South Bend Mirror, December 14, 1945

              ii
Page Four
i-tfE MIKROR
"MILK not MANURE"
(From Page Three)
ters in; their customer damages
somebody else, oh no, that seldom
can be. You mast have been at
fault yourself.
You see these big accident insurance companies are clever. To
lighten their losses they promote
organization of a National Security
Council and go about country getting local Chambers and Associations of Commerce, etc., to set up
safety divisions, —j all of which is
all right in a way. This done they
go to the legislatures, backed by
the state safety divisions, and
chambers or associations, and get
a law passed virtually compelling
everybody with a car to carry insurance—a virtually enforced market for the insurance that the company has to sell.
Grand, and good. There should
be financial responsibility for damages done by everyone driving a
car. In Indiana you can in case of
accident prove responsibility by insurance, or show that you, yourself,
are .financially able to pay, or you
can make a deposit in cash to pay
the impending damage, after judgment.' That is o. k., too. But in
case of the insurance, what? The
ostensible purpose is to have the
damage done taken care of, and
the loss of use of the damaged car
minimized.
As a rule the insurance companies take pretty good care of
their own customers, but if their
customer injures somebody else, oh
thstt is different; then they are required to pay only after judgment;
after a lawsuit—and a waiting period of God only knows how long.
Admittedly in case of personal injury, or of a death, the amount of
damage may be debatable, and a
judgment the only way out, but for
property damage there is litttle
excuse for such delay. They can
pay the repair bill or replace the
machine without much quarrel.
But they don't. Their customer
is always right, even when he admits he is wrong; is forbidden to
talk, mustn't disclose his insurance
ercept to the state in his report of
the accident, — there held secret.
We suggest that the Association of
Commerce safety division, having
taken over the city police deparfc-
General Marshall at Pearl
rfarbor Hearing
General George C. Marshall declared that in 1941 Hawaii and Panama Were America's main outposts of defense and that the Philippines were so poorly equipped
that "no defense against a first
class power was conceivable."
Photo shows General George C.
Marshall as he testified at the
Pearl Harbor investigation. President Truman recently named Marshall special emissary to China,
replacing Patrick Hurley who resigned.
Prosecutor
Joseph B. Keehan of the Department of Jyjs-fiee heads U. S.
prosecution of Jap war criminal-!. Keenan is a native of
Cleveland. O.
ment as to traffic violations, etc.,
now  take  on  the  task  of  quick
adjustments when a violation takes
place, or an accident occurs, and the
injured party is being razzle-daz-
zled by an insurance^ eompany to
skin him out of io^Bompei&ation.
It would be "better business" on
tSk part of the insurance companies; perhaps not for them but for
the ptiblic. Try your hand on some
of the big pumpkins occasionally,
Jte B.B.D. .of the A.ofC, and
maybe you'll not have so much
time to while away sifencing Veterans' Voices. And more.
These accident insurance companies blow into town by th^ score
and each one retaSiS a different
lawyer until practically everyone in
town is retained — wherefore you
can't get a lawyer to take your case
who hasn't insurance connections,
and whereat dickering between the
companies frequently starts. Some
very dirty tricks have been played
that way—delaying settlements in
definitely and then reducing them
io a song leaving the damaged party to sing it.
Why not a little attention to
"better business" in the law business, Mr. B. B. D. of the A. of C,
just to give you something to do
besides making sure that every little "Voice" you hear doesn't get
too loud?
Admittedly some of this is chimerical, but it is not exaggerated
in the sense of comparison to the
mountain-made out of a molehill by
the B. B. D. of the A. of C.'s attack
on Veterans' Voice—that isn't even
a molehill.    ^#$
Veterans' Voice is just as legitimate an enterprise, and as legitimately cond&efeed, as any business
in SotiSli Bend—even a blame .sigftf-
more so than the Association of
Commerce itself. The Chamber e_£
Commerce movement with which
the local A. of C. is aligned is one
of the biggest "rackets" in the
United States,—but a "big" business "racket," and therefore, of
course, of divine origin.
BELIEVE    IT IO R    ELSE
(From Page Two)
battle (always necessary to end a
war), and that one was declared victor. Nobody was hurt or killed. It
must have been a remnant of that ancient custom still in the back-heads of
the Boxers that made them boxers.
It also reminds one of David, duke
of Windsor, pre-King Edward of
England, when he was prince of
Wales. An American correspondent,
dumb to British court etiquette, asked
"VETERANS' VOICE"
(From Page Three)
can't see a knoll; it has to be a
mountain—else up goes their nose.
And think of Voice bringing in an
outsider, Harry Gottlieb, Jr., from
Chicago, though a veteran (especially when just on "terminal
leave") to edit and promote such a
mediocre concern. Diffeirent with
Paul Hoffman, and Harold Vance,
and sundry others imported by the
"big" Studebakers, and practically
all of the Olivers and Bendix white
collars ?
Makes some difference who
comes from out of town, doesn't it ?
Well, the writer came some 34
years ago,—and for some ten. years
a considerable coterie of brewers,
saloonists, "financiers" (two of
whom died bankrupt and two committed suicide) and one newspaper,
had a big time running him out of
town, with John Talbot and Tom
Mott their petty instrument. In
consequence we bid Harry Gottlieb
welcome, and, so far as Voice is
concerned, as deserving of welcome
as is Paul Hoffman, or any of the
rest of that imported* cli-^ae, whether at Studebakers, Olivers, Bendix,
—or even the Association of Commerce.
Voice charges $18.00 for a quarter page, and $65.00 for a full tabloid page of advertising, saith the
BB bulletin; only $60.00 however,
is correct price. ExoiPtiltant, we suppose ? Its" pages are half the size of
a Tribune page for which the latter
charges $413.60—which would be
$206.80 for a tabloid page, — and
this isn't eritieSsang it eititer. But
who is supposed to fix the prices on
such commodities? The publishers
or the Association of Commerce?
We hear a lot these days about
government interference with business; how about business interference with business, — but now
comes the climax. Voice carries the
"unqualified statement: 'Mailed
free of charge to veterans in St.
Joseph county,'" and because of
the some 5,000 who have returned,
discharged, somebody, or even a-
"majority" don't get it, *BB pronounces it mtsleadmg. Therefore
his mightiness, head of the division, demands that "on request" be
added to the statement, and says
the editor has promised it in the
next issue.
Smarty! Let's analyze it. The
statement wiB then read: "Mailed
free of charge to veterstns in St.
Joseph county on request," whereat by the same nicety as the pr«fck
ent statement is interpreted, Voffe
couldn't be mailed to anybody, except on "request," and then only to
veterans, and none outside the
county; it couldn't be sold, nor a
subscription taken. If you want to
be so all-fired strict about it, the
papers could only be circulated
"free," and to veterans within- §&
Joseph county. Is that what BB is
driving at? All we have to say is
that if this "renegade" editor, Harry Gottl&fe, "terminal leave" veteran from Chicago, falls for such
idiotic restraint, or pays any attention to the claptrap he is a bigger
darn fool than we think he is.
The Voice promise to "mail free
to veterans in St. Joseph county"
is its business, and sufficient for
anything but pinhead putfposes.
Probability is he'll send it to all
who reqti^t it; some "have. He has
several galleys of addt^sstograph
plates to whom he is sending it and
making more every week; yes, and
Mirror Press doejs the addressing,
for a stipend, — our "racket" we
suppose,—but tSia%^__pend goes in
part for membership in A. of C.
from which we carry a card. So
what?
. Admittedly tfife Better Business
Division of the Association of Commerce has done some good work;
there is more that it might do—far
more beneficial to the . community
than this stab at Varans' Voice.
For instance, it n^ght Site up the
local milk situation, and the automobile insurance dodge, dealt with
elsewhere in this issue, — and see
what it can do to put a stop to some
of its top members serving cow
manure to the people as an ingredient of milk, yes, and under a gr»6%
A label.
Ditto, make it uripftkSiftkt for att-
torisoblle insurance companies to
maneuver too hard fiphSvading their
responsibility.
the prince what he would do, if he
were to become king, and somebody
threatened England with war. Or
course, an heir apparent to the throne
could have no such ideas, and express
them; it would be trespassing upon
the prerogatives of the ''old man."
Prince Edward looked the corres»-
pondent over enquiringly, then answered: "I think I would challenge
them to a game of golf."
Why not? But not Chiang Kai-
shek, the much mooted "Christian,"
with Confucius outmoded. He wants
to concentrate not only China, but
all he can get from America, into
shooting up the revised Boxers and
establish his Kuomintang (Chinese
for "economic royalty") ; turn the
country over again to the economic
invaders.
You'll be seein' me—
—SILAS.
Accused By Hurley
A recent photo of John S. Serviee of state department who' with
George Atcheson also of state department is charged by Maj. Gen.
Patrick Hurley with being leader
of an attempt to "destroy the national government of China." State
Secretary James Byrnes appeared
before the senate foreign relations
committee and presented state repots from the two men,—exploding Hurley's explosion.
SUBSCRIBE FOR
$1.50 by the Year