Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 February 1947 — Page 12

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LEGISLATIVE PROGRESS?

: WELL, the state legislature has three more weeks to | doesn’t have much of a record behind it. |

We predict that when the gavels of adjournment finally ' gall the appraisal of this general assembly will be that it

¥ go. And it

hasn't accomplished much.

One reason is the rigid control exercised by the G. O. P. state house machine, which dictates what action is to . be taken. The small Democratic minority actually .is impotent—and has been unimportant in that it really has

not been an opposition party.

ss 8 W . =

(ANE new tax, on cigarets, will undoubtedly be added, but no serious effort at economy is being made. Withdrawal of the bill to raise the governor's salary— which should be done in the interest of efficiency—was a chicken-feed manifestation of lip-service to economy. There still are numerous grab bills which raise other salaries directly or indirectly. These should be killed, and will if the legislators have the courage to be realistic. It is our prediction that little sound labor legislation will be enacted, that the veterans’ bonus properly will be side-tracked, and that because of the pressure brought by the teachers—not because of its merit—state contribution

to teacher pay will be increased.

The statewide direct primary is a dead duck. The administration didn’t want it and there was little real public

interest in it. :

An improved public health program, including modernization of the method of handling mental patients, may

come out of this session.

Merit system legislation won't get very far, as we see the picture and we're frankly dubious about the future of the bill which would enable Mayor Tyndall to go outside | the police department to appoint a police chief as a way of cleaning up the mess in the local force. Nor do we believe there will be any action on the long-overdue reapportionment of representation which would give Marion county greater

was expected, but no action has been taken on the measure which would end segregation in the Indianapolis public

representation in the legislature. Both houses passed the anti-hate bill

schools.

As usual, the lobbyists for special interests are active in this legislature and appear to wield more influence than the people the legislators are supposed to represent. s = s jmeager ELIEVING the voters of Marion county are interested in the performance of their legislators, The Times will publish an analysis of their votes and their contribution to

. / . Go

GOOD DEAL PN “INCHES”

ALE of the government's Big Inch and Little Big Inch pipelines for ‘$148,127,000 looks to us like a highly

desirable deal.

_The government will get, in cash, nearly twice as much as the highest offer made in earlier bidding and only $2,700,000 less than the original cost of building the lines, from Texas to the East coast, to carry oil in wartime. The Texas Eastern Transmission Co., the purchaser, expects to spend $40 million more to convert them for use as carriers of natural gas of a type now going to waste in vast quantities in the southwestern petroleum fields. Under a temporary arrangement, made during the trike emergency last December, the pipelines are transporting: a comparatively small amount of natural gas. The new owner expects to boost their carrying capacity to about 425 million cubic feet a day, the equivilent in heat

value of some 16,000 tons of coal.

3 Doubtless there will be loud protests against completion of the sale, on thé grounds that it would hurt the NOT GET SALARY INCREASE”

Hoosier Foru

- say, but |

do not agree with + word that you your right to say it." — Voltaire.

will defend to the death

v0al mining industry and take jobs'from miners. We see | ttle merit in such protests. Sivteen thousand tons is less | han 1 per cent of the country’s total coal production. |

Natural gas, delivered to cities like New York and Phila- | lelphia, might be ‘a damaging competitor of the anthracite state average is $1700 or $1800, it is: . ov Might be raised to average

mines in eastern Pennsylvania.

sylvania. But in large areas west of the Alleghenies, where 2atural gas already is being used, an increased supply

>ould mean more stability and growth for industries using |

Hoth gas and soft coal.

3 If there is any threat to the jobs of coal miners, John 4 Lewis may be thanked for that. His arbitrary stoprages of coal production have made millions of people in ‘he East and Middle West determined to protect them-

. selves by obtaining more natural gas.

ENGLAND CARRIES ON

rival Winston - Churchill.

‘blood, sweat and tears” speech.

S a master of words, Prime Minister Attlee will never But, in Britain's present “economic Dunkirk,” Mr. Attlee has come through with a statement worthy to be remembered along with the

Despite the fuel crisis which threatens his Labo spite the { r govirnment with overthrow, Mr. Attlee has declined President

. “The need for coal in

the United Kingdom,” he said.

bo 0 Engin

use of the kicking around B iting for his support of F. D. R.’s Big Roosevelt is expected to ith a bang—to attack the Trumanther’s foreign policy,” according to er. “Return?” From what

Cruman’s offer to reroute to England coal bein i : ; g shipped ‘rom America to countriesr on the European continent,

ie Europe is no less pressing, and we could not ask that cargoes be diverted from Europe to

~~ There spoke an unselfish spirit finely exemplifyi i plifying the “esolute British character which so often has asserted f in dire adversity. It upholds the faith that there'll

rother Elli-

By V. W., N. Alabama st.

When the Chamber of Commerce been a good weathervane, but what gives out the record that the aver-|the country needs is a good weathage salary for classroom teachers in |c0A0Indianapolis is $3000 and that the

| Indianapolis teachers.

Those living

"Many Township Teachers Receive

Less Than Janitor in Same School"

By William Milton Tayler, Morgantown A ~The majority of citizens are not acquainted with the low péid the school teachers in Indiana. Consolidated schools in the towns and villages that are under the jurisdiction of a trustee, actually pay their teachers $1000 per year. The teachers who have a bachelor science degree plus eight years’ teaching experience “magnificent” salary of $1520 per year. Broken down into 52 weeks average, we find this to be $29.26 per week, before taxes are withheld. Facts are stranger than fiction. The facts are that many of these same trustees fail to provide sufficient funds for poor relief and under-

|“LOCAL TEACHERS: SHOULD

“armi il be trade o For that reason, de- umm for the taxpayers to arise and | That salary, and also the one of ermined efforts made to prevent its crossing Penn- 0Ppose any raise in the salaries of classroom teachers who draws $3000

in the localities where. $1700 and $1800 are paid might have some increase. Their monthly salary on the basis of 12 months in the sear is $141 and $150. These are the days when equality

_| Tennessee Republicans can be

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command the

of {training which is prohibiting many |

should reign. Only about six or eight years ago, the legislature

and there were no schools for them. It prob- | ably is that amount -of teacher graduates from teaching, and hot the amount of salary which follows. Let a depression hit the country and those who have forsaken the: teaching profession will scramble to get back into its ranks, because of |

VIEWS ON | THE NEWS |

By DANIEL M. KIDNEY |

credited with perfect timing when they tossed National Chairman Carroll Reece's hat in the tial ring last week. With the senate Republican + ~ {following

are testing out whether it 15 better to say yes, no or maybe.

It’s surprising how many senators and congressmen haw relatives or political pals “qualified” for the well-paid “research expert” jobs set up under the reorganizatien act.

Maybe the taxpayers should collect portal-to-portal refunds when congress takes a week off so Lincoln can help the Republicans win the presidency in 1948. . = » s According to Warsaw dispatches, ' | Poland now will draft a “little constitution.” Must be based on the “little democracy” t prevailed during the recent ” election. = s ” :

England’s Labor government has

$45 per week or $2300 per year.

per year, is above the average salary paid toan office worker, who has to work five full days and onehalf every day in the year except perhaps a week’s vacation

Side Glances—By Galbraith

: 1 12)

. v : \ a - COPR. 1947 BY NEA SERVICE, INC. T. M.

‘course, Fl expect a salary!”

—

REG. U, 8. PAT,

| during session.

THOUGH justice be thy plea, con-

the good salaries paid.

STREETS, NOT MEMORIALS” | ian Orlhoden ehuren.” Iadisncpons. | To certain ones in “high places” | it seems fitting to remove the two, churches supposedly on the Plaza! area, but to me, as well as to many others, the very thought of it leaves a rancid taste in the mouth. Why should these churches be. a reflection on the city and state? Are | they in any way delapidated or can anyone claim we have too many churches in the heart of the | city? Heaven forbid! On the other hand, our - city | streets are definitely a reflection on city and state. Indianapolis, the capital of Indiana, is a city of unpaved streets, broken streets filled with chuck holes and ridges that cannot be numbered. I doubt very much if the GI's as a whole would vote for a more impressive Memorial Plaza. I rather choose to believe they would vote for housing projects as a first) necessity. After all what could be more im- | pressive than a satisfactory modern home for each and every one and a well paved street to match. Frankly, should these things become a reality in due time, I would begin to feel at last that there is something worth while to show for tax money that is demanded!

t mean to imply that I against spending money for memorials. It is. simply that first If we

FA *:

us have memorials to beautify the city. But it seems we do not abound in money.

“VETERANS OVERWHELMINGLY IN FAVOR OF MONEY” By Jud Haggerly, B. BR. 6, Box 94 So the veterans don’t want a bonus! That's news to me. Being one of them but still a human being, I am completely without allergy when it comes to that green stuff that folds. Of course if the Republican assembly feels that the excess cabbage in the state till can be put to better use building a nice new statue or increasing their own wages, who am I to object? I have been conducting a one-man canvass during the past two weeks and can honestly ‘report that with a single exception, the veterans are overwhelmingly in favor of money-—es-pecially if it’s free. This exception occurred in a “club room” (the address of which I will gladly furnish upon question). The man I questioned was dressed in torn and dirty army fatigues and was busily engaged in feeding one of the onearmed bandits. Said he with some difficulty (there is a bar in front): “What would I do with a bonus?” Obviously a very wealthy man. Our lawmakers say ‘they're not sure what their constituents want. If the legislators of our state are really interested in getting the opinion of the people why don’t they do as I did? If you think they don’t have time, make a trip to the sparsely populated senate chamber

DAILY THOUGHT

Understand, therefore, that the Lord giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy rightousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.—Deuteronomy 9:6.

sider this, :

of us

"Now that I've graduated from my night school home management

That in the course of justice none

| SoME TIME around the middie of ‘May.'18%0, a | Negro woman by the name of Overall tofk to her bed | with! a shivering chill, followed by a fever which lasted | | the better part of three days. With the passing of the - | fever, the pain in her back left her. | over-all weakness (tsk! tsk!), the | patient thought she was all right,

BRogpt Lor an

She Wasn't, though. Right after | the fever disappeared, a skin erup- + tion made its appearance on her face and hands. ‘Mrs. Overall thought they were flea bites. She was wrong again. It was the first case of smallpox in Indianapolis, When ‘word of Mrs. Overalls

panic, A public meeting was called with the result that a board of health was organised, the first of. its kind around here. Every one of the eight doctors practicing at the time was made a member, They were authorized to do what they could to arrest the spread of the disease. As luck would have it, they didn't have anything to do beyond watching Mrs. Overall to see that she didn’t leave her cabin. Not another case of smallpox turned up. It was nothing short of a miracle when one considers that FIndianapolis had something like 1500 people distributed over a comparatively small area (the Mile Square). It figures out somewhere around 200 patients per doctor, to say nothing of the triumph of isolation.

Next Scare Came in 1848 ah AS A MATTER of fact, Indianapolis didn’t have another case of smallpox until 1848. It came to a head when a prominent Indiana politician, registered at the Palmer House (the presént Strauss corner), was stricken with the disease. He died within a week. As a result of hit death, general vaccination was ordered. (That's right: Dr. watfd Jenner of England discovered and practiced smallpox vaccination as early as 1800.) : Simultaneously with the general vaccination order,

| condition got around, it threw Indianapolis into a

eid” RE Ll we

Ing of a hospital. However, nothing csme of it. By Ae. time the contractor had made i to get started, the smallpox scare had evaporated, With nobody to put into a hospital, the board of

health couldn't interest anybody in such 8 project—

certainly not enough to pay ; purpose.. That left the board ‘of health in a heck of a

‘up his bullding contract. The materials piled up on

the lot went into a three-story frame hotel.

This Time, the City Bought

IN 1344, INDIANAPOLIS had its third “smallpox scare. Again an attempt was made to build a hospital. This time the city purchased a tract of ground on the banks of Fall Creek and what is now Indiana ave. What's more, work was actually begun on & “building and continued throughout the smallpox scare. Soon as the scare was over, however, it was the same old story. “The workmen dropped their tools and nobody gave the hospital a second thought--nobody, that is to say, except Dr. Livingston Dunlap. + He had been a member of the first board ‘of health, the one organized to handle Mrs, Overall's case. Now, after an interval of 25 years, he was a member of the city council. Determined not to put up with any more monkey business, Dr Dunlap got the council to loosen its purse strings. In 1859, the hospital was finished at

+ ® cost of $30,000. :

IN WASHINGTON . . . By Marquis Childs ~ Forest Destruction at Danger Point

WASHINGTON, Feb, 17.—Certain warnings have the sound of an old phonograph record played over and over again. That is all too true of the oft-told tale of ouf diminishing natural resources. But the other day, the chief of the forest service, Lyle F. Watts, put out an annual report that deserved more than the indifference it received. If we had an ounce of old-fashioned common sense, Wwe would stop look, listen and act. What Watts was talking ‘about was not a threat to a future generation, It was a threat that is here and now. In timber, the cupboard is almost bare.

Destructive Practices Should Stop

NOT UNTIL THERE IS a drastic change in timbering methods will there be an end to shortage of timber products. That means that housing and every other form of construction will continue to lag. Shortage cannot be cured until we begin to grow more trees, and this.s a lengthy process. We are cutting nearly twice as much saw-timber as is planted each year. As Watts put it, we are overdrawing our timber bank account each year by 18,600,000,000 board feet. And that at a moment when

|“CITY NEEDS HOMES, BETTER | the last stands of virgin forest are being wastefully

cut. According to this latest report, 64 per cent of cutting is at present classified as “poor and destructive,” seven per cent as “good.” ‘The old wasteful methods of slash and burn that swept down the vast forest resources of this continent still prevail. They prevail at a moment when, as the chief forester put it: “We are becoming more and more dependent on the size of our annual timber crop. And our annual timber crop is not big enough to supply the nation’s present appetite for timber products. It is far short of what we are likely to need for a strong, expanding economy in the future.” It is still not too late to reverse the present trend,

PT. WORTH, Tex., Feb. 17.—I am desperately disappointed in Texas. I have been here a good five hours and nobody yet has given me a 10-gallon hat. Or even a five-gallon hat. I guess the war took more out of the state than we knew. Nor have I been buttonholed by more than half-a-dozen citizens, intent on selling me the idea that right here in God's own subdivision are the prettiest girls, the biggest tomatoes, the most cows, the most horses, the most acres and the finest food that ever sprouted from the earth's pimply face. In fact, when I asked a local pulse feeler if Texas had many Communists, I was rocked right back. “No,” he sald simply, “we ain't got many, and what we got ain't very potent.” 4?

Never Pay O'Daniel ‘No Mind’ THAT 1S probably the first negative answer ever extracted from a Texan who was being quizzed about the products of his state. I was fully prepared 0 hear that Texas hgd the biggest, tallest, meanest, reddest, most frequent Communists this side of Elliott's personal steppes. I asked another stout yeoman what Texas thought of Pappy O'Daniel, the state's ek-governor and present senator. “We don’t pay him no rind,” was the reply. “He never carried Pt. Worth in his life.” That dismissed Senator O'Daniel, For several years now I have been pursuing a study of what makes Texans the way they are, without atriving at a satisfactory answer, and I do not think I will find the answer in Texas. - Not all of it, any-

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17.—“The position of Great Britain,” the national joint advisory council admitted in a white paper, “is extremely serious.” And as the council is composed of 17 members of the British Employers’ confederation and. 17 trade unionists, it can hardly be accused of playing politics. More than half the food Britain consumes and most of the raw materials needed for the goods she manufactures have to be imported. To pay for them she must increase her exports by at least 75 per cent. She has lost her income from foreign investments. So, for the time being, she is living on Aperican and Canadian loans which will be exhaus from 24 to 36 months.

Greatest Empire in History ALTHOUGH BY almost super-human efforts and a reduction in living standards below what they were even in ime, Britain has about regained her prewar level of expfrts. But that is not nearly enough. Last year she had a monthly deficit of approximately $110 million. That sort of thing simply cannot go on. What can be done about it, however, is something else again. Britain's sickness is not essentially political, hence cannot be cured by switching governments from Labor to Tory or vice versa, It, far deeper than that. It has been creeping her for decades and will require drastic remedies if she is to get well, Hh ni . . : Until recent times Britain was the heart of the greatest empire in history. ‘It occupied a quarter of the habitable globe dnd includes a similar percentage of its inhabitants. Not only that, but she loaned money to North and South America, to bought up raw materials with

~ | Europe and Asia and

these materials to

=~ 5

if we have courage and reality to act to save this

Watts outlines four steps that must be taken. As an eleméntary step, organized fire protection must be brought to the 136,000,000 acres of forest land that do not have it, and forces fighting forest pests and parasites must be built to full effectiveness, . Second, the planting program must be increased “so as to bring into productiveness millions of nonproductive forest acres.” Third, waste must be reduced through more complete utilization of trees now cut. Lastly, destructive cutting practices must be stopped at the same time that wider adoption of good forest management is encouraged. . As Watts spells it out, “some measure” of public control over forestry practices is absolutely vital if this program is to become a reality. It cannot be done if free enterprise goes its unrestrained way. For, oddly enough. there are powerful interests that resist any effort to improve methods of cutting meant to conserve the remains of our forests. They apparently would go right on until the last tree was cut down. Immediately, you come up against a congress talking about economy. Certainly we need economy We need economy in spending but even more we need

iat Sm dm : CITE a aT a TT Te A LER :

|OUR TOWN. . B Anton Scherrer

up his mind porn

| First Hospital Here Took 30 Years | et an Jes fl

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the kind of economy that will save our dwindling re- #4

sources. It would take money to carry out the pFos gram’ outlined by Chief Porester Watts. ‘That money, » spent wisely, could be returned three or four-fold in terms of our forest resources,

Conservation Not Regimentation THE KIND OF PROGRAM Watts is talking about need not be regimentation and socialization. A working partnership between industry and government is perfectly possible with a little reasonableness on both sides. That kind of common sense is essential if we are not to become permanently a have-not nation. We are close today to the danger line. The margin of time is very small

REFLECTIONS . . . By Robert C. Ruark

‘What Makes Texans Way They Are. }

how, for instance: “Why,” I asked one man, “do. Texans think that nothing worthwhile exists outside the state? Why the mass superifirity complex?” “I, expect it's because we got everything better than anybody else,” he replied seriously. “And twice ak much of it. “We don't need®nothing from nobody.” The deadly serious intent of every native son tor make the rest of the world a minor suburb of the. Lone Star state is founded, I think, on an old uneasy , independence which has passed from initial inferior=

Wy complex to a state of semi-paranoiac superiority.-

It came into the nation, finally, with its hackles | up. The tough maverick finally edging into the © herd, but with no intention of relinquishing its lone: truculence. This attitude, passed on from Pappy’ to son, has combined the hugeness of the place and its complete self-sufficiency in raw material— animal, mineral and vegetable—to produce the aver-, age Texan. ‘ : Braggarts Away From Home oi I USED to marvel, abroad, at Texas conversation, aimed at the various furriners whose nations we: encumbered. : “Way, last year, Texas produced more pots= toes than Idaho,” you would hear. “We rua morg steers than thé rest of the world put together. We got more women in the movies than any six other states”. @ i It is fortunate that; Texas is so big, because by and by the rest of the world is bound to become dissatisfied with its meager existence, and it's nice to know that there’s room down here for everybody.

WORLD AFFAIRS . . . By William Philip Simms

Britains ‘Good Old Days Are Gone

Britain where British machines, labor, coal and British capital converted them into finished products. These she resold and reshipped back to the four corners of the world under the protection of the world's mightfest navy. Britain became as rich as Croesus. But those days are gone forever, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, India and Burma no longer are British colonies or dependencies. To all intents they are independent. They, too, are becoming industrialized and are competing with Britain in the world’s markets. As for the United States and many other parts of the Amerf{cas, they are processing their own raw materials and exporting them in their own ships to consumers everywhere. . The world conditions which made Britain the richest of all empires, therefore, will never come back. There can be no such thing as a return to “the good old days.” She will have to adjust her national way of life to the facts of the present and the future, She probably will have to get along on less than formerly, maintain a less costly establishment, including a smaller navy and army, And she may have to reduce her commitments, if she is to make the ends meet— commitments upon which the sun still never sets,

Linked to UN

LIKE THE United States and the other democracies, Britain's fortunes are now intimately linked to the United Nations, world peace and prosperity. Neither she nor we can afford more wars. ‘With lasting peage, Britain can trim expenses, and consolidate and cul“tivate her remaining crown colonies until they. too, are on their own. . wo !

With peace, living standards everywhere will rise, and for every dollar they go up, the world’s consumpe

Britain will get ber share.

tion of goods will be increased by-some $2 billion. An

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