Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 15 February 1951 — Page 19

The Indianapolis Times A SORIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER per

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

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Telephone “RY ley 5551 Give light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

Thursday, Feb. 15, 1951

Marshall Plan for Asia

PRESIDENT TRUMAN has asked Congress to vote im- . mediate funds for a gift of a millien tons of grain for India, and to authorize sending a million tons more if needed. This will cost American taxpayers $180 million to $200 million, Moreover, it seems to be the beginning of a Marshall Plan for Asia, so this first outlay may be only a small start, Representatives of 14 nations are now meeting in Ceylon to discuss a gigantic development program for South and Southeast Asia, estimated to cost $5 billion. This socalled “Cologffo Plan” was initiated by the British Commonwealth. But it would cast much more than the participating nations can pay, sof they hope the United States will make up the deficit, according to a New York Times reporter at the meeting. Four-fifths of this program will be for the benefit of India, as the largest country in the area. The grain gift to India is presented to Congress as a

measure against starvation, Yet India is a solvent country,

with ample credit to supply its own needs. J yy x =» aN 8 8 : THE LARGER plan being developed in Ceylon will be presented as a ‘stop-communism” program. Yet India, Burma and several other countries expecting to benefit seek to maintain most friendly relations with the Chinese Communists. Two of these countries, India and Pakistan, are spending more than half their current budgets for military purposes—not because of the Communist threat but because of a quarrel between themselves which may erupt into a shooting war any day. To be sure, the United States is not committed to foot the bill for this new Marshall Plan. But a State Department representative is sitting in on the meeting in order to report to Washington how our government can be helpful. 80 the bill will be forthcoming in due course. And we can expect to be called Uncle Shylock if we don't pay it. Our country has-become the arsenal for nations willing to fight communism. Now we are setting up a free lurch counter for neutrals. How much more business of this kind can we take on before we go broke?

Another Dare FEW days ago President Truman dared Congress to *eut his budget. At the same time, he spoke angrily about the report of Sen. Fulbright's subcommittee on “favoritism and influence” in connection with loans made by the Reconstruction Finance Corp. He called it an asinine report.

He said it apparently was intended to reflect on him--

self—although four of the subcommittee’s six members are Democrats. ‘Now, in effect, Mr. Truman has dared Congress to do anything about that report. He has sent to the Senate renominations of the RFC's five directors. Two of the five, Chairman W. Elmer Harber and Walter E. Cosgriff, were not criticized in the subcommittee’s report. The other three are C. Edward Rowe, William E. Willett and Walter Lee Dunham.

The subcommittee asserted that these three had been unduly influenced in granting loans by persons close to Mr. Truman. One of the persons named is an administrative assistant to the President. Another is the husband of a White House stenographer. » » . » » . SEN. Fulbright says there will always be attempts to use influence in Washington. But he and his subcommittee contend that the RFC needs management strong enough to resist such attempts. They are right about that.

Mr. Truman is fiercely loyal to his old friends, close associates and cronies: Such loyalty is fine, up to a point. But that point is passed when the President's friends, associates and cronies go seeking special consideration from his appointees in government agencies. The Senate should react vigorously to Mr. Truman's latest dare. It should put Messers. Rowe, Willett and Dunham and the persons alleged to have influenced them on the witness stand. It should require them to tell all about the loans criticized by the Fulbright subcommittee, and the circumstances under which those loans were granted. Unless full and satisfactory explanations are forthcoming, it should turn down the Rowe, Willett and Dunham renominations and insist on an RFC management that will resist influence.

‘Solid Cornerstone’

HE MILITARY Manpower Bill which, among’ other things, lowers the draft age to 18, has been approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee. In a notably clear statement on reporting the bill, Sen. Johnson (D. Tex.), chairman of the Preparedness Subcommittee, which heard more than 100 witnesses, summarized: “The choice is before us: We must have the men. Shall we call again upon our generation of veterans, or shall we ask of the 18-year-olds the service which, in all moments of peril, our men have traditionally provided at age 18? ; “Will you face the veteran father, his wife and family, and tell him he must again enter service because you are unwilling to require service of the unmarried 18-year-old? That is the choice . . . “I believe this is a good bill, an enduring bill, a wholly fair piece of legislation which can be a solid cornerstone to a half-century of American strength.” The weight of evidence and testimony, in our opinion, strongly supports these conclusions. The bill for universal military serviee and training, beginning at 18, should be

A —

THE NATION AND PREPAREDNESS. «+ By Charles Lucey yl

Will Lag Between War And Civilian Production Hurt U.S?

DETROIT, Feb, 15—For the second time in a decade this mass production magic land Is ready to haul off with another miracle for Uncle 8am, but right today it's scared about the way Washington is tackling the job. Its top people, labor and management alike, fear the big town may take a bad mauling in the peace-to-rearmament transition. They fear that if civilian production is cut back before industry can begin chewing up metal for war goods at a really hefty rate, several hundred thousand people may be turned out of jobs. They say it could mean a dispersal of Detroit's great labor force, a defense asset.

‘Moving Too Fast’

THIS fear grows out of talk of a 25 to 40 per cent cut in auto industry steel supplies in the second quarter of this year. Up to now the military services have tossed about $3 billion of defense work Detroit's way. Perhaps threefourths of this has come in the last six weeks. But that's small for an industry which turned out $30 billion of war goods in 1941-45 at preinflation prices, Generally speaking, except for trucks, most of the war goods-—-tanks, airplanes, guns and guided missiles—which Detroit is getting ready to make are six to 18 months away in terms of assembly line volume. Both management and the United Automobile Workers Union contend Washington is moving too fast, in view of this, in curtailing civilian output. So, today, Detroit is undertaking to make a case based on the essentiality of the common motor car. Although the industry had an eightmillion unit output last year, greatest ever, and

RFC LOAN ... By Charles Egger ‘Atomic Prophet’ In Spotlight

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15-The Reconstruction Finance Corp. has turned down a $1.8 million loan application from a firm now prospecting for uranium ore in' Colorado. The RFC has indicated, however, that a smaller. loan might be considered if the corporation's principal stockholders and officers personally guarantee it. There also is a pOssibility that the corporation may qualify for a defense production loan. The company is the Consolidated Caribou Silver Mines, Inc; of Boulder, Colo. Its president is Donald M. Nelson, head of the War Production Board during World Mr, Nelson War II. Joseph Kee- +"... who's his boss? nan, former counsel for the Tokyo War Crimes Commission, is a director. Biggest stockholder, however, is Boris Pregel, so-called “atomic prophet,’”” whose name figured in testimony early last year before the UnAmerican Activities ‘Committee in connection with wartime shipments of uranium to Russia. Testimony before the committee disclosed that the Canadian Radium and Uranium @orp. of New York, of which Mr. Pregel was president, had sold 500 pounds of uranium oxide and 500 pounds of uranium nitrate to Russia in April, 1943. The shipments were made from Ontario to Great Falls, Mont., and then flown to Russia. They were paid for with U. 8. lend-lease funds, Although Mr. Pregel’s name kept bobbing up in testimony, he never appeared before the committee, In 1845, the Canadian Radium and Uranium Corp. was looking for radioactive ore bodies in west. At the Caribou Mine, near’ Boulder, logists found specimens of native silver containing highly radioactive pitchblende. This led to the formation in July, 1946, of Consolidated Caribou—to mine silver and lead and to prospect for uranium. Although more than $1 million has been put into the company, profits from the sale of ore have been small. The loan application to the RFC was to get funds to rehabilitate the mine and to buy new machinery and equipment. An RFC examiner's report, it was learned, mentions discovery on last Dec. 4 of another high-grade uranium deposit at the Caribou mine. But it is not known how extensive the deposit is. It is known, however, that the Atomic Energy Commission has shown interest in the mine development.

Man of Mystery

MR. PREGEL, whose brother, Alexander, also is a big stockholder in Consolidated” Caribou, is soniething of a man of mystery, Although he is not now either a director or officer of Consolidated Caribou, he is said to play a considerable part in its operations. His address is listed as 1 W. 67th St, New York, but it was reported to the RFC that he frequently has discussed ¢peration of the mining company by telephone from Paris. He was born in Russia and has been in the uranium business in Europe as well as in this country. He was friendly with Henry A. Wallace when Mr. Wallace was Vice President and Secretary of Commerce. Mr. Pregel got to be known as the “atomic prophet” for a prediction he made in January, 1941—before the United States entered the war and before the Manhattan Engineering District was organized to make the first atom bomb. At that time, Mr. Pregel said: “Upon the outcome of the race to unlock the energy of the much-publicized U-235 (fissionable uranium) will rest victory in the European war, and also the future course of mankind's social and economic development.”

SIDE GLANCES

By Galbraith

ald ga 4 ier aad, al

has operated at peak since post-war reconversion, it argues that if tension-period mobilization lasts 10 years, defense workers will need a lot of cars. The Automobile Manufacturers Association says more than half of all auto use is for earning a living. It says the average passenger car is nearly eight years of age today, as compared with 5'; years before World War II Because of the 1942-45 production gap, there are no “middle age” cars available today on which workers can draw for replacement. Yet three out of four workers buy used cars. More than a third of the cars in service today are more than 10 years old.

The Pause That Refreshes

BUREAUCRAT BLUES

— a ALAURT he a : ay —-

By Frederick C. Othman

There are other factors, says Detroit. Vastly more people have moved into suburbs or country, meaning a longer trip to jobs in industry.

And plant dispersal, being pushed by the gov- .

ernment for protective reasons, works to the same end.

There was criticism of the auto industry

early in World War IJ for wanting to maintain civilian production—and its profits—too long, for being reluctant to swing to war orders fast enough. Detroit remembers. There has been some criticism on the same score this time. But generally, now, the industry attitude seems to be to get all the military orders possible, but to resist heavy civilian curtailment until munitions.

By Talburt

For Shame, Uncle, Why Boycott All Those Poor North Dakotans?

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15—If this government ever hopes to please Sen. William Langer (R. N. D.) and me, it will hire a North Dakotan as a bureaucrat. Just one is all we ask. For 10 long years now the gentleman from

Bismarck has been waging his campaign, with gestures, for the giving of a federal job —any old job—to one of his constituents. The government has sneered at him. His

fellow Senators have ignored him. Every IE time he has delivered a speech on this important subject, and this has heen frequently, the press has 3 retired from its gal- : lery for a smoke. The Senator has gotten: nowhere. I have no idea how many cigars he has consumed, unlit and with their cellophane wrappings still around them, in his vain efforts to get justice for North Dakota. In all Washington, in all the diplomatic service around the world, there is no North Dakotan in any government job of importance. This is odd, too, because as the Sepator says, the people from his state are smarter than most. Even the crooks from there are honored in lesser places, » So I now propose for the first time in any newspaper (except of course in North Dakota) to lift the veil of secrecy from the- Senator's efforts in behalf of his neighbors. Let us listen in on the Senate, which was considering the appointment of one William Jennings Bryan Jr. to be collector of customs at Los Angeles. He did not come from North Dakota. Sen. Langer then read a list of the last 200 bigwigs appointed by President Truman: not one hailed from North Dakota. “What about Seth W. Richardson, the loyalty board chairman?” demanded Sen. Hubert Hum-

Min

HHI

around with the greatest prospect of swift syccess and the least chance of ‘precipitating a general war, Hang Kong may well outrank Indo-China in the Reds’ calculation. . Indeed, the Chinese Communist threat to Indo-China, apparent in the deployment of strong military units to Southwest _China, could readily be turned into a drive against this fragment of the British empire lodged within the geographical entity of China. » ~ » THE LAST is important. In any propaganda justification, Hong Kong will be treated as China territory where the British flag flies only through “treaties of betrayal” — Communist jargon meaning all of China's undesirable commitments of the past. Hong Kong, Kowloon and the « so-called ‘new. territories” are mainland and offshore bits and pieces of China ceded or leased te Britain over the past cen‘tury They developed inte one

». e

QUESTION OF WEIGHT . Can China Reds Save Face in Hong Kong?

phrey (D. Minn,). “Wasn't he a North Dakotan?” ‘He was born in Wisconsin,” snapped Sen. Langer. “Not one of these nominations comes from the great state of North Dakota, although as I recently said and proved, there are thousands of men and women in North Dakota capable of filling any one of these jobs.” Not since North Dakota became a state 62 years ago, has it been tapped for an ambassador, he continued. “While I was governor a man by the name of Dave Nolan escaped from our penitentiary,” Sen. Langer said. “He was serving a life sentence for murder. It took us three years to find him. And do you know, Mr. President, when we located him in Arkansas, we found that he had been elected public printer of the state of Arkansas.” That is hot all. The governor of Minnesota, which is next door to North Dakota, needed a chauffeur.

Hates to Be Ditched

“HE CALLED me and he said, ‘I need a man who can drive an automobile so that, when I go out for a ride, I know I am going to get there—a man who will not drive me into the diteh’,” the Senator reported. “Out of the million and a half people in the state of Minnesota he could not find one to drive his automobile safely and irefally, so he hired Morris Rose of Grand Forks, N., D., be his personal chauffeur.” For a while the Senator said he feared that foreigners from other states were going to be appointed postmasters in North Dakota, but at least that never came to pass. As for Customs Collector Bryan in Los Angeles, the Senator had no doubt he was an able man, though a better one probably could have been found in North Dakota. He hauled out’ another cigar and clamped its cellophane between his teeth. The nation will be hearing from him again, and soon, on the shameful way our government boycotts North Dakotans.

making has gone through tooling up, design and production engineering and other steps neces sary for big output, Industry people say the government has given no adequate answer as to what the steel would be used for if a. 25-40 per cent cut is ordered. They say it would be impossible to stockpile such vast quantities as would result from such an order. Nobody has any idea ‘that curtailment of civilian production and turnover to military production can be meshed without some dislocation. Industry spokesmen say defense. should be the No. 1 consideration. But they're clearly worried by failure of the government to give weight to what they call the “lead time” needed to get the munitions lines rolling. Shortages of copper, aluminum, zinc, nickel and tin already have forced the industry to turn to many substitutions. It was either that or make fewer cars. Some of the auto industry’s biggest military orders are being filled outside of Detroit today. It has caused concern to some Detroiters but others say that at least two-thirds of the orders so far are being turned Into Michigan plants, and that this should be enough. Here are some of the largest orders up to now: A contract with Chrysler for medium and heavy tanks, totaling about $500 million, to be assembled in a new plant being built in Newark, Del. Chrysler also has a $100 million tank engine contract headed for production in New Orleans. Cadillac has an order for light tanks and other combat vehicles, to be built in Cleveland, totaling almost $500 million. Ford has a contract for Pratt and Whitney engines for B-36 bombers, to be built at the former Chicago Dodge plant. Original order is $35 million, probably will total several hundred millions.

Kajger-Frazer has an order for Fairchild

combat transport planes, totaling about $200 million, to be built at Willow Run. K-F also has a contract for Wright Cyclone airplane engines to be built in Detroit.

Contracts With Allison

PACKARD has a large contract for General Electric turbo-jet engines for the Air Foroe, another for diesel engines for the Navy. Hudson has an order to build 3500-horse-power Wright airplane engines. Buick has just been given the go-ahead on

a $25 million contract to produce the British’

Sapphire jet engine for use in American bomber: and’ fighter planes—this only the start on a long-range order. General Motors has other contracts for jet and turbo-prop aircraft engines and tank transmissions at its Allison plant in Indianapolis, plus contracts for fire control instruments, F-84 Thunderjet Fighters to be built in Kansas City, rockets and medium tank guns to be built in Lansing. Ford has important tank engine contracts and others on the way.

PR OOS\ER. ne ORM

"| do not agree with a werd that you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

‘How to Make a Million’ MR. EDITOR:

I have watched the parade of relief clients along with their standard bearers, the welfare workers, ever since the Great White Father in Washington started us on a more abundant life in 1932. The héight of absurdity I think is reached by Ralph E. Hanely, DDS, when he suggests as a cureall for the many abuses as follows: “A law forcing people, taking welfare funds to which they are not entitled, to pay the money back plus fines and jail terms would stop welfare chiseling.” Now if brother Ralph wishes toumake a million dollars in the next year he can find plenty of coal dealers, grocers, etc., who will be quite willing to give him 50 per cent for collecting money from these welfare clients who have spent their money at taverns instead of paying their just and honest debts. The welfare client is protected under present laws so that he or she can spend their money in any way they wish and let their children g0 hungry and the only possible redress anyone can have is to take up the matter with the probation officer. Now as to putting chiselers in jail, I sincerely believe we don't have half enough jails to hold all of them. We would merely make a bad situation worse by creating a bigger and worse bureaucracy to enforcce such a law. —C. D. C., Terre Haute.

‘Take Note, Senator’ MR. EDITOR:

“How to Influence Voters”—Yes, indeed, Sen. Capehart did influence this family of four voters but not in the direction in which he had anticipated. We are hastening to inform the Senator that he would never get our votes again. We want him to know that not all his constituents back in his home state, Indiana, appreciate nor approve of his political tactics and policies to make front page news. He must never forget the fact that his home state carries many -décent, cultured people — people who would not stoop to such a low and degrading political campaigning. Our intelligence and refinement have been insulted. In these critical times, perhaps it would be better and more profitable for the Senator to ask God to help him in his arduous task, the task which we so trustfully gave to him instead of posing for a newspaper with such dames—notice we would not call them ladies.—A Family of Readers.

» By Clyde Farnsworth

. Many “convince:

East's great trading

HONG KONG, Feb. 15--This British Crown Colony is fast losing its value to Red China as a supply base. On the other hand, Hong Kong's value has increased as a military objective with which Peiping might conveniently reIrieve some of its “face” now being lost in Korea. As a place where the Chinese Reds might throw their weight

posts, Hong Kong has been jealously eyed by Chinese governments from the Manchus forward. With the notable cxception of the local population, relatively happy and prosperous under British rule, many Chinese con-

‘sider Hong Kong rightfully

China's.

» . 0» LONDON’S year-old recognition of Peiping as the legal government of China was of course intended to protect the British position in Hong Kong. But from the beginning the Reds wanted to ‘‘negotiate” that question, among others. Britain was reluctant and so the Reds never fully reciprocated recognition. During that strange honey-

moon, Hong Kong has allowed.

the Reds free play in propaganda among the more than two million Chinese here. At the same time the colony was unavoidably a headquarters for anti-Communist “third force” elements—much as it Was A nest for Communists

>on 4 @

when the Nationalist government was in power. The anti-Communist movement has been vastly strengthened here. New lines of alliance with the Formosa Nationalists are being laid by “third force” groups and cliques. Refugees and travelers from the mainland have ebbed and flowed through the colony.

” n ” HONG KONG, while an asset to Red China, was also a window in the Oriental iron curtain. Guerrilla leaders and bandit overlords from South China plotted their political futures in secret meetings here. Spies, agents and manipulators, both Communist and anti-Com-munist, found Hong Kong a sanctuary. Since the first of the year the American embargo and Britain's own growing restraint on goods of value to her own preparedness have cut the economic ground from under the colony. and improved the chances for fifth column expansion. among unemployed workers. An ti-Communist sentiment, however, is prevalent among the people. During last week's Chinese New Year celebration I didn'§ see one Chinese Com-

munist fag. On the other

hand, many Chinese Nationale ist flags were flown, especially by junks and sampans, There probably are not more than 100,000 the whole re, n facing Hong Kong." These would have to be reinforced greatly to threaten the 20,000, to 40,000 British troops depibyed hare,

BUT some of Peiping's best troops are in Kwangsi Province, facing the Indo-China frontier in what has been construed as a threat to intervene on the side of the Ho Chi Minh forces against the French. Many of these troops could quickly be concentrated against Hong Kong, since the West River, one of China's “highways,” spans Kwangs! Prove ince to merge into the Pearl River delta facing Hong Kong. A navigable tributary of this river flows past Nanning, a staging center on China's main road to Indo-China. ’ Only the strongest and most convincing show of British and perhaps also American determination to defend Hong Kong in event of such a challenge is likely to save the colony from a kind 6¥ passive subversion by the Chinese population—this despite their profound Anticommunism, » ’

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