. Walnut St.

I am a constant reader of your column where at times I have, agreed and disagreed with the writ- | ers, but I bet I have a grievance! 9 out of 10 people will agree on.| Why do they allow advertising and | soliciting over the telephone? In this day we are forever reminded to use the telephone only when necessary, don't use it too long, etc. ete. Well, many is the time I have Just gotten the baby to sleep or have beeg in the basement, out in the nackyard, hanging clothes or even upstairs, have had my hands in pie dough or have just gone to bed and the telephone rings. Someone says “This is your radio reporter on your radio survey, do you have your radio on?” or “This is the furnace repair man” or “I have a magazine for children, how many do you have?” Well, you can imagine how you feel when you answer and are greeted thus. Especially these people who are semi-invalids, people who are elderly, lame, etc., who have | to answer the telephone to a query like that! . Maybe I am wrong, but I bet the | majority of housewives will agres that it is a nuisance. What do you folks say? Are you one of the thousands that are disturbed in a day by a nuisance such as the radio reporter? I think it ought to be stopped.

» o ” “DO WE HAVE TO CONCUR?” By Willard W. Maple, 924 Albany St. I notice that certain contributors to this column feel free to speak disparagingly of former President Hoover who had to work with an opposition congress. Yet, they feel that any criticism of our President's policies is unpatriotic and disrespectful of his high office. Mrs. Helen McGuire states that anyone who was on WPA or who received a basket and who now finds fault with President Roosevelt should be classified with spies and traitors and should be stood up before a firing squad. Do we have to concur in burning pigs and plowing under our crops to avoid being classified as traitors? Do we have to justify the Passamapuoddie Experiment (harnessing the tides), packing the Supreme Court

purposes: to avoid being classed as

't Is as Vital Today as Ever?’

“MR. WILLKIE speaks of the ‘wornout issue of states rights’ as nothing more than an historic relic. On the contrary, it is as vital today as ever despite the constant need of adaptation to meet changing “The recent, momentous decision of the supreme court on the question whether the federal government or the states have the power to control insurance, fire, casualty and life, is a case in point. It

“If this decision stands uncorrected by congress,

their savings have now fallen under the control of: the most wasteful and profligate government the

world has ever known. Under state law and regulation, our insurance has grown to be the greatest and safest thrift fund in the history of the world. Scarcely anything comes through the depression with smaller loss than insurance. “Four years ago, Comptroller General John R. McCarl said that the New Dealers were casting covetous glances at the huge pool of more than $30 billion in the reserves of insurance companies, held by them in trust.

Constant Brake Against Extravagance

“ONE OF THE great virtues of states rights which Mr. Willkie overlooks is that if a state government falls under the control of reckless men, of taxes its citizens to death, or goes into business in competition with them, they can go to another state. This is a constant brake against extravagant government and a safety valve for free enterprise as against socialistic ventures. “If, however, all business comes under the control of one central government, there is no escape; there is no city of refuge anywhere. “Not only that, but if ‘democracy dies five miles from the village pump’ the increasing apathy and indifference of our citizens with respect to govern. ment can be largely explained by the centralisation of power in the hands of a vast bureaucracy whom they feel helpless to dislodge. This feeling of confused helplessness leads to dictatorship. “At the governors conference both this year and last, it was unanimously agreed, by Democratic and Republican governors alike, that we must reverse this monarchial trend of power toward Wi “It is unfortunate that Mr, Willkie has taken. position he has. He is still hypnotized with the that the New Deal is all right but that the Republicans could manage it better. in '386, in "40, and will fail in "44, if it is followed. “What the American people want are leaders and a program opposed to New Deal national socialism.”

Unfrozen Wages By Charles T. Lucey

WASHINGTON, June 20.—At a time when the government's anti-inflation program forces Citigen Joe Doakes and his boss through all kinds of red tape and rigamarole to get a pay raise approved, increases are handed out right and left to jobholders on the government’s own payroll, The joint congressional economy committee headed by Senator Byrd (D. Va.) has been doing some digging into this subject, and inquiry shows wholesale salary jumping in mushrooming war agencies. In a year or two individuals get pay jumps greater than those gained in a lifetime by workers .in some old-line federal departments, The war relocation authority, whose chief job was resettlement of West Coast Japanese, offers some prize examples. A great majority of upper bracket ($3200 and up) jobholders went to the WRA at sizable increases over what they had made before, and many went on to further fat increases in a few months,

Increases Average $1250 a Year

OF FIVE PERSONS making $8000 a year, all went to WRA at higher salaries than they had made before, increases averaging $1250 a year. Two of these were jumped another $1850 in 10 months.

half of these managed additional increases the first year. Similar conditions prevailed in lower brackets. A few individual cases from Byrd committee files: Here's a jobholder who was getting $3432 a year as a purchasing representative in June, 1942. He went to work at WRA for $5600 and in five months was made a project director at $6500—nearly double

From $2660 fo $8000 With WRA HERE'S A COLLEGE PROFESSOR

$1200-a-year

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