Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 28 January 1947 — Page 12

Mail +0. B. possessions, Canada and Mexico, 87

month: Per RI-3681 > Give Light and the People Will Find Thor Own Way DICE OF EXPERIENCE TICIPATING in the public opinion poll sponsored by "the mayor's army advisory committee to determine sentiment toward universal military training, the Service club ‘of Indianapolis. yesterday voted overwhelmingly in favor of such training. ; : "There were only two votes against some form of time training, and these were believed to have been. on th theory that the six months proposed by the war department were not sufficient. The club-did not vote on a specific plan, but on the general question. he “| The nature of the membership of this organization makes its opinion doubly significant. Every member is a . veteran of world war I, with the few exceptions who saw service only in world war II. Of the total membership, about 25 per cent also saw service in both wars. y #~. Many of these men had sons in service. Many of them have sons who will be affected by the decision of congress on the war department's proposed UMT program. ; It was the voice of experience which spoke in the vote of the Service club. =» - -

od . HERE ck “Widespread. misunderstanding of universal military training plans and a confusion with constription.

Stated simply, under the war department proposal, every physically fit male would take training when he ‘reached the age of 18 or after he completed high school, whichever came later. He would receive six months training under specially selected reserve officers, would then be exempt from any further call unless a general draft act were enacted in a national emergency. He would be called, in that case, just as would any other citizen.

Hoosier

ab ll ALR OTe

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

Forum

i If he wished to take further advantage of the training and educational program, he could do so, and eventually win a reserve commission. If he did not, he would leave the training corps, which would be separate from the army, and could enter college or seek a job. : The six months training would enable every youth to be better prepared to meet the responsibility of protecting his country if he were called upon. However, we believe the training should be for a longer period, probably one year.

THE MERIT SYSTEM. 'VE heard a good many complaints, lately, about the working of Indiana's “merit plan” for public jobs, and a number of proposals appear to be in the air to change | vi "it, generally to weaken it or reduce its scope. Fyre Te Senn Sues ona : These criticisms, it seems to us, are very well justified. [Or will we adopt the British-Rus-The system does have some obvious faults in operation. sian system of public housing and They are fualts that can easily be corrected, and that can ~ easily be avoided in plans to take city and county jobs out be yes J -Snely wak of the vicious and obsolete old “spoils system” which is still up an Ont: ‘WAL Mie i the basis for too much public employment in Indiana. den ana eohereesional Fei on Executive heads of state departments charge that the ing rental property out of business.

Property Forces It

potatoes as a bonus?

Will private competitive enter-

ruptey?

personnel board sets impossible qualifications for new em- | RV. 82 ual ployees, and fixes pay scales so low that few apply. As a {FE0Pe ies wen PP he renal result, they say, they find themselves unable to attract{ Wake up! You so-called landenough good employees to maintain their departments, lords! Keep on writing your con-

Some of them suggest correcting this by letting each de- (tne president and the legislators

i x | American citizens, voters, and taxi ’ tem. Which, of course, wolild mean no merit system at all. Sete. aod nok Usele Sands red:

The personnel board should not set up qualifications for | headed step-children.

employees, nor fix salaries to be paid. It is common civil | 4 2 & service practice, both state and federal, for each depart- |IN RAILROAD CREW BILL" E

ment to set its own standards for each specific job, and to [5 ; 5. jagisanpotis fix the salary range of the job, within the limits of its | There seems to be an effort being own budget. The sole function of the personnel board made to have our state legislators should be to guarantee that applicants actually meet the sepa] ne miu Stew aw

vo 4 This law provides for three brakestandards set, and are thus eligible to be hired. 'men on trains hauling cars in ex-

Certainly the head of any department can determine ess of 89. Also for a flagman to better than anve 1 hat . ant . d be at the rear of passenger trains nyone else what experience, education and |g; aii times to safeguard such trains

special abilities an applicant ought to have to fill any job against rear-end collisions. ; within his department. And just as certainly the personnel Now it is to be expected that board is far better equipped to obtain persons who have |Fiiroad employees would.be against

is . 3 repeal, while railway management those qualifications than any department working inde- |advocates repeal. It might be said pendently would be.

this is due to selfish interests. The public has no interest in the subject, except as how it effects its welfare. In- passing through cities and towns oftentimes trains are

. . » : THE system has suffered, in its years of beginning, from 7 a general shortage of applicants for jobs—a shortage felt by private business as well as by the state. . The state would have had as much, or more, trouble finding employees these last four years without a merit system. We have suffered, too, from our own failure to install a complete and thorough civil service system, like those which have proved universally successful elsewhere, rather than the weak compromise which our merit plan has been. We have suffered, somewhat, because the several laws which | a create it are confusing and in some cases conflicting. And it \N 4. EX has been weakened by being applied only partially, when it ; should have been applied universally, to public employees. The principle of hiring only people who are qualified to do the jobs for which they are paid, without regard to their political standing, is one that, no modern state can long evade. The jobs to be done are too important, and their cost is too great, to let every clerk and watchman and stenographer position on the payroll be a political plum | to be handed out by whoever wins each election. > Instead of being scattered and made weaker, the state's merit system should-be improved and made stronger, with | a full-fledged civil service system as a sure objective.

WHEN BIRDS HAVE FLOWN THE United Nations security council's commission to in- ~ vestigate Greek border incidents was organized in such 8 leisurely manner that a great deal of pertinent evidence undoubtedly was removed or destroyed before the inquiry ‘could get under way. : Although the investigation was authorized weeks’ ago, pmmission’s*first meeting in Athens won't be held until ursday. Any Bulgarians, Albanians and Yugoslavs have violated Greek sovereignty, as charged, ' had ainple. time to go home—first, "in the usual ner, yubbing out any witnesses whose testimony .

the train. Usually public highways are blocked. Should an ambulance come up to a blocked crossing or highway there would be consider-

ern

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"Excessive Regulation of Rental.

By Lester C. Bush, Field Director for Indiana, National Home and Prop- : : erty Owners’ Foundation.

So the President and congressional rent controllers tell Gen. Fleming (OTC) to throw a sop to the “hardship” landlords. Why not also tell! Secretary Anderson to throw in a bag of the $80,000,000 worth of dumped |

I wonder if so-called landlords have been putting too much heat! on the President and the congressional rent controllers, : . Why should all lines of business be decontrolled except residential I don’t Jelteve a man as loyal, sin-| property owners? Must these owners be put out of business completely °°T¢ and as honest as Mr. McMur- | by rent control or will they be totally throttled by Senator Taft's tax-payer-financed. public housing? 4 T= -

drive private owners into bank-|

Maybe renters will finally wake, {More than 300,000 U. S. A. rental

igressmen and senators. Eventually,

partment, or bureau, or institution, run its own merit sys- |will realize that you, too, are free,

-' mentioned conditions can be great- Mayor Tyndall. But next time don’t

stopped on curves where engine, crews can only see a small part of

Side Glances—By Galbraith

ity council really intends to stop interna- |__com oer iubitice wt TARR Grn Pt or £28 | KNOW from the bounteous heaven i Tote xs a. hr —-—" ; all riches flow: Gna have learn Soumove Without | | think the labor situation may be looking up, J. G.—as | came in |And what man gives, the gods by To Ves siti ri Wis morning one of the employees said hello!" ~~. | man bestow. =~ —Pope.Ea ede el he S he EY :

“CHIEF McMURTRY KNOWN AS FINE, HONEST MAN"

Did Atomic Boi

son has an historically significant

that the atomic bombs ended the Japanese war. The opinion is contrary to that I found in Japan and, as : :

from Gen. MacArthur's headquarters sent to Japan ahead of surrender, and in those earliest days, the

chief of the counter-intelligence section in GHQ of the supreme allied commander.

Opinions of Editors . NATURALLY, THE OVER-ALL information .the secretary of war is superior to that of any even though the latter may have been on the ground. However, all high-level opinion is formed on the basis of collation of information gathered on the ground and elsewhere. In the course of my assignment to destroy the Jap propaganda machine and to create freedom of the written and spoken word, much of my contact ‘with the Nipponese was with editors and others who ig intimate knowledge of the psychology of their people. These editors . . . many of whom believed in democratic processes and were roughly treated by

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28.—Watching the maneuvers aimed at the fateful year 1948, we get an idea of ‘how the political winds are blowing. It is an instructive lesson in the politics of a transition period. In the game of musical chairs now going on among the Republicans. the goal is the center chair, Both from the left and from the right the effort is to move into the middle position. That seems to be regarded as the spot conforming most nearly to the temper of opinion today.

Building Record for '48 FORMER GOVERNOR HAROLD - STASSEN of Minnesota wants to convince his party and the public that he is not a radical; that his views are sound and not too far out of line with Republican thought. This is the interpreta##®n put on his recent statement on President Truman's budget. Not even Chairman John Taber of the house ap-

By K. P., Indianapolis N Congratulations to The Indian- ' apolis Times for your fine editorial, |

Off Market"

i Police Shake Up. It is very gratifying ‘to know we have some people

{left who find out the truth and are | not afraid to tell it. I believe Mr. McMurtry should) have had the satisfaction of seeing .. , this mess cleaned up as police chief,

try should have this happen to him. | (Mr. Tyndall, why jump so fast? ; | Everyone knows that you won't find! jails a 8 in trains. | in 500 Police officers all honest men. His signals to the engine could not | 1s Ie ok Something Rew, § has be seen. But with the third man 3 teen way. Of course, to stand where he can transfer sig-| + "rie back. we might say not too” | (al. Emin. the didn se ting the far back, before Mr. McMurtry was train to engineer the delay is elim- Sor por Chief, that a lot of etfiinated. The same is true of delay ho chance at ihe graft ire de ants’ going 10.4 money. I wonder why. Could it po ci pariments Jong w and! 2¢ that it all went to one man?! injured; any of these may be in a

Could be. Well, anyway those who know Mr. race with death. McMurtry know that he was a fine, | Oftentimes private crossings are honest man, che who lost no sleep blocked. A farmer has dairy cows over his conscience bothering him. | on opposite sides of track from dairy I believe he did all in his power to! barn, trying to get cows to barn run a”clean honest police force. to get his milk supply to market on There was probably a lot he would time. The rear brakeman must 80 have liked to do if he could have back and protect rear of train, had the power and = gosign. Chang-! which is imperative. The head end ing chiefs won't stralghitert this| ‘brakeman may be taking cafe of mess up. We had one of the best damaged equipment which has to we have ever had, but it will take be put in order before the train; much more than a good, straight, can proceed. The third brakeman honest chief to do the job right. is free to go back and separate the Turn him loose. Let him have some trains. And this same condition { help. Stay behind him and back exists when factory workers, busi- him up. I have no doubts but what nessmen and others desire to cross Mr. Sanders is a good man for the tracks. job. If he hadn't been I don't be-| Many ‘trains are composed of ap- lieve Mayor Tyndall would have put | proximately 100 cars, In inclement him in, but working under the same| Lara Milas el 4 such distance n e 0 . But with sufficient trainmen sighals We need more men like Mr. Mc- | can be transferred and the above Murtry, Mr. Remy, Mr. Stark and

ly relieved, thereby eliminating jump so fast, Mr. Tyndall We much inconvenience to the publicidon’t like to see the wrong guy who are disinterested in contro-|get hurt. versies between the railroads and !@ Again we say congratulations to their employees. e Indianapolis Times. You have Many of our legislators are not what it takes. conversant with railroad operation 2. a8 and will not be interested to a great “NEW SKIP-ELECTION BILL extent in the controversy. Legisla- CONFESSES INCOMPETENCY” tors should npt give top much cre- By Disgusted Republican, Indianapolis dence to.the argument of specially] Now comes our Republican legisinterested groups when the public's lature with another “skip election” welfare is at stake. But should pass|bill to re-establish municipal elecjudgment after looking at the mat- | tions so they will be held at the ter from all angles, same time as general elections. A few years ago the Democrats passed this very same bill, also claiming that it would effect a con{siderable saving in election cost. {Then in 1945 a heavily Republican !legislature nullified the act, ex- | tending incumbent mayors (mostly | Republicans) to five years. | The introduction of this new bill \is a definite confession of weak incompetency on the part of the Republican party, an admission that | the Democrats were right, and acted’ n good faith and in the interest of {Indiana taxpayers. _It provides a {nice juicy piece of effective am- | munition for the Democrats to use \in the municipal elections this fall . « and use it they certainly will. Oh, consistency. » » ” “STATE SHOULD LOOK INTO GROSS INCOME TAX” ! {By N. ¥., W. Morris st. | As a small store operator, I think LS |the state legislature had better look i] into the gross income tax. As for #1‘ example, if you buy an article for $100 and sell it for $102 you are in ‘the red for about $5. Figure it up and see, and maybe somebody will look into this as it is not fair to the small storekeeper. So won't someone with a pull look into this?

DAILY THOUGHT

" And Joseph answered Pharaoh, ' saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharach an answer of peace. . Genesis 41:16.

SERN

a SDR

United Nations Wag. conceived,

propriations committee was as drastic as Stassen in his budgetary demands. Stassen put four items on the budget in a not-to-be-touched classification. These were national defense, veterans’ care, housing and interest on national debt. This left a remainder of $23,300,000,000 which Stassen said in his judgment, could be “cut across the_board an average of 25 per cent or a total of five billions.”

Republicans trying to fix a budget ceiling and prune the President's recommendations would like to know. Stassen is in the fortunate position of being a candidate who does not have the responsibility of public office. He can talk about a 25 per cent cut withut having to produce results for a waiting public. Yet there is doubt about the wisdom of his trying to move inte a safe middle position. Surest hope would seem to lle. in his appeal to the great mass of inde‘pendent ¥oters-who have admired -him for -his cour-age-and forthrightness. Conservatives and reaction aries in his own party are not likely to forgive him for the holdness of his convictions in the past. They

mbs Enc

- the military . , . told me that the realization of immonth's Harper magasine, released today, which sets

s i

scientists reported first to Brig. Gen. Elliott R. Thorpe,

] Where. | these cuts,could be made Mr. Stassen did not specify.

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defeat had taken hold of the realists at the of government before the first atomic bomb was ‘and before Russia entered the war, For e before those almost simultaneous events,

2 5 E

t causing thelr emperor to lose face with statements wer® supported by professors,

eir

officials of Radio Tokyo . .. all of whom were i & position to appraise the political situation and the Japs would have gone. on with their kamikaze suicide tactics if the emperor had told them to do so. But he listened to his conservative advisers.who fully

realized after V-E day that the full power of America

and ~her allies empire. ~

Navy Propagandist in Major Role CREDIT FOR SOFTENING UP the highest strata of Jap officialdom and giving to its leaders arguments and assurances that the emperor could sure render without losing face . , . too much . . . goes to the navy, in large part. Since Mr. Stimson was dealing«primarily with his own department, this division of credit had no place in his recollections. Capt. Ellis M. Zacharias, of naval intelligence, broadcast to the Japanese In their own language . . . beginning on V-E day . . . the message that sutrender did not mean enslavement or extermination and that the Japs could keep their figurehead emperor. Without’ that assurance, neither the atomic bomb or anything else would have ended the war without virtual extermination . , . Mr. Stimson’s opinion to the contrary. : )

now would be turned against the

IN WASHINGTON . . . By Marquis Childs SA Stassen, Taft and Dewey Maneuvering

remember, for example, that he was a member of the committee to ald the families of General Motors strikers in the prolonged contest a year ago. From the opposite direction, another Republican is moving up on center position. Ohio's Senator Robert A. Taft wants to disabuse the public of the notion he is an uitra-conservative. In recent weeks, he has consistently taken a moderate position, Trying to restrain diehards in his party who would take the G. O. P. back to the pre-McKinley era. Senator Taft would like to be regarded as a lib eral. What is more, the facts show that he has exhibited far more concern over and interest in social legislation than almost anyone of prominence in his party. He has expert kfowledge on medical care, public housing, aid to education. In each of these fields he has pushed definite proposals in advance of most Republicans. With his own party in control, it will not be easy

ese had been looking for a way to quit the

icists, authors, Domel press association executives :

ome front morale. Make no mistake about it .. .

for Senator Taft to escape responsibility if he falls to— —

put his reforms across. That would seem to be the weakness of his position as a middie-of«the-road liberal. ;

On the question of labor legislation, too, Taft has taken a moderate stand. Those around him have been at pains to point out that, in this field, Taft's «position is considerably more moderate than that of New York's Governor Thomas E. Dewey.

Dewe Operates More Quietly DEWEY SAYING NOTHING. He has passed up repeated offers to speak from the national stage. His excuse each time is that he is too busy with the session of the legislature at Albany. But with the Republicans in complete control in the state legislature, this seems rather thin: It is obviously the best strategy. to avoid national eontroversy and let his srecord in the office speak for himself. That may be why the other candidates sometimes look with envy toward Albany. They must maneuver on the national stage in full view of the audience.

SAGA OF INDIANA . . . By William A. Marlow

Whigs Gained by Yielding in 1850

THE SECOND constitutional convention of Indiana which met Oct. 7, 1850, was held in a midchannel political drift. Behind ‘this fact lies its timing, its discussions, and its results. ! ;

This is the picture: The two political parties in the state were the Democratic and the Whig. The Democrats were in the majority and the Whigs were on the decline. The Democyats therefore could afford to be serene and tolerant. The Whigs could expect to gain more’ than they would lose by yielding to the persistent demand in the state for a new constitution.

Almost Forgot He Was a Whig ONE EVIDENCE of this is the salty statement of Othniel L. Clark of Tippecanoe county, in a discussion of a section of the new constitution. He said: “I am happy to be able to say that so little of party feeling have I manifested in the convention that I

| had almost forgotten I was a Whig.”

The mechanics of the convention run so: The convention met in Indianapolis the moming of Oct. 7, 1850. It adjourned at 6 a. m. February 10, 1851. It was in session 127 days. It cost the taxpayers of Indiana $35,043.82, an average of $66.97 a day. George Whitfleld Carr of Lawrence county, who had been speaker of the house of representatives for two sessions, was elected president. His father, Thomas Carr, was a member of the first constitutional convention at Corydon in 1816. “There were 150 delegates to the convention, 95 Democrats and 55 Whigs. The constitution it framed was approved by voters of the state at the regular August election of 1851. It was proclaimed in effect as of Nov, 1, 1851, by Governor Joseph A. Wright, 10th governor of Indiana. . The convention did its work near the close of the era in which it was born. In this era, the turmoil of pioneer settlement, and the rough life of

pioneer living had eased a bit. Houses were better. Food was more plentiful. A touch of leisure had come to Indiana’s pioneer folks. - : Transportation on river and canal, over turnpike, by the teasing little railroad puffing out of Madison had quickened everybody's pulse. In the nation, the anxieties of a new government, even the war of 1812, and its depressing aftermath had long passed. The raucous swish of Andrew Jacke ‘son across the political sky had faded. The great compromise of 1850, backed by Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, for the moment at least, had stilled the rising controversy over slavery. In politics, the Democrats were in the saddle, with the Whigs trailing to a fadeout. In this atmosphere, the work of the convention was much like the man who in the warm days of spring gives the old bus the once over te tinker it out of being a war casualty as of world war II. Somewhat in this spirit, the delegates of 1850 worked the old constitution of®1816 into their new revamped one. It was a blueprint of repair rather than that by constructive initiative and bold originality. With this as a working basis, the delegates forbade the legislative granting of divorces; abolished the office of associate judges; prohibited the passing of local or special laws, the spawn.of petty logrolling tactics; provided for biennial sessions of the legislature. 1. U. Was Almost Abolished IN CONSTRUCTIVE, forward-looking constitutional provisions, the whole tenor of the convention was halting, dour, and antagonistic. In education, for example, seminaries were abolished, and Indiana university narrowly escaped the ax. Viewed understandingly, these men emerge cannily or unwittingly moving cautiously before a coming storm which we call the Civil war.

WORLD AFFAIRS . . . By Wiliam Philp Simms ‘No Compromise on’ Atom Control

WASHINGTON, Jan, 28. The “new approach” to international atomic cofitrol now said to be under consideration would not have a ghost of a chance of senatorial ratification. The present mood of the U. 8. senate appears to be overwhelmingly opposed to compromise solutions which would turn the atomic formula over to an international authority short of a copper-riveted guarantee against it® use by an outlaw. As Tong as the very life of the- United States and other peace-loving nations are at stake, it is remarked; there will be no room for word juggling. American acceptance of the most nearly foolproof plan that can be written will be_ risky enough it is said. The proposed plan was devised to get around the security council veto. An international atomic inspection agency would be given the right to declare there had been a violation. Thereupon any nation that felt itself menaced could go to war against the aggressor, if it chose, without reference to the security council or even despite its veto. Informed senatorial opinion regards the proposal as a long step backward, rather than forward. It would undo much of the good the United Nations is seeking. to accomplish through - collective world security.

Peace by United Action WO PEACE IS SUPPOSED to be based upon collective, not individual action against an outlaw state. To place the atomic secret in international hands with the understanding that any nation that wants to (do so can proceed to manufacture atomic bombs—gubject only to the possible opposition of some other individual nation-—-would be the sheerest folly. It would set the world back where it was before the

Had Japan known that invasion of Manchuria in 1931 would mean united action by the league of nations, she never would have risked it. She invaded Manchuria because she knew she had little to fear from the league and that the United States and Britain would not go to war against her as individual nations. Italy to attack Ethiopia, Hitler to rearm and fortify the Rhineland and invade: -Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland. The proposed atomic commission would be given the power to penalize offenders, for example, by taking their atomic licenses from them temporarily or permanently. »

Who Would Pay Attention? AS THOUGH THE OUTLAW STATE would pay any attention to the commission unless backed by the United Nations. Moreover, it is observed, if the proposed authority made such. a ruling and the security council vetoed getion, the United Nations would be split wide. It would disintegrate as its member nations would be split wide. It would disintegrate as its members lined up for or against the individual nation which had taken it upon itself to punish the atom-bomb bootlegger. Then this would happen: The powerful atom-. bomb bootlegger with all its little outlaws would band together against the nation that had taken upon itself the job of intérnaional policeman, and the po-

Jicemnan probably would get no help. Under the pro~ -

posed “new approach,” certainly, none would be kung to offer aid. : For | No plan at zl!, many feel, would be better than a plan which would not work in a showdown. A makeshift plan would leave the world—especially the des mocracies—at the mercy of any’ would-be aggressor:

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