Evening star. [volume], August 04, 1948, Page A-11, Image 11

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Diplomatic Approach
To Talks in Moscow
Called Correct One
Russians Started Berlin
Blockade as Means of
Forcing Conference
By David Lawrence
The amazing thing about what
happened at the conference between
Stalin and the three Western am
bassadors is not that they talked
but that they didn't talk together
long before this.
The technique is as old as diplom
acy. It has been suggested time and
again. Instead of a conference
under klieg lights, diplomacy has
always explored the issues through
regularly accredited ambassadors
and either with the head of a state
or his foreign secretary.
Thf dispatches from Moscow indi
cate that something unusual has
happened—ambassadors have actu
ally been talking to the head of
another government about critical
issues.
Last May when the American
Government sent a note which
opened the door to discussion, there
was a curious fumbling of the ball
here in Washington. It was said
that unilateral discussions would be
bad for the Allied democracies.
Nobody seems to have thought then
of the idea of the ambassadors of
Great Britain, France and the
United States going together to the
Russian government and laying all
the cards on the table and issuing
statements until conclusions had
been reached.
Indicated Desire to Talk.
Again and again the Russians
have indicated a desire to talk with
the Western governments. Again
and again the democracies have in
dicated that there was little to talk
about or else that the Russians
couldn't be trusted or else that
there had to be a four-power con
ference if anything was to be taken
tip to alter the existing situation.
The Russians evidently started
the Berlin blockade as a means of
altering the existing situation and
forcing some kind of conference.
They have succeeded. The United
States, Britain and France are in
the position now of offering some
kind of trade or concessions in ex
change for a lifting of the blockade
—a palpably artificial issue.
Within recent weeks the situation
had reached t{ie point where war
talk was in the air. From Berlin
there came dispatches telling of a
plan to send in an armored train
and dare the Russians to fire on it.
All this was a sign that diplomacy
had failed. Then public opinion
began to look askance at the failure
of diplomacy—people wondered why
young men would have to be killed
because somewhere there was not
enough ingenuity to arrive at settle
ments in a peaceful manner.
It is unquestionably true that
provocation by the Russians fias
been considerable but any adminis
tration that allowed American mili
tary forces to be bottled up in the
city of Berlin without an explicit
agreement as to the military right
to supply such forces certainly can
not have been very alert.
The Russians are admittedly dif
ficult to deal with and undoubtedly
they are materialistic to the extreme
in trying to wangle money and ma
terials out of the Western allies. But
the evidence indicates they are not
inclined to go to war about it.
Under such trying circumstances
any return to the type of interna
tional conferences held in London
and Paris would be a mistake.
Approach Is Correct One.
The latest approach is the cor
rect one. There is no publicity dur
ing the negotiations. Neither side
Issues statements to the press or to
the radio and there are not a half
hundred aides standing around and
then leaking information to the
press so that the negotiators can
not alter a position once taken.
This time precautions have been
taken to exchange views in earnest
and to make public the agreements
reached when there are agreements.
The process of reaching an agree
ment is often attended by retreats
and concessions, and publicity fre
quently prevents a successful out
come of the negotiations. Evidently
the four governments want to clear
the air and start in a realistic
manner to find a way to live to
gether without going to war and
without surrendering principles that
are vital.
There need be no “appeasement”
In the Munich sense and no humili
ating shifts in public position. But
there are ways to adjust interna
tional questions without threaten
ing to go to war. If that formula
has just been applied at Moscow in
the critical circumstances of today,
a milestone has indeed been reached
In world affairs.
iBanrnrtiirHnn Rights Reserved).
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This Changing World
Future of Nation May Well Be Decided
In Diplomatic Discussions at Moscow
By Constantine Brown -
Any substantive discussion of the
2-hour diplomatic conversations
Monday night between Prime Min
ister Stalin and the representatives
well be decided, for unless events
operate now in a positive way for
peace, the only other prospect is
conflict and the only remaining
question wiK be—How long?
In the second place, the approach
to Prime Minister Stalin this time
was made by three Western Allies
in unison, contrary to the fiasco of
last April when Ambassador Walter
Bedell Smith, apparently as the re
sult of imperfect decisions in the
State Department, and/or the White
House, made what many persons be
lieve was an overture to get negotia
tions started again with the Rus
sians without giving any hint of
weakness. Gross ineptitude in our
whole approach at that time pro
vided the Russians with propaganda
ammunition which they promptly
used against us.
to me western
j powers in the
Kremlin must
| await disclosure
of the subject
matter of the
discussions.
It is not likely
that any word
of the outcome
of the confer
ence will be
forthcoming un
til complete a
greement has
been reached on
the matter of
noiaing a sweep- conunllne Brown,
ing Big Four conference which
could have for its purpose a settle
ment of all outstanding issues be
tween East and West.
Such an agreement will necessi
tate, from our standpoint, the lift
ing of the Berlin blockade. If
Prime Minister Stalin has agreed
to do that, it Is possible to look
ahead to what could develop in the
I immediate future. It is partieul
: ariy desirable to do this, because
j of the extreme secrecy which the
State Department has thrown
around the whole matter of even
approaching Prime Minister Stalin.
Deductions Can Be Drawn.
It was known in Washington last
week—but was unprintable under
conditions attached to the disclos
\ ure—that an attempt was being
made to carry the Berlin crisis to
Prime Minister Stalin. Some at
1 tempt has even been made to throw
i newspapermen off the scent as to
what will be taken up in a^ pros
pective Big Four conference, and
it was even vigorously denied that
anything broader than the question
of Germany is being suggested as
the topic.
Mistakes Being Avoided.
The mistakes of April are being
avoided this time, and care is be
ing taken to avoid providing the
Russians with fresh propaganda am
munition.
In the third place, even if we are
informed that agreement has been
reached on lifting the Berlin block
ade and the holding of a Big Four
conference, the prospects of agree
ment in such a conference have
two strikes against them, on the
basis of past experience.
Tha* is to say, simply, that
genuine optimism over prospects for
peace must await the Big Four meet
ing. It would be the gravest kind
of mistake to assume that East
West relations are definitely on the
road to settlement if in return for
negotiation the Russians lift the
Berlin blockade.
Resumption of negotiations is, of
course, the first necessary step on
the road to settlement, but it has
nothing to do with actual solution
of the issues.
vigilance muse dc maintained.
Restoration of the national defense
must go on. The American people
must not let themselves become
psychologically disarmed to the ex
tent that failure of the prospective
Big Four conference will come as
a terrific jolt and cause for despair.
We will all feel a lot better in the
long run if we receive the news from
Moscow with just a little skepticism
and a disposition to defer any re
joicing until we see what finally
comes from this new approach for
peace, and above all how the Rus
sians carry out their part of any
definitive agreement.
Against tnis whole background ol
mystery and secrecy it is not likely
that - any conclusions will be dis
closed until they are final and com
plete. However, certain deductions
can be drawn from the known facts
of what has gone on in Moscow.
In the first place the strategy of
carrying the whole question to Prime
Minister Stalin suggests the climactic
nature of the whole discussions. We
are at a crossroads of history where
the course of our whole future may
On the Record
Youth in Wallace Movement Called
Assemblage of Problem Children
By Dorothy Thompson
Miss Rebecca West's description
of the youth at the Wallace con
vention as ‘'horrible” has brought
vehement reactions from some of
their parents
and friends, who %:
have ripfpnded Ck,
There was nothing wrong, either,
with the intellects of the Nazi
leaders. Intelligence tests showed
many of them to be on the
“genius” level. They also Combined
a pathological capacity for cruelty
with extreme sentimentality. Goer
ing loved animals; Hess was a mys
tic; Hitler’s massacre of the Jews
was justified as a crusade for
“purity.” Robespierre, Marat and
Lenin were all idealists, with only
a painful predilection for cutting
off heads.
And Miss West, who covered the
trials of the British traitors and
the Nuremberg criminals with un
surpassed insight into their psy
chological maladjustments and re
ported their stories in “The Mean
ing of Treason,” apparently recog
nized prototypes of these in the
Wallace convention.
To her, this recognition in Amer
ica would, indeed, be “horrible.”
(Released by the Bell Syndicate, Ine.)
them as “un
usually alert, ex
ceptionally fine
young people,
and exceedingly
well-read.” One
indignant moth
er asks, apropos
their “joining
hands in broth
erhood with
their Negro fel
low Americans”:
“Whe n has
friendship ever Dorothy Thompson,
maddened instead of placated?”
Miss West is castigated as "pour
ing out her bitterness." Miss Mar
garet Halsey (whose “With Malice
Toward Some” revealed cruel an
tagonism to the British) wants to
know how Miss West looked to the
youthful delegates whom she found,
lacking in pulchritude. Another
suggests that Miss West was cover
ing her own cynical philosophy of
life rather than a political conven
tion.
In this country, youth is treated
with exceptional tenderness, and to,
suggest that any part of it can be
“horrible” shocks American sensi
bilities. But I shared with Miss
West the impression of distinctly
disagreeable characteristics.
Self-Righteous, Impertinent.
Two of these were self-righteous
ness and impertinence. I already
have spoken of the admonitions of
one young woman that I “tell the
truth,” with the obvious implication
that this was not my usual pursuit.
When Paul Robeson appeared, a
crowd of young women, who had
poured into the press field, greeted
him with delighted shrieks.
Another characteristic was their
avid response to hatred. A fourth
was susceptibility to sentimentality;
and a fifth was an extraordinary
lack of humor. Although these
young people "joined hands with
their Negro fellow countrymen,”
they gave frenzied applause to
speeches spitting class hatred; yet
they mooned with delight at Sen
ator Taylor's barber-shop rendition
of "I Love You As I've Never Loved
Before.”
It repeatedly was made apparent
that their love for one part of the
population was matched by ven
omous hatred for another, so their
“friendship” could, indeed, "mad
den” as well as “placate.”
My impression was that of a re
markable assemblage of problem
children, who were finding in the
Wallace movement sublimation for
personal frustrations and revolts.
They were distinctly the “intel
lectual” type of know-it-all which
manages to get itself heartily dis
liked by its contemporary com
rades, and thus be pushed off into
an isolated clique. Young people
of this caliber congratulate each
other that they are not like other
boys and girls. Instead, they live
their lives on a “higher plane”
than the baseball-playing, date
making, moviegoing “Philistines,” |
who, nevertheless, they uncon-1
sciously envy.
Cases of Maladjustment.
This type supplies the ranks of
revolutionaries in every country,
and is immediately recognizable to
the practiced eye. Miss Elizabeth;
Bentley, who testified last Friday;
that she had joined a Communist I
spy ring and now has turned to
tell all, also was an ‘alert, excep
tionally well-read” young woman
educated at Vassar and abroad,
convinced for a long time that in
prying into state secrets she was
serving a “higher good.” 1116 chief
defendants in the Canadian spy
case also were of this type. Hiere
was nothing wrong with their in
tellects. but they were distinctly
cases of psychological maladjust
ment.
FIRE
means
LOUIE —By Harry Hanan
McLemore—
Right if Wrong,
Wrong if Right
By Henry McLemore
\ 1 ! "*
START AT I
THg.TQP
Ml A
XHEUUdtSS 4^
CAREER.
rr^rur to— T
jB.Sk>5>BY
ANKARA, Turkey.—The Crown
Prince of Trans-Jordan arrived here
in the capital of Turkey just when I
did. In fact, we reached the Ankara
Palas Hotel at ..
the same mo
ment. He stepped
out of an out
size Mercedes
Benz <said to
have been a gift
from Hitler to
President Inonu)
and swept into
the hotel, beard
whipping in the
breeze, and the
sun catching
the golden band
encircling his
forehead, which
held in place his H*Br* MeLc.re.
long white headdress. He was fol
lowed by a gaudy retinue which
looked as if it had come from a
fancy-dress ball.
I stepped out of a creaking old
taxi (said to have been a gift from
Noah to Job), followed by my
retinue of one, Jean, wearing her
well-spotted suit which she is afraid
to get dry-cleaned in this part of
the world. The Prince and I parted
ways shortly after this, and I went
sight-seeing.
Old and New City.
No city in the world can offer
such a contrast between the old and
the new as can Ankara. The old
part of the city (known then as An
gora) dates back to the time of
the Romans and is still thickly in
habited. As you know, the new city
was created from a barren plain
by Ataturk in 1923. There was not
so much as a tree or a bush when
Ataturk said, “Get to work—we will
create the new capital of new Tur
key right here.” It’s as modern as
Washington, D. C., and nearly as
pretty. All done in 25 years. The
streets are tree-shaded, the gar
dens are magnificent, and the build
ings majestic.
With special police permission we
visited Ataturk’s tomb. It is a tem
porary tomb, a new and more mag
nificent one now being under con
struction. But the quiet dignity of
the present one is worthy of the
great warrior and statesman that he
was.
There are 141 laws governing traf
fic in Ankara and Law No. 56 is a
Impulse to Suicide
Democratic Members of Congress Act
As if Party Is Not Worth Fighting For
By Doris Fleeson
The Democrats’ impulse toward
suicide is proving too much for
President Truman’s gallant efforts
to overcome.
The President, lor all his mis
publican tactic of moving into a
filibuster on civil rights in the
Senate has had no Democratic at*
tention. Not a single Democrat was
present when the Senate Banking
and Currency Committee examined
the President’s inflation chief of
staff, Paul Porter, Monday.
takes in judg
ment, his lack of
prescience and
his inability to
pick a compet
tent staff, is
showing a will
ingness to fight
on against odds.
His party acts
not only as if
the cause were
already lost but
as if it were not
worthwhile t o
make the record
Exceptions to Inertia.
There have been exceptions to
the inertia. Representative Helen
Gahagan Douglas, California Demo
crat, put Speaker Martin on the
spot with regard to housing Monday
when she swiftly moved for sus
pension of the rules so the Taft
Ellender-Wagner bill might be
considered. The Speaker, plainly
annoyed, announced that all such
requests had to be cleared through
the majority leader and refused tc
entertain the motion.
Senator Pepper at the same time
was Ironically leading Senate
Leader Wherry through the Presi
dent's recommendations and getting
from him admissions that little
could be expected regarding them.
Obviously the Republicans have
the votes and no legislation could
be forced past them. But the op
portunity to spotlight their omis
sions with their reasons therefore
is dribbling away.
The spy scare Is also beyond
Democratic control but there also
answers could be made and motives
could be spotlighted, including the
question of the timing of the hear
ings which so effectively steal the
headlines.
8IIVJW Wlltll/ uicy
were fighting for.
Like a man in the dentist’s chair
they sit dumbly and wait for the
worst to happen. At times they
seem even to have got past the
point of wincing when the drill
hits a nerve as in the current
spy revelations. The impression
given is that they are only wait
ing for it to be over.
Like a Funeral Home.
Democratic headquarters has all
the vivacity of a funeral home.
Democrats in Congress have been
taking their own sweet time about
attending sessions and few bother
to attend the sparse committee
hearings the Republicans have al
lowed or go to the floor. This situa
tion got to be such a scandal that
special efforts are now being made
to arrange some fireworks for ad
journment if' not before, with in
terested parties preparing power
ful diatribes that Senators and
Representatives seem unable to
think up for themselves.
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But up to now the Republicans
have had it all their own way with
no comments from the sidelines.
Their Presidential candidate, the
"sheltered” Governor of New York,
has rested undisturbed in the half
in, half-out position he prefers to
take on controversial matters. No
rude questions by Democrats have
intruded upon him.
The barrage laid down by Re
publicans against the special ses
sion has not been adequately
countered. The transparent Re
i
FIRE
means
...but BALLANTINE
always means:
You light a fire on a chilly night; fire a man when hi*
work’s not right. “Fire,” it’s plain to see, is a confusing
word. Because it has more than one meaning, it can
fool you.
But not Ballantine! Ballantine never fooled anybody;
It always means PURITY, BODY, FLAVOR . . . the
superlative qualities symbolized by Peter Ballantine’s
famous 3-ring trade mark. Always look for the 3 rings;
always call for Ballantine.
America’s finest since 1840
s _ ..
i
bit puzzling to the Western mind.
It reads: "It is obligatory for driv
ers of motor vehicles to warn
pedestrians on the street in going
toward them by horn, sound, etc.,
with the exception of embassy and
official cars. It is prohibited to
blow horns in the city.”
In short, you are right if you’re
wrong and you’re wrong if you’re
right.
crooked streets, where you’ll see
families living in buildings which
would make an archeologist’s
mouth water.
My wife is under the impression
that no one who cant speak Eng*
lish is capable of flying an airplane.
She was definitely nervous on our
Sight on Turkish Airlines from
Istanbul to Ankara. When the
wheels touched ground she said she
would like to go to the Turkish pilot
and say: “Attaboy! Atta-Turk!’*
contributed by McNaueht Syndicate. Inc.)
“Papa” Karpich was a very fore
sighted man. He fled Russia and
reached Ankara practically on
Ataturk’s heels. Here he opened a ■
small restaurant. Today "Papa”
Karpich’s place is recognized as one
of the really great restaurants of
the world. For myself I can say
that Beyendill Tavuk and Kaz
Palasi are as good dishes as I have
eaten in the last decade. Beyendill
Tavuk is a concoction of chicken
and eggplant and heaven knows
what else, and Kaz Palasi is a
spring goose that honors every goose
in the world.
Most Popular Food.
Speaking of eggplant, it is one of
the most popular foods in Turkey.
When it comes in season, official
records show that there are a great
many more fires throughout the
country. The mass of the populace
cook it over open fires, and the
sparks and embers keep the fire
departments busy.
The old city is built on a moun
tain and there is no sight-seeing it
by car. You must walk its little
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