Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 February 1947 — Page 12

a year; all other states, 8 puttessions, Canada ard. Mexien, 47. vials &

“ RI-5851 ues Light end the People WU Find Thee Own Woy

Eye its 17th day of legislative sessions today, the general assembly has accomplished little and its major challenges lie ahead of it. Only four bills and one house concurrent resolution have been signed by the governor so far. The bills appropriate money for expense of the legislature, provide method of payment of legislators, authorize reimbursement of state colleges and universities for emergency housing expenditures for veteran students and extend the deadline of an act involving lease, sale and purchase of non-com-peting railroad lines. The resolution denounces subsidies, doles, paternalism and other forms of federal aid and reSoles; to “bring government back home.” All other bills involving appropriations, expenditiives and taxes—including the veterans bonus bills which at this writing appear scheduled to be side-tracked — are being held in committee until the governor submits his budget message. This will not be sent to the assembly until much later in the session. The legislative concept of economy seems to be that if increases in cost of government services can be held below the ratio of increase in cost of other services, then

a good job will have been done. Members of the legislature |

apparently are anxious to make a good record, which will not be too difficult if the dominant Republican majority sticks together. : o " # #* » s TEST of organization strength may come tomorrow on the question of extending the primary election law to include all state offices and U. S. senator nominations. ‘The administration opposes such a step, and instead is sponsoring reforms in the convention system. \ The primary fight has slowed action on all legislation. When the house convened this afternoon, it had 244. bills in the hopper, of ‘Which about 50 were administration-spon-sored. . In the senate, 41 of 198 measures were sponsored by. the administration. $ All indications point to victory by Governor Ralph F. Gates in his fight to improve handling of wholesale liquor permits by eliminating the element of politics in their issuance. Some county chairmen sought to retain their present power, but apparently have been whipped into line despite occasional threats on their part that they might “go for” primary reform if they were shorn of the potent weapon of controlling issuance of permits. There undoubtedly will be one new tax added after the budget message is received, perhaps a cigaret tax or luxury tax. It also is anticipated that a commission will be named to draft-a complete analysis of taxes, potential of present sources of revenue and of government services. This is a step toward a more permanent tax structure, one which will remove some of the burden from property. - Many legislators believe that the property tax is at the satdration point, and that in Indianapolis particularly property owners are being bled by high taxes. Sentiment is strong for a reassessment of real estate by 1949, and this | may be authorized. The increase in teacher salary contribution by the state and remedying the archaic system of caring for mental health patients await the budget message along with the bonus. Many legislators believe any new tax should care for both public health and education, and teacher payment may suffer as a result. . ® . M » 8 THE legislators do not have before them any bill which | would provide properly for long-overdue reapportion- | ment of representation in the assembly so that the large | counties would be more equitably represented. Nor has the Indiana State Bar association done anything discernible about its recommendation that judges | be selected on a separate ballot. The association voted to sponsor a bill making this provision. There are several matters of importance to Marion county on which our local legislators have taken no«action, including remedial legislation to modernize the method of | selecting jurors for county courts and clearing the way for | the mayor of Indianapolis to go outside the police department to sect a Shiet if he so desires, » ; THE 1947 eioatire hasn't accomelietied iach to date, but it should get rolling this week, not forgetting that one way to establish a good record is by exercising economy without damaging essential services.

A rT

SOCIALIZATION OF GERMANY

; BRITISH plans for so-called “voluntary” socialization of | ‘German industry prompt the questions: Where does | our government stand on this issue? Are we Bcqulescing in this program, and if so, by what authority? It does not appear that there is anything volintary | about The prefect The idea originated with the British occupation au orities, and is supported by a - Socialist’ coalition in Germany. » y Conia The United States is concerned, because the British and American zones are being operated as an economic unit. Under that arrangement, we pay most of the food bill. But surely few if any people in this country under‘stood that we would be underwriting an experiment in state socialism, imposed on the German people by military” The Soviet i e zone in Germany is being converted communism, Nationalization of industry in the Git zones, we think, easily could lead to eventual communiza- | Som of te entire country. In Britain, it may be_possible 1 to nationalize industry within the framework of democratic government. But we seriously question whether a so i released from totalitarianism is preeye to eye with our friends in the British on the nationalization question. But own country is their own business. are released from allied military be res to choose between socialism

Hoosier

*! do not

Forum

agree with ~ word that you

say, but | will defend to the death your right to say it."

— Voltaire.

‘systems. The system would be a“ personnel director with certain by the mayor and the city council.

It is true that under the pro-

"Merit Plan Will Not Weaken TwoParty System, Promotes Efficiency"

By Mrs. Alfred Noling, Research Chairman, Indianapolis League of Women Voters There is undue misapprehension in some quarters in regard to the discussion of the Latin. quotation merit bill that is proposed for consideration by the legislature and You used apropos Mr. Voistead. which would place nearly all Indianapolis city employees under a merit |The translation you use is supported

by a personnel board and | supervisory rights to be retained]

visions of the proposed bill, the city employee would after a specified

tinue to hold his job as long as he remained competent. The bill con-| tains very specific provisions for determining competency and incompetency, and there is sssurance that no employee after having obtained his job will be able to sit back supinely and say “I am fixed for life.”

But under the merit system a political party gaining ascendancy in the city would not be able to turn out competent employees that had been placed in their jobs by the de{feated opposition party. There might be a great many things about the city government that the party Just coming into power would want to change and could change. But this power to make changes would not under the merit system come down to the point where it would affect the livelihood "of competent individual employees. We do not believe that any political party should gain ascen{dancy merely for the purpose of {turning out employees and placing jin their jobs workers of ‘the party {in power, It is this latter custom {that results in the hiring of in- | competent people. It has been proved in many instances that incompetent people in public jobs become a menace to health, life and welfare of any community. We believe a political party should seek and gain ascendancy, only on [the theory that it can provide = ‘good government for the city—a gov. ernment that will mean first class service for the public and at*the lowest possible cost. Any other Ltheory of city government. is exe travagant and unreasonable. Gathering up places for jobholders should not be the sine qua non of any political party in any election. The thought on the part of some

period of probationary service con- ||

Views on the News

By DANIEL M. KIDNEY Many wondered what Henry Morgenthau’ was doing as secretary of

‘the treasury. The answer is: He

was writing a diary.

book and magazine writers. o » i» A senate resolution calls for investigation of the foot-and-mou disease. Should be a natural assignment for those senators who run around talking all the time. = wn =

Being insulted by Senator Mc-

hazards of a good public servant. : 2 8 8% It’s difficult to organize the world for peace with the Russians want-

“Stop Thief!” at the same time.

merit system will weaken the twoparty system of government also is €ITONeous. The best way to disprove that thought is to observe what has| come about in other cities. that

(have adopted the merit system.

Activity in their city elections has

city of St. Louis is an outstanding example. St. Louis has had the merit system for five years and during that time the political complexion has changed, and both the

{primary elections and the elections

have been keen and spirited. Indianapolis needs badly the merit system and if all of the taxpayers could understand fully just what the system means there would be an unanimous uprising in favor

that placing employees under the

of it.

Side Glances—By Galbraith

a don’t see how she manages

Loin, 1047 07 nth stnvet, me. wet u. our. oh:

to get 0 ‘many’ dres—ihe only

modern hii Shaul her is her hair.dar”

Maybe the President's cabinet should be enlarged. - We need more!

{school master who was called upon |at a public meeting to translate {this same phrase. Without the help

| “There is nothing left of the dead Kellar is one of the occupational

“FINIS EORUM SIT” By Fred T. Gladden, 131 S. Emerson ave. As a former Latin teacher and

county school superintendent (Marion county), may I get in on the

{by the Punk & Wagnalls dictionary, but it is what Latin teachers

The misapprehension exists in the minds of those who fear that Call a loose or “liberal translation.” selecting appointees by the merit system would reb the politicial leaders] of their political patronage and thus would cause a loss of interest in| that's the way I was taught, of the the two-party system of government which admittedly is good.

Now the literal translation, and

Latin phrase “De Mortuis Nil Nisi bonum” is “Concerning (or with respect to) the dead nothing except { (or unless) good.” You will note {“Mortuis” is in the ablative case] governed by the preposition “de. {“Nisi” is translated “except”. or “unless.” “Sed” is the Latin word for ‘But,” as your translation reads, not ‘Nisi,” although I did find one |Latin * dictionary permitting that translation of “Nisi” cases. All of this reminds me of a story in Maurice Thompson's delightful |book “Stories of Early Indiana,” { published many years ago, in which he relates the story of an early and not too well qualified Hoosier

of his lexicon, Latin “ponies” and other “props,” he rendered it, but bones.” This, incidentally, seems to be all that’s left now of both Mr. Volstead and his liquor legislation.

ing to grab the places and shout! | “PENSIONED VETERAN NEEDS

not diminished in the least. The

|18 to figures in a picture; it gives it

And now, “Requiescat in pace.” ” " ”

| HELP BUT NOT CHARITY” By Veteran, Indianapolis I am a disabled veteran discharged from the army air force. | with my nerves shot and arthritis | Iso bad that at this time I have | been unable to work in over a year. | Arthritis. is crippling my whole left side. Yet I was given a 10 per cent disability rating. About the time I took down and was unable to do my work I filed a claim for more pension along with three doctors’ statements and two examinations fromthe - veterans hospital. And to top it off statements from five or more men that lay in the base hospital with me from my own outfit, knowing my ailments, and were discharged with me. I had a home and children and. always made a living. Up to this date, one year, I have never heard from my new claim. About 10 days ago, they took my (10 per cent away. Are we going to let this go on? All T can say is they should have kept the 10 per cent for the veterans administration and used ‘it to campaign for more politicians’ help. The bonus bill should pass, and quick, for there are justslots of G. Is in the same fix as I and my family are. We need some help, but not charity. Just what we deserve from holding a gun, driving a truck or ambulance, or risking our lives for the United States. Now we are asking, will it do any good? For us disabled or good sound returning G. Is? Yet neither of us have a home or help. Let the U. 8. and/or the state of Indiana be our helper. We have done our part. And if we are still going to have to fight to live in the U. 8, please give us our uniforms back, and the insignia reading, we defend our rights as an American.

DAILY THOUGHT

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of him“self more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of Hah: —Romans 12: 3. : o

i

+1 REMEMBER seelng a copy of the pleture, “Breaking Home Ties," original painting at the Chicago Worlds Fair in. 1893.

The copy was. exhibited in the show window of Her-.

man Lieber's art store which, back in those days, was located on S. Meridian st. The crowds that came to see it were so big at times that you couldn't get into the hardware store oper= ated by Fred Francke, Mr. Liéber's immediate business neighbor, Up to that time, I had never seen a crowd quite like it unless, perchance, it was in a church,

| Now that I look back, however, it

‘Wasn't quite like a church crowd, notwithstanding the fact that. there was the same hush. and silence. “The thing that made it different was the discovery that the people standing in fron: of Mr. Lieber's window didn't have the calmness of those sitting in a church, As a matter of fact, they were somewhat agitated, even if they were silent.

A Compounded Expression TO THIS DAY I remember that the agitation was more apparent in the case of men—probably for the reason that the Adam's apple of men is more in evidence than those of women. Anyway, the men couldn't make their Adam's apples behave. The picture, I recall, portrayed a fine upstanding boy saying goodby to his parents. There was a fourth figure, too. He stood in the shadow of the doorway surrounded by a well-worn trunk and some satchels, evidence that the boy was leaving home for good. The kid seemed wry young for such an adventure. 1 haven't the least idea of what the boy was up to. Maybe he was leaving home to be a sailor or, maybe, he was befit for the city to become apprenticed to some great merchant or artist. Whatever the

before I came across. the

] OUR TOWN . Nl hy Anton Scherr” | + . . ; iim Adam's Ah Told a Convincing.

way in and

reason, it was cruelly apparent that the. grown up and was leaving home to make his the world. . The facial expressions of the father

mother and even the baggage-laden handyman (or

uncle) were proof of that, I can't begin to describe the fages because I never colfld make up my mind whether they expressed love,

anxiety, pride or sorrow. I guess it was an expression :

compounded of all the feelings parents are heir to. When I got to see the original picture at the Worlds Fair—in color, this time—I observed that

J

Xi

everybody in Chicago behaved in exactly the same: .

way ‘that Indianapolis pedple did. It made’ me feel pretty good to learn that so many. people shared my high opinion of the picture. After that I lost all track of the picture. But not for long. Two years later; in 1805, it bobbed up again. That was the year the papers brought the news of a painter who had been killed by a rallway train near Philadelphia while attempting to rescue a bewildered little child. The hero turned out to be

Thomas Hovenden, the man who had Painted.

“Breaking Home Ties.” Strange Behavior Explained

WELL, THAT got people to talking again. And |

then, for the first time in my life, I learned that we had a breed of people living in Indianapolis who didn't have any use for Mr. Hovenden's picture. When pressed to account for their “strange behaviok, they explained that the picture told a story and a sticky sentimental one, at that. To listen to them, a real-for-sure painter wasn't supposed to tell a story, I never believed these people. = And I still don’t. So far as I am concerned, a painter can tell all the stories he wants to provided, of course, they're as good as the one told in “Breaking Home Ties.” Nobody can make me believe that a picture is good because it doesn't tell a story anymore than they can make me believe that ‘it is bad because it tells a story.

IN WASHINGTON . . . By Marquis Childs Move for U. S. ‘Department of Peace’

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3.—Eleven billion dollars for defense! That is the figure in the budget for the coming year. It makes every other item look puny indeed. . It dwarfs the $178,000,000 which the department of state asked. Yet our chances for peace in the world depend, in part at least, on the kind of under’standing the state department can foster.

Misunderstanding Abroad IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT'S budget, $25,000,000 is set aside for an information program. Never before, as Assistant Secretary of State William Benton points out, is it so mecessary to do an information job abroad. Prom Soviet Russia and from carriers of communism all over the world comes a flood of propaganda about the United States. It pictures this country as bent on imperialist aggression. We are shown as a people suffering in the toils of- monopoly capitalism, without a chance to escape the doom of collapse and chaos. - Our motives are represented as base and selfish. In some areas of the world, conspicuously Soviet Russia and her satellites, it is difficult or impossible to counteract this myth. But in western Europe, in Latin America, in the Middle East and in Asia, we can present the true story of America. ‘- We have a magnificent story to tell. One phase of it is our technological genius—our great cities, our fast motor cars, our great network of .highways. | Somethings known of that side already. Far less is known of the civic and cultural projects that every city is proud of —the symphony orchestras, the little theaters, the vast resources for emjoyment

Modesty is to what shade

+ =Jean de 1a" Bruyere.

of sports and the out of doors. Even less is known of the practical idealism which has led private

in certain!

REFLECTIONS, .

philanthropists and the government to spend millions for betterment of conditions in remote par of the. world, without thought of return. As to stability of our economic system, congress has taken steps to.try to insure that we shall not go through another cycle of boom-and-bust. Those steps may not be adequate, but the intention is there and the world should be told about it.

All through the '30s, both inside Germany and

throughout Europe, the Nazis spread the. falsehood that this country was so weak and divided that we could never fight a war. America was put down as a hopelessly decadent democracy. Perhaps, as Benton pointed out in his speech, if there had been any way to get across the truth about the deep, underlying strength and determination of the American people, world war II might never have occurred. Republican Senator Alexander Wiley of Wisconsin and Rep. Everett Dirksen of Illinois have put in bills calling for a department of peace or, if not a separate department, a division of peace In the state department. The gesture of a “department of peace” has been aimed at those groups sincerely troubled over the disparity between the billions appropriated for defense and the minute amount devoted w promoting world understanding.

Refute ‘Imperialist’ Belief

THE STATE DEPARTMENT can become in reality a department of peace if we will only make it so. One of its major assets can be an intelligent information program. So pervasive is the myth of an “imperialist” America that now and then we find Americans theme selves accepting it as fact. We should refute this myth wherever we find it, at home or abroad, with a positive program of truth.

. . By Robert C. Ruark

Mr. Crump Worries About Bluebirds

MEMPHIS, Feb. 3.—There are two descriptions of Boss E. H. Crump. Some say he is a benign old boy with flowing white hair, hedgerow eyelashes, and a faculty for running Memphis cheaply and cleanly. If he has a vice, they say, it is that he likes to rule the town all by himself, The other description of Mr. Crump endows him with cloven hooves and a dictator complex. He is, ‘according to the second opinion, a ruthless old man who cannot hold still for the merest breath of opposition, a pure Fascist who regards Memphis as his personal property. Mr. Crump tells me that he is no boss, and that he cannot afford to worry about the bad things people say and write about him. He says it is tough enough to fret over the things within his control. “Besides,” says Mr. Crump, “I am worried right now -about the bluebirds. You know,-.you hardly ever see any bluebirds any more?” “

Mr. Crump Loves Birds MR. CRUMP DEARLY loves birds—except pigeons. He hates pigeons almost as much a8 he hates stray cats. The walls leading to his office are lined with bird prints. He once made a special pilgrimage to see the last living wild pigeon. He still broods about what happened to the huge flock of wild pigeons which became, overnight, extinct.

“you know what I think” said the man whe.

rules Tennessee politics. “I think a big storm blew them all out to sea, and they all died at once. That's what became of 'em.” The man who dominates the totalitarian Memphis machine “is a great hand for walking in the woods, feeding the birds, and enjoying the trees. “As tree,” he says, “has got more sense than a human

WORLD AFFAIRS

being. 1t gears itself perfectly to the seasons. It is completely in tune with its surroundings. I love the country, and I get mad when I hear people laughing at what they call country Jakes. A country boy kngws twice as much as a city boy. I asked Mr. Crump why he was regarded as such

a terrible fellow by the world at large, and he an- |

swered plaintively. “I don't boss people” he said. “I work with people. I am never hostile to anybody unless they are trying to hurt my city. Then I can be hostile.

“Look at this town,” he said, gesturing out the win- § “No vice, no gambling. No dope peddling. Low |

dow.

taxes. A fine city, and I aim to keep it that way.

He Knows Everybody “I LIVE HERE, I know everybody, everybody knows me. I've been elected to 22 offices, personally,

and we have carried 107 elections without a defeat. | When we win again next year that will be 108. How } can 1 be so bad? People would find out about it §

and kick me out,” Mr. Crump goes nearly every year to Saratoga to play the horses a little bit. side the track,” he said. “You couldnt get a bet down in this town if you tried all night. You couldn’t find any policemen taking graft, either. Everybody gets along fine in Memphis. I see anybody, any time.

They can cal] me up, black or white, in the middle of §

the night. My number's in the book.”

There you have Mr. Crump. For my money, he is a gracious old gentleman who loves birds, and who } bet on the University of North Carolina to beat

Georgia in {he Sugar Bowl game on New Year's

day in the city of New Orleans, La. It proved to §

be one of his rare errors in judgment.

By William Philip Simms

Russia Can Now Gobble Up China

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3.—With our exit from China and with the safe-guarding nine-power pact to all intents now a dead letter, the green light is set for Soviet Russia. to take up where Japan left off In eastern Asia. Manchuria and Korea are expected to be among the first to feel the impact. But in all probabilty there will be no great hurry. There is plenty of time. There is much spadework to be done and, with a little aid here and there from Moscow, the Chinese Communists can attend to that. As a matter of record, Soviet Russia has abgndoned nothing that was ever acquired by czarist Russia—not even Russia's aspirations—from the Dardanelles to Port Arthur and Sakhalin. And older diplonmiats recall that less than 50 years ago Russia laid claim—in the eyent of China's partition—to everythink north of the Great Wall including Manchuria, Jehol and Mongolia. Moreover, it was Russia's penetration into this area and adjoining Korea that led to the RussoSgpanese war. It was Russia that built the Chinese Eastern railway across northern Manchuria to Vladivostok and from Harbin south to Dairén and: Port Arthur.

Russ Lost Property WITH THE PEACE OF PORTSMOUTH which ended the war of 1905, Russia lost much of her property, influénce and prestige in the orient. Japan won inthe same proportion. Russia retained the Chinese Eastern with concessions in the north, but Japan took over practically everything] else. Today it is Japan's turn to be beaten. And al-

‘| though she was defeated by the United States, Rus-

sia is playing victor. No only has she taken over, with

American connivéince, the’ Kuriles, Sakhalin, outer. nen and makes it stand. out.’ | Mongolia, Port Arthur and other areas, but by a

! special SAihece mussion ey, pie economic

control of all north China. Moreover, by playing into the hands of the Chinese reds—instead of turning everything over to the national government, as prom= ised—Russia also is master of that entire region militarily -and - politically. Sooner or latgr, according to some of Washington’s best posted observers, Manchuria likely will de-

clare herself “independent” as she did after the Jap | invasion of the 1930's Then she “chose” Henry Pu |

Yi—who, as a" boy, had occupied China's dragon throne—as “emperor.” This time her “choice” would probably fall on a Moscow-trained Communist who would become “president.”

In due course, something similar is expected to |

happen in Korea, Jehol, inner Mongolia and Sinkiang. This would round out Russia's chain of buffer states along her southern border, all the way from the Pacific to the Baltic,

Action Is Problematical WHAT, IF ANYTHING, the United States can, or will, do about such possible developments is anybody’s guess. Our pulling out of China indicates that we do not intend to become directly involved. Britain will hardly court the risk and no other power, now

~or~for the predictable future, 1s strong enough to

make a try.

‘That leaves Russia with a clear field and little or } no opposition, at least insofar as foreign nations are |

concerned.

But there still remains the United Nations. If |

China threatens to become another Poland--if not another Spain—China, the United States or any other member ‘could call the United. Nations’ attention to this new peace menace,

Incidentally, it was Manchuria which, in 1931, be- |

came the scene-of the first major challenge to the

old League of Nations. Failure to meet that challenge, killed the league. It is altogether possible that |

the United Nations also may. be tested there. . 3; - : Ts 3 7

“But I never bet out- |