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C., as aecond-clasa mail matter. Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republieation of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein also are reserved._ A—6 * FRIDAY. April 28, 1844 t=-'.i','"r:i-Ti,!■=—arjf . . 1 i'.i,'„r'.wja A Dangerous Doctrine The legal actions which have been started or are about to be filed in Chicago as an outgrowth of the Government’s seizure of the Mont gomery Ward mail order house should result in a long-overdue clarification of the President’s powers in a situation of this kind. Heretofore the Government has Invoked every conceivable legal technicality to dodge a court test of its powers to impose settlements in labor disputes. The War Labor Board has contended that its “di rectives” are merely advisory, and since it lacks a ithority to enforce its orders no one has a right to go into court and challenge their valid ity. This is not compatible with the kind of relationship that ought to exist between the* dovernment and the people, and the decision to abandon these devious tactics should be welcomed by all concerned. The seizure of the Montgomery Ward establishment at the order of the President and the forcible evic tion of Sewell Avery, head of the concern, by soldiers acting at the direction of Mr. Roosevelt’s subordi nates rest upon practical as well as legal considerations. It is the latter, however, that are of controlling Interest in connection with the litigation now under way. In taking over the plant, the President acted on the basis of an opinion by Attorney General Biddle that he had lawful authority to do so. A careful reading of the opinion, however, leaves many doubts on this score. The Attorney General relied in the-! first instance on the Smith-Connally| Act, which empowers the President under certain conditions to seize “any plant, mine or facility equipped for the manufacture, production or mining of any articles or materials which may be required for the war effort or which may be useful in connection therewith.” It requires a considerable exercise of the imagination to fit the Montgomery Ward mail order house into this category, and there is excellent reason to believe that Congress in passing the law had no thought that it would be applied to such an establishment. It also may be inferred that Mr. Biddle has doubts on this score, for his opinion goes on to express the view that, aside from any authority derived through th® Smith-Connally Act, the President could lawfully seize the Montgomery Ward plant under “an aggregate of powers” that are “derived from the Constitution and from various (unspecified) statutes enacted by Congress for the purpose of carrying on the war.” Unless it is proposed to abandon constitutional government in time of war, this assertion of vaguely defined power is an exceedingly dangerous doctrine. Where does the President’s authority end? If he can seize a man’s business and forcibly evict the operating head under his “aggregate of powers.” and without regard to specific legisla tion enacted by Congress to deal with such situations, what protection has any citizen against wanton abuse of power? It is no answer to say that Sewell Avery is a recalcitrant representative of “big busness,” nor is there any great comfort in the thought that the administration, for reasons best known to itself, has r»framed from the use of strong arm tactics in dealing with similar recalcitrance from such men as John L. Lewis and James C. Petrillo. Political and other considerations may shield the mass of the people from these exercises of asserted power today, but if the assertions are permitted to go unchallenged and unclarified, there can be no effective guarantee of such protec tion in the future. Mr. Baruch's Philanthropy It is characteristic of Bernard M. Baruch to be interested in health. His favorite photograph of himself shows him in the role of an amateur boxer, six feet three inches tall, one hundred and seventy-five pounds in weight. The date of the picture is 1895, but its subject has changed not much in appearance and bearing except as time has altered all men who "have lived and worked three score and fifteen years. Mr. Baruch’s father, as it happens, was a physician—a surgeon in the armies of the Confederacy—and he wanted his son to be a doctor, too. The story is that a “famous phren ologist” felt young ‘ Barney’s” crani um and said: “He has great gifts in finance and business” but nt special genius for medicine. In anj •ase, the futur^ adviser to President! * went Into Wall Street as “a broker's boy” and laid the foundation of the fortune which makes possible his generous philanthropies today. His choice of objectives is as natural as it is sound. If there is any single development more than another for which modern science deserves sup port, it is that of the cure and correction of disease. But it is not to the whole vast field of medical enterprise that Mr. Baruch is devoting his money. He stipulates physiotherapy involving the treatment of nerves and muscles with light, heat, water, massage and exercise. Particularly, he seeks to benefit sick and wounded soldiers and sailors in need of rehabilitation help. The sum of one million one hundred thousand dollars will be made available to finance a ten year project. Something symbolic is represented in the fact that grants are designated to the Medical College of Virginia, where the donor’s father was a student, and to Columbia University in New York, where the same parent later was a teacher. Mr. Baruch is assured of the appreciation of all those of his countrymen who look forward to a healthier as well as a freer and more notably prosperous world after the war. Streamlining the Military The nature of modern battle con stitutes in itself a most persuasive argument in favor of the broad plan to merge the War and Navy Depart ments into a single governmental unit. Everywhere at present, in every major offensive undertaking, our land, sea and air forces must operate as a closely integrated team directed by a unified over-all com mand. If they did otherwise, func tioning separately and not together, our victories would probably be few and far between, for if experience has taught us nothing else in these bloody times, it has taught us that no one branch of our armed serv ices can be sufficient unto itself but that all are interdependent. And what holds true in respect to the co-ordinated organization of our forces for combat—such as in the case of our amphibious opera tions in the Pacific—seems by logic to hold equally true for the admin istration of the Army and Navy at the highest level of authority, in peace no less than in war. Indeed, since Pearl Harbor, we have moved far toward this kind of adminis trative unification, and have in ef fect largely achieved it, through the mechanism of the joint chiefs of staff headed by General Marshall and Admiral King under,the civilian leadership Of Secretaries fitimson and Knox—5a mechanise linked to ’the President through A<fcniral Iflihy»„who is attachedLJiixectly to Mr. Rdbseveit as a sort of chief of chiefs of staff. This setup, as events have dem onstrated, has been of great service in promoting the efficiency of our armed forces by reducing duplica tion of effort, cutting down %aste motion and pulling together many loose threads in such Qelda as plan ning and supply. But a2 General McNarney, deputy chief of staff and one of the Army’s most brilliant organizing minds, has just told the House Committee on Postwar Mili tary Policy, the structure, despite its obvious value, will fall apart automatically with the end of the war and the expiration of the Presi dent’s emergency powers unless Congress takes steps in the mean time to give it permanence on the basis of enabling legislation. With Secretary Stimson, General McNarney has therefore called upon Congress to act “as soon as possible,” so that the integration and streamlining of our military strength may become a formal legislative fact “within six months after the war.” Though some ad vocate that the change be put into effect even before the end of hos tilities, neither he nor Mr. Stimson appears to favor such a course, feel ’ ing—with good reason—that a fun ! damental midwar departmental re organization of this sort could lead to serious confusion at a time when great battles still remain to be fought. As explained by General McNarney, the plan, to become ! operative not until after the shoot ing stops, would be to consolidate the War and Navy Departments into a single organization headed by a “secretary of the armed forces,” with three undersecretaries—one for the Army, one for the Navy and one for the Air. This plan, in its broad aspects, is believed to have the approval of all the military and civilian leaders charged with the main responsibil ities of prosecuting the war. It gives rise to several controversial questions, of course, and it may tend j to excite anxious speculation over j the relative future influence of the ' different branches of service and I over their ability to continue whole some competition in tne proposed new organization. But such matters are of secondary significance. The all-important thing, in General McNarney’s words, is to do no more at first than to establish the funda mental consolidation, for “we must i avoid the error of trying to prescribe | exact specifications to cover multi j tudinous details that can be worked out only in an evolutionary manner.” This makes sense. The whole basic plan makes sense. What is happen ! ing on all the battle fronts of the j world leaves little room for doubt that something like it is not only essential but virtually inevitable. The Problem of Greece The recent mutiny in the Greek Army and Navy based on Egypt dramatizes one of the most complex ; and difficult problems facing Allied ! statesmanship. This problem has 1 hithert^i been kept in the back ground of public attention, largely because its significance was under estimated. Yet. the political future of Greece will profoundly affect the destiny of the entire Near East, be cause Greece is the strategic link between the Balkans, Turkey and the Mediterranean. This crucial position makes Greece an interme diate zone between Britain's historic sphere of influence in the Mediter ranean and what appears to be the expanding sphere of Russian influ ence in Central Europe and the Balkans. Chronic instability in Greece would thus have far more than local importance. It would be a trouble-breeder and a hindrance to postwar reconstruction in the whole Near Eastern region. Unfortunately, Greek dissension is deep-seated. The modern Greek displays much of the intense fac tionalism and localism which proved the undoing of ancient Hellas. The country’s political history ever since it attained independence from Tur key a century and a quarter ago has been a troubled one. During the First World War Greece was torn between the followers of King Con stantine and those of Eleutherios Venizelos, the Cretan statesman whose diplomatic successes gained Greece so much in the preceding Balkan wars. This feud was never really healed and produced revolu tionary shifts froifi monarchy to re public and back to monarchy again. During the past decade a new factor appeared in the shape of an ultra radical movement communistic in. character. The re-establishment of the monarchy under King George II in 1935 was never accepted by the republican and radical elements, and the following year revolutionary unrest had become so widespread that, under apprehension of a Com munist uprising, the government proclaimed martial law, suspended the constitution and set up a dicta torship under General John Me taxas. Mussolini’s invasion four years later rallied the country against the invader but did not efface its internal dissensions. The Axis conquest in 1941 and the ter rible sufferings which ensued have engendered renewed factionalism that is reflected among the Greek refugees abroad. The question of the King’s return after the expul sion of the German and Bulgarian invaders is not the only source of discord between Greek factions, and Communist influence appears to be growing. What liberated Greece will be like is an enigma that time and the course of events can alone disclose. It is a far cry from Chamberlain’s umbrella to a hundred thousand parsfchutes now ready for action. This and That By Charles B. Tracewell. “FAIRFAX, Va. “Dear Sir: “A few days ago. while walking through the woods, I ran across a small animal with small eyas, small ears, gray fur add a broad bushy tab. “It was about one loot long, short front feet, long back ttet. it both sprang and ran. Do we have beavers in this section? Was this a beaver? “Yours truly, O. C. T.” Our correspondent’s animal probably was a raccoon. Beavers are brown, and have broad spa tula te tails. They are large, weighing as much as 50 pounds, and being about 42 inches long. Measurements of raccoons vary con siderably. An average length of a full grown adult will be about 32 inches. The tail will run about 10 inches long. It is a bushy tail, ringed as neatly as any tiger cat’s. The coon, as it is universally known, is one of our most interesting animals. Specimens may be seen in the National Zoological Park, but a few of them live in the suburban sections. Recently one was caught in Chevy Chase, Md. It had been seen in a hollow tree, and later was caught while drinking out of a fish pool. * * * * Coons love the woods, almost as much as squirrels do. Wherever there are trees, there are likely to be raccoons. They like to sun themselves on the branches. Out at the zoo they may be seen lazily enjoying life aloft, peering down through the black mask which goes across the eyes. This is one of their most distinctive features, next to the ringed tail. They are good fishermen, and if seen near a goldfish pool may be suspected of having designs on the swimmers. Their diet, however, is quite varied. A coon will eat anything from potato peelings to soft coal. How do we know this? Because we had a pet coon once. It was a long time ago, but we have never forgotten. A raccoon will eat poultry, birds, mice, eggs, frogs and their eggs, various mus sels, even insects. It will eat nuts, fruits and vegetables. Nocturnal in habits, this has led to | the famous “coon hunts,” long a popu lar feature of rural America. In the pioneer days, coonskins were regarded as money. Coonskin caps were held in high regard, and even today fetch a good price. From the sport of coon hunting has | arisen the coon dog, so-called. There is even a race of coon cats, a variety of the domestic species. The raccoon is a hibernating animal, and this habit is one of several which make some naturalists call it the “little brother of the bear ” One of the most interesting habits of the animal is that of washing its food before eating. As a pet, it makes one of the best, but never becomes as tame as the cat or dog. Always there will be a residue of wild ness in its nature. It is something of a thief, and will steal food, even when there is no neces sity for doing so. When kept as a pet, it must be chained most of the time. Specialists say that no raccoon will eat j meat without first washing it himself; if his owner tries to do the job for him, he will resent it and wash the meat all over4again before he eats it. If a trap is used to cafch the animal, the device must be placed under water. Hunting with dogs at night always has been tne favorite method of capturing it. Its capture by hunters is due mostly to the animal's love for trees. Invariably it will take to this refuge, and will re main there even when the tree is cut down. Probably there is no other small ani mal in America which has been as much persecuted as the raccoon. It deserves better of us, because it u a real American. r Letters to The Star Medical Authorities Cited In Behalf of Miracles To the Editor of The Star: For the benefit of many fair-minded persons who might be deceived and mis led by the slurring references to cure* effected at Lourdes, written by Adam Quill in The Star for April 20, I ask space in which to present a statement of facts concerning the miracles at this great shrine. It very generally is conceded by im partial authorities that Lourdes offers the best place in the world for the study of unexpected cures, because of the ex istence there of a strictly impartial med ical board which examines all claims for cures. In the world-wide history of shrines the medical board at Lourdes is unique. It is called the Bureau des Constata tions Medicates. It was founded in 1882 to examine and certify reported cures. The bureau is under the direct author ity of a president and a staff of 12 eminent physicians. The president of the medical bureau since 1926 is Dr. Auguste Vallet. He received his degree at the University of Bordeaux. He has been a student of the School of Naval Physicians at Bor deaux, a physician and surgeon of the first class of Colonial Troops, and a professor at the Franco-Chinese Insti tute at Shanghai. More than 3,000 medical men of all creeds and from all nations take part in the rigid examinations of reported cures. Until the present war these ex aminations were held every year. The doctors on the president's staff always are in attendance in an office near the grotto. When a cure is re ported the patient immediately is re moved from the crowd and taken to fhe office, where he is examined, X-rayed, and tested by medial experts. The record and history of his case from his local physicians must be presented and studied for comparison with his existing conditions. Cases of psychiatric inter est, whether accompanied with organic conditions or not, are summarily dis posed of. The function of the bureau is to de cide: 1. Are there certificates that show the malady to have existed at the time of the pilgrimage to Lourdes? 2. Was the malady suddenly stopped in its evolu tion at a time when there was no tend ency to an improvement? And what morbid symptoms disappeared at that time? 3. Was there a cure? In what way can it be proved? Did the cure take place with or without the use of med icine? 4. In the present state of science is a medical explanation of this cure likely to be given? The medical bureau may make one of four decisions: (1) The patient is hysterical, there is no cure; (2) the case is not completely cured but an “interesting amelioration” has taken place; (3) the case, which (under cer tain natural conditions) was curable has been cured; (4) the case, which was incurable, has been cured supematu rally. In the event of this last decision the ! patient must return after a year’s time to be re-examined. Then, if he has suf fered no relapse, his cure will be "cer tified” officially by the bureau. It is quite well known that a high percentage of the French members of the medical bureau are “free-thinkers” and are en tirely out of sympathy with Lourdes. Yet from time to time they are forced to confess that there is no scientific explanation for the sudden cure of some organic malady at Lourd*. The Internationally known surgeon and biologist, Dr. Alexis Carrel 1, for many years has been Interested In the phenomena that takes place at Lourdes and he publicly has declared to bodies of his professional associates that or ganic lesions sometimes Instantaneously have been cured at the famed shrine And Dr. Vallet has said: The cures of Lourdes are in some sense a suspension of the laws of na ture. Logic forces us to admit that they are brought about by a direct In tervention of God, for it is Impossible otherwise to explain how nature’s laws can be rendered inoperative in so many instances.” To attempt a comparison between the cures at Lourdes and the fakery of Alexander Dowie, as Mr. Quill has done, is to display ignorance beyond compre hension in this day of intelligence May I remind Mr. Quill that the Na tion is at war? It is the duty of all Americans to stand together in the com mon cause. It is no time to be sniping at the faith professed by many thou sands of the Nation’s defenders FRANCIS DE SALES RYAN. Frowns on ‘Reverse Bataan’ To thi Editor ol The Star: I wish, as an American, to take ex ception to the phrase "Reverse Bataan" used several times recently by news commentators when referring to the Allied advances in New Guinea and other South Pacific areas against the Japs. Ic is natural for us as ‘‘home fronters” and returned soldiers to picture Bataan as the scene of human and humane soldiers and officers being killed, starved and tortured into insanity by hordes of insane, fiendish devils. I do not believe that under the most drastic conditions of war s hell on earth would any American soldier in his wild est moment perpetrate the atrocities on any fellow being which the Japs were guilty of at Bataan. Couldn't we find a less odious com parison to use in referring to our boys on the battle fronts? No—I am not a pacifist. I have two sons in service and I am proud of both. PAUL DUNBAR. Praises Inspector Mansfield To the Editor ol The Star: Because of the thoughtfulness of your paper, The Star, in sending Inspector Richard Mansfield to our school, the pupils of the Crummell School had a very delightful and instructive assembly. Inspector Mansfield's background as a police officer, together with his out standing talent as an illustrator, made his talk exceptionally Interesting. The topic ' Safety” is one which can not be overemphasized with school children. The message that is left will be long remembered by any child whose attention can be held as attention ift held by Inspector Mansfield's original presentation. This assembly with Inspector Mans field was held quite some time ago. Although we of the Crummell School are late writing about it, we are. never theless. deeply grateful to The Star for this activity. MAE T. BAKER, Principal, Crummell School. r This Changing World By Constantine Brown The lull on the eastern front, where only local encounters have taken place In the last 10 days, is believed to be due to a regrouping of the Russian forces. The basis for this construction is the official Red Army communiques, as Rus sian troop movements and dispositions are unknown here. Most military ob servers believe that, in keeping with the ! Teheran agreements, probably calling for a joint attack against th£ Reich from the east and west, the Soviet high command is preparing important mili tary operations between Lwow and the Naroova River. The very successful operations of the Red Army in the south, which resulted in the reconquest of all of Southern Russia—except the Sevastopol citadel— and of a portion of Romania to the Seret River, have little effect mi the Allied strategy against Germany. A further advance in that area would not unduly worry the German high command. * * * * The Carpathians, an uninterrupted chain of mountains with peaks as high as 12,000 feet and dense forests covering the lotoer sections of the ranges, form a natural barrier between Eastern and Central Europe. A relatively small and well-equipped force, probably not more than 30 divisions, could hold the few passes almost indefinitely against an attack by four times as large an army. Airplanes and mechanized forces are of little avail in this area. In most mili tary quarters it is considered incon ceivable that the Russian general staff, would waste time and men in an attempt to cross the Carpathians. In Lower Romania there is an impor tai’t military objective, Ploesti and the oil field stretching for some 100 miles north of that city. There are no moun tainous ranges to defend that section and Bucharest, the capital of Romania. But there is an excellent line south of Moldavia which would be difficult to break. The line extends roughly from the Carpathians to the Danube. Be cause it is relatively short and is anchored on the mountains and the Danube River it would be difficult for an attacking army to outflank it. This line was heavily fortified before the war. According to available reports its fortifications have been greatly im proved and modernized. * * * * A force not exceeding 20 divisions would be more than ample to resist for several months. The Romanians are said to have some 12 divisions still avail able for combat on this main line of fortifications and the Germans, taking advantage of the good lines of com munications in Walachia, could move necessary reinforcements whenever the situation demanded it. At present only four German divisions are reported to be in the Galatz and Focsani areas to bolster the Romanian troops. A Russian advance across the Danubi an Delta into Dobruja and thence into Bulgaria is equally considered here as an unworthwhile military operation. This Romanian province is between the Black Sea and the Danube. It would be difficult to maneuver large forces in such a small area. The latest reports indicate there are still 115 German divisions on the eastern front. The mobilization in Hungary has been completed and it is believed that some 20 Magyar divisions are available to assist the Germans. In addition, there are some Latvian and Estonian forces amounting probably to seven di visions. Thus in the area from north of Czenowitz to Lake Peipus there are more than 200 Axis divisions,* behind strong natural defenses or strongly fortified lines. It would take more than a “token offensive” to keep these forces busy all the time and prevent the Ger man high command from shifting troops from the eastern to the western front. On the Record By Dorothy Thompson It must be eight or ten years since I saw an early exciting documentary film, “Night Mail,’’ a dramatization of the British postal system. I found this drama of work and service more en thralling than nine-tenths of the Holly wood romances. Behind it was the di rector of the film unit of the British Post Office, a remarkably imaginative man, John Grierson. Today Mr. Grierson is director of the National Film Board of Canada, and he has revolutionized, with films, mass education in Canada. He spoke this week before the Inter national Labor Office, currently meet ing in Philadelphia. Mr. Grierson is a forthright man. What he told the ILO was that their brilliant studies about labor conditions ana prob lems, all international matters in gen eral. would get little response unless they found means to reach the people in terms of their own work, their own jobs, their own interests. He warned the delegates that the ordinary' man, from one end of the world to the other, is fed up with ab stractions about international co-oper ation and the League of Nations. “If we ever again sit in our capitals and throw these old abstractions at the peo ple. we sha& deserve the isolationism that we shall certainly get,’’ he said. “The farmer or industrial worker is not just being selfish, materialistic or parochial. He is being sensible, if in ternational co-operation does not, ap parently, and for all to see, mean any thing to his destiny ... he has good reason to be skeptical." Says Mr. Grierson further, *If we are going to have international co-operation we must develop education in inter nationalism and see that it begins on the local doorstep. The education that people want today is in knowing where they get off. They want to know what the fancy notions mean in terms of the homes they will live in, the bread they will eat, the families they will raise . . . and, in my humble opinion, they are right.” * * * * Mr. Grierson reminded the ILO that they had offices in 50 nations, and that through years of work vast knowledge had been collected. But he told them they must translate their information into mass education. He pointed out that whole nations are not intimately bound together in any way, but that all the groups within nations are and always have been. He illustrated this with an experience. Once, in connection with the corona tion in England, he had a film made of the royal stamp collection. He never anticipated its success! He found out that not only in England, but in the most remote corners of the earth, were millions of people who were passion ate stamp collectors. Stamp collecting was what bound them together, not noble sentiments about international collaboration. Similarly, all over the world are mil lions of men and women dally grappling with education, industrial work and management, agriculture, child care, cooking, every possible facet of life and work, and held together only by these common interests. Mass education for international collaboration, should, he suggested, consist in the visible, prac tical, revelation of these common in terests. * * * * He suggested that the nations whose people do certain things better or dif ferently from others, should not hide their lights under bushels, but through organizations like UNRRA and ILO party the message in terms of the common man. For, said he, “No edu cation will work any longer that is not associated with actual needs and in terests. Howler wide and deep the strategies of the world may develop, they begin in a man’s job, in his com munity, and in his immediate sense of interest.” Mr. Grierson was critical of the means taken to integrate the .wntitera’,JUrpnfc3 with the soldiers' front. He excoriated the concentration on flag-wavlfii and general patriotic ballyhoo, instead of regl^ing that the people everywhere “are hungry for a knowledge of the future, for a chance to understand what is in the making, and how they can participate in it, not only as to its benefits, but as to its duties." And Mr. Grierson has not confined himself to theaters, but developed much larger audiences outside their walls—in granges, clubs, schools, trade unions, making traveling theaters, accompany ing pictures by lectures, sending them up and down the country, into the tiniest hamlet, making the backwoods man aware of his two great neighbors, the United States and Russia, trans lating everything into homely terms. (Released by the Bell Syndicate, Inc.) Vital Decisions Near By Maj. George Fielding Eliot There have been some recent reports as to the weakness of German anti aircraft Are over formerly well-protected targets in the interior of Germany, and as to the increase in the intensity of antiaircraft fire in the coastal districts of France and Belgium. These reports suggest that the Germans may be shift ing antiaircraft batteries toward the so-called “invasion area.” The evidence is not sufficient to be conclusive, but whether or not this par ticular German decision has been taken, it may serve as a useful illustration of the sort of decisions which the Germans must make, and the disadvantages un der which they must make them. In the first place, if the Germans are shifting their antiaircraft batteries to the coast, it means that they think the time of invasion is very near. So con sidering, they cannot wait any longer to strengthen their coastal antiaircraft from new production. They must re duce their internal defenses. The chief risk they run in so doing is a matter of guesswork on the time of invasion. If they have guessed correctly, not much harm has been done; for as the time approaches, more and more of the attention of our aircraft will be turned to the coastal areas, hence the shift of German flak is a sound move. If, how ever, they have guessed wrong, then for a period of time German industrial cen ters are going to be more exposed to our raids than before, and damage which the Germans might have avoided will be sustained—to the extent that the flak couid reduce the effect of the bombings. * * * * Next, as the batteries are shifted to their new locations, the position orig inally assigned to each battery—particu larly the heavy batteries, which are less mobile than the others—represents a guess as to where that battery may be needed. It represents a guess as to where we are coming in. It is. of course, a guess which may be rectified; but not without loss of precious time. If the sum total of these guesses is heavily on the wrong side, it might make a con siderable difference in the outcome of the first two or three days of fighting: and those two or three days are likely to have a disproportionate influence on the outcome of our initial efforts to establish firm beachheads. Of course, the Germans will try—in this matter as in all their other prepara tions—to make the best guesses possible. They will have a whole section of their Intelligence staff told off to try to think as our staff is thinking. These German officers will be engaged in making their own Invasion plans—they will be trying to work out just the plans they would make, if they were in faet Gen. Elsen hower’s staff instead of Marshal Keitel’s. But they cannot carry their thinking beyond a certain point. They cannot allow that thinking to become concen trated on a single definite idea. They cannot, in other words, follow the falla cious theory of arriving at “the enemy’s most probable intentions.” Once you permit yourself to do that, in war, you are hardly better off than if you had tossed a coin to determine what the enemy might be planning. You have fixed your mind, you have convinced yourself that the enemy is going to do so-and-so-and if he does something else, you are sunk. *' * * * So in military planning, the defensive side cannot do more than study the enemy’s various “capabilities.” He might do this, or again he might do that. He might move in at this point in strength, and make a feint at that point to de ceive us. He might attack at three or four places simultaneously, and then put his main effort behind the initial attack which proves most successful. And so on. Hence the decisions which the de fending side can safely take are limited. They can include the provision of a strong front line defense, but they can not commit too many troops to that, or many of them may be immobolized and useless when the time comes. They can include the location of reserves at main centers of communications, but they must always be torn between having enough at any given point and the danger of too wide a dispersion so that there may not be enough, in time, at that point which turns out to be the point of crucial importance. The attacking side, on the other hand, can carry its thinking and planning much farther ahead. Its staff knows what it is going to do, and where, and when. It probably knows a great deal about the enemy’s dispositions to meet the attack, because it has air superiority and therefore can carry out extensive aerial reconnaissance, both visual and photographic. * * * * It is, therefore, possible for the section of Gen. Eisenhower’s staff which is supposed to represent the enemy's thinking, to g<? very much farther than can the Germans who are trying to put themselves inside British and American skulls. This is what is called the advantage of the initiative. It permits definite plans to be made, to be carried out at definite times and under definite condi tions. The defender can make only in definite plans—to do this if the enemy does that, and on the other hand to be ready to do something else if the enemy does the other thing. (Coprrliht. 1844.) 'Colossal Blunder* Montgomery Ward Seizure Sure to Bring Lew Change By David Lawrence If seizure of Montgomery Ward la lawful, then President Roosevelt has the right to seize every newspaper and magazine and every other business which refuses to grant "maintenance of-membership” clauses In contracts with labor unions. The President has made a colossal blunder. It will not only injure him politically, but It will bring about the amendment of the price-control law and the Wage and Salary Stabilization Act so that the powers hitherto exer cised will be sharply curtailed. The episode is most regrettable from the standpoint of the administration because the Attorney General's opinion is worded so as to endeavor to establish the supreme right of the President to act as dictator. • "War Powers’* Unlimited. What the Attorney General has said will astound the Nation. It means that there is no constitutional protection any more—the President can do as he pleases. There ks no reason now why he cannot order anybody to do as the administration directs and use the flimsy pretext that the "war powers” he holds give the authority to back him up. Mr. Biddle's opinion uses the fiction that the Commander in Chief possesses some peculiar war powers. Under the Constitution, he is Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy and has no au thority over civilians unless martial law it declared. Civil rights have not been suspended, yet Mr. Biddle claims that the statutes do Invest the Commander In Chief with powers to seize plants. He makes the point that Congress, under the Smith-Connally law, author ized seizure of war plants and then goes on to try to prove that Ward’s is a part of the war effort. If Congress had intended any such meaning, it would have said so. It could easily have said "any and all plants directly or in directly related to the war effort.” But it used no such broad language. Mr. Biddle, evidently fearing that the courts might construe the Smith-Con - nally law not to apply to Ward’s, then said it wasn’t necessary to invoke just that statute because all the laws relat ing to war powers gave the President the needed authority. No precedents were cited and no detailed explanation to the Nation was made—it’s simply the arbitrary claim of the Attorney General that the law is what he says it Is. Opin ions from an Attorney General who de clines to justify the action taken by citing the basis in law for his action are valueless. Tbe Case as a Precedent. If the Attorney General Is right— namely, that the President in time of war can exercise any authority he wishes, can confiscate property and use force to eject from his own office the head of a company who asks to be shown the legal authority for such acts—then constitutional rights in America can be said to have vanished. All over the country and throughout the world the news sooner or later will be transmitted that, in order to help a labor union get a maintenance-of-mem bership clause, the Roosevelt adminis tration was willing to use troops and take away civil rights granted under the Constitution. Members of Congress for the most :,#art stand aghast at the action. They have seen their own acts again and again misinterpreted in regulations and Government orders but not until the Ward case was the full effect brought home to them. The Constitution says something about seizures. It is in the fourth ar ticle of the Bill of Rights, which says: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and ef fects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.” The newspapers show pictures of Sewell Avery, chairman of Ward’s, be ing forcibly ejected because he asked the Attorney General and the troops for their authority to remove him. The whole country can understand the issue—and it will be heard from in the election campaign. The administration has made a mistake that may be re flected in protest votes not only from the Middle West but from other parts of the country next autumn. For It will be asked, "What is the use of winning a war against totalitarianism abroad and succumbing to totalitarianism at home?” And it will be a hard question to answer. (Reproduction Rights Reserved.) We Fight in Russia Prom the Topeka Capital. Modern wars are fought with tools and machines and supplies to an even greater degree than by men. And so, in considering Russia’s magnificent vic tories against the Nazis, the people of the United States have a right to share in the satisfaction which Moscow an nounces so often through firing salutes. We. the people of the United States, are fighting in Russia—not with man power, but with the products of our farms and our factories, our ingenuity, our labor and our dollars. According to the Foreign Economic Administration, the United States has contributed 7,800 planes. 4.700 tanks and tank destroyers and 177.000 tons of ex plosives to the Red Army’s drive against Hitler. These are only a few of the staggering figures which could be re called. Shoes, gasoline, food, medicine —the range of war supplies sent from here to Russia is endless. Without aittempting to deprecate the astute generalship of the Russians, and without trying to take any credit away from the individual Russian soldier who is among the world’s best, all Americans deserve a pat on the back for aiding them. Instead of saying “the Russians are whipping Hitler," we can instead say: “We are whipping Hitler." The war on the Russian front is oUrs as much as the war in Italy or in the Pacific. The Old Canal—Spring Years pass, the lures of many years remain, The grass-bound towpath, worn by plodding feet; The mirror'd curves, which endlessly epeat The dogwoods purity, the red-bud’s stain; A flash of crimson wings—that song again From tender green where sun and shadow meet, Or—hauntingly, unutterably sweet— A distant thrush-note calling through the rain. Below, the river roars its mighty way ] Between the cliffs, impatient for the! sea; Above, the stream of human life at play. With strident horn, whirrs by insistently. Remote and still, indifferent it lies And sleeps and dreams of long-lost cen turies. MARGARET BELL MERRILL. ■