Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 November 1944 — Page 14

The Indianapolis Times

PAGE 14 Monday, November 27, 1944

WALTER LECKRONE

"ROY W. HOWARD MARK FERREE President Editor Business Manager

wi ; (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

Price: in Marion County, 5 cents a copy; deliv gered by carrier, 20 cents a week, Mail rates in Indiana, $5 a year; all other states, U, 8, possessions, Canada and Mexico, 87 cents a

_. Owned and published [ .daily (except Sunday) by] "IH Indianapolis Times Pub. EENEEE lishing Co; 214 W. Mary-E land st. Postal Zone 9.

RILEY 5551

Give Light ond the Peopie Wil Find Their Own Way

JUDGE KENESAW MOUNTAIN LANDIS

HERE was about Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis something as craggy and immutable as the ancient hill for which he was named. He had been a distinguishing feature of the nation’s skyline so long that it is hard to realize that he is gone. The old judge seemed timeless. This strong son of Indiana held a unique position during the 24 years he ruled with even-handed justice over organized baseball. He personified the spirit of sportsmanship and fairness, he was the tribune of the people whose vested interest in the game was greater than the men who owned the clubs, the parks and the players. He was a symbol of integrity and an instrument of Americanism. . n » " » ” "JUDGE LANDIS’ career would have been notable had he never accepted the position of high commissioner of baseball after the game had fallen upon evil days. His reputation as a jurist was established. He was a judge in the best traditions of the American bar, known as a man- of courage to whom none was greater than the law. In this assured position, he might well have hesitated to accept the stormy responsibilities offered him as arbiter of a professional sport. But he made his choice, and that decision was based on a realization that baseball was something more than a business, that it was a part of the America he loved, that it belonged to the boys of the nation, Kenesaw Mountain Landis felt he owed it to those boys to preserve their game, clean and strong, for them and for their sons, That was his ideal during his long tenure as high commissioner of baseball. And it is a measure of his success that during 24 years the game was untouched by scandal and has gained in strength and popularity. Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis left his mark on baseball. And he left his mark, too, on the lives and manhood of millions of American boys. He kept their faith, he saved their heritage.

ANOTHER, PACIFIC MILESTONE

THE significance of the Superfortress raid on Tokyo is too great to need the exaggeration of wishful thinking. It does not mean that air power can defeat Japan. It does not mean that Pacific victory is in sight. But it does mark a new and long step on the hard road. Unlike the Doolittle hit-and-run raid from a carrier, the new air attack from Saipan puts us in continuous reach of all the war production and major base areas of the Jap home islands. Now we shall be.able to maintain the steady bombing pressure for which the long China-based Superfortress route alone is inadequate. To the China and Saipan routes may soon be added another bombing run from the Aleutians and Kuriles, giving our air forces a three-way squeeze on the enemy. But even that cannot knock out Japan. Our experience in Germany has demonstrated the ability of air power to cripple seriously, rather than deliver the final blow to an enemy with the will to keep fighting, . » » » » . WHILE IN SOME WAYS Japan will be an easier air target, because of her smaller industries and her vulnerability to incendiaries, in other ways she is harder to crack. Though our Ruhr run from the beginning has been less than | one-fifth the Saipan-Tokyo distance, and thus in constant use by thousands of planes dropping vastly more bomb tons nage than the relatively fewer Superfortresses can carry, the Ruhr is still producing after a fashion. Neither air nor sea power alone, or together, can do the job. If Japan is willing to pay the price, she can hold out until our amphibious troops invade and conquer her homeland. This was underscored by Gen. Arnold, our air chief, in his report to the President on the opening of the new Tokyo Superfortress route. He spoke of “softening up the Japanese heart for the ultimate invasion by combined united nations land, sea and air forces; this will not be ac-

REFLECTIONS—

Pitfalls of Fame Thrasher

THIS IS one time in history when most of us can be thankful that we never had the looks, luck - and temperament to become a star of Broadway, Hollywood or the Munchy Breakfast coast-to-coast program. For today the star's position fs fraught with potential And the only wonder is that the glamour battalions’ casualties aren’t-greater than they are.

By James

mood was the news that Noel Coward had come another cropper. On top of the reaction to his new book's alleged slur at Brooklyn (where you can call the local ballplayers bums, but not the local soldiers) Mr. Coward got another scorching from the London press for his broadcast charges that a British army's sufferings in Burma were “forgotten” because London papers neglected them for local trivia. ’ Mr. Coward certainly wouldn't have incurred the oddly assorted wrath. of Fleet st. and Flatbush if he, like many of his colleagues, had not forsaken the make-believe world where he found fame and fortune for the realistic world of war. He went out to entertain the front-line soldiers. So have dozen of other stars. ‘Their motives have been generaly admirable, and the results likewise, The trouble begins when they return,

o An Oracle Is Born

WHAT HAPPENS THEN is that the star takes himself seriously, or else the public takes him seriously. It's bad either way and worse when both things happen, In any event the star is likely to emerge in the role of oracle. - He makes speeches and broadcasts which are weighed as if they wére the pronouncements of generals or veteran statesmen. 1t really isn't the star's fault. He remembers that he is famous, but forgets that he got that way speaking some other person's words and projecting imaginary emotions. But now he’s on his own. Then the more thoughtful star may realize, too late, that there is a sort of art to simple public utterance. He or she discovers that the ability to look well in a sweater or cause growing girls to swoon doesn't necessarily qualify one as an expert on world affairs, or help one to check facts or ponder -the eventual repercussion of a hasty phrase. We're all in favor of actors and playwrights with public spirit and political - consciousness. But they out to realize that their new endeavors will be judged by their old accomplishments. The jump from the stage to the rostrum isn't so hard. But when it comes to transferring their talent from the one to the other, Intact—well, they might pause and reflect on the possibility that, in the words of playwrights George Rautman and Moss Hart, “You Can't Take It With ou”

WORLD AFFAIRS—

German Collapse By William Philip Simms

WASHINGTON, Nov. 27.— When Germany cracks—as allied observers here believe she must before many months—she will almost certainly fall apart like the wonderful one-horse shay, suddenly and completely. Dynamite does not explode gradually, It is so many harm-less-looking sticks one moment and the next it cuts loose with a bang. Germany behaved that way in 1918 and the chances are she will do it again. Then, as now, the German high command knew when the tide had turned. Marshal Von Hindenburg saw disaster coming as early as July. But despite a comparatively free press, the bad news was kept from the German public until just before the armistice. The generals-kept hoping for

a miracle or a negotiated peace. )

Germans Have Pistols at Their Heads

GEN. GRONER was appointed quartermaster general to succeed Ludendorfl on Oct. 25. He arrived at the front on Nov. 1. Five days later as he hurried back to Berlin to report’ to” the Kaiser, he narrowly escaped capture by revolutionaries. That was on the

night of Nov. 6, just two days before the flight of the King of Bavaria and three days before the fall of the German Emperor, the Kings of Wurttemberg and Saxe-Weimar, the Dukes of Brunswick and Anhalt and the lesser princes. After the Normandy break-through, there was a widespread feeling that when the allies reached the frontier, Germany would crack up in much the same way. Her failure to do so is attributed to Himmler's army of terrorists. Neither the soldiers nor the people dare surrender. is fighting or working with a pistol at his head. But Himmler's gestapo isn't the only terror at work on the German people. The ring around the Reich is drawing tighter every hour. And into this narrowing circle, day and hight, thousands of bombers are dropping their lethal loads, burning and blasting the country.into a rubble-heap.

J People Are Asking Questions ALREADY THERE are rumblings of unrest. At

complished in a short time.” ’ ” ” ~ n s » BEFORE THAT allied land invasion of Japan, for which Tokyo bombing and the Philippines offensive are prepara- .* tion, we must take Eastern China as a base. This has been i explained by Adm. Nimitz. It was re-emphasized Friday by our new China commander, Maj. Gen. Wedemeyer. . | For that reason the long Chinese retreat has tended to offset the Nimitz-MacArthur successes in the Far Pacific, and the opening of two Superfortress routes to Japan. Hence the importance of the latest announcement by Gen. Wedemeyer, who replaced thé able Stilwell when the latter | was made the victim of Chinese politics. Wedemeyer says | Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek has accepted the American | strategic plan for the Chinese army, and that the new war | minister, Gen. Chen, is co-operating. That, indeed, is good | news, : ~

WILLFUL MEN “T"HE German has to be hit with everything we've got. o 1 want, more supplies than we are getting... . To get peace we've got to fight like hell for it.” ‘Thus spoke Gen. ‘Eisenhower, And even as he was speaking, East Coast truckmen were saying that cannon, rifles and bayonets—supplies that the general wants—were heing held back from ports of embarkation. fi : Why the tieup? Because of a truckers’ strike in Boston. And why were they striking? Because of a squabble | within the union over an election of officers. a Thus a “little group of willful men” can delay victory {and cost lives. Incidentally, they can also give responsible labor a black eye. And for that reason, if no other; it

to which-the truckers belong, follow the example of A to Workers’ union and at least :

Al L Eo " fo ia

| layed day of victory.

| soil,

would seem appropriate that the A. F. of L. Teamsters’| 1

Cologne, Vienna, Munich and elsewhere, according

| to reports via neutral nations, people are beginning to

ask why the “hopeless” war is being prolonged. Hitler has disappeared from public view. So has Goering

rand others. Only Himmler, Goebbels and the gestapo

are heard of as they whip the desperate Germans into line, Sooner or later the terrific pressure which the allies are bringing to bear will outweigh the terror inflicced by Himmler. One of these days, having stood all the bombs and other terrors of war they can endure, the German- people will blow up, like dynamite, all over the nation as in 1918. Meanwhile, united nations circles are finding a certain grim compensation while waiting for the deSome had actually feared the Nazis would throw up the sponge when the allies reached the frontier. Had that happened, Germany might have again escaped the horrors of war ‘on her And that is -a’lesson many here feel is needed if she is to bé discouraged from starting another war. She has flattened out other countries with her war Juggernaut, so it is high time that her cities, towns and countrysides feel what i¢ is like.

$ & .

So They Say— ;

- BRITAIN WILL need a bigger, more active foreign trade just as we ‘will, but the more competitive it is,

J the better it will be for both England and the United |

States.—~Maury Maverick, chairman Smaller War Plants Corp. : ‘

* LIBERTY, IS a heady wine. We haye been so de-

prived of it for four years that I fear we have become unaccustomed to it. In our and posters let us talk less of liberty and let us heed more in practice the obligations it Thataud, member

French academy. Daa

Food |

peril:

What put us in this thankful

Almost literally each individual |

Frhnming the Wick of the Lig

i Zr

4 : ? ht of Asia

oi 4 ) F oA FT H 4 Pe ] h '

The Hoosier Forum

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

“ALL-IMPORTANT YARDSTICK” By J. M. L., Indianapelis. After the discussion on compulsory military training at his press and radio conference of last Friday, the President was reported by a newscaster as having said that cooking and carpentry: were

the army used them. If the President thus indicated that the courses of instruction would be limited to the skills used by the armed forces, then that phase of the debate can be closed; for the war and navy departments can be trusted to supply courses, numerous enough to completely fill a year of service, and in skills used enough by the armed forces to be considered military training. Such a yard-stick is also a protection against the kind of compulsory federal education which would expose future generations to youth control, as that evil exists in the dictatorships, and further, it correctly measures legislative authority. Congress has no power to assemble the youth in camp or school for any other purpose than to train them for service in the armed forces. The Constitution authorizes congress to raise and support armies and to provide and maintain a navy. It grants no powers to compel any other kind of national service, The Gurney-Wadsworth bill,

“upon attaining the age of 18 years, or within three years thereafter, be subject to military or naval training, and shall be inducted into the army or navy of the United States, for this purpose alone, for a period of one {year,” contains the all-important | yard-stick.

. a =»

| “MOST ONLY WANT TO FINISH THE JOB” By J. J. A, Indianapolis. “ Nothing in this war shows the strength of this nation more than what the women are doing in the war work. From what I learn it is about the same in all plants, but {I am only familiar with the Allison plant, where women from the average Home, with no previous expe-

not usually ‘considered military, yet|

which provides. that males shall]

(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 responsibility for the return of maruscripts and cannot enter cor‘respondence regarding them.)

rience in such work, have performed a production miracle in helping build engines for airplanes. This complicated ‘ engine has to be built as accurately as a fine watch or its tremendous power will tear it to pieces if there is any play in its many parts. Some of these women have worked since the plant started, yet ‘at the same time they have managed in some way to care for their homes and families, Nothing in the history of the pioneer mothers who helped build this nation surpasses what this great army of skilfull hard-working women are doing to produce the tools to save it. And there is no problem of competition with men when it is over, for most of them only want to finish the job as soon as possible and get back to their homes, * ” n .

“LET'S CONTROL WARS AT THE SOURCE” By D. B., Indianapolis. Everyone knows the saying, “Hell is paved with good intentions.” Let's stop bragging about our good inten-

tions toward our young people andywar shows the nation doesn’t need

DO something really worth while and fundamental toward eliminating the evils now progressively undermining the character and moral strength of youth. We hurl dollars by the billion to mete out death and ° destruction through war but tess half heartedly mere chicken feed in comparison to

Side Glances=By Galbraith

save the lives, health and good character of youth. : This writer is not usually profane but feels like swearing in several different languages when ® hearing or reading of the wisecracks and laughter of some of our prominent leaders while the youth they send into battle are bleeding, suffering and dying by the thousands far away on a foreign battlefield. Let's have a different attitude toward youth, our most precious possession, If we can spend .billions of dollars plus the blood and sweat and pain and tears of thousands of young Americans because some adults in places of trust were asleep at the switch, let's spend a few millions of money only, in the fundamental interest of all American youth, Let's stop being “hit or miss” and “namby pamby” about our plans for youth. Let's stop merely kicking varioys ideas on the subject about as political footballs, Let's start making the needs of youth the supreme interest of our daily life and our most important study. Let's quit flirting with league of nations plans and get to the heart of the thing by controlling wars at the source, by controlling the strategic resources, factories and transportation necessary to the preparation for war. Let's put an international commission over all invention rights (war inventions), and all strategic war making raw materials known in the world. . » . “MILITARY TRAINING IS UNAVOIDABLE” By Old Sarge, Indianapolis. At a time when all citizens are making an earnest effort to support our President in preparing for the great problems of a post-war world, an eminent ecclesjastic says: “Peacetime conscription is unnecessary”

and that “success of the U. 8. in

it,” the dictates of experience and the best judgment of those best qualified to know, to the contrary notwithstanding, Tbe reverend gentleman states that the building of a reserve of trained men for some future emergency becomes a religious question “in a very real and important sense, since there are more moral hazards connected with military training, hazards that are so evident that they need no emphasis.” As an ex-non com, with an intimate knowledge of the. different services, this statement. from such a source leaves me agape. The real truth is that a man in any of the U. 8. services is subjected to moral hazards no greater or different from those encountered in everyday civil life. Of course, the army or navy Is no place for the coddled, effeminate

Basic Project By Thomas L. Stokes

: | WASHINGTON, Nov. . 21.—A basic project in .which ‘lots of persons have interested them. © selves and in which a lot more should become interested—in. cluding the people themselves—is that of making democracy work. It is a continuing problem, for democracy is constantly under test. It involves two aspects which head up here in Washington, One is the growing bureaucracy which was stressed so heavily in the political came paign. There has been much agitation since then for a’ remedy—for reorganization and consolidation of the manifold agencies which have been piled, one on top of another, and one beside another, sqme relating to the same general function. The will of the people often gets lost in this tangled forest, Another phase of this general efficiency problem is disclosed in the oft-repeated suggestion that Presi. dent Roosevelt do a little reorganizing, and a little weeding out, in his cabinet which presides over this tangle. Nothing has been done about this yet, though there is always hope, ?

Congress Is at a Disadvantage

BUT SOMETHING is being done about .the general problem of making democracy work, which is to modernize congress so that it can perform properly its function. Congress is at a disadvantage in dealing with the bureaucracy. IL lacks sufficient expert staff to inform itself so that it can check on the multifold government agencies, Then, too, congress has some practices which have come down through the years and it has gathered some encrustations of tradition that hamper it. There is, for example, the seniority rule which often per. mits incapable men to succeed to committee chair manships and positions of leadership merely by sitting still and waiting for Old Man Time to boost them to the top. It is this rule which gives the South such a grip on congress, often to its detriment, for there it 1s easiest for members to get elected and re-elected under the one-party system. : ;

Hard to Break Special Prerogatives:

ANOTHER PRACTICE is the creation of additional committees with over-lapping functions. This always gives an enterprising fellow a chance to become com mittee chairman, with the ‘prestige and newspaper space which that, affords. A pruning and merging operation is needed here. J It is hard to break into these'special prerogatives for the obvious human reasons, Hope for doing something about congress is offered in a resolution which already has passed the senate and which is to be taken up Wednesday before the house rules committee, which gives such matters clearance. : ; : This resolution, sponsored by Representative Monroney (D. Okla.), one of the abler young house meme bers, provides for a study by a special committee into all these matters—additional expert help for come mittees, consolidation of committees, the seniority rule, and the like,

IN WASHINGTON—

Overseas Mystery By S. Burton Heath

WASHINGTON, Nov. 27.—One Washington newspaperman became so exasperated about the Great Cigaret Mystery that he made 121 telephone calls, mostly to government agencies, in an ate tempt to get the real facts. I'm going to dwell foday on what he was told about exports, largely to service men, because this illustrates why it seems ime possible to find out what is hap- . pening. During July, August and September, this inquisitive reporter was told, the army shipped overseas 609,435,600 packs of cigarets. The Red Cross bought 55,331,00 packs for kit bags, service men overseas, service patients in hospitals on both sides, and prisoners of war, Multiply each of these by four it would appear that the army and the Red Cross together are using 2,650, 066,400 packs this year, mostly but not exclusively overseas. ’ The navy estimated a round figure of 800,000,000 packs for its personnel outside the United States. Add these together, and you don't need the Eine stein theory, or even integral calculus to figure that about 3,459,066,400 packs are being taken off the civil. fan market this year for the use of soldiers, sailors, marines, WAC, Waves, Spars, nurses, seabees officers and gentlemen in uniform, ' This would give each service man and woman 38 cigarets a day, the year around, if there are five millions among whom to divide them. It is doubtful if the average G.I. smokes that many, or gets them to smoke. Tey ; :

Probably There's a Backlog in Transit

BUT IT should be remembered that these smokes have to travel long sea lanes in competition with other essential supplies and materiel, and then go through a complicated distribution routine, so. that

there probably is a huge backlog in transit and in process of distribution at all times. (Editor's Note: You're going great, Mr. Heath, but dispatches from Paris say there aren't any American cigarets in Eugope, either.) In addition to these service'supplies for Ameri. cans, lend-lease sent 180,000,000 packs overseas for British fighting men through Sept. 20. This is at the rate of 20. millions a month or 240 millions for the year. And our persevering reporter assumed, ire the absence of contrary evidence, that exports for cash, to friendly nations, will be tne same this year as last year's 133,518,600 packs, J : Now add everything—shipments to our own serve ice people, to Britain under lend-lease, to foreign pure chasers for cash, The drain on manufacturers’ out put would appear to total 3,832,585,000 this year, But the office of war information, on the basis of data from the war foods administrations

4,500,000,000 packs will go abroad this year.

That 1s 757415000 more than the inquiring ree porter can account for, Where are they going? Who knows?

It Sees a Few Packs Are Missing _

H. Van Cles

Four Indian their commiss CLYDE AK. of Mrs. Flava Guilford ave. E. DAVIS, son Davis, 5804 W

HARRY M.-

Mrs, Amy B. graduated as Selman field, WILKERSON EB. G. Wilkersc

~ graduated as

the bombardi Midland arm}

T. Washbur

THURSMA BURN JR,

home on Ile from the Urn navy radio sc Mrs, Thurms 6421 W. Mon Camp Bradfc ous training. WALLACE cist’s mate 1 the U. 8. nav wa, Ia, afte leave with | Mrs. W. E | Beech Grove. in the South

A. Senefe! ARNOLD J of Mrs. Patr Alabama st. to lieutenant force in Nor tive officer o received thi wounds suffe JAMES E. ter, Mrs. Art Detroit st., staff sergean

EB. Weipe EDWARD College ave, guard-manne troops and s Philippines.

‘DONALD 1 2-¢c in the chow for his guard-mann Southwest P band of Mrs N. Chester