Evening star. [volume], May 26, 1946, Page B-2, Image 13

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
w Sunday pfaf
With Daily Evening Edition.
THEODORE W. NOYES, Editor.
wash iYgYo N, D. C.
The Evening Star Newspaper Company
Main Office: llth St. and Pennsylvania Ave
New York Office: 110 East 42d St.
Chicago Office: 435 North Michigan Ave.
Delivered by Carrier—Metropolitan Area.
Regular Edition. 4 Sundays. 5 Sundays.
Evening and Sunday 80c Der mo. $1.00 per mo
The Evening star— 60c Per month.
The Sunday Star 10c per copy.
Night Final Edition. 4 Sundays 5 Sundays.
Night Final and Sunday. SI.00 mo SI.10 mo.
Night Final Star . 76c Der month.
Rates by Mail—Payable in Advance.
Anywhere in United States.
1 month. 6 months 1 year.
Evening and Sunday $1.00 $6 60 $12.00
The Evening Star_ .75 4 00 s ou
The Sunday Star_ . .50 2.50 5.00
Telephone National 5000.
Entered at the Post Office Washington. D. C.,
as second-class mail matter
Member of the Associated Press.
The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to
the use for republication 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 teserved
B—2 SUNDAY, May 26. 19«6
Anglo-Egyptian Talks
The negotiations now going on be
tween the British and Egyptian gov
ernments for a new treaty to replace
the expiring pact of 1936 are of far
more than local importance. They
are intended by the British Labor
government to set a new pattern for
Britain's position throughout the
Near and Middle East.
As Laborite diplomacy sees it, the
rapid rise of native nationalisms
throughout those vast regions makes
it imperative to readjust Britain’s
historic predominance there on
terms that will be acceptable to the
local populations while safeguarding
the vital interests of Britain and its
dominions. The alternative, im
posed domination against popular
wishes, not only requires military
force beyond war - impoverished
Britain's ability to apply, but would
also tend to drive those countries
into the arms of Soviet Russia, now
vigorously seeking to penetrate the
East and perhaps planning to oust
Britain therefrom and substitute
Soviet predominance.
However, that very prospect tends
to alarm the governing classes
throughout the Orient, for whom
Soviet control w'ould spell eventual
“liquidation” through communism,
just as has happened to the tra
ditional upper classes in Moslem
Central Asia that is part of the
Soviet Union. By giving up formal
control, Labor diplomacy hopes to
consolidate the substance of its
pow'er on terms of mutual under
standing. As regards Egypt in par
ticular, British military evacuating
would, in practice, mean merely the
shifting of the centers of British
power either eastward to Palestine,
Transjordan and Iraq or westward
to the former Italian colony of
Cyrenaica, conquered by British
arms and presumably destined to be
under .British control. The general
trend "of grand strategy, especially
the rapid evolution of long-range
air power, makes possible the main
tenance of British control on a
multilateral basis in which any one
unit, even Egypt, loses much of its
former indispensability.
Criticism of this thesis comes
from tj|o sides. On the one hand,
the Conservative opposition in Brit
ain fears that Egypt will not live up
to obligations it may assume for the
defer^e of Egypt and the Suez
Canal. On the other hand is the
embittered criticism of the extreme
Egyptian nationalists for any ar
rangement which-w'ould tie in their
country with the British defense
pattern. However, this last is tied
up with social controversies within
Egypt itself for which British diplo
macy does not wish to be made the
scapegoat.
George E. Hamilton
Among the deserved rewards of a
good and useful life which George
E. Hamilton received was that of
length of days providing opportunity
for enjoyment of past achievement.
No man of his generation could be
counted more fortunate in that re
gard. He came to the end of his
career in the knowledge that his
labors had been richly fruitful. His
countrymen, particularly his fellow
Washingtonians. benefited by his
efforts, and he realized the fact and
took honorable pride in it. Through
out the fields of legal practice, busi
ness, educational, civic and religious
affairs his influence long will be felt.
The reason is obvious. Mr. Hamil
ton was an earnest worker. He had
a serious view of his talents and
their employment, and he did not
waste them. Perhaps he did not
consciously plan each detail of his
many activities. It may be that he
simply was possessed of a natural
genius for doing promptly and
effectively what needed to be done.
In any event, he accomplished most
of the results he sought.
But Mr. Hamilton was not merely
a successful and influential citizen.
His personality was such that he
attracted affection as well as re
spect. He cared about people in
tensely. Invariably vigorous in
manner, he nevertheless invariably
was kindly. There was a notable
gentleness in his manner which may
have derived from the sureness of
judgment which he developed as
the years passed. He was at once
decisive and liberal in his attitudes,
fixed in his opinions yet tolerant in
his bearing. Thus it happened that
he will be remembered for the age
less character of his friendships,
the satisfaction he gained by associ
ation with the young as well as with
his own contemporaries. Admittedly,
he lived in troubled times, yet he
never despaired of the world. The
faith and the hope, that sustained
him when he was a boy in the diffi
cult era after the War Between the
States remained with him through
subsequent periods equally tedious.
At ninety-two, he still found exist
ence fascinatmg, still held ardent
i
expectation for a future reasonably
bright.
In other language, the lesson of
wisdom which Mr. Hamilton learned
and distinctively exemplified was
that of practical enthusiasm, devo
tion and confidence. He was himself
a proof of the value of those
qualities.
Mr. Truman's Proposals
The additional powers which Pres
ident Truman has asked Congress
to give him, if firmly and resolutely
employed, should serve until six
months after the formal end of
hostilities to prevent strikes which
threaten to destroy the economic life
of the Nation.
As a matter of fact, the mere ex
istence of these powers should dis
courage strikes in the industries af
fected. This assumption is sup
ported by the decision of the recal
citrant heads of the two striking
railroad brotherhoods to order their
men back to work when it finally
became apparent to them that the
President was determined to break
the strike. And if Mr. Truman
could break the railroad strike prior
to securing additional power from
Congress, the chances are that he
will be able to break any strike once
the legislative weapons that he
wants are in his hands.
Some of the powers which the
President requests are similar to
those already extended to him by
the Smith-Connally Act. Others
are new. One could be used to
deprive workers of their seniority
rights if, without "good cause.” they
persist in striking against the Gov
ernment. This is a curious reserva
tion, since the President’s whole
case is predicated on the contention
that there is no right or cause, good
or bad, to strike against the Gov
ernment. Presumably, however, the
President has in mind possible situ
ations in which the revocation of
seniority rights would be unjust.
Another new feature would re- j
suit in the payment into the Treas- i
ury of any net profits resulting from 1
Government operation of a seized
plant. Apparently no exceptions :
are contemplated, and this could
result in the imposition of a finan- ■
cial penalty on an employer who
was wholly innocent of any wrong
doing but whose plant had been
seized because his employes, with
out justification, went on strike. In
such a situation, this clause obvi
ously would work an injustice.
A third new power which Mr.
Truman requests would authorize
the President to draft into the
armed forces “all workers who are
on strike against their Govern
ment.” Mr. Truman did not elabo
rate on this proposal and its sig
nificance is not clear. Would it
apply literally to strikers, or would \
strikers, once drafted, be required
to work at their regular jobs as
members of the armed services?
And if so, would they receive only
the Regular Army pay and would
they be subject to military dis
cipline?
Because of ambiguities of this na
ture in the message, Congress may
feel impelled to clarify and refine
the statute enacting the proposals
into law. On the other hand, the
legislators may feel that the need
of haste is too imperative to permit
them to work out time-consuming
’clarifications and • may proceed to
give the President what he wants
without delay. I
In that event there is one point
deserving special emphasis. This is
that the scope of the powers sought
by the President would be tightly
limited, applying only to “those few
industries in which the President
by proclamation declares that an
emergency has arisen which affects
the entire economy of the United
States.” In those fewr situations the
President would have very broad dis
cretionary power to cope with strikes
or threatened strikes. But that
leaves a vast area of industrial dis
putes, some of them of great though
not literally of national importance,
in w'hich neither the President nor
any one else would have authority
to intervene in behalf of whatever
public interest might be affected.
Certainly Congress, in enacting the
emergency powers which Mr. Tru
man wants, should not neglect this
troubled area, but should deal effec
ticely wdth it, either through the
legislation now before the Senate or
through the “long-range legislation”
for w’hich Mr. Truman indicated a
preference.
Save the Housing Center
The District Housing Center well
deserves the recognition of its right
to exist implicit in the decision of
the Commissioners to seek an ap
propriation of approximately $37,000
to help defray the cost of maintain
ing the center through another
fiscal year. The center, a mecca for
veterans in search of a place to live,
was threatened with closing as a
result of the reluctance of the Na
tional Housing Agency to give it full
financial support beyond June 30,
next. The local center is the last of
a large number of war housing cen
ters established throughout the
country by NHA as a war emergency
measure. The NHA is understand
ably desirous of liquidating this
wartime activity as soon as possible.
Because the Washington center is
still rendering a vital service, how
ever, NHA officials have indicated
their willingness to contribute about
half of the cost of continuing the
local agency another year.
In agreeing to ask Congress for
the other half of the $75,000 esti
mated to be required for operation
through the next fiscal year, the
Commissioners took into considera
tion the fact that about 2.000 appli
cations are still being received week
ly from veterans in desperate need
of rooms or apartments for them
selves and families. Some 400 appli
ft
cants are being placed each week.
The volume of work at the center
today is double that of the war pe
riod. In short, the need for the
center is greater right now than it
was during the height of the war
time housing shortage. Its aban
donment would be a distinct disserv
ice to veterans and others who have
a right to look to the community for
aid in finding shelter in this critical
period of swollen population and
scarce housing in the Capital.
The Ultimate Reality
The past few years have brought
forth so many marvels—most of
them grim—that man’s capacity to
be astounded seems to be nearing
exhaustion. In prewar days the
average American would have been
excited or startled to hear a man
like General Spaatz, chief of the
Army Air Forces, declare that the
AAF was getting ready to operate
planes capable of carrying atomic
bombs on nonstop flights of 10,000
miles. Yet we know now that the
bombs are an actuality, and his
comment the other day on the B-36,
the coming successor to the B-29,
makes clear that the day of the
super-superbomber is at hand. Still
we take the news calmly, without
any great feeling of wonder or sur
prise, and we do this because spectac
ular developments, following swiftly
one upon another, have become
more or less commonplace in our
time.
It is the same with the report that
the Navy has developed a new weap
on as deadly as the A-bomb if not
deadlier. The report, which stemmed
from a hint dropped in Congress a
few hours after General Spaatz’s
remarks on the B-36, may be some
what exaggerated, but the fantastic
has merged so much with the real
these days that there is good reason
to believe that such a weapon, what
ever it may be, actually exists. It
is worth remembering in this con
nection that the process of nuclear
fission yields great quantities of
lethal byproducts and that many
experts envision the prospect of
radioactive poison gases every bit
as devastating as the bomb itself.
Moreover, it is significant that last
November’s historic Truman-Attlee
King statement on the international
control of atomic energy specifically
warned of the possible development
of ‘'other” mass-destruction contriv
ances. and there have been frequent
guarded references to the immense i
danger of bacteriological warfare 1
Electronics, atomic energy, bacte
riological science, planes with a
10,000-mile range, guided missiles,
transoceanic rockets of supersonic !
speed, jet-propulsion, “space ships”
—these are some of the things, ac
tual or potential, that have accus
tomed all of us to take the fantastic
for granted. Very little seems beyond
the limits of man’s genius any more.
The heart of nature has been probed
to its most mysterious depths, and
not much remains in it that is still
secret. So, in our age of marvels, we
find ourselves discovering and in
venting and developing instruments
containing within themselves that
duality of character—that mixture
of enormous good and enormous evil
—that theologians and philosophers
have pondered for centuries in an
effort to explain the meaning and
direction of the world’s life.
The subject is no longer academic
as it used to be. for now. with the
nations at last capable of literally
destroying themselves, it calls ur
gently for action far wiser and much
more sweeping than any which man
has taken up to this time. If civili- i
zation is to be safe, an international
atomic control commission will not I
be enough to protect it. War itself
must be done away with forever, and
peoples and governments must work 1
unflaggingly to that end, adopting
in unison whatever drastic meas
ures may be necessary to attain it.
Otherwise, given another major test
of arms, the world as we know it,
together perhaps with two-thirds of
its inhabitants, must be lost. This
is the ultimate fantastic reality of
our age, and no human being can
*'ver afford to ignore it from now on.
Permanent Seabees
The Seabees. the fighting con
struction battalions organized by
the Navy early in World War II,
are going to carry on as a perma
nent branch of the Navy, and it
is not hard to understand why.
The “can do” boys who performed
near-incredible base construction
feats in the face of enemy fire and
often under the most unfavorable
conditions of weather and terrain
have earned their place in the per
manent naval establishment.
The Seabees came into being just
three weeks after Pearl Harbor, at
a time when naval strategists felt
the desperate need for development
of special units of construction
workers trained to work under the
most dangerous and rigorous of
combat conditions and prepared to
forsake bulldozer or pick in favor
of rifle and grenade when need be.
Within a few months the first of
these rugged outfits was on its way
to the Pacific, where, from Gua
dalcanal to Okinawa they leveled
jungle growth, blasted coral and
laid out the stepping stones which
paved the way to Tokyo. At Tarawa,
to cite only one example, the Sea
bees landed with the first wave of
amphibious forces and within four
days had an air strip operating for
our planes. They worked and
fought, too. on the beaches of North
Africa, Italy and France.
It was almost inevitable that the
Navy would decide to hold onto the
construction battalion plan in re
organizing for the future. With the
fine traditions of the late war be
hind it, the Seabee peacetime or
ganization should have little diffi
culty in obtaining volunteers for
the permanent service. *
I
Capricious Decisions
Befog Welfare Issue
About-Face by Commissioners
Emphasizes Need for Study
By John W. Thompson, Jr.
When they walked into the office of
Representative Howard Smith, Demo
crat, of Virginia on the afternoon of
May 17, Commissioners John Russell
Young and Guy Mason were ardent
champions of their bill to transfer
responsibility for public welfare ad
ministration from the Board of Public
Welfare to themselves.
They had been of this opinion since
a 1941 row over appointment of a wel
fare director and many things had
happened since then to increase that
earlier resentment. The time had come
for a change. The present joint control
should be redefined and centralized in
the city heads.
rney sat down with Mr. Smith, Rep
resentative J. M. Combs, Democrat, of
Texas; Chairman Edgar Morris of the
Welfare Board and Welfare Director Ray
Huff to discuss action on the bill and
two hours later went home committed
to the exact opposite proposition of an
autonomous Welfare Board except in the
matter of finance.
* * * *
In such haste and secrecy was basic
city government policy decided. A four
year attitude arising out of pique and
resentment was reversed in a two-hour
closed conclave.
Regardless of the merits of the earlier
bill or the Commissioners', commitment,
the whole approach is wrong. It is
wrong because it was inspired by and
supported on resentments at board ac
tions rather than on careful, unemo
tional study and recommendation. It
is wrong because in inception and devel
opment no real attempt was made to
find out how the community felt on the
issue. It is high time that the city
ceased having to depend upon the ac
cident of congressional interest or the
whims of key officials for its changes
and reorganizations.
Likewise, even the plan to separate
the prisons from welfare administration
into a department of corrections under
the Commissioners might be subject to
the same criticism of overhasty decision j
were it dependent solely on the whirl- ;
wind investigation of the jail last month
by a House subcommittee after the jail
escapes of last November and April.
Leading penal men, however, includ
ing the former Penal Supt. Howard Gill,
have advocated such an arrangement
for many months with the idea that
prisons are not welfare institutions, but
corrective, and hence should be inte
grated with other enforcement and re
habilitative agencies.
In this case, too. there is the further
circumstance that the city, having com
mitted itself to such a plan, is now in
process of setting it up with the bor
rowed help of a Federal prisons expert
without legal basis. Unless the correc
tions department is established by law
before Congress adjourns, the prisons
will remain under welfare control after
J. Ellis Overlade completes his reor
ganization.
* W * w
It is not simply a case of punishing
the Welfare Board for the escapes by
talcing the prisons away from it. Rather
it is a matter of placing prisons in a
department with the same status as
other city departments, competing for
city funds on its own rather than as
a segment of the welfare department.
The increased confusion created by
the rapid turnabout of the Commis
sioners on the welfare administration
matter May 17 and the immediate
practical need for action on the prisons
suggests only one course of action:
Treat the corrections issue separately
from the welfare reorganization and
devote the time between this summer
and the next session of Congress to a
studied solution of the latter.
To do this Congress needs only to act
on title one of the compound welfare re
organization-corrections department bill
before Representative Smith's House
District Subcommittee, or to approve
the separate measure sponsored by Rep
resentative F. Edward Hebert, Demo
crat, of Louisiana, amended to meet cer
tain objections of the Commissioners.
The welfare administration study now
being completed by the Council of So
cial Agencies may well provide the ob
jective approach and solution necessary’
to iron out the wrinkles in the present
arrangement, provided the recommenda
tions are based on a practical apprecia
tion of what Congress can and will ap
prove.
A comprehensive analysis must nec
essarily answer certain basic questions.
In other jurisdictions is welfare a de
partment of city government or is it
autonomously run? Can welfare be
compared with education and hence
justify autonomous treatment because
in this and some other jurisdictions
public schools are under independent
boards? Are there conditions peculiar
to Washingt n which Justify one par
ticular solution? Does the budget con
trol exercised by the Commissioners bv
law over all city agencies carry with it
a responsibility for welfare that will
continue whether or not they or a board
administer it? Does public welfare
merit special consideration above other
public services which a board could give
and the Commissioners might be too
overburdened to render?
★ * * sk
The volume of existing statute under
which welfare operates is enormous and
should be carefully studied and codified,
weeding out the obsolete, amending
where possible and necessary, but above
all giving future welfare administrators
and District lawyers one authoritative
omnibus law to which to look for guid
ance.
Samples of the curious and unsound I
interlocking responsibilities that now
exist but should be corrected include
designation of the Commissioners to ad
minister old age and blind assistance
while the Welfare Board is named in
statute to administer aid to dependent
children. Although general public as
sistance is under the board, language in
the appropriations bills states it is to
be administered under rules and regu
lations prescribed by the Commissioners.
Although social security law requires
the Social Security Board to deal with
a single authoritative agency in the
matter of Federal relief grants and the
Commissioners have designated the
board their agent in the matter, pre
audit of relief payments by the auditor
is being regarded by the Social Security
Board almost as intervention of a
second agency. This would cost the city
$700,000 a year in Federal aid if not
straightened out.
In the matter of personnel the board
recommends but the Commissioners
hire and Are. The board has only
Memorial Day Message
By the Rev. Dr. Seth Brooks,
Minister of the Universalist National Memorial Church.
As America faces another Memorial
Day, many thoughtful persons must be
wondering about the sincerity behind
the observation of the day this year.
There is no question that many of us
will remember our own dear departed,
visit their graves and lay wreaths upon
*hem. No sincerity will be lacking
here!
Many of us old enough to remember
World War I will think again of some
lad we knew w’ho died “over there.”
We can bring before our mind his
youthful face. We have grown older,
but he still is young and perhaps we
say: “They shall not grow old, as we
who are left grow old. Age shall not
weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in
the morning we shall remember them.”
No sincerity will be lacking here!
And, as our elders did short months
after Appomattox Courthouse, we this
year may attempt to realize that some
we knew will not be back, because so
recently they left us we have not yet
grasped that it was for eternity. No
sincerity will be lacking here!
Beyond our individual feelings, how
ever, there is the Memorial Day which
we might think of as a national con
sciousness. We mean, of course, that
one stipulated day when we as a people
remember our Nation's dead and recon
secrate ourselves "to their unfinished
task.” But what should the national
mind remember? Bluntly put, it should
recall that men died for this Nation
believing their sacrifice would be hon
ored by those for whom they died.
Moreover, that men believed that this
Nation was worth dying for and that
other men would believe it was worth
living unselfishly for.
* * * *
Nor is that all! This day should re
mind us that no living American has
done for America what one fallen
American did for America. It is per
haps trite to say, but our country still
is the most favored land on earth. We
might put it: "We have been awfully
lucky." Let him who questions this
behold the ruins of Europe and the Far
East, the destitution and starvation
that stalk the earth, and their offspring
—chaos, loss of morale and lowerec
morality. No matter how unfortunar
or abused many civilian Americans ma.
think they are, they have not yet ex
perienced conditions beyond thes;
shores, nor have they made any contri
bution to their country which approxi
mates that which was made by any man
who gave his life that America migh1
live. Yes, just existing in America i
a blessed privilege which no other lane
we know of equally affords.
Memorial Day might end here with ?
tribute to our dead and a prayer of
thanksgiving that we are living in
/merica, but it doesn't!
We would be fools or worse than
fools if we did not see that every
principle for which our dead gave
their lives is threatened now. Nor is
it as simple as calling the roll and
saying: "Liberty, freedom, democracy
and peace are endangered." It goes
far deeper. Things on the surface
are threatened because something has
affected the foundations. This coun
try was established on the belief that
there was a sacred covenant with God.
The hint of it is found in Genesis:
“That I may remember the everlast
ing covenant between God and every
living thing.”
The American covenant stood on
the belief that men here with Gods
help could build an ideal land. But
how many today ever think of build
ing in America "a nation under God,”
"a kingdom of righteousness," "a new
world”? We present-day Americans
are acutely conscious of covenants,
although we call them “contracts.”
Much of our present-day quarreling
and bickering is over what a contract
includes or does not include. We need
to put our minds on that everlasting
contract between God and man. A
nation is great when it perceives that
men, through loyalty to their cove
nant with God, guarantee their loy
alty in all lesser contracts.
Our national life today might be
likened to an escalator which is off
the roller. The steps, the handrails,
the machinery and the principle of
upward movement are there, but the
ascending power has stopped. The
quickest way for any nation to get off
the rollers and stop its upward move
ment is for individuals to put selfish
and group interests above the good
and the welfare of all.
We Americans are not lacking in
loyalty; the trouble is that our loyalty
has become partial. We are loyal to
our owm group, class, union, business
or party rather than to the good of
the Nation.
* * * *
A 24-year-old Marine lieutenant,
Ben Toland, who was killed on Iwo
Jima, could speak for our thousands
of dead this Memorial Day. Aboard
a transport the night before he was
killed he wrote a will. He had about.
*3,000, and all of it he left to philan
thropic purposes. One bequest was to
he Congress “for research in a far
lighted foreign policy and a better
Government for all the people and
not for just the organized pressure
gTOUps." In an accompanying letter
to his parents he wrote: “Take care
of and nurture what we are fighting
for."
The supreme question on Memorial
Day, 1946, is: “Are we taking care of
and nurturing what American men
fought for—and died for—that we
might be given the opportunity to
make real the American dream?"
Capital Sidelights
By Will P. Kennedy.
Why does the seal of the United
States Treasury Department carry the
legend: •'Thesaur. Amer. Septent. Sigil.,"
an abbreviation of the Latin “Thesauri
Americae Septentrionalis Sigilum,”
meaning “The Seal of the Treasury of
North America," instead of “The Seal
of the Treasury of the United States"?
This question has had many persons
and various institutions troubled, but
thus far there is no conclusive answer.
The seal of the Treasury is older than
the National Government. A commit
tee was appointed by the Continental
Congress, September 26. 1778. to devise
a seal for the Treasury. Its mem
bers were John Witherspoon, Gouver
neur Morris and R. H. Lee. The
Journals of Congress on the date men
tioned say: “Resolved: That the con
troller shall keep the Treasury books
and seal and file all records * • *
shall draw bills under said seal.” im- !
pressions of the continental seal have
been found on documents dated March,
1782. When the present form of Gov
ernment was instituted in 1789 the
Treasury seal of the confederation was
continued in use. and all essential
features are the same in the Treas- i
ury seal now used. In a report of the ;
Secretary of the Treasury to Congress
in 1912, the symbols on the seal are
explained, but not why the words “of
North America" are used instead of “of
the United States." The seal of the
Treasury Department under the Consti
tution was cut in cast steel by Edward
Stabler of Sandy Spring, Md„ in 1849.
He was ordered to make a facsimile of
the old seal. The reliable historian.
Benson J. Lossing, in 1869, wrote that:
“Not only our Treasury seal, but that of ;
our War Department also, in device and
legend, is older than the National Gov
ernment—older, possibly, than the Grea*
Seal of the Republic, which existed six
years before the Constitution became
the supreme law of the land.” He also
states that the device of the seal of
the Post Office Department is older
than the National Government.
On July 4, 1776, several hours after
the Declaration of Independence had
been signed (about 2 p.m.) the Journals
of the Continental Congress record the
adoption of a resolution reading: “Re
solved. That Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams
and Mr. Jefferson be a committee to
prepare a device for a seal of the United
States of America.” This was the same
committee which had drawn up the
Declaration of Independence, except for
the omission from it of Robert L. Liv
ingston and Roger Sherman. But it
was not until June 20, 1782, that a satis
factory design was obtained. The ob
verse of the seal finally adopted was
the composition of Secretary Charles j
Thomson and the reverse the composi
tion of William Barton. The obverse
promptly was cut in brass, and it is
believed that the first imprint, in wax
on a paper wafer, is that found on a
commission dated September 16, 1782,
granting full power and authority to
Gen. Washington to arrange with
Great Britain for exchange of prisoners
of war. That commission was signed
by John Hanson of Maryland, president
of the Congress, and was countersigned
by Charles Thomson, secretary. The
original die was in use for 59 years. Al
though recut three times—1841, 1883 and
1902—the Great Seal always has been
precisely the same as decreed by the
Continental Congress.
authority to criticize and suggest in the
drafting of plans for institutions over
which, once built, it has full charge
and responsibility.
Once these matters are resolved, some
answer may suggest itself justified by
the facts and free from the clouds of
i ’judice.
k
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star for May 13. 1896. there
appeared two statements which imme
diately became part
Prof. Langley's of the history of avi
Experiments ation if only due to
their connection with
a controversy which probably never will
be settled. The first of the documents
referred to was signed by Alexander
Graham Bell, the inventor of the tele
phone. who had been present when
Prof. Samuel P. Langleys aerodrome
twice landed safely on the Potomac.
"No one," Dr. Bell announced, "could
have witnessed these experiments with
out being convinced that the practic
ability of mechanical flight had been
demonstrated.” Prof. Langley's own
declaration attributed to the absence
of a condenser his machine's limita
tion to a brief trip through the air
The distance traveled, he argued, was
"about one-half mile" and the time
of the flight "one and one-half min
utes."
* * * *
Forty-four years after the death of
John Howard Payne. April 9, 1852. the
United States Govern
A Debt to ment, which he served
Mr. Payne as consul at Tunis, still
owed him $205.92 and
was unwilling to pay. The Star on May
14, 1896, called attention to the obliga
tion, saying that the composer of “Home.
Sweet Home,” might not have “trembled
with yearning for his native land” could
he have foreseen the ingratitude of that
same dear country. Mj. Payne's heirs,
everybody admitted, were entitled to
the money. Meanwhile, Congress again
and again neglected to provide for the
payment.
* * * *
The old Corcoran Gallery of Art.
situated at Seventeenth street and
Pennsylvania ave
Prooosol to Buy nue. was the sub
Gollery Building iect of a report
sponsored by the
Senate Committee on Public Buildings
and Grounds reported at length Jn The
Star for May 15, 1896. “It is confidently
believed," the authors of the opinion
said, “that this property, so admirably
suited to the public needs, is a very
advantageous acquirement, whether
price, desirability of location or easy
and inexpensive adaptability for public
uses be considered.” The site and the
edifice standing upon it had been ap
praised by four different “real estate
firms” at figures ranging from $350,000
to $500,000. A bill directing the Secre
tary of the Treasury to proceed with
the transaction mentioned the former
sum as being appropriate.
* * * *
The National Rifles’ Armory was the
scene of an "annual exhibition of fancy
dancing and May
Dancing School ball" presented by the
Festival pupils of the acad
emy presided over by
Prof. J. H. Vermilya and described in
The Star for May 18, 1896. Three
queens, it was explained, were crowned.
Marie Howe was Queen of the May;
Miriam Stoddart, Queen of Dancing,
and Irene Richardson, Queen of the
Fairies. They occupied thrones on a
stage, except when they themselves were
dancing. Other soloists included Sarah
Richardson, Helen Winter. Alice Norris
and Carrie Robinson. All the young
performers were "up to a high stand
ing.” according to the critic who re
viewed their artistry.
* * * *
The Star on May 19, 1896, chronicled
the death of Thomas A. Griffin, Joseph
Mulhall, Daniel Con
Four Firemen way and George H.
Killed Giles, members of the
District Fire Depart
ment, who perished In a conflagration
* «
Number of Problems
Is Problem in Itself
Complex of Issues Puts Special
Strain on Understanding
By William H. Harrison.
In commenting not long ago on the
coal crisis John L. Lewis rumbled a
few words that lend themselves readily,
if somewhat ornately, to a much broader
field than his own. “The situation,"
he said, “gives one furiously to think;”
and so saying, although he did not mean
it quite that way, he offered as good a
text as any for our problem-laden
times.
If there were only Mr. Lewis and coal
to worry about, life in America would
be relatively easy on the mind. But the
situation that “gives one furiously to
think” is made up of so many issues of
such variety, complexity and magni
tude-national and international—that
most human beings, if not all, can
scarcely escape a feeling of bewilder
ment. That states the case mildly. Ac
tually, there has never been a period in
history quite like this, when the very
number of problems has become an
acute problem in itself and when men
and nations are seemingly incapable
of proceeding step by step, in orderly
progression, from the solution of one
pressing matter to the solution of an
other, and so on from solution to solu
tion to a point of reasonable world sta
bility.
* * *!,
There is a maxim to the effect that
everything should be put in its place and
one thing tackled at a time, but this is
more easily recited than applied. While
one thinks furiously of the coal crisis,
for instance, one must think furiously,
too. of a paralyzing railroad strike and
of labor troubles in general. One must
think furiously—in a for, an against or
a neutral spirit—of a great multitude
of questions that have come upon us
all at once, all competing with almost
equal pressure for attention, and all
defying anybody to reduce them to
simple black-and-white terms. Worse
still, in many cases they overlap to such
a degree that the effort to find the
answer to one can hardly succeed with
out a simultaneous effort to find an
swers to the others.
Compared with the things we must
think of now. the issues of the war
days were fairly simple. Then it was
enough to concentrate on the single
objective of victory, but with that won,
Americans, and other peoples as well,
find themselves riding a mental whirli
gig. Thus, in the United States, news
paper headlines and radio broadcasts
clamor for everybody's attention, all at
the same time, on vital matters like
extension of the draft, the British loan,
the future of OPA, the stalemate among
the Foreign Ministers at Paris, the
United Nations proceedings in New York,
the world food crisis, inter-AUied occu
pation strains in Germany, Korea and
Japan, deteriorating relations with Rus
sia. strife in Manchuria, the atomic
bomb, and a whole host of other prob
lems and developments anything but
restful to the mind.
Obviously it is not coal, the railroads
inflat'onary’ dangers alone that cause
"ohe furiously to think." It is nearly
everything, and from time to time, as
like as not. the whirligig will receive
an extra twirl, as it did recently when
the President, on top of all the other
issues, sent a message to Congress call
ing for the establishment of a historic
and highly significant inter-American
security system. The situation, in brief,
adds up to one in which there is so
much to consider, study, worry about
and debate simultaneously that there
see*ts little chance of coping with a
single problem easily and well. Ques
tions have been fired at the world in
blunderbuss fashion, with the result
that it is difficult in the extreme to con
centrate solid thought on any one of
them. The British loan, for example,
distracts attention from the draft, and
vice versa. In the morning the mind's
eye may be attracted to Iran, in-the
afternoon to India, Manchuria or sev
eral other places and things together,
and in the evening to something like
the chaos of the rail strike.
^ * w
Thus, seeing everything at once and
nothing clearly, the average earnest
follower of current events Is lucky if
he avoids having his thoughts and en
ergies scattered in the wilderness of
issues. As far as the general public
goes, the effort to keep up with the
situation involves a real measure of
physical and mental fatigue, so that
people cannot be blamed too much
should they tend now to seek escapist
diversions. But neither our own nor
other government# can run away from
the problems that are crying for solu
tion everywhere, nationally and inter
nationally, even though the task of
dealing with them tries patience and
saps strength. There may be too much
to consider at one time, but the United
States, Britain. Russia and the United
Nations as a whole still must act. There
is no escaping that.
It is a question, of course, whether
the different powers might not be able,
somehow, to give special priority to the
most pressing matters, holding back
those that can be held back now. But
it is simpler by far to make such a
suggestion than to put it in practice,
particularly because so many of today s
issues are too interlinked to be handled
separately. The fact seems to be, in
deed, that the maxim of one thing at
a time, no matter how practical it may
sound, does not offer a handy way out
at this stage, which is another aspect
of the situation that ‘'gives one furiously
to think."
Apparently, in sum, as with each indi
vidual problem, there is simply no easy
solution to the over-all problem of the
multiplicity of problems. It is a condi
tion that will probably trouble the world
for some time to come, and it can be
counted upon to test to the full the
wisdom and forbearance of peoples and
governments alike before something
better and less harrying replaces It.
Meanwhile, It must prayerfully be hoped
that our seemingly undisciplined society
will manage somehow to ride out tha
storm of current events without suffer
ing a complete nervous breakdown.
which swept the block bounded by
Lousiana avenue. Ninth street, B street
and Tenth street on the previous night.
Twenty-two buildings were destroyed in
the blaze, allegedly starting in a branch
office of the Postal Telegraph Co. Every
piece of apparatus in the city and every
available fire-fighter responded to the
alarm. An enormous crowd of spectators
also collected, adding to the difficulty of
the task of suppressing the flames. By
morning the four heroes mentioned had
given their lives In the effort, and eight
other men had been painfully hurt.