Evening star. [volume], May 21, 1948, Page A-8, Image 8

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

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je gening J§faf
With Sunday Morning Edition.
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A_S *_ FRIDAY, May El, 1948
The First to Act
It is encouraging that the Board of Trade
has been the first big community organiza
tion to apply for membership in United
Community Services.
This large and influential body has set
an example for other eligible city-wide
groups in its determination to add its
prestige and thinking to development of
a health, welfare and recreational program
for Washington which the public will both
understand and support. The fact that
the board does not usually affiliate with
other organizations here makes its swift
action in this instance the more significant.
United Community Services is being set
up by an interim committee to absorb the
functions of the Washington Community
Chest and the Council of Social Agencies.
It must not be allowed to fail. It needs
the support of these strong groups which
in their aggregate represent the voteless
community of Washington.
Delegates from participating community
groups will join with representatives of the
health, welfare and recreational operating
agencies and representatives of the public
at large to form the general assembly of
United Community Services. This assembly
will name a smaller board of trustees
which in turn will select an executive
committee to handle most of the details
of administration. Inclusion of the city
wide groups is a new and balancing fea
ture in the preparation of the social
program.
An additional clue to the sincerity with
which the board is assuming its responsi
bilities in this ’new venture is its choice
of two top men—its president and executive
secretary—to represent it as delegates.
If other qualified groups act with similar
speed and appoint equally top-notch dele
gates, the next month or so will surely
see the emergence of a strong, representa
tive United Community Services, ready to
do the job that must be done.
A New Election System
At a time when we are advocating before,
the world the principle of free, democratic
elections, it may seem a bit ironical for
Congress to be told by one of its commit
tees that oui; own system of electing a
President is bad and needs overhauling.
More specifically, the House Judiciary Com
mittee calls the present system “not fair,
honest, accurate, certain or democratic.’’
Thdfce are harsh words, but the commit
tee's report to the House recommending
abolishment of the electoral college pro
vides ample evidence that the criticism is
justified.
Experience has shown that the electoral
college system of choosing a President and
a Vice President can lead to unfair and
anomalous results, to political chicanery
and to other evils which should have no
place in a democracy. It was a compro
mise plan adopted by the framers of the
Constitution to reconcile differences be
tween those who favored direct elections
and those who feared that the people
would never be well enough informed to
make a good choice of leaders. The electors
were to be outstanding men, well qualified
to make the final selections.
Defects of the system began to be noted
as early as 1796, however. In that year
three Massachusetts electors who had
pledged themselves to vote for Jefferson
for President cast their votes instead for
John Adams, giving Adams the election.
In 1800, the electors cast seventy-three
votes each for Jefferson and Aaron Burr.
Although they had intended to elect Jeffer
son as President and Burr as Vice Presi
dent. the tie result led to a long wrangle
in the House, where lame-duck Federalists
almost succeeded in putting Burr over.
That dispute led to an amendment requir
ing the electors to designate their choices
for President and Vice President. And the
practice of voting by State blocs, which
came into vogue in 1800, makes it possible
for the man with the largest popular vote
to lose the election. That happened when
Jackson lost to Adams in 1824, Tilden to
Hayes in 1876 and Cleveland to Harrison
in 1888.
These and other cases are cited by Rep
resentative Gossett, Democrat, of Texas
and Senator Lodge, Republican, of Massa
chusetts in support of their jointly spon
sored resolution to amend the Constitution
so that the President and Vice President
“shall be elected by the people of the
several States." Under their plan, the
present allocation of electoral votes among
the States would continue, but they would
be cast not by State blocs but divided ac
cording to the exact percentages of the
popular vote. Thus, if a candidate re
ceived 56 per cent of the popular vote in
a large State like New York, he would
receive Just 56 per cent of New York’s
forty-seven electoral votes.
Aside from the obvious fairness of such
a system, there would be salutary develop
ments with wide political ramifications.
No longer could a small but vociferous mi
nority like the American labor Party in New
York City hold the balance of power in a
close contest for New York’s big batch of
electoral votes. No State, even in the
South, could be taken for granted. Two
party campaigning in states once con
I sidered “safe” for either party would be
commonplace. The prestige of the indi
vidual voter would be enhanced in all
States—for his one vote would count in
the final returns. Since there would be
no “pivotal” States in the traditional sense,
the tendency to nominate candidates from
a few large States to woo the favor of
those States would disappear.
It is unfortunate that the Gossett-Lodge
resolution has emerged from the committee
stage so late in this session of Congress.
Although the Judiciary Committees of both
houses have indorsed the measure, its
chances of enactment in the short time
remaining before adjournment grow slim
mer with each passing day. But the
favorable committee reports are indica
tions of an increasing approval of what
may be our next major constitutional
change.
To Right the Balance
In unanimously approving a resolution
favoring American association with re
gional alliances of friendly nations abroad,
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
has voted for a profoundly significant and
vitally necessary new departure in the
international policy of the United States.
„If adopted and put actively to work,
the resolution would commit us to the
principle and practice of extending mili
tary aid to other free nations and joining
with them, on the basis of carefully defined
conditions, in security pacts guaranteeing
mutual assistance against aggression.
This would add something decidedly new
and far-reaching to our normal peace
time foreign policy, but the realities of the
hour in an enormously changed and fore
shortened world argue imperatively for it.
The primary objective of the resolution
is to promote peace by bringing about a
safer balance of power between the free
world and the world of Soviet totalitarian
ism. The old balance has been destroyed by
the war and its aftermath. This is best il
lustrated by the condition of Europe. Unless
they form as united a political, economic
and military front as possible, and unless
they have strong American support, Britain
and the Western European countries will
continue dangerously vulnerable to falling,
one at a time, to the expansionist drive of
the Russian Empire—a drive that could
force the entire continent under Moscow’s
dominance and Ibave the United States
gravely isolated.
Accordingly, to cope with this threat,
the Foreign Relations Committee would
have the Senate go on record as advising
the President that the Government should
pursue the following major objectives,
among others: (1) Voluntary agreements
to limit the use of the veto in the United
■ Nations; (2) our participation in regional
defensive arrangements within the frame
work of the U. N.; (3) maximum efforts to
achieve genuine disarmament with de
pendable guarantees, and (4) as a last
resort, if necessary, action for a drastic
reorganization of the U. N. As far as the
immediate future is concerned, the most
important of these objectives is number 2;
it goes to the heart of the problem of
establishing an effective counterweight to
the strength of the expansionist Soviet
Union.
Thus, if adopted by the Senate as a
whole, and if the House approves it in
substance, the resolution will give full
congressional support to the thesis that
special American commitments and a kind
of peacetime lend-lease in armaments
should back up the political and economic
action being taken now to check the spread
of direct and indirect Soviet aggression.
Such commitments and military aid, how
ever, would be subject to the constitutional
requirement of Senate approval and to the
condition that they are necessary for our
security and that our friends abroad prac
tice real co-operation and self-help among
themselves.
With a policy of this sort in force, the
actual and potential might of the United
States would be placed squarely behind
such great enterprises as the sixteen
nation European Recovery Program and
the new Western Union of Britain, France
and the three Benelux countries. Nothing
could more effectively inhibit aggression.
With it the free world would be in a posi
tion to organize and combine its political,
economic and military strength so im
pressively as to make the Soviet Empire
seem weak by comparison.
In the world as it is, we cannot safely
ignore the balance of power. That balance
is still tipped too much in favor of the
Russian dictatorship. It needs to be
righted by just such a policy as that en
visioned by the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee. The Kremlin is not likely to
pull in its horns otherwise, or show by
concrete deeds, and not mere propagan
dists words, that it really wants to co
operate in building a decent peace. In
these days our talk—loud or soft—will get
us nowhere unless we carry a big stick.
Russian Preparedness
Writing in an unofficial capacity for the
Britannica Book of the Year, Brigadier
General Edwin L. Sibert, assistant director
of our Central Intelligence Group, has set
forth figures that should serve as a sober
ing reminder of the great magnitude of
Soviet Russia's postwar military program.
Nothing could better demonstrate how
vitally important it is for the United States
and the free western world to make sure
that they keep themselves at least equally
well prepared.
One of the most significant of General
Sibert’s figures is his estimate that the
Russians in 1947 spent more than $1,225,
000,000 on atomic development and other
armaments research—a sum roughly the
same as our outlay for the manufacture
of the first A-bomb. To be sure, this does
not necessarily mean that they have suc
ceeded in producing their own nuclear
weapons, but it shows clearly enough that
they are not pinching pennies or losing
any time in their effort to catch up with us.
Further, wholly apart from the atom, we
can be sure that the Russians are doing
their best to achieve pre-eminence in other
types of armaments, both conventional and
unconventional. To that end, according to
General Sibert, they spent at least $9,
000,000,000 on new equipment last year, and
they had over five hundred German scien
tists working for them in the field of
rockets, guided missiles and other new
weapons, including a tank thought to be
the biggest and most formidable ever made.
As for experienced ground forces, the
U. S. S. R. is far ahead of the Western
Powers, at least in numbers. Thus, Gen
eral Sibert’s figures show that the Red
Army, despite the demobilization of many
infantry classes, was made up of about
3,800,000 troops in 1947, as against 670,000
for the United States, 650,000 for Britain
and 430,000 for France. Upward of 1,500,
000 of the Russian total were engaged in
occupation duties abroad; the rest—ap
proximately 2,000,000—were within the
Soviet borders. These 2,000,000, together
with a great number of conscripts, were
maintained in such a way, according to
General Sibert, as to enable the Kremlin
to build up, by 1955, a trained reserve of
from 15,000,000 to 20,000,000 men.
General Sibert’s study is limited to last
year, but there has been no substantial
change in the scale of the Russians’ pre
paredness. Their budget for the current
year—involving a military outlay probably
$2,000,000,000 or more above the outlay
recommended by President Truman for our
own defense forces—is plain evidence of
their resolve to become the greatest armed
power in the world. The situation speaks
pretty much for itself. Unless and until
the Kremlin changes its policy, we and
other free nations can lag behind in this
grim and costly race only at the risk of
exposing ourselves to disaster.
Construction Delays Are Costly
How costly It can be to delay construc
tion of needed public buildings is well
illustrated by the case of the proposed
Spingarn Senior High School in the Ben
ning area.
In 1941 Congress appropriated $20,000
for the drawing up of plans and specifica
tions for this urgently needed colored
school. The budget estimate of cost at
that time was $900,000. On the basis of
those plans Congress in 1942 authorized
the Commissioners to let a contract at a
cost not to exceed $1,158,750. But the war
brought the project to a halt. When Con
gress acted again to revive the project in
1945 the cost limit was raised to $1,344,000.
In 1946 the estimated cost had risen to
$2,060,000 and Congress authorized that
limit. Last year the cost estimate jumped
half a million dollars and Congress author
ized raising of the cost limit to $2,505,000.
But rising construction costs have con
tinued to play havoc with the estimates.
Now the Municipal Architect’s Office has
revised its previous figures upward until it
is indicated that about $3,500,000 will be
necessary to build the Spingarn High
School. That is almost four times the
amount estimated seven years ago as the
cost of the undertaking.
The Spingarn project is but one of a
number of schools and other public build
ings which are victims of war and spiraling
costs of real estate, labor and materials.
Schools are vital improvements that can
not be indefinitely delayed without penalty
to the community. Some way must be
found to proceed with such essential con
struction. Yet the community, like many
a prospective home owner and many ex
panding business enterprises, is facing a
situation in which building costs have out
stripped ability to pay for them.
This and That
By Charles E. Tracewell
“BROOKMONT, Md.
“Dear Sir:
“A word in defense of the blue jay. I’ve seen
and heard him give other birds warning of a
big black cat’s approach. And it seems to me
he calls loudly to others when he comes to
our station and finds food. To be sure, he
takes plenty for himself, but I don’t think
him greedy—he’s a big bird, and needs more
food than a smaller one. *
“Last week I saw a bird about the size and
color of a brown thrasher, with a bright red
head, a complete red head like a woodpecker.
I haven’t found anything like it in my bird
books.
“I saw my first catbird. He sat on the end
of a limb not far from where I was digging,
singing quite softly, until I noticed and spoke
to him, then he moved back a little, but still
sang.
“He's around all the time now. For several
days there have been a pair of wood thrushes
around, quite friendly and unafraid.
“Can you tell me where the chickadees and
nuthatches go this time of year? All the others
that fed here during the winter are still here,
many of them building nests.
“The man who wrote saying he thought it
silly to try to identify birds should try it. It’s
a wonderful relaxation, good for frayed nerves,
and most interesting. In the past three
months I have identified 26 species, and am
getting a kick out of watching them.
“Sincerely, E. D.”
W V * *
There are 64 kinds of woodpeckers in the
United States and Canada.
Maybe the specimen seen was a red-bellied
woodpecker with more red on the head than
usual.
The red-headed woodpecker has a nice red
head but doesn't resemble a thrasher.
Chickadees and nuthatches often leave a
feeding station in spring to go to wooded areas
to nest. Maybe they just want a change of
scene.
Identifying birds sometimes Irks nervous
people, and for that reason they often do best
to give over the attempt.
After all, what people are trying to do in
suggesting that there is too much identifica
tion is simply to tell some people not to worry.
There are so many ways to worry today
that perhaps dispensing with one way will
be a big help, who knows?
* * * *
What interested us most about this letter,
however, was something we can’t show, since
it was on the envelope.
It was the manner of address, all written
across the lower left-hand corner, leaving
most of the envelope bare.
“The writer almost failed to get that ad
dress on,” said some one who saw it.
Addressing an envelope is always an inter
esting procedure. Many and various ways
have been thought up over the years.
Some people write very small, others in
large, bold hands.
Some slant the writing one way, others in
just the opposite direction.
Some letter writers prefer to use up all
the space, others want to cram the entire ad
dress down in one little corner.
People who are in the habit of getting a
great many letters come to build up a system
of their own in judging the letters before they
open them.
Often they are wrong.
It is always a source of amazement for some
to discover that a large, sprawly handwriting
is likely to be from a small woman, and that
a very fine, meticulous handwriting is often
from a large man.
While perhaps nothing is better than the
formal way of addressing envelopes, undoubt
edly there is room for experimentation here
as elsewhere. Probably the desire to achieve
“that new look" in envelope addressing will
continue just as it does in the clothing field.
Sometimes one may wonder what the “new
. look” is for, and what is the matter with the
"old look,” but by and large change has' its
place. In fact, some adventurous souls in
sist that one cannot stand still, but must go
backward or forward, and. no doubt, they are
right
Our Middle East Arms Embargo
In Deciding Whether to Lift It and How, the
Administration Weighs Votes and Oil
By Newbold Noyes, Jr. •
In deciding whether to let the embattled
new state of Israel buy arms in this country.
President Truman and Secretary of State
Marshall are weighing two unknown quantities
against each other.
On one side of the scale Is the domestic
political pressure behind the Idea that we
should follow through on our'recognition of
the birth of the Jewish state by helping it
survive its infancy. This pressure is hard to
compute—it involves much more than the
Jewish vote. For the dramatic action of the
Palestine Jews in declaring themselves a na
tion fired the imagination of many an Ameri
can who, up to then, may have worried very
little about the Palestine problem. And the
drama has been sympathetically heightened
by the immediate invasion of the Holy Land
by Arab armies from surrounding states.
The even more imponderable quantity on
the other side of the balance is, in a word, the
Arab himself. How strong and determined is
his attack on Israel? If the Jews prove uble
to defend their half of the partitioned state,
will the Arab lose interest in his “holy war”
and accept the situation? If the Arab is fur
ther provoked by tangible American a’d to
Israel, will we lose the last vestige of his good
will—and our Middle East oil supply?
Let us be clear about this. The two bal
ancing factors Just described do not repre
sent the opposing arguments as to what our
Palestine policy should be at the moment.
There arl a host* of arguments on both sides,
idealistic as well as practical.
These two factors are singled out, however,
because the administration's decision on
whether to lift our so-called Middle East arms
embargo almost certainly will be influenced by
a judgment as to their relative weights. And
any development in the next few days clari
fying or changing either of these factors could
make up the administration's mind on the
embargo question.
"Embargo” Hit the Arabs.
Behind the pending decision lies as tangled a
web of facts and considerations—political, eco
nomic, strategic and psychological—as one
could hope not to encounter.. In the confu
sion, for example, almost everybody has for
gotten that when the United States suspended
the licensing of arms shipments to the Middle
East last November 14, the effect of that “em
bargo”—the only effect—was to halt armament
purchases here by the Arab countries. The
Palestine Jews were not affected. Up to last
Saturday, when the British ended their man
date and the Jewish state came into existence,
there was no way we could ship arms legally
to Jews in Palestine, embargo or no embargo.
There was, of course, no Jewish state as such,
and the British mandate government pro
hibited the importing of arms by Jewish under
ground organizations.
We had, however, been selling arms to the
Arab states. The quantities were negligible—
$7,258.34 worth in 1946 and the first ten months
of 1947. But the clandestine war was coming
to a boil in Palestine, and Arab requests for
arms-export licenses in more substantial
amounts were pending. In this situation, act
ing under authority given him in the Neutral
ity Act of 1939 and the Export-Import Control
Act of 1940, Gen. Marshall announced he would
grafit no more licenses for the Middle East,
excepting only Turkey and Iran.
It is true that at the same time we took
steps to tighten the barriers here against illegal
arms shipments to the then underground Jew
ish forces in Palestine. But the embargo de
cision did not in itself affect the Jews in Pales
tine until last week. Before that it merely pre
vented them from doing something they had
never been able to do anyway.
The situation is, of course, very different
now that the Jewish government has been
recognized by us. The Jews now contend
Israel should be accorded, as a state, the right
which hitherto has been denied its people as
individuals—the same right to buy arms exer
cised in the past by Arab countries. Under
treaties which still continue in force, they
further point out, the Arabs have been buying
arms from the British, who 'do not recognize
Israel and will not sell it arms. These Arab
countries now are attacking Israel. Should
not the new state be afforded at least an equal
opportunity to procure the means of defend
ing itself?
So runs the Jewish argument. It has logic
and force, and it leads to at least three logical
questions. Granting that the Jews of Palestine
have been handicapped in their efforts to
arm themselves, how badly have they done in
that respect as compared to the Arab states?
Granting that they need armament, could it
be shipped from this country to Palestine in
time to do any good? And must they get the
arms here? All these questions are being asked
in official circles here.
They Have Been Able to Arm.
With respect to the first question, it is clear
that despite their difficulties the Palestine
Jews have been able to amass armament which
compares quite favorably with that which the
Arabs can use against them. Their greatest
present need seems to be for antiaircraft guns.
They are known to have received shipments
from this country similar to those intercepted
last winter—war material disguised, for in
stance, as second-hand machinery. The Arabs
say, too, that arms for Palestine have gone
from the United States to a South American
nation, where they were shipped on to the
Holy Land. Some arms have been obtained
in Europe.
Hie Jews, apparently, were extraordinarily
successful in getting this stuff past British
authorise in Palestine. Their spokesmen
here acknowledge that, while the Israelite
forces generally are weak in heavy armament,
they are holding airplanes and tanks in re
serve for use at the strategic moment. How
these were smuggled into Palestine remains a
secret.
At the same time, the strength of the at
tacking Arab forces seems exaggerated in the
popular mind here. They are not armies ir.
the modern sense. Trans-Jordan’s Arab Le
gion, with 40 British officers and a British
subsidy, is perhaps an exception. Nevertheless,
for all the obstacles in their path, the Jews
probably can be said to have held their own
so far in their armaments race with the Arabs.
The words “so far” are important, and they
lead directly to our second or time-factor
question. Hie answer here seems to be that
if the Jews were in imminent peril of losing
their wan with the Arabs any shipments from
this country might well arrive too late to do
any good. But there is little belief here or
anywhere that the Arabs can score a quick
victory. What the Jews are concerned about
is their ability to maintain a supply of arms
against the drain of battle. They cannot do
this unless they can continue to procure arms
—and now, as a state, they want to do this
in the legal and direct way.
As to whether the United States is Israel's
only potential source of supply, the answer is
no. The United States is the obvious source,
and the Jews would like to buy here,-but
there are many possible markets to which they
could and would turn if necessary. Czecho
slovakia, for example, has just followed Rus
sia’s lead in recognizing the Jewish govern
ment. True, little is known of the current
output of the Skoda works, or whether Russia
would allow any of it to be made available to
Israel. But such countries as. rTance ana
Italy probably could supply the Palestine Jews,
as could several South American states. And
today, anybody with dollars is unlikely to go
begging long. The Jews have the dollafs.
Pressure for One-Sided Deal.
There are two ways in which the American
arms market might be opened'for Palestine.
It could be a one-way proposition, in which
the embargo was lifted only for Israel and
kept in force for the Arab states. Or the em
bargo could be lifted for all the Middle East.
The political pressure is behind the first of
these alternatives.
A strong argument, however, is being ad
vanced by those of Mr. Truman’s advisers
who want him to lift the embargb for the
whole Middle East if it is to be lifted at all.
Arab and Jewish representatives here agree
that to raise the embargo for all the Middle
East would help the Jews at the relative ex
pense of the Arabs. Again, it is the dollar
that counts: The Jews simply could buy more
arms here than the Arabs could1.
A general relaxing of the export ban, ac
cording to this view, would have the ad
vantage of not involving a deliberate choice by
this country as between the Jewish and Arab
causes. We could help the Jews without point
ing openly at the Arabs as aggressors. For
mally, we would be maintaining our neutrality.
And the Arabs have been trying hard to con
vince us that this is the least we must do if
wc are to retain the advantages of our pres
ent relationship with them.
The Arabs, of course, would rather we did
not lift the embargo at all. The persuasive
efforts of their spokesmen boil down, essen
tially, to this proposition: “You need our oil
more than we need your dollars.” The prod
uct of their oil fields, they say, is essential
to the Marshall Plan as well as to our domestic
economy. The Arabs can do without machines
for another hundred years or so far more
easily than we can do without oil. This is
their argument or their bluff, as the case may
be—the Jews profess not to believe a word
of it. Where, they ask, would the Arabs sell
their oil if not to us?
Answer Lies in Arab Attitude.
The great question of fact in this equation
clearly is still the orje as to how seriously the
Arabs should be taken. More than oil may
depend on the answer to it. Mr. Truman has
been getting a good deal of advice tending
to minimize Arab determination in this Pales
tine “war.” Many an Arab spokesman admits
to doubts that it will be possible to defeat the
Jews within the territory allotted them in the
United Nations’ partition decision. May it not
be, then, that the Arabs eventually will recon
cile themselves to a stalemate, accept the
alien in their midst and negotiate a settlement
with him?
Perhaps. That certainly is the Hbpe of our
government, and if the arms embargo is lifted
it will be an attempt to produce such a solu
tion. But some of the things the Arabs say
today do not bode well for the future of Pales
tine, whatever our decision on the embargo
question may be.
Bedia Afnan, for instance, who runs the
Paris branch of the Arab Office, came into
town the other day to close the Washington
branch. She observed grimly that even If
the Jews can defend Israel, it will be nothing
more than a strip of coastal land which must
import some 80 per cent of its food from
adjacent Arab territories. That food would
never be forthcoming, she said. It might take
years, but the Jews would not last in Pales
tine.
Somebody wondered aloud whether, once the
initial excitement wore off, the Arabs would
hang together in their resolve to freeze the
Jews out.
“In the crusades,” she said, "the Arabs hung
together and fought an intruder for about 100
( years. Nothing has changed since then.”
Letters to The Star
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.
Financing Future Wars v
To the Editor ol The Star:
Each new global war is costing the Nation
some seven times more than the preceding
one. At the end of World War II the carry
over debt was 260-odd billions plus 5% billions
of yearly interest. At that ratio World War III
stands to engulf our economy with some
l>/4 trillions of debt plus about 40 billions of
yearly Interest.
The one hope I see for our economy to
*
weather such punishment is to install a single
unit dollar money system and make it oper
ate this way:
(1) Fight future wars with interest-free dol
lar money issued by the United States Treas
ury for direct Government spending. Then as
income taxes are collected from the people,
the Government would cancel a like amount
of dollar money out of existence as a means of
keeping the war expenditures account in proper
money balance.
(2) Require banks to borrow their money
lending needs from the United States Treasury
and pay about 2 per cent interest for its use.
This would yield millions, perhaps billions, of
interest income yearly to the Government in
stead of the other way around, as it is now.
Fort Worth, Texas. W. R. HOWARD.
The Murder of George Polk
To the Editor of The 8t»r:
The murder of George Polk, an American
correspondent in Greece, should not only
merit a full investigation by the Government of
the United States, but it should call for a
complete exposure of the real forces behind
the Athens government and free access to all
available information by citizens of this coun
try.
It is obvious that Mr. Polk was murdered
by a person or pier so ns connected with or
known to the present Greek government be
cause of Mr. Polk’s attempt to contact Gen.
Markos. As a former Navy combat flyer dur
ing the war, there can be no question of Mr.
Polk’s integrity and his desire to present a
true picture of the Greek situation to the
American people.
The murder of this correspondent is a crime
against humanity and an attempt to stifle a
ff^e press; and the blame should not be al
lowed to rest upon a few unknown mal
contents, nor should the offer of a reward
by the Greek government for the capture of
Mr. Polk’s murderer serve as a whitewash for
the reactionary regime that we are arming
and supporting, a regime that differs only by
its nationality from the governments we so
recently helped to destroy in formerly Axis
nominated tountries.
We are either for liberty or opposed to it.
If we believe in the principles of democracy,
we cannot remain silent or inactive while
correspondents of free nations are murderec
in order to suppress the truth.
JOHN C. ROGERS.
Stars, Men and Atoms
'Leaping Sound' Discovery
Is Reported by Physicists
Heligoland Blast Reverberations
Measured at Observation Posts
By Thomas R. Henry
“Leaping sound,” a hitherto undemonstrated
natural phenomenon, is reported by Naval
Ordnance Laboratory physicists.
Headed by Dr. J. V. Atanasoff, who was
working on a project instituted-by the office
of Naval Research, they maintained a string
of ten observation posts stretched across
Europe from Cuxhaven, Germany, to Oorltza
just outside Trieste when the British Army
destroyed the fortifications of Heligoland with
5,000 tons of high explosive last summer.
Their job was to measure the intensity'and
determine precisely the arrival times of the
inaudible sound waves in the atmosphere set
up by the world’s greatest man-made explo
sion. The explosive charges were so arranged
with different lengths of quick burning fuses
that the entire 5,000 tons went off at once,
so thoroughly devastating the North Sea is
land that presumably it never can be fortified
again.
Train of Reverberation.
Such a blast naturally started an enormous
train qi reverberations in the atmosphere. The
audible sound waves quickly became too at
tenuated to be detected by human ear.
However the extremely sensitive sound-de
tecting mechanisms with which the Naval
Ordnance Laboratory stations were equipped
were able to detect faintly the inaudible waves
of lower frequency at a distance of 600 miles.
When work of analyzing the results was
started in Washington—it is an enormous
job still far from completion—it soon becama
apparent that this train of sound waves was
not acting entirely in accordance with physical
theory. Sound moves in a straight line
through air at a precisely determinable speed
—about eleven hundred feet a second. Ac
tually they were minutes late in reaching some
observation posts, although almost exactly on
time at the stations next in line. The con
clusion was that parts of the train of sound
waves had taken flying leaps of a few miles.
A similar phenomenon, although due to
quite different causes, is experienced in the
case of radio waves which will skip long dis
tances. This is due to the so-called ^Heavystde
layer, one of the electrical roofs of the earth,
which reflects these waves and prevents them
from escaping into space, thus making long
distance transmission possible.
Temperature Strata.
The phenomenon observed from the Heligo
land explosion is described by Dr. Atanasoff
as a “sort of acoustic Heavyside layer.”
Speed of sound varies with the temperature
of the air through which it passes. Although
held theoretically for some years, it has only
been demonstrated by V-2 rocket flights in
the past few months that above the strato
sphere there is a rapid increase in tempera
ture, followed by a sharp decline to far be
low zero and then by another rise to more
than tropical heat.
Apparently these different temperature
strata act on sound waves in somewhat the
same fashion as the electrical strata on radio
waves. The arrival times check well, Dr.
Atanasoff says, with calculations based on the
reoent V-2 findings. One practical possibility is
that of determining temperatures at different
points in the upper atmosphere by sound
waves.
Questions and Answers
A reader can ge. the answer to any question of
fact by writing The Evening Star fnformatlon
Bureaj S16 Eye street N.E., Washington 2. D. C.
Please Inclose three (3) cents for return postage.
By THE HASKIN SERVICE.
Q. Who began the custom of punctuation?—
H. R. P.
A. It is not possible to say who began the
custom of punctuating literary composition,
or to single out a year as the time when the
custom began. Punctuation originated in
Alexandria, Egypt, when that city was the
center of ancient learning. Aldus Manutlus
(16th century) introduced a regulai system.
Q. Have many patents been granted to
Negroes?—P. D. A.
A. Before the war the Patent Office, which
does not record the race of patentees, had
by investigation verified over 800 patents
granted to Negroes. It is estimated that
many more than this number have been
granted, which are unverified, and that
Negroes hold patents on over 4,000 Inventions.
Q. How many religious sects in the United
States are opposed to war?—W. C. B.
A. The members of over 30 individual re
ligious bodies were listed as conscientious ob
jectors in World War II.
Q. Did France pay any special tribute to
George Washington at the time of his death?—
G. G.
A. Two months after Washington’s death
elaborate memorial services in his honor were
held in the Champ de Mars, and for ten
days every flag and standard in France was
hur.g with black crepe.
Q. In lumbering, why are the tops of the
tall trees cut off first, before the trees are
felled?—P. R.
A The Forest Service says that In the West
Coast lumbering region a "spar tree” is used
to help facilitate operations in lumbering.
The chosen tree is one in a strategic position.
The top is "lopped" or cut off, and to this
tree is attached the cable rigging, so that the
logs can be drawn to the position and loaded
by crane on to trucks, sleds or whatever method
is used in that location to be taken to the
shipping point. These are the only trees from
which the tops are cut first.
Q. Does the fact that a dog has a black
tongue prove that it is pure bred?—R. F.
A. No one can prove that a dog is pure bred
merely because it has a black tongue. Ir.
some breeds of dogs, such as the Chow, a black
or bluish-black tongue and roof of the mouth
is one of its natural characteristics but at
no time can it be proof of “pure breed."
Old Man
He sits in the bright April sun as though
His winter-chilled old bones could never
feel
Enough of warmth again. He did not
know
If he should see another spring. The real
Accomplished fact delights him, and he
squares
His knobby shoulders with a young man’s
pride.
So much is vague to him and still he shares
His thoughts with her as if she had not
died
Five years ago. He sees her, in his mind,
As active, young—his children’s busy
mother.
His great-grandchildren, playing, are re
signed
To having him call them by any other
Child’s name. Sometimes he thinks they
are his own.
But he can whittle boats and tell them
tales
Of other days. And all his facts are known
In speaking of the past. His memory
fails
Only in the blurred present. He has spent
A long, full life with very few regrets.
The sun and his own thoughts keep him
content. *
His heart remembers if his mind forgets.
ELEANOR OWEN PEN1CK.
ft m.