Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 May 1951 — Page 22

The Indianapolis Times

A’ SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER ra

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

PAGE 22 - Sunday, May 20, 1951

"Owned and published daily by Indianapolis Times PublishPs. So 34 oF Ma land ko Postal Zone 9. Meimber of jo rd New - fce and Audit Bureau of Cire ao per aes Bay

Price In Marion County. 5 cents a copy for daily and 106 tor Sunday; delivered by carrier daily and Bunday, 356 a week. dally only, 26c, Bunday only. 10c. Mail rates in Indiana dafly and Sunday, $1000 a year, daily. $5.00 a year, Sunday only, $5.00: all other states, U. 8. possession, Cansds and Mexico. dally $1.10 a month. Sunday. 106 & copy. :

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

Don’t Blame the Taxpayers

REPORTS that taxes haven't been paid on a very great

amount of "personal property in this county seem to infer that a lot of folks are trying to evade such taxes. We rather doubt that they. are. Under the system we use in this county it is pretty

. hard to get billed for personal property taxes or allowed

to pay them at all. Each year assessors are supposed to call at everybody's home and appraise personal property for taxation. Few of them have any qualifications to perform that job. If you happen not to be at home when they call you just don’t get taxed. We never heard of one of them calling back a second time.,on some householder he had missed. It then

‘requires extraordinary effort on the part of the taxpayer

himself to get on to the personal property tax records— more effort than most of us are likely to make, or any of us shorld be expected to make. Tax bills from the year before re not renewed in such cases. The would-be taxpayer is just dropped from the rolls. Under state law the person thus *“‘skipped” is forbidden 'n pay the state tax on his automobile—and hence to use his ear. This law is widely ignored, probably because it i3 80 obviously a bad law which would hardly survive any ‘est ‘in the. courts. » ~ » » » » NEARLY every state has had trouble with personal roperty tax collections. Personal property is easy to conal, hard to evaluate fairly, and whatever systems are used ollection costs invariably run very high. A number of states have abandoned this tax entirely, nd substituted other taxes to obtain the revenue expected, ut seldom obtained, from personal property. The considerable amount of unpaid tax in this county i very largely due to the faulty method which we undertake ) levy and collect it. The amount is possibly much larger han the figures reported. There isn't even a very reliable ‘timate of how much personal property there is in this wunty, and no good way to find out. If we are going to continue to try to tax personal prop- * ty it would seem that our whole system of assessment ght to be revised at least to the extent that the citizen "10 is willing to pay his taxes can do =o.

”

“ruman vs. MacArthur er

TORESIDENT TRUMAN has placed his own judgment in “ question by saying that he considered recalling Gen. ' 1cArthur last August, when the General's message to the i sterans of Foreign Wars stressed the importance of keep: . r Formosa in friendly hands. The government has since adopted the MacArthur view ' Formosa’s strategic value and has sent a military mission Are to assist in defense measures against a possible Com- . unist attack. It’s true that Mr. Truman tried to suppress the Gen2l's August statement because it was in direct conflict th what then was the State Department’s Formosa policy. t the controversy which resulted helped to serve the ful purpose of correcting that misguided policy. If Gen. \. :cArthur had been removed for sending the VFW his ‘~tement, he would now be vindicated by the reversal of .. 2 government's position on the issue. » - » . » » MR. BRUMAN says he finally decided to relieve the neral of his Far East commands because of his Mar. 24 matum to the Chinese Communists. Gen. MacArthur : President asserts, exceeded his authority by warning 7 Reds that we might bomb beyond the Yalu River unless + y stopped fighting in Korea. He should not have issued “th a warning without first getting approval from the J »int Chiefs of Staff, Mr, Truman said. : But clearing anything with the Joint Chiefs of Staff ‘ms to have been a long and complex process, involving irances also from the State Department and the British 1 French Foreign Offices. Bombing enemy bases above » Yalu was one of the few potential measures held in serve, and the threat of resort to it must have seemed 'y tempting to a commander deeply disturbed by the ounting American casualties. If Gen. MacArthur erred in making that threat, the ror was one that many Americans find it easy to under- » and and forgive. dey

“

" » » ” » # MEANWHILE, his successor, Gen. Ridgway, has esti~*1ted that the Communists have 1,141,000 troops—countr those in battle, those in reserve near the fighting front d those in Manchuria—which they can hurl against the nited Nations forces in Korea. And reports from Formosa y two new Red armies are being prepared to move from 1st China to Korea. . Despite their appalling losses, the Communists have unced thefr second spring offensive, breaking through the / lied lines in two sectors. Here is an acid test for Defense Secretary Marshall's ‘~peful theory that the Reds can be brought to terms by stroying their best troops. So far the enemy, willing to .crifice men by the thousands, seems as determined as ever. And how many “best troops” do the Chinese Commu‘sts have? Red losses have been placed by American "thorities at 904,000, yet estimates of Red troops in battle ad in service keep getting larger,

| n

~ » » ; 8 AMERICAN casualties, though small by comparison, ‘8 increasing at a rate of over 1400 a week. The death

t has reached 11,112, and almost “10,000 additional men °

1ve been reported missing in action. Gen. MacArthur does not believe we can win by this wliey of trading men for men, even though the casualty 'tio is heavily in our favor. He believes it would be more Tective to blockade the enemy's ports, homb his bases and” upply lines, and thus destroy his War potential. The fact that the Communists, With their railroads and ‘ghways in China and Manchuria spared from air attack, .-® bringing heavy reinforcements ps the battle lends 1 $0 Gen, MacArthur's opinioll. attempt to e aig wrong i exacting & feanful price, ii

hy . he

WASHINGTON — The Office of Price Stabilization has re-

moved controls from sphygmo-

oscilllometers (blood preasure measuring instruments) on

grounds they have no significance in the cost of living.

The oscilliometer’s out of control, As prices continue to rise. 'Twill have to scale high to compute the true toll Of #tress on the poor guy f who buys.

For ah of those Tiles which:

OPS has made Just seem to leave nabody pleased. ‘And hardly a turn on the paths they've surveyed Has left us with blood pres-

sure eased! " " ~ THIS time, however, they

mean business. President Truman has announced that the recent beef price roll-back order will be enforced regardless of any screams of objection. And, brother, those are screams coming from some of those cattlemen rustling around trying to hog-tie the OPS. (Which might not be such a had idea in some ways!) But old Mike Di says “no Salle” on that one! The cattle-raiserd should kick. Last Monday's ceilings on cheaper cuts of beef permit price boosts as high as 60 per cent. Who's looney now? Even so, those lorn rangers seem to think they have so much at stake that any cutback would be ruinous. Maybe they have a legitimate beef, but we’ll admit that their reasoning is a bit ob-skewer to us, Without meaning to horn in, we can’t escape the feeling that they're trying to bull their way through this one. Meanwhile hoping to rope the poor consumer—but good. No matter what happens the latter will figure he’s been given a bum steer. As it is, livestock producers are getting 152 per cent of parity for cattle on the hoof. Give us $1.52 for our buck and we'll call it charity! At present prices when the butcher “accidently” rests his thumb on the scale, it's a merry whorl. print runs into money! Some hamburger havens are reported charging 50 cents for a sandwich.” But at that price you have to give the rqll back!

Even the finger-

—-Shylock—wouldn't—dare —de~—

mand his pound of flesh today. After all, that loan was only 3000 ducats! Bill Shakespeare couldn't have gotten away with that one in 1951. Not even if he had called it “The Merchant of Venis-on!” » Ld ”

BUT Chairman Leon Keyserling of the President's Council of ‘Economic Advisors says that a dollar is still money. Sure! But in our score it isn’t much more than a quarternote. Pianissimo!

» » ”

MEANTIME, President Truman has warned businessmen not to relax. As though any of them would dare!

AUNTY COMMY says: “See where Andrei Gromyko tried a new tactic at-ths Deputy Foreign Ministers Conference the other day. He declined to talk. There just ain't no lengths to which them Reds won't go to win a point!”

LADY in Los ‘Angeles, filing suit for divorce, charged that among other things her husband hit her and removed her dentures. Then, she says, he would put the bite on her for money before he'd return the oral castinets,

< -

Sounds like he really wanted to gum things up!

Your teeth gleam just like “ pearls, dear heart,

To frame your smile so

sunny, But ere those ruby lips can part, You'll have to part with money.

You're lucky in a way, my dear, 1 can't afford to sock ’em, But if you won't pay off, I fear I'll have to go and hock 'em!

JOHN ADAMS, second U. 8. President once said, “If I were to go over my life again I would be a shoe-maker rather than an American statesman.” Some of our 1951 variety seem to. have been booting things all over the lot recently, at that! Many people wonder how long they can last! That's awl, brother!

NATURE'S PREMIERE

THE greatest show on earth begins . . . each year about this time . . « when Mother Nature yawns again , .. and ivy starts its climb . . . when streams will sing a sweet refrain . . . a lullaby of love .. . and all the beauty in God's world. .. rains down from up above... would someone grant me power « s» « to become a part of this « «+ « to blossom with the violet , « « or feel the dew’s soft kiss , . « or wake my soul as do the trees , . . give beauty to the world . . . and make me part of nature's bloom... amid its wonder furled . . . to think this heavenly grandeur + « . all belongs to me . , . the greatest show on God's green earth , , « the admission, too,

is free. ~ «By, Ben Burroughs,

BE a i a A

- 3 . 5

roll rn -

And Now—-Anofher Great Debate =.

MR. EDITOR:

Your editorial concerning a drunk driver and a dead child contains some pretty silly reasoning. The news report on which it was based indicates that the child ran into the side of the truck. So apparently to answer the question that must have occurred to a large number of people, you state, editorially, that the possibility that it was the child’s fault and not the driver's is completely unimportant. To you, two facts are sufficient to raise a hue and cry after the driver and to send him to jail for reckless homicide: The driver was drunk. The child is dead. The driver involved should have been jailed for drunk driving, whether he was involved in an accident or not. But you should know that under the laws we cannot convict a man of reckless homicide unless his violations caused the death. injustice. + > & 9

I DO hope that should your editorial writer be so unfortunate as to become involved in a fatal accident, ,at a time when he has inadvertently allowed his operator's license to lapse (also a criminal violation), he will remember that under his reasoning he should go to jail for reckless homicide. I am strongly in favor of a campaign against drunken driving. But for goodness’ sake pick a better case to make an example of. You shouldn't have to wait long to find an accident in which the injury or death was clearly the result of drunken driving. The unreasonableness of your attitude, as related to this particular accident, will do the campaign more harm than good. —A. 8. Draper, City.

‘Don’t Forget Smog’ ”

MR. EDITOR:

We all ‘know worthy individuals deserving a word of praise and now that warm weather has arrived, we are apt to forget the smog and smoke of winter and those who are working to rid our city of this health menace. The Smoke Prevention and Air Pollution Department in City Hall will be working the year around and Roy- Gillum of the department should be commended’ for his fine record in tackling his job and his businesslike way of achieving results. Truly he is earning the salary the taxpayer pays him and we could use more men like him in our city departments. —Mrs. Fred L. Fobes Sr. 634 E. 17th St.

‘Got Well Quick’

MR. EDITOR:

One of the greatest miracles I have ever witnessed is the great improvement in the health of so many relief clients since the passage of a law to throw open the welfare books to the public. I know personally, one man Who started his career as a professional relief client during the reign of the second Messiah and has followed it successfully ever since. After the mothers aid law was passed he started raising a family on a more or less wholesale basis. He never of course had to pay any doctor bills or hospital bills and up to the

3 (2 hg a 4 hs ; * eas? ol J S 3 py FE - fh o re SR - fu, y ~ X10 *

Ranmibliiniuns a SE

Hoosier Forum—‘Off Base’

"I do not agree with a word that you say, but Iwill defend to the death your right to say i."

MESES RNASE ARERR RNA RANA ARERR RARER ORR RRR RRR RARER TANNIN NR RRRERARNNRNRNORARERRANRENNIETY

‘To have it otherwise would be an

Hoosier Sketchbook

§ DOORKN § = 20: MILLION

‘time the law was passed never bought any shoes for any of his children. In addition they were furnished two dinners on various holidays by two charitable organizations and most of their clothes were donated. Altogether he was drawing a larger pay check each month than many men who were steady workers. ’ “> ow HOWEVER, his health must have improved since the new legislation was passed as he has been cut off of relief and is now employed and working every day in a factory. I know another who is much better, He is now driving a truck although he has been a professional relief client for quite a number of years. I could name several others including one widow with three children who usually went on a drinking spree as soon as she received her check.

decides to withhold the $20 million in federal funds that we are still going to be money ahead. Furthermore, I believe that if the state would get out of the relief business and let each county take care of their own a still further savings could be made. Furthermore, no doubt a still further saving could be made if any relief given to anyone was recorded so it would become a lien against any real estate owned by the recipient the same as is done with persons receiving an old age pension. C. D. C.; Terre Haute.

‘Let Her Stay Home’

MR. EDITOR: This burns me down. If Margaret Truman has to go to England why doesn’t she pay her own expenses. She is no better than any other girl. It's that much worse with her dad taxing the little people to death, then making the poor taxpayer pay $3000 a head for the Secret Service men to go with her. If she is afraid to go alone, let her stay at home where she belongs. The poor working people can't even take a vacation. —Disgusted Taxpayer, City.

‘Avoid War’

MR. EDITOR: Douglas MacArthur is, by far, the best man for President of the United States of America. But even though MacArthur himself , . . whose word is unimpeachable thinks the third world war is inevitable, nothing is inevitable. And, if enough people object to something that has been justly called suicide, insanity and murder, the war will not happen. —Harold Halpren, City.

FOSTER'S FOLLIES

LITITZ, Pa.—This birthplace of the pretzel is honoring its offspring with a birthday party. Schools will be out and a plaque glorifying the pretzel will be unveiled.

They'll honor with a brand new twist A worthy occupation, The residents will not resist This salty celebration.

Indeed the bars will be down, Due tribute folks will render. It would not be the same old town— Without a pretzel bender. z

! of : A “, l

TON

B OR

It is my belief if bureaucrat Oscar Ewing-

” DEAR BOSS ..

% / 7 ut MAKE |

leadership « and, of course,

mmm fp Sr -

Old Lawmakers Seem

As Rugged

as Ever |

+ WASHINGTON, May 19—Old soldiers aren't the only ones who never die, Neither do old Congressmen particularly if they are party leaders in the House, Democrat Sam Rayburn of Texas is 69 and Republican Minority Leader Joseph W. Martin Jr., is 67. Both look more rugged than some of the freshmen in the 82d

Congress. : Since seniority is such a factor in reaching top .

place, many members come here as ‘youngsters. and are graybeards before they reach the eminence of a committee chairmanship, Majority or Minority

the very top spot — the speakership. Me a nwhile they wait and ¢ hope. When uid the Republicans won the Sam Rayburn 80th Congress, .. + A Young 69 Mr. Martin became Speaker and Indiana's own Rep. Charles A. Halleck, Rensselaer, Majority Leader. That was quick work for a man still in his forties. It stemmed from the fact that Indiana was one of the first states to start sending Republicans back here after the first Roosevelt landslide.

~ ” ” MR. HALLECK now is serv= ing his ninth term. He almost got the GOP vice presidential pomination in 1948, But Gov. Thomas E. Dewey of New York chose Gov. Earl Warren of California for his running mate instead. The Hoosier’s candidacy had depended upon giving Dewey the Indiana delegation on the first ballot—which was doéne. And on the idea that the 80th Congress had made such a splendid record someone from Capitol Hill would have to be on the ticket. The idea of having someone from Congress run with him, didn’t take with Mr. Dewey. He took a dim view of the 80th Congressional record and did little to defend it. President Truman made that record the campaign issue and won. Mr. Halleck always has believed, however, that if “the fine record of the Republican 80th Congress” had been championed, .instead of played down, the Republicans would be running the country today. Of course he thinks thev will win next year. And with his friend, Joe Martin. in the best of health, the only way Mr.

“Halleck; mow 52, can get a

Guess Who?"

promotion out of such party success would be as “Veep” or in taking Sen. William Jenner’'s Senate seat, when Sen, Jenner runs for Governor, wa 8 MR. HALLECK always has espoused'the rugged individual.

= {sm theory of" gef-aheadism, "but so far as the House Speak-

ership is concerned he is about convinced that theré is something wrong with the adage: “There is always room at the top.” E His thoughts along the line of availability were spelled out in a speech he made at the Republican National Committee meeting in Tulsa. It was not on the national hookup

broadcast, but at a luncheon-,

of the commitieemen and

women. In two pages, which were sent out as inserts to his orige inally prepared address, Mr. Halleck gave a blueprint of the sort of candidates that should be selected for national office next year, It could have been done with mirrors. . » » THE Republican Party is a party of principles and stands for a government of laws and and not of men Mr, Halleck declared. Then he continued:

“In recent years we have suffered a succession of dee feats, both national and local, which would have destroyed a party of weaker fiber and lesser strength than the Grand Old Party to which we proudly give allegiance. “In every considerable measure it seems to me that those defeats have come from over-emphasis on personalities as against principles. For the task before us, we must have candidates from top to bottom who will meet the issues, not dodge them. All of them must carry our case to the people on the issues involved. Only in that way can we win. Only in that way would we deserve to win.

“America needs leadership

as it has never needed. it be-

fore. No one disputes that. But what we need is sane leadership, practical leadership, wise leadership, co-operative leadership, steadfast leadership..,

WASHINGTON . . : By Charles Egger

Congress Roundup—

WASHINGTON, May 19—This week in Congress:

Proponents and opponents of economic controls were |

getting up a full head of steam as committees continued hearings on President Truman's proposal for a stronger Defense Production’ Act than the one that expires

June 30. Administration - spokesmen, including Agriculture

Secretary Charles Brannan,

Commerce Secretary Charles Sawyer, Economie Mobilizer Fric Johnston, Price Stabilizer Michael DiSalle and Housing Expediter Tighe Woods, appeared dn support of the President's program. Opposition came from the National Association of M a n ufacturers and the meat packing industry, with more expected later. Willlam H. Ruffin, NAM president, recommended that all price and , wage controls be removed and asserted that the President was asking for dictatorial powers. Spokesmen for the meat packers .urged that meat be exempt from all controls. They said the-price rollback on beef would result in scarcity and lead to rationing. But Mr. Brannan said he thought the

Mr. Brannan « « « spokesman

By J. Hugh O'Donnell

rollback ordered by Mr. DiSalle would work if given a chance. Mr. Sawyer forecast disastrous results if the program is abandoned.

Senate

Far East Policy GEN. OMAR N. BRADLEY, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the combined Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees that Gen. Douglas MacArthur's recommended strategy for fighting

involved us with Red China in the wrong war, at the wrong time and place and with the wrong enemy. - Gen. Bradley's testimony was halted by a committee wrangle over his refusal to disclose details of a conversation with President Truman on the MacArthur dismissal. Gen. Bradley held that the talk was confidential, Chairman Richard Russell (D. Ga.) ruled in favor of that position. After heated discussion the committee voted, 18 to 8, that Gen. Bradley need not reveal details he withheld,

Wheat for India

THE BILL to lend India

$190 million for purchase of

two million tons of wheat for famine relief was passed and sent to the House. Sen. Guy M, Gillette (D. Ia.) led a move to provide the wheat on a halfloan, half-gift basis, but Re publicans, with some Demo-

cratic support, beat down the proposal,

Sales to China

KENNETH HANSEN, special investigator.for a subcommittee on export policies, said West German business concerns were selling war materials to Red China on a vast scale. Some of the companies involved, he said, are receiving Marshall Plan assistance.

House Taxes

THE WAYS and Means Committee tentatively has approved tax increases totaling $6.5 billion, far’ short of the $10 billion asked by President Truman. In addition to higher individual and corporation income taxes previously approved, the committee voted increased excise levies on automobiles, radios, phonographs, television

sets, home appliances, gasol and cigarets. gtagline

Veto Overridden

PASSED over the President's veto was a bill requiring Congress to approve Defense De partment and Civil Defense Administration leases provid. ing for rentals of more than $15,000 a year. President Tru. man said he vetoed the measure because it encroached on

, the authority of the executive

branch,

—the Korean. War would have——

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_rollback ben

and mercha had been tinued rise o following J meat prices backs were reduce price: 8 or 9 cent:

Taxes

TAX BILI than admir privately | though it’s | put rearma: pay-as-you-g keeps deci made—and —governmel winter in b rates don’t However, d up next spr

r . Acheson PLAN TO tions for Sta son's salary through Hq Democratic brought to bers, perha it's unconsti thrown out many look to go on re no confide: Congressme! uged with as part of N and it will who'll go « supporting test,

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