Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 April 1945 — Page 8

"The Indianapolis Times "PAGE 8 Saturday, April 14, 1945 ©

ROY W. HOWARD WALTER LECKRONE HENRY .W. MANZ President Editor Business Manager

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER)

w Price in Marion County, 5 cents a copy; delive ered by carrier, 20 cents a week." Yi

Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by Indianapolis Times Publishing Co, 214 W. Mary-

land st. Postal Zore 9. ‘Mail rates in Indiana,

$5 a year; all other states, U. S. possessions, Cahada and Mexico, 87 cents a

Member of United Press, Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance, NEA Serys = onth ice, and Audit Bureau o Circulations. . [ScRrrs —wowanp}] “SE ¢ RILEY 5551

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

OUR PRESIDENT HE President's precedent-breaking call on congressional leaders at the capitol and the warmth of their reception, regardless of party, reveal many things. Not least is the accent on unity—party unity, execu-

tive-legislative unity, naticnal unity in the common task | of winning the war, and of winning the peace abroad and | at home. Eo | Here is part answer to the many in this country and | abroad who know little about him. -He has a mind of his | own, but he works well with people. Those who know | him best, senators with whom he has worked for 10 years, are those who rate him highest.

ELE : #8 Fi ONE OF President Truman's characteristics is frankness. May we emylate that virtue by: citing the chief criticism of the past from some who did pot know him? He was elected senator from Missouri with the aid of the Pendergast machine. : 3 In the past century history does not record a single President who has ¢limbed to that high office without the aid of political bosses of some kind. What matters is whether an official is under control of such a machine.

. President Truman has not been. That was proved by his senate votes and by his investigation of Missouri Pacific railroad . financing over machine protest. Yet, when the broken and powerless Pendergast died, Mr. Truman had the courage to defy political expediency, leaving a public engagement and going across the country to attend his funeral. The balance there is%n the credit Swe. It would be hard to name any man who has entered the White House with so little criticism against him. If Harry Truman has an enemy in Washington, nobody knows it, That, of course, is the main reason for his political rise. - He was nominated for the vice presidency by. the badly split Democratic convention because he was the only avail«able ‘man acceptable to all factions. After a quarter of a century in politics he is rich in friends and poor in purse. That tells a lot.

s #” 8 x = » n > BUT—-ASIDE from his character—what of his policy and of his ability for the hardest job on earth? On the record his policy in general is the same as that of his predecessor. He has the same determination to make military viectory complete. His belief in American leadership for world peace, through a democratic international organization. for security and justice, is deep. His concern for building an ever better America for the future, where men may work and live in freedom and fellowship, is dominant. _ . Whether he is a New Dealer depends on yout definition. He is not a zealot, not a radical, not an extremist in tem‘perament or dogma. He is an old-fashioned liberal. Civil liberties matter believe in authority that Ki®ks people around.” As one of humble birth; and still without wealth, he does not have to put himself in the place of the people— he is one of them. His voting record generally has been

£ >»

wey to him. He does not |

¥

TREFLECTIONS—

Beloved Classic By Robert Duncan ;

A LADY VISITOR at the Scottish castle where Kenneth Grahame and his family were spending a summer holiday in the early 1900's wanted to see the author of “Dream Days” and “The Golden Age.” She was directed to" the nursery. Soge time. later she returned; was asked if she had had a nice chat with him. She had not seen him at all, it developed, but she reported: - . «s " . I have been listening to him spell-bound through the door which fortunately happened to be just ajar, and I heard two of the most beautiful voices, one relating a wonderful story, and the other, soft as the south wind blowing, sometimes asking for an explanation . . . at other times laughing like a whole chime.of bells—the loveliest duet possible. . . . I wished I could have taken down every word of it, so that others . ..might have the chance of enjoying the story as much as I did.”

Adventures of a Toad

THE STORY .which so charmed the visitor was one of the episodes in the spontaneous chronicle of Toad, Otter, Badger and the other animal characters which were to become immortalized in book form. The incident is quoted from “First Whisper of ‘The Wind in the Willows,” by Kenneth Grahame, edited by Elspeth Grahame (Lippincott: $1.50). The listener was’ young Alistair Grahame.’ So in love with the adventures of Toad, that vain, know-it-all, automobile crazy master of Toad Hall was Alistair that he refused point-blank to go to the seashore

until his father agreed to continue the story in his | letters. \

The text of many of those letters is reproduced in Mrs. Grahame’s book, “first whispers” of the story President Theodore Roosevelt, who had disliked animals. as characters, came to love. He wrote the author: “I have read the book three times, and now all the ‘characters’ are my gearest friends.”

Joy to the Adult Reader

ANYONE WHO reads Mrs, Grahame's book of background and commentary on “The Wind in the Willows” will be unable to-resist getting a copy of

this children’s classic. It is a joy to the adult readér,-|

and no child should be deprived of it. One of the finest available editions is published by The Heritage Press at $3.50. A boxed volume, it is illustrated in color and black-and-white by the incomparable Arthur Rackham, his last work. " A casual survey reveals that. astonishingly few readers of today have had the experience of reading “The Wind in the Willows.” They have missed much, and it is a situation that ought to be remedied at once. : n ” td THE COLUMBIA university press reports a happy solution to the punctuation problem: it seems that “Lord” Timothy Dexter, a famous 18th century Amerjcan merchant and eccentric, published a book entirely unpunctuated—“A Pickle for the Knowing Ones.” In response to some spirited criticism, the author included in the appendix of the second edition a page of assorted punctuation marks so that readers could “pepper and salt it as they please.” His editor must have been a truly happy man, and proofreaders must have worshiped him. ’

- WORLD AFFAIRS—

| Warning

| By Daniel M. Kidney

WASHINGTON, April 14.—Hoosier congressmen returning from their recess in the state report that many constituents are gravely concerned about the future relationship between the United States and Russia. One reason for this concern was pointed out in the Congressional Record by Senator Willis (R. Ind.) His remarks were based on a New York Times news dispatch from Cuba written by R. Hart Phillips. It pointed out that the U.S. 8. R. has a huge embassy staff there, although there is very little business, but political - propagandizing in Latin America, being carried on. > The Times headline on the Phillips story reads: «Communist Drive Centering on Cuba.” : In commenting on this, Senator Willis said® - «1 draw the attention of the senate to this article for several reasons, all of which appear to me to be both pertinent and'timely. : -

‘Extending Influence in Hemisphere’ o

«IN THE FIRST PLACE, the article makes plain the fact that another power—a European power—is

pro-labor, pro-farmer, pro-veteran, pro-public. But he is an independent. Often he has voted against the New Deal administration, against the dictates of party

. machines, against the pressures of this lobby and that. He |

has proved, without parade, the courage of his convictions. ” 2 » »® =” » HE HAS intimate knowledge of American affairs, though less of the details-of foreign policy. Next to the

charge of thé home front,” Mr«Byrnes, Chairman Truman

of the senate investigating committee gained more infor- |

mation on this subject than any other official. If the ability he showed in that investigation is indicative, he will make an able President. He ran it with little administration encouragement and with much opposition from interested parties. His were the brains and the will, but he worked quietly and gave others the limelight. He used the best technical assistance he could find. He hit hard but fairly. His

emphasis was constructive. He ended up with reform of

the war fort, and with a unanimous committee regardless of party or group. There was no minority report, a miracle of unity in such a situation. That is the way he operates. His humility is not to be taken for timidity. He has the great potential power of a President without pzrs.nal ambition or political debts. He did not seek the vice presidency and is indebted for his office to no living man. He has no personal commitments to any American group or foreign government. re l2 Few Presidents ever have started with such complete freedom to serve the nation according to conscience. Let those who would disparage his humility remember that he was chosen for his high office-by the one who knew it best —Franklin Delano Roosevelt. i B88 HH 8 W WE DO NOT predict the result. .. The White House breaks and makes reputations, and the tést ahead is greater _than ever. But we believe he will provide a leadership of 0s.» integrity, of liberalism, and of national unity. The outcome will depend not only on him but also on his fellow citizens. God grant our President wisdom and strength, and the patriotic loyalty of all Americans.

)) 4 h

HIDE AND SEEK IRST the Yanks stumbled onto Germany's entire gold

hoard, plus’billiofis in folding money and priceless paint--ings. Then they found the Nazi who had sen most of the.

‘manuscripts and art treasures belonging to German Jewry. And about the game time British troops came upon Hermann Goering's super de luxe custom-built adtomobile. ~~ Maybe the Germans did® invént Santa Claus and riginate our manner of celebrating Christmas, but they've dly on one tradition—they just don't seem

ts very well

0 . : 1€ 41 our lend-lease policy. late President and to the former “assistant president. in |

extending” its influence in the western hemisphere, apparently with the idea of indoctrinating the citizens of a neighboring country with ideas of government {-inimical to ours. “In the second place, the article makes plain the | Tact that that European power, namely Russia, is an ally of ours in war, and supposedly is engaged in an all-out war against our mutual enemy. To that | nation we have extended vast material aid out of But vet that power still has resourceg enough to pour large sums of money and | to send a disproportionately large number of diplo- | mats to Cuba. “In the third place, this article raises the important question: In so acting, is not Russia‘ violating the spirit, if not the letter, of the Monroe Doctrine, so recently affirmed in a Pan-American agreement?

'Few Articles Concerning It* “OUR MEMORY is:#fort indeed if we cannot recal] that only a few short months ago—in 1940, 1941 and 1942—the newspapers and magazines of this nation were filled with facts concerning the huge fifth column built up in Latin America by a European nation that became our enemy—Germany. “Yet, another European power—Russia—is building up strong material, trade and spiritual ties in Latin America and there are-few- articles concerning it in our mdgazines.and newspapers. : “THis lone article is like a beacon shining in the news darkness, Why are not more articles written about this subject to give the people of this country an idea of the new force that is mdving into the western hemisphere? “I do not challenge “Russia’s right-to extend her influence here, #f our department of state does not challenge that right. I do challenge the wisdom of any European nation becoming strong enough to make or break governments in Cuba, or anywhere in Latin America. And I do think that the senators and the people should be fully warned of what is happening.

‘Policy Has Made Few Friends’

“IT IS A MATTER of common knowledge, as Mr. Phillips hints in his article, that Mexico is a hotbed of communism today. It is further generilly known that other smaller Latin American nations are going in more and more for radical governments. It would

| appear: that our good. neighbor policy, costly as it has been in recent years, has made few friends for |

our form of government. _“Soon our representatives will go into conference with representatives of other nations to set up an instrumentality dedicated to the preservation of peace in the world, through better understanding among the natjons of the earth. We must be frank in stating our position with respect to oyr future [intentions if the plan Beeomes of lasting force.

frank in revealing their intentions toward us?"

To The Poini—__

WOULD YOU rather call it quits at midnight in

in Berlin?’ : v 2 * ' es we 5 IF CONDITIONS today were as bad as too many people think, they'd be a lot worse than they are, oi Sas a SC, : ! oy

. v

“Have we not. the right at this time to expect : othel nations, especially our major allies, to be equally 1}:

this-country or be kept awake all night as they are,

———l 70 C3 U

Hoosier

P“COMEBACK WAS |

|A JOY TO ME” By Voice in the Crowd, Indianapolis An orchid for “A Working Girl”| | Forum April 7. She knows her case, shé doesn't pull her punches, and she appeals for- co-operation from those who could eat in public] places when they are not crowded. | The American people are the best | co-operators in the world. I be-| lieve the public press could help| the restaurant situation if they| would appeal to people to stay out of our eating houses when they| meet for noon-day social sessions | only. I don’t believe that that] should include mothers. No cne isi quite as helpless in routing her | time as a mother, she must fit her errands into her day as best she can, and if that means to eat dowh- | town at noon, she should eat down-| town at noon. re Fortunate are thé children that I am not a mother. As a grand-| father I am in an easier role. I | know what the young mothers of]

“A Working Girl's” comeback was | a joy to me and I hope a lot ‘of noon-time daters read it.

® u n

“MY. MOTHER: : ACCOMPANIES ME” By War Wife and Mother, Indianapolis | Once ‘again I find it necessary |to clarify my former letter. I did (not say that I ever went to a tav-| |ern alone. My mother accompanies Ime, and who could ask for a better | chaperone? . Yes, we could have our | beer at home, but even I and my daughter get awfully tired of sitting at the same four walls 24 hours la day, seven days. a week. There |are few places we can go because |T feel my child should be in bed | {by 8 every night. | “As to my husband's attitude, I|

only “wish you could read his let- the public, with a message asking | ters. He urges me to go out and your assistance in bringing relief | He to those who have chosen this serv-|

{have what pleasure I can. rdefinitely does not. want me to sit home and mope.

lat whatever 1 do, I will never be any-

He knows|

Forum

(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 manu-. scripts and cannot enter correspondence regarding them.)

death

either their ¢lothes or -their«€leankpess. Parents who neglect their children will continue to neglect them regardless. My husband is fighting so that his family may come and go as they

speech and expression. That's what he thinks. I hate to tell Him this latest bit. of ges tactics in this so-called demtoeracy. I asked for comments, but I asked

{or fair ones, and from people who _| were broad-minded and _ tolerant ac-

cording to the ideals upon which this country is foundedi- ‘Also, it might help if those who disagree with me would read my letter care-

[fully before answering. Nothing is

so stupid as arguing against a point that was never made in the first place. ” " 2 8 “NO INCREASE IN SALARY SINCE 1925”

By Elmer E. DeLong, Secretary, Branch

39, National Association of Letter Car-|

riers, Indianapolis Again your postman comes to you,

jce as their life's vocation.

Your letter carrier has not had increase :irr salary since 1925.

an

“I wholly disagree with what you say, but will defend to the

{chairman _of the house post office “| commjttee, introduced a bill, H. R. 2071, which asks for a permanent

your right to say it.” +

and broke all records.. The large volume of nrail was'taken care of despite the absence of hundreds of employees from each state being in the armed services. The letter carriers are proud of their contribution toward the establishment of this record. 2 : Congressman =~ Thomas Burch,

$400 a year increase, and we urge you to write your congressmen and senators, asking them to support this bill. Please write to Louis Ludlow and Thomas Burch, house of representatives and Raymond Willis and Homer Capehart, -senators. « v n n “WE ALL NEED TOLERANCE”. /

By The Watcher of The Walchman, In- - dianapolis .

I see our reader, who calls himJ sett The Watchman, has got an- { other of his letters in the Hoosier

two or more children are up against. see fit, and work out their happiness| Forum. So, Mr. Editor, since you| Their need for co-operation is also as best suits them; for freedom of}, oo in poth.sides having equal great. V

hearing; I would like to offer what | I prepared in answer to The Watch- | man's other outburst of only a few] days ago. He says “The Big Three have already nullified all hope for world peace.” * . ail Whose side is he on,.the axis or thé united nations? He condemns | Russia for wanting’ three: votes ‘at ‘the San Francisco meeting. Does he think pro-axis Spain, Portugal, and up to a few months ago, proaxis South American countries, should have equal voting power to that of Soviet Russia? It was through the efforts of the Big Three that give us hope that we will soon have a peace to try to preserve. 1 think some of these anti-So-viets are really Nazis and Fascists at -heart, and I wonder: what is their special source of information. Wendell Willkie, Cordell Hull, Eric Johnston, president pf the U. |S. Chamber of Commerce;> Henry | Wallace and even anti-Communist

{ Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker returned

| : : | from Russia to praise our Russian

[thing but a. true and faithful wife. | Twenty years have gone by without | ~~ |And he believes my mother is fit any increase in his basic compen- | Another writer in the same H00*

{company for me. . | Nine-tenths of, the taverns in this [town are not fit to take even an tadult in. I think I use good judgrent in patronizing.only those that {maintain the proper atmosphere. And my goodness, as far as that

| sation.

{ing this unsatisfactory

circumstance of the men

|cheerfully, despite small earnings, to bring your V-mail,

jcontinue

You and other citizens of |our nation are in a position to ren-| der invaluable assistance in correcteconomical

| sier Forum weeps crocodile tears about the government trying to regulate everything. Well, it’s about time the government tried to regu(late something. Remember back {in the pre-New Deal era when we {had over 600-bank robberies a year,

goes, I see children running around [business and personal mail. The re-| 4 crooks of all description oper-

|dirty and ragged, but I don’t see|ceipts of the post office for the past| fiscal year reached an all-time high

thow passing a law would improve |

|

Sidi

| {

Glances =By’ Galbraith

1-1 a Alm | Jers 5

"a

€,

|. major

Lowe mes

= Tarn

\ : > Zz > Ng i

0 go)

corn. sous BY NEA BERVICE, INC. TM, REG. U. 8. PAT, OFF, *~ >t

i we 5 t ™ ——— £2 f ‘ fr “aa 5 eS 2 (

ated right under the nose of the local police. When the F. B. I was given the authority, they immediately reduced bank roberies 988 per cent until today such things are almost forgotten. It's quite obvious that the local politicians, police and crooks had too much in common to work against .one another. People of wealth no longer have to fear kidnapers wcarrying off their children—thanks to Big Bad Uncle Sam who now looks after such things. All this goes to show what a federal agency uninfluenced by politicians can do. I would advise some of the rabid anti-New Dealers to listen to the American Air Forum on Tuesday and the American Town Meeting on Thursday evening, and any of the other round-table discussions. Those programs are probably the greatest force in this country for

ww’

. 2 4A : ++

a

the preservation of free speech and democracy. , Too many of us get our information froma prejudiced source and we think there is only one side to a question—our side, I think we all need to teach our-

-| selves tolerance, and making our-

selves listen to views other than our own is a good self-discipline. So, hats off to the Hoosier, Forum and all other forces that encourage free discussion and unprejudiced thinking. 3

DAILY THOUGHTS For we cannot but speak the

things which we have seen and heard.—The Acts 4:20. 2

sg

HE who has. once deviated from

"Can | borrow hali-a dollar, please? “We're organizing another {the truth, usually commits perjury : league and all we need is abalone le

with as little scruple as he would

Ae

wd

5

[BEHIND THE FRONT—

{Supply Line

By Thomas L. Stokes

LEGHORN, Italy, April 14.-— Through this port, not far south of

‘the German front, there now moves

a large amount of supplies of all sorts for Gen. Mark Clark's 5th = army.” It is“poskible to have a supply intake so: glose to the army fighting on the Italian front only because of anothe? one of the superlative jobs of restoration of port*facilities, so characteristic of American enter rise. : P The Germans left this prt in a shambles, literally. This still is plain today. 1 took a trip about the harbor on & small boat on which Lt. Col. Fred D, Upham, port superintendent, acted as guide. Col. Upham, who is from eblo, Colo, formerly was in the mining and cattle business. The wreckage in the port area was obvious everywhere—in the remains of ships still littering the harbor where the Germans had blocked it and in the gaping holes where mines had been exploded in the. skeletons of buildings. It had not been necessary to repair these to put the port in operation.

Thorough Job of Sabotage THE GERMANS did one of the most thorough jobs of sabotage I have seen in visits to many ports,

| Everyone of the 20 ship berths had been demolished,

Every rail line to the harbor had been ripped up and made useless. Every truck road along the waterfrong had been torn up. The 5th army captured this city in July last year. Eight months before the Germans had begun their job of demolition so they had plenty of time. They overlooked nothing. First they ordered out all ciyile jans from the sea front, the dock area, the main business. section, and three quarters of all civilian homes.” They created a black zone covering the whole western half of the city which was barricaded off, mined tnd planted with all sorts of beoby traps. Thus far over 20,000 mines Hive been removed and it is estimated some 35000 were planted altogether, Mine removal is still going ‘on as it is in so many places vacated by the Germans here in Italy as well as in France. Parts of this city still are blocked off and it is unsafe to walk in ofher sections. When the 5th army entered Leghorn there were few civilians left in the ¢ity. Formerly it had a population of about 125,000, Weeds had grown up in the streets, homes had been wrecked by allied bombings. To close up the harbor, the Germans sank a fleet of boats of all sorts, blocke. ing each of the two entrances. g

Ships Sunk Three Deep

MINES WERE SOWED helter-skelter in the hare bor very thickly. Every tug in the harbor was sunk, Altogether the hulks*of 70 ships were counted at the entrances. They were three d&ép in some places. ‘As usual, the engineers—in this case the 338th battalion —went into the city with the army to make the first reconnaissance. It looked hopeless, but such jobs are never hopeless to the engineers. .They set to work. .Divers were sent down to sed demolition charges to blow up vessels which clogged one entrance to the harbor, tricky and dangerous work. They opened up the roads to the harbor through the heavily mined port area” and they ree paired the railroad extensions to the waterfront. The British navy co-operated in the job of ree habilitation. Their task was to sweep out the mines at the harbor entrance. A channel 128 feet wide was cleared, and it is through this that the ships come and go, skillfully guided by Italian pilots. In a little over a month after the city fell, the first- Liberty ship came in and unloaded. Nearly all of the berths again are in use. It is impossible to beat a people who can do things like this.

IN WASHINGTON—

PW Issues

By Peter Edson

WASHINGTON, April 12.—The end “of the “war: in Germany will raise some intriguing new problems on the handling of German prisoners of war in the United States. v There will be nearly 500,000 prisoners of war in this country before the crops are in this fall, accord«" ing to the office of the provost marshal general, Maj, Gen, Archer L.-Lerch, Over, 400,000ywill be Germans, Half of then will be employed on U. S. army posts, relieving that many service troops for other duties, Perhaps 150,000 will be” employed as contract labor, largely on farms and in factories, relieving U. 8, manpower shortage. The remainder, less than 50,000, will be officers and non-commissioned officefs who by the terms of the Geneva convention cannot be given work .unless they ask for it, plus the service prisoners who keep camp for the other prisoners, and the disciplinary cases and irreconcilable trouble-makers kept behind barbed wire. The Geneva convention, governing the treatment of prisoners of war by the captor country and accepted by the U. 8. in 1932, provides that all captives shall be returned to their countries “after the. conclusion of peace.” That doesn’t mean as soon as the fighting stops, but when the peace treaty is signed, which might be a year or more later. a

U. S. Army Transport Comes First

THE 60,000 to 65,000 U. 8. soldiers held prisoner inf Germany will be brought back home immediately, but shipping to take German prisoners back to Europe may not be available. The U. 8S. army in Europe has to be moved to the Pacific first, the war has to be won there, and then the army has to be moved back home, Those things get top priority, so the PW’'s will be aroun, for some, time. There is no danger that German prisoner of wage labor would be used in competition with U. 8. labor temporarily unemployed by production cutbacks after V-E day. used in this country, manpower commission officials must certify there is no civilian labor available te do the job. There will be no backsliding by this government on the terms of the Geneva convention even after Germany collapses. There has been considerable pressure from some irresponsible quarters to have the United States treat all prisoners of war rough and tough, and the war department has been criticized for “mollycoddling” its prisoners, feeding them too well and not stamping out Nazism as the Nazis themselves stamped out their opposition.

We Follow the Rules

BUT FROM a standpoint of militgry strategy, it can be proved that abiding by the Geneva convention has been good tactics. First, it is evidence that when this country makes an agreement, if. will live up to

it. If there is to be peace in the world, there must

be sanctity of international obligations.

....Second, following the doctrine of Stonewall Jacke

son that “It is chegper to feed them ‘than to fight them,” the U. 8.“army psychological welfare division has done¥everything it could to encourage the Gere mans to surrender. “Hogcaller” loud-speakers in the front lines have invited the Nazis to come on over for’ breakfast, and given them the menu. It has worked, as proved hy the million prisoners: taken sihce last June. The promises of good food and fair treatment must be kept. k "Third, this has been a safeguard against reprisals on U. 8. soldiers captured by the Germans. They number less than 65000—one for every 15 Germans captured ‘hy U. 8. troops. The Germans appeared to be living up to the Geneva conference and treate ing them well, sometimes giving them more food than German civilians got. There have been exceptions— thé massacre of 150 U, 8. soldiers captured in the bulge, near-starvation in Bad Orb camp, mistreate ment of the wounded in Heppenheim hospital, appro= priation of Red Cross supplies. It is natural to want

to get even for such atrocities, but think this one

through and ‘ponder of’ what might have happened fo ‘the American prisoners if this country had tried

hd

Before any prisoner of war labor can be

a

REA rs 5

ak Bat bh

+ 3+ San