Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 12 November 1948 — Page 24

e Indianapolis Times ~~ A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER RCT 2 ST ROY W. HOWARD WALTER LECKRONE HENRY W. MANZ President Editor

res " Business PAGE 24

Friday, Nov. 12, 1948

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Smoke Control

ARGUMENTS have been going on here for many months ~ about how far the City should go in an ordinance to control smoke and reduce the health menace of continuing ~ One group proposes a modified ordinance for smoke ntrol, obviously designed to lessen the hardships of some Ee who would have to make major changes in heating systems to reduce smoke. : - - ¥ ” » s ANOTHER group is holding out for a “tough” ordinance with “teeth” in it as the only effective means of accomplishing what every Indianapolis citizen wants — smoke control. If we are going to have smoke control for the benefit of all citizens we will have to have a law with “teeth” in it even if enforcement hurts some of us in the pocketbook. If we don’t want to sacrifice anything for smoke control we'll never have it. Passage of a “weakened” ordinance would be the same as none at all. The City would be in the same place it always has been—under a poisonous pall of smoke.

Mob Rule In Jail

HE “kangaroo court” custom in which prisoners at the Marion County jail take the law into their own hands -and administer “justice” as they see fit on some hapless cell mate, has been going on too long. Another prisdfier came into court this week bearing marks of the “kangaroo code of honor.” There have been many other similar cases in the past, most of them kept from public notice. The constitutional duty of the sheriff is to maintain law and order among the county's half a million citizens according to statutes of the Legislature. Yet, right under the sheriff's nose a few feet from his desk, prisoners, already denied their right to free society for some offense, are permitted to engage in mob rule tactics as a special privilege that goes with imprisonment. If the sheriff can’t abolish these “kangaroo courts” and establish law and order inside the jail, the taxpayers may suspect that he can’t do much of a job anywhere else.

Post-Mortems on China

THE debacle in China is largely a result of our do-nothing ~ policy there which has helped the Reds. So it is not surprising if, as reported, the State Department's authors of

there to make a survey for the Congressional “Watchdog” Committee, * - : When Lt. Gen. A. C. Wedemeyer, our best military authority on the Chinese situation, returned from a somewhat similar mission last year, his report was suppressed because it put the finger on the inevitable consequences of the policy we were pursuing. Those predicted consequences are fast becoming ugly facts, as Communist troops pour down into North China. Little wonder the State Department would prefer to do its own reporting now. Bill Bullitt isn’t subject to Army discipline. On his re-

reputation for doing that. His report should cast longneeded light on some of the dark corners of American diplomacy. \ a » » © =» » MEANWHILE, anonymous apologists for the State Department's bankrupt policy are producing alleged facts and figures to misrepresent the causes of the Chinese crisis. Typical is tu@ ¢harge of inept use of Chinese air power, through neglect of maintenance and failure to permit use of aviation gasoline for pilot training. China's air force broke down because we did not deliver the spare parts we promised when we sold the planes. That was part of the pressure we applied to force Chiang Kai-shek to accept the Marshall Plan for a coalition with the Communists. Aviation gasoline could not be used for pilot training because China did not have enough for its actual combat needs. That was because, under the export licensing policy we adopted, more aviation gasoline was shipped to Britain and France, which were not at war, than to China.

. » - » » Ed

FINALLY, deceptive figures are used to make it appear that China squandered vast amounts of postwar American assistance. For this purpose, lend-lease is described as “direct American financial aid,” when half of the total was for American services charged against China, and most of the balance was money used by the Chinese army in doing for the Allies jobs which our own troops did in Germany, Austria, Italy and Japan. But even the State Department's apologists are silent about the critical period when an American embargo shut off the flow of supplies to China while the Communists were being supplied with the Japanese equipment the Red army grabbed in Manchuria. Chiang Kai-shek lost the initiative in the civil war during the period of that embargo.

A Fire Hazard

HE stores are moving toward a heavy season of Christmas shopping. This means crowds, thick, slowly-moving masses of gift buyers packed in the aisles, elevators and entrances. And it means tragedy, too, if there should be a fire. : : Since January, 1947, a “No Smoking Ordinance” has _been in effect. This applies to all stores employing 25 persons or more. And that, by no means, implies that the stores are exempt from the perils of fire caused

droppéd on the floor. Stores are urged by the Merchants Association again this year to post “No Smoking” signs. And shoppers, in the interest of their own Salety, are urged to obey the law.

that policy seught to prevent William Cy Bullitt from going

turn he will be free to speak his own mind, and he has a

by a carelessly thrown cigaret, or a match, still glowing,

In Tune With the Times

Barton Rees Pogue

TRAFFIC LIGHT TEST REVEALED PER CENT OF NON-CON.-FORMISTS

The psychology class had raised the question: What makes people conform to the social pattern and what makes them differ? This is a good practical question. The professor, being a practical man suggested a little investigation with people who would not ‘know that they were being investigated. The group finally lit on the trafic light as a good place to study people. They observed an even thousand persons at a busy traffic intersection and tabulated their results, Here they are: 90 per cent waited obediently at the curb until the green light appeared: 7.97 per cent stepped off the curb and waited; 2 per cent went halfway across the street and waited between the lines of traffic; .03 per cent barged right on across against the red light. In other words, 8 per cent were mild nonconformists, 2 per cent were conspicuous nonconformists, and the .03 per cent were real revolutionists, as far as traffic lights are concerned.

The percentages hold good for people in gen-

eral. Why they are as they are is too big a

question for any class to settle. Human nature Jurt is; we have to accept it just as we accept the universe. From the 2 per cent and the .03 per cent come the leaders of humanity, both bad and

—GEORGE D. GREER, New Castle. tie ¢

BILLET-DOUX FOO

A little memo to express The brighter side of home, The things that mothers take in stride Make others fog and*foam: Time out from letter writing to clean The baby, toys and pen; Back into the writing mood, All fired-up, and then: “Mamma, please, a glass of milk.” I pour it then I'roar, He turned around to say, “Thank you,” And spilled it on the floor! “Go to bed and take a nap Before you start to play!” But pretty soon, “Can I get up?” And mamma says, “0. K.” -. . * Take my advice: You'd better Have the little folks in bed, asleep, Before you start a letter!

—~MARY BACON, Indianapolis. > od

FUNDAMENTALLY PEOPLE ARE ALIKE THE WORLD OVER

The differences that separate people are very small compared with the degree of likeness among them all. The differences are accidents for the most part, the similarities are fundamental. Blood from the veins of a man of one’s own race might not do at all for a transfusion, while the blood from the veins of a man of an entirely different race might be the perfect type. According to anthropologists people are about the same the world over except in so far as they have been influenced by climate, food or social background: The world’s big shots are little different than the world's little shots when you come right

own to cases; here again it is often true that ‘"#etidental factors made the seeming difference

in them, > That is why the Golden Rule is such a practical way to get on with others; it recognizes the truth that people are very much the same the world over: they want what we want and dislike what we dislike just because we are all 80 much alike. —GEORGE D. GREER, New Castle. eS

THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

Did you ever think that you knew best, And yet did not prevail? What did you do, quit it all? And say, “Well, let it fail!”

Or did you dare to strive And accomplish all you could? By any chance did you then learn, “Many know what's the common good?” -MAY ADAMS ARBUCKLE, Elizabethtown.

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OUR TOWN . . . By Anton Scherrer

Slow Barber Trade Here in 70's Traced to ‘Suicide’ in One Chair

TODAY I give you “The Maniac's Confession and the Barber's Retribution” just the way Manuel J. Vieira told it in “The Tonsorial Art Pamphlet,” that amazing literary document I brought to your attention last Tuesday. I am counting on you not to muff the mixed metaphors, You can go a long way before meeting any as good as those of Mr. Vieira. “The human face,” said Mr. Vieira, “is a reflector—or rath-

er a mirror—of the past and present of its owner and some Anton Scherrer barbers enjoy the remarkable faculty of reading the lights and shades, the joys and sorrows that have crossed one's path by looking attentively upon the upturned visage. “When Custer and his 300 brave followers yielded up their lives by inches, a character possessing the remarkable faculty above mentioned fell with the rest. He was a barber about 43 years old and had followed barbering all his life.

Smaoth=T ongued Libertine

“WHEN quite young, he was married to a sweet-tempered little creature whose gentleness attracted the eye of a smooth-tongued libertine who laid his foul plans and in an evil hour blighted the young life of the wife unknown to the idolizing husband.” (Footnote: This obscure passage undoubtedly means that the psychic barber was unaware of the libertine’s identity). “She sinned but once (continued Mr. Vieira with much more clarity), the cup of her happiness congealed and like an ice cake of wormwood rested on her young soul until her effort at secrecy. turned her brain and at times she was a raving maniac. “One night while watching by her bedside alone, she suddenly became rational and for the first time the young husband was aware of the cause of his wife's madness. But before the name of him who had wrecked their happiness had been divulged, another fit of madness seized her and when the husband lifted his

bowed head, death was holding her to his cold breast—the light of life had gone out. “The barber, ot course, kept his own secret, but in the shop his comrades saw that he was a heartbroken and very wretched man, When asked why he did not leaye the place for a while,” for a different clime and scenery, he would answer, ‘I am waiting, hoping to meet one.’ , “The time came. One day a man entered the shop and took a seat for a shave. The moment the barber looked down into his face something said to him, ‘This is the face of the villain you have wanted to see; convince yourself before you wreak vengeance upon him. “Nobody was in the shop at the time save the wretched barber and the doomed man. Calmly the barber continued strapping his razor which gave him time to lay his plans for revenge. After all was arranged in his own mind, he stepped to the door, closed it and returned to his chair and after pl g the unsuspecting victim in a position to suit his deadly purpose, stooped, and as he whispered in the ear of the death-doomed man something that paled his cheeks, the barber grasped him by the hair with one hand and with the other...”

(Footnote: At this point Mr. Vieira, breathless as he is, completely loses command of his language—so much so, indeed, that I had goose pimples racing up and down my back).

‘Sold to a Stranger

AFTER the barber had had his revenge, he pulled down all the window curtains, locked the door from the outside, and left for parts unknown. Before leaving, however, he let it be known that he had sold his shop to a stranger. The crime wasn't discovered until two weeks later. Public opinion, recalling what the barber had said when he left, explained the dead man in the chair as the new owner who, for some reason, had picked this way of committing suicide. After which’ it comes as something of an anti-climax to have ‘The Tonsorial Art Pamphlet” observe that six towels were quite sufficient for a week's trade when Mr. Vieira practised his profession in Indianapolis some 70 years ago.

BUSINESS HEADACHE . . . By Harold Hartley ‘Basing Point’ Term Gives Firms Jitters

Side Glances—By Galbraith

2 ® RE sR Hoosier Forum: 1 do nob agree with 8 word that you say, bub) will defend to the ih your right fo say i."

Keep letter 200 words or less on amy subs ject with which you are familiar. Some letters used will be edited but content will be preserved, for here the People Speak in Freedom.

‘Keep the Record Straight’

—

By A. J. Schneider Rr Just to keep the record str and without wish to call

prejudice to either politi some facts to the attention o “Dp. D., City" which may place an altogether different view of the picture he painted. . "This correspondent has been grossly misinformed, or his memory is very poor, when ho asserts that there were no bank failures during the Woodrow Wilson administration. The record shows that there were so many hank failures that the original Federal Reserve system was legislated at that time to stem the tida of bank failures. And it was hoped that legislation would prevent future bank failures—which the record shows was not the case. There are also bank failures today, in spite of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and there will continue to be bank failures so long as human beings with all their weaknesses operate them. The FDIA only provides protection to small depositors, not against failures. *

‘The People’s Party’

By Arthur Warrick, Greencastle As a reader of The Times, I well remember during the campaign how Marquis Childs, one of the Scripps-Howard writers, nearly every night referred to Gov. Dewey's campaign train as “Dewey's Victory Special” The result of the election makes it look very much like “Dewey’s Victory Special” had to take a sidetrack to det “Truman’s Tornado” pass. Mr. Childs also often referred to “Dewey's Team” being so capable that it could not be stopped short of the White House, but probably Mr. Childs did not take into consideration that the T (Truman) formation could and did stop “Dewey’s Team.” President Truman's election clearly demonstrates that the people agreed with Mr. Tru man’s campaign speeches that the Democrat Party is the party of the people, and not the special privilege party like the Republican Party which the 80th Congress proved the Republican Party is.

e © <o ‘Annoyed by Nudists’ By Jeanne Why do we seek to educate the heathens in foreign lands when we have them here as our next door neighbors? Yearly millions of dollars are spent sending missionaries to foreign lands to educate the people there to live a civilized life. We bring them here, place them in the best schools so they can go back to their native land and teach what they learned here. If it is heathen to be naked, it must be heathen to be a nudist here. Are we to understand that nakedness is ignorance and nudity is intelligence? We are annoyed by nudists in the back yard and streets.

What Others Say—

We seek righteous peace with collective security against aggressors ... We ask and offer justice. We shall never voluntarily desert the council chamber for the battlefield. But we decline timid appeasements which hasten disaster.—Sen. Arthur H. Vanderberg (R) of Michigan. -

© ¢ Grown-up men yelled and whistled at me on the streets like schoolboys, . . . Something should be done to teach New Yorkers western hospitality.— Peggy McCarthy, 22-year-old “Miss Las Vegas,” in a telegram to New York’s Mayor William O'Dwyer. > © We're the only organization with a revolutionary goal. The Communists are the best friends the capitalists have in the United States.—Edward -A. Teicher, Socialist Labor Party presidential candidate. \ : Sb ’ England is a yery wise nation. If she wants to solve this problem, she'll find a way.—Sean Nunan, Eire’s minister to the United States, referring to the centuries-old conflict between Eire and England. > o 4

Far from being responsible for juvenile dee linquency . . , radio and movies . . . are exercising on the whole a very beneficial influence on the youth of America.—Roger Albright, director of educational services, Motion Picture

Association.

POLITICS IN CONGRESS . , By James M. Haswell

Democrats May Need

THE TERM “basing point” is giving business the jitters. It

involves another new term, “phantom freight.” Business men tell you that the “basing point” decisicn of the U. 8S. Supreme Court was a body blow to the American price structure. But few who are not directly involved with business management understand what it means or its full impact on competition. Simplified, the Supreme Court decision, which had to do with the sale of cement, means this: A manufacturer no longer can absorb enough of the freight rate to the point of sale to make him a competitor with a manufacturer near the point of sale. The court ruled that the freight rates must be added to the price of the product. For instance, a tube of toothpaste sells at approximately the same price in California as in New York State. This means that the manufacturer is absorbing- the variable in freight rates. Otherwise, the same make of toothpaste would sell at different prices, depending on the distance from the factory, all over the country.

‘Phantom Freight’ Absorbed

MANUFACTURERS have become accustomed to selling on a national basis. They may be selling baby roap in Denver with a price printed on the package at the same figure as in Pensacola. What they absorb is called the “phantom freight” which comes out of the manufacturer's margin of profit. When the principle of the Supreme Court decision making the producer add the price of transportation is applied to a light and power company, the complexity becomes apparent. Suppose the Indianapolis Light & Power Co. had a different rate for every block in town depending upon how far it had to transport the current? Manufacturers, using this illustration, point out that such a principle is impossible. What are manufacturers doing about it? Most of them are doing little, if anything. They understand they may be indulging in a questionable practice, but to change now would disrupt business until it would be practically impossible to carry on normal trade.

Face Production Cut

WHAT are the effects? Decentralization, for one thing, would become common. Manufacturers would have to move closer to the larger markets. Many small communities would lose their factories. And in the’ larger centers, such as Indianapolis, manufacturers would have to cut production to the limits of the competitive area. That is, they could sell only as far away as they could compete on the basis of freight rates, n ‘ The Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce pointed cut through its Manufacturers’ Committee that already some 25 local indus-

112

SOPR. 1948 BY WEA SERVICE, Ie. 7. M. ARG. U. 8. PAT. O#F, “Do you think we ought to invite a few dull people to make

the interesting ones stand out?"

tries are adversely affected by the ruling; and that only 26 per cent of the manufacturers of Indianapolis can sell their entire output in the Indianapolis market. Only 12 per cent of Indianapolis firms can purchase their raw materials locally. They face additional cost and a higher production cost if they pay the freight rates on raw materials. The chamber maintains that the 74 per cent who must sell in far-away markets and the 88 per cent who must haul rz& materials a long distance face either a reduction in production or relocation. What can be done about it? A change in the law will be necessary. : And that is what Sen. Homer Capehart’s committee is doing in Washington right now, hearing the pleas of manufacturers in view of shaping a law which will stand the Supreme Court test and let American business alone insofar as its shipping problems and pricing are concerned. ¥

»

Dixiecrats’ Votes

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12—Northern Democrats will, almost, but not quite, be able to get along without the Dixiecrats in the next Congress. Some of the enthusiastic winners are suggesting that the new Democrats exclude the Southerners when they organize the House. : The purpose would be to break the hold which veteran 8&uthern Democrats have on the choice committee chairmanships and influential party posts. A study of the makeup of the New Democrat House delegation shows it probably won't be good politics to try. The Democrats made their big gains in the Middle West ‘where they picked up 28 seats, the East where they picked up 27, and the Qorder states, where they gained 16 seats. The four Dixiecrat states of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and South Carolina have sent 30 Democrats to Congress. If these were the only ones to be considered, the rest of the Democrats could deny them committee chairmanships with impunity.

Wouldn't Punish Colleagues

BUT the Dixiecrat movement was broader than that. It attracted strength throughout the South; and the 65 Democrats from the other Southern states vould not vote to punish their solid South colleagues. 2 Even leaving out the 95 Southerners, the rest of the Democrats could control a party caucus. But when the 95 Southerners turned to the Republicans in the House, that coalition would have a comfortable majority.

Some of the border state Democrats would join in this

revolt, too. Regional ties would pull strongly in Tennessee, Oklahoma and Kentucky at least. "This same consideration applies to President Truman's civil rights program. He hasn’t enough votes to go ahead without enlisting some strength either from the 95 Southern Democrats or the 171 Republicans. Compromise of some sort is in the cards.

Lineups of New Democrats

HERE'S the regional lineup of the new Democratic delegation in the House. .

South—Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Caro-

lina, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi—had

94, now has 95 votes.

Border—Kentucky, Oklahoma, Tennessee, West Virginia, Maryland, Missouri—had 29, now ras 45 votes.

East—Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusétts—had 29, now has 56 votes.

Midwest—Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minne« sota, Nebraska—had 16, now has 44 votes.

Mountain—Montana, Utah, New Mexico, Idaho, Colorado,

Arizona—had 8, now has 10 votes.

Pacific Coast—California, Washington—had 11, now has 12 .

votes (tentative). : ;

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FRIDAY

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