Evening star. [volume], July 15, 1945, Page C-2, Image 35

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

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C—2 SUNDAY. July 15, 1945
Japan Under Gunfire
The bombardment of Japan’s
"mainland,” the island of Honshu,
by our Third Fleet has manifold
significance. In the first place, the
boldness of the feat is outstanding.
This was no long-range shelling by
the biggest guns of a fleet keeping
well out at sea. The official de
scription of the operation as in
volving cruisers and destroyers in
addition to battleships suggests that
it was carried out close inshore, so
that guns of all calibers could join
in the bombardment for maximum
effect. This was insured and am
plified by major air support, indi
cating the presence of numerous
carriers. And the amazing thing is
that there was slight Japanese re
sistance. No suicide dive bombers
appeared, antiaircraft fire was wild
and inaccurate, while naval defense
was entirely absent. This spells t
complete local sea and air mastery
for our attacking forces.
Equally important is the objec
tive. The bombardment centered
on the city of Kamaishi, often
called Japan’s Pittsburgh. Situated
nearly 300 miles north of Tokyo, it
owes its prominence as a steel
producing center to its proximity
both to rich iron mines and to the
coal fields of Hokkaido, the north
ernmost island of the Japanese
archipelago, whence fuel comes by
ship and by train ferried across the
narrow Tsugaru Strait, which sep
arates Hokkaido from Honshu.
That strait was likewise a prime
target for our flyers, and the ferry
terminals are reported demolished,
with heavy shipping losses. The
Kamaishi rolling mills having been
destroyed by combined naval and
air bombardment, this disrupts the
entire cycle of steel production in
Northern Japan.
Kamaishi is merely one of many
targets on the 400-mfle stretch of
coast which extends from the Tokyo
area' northward to the Tsugaru
Strait. Unlike Honshu’s southern
littoral, which is indented by deep
bays or sheltered behind the land
locked Inland Sea, the northeastern
coast rises boldly from the Pacific
Ocean, all towns, rail lines and
highroads nestling along the shore
line under the steep hills immedi
ately inland. This renders the en
tire strip a vulnerable target for
naval bombardments, of which the
stroke at Kamaishi may be consid
ered the first of a series.
Psychologically, the effect of this
operation should be considerable.
Never before in Japan's long history
has the “sacred soil’’ of Honshu been
attacked in force from the sea. The
only previous attempt was made
centuries ago by a Mongol armada
from China, which was dispersed
by a typhoon, called by the Japanese
“Kamikadze,” or the Divine Wind.
Although our fleet suffered consid
erable damage in the typhoon last
month, it is still very much in
action. The Japanese can take note
that "the Divine Wind” has failed
them as signally as their human de
vices. Obviously, their revered gods
are no longer on the job.
Colonel Hobby
When Mrs. Oveta Culp Hobby
came to the War Department in
July of 1941, she came with the
understanding that she was to stay
only three months, her assignment
being merely to organize a woman s
Interest section in the Bureau of
Public Relations. Almost before she
knew it, however, the three months
had passed, and she found herself
the pioneer leader of a project un
precedented in American military
history.
The project began in May two
years ago when Congress authorized
the formation of a Women’s Army
Auxiliary Corps, and Secretary
Stimson appointed Mrs. Hobby its
director, with the rank of colonel.
The task called for tact, poise,
vision and great organizing ability,
and, given these things in abun
dance, Colonel Hobby, breaking new
ground against not a few hidebound
male military traditions, quickly
shaped policy and hammered out a
recruiting and training program
that made the WAAC so self-evi
dently smart and valuable that
within about a year’s time the word
‘auxiliary” was dropped and the
WAC became an integral part of the
Army.
Today, as Colonel Hobby returns
to private- life in Texas after four
years of outstanding war service,
the women’s military organization
which is so largely her own creation,
and as such a kind of monument
to her, has a strength of 100,000.
WACS now serve in more than 250
Army jobs in every part of the
world. To the degree that they
have released men for active com
bat duty and have turned in an
unquestionably skilled and essential
performance, their contribution to
victory has been a very large one—
a fact fully recognized by the War
Department last January when it
awarded the Distinguished Service
Medal to Colonel Hobby.
In the words of Colonel Westray
Battle Boyce, the able new director
of the WAC, history books will re
cord Pallas Athene as its insignia,
but “the hearts of 100,000 women
who have served under her will also
record the image of Colonel Hobby
as the symbol of the corps.’' She
retires, as well, with the thanks
and admiration of the Nation as a
whole.
Judges and the bar
The admission to the District bar
last week of Thurman Arnold, re
cently resigned from the United
States Court of Appeals, serves
again to direct attention to an
anomalous situation which prevails
in the highest appellate court In
the Nation’s Capital.
Most of the work of .the Court of
Appeals is concerned with litigation
that is purely local in character.
Yet there is no requirement that
the judges of this tribunal, or any
of them, be selected from among
the members of the local bar. Dur
ing the time that Mr. Arnold sat on
the bench of the Court of Appeals
he and three of his four associates
were not qualified to practice before
that court. Nor could Mr. Arnold
and two of his appellate associates
have practiced in the District Court.
It is no answer to this to say that
judges cannot practice in any event
while serving on the bench. The
point is that, in the politically im
potent District of Columbia, there
has grown up during the past twelve
j years a practice of arbitrarily re
fusing to consider fully qualified
District candidates for vacancies on
the Court of Appeals. This is not
true with respect to the District
Court, although virtually all of the
litigation which goes to the Court
of Appeals originates in the District
Court. And the reasons which
j prompt the selection of District
lawyers to fill some of the vacancies
on the District Court apply—except
for extraneous considerations—with
equal force to the Court of Appeals.
There is no thought here of dis
paraging the appellate judges. But
: it is a fact that questions constantly
arise in the court which call for a
thorough knowledge of local prac
tice and procedure—a qualification
that a man who is not a member of
the District bar and who is not
qualified to practice before the Dis
trict courts can hardly be expected
to have. This is not a matter of
small importance, and, in fact, the
Supreme Court has said that the
| proper functioning of local courts
requires that judges be familiar
with “the intricacies and trends of
! local law and practice.”
i This pronouncement was made
some months ago when the Court
| of Appeals, uncertain as to the ap
plication of an earlier Supreme
Cotirt ruling, certified a technical
question of local law to the high
court. Declining to answer the
question, the Supreme Court said:
“We think it appropriate that the
question of local law should be an
| swered by the courts of the District
before this court is called upon to
I answer it * * *. There are cogent
reasons why this court should not
undertake to decide questions of
j local law without the aid of some
expression of the views of judges of
; the local courts who are familiar
with the intricacies and trends of
! local law and practice.”
In time, of course, appellate
judges who are not members of the
local bar may acquire this familiar
ity. But, granting the desirability
of the local background to which
the Supreme Court refers, it is
clearly unreasonable to exclude ar
bitrarily members of the District
bar from the appellate bench, and
it is to be hoped that President
Truman, in filling the two vacancies
on the Court of Appeals, will re
verse the existing policy, which can
not be justified and which may in
terfere with the proper functioning
of the court.
The End of SHAEF
In London on February 13. 1944,
SHAEF — Supreme Headquarters,
Allied Expeditionary Force — came
into existence. Yesterday at one
minute after midnight, it came to
an end in Frankfurt. Germany, dis
solved formally by General Eisen
hower.
So passes the directing agency
of the most powerful coalition of
arms in the history of the world.
No fanfare or ceremony' attended
the event, and perhaps none was
needed, for SHAEF’s fame requires
no further emphasis or celebration.
Its record speaks for itself. As long
as man reads of war and victory
the story of this combined com
mand, of this vast and intricate
Allied military organization, will
grip the imagination and be a
source of inspiration.
In the 17 months of its existence,
SHAEF moved often, advancing as
the victorious Allied armies, navies
and air fleets advanced. In the
spring of 1944 it moved itself to
Bushey Park, 20 miles southeast of
London, to be closer to the troops
preparing for the invasion of
France. Then, after the landings
in Normandy, it crossed the Chan
nel and established itself at Gran
ville. Later, with the Germans on
the run. it went to Versailles, and
in February of this year it set itself
up in Rheims, where it remained
until the final collapse of Nazidom,
after which it relocated in Frank
furt. It always went forward; it
never went back.
British Air Marshal Tedder, Field
Marshal Montgomery, Admiral
Ramsay, General Bradley — these
are some of the men who with
General Eisenhower made SHAEF
the mighty instrument of victory
that it was. Their names will be
long remembered. The organization
they built and directed was essen
tially human, of course, and there
fore not flawless, and so occasional
errors of judgment, especially in
such fields as censorship and public
relations, had to be expected. But
taken all in all, it was nonetheless
the greatest and most successful
agency of its kind ever seen in the
world. Once SHAEF was formed,
the days of the Nazis were num
bered. It achieved a degree of
unity and teamwork never before
achieved among Allies, and that was
the most priceless ingredient of
our great common victory. Though
it exists no more, it has won its
measure of immortality in the
sense that its place in history is
assured—a large and shining place
reflecting glory on all its architects
and commanders.
Nazimova
The people of the stage, unless
they be writers as Shakespeare and
Moliere and Ibsen were, leave little
when they die. It happens that the
art they work in is that of the spoken
word and gesture; and nothing is
more ephemeral than what is said
in language and in pantomime.
Thus nobody knows what manner
of man Richard Burbage was, ex
cept as he is mentioned in the pre
served papers of such of his con
temporaries as kept notes of their
impressions of him. A similar
observation applies-to David Garrick
and Sir Henry Irving, to Sarah
Bernhardt and Eleanora Duse.
How then shall any individual now
younger than fifty understand what
Alla Nazimova meant to the theater
and its public when she was at the
apex of her marvelous powers? She
came to New York from Saint Peters
burg in 1905, already celebrated in
Russia as an actress of the highest
distinction. The Shuberts persuaded
her to attempt the difficult business
of learning English in five months.
She justified their confidence in her
debut in “Hedda Gabler” in the
autumn of 1906. Other roles in
which she starred were those of the
heroines of "The Master Builder^’
"A Doll’s House.” “The Wild Duck?
“Bella Donna” and “The Marion
ettes.” The achievement which won
for her the largest following, how
ever, was her interpretation of the
principal character in “War Brides.”
It was this triumph that led to her
career in the movies. When she
returned to the legitimate stage it
was to appear in “The Cherry
Orchard,” “Katerina,” “A Month in
the Country,” “Homecoming” and
J “Mourning Becomes Electra.” Her
part in “The Good Earth” in 1932,
she declared, was her “most satisfy
ing” experience.
The beauty and grace of Nazimova
always will be a legend. Her diction,
too, will be cited by historians of the
stage. But those who never saw her,
never heard her speak, cannot com
prehend her impact upon her epoch.
Only by hearsay will they know of
her, and hearsay is not good enough
for enduring immortality. So Alla
probably will be forgotten. When
she is spoken about in the distant
future, she will be mentioned only
as Mrs. Patrick Campbell and Minnie
Maddern Fiske are mentioned—with
appreciation yet colorlessly. Mean
while, the dwindling minority of the
senior generation, moving like her
toward infinity, salute her with
gratitude'Which is~not unmixed with
love and fellow-feeling beyond the
ordinary capacity of the heart to tell.
Salting the Stock
On a sunny, quiet Sunday after
noon the country man likes to take
a bag of salt and start to salt the
: dry cows and young stock in the
far pasture. These are the cattle
turned out in early May. As the
cows get near freshening time they
are brought to the barn, but the
yearlings and two-year-olds will
stay in summer pasture until killing
frost time.
Salting the summer stock is the
direct motivation for the farmer’s
anticipated weekly walk, but there
is much more to it than the simple
utilitarian purpose of supplying
needed sodium chloride in white
crystalline form to eagerly nuzzling
bovines. After a big Sunday dinner,
topped off with a couple pieces of
red astrakan pie, it is good to set
forth on a perambulating tour of
the farm.
Strange as it may seem to urban
dwellers, a farmer likes the oppor
tunity to inspect his mowings and
crops in a leisurely fashion. A man
needs to stand quietly and look at
his corn, oats and potatoes. He
likes to go through the farm orchard
and see how the Baldwins, North
ern Spies and Porters are growing.
It is a deeply satisfying experience
to walk over the fields from which
the first crop of alfalfa, clover and
timothy has been harvested and to
see how the green mat of the second
crop is coming along.
Eventually he comes to the sum
mer pasture lot, and as he goes
j through the bars the cattle are
waiting. They have seen him com
ing and know that their weekly
treat is ready. As they crowd
around him he talks to them—as
good farmers always talk to their
livestock. He rubs their withers
and behind their ears. He examines
their backs for signs of grubs and
then drops handfuls of salt at
spaced intervals on the ground,
where the cows eagerly lap it up
with long, rough tongues. In a few
minutes the salt is gone and the
cattle follow their master as he goes
to look at the spring hole near the
' lower end of the pasture. Salting
the summer stock is a pleasant task.
It is more than supplying a mate
rial need. It is part of the country
ftian’s summer routine.
A
Many False Labels *
Conceal Dictators
Tests Suggested to Determine
Freedom of Political Regimes
By Joseph H. Baird.
The development of the new Yugoslav
state under Marshal Tito, as depicted
in recent dispatches to The Evening
Star by one of its staff correspondents,
Newbold Noyes, jr., suggests a micro
cosm in which the growth of all other
totalitarian states is copied faithfully.
Mr. Noyes tells us that Belgrade today
is “extraordinarily quiet,” but that he
saw “little evidence of joy.” The city
reminds him, he writes, of a “movie of
which the sound track has gone dead.”
Pictures of Tito are everywhere. Radios
on the public square blare out the offi
cial version of international news.
School children, carefully rehearsed, ap
plaud political parades.
Block by block, house by house, we
learn from Mr. Noyes’ dispatches, polit
ical groups loyal to Marshal Tito are
being organized. Citizens are asked to
attend meetings and if they ignore the
request they find themselves “candi
dates for the attention of OSNA, the
government’s secret police organization.
When Mr. Noyes discussed these
attributes of dictatorship with Yugo
slav officials, he was told that "a rallying
point was needed and that Tito was
the rallying point.” Marshal Tito, the
writer points out, has promised the
Yugoslav people freedom of speech and
of the press—but there are no signs of
it now.
I have quoted Mr. Noyes at some
length in order to justify and make
clear the eventual point of this column.
Because Yugoslavia today is in a
formative and uncrystalized stage, it
offers a beautiful laboratory example of
the development of totalitarianism
everywhere.
The history of the past three decades
has shown that totalitarian govern*
ments, regardless of their labels, always
grow out of the soil of political disorder,
economic distress and national frustra
tion. Whether, according to the diplo
matic winds of the moment, we regard
them as friends or enemies, their nature
and development have followed the
same pattern.
Historically, they are akin to the abso
lute monarchies which lasted until the
industrial revolution. The common peo
ple lacked bread. The "men on horse
back" led the masses against the privi
leged classes, opened their granaries,
received the plaudits of the public, and
then intrenched themselves in the posi
tion of luxury from which they had
driven the former occupant.
Always, however, these "saviors of the
masses" faced the psychological problem
of continuing to identify themselves
with the proletariat after installing
themselves in the luxurious setting from
which they had ousted the enemy. The
Roman technique is known to historians
as “bread and circuses.” Today the
problem of the newly arrived dictator is
more complicated than in the days of
the Caesars.
The “dictatorship of the proletariat,"
the people are told, must exist until the
revolution has been secured against re
actionary forces. To accomplish this,
certain techniques employed by the
“royalists" themselves must be used.
Freedom of speech and of the press, the
right of trial by Jury, the security ol
persons in their homes—these are abol
ished “temporarily” until the new state
has been made “safe” for the people.
The political party which governs one
of the world’s great totalitarian states
today has a theory known as “dialectic
materialism.” Reduced to everyday
terms, this phrase may be boiled down
to the old axiom that “the end justifies
the means." Suppression of individual
liberty, recognized as socially objection
able, is justified on the grounds that it
is necessary as a protection of the peo
ple's state until the day when it is safe
against its class enemies.
The end of this "interim" period, how
ever, never seems to arrive. Always the
exigencies of the moment offer an ex
cuse for the prevailing dictatorship.
The ideas set out here do not pertain
exclusively to Soviet Russia. However,
the political policies of the men who
have ruled that country from the Krem
lin during the last 27 years offer an ex
ample. During the first decade and a
half after the Bolshevik revolution,
those in power justified censorship on
the grounds that the capitalistic world
was allied against them in a political
economic conspiracy.
After Russia joined the League of
Nations and signed alliances with France
and Czechoslovakia, the previous argu
ment obviously was futile. Tljere ensued
then a temporary suspension of official
censorship, although correspondents
knew that if they were “consistently
unfriendly” they were likely to be ex
pelled. This “honeymoon” between the
Narkomindel and the foreign press
lasted only a short while, and then
censorship was justified by the German
attack of June, 1941.
Dictatorships in every land follow a
pattern, whether they originate, like
Franco’s Spain, from the right, or Stal
in’s Russia, from the left. The power
in control will not admit political oppo
sition or criticism in the press.
Never during modern history has po
litical thinking been as confused as it
is today. After the defeat of Germany
and its satellite states, “democracy” has
become popular. Every newborn govern
ment will try to profit by that trade
name. In judging these new regimes, the
American reader well may ask a few
questions: Do the people of the country
in question have a secret ballot? Is there
freedom of speech and of the press? Does
the government in power have the ex
pressed support of the people? •
If the reader finds the answer to these
questions, he may make up his mind as
to whether the country in question is a
democracy or a dictatorship. Clear
thinking on the issue will be very im
portant in America during the next
decade'.
Perhaps the Only Way
From the New York Times,
The Russians in Berlin, the British
In Northwestern Germany and the
Americans in the southwest are all
establishing local and regional adminis
trative bodies consisting of carefully
selected Germans. And the Russians
have been compelled to restore free
trade in order to get food into the cities.
The Germans have always been danger
ous politicians but expert administra
tors, and as long as the work of their
administratlon is carefully supervised
by the AHies, there can be no objection
to it. In fact, that seems to be the best
and perhaps the only way to mobilize
the diligence and talents of the Ger
mans in the service of Europe’s resto
i ration.
4
Is It Twilight?
The Rev. Alfred W. Hurst, D. D.,
Minister Cleveland Park Congregational Church.
The first American journalist to
visit Berlin after the surrender
of Germany concludes his somber
picture with the lament: “There is
a peculiar feeling that one is seeing
a world in its twilight” Sir Edward
Grey, after the failure of his efforts
to prevent the First World War in
1914, sighed: “The lights are going
out all over Europe. They will not
be relit in our time.”
Are these the remarks of superficial
observers who strive to be sensa
tional? On the contrary, they and
other careful observers, have come to
a conclusion which decidedly is dis
tasteful to them, but which they are
forced to admit, namely, that our
body-minded, thing-minded civiliza
tion has gone the limit and is in dan
ger of complete extinction.
What shall we say? Has the bright
sun of civilization set? Is twilight to
be the sovereign mood of the coming
decades? Is the pallor which afflicts
the landscape the outreached hand
of night? Two answers are being
given to this query. Neither denies
the reality of the twilight. But one
is based on the conviction that it is
a descending twilight; the other is
founded on a hope that the twilight
is ascending. There is the twilight
that follows sunset and is haunted
by the shadows of coming night;
but there is also the twilight which
presages the sunrise as the light of
coming day is gradually diffused over
the arching sky.
The prophets of doom claim that
civilization, like plants and animals,
follow a life-cycle from the spring
time of youth, through the summer
of productivity, into the harvest per
iod of autumn, terminating in the
winter of old age with decay and
death. According to this conception
we are now entering the wintertime
of decay. We can no more reverse
the process than we can prop up the
sun at close of day. It does no more
good to rebel against it than for a
man of 80 winters to curse his senil
ity. Our thing-centered civilization
is overripe. Its vitality is all but
gone. Deplore it as we may, it were
better to resign ourselves to the in
evitable and endure it as best we can
as long as we can. The figures which
we see moving about in the twilight
are preparing to draw the cfeath
shroud about our civilization before
lying down to unpleasant dreams.
* * * *
The prophets of the dawn, on the
contrary, venture to suggest that the
figures which we see dimly in the
twilight are girding themselves for a
journey. These prophets of hope
are no less aware of the world’s tragic
plight than are the pessimists, but
they deny that civilization’s problem
is biological. They point out that
our secular culture has tried to live
without an adequate ethic or reli
gious faith and that a purely secular
culture cannot endure. The lamp is
flickering because the oil that feeds
the flame is exhausted. Religion has
been made merely an elective in the
university of life. The Christian
ethic has been consigned to the
bleachers when it should have been
made the umpire Of the game. For
the moment, some one suggests that
the only possible course is to call the
game on account of darkness. But
the prophets of hope protest that in
stead the lights should be turned on
by replenishing the oil of religious
faith and morality. Moreover, they
point to the encouraging fact that
again and again religion has helped
civilization in time of crisis and that
Christianity in particular has proven
its power to renew declining cultures
and start them reaching for the stars
once more.
The deepening twilight of our
world is an inevitable result of the
eclipse of religious faith. It is not a
question of civilization being old or
young. It is a question of opening
the door to the Light of the World
who can show us how to put our
sensate culture under the regency of
spiritual values. The prophet of
Nazareth can re-create and renew
our declining world, if we will let
Him, but our decision must be whole
hearted, and no part of life, personal
or social, may be withheld from His
control.
Capital Sidelights
By Will P. Kennedy.
Representative Walt Horan of Wash
ington State is one of those he-men In
Congress who take their religion sin
cerely into their daily life and public
service—but are unostentatious about it.
He enlisted in the Navy in World War I,
then married a State college classmate
an<f they have five children. In private
life he is a fruit grower and packer.
Occasionally The Star carries a citation
of the Congressional Record, where
readers may find something that inter
ests them greatly—something out of the
ordinary. This time it is to the Record
of July 6, page A3572, where Mr. Horan
inserted: "Money Changers, Modem
Style?” It discloses the reflections and
philosophy of a case-hardened, war
wearied news writer on a recent visit to
Jerusalem. ‘‘Most of the world’s people
get their meager good traits from this
dusty cradle of ethics, humanitarianism.
conscience and hope of a hereafter,” the
writer recalls. His graphic description
must be read in full—and as a surprise—
to be best appreciated, including the
"tragically ignored three-word solution
of all the world’s problems.”
* * * *
Few persons know that slavery was
abolished in the National Capital April
16. 1862. and the action here is believed
to have encouraged, if not prompted,
Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation,
The District abolition bill was intro
duced in Congress by Henry Wilson,
Senator from Massachusetts, in 1861.
Wilson had been elected successor to
Edward Everett and later was elected
Vice President on the Republican ticket
with U. S. Grant. He had his name
changed by the State Legislature with
the approval of his parents when he was
21, from Jeremiah Jones Colbaith to
Henry Hamilton Wilson. He learned the
trade of shoemaker and subseqjuently
became a shoe manufacturer.
Wilson's Abolition Act fulfilled a
pledge made 26 years before when he
first came to Washington. He boarded
for a month on Capitol Hill and visited
William’s notorious slave pen at Sev
enth and B streets. “I saw slavery be
neath the shadow of the flag that waved
over the Capitol,” he said. “I saw the
slave pens. I left the Capital of my
country with the unalterable resolu
tion to give all that I had to the cause
of emancipation in America.” From
Washington he returned to Dartmouth
College and at the close of the school
year spoke on the affirmative side of
the question: ‘‘Ought slavery to be
abolished in the District of Columbia?”
He died in the Capitol and lay in state
in the rotunda.
The redemption of the slaves took
place in the historic old City Hall, now
known as the District Courthouse, where
President Harrison—President for a
month—is said to have caught the cold
which resulted in his death. In this
building also was conducted the trial of
Guiteau for the assassination of Presi
dent James A. Garfield. Only slave
owners who took an ironclad oath of
allegiance to the Government were paid
for their human chattels. A veteran
slave dealer from Baltimore handled the
business in one of the courtrooms. The
highest appraisal was $785 for a good
blacksmith and the lowest $10.95 for a
baby. The total estimated value of the
slaves was nearly two million dollars,
but as only one million dollars was ap
propriated, prices had to be scaled
down. Some of the slave owners them
selves were colored. They had been
freed and then saved their earnings until
they could buy their wives and children
out of bondage.
* * * *
If George Washington was the “father
of his country,” Alexander Hamilton was
the "father of the United States Treas
ury.” While building up the financial
system of the Nation, the state of his
own finances may be judged from the
following note to a personal friend
dated September 3, 1791: “Dear Sir:
If you can conveniently let me have $20
for a few days, send it by bearer. A. H.”
Talleyrand, the French statesman, on
his return to France spoke with admir
ing enthusiasm of the young American
patriot. He said. “I have seen In that
country one of the wonders of the
world—a man who has made the future
of the Nation laboring all night to sup
port his family."
Fifty Years Ago
The Star for July 8, 1895, reported the
return of John Watson Foster, former
Secretary of State, to
Return of Washington. He had
Mr. Foster teen in the Orient for
six months, acting as one
of the commissioners of China in the
negotiation of terms of peace with
Japan. Specifically, he had brought '
about an agreement between Li Hung
Chang and Marquis Ito. In recognition
of his services, he "was treated with the
courtesies which ordinarily appertain to
royalty.” The account of his arrival
home said: "From a financial point of
view Mr. Foster lost nothing by his trip,
for it is generally admitted that he
received a fee of enormous proportions,
one statement, which may be exag
gerated, putting fc. at no less than a
quarter of a million dollars.” Subse
quently, the former Secretary prepared
the American case in the Alaska- j
Canadian boundary arbitration proceed
ings. He was attorney for Mexico in
several important claims controversies.
His lectures at George Washington
University meanwhile were classics. In
1909, eight years before his death at 81,
he published his “Diplomatic Memoirs,”
a two-volume work which still makes
fascinating reading.
i * 1 ft
According to a front-page article in 1
The Star of July 9, 1895, “the work of
extending the post of- |
Post Offices Ace car system on the |
On Wheels trolley lines in the
large cities continues.”
In New York the plan, it was conceded,
“received a setback recently on account
of the crowded state of lower Broadway
and the difficulty of putting the mail on
the cars,” but “in New Orleans matters
are progressing smoothly and the de- f
partment is ready to do its part as soon
as Postmaster Daniels announces that
he is ready.” The system in St. Louis co
incidentally was to be “more than
doubled.” Chicago, however, had only
one car in operation and “it is not
likely that any more will be put on.”
Labor unions allegedly were opposed to
the innovation. "The latter are said to
fear that any future peaceable street
car strike would be seriously crippled by
the fact that mail-carrying cars could
not be obstructed without running the
risk of interference by the United States ;
troops.”
* * * *
The Star for July 10, 1895, explained
that: “The lawn party given on the
grounds of Gonzaga
For Gonzaga College for the benefit
Hall of the new hall still j
proves to be a great at
traction. The attendance last evening
was far beyond that of any previous
night and the financial success of the
affair seems to be assured beyong any
possibility of doubt. The Emmet Guard
attended last evening and gave an ex
hibition drill which elicited great ap
plause. They were escorted by the Gon
zaga Drum Corps and made a most cred
itable showing. St. John’s Commandery,
escorted by the Holy Name Drum Corps,
were also visitors last evening and gave
an exhibition drill which proved to be
very entertaining. The feature of the
evening, however, was the grand cake
walk by the members of the Southern
Classical Cake Walking Society. It was
given in the hall, which was crowded
to the doors, and amid much enthus
iasm the winners were declared and the
prizes distributed.”
* * * *
When William E. Clark, banker, finan
cier, steamboat line president and gen
tleman farmer de
Mr. Clark parted this world,
Dies at Hayfield The star of July 13
1895, chronicling
his death, took occasion to praise his de
velopment of his country home, Hayfield,
near Mount Vernon, Va. Hie property
was “one of the most beautiful places
around Washington.” Its “historic old
homestead was built about 120 years ago
by George Washington and was occu
pied by Lewis Washington." Under Mr.
Clark’s management, approximately 700
acres were used for stock-raising. He
took great pride in his fine breeds of
horses and cattle. And it was mentioned
with particular emphasis that he “always
had a warm welcome for the many
friends who went down the river to call
on him” even when he was fatally ill.
* * * *
The Jack Dempsey of the present gen
l '
New Food Chief Set
On Fair Meat Rations
Observer Explains Black Market
Effect on Shortage
By Owen L. Scott.
Facts and figures disclose that a small
amount of official firmness can go far
to end the apparent meat famine that
complicates the lives of people In cities.
An awareness of these facts and figures
accounted for the assurance of Presi
dent Truman that Clinton Anderson,
new war food administrator, will get
more meat for the average person.
Mr. Anderson should be able to deliver
on that promise within the next few
months. To deliver he needs only to
Insist upon an element of fairness in
the distribution of available meat sup
plies. He can help to divert an esti
mated 2,500,000,000 pounds of meat from
the black market, or one-quarter of
supplies that should be available to
people who obtain meat through ration
books, and can close other vast leaks in
the ration system.
Official figures indicate that there
should be 125 pounds of meat per person
in the United States during 1945. That
is after military demands and exports
are taken out. The amount is reduced
to 108 pounds when the meat is pre
pared for retail distribution. Farm and
industrial use, above average per capita
supplies, reduces the amount to about
100 pounds. If meat were distributed
fairly, the average person should get
about 8.3 pounds per month. Actually
he gets nothing like that amount of
meat unless a patron of black markets
of one kind or another. Millions of
people who do violate the rules, how
ever, are eating far more than 8.3
pounds of meat each month and are
eating the best cuts of that meat.
Rationing officials recognize that there
are immense holes in their system of
distribution. They give this recognition
by basing their rations on an average of
60 pounds of meat per year, or 5 pounds
per month for each individual, in place
of the 100 pounds, or 8.3 pounds, that
could be provided with fair distribution.
Yet even this 60 pounds of meat is not
obtainable because meat stores are not
able to honor all demands for meat of
persons entitled by ration books to have
meat. Each ration book holder has 50
red points to spend each month. If 12
are spent for butter and 6 for other fats
and oils that leaves 32 for meat. An
average cut of meat costs 6 points—
counting in the very cheapest.
As a result, the householder who eats
at home and who honestly abides by ra
tioning rules gets only about 60 per cent
of the meat to which he is entitled, if he
can find the meat. Right now, with
shortages in stores, the average person
is obtaining only about 50 pounds, or
half that to which he would be entitled
under any system of fair distribution.
Distribution, however, is not fair and
in the past there has been little effort
to make it fair.
The Government, under its rules,
starts out by allotting meat to hotels
and restaurants on a basis that permits
them to obtain 15 per cent more meat
per meal per customer than is allotted, in
theory, to the person who eats at home.
The outside eating places, in addition,
are permitted to pay higher prices for
their meat than the ceiling prices paid
by stores, so that the better grades of
meat tend to go to hotels and restau
rants.
Black markets of many kinds thrive to
complicate further the problem of the
honest householder.
Thousands of small slaughterers have
sprung up to provide meat outside the
rationing system to stores, to hotels and
restaurants and to individual customers.
When the Government recently moved
to require these slaughterers to register
and to prove jthat they were abiding by
rules, 11.000 of them disappeared over
night. The effect of this action, which
Mr. Andersen forced, should be felt by
people generally within a few months.
More meat will be directed back into
legitimate channels.
* * * *
One other very large leak has devel
oped in the smaller communities of the
Nation. Persons who own farms or who
have friends who own or operate farms
are able to buy meat often without
points and to store that meat in deep
freeze lockers for later use. This meat,
plus that obtainable on points, often
gives these people more meat than they
ever have had before in their lives. An
effort now is being made to deal with
this problem, but it is difficult to deal
with.
Then there often is evasion of rules all
along the lme by persons dealing in
meat. Meat may leave a packing house
through legitimate channels and end up
in the black market at any one of several
points. The black market can range all
the way from one in which points are
charged but prices are above ceiling to
one in which no points are charged and
prices are far above ceilings.
The net effect, measurable by the of
ficial figures on ration points, is to give
some people far more meat than that to
which they are fairly entitled, while
other people get V less than that to
which they are entitled. Small families,
in particular, are discriminated against
unless they can eat most of their meals
in hotels or restaurants.
Clinton Anderson, as war food admin
istrator, insists that an effort will be
made to bring about more fairness in
the system of meat distribution. He has
plenty of leeway in which to operate and
by a few simple moves should be able to
force enough meat back into stores to
honor the red points to which people are
legitimately entitled. He has no power,
however, to prevent counterfeiting of
red points or to correct abuse in distri
bution of these books.
A slight amount of pressure put upon
a black market as vast as that now ap
parent in meat should assure people at
least a fhodest improvement in the sit
uation by autumn, even if it does not
give them all the meat to which they are
entitled.
eration is not the first famous prize
fighter of the name.
Another A brief front page
Jack Dempsey dispatch from Van
couver, B. C., to The
Star of July 12, 1895, refers to another,
as follows: “Jack Dempsey, the ex-cham
pion pugilist, passed through this city
today en route to Portland, Oreg., where
he will reside in the future. Dempsey
is a physical wreck and looks as though
he had but a short time to live. Dur
ing the journey he fainted more than
once and but for the presence of a lady
doctor traveling on the same train it
is doubtful if he would have arrived
alive. Dempsey had to be carried from
the train to a steamer, and his haggard
appearance caused general comment."
A