Evening star. [volume], August 18, 1948, Page A-12, Image 12

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
^Elje inciting
With Sunday Mornino Edition.
_WASH I N G T O N. D. C.
Published by
Tht Evening Star Newspaper Company.
FRANK B. NOYES, Chairman of the Beard.
FLEMING NEWBOLP, President,
j __B, M. McKELWAY, Editor.
MAIN OFFICE: 11th St. one Pennsylvania Ave.
NEW YORK OFFICE: 1 TO East 42d St.
CHICAGO OFFICE: 435 North Michigan Ave.
Delivered by Carrier—Metropolitan Area.
Dally and Sunday Dally Only Sunday Only
Monthly _„1.20* Monthly ...90c 10c per copy
Weekly 30c Weekly . . .20c 10c per copy
•10c additional whei 5 Sundays are in a month.
Also 10c additional vor Night Final Edition in those
sections where delivery ts made.
Rates by Mail—Payable in Advance.
Anywhere in United States.
Evening and Sunday Evening Sunday
1 month .. 1.50 1 month 90c 1 month 60c
6 months.. 7.50 6 months . 5.00 6 months 3.00
1 year ...15.00 1 year 10 00 1 year 6.00
Telephone STerling 5000
Entered at the Post Office, Washington, D. C.,
as second-class mail matter.
Member of the Associated Press.
The Associated Press Is entitled exclusively to the use
for republication of all the local news printed in this
newspaper, as well as all A. P news dispatches.
A—12 WEDNESDAY, August 18, 1948
The Government's Bad Example
Draft Director Leahy’s plan for register
ing prospective draftees at their places of
employment is such a good one that it
Is difficult to understand why Federal
officials have turned thumbs down on the
proposal. One would think that the Gov
ernment would be the first to co-operate
In any program for easing the impact
of the seventeen-day registration on the
community. Instead, the anomalous pic
ture is presented of a hearty response by
some of Washington’s larger businesses
and Institutions, and by the District gov
ernment, while the Federal departments
stand aloof. '
Under the plan announced by the Dis
trict selective service director, employes
of private commercial and other organi
zations will be permitted to sign up for
the draft right where they work. This
arrangement will have the dual advan
tage of reducing interference with indus
try and lightening the task of registering
men at regular registration stations In
the schools. The spreading of registra
tion over so many days, as required under
the age provision of the new draft law,
will be a burden on all concerned, at best.
This time the whole business cannot be
finished in one day, as in the past. It is
advisable, therefore, that the task be
simplified as much as possible, both for
the convenience of the registrants, of their
employers and of the draft boards.
The question of Federal participation in
the register-where-you-work plan was
voted down by personnel officials of the
various departments, for reasons not ex
plained. The vote was contrary to recom
mendations made by the personnel
director of the National Military Estab
lishment and by the Veterans’ Committee
of the Federal Personnel Council. It will
be too bad If this rejection by depart
mental personnel officials is accepted by
the President as final. The Government
should lead the -way in making the regis
tration less complicated for everybody.
A Deserved Tribute
It is an extraordinary occasion when
baseball writers are impelled unanimously
to organize a celebration in honor of one
of the celebrities they have written about
—not always with kindness. Such an
event occurred at Griffith Stadium last
night, when writers, players and fans, In-,
eluding the Nation’s number one baseball
enthusiast, President Truman, paid a
heart-warming tribute to the veteran
owner of the Nationals, Clark Griffith.
The idea which prompted the local
chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Associa
tion to promote the observance was a
sound one. Why wait until a man has
died to honor him? Why not let him know
that he is appreciated while h.e can enjoy
the knowledge? So it was fittingly ar
ranged to celebrate “Clark Griffith Night,”
With most of Washington’s baseball old
timers and many league officials joining
In the demonstration.
That such a celebration was possible,
despite the lean years of the local team
since its capture of the 1924 and 1933 pen
nants, Is all the more remarkable. This
was recognition in overflowing measure
of the earnest efforts of the “Old Fox” to
give Washington fans, year after year,
good baseball, good entertainment and
good sportsmanship. It was recognition,
in addition, of the generosity, civic pride
and exemplary citizenship of the Wash
ington club’s president. The City of
Washington and the world of baseball have
good reason to pay their respects to Mr.
Griffith.
The Rare Romantic Spirits
Out in the State oT Washington right
now, four mountaineers, filled with local
pride and a high purpose, are trying to
convert Mount Rainier from the fourth
Into the second tallest peak in the land
by building a 24-foot cairn on top of it.
An unimaginative National Park official
has driven them back, but they still hope
to get up there and do the job. Then,
their work finished, they will descend
glowing with that sense of satisfaction
and delight that cai^ be derived only from
a genuine tabor of love.
Meanwhile, somewhere amid the heaving
waves of the Atlantic, an _adventurous
couple—an Australian major named Ben
jamin Carlin and his American-born wife
—are bouncing around in a 17-foot “duck”
on the first stage of a projected six-month
honeymoon journey in which they hope
to circle the globe. Their plan is to cover
the whole distance—more than 25,000 miles
—solely with the aid of their wrobbly little
amphibian craft, which travels 4‘/2 miles
an hour in water and 20 to 30 miles an
hour on land. One of their incidental
objectives, entirely apart from the desire
to see the world, is to stop off in India
to collect some Army pay still due the
major.
The Carlins and the mountain-climbers
quite obviously have a lot in common.
They have removed themselves from the
ordinary, humdrum living of the world.
They have challenged nature and gone
out looking for risks. They have deviated
• from the norm. They have refused—
especially the Carlins—to be like the rest
of us stick-in-the-muds. They have
chosen to rough it, to seek recreation the
I
hard way, to find pleasure in the teeth
of the wand and the tumult of the sea, to
make a game of derring-do, to be less
than conventionally sensible* and in gen
eral to be different in the sense of doing
relatively eccentric things in out-of-the
way places for the sake of enjoying per
sonal adventure in an age of nonindivid
ualistic, overorganized, commercialized
play.
Here is proof positive that romantic
spirits, though rare, are still present
among us. They are glamorous and re
freshing to behold, and all timid, routine
ridden souls must hail them, grudgingly
or not. Any one who sets out to make
mountains taller or to go around the
world in a “duck,” has a certain fabulous
charm. If only because they lend a bit
of bright whimsy to life, such people are
a kind of blessing leavening the dreary
diet of current news. More power to them!
A State or a Penitentiary?
Soviet Consul General Lomakin’s latest
statement on Mrs. Oksana Kosenkina is
an almost unbelievably crude and obvious
fabrication, like the story a wayward little
boy might invent in an effort to prove to
his knowing elders that some mischievous
incident involving him never really hap
pened.
Mrs. Kosenkina, according to Mr. Loma
kin, was being tenderly cared for in the
consulate after her “liberation” from the
“horrors” imposed upon her by “kidnapers”
from the “White Guard” anti-Communist
Tolstoy Foundation. But then she heard
our radio broadcasts and read our news
storieS about “threats-of the United States
police and court” against her, and she saw
a crowd of Americans on the street out
side. This gave her a nervous breakdown.
She figured that the “fiends” were coming
to get her again and frustrate her dearest
wish by preventing her from returning to
her beloved Russia. So, driven “in her
despair to the attempt of suicide,” she
Jumped from her third-floor window.
The facts of the case are, of course, too
well known in this country, and in all
other free countries, to need reviewing.
Mr. Lomakin's lurid version is such a self
- evident and puerile butchery of the truth
that it will be openly laughed to scorn in
every land this side the Iron Curtain.
But let us not single him out for ridicule
or angry attack as an individual. Actually,
as is shown by our official records of recent
Russian radio broadcasts and press re
ports, his story is precisely in line with
the propaganda barrage let loose by the
Kremlin ever since Mrs. Kosenkina and
her fellow Russian teacher. Mihail Sama
rine, embarrassed the Stalin tyranny by
choosing liberty and refusing to go back
home.
The barrage—as addressed to the Rus
sian people and the peoples of the satellite
states—has been nothing less than a high
fevered, half-hysterical and near-desper
ate effort to black out the true story of
what happened, to suppress the slightest
impression that anybody would ever want
to escape from the Marx-Lenin-Stalin
“utopia,” and to make it appear, as in a
recent Moscow broadcast, that “White
Guard gangster” groups, “encouraged by
the American authorities, endanger the
interests, security and very life of Soviet
citizens residing in the United States.” In
other words, the great mass of humanity
behind the Iron Curtain is being fed a
diet of falsehoods whose nature serves as
the best possible argument in favor of the
new and more militant policy beingf de-\
veloped by our counterattacking “Voice of
America.
But the significance of all this runs much
deeper than mere propaganda and counter
propaganda. What we see here is the
clear suggestion of a great basic weakness
in the Soviet system. The Kremlin dicta
torship is afraid of truth. Hence the
distortions, the misrepresentations, the
colossal lies, the secret police, the terror
ism, the censorship, the wall against free- ,
dom of travel and information, the fear
of light coming in to play upon the dark
ness, the ridiculous cavortings of the
Liomakins to make black seem white and
white black, and the over-all, never-ending,
almost psychopathic drive of the Polit
buro’s members to glorify themselves and
their tyranny while viciously libeling
America and the whole democratic West.
Yet there are still the Kosenkinas and
the Samarines. Any one who has read
Victor Kravchenko’s “I Chose Freedom”
or seen ‘‘Behind the Iron Curtain,” the
movie telling the story of Igor Gouzenko
and the Canadian spy ring (both book
and movie are now receiving wide atten
tion in non-Soviet Europe) will under
stand why it is that these people have
acted as they have. Only a few of them—
like Mrs. Kosenkina or the Olympic stars
from such satellite lands as Hungary or
the Russian girl given refuge in Sweden—
makevthe headlines, but there are great
numbers of them, thousands and thou
sands of them, who have emulated Krav
chenko's example, and there must be
millions more who would do the same
thing if they had the chance. For the
taste of freedom is sweet. Having once
experienced it, the oppressed begin to
regard the Soviet Empire more as a peni
tentiary than a native land, and they do
not want to go back.
It is not surprising therefore that the
Kremlin’s home-front propaganda is what
it is, There is evidence of an uneasy
jailer’s fear in it—fear that the masses
will one day wake up and either break
their, chains or refuse to defend their
tyrants in a crisis. The situation makes
one wonder whether the Politburo is quite
sane when it pursues policies provocative
enough to raise the possibility of war
with the free West.
‘‘The trade reports a shortage of wom
en's dresses in the larger sizes.” You
mean those numbers worn by the chic
ninety-pound high-school miss?
Chevy Chase Library
The Star takes pride in the return of the
Chevy Chase Branch of the District Public
Library to the E. V. Brown School Building
where it started twenty-eight years ago.
It had something to do with the com
munity campaign to make the structure
at Connecticut avenue and McKinley street
a recreation center. The need for such an
establishment had been demonstrated
repeatedly, but further effort was required,
and this newspaper was glad to help. It
also is happy to emphasize the fact that
the work of the center will grow and have
ft ')
s'
value In the ratio of neighborhood In
terest in it. Furnishings and other equip
ment are being presented by citizens of the
area. To provide all that is wanted, will
demand generosity on the part of niany
people.
Yet it is not easy to imagine an objective
more attractive. The moment the dooqp of
the library in the south wing of the cell ter
were opened Monday young patrons ^ap
peared in quest of books. Qrown-up ref
ers also came to the library in searclf of
material on a lengthy list of specialjked
subjects. Thus from the beginning |he
new branch, back at its original stanch is
an institution of service. „ *
Miss Jane Page, librarian in charge, told
a Star reporter that she was particularly
pleased with the availability of room “to
grow.” Seventeen thousand books, she
said, are a lot of books, but more will be
needed if the whole potential borrowing
public in Chevy Chase is to be accomipo
dated. The same general principle applies
to the entire center. It will serve to the
degree that it is used and supported.
Raking After
Today young men cut figures over ihe^
fields with sleek-lined tractors. Roaring'
power whisks side-delivery rakes, hay
loaders and balers. Farmers are experi
menting with grass silage, and perhaps
old-fashioned haying will take a niche in
the hall of memory along with buffalo
robes, six-quart ice cream freezers and
corn-husk mattresses.
In the days when molasses came in a
barrel and Lazy Susans sat on red and
white checked table cloths, a twelve-year -
older had to pull the bullrake on hot sum
mer afternoons. As the hired man pitched
on and father built the k>ad, the lad’s job
was to rake up the scatterings. A bull
rake was a cantankerous tool. The rake
itself was six feet wide; its pointed wooden
teeth were a foot long. The curving handle
reached forward and theoretically a fellow
could keep his bare heels out of the way.
But the teeth kept catching on hummocks;
a sharp pull meant disaster unless one
leaped forward at precisely the right
Instant.
If black clouds billowed up and the men
put on pressure, a future farmer was put
to it. Father was particular about clean
ing up all the scatterings. By the time
six or eight loads had been rushed to the
barn life seemed as black as the burgeon
ing thunderheads. The only reason a yopng
man survived such an ordeal was the
thought of the swimming hole beneath the
willows. Mature men with long memories
were not surprised to see an utterly ex
hausted boy dash exuberantly across the
.meadow, pause an instant to pull off his
overalls and disappear from the bank.
Regarding our differences with “the
British over some millions of tons of
scrap iron in Berlin, details are none too
clear. Weren’t the late Goering’s medals
evenly divided?
This and That '
By Charles E. Tracewell
“BETHESDA, Md.
‘‘Dear Sir:
•Recently one of your correspondents was
telling about sparrows in their role of de
vourers of the Japanese beetles.
“The other day I chanced to observe a
regular dinner of winged folks on Jap beetles
as the main dish.
“Perhaps it is best to tell the story as I
recorded it in my nature notes. It is a good
thing to keep notes of one s observations, and
if possible to write them when one's observa-.
tions are still fresh.
“Here is my report, made at the time:
Nature's own feeding station was provided by
a nut tree eaten half bare by a legion of
beetles. Half a dozen birds were feeding on
this easy dish. All were peaceful. Food was
plentiful and there was no need for a fight.
The most beautiful guest was a black-and
white warbler. The other guests were a
chickadee, a flicker, and some kind of green
and yellow, warbler, possibly a yellow-breasted
chat.
“Animals are fond of the beetles. A friend
told me she had seen gray squirrels consuming
beetles in quantities. One of them sat in a
tree. He would shake a branch, the beetles
would fall to the ground, and two other squir
rels would finish them.
“Birds know their way in fruit orchards, too.
In this time of year, when even humans may
enjoy wild cherries, these fruits offer a full
dinner pail to many a bird. This morning I
saw many of them fluttering about the droop
ing branches. A bending 'branch, loaded with
red or black cherries, is a perfect, inspiring
model for an artist.
“If all people on earth loved birds and na
ture in general, this globe would be far more
peaceful. *
“I remember to have seen your column
when I came to Washington 20 years ago.
And here you are still giving this healthy and
happy reading matter day after day. Many
people in my neighborhood seem to know
about it and some of my colleagues in the
Library of Congress, where I work.
"Sincerely yours, T. W. 6.”
¥ ¥ ¥ ¥
Birds and beasts fight a losing battle against
the Japanese beetles.
We noticed in a news dispatch the other
day that certain American insects, inimical to
crops, had been found in Poland.
Such transplantation occurs naturally fti the
days of the airplane.
Soon all the plant diseases will be carried
to every nation, and also the insect pests.
Perhaps this is as it should be. Then scien
tists of all countries, in a truly international
effort, will work together to protect mankind
from its true enemies.
Too often meh use the word “enemy”
wrongly.
There even are misguided persons who apply
it to members of other political parties, iShough
these are true Americans, like themselves.
It unfortunately is a growing tendency for
some of these persons to speak of the Repub
lican Party, for instance, as the “enemy.”
Such persons had better reserve the wordj for
their real enemies.
Insects constitute a true enemy of all nian
kind.
For many years scientists who work frith
such living things have been telling us that
unless we are determined to offset them, Sthe
insects will inherit the earth. t
Between these enemies, and the unfortunate
facts of erosion, mankind faces a dilemmal
The worst feature of it is that the average
person has no way of estimating it. He sees
a few “bugs,” as he calls them, and never stfps
to think that there are millions and millions
more of them, and that the larger our food
crops, the more there is for insects to eat, m°.
Rats devour countless millions of dollirs
worth of food annually. Erosion, insects aid
rats are responsible for losses almost incredi
ble. Most of us can do little about soil erosion,
but all of us can help in the fight against rats
and insects.
This great battle has two sides to it, #ie
personal and the impersonal. We bastlc
against the enemy as a group, and also as in
dividuals. If every one of us determined to
get rid of rats and insects, in as far as pos
sible, something would be done against real
enemies of mankind. But it is so easy to do
nothing! A slap at a mosquito is not mosquito
control; a belief that “there are no rats in
our block" will not help in their eradication.
Something more must be done, and it mast
begin with individual determination.
t.
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.
Senator Wiley Clarifies FBI Plan
To the Editor of The Star:
My attention has been called to your dis
tinguished newspaper’s editorial in the August
17 issue entitled, “Only the Communists Bene- i
tit.”
In this editorial The Star points out very
right'y and clearly that: "The public has cause
for i anxiety over the schism which has j
developed between the executive and legislative I
branches of Government In regard to loyalty j
investigations."
The star points out further that the execu- ;
tive branch tias unfortunately been most
unreasonable and unjustified in Its attitude In I
refusing to co-operate with the legislative
branch by turning over vital facts regarding
Communist espionage in Government. You can
be sure of my agreement with you on the need
for the closest co-ordination between branches.
That, of course, was the whole purpose of my
recent discussion of this issue to which you
referred. *
No “Duplicate FBI” in Mind.
Unfortunately, however, some misinterpreta
tion of my position has apparently developed.
It was apparently ^assumed that I sought the
formation of a “duplicate FBI” within the
legislative branch. Naturally, I had no desire
for any such thing, for the following reasons:
(1) The members of Congress and the
American people have the greatest of faith in
the Federal Bureau of Investigation and in its
exemplary record of protecting the national
security of our country. I personally have
completely indorsed the FBI particularly on
those very few occasions when, on the Senate
floor, its activities were in any way questioned
or underestimated. So highly do I regard the
FBI and its great director, J. Edgar Hoover
(who, to my way of thinking, and to America’s,
is a model and brilliant public servant), that
you will note that I suggested that “FBI
trained personnel” be utilized by the legisla
tive branch if it were found necessary to set
up a corps of personnel in our branch to carry
on investigations.
(2) I certainly would not want the Congress
to set up any tremendous bureaucracy within
its branch. In my previous statement I indi
cated that I had in mind a relatively small
corps of investigating personnel. ' I feel that
congressional committees cannot carry the
whole burden of investigation by themselves
which seems quite obvious, I believe, to all
those of us who have watched this situation
closely.
(3 > I know how deeply your great newspaper
is interested in this question of protecting the
security of our Nation against alien agents and
alien-minded agents. May I, therefore, ask
this question? “Just what can be done, if the
head of the executive branch persists in deny
ing to the Congress the information and files
which congressional committees have requested
but which the Chief Executive has refused?”
Shall Congress sit and fold its hands and do
nothing? Shall it just “hope for the best,"
hope that America does not become a victim
of a Pearl Harbor-like atomic attack, in which
our cities are blitzed, our defense facilities
sabotaged because vital secrets have leaked
out to an enemy and because the FBI itself
is hamstrung by decrees from higher authority?
Or shall the Congress decisively act and Becure
for itself, if necessary, a corps of trained per
sonnel—individuals of the outstanding caliber
of FBI agents—indeed, individuals trained by
the FBI who could report directly to the
Congress (and not to the Attorney General)?
Looking for an Answer.
The answer to that question is not an easy
one nor can it be supplied in an off-the-cuff |
fashion without serious study. None of us i
wants to create duplicate activities for the
sake of mere duplication. None of us would
even think of trying to duplicate the over-all
FBI establishment which has been so pains
takingly developed over the years to its present
eminence and universal respect as the world’s
greatest investigative agency. None of us
wants to spend the taxpayer’s funds in any
way which might not be absolutely necessary.
But at the same time, none of us, including
your distinguished newspaper and especially
the FBI, wants America to fall victim because
of betrayal of seciets to an enemy.
I do hope that the above comments may
serve to clarify the issue somewhat for I know
that The Star is always interested in securing
a full statement on issues which it reports.
If you feel that this statement in whole or
in part might be of interest to your readers,
please do not hesitate to utilize it as you see
fit. I appreciate your attention to this de
tailed statement. ALEXANDER WILEY,
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee.
Jewish Immigration Analyzed
To the Editor of The Star:
I have read with Interest In The Star that
both the presidential candidates of the major
parties have recommended ‘'liberalizing” re
cent Immigration legislation passed by Con
gress on the assumption that this legislation
discriminates against persons of Jewish and
Catholic faiths. '
That our immigration does not discriminate
against persons of Catholic faith -is indicated
by the fact that Senator McCarran, a Catholic,
cast the deciding vote against modifying the
Displaced Persons Act.
The criticism that the immigration legisla
tion of this country has discriminated against
persons of Jewish faith is hardly fair when
we consider the facts. From these facts it
easily may be seen that our immigration legis
lation and administrative directives have
greatly favored immigration of persons of
Jewish faith out of all proportion to the
religious composition of the American people.
In 1937, persons of Jewish faith constituted
less than 4 per cent of the American people,
yet during the 7-year period 1937-1943 net
Jewish immigration to the United States
fluctuated between 25 and 77 per cent of total
net immigration to this country. For some
reason records concerning the incoming of
persons of Jewish faith have not been pub
lished by our immigration service since 1943,
but the indications are that the percentage
of Jewish immigration is at least as high as
during the years 1937-1943.
This is Indicated by the fact that due to
administrative directives some 90 per cent of
the German and Polish quotas recently have
been turned over for use of refugees, largely of
Jewish faith. And as regards the 29,950
European displaced persons who were issued
visas to enter this country for the period
ended June 30, 1947, 67 per cent were Issued to
persons of Jewish faith, 15 per cent to persons
of Catholic faith, 13 per cent to persons of
Protestant faith and 5 per cent to persons of
other faiths.
During the 13-year period 1931-1943, total
net Jewish immigration to the United States '
was 173,259, while total net Immigration from •
all other sources and including Jewish immi- 1
gration was only 143,370. In other words, total
net Jewish immigration was more than total
net immigration. This seemingly impossible
fact may be explained, in part, by the fact j
that during the late depression years 1932-1935
total net immigration to this country was a
minus 138,911, while total net Jewish immi
gration was a plus 12,613.
Talcing even a longer period of immigration,
we And that for the entire 36-year period
t i
Stars, Men and Atoms ,
Iron’s Atomic 'Searchlight*
Exploding Atoms of Isotope Illuminate Dark Field of Body’s
Variations From Normal Health
By Thomas R. Henry
(This is the eighth of a series of articles
on radioisotope research.)
Iron is the stoker of the furnace of life.
This element, one of the most abundant in
the composition of the earth, is the key sub
stance of the enormously complex molecule of
hemoglobin, the red pigment in blood, which
picks up inspired oxygen and carries it to
every cell in the body. If anything seriously
interferes with this carrier system to any
part of the body the Are is extinguished and
tissue dies.
Ninety-one per cent of all iron on earth is
the stable form, Fe 56. Now, however, six other
forms are being produced, three of which are
radioactive. The one of outstanding value, now
being supplied by the Atomic Energy Com
mission, is the heavy Isotope Fe 59 whose atom
emits an electron and which has a half life
of 44 days.
Availability of this isotope is like a great
searchlight thrown on the whole dark field of
the body’s internal respiration and its varia
tions in health and disease. Probably 4he
most ambitious experiment is being carried
out at the Mcharry Medical College at Nash
ville, Tenn., where a study of iron absorption
and excretion is being carried out with 1,000
patients. It might be possible to use physi
ological compounds containing, ordinary iron,
the experimenters point out in their report
to the commission, but the findings would be
quite inaccurate. By using Fe 59 there is
almost absolute accuracy of observations.
Healthy Blood Rejects Extra Iron.
A notable finding is that in persons whose
blood is normal no extra supplies of iron ia»
the diet are absorbed by the body. They are
excreted almost immediately. At the best,
the old iron tonics of patent medicine days
thus would appear to have been worthless in
99 cases out of 100. The body knows with
precision how much iron it needs.
There are exceptionally large uptakes during
pregnancy, it is reported, and in various
anemias. A new, finding is that in serious
infections even when there is a shortage of
iron no extra amounts are taken out of the
diet. On the other hand, in certain types of
heart disease extra amounts are absorbed even
when the blood picture is entirely normal.
Iron deficiencies are sometimes caused, it
has been claimed, by cereal diets. In cereals
there are chemical substances known as
phytates which allegedly bind up the element
so that the red cells cannot get hold of it.
This was investigated by chemists at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and
found to be true. It was found, however, that
iron absorption from any solid food was diffi
cult. Of the amount contained in the average
breakfast only about a fifth as much was re
tained as from the same amount in a glass
of water.
At the Massachusetts Memorial Hospital in
Boston Fe 29 is being used to label red blood
cells in blood banks, to find out what happens
to them with aging. The radioactive isotope
also is being used In the study of several now
incurable forms of anemia. The Investigators
report “promising results,” although nothing
as yet applicable to human patients.
Hemoglobin is synthesized and red cells
manufactured in the bone marrow. This hap
pens to be about the first tissue killed by ths
deeply penetrating gamma rays of the atomic
Bomb, with the resulting fatal anemia which
caused Japanese victims to collapse and die
three or four weeks after exposure and after
it was thought that all danger was passed.
With Fe 59 the way in which the all-important
hemoglobin is synthesized by the bone marrow
cells is being studied at Boston’s Peter Bent
Brigham Hospital. Here also attempts are
being made to measure the total amount of
iron in the normal body.
Hemoglobin aa Oxygen Carrier.
Red cells grow old and die. Is old hemoglobin
as good an oxygen carrier as newly made
hemoglobin? How is iron taken up from the
intestinal tract and how is this process affected
by various diets and the acid-alkali balance
of the body? These problems are being in
vestigated with the radioactive isotope at the
Thorndyke Memorial Laboratory in Boston.
At the Parke-Davis Co. laboratories in De
troit new light has been thrown on hemoglobin
synthesis by injecting FE 59 into canaries and
ducklings. It is found that after such an in
jection in the muscles the radioactive iron
first appears in the blood stream 18 hours
later and the amount tends to increase for 70
hours.
There tends to be a concentration of the
exploding atoms, it was found, in liver, bone
marrow and spleen. Very few of them ever
get into the blood plasma.
It has been proposed that radioactive iron
might be used as a malaria medicine. The
malaria plasmodla get ^inside the red blood
cells where they are secure from most drugs.
They might be killed by the exploding Fe 69
atoms which also get inside the cells. The
Parke-Davis experiments showed, however, that
this simply does not work in practice. The
organisms are tough and seem able to take
electron bombardment without dimage.
At the Carnegie Institution of Washington
experimenters have discovered how unborn
children get iron from the blood of the mother.
In the maternal blood plasma they have found
a substance called ferric betaglobulinate, which
can be detected in extremely small amounts
by the use of Fe 59 and frbm which the fetus
can get all the Iron it needs. Experiments at
the University of Washington, however, show
that in some cases red blood cells actually are
transferred from mother to unborn child
through the walls of the placenta.
(Tli* ninth artlcl* of thl* «erie» will appear In this
•pace next Friday.)
1908-1943, net Jewish immigration constituted
14 per cent of total net immigration to this
country, although as late as 1937 persons of
Jewish faith constituted less than 4 per cent
of the American people.
Further proof that the United States has
not discriminated against Jewish immigration
may be seen by the fact that in 1877 persons
of Jewish faith numbered only 229,087 in this
country, but have since increased to 4,770,647
in 1937. While the total population of the
United States has increased three-fold since
1877, the Jewish population in this country
has increased 21-fold, or seven times as fast
as the total population.
For a convenient reference most of these
facts are available in the'1'. World Almanac,
1948, especially page 260. wfilch quotes as its
source the American Jewish Yearbook.
GUY IRVING BURCH.
Too Open Minds
To the Editor ol The 8t»r:
So the atheists wish to broadcast their non
belief! Not satisfied with a Supreme Court
decision banning religion in the schools, they
are demanding radio time to tell the world
what they don’t believe.
Who cares except other atheists? And they
can be told privately.
The United States is committed to a belief
in God and advertises the fact to the whole
world in a motto on all its coins: “In God We
Trust.” One who does not subscribe to this
belief has no business spending these coins.
And such persons don’t belong in the United
States. In my opinion, they don’t really be
long anywhere.
Atheistic philosophy is negative, to say the
"least. Constructive-minded citizens who are
trying to keep the United States on the map
and preserve for It some of its old-time repu
tation for integrity certainly owe no obligation
whatever to such negative characters.
Who cares what they think and feel? It Is
fine to keep an open mind, but don’t keep it
too wide open or everything in it will fall
out. This seems to have happened already to
some of these so-called broad-minded indivi
duals. How else can we account for some of
this braying? LAURA K. POLLOCK.
Sanity Hearings Criticized
To the Editor of The Star:
Your editorial of August 13, "Too Much
Worry,” and Professor Lloyd Jones' statement
“that at least 30,000,000 Americans are in need
of some form of mental hygiene treatment,
with millions of us bad enough to require the
attention of psychiatrists," interested me.
Statistics show that people are going Insane
at a terrific rate. Increased insanity should
scare the few sane people left in the world
into actual insanity. Why not, and be on the
inside? The few who will soon be left on the
outside to pay taxes will have such financial
struggles that they will be ready for the bug
house soon.
Thus, I would reason if I have any reason
left with which to reason. After sitting in
on insanity hearings for months, I have little
confidence in the future if we continue on in
our insanity jag. Did you know that nfct
knowing the day of the week or month is one
of the tests for insanity? Did you know that
the person accusing one of being insane almost
never appears in court against the accused?
Our Constitution says one is innocent of
crime until proven guilty. Not so in the sanity
court. Under the usual procedure, any one
can sign & paper to the effect that any one
is crazy and that is Just about the finish of
the one accused. Very sfldom does the ac
cused person have a chance to secure any
kind of defense or present it. Did yon know
that an examination for insanity takes only
a few minutes? Did you know that the doc
tors make no effort to secure background of a
case? What brought about the filing of the
charges, the true reason, seldom is exposed.
X wonder if any one who has put in yeafs
behind the bars would say he preferred that .
to a fair and open hearing? The one who had
the person committed should face the music
and let the public know he or she is trying to j
send an aged parent, an in-the-way wife or j
husband or an unwanted child to the insane
asylum.
Better one day of humiliation in open court
where facts are brought to light than a life
time trapped in a mental institution if not
insane. DR. IRENE DOUGLAS WALDO.
i
Questions and Answers
A reader can «*t the aniwer to any Question of
fact by writing The iTenlng 8tar Information
Bureau, 316 Eye etreet N.E.. Washington 2, D. C.
Please Inclose three (8) cente for return postage.
By THE HASKIN SERVICE.
Q If an acre of land Is perfectly square,
how long Is each side?—G. D.
A. The length of one side of a square piece
of ground measuring 1 acre is approximately
206'* feet.
Q. When did bishops first begin to wear
.distinguishing rings?—O. M.
A. The earliest known use of a bishop’s ring
is traced to Caius, bishop of Rome from A. D.
283 to 296. In the earliest references to rings
worn by bishops there is nothing to distinguish
them from other signet rings and not until
610 is mention found of the episcopal ring as
a symbol of dignity.
Q. What river In the United States is said
to be the busiest in the world?—A. T. D.
A. The Monongahela River in Pennsylvania,
which runs through Pittsburgh's famous
"point.” Last year the river moved 32.5 million
tons, which was considerably more than the
total cargo passed through the Panama Canal.
It was not far short of total cargoes carried
on the Ohio and Mississippi. The main stream
of the Monongahela is about 130 miles long.
Q. Where can one obtain a copy of the
recent Supreme Court decision regarding
superseniority and veterans’ re-employment
rights?—A. A. G.
A. The decision of the Supreme Court in
regard to veterans’ re-employment rights is
the case of Hilton vs. Sullivan, which was
decided on June 1, 1948. A copy of the de
cision may be purchased for 10 cents from the
Superintendent of Documents, Government
Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C.
Q. Where is the museum established by Bar
num?—P. R. T.
A. The Bamum Museum is at Tufts College,
Medford, Mass. / It was begun by Barnura
himself in 1883. t
V- nease oisunguisn ueiween a jouu reso
lution of Congress and a concurrent resolu
tion.—A. W. P.
A. A Joint resolution is the work of both
Houses and requires the approval of the Presi
dent (except in cases where it is used to submit
proposed constitutional amendments for rati- „
flcation) and has the force of law Just as other
legislation. In fact, Joint resolutions are num
bered as Public Law No. - in the Statutes
at Large. A concurrent resolution requires the
approval of both Houses, but not of the Presi
dent unless it contains matters of legislation.
It is not public law, but deals with matters
over which the two Houses have concurrent
jurisdiction.
_____
Q. When did the great electrical wizard. Dr.
Steinmetz, die?—B. N.
A. Dr. Charles P. Steinmetz, the famous elec
trical engineer, died on October 26/ 1923. He
was credited with more than a hundred elec
trical inventions and his most dramatic experi
ment was the creation of man-made lightning.
Q. What are the titles of a few songs com- >
posed by James A. Bland, the ‘‘Negro Stephen
Poster”?—W. G.
A. Some of his best loved songs are: ‘‘Carry
Me Back to Old Virginny,” "In the Evening by
the Moonlight,” “O, Dem Golden Slippers” and
"In the Morning by the Bright Light.”
In An Old Springhouse
The springhouse stood half-lost in shad
owed gloom
Where great trees grew beside a misted
MU,
And down old steps within the sunken
room
1 stood alone amid the moistened chill.
Clay vessels full of eider rich as gold
Stood in the water fed from hidden
rocks,
And thickened cream and butter tn the
mold ,
Filled to the brims their deep and frosty
crocks.
Imprisoned there, by churn and mill and
press,
Within the square of cool, enshrouded
space,
Lay all the essence of the fruitfulness
Of summertime,, for in that darkened
place
1 drank a glass of cider and my sight
Was flooded with an apple orchard’s light
REID CROWELL.
/
4