Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 December 1947 — Page 18

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ROY W. HOWARD WALTER LECKRONE __ HEN “HENRY Ww. MANZ | President WE AAP. «TEE "Business Manager

: PAGE {8 Monday, Dec. 22, B17 neler: rm stim a : . A SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWSPAPER Ae

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Owned ‘and a publistied datly ont Sunday) by " Indianapolis Times Publistiing Co., 214 W. Marylang St. Postal Zone 9 Member of United Press, Scripps-Howard News. |

Circulations | - Price in Marion County, 5 cents a copy: delivereg by carrier, 25¢ a week « Mall rates in Indiana, $5 a year; all oset states 0 ,8 possessions, Canada and Mexico, $1.10 a month, Lo Telephone Rl ley 5001 Give iAght and the People Will Fina Thew Uwn Way

The European Aid Message HE President's message to Congress on the Marshall program for American aid to Europe was masterly. | We wish he had been more urgent about. corresponding assistance to China. But his analysis of Europe's emergency . was excellent and his Plan convincing. There is no longer ayy question of Europe's grave need. That fact has been established by many investigating agencies,*international and national, including congressional committees ‘which went to Europe to see for themselves. we Likewise America’s interest in European recovery- at last is widely understood. That interést is much more than humanitarian. We cannot prospert in the long run if our neighbors and customers are bankrupt and hungry. Our democracy will suffer if they are too weak to fend off communism. There will be no peace for us if totalitarian aggression captures Western Europe. :

Then how can we be a maximum help to Europe with a minimum of harm to ourselves? For a simple Santa "Claus approach is not the answer—rélief dollars ¢ould be wasted abroad and could ruin us. » ” ” ~ » » THE BASIC European economic problem, as the President emphasized, is increased production. Our temporary productive aid is required only to help them in their self-| help efforts by providing raw materials and machines for, their factories, fertilizers and seed for their fields, fuel and | food for their workers, until they can overcome the ravages of ‘war, drought and malnutrition.

The 16 European nations already have pledged defimte self-help measures for economic and monetary spability, for reduction of trade barriers, for increased production, for co-operation among themselves. Careful safeguards are proposed by the President to get results. These pledges by European nations would be written into a general agreement with the United States, and supplemented by binding separate agreements with Washington. When American money is a grant, rather than a loan, it will be matched by a local currency fund to be used as agreed by the two governments. Production of strategic materials would be stimulated and as much as possible of these would be made available for our military stockpiles. And the United States can discontinue aid which is not being used effectively. rn ~ w » » ON THE BASIS of the Harriman, Kine and Nourse committee reports, the President makes his point that the| estimated 17 billion aid to Europe during the next four ‘years need not wreck-our own economy. It is about five per cent of our recent war exenditure, and less than three : per. cent of our estimated national income for four years. bE . It remains to be seen whether the President, Congress and : the proposed seconomic co-operation administrator will exercise necessary controls, and the American people the essential self-discipline, to cushion the shock: of this pro-| gram on our own inflated economy. It is a risk we must! take. | Congress should authorize the full $17 billion requested and make the $6.8 billion appropriation for the first 15 months. To cut the initial expenditure would not be frugal but wasteful—better give none than too little to do the job. It will be costly, but less expensive than another depression! or another war, -

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USSIA’S determination. to prevent recovery of European| democracies proves the necessity of the American aid| plan. Any hope that Stalin: might relent, and adopt a ‘live-and-let-live policy, was destroyed when he broke up| the foreign ministers’ conference. Secretary of State Marshall, fresh from that London revelation of Soviet wrecking strategy, reported the facts| to the American publie. On that record Russia stands self- | condemned. ‘The basic question there, ns the secretdry explained. was whether they could agree on, unifying a demilitarized Germany so she could be’ self-supporting and contribute to European recovery. Instead Russia, which has violated| her pledges by stripping~and enslaving Eastern Germany, | is now trying to get control of Western Germany and to "collect giant reparations out of -American subsidies. : Moreover, Russia used the London conference not to negotiate but to propagandize German nationalists against | the democracies, especially against us, The issue is whether western civilization can save| itself despite Soviet sabotage and. aggression. Without| quick and generous American economic aid, followed by! American military aid if necessary, Western Europe is probably too weak to withstand chaos and communism.

‘Better Than Nothing

VERY small anti-inflation mouse emerged finally from the labors of the special session of Congress. The Taft bill, now before President Truman, is an admitted stop-gap, probably harmless but unlikely to do much good. It does give Mr. Truniana few of the things he wanted. It extends export and transportation controls through Feb-' ruaty, 1949; restores briefly the President's power to stop or restrict use of grain in making liquor; authorizes efforts | to promote production of more food in non-European foreign countries. It also authorizes him to seek voluntary agreements in industry, business and agriculture, designed to hold prices in line without actual price-fixing, under temporary suspensions of the anti-trust laws. This last provision, we think, is adequately safeguarded against abuses. Both in the Senate and the House many Democrats joined the Republicans in voting to pass the bill, on the theory that it was better than nothing. We believe the same theory justifies Mr. Truman in signing it into law. Meanwhile the country can only hope that when Congress gets back to work in January, after its Christmas vacation, t © it will forget’ campaign politics long «enough to make a

ineflectively at its Symptoms.

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“paper Alliance, NEA Service, and Audit Bureau oH

“But special-built shoes always cost. se much,

because they can't think quickly enough.

have to search for it—inside the bun.

1S THERE A Free

Ed Busey, the banker, was Santy At an orphans’ Christmas-affair;

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An’ was seekin relief from despair.

He said to a \ child with twisted feet, “What can Santa Claus bring you can use?” An’ with all the faith of a 4-year-old She answered, “Please bring me some shoes.”

“I'm sure they would help her learn to walk,” * Sald a matron with kindly eyes,

And our funds are never that size”

Ed ordered a pair made up quickly. Santy called back on Christmas Day. An’ she took her first fal g steps » - When he held out his arms her way.

She's been promised a nice op’'ration An the doctor has given his view Thet soon after it's all over Her feet will be just like they're new.

Did you say thet Santy was only a myth? Well, to one little girl he's real. An’ if you ask Ed he'll tell you How mighty good Santy kin feel. ~CATFISH PETE. ® © 9% Never fool with a fool—he might fool you! Some men get a reputation for. truthfulness

It's easy to buy hamburger now, but you still

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: QUIET:

No sound traveled upward from down helow The dead pledged their silence ‘long ago.

Only the shadow of fallen leaves And a spectral rabbit among the sheaves,

| From the green pasture bereft of the herd Comes the macabre winging of a dark bird.

Oh where are the voices once heard in the street? And where is the echo of answering feet?

OUR TOWN .

61 Years of Joy Out of Toys

. By Anton Schotrer

Hoosier Forum

"1 do mat agree with a word thet you say. but | {will defend to the death your right to sey’ it. :

The Power of Motherhood"

mother’s son may be President. : there never was a but- what #id-not have a

I owe to tny angel mother” -° ; ve to Say Andel SHEE. ves ‘of oiarlaod 8 othets of men who cause

1t is like unto the story as handed down the blessed mother of Christ. God very often has need for great first He creates a mother to raise that who, at the proper time, will become that great man. Silently, patiently and unnoticed at her task. Countless will be the guide him when in need. Very often she will resort to prayer. will be times when her heart will pound and flu ter. The doctors call it high blood pressure, or something or other. But it communion with her God. have died with enlarged h This l to the fact that no ordinary heart could house their extraordinary soul. : : When, in this ocean of life, the roaring tempest and the pounding seas beat and lash these great men of ours, countless are the times they think of their mothers.. Very often it is what mother would do or say under like circumstances, that cheers them and gives them heart to carry on. These seemingly strong and seemingly eu. ageous men will very often say to themselves: ts what my mother would have me do and that 3 why I did it.” Or yet again they will whisper to themselves: “Don’t thank me, thank God for the mother He gave me.” A few days henge there will be a mother with her son at Bethlehem, Let us bow our heads in reverence to her kind. It was peace and joy and ae good will that this mother and her son brought into the world. They gave us a rule to live by, ° Many other rules. have been tried. But this one seems to be the only one that will work on this earth among men, Trouble is you and I Rgve not been following it as closely as we could or should. > 9% ¢

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Marshall’ s Repo |

HELEN MORI ECK. hb &

When a speeder goes into a ditch the! chances

are some pedestrian is lucky.

The question before the house these days Is

where to get the money to buy one.

Numerous office-seekers never run out of gas—

and never go any place.

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> & @ ECSTACY

The tree was trimmed and ready, i The lights on it were bright, A tiny maid sat in a chair 4 Her hands , . . clasped oh! so tight! Her blue- eyes spelled excitement As she breathed . . . almost a gasp— Oh! Maimd! It's so beautiful!

Oh!” Christmas . , . Hurry fast! --ANNA E. YOUNG. * Sb

1 quit watchin’ the boys play Jethro's pinball machine. Hit's hard enuff to keep from goin’ to the dogs ’'thout hangin’ ‘round a dog pound an’ | barkin', —CATFEESH PETE. > > &

FOSTER'S FOLLIES

(“Rome-—Hitler's Present Address Revealed by Soothsayer”) Here's a challenging announcement From a Roman prophet keen, Who declares in a pronouncement: Hitler's in the Argentine,

We shan't argue, nor deride him, (Prophecy’s a worthy goal!) But if Satan would abide him, We'd say Adolf’s shov’'ling coal! 2 o ¢ An Indiana bank was robbed three times. And baby's bank, these days, gosh knows how many

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SNOW DREAM

Softly the snow fell through the night, Leaving a dream world robed in white— A strange new world of silence and light.

The trees stood draped like ghosts of old. The world's white dream I saw unfold,

TODAY I HAVE SOMETHING really precious to share with you. Nothing less, indeed, than the amazing discovery that 61 years ago William Huber started selling toys at Charlie Mayer's. What's more, he still runs that department. In 1886, when Mr, Huber was picked to serve as the Indianapolis agent of Santa Claus, the best a boy could hope for at Christmas time was a jumping jack or a sling shot, He was lucky to get both. Little girls had to be satisfied with rag dolls. However, china dolls with painted hair were right around x the corner ready to be sprung upon a waiting world. Mr. Huber's career ‘parallels the ceaseless search on the part of Santa Claus to achieve a realistic doll. When the Dy-Dee phenomenon appegred in 1933; it was generally believed that the ultimate in naturalism had arrived. But there's no telling. And nobody knows it better than Mr. Huber, who, having watched and experienced the evolution of the doll, is prepared for anything. To hear Mr. Huber tell it, the story of the doll is just another examnle of the American pattern—from razs to rickes. It is no more than a decade ago, for instagce, that Indinaapolis girls were playing with Dionne dolls, the complete set of which consisted of five. Two years before that they voiced a predilection for Shirley Temvle dolls—and before that, for fac-

similes of Alice-in-Wonderland.

Kewp's Dolls Appeared in 1905

SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH THE ALICE DOLLS cume the Dickens’ series, the most popular of which around here were Emily and David Copperfield. In 1931, came Meg, Beth, Amy and Jo, the ‘Little Women's series. And way back in antiquity, somewhere around 1905, Mr. Huber was startled by the appearance of the Kewpie doll, possibly the prize baby of the lot. Kewpie was a creation thought up by Rose O'Neill, an artist whose velvety pen and ink sketches had ornamented the pages of LIFE when Amos Mitchell was its editor. It was generally suspected at the time that Kewpie came to her th a dream. The vogue lasted 15 years and earned $1,400,000 for. Miss O'Neill, And it is no secret that Indianapolis contributed most of that amount

When the demand for the Kewpie doll showed™

signs of slowing up, Miss O'Neill tried .to repeat her succcess by giving®birth to another doll, _“8tootles,” however, was no dream child. As for the boys, they didn’t come into their own

after Mr. Huber got started. By that time iron toys had supplanted the fragile affairs made of tin. And with the advent of iron toys came worthwhile things like locomotives, steam boats, fire engines, passenger and freight trains and, believe it or not, automobiles. The first toy auto was item No. 275 in Charles Mayers 1902 catalog. ; The 1902 catalog was a humdinger—488 pages jampacked with pictures of toys a kid had dreamed about all his life and never got. The magnetic elec#ric machine, for instance. Price, $1.00. A Weeden rotary engine sold fof $18. And a buck and saw outfit with a 22-inch blade for $17. A hook and ladder

wagon witlf side ladders four feet long and a five-~ foot middle ladder sold for $2. And listen! Thd ‘side

ladders could be coupled together making a 7'%-foot-1*~q ladder.

‘Erector’ Toys Came From England

THE BEST BUY OF 1902, however, was an exact miniature reproduction of a Studebaker wagon. ($6 with shafts.) It was made by the South Bend Toy Co.. a neighbor of Mr, Studebaker who saw to it that they didn't muff any details. Indeed, the toy wacon was so much like the real Studebaker on erandfather's farm that, except fbr size, you couldn’i tell the two apart. Like as not, Mr: Huber knew your grandfather. Mechanical toys operated by clockwork and springs arrived about 50 years ago. Up to that time, boys had

to put up with contraptions run by rubber bangs 5

and spools. It was a sore trial. The mechanical toys start on Pare 225 with a Ferris Wheel (50 cents) and end on Paze 227 with five illustrations of Clark's “famous Hill climbing toys” which, according to the catalog “climb up hill, over rugs, carnets, over small obstructions, on the sidewalk, on the street and even ploueh their way through gravel.” What's more, they did. The “erector” toys blew in about 40 years-ago and: curiously enough, by wav of England. Mr. Huber remembers that Otto N. Frenzel, the” banker, bought the first one—a “Mechano” set—for his little boy, Otto. Today, little Otto officiates as something or other over in the Merchants National Bank. The best thing Mr. Huber ever sold my father was a magic lanterfi set, a product of the tin period. I found it under the Christmas tree of 1888. It was a square<shaped lantern made of Russian tin (it's the truth, so help me) ahd was.equipped with what the “catalog described as extra strong lenses and double duplex burners. With the outfit came 15 colored slides, one of which was a “chromotrope.” It set Father back $6, and it gave me something of an emotional turn when I discovered the fact not long

‘Let's Forget Fo. One Day’ By A Gold Star Mother, City. As you know there will be much gaiety and happiness for some during the Christmas season, and especially on Christmas Day. But to many it will be filled with loneliness and heartache for the son or husband who won't be there. Because some _ lie in foreign cemeteries, and others in veterans hospitals or are too far away to come home. Out of respect for these boys, their parents, wives and their children, why can’t the news commentators, this one day, keep their script free of any mention of “the hungry people of Europe.” The American people sent money, food and cloth-

"ing over there and now I think it is time to give

some thought to our own le. & The best way to create peate in our hearts here at home is to give us this day free from the feminder of war, hunger and strife. Instead, let us hear the wonderful songs apd music of Christmas time "and try to forget for one day if we can the dreadful experience we are going through. It certainly will not add to the hunger of the people over there but will make us see more vividly the. empty chair than anything "else and the prayer we would have uttered might remain unsaid. To every man who served in this war, respect should be paid him first. Commentators can give us this day by speaking of things more cheerful or else keep quiet. ® rl

‘No Charge for Christianity’

By Stan Moore, 2858 N. Illinois

The hardest job for communism’ is to get rid of Christianity, because the latter is the source of charity, honesty, education, freedom and equality, ‘while communism is an outmoded rehash of all the attributes of barbarism, viz: crookedness, ignorance, slavery and despotisms. None of these has a place in real Christianity. - Mankind did not make a good start toward civilization until” Christianity was taught, showing that all men are created with equal rights. This teaching naturally forced the gangsters of humanity into the background, as more and more people began to realize that they did not have to be kicked about by thugs. So today, Christianity is making these relics + of barbarism, so desperate for their lost. control of Christian education, seek to regain control. The Communist Party charges for the chains it puts about the necks of its slaves. Real Christianity makes no charge. The founder of Christianity did not own even a place in a tomb but the rulers feared him, be-

concerted attack on inflation's causes’ instead of dabbing|

But, others only said, “It's cold!” -—MAUD COURTNEY WADDELL.

WORLD AFFAIRS , ». By Hal O'Flaherty

U. S. Pulls Punches In Russia’s Deflation

THE PROPAGANDA effort of the United States has gone soft since the end of the war, sia's gigantic deflation. If the situation were reversed and the U. S. had called in all currency savings account and bonds to be replaced at the rate $1 to $10,

or one to three, the Russians would never pull any punches in de- |

scribing that action, Yet our national propaganda. service and our commentators have been warning everyone that the Russian deflation would not change anything inside Russia; that Russfa's economy would fiot suffer.

This was done with the purpose of preventing the American people from jumping to wild ‘conclusions. For instance, that the Communist regime was about to be overthrown or that even a totalitarian state could not control its fiscal affairs.

‘We Should State the Facts’ THIS IS the wrong approact’ Instead of cautiously understanding the situation, we should seize every opportunity to state the facts as boldly as they can be translated and analyze the effects of the deflation upon the Russian citizenry in terms that can be understood by peoples all over the earth, : We know from experience what happens when currency is fe-

flated. We are now reaping the doubtful benefits of spending 69-cent | | dollars. The Russian is pictured” as rejoicing over his newly bestowed | blessing of buying with rubles deflated 90 per cent.

News reports describe the Russians as cheering when the Kremlin |

announced the removal of controls from consumer goods. Nothing was

sald from Moscow and little space devoted here to the miserable lack |

of consumers’ goods inside Russia. The removal of controls, so widely

| publicized by the Soviet propaganda agencies, dags not mean that the

Russian citizen is going to be able to go out and buy anything he needs with his shrunken rubles.

brought out of Russia detailed reports on the terrible lack of necessities. Russians have not now, and will not have for some time, sufficient goods to meet the demands of an impoverished population.

A ‘Scoop’ That Was Underp KNOWING THESE conditions, our da services have leaned over backward to avoid exaggerations or charges of mistatement. The State Department's information service had a great scoop, It was the first to announce the flight from the ruble and the expected removal of controls. The scoop was underplayed. Given the example of exceeding traint at the top, one of- the most brutal robberies of a nation’s savi trayed as a routine operation by a Sug but reasonable Communist government. . The Russian people have. been ut through the financial wringer and at the same time given a shot o" mophine to y prevent the world

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until somewhere around 1895—practically 10 years

A typical. example is the handling of Rus- |

All observers, newspapermen, diplomats, and casual visitors have’

ago.

cause of the people.

Side Glances—By Galbraith

IN WASHINGTON... By Peter Edson

a eres ere me ————————————

Politics Awarded Surrealistic Prize

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22—Of all the crazy, mixed-up political situations. ever strung up for the American voters to gawk at, today's picture takes the all-time surrealistic grand prize. The conservative wing of the Republican Party seems hell-bent on electing a Democrat for President. in 1948. The liberal wing of the Democratic Party is doing its darndest to see that a Republican gets. e Propaganda of the Communist Party in the U. 8. makes people want to become reactionaries. The reactionaries for their part, by every word and deed, make independent voters think there may be something to this Socialistic stut

after all.

Labor ‘organizations, ‘by their newly-intensified political ‘activities, are solidifying the position of anti-labor forces that want to curb ihe unions still further, Finally, employer groups are advocating economic policies which can only lead to their own ruin and a depression; if experiences of the past mean anything, and if history does President Truman's popularity has risen steadily since the November, 1946, election low. The polls show it's staying high. This is not due to anything in particular that the Democrats have done.

| Reflects Republican Decline

ANY RISE in Democratic prestige is nothing more than a meastire of Republican decline since 1946. If that is the case, there may be

| something wrong with the Republican program. It couldn't be that

12-22

oY : _ 8 PAT.

"What did you mean by telling all those people, ‘A good disposi- , tion like my wife's is. more important than good looks in making marriage a success*?"

hearing their screams of anguish. The morphine was in the form of the removal of wartime controls. To treat this amazing spectacle in terths of so-called economic Jaws is playing directly into the hands of the Kremlin. No doubt it has interesting implications to the students of economics, but it also “has a human story of loss by government edict, That Is the picture our propaganda services should put out on the air ways.

. | to the Comm s in all history has been por- |

Where is the vaunted security so widely. publicized as one of the great assets of the totalitarian state? The U. 8. was supposed to be the one that Id crack first. We were due for a depression, according ists, while they were immune to financial fevers. * The opportunity to convince the world of the intrinsic worth of the

| capitalist system should be seized avidly./There should bé no pussy-

footing in giving the world a look at Soviet perfidy. We should label devaluation of the Tuble up Wa 90 per eant for juss what 1 Bon. fiscation. ) i as———

killing off price controls, easing up on rent controls, ending the veterans’ housing program and enacting tough labor legislation are unpopular, could it? If they are, maybe. the Republicans had better change their “mandate” and do. something about these high prices, or else reconeile themselves to electing Democrats in 1948. to that, Henry Wallace's new insistence that there will be a third party in 1948, if the Truman Administration doesn't change its foreign policy, is a threat to split the Democratic Party.

Left wing and propaganda could not be more inept. Tustad of making og to communism, it turns Americans against the Moscow line, ' :

Ideas. ga of ' 5 Founiniscon of 90s imi ii business in this era of inflation is genuinely alarming. They advocate: Refurn to a longer work week. A freeze on minimum wage levels. Tax cuts which discriminate sgainst low-income groups. Opposition to any lowering of prices. for for slocatin of scarce materials? Killing

to the r relief, tc menaced cially tb France,” She wi school t science a ler Unive of the P re————

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