Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 31 January 1946 — Page 16

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Inefficiency and its restraints, § tion, and thus tending te make home-building dependent on federal subsidies.

aid voters at the coming

to exercise their voting privilege intelligently. A series of concise factual circulars has been prepared, giving background information on federal, state and local posts involved in the 1946 election. The first three deal ‘with the members of congress, state legislators and secre-

tary of state. While the circular on congress

that slogan, the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce this week renewed its educational campaign to ‘to learn what government jobs they are to fill | ping elections, who seeks these jobs, and how

points out that the population in ¢ongressional districts varies from approxi-

mately 241,000 in the Ninth district (southeastern Indiana)

to Marion county's approximately 460,000, no similar comment is made in that on the state legislators,

The sponsors of this educational campaign could per-

form a public service if they were to point out

been 25 years since the state legislature has taken any

that it has

action toward complying with the constitutional provision

for an enumeration of voters every six years,

The result

of this failure has been to deprive the citizens of many

communities, including Marion county, of the

representa-

tion to which they would be entitled if the enumeration were made as provided by law and a reapportionment of

legislative districts made.

It is hoped that many other non-partisan organiza-

tions will place emphasis this year on scrutiny

of the jobs

to be filled and of the qualifications of the candidates who

seek a place on the public payroll.

WHAT'S THE RUSH?

(CHAIRMAN VINSON of the house naval affairs committee and some of the admirals charge that Reconversion Director Snyder forced the navy to suspend construction of 37 ships for the post-war fleet. The implication is that this curtailment is a terrible blow to national defense. - Why should the navy be building warships at this

time?

We read of the frequent launching of new de-

stroyers, for instance. At the same time we hear of the laying up of many destroyers and destroyer escorts. What is the sense in laying up ships as fast as we launch them?

If the argument is that the new ships are

80 superior

four-year or five-year-old vessels as to make the latter

shsolete, then why the rush to turn out new

‘may be obsolete four or five years hence?

ships that

The theory seems to be that even the ships which

* came off the ways during the war could not be on the basis of the latest combat lessons.

constructed

But that same

necessity of incorporating the latest experience -should

‘cause the postponement of new construction.

Obviously, the most important lesson is yet to come. The atomic bomb tests are to be made on a representative

fleet of many types of vessels. Though these

tests are to

begin soon, under-water tests cannot be made until next year, Further experiments may require several years. Meanwhile, we already have the largest and most

modern fleet, far superior to the navy of any other power either afloat or building. This is a time to make haste

slowly in naval building—until much more is known about

the strategic problems and atomic weapons of

SUBSIDIZING INEFFICIENCY . “(JOVERNMENT housing officials are considering federal

subsidies to stimulate home building.

the future.

The idea is to pay subsidies to material producers and contractors, just as subsidies are paid to food. producers. That, it is argued, would compensate the material producers and contractors for higher costs and encourage them to

produce more materials and build more houses.

The government, through food subsidies,

part of everybody's grocery bill.

now pays

Through housing sub-

sidies, it can pay part of the cost of every home that gets built. Higher prices also would encourage production, but

the government wants to keep prices do

subsidies; present-and-propesed.——

wn. But subsidies do not keep prices down—the

Hence the

AREWE MOVING i» ALING a

Hoosier Forum

"I do not agree with a word that you say, but | will defend to the death your right to say it." — Voltaire.

will permit to carry through a trying, over-crowded situation. The children are as happy as such living conditions will permit. They are well-fed. As to the use of space in the living room for needed beds—that sounds very practical and businesslike, but let's consider it from the “human” side. The children of the home are there through circumstances beyond their control. They are normal children, with a normal longing for beauty and a touch of “hominess.”” The pleasant dining room where a lovely birthday party is held each month for those chiidren having birthdays that month, and the living room with its pretty rugs and drapes give a strong feeling of home security to the children. The adolescent boys and girls love to roll up the living room rugs and dance; the Boy Scouts recently held a beautiful candlelight investure service there. In the only other vacant room, the children take 45-minute turns using the few pairs of roller skates that the home owns, The smiling gratefulness of the youngsters for these little bits of sunshine in a world that has been very cloudy to them repays everything, I am sure. " » » |“ALL LOCAL DONATIONS | SPENT HERE FOR AID”

y only seem

[By William M. Taylor, Morgantown The union is not on strike to see

to do that—if production costs stay high. The government |the company's books but in rebut-

pays part of the high production costs.

It borrows the |ipg¢ money, adds it to the national debt, and passes it on to be !could

1 to the corporation's statement their books would show they not afford the 30 per cent

paid in. higher taxes later, increasing the burden on |[T®is¢. the union stated, quote, “if

everybody who works and earns.

We believe subsidies of this kind are justified, if ever, |

only when it is impossible to get production costs down.

And that emphatically is not the case with building industry. 2

the home-

“The methods and practices of this industry, in all its branches, are inefficiency and antiquated. It is permeated

with restraints that keep costs unnecessarily high. It needs !

a fundamental reform so that, as other industries have done, it can reduce costs, reduce prices, increase volume, pay good wages for steady work, and return good profits

to its owners.

effect, the government would be subsidizing th

FIX CEILING ON PUBLIC DEBT

the debt limit at $275 billions.

b fiscal year, June 30, 1947.

congress 1s taking . own

seriously responsibilities.

- The great danger of the subsidy plan is that, by appearing to hold prices down, it would conceal the need for fundamental reform of the building industry, In practical

e industry's

thus preventing their correc-

a perpetual

at face value President Truman's i : \ promise to stop the rise in the public debt and move toward a need budget, Senator Byrd of Virginia has asked con-

would be $25 billions below the present statutory allow a $4 billion leeway above the $271 dent has’ fixed as the peak debt at the

‘balance the federal budget and start paying erous times coming up, what chance ir be able to keep Bur spending within

ic approval “of Senator Byrd's pro- >

[it is shown .by examination of the {books by a fact finding committee that the raise cannot be granted

"Children's Smiling Happiness Reflected at Guardian Home"

By Mrs. George Long, 346 S. Audubon rd. For the last eight years I have been a resident of Irvington, a close neighbor to the Children’s Guardian Home, but not until this last year have I become actively interested in the life there. This winter, I have come in close enough contact with activities there to voice an opinion. As to past conditions in the home I know nothing. Because of regular trips there this winter to help-in mending, assisting at Christmas time, etc, I have grown fairly familiar with the situation at present. Mrs. Brooke, the superintendent, has the management well under control, and the children love her dearly. She, the matrons, and the general household staff seem. to be doing everything that their strength

car to the public, then our demands will be scaled down to conform with the facts.” The $4,000,000 strike fund is handled through the International Union by a committee and funds are sent into all local regions where help is needed and a financial report of expenditures and balance is kept in triplicate form and sent to all local unions. All money donated locally is spent locally and a financial report is given weekly. No local “union officer -has- ever received one cent for his services since the union was organized. His services are a contribution to his fellow workers. The International officers are donating their full salary to the strike fund for the duration of the strike. International representatives must donate $10 per week. ' # ” » “STREETCAR FARES WILL GO UP UNLESS OPPOSED”

By William Swanson, Indianapolis The street railway company has

thetic public. The agitation over

purpose which is to obtain a 10 cent cash fare and two-cent transfer, an increase of 43 per cent. Other cities have always fought

their street railway officials lacked the finesse of ours or their publicspirited citizens were more valiant than here. The company chose an opportune time, well knowing the businessmen are not interested, as they ride in comfortable automobiles. Once this rate is made official

the company will fight to the su-

without increasing the cost of the

preme court to retain it,

oN ere ,

Carnival —By Dick Turner

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"We're looking for something light but sturdy for waiting in line : Le ot rostgurantsl® ©. 7

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“DIRECTORS OF WELFARE SOCIETIES SHOULD KNOW” By J. B. K., Indianapelis The fact that two little children could be beaten and tied or chained in a cow bar under the supervision of our expensive and autocratic welfare system is an indictment against the entire system and those who administer it makes one wonder just how much of an expose it will take to put the whole story on the front pages of some responsible and civic-minded daily paper. It once more brings to the fore a lamentable fact that a great number of our finest citizens are unintentionally permitting their good names and prestige to be used to cloak the operations of some, of the worst misfits among the greatest army of salaried “do gooders” that ever existed. It is the profound and solemn duty of every man and woman whose name is being used as a

member of a board of any welfare

society or institution to immediately familiarize themselves with the people supposedly under their care, such as these little children or the sick and infirm. If these good citizens haven't the time or the inclination to immediately take stock, then in the name of Christian charity, if nothing else, they should resign at once. There's dozens of cases that belong on the front page such as this particular case, The papers should put it there in every case. One suffering child is worth every effort possible to air this situ-

slipped a fast one over on an apa-| ation.

” ” »

a temporary schedule of rates is| “FORUM WRITERS SHOULD but a smoke screen for the real| USE FACTS IN LETTERS”

By O. A. Harlan, Billings General Hospital |

Your column, “The Hoosier Forum,” is a very interesting one,

this exorbitant fare and won, put | but it so often reads like a fairy

tale, One seldom sees facts in the column, merely flat statements that such and such is so. One of the

| more obvious of such statements

appeared in the flat statement of Ernest Archer that, “ . . . I know that the auto workers are going to win this strike and so does General Motors. They have been holding out to beat the United States government out. of taxes.” Perhaps that is General Motors’ plan in refusing to grant a 19% cent pay increase to their workers. Then again, it may not be their policy or plan. I would like to know Just where Mr. Archer finds such facts to support such a statement. On the surface, however, it would seem that the statement was entirely without merit for it seems that if General Motors granted a pay increase, they would not have to pay as much taxes as they will if they refuse. After all, wages are deductible from the taxes on any business. Such thinking as advanced by Mr: Archer seems to me to be typical of the thinking of those men "who run the U. A, W.-C. 1. O. It also seems typical of the thinking of so many, that are blowing off steam these days on many vital issues. So please, in the future, let's have facts or make it known that it is an opinjon that is being expressed and not true. confessions from G. M.'s diary.

DAILY THOUGHT

‘And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou has much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided ?—Luke 12:19-20,

SURPLUS wealth is” a sacred

trust which its possessor is bound

to administer in his lifetime for the good . of the community.-—-Andrew Ca pie Z

on many subjects during a long luncheon as the general’s guest. He was soon followed by Barry Faris, editor-in-chief of International News Service, and Glenn Babb, foreign editor of the Associated Press. All perfected plans for coverage of the news of Asia, and its radio transmission. Times Special Writers PRINCIPAL COVERAGE of spot news comes from the press associations, which maintain staffs ‘of skilled American newspapermen who have backgrounds not only of accompanying combat units, but also of writing in the states about politics, economics and general subjects as varied as the contents of your evening paper. The United Press executive for the Far East

REFLECTIONS . . . By Robert Where Does ‘The

NEW YORK, Jan. 31—Mr. Fiorello LaGuardia, the famous journalist and radio analyst, has chuffed off to South America, leaving unanswered a great many questions,

For a member of the newspaper business, supposedly a raffish, carefree way of turning a buck, Mr. LaGuardia is a very exclusive person. He refuses to fraternize with his fellow journalists, even if his fellow journalists should wish same, which is improbable. It is a source of wonder to some that Mr. LaGuardia, unhorsed from the mayoralty, wished to join a business he holds in such low esteem. One of the questions I should liked to have asked “the hat,” had he found it convenient to see me, is if he entered the world of letters purely for sordid cash. : There were a lot of things I wanted to know.

technique? How does he amass the facts he flings with such gay abandon to his public? Does he wear out his arches collecting information? Has he pipelines into high places? Does he have difficulty arranging interviews—with, say, the mayor?

Is It Out of the Ether?

OR IS “the hat” a thumbsucker by trade? That is to say, does he sit in his office, gaze moodily at the ceiling, and wait for inspiration to arise? Does he get his ideas while cooking spaghetti or reading the funnies, or does the muse bestir herself only under the stimulus of a four-alarm blaze? There is the important question of technique. Does he~take careful notes, and always get his quotes right, or do people call him up and write nasty letters, screaming that they were misquoted? Can he sit down at a typewriter and, like the late Heywood Broun, whack out a piece of finished prose in 18 minutes? Or is he a tortured artist, bleeding into the typewriter, never happy with a phrase until he has hammered and honed and punched it into perfection? The question of technique intrigues me greatly,

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31. -— Secretary. of State Byrnes’ casual admission that under a secret agreement at Yalta, Russia comes into permanent possesfon of the Kurile islands may change the whole outlook on American bases in the Pacific, The revelation struck congress as a sort of minor bombshell—minor in the sense that Washington long since has passed the stage where it can be greatly shocked by the doing of its diplomacy. What especially irks it is that while our right to

| vital bases in the hard-won Jap-mandated islands is

being debated at home and abroad, an ally who entered the Pacific conflict at the eleventh hour, already is sitting pretty on a similar batch of islands in another corner of that ocean. There seems to be no serious opposition to Russian occupation of the Kuriles. True, they now transform the sea of Okhotsk into a Russian lake. It was from these islands that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the Aleutian islands, It was from them that some of Japan's famous explosive -balloons were dispatched toward the United States. While the balloons did little damage, it proved that the Kuriles in more ways than one are of real strategic value. In unfriendly hands, they could be a serious menace to the whole North Pacific.

Islands Once Russian IT HAS long been tacitly accepted here that eventually, at'the Japanese peace conference, Russia would claim _and get the Kuriles. Russia ceded them to Japan in the first place, back in 1875, partly in exchange for. half of Sakhalin, .So, getting them back now, is hardly surprising.” What is surprising is that the deal was clinched a year ago—long before Russia entered the fray against

WASHINGTON, Jan, 31.—The post-war convulsion of industrial disputes has thrown into conflict on a nation-wide scale, for the first time in this country, two highly organized forces int*industry and labor. This is in reality a new era with new problems that the nation faces. There ‘was widespread industrial conflict after the last war. Labor then was sketchily organized compared with now. The overwhelming weight was on the side of industry, which won the big battles of that post-war period. . During the Roosevelt administration, by virtue of the Wagner act with its collective bargaining guarantees, labor began to extend its organization. Only fairly recently, it organized the giant mass production industries, notably steel and automobiles, and their affiliated units. During the same time, there has been a strengthening of industrial power because of the great financial resources naturally involved in huge industrial enterprises. =

New Issues Being Raised THE CONFLICT was expected after world war IL As it developed, new issues have been raised, Industry has charged that labor, through exertion of, its new power, is trying to invade the prerogatives of management. This charge was based on insistence of Walter Reuther that wagés must be-tied up with profits and prices in his negotiations with General Motors. Ss devs . President Truman backed up this general philoso-. phy in his legislative proposals under which factfinding ‘boards would be authorized to have access to

corporation books to determine such relationshi ps.

. roa : G5 cme slow 4

i a ED clan di EAE,

ewsmen in Japan

What, for instance, is the ex-mayor's newsgathering

IN WASHINGTON . . . By Thomas L. Stokes | Labor-Management Facts Needed

_ an election in the offing.

VER igh Ls i wie

Voie : | Nell-Groundec - is Miles W. Vaughn, who was based in Tokyo 0 beid | Te war and has perhaps the widest personal any now wri from oy In addition to het re vu Japan, correspondents for American newspapers, includ Sidney B, Whipple, William H. Newton, Williae, McGaffin and George Weller, whosé special fea articles appear in The Times. All are veteran porters who have been in many lands. Their writi reveals the result of constant inquiry and persiste digging to obtain information—sometimes vital, som times merely interesting—which will enable us to kn What really is happening'in the “mysterious mast.” The press corps in Tokyo is not only professiona skilled, but also is’ composed of serious-minded earng observers who frequently contribute ideas to those e gaged in reshaping Japan, both American and Ja Anese. As in the case of Vaughn, a number ha lived in ‘Pokyo before and have many news sourc from which occupation authorities have been able loge 3 nationals really interested in rebuilding the country.

Seek American Service

THE AMERICAN reader can hardly conceive he 1

dominated the Japanese press and radio were, wi the militaristic government dictating the propagand line to be followed. The government-controlled Dom news agency has been put out of business, and su ceeded by two press services which apparently want work for a free press. These services, and newspape of Japan as well, look to the United States for accura) uncolored news of world events. One of the last su jeets I discussed with the heads of the Japanese nev services was thelr hope that they could receive fro! | their American counterparts the type of objectiv factual reporting which goes to the public in ti United States. They realized that until the taint untruth was removed from Tokyo dispatches, tI thinking Japanese would look for the "slug-line” an established American source beforé he would cr what he read,

C. Ruark

Hat’ Get His Facts

because from reading “the hat's” column and heari him on the radio, I get the feeling that he scoops hands full of words and tosses them like pennies in the air. Could it be that Mr. LaGuardia is like tI late, prolific Arthur Brisbane, who turned a sma tap in his brain and let the contents thereof dr perpetually into a dictation machine? What sort of copy, .I wonder, does Mr. LaGuard turn into the desk? Is it clean and sharp, or fu of hen tracks, x-d out spaces, and squiggles? his sentence structurg naturally rough-hewn an virile, full of stout nouns and incisive verbs, or doc} the desk polish his copy? Does he have trouble with the desk about t too-frequent use of “I”? Does he scream when | copyreader takes a thick black pencil and cuts th heart out of a hunk of powerful literature? Is inured to. the fact that as long as linotypes are made “restaurateur” will come out “restauranteur”? i

———

Like so many of our trade, does “the hat” secret] yearn to write the great American novel? Or is h’ shooting at Hollywood and a fat salary as a scenarist i Is he aiming for a farm and chickens, where he ma 1wWrite poetry and contemplate life?

Let's Talk Some Shop!

THERE ARE so many things I would like to know and I feel aggrieved that Mr. LaGuardia did nol care to talk shop over a shell of beer. Out of m greater experience in this racket, I might have bee: able to pass on a few tips that every cub should know. Such things as being polite to copyboys, wh \ havea way of turning up, in a few years, as the nev managing editor; buying an occasional drink for the man who reads your copy; how to handle a swindl¢ sheet; not breaking release dates; preserving the faith on off-the-record quotes, and how to free load a‘ lunches while still maintaining dignity. Both of us, I feel, have lost something valuable and when Mr. LaGuardia gets back, I hope we car | get together in some quiet bar and talk newspapers to our hearts’ content.

WORLD AFFAIRS . . . By William Philip Simms Secret Deal Gives Russia Kuriles

Japan, and that so far as known the United States received no comparable concessions in return. Russia, it seems, promised to fight Japan after the war in Europe wag over, but that promise should have] been given without price. For Japan was the natural enemy of Russia, far more than 6f the United States Ever since world war I, it had been the aim of the Japanese war lords sooner or later to push Russia back beyond Lake Baikal, Nevertheless, ‘it is now a matter of record that i exchange for the Russian promise to intervene in the Pacific war, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill made a number of secret commitments tq Marshal Stalin at Yalta. Not only was Russia to ge the Kuriles, but the rest of S8akhalin, bases in south ern Manchuria, additional concessions in China and Soviet-Chinese treaty which, in effect, made outer Mongolia a permanent part of the Soviet Union.

Effect on U.S. Bases

THE KURILES become. Russian, not under trusteeship, but apparently in fee simple. This will likely have a bearing on future discussions of the status of the Japanese mandates which the United States now proposes to retain as bases. These Pacific sand spits and coral reefs never be longed to Japan anyway. Germany claimed them un til the end of world war I when the League of Na tions turned them over to Nippon as mandated ter ritory. Contrary to the rules, the Japs fortified the and used them to achieve domination of the Pacific. Though the. United States was forced to take thess islands away from the Japs at the cost of thousands of -Hves-and billions-of dollars to save. itself and the United Nations, its claims unlike those of Russia aref still in dispute. i

Labor, on its part, has raised some new issues. It] has charged that big industry is trying to capitali i its advantageous post-war financial position to break) down unionism, In this connection, it has pointed to interlocking relationships. I It has pointed, too, to the profit position of in dustry and the tax laws, including the “carry-back” provisions which permit refunds in excess profits taxes paid in 1944 and 1945 if 1046 earnings fall below aver. ae earnings in the 1936-39 base period. . Labor had claimed, big corporations can come out all right, even if they don't produce. |

Seek Long-Term Solution THESE ARE some of the issues raised. Others concern union activities of various sorts in their ine dustry-wide form of organization. Some of the issuest are new as applied to new conditions, both in indus. try and labor, , nod It might be well to have information touching on all these matters in formulating policy; for the future This is the belief of Senators Morse (R. Ore.) andl Kilgore (D.-W. Va.), who have introduced jointly resolution for investigation by the senate labor com mittee “into the causes of current and threatened labor disputes, the economic and other factors and goverhmental policies affecting such disputes.” Buch an examination, the resolution says, “is essential fo any continued peaceful and free labor-managemen relations. : = : . Congress, meanwhile, i§ busying itself about labor legislation. Whatever it does, it probably is not going to find any long-time solution soon, particularly with

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Army tc Tri

WASHIN ~Thousand children be “Yo join the fathers ove "The war way for the day when some soldi

them at a local theate

Some co ever, that to the ave the time b dependents of sergean will be elig! The armj er grades ¢ permitted t seas later— after prese The army construct a dependents. The mov to Europe April 1. 1T the Philip; the Ryuku: May 1.