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. FOR SALE 8-Story Fireproof Building 1733-35 De Sales St. N.W. (Opposite Mayflower Hotel) For Particulari and Price APPLY TO LINKINS CO. 1818 N St. N.W. Dl. 8688 SUPER HOUSE PAINT 5UrtK looks BETTER LONGER Oil shrinkage, a major cause of paint cracking and chipping is overcome with O'Brien's famous T. T. 0. Paint—made with patented Thermolyzed Prc-Shrunk Tung Oil. Formulated to the most exact ing standards, T. T. 0. Paint looks better longer an any oxterior Surface. O'BRIEN Paints Sold Exclusively in Washington by \ 708 11th St. N.W. 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* TION, 610 13th Street N.W., between F and G. 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.) / Sanitary CarpeU Rug C LEAN ING'CO.SL m / 106 INDIANA District 0356 / ave. n.w. rug beduly/our duly S liUbllihtd 1M> HOUSE & HERRMANN House & Herrmann ■ > 7th i EYE, N. W. • MJS GEORGIA c • OpmliWAAAlO.A Oh« *:JO A. At. ♦ A. 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