St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 12

PAGE 2B ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, TUESDAY, MAY 22, 194 ST. LOUIS POST-OISPATCH The Eternal War-Makers guage likening Tito's iftion to those of Hitler, Mussolini and Japan. For a people lately liberated, for Partisans whose hatred of the Axis is intense, those are almost fighting words. The episode, ominous though it appears, need not jeopardize peace if tempers on both sides are kept in rein.

It proves the need for speedily setting up the world organization designed to prevent such quarrels from starting new wars. Founded JOSEPH PULITZER December 12. 1878 Publifced by The Pulitzer Publishing Co. Ttlfplione AdJTi MAm 1111 1111 Olive St. (I) The Greater German General Staff and all similar organizations shall be dissolved and may not be reconstituted in any form.

Versailles Treaty, Article 160, June 28, 1919. We are determined to break up for all time the German General Staff that has repeatedly contrived the resurgence of German militarism. Yalta Pact, Feb. 12, 1945. THE POST-DISPATCH FLATFORM I know that my retirement will make no difference in its cardinal principles; that it will always fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, always fight demagogues of all parties, never belong to any party, always oppose privileged classes and public plunderers, never lack sympathy with the poor, always remain devoted to the public welfare; never be satisfied with merely printing news; always be drastically independent; never be afraid to attack wrong, whether by predatory plutocracy or predatory poverty.

JOSEPH PULITZER. April 10, 1907. LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE The name and address of the author wiust accompany every contribution but on request wiU not be published. Letters not exceeding 200 words will receive preference. A Bargain at 40 Cents Tomorrow the Missouri House of Representatives Labor Committee opens hearings on a 40-cent minimum wage.

If ever a measure deserved sympathetic consideration, this is it. Society owes every full-time worker at least his maintenance, and certainly $16 a week would not be pampering anyone. Will it raise costs and require increased prices in hotels, restaurants, laundries and stores, which will be mainly affected? That has not been the experience in other states or under the Federal statute, which covers the vast majority of industrial workers in Missouri and elsewhere. Rather, the increase to 40 cents attracts and keeps better workers, who turn out a better day's work. It reduces the notoriously costly turnover in the lowest-wage industries.

It creates an incentive to install cost-reducing machines and methods, which become possible when turnover is reduced. Labor bought too cheap, like anything else, is rarely a good bargain. Certainly, substandard wages are no bargain to the community. The 67,000 Missourians now below the 40-cent mark many of them as low as 15, 20, 25 cents are a drag on and menace to society. They are not good prospects for the produce of Missouri farmers or for the 10-cent stores.

They are not good prospects for responsible citizenship. They are candidates for tuberculosis; many of their children are grist for the juvenile courts. Some fear that exemptions for the smallest establishments will work hardships on those just above the mark. They forget, perhaps, that similar exemptions are accepted for workmen's compensation and in other matters without adverse effect. If 40 cents becomes the minimum for the larger establishments, the smaller will either raise voluntarily or get only the poorest workers.

The bill ought to be broader, but it Is at least a start. Who cares to appear in defense of wages below 40 cents? Rather understandably, the opponents avoided showing themselves in the previous Senate hearings. They got the bill murdered without having to appear. At the least, let that chapter of legislative shame not be repeated. We hope the House committee will go further and report the bill favorably.

The Express-Bus Proposal To the Editor of the Post-Dispatch: The express-bus proposition and eharging 5 cents extra fare sounds like a feeler to ascertain what the attitude of city officials and the public would be to such change. It should be absolutely No, so far as the additional fare is concerned. Nashville, a much smaller city than St. Louis, has a similar express ystem on several lines. The straight fare there is 5 cents, including the express busses, which load up in the central part of the city and then stop only at designated points to discharge passengers.

It's easy to see that a system like this would be an advantage to the Public Service Co. and its patrons. But why the extra fare? If a city like Nashville can do this, why can't St. Louis? H. R.

ROCKWELL. fjf ifer(h III Each of the foregoing quotations, taken alone, represents high determination to root out a malignant cause of German war-making. Taken together, they tell the story of a colossal failure, and of a new opportunity, won at the cost of untold lives, to right that past error. The men who wrote the Versailles Treaty knew that world peace would be in constant peril if the German General Staff continued to exist. They knew its long and bloody history of plotting and making war since the days of Frederick the Great, whose realm was thus described by Mira-beau: "Prussia is not a state; it is an armed camp." They knew of the other wars it had made: against Denmark in 1864, Austria in 1866, France in 1870, then the cataclysm of 1914-18.

Why, after the decision at Versailles, was this clique of chronic war-makers permitted to survive and plot another conflict, so that its elimination is again a major war aim? The story is one of treachery on the one side, slackness on the other. It is a story which our generation, determined to achieve a peaceful world after enduring two orgies of Junker-made slaughter, will overlook at its Yes, the Germans agreed to disband their General Staff after World War also to give up their arms, reduce their armed forces and build no more weapons. Every pledge was violated, almost from the day of the armistice. As the first stage, the demobilization was voluntary. The men who left their barracks were the war-weary; those who remained were the bitter-enders, so a nucleus for a new start toward war was automatically provided.

Arms were surrendered, but many were hidden, and the Allied Control Commission found few. It soon wearied of the task, so creation of new armaments, more or less secretly, was simple. The Republic, professing peaceful aims, made no move to eliminate the curse of militarism, and actually encouraged it by generous pensions to officers. The General Staff got possession of the Army rolls and other records in November, 1918, and hid them away. It gave up its headquarters, but simply moved the contents to another building, complete with General Staff plans, maps and archives, under a new name, General Troops Office.

There the same monocled gentry who had plotted the First World War began studying their mistakes, and planning to correct them. They didn't need tanks and planes then; they had the archives, which were of greater long-term importance. German industrialists and bankers were glad to finance the lightly camouflaged General Staff. Meanwhile, the "Black Reichswehr" and assorted guerrilla fighters were active, drilling or taking part in Europe's border wars. Allied control officers were bored, and the theory prevailed that a rearmed Germany was a safeguard against Russia.

So, on Nov. 15, 1935, when Hitler ordered the march into the Rhineland, the period of hiding was over and the General Staff came into the open. The rest is bloody history. The militarists failed under the banners of Wilhelm and of Hitler, but their nominal leadership is immaterial. They are the eternal war-makers, patient, ruthless, awaiting only their opportunity for a third try at world domination.

History makes a devastating case for exterminating these birds of prey, for the protection of future peace. But, some skeptics say, they are merely soldiers; they fight like our own Generals; they know nothing of the horror camps and other atrocities. Don't they? Note this extract from an address by Field Marshal Von Rundstedt before the War Academy in Berlin: The destruction of neighboring people and their riches is indispensable to our victory. One of the great mistakes of 1918 was to spare the civil life of the enemy countries, for it is necessary for us Germans to be always at least double the number of the peoples of contiguous countries. We are therefore obliged to destroy at least a third of their inhabitants.

The only means is organized underfeeding, which in this case is better than machine guns. This statement, quoted by Curt Riess in his book, "The Nazis Go Underground," is the exact principle on which the murder camps were run. No matter if Hitler and Himmler gave the orders and the SS ran the places the Generals must bear responsibility, too. The sordid record is a sharp warning for the Allied world to avoid the mistakes made after 1918. And that is why we say: Better a bullet for a German staff officer now than for pur children and grandchildren in 25 years.

Argentina is getting a good deal of precedence at the San Francisco Conference, through being first among the nations alphabetically. This should lead to a move to admit Alabama at once. Te the Iditor of the Post-Dispatch: The proposal made by the Public Service Co. to operate extra-fare express busses on certain routes would seem to be an ideal means to improve service and increase revenue. The Idea of alternately scheduling stops approximately every 10 blocks is extremely practicable for all routes during rush hours, but how would it increase operating costs to furnish such service? Neither bus-miles nor driver-hours would be increased thereby.

H. GILMARTIN. er-Cake General Manager Lay THE TRACKS ARE CLEAR! New Support for Bretton Woods The Mirror of Public Opinion CED acceptance in principle of international currency stabilisation fund proposal should help stimulate Congress to action, paper says; despite bankers committee opposition to fund, most American economists favor the agreement unchanged, editorial declares. From the Springfield (Mass.) Republican To the Editor of the Post-Dispatch: The St. Louis traffic system is known to be one of the worst congested in the country.

If the express-bus plan goes into effect, the last vestige of traffic relief is gone. The Express Highway Is at present the main artery that relieves the traffic system on routes east and west. Running busses on the highway will cause something like a world series traffic jam on Grand avenue. I propose that our Aldermen start thinking about a very much needed subway. If not built until the end of the war, then the plans can at least be drawn and completed, ready to go into effect when that big day arrives.

The city treasury could well stand such an expense. If not, I think our citizens would vote a capital bond issue for this purpose. LT. J. M.

ARNDT. Postwar Jap Industry To the Editor of the Post-Dispatch: Much has already been said about the necessity for prohibiting the development of heavy industry in Germany now that the European war is over, little, so far, has been said about the need for the same policy in Japan as part of our strategy for peace. I think it is time for us to realize that severe postwar curtailment of heavy industry in Japan is just as essential to world-wide security as in the case of Germany. HILDA KLEINSORGE. The Bretton Woods financial agreements have withstood criticism better than might have been expected.

The preparations for the Bretton Woods Conference last summer were most carefully made. Delegates from over 40 nations assembled and threshed out the international currency problem from every point of view. Our own delegation included both Republicans and Democrats representing the Senate and House. After weeks of discussion and adjustment of contrary views, the nations at Bretton Woods compromised their differences and Signed up. To reject or much modify the Bretton Woods agreement by structural amendments might imperil the whole undertaking, inasmuch as the changes would now have to be submitted to the other nations, 40 or more, for their acquiescence.

Economists Back Agreements A committee of the American Bankers' Association has approved the proposed international bank with a capital of to make loans or economic reconstruction, but has condemned as unnecessary the proposed international monetary fund of $3,800,000,000, designed especially to stabilize national currencies in relation to each other in world commerce. On the merits of this highly technical issue, an impressive body of opinion among professional economists and qualified financiers is at variance with the opinion of the bankers' committee. Sixteen out fif 18 ex-presidents of the American Economic Association have indorsed Bretton Woods. Of 250 American economists of recognized standing who answered a questionnaire, 224 have taken the same position In a statement which asserts: "It is very doubtful whether another agreement could be reached." The highly reputable Committee on Eco nomic Development, including both bankers and business men, has taken middle ground in its recent proposal to Congress. It would not abolish the international fund, preserving it for ordinary operations in currency stabilization.

But it would permit the international bank also to make long-term currency stabilization loans, leaving the fund for currency transactions to cover temporary shortages and emergencies. This proposal of the Committee on Economic Development accepts the currency stabilization fund in principle, certainly, (While allowing the bank greater scope in its credit transactions. Congress Should Act Tha weight of expert American opinion obviously favors the Bretton Woods agreements unchanged, now that the bankers' committee has failed to command the unqualified support of the CED. On this basis alone Congress may well approve the Bretton Woods bills as now drafted. In view of the opposition expressed In certain circles in Britain, which dislike the concession to the gold standard embodied in the agreements, Congress can hardly afford not to.

The disfavor for flexible managed currencies felt by monetary conservatives in this country explains much of the American criticism of the Bretton Woods proposals. Yet at Bretton Woods the British and other foreign delegations, which now favor managed currencies, agreed to recognize gold as a standard and to define their currencies in terms of it. That was important to the United States, which has a stock of gold valued at 22 billion dollars. The Bretton Woods plan, consequently, has a gold basis, even if it does not revive the old automatic gold standard with its rigid currency valuations in terms of gold. Theme of Norris Autobiography-Is Concern for People's el fare "riihtlng Uhrrl: The Autobiography Gforio W.

NorTli." (Marmlllui firw York.) As in life, former Senator Norris did not dramatize himself in his autobiography. In fact, he was against writing it at all, though friends had been urging for years that he do so. Only after retirement to his home at McCook, did he give in to the insistence of James E. Lawrence, editor of the Lincoln Star, and even then the task might never have been completed without Mr. Lawrence's devoted help.

Dictation was completed only eight weeks before Mr. Norris' death, last September. The book is inspiring for what It tells, not for how it is told. The Norris style is reserved, dry, at times stilted. Perhaps it was modesty that inhibited the writer's phrasing of his life story.

But the facts of the many battles for progress during his 40 years in Congress are there, and occasional moments of eloquence lift the chronicle from its low-keyed tone. There is frankness throughout, particularly in the account of how Noitis evolved from a bitterly partisan Republican to th country's outstanding independent. The cause was, basically, his dismay as a congressional neophyte on discovering that Republicans were guilty of sordid dealings he had supposed were practiced only by Democrats. Machine control wherever it existed became repugnant to him, and his disregard for party lines took him far off the G. O.

P. reservation. Another basic Norris quality was a warm and unflagging concern for the welfare of the plain people. This was the guiding principle of every fight he undertook, whether to end abuses, provide material benefits or to push "the unceasing effort to make democratic government really and truly responsive to popular will." Accordingly, he led the battle to end th dictatorial power of Speaker Cannon. Determined to preserve the use of natural resources for the people, he fought the power interests and won creation of TV A.

He was moved by the plight of miners bound by yellow-dog contracts, and brought about the Anti-Injunction Act. He knew farm drudgery by experience, and sponsored a permanent REA, To make government more democratic, he labored 10 years to achieve adoption of the lame-duck amendment. The same principle guided him in fighting Teapot Dome corruption, the poll tax, patronage, the electoral college and in launching Nebraska's unicameral Legislature. His greatest devotion was to unified river control, for the benefit of the people. Norris lost many battles, and setbacks in others often left him depressed.

He labored diligently, studied each problem exhaustively, relied on an arsenal of facts' rather than of oratory in each undertaking. Always he took a long-range view of public needs, and an episode early in the book may explain why. His widowed mother, to whom Norris was devoted and who influenced him greatly, called the boy one day to help her plant a tree on their Ohio farm. He asked why she worked so hard; didn't they already have plenty of fruit trees? "I may never see this tree in bearing," she answered, "but somebody wilL" George Norris in his 83 years planted broadly and well. His country for generations to come will benefit from the fruits of his labors.

FERD GOTTLIEB. Since Representative Ramspeck is an expert on civil service and Government procedure, it seems out of character that he should sponsor the plan to impose a "general office manager" on the executive agencies. It is like putting a new top layer on a poor cake in the notion that the whole will somehow become more palatable. The Budget Bureau is under orders to destroy unnecessary red tape. It has done, and is doing, a good job.

The Civil Service Commission has similar functions in personnel, though much less can be said for its achievements. Its trouble is partly legislative inconsistency, such as the slavish assignment of quotas to the states and the admixture of veterans' preferences. Partly it comes from its staff's own love of red tape. It would indeed be helpful if a presidential first assistant were assigned to keeping up with civil service and procedural reform. Improvement in administration and the law itself could come out of that undertaking.

But that is changing the cake itself, not adding a new layer. Elections at Last in England Refusal of the Labor members of the British Cabinet to accept the Churchill suggestion that they remain in the coalition Government until Japan's defeat speaks well for their realism and foresight, as well as that of their party, whose recent convention unanimously backed their course. Parliament has not freshened its retainer since the general election of November, 1935. Regardless of what one thinks of Mr. Churchill's remaining in office now that the war in Europe has come to an end, the fact remains that the people should have the chance to express their opinion at the polls.

The coalition leaders have hitherto sought to justify their tenure by the claim that in time of crisis and war, political campaigning would disturb policy. However, since our own country entered the war, its people have voted in two national elections. These elections did not prevent us from maintaining continuity of authority in our national Government, or from fighting a victorious war. British political preferences would not need to have changed greatly in the last decade to install a new tenant at No. 10 Downing street.

The essence of democracy is the right to choose, and Britons should have the chance to vote their views. Leahy Should Not Testify Adm. Leahy will be asked to testify for Marshal Petain at his coming treason trial, Petain's counsel announced yesterday. Our Government should not consider for a moment permitting Leahy to be a witness, should he feel obligated to do so because of his past association with Petain as American Ambassador to Vichy. Leahy, as Chief of Staff to the President, Is one of our highest officials.

If he appears for the defense in the treason trial, it would mean precipitating the United States, in the popular French view if not actually, into an explosive situation. The Petain trial may split France from end to end with political feuding that could lead to violence. If a high United States official is identified with the cause of a man accused of betraying France, our prestige in that country will suffer disastrously. Why jeopardize relations between the two republics simply because Petain missed his guess on who would win the war, and now needs all the help he can get to save himself from the fury of a liberated France? There's no sweetness in Okinawa's Sugar Loaf HilL An Ominous Trinity To the Editor of the Post-Dispatch: The Big Three alliance, which has won the war in Europe, is being replaced by another Big Three alliance, which is well on the way to promoting the horror of World War III synonymous with the almost complete, extermination of mankind. I am referring to the unholy combination of the British imperialistic policy, American naivete and the well-justified Russian persecution neurosis an insidious triumvirate which is stealing the show at San Francisco.

Can a conference for international organization which (1) allows no representatives from India's National Congress, (2) admits Argentina, thus gaining the world-wide but dubious honor of collaboration with Fascism, and (3) perpetuates Russia's policy of forming unrepresentative provisional governments in her surrounding countries, hope to create a satisfactory international organ for keeping order? I do not think so. Instead, we are giving full rein to the forces of reaction, whose proponents do not seem to care hat the next war may leave only the dead as memorials to mankind's last chance. ANN LAWLER. Water Alone Doesn't Reclaim Arid Land From the Louisville Courier' ournal The Quarrel Over Fiume Such controversies as that now raging over Yugoslav claims to Northeast Italy and Southern Austria are to be expected as an aftermath of the war in Europe. Territorial feuds have plagued the Continent for centuries.

Fiume, center of the current outbreak, was a trouble spot In 1919, along with Eastern Galicia, Upper Silesia, Teschen, the Tyrol, the Saar, etc. AU of them still have dangerous potentialities. The only means to prevent this unhappy type of history from repeating is a strong world organization, capable of enforcing its own decisions and those of the treaty-makers. No such organization exists as yet; there is not even an interim council for handling these troubles. So the Yugoslav claim is pressed by Tito's act of sending in troops, and it is resisted by Alexander's attempt to scold them into withdrawal.

Of course, in the orderly world that is our goal, territorial claims will be settled by judicial means, not by military occupation. Tito disavows any intention to do more than demonstrate his country's claims. His army's presence, he says, will not "prejudge the decisions of the peace conference." Yet the brawl is a sign inter-Allied unity is not all that it should be. Particularly disturbing is Alexander's bitter lan- supply and knowledge about the use of water; and there still remains much to be learned about irrigation and cultivation in that section. Aside from their limited individual programs and piecework appropriations which frustrate long-range planning, the Inadequacy of independent authorities operating from faraway Washington is that one deals with Irrigation, one with land use, one with forestry, another with control and navigation none primarily concerned about the welfare of any one valley, the co-ordinating principle of TV A.

The whole policy of such a resident authority is directed to developing the resources of a region for the economic and social benefit of the inhabitants. To that end, it co-operates with, activates and coordinates the functions of, every state and local educational, scientific, welfare and commercial agency. Chairman Lilienthal has said more than once that what works in the Tennessee Valley may not work everywhere in the Missouri Valley; but the policy is flexible enough to accomplish its purpose anywhere. An exploration of the Missouri Valley by Rufus Terral, staff writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has brought to light a condition in the irrigation-farming country of the Northwest which completely answers the argument that the Missouri basin is so vast and contrastingly diversified that its problems are too complex for a single agency like TV A.

His report on this one phase of development proves the contrary. Thousands of acres of waterlogged land have been abandoned, the soil of other thousands has been ruined by an alkaline solution. Projects on high ground have swamped lower projects with seepage. Water is wasted and often ignorantly used in a way to cause damage. The capacity of reservoirs to meet the needs of surveyed projects in some instances was over-estimated, in some silt has cut the capacity.

The Reclamation Bureau isn't given all the blame. Its function has been to make water available; but Clifford H. Stone, chairman of Colorado's Water Conservation Board, says artificial irrigation is highly technical. It requires drainage, water analysis, a thorough study of water Discharge-Point Blues To the Editor ef the Post-Dispatch: Point system? Two men have been overseas the same length of time. My son, married eight years, with no children, will have to fight two extra major battles and will still be two points shy of his cousin, who gets 12 points' allowance for a child born after Pearl Harbor.

This latter soldier has been at a base hospital miles from a war zone clean beds, tennis courts, good food, etc. I don't think it's fair to count children born after Pearl Harbor. This father will be among the first discharged, and my other married son, with three children, one 12 years old, has Just been inducted. Some mix-up. G.

P. Child's Book on Astronomy Toungsters are introduced pleasantly to study of the stars in "Picture Book of Astronomy" (Lothrop, Lee Shepard). Simple text by Jerome S. Meyer and gay pictures by Richard Floethe make the learning practically painless..