Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 December 1944 — Page 14

The Indianapolis. Times

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| REFLECTIONS —

PAGE 14 Tuesday, December 19, 1944

MARK FERRER

ALTER LECKRONE Business Manager

w Editor (A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

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" ROY W, HOWARD President

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Give Light and the People Will Find Ther Own Way

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INVESTIGATION—OR SMEAR? (2.

E were the first to urge a thorough and impartial’ in- « vestigation of the charges of fraud which followed the November elections here. We still advocate such an investigation. The proceedings of the senate committee "currently sitting in town appear to be neither thorough nor impartial. The gentlemen of the senate majority found nothing to disturb them in the notoriously boss-ridden elections in Jersey City or Memphis or Chicago. They saw no cause for inquiry into the disfranchisement of a few million “Negro citizens in the Solid South. They were quite unimpressed by the sensational reports from Arkansas and elsewhere, All those bailiwicks had voted solidly Fourth Term. But Indiana had not. Hoosiers had turned in a whopping plurality against the New Deal. So out to Indiana comes a subcommittee, composed, impartially, of two Democrats and an anti-Dewey Republican, loaded for elephants. Their “investigators” arrived well in advance and regaled us with fanciful tales of spies who watched them, of peep-holes drilled in hotel doors and jimmy marks on the hinges, all dating, it turned out, from the late Coolidge, or early Hoover, period. By the time the august senators themselves reached town yesterday the community had pretty well appraised the “investigation” as an irresponsible and wholly partisan smear campaign. The senators themselves did little to dispel that impression. It had become apparent by the. close of the first day’s hearing that whatever the facts involved this committee was unlikely to discover them even if it wanted to, which at times appeared doubtful. These have been serious charges—some of them by responsible individuals. They should be probed, clear down to the last ballot, and if there.is guilt it should be punished, no matter where it falls, Loose talk and wild insinuation, even from United States senators, is not the answer.

"THE SENATE IS SUSPICIOUS

HE senate should act at once on the President's nominations for a new under secretary and five assistant secretaries of state. Of all conceivable times this is the worst for a filibuster, The President and Secretary Stettinius face a grave situation in allied relations. Post-war political and economic problems, including allied agreement on the nature of the peace settlements and of an international security organization, are in the balance. That the state department should be crippled by lack of permanent executives under these circumstances is unthinkable.

If the senate decides to reject the nominations, it should act promptly so that other nominations can be made and passed upon with a minimum of delay. We stress this need for speed in the national interest although we share the senate’s uncertainty regarding American foreign policy, because of the President's secret diplomacy and one-man policy operation. Though a small conservative group of senators objects to some of the nominees, and a small New Deal group objects to other nomiriees, there would be no possibility of a filibuster except for the general uncertainty of the senate and of the country regarding administration policy. . ” . ~ » . ° DEPARTURE of Secretary Hull, for reasons of healt and age, has increased the uncertainty. The public trusted him, and the congress relied upon him as upon no other man in the administration, He worked closely with congressional committees and Republican leaders. Secretary Stettinius, though well-liked and desirous of continuing this technique, lacks the Hull prestige. The senate’s attitude toward these Roosevelt nominations, in which even the New Dealers are in defiant mood, is'a warning to the President. In this, as in domestic matters, congress is throwing off its White House yoke and asserting the co-equal responsibility and power of the legislative branch. Co-operation on foreign policy, so desperately needed now, depends chiefly on Mr. Roosevelt working much more closely with the senate and allowing Secretary Stettinius to do the same. Meanwhile, the senate should co-operate by acting promptly on state department nominations.

REAL SECURITY IS THE AIM HE President was wise in agreeing to the one-year freeze of the social security tax and in calling on congress to evolve a long-term tax plan to finance the benefits, present and prospective, under our social security system. A knock-down fight in congress over whether to sustain or override a tax-freeze veto would have served no good purpose at the fag end of this lame-duck session. On the promises of both Democrats and Republicans, congress ‘n | the next session is committed to extension of old-age in. | surance to some 20 million Americans not now enjoying that protection. That, as the President points out, will be a good time to come to a ‘clear understanding of the government’s financial responsibilities for social security” and to lay whatever taxes will be necessary, , ~The socie' ~curity fund, represented by government l. 0. Us, is uu.sle to meet all old-age payments contemplated in the next few years. But the payments will increase rapidly as an ever-larger number of beneficiaries retire from active work, and it will be up to congress to make sure the fund is always ample to meet these expanding obligations. And, since the long-range aim is real security, “and not just paper promises, it will ‘also be up to congress to make sure that the government's I. 0. Us are paid off on schedule, Which will bring into consideration the govaa ¥ whole post-war fiscal program, and the need for |

and Mexico, 87 cents a |}

Looking Backward By G. B. Parker

the cigaret has achieved im our times. . The writer goes nostalgic—back to the small and puritanical Mich= igan village where he spent the first 18 years of his life. In his high school days he learned to smoke, But not cigarets. Rather, cigars. And the first cigar, puffed while riding home in a swaying buggy from a Sunday school picnic, made him so sick that he swore off; that is, until the next cigar, which was arrived at through the hardening-up process of corn silk and buggy-whip. The cigaret then was regarded as the lowest form of vice. He who dared smoke one was ostracized, period. In fact, smoking of any kind was frowned upon by the moral leaders of our town, but the cigar and pipe were tolegated,” under protest, as were chewing tobacco and snuff, '

You Would Hear Plenty From the Preacher

YOU COULD get into church if you smoked a cigar or a pipe. Though you would hear plenty from the preacher .about the evil weed during the two hours in which he held forth, and your non-smoking neighbor in the pew would take occasion to look, and sniff, askance. ‘ The legend was that cigarets, the “boughten” kind, which meant rolled and packaged for sale, were the product of an agent of the devil who hired men and boys to comb the gutters for cigar butts. These, it seems, were then processed into what were sold surreptitiously to those rare persons who dared face a public opinion that rated them somewhat lower than the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah. "80 those who smoked, and still retained a shred of respectability, smoked cigars or pipes. Many years passed before the roll-your-own type (in which might be described as the Bull DurhamDuke's Mixture era) began to be reluctantly tolerated. Several states in the meantime had passed laws against cigarets, commonly referred to as coffin nails, regardless of kind.

'Cigarets Suddenly Became Respectable’

IT WASN'T until world war I that cigarets sud-" denly became respectable. The boys in the trenches wanted them, and home-front inhibitions vanished. It was a sad time for the anti-cigaret reformers, but, curjously, and as a moralistic offset, it coincided with the the prohibition of liquor. Since then, the “boughten” cigaret has been on its own. The old wheeze has died, about how there was enough poison in one cigaret paper to kill a dog; died along with the one about cigar butts in the gutter being the source of raw material, But now, so far as cigarets are concerned, we are about back where we started from. Not for moral reasons, but for the very practical one that, in the words of Ethel Barrymore, “That's all there is, there isn't any more.” The American Indian, and Sir Walter Raleigh, certainly started something.

’

WORLD AFFAIRS—

Polish Sellout

By William Philip Simms

(Continued From Page One)

laid his cards on the table. As plainly as words can make it. He told commons that the President is aware of everything that has passed and of what is in the minds of the Russians and of the British. Ambassador Harriman sat in on the Polish talks between Churchill and Stalin in Moscow, and London has taken pains to keep Washington informed : throughout. The President, therefore cannot say he didn't know. The prime minister was “particularly careful not to pretend to peak in the name of any other power.” But he added that “all I can say is that I have received no informal disagreement during all these long months upon the way in which the future of Poland . . is being shaped.” That puts the issue squarely up to the President. Whether Britain and America like it or not, Russia is, now ready to dispose of Poland as indicated at Tehran, If he can help it Mr. Churchill does not intend to shoulder all the blame for the Polish sellout. Quite naturally he wants Mr. Roosevelt to share it with him. In fairness to both, however, there is reason to believe that, as a practical matter, neither had any f®asonable option. Marshal Stalin is presumed to have told them bluntly what he wanted. They had to give in or wreck their hopes for a continuation of the grand alliance. Which, of course, does not make what is now happening any more palatable.

'Poland of 1939 Already Is Dead’

BUT REGARDLESS of who was to blame, the territorial entity of 1939 Poland already is dead. There is nothing London or Washington can do to bring it back to life. The one thing still in doubt is whether or not what is left of Poland will be free. “Since the British and American governments have committed themselved to the Curzon line," observed the London Economist, (one of Information Minister Brendan Bracken's publications), “it is obviously in the Pole's best interest . . . to accept it. “This does not condone the earlier allied decision. To accept the Curzon line at Tehran without con_cessions or modifications was weak, inconsistent and premature. “It would certainly have been more just and reasonable if the President and ‘prime minister had continued to support the Russo-Polish agreement of 1041, according to~ which frontier issues were to be postponed until after the war.

'Inequity of Russia's Procedure’

“THEY HAVE NOT done so. The question at issue now, therefore, is not the rightness or the wrongness of thejline, nor even the manifest inequity of Russia's procedure. The question is whether there is to be ne quid pro quo for this tremendous concession.” The price which Roosevelt and Churchill should now demand of Stalin, the economist said, is Polish Independence within the shrunken frontiers imposed upon her. . - “It is now Marshal Stalin's turn,” it concluded, “to show that he is prepared to put something into the comon: pool of allied concession and good will.” But even that is problematica', All signs indicate that Moscow will soon transfer to Warsaw the puppet “government” at Lublin, in which case the last flickering spark of Polish independence would fade away,

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So They Say—

around the 50's to appreciate fullythe importance and the dignity -

the Three Wise Men?

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The Hoosier Forum

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

“IT'S EITHER KILL OR BE KILLED” By Ronald Breece, New Palestine

Mrs. Laura A. Allen would like to know why we should train our boys to fight when we want to disarm Germany. I can answer that for her in very few words which she should already know. We of the U. 8. A. are and have been lovers of peace and always will be, but there is always someone with a chip on her shoulder as Germany has had for the last 40 years. She started the last fight and lost and she still has that chip on her shoulder, 80 has Japan. 8he caught us unawares this time and we were not wholly prepared to face it. So what if after the war we should discontinue military training of our boys and discard our’arms? The United States would soon be under the rule of another “glory hunting” country, Our boys know how to live in peace with other countries. It's that other countries don't know how to live in peace with us. For us, it's either kill or be killed. I hope that answers your question, Mrs. Allen. : ’ » - ” “NO LONGER MASTERS OF QUR OWN FATE” By Earl B. Teckemeyer, 130 N. Delaware st. Indiana, like many another socalled Republican state, is caught in the vicious grip of paternalism. We are, IT fear, Republican in name only, We are no longer the masters of our own fate,

Beginning in about 1936 the government began to offer to all states the grant-in-aid scheme. This was nothing more than an ill-disguised program of hdnding- out federal funds to any state or unit of gove ernment in return for which said unit agreed to and did surrender partial control of ita affairs. This subtle but none-the-less .powerful form of paternalism has now grown to the point where regardless of who is in office the plans, programs and policies of outgoing adminis. trations must be continued lest the flow of federal funds be suddenly canceled.

(Times readers are invited to express their views jn 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 manuscripts and cannot enter correspondence regarding them.)

does this really’ amount to in Indiana? Here is just a part of the story for the fiscal year ending in 1943. It is amazing. Vocational education Vocational rehabilitation. Highways .......... Forestry and wild life. ... State board of health.... Maternal and child care (1944) . . Public welfare Unemployment compensation: Administration Benefits .............. 3,800,000 National defense training 2,800,000 Vocational education (Purdue) 886,000 Right here in Indiana the federal government, as can be seen, has its finger in our schools, our health and welfare programs, our state

... § 532,000 69,000

50,000 410,000

700,000 14,000,000

. 1,064,000

parks, state colleges, highways, ete.|

Our administrators since 1936 have built our state programs around this easy-money program to the point that, though they are now out of office, their successors will find it difficult, if not impossible, to administer “their offices without having to submit to the control and dictation which paternalism always brings in its wake, In many instances greater efficiency could be achieved in many state departments and functions if

No administrator dares | we were free to act but we are not. to face that disaster regardless of Washington still holds the purse what must be agreed to and ac- strings and while we might forego "MAYBE HE cepted to keep the funds coming in. federal contributions our people WAS RIGHT" Let's take a lock at the facts; what' would still have to pay their federal By T. W. Lioyd, Indianapolis

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000,000 homes to be constructed and an untold addi | tional number in Russia. —Maury Maverick, chairman

Smaller War Plants Coip. : ; . .

owing business. enterprise from which abun- |, |

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IN WESTERN Eurcpe there's an estimated 40-

“Don't buy father anyihing ¥ ne hot

Side Glances=By Galbraith

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3,500,000 |

taxes which ‘would be grossly unfair, o n » “CHILDREN SHOULD BE TAUGHT PEACE” By E. 8., Indianapolis I agree with P. H. 8. in the Forum of Dec. 11 in regard to peace military training. I also agree that children should be taught at an edtly age the way of peace, but look what we have fn our store counters, toy machines of death, tanks, guns, toy bombers, influence little childrén to kill and murder. Good for nothing but kindling wood. As far as peace under the capitalist profit system, who would have the guts to say that under capitalism we could have a garden of Eden on earth like the Bible tells us in the book of Revelations. Impossible, isn’t it? Oh yes, most of you will say, look at socialist Russia! Russia is not socialist, it's state capitalism, the cream to the state, the crumbs to the workers. Wesley C. Mitchell, in New York Times research national [bureau of economic research, discusses some problems confronting post-war capitalism. Their tenor | could scarcely be such as optimistic. The test that will come, writes Mr. Mitchell, will be hard to pass after extraordinary post-war demands have been satisfied and our business settles down to supplying the continuously recurring demands of long stretch of peace. Can we then retain a high level of employment year in and year out? Experience says NO. We must look forward to an {indefinite series of cyclical depres- | sions, some relatively mild, some drastic. But grieve not, dear read(er, Mr. Mitchell does not. Granted that they (depressions) bring heavy financial losses and hardships to millions of families, he says, may we not think of them as a moderate price to pay for the progressiveness of free enterprise? You may think s0, Mr: Mitchell, I do not. The socalled progressiveness of free enterprise is in-the form of a cow's tail, downward, and its preservation is not worth the life of one under7ourished child.

In this controversy about the old age relief, there is a group who persistently try to arrogate their posi- | tion before the people as “the tax- | payers.” | Now let us have it understood that we are all taxpayers. Rich and poor alike The poor man who per | forms useful labor is just as much a taxpayer as the rich man, The tax duplicate doesn’t tell the whole story. Sometimes a very small part . Then if economy is so inequitable that it is necessary to pay large pensions and social security to high wage employees, and guar-

* POLITICAL SCENE—

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On Defensive

By Thomas L. Stokes

(Continued Fram Page One) . AN EXERCISE of leadership by President Roosevelt, with a re-

tions and our policy. An explanation by President Roosevelt of Mr. Churchill's confident statement that the President was fully aware of the Polish decision. Since it seems to be in conflict with Mr. Roosevelt's campaign utterances. * A meeting as early as possible among the President, Mr. Churchill and Marshal Stalin to get some common under= standing on palicy for liberated countries before disillusionment sets in here in the United States, where isolationists are eagerly waiting to capitalize upon the familiar, “we told you so.” President Roosevelt has been silent too long, it is felt here. There was, a few days ago, the outcry from Secretary of State Stettinius on Italy and Greece. The reassertion of our traditional pelicy of non-ine terference with the form of governments in Europe, which did not quite meet the practical situation, and then subsidence into a quiet that was exploded with Mr. Churchill's speech.

The Senate Must Ratify Treaties

THESE DEVELOPMENTS have contributed to the senate’s restiveness and the senate is important because it finally must ratify any treaties for post-war European adjustments. This discontent in the senate, in its inception, was related to the European develop ments which have transpired since the uneasiness first showed itself. For it was stirred up originally over the basie attitude of some of the men President Roosevelt has appointed to the assistant secretariat — that is, whether they were the sort who woulgy acquiesce in just such arrangements are as seemingly now being worked out, or whether they would be bold in pushing for the’ American ideal of what even Secretary Stettinius now calls “a people's peace.” During the questioning, Senator Pepper (D. Fla.) —He is among the: four who later demanded that

President Roosevelt withdraw all-the nominations— ~

raised this very question. He asked one of the appointees, James Clement Dunn, whether such are rangements should be made before the projected ine ternational peace organization was set ‘up. The reply of Mr. Dunn, as it is at the state department, is that nothing should be done contrary to the principles of that organization. He said also that changes could pe made later by the erganization if it did not approve. But is this so easy? . There is about Washington, at any rate, a feeling of uncertainty, of uneasiness, a feeling that our government is sort of groping around without any stable policy that it can tie to, or can ask the Amer« ican people to tie to.

Stresses Danger of Disunity

MR. CHURCHILL, in his speech to the house of commons, expressed confidence that this country would bear in mind “the practical aspects” of all these matters and stressed how the failure of the three great powers to work together might damage hopes for the future structure of a world government, There are practical considerations. The war, as a matter of fact, lagged behind the liberation; that is, the United Nations are confronted now, in the midst of the war, with complex problems in a number of spots which it was believed some months ago would not become so pressing that they could not await the peace conferences, when they could be adjusted with cara.and deliberation. Granting that is so, why can't President Roosevelt publicly take cognizance of this situation, explain it frankly te the American people, and depend ‘upon their good sense to withhold hasty judgments. He must be aware, knowing the idealistic nature of the American people, which he has:so often encouraged, that a great deal is at stake as regards the future.

IN WASHING TON—

Overseas Story By Charles T. Lucey

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19.—Newsg ‘reports from France that the office of war information has muffed the job of telling America’s war story have been challenged by OWI Director Elmer Davis, but they're likely to stir up a new row about the effectiveness of U. 8. overseas propaganda. Few government agencies have been more roundly criticized than OWI, but Mr. Davis and his associates have been able to cone vince congress of their sincerity and ability to do a job they conceived as highly important, This year OWI is receiving about $55,000,000 for overseas operations. Stories are coming from France that neither OWI nor any government “agency is really reaching the French people, who have little notion of the United States’ huge contribution to the war. Experienced reporters have sald Uncle Sam is amateurish in the business of building good will. It’s said that the U. 8. has been weak in counteracting German propaganda in Prance.

U. S. Broadcasts From London

A PROPOSAL has been made that the United States should get on the Paris radio to get its true war story across, But, counters Mr. Davis, OWI already is sending several hours of standard wave broadcast programs into France daily through ABSE-—American Broad. casting Station in Europe, located in England. It also is broadcasting by shortwave into France from New York. He said he understood the French radio still is considerably disorganized-that, in fact, the

French had asked for time on ABSE to broadcast into

France. . Newspaper material also is being sént. to France, though the paper shortage there is so severe that there's not much space for publishing U. 8. material. But the OWI boss said the agency is strong on sending in textual matter—important speeches, for example—which ‘would serve editorial writers of the

Mr. Davis said, in addition to French help. Mr. Davis said he was sure OWI is getting the material into France, but appeared less sure as to how effective this material is. “You can’t make a man listen to one of our broad.

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