Evening star. [volume], April 09, 1943, Page A-9, Image 9

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

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Candidacy
Ban Goes Bit
Too Far
Roosevelt May
Open High Offices
To Military Men
By DAVID LAWRENCE.
Sometimes in the strangest wavs
Issues arise which might better be
left slumbering, and then, when
they do arise, they raise questions
far more embar
rassing than
would otherwise
have developed.
Such an inci
dent. is the well
intentioned but
too comprehen
sive order issued
by the War De
partment for
bidding officers
on active duty
In the Army
from seeking or
a C C e P ting an David Lawrence.
elected position.
President Roosevelt says he knew
nothing about the order. Secretary
Stimson accepts full responsibility
for it,. Senator Vandenberg, Re
publican. of Michigan, thinks the
order, strictly Interpreted, would
bar Mr. Roosevelt from running for
8 fourth term.
This Is a serious question to pre
cipitate now, because many persons
really want Mr. Roosevelt to run
for a fourth term and it would be,
In their mind, a calamity if he
Isn't renominated and re-elected.
But Mr. Vandenberg's interpre
tation, it may be stated in re
assurance to the President's sup
porters, is not technically correct.
Examination of the language of
the order reveals that no military
officer on active duty may "become
a candidate for or seek or accept
election to any public office not held
bv him when he entered upon active
duty."
Excludes Roosevelt.
This plainly excludes Mr. Roose
velt from the restriction, because
he certainly held the office of
Prestdent when he entered upon
his "active duty" as Commander In
Chief of the Army in time of war.
So Mr. Roosevelt is safe from the
effects of the War Department
order and, even though he did not
know about it in advance, it is a
fact that some one who drafted the
order was not unmindful of the
Situation of the present incumbent.
It is puzzling to many that there
Should be a.ny active Army officers
who still bold public office but pre
sumably Mayors and Governors and
members of state legislatures who
have entered on active duty in the
Army are the ones Secretary Stim
son has in mind. It will be recalled
that members of Congress last year
srarteri asking for leave of absence
from their constituencies to serve in
the Army, and Mr. Stimson had to
issue an order declaring that legis
lators. whether in Congress or in
the States, must choose between
their two jobs.
As a matter of fact, (he Constitu
tion of the United States says that
members of Congress cannot, hold
office in pny other branch of the
Government at the same time that
they are in thp Senate or House.
Consolidate* Orders.
To avoid the entanglements
among the many local offices
throughout the country, where
members of the armed forces might
consent to run at home for posi
tions to be filled at .some later date
or under some special leave of
absence arrangement, the War De
partment has had to promulgate
regulations. There always have been
restrictions as to the extent to
which officers on active duty could
become involved in political mat
ters. The new regulation was
aimed to consolidate all previous
orders.
There has been recently a na
tionwide discussion about a mili
tary man as a possible candidate for
the presidency. Some Republicans
have thought in terms of Gen.
Douglas MacArthur. If between
now and June, 1944, Mr. Roosevelt
were, by the hand of fate, taken
from office and Vice President Wal
lace succeeded, it seems certain that
the Democrats would begin think
ing. too, in terms of a military man
to take charge of the conduct of the
war.
To say now that an officer on
active duty is prohibited from ac
cepting election to any public office
not held by him when he entered
active duty is going a bit too far,
and it seems plausible that, tnis
phraseology can be amended by
Secretary Stimson. The order can
well remain a prohibition against
the seeking of public office. The
War Department can readily be the
Judge of whether any officer allows
his name to be used or otherwise
encourages the customary political
activity In which candidates Indulge
even when they profess not to be
active candidates.
MacArthur Clarified Status.
Gen. MacArthur Is too interested
In winning the war to permit his
name to be used in any primary or
in any political campaign. He dis
avowed political ambition in a
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On the Record
Reaction of Some Educators to Revelation
Of Ignorance of U. S. History Is Dismaying
By DOROTHY THOMPSON.
(Second of Two Articles.)
The revelations of the New
York Times concerning the
ignorance of American college
freshman
re g a r d i n g
American
history, is not
so dismaying
as the reac
tions of some*
educators.
Prof. Carl
Eldon of
Drexel Insti
tute thinks
the fault lies
with the par
ents. But the
ents them- Dorothy Thnmpiwn.
selves are the products of our
system of education, or, if they
are not. are quite lost in it, or at
war with it.
Dr. Albert Newman of the
school of technology of City Col
lege. New York, says, "I don't see
what the whole business has to
do with winning the war. Of
I course American history is im
portant but should not be em
phasized at the cost of subjects
like physics and chemistry.”
Dr. Newman's remark misses
the point. At thU moment we
are seeking to train, for the
armed services, large numbers of
men for positions which require
knowledge of both physics and
chemstry. But the armed serv
ices founder because students
supposed to have basic education
[ have no mathematics.
Background Important.
[ The answer also presumes that
knowing why we fight a war is
not important. All that's im
portant is how to fight.
Dr. Esek Ray Mosher, dean of
the school of education at City
| College, says, "he questions asked
are not important. What differ
ence does it make to any young
man, who was President during
j the Spanish-American War?"
Who was President is certainly
not the most important question
to ask about the Spanish
American War. But how any
boy is .to understand why we
are in the Philippines, or what
is the status of Cuba, or any of
the issues that arose in a chapter
of the American epic pertinent to
this moment without spontane
ously associating in his mind the
name of McKinley, 1* beyond me.
At some time in his "education"
—the treadmill, assembly-belt
process which I described in a
previous article—he certainly
learned the "name of McKinley”
and the dates of his presidency.
But since no associations were
created in his mind, since his
interest was never for a moment
aroused, since he does not under
stand the epoch, he has forgotten
! the name.
Judgment Lacking.
Miss Rachel M. Jarrold, head
of the department of history of
New York University School of
Education commented. "The test
used includes much factual infor
mation that hardly seems signifi
cant. It is noticeable that ques
tions answered correctly on the
highest, percentage are on those
outstanding figures of the present,
and on inventions which have
contributed to our Industrial life
of today, indicating where em
phasis has been placed. Instead
of trying to teach so many facts,
a few outstanding developments
better taught would contribute to
a clearer understanding of the
past on the shaping of our
present policies.”
Apparently the newspapers and
radio are doing a better job of
education than the schools. Chil
dren learn about the present by
what is going on around them.
But they have no judgment on
the present without a knowledge
of the past.
Thomas Woodlock once re
marked that the trouble with our
people is that they haven’s read
the minutes of the last meeting.
Society Is to Blame.
There is an absence of any
frame of reference in which our
youth can evaluate the present
age. If they understood the
meaning for America in the Rev
olutionary War, the “critical
years" between it and the end of
Washington’s presidency, the
Civil War and the reconstruction
epoch, the facts would be planted
automatically in their minds.
They would know, without try
ing to remember the textbook,
who Hamilton and Jefferson and
Jeff Davis and Andrew Jackson
were. But they haven't the fog
giest notion of what has been
going on for 150 years.
And then we are surprised that
our schools turn out bumptious
young radicals and know-it-alls,
who think that history began
with their own births.
But. our “educators”—those who
are tied up with this wretched
system—will continue to fight to
hold what they have. The text
book racket will continue.
Our whole society is to blame
of course. Our children listen
to radio programs which recount
mystery dramas involving homi
cidal maniacs, and every con
ceivable violence; they read the
comic strip "Superman"; they
see movies which insult the In
telligence of any one over the
mental age of 10, or the emo
tional age of early puberty. It
is rare that an historical drama
is shown by the movies, and
when it is it is usually incredibly
phoney.
Our children grow up in a
cultural vacuum and the schools
are also a cultural vacuum.
Revolt May Have Begun,
There are only two ways of
educating a child: the old "spare
the rod and spoil the child"
method, of rigid discipline and
the cat-o'-nine tails. The
other is to awaken his intellec
tual curiosity, stimulate his proc
esses of association and thought,
and give him facts, as pegs
which hold together the struc
ture.
But this latter way requires
teachers, real educators. And
teaching has ceased to be a pro
fession. It's trade. Society pays
it no special honor. Congress
men. who deplore the state of our
education, giggle at "intellec
tuals."
In 1938, I wrote in this column,
that a parent's revolt was brew
ing. Perhaps that revolt has be
gun.
(Th« B*ll Syndicate.)
recent Interview with a newspaper
correspondent, who told him that
in America there had arisen rumors
that he was being shelved because
he might be considered a presiden
tial candidate.
Gen. MacArthur is a soldier and
will obey any rules or regulations
the War Department imposes, but
if he or anybody else is drafted for
the presidency it ought not to be
under the embarrassing circum
stances of being forced to resign,
even as he is recorded as having
disobeyed a War Department order.
Such a situation would be in
tolerable, and President Roosevelt
ought to be quirk to see that ac
ceptance of high public office should
be open to anybody in the military
service, just a.s it is open to the
Commander in Chief of the Army to
run for a fourth term.
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Paratroops Reported
Aiding in Bosnia Battle
By the Associated Press.
LONDON, April 9.—Allied para
troops "dropped by planes from
Alexandria or Moscow" are helping
guerrillas fight in Bosnia and assist
ing them in "‘forming a Balkan
vanguard for an Allied invasion,”
the German radio declared today in
a broadcast recorded by the Asso
ciated Press.
As a result, the broadcast, said.
German mopping-up operations in
the Yugoslav provinre are “Heine
I carried out. by a considerable force."
CJ'HE opinions of the writers on this page are their own, not
necessarily The Star’s. Such opinions are presented in The
Star’s effort to give all sides of questions of interest to its
readers, although such opinions may be contradictory among
themselves and directly opposed to The Star’s.
The Great Game of Politics
Practical Realism, Not Emotion, Should Guide
U. S. in Evolving Postwar Plans With Russia
' By FRANK R. KENT.
As the war approaches Its de
cisive stage, the necessity for post
war political, financial and military
co-operation among the United Na
tions becomes
-too clear to dis
pute. Actually,
no one disputes
it. Both parties
are for it. The
people are for it.
And, while pub
lic men differ as
to detail^, there
is in our public
life today no
consider able
figure who ad
vocates a return
of the narrow
isolationism to which we disastrously
reverted following the last war.
It has been said that the purpose
of British Foreign Secretary An
thony Eden's visit over here was
to find out how far we could be
counted on for that kind of co
operation.
Evidences of our intention are
given in the forthcoming food con
ference soon to be held here by
the United Nations; by the Treas
ury's new plan for postwar inter
national currency stabilization; by
the expected extension of the
reciprocal trade agreements; by the
refugee conference scheduled for
Bermuda and in the utterances and
attitude of practically every politi
cal leader of importance in the
country.
By the time peace comes we will
be co-operating internationally in
so many ways that wholehearted
co-operation wdth our Allies in
some kind of an improved League
of Nations, designed to prevent the
outbreak of another war, will be
inevitable and unarguable.
Sense, Not Altruism.
This sort of cooperation is as es
sential for us as for our allies. After
the lesson we all have had, any
other policy would seem national
insanity. After this war. the basic
requirement for the United Nations
will be security—real security, se
curity against aggression, a security
that will be as nearly permanent
as anything can be.
It has been demonstrated that the
European nations are unable by
themselves to guarantee peace in
the world. And it has been proven
twice that European war inevitably
Involves us. The European nations
need us to assure their own se
curity, but we need their coopera
tion in order to live securely our
selves.
Clearly, the basis for any success
ful world co-operative agency along
these lines is complete British and
American understanding. The pri
mary essential is that the English
speaking nations work together.
There are no real difficulties in the
way of that.
But, while any permanent peace
must be founded on a British and
American alliance, Britain and
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America cannot Insure peace per
manently by themselves. They can
do a great deal but they cannot do it
all. The cooperative support of
China, of Holland, of all our allies
and of the neutrals is necessary. In
particular, the cooperation of Rus
sia seems indispensable to world
peace and economic stability.
Ho Peace for Emotion.
All of which makes important the
Roosevelt announcement that he
expects to take up postwar prob
lems with Stalin in the “very near
future.” In addition, it is understood
that an important American mis
sion may soon be sent to Moscow.
This is fine. The desirability of
Russian cooperation is beyond ques
tion and everybody agrees that her
magnificent resistance to the Nf^zl
attack entitles her to admiration
and respect.
Cooperation with Russia after the
war, like cooperation with the Brit
ish, ought not to be on emotional
but on entirely practical and selfish
grounds. It will be to our mutual
interests to cooperate; otherwise
there would be no point to it. This
being so, it does seem that it is un
necessary to adopt an apologetic
attitude toward Russia or to be quite
so greasy in our eulogies and ex
cuses.
Some of our left-wing publications
have gone to degrading extremes in
this sort of thing. The manner in
which some of them cringe and
fawn is enough to sicken any self
respecting American man or woman.
Mutual Indispensibility.
The truth is that it is silly for us
to be self-deprecatory in dealing
with Russia. And the effort of some
of our professional liberals to make
it appear that we owe Russia more
than we have given is absurd. Rus
sia is our valued ally, but she Isn’t
in this war because she loves us or
loves our kind of government or the
kind of freedom for which it stands
—quite the contrary. Russia is in
this war because she was attacked,
If what she is doing is indispen
sable to us whftt we are sending is
indispensable to her. And when
Mr. Stalin reproachfully talks about
bearing the brunt of the war '‘alone”
and our young radicals sympa
thetically respond as though we
were guilty of some grave derelic
tion in duty, it seems pertinent to
recall certain things.
One of these is that after the fall
of France it was the English who
really stood alone for more than a
year against the whole of Hitler's
might and they did no bellyaching
about it either. Another is that we
are fighting two enemies, while
This Changing World
MacArthur Would Never Abandon Campaign
Against Japs to Seek the Presidency
By CONSTANTINE BROWN.
The order of the War Depart
ment forbidding any member of
the military forces on active duty
to “seek or accept election to any
public office'’
has brought
to the sur
face a heat
ed argument
over Gen.
Douglas Mac
Arthur’s
avail a b i 1 ity
for nomina
tion to the
presidency.
The com
manding gen
eral of the
Southwest Constantine Brown.
Pacific has a great many friends
and a great many enemies in
high Washington circles.
There has been much bitter and
“inspired” criticism about the
manner in which he conducted
the campaign in the Philippines.
There has been a whispering
campaign that he was guilty of
losing an important air force in
the early days of December,
1941.
Fascist Tendencies Alleged.
It is among those “anti-Mar
Arthur groups" that it is said
the general is strongly politically
minded and that he is secretly
seeking a presidential nomina
tion.
Moreover, the whispers in
Washington say fearfully that
Gen. MacArthur has dangerous
Fascist tendencies and that he
is attempting to use his “un
justified prestige” to impede the
social evolution started in 1933
by the New Deal.
The admirers of Gen. Mac
Arthur are equally fanatical.
They say the administration is
refusing him the necessary men
and equipment to fight the Jap
anese because it is afraid of him.
That the forces in the Philip
pines could have been aided had
the administration and the gen
erals in Washington who do not
like him been more daring and
attempted to send large convoys
to Manilla.
The “MacArthurites” consider
their idol as the only man fit
for the responsible job In the
White House in the turbulent and
difficult days to come.
They maintain that the admin
istration’s fear of Gen Mac
Arthur as presidential timber in
1944 also is responsible for his
being kept in a somewhat in
active job in the Pacific while he
was the logical choice for com
mander in chief of American
forces across the Atlantic.
The MacArthur enthusiasts
charge that had the high com
mand not been moved by ''per
sonal” motives it would have
made him commander of the
AEF which is now fighting in
Africa and soon will be fighting
in Europe.
Believed Thorough Soldier.
In between these two groups
which have been hotly discussing
the qualities and faults of Gen.
MacArthur there are those who
know him intimately and take
no sides.
They admit that he is a show
man and likes the spotlight. But
they also say that he is as
thorough a soldier as can be
found in any army and that his
only ambition in life is to fight
the war to the bitter end. He
has an intense sense of duty and
responsibility and his occasional
acrimonious long-distance argu
ments with the War Department
are due to the fact that he is
keenly aware of the Japanese
danger and wants more ‘‘tools”
to enable him to start an offen
sive in the Pacific.
Because of this keen sense of
duty and responsibility, Gen.
MacArthur’s intimates maintain
that he will never get mixed up
in any kind of politics. His be
lated announcement that he
wants no public office was not
due, they say, to any concealed
political ambitions he may have,
but, because he could not, under
stand how people at home could
imagine that he was harboring
such thoughts.
Whatever his faults, Gen. Mac
Arthur is first and last a soldier.
He will never give up a cam
paign against the Japanese for
the sake of fighting a campaign
to defeat whatever candidate the
Democratic party puts in the
field.
Russia fights but one. Another is
that in the early part of the war
Russia had a treaty with her pres
ent enemy and apparently an under
standing which permitted her to
take over certain parts of Poland
and attack Finland.
All that, of course, is water over
the dam. Today Russia and our
selves are linked together in a com
mon effort to crush Hitler and w»,
without counting the cost, are help
ing her all we can. After that job
is done it will be essential to work
with Russia for the establishment
| of international order and the
preservation of peace.
That's what wp want to do. hut
' wp ought to be realistic about Rus
sia.
She is our noble ally. We rejoice
In the success of her arms and want
to help in shaping the future. But.
to use a. favorite expression of one
of t.hp wisest men in Washinaton,
it will be Just as well if wp do not
go to sleep with our finger in her
mouth.
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McLemore—
Wants British to Stop
Staring at Americans
By HENRY McLEMORE.
EDINBURGH, Scotlandd.—I had
hoped that by now No. 10 Down
ing street would have summoned
me for an expression of opinion on
how a long, last
ing, satisfactorf
peace could be
achieved afte'
the Axis power'
were beaten, but
no such sum
mons has com*
and I have been
here a mess of
forthnights.
It looks as il
I will have to
make publio
what I had plan
Honry McLemore. ned to tell Mr.
Churchill in the privacy of his studv.
So, if you will slip on one of those
weird zippers suits that Mr.
Churchill wears and stick a long,
black cigar in your mouth, I'll pre
tend you are the Prime Minister of
England and tell you what I would
have told him had he asked me
down for a week end.
There will be no real understand
ing between the United States and
Great Britain until Englishman
abandon the habit of staring at
Americans. Churchill, Roosevelt,
Wallace, Hopkins, Eden and other
assorted satellites can continue hav
ing conferences until Grand Rapids
is weak from exhaustion brought on
bv supplying them with tables. But,
they won't cement the ties between
the two countries until Englishmen
quit regarding Americans as they
would a rare coin, an old stamp or
a new species of fish or bird.
Novelty Still Exists.
The leaders of the two countries
can sit around all sorts of tables;
conference tables, gate-leg tables,
end tables and refectory tables, but
they won't have Englishmen and
Americans walking hand in hand
until the Englishman ceases to gape,
gawk, stare and peer at an American.
Thpre are thousands of Americana
In the British Isles today and they
have been here for months but the
English can't get accustomed to
them. It might bp a good idea to
stuff an average American and hang
him in the British Museum or stand
him in Picadillv Circus. Perhaps in
time the Englishmen would grow
used to what we looked like and
would not peer at and through us a3
if we were a pair of binoculars.
What they find so Interesting In
Americans I don't know. According
to the last, census we still have two
cars, one nose, one mnuth. two arms,
two legs and a head of hair just lika
Englishmen have.
Act I.ike Optpctivps.
Thp English stare Is not like any
othpr stare. It is coldpr than the
grin of a fish and is all-encompass
ing. It takes in everything from
the laces of your shoes to your
widow’s peak. No wonder Scotland
Yard is celebrated from one end of
the earth to the other. At heart
every Englishman is a detective. I
have had them look at me so long
and earnestly that. I felt they were
trying to determine the number of
whorls in my thumbprints and if I
had a molp on my back just below
the sixth vertebra.
This is being written in Edinburgh
after a three-hour ride with fiva
Englishmen in a first-class train
compartment. It is on a train that
an Englishman reaches his peak in
staring. There must be an unwrit
ten law over here that when on a
train all subjects of thp King must
sit bolt upright in their seats, speak
to no onp and look holes through any
foreigner who happens to be present.
Thp English trains are perfect for
carrying out. this rule. A compart
ment has three seats on each side
and a door that, once closed can
only be onened in case of emer
gency and then by a guard who is
always in cars away.
Conversation Fails.
When travelling, an Englishman
takes his seat, folds his arms, starts
puffing a pipe that hasn't been
cleaned since the Rattle nf Hastings
and which will work only when a
mixture of ground Spaniel*>ars and
rubber bands is used for tobacco,
and starts giving you the old dou
ble O. He never looks out of the
window, coughs, gets up to stretch
his legs or go for a drink of water.
After about two hours of this T was
on the verge of breaking down. It
was nothing but a third degrpp at
tached to a steam engine, so I spoke.
"It's a lovely day, isn't it,” I said.
"A bit unusual for England this
time of year.”
For the first, time the five Eng
lishmen looked at one another. In
that one. brief glance they satd to
one another as plainly as if they had
spoken. “They're all the same noisy,
chattery Americans. A man can't
have any peace when they're
around.” Then they really started
staring at me. Bov! Was I glad t6
get to Edinburgh and write this
piece.
I'm all for an understanding be
tween Americans and Englishmen
but if they don't stop staring the
next war will be a revival of the
Revolutionary’ War. We may be
funny folks but we're not all that
funny.'
<Distributed by McNaueht Syndicate, Inc.)
Axis Using Old Guns
And Tanks in Tunisia,
Russians Declare
By the Associated pres*.
LONDON, April 9.—The Mos
cow radio said today that the
Axis is using old guns and
tanks in Tunisia which the
Germans “don’t dare use on the
Soviet-German front.”
Quoting an Algerian dispatch
to Tass, the official Soviet news
agency, a broadcast recorded by
the Soviet monitor said:
"For example, our correspond
ent saw a gun produced by the
Skoda works (in Czecho-81o*
vakia) In 1917 which in addition
was very worn."