Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 April 1952 — Page 22

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The Indianapolis Times

A SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWSPAPER

ROY W, HOWARD WALTER LECKRONE HENRY W. MANZ President

Editor Business Manager PAGE 22 Wednesday, Apr. 23, 1952

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i 10.00 a vesr. dsily & rear day - y 3500: 8 a a i. S 8 possessions. Canada and Mexico daily 31.10 » month Sunday 10c a coor,

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Shameful Anniversary

THIS 18 the first anniversary of a monstrous insult to : the United States. A year ago today, William N. Oatis, an American newspaperman, was seized by Red Czechoslovakia, thrown into prison and accused of being a spy. Today, Bill Oatis, as guiltless as he was a is still caged in his Communist prison cell. And Czechoslovakia, one of Russia's tagalongs, still thumbs her nose at the United States, The United States—‘ the land of the free and the home of the brave.” What a hollow ring that fine phrase has today — For Bill Oatis, whose freedom was brutally and unjustly stripped from him a. year ago. > And for us, his fellow countrymen, who have let him down,

year ago,

TRUE, a roar of indignant protest swept across our country last year when it became evident that Bill Oatis was being framed by a gang of Stalin's stooges. * But the Czechoslovak government paid no heed to the outcry from the American people. Instead, it insolently piled affront on affront. For 71 days Mr. Oatis wasn't even permitted to see one of his countrymen. During the five-day travesty that his captors called a “trial,” two representatives of the U. B. Embassy were given places in the rear of the room. But it's doubtful whether Mr, Oatis ever saw gl Soe thick-lensed glasses had been taken away from Him, hie July 4—our Independence Day—Bill Oatis was sen-

tenced to 10 years imprisonment. 5. ann Commas > BACK HOME, Mr. Oatis’ fellow citizens were demand-

© i A languid State Department, prodded by Congress, 8 people and the press, at last began to move. Trade en the U, 8. and Czechoslovakia was virtually halted, [. concessions were suspended. An airline owned by er Alliod-occupied Germany and Austria. : * But these acts didn't get Bill Oatis out of jail, So the State Department got out Uncle Sam's pocketbook and began to haggle over a ransom price, meanwhile suggesting that the uproar over the Oatis case might offend the Reds and thus hamper the negotiations. Things quieted down,

. 8 »

f . ” » PRESUMABLY, the State Department, pocketbook in hand, is still dickering with the Czechs, still trying to fix, in terms of dollars, the value of an honorable American's freedom. And Bill Oatis broods in a Communist prison. Of what must he be thinking as the days of torture tick by? Surely of his homeland—the “land of the free and the home of the brave.” It's to our everlasting shame that we, back home, are letting Bill Oatis, a lonely U. 8, citizen, rot in captivity.

Constitutional Crisis

Al THE issues, however vital, which brought the steel case to its present heat have now faded before the much more fundamental issue The defiant and arbitrary use by President Truman of nebuloys and vapory powers he claims are inherent in his office—the power to seize private property. In the President's seizure lies much more than the mere token control of the steel industry by the government. By this act, the President has said that, if he chooses, he may fix wages, fix profits, fix working hours, say who shall and shall not work in steel, who may buy steel and what they must pay for it. i ~All this he can do, if he can seize the industry, on the sole basis that he, personally, thinks it would be in the public interest. ; : The public interest is not being served by the steel seizure, And there patently is no intent to serve it. The President's act was based on the pliin, politic motive of getting the steel union off the hook. The union had failed to induce the steel companies to grant its demands. It had said it would strike if it did not gain its demands. But the union knew, and the President knew, that public opinion at this time would not tolerate a steel strike. Nobody wanted a strike, least of all the steeelworkers themselves, who had the most to loose. No more could the administration afford a strike—with an election. campaign already up to high pitch.

. - » “ SO THE President, waving an imaginary law, did what he has done so many times in his seven years—he improvised. And, as he has done so many times, he improvised himself into a new and greater predicament. Public opinion and Congress now are reacting. His authority has been challenged in the courts. The storm he has loosed will not subside until he is out.of office. It should not be permitted to subside even then, not until the issue has been resolved. ; : ~ How much power does a President have? How much right does he have to use those powers frivolously ? &. The President has only such powers as the people, through Congress, give him—within the framework of the Constitution. The only other way he can get such power is to usurp it—which he has done in this case. . When a President usurps power, there is only one remedy. The people, through Congress, must take it away There the issue is joined. Mr. Truman has thrown down the challenge—to Congress and to the people. He has set a precedent, a precedent the public interest does ot condone, Ay : ui There is only one choice. The people must shatter that Jheoudent, : in protection of their own inherent rights. In his nation there are no inherent powers for anyone. There are only inherent rights, and they belong to the whole

. people. 3 . — ;

, spring fever,

pear oss “iby Don Kidney Hale Resolution Seen Doomed

WASHINGTON, Apr, 23-If Republican Congressmen from Indiana vote like they have been talking, they would support the Hale resolution to impeach President Truman should it every reach the House floor. That it will get that far seems dublous. It . more likely will be bottled up in the House Judiciary Committee by Chairman

N. Y.), Freshman Republican Rep. Shepard J. Crumpacker, South Bend, is a judiciary committee member. He sald that while he always has been ready to impeach President Truman, he wasn't too happy dbout the prospects. The resolution to do so was introduced by Rep. Robert Hale (R. Me.). He made a stirring speech regarding the alleged violation of constitutional rights by the administration's seizure of the steel mills,

The Quiet Type

CAMPAIGNING Sen. Robert A. Taft (R. 0.) had previously sald he thought it was matter for impeachment. His loud-mouthed supporter in the House, Rep. George H. Bender (R. O,) has cried out that it should be done. But when Mr, Hale took over the job it received serious consideration by the en. For he is the quiet type and'his voting record is not that of a bitter partisan,

Rep. Ralph Harvey... reports excerpts from

After listening to the Hale speech, Rep. E, ii

Ross Adair, a Fepublican lawyer from Ft, Wayne, said that he thought it made much sense on legal grounds. Like his colleague from South Bend, he was not optimistic about any House action. Only once in history did the House vote to impeach a President and the Senate let him off by a single vote. That was in the days follows ing the assassinalion af Abraham Lincoln. Vice President Andrew Johnson, who became Presi. dent; was the target of the impeachment. Under the Constitution, the House votes impeachment and the Senate sits as a court trying the case. Conviction requires a two-thirds Senate majority. The House can vote the resolution by a simiple majority.

Adoption Held Unlikely

THE HALE resolution would first have to receive a favorable report from the judiciary committae and then pass the rules committee of the House. The hurdles are such, and the political repercussions could be so great, that few look for its adoption. © One Democrat called it “the first step in the customary 4-year plan of Republicans to defeat themselves on election day.

Rep. Charles B. Brownson, Indianapolis Re-

publican. had flown out. to Notre Dame University to speak against the steel seizure at a mock GOP convention on the campus. He didn’t hear the Hale speech. The handout from his office d'd not indicate whether or not he is for impeachment. But it did argue that Congress must act in the matter of the steel seizure. “This is the golden chance to show the American people what the Republican Party stands for,” Mr. Brownson sald. “Our government, since the Constitution was forged »t Phila-

delphia, has been a government of laws and

not of men” ; : ‘ Rep. Ralph Harvey (R. Ind.) had reported ‘excerpts from numerous letters condemning the President's action in his weekly report to 10th District constituents, Rep. Earl Wilson (R. Ind.) cited his own record of warning against “state socialism” and said “this is it.” Indiana's Republican Sens. Homer E. Capehart and William E. Jenner voted to bar all seizure’ funds from a pending deficiency appropriation bill, And Sen, Capehart joined with three other Republicans to forbid all’ seizure funds by a blanket amendment. That required a two-thirds vote to bring to the floor. It failed by four votes. Thus Sen. Capehart was stymied hy the two-thirds rule which he and Sen. Jenner had supported in coalition with southern Democrats, to keep civil rights legislation under wraps.

Views on the News

WHEN GEN. EISENHOWER looks at that Taft questionnaire, he isn't likely to say, “1 didn’t know it was loaded.”

SOCIOLOGICAL NOTE--Prison riots are caused by

THEME SONG for taxpayers witnessing TV pictures of the latest atomic blast: “That's where my money goes."

FORTY WOMEN are running for Congress, but the vast majority are just .chasing men.

Gen, Eisenhower SOME psychiatrists think 0 alcoholism is caused by U. S. «os it's loaded “social tensions,” but most doctors still think it comes from too much booze,

CREDIT restrictions have been working so well that the Federal Reserve may decide we are short on debtors and cancel down payments.

SIDE GLANCES

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Emanuel Celler (D,

. advertisers ,

By Galbraith

Peckiny Away

: PS

EVERY THING POSSIBLE tS BEING

BATTLE FOR BBC . . . By R. H. Shackford Cornplasters or Euripides?

LONDON, Apr. 23—“American broadcasting has a kick in it, The BBC could do with a few kicks ...” ; “I would rather pay double the present price of .a radio license than have the programs

brought to me by courtesy of someone’s nause- |

ating laxatives , , .” Those two excerpts from letters to a London newspaper summarize well the “great debate” now raging here over the future of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Shall it continue a monopoly with no advertising or should an “experiment” in sponsored programs, at least on television, be tried? For 30 years the BBC, operating unhas monopolized radio

der a royal charter,

There always has been much grumbling about BBC. Most working people complain i¥s too highbrow. On the other side are influential persons who sincerely believe BBC should give the people not what they want, but what they should have, Lady Violet Bonham Carter, daughter of the late great liberal Prime Minister Henry Asquith, recently wrote:

“The supreme achievement of the BBC has beén to act as a tuning fork to public taste, ‘to create a demand for quality, and to gain the ear of millions for classical music. Plays by Euripides, Ibsen, Tchekov, Marlowe—a feast which could never have been achieved against ‘competition’ (so-called) with variety programs.” That's the approach the critics of BBC call “grandmotherly.” 3 Whatever the outcome, the controversy has shown there are a lot of Britons who would like some political bias and some mass appeal. Meantime, oppopents of sponsored programs cite the American system as a warning, >

Amuse or Educate? BARON BRAND, head of the British Food Mission in Washington during the war, wrote to The Times: " “Are we to give the ‘people’ exactly what the great majority would choose for themselves or do we look to the BBC, in addition to being a provider of light” entertainment of different kinds, to be also a great instrument of enlightenment and education? “If the United States is any guide, most « « would try to amuse but not to enlighten , , . the real question; therefore is: Do we use broadcasting not only to amuse but to enlighten and educate, or Just assume that ‘what the people want’ must be our sole guide?” A big element in the debate is what some call the “horrors” of American-style commercials. The Kemsley Sunday Times is paying $28 for the “best” sample of commercial submitted each week.

The Sunday Times’ own sample Indicates

ST. LOUIS OK . .

WASHINGTON, Apr. 23 St. Louis, Mo. where I was born, is a fine town. It is not, either, inhabited exclusively by politicians on the make. My brother, John, still 1s a St. Louis attorney and I'd be pleased. friends, if you gave me no dirty laughs about that, What I mean is that since an assortment of congressional committees started investigating political monkeyshines in 8t. Louis, my life has been miserable. Defending the honor of my birthplace has been my constant chore.

Making this no easier is the latest inquiry of the Senate Investigating Committee into the big antifreeze deal. A fellow wanted to buy from the gov ernment a factory to make the stuff. He met the price of $117,000; all right, but nothing seemed to happen until -he slipped $25,000 to James A. Waechter, an attorney with jowls, kigh-topped shoes, and connéctions. - Counselor Waechter told his . side of the story under oath and it was enough to make this loyal 8t. Louisian shudder. K, C. Baker, the antifreeze man, took his troubles first to Leo Bchumacher, old pal of Jimm Finnegan, the crooked tax col-

- . : . - ’ a i

that the “best” ones will be those ridiculing the commercial: “So the panel beat Eamon Andrews again. “What's ; with him? Where is that zip, .-that zest and sparkle that he’ used to have?’ Why is he too tired even to stand up and greet his guests? . “You've guessed it. Eamon has been missing his nightcap of Hushabye, the wonderful bedtime drink that fills you full of energy and drive. Every member of the panel takes it regularly. Gilbert Harding swears by Hushabye, the nightcap that banishes irritability.”

What Others Say—

THE outlook of saving that part of the world is not optimistic, but if at all, it will largely be because of Nehru, who comes close to being the first indispensable man of our time. —RALPH M¢GILL, EDITOR OF THE ATLAN-

TA CONSTITUTION, ON PREMIER PANDIT NEHRU OF INDIA.

’ 2

ct By idwall Denny Can the Allies Outwit Reds?

WASHINGTON, Apr. 23—The race between the Allies and Russia for German support is

ting close, . d= 4 lap will be lost by the Allies unless they can get a semi-treaty—or contractural agree-

ment, as it is called—with West Germany before

Stalin makes a bigger offer. That Allied agreements is a necessary basis for German participation in Western defense. Both sides are speeding up. At Bonn the United States, Britain and France have forced the rlow-motion negotiations with the West Ger« man government into fast allday sessions. After seven months of discussion, the U. 8. bas fixed mid-May asa deadline for final agreement and signatures. Much depends. on the i changing mood of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, He has dragged-but the negotiations before, but now is promising swift action. ‘A little. was accomplished in Monday's long session. Nevertheless, the British and French are not as hopes ful as the Americans. %

Price Hiked

THE GERMANS are driving hard bargains Now that the Western powers and Russia are competitors in the business of wooing the late enemy, the Bonn government fis raising its price to the Allies. This applies especially to the cost and nature of defense. Until now, West Germany has been getting cut-rate security of paying only part of the upkeep of Allied occupation forces. As a sovereign nation she must begin to pay her own way. She 1s not disposed to match American, British or French preparedness spending. But the British and Frehch are in financial difficulty and cannot continue carrying West Germany. As a disarmed nation, she has been making rapid economic progress at their expense, Other unsettled issues include the reserve powers of the Allies in case the present democratic state is threatened from within by neoNazis or Communists. Also the Status of the Saar—the former German industrial area now tied economically to France—is in dispute, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer is under heavy pressure from the German Nationalists on one side and the Socialists on the other, Both of those large groups insist on more than the Allies will give. Both oppose West German units in the proposed European army under command of Gen. Dwight Eisenhower's successor.

His Dilemma :

IF HERR ADENAUER’'S price is not high enough, his parliament will reject the deal, If it is too high, the Allies cannot meet it--and West Germany will swing toward Russia, which Adenauer opposes as much as the Allies, That is his dilemma, Stalin is making headway with his phony proposal for an armed, “neutral” Germany. He is believed to be preparing a new offer of socalled “free elections” for a unified Germany not allied with the West. If the Allies continue to delay their answer to his Apr. 10 note, he may not wait to make the new offer in his reply to the Allies. He may atterapt a more direct appeal to the Germans, Meanwhile, the Moscow press and Stalin propagandists in East Germany are going all

out to wreck the Allied-Adenauer hegotiations in Bonn.

MR. EDITOR: Look who is talking about being abused. C. D. C. of Terre Haute . .. the same one who has called everyone who doesn’t agree with him, every name in the book. I figure him to be a reactionary Republican. There are a lot of them around and they are very noisy right now. They wouldn't dare tell you what they really believe and want, so they talk about “Democrat wars.” Wars are never popular. ; Now, if according to his reasoning, the Democrats go to war and cause wars to save their political theories, it follows that men like Kaiser Wilhelm, Tojo, Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin. are not to blame for wars. They are the good little boys the Democrats keep needling into war. If the Democrats would just let them alone, they wouldn't cause the world a bit of trouble. I suppose, if we had had a Republican

in the White House, Hitler would not have.

begun his conquest of Europe. * oo ROT. Hitler's plan to conquer Europe was written before a Democrat ever came to power in Washington. Lenin, the father of communism, laid his plans for world wide communism back there when we were enjoying the “rugged individualist” philosophy of the Republicans, Stalin is just fulfilling those plans. The shadow of war with Japan was cast back there when Japan began to expand commercially and to grab worid markets. Wars are a continuing process. The havenots want more of the world’s food and goods. The haves are determined to keep the ‘world “status quo.” No matter how gallant they sound it is just as undramatic as that . , . a fight over the world’s good things. And that fight is going to go right on, until we destroy ourselves, for one war. breeds another, unless,

. By Frederick C. Othman

lector, Schumacher was in-

HOOSIER FORUM— ‘Abused?’

"I do net agree with a word that you say, but | will defend to the death your right to say iH."

says, “enough.” ¢ I appreciate, too, this person from Terre Haute worrying about my personal liberty. Actually, I have just as much, if not more, than my grandfather did. T don’t work any harder and certainly shorter hours, thanks to a wage and hour law. Now, if you think you are going 3 tell Hy things like the wage and hour law ave ‘cur my liberty, I shall r - more of the same.” > HY, 1TH tn You just aren't going to sell me that bill of goods, mister. (And I don’t have my feet in the honey pot and never did.) —F.M, City.

‘Dangerous Laws’ MR. EDITOR:

of Preside out of the not too distant past: dent. Roosevelt, “We have built up instruments of power which in the wrong hands could be used to shackle the liberties of the people.” Well, the Congress of the United States rubber stamped those instruments of power which Lould be and are being used to Shackle the liberties of we, the people of these United States, We, the people, and Congress alone can repair the damage done to our liberties by other blind, weak and subservient Congressmen. Congress cannot expect to give the President dictatorial power and forbid him to use it. Con- ° gress had better veto all dictatorial powers granted to the President + +» NOW, , while they have a majority strong enough to wipe all such dangerous laws from the books.

~E. F. Maddox, 2007 College Ave.

Defending the Home Town's a Tough Job

dicted on charges of perjury in connection with the red-faced Jimmy's tax troubles. So Schumacher went to the late Bob Hannegan, one-time chairman” of the ‘Democratic ° National Committee, Postmas-ter-General, and Commissioner of Internal Revenue. What could Mr. Hannegan suggest about getting that antifreeze factory sold? : He suggested that Schumacher contact Mr. Waechter, And what do you think Mr, Waechter did? He conferred with Mr. Hannegan. Then Mr. Hannegan conferred with Rep.

Raymond Karst (D. Mo.), who

antifreeze later lost his own election. write a totter baby Baker to Soon the antifreeze deal was pleased, Rg Be was closed. Mr. Waechter collected “You'd $25,000. Then he slipped $4000 ing to i he Absolutely Both to Mr, Schumacher to pay off Sen Nixon. ®." snapped

some debts of Congressman Karst. Later, Mr. Karst paid this back. “And how much of the $25,000 did you give to Mr. Hannegan?” inquired Sen. Rob-

ert Nixon (R. Cal.). Hu

“I'd intended to give him half,” replied Mr. Waechter, “but I saw him and he wanted to know if the client was satisfied. He didn’t want any of the money.” So ‘Counselor Waechter got

TWILIGHT WALK

I LIKE to wander all alone ... along a

country lane . . , and see

the twilight pierce the

trees . . . with rainbow color stain . . , I mar- . vel at the solitude . . . that casts its magic spell

+ « « enthralling me with

happiness ... as 1

traverse each dell . .. my footsteps keep me company . . . as on and on I plod . . . walking with contentment . .. o'er the velvet mdsspatched sod . . . and as the sun hides in the sky

+ «+ And

takes its hold . .. I thank

my God for letting me . . . this great wonder behold . . . for though my jaunt comes to an

end ... in heart there remain . . . vision of the twilj Rw man the country lane. ~~By Ben Burroughs.

He then went o friendship for rel yi man, Mr, Hannegan, Mr. Fin. negan, and Bill Boyle, who was Deméeratic boss, himgels until he got involved a while a in a peculiar RFC deal, Some of these gentlemen, saiq Waech. ter, he'd known since boyhood They maintained their frienaship as 8Town-up Democrats,

“We were New Dealers, Fair

. Dealers, whatever you want to

say,” mused’ Waechter, “I'd say you were fast dealers,” Sen. Nixon interrupted. Came then the gray-haired Schumacher in octagonal rimless eyeglasses to tell his part In the miraculous antifreeze enterprise. Only he wouldn't talk. Said: he was afraid he might incriminate himself. So he went béck to St. Louis to defend himself on that perjury

charge. You see where that

leave me: Apologizing some . more for what goes on in my.

home town.