The Wilmington morning star. [volume], February 26, 1946, Page 4, Image 4

About The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990

Image provided by: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, Chapel Hill, NC

                
FOUR___
Wilmington
Wonting #tar
North Carolina's Oldest Daily Newspaper
Published Daily Except Sunday
By The Wilmington Star-New*
R. B. Page, Publiaher
• Telephone All Departments 2-3311
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of March 3. 1879__
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1946.
■■
TOP O' THE MORNING
There is nothing more daring than ig
noranec.
Menander.
New Muscadines
Dr. Charles T. Dearing, North
Carolina’s own Burbank, has developed
fifteen new varieties of muscadine
grapes, following experimentation
which started in 1905.
More than a layman i3 needed to
describe the peculiarities of each, or
even the eccentricities, but no layman
can fail to realize that the coastal re
gion is the richer for Doctor Dearing’s
talent, which had previously produced
the Dearing berry and the Eleanor
Roosevelt strawberry.
What impresses the Star particu
larly is that he has given the new va
rieties names familiar in North Caro
lina, several of them being the names
of counties, some of towns and one of
special interest to Wilmingtonians, the
Cape Fear.
Not all the varieties are adapted to
all soils or climatic conditions of the
coastal area. Further experiments
must be conducted to determine which
will do best in the southern muscadine
region, but the state test farm at Wil
lard is prepared to give all applicants
what information it has compiled and
cuttings may be had by writing direct
to Doctor Dearing, care the Coastal
Plain Station, Willardl
Bridge Rammed
When the Nicaragua Victory, a Vic
tory ship, dragged anchor Sunday after
noon and crashed into the Cooper river
bridge at Charleston, the wonder was
that a heavy toll of lives was not taken.
Sunday afternoon traffic on the bridge
is ordinarily heavy, particularly at this
season w'hen southbound tourists are
pouring Floridaward. The collision must
have come during one of those unac
countable lulls in traffic which are so
noticeable on main-traveled routes.
As it is, at this writing, there is fear
that at least one car went through the
gap in the bridge. Search for it or other
vehicles is handicapped by the.tangled
mass of steel and concrete which pre
vents both tugs and divers from ex
aming the underwaters.
Only the intervention of a merciful
Providence prevented the accident from
i becoming a holocaust,
j There will be an exhaustive investi
gation, naturally, to determine not so
much the accident’s cause, gale squalls
and heavy ebb tide having accounted
for that, but what could have been done
to anchor the drifting ship securely
enough to hold its mooring.
In the meantime many motoring
parties which spent Sunday night in
Wilmington en route to the south were
wondering dispiritedly Monday morn
ing if their tires would stand the strain
of the eighty-mile detour, mostly dirt
surfaced, they must travel to skirt the
aeeident scene
* -v
Ford Vs. Bowles
In the Bowles-Ford controversy con
cerning the price to be charged for the
latter’s automobiles, Mr. Ford seems to
have the better of the argument. At
least he denies having requested a 55
per cent advance in ceiling prices for
his post-war models, and declares Mr.
Bowles’ testimony gives the impression
that “we had secretly applied for in
creases in existing ceiling prices.” Ac
tually, he says, in a telegram to the
House Banking Committee’s chairman,
Representative Spence, “we have ap
plied for no price relief on any of our
cars since OPA ceilings have been es
tablished.”
Until Mr. Bowles produces the doc
umentary evidence he claims to possess
showing that Ford did make the re
quest, Mr. Ford has an edge on the new
stabilizer.
The New York Times, which claims
there is something more important in
the situation than whether Mr. Bowles’
recollection is more accurate than Mr.
Ford’s, questions if there is any good
reason for the government at this time
to be trying to fix the price of such
items as automobiles at all.
i ne l imes adds:
“Price-fixing has, at best, even for
basic cost-of-living items, only a tran
sitional and secondary role to play in
combating inflation. The real remedies
are to stop increasing the supply of
money and bank credit and to encourage
the output of goods. If we look at the
problem from this standpoint, the ques
tion may be raised whether OPA did
not make a major error in trying to fix
prices on items that had been out of
production during the war. The weight
of evidence is that unrealistic price-fix
ing and delays in price-fixing have been
among the most important contributory
factors in the lag in reconversion and
the return to full production. They have
also been a factor in bringing on strikes
or prolonging strikes; for they have
left employers in the dark concerning
how great a wage increase they could
afford to grant.”
And it concludes:
“Surely here is at least one field in
which buyers and consumers acting in
dividually can now be trusted to make
their own decisions.”
Which brings us back to the old law
of supply and demand, which functioned
with more or less success for centuries
oefore the Office of Price Administra
tion was dreamed of.
Nabbed For Overcharge
Because some Wilmington taxi driv
ers are observing statutes affecting
their business and go out of their way
to be helpful and accommodating to the
public they serve, they above all others
should be grateful for the police raid
which bagged sixteen men operating
public vehicles, chiefly for overcharg
ing patrons.
This offense is too common, offend
ers obviously believing they can collect
excessive fares from strangers and get
away with it because their passengers
do not know the established rates and
even if they do are reluctant to take
the trouble to report the offense.
If they were required to display in
plain sight a card showing the rates
by zones in the passenger compartment
of their taxis they would not dare be so
brazen in their pilfering.
Certainly the police should make ex
amples of the group taken into custody
Saturday. Anything less than the se
verest punishment provided by law
would be inadequate.
And while the police are bearing
down on these offenders they are to be
encouraged to teach all ill-mannered
taxi drivers the value of courtesy in
traffic.* Too many of them crowd civil
ian drivers and usurp positions in the
traffic stream to which they have no
right. Too many "jump the light” at
signal intersections. Too many seem
to assume that they alone have right
of way in tight traffic. Too many use
their horns in violation of the "no horn”
rule.
Arrests among this class of violators
would not be amiss. It would be another
asset for Wilmingtonians concerned
for the betterment and development of
the city to be able to state that it has
taxi drivers of higher quality, greater
efficiency and more law-abiding than
any city in the land
M
Fair Enough
By WESTBROOK PEGLER
(Copyright, 1946, By King; Features Syndicate)
Granted that veterans of the second war
have a right to join any veterans’ society they
choose, the fact remains that they are en
titled to information as to the nature and
politics of organizations now soliciting their
adherence. Few of the veterans can analyze
the purposes of these organizations or detect
the similarity of such purposes to those of the
Political Action Committee of the CIO or com
munist organizations and fronts.
With considerable respect for the editors of
the New York Herald-Tribune, I would never
theless point out to service men, who are in
vited to join the American Veterans’ Com
mute, that Charles C-. Eoite, who writes vet
erans’ propaganda for the Herald-Tribune on
Sundays, is not an objective and impartial
commentator but an advocate of a client. He
is an officer and employe of the A.V.C. He
is in competition with the American Legion.
In the Herald-Tribune, Bolte is not so Identi
fied. He is merely “Charles G. Bolte’’ and his
attack on the American Legion on February
10 may have been accepted by those who read
it an imnartial nninion.
The faults of the American Legion are well
known but it may glory in the charge that It
always has been guilty of a strong and nar
row nationalism which means loyalty to the
United States and to no other nation or group
of nations. The American Veterans’ Commit
tee is a rival and political enemy of the Le
gion whicn has no political program or party
and has generally restricted itself to patriotic
works and the promotion of special benefits
for veterans, some of them undeserved. That
the Legion has tended to make parasites of
its members at the expense of the whole na
tion and to their detriment can be argued
effectively. Some individuals have exploited its
office of national commander for selfish poli
tical ambitions and cheap personal glory.
If Bolte were to attack the Legion in the
role of rival under his official title of chair
man of the A.V.C.’s Planning committe, that
would be fair. But the Herald-Tribune im
poses on the readers of Bolte’s propaganda
when it fails to label him as what he is.
As hitherto noted in these pieces, the polit
ical program of Bolte’s group is consistent
with that of Sidney Hillman’s P.A.C. which,
in turn, was agreeable to the communists and
their fellow-travelers in the 1944 campaign
and, in general, has been ever since. Also, as
noted here, the little group of founding fathers
of the A.V.C. who, as former men at arms
might not mind being called “comrades,” in
clude two veterans of the late Office of War
Information, a haven of communists during
the war. two members of the Lawyers’ Guild,
similarly infested, and a press-agent for Hill
man’s political erouD.
Any veteran or non-veteran civilian who,
knowing this background, still wants to join
the A.V.C , has that right. Civilians without
service records are eligible. However, lest he
oe deceived and his adherence exploited by
ilever organizers and propagandists, he has a
right to that background. It is not alleged
that Bolte or any other individual is a com
munist. Any American might advocate any or
all articles on the A.V.C.’s political program
without bringing his citizenship and loyalty
into doubt. But it is important that the pros
pective member shall decide as intelligently
as he can whether coincidence or design is at
work here. Attacking the Legion in the Herald
Tribune. Bolte wrote that “the main effect
of the assault” of John Stelle, the Legion’s
national commander, on General Omar Brad
ley, the Veterans' Administrator, was "to
lower the stock of the Legion.”
“One seasoned Washington observer” he
wrote, called it "the greatest bonehead play
the Legion ever pulled.” He does not name
this “seasoned” observer. He might be an
official of the A.V.C. or the communist party.
He might be fictitious. W’e do not know.
Stelle had asked that Congress investigate
the Veterans Administration and proposed the
selection of a seasoned business man to re
lieve Bradley. There follows a strong dose of
Bolte’s aspersions on the Legion and a plug
tor his own organization, the A.V.C., with
which, bear in mind, the Herald-Tribune does
lot identify this seemingly dis-interested au
thority. Regardless of the facts and merits of
he case we have here a sample of the can
3or and honesty with which the A.V.C. may
be expected to solicit the membership of un
suspecting servicemen and veterans who are
lot equipped by knowledge and experience to
letect undeclared pertinent facts. Any truly
American organization should be willing to run
up its colors in a fight but in this case the
principal promoter of the A.V.C. appears only
ac on {nriUrirliial
Another indication of the A.V.C.’s politics
appears in its recent bulletin.
This paper carries a two-column picture of
a civilian in a tin-hat of the First World War
bending in a tussle with another civilian who
has grasped him by the wrist. The cut-line '
said: "A plain clothesman is clubbing a picket
on the back as he pushes him from his post." ,
The picture does not show anyone clubbing
anyone. There is a streak in the picture but ■
a club it might be in the hands of another j
it does not appear to be a club. And if it is
picket and aimed at the head of some veteran ;
trying to go through a picket line to reach
his job.
A letter to the editor says the picket was
recently discharged from the Army and is a
member of the A.V.C.
"The enclosed pictures shows how he en
joyed his freedom,” the letter adds.
The truth Is that no veteran or anyone else
has a right to blockade any plant to prevent
any other veteran or any other American from
entering any place on lawful business. It is
the duty of the police to use all necessary
force, including clubs, to prevent anyone, in
cluding veterans, from rioting and beating up
other veterans or civilians on lawful errands.
Bolfe’s A.V.C. is soliciting non-veteran civi
lians at $5 each or $100 for "life membership.”
The same printed coupon includes a dotted
line for "contributions.”
QUOTATIONS
Some girls proclaim their beauty from the
hose tops.
Always finding fault in others is good proof
that you have at least one of your own.
A funny low-down on high life is that a
girl steps into society by coming out.
Real wealth is a state of mind, says a
doctor. Yeah—mind your dollars and cents!
„,Y0Ulre srnart to get what you earn and
wise to earn what you get.
booststhth casual stro11 across our streets that
Ooosts the casualty lists
SEEMS TO BE A DISTURBING ELEMENT
-.-—-—-|
Major Harris Is Going To Help Us
Keep Straight On Lore Around Here
BY JOHN SIKES
It isn’t divulging any secret oi
th» craft to tell you that we oi
he trade have to dig up sources,
js we call them, in order to pick
rp items to pass along to you.
Therefore, I want to tell you
that I am right happy in finding
a source in Major W. N. Harris
Df here.
Major Harris became a source
accidentally and it all goes bad
to that Old Shell Road into whose
past our staff has been delving
rather meticulously and exhaus
tively. During our delving Major
Harris telephoned me.
“Anything you want to know
about Wilmington’s and New Han
over county’s past all you have to
lo is call on me,” he tolef me. “Ii
[ don’t know from personal exper
ene'e I can tell you how to go
about finding what you want tc
enow.”
It seems that Major Harris is
low going on 82, which probably
makes him one of the town’s oldest
inhabitants. What’s more, he car
ries on each day with the vigor
jf a man some 20 or more years
younger. He still attends to his
dirties as city-county tax lister
;very day and is hardly, if ever,
11.
Just by way of setting us straight
—I really can’t remember how
much of the Old Shell Road’s past
ve have covered we have covered
;o much — Major Harris, starting
jut with the first bits of lore he’s
joing to tell us about in the days
:o come, said the Old Shell Road
vas started in 1874 and finished
n 1875.
He got it into his head to call me
,vhen he read an item herein about
:he charter members of the Wil
mington Turnpike company, the
rurnpike being the Old Shell Road,
't turns out that John A. Sanders,
vhom I named among the first
>f these charter members, was
Major Harris’ grandfather.
“Futhermore,” Major Harris
old me over the phone, “I per
;onally knew just about all that
ong list of names you printed as
jeing charter members of that
:ompany. A large part of the road
lappened to go through land owned
jy my grandfather, John A. San
ders. More of it went through land
belonging to Warren B. Giles.
“The first superintendent of the
road was a man named Pope—
I’ve forgotten his first name. I
remember just as well as if it’d only
been a year ago watching Mr.
Pope drive up and down the road in
a sulky behind a gray horse.”
Now, some items about the Old
Shell Road, items gleaned from
my telephone conversation with
Major Harris, and then, so far as
I’m concerned, I’m going to put
the Old Shell Road—it’s memories
—in a worn box I have bound with
old lilac ribbons in which I keep
some faded, but interesting, love
letters. Sentiment, you know.
The Old Shell Road, once and
for all, was not paved with just
plain oyster shells. It was paved
with whole oysters. The oysters
were just dug from the beds In the
sound and hauled in to the road
bed and there they became the
Old Shell Road.
No wonder the young blades
and their misses distended their
nostrils as they drove their buggies
along the road, particularly when
the road was first opened up. You
know, of course, about oysters
which have been around in .the
hot sun for a spell.
The road actually was started,
according to Major Harris, in front
of what was then the Atlantic
View hotel. This is still standing,
although it no longer is a hotel.
It is opposite the entrance to the
Wrightsville causeway to the north
ward.
I do not wish to get into any
more controversy about the
Old Shell Road, but I would like
to know how come they didn’t
shuck the oysters when they
built it. Imagine having oysters
with which to pave a road today!
Why, the road would cost more
than one of the late Mr. Hitler’s
autobahnen.
Some of you rapid calculators
figure out, with oysters selling
anywhere from $2 to $3 per bushel
how much the Old Shell Road
would have cost today. I’d like
to know even if we have dropped
the road subject for the nonce.
Imagine what an industrious
person could do with that many
oysters this day and time with
the meat shortage being what it
is!
From this time on whenever I
want to learn anything about what
goes on, or has gone on, around
these parts first person I call will
be Major Harris.
Which reminds me, in preview
ing today’s Star I . note ALONG
THE CAPE FEAR has begun to
ask questions about the famous
Dram Tree.
Know anything about the Dram
Tree, Major?
WILMINGTON
AND PROGRESS
Wilmington, North Carolina’s
chief seaport city, experienced re
markable growth during the war
and Wilmingtonians are determin
ed not to lose the wartime gains
but to keep the city moving forward
in peacetime.
In order to do this Wilmington
civic leaders recently carried out
a successful movement for the an
nexation of two populous suburban
sections to the city proper, and they
have laid plans for the expansion
of the city’s port facilities and
trade.
Wilmington also is going in for in
creased publicity of the port city’s
assets. The Wilmington Star -
News came out last Sunday,
February 17, with an 88-page
special “Business Review and
Forecast’’ edition which traces
through many well-written and il
lustrated articles the history of the
city, its progress of recent years,
its immediate business, port trade
and industrial prospects, and the
steps which need to be taken to
faciliate the city’s progress.
North Carolinians in general are
interested in the growth of Wil
mington, once our largest city,
A fact not widely known, ap
since the growth of its port trade
means a more prosperous State,
parently, is that the port facilities
of Wilmington are within handy
shipping distance of 18 or 20 of the
leading towns and cities of hte
State.
The Star-News is to be con
gratulated on its enterprise in
publishing its comprehensive and
lighly informational special edi
tion in the interests of the seaport
:ity, and for that matter the 1
vhole State. — Wins+on-Salem 1
rournal. 1
tXIOM REVISED
There’s no place like home—if i
rou can find one. I
-Pittsburgh Press. 1
religion
Day By Day
By WILLIAM T. ELLIS
t GO TO THE PENITENTIARY
Along with a group of Pennsyl
vania editors, I once visited West
ern Penitentiary, Bellefonte. The
setting, amidst the mountains, is
sublime. The air is of the best,
and so is the food. There are out
door work and games. Every cell
has a radio. One inmate, I noticed,
lad two aquariums.
But they were prisoners! No
comforts and luxuries could wipe
out that fact. I do not care to re
call the hopeless faces of some of
the prisoners in their cells. They
were being punished for their
crimes in the severest possible
way, by the loss of liberty.
So the prison house of sin, while
it may be richly adorned and full
of indulgences, shuts the soul away
from freedom. Do we sometimes
forget the supreme joy of being
Christ’s free men and women?
Thou hast given us liberty of
spirits, our Fatheh, and we would
rejoice as those who walk in the
freedom of Christ daily. Amen.
McKenney On
BRIDGE
EDITOR’S NOTE: Annually for
the past 15 years, Mr. McKenney
has selected the outstanding play
ers of the year for his All-America
team. This is the second of six
articles on his selections.
By WILLIAM E. McKENNEY
America’s Card Authority
A place on my All-America
card team goes to Harold S. VanT
derbilt and the Vanderbilt Cup
committee. During the war they
turned over the entire proceeds
of the Vanderbilt Cup tournament
“P a worthy war cause. The Van
cup’ which is always one
the outstanding bridge events
wlt^er.rar’ wiu be heJd at the
Hotel Pierre in New York, start
g April 29. Now that the war
is over, we hope Mr. Vanderbilt
netitinr.eentjr tournament com
frophy and Play for his own
Today’s hand was selected from
mlntye The and6rbilt Cup tourna
make the „fY8fage Player would
make the mistake of allowing the
opening spade lead to rideTSmT,*
to the Jack, and Ve contracJ
would be defeated if East
with the king and returned a ch*
If declarer goes right up witti
dummy’s ace of spades, and then ■
takes the diamond finesse, noth
ing can prevent him from making -
his contract. *
- -“— -_1
The Doctor Says_ |
:iRRH0SIS CAUSES
FOUND TO DIFFER
By WILLIAM a7o'HRIEn M
Cirrhosis of the liver ;
:ities usually is caused h, 8'5« *!
uve indulgence in alcoholic bT'3, t
ages, while cirrhosis in ^ i l
tacts is more apt to be ,« *. dl* ; f
vith infections of the pVc,. Cla’e4
Alcoholics develop the T.-v
of the liver from fap..,..‘r‘^os!l ;
while drinking, rathe--'"- J° ** ! r
the drink itself. Large - ir,1 r
alcohol can be given to experTf -
:al animals without T J e?l' .
cirrhosis of the liver, M'®*
animal’s food fa Cut down l T
same time, the disease ca
produced. Alcoholics have b( i ]
ency to substitue the calories f"4 ; !
alcohol for calories from f0ft/on!
although this tides Them rd
temporarily, it is damag7nTto°I"
liver and cirrhosis may result **
In a cirrhotic liver, the ’ .
gradually replaced bv Sl.#r t- T' :
In the early stages, cirrhotic TT'
usually are larger than normal-*
is 1-ater they become smaller !
the scarring. The veins v.-hich r-?
ry blood to the liver fr0m T
stomach, spleen and intestine* bl
come bostructed, and varicn..
veins form throughout the abdomt
nal cavity and fluid collects. '
Operative relief of obstruction *, I
the blood flow through the !jve.
lessens the danger of rupture <J i
the distended veins and apparent!
ly causes some return of ijVe. [
functions. Operations which dive-*
the blood from the liver to’
general circulation are being tried
■and although these procedure* a*j
still in the trial stage, report; in
dicate benefit is obtained.
Cirrhosis of the liver is found at -
postmortem examir*«tion on per.
sons dying of another cause with
out any history of the complai; ■*
Patients who first consult a phv*i! I
cian because of obstruction to The i
abdominal circulation, usua'tv I
have had “stomach trouble.’’ loss f
of appetite, nausea, vomiting and i
flatulence for some time, but in
alcoholics these signs often are at!
tributed to drinking.
When the diagnosis of cirrhosis
of the liver is made, alcoholic in
dulgence should stop. A high cato
ric diet rich in protein with moder
ate amount of carbohydrats
prescribed. Milk, meat, fish, eggs, :
green vegetables and vitamin con.
centrates are eaten, and water and I
salt are restricted.
The Literary
Guidepost
BY W. G. ROGERS
POLITICAL RECONSTRIC
TION, by Karl Loewenstein
(MacMillan; S4).
“The most common threat to
peace is the internal organization
of a state which threatens the
freedom of its own people and
with it the security of its neigh
bors and the world at large,” Loe
wenstein declares.
He points to a lot of examples,
and horrible ones, in recent his
tory. But the democratic powers
did not interfere because they
were bound by the long - revered
liberal principle that every people
has the right to rule its own roost.
“Hands off!” the democracies
proclaimed righteously; hands oil
within Spain, within Italy, within
Japan, within Germany. Believing j. |
the patient was entitled to enjoy
his own disease, they wouldn’t lift
a finger until he ran amok.
Self - determination came into
fashion in 19th century Europe in
reply to the Holy Alliance's at
tempt to prevent revolutions from
dethroning the interrelated ruling
families. But now, Loewenstein
points out, it works in reverse: it
overthrows not kings, but demo
cratic governments. The beautiful
theory which once helped a people
to cast off its chains has latterly
helped dictators to fasten them on.
Though Liberals won’t like it,
Loewenstein advocates interven* \ h
tion, the withholding of democrat
ic privileges from democracy s en
emies, the imposition of democ: t
ic forms of government on the de
feated Axis and its satellites ard,
no doubt, on any other coun.ry
where we think we can get away
with it.
“The form of Internal Govern
ment determines the conduct r
foreign relations,” he says, an“
criticizes the- Atlantic Chare',
Dumbarton Oaks and San r ran- t J
cisco for adhering explicitly to
nonintervention. World peace. «
claims, depends on an orgauiM
tion of like governments.
Though this study, by Am
herst nrofesscr now in Ger.mrr.
with the U. S. legal division 'f me
Control Council, is likely to :
wide audience, it will have an
fluential one. It is a fs.-vina st
and brilliant exposition of a ' .j”
lutionary idea. If it is occasion*
dogmatic, probably Loewer;f.n
anticipates some doubly dogma,e
bitter retorts.
STAR Dust
Ezra’s Poetry
A court jury found that r-,s
’ound, held on a treason cha:
s of unsound mind. Evident!;-' •
>anel may have been reading can.e
if his poetry.—Indianapolis &tar
Jidn’t Pan Out
Those frowns you see are o f
aces of some'of the pre-peace
lostwar planners. — Charles
Ivenine Post.