Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 10 October 1947 — Page 22
The Indianapolis Times|~
PAGE 22 Friday, Oct. 10, 1947
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Poultry and Eggs
C long-range farm program, keep farm product prices permanently high enough to give agriculture an adequate income, Agriculture, just now, is doing well. keep on doing well,
see them tackling this subject.
‘We do think, though, that the new farm policy should
OMMITTEES of Congress have started work on a new, They're hunting a way to |
We want it to So, while not gifing advance approval to any scheme the committees may propose, we're glad to
Donald D. Hoover
‘CLOAK AND SWORD"
NE OF THE pleasantest things about reading is the, opportunity that it gives you to learn to know intimately certain characters who, as you read about them, take on flesh and blood and | warmth and step from the pages to enter with you into a life that seems none the less real for being, after all, no more than a spell. woven over you by the magical imagination of some author, dead perhaps, and of another age and nation,” Many of the most dearly cherished of these personages live in the so-called “cloak and sword” romances, and their especial habitation is the novels of Dumas where their acknowledged chief is the Chevalier d'Artagnan, that ebullient and gurable | Gascon who swashbuckles, and finesses, his way through no less than nine volumes. Ready with | his sword but readler with his wit, hlessed with | too keen a sense of humor ever to be that very dull sort of individual, a “great gentleman,” but always the soul of honor, never at a loss and never quite defeated, I can’t think of a handier chap to have on your side in any kind of difficulty. From the time we first met him, a boy. of 18 with his spavined yellow horse, his long sword, his empty purse and his soaring ambition, to the day, years later, when, struck down by a cannon
|
he more flexible—more adaptable to changing condjtions— |, ball just as he receives the baton of a marshal
than the present one, which is involving the government in For
some strange, not to absurd, inconsistencies. Instance: It takes grain to produce poultry and eggs. So, as part of his program to get prices down and save grain for hungi'y people abroad, President Truman asks the American people to eat less poultry and eggs. All right. The American people comply. for poultry and eggs gets less, and their prices fall. the falling prices discourage farmers grain to their flocks. You may think that's what will happen, but it most probably won't.
say
The demand
FOR there 1s a law, which Congress made part of the present farm program.
low 90 per cent of “parity.” tiny bit above parity. They can hardly begin to fall before
And | from feeding so much |
It binds the government to keep
the prices farmers get for poultry and éggs from going be-4 Those prices are now only a How dear to my heart the ubiquitous juke box
the government must start buying poultry and eggs and |
forcing them back almost as high as they are now. Or even higher, if the parity standard continues to climb. The supply of eggs, in fact, already far exc eeds the demand.
The government this year has bought 277 million |
dozen in order to keep prices up, and it now has on hand 138 |
million dozen dried or frozen eggs which nobody seems eager to buy.
And, if the public cuts down egg eating as |
Mr. Truman asks; the government apparently will have to |
start buying on a much larger scale, the public won't get
cheaper eggs, and the farmers, with a guaranteed market | | Awake as the sunbeams come dancing,
and price, will have a big incentive for feeding lots of grain to their flocks. The law responsible for this situation may have seemed gensible when Congress passed it. Under present conditions it" looks #illy, and its ridiculous aspects are not confined to poultry and eggs. We believe any farm program, new or old, long-range or short-range, ought to leave leeway for the government to modify it when need for change becomes evident,
Good Fight, Long Delayed
JOSEPH CURRAN, president of the CIO National Maritime Union, i8 making a belated fight to rescue that organization from Communist control. “The recent record,” he has told the NMU's convention Jin New York, “shows that the Communist Party and its members have completely forsaken their original role as fighters for progress and rank-and-file democracy.” Mr. Curran knows well, we think, that the Communists have not changed their role. progress and democracy. They are merely revealing more openly their purpose in seeking control of this union, and That to make trouble, to stir strife in America, to serve the interests of Russia. And for years Mr. Cutran played ball with them.
others, purpose was always the same
They never were interested in |
| i
So it isn't easy to sympathize with him when he complains, now, that they have “ruined” the NMU's organizing |
ability, “undermined” its power to improve wages and conditions and captured most of its offices by “machine politics" and “dictatorial and crooked methods.” But we hope he | will win his present fight. A resolution before the convention would forbid Communist interference in the union's affairs. Mr. Curran is gaid to have little hope that the convention will approve it, but to believe that it will be adopted if he can get. it toa referendum vote of the NMU’s rank and file. That would
he welcome, as evidence that a majority in this big, important union are not Communists nor Communist sympathizers ¢ bo But here, meanwhile, is more proof that the loyal, patr-
otic labor unions can't afford to wait while small, Red groups worm their way into power. start fighting Communist infiltration is when the first signs of it appear. The way to fight it is to be as active as the Communists “in union elections, to attend union meetings, to be eternally vigilant and tirelessly persistent. That is a duty the men and women of labor owe to their unions, ‘And it is a duty they owe to their country, which makes it possible for them to belong to unions and to be free.
to vote
What Are We Going to Do About It?
Americans who make up the great majority in most |. determined | The time to | |
R about three weeks now the Wedemeyer report on |
China has been in the hands of the State Department. Yet there is still no inkling as to what it contains, or what American policy toward China shall be.
Meanwhile the well-armed Chinese Communist armies— |
supplied from the vast stores of the old Jap Kwantung army in Manchuria and other Russian sources, and reinforced by Soviet-trained Korean troops-—wage a relentless offen- . ‘sive against China's Nationalist forces. It is an uneven *Bghts 1 ot China's Nationalist government, our friend and ally, at least has a help from us. . inspiration and guidance, and ‘apparently are getting plenty of help. Hesitancy ‘and indecision in Washington, long continued, could result in the world’s largest, most populous passing by Selal: to Russiatfigonisation,
ight to know soon whether she can expect | e Chimese Communists look to Moscow for |
of France, he dies murmuring the names of his | friends, Athos, Porthos, Aramis, there stretches an | Odyssey of adventure unequalled in fiction, and I don’t see how anyone can ever tire of reading it. It was Stevenson, I think, who called “The Vicomte de Bragelonne” (the longest of the d'Artagnan cycle) the greatest adventure story in the world, and Stevenson's judgment ought to be good. He wrote some pretty fair adventure stories himself! ~FRANCIS H. INSLEY, “ od
A PLAIN-SPOKEN CAT
A cat who was noted for candor Spoke thus to a young salamander; “Since you are a myth, You'd best stay with your kith, And never attempt to meander.” -—~MYRA AHLER. >» * »
STRANGE INTERLUDE
When it is not vocal a moment or two— When no one is minded to stick in a nickel To hear Crosby chirrup or Dinah Shore coo, ~—MYRA AHLER. >» * @
"AWAY FROM TOWN' Away from the din of the city, The whirl of its racing wheels,
The maze of the noise of the many, Away from the mass that reels,
Away to the hills and the mountains, To the calmness and peace they possess, Midst the realm of the heavenly bliss, That is Nature inviting regress.
| See the dawn as the shining daylight,
Nestles close in the arms of a pine, Stirs the willow that has bedded a spright.
Away into dreams where the waves ‘Toll, Through the letters there traced in the sand, Where all is as one that is mortals, Freeing thoughts that feel need to expand.
Golden sun sets the day, then the bright stars Blink and twinkle to vie with the moon, In unearthing love's throne into heaven, Celestial rule that not one is immune,
- Climb the stairs, reach the peak of ascension, Feel the kiss of the breeze on your brow; Eternally fulfilling the reverence That the universe reveals to you now.
~OPAL MILLER. ¢ ¢ ©
"BETTER LATE THAN——"
SPEAKING of music, there's the story about the lady, newly arrived in social and artistic circles, who went to her first symphony concert. The program was well under way when she finally got her wraps draped over the back of the seat. Then she leaned over to the music lover next to her and inquired what was going on “They're playing Beethoven's Fifth,” bor answered.
the neigh-
“Oh, it's t00 bad we're that late,” she gurgled, settling back, * 4 & Male students in an lowa school voted for short skirts, The eyes have it! D> S
We have learned at last what is te become of the younger feieration, They will grow up.
BACKGROUND vk
OUR TOWN . . . By Anton
Scherrer
City’s Oldest Mystery Still Unsolved
THE OLDEST MYSTERY still to be solved is Mr. Fordham's failure to show up in Indianapolis.
“By this time certain circles around Yere know that
Indiana started doing business in 1816 with Corydon as its capital. Less well known is the fact that, five years later, the legislators met to ratify an act approving the selection of a site for a brand new capital to be known as “Indianapols,” a synthetic sound compounded by Judge Jeremiah
Sullivan (Reginald’s great grandfather). That same day, the two
branches of the Legislature met in joint session and elected Gen. John Carr agent for the sale of lots, and James W. Jones, Samuel P. Booker and Christopher Harrison commissioners responsible for the design of the new capital city. Of these three, only Harrison appeared at the appointed time.
Went Ahead With Plans APPARENTLY, the non-appearance of the other two commissioners didn't crimp Mr. Harrison's style a bit. He went right ahead and appointed Alexander Ralston and Elias P. Fordham to be the two surveyors whose duty is was to lay out and design the plan of Indianapolis. So far as anybody knows Mr. Fordham never showed up which, of course, left Mr. Ralston to do the work alone. When Berry Sulgrove wrote his monumental history in 1880, he remarked rather helplessly: “Of Mr. Fordham little appears to have been known at the time, and nothing can be learned now.” Well, it isn't as hopeless as that. Elias Pym Fordham was an Englishman of excellent family and ancestry who came to America in 1817 when he was 29 years old. He was an engineer by profession and a pupil of George Stephenson, inventor of the steam locomotive. Despite his enviable prospects, however, he was seized with the fever of migrations to America which spread over England jn 1816 and, instead of practicing his profession at home, began to cast about for a chance to try his fortunes in the New World. The chance came by way of an uncle, George Fowler, the man who was identified with Birkbeck's projected socialistic settlement in Illinois. Fowler came to America in 1816 in advance of the party and Fordham followed with Mose Birkbeck and his family early the next year. Fordham's part in the Birkbeck experiments is another story. Of moment, however, is the fact that
By Edwin A. Lahey
during 1818 he wrote a lot of letters home, some of
which have been collected and published as Fordham's “Personal Narrative.” In the course of these letters, he mentions Princeton, Vincennes,
French Lick, New Albany and Harmonie-on-the-Wabash, leaving no doubt that he knew his way around Southern Indiana, mention that the two must have met, possibly later when Mr. Harrison had his home in Salem. At any rate, that’s where Mr. Harrison first met Alexander Ralston, a pupil of L’Enfant who had helped his master design the marvelous plan of the nation's capital at Washington, D, C. Christopher Harrison, one of the strangest and certainly the most picturesque character ever to reach Indianapolis, was a Marylander by birth. He was a man of some wealth, a fine education and a taste for art including an eye for beautiful women. As a ng man ‘he had fallen .in love with Elizabeth, ter of William Patterson, a fabulously rich nore merchant. deed, the romance of Betsy Patterson and Chris Harrison had reached the point that everything was fixed for the wedding when, all of a sudden, the potential bride changed her mind and married Jerome, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte (a story I've already told).
Quits Life of Hermit
TO GET AWAY from it. all, Harrison came to Indiana and for seven years lived the life of a hermit on a bluff overlooking the Ohio at Hanover. In 1815 when he was almost 40 years old, Harrison suddenly decided that he had served full time for his Rachel, and re-entered the world. This time he made it his
business to deal almost exclusively with men; with -
the result that he became one of the best mixers not only in the society of his immediate neighborhood, but all along the Ohio River, All of which still doesn’t explain why Mr. Fordham didn’t accept the commission to help Mr. Ralston lay out Indianapolis. It may be possible that just about this time Mr. Fordham was thinking some of going home. Indeed, he may already have been on his way without Mr. Harrison knowing it. At any rate, there is a record that Mr, Fordham was not yet “a middleaged man” when he returned to England. I'm fully aware that today's piece doesn't settle anything. At the same time, it's rather nice to know that when it came to picking people, it didn’t make any difference to Mr, Harrison whether it was a matter of choosing competent men or beautiful women, ’
Nowhere, however, does he.
Hoosier Forum
1 do not agree with word that you ay bit 18 will defend to the death your right to say it."
‘One Paper With a Heart’ By a_Subscriber, Indianapolis I am glad that I am a subscriber to your Times, and to know there is a paper so sympathetic and understanding as to shield an Innocent victim
of circumstances such as the girl in ‘the kid-,
naping and attack case in Tyesday's paper. As far as you are concerned the girl could remain just a South Side girl. But others screamed the headlines, her name, address, everything, even the poor girl's picture. What does it benefit them? And hasn't she suffered humiliation enough with-
out being the object of comment and discussion everywhere? I don’t even know the girl, but nevertheless, I
am indeed grateful to know there is one paper in Indianapolis who has a “heart and human kindness.
* oS @
‘Your Policy Considerate’
By An Indianapolis Times Reader, Indianapolis Your policy of not publishing the names of rape victims is certainly a very considerate one and I wish to commend you for your stand! In my estimation our other two local papers have committed an unpardonable injustice to this young girl and her family. It was enough that she should be subjected to this horrible experience without their publishing her name and splashing the story all over the front page. : “@ @
‘You Are to Be Commended’
By the Ladies’ Bible Class, Mrs. P. M. Cornwald, Indianapolis
Thank you for not publishing the name and
address of the rape victim. Yours was the only
paper that showed any consideration of that young woman and you are to be highly commended on your action, i A
Mail to Homes by Tube By C. R, Hume Mansur Bldg.
Do you realize ‘that in one respect our American cities have not progressed beyond the way of the ancients? I refer to the house-to-house delivery of the mail by a man on foot with a very heavy sack over his shoulder. My husband is a city postman. He has carried a route in Indianapolis these many years, He “is a fine=looking-man-if-I-do-say‘it.-goes through untold agony with his feet, almost has a curvature from the weight of the leather bag and I can’t put any weight on him no matter what I cook. Naturally I don’t want to talk my own husband out of a job. But I believe we could use a system
of vacuum tubes or some other device to propel 2°
the mail to individual homes just as we move the money and sales slip in a department store. Men like my husband would be needed at distribution points, They won't be thrown out of work. In the country, the method of mail distribution is not primitive. The carrier travels by automobile, stops at each box and drops in the letters. We are all familiar with. that. But in wind and weather, hot summertime or bitter winter, my husband and fellow city postmen plod from door to door to deliver the mail, The householders aren't always kind and appreciative of the postman’s efforts. They sometimes keep vicious dogs which bark at the mailman and sometimes snap at him. If the weather or other reasons make delivery a little late, housewives who haven't anything else to do are waiting with complaints when my husband rings the bell. Yes, Mr. Editor, you get your letter brought to your home in much the same manner thas Julius Caesar's was brought to him. Why don't we do something about this? * ¢
Price Down on Meatless Day? By A. T. W,, City
Now isn't this swell. I see by your paper that most of our restaurant owners are going to abide by President Truman's request for “meatless Tues~ day.” That's just dandy, fellows. Shows what bighearted guys they really are.” But what I want to know, how much are they going to knock off the price of the Tuesday menu when they eliminate the meat? I'm not complaining about giving up meat . getting along with less isn't going to hurt any of us. But I'll be darned #f I can see Why restaurants.should make a bigger profit and why I should pay for the meat that the restaurants aren't serving. How about it? Will IT have to?
Labor Lords From Indiana Dominate AFL Convention at Frisco
WASHINGTON, Oct, assurance is as long as their
10—Three ancient labor leaders, whose self- ! life expectancy is short, dominate the
record for immodesty.
To put it mildly, the Hutcheson circulars established a new world’s |
At the same time he can play poker or bite the cork out of a hottle without the affectation of a man playing the role of statesman.
But-he
stage of the AFL convention now in session at San Francisco. They are Dan Tobin of the Teamsters, “Big Bill” Hutcheson of the Carpenters, and John L. Lewis of the Coal Mirmrs. Mr. Tobin and Mr. Hutcheson both make their headquarters in Indianapolis. Mr. Lewis had his office in Indianapolis for several years. They are the big men in the deviqus world of labor politics. They represent only three of the 105 unions combined membership of third of the total of the Federation. Tobin, Hutcheson and Lewis are the big wheels in the AFL, not because of the grand and confident manner in which they drag their bunions up to the speakers’ platform, but because they have the members, Unions affiliated with the AFL pay dues to the parent federation on a per capita basis.
Views Frequently Clash
THE "BIG THREE" PAY ONE-THIRD of the AFL's expenses, and act accordingly, like the kid who owns the ball and bat, and threatens
fiiliated with the AFL, but the | their unions totals 220000, or about a |
to go home with his equipment if The ground rules are not adapted |
to his moods. It goes without saying that each of these leaders in labor pelitics is a strong character, The clash of their personalities has furnished in thé past and again today furnishes the drama of power politics in the AFL. dt was Lewis versus Hutcheson in 1835, when the rebels took a walk from the AFL convention jn Atlantic City and wound up with an organization known as the CIO. Lewis bopped Hutcheson on the bugle on his way out, a lusty experience for both these elderly and corpulent gentlemen, even 12 years ago.
Today the conflicting currents of ‘politics in the AFL. stem from a combination of Lewis and Hutcheson 4n one corner and Dan Tobin
in the other, The issues over which they clash in convention become a little hazy to the ordinary worker, But they can always be safely simplified in terms of desire for power, or unwillingness to suffer a loss of power.
Roosevelt Laughed at Lewis
TWO OF THE “Big Three,” Lewis and Hutcheson, have been smitten with the ambition to soar from the arena of labor politics and move in grandeur on the national scene. They both ‘want » be vice presi dent of the United States. Lewis suggested to the late President Roogevelt n January, 1940, that he should be Roosevelt's running mate in the third term campaign. Roosevelt laughed at the idea. That was the inning of Lewis’ bitterness toward Roosevelt. Hutcheson in 1 publican convention in Chicago. Circulars: shoved under hotel room
doors ‘announced the availability of “Big Bill" as a vice ey :
candidate, and revealed qualities of virtue that had previously Snow only 40 HUWRtous 430 his Amat,
tried desperately to win attention at the Re-
Tobin has no personal political ambition, but has had his years of glory as Roosevelt's intimate .adviser. He idolized .the late President, and actually was his “inside man” on the executive council-of the AFL while Roosevelt was alive, because Roosevelt didn't want Lewis back in the AFL. Of the three men, Tobin probably is the closest to the workers. He is still part teamster. He soars into the oratorical stratosphere
with | figures « of of apesch { that are marvels of imaginative construction.
Side le Glances—By Galbraith
10-10 |
tir
st lawyareothai's what. Mr. Jones ih
One suspects that even at his age, Dan Tobin could climb into the
|. cab of a six-by-six truck and wheel it through the Sumner tunnel in
Boston, his home town, without suffering a fatal emotional maladjustment. Hutcheson is perhaps the least known, but mod remarkable personality ‘among the “Big Three.” “Big Bill,” as his name suggests, 1s a giant. though they've spread a little under the weight. He has the head of an ox, with the late W. C. Field's nose, and a loud, belligerent voice. He is the permanently unlettered type. Lewis is well known as fhe eternal ham, a man of great possession and aplomb, but afflicted with the irritating weakness of the
His feet look as
| self-educated—an uncontrollable urge to make with quotations from
the Bible, Shakespeare, Tennyson and assorted authors, - He has a flair for the dramatic that makes him consider the effect on the audience in everything he does, This hammy instinct for the audience,®plus his daring as a labor leader, has made him the most publicized man in the racket.
Bosses Because They Deliver
ALL THREE OF THESE LABOR LEADERS have been called czars and dictators of their’ respective unions, Actually, their unions have democratic structures. , If they have become oligarchic unions, it is because each of the “Big Three” has delivered the goods to the members in terms that are understood best, the terms of wages and hours. All three remain bosses because the members want them. The carpenters’ unin, over which Hutcheson has presided for years, is generally looked upon as his private property. The union engaged in some unsavory initiation-fee rackets during the cantonment building days of the war, and has had some bad
{
| public relations, where it has been noticed at all.
|
, ranks of the miners.
!-of bad publicity, has also been on . and historic fights to develop “he. i
"Serves you ign | bois kicked your shin when wou “darted your | ade
Yet the carpenters’ union has a heroic place in the social history of the United States. It was once the hotbed 6f radicalism, particularly in Chicago. It has the distinction of winning the first eight-hour day. It was in the forefront of the fight for free public.education.
Played Role in Social History -
THE COAL MINERS also have played a part in American social history that overshadows the arrogant modern-day strutting and blustering of John L. Lewis. To this day, as you call the roll.of effective organizers and fighters on the labor front, you find a high percentage of men from the
J “ , while it has had its share front line in the
The tough and colorful teamsters un
States. Under Dan Tobin, who has n ‘him for president in 42 years, the of nearly 1,000,000 and today has
Jor tad a
on hat Brews LL pits 7,380,529 1 in its treasury. A i)
fh y
spectacul i movement in the United
FRIDAY,
A Fin
Need For Pt At Cre
Kentuck Held D:
By LOUK * South Side wondering whi ' to turn their a problems in th As this repor mire, Times toured the sec ington St. bet Sts. it" was AMONg person: there that the What appea daddy” of all I corners is wi West 8t. and The traffic lig out during ru of the intersec officer. Heavy For sheer vi traffic, this si nothing to South Side c type of vehic! intersection - between 4:30 2 They lined ways on We ‘Kentucky Ave St. The traf them through Busses, a motorcycles ai keavy and lig through the i hour,
Test | We tested Ht fng from the tucky Ave. 1 = 15 seconds to had to stop 3 The light 80 seconds, th _.A count. of tk erage of 12 « time the ligh At 4:50 the lighter so we and Morris. & of cars stretc Morris St. through tha adequate to flow during r in the mill & the street to Between M son Ave. a si the west-bou Left Tv At- Madison another jam. to make lef street. After got up to M a right turn smoothly bey: Over on th 8. East St. th at the inte Virginia Ave another jam added to the three minute intersection a peak at that By 5:25 the area as mot their neighbc
Legion " Quarre
Eleventh Legion, offic they no long the Veteran location of a pital here, The officia withdraw th tion of the adjacent to versity Mec ] meeting wit Indiana Dep: Thé 11th the site beca cost more to than to bui VA hospital Rd.
In a stater said: i “It was. fo } tion for this on the polic pitals near reverse acti Legion mig and hospital f “It is rec ! the Legion © with the VA it best not of a hospit. the present
Height Just 0
Above the phones, Ja manager for N. Pennsylv day
the telepho The fig height of a been tether