Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 February 1951 — Page 25

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"A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER a 5

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

PAGE 26 Sunday, Feb. 25, 1951

ndian iis Times Publish ri in dw i Ov Postal Zone 9. Member of

CH Maryla 0 . ited Howard Newspaper Alliance, NEA Serv-

ice and Audit Bureau of Circulations. Price In Marion nty, 8 cents a copy for daily and 10¢ for Su y: del rl oy carrier dally and Sunday, 35¢ a yok, dally 25¢. Sunday only, 10c. Mall rates in fans

ally only, aily and 8 diy, $10.00 . daily, $5.00 a year, Sunday ghis! $5 00; “ali other states, U. 8. possessions, Canada and daily $1.10 a month. Sunday, 100 & copy. * 3 Telephone RY ley 5551

Give IAght nd the People Will Find Their Own Way

Merit . . . Or Spoils?

T system bills haven't done very well in this session of the legislature, even though both political parties went more or less on record in favor of them last summer; That was before election, of course. Few members of either House have dared to oppose merit employment openly, in the face of the plain desire of nearly all the people of Indiana that it be extended to cover all public jobs. Most of the proposals made to this session have been buried nedtly in committee and conveniently forgotten. Most . . . but not all. ; House Bill 325 fell into more friendly hands. That's a bill that would put under merit system about one-fifth of the jobs in the State Highway Department, just the technical, supervisory jobs. It would still leave around 2700 other jobs in the department for political patronage. » s . ” n n SO THE measure is quite weak, though better than no bill. at all. It would give the State Highway Department some chance fo get and keep people able to perform more important jobs in highway building and maintenance, free from the politicians. * This bill was reported out of comniittee late last week, with a recommendation that it be passed. Then what happened? . : . At last accounts it was being blocked by the Speaker of the House and the little clique of top party stalwarts about him. They do not intend that it shall come to a vote in the House, where it is likely to pass, and they propose to stop it regardless of what the committee wants, or what the House members want, or what the Republican ‘Party which elected them says it wants, or what the people of Indiana want. Instead, they plan to give the green light to a Senate bill which purports to be a Highway Department merit bill, but which actually does nothing at all for merit employment in that department. Result of this move . . . if it succeeds . . . will be to make qualification for engineers, supervisors, and other technical jobs in the Highway Department party loyalty rather than professional ability. : 3 ” ” ” ” ” » AND SPEAKING of highways . .. Anyone who travels them in Indiana knows what's happening to our costly... and once magnificent state highway system. It is breaking up . . . under the pounding of speeding, over-loaded trulks. Present laws give the state no adequate profection against over-loaded trucks. Penaltiesgare light for the few who are actually caught and convicted. Owners of trucks can, and easily do, pass the buck to the drivers. The Senate passed a bill to correct that. It provided that a truck owner was responsible for his trucks . . . and that after he had been convicted 10 times of over-loading them he could no longer operate in Indiana. A fair, reasonable . . . even a rather generous, law, it seems to us. The House committee didn’t agree. It has watered down that bill to provide only a five-day suspension after 10 convictions, a 10-day suspension after 20 convictions. . What a penalty . . . for an operator who may already have cost the state of Indiana $100,000 in broken highways before he even draws that first five-day suspension.

Abolish the RFC

THE best thing to do about the Reconstruction Finance Corp. is to abolish it. '-And the sooner the better. - If Sen. Fulbright and his subcommittee haven't made that clear, President Truman has. + ~ Mr. Truman has obtained from the files of this huge government lending agency copies of more than 700 letters from members of Congress about RFC loans. This material could be used to start a backfire against the Fulbright Subcommittee. The subcommittee has angered Mr. Truman by charging that certain RFC directors were influenced in approving loans by friends of the President and members of his official family. r° . 8 ” » » » » THE LETTERS of which Mr. Truman has obtained copies presumably prove that many members of Congress have exerted their influence in behalf of would-be borrowers. Some of the letters are from Sen. Fulbright, himself. Some are from Sen. Douglas of Illinois, a member of the subcommittee. It's likely that some are from other members. All of those letters should be made public. It's the public’s money that the RFC lends. And the public has a right to know who's been using influence on the lenders, and to judge for itself whether the use was reprehensible. But what's wrong with the RFC won't be cured by exposing influence users in Congress, in the White House or elsewhere. ] It won't be cured by putting the RFC under one administrator instead of five directors, as proposed both by Mr, Truman and the Fulbright Subcommittee. For what's wrong with the RFC was diagnosed accurately by the Hoover Commission two years ago. It is

that— n “DIRECT

- n lending by the government to persons or

~ enterprises opens up dangerous possibilities of waste and

favoritism to individuals or enterprises. It invites political and private pressure, or even corruption.” So long as the RFC stays in the direct-lending business the invitation to use political and private pressure will be accepted by members of Congress and other persons.

And the result can hardly fail to be, as it all too plainly -

has been in many cases, the making of unsound loans that waste the people’s money. * The RFC probably served a necessary purpose during the depression when it provided funds for job-giving enterprises that couldn't borrow elsewhere, : . It serves no purpose, in this time of inflation, that

justifies continuing the dangers inherent in direct govern-’ Abolishit. Fast. Co. a

Lm gigi 2 iA "a

~The Indianapolis Times Our Fair State of Indiana .

'JACK' "FOR THIS GIANT

HEAVENS TO BETSY

7H o ™W Ego fo AL

IER AD in ree

EUROPEAN DEFENSE . . . By Ludwell Denny Ln Can U. S. Pull German Rearmament Out Of Political Mud In Time?

FRANKFURT, Feb. 24—The United States has been licked on the German rearmament issue. It will try again after the prospective Big Four conference. So far the net result of the American campaign, to speed limited German participation in Western defense with the minimum political concession, is to slow down military preparedness and to increase the political price. Reasons for the failure are® French sabotage. A British run-out. German blackmail. American blundering. The result, of course, is highly favorable to Russia. America now has two choices. It can put the screws on France and Britain, and get tough with the West German government. Or it can make a strategic retreat and prepare for a better opportunity. It has chosen to retreat and prepare because more pressure now could produce quick action but would widen the Allied split. The immediate problem is to solidify Allied unity on wider issues in preparation for the Big Four Conference. Otherwise, Stalin will win.

Somewhat Deceptive

SO THE repeated American official denials of any change in our policy as to the urgency of German rearmament are technically ac-

’ Uniy G4 Strang a5 The YY Eakest Link » y

curate, but somewhat deceptive. There has been no change in aim. But our diplomatic defeat and isolation have forced a big change in tactics. It was the failure of our Allies to carry out their own rearmament pledges under the North Atlantic Pact that created the desperate situ-

DEAR BOSS . . . By Dan Kidney Brownson’s Bill

Put in Deep-Freeze

happened... We had . _Aecicles and the cold- SU

ation. This Allied default drove the United States to the risky policy of premature German rearmament-—not as a ‘solution but as an expedient. Obviously, this policy would be difficult, It would invite an Allied split, hand Stalin his best propaganda weapon, and risk revival of German militarism by lifting the bans before democracy here was strong enough to control.

“wy ’

Instead of putting this to the Allies as a problem of their own creation and allowing them to prepare their hostile publics for this unwelcome necessity, jittery Washington sprung it suddenly. Britaim went along reluctantly. France was defiant. By bringing the plan into the open prematurely, Washington not only gave the jump to the powerful appeasement forces if France

WEATHER FORECAST . . . By Frederick C. Othman

My Horse Never Tells a Lie— He's Expecting an Early Spring

McLEAN, Va. Feb. '24—1 don’t want to brag, or even put the U., 8S, Weather Bureau out of business, but the Othman long-range weather service, consisting of a horse, a family of skunks, and a few other birds and beasts, predicted last fall that a hard winter was coming

up. H LRG ~~

You know what

est dang winter since George Washington { crossed the Delaware. , Predicting same was simple. The horse grew a magnificent fur coat; the skunks made themselves at home in the warmest stall in the barn; the caterpillars grew extra rings of hair, and the peddlers of tires with sawdust in the treads for

icy driving never were so thick. The result was obvious. \ So if the official forecasters kindly will stifle their sneers and keep their eyes on their barometers, I shall predict, with the aid of my furry assistants, the sort of spring that’s en route.

"It's almost here now; warm, damp, and to be

featured by daffodils in blossom so early that the newspaper photographers will take pictures of the first ones. Already they're poking green from the snow on the shady side of my house. A daffodil, I hasten to admit, is a notoriously unreliable sign. A horse is beter. Never makes a mistake, And our horse at this writing is shedding his overcoat as fast as he can. Rub your fingers

over his flank and you get a fist full of hair.’

‘How About Us, Too?’ MR. EDITOR:

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24—That the Brownson amendment,

removing ‘the secrecy clauses from the Social Security Law, will

OS/ER FORUM

My husband and I invested a small fortune in a television

siete use a curry comb on him and in two pes you clog it; he is preparing for a warm springtime.

This also goes for the skunks, which strut lordly through our wood lot. Their fur is shiny black, except for that white stripe, and even now one mother skunk is parading with five small skunklets in line behind her.

Rose bushes are something like daffodils; they sometimes get fooled and have their silly buds frozen off. Even so, they are an indication, and every rose bush on our place is sprouting small, reddish leaves. That is not all. A man already has tried to sell me a milky disease-spore treatment for the Japanese beetles. The idea is to sprinkle into the earth the germs that kill the beetles before they gnaw down the rose bushes. This offer I turned down.

Stuck in the Mud

THE WINTER was so cold it killed most of the grubs and it is my further prediction that Japanese beetles won't be much of a problem this season. This goes also for ticks that stick to dogs. If the weather bureau still is not convinced, I can report that our apple trees are in bud. The mud never was so deep, nor so sticky; I lost a shoe the other morning on the way to the hen house. . Nor have I been deluged before with so many seed catalogs, which picture history's biggest oucumbers and pinkest peaches. Even the scientists are stirring in their cocoons and hit-

ting print with items about doubling the nubbins

of sweet corn by tinkering with their chromosomes. They do it with a goo extracted from the autumn crocus. The strawberry plants are creeping green through the mulch, Mrs. O. is insisting that I sharpen the plow. I don’t care if the weather bureau does predict snow. Spring is upon us. 4

3 By. J. Hugh O'Donnell

The creek is bank high. -

Jr of

WI SAVE MY CHILD

]

and Britain and made the situation more difficult for these governments. Of more impore tance, Washington by showing its hand lost most of its bargaining power with the West German government.

The Bonn politicians were put in position to extort a prohibitive price for co-operation— complete political and military “equality” in advance of any rearmament.

We seemed to be down on our knees, bege ging them to help us. In the neurotic mind of many Germans, self-defense—instead of a badge of patriotism, and an overriding self-interest of survival— became a plot of American militarists to make neutral Germany the battle-ground of an AlliedRussian war with Germans as our cannonfodder. :

After four months of Allied wrangling, America finally bought and paid for an agreement at the December Brussels Conference, France and the others agreed on speeding up limited German participation in Western defense, on the principle of political and military equality to be granted step-by-step with German military effort. Exact terms were to be negotiated promptly with the Bonn goyernment. To get this Allied agreement the United States made concessions. It promised more military aid to the Allies. It promised to send more divisions to Europe. And it threw in its biggest blue chip—Gen. Eisenhower.

Didn’t Get Money's Worth

FOR MONTHS the Allies had been demanding his appointment, on the theory that would pull America deeper into European defense— and irrevocably. Washington had insisted that the Allies raise more divisions for him to command, first. They got Gen. Eisenhower without any definite commitment on the number of divisions they would raise or the amount of munitions they would produce. . But the United States did not get what she paid for at Brussels. France never changed her policy of blocking German rearmament, Brit ain, after helping us obtain the Brussels agree ment, has now joined France in ignoring it. And Germany, taking advantage of the Allied split, is holding out for a better bargain. What went wrong? Why are the results the opposite of what Washington expected, when it counted on a German agreement under the Brussels pact by March? How did Washington misjudge the situation? ? Unless the State Department knows the answers, or can find them fast, its next attempt

is likely to end in similar failure with even worse results.

FOSTER’S FOLLIES . . . By Ben Foster

Old Joe's Flower Pots

Aren't Exactly Mink

'TEHRAN—The “$150,000 mink coat” originally said to have

RID Ag ge Fi Re A ei ad er agp sn

be adopted by this Congress appears impossible at this point. After its introduction by Rep. Charles B. Brownson, Indianapolis Republican, the amendment was sent to the House Ways and Means Committee where it is likely to remain.

For that committee, headed by the venerable Rep. Robert L. (Muley) Doughton (D. N. C.) is so busy trying to dig up the $10 billions in new taxes requested by President Truman that the Marion County Congressman’s proposal has been put into the deep-freeze. /

» un ”

WITH all their efforts, the committee is unlikely to bring out any general tax legislation to put preparedness on a payas - you-go basis. It will be months before they come out with any plan to take further billions from the taxpayers. The last Congress passed a Social Security Law amendment adding: several millions to the rolls. So the Ways and Means Committee has no thought now of dealing further with Social Security matters, which will be necessary if the Brownson amendment is to receive consideration. The amendment is entitled “A bill to repeal provisions of the Social Security Act which require state plans for old-age assistance, aid to dependent children, aid to the blind, and aid to the permanently and totally -disabled, to restrict the use or disclosure of information concerning applicants and recipients to purposes directly ‘connected with the administration of such plans.” is In a broadcast this week-end with Rep. E. Ross Adair, Ft. Wayne Republican, Mr. Brown‘son’ said he does not propose

that lists ‘of persons on relief -

: iy

be published in newspapers and

felt the state legislatures would provide safeguards against that. CoN » HIS principal point is to stop federal seizure of state powers, the freshman from Indianapolis said. “This is an attempt to have federal funds come: into the

State of Indiana with a mini-

mum of federal controls attached to them,” Mr, Brownson said. Mr. Adair declared that its adoption would “give us heart to try to limit federal controls in certain other instances.” “There is nothing I would like any more than to eliminate the whole federal aid program,” Mr. Brownson replied. “But until the federal government will leave more tax money in Indiana, I am afraid that is impossible.

» ” ” “THEX are pulling so much money into Washington, that we have to go down on our hands -and knees and ask for some of it back because we just eannot afford to operate without it.” : He explained that lifting the restrictive clauses from the Social Security Act, which were

_ passed in 1939 three years after

the original bill, would make it possible for interestéd groups of citizens to inspect the State Welfare Department and make sure their money was bein properly spent. .

set ‘with the hope of being able to watch many of our favorite

programs. Little did we realize that station WFBM-TV and the

Indiana High School Athletic Association could so easily alter these hopes. Like so many other Hoosiers, neither my husband nor I are basketball fans. Up to now we've always looked forward to all

.the entertaining television programs each evening, but find that

now they are being replaced by the telecasting of the basketball tournament. «i . o = ” » ” ” WE ARE being denied the opportunity of watching those programs which are the real purpose behind our purchase of a set. Instead we are forced to choose between watching a long, endless series of basktball games which hold little interest for us or. turning off our set. If all those large numbers of basketball fans enjoy viewing the games so much, why can’t they buy tickets and see them in person? In so doing, they will be helping the schools of our fair state make a profit and permit televisioh to fulfill its real purpose —that of presenting a varied assortment of entertainment to appeal to everyone's tastes and not Just to a select few.

~A Disgusted Television Fan, City.

‘Thanks to the IHSAA'

MR. EDITOR;

In answer to the editorial on “How Nice Yo ” Disgusted Father: Maybe these ‘should ice Can ¥ ey opind Low Can You Get?” I thank God that we still have some organizations and men strong enough to stand against sly offers, money, some public opinion, and pressures. We are glad that th y still stand for the high standards to which their organization for. We sincerely hope the IHSAA always such high ideals. Maybe some children have beer bottles face out on them when they open the refrigerator, but all children are not faced as yet with these temptations in their own homes. So why expect them to take them with their athletic TV costs. : Even though you may not know it, Mr. Editor, there are still’ religious people and organizations left in Indiana that educate their children about the wiles’ and dangers of the poison alcohol in all ite insidious forms. { Of course people who drink se€ no wrong with the idea of a beer company even sponsoring a radio or telecast of high school Sport, but there are more people who are horrified at such an ed. ; : ; To the father who says his children see beer every time they open the ‘ice box, Truly, sir, I am sorry for thenf. and.wonder If his kiddies get enough milk in their little tummies or are the

‘milk bottles crowded out by- the beer ‘bottles in his ice box? n- - ==Mrs. Charles R. Hightshue, City. 4838. “That's oil, brother!” i

“3h rp “ - or JL - hi

been sent by Stalin as a wedding gift to the Shah and his bride, is now reported to have been two bejewelled flower pots.

The tale of the mink just got twisted, 'twould seem,

Some tall-story teller has been pinned.

Let's just hope the poor guy who thought up the scheme,

Toward purging will not be too thin-skinned.

A heck of a way to get oil from Iran

To use out in cold Europe's back-lots.

For what do you think they had sent to Tehran?

What else, but just two Russian {(crack)pots?

» " ”

BUT the outcome just goes to prove that you can’t fuel all of the people—even in

Iran! For a time the situation was fluid, but the price of the minks proved. a jinx. The tale was short. But so is Mrs. Shah —short one fur coat. That can often be dis-sabling for a lovely gal! ' As a matter of fact, everything went to pot, and the scheme was nipped in the bud, when folks found out that the

story was just intended for a

plant! In any case, Ole Joe probably won't argue much. with the guy who dreamed .up the °

wy 5

; Ss : . al BLO hie a OR 2d ik

politicos! - °

SOME gals go for Russian sable, Some for beaver, some for minks. But the lady in this fable, Probably thinks that this mink-—-stinks! " on "

VARSITY sports have vir tually disappeared froma Mew York's high schools because of the extra-curricular bas ime posed by teacher groups in an effort to gain higher pay. The faculties won't work after school hours. Neither will our teen-age daughter. None of which is keeping any of those varsity “sports” aut of our living room or ice box, come eventide! uo LJ LJ

AUNTY COMMY SAYS: “See where the United States has banned imports of Russian crab mieat. Why not? There's enough of them Russian crabs here right now-—attending the United Nations sessions.” n ” ” HEADLINE: “Detroit Fears Washington Bungling.” The rest of the country isn’t bub-

bling. over with confidence, either! dfn =

But there's some hope. In

Little Rock, Ark., a 3-year-old

girl set one legislator straight. Her Pop, a State Senator, erroneously introduced her as her twin, and she told him off. Now If we can get a few kids that age to go to Washington, maybe they can get some of the facts across to the =

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| SUND!

Wash

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Russia's used up I stockpile aside for Asia. She guess mea explosions

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GEN. Mt he's T1—w ington, altl pears to bi out that o still is no powers job. to pass fr« slans coulc Gen. Kislen ranking mi spot, was take over.

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PROPOS report thal being sold | certain to cover other After S¢ Stennis ha gippi charg began adm! had similai states. Resolutio man specia into Missis be offered to be amen committee ¢ To kee from hand resolution chairm: Armed Sei fice Comm ing—and one Demo publican.

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Hint to RECENT 22d amend: tution, lim two terms, dex of gr« popularity. Actually, empts Tru him free politicians would give

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another ter Ebb and tide seems | ment was in 1947—wl pevelt's fou and 18 rat three states 1949. Last fied. But in 1 ratified 1 months, ( needed. G may try Carolina which will

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handling Co.'s applic He repe the ‘comm White Hc about it, = made publi charges, ¢ fered him talk about