Evening star. [volume], September 11, 1948, Page A-6, Image 6

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
1
e Jetting £faf
With Sunday Morning Edition,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
Publithad by
The Evening Star Newspaper Company.
FRANK B. NOYES, Chairman of Hie Board.
FLEMING NEWBOLD, President.
B. M. McKELWAY, Editor.
MAIN OFFICE: llth St. end Penntylvonia Ava.
NEW YORK OFFICE: 110 Eait 43d St.
CHICAGO OFFICE: 435 North Michigan Ava.
Delivered by Carrier—Metropolitan Aroa.
Daily and Sunday Daily Only Sunday Only
Monthly __ 1.30* Monthly _ FOc 10c par copy
Weekly ...30c Weekly ._.20c 10c per copy
*10c additional when 5 Sundays are in a month.
Also 10c additional far Night Final Edition in those
sections where delivery is made.
Ratos by Mail—Payable in Advance.
Anywhere in United States.
Evening end Sunday Evening Sunday
1 month_1.50 1 month,_ F0c 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 Pest Office, Washington, D. C.,
as second-class mail matter.__
Member ef the Associated Press.
The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use
for republlcation ef ell the local news printed in this
newspeper, as well os all A. P. news dispatches.
A—* SATURDAY. September 11, IMf
m ' — 11 s1 ■—1 am i -i—
Virginia's Negro Schools
There are some indications that the real
issue is being overlooked in Virginia’s
Negro school controversy.
That issue is not whether Negro pupils
should be admitted, to white schools. This
is not required by Federal Judge Sterling
Hutcheson’s order, and if the local author
ities in King George and Gloucester Coun
ties were to abolish segregation in the
schools they would stand in violation of
the State’s constitution.
The real issue is whether Negro children
are to be provided school facilities substan
tially equal to those for whites.
On this point there can be little debate.
The facilities are not equal and the local
authorities in the two counties admit that
this is the case. This is a state of affairs
which cannot be permitted to continue.
Substantially equal facilities must be made
available, first as a matter of simple jus
tice, and, second, as an essential step in
complying with the court’s order.
This leaves only the further question of
whether the local authorities are to be
given a reasonable time in which to com
ply. It has been only a little more than a
month since the formal order was served
on them, although they had known for
several months that such an order was
coming down. In either situation, how
ever, It seems quite probable that they
have not had enough time to make the
necessary improvements, and In the best
interests of all concerned they should be
allowed a reasonable time.
One of the two Negro lawyers represent-i
ing the colored students has said that he
proposes to seek a contempt of court judg
ment against the King George officials.
If he should ask for such a ruling then It
would be up to the court to determine
whether the school authorities have done
their best to obey the order. But in arriv
ing at this decision it is most unlikely that
the court would refuse to apply the test of
reasonableness in measuring the degree of
compliance.
The other Negro lawyer Involved appar
ently has taken the position that there can
be no satisfactory solution short of out
right abandonment of the segregated
school system.
He is within his rights, of course, in
agitating for such a change. But by mov
ing in this direction, by seeking to upset a
social pattern that has been fixed since
Colonial days, he is not likely to achieve
much of benefit to the Negroes.
If the real aim of these men is to secure
Improved educational facilities for colored
children, facilities that will be substan
tially equal to those for whites, their pur
pose is a laudable one and it can be accom
plished. If they are willing to work with
the white authorities in a spirit of reason
ableness this desirable improvement should
not be long in coming to pass. But they
are not going to accomplish much of real
or lasting benefit If they are agitating
merely for the sake of agitation or if they
are going to be so foolish as to attempt to
Insist upon the abolition of Virginia’s
segregated school system.
Ferdinand of Bulgaria
Ferdinand of Bulgaria was one of the
characters of his time. Tall, loosely built,
bearded, long nosed, bald, stone deaf, he
was every inch not a King in appearance
and manner. Yet he had a commanding
presence. Nobody ignored him. Wherever
he appeared, he was the center of the
scene. He met Edward VII on equal terms,
mocked William II to his face, defied Nich
olas II. flouted several Sultans of Turkey.
Pride of ancestry was one of his assets.
He was a cousin or an uncle to more than
a hundred princes. The Kaiser declared
he excelled them all In brains, and Ferdi
nand blandly agreed with him.
Perhaps he modeled his philosophy on
that of Cyrano. The resemblances between
Rostand's hero and the cleverest of the
Coburgs were striking as well as numerous.
Both loved life despite its disappointments.
Ferdinand, inheriting vast wealth from his
mother, could buy many of the satisfac
tions he wanted—jewels, rare coins, beau
tiful pictures, fascinating books, moun
tains of flowers, whole cellars full of an
cient wines. He made no bones over being
a hedonist. Pleasure meant much to him,
and he conceded the fact with a smile. His
sense of humor helped him through three
decades of crises while he occupied the
shaky Bulgarian throne. He laughed out
right at the sequence of incidents which
cost him his job. The remainder of his
career was devoted to avoiding the country
he had done his best to rule from 1887
to 1918.
How Ferdinand was drawn into the First
World War as an ally of Germany remains
even now something of a mystery. The
Treaty of Bucharest in 1913 robbed Bul
garia of the fruits of victory her armies
had won in Macedonia and Thrace under
his active leadership in the field. In May.
1915. the help of Russia. France. Italy and
Great Britain was sought for the restora
tion of the lost areas. No concrete answer
was received. Ferdinand finally turned to
Germany for assistance against wfhat he
regarded as the greed of his Balkan neigh
bors—Serbia. Rumania and, Greece. This
led to an ultimatum from Russia which
eventuated in hostilities in which for sev
A
eral years the Bulgarians were successful
only to be defeated at last at Dobropole.
After his abdication the erstwhile mon
arch retired to his ancestral estate in
Bavaria. There he played the role of a
country gentleman with distinction. Oc
casionally he visited foreign countries in
cognito. His major interests were music,
studying birds, growing roses. If anybody
mentioned politics to him, he was deafer
than ever. Finally he has died amid the
ruins of Europe. But even at the end his
rubies probably still sparkled very much
as they did when he was young and he first
carried them about in his pocket.
Dynamite in Berlin
More than 2,000,000 German men, wom
•en and children live in the Anglo-French
American sectors of Berlin. They are not
merely a statistic representing two-thirds
of the city’s population. They are volatile
human beings with taut nerves and
supercharged emotions. Three years after
having suffered a total defeat, they still
are experiencing a hand-to-mouth exist
ence in a bleak atmosphere of personal
strain and political disorder. As they have
shown in their massive street demonstra
tion against Russia and its stooges, it is
not safe to goad them. In some cases,
near-desperation fills people with a kind
of docile apathy, but not so with them.
They have been anything but indifferent
or timid. Recklessly or not, they have
openly sided with the Western Allies and
; displayed bitter hostility toward the Soviet
Union.
These Berliners, of course, probably have
no great love for their Anglo-French
American conquerors, but they know—
they have seen—that Britain, France and
the United States have been trying to be
just and decent. They know, too—they
have seen—that the Kremlin, together
with the traitorous German Communists,
has been seeking through deceit, force
and oppression to impose its tyrannical
will on them and swallow them up In the
Soviet Empire. They are not blind to the
fact that Russia is behind the mob move
ment to destroy their democratically elect
ed city government. They do not have to
be told who is responsible for the land
and waterway blockade that would have
long since reduced them to starvation
were it not for our airlift. Nor do they
have to be told that if the latest threats
against that airlift are carried out, the
conceivable result may be a shooting war
in which the Western Allies would have
to abandon the city temporarily and leave
them to the tender mercies of the Reds.
Aware of all this and maddened by it, they
have not hesitated to choose sides in
public, regardless of the risks.
To be sure, the wisdom of huge street
demonstrations of any kind is seriously
open to question because of the danger of
uncontrollable mob violence. But the one
staged by the anti-Communist Berliners
must nevertheless be regarded as a meas
ure of their courage—perhaps a reckless
or unwise sort of courage, but still cour
age, and worthy, as Senator Chan Gurney
has said, of commendation everywhere.
At the same time, however, it is ominous
| in its potentialities. By giving full vent
i to their pent-up feelings, the Germans
could set off an explosion in Berlin cap
able of wrecking whatever hope may still
remain for a peaceful negotiated settle
ment of the current crisis. Whether they
know it or not, the Russians, with their
strong-arm methods and goading tactics,
are playing with dynamite. If they are
not deliberately seeking war, they had
better shift soon to a new and saner policy.
New card rules for contract, with lighter
penalties for revokes and miscalled bids,
go into effect October 1. The wise husband
will not, however, Immediately shed the
shinguards.
Amos and Andy, in a unique deal, sign
over their service for life for $2,000.000—
nice going for a team whose start was a
taxi with no doors.
Music Is National
Marks Levine, vice president of the
National Concert and Artists Corporation
and an acknowledged leader among im
presarios, recently contributed to the I^w
York Times a statement in which he
declared: "I cannot think of music as
being American, or German, or French,
or whatever else. Trite as it may sound,
music must be and in fact is international
■ in its nature, universal in its scope and
appeal. ... We can only classify music as
| great or insignificant, inspired or labored,
! good or bad, whether written by an
| American, by a Frenchman, an Italian or
a New Zealand Maori.”
Such an opinion obviously is entitled
to respect, coming as it does from an
authority in matters musical. But is it
true? Anybody who ever has heard the
bagpipes at Edinburgh Castle must believe
that there is a music which is distinctively
Scottish. The same observation applies
to the haunting minor melodies one finds
in the crowded streets of the native por
tion of Hong Kong: If they are not
Chinese, what are they? Verdi dealt with
cosmopolitan themes, but he always was
an Italian. Tchaikovsky probably did not
especially want to be a Russian, yet he
remained a son of Muscovy even after he
had visited England and America. Simi
larly, Elgar was English, Granados was
Spanish, Ravel was modem French even
in the Bolero.
The critics cannot explain Beethoven
by denying that he was German any more
than they can account for Sibelius by con
tradicting the fact that he is Finnish.
Smetana’s ‘‘Bartered Bride” is Bohemian
and nothing but Bohemian. Dvorak is a
Czech despite his ‘ New World Symphony.”
So is Mahler fundamentally Bohemian and
j Grieg Norwegian. We would do these
masters a disservice if we tried to divorce
them from the lands which gave them
| birth. Victor Herbert was bom in Ireland
and remained Irish all his life. It is a
matter of history that George Gershwin
and Irving Berlin have been inspired
largely by Jewish harmonies, some of them
ages old. The beautiful Negro spirituals
of America are specifically Negro achieve
ments.
-
Mr. Levine, however, is not altogether
| mistaken. Stephen Collins Foster was not
' a Negro, yet he wrote scores of songs
which had their thematic sources in
Negro musical tradition, tracing back to
Africa and to a time relatively as distant
as Troy and Cnossos. Such music is in
ternational In the sense that it Is unl
t>
versally appreciated, but It Is indubitably
American in terms of production, this
surely is what is wanted: Music so ap
pealing that all nations, all classes and
all conditions of people will value it with
an enthusiasm and a devotion equal to
those qualities in the composers.
The Whole World Is Vulnerable
With American participation, the British
have just completed their biggest air exer
cises since the end of the war. What the
exercises seem to have proved is that the
United Kingdom is one Of the most vul
nerable places in the world. At any rate,
within a matter of minutes the other day,
London was “devastated.” According to
impartial military umpires, a mock raid
by hundreds of bombers so severely
“blitzed” the great city that its “'attackers”
had good reason to assume that all re
sistance in it had been broken. The event,
though make-believe, is grimly meaning
ful. What if the attack had been real?
What if only a few great planes had come
over and dropped A-bombs? What if there
had been a rain of supersonic rockets with
atomic warheads? Where would the “tight
little isle” be today? And what would be
the condition of its inhabitants?
The questions speak for themselves.
Looking back on the worst of the “blitz”
staged by the Nazi Luftwaffe and on the
terrors of the V-2 rockets fired at them
from the French shore, thinking Britons
must now say to themselves how mild all
that would seem in retrospect should
there be a third world war. Jet propul
sion. supersonic flight, the atom, bac
teriological weapons—these would be the
instruments of any new conflict in another
twenty or thirty years. With them, all
of England could bp wiped out in a day.
And if that could happen to England, it
could happen to any country, even if the
process of annihilation should require a
little more time in lands as large as our
own. Because of geography and other cir
cumstances, the vulnerability of the British
is peculiarly intense, but it is a vulner
ability shared in kind, if not in degree,
by every people in the air age.
Actually, no aerial maneuvers, no mock
raids, are needed now to demonstrate the
horrible potentialities of another war.
Conceivably, if one nation or group of
nations had overwhelming superiority in
such a war, victory could be won at little
cost. But if the belligerents were about
evenly matched in things like A-weapons,
and if the struggle were fought to the
death, the chances are that all would be
vanquished in the sense that none would
And enough left to be worth living for.
Indeed, given that kind of conflict with
the new instruments of mass destruction,
the virtual extinction of the human race
would be altogether possible. It is not
only Britain that is vulnerable. So is
America. So is Russia. So is the whole
world. The sum of it is that man has
reached a point where his very survival
depends on a lasting peace. Without that,
he will drift willy-nilly to suicide.
“In India, employes of the Hyderabad
government get 116 official holidays a
year, a 30-day vacation, 15 days’ ‘casual
leave’ and Sundays.’’ One further ques
tion: Is the pay check mailed?
This and That
By Charles E. Tracewell
“BETHESDA, MD.
“Dear Sir:
“Last evening I saw a hummingbird that
was completely foreign to me.
“He was smaller than the ruby-throated or
his mate, and had a longer bill. His back
was striped jailbird fashion in orange and
black alternately.
"The peculiar thing about him was that al
though my husband and I stood close to him
for several minutes watching him fly around
the r.icotiana, we could not hear a sound from
his wings.
“Have you any idea what our friendly neigh
bor's name is?
“Sincerely yours, J. H. B.”
• • * •
That, ma'm. was no hummingbird.
It was a moth.
It was probably an evening hawk moth, al
though there are several other species of
moths that fool people.
When we lived in Georgetown we had
plenty of hummingbirds, and several forms
of moths. One was a dark green, so mucn
resembling the female ruby-throated hum
mingbird that most observers had no doubt
of its identification as such.
No hummer, however, will permit a watbher
to stand directly over it, or even cup it with
a hand.
This odd creature did.
It, visited the phlox plants at about dusk.
It came to them every day, and so we called it
the phlox bug.
The bili of the moth is longer even than a
hummer’s bill.
No respectable hummingbird would permit a
human hand to close over it.
It the action were possible, the bird would
probably stab its powerful bill directly into
one's hand, as it sometimes does into the body
of a foe.
Hummingbirds are brave little creatures.
They often give their lives for the sake of
their_ nests.
They may even be said to be ferocious, within
their limits.
The moths, on the other wing, are as in
sensitive to human presence as most insects.
Yet the resemblance between them and the
little birds is striking.
* • « •
We were standing In the garden the other
late afternoon, watching the bees at some blue
flowers.
There weie hundreds of flowers and hun
dreds of bees.
A constant movement over the flower faces
was kept upr as bees moved from one to an
other, their golden bodies, with black rear,
shining in the sun.
Kach bee glistened with a real patina.
Not a bee paid the slightest attention to the
watchers.
All at once a huge black bumblebee flew in.
In comparison with the dainty bees, he was
almost a bull in a china shop.
The Dees made way for him, but no more.
They did not seem afraid. Among the insects,
everybody minds his own business, in the
main. Perhaps if mankind could emulate that
trait, and forget about their form of com
munism, our human world would be better off.
Net all hummingbirds hum.
And there is only one that comes here, the
ruby-throat.
If you see something that you think is a
bird, so small that you think it must be a
hummer, put it down as a moth, an evening
hawk moth, possibly a sphinx moth.
In going from flower to flower, humming
birds perform the same office in the economy
of nature as bees, butterflies and moths by
transferring pollen from one bloom to another.
Hummingbirds seldom if ever walk on the
ground but perch readily enough on branches,
clothes lines and telephone wires.
"Inhabitants exclusively of America,” says
one expert, "the hummingbirds constitute not
only the most charming element in the won
derfully varied bird life of the Western Hemi
sphere, but also without doubt the most re
markable group of birds in the entire world.”
Rivoli's hummer, sometimes called the reful
gent hummingbird, a native of the Southwest,
is aald to have no wing hum.
Letters to The Star W7^
Queen Wilhelmma Owns
No Washington Real Estate
To tho Miter ef The Star:
In a letter to your paper, which was pub
lished in The Star of September a, C. A.
Lelmbach suggested that the European Re
covery Program Act should be so revised or
amended by Congress as to require countries
that are recipients under this act "to divest
the wealthy citizens within their borders of
some of their holdings" and to decrease the
amounts allotted to those countries with the
revenue so obtained.
This suggestion to confiscate or appropriate
private property lawfully acquired and owned
by citizens, who moreover pay their extremely
heavy taxes' on both property and income,
seems to me so entirely at variance with the
concept of private property generally accepted
In the United States, that I do not see any
need to bring forward arguments against it.
I am confident that in the United States Mr.
Leimbach’s suggestion will not find any serious
consideration, the less so since all residents of
the Netherlands have to give up their dollar -
income to the state (and also certain classes
of dollar-securities), for which the state
reimburses them in Netherlands guilders, the
dollars being rued to pay Netherlands debts
to the United States.
in r.is letter ne mentioned as "a case m
point” the private means of the former Queen
Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, saying “it
was reported a fey weeks ago in The Star
that her personal estate is valued at some
thing 1'ke $157,000,000.” I consider it neces
sary to deny the truth of this statement;
it has no foundation at all. Whatever private
means Queen Wilhelmina owns, it can be
stated that the above-mentioned astronomi
cal figure is exaggerated to an extent which
makes it* use worthless.
Owns No Real Estate Here.
Mr. Leimbach refer* apparently to a story
which The Star published on August 8,
written by the Chicagb Daily News foreign
service’s correspondent, William McGaffln,
from The Hague about the royal family
of the Netherlands. It is a very good
story and every Dutch citizen would read
it with satisfaction, with one exception.
Mr. McGaffin writes: “Wilhelmina is a multi
millionaires and one of the richest women
in the world. One American in Holland esti
mated her total wealth at $175,000,000. In
cluded in her holding is a large block of apart
ments in Washington, and numerous Amer
ican stocks and bonds."
It seems very 'difficult to kill once and for
all the false rumor that Queen Wilhelmina.
now Princess of the Netherlands, owns the
Westchester Apartments in Washington or at
least part of it. This story has been coming
up again ami again for a number of years and
it is probably impossible to trace its origin.
I have been told that it was an invention
cf Gennan propaganda against the Queen
in the beginning of the last war; if not, it
is just gossip.
However that may be, I welcome this oppor
tunity to state that Queen WilhelmTna never
owned the Westchester Apartments or even
one share in it. This statement, confirmed by
the management of the Westchester Apart
ments, is based on authoritative information
received from the Netherlands. In fact, Queen
Wilhelmina does not own any real estate in
the United States.
I am convinced that by publishing this letter
you will make a valuable contribution toward
correcting rumors which should not be circu
lated because they completely lack foundation
in fact and even might do harm if they are
used by uninformed persons for purposes which
further neither the interests of the United
States nor those of my country.
E. N. VAN KLEFFENS,
Ambassador of the Netherlands. *
Editor's Note—The story regarding Queen
Wilhelmina’s alleged ownership of Washing
ton real estate has been printed in one form
or another many times. The Star’s atten
tion has been previously called to the de
nials by authorized representatives of the
Netherlands that there is any truth to
these stories and it is a matter of regret to
The Star that the error was inadvertently
repeated in its columns.
An Exasperated Parent Blows Off
To the Editor ot The Star:
Everywhere you turn you hear; “Visit your
schools, help improve your schools.” Conse
quently I'd like to present an angle which, if
considered seriously, might do its bit toward
Improvement.
I'd like to know why Washington school
teachers aren’t allowed to teach? Now, here,
if ever I saw any, is a pathetic group of adults
painstakingly trained for a respectable position
but who evidently are regarded as a pack of
morons by our school officials.
The above are deductions made by discover
ing a shocking fact: My 8-year-old son was
promoted to his fourth grade in school and
he couldn’t read his sister's second-grade reader
nor did he know his multiplication tables.
Even though I attended my boy’s PTA
meetings regularly, not all year was I aware
that he was so weak. His reports did not
show it nor did his teachers indicate that he
didn't know words like “family,” “besides,"
not to mention hundreds of others. To put it
simply, he couldn't read, he didn’t know
what 9x5 are; and he has an above-the
average intelligence.
A Parent Gain* Understanding.
Dumbfounded, I contacted his teacher this
summer and after we had really let our hair
down, I collected some choice understanding
about our District school system.
Teachers don’t have the time to teach. In
stead, they use one-half of the school year
preparing imposing display exhibits, pageants
and demonstrations to impress the public with
what your children and mine can’t do. And
who tactfully suggests all this sweat and
blood? Our pompous, hypocritical school offi
cials, the teacher’s superiors of whom she Is
mortally afraid.
This is what went on In my child’s class
! last year:
; ill A play—time consumed in preparations,
one-half of each day for three weeks.
12) An observational period for teachers
! This is the time when one teacher shows off
| to other teachers how much better she car
teach than they. Teachers seem to be com
pelled to practice professional discourtesy. In
\ order to be insured that the children don’t
give the wiong answers and disgrace her, a
teacher has to drill them for a certain length
of time preceding the lesson. My child got
a stomach full of “Life in Holland’’ for three
whole weeks and nothing much of anything
else. His chances of getting to Holland are
exceedingly slim, yet he can't decide if he has
received the proper change when I send him
| to the store.
(3i Participation in the construction of a
model of proposed recreational facilities for
the community. The teacher couldn't teach
at all for two weeks.
<4> Rehearsal for that monstrous sham
Child Health Day. The children rehearaed a
lot of clownish activities (which they knew
only too well) for two months.
Meetings a Chore.
When said teacher isn’t rehearsing and
creating she is busy attending meetings.
These meetings are for the improvement of th#
profession as far as the latest techniques are
concerned, I understand. They are so numer
ous and last so long Into the evening that
the poor teacher has only time to rush home
.K
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.
to a hungry husband and child, perform her
household duties and drop exhausted into bed.
'The next day she faces 35 to 40 squirming
demons and has no work prepared for them.
A conscientious teacher prepares-her work the
night before school.
Small wonder my child didn't learn. His
teacher, terrified of reprisals at the hands of
our “progressive school heads,” seldom enter
tains any thought of demanding that she be
allowed to teach—a job for which we taxpay
ers pay her and her supervisors.
I only hope that other parents have la
mented over how little their children have
learned and that they will take some positive
action to improve this serious condition during
the coming school year.
Demand of our school officials that the
harassed school teacher be allowed to teach
her full four hours and forty-five minutes.
Demand that those activities mentioned above
be-abolished or greatly limited, so the teacher
will have the time to teach.
Congress is investigating everything else.
Let it begin to investigate the education of
its future citizens here in Washington.
' * PARENT.
Too Many Ciphers
To the Editor of The St»r:
In "Looking Ahead" on the editorial page of
The Star for Sunday; September 5, the num
ber of veterans' policy holders should be
15,000,000, not 15,000,000,000, shouldn't it?
X. Y. Z.
Favors Investigations
To the Editor of Hie St»r:
It is well understood that our President has
the constitutional right to withhold confiden
tial information from congressional commit
tees, if he so desires. However, it is somewhat
difficult, despite his constitutional right, to
understand why congressional committees have
been deprived of such information from these
confidential files as would enable them to bet
ter perform their duties in the handling of
the tasks recently undertaken for the good
of our country.
Are we, the people, to infer from such tac
tics that Congressmen who serve on these
congressional committees are not representa
tive, responsible, trustworthy men, or is it Just
a case of pure political antagonism?
These Congressmen are elected by the people
to represent them to the best interest of all,
and I do not think that keeping a close check
on subversives in our country is altogether a
political gesture on the part of the Republi
cans, but that these investigations are being
conducted for the protection of all.
There may be a “red herring” floating
around somewhere but, in my opinion, investi
gating any subversive element that might be or
has been affiliated with our Government is
certainly not "it.”
Our three branches of government should
work together with unity at all times. When
such antagonism develops between our Execu
tive and Legislative branches, it is, regardless
of party politics, not good for our country and
certainly gives the thinking people of America
much food for thought between now and No
vember. A DEMOCRAT.
Richmond, Va.
Deplores Segregation in Sport
■fyVST • "'•i- ' ■ '
To Ui* Editor of The SUr: .
With the two major league baseball teams
near the top at the present time carrying col
ored players in the line-up, why does not the
Washington basebaH club strike out and make
baseball a real concern here?
There are at least two dozen good colored
players who could make the team that plays at
Clark Griffith's ball yard. If it is money the
stockholders want, think of the 100.000 cash
customers it is estimated old Satchell Paige
has drawn through the Cleveland turnstiles.
Or watch the numbers being turned away or
unable to get tickets to Jackie Robinson's ball
yard. Richie on the coast, Dan Bankhead,
Newcomb and others on the Brooklyn farm
teams are winning aver 75 per cent of their
games.
Football this fall will find star colored grid
iron neroes on many of the "pro" fields. Buddy
Young, Motley, Dan Brown, Lanny Ford (a
Washington boy), Mann, Ike Owens, Tojn
Casey, Bill Willis, Tunnell, Harris, and many
others will be heard of in the various Sunday
and mid-week professional games during the
coming fall season.
How smugly silly are we with our prejudices!
Perhaps when Truman comes back or Dewey
comes in we may have a change in local gov
ernment or sentiment which will make
democracy here—American style—respectable
elsewhere. The bigots are largely the older
people who are reckoning without considering
their younger sons and daughters.
E. B. HENDERSON.
How Mr. Hughes Consented
To the Editor of The Star:
Current comment aroused by the death of
former Chief Justice Hughes involves certain
matters of which I have personal knowledge
or to employ a familiar quotation (in sub
stance if not textually correct): "All of which
I saw and part of which I was.”
I represented the New York Sun, reporting
the Supreme Court for seven years prior to my
resignation. I was privileged to hear and re
port the many opinions read by Justice Hughes
before he left the bench to accept the nomi
nation for president. I shared the general
high regard for Justice Hughes, of whom the
late Senator Jim Watson once said: “His is
the finest intellect in American public life.”
I accepted an invitation from Prank H. Hitch
cock to advise with him in his pre-convention
organization for Mr. Hiighes. We proceeded
with caution because he was unable, personally
•>r through Influential friends, to elicit a word
of approval or disapproval from Mr. Hughes
and we felt that at any time our efforts might
be frustrated by a public declaration from the
Associate Justice that our efforts were un
authorized and offensive.
I planned to obtain a "go” signal. I was
writing politics for the Sun from the Washing.
ton viewpoint. The late Siting A. Powler was
head of the Sun Washington bureau. He had
covered the Insurance investigations conducted
by Mr. Hughes that brought his name favor
ably before the country. I suggested that he
go to Justice Hughes, point out to him the
embarrassment to Sun writers who recognized
the growing Hughes sentiment but hesitated
to write about It lest it embarrass the Justice.
Responding to Mr. Fowler's visit Associate
Justice Hughes said: "If my country calls me
to this higher service, I will feel it my duty
to accept.” Thus Mr. Powler obtained a sign
which "an evil generation” (of politicians) had
vainly sought for.
The development was gratifying to the Sun
and even more to Prank Hitchcock who pro
ceeded with his organization.
JERRY A. MATHEWS.
Community Movies Appreciated
TO the Editor of The 8t»r:
I am very grateful you have shown the
movies at Port Dupont this summer and hope
you will continue them next year.
MILDRED ORANGE. |
f
The Political Mill **
Republicans Warned
To Push Election Efforts
Public-Opinion Polls M«y Cause Ovar»
Confidence, Leaders Say
By Gould Lincoln
•
At the very opening of the presidential cam
paign. three public-opinion polls—Gallup,'
Crossley and Roper—give Gov. Dewey of New
York a better chance to win than President
Truman. One of them, indeed, Elmo Roper,
goes so far as to say Gov. Dewey has the
election in the bag—unless a political miracle
or some violent change in conditions arises.
He adds he does not expect either.
All of this gives the Republican leaders great
confidence. The danger is that it may make
them overconfident and also lessen the inter
est of the rank-and-file voters who oppose
President Truman aud support Gov. Dewey—
an Interest which is vital on election day.
Republican National Chairman Hugh Scott
was quick to speak out, after Mr; Roper de
clared Gov. Dewey so far ahead that no pur
pose was to be served by reporting the trend
of public opinion during the rest of the cam
paign.
“I wish,” he said, "to call upon all Republi
cans to increase their efforts to elect Republi- “
cans to every office at stake this year. This is
no time to relax our efforts to build up lha
biggest majority in history for the Dewey
Warren ticket, and for the many senatorial,
gubernatorial and House candidates who ars
running this year.”
Must Get Out Vote.
If too many potential voters who are op
posed to Mr. Truman fail to go to the polls
on November 2—and instead go fishing or to
play golf or what have you, the expected Dewey
Warren victory might well turn out a flop It
Is up to the Republican State, county, city and
precinct leaders to get the vote out—and this
looks to be one year no matter what Mr. Tru
man may say when a big vote will be of -
assistance to the Republican presidential
nominee.
The publication of these gloomy reports for
Mr. Truman—encouraging for Gov. Dewey—
may have one of two effects on the Demo
cratic national ticket. They may greatly stim
ulate the Democratic workers to get out th#
vote, or they may put such a damper on the
Democratic campaign that the Truman vote
may fall off still further. It is anybody's
guess about that. The Democrats, for a number
of years, have had all the better of public-opin
ion polls in the presidential campaigns. They
did not appear to lessen the vote in any way
which was cast for Franklin D. Roosevelt—by
making the Democratic campaign managers and
the rank and file overconfident. Probably they
won't do Gov. Dewey any harm either.
Need House Majority.
There la one very good reason why the Re- '
publicans should endeavor to get out all th#
vote possible in support of the Dewey-Warren
ticket. A big vote for the national Republican
ticket can very well assure a big majority for
the Republicans In the new House of Repre
sentatives, and dash the present Democratic
hopes that the Democrats will win control of
the Senate.
Gov. Dewey and the Republicans today ap
pear to have Mr. Truman and the Democrats
on tha run. Certainly, it is no time for the
Republicans to ease up. Up to the present, the
Democratic campaign has been mostly name
calling—a cheap way of campaigning which
usually does not pay off.
Gov. Dewey and President Truman are about
to start on campaign trips across the cpuntry.
There are vital issues—vital to the interests
of the whole country, not just to special
groups—which the speakers should discuss, not
only in a critical way but in a constructive
way. It may be they will do so. Certainly, the
people themselves should give every attention
to these discussions.
The Democratic criticism to date of Gov.
Dewey is that he has delegated to others—as
in the case of Harold E. Stassen s reply to Mr.
Truman in Detroit—the Job of speaking out.
That kind of criticism will diminish and fade
when Gov. Dewey takes to the hustings. But
whether Mr. Dewey will deal with Mr. Truman
and his candidacy, or Just ignore the Demo
cratic candidate and let other Republicans
answer him, remains to be seen. It Is one of
the things that is irritating the Democratic
high command today.
Questions and Answers
A reader can get the answer to any question of
fact by writing The Evening Star Information
Bureau, 310 Eye street N.E.. Washington 2. D C.
Please Inclose three (3) cents for return postage.
BY THE HASKIN SERVICE
Q. What is the largest tree grown from tha
smallest seed?—J. H. T.
A. The largest tree grown from the smallest
seed Is the redwood, the Sequoia sempervirena
of California.
Q. In what countries did revolutions occur
in 1848?—B. T.
A. The “year of revolutions” was marked by1®
political disturbances beginning in Italy with11
a local revolution in Sicily In January, and ex
tending to France. Russia, Poland, Sardinia,
Bavaria. Prussia, Schleswig-Holstein, Denmark.
Hungary and Austria. In England It amounted
to little more than the Chartist demonstration.
Q. What is the derivation of the word "cau
cus”?—E. E. N.
A. The word supposedly comes from “caulk
ers.” mechanics who caulk or stop leaks in
ships, from the fact that the early meetings in
Boston were attended largely by caulkers.
Q. What are the restrictions upon the choice
of names for race horses?—D. G.
A. Naming a race horse is not the simple
process it might seem. The Rules of Racing
require that a name be restricted to 14 letters
and spaces and that it shall not duplicate a
name used during the previous 1£ years, either
on the turf or in the stud. Names of such
famous horses as Man o’ War and others, which,
lu the opinion of the registrar, have earned
equine immortality, never can be used again.
Anv name even hinting at advertising is for
bidden. It is estimated that about nine out
of ten names submitted for approval are re
jected for various reasons.
Q. What is the full name of the painter who- -
is known as "Grandma Moses”?—S. S. i
A. Her full name is Anna May Robertson'
Moses. "Grandma Moses,” who is well known
for her paintings of farm and snow scenes,
lives at Eagle Bridge, N. Y.
Sonnet for Lost Things
Where are they stored.... dear things that
men have lost?
Their dreams—brave galleons like white
clouds that sail
Across youth’s azure sky—at last, storm
tossed, i
They vanished. Must all eager searching
fail
To find them? Where are loves that,
Through the days
Of summer, sped the hours incredibly— *
Have they been lost bn autumn’s wind
swept ways?
There was a word of staunch integrity,
There was a gallant banner carried high,
A faith, a rose, a voice that used to call
With sweet insistence, a soft lullaby
Remembered fondly . . . Have we lost
them all!
We ask the way—nor calculate the cost.,,
Only to find the lovely and the lost!
B. Y. WILLIAMS. .
^ *
? » .
i i