Evening star. [volume], August 04, 1948, Page A-10, Image 10

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

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_B. M. McKELWAY, Editor. _
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A—10WEDNESPAY August 4, 1948
Statesmanship in the House
It is a wise and timely decision which
has brought a favorable report from the
House Committee on Foreign Affairs on
the bill for a $65,000,000 loan to build a
permanent United Nations headquarters
in New York City on a site already selected
and acquired.
The Senate has passed this bill. It
might have been approved before ad
journment of the regular session in June.
But the House committee had incor
porated the loan provision in another bill
which contained additional important
items relating to the United Nations and
our participation therein. There was not
time to take up that bill with any hope
of enactment in the regular session and
leadership policy barred it from the spe
cial session.
The resulting inaction was unfortunate
and might have exercised a profound in
fluence on the future of the United Nations
itself. As a Nation we were placed in the
position of having invited the United
Nations to select its permanent home in
this country and then of denying it the
means to make the selection stick. There
was the serious risk that the United Na
tions might move elsewhere, to Geneva,
for example with resulting loss of prestige
to itself and of support by the people of
the United States and consequent injury
to the cause of world peace.
That prospect seems to be happily
averted now. The House Committee on
Foreign Affairs has taken statesmanlike
action to divorce the loan bill from the
rest of its omnibus measure. House
leadership will bring it before the House
tomorrow or next day with the likelihood
of approving the loan, completing action
on the legislation and sending it to the
President. The loan will provide means
for beginning construction on the site
already donated by John D. Rockefeller,
on which New York City is spending some
$13,000,000.
As a financial transaction the loan is
amply secured. As an expression of our
sincerity and good will in making the
United Nations live and grow in strength,
with the complete support of the American
people, the loan had assumed the im
portance of a symbol. Its approval,
coming as it does at this particular time
and in the particular circumstances, will
carry a significance far more valuable to
the cause of the United Nations than the
mere provision of an adequate head
quarters.
The other important provisions of the
House omnibus bill delayed for the consid
eration of the Eighty-first Congress in
January can well afford to wait. Our
delegation to the United Nations General
Assembly in Paris this fall, in the mean
time, can report with some pride that, the
United States has completed its part of
the agreement to locate the United Nations
headquarters in New York.
Archaeological Quest
Flood control, irrigation and hydro
electric projects sponsored by the Federal
Government are accelerating interest in
American archaeology. The Smithsonian
Institution has announced that scientists
working under its direction are exploring
the Savannah River basin in anticipation
of the building of Clark Hill Reservoir.
This means that a considerable area in
Georgia and South Carolina is being
checked for evidence of pre-Columbian
communities. The National Park Service
and the Army Corps of Engineers are co
operating in the work. Thus far approxi
mately one hundred and fifty sites have
been located. Some of them are com
paratively recent Creek Indian “deposits.”
Others date back at least ten centuries
and represent aboriginals who practiced
the very earliest and crudest forms of
ceramic industry.
When construction of the reservoir has
been completed, an artificial lake with a
shoreline of a thousand miles will be
created. The sites it covers never can be
reached once they have been flooded.
Hence the Smithsonian group’s anxiety to
explore them thoroughly—and soon. If
they contain artifacts worth excavating,
now is the time to retrieve them. The
. same principle applies to areas in Nebras
ka, North and South Dakota, Wyoming,
Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and the State
of Washington where survey parties made
up of agents of the Institution, the Park
Service, the Bureau of Reclamation and
the Army Engineers are endeavoring to
discover and examine prehistoric Indian
settlements which also are threatened by
inundation. On Medicine Creek, a tribu
tary of the Republican River in Southern
Nebraska, an earth-lodge village is being
dug up. Its age indicates that it was the
habitation of a people who long preceded
the Cheyennes and Arapahos. Near Heart
Butte in North Dakota a rock shelter has
been found adjacent to a bone deposit
containing the remains of so many bison
that investigators are puzzled as to how
such a large number were slaughtered.
Were they driven over a cliff, were they
domesticated and butchered as needed
during successive decades or were they
assembled in the “cemetery” by collabo
rating tribes who brought them there in
i single sweeping roundup? These are
»nly a few of the simplest questions raised
by the researches currently in progress, j
The utility of the quest is obvious.
America’s prehistoric past is part of its
continuing story. It merits study exactly
as modern times do. The experience of
the human race is a single inclusive
development. People understand them
selves through knowledge of the ages
through which they have come as well
as through aspiration for the future into
which the heirs of their toil are moving.
Senate Deadlock
Senate Republicans would do well to
take the opportunity presented to them in
party conference today to try to abolish
the poll tax by constitutional amendment
instead of by Federal statute.
Events of the past week have demon
strated they cannot pass a repeal bill over
| Southern opposition unless they are willing
to stay in session for months, and there
Is no apparent disposition to do that.
The alternative is to give the constitu
tional amendment method a tryout, or
admit to the country that they are help
less to dc anything this year.
Senator Russell, Democrat, of Georgia,
a leader among those who fear abolition
of the poll tax by act of Congress would
pave the way for complete Federal con
trol of State elections, has indicated there
would be no long-drawn-out debate
against submitting the poll tax issue to
the States as a constitutional amendment.
While it would take a two-thirds vote
in Congress to submit an amendment, and
three-fourths of the States to ratify it,
these hurdles look no higher today than
the stone wall of unlimited debate which
has the poll tax bill blocked in the Senate.
Even if Senate rules could be amended
next January to limit debate and pass the
bill, its constitutionality undoubtedly
would be challenged. If, on the other
hand, the poll tax could be outlawed In
the few States that still require it by
amending the Constitution, the verdict
would be final and unassailable.
What if it took several years to get the
required number of legislatures to ratify?
The advocates of repeal by act of Con
gress have waited longer than that, and
still have no assurance of victory.
If the Republicans choose the alternative
of doing nothing, and pinning the blame
on division in Democratic ranks, they may
reap some temporary political advantage
in this year’s campaign by arguing that
it shows the need for electing a Republican
President and Congress.
But they should beware lest a substan
tial number of voters take a different view,
namely, that the Republicans have had
control of Congress for nearly two years
without being able to pass any civil rights
legislation.
In any event, repeal of the poll tax is
but a fragment of the civil rights pro
gram. If the Republican leaders could
dispose of11 it now, they would still have
plenty to do in January, trying to get
action on the fair employment practice
and the antilynch bills.
Virginia Primaries
About the only conclusion to be drawn
from the extraordinarily light vote in Vir
ginia’s primary elections yesterday is that
the voters in the Old Dominion are more
interested in the hot presidential contest
shaping up there than in routine nomina
tions for lesser posts. It is evident from
the returns that Democratic and Republi
can voters stayed away in droves. There
were recorded less than half the votes
cast in the last general election for the
State as a whole, and in Arlington the
combined Democratic and Republican total
was-less than the vote given Senator Byrd
in that election.
The chief surprise was the narrow mar
gin by which incumbent Representative
Howard W. Smith eked out a victory in his
own home town, Alexandria, over Arthur
F. Souther, Arlington businessman. Alex
andria has a heavy and well-organized
labor vote and labor’s campaign against
Mr. Smith proved effective. Lumped with
the union voters against the Eighth Dis
trict’s outspoken foe of union bossism and
the New Deal were many liberal-minded
Democrats who have bought homes in the
historic city in recent years. But Mr.
Smith and Senator Willis Robertson had
no trouble in piling up a comfortable
lead over their opponents in the over
all contest.
A novelty in the Eighth District was
the Republicans’ primary, which resulted
in the selection of Newspaper Columnist
Tyrell Crum over Attorney Charles *0.
Pratt for the congressional seat held by
Representative Smith. The Republicans
mustered scarcely more than a thousand
votes in Arlington, as compared with more
than three times that number of Demo
cratic votes in the parallel primary.
Strangely, a few voters refused to declare
themselves as either Republican/ or Dem
ocrats and left the polls forthwith.
The significance of these results, insofar
as the November election is concerned,
is not immediately apparent. While Sen
ator Robertson had announced himself for
President Truman, Representative Smith
maintained complete silence. There were
no States’ rights issues to be resolved in
yesterday’s primaries. The issues are
there, beneath the surface, however, and
many of the voters obviously preferred to
save their strength for the big battle .in
November. Then a record turnout of the
electorate may be expected.
Exporting Our 'Know-How'
In line with a suggestion made by Paul
G. Hoffman, chief of the United States
Economic Co-operation Administration,
the British are planning to draw upon
American technical advice to increase their
production. The plan is experimental,
but it is promising enough to be worth a
trial, not only in Britain but in the fifteen
other countries participating in the Euro
pean Recovery Program.
As explained by Sir Stafford Cripps,
Chancellor of the Exchequer, the idea is
to set up a joint council made up of rep
resentatives of British and American in
dustry and labor. The council’s task would
be to advise the Attlee government on how
and where it might be possible to improve
Britain’s Industrial efficiency and pro
ductive capacity. Under the plan, experts
from the United States would offer con
crete suggestions, and specialists from the
United Kingdom probably would be sent
to this country to study our methods.
Figures are available to show that the
British, despite their manufacturing and
management skills, have let themselves
fall behind the times in such fields as coal
mining and textile production. Anti- '
quated machinery and obsolescent oper
ating techniques have been primarily
responsible for this. Much the same holds
true for certain phased of industrial
activity in the other ERP countries. All
of them, for one reason or another, have
lagged behind the United States in
developing the technology of mass output.
Considered against this background, the
joint Anglo-American council projected in
Britain makes sense. A few Britons have
attacked it as a kind of affront to national
pride, but if they study it carefully, they
will find th%y have misread its meaning.
As Mr. Hoffman has frequently argued,
the recovery of our friends in Europe can
be helped by exporting to them some of
our unique industrial “know-how.” The
plan announced by Sir Stafford is in ac
cord with that view. Although it is not
likely to work miracles, it is a useful ex
periment whose possibilities should be ex
plored to the full.
The Army Wants a Song
Come to think of it, it does seem strange
that the Army lacks an official marching
song of its own. It is not surprising that
the Army has decided to launch a Nation
wide contest to find a tune “worthy of
becoming an over-all Army song—as dif
ferentiated from songs of the various
arms or service, such as infantry, artillery,
etc.”
The Navy has its stirring “Anchors
Aweigh,” the Marines their familiar
“Montezuma” hymn and the Air Force its
“Wild Blue Yonder” song. But for march-'
ing songs the Army has only its “Caissons,”
dedicated to the Field Artillery; its “Kings
of the Highway” for the Infantry and
other less familiar songs for various
branches of the service. It also has, of
course, that popular veteran of two World
Wars, “You’re in the Army Now (You’re
Not Behind the Plow),” but the words of
this classic make it unsuitable for dress
; parade purposes.
As a matter of fact, it will have to be a
mighty catchy song to shove “‘You’re in
the Army” into oblivion, in so far as the
average soldier or veteran is concerned'.
Or to replace in popular esteem those first
World -War products, “Oh, How I Hate to
Get Up in the Morning,” and “Mademoi
selle From Armentieres.” The Army is
justified in trying the contest idea, how
ever, for it deserves to be on equal foot
ing, musically, with the Navy, Air Force
and Marines. And eventually, perhaps,
there will be a contest for an over-all
unification song, dedicated to the merged
National Military Establishment. The
time will be ripe for such a medley when
Secretary Forrestal finally achieves close
harmony among his still somewhat dis
cordant forces.
Falling down on his promise of lower
taxes and bigger handouts, the undaunted
politician Is in with another. This calls
for a controlled economy within the
framework of free enterprise.
Friends of Wallace say he has a sense
of humor, but we wonder. The true comic
would have prefaced that acceptance
speech with: “Well, boys, you talked me
Into it.”
This and That
By Charles E. Tracewell
More and more a Washington favorite every
year is the catbird.
This sleek fellow somehow manages to win
his way.
His neat coat and coloring, gray and black,
and his odd ways, endear him to all bird
watchers.
His voice adds a touch of the piquant.
He nests close to houses, in shrubbery, some
times losing his babies to observing cats.
The next season he comes back to the same
place and builds another nest In the old site.
This may mean lack of discretion, or just
plain enthusiasm.
There is no telling, for our catbird is an odd
one. That is part of his charm.
^ *r *r
There is one small catbird living in a local
home.
He sleeps on the living room curtain, dis
daining perches offered him.
He eats well, but now refuses to drink. One
way is to place a big drop of water on the
end of his bill. Often such a bird will get the
single drop when he refuses more at a time,
v a very shallow sauoer should be kept avail
able.
Some moisture is secured through beetles,
"bugs” and pieces of earthworm. Only the
smallest specimens are to be used, and these
should be tom into very short lengths. The
idea of thus tearing living things is not a
particularly nice one, but if there is any
creature that will suffer as little as possible,
no doubt it is the earthworm.
* * * *
This particular bird refused to go to sleep
except in a human hand.
So a full quota of four hands was offered
it.
To such lengths will bird lowers go!
This young catbird is now given, we are
informed, small pellets made of mixed ham
burger and liver.
The addition of the latter adds not only
vitamins and minerals, but also moisture.
This bird has become such a “baby” that
its helpers have decided to keep it this fall
and winter.
They intend to turn it loose next spring.
* * * *
Another family has undertaken the feeding
of two small catbirds, whose mother and father
left them to begin a new nest.
As soon as the parents saw the two young
birds eating raisins from the hands of these
friends, they evidently decided all was well.
They left immediately, and no more has
been seen of them.
The young birds come regularly for food.
Raisins are cut up and rolled between
the fingers, before they are offered.
Usually this is not at all necessary. Raisins
are much loved by catbirds, and seem to agree
with them.
* * * *
Catbirds nest twice a season.
From four to six eggs are laid, although six
will seldom be found.
The eggs are dark blue-green, considerably
darker than those of the robin.
The nest is fairly large, made of leaves, roots
and grasses, and lined with grass.
Mostly the nest is placed in shrubbery, not
! higher than 10 feet; 4 to 6 feet tjs the usual
I height.
* • • *
There can be little question that this is one
of the easiest and best birds to bring up by
hand.
If the parents are killed, the young catbirds
are easily raised. They are fed every hour, at
first, with bits of raw beef, scraped; liver, yolk
of hardboiled egg, bits of bread and milk.
Water is given oftqp with a medicine dropper.
Later small bugs and worms are fed from
a paper on which some earth has been spread.
As soon as the baby bird has learned to
take food from the ground, feeding becomes
easy.
If it is thought best to keep one until spring,
a cage should be secured, and the bird bandied
as one would a canary. Usually lice offer no
problem, but at times become troublesome.
No cat or dog flea powder should be used. Care
must be taken to use only powders sold for
canary birds.
r
Letters to The Star
Letters for publication must bear
the signature and address of the
writer, although it is permissible for
a writer known to The Star to use
a nom de plume. Please be brief.
Saving the District Guard
To tht Editor ol The Star:
May I extend congratulations on your edi
torial urging action to save the District of
Columbia National Guard from further scan
dalous incidents under its present leadership?
We whose service has been in war and whose
sons have signed up with the Guard in un
precedented numbers have an especial interest,
while the city and the Nation are entitled to
highest efficiency in these troubled times. The
shortages of clothing and other equipment are
merely further evidence of the reasons for
undermined confidence in an outfit of which
Washington normally should be proud.
There are today in the city hundreds of
battle-trained officers who could and would
take over in a house-cleaning. This does not
mean professional soldiers or retired generals,
but it does mean citizen-soldiers whose real
homes and interests are in the District of
Columbia.
A wholesale indictment of the commissioned
personnel of the Guard would be grossly unfair.
However, a capable leader at the top would
soon screen the officers and those who are In
to wear insignia would soon be on the way out.
Time after time groups of citizens have ap
peared before Congress urging this or that
for the city. Why not, under the leadership of
your valued paper, a committee of representa
tive citizens to appear before the Armed Serv
ices Committee to expose conditions in the
Guard and get reforms?
In short, let’s save the District of Columbia
National Guard before it is too late. J. L.
Second Army, Not Corps
To the Editor ol The SUr:
On three occasions your staff writer, W. J.
Wheatley, covering the National Guard activi
ties, has referred to the United States Second
Army as the “2d Army Corps.” His articles
appeared in your editions of July 30, July 31
and August 1.
I should like to point out that the Second
Army, of which Lt. Gen. Leonard T. Gerow is
commanding general, has jurisdiction over a
wide area in the East Atlantic States. Included
in this area are National Guard units and
various Reserve components. However, there
is a good bit of difference between an army
corps, which usually comprises a headquarters
and several divisions, and an army, which may
consist of several corps with attached troops.
H. E. SHILLING, JR.
Closing of National Theater
To the Editor of The Star:
Saturday evening saw the last performance
of the musical “Oklahoma!” at the National
Theater. Rather than change its policy of
segregation, the management of the National
chose to deny the patrons of the legitimate
theater in Washington this much-needed cul
tural entertainment. As the strains of “Auld
Lang Syne” died away, the sinister shadows
of three gleeful actors trod the boards in
fiendish triumph: Discrimination, segregation
and American fascism gave a performance.
Chalk up another victory for bias and bigotry
as decent, fairminded Washingtonians look on
in shame. REV. JOSEPH F. HASKINS.
Waste and Want
To the Editor ot The Btai:
The bottom has fallen out of the New Deal
bucket and, while Harry Truman continues to
tinker with it, his efforts have proved com
pletely futile.
Fpr over a decade, during the Roosevelt
regime, American money was ballooned to
undreamed-of heights and, as a natural con
sequence, prices have reached an all-time
peak. Our currency has lost much inherent
strength by piling up deficits. The unsound
theory that we must spend in order to save,
as advocated by Harry Hopkins, has produced
fiscal chaos. The ancient adage, “Wilful waste
brings woeful want” still holds good.
EDMUND K. GOLDSBOROUGH.
Compulsory Arbitration Approved.
To the Editor oi The Star:
Joseph L. Miller in his letter published in
The Star, July 24, referring to Gerard Reilly’s i
proposal for compulsory arbitration of labor
disputes in the railroad industry, makes the
point that if this principle should be applied
to such disputes there is no logical reason for
not extending it to any industry of a public or
quasi-public utility nature and that from that
step there is but a short distance to applying
it to the steel or automobile industry. His
argument seems to run further that Government
fixing of wages and working conditions is un
desirable. That well may be true.
The argument, however, seems to beg the
basic question. We already have governmental
fixing of wages and working conditions. Not
too long ago the Government seized the coai
mines and then negotiated a contract with the
UMW. The mines then were turned back to
the opei%tors to run under the terms of that
contract. This was governmental wage fixing
which ignored the rights of the operators. More
recently, after the railroads similarly had been
taken and a permanent injunction (which still
is in effect) against striking had been secured,
a so-called settlement was announced. It was
alleged to be voluntary.
The writer for some years has been a student
of labor problems and has had some experience
in the field, but he was unable to discover from
the newspaper accounts just what the “hooker”
was in this particular settlement. It would
seem quite certain that the unions involved
must have gotten something more than the
other 14 unions which settled their demands in
the traditional manner. It seems that Mr.
Steelman was the agent through whom this so
called voluntary settlement was reached. To
my mind, it was governmental fixing of wages
and working conditions. If we are going to
have such wage fixing, would it not be prefer
able that it be done after public discussion and
hearing before a board composed of industry,
labor, and public representatives which would
render awards based upon announced policies
rather than by a kind of secret diplomacy
which involves Mr. Steelman’s running back
and forth between various doors in the White
House as he contrives deals based upon Machia
vellian expediency.
It well may be that compulsory arbitration
of disputes in industries affected with a “vital
public interest” may lead to similar develop
ments in other industries, but sufficient unto
the day is the evil thereof. The immediate
problem is that the public has pretty well de
cided that we cannot afford strikes in the vital
industries that have been mentioned. If that
decision is to have meaning, then channels
must be provided through which organized
labor may express its legitimate demands but
which at the same time provide expression for
the interests of employers and the public. Tra
ditional collective bargaining can be effective
only where the employer has the right tb sus
pend his operations and the employes to with
draw their services in concert. In the industries
of which we are speaking, the employer, either
because of law or public opinion, cannot sus
pend his operations and the employes’ right to
withdraw their services has become so atten
uated as to be for all practical purposes a fic
tion. A social decision has been made that we
cannot afford traditional collective bargaining
in these industries.
Mr. Miller suggests that ws meet the situa
*
V
*
| Stars, Men and Atoms
Key to Life’s Mysteries
Carbon 14, Product of the Atomic Pile, May Open Door to,
Brighter Era of Human Welfare
By Thomas R. Henry
(Second of a series of articles describing
the progress being made in the field of
radioisotope research.)
A key to life’s profoundest mysteries—its
dark beginnings and the inscrutable intrica
cies of its changes through the ages—is Car
bon 14.
Throughout the world it is by far the most
in demand of the ‘ exploding atoms” produced
by the Atomic Energy Commission's uranium
piles. _
It is purely a tool of research. Used as a
medicine in amounts sufficient to do any good,
it certainly would kill the patient. But it
promises to bring new knowledge of the ut
most importance for man's welfare. It is the
most promising instrument for shedding light
on the genesis or development of various forms
of cancer. It shows what happens to food
in the body. Altogether 185 such projects
are in process all over the world. Seventy
two of them are in the United States and are
described in the commission’s latest report to
Congress. The average amoupt supplied to
an investigator is one three-hundredth of
an ounce. In this almost invisibly minute
amount 37,000,000 atoms are disintegrating
every second. Yet if this quantity were dis
tributed among a million rats the radio
activity in each still would be easily detect
able for the next 5,000 years.
Life on this earth is a ferment of carbon,
oxygen and nitrogen.
Carbon Is Cornerstone.
The cornerstone of every organism that has
existed since the world began, from lichen to
man, is the nonmetallic element carbon. It
is one of the eight or ten most abundant
materials in creation, found in all the stars
and all the dust clouds between the stars.
The carbon atom now is known in six dif
ferent forms—or isotopes. The most abun
dant, comprising 98.9 per cent of all the ele
ments found in nature, is Carbon 12. The
nucleus of this atom is composed of six pro
tons and six neutrons, packed closely to
gether, with six electrons revolving around
it like planets around the sun. In this form
it exists forever. About ten years ago a sec
ond form was isolated—Carbon 13. There was
one more neutron in its nucleus. It com
prised 1.1 per cent of all the elements on
earth. It also had an eternal life.
Only when atomic piles and cyclotrons came
into operation were four other isotopes pro
duced—Carbons 10, 11, 14 and 15. With one
lately discovered exception, they do not exist
in nature. All are radioactive. The first has
a half-life of nine seconds—that is, in this
brief period half of any given amount will
have disintegrated. Carbon 11 has a half
life of 21 minutes. The half-life of Carbon
15 is so short that physicists have been un
tions so created by “ear.” It seems only fair
to ask, “Whose ear?” The ear of pianoplaying
Mr. Truman which seems attuned to almost any
pitch from drafting railroad strikers into the
Army (1946) to a condemnation of even the
most reasonable features of the Taft Hartley
Act (1947); the ear of John L. Lewis which is
deaf to every plea and interest save his own;
or the pinned back ears upon the bloody but
unbowed head of John Q. Public, caught in
the middle of most of these industrial disputes?
Does it not seem reasonable to conclude that
haphazard, piecemeal, secret-dealing, muddling
through methods of handling these disputes
must give way to procedures which as a court
of last resort include compulsory arbitration,
in which all parties are fully represented and
which operates upon the principle of open de
cisions, openly arrived at?
HAROLD F. SYLVESTER.
Even Homer Nods at Times
To the Editor ot The Star:
Gould Lincoln would be somewhat more
impressive as a political pundit, and The Star
more valuable as a medium of accurate in
formation, if the basic facts used by Mr.
Lincoln were true.
In Saturday’s Star, Mr, Lincoln asserted
that all of the list of 13 Southern Senators
have been renominated, but still may be called
on to assert themselves on the Truman matter.
In one statement Mr. Lincoln has succeeded
in making at least four errors.. Senator Urn
stead of North Carolina was defeated in his
effort for renomination, Senator Maybank of
South Carolina is in the midst of a heated
campaign for renomination, and Senators
Feazel of Louisiana and O'Daniel of Texas did
not seek renomination. And, oh yes, Senator
Stewart of Tennessee also is in the midst of a
campaign. That’s five errors in one statement.
I trust that both Mr. Lincoln and The Star
were having an "off day” and that your
readers can, in the future, place more confi
dence in your editorial matter than the
informed could place in Mr. Lincoln’s essay on
Saturday. FAY DE R. HAMILTON.
Never Blame ‘the System’
To the Editor of The Star:
A few weeks ago our superpatriots were
calling "Communist” any man who dared
agree with Joe Stalin that a depression in
America is inevitable.
Now testimony before Congress is being
taken seriously to the effect that America has
but twfe courses: (1) Let inflation run its
course with a great big bust later on, or (2)
curtail prices now and immediately bring on
a serious depression, the outcome of which
no one can predict.
Biologists tell us that any nation’s power to
survive depends first upon its ability to breed
leaders. What is the matter with our leaders?
Is it our system of selecting them? All they
seem able to do is to blame the other fellows.
It may be the Republicans, the Democrats,
labor unions or even that old whipping boy,
“human nature.” But blame the system, never
suh, never!
Well, anyway, we are now leaving ourselves
wide open to attack by the Communist propa
ganda mills as usual. When will we ever learn?
J. LALLA.
/ ’
Good Reporting Commended
To the Editor of The Star:
I wish to commend most heartily the superb
reportorial accuracy of the article on page
B-4 of The Star for July 28 concerning the
nominations at the District Caucus of the
AFGE the previous night.
This was a difficult topic to handle, and good
reporters have made very sad messes indeed
in trying to deal with issues much less com
plicated than those that have beset Our organ
ization recently. The story was tactfully pre
sented, and, as I said above, with a phenom
enal accuracy on even the smallest details.
Please convey to the reporter concerned my
personal appreciation and that of many
AFGE members in Washington for a good Job
very well done. FLOYD SWIGGETT, Jr.
Points for Children Wanted
To the Editor ol The Star:
I read “Points for Parents” every night. Why
don’t you write "Points for Children?” I think
it would be very helpful to your younger read
ers. I am 9% years old and am in the fifth
grade at the M. P. Maury School. Thank you
for giving this letter your attention.
JUDITH LYNN VAUGHN.
•ble to measure it. Carbon 14, however, has
a half-life of 5,100 years. In this time half
of any given number of atomic nuclei will
have emitted an electron at approximately
the speed of light. The nucleus originally
consisted of six protons and eight neutrons.
Loss of an electron changes one of the neu
trons into a proton and another electron is
drawn into its planetary system. In other
words, Carbon 14 has changed into Nitro
gen 14, the gaseous element which comprise*
98 per cent of the atmosphere. It will re
main in this changed form to the end of time.
These six forms of carbon differ only in th#
weights of their atoms. Their chemical prop
erties are precisely the same. They will behave
in the same fashion in all chemical reactions.
All the chemistry of life is carbon chemistry.
Any one of the live other isotopes can be sub
stituted anywhere for the all-important Carbon
12. Essentially every reaction that goes into
the building up of the body of a plant or an
animal can be followed by detecting the radia
tions of any of the radio active forms.
Transmutation of Elements.
Obviously Carbon 10, 11, and 15—even tha
existence of the latter is a little questionable—
are essentially useless. They would have dis
appeared before the process in which they
were taking part was well under way. With
Carbon 14 there is time enough for any biologi
cal process—even the disintegration of the
bones of prehistoric men. It has, in fact, been
used to determine the age of Egyptian mum
mies.
It is produced by bombarding nitrogen with
neutrons. The same transmutation of ele
ments also takes place as a result of nitrogen
atom bombardment by cosmic rays in the upper
atmosphere. Some of the explosive carbon
sinks to the earth’s surface and enters into tha
basic processes of plant and animal tissue
building. The amount in existence is extremely
minute but it is well mixed among the mole
cules composing the body of every living thing.
Some of it goes into the bones, and one man
has about as much of it as another. There was
approximately the same amount of it in the
bones of a Neanderthal cave man as in those
of a living American. Suppose a fossil skull's
characteristic electron radiation from Carbon
14 is only half that from the skull of a man
who died yesterday. It is a fair interpretation
that the individual to whom the ancient skull
belonged ceased the chemical processes of living
about 5,000 years ago. If the radiation is only
a fourth normal it can be assumed that tha
man died about 10,000 years ago. This would
be the time required for half of the half that
remained after the first half-life was exhausted
to disintegrate. Carbon 14 promises, among its
probably minor functions, to be an invaluable
tool for the archeologists when some sort of
procedure has been standardized. %
(The third article ol this aeries will be printed
_ Friday In this apace.)
Answers to QuestiQns
A reader can get the answer to any question of
fact by writing The Evening Star Information
Bureau. 31H Eye atreet N.E., Washington 2, D. C.
Please Inclose three (3) cents for return postage.
By THE HASKIN SERVICE.
Q. When George Washington was President
whet was the average life span in the United
States?—M. R. G.
A. In the time of Washington’s presidency
the human life span averaged about 38 years.
When he was born only 26 out of every hundred
newborn babies lived to be live years old.
Q. Please explain the difference between the
offices of Secretary of the Treasury and Treas
urer of the United States.—G. D.
A. The Secretary of the Treasury is a cabinet
officer who is charged by law with the man
agement of the national finances. The Treas
urer of the United States is charged with the
receipt and disbursement of public moneys
that may be deposited in the Treasury at
Washington and in the other depositories
authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury
to receive deposits of Government funds for
credit in the account of the Treasurer of the
United States. The Secretary of the Treasury
is the head of the Treasury Department in
which the Treasurer of the United States is
an official.
Q. Can dahlias be grown successfully from
seed?—E. G. R.
A. Dahlias can be grown from seeds which
usually are planted indoors several weeks be
fore the time of the last killing frost, and set
out when danger from frost is past. It is well
to remember, however, that dahlias do not
come true from seed, that there is a tendency
to revert to semidouble or single forms, and
that at best the flowers are often disappointing.
Q. What Governors of New York have be
come President of the United States?—W. H.
A. Martin Van Buren, Grover Cleveland,
Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt
all were Presidents who had served in this
capacity.
Q. How many countries are represented at
the Vatican?—S. L. S.
A. In 1947 the Vatican maintained diplomatic
relations with 40 states. The status of several
countries was unsettled because of disturbed
conditions.
Q. When were crutches first used?—J. N.
A. Crutches have been in use since antiquity, 2
records going back as far as 2300 B. C. The •
Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and other early i
peoples had devices to help the crippled to J
walk.
Q. Are the people who live in the Soviet *
Union all members of the white race?—H. G. R.
A. Of the 169 groups studied by ethnologists J
some years ago, three-fourths were whits *
skinned and the rest of varying degrees of
yellow.
Q. For whom is Mount Mitchell in North
Carolina named?—I* D.
A. The highest peak in Eastern United
States is named for Elisha Mitchell of Con
necticut, minister and professor of mathematics
at the University of North Carolina. He lost
his life in 1857 during an expedition to the
crest of the Appalachians.
- ... 9
Q. Where were the first equestrian statues
in the United States?—L. C. W.
A. The first equestrian statue erected within
the boundaries of the United States was that
of George III in New York City. The second
usually is said to have been the statue of Gen.
Jackson in Lafayett« Square, Washington, D. C,
D. C.
William Cullen Bryant
("Seven in the evening a son born” . . .
From the diary of Bryant’s mother.)
She had new dreamt within that pensive
evening
After the welcomed coming of his birth.
For the had viewed the firmament's bright
heaven
Above the most high summit of the earth.
She knew betrothal as a golden circlet,
Yet in his natal dawning she had found
How constancy and beauty of affection
Gently but all the more securely bound.
She looked on innocence of life’s beginning
And taw the shining wonder of life’s
span;
So distant seemed chill death and its deep
shadow,
And lost to vision was “the tomb of man."
ROBB MYRA PHILLIPS.
• *