Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 26 July 1945 — Page 18

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Business Manager AA SCRIPPS- EA ORALD NEWSPAPER)

ROY W. ROWARD WALTER LECKRONE HENRY Ww. "MANZ | President

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es 4h nd he Pees we Fe i Own Way

: DAY-BY-DAY DESTRUCTION -

THE destruction which President Truman warns the in aps is ‘the only alternative to unconditional surrender, mounts day by day. This week’s air assaults were the heaviest yet suffered by the homeland, with more than 2000 of our planes participating. = ‘But that is just a beginning. Within a few days the mighty Eighth Air Force, fresh from its European victories, will begin to operate in mass from its new Okinawa bases. Doolittle’s giant bombers will be added to the 700 Marianabased B-29s which, according to the enemy, blasted Osaka and Nagoya factories Tuesday with 4000 tons of explosives. Even more spectacular was the blow of the famous U. 8. Third Fleet against the Kure naval base. An estimated 1000 to 1500 carrier planes went in to get hiding remnants

| evidence at hand, had placed all blame on a com-

»

7 By James Thrasher

: APPARENTLY the ban on {rat- . ernization between American sol- + diers and German civilians never wes did work very well, Correspondents "in Germany sent baék word that the ban was unwise, unpopular and sometimes unenforced, Now that it is lifted a lot of people over here seem to have discovered that the whole thing was wrong from the beginning. Probably the restriction was a psychological blunder. Most young Americans are naturally friendly and curious—even those who fought fiercely against Hitler's armies and saw or experienced or heard of the horrors of Nazi brutality.

festation of German character which was naziism, they could not be forced to maintain that hatred against all Germans for 24 hours every day. The bearing of a grudge and the stifling of spontaneous

some frustration.

Hard to Bé Hostile

IT'S HARD to choke off a friendly word to an aged person or a child, ‘And to a healthy youngster far from home, a pretty girl.is likely to be just a pretty girl, whatever her language and social or political background. So some of the occupation troops broke the no fraternizing rule, through loneliness or mischief or the perverse reaction that made teetotalers drink during prohibition. But would we at home and the correspondents abroad have been happier if the army had erased the score against naziism with naziism’s downfall? Would we have preferred that the army, contradicting the

paratively small group of provenly war-guilty party

of the enemy fleet, Tokyo admits some of its vessels were at anchor there, and early American reports indicate that | seven Jap warships were hit. Last week Adm. Halsey raided the Yokosuka naval base near Tokyo, hitting the | Nagato, one of the few remaining Jap capital ships. If the | current Kure raid disposes of several more big ships, the enemy. Wor's have much navy left.

WITH the Jap avy almost finished and nar industrial centers disappearing, there remain the enemy armies and air forces. The bulk of the Jap army is almost untouched, though thi# huge land force in China is having troubles and may soon be cut off from homeland supply lines. The size of enemy air power 1s unknown, Failure of Jap planes to take the air during the last fortnight against our bombers, and even against our naval fleets hugging Nippon shores, led to hope in America that the enemy was finished in the air as well as on the sea. Doubtless our industrial bombing has cut their plane pro- * duction, and probably they are pinched for gasoline and lubricants. But Vice Adm. McCain, who has been in charge of the Halsey raids, says the Japs have good planes and ,highlytrained pilots which they are saving up for a “Sunday punch.” The fact that they finally came out yesterday to defend the Kure naval base seems to confirm Adm. McCain. ‘Making full allowance for Japan's extensive army and considerable air reserves, however, there is still no way in which they can stop rapid destruction of their homeland by our vastly superior might. , Only unconditional surrender can do that.

AIR FORCE DAY

PRESIDENT TRUMAN has asked the country to observe next Wednesday, Aug. 1, as Air Force Day. Indianapolis will participate with fitting ceremonies at Weir Cook airport on Sunday afternoon. : On ‘Aug. 1, 1907, an Army Signal Corps order established something brand new in American military history —a division of aeronautics. This division, staffed by a captain and two enlisted men, was instructed to “study the flying machine and the possibility of adapting it to military purposes.” Only a few enthusiasts, 38 years ago, saw that. possibility as anything much. The little division of aeronautics went along for two years before buying even one military plane. But how it has grown now! It has become the U. S. Army Air Forces. Its personnel strength is more than 2,300,000 officers and enlisted men. It has dropped more than two million tons of bombs on our enemies in this war. It prepared the way for victory over Germany, and it is playing a great part in softening up the Japs for their inevitable defeat. Well may Americans celebrate Air Force Day with pride, gratitude an something akin to awe.

3

A LONG ROAD

THE publication, Hardware Trade, has sautionod retailers | that the lifting of WPB restrictions doesn’t mean that merchandise will immediately start moving toward their shelves. And since the rest of us are watching those shelves, perhaps the word of caution is worth passing along. WPB, as Hardware Trade points out, gave manufactur- | ers permission to begin producing some 1200 individual items | in 400 types of civilian goods when it revoked blanket order | M-126, which applied to iron and steel. But WPB only | gave manufacturers the green light. Their job of getting | F out of war production enough to give peacetime manu- | facturing some attention, of getting plants info shape and | finding material and labor, takes time. The result of that delay will mean annoyance rather | than real hardship to most consumers. But to millions of ~ war workers who will be released at the end of the war, | prolonged delay could be much more than annoyifig. Reconversion will be difficult enough at best without | , adding acute social unrest and discontent arising from | " ‘misinformation or ineptitude on the part of either industry | or the government agencies affected. The history of recomversion to date has not been a particularly shining one. Granting the difficulties, it is time that those responsible ‘summoned all their effort and | efficiency to prepare for as rapid and painless a changeover as possible, Bickering and slipshod performance could bring incalculably bad results.

AT LEAST NO HISSES

; THE lives of American food merchants are grim these | bs days, what with little stock, little help, government | bookkeeping and red tape, and a host of lesser annoyances. | - But at least they're better off than those London merchants | who, besides suffering all the above annoyances, were hissed | heckled at a recent mass meeting of housewives, - | he housewives were protesting against the hours-long | ues in which iney must stand to buy almost every item | bi wartime rations. And after five years one | | ‘them, even if the

merchants aren't to |

| will be in the new lineup is anybody's guess. | More News From the Balkans?

itary

| stroyed —~Willlam ©. Stevenson,

members and absolved all other Germans? Would we have liked it if our soldiers had been permitted immediately’ to hold hands with the daughters and sweethearts and perhaps widows of 8S. 8, troopers who, only days before, were killing Ameri. cans in a desperate war to avert the triumph of decency and the end of Hitler's sordid reich? No, we shouldnt have liked that either, Perhaps it would have been the simpler way. Certainly it would have been more cynical, But while nonfraternization may have been an unworkable idea, it certainly was not a malicious idea, or anything but honest and pure in motive.

What Shall We Do With 'Em?

IT AROSE from an early manifestation of a difficult problem that will grow more difficult. before its fina] solution: What shall we do with the Germans? The problem embraces a multitude of questions. How shall we feel about them? Must we forgive and forget? Can we assist them out of humanity and still distrust them qut of wisdom and subjugate them out of justice? Fortunately these questions will not have to be answered by our occupying forces. They will¢ be answered in higher quarters where it will be found ‘easier- to maintain a suspicious vigilance and to remember thé past horrors of people whom one doesn’t know intimately. : :

WORLD AFFAIRS—

News Fight By Wm. Philip Simms

WASHINGTON, - July 26.—The real fight over the United Nations | charter, now certain of ratification, will come later -over the use of American forces by the security counell. And the outcome will depend largely on the Soviet’ Union, Under the charter, whien peace is imperiled, the security council will decide whether the use of

{ | {

force 'is necessary to maintain or restore order. On|

that, each of the Big Five has a veto.. If they vote ves, then each must contribute toward the required army, navy and air force. A good many senators who will vote for the charter intend to “put up a real fight,” -as Senator Wheeler expressed it this week, over how, when and where American forces are to be put at the disposal of the United Nations. Just how many senators

PRESIDENT TRUMAN, according to reports from Potsdam, has taken. up the news blackout problem in eastern and southeastern Europe with Premier Stalin and is said to have made substantial progress. If that is true, advocates of American participation in the use of force to stop war have little to fear, What is wanted here, I find, is what was wanted at San Francisco—a better understanding among Russia, Britain and the United States. That is vital If they fall out, the most perfect peace. pact ever devised will not work. One of the obstacles to such an understanding is the news blackout in eastern Germany,. Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary: and Austria. If Americans are prevented from obtaining objective, first-hand information from this vast area, traditionally the breeding ground of international conflicts, they will be reluctant about seriding their | sons over there to enforce the peace. ; Moreover, as long as the blackout lasts, develop~ ments there are bound to leak out through channels which may color the news. For instance, reports haye reached Washington from several sources concerning conditions inside these walled-off countries—reports which are disquieting.

Fraternizing i

Yet for all their reasons for despising that mani- |

friendliness can become a hegvy burden and a weari-

Hoosier

CAUSE OF UNEMPLOYMENT”

By E. R. Egan, 701 Markwood ave, Wars will never cease while man exploits man. Premier Stalin made a gesture, but it remains to be seen whether it was but a gesture, when he declared war-on-the- cartel — stricted production to keep prices’ up” — the essence of the cartel, We think of the cartel as an impersonal corporation operating in far-off areas where labor is cheap, indeed where it is, in effect, slave labor, and in any event it is better off under the aegis of the company superintendent. In any event, a

F orum death

(Times readers are invited to express their views in these columns, religious controversies excluded. Because of the volume received, let. ters 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 5 The Times. The Times assumes no responsi. bility for the return of manu. scripts and cannot enter correspondence regarding them.)

money-making investment for one | day buys genuine rubber, oil, etc.— |

do not fight for it.

After all, wars ate fought by the | men. who cannot evade the service! by being engaged in essential pro- | duction and who have not had time | 40 establish themselves in the same. ! Expanding upon the facts as this! generation has fought and witnessed war, knowing it to be legalized mass

time. The inescapable facts are

duces or makes war possible must be | abolished. The most prolific of all causes of | war are poverty, unemployment and | the consequent distress. And the |

war and a return to the pursuits of | peace—at its close too often to take| up where they left off with what- | ever handicap, if any, théy may have acquired in their war efforts. ' And this in competition with the men| who only profiteered off their war efforts, and who fough on the home | front every effort to pay for the security fought for. The most prolific cause of unemployment today is the cartel system | which reduces production and auto- | matically reduces employment, both | of labor necessary to produce the cartel product and the investors themselves. The most glaring example of| which is to be found in our New Deal restriction of production in al

There are stories of vast concentration camps; of forced-labor dragnets; of British and American | | officials who are unable to move around unless ac- | Sunjanien by Russian guards; of misuse of U. N. R. of strange disdippearance of prominent peo- | pl e; a secret police; of air-tight censorships and of dictatorial rule by minorities instead of the demo- | cratic procedures called for at .Yalta,

| What Goes on in Europe? Some of these reports.are in considerable detail. They name names and give dates and places. Whether they are true or not cannot be stated with certainty here. But Russia, the United States and the United Nations generally would be on a sounder basis if they were untrue, The state department, according to Under SecreGrew, for some time has been “pressing the | Soviet” authorities for authorization for American correspondents to -enter eastern. and southeastern Europe in order to be in a position to report ace curately to ‘the American people on developments there.” Congress will be found pressing more and more in the same direction. It is not that the United States wishes to meddle in other people's business. It is merely that the bones of American boys are bleaching on European battlefields, and billions of American dollars have been spent to help liberate these lands. © Bo, itis argued, we have a legitimate right to, know what goes on—especlally if we are going to guarantee the peace of those lands.

world half of which is perishing for | food, a commentary in itself of the world today, from the Big Three or | |Pive to the southernmost tip of] | Argentina or Australia, The most important phase is the

| Bretton ‘Woods financial efforts,

and all of the fajth as everyone to- | whatever may be its actual way of | your right to say Ae

procedure. The modern financial

® and let them pay for it when they structure shaken to its formations “INTERNATIONAL TORIES ARE

{by the war must rise to its manifest | obligations to Survive.

“SINCE WHEN 1s IT SABOTAGE | ?

TO STATE FACTS?” By A War Mother, Indianapolis Mr, Smith, you ask the question, Why do you allow this sabotage in|

lishing Co., or The Watchman?

that to establish and insure peace | { There are places in this world where | to Washington; D.C., and look over the abuses of the order which pro- | you could find none of these so-| [the 2260 bureaus and if you can

called forms of sabotage. Maybe

{you would enjoy living there.

Since when is it sabotage to state facts?

Since when is it pro-German, pro- | most evident of all the effects of | | Japanese or pro-British to relate | nothing for them to do for America was is the universal employment in | our ideas concerning the safety of and our state legislature,

lour government? You criticize The Watchman for his verbal attacks on one of our allies and in the next breath classify our ally Great Britain with our enemies. What has she {done to threaten our peace or, the {peace of the world? Has she mot kept her promises made at the vari-

‘ous meetings of the allies? “Actions

speak louder than words.” Is there anything un-American about anybody having a “wonderful income,” or his being paid for his work as a correspondent? There are several articles written daily by men who, no doubt, receive a salary for their work, Would. you change that? {That is another American practice. Would you prefer having us work for a dole? Then, there is the charge of “ignorance.” Is any man considered ignorant {about any subject on which he is well informed? His supposed ignorance has no bearing on his right as

Side Glances—By Salish

So They Say —

LABOR can't afford to see price control de-

, Wayne Co. Mich, Political Action Committee airman. WHEREVER wale. and “catty oceur, distribution | | becomes an affair of religion—Canon Edward N. West, Cathedral of Bt. John the Divine, New York Shy Ln »

AFTER they yet. Sats urltoss i that to turn ows. 18" fair

esd or meine | it on, the less

politicians seem.

.

SO. le bs Sv. wa 4 4. a

il

“Just put the roast in this shoebox, wil ——— My weghbons

“would

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

{ I By Brien McMahan, U. 8. Senator from

|| American people are being told what

|| articles are long overdue. | [that they will, once, and for all, put

your right to say it.” :

an American citizen to express his opinions, I now have a son on Iwo Jima, fighting to preserve the very privilege you are criticizing, namel; free speech. I hope our boys who have fought so bravely have not fought In vain, In what way do you think it will cause American boys to lose thelr lives? How do you propose stopping same? I, too, am an American and not a sympathizer of any foreign government. Our government is God given and I want no other, Iam not writing in defense of The Watchman but in defense of his and our right to free speech. “I wholly disagree with what you {say, but will defend to the death

2

| WORSE THAN NATIONALISTS” By A J. McKinnon, 434 Irving PI, I have read all and waiting for he balance of the lowdown propa-

ganda on the National party. How. ever rotten that party is, which you! jare trying to implant on the Ameri- | can people's minds, we have to give

killing to preserve the established YOU column?"—which was. ade-|them credit for action, and action is order of the most powerful financial quately answered by the editor. Now what counts. Before you or I, Mr. | system, when not to expand it, and |I have a few questions to ask you.| | Editor, start out to condemn them usually by the same token the best|Are you criticizing our constitution- |as anti this or anti that, as rabblethat had been established to that al right, the Scripps-Howard Pub- | {rousers and connected with the so-

| called Seditionists, let us take a trip

| pick a real American out of that {bunch you are a dandy. Besides, look at the men we (I {beg your pardon, not we) are sending to congress. World-trotters—

These mén have not wisdom. If they had wisdom, they would be called Seditionists by the real Seditionists. That is why they are picked by the secret international organization headed by Barney Baruch and Rothschild. By the way, Mr. Editor, if you want to do the American people a ireal favor when you are through {on the National party, give us a writeup on the secret international organization which is doing big things in Bretton Woods, as in the last war when President Wilson returned from Europe and said, “I met a secret organization I could not cope with,” My synopsis of the articles appearing in The Times may be summed up as follows: First, Mr. Editor, you are not guilty of that writeup; that writeup was produced by the international tory. The whole six articles’ contain one-half truth and insinuations as if these were facts. Mr. Reynolds is connected with Smith “because Smith visited Reynolds’ office, yet not one name is given to prove Smith visited his office. Not a solitary word about Reynolds’ platform, not even one plank in his platform. Third, Senator Reynolds was lucky they never once called him ah international tory; that’s one blessing in his favor. Of all the octopuses on earth, an ‘international tory is the worst, » After all it's a great world, but dangerous when wisdom becomes sedition,

a el “AMERICA HAS NO ROOM FOR PREACHERS OF HATE”

Connecticut,

1 am pleased to know that the

Robert R. Reynolds and Gerald L. K Smith sre up to. Eugene Segal's

the Nationalist party In its proper tive. Hitler was able to unite dissident groups who knew only the of hate—hatred of Jews, hatred of Catholics, hatred of Piovanis hatred of labor unions. America has no room for this type of thinking or political a: ; UGHT

——————————————————————— DAILY THOU

chime wae

War Frauds :

By Peter Edson

WASHINGTON, July 26.—All the war criminals aren't in Germany and Japan, The records show that right here at home, almost every day for the past four years, an average of one major war fraud against the U. 8. gove, ernment been caught. An expense item in a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract is padded. Competitors conspire to enter fixed bids for government contracts. A government prdcure= ment officer is bribed. - An inspector is persuaded to pass defective war supplies. Raw materials furnished on government priority for war production are at, verted into channels. ra Not all these defrauders get caught. Unlike big , fish, you never hear about the ones that get away, But in many of the fraud cases a patriotic secretary - with a sweetie at the front won't like what the is trying to get away with and will report the skulls duggery to the FBI. Or maybe it will be a vindictive cuss who Is cheated out of what he considers & fair share of the gravy and squeals on his pals. Or a bidder’ who | loses & contract will reveal how fraud beat him out. ' Or somebody's eonscience will bite him, Or army and navy inspectors will catch the crooks red-handed, Or congressional committees will uncover dirt which is Juss’ on to the department of justice tor prose= | cution,

A New Field for Sleuthing ‘WHEN reports like these come in, they are firsé investigated by the FBI, then turned over to the war frauds section of the justice department. Over the past four years the department has been piling . up a record of convictions, fines and imprisonment ; for U. 8. war criminals. Today it is preparing move in on frauds uncovered in the business of wind - ing up the war effort, canceling contracts and- dise posing of surpluses. The war frauds section is small, with sime 20 lewyers In Washington and another 60 in the field,", But they have the help of 96 U. 8. district attorneys and the FBI investigators. Tom OC. Clark, new at« torney general, was head of the war frauds section when it was first organized. John Darsey. who joined , the section with Clark in the spring of 1043, heads up the work today. The result of all this activity, prosecuting wae frauds while they're still fresh instead of waiting to, clean house after the war is over, is that.world war IT will have a record of less fraud and more war crime inals caught than any other war in U. 8. history. In the last war, most of the profiteers and perpetrators of war frauds got away because no prosecutions were * begun until after the war was ever. In the general . public post-war apathy only 37 indictments against war criminals were obtained and only two were convicted, The government contractor who deliberately tries " commit a criminal fraud is, of course, the exception today. Out of the millions of war contracts let and out of the millions of citizens now on government payrolls, only a small fraction of 1 per cent shows ° evidence of fraud.. da

9600 Complaints Recvived

THE WAR record to date reveals 9600 complaints of fraud referred to the justice department. Of these cases, 7700" investigations have been completed and in 1160—roughly one case in seven—sufficient evie dence was found to file criminal indictments charge ing fraud. These indictments involved 1250 individe uals and 95 corporations, In the case Qspgsed of, over half of the accused plead guilty—623 viduals and 46 corporations. In the cases that went to trial, 153 individuals and 13 corporations were convicted. ! Among the more sensational cases in which cone victions were obtained are Anaconda Wire and Cope per, for furnishing defective signal corps wire; Ane ' tonelli . Fireworks Co. of New York, for underloading bombs and grenades with explosives; ‘Samuel Dunckel and Co. of New York, for furnishing 650,000 ‘potinds of defective dried eggs at a dollar a pound; Sullivan Dry. Dock of Brooklyn, for making false claims on repair of ships. .. The war frauds section has a record of bettep than 90 per cent convictions on cases brought to trial, : And after criminal guilt has been established, the claims division of the department of justice moves in to recover some of the money Uncle S8am got cheated out of,

IN WASHINGTON—

War Surplus fi

By Daniel M. Kidney

WASHINGTON, July 26, — Whether the market for surplus machine tools is being rigged by government agencies in favor of a few large corporations is to be investigated by a senate committee, Chairman Tom Stewart (D. Tenn.) of the sub committee on government surpluses of the Senate small business committee announced that hearings on this subject will start tomorrow. He has summoned representatives of the. surplus property board, Reconstruction Finance Corp. juse tice ‘department and army officers. Later he may call In officials of General Motors, Allis-Chalmers and other large companies, he said.

Big Firms Get Information ' “SMALL. BUSINESS never has _béen able to obs tain an intelligible inventory of gévernment surpluses of machine tools,” Senator Stéwart said. “But such great corporations as General Motors and others have complete detalls of every machine in the government-owned plants that they operate, They will come into the market knowing what they want and where to get it. - But the small manufacturer remains completely in the dark,” “So far, all of our efforts to get the government to give a detailed breakdown on surplus machine tools have been unavailing. So we have decided ‘to hold these hearings and learn exactly why -this is 80.” The Stewart committee will present samples of the sort of inventories the govérnment has made public, as Sompared with those used by the big plants.

Details Lacking on Tools » ONE SUCH sample from RFC lists 2675 drilling’ machines, 2749 lathes, 3814 grinding machines, 1803 milling machines, 35 broaching machines, and 5401 miscellaneous machines, including -welding ma« chines, presses and furnaces; “Such a listing 1s useless,” Senator Stewart said, “What small manufacturer could tell whether any of these things are what he wants without further specifications. He must know the size, make, cost and other details all of which is included in the listings made by the big plants for themselves.” One of the exhibits will be a breakdown of all government machine tools operated by General Motors at their Delco-Remy plant at Anderson, Ind. It gives the name of the manufacturer of each machine, ‘size, date of manufacture, unit cost and pg

ho

a

®

1 trust| ing price

“It big business can do that, the government ought to be big enough to do it just as well,” Senator Stewart said.

| To The Point— THUS FAR Hitler has been reported shot, polsonsd mr bummed. THlt vey wou VI ve tad

FLIES CARRY germs and the ‘best time to stop

TR st a Bb