Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 July 1952 — Page 12
te
‘he Indianapolis Times
W. HOWARD WALTER LECKRONE HENRY W. MANZ President . Editor Business Manager.
PAGE 12 Monday, July 7, 1952
datly by Indiana St., Postal Zone 5. d Newspaper Alliance. ireulation
Owned and pu Fire A
fing Syne ice and Audit Bureau of
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Telephone PL aza 5551 Give light and the Peoples Will Find Ther Own Way
It Isn't Fair Trade
{ THE CLOSING WEEK of its session, Congress passed = a bill which could cost the American people as much as 1 billion a year. : It is called the “fair trade” bill. No law was ever so misnamed. It really would protect and encourage monopoly, which is just theopposite of fair trade. It would do this by permitting manufacturers to set the prices at which their products can be sold in each state. Any store or dealer which sold an item for less would violate federal law. © ‘The public would pay higher prices for many articles, because the stores which have been offering bargains in them would be forbidden to do so. The bill also would eliminate much competition ih the retail trade, because under it prices of many things would be exactly the same in every store.
” ” - 5 . » IT WOULD nullify the antitrust laws against pricefixing and unfair monopolies. Pee ~ When the shrewd lobbyists put this bill over in Congress, only a few friends of the consuming public—such as Sen. Paul Douglas of Illinois—had the wisdom and courage to fight it. They lost. :
interests,” both real and imaginary, in his speeches. In this bill he has a real target. He should veto it.
#7
1 nseless Censorship
SOME OF THE CENSORSHIP regulations operating in *. Korea must be intended to confuse the American public, 5 it does not seem likely they are concealing much from he enemy. ©' The Air Force has just announced the “second biggest jet victory” of the war, in an engagement in which the ‘Reds sent 115 MIGs against 97 Sabrejets flying protective iver for a big force of United Nations bombers. “= The report listed 12 Communist MIGs shot down, one pliobably destroyed and six damaged during the battle, but Allied plane losses, if any, were not announced. This ig the common practice, with our own plane losses reported the end of the week in a total tabulation. : _.. This practice is like omitting the runs scored by the visiting ball club in reporting a baseball game. ‘Since the Reds should be able to determine our losses a8 accurately 3s our forces can determine theirs, who. is this policy trying to mislead, if not the American people?
Devil Jumped Up On TV Ir ON is both wonderful and here to stay, but the * ability to send out pictures as well as words has at least doubled the possibility of errors in the studios. At a guess, too, the average citizen is more apt to spot a wrong picture than a wrong pronunciation or such like. The eye is quicker than the ear, we should imagine. Anyhow, on a recent television newscast in New York City pictures of men who keynoted Republican National Conventions in their day and time were being shown. The announcer told the audience that the next man pictured would be former Gov. Dwight Green of Illinois. What popped up, however, was a picture of Old Satan himself, no less. Satan was supposed to be part of a commercial plugging for a new recording of “Faust.” \ We assume that they are “missing” one or more of the. boys around that studio. The “reaction among the viewers was varied, especially in Illinois. The one sure bet is that everyone outside came nearer enjoying the faux pas than did anyone inside. For radio and television workers such boners are amusing only after the lapse of some months or even years. :
A Man We Need
TADEUSZ GASOWSKI was a Polish soldier when the Nazis and the Russians made their joint invasion of his country. When resistance ceased in Poland, he made his way to France and joined a newly formed Polish army there. When that army. was forced into the sea, Mr. Gasowski escaped and joined the Polish navy, which was attached to the British fleet. Thus he continued to fight until the successful conclusion of the war. : A marked man, he could not return to Red Poland, nor "could he get a visa to come to the U. S. So he went to South America, where he obtained employment as a seaman. When his crew was discharged in Boston, he got a good job there and stayed. ; Mr. Gasowski's illegal entry came to official attention when he tried to enlist in the U. S. Army at the beginning of the Korean War, Now he faces deportation. Sen. Moody has introduced a bill to permit him to remain here. It ought to pass. We need citizens like Tadeusz Gasowski. |
yo
Coming? No, Going
HAROLD STASSEN, candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, has named a convention floor manager and two assistants to engineer his affairs at the Chicago conclave. Since Stassen has some 25 delegates committed to him out of 1206—with 604 needed to nominatg—his three new hands probably have taken on one of the shortest assignments on record. They'll be in the thick of it for one ballot, and then ‘they'll be able to start drawing unemployment insurance.
Reasonable Enough
* comes up with the startling discovery that people there who work feel better than those who loaf,
t consists of three hours: bs Mel
,
" self. He is the perfect illust,
co NOW Sty PreEiacAt THIER CIR revent thig bill from hécoming law. Time and again, he has denounced “special
HST Eyes Day . Of Relaxation
WASHINGTON, July 7—On the eve of election year’s first political convention, the most relaxed politician in the country is the ‘man in the White House. Harry Truman, who says he wouldn't accept the Democratic nomination if it were offered to him, is just sitting back and enjoying himtion of the man on the sidelines who can eNjoy the goings-on ‘because he isn’t - personally involved in the result. ¢ No one doubts the President will have plenty to say about whom the Democrats nominate. He's admitted as much himself. But he smiles and jokes with the relaxed good will of the prize fight manager who tells his chattel to get in there and fight because “They can’t hurt us,” Unless he has a radical change of mind, Harry Truman cannot be hurt, personally, no matter what happens in Chicago.
He's Jovial
HARRY TRUMAN'S easy state of mind is best shown by his attitude af his press conferences. In recent ones, and particularly the one this week, the President has been positively jovial. The other day, despite the seriousness he put into his remarks on the steel situation, he managed to laugh eight times in response to reporters’ questions. And throughout, he seemed to be enjoying some private little joke. What seemed to make the President most happy was the infighting at Chicago between the Taft and Eisenhower forces. He literally
- beamed when a reporter asked him for comment
on the feud, and remarked through a chuckle he was not running the Republican convention and he was just as glad as he could be he was not a Republican.
‘Looks Like Victory’
HE WAS delighted when asked if he thought the Democrats’ chances were any better now than they were seyeral weeks ago, when he told the Americans for Democratic Action the party owe win in November, Buoyantly he remarked it looked more Victory now Ha did then.
And, warming to his subject, he went.on. ....
to add that the prospect will get brighter as time goes on. The Democrats, he said, with another happy laugh, are always doing the right thing and the Republicans usually help out the Democrats.
‘Accept a Draft’
A LOT OF political experts, of course, still think the President will reconsider and accept a draft for the Democratic nomination. Most of the regular White House reporters, for instance, feel that way.
But the men around Mr. Truman seem genu-
inely convinced the champ has hung up his gloves. They say he talks often these days about what a relief it will be to walk out of the White House next January “and start having a.good time.” And, certainly, Mr. Truman acts these days like a man already in that rocking Shai on the front porch out in Independence, o :
‘What Others Say—
IF WE had stayed in Korea, thers would have been no attack—Sen. Robert A. Taft (R. 0.). * > IT 18 only in supremacy that there is safety.
—DPonald R. Wilson, national commander of the. American Legion. .
* Hb THE greatest threat to freedom is too much
* government.—Airlines president Eddie Ricken-
| PSYCHOLOGIST at an old péople’s home in Florida
_ .. However, before you classify yourself as abnormal, to point out that the working day at this estab-
nor
backer. : ® 4% ¢ NO ENEMY soldier ever wanted to surrender just because of a leaflet. —Army propaganda expert Col. J. Wodall Greene.
SELF PORTRAIT
If I were to sit down and paint . . . a portrait of myself . . . I wonder just how I would look . . + when set upon a shelf . . . I hesitate to say if I . .. would paint myself a-king .. or if perchance I would portray . .. a bird upon the wing . . . would I paint eyes that shone with truth . . . or would I draw a smile . , , upon the face of me, myself . . . a someone most worthwhile . . . this question has me puzzled so . .. I'll leave it up to you . . . if you could paint Jou portrait now . , . tell me what would you 0. —Ben Burroughs.
NOMINATING . . . By Peter Edson
Convention Amusing, May Be Confusing
CHICAGO, July 7 (NEA)— If there is any more inconvenient and cumbersome. way
mote, lke, a DEMOSERME. ius
proposal” for presidential primaries in all the states is a
-
MR. TRUMAN ... By Avidrow Tully ‘Whistle Stop : Not ¥
. Te y
for
OLD GANGSTER DAYS . . . By Frederick C. Othman Chicago Is an Exciting Place;
CHICAGO, July 7—A city slicker author from New York (he’ll get no free advertising from me) once described Chicago's Michigan Boulevard as a pearl necklace around a dirty neck. This is not fair. I am not fair, I am an old Chicagoan myself, and a pleasing thing it is, too, to be wandering down the Boul’ Mich. orice again. ¥ : What if there is soot on my collar? It's a symbol of something cooking. That was the beauty of my youthful reporting days in this town; something always was happening. So now we've got the Republicans trying to get started on their quadrennjal whoopla out by the stockyards. While they fight with the room clerks this afternoon and try to find their lost luggage, I'd like to tell you about happy days in the Loop; tomorrow's time enough for politics. My day in Chicago was in the '20s, when Big Bill Thompson, our mayor, always was threatening to poke King George in the snoot. Big Bill kept building expensive streets, with superb lampposts and sidewalks, that never went anywhere. He liked parties, which he held in the illicit breweries of the day, and police reporters like me always got invited. Big Bill did not believe in prohibition. :
‘It's No Fun’
ONE YEAR he campaigned for re-election by leading through the Loop a camel, which bore a sign: “I ean go a month without a drink, but it is no fun.” Thompson won, too. One day I wrote a little story for the papers, known as a box. It said simply: “There was not one murder in Chicago todagp™ printed in papers throughout the land and it gives you some idea of the gang wars that used to rage. They weren't good for Chicago, but for a young reporter they were downright ex-
citing. As for Al Capone, I don’t suppose I'll
ever forget his trial for income tax fraud. That's when he was forced to admit under oath that he habitually wore $20 union suits of pale green silk. The whole town laughed for the
SIDE GLANCES
That ~ was:
‘Something Is Always Happening
first time at the gangster chief and, in my own opinion, it was that admission more than any prison sentence that led to his physical and mental decline. He couldn't bear to be laughed at; he wanted to be feared. Then one morning the editor turned to me with word that some old geezer intended to walk on water at 11 a. m. I was assigned to be there at the Clark St. bridge across the Chicago River, which runs backwards. >
Walked on River
ON EACH of his feet the old boy had a small boat. He clambered down the bank and, moving carefully, he did walk across the river. Halfway across it seemed so easy that he turned to us on the bridge behind and waved. Well,
sir, his left foot slipped and he dang near .
drowned. Another time the police and I arrived with sirens shrilling to answer an urgent call about a man dismantling a drinking fountain in Lincoln Park. He was, too. With a mallet and a monkey wrench. He wouldn't talk, either. | Turned out later-that he couldn't. He had to write what he had to say: He'd lost both his uppers and lowers in that fountain when he'd stooped for a drink and he'd be doggoned if he'd let the city of Chicago get away with his expensive choppers.
Walks Into Whale
ANOTHER favorite character of mine was the man with the world's most disagreeable job. Every summer for years there arrived on a flatcar enclosed in glass a genuine dead whale. Chieagoans in droves paid 25 cents each for a look. At midnight, when the whale show closed, my man’s job was to put on a gas mask, walk into the whale through a door cut in its side and spray the interior with embalming fluid. This usually took five minutes a night. The rest of the time my man spent drunk. I couldn't blame him. : And here. I'm just getting a good start. More later about Chicago during the next few weeks on days when the politicians grow dull.
By Galbraith
Amen),
——
avdstseesebassenssasinene sey;
and local governments are the roots. wish the tree to be fruitful and produce anything worthwhile, we must abolish and clean up the waste and corruption in our state and local governments, 3 :
fars trying to clean up Washington. all be in vain unless we, the American people, eliminate the .extravagance and graft in our local administrative bodies.
WASHINGTON, July 7—An unexpected backfire
Hoosier Forum | ith a word that a oil defend iv death —— 4 ‘right to say it." al TE
Cleanup Drive MR. EDITOR:
‘There are millions of people in America who
seem to honestly believe that if a new President were elected Washington would be cleaned up over night. ; ; }
The election of any one man in itself will
not solve the national problem.
It 1s almost impossible to improve the con-
ditions of the tree if the roots are poisoned and contaminated.
> ¢
WASHINGTON is the tree; the city, state If we
' The big interests could spend billions of do}It would
4 > ©
THERE IS NO use for us to have false illusions and try to make ourselves believe that
we have something when we don’t have it. We should wake up to the cold, hard facts and realize that big interests and big organizations are ruling and ruining the local governments of our cities. . :
I believe in organizations. But they should
stay out of politics for the welfare and safety of our nation.
Each candidate who is elected to any office should be elected by the will of the people and not by the will of the organizations. —John W. Burks.
Stands for Strikers
MR. EDITOR: : “ “There will be heavy hearts tonight in the families of .a half-million steelworkers” is a
nd Ste «It-1g-all right for Mr. Randall and men like
Ben Moreel and Ben Fairless to make such state-
ments, for they do not know the meaning of the words. To them they are only statements.
LA
WHILE YOU “Samaritans” go around attacking President Truman and Phil Murray, the steelworker is out in the mill sweating his hide to make half a decent living to provide for himself and his family. While you, sirs, have all the luxuries there are to have. ! What a steelworker makes in a week to provide for his family, you “gentlemen” throw away in one meal, and still you deprive them of their piece of bread and accuse them of striking their country. ¢ + :
NO, PHIL MURRAY and the steelworkers have not struck the country. But you few selfish
_ men have.
Just remember you are in this world a limited time and the day will come when we shall all be judged by someone higher than you. When this day comes, I hope your conscience is clear. This strike does not affect me directly. What affects me is that these men for once should try to practice what they preach and see how. they would feel about these conditions if the shoe were on the other foot. . Thank goodness we have a Phil Murray and a John L. Lewis. -We could use a few mor#& like
them. —R. E. W, City Joe's ‘Dry Run’ MR. EDITOR: x Anyone who was in the Army knows what a “dry run” is. It’s a simulated action in preparation for the real thing. Old Joe now knows he can close our steel industry without dropping a single bomb. Once in 1946, once in 1949 and. now again in 1952, we have had dry runs. The next time it may be the real thing.
What applies to steel applies to other ine’ dustries. *- 4
WE HAVE A GUARD of antiaircraft artillery protecting our industries. ‘But what good is a policeman guarding a deserted house? Old Joe isn’t going to fly almost half way ' around the world just to waste his planes and atom bombs. Besides, it might wake us up. The easiest way is the cheapest way and, Joe knows it will work. He should because he already has had three dry runs. ht —~By J. T., City.
~ADLAI'S CHANCES . + « By Fred Perkins
Labor May Turn Back On Gov. Stevenson
office, there was a mine dis-
against
aster at West Frankfort, Ill, -
to nominate a presidential candidate than the system now in use, nobody has thought out the details. The conventions are held in the hottest month of the year. The ordeal itself is so great that politics and politicians go into the doldrums during the dog days that follow to recover. The campaign ' then emerges again in September and runs hot and heavy for two months till election day. While this slow-motion schedule may have been suited for the horse-and-buggy days, in this era of fast press wires, high-speed printing, "adio and television, ‘it's outmoded. Conventions in cooler September, followed immediately by an intensified campaign, might be less painless, and a lot cheaper for all con-
cerned. » - .
STAGING the conventions in July always catches Congress in an awful jam, Important legislation left for the
last minute is rushed through :
in midnight and all-night sessions. Then the Congressmen themselves rush off to the conventions, and it's necessary to wait till they're over to find out what Congress did. That happened in 1948. It is happening ‘again in: 1952. Tin-horn_ convention .demonstrations have been criticized for years as government by
circus instead of -c¢alm and’
serious deliberation. The old saw that, “The people may elect the President, but the political bosses pick him,” is still toe true. Only 15 states have primaries for the election of converition delegates. Three. of them—Illinois, Minnesota and ~ New York-—elect only district delegates in primaries, leaving
the.delegates-at-large for eon.
trol by the bosses. : Illinois Sen. Paul Douglas’
5
"television audience than
~ Alben W. Barkley.
first step toward the reform of this system. It would give the people more of a voice in picking presidential candidates, instead of leaving it to professional politicians. The Douglas bill" may have one drawback in proposing that these primaries be paid for by the federal treasury at 20 cents for each vote cast, This: has been approved by the Senate Rules Committee. But it has little chance of passage this year, and wouldn't be effective. before 1956 if it is. passed before then. Meantime, the hot-cha conventions lumber on, as out-of date as’ the electoral college, but still just as much of a controlling factor in ‘American politics. This year's programs are be- * ing scheduled more like variety and quiz shows, soap operas and grade-B westerns for the for trying to get their job done efficiently. But it's good entertainment, And anybody who misses it js crazy. The political myth that nobody can be elected President who doesn't have a double vowel or a double ¢onsonant in his name is being circulated again, Since 1900, every President has this double letter in his name: WiLLiam McKinley, Theodore ROOsevelt, WiLLiam ‘H. ‘Taft, WOOdyow Wilson, WaRRen G. Harding, Calvin COOlidge, Herbert HOOver, Franklin D. ROOsevelt, HaRRy 8. Truman, If this superstition held good in 1952, it would eliminate Robert A. Taft, Dwight D. Eisen--hower, Douglas MacArthur, Kefauver, Adlai FE. Stevenson, It would Jet in Republicans Warren and _ Stassen, Democrats Harriman, Williams, Kerr. Before 1900, however, there
JB, tio
“How about scmething with lots of snap to it? This is positively charming for sports!"
were only five Presidents who had this double letter in their names; William. Henry Harrison, Millard Fillmore, Ulysses . 8. Grant, Chester A. Arthur gand Benjamin Harrison. Democrats who have been figuring Robert A. Taft is their easiest opponent to beat may be in for a surprise. Up to a week ago. Sen. Taft was irritable, blew his top repeatedly and put his foot in his mouth almost as often as Harry Truman, On television shows, radio debates and in his speeches and press conferences he was quarrelsome and annoying. This showed up particularly in his American Forum of the Air appearance with Sen. Estes Kefayver. Sen. Kefauver
a cool. Sen. Taft repeatedly
.
Lal
the possible presidential candidacy of Illinois’ Gov. Adial Stevenson has developed here.
The backfire is small as yet. It was started by certain labor leaders. They contend it is’ likely, to grow.
“* Their reason—Gov. Stevenson hasn't sufficiently denounced the Taft-Hartley law, still the No. 1 issue with union leaders.
The Illinois governor has refused to recommend complete repeal of this Taw, but that he would amend it." His labor union critics here say they can't see much difference between that and the attitude of Sen. Robert A. Taft, who more than a year ago actually induced the Senate to pass a long list of amendments, - » .
ly said, “Anyone who says flatly that he is either for or against that law is indulging our common weakness for oversimplification. The law comprises over 100 sections, and it deals with a vast and varying range of matters af- * fecting labor relations. “If those issues are considered one by one, as they must be, I do not believe that there is any single representa- _ tive group of people who would - rying on the give-'em-hell tech- be unanimous in their views nique used so effectively by an all.’ Harry Truman in 1948. Sen. s ‘= =» Taft is apparently learning or “SOME FEATURES of the trying to do this with a laugh, law seem to advance the cause again like Mr. Truman, instead of Sood 8 Javor fHations, and 37 Always. heing so cross about go uot... ipini the Demopolitician who is against cratic platform should recom-
something usually has the ad- mend moditeation. anion: ei © vantage over an opponent who N ; is on the defensive, Carrying tics cite other items as being to on a campaign of criticism of the Truman administration, so vulnerable on so many points,
lost his temper and he refused to answer questions from the floor as a condition to going on the show. . Since that time Sen. Taft has relaxed. He has still kept up ‘his fighting campaign, car-.
ne was elected partly because of his attack on lax state inJestion of coal mines under is
Sen. Taft would be no push- Republican predecessor. over, But i ‘Mr, Stevenson took ‘ 5 i v we Nn wh - we ah ian Xe Me ALA fe “3 3 ah. ”
GOV, STEVENSON recent- -
his disadvantage. One is that
which took 119 lives,
= = % THE UNION men further say that the governor vetoed a bill for increased benefits for the aged which had been backed in the Illinois legislature by all elements of organized labor. However, Mr. Stevenson has so far shown strength among labor groups, the International Association of" Machinists (AFL) has credited Gov. Stevenson with numerous aeccomplishments favoring labor, and he led a poll of preferences among 150 AFL union presidents. Waiter Reuther, president of the CIO United Auto Workers, has stated that either
“Sen. Estes Kefauver, Averell
Harriman or Mr. Stevenson Soule be “acceptable” to the
Barbs—
AN untruth travels mighty fast when you consider that it hasn't a leg to stand on.
= » ” - THIS is the season when truth isn’t stranger than fietion. Just listen to the average fisherman. :
. 8 8 of WE HOPE you enjoy the summer clothes you've taken
>
out of the closet, as much as . the moths did during the win-. -fer.,
® 8 =» A HEALTH expert says that two apples a day are better than one. Maybe that would keep the dentist away, too. :
. =» =» ABOUT the only thing. you can’t get on time these days,
- men, is that evening meal
after the wife's afternoon bridge. : ! , ® 8s DURING a storm, a tree fell on an Illinois artist and dislocated his shoulder. Was it
of
@
getting even for what the-gen-
“tieman had done to trees?
yg)
nt. 2 Ss Ca PRES INORORAN REY tatement made oh une. 2 by. Clarence Randall. ¥ —a
“.
7