Evening star. [volume], August 10, 1948, Page A-8, Image 8

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7 l i TUESDAY, Auguftt 10, 1948
Dangerous Advice
Although the Protestant clergymen who
have proposed a “day of mourning” over
the draft profess to disapprove of the
“civil disobedience” movement, it is hard
to see much difference between that law
less course and the counsel which the
dissident group now offers the young men
of America.
The group, in urging churches to observe
August 30, when draft registration begins,
for prayerful protest against peacetime
conscription, did not content itself with
a call for mediation and “repentance.
The clergymen whose names were attached
to the statement released by the “National
Council Against Conscription” have gone
much further than a call to prayer. They
have “laid before the people, and especially
young men of draft age,” this provocative
principle: “The responsibility of young
men not to give unquestioning obedience
to secular authority, as is demanded in
totalitarian lands, but to decide each for
himself the course which he should take
with regard to conscription, recognizing
that God is the sole Lord of conscience.”
If this advice means what it seems to
say, these churchmen are asserting that
every young man subject to the draft has
a right to refuse to register and other
wise to evade induction as he may see
fit. They are told that they have no
obligation to bow completely to the
sovereignty of Federal law—for "secular
authority” can have no other meaning
that governmental authority. What dis
tinction is there between this suggestion
and that of another group of Protestant
churchmen who recently minced no words
in urging young men to disobey the draft
law? What difference is there, basically,
between denying the right of the state
to require unquestioning obedience of its
laws from all citizens and advocating class
(Negro) defiance of the law—as A. Philip
Randolph, Negro labor leader, has done?
If the ministers are concerned only with
the problem of conscientious objectors,
they need only read the draft law to
assure themselves that the rights of con
scientious objectors to military service will
be fully protected. Draft boards are au
thorized to defer such men, or to see that
they are assigned to nonmilitary duties.
To go beyond this liberal provision and
espouse the theory that any man has a
right to make up his own mind as to
obeying the draft or any other law is,
as one forthright church leader, Rev. Dr.
Daniel A. Poling, has said, to render the
Nation a “tragic disservice.” If this theory
were to prevail anarchy would replace
government by law.
Mr. Hoover s Birthday
At West Branch, Iowa, w-here he was
born, Herbert Hoover today will celebrate
the seventy-fourth anniversary of that
event. He is returning to his native heath
to repeat the doctrine of human .freedom
and responsibility which time and ex
perience have taught him. He is well
equipped for such a mission. He has lived
richly and w-idely, the world his field and
the problems of men his concern. He has
known suffering and happiness. His
career has included great achievements
and great disappointments. In these re
spects he has shared the destiny of his
contemporaries, old and young alike.
But Mr. Hoover has developed a more
prophetic insight than the majority of his
fellows. All of his recent speeches have
been projections. Something of the spirit
of the ancient Chinese sage Lao-Tse has
quickened them. Like the author of “The
Way,” he metaphorically has paused at
the gate to write a message for the people
tomorrow. He forecasts an age of mutu
ality and fellowship which shall be the
fruit of sympathies made broad by
enlightened intelligence.
Mr. Hoover often is called an “elder
statesman,” and he merits the title. Yet
his attitude is as youthful and ardent as
It was half century ago. He speaks with
a compelling confidence. The passing
decades have made him brave as well as
wise. At West Branch today his own na
tive folk will show their respect and affec
tion for him, and in that demonstration
they will represent the Nation.
Why Maryland Has a Surplus
It is with a sense of wonderment, mixed
with self-pity, that District taxpayers learn
that Marylanders are looking forward to
a State income tax reduction. While the
District government struggles with cur
tailed budgets and mounting deficits, our
neighboring State is raking in the tax
money so fast that a big surplus has ac
crued in the treasury. So Governor Lane
has proposed a cut in State-income levies
and State Controller James J. Lacy has
agreed that something ought to be done.
Governor Lane pointed out that the
1948 surplus of more than twenty million
dollars is about nine millions more than
had been expected. While a reasonable
surplus is a desirable thing, he said, the
State "should not require of its citizens
more than is essential to establish a modest
1 margin of safety.”
There must be a reason for Maryland's
extraordinary affluence. The answer pos
sibly may lie in the fact that the State
has completed a year’s experience with a
new revenue-getter, the much-maligned
•ales tax. During the first twelve months
■-1LM 3
I
of the new law the taxes on retail sales
produced approximately twenty-six mil
lion dollars of revenue. That is nearly
twice the proceeds of the State income
tax. It is almost half of the State’s total
income from all tax sources. Small won
der that old deficits have disappeared and
a large surplus has developed.
There should be a lesson in this some
where for Washington. The District of
Columbia will end this fiscal year with a
small deficit, even without paying the
higher salaries voted for other govern
mental employes. In the next fiscal year,
1949-50, a much larger deficit is in pros
pect. Maryland’s deficit-eliminating ex
perience wtih the sales tax, which has
been shared by other States, is another
argument for getting it started here.
Education and Miss Bentley
Leaving aside its spectacular dime-novel
aspects, the case of Miss Elizabeth T.
Bentley is at once interesting, significant
and more than a little disturbing as a
symptom of some basic malaise in our
educational system.
For this woman, this self-confessed
Communist espionage agent, has been, by
her own admission, a bad citizen of the
United States despite having had an
above-average opportunity to be a good
one. She went through our public schools.
She was graduated from Vassar College.
She received a master’s degree from Co
lumbia University. Why is it, then, that
she matured as she did? Why did she
fail as an American?
It would be both presumptuous and
hazardous for any one to give a cocksure
answer to the question. Miss Bentley
probably is a complex individual whose
thinking and personality have been shaped
over the years by influences too numerous
and too varied to permit an easy or simple
explanation of her conduct as a citizen.
Yet she herself has offered at least a
partial clue. Throughout the long period
of her education, she has testified, she
never at any time had a lesson in Amer
ican history or civics. Not in the public
schools. Not at Vassar. Not at Columbia.
If this were typical only of Miss Bentley’s
education, the fact could perhaps be dis
missed as extraordinary but not particu
larly important. As indicated in a recent
survey by The Star, however, the truth
seems to be that her experience in this
respect—her complete lack of training in
subjects vital to good citizenship—has been
shared, and is,still being shared, by great
numbers of others. Thus, fewer than 20
per cent of our colleges have compulsory
courses in American history. Although
every State but Colorado requires that it
be taught in either elementary or high
school, the average pupil receives only two
years of it, largely in the lower grades
when the mind is too young to study it
seriously or absorb its meaning. And
civics—which is supposed to instruct a
citizen not merely in his rights but in his
responsibilities as well—apparently fares
at least equally poorly. Indeed, here in
the District—and the same doubtless has
happened elsewhere—it has been dropped
altogether from four of our senior h’gh
schools because of a lack of student in
terest in it.
Enlarging upon ner own case with cour
ageous frankness, Miss Bentley has ob
served that she has been only one among
many people who “have not the slightest
comprehension of what America really is,
nor what tt means to live in a democratic
country.” The United States harbors a
great number of such characters. Most
of them are loyal in the sense that they
would not do the things Miss Bentley has
done, but they have no true awareness of
what our way of life is or of how sharply
and how blessedly it differs from the
tyranny of the totalitarians. They are
weak citizens for that reason, free men
and free women too undiscerning to ap
preciate the significance of their freedom
or to understand that their responsibilities
are at least as heavy as their rights and
that the liberty of this Nation will fall
apart if their woolly-minded and irrespon
sible attitude ever becomes dominant.
Not infrequently these people may be
articulate, but if they can be summed up
at all, they must be summed up as half
educated ideological illiterate^ and ignora
muses vulnerable to the winds of doctrine,
the “gimme” philosophy and the blandish
ments of men on horseback. It is too
much to say, of course, that if they had a
reasonable period of effective training
in American history, in civics, in the real
nature of totalitarianism, and perhaps
also in the kind of religion that the Su
preme Court has ruled from our schools,
they would be far better citizens than
they are. Nevertheless, it seems a fair
assumption that there would be some
improvement in them.
Here is a problem deserving the full
attention of all the intelligent parents and
educators of America. Our school system
needs looking into. There is something
wrong with it. It is not likely to yield as
good a product as it can if it lets a young
girl study how to bake cake or paint pic
tures at the expense of no study at all in
civics or if it lets a young boy ignore
history and concentrate on football and
botany. The repentant Miss Bentley has
been a moving and eloquent witness on
that score.
The Parsley Problem
An exhaustive. Nation-wide survey in
dicates that unless something is done in
the not distant future, all citizens must
expect to plow through a haycock of pars
ley before they can get at their meat,
potatoes and vegetables.
Research does not reveal who h^s the
responsibility for starting this fad. A man
can stand a reasonable amount of chop
ped chives on his spuds if the women folks
feel that food must be dressed up. But it
has reached a pretty pass when one has
to carry a pitchfork to the table in order
to toss aside the heap of wiry greenery.
Probably there is some efficacious use,
well disguised, of this European ammi
aceuus aromatic garden herb that has
burgeoned into ;uch popularity with the
ladies. In the Old World countries the
dried crushed leaves are used to add flavor
ing to stews and soups. Perhaps that is
a permissible employment for Petrose
linum hortense, although many prefer
their beef stews, lamb stews, fish chow
ders and bean soups without-it. Gilding
the lily is always an unprofitable use of j
time and energy. Maybe the parsley prob- I
/ f*\
lem is picayunish, trivial and inconse
quential, but when a man reaches a
certain age he develops definite opinions
about his food. And whether one’s opin
ions are correct or not has little to do
with the subject. Frankly held opinions,
irrespective of logic, are an essential
foundation of human happiness.
* Frick Gallery Decision
A justice of the Supreme Court of New
York has ruled that there is nothing in
the will of the late Henry-Clay Frick to
prevent the trustees of his gallery from
ar cepting gifts of pictures offered by other
persons. This means that it has been
decided, in effect, that the beautiful Frick
residence and its contents are a public
rather than a private institution. A-con
trary view had been taken by Miss Helen
Frick, daughter of the founder, who argued
that he desired to be known as “the sole
benefactor” and that accessions from out
side would represent “a dilution of the
family character of the collection.”
But the problem before the court was not
aimply the issue raised by Miss Frick’s
position. It was the question: Did Mr.
/’’rick exercise his right to forbid the
trustees to receive contributions to the
gallery? The judge’s answer was: “The
evidence affords no ground for interpo
lating into the will a restriction nowhere
suggested by it£ language.” Unless Miss
Frick elects to appeal to a higher tribunal,
it would sefem that the gifts proposed by
John D. Rockefeller^ junior—master works
by Botticelli, Fragonard, Chardin, Goya
and others—shortly may be reoffered.
They are valued at $1,700,000 and are of an
excellence entitling then) to be appreciated
anywhere.
It does not follow, however, that the
trustees of the Frick gallery are required
to take everything submitted to them.
Their obligation to protect the integrity of
the institution committed to their care
has been underscored by the decision. The
verdict of the court renders their responsi
bility more grave and compelling than it
was previously. They now are situated as
the curators of other public depositories
are, and they perforce will be obliged to
discriminate drastically against attempts
to supplement existing collections with
material not esthetically meritorious or
historically deserving of- display.
What a country! With the margin of
error the United States Treasury now
allows itself in an annual estimate, the
early republic could have financed itself
through eight Administrations.
Middle age is upon us! We can name
the entire nine that included Tinker and
Evers apd Chance, and couldn’t identify
today’s Chicago Cubs with an official score
card.
Whatever its identity, the wingless celes
tial object spouting 40-foot flames is def
initely not Henry Wallace. On the word
of his less restrained admirers, Henry has
wings. _
Quite a problem, our youth, who are too
old for school and not yet reconciled to'
the fact that an occupational hazard of
work is work.
This and That
By Charles E. Tracewell
“BETHESDA, Md.
“Dear sir:
“I was thinking the other day about going ■
away for a few weeks, as most people do, but
then I remembered all the heat and the sticki
ness and the thirst of travel and the soggy
towels and the crowds
“So I decided to stay home.
“What interested me, and I think it will you
and your readers, was that I found a substitute
for taking a formal vacation right here at
home. *
“I mean down in the Zoo park..
“I went down there every morning, remained
all day and came home in the evening.
‘‘I got plenty of fresh air, suntan and exer
cise, and yet was able to sleep in my own nice
clean bed every evening.
“I had two weeks of this, two fine weeks, in
which I managed to become acquainted with
several hundred beautiful living things, some
in fur, some in feathers, at the same time I
was able to renew my acquaintance with hu
manity in the raw.
“I sometimes think we become too used to
each other in an office. That is one of the
good reasons for taking a vacation, any vaca
tion. At an office we become habitual grouches
or something. We forget that there are all
kinds of people, and that those we work with
are pretty good, after all.
“A vacation in the Zoo, with hustling crowds
of strangers, now and then, as one comes up
out of the shady places, will do any one good,
ana just as much good, I am sure, as the same
crowds at Atlantic City, let us say.
"There are miles of nice walks, the Rock
Creek to wander by, or even cross on stones
at one place, if you don’t mind falling in, as
I did.
“All in all, I had a nice vacation, and it
didn’t cost me hardly anything, and I enjoyed
it, and got just as good a tan as any one else,
and anyway I see by the article in the Saturday
Evening Post that suntan is a danger after all.
“Maybe I missed something, by not going
away, but when I think of my nice bed, and
good clean food, and my books, and friends
when I wanted them, I am sure that my vaca
tion down with the animals was as good as
any. “Very truly yours S. D. I.”
ik * * *
There are scores ol "at home" vacations one
may enjoy in and around Washington.
Those with cars can take in any number of
historical places.
When history is combined with an ice cream
cone, as it were, in this happy manner, some
how it brings the past quite up to date.
As for the benefits or dangers of suntan,
mentioned by our correspondent, this must be
left to the individual. t
Many determined persons who have tried it,
and achieved it, stiU are determined that they
have had enough of it.
In the city, at least, suntanning is too sticky.
To perch in the summer sun with no breeze
blowing takes real fortitude.
And every one past 50, shall we say, knows
that a smooth, even tan—note the accent on
even—is almost an impossibility, no matter
how hard one tries.
The skin of youth is lacking.
Young skins tan smoothly and evenly, but the
older one becomes somewhat blotched. And
each succeeding summer, it becomes just a
little bit more blotched, so that in the bitter
end one resembles these hardy old golfers who
go around with gnarled, blotched hands stretch
ing uncertainly after futurity.
The National Zoological Park is a very fine
place to spend a vacation. By taking it easy,
and not getting into the sun too much, despite
the vogue, one will do as our reader says, have
fun and entertainment, and buiW up his ac
quaintance with many interesting two and four
legged creatures.
As man comes “to the end <rf his tether,” as
H. G. Wells put it in his last days, he does
well to renew his friendship with the birds and
the beasts, who somehow have managed to keep
themselves free, even when imprisoned, of the
ruling sin of envy which besets mankind.
The old wart hog would kill you, if he could;
he knows no better, but he is not jealous of you
because you happen to earn (5 more a day than
he does, or manage to get off a few minutes
earlier than he.
r-'
t
Letters to The Star
He Finds Friends in Washington
To the Editor ol The Star: ,
Last year when I thought I was leaving
Washington I wrote you a letter commenting
on the friendliness of Washington people. Re
turning to Maryland University and Washing
ton, I now have spent another year among
these same friendly people. My opinion is
unchanged. They still are the most cosmo
politan and kindly people that I ever have
lived among. I will always remember the
clean streets, the efficient traffic regulations,
the wonderful stores with such a variety of
merchandise, but the heart of the city that
makes all this possible is its people. It has
been a privilege to have lived in the Nation’s
Capital and every American should be proud of
Washington.
Once again I bid you: Hail and farewell.
EITHEL G. YOUNG,
Disabled Veteran.
Meatless Days in Institutions
To the Editor of The St»r:
Altruism and a sense of fairness force criti
cism of high District officials for ordering
meatless days for helpless inmates of District
institutions.
•Aside from penal institutions, these people
are helplessly confined by old age and other
physical disabilities through no fault of their
own. Why single th&n out to conserve meat
supplies?
On the ether hand, it is safe to assume that
these same high District officials, with fat
salaries, do not deny themselves Juicy steaks
and all other luxuries.
The action of these officials recalls to mind a
case in a Western community where a man
was urged to run for sheriff and upon being
told of the big profit to be had from feeding
prisoners confined in jail, remarked: “When I
have to rob the stomachs of helpless persons
confined in jail in order to make money, I
don't want the job.’’ G. S. La MOTTE.
Koenigsberg the City
To the Editor of The Star:
A letter of W. F. Wilmoth in your issue of
July 30 shows him much muddled over one of
the secret agreements at the Yalta Conference
or trying to distort it for partisan purposes.
The concession to Russia noted in the State
Department Report he quotes plainly refers
to the Important city of Koenigsberg in East
Prussia, apparently unknown to him, and not
to the hamlet of the same name on or near
the river Oder, much nearer Berlin, as he as
sumes. Hence there is nothing in that report
or elsewhere to warrant his further assump
tion that the concession noted also put a
limit to the zone of Russian occupation in
Germany.
In an atlas before me both places are named
Konigsberg without the dots over the “o” or
umlaut, for which we commonly substitute a<«
“e The German word "konig” with the um
laut, is the equivalent of the English word
"king”. Hence anglicizing the place names
would give us "Kingston”.
WALTER N. CAMPBELL.
No Success Anywhere
To the Editor of The Star:
Why is it that President Truman can't win?
When he attempts to strike up a friendship
with the Russians, he is a communistic sup
porter. But then if he doesn’t do just as the
Russians want us to, he is called a “war
hawk.”
President Truman just can’t win for losing.
DANIEL N. COTE.
Advocates Clean Sweep Party
To the Editor of The Star.
I think it is high time for the American
people to start a fourtlP party for President.
It is most disgraceful to read the news on
communism. Our officials have stood by and
let communism enter our Government. Some
one is to blame.
To hold a key position one should be thor
oughly investigated. Where have our Congress
men been? We have the Republican, Demo
cratic and Progressive parties. The fourth
party should be called Clean Sweep Party.
That would mean to make a clean sweep of all
our communistic public officials and, from the
news, we have many. There is a Communist
named Foster. We let him get up in public
and call our President a brazen liar. I wonder
how many of our Congressmen are not at
least Pink, if not actually Red? Why are they
allowed to make our laws when at heart they
are tearing our country in two?
Is our Congress for the American people or
for the Reds? Foster is out on bond. Why is
he still allowed to make public speeches in
favor of communism? Because of free speech.
I guess. Well, free speech shouldn’t be given
to such persons.
The Hollywood stars were under questioning.
What happened? Nothing. All of this is cost
ing the taxpayers much money. Let’s have a
Clean Sweep party and sweep out all the dirt.
MRS. BESSIE WARD.
Is This “The Wrong Angle”?
To the Editor o£ The 8tar.
Have I got the wrong angle on the current
Congressional investigation into Communist
activities in this country or is the following the
best method of becoming a "courageous'’ Ameri
can citzen?
Oh, be a Communist by all means! Then be
come a spy and work like a dog to obtain con
fidential data from contacts in the government.
Turn the data over to the Cofhmunist Party
headquarters, which in turn sends it over to
the Soviet. In other words, sell your country
down the river. But have no fear of arrest as
as a spy! Don’t let your conscience trouble you,
either! For this is the way to avoid arrest by
Uncle Sam:
Believing that you’ve obtained and relayed
the maximum data, or possibly tiring of the
hard work involved, or becoming fearful of
your Communist masters, then just run hap
pily down to the FBI, declare under oath that
you were naughty in that you had sold your
country out, that you are no longer a Commu
nist, that you are awfully sorry about the whole
business really, and that you know lots and lots
about a lot of U. S. Communists that you are
simply aching to tell!
That ties it! You then are given wonderful
publicity at the Congressional hearings by your
telling all in a naive and childlike way. And
what happens? Why, several of the Committee
members will “commend” you for your "cour
age” in telling your story to the FBI and now
to the Congressional groups And not only that,
dear Communist, but the taxpayers will furnish
a brace of gendarmerie to protect you from any
harm that Communist Party heads may seek to
do to you in reprisal. That’s what an old dear
Congress is, bless its sentimental heart!
See how smart Miss Bentley is? And Mr.
Budenz isn’t dull either. And speaking of
“danger” due to Communist reprisals, Mr. Bu
denz has lectured around the country publicly
telling about how he too had been a naughty
Communist and about all the dreadful things
he did, but that he ain’t a Communist any more,
boys. He apparently did not even need one
constable to protect him from reprisals during
his lectures, for he is among us in his whole
hide, with no signs of wounds.
Do you remember a few months back when
those Hollywood characters, testifying before a
Congressional investigating committee, were
asked: “Are you a member of the Communist
Party?” What did they reply? Why, they
I
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.
neither admitted nor denied that they were.
And so what happened to them? They were
indicted, etc., and publicly disgraced for such
wilful talk before the Congressional committee.
Silly, wem’t they? What they should have
done was to admit everything in a naive, child
like way. Better still, they should have rushed
East and pounded on the FBI’s door before the
investigation started and become potential
heroes, like Miss Bentley and Mr. Budenz are
now.
Does anyone wish to bet that from here on
out, all Communists will follow this safe and
sane method of saving their skins from long
prison terms or, in time of war, death? Why,
it’s a cinch! In this manner all past sins of
treason against our country will be forgiven and
forgotten! Bring on our new heroes—the Com
munists and former Communists—and let us
do them honor!
Have I got the wrong angle? Or am I just
being my usual cynical self?
DORIS CONLYN.
Controlling Unionism
To the Editor of The Star.
We hear much of inflation, but we hear
very little about the root causes of the infla
tion we now are experiencing. All the pro
posed cures are superficial and will have very
little effect on high prices. As 1 see it, the
inflationary trend started in 1937 with unioni
zation of industry by the CIO and the conse
quent increase in industrial wages.
Since inflation began with uncontrolled
unionism, the remedy must begin with con
trolling unionism. Organized labor today is
receiving far more than its equitable share of
the national income. Either the relative wages
of organized labor must be rolled back to the
1937 level, or the relative wages of unorganized
labor, which means the white-collar workers
as well, should be brought up to the level
of 1937.
It must be remembered that as wages and
buying power of the organized group goes
up, the buying power of the unorganized group
goes down. The gain of one group is the Iosj
of another group, unless the gain is accom
panied by a corresponding increase in pro
duction. Without such an increase in produc
tion the organized group gains the advantage
over the unorganized.
Should some one suggest the complete or
ganization of all groups, certainly that would
not solve the problem but aggravate it. For
one thing, the country then would be com
pletely dominated by the labor leaders; and
secondly, the various organized groups would
begin fighting each other to gain, economic
advantage; and since the country would be
unionized completely we would have not merely
labor strife, but civil war.
We are headed toward civil war anyway
unless every group is made to realize its re
sponsibility to all other groups. If organized
labor continues selfishly to strive to gain
the advantage over the unorganized, the time
will come, perhaps soon, when the country as
a whole will rise in its wrath and suppress all
labor unions. Then there will be bloodshed.
Strikes must be outlawed, and all disputes
handled by judicial processes where all parties
will receive Justice. Wages must be adjusted
so that all groups will be paid in accordance
with a recognized equitable prewar standard.
With strikes and their economic waste elimi
nated, and all groups paid an equitable wage,
prices will tend to adjust themselves to a
normal level. Lastly, Government spending
with its attendant drain upon the income of
the people, must be sharply curtailed.
I know that the readjustments will be pain
ful, but that would be far more preferable
than the agony that would accompany another
depression with unpredictable disasters in its
wake. We are now standing at the crossroads.
Which way will we take?
SAMUEL R. BAUER,
St. Marys City, Md.
Wants Negro Athletes Identified
To the Editor of The Star.
Certain sections of the American press still
designate the racial association of criminals but
seldom identify by race thc*e who add to our
prestige or culture. Too many Americans are
ignorant of the fact that dozens of our Olympic
athletes are colored boys and girls. Mai Whit
field, Ewell, Dillard, La Beach, McKenley,
Windt. Steele, Wright, Bolen and others are col
ored boys. Nine of the eleven track and field
girls representing the United States are colored.
Seven of the 16 boxers gnd the hope of our
Nation in the weight-lifting contests also are
colored Americans. Barksdale, probably the
highest point getter on the basket ball team,
is of the same group. Only in the “aristocratic”
sports of swimming, tennis, golf and bowling,
where as yet the barriers stiE are insurmount
able, have the Negro athletes failed to show
their strength and ability.
It is interesting to,note how sports an
nouncers fail to identify the great galaxy of
football players on college and pro teams during
the fall seasons. Once it was customary to
mention the play of a “giant” Negro, when
often a dozen other players topped him in
weight. Today the South does not recognize
Dericotte, Ford, Motley, Mann, Tunneli, and
a host of other Negroes. Of course, it is not
necessary over the years U/ fail to know Joe
Louis, Ezzard Charles, Walcott, Armstrong, Ray
Robinson, Jackie Robinson, Campanula, Doby
et al. Is this due to network policy that does
not want to disturb the theory of the racists
that there are innately inferior and superior
racial groups?
But if a Negro commits a crime some sections
of the press never fall to tag on his racial
identity. Meanwhile, how many Americans
know that Count Bemadotte’s right hand man
is Ralph Bunch of our own city, who is recog
nized as the State Department’s expert on
mandates?
Why not give credit to the numerous artists,
athletes and Negro intelligentsia who are adding
luster to the American scene?
E. B. HENDERSON.
Arab Refugees
To the Editor of The Star:
Being thoroughly disgusted with your pro
Arab editorials which are supposedly im
partial, I would like to inform you of a few
facts which cosae to my mind because they ob
viously slipped yours, concerning the item in
The Star of August 7 entitled "Arab DP’s in
Palestine.”
(1) The plight of the Arab refugees has
arisen due to the invasion of Israel by neigh
oorlng Arab armies.
(2> These armies have invaded Israel "to
protect and save” their brothers. They should
welcome these refugees in their own lands with
open arms.
(3> There is a problem of DPs in Europe
which is at least as tragic as the Arab DP
problem
(4) if the Arab DPs are returned to Israel,
there is the problem of the fifth column be
tiind the Jewish lines.
(5) Mr. Bevin of England, who is the lore
most advocate of returning the Arab DPs to
Israel, thought little of closing the gates of
Palestine to Jewish refugees during the war,
thereby «t»»ing the death of millions at the
h«n<« of the Nazis. J08EPH N. SWITKES.
1
The Political Mill
Truman's Strategy Faces
Major Obstacle—Dewey
New Yorker Has Proved Ability
^ While President Has Not
By Gould Lincoln
President Truman’s campaign strategy—to
run against the Eightieth Congress and its
record—faces one great obstacle, GOv. Thomas
E. Dewey of New York. All the probabilities
point to Mr. Truman’s finding It Impossible
to duck the idea he is a candidate for the
presidency against the man who has proved
himself an excellent administrator of the
Government of the Union’s most heavily popu
lated State, with approximately one-tenth
of the population of the country, while Mr.
Truman has been at best an indifferent ad
ministrator of the affairs of the Nation.
Nor does the Republican candidate for
President intend for one moment to allow Mr.
Truman to get away with attacks on the Con
gress, many of whose acts he has approved.
In the end, however, it is Mr. Dewey and'his
own program for the next four years which
will become the dominant issues in his race
with Mr. Truman.
Effective Campaigner.
Gov. Dewey Is a hard and effective cam
paigner. His most recent demonstration of
campaigning ability happened not long before
the Republican National Convention which
nominated him for President. He went into
Oregon for an intensive two weeks campaign
ing against Harold E. Stassen. former Gov
ernor of Minnesota and now president of the
University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Stassen, a
good campaigner himself, had been in the
State many times during the past yearv and
was an odds-on favorite to carry the presi
dential preferental primary. By his own ef
forts, Gov. Dewey upset the Stassen apple
cart. More particularly he trounced Mr.
Stassen in a much publicized debate, another
indication of what he may be expected to do
to Mr. Truman when they begin to exchange
punches.
Outside of his acceptance speech, delivered
the night he was nominated for President at
the Philadelphia convention, Gov. Dewey has
made no major public address since he became
the Republican standard bearer.- He has a
wide field to cover and his close associates
say he has many constructive proposals to lay
before the voters. The New Yorker, too, has
never lost the hard-hitting technique which
he developed when he was the country’s white
hope, busting rackets in New York and jailing
corrupt politicians as well as racketeers.
It is the man who gets things done who
counts with the American voters. The Truman
administration, domestically, has accomplished
little. Even on the foreign front it has been
open to criticism. At home it has done so
little that, when the Democrats met in na
tional convention last month, only the fact
that the anti-Truman Democrats were unable
to find a suitable candidate saved Mr. Tru
man's political hide.
Has Made His Play.
Mr. Truman has made his play—his call for
a special session of Congress. The Congress
gave him some increased powers to fight
inflation and high prices. It did not five
him power to ration or to fix prices of com
modities. The Congress has gone, and Mr.
Truman is left to hammer at its—in his mind
iniquities until next November.
The President’s effort to pin the present
high cost of living on the Republican Congress
is a slender reed to lean upon. The cost of
living steadily increased under both the
Roosevelt and Truman administrations during
and after the war. Further, it was a Demo
cratic Congress, the Seventy-ninth, which
declined to re-enact the war-time price control
laws which Truman asked for in peacetime,
not the Republican Congress.
It was Mr. Truman himself who caused the
first jump in prices when he vetoed the bill
the Seventy-ninth Congress did pass, dealing
with prices. And it was Mr. Truman who
lifted meat and other controls in a political
panic in 1948, before the Congressional elec
tions that year.
Questions and Answers
A reader can tet the answer to any question of
fact by writing The Evening Star Information
Bureau, 31fi Eye etreet N.E, Washington 2. D. C.
Please Inclose three (3) cents for return postage.
By THE HASKIN SERVICE.
Q. Was General Custer burled on the field.
of battle where lie died?»-B. L. S.
A. All who fell at the Battle of Little Big
Horn (1876) were buried on the battlefield.
General Custer’s body, although at first interred
there, was later removed to the United States
burial ground at West Point.
Q. How many houses actually served as
Washington’s headquarters during and after
the Revolutionary War?—R. B. O.
A. There are about 17 houses now standing
that are known to have served as headquarters
for George Washington. They are preserved
by Federal or State governments or by patriotic
organizations.
Q. Where was Miss Hennock, the new woman
member of the Federal Communications Com
mission, born?—D. L. S.
A. Miss Frieda B. Hennock was born at
Kobel, Poland, and came to the tfnited States
with her parents when she was six years old.
She is the first woman member of the Federal
Communications Commission. Prior to her ap
pointment she was a member of the third oldest
law firm in the United States.
Q. What is the greatest height above the
earth’s surface to which air extends?—M. R.
A. Scientists assume that some rarefied air
exists at a height of 250 miles.
Q. What is a simple way to remove a cinder
from the eye?—P. P.
A. One way to remove a cinder is to keep
the eye shut for about 10 seconds. The flow of
tears that comes when the eye is opened usually
dislodges the cinder.
Q, Where did Rebecca West, the British
writer, get her pen-name?—C. O.
A. Rebecca West, whose real name is Cecily
Isabel Fairfield, owes her pseudonym lo the
fact that she was on the stage for a time. She
took the name “Rebecca West" from Itecn'a
drama “Rosmersholm.”
Q. What is the accepted definition of the
term “liberty"?—W. J. C.
A. There is, probably, no complete and satis
factory definition of the word. However, in a
Supreme Court opinion (Allgeyer vs. Louisiana,
165 U. S. 578, 1897) liberty was described as
follows: Not only the right of the citizen to
be free from mere physical restraint of his
person, as by incarceration, but the term is
deemed to embrace the right of the citizen to
be free in the enjoyment of all his faculties;
to be free to use them in all lawful ways: to
live and work where he will; to earn his liveli
hood by any lawful calling; to pursue any
livelihood or avocation,"._
Face of August
Nothing is altered, nothing different,
No hint of tarnish dims the gold,
And days burn brighter, dusks blow bluer
As fragrant days and dusks unfold.
' Never across earth’s glowing green
Blows anything not blown before:
Today is yesterday extended—
Nothing is less and nothing more.
But somewhere behind the yellow bloom
And waving grasses of the grange
Somewhere, unseen, but ready, waiting.
At long range blows the wind of change.
ETHEL BARNETT de VITO.
* ft
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