Evening star. [volume], September 10, 1947, Page A-10, Image 10

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

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With Sunday Morning Edition.
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A—10 WEDNESDAY, September 10, J947
Toward a Metropolitan PUC
Day by day and week by week the
Pentagon bus fare battle becomes more
complicated. The latest move in the free
for-all is the Army’s appeal to the Inter
state Commerce Commission for continu
ance of the controversial Virginia-District
bus transfer arrangement, which has
brought the ICC into conflict with the
District Public Utilities Commission and
the Capital Transit Company.
It all goes back to the wartime system by
which the Capital Transit Company fur
nished bus service to the Pentagon, as an
emergency expedient. With the close of
the war, the company obtained permission
to discontinue the Virginia extension.
But, at the insistence of the ICC and over
the protest of the District PUC, Capital
Transit was required by the ICC to enter
into a special ticket agreement with two
Virginia buslines. These tickets favor Pen
tagon workers with rates below the lowest
fares available to non-Pentagon customers.
The PUC last June notified the Capital
Transit Company that the ICC-sponsored
joint ticket plan was, in its opinion, in
valid for the reason that only the PUC has
power to fix fares within the District. The
company used this statement in support
of a petition to the District Court for relief
from the ICC order. The Secretary of
War joined the ICC in resisting the court
attempt to void the transfer plan. The
case is yet to be heard. But that is not all.
Last month the Virginia buslines peti
tioned the ICC for permission to withdraw
from their joint ticket arrangement with
Capital Transit and the latter promptly
joined in the application, it was in oppo
sition to this joint petition of the bus
companies that the War Department filed
its protest yesterday.
Thus the battle to decide the bus fare
dispute and the respective jurisdictions of
the ICC and PUC goes merrily on, with the
outcome not likely to be known for some
weeks, at the earliest. This is but one
part of an over-ail problem that involves
not only buses but taxicabs operating
across the line into Maryland and Vir
ginia. It becomes increasingly evident that
the only hope for an end of these recurring
jurisdictional disputes is the creation oy
Federal-State-District compact of a public
utilities commission for the whole Metro
politan Area. It is to be hoped that the
current squabbles will facilitate a move in
that direction.
London's Bear Market
The London Stock Exchange is an •excel
lent barometer of the economic “climate”
in Britain. Its quotations certainly reflect
the prevalent financial opinions of those
who own or control money for investment
in stocks and bonds. Furthermore, the
London market is somewhat more inter
national in character than Wall Street,
owing to the number of traded items from
various parts of the British Empire and
certain other countries with heavy |
British capital investments, such as
Argentina.
It is against this factual background
that the performance of the London Stock
Exchange in recent weeks should be eval
uated. And that performance indicates
profound pessimism on the part of the
moneyed interests, great and small. The
result has been a series of sharp market
breaks, with recoveries which the “market
wise” esteem as merely technical, due
chiefly to covering of oversold accounts.
The cumulative picture is that of a pro
found slump, the market floundering in a
sea of uncertainty and apprehension over
the national and international outlook.
A large majority of investors have ob
viously made up their minds that they are
confronted with a real “bear market” and
that it is therefore high time to get out.
This accounts for the recurrent waves of
selling, much of it urgent though mingled
with speculative factors.
The British investment public not only
takes a dark view of the country’s economic
crisis, but is also highly skeptical of the
Labor government’s ability to handle it.
The “wildcat” strikes in the Yorkshire
coal fields, with the government and
the Labor hierarchy sidestepping drastic
measures to halt them, produce a very bad
impression in moneyed circles. Coal pro
duction is absolutely vital, not only to
Britain’s recovery, but likewise to avert a
deepening of the current economic crisis
into downright catastrophe. Yet the Labor
government seems to have little to offer
in the way of concrete and effective action.
Financial and business pessimism is re
flected in the virtual drying up of new
capital offerings. These fell to the por
tentous low of 3,250,000 sterling for the
month of August, as against a total of
45,750,000 sterling for July.
“The City” seems to be as irritatedly
scornful of Foreign Secretary Bevin’s sug
gestion that America’s Fort Knox gold
hoard be redistributed as we are on this
side of the Atlantic. Financial London
was practically unanimous in deeming the
proposal to be as useless for Britain and
for Europe as was gold to King Midas in
the mythological tale. Financial experts
were quick to point out that what Britain
.wants and needs is, not gold, but food and
raw materials wherewith to increase ex
ports. Their conclusion is that, even if
tbe Amepjcan Government did take Mr.
Bevin’s advice, the gold shipped to Britain
would go right back again to Fort Knox.
All this shows that Britain’s financial
circles have their feet on the ground. Un
fortunately, this grasp of economic realities
does not seem to be shared by other seg
ments of the British people.
New Atomic Studies
Within recent days the United States
Atomic Energy Commission has announced
the beginning of two new studies of great
potential importance. One has to do with
possible long-range hereditary changes
stemming from the Japanese survivors of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The other is
aimed at determining the most effective
safeguards against the peculiar hazards
involved in our present nuclear-fission
projects.and the additional ones certain
to be built in the future.
The latter study speaks pretty much for
itself. To be conducted by a special ad
visory board made up of experts on in
dustrial health and safety, it will cover
the problem of protecting workers and
communities associated with atomic de
velopment. Up to now—at Oak Ridge and
affiliat.prl nlanfcs—t.hprp has hppn PYppllpnt.
protection against such dangers as expo
sure to radiation and radioactive contam
ination. But in preparation for the time
when nuclear power will be operating in
a much wider field common sense demands
that action be taken now to work out a
comprehensive set of safeguards for life
and limb.
Not less important than this—in some
respects, far more important—is the he
redity study. It will be carried out jointly
by the Atomic Energy Commission and the
National Research Council, with the co
operation of Japanese scientists. ‘Its pur
pose will be to find out what effects, if any,
the Hiroshima and Nagasaki explosions
will have on children yet unborn. The
explosion unleashed an immense amount
of radiation theoretically capable of affect
ing the makeup of the survivors’ descend
ants. As yet, despite loose talk to the
contrary, there has been no authoritative
evidence of monstrous abnormalities in
babies born in the two cities since the
A-bombs went off. Nevertheless, it is
possible that there will be a delayed re
action. When today’s babies grow up, their
offspring conceivably may deviate from
the norm. Hence the study now under
way will take many years to complete;
meanwhile, the subject must remain
largely a matter of somewhat gruesome
speculation.
What is not speculative, however, is that
the special study in this field, together with
the study of the health and safety hazards
of our developing nuclear power, is a
necessary project likely to lead to signifi
cant new information. The United States
knows much about the atom, but not all
by any means. To live safely with it in
the age ahead, we must keep on inquiring
into every aspect of it. We have done little
more than scratch the surface so far.
Worth Pursuing
The realities of the world being what
they are at the moment, it would be
optimistic to the point of absurdity to
expect an early universal acceptance of
the ideas contained in the American draft
treaty on international freedom of infor
mation. Nevertheless the ideas deserve to
be promoted abroad, and they should
serve as a useful guide to our representa
tives at the United Nations conference to
discuss this subject at Geneva early next
year. •>, •
Drawn up at the request of the State
Department by a group of professional
experts headed by the publisher of the
Chicago Times, the draft treaty calls, In
effect, for the application in all nations
of the American concept of freedom of the
press, with the word “press” meaning not
merely newspapers, magazines and books,
but the radio and motion pictures as well.
Excepting only matters of military se
curity, it would—if universally adopted—
permit reporters, photographers, broad
casters, etc., to travel and work freely
everywhere, unhampered by the censor
ship and other restrictions that now stand
in the way of an untrammeled interna
tional interchange of news and informa
tion.
In the world as it is, of course, it is
obvious that ft treaty of this kind is not
going to win wide acceptance for many
a long year to come, if ever. Numerous
countries—not Russia alone—sincerely dis
agree with the American idea of press
freedom. Philosophically and otherwise,
interpreting life and society in terms of
cultures, economies and historical back
grounds far different from ours, they
honestly believe—at least some of them
do—that we are on the wrong track or that
what is good for us would be bad for them.
All authoritarian and semiauthoritarian
governments have strong convictions on
this score, and they are not going to swing
around to our view unless and until the
peoples they rule insist upon it—a thing
not likely to happen in the foreseeable
future.
All this is understood by the Americans
who have worked out the draft treaty.
What they hope for, however, is that the
United States will be able to negotiate
such a treaty with at least a few other
countries of like mind, so that little by
little, slowly but surely, the ideal might be
put to work in an ever-increasing area of
the world. The objective is a decidedly
good one. The more progress we make
toward it, the more chance there will be
of reducing the dangerous suspicions and
misunderstandings that harry our age and
make for war. We should pursue it earn
estly, even though the obstacles are very
great.
What Do Parents Think of It?
School days are here again—for almost
everybody in the country except the pupils
of the District public schools. Parochial
schools of Montgomery and Prince Georges
Counties and the public schools of Arling
ton County opened a week ago. District
parochial schools opened Tuesday and the
public schools of Montgomery and Prince
Georges Counties are opening today. But
it will be almost two weeks—and what a
long two weeks!—before our own little
darlings in Washington trudge off, unwill
ing, to public school.
Why is this? Nobody at the. Franklin
School seems to know, exactly. The
Board of Education, of course, makes the
decision, usually in June. But the Board
of Education is in a rut. It has been de
creeing a late opening date and a late
closing date for the Washington schools
for many years. Even its august members,
if pinned down, might not know why.
There is usually some desultory debate.
One small bloc, a minority of independ
ents, argues for early opening and closing
dates. They are promptly voted down by
a heavy majority, preferring a late open
ing and closing. The majority undoubtedly
votes that way because it always has voted
that way.
Parents ought to be heard on the matter.
Do they not feel, about this time in Sep
tember, that it would be a fine thing to
see their young hopefuls getting busy
again? Would they not like to share with
teachers again the beauty of their shining
faces? Would they not give almost any
thing under the sun to get them out of
the house and, started on the routine of
school? For while a child around*the
house is a priceless possession, worth its
weight in pure gold, is it not a fact that
the little treasures become almost insuffer
able as the summer wanes and the autumn
sets in? Answer yes or no. And in the
lovely month of June, would it not be
better for the youngsters to be free of
school, early in the month, to go with
mamma and papa on picnics in the park?
Oh, well, there may be another side to
the argument. But next year the Board of
Education should ask the parents what
they want. The parents might start a new
custom and get the Board of Education out
of a rut.
tomorrows Kocket Nightmare
Guided-missile warfare is still a long way
off, the experts say. But the rocket-firing
experiment conducted by the Navy aboard
the carrier Midway shows that-it is pos
sible, in effect, to “guide” a missile to
within a few hundred or a few score miles
of an enemy coast. Thus, the V-2 rocket’s
maximum range of approximately three
hundred miles can be extended as far as
the cruising range of its mobile platform.
The fact that the Navy chose the forty
five-thousand-ton Midway for its first sea
test with the German-made V-2 rocket
does not mean that today’s carriers are to
be converted into sea platforms for giant
rockets. While it may be that future
carriers will be rocket-armed, their pri
mary mission of launching planes for
reconnaissance and attack requires that
their flight decks be kept clear of rocket
launching apparatus. If rockets are to be
launched from a carrier, they must be
located where flight operations will not be
hampered. And if the reports are correct,
it would have been impossible to carry on
# flying operations while the V-2 was being
‘launched—although planes were put into
the air soon afterward.
As a matter of fact, the Navy has been
concentrating its rocket activities on two
noncarrier-type ships, the huge battleship
Kentucky and the battle cruiser Hawaii.
These new ships are the guinea pigs of
naval rocket research for the time being.
They are experimental prototypes of what
is envisioned as the atomic-powered,
rocket-firing warships of the future. It is
such unprecedentedly fast and maneuver
able ships that most likely will be the
mobile platforms for guided missiles with
atomic warheads. These missiles not only
will be carried to within effective striking
range of enemy shores, but will be capable,
on becoming airborne, of finding their way
unerringly to their targets by electronic
control. This will be push-button warfare
in its most formidable sense—a develop
ment which, fortunately, is little more than
in the nightmare stage today.
This and That
By Charles E. Tracewell
“EDINBURG, Va.
“Dear Sir:
“Do skunks really eat up the sweet corn?
“I thought they are carnivorous animals the
same as cats.
"I cannot imagine my little Moppet being
able to climb a com stalk and eat an ear of
Com.
“I would appreciate it if you would set this
matter right.
“I enjoy This and That all the time, and
am pleased over the tips about cats.
“Sincerely, H. E. C.” ’
Our correspondent is probably thinking about
the raccoon.
While the ’coon, or coon, as he is commonly
called, is a flesh eater, as is the skunk, the coon
will occasionally vary his diet by eating nuts,
fruit and corn.
Skunks seldom if ever eat corn.
Old Mephitis prefers field mice, birds and
chicken.
When he takes up his residence near a barn
yard, he is sure to get away with scores of baby
chicks.
The way he (skunk) goes after the baby
chicks is marvelous to behold. He does not
scare the mother hen, but merely reaches in
a paw and snags out a baby.
Over night he will get half the chicks, and
the next night the other half, unless the hen
is given protection. i
This skillful paw work is regarded as one of
the marvelous things in nature.
Old Man Skunk will eat field mice and in
sects, the latter by the hundreds.
In fact, few living things, not even birds, get
away with more insects than the playful skunk.
This makes him the great friend of the
farmer, but seldom does the latter give him any
credit. Farmers, as a class, harbor deep prej
udices. One of them is that every hawk ought
to be killed, the other is that skunks deserve
the same fate.
And truly, when one happens to whiff the
essence of skunk, one will not wonder at this
deep prejudice!
Modem skunks can be deodorized, when they
make excellent pets. Some persons make pets
of them without the deodorizing operation.
They say that the animal will not use this
power of his if he is thoroughly acquainted
with his human and animal friends. Even the
nousenoia nogs are saie, n me skuflk Knows
them. That, at least, is what the experts say—
but what happens when a strange deg happens
to see the skunk?
Skunks kill many ground-nesting birds and
their young, and eat hundreds of their eggs.
The raccoon, Procyon lotor, also is a flesh
eater, with the exception named.
He normally goes in for mice, birds, frogs,
insects, etc.
All his food must be washed, before it is pre
sented to him.
He washes his own food, in nature, never
failing to dip it into water before eating.
The coon makes a wonderful pet, somewhat
resembling a house cat with thieving propen
sities, if such a thing can be * imagined.
The coon will eat almost anything. This
writer had a pet coon years ago (when he was
eight) and kept it on a long chain.
The problem of keeping the raccoon is not
a hard one, but in the end the animal is let
go, or put into a zoo, because it proves too
troublesome.
It is a kindly creature to humans, but a
worthy foe of dogs. Many a strong dog has
has been licked in a fair fight with the coon.
That is why several dogs are taken along on
coon hunts.
The skunk hibernates, in winter, but not
deeply; that is, he wakes up when the weather
becomes warmer for several days.
Letters to The Star
Too Many Trees at the Capitol?
To the editor ef The Star:
Shortly, the leaves will fall from the trees
surrounding the Capitol Building and one will
be able to see it again in full magnificence.
During the long summers, the building is al
most entirely
obscured e x
cept for the
unhappy
hodgepodge of
planting over
the spacious
grounds.
These Capi
tol grounds have evidently been looked
upon as an arboretum when various well-inten
tioned persons or groups have been able to heel
in any favorite tree. While there are strict laws,
,we are told, against mutilating trees, apparently
there are none against planting what you please
around the Capitol. Thus, scattered indiscrim
inately, is almost anything from a puny crab
apple to what seems to be a Canadian banana
tree.
There are a few trees of historical sig
nificance, a few others of ancient age and
beautiful growth.
All trees, other than these, could well be up
rooted forthwith and carted off. An entirely
new planting scheme should then be inaugu
rated which would make the Capitol grounds
and building the appropriately predominant
motif of the Mall. Old photographs indicate
that the Mall, too, was once as unpleasantly
planted.
While the overgrowth of trees is being de
OtlUJCU, UliC V11KUX1H* UCC^l, WlUWi CUVCiU^CB
the terraces and hides some very attractive
architectural details, should be similarly re
duced.
Then—with a nice bare Capitol, some archi
tect especially skilled in landscape design
such as that consummate artist and crafts
man who produced Meridian Hill, should be
turned loose upon it. Then would the Capitol
Building and Capitol grounds come into right
ful perspective. Then it would be properly
viewed from North Capitol street, East Capi
tol street and the Mall. Approximately planted
in a formal and symmetrical manner, the
architectural shortcomings would be submerged
find the virtues enhanced. The Capitol would
come into its own.
Incidentally, signs might well be posted
Suggesting that those who use the grounds for
' picnics and revelry should stay sober enough
to pick up empty bottles and trash when they
leave. LLEWELLYN PRICE.
Says Lawrence Erred on NLRB Case
To the Editor of The Star: •
The August 19 article by David Lawrence,
entitled “Labor Law Written by New Dealer,
Once Aide of Roosevelt,” requires comment.
Whether Gerald D. Reilly, credited in the
article with being the real author of the Taft
Hartley Act, is correctly described by Mr. Law
rence as a "New Deal labor lawyer” or by the
CIO in its 1947 Voting Guide as a “Washing
ton corporation representative,” is a matter of
opinion. What is pertinent, however, is that
Mr. Lawrence misstates the position of the
NLRB on an important labor case (at the
same time implying that Mr. Reilly, then a
board member, dissented), impugns the in
tegrity of the Supreme Court by stating that it
resorted to “a loophole” to sustain the board,
and finally misrepresents the plain language of
the Taft-Hartley Act.
While Mr. Lawrence does not Identify the
case he discusses, it is obvious that he refers
to the Wallace Corporation decision. Stated
shortly, that case held that the employer
violated the law if he discharged employes
pursuant to a closed-shop contract entered
into with an independent union that had won
an election conducted on terms requiring the
employer to grant a closed shop to the victor,
when he did so with the knowledge that the
Tnripnpnripnt. 1nt.pndpH tn h«p t.h« nnntrarf
effect the discharge of employes who had
previously been active on behalf of the rival
CIO union.
Ordered Employes Reinstated.
In its first decision, issued February 27, 1943
(47 NLRB 1169), the board (only Messrs.
Millis and ReUly participating) invalidated the
Independent’s contract and ordered the em
ployer to reinstate the discharged employes
with back pay. Chairman MUlis indicated he
would have based the ruling in part on the
grounds supplementing the finding that the
employer had knowledge of the Independent’s
objective. Mr. ReUly, however, wrote a concur
ring opinion in which he relied exclusively on
the employer’s knowledge as warranting upset
ting the contract. He said that the election
agreement did not bind the employer “to
acquiesce in a scheme to penalize those em
ployes whose choice was not that of the
majority; nor can the proviso in Section 8(3)
be thought to countenance such a result.”
Two months later, after Mr. Houston had
been appointed, the board vacated this de
cision, heard reargument, and entered a new
opinion on June 7,1943 (50 NLRB 138). In the
revised ruling, Mr. ReiUy’s view was adopted
as the board opinion.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals unani
mously affirmed the board’s interpretation of
the law. And the Supreme Court majority
likewise said that the closed-shop clause could
not be used by “a majority of workers and a
company * ♦ * to penalize minority groups.”
While four justices took the position that the
majority’s construction of the law was "very
unfair * * * to the employer and one not war
ranted by anything Congress has directed or
I authorized,” it is questionable whether Con
gress had any express or discernible intent on
this specific point when it enacted the Wagner
Act in 1935. But if we accept Mr. Lawrence's
interpretation of what Congress has done in
the Taft-Hartley Act, albeit 12 years later, it
may be doubted that the court minority cor
rectly appraised the intent of Congress. At
the most, the question was one about which
reasonable men could differ, and it hardly is
In the interest of a dispassionate weighing of
the evidence to say that Justice Black "found
a loophole” when he agreed with the board’s
reading of the law.
Let us now examine the accuracy of Mr.
Lawrence’s contention that the Taft-Hartley
Act requires unions "to open their membership
all annlirant-R whn nav t.h* racnilar Hue* ”
thereby remedying the board’s supposed
usurpation of authority and the Wagner Act’s
failure “to protect workers against arbitrary
action by ‘closed shop’ unions working with
employer help.”
Unions’ Bights Defined.
The law provides that a union's right “to
prescribe its own rules with respect to the
acquisition or retention of membership" shall
not be impaired. Another clause states that if,
but only if, the union has a valid union-shop
contract must it refrain from charging mem
bership fees “in an amount which the board
finds excessive or discriminatory under all the
circumstances.” And an employer cannot rely
on a union shop contract to justify a discharge
if he has "reasonable grounds” for believing
(a) that membership in the union “was not
available to the employe on the same terms
and conditions generally applicable to other
members’’ or (b) that membership “was denied
or terminated for reasons other than the failure
of the employe to tender the periodic dues
and the initiation fees uniformly required as a
condition of acquiring or retaining member
ship.”
Significantly, the Conference Report Inter
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.
prets these provisions as not disturbing “ar
rangements in the nature of those approved
by the board In Larus & Brother Co. (62 NLRB
1075; 1945).” The board (Mr. Reilly partici
pating) in that case sanctioned the auxiliary
membership and “Class B local” devices, which,
It has frequently been asserted, are undemo
cratic practices utilized by some unions to
deprive Negroes or other minority groups of
full representation and participation in union
affairs.
These facts should make it apparent that
the Taft-Hartley Act falls far short of “re
quiring unions to open their membership to all
applicants who pay the regular dues.” All of
which may be another piece of evidence sub
stantiating Senator Taft's characterization of
an earlier article by Mr. Lawrence as a “com
pletely puerile analysis” of the Senate bill.
IVAR H. PETERSON.
On Gambling in Prince Georges
To the Editor of The Star:
Prince Georges County’s Civic Federation’ will
no jew lucuiucio vie wo uu icgaiiAcu ^auiuiuig
in the county. Such a law may be asked in the
next legislature in view of the fact that all the
Washington gamblers have moved over in
Prince Georges County, where laws mean noth
ing.
Legalized gambling would create many new
jobs for the politicians who cannot openly re
ceive money from those who now run.
We, near the Capital of the Nation,’ should set
a good example at the gateway. Montgomery
will not tolerate gambling and second-rate
booze Joints. It draws a better class of people,
who build better homes and want a cleaner
county.
Efforts have been made since the Declaration
of Independence, when men were more honor
able than they are today, to make lotteries pay
the Government. But it was not a success in
1777 when they tried it again and failed.
The Louisiana State lottery started off with a
bang. But its dishonest officials and insane
gambling by poor bread winners got it in ill
repute. In 1883 a Pennsylvania society started
a movement for the suppression of lotteries and
soon after a law was passed prohibiting lotteries
in the United States.
It remains to be seen what the good people
in prince Georges County want in the way of
legalized gambling. JOHN HIGGLES.
Landover, Md.
Road Carnivals
To the Bditor of The Star:
•Die third and last large carnival to play
Washington has gone to Staunton, Va., after
a 10-day stand on the circus grounds here.
Business was light. The carnival offered the
usual kind of amusement and games of chance
or skill, as yo
please, th
prizes for suc
cess being
cheap ones,
such as plaster
of parts orna
ments and
glassware, etc.
Admission to the grounds was 25 cents.
One of the stands had a confidence game and
a boy about 22 years of age had his mind set
to win one of those beautiful radios on display.
At 50 cents a throw, he spent $16 and after an
argument he was given a small, cheap electric
razor. The matter was reported to the acting
chief of park police, Jerome B. Lawler, and
after a personal investigation he ordered Sergt.
Sheedy to close this stand for the remainder of
the engagement and the three men concerned
were not permitted to work on the grounds.
Thanks for this quick action. The park police
will co-operate if they have the evidence and
witnesses, but the majority of those that are
"stung” are ashamed to admit it, thus per
mitting the swindle to go on.
Two of the largest 25-cent shows had large
banners proclaiming 10 and 12 curiosities, re
«n entering the tent there were
only five stands working, with an additional
25 cents for a side attraction in the nude form.
Next season a plain-clothes man should in
vestigate the operations of every stand and the
Better Business Bureau should check on their
display banners. The District of Columbia
amusement license has been increased and the
ground is rented by the United States Govern
ment.
P. T. Bamum, the greatest showman of them
all, was right^-a “sucker bom every minute.”
Some Washingtonians like the games of chance.
Instead of sending thousands of dollars to the
sweepstakes in Ireland, why not have a national
lottery in this country to help reduce the in
come taxes? H.J.F.
Our Growing Gold Hoard
To the Editor ol The Ster:
The British Poreign Secretary has pronounced
that the United States should “redistribute”
(whatever that may mean) its gold stores
(an expression which appears to include all
gold under the control of the United States
Government).
Mr. Bevin’s comment may be but a feeler to
determine the reaction of this country- After
all, if a seller can Induce a purchaser to give
back the goods, in order that they may be sold
to him again, there is no reason for not trying
when the purchaser has been observed to
indulge in domestic economic policies no less
absurd.
There is also no reason why Britain should
not send us all the gold she can obtain if we
are foolish enough to continue to buy it at $35
an ounce and in excess of our own needs for
it. There is, however, good reason why we
should not part with our goods for gold we do
not need.
Somewhere in an early school reader there
is a story about a handmill which, when its
possessor gave it a command and employed
the magic words (which may have been "We
planned it that way”), would fcrind out what
ever product its possessor desired; and continue
to do so until the pronouncement of other
magic words and a command to stop.
Having, by guile or otherwise, come into
possession of one who greatly wanted salt, and
being addressed by the magic words and the
command “Grind salt, salt, nothing but salt,”
the mill did as commanded. The possessor,
however, having.gotten all the salt he wanted,
commanded the mill to stop, but failed to
pronounce the magic words and the mill
ground on until the house was filled. The
possessor, much alarmed, thjpw the mill into
the ocean where it continues to grind nothing
but salt. And, so ends the story, that’s why
there is salt in the ocean. Perhaps the magic
words left unsaid were: “Stop inflation.”
To that end, repeal the Gold Purchase Act.
A country, especially a creditor country, needs
no more gold than is necessary to meet its
obligations in gold, according to their tenor,
and to redeem its currency as presented. A
proper limitation on the gold hoard operates,
or at least should operate, to limit the amount
of outstanding paper, and this in turn oper
ates to stabilize prices. Remember when the
United States honored its obligations accord
ing to their tenor and all currency was freely
exchangeable for gold on demand?
GARRISON TILGHMAN.
1
Stars, Men and Atoms
'Oases' in Antarctic Prove
to Be Salt-Water Creeks
Discovery Furnishes New Picture of
Earth Emerging From Ice Age
By Thomas R. Henry
The fabled Antarctic oases, discovered by
the Navy expedition last winter off the Knox
snd Princess Ranghlld coasts of the Antarctic
continent, are salt-water creeks—backwashes
of the Antarctic Ocean.
This somewhat prosaic anticlimax to what
seemed the most colorful discovery of the
expedition—described at the time as a 200
square-mile ice-free area of blue and green
lakes at an elevation of 200 feet above sea
level—has become apparent from a chemical
analysis of the water just received at the
Navy Hydrographic Office.
It is salt water and, very definitely, tea
water. There is an unmistakable difference
between salt water from the ocean and from
inland lakes, such as the Dead 6ea or Great
Salt Lake. The 200-foot elevation reported
must certainly have been In error. Such a
mistake is easy to understand when the diffi
culties of accurate altitude measurements are
considered. The lakes must be at sea level
just on the edge of the continental coast.
Creeks Are Like Maryland's.
At the same time the finding gives a new
picture of one of the mechanisms by which
the earth emerges from an ice age. These are
shallow creeks, somewhat like those extending
out of Chesapeake Bay into the Maryland
coast near Annapolis. Their bottoms are black
rocks. During the long Antarctic summer this
rock absorbs a large amount of solar radia
tion, even through the ice of early spring.
This heat is slowly reradiated. All the ice
melts over a considerable area.
The red islands reported by Navy aviators
who landed on the largest of the lakes are
supposedly due to great rockfalls from nearby
hills into the shallow, sluggish waters. Sea
ward the water is deeper and the sunlight doer
not penetrate to the bottom through the led.'
Hence the ice sheet over them is perpetual and
appears to separate them from the rim of,
open water which surrounds most of the:
Antarctic continent.
Presumably much the same phenomenon oc.
curred along the coasts of North America to
ward the end of the last ice age.
Lakes Contain Algae.
The existence of life in these “lakes”—count
less billions of blue,, red and green one-celled
plants which give their characteristic colors to
the waters—is considered the first step in the
re-establishment of life in the rear of a re
treating glacier. These algae are among the
simplest and most primeval of living things.
As the warming-up process continues they
presumably will become food for higher or
ganisms.
On the other side of the Antarctic continent
off the southern coast of the Weddell Sea, a
German expedition in the winter of 1939 found
several similar "oases”—undoubtedly due to
the same phenomenon. None, however, ap
proached the size of the ioe-free area found
off the Knox coast by Lt. C. E. Bunger of
the Navy expedition’s western group last
winter. Bunger was able to land on the largest
of the so-called "lakes” and found the water
fairly warm so that he could drag his hand*
through it without discomfort. This, it is ex
nlained would be exnected due to the heat
radiation from the black bottom. Both tha
Knox and Ranghild coasts have low elevations,
constituting breaks In the rim of mountains
surrounding most of the Antarctic continent.
Other large, lee-free areas aee considered
highly probable.
Questions and Answers
A reader ean obtain the »n»w»r to any qtieatfon
of fact by writing The Evening Star Information
Bureau. 31 fl I street N.E., Washington 4. D. C.
Please Inclose three (3) cents for return Postage.
By THE HA SKIN SERVICE.
Q. Are cantaloupes native to the United
States?—T. T. F.
A. Cantaloupes were first grown In Europe
In Cantalupo, Italy, whence the name. The
seed Is said to have come from Armenia.
Q. What was the first musical publication In
the United States—M. R. G.
A. The “Bay Psalm Book,” published In 1940,
was the first musical publication In America.
Q. Is the pronunciation of Arkansas fixed
by State law?—B. L. A.
A. In March, 1881, the Arkansas Legislature
fixed the pronunciation of the State name as
that “received by the French from the native
Indians,” that It should be pronounced In three
syllables "with the final ‘s’ silent, the 'a‘ in each
syllable with the Italian sound and the ac
cent or. the first and last syllables.”
Q. Are there any historic sites commemorat
ing the lives of former Presidents of the United
States other than Hyde Park. N. Y.?—D. C. J.
A. Other areas commemorating the lives of
former Presidents of the United States, known
as historic sites and administered by the De
partment of the Interior, include George
Washington Birthplace National Monument In
Virginia, Abraham Lincoln National Historical
Park In Kentucky, Andrew Johnson National
Monument in Tennessee, Mount Rushmore Na
tional Memorial In South Dakota and Adams’.
Mansion National Historic Site In Massa
chusetts.
Q. Who compared George Marshall with
Stonewall Jackson?—H. F.
A. In 1913. while a lieutenant in the Philip
pines, Secretary Marshall was commended by
Maj. Gen. J. Franklin Bell, chief of staff from
1906 to 1910, who said. “He is the greatest mili
tary genius stince Stonewall Jackson.”
Q. Where Is Gen. Denlken living?—L. N. T.
A. Gen. Anton Denlken. who led the White
n_i_A ___„<*,*,* TasNloViAvrilr.. «w>
and 1919, died in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Au
gust 8, 1947.
u
Q. How long has the tax on amusements been
in effect?—N. W. J.
A. The Federal Government has levied a
tax on admissions since 1917. State amuse
ment taxation began with the Connecticut tax
in 1921. General admissions taxes are imposed
In less than half the States. Some cities also
impose amusement taxes.
City Seen From Sea
This is a port we shall not know; unreal
as cinema set,
With candy-colored plaster houses and
palms like artificial trees,
Bright as a newly painted toy in Mediter
ranean sun,
Brilliant and silent, washed by impos
sibly blue seas.
It is best seen thus, as are wax flowers
under glass,
And then but briefly, with merest passing
look,
So its magical illusion may be kept in
memory,
Untouched, unspoiled; a picture in a
picture book.
For closely seen the walls are cracked by
time and sun,
And in these streets are human lives and
human hates;
Terror will move by nightfall in the
shadows there,
Murder be done for bread beyond the
ancient gates.
FREDERICK EBRIGH.T.
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