Evening star. [volume], July 12, 1948, Page A-10, Image 10

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

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s
gening J&faf
With Sunday Morning Edition.
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A-—10 «* MONDAY,” JULY 12, 1948
Democratic Problem
Although the party’s chances have been
grievously injured by pre-convention
fighting, the Democrats seem ready to
put on something which at least remotely
resembles a united front as they assemble
In Philadelphia today for the opening
session of the 1948 convention.
The Truman forces are In command
of the situation, and there is hardly any
doubt that they will nominate their man
on the first ballot. A serious battle over
the platform seems to have been averted
by an agreement to revive the 1944 plank
on civil rights, which was swallowed four
years ago by the southerners, and which
they cannot oppose too strenuously now.
Nor is real trouble In prospect over the
vice presidential nominee. The usual
maneuverings are going on, but there Is
no reason to doubt that In the end a
choice will be made that Is satisfactory
to the President and not too offensive to
any of the various factions.
This belated closing of ranks, however,
cannot heal the wounds already inflicted
and cannot hide the fundamental split
within the party. This split Is com
pounded of a number of things, but the
conflict over civil rights is the principal
one.
When Franklin D. Roosevelt held the
Democrats In the palm of his hand, he
was able to keep this rupture from reach
ing dangerous proportions. He was able
to do this, first, because of his skill as
a political manager, and second, because
the party rank and file knew they could
win with him and were very much afraid
that they could not win without him.
Hence, whatever he said went.
But that picture is changed. The bulk
of the Democrats do not look upon Presi
dent Truman as a winner, and therefore,
there is less incentive to bow to his wishes.
If either the self-styled northern liberals
or the southerners could have found a
promising substitute for Mr. Truman, they
would have bolted this year. That they
are sticking is not due to their love for
the President, but rather to their inability
to put their finger on any one else.
There Is little likelihood, however, that
this uneasy coalition can survive a defeat
at the polls. If Mr. Truman is beaten as
badly as some of the party leaders have
paid he will be beaten, the Democratic
organization should come apart at the
seams. And that, in turn, might prove
to be the first step toward a realignment
of political forces In this country.
It is rash to be premature in proclaim
ing the death of a major party. But at
the same time it is difficult to believe
that the Democratic organization, if It
falls apart, can ever be rebuilt along the
same lines. A regrouping of forces along
liberal and conservative lines would seem
to be almost Inevitable.
Educational Experimentation
It is pleasant, in a nostalgic sort of way,
to know that there are still some parents
who believe that the, old-fashioned
methods of teaching readin’, writin’ and
'rithmetic were not so bad, after all. In
the modern age of “progressive educa
tion” it has become extremely unpopular
to yearn for the good old days when more
emphasis was placed on spelling, Ameri
can history, writing a good hand and
learning the multiplication table. One
usually keeps these thoughts to himself,
nowadays, lest he arouse an array of
arched eyebrows.
But a group of parents in Bethesda,
unable longer to contain themselves,
have come right out with a denunciation
of Montgomery County’s newfangled edu
cational- program—let the eyebrows arch
as they may. In resolutions presented to
the school board they took the stand that
the public schools should return to
teaching children the "essentials of
knowledge” in tried and proved ways.
They resolved that "the present system of
education which is based on experimental
philosophy, and which has not produced
the scholastic results we know our chil
dren are capable of achieving, be discon
tinued immediately.” They also protested
the treatment of children as educational
"guinea pigs” and as “behavioristic,
psychiatric, personality or social prob
lems.”
Mrs. Duncan H. Brooks, a leader in the
rebellion, told reporters that from .what
she hears, “parents all over the country
may feel pretty much as we do.” That
would not be unlikely, since many parents
received their education in the pre
progressive era. Some of them even
learned the hard way—to the tune of a
hickory stick, or at least a ruler. They
are not willing to concede that they re
ceived a brand of education inferior to
that handed out under today’s "play and
project” system. Many of them have
succeeded in life; a few even have hpcome
Presidents. And most of them have found
it necessary to give their offspring supple
mentary instruction at home, especially
in the fundamental three Rs.
So these elders may be pardoned if
they sometimes look askance a,t educa
tion's progressivism. Some of the old ways
undoubtedly have no place in today’s
schools. But some of the "experimental
philosophy” being tried out in many see
tions may be found to be wanting, too,
when the young subjects of the experi
ments fare forth to make their way in
the world.
The Government Still Grows
Senator Byrd’s latest report on the size
of the Federal Government’s payroll shows
that it is still twice as big as before the
war. Little has been done to bring it
even near its prewar strength.
Personnel reductions effected soon after
V-J Day have been offset by new accre
tions as the Government has faced new
responsibilities. In addition to the ex
pected increase in the Veterans Adminis
tration, other problems not anticipated at
war’s end have arisen to require expansion
of some old agencies and to cause creation
of new ones, like the Economic Co-opera
tion Administration. Our occupation com
mitments abroad have grown more
complicated. Broadly, America is con
cerned not only with its own postwar
troubles but with those of a good part of
the world.
To carry this load, the Government
during the past six months has been tak
ing on new employes at the rate of about
500 a month, according to Senator Byrd.
In the current fiscal year there will be an
average of 2,112,000 employes on the pay
roll. This is more than twice the World
War I peak of Federal employment. It is
more than three and a half times the
pre-New Deal level. And it is more than
twice the 1939 total.
While there • has been justification for
much of the expansion since World War II,
Senator Byrd and other economy advo
cates are correct in their contention that
the over-all number of employes could be
materially reduced by a genuine overhaul
ing of the Federal establishment. It may
be that Senator Byrd is over-stating possi
bilities when he says that about thirty per
cent of Federal employes, or about 630,000,
could be discharged without detriment to
governmental operations. But even ad
ministration personnel experts admit that
there is too much overlapping of functions,
duplication of efforts and other forms of
waste and inefficiency in the departments
and agencies, boards and commissions.
There is hope for relief, however. Under
the direction of Herbert Hoover, a recog
nized authority on governmental adminisj
tration and a long-time devotee of “more
business in Government,” the most com
prehensive study of governmental machin
ery ever undertaken is making progress.
Out of this study will come detailed recom
mendations for the elimination of waste
and the institution of more efficient pro
cedures. There are good prospects, there
fore, of a far-reaching reorganization that
will rid the Government of non-essential
activities and personnel and place it on a
sounder, more businesslike basis.
'* Steel and Soviet Power
In the current issue of “Steelways.tf a
bi-monthly published by the American
Iron and Steel Institute, there is a neatly
arranged set of comparative figures that
ought to be kept in mind by anybody who
undertakes the hazardous task of trying
to evaluate Soviet power vis-a-vis the ■
power of the United States.
The first group of these figures—which
are not new but which have received in
sufficient public attention—covers the goals
set by Generalissimo Stalin for the amount
of iron-and-steel production he wants the
Russians to achieve by 1950. The goals
are as follow: Iron ore, 40,000,000 tons;
coke 30,000.000 tons; pig iron, 19,500,000
tons, and steel, 25,400,000 tons.
fn relation to American production,
these objectives are Lilliputian. Indeed,
nearly all of them were exceeded in this
country as far back as thirty-five years
ago. At that time we produced 60,600,000
tons of iron ore, 47,000,000 tons of coke,
31,500,000 tons of pig iron, ind 25,200,000
tons of steel. In short, In 1913, we had al
ready achieved considerably more than the
Russians are supposed to achieve by 1950.
As for our current output, it dwarfs the
professed 1950 objectives of the Soviet
Union. Thus, our actual total production
last year added up to 104,300,000 tons of
iron ore, 72,900,000 tons of coke, 58,200,000
tons of pig iron, and 84,700,000 tons of
steel. Our American capacity, in other
words, already doubles (and more than
trebles in some categories) the capacity
the Russians hope to attain two years
from now.
In terms of power, and assuming that
the Soviets have not published fake fig
ures to mislead us, this is a fact of very
great significance. For in the modern
world, in this highly technological age of
the machine, the strength of any nation
must be measured largely by its capacity
to turn out iron and steel—absolute es
sentials in the production of motorized
land vehicles, guns, ships, planes, tanks,
A-weapons, and £he whole vast complex
of things needed to maintain military se
curity or wage war in the era of the atom
and supersonic flight.
Of course, it would be reckless in the
extreme to take a complacent view of the
comparative American-Soviet figures and
conclude from them that Russia would be
a pushover in case of war. Prudence sug
gests, for one thing, that we reckon with
the possibility of phony Kremlin' statis
tics designed to lull us into a false sense
of security. Above all, it is important to
remember that the Stalin dictatorship
runs the U. S. S. R. on the basis of a
guns-before-butter economy. That is to
say that while we channel the bulk of our
^teel into consumer goods, the Russians
do without such goods (and hence have
one of the lowest living standards in the
world) because most of their steel goes
into miltary production.
Such reservations to one side, however,
the fact remains that our output Is vastly
greater than Russia’s. Moreover, coupled
with the actual and potential production
of the Ruhr, of Britain and of France, it
gives to the free Western world a power
resource overwhelmingly superior to that
of the Soviet Empire. In the recent war,
the Red Army, despite its immense size
and courage, might have gone down had
it not been for our lend-lease aid. If it
could not equip itself adequately then,
would Russian’s present steel capacity be
enough to support it if the men of the
Kremlin forced an armed conflict on a
coalition of the West?
To ask this question is not to dispute
the fact that it would be dangerous to un
derestimate Soviet power. It is merely to
suggest that we ought not to overestimate
it, either. For we can hypnotize ourselves
into perilous inaction or vacillation in
dealing with challenges like the one in
Berlin if we build up a kind of myth about
the strength of the Russians. That
strength conceivably may equal ours by the
end of the century, but as far as the im
mediate future is concerned, it simply is
not comparable to what can be arrayed
against it.
Looked at in this light, the Iron Curtain,
far from being a ^ymbol of great and for
bidding power, seems more a sign of weak
ness—a thing designed to cover up indus
trial deficiencies and lack of popular sup
port. At any rate, as the steel figures
indicate, we ought not to be overimpressed
or intimidated by the threatening tyranny
entrenched behind it.
The New G-Layer
The existence of a fourth electrical
“shell” around the earth has been reported
to the American Astronomical Society in
convention at Pasadena. Three earlier
bands of the same mysterious character
already had been discovered. The new belt
has been named the G-layer. It is located
about 250 miles above the surface of the
globe and represents the farthest exten
sion of the area mapped by science since
the beginning of exploration of space by
means of sound.
Dr. Donald H. Menzel of Harvard Uni
versity seems to be the Christopher Colum
bus of the fourth strata of the ionosphere.
His specialty is the sun and the planetary
nebulae, and he believes that our solar orb
in effect is “a hot star” which ionizes—or
converts—clouds of gas by its intense
ultraviolet radiations. That gas, being
ionized, is an electric conductor, and it has
been known as such for a long time.
What is new is the geography of the
earth’s environment as it is being revealed
by “a process similar to radar” in which
the time required for “echoes” of radio
waves to return from "a radio mirror in
space” determines the distance of that
“mirror” from the globe. Dr. Menzel told
the AAS that there are “some striking
correlations between the frequencies of
radio waves reflected by the four electric
layers and the temperatures of those
layers.”
The ayerage layman probably cannot
follow the intricacies of such a quest, but
he is bound to be interested in the results
Just the same. His life already has been
changed tremendously by the broken atom,
and he is becoming accustomed to the
more obvious of those mutations, particu
larly the conception of a constantly ex
panding universe—growing in dimensions
and complexity as human knowledge of
the cosmos grows. The new G-layer of the
ionosphere is merely the latest of nature’s
challenges to humanity to develop a spirit
ual philosophy equal to the need of life
ceaselessly becoming more and more /dy
namic in (he comprehension of scientists
if not actually in physical form and power.
Maneuvering the new 893nch sedan
through the 88-inch garage door is as
tricky as ringing the four-inch cane with
the three-inch hoop. And you don’t get a
kewple doll. ,<
The new army, seeking recruits, claims
to have "a place for anyone,” possibly ex
cepting the Indiana hunter who shot the*
schoolhouse by mistake for a squirrel.
This and That
By Charles E. Tr&cewell
"INQOMAR PLACE.
"Dear Sir:
"I have a question I would like to have you
consider.
"We recently had some experience with
cardinals building a nest right on the side of
the porch of our next door neighbors in a
climbing rose bush.
"The young hatched out and the parents
seemed quite contented to have the birds so
close to people.
"Then almost over night all of the birds
disappeared.
"We have wondered if the parent birds are
able to move their young. Or what could
have happened to them?
"Sincerely, W. J. A.”
* * a *
When young birds suddenly disappear from
a nest, usually one of two things has hap
pened:
Either they have flown away on their own
power, or some maurauding animal has caught
them.
It often is the case that observers do not
know exactly when the birds were hatched
out, or just how long It is necessary for them
to be in the nest before flying.
The latter differs with the species. It usually
is from two to three weeks, with four neces
sary in some cases.
Usually if cats have taken the young birds,
some signs of disaster will be left behind,
but not always.
Sometimes grackles get to a nest and bite
off the legs and heads of young cardinals.
It is not often that a parent bird is able to
move baby birds, but here again the capacities
of individual specimens differ; we have heard
of bluejay parents who have been able to move
their babies.
Sometimes pigeons have been reported to
have done so.
As a rule, however, a parent bird simply is
helpless when a baby falls out of a nest.
If some human being does not rescue it,
usually it perishes, unless the parent birds
are abli to feed it, and it, at the same time
does not die from assault from dog or cat.
Many kind hearted persons do not seem to
realize that a dog will worry a baby bird quite
as badly as a cat.
We several years ago watched a pair of
bluejays feed a baby which had fallen into
a window well.
They made, no effort whatever to rescue it,
either by attempting to induce it to fly, or
by bodily seizing it in the bill and carrying
it back to the nest.
In most cases, if baby birds disappear before
they are able to fly, it may be assumed that
a tragedy has happened ,
But one must be sure that one knows if
they were able to fly or not.
* * * *
An Arlington, Va., bird lover reports the
building of a nest in a clothes bag hung on
the back porch.
House wrens often select such places.
It is more or less common for them to put
a nest in a coat sleeve.
Just why they select such sites ia a mystery.
It would be difficult to believe that they do
it for shelter for the nest. Most of these
little birds are perfectly ready to take over
a house in a shrub or tree.
Often they choose a site on a porch Just over
a door, and then remain constantly harassed,
more or less, by the people going in and out.
Robins, too, select such places. We have
told the story of one mother robin who built
her nest in the cavity designed for the medi
cine cabinet.
When the builder saw this, ha deferred
putting in the cabinet until the baby robins
were hatched and brought to the flying stage.
When birds build close to houses, they give
grand stand seats for observation. But at the
same time one may wonder why they do it,
since their chances for being annoyed or even
harmed are Increased many fold.
_ *
Letters to The Star
i
Federation Leader Criticized
To th« Editor of The Star:
"Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise”
was never more true than is being demon
strated daily by one who was chosen as a rep
resentative of the white citizenry of the District
of Columbia. It is a bad situation when the
above proverb applies to and affects only one
individual, but it becomes calamitous when it
affects and stigmatizes a whole citizenry, the
majority ,of whom, we feel, must hang their
heads in shame when such as he acts as
spokesman for them.
We believe that the more intelligent and pro
gressive Caucasian citizens are doing much to
live down the stigma of the many assinine,
foolish and unproven ideas that have motivated
and directed their actions through so many
generations. Examples are being presented
daily to prove how much the majority of these
citizens are clamoring to Join the ranks of logi
cal, modern and intelligent representatives of
the Nation’s Capital, with no opportunity to
point the hand of ridicule and scorn at them.
However, this is not enough for the citizenry
to do. Some positive action and certain stands
must be taken to denounce persons who parade
around in false colors.
The recent utterances of the president of the
Federation of Citizens’ Associations at the hear
ings on transferring of the Park View play
ground to Negroes discloses that perhaps the
Juvenile Court might be an agency to cure what
ails him. HELEN I. HARPER,
Editor of the Kingman Park Civic Associa
tion News.
, Indians Not Americans?
To the Editor ol fite Star:
“Indian Only American” is asserted in a
letter printed in The Star July 8.
But Indians are not Americans, unless they
cease being wards of the Nation and become
citizens.
Americans brought that name with them.
Amerlcus Vespucci, for whom the continent
was named, was no Indian.
"American” is the name applied to citizens
of this country the world over, and dates only
from the founding of the Republic.
“Americans” is the name given by both the
Indians and the British to the Founders, the
Soldiers of the Continental Army, and t« the
loyal citizens of the new Republic to dis
tinguish them from the Tories.
The Indians—armed and incited—fought on
the side of the British against those they
called' "Americans” in both the War of the
"American” Revolution, and that of 1812.
"Americans” we have been, ever since.
"Indian” was the name given to the natives
found here by early explorers. Indians were
here long, long before the Americans arrived
and founded a nation; and Indians they re
main. C. BECKMAN.
Calls Church Divisive
To the Kditor of The Star: 4 /
Let me thank you for your fairness In pre
senting both sides of the Champaign Public
School case. J. Bowie Lillard no doubt is aware
of the fact that religious instruction is now
and has been since the founding of the Re
public permissible in the homes and churches
of our country. For that fact we all should
be thankful. Thus the state gives aid to the
growth of religion in general.
With public funds we establish and main
tain public schools in our land to improve the
intelligence of our young citizens, the future
rulers of this Republic, but not to strengthen
their faith in any particular religion. The
public school tends toward unity among our
people. The church works toward division.
It may not violate the*. Constitution, but it
surely does violate bur common sense, to bring
division in where unity is sought. Tax ex
emption of church property is only the small
wage the church receives for its "good work"
in aiding and abetting other privileged groups
in the community.
"Safe lodging for all eternity” is the com
modity the church has sold for centuries for
cash on the barrel-head, knowing full well
that no one can force delivery. That is a
matter of faith.
Finally, we live in a land where minority and
individual rights exist, as also our public
schools. Let us thank divine providence and
the founding fathers that we. have courts to
defend all three. And this does not “violate
any fundamental American principle.” It
rather affirms it.
It appears to me that the American people
believe in one God of love, creation and order,
but not in one of cruelty, destruction and con
fusion. CLARENCE DAVIS.
Why Democrats Are Confused
To the Editor of The Star:
Sad indeed is the spectacle of the Democratic
Party—confused, bankrupt of leadership and
dispirited. Naturally it seeks a miracle, but
Gen. Eisenhower, great soldier that he is, is
no miracle man. He knows it, and, therefore,
refuses to make the sacrifice. In fact, he knows
nothing about the political game and says so.
Of course, the movement to draft him was
bom of desperation. The New Deal is definitely
on the way out, but the beneficiaries of this
weird and unwholesome political philosophy
cannot accept the inevitable without a desper
ate, die-hard struggle. So they were willing
' to take a vicious gamble on a man who bulges
big in the public eye, irrespective of his fit
ness or qualifications for the office at stake
or the duties to be performed.
But the bankrupt leadership of the once great
Democratic Party is easily understood. In 1932
the liberal leaders of the Nation were within
its folds, but the people that year elected a
dictator at heart, and, like his counterpart,
Hitler, Mr. Roosevelt played down every politi
cal leader or possible successor, with the re
sult that the party has no built-up leadership.
Mr. Roosevelt could brook no opposition, so he
selected as his associates men of mediocre cali
ber and especially of subservient and truckling
character. Barring Cordell Hull, thia was lit
erally true of appointments, both judicial and
executive. He loaded the judiciary of the
country with men selected not for their ex
perience and attainment as lawyers, but for
their New Deal sympathies and outlook. He
blasted the old United States Supreme Court
when it unanimously held that he could not
arbitrarily and whimsically expel a member
of the Federal Trade Commission, but only for
cause, as the statute provided.
Certainly, a one-man party is bankrupt, con
fused and dispirited when its head dies. Read
ily might this have been foreseen, but, as
history has many times demonstrated, men
tenaciously approve, the distributors of gov
ernmental largess.
Thus ends a sordid chapter in American his
tory, and the approaching fiasco in Philadel
phia will but confirm It. JOHN W. HESTER.
Oxford, N. C.
“Spanking a Child”
To the Editor of The Star:
Regarding your timely editorial “Spanking
a Child," I too beg to differ with the decision
reached.
Had Judge Neilson really wanted to Wing
home his point on Americanism, would it not
have been far wiser to have put this unfortunate
case in the hands of a competent psychiatrist
or the Welfare Bureau’s family guidance pro
gram?
There still are plenty of people in our gen
eration of the American-born who have not
forgotten the old peach-tree switches in our
youth. And I truthfully believe they served
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 ie plume. Please be brief.
their purpose well. Our parents did apply them
with much vigor but with as much love as this
mother seems to show for her child.
I repeat, if the version of this story as given
out by the newspapers is true, my sympathy
goes out to the poor, bewildered mother.
These same nosey neighbors who squawk
when parents are trying to do their duty are
the first ones to yelp about the mounting
juvenile delinquency. I do not condone bru
tality to children, but being a mother myself
I know what great patience it takes in dealing
with children.
MRS. DOROTHY E. YOUNO.
To th» Editor The Star: ^
We have a child one year old, and I would
like to go on record right now with the police
department and the District courts that our
child will be punished as we see fit as he grows
older. If Judge Neilson's decision were to
stand, there would be two alternatives tor Mrs.
Hall and myself—either to spend part of our
time in the local clink or to move into some
neighborhood where parents are considered to
be the proper guides for their children.
I am sure that our child, when he grows
into manhood, would rather have the poignant
memory of some stinging spankings than to
have fears of being picked up for some criminal
offense he has committed all for the lack of
proper discipline while still a child.
GLENN V. HALL.
Politicians “Using” Negroes
To 'he Editor of The Stir: .
I have read over the past few years Tetters
discussing the pros and cons of the racial
issue. The Negro writers, teachers, etc., should
certainly realize by now that those whites who
mingle with them, including politicians, are
merely using them for their own ends and not
for the benefit of the Negro.
If the Negro writers and educators really
want to help their race, let them instill in their
minds to keep to themselves, and not allow
themselves to be led by cheap politicians (both
parties), Communists and others who are using
the Negro in promoting their own hidden
schemes. M. P. R.
Handicapping the Police
To the Editor of The Stsr:
The attention of the chief of the Metropoli
tan Police and the Commissioners of the Dis
trict of Columbia is called to the thousands of
frightened mothers and fathers who dare not
leave their chldren alone one minute in or near
any of the city parks because of the fear of
rapists and murderers.
Freedom of speech and freedom of the press
are dangerous when not channeled through
recognized police or military authority. I refer
to the front page of a local paper that gives, if
you please, a complete account of every move
planned and made by our Police Department,
thus broadcasting information to criminals
which they can use, handicapping and endan
gering the success of law enforcement officers.
It seems to me that it is high time to find
ways and means to enact District legislation
making unlawful for any person, paper or other
medium’ to print anything that in any manner
would hinder or interfere with the operation of
law enforcement officers in their effort to clean
up this city and reduce crime.
LOUIS W. KRAFT.
Lincoln Document Presentation 5
To the EJItor of The Star:
Recently an article appeared in your paper
to the effect that a lawyer had presented a
Lincoln document to the Sujjreme Court. The
article stated that this lawyer had been the
attorney for Mrs. Robety Todd Lincoln and
that she had presented him with the docu
ment.
Frost & Towers of the Southern Building,
Washington, D. C., were the attorneys for
both Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Lincoln and
Mr. Frost, not the attorney in question, drew
up the documents in connection with the
letters sent to the Library of Congress.
He was also the executor of both Mr. and
Mrs. Lincoln’s estate and gave the documents
in question to the attorney mentioned, not
Mrs. Lincoln.
JOHN FLOURNOY MONTGOMERY.
Manchester, Vt.
Wants Investigation of Transit Situation
To the Editor of The Star:
Among the published reasons why the tran
sit company should be given an Increase in
rates is the statement that the volume of
traffic has fallen off.
This seems to be the reverse of the “law
of supply and demand.” Certainly when jobs
are scarce In the employment market, work
ers are expected to accept less wages, not
more.
Many riders seem to be against tne fare
increase because they find buses and cars
as crowded as during the war. The situation
warrants a thorough Investigation.
Following another fare boost, the company
may find Itself deeper In the red than before.
PAUL BRAAO.
British Doctors and Social Medicine
To the Editor of The 8t»r:
In the Journal of the American Medical As
sociation, under date of June 19, there Is a
letter from the London correspondent with ref
erence to the then proposed National Health
Service in England. Referring to the plebiscite
conducted by the British Medical Association,
he states: “The first plebiscite (showed) 40,814
disapproving, and only 4,084 approving,” when
the medical profession was polled concerning
the government plan for a national health
service. Because of concessions made by the
Minister of Health, a second plebiscite showed
that “14,620 doctors approved, and 25,842 dis
approved.”
In The Star on July 5, there was a news
item headed "Britain Begins Paying Doctors
and Hospitals for Care of Sick.” In this item
it is stated that: “Of the 17,000 doctors inN
England and Wales, 14,784 have signed to take
part. * * * The others have chosen to remain
private practitioners.” The inference is clearly
that nearly all (14,784 of a total of 17,000) doc
tors have agreed to participate, whereas the
total number of doctors is something more
than 45,000, those participating being less than
one-third.
As printed, this article gives an entirely er- ,
roneous picture of the attitude toward govern
ment medicine of a majority of the British
medical profession. I trust this is merely an
unintentional error, since it has been the pride
of the Associated Press that its news items
are accurate and trustworthy.
, CHARLES R. L. HALLEY, MD.
Happiness Not Material
To the Editor of The Star:
Poor Carole Landis! In her philosophy of
life, material things were synonomous with
happiness, and poverty meant purgatory.
Doubtless many of us are in the same boat,
and have not yet learned that the only real
and lasting things in this world gre spiritual.
Happiness is not the sole purpose of our life
on earth, and will not be achieved when de
liberately sought; rather,' it is a by-product of
right living. O.tLO.
Stars, Men and Atoms
Streptomycin Shows Effect
In Tuberculosis Treatment
New Drug, Now Less Toxic, Passes
Fronp Experimental Stag*
By Thomas R. Hoary
Streptomycin has passed the experimental
stage In the treatment of tuberculosis.
This was stressed in a series of (reports before
a special session of the American Medical As
sociation in Chicago recently.
During the past two years this drug, very
scarce at the end of the war, has become
cheaper, purer and less toxic and remains the
only antibiotic drug of proved value against one
of man’s worst enemies, according to Dr. Emil
Bogen of Olive View, Calif. There remains,
however, one major obstacle—the fact that in
a short time a highly resistant strain of tha
tubercle bacillus makes its appearance. *
The best result* are being obtained with
tuberculous infections outside the lungs, re
ported Dr. H. Corwin Hinshaw of the May*
Clinic.
Good Response Reported.
“Tuberculosis lesions of the mucous mem
brane have responded most rapidly to treat
ment with strepomycin,” he said. "Tubercu
losis of the larynx, including that extremely
painful and rapidly fatal type which interferes
with swallowing,'may be relieved in a few days
and the lesions healed in a few weeks.
“While tuberculosis of bones and Joints gives
a slow initial response, improvement fre
quently continues for many months after com
pletion of the treatment, in most cases tuber
culous peritonitis appears to have responded
rather promptly to treatment with streptomy
cin. This drug alone or in combination with
others is the only effective treatment for gen
eral tuberculosis and tuberculous meningitis,
but there is serious danger of relapse in a high
I proportion of cases.”
Most of the failures. Dr. Hinshaw said, ap
pear to be due to the development of resistant
strains.
Possibly of greater importance than tha
actual results to date is the tact that the door
has been opened to chemical treatment of
tuberculosis, said Dr. Karl Pfuetze and Dr.
Marjorie M. Pyle of the Mayo Foundation,
If the deadly bacillus is sensitive to one drug, it
is almost certain to respond in a similar man
ner to others.
Toxicity Is Reduced.
The toxicity of streptomycin, they stressed,
is greatly, reduced by giving carefully de
termined minimal doses and the drug now can
be considered as relatively safe. But, the two
doctors said, the physician always must bear
in mind that he is producing strains of drug
resistant bacilli.
The new drug pentaquine in combination
with quinine promises to be a definite cure for,
war veterans now suffering from almost monthly
relapses of malaria, the Association was told
5 by Dr. L. T. Coggeshall of the University of
Chicago.
Among 400 veterans who had acquired a
persistent malaria in various parts of the
world, he said, 95 have been checked for
from three to 23 months following treatment
with combined pentaquine and quinine and
there have been, only two verified relapses.
The men were not hospitalized and the treat
ment did not Interrupt their normal activi
ties.
Answers to Questions
a reader can set tha answer to anr question of
faet by wjltlng The Evening Star Information
Bureau. SIS Eye street N.E.. Washington 2. D. 0.
Please Inclose three (3) cents for return pottage.
* BY THE HASKIN SERVICE
Q. Which has increased more since the last
census, the white or colored population?—
O. D. W.
A. From April 1940 to April 1947 the white
population of the United States increased from
118,214,870 to 127,044,000, or 7.5 per cent. The
nonwhite population, mainly Negro, increased
from 13,454,406 to 15,017,000, or 1},8 per cent in
the same period.
Q. When did the great Johnstown flood oc
cur?—S. O. H.
A. The disastrous flood at Johnstown, Pa.,
began on Friday morning. May 31, 1889, when
the Conemaugh River overflowed its banka at
8:30 a.m. It was not long before the greater
part of the ctty was inundated with water
from 2 to 10 feet in depth. About 3:10 p.m.
the dam across South Fork broke and loosed
over 4 billion gallons of water upon the city.
Q. Are there any localities in the United /
States where the air is entirely free of ragweed
pollen?—D. T. T.
A. Tests have shown that Portland, Oreg.,
and Seattle, Wash., and their surrounding
vicinities are free from ragweed pollen. The
most widespread type of hay fever Is caused
by ragweed pollen and occurs In late summer.
Other sections, Including Northern New Eng
land, the Southern Tip of Florida, Northern
Michigan and Minnesota are relatively free.
Q. When was the church of Ste. Anne de
Beaupre in Quebec founded, and how did it get
its reputation for miracles?—J. G.
A. There is a tradition that about 1650
Breton sailors built a small chapel to thank
Ste. Anne for saving them in a gale'on the
St. Lawrence River. One of them, Louis Gui
mant, who was crippled with rheumatism, laid
three foundation stones and as he straightened
up he found that all his pain and stiffness had
gone. This was the first miracle, and through
the centuries the belief thdt the Mother of the
Virgin Mary will intercede with God for suffer
ers has brought thousands of persons annual- *.
ly to the shrine. The feast day of Ste. Anne is
July 26.
Q. Do fruits and vegetables obtain their vita- ,8
mins from the soil?—C. P. Y.
A. Fruits and vegetables do not absorb their g
vitamins from the soil in which they grow. |
Vitamins are made within the plant, and will *
depend to some extent on the health and vigor •
of the plant. The controlling factors are the
varieties and condition* under which plant* are
grown. m
Q. Please describe the Siamese cat.—L. W.
A. There are two breeds of Siamese cats. ,
the seal point and the blue point. The seal
point is the common cat of Siam. Its body is
light fawn but the ears, face, feet and tail
are seal brown. These markings are called
“points." The eyes are blue and may be
slightly crossed. The tail is sometimes nwkff1 -
The blue-point Siamese has the same body'*
and eye color but Its point* are biue instead
of brown.
Far Away Fireworks ~
Somewhere, nearer, the display’s gigdhtk. i
Filling the sky above a youngster’s heads *
His mother cannot drag him off to bed, 2
But here, so far away, the scale is tiny, ;
Like embroidery in a brilliant thread,
. Like a silver medallion on the night,
Brooches of gold and garnet, green and \
and white—
An art, with little change in fifty years, !
Of putting something beautiful up •high, -
We wonder if we’ll see, before we die, '■ l
Explosives lose their menace and old'i»
meaning,
No longer even memorials of war,
Take a new significance and feeling
Wherever rockets soar.
The last one climbed in such cltmacUe J
splendor
We knew our little town could not afford, 2
If man can make, m better pyrotechnic, $
Fountain of light, scattering its white §
stars
Against so many colors—there would be ;
no mote.
MARGERY MANSFIELD. J