Evening star. [volume], February 17, 1947, Page A-8, Image 8

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A—8 « MONDAY. February 17. 1947
A Place to Reform
There is more than ordinary
interest in the current investigation
of the office of Recorder of Deeds.
Chairman Horan of the House Sub
committee on District Appropria
tions holds that an investigation
into any agency of the local govern
ment comas within the proper scope
of his subcommittee and he evidently
is having a “routine” check of the
office made now. The Deputy
Recorder seems also to be making
an independent investigation and
one employe of the office has been
“furloughed” for the time being.
Three years ago an efTort was
made in Congress to remove this
office from the anomalous status it
occupies in the District government
by making it subject to regular
audits by the District auditor.
Legislation along such lines failed.
The office has remained a law unto
itself. It has always been regarded
as more important from the point
of view of political patronage than
for its efficient functioning as a
Government agency. At one time
the District auditor found himself
caught between a ruling of the
General Accounting Office, which
placed on him the responsibility of
audit, and the refusal of the
Recorder of Deeds—possibly sup
ported by the Department of Justice
—to permit such an audit. A rider
on a local appropriation bill a few
year? ago, which directed formal
audit of the office by the District
auditor, was stricken out on a point
of order in the House.
The District auditor, faced with
this refusal, made no further
attempt. The expenditures and re
ceipts of the office are not subject
to the same audit which covers other
municipal agencies. Whether' any
important irregularities have been
discovered in the current investiga
tion is not known. BtolfrtHSran’s
own interest in the office 'Slight'
yield some beneficial results if it
leads to a reform which will relegate
,tbe system of political patronage on
which it has been run in the past
and substitutes the merit system,
with formal audit at periodic inter
vals of its funds. Inasmuch as the
office has been the property of the
Democrats for the past decade or
so, a Republican-controlled Congress
may take a more active interest in
putting it on a nonpolitical basis.
=8= -
China'sCrumbling Economy
China’s economic situation has
long been deteriorating. It is now j
frankly desperate. Should it become
chaotic, the results would not be
confined to the economic field but
would be political as well. It is an
open question whether collapse ci'h
be averted by Generalissimo Chiang’s
drastic new order revaluating the
Chinese dollar and calling for
stringent wartime restrictions on
currency dealings, hoarding, wages
and prices, and strikes and lockouts.
Eninas economic me nas naa
many ups and downs ever since the
revolution of 1912. That broke the
traditional mold economically as
well as politically with the over
throw of the Manchu empire and
its replacement by a republic influ
enced in many ways by western
ideas and methods. Out of a long
welter of turmoil and confusion
there gradually emerged the rela
tively stable Kuomintang regime
which by the early 1930s, seemed
capable of putting through its pro
gram of national reconstruction.
Then came the Japanese interven
tion, culminating in wholesale in
vasion which disrupted everything,
yet which did not effectively heal the
feud between Kuomintang and
Communists that had already be
come the chief handicap to China’s
evolution.
The economic consequences of all
this were as damaging as they were
unavoidable. Eight years of gruel
ing war against the Japanese in
vader <vere financed largely through
the issuance of paper money with
out proper backing. That started
the vicious cycle of inflation, with
its disruptive effects on wages,
salaries and prices, together with
the spread of black-marketing oper
ations. The victory over Japan
brought no real improvement, since
the elimination of the foreign foe
coincided with the resumption of
the Kuomintang-Communist feud
in aggravated form, while the Rus
sian looting of Manchuria deprived
China of what might have been a
solid industrial basis for recovery.
How much the withdrawal of
American armed forces from China
and cassation of mediation efforts in
China’s civil war has contributed to
the present economic crisis is un
certain. At any rate, it is doubtless
a contributing factor in the current
flight from the Chinese dollar,
which has now become almost
worthless. The chaotic effects upon
wages and prices can be imagined.
They must ineyitably intensify eco
nomic and social unrest, already so
widespread and so acute.
But all this plays into the hands
of the Communists, who have long
aimed ruthlessly at the disruption
of economic life everywhere outside
the areas under their control. It
was these ruthless tactics, along
with those of the Kuomintang’s
feudal - minded diehards, which
General Marshall especially casti
gated in his famous statement on
the eve of his termination of his
mediatory mission. The correspond
ing weakening of the Kuomintang
regime will tend to diminish its mili
tary power and its general prestige
and authority.
Too Much Too Soon?
In form and purpose the report of
the Joint Committee on the Legis
lative Budget will appeal to most
Americans. Made mandatory by the
congressional Reorganization Act of
1946, it represents the first attempt
of its kind to co-ordinate the
various House - Senate appropria
tions and revenue committees and
to arrive at a common over-all fiscal
policy for the Nation. It is the result
of a reform long needed in Congress.
The report, too, has this added
virtue: It emphasizes economy at a
time when the Government needs to
save money wherever it can to per
mit tax reductions and make possible
some payment on our colossal na
tional debt. Yet, despite its sound
and commendable objective, there is
good reason to view it with an anx
ious and questioning eye. Adopted
by a vote of 50 to 22, it would have
Congress enact a resolution placing
a ceiling, of $31,500,000,000 on the
budget for fiscal 1948. This would
be $6,000,000,000 under the total
deemed to be a rock-bottom neces
sity by the President. A slash of
such drastic proportions naturally
would affect many of the Nation’s
domestic and international under
takings. The big question is whether
it might not be dangerous.
For its own part, the majority of
the Joint Budget Committee is satis
fied that its recommendations can
be carried out with safety all around.
Unfortunately, however, it is dis
turbingly vague as to just where the
cutting is to be done. It mentions,
in highly generalized terms, the
elimination of “desirable but not
imperative” Federal functions: it
speaks of firing at least 500,000
civilian Government workers; it
suggests the shelving of public works
projects that are not “vitally neces
sary," and it hints broadly at other
possible economies. Obviously, until
these points are spelled out in detail,
doubting Thomases will be justified
in maintaining a “show-me” atti
tude.
i ms is especially true of national
defense and foreign policy. The
joint committee is understood to
favor a cut of a billion dollars for
the Army, $750,000,000 for the Navy
and^500,000,000 for the War Depart
ment’s civil functions. Economies of
these dimensions could have grave
consequences. At any rate. Secretary
bf War Patterson has said that they
would “invite disaster.” Secretary
of the Navy Forrestal has warned
that they would wreck the Naval Re
serve training program, stop all con
struction, cripple research and liter
ally immobilize the fleet. And Sec
retary of State Marshall, having in
mind the world’s “very critical” po
litical condition, has solemnly as
serted that they would make our
position “impossible” in occupied
lands by depriving the Army of food
for defeated enemy peoples.
In short, if these worried authori
ties are right, the proposed $6,000,
000,000 slash—wholly apart from its
effect in otfcer fields—would threaten
both our security and the effective
ness of our foreign policy. Any such
economy would be penny-pinching
carried to the point of folly. Reduced
Federal spending is highly desirable,
but if it is applied indiscriminately
by cutting too much too soon, it can
do lasting harm to the Nation’s
long-term interests. Congress will
be playing with fire if it fails to
make full allowance for this fact
when the time comes to vote on the
budget.
Palestine to the U. N.
Formal announcement by Foreign
Secretary Ernest Bevin that Britain
has failed in its attempts to find a
solution for the Palestine problem
and has therefore decided to carry
the case to the United Nations,
opens up a series of interesting
possibilities.
In the first place, Mr. Bevin did
not disclose just how the case will
be referred to U. N„ and, under
the provisions of the U. N. Charter,
Britain will have at least three
choices. By invoking one clause
of the Charter, Britain could pre
sent the case directly to the Security
Council, thereby getting a quick
hearing, sigce the Council is al
ways available to consider such a
matter. The second possibility is to
refer the case to the Trusteeship
Council, although that body is not
yet in operation. A variant under
that clause would be for the Security
Council to refer the matter to the
Trusteeship Council instead of itself
considering the matter. Finally,
Britain may carry the issue to the
U. N. General Assembly. That would
entail considerable delay, since the
Assembly is not slated to meet until
next September, unless the Security
Council should invoke a special
Assembly session, which it is em
powered to do. Mr. Bevin is expected
to disclose the British government’s
plan of reference within a few days
when he lays the entire matter in
detail before the House of Commons.
It should, of course, be realized
that merely referring this explosive
problem to the United Nations or
ganization does not guarantee a
workable solution. Any genuine
solution involves not only a willing
ness on the part of both Jews and
%
i Arabs to accept and abide by what
ever U. N. decision may -be arrived
at but also the absence of delaying
or blocking tactics on the part of
U. N. members themselves. The
Arab League is strongly represented
in U. N.; Britain has its imperial
interests to consider, and other
nations are practically concerned in
the terms of settlement. Lastly, the
Jews have no formal representation
in U. N., and it is probable that
the Arabs would strongly oppose
the grant of such representation.
Both Arabs and Jews have already
indicated that, under certain cir
cumstances, they would not be
disposed to accept a U. N. decision,
and there is at present no inter
national police force such as is
envisaged under the Charter for
carrying out a U. N. directive.
All in all, therefore, the case of
what has been aptly termed “The
Too-Much-Promised Land,” may
well turn out to be not only the
hottest issue yet laid before U. N.
but also a crucial test of the U. N.
itself.
Automatic Landings
Experiments being conducted on
the West Coast by the Army Air
Forces may herald a new era of
safety in aviation—an era in which
airliners will be landed safely in fog
or darkness by electronically oper
ated robots. Such elimination of the
possibility of human error in bring
ing a plane to earth under condi
tions of zero visibility would greatly
reduce the risk of accidents.
The tests involve a system of com
pletely automatic landing control
based on a combination of GCA, or
Ground Controlled Approach, and
standard “automatic pilot” equip
ment. Under the GCA system—soon
to be in operation at Washington
National Airport, La Guardia Field
and several other municipal airports
—planes are “talked in” by a control
tower operator who watches the
approach of the plane on a radar
screen. The human element thus is
still to be reckoned with.
The new device would be an im
provement oyer the “drone” appara
tus which guides pilotless aircraft to
a safe landing. With the electronic
control, the regular pilot in time of
poor visibility would turn control of
the plane over to the automatic
landing device and (it Is hoped) his
worries would be over.
Since it may take as long to de
velop this inventiqn as it has to
perfect GCA to the point where it
could be installed commercially, air
safety authorities are not likely to
change their plans for wider use of
GCA. This innovation has proved
remarkably effective at Army and
Navy fields. The sooner it is adopted
generally fo^- commercial planes, the
greater will be its opportunities for
saving lives.
This and That
,By Charles E. Tracewell.
"DUMBARTON AVE.
"Dear Sir:
"Your column is indeed a helpful and
interesting one. Seems a lot of people
read it.
“On the bus the other evening I
recognized two rather important local
bankers.
“I managed to get close to them so
that I could listen to their words of
business wisdom. I had thought I might
hear a way to increase the interest on
my savings account.
“This is what I heard: ‘Now Tracewell
in his column the other night • * • ’
“Thought you might be interested in
something I mixed for the birds in my
back yard yesterday, and which they
completely devoured by the time the
sun went down.
“I started yesterday morning to clear
out and clean my pantry shelves, and
found some things I could get rid of.
“I started mixing them together, and
this is what came out: •
“A handful of ancient raisins (I soak
ed them to soften them), four pounds
of wormy graham flour, half a box of
ceiery seed, a handful of old prunes
(which I,soaked and cut into pieces),
a few old boullion cubes, a cup of old
molasses, a handful of broken crackers,
and a box of poppy seeds which the
mice had refused.
“Fired with ambition by now. I went
to the ice box and dragged out some
ancient beef and mutton grease (about
two cups), some left-over yams that
even our dog sniffed at, a half cup of
sour milk, two bad eggs, and a handful
of rancid nuts.
“X put the above concoction into a
large kettle, and commenced to stir,
adding water. When the mess was
formed into a soft mass, I put it outside
on the grass. The birds fought over it.
How proud I was! Hey, I hope they
didn’t get indigestion! Should I have
added baking powder?
“Sincerely yours, P. C. C.”
* * * sir
No baking powder was necessary.
There was quite enough in that mix
ture, as it was!
It speaks well for the digestion of
birds that they can handle such a con
glomeration of foods, some of them not
any too good, at least from a human
standpoint.
It must be remembered, of course,
that their alimentary tracts are only an
inch or so long, so that short of poison,
they usually do not have much trouble
with their food intake.
It is best, however, to give them only
good clean foods, keeping in mind that
rancidity and the like will not harm
them.
There is no shelf, no matter how good
the housewife, which does not harbor
one or more unwanted items, but which,
as our correspondent demonstrated,
could be made into acceptable items for
the songbirds.
Probably mixtures of three or four
things are better than more elaborate
ones.
All mixtures should be allowed to cool
before being presented to the birds.
Such spreads are best on the lawn,
rather than in formal feeding stations.
Bad eggs are best left out, because
these high protein foods can elaborate,
in decaying, some of the most virulent
poisons.
The famous poisoned arrows of some
South American natives are made from
proteins.
We believe that birds love mixtures,
getting an almost human “kick” out of
seeing what they can find in them.
A few good sunflower seeds ought to
be put in, if possible, because there is
nothing the birds like better, and es
pecially to find among other foods.
Sunflower seeds, however, should not
be cooked, but should simply be dropped
into the batter after it has been mixed,
shortly before serving It to the song
sters.
I
Letters to The Star
Broader Health Insurance Base
Advocated By Doctor
To the Editor of The Star:
The present debate over the wisest
administrative form for our national
effort more equitably to distribute the
high cost of a basic health security is
of vital concern to every citizen. The
mounting cost-of-living burdens make
some practical form of solvent, pre
payable, low-cost, risk-sharing health
insurance a “must” for all of us.
Fortunately for the taxpayer’s guid
ance, a recently publicized complaint by
Garfield Hospital offers a constructive
commentary on the demonstrated limi
tations of community self-help insurance
plans. Simply stated, this nonprofit,
privately operated hospital claimed that
the current contract rates Group Hos- ,
pitalization, Inc., and Group Health
Association, Inc., were paying for hos
pitalization for their subscribers was
insolvency short of their actual cost of
production. A formula of solvency will
require these corporations either to in
crease subscriber rates or reduce con
templated benefits.
This has a threefold social and eco
nomic significance to the average citizen
in desperate search for a solvent, pre
payable, low-cost minimal health secu
rity. First, privately operated hospitals
all over the Nation are voicing Garfield
Hospital’s complaint. Contracted serv
ices for subscribers of Blue Cross-type
plans are being provided at the cost of
deficit-spending. This is in spite of
the fact that Nation-wide shortages in
hospital beds have not only shortened
the average patient-stay but many eligi
bles could not gain admission to hos
pitals even in grave emergencies.
Second, at least in principle both G. H.,
Inc., and G. H. A., Inc., substantially
conform to the actuarial and adminis
trative patterns of the kind of voluntary
health insurance plans organized med
icine has approved as an adequate form
of health security for the solvent.
Our third point is a logical inference
from the previous two. Both G. H„ Inc.,
and G. H. A., Inc., predicate their sol
vency on a careful selection of the good
risks and a calculated avoidance of the
poor ones. To this end the aged and
those with existing disease are not eligi
ble for participation. Even those who
are eligible have the totality and dura
tion of their health insurance protection
carefully limited to keep the program
solvent. Definitely, sucji policies leave
an appalling No-Man's-Land of unmet
need for both the poor risks and those
whose health hazards are truly catas
trophic.
As a self-appointed consumer counsel
for the public, this writer presumes to
suggest a basis for urgently needed com
promise. Limit a national health insur
ance program to the essential and the
possible. Without discrimination make
a solvent national health insurance plan
available to three classes of risks in
greatest, need of cost-spreading relief,
child-bearing, catastrophic illness and
the malignancies and degenerative dis
eases of advanced years. It Is a real
need and a real challenge to democracy.
But in dedicating ourselves to such a
task, let us remember that our passing
from the privileged status of favorable
risks to the desperate plight of poor
ones may be much closer than we think.
THOMAS E. MATTINGLY, M. D.
Questions Weirton Testimony
To the Editor of The Star:
This letter is in regard to an article
in your paper on February 12 dealing
with the testimony of an attorney,
Earl Reed, before the Senate Labor
Committee.
As you reported, Senator Murray
read into the record some pointed
facts from the La Follette hearings, con
cerning the purchase of industrial mu
nitions by the Weirton Steel Co., Mr.
Reed’s employer. By way of denying
these facts, Mr. Reed first threw mud at
the La Follette Committee and then
went on to say that the Circuit Court
of Appeals found the Weirton Steel Co.
not guilty of engaging in labor
espionage.
Your reporter does not indicate that
the C. t. A.’s decision had nothing to
do writh the La Follette Committee’s
report. It is concerned solely with the
hiring of labor spies.
As an inquisitive citizen, I should like
to know why a company and its repre
sentative who found it necessary to buy
tear gas and riot guns m order to keep
“industrial peace” should be allowed to
testify in regard to constructive labor
legislation. ARTHUR P. ANTIN.
Communism ‘Unconstitutional*
To the Editor of The Star:
In no manner can Communism be
included under and operated within our
Constitution. They cannot be reconciled.
The installation of Communism here
would require prior total destruction of
our Constitution. Such action would be
unconstitutional, since our Constitution
requires that it be preserved, protected
and defended. A Communist Party, ipso
facto, never has been a legitimate party
under our Constitution. It is not an
agent for the defense and preservation
of our Constitution and Government but
is a conspiracy to destroy them.
With deference to our courts, repeated
riots and peace disturbances, with their
assaults, traffic blockades and depriva
tions of property rights, are not the valid
exercising of any right of contract, free
speech or of the press. They are acts in
violation of the constitutionally guaran
teed right of the people to the common
defense of their domestic tranquillity and
general welfare. They are the visible
effects of a disciplined direction to “bore
from within.” Any political party that
advocates or tolerates such acts is not
properly qualified for power under our
Constitution and the same may be said
of public office and citizenship.
A housecleaning is overdue, either by
the legislative, executive or judicial divi
sions of the Government of the United
States or by the American people, act
ing as patriotic Americans, without re
gard for existent political parties.
CHARLES GALE.
Anti-Vivisection Bill Again
To the Editor of The Star:
Recently Congressman William Lemke
re-introduced his bill, H. R. 462, exempt
ing dogs from vivisection in the District
of Columbia. I wish publicly to con
gratulate Mr. Lemke for his courageous
and relentless efforts to outlaw a brutal
and sadistic practice.
We feel confident that with increas
ing public enlightenment the ranks of
supporters of this bill will rapidly grow.
EUGENE J. HURDI iE, «Jr.,
Secretary-Treasurer. National Society
for ihe Humane Regulation of Vivi
section.
a
Getting Russia on the Beam
Our Short-Wave Broadcasts Begin—An Effort to
Send Truth Through the ‘Iron Curtain’
By Newbold Noyes, Jr.
(First of a Series of Three Articles.)
Today the United States starts broad
casting to the Russian people. By 1
pjn., the first of a daily series of hour
long radio shows, concocted by our
State Department and beamed at the
U. S. S. R., should be on the airways.
The department’s Office of Interna
tional Information and Cultural Affairs
is not unfamiliar with this sort of work.
The Russians will make up the twenty
fifth language audience reached in
peacetime by OIC’s radio division.
But this one is something special and
it is getting special handling. More
than a few Americans, since the proj
ect was announced, have expressed
the view that here is a great chance
to bore our way through the so-called
•‘iron curtain” and give the Russians
a political earful. They are likely to
be disappointed in the programs worked
out by Charles W. Thayer, the smart,
young (37) chief of the international
broadcast division’s carefully assembled
Russian section. Very definitely, this
will be a kid-gloves operation. The
Voice of America plans to speak to our
1 Soviet friends in dulcet tones.
Today, for example, on behalf of the
Un^ed States, a sweet young lady will
greet our new audience in perfect Rus
sian. She will tell them who we are,
and where and when they can hear us.
She will say we hope to explain our
problems to them and to tell how we
are trying to solve those problems. She
will quote President Truman on the
importance of the new venture.
Next come 12 minutes of domestic
and foreign news, presented as objec
tively as possible. After that, a talk
on the relationship between our Fed
eral Government and the 48 States.
(Later, when the Russians know us
better, we will tell them about Chekov’s
influence on American literature and
how Horace Greeley’s writings affected
the thinking of Marx and Lenin.)
subject for misrepresentation. The
ether crackles with lies about us, and a
confused _ world listens. We need not
regard ourselves as lily-white to know
that, in general, the simple truth will
best serve our •'propaganda" interests.
The question is, how do we get people
to listen to it?
In broadcasting to Russia, we are
dealing with all the problems met in
other Voice of America projects, plus
some new ones. „
Assembling the right people to do
such a job is never easy. In the case of
these new Russian broadcasts, it has
been a major stumbling block, ac
counting for the long delay is getting
started.
When word first went out that the
State Department was getting ready
to broadcast to the U. S. S. R., the
division was swamped with volunteer
applicants. Waiters in Russian restau
rants and bogus relatives of the Czars
—Communists and Communist-haters
who could speak the language—all
leaped forward offering to put in their
respective oars.
How Staff Was Chosen.
The task of weeding them out fell to
Mr. Thayer’s chief assistant and right
hand man, Nicolas Nobakoff. He left
Russia in 1920. A noted composer, he
has recently returned from Germany
where he served as cultural adviser to
Ambassador Robert Murphy, specializing
on things Russian. Before that he had
been a professor at St. John’s College
and head of the composition department
at the Peabody Conservatory of Music.
Mr. Nobakoff’s job was to get rid of
applicants who obviously would not do
and to decide which ones, technically
speaking, were capable of handling the
broadcasts. All who betrayed they had
personal axes to grind were automatic
ally out. He ended up with about 25
possible candidates.
I Have You in My Blood, Baby.
Following 10 minutes of American
folk songs and a brief discourse on
recent medical developments in the
United States, an orchestra will give out
snappily with Cole Porter’s "I’ve Got
You Under My Skin.” The Russians
will be told this means, "I have you in
my blood.” The experts decided Mr.
Porter’s phrase might confuse a dia
lectically minded audience.
Then, after a quick summary of head
line news, the Voice of America will
sign off. It will be 10 p.m. in Moscow.
For more than three weeks the broad
cast division has been holding “dry runs”
on the Russian show at its New York
headquarters. This has meant hard
work. Each day a program was pre
pared and presented exactly as though
it were being put on the air. Instead,
it was merely recorded. Then the ex
perts want to work on it, criticizing,
adding, pruning. The next day’s pro
gram showed the results of this effort.
The Russian section caught itself
making few mistakes in these rehearsals,
but the ones they found were worth
catching. It was discovered, in this
way, that one commentator had been
referring-to “cosmetic rays” when he
meant “cosmic.” He was letter-per
fect in the language, but when he left*
Russia people didn’t talk much about
cosmic rays.
The test period also developed a con
siderable controversy about the busi
ness of saying "good night” at the end
of each program. Originally the sign
ing-off speech was intrusted to the same
young lady who opens today’s show
She breathed the final good night in
the sweetest way imaginable, with a
lingering, up-swept lilt which, even in
Russian, had a strangely disquieting
effect on all who heard.
There were objections—some felt such
“noctidictory” warmth was a little out of
place. At last it was regretfully decided
to turn this particular announcing job
over to a male voice, and the Russians
will be sent off to bed tonight with a
polite but matter-of-fact salutation.
They will never know what they missed.
These are trivialities, of course, but
they are parts of ah over-all problem
which is by no means trivial. What can
the United States do to get its story—
its problems and hopes, its ideas about
man and his world-known and under
stood?
Telling Onr Side of the Story.
It is important that the world know
and understand us. The forces which
oppose us abroad find we are an easy
rnese were put tnrougn me most
rigid possible security check by the
FBI. Seventeen of them, including
Messrs. Thayer and Nobakoff, survived.
They are all American citizens.
Radio professionals have warned Mr.
Thayer it is impossible for 17 people to
write and produce a daily radio program
an hour long. They say he needs a
staff of about 60.
Perhaps it is as well for Mr. Thayer—
a State Department foreign service offi
rer who spent seven years in Moscow—
that he has never tried radio work be
fore and therefore does not know what
cannot be done. For even if he could
recruit 60 people, or half that number,
he would not be able to pay them. The
Russian broadcasting project, like all
other OIC operations, is to be con
ducted on a shoestring appropriation.
We Need a Babe in the Woods.
Like his suoeriors in the broadcast di
vision (who seem. Incidentally, to have
plenty of the technical familiarity with
radio that he himself lacks) Mr. Thayer
labors under no grandiose illusions as
to the probable size, composition or
attitude of the Voice of America’s Rus
sian audience. There are an estimated
1.500,000 radio sets in Russia. Most of
these are equipped to receive shortwave
and are therefore capable of picking up
our broadcasts, which will be powerfully
relayed by transmitters we control at
Munich. It is estimated an average of
eight persons listens to each receiver.
It seems certain that most of these
radios are in the hands of persons who,
in the Communist understatement, are
“politically reliable.” Nobody dealing
with this problem here thinks we shall
be able to appeal to the Russian people
over the head of their government, or
anything like that.
What the State Department does
hope to do is to give influential Russians
who care to listen, or who can be cajoled
into listening, an object lesson in the
honest use of information.
We shall of course try to tell our side
of the story. This may have some
limited effect on the thinking processes
of information-starved Russians who
hear us. But the main point is that
we shall try to tell our part of the
story only as part of the whole story.
Gradually, in this way, we may be able
to make even “political reliables” in
Russia understand that the truth is
never an enemy to people of good will.
On that basis, even as a gamble, this
experiment in ideas seems to be an
undertaking of unusual significance.
(Another article in this series will
appear tomorrow.)
On the Record
By Dorothy Thompson
So far I have attempted to avert my
eyes from the obscene performance In
Washington staged by Senator McKel
lar, Democrat, of Tennessee, in an at
tempt to prevent the confirmation of
David E. Lilienthal as chairman of the
Atomic Energy Commission.
The performance has been all too
humiliating for any one who has, and
wishes to preserve, faith In the dignity
of our most august legislative body.
Senator McKellar, I have said to myself,
is just one of those things that have to
be endured.
Meanwhile, Mr. Lilienthal has been
giving such an exemplary demonstration
of how a man should act under circum
stances that humble not him but his
attackers, that he is certain to emerge
victorious—as light always is stronger
than darkness.
Therefore, I preferred to forget, as
quickly as possible, the snide queries re
garding the place of birth of Mr. Lilien
thal’s mother and other irrelevancies.
I wanted to remember, instead, his
statement on the meaning of democracy.
I was filled with vicarious pride that a
fellow American should have the intel
lectual talent and moral poise to avert
with such clarity and nobility a slap
across the face. I chanted to myself
"integer vitae” and the rest of the col
lege song, thinking Mr. Lilienthal, Amer
ican Public Servant No. 1, was strong
enough in his virtue to need no defense
of journalistic arrows.
However, there are reports that the
Senate may not confirm him after all,
and that Senator McKellar might win.
So the unthinkable is thinkable. Sena
tors White, Republican, of Maine;
Bridges, Republican, of New Hampshire;
Wherry, Republican, of Nebraska, and
Taft, Republican, of Ohio, are reported
to be closing in for the kill, in an at
tempt to demonstrate, apparently, the
neolithic character of the Republican
Party. Among Republican leaders, only
Senator Vandenberg appears to be re
taining both dignity and sanity.
* * * *
The Republican Party seems to have
become somewhat hard of hearing as
the result of the explosion of Its recent
victory. If its ears were more delicately
attuned to the fickle sound of the ebb
and flow of public opinion, it would
know that if there is one thing the
American people take seriously it is the
fact of the atomic age with all its im
plications.
The American people associate Mr.
Lilienthal. first, with the greatest con
structive achievement of the New Deal,
and second, with the report on atomic
control, which became the basis of our
1 foreign atomic policy. This policy is,
supposedly, we are told, “bipartisan.”
The GOP should also know that the
people trust the judgment of scientists
on this matter a great deal more than
they trust politicians. If Mr. Lilienthal
is not confirmed, the scientists will, I
think, make loud, derisive noises.
The people realize that atomic energy,
the greatest potential source of power
ever discovered, belongs to them — and
not to private companies and power in
terests. They are bound to conclude (a)
that Mr. Lilienthal has proved himself
an intrepid protector of the public in
terest and (b) that some of the Senators
involved ip the fight against him have
proved themselves intrepid protectors of
private power interests.
This combination of facts very easily
can do what the Republicans now think
is impossible—namely, re-elect Mr. Tru
man. Republican support for Senator
McKellar is just about the greatest
political gift that has been bestowed
upon the President.
If David Lilienthal were a Communist,
he would, I think, have been discovered
by this writer, who lately has been ac
cused of "Red-baiting.” I first exposed
the life history of Gerhard Eisler. But
Mr. Lilienthal is as much a Communist
as the late Senator Norris—or Henry
George!
* * * *
Atomic fission is the greatest chal
lenge ever made to our civilization and
to all its institutions and systems, in
cluding the Communist. As Vincent
Sheehan was the first to note publicly,
its discovery challenges not only the
orthodox capitalists but also the ortho
dox Marxist. Mr. Lilienthal, thank
heaven, is neither. It remains for Re
publican Party leaders, however, to try
by all means to prove the validity of
Marxian reasoning!
The only thing, in my estimation, that
will control the atomic bomb, is the
most rapid possible development of
atomic energy. This will demonstrate
that the perennial quest of states for
raw materials—basis of Imperialism and
war—is obsolete. The peace-atom and
the war-atom thus face each other, and
Mr. Lilienthal is the man who wants to
start the peace-atom moving.
We, for our part, have no desire to be
pushed into the Ice Age by minds—like
that of Senator McKellar—that are still
in the Stone Age.
(Released by tbe Bell Syndicate, Inc.)
Robbing the Robbed
Prom the Houston Post.
Our candidate for the dumbest man
of the year is the New Yorker who has
been holding up people as they were
leaving night clubs.
Business Seeks Men
Who Led War Effort
Moreell’s Steel Appointment
Latest Example of Trend
By David Lawrence
Announcement that Admiral Ben
Moreell—the man who organized tha
Seabees in the United States Navy—
has been made chairman of the board
and president of the Jones & Laughlln
Steel Corp. is an indication of a trend
toward the selection of generals and
admirals for important posts in private
industry.
It means that the Government itself,
with its budget cutting, is going to lose
some of the best staff organizers and
administrators it has had, but it means,
too, that private industry is going to
find in the roster of military and Navy
men sopne executives of exceptional
ability.
Not long ago the Hoppers Co. of
Pittsburgh, one of the Nation’s large
industrial enterprises, put Gen. Brehon
Somervell, former head of the Army
Service Forces, in charge as president.
The general—a man of extraordinary
capacity—did the undramatic but
nevertheless vital job of seeing to it
that the front lines not only were backed
up with the requisite supply of man
power and equipment but that the
necessary units behind the lines were
available for the countless tasks that go
with servicing the largest Army this
country ever mobilized.
It will be recalled that after World
War I, industry took many of the mili
tary men. Gen. Robert E. Wood went
to Sears Roebuck as its chief executive
and Gen. Harbord, who was head of the
Service of Supply in France, became
the chairman of the board of the Radio
Corporation of America. Recently Ad
miral Emory Land became head of the
Air Transport Association.
Other Officers Getting Posts.
Other military and naval officers are
being selected for important posts hi
industry, and it is interesting to ob
serve that Admiral Moreell will come
into one of the large labor areas with
a considerable experience. It was he
who handled for the Federal Govern
ment the seizure and operation of the
oil refineries and pipelines when the
Navy took them over, and It was he
who acted as Federal coal mines admin
istrator.
Admiral Moreell has the respect of the
labor groups in this country. His memo
rable speech before the American Fed
eration of Labor during the war was
a frank and understanding statement of
the labor problems of the Government
and industry in relation to war produc
tion.
Sometimes it is assumed that military
men are too rigid or even narrow in
their experience to become executives
of big business instlutions. But this is
erroneous. The “military mind’’ of tra
ditional concept is not the same with
regard to administrative work as it is
with respect to troops. Experience gained
in the Army, Navy and Air Forces can
readily be translated into benefits for
industry and business, provided the men
selected have actually had broad-gauged
organizing and administrative problems
to deal with.
Business Needs Leaders.
Thus both Gen. Somervell and Admiral
Moreell operated business organizations
and encountered all sorts of questions
which are not unlike those found in
private industry.
Big business enterprises necessarily
must have administrators who know how
to organize and handle large numbers
of men. Thus Admiral Moreell started
the Seabees—the construction workers
of the Navy—with a force of 3,000 which
gradually grew to 250,000.
He, himself, was not a Naval Academy
graduate but he reached the four-star
status just the same. His Seabees have
been glorified and properly so, because
they landed immediately after the am
phibious operations of the Navy and,
often under enemy fire, built strips for
airplanes and housing facilities for the
invading forces.
To see big business taking the admirals
and generals who made good on the
administrative and organizing side is
a recognition of the fact that nowadays
war operations are not confined to men
with a knowledge of war strategy alone
but with the same kind of organizing
and administrative ability which private
business needs.
The incident perhaps has broader sig
nificance. Many a young officer looking
for a job has been told he has had "no
experience." When he has recited what
he did in the Army, Navy or Air Forces,
he usually has been advised that this
isn’t "experience." Yet top generals and
admirals are being selected who have
had “experience" that business recog
nizes. Maybe the personnel departments
of the businesses of the country should
think twice about the value of military
experience for younger officers, too.
(Reproduction Rights Reserved.)
Tall Talk
From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
The State Department suggests that
what is bothering the world in this per
plexing postwar era is "cartohypnosis."
The department’s weekly bulletin de
fines its diagnosis as hypnotism by car
tography—or for the benefit of ordinary
folk—map making. The world has had
enough of cartography, to say nothing
of etymology. With all due deference
to the State Department, what Is both
ering the world is governmental tall
talk, an affliction which all diplomats
are prone to acquire. A good many of
the world’s problems may be solved
if they can be reduced to language
eveiy one can understand.
There Will Be Others!
From the Boston Daily Globe.
Henry Wallace is on the high road to
success as an editor. He’s just started
m and already he has a squawk from
an indignant reader.
Where the Tree Stands
Where the tree stands, its shadow grows
In purple stain on the drifted snow.
And where the sun descends the sky
A crimson glow seems to defy
The approaching dark. One star gleams
bright—
First of the jewels of the night.
The cold is sharp as a dagger drawn
From winter’s sheath; the air grows wan
As the red recedes, and the shining frost
Lies on the snow; the lovely, lost
Day is forgotten. Aloof and chill
Above the distant frozen hill
The moon rides high. Now the silent tree
Again throws shadowed symmetry.
But black as soot on the moonlit snow
Where tiny footprints come and go.
MART WILLIS SHELBURNE.
1 '