Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 18 March 1950 — Page 10

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FALTER CHGKRONE HET W WAR MANZ _ “Bditor

1 10 SE Mar, HG

ST CRERERINT

Versa by chetie r fo gr a Me, pt i me in ht As month pi a i i Cn Telephone Ri ley 555) a

Give Tdohs and the Paonie Wik Pian That Now Far

Bood but Not EABeh

AST YEAP Congress talked much about economy. But;

by the time it had passed a dozen or more separate appropriation bills, it had provided for even more deficit spend. ing than President Truman proposed. “This year Congress is trying a appropriation measure. All spending items, except Marshall Plan foreign aid, which requires separate legislation, and

such things as interest on the public debt, which can’t be

cut, are to be combined in one big bill,

For the items covered by this omnibus bill Mr. Truman

asked $30,326,000,000. The House Appropriations Com‘mittee now has agreed tentatively to reduce that total by $1,213.000,000. That much saving would be a lot better than spending “more than the President requested.

BUT there still is no assurance that that much saving will be accomplished. It won't be if log-rolling in the House and the Senate restores the amounts cut off by the committee or boosts total spending above the Truman budget estimates. ‘And, even if Congress does save $1,213,000,000, government spending in the fiscal year beginning next July 1 still will be over $4 billion more than the government's anticipated income. And if Congress cuts excise or other taxes, without providing for replacement revenue, the federal deficit and the public debt will be still further increased. The one big appropriation bill idea is good. But it will take more than a good idek to balance the government's budget and get this country back to a safe and sound fiscal

policy.

Total spending should be cut to at least a few dollars

less than total revenue.

‘But Not at Any Price’ ie

CONTINUING his campaign to win friends and influence “Russians, Secretary of State Acheson has called on Soviet Russia to demonstrate her desire for peace by easing world tensions, particularly with the United States. And then he said: “We want peace, but not at any rice.” - * That is precisely how we feel about it, and we think the American public will applaud the sentiment. J "Mr. Acheson is said to have taken three months to draft this speech, which he delivered at the University of California. The inference is that it is more than a major policy statement—that it actually bespeaks a major shift of policy. We hope it does.

» » Ld ” ” ”. IF IT medns that we're finally blowing the whistle on _ Russia, that she must quit stalling on the peace treaties, "withdraw her military forces from the puppet states, stop harassing American officials and citizens abroad, end ag: gression via the Communist Party and join in an effective atomic control plan— peasing Russia is over, we're all for it. Mr. Acheson's seven-point program, as he admits, does not promise “the Kingdom of Heaven,’ but it serves ad-

~=mirably-to-point up the main indictments against anim:

placable adversary and to declare that « on these issues America is taking a firm stand. : _To that end we commend the Secretary of State in his resolution.

It's Only Money HE State Department estimates it-will need an appropriation of $456,550 for the travel expenses of its personnel in the next fiscal year. Among items making up the total is an outlay to send 12 foreign service officers back from their overseas posts to serve on selection boards which decide on promo. tions. Cost of one round trip is $1615. Chairman John J. Rooney (D. N. Y.) of a House Appropriations Subcommittee wanted to know why foreign service officers in Washington couldn't be put on the selection boards. ow . ". wow oe WELL, it's like“this, a department official explained to the committee hearing: “We could take those on duty

here and put them on these boards. but as. a matter. ef. ..

policy, we have discouraged that for the obvious reason that many of the good officers are in Washington, and when the promotion list ‘comes out you will find as a rule that many of the names on it are on duty in the department. sri - omens “In order not te give any impressions that the board is favoring those. in the office here, we usually draw this selection. board from the field.” . Which delicate thought, as Chairman Roonéy observed, costs the taxpayers $19,380. It's"only money—but $19,380 represents the total federal income tax ‘which 95 married men (with two children each) must pay this year on incomes of $4000. “

‘Relief for War Victims

' ALTHOUGH World*War IT ended nearly five years ago, millions of displaced persons and’ refugees-in Europe are still in desperate need of outside help to survive in their war-ravaged lands. °

Ong of the outstanding organizations that have been

“providing money and goods for rehabilitation of these

_millions is the Bishop's Fund for the Victims of War, spon- -

“sored by the National Catholic Welfare Conference. : oo ' EVERY Catholic parish in Indian napolis. and elsewhere

7 the United States will open the campaign tomorrow by i contributing to the $5 million fund fixed as the minimum to “provide food, clothing and resettlement for the vietinty of - “War during the next year,

_ Contributions to this will mean more than ust

material aid for victims of war. They will comprise a sym-

of good.» will | from America to the pe peoples of other lands:

If, in short, it means that the era of coddling and ap-

“Fihought-a Kponaerng TR seA -

MINING . .. By Fred W. Paki S Coal Industry =. Probe Fading

Operators Opposing 9 = Union Only Lukewarm

7 WASHINGTON, Mar. 18 -- President Tru-

man's proposal for an official inquiry to see

what's wrong with the coal-mining industry is

losing the momentum: it had before the big coal strike ended 10 days ago. Coal management is i and the United Mine Workers Union is only lukewarm about it at best, and actively opposed if the inquiry goes into its internal affairs. Management spokesmen point out that the industry has been investigated more than once, and the problems remain. essentially the same. The most extensive inquiry was begun in 1922 by a commission headed by John Hays Hammond, distinguished engineer. It -diagnosed the industry's principal “ills in a four: ; volume report but did not attempt to. prescribe cures,

Cause. of Strikes’. Y

THE Hammond inquiry was called for ny President Harding in the midst of a coal strike. Mr, Harding said that the country was “at the mercy of the United Mine Workers.” John D. Battle, executive secretary of the National Coal Association, representing the soft coal industry, said, "We see nothing to be accomplished by an investigation unless there be a sincere inquiry into the cause and effects of great strikes like the recent one.” Some members of Congress, including Sen. Robert A. Taft (R. 0.) hold that the affairs. of the industry and those of the United Mine Workers are so intertwined that it would be useless or impossible to look into one and not the other, Inclusion of the union would open the way for investigators to inquire into the control of the union by John 1. Lewis, the effect on management and the gountry of industry-wide bar. gaining, and the handling of the union's wel. fare and retirement fund.

Production Evils

: THE miners’ union has always fought governmental interference or scrutiny into its affairs. In addition to. its recurrent lahor troubles, the industry in normal times is a constant sufferer from overproductiod and price-cutting.

These evils were given thorough goings-over -

in Congressional hearings that preceded enact. ment in 1935 of the first coal stabilization law. This law was declared unconstitutional and a ‘successor statute, fashioned to meet Supreme Court objections, was allowed to die in the early years of the war, ‘The mine workers’ welfare and pension fund, Inactive for several months because its money ran out, is now being revitalized by payments of “back dues” from operators. Payments under the new schedule of 30 cents for each ton of production are tn start #00n under the new contract, but the fund offi

clals. are making only the preliminary moves

toward restarting the program.

Retiring Trustees

WHEN the fund gets back inte normal operas tion. two of the trustees are expected to retire. They are Mr, Lewis, for the union, and Charles A. Owen, of New York, for the operators, Mr, Lewis is expected to name Thomas Kennedy, vice president of the Mine Workers, as his successor, Mr. Owen accepted the assignment on a temporary basis. Whatever happens to the trustee the union is not likely to lose full control. as the third or “neutral” member of the board is Miss Josephine Roche, director of the program and a long-time associate of Mr. Lewis,

APPRECIATING HANDS

I bowed before the marble form, 80 proudly placed for all to see; And could not stay the wandering thoughts, - That tarried in the mind of me. The hands so perfect, without flaw, Tha} lay upon¢the knee, Could they be truly copled-right,-Were any so fully blemish free. Mine are a roughened, tergible sight,

personnel,

Of humble work I daily knew; And felt the needle-pricked finger tips, That stayed when work was through, The wrinkles on the backs I read, Speaking of years I sometimes rue, The scars where knife ruled viciously, And a broken nail or two, My hands are beautiful to me.

~—Josephine Buck, Westfield, Ind.

PRICE SUPPORTS . . . By Eorl Richert -

Farm Plan Weakness

WASHINGTON, Mar. 18 Why is the government's price support program proving to be a gravy train for so many farmers? It was set up in the Thirties to keep farmers from losing their

shirts,

But instead. it's producing winter vacations in Florida and

‘The new gimmick added in the —Hotise would require the Fed:

not merely to investigate and

RESEARCH .

. By Marquhs Childs

Peril to Science Freedom Seen

and into making detorminations, the Attorney

WASHINGTON, Mar. 18--The frightened men who are chipping away at basic American freedoms succeeded in putting a new and un-

precedented kind of padlock in an otherwise de--

sirable bill, That is the National Science Foundation Bill, which is now awaiting final action, As passed by the Senate, the Science Foundation Bill did not contain the new gimmick.

eral Bureau of Investigation report on the loyalty of individuals but to pass on its own reports and declare the individual approved or disapproved. This would give the FBI the same kind of authority that the Gestapo had in Nazi Germany. It would be detective, policeman, judge and jury all rolled into one, These are the powers exercised by Stalin's secret police ip Russia. FBI Director J. ‘Edgar Hoover always. has asserted that he does not want this ¥fhd of un-

Mr. Hoover

* American authority.

In a forceful letter, the position of the Department of Justice on this unprecedented grant of authority has heen made plain to committees of House and Senate that will take final action. The letter sent to committee members ig signed by Peyton Ford, assistant to the Attorney

General.

Criticism of Bureau

IN the opinion of FBI. Director Hoover, according to the letter, “such legislation would constitute a clear departure from accepted fundamental theories of American government and

: lay a foundation for criticism of the bureau as Rl BALD ‘police’ organization.”

This should make Rep. Howard Smith >. Va.) and the others who backed the amendment in the House to.take a long second look. The charitable assumption is that they did not know what they were doing and now they. have been told by an expert, The letter adds that the reputation of the

bureau as an “impartial investigatiye. agency".

would he seriously impaired: if such-a provision were to be enacted into law. The FBI is not equipped to go beyond the field of investigation

SIDE GLANCES

General's assistant pointed out. The Department of Justice letter stresses another dangerously unprecedented feature of the 8mith amendment, It provides that anyone who has “at any time been a member of any arganization declared subversive by the Attorney General” shall be found disloyal and therefore ineligible for a science scholarship or for employment by the Science Foundation. : ___This overlooks, the Justice Department letter points out, two things. First, some persons innocently join “front” organizations and then resign when they have discovered their true nature, Possible Disloyalty

BUT second, and more important, under the administration's loyalty program “membership

Congress is deeply disturbed over the Mundt Bill, which, if passed, would give a politically appointed government bureau life and death

over liberal and progressive organizations. Many organiza : prominent individ

uals are on record opposing this legislation. The %

organizations include the Baptist Ministers Conference, AFL, CIO, Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, NAACP, the American. Civ) Livers ties Union, and many others. The proponents of the sit would have ihe American people believe that it is a measure to control the Communibts in our country, whereas actually the bill has such a sweeping range it would outlaw not only the Communist Party - but many organizations whose policies include Facial.

ARAInaL. discrimination... ‘tional health insurance, federal housing, extend

ed social security, repeal of Taft-Hartley, and for effective peace measures, Labor unions could be wiped out as Communist front organizations not only for their . policies but for’ holding . closed meetings and refusing to list their members, Sen. Harley Kilgore, who voted for the bill in Committee, has since declared it is “a dangerous proposal” which might be turned against labor,

* Sen, Fates Kefauver, who also voted for the bill

in committee, has since characterized the bill as dangerous to freedom of speech and press. Sen, William Langer describes it ‘as “the greatest threat to American civil 1berties since the alien and sedition laws of 1798.” The recent hysterical charged in Washington against a mild liberal like Dorothy Kenyon show the lengths to which prosecutions would be pushed if this bill becomes law. We are not being unduly alarmist when we say that passage of this legislation will so intimidate many progressive and liberal Americans that it will be nearly impossible to gain adequate support for winning even minimum safeguards for peace, economic security, and

civil rights.

in an organization on the Attorney General's °

list is regarded as merely one piece of evidence pointing to possible disloyalty.” The loyalty program enables an employee who is a member of a listed organization to respond to charges against him and to show that + his-membership is innocent and does not reflect “pon ‘his loyalty. . “This opportunity to defend oneself in a manner consistent with American concepts of justice and fairness is lacking from the amendments,” the letter said. It is also lacking, one might add, from the McCarthy technique in the Senate, The Department of Justice letter is a good statement. Unless the dangerous amendments are knocked out in a final conference in Senate and House, the President probably will have to veto the whole bill. This raises an extremely interesting question: How much harm to national security. is being done hy‘ these frightened men who are determined to put chai around freedom?

Re rch Retarded RE aia

RECENTLY I spent sevéral hours with some scientists in one of our great universities. They were in agreement that research on government sponsored “scientific projects was being retarded by the excessive emphasis on screening, investigating and loyalty. They cited instances of promising younger men who had refused government offers. even though they paid higher salaries, to remain in

The haste with which the measure was passed out of committee leads us to believe that the supporters of the bill plan to push it through the Senate before the American people know what is happening to them. : :

‘Forceful Law Needed’ By Mrs. H. R.

This is thanks to The Times for running a series of articles on sex crimes by Andrew Tully, It is something I had longed for and hoped to see, as I believe this is a subject that has long been neglected and only by spotlighting it, as you are doing, can and must desired results be brought.

It's strange but the majority of people néver

SOP DB2.....coiecimn

A TT

49 has been Killed. For the Tite of me, I can- — not ynderstand-how so many parents call remain

sq complacent over this situation, I have long tried to stir up interest and really do something about it, for to me, as a parent, it is the wmost important pbablem facing us today, That is, getting a new law to put away these sex vultures for life, at the first inkling of their depraved actions. I think a first offense is a forerunner of a murder and all the psychi-

° atry or religion in the world will never change

teaching or in private research for the reason

that they did not propose to subject themselves

them and I, for one, will never feel at peace till they are hehind bars forever. I wrote before asking someone to “free our children from fear" and that should be a slogan for a new and forceful law. :

Views on the News By DAN KIDNEY

THAT million dollars John L. Lewis offered the Chrysler strikers may be money he had been saving for his 1950 Taft-Hartley fine.

UNLESS they get some action soon, Presi. dent Truman ean label the 81st the “super-do-nothing Congress.”

SOME Congressmen who are trying to figurs out why - more people don't vote could do it with mirrors. }

«-

free delivery) plan for farm votes.

IF fying discmen are “casing thjs joint,” they undoubtedly will decide they don't want it,

THERE is more coin to be made by one converted Commie than 99 just-Americans.

SLOGAN for Winston Churchill--There will always be an England, provided I can run it.

THE Big Three are going to meet to discuss the difficulties of the Biggest Two. :

.- By Galbraith NO SIMPLE ANSWER .". .-By Bruce Biossot

Answer,

Facing Realities ~~.

WASHINGTON, Mar. 18-The easy solution is a will o' the wisp Americans still pursue in an age when easy solutions almost never are found. In a world with little simplicity left, we yearn for the simple At a time when virtually all issues come through in

“WHAT this eee rural

“muta IE get

summer cabins in the Rockies {dr many of the big farmers while

the government-goes on piling up billions of dollars worth of farm surplus.. Chief reason for this situation “is the government's farm price support formula, the com-

_ plicated ‘mathematical. calenla~

tion by which the government arrives at the so-called parity tor fair) price for a bushel of wheat or a dozen eggs. » ¥ s f SOLE objective of this fora price for a bushel. of wheat or a pound of cotlon that would enable the farmer to buy as much with the proceeds as he could im _ 1010-14. : It doesn’t take into’ account the fact that most farmers are growing more bushels of wheat and pounds of cotton per acre than in 1910-14, or that their costs of production are cheaper because of increaseq mechani zation, Take wheat. Last summer when the government support price was fixed on the 1049 wheat crop, the formula said that wheat farmers on the Average should receive $2.17 _ per bushel to he able to buy as much as they eould in 1010-14 when wheat prices av eraged 88 cents a bushel, ® » ~

partment is ordered by law te support wheat price¥ at®90 per cent of parity, the government support price was fixed at an average of $1.95 a bushel

- for the nation as a whole. The,

wheat farmer, if he h roper storage, could go Ao 1h Pier “ernment ‘and get a loan of -$1.95 a bushel, If prices ‘fatled to go- nigher than that . he would turn the wheat over to. the government, If prices

SINCE the Agriculture De- :

did go higher he would repay

.the loan and sell on the open

market,’

Agriculture Secretary

Charles Brannan revealed last = Week that the cost. of .Prodyos . wm tion in the Great Plains aver.

ages less than $1.10 a bushel. The wheat farmer also has ‘been’ getting ‘more bushels of

. ‘wheat off an acre of land than. in 1910-14.

Boole

CONSIDER CORN, Henry Wallace's hybrid seed

corn and other improved grow-

ing methods, corn farmers in

~1949 grew 39 bushels to the

acre, 13 bushels more per acre than the 1810-14 average. And the government's support farmula is concerned only with the price the farmer receives per bushel. The government support price is $1.40 per bushel and one agriculture official said that average cost of prodiction wouldn't exceed $1 a bushel.

THEN COTTON, Cotton

fields last year produced more

than 285 pounds per acre; the average in 1910-14 was 200

pounds. At 90 per cent of par-

ity support, the government is trying to Keep each one of these pounds buying nearly as much for the farmer as he got in 1910-14 when he produced 83 less pounds per acre, The government now . has nearly $3 billion invested in

heal, cotton -and Lorn alone.

THERE'S the classic case of

potatoes, Potato Tarmers: last year produced 211 bushels per

“acre countrywide, with many areas growing over 400 bushels

per acre. The natjon-wide averLN

With

OPK. 1960 BY NEA SERVICE, NC. T. M. REG. Ui. §. PAT. OFF, “Don’t you think you'd better Hepend on di ieting to reduce #ifl we can afford a larger apartment?”

age in 1910-14 was 100 bushels per acre. That shows why potato farmers can still do well with government support prices

, lowered to 60 per cent of par-

ity. Some agriculture officials say they would do well at even

50 per cent of parity.

"ac,

AND EGGS. The average

hen ‘last vear produced 136 ‘egg®. 50 more than in the 1910.

14 period. ania explains why

egg production along and the government is buying

at 4, NSU clip avy: aug |

- government support taro were

lowered at the start of this year from 90 to ™ per cent of parity. Some of the bonanza will go

out of the farm picture this _ and costly job. Are we prepared to face that fact and fis

Year with acreage tuthacks on cotton, corn and wheat for the

first time since the war. €Con-

tiéls have been in effect on peanuts and tobacco, But if the farmers get good yields, the government's price-support system will provide good prices on what they're permiten 1.

grow.

_ problems.

So powerful is this urge that it blinds us to the plainest facts of even recent history. Thus many of us ignore the Russians’ shocking record of obstruction in - international

““eonferences, and suggest that” everything will be fine if "Pre-

mier Stalin and President Tru-

man. could just get: around a ‘~~

table again. » ® »

THERE isn't’ a_microscopie

bit of. evidence to indicate that another meeting with the men

"in the Kremlin would be any

more productive of real peace than past parleys. That Henry Wallace's Progressive Party ‘ever enjoyed any popular following at all is another mark of the impulse in people toward comfortable answers to uncomfortable

The party promised that peace and security would be born without accompanyigg pain. The sign was out: AH grievances fixed cheap. td - »- 3 A GOOD many Americans tend to think of the nation's

defense in the same way. The

notion is that if we can just

get enough A and H bombs

and the planes to carry them, “we'll be all set.

But safeguarding the United States is actually a complex

consequences?

There's a slim, ‘doubt; too, .

that the current surge of isola-

tionism in the country “is fed

by the compulsion to seek easy solutions. If Kurope and Asia are chaotic, what's simpler than to turn our backs upon - them? - |

ALL this vending is understandable, for nobody exactly thrives on strain and confusion and uncertainty. -

But we must realize that the’ urge IE primarily “emotional, - It’s a recoiling from trouble, a

running away front reality, And we simply can't) afford this escapism. There aren't any short cuts to peace Wad security and we'll ‘save breath for mere realistic tasks if we stop prattling about

"quick treatment of our ills. » » »

" government

THE brutal truth is that there is nothing ahead but tension and crisis. Whatever solutions we manage to achieve in this age will be hard-won. Our job is to face up to the realities and support leaders in who show the

. same courage, Only that way

can we steer a sane course in today's unsimple world. 3 i . oi

Barbs

LIVE as the young do and you'll be young, says a doctor, The trouble is, old people aren't willing. to settle down that way.

NEW bathing suits remind us: Maybe we should revise the ‘old grammar and change the old-fashioned feminine gender to nuder.

IT'S unhealthful to suppreds

‘a laugh, according to a doctor,

And just as unhealthful, sometimes, to laugh at the wrong time.

SHAKESPEARE said thers _ arg seven, emo? man's lite, e was no into details about the the ladies.

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