Evening star. [volume], July 08, 1940, Page A-8, Image 8

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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i w lotting plat0
With Sunday Morning Edition.
THEODORE W. NOYES, Editor.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
MONDAY.July 8, 1940
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e-T- 1. .r1 —. ■■ ... -
a
Washington Grows Up
Washington has grown up. What
is more, the city is continuing to
grow at a pace which should make
traditional rivals in population look
to their laurels. Already Washington
has forged ahead of Buffalo and
Milwaukee and may supplant San
Francisco in eleventh place in the
list of the Nation’s larger cities.
There is nothing artificial nor transi
tory about this tremendous growth
of the National Capital. The ex
pansion has been steady and healthy
and permanent. The census figures
for the past century and a quarter
show that the general upward trend
has been constant, with never a
suggestion of a leveling off or of
retrogression. It is interesting, in
cidentally, to note that most of the
major wars in the country's history
have been accompanied or followed
by a spurt in Washington’s popula
tion. The period of greatest growth,
howpver. was riurine the nast, decade
—when the only war was an
internal one—against unprecedented
forces of economic depression. This
was a period of extraordinary gov
ernmental expansion, with vast cen
tralization of authority at the seat
of Government. In this era—from
1930 to 1940—the population rose
from 486.869 to 663,153, a gain of
36.2 per cent.
The rapid development of Wash
ington should occasion no surprise.
It is inevitable that as the Nation
grows, so grows its Capital. And
as Washington grows, so grow her
sister suburban communities. Prince
Georges and Montgomery Counties
in nearby Maryland, Arlington and
Fairfax Counties and the city of
Alexandria across the Potomac River
—all have shown a continuation of
the trend to the suburbs, so marked
in the 1930 census.
The census figures reflect the
natural extension of residential
areas not only beyond the limits of
the District of Columbia, but in the
less congested sections of the District
to the south and east of the Capitol.
In it is the great eastern section of
the District for which the National
Capital Park and Planning Commis
sion has laid out a broad plan for'
public building and parkway devel
opment.
The new figures also serve to ac
centuate some of Washington’s
needs. A fast-growing city cannot
afford to fall behind in the many
services which its spreading popu
lation demands. Educational, health,
social welfare, law enforcement and
other essential facilities of a great
metropolis must keep pace with its
citizenry. But Washington’s in
equitable lump sum method of ap
propriating for such services and
the tendency toward haphazard
legislating do not permit of intelli
gent, long-range planning and de
velopment of schools, welfare insti
tutions, law enforcement and safety
agencies and other civic establish
ments and activities. One outstand
ing example of this neglect is the
Metropolitan Police Department,
which has been given only eighty
two additional patrolmen during the
past ten years, although more than
176.000 persons took up residence
here during that period. That is
approximately one policeman for
every 2,146 new residents, whereas
good police practice calls for two
policemen for every thousand resi
dents.
wasningtonians nave a right to be
proud of their city’s growth. And
now, more than ever, they have a
right to demand of Congress the
voice in their National Government
to which their numerical strength,
their metropolitan importance and
their democratic prerogatives entitle
them. Only through that voice in
the National Legislature and in the
national elections will Washington
achieve the balanced civic progress
which it must have to become the
world's greatest capital city.
Fishing—for What?
The Coast Guard and the Bureau
of Marine Inspection and Naviga
tion deserve commendation for the
quiet and efficient manner in which
they have acted to rid our Pacific
Coast of illegally operated Japanese
fishing boats. For a long time there
has been strong suspicion that at
least some of the Japanese fisher
men off California and the Panama
Canal, were more interested in our
coastal defenses than in fish. This
was something hard to prove, but a
wise government cannot afford to
itake chances in such times as these.
Without fanfare or any moves
that possibly could be construed as
4
Involving "spy hysteria,” the Coast
Guard intelligence service looked into
the situation and discovered evi
dence that many vessels in the
Ashing Aeet off California were op
erating under documents that fraud
ulently listed them as American,
whereas in reality they were owned
by Japanese. The law requires that
such vessels be owned by United
States citizens. Co-operation of
the Bureau of Marine Inspection
and Navigation and the Justice De
partment, acting on the information
obtained by the Coast Guard and
other sources, so far has resulted in
the forfeiture of some 200 fraudu
lently documented boats. Officials
say practically all of the California
Ashing ressels operating now are
fully American owned.
Espionage activities from this par
ticular quarter thus have been greatly
reduced, if not eliminated, by effec
tive co-operation of different units
of the Federal Government in routine
law enforcement.
Clouding the Issue
As a statement of American
foreign policy, President Roosevelt’s
proposal that the nations of Europe
and Asia operate under Monroe Doc
trines of their own is inconclusive
and inexact. It is a statement
readily susceptible of several inter
pretations, and for that reason it
beclouds a vitally important ques
tion which should be clariAed or left
alone.
Any one reading the President s
pronouncement, as relayed to the
press by his secretary, Stephen T.
Early, might reasonably get the im
pression that the United States is
not interested in the disposition to
be made of French Indo-China by
the Asiatic powers, which, for all
practical purposes, means Japan.
But does that apply with equal force
to China or to the Dutch East Indies?
Presumably not, for this country re
peatedly has protested against
Japan’s attack on the Chinese, and
we are on record officially as desiring
maintenance of the status quo with
respect to the East Indies. Nor is
the confusion of thought implicit
in this statement relieved by an at
tempt to draw a distinction between
the Monroe Doctrine as we interpret
it and a so-called Monroe Doctrine
that might be invoked by aggressor
nations. The President’s statement
was directed to a factual situation,
and it has no meaning at all unless
it was intended to apply to such ter
ritorial readjustments in Europe and
Asia as may be forcibly dictated by
Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan.
It is probable that Mr. Roosevelt
was endeavoring to lay the ground
work for the exclusion of Germany
or any other totalitarian state from
a territorial foothold in the Western
Hemisphere, but even on this score
his statement leaves much to be de
sired.
For example, he suggests that the
United States will not take posses
sion of Western Hemisphere terri
tories of conquered powers and pro
poses that their future status should
be determined by joint action of the
American republics. What if the
American republicans are unable to
reach agreement on this point? What
will we do if a Nazi-controlled Dutch
or French government attempts to
use territories in this hemisphere to
our disadvantage while the American
republics are trying to arrive at a
satisfactory settlement among them
selves?
In the past, Mr. Roosevelt has evi
denced a clear understanding of the
realities of the world in which we
are living, and, in the light of this
understanding, he has pursued a
steadfast and courageous course de
signed solely to insure the maximum
of protection for America’s vital in
terests. It is unfortunate that he
should have departed from this
course at a time when adherence to
a realistic foreign policy is certain
to be made more difficult by the im
minence of a national election.
New Industries Program
If successful in its program, the
Inter-American Development Com
mission will contribute much toward
a closer economic integration of the
Americas. An outgrowth of "the
Conference of Twenty-one American
Republics which met at Panama last
September to consider the problems
arising out of the war, the com
mission, headed by Undersecretary
of Commerce Noble, is trying to de
velop new industries in Latin
America, and increase non-competi
tive imports from Latin American
countries.
At a meeting in New York City
last week, the first since its organi
zation on June 2, the commission
launched its program by approving
two projects. One is the sponsoring
of an experimental plant in Brazil
for processing the mandioca root,
from which tapioca is manufactured.
The United States now buys its tapi
I oca from the Dutch East Indies,
about $9,000,000-worth a year. Brazil
has an abundance of high-grade
mandioca, but because of the inabil
ity of Brazilian producers to process
mandioca in a manner suitable for
the American market, little Brazil
ian tapioca is sold in this coun
try. The experimental plant will be
staffed by Brazilians, and technicians
from the United States will give ad
vice on processing the mandioca
root.
Under the second project approved
by the commission, a group of de
partment store experts will explore
the possibilities of developing sources
of supply in Latin America for the
$50,000,000 of handicraft goods and
other specialties formerly imported
from Central Europe. These imports
have been cut off by the war.
Specialists familiar with the Amer
k
lean market will tell Latin American
producers what plant expansions and
other changes will be necessary to
build up an export trade with the
United States.
In encouraging the establishment
of new industries, the commission
will, move cautiously. Its projects
will be confined to the construction
of plants manufacturing products
that do not compete with those al
ready made in the United States. It
will also insist that the enterprises
it sponsors be financed by both
Latin American and United States
capital.
Though there has been a trend
toward industrialization in some
parts of Latin America in recent
years, the production of raw ma
terials remains the cornerstone of
Latin America’s economy. In ex
change for their raw materials, South
and Central American countries
have bought large quantities of
Europe's manufactured products.
The complementary nature of this
trade has made it easier for Euro
pean countries to secure barter
agreements in Latin America.
Because of the war, Europe’s pur
chases of Latin American products
have been sharply curtailed. The
loss of European markets has created
a serious economic problem in several
Latin American countries. By en
couraging the development of new
industries, and increasing non-com
petitive imports, the Inter-American
Development Commission will
strengthen the defenses of Latin
America against economic penetra
tion by the totalitarian powers.
Mexico's Election
The slaying of more than one hun
dred persons and wounding of thou
sands more, as reported in news
dispatches from Mexicp City, is a
dark side of Mexico’s presidential
campaign and a sad commentary on
the state of democracy in our sister
republic to the South.
It is regrettable that Mexico's first
truly free election in nearly two
decades should have resulted in far
more casualties than the machine
dominated and controlled elections
while Calles was in power.
Far-reaching repercussions of yes
terday's election are to be expected.
The widespread use of firearms,
grenades and tear gas coupled with
theft of ballot boxes in some places
and closing of polling places in
others may provide either side with
the basis for a claim of denial of
rights after the results of the voting
are known.
President Cardenas in renouncing
any desire to run for re-election had
promised a free expression of the
popular will, and his candidate, Gen
eral Manuel Avila Camachio, had
reaffirmed that pledge. The oppo
sition candidate, General Juan An
dreu Almazan, recently has charged
unfair tactics on the part of the ad
ministration, and threatened to dis
regard the results of any voting
which was unfairly influenced by the
administration forces.
What the outcome will be must
await the counting of ballots, which
is set for Thursday. The returns may
be issued then or held up, at the
discretion of the government, until
Congress reconvenes September 1.
Complicating the whole situation
is the presence in Mexico of a large
number of Nazi-Fascist agents, as
well as Communists, all united in a
conspiracy to foment disorder south
of the Rio Grande.
Nature s Fifth Column
As a sinister sign of the age, a
story is reported from Hopkinsville,
Kentucky, which shows that even
Dame Nature may be going totali
tarian and promoting her own fifth
column. The wall of a restaurant
there began to bulge alarmingly,
threatening to overturn the struc
ture. It was very puzzling. There
was no apparent cause. Plasterers
called in as specialists diagnosed the
trouble, performed a surgical opera
tion on the wall and opened it up.
Inside they found a tree seven inches
in diameter, with its roots five feet
above the ground level.
For years the restaurant had stood
up against the open and more or
less expected assaults of complain
ing customers, dead beats, short
change artists and tax collectors—
only to come near destruction by an
insidious extra column of Nature.
Deprived of publicity and sunlight
and seemingly also cut off from any
possibility of nourishment from a
soil in which it was not rooted, never
theless the tree grew by its own de
vious methods and was only checked
barely in time by strenuous meas
ures.
Two months ago Hopkinsville and
the rest of the world would have said
that it could not happen; but it did.
A word to the wise is sufficient.
.- i i... .i
If Major Brown were any other
sort than the man he is, he would be
downright discouraged, and who
could blame him? He asked Con
gress for one hundred additional po
licemen; received fifteen, and now
has had forty taken away from him.
Russia is occupied with ominous
appearing work, probably of a mili
tary nature, on an island in Bering
Strait not more than four miles from
the nearest United States territory.
Never mind; sleep sound; we have
300 brave soldiers in Alaska.
The palace of the League of Na
tions becomes like the enchanted
castle of the Sleeping Beauty. Only
the kiss of Allied victory seems
likely to awaken those once busy
premises.
Papa JofTre won the Battle of the
Marne in 1914 by using 1906 vintage
taxicabs. The 1918 model tanks,
however, were not so hot against the
oncoming German land leviathans.
A 1
Foresees Economic
Peace Foundation
Political Settlements Held
Incapable of Preventing
Forcible Readjustments
By BLAIR BOLLES.
It is a little more than two weeks
since the grave French plenipotentiaries
signed the German truce in the dining
car at Compiegne. At the time men
generally wondered when Adolf Hitler,
the conqueror of Western Europe,
would take the next and final step to
ward closing the hostilities by giving
the beaten nations the opportunity to
«ign a treaty of peace. A German with
some standing and with great wish for
anonymity has revealed that Hitler will
arrange no such peace until tfie Eng
lish phase of the war comes to an end.
Then, he said, Hitler will give to Eu
rope “a permanent peace, a peace that
will last for at least 25 years.” A Ger
man, of course, will admit no doubt of
German victory.
Here is a realist's idea of the mean
ing of the word “permanent” when it is
applied to European peace. Europe is a
heaving continent peopled by restless
nations. There are few periods in Eu
rope’s history when so long a time as 25
years has passed without conflict of
some sort. From the truce of Com
piegne to the truce of Compiegne was
less than 22 years. From the peace of
Versailles to the opening of the Ger
man-Polish War was scarcely over 20
years. And in those 20 years the map of
Europe was undergoing changes. There
was no time since nations existed in*
Europe that 25 years have gone by with
out some European boundary change.
Lasting peace in Europe is an ideal
which has fascinated many great men.
Charlemagne. Frederick Barbarossa,
Charles V, Louis XIV and Napoleon are
a few. Most of these, like Hitler, made
war their preface to permanent peace.
Their method was the imposition of
peace upon all of Europe by one domi
nant throne or nation—in the case of
the first two, the Holy Roman Empire;
of the third, who held about as much of
Europe as anybody before Napoleon, the
Holy Roman Empire and Spain; of the
fourth and fifth, France.
If Hitler waits until his triumph Is
complete, Hitler may never have the
pleasure of telling France, Belgium, the
Netherlands, Denmark, Luxembourg,
Norway and Poland, not to mention
Czechia Slovakia, and, indeed, Italy,
how he has determined to insure Eu
rope’s permanent 25-year peace. Eng
land may thwart him. Russia may de
flect him. But in advance of any Hitler
peace conference, it is pretty generally
believed that the Nazis’ leader intends
to arrange a peace for Europe based al
most completely on economic considera
tions.
This is something new. In the past,
political arrangements have guided the
peacemakers. Whether economy is a
less fickle lover of peace than politics we
do not know. Politics, anyway, has not
proved a great insurer of peace. We have
to dip just a short way into the past to
discover that—say, to 1800—when Na
poleon was well started on his way to
greatness.
umiite jtiiuer, wapoieon arranged
treaties of peace as he went along. And
his treaties were calling always for re
arrangement by new treaties, built of
new wars. The catalogue of Napoleonic
treaties is long. There are Luneville,
1801; Amiens, 1802; Act of Mediation,
1803; Schonbrunn, December 15, 1805;
Pressburg, December 26, 1805; Tilsit,
July, 1807: Fontainebleau, October. 1807;
Paris, 1814; Congress of Vienna, 1815.
The last two represented Napoleonic
defeats. The treaty of Paris crowned
the losses suffered on the march to Mos
cow. The Congress of Vienna was the
formal celebration by Napoleon's ene
mies and the end, the continental victors
over France hoped, of all the libertarian
ideas born of the French Revolution and
spread wide by NaDoleon's victories.
The Congress of Vienna often receives
credit as the discoverer of the greatest
and most lasting peace insurance ever
provided for Europe. The method de
vised at Vienna and managed for years
afterward by the Austrian Chancellor,
Count Mettemich, was the same sort of
method these days expect from Hitler
repression, repression of the popular in
stinct for liberty. There was, in truth,
no European war of continental magni
tude between 1815 and 1914. But there
were revolutions in all the countries
that spread liberty far by the 19th cen
tury's end, despite Metternich’s efforts,
and the wars and boundary changes
were frequent.
A few years after the Congress of
Vienna, the Greek subjects of the Turk
were at war for their independence.
Belgium was carved from the Nether
lands. France fought beside England
against Russia. France fought Austria
in Italy. The many states of Italy were
combined into a nation. Prussia fought
Austria, Denmark and France in three
wars. Russia fought Turkey, 'and the
Congress of Berlin, convoked to evolve
a new system of peace, handed to the
Russian victory the province of Bessa
rabia, which Russia retook for herself a
few days ago.
The birth of the Balkan countries
brought wars and insured boundary
changes up to the eve of the first World
War. Out of that war came a new
method for keeping the peace, by the
League of Nations, an institution where
countries could air their complaints and,
in theory, get a hearing that would set
at rest the forces making for war. It
was the antithesis of the Metternich
repression policy. The League was born
of the Covenant which is set forth at
the opening of the Versailles treaty,
dated June 28, 1919.
Out of the Versailles and the corrol
lary treaties of Neuffly, Trianon and St.
Germain came many new boundaries.
But war and subsequent boundary
changing did not halt. Poland fought
Russia. The League ordered some small
territorial rearrangements. In 1936 Hit
ler flouted the League and Versailles by
remilitarizing the Rhineland, 17 years
after the arrival of the last “permanent
peace.” That was the first step toward
a new peace conference. Conference
there is sure to be, whetller it is con
trolled by Hitler or controlled by Eng
land.
t'
THIS AND THAT H
—. . , . . .. « i.,—
By Charles E. Tracewell.
"ILLINOIS AVENUE.
"Dear Sir:
"I am looking for a couple of mocking
birds and wonder If your correspondent
who is serenaded all night by them down
by the Soldiers' Home can help me out.
"Last summer a pair of mockingbirds
chose my back porch rambler for their
home and built a nest on a level with
the eyes, close on the other side of the
screen.
"Why they didn’t come right in the
kitchen I don’t know. They could have
had hamburger, noodles, etc. Needless
to say, we became good friends and I
now consider myself one of the world’s
greatest authorities on mockingbirds.
“Those big eyes looking at me every
time I werft on the porch greatly am
plified our home life. I assisted the
•little people’ with their family life in
every way possible, particularly one day
when the last of their three kids ven
tured to make his debut on the world,
only to hang by a thorn.
"It created plenty of excitement in all
surrounding birddom. Even the wren
left its nearby nest and came over to
offer help. I was about to call the fire
department, when instead a broom poked
blindly into the rambler did the trick
and released the yelling mite, much to
the joy of us all.
"For days afterward I used to detect
the whereabouts of these feathered off
spring by their high, electric ‘cheep,’ and
go and talk to them.
"And now I want them to come home!
Instead, they're cavorting around some
where else, maybe down by the Sol
diers’ Home. Sincerely, C. L.”
* * » »
A mockingbird has a way with him,
indeed; when it comes to personality,
one of this species is really “there.”
Mockingbirds are much better in the
average garden in spring and summer
than in winter. Too often in the cold
months they tend to become ruffianly in
their ways, driving away other birds
which winter here.
In spring and summer, however, they
are good sports, leaving other birds
alone, unless the latter come to near to
the nest.
This will not mean that they will not
chase dogs, cats and even human beings.
This they do with vim, adding another
point of interest. Few observers will
resent this trait, under the circum
stances
* * * *
•
There are few sights in this sport
more intriguing than that of a mocker,
in full flight, after a cat or dog.
They fly low across the garden, the
white showing in the wings, headed
straight for the enemy.
1 The latter, whether on four legs or
two, waits for no encounter, but always
takes off as fast as he can.
No one wants to dispute matters with
an aroused mockingbird.
Like most birds, however, the mocker's
assault would not be very terrific if the
other would stand its ground.
Bird battles, in general, seldom amount
to much. There is a great deal of wing
fluttering and hopping Into the air, but
seldom any casualties.
This is not always true, of course.
Occasionally a bird battle (almost al
ways between birds of the same species)
turns into a bloody conflict. In the
main these battles are mostly show-oS
bouts.
* * * *
It is a wonder that a great many
birds, old as well as young, do not get
caught on thorns and nails, or entan
gled in vines.
No doubt many such accidents occur
where no help can come.
In such emergencies, birds are mostly
helpless. They have no way of bring
ing direct aid. About all they can do is
to flutter and scream close to the
trapped creature. This excitement
tends to excite the caught bird still
farther; its struggles increase, with the
result that it mostly manages to fly free.
In this way it receives help from its
fellows.
We have never seen a case of a bird
caught in domestic plants, either in
thorns or in tangles of vines. So we do
not believe there is the slightest danger
to bird life in average plantings of any
type.
It must be remembered that birds
have been dealing with such situations
for centuries. They are very small, on
the average, much smaller than we tend
to think, and can get through very small
spaces.
They also are extremely wary. They
must be to survive. They seldom put
themselves into positions from which
they cannot extricate themselves.
w m m m
It is always a good plan, in case a
fledgling gets caught some way, to let
the bird alone, and see how it manages
to get loose.
If it does not do so, then there will be
time to bring it aid.
The greatest danger to young birds
Just out of the nest lies in four-legged
and two-legged animals. In the latter
classification must be included other
birds. Fledglings of all species are in
real danger from adult birds of other
species.
Grackles, in particular, seem to spe
cialize in catching young cardinals on
their first day out of the nest. For the
first 24 hours the young birds often re
main close to the nest, but definitely
outside it, often perched on a cane of a
rose, or branch of a shrub.
While there, they are easy prey of
the great strong-necked grackles, whose
fiendish yellow eyes show them to be
birds without mercy. Some bird lovers
regard grackles as far worse than hawks,
especially when it comes to the destruc
tion of fledglings.
Persons who become interested in cer
tain bird individuals must not expect to
see much of them after they have left
the nest. Probably the best way to keep
them around is to feed them with sun
flower seed. All seed-eating birds like
these, and the parents will take the
| youngsters to them. Birds brought up
on sunflower seed in a garden often tend
to remain after they grow up. They
find it “easy pickings.’’
Letters to the Editor
Dislikes New
Street Lamps.
To the Editor of The 8t»r:
I wish to register my protest against
the new street lights that are being
installed in Washington. They are too
high. They shine brightly into our sec
ond and third story bedrooms where
the light is not needed and are very an
noying when we want to sleep. This also
means that the trees must be trimmed,
reducing the shade on the sidewalks,
where it is needed. With the lights one
third as high there would be nine times
the illumination on the streets where it
is required.
Then there is the expense of making
this abominable and unnecessary change
in our street lights. It must cost almost
a hundred dollars to change one light
and the taxpayers must foot the bill.
We seem to forget that one of the great
est, perhaps the greatest, of our needs
is a balanced budget and reduced taxes
so that the man at the top can continue
in business and the man at the bottom
can live in comfort.
July 4. CHAS. M. PIDGEON.
Scores Banality of
Anti-War Slogans.
To the Editor of The Star:
The isolationism of last year is a
corpse. Selling munitions has not got
us into war; Hitler has proved conclu
sively that one side is much worse than
the other; our tremendous and costly
plans for defense show that the events
in Europe were far from being "none of
our business.”
Something is left, however; namely, a
slogan into which the isolationist case
has largely degenerated. "No foreign
wars,” "no foreign wars,” “no foreign
wars.” made banal by over-repetition.
No "foreign” wars? That implies that
some wars might be justifiable. And
what are those, domestic or civil wars?
Stripped of its smoke-screen of emo
tion, the nakedness of this slogan should
be clear to a child, for a child can see
that there Is one place where we should
fight, and that is where we can fight
most successfully, and with the most
help. Apparently the isolationists would
Just hate winning a victory overseas, but
prefer to spend centuries—a thousand
years, according to Hitler—in exacting
defense against a ruthless enemy who
may take advantage of any temporary
lapse of vigilance to pounce on us and
destroy our liberties forever.
Nevertheless, there is one sure way to
win tumultuous applause, and that is to
declare that no American boys shall shed
their blood on foreign soil. All our
leaders have chosen to pay, or have felt
compelled to pay, homage to this dogma.
Its origin can easily be found by
talking to the people you meet. They at
once bring up our experience with the
other war. Regarding that war, they
now usually believe four things:
(1) Our going in was a failure. (2) We
knew it would be, but were “dragged” or
"forced” or "hurled” in. (3) This was
done for the sake of the British, with
their “propaganda,” hnd not for our owyi
sake at all. (4) We went in to "make
the world safe for democracy,” and (lid
not do It.
Theta four pillars of isolationist dogma
V
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the right to edit all letters with
a view to condensation.
are simply myths. “Safe for democracy”
did not get us in. It was a mere slogan,
and was not coined until the issue had
been settled. We did go in, however, to
make the world safe against German
designs for “world power,” and that was
our most fundamental reason. And we
succeeded! The “failure” came years
later, and, as the rest of us well know,
was furthered by the action of our
Isolationists in crippling the League of
Nations. As for “British propaganda,”
Wilson had said that the Allies were
“fighting our fight,” and the rape of
Belgium was far more important than
all propaganda, including the alleged
propaganda of the financial interests.
If you do not believe that, ask the next
10 people you meet who can remember
the other war.
There is thus no justification for the
blind emotion which abhors fighting
across the sea, even if that were strategi
cally best. In fact, however, as we really
know, there is no reason whatever to
fear such fighting now, for the simplest
> and most conclusive of reasons—we Just
cannot do it.
xci, uk uie«u oi sucn impossible and
Imaginary fighting in Europe has a result
which is very real indeed; it inspires the
attempt to paralyze all efforts to do
anything against Hitler. Every attempt
to do anything against the common
.enemy has been fought on the ground
that in some way—incomprehensible to
the common man—it might cause our
"involvement” in war, and that those
who wish to give a green light to Hitler
are the only friends of "peace.”
We thus see that the isolationists,
from 1920 to the present hour, have
played Hitler's game. And some of them
now threaten to split the Democratic
party if it will not accept their policy of
assisting the worst enemy this country
—and democracy—has ever l*iown.
July 2. WALTER P, WHITE.
Warns Citizens to Think
For Themselves About War.
To th* Editor of The 8t*r:
“To oe or not to be, that is the ques
tion.” TO send our sons to fight, be
gassed, wounded or die on foreign soil,
or to remain at home prepared and
ever ready to defend this Nation against
any attack. This is the question to be
decided by the citizens of these United
States.
Let the American people remain cool
and not allow themselves to be puppets
in the hands of crafty and designing
minds. In the last analysis the people
do rule, despite all the insidious wiles
of professional politicians. This Nation is
a "Government of the people, by the
people and for the people,” but it is
up to the people to think for themselves
and assert themselves.
REV. ALFRED H. TERRY.
July 2.
0
"a
Haskin's Answers
To Readers' Questions
By Frederic J. Haskin.
Q. Has any one ever been elected Gov
ernor of more than one State?—H. N. R.
A. Sam Houston was elected Governor
of Tennessee in 1827. He became the
Governor of Texas in 1859, after serving
as the first President of the Republic of
Texas, and as the first Senator of the
new State for 13 years.
Q. How were enemy officers paid as
prisoners of war during the first World
War?—E. W.
A. In general, an officer who was
taken prisoner received the same rate of
pay that a man of corresponding rank
received In the army of the country by
whom he was captured, provided that it
was not higher than the rate he received
-in his own country.
Q. When will the Cheyenne Rodeo be
held this year?—D. H. B.
A. The rodeo at Cheyenne, Wyo., will
be held July 23-27, 1940.
Q. What was the first important dis
covery made with the telescope?—C.
P. G.
A. The first heavenly bodies to be dis
covered with a telescope were the moons
or satellites of Jupiter. Galileo saw
them in January, 1610. His telescope
was a very small instrument that he
could hold in his hand, a far cry from
the 200-inch reflector whose moving
parts weigh about 500 tons.
Q. How many eggs can a queen bee
lay in a day?—H. S. C.^
A. On occasion a vigorous young queen
can lay 2,500 eggs a day, more than twice
her own weight.
Q. When were the partitions of Po
land?—F. P. A.
A. There have been four. The first
was in 1772, by Russia. Prussia and Aus
tria: the second, in 1793, by Russia and
Prussia: the third, in 1795, again by Rus
sia, Prussia and Aus'tria. Poland then
ceased to exist as a nation until 1919.
The fourth partition, by Russia and Ger
many, with a small strip given to Lith
uania, occurred in September, 1939.
Q. What is heparin?—H. P. S.
A. A substance occurring naturally In
the body which inhibits the clotting of
blood. It was so named because it can
be obtained from the liver. It is now
being used to prevent or check clotting
in well-selected cases.
Q. How old is capitalism?—G. W. E.
A. A system resembling capitalism in
some respects existed in the Roman Em
pire 2,000 years ago. However, the be
ginnings of modern capitalism are traced
back to the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries.
Q. What percentage of English words
are Latin?—W. J. M.
A. It has been estimated that 20 per
cent of words used in English conversa
tion are derived from Latin.
Q. Is the personal attack on candi
dates a modem innovation in American
politics?—H. P. p.
A. Such tactics are a part of our po
litical history. George Washington was
accused of wanting tq be a king, and in
the first party battle in 1796 Thomas
Jefferson was assailed in the vilest
fashion. He was denounced as an athe
ist because of his authorship of the
Virginia bill of religious liberty, accused
of cowardice during the Revolution and
portrayed as a person of lowest per
sonal morals. His flair for ingenious in
ventions was mocked, and it was said
that as President he would do nothing
better than invent a whirligig chair.
Q. What is autarchy?—J. A. E.
A. Self-government, absolute sov
ereignty.
Q. Are there many albino buffalo?—
I. I. S.
A. Albinism in the bison is very rare.
Only three living specimens are known,
of which one is in the National Zoologi
cal Park in Washington, D. C.
Q. How many biographies appear in
the current “Who’s Who”?—A. N. M.
A. Thirty-one thousand seven hun
dred and fifty-two. This is a net gain
of 207 over the preceding volume.
Q. When was compulsory military
training established by European pow
ers?—w. P. K.
A. England. 1939: Italy, 1875: France,
1783. Germany adopted it in 1813,
dropped it in 1918 and resumed it in
1935.
Haskin Service
To Star Readers
A reader can obtain the answer to
any question of fact by writing to The
Evening Star Information Service, Fred
eric J. Haskin, director, Washington,
D. C., sending stamps for reply.
Inclose 10 cents in coin, wrapped in
this clipping, for a copy of:
Science for the Layman
A 48-page booklet answering in lay
man’s language questions about such
subjects as the stars, the weather, ani
mals and plants.
Name .......
Address _____
The Eternal Flame
The conqueror lays low the walls of
stone;
His ruthless legions trample in the
dust
Blossom and altar cloth and marble
bust;
They heed not cries of fear nor dying
moan.
The lust for blood is in their hearts
alone;
The gods of war in whom they put
their trust
Bid them march on, nor let their sabers
rust
Till tyranny is seated on the throne.
But, though nten bow to numbers or to
power,
The inborn love of freedom will survive
And in the struggle will at last prevail.
Though tyrants have their evanescent
hour,
Man's stubborn spirit will not cease to
strive;
The flame on freedom's altar will not
fall.
ANNA M. PRIESTLEY.
A A
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