Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 November 1944 — Page 6

The Indianapolis Times

| REFLECTIONS—

PAGE 6 Saturday, November 25, 1944

Unfinished Job

ROY W. HOWARD President Editor

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SCRIPPS « NOW, . » . Give I4ght and the Peoples Will Find Their Own Way

WALTER LECKRONE MARK FERREE Business Manager

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER) Price In Marion Coun-

ty, 4 cents a copy; delivered by carrier, 18 cents

a week.

Mall

a

rates In Indlana, $5 a year; adjoining states, 75 cents a month; others, $1 monthly,

RILEY 5651

and still do.

next spring or later.

to act.

terms or on a league,

pret Hh

failings,

war effort.

the trouble seems over. what might have been.

of the post-war job problem,

THE TELEPHONE STRIKE

"THERE are nearly 24 million telephones in the United States. They are used for about 35 billion conversations a year. Plenty of living people can remember when there were no telephones, but now to most of us they are as commonplace as tables and chairs. They have become indispensable aids in conducting our social affairs, in earning our living, in fighting the war, We talk on the telephone to a neighbor across the street, a man in the next office, a son in army camp, a friend in Seattle or Miami, a business associate in London or Rio de Janeiro, and think little of.it. It is matter-of-course, We seldom reflect that what we are using is more than a clever electrical device—that. behind it is a host of human beings with human problems, passions, faults and

LEAGUE DELAY IS DANGEROUS RESIDENT ROOSEVELT during the campaign argued against delaying organization of the international security league until after the European armistice. Hé pledged ~ speed. So did Mr. Dewey. We thought that wassright then,

But apparently the President has changed his mind. Either that, or he has lost control of the situation, At least a valuable month has been lost, probably the only available month before the President is busy with the new congress. The diplomatic talk now is that there will be, no action until

Here is another case of the American public being told that it is holding up the procession, by lack of commitment to international co-operation, but later discovering that it is really ahead of the parade blocked by the administration or by London and Moscow. The same thing happened last year. Then the administration held up for months the resolutions committing congress to an international organfzation—resolutions which were passed almost unanimously. Delay then, as now, was due to Big Three unwillingness

WHEN THE Dumbarton Oaks conference finally got under way—thanks chiefly to Secretary Hull, bi-partiszn congressional committees and Mr, Dewey—Russia blocked Big Three agreement by insisting that she be allowed tc sit as veto judge in any future league case against her. When the unfinished Dumbarton*draft was made public, it was announced that Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin would meet soon to agree on a joint plan, which would be submitted promptly to a conference of all the united nations for a final charter. That would later be ratified by the proper constitutional bodies here and abroad, * What postponed indefinitely the Roosevelt-Churchille Stalin meeting, planned for late November, we do not know. Certainly not the European military offensive. The present speed, far from delaying a Big Three meeting, makes it more imperative, Otherwise an armistice, even in the spring, may find the allies lacking an agreement on peace

THIS DELAY shows that the Big Three method of making all major decisions themselves, before allowing the smaller nations to do a rubber-stamp act, is as inefficient as it is unethical. One excuse for never having called th# united nations into session for political decisions, not even at Dumbarton Oaks, was that an advance Big Three agreement would save time. It had the opposite result.

The other excuse was that other European nations had only governments-in-exile, which could not represent their countries fully, Since most of the nations have now been liberated, in wholé or in part, that excuse no longer holds.

_ The net result of All this is not only unnecessary and dangerous delay in setting up a new security league. It is an invitation to big European nations to form separate blocs and alliances. It has disillusioned small nations. Significantly, France has now joined the list of nations declaring that they will not be bound by decisions in which they have had no voice. Naturally not. Rubber-stamps will be even less popular after the war.

To save the international security proposal, before it becomes, like the old League of Nations, only another ineffectual front for big power domination and rivalry, fast democratic action is necessary. For that purpose a full united nations conference should be called now.

And then, suddenly, we are forced to realize that an argument among these human beings could, conceivably, silence our telephones, paralyze our cities, jeopardize the

‘

*That is what we've seen in the last few days. It has been a lesson, however, in

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

INEARLY half of the 17 million wage earners in this : country’s industrial plants look to government, rather than to private: employers or union leaders, for

This is one of the findings of a survey, conducted for Factory Magazine of New York by the Oginion Research Corp. . It provides food for serious thought by believers in’ the private-enterprise system, especially just after an elec- ~ tion in which wage-earners have given a pretty demonstration of their political power, A It isn't enough for private enterprises to promise that they will provide jobs for the American people. is have to prove by bold and decisive action that they are de- The way) they'll come p will take your breath away, | > Jolkeep the praise if they waht wor OW REaa nat

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‘onomic

impressive

Today

| friend in the Iranian government. He had served |"

a solution

»

They'll

kers to have | -

onions now so you'll have them-for late fall eating.

By James Thrasher

GENERAL PATTON'S light-

of the great military feats of history, but it had an unfortunate

effect, It started people thinking that the war in Europe was as good as over, : It not only spurred the necessary planning for reconversion and post-war jobs, but also impelled many war workers to leave their Jobs. to seek work ‘that paid less

of supplies, One cause of that shortage was the fact that production had slumped with the good news, 80 now post-war planning must be slowed down while an effort is made to keep war workers’ on the job, and to get back those who have left, Undersecretary of War Patterson has revealed that production of five important items of army supply is from 17 to 40 per ‘tent below present minimum needs. Henry J. Kaiser has hooked up the critical shortage of attack transports with the fact that in three months he has lost 26,000 workers from one shipyard, 28 per cent of its total force,

Local and Immediate Appeal Is Needed

WHAT 18 BEING done about the quit rate? There has been a government campaign, and the President has appealed personally to workers to stay on their war jobs, But perhaps a-moré local and immediate appeal is needed from management and union officials. A modest program of this sort that has attracted ciderable attention in the East has been inaugurated by the Edo Aircraft Corp, a small factory on Long Island. This program stresses facts about post-war employment, on the theory that facts are the best means of building confidence, and that confidence is a potent antidote for the panicky feeling that a peacetime job must be found quickly before sudden victory leaves the worker high, dry and unemployed.

Preview of Future Co-operation

THE EDO program's chief instruments are thriceweekly editorials in a local newspaper, a post-war essay contest among workers, and a weekly earlyevening broadcast from a New York radio station which gets a big listening response from day workers, and which is piped into the plant for the night shift to hear, . It may be impossible to determine whether government or local appeals are more effective in persuading workers that the war is far from over, and that nothing Is to be gained by a sudden, harmful,

ning liberation of France was one |’

and probably unavoidable after- | :

but promised future stability. It is known now that | 4 General Patton's dash was halted principally by lack |-

= rr

The Open Door!

The Hoosier Forum

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

misdirected effort to find immediate employment security. But surely co-operative endeavor toward this end can do no harm. In fact, it might serve as an encouraging preview of future co-operation toward creation of ‘60,000,000 promised jobs when the war jobs are finished.

WORLD AFFAIRS—

Troubled Waters

By Henry J. Taylor

NEW YORK, Nov. 25.—Iranian government sources describe the “oil concession troubles” there as secondary in the British-Ameri-can-Russian situation involving the sudden resignation on Nov, 9 of Premier Mohammed Maraghei Said under Russian pressure. Strain on the Roosevelt-Churchill-Stalin pronouncements, mutually guaranteeing the independence of this key state in the Middle East, was reported to be But Russian censorship at Tehran

the main issue, has suppressed this disclosure, it was reported, It appears that units of the Red army, dropping further and further south from the Russian border, now occupy Iran to the exclusion of all other forces, including King Riza Pahlevi's own Iranian troops

and police. This is true not only along much of America’s lend-lease route from the Persian gulf but throughout the area north of Tehran,

Russian Permission Required

IRANIAN GOVERNMENT officials, citizens and military, men, as well as American and British officers, no longer are permitted to enter this vast northérn section “of the country without Russian passport authority and other forms of consent obtainable only from Moscow. Iran made demands on Moscow for relief from this situation by invoking the Roosevelt-Churchill-Stalin guarantees of independence for Iran. These demands coincided with Russia's own demands for oil ‘concessions in the northern area, And these, in turn, coincided with British and American applications in the South. All the applications covered undeveloped expanses generally regarded as potentially rich in oil. To avoid pressure from each foreign interest and to forestall any charge of favoritism, Premier Said and the Iranian parliament decreed that no concessions would be: granted any nation until after the war, Premier Said reportedly regsoned that then Iran should be able to make such: grants “free from mili« tary duress.” It is clear, the Iranian sources said, that neither the premier or the pagliament expected this decis'on to be violently distasteful to Moscow because the location of-the northern area, largely shut off from the South by mountains, made concessions there valuable only to Russia and no British-American competition for these grants was involved,

Display Was Especially Emphatic

MOSCOW APPARENTLY chose this decision, however, as a timely occasion to refuse to withdraw Russia's occupation of Northern Iran, and to obtain a “demonstration” of Russian displeasure over any interference by Iran, Great Britain or the United States with Russia's policy of independent action. So the Russians forced the resignation of Premier Said. “Demonstrators” were transported fo the premier's residence in Red army trucks, with Russian officers clearing the streets of British and American observers and restraining their movements throughout the capital. ‘This display was especially emphatic because, contrary to early interpretations in the United States, Premier Sald was regarded as Russia's best

previously as ambassador to Moscow. The impact of all this in Tehran was that if Premier Said could be so badly in Russia’s disfavor any opposition ‘to Russian policy by anyene. in a new government would be met even more severely. The explanation by informed sources is that, Quite aside from oil matters, Marshal Stalin prefers a Middle East incident at this time to provide him with another of several demands—namely, the continued occupation ‘of Northern Iran, in consideration for concessions which might be asked of him at a future ' Roosevelt-Churchill-Stalin- conference.

To The Point— LE "A GARDEN expert advises alintiie

ree ok

“GET RID OF NEED YOR WORLD TRADE” By R. M, P., Indianapolis

As far as trade is concerned, 1 am as much of an isolationist as ever, It is axiomatic nonsense for anyone to argue that the farther goods are transported the better off people will be. 7 The purpose of all aggressors is to get what they want at other people’s expense. So it would be much more sensible to try to get the world so organized that each nation can produce what it wants. \f we get rid of the need for world trade we will get rid of aggression.

8 a = “HE HAD

NO CHOICE” By a Corporal, Army of the U, 8, I want to write for the forgotten man, or rather the forgotten men in the armed services. I am of that small 10 per cent group that does not think the demobilization plan is entirely equitable, I admit that it is only fair that those who have served overseas and in combat zones should be among the first to be released at the close of the European war. I would like to point out that there are some-7 per cent of the men in the armed forces today who have no dependents and who are over the age of 35. Gen, MacArthur has stated that he doesn’t want any men over 25 years of age for the Pacific theater, The average age of the men in service today is 25.70, Gen. Hershey, in a press release dated Sept. 8, stated he would have approximately 90,000 men surplus whom he would save for the 1945 draft. Prior to the war the army’ released men over 28. Last year the army permitted men over 38 to apply for a discharge, Wouldn't it be possible for the army to release men over 35 when hostilities with Germany are over? In the past few months draft boards have been taking, no one over 26 years of age who was employed in an essential industry. When peace with Germany is made there will be a move to convert some industries toward the manufacture of goods for civillan needs. Some of these men wil no longer be essential, Why not draft all single men between 26 and 34 who were hereto-

NOW WE can expect a shortage of book matches.

(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 respdnsibility for the return of manuscripts and cannot enter correspondence regarding them.)

fore exempt because they were working in essential industries? The army has sufficient facilities on hand for training large groups of men now, I believe it would be advantageous for the army to have a younger group of soldiers. It would be doing justice to men over 35 who have been in the service for some time. Remember it isn't the man’s fault

that he spent most of his time in domestic service, He had no choice.

» » . “NEVER TOLD THE AMERICAN PEOPLE” By 8. T. B,, Indianapolis In connection with your editorial “What Does Stalin Want?” Marshal Stalin tells the world some mighty interesting details, To quote: ¥ “It is known, however, how much in vain were the efforts of the Fascist politicians to dislocate the alliance of the great powers. “This signifies that no accidental, transitory motive, but vitally important long-term interesfs lie at the basis of the alliance. of our country, Great Britain and the United States.” This makes it clear to me, that notwithstanding President Roosevelt'’s assurance of no alliances, we have it on the authority of Stalin that long ago they agreed among themselves to deal with these vital matters, How is it that Mr. Roosevelt never told “the American people about these deals? «

Side Glances=By Galbraith

“WHY DON'T THEY PAY ME?” By Irate Taxpayer, Columbus , Something should be done about the government's income tax. Last March when we filed our income tax we were told to pay our tax “on the nose” or else, Yet if the government owed us, the taxpayers, we had to. wait. I remember one stout citizen who thought he would show the government how unjust this ruling is. He was going to wait at the postoffice until the government paid him what it owed him. They threw him out. In a way it may have been a good thing that they threw him out after all. If he’s like me he would still be waiting, The government owes me $33 , , . after all these fonths. Can you imagine what would happen to me if I owed it $33. and waited that long to pay it? ‘I need that $33. It's mine. Wh don’t they pay me? -

® x 2» “GENEROUS SPIRIT OF AMERICAN PEOPLE” By Mrs. T. A. M.,, Indianapolis

As I read how the hearts ‘of people had been touched by the thought of a sick little Cheyenne boy who might not have a Christmas tree, I was struck with the truly generous spirit of the American people. And I wanted to tell them about Tanya Skorovina, a little Russian war orphan who saw her first Christmag tree in a Leningrad hospital, i In her brief three®years of life she has known only war, and the frightening experiences and wounds that a Nazi shell can bring. Her father and mother lie among the honored dead of Leningrad's and Stalingrad’s siege. But Tanya is only one of three million more like her. They will have a better Christmas this year because the enemy is not so close, but life in a devastated, war-torn land is hard. There will be few toys; what is needed most is clothes to keep bodies warm. In this connection Russian War Relief is launching a campaign to send a shipload of warm, attractive, new clothes to ssia’s children, orphaned by the war, I think American people,” who have been spared the horrors of war, on their own shores, will be as eager to share in this humanitarian work as they have been in trying to make Nubbins’ remaining days happy. ‘ » » » “DON'T THE STRIKERS °° READ THE PAPERS?” Mrs. E. V, E, Indianapolis

Don’t the strikers read the papers? Don't they listen to the

is postponed means the death of hfindreds of American boys? Or, don't they care. about those boys fighting for them? If they don't like their pay, or their foxholes, or their having to face death, they can't strike, « I have no quarrel with labor demanding its rights, but my average intelligence

POLITICAL SCENE—

TVA Pattern

By Charles T. Lucey

| WASHINGTON, Nov. 25.— To " + Chairman David E. Lilienthal of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the TVA is not a *“cookie-cutter” —& mold to be stamped on other sections of the country, But he believes there are three .major . reasons for applying the regional authority principle in developing the multiple resources of America's rich river valleys. First, a single agency, rather +s than several agencies whose in-

| terests may conflict, plans and administers develop-

ment of a river valley in terms in which nature has made it—in one big piece rather than in segments. . Second, such an agency runs against the trend of government centralization of the last half-century to provide decentralized regional administration. This doesn't mean merely moving an office away from Washington; it means moving the place where decisions are made to the region of the people for whom they are made. : ¥

Private Enterprise Encouraged

THIRD, A DIFFERENT relationship is fostered between government and business. ‘It encourages a promotional atfitude at the grassroots and stimulates pritate activity in the region. Business people talk to government people face to face instead of writing letters and memoranda to Washington. Tennessee valley people today advertise TVA as a sound reason for establishing new industry in the area. President, Roosevelt has made regional authorities a chief objective in the years ahead, and legislation for a Missouri Valley Authority modeled on TVA is now before congress. It will be offered as an amendment to the current flood control bill in the senate, and if beaten will be reintroduced as a new bill in the next session, . ‘ Mr. Lilienthal's notion is that, in judging applicability of the TVA idea elsewhere, the three points he outlines makes it distinctive, not the particular physical circumstances of the Tennessee region, The government heretofore has done many of the things TVA does and that any other valley- authority might do, but the regional authority provides a new and better way of going about an old job. Talking about TVA, Dave Lilienthal doesn’t ask you to take just his word for what has gone on there. “Go down in the Tennessee valley and talk to the folks who live there,” he says. “That's the best way to see the results. Talk to the business and labor and farming groups—that's the real payoff,

Industrial Activity Is Stimulated

“THE OTHER DAY the Tennessee labor department reported that for the first time in history industrial activity employs more people in that state than agriculture. Census figures and all indices show economic activity in the Tennessee valley “has increased faster since 1933 up to wartigne than the country as a whole. The war accelerated this trend, but we have reason to believe it will go on,

power. It paid $2,000,000 to state and local governments in lieu of taxes, set aside $6,000,000 for depreciation, pald power operating expenses of $14,000,000 and had a net of $14,000,000 left. ‘On the basis of the last five years experience, the $450,000,000 power investment would be paid off in 30 years and the government would then own a property with a continuing income of $10,000,000 to: $15,000,000 yearly. It's a record Mr. Lilienthal thinks commends itself to other regions,

IN WASHING TON— »

Still An Enigma

By S. Burton Heath

WASHINGTON, Nov. 25.—There has to be some explanation why, with 70 per cent as many popular brand cigarets available this year as in the smokiest twelvemonth our home front ever enjoyed, we still have so much trouble getting a single pack of Luckies, Camels, Old Golds, Chesterfields or Pall Malls. . Many of the best newsmen in ‘Washington have worn down rationed «shoes seeking the answer. They have produced plenty of facts and figures, but no satisfactory overall explanation. Probably Joseph Colodny, executive secretary of the Tobacco Merchants assoctation, was correct when he said there isn’t any one reason. We are\told" that federal restrictions on tobacco acreage in the years from 1940 through 1943 cut the average crop by 84,500,000 pounds, or about 10 per cent. It is 1941-42 tobacco used in cigarets now being made. As a result, manufacturers are dipping into their reserve stocks. We are told about a labor shortage, aggravated because cigaret-making is not rated an essential industry, though tobacco-growing is. Both these things are true. But they don’t offset the fact that more cigarets actually are being made, and almost as many cigarets are being put" on the civilian market. ¥ The principal and controlling factor, Mr. Colodny believes, is a type of hoarding that can’t be stopped and can't even be blamed very much,

Average Consumer Is a Hoarder

THE AVERAGE consumer used to buy a pack, smoke it down to the last three or four, and stop at a corner store for replacements; Now, fearing that he won't be able to buy when he needs, he tries to keep two or three or four packs tucked away as insurance, : The normal dealer turnover in cigarets is very rapid. He stocks for only a day or two at a time. When consumers, generally, becoming worried, tried to buy three or four days’ supplies at once, the raid cleaned store shelves and the retailers haven't been able to catch up. - In addition, Mr. Colodny says, cigaret

years, So, while 1944 shows a falling off of only 8 per cent against 1943 in domestic supply, that represents a drop of 225 per cent—almost one-fourth— against 1944 demand if we assume the 14.5 per cent rate of increase to have continued. i Another major factor is maldistribution, In the old days the prime distributor, who bought from the manufacturer, made many of his sales through sub-distributors, who bought them from him for less than retailers paid. :

(So He Cut Off the Sub-Distributor

‘WHEN CIGARETS became scarce the prime dis-

direct customers, and taking in less money, tecting the sub-distributors, So, in

“Last year TVA sold $36,000,000 worth of electric

consumption has béen rising 14.5 per cent a year for the past four -

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