Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 September 1945 — Page 10

ndianapolis Times

PAGE 10 Monday, Sept. 3, 1945

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

(A SCRIPPS-HOWARD, NEWSPAPER) Owned and published " Price in Marlon Coundally (except Sunday) by al | ty, 8 cents a-copy; délive Indianapolis Times Pub~ | ered by carrier, 20 cents

Bshing Co. 214 W. Mary= 8 week. land st. Postal Zone 9, Mail rates in Indiana,

$5 a year; all other states, U. 8. possessions, Canada and Mexico, 8 cents . “month,

Bo

Give Light and the People Will Find Their Oton Way

LABOR'S NEW POWER RGANIZED labor has a new place in the world today. It furnished its full quota of fighting men for victory. Its sweat and skill produced the weapons that won, ! The victorious peace to which it contributed so much has increased labor's power. Axis fascism was first and last an enemy of free labor and of all the rights gained in the slow and painful progress of centuries—no less so because the Axis regimes originally rose to power as phony friends of labor. Axis defeat in itself is a liberation of millions of workers from slavery. : That liberation has raised labor to political heights in many European countries. In a majority of post-war governments labor controls, either directly or indirectly. The landslide election a Labor Government in Britain not only Feyeals bu Accelerates a trend.

Member of United Press,

3d and Audit Bureau of Olrculations. RILEY 5551

>

IN OUR on country that trend \akes wenhiat differ"ent forms, but it is present just the same. Labor organizations, votes and sympathies were important—perhaps determining factors—in our national election last fall. Labor influence on our legislative and executive branches of government is tremendous. Official labor representatives more than once determined American policy and international -organization-in the charters of Chapultepec and San Francisco. We welcome this. We believe it represents a natural evolution, speeded up by war pressures. How great will be the world's net gain from labor's new power, and how rapid obviously depends on labor's wisdom in using its position. Often in history first one group and then another has found it easier to gain place _ than to wield power wisely. Victories which are not cautiously consolidated don’t last. Abused authority boom- _ erangs. - Unless labor is as conscious of its responsibilities as its strength, unless it is seasoned by experience, there will be many delays and detours on its road of progress. That need not happen if labor is equal to its great opportunity,

WARTIME GRUDGES E heard of a lady who actually kept a little black book during the war, in which she marked down the names of the butchers, the stores, the hotels and the beauty shops, which forgot their manners while the war boom was on, She promised herself, and them, that she would remember the slights and the shortcomings after the war and take her business to those who had kept up their service standards when the going was tough, But we wonder what would happen to her resolution if a store listed in her book was the first to have nylon stockings for sale. Things were tough, and some still are. Hotels had to _ say “no” over and over, and so did the railroads, to thousands of insistent customers. Sometimes they said it _ pleasantly, and sometimes, being human, the clerks and the salespeople got a little unpléasant. ~ But we would advise all those who harbor little black “ grudges, either mentally or in books, to throw thent away. Forgive the butcher who was irritable when he had no meat, for you'll ind him a different fellow when he has his cooler full of nice chops and roasts again + “The customer is always right,” as the slogan went, but it was a fallacy, Some of us customers are unreasonable sometimes. There were plenty of irritations during the shortages, but on the whole the service people treated us pretty well with the limited supplies of goods and manpower they had. Let's be reasonable and forget the past.

BUTTERING UP THE FUTURE Now that the ration value of butter has dropped from 16 to 12 points a pound, there's a matter we want to mention to men who operate restaurants and dining rooms. Bluntly: We'd like a little butter, While butter was at war, we accepted those little paper cups of jam, jelly or marmalade in keeping with the spirit of the moment. If butter could help win the war, we'd gladly do without it, though paying for it, We are not saying we still shall not do without it, We might feel mildly petulant, however, if we don’t get it, but continue to pay for it. We are thinking of a flat price for a meal that may range from 60 cents to $2.50. Tucked into that blanket charge, we peevishly Suspect, is an item for butter or oleomargarine. We want to see or taste what we are paying for. If butter or margarine is unavailable, we'd choose not only to be told about it, but also to be informed that our bill was being proportionately reduced. Perhaps our bill would drop only a penny. Chances are that few diners would bother to collect the cent. But they would collect some profitable impressions of the establishment. The time is not far away when eaters:out will be picking and chooking among restaurants. In that competitive ~ hour they might return appreciatively to the place which had been forthright about butter during the crisis.

BRIEF HISTORY . JJEFORE the parade of heavy and scholarly histories of the recent world conflict starts rolling off the presses, we should like to present a friend's succinct treatment of ‘the same subject. For all its brevity and apparent simplicity we think it's good. And we offer it in the hope that it may save you a good deal of unnecessary reading, * It's just this: “Germany, Italy and Japan could not buat the United States, Great Britain and Russia,” :

OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS

Toe now making women’s clothing of yarn spun | ; from chicken feathers. At last we're as to’ un-

OUR TOWN—

Red Formals

By Anton Scherrer

Today we celebrate the 63d an~ - niversary of the foundation of Labor

propriate time to discuss red flannel underwear,

it an experience to be taken to the country when the harvesters were at work. All were stripped to the waist except for their bright-red flannel under‘Shirts. moving in the fields charged the landscape with an {unforgettable liveliness and, somehow, accentuated

landscape throb, a thing I haven't seen it do since the good old days when nature and art conspired to make something lovely of what has since been labeled (and libeled) as the “American scene)”. :

City Slickers Wore 'Em, Too THE WEARING of red flannel underwear was by no means confined to the country. Tt lent gaiety to summer street .scenes, too, Indeed, it was the badge of every workman when I was a little boy; at any rate, of all those employed in Atkins’ saw works, D, M. Parry's earriage factory, C. F. Schmidt's brewery and Hetherington & Berner’s foundry which were the important and, certainly, the most exciting shops to come within my purview at the time. They were a grand lot of workmen, and it wouldn't surprise me to learn. someday that the wearing of bright-red flannel undershirts contributed to their skill, Come to tihnk of it, the red flannel undershirt was more than a badge. It was a sort of symbol suggesting that, maybe, the Bible was on the right track when it expected men to earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brows (Genesis II1:19). Somehow, I wish the Bible had specifically men tioned red flannel underwear in connection with sweat. The two had ‘an affinity for one another, or whatever it is that white collar people call such relationships today. At any rate, no memory of my ‘childhood is so firmly fixed in my mind as that of men wiping the sweat off their brows by way of the sleeves of their bright-red flannel undershirts. It was a common sight around 6 o'clock of a hot summer evening (circa 1800) when the men, moving in groups, returned to their homes after a hard and honest day's work.

We Didn't Like Rapid Change THE WEARING of red flannel underwear the year round was based on a sound premise and an obvious

4

or

Lcarollary.. The premise was predicated on the in-

disputable truth that red flannel was the Warmest | thing to have next the skin in winter; and since nothing short of a crystal ball could predetermine the length of the winters we used to have around here, it led to the corollary that it was the better part of wisdom to retain red flannel underwear throughout the summer months, Sometimes the winters were so long that we didn’t have any summer. at all as, for instance, in the year 1945. If there is any one thing that made my generation a grand and glorious period, it is the historical fact that we made itor business to avoid sudden changes of any kind. To be sure several other things contributed to the retention of red flanngl underwear throughout the summer.- For example, bandages -made of discarded red flannel undershirts (preferably, the sleeves) had the virtue of curing sore throats, The bandages, I remember, were smeared with goose grease or turpen=tine (whichever was handiest) and wrapped tightly around the patient's neck. An enormous safety-pin with the clutch of a rat trap and capable of penetrating at least four folds of red flannel kept the bandage from sliding.

Educational Uses ‘RED FLANNEL rags about five Inches square, preferably made from the seat of a paternal pair of discarded drawers, were also the best things ever invented to wipe and clean school slates. Except for the fact that men wore red flannel underwear the year round, there would never have been enough slate rags or bandages to see us kids through our crucial periods. Red flannel underwear went out of style sometime around 1896 which, curiously enough, was the same year people around here started to open their bedroom windows a wee bit on summer nights.. It turned out that summer air wasn't as fatal as we had been led to believe. The practice had enough of a following to put an end to the wearing of red flannel underwear in summer, After that we had fleece underwear and an epidemic of sore throats. As for slate rags

made of discarded fleece underwear, they slowed

up education alarmingly. Finally, in sheer desperation, the school authorities discarded slates altogether and started off the baby-room kids with paper and penefl.

FLYIN' FISHERMAN

Amputees’ Gadgets By Andy Anderson

CAPT. RICHARD GREEN, who is chief of occupational therapy at MoCloskey General hospital, Temple, Tex., and who has handled 10,000 amputees, was talking the other day about the job sportsmen had in helping the amputee. “If experts in every sport would try to work out special equipment and gadgets which would increase efficiency of the kids in some sport, they would sure make life a lot happier for many boys,” Capt. Green insisted. Scores of kids have told me they expect to make fishing their main sport after the war. That got me to pondering, being a fishing nut myself and having taught 12,000 of our disabled boys to fish, Take a one-armed kid, for instance. Now it's great to think about Pete Gray of the St. -Louls Browns and how he overcame handicaps and became a major league player. But we shouldn't kid

right into a normal life. Yet-—they should be encouraged to kéep up with what might have been their favorite. sport prior to the war. Or if that sport is out because of physical damage, they should be urged to try another,

Aids for Fishermen

IN THE case of one-armed boys who want to fish, IT have developed flve attachments for rods which will (kids themselves say so) make them 75 per cent efMcient. These attachments will be shown to tackle makers and they will be urged to make them virtually at cost for these kids. The golfers also have a job ahead. Boys who lost an arm need a special club. And boys wearing an artificial leg have a balance problem to overcome.

to the pro-golfers to go to work on these things. In tennis, baseball or Any of the sports these kids might he able to play, the experts in these flelds should start thinking along the lines of special equipment. Just going out to the hospitals and telling the boys they are going to be okay isn't enough. This lttlé program should fit itself nicely into

| the vast job of rehabilitation.

So They Say—

‘RADAR played « ‘greater part in the whole war than the a bomb, It neta 40 the vile rare ihn Any other: Hufls. Liciof ois Stafford Cripps, chairman, Beliish. BAM Boged. :

NEVER in. the ais Bstory Jus 0 Christianity faced a task comparable binding up the wounds of the world 1" be H. Cle, Second Presbyterian. *Ohitat, .

’ . -

leaders ‘are getting too big for countries, they a

phat the kid oan wie; tha.

nd;

br

‘some . other | American

day. I can't think of a more ap-.

Sixty years ago when I was a little boy, I counted |

The vivid touch of scarlet imparted by men

the rhythm of their movements. . Indeed; it made-the +

‘erans for

‘way to help the returning veteran

strong cannot exploit the weak, in

our- one-armed boys about their being able to step |

Boys with maimed. hands need special grips. It's up |

IT WOULD appear certain that arcies

“YOU JUST DON'T GET A YEAR'S PAY FOR NOTHING” By William Russell, Indianapolis In a few weeks I expect to see various Fascist and political groups attempt to bribe the returning vettheir support. Watchman offers one such bribe by wanting the government to give us a year's pay after discharge. Now when a fellow comes to me with

know what and how many axes he has for me to grind, for he surely expects something in return. You just don’t get a year’s pay for nothing. So you guys who want to bribe us will have to do better than that. While I was overseas I would build “air castles” and would tear them down and rebuild them. Now a year's pay would hardly buy one of those low ceiling price prewar jallopies, let alone buying one of those castles, I believe the best

is to help the common people, because most of us are common people. What we really need is a society in which we receive the full product of our labor, in which the

which security from poverty will be permanent, in which race prejudice and discrimination will not be tolerated and in which children will laugh and play and the aged and helpless will be financially secure. These are the things I fought for and believe attainable in America. So if alias The Watchman wants to bribe mie,- he will have to offer something that has a firm foundation. It is my opinion that capitalism threw a fit in 1929, died in 1033 and should be buried right now because anything dead for 12 years is rotten and so is bound to stink. 2 “x =» “GIVE BOYS AT HOME CHANCE AT OVERSEAS SERVICE” By L. F. F., Indianapolis I just heard over the radio that the boys from the 4th infantry complained to our government about being sent to the Pacifie, straight from Europe. I've never heard anything so pitiful and outrageous in all my life. To think of those boys having been in the midst of battle in Europe and then before even getting a furlough, sending them to Japan. What about all the boys in training here that have never been overseas? The report came from Washington that all boys would see overseas duty. They say they have to have seasoned veterans, Why? I know some boys that had only three months

—Hooster Forum-

The|

such’ a proposal I would want to}.

death

(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 mist 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.) *

to battle. These boys here won't have to go into battle. A threemonths training: course for military police ought to be enough for these boys to police Germany and Japan. Let's all write in to our congressmen and representatives demanding that our boys be sent home and discharged. They have seen and done enough. Let's give these soldiers at Home a chance to see the world without danger, We were told that all boys would get a 30-day furlough before being sent to Japan. : Give us a chance to see our boys

where we can't even remember what they looked like. ys = = “I'LL BACK YOU, MR. PRESIDENT, AND 80 WILL AMERICA” By Francis M, Griffey, 3520 Station st. President Truman, you have gained the admiration and respect of not only the common average American ahd peoples of the United States, but peoples of allied nations as well. Few people thought anyone could surpass in being respected above our late President, Franklin® Roosevelt; yet your acts thus far give us greater hope as time passes. There are issues of grave sports ance that are the common everyday topic of conversation, a few of which follow: Lend-Lease—With one voice, people acclaim the cessation of this hoax dumped in the laps of us taxpayers. Few people are silly enough to expect any payment for materials lend.leased to our allies all over the world, but we are grateful that you had the courage to stop this when the war ended. Now, have the courage to let it be ended for all time. No one objected to giving the people of downtrodden countries sorely needed help, but listen to the professional beggars of Great

training before being sent overseas

Britain scream when we cut off

Side Glances—By Galbraith

again before we get to the place

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

your right to say it.”

their dole. Do they expect us to succor them, feed and clothe them forever? It is no secret that we suckers here in the United States donated around eight billion dollars a year by sacrificing here at home. They are much better off than if they had won the Revolutionary war. How about sending one of our prize diplomats to Great Britain to secure lend-lease for us? German prisoners of war—the war with Germans has long since ended, yet how long must we continue to feed these Nazi rats here at home, clothe and warm their dirty hides as winter comes on? Will you and our congress allow them to remain in our midst, eating our

. | sustenance like a cancer? Our ships

play back and forth between our shores and Europe. We don’t mind giving them a free ride back to their native land where: they can be used to dig their own coal, We read that there is a shortage of workers in Europe, then what's wrong with letting the German prisoners of war go back home instead of allowing our boys build back their bridges, homes, factories which the Nazi scum destroyed with their own blood-stained hands, after burning little people by the hundred thousand? We've yet to! hear of a single German being deported to their lair, War Criminals—Weeks and weeks have passed and we have yet to learn of one single big shot Nazi having to pay for his crimes. What happened to Hess? When will Goering, Ribbentrop, Von 'Rundstedt and all the other Nazi criminals be shot? We Americans would like to know. If it takes years or months to convict these arch traitors to mankind, then how long will it be before the war lords of Japan be made to pay for their crimes?

Coal for Europe—Our No. 1 bureaucrat,’ Harold Ickes, plans to ship six million tons of precious American coal ‘to Europe each month, regardless of our needs here at home. Why do you allow it? We taxpayers don't like it. In the great Saar basin, we are told there Is more coal than any other place in the world, Then why, why must we ship our coal over ‘there? Are we saving their coal so it can be used to build up another war machine “in another quarter century after ours has been used up? This week one of our weakminded congressmen recommended that we turn over the secret. of the atomic bomb to all nations. Why? Bo they can develop this secret and use it again on peace-loving people? Can't we be trusted to keep this terrible weapon .away from the bad boys of the worid? Why do you suppose the almighty God allowed the allied peopie *to first learn this grave secret, if we wantonly turn-it over to war eriminals to blast this old world to bits? In heaven's name, don't allow the scum of the earth to use this latest. secret weapon against mankind. Unemployment-At - the close . of bis great conflict, we are faced with a situation of unemployment. I, too, gave up a position with a good reliable concern so that I might help out in some little way to win this war. Vety soon I will rot have this war job. Like thousands of others I knew I was making a sacrifice and would be out

{when the war was over. Why

should we be panicky? TI have faith in America and her future. Never, Mr, President, has any head of a government had so much

DAILY THOUGHT T was dally with you fn the Japs leaching. and ye took wy

1 sumed now in the American economy.

office. es

"POLITICS—

dd Gains | By Thomas L. Stokes ~ |}

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3.—This

| anniversary finds labor facing an-

other of ‘its periodic--ordeals, Likewise it will be a test of the ‘responsibility. which labor has as«

Thae are troubles enough this Labor Day. For hundreds of thousands of workers, this is not a hoi ay in the sense of taking a day off. For they dre already off and have been. Unemployment again is a fact after five years when everybody wha could work had a job. It is hoped it will be temporary in arge part. The process of reconversion will" ‘take some time, more than if it had been properly pre-

{ pared in advance. Time and patience will be needed

until the plants are ready for peacetime production. While workers are losing jobs, on the one hand, there are demands, on the other, for higher wages. These demands are being voiced through their unions. They afe only natural, normal and expected. Wage increases are justified in many cases, as the Truman

tries and services which .never were related to war, and among white collar employees. All of this contributes to the unrest now apparent.

Responsibility Is Great

THE RELEASE from the frustrations of war to the frustrations of peace puts quite a burden upon labor leaders, It calls for judgment, restraint and statemanship, It also calls for judgment and restraint from industry and its managers. Their re-

| sponsibility is likewise great at this time.

There is an ugly fact that might as well be stated right now, on this Labor Day. This is that there are some in industry who would exploit this period to break down union organization, There has been subtle propaganda to arouse thé public against labor. There, are, also, some labor leaders who would use this ‘period of confusion and disturbance to enharice their personal power. Labor generally is- much better prepared to protect itself during the post-war readjustment than it was after the last war, or than it was when the depression struck 10- years later. After the first world war there was quite a spree of union busting. It: makes one of the unpleasant episodes of our history as a nation. A few years later labor went into the depression’ still weak. During the early part of that economic upheaval, unions lost members in droves. They found friends when the Roosevelt administration took

eB ct ee ta

Gains in Legislation THEY SEIZED the advantage, moved in quickly and built up gradually the strong organization that exists today. They found encouragement and support in the Wagner Act which guaranteed collective bargaining, the wages and hours act and social security. These statutes, imbedded firmly in the law of the: land, now provide a ready bulwark. ‘ They have been accepted by both major political ° parties. One unfortunate development has accompanied the expansion of labor in numbers and power. This is the schism in its ranks between C. I. O. and A. P. of L. which, among .other results, has brought the Jurisdictional strike. This is one thing that American public opinion will not tolerate. It has proved that. Much of that sort of industrial disturbance in the post-war period, which will have frictions enough, will injure labor with the public. Labor's new strength scquited in the last few years enthils responsibility, both of leadership and rank and file. The production record during the war is a shining page. It now has a record to make for itself jn peace. During the last few years, too, labor has recognized the need for political organization, even down to the precinct, to win its objectives. This gives added responsibility. Labor, in short; has now grown up. It is on its own. k . .

REFLECTIONS —

Labor's Day

By Frank Aston

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3.—It was 3 May, 1882, and Peter J. McGuire was president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America as well as an achive leader in the Knights of Labor. To Peter McGuire, organized * labor was a great and growing structure. The American Federation of Labor had been organized in Pittsburgh Nov. 15, 1881, The going was tough, Northern capital had been flexing its muscle since the end of the Civil war. The labor movement had gone through the indus. trial crisis of 1873-77 with some pain but with every indication that it would survive. The crisis cut the number of national and international craft unions from 30 to nine. Lockouts and wage cuts were numerous. But labor, as an “organization, hung on. Peter McGuire decided labor should demonstrate its strength. He started a campaign for a holiday for labor. He suggested the first Monday in September because it fell midway between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving day.

First Parade in '82

THE FIRST pysh for a Labor Day came from New York's Central Labor Union. The boys turned out and paraded the- first Monday of September, 1882; After that, it was easier. Oregon's legislature declaréd on Feb. 21, 1887, that the first Monday of September should be a state holiday in honor of labor. Thirty states had taken similar action by June 28, 1894, when congress legalized the holiday in the District of Columbia. and the territories. Industrial crises had destroyed the labor movement in 1819, 1837 and 1857. By 1804, labor had its own holiday on the books. Historians are still digging into early records of labor organizations trying to learn exhetly where and how the “firsts” of the movement took place. It's hard digging, partly because many pioneer labor organizers operated in secrecy, This was advisable because the pathfinders in unionism frequently recelved cracked heads from the opposition. They preferred not to keep too many telltale diaries. Some “firsts,” however, have been reasonably well established. For example: The first ‘striké in’ this country was called in" 1786 by Philadelphia printers against a cut in their $6-a~week wage. . The first unions were formed by craftsmen who then found their unions functioning against other labor almost as earnestly as against employers,

First Union in 1792 THE first union was the “Philadelphia Cordwain: ers” who got together in 1792 and fell apart a year later. A cordwaner ‘was a cobbler, State malitia first was used to break a strike in New York in 1802, when sallors struck to get their pay raised from $10 to $14 a month. The first’ central labor group was Philadelphia's Mechanics Unien of Trade Associations formed in 1827, following a strike for a 10-hour day. “The first law to prohibit the use of conviet labor is Pissed Iu Virgin Mar 3, 1642, by “the Grand Assembly at James City.” : CK

administration concedes; particularly in thosé indus~ 2%

ee