Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 March 1951 — Page 12

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anywhere near that sum.

* Russia's price.

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The Indianapolis Times ie

A SBORIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER

ROY W. HOWARD WALTER LECKRONE HENRY W. MANZ President

Business Manager Tuesday, Mar. 6, 1951

Editor

PAGE 12°

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Telephone RI ley 5551 wg Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way

The 87th General Assembly

THE General Assembly which adjourned last night is likely to be remembered more for what it didn't do than

« for what it did.

Its session began two months ago with much promise, It appeared to be somewhat better than an average state -legislature: Both houses had assembled a rather more than usually representative group of citizens. Member for. member it compared quite favorably with any Indiana

Assembly we have seen.

Pressing problems were before it. Vital state bureaus

able to get - o were near collapse because they have been un ~and. keep employees who can even passably perform the Job “ : The state's great-industrial-cities..:

‘they afte there to do. , choked by restrictions on their powers to meet their own critical needs were crying for relief. The state 8 highway system was beginning to break under loads it never was designed to carry. An all-time record half-billion-dollar budget was proposed, and taxes plainly could not produce » ” . . » .

WITH most of those problems this session barely came

‘to grips at all.

It let all the constructive personnel bills die quietly, in’ committees and left the tottering state services under the obsolete political spoils system: which is what got them into their present condition. . There was talk of economy, of abolishing un-needed bureaus and boards, of streamlining state government. It turned out to bewonly talk Nope ‘were abolished, none were streamlined. TG the record budget the session added $16

millions more to be spent—and didn't provide for an extra

penny of income to meet it. oinip ; " It ignored the platform pledges of both political parties on home rule for Hoosier cities, and left the General Assembly still a super city council in control of the most minor local affairs. It failed to strengthen the laws against lottery rackets which harass the cities, but scarcely affect the rural counties. It made hardly a gesture toward anything that

‘might in any way diminish the power and importance of the

state's township trustees, who turned out to be the most potent force in the session.

. o . » # » YET, for all the things it didn’t do, the session took some steps toward solid achievement. Biggest of those, for Marion County, was removal of Julietta, the county infirmary, from the political controls, that have mis-managed it for a decade and more. This measure, easily the finest produced by this session, contemplates taking health out of politics, opens the way £61 better administration of all county health facilities, including Julietta, at substantial savings to the taxpayers. Unfortunately its benefits to this county are lost for one full year. Some petty politicians who could hardly bear to see a fat political plum slip from their grasp set its effective date back to July 1, 1952, in the hope that in’ the meantime

they could get control of the new machinery. .’ LLL a. = 8

THE SESSION produced, too, a better law for coping with: the overloaded, overspeeded trucks which are swiftly destroying the state's costly highway system. It is far from a strong law, and we believe far from an adequate law, but still it is a vast improvement over the meaningless measure the truck industry lobby almost put over on the legislature . . . and would have, except for the alertness of a few able Senators. Much of the attention of the session went to the proposal to let taxpayers know what becomes of their money in public welfare . .. too much, perhaps. The bill finally passed . . . and re-passed over Gov. Schricker’s veto . . . is a defiant gesture, and nothing more. It makes no important rent in

the present veil of bureaucratic secrecy in public welfare. n » » "

u u CREATION of a “Hoosier Hoover Committee to study state operations for two years and try to find ways to make them work better for less money holds some promise for the future, and a similar study of Marion County will reveal many overlapping, duplicated public services that can be corrected in some future session. Most of its other actions dealt with minor measures, few of them of general importance to the state. On the whole the 87th General Assembly passed no really bad legislation, enacted some that was good, left a great deal undone. And its members , . . “tired and bewildered” . . . went home today pretty sure they'll be back before long in a special session. Their job appears to be far from finished.

Still ‘Containing’ HE meeting of the Council of Deputy Foreign Ministers in Paris opens, as most others have, with the Russians taking the initiative. This should be a good opportunity to call to account the sins of expansionist communism against the independence of weaker nations so unfortunate as to live in proximity to the muscle-flexing Red fatherland. But we find ourselves as usual, drawn into a conference where’ the Soviets will talk about only the things they want to talk about. For the Kremlin, it is not a conference to work for peace, but an occasion for propaganda.

The pattern for peace in Europe at Russia's price is along the same line as the pattern for peace in Asia at The conditions for the latter were set forth recently by the Peiping government of Mao Tze-tung.. We can have peace in Korea if we will get out of that country and surrender Formosa to the Communists. Of course, we would be given opportunity a little later to buy peace again by relinquishing Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Southeast Asia to the Communists. © *We can hardly blame Gromyko if he manifests no respect for Mr. Jessup, chief U. S. representative. The American Congress doesn’t have ahy respect for him, either. We can only trust that Mr. Jessup won't try to commit ofir government to a program of appeasement in Europe, too. The best we can hope for is a stalemate while the Wnited States gathers #trength for the showdown.

SNES

WASHINGTON, Mar. 6 -— The country Is beginning to catch the odor of corruption arising out of some segments of their government here, These must. be disinfected. Only in .this way will the people regain their conviction that their government is honest and fair in.all its dealings, Sen, J. Willlam Fulbright (D. Ark.) said in an exclusive interview, “If people lose faith in the honesty of their

government by reason of Lyther recent develop-

MR © TE

‘Baby, It's Cold oft 2 aha

HOW TO WORK FOR SAM

Senator Smells Strong Odor Of Corruption Oozing From Government's Gray Fringe

Outside! .

.". . By Clark Porteous

ments here, then,” Sen. Fulbright continued, “we will be in greater danger from within than from without. Loss of confidence in our govern-; ment is as great a menace as is communism.” This 1s why the S8enator believes there should be an investigation of the general level of integrity in the.government., He said he did not mean a regular Senate investigation, calling witnesses and taking testimony.

__By Talburt

Need a Job?~You Can Buy One If You Pay the Right Person

JACKSON, Miss, Mar. 6 —A 32-year-old veteran, who was a German prisoner of war for 26 months told me how he paid $250 to the proTruman faction of the Democratig Party “to get my job” as a temporary mail carrier. The veteran is James Quentin Dickerson, now a full-time farmer near Senatobia, Miss. His charges were made after the U. 8. Senate was told that federal jobs were being bought and sold in this state. An investigation has been demanded by Mississippi's two Senators. It would make inquiry into the postal service and in the new wage and price control set-up for Mississippl. . Mr. Dickerson said his career as a mail carrier lasted from last June 12 to Mar. 1, when his 29-mile-long route was eliminated through a consolidation. He blamed the consolidation on the pro-Dixiecrat postmistress at Senatobia, whose son he had displaced. Mr. Dickerson said the suggestion that a contribution to the pro-Trumanites might help him get a job, originated with an old friend, C. B. Rowse, principal of the grade school at Coldwater, Miss. He recalled: “Mr. Rowse said he’ knew the fellows at Jackson (party headquarters) and suggested that if I sent a contribution to the Democratic Party, it might help me get the job. I asked him how much and he said, ‘Oh, $200 or $300.) I told him I was sort of broke, and would $250 be all right. He said he thought it would.” Mr. Dickerson sald he borrowed to add to his personal funds and sent off a certified check to the Democratic committee at Jackson. Mr. ickerson said he also went to Pelahatchie, Miss., to see B. C. Beasley, then “organization secretary” for the Democrats, and was promised by Mr. Beasley that he would get the job.

Didn’t Get Chance

AFTER tHe temporary appointment came through, Mr. Dickerson said he thought he

~-would-get-a chance to take an examination for

permanent tenure. “But I didn’t,” he said. “I'm through now. If that’s the way the government does things, I don't want any part of it.” Mr. Dickerson said his yearly salary was $2536, but with the wear and tear on his car, and the $250 job payment, he didn't break even. Picking up the story, school principal Rowse told me that two postal inspectors had heen to see him and had accused: him of being a “go-between’” on jo les. He said he had denied it and also refus to sign a statement that he had suggested Mr. Dickerson make a contribution. ’ Mr. Rowse said as a school man he, always “tried to get along with the group in power to help get jobs for my graduates.” The principal said hg knew of another mail carrier who had contributed $500 to get a job. He said Earl Embrey, 35, was appointed a temporary carrier at Coldwater Jan. 2. The principal added: . . “Mr. Embrey knew so little about it that he sent the first $250 check to President Truman in Washington. Then he said, ‘I think I'll send another $250. It might helpme get my permanent appointment’.” Principal Rowse said Mr. Embrey’s permanent appointment came through promptly on Feb. 1. ‘Mr. Embrey signed a statement for postal inspectors a few days ago but when interviewed by me, he declined to give any details beyond implying that he had made a contribugon. “

Bitter Rivalry “ BEHIND the job-sale scandal les a bitter rivalry between the pro-Truman Democrats in Mississippi and the states right or Dixiecrat Party, States righters say when the Trumanites tried to take over, they were balked of any patronage requiring-U. 8. Senate confirmation because of the opposition of Mississippi's two Senators, James O. Eastland and John C. Stennis, 4 80, the¥states righters say, the Trumanites

concentrated on the lower grades in the postal service which don’t require confirmation. Early in the attempted Trumanite take-over, postmasters received a circular letter from B. C. Beasley, the organizing secretary, asking to be notified of all upcoming vacancies. Mrs. Hermine Lamar, the pro-Dixiecrat postmistress at Senatobia, said, “I got one. The

postal inspectors who were here the other day -

asked me for it but I couldn’t find it. It asked that Beasley be notified of all prospective vacancies in the post offices, either through retirements, men going into service or whatever.” Mrs, Lamar said that later, on Nov. 1, 1949, another letter arrived from Clarence E. Hood Jr., the Meridian, Miss.,, lumberman who was removed by National Democratic Chairman William Boyle recently as acting Democratic National Committeeman from Mississippi. Mr. Hood is now reported out of the state. “Hood's letter said the Post Office Department had informed him that it. was against regulations to solicit such information and to disregard the earlier letter from Beasley. But by then Beasley had got all the information he wanted.” : I telephoned Mr. Beasley at his home in Pelahatchie. He was retired as party oyganization secretary last October, officially because of his health.

Highest Bidder

HE SAID he recalled the Dickerson appointment and that “Mrs. Lamar tried to give me a lot of trouble about that one.” He said job seekers had made party contributions “but we've found evidence that postmasters in northern Mississippi did that before we took over. “I don’t think they (the states rights Democrats) were, worried about losing patronage for jobs like rural mail carriers. It was when the jobs in the price stabilization set-up came along that they got worried.” One of the ways the Trumanites raised money was by sending all the rural mail carriers batches of $15 tickets to a JeffersonJackson Day dinner. Paul M. Moore, a prominent states righter of Calhoun City, said he told all the carriers he knew to refuse to pay, except one, a carrier who three weeks ago received permanent status in a job paying $3600 to $3800 a year. Mr.. Moore said the Trumanites contacted all three candidates for this carrier's job to see who ‘would pay the most, He said the reported job sale price was $2000, Hé said he told the highest bidder he had a “moral obligation” to buy the dinner tickets. Mr. Moore said since the Trumanites tried to take over, there have been no top-grade federal jobs given out in Mississippi to persons approved by Senators Stennis and Eastland, except very recently the Senators have seemed to be getting back into control. But he said there have been several temporary appointments, which don't require cenfirmation, to higher grade jobs. > If the Senators get back full patronage control, he said he expected ousted temporary appointees to complain of donations they had made. : Meanwhile, Forrest B. Jackson of Jackson, Miss., defeated candidate for, governor in 1948 and master of ceremonies at a recent JeffersonJackson Day dinner, said he was only “joking” when he told applauding dinner guests he had heard it said contractors were contributing $200 each to get on federal contract lists and that “that isn't enough.”

TICKET AGENT

The ticket agent smiled at me . . . and bid the time of day . . . and made such an impression that . . . I write about his way . . . he is a man who tries to help . . . and never

‘says a word . . . about the bits of gossip that

+ + « he may have overheard . . . he gives me information with . . . the tickets that I get + « «» and makes me feel at home although . . . we may have*only met . . . and he’s a man of promptness if . ; . I'm ever in a rush . . .

‘ because he expedites my way . . . without the

slightest gush . . . and he Is courteous to those + + « Who may be old and gray . . . for with his service he makes them . . . feel happier and gay . . . this world could do with more

like him . . because he is so kind . . . for

folks like him are far between . . . and very hard to find. ! -=By Ben Burroughs.

risa

Rather, he said, “there must be an investigation by those in government of thémselves and their d with all citizens to assure plain every-day integrity in all operations of 1 government at all levels. “I make no blanket indictment,

“There are, of course, thousands of capable, honest employees and administrators in government. But because of recent happenings people are beginning to believe stories that the “ whole government is corrupt. In some instances, there is reason for this belief. Our job is to stop it there.” :

Sen. Fulbright is chairman of the Senate subcommittée which is contiguing its investigation of the Reconstruction Finance Corp. Thus far, it has revealed the story of the $9000 “pastel mink coat”; it has head claims that some persons have government officials “In their hip pockets,” and others have exercised influence in high places. !

“I want to avoid any holier-than-thou -attitude,” the Senator said. “But at the same time I want us to do whatever we can to restore Integrity to those places in government where there is reason to believe it doesn’t exist. ~ “I don't want to preach or delude myself ‘that everybody can be a saint.” * Sen. Fulbright said he was not talking about lawbreakers, but about the ‘operations in a

~ but at the same time not downright illegal. “It's from this gray region that this odor of corruption arises, “It is the operation of some people in government, and some people outside—in this middle region—that is permitting: the people to give credence to reports that the whole .government is rotten. And that absolutely is not so. You kuow the things I mean.” wasn't hard to recall the five- rcenters, the Andy Mays, the General Voth the deep freezers, the charges that jobs are being sold in Mississippi, the suburban mansions, the govern-mént-by-crony atmospifere, and the recent flat charges by another Senate investigating committee that U. S. tax collectors are letting gangsters and racketeers “get away with murder” with their income taxes, ¢ Sen. Fulbright obviously was not speaking solely of recent revelations before his committee. He has been investigating the RFC for a couple of years. About a year ago, his committee warned the RFC it should, not make the smelly Texmass oil loan. But it-did. © -

Early in the last Congress he tried to -pre-

vent any RFC official from tik

ing" a job with

.- ‘

“I do not agree with a word that you say,

‘Who'll Pay the Price?’ MR. EDITOR: . I am in favor of granting the Telephone Company a raise in rates if their request is justifiable. But I am opposed to an unfair assessment, As I understand the question of telephone rates, we are supposed to pay according to the service rendered subscribers. Nothing could be more fair.

But I am opposed to loading an unfair portion of this hike on the ordinary home owner. That's ‘exactly what the phone company is proposing to do. Here is its proposal: “Add 75 cents to the monthly bill of every subscriber.”—and what does that mean?

A two or four-party line subscriber now pays $3.50 to $4. This means an approximate _ 25 per cent increase. The Phone Company says to the businessman now paying $15.50 per month, “add 75 cents.” This represents a 5

per cent increase. Now why the discrimination? I'll tell you.

The subscriber now paying $15 or more a month would not notice a 75 cent increase, so naturally wouldn't oppose the Phone Co. in its request for an increase. It's the big fellow they are’ afraid of offending, The little fellow doesn’t count. He'll notice it, but he’s not organized to fight. _ Check your phone book, just ‘take a few pages anywhere in the white section and see if there are not at least six individual subscribers to one business and you will see that the

~ "BhadoWy region between what is legal and “what is _illegal—about things that are improper

but! will defend to the death your right fo say it

#»

de FOAEE

a borrowing company until at least two Years after a loan was made. The Senate passed this bill, but it was pigeonholed in.the House. _ “There is a feeling around the country” Sen. Ful t said, “that have to do tertain

tract, obtain relief from some injustice, or get Just what's plainly due you, People who normally are honest get the idea, that they must have influence’ to achieve their ends hers, and they apparently also have the idea this ‘Influence’ can be purchesed. :

“This puts into the minds of people & doubt :

the honesty of their government. “A there are people in power here who hve had the Spportunity to kill off that doubt and courageous actfo action hasn't occtirred. ion. ot Sat “The administration has conditions to exist which it could a Sermitied cured quickly inthe interest of integrity.” \ - Sen. Fulbright believes he has proved that his Somme re report on “influence” and e I not as e,” as President Truman mid He added: ~ a “I favor one administrator for that agency. I know a bad administrator, subject to the shadowy influence we have been talking about, would be as bad as having the agency run by a lax board. But the influence of a capable man. would seep down. to a=t_zoots very soon. I hope the en nominate "Asked bo thought hl entation vp : if he thought his in 0 now had had any effect om other goveramern agencies generally, Sen. Fulbright said: “I would hope that every competent admin istrator in Washington is at this meément taking a look at his bureau to see that nothing more of the sort of stuff we have shown to exist affects his agency.” Sen. Fulbright ‘said the Senate itself could help dispel the “odor of corruption” by making

some things toward helping the conviction that they influence, For example, Mobilizer Charles Wilson has made it clear that. one doesn’t need influence, or fivepercenters, to get government contracts. “When a man comes here and gets a contract without the help of any ‘influence brokers,’ ‘gets vonesy Sina. 3 around very soon back home,” Sen. Fulbright

restore people

he said Defense

mM :

Phone Co. is trying to assess the little fellow nearly 75 per cent of the $4 million increase ft Is asking on a basis of service rendered.

I am -unable to reconcile myself to the

fact that any court of justice will such unfair deal. To Approve any

‘A Step Backward’ MR. EDITOR: The action of Defense Mobilizer Charles E. Wilson concerning organized labor is a step backward in a democratic country, It does not. uphold the right to life, liberty and happiness for the common man. Prices and wages were frozen. The freeze qnly operated to hold wages at the level at the time of freeze while prices climbed to an all-time high . .. . We are fast regressing to the dark ages. The politicians and the wealthy now occupy the position of “clan leaders” who are seeking “favors from the king.” . ® & 9 EVERY individual has a stake in democracy and the honoring of democratic principles de pend on the amount of interest and intelligence the individual devotes to government matters. As things stand today, no individual acting alone can hope to accomplish much, but'if he aligns himself with a group he can accomplish a great deal. : Organized labor is the only group that operates for the good of the common man, for both union and nonunion members. People who op‘pose labor groups dre those having much money or misled individuals who read the papers and listen to commentators without devoting any time to a study of the matter. Reading without thought produces no sound opinion. Few publi

cations present a true analysis of the issues, *

they can be relied upon to paint labor as always being in the wrong. . —Theo. B. Marshall, City.

PLUSH HAIRCUT . . . By Frederick C. Othman Tonsorial Artists

These Guys Are

SANTIAGO, Chile, Mar. 6—Getting a haircut in South America is an experience, which I hope the barbers in North America please will note. They can learn something. ‘My ears were-béginning to tickle: “The time had come. So I strolled into the barbershop of the Hotel Carrera, which is said to be the best tonsorial parlor south of the Equator. Waiting was a surgeon in a white coat that reached to his ankles. He looked like Dr. Kildare. He led me across a polished parquet floor of mahogany — no more. linoleum for Latin bar-bershops-—and seated me in a.soft chair upholstered in calf skin. You think he slapped a striped sheet In my lap? Not my man. Gently he inserted both my arms into the sleeves of a white robe, such as customers get in first-class hospitals. Then carefully he began to snip with scissors. No clippers. A boy in brass buttons stood by to light my cigaret. Another boy in a long gray coat wondered if perhaps senor would like a shoeshine? I would. He removed my right shoe, took it outside, and returned with it glistening like a new plate of Peruvian copper. Then he repeated the process with my left. ' The barber by now was applying hot towels, which he removed from a silvery steam cabinet, to my hair. He washed it and rinsed it four times. He asked then if the caballero wanted some tonico. Having noticed that most of the natives strolled the streets with their hair shining from liberal applications of bear grease, I said I'd have some tonic if it contained no oil. So the barber brought for me to sniff a dozen silver bottles. I chose one that smelled liké a chocolate bar with almonds. He gave me a rub. Then he trimmed my eyebrows and I never looked prettier, nor smelled sweeter, ’

» . . A

,- The total cost for the works, de luxe, was $1.45 and the entire staff lined up and bowed when I walked out. The rest of the afternoon I spent walking

~the-Streets and saying good. day to the cops in

the white coats. Each one clicked his heels, saluted, and said, buenos tardes, senor. It was a great satisfaction, having policemen being polite to me, instead of vice versa, and I come~ mend this to the blue coats of the U. 8. A. Our own police might also be interested in knowing how the wily authorities in these parts control speeding on the main highway between Santiago and Valparaiso, the seaport 150 miles away. No motorcycle cops for them. They stop every motorist leaving Santiago and take his license number, which they phone into Valparaiso; if he arrives in less than three hours that indicates he has been endangering life and limh en route and a stiff fine is automatic. & '

Smiling Police Force AT EIGHT A. M. promptly every day the police function &s musical alarm clocks for the guests at this hotel; the brass band of the carabinero sets up on the square out front and blasts the customers out of -bed with martial music. And you get the idea. Nobody has such a handy, smiling police force as the Chilenos. : My only complaint about my sojourn here is that I've got to leave in what the natives call a thomentito, meaning small minute. I'm about to head across the Andes, most rugged of all the world’s mountain ranges, in Panagra Air-

* line's fiesta lounge. “

People have frozen to death trying to cross these snow-covered peaks. They have been lost in avalanches; some simply have disappeared. Even today the trip takes two days by train snaking through the 14000-foot passes. I'll be dqging it in two and a half hours, Probably with a cocktail in my hand. Progress is wonderful. Next stop, Montivideo, where the international film festival is in progress. How

‘to escape going to the movies is my problem

now.

don’t need to buy -

t word will get =‘