Evening star. [volume], September 04, 1947, Page A-12, Image 12

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

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A-~12~K * THURSPAYTSeptember 4, 1947
But When Will It Be Licked?
When will the housing shortage be
licked? Chairman Wolcott of the House
Banking Committee predicted yesterday
that if it were not licked by February 29—
when present rent controls expire—the
controls probably will be extended. But
who Is the umpire who will say when the
housing shortage is licked?
une nousing goal is a minion nousing
units per year for the next ten years. In
the first seven months of last year, 163,300
new, permanent housing units were com
pleted. In the same period this year the
number rose to 428,000. A good gain. There
was no comparable gain in new, perma
nent housing units started, however. In
the first seven months of last year 402,700
were started, compared with 441,000 in the
same period this year. The Bureau of
Labor Statistics has not yet changed its
estimate for the year of 725,000 new units
started. It may be exceeded. But the
price continues to push many of these
units beyond the average reach and there
are no signs yet of any price decline.
In the meantime, some of the effects of
the extension of rent control last spring
are taking statistical form. Landlords, it
will be recalled, were permitted to increase
rent 15 per cent by “voluntary agreement”
with tenants receiving an extension of the
lease. Through the five-week period end
ing August 1, 519,000 tenants “voluntarily”
agreed to the increase. They constituted
3.3 per cent of all registered tenants in
the country. The Office of the Housing Ex
pediter reports now that the peak of such
agreements filed there has been reached
and the percentage of voluntary agree
ments is not expected to rise above 6 after
August figures have been tabulated. The
mgiicai/ pci^ciii/agc ui wiui leiiL
increases was in the Chicago area, where
the figure reached 13.3. For other sec
tions, some of the figures follow: New
England, 2.3; East Central, 2.7; Middle
Atlantic, 1.9; South Atlantic, 1.4; South
Central, 1.6; Rocky Mountain, 4.3, and the
West Coast, 1.6.
Nearby Virginia shows a higher per
centage of leases (with the increased
rental) than any other section of the area,
which includes eight Southeastern States.
The percentage there is slightly over 9, of a
total of 50,000 units. Most of these in
creases— 2,983 out of 3,537 units — came
from three developments across the river,
Buckingham, Colonial Village and Arling
ton Village.
It is difficult to tell from such figures
the extent of the authorized 15 per cent
rent increases, or the extent of resulting
hardships by tenants. Only some 20 per cent
of all rented property in the country is
rented through lease. But the prediction
of real estate interests, that lifting of
rental controls would stimulate building, is
yet to be fulfilled. There is some increase
in building. But only an optimist would
. say that the increase, so far, promises to
"lick the housing shortage” before next
March.
Hemisphere Census
, Representatives of twenty-one different
nations are meeting in Washington this
week to plan a census of the Western
Hemisphere* in 1950. The fruits of their
discussions should be of interest to every
inhabitant of the Columbian half of the
globe. From the patterns of procedure
which they develop in their present assem
bly may come innumerable advantages
for millions of living people and for a
still larger number of people not yet born.
A census in the modern sense of the
word is a much more important enterprise
than a mere counting of noses such as
Moses ordered among the Israelites in
1490 B.C. It goes -far beyond the scope
of the tally commanded by Servius Tullius
of every Roman’s estate at five-year
intervals beginning in 566 B.C. The listing
of the Hebrews was for prospective
military purposes and that of Rome for
taxation. A more complex civilization
than any of ancient times requires data
for a wide variety of reasons and on a
wide variety of subjects. The populations
of the twenty-two countries of the hemi
sphere are to be registered, and this in
itself will be valuable to statisticians
dealing with problems affecting even the
most obscure and humble of persons.
Equally vital, however, are the questions to
be asked about cultural and social matters.
• When the New World census has been
completed there should be available to
students a completely new picture of
literacy, living conditions, health, housing,
agriculture, trade and financial operations,
transportation, communication and, most
notably, labor in a multiplicity of aspects.
The work, of course, will be difficult.
Much of the preliminary effort already
has been put forward by the special com
mittee of the Inter-American Statistical
Institute, now in session here. The sched
ules of inquiry and reporting which .its
members are framing require vision as
well as experience. It is imperative that
the approved formulas should have natural
appeal to all classes and conditions of
the hemisphere’s residents. The census
will succeed in exactly the ratio of the
sponsoring governments’ capacity to win
the active and energetic support of agen
cies functioning in the cities, towns and
Tillages' of the two American continents.
h
Obviously, the local authorities everywhere
must help intelligently. The same observa
tion applies to schools, churches, voluntary
associations like the Red Cross, fraternal
bodies, trade unions, the press, radio,
motion pictures. One grand result of the
whole tremendous business should be that
of demonstrating the power of mutuality
in the New World—a useful force for the
service of all humanity.
Russia and Bulgaria
A decent respect to the opinions of man
kind should impel the men of the Kremlin
to reply favorably to our latest note on
the notorious Petkov case and Bulgarian
political repression in general. The un
usually sharp and unvarnished language of
that note is completely justified. Russia
can reject it only at the cost of making
itself seem altogether faithless to its
solemn Yalta pledges and its obligations
under the Charter of the United Nations.
The facts involved are simple enough.
First of all, under the Yalta agreement,
Russia, Britain and the United States are
committed to work together to establish
a representative government in Bulgaria.
We and the British have acted in concert
to that end, but the Russians have followed
an exactly opposite course. With their
blessing, if not with their active help,
the Communist-dominated government at
Sofia has made a mockery of the Yalta
guarantees. In ruthless totalitarian style,
with duplicity and terrorism, it has done
away with virtually all opposition. Thus,
the democratic Agrarian Party, despite Its
great number of followers, has been bra
zenly liquidated, and its leader, Nikola
Petkov, had been condemned to death on
vague charges of “conspiracy” after a trial
just described by the State Department as
“scandalous.”
In answer to our earlier protests against
all this dirty work, the Russians have re
buked us for “rude interference” in the
internal arffairs of “independent” Bulgaria.
Our latest note,, however, bluntly reminds
them of their Yalta responsibilities and of
the fact that the country still is under
Allied control. Further, mincing no words,
it charges them with violating the obliga
tions they share with us and the British.
It charges them, too, with negating our
rights as a signatory to the Bulgarian
armistice. And on these and other grounds
it renews our demand for an Anglo
American-Soviet review of the Petkov case
and for concerted tnree-power action to
effectuate the Yalta guarantees. Certainly,
as the note declares, it is “manifestly pre
posterous” for any one to pretend that
those guarantees are in force now. The
only thing in force is the force of the
terroristic Communist regime.
The Bulgarian situation, of course, fits
into the larger pattern of political repres
sion characterizing all the Soviet satel
lites, and there may be little or no chance,
therefore, that the Kremlin will accede to
our demand. Nevertheless, with the Gen
eral Assembly of the United Nations sched
uled to meet within a fortnight, our latest
in a long series of protesting notes is
wholly timely and wholly to the point. If
it does not move the Stalin government to
favorable, actiion, at least it will add im
portant hew evidence to a historical, record
that the world needs to keep straight.
As of now. that record ipeaks 111 of the
iMIiJOlOllO. DWI1C1 Ut lttlCI, UIUCOO llicy
change it for the better, it will force
a fateful showdown over the question
whether they have any right to belong to
the United Nations and still flout its
principles in Bulgaria and elsewhere be
hind the Iron Curtain. The answer cannot
be delayed indefinitely.
If Princess Ashrat Pahlavi is going to be
a Red Cross nurse, a lot of fellows are likely
to be willing to be sick or even wounded.
Turnabout in Ecuador
Ecuador is doing it again. This relatively
small country, lying athwart the Equator,
as its name implies, and wedged nar
rowly between more powerful neighbors
on the west coast of South America, has
a habit of staging revolutions. Presidents
come and go in quick succession, some
times at a rate of two per year. The one
redeeming feature of this revolutionary
habit is that it is a relatively Innocuous
one. Bloodshed and destruction of prop
erty are usually at a minimum, while
proscriptions of the defeated are rare.
This revolutionary moderation is ex
emplified in the twin upheavals of the
past ten days. 'Phe first one occurred
when a certain Colonel Mancheno, Minis
ter of Defense in the cabinet of the then
President Ibarra, staged what looked like
a model performance. He and a group of
officers appeared at the presidential palace.
The sentry on duty at the door fired one
shot and then capitulated. Thereafter the
colonel and his followers had a seemingly
amicable chat with the President, who
was permitted to leave the country by
plane. Colonel Mancheno thereupon de
clared himself “prbvisional executive,”
and tha\ was that. No one had been hurt
or even put in Jail.
Up to that moment, the trouble appeared
to have been chiefly a clash of personali
ties. President Ibarra and Colonel Man
cheno had not been getting along well to
gether, and the colonel had reason to
believe that he was about to lose his job,
which was a good one. Unfortunately for
him, he apparently did not properly
"square” the army generals in the prov
inces. The result of that miscalculation
is that those generals got together and
staged a counterrevolution which ousted
Colonel Mancheno after only a nine-day
tenure of office. Again, the fighting seems
to have been negligible. The government
battalions went over to the “rebels” and
the doughty colonel disappeared in the
shuffle, his exact whereabouts being, at
this writing, unknown. ' Meanwhile, the
fugitive President Ibarra is preparing to
fly back to his country, thereby repeating
a performance staged some years ago,
when he similarly returned from enforced
absence to reassume his executive duties
following a successful revolution.
The moral (if there be one) to be drawn
from these events is that Ecuador’s politi
cal life is on an extremely artificial and
limited basis. Most of the inhabitants of
that backward land are primitive Indians,
governed and exploited by a small upper
class of whites and near whites of Spanish
descent. Ecuador’s chief “industry” is poli
tics, interpreted In terms of government
Jobs, including the miniature army of less
/ • .
than 10,000 personnel. The trouble is that
there are not enough good jobs to go
around. Hence, a chronic struggle between
“ins” and *“outs,” in which the average
citizen has little or no concern. Ideologies
play only p minor part.
Atom-Powered Fleets
It is typical of Vice Admiral Edward L.
Cochrane that, in retiring after thirty-seven
years of distinguished naval service, he
looks forward to the Navy of the future,
rather than indulge in retrospection of the
Navy as he has known it in the past. Be
cause he is the man who directed the build
ing of thousands of warships during World
War II, and because he will continue his
interest in naval architecture at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Admiral Cochrane’s conception of atomic
age warfare is of exceptional importance.
As chief of the Bureau of Ships during
most of the war, Admiral Cochrane super
vised the construction of the greatest fleet
of conventional warships ever known. That
is, the ships were conventional by World
War II standards, although they boasted
of such revolutionary Improvements as
radar, rockets and proximity-fused shells.
Then came the atomic bomb, with reper
cussions that were felt in the drafting
rooms of naval architects and ordnance
experts’the world over.
Hence, Admiral Cochrane has seen most
of the fine ships of his stirring war years
relegated to obsolescence. But, while he
concedes the passing of the ordinary
battleship, aircraft carrier and other pre
atomic combat vessel, he by no means
rules the Navy from the seas of the future.
On the contrary, Admiral Cochrane, speak
ing from his experience as a naval archi
tect, foresees larger and more formidable
warships, built not only to resist atomic
attack but to take advantage of atomic
power for propulsion and counterattack.
He believes that carriers larger than the
forty-flve-thousand-ton Midway will form
the nucleus of atomic fleets. They will be
powered by atomic engines and will be
equipped to launch atomic-armed planes
and rockets.
Added significance is given Admiral
Cochrane’s statements by the secrecy
shrouded cruise of the Midway, just begun
from Portsmouth, Virginia. Reports from
“usually reliable sources” have it that the
Midway has been equipped with V-2 rocket
launchers, although official naval circles
refuse to deny or confirm the report. It
has been announced, moreover, that sev
eral warships still on the ways are being
reconstructed in line with lessons learned
from the Bikini tests.
In short, today’s conventional ships
rapidly are being converted into unconven
tional prototypes of the warships of the
future. This process of evolution undoubt
edly will take a long time. In the mean
time, as another retiring naval officer,
Vice Admiral George F. Hussey, told re
porters, prudence requires that we hold
onto enough of our conventional ships to
defend our coasts and bases until the
revolutionary ships and weapons are ready
to go into action. And that will be quite a
few years in the future, according to those
qualified to express an opinion.
It used to be that everybody looked out
of the window when a plane was heard
passing. Nowadays people look out when
they don’t hear any going over.
Red Riding Hood’s wolf was relatively
harmless compared with some of the pres
ent pack.
. This and That
By Charles E. Tracewell.
Templeton Jones Is not so much worried
about the length of the ladies’ skirts as he is
that their clothing is not functional.
"I have been looking around,” he saiS, ‘‘and
see women’s clothing that I like a lot better.
“I saw a Hindu woman the other day, in long
robe, like a toga or something, and I thought
it far better looking than most of the clothes
American women wear.
"This Hindu lady looked pretty neat.
“Then I saw some Amish folic out at the
Zoo. The men wore those broad-brim hats,
soft black suits and blue shirts, and the ladles
the sunbonnets and black dresses.
"All of these costumes looked hot, I will
admit, but they looked as if they belonged, as
the phrase has it.
"I will be willing to bet that all of these
clothes, coming from almost around the world
from each other, have a good reason for being.
"They are not just some designers’ ideas
of what other people ought to wear.
"Certainly the design has never been changed
at somebody’s mere whim.
"These were clothes that evolved.
“They came about because they suited some
body or some group of somebodies. Maybe
they, too, in the beginning, were based on
whim and fancy, I wouldn’t know, but at any
rate today they seem to mean Hindu, in the
one case, and Amish, in the other.
“I was particularly charmed by the fact
that the little Amish girls wore the exact
costume of their mothers, and the little boys
the same style clothing as their fathers.
"They all seemed happy in them, despite the
heat, and I couldn’t see that they looked any
hotter than any one else.
“I have always been somewhat amazed that
some personable and progressive lady did not
get up a fad or craze for wearing the Hindu
costume, or the gypsy clothing, or even the
classical Greek or Roman wear.
*'Tf 4 m iwita tVsef m Act tVtaen imi nr/\i lM
not do so well In cold weather, but inventive
genius could overcome that.
“The main thing would be to get clothing
that somehow seemed to belong to the people
who wore it.
“Today what do we have?
“Young people have sensed that American
clothing does not, somehow, seem to be right.
“They have made up for themselves sorts of
costumes, both for boys and girls.
“They feel easier, happier, no doubt, in these
semi-uniforms. The boys have even carried
the thing so far that they all roll up one
trouser leg so that bare meat is showing.
“There would be no need for such eccentrici
ties if American clothing really expressed those
who wear it.
"As it is now, we are so obsessed with keep
ing the crease in trousers and determining just
how long, to the inch, the skirt shall be, that
we have no time to put on the main question
of how our clothing looks and feels.
“Men’s sincerity in clinging to old worn hats
and clothes of all types shows that something
is wrong with our dress.
“If our garb were truly functional, as that
of the Hindus, the gypsies and the Amish
farm folk of Pennsylvania, we would have less
to worry about, and no doubt would be happier
and more comfortable at all seasons of the
year.
“We would not have to go on fishing and
camping trips to be ourselves.
“nte day is coming, I feel sure, when we will
do something about this matter, but not until
we decide to be Americans, first of all, not
Imitation French or imitation somebody else.
“We want to be ourselves, and if we ever get
around to that, instead of poking our long
collective nose into every national life the
world around, we will make for ourselves
beautiful, comfortable clothes that fit us better
than anything tljpught up abroad.”
Fingerprints by the Million ,
What Happens and Why When Government Workers
Record Themselves for FBI’s Files
By Vincent Dwyer
Between now ana April 1, i»4B, more tnan
2,000,000 Government employe* will walk up
to an ink pad, push their Angers down on it
and then have the impression of each digit
recorded on a card.
That is the simple first step in the Govern
ment’s loyalty check of its workers.
The fingerprinting will be done by personnel
officers of the various agencies all over the
world. The smaller agencies, those with 100 or
fewer employes, have to have the prints de
livered to the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
by October 10. Larger agencies must send in
15 per cent each month, with the first delivery
due September 18.
Fingerprinting is painless, though sometimes
messy. But somewhere around 1,000,000 of the
subjects will be nervous, for no reason at all.
That is the estimate of personnel officers who
have been taking Federal workers’ fingerprints
for years. Some of the most nervous, officials
say, are those who have been printed many
times in the past. Asked why he has the jitters,
a worried subject usually says he doesn't know,
he Just doesn't like the idea.
Even before they start checking the prints,
officials are convinced 99.9 per cent will reveal
nothing detrimental in the past or present of
the employe.
Sorting Them Out at FBI.
But what happens to the prints after they
are delivered by mail, truck or messenger to
the FBI?
First they are taken to the sixth floor of the
FBI’s identification division at Second and D
streets S.W. There they are recorded, numbered
and sorted as to agencies.
The prints are then delivered to a fingerprint
analyst who peers at them through a magnify
ing glass, notes the shape of the lines left by
the ink and makes both a primary and sec
ondary classification.
Contrary to a widespread popular opinion,
none of the classification of prints is done by
An FBI worker searching files for
identification of a flngerpriht.
Star Staff Photo.
common misspelling of names and the check
is phonetic as well as visual.
The next step is the fingerprint search during
which the prints are compared with those
of the same classification on file. In the
cases of all Government workers but those
very recently hired a set of duplicate {Hints
will be found in the file.
The FBI never throws away a set of finger
prints. If the new prints are clearer than the
master print already on file, the new are
substituted for it. If not they become another
card in the packet of prints.
Even the prints of dead people are kept
in a special file, just in case.
Before the prints are filed away a final
check of them is made by fingerprint experts
to make sure the classification is correct.
The prints of the Federal workers will have
lots of company in the files. There are now
over 105,000,000 sets of fingerprints kept by
the FBI. They represent impressions taken
from about 65,000,000 people.
Duplicates Are Quickly Found.
In spite of the huge number, it takes only
three to five minutes in most cases to find a
print on file once the incoming print has
been classified.
Because the ulnar loop patterns are so
numerous, a sorting machine is used to com
pare prints in that group. Cards which are
punctured to indicate the classification are
placed in the sorting machine. A drum at
tached to the machine is then set to indicate
the print desired. The machine throws out
the cards, those not near the pattern wanted
go into one pile and those, usually less than
half a dozen, which might be it into another.
A fingerprint expert then pulls the prints
which might be the one desired and compares
them with the one whose duplicate he is seek
ing.
Criminal and noncriminal prints are kept
separately by the bureau. In turn, the prints
of dangerous criminals—some 15,000 of them—
are broken down to a flnger-by-ftnger classi
fication. That enables the FBI to make an
identification if a thug leaves only one print
at a crime scene.
But that is the deadly business end of the
process. For Government employes it is Just
a routine matter without, in the overwhelm
ingly majority of cases, any repercussion.
liiauiiiiic:. xiic nuge tabu hi me
2,000,000 sets of fingerprints of Government
workers will be done by the 180 classifiers em
ployed by the identification bureau of the FBI.
The FBI said the size of the staff would not
be increased because funds are lacking to em
ploy additional workers. In spite of the extra
work burden, however, FBI identification of
ficials expect to have the prints classified rea
sonably soon after the last of them is sub
mitted.
The primary classification breaks the print
down into one of eight patterns, depending on
the course the lines of the finger follow from
the delta to the core.
The delta is toward the bottom of the first
Joint of the finger and is the place where
the lines start toward the top of the finger.
The core is near the central part of the first
joint and is the place around which the lines
revolve.
The eight primary classifications are called
arch, tented arch, radial loop, ulnar loop, plain
whorl, double loop, central pocket loop and
accidental—which last means any print that
doesn’t fit the other seven patterns.
The secondary classification is the result
of counting the number of lines, or ridges,
between the delta and the core on each finger
and noting other characteristics of the print.
Checking Against Previous File.
In making the primary classification it is
a case of majority rule. That is, where all
fingers do not follow one pattern the classifica
tion is made according to th« pattern in which
most of the fingers fall.
Once the prints are classified they are sent
to a card index room where the name on the
fingerprint card is checked against the names
the bureau has on file.
Allowance is made here for the more or less
Letters to The Star
Praises Star s Sex-Grime Gampaign
To the Editor of The Star:
Law enforcement, social and psychiatric
forces in the District have been heartened
recently by The Star’s strong support of ade
quate sex-crime legislation for our community.
Your articles, together with the known favor
able attitude of congressional leaders and the
strong advocacy by the bench, bar, police and
civic groups, of greater protection in this field,
give promise of early, resultful action.
It is a particularly difficult Held of Juris
prudence for which to enact sound and socially
useful laws—laws that will safeguard society
from potential killers while, at the same time,
protecting individual rights, notably the rights
of mentally sick Individuals.
As long ago as April 2, 1947, a bill (H.R. 2937)
designed to deal with the sex-crime offender
was Introduced in the House. The D. C. Social
Hygiene Society was invited by Chairman Dirk
sen of the House District Committee to study
and report on this draft. Our society’s presi
dent, Dr. William P. Herbst, appointed the
following committee to study it: Judge Fay
L. Bentley, D. C. Juvenile Court; James V.
Bennett, chief, Federal Bureau of Prisons; Dr.
J. R. Heller, chief, Division of Venereal Disease,
U. 8. Public Health Service; Rhoda Milllken,
chief, Women’s Bureau, Metropolitan Police
Department; Dr. Winfred Overholser, super
intendent, St. Elizabeths Hospital, and myself.
Though compelled to report adversely on this
bill, the committee urged further study toward
the formulation of legislation that would be
both fair and efficient—legally, socially and
psychiatrically. Hence it is most encouraging
to note the strong assurances of U. S. Attorney
_ ... a i . ___iU.l iU.
Letters for publication must bear
the signature and address of the
writer, although it is permissible for a
writer known to The Star to use a
nom de plume. Please be brief.
nant) and children aboard the vessels at Port
de Bouc for nearly three weeks. Finally, find
ing them still adamant in their decision, the
Foreign Office announced that the refugees
were to be taken to Hamburg. Once in British
controlled territory, it was apparently thought
that force could be used to disembark them,
or as the British statement declared, they
would “not be allowed to remain aboard." Tttie
latest information Is that three degrees of com
pulsion will be used—“manhandling, hosepipes
and tear gas.” Only If this "persuasion" falls,
will troops be called In.
The British authorities tried to justify their
decision not to send the refugees to Cyprus, but
none of their explanations hold good on exam
ination. Thus they said that the British sone
of Germany was the only place where there
was a possibility of housing and feeding the
refugees at short notice. Nevertheless, reports
from Cyprus indicated that as soon as the news
came about the Interception of the Exodus,
the camp authorities began preparations to
receive the newcomers.
Almost every Incident In connection with the
Exodus has been a blow to principles of
freedom and democracy. The boarding of the
Exodus well outside Palestine territorial
waters, the ramming of the vessel by Royal
Navy cruisers and the use of force which re
sulted in the death of three passengers (as
vouched for In a sworn statement made by
an American newspaperman, John Orauel,
who made the voyage from France for the
Churchman) can only be described as piracy.
The detention of the refugees In prison cages
aboard the deportation vessels for several weeks
is tantamount to shanghaiing. Finally, the de
cision to take the refugees back to Germany,
ray ana uliicx uutouumiug w.10
subject will receive prompt and continuing
attention until the right formula is evolved.
Meanwhile we may rest assured that Wash
ington's mothers and fathers will maintain
their keen interest in seeing their children
guarded against these most sinister types of
exploitation.
RAY H. EVERETT,
Executive Secretary, Social Hygiene Society.
Problem of Exodus 1947
To the Editor of The St»r:
When the Exodus 1947 was brought into
Haifa on July 18 and its passengers transhipped
to deportation vessels, it was generally under
stood that they would be sent, like others be
fore them, to Cyprus; leaflets to this effect were
distributed among them. Later, however, the
British announced that the refugees were to
be returned to their port of sailing in France.
Once back at Port de Bouc, the refugees re
fused to land in France, although they ex
pressed gratitude to the French Government
for its offer of hospitality and for the focd.and
other supplies sent aboard. France, loyal to its
traditional belief in the liberty of the individual,
refused to countenance the use of force against
the passengers. Despite the appalling condi
tions aboard the vessels where the refugees were
kept below deck almost the whole time, not
withstanding the intense heat, and where sani
tary arrangements verged on the dangerous,
the people refused to land. In the hope of
wearing down their resistance, the British kept
the men, women (of whom some 60 are ^reg
b
where the air is still foul witn tne stencn oi
the crematoria, is the act of a sadistic bully
wreaking revenge on a group of helpless human
beings.
Britain’s savage behavior toward the Ex
odus refugees must have shocked every free
dom-loving American. However, the British
government today has an opportunity of re
trieving its reputation, by permitting the Ex
odus refugees to enter Palestine, in keeping
with the UNSCOP recommendation for the
admission of 150,000 refugees over a two-year
period beginning with the publication of the
committee's report. We trust that the makers
of public opinion in the United States will Join
their voices both in protest at Britain's blatant
disregard of the elementary rights of man and
in the demand that the men and women of
the Exodus be taken Immediately to Pales
tine. ELIA HU EPSTEIN,
Director, the Jewish Agency for Palestine.
Slogan Revised
To the Editor of The Star:
With my landlord asking for higher rent,
prices of food and clothing going higher and
higher, I think that the Republican*’ 1946
slogan should be revised slightly. It should
read: "Had enough? Vote Republican and
you'll never have enough!"
MRS. B. BROWN.
The Political Mill
High Prices and Housing
Seen Issues Facing G. 0. P.
Republican Members of Congress
Must Act to Keep Seats
By Gould Lincoln
High prices and housing—particularly tor
war veterans—loom as the two major issues
which the Republican Congress must do some
thing about in its next session, if it wishes
to continue in power after the 1948 elections.
These are issues which are vitally interesting
to the people from coast to coast—and up to
the present little, beyond a lot of conversa
tion, has been done about them. They have.
Indeed, been treated very' like the weather.
Warnings to the GOP high command re
garding this failure have come from two fresh
man Republican Senators—Baldwin of Con
necticut and McCarthy of Wisconsin. The
Democrats, of course, have been throwing
prices and lack of housing up to the Republi
cans for months.
As a first step—and it seems to the man in
the street a belated one—Republican-domi
nated congressional committees are now getting
to work on both high prices and housing.
Senator Baldwin, months ago, proposed a Joint
congressional committee to Investigate the
cause of high prices and to make recommenda
tions for lowering them. It took the Repub
lican leadership a long time to get around to
acting on his and other proposals regarding
prices.
People Want Results.
Just what can be done about high prices Is
something yet to be determined. More abun
dant production is, of course, one sure way of
dealing with the question. But it is impos
sible to legislate production into being. A
thorough ventilation, however, of high prices
and how they came about—with much attend
ing publicity—is a practical way of doing
something. One of the obvious reasons for
shortages of goods of all kinds is the vast
amount which is being shipped to other parts
of the world—to aid the war stricken. It
seems Impossible to deny this aid.
Excuses are not what the American people
are interested in Just now. They want results.
The Democrats have been howling about hign
prices for a long time—ever since a coalition
of Republicans and Democrats in the last
Congress (before the present Republican Con
gress came into being) declined to continue the
Office of Price Control in all its pristine powers.
But the Democrats, while they denounce the
Republicans for allowing the OPA to die, have
not yet produced any tangible program for con
trolling prices. Even they have not yet pro
posed that the OPA be revived, with all its
powers of fixing prices, and the attendant black
market operations, which would be sure to
follow.
Labor Is hard hit by high prices—but no more
so than the so-called white-coliar class, and
certainly not as much as those who are forced
to live on fixed annuities or incomes. Blit labor
—and for this the Republicans cannot be
blamed—and its large increases in wages after
the war ended started the inflation spiral.
Labor was encouraged, if it needed encourage
ment, in this course by the Democratic ad
ministration, with both President Truman and
his then Secretary of Commerce, Henry A.
Wallace, declaring that wages could be in
creased without necessarily increasing prices.
All this began and went forward when the
OPA was still in full force and effect. Strikes
for higher wages helped to maintain shortages
in the goods the people wanted. And it was
soon evident that prices had to increase with
wages.
Others Shortsighted.
Not all the blame, however, rests with labor.
Shortsighted manufacturers and other pro
ducers should have their full share, Intent on
getting big profits, which they did.
It is over these issues among others that the
more liberal Republicans in and out of Con
gress are going to the mat with the more con
servative, Old Guard Republicans. Obviously,
however, the oomlng session of Congress must
bestir Itself—and the betting is that the Re
publicans, who are now at home getting first
hand complaints from their constituents, will
do their best to convince the voters they have
their interests at heart.
Questions and Answers
A reader can obtain the answer to any oueatlon
of faet by writln* The Kvenlna Star Information
Bureau. 31 fl I atreet N.E.. Washlnaton 2. D. C.
Please Include 8 cents for return poetase.
By THE HASKIN SERVICE.
Q. Under what authority does Congress have
the right to punish for contempt?—L. R. T.
A. Although the power to punish contempt
was not specifically granted Congress by the
Constitution, the power has always been ex
ercised by Congress on the ground of Implied
power and the usage of the State Legislatures
and the British Parliament. The Supreme
Court in 1821 held that the power to punish
contempt must be assumed to adhere in each
house; otherwise Congress would be "exposed
to every indignity and interruption that rude
ness, caprice or even conspiracy may mediate
against it.”
Q. What is a golden hamster?—M. S. R.
A. A golden hamster Is a rodent about seven
Inches long with deep golden-brown fur and
looks something like a chipmunk. One pair
may increase to 100,000 a year. Used for
scientific research, they are being raised by
about 3,000 amateurs and professionals in the
ynlted States.
Q. Did the first airplane carrying mail from
Washington to New York reach its destination?
—R. D. E.
A. On May 16. 1918, when the first mall
carrying plane left Washington, the pilot, after I
flying for a short distance, lost his bearings;
and landed on a Maryland farm 36 miles out of
Washington. In landing he broke a propeller
blade so that it was necessary to rescue the
mall by automobile.
Q. If one has money stolen from him can he
deduct it from his Income In making his income
tax return?—N. C. F.
A. If the theft has been properly reported
to the police so that the facta can be estab
lished, it can be deducted. The proper place
•for such a deduction was Indicated on page 3 of
the 1946 return. However, if one uses the
standard deduction tables in computing his
tax the money theft cannot be aeperately de
ducted, since in these tables an allowance
has been made for all deductions.
Country Earth
He who has lived with city's brick and
stone
Through all his patterned days has never
known
The country earth when it is moist and
brown,
Smoky with planted spice, not smoke of
town;
Here are beginnings and all things grown
old.
Young sprouts break through the years of
fallow mold
So that the freshness of the new-green leaf
Is parent to this thought, this sure belief :
Here stranger-fingers, now long dust with
dust,
Dropped seeds and watched the slow
plants thrust
To bearing—yet here, green across the
land,
Are new fields, tilled by a new-eager hand,
Blending together in the richness of th$
. earth
Tomorrow’s harvest and primeval birthI
ANOBEL ARMOUR.
A