Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 January 1945 — Page 16

WALTER LECKRONE HENRY WwW. MANZ Editor Business Manager

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RILEY 5551

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

WALLACE—AND INDIAN NAPOLIS

ONFIRMATION of Henry Wallace as successor to Jesse Jones would place him, as Roger Budrow points out in yesterday's Times, in financial control of some $450 millions worth of Indiana industry—industry upon which many thousands of jobs depend today, and upon which the postwar prosperity of this whole state may depend tomorrow. That brings us a brand new conception of Mr. Wallace. We have watched him through the New Deal years throwing boomerangs in Rock Creek par k, and studiously learning how to tell fortunes by the stars. We have seen him wallowing on the floor of a hotel lobby with a photographer who had a snap-shot he wanted, and racing through the crowded streets of New York with the policemen assigned to guard him in amazed pursuit. We have heard him urging that we ought to modify our constitution so our government would be more like the “industrial democracy of Russia,” whatever that is, and we have listened to his “plans to turn Uncle Sam into an international Uncle Santa Claus. We have never seen him do, or heard him say, anything that might remotely indicate any qualification for being the biggest banker or the biggest businessman, or both, in Indianapolis—although in the proposed ‘new job that would be just one tiny little part of his empire. 2 2 ON THE CONTRARY, Mr. Wallace has qualified most admirably as a dreamer, a social experimenter, an idealist, if you will, sincere if occasionally naive. No discredit in that. = There's a big place for idealists in our far-from-perfect world. But not in the banking business. You know the idealists amd the dreamers in our town. And you also know the bankers. Maybe you like the idealists better than you like the bankers. But you wouldn't deposit your money with them. A banker has to be a man who deals in cold hard facts—in things as they are. Mr. Wallace just isn’t such a man. That's why the banking and the industry and the business of the nation universally fear and distrust him—and we seem to recall that the farmers whose little pigs he slaughtered and whose corn he plowed under, felt the same way about him after he had been secretary of agriculture {or a few years.

s ® # =

~

} REFLECTIONS—

~The Army Conse

By- Joe Williams

@

> NEW YORK, Jan. 25.—Perhaps Bh nothing Butch LaGuardia can do about .it despite his immense authority which seems to extend even into milady’s kitchen, but it is my painful duty to report that a certain amount of gambling goes on among the G. 1s. Whether they are to be “cataloged as chislers, tin horns and punks is a matter I discreetly leave to his - honor. In an event, I am indebted to Sgt. Kail Peterson via the CBI Round Up for an illuminating report on a situation which, even in the midst of massive battles, would: seem to suggest that human nature is still human nature. The sergeant writes: “The sundry and various forms of wagering on the erratic. behavior of a deck of cards or a pair of dice, as practiced in America’s armed forces, comprise a peculiar institution. “Among the members of the highest paid army in the world the potent virus of ‘get rich quick’ operates the same as elsewhere, resulting in a traditional gathering of the clans on the last day of each month, and irregularly between times, to determine which G. L's shall be flush and which ones flushed for the remainder of the pay period.

Involved Set of Traditions

“ARMY REGULATIONS have little to say on the subject of gambling, barely recognizing its existence by barring it on army transports, in service clubs and P-X's and for those officers entrusted with funds for disbursemerit. Gaming, therefore, is carried on under an involved set of traditions and unwritten rules. “To be strictly official, an army poker or black jack game should be played on a G. I. blanket, although which direction the ‘U. 8. inscription should face is not prescribed. All sorts of locales can be and have been used: Bunks, barracks, floors, tops of shipping crates, foot lockers, the rear ends of 6x6 trucks and, rarely, tables. Crap games have, if possible, even less environmental limitations, and are liable to bfeak out unexpectedly in the most amazing places. “A Pullman washroom on a troop train is one

with floor space will do.

Some Exotic Variations

seven-card stud, such. exotic variations as ‘baseball’ | ‘spit in the ocean,’ ‘two-card stud,’ and ‘high- low | split, many of them involving ‘wild’ cards to the | point where if is idle to bet on anything short of | four-of-a-kind. G. I. poker also leans heavily ort! sudden whimsical gestures such as ‘burning’ or tossing | out the top card before dealing, or calling for a cut of the deck at odd moments. “Soldier card fiends play them close to their belt and indulge in the practice of ‘squeezing’ their cards, | fanning out their hands with agonizing slowness, and | reading the markings in the corners of the pasteboards | as they creep into view. This gives rise to the hoary | jest by disappointed ‘squeezers' that ‘those fours sure look like aces’ which is indeed the case as they Peep | forth.

known as ‘sand-bagging’ is a sure fire formula for

The senate should turn him down. We hope in the interest of Indiana’s industrial future—and in the interest of the jobs Indiana’s workers must have—that Indiana's | two senators will vote “NO” on Henry Wallace.

MR. TECKEMEYER’S REPLY

REP EARL B. TECKEMEYER, chairman of the Indiana welfare investigation commission, has taken exception | : to our interpretation of the commission’s report in an editorial, “A Step Backward,” published Monday. v1 ~~ In this editorial, which opposed the passage of Senate Bill 76, we stated: “This bill is designed to put into effect the recommendation of the Indiana welfare investigation commission that the board of parole review be abolished. As we pointed out at the time the report was published, this step would return the supervision of paroles to the individual penal and correctional institutions.” “This is exactly what our commission did not recommend,” writes Mr. Teckemeyer. “Your wires are crossed.” As proof of his statement Mr. Teckemeyer underlines | the following passage in the commissjon repori: “The commission is in accord with the present system | of having the general supervision of parole in the hands | of a central board divorced from the institutions. It does believe that the parole review board should be | inated, and that the classification system should not be | abandoned. . . "= | 2 = IF THAT were the full text of this passage in the | report, we should stand corrected. However, Mr. Tecke- | meyer does not underline all of the paragraph in question, which reads, in full: “The commission is in accord with the present system | of having the general supervision of parole in the hands | of a central hoard divorced from the institutions, such as the present division of corrections, and does not be- | lieve that the supervision of parole should be returned to the institutions, It does believe that the parole | review board should" be eliminated, and that the classifica- | tion system should not be abandoned, but should be re- | moved from the public welfare department, and the budgets | of the institutions increased in an amount sufficient to | permit them to employ individuals to carry on this work, | the welfare budget to be correspondingly reduced.” | Thus, although the commission does state that it is in accord with the present system of having the supervision of parole in the hands of a.“central board divorced from the institutions,” it recommends in the very next sentence that “the budgets of the institutions be increased to permit them to employ individuals under their own supervision and jurisdiction to carry on this work.” That does not sound like a centralized parole system, As we interpret that, it represents a return to the Sviitorn | which earned for Indiana the condemnation of the Wick- | ersham report. And that is why we oppose Senate Bill 76, and section five of House Bill 33, which would accomplish

the same purpose. That is why we think they should be defeated.

“vo.

- n - » MR. TECKEMEYER adds, “Further S. B. 76 is NOT sponsored by our commission as you state in your editorial.” «+ We are glad to learn that the commission is not responsible for this measure, but to keep the record straight we must point out that our editorial did not say that the bill was sponsored by the Teckemeyer group. Our words were: i “This bill is designed to put into effect the recommenda- ; tion of the Indiana welfare investigation commission that board of re ee be abolished.” ding 8. B. 76 and section five of 1. B.

| East and

losing friends and is nightly frowned on. ‘Sandbagging’ consists of checking or passing up the oppor- | tunity to bet on a powerhouse hand, then raising the | exploratory bets which your less well-fixed opponent | may make. This device would enable one to win more money on a good hand of course, but such bush-whacking in the field of chance 1s not con- | sidered cricket.

Rigid Black Jack Ritual

“EVEN MORE involved than poker is the G. I technique of black jack which in some places be-

likely spot for the dominoes to gallop, but anywhere |

“POKER AS PLAYED by the troops includes, an | addition to the standard forms of draw, five and |

By a Soldier, Stout Field

“In military circles, as in civilian life, the tactic]

(BSA

. He Is F ully Suited” FF, D. R.

ep ps . : PANES. rodent

—EC

Ri —

The Hoosier Forum

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

| “RECKONING | WILL COME”

4 8

Of ‘all the larger cities of these | United States Indianapolis has {gained the-—reputation of being | generally friendly and hospitable, [but since when did the part of town lin which an individual resided be{come a criterion for a right to a |taxi ride? I live on the South side of Indianapolis and make no bones {about it and find it a nice comfmunity but when I tell the ¢ab | drivers that before entering a.cab I | get a very icy and frigid reception. My work with the army necessitates my traveling quite a bit and {when I try to corral a cab at the { Union station and tell them I want {to go to the South side, the cab drivers pucker their faces and mutter to themselves in such a man- | ner as to make one feel that anyone

(Times readers are invifed to express 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 manuscripts and cannot enter correspondence regarding them.)

theirs views

»

who lives on the South side just

| doesn't belong. I have had one cab cOming to them, but I am not for| [to town? You know it's quite a task | drive: say, “Well, it is always my | their participation in what I call to shop with children and I'm sure luck ‘to get someone going South.”|

Well, I gave that cabbie my feelings

on the subject in no uncertain but; Wartime emergency has been made | (town. Well, I do take them with me

This has happened on | possible by the office of defense {as they need clothes, dental care} | becoming more practical,

i polite terms.

ta,be

and all the consideration they have

“selective transportation.” The operation of taxis during the

| comes a rigidly-adhered-to ritual comparable to the gevera] occasions and mow I feel|transportation for thé convenience and a few essentials of -life. most" complex Pagan ceremorly. The déck must be ; that it is no longer necessary

{of the public, .and in order that

shuffled just so, the cut made just so, and the deal |polite and that a few pointed words | traffic conditions on other. modes

be strictly G. I. Some querulous trooper is forever | checking to see if the top card has been properly

are necessary. | The crowning point came yester-|

of transportation facilities might be alleviated. I am quite sure that

burnt and the whole game is played under the gen- | day, Sunday, when I with a party of (the ODT did not specify parts of eral understanding that the game may house a three, and included in the party was|the city to which people might be

slicker. “Players as they tip toe through temptation trying to ease gently toward the all-conquering score of 21 without cracking up, engage in the procedure of ‘sWeating’ the cards, or shuffling them rapidly in the hand from top to bottom. “Occasionally the sweater pauses to peek furtively at his bottom card, searching for the new one which | has just been dealt, to see how he made out. If he | | discovers a card which he already had the process |

a child of 2, tried to get a cab in front of the Greyhound bus ter-| {minal. There were at least half a! dozen cabs sitting there and all of them unoccupied except one. I asked | each of them in turn if he would take us south and they flatly said,| “No, we are going north.” I guess] |they nad predetermined in advance | | “hat they were going north and hell]

| transported. This is a democracy land public services and utilities are open to all who are able to meet]

ithe price.

A day of reckoning will come, and

{perhaps people of this type will

have awakened after it is too late. ” » ” “DON’T LET THEM

is repeated, shuffling the spots off, unti] the happy | | weuldn't prevent them from going {DIE IN VAIN”

or horrible truth at length outs.’ Note to the sergeant: You fellows tune in on | Butch’s broadcast next Sunday. If he doesn't tell | you a thing or several I'll miss my guess.

WORLD AFFAIRS—

The Last Act, But—

By Ludwell Denny

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25.—The amazing speed of the Russian | offensive is surpassed only by the !

hope it raises. Too many Ameri- | on reading that half the | Warsaw and | Berlin was covered in 10 days, |

Side Sy Salrelth

cans, distance between jump to the conclusion that the Nazi capital will fall in another 10 days. Even some of those who realize it is not quite that simple are talking of European victory within a few weeks. Our military carry optimism -to that extreme. Not that there is any disposition: in official quarters to play down the Russian achievement. t is rated. second only -to the allied invasion of France, Unquestionably the Russian sweep into East Prussia and across the Polish plains has shortened the war by months, as it’ undoubtedly could have

men do not

ended the war in 1944 had it been timed with the |

Eisenhower October offensive, So. far the Germans have not contested the Russian advance bitterly, They have retreated with | sufficient speed and skill to save most of their armies and supplies. Stalin does not claim to have captured large numbers of men ©r vast quantities of supplies, they can get, they have not yet considered it necessary to switch any of their 20-odd crack divisions from Italy. Therefore it would be unsafe to assume that Hitler will lack men or materials for several mammoth eastern battles.

Battles Are Just Now Beginning

THOSE BATTLES are just now beginning in East Prussia and in Silesia, where the Germans can no longer trade space for time. They must fight now in East Prussia, or be cut off there by the Red armies hooking up northwest to the Baltic, And they must fight in Silesia, or. lose that major war production area. Apars from East Ptussia, which

Breslau line and finally on the Oder in front: of Bm, é .'To sum’ it up, the military agree with the civilian belief that this is the last act in Europe; but they are preparing for.a longer and bloodier finale in the est than the lightly. “opposed Russian Hight indicate, et

breakthrou

Though the Germans need all the men |

they may have to sacrifice, they presumably hope | |+t0 stand on the more easily supplied Danzig-Poznan- |

| there. If I had been a civilian and not| subject to court-martial have taken a healthy poke at each in nis proper turn. Their attitude was unbecoming anyone who served the general public and surely much changed from the lean days of the depression years when they used to run over the curb and practically run you over in order to get a customer. I realize full well that they have a living to earn and hungry mouths to feed, but why do they have to be so downright insolent and so

I would!

| By Sweetheart of the 106th, Indianapolis To those boys of the 106th division; who fought and died so bravely at St. Vith, let us pay tribute. They asked for so very little,

“a wheat farm in Kansas, a chance

for happiness,” yet they gave so

much. They gave their blood—their |

lives. They watched their buddies fall in the snow and perhaps they thought of their summer here. We should -be very proud that we knew them; *somewhere in God’s heaven, we pray, there is a place reserved

{lacking in consideration and taste of any kind? It seems they are] only interested in making a fast

I am for them getting a fair rate

buck and to hell with the public.

for those of the “gallant stand.” A place like home. Please, God, {don't let them have died in vain. |Give them a heaven, where’ that

freedom and in peace.

"Both of my hiklion hav dolds, Sopa think their teacher ask let : dressed!”

thom run out at recess

without seeing id re properly

Golden Lion can roam forever in|

“GRIPERS HAVE MY IRISH UP” By Leota Alfrey, Indianapolis I think I'd take The Times if for nd other. reason than>to read the

Hoosier Forum. I think it's grand that the little people have a chance to air their views about things in general. Like Miss M. E. Okey, I've never written anything before and I'm lioping you will find room for this letter. Anyway, it makes me feel better to write this and will make other mothers feel the same, that share my opinion. These discussions on crowded busses, children not riding on them and cutting of surplus points made by the gripers have my Irish up. I'm a mother of four children. Two of whom are in school. Help being so hard to get, would I lock these {two boys up in the house when I go

|very few mothers with a family have {time to make unnecessary trips to

The! three of us try. and occupy just one seat if we are lucky enough to get one, if not, we stand the same as a

‘ing of Mr. Jones.

war worker and are probably equally as tired as he. You see I worked | eight months in a war plant and my | husband is on his third year now.| A mother of four children is doing | her part for her country on equal basis with a war worker and should have equal consideration. Why do people hold such grudges against our children? The boys fighting for our peoples’ freedom right now were children once and I bet they rode on busses with their mothers once. As to the OPA cutting off surplus points and stamps, I for one lost several. Sure it hurt but I'm not griping. - I never bought only what we needed and could use, If by mak{ing this cut it will help feed a soldier and make the United States a safe place for my boys to grow up in, I say, “Go to it, OPA, and ignore these gripers.” o ” ” “4.¥'s ENTITLED TO THE SAME PRIVILEGES” By T. R. 8, Indianapolis.

I have just read the jnspiring article by the 4-F of 42 at Camp Atterbury. He seems to think that if a 4-F is not in the army it’s his fault -and he should be made to |suffer for. it. I was in 4-F in '42 myself and since then I have been to my draft board several times to see if I couldn't be reclassified for the service, but no go. I then tried to join the merchant marine but they wouldn't take me because of the army turning me down. Last August I found I could join the merchant séamen and I did so. We, and I mean myself and two other 4-F's who ought to be made to suffer because we are not in the army or a perfect 4-F like yourself, have served three months aboard ship and are ready to ship out again. I wouldn't be afraid to bet that we 4-F's in our three months have done a lot more than you have your whole time in the grmy-—guys like you who blow and brag about “the sentimental slop” showed to the 4-F and you yourself were one until the army needed some extra.stooge to clean up or“keep records for them. I and a lot of other 4-F's are willing to do just what you are doing ‘but want to be treated the same as the rest. And that is to be entitled to the same privileges and benefits as you and other 4-F's of "42, .

DAILY THOUGHTS

And many nations shall be. joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath gent me untothee. ~Zechariah. 211 rm . ‘NOTHING een og

pense but yourself. re,

“tion .of the

| nc |

POLITICAL SCENE—

| Economic Stake |By. Thomas L Siokes

WASHINGTON, Jan, 26.~ There is significance, beyond the normal desire of party politicians to make a show and earn their keep, in the fact that both Republican and Democratic national committees almost simultaneously have decided to run shop at headquarters here on a round-the-year basis, close to the fountain of political power. It is belated resogniition. of the economic stake in politics of all groups in the country, This has been intensified by the growing concentration of government, hurried along by the war, and by the realization that decisions on post-war policy will closely affect the ives

| and fortunes of all of us.

All of ‘that heads up rights herein. the executive departments and in congress.

Pointed Up by Wallace Appointment

THIS MAKES CLEAR why Republicans at their Indianapolis meeting provided for a continually active headquarters here, with expanded facilities for re-

search and publicity, by adopting a program for this purpose presented by Republican National Chairman Herbert Brownell.

It also explains why, on the same day, Democratic

National Chairman Bob Hannegan laid out a similar

program, beaming broadly as he told of the $400,000 the party has in the kitty, and announced the appointment of a new publicity director, Sam A. O'Neal, one of the capital's ablest political correspondents, who is leaving the Washington staff of the Chicago Sun to take that post. This is all pointed up by something that happened here about the same time, something that has shaken Washington from stem to stern because of all that is involved, something that has switched the topic of conversation from Elliot Roosevelt's: big dog “Blaze” and his plane ride, This event was the substitution of Henry A. Wallace for Jesse Jones as secretary of commerce, along with all the lending agencies that were in the keepThis last 1s the nub of the matter

because of all the power that goes with those lending agencies,

| Issue Is Drawn Sharply

THE SIGNIFICANCE of this latest move by the always unpredictable man in the White House is now shown by all the fuss here as the conseryatives organize, to frisk Mr. Wallace “id Rrip him of the lending agencies before they per im to enter the commerce department,

The issue is drawn sharply between the conservatives and the New Dealers, as it has been drawn at every election since 1932, and it does not necessarily follow party lines, Because of all that is at stake, the fight will get more intense, and the politicians who must get out the votes that win elections and decide governmental policies are taking cognizance of this by setting up well-entrenched command posts here, It is worth noting that the plans for both expanded headquarters here call for a more direct liaison with members of congress who, after all, have much to do with formulating party programs, day in and day out, Congress has been given a new ime portance. The first objective is the 1946 congressional elections, in which, for the first time, Republicans have a chance to capture the senate, They are optimistic because in an off-year election, such as that of 1046, they usually fare better,

Republicans Woke Up Suddenly

THE THING that contributed most to the new political awareness was the introduction of organized labor as a political force through the C. I. O.'s Political Action Committee. Republicans woke up suddenly and rudely to this, first by shouting at it, and then, by organizing -to meet it. They are conscious of it now, both as a political] organizing force and as a lobbying unit here with congress. They are trying to-offset the latter by organizing their own lobby here more effectively. | Henry Wallace is the darling of the C. I. O., which| does not make him any more palatable to Repub-§ licans. ‘By his selection, the C. I. O. was paid off for | its part in the re-election of the President, Mr. Roosevelt himself, said it was a pay off, speaking with a frankness equal to that of the Democratic predeer whom he so admires, Andrew Jackson, Chairman Hannegan and Democratic headquarters here will be constantly plagued by the split within the party, exemplified now in the conservative fight on Mr, Wallace. Republicans, being in the opposition, can smother their differences more easily.

s

IN WASHINGTON—

Wallace’ s Words

By. Charles T. Lucey

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25.~Opponents of the nomination of Henry A. Wallace as secretary of commerce and head of the loan agencies are burrowing zealously J into his sayings and doings as} sécretary of agriculture, vice president and chairman of the board of ‘economic warfare in a search for material to block his confirma~ tion. Mr. Wallace has been dealing out speeches and articles right and left for years, and his foes will try to make his words catch up with him, The records show that, in his steady promotion over the years of his concept of a liberal philosophy, he has lambasted sizable segments of American business and industry, has tossed the word “Fascist” around quite freely and has been friendly, on occa~] sion, to some of Soviet Russia's methods.

Talked of 'Profound Revolution’

IN A SENATE speech a year ago he charged that American Fascists “at this very moment” were trying to control delegates to the local political conventions so they could in turn control state and national conventions of the major parties. In his speech he talked of a “profound revolution” that would be inevitable after the war—he thought it would be bloodless if pressure group leaders and others would act in the public interest, but that the alternative was “bloody revolution and slavery.” It was in this address that he praised the progress of the Russians and said that “we are not going to use the whole Russian political system here in the United States.” He has spoken directly on the subject of disposi huge war plants the.government has financed, an issue of special importance if the Re[construction Finance Corp. should come under his ‘hand. “These plants,” he said in a 1043 speech tn which he attacked monopoly, “can be used to produce post he abundance for the common map. The problem

‘18 whether the small businessmen are going to

elbowed to one sidée—whether free enterprise is to smothered by monopolistic controlssworked out by businessmen holding governmeiit ringside pegta.s,. Jap Mr. Wallace talks of j ‘man means to