Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 26 August 1944 — Page 6

Page PDF (8.40 MB)

Back to issue view

‘he Indianapolis Times PAGE 6 Saturday, August 26, 1944

WALTER LECKRONE Editor

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

" MARX FERREE

ROY W. HOWARD President . Business Manager

Price in Marion County, 4 cents a copy: delivered by carrier, 18 cents a week.

Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by Indianapolis Times Publishing Co., 214 W. Maryland st. Postal Zone 8.

Mail rates In Indl ana, $5 a year} adjoining states, 75 cents a month; others, $1 monthly.

Member of United Press,

of Circulations.

Give Light and the People Will Find Thelr Own Way

owns ttl of RILEY 5551 ‘

whatever authority he needs to get the job done. »

. s = WITH THAT RULE in mind, let's review Washington’s contribution to war production. Sept. 1, 1939: War started in Europe. We were woefully unprepared for come what might. Demand arose for creation of a munitions administrator with power to convert civil industry to armament production. May 29, 1940: The President turned up with something called the national defense advisory commission, which had vague powers and several members of equal voice. Like any other debating society confronted with an administrative task, the NDAC flopped. Jan. 17,1941: The President set up the office of produc- | tion management, naming William S. Knudsen and Sidney Hillman co-directors, with equal powers. The KnudsenHillman team didn’t pull together. Aug. 28, 1941: OPM was merged into something called SPAB (the supply priorities and allocations board). Knudsen was gently decorated with the three stars of a lieutenant general, and Hillman started giving full time to labor and politics. Henry Wallace was crowned chairman of SPAB, and Donald Nelson became its director. Dec. 7, 1941: Japs attacked Pearl Harbor, with our industries still not converted to war. Jan. 16, 1942: SPAB was abolished and the war production board created—Donald Nelson chairman. 1 Sept. 17, 1942: The President apparently was not satisfied with the way Nelson was doing, but instead of firing him sought to strengthen WPB by naming Charles E. Wilson vice chairman, to work under Nelson. May 27, 1943: Office of war mobilization was created— James Byrnes, director, having authority over Nelson. With OWM superimposed-on WPB, friction developing between Nelson and Wilson, and office politics rife in WPB, the storm raged with scarcely a lull except in the few weeks that fall when Nelson went on a trip to Russia. Wilson repeatedly offered to resign, and the President and Byrnes repeatedly refused to let him. Note that Nelson apparently had no | say as to whether the resignation should be accepted. | Then came— | Aug. 19, 1944: Announcement from the White House | that the President was sending Nelson to China for “several months,” and that Wilson would be acting chairman of WPB. It looked as if Wilson was to be top man. A mysterious colleague tipped the press that the President was giving Nelson “a kick in the teeth.” Aug. 21, 1944: The President said it wasn’t true that he was kicking Nelson in the teeth. Nelson would be gone to hina not “several months” but only a few weeks, he said. Aug. 24, 1944: Wilson resigned with a loud explosion, charging among other things that Nelson’s men had been whispering lies about him. And Nelson called at the White House to say goodby before departing for China, admitting to the press that no decision had been made as to his successor. Three hours later Lt. Cmdr. J. A. Krug was

jerked from active duty in the navy and appointed acting chairman of WPB.

-e ow ammo rues

ry ro.

2 8 a8

ALL OF WHICH seems like “a hell of a way to run a railroad.” | Which in turn may explain why Maj. Gen. Lucius Clay army service forces materiel director, testified before con. gress that production of heavy artillery shells was 53 per | cent behind schedule, and that we were not up to scratch on trucks, bombs and other ammunition.

MLLE. DARRIEUX CLEARED

HAPPY sidelight of the advancing liberation of France is the United Press report, from near Paris, that | Actress Danielle Darrieux is no collaborator with the Ger- | mans, as had heen rumored, but on the contrary has been | on close terms with leaders of the resistance ‘movement. | There may be other people in France whose reputations | have been maligned abroad, maliciously or accidentally— which suggests a need for great care in applying reprisals against suspected collaborationists.

ees sees eesti.

REALISM

RECENT act by Mississippi's state legislators has us In a state of mingled confusion and admiration. The act imposes a 10 per cent sales tax on any commodity “the sale of which is prohibited by law.” Certainly it's a little untraditional, and it may take some winking at illegal practices—at least as long as the boys kick in with the tax. But somehow there's a nice mature realism about the law. Fines and prisons are deterrents to illegality, of § course. They're also raps that can sometimes be beaten. ) But a 10 per cent hite cut of every sale of liquor (Mississippi is dry by law) or black market gas or nylons—that's something else again. Especially since convictions for tax

It provides a new twist on an old saw: “If you can’t beat ‘em, tax em!” ... And we hope that next session the Mississippi legislature lays on a 20 per cent tax for hijacking.

STRAW IN THE WIND

~ "(CHARLES 1 STANTON has resigned as administrator of the civil aeronautics administration to assume again the lesser position of deputy administrator. That step down will enable Mr. $tanton to retain his status in the civil service, which intludes certain rights in regard to continuity of employment. i Such actions as this are not weighed in the Gallup polls, but one Washington official at least apparently is

guessing that the civil service

attention centered on the commission's sketchy and

: violations are relatively neat and simple. » perfect. § i But if divorce isn’t easy for the wife she may let

ill outlast the New Deal.

Fair Enough SC

By Westbrook Pegler.

NEW YORK, Aug. 20.~The subtle natures: of the Socutive order defining, but also : the duties of the Roberts commission in its investigation of the Pearl Harbor disaster, may have escaped most of the people at the time when the report was published, only 16 days after the attack. The whole country was still

stunned. The people aiiadyin. formation but were willing to Ton. cede that many details could not be revealed just then without advantage to the Japanese. Therefore

restricted version of the facts and its conclusions. The preamble evoked no comment, but that preamble, nevertheless, shows that the executive order was a self-serving document so written as to ‘preclude any criticism of the civilian authorities in Washington, including President Roosevelt, the com mander in chief. :

Limited to Army and Navy Personnel

THE PREAMBLE says: “The purposes of the required inquiry and report are to provide babis for sound decisions whether any derelictions of duty or errors of judgment cn the part of United States army and navy personnel contribduted to such successes as were achieved by the enemy,” and if so, who was responsible? If President Roosevelt had committed any derelictions of duty or errors of judgment, the commission was not authorized to “provide basis for sound de cisions” on that score. He was not of the army or navy personnel. But although the commission had no mission to pass judgment on the conduct of civil authorities In Washington, it did presume to report that the secretaries of state, war and the navy had fulfilled their obligations. The report says the secretaries of war and the navy fulfilled their obligations by

conferring frequently with the secretary of state: and

with each other and by keeping the chief of staff and the chief of naval operations informed of the course of tig negotiations with Japan and the signficant implications thereof.

Last Warning Arrived After Attack

THE REPORT does not fully demonstrate that this actually was so, and it certainly leaves doubt that Adm. Kimmel and Gen. Short were thoroughly warned of the “significant implications.” Moreover, it says flatly that the last warning to these com-

| Let’s Not Revive

Reflections By John W. Hillman

John Knox in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal.

manders, “indicating an almost immediate break in relations,” dispatched from Washington at 6:30 in the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Honolulu time, was not delivered until after the attack, which came at 7:55, one hour and 25 minutes later. The delay is attributed to “conditions beyond control of anyone concerned” but the warning is evaluated as only “an added precaution,” which still would have come too late to be of substantial use. Yet, the fact remains that the two commanders were still under restraints, forbidden to adopt a state of preparation that might have caused alarm among the civilians. "The limitation of the Roberts commission's field of inquiry so as to exclude examination of official conduct in Washington obviously blocked access to historic facts which are an important part of the whole story, and should be the property of the people. And, although the commission had no right to pass judgment on Kimmel and Short, considering that it was instructed only to provide a basis for sound decisions, it nevertheless went beyond that limitation in convicting these two men of dereliction.

Introduced Into Campaign by Truman

THE PREAMBLE does not say who was to make those “sound decisions” after it had provided the basis for them. Possibly the public was to make the “sound decisions.” But in that case ths commission's conviction of the two officers, the vindication of the three secretaries in Washington and the implied vindication of the President, were prejudicial to Kimmel and Short and politically favorable to Mr. Roosevelt. The conclusions were gratuitous in two respects, first in exonerating civilians among whose conduct was not within its scope and, second, in condemning men who had not been placed on trial or even served with charges according to law. The report becomes a political issue in a presidential year because it has been intragduced into the campaign by Senator Truman, the ‘running mate, on the Democratic ticket, of the President who might be shown by history to have had a share of the responsibility.

We The People

By Ruth Millett

“WE'VE GOTTEN Janet's divorce for her,” the mother said, ohviously proud of the way she and her husband had stood by their daughter, who was a war bride against their wishes, “and she is going to stay on with us 8 for awhile.” Ca Many of the hurry-up wedpi 9 dings between service men and { their young brides are going to A end in divorce, no matter what the parents of the girl do or don’t do. But isn't it a mistake for parents to be too ready to stand by their newly married daughters when their marriages show stress and strain? The mother and father of Janet, for instance, made divorce entirely too easy for her. They welcomed her home when she decided to leave her husband, and when she began to talk of divorce they took a good part of the shock out of that for her by making the arrangements, telling her friends and family friends, paying the lawyer, etc. | Now if they hadn't been quite so ready to help | their daughter when her marriage began to look Jike a mistake, there is just a chance she might | not have her divorce today. She might not even have left her husband, if she hadn't been so sure . her family would welcome her home with open arms | and plenty of sympathy.

| Give Them a Chance to Solve Problem | THE WAR and the separation it brings to so

| many couples is hard on marriage—particularly on | new marriages. They don't have a fair chance, and | it is only natural that many husbands and wives who haven't the foundation of happy peacetime | years together are going to consider their marriages | a mistake the minute they seem anything but

| | her marriage stand for the duration—especially if | her husband is away. And during the time of separation she and her husband may both grow up enough to be willing to try again. But if a family steps in and helps the girl get her final decree the marriage is over—and the chance of its finally working out is gone. That is why fami=lies should not be too ready to stand by their married daughters. It is much better for the daughters and for their marriages to be made to feel that they have cut their home ties and are ‘on their own.

| ep in—

To The Point—

THE REAL optimist is the fellow who

‘| coming home to vote next time and

The Hoosier Forum

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

“THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY” By Sit-Behind-the-Tepee. Will some of our good citizens tell me if I may clip the article written by R.C. A. and send it to my son in service—or would it be violating the Taft-Rankin bill? The article written included 25 questions, but one I considered the $64question, which says, “Why did the mothers of our boys have to send them away to fight when our President promised them they would never. have to fight on foreign soil?” The other questions are all equally as good and have just about as much truth in them. Congress sure has it in for the armed forces and it's getting so one can't write them the news any more. I have the article in the envelope, ready to send, but wonder if it would come under the term “political propaganda.”

Lord help the rest of us.” Mrs. Shipp feels like everybody who has given any serious thought to voting this fall—there is only one way, the Democratic way. And don’t neglect the congressmen. They are treating our soldiers as though they were deaf, dumb and too ignorant to know how to read or vote. But don’t for= get, senators, many of them are

you're not going to steal the. élection this time either—mark that down, check and double check. It has taken me five minutes to write this, which time I consider well spent, and which I gladly donate. I don't think the space is wasted.

# 8 = “GREATEST LEADER OF THEM ALL”

By Mrs. William Shipp, 1250 Roosevelt ave. Glory be. Robert L. Miller, you sure hit the nail on the head. I have received so many cards and letters—unsigned—telling me-I am NOT a Democrat if ¥ am a New Dealer. In your letter of Aug. 14, you said, “The cause of the New

Also, I have clipped the part) written by Mrs. Shipp which says, | “Roosevelt will have the support of | the best of us and may the good]

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, religious con. troversies 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 ot manuscripts and cannot enter correspondence regarding them.)

cause of the New Deal is a holy one! Was it not that our great leader, President Roosevelt, saw the good it would do for our nation that the New Deal came into being? He, and he alone, was responsible for many business failures being restored to their original prosperous way after having lost their last dollar during the administration of "29 to ’33. The New Deal came just in time to show the majority of people the “raw deal” they were being rescued from. Else why has our President remained almost 12 years in the White House? Even true-minded Republican voters can answer that question. If not, I can tell you: It is because he IS for the working class—we who know what the depression of the last Republican administration meant—we who saw and knew the terrible distress of having no food except watery soup and stale bread—many homeless except for tin shacks thrown together in what was called “Hooverville.” The word “holy” may well be applied to the cause of the New Deal. Yet there are many — even those who were so grateful for the work which the WPA and other ways in which the New Deal aided in giving

who are now doing all in their power to bring back the administration which caused this misfortune. For the sake of our nation's pros-

Deal is a holy one.” To be sure, the

perity, may all true Americans

Side Glances—By Galbraith

things can’t be as bad as he thinks they are, . 0 nr : . \ ing as si as ‘picnickers,

CAUTION and care can keep forest fires from

¥ coh. 1944 BY NEA SERVICE, INC ve G0 & PAL. ore "It's so difficult writing to the boys rowadays—I can't be too senti- - mental, because I'm afraid the war wil be : "

Cl soon and Heyl be ¢6ming home!

8-26 |

food and shelter to their families— |

over pretty

stand by our President, the greatest leader of them all. s = s “YOUR KICKING WON'T HURT US” By John A. Friend, Greencastle. We of the Legion are sorry that Mr. Allen doesn't like us and stated in his letter that we were as bad as Hitler and his gang. Great stuff, Allen, go to it—but remember that the boys of the Legion both now and 23 years ago are the boys who kept guys like Hitler away from your doorstep. Sure, we talked peace, taught peace, scrapped our navy, reduced our army and all, and got caught at Pearl Harbor. If it hadn't been |for the boys of the Legion fighting {you war back in ’17 and '41, where {would your precious free speech, {free press, Monroe Doctrine, Bill 'of Rights, and the like be now? How would you like to be in (France now? Or Austria? Or Poland? If the government had listened to the Legion instead of to you and your sob sisters, there {would be thousands of our boys !still alive today. They would have |been trained, equipped and ready to fight—not die as they did that | fateful morning of Dec. 7, 1941. Now we will agree on just one (thing; it would be wonderful if all {nations destroyed their navies, dis{banded their armies, turned their war plants to making plows, spades and rakes—but what nation is fool {enough to do it first as an example? The U. 8. A. isn't, I am sure, What we need to insure peace is to give every boy at least a year’s {military training, have the biggest and best army and navy in the world—regardless of what England, | Russia, Germany or any of the rest (think. If they wish our friendship, |OK.: if they don't, still OK. So what? Japan and Italy were on our- side in the last show. against us this time. Who can tell what the set-up of nations will be in, say, 1965? Could be the U. 8. A. and Germany against the world, the U. 8. A. and Japan, or Russia. All they want is our help and wealth. When that is spent and we are unprepared to defend ourselves, look out. Well, in closing, I might say: You just go ahead, Mr. Allen, and blackguard the Legion. We are nearly two million strong, with 99 per cent of the public behind us, so your knocking won't hurt us—just amuse us. And we are still willing to defend your home to the last man, regardless. You are still an American with the right to say and write as you please, and, as, Voltaire said, “I wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.” © » » 8 “HIGH TIME TO CALL A HALT” By L. W. Heagy, 216 E. 9th st. Your editorial, “Propaganda for Americans,” merits being copied by other publications, embossed, and hung in libraries and public schools. When an administration continues for years in it§ mercenary ways to perpetuate itself in.power, it is high time to call a halt. Facts are facts, and, if accepted by the public, a change of horses may be made. ,

DAILY THOUGHTS

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn ‘not, and ye all not be condemned; forgive, i) ye shall be forgiven.— Luke 6:37. .

IT 18 RIGHT for him’ who asks Lortestess for his offenses to grant to ¢ 3b Lrg

- SOMETIMES WE THINK that people pay. too much attention to ' proverbs, It is characteristic of human nature that if you say a thing loud enough and enough, eventually it will come to be accepted as a gem of original off the mother

Take, for example, that proverb of Solomon: “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and E be wise.” That oft-repeated but less frequently heeded admonition has created the impression that ants are sagacious creatures whom we would do well to emulate, But the other day when we were talking to our private oracle, Frank Wallace, about wasps, he branched off onto the subject of ants. Frank knows considerable about ants, as the state antomologist should. Frank had been observing the habits of those little red varmints that infest kitchens, and he pointed out an interesting fact which we later confirmed by a

[bit of personal nature study in our own sink.

It Must Get Monotonous

THESE ANTS, he said, travel in a line from their food to the nest—thousands of little red ants moving in both directions up the wall, over the floor, or across the ceiling. And if you watch closely, you'll see that an ant going up the wall, say, takes a dozen steps and bumps into one coming down. The two ants back off, say “Pardon me,” walk carefully around each other and go on their way. A dozen steps farther on, the ant bumps into another and the process is repeated. And so it goes all the way up the line. It's a good deal like the way pedestrians cross Illia nois and Washington streets, except that the ants say “Pardon me.” “Now people tell me that ants are smart,” Frank said. “But if they're so smart, don't you think they'd figure out some way to keep from bumping into each other?” }

Frank didn't indicate just how he thought they ought to do that, whether with traffic lights or by two-lane traffic, but he did suggest that there are ants down in Mexico who do it better.

Maybe Vegetarians Have Something

THESE ANTS don't fancy sweets or grease, as do our own little household pests, but have a weakness for greens. So they concentrate on gardens and shrubbery. They move in, and each one tears off a bit of leaf, tosses it over his shoulder and carries it back to headquarters, where it is used to propagate the minute lichens which are the food for the colony, These ants, too, move in a straight line, but they arrange it efficiently. There's one line moving toward the garden, and -about two inches away is another line going in the opposite direction. If unmolested, they'll strip a garden or patio clean, so the indignant Mexican householder stations a mozo with a mallet beside the lines. All day long, he whacks ants as they go past. If he misses one on the way in, he gets it on the return trip. Eventually, if the mozo holds ‘out, there aren't any more ants. The Mexican ants, then, are smarter than our domestic variety, but not smdrt enough. For if they were real bright, they'd figure after they'd dodged the mallet on the way to work that ‘it might be better, and healthier, to go home by way of Kokomo. But they don't. And that's an ant for you,

Frank Certainly Is Right

WE'VE BEEN thinking about those ants, pare ticularly our little red friends. who go through life batting their heads together. Prank certainly is right. That's a dumb ‘way to run an ant-hill, or anything else. # . But we wonder if the human race has much cause to feel superior. After all, the nations of the world have gone on for thousands of years following that very pattern... They bump together, and then plunge forward on the same old path until they run head-on into another nation and another war. If we're smart, wouldn't you think

we'd do something about it? . Co.

Pattern. for Combat By Maj. Al Williams

NEW YORK, August 26.—The making of model airplanes pres pared the minds of young Améri= cans for this air war and helped them to become the nation's greatest asset when it came to manning our vast air force. And from the start of the war models have played an important part in teaching air tactics. Air force schools all over the world, in enemy nations as well as allied, are supplied with hune ‘models. These are strung over

‘dreds of airplane

fyinz types. Air fighting 1s a matter of seconds. There’s no time to puzzle out an identification. You've got to know right off the bat.

Position and Altitude Are Critical

LIKEWISE, AS soon as you see the enemy, you are taught to assume that he has seen you. His position and altitude are critical items. What he can do in a given type of plane is something you must know. His guns, their range and the fire zones they cover determine how and from what angle you can best attack. This means intensive classroom and "lecture work for the combat airman. And the best lecture needs models’ for demonstration. Every airplane has its weakness, be that weakness the performance of ascertain maneuver, the pilot's blind angles, or the zones in which his guns-are least efficient. The position of a wing or the shape of a fuselage determines the zones a fighter pilot can cover visually. = The same thing is true for the positions in which the guns of a bomber are located. Despite the

the overlapping of the zones of gunfire for the forward, tail, upper and lower guns, some attack angle is always left open. The fighter pilot must find their angle and use it in his attack.

Bomber Is a Tough Customer

THE APPEARANCE of a new enemy combat plane or an old type in which the gun-mount positions have heen altered is information that flits through an entire force overnight. The report means the building of new models covering the innovation. And the first sample captured means more models for

of dope is confirmed, the models appear fitted with wires arranged in conical form to demonstrate visually the fire zones covered by each gun. ; A bomber is a tough customer, too tough for any single fighter, so the fighters team up, employing diversion tactics while the designated fighters drive in f kill. And the only effective method for devising’ air attack and defense tactics is by means of model airplanes.”

So They Say—

that our farmers are able to turn out, the prospects

for Sur agrienliute, wid, trideed, for vir Whole nationsi economy, are ‘Secretary Claude Vo” | |

school-room ceilings to accustom students to identie

ingenious efforts of bomber designers to accomplish ,

classroom and lecture work. And when the last bit *

(

“

out of the n charge of W Nelson. Furt Mr. Wilson th vice chairmai mittee, to le into the n His appoir from busines: career, beyon: Wisconsin, wi the Wisconsi the field of vu

A Wisco

HE 18 FF and has prov judgment and ous jobs for TVA. In bot! restoration of i Though nc has been sym appointment

Insic

GILBERT flew over to | writes back tl bombs—or ro anything for |

that one of th a typical Nazi replacing shin hospital, the - shingles to fo officers discov

up to remove "Indianapolis / _~E. Dewey. B He's an army at Pt, Harriso

No Longe EMSLEY J the old days annual meetin to be held at day. Among city editor of Come, come; + (thanks to the The Sun for 3 W. D. Boyce ¢ Indiana Daily

‘Hap

WASHING? undoubtedly si small nations | organization b there was littl

should do mu table decision | secret,

Business

IF ANYTH the world’s pe cussion at Du it is to the go It isn't eno is only prelim sions is a long to ratify final a right to ste

HYDE PAF derful early at the air is coo two young “hi to lose us, all