Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 March 1949 — Page 20

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Seven-Year Housing Famine Continues : FT HE City's fight against the possiblg eviction of 556 resi-

. unsolved for seven long years,

needs may be-or-how hard they search.—

LAR

RD VAT OREO TY WI

PAGE 20 ? Thursday, Mar, 17, 1949

a ate Marys ing . 34 W. land Ditieea Press. ce and Audit of Circulations, Price County, § cents & A hy Tap Bg y. 308 a week, Snip, 3c. fay onl) % rates In Indisoa, Sunday, a year, dally, $5.00 a year, Sunday only, $2.50; all other sta U. 8. possessions, Canada and

by Indlansholin Times Publish Postal 9. Member of Newspaper Alliance, NEA Serv.

for dally or

Me daily, $1.10 » month, Sunday, be & copy. Telephone RIley 5551

SSRIPRS ~NOWARBN] Give TAOM and the People Will Find Their Own Way

dents from Tyndall Towne barracks for use by the Air Force points up again the seriousness of Indianapolis’.rental housing shortage-—a community problem that has remained

The City is moving to prevent this mass eviction because there simply aren't any decent living quarters available at reasonable rentals. : - S It would add another group to an already large army of househunters who have been existing in make-shift quarters, trailer camps, attic and basement rooms and even in tents. r 8, 8 8 CI a HOUSING construction has been going on here at a comparatively rapid pace for three years but it has made little headway toward any real solution of the rental problem. The fact remains that hundreds of families can’t find suitable living quarters regardless of how urgent their

There are plenty of houses for sale but prices of these are beyond the means of hundreds of families to finance. The purchase alternative also is no solution to hundreds who must rent for other reasons. The housing shortage blight, if continued, could do frreparable harm to the city in stifling its growth along with the ever-present threat of increased juvenile delinquency and adult crime. : 2 x » ” 5 ». . » THIS COMMUNITY problem appears likely to continue indefinitely unless government officials, builders, real estate operators and investment brokers come up with a program that will provide houses for people who must rent. ‘Builders and real estate operators are opposing, of course, any plan that might lead to government participation in the housing business and the government has been complying with this pressure by limiting public projects. Regardless of the merits of the principles involved in arguments on these questions, the fact remains that there are not nearly enough rental quarters available for hundreds of Indianapolis families, and it is likely there won't be unless the community is aroused and demands that something be done.

There Was a Man

N° ONE who knew Sen. Thomas Pryor Gore will ever forget him. He was a remarkable man, great of mind and heart. In a time when there were giants in the United States Senate, he towered among them. , Here we are using cliches, something Tom Gore never did. His ready tongue could always delivertnew and colorful phrases. He liked fo quote Talleyrand: “It's worse than a crime, it's a blunder.” He was a scholar of restless curiosity, an historian who knew the why and when of everything that had been

tried before and failed in Babylon, or Athens or ancient Rome. He thought America should stay out of World War | I, and voted against all measures leading up to our entry, -| well knowing that the voters of his state would defeat him for it, which they did. > » = . ” » . HE DID NOT believe in the New Deal philosophy that | the government owed voters a living, and opposed that | after he was returned to the Senate in 1930, knowing that | the voters would defeat him again, which they did. And when he was beaten, he said. “The law of evolution is adapt or die, and I didn't adapt.” ; Totally blind since childhood, he was fortunate enough to have a devoted, helpfll wife. With her aid and through his own tireless efforts, he rose above his physical handicap, and he did not believe the government should feed or pamper anybody. When Sen. Wagner's Social Security Law provided aid for the needy blind, Sen. Gore observed: “You will find that this legislation will have a very bad effect upon the eyesight of the nation.” If there is a Valhalla to which brave old senators go, Tom Gore of Oklahoma sits there today, swapping yarns with John Sharp Willams, Ollie James, Jim Reed, Bill Borah and old Bob LaFollette.

How We Got That Way

O much happened on the House floor to lacerate the rent-control bill that we won't try to explain it all in this space. It is sufficient to say that national rent control is being gently done in. Pardon the preposition. From here on it looks as if we're going to regulate rentals ‘only so far as the state legislatures, boards of | county commissioners, town councils or Parent-Tegchers Associations will permit. And only so far as the landlords . are given a reasonable return on a fair property appraisal-— however that may he worked out. Well, maybe the Senate can fix it up, But then—Ilook - at the Senate. es For this mess-up, who is to blame? Who else, except those who have been enforcing the rent-control laws? They have been so eager to cling to their jobs that they have .gone out into some rural areas where rent controls did not exist before the war, and started imposing their: omniscience. Most folks would rathér work for a living.

Say Not So THE deadline for 1948 income tax payments, brought the usual growling and grousing, to wit: “The taxpayer never gets a break.” Say not so. What could be more generous on the part of a bureaucracy toward its subjects than a stipulation like this: Bec. 86.31, relating to gift taxes: “In the payment of a a fractional part of a cent shall be disregarded, unless, to one-half or more, in which case it shall be ) one cent. A fractional part of a cent should

Inne] With the Times ~** Barton Rees Pogue 4.1 RESCUE

Did you ever try to forget thinking of things that wouldn't let you forget until you were in a ring of thought that so wearied your mental legs that you were ready to drop into a bottomless pit? Have you ever been suddenly rescued by a feathered friend outside, singing apparently without a crumb of bread or even a warm jacket, with the wind blowing fiercely against his small chest? Or maybe the neighbor’ strong voice yelled “hello” at you over: den fence, and you came back in your house a warm feeling clutching your heart that felt thrown away on the dump only a momen before. And not a cent was spent! What does money buy anyway? : X ~-OLIVE wove BROWN, Fountain City. y *

SE.

_ "HOW LONG IS A DAY?

' How long is'a day? That all depends If it's one of those days That never ends. It may be a year If it’s filled with sorrow And you're waiting for The sun of tomorrow,

How long is a year? It's hard to say. If you know they are few It's only a day. Each year seems a day If you're trying to crowd A life time of living - } "Twixt you and your shroud.

~BETTY P. HOWE, New Castle, ® © ©

17. WHAT I'M THANKFUL FOR

I'm thankful for the common things The things of every day. For health and strength to do my task And time for rest and play;

For scarlet maples in the fall And violets in spring, 4 The grass that clothes the meadows - And the song birds on the wing;

The deep white sgow at Christmas, The carols singing clear, And the happy bells at midnight That welcome the New Year;

For friends, whose spgiles make life worthwhile, Whose kind words always cheer— For little homes, with gardens, And loved ones ever near;

To live in peace and freedom-— . ve I thank God for these gifts, For all His loving favors And for the loads He lifts. ~CAROLYN YOUNG, Beech Grove. ® ¢ ¢

525 NORTH_DILL

My street is North Dill On the ‘phone folks demand, “Spell it if you will : For I can’t understand.” “Do you spell it with B, arn ors Like you do the word Bickle?” “No you spell’ it with D, D, as in pickle.”

~OTTIS SHIRK, Muncie. > 4

HEAVEN'S NURSERY

In the sky tonight hangs a curtain of blue, With pink satin ribbons woven all through; There, appliqued stars play peek-a-boo ‘ With God's little angels who gurgle and coo On the other side of the pink and blue. : ~MEREDITH B_HASHETY. Indianapolis. »

MR. SOBERSIDES

Baby buddha on my lap

the gar- i»

"MAN IN WHITE HOUSE .

Just awakened from your nap, Face so sober, eyes so wide Would you care to take a ride?

Jouncey, bouncey—you're content, Won't you smile the gay moment? The game has stopped! | Squeal your displeasure, { Little chubby, baby treasure.

~REBA WADE, Kokomo, ® &

THE OWNER OF THE CAR

After each one in the auto Slams the door that stands ajar The one that gently latches it Is the owner of the car!

~-OTTIS SHIRK, Muncie.

RED PRESSURE . . . By Clyde Farnsworth

Dimout of Religion

NANKING, Mar, 17—There is a growing uneasiness among foreign religious missions over the future of religious freedom

in Communist China.

They do not expect a blackout, but the dimout has started. The Reds’ cancellation of foreign press correspondence out

Under the Sheltering Palm

ov By Marquis Childs

et ————————————————— + )

A Profile of the ‘New’ Truman

KEY WEST, Fla., Mar. 17—His face deeply tanned, walking with a brisk step, this man looks like any one of the thousands of visitors who come to sit under Florida's brilliant sun. He has the friendly, open look of the smalltown America of the past. President Truman has several times said that in his opinion there are at least a miliion Americans who might make a better President than he. But, as he adds, he happens by a complex: setef circumstances to hold the office and he means to go right on trying as hard as he can to do the best he can. In office now for four years, the equivalent of a full term, the amazing thing is how little Mr. Truman has changed. Talk about the “new” Truman, Truman the Socialist pushing America into the social welfare state, Truman grown arrogant with power, is largely irrelevant. Of course, he has changed, no one could live under the stress and strain of the presidency without changing. He is definitely more confident, more relaxed, easier in the office.

Didn't Want Presidency

IT IS no longer the hair shirt that it was in the first year and a half or two years when he told almost every visitor that he had not

wanted to be President. Those days seem a long

‘way off when he said to Gen. Eisenhower, with all the earnestness at his command, that if Mr, Eisenhower would run for President, he, Truman, would "be his vice presidential candidate. But these are superficial changes. They Have more to do with the outward manner than with the inward core of the man. In informal speech making, for example, he has a new confidence that makes it possible for him to imitate with comic effect a radio commentator. He has learned to know the thousand and

| one demands that constantly press on the oc-

cupant of the White House. In part, at least, he has learned to guard himself from these demands. During the intense go-round of inauguration week he met for a 7 o'clock breakfast with his old buddies of Battery D and what

.he remarked casually to reporters who were

there is revealing. “These men will tell you the real truth. They don't want anything fixed.” This is inevitably a paraphrase of Mr. Truman’s words, since he put it in the earthy language that sometimes startles visitors who do not know him well, His private speech—and oc-

' SIDE GLANCES

ow 118

casionally it breaks over into public address— has the saltiness that is attributed by legend to Lincoln. Appraising him at the end of this four-year period I would put on the credit side of the ledger his loyalty, both to individuals and to the tradition of a free and strong America as he has known it in his life experience,

Ability to Act

HIS ability to act when action is called for would be listed high on the credit side. Along with this goes his refusal to be stampeded or panicked by attack. This quality might be described by the word, steadfast. His critics call it merely stubbornness. As with so many men, Mr. Truman’s virtues are also his defects. His loyalty kept Clark Clifford, one of the ablest of his advisers, in the White House in spite of persistent attacks from others in the Truman circle who argued a year ago that Mr. Clifford was too radical and, therefore, was hurting the President. { “Clark Clifford will have to go,” a member of the Truman cabinet sald, leaning across the presidential desk. “That will be enough of that” the President broke in, his voice as even as always but the unmistakable fiber of his determination abundantly clear, The President's loyalty dictated in considerable part his nomination of Mon C. Waligren, former governor of Washington, to be chairman of the National Security Resources Board. The President believes Mr. Wallgren to be capable and honest and he is deeply resentful of the ‘attack made in the Senate on the appointment.

Simple Vacation Typical : THE CHOICE of this vacation spot at the Navy base here in Key West is typical in more ways than one of the President. It is simple, unpretentious, inexpensive and yet comfortable

and the climate is nearly ideal. He could be an honored and pampered guest in a half-dozen palatial houses at Palm Beach, yet he chooses a modest cottage where he is his own ‘boss. The kindly man who will be President for nearly four years more is no saint, no hero. Certainly, there is none of the man-on-horge-back about him. He is an American, shaped by the forces of his time, trying to do his best in an era of trouble and confusion.

By Galbraith

COAL STRIKE . . . By Fred W. Perkins

t : AER oA A

| Hoosier Forum.

will defend to the death your ¥i to say ih"

“| do not agree with a word that

Keep letters 200 words or less on any subs fect with which you are familiar. Some letters used will be edited but content will be pre-

served, for here the People Speak in Freedom, ‘Seamen Well Paid’ aT ra By P. P,, City

. I am wondering if J. C., who wrote a Forum letter recently, was a Merchant Seaman during the war. : alin It is true the Merchant Seamen did go fo sea, but they were all paid for it with the area bonus, port bonus, attack bonus, bomb bonus and overtime pay for everything you could think of. » If you wanted to go to sea, you could: have

“ very easily joined the Navy and done your duty well at the military pay grades plus 20 per cént .

for sea duty. Not at the 100 per cent, the 67 per cent and the $100 port bonuses, etc. i Maybe if you would think a little about the number of Merchant S8eamen and the amount of money they drew during the war, you could understand why our national debt is: around $252 billion, . Rin ss You cannot fight a war belonging to a union and on an eight-hour day with time and onee half for overtime and holidays. I dot care how patriotic you may be.

I don’t think the bonus passing will mean

so many votes. I believe you would find most veterans care little one way or the other. Maybe we all should take better care of your gallant, true and patriotic Merchant Seamen.

Bi cd

| ‘Opinion on Law Wrong’ | :

By W. S. Henry, Attorney v

The Attorney-General seems to. think, and

offers to the people of the State of Indiana the benefit of his opinion, that the civil rights legise lation governing the public schools of the state is ineffectual for the reason that no penalty clause is attached to the bill . Evidently the Attorney General, before issu~ ing his opinion to the State of Indiana, was not advised that the penalty clause to a measure has to. do with criminal procedure and not civil

- procedure,

Mr. Attorney General, it might be well, since legally you speak for the state, that before giving to the public such an opinion as is quoted to have been given by you, you will first be advised as to the law governing such opinions, Could it have been expected of the Legise lature to have added a penalty clause, putting the school boards of the several counties of the state in jail, had they failed to conform to provisions of said Bill 242, of the last General Assembly? >

* 0 od

. - . ‘Speed Limits Needed’ By Lawrence Frownfelter, Nashville, Ind . Werneed speed limits, and I think it just as important to have a limit as to how slow we drive as well as how fast we drive. On busy highways the traffic should move along not slower than 45 miles per hour. The slower driver is a hazard to the roads because he causes too much passing. Also you see the slow driver on the inside lane of a four-lane highway, so much of which is reckless driving. I have been flying airplanes since 1939. If we had a driver's test and a car check (as to its safety) equivalent to even a small per cent of that required by the CAA to fly an airplane, the highways would be a much safer place.

What Others Say— Heil

THE honeymoon of good feeling for vets erans is over, . . . We have had loose use of figures on the cost of the veteran. And these costs have not been reconciled with the cost of other things that our great and munificent gove ernment has seen fit to spend money for.—Rohe ert M. McCurdy, vice president, American Le gion Rehabilitation Commission.

* 4 o

YOUR officials in Washington are determined that atomic energy shall be used for humanity's sake, and hope and pray that it shall never have to be used otherwise. Builders, not destroyers, Americans will not fail a world yearning for harmony and peace.~Attorney General Clark. ® © 9 THERE is no use kidding ourselves that we have a boom, when we may be in danger of a bust. I don’t think we are going to have a bust at this time. . . . But there’s a difference bee

. tween having prosperity and not having a de-

pression. There's a wide area in the middle— and it may not be such a comfortable one.—

Emil Rieve, general president, CIO-Textile Workers Union,

| Setback for Labor?

WASHINGTON, Mar. 17—One big difference betw ’ . t * FuFrent coal strike and the big ones of Ween, vip the public apparently isn’t worried much. Most i } don’t like it, however, O5E Union Jealery They fear John L. Lewis chose the worst ) worst possible time to stage this shutdown because of its effect on organized labor's

the past few years is that

of Peiping, the only place where American reporters are stationed in Communist China, has aggravated missionary fears. The missionarjes doubt that anti-religious restraints will go as far as those on press freedom in Peiping, but they believe it may mean almost anything could happen to other basic liberties, . One last story out of Peiping reported the end of foreign control over Fu Jen Catholic University, the largest private university in China.

Suppression Not Outright . ALTHOUGH missionaries have been cut off from mail and the telegraph in many parts of North China, there has been some contact through travelers from Communist regions. Suppression of religious freedom has been subtle rather than outright. Restraints are different in various areas but they seem so widespread as to suggest a standard policy. Red tactics have included placing Communists on governing

and rallies frequently are marked by attacks on “American imperialism.” : The Hua Ming News Service, issued by the Catholic Central Bureau of China, says travelers “Indicate that pressure against religion is felt over wide areas.” The report continues: " ° *“In ‘one Hopeh province town, for instance, the priest is not permitted-to leave his room. In another district, priests in charge of parishes are free in theory to visit their flocks but when they do so they are questioned.

Suspicious of Meetings

are discouraged because Communist authorities are suspicious of all ‘meetings.’ “Even in schools conducted under religious auspices students are obliged to attend Communist lectures. Communist instructors , come there a week.to give these lectures and all students must attend. ’ : “Communist officials, while -proclaiming

boards or committees of religious institutions, Communist plays ’

“GATHERINGS® for religious discussion in" one district

religious freedom, - leave nobody in doubt that ‘our government is atheistic’ thus dropping a plain hint to all who would be on good terms with

* 200m 30 oy. mp wees, we. % map, 6, ou. om. "All I've been reading about is trouble all over the world, and naw you have te go and find a stopped-up : drain in the bathtub." 3

English or even (the use of that language in some schools in Honan province, - Tr Nevertheless, the Communists seem to have come a long

way since they were arresting priests gs “spies.” There are no more killings.

Self-interest is the best explanation for the Communist

switch. As the victorious Reds closed In on the major cities of China proper they came in contact with large

drive to repeal the Taft-Hartley law. Jack Kroll, director of the CIO Political Action Com y mitte was quoted In Cincinnati as saying the Lewis action was ve mistake,” and that he hoped it would have no effect on the labor-law question. That was mild in comparison to what AFL and CIO chiefs are saying here, but not for quotation.

Rail Unions Hit

PRO-UNION Congressmen share the same concern. Rep, Augustine B. Kelley (D. Pa.), pro-union chairman of a House labor subcommittee holding the Tatt-Hartley hearings, said he saw no reason for the strike to have a legislative effect but top administration leaders in Congress disagreed. ’ Many observers have been predicting for some weeks that the Taft-Hartley repeal drive faced a long and rocky road, with the result likely to be a much stricter law than the mild measure backed by President Truman and agreed to by union leaders. If these predictions prove true the administration will have a ready ae union criticisms of its failtire to carry out e campa p of repealing the Taft-Har Lewis will get the blame. Pea‘ ng Harte Act. uy, If the strike lasts only two weeks the impact on will be slight. But the occurrence is AROther demonsation ve one man's power to shut down a basic industry on which many other essential industries depend. That interests the public, Congressional reaction was filustrated by the quick approval

" given by a Senate committee to President Truman's nomination

of Dr. James Boyd to be director of the U. 8. Bureau of M = . 8. i The coal strike is ostensibly a protest against Dr. Boyd. ‘His nomination has been pending two years, with Mr. Lewis (not consulted.about it) in opposition from the beginning. ‘

Stricter Law Seen .

SEN. JOSEPH C. O'MAHONEY (D. Wyo.), committee chaire man, is expected to ask the Senate to act quickly on the nominae tion, as urged by Sen. Harry F. Byrd (D, Va.). Senate opinfon i8 hat the confirmation is likely to come during the two weeks’ strike. ‘ One sector of organized labor directly hit by the strike is the railway unions. Carriers have laid off more than 50,000 men, blaming it on lack of coal to haul. Rail unions leaders note that the roads started the lay-offs without waiting for the

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