Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 10 April 1951 — Page 12

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The Tndlanapolie Times J

_. A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER

ROY W. HOWARD WALTER LECKRONE HENRY W. MANZ President

Business Manager

Tuesday, Apr. 10, 1951

Editor

PAGE 12

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Price In Marion County Bb cents a copy for dally and 10¢ tor Sunday: delivered by carrier dally and Bunday. 35¢c a week. dafly only 25¢, Sunday only 10c Mail rates in Indiana daily and Sunday. $1000 a vear daily $500 a vear. Sunday only, $5.00: all other states. U 8. possession. Canada and Mexico. dally $1.10 & month. Sunday. 100 & copy

Telephone RI ley 5551 Give IAght and the People Will Fina Their Own Woy

Muddlers Kill UMT

Y SHAMEFULLY surrendering to a Republican-Dixie-crat coalition opposed to universal military training, administration forces in the House conceivably have brought us a step nearer all-out war with Russia. a The whole idea of building. a powerful defense force in this country is to deter Russia from attacking. Now the House is at the point of voting a military manpower bill which, without UMT, has the opposite effect. Under an amendment agreed to yesterday by the Armed Services Committee, it will take a whole new law to get UMT going. That could lose us what priceless time we still have for the necessary actions which might save the peace. This is inexcusable—and frightening. It reflects the return to a complacency which was so deadly dangerous on the eve of two prior wars. A return to what Bernard Baruch calls “the tragic blowing hot and cold in national defense, to alternating wildly between frantic mobilizations and equally frantic demobilizations.” ” = 5 . 8 . ” DESPITE the lessons of the Korean War when we were caught with poorly trained troops and no reserve strength, and notwithstanding lip service to UMT in the Democratic and Republican platforms, the drive for its enactment has been ineptly handled from the start.

Mostly, it's been juggled like a hot potato. President

Truman, Draft Director Hershey, a politically minded Defense Department and the leadership of both parties have all contributed to the snafu. Once before—last August—Congress was at the point of passing a UMT bill, and the Truman administration backed away. Though the President repeatedly had asked for UMT, when the Senate Armed Services Committee was ready to bring it out he suddenly reversed his field. He asked that the measure be shelved on the ground that it did not seem “immediately necessary.” This time UMT had gone through the Senate, only to be tossed for grabs in the House. Republicans joined Southern Democrats in sniping at it. At a critical moment, the Defense Department drastically. lowered the monthly draft quota, from which it could be inferred that world tensions had eased. :

» » * = ” 2 * THEN President Truman and Gen. Hershey muddied the waters by announcing their plan for defersing the upper half of college students—an estimated 800,000—from the draft. That complicated the legislative course of the UMT bill bv inviting amendments to block the deferment plan. House debate thereafter was climaxed by Speaker Rayburn’s enigmatic and curiously timed warning of a ‘Russian build-up in Manchuria. If that was meant to help push UMT through, it fell flat. Opposition hardened, and Chairman Vinson of the Armed Services Committee finally agreed to jettison UMT in order to get the draft bill passed. Under the surrender plan, a “commission” is going to study UMT and make “recommendations.” Again? Apparently overlooking the fact that UMT has been studied by commissions and committees for 30 years. The bumbling compromise scheduled to go through the House today will be a sorry, and costly, blow to the nation’s straining defense effort.

Only One Sure Reform

THE FATE of President Truman's plan to replace the Reconstruction Finance Corp.'s five-man board of directors with a single administrator now rests with the Senate. : An attempt to kill the plan in the House failed recently by a close margin. The Senate's Committee on Executive Expenditures has voted, 7 to 6, to disapprove it. If a Senate majority agrees with the committee, the plan will die. If not, it will go into effect on Apr. 20. Mr. Truman's plan might be an improvement. Most members of the Fulbright committee, which has been showing how “influence and favoritism” warped RFC lending policies, favor a single administrator for the agency. They believe the RFC's integrity can be restored if one able, honest, independent man is given full authority and responsibility for its future operation. : But, in the light of Mr. Truman's attitude toward the Fulbright investigation, it's gravely doubtful that there could ever be much public confidence in the RFC under any management appointed by him.

MR. TRUMAN denounced the committee's first “influence and favoritism” charges as asinine. Despite all the convincing evidence since brought out, he has never conceded any truth in the charges. One of his top White House assistants has been named repeatedly in the investigation. Mr. Truman has not required this man to testify in defense of his own reputation. Men appointed by him as RFC directors have told conflicting stories under oath. Mr. Truman has ignored the obvious fact that some of these men are perjurers. He has seemed to take the position that nothing that went on in the RFC was wrong if it has not been proved illegal. However, if the RFC must remain alive the President's single-administrator plan probably should be adopted, on the chance that it will prove safer and better than the present setup. “ But we continue to believe that the huge government direct-lending agency has outlived its usefulness, that as long as it stays in business under the Truman administration it will be subject to attempts to exert political influence and obtain improper favors—that, in short, the only sure way to reform the RFC is to abolish it.

Too Bad, Boys

GRICULTURE Secretary Brannan has issued an order restricting the use of castor oil. At first glance, this seemed to signify that at last he had devised a popular Brannan Plan—popular, at least, with the rising generation. Closer examination, however, reveals that the order is’ designed to conserve castor oil for the most essential military and civilian needs, and doesn’t apply to any person what uses less than 60 pounds-every three months.

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POLITICS vs. MILITARY . . . By Oland D. Russell

Gen. MacArthur Is Still A Sharp Thorn In Truman's Side

WASHINGTON, Apr. 10~Nine months ago President Truman named Gen.. Douglas MacArthur as Commander of all the United Nations Forces fighting in Korea. This was in compliance with a United Nations Security Council request that the United States designate the commanding general of

the combined land, air and naval units which were to be committed to Korea. The question of Gen. MacArthur's {independence of command and authority has been a thorny problem for the Truman administration ever since, and has brought repeated clashes between the General and Washington.

‘Must Be an Easier Way fo Make a Living’

=

LOVEBIRDS AND FISH . . .

One Good Way to Get a Day Off

— QB URT™

By Frederick C. Othman

Is Let a Lawmaker Do Your Work

WASHINGTON, Apr. 10—Only sensible thing to do is take the day off and turn these precincts over to Rep. Allan Oakley Hunter (R. Cal.). Obviously, he's the better columnist. He gets around more and he knows all about congressional lovebirds, violin music, dollhouses, fancy fish, coffee and cakes and the shoes of the secretaries of Rep. G. D. O'Brien (D. Mich.). I simply can't compete. Like most of his fellow Congressmen, Rep. Hunter is a newspaper columnist in his spare time, sending his copy back to the weeklies at home. He does it better than the others, is all, and with no further introduction I am pleased to present the latest news of the gentleman from Fresno:

“Several people. have commented that my last column was so full of bad news that they wondered whether there was anything pleasant left in our national affairs.” he wrote. “Let me assure you all that I still have abundant faith in the American people and that I can still smile at some of the things I see around the Capitol.

“In spite of the fact that most of the offices of Congressmen have an architectural similaritv, they soon begin to assume a little of the Congressman's personality, so that they are in reality quite different. Congressman C. A. Herter (R. Mass.), for example, has in his office a - fine fish aquarium, beautifully lighted and stocked with rare and interesting fish, while Congressman A. P. Morano (RpqConn.) graces his office with two lovebirds, a custom he gathered from his beautiful predecessor, Clare Boothe Luce. Morano's constituents recently engaged in a contest to name the two lovebirds and from the hundreds of names suggested, he selected Filll and” Buster as fitting names for the two pompous creatures that chatter incessantly, alternating their sweet tones with harsh quarreling discords. “Rep. M. J. Kirwan (D. 0.) keeps an elaborate, two-story doll-house in his office to amuse

SIDE GLANCES

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his granddaughter when she visits him; Congressman J. S. Woods (D. Ga.) keeps his office filled with Soythern hospitality through the services of a very gracious hostess who serves guests with coffee and cakes from a tiny, concealed kitchen; and the girls on the staff of Rep. G. D. O'Brien (D. Mich.) keep socially correct, I am told, by changing their morning shoes to afternoon shoes on the stroke of 12. “Friends of Congressman C. E: Merrow (R. N. H.) report that he occasionally plays his violin in his office for a half hour in the mornings before he begins his work for the day, while the office of Congressman J. G. Fulton (R. Pa.) has heavy ‘carpets, soft lights, and several fine oil paintings which are especially lighted to give a beautiful effect.”

No More Soap HERE I regret to report, Columnist Hunter suffered the standard qccupational hazard of the trade. all his interesting items about interesting people, he filled in with some paragraphs about the Vice President's gavel, the House's mace, and the fact that Capitol elevators always go in the direction that Senators want, no matter what the will of the other passengers. Fair enough. : ? But Rep. Hunter then committed the unpardonable sin for a Washington columnist. He did an essay about the Senatorial bean soup. Tch. Young reporters have been writing about the Senators’ soup now for 43 years. The subject is what you might call exhausted. My new competitor from California is just getting started, however, and there's no telling when I'll have“to be looking for another job. As a Congresman, maybe.

IF YOU LOVED ME

IF YOU loved me as I love you . . . you wouldn't hurt me so . . . if you loved me as I love you . . . you'd follow where I go . . . I wouldn't have to ask you for ... a warm, endearing kiss . . . for your dear lips would eager for . . . the tenderness they miss . . . your eyes would gladden at my sight . . . and shine like stars above . . . and they would fill with floods of tears ... if mine did not show love . . . your voice would sing a song of love ... to warm me through and through . . . if you loved me my dearest one... as I alone love you. —By Ben Burroughs.

list. On the assumption that

of the list, The reasoning goes like this: The Kremlin's first pass at Japan miscarried or at any rate is being held up in Korea. The growth of Chinese Nationalist strength in Formosa and ringing of the island by American sea and air power have made it a tough or impossible nut to crack.

Concerted American-Filipino

He ran out of soap. Having used

TAIPEH, Formosa, Apr. 10—Burma and Indian look more and more like additions to the Kremlin's Far Eastern shopping

internal communism will go on trying to pick up bargains in the Orient with a minimum expenditure of Russian strength and the least chance of starting another world war, Burma and India may, well be at the top

’

Basic cause of the conflict is the fact that Gen. MacArthur and the Truman administration donot see eye to eye on American Far Eastern policy. The General has never been fooled by the Chinese Communists—he knew them for what they were when the State Department was calling them agrarian reformers and peaceful revolutionists. Events have borne out his judgments as usually more correct than Washington's. And, imperious by nature, GenMacArthur does not readily defer to those with whom he does not agree. In his Tokyo office, Gen. MacArthur has on his wall a quotation from the Roman historian, Livy, It tells at some length how Lucius Aemilius Paulus, a Roman general, who had been selected to conduct a war with the Macedonians in 168 B, C., viewed such matters: “Commanders should be counseled chiefly by persons of known talent; by those who have made the art of war their particular study, and whose knowledge is derived from experience; by those who are present at the scene of action, who see the enemy, who see the advantages that occasions offer, and who, like people embarked in the same ship, are sharers of the danger.

“If, therefore, anyone thinks himself qualfled to give advice respecting the war which I am to conduct. . . . Let him not refuse his assistance to the state, but let him come with me into Macedonia.” - That, obviously, has been a guiding precept with Gen. MacArthur, First sharp clash with the administration came last August when Gen. MacArthur wrote the Veterans of Foreign Wars that Formosa was part of our first line of defense in the Pacific against communism. This was opposed to the neutralization policy on Formosa laid down by President Truman at the start of the war, and it brought to the surface the longstanding differences between the general and the State Department,

A few weeks earlier Gen. MacArthur had made a flying visit to Chiang Kai-shek on Formosa, giving rise to speculation that he might accept Chiang's offer of troops to fight in Korea. This upset the State Department and the White House terrifically—to the extent that President Truman sent W. Averell Harriman—who knew little of the Far East—to Tokyo to set Gen. MacArthur straight on Formosa. Meanwhile, the Supreme Commander was making no secret, in his talks with visiting officials and others prominent in public life, that our Far Eastern policy was a hash of ignorance and misguided hope. Then came President Truman's dramatic trip to Wake Island for a personal meeting with Gen. MacArthur last October. On his return, the President said he had discussed Formosa's future with the general but theré had been no differences to be settled because the administration's policy had already been decided, notably without consulting Gen. MacArthur. Despite Mr. Truman's placating words, it was obvious that the Wake Island talks did nothing to reconcile the issues. A month later, the picture changed sharply when the Chinese Reds launched their invasion of Korea. Gen. MacArthur told the United Nations that “We face an entirely new war,” and asked for new orders. “The situation,” he said, “poses issues which

Hoosier Forum--‘Elections’

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

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MR. EDITOR: As we approach another City election and primary, I find it interesting to observe that so many voters do not know how the members of the Common Council are really nominated and elected. Many persons have the idea that in the primary the candidates for Council are voted for only by the voters in their respective districts. In fact one Council candidate told me the other day that he would only have to

campaign in his own district. This, of course, is not the law. Every voter of the two political parties is entitled to vote for one Council candidate from each of the six “councilmanic” districts. The candidate then receiving the highest number of votes in his district becomes the nominee of his party in that district. Six are nominated by each party. ® oar

IN THE November election, each voter is entitled to vote for nine Council candidates, and the nine receiving the highest number of votes are of course elected. This assures at least three minority members on the Council. It is possible to have a five to four council. This has happened only once. Years ago Mayor Shank split the ranks of the Republican Party and we had a Council of five Republicans and four Democrats. This system of selecting Councilmen is supposed to constitute as near a true representative city legislative body as is possible. “Earth Councilman must be a resident of a certain district, but he receives the votes of all voters. At the time of the establishment of this system it was considered unique. I understand it has since been adopted by other states desiring to get away from the old ward-alderman system, under which a Councilman or Alderman owed his election to the voters of his ward or district only. —Frank J. Noll Jr., City.

‘Keep Your Eye on Bell’ MR. EDITOR: - = We should watch and encourage the efforts of Walter Jones the Public Counselor of Indiana in tearing apart the evidence of the Bell Telephone Co. of Indiana by showing revenues diverted to the parent corporation, the American Telephone and Telegraph. Also the buying of equipment from a related corporation, the

of Slam. With Indo-China still in the way, Both countries are hard to get at. Moreover, anti-Communist feeling has risen ‘high among their large Chinese populations and at the same time relative economic stability prevails. In the Orient that means enough to eat for everybody. The Indonesians, on the ex-

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must find their solution within the councils of the United Nations and the chancelleries of the world.” The United Nations stood on its previous authorization for Gen. MacArthur to “take all appropriate steps,” and then started a long, unsuccessful series of steps to arrange a truce. In a half dozen statements between Nov. 3 and Dec, 5, Gen. MacArthur hit back at his critics in Britain and Washington, He denied charges that he thwarted many efforts to have him stop his troops short of the Manchurian border so as not to bring the Chinese Reds into the war. He said the United Nations’ ban on air raids against Red supply bases in Manchuria was “an enormous handicap, without precedent in military history.” The State Department turned down Gen. MacArthur's implied suggestion that he be permitted to bomb in Manchuria and rebuffed him by saying that’ “The political issues which he

has stated are beyond his responsibilities as field commander are being dealt with in the United Nations and by governmental consultations.” So the general's hands. still were tied. Last month the feuding broke out anew when Gen. MacArthur offered to meet on the field of battle with the Chinese Red commander to talk about an armistice. Washington complained that it hadn’t been consulted in advance and the United Nations was caught by surprise, Then the joint chiefs of staff took a hand in the bickering and instructed Gen. MacArthur to clear with Washington any future pronouncements of a political nature. A day later, in an ambiguous statement, Gen. Marshall said the United Nations commander had authority to cross the 38th Parallel to safeguard the security of his troops, but that any general advance into North Korea was a “matter for political consideration.” Now the controversy has flared again—this time to a white heat—over Gen. MacArthur's letter to House Republican Leader Joseph Martin of Massachusetts saying that Chinese Natiohalist troops should be used and that the fate of Europe would be decided in Asia. However it may be settled, the latest MacArthur statement has left no doubt of his final and almost total disagreement of the TrumanAcheson policies.

Western Electric, at prices 6 per cent higher than the price at which the same equipment was bought by independent telephone companies. The state law says the Public Service Commission cannot grant an increase in rates until profits are less than 6 per cent. Western Electric 1s not a public utility and their profits are not subject to the PSC. The Indiana Bell is buying at a 6 per cent profit. The 1 per cent paid the AT and T is taken from revenues. In other words revenue means every dollar taken in has a .01 cent deduction from it before any operating, construction or maintenance expenditures are made.

—T. M. McGuire, City

‘Wrong by $200 Billion’ MR. EDITOR: For several years I have read such a mixup of figures that perhaps your editorial (Times, ‘High Finance'—Apr. 4) should cause no concern. Why cannot your editorial writers and copyreaders really understand figures? I know your reaction will be, “It is all in such big figures; so what's the use?” You are wrong by $200 billion. Why not give the true picture, regardless of who is right. —Clyde Harmin, City.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Times editorial page editor has been spanked and put to bed for missing a big, fat typographical error. The recently proposed New York City budget would have paid off the U. 8. Public Debt in the year 1910, not 1940 as printed.

FOSTER'S FOLLIES

TONBRIDGE, England—About $14,000 in jewels was stolen from the home of Captain Peter Cazelet, who trains Queen Elizabeth's horse, Manicou.

Please pity poor Captain Peter Cazelet (He trains the Queen's horses, you know) Those fast jewel thieves haven't stopped running yet; The bets are they never will show. Now some devotees of the real horsey set Might say the good captain was jobbed, But with good Dodger fans he should be a real pet. Like them, he can claim, “We wuz robbed!”

FAR EASTERN AFFAIRS . . . By Clyde Farnsworth

Burma and India—On Joe’s Shopping List?

Prime ‘Minister Thakin Nu has had to assure the Burmese Parliament that Red China is a ‘peace-loving nation and has no territorial ambitions.”

” os ” IN ASSAM, the Indian province facing northern Burma, the Communist underground is active, while Calcutta and surrounding Bengal on another flank of Burma are the seat of the powerful Indian Communist Party's greatest strength. So strong is the Communist position in transport and communications that India can be tied in a knot at a wink from the Kremlin. India, under Nehru's leader-

M forgot to

COPR 1951-8Y NEA SERVICE INC. 1 M REQ © & PAY OM

ail this card the wife gave me yesterday—and it's birthday greetings to me!" -

moves would likely keep the Red-led Huks under wraps in the Philippines even if they

were ordered to carry the

Kremlin's ball. 2 a #8 STIFFENING of IndoChina's defense against the Communist Viet Minh may well impose a long stalemate there. Open intervention by the Chinese Communists is unlikely so long as they are kept busy in Korea. Ein A stalemate. in Indo-China would postpone a decisive buildup or manipulation of Red guerrillas in Malaya or, at this stgge, a successful infiltration

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treme edge of Red expansion and lately free of the Dutch, have an affinity for communism in the guise of Asian nationalism, but presently are also beyond the strong reach of Communist influence or pressure.

Ed = ” WHICH brings us back to Burma and India. Both are floundering in their new independence from Britain, They're having economic difficulties and they're beset by differences among their people— many of whom comprise nations within nations. In Burma, political activity runs the complete leftist scale

NBT 5 ES A

Cat in the Kremlin «+ A special list,

and the Chinese Communists are slopping over from Southwest China into upper Burma. There, all sorts of trouble can be caused through manipulation of primitive tribes and autonomous states. About the time the Chinese Reds invaded Tibet, they circulated, maps in Rangoon showing a shift of the common frontier at Burma's expense. The Reds later explained the maps were based on a mistake growing out of an old border dispute. . ’

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ship, has drawn such a wistful and appeasing picture of Red China that a clear definition of communism for millions of Indians is impossible. Anti-Americanism is rife and

is not kept down by Nehru's

government. A touch-and-go situation has risen in India’s dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir. With a famine approaching which certainly will be widely

felt régardless of whether the

United States gives or loans two million tons of grain to India, it looks more and more like a setup for a Communist

Inside job. t

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