Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 27 February 1949 — Page 26
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Telephone RI ley 5551
ine Lik ond the People Wili Find Their Own Way
: to Go ANAS General Assembly has seven more days in its dom has the wisdom of our constitutional 61-day the been more apparent. . er 54 days in session this legslature nas accom .. lished a Tota of nothing at all. has completed and sent to the Governor for signa. ch statesmanlike statutes as the goat bill and the : : of laws passed on a holiday on which no laws were passed. It has not, as of today, taken final action
- people of Indiana. It is increasingly clear that no constructive legislation of any kind on any subject is to be expected from this assembly. But it does have before it, even yet, a great mass of trivial, and bad, and in a few cases vicious proposals. Any - of them may slip past in these last seven days and be enacted into law. CC ® en "aon "THE END of the session will leave undone several thiigs wo believe hold. have been done in this session, - There isn’t enough time, now, for them to have proper consideration. There isn't even enough time for proper consideration of the state's budget for the next two years, which we doubt if a dozen members of the assembly understand, to say nothing of taxes, and mental institutions, and direct primaries, and re-apportionment. So those may
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“of any good legislation that is going to be lost in these last seven days is far overshadowed by the danger of the bad legislation that may slip through. - "We have heard some observers comment that this will be the worst legislature Indiana has ever had. But it may not be. ' There are ‘only seven more days of the session. And for that brief time this legislature may be saved by its own "incompetence from enacting the proposals that could easily ~ make it. the all-time worst. How, fortunate for Indiana, that the session has to end next Monday.
Good Sisto Medicine
"THAT General Motors cut of car and truck prices strikes : lus as the healthiest: economic development this country has seen in many a day.
wages or salaries will drop slightly on Mar. 1 under the cost-of living allowance
arising
agreement with the CIO United Auto Workers. ‘Since last May the employees have Bad twa upwind
. uditions, we think, this GM price chance to stick than the one young announced two years ago in a gallant but to stop the upward spiraling of prices because GM is is the biggest factor in the highlycompetitive automobile industry—producing about twdfifths of all the cars and trucks made in this country—it seems certain to have great effect on other manufacturers. The others can’t reduce wages just because living costs ___. have-fallen. But, in the buyer's market now developing, they'll doubtless do all they possibly can to meet GM
T Lower prices can mean more customers for cars and trucks, more secure jobs for more workers, and eventually wages, Pushing wages higher and higher in an t to keep them ahead of prices has meant rising costs, . fewer customers who could afford to buy, and increasing insecurity for workers’ jobs and wages. The OM ¢ cut, we believe, has opened up a much brighter prospect.
‘Uncle Joe’ Cashes In Again |
WITHOUT waiting for the Communists to consolidate the gains in China, the always-opportunistic Russians are negotiating ‘with the appeasement element in the remb"~ _nant Nanking government for control of Sinkiang Province, od which remains nominally under the Nationalists. : This is a “heads I win, tails you lose” proposition, from the Soviet standpoint. ~ Control of Sinkiang (Chinese Turkestan) will extend the Russian sphere of influence all the way from Manchuria to the Indian border.. Thus astride Central Asia, the Soviets would be in a position to dominate the Asiatic Contirient, regardless of the outcome of the Chinese civil war, Once they place the stamp of legalism on the Sinkiang coficession; the Nationalists will have to abide by thelr n bargain, if they survive their present ordeal. Meanle, a will have the green light to move hertroops. eb into Chinese territory. There they can keep a watchon Mao Tse-tung, the Communist leader, should he
| Indiana Grows!
“on a single constructive measure for the welfare of the |
have to go over to some more able legislature. The value |
in the corporation's
~——*All hw has to do is take the issue to the peos
5A 4
CDEARBOSS. By Dumitdoay.
Backs Truman Democrats Ready to Vote For ‘Fair Deal’ Program
WASHINGTON, Feb, 2-Day boss—When and if President Truman Jakes 10 the hustings to whip-lash a t (Congress into fast action for his “Fair Deal” program, he can skip Indiana so far as our Democratic congressmen are concerned. The six freshmen who were elected with the President on the Democratic ticket last Novem« ber are ready to support the “welfare state” ' measures whenever they reach the House floor, They have been well indoctrinated by the vets eran dean of the delegation—Rep. Ray Madden,
He is on the House Rules Committee and ready to speed the measures whenever they arrive there, The trouble so far is that few have arrived, And the only time a freshman con gressman gets to “say when” around here is in the spare time spent in a barroom. Although Ray and Ralph Roberts, the Hoosier cler's of the House, managed to get all the newcorhers top-flight committee assignments, the freshmen realize that they must remain under wraps and cannot pop up ahd say this bill or that should be reported out right now, When they are reported these Indianians will be there to vote "aye."
Waste of Time in Indiana
“THEY did that on reciprocal trade and were joined by two of the four Republicans from the state—Reps. Ralph Harvey, Newcastle, and Mrs. Cecil Harden, Covington. Rep. Earl Wilson, Bedford, was one of the Republicans who voted ‘‘no” and the GOP chairman, Rep. Charles A. Halleck, Rensselaer, was out of town B80 if the President sets out to tell the home folks that the 81st Democratic Congress has some of the same faults which he attributed to the Republican 80th, he would largely be wasting his time in Indiana so far as the Democrats in Congress are concerned. ’ It 1s safe to predict that he also would be wasting time trying to convert the two Republican senators from the state. For Sens. Homer E. Capehart and William BE. Jenner seem determined to oppose whatever Mr. Truman proposes. They both consider that the proper func"tion for an opposition party. Democratic freshmen are coming to realize that it isn't as easy to carry out a campaign pledge in Congress as it was to make them on the stump. Something of what has happened to them is reflected in a letter to his Fifth District “constituents written by Rep. John R. Walsh, Anderson. Following are excerpts from fit— “Groups opposing Taft-Hartley repeal seem to be spending millions. I have come #0 that conclusion after reading the many highly embossed letters that have streamed into my office during the past several days urging retention of «the law just as it is. 3
From Large’ Firms ~
“PRACTICALLY all of these communications are from large corporations with ne branch plants in our district. I have also seen full-page advertisements in many of the nation's leading newspapers. They are all designed to get the voter of last November to change his mind and oppose repeal of the Taft-Hartley bill. “In line with my campaign pledges, I am supporting repeal, but we are faced with a powerful, determined minority tha thas been accustomed to having its own 2 Included in that “powerful minority” about which Mr. Walsh complains are long-service southern conservatives who have reached powerful committee chairmanships. A coalition bee tween them and the Republicans can still stymie almost any issue. Since President Truman chose to discount the solid South in advance and - launch out with his civil rights program as a campaign. issue, it is difficult to see just what he can do to break such a bottle-neck. Going South to explain his program to the people might work in some states and perhaps in most if they let all the people vote.
Predicts Victory
GOV, JAMES E. FOLSON of Alabama says it would. He was here for the $100 JeffersonJackson dinner where the President made his “train ride” proposal and applauded it wildly.
ple and he will win,” big Jim said. Other less vociferous and probably more progressive senators and congressmen from the deep South are pot so sure. They think that nothing short of death will make the difference. And southern politicians, who are given to “eating high on the ' hog,” are notoriously long-lived. Maybe it's because after a primary victory they can quit campaigning. For the Democratic nomination means they are in, Quite the contrary is true in Indiana of course. The two-party systém is so virile that nobody feels assured of staying on here. Hoo sier Democrats and Republicans just don’t agree very often. Of course there may be an exception now and then-—like the entire Indiana delegation backing one pending measure 100 per cent. It provides for bringing the U. 8. Marine Band to the eighty-third and final encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic to be held in Indi-
.anapolis, Aug. 28 to Sept. 1.
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Vi — ZaRURT— *
SOCIAL SECURITY
CLEVELAND, Feb. 26—If dollars can do it, we'll be pretty well protected against the hazards of life by the time President Truman gets through, Benefits for almost everybody, except those who die too soon, are included in the latest social security program. In one form or ther there are projects or existing systems for underwriting illness, education, subsistence in childhood and old age, unemployment, poverty, grain prices and home mortgages. Only one great human risk has been omitted. Strange nobody in Washington has put it for ward. I refer to marriage. Surely a plan could be fitted into the vast and growing security system whereby brides could be provided with dowries. Think what dowries would mean in the promotion of mare riage. Suppose the government sent every bride a check for $2500. What wouldn't the plan do to stimulate courtship, hasten marriages, improve the travel business and help the jewelry, furniture and housing industries, To say nothing of the again-declining birthrate.
Government Aid
EVERY other social group in the population is promised something. Why not young couples? Children, families, old folks, all are to be protected in one way or another and saving made less necessary, Yet marriage, always speculative, is left without government aid. Dowries are among the oldest of social institutions. They arose in primitive times and they continue in European countries. They
THE March of Dimes calls for all of us to get into step! > © ¢ TO get to the top, says a banker, the place to start is at the Boon. Ala also on the Jevel.
AN Oregon stick-up man got a nice dose of his own medicine, He was stuck up for 10 years. : t ® & o : TRYING hard to impress people is one of the hardest ways to do it. ® © ¢ ALL it will take in lots of places is a good thaw to make the highways as bumpy as they were last summer. : ® © 4 THE moment you are admitted through a friend's door it's time to stop
By John W. Love Dowries for Brides Proposed
seriously and give up her hope
% 8 year.
. they will just inflate.
helped to improve the fortunes of women, gave them protection in their new homes. A government alert to find new ways of sheltering its citizens could well revive the system. A settlement of $2500 on each bride also would help give her social security even as society editors understand it. The bonuses would have to be restricted to first marriages, naturally, else they might also promote divorce for purpose of remarriage. The money could be raised simply by reducing the exemption of income-tax payers for dependent daughters. Your correspondent offers the proposal not without hope of fame. It might be known as the Love plan for marriage security, as distinguished from the love plan: One of the great saints of antiquity, Nicholas of Myra, is remembered to this day for his gifts of dowries to a man who otherwise could not have married off his three daughters. In a pre-bureau age, young Nicholas simply tossed the gold over the window sill. If President were to take up the jdea he might in time be known as St. Harry, spite of the lane guage he's been using lately.
Saint of Spinsters
ST. NICHOLAS came to be the peculiar saint of spinsters, as might have been expected, For other reasons, perhaps on account of dividends, he was the patron of business. In honor of St. Nicholas, the, custom arose of giving presents to children secretly, and then after centuries, through isponyncistion of his
chest. Any more than that people of my may age wil give up saving and investing, in a 1 belief that the government will take care of them in every need, including old age. There will be too many old people. The actuarial costs are being ignored. Expensive Security THE Wall Street Journal has figured out
that by 1980 the costs of expanded social security will be between $17 billion and $24 billion
Suppose the veterans’ pension proposal also were passed in the form it has offered— by 1980 half the national income would be going through the hands of the federal government, compared with about a fifth today. ‘Will today’s boys and girls be cheerfully paying it ali? Not if I know boys and girls. Like us, Like us recently, they
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gy served, for here the People Speak In Freedom. gly Sho 84 Seas Gov. Schricker will order a probe. into the death by beating ‘of a patient at the State
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dozens of blood-curdling stories; some true, others false. SOvSEnOr , 80 they put on their
vestigation into the brutality of human beings, and it should be done secretly from within and not a whitewash job after someone happens to die in one of these places. ® ¢
‘Pledge of Good Government’ By Bill Holmes, Shelbyville, Ind. On Jan. 10, 1949 when he took the oath of office, Henry F. Schricker inherited the ‘most complicated problems ever to burden the shoul. ders of an Indiana govérnor. For a lesser man . those problems might be too great. Real the financial condition of this state, he quickly altered some of his campaign promises without any dodging or wéak excuses. By this action of refusing to bankrupt the stats to fulfill those campaign promises in such a short time, Governor Schricker is carrying out his pledge most important to all of Indiana—his pledge of good government. To the people who are so eagerly ready to condemn his action I have this to say: We Hoosiars can help ourselves greatly by placing our trust and confidence in this good man and his administration. * To Gov. Schricker I say this: Another great American once said when he faced conditions a hundred fold of yours, “It is common sense to take a method and try it; if it fails, admit it frankly and try another, but above all try something.” The man who spoke those words was that great architect of victory, Franklin D.
Robsevelt. You might do yourself well to re member his words. 4 ¢ ‘Let’s Stop Slums’
By W. H. Greene’ 1404 Lawton St. Slum areas don’t just occur; they are made, I live on a nice residential street just two doors west of where a man moved a two-wheel shack made of tar paper, over two years ago, and we have been unable to have it moved away. Across Sho stivet a fafly Sumpe ashes and
TAUSes” -Filt up Btighhorhiond with filth and junk, and you have the makings of a first class slum. Let us stop these slums before they start.
What Others Say—
MILLIONS alone are monotonous. ~Powel Crosley Jr. multimillionaire aute maker. ® ¢
THE American people will be making an awful mistake—a mistake for which the whole
will cheat the benefigiaries,
WASHINGTON, leg to stand on.
tained in the United Nations charter.
‘Policy of of Aggression’
policy of aggression—the other h once give military, and any oth
treaties,
in the foreseedble future,
Postwar Treaties Rp ofa 1945; Russian Czech-Yugoslav, 1946; ne 1047; Yugoslav1948; Bulgarian. garian- ZRoeaman, 1048; Hangasian Ras Boviet-Bulgarian, Conch Bulgarias. 1947; Polish-Bulgarian, 1048 3 «Hungarian
Yugoslav, 1045; 1948;
“the United States,
Germany and add the joker,
WORLD-AFFAIRS . . . By William Philip Simms
Reds’ Veiled Pacts
Feb, 26-—-It can now be sald that Russian objections to the North Atlantic Paet will not have a valid
Russia herself has created ample precedent—if any were needed after the legalization of. regional arrangements con
Since VE Day, Russia and her satellites have signed 22 assistance pacts pledging mutual aid “to eliminate” any threat of
n. Although these treaties are clumsily camouflaged so as not to be openly~aimed at the United States and Westetn Europe, their real intent is so thinly veiled no one is deceived. AN For Instance, Article 2 of the BSoviet-Bulgarian pact of |§ mutual assistance, signed on Mar. 18, last. year, reads: ¢
THE event of one of the high contracting parties being I into military action against a Germany trying to resume her aggressive policy—or with gny other state which directly or in any form would be united with Germany in a contracting party will ‘at aid in accordance with the means at her disposal, to the high contracting party involved.” This article is repeated with little variation in all the From it, therefore, two facts stick out, ' First, Soviet Russia, with the mest powerful the world backed by a population of 200 million, has nothing to fear from pulverized and occupied Germany, either now or |
Second, the Kremlin already is accusing the West of trans-
forming western Germany into a military base for aggressive war against Russia which, it adds, fs now In preparation.
21 postwar Soviet-satellite military ary treaties ae Albanian-Yugoslav, 1046; ¢ Bulgarian, Albanian, 1948; Yugosiav-Romanian, Romanian, 1048; 1048; Soviet: Finaish, Ins; , 1048; Cuech- ROnAIen 1048, oo countries of western Burope could copy the Soviet-satéllite
formula and aim the North Atlantic alliance against occupied “or any other say that should
land army in
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Who Said Golden Egg?
Rent
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when the new
Brent Spence
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gress to take done. Failing support of the
Recontrol
no arguments
HOUSING . . . By Paul R. Leach
Control Fight
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26—The hottest fight to date on the House floor is being forecast to begin a week from Monday
rent control bill comes up for debate.
It may cut across party lines, with conservatives of both "sides going for a compromise committee bill, while Republicans and Democrats alike from industrial districts take sides for a tighter act than the one which expires Mar. 31. : The Banking:.and Currency Committee, under Chairman
(D. Ky.) is writing its bill in closed sessions
after lengthy hearings. It is expected to be reported next Mone
over for a week before floor action starts.
Control to June 30
COMMITTEE Republicans, led by former Chairman Jesse P. Walcott (R. Mich.) are not making a committes fight. They want controls extended only to June 30. They want Con-
another look late in May to see what should be on that the Republicans may be won over to committee measure, if it is conservative enough.
Here are the trends In executive sessions sa far: A twoyesr Sinton W Mhalys Tore ia Mire argument ‘over this among ths Democrats. - of resident apartment hotels, which have pot been under rent ceilings since June 30, 1047, is in doubt. Industrial district members have been fighting for recontrol.
Return on Investment
A POSSIBILITY is the establishment of 6 per cent as a fair rate of return on rental property investment. Rate of re turn is not how in the act. Objections by the industrial district Democrats is that many landlords will ask readjustments on a fixed return basis if this were enacted. This would swamp the - local rent boards, the objectors say, with “thousands and thou saiidy of asst snd sndanget, ths Wald Joby ut veut coptrot: ; - Falrly certain Is decontrol of ldxury apartments. There are
on this except over the level at which decontrol
should begin. The committee majority has been thinking of $200 a. month as the minimum for luxury apartments. The objectors want the minimum fixed at $275 a month, ab There is lttle argument over a clause Which would prevent Y Iandiorg evictions {oF She Purpose of closing up 4 Yulin
no good to complain to our city On the adjoining street a man has moved in 30 or 40 old broken down Now that is what slums. the —
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presidential th road again. | sides. Republi cothe another he'd have to cratic Congres But Democr
cans would “Wednesday | for Truman of that right nos