Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 December 1946 — Page 14

Times

i Business Manager

ed Ahd published dally (except Sunday) by bolls Lrg wrt ernie W. Maryland

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Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Woy

MERRY CHRISTMAS ‘we were a minister, we could find an excellent text in a letter to the Hoosier Forum yesterday. In this letter, the contributor wondered if the world the grace to accept the way of good will, to accept Pre gift which Jesus proffered when He said:

+ “My peace give I unto you.” % And she suggested that we search for and find the

other half of Christmas, the receiving as well as the giving. * America and the rest of the world must awaken to this nsibility of receiving peace. "As we express our “Merry Christmas” at the end of the first full year of peace, the prayers of our people should be voiced for the success of those who sit at the council tables of the United Nations and plan for global peace and

co-operation.

JUDGE ALEX M. CLARK x. THE gpvernor has made a good selection in appointing Alex M. Clark, young war veteran Republican, as judge of municipal court to succeed Judge John L. Niblack. " The Times opposed Mr. Clark when he sought the ‘nomination for prosecuting attorney against Judge Judson L. Stark, who was nominated and elected. We felt that Mr. Stark's broader experiencé, both as judge and as chief deputy prosecutor and prosecuting attorney, made him better qualified for the job. As we saw it then, and as we see it now, the domipant faction of the G. O. P. sought to absorb Mr. Clark because of his obvious vote getting appeal. Here was a personable young veteran, wounded in action and decorated several times, who was just out of uniform and anxious to get established once more in civilian life,

HE T to their community in ability, vision and aggressive leadership to subjugate them to factional politics. We tween Gov. Ralph F. Gates and Henry E. Ostrom, Republican county and district chairman, who recommended Mr. Clark. We did not agree with Mr. Ostrom’s tactics in the primary. In this instance, however, we do feel that his

second was to give recognition to the veterans. The situation in our municipal courts trying police cases is far from creditable. It is a condition the bar association should investigate. | And it is a situation Mr. Clark can do much to improve if he applies the qualities which made him a superior combat officer—guts, brains and leadership. We wish Mr. Clark success in his new post. Here is a‘job he is well-qualified to do, a job that can be a steppingstone to greater public service.

ONLY ONE WAY IY the argument over whether high prices are the fault of . capital or labor, profits or wages, we shouldn't forget the real original culprit-—war. Any government that fights a major war has to spend a whale of a lot more money than it can collect in taxes. It makes up the difference by printing money or by borrowing it. Either method is bound to cause inflation. The United States made up the difference in world war II by borrowing on a tremendous scale. The results are seen in the national debt. On that subject, the committee on public debt policy has just issued some interesting figures. For instance: After the revolutionary war our national debt was $19 per capita—that is, for each man, woman and child. It was $15 per capita after the war of 1812. It rose to $78 per capita after the civil war, $240 after world war I, and $1981 after world war II. In 1917, the year before we got into world war I, our ‘national debt was only three per cent of our national income. It mounted to 41 per cent of our national income during that war, fell to 22 per cent in the 1920’s—but now is almost 200 per cent. The national income is large this year, but the national debt is nearly twice as large. After every war government spending, at least for some years, continues to be much greater than it was before. Interest must be paid on the debt, veterans must be cared for, and current operating expenses high, In 1946, federal government spending has been more than one-fourth of the national income.

. ” » . F you pay a federal income tax, you pay part of the cost © of operating the federal government. But, though you ‘may, not realize it, this is by no means all you pay. The cost of government helps to make prices high. One reason is that | the corporations are really tax collectors for Uncle Sam. of each $5 of gross profit a corporation earns by selling its ‘products, it must pay the U. S. treasury nearly $2 in corporate income taxes—$2 that, otherwise, it>might have shared with its customers through lower prices, its employees through higher wages, and its stockholders through larger dividends. © A country with a national debt as huge as ours, and government as costly, can’t raise its general standard of by fighting over the division of what is left of the

: SBS Huesaed-in getting larger shares, other groups must The only way all groups can have higher living stand‘#rds is by making the national income bigger. The only way 0 increase the national income is to produce more wealth. the only way to produce more wealth is to work. Ra \RRY ON, SENATOR § RICAN interests abroad may be seriously preju- { diced if Senator Vandenberg withdraws from active . or in our foreign negotiations, as he has ex- ¢ desire to do. Republican has grown steadily in stature extra-curricular duties and he has be-bi-partisan foreign policy which has so r nal position. The recent elecpolitical position, and he enjoys a the secretary of state

Indiana, $6 a year; all other states, |

income after the government takes its bite. If some |

Hoosier

Forum

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

"Children's Bureau

sionally trained staffs.

sary, in order to carry the major

tion homes.’ Frankly, we do not know the answer to the problem of there being fewer children available for adoption than there are people seeking them. We do know that it is true all over the country, and that no reputable child-placing agency will become a party to a “baby-snatching” practice in order to increase the number of available children. Nor will a reputable agency place a child for adoption without the fullest possible knowledge of what that child's physical and intellectual development may be expected to be. Agencies like. ours are always criticized for being so very slow in (1) determining whether a child is to go for adoption, and (2) in studying and selecting the right adoptive home for him. Admittedly, we are slow and cautious because we have seen the tragic results, for both the adoptive family and the child, of hastily made, illadvised placements. We insist upon a period of observation in a boarding home prior to adoptive placement to make sure we know what we are offering, a family. Likewise, we have a high responsibility through our study of the adoptive family to present real evidence of their suitability as adoptive parents for a certain child to the court which legalizes the adoption. Constantly we are searching for ways to speed up our work because we believe that it is desirable for a child to be placed in its permanent home as early as possible, but we owe it to the child, its own parents, the adopting parents, and the community to preserve essential safeguards, In May, 1945, we found ourselves, like most accredited child-placing agencies throughout the country, having a large surplus of adoption applications, few children to be placed, and no staff available for this big job of interviewing people to add to this surplus. Rightly or wrongly, we decided to keep a list

Adoption

Program Not Generally Known"

. ” . . : bute too much |By Mrs. Walton M. Wheeler Jr, Chairman, Interpretation Committee veterans of the recent war can contribute on 3 ue has, Tutpretsiio The board of managers of the Children’s bureau is concerned by the widespread misunderstanding of our agency's adoption program and is mm the appointment be- |eager to have a direct part in clarifying some of the confusion that divide our co thdation of ppe exists, Volunteer boards such as ours are responsible for their agencies’ programs, policies and procedure which are carried out by paid profes-

Because of our shortage of social work staff, we have found it neces-

part of our program, to limit the

._ | number of adoption applicants we interview and whose homes we later first objective was to obtain a good municipal judge. His | suay to correspond to the number of children for whom we need adop-

of the applicants who wrote, telephoned or dropped into the office and to record their preference as to race, sex and age of the prospective child. Just as rapidly as our agency needs and staff situation warranted, we have called these people in for a careful office interview of an hour or longer duration in which we try to get enough understanding of the applicant's situation to determine mutually whether we should proceed with the adoption study. Other things being equal, we have called the applicants in for interview in chronological order, but in recognition of our needs for certain types of homes for certain individual children this has not always been possible. For example, our need may have been for a boy rather than a girl, a child of three years of age rather than an infant, a Negro rather than a white child, a child of just average intelligence or even a dull child rather than one who could be expected to go to college. The task of selecting just the right home for children is a difficult one and requires that our staff use to the fullest the skills they have developed through years of training for and experience in fhis work. The agency welcomes constructive criticism of its program as a means of bringing about improvement in its service to children. » ” ” “TALBURT CARTOON SHOWS ECONOMIC LESSON AT GLANCE” By KE. J. Dowd, 430% Broadway I have often heard that you can teach economics in one lesson but your cartoonist teaches it in one giance in the Tuesday picture showing “Wages” trying to get away from his shadow, “Prices.” This is the cartoon of the year. When wages move upwards on a nation-wide basis, prices move with them and all of the silly statements by kept Pseudo economists like Nathan won't keep it from happen-

ing.

Side Glances—By Galbraith

"Couldn't you just let me smear enough lipstick on my face so the © fellows won't think | spend my evenings at the library?" . » ¥ ~

{temporary basis.

“MANY CHILDREN NEED ONLY TEMPORARY HOMES” By Lucille . Bitson, Director, Children's Bureau

Recently the Forum carried a letter from Mrs. Donald H. Barnett, 3239 Broadway, that criticized the Children’s Bureau's adoption policies and procedures. In order that this agency's viewpoint may be presented to readers of the Forum, may we please ask you to print our reply to Mrs. Barnett which follows? “I read your letter which appeared in the Hoosier Forum in the Dec. 4th issue of The Indianapolis Times with great interest and sympathy. The points you raised are well taken and undoubtedly reflect the thinking of many people. Certainly your thoughtful letter deserves as careful and thoughtful an answer as we can give, It is a matter of real concern to us, when our agency, which has been serving children in this community for 95 years, operates in such a way as to result in misunderstanding or

{antagonism on the part of inter-

ested, intelligent members of our society who are just as eager to be of sérvice to children as we are. “Perhaps it might help a little if I explain our situation more fully. In the first place, our adoption work is only a small segment of our agency's responsibility—a fact greatly misunderstood by the general public and to a degree by people who know us fairly well. At present only 15 per cent of our children in foster family homes are in adoptive homes, and less than 7 per cent of the total number of children under the care of the agency are in adoptive homes. We estimate that we would need not more than 20 or 25 adoptive homes yearly for our children who are available for adoption. Among those children not available for adoption, but needing temporary care in boarding homes are those whose mothers are out of the home because of illness; those whose parents are separated and divorced and whase home as a unit has been broken; and those children, including teen-agers, with health or behavior problems who need a period of foster care during which they may have an opportunity to straighten out their difficulties. While there may be some “drunken, shiftless, no-good parents,” we meet more who are frightened, overwhelmed by their responsibilities, and discouraged by a long, losing struggle. Such parents need kindly understanding, skilled counselling, and a chance to prove themselves adequate parents. We are not primarily an adoption agency, but an agency that finds adoptive homes for that small percentage of our children who need that type of care. We believe we are at present spending a proportionate amount of our staf! time on our adoption work, “I wish I knew how to reply satisfactorily to your comment about the willingness of people primarily interested in adoption to accept children in such times as these on a Our words seem s0 empty and hollow to you, but actually our conviction on this point has been born of painful and sometimes bitter experiences. Every agency in the county, I suspect, has duplicated our experience of seeing a child who was placed presumably on a temporary basis, remain in a home totally unsuited to his long time needs and to the ultimate unhappiness of the family; or we have seen him forcibly removed with some damage to himself, possibly only temporarily, and with real damage to the family who had become deeply attached to him. “Please believe that we are sympapathetic with your situation.”

DAILY THOUGHT

And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.—Zephaniah 1:17,

DARKNESS is strong, and so is

sin, but surely God endures forever, ~Lowell. ws

| mistakable signs of breaking. i

|OUR TOWN . . . By Anfon Scherer

Christmas Greeting to All Carolers

THE WAY 1 FEEL right now I want to send Christmas greetings to everybody including even the boy tenor in the second row whose voice shows unThe Christmas carolers are beriéath my window singing as I write. It is a melody as of angels and the suprise of its coming filleth my cup to overflow= ing. My first greetings, therefore, go to the street musiefans wherever they may be. I embrace them all. And a great big hug for the tenor whose fluctuating voice betrays his leaving boyhood to enter—God knows what, And with even more respect I salute those carol érs whose breath, when it meéets the cold air, turns into something strangely resembling the smoke of incense rising in a church. Bless their red running noses; their stiff blue fingers, too. A Merry Christmas, too, to all my cash customers (a nickel a day or, better still, 20 cents a week) and to my many correspondents all of whom are still waiting for replies. And a very special greeting to the 576 regular readers who used the services of the postal telegraph peéople—and, indeed, their own légs—to tell me that they had in their possession the authentic récipe for Kartoffelkloesse. All because oncé upon a time this year, in a mad moment of abstraction, I committed to writing the opinion that Mrs. Maria Thodeus’ historic recipe for the same had been lost—so irretrievably, indeed, that posterity would not profit by it. A scientific sorting (and sampling) of the 576 Submitted recipes revealed that no two were alike.

And Many Others, Too

THE COMPLIMENTS of the season, too, to the harassed and pursued souls, who, for some reason or maybe none at all, are suffering from nostalgia. I know just how it feels for I, too, have been accused of a too great longing for the ‘past. It is a true charge, but it is not so much a longing for the past as it is a sense of it without which it wouldn't have been possible to endure the last 15 years, The goose hangs high, too, for Will Hays (now basking in the sunshine of Southern California) whose “sudden death” last spring achieved nationwide circulation by way of the Associated Press. And even more to the point: A Very Merry Christmas to all Hoosiers whose state of health escapéd the searching diagnosis of the ghoulish A. P.

.+ «+ To those who retain their

in 1 Rk : +d

gly

Greetings of the Yuletide, too, citizens who, from ote a anc napolis alkaline in a naughty world, . + « To the flat-footed who continue to walk in the paths of righteousness. vigor b - mins and vegetable cocktails, . Fs ia developed thelr sense of tolerance because of “Scotch type” whiskies served this Christmas, | .+To those who have successfully passed the F. N. test this year, : And a very special greeting to the inspired chef of a Pacific coast restaurant who, T am reliably informed, turns down all the lights in his place and plays a recording of Schuberts' “Ave Maria” when he starts Sompounding crepes Suzette, . , reetings, too, to all the brothers and sister the Quiz Kids and the Dionne quintupiets rid deed all those who, because of predestination or some similar defection, are obliged to take a second plage in this world. Like vice presidents, for instance. Gosh, the way I feel today I want to send Christmas cheer to the all the underprivileged and discouraged Like Chester Bowles, for instance, and Wilson Wyatt who, no doubt, had a metrier Christmas last year. And with all the hedrtiness I can muster, I greet Franklin Vonnegut and George Bernard Shaw, both of whom celebrate their 90th Christmas today. Not to forget the babies belonging to George Newton, Richard Berry, Robert Bloem and Russell Campbell (to name only a few) all of whom had the courage to enter this worried and all too shatterable world in

order that they might celebrate their first Christmas today.

For a Better World

THIS CHRISTMAS, TOO, my greetings are directed to the men and women who represent the people of the world at the United Nations Organization, who are groping toward something which still han no name, but which keeps turning up every year in the shape of Christmas trees and a sort of wistful huma hope —=a& hope that maybe some day we shall have a world in which children (of whatever race or country) may be warm and unafraid. And lest I forget: Bless Clement Clarke Moore. . . » Virginia O'Hanlon . . . Victor Herbert . . . Charles Dickens . . . and/or Lionel Barrymore . . . Irving Berlin and/or Bing Crosby . . . Franz Gruber and his pastor-pal Joseph Mohr . . . without whose contribu-

tions this Christmas might be just another Roman holiday.

IT'S OUR BUSINESS . . . By Donald D. Hoover. Lang May Your Lumm Lneek, Say Scots

NOT SENDING OUT any Christmas cards gives me a guilty feeling . . . but receiving them recalls many experiences of the war and the friendships formed in times of stress that last in times of peace. Yesterday's mail seemed “British day,” for ft brought cards from a number of British officers .. . three Englishmen, a Scotsman and an Irishman ... with whom I had served. There was E. 8. N. Head Col. Eddie we called him, writing from Boodles, London's “éxclusive” club, to recall the hot night at our olive grove camp in Sicily when we had a particularly heavy air raid. We slept in the raw . .. but donned our helmets to go into the open to watch the ack-ack and see several German planes shot down in flames. Eddie slipped up behind the Scotsman, Maj. Robin Dickson, and tossed a handful of pebbles on his helmet . . . and Robin hit the dirt under the nearest tree. There was a card from Dickson, too . . . with the intelligence corps symbol. He's stationed in Germany now.

Fellowship of Service

THEN THERE WAS A NOTE from my opposite number, Col. Peter Lovegrove, a brilliant newspaperman who'd come into the service from his home in Cairo . . and who after the war was going to settle down on a little farm in Haute Savoy and write another book. Peter had been to France and looked the. farm over . . ., and sadly decided he'd stay in London, where ‘he does special work for the war office and writes for a London newspaper. Some day he'll go to France and write that book. There wasn't a complaint in any of the notes on the cards . . . not even from the civilian who gave up a major industrial job because his country could use his talents. He went through the air raids and dis« comforts along with the best . . . and now he’s back in a country whose industry suffers because it can't get raw materials . . . because of our strikes and limping economy here in the states. Tom Finn, Hoosier colonel born in Bloomington

and now with the Charles Evans Hughes law firm in New York, took my place as commanding officer in the Mediterranean theater. Now Tom is back in clvvies . . . writes that Hal Winter, Indianapolis newspaperman who was our executive officer, was doing a bang-up job in Austria. The American officers are scattered over the globe. Cmdr. Kenneth Ripley, debonair author and world traveler who was a senior naval officer, is loafing in Ireland and writing a book. He'll never forget the night he spent in a foxhole outside Ormoc . . . on Leyte . . . with hand grenades cocked in the crook of his arm. Nor his buddy Tom Hanson, a lieutenant commander who was a White House secret service man, the time Tom got lost beyond the lines.

From Argentina and Japan

FROM ARGENTINA came a breezy note from Baxter Reese, one of those ebullient kids who was a combat detachment commanding officer . . . who had

learned caution when a Jap bomber dropped an egg of the LST in which he was traveling. Nine Purple Hearts came out of that one, but none of our men was killed. Baxter reported that two of the naval officers of the detachment were coming to Buenos Aires to take jobs in the import-export fleld, a field from which many of our officers came. And from Japan came a reminder that the regular army carries on . . . in the form of a note and card from Col. Warren Hoover, in 8th army G-2, and former West Point instructor. Warren and I lived together, and from him and another academy instructor, Col. Bob Hackett, and their friends I learned of the professional seriousness with which the regular soldier approaches his obligation to his country. They're scattered all over the world . , . those men who lived and laughed together. And at this season . . » reminiscent of several not so safe and pleasant, I recall that old Scottish saying “Lang may your lumm Ineek,” which means: “Long may your chimney smoke.”

REFLECTIONS . . . By Robert C. Ruark

So Santa Came

NEW YORK, Dec. 25.—My wavering faith in Santa Claus has been reaffirmed, and I hung my sock last night with full faith and with thanks to Senator Theodore Bilbo. He has amply demonstrated that a fat old man with a white beard forever walks abroad.

Santa, dear, I wanted a train anna bicycle anna -

Cadillac anna penthouse ann big fat blond doll anna coupla hundred grand anna swimming pool anna mink coat for the old lady anna reduction in income taxes anna pot of caviar anna quart of mixed rubies and emeralds anna stable of race horses and any other knickknacks you had in the poke. Also I want no argument; if you come down Bilbo’s chimney all year ‘round the least you can do is squirm down mine.

The Kind War Contractors

1.DON'T SUPPOSE, since Mr. Dickens did his saga of Tiny Tim and Scrooge that a sweeter Christmas story has been told.” Here we have all the elements for a tearjerker. Picture, for a moment, the blind faith of a little southern boy named Teddy. A poor little boy, whose only amusement was working and working, day after day, for the betterment of mankind. : His only social

to Poplarville, Miss.

club was the ku-klux klan, an organization devoted to the sporting chase and to fireworks display. Poor little Tiny Teddy lived in a couple of barren dream houses, bare of furniture. For a playmate he had a rather frantic friend. Little Teddy was forced to slave all day over a hot mule, and when he came in at night, all sweaty and tired, there was no pool to plunge in. Things were rough down in Poplarville, Miss., until the Christmas spirit entered the hearts of the war contractors. Then Santa Claus came to Poplarville. He plowed the dust acres. He got hop for his -hophead friend, who ceased quivering long enough to dig up $1500, which seems to have been donated to the most popular charity in Mississippi. Santa Claus dug a 32-acre lake, and then, in a fit of energy, spaded up a swimming pool. Selling his reindeer down the river to the nearest abbatoir, Santa drove up to dream house I in a Cadillac, which bore a tag: “For Tiny Teddy, a good little boy.”

Open Up That Carpetbag

WHAT TOUCHES ME MOST is Tiny Teddy's faith that everything would turn out all right. He was sure that nobody would censure him for accept ing Christmas presents, “It is just an old southern custom,” he said.

WORLD AFFAIRS . . . By William Philip Simms

Shipments Abroad Test of Good Will

WASHINGTON, Dec. 25.—In certain parts of the world today it seems to be the fashion to throw brickbats at the United States. But we are going to play Santa Claus to a large part of the world this Christmas, notwithstanding. “The New Austria,” one of Vienna's leading newspapers, opines that culture in Europe today is under the domination of two opposed groups—the Russians and the Americans, Both, in its opinion, are barbarians. Each, it observes, merely represents ‘a grotesque imitation of certain European ideals and traditions, and that sort of thing must be combated,

Remembering the Needy

OUR SOLDIERS, IT ADDS, are totally ignorant even of Europe's best-known names in literature and music, and it takes a crack at New York's Metropol tan opera house as an “ostentatious department store with no original goods to sell. Of course we could reply that the average European never heard of Whistler or Mark Twain or Stephen Foster and that, by and large, the immigrant who comes to our shores begging for admission is not always a well-informed person himself. We could observe, too, that this barbaric country of ours was called upon to pay some 75 per cent of the costs of UNRRA and that these costs were so levied like 75 per cent of the world total. Similarly, we might add, the United Nations insisted that we pay 50 per cent of that organization's 1047 budget and finally compromised on 40 per cent. And so on.

But such arswers would be unworthy. In fact,

they are no answer at all. Money is not a proper

yardstick in cultural fii yo ;

gy ds

or even humanitarisn matters.’

It's what one does with his money that counts. It would be more to the point to show how Americans have helped rebuild Europe's war-torn libraries, mu« seums, historic buildings and villages, or sent medical missions to disease-ridden parts of the globe. But to this writer's notion, perhaps the best test of all is to be found, of all places, in our city and country postoffices. Ever since the ban was lifted on food, clothing and other shipments to the devastated areas of the earth, long lines of plain, ordinary folks have been awaiting their turn -at the parcel-post window—waiting to make gifts of badly needed necessities to people abroad. In November, the New York posoffice alone shipped to Europe 1,009,802 sacks of mall, 95 per cent of which comprised parcels of food and clothing. Postmaster Goldman sald December shipments une doubtedly would be much greater. To Italy went more than 180,000 bags, 172,000 to Germany, 101,000 to the British Isles, and proportions ately large consignments to France, Netherlands, Bele glum and other countries. Some areas as yet are une reachable by parcel post but doubtless will benefit if, as and when the peace is finally made.

Europe—Breeding Ground of War

MILLIONS OF FOREIGNERS, therefore, will have the “barbarians” of the United States to thank for thinking of them this Christmas. And-—speaking of barbarians—while we, over here, never deny that our culture largely stems from Europe—since most of us are of European origin—we likewise have to admit that that same area has provided us with all of our world wade : v

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v Boil AA HS 4 UR

Christtas to the next, remain

. . To those who have

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