Evening star. [volume], April 27, 1948, Page A-9, Image 9

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

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Russians Not Seeking
To Provoke War Now,
Observers Believe
Berlin, Vienna Tension
%
Seen Created Only to
Needle Allied Forces
By David Lawrence
Tension In Berlin may have been
responsible for the sudden return ol
Secretary ol State Marshall to Wash
ington from Bogota. Undoubtedly
recent events In the German capital
have caused uneasiness. For, as
Gen. Clay, oommander-in-chief of
American forces at Berlin, said the
other day, it might become neces
sary to have lighter planes escort
American airplanes which carry
cargoes to Berlin fer the use of
American military forces there.
It was Gen. Eisenhower who, over
the week end, said that only a
"stupid act” might bring on open
hostilities between the United States
and Russia. He described the sit
uation this way: "Some stupid act
may start a war—a stupid act that
puts some nation in a position from
which it feels it cannot withdraw.”
At present the Russian rules for
bid any flying in “formation” over
Berlin. But when escorts of Ameri
can fighter planes become necessary,
they will, of course, fly in formation.
Gen. Clay, when asked by reporters
if that wouldn’t be a violation of
restrictions imposed by the Russians,
realistically replied that when such
a contingency arose rules would be
secondary.
Doubts War Would Ensue.
This is but another way of say
ing that if the Russians make it
necessary for British and American
fighter planes to go along with cargo
planes and anybody attempts to
interfere with them, there will be
some planes shot down in the melee.
It is doubtful, however, whether
such an incident will provoke a war
unless national passions become
aroused in both countries. In Rus
sia, there is censorship and the
chances are the news will not be
printed unless the Soviet rulers want
war. In the United States the move
would be recognized as merely an
assertion of American rights. If it
is followed by an acquiescence on the
part of the Russians and there are
no further interferences with Ameri
can flights, the Incident would not
lead to hostilities.
There are observers here who have
felt all along that the Russians were
testing America’s attitude and that
if resistance were made manifest,
the Russians would not be inclined
to carry the test any further.
Major Decisions in Making.
It is apparent that decisions of a
major sort are in the making. Gen.
Clay would hardly have said what
ho did if he had not been so in
structed by Washington. For sev
eral weeks it has been clear that
the United States would not with
draw from Berlin and that Russia
would be compelled to commit an
open act of aggression if she really
wanted to force evacuation of the
British and American forces sta
tioned there. It would take far more
than an air skirmish to do it and any
movement of tanks or land forces
would be construed as an attack on
the United States, in which event
the President would go to Congress
to ask for full authority to use ad
ditional forces.
War has been regarded as dan
gerously near only in the sense that
if the Russians wanted to provoke
it the conflict would come soon.
Nearly all cf the predictions here
that peace would be preserved have
been based on the theory that the
last thing the Russians want to do
is start another world war.
There are no signs that the Rus
sians have prepared for any large
scale operations. The evidence, on
the other hand, is that the Rus
sians want to needle the Allied
forces in both Vienna and Berlin.
At first it was believed this had
something to do with the Italian
elections, the idea being that the
Communists were making a show of
strength. Now that the Italian elec
tions are over, the only reason for
continuing to harass the Allied com
manders might be to show the peo
ple* behind the ‘‘iron curtain” that
the Moscow regime is not afraid Of
a nation with the atomic bomb or a
big air force' or that the Com
munists have adequate military de
fense.
Crisis Brings Parties Together.
Whatever the reason for the
strange policy the Russians are pur
suing, the effect Inside the United
States has been to accelerate the
passage of appropriations increasing
the size of the armed services. The
Russians may have the mistaken
idea that in an election year Mr.
Truman would hesitate to take a
positive stand in resisting Russian
encroachments. But the Moscow
strategists never made a worse mis
take. For if there is one thing likely
to bring the domestic parties to
gether, it is a war crisis.
The general belief here is that the
Russians will not force a break but
almost everybody admits there is
little to go on except logic—and the
Russian* have their own peculiar
kind.
(Reproduction Rights Reserved!
TROUSERS
To Match S/1.95
on Coat. up
EISEMAN’S—F at 7th
This Changing World
Italian Anti-Red Vote Seen Creating
Danger of U. S. Relaxing Its.Vigilance
oy Constantine Brown
The result* of the Italian elec
tion, while overwhelmingly in favor
of a Western orientation for Italy,
contain hidden dangers for the
American p e o- ,
p i e ana ineir
policy of resist
ance to Russian
expansion.
Chief among
these—and per
haps the devel
opment on
which the
Kremlin policy
makers count
heavily — is the
likelihood that
the American
people and their
political leaders
will see the bat
Constantine Brown.
tie won. Russia stopped In Europe,
and will relax the vigilance which
is eternally necessary as long as
communism remains a potent force
in the world.
The Communists were swamped,
it is true, under an avalanche of
votes pulled to the polls by a series
of extremely adroit moves by the
American Government* the Catholic
Church and the De Gasperi govern
ment in Italy. The fact must not
be blinked, however, that Italy still
has 8,000,000 persons who voted for
the Communists.
Not all of these are Communists,
of course. Some were leftist Social
ists, who now are re-examimng
their position in the alliance with
the Communists. Others were rank
and file Italian voters, who chose
the Communists against the anti
communist parties. Still others
were the wives of Communists, who
voted under the influence of their
husbands’ sympathies with or
I participation in the Communist
j movement.
Hard Core May be 5 Million.
What the real hard core of com
munism in Italy represents in num
bers is difficult to assess. Perhaps
5,000,000. Perhaps less. In any
event, it runs well into the mil
lions and is not a force to be
kissed off lightly as now Ineffective
and devoid of political—or military
—influence. ,
If in the United States we are
concerned—and rightly so—over a
Communist Party which has less
than 100,000 actual members, that
is less than one-tenth of 1 per cent
of the American population, what
must we still feel about a Commu
nist Party which can count on a
solid backbone of 5,000,000, more
than 10 per cent of Italy's 45,000,
000 people?
The fact to be realized is that
communism is by no means through
in Italy, either as a political power
or as a real threat of eventual civil
upheaval, and our plans must be
predicated on that basis. We must
look forward not only to the neces
sity of carrying on a continuing
struggle in Italy, as elsewhere,
against communism. This struggle
must not, if we are not to lose the
benefits of the Marshall Plan and
all of our diplomatic moves before
the elections, be permitted to de
teriorate to the point where the
Communists could sweep a future
election or, worse, initiate a series
of violent measures which would
bring communism to power outside
the polls.
Comunists Bide Time.
One tenet in the Communist
creed is that timi works always on
the side of the revolution. De
feated once, the Communist Party
bides its time for a fresh opportu
nity. The Kremlin feels that it
has all the time in the world and
can afford to wait, while consolidat
ing its hold after each reverse.
To an extent communism has the
western democracies on the spot in
Italy and elsewhere in Europe. We
went to such lengths to defeat com
munism in Italy that we committed
ourselves in a number of different
ways to do certain things. Our
failure to do those things now,
would sour the very people who
gave us our recent success.
Eternal vigilance is the first re
quirement in holding communism in
check. It is no less necessary on
the foreign than on the domestic
front.
Distaff to Party’s Rescue
Democratic Women’s Division Plans
Campaign Schools for Fair Sex
By Doris Fleeson
A rescue of Democratic fortunes
over the heads of the fussin’. feud
in', fightin’ leaders is about to be
attempted by the women’s division
oi me demo
cratic National
Committee un
der its energetic
new chairman,
Mrs. India Ed
wards.
Mrs. Edwards
argues that
President Tru
man and his
fight on high
prices are popu
lar with women.
She expects
his renomina
tion. And she
is planning to
Doris Fleeson.
, start campaign schools in all the
'States to put her women back to
j work for him at the precinct level
as they did lor Mr. Roosevelt. The
schools will stress the record, ignore
the personalities.
Mrs. Edwards has a terse, collo
quial new textbook for her schools,
called Guidebook. It begins with
such practical details as furnish
; ing babysitters and ends with a
stern summons to keep up the fight
for Fifty-Fifty.
"Fifty-Fifty calls for equal repre
sentation of women with men on
all party committees,” the Guide
book explains. It is described both
as “a matter of justice and sound
political strategy.” Today 39 States
practice it on State committees, 18
in county and precinct also.
Woman Appointments Asked.
Although Mrs. Edwards won’t ad
mit it, the President, who has been
more than a trifle blind to women
in government, is also getting some
of the Fifty-Fifty treatment. The
committee has asked him to make
some telling appointments of women
to important positions soon.
Mrs. Edwards is a former news
paperwoman and lost a son in World
War II. She is close to Mrs. Roose
velt, Miss Perkins and the others
who built the women’s division into
a formidable power in the party;
now she hopes to develop younger
women in their tradition.
No orchid-wearers content merely
to decorate the front row need ap
ply. Like her former opposite num
ber on the Republican National
Committee, Marion Martin, Mrs.
Edwards distinctly belongs to the
“up guards and at ’em” school. Re
publican Chairman Reece, recoiling
from a more moderate Fifty-Fifty
proposal by Miss Martin in 1946,
fired her. It was Democratic Chair
man McGrath who urged the Presi
dent to appoint Mrs. Edwards.
Party Short of Funds.
Her vigorous plans are the only
fresh breeze around the becalmed
Democrats. One major difficulty is
money. The Southern rebels who
formerly poured in funds from their
Jeflerson-Jackson dinners are hold
ing on to all of it. Kentucky and
Tennessee came through; North
Carolina has promised. That’s all.
Ohio Democrats who got the bad
news that the unpopular Charles
Sawyer was being made Secretary
of Commerce at their Jackson Day
dinner promptly growled they would
hold on to their money too. So far
they have. New York has all but
dried up as a source of funds after
the reversal on Palestine.
It begins to look as if the Presi
dent’s much criticized Wall Street
appointments might have to take
their place as his major financial
; supporters.
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LOUIE —By Harry Hanan
On the Other Hand
House’s Inferiority Complex Found
At Bottom of Battle Over Condon
By Lowell Mellett
The House of Representatives is
the victim of an inferiority complex.
There seems to be no other way to
explain the present undignified,
ridiculous, per
verse quarrel it
has picked with
the President
over the "loyal
ty” status of Dr.
Edward U. Con
don, director of
the Bureau of
Standards.
As long as it
was only Chair
man Thomas
and his select
little group of
rabble - rousers
enjoying a
Roman holiday
Lawell'Mellett.
in tne neaaunes, tne situation ex
plained itself. The Un-American
Activities Committee was merely
following its consistent un-Ameri
can practice of publicly smearing
defenseless citizens and then seek
ing or pretending to seek evidence
to support the smear. But when the
House, by a vote of 300 to 29, as
sociates itself completely with the
committee’s conduct, further ex
planation is required.
The House is composed of 435
truly representative Americans. They
are decent men and women. For
character and ability they are un
questionably up to our national
average; indeed, they need to be
[ above average to obtain their po
litical eminence. As individuals they
are accustomed to behaving with
propriety and with consideration for
the rights of other citizens. They
are, that is to say, with a few ex
ceptions. The exceptions dominate
the Un-American Committee.
Can’t Condone Conduct.
Given all the circumstances of the
Dr. Condon incident, it is impossible
to believe that the majority of the
House members can, in their hearts,
condone the conduct of the com
mittee. Their sympathy must be
with the outraged scientist and they
must respect the President for his
efforts to protect him against
further abuse. Why then the willing
ness of most of the members to
stand up and be counted on the
side of the committee?
A story used to be related con
cerning the autocratic head of a
widespread publishing enterprise.
Told by a trusted aide that a certain
important member of the organiza
tion was a blankety-blank-blank, the
tycoon is reputed to have replied,
“I know—but he is my blankety
blank-blank.”
The House knows — but the
Thomas Committee is Its commit
tee.
That’s the inferiority complex at
work The House is always quick
to defend itself, as a body, against
any criticism, spoken or implied.
Having, in an unbalanced moment,
been persuaded to authorize a
temporary committee of a kind
wholly unrelated to ordinary par
liamentary business, the House was
soon subjected to general criticism
because of the committee’s flagrant
misbehavior. After some years of
this, the reaction of the House was
to make the committee permanent
and vote it more money to misuse.
That was to teach the public where
it got off when it attempted to tell
the House how to operate.
Label May Explain Attitude.
How the House got this way may
be explained, perhaps, by the label
pasted on it long ago. It was, and
is, called the lower house. There
is no reason why it should be. The
other house, the Senate, is no
higher. The term may have been
inherited from the British Parlia
ment where the Lords formerly
rated themselves higher, socially at
i
Today’s Quote—
From Poor Richard
»
“He that spends a groat a-day Idly, spends idly
above 61 a year.”
—Benjamin Franklin’s Almanack
Don’t wonder where your money has gone when you
need funds for some emergency or particular purpose.
Plan now to save what “slips through your fingers”—
call District 2370 for information about Savings
Accounts at the FIRST FEDERAL SAVINGS ASSOCIA*
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a
M-U
least, than members of the House
of Commons. But our House has
powers equal to and in some re
spects greater than our Senate.
The members receive the same pay
and the same social acceptance.
In a democracy there is every
reason why the branch of the
Legislature closer to the people
made so by the need to be re-elected
at more frequent intervals—should
be the more important and depend
able branch. The most severe
critics of the House are those stu
dents of government who would like
to see this theory sustained In prac
tice, but And that it isn’t.
So the critics keep on criticizing
and the House keeps on reacting in
the manner illustrated by the .
! Condon case.
McLemore—
Californians Humiliated
By Rose Bowl Terms
By Henry McLemore
The baseball season having just
started, I, with my usual perfect
timing, am going to discuss football.
With the sqpnd of hickory against
horsehide now
dominating the
thoughts of
sport s-minded
folk, I want to
talk about the
game which in
volves the sound
of cleatcd boot
against pigskin.
(I want to ask
my readers, in
an aside, to no
tice my mastery
of sports cliches.
I happen to be
very proud of it.)
Ever since I
Henry McLemore.
reached the Pacific Coast I have
heard rumblings of discontent—
another right fair cliche—over the
Rose Bowl contract signed be
tween the teams of thd Coast
Conference and teams of the Big
Nine. This rumbling is particu
larly loud among California football
followers.
Californians are proud people.
Next to Texans, they probably have
the greatest State pride of any mem
bers of the Union. One of their
glories has been the prowess of their
athletes—bigger, stronger, and more
of them than the other 47 States
combined, they have long main
tained.
Feel Humiliation.
Now, under the rules of the Rose
Bowl contract with the Big Nine,
they feel nothing but humiliation.
There is a protection clause in the
contract—and the rule obviously
was written for the protection of
the Pacific Coast teams which have
been murdered the last two years
by the Midwestern elevens.
Michigan won the Big Nine title
last year and came out here and did
everything but barbecue the Uni
versity of Southern California on
January 1. The year before that
fllinois was the champion. And
what Its team did to U. C. L. A.
ranks In glory with anything that
ever happened In the coliseum at
Rome when the lions were turned
loose.
Under the rules, Illinois must wait
a full three years before returning
to the Rose Bowl even if it wins the
Big Nine title this year. Michigan
can’t come back until 1952. The Pa
cific Coast champion, however, can
play in the bowl each year. The
champions out here don’t have to
skip.
All of which is an admission of
inferiority, even though it is hidden
under the cloak of talk about the
Big Nine wanting to alternate the
trips to the coast of its teams lest
the players miss too much scholas
tic work.
Another Joker.
There is another joker in the bowl
agreement. After three years—
which means after the game of
1949—the Big Nine doesn’t have to
send a team from its own confer
ence but has the right to pick any
team in the country to represent it.
In other words, it could choose Yale,
Alabama, Maine, Columbia, or what
have you. And if that team ac
cepted the nod, the Coast Confer
ence would have to say “yes.”
Of course, no one expects the Big
Nine to do any such thing. The
Rose Bowl swag is worth »10Q,000
or more to the visiting team, and
even a hophead couldn’t dream of
any school handing over that much
money to another school. That
amount pays a lot of salaries, buys a
lot of equipment.
I talked to Lynn Waldorf, coach
of California, about this matter to
day. Lynn, one of the great coaches
in the country, knows both sides,
because before moving to California
last year he had spent many years
coaching Northwestern, one of the
real hard-knockers in the Big Nine.
Prefers to Play Champ.
He admitted that if he came up
with a big team at California—
which he is every likely to do this
year—he would rather play the Big
Nine champion even if it happened
to be Michigan or Illinois. Even if
he got licked, he and his boys would
have had the satisfaction of having
played the best, and not a team that
got in the bowl only because of the
rules.
Waldorf was not despondent over
the manner in which Big Nine teams
have dominated the Rose Bowl for
the last two years.
"The Big Nine recovered more
quickly from the effects of the war
on sports,” he said. "It won’t be
long until the Pacific Coast will be
able to handle itself in any com
pany.”
But until that day comes, the
coast fans will suffer badly from
wounded prides.
(Distributed by McNsught Syndicate, Inc.)
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