Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 August 1952 — Page 16

. 3 A

‘The Indianapolis Times

President Editor Business Manager PAGE 16 Wednesday, Aug. 6, 1952 11s Times Publish. wea a posins Yorn 9 Member of

United Press Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance ice and Audit. Bureau of Cireulation

Price in Marion County b ceuts a copy tor daily and 10¢ tor Bundas: delivered by carrier daily and Sunday 5c a werk. daily only 28¢c. Bunday only 10c Mail rates in Indians daily and Sunday $1000 a vear dally $5.00 a year. Sunday only $500: all other states, U1 8. possessions. Canada ane Mexico daily $) 10 a month Runday 10¢ a €0pY

Telephone PL aza 5551

Give LAght ana the People Will Fina Thetr Own Way

The Iranian Dictator

RAN, which has been under mob rule, has proclaimed a one-man dictatorship under Premier Mossadegh. Mossadegh used the mob to overawe his political .opposition and to destroy the thin facade of representative government which Iran’s feudalistic landlords had tolerated. Now we shall see whether he is the mob's master or its slave. But the alternating fits of weeping and fainting to which the aged premier is addicted are not the attributes of a strong man. And only a very strong man would be able to rescue the country from the insane nationalism and religious fanaticism which have produced its present chaos. The government is practically bankrupt. Most of the royal family is seeking sanctuary abroad. Oil operations are at a virtual standstill and the employees of the exiled AngloIranian Oil Co. have joined the country’s ragged hordes of unemployed. Only a mystic living in a dream world completely isolated from reality, such as Mossadegh seems to be, would undertake to lead Iran out of its present morass of hate and violence with anything but the utmost pessimism. And, if Mossadegh fails, who would want the assignment? Ahmed Ghavam, one of the country’s most accomplished elder statesmen, lasted only four days in the premiership before the mob forced him out. Now his private estate is being confiscated, to be divided among the heirs of persons killed when the police tried to put down the mob. Against that background there aren't likely to be many aspirants to head Iran's crumbling government. Meanwhile, why are the Amefican military and Point Four missions remaining in that country when they are being renounced and reviled, in the Iranian parliament, as well as on the streets of Tehran? Nothing constructive can be accomplished in such an atmosphere. There are enough legitimate demands for our money without wasting it in places where it is defeating our own purposes.

Engineers in Elections

GINCE WHEN are Army engineers on active duty expected to comment on the “wisdom and statesmanship” of U. S. Senators seeking re-election? The Corps of Army Engineers frequently has been criticized as a political lobby, working day in and day out, year in and year out, for large engineering works—not all of them needed, some of them even harmful to the areas they affect. : Last week, Brig. Gen. C..H. Chorpening, assistant chief of the Army engineers, flew into Memphis from Washington and took a hand in the Tennessee primary election campaign. : ; Sen. Kenneth D. McKellar, at 83, is in the hottest fight of his career against able, young Albert Gore. The Democratic nomination, equivalent to election in Tennessee, is at stake in a primary Thursday. Gen, Chorpening, speaking at ceremonies which turned “over to local authorities a project built by the Army engineers, discussed Sen. McKellar’s qualifications. He said the Senator was a man of “wisdom and statesmanship” on whom the General relied for advice. It was improper for the this Army officer, or any officer acting in an official capacity, to take a hand in a local election. Only an organization deep in politics would do such a thing.

The Drought

THiS COUNTRY will reap a harvest of ill consequences from the drought now besieging such a large part of the land. : It will mean hardship and financial straits for thousands of farmers. ; It will mean shortages of many food supplies. It will mean high prices for vegetables, “fruits, beef, corn, potatoes and other products. The government has called the drought a “disaster,” an obvious description. Conferences have been called to consider steps to offset it. Emergency loans will be made to hard-hit growers. But the worst of it is that nothing can be done to overcome it. Neither the government, with all its resources,

nor science, nor anything else, can undo the damage that has been done.

Those Russian ‘Sports’

RUSSIAN ATHLETES made a great showing at the Olympic games, just closed ii Helsinki. They won a lot of medals, broke a lot of records, fielded many superlative athletes and fine competitors. But they didn’t come out first in team scoring, a relatively minor honor with no official standing which all hands (except the Reds) agreed went to the Americans by a wide margin. Yet Moscow radio and Tass, the two chief propaganda distributors under the wing of the Moscow government, are claiming “first place,” and bragging they did it despite “machinations” of the judges. For once, anyway, there will be some Russians who won't believe this story—the Red athletes who were there.

License Lost in Minutes GE

NEW JERSEY has set upd system of giving demerits to oo drivers who indulge in traffic law violations. The permissible number of black marks for a three-year period is a dozen. A 22-year-old motorist the other day ran a red light, failed to stop when an officer ordered it, and then exceeded speed limits in a fruitless effort to get away. It all took 10 minutes and got the young man 13 demerits. The young man's license has been revoked. He will have to apply to the State Motor Vehicle Commission for reinstatement, and that group is not lenient, When he gets a new Heense, or if-he does, it will be colored red to identify him to all and sundry as a reckless driver. Incidentally, he Was ~ fin 585. It seems possible drivers in New Jersey will conx elude it is far less trouble to straighteff up and drive right.

8,

"INDIANA POLITICS . . . By Irving Leibowitz

Independents Imperil lke’s C

INDIANA'S Republican high command wants desperately to win the political battle of Hooslerland even though its favorite general, Sen. Robert#A. Taft, is not leading the attack, But regular party Republicans are afraid the strategy and tactics of their new general, Dwight D. Eisenhower, a newcomer to the political wars, will not pay off in Hoosier votes, For example, they take a dim view of: ONE Independent, amateur Eisenhower-for-President clubs being formed under “separate leadership. (GOP regulars point out such clubs flopped miserably when Republican Glenn Hillis ran for Governor and when the late Wendell Willkie ran for President.) TWO--Internationalist foreign policy, views expressed by top Elsenhower advisers. (This, the organization Republicans say, is contrary

BACK GROUND ...By Charles Egger Lustron Backer

Is Adlai’s Aid

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6—Wilson W. Wyatt, Gov. Adlal Stevenson's campaign manager, practically shoved the government into the ill-fated Lustron housing venture. The Lustron house was the one the taxpayers’ money—$37', million of it—couldn’t turn out profitably on a mass scale. 3 The experiment collapsed in 1950. It later figured prominently in the Reconstruction Finance Corp. (RFC) scandals, with sensational charges of conniving and double-crossing by a set of fast dealers, . Mr. Wyatt's part in getting the government to pour millions into the canary yellow. and aviator blue prefabs goes back to 19486. He then was the country’s housing boss and nnder orders from President Truman to solve the postwar housing shortage --and fast. In those days Mr. Wyatt had a goal of 2.7 million new housing units in two years. But goals can’t be used as roofs and and the pressure from war veterans for places to live kept increasing.

Assembly Line Housing

THAT WAS THE state of things when Carl (i. Strandlund, a vice president of Chicago Vitreous Enameling Co., blew into Washington, Steel was still being allocated by the government ‘then, and Mr, Strandlund wanted some to build prefabricated filling stations. He was turned down, but Mr, Wyatt got to thinking of using the enameled steel slabs for mass production of cheap houses. Mr. Strandlund had done some preliminary designing and figured he could turn out 100 houses a day--to sell at $7000 each- if he had a factory and plenty of money. Mr. Wyatt got him the factory by talking the War Assets, Administration into leasing the

Curtiss-Wright plant at Columbus, O., to Lus-

tron, as the new housing corporation was called. Mr. Strandlund got more than a million square feet of space for an annual rental of $425.000, This rental was supposed to be paid to War Assets but. actually went to the RFC as collateral for its loans to Lustron. The first of these loans came hard. After providing the housing factory, Mr. Wyatt went after $52 million to get an assembly line moving. The only place with money like that for projects tke Lustron’'s was the RFC,

Second Loan Blocked

BUT HEREMR. WYATT ran head-on into George E. Allen, canny politician and a Truman appointee to the RFC's board of directors. Mr, Allen blocked the loan but said the RFC would recongider if Lustron could gather up some assets, of which it was woefully short. However, _Lustron couldn't raise enough to satisfy Mr, , Allen. Dismaved but not beaten, Mr. Wyatt went to the Whit» House for a showdown, He got it, all right, but Mr. Allen won. Mr. Wyatt huffily resigned. But he nad paved the way and his Fair Dealer associates in the government took it up from there. : A bill was pushed .through Congress authorizing the RFC to loan up to $50 million to the prefabricated housing industry-—which meant Lustron. And Mr. Allen, meanwhile, had departed from the RFC. On June 30, 1947, the last day on which the RFC had authority to make the kind of loan Mr. Strandlund was then after, a note went from the White House to the RFC. It was signed by presidential assistant John Steelman, who sald he was greatly impressed by the Lustron proposal. He said he also had discussed the proposal with President Truman, who was in accord with Mr. Steelman’s views. Mr. Steelman urged that a loan be approved. It was, that samfe day, for $15': million. Others that followed ran the total up to $371, million. Mr.. Wyatt wasn't on hand when the first loan was made. But he gave the impetus that eventually landed the government into its costly and unsuccessful experiment with large-scale housing production.

AFTER ALL

In the garden of my memory . .. I held you all these years . . . and when at last we met again . my heart dikes burst with tears . . for you were my real sweetheart till . . . cruel fate led us apart . . . and so .it was I held you dear . . . within my secret heart . . . but when we met, new hope was born . . . and then | realized . . . that losing you was really why + « + the sun (eft all my skies . . . and now my dear if you but wish . . . we'll start our love anew . . . for after all is said and done . . . my only love is you —Ben Burroughs.

to Indiana thinking and is repungent to Hooslers

‘living in the heart of the so-called isolationist

Midwest.) : THREE—“Me too” domestic views cof key Ike backers, like Sen. Wayne Morse of Oregon

23 Ne \

and Ben, Irving Ives of New York, who publicly have stated they want to campaign on such New Deal-Fair Deal programs as a ‘‘compulsory” Fair Employment Practice Commission and repeal of the Taft-Hartley law. (Again,

A Saucer That's Too Real—

LIKE THE MOVIES . . . By Frederick C. Othman

Newsman Breaks Bank-Almost-In Plush Puerto Rican Gaming Den

SANTURCE, P. R.,, Aug. 6—You now are talking to that suave and mysterious international gambler, Othman. The fellow who'll risk a fortune on the little white ball, or anyway 50 cents, with never a change of expression on his masklike face. = : I mean I have achieved an ambition. All my life I've wanted to get dressed in evening clothes like Clark Gable and stroll with a beautiful lady op my arm into a plush-lined gambling hell de luxe as designed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Now I've done. it, just like in the movies, and what if it did cost me $27 I feel better for it. The beauty was my bride in .a white lace dress with a stiff pink petticoat underneath; this gave her the proper Hedy Lamar-ish effect. I trimmed the rough edges off my red mustache with her manicure scissors, fought my way into a hard-boiled shirt and led her downstairs in the Caribe Hilton Hotel, one of the lushest inns in all the world.

Without Grenadine ¢ IN THE CLUB CARIBE we ordered up Planter's punches to put us in the mood; ordered 'em without grenadine, thereby proving to the Latin bartender that he was dealing with no mere

turistas, but a pair of sophisticates. Spies, mavbe, just back from the Balkans. Then we progressed in dignified fashion

across the lobby to the casino. This was it. A vast chamber with ankle-tickling carpet in squares of black and gray, marble-topped coffee tables, foam upholstered chairs, and plateglass windows two stories tall overlooking the moon-swept Caribbean. Gable, you never were in anything like this, Here the game was roulette and I don't mean any bargain-basement deal, with folks elbowing their way around tables, as in Reno, Nev. Here every player had an upholstered stool of his_own; here the croupiers were dapper dans in white dinner jackets. I can tell you that they gulped, when they saw me preparing to break the bank.

Roulette or Horse Meat?

CASUALLY, while lighting a cigaret, 1 spilled $2 worth of -chips on number eight. Number nine won, but my idea was to get the management off its guard. Next whirl, I'd ruin 'em. Only there were complications. Feminine.

TIGHT-WIRE ARTIST . . . By Richard Starnes

Evita’s Death May Save Peron’s Shaky Regime

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6The State Department is watching the dizziest tight: wire a¢t in the Western Hemisphere with renewed indiffer-

and the betting in Washington is he will weather it—is actually a matter of considerable disinterest to the U. 8S. Peron, or any likely successor, cannot

larly in textile industries, and her inability to provide sufficient farm labor. In addition to the economic problems, Peron probably is

ence,

It is interested—but only mildly—in whether the death of one of the aerialists will affect the balance of the other. The surviving artist is Argentine Dictator Juan Peron. The death of his wife, while doubtless a personal tragedy, may turn out to be an elev-enth-hour reprieve for Peron's shaky regime.

quarters now leans toward this estimate of the Argéntine political situation:

ONE—The death of Eva Peron, far from being a blow to her husband's career, may well have saved his political pelt.

TWO—Argentina, now wallowing in the trough of a crisis created by Peron’s rare mixture of economic idiocy and . political nownothingism, is fundamentally too wealthy a country with too much to sell to be permanently harmed by the present adverse trade winds. THREE — Whether Dictator Peron survives the current

cad

—.Opinion—in oficial U.S.

alter the economic realities which are the factors that actually control relations between the free world and Argentina.

FOUR — This relationship, while by no means ideal now, might get a lot worse. o n os HERE IS A thumbnail picture of Argentina's bleak eco-nomic-outlook: “Once one of the great breadbaskets, Argentina now is importing wheat. Once the producer of vast quantities of beef, Argentina now is unable to supply her own domestic needs, much less to meet foreign requirements. Proprietor of a government which depends almost wholly on the support of the laboring class, Peron has not been able to keep wages ahead of the skyrocketing cost of living (now more than double the pre-war figure). His program of industrialization has been proved a dubious venture. Argentina is faced with the dual problem of increasing urban unemployment, particu-

-world's-

being faced with a growing back log of resentment at his methodical. stamping out of civil liberties and his ruthless suppression of the free press. But of all Peron’s problems, the farm situation is’ the most nightmarish. Two catastrophic droughts in the past three years have brought the farm problem to a boil but, fundamentally,” the policies of the “Peron government are most to blame for the crisis.

» n 5 WHEN PERON came to power in 1946 he had a bad case of an endemic Argentine disease—the national inferiority complex. Peron resented the fact his nation, which had grown wealthy on a lush agrarian economy, invariably

played second fiddle to ‘the

U. 8. in Pan-American affairs. He decided Argentina needed to become an industrial’ power in. order to balance the strength of the U. 8. To that end, Peron began

"a program of industrialization. -He financed his program by

creating a government trading monopoly which bought. the

_economic philosophy was

The lovely lady in the lace gown said $2 would buy eight pounds of horse meat for her poodles back in McLean, Va., or 25 pounds of vitaminized grain for her laying hens. Lay off that wheel, she said. Ah, well. Those croupiers breathed easier when I got out of there. I also ,won $60,000, or almost, in what is known as the most honest lottery on the globe. Having invested in a ticket, I dropped in at headquarters for the weekly drawing of the winners. This was a Puerto Rican government operation and here the roar was as of the surf breaking on a rocky shore. The noise came from 50,000 little numbered balls, including mine, revolving in a 15-foot circular bird cage of stainless steel wire.

Maybe Next Time

EACH TIME the cage would stop, one ball would roll out. This went on all morning, while 2000 balls—denoting winners of $50 up to $60,000—plopped into the basket. When finally the job was done mine remained inside the cage, but, as the Puerto Ricans say, there's always another chance next week. So I got to talking to Antonio Gordian, chief of the division of drawings and payments (who was boss of the cage), and he said the locals invest $5 million a year in lottery tickets. They get 60 per cent of this back in tax-exempt cash prizes; the rest goes to the government for charitable purposes.

A Nice Business

MR. GORDIAN said he considered that he was in the best possible business. He handles only money, which is & nice, imperishable commodity, and he can’t lose. The management always gets its 40 per cent, no matter what. In particular was he proud of the whirling cage with its electronic controls, which keep human hands from reaching into the till. A Chicago engineering firm made it in 1936 for $50,000, using as a model an.old, hand-cranked job of brass built in Spain more than 100 years ago. The original mechanism with the fancy curdcues around the edges finally wore out after causing no-telling how many billions of dollars to change hands. Antonio keeps it for sentimental reasons in the back room where he allows big-time gamblers, like me, to touch it reverently.

produce of Argentina's rich farms at one price and sold it abroad at about three times that figure. / It was a good system—on paper—before realities began to catch up with Peron. But when Argentine farmers and ranchers began to be caught in the vice of ceiling prices on their products and runaway costs, they started to doubt they were getting a fare shake from the government. Harvests ) began to dwindle.

Moreover, the whole Peron

loaded in favor of the industrial workers. This strengthened Peron's hand with his shirtless ones. But there was another inevitable product— farm labor began to find it could improve its lot by moving to the cities and going to work in the factories. A strong population shift began. It was a trend as difficult to reverse. as it was easy to start.

The crushing blow to Peron's shortsighted farm. policy fell when two droughts scorched his farmlands. Normally, food

surpluses would have provided rv. u, meg u.s. Pot of.

hances In Indiana

SIDE GLANCES

. gollnX * 8-6

GOP regulars point out Indiana Republicans reject this philosophy.) ; Jest the Be major gripes expressed by the regulars, or Taft Republicans, the most annoying to them is the independent Eisenhower movement.’ They feel it is a direct slap at their earnestness “and sincerity in supporting Gen. Eisenhower for President. Such a feeling 1s unjust, the Taft Republicans believe, since as a gesture of good faith the GOP state committee indorsed the whole GOP ticket and State Chairman Cale J. Holder issued the “harmony” statement: “1 personally join with the unanimous expression of the Indiana State Committee that we are going to do everything we can to elect the entire Republican ticket on Nov. 4-—from Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Bill Jenner and George Craig on down.” Indiana Eisenhower backers claim, however, they are not working at odds with the regular party put merely independently ifi"an effort to + capture the wavering Democrats and independents. Top Indiana’ Republicans reject the. independent Eisenhower clubs as “waste motion.” Since Hoosier Republicans are predominantly

* Taft Republicans the organization leaders ad-

vance this argument: “The problem in Indiana is not to get out the

Eisenhower vote. The problem is to get out the Taft vote. There are more Taft Republicans than Eisenhower Republicans in Indiana.” The regular party leaders mean no disparagement of Gen. Eisenhower when they make this statement. To them, it's a statement of fact. . As a result, state Republican leaders intend to bring Sen. Taft to Indiana to campaign not so much for Gen. Eisenhower but for the congressional and state candidates who stood by him. At the Republican National Convention, 30 of Indiana's 32 delegates voted for Sen. Taft. When Eisenhower leaders flopped in their many efforts to oust the.pro-Taft Republican high command, they decided to set up an independent organization. - oo of oe

"» "'

STATE GOP leaders are going along with the plan publicly—for the moment. They sincerely hope the influence of top Republicans on Mr, Eisenhower will bring the. General around to the Indiana viewpoint before thé election. But, in the event the General sticks to his so-called “internationalist” outlook, the regular party Republicans, including: Sen. Willlam E. Jenner, are going to stick to their old political script: “Down ‘witht the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Army and lavish foreign spending.” 3 And, they have their old campaign slogan ready—"Democrat New Dealers have brought America crime, corruption and Communists.” It is not their intention to skip the presidential fight, even if Gen. Eisenhower seems somewhat out of place in the Indiana ‘isolationist” campaign. - Like good. Republicans everywhere they plan to attack the Democratic presidential nominee, Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, as President Truman's “stand in” New Deal Fair Deal candidate.

The attack is planned, come what may from |

Gen. Eisenhower's Denver headquarters. The

big question remains, however, how strong an attack? :

Hoosier Forum

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

What Are My Chances? MR. EDITOR: I have been informed that you try to run a civic minded newspaper. I'm fed up with the traffic conditions in Indianapolis and Marion County. Speeding, reckless driving and manslaughter seem to be pastime with motorists on our streets and highways. I saw the results of speed on July 4 at 38th and Arlington. After serving four years in the Army, I was released last month. I was lucky there. ~ What are my chances here? Are all our law enforcement agencies on “Parking Meter Patrol” while our friends and relatives are being slaughtered? We have speed zones, but signs don’t ‘hand out tickets. And radar, what happened to radar? ?

What can I, as a citizen, do to end this

nightmare and prevent further useless waste of human life and property?

—A Citizen, Not a Statistic.

~~

Highly Pleased MR. EDITOR:

Highly pleased to see you think so much of our progressive platform that you take time and space in a lead editorial to lambast it. This is especially gratifying when one realizes you thought so little of the Republican say-nothing platform you mentioned it in only one sentence, and that only to point out how very inconsistent

- it 18.

Thanks for helping our case. —Wade Mann, City.

Congratulations MR. EDITOR: : One of your readers sent me the editoriil page of The Times. I think it is very interesting and informative and is much better than some of the Chicago and New York newspapers, It has variety and the editorials are “tops.” —G. Edward Lind, Waukegan, Ill,

By Galbraith

eel

a cushion to soften the eco- Cupr. 1952 by NEA Services, ine.

nomic shock. But under Peron, Romie ished.

.

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ion had all but van. |

“When the boss is on vacation is the only chance 1 get fo do some clear thinking without being under pressure!" '

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Hardes Are Dr 24 Ani

By Ti Auto 1nsu you $4 to S$ starting Sept ficials today be below aver:

Higher rates age coverage \ terday by the Commission. | showed they v losses because and higher rey State insurar diana’s rates hs other comparal ~Illinois, Michi consin. Hoosie higher than K states where | crowded. Insurance fir nation have ask which Indiana granted by this

For Prop

Indiana's hoc to 40 per cent fs coverage. Hit hardest a vears of age drivers under they are involv centage of seric Higher rates for damage in bodily injury : coverage for ai changed. althot panies ‘had requ Here's what for the Indiana

Class 1 Class 2 Class *3 Class 1 is pri used chiefly f covers the bu users. Class 2 is cars. drivers ur Class 3 is bu passenger cars, Above table sierland Ratin covering about diana insuranc

Rat

The table st for bodily inj damage, which Rates vary districts. Frank J. Vi surance comn the higher rate ONE—Increa cidents caused and inadequate TWO—Rising both in materi THREE—Hij and replacemer design, like at sion, - curved fender panel ai

Adlai to With Ru

SPRINGFIE] (UP)—Gov. A called a meetir Richard B. Rus charming Mis: into his camp The Democ nominee sched with Mr. Russ in another pai aimed at Sout have been re Democratic tre Mr. Stevenso the first of h paign speeches delivered at th National Conve governor will after Dwight ] Republican no: After the | Stevenson exp Mutual Secur Averell Hafrir another preside threw in the fc son. The governo ning news ye sissippi, which -ratic. Nation. 1948 and threw to the States’ ] ably would st cratic column Gov. Hugh V emerged from Mr. Stevenson “elegant gentl So That's Luciferin is pound that rea making varic plants shine.

Produce

Eggs—Prices FO grades: 8. A brown mix 60-61’ 53-58'3¢, brown grade, commercia Extra large white 52c¢; currént rece 40c. Market stea Movement to re sstance to prices Chickens—Red white 34-35c: her light. 14c: old roo: Prices unchanged. fairer demand Butter—Creamer um butterfat 6ic;

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