Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 October 1949 — Page 12

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ROY W. HOWARD WALTER LECKRONE HENRY W. MANZ President Editor Business Manager

The Indianapolis Times

PAGE 12 Friday, Oct. 14, 1949

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Those Showboat Affidavits A/E DON'T take much stock in these stories about “pow- ~~ ° erful political influences” making Prosecutor George Dailey change his mind and decide to prosecute the Showboat crowd on Sheriff Cunningham’s gambling charges. It's been our observation that when there are any ‘‘powerful political influences” in a gambling case around here they're pretty sure to be on the other side, blocking. any n. Maybe it's less sensational, but it looks to us as if Mr. Dailey just made a mistake and then was man enough to admit it, and correct it. We admire that, and we often wish we could see more of it when public officials make mistakes, as they all do once in a while just like the rest of us.

* FROM the sheriff, for instance . . * who made a good start on this Showboat cleanup Friday night, and then let his men get out of hand and start shoving innocent bystanders around on Saturday night. ‘Working together these two officials could keep this county pretty free of gambling and rackets and even “powerful political influences.” Anyway we're glad to see the Showboat case headed for the courts, and we can hardly wait to hear who is going to be the “special judge” to take this hot potato out of the laps of our elected and responsible jurists.

Qualified for the Job

PRESIDENT TRUMAN made a wise choice in the selection = of Judge Nathan Swaim as jurist of the Chicago U. 8. Circuit Court of Appeals. . Judge Swaim'’s record as a justice of the Indiana Supreme Court and as an able lawyer and civic leader here many years, qualifies him for this important judicial post. An appointment based upon qualities other than politfcal activities is a refreshing change of pace, especially those for judgeships where experience and knowledge of the law are so essential in preserving the basic structure of t. We are convinced Judge Swaim will serve on the federal bench with distinction. *

The Same Then as Now

THOMAS E. HARRIS, attorney for the CIO United Steelworkers, tells the U. 8S. Supreme Court that Congress should outlaw “political strikes” if it fears Communist influence in labor unions, . Mr, Harris wants the court to knock out that provision of the Taft-Hartley Act which forbids appeals to the Na-

tional Labor Relations Board by unions whose officers re-

fuse to sign non-Communist affidavits. “We agree,” he says, “that the Communists get their orders from Moscow. So our union's constitution now has its own ban on Communists serving as union officers.” But, he argues, who shall hold offices in unions is the unions’ own affair. : It's true that Philip Murray, president of the CIO and of the United Steelworkers, does now recognize communism as a menace to unionism. He is expected to lead a showdown fight at the CIO’s Cleveland convention late this month against pro-Russian domination of the vitally important United Electrical Workers and other CIO unions. All Americans should wish him success in that battle.

” » ” BUT we cannot agree with his attorney, Mr. Harris, that Communist leadership of unions is none of the government’s business; or that a law against political strikes is all the country needs to protect it from the damage Red union leaders could do. It should have been obvious to Mr. Murray years ago, as it was to others, that the Communists who were worming into control of unions were up to no good. It would have been easier to keep them out then than it will be to dislodge them now. But John L. Lewis, Philip Murray and other founders of the CIO did not keep them out. What they did do was described in an open letter to Mr. Murray from John Williamson, national labor secretary of the Communist Party, in the New York Daily Worker on Sept. 25 this year. This letter said: “When Communists and left wingers were in alliance with you from 1935 to 1946; when you welcomed the cooperation of Communists in organizing the unorganized; when you hired scores of SWOC organizers and directors whom you knew to be Communists, we were no different then than we are now. Then, as now, we believed in socialism and you believed in capitalism. Nevertheless, we were able to work together on the basis of a fighting, militant trade-union program.”

IN this letter a Communist, for once, told the truth. We know, for back in those earlier years of the CIO we pub-

lished articles exposing the dangerous power Communists |

’ oy Times Publish-

were gaining in the newly organized mass unions. And for |

those exposures we were bitterly denounced by men like |

Messrs. Murray and Lewis. The Communists, as the Williamson letter says, were the same then as they are now. They got their orders from Moscow then, just as Attorney Harris agrees they do now. His present efforts are more likely to succeed, we think, if the government continues to deny National Labor Relations Board aid to unions whose officers cannot or will hot sign affidavits that they are not Communists,

Muncie: Still Has Job to Do

recent cleanup campaign led by civic leaders and cuurch groups made noticeable headway against vice in Muncie but the outbreak of murder this week in a thriving gambling joint indicates the city still has a lot more work to do. : ‘The slaying of two men in a vice den shooting brawl indicates that the underworld may have organized for a comeback to its former status.

cleanup campaigns to bring vice and crime under

rol. A program of permanent cleanups the year around n convince underworld manipulators that

Keck a,

It means that Muncie will have to conduct more than

EUROPE . . . By Ludwell Denny

France Wobbly Despite Help

Choos Seen for Nation If Foreign Aid Stops

PARIS, Oct. 14—-France will not be able to stand on her own feet by 1952 at the present rate of recovery even if Democratic coalition government follows the fallen Queuille cabinet as expected. She is ‘receiving more outside aid than any other European nation. She has more native economic resources, and a better balance between industry and agriculture. .But<results are Jfar short of her opportunity. : Her basic problems are not so much economic as fiscal and political. They ‘are problems which foreign aid ean postpone but only she herself can solve. This she is not doing. At least not fast enough. Financial instability and political instability are her curses. They have been for generations. They go together, Numerous weak political parties permit majority government only through unnatural coalitions, which are as ineffectual as they are unsteady. Sterile compromise becomes the price of political survival, and evasion safer than action,

Equalize Taxes

80 no government can be found with enough strength and courage to make taxes meet expenditures. Or to equalize the load between prosperous farmers, business profiters, and some higher paid workers on one side and—on the other side——the desperately poor labor and middle classes victimized by indirect taxes and inflation, As a result France is still a sick nation. You would not know it by looking at the gay boulevards of Paris, the luxury shops and night spots. It does not show in the beautiful and lush countryside, Over all is an air of prosperity. But it is mostly dole. It reflects the foreign ald which has been pouring in here—at a rate bf about a billion dollars a year from America, and another third of a billion indirectly from Britain and others, If that help stopped now, France. would quickly fall back toward chaos. Her officials admit this. During recent months these dangers have

been obscured not only by Marshall Plan gifts, |

but also by the blessings of God and the decline of communism. The 1948 harvest was bountiful, The Reds, by overplaying their revolutionary hand last fall, turned French labor against political strikes. :

Poor Harvest

THANKS to these three temporary factors, there was a semblance of financial and political stability.’ Now, instead of another bumper crop, this year's drought has left a poor harvest. AntiCommunist unions, which reacted against political strikes, are threatening stoppages on the wage-price issue and the Reds are rising on that wave. . These facts are beginning to correct the naive picture of recent months of French “prosperity.” But, now that sunny summer is over and a hard winter not far 6ff, it would be equally inaccurate to obscure the progress made. It is a matter of perspective, France almost went down the drain in 1947 and again last year. She is far better off now.

Prices Controlled

IF SHE has not yet licked inflation, at least prices are under partial control, the franc is fairly steady, the black market is grayer, and the budget is In a little better shape. If she Is not anywherg near balancing her foreign trade, at least she is modernizing her obsolete and war-shattered industrial plant and improving her agriculture. Production in the factories is already a quarter above prewar. If her government is still unstable, at least she escaped the civil war and dictatorship threatened by communism before. She is stronger to meet that threat when .it comes again—as it may, She has restored confidence. She is no longer paralyzed by fear. These gains have been made possible largely by foreign aid, More gains could have been made if France had eaten less and saved more. But she still has her chance, The question now is whether, by more selfsacrifice. and more self-discipline, she can make

.even better use of outside help before it stops.

FATE OF CHINA . . . By Clyde Farnsworth

Bi i ® ® 2 ig Change in Asia? | CANTON, Oct. 14 Nationalist China is either falling apart or is engaged in a major shift of battle lines that will insure long term resistance to communism from positions in Southwestern China and on the islands of Hainan and Formosa. There are two contradictory ways of reading today’s military situation. No outsider can be sure which is correct. In either case, Canton itself seems to be doomed. And there- i after the question of British recognition of the Communists will | become an issue between next-door neighbors at Hong Kong's

uneasy frontier,

The National government's final evacuation of Canton in” | favor of Chunking as its new capital is under way. An Informant claiming intimate knowledge of the Nationalists strategy insists that withdrawal into Kwantung Province and splitting of the central front in the Kwantung province border region through abandonment of Kukong were long planned as a possible alternative to an all-out contest for Kwantung |

and Canton,

Final Disaster

BY present readings of the two sides’ comparative strength in troops, arms and ammunition, such a contest might have proved to be the Nationalists’ final disaster on China's mainland. The same informant said Chiang Kai-shek is convinced that Formosa can be successfully defended against a completely hostile East China coast and that the Nationalists’ No. 1 general, fight powerfully for Kwangsi,

Pai Chung-hsi, will province.

Kwangsi soon is likely to become the battleground for the Reds’ most powerful armies—those under “Liberator of ManPiao—pitted against the strongest forces of the about 200,000 men commanded by Moslem General Pai; That is, if Lin chooses to follow General Pai and try for a

churia” Lin Nationalists,

Knockout in Kwangsi.

If he does—or even if he doesn't—Kwangsi seems destined to be the principal mainland center of the resistance to the Reds. Kwangsi, with neighboring Kweichow, Yunnan and Szechwan provinces, the western end of Kwangtung including Kuichow peninsula and the large island of Hainan at the tip of that | — would form the - Nationalists’ stronghold in the

peninsula, southwest.

Greater Base

MUCH of this area was the core of Nationalist resistance to Japan, But if Luichow peninsula and Hainan can be held, the Nationalists will have a far greater base than they had in the war

with Japan.

There is a growing Nationalist expectation that President Truman will use $75 million at his disposal to bolster the government in the southwestern strongholds as well as in Formosa. Hainan's port of Holhow and the mainland port of Pakhoi (sheltered by Luichow peninsula) would serve as port of entry

for American aid. »

If that help isn’t forthcoming and the Nationalists Southwest bloc is taken under an overpowering Red attack, the borders

| Our Changing World Sh

PEDDLER’S PASSAGE . . . By John Loveland Meeting of Home Town Natives

IT'S A PLEASURE at times to be able to drop in on an old friend to pass the time of day, especially if you are thick skinned enough to ignore the little paper rustlings on the desk signalling that you are beginning to bore, or unless you have that fine sense of good taste that forces you up and out of that chair before your old pal finds it necessary to start those signals. Not having seen him since the Peru Centennial, and wanting to compare notes, I climbed all the way up to the third floor of state police headquarters: to inquire of Lt. Lloyd Hickerson whether he had gotten completely over the beginning of the second hundred years for our old home town. Of course, Lloyd may not feel that he is a native Peruvian. I remember well that he moved to town when we were in the third grade, and his family has lived there ever since, but he needn't let that worry him, because Peru is a possessive town. If you ever spent any time there—say two months—and then get out and make your mark in the world, you become an “old Peru boy.” Witness Ole Olsen—Peru and Wabash both claim him and each has a justifiable priority to the distinction,

High School Cartoons

THE lieutenant and I reminisced for some time about the old days and even laughed about the time we collaborated in producing a cartoon for the high school year book, only to have our gag line carefully edited because of a very thinly veiled dig at one of the young ladies in the class.

ENCHANTMENT

Across the quivering strings of Life I draw my bow, And feel the vibrant thrill of time and space Through music sweet and low. And then I long to put -in words the wonder of it all! Who can doubt God and watch brown leaves fall? I sing for joy just to have lived and heard The nuances of life and love which living has not blurred!

—CHARLOTTE BRUNKER KINNEY,

the

3736 Kenwood Ave,

his home

~ . COPR. 1949 BY NEA- SERVICE. ANC. T. SL. REG. U. 8. PAT. OFF.

border several days ago.

this city.

temporary capital.

SIDE GLANCES

"Don't ask your father—he's been out of school for so long you can't expect him to know anything!"

even if President Truman hangs on to the money or doles it out -to non-Chinese in “the general area of China.” The other side of this stubbornly hopeful picture of Nationalist capabilities and intentions is that the: friction between Generalissimo Chiang and President Li Tsung-jen and.their respectve followings may be responsible for General Pai's retreat from Hunan into Kwangsi and the abandonment of the Kwangsi

Canton informants were saying President Li had prevailed upon Chiang to defend Canton by defending the Kwantung boder, after the generalissimo had insisted upon a closer defense of

Now the reported decision is—Canton somwhere between here and Kukong, 125 miles north of this

Canton may be defended but certainly not at the great

When I asked him how his “baby” was getting along; I learned that he had just put it to bed, and I hasten now to reassure his friends that he is still a confirmed bachelor, and that said “baby” is the fall edition of the State. Police magazine, the Shield, which he edits as public relations officer. While its circulation is limited to less than a’ thousand copies, there is an increasing number of good articles every quarter. You read the reports from the various posts and you feel you know the boys who patrol the highways that much better. There's one article in the Shield that deals with a hobby of muzzle loading rifles which is enjoyed by some of the state troopers. If you want an interesting account of the muzzle loader cult of Indiana, you would enjoy reading the Shield.

Fly Casting

ONE thing that won't appear in the Shield is an account of Lt. Hickerson's recent participation in the national fly casting tournament at Jeffersonville. . Lloyd placed second in national competition in the dry fly class, I learned after a few direct questions. Being rather modest, he doesn’t discuss his own prowess without a good deal of cross-examination. Rather, he preferred to tell me about casting as a hobby which is enjoyed by entire families in many cities. Indianapolis has a group of anglers who are really good, especially in the bait casting classes. Although they practice and have meets all winter, these family groups look forward to attending the national tournaments where they meet and renew acquaintances who have the same hobby. While it is enjoyed as a hobby and a pastime, the great benefit to a sportsman who casts bait on dry land is that it gives him the proper unconscious use of fishing equipment when he is actually out there thigh deep in a rifle trying to lure a big one.

No Back Lashes

IF he knows how to handle his tackle there's no time lost unsnarling backlashes, or cutting a river runt out of junior’s sweater, Lloyd feels that much of his own accuracy is helped by the fact that his height is pretty close to 6'6”. Some day I'll have to find out when he started to worship at the shrine of

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Hoosier Forum a word that you say, but | right to say

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*1 do not agree with will defend to the death your

. v Si ‘Big Share for Workers viv By H. W. Daacke, 3818 S. Olney St. : A recent Forum letter, oY rocking Nation,” - by H. F. is definitely erroneous. no of deduction can the cause of wrecking the nation be placed on the shoulders of the workers of brain and brawn that process the natural resources of the wountry into the finished product, the three essentials of life—food, cloth , shelter. : "8 have no idea what Abraham Lincoln would think, but I do know from history what he said - during life: “Inasmuch as all the good things .& of life are produced by labor, it is only just -. and fair that he should receive the larger por tion of same.” All the pensions, social insurance, etc., the =~! workers have received to date would still leave : them far short of the portion suggested by - Lincoln. . ’ : After nearly 500 years of stewardship, the <I: pioneers and their decendants have made such a mess of it that they should give it back to the Indians with apologies for their failure in improving their Jegacy. The American Indian : lacked the good things of life, only if and when 3 there was a shortage of them. But the pioneers buy and their dependents suffer the lack of them "> when we have overproduction of same. The ex *' pression “overproduction” is Incorrect since the & worker could consume them if they were avail- g able with a just distribution as suggested by °Z Honest Abe. ! 4 The great statesman, Thomas Jefférson, said, “It is not only the right, but the duty to overthrow, by the ballot box, any government that does not serve all its people evenly and fairly.” “Wastrels?” Made so periodically by the system of boom and bust. “Thou shalt not work” to the sum total of up to 15 millions of workers oh a forced vacation, to enjoy the bounties of soup kitchens, bread lines, etc. ® ¢ ¢ ae ‘City’s Housing Deplorable’ By Irwin Katz, 1814 N. Illinois St. : ~ There are several facts that were overlooked = in The Times editorial on public housing. ™ The construction of new housing units iy = the first four post-war years has not even met # current requirements; it has just barely man. '2 aged to keep pace with the increase in popula« tion, demolitions, etc. The waiting list of 1400 families for housing in Tyndall Towne and the Marion County, trailer population of 3000 families, as of now, '- iidicates that the housing problem is as acuta ** as it was immediately after the end of the war, That the housing problem is capable of solu" tion has been proven by the experience of other cities which, by the use of public housing au- ~~ thorities, have succeeded in bringing their hous | ing problems closer to solution. 2 I think that the questions raised in The :’ Times editorial at this late date can serve only as a smokescreen to hide the deplorable state _ *of Indianapolis housing. I do not think that a ol public housing authority can completely solve this problem, but it can give us a good start, . _,

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® & o “3 ‘Arms Merry-Go-Round’ : By C. D. C.. Terre Haute, Ind®ina i

I don’t believe any New Dealer can deny i that we furnished some of the scrap iron for. the Japs to build a mighty war machine to fight us. The result was a few ghouls got their profits _ and a lot of our boys died to keep the flag A

. flying.

I don’t know whether we are still sending war materials to Russia or not but we might iZ just as well be. Under the Marshall Plan we" are furnishing the money to keep England's & socialist government going and they are furs®. nishing the Russians airplane motors. Yes, it ¢- is quite a merry-go-round we are having under the Fair Deal. We are going to arm the coun~ ** tries of Central Europe and be sure everyone “X is ready for war, i Stalin knows we are the real enemy he will ** have to fight and if there is a war he will ™ certainly try to take care of us first and Europe later. Asia is already being taken care of by ** the Communists. ; ¢ > ¢

‘How Times Have Changed’ By Charles W. Burton, 911 E. Maryland St. jd President Lincoln delivered the following message to Congress in 1861: “Labor is prior to and independent of capi’ tal. Capital is only the fruit of labor and could xc never have existed if labor had not first existed, ¢ Labor is the superior of capital and deserves it much higher consideration.” . i If Lincoln were President and were to dee = liver such a message to Congress today, he probably would be called a fellow traveler,

Isaac Walton, How times have changed. E By Galbraith | ‘WORK-TO-RULE'. . . By E. T. Leech 8

worth a week,

i Is to be defended members.

expense of troops and ammunition needed for the prospective of Yunnan Province, it is said, will become the Nationalist final | defense in the Southwest, Moreover, more than one Nationalist line of defense on the elsewhere would be | is convinced that the best way of spoiling any British made on Hainan and Formosa. : of the Communists would be to allow the Reds to move down to But the Nationalists say that couldn't be for many months yet, | the borders of British territories. : a a RE ST HLS EA ge a 2 2

a Eke ales ans =

British Slow-Down

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 Britain's favorite form of”strike! is the slow-down—the “work-to-rule,” as they call it. 33 Workers suddenly start observing every rule and regulation ! to the letter, which cuts output to a trickle. 4 Railroad workers—who have been trying to get a $2 a week raise for over two years—have done this repeatedly. So have others. Now the meat handlers at London's great Smithfield Market are observing the rules so explicitly that it takes eight hours to do work formerly done in five. It probably isn’t inténtional, but this type of strike has real significance. It is typical of Britain today. The entire English economy is swamped with rules and regulations imposed as part of a fully planned state. Business has so many rules to follow, forms to fill out and permits to obtain that the whole British economy more or less “works ie rule.” This has helped to retard production and hike prices, Shorter hours and a general easing up of effort also have cofi= tributed their share to British business troubles.

Grave Crisis

BUT the great problem—as emphasized by the meat slows down-—is that the English people don’t realize they are in 3

The increased ration meant that the market workers had to handle more meat. They couldn't work just 30 hours of a supposed 44-hour week. That cut into their loafing time or their ability to hold side jobs. 30-hour week with 44 hours’ pay.

Enforce Demand

THE slow-down-—which was unauthorized and illegal, as are almost all British strikes—was called to enforce this de mand. Union leaders denounced it. But union léaders in Britain largely have lost authority over the memberships. Being a part of the Labor Party government, lected union heads have ° to support official policies. This means they often have to oppose their own members. The meat slow-down is The action of this one small union is indicative of the of many of Britain's troubles. » Now that unions run the government and manage industries, their elected leaders have lost contact with and control of their

They have not been told the full truth about the grave crisis confronting them. There is public apathy and resistance to necessary remedies because the average Britisher doesn't reals’ ize anything is wrong. The present meat slow-down is a by-product of the ra low British meat ration—which formerly permitted only 19 rents’ worth of meat per person per week (at the new currency * value). As a result, the meat handlers didn't need to work a full day. They were supposed to work 44 hours a week, but did their jobs in not over five hours a day. The rest of the time they either loafed or carried on part-time jobs. Recently the meat ration was raised from 19 to 26 cents’

So the market workers demanded a

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Shorter hours, less production and a plodding observance of rules and regulations are pretty much a national policy. A ! work-to-rule slow-down merely exaggerates a general condition, } All Britain under its planned economy is ing le and therefore slowing down. news worse—for the time when it fin can no longer be

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Permane

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