Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 April 1952 — Page 24

The Indianapolis Times

A BURIPPS-HOWAKD NEWSPAPER

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

"PAGE 24

CRIS gty A

oR ——————-

Thursday, Apr. 24, 1952

Ohad and pilshed dally oy indianapolis imes rubiish bi 214 ary and Bn Postal Zone 9. Member of is Press ewspaper Alliance NEA Berv:

. fee and Audit ro or irentat) ion

Price In Marion County » gents py for dally and 10¢ for Sunday: delivered by carrier daily and Bunday 5c a week. daily only 25¢. Sunday only 10c Mall rates in Indiana dnily ard Sunday 11000 a vear daily $500 a vear Sunday only $5.00. all other states U1 B possessions Canada and Mexico daily $1.10 a month Sunday 100 a copy

Telephone PL aza 555)

~ @ive [Aght and the People Will Fina Their Own Way

Time to Explain

JOSEPH D. NUNAN JR. was boss of the nation's federal income tax collectors from 1944 until June 30, 1947, when he resigned to practice law. . Now a, House subcommittee investigating skulduggery in the Internal Revenue Bureau has revealed that Mr. Nunan had $176,000 in “unexplained” and” “unreported” income from 1944 through 1950.

44 years to run up the total which the committee says Mr. Nunan didn't explain and didn't report on his income tax returns, The investigating committee disclosed that Mr. Nunan refused, in closed session, to explain the income on the ground that he might incriminate himself. This isn’t the first time Mr. Nunan's name has appeared in congressional investigations. After he resigned as Internal Revenue Commissioner, he got special government permission to represent nine clients whose cases were pending while he was still with the bureau. One such case was that of the Indianapolis Brewing Co. The government held an $812,000 tax claim against it, but after Mr. Nunan took the case, the company got 2 $35,000 tax refund. . » . . » r 4 MR. NUNAN also served as a vice president of the ' © American Lithofold Corp. of St. Louis, a printing concern which figured in the Reconstruction Finance Corp. scandals. He collected $4055 in commissions from Lithofold for lining up new business. This also was after he left his government post. The House subcommittee says he didn’t report these commissions as income in 1949, but did so in an amended return in 1951, after the payments had been publicized. For some time, the House subcommittee has been coaxing Mr. Nunan to testify in public. But Mr. Nunan has "declined on the ground that he is too ill. ‘Let's hope Mr. Nunan soon will be strong and willing enough to appear before the committee, On the face of it, he has plenty of explaining to do.

REC ‘Setback—Almost

| THE SENATE last night missed a fine opportunity to i strike a blow for less bureaucracy and less government in business. “In the afternoon it had tentatively voted 42 to 37 in | favor of a bill to abolish the Reconstruction Finance Corp. | But in the final showdown, it sent the RFC ripper back to committee 38 to 36. : fl But for a few straying Senators, the bill probably would <1 have been passed. 8 The RFC has been a “temporary” agency now for more than 20 years. Like most government agencies created to meet a special “temporary” situation, it has just kept rolling along. And, like most agencies which outlived their useful- . ness, it got into trouble. Once its real need had expired, + the RFC became an instrument for favoritism and political manipulation.

AB AS Sn SSA IS

a a

RH oe res

house after the RFC scandals last year, his house-cleaner, W. Stuart Symington, soon proved the dispensability of the agency. By reducing RFC. lending to a strict business basis, he whittled its loans to a fraction of their once giddy heights. In other words, when politics and favoritism were elifinated, the huge agency was down to a minimum of responsibility, Keeping the RFC in business is an invitation to more polities and favoritism. By abolishing it, Congress at least can erase one source of those anti-taxpayer practices.

It Won't Work, Mayor”

MAYOR CLARK yesterday asked for public reaction to a plan to keep streetcar fares from going up again. The plan: Make downtown auto parking more difficult and more expensive -so more folks will have to ride streetcars, so the company won't have to raise its fares. Apparently the Mayor isn't advocating the idea, but: just honestly wants to know. All the public reaction we've heard so far is against it. ‘We don’t believe it would work. » ~ » » . » if FORCING automobiles out of the downtown district wouldn't compel very many more people to ride streetcars. Those who drive autos downtown to their work, -and stay all day, already have parking facilities, for which they pay. They know quite well it costs more than streetcar fares, and they do it anyway. They still would. If such a downtown parking ban had any effect at all | it probably would be to drive shoppers out of the downtown 3 retail district, boom outlying neighborhood shopping centers,

and keep shoppers from all over Central Indiana out of town entirely.

That wouldn't help the streetcar company. definitely hurt Indianapolis business. The prospect of another raise in streetcar fares in

Indianapolis is a frightening one, and it does pose a serious problem to the city administration,

It can’t be solved by turning back the clock.

lke Will Talk

SEN. LODGE and other leaders of the Eisenhower-for-President campaign say that when the General comes home in June he will be “free to discuss every issue, and he will do just that.” That is in complete keeping with the forthrightness of the Eisenhower character. WM he speaks out on the wide range of issues which he is represented to have in mind, the charge that he is a “pig-in-a-poke” candidate no longer will be defensible. Elections are not won solely on personality. Nor are convention delegates swayed purely by a candidate's personal appeal. But conventions are influenced by public

It might

eS

once t Getiazal's isw-aze brought up to date pul hi BL. ‘able to impress its judgthe lic de egat Seegntés sca they Snot in July,

It would take a man with an income of $4000 a year -

When President Truman finally was forced to clean

EUROPEAN DEFENSE .

WASHINGTON, Apr. 24 - The British are

sending Lord Louis Mountbatten to command

their Meditteranean fleet and, they confidently expect, ‘eventually to take over command of North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces in Southern Europe. « A first class cow already is in the making. The British make no secret of the fact they want-and expect. the Mediterranean command, They're indignant because Gen. Eisenhower has axrigned (t to an American, Adm. Robert Carney. They say we're hogging most of NATO's top posts. With Lord Mountbatten handy when Gen. Eisenhower retires, they expect to be in position to drive a hard bargain and cinch the job. * 2 o

WE contend, ,n t.e other hand, that an American is the logical man for the Mediterranean command. Our Sixth Fleet is NATO's biggest fighting force; it has more planes: in Europe than the U. 8. Air Force. American naval men say the British--who played a minor role in .the Pacific in World War 1I-don't understand the operation of carrier task forces. We say that's a strictly American trade, per-

"oe By Jim 6. Luess : British Want Mountbatten In Command Of The Mediterranean

fected In the Pacific from 1942 to 1945. American carrier task forces under a British admiral, our naval people scoff, would lose 50 to 75 per cent of thelr effectiveness. > o 4 MOREOVER, the Greeks and Turks have made it clear they wouldn't relish serving under a Briton. The Turks have refused even to let the British send a military mission to their country. England has been in the Mediterranean for years and has made enemies. This country is a newcomer and has. a backlog of good will, One top-ranking naval officer here predicted the Turks will pull out of NATO if an Englishets the top spot. ; Also involved are two conflicting concepts of strategy, We look upon the Mediterranean as part of the European defense setup. The British, on the other hand, insist it's not--that defense of the Mediterranean is basically a job of protecting and keeping open communications with the Middle East. Adm; Carney is in Washington this week, persumably discussing the matter with the

Pentagon and State Department. + Meanwhile,

'What a Platform to Have to Run On"

&o

GERMAN ISSUE .

. By Ludwell Denny

Allies Press for More U. S. Aid

WASHINGTON, Apr. 24--The United States is being pressured by its Allies to incrdase its large military commitments to Europe, They want us to promise to defend them from possible German attack as well as from Russian aggression. The issue arises because we have insisted that West Germany be restored as an equal and rearmed—prematurely, some of them fear, Originally the Allied demand that America balance its so-cHlled pro-Germany policy with a special guapéntee against future German militarism camfe from France. This Paris pressure continues. Unless it is satisfied, there is still doubt whether the French Parliament will accept the twin pillars of Allied defense against Russia-—the Allied West German peace contract and the proposed single European army with German units,

Labor Party Attack |

THIS week's developments tend to align Britain with France and the smaller Allies in demanding additional military guarantees from the U. 8. The Labor Party is attacking the Churchill government for its new pledge of a mutual defense pact with the six European army nations, which would involve Britain automatically if Germany causes trouble. Laborites argue that Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden have undertaken an obligation for Britain which the stronger U. 8. has refused to assume. This. is a particularly sore point for two reasons: Mr, Eden tried and failed tp getaAmeric an action. And the reluctant Churchill-Eden policy, of buttressing the European army with a special’ British commitment, was largely inspired by Washington in the first place. The United States now is In the position of having forced the French and British governments to go farther and faster than they desired in trusting a rearmed Germany, but of

SIDE GLANCES

By Galbraith

are lifting the cultural fone lowering mine

refusing to share with them the risk, That, at least, is the charge made by our /numerous critics abroad. It is true, but not the whole truth. It is true that Washington, after Korea, insisted on reversing Allied policy so as to permit West German rearmament. But this. was necessitated by our Allies failure to rearm themselves sufficiently for security against Russia, thus leaving an Allied-German alliance as the only realistic defense alternative,

Security Systems

IT IS also true that congressional leaders here insisted unfairly that Britain, despite her commonwealth commitments, join the European army-—and without the U. S. But the State Department merely asked Britain to associate herself with—instead of joining—the European army, as London is now doing.

Just as the criticism of Secretary Eden and Secretary Acheson reflects half-truths, so also their excuses represent less than the whole truth. They say the proposed European army-—or European Defense Community, as it is now called ~will be interlocked with a series of security systerys, particularly the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the United Nations; and that Germany ultimately will be a member of those

anyway.

Big Difference

EVEN assuming that all the Allies—including the U. 8. Senate will grant West -Germany full membership in NATO soon, a big difference will remain. NATO does not obligate the U. 8. or Britain. Each member decides what kind of military aid and how much it will give. But the EDC would be a definite military merger, and Britain's pledge of a mutual defense treaty with it would be a specific military commitment for the 17 years of NATO duration.

A similar military guarantee is what our European Allies are asking of us.

FORGETFUL .

(See editorial, Time to Explain) WASHINGTON, Apr. 24 — Grit your teeth, taxpayers, and I'll tell you about Joe Nunan, our absent-minded ex-Commis~ sioner of Internal Revenue. He just forgot about $176,000, was all. Neglected to mention it on his own income tax returns, So now he’s got a paip in the chest. Too sick, according to a pair of New York medicos, to tell the House Investigating Committee about the non-taxed fortune he earned on the side while he was boss tax collector, No wonder he's sick. It made me a little ill just listening to two gimlet-eyed revenue agents in the golddraped sanctum of the Ways and Means Committee tell how Joe couldn't rightly remember where he did get the $97,328.72 in cash that he deposited between 1945 and 1950, How he managed to tear up his cancelled checks and banking records. How he took in thousands of dollars more in legal fees, dividends, capital gains and interest—and ignored them on his personal tax’ re424 turns. i. = Well do 1 remember the dapoe, who looks something a plainclothes cop in a hignsiass movie, ‘when he

wl

the British press has launched what be a concerted campaign to take the BE ranean away from the Americans. Much of it appears aimed directly at Adm. Carney, who is one of the most popular men in the American Navy. “Ever hear of Carney?””’, the London Daily Mirror asked on Apr. 8. “You will. For 150 years,the Royal Navy has lived and fought in the blue sunny waters that stretch from Gibraltar to Alexandria. We once had a man there called Nelson. Then there was Codrington at Navarino and more recently, in 1941, a great chasing of the Italians around Tyrrhenian and up the Adriatic. Chap by the name of Cunningham . .. Carney, with the backing of the chiefs

"of the United States Navy, has done. infinitely

better, On paper, he has sunk us without a trace, We are ignored. : ® pe $ “ALL THE commands are held by the Americans with the sole exception of one held by an Italian—who is an Italian general at that. , . . This is contemptuous idiocy in a dangerous and ridiculous situation. The Americans should be told we do exist in the Medi-

BBC FIGHT

6 {

terranean: that we have done so since 1783 and we will continue to do so. . .. (Let us) tell them now Bat they can take down their impu~ dent notice marked ‘private.’ Will ail concerned please note. Including and especially Adm. Carney.” ¢ © 2

‘ THE British were particularly upset because a memorandum from Adm. Carney, “for the help of editors and writers in the future” defining his command, mentioned ne British naval men. Actually, this is because the British Mediterranean fleet has never been committed to NATO. Adm. Carney, who fills several jobs, commands Italian, Greek and Turkish land - forces, and the French and American naval forces in the Mediterranean. He has no jurisdiction over British bases at Malta and Gibraltar. ‘The British Mediterranean fleet—which operates independently—is headed by. Sir John Edelstine. One of Adm, Carney’s first visits when he returns to Naples will be to greet Adm. Edelstine and his sticcessor, Lord Mountbatten.

By R. H. Shackford

Taxes, TV. Sets, Food Subsidies

LONDON, Apr. 24—Does a man who buys a television set need government subsidies for food, transportation and housing? That question is being asked by Britons who pay high taxes to finance subsidies. It all started with an innocent nonpolitical survey of television owners by the governmentchartered British Broadcasting Corp. The survey turned up the startling fact that the people for whom food and other subsidies are designed -—the lowest-paid workers—own most of Brit-

*ain’s television sets.

Those same people only pay a little, if any income tax, And it's the income tax money that pays the subsidies.

TV Sets and Food

NATURALLY the people who do pay high taxes—and that includes even the lowest middle brackets—are asking why the government should continue subsidies to help the low-paid people buy television sets instead of paying the real price for food. The BBC survey disclosed that 77 per cent of the television owners—there are about 1.5 ‘million licensed sets—earn less than $35 a week. Fifty per cent of the television owners earn less than $21 a week, about the average wage of unskilled workers. How do they do it? On installment buying, which is called “hire purchase plan” here, Sets cost about $150 upward, including a 66 per cent sales tax. But they can be bought with down

JORORNSRNNEIRIANIRNIERRANRRRINIIRINITIETRR LR RRIRRIRRRRIIRRARRRAIRRSY . . .

HOOSIER FORUM—‘Clean Up’

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

payments of about $10 and weekly payments of about $1.50. No one objects to anyone spending his extra mopey as he likes. But there are objections by high tax payers when the government creates extra money for some by subsidies.

Annual Food Subsidies

EVEN before the survey, the Churchill gove ernment had cut annual food subsidies from over $1 billion to $700 million, but had left housing subsidies untouched. Food subsidies started during the war to prevent inflation. The Socialists—who've said all subsidies are essential-—continued them afterward, claiming low-paid workers couldn't afford to pay the real costs of food, most of which is imported. The same argument was used when it was proposed that otherwise the free medical serve ice should charge a small fee for prescriptions to prevent abuses, such as ‘the fantastically high numbers of prescriptions for aspirin.

Harder Job Now

THE Socialists will have a harder job now, in light of the BBC survey. The Socialists yelled bloody murder when Chancellor of the Exchequer Richard A. Butler said a reduction in food subsidies would increase food costs about 20 cents a week per head. But weekly payments on popular priced television sets run about seven times that.

3 rissa

MR. EDITOR: Why must citizens who enjoy hamburgers, popcorn, newspapers, beer, whiskey, pop, candy, coke, etc., etc., while walking the streets of this city, leave the evidence on lawns, curbs and

elsewhere? When walking my dog in this really handsome block, I have constituted myself a committee of one to pick up same. It takes only a few minutes and the city has now, at long last, provided a trash container. Results are gratifying at least to me, but it is not a dainty or dignified task, and eyebrows raise at me, I believe I have picked up three tons in a year and a half, Are slovenlinéss and selfishness symptomatic of moral decay? I am afraid I think so. Latvian students of mine tell me that in the preRussian era they kept their cities clean and beautiful. Those littering refuse about were fine, Be eo home and school training for the young might include civic pride and decent consideration. Then adults might have these qualities, too. Was John Gunther right? —Miss Francis E. Huston,

. 4317 E. Washington St.

Views on the News

By DAN KIDNEY -

OPENING his Ohio campaign with a pledge to cut taxes 15 to 20 per cent makes Sen. Taft the most promising candidate.

OUR latest A-bomb test shows great progress in ability to speed up decentralization of cities.

PRESIDENT TRUMAN told a rural life conference that country kids have “tragic handicaps.” They may even miss the atom bomb.

KANSAS CITY shouldn't feel too hadly about getting smeared by good clean mud from the Missouri River.

NATURE NOTE — Hot spring days are bringing forth an early crop of beach nuts.

Son. Taft

oo tax cut?

POST-WAR congressional investigations prove that junk dealers no longer can be classed As ‘small businessmen.”

. By Frederick C. Othman Joe Nunan’ s Fiscal Affairs in a Big Mess

ruled the Bureau of Internal an”able han. Revenue, slapped the backs of the mighty at political rallies, and rode behind a federal

chauffeur in an official Cadil-

I suppose that while he was commissioner from 1944 until June, 1947, Joe could have been called America's top bookkeeper, His own books he seems to have kept with a potato masher.

The magnificent Joe once gave me a lift downtown from Capitol Hill in the big black limousine with the Treasury seal on the door. He struck me at the time as an affable and

nary.

NICKEL AND DIME

I HAVE a nickel and a dime . . . and though

How was I to know that he couldn't add? p And didn’t believe in saving his check stubs?

Now he's home In Brooklyn. lac. Instead of showing up here under subpoena, he sent. down his mouthpiece to report he was too sick to be questioned, There wasn’t much Jeft for Chairman Cecil King (D. Cal.) to do but’ put in the record the evidence dug up by the Messrs. William B. Carnes and Andres Soldana, tax sleuths extraordi-

For the past ‘six months they've done nothing, but attempt to make sense of Joe's .

‘Stand Back, Men’ MR. EDITOR: Here is my opinion on the flier who got court martialed because his wife was expecting and didn’t want him to fly. I think he got just what he deserved, only I think it should have been life. What would happen to our country if all the infantry men

Jn Korea had that same attitude and refused

to walk in the mud? Does she think he is the only reserve officer to be called up while his wife is expecting? None of us like war but when a husband is called to duty a wife should never tell him what

* he can do. That is Uncle Sam's job.

Being an Army wife, I have my fears for my husband, too, but I would never humiliate him or disgrace him as she has done, She sho'1ld have thought about his job, then she wouldn't have to go to work. I bet her son sure will be proud of his father when he grows up. I guess I am writing this because I have no use for a man who has no backbone. The poor fish. Stand back men, the Women are running this Army. -—An Army Wite, Franklin

‘Congratulations’ MR. EDITOR: Just a few lines to tell Donna Mikels I really enjoy her articles in The Times. It is a pleasure to read articles like “the woman needs. help” the way she wrote it . . . and the boost for the Police Department was fine, It was so downright human and real and so understanding. I wish we could have more reporters with an understanding heart and I thank her for printing things as they are, I believe in letting a person know when they are appreciated, so I salute Miss Mikels, Keep w the good work: —Mrs. H. Lefevers, City.

‘We Need Mail’ MR. EDITOR. "A few words from two lonely Marines in the First Division now serving in Korea. We have been wondering if there'is any one in your fair city who could spare the time to write us now and then. Would very much like to hear from some one. It will take seven days for a letter to reach us, so we won't be looking for an answer for sometime. Thanks for your kindness for taking time to read our letter. ~—Sgt. R. Quilter 1158188 and Cpl. Fred Olson, 1166850; WPNS 20, 2d BN, 1st Marines, 1st Division, FMF Pacific, c/o FPO, San Francisco, Cal.

bank accounts and tax returns. Precious little help they got from him. When they asked where he got nearly $100,000 in cash, he wouldn't talk, When they demanded his bank statements, he said he'd turned them over to Mrs. Nunan, who'd destroyed ’em. As for the capital gains, the legal fees, and the interest charges he neglected to list on his own tax returns, Joe had no adequate answers. Or so swore Agents Carnes and Soldana. Year after year, they said, he took in substantial sums of money from sources mysterious to them. Equally as methodi-

, cally, they continued, he left: |

other large sums off his returns. His fiscal affairs are in what you'd call a mess. The Congressmen weren't too

Jaugh . , . they jingle like a bell . . . and have 3 most as-

it isn’t much ... I know with wealth such as I

dave . , . I'll never get in dutch . . . for they can

hardly buy a wish . .. and that’s for sure I'd say . . . especially the way things are . . . in this old world today ... I even dare to dream that they . could turn into a half . .. and as I entertain this thought . .. I have to smile or but as I walk along the street . . .,

tounding way . . . of making me feel swell . . . 3 holds

Impressed with the reports of Joe’s docs, saying he was a man with heart disease and allied ailments with lon g names. They ordered their own sawbones to give him the old double-o at once. If he discovers that Joe isn't as sick as claimed, Rep. King promised he would be slapped down with . contempt citation. Next installment on your in- -

‘come tax Is due June 15; just *

thought I'd mention it.

your oil, An one compan brazenly, tha enough,

8 WHEN TI today, the Charlie Nels have the club put a bug in | Said Cha round smile who say oll that water who'd wash same water - HE WAS a big way. T barrel. “Filters ta grit, but the

~aclds, water

which get i boys still do: “Oil costs 2 compared to or even a n job.” But he yet. F HERE'S = know. If yo trying to sta) traffic line, ) three minutes the frown off it will cost yo prite oi park The refine: the power o performance. able to do drivers,

THE DRI little can sav gasoline bill light foot on it. Avoid and shut off you can. And a drop on the open per cent. And watch it easy. Col Start off slow let the car ¢ 20 miles an hc

F AND I BE( Charlie was 1 “know” abo

~ when that’s

Then ‘I ca usual. Sincl: to be as che:

.possible. Thi

use it more. Then you b

The Heart

WFBM-TV schoolrooms The catch could watch, couldn’t. No here public-s in with a wh It will inst: TV sets, a tr city and cou dents everyv students stuc L I HAND a TV for takin won't be eas) And I toss the RCA pla tor, Lou Ran sociated Dis to the RCA d The progr classrooms J AA