Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 15 September 1949 — Page 32

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The. Indianapolis Times “Eee

HENRY W. MANZ Business Manager

PAGE 32 Thursday, Sept. 15, 1049

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Telephone RI ley 8551 Give LAGAS ond She People Will Fins Yhew Own Woy

The Linen Didn't Get Washed

THE National Labor Relations Board has neatly side- - stepped the Indianapolis laundry mess, by ruling that nobody proved these laundries were interstate commerce, and hence NLRB had no jurisdiction. The Board may be right, at that, even though its opin{on on this case differs sharply ‘with opinions of the United States Supreme Court and NLRB precedent on closely similar situations. Apparently nobody entered any evidence showing that clothing cleaned by these laundries may have got soiled in Kentucky, or may be worn in Illinois, or might have been washed with soap made in Cincinnati. There couldn't have been much question about other interstate aspects, though. The deal was made by three | gentlemen from Missouri and by its own terms is admin- | “lstered in St. Louis. All the unions-involved are definitely in interstate operation, and in fact describe themselves | grandiloquently as “international” unions. . . . . . , ” THE decision, right or wrong, doesn't in any way alter the disgraceful facts in the case. ‘These Indianapolis laundries signed a “union contract” with unions which had never even pretended to represent a majority of their employees, had never shown that they represented any employees. The “contract” ordered 3000 workers who had never been consulted in the matter, nor even informed of it, to join unions they had not chosen to join, and agreed to pay these unions some $2000 a. week for the next seven years—a payment rather frankly described by laundry and union spokesmen as “the price of peace” in “the industry, ‘and reminiscent of what: used to- be-called “protection” money. The workers got nothing, and those

who objected lost their jobs. : " All this is specifically prohibited by federal law. -

A hi 0 7 “x p ROY W. HOWARD WALTER LECKRONE President Ho . Editor

. = . a» THE federal law applies to industries which are engaged in interstate commerce or that affect interstate commerce, and court and NLRB decisions in the past have interpreted that to mean almost any industry. . The board's ruling doesn’t, of course, exonerate either the laundries or the unions which entered this deal, any more than a court's refusal to hear a burglary charge because the burglary was committed in the next county legalizes burglary. It remains, in our opinion, the most vicious infringement of the rights of the workers that has ever been consummated in Indianapolis and a far step toward real “slave labor” about which the heads of the unions engaged in it ‘have been so piteotisly beating their breasts in public . . .

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4h “and signing “contracts! behind. closed. doors... RS Tn

y A British Appraisal BRITISH Socialists who blame the “chronic instability of American capitalism” for Britain's dollar difficulties get little support for their views in a study of our economy just published by the “London Economist.” But Americans will find some encouraging thoughts in what this wise and well-informed British publication says: “ ‘Chronic instability’ would presumably imply a sweeping descent in (American) output, employment, prices, wages and the demand for imports. The charts show nothing of the kind, Some recession was obviously to be expected after the war and post-war booms had spent their main force. But it is astonishing how relatively slight, and how markedly restrained, the adjustments have been. “The American gross national product. in the second quarter of this year was running only 5 per cent below the all-time peak recorded in the closing months of 1948. Industrial production showed a further fall in July, but output is 62 per cent higher than for the five years 1935-39. - Unemployment, too, has been rising gently (Editor's note: | Unemployment declined in August) but so has total employment; Henry Wallace's ‘60 niillion jobs’ are still a reality. . “The trend of imports, particularly of crude materials | and foodstuffs, of which a significant .part comes from the sterling area, has certainly been more disconcerting. But

still running at practically three times the prewar rate. “Prices of food and farm products have been falling somewhat more rapidly than other commodities; thus the real value of weekly earnings in industry—now rather above $5314 a week—has been enhariced. “Such are the facts: It is-imposisble to hold that they

illustrate anything more than a healthy pause for breath-:-

after a period of rapid expansion—a pause from which the United States economy is perhaps already deriving benefit.” |

Law Enforcement Farce

MASS arrests without legal basis for certain convictions in courts not only are a waste of time and the taxpayers’ law enforcement. Of 14 persons arrested in the Police Department's so- | called “harassment raids” this week, all but one defendant were freed because Prosecutor George S. Dailey's office refused to issue affidavits for trial. The refusal to prosecute | was based upon failure of ‘raiding officers to have warrants to “search and seize” property.

w w » «N » » . THIS raiding of private property without the Constitutional requirement for sedich warrants is becoming so repetitious that the public may begin to question the motive - of the Police Department in making the raids. : ~ Repeatedly these cases have been thrown out of the “eourts in the past on the basis of illegal arrest. Police officers are either not interested in getting conyictions or are deliberately chosing a practice that circumvents the Constitution for other reasons. Yt “_ It is the certainty of conviction and punishment that makes law enforcement an effgctive deterrent to crime. _ Withoul§ valid convictions, law enforcement becomes a farce that is worse than no police work at all.

| COMMUNISM IN ASIA . . . By Clyde Farnsworth ’ ® Cc ‘Reds’ Big Chance HONG KONG, Sept. 15—By its own example to millions of

‘other Asiatics, and by providing revolutionists for export, a | firmly established Communist regime in China could do a lot |.

FOREIGN AID . : . By Marquis Childs Hope Seen for eo, | | oo LH British Crisis ~ Experts Will Study Ways To Plug Leaks for Recovery WASHINGTON, Sept. 15—After all the scare talk about the British money crisis, the net result of the talks here in Washington is bpund

to seem so small as to be short of what was required for proper balance and stability, b¥e m

those who have sat in on talks do not discouraged by the outcome. They feel that a fairly hopeful start has been made, Above all, it is hopeful that from .both sides has come a teal desire to get down to cases and do what is necessary. There has been

. no recrimination, no bitterness.

Groups of British, Canadian and U. 8. experts will now study special phases of Britain's trouble. They will search for ways to plug the leaks through which the British reserve of gold and dollars is being drained away. The drain has been at the rate of $300,000,000 a month. The men who sat around the conference table frankly recognized that Britain's economic position has been worsening for at least 50 years. It began with a decline in productivity,

comparatively at any rate with this country, and ’

It was speeded up by World Wars I and"II and the dislocation of the empire,

Big Debt to India

ONE of the specialized groups will concentrate on India. Britain owes India a big wartime debt and the drain of dollars to India as a consequence is serious. About 90 per cent of what must be done immediately must be done by the British themselves. They put it in just those words. One

gain from these talks at the top level is that |

British officials will now have more confidence, politically, to carry out the essential steps. But if the United States is to assume, the responsibility that goes with its economic and industrial power, then there are certain things we must do, This goes for all of us and not just: for something called “government.” No. 1—-We must learn that we cannot dictate the institutions or politics of a friendly nation: that is working conscientiously on the side of freedom and a stable peace. The British have found themselves in a crossfire of American criticism.

Attacks Loud and Long THE attack on British socialism and the “welfare state” has been loud and long. But at the same time another kind of resentment that

.has not had-so-much-airing inthe press is aimed .

at the cost of the British institution of royalty. ‘So persistent have been: the inquiries from the public reaching the State Department that the department has asked the British embassy to furnish exact Information on how much the royal family costs so an honest reply can be made to the inquiries. Many of the letters, like some which have come to me, say, “Why should we go on giving help to the British when they spend so much to keep royalty parading around?” The answer to that question is complicated. It goes down to the roots of the institution of royalty in a democracy—the role of the king as a human flag symbolizing the state and the majesty of the people themselves. Part of it is the traditional British love of pageantry and that pageantry — the royal opening of Parliament, state visits—is one of the few luxuries Britain has left. .

Royal Family Expenses : THE royal household gets $1,640,000 a year and other members of the royal family $548,000, and the last does ‘not include any allowance for the Duke of Windsor. _ If nationalization—of the steel industry, for Ampre-cotiid bé “Show Te" hurt production; then it becomes a concern of this country. No. 2—Wé must learn that as the greatest producing nation in the world we must buy goods from other countries if we expect to go on selling our goods abroad. The margin we sell abroad is the margin that keeps production at high levels, ! A pinpoint fllustration outside Britain {llustrates this. If Finland cannot sell newsprint in the United States, the economy of Finland is likely ‘to be so weakened that the Communists can gain power, and a strong, independent people will be subjugated by Russian communism. The lessons to be learned are not éasy. They go against tradition, custom, prejudice deeply rooted in‘our past. But they must be learned and learned quickly if the kind of free” world we have known is to survive. *

AUTUMN

| The nights are longer, crisp and cool.

Short days are bright and clear. The children have gone back to school, And melancholy days are here. Chill winds blow stronger, stray leaves fall, Tall corn-is swaying to and fro; Nuts ripen fast and best of all In opened grate bright embers glow.

+

Green katydids now hint of frost, Thin spider webs float through the air. Blackbirds are restless as if lost, Wild ducks and geese fly here and there. Best part of year approaches when With multi-shades of brown and gold, Dame Nature shows it's time again To migrate, soon it will be cold. ~—John O. Mitchell, R. R. 2, Bedford, Ind.

toward speeding world revolution.

fn Asia and the Western Pacific.

Whatever happens in China proper, the Soviet Union seems headed toward the establishment of a vast buffer system for this

part of the world.

Soviet imperialism as already demonstrated in Manchuria is one of the bitterest pills for the Chinese Communists to éwallow. For no amount of sugar-coating can conceal from intelligent Chinese that China is being dismembered with Manchuria des-

tined to become a part of the buffer system.

Russia Needs Korea

China, in fact, could become the hulpof revolutionary effort

Breaking Out With That Fall Rash Go

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‘OUR TOWN . . . By Anton Scherrer

Tarkington's Childhood Talents

TOWARD the end of “Your Amiable Uncle” {the post-humously published letters written by Booth Tarkifigton in 1903 and released last: week) appears a sentence which, were one to

brood overlong on it, would drive one nuts. The tantalizing sentence: “And it is far from unpleasant to think of you” (his three Jameson nephews) “in the old house where you belong; where your mother grew up, mostly, and your .pa courted her; and where, on the spot now occupied by the Hanna Cathedral, your - uncle was caught by Nana” (Booth’s mother) “smoking cigarets in the barn, accompanied by Albert Goepper and three of the Chapman boys, the youngest aged 5"—not a word more, leaving one to wonder how Mother Tarkington handled the situation. Less bewildering is the established fact that Albert Goepper and the Chapman boys played an important part in: providing Booth Tarkington with the material which later went into the

FE making of “the Pook “known—as~ Penrod. and. © Sam.”

"In support of which I submit my own feeble account of the goings-on in the barn back of Judge John 8. Tarkington's home on the afternoon of Saturday, June 10, 1882.

Staged Thriller

‘ON THAT historic day, a gang of N. Pennsylvania St. kids (and environs) turned the Tarkington -barn into a theater, possibly the -best ventilated playhouse this:town ever had, and_staged the world-premiere of a thriller titled “The James Brothers; or the Life and ‘Death of Jesse James." Booth Tarkington, them a boy of 12, played the part of Jesse James. described more’ fully on the laboriously hand-printed program as the “Terror of the Rails.” “Dramatis Personae’ (the very words used on the programs) it included:

Frank James, the Bandit's. Brother .Frankie Walker « ‘Mike O'Neill Albert Goepper Bob Ford, the Assassin. ..Page Chapman Charley Ford, the Assassin's Brother Willie Rhodes

George, the Bartender. .Malcolm Jameson The “miners; sheriffs, travelers, bank tellers and barflies” cryptically mentioned as such in the “Dramatis Personae’ turned out to be the small fry of the neighborhood who, because of youth or inexperience (or both) had not yet qualified as seasoned members of the gang. Legend has it that the Tarkington kid turned fh a first-rate job of acting that day netwithstanding the fact that the audience, on: that occasion, Included a bunch of soreheads who strongly suspected that the headliner had ‘resorted to a trick practiced by playwrights at"

SIDE GLANCES

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wghalantly-in. their Jesse. tossed irritating remark—something to the effect That

. the freshly eleaned carpeted floor.

As for the rest of the

that time—namely, the deceitful device of usurping the fattest roles for themselves. Booth Tarkington, the 12-year-old boy, had indeed written the play. Even more amazing was the discovery that he had cast it into shape in less than two months after the newspapers had declared the outlaw-hero dead. Thus proving, in case there should be any doubt, that Mr. Tarkington's indefatigability asserted itself at a very early age,

Novelist at Heart

THE PLAY also provided the first intimation that Booth Tarkington was a novelist at heart, for even as far back as then he took advantage of literary license; to such a degree indeed that, in this case, his version of “The Life and Death of Jesse James” didn't agree in all particulars with the one recorded in the newspapers at the time. According to the newspapers" version, Jesse James had just had his breakfast (beefsteak, friend potatoes and apple pie) on the morning of Apr. 3, 1882, when he walked into his wife's sitting room where he found the Ford brothers (two new members of his gang) rocking nonchairs...Jesse tossed off an

it was going .to be a hot day—and shed his coat. What's more, he removed his arsenal of guns. It was the mistake of his life. A moment later the Ford boys had Jesse James covered with their guns. Bob Ford was the quicker of thé two brothers and shot Jesse in the back of his head. Jesse swayed a moment, then fell face-first on (The news papers made quite a point of the fact that Mrs. James had just completed her spring housecleaning). Whereupon the two Ford brothers attempted a quick gétaway through the backyard. At this precise moment, Mrs. James stuck her head through the open window, saw her wrecked carpét, and sald: “Robert, you done that.” Ri

Departed From Truth

ROBERT denied the indictment and looked around for help from his brother. Charley, the less impulsive of the two Ford boys, opined that Brother Bob's. gun had gone off accldentally. “Is that so,” snapped Mrs. James. } It was at this poirt that the Tarkington kid departed from historic truth and resorted to literary license. For one thing, he made no dramatic use of Mrs. James, let alone her utteriy, charming feminine remark. From which you must not conclude that Mr. “Tarkington's uncanny knowledge-of women was a matter of later development. - His neglect of Mrs. James can be accounted for by the fact that he was obliged to write “The Life and Death of Jesse James” within the framework imposed by the laws governing the N. Pennsylvania St. gang. Its membership was limited to males—see? .

By Galbraith

" about it.

mr rm

cluding the part now occupied by U, 8, forces, as a buffer state against a revived Japan. 8he counts heavily upon the devices

| »0Y. home-grown Communists to win both Japan and Korea. But

Japan may ‘become strategically untenable for the United States long before the Japanese Communists could turn such a trick there. Loss of Korea could, in a strategical sense, turn the U. 8: out of Japan. : . Then there are Formosa and the Philippines. The fate of Formosa of course depends on the outcome of the battle for China plus strategic decisions by thé U. 8. as to whether that island is an essential part of the Western Pacific defénse system. The future of the Philippines is bound up with Korea, Japan and Formosa like beads on the same string. Communist capture of Formosa would accentuate the Philippine government's trouble with the Hukbalahap$, and Red consolidation of China would release thousands ; Ehilippine Islands,

Valuable Spadework ‘

SIMILARLY, these Red agents could do valuable spadework in the already disturbed islands of Indonesia and southwestward, = As for Hong Kong, this British Crown Colony devotes much

KOREA is another example. Russia needs all of Korea, in- |

of Chinese Communist agents for use in the

Indo-China.

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COP. 1949 BY NEA SERVICE: Bi. T. 0. 805. . 8, PAT. OF. : "Mother sent me to tell you to be sure and stay in bed for . your cold, and to borrow a cup of flour!" ?

are at the sprouting stage in Burma, Siam, Malaya and French

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British people are

..the dust and gas fumes, and machery do the trick: “Tn the “old days,; - coal- was

"are full of cheap, lurid sex. They give the

|

GERMANY ...By Ludwell Denny

Still Police State

WIESBADEN, Sept. 15—Much of the police Germany today. It is easy to blame the. police, coming to them, . . But there gre other reasons why the Bill of Rights, which the Allies forced into the-state and federal constitutions, rarely comes to Mfe. Most courts and cabinets ignore it.

And the Allies, in turning over power government, have run out on the minority of officials, police and citizens who believe in civil liberties; In theory at least the Western Allies insisted on destroying the police state. ‘basic law, they ministries and police. They publicized civil liberties through press, radio and public forums.

Still Goose-Steppers

and habit have made begin it and his defeat did not end it. After four years of Allied government and sundry new German reform laws, the spirit of ‘the police state is still there. - ; In Bavaria last year the police made 46,561 house searches without warrants as required by the state constitution. Wuerttemberg-Baden within six months there were more than 10,000 such searches but only 89 warrants issued. The trouble starts at the top. to pass adequate enforcement constitutional Bill of Rights, Most of the state governments and their interior ministriés have no respect for civil liberties. Nor have the courts, Most of the judges are ex-Nazls,

30 Per Cent Nazis

» .

Hoosier Forum

“I do not agree with a word that you say, but | will defend fo the death your right fo sey Ht.

“Taxpayers Should Be Riled’ By Ruth S. Matthews : * 3 : The recent editorial, “The British Are Riled,” prompts one to question if it is not the Amerjcan taxpayer, instead of the British people, who should be riled. High government taxes are siphoning from the American wage-earners their spending money which could be buying for them the dentures, medicine, toupees and sundries which the getting free, and I wonder American people are also paying a 20 per cent excise tax to meet the cost of financing the Marshall Plan aid to Britain? Whether the present British economic distress is due to. Britain's Socialist experiment failures or not is not the important issue. The real issue is: Should the British government spend the American taxpayers’ money through Marshall Plan aid for socializing Britain while America's free economy risks insolvency and failure through foreign spending? Our government officials, as well as the British, arg responsible for the present political dissensions. With the unfortunate experience they had in giving UNRA funds without polite ical consideration they should have realized the Marshall Plan aid must be given on terms that would have prevented the use of American funds for ideological experiments. The British had a right to choose a Socialist government, but the American people should have had the right to refuse to pay for underwriting the experiment which should not have been made until Britain could have paid for it with the earnings of her own people. America’s failures stem. from making financial commit. ments on the terms of the recipients instead of terms which would assure the economic stability of America as well as the recovery of foreign CORYmICS,

‘People Are Fooled’ By Fred T, Meyer 80, we will soon have a minimum wage of 75 cents. What office holder or office seeker would reject it? After all, most want to be elected or re-elected. There will be many workers not included and one can assume. that most industrial workers are getting about 75 cents, or will be. If these fourth-round wages materi= alize, many other workers’ wages will be increased so. they can maintain their differential, according to their ability. There may be some joy in the first few

if they know that the

higher prices. Forty years ago 30 cents or 35 cents would buy what today costs a dollar. So the people are fooled, like to be fooled and many leaders know they are fooled. Y - .., Anyway, it’s a lot of fun and pastime. But, in the end, the leaders get the big dough and the average worker continues to pay higher prices while wondering when he will get his next increase. : v &

‘Hurting Own Prosperity’ By “The Old Sarge” One can’t help but wonder “where to, organ ized labor?” John L. has just about run the ordinary users of coal clear out of the notion of using coal as a fuel. The national railroads are replacing coalburning equipment with oil burners and many a home owner has switched to oil or gas. In the old days, miners were forced to use candles, oil lights and carbide, but today the miner purchases the cap, the company, furnishes the batteries. In the old days, the miner spent about one day a week wetting down the mine to keep down but today modern fans mined by sheer brute force and awkwardness, but today modern cutting tools, automatic loaders, electric cars and lifts have replaced the old dangerous method of pick and shovel, drill and blast, load by hand, push out cars by hand or by. mule, hand-operated lifts, etc. The miner is his own worst enemy. Most of them have never saved a dime. He never gives any real thought te the next day, but lives each day as if it were his last and ,as a result of that way of life, he always is broke. He doesn't hesitate with slowdowns, shutdowns, ‘periods of mourning, contract breaches, demands for va cations with pay, old age retirement and sick leave. And much of these things are paid for, not by the boss, but by the consumer.

What Others Say

MOVIE ads make it look like all the

pictures whole industry a black eye.—Movie actor Dans Andrews. . oe oO o ~ EVERY church has its own right to its own history. But one thing is necessary—that we find ourselves all tied together in our Christian faith, - That is the .uture of Protestantism in the world, —Dr. Albert Schweitzer, famed scholar and theologian. . ® o

THIS is. the time to go ahead with those socially important enterprises such as housing. It is not the time to withdraw funds from the consuming public by increased taxes.—Secretary. of Labor Maurice J. Tobin.

state remains in and they have it

Few citizens know

to the West German

Besides insisting on a written Bill of Rights as banned top-category Nazis from the courts,

didn’t Work because renturies or the Germans goose-steppers. In

The state legislatures refuse laws in support of their

of ex-Nazis in the police of all West German

tes states is believed to exceed 30 per cent. That is the number in - Wuerttemberg-Baden. Some of them are high up the state police chief is a former lieutenant colonel of the 88, director of three 88 schools and Bolder of two high Hitler medals. even If there were no ex-Nazis in the police the sttuati would not be materially different. 5 One of the worst evils is the three-in;one

In Heilbrom

syStem. The police

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In Malaya the revolution is dormant, owing to Britain’ chief powers -mak orcer judge; he issued efficient dealing with the strategy adopted by the Reds at their a ani and Juage; be ay { : Malcolm’ MacDonald, sa: SE aan Bruh a cs Chist Bak ow, 8 a vist to the U. 8. Malaya are only, waiting for outside Be | Hg on Sls mesning of :

ug i ) Ame

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months; but soon; “as heretofore; it will mean - “

Hitler did not

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