Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 23 June 1952 — Page 12
~The Indianapolis Times
ROY W. HOWARD WALTER LECKRONE HENRY W. MANZ President » Editor Business Manager
Monday, June 23, 1952 PAGE 12
a —-— Oped nd bilsheq 4 dianapolis im: ol : A FM land be” dostal” Fone’ 4 mba oi Bice, ri Snr fia =. iY
eT ee jn in M ? 8 rier ga fed ek Lg on. NAT forty fal i Fin gly of and d sun hd Ey a vear daily has haio0 daily $110 a — WRX .
Telephone PL aza 5551 Give Tdoht and the People Will Fins Their Own Woy
Better County Tax Plan?
ROPOSALS FOR A COUNTY income tax in Indiana probably are not the answer to Indiana's local tax problem. But at least they invite examination of the problem itself, and give some hope it may be reformed. County tax levies on personal property and real estate today constitute one of the most wasteful, confused, and inefficient methods of getting revenue it would be possible to devise. Personal property taxes are so easily evaded that it is rather surprising any are paid at all. There appears to be no uniform basis for them, throughout all the counties in the state. Rates of assessment vary widely from county to county, the great bulk of the personal property in the state apparently never gets assessed at all, and much of what does get on the tax books gets on at a completely fantastic valuation. ® ” » REAL ESTATE APPRAISALS, too, appear to vary widely. Some real estate is reported on tax books at 5 per cent of its actual value, some at 33 per cent in other counties—and some here in Indianapolis at 50 per cent or more.
Plainly we do need a better system of levying the taxes which are the sole support of county services, schools, welfare, relief, and all the other essential expenses of local governments.
A local income tax sounds like an easy way out. But is it? In practice it is too easy.
There can be little question that a properly administered income. tax ig the fairest form of taxation.
It Is also full of Sanger,
4 ny ‘abo ah erous exemption Pe d
where it takes a full fourth of al the income protien in the whole country, and thus adds 25 per cent to the price of every service and commodity we buy.
There-is no legal limit on this tax. By a simple. majority in Th oe it could be malie 100 per cent of income.
Because it is an easy- way to raise huge revenues this tax has changed the whole history of the world, and given the federal government a control over the lives of individual citizens such as never was contemplated when it was first proposed. " . . . ® - ” THE INDIANA STATE INCOME TAX also started as a sharply limited levy of 1 per cent on income above $1000.
Two years ago it was raised above that to meet a specific need, for a temporary period. Already it is being proposed that this extra levy be continued, after that need is met, to take care of other demands of various kinds. Already it seems unlikely that it will ever revert to the level originally set, and heavy pressures exist to make it go still higher. Again it is open to abuse mostly because it is such an easy way to raise revenue. County taxation certainly does need reform in Indiana, and we're glad some responsible citizens are seriously considering the problem now, while the policies of the next General Assembly are still in a formative stage. We're very doubtful, though, that another income tax, whether gross or net, on top-of the two we already have, offers any solution of our problem.
A Return From Exile
THE NOMINATION of Angus Ward as American ambassador to Afghanistan will place one of our best qualified specialists on Russian: imperialism in one of the vital observation posts on the perimeter of Soviet influence. The appointment seems to be of further significance. It suggests that the leftist wirepullers in the State Department may be losing ground in one of those shifts in backroom policy making for which the department is noted. Mr. Ward is one of the all-too-few specialists in Far Eastern affairs among the foreign service careermen who has been ‘consistently anti-Communist throughout his long public service. When he was released from his prison at Mukden, after having been jailed by the Chinese Communists, Angus Ward received the State Department's superior service award and a special citation. But at the same time, he was removed as far as possible from any contact with Russian problems by banishment to an obscure African consular post at Nairobi, Kenya. Thus his return to favor must involve something more than belated recegnition of his peculiar qualifications for service in one of the areas of Soviet intrigue. A similar straw in the wind was to be noted in the temporary foreign travel restrictions invoked against Owen ‘Lattimore. This man was a State Department consultant of such “repute that the whole Stalinist cult, both withip and outside the department, looked to him for guidance. His fall from grace indicates that an actual cleanup may be taking iy of the byproduets of recent congressional inons.
Wadsworth, Statesman
Jams WADSWORTH could change his mind, as s any wise man can. But when he had made it up, he stood like a rock for what he believed was right, no matter how large the majority against him. * This distinguished public servant, who died Saturday ‘at T4, once lost his Senate seat because he refused to ap- - prove the Prohibition Amendment. : He fought for aviation when most people sneered at it. Though once an isolationist, he was one of the first to realize the threat of Hitlerism, and advocated Preparediess ~ when most Americans were SoHplicem.
. > $ Se ¥ 1 is (lB ff Sl (RS SBA SS CC VRE SG RE ibs
. ing about the Red deputy.
MID-EAST ... By Clyde Farnsworth Maybe You'd Better Pick op “and Quit
Reds May Try Greece Again
ATHENS, June 23 — The Greek-language “bandit radio,” which presumably is operating from one of Russia's Balkan statellite countries, grimly threatens a “fourth round” in communism's attempts.to win control of this strategic keystone of the Middle East. Whether the Reds actually pose 2 genuine threat has become a political issue. The weak, center-liberal coalition which is the government of Greece today says a Communist guerrilla comeback is impossible—the eituation is too firmly in hand for the outlawed KKK (Greek Communist Party) to stir
up real trouble.
@ The opposition Greek rally of Field Marshal Alexander Papagos, the most powerful political entity in Greece today, insists a new Communist bid for power is in the making, and that the government is too weak to do anything about ft.
Beat Reds Before
IT WAS Marshal Papagos who, with considerable American and British aid, defeated the Reds’ “third round” of 1946-49. His Greek rally is continually thumping the anti-Com-munist drum. Most Americans here feel Marshal Papagos would be a better American invest ment than the present government. But Washington seems to feel, for the present at least, that Marshal Papagos’ heavily rightist following might help bring about the “fourth round” rather than forestall it.
Although the Communist KKK is illegal in "Greece, nobody doubts it still exists underground. There are obviously great caches of Communist arms in the mountains. Oiled and carefully wrapped, they are sometimes found by accident.
Reds in Military
NEUTRALS are sure Communists have penetrated the Greek Army, Navy and Air Force. There has been some sabotage in the Air Force—emery powder in aircraft engines.
The Papagist newspapers in Athens point
to occasional arrests and minor banditry up-
country as evidence the Communist threat is genuine. But, pro-government papers insist the
incidents merely prove the coalition is keeping
the KKK in check. But again, a more realistic appraisal of the government's attitude toward Communists may be found in this incident: A member of parliament recently proclaimed himself a member of a Communist farmer organization. And. although the act outlawing Communist groups remains in-force, the government has done noth-
Papagos’ Greek - rally clatms the ~governm ent
WHICH
CLUB DO YOU THINK { SHOULD
is purging the Army of its supporters. and pro-
Writers Music During Speeches
moting pro-government officers. There seems to
be no doubt the government is doing its best,
through transfers, . firings and promotions, to : . undermine Marshal Papagos’
strength in the Army, “The fact political instability has immediate influence on the Army is beyond any doubt” Marshal Papagos says. “But what is still more harmful iz infiltration of politics into the Army, for the Army belongs to the nation, and not to one section of the nation. ...”
What Others Say—
I THINK it would be much better if we replaced some of the Army divisions with Marine divisions.—Ex-Marine Sen. Paul H. Douglas (D. IL.) Se o> &
SOME Americans think they have better morals than people ‘elsewhere. They haven't —Author-philosopher Bertrand Russell. SO OUR flying machines are rapidly approaching capabilities that are penalized rather than aided by the presence of a human pilot.—Aviation expert J. H. Kindelberger. * Oo & MEN love to hear scandal, They're the worst gossips in the world.—Movie actress Claire Trevor. > > I AM hopeful that this new medium of communication (TV). will influence the voters in greater numbers to participate in the. campaign ahead.—-1936 presidential candidate Alf Landon. * > » ANTINARCOTICS campaign carried on in schools place too much information in the hands of suggestible youngsters.—Robert W. Artis, Chicago district supervisor of the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics. ob Bb I STARRED in “Othello because Ix was the
only star I could afford to hire.—Actor-producer- " director, Orson Welles.
S * NO ONE should assume that the possibility of a world war has become remote.—President Harry S. Truman.
DEFENSE PROGRAM . . . By Jim G. Lucas
Expert Says Make Arms for Use Now
WASHINGTON, June 23 —
“It all boils down to a ques-
WASHINGTON, June 23—There is a famous scientist (I'd better not name him because he'd probably get fired) whose job lately has been attending some of the incredibly dull hearings of the Federal Communications Commission.
Everybody fidgets and alsé squirms at these
protracted proceedings; everybody, that is, but my favorite electronics engineer. He adjusts his hearing aid in his left ear and spends whole
afternoons with a beatific smile on his lips, pay-
ing rapt attention, while the lawyers wrangle interminably about legal wave lengths. Hearing aid? My man’s ears are perfect. He has in his shirt pocket a 12-tube radio set. This is about the size of a cigaret package; a wire leads from it to the speaker button in his ear. While the other people suffer, he listens to the ball game. If he has to be on hand in the mornings, he turns his attention to soap operas; says some of them are surprisingly interesting. More interesting, at least, than lawyers.
The Mighty Mites
HE MADE his mighty mite radio in the laboratories of his own employers, using in place of 12 vacuum tubes a dozen transistors. These are the magical chunks of germanium, each about the size of a match head and doing all the work of a glass tube 500 times as big. The further beauty about a transistor is it doesn't get hot, wears almost forever, and uses hardly any electricity. The Bell Telephone Co., whose technicians developed the first transistors in 1948, already is using them in long-distance service. The military is taking mst of them, however, for electronics devices which continue to work perfectly when bounced. A number of firms, including Westinghouse and General Electric, now are manufacturing these tiny widgets, and it shouldn't be long before we alls#have our personal vest-pocket radios for foiling bores.
SIDE GLANCES
cs—
O
®
To General. Electric and others, I am indebted for some fascinating information about transistors ‘and the germanium upon which they depend; this metal was described in 1871 by a Russian chemist, Dmitri Mendeleyev, who never lived to see a chunk of it. He figured there simply had to be such stuff somewhere in the universe.
Found by German
FIFTEEN YEARS later, Clemens Winkler, a German, actually discovered a piece and named it for his native land. Then nothing happened until the telephone people discovered germanium worked like the cat's whiskers in early crystal radio sets, except a whole lot better. Most germanium is found in chimneys as a waste fiom the smeltering of lead, titanium and zinc. The Eagle-Picher Co., which didn’t realize for years what predious stuff was going up its flues, is the leading producer of germanium here. ° General Electric says British chimneys, however, are an especially good source of germanium because so much of it is in English coal; should turn the chimney sweeps of the tight little isle into rich men. This is because germanium now costs about the same as gold. The price doesn't really matter much, because only a tiny speck of it is enough to make a transistor. These still are expensive—about $20 each—not because of the cost of germanium, but because ‘they're made by artisans working by hand under magnifying glasses. The price is expected to drop drastically as soon as automatic machinery is developed. . You can see what this means to me, spending most of my time listening to statesman vammer. Once I get my ear-piece radio I can fill in the blank sketches with Dinah Shore. Should make life in Washington worth living.
By Galbraith
R a!
and the cost: ‘of ii we
says:
Hoosier Forum “| do net agree with a word that you sa. but | wi defend fo the death yor
w
‘Sees Truman Smile
MR. EDITOR: The Republican Party, for the past several months, has been preparing a political feast that promised the public's taste a superb dish to replace the present Democratic mess. At ‘least the GOP’s intentions were along those lines. To run out of Washington forever and ever the mean old bunch of Democrats no one seems to like but keeps electing every four
years. ® © o
IT'S GOING: to be fun this coming July, watching the convention antics of the Republican bigwigs in Chicago. From all observation, this political feast is going to turn out to be the most vile stew ever dished out. It may well be remembered what happened four years ago when Tom Dewey was given the second successive nomination. John Bricker was replaced by Karl Warren for the vice presie dency nomination. The fight was on and Mr, Truman even cartied Ohio. & NOW LOOK at the mess the Republicans are into on the eve of their last-fling convention. Mr. Dewey likes Ike, Gen, MacArthur dislikes Ike. Ike seems to be the most logical candidate to appear yet, but Sen. Taft has the machine. And to top it all, Gen. MacArthur will be the keynoter for the Republican convention. Keep it up, boys, for old Harry is chuckling behind that big smile of his. It will be either President Truman again, or, congratulations, Estes, welcome to the White House.’ —S. D.,, City.
Biblical Labor
MR. EDITOR: Every time there is a strike which creates a
} shortage in vital material for our defense pro-
gram, the big manufacturers and a few common people who never bother their heads emough to think things out, speak of how terrible it is labor unions have no regard for our fighting forces in Korea. I know they should be given first cohsideration, but why can’t the so-called big shots have a little consideration for our hoys in the armed forces, instead of just their own selfish interests, which consist of a few million more dollars to add to the millions they already have. They are not concerned about the Tife of our hoys in
" Korea, but -like Judas, their interest .is in the _ purse. If this was not true, they would be willing
-... 10 go-ahead and meet the demands of the steel AREAS ly extra : are nting in returfi River all #&00 labor--$i y an 2
rr te SO.
MANY PEQPLE claim to be Bible ny . yet frown on labor unions, but not on the rich
manufactuser. In the fifth chapter of James, it “Go to now ye rich men; weep and.jowl, for your miseries that shall come upon you. Behold the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is.of you kept back by fraud erieth, and the cries of them which have
,reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of
saboeth.”
I did not quote all the scripture in James in
regards to this, but read it for yourself. The word fraud in the dictonary means deceitfulness, trickery, one who cheats, deception, duplicity, guile. —Constant Reader.
For Secret Ballot
MR. EDITOR: What has become of dear Phil's all of a sudden? When will union members stop believing everything their leaders tell them is true and everything else is company propaganda? When will they realize when they became “big union” members they lost all individual voice in their union affairs? Unions are good and necessary organizations. But when all rights are taken out of the hands of the members and put into the hands of a few leaders, the union becomes an instrument of power to be used in any way and against anyone, even against labor itself, without regard for the ‘desires of the membership. > & ¢ IN THE PRESENT case, Mr. Murray is determined the Taft-Hartley Law shall not be used simply because under this law—and only under this law—the membership will have a voice, by secret ballot, in the final decisions and agreements. He will not be satisfied with less than a union shop because any free man is a challenge to his absolute power over the steel union. The administration is behind him. in this because all these blind votes look good to a gang whose stock has dropped so far everywhere else. Well, the men still have a secret ballot at the polls anyway. «Mrs. D. B.
patriotism
STEEL... By Fred W. Perkins :
Both Houses Want T-H Law Used
WASHINGTON, June 23 — President Truman won't be
the President to invoke the Taft-Hartley injunctive pro-
One of President Truman's top mobilizers says he's worried about the defense stretch-out. “The ceilings I'm worried
about are not our ability to meet currently fixed schedules, but the factors which limit production to their current levels,” said Henry H. Fowler, defense production administrator The President's latest arms program defers until 1955 and 1056 defense goals originally intended to be met by the end of this year. Production has been set back all along the line. Aircraft production, for Instance, was reduced from a September, 1853, peak of 1800 planes per month to 1250 a month,
~ » ” MR. FOWLER sald this country is capable of far
greater - volumes of military production without effect on the cividan economy. It will cost more, however, he said. Since the Korean War started, he pointed out, we have stepped up our acquisition of all raw materials, with a few exceptions like nickel, cobalt and columbium,. The free world doesn’t produce much of those. The Increased pfodhctioh of raw materials, he said, is shared by the civilian and military economies. However, he pointed out, the flow of those
tion of whether we're willing to pay for it,” he said. Mr. Fowler sald the stretch out forced cancellation of several {important machine-tool ordera. He said he felt it would have been wiser to go ahead and build those machines, some of which require 24 months to complete. But again, it was a question of money. Mr. Fowler said he is “essentially a pessimist” and would prefer to see the U. 8. better armed to meet possible Russian aggression now. He added he is in no position to judge matters of strategy, but if the country ought to arm more rapidly, “we can do it.” . » ” r HE SAID he ‘completely agreed” with Bernard Baruch, who recently told the Senate Preparedness Investigating Committee we should make more weapons and fewer blueprints. However, he felt Mr. Baruch missed an opportunity to emphasize the continuing nature of the armament pro-
- gram,
Mr. Fowler is convinved the mobilization program must be built into the national economy on a permanent basis, just as the auto industry has been since the turn of the century. He sald he is convinced we must stay armed for many years and there can be no let-
Cy -__
?. M. Reg. U. 8. Pat. OW. Bop 1982 by NEA Service, Ino
“I'm sorry we ever bought that home freezer! | just recognized + this left over—if' s six months old!" °
make weapons now Soaws they always’ expect to build better ones tomorrow. He pointed out -it was obsolete rifles and over-age destroyers which saved Britain in the last Mr. Fowler said he agreed we should have weapons in hand, but also —Iif trouble does immediately
a continue our our progress. He offered a he , eo ry
Siti
“I suggest,” he said, “Congress approve the regular military budget and then provide a supplemental budget to buy planes and tanks the military calls obsolescent, but which would be available to meet ag-
«
told officially before next Wednesday that both branches of Congress want him to use the Taft-Hartley Law to stop the steel strike,
Meantime, the country will be losing more than 200,000 tons of steel a day—unless Mr.
. Truman uses the law on his
own hook, or strike settlement results from a quiet gathering in New York of industry and union officials.
Mr. Truman said, Thursday, Congress cannot force him to wield the Taft-Hartley cudgel. But his advisers are said to be pointing out that he has no other choice.
THEY ALSO feel a formal opinion from both branches" of Congress bn this subject can't help but have some weight. Some of his advisers have indicated definitely formal receipt of the congressional ‘“request” is being awaited, and Taft-Hartley action by Mr. Truman will follow.
The delay until Wednesday results partly from the fact the House was eager to quit on time last night—mainly because of’ the annual Demo-cratic-Republican baseball game, and the intention of some members to go on a practice cruise of the new oe, 8 United States.
cedure against national emergency strikes. It is similar to a Senate adopted amendment and will be the first business Wednesday. The House will be
- on other matters Monday and
Tuesday.
Mr, 8mith said his amendment was a very simple matter. . . .
“IT'S THE SAME,” he said, “as if the President had writfen us a letter, asking us whether he should use the Taft-Hartley law or seizure, and we had written him back that he should use the law Congress has provided for emergencies of this character.”
Rep. John W. McCormack (D. Mass.), majority leader, said it wasn't nearly as simple as that. He pointed out that the President, a week ago Monday before a joint session of Congress, presented his request for a seizure law. (The Senate has voted five times against such legislation, and the House also obviously is against it.) Even’ leaders on the Democratic side of the House concede the Smith amendment will be adopted. ” » . THE TEMPER of the House on the whole steel question was shown when it adopted 178 to 73. an amendmént by R Wingate H. Lucas (D. Tex.) to
By WASHING Thrifty conn whisky rumr today on the from the Offic tion. The OPS re yesterday fro and wine. It ly all types a ceiling prices In fact, the bland official market is so tilleries are some of the low-priced lal These una OPS said, cs traditionally new brands, c vived, and pr by wholesaler The suspen plies to all s: bars and markups still OPS said it w age sales of and when bul prices rise to of the old cei Other Ite: Yesterday's trolled leathe; es, tablescloth cotton goods and wholesale and jute bags The suspen: wine price” cel United States, possessions. order applies nental United OPS explai duction has « most whiskys low ceiling. pri additional dec
op at 30 “ceilings. Impo
Scotch, is goin Wines are 55 ings.
Busines: Five Per
BLOOMING —Indiana bus per cent dur its highest pc vember, the Bureau of Bu ported Monda; Largest ris construction, article in its r Indiana Busin creases were business regai in the first fo Steel and P were curtailed ties, but the 1 had “material duction gener:
Base Signi HARRISBU Because there
sex in the rule ball was in ¢
Mrs. Eleanor
24-year-old Db first woman e fide contract ranks. Mrs. Engle, fielder who sig risburg Senate Interstate -L touched off a troversy imm her first work Statements gibility in org thick and fast “She’ll play over,” stormec ager Buck Et is in -seventh Dr. Jay D. dent, and Gen ard Gordon d son, however, “She looks agreed, They added, 132-pound Mr! stenographer sylvania State mission office daytime, will Harrisburg lir tract, which a calls for a sal: and $300 a mo proved by th League Comm Trautman in ( Bill Veeck, | of the Bt, L introduced a team’s line-up said he would a woman as ¢ er but indicat could get awa, “There's no the rules,” Ve I wouldn't pu majors either stunt because woman player The Philade!
Engle “a big j “The only ki said one of the “would be the of one of our | players in fav
‘we're not tak