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

MARK FERREE {A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

.HOWARD WALTER LECKRONE

Price in Marion Couns A ty, 4 cents a copy; delivEd ered by carrier, 18 cents HE & weel

Mail rates In Indiana, $5 a year; adjoining states, 75 cents a‘month; others, $1 monthly.

L SCRIPPS ~ NOWARD |

RILEY 5551 Give Light and the People Will Kind Their Own Way

- CAMPAIGN OF 1944—V| THE COMPANY HE KEEPS : M2 ROOSEVELT is such an amazing figure, so outstanding in contrasts, surprises, abilities and shortcomings, that it would be interesting, though very expensive, to go along with him another four years just to see what happens —provided you could get only him without the motley crew “ that is part of the bargain. Strangest of all the strange things about this remarkable man is the company he keeps. And you can't get him without his company. “You can’t elect him commander in chief without electing the whole army of human flotsam and jetsam that has fastened itself like barnacles on his coattails. More and more they have become a part of him until he has almost ceased to be an individual,

* IT WAS like a crusade when Mr. Roosevelt started out 12 years ago before he had accumulated this army of misfits. He and his crusaders were valiant and high of spirit and ideals. You could overlook their pranks and mistakes and meanderings because their motives were good, their hearts young and audacious and they were traveling unknown territory. They knocked precedents sky high and made mincemeat of sacred cows, and we laughed and applauded because the sacred cows had been obstructing the road to progress. But pretty quickly behind the crusaders there collected crowds of camp followers, many of which had long been stableboys for the sacred cows. They scented better pick«ings in the new and unknown territory. The crusaders began to wrangle and get tired and traggle away, and the camp followers edged up into their “places. They came by crowds, and then by droves, and then by armies, until pretty soon they were the crusade— except that by then it had ceased to be a crusade and the young crusaders, who had been playfully called the “brain trust,” were no more. The camp followers had become the hole show. Now by this time Mr. Roosevelt had come to adore being a leader and the followers had found their following profitable, so they struck a happy bargain. He fed them taxes and gave them jobs and power from loans, and they in turn gave him votes so he could lead for term ‘after term—and now the army was a vast horde eating its ‘way through the fields like locusts. : Even Mr. Roosevelt sensed that the crusade had lost its character and suggested that its old New Deal name be ‘abandoned—but this rose was sweet by any name to the ‘camp followers who had filled their bellies quite well for 12 years and had enjoyed whacking heads and kicking shins,

80 they clamored for another four years of it.

And you can’t get Mr. Roosevelt without getting the company he keeps. ¢ ” ” 2 n » » : NOW THE TROUBLE is that we ordinary guys don’t deal with that interesting man Mr. Roosevelt—but, boy, oh boy! Do we have to deal with the camp followers who act in his behalf! ’ With political gangsters, machine bosses, bureaucrats, labor racketeers, questionnaire guys, designers of complicated forms, agents, inspectors, collectors, experimenters, youth organizers, pinkos, rhythm dancers, petty tyrants, Communists and all the other assorted conglomeration that i8 our only means of contact with the national administration. And have our ears been pinned back and our hair parted with brickbats for 12 years. And now we're asked for four more years of the same. This army of camp followers would like us to keep our ~ minds on a very high level during the campaign and think only of the commander in chief. They, however, are keep“ing their minds on the $64 question, which is themselves. Their vision is one of who will be precinct chairman, ~ ward boss and machine leader, of who will run and staff the : bureaus and write and enforce the directives that control our lives.

That $64 question, for example, is what David J. Mec-

That Hillman

By Joe Williams

NEW YORK, Oct. 14.—Well 1 can tell you how we in our family feel about Sidney Hillman. You couldn't give him to us on rye bread, and we are by ctstom ‘and environment pot likker Demo-

1940 number out because ‘it seemed to us the big fellow had torn up the rules book. It is no concern of ours where Hillman was born or even why. : On the contrary, we consider repeated references to his Lithuanian spawning dirty pool. What difference does it make where a fellow is. born? We recall’ Al Smith came out of one of the grubbiest and toughest neighborhoods in. New York, and from the same smelly streets sprang some of the foulest criminals the big town ever knew, As Mr. Roosevelt states, all Americans come from immigrant stock, except the Indians, and in this respect it's hard to resist the crack the Indians might have done better if they had planned their origins differently. ;

Wrote Their Names in Heroic Letters

IT SEEMS to us both sides have tried to stir ugly passions in this campaign by use of foreign-born insinuations. Unfortunately, there is a sizable number of our people who delight in reading and hearing this sort of claptrap. They are the professional first-off-the-Mayflower snobs. We used to see a lot of them in sports around here before the war. Fordham’s football team, with its polysyllabic personnel, was a popular target. But once the big guns started to roar, these unpronounceables, sons of coal miners and steel puddlers, wrote their names in heroic letters—the Pezzellas, Kovachs, Santillis and Holovaks, martyrs to the flag and cause their immigrant ancestors embraced. They couldn’t have died more gallantly; nor could they be more dead, if they had been born in the White House. What we in our family don’t like about Hillman— and apparently millions of others agree—is what he represents and his threat to our form of government. We don't care whether he’s actually 8 member of the Communist party. It seems to us that's an academic issue, It is enough to know he thinks and acts like a carbon copy of the same and in so doing tags himself as an enemy of democracy.

We've Had Hillmans Before

WHAT FRIGHTENS us, along with his political philosophy, is his tremendous power. When we mention this in our living-room debates these nights we are reminded: “What power? Why, he couldn't even get Wallace renominated for the vice presidency, could he?” But for all we know he may have done infinitely worse by getting the nomination for Truman —and get it he did. : We've had Hillmans before, only in other guises. The Wayne B. Wheelers and the .Anti-Saloon Leaguers, for instance. In their days they largely dictated the policies of the White House and congress as well. Like Hillman and the Political Action Committee, they bank-rolled, campaigned for and elected their own lawmakers, In a very real sense these zealots took over the government. No one called them Communists, alien invaders or lunatic fringers. A pressure group by any name still remains a pressure group. The Wheelers used their power to put us on the water wagon, The Hillmans seem to be using their to put us on a vodka binge. It so happens we never liked either.

WORLD AFFAIRS—

Hapless Hungary By William Philip Simms

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14.—Hungary, now on the point of abandoning Germany and dropping out of the war, is just as much a victim of the sins of the allies as she 1s of Nazi brutality. When the allies Balkanized Central Europe after the first world war, Hungary, Austria and other countries thereabouts were left too small and powerless to defend themselves. So, when the allies turned pacifist, grew flabby and let Hitler rearm Germany, the Nazis found it easy to overrun them, one by one. : In Budapest just a month before the war broke out, this story was told to me by an aide of Adm. Horthy: ie The scene was Adolf Hitler's private office in Berlin. Like others before him, the admiral-regent had been invited into the fuehrer’s presence to be impressed. :

They Couldn't Make Good

HUNGARY, HITLER remarked significantly, would find it greatly to her advantage to play ball with the all-powerful reich.” The inference, of course, was clear. Fresh in the regent’s mind, was what had happened to Austria and Czechoslovakia. But the doughty old man looked Hitler squarely in the eye, and replied: “If you try to do to Hungary what you did to the others, every shepherd in my country will rise up and fight you. And, what’s more, I will lead them!” I repeat this story because, I believed it then and I believe it now. Everywhere in Hungary in July, 1939, I was told that the Hungarians would never allow Germany to trample upon their soil. And they meant it. But when the showdown came they

* Donald, finance chairman of the national Political Action Committee, had in mind when he told a meeting of PennSylvania followers: “The more we get, the more we can ¢ spend, The more we can spend, the better congress we will * have. The more we spend in Pennsylvania, the better state legislature we will have. It's as simple as that.” 3 . =

AND, YES, it is as simple as that.

x Re-elect this army of camp followers and they'll run the government, clear down to the individual precinct; theyll run congress and the legislatures; they'll direct the “planned economy” which is a high-priced: term for running our economic, social and political lives.

No matter what that strange and interesting man Mr. Roosevelt may have in mind, that's what his company wants, © And you can’t elect Mr. Roosevelt w he keeps,

ithout the company

a rest ————— MR. ROOSEVELT SAID

INOW, I read in the past few days in the newspapers ; that the President is at work on a plan to consolidate simplify the federal bureaucracy. My friends, four | g years ago, in the campaign of 1928, he, as a candidate, nosed to do this same thing, And today, once more as a did: te, he is still proposing, and I leave ‘you to draw own inferences. And on my own part 1 ask you very to assign to me the task of reducing the annual expenses of your national government.” was in 1932, and Mr. Roosevelt, as a candidate,

| lowed Hitler to build up as Hungary was, Day after

“larceny.

couldn't make good. Although Romania had joined the Anglo-French peace-bloc against the Nazis, she was just as unprepared to resist the machine which the allies had al-

day, through the windows of my room at the hotel, I watched the steady parade of swastika-beflagged tankers up and down the Danube. Those going downstream were empty. Those bound upstream were loaded to the waterline with Romanian oil from Ploesti.

Hungary Nevet Had a Chance

THERE WERE other German ships on the river, too, busily swapping German products for foodstuffs and raw materials of all kinds produced in the Balkans, ; However good Horthy's intentions may have been, and despite the unquestioned valor of the people, Hungary never had a chance. She had been whittled down at Versailles, the treaty of Trianon had left her | defenseless and the allies had neglected to force Germany to live up to the disarmament clauses of the post-war settlement or even to keep pace themselves with German rearmament. So Hungary -had to obey the Nazis, > Hungary, it is pointed out here, is a tragic objectlesson to current peace-makers. Unless the united nations—or at least the great pbwers—stick together after this war and remain strong enough to enforce whatever peace they make, the fat will eventually .be in the fire just as it was this time; Only the fire will be hotter. \ :

To The Poin

THE MAN who stole a beaver from a 700 so he'd have a pet prohably will face the charge of petty |

CUTTING OF the national coal supply is sald

crats. Although we did sit the |.

The Hoosier Forum

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

“ISN'T IT TIME TO CALL A HALT?” By David E. Kennedy, Indianapolis May I ask just one question? Yes, it is pointed. I'll make it pointed and before I ask it I'll say it’s the truth, and my registration in 1932 and 1936 (in Irvingt®h) will prove it, that I voted for Roosevelt because I thought he would be our saviour, instead he is now selling us down the river to the Communists. First our money, now our freedom. Now, my question—would you, in truth, want Franklin Delano Roosevelt to maange your own personal business? Ponder this and I'll have an answer. Now, as a big business, our own big country is at stake, isn't it time to call a halt? ° » # : “VETERANS FOUGHT THE BATTLES” By An Eight Dollar Veteran, Outwoed, Ky. The American Legion is now seeking repeal of the ninety-day active service law, which in effect would authorize fifty-dollar-a-month pensions for non-service connected, disabled veterans even though they have never qualified as a soldier. Before such legislation is taken seriously, a review of the laws now in effect, as they apply to the combat veteran, may be of interest tthe boys now fighting on our foreign battle fields. Udder the present law, a veteran who served only ninety days in a training camp receives free hospitalization, fifty dollars per month, free cigarets, toilet articles, and barber service. I am a veteran of the 23d infantry and fought in all of the historic engagements of the 2d division. I am hospitalized for tuberculosis. I receive eight dollars per. month only, and must pay for my cigarets and haircuts. Will someone tell the American Legion for me that if that be a part of their great legislative program, it is rotten. Of course the dependency law is the authority for such an unfair practice, but the American Legion should realize that it is the men who are fighting and have faught the battles that win the wars, and not the training camp veteran or his dependents. 3 When every two weeks the nurse pats the training camp veteran on the back and gives him his choice cigarets and toilet supplies, the veteran who has fought in our war's

(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 of manuscripts and cannot enter correspondence regarding them.)

most decisive battles must turn his head to avoid the humiliation. The American Legion might well bear in mind that it was the veterans who fought the battles—it was they who made the Legion possible, f ” ” - “WILLKIE’S DEATH IS A TRAGIC LOSS” By Henry W. Reger, 1909 N. Talbot ave. It is indeed a calamity for the country and the world at large that the angel of death beckoned home the stanch soul of Wendell Willkie at the time he was most needed. Willkie was as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice. No politician in any sense of the word, he placed personal honor and

the welfare of his country above political gain. He refused to sacrifice ideals for the sake of expediency. That alone cost him the presidency ‘and it will always be to the shame of the Republican party that it sold Wendell Willkie down the river, Whatever chances the Republicans had of winning the coming election they hazarded when they disposed of the Elwood gentleman. Willkie's death is a tragic loss at this dark hour when the world is destitute of great men. Willkie was a great executive and statesman. He might say with another “also ran,"—“I'd rather be right than President.” > The nation is sorely in need of men of his caliber who will stand up and fight for ideals and not merely give them lip service. Willkie is gone from us but his

Side Glances—By Galbraith

spirit marches on.

your apple pies,

"We ameled

amie to have been a miner operation,

the rules of war

com. 1944 BY WEA SERVICE. MCT. MRED. U. 8. PAT. OFF. Sy

so we're

‘per cent of China’s fighting poten- ‘| looting of the Chinese treasury,

|| seven years, fought the Jap invaders with little more than knives and|

:jcamps from thé hills and caves,

{our military high command, that

“MUST I SHOOT MY CHILDREN?” By Mrs. B., Indianapolis Must I shoot my children? Is there anyone in Indianapolis who will rent ‘me a house to accomodate five children and three adults? If not, will someone teil me what I am supposed to do? Some people say, “your husband is in defense work, he makes good money, why don't you buy?” Some people don't realize that when you have children, you feed them, cloth them, and with prices as high as they are, we use what extra money we have. Other people say, “I cashed bonds to make my down payment, why don't you?” All right, I haven't any bonds, they were cashed in to pay doctor and hospital bills, amounting around $3000, I'm not the kind of a person who thinks the world owes me anything, but I do think someone could rent me a house, where my children could be kept warm, and modern enough for me to wash and fron without killing myself in trying to keep them clean, But even people who own houses without furnace, bath, or electricity, won't let me rent because of my children, My neighbors said if I needed recommendations for my children they would furnish it gladly. But even that makes no difference. Children should not be seen, according to some people, until they are 18, so they can go into the service, so these same people who dislike children can rent their houses to adults only, or to people who prefer pets to children. Is there anyone left in Indianapolis who has rental property and loves children, too? I sure would like to meet them. : * = “LET'S GET THE FACTS COMPLETE” By W. H. Edwards, Indianapolis William Philip Simms in his column of Oct. 5 hits near the truth in stating that Russia holds the key to China's military effort. .But columnist Simms [fails to carry through and tell the public why the “Russian key” is not acceptable to the. Chungking government. Let's get the facts complete. The Chungking government is dominated wholly by a select bunch of rich Manchurians who fear that if the “Russian key” is used, the 60

tial might object to the continued

These northern Chinese have, for

pitchforks, swooping down on Jap

killing all Japs they could and carrying back all the Jap ammunition possible. It is well known that there's another much better route into China than over the high passes of .the Himalaas. That better route is the “Russian key”. A key, if used by

would save thousands of our Americans boys’ lives, billions of dollars, and would shorten the war in the China-Pacific aréa by many " Are we, of these United States, going to let ideological prejudices interfere with or delay our driving the international gangsters to unconditional surrender? -

“

| ranged on, that in fine shape,” he said. “Dave Beck

Fighting Ground

By Thomas L. Stokes

NEW YORK, Oct. 14—They ‘are in real earnest about the 3 forthcoming presidential election x here in the home state of both candidates. ; A high pitch of excitement is found here, in contrast with a seeming lack of keen interest dise, covered, for example, in the 3 Midwest and the Far West by ree R« porters who accompanied Govers f nor Dewey on his recent transe tontinental campaign tour. This the close race in this key state” between President Roosevelt and Governor Dewey, 80 close at this time evidently that nobody dares to call it. Very little money is being wagered, : The excitement is intensified now by registration, for which this week is set aside, with long lines stretching away, through the day and into the ev ning, from registration centers. Mrs. Roosevelt doing her share with speeches urging citizens register .

obviously reflects

Registration Runs Ahead of 1940

~FOR THE FIRST three days, registration was rune ning 80,000 ahead of the same period in 1940. This is surprising, since half a ‘million men from this city

around to =

are away inthe service and many others have gone he too hit elsewhere to work in war industries. It may be that bE, the intense registration campaign brought people ous Sand H earlier in the week this year, and that it will fall ; finally below the 3390460 of four years ago, a record IN Son up to that time. : yellow Neither side is sure what the big registration slit trenches means. Democrats seem encouraged, since their tace have its dra ticlans have figured that the, bigger the vote, the tar 1 know ¢ better for President Roosevelt, and it is no secret thas Baw § Republicans privately have been hoping for a small og he vote all over the country. But Republicans have their ee tani own optimistic interpretations, aside from an appareng farge numb

Increase in some known anti-New Deal areas. They believe that many people are coming out to vote this year who haven't bothered in a long time, and they explain hopefully that perhaps these are people who have finally got so tired of the New Deal that they stirred themselves at last, J. Russell Sprague, one of the Dewey strategists, pointed out,

Ins:

for instance, that among new registrants are many WAYNE older people. : : dustrial s Spirit of V ho A yo irit ictory in # i with a sign prt 0 ry . r On the wi

IF BUSTLE and stir about campaign headquarters is any sign, Republicans must be given the edge, Along the constantly crowded corridors of the 10th floor of the Roosevelt hotel here people dash in and out of rooms labeled for the numerous departments into which young Herbert Brownell, national Repube lican chairman, has organized his large staff. On the wall is a big sign “If you don’t work hard—Roosevel can win.” Everybody seems to be working hard, There is a spirit of victory in the very air. Very much of a contrast is the fifth floor of the Biltmore hotel, two blocks away, where Democrats have had their headquarters for many years. It is as quiet and sedate as the Harvard club. There is the touch of fat about the midriff, but not the comfortable confidence that the middle years bring to business, if not politics. On the walls still hang the pictures of a much younger Franklin D. Roosevelt, and still, too, a picture of James Aloyisius Farley, who is sorely missed about these rooms.

v .

Hannegan Is No Jim Farley

FOR THE YOUNGER man who now sits in his chair is no Jim Farley. He is busy, he is enthusiastio, he works all hours, But there is still about Bob Hannegan, national Democratic ¢hairman, something of the amateur, and yet, an engaging frankness and a use of the plain, straight language of the practical politician who came out of Missouri, You sense in Democratic leaders here a sort of

defensive attitude, ‘A roun d Yet Bob Hannegan seems to have complete confie dence in the re-election of the President. It is ape THE XX parent that he counts much on Mr. Roosevelt, himself, fond of th to pull the thing through. when one © If you want a tip, look for Mr. Roosevelt to tum « the childre: up here for a major political speech shortly before of our rea the election. g , at Ewing st The way things look now, they are going to need’ , complete w him. Governor Dewey is carrying the fight too was writte vigorously, ; r IN. WASHING TON— Am ’ There's a Reason cue : J light sport: spot in the By Peter Edson In discus

placed on |}

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14. If the news photos and the newsreels of President Roosevelt making his x Oct. 5 radio speech to the party workers looked unusually good to you, with the old Roosevelt smile and youthful vigor, there was a reason, Lighting arrangements foe § this occasion were something extra » added special. Instead of using the movie flood lights which the Washington newsreel crews usually employ, there were a lot of big

Kleig lights brought in, such as the movies use on less per ton special sets in Hollywood. 3 Col. Edw The stage setting for this affair was different too, + this countr Instead of speaking from the Oval room in the main « use of glid part of the White House where the President hag of Gliding usually had the microphones set up, this speech was . delivered from a small theater room in the new East Studied wing of the White House. There's a special projection ’ IT WAS screen set up there, and that's where the White Europe in House movies are now run off. gliders and For the speechmaking, a bookcase was brought in details to t as background, with a ship model on top of it, and . a glider clt the desk with microphones set before this prop. It : lzed the G looked real homey, and you could easily imagine that 227 student: a fireplace was right around the corner. In that Excellent Campaign Publicity THE STILL picture men shot close-ups first. They . M had been told that they could then step back and take » y a more general view, but when they moved back the > secret service men said no mare pictures. And there - v : were specific instructions that no pictures could be WASHII made showing the extra lights, reflectors, screens and being Colun electricians hovering all around. : . Which was Picture results were considered excellent from a sentatives ¢ campaign publicity standpoint, going a long way . Then they

towards offsetting those bad pictures made under adverse conditions when the President delivered his acceptance speech from San Diego naval base,

A WEST COAST editor who flew into Washington to attend the Teamsters’ banquet at which President Roosevelt delivered his famous Fala speech, stayed on in the East for several days afterward, flying up to Boston and back before going home. When a friend expressed a little surprise that anyone could nail down seats on airplanes with such certaintv that he could keep all schedules, the man from the West explained that it was simple. “Everything is are

(vice president of the Teamsters) got me top " - # \

CONGRESSMAN MARTIN DIES of Texas is really having nothing to do with this last great spurt of’"’ activity by his committee in trying to show connection ° between the Communists and the C. I O. Political Action isn’t even in Washington, +

priority,”