Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 December 1950 — Page 18

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‘ROY W, HOWARD _ WALTER LECKRONE HENRY W. MANZ

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§ EDITOR'S NOTES: «12%.

PAGE 18

Telephone RI

Sunday, Dec. 24, 1950

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@ive LAght end the People Will Find Thole Own Wey

Voting Machines or Paper Ballots? A REQUEST has been made by the Marion County Election Board for 200 new voting machines for the 1952 elections at a cost of approximately $350,000. : That's a lot of money, especially in view of the don-

stantly rising costs of government and the already too heavy

tax burden.

‘that if the county doesn’t buy

the new machines that paper ballots will have to be used

in a great many precincts for the primary balloting in May

of 1952. : THE question the taxpayers will

whether a return to paper ballots and the attending irregularities, frauds and “miscounts” would be better than spending a huge sum for. enough voting machines to equip all

precincts,

Assurance of an honest count in balloting, which is the very foundation of democracy, protecting the rights of a free people, seems to us as the most important consideration. Since Marion County has undertaken mechanization of primary balloting the last two elections, it ought to be continued for all voters . . . not for only a part of them.

Everybody Can't Escalate

ANY hundreds of thousands of organized workers now

» . ™ have to decide is

have inflation insurance in the form of “escalator”

wage contracts. Varying in details, these contracts e

mbody the general

principle of the five-year agreement signed last May— before Korea—by General Motors and the CIO United

Auto Workers.

®

They provide that wage rates shall be adjusted upward or downward automatically as the government's cost-of-

living index rises or falls.

The escalator provision is the chief concession won by 300,000 railroad workers whose long wage dispute has just been settled by an agreement which government officials

helped to bring about.

yw

FORD, Chrysler gnd several smaller automobile com-

panies have made GM-type escalator

agreements since

May. The National Industrial Conference Board reports a rapid trend toward such agreements, chiefly inspired by CIO unions, in the electrical, chemical and other industries. This week C. E. Wilson, president of General Motors,

and Walter Reuther, president of the CI both urged the government's economic interfere with such agreements where t

adopt their basic principle as a pattern for other industries °

during the present national emergency.

O Auto Workers, stabilizers not to hey exist and to

» »

That, they held, is necessary to achieve maximum production and avoid industrial unrest—in other words, to prevent wage disputes and strikes which would restrict output of defense material and civilian goods. But, Mr. Wilson added, the automatic adjustment of

wages to keep up with changes in the cost of living york with his wife and mother-in-law, to attend corresponding automatic

“necessarily will require a

adjustment of prices covering tlie increased costs resulting

from the wage adjustments.”

- » ” TO THIS newspaper, that seems to mean that, because prices have risen, wages must rise, and that, because wages rise, prices must rise again. We wonder where, and when,

that process would end. : ay The escalator principle’s advantages tected by it are obvious and great. It

to workers pro-

is, essentially, a

device for maintaining their living standards, no matter

how high prices go.

But if the rearmament and mobilization effort means

a reduced supply of civilian goods and

services—and an

effort adequate to our danger must mean that—-wer+bagy’s

living standards cannot be maintained. This" newspaper does not believe

workers, persons dependent on pensions all those who have no automatic means o

that organized

kers can be insured against. inflation except. atthe. Sullivan opers nse of millions of other Americans—unorganized °"°

or fixed incomes, f escalation. The

only way that's fair to all is to use fitmly now every

weapon of taxation, credit restriction control that’s necessary to stop inflation.

Lewis Behavior-Pattern OHN L. LEWIS, the professional conco

and price-wage

nformist, already

Is acting like a man who has no intention of co-operating

with the government in the current eme He has signified refusal to recognize

rgency. the authority of

the Wage Stabilization Board, and he sent an underling to a meeting of top labor and government people in

Washington. Mr, Lewis, who ordered four coal » & critical war year, clearly would not hes defense activity in another crisis. The United Mine Workers’ contract until Apr. 1, 1951. That gives President key labor advisers about three months in to deal with Mr. Lewis this time. They

strikes in 1943, itate to interrupt

does not expire Truman and his which to prepare should be ready

for any eventuality and should be equipped to cope swiftly with any serious interference with the flow of vital fuel

to defense industries.

We'll Show ‘Em

(OPERATING expenses of the United Nations run about

$40 million a year.

American taxpayers, as was generously agreed for

them at the United Nations founding,

pay the biggest

share of that—nearly 40 per cent. Britain pays 11.37

per cent, Russia 6.34 per cent.

The U. 8. delegation at Lake Success recently started

boasts that Soviet industrial output had

8 campaign to have Russia pay more, based on Moscow

vastly increased.

y be interested in the outcome of that ‘The committee, by a vote of 37 to 7, upped much? From 6.34 per cent to 6.98 per L will drop from 39.70 to 38.92

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RL | pe

IT WASN'T surprising Wat the Phvernment eroment of the United States ran into trouble when it

are undertook to roll back some automobile prices tors for the other day. : ds This v That first tentative move against inflation wanted had begun at the wrong end of the line. as a Automobiles are made prin y out of steel omy. No and labor. Steel is made mostly out of iron ore’ ' ings unl could be

_ and labor and coal, and iron ore and coal are thémselves almost entirely the product of labor. “The price at which the end product, in this case automobiles, can be sold is mostly “made up of ; P the total of all thes¥ costs that go into it, evade that basic rule. The “request” that prices form of lower quality, or less quantity, but up, eo.» b+ ® | : Li ;. up SO WHEN the nation's new economic stabil- - looked very much like an attémpt to fix prices .. In the first two years of that effort prices izers asked a couple of automobile manufactur- ? PT

p

ers to “roll back” their 1950 prices to the Decem- - x Eat ol - ? bitter ax ber 1 (or 1950) price level, naturally these man- 1950—Ni : Befo e hristmas x ufacturers refused. Then when they invoked y oF 5 } PHRLS eed that compulsory roll-backs, which President Truman x : is ‘a gary. i had threatened to use a few days before, they he 4 8 o.oo @ ihe pay on hit still more oppesition. The people seemed A ed pe a generally to want prices stabilized:- But the auto Se ; & el industry order seemed to many to be simply vin- 2 t dictive and obviously it hadn't even scratched °' done about the surface of inflation. done The problem lay, mostly, in wages. Wages

are by no means the only cost in the making of ._ automobiles, Materials, such as steel and many ; ; ; —But many of —— those, such as steel, are in themselves made up i largely of the cost of labor which makes production possible, : : "Workers are faced with a sharp increase in the costs of the things they must: buy, Living costs are up, and apparently going up more, To each of us a rise in the price of what we buy is A

None were attempted on any consumer goods, x * &-@ : IN THE Second World War efforts were made to establish price ceilings on both basio and retail levels. They failed, in part, because of political attempts to let wages rise, or ap pear to rise, while prices were held steady. Here we go again. : Political administrations find it difficult to as ob a 8 ¥ face economic facts. One they have not as yet a 3 po. & = 7 4 seen clearly in this crisis is that living standards i A y : inevitably must fall, and fall enough to equal the total cost of the whole deferise establish ment.

inflation. So each of us demands that prices be . on the things we .

kept from going higher . want to buy. It isn't that simple. Since work is at the bottom of almost every selling cost, the price of labor cannot go on up while the selling price of that labor, made into automobiles or shoes or anything else is frozen. Ve Nobody wants to freeze wages. It is supposed -. to be politically disastrous, and even if it were not, it would be unpopular. Oddly enough, the folks who are reluctant, as a class, to do so are the employers who pay the wages. They may resist wage increases, and generally do, because they feel they must. If wages go to the point where they make selling prices higher, the employer might find himself without a market for his goods. If they stay lower than other employ-

Mn,

and prices stay down and we can still equip an army and navy for war, ~~ The sooner we recognize that wages and prices; actually, cannot be controlled, but that incomes and living costs might be, the sooner we will be on the road to some degree of control over inflation.

FOSTER'S FOLLIES . . . By Ben Fosfer E The Little Sop ! Loved His Pop

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla—An Oklahoma City professor said he felt fine after drinking from a pop bottle that contained a dead mouse, in order to win a lawsuit.

It seems to us we smell a rat, There's something that's awry,

DEAR BOSS . . . By Dan Kidney

Humbugs Left For Holidays

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 Hoosier voters who think and say that Washington is full of humbugs, should have a happy Christmas. Most of them have left town. " . President Truman is back in Independence, Mo., and the Congressmen and Senators also “have gone home. oa ane That leaves the bureaucrats here shivering in their boots over the rumor that Russia will take this holy season to drop an A-bomb. As a Christmas present that, of course, is some-

What caused the mouse to die?

"Twould be a far much better tale,

thing you don't ask for from Santa Claus. ~~ # / Some observers here feel that nothing short ‘ g " And all our doubts allay, of such an attack will unite the U. S. They have \ . Had this poor mouse passed o'er the historical precedent of Pearl Harbor, where. HEAD PROTECTOR oo oo By Frederick C. Othman the vale— the Jap bombs finally brought us to our senses, - Within a “pousse” cafe, * % ¢

Two Bloc-Meads

YET the same men who were drawing back at that time are in the saddle again. Sen. Robert « A. Taft (R. 0.) thwarted an all-out move to have the administration act in this crisis, And while - he stopped the Senate measure, Rep. Charles A. Halleck, Rensselaer Republican, was doing the same thing in the House. They thus were termed the two Republican bloe-heads. The House next day failed to raise a quorum, so the whole business was put off until after Christmas. One of the reasons given was the absence of Mr. Halleck, who went over to New

Senate Press Box Bound to Be Subject of Great Controversy

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23—You can't blame There is a vice versa to this. The Senators the Veep, who has to sit directly under the cannot see the correspondents. And how can a Senate press gallery, from being a little chary lawgiver deliver a proper oration unless he about getting buzz-bombed. He still has hair on knows the writers are above to take down his his head, but not enough to provide protection deathless words?

Against Missliea from shove, . : The seats of the blindfolded correspondents, - bat Th an u . Rena business, 1 must admit, are super de luxe: Big, fat, soft it is still early. By the time the meetings are a Bo} P ce President Alben W. leather stools with sponge rubber stuffing. Only out of the way we hope someone in Ba an : ey are so wide and placed so close together in *. good daz. bas -Sufs-. ---that allimportant. front. row that.I predict seri- _Aprovts a few — Meas, : : 2 . Be Se Sus delays in bulletins from the legislative hall. s e scribbl ) r Bear alstes ~ The oribblers simply can t untangle their . legs

: 108 aceiden Here, directly over the Veep and separated by the bus from him by that chunk of yellow marble, sit Sen. Homer E. Capehart (R. Ind.) is spend- Y the press association gents; two for the United ing the holiday in Florida with his family and Scribes above Press, two for the Associated Press, and two Sen. William E. Jenner (R. Ind.) is back in i ty t : for the International News. That makes six Bedford. ostly this stools, but the architects (who never forget

NEW YORK CITY hopes to relieve traffie congestion with extensive use of staggeredetraffic lights. ; : ; Now if someone can just find a way to eliminate the staggering drivers, everything should be just fine, :

and Defense Ministers of the twelve Atlantis Pact countries meeting in Belgium, haven't come up with anything too startling. However,

‘the wedding of his son who is a senior at Williams College. : The five Democratic lame-ducks have flown home and intend to stay there. So when the Congress adjourns sine die it will be with very Tew-—Iif any-—Indiana votes.

AUNTY COMMY says: - “Things certainly don't look too rosy these days, but you have to admit that a whole lot of the world is definitely in the Pink!” . * & ¢

EVEN S80, it is the Christmas Season, and everyone tries to be cheerful. Even Pop.

“ ing about. In any case, Mr. Denton cites chapter

He dons his‘outsized red suit, with the white trimmings, and sets out to trim the tree, By the time Junior and the tree are both out of the way, Pop is merely-—out. : And in the end he is generally the one who * gets trimmed. * % 9

THOSE Christmas ties aren't bad enough ordinarily. This year someone has come up with a reversible cravat. It may be a dream to Mom when she buys it, but to Pop it's often a night. mare.

The senlor Senator, who wa re-elected for res TI bu anything) have included a seventh for the Sea second time this year, shook 50 many hands oR cret Pres a “yes” so many times that dh sure 28% wads off a Servics man ro Yr roi only ent hat that it has left a major physical impairment, paper and an once.

Aches and Pains ERAN Worse to Come

lead pencil SEN. CAPEHART had a sort of 81st Con- One time I SO THE standing commi tee of correspongressional farewell party for members of the watched a dents and the embattled architects. now are enpress gallery and explained that he has been lady reporter gaged in a battle that would have frightened trying doctors here and in Baltimore both for leaning over Michelangelo. The writers want that slab of his sore arm and neck and after the holidays the rail with marble removed; the architects claim that would intends to go to Mayos, if he cannot .find relief, ruin the harmony ‘of the room. Then, insist the

an automatic, RE metal pencil in TA

There is no way in which wages can go up’

The story leaves us rather flat— _.._ _ §

AS THIS is written thase Foreign Ministers .

~~ Washir

U.S In |

Mili a2 1 i Proc Rep ‘WASH tary streng despite pro / Orders officials sa) duction in Yet mi thing can | Within leadership, For in made no dec we prepare for such a w Presiden Becurity Cou Marshall, an Appointy production a have helped. three tough tion to lack decisions: ~ ONE: De can vendetts makes unity TWO: Un omy is alres civilian outpu be taken up THREE: K ous, hasn't hs of Pearl Hz people out of Note: Pre

program Wi

about 20 per industrial ou aration for w least 50 - pe more. Also, wher man’s goal « crease in pls met, we'll sti only as mai produced in months befo:

1250 a mont tion during came in Ma: 9113 planes Aircraft in never able t triple produc during Worl that five-fold not yielding | tax facilities

Hits NSRI

JUSTICE 1 jecting—on a —to Nation: sources Boar for expanding ties. NSRP’ We must get we can; mon amount to m war for lack other strates issue was up War II and J

Study Red

PENTAGO offensive in short of driv although sig: to indicate of

— Pentago

strategy is « United Natio indefinitely | making it im Nations to se areas; to G stance, This is Ww From now ol us here and enough to ke keep casualt

So, like the policemen in the Gilbert and ’ reporters, raise their stools high enough so Now they've gorie and made it ; ke us ust 5 her mouth. A statesman-like statement startled ; a “double- m Senator is. not. a Ys : : they can see over it. ‘A 1 Sepators lle Ja.00t.2. haPRY.... Ter, “she” opened her pretty jaws and the Veep bos £0 seat. : id also 48s out that feature, * & & ma tar Washington has had more winter already nearly got beaned.. _. ..: .. _... _.. ss gp ON TO ETE COTS TAPIA TRE i T SE dey TARR $ 3 than was dished out throughout last year. That Suu anotner nly one time spilled a paper p,jieve they could ease each ry ore Gene he ul Hina to Santa: © Nations coul also has added to the gloom, and some jokesters fu » 2 - % coffee, with cream, over the ,., quarter inches. I hauled myself up that dis- that he is ta hi bAsny- Bisenhower—(Now “victory in have sent out Christmas cards with black edge, but that was a long time ago and I can't {4500 and discovered that from the Associated A uprems (ommander of the North striking at 1 borders. , even remember who the Vice President Was proge' number two seat I could see the Senators tlantic Treaty Nations)—An army to com- ply sources— Actually, as Rep. Winfield K. Denton, Evans- fat ot splashed. Thése horrid accidents will i; tne rear row. mand. Vishinsky-~A. cowbe a TIE ’ no more. . ¥ ro suit, : . : ville Democrat, pointed out, this great division Ppe And there's worse to come. Thé master. in costume when he throws ail that a hell; be Await Ul and dejection is the very earmark of a genuine The $5 million remodeling of the legislative yrchitects intend to install on the marble slab For Secretary Acheson—A as WHAT W democrcay preparing for action in war. chambers includes a new Senate press box as 5 large bronze clock, so the Senators can see For Se oC rth R—A Chinese see-saw, Ho a As one of two winners in a “Republican designed by some of the leading architects in what time it is. But who can see through a (red) n, arthy—A. box of paints ona er a

year” in Indiana, he may know what he is talk-. the country. Here the artistic ones have placed the reporters in such magnificent and comfort‘able isolation that they cannot even see fost of the Senators below. In front of the authors is a two-ton marble slab nearly three feet wide that effectively cuts off their view. It also protects the Veep.

clock? If this time piéce goes up, I predict a job of house wrecking. Even if it doesn’t, my guess is that this nation is in for the loudest artistic controversy since President Truman tacked his balcony on the back of the White House. Just wait until those Senators see what they have wrought.

For Brinks Express Co.—That $1,217,000 cash loot stolen in. Boston last January, For the United Nations—Violin strings ( guts to you). And the score of “Time on My Hands.” For Stalin—Buckshot in his caviar. And for You Know Whom-—A Letter Write er's Guide, ‘ 3

PORTRAIT OF A CHRISTMAS . . . By Ed Wilson -

Three Wise Men, a Child and War

CHRISTMAS is a bleak thing for a fighting soldier. There < pings from their Christmas are too many warm memories of home that press in on a man. packages; to give three presBut somehow he’s able to strike a spark of Christmas spirit. ents apiece and sing carols

and verse of what happened here before World War II. ; : Then, also, Sen, Taft and Rep. Halleck were “wearing out two pairs of holdbacks to one pair of tugs.”

Hung With Care

fit

The battery kitchen was sys tematically looted throughout

Maybe there are some who will think about the story of the with the ki er the morning. three wise Gla of the Keystone Division. Y : las, 3 ~ By noon the old lady had : ppen December, 1944, In the last battle of th A “it enough food : : 8p he BUT the plans of men at war good to feed a

Bulge. :

sion was high, but the impend- are as fragile as Christmas regiment. By 7 that night, the Di Te war “do8. he Son ing threat overshadowed it. tinsel. : soldiers were at her door with Forest with halt its body torn ~ , Fart of the division was sta- The Battery, alerted for a 8 Christmas tree and a load of away. tioned in Wiltz, a small, peace- counter-attack, quietly packed Presents... mostly hard candy . vs ful valley town with narrow, Christmas plans into duffe And warm clothing. IT HOBBLED hie L cobblestone streets, quaint bags. : There was a lot of joy in UXem- shops, beautiful churches and Three days before the Ar- that house. Laughter, tears... bourg and lay down to lick its = startling contrast of ancient dennes b hit Wiltz, the whole gamut of emotions wounds, It picked a quiet spot, and modern architecture. smashing it to rubble and dust, - - - and a little bit of serious a 25-mile front where the Bel- “0. aR 0/4 woman trudged. up. the es ie might glan, Luxembourg and Ger- RICH farm lands and clean ) : ay Soe man borders converge; Pine forests surrounded

Diekirch, Wiltz Clervaux, in Weisampach, Oudler, . : EF N The Job? Give the men a: gy nd lke any ather town in

rest, get in new men and new ragged little dirty : equipment . . . and get the tle ahd a x division back on its feet so it ished. :

embued

ah

thumbs: dowr a cease-fire o Nothing t Christmas w that, there fties: It cot

“proposal with

tern con standing issu pending . res ing (mildly)