Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 February 1945 — Page 12

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“The Indianapolis Times

REFLECTIONS —

"PAGE 12 - Tuesday, February 6, 1945

It Can't Hote

ROY W. HOWARD

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Give Light and the People Will Find Thetr Own Way

A QUESTION OF DIRECTION THE so-called “welfare bills,” House Bills 20, 22 and ‘33, have been passed by the Indiana house of representatives and now are in committee in the senate. Their present status places a heavy responsibility upon the senate and Governor Gates, who must now decide whether Indiana’s public welfare system is to be made a political football. These bills have been opposed by the Indiana Congress of Parent-Teachers, the League of Women Voters, the State Chamber of Commerce, the C. I. O. and the A. F. of L,, the Indianapolis Council of Social Agencies, the American Legion Auxiliary, the Indiana Orphans’ Home Auxiliary, the Indiana Children’s Bureau, the Indiana Merit Plan As-

and Mexico, 87 cents a1

ciation, the Family W elfarg Society, the Y. W. C. A,, the * Tax Research Association ‘and the Community Chest Asso-

ciation of Evansville.

No one seems to be for the bills but

the politicians, who are in a position to profit from the

change.

.

WE HAVE, on past occasions, criticized the national

administration for playing politics with human needs.

We

will not hesitate to condemn the Republican leadership in

this state if it attempts the same thing. And we view |

House Bills 20, 22 and 33 as designed to do precisely that. House Bill 20, for example, would give control of local welfare boards to the county commissioners, county councils and township trustees. There is nothing in the law to prevent these groups from appointing one of their own members to the board, and anyone who has observed the operation of these county bodies in most localities ‘will realize that the county welfare operations inevitably would

become political up to the hilt.

The other bills would-destroy effective co-ordination of the state welfare administration, weaken the merit system and return the state parole classification setup to the conditions which were held up as a horrible example to, the

——nation.in.the Wickersham report.

» » td = »

a

PHE PLAN to return parole jurisdiction to the boards of trustees of the state institutions must be considered in the light of the proposal to reorganize the state departs ments on a parigsan basis by giving a double vote to the

chairman. Governor Gates has given some assurance that

he does not intend to apply this to boards of the state institutions—but under the projected law he could, and if

he does not, some future governor almost certainly will. |

Which opens up an interesting question: Do the people of the state want the granting of paroles made a political |

perquisite ?

Are they willing that the bosses of city ma-

chines should have the say-so on who is to be released from

the state prisons? It could happen if House Bills 38, 237

and 238 and Senate Bill 76 are passed.

Was it for this that the voters of Indiana returned the

Republican party to power in this state?

Or was it because they believed that the Republicans would give an efficient and progressive administration?

THE LEADERS of the party should remember that the-states where the party has been making a strong comeback are those wheré it has supplied liberal leadership, where it has showed that Republicanism is something more than reaction and negation, where it has demonstrated that |

it represents the people rather than special interests.

If the Republican leaders of Indiana insist on riding the gravy train, if they put party advantage over public interes, if they turn welfare and paroles-—not to mention the ~highway department, liquor control, the state institutions | and the conservation department—over to the job-hungry | politicians, they will find that their stay in power will!

zbe short. Public welfare administration is only ‘one phase of | but if is a highly important one.

Republican policy,

And |

the action taken on House Bills 20, 22 and 33 by the senate and the governor will show which way the party is headed.

-1! -

ONSIBILITY

TERRIBLE RE

HE strongest or a work-or-jail

%

ent for national service legislation «for which there is much evidence

—is that it will bolstérithe! morale of our fighting men. The strongest argument against such legislation—for which there is-mso much evidence—is that it will not

increase munitions prosuction, but may actually cause a |

decrease.

Conscientious members of congress, who believe. the | legislation unwise, are nevertheless voting for it, because | of the morale-of-the-troops angle, and in deference to the insistence of the President and the top military commanders. | The attitude of most of the lawmakers seems to be that the | high command must be granted whatever power it thinks]

it ought to have,

The administration is taking. upon itself a terrible-| responsibility in demanding this legislation in the face of |

,

the practically unanimous testimony of industrial management and labor that it will fail to accomplish its purpose. After all, the managers and workers in private industry are the ones who are producing the tools of war, and the ones

who will have to continue producing under any new set of They know that the government officials and agencies directing production schedules and labor

rules.

alloca-

tions have made many costly mistakes in exercising the: power already given them. And they doubt, logically, that

the mere granting of more power would make the same offi-'

cials and agencies aiy wiser or more efficient.

True our allies and our enemies have national service

Jaws, _But is that necessarily a good argument? American management: and American free labor have outproduced And what counts more

both jour allies-and our enemies. than frénultsY rit

by Harry Hansen

THERE 18 a little book called “It Can't Happen Here Again” that. is being quoted and read aloud among businessmen these days.. I was in an office this week when a lawyer pulled it out. of a side pocket and read: “Excessive taxation and excessive government spending are the two most dangerous aspects of American life today. Men will tol willingly and risk their-health and savings for security if it is to be won only in that way, and in the process they will devise formidable schemes for improving the lot of their fellow men. But if their government assumes the functions of a fond parent, sparing them the necessity of exerting themselves in order to survive, what impulse will drive Americans to use the inven-

If by taxation and other restrictive legislation our young people are led to expect, at best, mere sustenance, with state care in old age, then we shall become a nation like France in 1940, for whom few would fight.”

Story of Personal Initiative

MY FRIEND had a lot of other passages marked and read them, Then he asked why I didn't know about the book. He had bought a copy two weeks ago. I said that even a book reviewer can't digest every book published, but that I'd have a look at it. It turned out to be a personal story of Frank Bailey, age 79, former president of the Title Guarantee and Trust Co. for many years a prominent Brooklyn banker, director of the American Zinc, Lead and Smelting Co., aff trustee of the Museum of the City of New York and of Union college. Mr, Bailey had told Hannah Geflen how he got up in the world and she had related in it the third person. (Knopf, $2) It was a story of personal initiative, enterprise and dependability, told to make the point that no young man can have a similar career today because taxes cut down his opportunity for getting a stake. Frank Bailey started his Horatio Alger career in the<New York office of the Title Guarantee and Trust Co. in 1885, and in a short time was “catapulted” into the Brooklyn office which, he says, he built .up almost

in Manhattan, . 'The Best. Way to. Nake Money’

who had observed that “the best way to make money is to lend money,” and who “plunged into. the fastnesses ‘of Brooklyn and loaned money where no respectable investor had ever set. foot before.” He also entered into realty development, with amortization

in monthly payments for houses, Mr. Bailey says we have been “a.spendthrift people with a strong repugnance to estimasing what our

._| extravagances Mave cost us” Now we: &re’ “spending

‘money as if the barrel had Tio bottom. Granted that military expenditures must go on, rigid economy is ‘necessary in all parts of the “government service to ¢hold the debt down. Mr, Bailey thinks the income tax makes it impossible for a young man to put aside ““yeniture capital” Great fortunes are outlawed, even moderate fortunes. are impassible, and the accumulation of capital is handicapped by numerous testric~ tions, some of which Mr, Bailey ‘names. Spending Without Responsibility IT IS TRUE that he sees this problem solely from the point of view of a man who grew up under a free * and easy system, when there were no tax laws to restrict the freest of free enterprise. Mr. Bailey recognizes the duty of the individual to the ghmmon welfare—exemplified in his case by his support- of Union eollege—but puts it on a basis of individual responsibility. He is certain that the United States will not be able to swing its huge'debt and keep sound; nor does he think the padded pay rolls of government and state employees. are healthy. | | His best warning, I believe, is contained in his observation that Americans are spending right and left and assuming no responsibility for it; that we have a false sense of security in the: midst of economic chaos that will make us resp the whirlwind.

WORLD AFFAIRS—

Short- Changed

‘By Edward P. Morgan

= LONDON, Feb. 8.—Some official announcement on the place and progress of the big three meeting may be forthcoming later this week, but it looks today as if the allled public is going to be grossly short-changed’ again on the real news of the proceedings. Observers here do not quarrel with the secrecy of the conference's location as a security measure, But they are distressed that the lack of any real authoritative information (or prospects of there being any) on what is happening, is merely provoking a new extravaganza of rumors to ,confuse the people, They argue that if there ever was a time when tha world at large needed a clear knowledge of what the allied leaders are doing, it is now,

|

| Political Failures Cancel Military Gains

| THE UGLY inescapable fact is that the allies | have yet to register one real victory on the political | front in Europe, and that failure threatens to cancel out, those other victories Won so dearly against the Germans on the battlefield. People in Britain wand Amerioa still do not realise | the awful plight of liberated countries like Belgium, France and Yugoslavia, and the ‘monumental trouble

in these nations, Yesterday's Manchester Guardian accuses Lobdon and Washington of worse ‘than desperate bungling in the matter of relief and reconstruction in western Europe. It says the tragedy of France fs the wotst example and warns that the “misery that the allies have taken so lightly may have most serious political "re. pus, py A lo of responsible people here still work -on the old-fashioned theory that admission of past mistakes is ope. of the best ways of averting future ones, and that the, policy of frankness of these so-called highest jevels is one of the surest ways of inspiring public

suppart. Painfully Ridiculous Spectacle HOWEVER; THERE seems little basis for hope that ‘news Of the present conference will be any more expli¢it than the news of Tehran. The spectacle of the “coverage” of the meeting so far has been painfully ridiculous. Most London '| papers are Ra speculative stories with New York and W "date lines and, apparently, most Ameri are carrying dispatches from Londo, “and Rome. And each mation is com- | planing that It is getting less news than the other, “The fact 18 that about, the event, | min Fy mi ny tr ur me 07.4 Jong

tive genius that built up our industrial empire? , , |"

single-handed until it overshadowed the parent office’

THIS THEN, is a-Brodklyn success story by a man |

which the allies are going to have keeping We going |"

much of anything | }

POLITICAL SCENE— Fertile Field -

By 1 Thomas L Stokes |

i | WASHINGTON, Feb. 8~—Oon gress has suddenly becomie very t: busy of late reasserting its neg: . lected responsibility in an im! portant area of government, th manifold lending agencies em bodied in the federal loan admin istration—all because of the fees that Henry Wallace might ge Jurisdiction over them. But, while congress is moving speedily to make sure that Mu ; Wallace will not have the re motest conpection with them should he be confirmed March 1 as secretary of commerce, nothing whate has been done about a very practical suggestion the the former vice president made in his wetimeey befor the senate commerce committee,

we

Thorough Investigation Urged

THIS WAS that congress should make a thorough investigation of RFC, the parent lending agency and its m of affiliates, as to past operatior and policy to serve as a guide to future operation ang policy whieh it is. the responsibility of congress ti define, - Mr. Wallace contended that RFC had been run the interest of big rather than small business durin] the Jesse Jones regime, which is Something that coul and ought to be established pl operations, In speaking out, #00, “tH president was not talking mersly from he happens to know a good de ; of the RFC and its affiliates, p

- The Hoosier Forum

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

“I HATE TO BURST THIS BUBBLE" By Percy Vere, Indianapolis Persons who read Mr. Harry Hansen’s article, “The Long View,” in The Times of Jan. 29 must have

time travel restrictions, to learn that each of us travels 6000 million miles yearly around the sun. I hate to burst this bubble, but the figure should have read 600 million miles. You can easily verify this for yourself by computing the number of seconds in a year and multiplying by 19, which is given as the earth's average velocity in miles per second.

Or, considering the earth’s orbit to be a circle (which it isr’t, quite) take twice the mean distance, earth

been thrilled, in these days of war-|

to sun (some 93 million miles and multiply by 3.416. Result in each] instance approximates 600. million. | Hon- miles ‘is stil a jaunt, If]

fastest manymade transportation, it | wouldfi't ‘matter really which figure

{$0 see your journey completed, ss 8 =

“SAFEGUARD THE

~| UNDERTAKING”

By Fred D, Roper, Indianapolis

mittee to execute a plan or program |

tion of certain blighted areas in the

city of Indianapolis. On first consideration, this proposition may be construed as sound in principal @nd essential in purpose, especially when viewed from the standpoint of health, morals and property valuation. However, there are other elements entering into this proposition. One of which would be to safeguard the undertaking with rigid restrictions which would prevent scheming operators from acquiring snaps by using the setup as a means to a selfish end. Becondly, the undertaking should be fortified with such restrictions and directives as to assure the taxpayers that their investment would not .creats the nucleus for a second slum area. What would: the reaction of the taxpayer be 10 or 15 years

of slum clearance and rehabilita-|

(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. responsi: bility for the return of manuscripts and ‘cannot enter correspondence regarding them.)

hence should he chance to pass this way, to find it studded with un-

‘BACK SOME DAY” . By Pfc. Bernard E. Broviak, Clinton, Miss.

| thanking 1st Sgt. Robert J. O'Kane

town——printed {Forum. The Forum is my frst

|sightly coal sheds, ill constructed |

But don't feel slighted. 600 mil- hen houses, tin. patched roofs, de-! “POLICY MUST BE

lapidated fences and cans and ashes

| should grow? True this picture may be some-|

| was correct, for you would never live! what exaggerated. Yet it must be creditor is one thing and

remembered that the same class of! people, who out of lethargy, and lack

“] HOPE YOU GET

I would like to have this letter

for his swell letter about my home =in-—your—Hoosier

choice after the front page. ‘I was pleasantly surprised to read the

sergeant’s comments in Jan. 27}:

paper. I have met quite a few of the kind of guys he told about. Most of them think any place west of New York City limits is some kind of. forelgn country. Sgt. Kane, I would like to thank

you for the rest of the Indianapolis beys in service for your comments |

on our home town, I hope you get| back some day for a visit and re-|

Twin Topsies

newal. of friendships while there.

you made]

you started te make the trip in the strewn where grass and shrubery PROGRESSIVE”

By E. BR. Egan, 701 Markwood Henry Wallace as- an

Ave.

election a secre-

tary of commerce quite another,

{from a purely academic viewpoint,

of inspiration and other considera-|likewise Jessie Jones in reverse.

tions peculiar -to their social conditions, have helped to create and tolerated these so-called blighted

may be expected to re-occupy them

completed. It is because of the above mentioned facts that I believe -if such | an authorization is granted it] should also stipulate imperative restrictions and regulations such as would give assurance .that the improvement would be preserved. Negro social agencies are making some progress along these lines. Public school teachers contribute as much inspiration as their busy schedule will permit, the contribution of Negro churches along these lines have thus far been negligible, Therefore I believe if such authority is granted it should also embrace definite restrictions and controls: at last until the various units have been fully paid for by the pure chasers, The Lockefield ~ Gardend® 1s - a splendid example of what unrélaxed supervision can accomplish in the way of maintaining a neighborhood] housing standard.

|=]

Side Glances= By Galbraith

| stance of geography--~natural

| -

We know Henry Wallace to be a forward-looking public servant and Jesse Jones as an able financier of

The Indians general assembly is districts are the same people who |the “Individual American enterprise” requested’ta enact enabling legisla-) tion authorizing the mayors com- Once the proposed improvements are|lacé with the modern conception of

school of thought—and Henry Wal-

|governmerital responsibility. But the {pivotal issue with the administration, entirely aside from the political | plum viewpoint, is that Mr. Wallace {would co-operate with post-war planning where Mr, Jones ‘would .be almost unable to co-operate, . both from his experience and training in the political and commercial system, which the war has - practically eliminated. : And make no mistake about it, the war has done just aboyt that, .together with the scientific development which facilitated the war indeed made it possible: Undoubtedly this very issue will be the basis of most of the post-war planning dictates-viewpoint. But if a general public understanding of the fact that world cooperation is as imperative indeed as basic in the economic as it is in the political world for peace, then will post-war - policies make headway for ari early return to the pursuits of a stabilized civilized way of life with food and warmth as security for the world indeed as for ourselves. Whatever inherent prejudices and conceits our Americanism—much of it born of the fortunate resources ‘and a political ideology of government by law and not the vagaries ‘of distatorships may give us of superiority it is. from this very viewpoint thet, co-operation without’ the Irresponsible and unguaranteed loans which bectime, a policy at the close of. the: first world war must be pursued -in a modern political and economic realization of the imperative npgessity economic responsibility-~bath from a common : ‘humanity-—ps the

-| realization that we cannot prosper

in a destitute world economy, which will just about be the case at the close of the war.

| PRIDE of RB fe hod

Hosea 8:12.

he

wartime aspects, which he lg

of the board of economic, wi ‘ erged int

&

FEA. ER AR It is hard to see rr ces, dy gh intelligentl} without a thorough fhy f the lendin| agencies, for congress really know very little abou] what has been going ‘on, Gf the powerful influenc that these egencies can wield, as senators confesse] during’ the testimony -of Jesse Jones and Senatc) George (D, Ga.), sponsor of the divorcement bill. , This is trus also of the public. It is general] recognized here that the RFC has been one of thi most privately conducted of the government agencie] in Washington. Access by newspaper reporters to inj formation about its operations, aside from routi press handouts, has sometimes been difficult in past. ¢ | Some change in public relations policy would b] helpful. «1

Danger of ‘Influence Racket’ Recognised |

THE NECESSITY of constant and careful sorutin of such. government operations as those of the variov] lending agencies, in the public and taxpayers’ interes is illustrated by the current investigation of the Mea senate committee into sale of surplus property by |

.} company which got a contract as agent from defen]

plant corporation, one of the lending agencies. * Here are charges of profiteering and collusion, ¢ the use of influence. Everybody covering news’ i Washington recognizes the danger of the “influenc racket” around this town going into a new hig henceforth, with all the rich opportunities at han in surplus property sales and in settlement of we contracts, in which old and new peddlers of influenc| or alleged influence will ind a lush harvest, unleg checked. The taxpayer foots the bill in the end. After congress gets through worrying about Henn Wallace, it might very usefully investigate the lendin, agencies which it is keeping away from, him, as we] as investigate the growth of the “Influence racket” i general, This also i part of its responsibility to the -

“ -

{IN WASHINGTON—

|By Peter Edson

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6. — TH 122 standing and special commity tees of the U. 8. senate and hous! of representatives pose one of ] toughest problems which must & considered. in studying the mod arnization’ of congress. J In 1927 the number of congres| sional committees was reduce from 65 to 42 principally by merg ing into two committees the which had previously conside expenditures for the executive d partments. Since the early 19th century, howevej the number of committees has grown like twin Top sies. In the last session of congress there were standing and eight special committees in the hous 33 standing-and 12 special committees in the senati four joint committees, 18 commissions and boards. | Each of these committees is a little ministry & itself, with power and privileges duly appreciated b members thereof, who will see the merging or liquids tion of their group effected only over their politics dead bodies.

But the Reformation Must Come

YET REFORM of the committee system mus come if congress is to be made into a more efficier] organization. So much of the work of congress he to be done in committees, yet the congressmen simpli haven't the time to attend all the meetings of aj the committees of which they are members, No ser} ator serves on less than flve committees, the hous average is two, membership on big committees bel exclusive, It has been estimated that of the 112 committed in congress only 27 are really important—16 in t house and 11 in the.senate. Many of the committee duplicate each other, Creation ‘of more joint committees has been preci posed as a remedy for this. And ifistead of havi one committee in congress to match every depart} ment or activity in the executive departments, it hej been suggested that there be created only nine ¢ 10 policy committees, each to deal with one broa} field of public affairs. ; All such over-simplification’ might in the end d feat itself. A few big- committees might be mue} more cumbersome than. a lot of little ones. And if a thie work must, be done anyhow, in the end there ma be 122 or even more subcommittees carrying on jus a8 sual under & purely paper reorganization.

Seniority Rule Called 'Vicious' FAR MORE vicious than the committee: syste Tons perhaps, is the unwritten seniority rule | which orice assigned to a committee m Ata with 1 that offfimittéé.during his career, advance kK Fak in wre pre ashe 1d re-elected term afte

eligi so nome. fh! §

Among aontsmen for votes on coveted chair ships. One compromise to meet this obligation woul

it 40 ui 8 fruiber of yours a congressinan migt