Evening star. [volume], July 01, 1946, Page A-12, Image 12

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

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A—12 **_MONDAY, July 1, 1946
The Thing at Bikini
In the long and seemingly endless
minutes before the bomb went ofT
over Bikini yesterday, radio listeners
around the world could not escape
being put on edge by the things
they heard. It was as if the infinity
of space had suddenly been invaded
by a host of giggling devils, as if
the music of the spheres had turned
all at once into cosmic laughter, as
if the voice of man had been seized
by some crazy wraiths intent upon
amusing themselves, intent upon
making everything sound like Don
ald Duck trapped in an evilly en
chanted wilderness and crying out,
over and over again, ‘ Do you hear
the metronome? * * * do you hear
the metronome? * * * ”
Coming after such an unearthly
prologue, the unleashing of the bomb
itself could hardly help but be a bit
of an anticlimax. The sound of the
explosion was silenced by the chaotic
noises of the universe. There were
no tidal waves, the earth was not
rocked, no person and no thing, ac
cording to first reports, were va
porized or disintegrated. The
Nevada stijl stood upright. To be
sure, a couple of transports were
sunk, a destroyer was capsized and
numerous other big and little ships
were set aflame. But this was some
thing less than doomsday, less than
total destruction, less than the lurid
possibilities that had been forecast
by some people. So there was a
general let-down after the show was
over; the harnessed atom did not
seem to live up to its advance no
tices; despite the awesome, miles
high radioactive cloud, the wide
spread reaction was pretty much like
that of the Russian observer who
shrugged and said, "Not so much.”
Nothing, however, could be as
foolish as to suppose now that the
atomic bomb—because it did not live
up to all the fantastic things said
of it—has somehow been greatly
reduced in importance at Bikini.
We have heard only the first reports
so far, and although they may not
be unusually spectacular, they are
impressive enough. We shall have
to wait days, perhaps weeks, for an
authoritative analysis. We shall
have to wait until the second phase
of the test—a shallow subsurface
"burst"—is completed before we
draw conclusions. And even then
the conclusions will have to be
qualified until the deep underwater
test is tried next year—the test
which many scientists maintain to
be the only one that can give us a
genuine measure of naval power
versus the power of the atom.
Meanwhile, whatever is finally
proved in this respect, all of us
would be well advised to remember,
as the United States Strategic Bomb
ing Survey has just reported, that
Hiroshima and Nagasaki demon
strated beyond questioning that
this new weapon is by far the dead
liest ever developed by man and that
unless he controls it adequately he
w'ill be toying literally wuth the sui
cide of himself and his civilization.
If the w'orld forgets that, the devils
giggling in space yesterday wdll have
W’on a terrible victory.
Thorny Trieste
In viewing the thorny problem of
Trieste, observers are apt to lose
sight, of the forest for the trees. In
other words, we are prone to con
centrate our attention on controver
sial details and overlook underlying
factors of which those details are
merely symptomatic. But the Trieste
problem must be solved with due
regard for basic factors if it is not
to remain a chronic source of in
ternational friction and trouble.
The first basic factor is that, while
Trieste is overwhelmingly Italian in
population, the hill country imme
diately behind is predominantly
Yugoslav in blood. Furthermore,
that is the situation throughout the
province of Venezia Giulia, whereof
Trieste is the capital and metropolis.
Everywhere in this disputed area
the seacoast, is Italian and likewise
the towns inland, whereas the in
land peasantry is almost solidly
Slavonic. Since the coastal lowlands
are usually narrow strips backed by
steep hills or mountains, some high
country must be included in what
ever may go to Italy. 3nd with that
a minority of Yugoslavs. The only
difference between the three fron
tier lines suggested by the Ameri
cans, British and French, respec
tively. is in the relative size of this
Yugoslav minority while allowing
most of the Italians to remain with
their motherland. The Yugoslavs,
however, demand the whole prov
ince, irrespective of Italian national
istic claims, and in this, of course,
they are strongly backed by Soviet
Russia.
Another basic factor is that, from
the strictly economic viewpoint,
Trieste is not vital to either Italy
or Yugoslavia. Its real function is
as the natural outlet for the. trade
cf South-Central Europe. If there
i were a genuine peace settlement in
| Europe, and if Central Europe were
freed from great-power rivalries,
an international arrangement for
j Trieste would be a constructive solu
tion. But,, as things are, every in
formed person knows that, in
| Yugoslav hands, Trieste and Venezia
Giulia would be not only a military
threat to Italy and the western
powers but would also rivet Russia’s
i economic strangle hold upon Aus
tria, Hungary and even Czechoslova
kia.
Thus, here as elsewhere, the over
all tension and mutual suspicion
between the two great-power groups
complicate local considerations and
render a constructive settlement
based on mutual confidence and
understanding extremely difficult.
Child Welfare Crisis
In his report to the Board of Pub
lie Welfare on the serious congestion
| prevailing in welfare institutions,
' Welfare Director Huff summarized
th<? problem succinctly when he
stated: ‘‘There are two laws which
compel the board to act. One is the
substantive law which requires the
board to do much; the second is the
appropriation law which permits it
to do little." The substantive law,
as a matter of fact, is so broad that
the board has little or no leeway in
j seeking to keep its workload within
| the limits of available funds and
available facilities.
To cite just one provision of the
several laws which impose wide and
heavy responsibilities upon the
board, there is this excerpt from
Public Law 397, of January 12, 1942:
‘‘The Board shall investigate the cir
cumstances affecting children hand
mapped by dependency, neglect or
; mental defects, or who may be in
danger of becoming delinquent, and
to provide such services for the pro
tection and care of such children as
will assist in conserving satisfactory
home life.” Under that provision
the board is charged with rendering i
“protection and care” to children '
who may not actually be delinquent,
but whose parents or legal custo
dians fear that they may become so.
The board in the past has taken a
liberal view' of its obligatidns under
the act. This sympathetic attitude,
plus the fact that Washington’s pop
ulation has been growing by leaps
and bounds, has led to overcrowded
conditions w'hich prompted urgent
apppals to Congress for enlarged
facilities and staffs.
But. as Mr. Huff put it in his re
port. the hope which he and his
associates have held for reasonably
early relief w»as "blasted by the cut
of substantial sums” from the ap
propriation bill. Receiving Home
improvements cannot be expected
inside of eighteen months and new
construction needed for other wel
fare institutions cannot be looked
for within a much longer period.
Meanwhile, heads of the badly con
gested buildings continue to plead
for help in the form of more space,
more employes, more equipment.
It is against this depressing back
ground that Mr. Huff’s startling rec
ommendation for an arbitrary re
duction in welfare w'ards must be
read. As things now stand, he con
tends, the children are not receiving
• decent” care. Some may actually
be worse off than if they had not
been taken over by the board. By
reducing the load to safe and sen
sible limits, he says, the majority
will be afforded proper attention.
Perhaps the corporation counsel,
to whom the board has turned for
advice as to the legality of the re
duction program, will find that the j
law does not permit rejection of any
child—even those brought to the
board by their parents as potential
delinquents. The effort to redis
tribute the load with the help of
private agencies nevertheless should
be made, because the situation now
is a disgraceful and tragic one in
deed. What seems to be urgently
needed is a fuller understanding by
the public and by Congress of the
tasks to which the Welfare Board
has been committed by law, with a
view to seeing that adequate facili
ties for fulfilling those tasks are
provided as required.
Our Policy in China
Acting Secretary of State Acheson
has given an effective answer to
the recent outpouring of criticism
against the role being played by the
United States in China. Some of
the criticism has been voiced in
Congress, but it has come mainly
from the Chinese Communists and
from extreme rightists in the
Kuomintang, its burden being that
we are engaged in a mysterious and
| suspect game and that we ought to
withdraw our forces forthwith. Mr.
Acheson, however, has restated the
facts of the case so clearly that all
such talk in the future must be re
garded as deliberate distortion, in
excusable on the grounds of ignor
ance.
The truth is that our policy in
China is anything but mysterious or
sinister. Based on our traditionally
strong friendship with that sorely
tried country, its purpose, in an im
mediate sense, is to help the Chinese
people rid themselves of the effects
of their long and devastating strug
gle against Japan. Beyond that,
looking toward the long future, its
; primary objective is to unify them
on a democratic basis and to do all
that reasonably can be done to pro
mote their economic betterment,
industrially and agriculturally, and
to encourage their development into
a strong nation equipped to take
care of themselves internally and to
discharge their international re
sponsibilities, particularly as a sta
bilizing influence in Asia.
Although one of the Big Five
members of the United Nations,
China today is weak and faction
l ridden. But its potentials are those
r
' of a great power capable of playing
a highly significant part in main
taining world peace, and it is these
potentials that American policy is
| seeking to develop. To this end, as
Mr. Acheson has just emphasized,
we are not supporting any particu
lar military group or any one party
, to the exclusion of other parties,
although naturally we recognize the
established government. Acting as
President Truman’s special envoy.
General Marshall—whose success up
to now has been striking, despite
occasional setbacks—is over there to
put a definite end to the threat of
civil war by bringing together the
Chinese Communists and Generalis
simo Chiang’s Nationalist forces and
to work with them toward the for
mation of a political structure dem
| ocratically representative of all ele
ments. He is over there, too, to work
with them in effectuating their Feb
ruary agreement to merge their
armies into a single, efficient mili
tary establishment under central
control—an objective still in need of
implementing legislation long pend
ing in Congress.
In sum, the whole purpose of our
policy is to do everything possible
to help bring into being a healthy,
undivided, democratic and prosper
ing China. This is not a matter of
mere altruism, of course; it is a
matter of enlightened self-interest.
But Suppose He Had Gone?
On the right-hand page the col
umnist, Harold L. Ickes, finds his
cheerful thought for the day in stern
rebuke to the President for not go
, ing to Manila for the Philippine in
dependence ceremonies July 4. The
Star suggests consideration of the
tone of columnist and editorial com
ment if the President had gone to
Manila. It would run something like
this: So the President, of all times,
has chosen this particular time to
leave his job and go chasing to the
other side of the world on a junket
to the Philippine Islands! With the
country left in chaos by the death of
price control, he has deserted his
post, taking with him a group of
Missourians (at enormous expense to
the taxpayers i to strut in front of a
crowd of Filipinos when he should
be here minding his business. What
do the American people pay him to
do, anyway? Do they pay him to
make speeches to the Filipinos, or to
stay here and give some needed
leadership to Congress? George
Washington never found it neces
sary to go to Manila. Neither did
Abraham Lincoln. What right has
the President to risk his life in fly
ing in an airplane over the deep
water? No wonder we are in such a
terrible shape, when the Chief Exec
utive goes traipsing out to Manila
in our hour of peril. How long are
we going to stand for this sort of
thing? Huh?
Our President, it seems, unlike the
Kings of old, can do no right.
This and That
By Charles E. Tracerre.il
"CLAGGETT PLACE N.E.
"Dear Sir:
"While working on one of those slag
roofs for which this city in famous, I
noticed two birds. One of them, smaller
than a pigeon, was evidently sitting on
eggs. The other flew into the air. Its
wings w-ere marked midway with white
"After soaring high, the bird dived
swiftly dowm toward me, emitting a
sound like a hissing snake.
"The other bird on the roof made no
effort to get away.
“While in the air the bird made a
sharp, shrill monotone, with an in
creased wing beat. He has been in this
street for the last two weeks.
, "Please identify him for me.
"Truly yours, L. H.”
* * * *
Thete is not much to go on here, with
no coloration given except that the
wings are “marked with white."
Manv birds smaller than a pigeon
have white on them.
Lack of white, would rule out, the cat
bird, which often emits a sound like a
hissing snake.
Therefore we are forced to a consid
eration of the mockingbird.
It will attack one who threatens its
nest, and will make a sort of grating
noise as it does so.
However, and it is a big "however,”
mockers seldom nest on a roof.
It is practically unheard of. They
prefer to nest in shrubs and even trees,
at heights varying from 10 to 50 feet.
All in all, we believe our correspond
ent's birds were turtle doves, and that
he heard the whistling of the wings
which these birds make.
Pigeons and doves are about the only
birds hereabouts which will nest on
roofs, with the exception of English
sparrows, and they prefer gutters and
cornices, and overhangs or “shelfs,” as
roofers call them.
x^uves are nuwjuousiy poor nesi ouua
ers. Often they do no more than lay a
few sticks crosswise. The nest, if it
may be called such, is perfectly flat, and
often the eggs roll off. either in wind or
| through carelessness of the mother.
Turtle or mourning doves do not have
so much white on them, it is true, but
probably enough to come within our
leader's definition.
While these doves have a reputation
for peacefulness, they can fight as well
as the next when they want to; they
will rise to the defense of their nests
and young, and often drive the belliger
ent bluejays away from feeding places.
] Our turtle dove is classed as a game
bird, but should not be shot, since it is
too easy a mark, lacking much of the
sportsmanship of duck hunting.
They make excellent caged birds, and
once were widely used in this way, but
of recent years you seldom see a dove
cote.
They love to come to suburban com
munities. where their plaintive soft
notes give a feeling of home not secured
through any other bird.
This is a tribute to the dove. It is not
a pretty bird, as far as its face goes, and
its shape is rather on the dumpy side,
but it has a way about it, including its
short call or song, which manages to
ingratiate it with human friends.
There are few country sounds heard
in modem cities. The call of the dove
is one of these. Somehow the notes
make people rememljer usually the
scenes of childhood.
A few notes and suddenly unroll places
and sounds and people and animals
long gone.
We may thank the doves for this, be
cause we are in too much danger today of
forgetting the good old days of the true
Golden Age, which was goiden for those
who made it so. chiefly because they
i were contented with their lot.^
Letters to The Star
Mr. Mellett NTot ‘Misleading’
About Court ‘Veto’
To the Editor of The Star:
Charles L. Frailey remarked in a let
ter which you printed on June 22 that,
Lowell Mellett had made some state
ments in his column of June 18 which
seemed to him “very misleading.”
It is quite likely that Mr. Mellett's
suggestion that there is no provision
in the Federal Constitution which war
rants the Supreme Court to “veto" or
declare acts of Congress unconstitu
tional did strike many readers with
surprise, and to hold that there would
appear to be power In that instrument
to enable the Congress to regulate the
Supreme Court was equally, if not more
surprising.
Based on facts which he supported
by logical processes and the citation
of high authority, Mr. Mellett's posi
■ tion, however, cannot be regarded as
| "misleading." It was both informative
and thought-provoking.
In light of the excitement caused
by the unjustifiable explosion of Jus
tice Jackson against Justice Black, a
discussion of “which branch of the
Government should regulate the other”
is most apropos. No better time to
bring forth so important an issue, in
the expansion of the principles of
democracy, could be had than now.
During the controversy over whether
Justice Black should have sat in the
Jewell Ridge case in which precedents
predominated in favor of his action,
the public s attention was called to the
opinions held by some members of the
Supreme Court questioning the author
ized constitutional power of the court
to veto acts of Congress,
That some of The Star's readers
could not have been too surprised by
the direct reference to this power by
Mr. Mellett, it will be recalled that he
quoted Justice Holmes as follows: “I
do not think that the United Slates
would come to an end if we lost our
power to declare an act of Congress
void.” Of course, in the opinion of
some, it would have been more to
the point if that eminent jurist had
said: "I think that the United States
would not come to an end, if the
Supreme Court cea.sed to assume the
power to declare an act of Congress
void.” In this connection Mr. Mellett
said: "The members of the Supreme
Court won t be greatly surprised should
Congress look into this devastating
court power and set up some whole
some restraint on it.”
Mr. Frailey thinks Mr. Mellett made
a grievous error in his use of the word
•veto.” The correct use of the term,
he implies, is applicable only to the
act of the President when he dis
approves of an act of Congress. Hence
he avers: 'The Supreme Court has no
veto power and has never attempted
to exercise such power.” Just what
action ensues when the Supreme Court
declares an act of Congress void? Is
not such action "an authoritative pro
hibition” of the pow'er of Congress to
have passed such an act? Well, the
meaning of the word "veto,” according
to Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Is
”an authoritative prohibition; an In
terdiction; a prohibitory decree.”
Is it not possible that Mr. Frailey 1
is making the same mistake in holding
to the conventional use of the word
‘ veto" that he does in contending for
the constitutional right of the Supreme
Court to declare an act of Congress
void? He opines that his citation of
the opinion of Chief Justice Marshall
in the case of Marburv vs. Madison
is sufficient to deny Mr. Mellett s po
sition in the premises. Yes, it was
Marshall who led off in the usurped
power of the Supreme Court to veto
acts of Congress on the alleged grounds
of their unconstitutfonalitv.
The late William Macon Coleman,
the profoundest scholar, publicist and
student of the law I ever knew inti
mately, declared that the Supreme
Court had no power within the Con
stitution, implied or expressed, to hold
an act of Congress void. In a face
tious vein, he occasionally said in
his lectures, when speaking of Mar
shall's position with respect to the
veto power of the Supreme Court, that,
it was quite fitting that the Liberty
Bell should have cracked when tolling
the funeral dirge of the otherwise
great American jurist..
ELMER E. ROGERS.
The Mansfield Safety Talks
To the Editor of The Star:
It has come to my attention that
Dick Mansfield recently has completed
his school safety program under spon
sorship of The Star. I have watched
Dick's work in behalf of traffic safety
for many years and his impressive
recdrd speaks for itself.
The prograth he has just completed,
how’ever, has been outstanding: and
much of the credit goes to The Star
for its generous contribution to his
efforts. I understand he has reached
some 83.000 school children with his
i “chalk tglks.” That only four young
sters were killed in traffic during the
past, year as compared to eight the
year before may be due, at least partly,
to his efforts.
i I give Dick and The Star the credit
| they justly deserve in helping to reduce
accidents to our young children. My
sincere congratulations to you both.
GEORGE E. KENEIPP,
Director of Vehicles and Traffic.
Mrs. Milan in Rebuttal
To the Editor of Tht Star:
May I suggest to Bart Bowles that
he missed m.v point in mv June 24 let
ter?
No one lias a monopoly on sympathy 1
for the starving peoples of the w'orld.
However, my suggestion that the
President appoint a leader interested
I in the feeding of hungry Americans is
! sincere.
Rationing should, be resumed, along
; with price controls.
| At present those who can afford to
wait in the food lines get what little
there is at inflated prices, while per
sons who cannot afford to use their
time in this manner get left and go
hungry. One and a half hours for a
quarter of a pound of butter is exas
perating. How fcan we feed the chil
dren?
The war is not yet ended officially,
and the holding back of necessary food
for Inflation prices is a crime against
both starving aliens and hungry Amer
icans.
j Food used as a political weapon or
i for excess profits should be outlawed
during this crisis, until peace is offi
cially declared.
MRS. B. V. MILAN.
t
This Changing World .
By Constantine Brown
wnue last, week s Big Pour debates at
Paris developed without dramatic name
j calling outbursts, the Soviet and satellite
press and radio intensified their anti
American and anti-British propaganda.
Some of the Moscow-sponsored gov
ernments added to the campaign by tak
ing actions which they knew would ir
ritate the United States. Reuben H.
Markham, veteran correspondent of the
Christian Science Monitor, was expelled
by the Romanian government under a
| flimsy pretext because he attempted to
| kive the world a “nearly true” picture
of conditions in that country.
The Polish government did its bit by
prohibiting a Fourth of July celebration
i in Warsaw. An organization known as
the Polish Friends of America was cre
ated some time ago in that city. Its
president is th% Minister of Labor Jan
Stanczyk, a former member of the Polish
government-in-exile who was included
in the Bierut cabinet in keeping with the
Yalta agreements.
♦ * * *
The organization is composed chiefly
of Poles who lived in this country during
the war and have indorsed the present
national government. On the whole It
Is an innocuous society whose scope is
to maintain as best it can the ties be
tween the Poland as it is today and
Americans of Polish extraction. The
names of Kosciusko and Pulaski who
fought for the United States, and Wood
row Wilson, who helped recreate Poland
alter the First World War. are in the
forefront at every meeting of the society.
The Polish Friends of America decided
to hold a Fourth of July celebration this
year and our ambassador, Arthur Bliss
Lane, accepted the invitation to be the
principal speaker. A hall was hired for
the purpose and several hundred invita
tions had been issued when the Polish
government banned the meeting so as
not to rouse public feelings.
The Polish government explained that
some time ago the British ambassador,
Cavendish Bentinck. privately showed a
film entitled “Time of Glory.” It. was
an official British film dealing with the
invasion of Italy and Western Europe
by the Allied forces and since it was a
historical picture it, had to portray the
part played bv the Polish troops under
Gen. Anders in Italy and the activities
of the Polish army corps which fought
under Field Marshal Montgomery.
Although the majority of the Polish
guests were connected with the present
government in one way or another,
they could not restrain their enthusiasm
when they saw pictures of their com
patriots w'ho were fighting under the
old Polish flag on the side of the western
allies.
The incident, of course, was reported
to the principal authorities in Warsaw |
and Moscow and Lord Bentinck was '
warned that such shows might become
detrimental to the good relations be
tween the two governments.
Because some of the speeches which
would have been made at the Fourth of
July celebration might not have been
to the taste of the present Polish govern
ment, the authorities decided to ban
the society's function altogether.
♦ + * ♦
The other reason for the ban was not
given officially but expressed in articles
of the government-controlled press.
According to these organs, the Polish
government considered the warm recep
tion accorded in America to Gen.
Thadeusz Komorowski iGen. Bon as a
provocation in the part of the American
Government.
Although Gen. Bor is now ranked with
other national heroes of Poland because
he fought the Germans single-handed
for 63 days in Warsaw, he is considered
by the present Polish government as a
traitor and a Nazi collaborationist. The
fact that while in Washington he was
given a luncheon by members of Con
gress and was allowed to place a wreath
at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
has been interpreted by Premier Bierut
as a slap at the officially recognized
Polish regime.
Under these conditions the Warsaw
administration does not desire to permit
any unofficial demonstrations of Ameri
can-Polish friendship which was estab
lished in the days when this countiy
was fighting for its own independence.
Ambassador Lane will of course be
free to hold a celebration on our
national holiday in the American Em
bassy. But whether any members of
the Polish Friends of America will be
able to attend is a different matter.
Under the existing conditions in Poland
it mav not be healthy for anyone but
the specially designated government
officials to enter the embassy.
- On the Record
Ry Dorothy Thompson
rv uuiuuri ui topics invoivea in tne
new? of the lest few days are interre
lated.
Leo Hochstetter. American member
of the UNRRA mission to Yugoslavia
and director of its office of public in
formation, has been ordered sent back
to Washington by the Russian chief ol
the mission. Col. Mihail Sergeichik, be
cause of his disagreement with hi?
Russian chief over the censorship ol
UNRRA news releases.
Reuben Markham, the correspondent
of the Christian Science Monitor in
Romania, has been expelled undei
orders of the Russian commander, Col
Gen. I. Z. Susaikov.
And representatives in Congress have
warned that they will seek to amenc
the bill appropriating funds for the
second installment of UNRRA relief sc
to bar American funds from countrie
where United States newsmen an
denied access to facts about the distri
bution of UNRRA relief.
The case of Mr. Markham is especially
interesting, and his expulsion particu
larly damaging to Russian prestige
and. if I may sav so. to confidence
in Russian common sense. It is a
basic policy of the Christian Science
Monitor, arising from Christian Science
religious tenets, always to emphasize
the favorable and constructive element.'
in any situation. In the case of Russia
and particularly in the reports of Mr
Markham, which I have read care
fully as they came out, this has been
obvious and notable.
Mr Markham has done. I thinks the
fairest and most objective reporting
from any Russian-occupied area. He
has been meticulous about details, fig
ures and places, sometimes almost tc
the point of boredom as far as the
average reader is concerned. It has
been clear to any one following him
closely that wherever he could find
something good to report, or wherever
he could truthfully correct hearsay dam
aging to the Russians, he has gone out
of his way to do so. If, therefore, Mr
Markham and the Christian Science
Monitor cannot operate in Ifcjssian and
Russian-occupied territory, the burden
is on the Russians to prove that any
honest, newspaper or reporter can.
Mr. Hochstetter, by profession a jour
nalist also, has defended himself, and
stated why he came into conflict with
the Russian UNRRA chief in Belgrade
He claims that all press releases from
UNRRA in Yugoslavia had to pass Col
Sergeichik and that UNRRA's regional
officers had complained that, as a re
sult of censorship, the Yugoslav people
do not. know that UNRRA material i!
brought free into the country, that the
Yugoslav government is exclusively re
sponsible for its distribution, and a
number of other points. His charges are
the more credible since they bear out
previous reports of correspondents.
But one may, and I think should,
question the morality of the counter
measures proposed by some Congress
men. The object of UNRRA relief is 1
tp prevent starvation, especially of chil
dren. If a people suffer helplessly under
a tyrannical government or army of
occupation it is no alleviation of the
situation, and will not Increase our own 1
influence or the virtue of our cause, to
decree that thev shall rIso starve. One
cannot contribute to freedom of the 1
press, accepted by Allied powers as one
of the Pour Freedoms, bv removing, also,
ireedom from want and fear.
This country needs to get its values
•straight. Most of. the arguments ad
vanced againat the loan to Britain, for
instance, though as criticism of British
policy they may have some merit, are
irrelevant to the question of the loan,
per se.
And the United States must not con
tribute to the death of innocent per
sons. even though the system of relief
distribution is abused. Rather must we
fight In U. N. and UNRRA itself for
clearer rules and more enforceable
pledges. *
The basic issue involving freedom of
movement and reporting comes back,
like almost all international issues, to
the question of the sovereign rights
of states. Today any "sovereign" gov
ernment. has the legal right, founded by '
usage, of deporting or refusing entry
to any foreign national, for any reason I
or no reason. The human, personal
light to move in this world, which was
never in human history more restricted,
has been totally overlooked in all the
discussions of the "rights and duties
of states,”' which is placed for study j
in the U. N. Assembly. The draft of the :
delegation of Panama on such rights
and duties, submitted to the Assembly s
first session, does not mention at all
this matter of the security of aliens
within states.
It is all-important to give freedom
to report the working legal fundament
which it. presently does not have. In i
deporting Mr. Markham no charges
are made that he was untruthful. But !
it is not necessary, under present usage .
and "sovereignty,” to give'any reasons
for deportations. The usage is. how
ever, a lemainder of absolutism. It
can only be corrected by new. enforce
able. international law—not by threat- :
ening to starve babies.
ip-leased br the Bell Syndicate. Inc >
Selective Sales Resistance
By Raymond Moley
in some respects snow business is a.
sensitive barometer o( economic trends.
It is well, therefore, that the buying
and selling public take a look at what
is happening in the entertainment
world. They will find a decreasing ten
dency among people to throw money
away on mediocre products. And that is
a good omen for future stability and
real prosperity.
Variety, which Ls a fearless and well
edited weekly chronicle of the show
world, tells us by news and comment
that the public is neglecting, more and
more, what is called luxury entertain
ment. This means such things as ex
pensive floor shows and prize fights.
The Louis-Conn fight provided an ex
cellent example. Prices were so high
that even a spot in the bleachers was a
luxury. Wealthy sportsmen filled the
ringside, but the grandstand middle
class stayed away by the thousands.
Only half as many attended as were
present in 1927 at Chicago to see Demp
sey and Tunney. Variety says there
will be no more $100 fights.
Variety, moreover, reports a big exo
dus of lush radio programs. Programs
which were sponsored by all manner of
business at immense expense are out in
the cold. There may be some restora
tion of sponsorship when the OPA and
other uncertainties are clarified, but
the best opinion is that sponsors will
never again put fortunes into air shows.
This is due, in part, to tax problems.
Current cancellations of programs are
also due, according to entertainment ex
perts, to the fact that the public is get
ting tired of hearing about products
which it cannot buy. «
On the other hand, the movies and
legitimate theaters are doing better
than last year. They are maintaining
themselves, despite more automobile
recreation and unprecedented attend
ance at professional baseball. Past
history tells us that the run-of-the
mill show business is always the first
to feel returning prosperity and is the
last to feel a depression. That was true
of 1930 and after.
The stiffening resistance to the ex
penditure of big money on mediocre
products is apparent in other fields.
People will buy good products with |
established names. But the time has
come when they are refusing to buy I
just anything at any price.
* * * *
The black market is reflecting grow
ing prudence. Nylons brought $5
in irregular markets in the winter.
By April they were half that and now
are hardly more than the ceiling. Ny
lon lines lor legitimate sales are dwin
dling. Production and better distribution
constitute the answer here, as elsewhere.
When the prospect of good stuff at a fair
price is looming ahead, frenzied demand
drops off.
Once more the wisdom of the public. ,
plus the great production capacity of
our industry, is saving us from economic
folly and disaster. Despite governmen
tal muddling and incompetent planning,
we survived the war. And now the pros
pects are that buying sanity, work and
efficient private industry will carry us
through again.
(Released by The Associated Newspapers. Inc.)
Futile Fires
From the Detroit Free Press.
Bv ukase of the Allied Control Au
thority. all German memorials relating
to Germany's past- two wars are to be
destroyed along with all the country's
Fascist and militaristic literature.
Apart from making the Allied Con
trol Authority look exceedingly foolish,
there probably is no great harm in the
project. Neither is there any good.
Even 1f the books could all be de
stroyed—which they can't be—the cul
ture and the outlook that made them
acceptable to the people or Germany
would remain. A state of mind cannot
be eradicated by merely doing away
with the things symbolizing it.
The Nazis had their own book burn
ings—Incidentally, just 13 years ago this
week—but. the bonfires didn't mak» a
Nazi of any one not already Nazi
minded.
Truman OPA Gamble
Blamed on Muddling
Commentator Declares President
Himself Unbalanced Economy
By David Lawrence
President' Truman took a long chanr*
when he vetoed the OPA bill. In effect,
he placed a bet that the confusion re
sulting from his veto on the eve of the
statutory expiration of OPA would
arouse the country and force a majority
in Congress to reverse Itself.
This kind of gambling with the
public welfare is not the product of
objective reasoning or dispassionate
statesmanship. It is the tragic conse
quence of muddled thinking which seeks
to shift the blame to others.
For actually it is President Truman
himself who has unbalanced the post
war economy and forced prices up
above ceilings and thus brought on a
wave of black market operations and
inflationary trends.
Consequences Already Here.
Mr. Truman now' cries out that failure
to pass another OPA bill will bring
dire consequences. But some of those
consequences are already here. The
grant of wage increases in major in
dustries by White House intervention
and political expediency was the first
cause of the congressional revolt against
price ceilings. It was an attempt by
the President and his subordinates to
squeeze out the profits and make in
dustry and business bear all the in
creased costs. This finally provided an
opposition strength in Congress that
brought on the pa-ssage of the Taft
amendment which Mr. Truman criti
cizes so clearly in his message.
It is the President who has blocked
the progress of reconversion and if
there were a parliamentary system in
the United States such as prevails in
Canada, Mr. Truman would be voted
out of office today by a landslide, for
he has failed to construe accurately thp
feeling of the people and he has abused
the veto power in the interest of
political minorities from which he ap
parently expects support at the polls.
The Presidents veto message has in
it many plausible statements but Mr.
Truman presented only one side of thp
storv. He omitted to tell the American
people what he and his officials had
done to create the high costs which
business and industry now wapt cov
ered by increased prices. Mr. Truman
alone is responsible for decisions in
labor disputes that have added billions
a year to manufacturing and dis
tributing costs. Not a word Is to be
found in the President's message about
the grasping policies of the labor union
groups in the industrial communities.
Increased Costs Ignored.
Instead, rather nonchalantly and al
most indifferently, the President refers
to the ending of major labor disputes
as if the increased costs resulting from
his own blundering policies were too
trivial to speak of in a message dis
cussing the economic structure of the
Nation at a critical time. Naturally,
the labor-wing leaders applauded the
veto. For the President, transferring
the blame for the high costs to manage
ment, had left the unions an alibi to
help them escape censure.
The OPA died last night and it should
not be revived. Theoretically, of course,
a case can be made out for rigid con
trols of both wages and prices, but since
Mr. Truman has a blind eye where wage
increases are concerned and since he
had insisted on stimulating the biggest
wave of w'age inflation the Nation has
ever known, the only alternative is to
put the question of prices up to the
public and let nature take its course
There is no other way now. It is too
late to try to re-establish controls where
one-sided action has upset the national
economy..
Rejected Leaders’ Advice.
Efforts will be made, of course, this
week to continue rent control or some
other special phases of price control,
but the time has gone by when an
orderly handling of prices can be ex
pected. Mr. Truman was advised by
leaders of his own party that it was the
compromise OPA bill or nothing, and
the President chose stubbornly to dis
regard that advice and take long
chances. He chose to throw the Nation
into confusion and uncertainty. He
mistakenly assumed the public would
blame Congress and not the White
House. He assumed prices would sky
rocket. They will not. For buyers will
strike when prices get too high to bear.
The economy will have to balance it
self and it will do so eventually, though
a well-ordered system of both wage and
price controls could have been estab
lished ar.d thus would have saved the
Nation the pain of reconversion that
now faces the public. But since leader*
ship vanished from the White House
Congress had to assert itself.
The abandonment of the OPA is
really more than a repudiation of inept
bureaucracy. It is a repudiation of Mr.
Truman by a majority of both Houses
of Congress. It may mean that the
politicians who have been advising the
President that this is the road to re
election will discover that they have ac
tually blocked the road to renomination.
The poor record which Mr. Truman is
making does not deserve a second
nomination.
(Reproduction Rights Reserved )
Even in Flags
From *he Milwaukee Journal
A sad commentary on the times: An
American Legion post in New Haven,
Conn,, was unable to get flags to decorate
hero graves on Memorial Day because
the veterans wouldn’t pay black market
prices for the only available supplr.
More power to that kind of American
spirit! And we could hope that at least
that black marketeer ends by seeing
stars and wearing stripes of another aort.
Mind's Vacation
Let us together climb to far green hill
tops
That rise composed and la/t.y in the
mind:
Let us now hand in hand for one hriet
hour
Leave the dark chill of lowland-fog
behind.
There'll be a clear, clear pathway lead
ing upward
Starred with blue chickory and fluted
song;
A glistening stream will give us silver
music;
Somehow, the blessed hour will make
us strotig.
O lucky are the hearts that have such
hilltops,
And very lucky are the minds that
know
The way to take such frequent glad
vacations
And leave the stinging hurts so far
below.
-• ROSE MYRA PHILLIPS;