Evening star. [volume], May 29, 1948, Page A-4, Image 4

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

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With Sunday Morning Iditlon.
WASHINGTON, D. C
Published by
The Evening Star Nawspapar Company.
FRANK B. NOYES, Chairman’of the Board.
FLEMING NEWBOLP, President.
B. M. McKELWAY, Editor.
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JZ4 SATURDAY, May 29, 1»4t
The Sex Offenders
The new sex offenders bill which has
passed Congress and is awaiting the Presi
dent’s signature constitutes a long for
ward step in dealing with an exceedingly
difficult and important problem.
As pointed out by The Star in a series
of articles and editorials last year, the
District has lagged far behind the rest
of the country in the handling of sex
offenders. Under the old laws applying to
the subject, it was common practice for
these offenders, most of them mentally
unbalanced in some degree, to march in
and out of court with dismaying regu
larity. The police would pick them up.
Then, after conviction, they would pay a
•mall fine or in relatively rare instances
serve a few days in jail before being
turned back on the community. In en
tirely too many cases, they would be
picked up again and the whole absurd
performance repeated.
Some of the country’s most depraved
criminals—the perpetrators of the shock
ing sex murders—have come from the
ranks of these degenerates. Yet in the
District, prior to enactment of the new
law, they were treated as minor offenders,
especially in cases involving offenses
against children.
The new bill changes all of this. Based
on model statutes in the States, and com
bining the best features of all of them,
the bill takes a dual approach to the
problem. First, it strengthens the laws
applicable to offenses involving children
and substantially increases the penalty
for such offenses. This first section also
•trengthens and clarifies the law covering
the offense of sodomy, the purpose being
to eliminate technical difficulties which
have stood in the way of obtaining con
victions.
The second section of the bill, providing
for the commitment to St. Elizabeths Hos
pital of sexual psychopaths, is the more
significant and potentially more valuable
change made by the new statute. Under
its provisions, habitual sex offenders, sub
ject to carefully drawn safeguards, will
be committed to the hospital for psychi
atric treatment, and they will not be re
leased until they have ceased to be a
menace to the public. The advantages
of this are twofold. It means that for
the first time In the District the law en
forcement agencies will be interested in
curing, as well as punishing, sex offenders.
And it also means, or should mean, that
many of those who cannot be cured will
be detected and put away before some one
is murdered by them.
The new bill was prepared after long
and careful study by United States Attor
ney Fay, with the assistance of represent
>. atives from the Police Department and
the medical and legal professions. Their
efforts merit the appreciation of the peo
ple of Washington, for the new legislation,
if properly enforced, will make this com
munity a safer place in which to live.
Britain's New Ambassador
Sir Oliver Franks, the new British Am
bassador to the United States, has arrived
in Washington at a moment when his
government and ours are unfortunately at
odds over how best to deal with the tragic
situation in the Holy Land. But however
much that fact may complicate his task,
his record indicates that he is exception
ally well equipped to handle difficult issues.
Besides, it seems inconceivable that the
Arab-Israeli strife will be allowed to under
mine his prime objective of promoting
closer and closer Anglo-American collabo
ration in a world where such collabo
ration is indispensable to the security of
all free nations.
Although relatively little known in this
country, Sir Oliver is fairly famous in
Britain, and his name is one that com
mands a great deal of respect among
American officials who have had the stimu
lating experience of dealing with him In
connection with the European Recovery
Program. He is not a professional diplo
mat, but a scholar gifted with extraordi
nary executive ability and a rare under
standing of the complex politico-economic
problems of the age. In the prewar period
—during which he spent a year as a visiting
professor at the University of Chicago—he
headed the department of moral philosophy
at Glasgow University. Then, when the
Nazis began to march, he was called from
the quiet of his academic life to cope with
harsh realities as permanent secretary of
the British Ministry of Supply and Air
craft Production. Here he covered himself
with such distinction as an organizer and
administrator that it is not surprising he
later emerged as a key figure at the sixteen
nation Paris Conference in the early form
ative stages of the ERP.
According to all accounts, few men any
where are as well informed on the mechan
ics and possibilities of the European Re
covery Program as Sir Oliver. His knowl
edge in this respect apparently is one of
the main reasons why he has been sent
here as Ambassador. From now on the
ERP will loom larger and larger in inter
national affairs, and his intimate acquaint
ance with it Is likely to be of great help
Inputting it effectively to work not merely
for Britain but for the other participating
lands as well. This is an enterprise whose
long-range significance in terms of safe
guarding the free world overshadows cur
rent crises like the one in the Holy Land.
In his efforts to help make it a success
and to deepen the friendship existing
between his country and ours, Sir Oliver
can be sure that he has the best wishes
of the American people.
Overturn in South Africa
To nearly every one outside the South
African Union, the outcome of the par
liamentary elections last Tuesday has
come as a sharp surprise. So great has
been the prestige of Prime Minister Jan
Christiaan Smuts throughout the world
that it was more or less taken for granted
that he and his United Party would con
tinue to guide the political course of the
Union. Nevertheless, he was beaten in his
own bailiwick—a reputedly “safe” con
stituency—while his followers will be a
minority in the next Parliament.
The victors in this electoral contest are
the Nationalists and a closely affiliated
group called the Afrikaners. Together,
they will possess a small but indubitable
lead over the United Party, even if the
latter should form a working coalition
with the small Labor Party and the three
members representing the big native
element.
These figures, however, are merely the
bare bones of a dramatic story. The po
litical overturn that has Just,taken place
is far more than a shift of parties. It
is the coming to power of a radically
different ideology and outlook. The Na
tionalists and Afrikaners represent the
South African Dutch or “Boers,” a “pe
culiar people” if there ever was one. The
offspring of the original Dutch settlers
around the Cape of Good Hope some
three centuries ago, and leavened with a
strain of Huguenot refugees, the Boers
evolved in isolation and have always been
refractory to the British connection,
which began early in the nineteenth cen
tury, when Holland ceded the cape to
Britain after the Napoleonic Wars. The
most recalcitrant of the . Boers soon
"trekked” from Cape Colony into the then
unexplored interior and founded two re
publics which were finally conquered by
Britain a half century ago after a bitter
struggle in which Smuts took part.
That epic struggle the Boers have
neither forgotten nor forgiven. Most of
them retain the dream of a South Africa
dominated by themselves and their way
of life. And they constitute a majority
of the white population. Strongly race
conscious, they uphold the ideal of white
supremacy and reject the granting of po
litical or other rights to the nonwhite
population, which outnumbers the total
white element almost three to one. Proudly
they speak their "Afrikaans,” a variant of
Dutch, and flaunt it as the symbol of
their nationalism.
It is this intensely self-conscious and
isolationist element which now comes to
the helm of the South African Union.
Small wonder that the Boer victory
spreads dismay throughout the British
Empire, wherein South Africa had come
to be regarded as one of the bulwarks of a
revised imperial strategy. Nationalist rule
in South Africa, if carried to its logical
conclusion, cannot but divide the local
white population, increase unrest In the
native majority, and weaken the bonds
of empire at a crucial time. To the world
at large it comes as an unfortunate and
disturbing event.
Exit the Red Rider
The sudden death which has overtaken
the House of Representatives’ “red rider”
will evoke no lamentations.
This was a well-intentioned but thor
oughly misguided effort to get rid of sus
pected Communists on the Federal pay
roll by tacking riders onto appropriation
bills forbidding the payment of salaries
to employes belonging to unions whose
officers had not executed the non-Com
munist affidavits under the Taft-Hartley
law.
Actually, the riders were aimed at
Federal employes who belong to the United
Public Workers of America, a union which
adheres closely to the Communist line.
The Star shares the view that people
who continue to belong to this union
have no business working for the Gov
ernment. But the trouble was that the
riders were made generally applicable,
covering, for instance, the 1,700 employes
at the Government Printing Office. These
workers belong to the International Typo
graphical Union, whose officers, like those
of UPWA, have refused to sign the Taft
Hartley affidavits. But no one contends
tha^ the ITU is a Communist union, and
it would be absurd to deprive these people
of their jobs in order to get at such Com
munists as may belong to UPWA.
One would think that a little foresight
would have revealed to the red rider
sponsors that they were getting them
selves into an untenable position. The
foresight was lacking, however, and now
the House leaders have had to take them
jff the spot. But the change of heart
is to be welcomed, if for no other reason
than that it is better to see the light
late than never.
Anthony J. Drexel Biddle
Although a gentleman by birth and in
stinct, there was nothing gentlemanly
about the doctrine of “Do or Die” which
Colonel Anthony J. Drexel Biddle taught
fighters in both World Wars and which he
expounded in peacetime to FBI agents
and selected police officers. Colonel Bid
dle insisted that in hand-to-hand combat,
no less than in the Darwinian process of
natural selection, the fittest would survive.
The fittest fighter, according to Colonel
Biddle, is the soldier who forgets the
Marquis of Queensbury rules and concen
trates, instead, on disabling his opponent
by the very tricks and blows which the
Marquis frowned on, or by any other
effective expedient—however ungentle
manly. When an enemy lunges at you
with a leveled bayonet or a criminaF stfcks
a gun in your ribs, the colonel always
reminded his pupils, it is a question of do
or die. What is done in such a crisis can
not be dictated by considerations of sports
manship.
Hence, in his world-famous “Do or Die”
manual of “Advanced 8cience in Individual
Combat” and In his many colorful lectures
to Marines and other fighters, Colonel
Biddle described and personally demon
strated the value of judo, eye-gouging,
kicking and other unorthodox means of
defense and offense at close quarters. It
was rough and brutal, this survival tech
nique advocated by this noted member of
a distinguished Philadelphia family—but
war is rough and brutal. There is not
the slightest doubt that many men who
fought the Germans in the trenches of
France in 1918 and the Japs in the jun
gles of Guadalcanal or New Guinea in
World War II lived to tell of their experi
ences because of what they had learned
at training camp about the Biddle system
of “individual combat.” It is no exagger
ation to say that the late Marine Reserve
colonel made an extraordinary contribu
tion to the winning of both World Wars.
Sign of Normalcy
There is no sense in getting too worked
up about that Brooklyn-like Incident at
the ball park Thursday night. While that
is not the sort of life in these United States
which should be featured on one of our
foreign broadcasts, the outburst cannot be
said to have been un-American—or even
uncalled for.
Hurling opprobrious eplthe£s or other
things at umpires on certain occasions has
become almost an American tradition, as
a matter of fact. The missiles seldom find
their mark. Nevertheless, umpires tend
to duck instinctively when they realize
they have called a ball or a play wrong.
The fans are quick to note an umpire’s
error and it is not the nature of things for
baseball fans to ignore a mistake commit
ted at the expense of their own team.
When Umpire Red Jones unwittingly step
ped in the way of that throw to the plate
and spoiled a fine play, he was asking for
trouble. Umpires are not supposed to break
up fine plays, accidentally or otherwise.
Mr. Jones and his colleagues had been hav
ing a bad night, anyway, with the fans
evidencing their displeasure over a number
of decisions previously rendered.
On second thought, it might not be such
a bad idea to mention the ruckus at Grif
fith Stadium in a Voice of America pro
gram. It would not hurt the folks in
other lands, especially those behind the
iron curtain, to learn that life is reason
ably normal in the United States—that we
are not wholly preoccupied with manufac
turing atomic bombs, settling strikes, bick
ering over politics and planning strategy
for World War III. Things are not too
hopeless in Washington when we still have
time to enjoy a ball game or toss pop bot
tles at a hapless umpire.
John L. Lewis Is about to rise again in
his might. We wonder, sometimes, why
the mine operator doesn't just give up and
reopen as a rathskeller.
Norman Thomas is willing to stand once
more for President as an old school Social
ist, figuring that this may be a conservative
year.
A new Japanese device is a stove that
cooks by sunlight, evidently an adaptation
of the locked car left on an all-day parking
lot.
p—^1———■■——
Maybe it’s time turning backward in its
flight, but somehow Henry Wallace seems
younger every four years.
This and That
By Charles E. Tracewell
“Takoma Park.
“Dear Sir:
“Recently I have been sunning myself, as
the Europeans say, and have been astonished
at the number of sounds I hear, to say nothing
of the intensity of the sunburn I receive.
"This summer’s sun must have super power,
or something, because I find that 15 minutes
exposure does as much ’good’ as an hour did
last summer.
“The sounds I refer to include not only those
from the birds, but particularly from animals,
especially dogs, and the many sounds made by
humans, botn old and young.
“I listened to lawn mowers—but why go
over the list? I find I was listening to more
than 93 different sounds, and I know I did
not think of every one I heard, by any means.
“It was interesting to me, lolling there in the
bright sunshine, with a frisky breeze blowing
over me, to find the sounds coming into my
consciousness one by one.
“I remember once upon a time, when I
started to think of old associates who had
passed on, at first I could recall but a few, but
as I let my mind go back over the old offices,
and thought of the men I knew had been at
the desks, the names and faces began to come
back in a steady stream, so that in time I re
membered more than 50 old friends.
"The sounds in the garden go on all the
time, but the mind does not take them in at
first, though the ears register them, of course.
“The knowing mind is important here, as
elsewnere.
"J am sending this jotting along to you, be
lieving that some of your readers might like to
try this experiment in acuity. I assure them it
is a lot of fun.
“Sincerely yours, A. de S. L.’’
- * * • •
The cries of the chickadees blend with the
bright sounds from the flashing cardinal. The
humble wren pours his cascade of music over
the grass blades, and the yellow-backed bee
buzzes into the four-leaf clover. Let us hope
he sticks to it, rather than explores one’s ankle!
Bees are fine on clover, not so good on legs.
The sounds of humanity are many and varied.
They are not as musical as those of their two
legged cousins, the birds, but they are replete
with interest.
It is amazing, as our correspondent points
out, how sound after sound, first one and then
another comes into the dozing consciousness,
after one decides to hear “what goes on."
This going on is humanity in action, and
humans are always in action. To rest is to
rust, an old saying has it. That may seem
severe, to the person .whose glands of internal
secretion are faulty. Sajous said that all life
depends upon the proper functioning of the
amazing glands. There are all sorts and shapes
of them; some of, them, such as the thyroid,
known by name, at least, to every one; others,
hidden in odd places in the human economy,
known only to doctors, thank goodness.
Among the interesting noises of the spring
and summer afternoon will be the cries of
little children, playing.
At times these take on rhythmical aspects,
reminding the hearer who knows his phono
graph records, of African savages.
There, in his ears, is proof positive that all
men are brothers.
Insect noises are many and interesting. They,
too, at times, are cadenced, recalling the per
fection of that sort of thing—was it in 1934?—
when the cicadas roared to greet the sun, and
people were afraid that the “locusts” would
destroy their trees and shrubs. Where are their
fears now? How silly they seem, in the light
of 1948! The damage, assessed over the years,
was slight; the Joy of the happy cicadas bound
less, filling the suburban air with sound. Let
us hope that the next time the 17-year-locusts
visit us, no bad boys will stomp on them, no
irate householders will lament a few boughs
and branches, no wanderer but will pause in
wonder, as he hears the swelling chorus of
things so long hidden in the dark, happy at
last to see and feel the sun, hymning their
praise to the mighty farces, marvellous with
out end, of which they feel themselves a part.
Is History Repeating Itself ?
The Alien and Sedition Laws of 1798 Seen as Forerunners
of Anti-Communist Legislation of Today
By Francis P. Danilas
in his Oregon debate with Harold E. Btassen
on outlawing communism Gov. Thomas E.
Dewey referred to the alien and sedition laws
of 1798.
He saw in them something of a parallel be
tween public sentiment of that day, created
by developments in Europe, and the sentiment
today in support of anti-Communist legislation.
As for the parallel—One hundred and fifty
years ago it was the fear created by the Jacobin
ideas of the French Revolution, together with
the suspicion that France might attack us,
that played a part in the laws of 1798.
Today the “clear and present danger” to the
United States from the Communist Party and
fear of Russia have resulted in House passage
of Ahe Mundt-Nixon bill, now pending before
a Senate committee.
There may be other simuanues, insufficient
to establish a parallel. And as for the legis
lation itself, the Nlxon-Mundt bill, it is not
so drastic as the laws of 1798.
The Sedition Act, the text of which la printed
in an adjoining column, all but uses the phrase
'.‘advocacy of overthrow of the Government by
force*’—used currently to describe unlawful ac
tivities.
There Were Four of Them.
The Alien and Sedition Acts were four in
number. It is interesting to remember that
they were placed on the statute books and en
forced only seven years after the Bill of Bights
was put into the Constitution.
The first law, approved June 18, 1798, pro
longed from 5 to 14 years the period for nat
uralization but made exceptions in favor of
those persons actually in the country in Jan
uary, 1795. The great mass of foreigners—and
they Included many Frenchmen—were dis
franchised for years to come.
The second, of June 25, empowered the
President to deport any aliens he deemed dan
gerous to public peace.
The third act, July 6, empowered the Presi
dent in time of war to arrest, Imprison or
banish any aliens with whose country we were
at war.
The fourth was the Sedition Act, approved
July 14.
It is noteworthy that histories now do not
mention prosecutions under section 1 of the
Sedition Act, which is aimed at conspiracies
against the Government. Attention is fixed
on prosecutions under section 2, directed at
seditious libel.
This section was used by President John
Adams and his Federalist administration to
punish critical Republican editors. The fact
the act expired March 3, 1801, the day Adams’
term ended, is significant. There were some
arrests under the act, 15 indictments, 11 trials
and 10 convictions.
A number of historians say popular indigna
tion at the act and the prosecutions drove
President Adams from office and wrecked the
Federalist Party. That is the position of
Zecharlah Chafee, Jr., professor of law at
Harvard, in his “Free Speech in the United
States,” who was quoted by Gov. Dewey.
Others Find No Connection. »
Edward Channlng, historian and also of
Harvard, examined this view and rejected it.
He asserted Adams’ defeat was due entirely
to the transfer of New York's 12 electoral votes
from Adams, in 1796, to Jefferson, in 1800, and
this was due to a partisan campaign by Aaron
Burr and was not connected with the Sedition
Act.
Jefferson assailed the act on the ground it
was unconstitutional. Prof. Chafee says “on
that question Jefferson seems right.” When
Jefferson became President he pardoned all
those imprisoned under the act and Congress
eventually repaid all the fines.
When the sedition bill was pending Jeffer
son wrote Madison that its object "is the sup
pression of the Whig press. Bache has been
particularly named.”
The reference was to Benjamin Franklin
Bache, grandson of Benjamin Franklin and
editor of the Philadelphia Aurora, a severe
critic of the Federalists. He was indicted but
died before he was brought to trial.
William Duane succeeded Bache as editor of
the Aurora and married Bache’s widow. While
Adams may not have had a hand in passage
of the Sedition Act. it is apparent he was en
thusiastic in using it against Duane.
The editor had been born in this country but
after his father died his mother took him to
Ireland. He lived in India and England and
then returned to the United States. Secretary
of State Pickering wrote Adams that Duane
Letters to The Star
ABC on Fair Trade Bill
To the Editor of The Star:
On May 25 I dropped into a hearing on the
so-called Fair Trade Bill lor the Liquor In
dustry held in the Old House Office Building.
There was not a word of protest against this
measure, except from the government of the
District of Columbia, the Commissioners and
the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. This
was most interesting in the light of almost
unanimous support from the Industry itself,
both wholesalers and retailers, and the total
lack of opposition from any single citizen of
the community.
ll mese iacis are true—ana mey are a mat
ter of public record—I wonder where the Al
coholic Beverage Control gets its directive. With
a unanimity of opinion from the whole com
munity, why is the Alcoholic Beverage Control
Board on the opposite side of the fence? What
is the interest of thd A. B. C. Board? Or does
it know?
Irrespective of the merits or the demerits of
the issue, no one can deny that controlled dis
tribution of alcoholic beverages makes for a
more orderly business and a more temperate
community. Does not the ABC Board have
some duty toward the Industry and the com
munity besides the personal opinion of its
members, prompted by whatever motivating
force might be behind their unusual stand?
PAUL C. CROARKIN.
The Weather Bureau’s Hades
To the Editor ot The Star:
F. P. Douglas' article concerning the inade
quate quarters of the Patent Office (Star, May
25) aroused my sympathy—for the employes of
the Weather Bureau’s Division of Climatologi
cal and Hydrologic Services. No one has made
public the miserable circumstances under
which these poor souls must labor. And if the
Patent Office's quarters aren’t far more desir
able (I’ve never even seen their place), then
I’ll eat my hat!
Perhaps Mr. Douglas would like to investi
gate and report on the office space occupied
by this division on the second floor of the
Packard Building, Twenty-fourth street N.W.,
between M and N. If so, it is only fair to
caution him to bring along oxygen equipment
(just in case he'd like to breathe while he's
there), and a miner's cap with lamp to enable
him to .feel his way through the place without
stumbling. The windows are those frosted
things with chicken wire running through
them and they commence about 6 feet from
the floor. Only a portion of a given window
opens, permitting minimum escapage of the
stale air. In the summer the building is 10
degrees warmer Inside than out, and in the
Sedition Act of 1798
jin act in addition to the act, entitled "An
act tor the punishment of certain crimes
against the United States
Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate
and House of Representatives of the United
States of America, in Congress assembled,
. That if any persona shall unlawfully com
bine or conspire together, with intent to
oppose any measure or measures of the
Government of the United States, which
are or shall be directed by proper authority,
or to impede the operation of any law of
the United States, or to Intimidate or
prevent any person holding a place or office
in or under the Government of the United
States, from undertaking, performing or
executing his trust or duty; and if any
person or persons, with intent as aforesaid,
shall counsel, advise or attempt to procure
any insurrection, riot, unlawful assembly, or
combination, whether such conspiracy,
threatening, counsel, advice, or attempt
shall have the proposed effect or not, he or
they shall be deemed guilty of a high mis
demeanor, and on conviction, before any
court of the United States having jurisdic
tion thereof, shall be punished by a fine not
exceeding five thousand dollars, and by
Imprisonment during a term not less than
six months nor exceeding five years; and
further, at the discretion of the court may
be holden to find sureties for his good
behaviour in such sum, and for such time,
as the said court may direct.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted. That
if any person shall write, print, utter or
publish, or shall cause or procure to be
written, printed, uttered or published, or
shall knowingly and willingly assist or aid
in writing, printing, uttering or publishing
any false, scandalous and malicious writing
or writings against the Government of the
United States, or either house of the Con
gress of the United States, or the President
of the United States, with intent to defame
the said Government, or either house of the
said Congress, or the said President, or to
bring them, or either of them, into con
tempt or disrepute; *or to excite against
them, or either or any of them, the hatred
of the good people of the United States,
or to stir up sedition within the United
States, or to excite any unlawful combina
tions therein, for opposing or resisting
any law of the United States, or any act
of the President of the United States, done
in pursuance of any such law, or of the
powers in him vested by the Constitution
of the United States, or to resist, oppose,
or defeat any such law or act, or to aid,
encourage or abet any hostile designs of any
foreign nation against the United States,
their people or Government, then such per
sons, being therefore convicted before any
court of the United States having jurisdic
tion thereof, shall be punished by a fine
not exceeding two thousand dollars, and by
imprisonment not exceeding two years.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted and
declared, That if any person shall be prose
cuted under this act, for the writing or
publishing any libel aforesaid, it shall be
lawful for the defendant, upon the trial of
the cause, to give in evidence in his defense,
the truth of the matter contained in the
publication charged as libel. And the jury
who shall try the cause, shall have the
right to determine the law and the fact,
under the direction of the court, as in other
cases.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That
this act shall continue and be in force
until the third day of March, one thousand
eight hundred and one, and no longer:
Provided, that the expiration of the act
shall not prevent or defeat U prosecution
and punishment of any offense against the
law, during the time it shall be in force.
Approved, July 14, 1798.
presumably was a British subject and intimated
he was disloyal. Adams wrote back:
"The matchless effrontery of this Duane
merits the execution of the alien law. I am
very willing to try its strength on him.”
Duane, however, was not deported, but was
charged under the Sedition Act. The charge,
still pending, was dismissed when Jefferson be
came President.
Those interested in the freedom of the press
have noted the Sedition Act provided that
those accused of seditious libel might plead
the truth as a defense and that the jury should
determine both the law and the fact. These
are said to have been written in at the urging
of Alexander Hamilton, a Federalist.
They are the points insisted on in the fa
mous Zenger libel case in New York in Colonial
days. But, according to Frank Luther Mott
in his "American Journalism,” their inclusion
did not have any effectiveness beyond the brief
life of the act.
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.
winter, the temperature Is about the same
both Inside and out until around noon when
the antiquated heating system Is nearly ready
to go to work. A garage is a garage, partitions
and paint, notwithstanding.
If people are compelled to work under such
conditions for long, the opticians and manu
facturers of rheumatism medicine can be
assured of plenty business.
Want to trade, Patent Office?
MISERABLE.
G. B. S. on Star, Not Globe
To the Editor of The Star:
To keep the record straight and specifically
to correct an error in the Haskin column on
May 24, George Bernard Shaw wrote music no
tices for the London Star, not the Globe (now
dead).
The Star, one of London's three remaining
evening papers, was launched 60 years ago by
T. P. O'Connor, M. P. For It, A. E. Pennell wrote
art notes, Richard Le Gallienne book reviews
and William Archer theater critiques. Shaw
was engaged to write leading articles (editor
ials) but soon was writing the most unconven
tional music notes that have appeared In any
paper. Some were reprinted in book form only
a year or so ago. ARTHUR WEBB,
American correspondent, London Dally
Herald.
Senator Taft the Needed ManP
To the MitOr of The Bter:
Disastrous upheavals, such as the world pain
fully and pathetically is suffering from today
air the result of the Second World War, de
mand, not men of mediocre learning, experi
ence and ability like those who have been at
the helm of the Government for the paat. 16
years, but men of the profoundest knowledge,
experience and resourcefulness—men wno, by
reason of such fare equipment, are prepared
to reach and put into effect sound decisions on
domestic as well as foreign affairs. However,
despite the superior advantages that prevail
today, such men admittedly are not numerous.
So, when there is in our midst a man of that
type available to meet the needs of the critical
emergency we now are in, he should be the
overwhelming choice of the American people.
Such a man la Senator Robert A. Taft, the
ableat man In public life today.
JOHN I. HOOVXR.
The Political Mill
'New Party' Held Unlikely
To Exist After Campaign
Like the Bull Moose end Progressive,
It Is Built Around One Men
By Gould Lincoln
lne nrsi nauonai convention 01 un new
Party” will have little to do outside of writing
a platform. Its candidates for President and
Vice President have already been chosen—
Henry A. Wallace, former vice president, and
Senator Glen H. Taylor of Idaho, respectively.
No other candidate for either nomination is
expected to raise his head in the coming con
vention. The problems of the New Party, in
this respect, are as nothing compared to those
of the Republican and Democratic parties.
The New Party is being constructed, as a
matter of fact, around the candidacy of one man
—Mr. Wallace. This is ominous when the history
of other "new” political parties in this country,
since the turn of the century, is considered.
The Bull Moose Party in 1913 was built around
Theodore Roosevelt—who had been President.
The Progressive Party in 1924 was built around
the personality of one man—Senator Robert
("Fighting Bob”) M. La Follette. In both in
stances the presidential candidates of the new
parties insisted that the two old parties—Re
publican and Democratic—were as alike as two
peas in a pod—and that the American people
should be given an opportunity to vote for
something different. That is just what Mr.
Wallace la saying now. And like Mr. Wallace,
Theodore Roosevelt and Bob La Follette insisted
they had come to lead the people to new heights
of progress, away from the crushing feet of
big business and monopoly.
Neither the Bull Moose Party nor the La
Follette Progressive Party survived. They dis
integrated almost immediately after one presi
dential campaign.
G. O. P. Born of Great Issue.
The Republican Party, on the other hand,
which was destined to live on, was not or
ganized around or for a single leader. It was
born of a great issue—freedom, economic as
well as personal. Its first presidential candidate,
Gen. John C. Fremont, got nowhere in ths
election of 1856. Within four years, however,
the party had grown. Abraham Lincoln had
been discovered.
The formal call for the national convention
of the New Party—reminiscent in its name ol
the New Deal—now gone forth—asserts that
“the New Party under the leadership of Henry
A. Wallace and Olen H. Taylor has already
taken firm root as the party of the common
people of America." That's quite a claim—foi
the common people of America are numerous,
The call also says that millions of men and
women are rising to support the New Party
because they wish to vote for a program “in
which they believe and for candidates whom
they can trust with its execution." Obviously,
however, the program of the New Party has al
ready been selected by Mr. Wallace, and ths
common people had little to do with it. It’s a
Wallace program, with the appeasement of
Russia as Its foremost plank—although that is
not what Mr. Wallace calls his foreign policy.
He calls it a peace policy.
Says the New Party convention call: “Control
of the Republican and Democratic Parties alike
has passed into the hands of the economic
royalists." It sounds like—indeed, is almost the
echo of—1924, when the Republicans nom
inated Calvin Coolidge and the Democrat#
John W. Davis, and Bob La Follette called for
a popular uprising. The common people of that
day, however, went along with Mr. Coolidge.
Established in 21 8tates.
The convention of the New Party, which is to
be held in the same Philadelphia convention
hall as the conventions of the Republicans and
Democrats, is slated for July 23, 24 and 25. By
that time the two old parties will have nom
inated their candidates and written their plat
forms. The New Party and Mr. Wallace will
have full opportunity to disagree with both—
and to go as far to the left as they desire.
The Wallaceites have been busy. They have
established new political parties in 21 states
or have been taken in hand by parties already
established, like the American Labor Party In
New York. In order to have all the states and
territories represented in the national conven
tion. the call specifies that in those places
where new parties have not actually been
formed, delegates shall be selected to represent
the Wallace-for-President Committees.
The New Party national convention Is on the
grand scale. It is going to cost a lot of money.
This fact, If nothing else, should convince the
doubting Thomases that Mr. Wallace is in this
race to stay—that he Is not going to drop out
before the November election. Mr. Wallace him
self has repeatedly stated there will be no turn
ing aside, that he Is a candidate. It Is expected
2,500 delegates and alternates will show up for
the convention.
Questions and Answers
. A reader can *et the answer to any question of
fact by.writing The Evening Star Information
Bureau. 810 Eye street N.E., Washington Z. D. C.
Please inclose three (3) cents lor return postage.
By THE HASKIN SERVICE.
Q. Does rain purify the air?—B. L. M.
A. Though widespread, the idea that rain
purifies the air appears to have no foundation
in fact. The air is never free of dust or other
Impurities, and while rain does remove some
of these impurities from the air, the percentage
1# very small.
Q. Which is the larger organization, the
American Legion or the Veterans of Foreign
Wars?—M. 8.
A. The membership of the American Legion
is over 3,000.000; the Veterans of Foreign Wars
of the United States has approximately 1,500,
000 members.
Q. Why are the long knickerbockers worn by
men called plus fours?—P. E. V.
A. These trousers were named plus fours be
cause four inches extra width was allowed in
the inside seam of each leg of the ordinary
knickerbockers. Plus fours originated in the
British army.
Q. What. Is the name given to the type of
map projection that is featured in the United
Nations’ emblem?—M. H.
A. That symbol of the United Nations con
sists of an air-age map drawn on the azimuthal
equidistant projection showing the countries In
relation to the North Pole.
Q. How old was Theodore Roosevelt when
he became President the first time?—C. H.
A. Theodore Roosevelt, the youngest Presi
dent to assume office, was a little over 42 years
10 months old at the time of his succession to
the presidency._
Ozark Woman
One grandmother came from Sussex
And one was Cherokee.
One taught her to love roses;
And one to make herb tea.
One taught her the English ballads,
And what each ballad meant.
One taught her the Indian dances
With their singing accompaniment.
She stands straight as a birch tree;
Her nose is arched and thin;
Her eyes are dark and piercing;
Her toes turn slightly in.
Once she sang me an English ballad;
But she never will speak the tongue
In which she talked with her Cherokee
Grandmother when she was young
HXLDEGARDE WALLS JOHNSON.