Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 October 1949 — Page 10

Page PDF (7.79 MB)

Back to issue view

The Indianapolis Times

TT A SORIPPSHOWARD NEWSPAPER «Gpr+

ROY W. HOWARD war l LECERONZ HENRY W. MANZ " President Business Manager

Friday, Oct. 7, 1949

PAGE 10

Tang i8 New paber as. NEA Berv-

ice Binsd. prep, Serio u of Circulat} Fe Jolin carrier a i % og 4 aes in Sunday 8 sand iis #48 0 Tr

other ho Gans $110 a month.

Telephone RI oy ot thine and the Pgosie Will Find Their Own Wow

: Guilty or Innocent?

“Taxpayers Will Never "Know . F ANOTHER glaring example of the breakdown in criminal justice in Marion County through long delays in bringing cases to trial was the dismissal yesterday of the eight-year-old indictments, charging four former deputy county clerks with embezzlement. Dismissal was requested by Prosecutor George 8. Dailey because three. of the state's key witnesses died during the ‘eight years tho indictments were pending in Criminal Court. And like many other more recent cases delayed too . the evidence had become too vague for any of the rewitnesses to remember clearly enough for trial. The four former deputy clerks, charged with embezzling ,000 of the taxpayers money, had a right under the Contution to prove their innocence by a prompt trial. And the taxpayers had a constitutional right to expect that the defendants would be brought to trial and, if found § guilty, punished according to laws passed by the state to protect its citizens. ‘Now, dismissal of the cases without trial after eight i years of legal stalling, will leave the question of guilt or : innocence an unknown mystery to becloud the lives of the defendants with Sout as long as they live.

A ATR

ITI8 snother chapter in the evils of delayed court procedure here. Recently a survewby The Times disclosed sev“eral “forgotten” prisoners held in the County Jail for many : months without trial. Sometimes defendants take advantage of legal stalling facts to delay trial long enough to circumvent vital evi- . dence and thus escape conviction. But the prosecutors and judges have plenty of legal | basis to bring any criminal case to trial long before the evidence gets too “cold” for trial and conviction. There is no excuse for judicial officials to permit any case to be delayed so long that justice is defeated by the 2 loss of evidence. It's a flagrant breakdown in law enforcement and the very foundation of government.

¥ Hogs, Etc. 2) Ye the Wall Street Journal reports—is workg ing to give us more and better hogs. " Meat packers, feed producers, farmers and government Bcientists are collaborating. Bigger litters of pigs are to be geared in air-conditioned nurseries. They'll be weaned arlier, so their mothers can produce more litters. They'll Isat scientific rations, mature faster, and.we can all enjoy ‘more and choicer pork chops, roasts, ham and bacdh. Maybe. But chances are that when more abundant super-pork ‘arrives the government will step up efforts to keep hog prices ‘high by buying countless tons of chops, roasts, ham and ‘bacon to be squirreled away in such caves as aren't already “full of eggs and butter. . For politicians in both parties are out to keep the ‘farmers happy at sny cost to the rest of va.

WTR

SEAN eA EO van WEEE

Nea

‘culated t to give farmers as much buying power as they en‘Joyed in a favorable earlier period. Since Jan. 1, 1948, more money has been spent or “invested” in farm-price «supports than operation of the whole government cost as recently as 1931. : Last year alone $3.4 billion—about one-twelfth of the total federal tax collections—was tied up in price-support spending and lending, and $600 million of that already has - had to be charged off to loss. ‘The 1948 Aiken bill, passed by the Republican 80th Congress, provides for a scaling down of price-support levels in 1950. That would make the farm program less costly. But most Democrats, and many Republicans, now want to be more generous, and new legislation is before Congress. The Senate voted this week, as the House had earlier, to keep price supports for major crops just as high as they are now. And various Senators are demanding addition of many other crops to the mandatory high-support list. That would greatly increase the program's cost. At the moment, the Senate has sent its pending bill back to the Agriculture Committee for a rewriting job. The best way out of a badly confused situation would be to forget new legislation and let the Aiken bill's scaling-down process go forward next January.

» LJ » % . . » BUT never imagine that the politicians would be satisfied to leave anything as sensible as the Aiken bill long in effect. Farmers in every part of the country, producing all sorts of crops, want high prices for what they sell. Democrats want the farmers’ votes. So do Republicans. Next _year each party will be more and more sorely tempted to outbid the other. Don't be surprised if the Republicans trot .out a rival for the Truman administration's Brannan plan “to keep farm prices high and food prices low at the taxpayers’ Four-fifths of the American people don't live on farms. They pay the major share of taxes. They also pay dearly for food because so much of their tax money is used to exempt farm prices from the law of supply and demand. They, too, deserve some consideration, and they'd better start shouting for it.

iThe Influence of George Buck ‘ lives of many thousands of Indianapolis citizens bear the influence of character-building wisdom sup- | Sed by George Buck, retired Shortridge High School teacher, who died yesterday. - - For more than 30 years Mr. Buck served as principal of Shortridge, he counseled many thousands through their

el years of struggle to useful citizenship. influence will live as a monument to the kind of

by Jndians iis Sima PublishOat Hera a3 Fone Member of |

EUROPE . . . By Ludwell Denny

Refugees Seek German Leader

Danger of Revolution Seen Among Outcasts

MUNICH, Oct. 7—There is' a common saying here that Hitler could have become dictator much sooner if there had been millions of desperate German refugees then. Today there are 11 million of them looking for a leader, Even if there were no traditional nationalistic spirit and no mass frustration from military defeat to feed it, even if this country were the most peaceful in the world, such an Infiux of outcasts would breed revolution and war. They are friendiess, as unwanted here as where they came from, The West Germans are as anxious ‘o get rid of their <brothers as they are determined to go “back home.” They include the many expelled trom Eastern European nations under the Potsdam Agreement. Others have fled from Red dictatorship in the satellite states and the Soviet Zone of Germany. The largest number are from German provinces annexed by Poland and Russia.

Flowing From Red Zone

THEY are still flowing in from the Soviet Zone to escape slave labor in the uranium mines, conscription in Red military units, and political persecution. Their choice here—if lucky enough not to be sent back to the Russians, as thousands are— is to live as animals in noisome camps, or to roam without work permits or ration cards.

They could not be completely absorbed in |

any case, but the situation is far worse because of uneven distribution. In some areas they outnumber the natives, They are concentrated in rural areas where there are no jobs—in Bavaria, two-thirds are in communities under 2000. Under a plan approved by the Military Governors about 5000 in all West Germany are to get unused or already expropriated farms within a year, and 80,000 within 10 years.

Jobless in Cities

S80 THE others must go to the cities. But there is already unemployment in the cities. And in places where jobs might be created, there are no houses, Because of native hostility and failure of the politicians to aid them, the réfugees in the August federal election fried to form their own parties. But this was prohibited and the old line parties bid fof their vote by vague promi{ses. The net result was that they helped to roll up the large vote for reactionary splinter parties and independents. They are not united except in their determination to regain their lost homes. But all are desperate and they hold balance of power in West Germany. Neither German nor Allied authorities so far have done much about it.

TO RILEY

Enshrined in loving art, our Riley sleeps In sunshine here, upon these wooded steeps; And here come we, who knew his form and voice, For inspiration, mid'st the shadowed deeps. Adown the vale, so far as sweeps the view, The shafts arise o'er many thousands, who When living, made his songs their choice And all his minstrelsy they loved and knew.

Oh! Who will say, but they reposing here Awake and listening in th’ eternal sphere, Still catch the sweet, familiar strains of him Who, living, singing, charmed their ear. And like the whisper of the sighing breeze That creeps so softly through these trembling trees, Extinguished voices say:—“It Is our Jim, Whose music filled Earth's valleys and the Jeas.”

How high the birdling's note! How sweet! How low! "Tis but the prelude to a strain we know! For Riley struck the chord that stirs the soul, He felt the passion, knew {its ebb and flow. The stars he tracked not. Nor with eagle eye Glared at the blazing sun. Nor mystery, Nor science, nor the Great, adorn his scroll. Lo! Like the Nazarene, he passed them by.

The rural scene, the orphan and the beat Of heart-throbs, and the innocent and sweet, He raised into the classic; now his lyre Reverberates through Heaven's golden street. "Tis not the learned alone, who scan the pages, Through whose fond minds the rhythmic wisdom rages: But o'er the human soul, like wind-swept fire, It warms alike the ignorant and sages.

The shades of evening fall upon this sacred spot And bird and squirrel seek the bough or knot: Forgotten is their joy, their song, their strife, But thou, dear poet! thou art not forgot. —B. A. CASMIRE, Indianapolis

Digging His Own Grave -

PEDDLER’S PASSAGE .

. . By John Loveland

Strike Slows City’s Business.

IT'S NOT so noticeable from the north, but to approach Petersburg from the south it be-

comes very clear to the traveler that he is in a mining country. There is quite a bit of open {

farm land, but here and there are dumps and

upheavals of top dirt moved to get at the veins of coal below, Winding roads paved with coal screenings slip back through the “pucker brush” that lines Highway 57, and I was very much tempted to follow one of those lanes to find what kind of mine I might see. Realizing just in time that a certain shaggy eyebrowed gentleman was in some way involved in no mining being carried on at the present, 1 decided to find out what I could about the general situation via the question-answer method. The Shafer Electric Co. with Paul Shafer presiding became the scene of the forum. The firm is quite typically a family business which is often found in a county seat town or some of the other smaller cities over the state.

Orderly Store

PAUL does the installation work, handles the service calls and directs the activities of his helper in the back, while Mrs. Shafer takes care of the bookkeeping, much of.the appliance | sales, and keeps up the general good appearance | of the front end or showroom. You can walk into their store and find orderliness and you'll soon be able to pick out the merchandise you want, When I called, Mrs. Shafer had gone for a few minutes, leaving Paul to watch over the front end. “How's business?’ L asked. “Lousy.” “How come? Is there some around here?” “Brother, this is all mining country, and whenever there is even a hint that there'll be a work stoppage in the paper, business goes flooey in a hanging basket. Of course, it works the other way too, because when word gets out that they're going back to digging coal, business comes right back.” “Are the people hurt prétty bad?” “lI don’t know about all of them but a lot of the miners south of town own farms, and maybe some of them are happy to get this chance. to get their corn in. They used to say

mining done

about 25 years ago that every year along about corn planting season, the local miners would call a strike on some pretext or other so they could get their spring farming done.” Perhaps he wanted to change the subject’ then, because he went on to tell me a story that I as a traveling salesman should be particularly interested in. It went something like this:

Mud Baloney

A DOCTOR in a certain town came upon a 5-year-old sitting on the curb vigorously stirring a mud batter in a bucket. “What have you got there, Jimmy?” he asked. “Baloney.” “What are you going to do with it?” “Make a doctor.” Soon the town lawyer, having heard of the conversation appeared, asking “What have you got there, Jimmy?” “Baloney.” “What are you going to do with it?” “Make a lawyer.” The doctor and lawyer in comparing notes about the urchin’s ‘slur on their callings, told a salesman about the situation, whereupon he planned to approach the insulting one with a touch of child psychology. His encounter was as follows: “What have you got there, Jimmy? Some baloney?” “Yep.” “What are you going to do with it? Make a salesman?” 7 “Heck no, can’t do that. Aint got near enough baloney.” You see what a salesman runs into once in a while.

Preached Gospel PAUL also told me of a local character whose total mental development has left much to- be desired. This character, however, was deeply religious, and frequently preached the gospel wherever the occasion gave him half a chance. At the time in question he came upon a gang of linemen setting up a high voltage line for the power company. He accosted them thus: “Hello, men, are you all working on the high line?” “Yep, the whole gang of us.” “That's fine. I work on the high line too, but believe me (with- finger pointing heavenward dramatically) my line's a lot higher than yours.”

Hoosier Forum’

“T do not agree with a word that you sey, but | will defend to the death your right to say i."

‘Voluntary Fair Employment’ By A. J. Schueider, 504 W. Dr., Woodruff PL This is an open letter to Ben Cohen, chair. man. of an which boasts the largest collection of ignoramuses and ingrates In in this county. Just in case Mr. Cohen has not discovered, if there were no othel reason uader the Jum {00 opposing legislation to give t tats o - ana an “Unfair Employment Practices Act,” the fact that his group sponsors it, is sufficient, I used the word “unfair” deliberately, because the proposed legislation which is reputedly intended to give minority groups a fair advantage with others, is in reality a police state measure to impose preference and precedence by force and discriminating against the majorities. Of course, Mr. Cohen and his group would pot be capable of knowing much about American ways and habits, so he would not know that the voluntary plan is the real American way, without legislation or force. Mr. Cohen demonstrates his ignorance when he asserts that the Negroes have been in the United States for 800 years, when any seventh grader can tell him that there was no United States prior to about 160 years ago. Of course, his group has never been over-scrupulous with facts, whether they were “stubborn facts” oe just mere facts. A fact is a fact a One of the reasons Mr. Cohen's friends cannot hold jobs is that most employers do their hiring on a basis of qualifications, not one’s color or religion. Because of the wartime demand for labor, many Negroes submitted to training to fit themselves for better jobs.

will not discriminate because of race or religion, if the applicant has the necessary qualifications to fill a job. ® ¢ o

‘Kindness to Animals’ By Anna J. Lazarus, Woodruff Place In these days when there is search for ways to build lasting peace, the celebration of World Day for Animals is most significant. It provides us with an opportunity for the expression of that kindly spirit which is essential if we are to establish a wiser and more peaceful commonwealth. Certainly the birthday of St. Francis, that prince of gentleness, merciful to all life in men and animals, is a fitting date for renewing effort toward deeds of good-will. The spirit of compassion is a pervasive and consistent one; it cannot be turned on and off like an electric light. Only as we are gracious to all that lives, sensing the divine life in all creatures, whether animal or human, can we be truly active in the cause of peace. True kindness to animals takes right thought as well as right emotion, and thought and atti tude must have some expression in action. Animals serve men in countless ways and we owe them not only all possible kindliness and training but freedom from the cruelties to which men subject them. In most cases these cruelties have been so long a habit that even men of good-will accept them as commonplace facts— no longer even seeing that they are facts of torture. If any person will think of a few wellknown animals, and recall their life story, he will become aware of both the deliberate and the unintentional cruelty practiced daily by

in this matter. As we sow, we reap. World Day for Animals reminds us that only as we sow justice to all the kingdoms of life, shall we reap peace for humanity.

® oO o

‘We Need Social Center’

By Teen-agers of the Valley. What is wrong with the residents of Birch Ave.? Everyone wants a social center on Birch Ave. except the people of Birch Ave. themselves, Because it is a residential district they wish to keep it that way. If it were a beer tavern going up there Instead of a social center they wouldn't object. : Our parents think a social center would be fine for us and surely our parents know what is best for us. We are sincere about this. I hope the residents of Birch Ave. wake up and let us teen-agers have somgthing worthwhile for once,

What Others Say

FOR the last six months, in every plant we have, management has gone in and given (workers) the low-down facts on the business . I think they are entitled to know..—Charles E. Wilson, president of General Electric. ¢ © & THE woman of 1950 will be casual, daring and boyish, with no hips, no bust and a closecropped hurricane originator of the “new look.”

"THE PUBLIC PAYS . . . By Marquis Childs Government Power

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7..—The power of big government to in-

| SIDE GLANCES AN

By Galbraith

- "| Courts and Politics

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7—Where does the Supreme Court be-

‘CHECKS AND BALANCES’ . . . By Bruce Biossat

masses of people. In the interests of humanity, : as well as of animals, we need a new orientation |

tervene in big business and:®ip the scales for gne side or the

other is nowhere better illustrated than in the distilling industry. | In the background of larger events here in Washington there |

has been going on what might be called the battle of the whiskies. It has enlisted some powerful political support on both sides. Rumors persist of influence bought and sold as the battle rages. The contest has had its comic aspects, with round, rubicund Sen. Virgil Chapman of Kentucky becoming the champion without

peer of Kentucky's bourbon and the big distillers who make it. |

Sen. Chapman angrily denounced officials who had ruled against the big companies. Some $80 million was immediately involved in whisky values

and even in these days of high prices and cheap money that is |

no laughing matter.

Ruling Last April LAST April the Alcohol Tax Unit of the Treasury ruled that certain stored whisky aged in used barrels could bear the same label designating age and type as whisky aged in new charredoak casks.

This had long been urged by the smaller independent distil- | lers who were handicapped, particularly during the war with the limitations it imposed, by the fact the big boys had bought up |

most of the cooperage companies that make the barrels. The ruling said that careful tests and analyses had shown “that there is no discernible difference between whisky which has been aged for a given period, the first part of the period being spent in reused cooperage and the latter part in new, and whisky which has been aged for a like period in a new charred barrel from the beginning . ..” Furthermore, it said that “other agencies of the government interested in preventing monopolistic trends or in affording all possible protection to the smaller and less powerful industry units” had urged the Alcohol Tax Unit to take some action. The urging had come from the anti-trust division of the Department of Justice. The anti-trust division has been reported investigating monopoly trends in both distilling and cooperage, an investigation which seems’to be remarkably prolonged.

Mergers Probed

THE Federal! Trade Commission also has looked into the

effect of wholesale mergers in the distilling industry and the effect of purchase by the big four {Schenley, Seagram's, National and Hiram Walker) of the cooperage companies. An FTC report said: “This had the dual effect of inducing the independent cooperage firms to sell out and at the same time making it difficult for any Listiller to operate without a captive cooperage plant of its own.’ But the ruling brought a violent response from the big distillers. Their friends in Senate and House began to descend on the ‘Treasury. At one time Secretary of the Treasury John Snyder had 24 members of the Senate and House in his office, each one

trying to pound on the desk and outshout the ‘others in denuncta- :

tion the iniquity of the ruling.

4 days afte the Tullag Was lasund Jt waa Puspenges.’ A

10-7 corn. 19 BY AEA SERVICE. BC. T. 8. RED. 8. 8. PAT. oF. |

"We'd so like to hear this picture—are there any seats in-a section where they aren't eating popcorn?"

little later a public hearing was held with 400 pages of testimony taken. On Aug. 31 the hotly disputed ruling was revoked by Deputy Internal Revenue Commissioner Carroll E. Mealey who had originally issued it. Ever since there have been dark hints from the two camps of the political influence that was deployed. The big distillers say the Apr. 7 order grew out of a deal made with the independents during last year’s campaign and was in response to a generous campaign contribution. The independents reply that the order was revoked after a secret agreement calling for big dona- " tions to next year’s congressional campaign. The power of government to act as umpire—over air routes, radio wave lengths and so on—grows apace with the new technologies and with the growth of monopoly.

With the umpire being pushed back and forth by poltiea ‘persuaders and Jnflusncs Geaiers ve Lia's 34 yeutscuon saa We WG. 3 150 end pay te Whois bill

long in relation to the racing currents of political, economic and social affairs? Under the U. 8. Constitution, the judiciary is an independent arm of the government, coequal in authority with the Congress and the presidency. Like those other two branches, it is part of a system of “checks and balances” designed to prevent the arbi trary, unwise use of political power. Historically, the Supreme Court as the top judiciary agency, in America came to exercise its check on the legislative and ex= ecutive authority by passing upon the constitutionality of mease ures enacted into law. It does not do this as a matter of coursey but only when a test is made. ad Plainly the court is thus in a position ’to dg heavy damage to the enacted program of a particular Congress or President. The Supreme Court’s smashing blows against the late President Roosevelt's New Deal measures in the mid-thirties provide a perfect example.

‘Checks and Balances’

WAS this carrying “checks and balances” too far? Mr, Roosevelt thought so. He launched his famous fight to “pack” the high court by adding six extra members who presumably would have been sympathetic to his proposals, He lost that battle but won the war when death and resignation of sitting justices en~ abled him to appoint men of his own choosing. The court promptly reversed its stand on the critical issues. Many careful thinkers believed Mr. Roosevelt was basically right in his outlook toward the court, even though they may not necessarily have approved his “packing” plan. Some quoted famed Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, who said: "The Supreme Court must follow the eleetion returns.” But isn’t there a danger that a court which follows the elec tion results too closely may so completely take on the color of the party in power that it yields its independence? Both Mr. Roosevelt and President Truman have elevated certain men to the Supreme Court whose chief qualification seems to have been that they were loyal Democrats, Republican Presidents undoubtedly have done the same thing. :

Long Tenure of Office ORDINARILY the long tenure enjoyed by high court justices carries them through changes in national administration. Hence it 4s unlikely that any party would often get a chance to make over the court in its own

But the 16-year hold on the White House represented by the

Roosevelt-Truman regime provided such an opportunity. That the court does not wholly reflect their views arises from two facts: Some of the appointees did not turn out as expected and one or two were selected deliberately for their opposing concepts of government. There is no harder question than how to strike a balance between. a court which might block vital social progress and one which would weakly serve as a rubber stamp for a ruling politi.

———

haircut.—Christian Dior, |

® Tey