Evening star. [volume], July 13, 1948, Page A-10, Image 10

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With Sunday Morning Edition.
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A_10 . TUESDAY, July 13, 194S
The Democratic Keynote
It will be a healthy thing for the country
and for the world if the forthcoming
political campaign actually is keyed to the
note which Senator Barkley sounded in his
address to the convention last night.
The speech was a partisan effort
tempered by that political understanding
which comes to some men with age and
experience. Senator Barkley has been
through the mill, both as majority and
minority lea'der of the Senate, and the
restraining Influence of that experience
was evident in both the tone and the
balanced content of his address.
He indulged, of course, in the traditional
commendation of his own party and
criticism of the opposition. He attacked
the domestic record of the Republican
Congress and took some potshots at the
platform adopted last month by the OOP.
But this sort of thing is legitimate politics.
There is nothing in it to which any reason
able exceptidh can be taken.
In his discussion of foreign policy, Sena
tor Barkley was generous in his tribute to
those Republican leaders who have helped
to formulate the grand design of our effort
in behalf of a peaceful world. In this field
his criticism was reserved for the activities
of the Republican “wreckers” in the House,
and they had it coming to them.
Very few people will disagree with his
thesis that we should take pride in the
opportunity which has come to us, as a
Nation, “to inaugurate a better world and
a better society.” That is indeed the
opportunity, and the challenge, which lies
before us. For this opportunity to be
frittered away in the heat of a violent,
partisan political campaign would be a
tragedy of the first order. Happily, we
can avoid that if we will settle our po
litical differences in the spirit in which
Senator Barkley spoke to the Democrats,
and in which Herbert Hoover spoke last
month to the Republicans.
One distinction between the commercial
plug and campaign oratory on the air: If
you decide to use the other soap the re
public won't totter._
New Court-Martial System
A new and fairer era of military justice,
ahould result from operation of the mod
ernized court-martial system being set up
under authority of legislation passed by
the Eightieth Congress. The basis is laid
for a more even-handed brand of law en
forcement in the Army, which was sub
jected to severe criticism after World War
II for its handling of wartime courts
martial.
It was as a result of this criticism—some
of it well justified and some of it ill-founded
and intemperate—that the Army asked a
group of distinguished jurists and lawyers
to study the problem and recommend im
provements. This group, headed by Dean
Arthur T. Vanderbilt of New York Uni
versity School of Law, conducted an ex
haustive investigation of existing pro
cedures and found a number of things
wrong with them. Less publicized than
the group's recommendations, however,
was its statement that, all in all, the old
system, while handicapped by defects, had
worked fairly well.
Largely as the result of the civilian com
mittee's report, Congress adopted legisla
tion making the first reforms in the sys
tem since 1920. In that year, following
complaints of injustice during the First
World War, several important changes
were made, including the addition to
courts of “law members” and provision for
appeals to a review board in serious cases.
In practice under the stress of war, how
ever, it developed that “law members” #
were not always skilled in the law and
that better procedures for review and
appeal were advisable.
The new court-martial law leaves no
doubt about what is meant by a “law
member” of a court. It specifies that he
must be a professional attorney, certi
fied by the Judge Advocate General as
qualified for his job. Furthermore, both
prosecution and defense must be con
ducted by “qualified” lawyers—“to the
extent possible.” The reservation was in
serted because of the impracticability in
time of war of always having lawyers
available for such duties. As an assurance
against possible “caste” prejudice, an en
listed man may have enlisted men included
in the court, in the ratio of one enlisted
man to officer-judges.
To meet complaints that courts martial
were influenced in their findings and ver
dicts by fear of commanding officers in
the area, special provision has been made
against reprimand or admonishment in
any manner by officers in command. New
avenues of review and appeal are set up.
leading to. a new Judicial Council in the
Office of the Judge Advocate General.
Perhaps, as was the case with the re- ■
forms adopted in 1920, all of these changes
may notVork out as satisfactorily as Con- |
gress and the Army Department hope they
will. It is a relatively easy matter in time
of peace to promulgate rules that seem
right and necessary, but it may not %e so
easy to carry out these regulations in the
heat of battle. The new procedures should
go a long way, however, to place military
justice on a plane more closely aligned
with that of civilian Justice, with greater |
attention to the rights of the individual, j
That is a very worthwhile objective, in war
or peace.
Futile Right Now
Except to the extent that it dramatiaes
the feelings of several of the smaller
powers, nothing substantial .is likely to
be gained from the Little Assembly’s
nineteen-to-seven vote in favor of a reso
lution advocating modification of the Big
Five veto by amending the Charter of the
United Nations.
Under the resolution, the Little Assembly
—which is boycotted by Russia and the
Soviet satellite states—has called upon the
General Assembly to "consider” acting on
the matter at its forthcoming session in
Paris. But it is improbable in the extreme
that there will be any real progress toward
amendment.
Thus, as set forth in the Charter, the
most that the General Assembly can do
is to vote on the question whether to con
vene a special revisionist conference. If
two-thirds of the members vote favorably,
and if the project is supported in addition
by any seven members of the Security
Council, then the conference can be held.
However, no amendments approved by it
can have any force or effect unless ratified
not merely by two-thirds of the member
ship, but also by all of the Big Five
China, France, Britain, Russia and the
United States.
In other words, any one of these five
is empowered by the Charter to veto any
effort to modify the veto. Nor could any
thing seem more certain than the Soviet
Union’s resolve to use that power to block
revision. Indeed, though favoring modifi
cation and though committed to the idea
of vetoless atomic control, even the United
States would oppose any drastic whittling
down of the Big Five’s present unique
rights, and the same probably holds true
for China, France and Britain. In short,
given the world as it is, none of the
Security Council’s permanent members is
willing to trim the veto too much.
Accordingly, as far as getting action is
concerned, the Little Assembly’s resolution
seems futile. At best, it will give the small
powers a chance to air their grievances
against the veto. At worst, if it leads to
the calling of a revisionist conference, it
may set off the kind of debate that could
further divide and weaken the United
Nations at a time when every effort needs
to be made to unify and strengthen it as
much as possible.
Such being the case, it is not surprising
that ten nations, including China, have
abstained from voting on the resolution
and that South Africa, India, Canada,
Norway, France, Britain and the United
States have voted against it. Instead of
bringing the issue to a head at this stage,
the wiser course would seem to be to let
it rest until agreement in other fields
creates an atmosphere in which attempts
to curb the veto will have a chance. The
simple fact is that they have no chance
now.
Gen. Washington's Woman Spy
If the evidence uncovered by a ,JIew
York historian is substantiated, America
owes a debt of gratitude to a woman spy
whose Revolutionary War service has
never been recognized. According to Mor
ton Pennypacker, official historian of
Suffolk County, New York, the woman was
Mrs. Robert Townsend, beautiful wife of
one of General Washington’s more daring
and efficient spies. %he died from priva
tion on a British prison ship in New York
Harbor.
It is a fascinating story of Revolutionary
espionage which Mr. Pennypacker related
to a New York Times reporter, after find
ing the missing link in a chain of evidence
relating to Mrs. Townsend's undercover
work for the Colonies. In a moldy tomb
in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene Park he found
a plaque which, he said, gave the missing
facts. Mr. Pennypacker said that Robert
Townsend, using the name ‘‘Culper
Junior,” performed many dangerous mis
sions inside the British lines in New York
and on Long Island. He was proprietor of
a restaurant frequented by British officers.
Mrs. Townsend helped her husband and
the American cause by keeping her eyes
and ears open not only around the eating
place but at various British social func
tions. Her husband smuggled the informa
tion across the river to Washington’s
headquarters.
The setup was working to the great
satisfaction of the Americans until Major
John Andre, British spy, was executed by
our troops. The British, iff retaliation,
rounded up thousands of suspected Amer
ican spies and packed them into prison
•hips in Wallabout Bay. Mrs. Townsend
was among , the captives. Conditions on
the ships wye such that twelve thousand
of the prisohers, Including the woman spy,
died, according to Mr. Pennypacker.
Townsend, too, was arrested, but Instead
of being put aboard a ship was forced to
wear a British uniform and serve as a
doorman at British headquarters. His
body is among the thousands in the Fort
Greene crypt. Forty years ago a monument
was erected in memory of the victims.
But there is nothing to let the world know
that General Washington's woman spy,
who gave her life for her country .under
heroic circumstances, rests among the
dead there.
Dilemma in West Germany
The exchanges of views now going on
between the Western Allied authorities
and the heads of the states in their re
spective zones of occupation reveal the
complex difficulties of a highly anomalous
situation.
The basic anomaly is, of course, the
abrogation of German sovereignty. Legally,
there is no German nation but merely an
aggregation of people living in a territory
split four ways by the victorious Great
Powers, who have virtually complete au
thority in their respective spheres. The In
ability of the Big Four to agree on a Ger- ;
man settlement not only perpetuates a
juridical vacuum unprecedented in his
tory but likewise adjourns indefinitely ,
the recovery of Germany as a whole.
Faced by deepening economic paralysis,
the three Western Powers finally agreed
at the London Conference last spring to
merge their zones and endow the resulting
merger with enough economic and political
autonomy to enable it to stand on its own
feet and enlist the co-operation of the
local populations. But this decision aroused
the bitter opposition of Soviet Russia,
which preferred to perpetuate the existing
paralysis until Germany could be reunited
on terms that would insure eventual Rus
sian domination of the whole. And the
resultant splitting of Germany between
East and West has aroused German na
tional feeling to a point which gravely
hinders genuine co-operation between the
Western authorities and their zonal popu
lations.
The upshot is an attempt to square con
flicting realities by a sor^ of double-talk.
A regime is to be created for “Trizonia”
which has most of the attributes of gov
ernment yet which is not a “government”
in the full sense of the word. It is to have
an executive, a legislature, and a funda
mental statute which normally would be
termed a constitution. Yet those terms
i cannot be formally used, because this
would formalize the splitting of Germany
and give a powerful lever for Communist
propaganda. This is recognized by the
German state authorities, who ask that
the proprieties be observed and German
national feeling propitiated. These same
authorities likewise object to saddling the
future trlzonal regime with responsibility
without commensurate authority, since
the ultimate power will continue to reside
in the representatives of the Western
occupiers.
The next few months will therefore wit
ness a strange spectacle. There will be
popular elections to a constituent assembly
for Western Germany which will draw up
the blue-print for the future trizonal re
gime-subject to Allied ratification. But
all this will be denounced by the Russians
as illegal and will likewise be viewed with
a somewhat jaundiced eye by the partici
pating Germans themselves.
Science, the otherwise wonderful, does
nothing about a lawn grass with some sort
of thyroid upset which will permit It to
grow only so high.
p————■——■
Some periods in the past lend themselves
easily to the historical romance and the
book-jacket thereof, while In others the
girls wore high-necked gowns.
Vacation time brings new confusion to
the endless war of the sexes, with the last
child up in the morning wearing what
ever dungarees are left. ,
A Milwaukee woman writes that in an
hour she found 23 four-leaf clovers out
side her back door. One trusts that oppor
tunity was not knocking at the front.
> i
For the diplomatic trouble-shooter there
is no end of running around, at this time.
Blessed is the peacemaker, though, if he’s
on a mileage allowance.
An unsung genius is the umpire’s tailor.
Fancy, putting together a suit of clothes
that can be filled with baseballs and still
keep the original drape.
Television in the saloonTmay make for
less alcoholism, as who wants to watch a
shortstop with four arms.
This and That
By Charles E. Tracewtll
“SIXTEENTH STREET.
“Dear Sir:
“There is one characteristic of the lowly and
much maligned English sparrow that I have
noticed personally, for years, though no one
ebe has spoken of it in your column that I
have seen, and that Is. little friend sparrow
will let a woman almost step on him (he
seems to know she wHlTHH.) before he will get
out of her way, and then he will move only
a few hops, but let a boy (I am not so sure
about all men) come along, and he (sparrow)
flies.
"I have seen this again and again, ever
since childhood, and now I am watching to
see if sparrows discriminate against these
awful slacks.
"Of course, children's rushing ways frighten
them, but if I atop, they do not move till I do,
and I have never known a sparrow to drop
his bill full of food as I came near. They just
keep still and let me go by.
"Birds and beasts are certainly clever about
humans. “Sincerely yours, T. H.”
* * * *
There can be little question that most ani
mals and birds take more readily to the
quieter ways and voices of members of the
feminine sex.
The big exception, of course, is that genial
roughneck, the dog.
He likes men and boys best. The rougher he
is treated, within reason, the better he likes
them.
But other four-legged animals prefer the
quieter voices of women and girls.
No doubt birds do, too, although here It is
not easy to be sure.
Downtown sparrows keep their ground on
sidewalks and in gutters against all comers,
both male and female.
It is necessary for them to do so, of course,
if they are to get anything to eat.
It is Just another instance of the adapta
bility of living things.
In the suburbs, or. the other wing, common
sparrows are the most skittish of all the
songsters.
Sometimes this strikes an honest observer
as rather silly, In view of the utter fearlessness
with which they greet all comers In the
crowded areas.
In our own yard, we have been feeding some
70 species, off and on, for almost 20 years.
Among these, common sparrows have bee*
prominent, naturally enough.
At times they have monopolized the feeders.
Undoubtedly most of them are descendants
of sparrows that enjoyed hospitality at the
same places.
Yet today's specimens are as timorous as if
they had never seen us before, or had never
known a “handout" at the old stand.
* » * *
Cats take to women much easier than they
do to men.
Here, we believe, it is the softer voice that
wins them.
How terrible it was, in the old days, that the
friendship of old women and cats should have
been regarded as peculiar!
Certainly, it was only natural that the ani
mal which likes comfort and a soft voice and
kind treatment should side in with an old
lady who had been left behind by life.
But what happened?
The kind old lady was called a witch, and
the cat a friend of the devil! •
Even to this day, a black cat, especially, is
mistrusted.
It is fortunate for birds that they have no
similar handicaps to bear. Mostly they are
welcomed by humans, who find in them en
tertainment and Inspiration. When they stop
to think about them, they realize, too, that
birds are good for their gardens, killing mil
lions of inimical insects and eating millions
of weed seeds annually.
In most suburban gardens, where there Is a
fair amount of quiet, bird guests commonly flee
from all intruders, but if these seat themselves,
and remain quiet, most of the birds come back
to a feeding station.
Those friendliest of flyers, the wood thrushes
and the song sparrows, also the catbirds, com
monly come within a few feet of chairs in the
garden.
If a sunken bird bath is close at hand, much
amusement will be afforded guests, as the
feathered ones drink and take baths. Such
simple actions bring them very close to us all,
especially In hot weather.
Where Ignorance Is Deadly
It Is the Chief Obstacle to a Successful Campaign
To Wipe Out the Plague of Gonorrhea
By Crosby Noyes
American Army doctors, seeking to control
the spread of typhus in certain Central Eu
ropean areas during World War II, found that
many of the peasants refused to be deloused.
The peasants, it seemed, believed the lice
brought them good luck. They would hide a
few before entering the delousing chamber,
recovering them afterwards and restoring
them to thfir time-honored homes.
American doctors in the United States today
are faced with a disturbingly similar situation
over another disease.
In Washington last year there were 12.504
cases of gonorrhea reported to the Health
Department and an estimated additional
12,000 were unreported.
Faced with the fact that gonorrhea is one
of the great public health menaces today,
American doctors are setting out energetically
to stamp out the disease.
They are well armed. Penicillin is just about
as fatal to the gonococcus as DDT is to the
louse. It kills the microbe in a few hours after
a single injection. The treatment is painless
and quick; penicillin recently has become
plentiful and Inexpensive.
In fact, medicine today is in a position to
ring down a final curtain on a human trag
edy almost as old as the race itself. Chinese
records 4,000 years old testify to the belief
that the disease was prevalent then. Greek,
Roman and Hindu writings bear witness to
the fact that gonorrhea was doing the same
thing to men and women then that It is doing
today—crippling, blinding, causing sterility
and sometimes death.
The light against the disease, on the other
hand, is very modern history. It was some
time In the Middle Ages that the connection
between gonorrhea and sexual intercourse was
recognised. Not until the latter part of the
Nineteenth Century was it generally accepted
as a communicable disease.
Only within the past few years have doc
tors had effective weapons against the gonococ
cus Itself. Even the sulfa drugs, hailed as a
cure In years preceding World War II, had
discouraging disadvantages. It was not until
the one-shot penicillin treatment was devel
oped in 1943 that the doctors knew they were
on the home stretch. The one shot, they
found, cured nine out of 10 cases immediately.
The remaining 10 per cent responded to ad
ditional injections.
Effect of New Drugs.
A person might think that once he had the
cure the rest would be easy. It has worked
with other diseases that way. The develop
ment of new drugs has cut the rate of infiu
ertsa in the District from 1,300 reported cases
in 1944 to 30 in 1947; scarlet fever from 3.600
to 403; measles, from 3,000 to 500. Even
syphilis, which, comes second to gonorrhea in
prevalence here, has been cut nearly in half—
from 6,317 cases to 3,867—in the past four
years.
In the same period, in spite of the cure, the
rate of gonorrhea in Washington has risen
more than 100 per cent, from 5,179 cases in
1944, to 12,504 cases-last year. It has risen
600 per cent since 1941. If the rise continues,
officials estimate that some 27,000 persons will
be admitted to clinics for gonorrhea in 1950.
Public health men, trying to discover the
reason for these nightmare statistics, point
out the fact that the limited supply of peni
cillin was tied up by the Army during the war
years, and since then, until very recently, has
been scarce and expensive. They also note
the growth in population in the city during the
same period.
The basic explanation, however, lies with
the people themselves. The simple fact is that
up until now, the people, like the European
peasants, have preferred the disease to the
cure.
Ignorance, fear, shame and social taboos
cannot be cured with penicillin. Yet these are
the things that are responsible for gonorrhea
today. The gonococcus is not the menace any
more—it can be killed. The more they ex
amine the situation the more public health
officials realize that the real problems of public
health today cannot *be solved entirely within
the field of medicine.
In fact some doctors are aware of an ugly
possibility that the cure they have developed
for gonorrhea may nave backfired in their
face. Two public health officers, Drs. R. A.
Vonderlehf and J. R. teller, writing on the
control of venereal disease is 1946 admitted
that: "Should the public assume that the
availability of penicillin offers complete free
dom to Indulge in licentiousness, it is quite
within the realm of probability that venereal
disease rates will increase materially.’*
From a purely medical standpoint, all the
doctor could do in the face of this situation
would be to use his cure to minimize the
effects of the disease in terms of physical
impairment.
"Ip other words,” Drs. Vonderlehr and
Heller conclude, "More people will get gonor
rhea and syphilis more often, but fewer than
ever before will have serious complications.”
To accept such a situation, however, is not
only to abandon the hope that gonorrhea
finally can be stamped out. It is also a cynical
indictment of the intelligence and wholesome
ness of society itself.
- Ignorance Is Enemy.
Whatever may or may not be done by other
agencies which share the responsibility for
the existence of gonorrhea today, the United
States Public Health Service is not giving up
the fight. For dhe thing, USPH8 knows that
although penicillin can and does kill the gono
coccus almost every time, it cannot undo the
damage to the body caused by long neglect of
the disease.
For another thing, these men are convinced
that their main enemy is ignorance—and
Ignorance can be fought.
When the District Health Department
launched its drive against gonorrhea, July 1,
it had planned its offensive in two parts.
The first part was medical logistics. It ob
tained a $10,000 appropriation from Congress.
It secured promises of enough penicillin to
supply private physicians in Washington with
17,000 shots, to be given free of charge to
gonorrhea patients. Public clinics prepared
themselves for an unprecedented demand for
treatment of the disease.
The second part of the offensive, and the
critical part, is simply to let the people know.
It will let them know in basic English what
gonorrhea is, where it comes from, and what
it can do if allowed to go untreated. It will
let them know that the treatment by which
the disease can be cured is quick and pain
less; that it is free at public health clinics, and
above all, that it is completely confidential.
To get this message across, the District
Health Department is asking the help of all
who feel that the cause is worth while. Spe
cifically, it has enlisted Washington's taxi
operators, barbers, drugstore, restaurant and
tavern owners, hotel associations and retail
liquo dealers. Through them some 450,000
pamphlets will be passed out to the public
in the course of the drive, telling people what
they should know about gonorrhea and what
they should do about it.
There never has been a campaign waged
against a disease which promised so much in
the way of public health improvement for so
little effort on the part of those whose co-op
eration is sought It is possible tlfat the
next 12 months will see gonorrhea brought
under control in Washington and a pattern set
to stamp out the disease everywhere. The
statistics for the past four years show the
price of failure only too clearly.*
Letters to The Star
Friend of Feller Speaks Out
To the Editor of The Star:
What’s the Idea of panning Bob Feller so
unmercifully? Even the armchair expert* In
the radio booth are at it. Why not look at the
record? Does it make a heel out of a team
player? Hardly. No topnotch pitcher in either
league has pitched more often and more in
nings in relief than this same Feller.
And why does Harris want two pitchers from
Cleveland? What would the Old Fox—who’s
also stuck his nose in—say if he'd selected two
hurlers from the Senator staff? There was a
time, you remember, when an All-Star manager
tried to win a pennant by using up the oppo
sition pitchers. Anyway, he did select Lemon,
and Lemon had the 1948 record, so was entitled
to be chosen.
Another thing 1 This is the fans’ game, isn't
it? They pay the freight, and take none of
the profits. They why not make it a fans’
game? Let them choose the managers—on the
basis of current records, the same as the play
era. Would they hava selected Harris? Hard
ly! Or Durocher? Not by a mile!
Then, after they’ve selected the fielding
players, let them select one pitcher from each
club—also on the basis of current records.
That would provide a League All-Star team,
from the manager down, and would give the
fans something to chew the fat about around
the wood stove at the hunting camp.
You get it. I’m for Feller. No one had any
right to pick him on this year's record—the
reason being that he is a team-player, and
will work for his team whenever his number
goes up. EDGELEY NODAK.
Capitol Plaza Fountain
To tho Editor of TO* fttor:
This is a continuation of the discussion about
the father and the son who were stopped
from playing with a toy boat in the fountain
pool near the Senate Office Building. I would
like to say in response to H. E. R.’s statement
that if the father and son were saved from
possible Instant death by electrocution, the
danger there is ever present to any one who
should submerge his hand in this pool. There
fore, I think the correct solution to this prob
lem, If H. E. R.’s statement is so, is to elimi
nate the hazard of this electrically lighted
pool.
This will give the policeman more time to
devote to real service rather than to shooing
away boatfloaters. GLEN CAROW.
(Editor’s Note: The Office of the Architect
of the Capitol says that the illuminated foun
tain is not dangerous. Only by the breaking
of the heavy lenses over the lights could any
body be shocked—and if such breakage hap
pened the whole circuit would be shut off
automatically and instantly.)
A Cur* for Sex Crimes
Toth- Editor of TfciEUr:
All Washington has been shocked by another
sex crime. It is natural that we should feel
horror and Indignation, but these feelings
alone, or even the punishment of the guilty
person, cannot prevent the recurrence of such
crimes. We now have on the statute books a
law that recognizes that the so-called "sex
maniac* is really a person seriously in need
of psychiatric treatment. Expert medical care
is bow available through the competent staff
e
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.
of St. Elizabeth*. But to treat the criminal
after the crime ha* been committed 1* to lock
the stable after the horse has been stolen.
What we should attempt to do is to find out
how people get that way and how such ab
normalities can be prevented. Individual psy
chiatrists have discovered a great deal about
the factors that go into the making of the
so-called pervert, but the information is scat
tered; it never has been brought together,
organized and made accessible. Humanitarians
have done much in bringing together informa
tion on alcoholism, but there is no comparable
study in the vastly non important field of
criminology. Funds should be made available
to enable scholars and research workers to
bring together and organize the material. The
significant information should then be made
available to parents and physicians, educators
and lawyers, so that they may understand why
it is that some happy, healthy babies grow
up into vicious criminals. Society has not yet I
done all that it should, and we must remedy
this failure or pay the penalty.
A step has been taken in the right direction. ,
The District now has a law that recognizes '
that what we need is not vindictive punish
ment, but constructive treatment. We should
express our gratitude to the men and women
largely responsible for this advance; to George
Morris Fay, District attorney, who conceived
the idea and vigorously carried It through; to
Dr.' A. L. Miller of Nebraska, for putting the
measure through Congress; to Dr. Winfred
Overholser, who opened the doors of St. Elisa
beths for the treatment of these unfortunates;
to Dr. Benjamin Karpman tor his willing
humanitarian studies on the abnormalities of
sex crimes, and to Miss Miriam Ottenberg and
A. J. Spero for their superior reportorial work :
in keeping the public abreast of the situation, j
Treatment has been provided; now we should
look for the causes of the disease and try to
prevent, in those who are now children, the
abnormalities that go into the making of
criminals. Z. F. C.
Buses Objected To
To tbc Editor of The Star:
One of the greatest menaces to passenger
cars is the city buses. Who hdk not seen one
of these hulking vehicles indiscriminately pull
out into the center of a crowded street, nar
rowly missing half a doaen smaller vehicle*?
If there were another coat of paint on these
buses, half the passenger cars in town wo^d
have crumpled gray fenders. Actually the hap
hazard maneuvering of buses is less wearing
on automobiles than on the nerves. Being con
tinually bullied and narrowly missed by these
massive green-and-grey conveyances U almost
more than one can stand.
Perhaps some think that the else of a ve
hicle is directly proportional to the right of
way it should take. We realise, of course,
that schedules must be adhered to, but never
theless we feel that a little precautionary cour
tesy would pay worthwhile dividends in good
feelings. CHARLES T. FITCH.
The Political Mill *1^
Rug-Pulling Highlighting
Democratic Convention
Party Factions, Staring at Dtfsat,
Struggle for Receivership
By Gould Lincoln
PHILADELPHIA, July 13.—The Democratic
National convention of IMS will (o down In
hiatory as the greet rug-pulling convention.
First Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower pulled the
rug from under the feet of the anti-Truman
conspiracy. Then Justice William O. Douglas
of the United States Supreme-Court pulled the
rug from under the Truman coterie which
was trying desperately to get Justice Douglas
to agree to run for Vice President.
It seems incredibly stupid that the anti
Truman forces—both North and South—did T
not learn from Gen. Elsenhower's repeated
statements that lie would not run for President
before they undertook to destroy the man who
in the end they would have to take for their
presidential candidate—Mr. Truman himself.
With complete abandon, however, they went
right ahead, telling the country that it was
Impossible to win the election with Mr. Tru
man at the head of the Democratic ticket.
Maneuvers Held Stupid.
It was almost as stupid that the TYumaa
supporters, including the President himself,
did not ascertain definitely whether they could
win Justice Douglas over and get him on the
ticket as Mr. Truman's running mate. Their
maneuvering to get Justice Douglas on tha
ticket became known very aoon after the Demo
cratic leadera had reached Philadelphia last
week. It was almost certain that their efforts
would come to public light through Democrats
who had no sympathy with this plan and who
did not want Justice Douglas. It did. The
result was to emphasise the fact that Justica
Douglas believed, along with other Democrats,
that a Truman ticket had little or no chance
of victory. It also made the nomination for
the Vice Presidency—whoever had it—a sec
ond-choice affair and not so attractive.
With defeat of their national ticket next
November staring them in the face, the differ
ent factions of the party are Intent upon
getting hold of the receivership. The "Solid
South,” which has always been the backbone
of the party when it was not in control of the
Government, admittedly wants to lay hold of 4
this receivership. The remnants of tha Roose
velt New Dealers want very much to lay their
hands on party control—after the expected
defeat next fall. Their hope was that Juatlca
Douglas—a dyed-in-the-wool New Dealer—
would become the vice presidential nominee
and put himself in position to step out as party
leader. They figured that President Truman,
after defeat, would fade entirely out of party
control—as he may well do.
Homes look to Future.
Another group, the so-called bosses of the
big city and State Democratic machines—
realists in party politics—also are looking to
the future. These arw-the Flynns, the Kellys,
the Arreys and the Hagues. They wish to
save as much out of the expected ruin for
themselves as they possibly can. There is
also the Truman Inner circle which does not
intend to relinquish a grasp on the party or*
sanitation if it can be held.
All realise that the Democratic Party, even
should it be disastrously beaten In November,
will come back again, four years hence, or
eight years, as the case may be. It always has.
The party, after the IMS election when A1
Smith was defeated by Herbert Hoover, ap*
peared on its last legs. But forces entirely
outside of the party were at work—economic
forces—and within two years, the Democrats
took over control of the House of Represents*
tives.
Democrats today are confident that the Re*
publicans, if they get control of the Govern
ment, will stub their toe, or that conditions
will arise which will bring a demand for the
Democratic Party to take over. So they are
striving, each faction, for the receivership*
Answers to Questions
A reader can aattha a newer to anr aueitlon af
fact by wrltlnt The Erenlnt Star Infqraiatlan
Muraau. 110 lye etreet N.E.. Waahlnaton 2. D. C.
Pleaaa lncloie three (3) cent* for return poatata.
BY THE HASKIN SERVICE
Q. What presidential candidates "front
porch" campaigns as opposed to the “swing
around the circle’’?—D. S. D.
A. McKinley at Canton. Ohio; Wilson at
Shadow Lawn, N. J., and Harding at Marian,
Ohio, demonstrated the vtlue of the “front
porch" campaign. The “swing around the
circle” was made by Bryan, Hughes. Cox,
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Landon, and Willkie.
Q. Are mosquito eggs hatched only in water?
—T. M. D.
A. All mosquito eggs hatch in water, but
strangely enough all mdsqultos do not lay eggs
in water. They appear to have an Instinct
that leads them to deposit their eggs in places
where there will be sufficient water for the
aquatic stages as larva and pupa. Thu* one
mosquito chooses containers like tin cans and
cisterns, another depressions in the ground
that will be flooded by rainwater or by over
flowing streams or rivers.
Q Who was the first patent examiner?—J.
V. R.
A. Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State,
was the first patent examiner. His associates
were Henry Knox. Secretary of War. and Ed
mund Randolph, Attorney Oeneral. For three
years the granting of a patent practically
amounted to a cabinet meeting.
Q. What kind of wood was used to make the
raft Kon-Tiki that last year traveled across
the Pacific Ocean?—L. E. T.
A. The Kon-Tlki raft was made of balso
wood obtained from the Jungle of Ecuador.
Balso is the lightest wood known and during
the 4,000-mlle trip the logs rode high, even in
the roughest seas. No metal was used in
making the raft; ropes bound the logs together.
Q. Which United States Senators voted
against the ratification of the United Nations
Charter?—8. A.
A. The Senate ratified the United Nations
Charter by a vote of M to 2 with Senators
William Longer of North Dakota and Henrik
Shipstead of Minnesota dissenting. Senator
Hiram Johnson, who was confined to a hos
pital. sent word that he would have voted
"No” if he had been present.
q How many rockets are there on a Thun
der Jet and what is their speed?—B. O.
A. According to the Department of the Air
Force the seven-ton ThunderJet carries eight
140-pound rockets, four under each wing. They
are mounted in pairs and fired individually by
the pilot. The rockets have a maximum veloc
ity of 1,400 feet a second (more than ON miles
an hour). _
Strawberry Ice Cream Sodas
Here it a eight no adult eye should miss.
So tall, so cool this sweet confection teems
Now six and eight year old are filled with
bliss
As they lit down to realise pale pink
dreams.
Paces are flushed and eyes are round and
bright
Above their straws as precious moments
pass;
The syrup lowers from its foaming height
Until there is a remnant in the glass.
Reluctantly at length it disappears;
The children sigh with happiness and
rise,
Desire satisfied, their deep content
Shining for all to see within their eyes.
No grown-up joy can ever seem sublima
With the supreme delight of soda time.
LOUISE DARCY.
*]0T