Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 July 1944 — Page 14

Indianapolis Time Thursday, Juy6104

W. HOWARD = WALTER LECKRONE. MARK FERREE

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER).

* Price in Marion County, ¢ cents a copy; delivered by carrier, 18 cents

ana, $5 a year; adjoining states, 75 cents a month; others, $1 monthly.

«ESP: RILEY 6551

«Give LAM and the People Will Pind Their Own’ Woy

THE WHITE SWAN REPORT s Lis HE joint Indianapolis Bar Association and Lawyers’ association committee investigating the White Swan gambling trial and special judge procedure in the Marion county criminal court has .made a recommendation that seems a sound and sensible way to meet the criticism of the present system. This committee, after studying the . problem, ‘has suggested that judges of the superior court be selected as special judges when a change of venue is taken from the presiding judge of criminal court. The committee points out that since only 11 special judges have served in this court during the last 18 months, the five superior judges would not be overburdened by this additional duty. And the public welfare would be served by having a responsible, duly-elected official on -the bench, rather than a lawyer whose connections in active practice | might cause some tosquestion his impartiality. This plan, however, is at best only a stop-gap until the existing change of venue law can be amended. Under the present statute, the presiding judge must disqualify himself automatically if .the defendant's attorney requests a | change of judge. Thus’it is far t8o easy to bypass the . man who was chosen by the electorate and paid to serve in this court. The next session of the legislature should make it necessary for the defendant to submit a showing of bias or prejudice in petitioning for a change of judge. s = ® s 8 8 THE COMMITTEE found that, in the White Swan case, Special Judge Edwin J. Ryan acted upon the evidence submitted to him and “exercised his honest judgment, without any influence whatsoever from prejudice or frdm outside sources.” If the case seemed to be a fiasco, apparently it was because the evidence submitted by the prosecutor was not adequate to secure a conviction. Perhaps that evidence did not exist, but it is significant that the committee report points out: : * “Apparently, no evidence was introduced by the state to show who owned, occupied or operated the premises described in the affidavits, to show what the White Swan club was, who its officers were or that any of the defendants were connected in any way with such social club.” That opens up an interesting question: , Why? _ The only answer to that is contained in the section of * the report which says: “The deputy prosecutor stated to your committee that he did.not consider it necessary to show such ownership and so forth in view of the statute under which these charges were filed.” “He did not consider it necessary”’—but tie judge did, for, as we understand it, it was on this basis that the charges were dismissed. = ° . ~ What kind of prosecuting is that?

AFTER THE FOURTH NAOST of us got a special patriotic glow out of the Fourth of July. It meant much more than a day, or week-end, of relaxation—though that was welcome enough. That pride just in being an American needed no 5 prodding this year. The tragedy of the axis-occupied coun- : , tries and the civilian death toll of Nazi robot bombs in England contrasted with our personal safety, so far from the fighting fronts. And on those battle fronts, our men and allies were pressing forward almost everywhere. It was easy to be proud of being an, American on the Fourth. .- But it wasn’t so easy yesterday, on the. fifth, nor today, on the sixth of July. Today we can be thankful for the same safety from invasion, and we can be just as proud of those at the front. But we can’t be so proud of ourselves. For over the holiday—our holiday, that is, because there was no rest at the fronts—the government gave out figures proving that we who have it so easy at home are letting down our fighting men. The government ‘asked us not to travel this holiday. Our railways can barely move the war traffic and essential civilian passengers. Yet many Americans ignored the government’s plea, burdened the railways and to that extent interfered with winning the war. War production is sagging. The war department is concerned over the lag in output of trucks, radio and electronic equipment and several other items. Even aircraft is falling behind. ° ‘ ‘ tn ‘» 2 o = s + MOST INEXCUSABLE are the sales. totals in the bond drive. Though corporations and institutional investors —knowing a good thing when they see it—have bought 111 per.cent of their quota, individual sales are still 40 per cent short. That can’t be due to forgetfulness or lack of opportunity. The purchase of “E” bonds has been made easy for every citizen. While many have bought bonds to the limit

of their ability, many others have preferred to spend on |

luxuries or at least on things they could do without. 3 That is the way to lose the war, or to guarantee inflation and poverty after victory. All this, of course, reflects a false optimism that the war is already won. Of the several warning statements made today by cabinet officers and military commander, we quote one sentence from Lt. Gen. Vandegrift of the marines: “If you hear loose talk about victory lurking just around the corner, ‘give the answer: ‘Sure—It's all over but the fighting’.”

- THAT GOEBBELS IS A CORKER T° people who are compiling “Ten Best” lists for the end ~ of the war we nominate Nazi Propaganda Minister Paul d Goebbels as the man with the most vivid e would bestow the honor on the Herr Dok1 explanation of the presence of allied armies “They're refugees from the German rocket rog England,” he explained to harassed Berliners.

has to do is think up similar comforting exce of allied armies in’ Jae ioe

Long was shot in th own state to] in Baton Rouge. A young surgeon, who was instantly torn to tatters by 80 slugs

biographers and emotional public opinion of firing the shot that killed ‘the Kingfish. No formal honest effort ever was made to

assassinated by Dr. : OC guards, whether by accident or with : : tent. Dr. Weiss might have been murdered by con spirators in Huey's own circle of gunmen with intent to place the blame on a dead man. It is unlikely that public opinion ever will be reversed because the cohorts of the most of them rascals, many of whom later went to prison, had control of the machinery of investigation and they not only prevented intelligent study of the facts

“but created permanent confusion.

"Under a Cloud of Presumed Guilt’

LIKE DR. WEISS, Rear Admiral H. E. Kimmel and Major Gen. Walter Short, the American commanders in Hawaii when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, have been placed under a cloud of pre-

*sumed, guilt, although neither officer ever has been

tried or even served with any formal accusation, The only charges ever brought against them were contained in the formal, unjudicial “conclusions” of the Roberts committee, named by President Roosevelt soon after the attack, to “provide a basis far sound decisions.” These officers were accused and convicted in the same few words by a quasi-official group of five men who, in this capacity, were in the position of4 just so many scandal-mongers. : The inquiry was not a court-martial but a kangaroo court. Neither the admiral nor the general was given the same opportunity to protect his name and the public interest and to establish the truth of a great, historical disaster, that is given to a mildewed bum accused of. jack-rolling in ah ordinary American police court. Both officers were assured that they were not “on trial” in the Roberts inquiry. Indeed, in the legal sense, they were not, for the committee had no right to try them. And, because they were not “on trial” they were denied their right to trial counsel and their right to cross-examine witnesses, Nevertheless, in its closing paragraphs, the Roberts report, flouting much of its own earlier text, did convict these men of “dereliction of duty.”

'‘Committee Roosevelt's Own Creature’

THIS COMMITTEE was President Roosevelt's own creature and beholden to him, although Mr. Roosevelt, also, has a personal stake in the case under investigation. Some phases of his own conduct were open to question and, possibly to condemnation. But, by reason of his position, he stood above the jurisdiction of the Roberts committee while Kimmel and Short were exposed to inquiry, blame and disgrace. Few of the American people to whom the Roberts report actually was addressed, have the patience or the discriminating, studious analytical ability to parse a ‘document so long and tedious and detect its inconsistericies. © Few of them realize that the Roberts inquiry was a rush-act, prejudicial even to sober justice, and that its report was calculated to pre-judge Kimmel and Short and eliminate President Roosevelt. In the fight over the Roosevelt court-packing plan few Americans studied the bill-and the debates with

‘sufficient intelligence and care to learn that it would

have affected all the federal courts. Thus, to this day, the -common belief is that this was a scheme affecting the supreme court only. Similarly, probably not more than one citizen in a thousand has studied the Roberts report. The result is that these Americans whom the New Deal refers to as “common” men and “the masses” have been “indicted” or “convicted” of horrible betrayal of duty and trust. The fact is, however, that to this very hour they are as inmocent as Mr. Roosevelt, himself.

Reasons May Have Been Patriotic

THE COMMITTEE consisted of Justice Owen J. Roberts of the U. 8. supreme court, Adms, Standley and Reeves and Gens. McNarney and McCoy. All are men of high standing and. too intelligent not to have known that in reporting Kimmel and Short guilty of “dereliction of duty” they ‘were creating a substantial presumption of serious guilt against men who had not even been served with charges. Much less tridgd. : They\knew that their conclusion of “dereliction” had no more weight in the scales of justice than so much common gossip. President Roosevelt, for all the vague, buf vast “aggregate powers” imputed to him by Attorney General Francis Biddle, had no more right to by-pass the courts-martial established by law to determine such issues than he has to appoint a “committee” of corner loafers to “provide a basis for sound decisions” as to whether a private citizen is guilty of counterfeiting, fraud or treason, preliminary to formal charges and trial : . The committee’s reasons for lending themselves to this ‘irregular proceeding “may have been patriotic. The nation had been shaken and, for the critical time being, there was such a terrifying need for confidence in the President and his government that even the rights of presumably innocent men might have seemed expendable for the immediate gain in national morale,

We The People

By Ruth Millett

ONE THING we women must learn, as more and more of our young men are shipped home wounded, is to cover up our compassion, to hide our pity. We can't help but feel sorry for these young men who come back disabled—nor should ' we PR : want to be unfeeling enough not ; to be heartsick at the sight of : A them, and at the thought of what : they have suffered. & But we must not let that pity Show -through. For the men don’t want pity. They want and they need to be treated the way they were before they went away. They have the hard job of accepting the handicap that is theirs and going ahead with the every-day business of living.

'We Must Learn to Hold Our Tongues’

IF THEY find pitying glances everywhere they go, if their friends and families let their sympathy overflow into words, "their job will be much harder. Those men deserve our utmost respect and admiration. They deserve thoughtful consideraton. But they don’t deserve to be openly pitied. : It is easier, much easier, to show the overwhelming pity we feel than-to hide under a casual, calm manner, But it isn’t easier for the man who must face the pity. : . ‘So we must learn to hold our tongues, to keep : rushing into the kind of sympathetic talk oth owt

he

j relieve our feelings but could only harm the wounded |’

¢ man's. 4 : : 1t is a fact that the wounded men who are bel «shipped back to this country are often loath ® sire ‘their families and friends. Perhaps the main reason for that i that it is easier for them to face the casual manner of strangers than the pit; relatives and friends, ©

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So They Say—

from the guns ‘of Huey's body-|

pe you ASK ME IT LOOKS MORE LIKE SECOND CHILDHOOD!

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~The Hoosier Forum 1 wholly disagree with what you say, but will detend to the death your right to say it.—Voltaire.

“WHY BLAME MRS. BENEFIEL?” By A Friend of the Kids, Indianapolis I see by the papers where the grand jury has again passed its opinions on the conditions existing in our public institutions and that all have received a clean bill of slate except our Juvenile Detention Home. I have ‘been visiting the Juvenile Home from two to three times a week for the past year, but today I wish to speak in the capacity of a free agent. I agree with the grand jury that the home is not a fit place for children and the cons, ditions are not what they should be, but let's not go off half-cocked, chop off a few heads, smile, pat ourselves on the back, say “Well done” and then leave things as they are and have. been for several nd S years. We, “the great American because the parents are too damn public, have always answered every busy {fo take care of them. Where call for help. We have had Bundles is the board of commissioners and

for Britain, Finnish and Russian war relief, Chinese, Polish ‘and|YD2t have they been doing to rem-

many other aids, but we have sadly|edy the situation? Where are the neglected moral, spiritual. and|juvenile authorities? Why aren't

(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 manuscripts and cannot enter cor: : respondence regarding them.)

world what great guys we are and understand youth and their probprove to ourselves that’ we mean|lems, to encourage them and to send

business. - Indiana can hardly point|them on their way with a new lease

with pride to situations that have|on life, They say that the children existed as long as I can remember, never get out in thie fresh air. That's political and otherwise, " |a He, pure and sim; I have proof Let's glance at. Mrs, Love Benes hat tata is not ple, They say that

and the fall guy in this case., I/nome and that this could be used. have had many occasions to remark {rye but what a playground for 40 abofit the many little acts of kind-|¢5 60 children, boys and girls, ages ness she has'shown to the children.|g t5 18 years old. Go take a look

Witness alone the fact that.dozens|g¢ it and ask how many children

of these children return to visit hef.{ went over the fence during play

Doesn't this speak well of her?|¢ime Adults, might. fool each other, but

The grand jury said that chilwe are going to grow a lot smarter|qren are kept there from four to

before we are able to pull the wool! five months. It's true, but whose over a kid's eyes. Her kindness and | fault is it and why? It is. because generosity is not a matter of hear-{the Boys’ School at Plainfield and|and, say, for 1 have been privileged to|white’s Manual Institute at Wasee for myself. After all, it is not|pash are crowded and these boys

up to her to move the home to a|are waiting in line to go to one or more suitable quarters, to raise sal-{the other. Welfare children are aries in order to secure more effi-|kept there until suitable homes can cient help. Why blame her? be found for them, and non-delin-Where, then, does the fault lie? |guents are thrown in with the deLet's face the facts and place the|linquents with all their gory details blame where it belongs, squarely on.of, should I say, adventure or mis= our own shoulders. We have let|adventure? these conditions exist simply be-| Now Marion county has left itcause we were too busy running|self wide open for a slap. If these other people's business and letting|children are being kept there for our own go to pot as the saying |four or five months what about goes. Don’t forget that many of|their education? A school year is our citizens of tomorrow pass|lost. The law says that children through the Detention Home today,| must attend school and yet the law some for minor and some for more|itself places them in an institution serious mistakes and some simply! where there are no facilities for an

Side Glances—By Galbraith

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physical aids here at home. It's|younger people over an institution) about ‘time we stop showing the|of this kind? It takes youth to

fiel, the superintendent at the home, {3 playground is attached to the].

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| second term. He had not built up the reserves of

political power which are at the disposal of Presi-

| dent Roosevelt after 11 years in-office. : | Faces Versatile, Skilled Opponent ;

| WHEN GOVERNOR DEWEY analyses his situa-

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Texas Tempest Ls

[By Marshall McNeil

* WASHINGTON, July

out. If they are, their anti-fourth term:campaign at home following the convention would be much more potent, party leaders here are being told.

Austin Convention Legally Organized THE ADVICE seems to fit with what one national

—that states have full power to govern their elections. It is impossible that the convention will meet all these conditions and improbable that it will meet more than

| one. Presumably, Texans regard the conditions as in-

2

delegates are going to Chicago hoping to be- kicked

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