Evening star. [volume], September 30, 1949, Page A-10, Image 10

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

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With Sunday Morning Edition
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A_10 FRIDAY, September 30, T949
Senseless Medical Feuding
The threatened all-out feud between the
District of Columbia and Virginia over
the issue of medical practice reciprocity
is senseless and should be called off before
it reaches a more serious stage. The public
interest requires the fullest possible degree
of co-operation between health agencies
and practicing physicians of all com
munities in the Washington Metropolitan
Area. The trend should be toward further
co-ordination of the medical facilities of
the area, rather than toward the raising
of barriers.
The dispute between the District and
Virginia over medical reciprocity has been
brought to a head by an exchange of
correspondence between District Health
Officer Ruhland and the Virginia Board
of Medical Examiners in Richmond. Vir
ginia long has had on its statute books—
but has not enforced in the nearby coun
ties—a law requiring out-of-State physi
cians to pay a fifty dollar fee and to meet
certain standards of competency before
they are permitted to practice in the State.
The District law, on the other hand, per
mits the conditional issuance of “border
line certificates” at only one dollar each
to physicians of Virginia and Maryland,
giving them full practice privileges in
Washington without further red tape.
The condition is that the two States must
grant similar privileges to District doctors.
Maryland has granted this reciprocity,
but the existence of the Virginia law has
been a constant threat to District physi
cians. Virginia in the past has blinked
at technical violations and, reciprocally,
the District has continued to extend the
special borderline privileges to doctors in
Arlington, Fairfax, Alexandria and other
nearby Virginia places.
Health Officer Ruhland 'now says he
has received from the Virginia Board of
Medical Examiners a definite opinion that
It has no authority to enter into any reci
procity arrangement with the District. If
this ruling is enforced in the Washington
area, the chief sufferers will be Virginians
—not only doctors across the river, but all
their patients who desire to use the many
and varied hospital and clinic lacilities in
Washington. Both the Arlington and
Alexandria Medical Societies are On record
in favor of reciprocity with the District,
and State Senator Fenwick plans to seek
amendment of the State law so as to
sanction full reciprocal privileges between
doctors of both jurisdictions. The law in
question certainly should be amended at
the next session of the General Assembly,
beginning in January. In the meantime,
State legal authorities would be well ad
vised to review the examining board’s
ruling, with a view to continuing, if legally
possible, the loose reciprocity understand
ing which long has prevailed. It is hard
to understand why it suddenly has become
necessary to abandon an arrangement that
has been working satisfactorily in the past.
China Accuses Moscow
The complaint against Soviet Russia
filed in the General Assembly of the
United Nations by the Chinese Nationalist
government may be evaluated from three
angles—the legal, the equitable and the
practical.
In the first place, there can be no doubt
that Nationalist China is competent to
bring the complaint; because, despite its
precarious situation in China itself, its
Communist opponent has as yet no diplo
matic status, whereas the Nationalist gov
ernment is still internationally recognized
and is a U. N. member in good standing,
having just paid up its dues to forestall
any countermaneuver on that score.
The charges against Moscow are serious.
While not as yet implemented by docu
mentary proofs, which will be submitted
at the hearing, they accuse Soviet Russia
of threatening Chinese independence, en
dangering the peace of the Far East and
violating the Charter of the United Nations.
Although it can be assumed that Moscow
and its satellites in the U. N. will strenu
ously oppose laying the complaint before^
the Assembly, it is almost certain that
China will be accorded the right to present
its case. The allegations certainly fall
within the scope of the Charter provisions
governing submission of charges, while
" previous cases like that of Iran furnish
precedents to strengthen the validity of
China’s demand for a hearing. It thus
seems almost a foregone conclusion that
the issue will be thoroughly aired before
the Assembly, the one uncertainty being
its place on the agenda of the current ses
sion. That might have a certain practical
bearing, because the situation in China
itself may alter radically within the near
future.
Aside from the legal force of the evi
dence which China will disclose, there is
much in equity to bolster its complaint.
There can be little doubt that Moscow has
violated, in spirit if not in the letter, the
terms of the Sino-Soviet treaty of friend
ship and alliance of August 14, 1945,
especially in regard to Manchuria. There
can also be no reasonable doubt that
Moscow has aided the Chinese Communists
in various ways, such as conniving at their
obtainment of Japanese arms and equip
ment in Manchuria after Japan’s capit
ulation. Just how specifically China can
legally establish Soviet aid to the Chinese
Communists on this and other matters
depends on the documentary evidence
which it will submit.
The practical aspect is less determinable.
Even though the Nationalist government
proves its case and gets a favorable reso
lution from the Assembly, nothing tangible
would necessarily follow, because the
Assembly is not empowered to take action,
that prerogative being left to the Security
Council, where Moscow holds an absolute
veto. This, of course, is realized by the
Nationalists, as indicated by the statement
made by their official complainant, Dr.
Tsiang, who told a news conference that
his government was looking for a “moral
and political judgment” from the Assembly
on China’s case. Yet such a judgment
would have considerable practical value.
It would strengthen the Nationalist gov
ernment in lav/ and equity, while a proven
exposure of Moscow’s misconduct and bad
faith would further mobilize the sympathy
of the free world on China’s side and
against Soviet practices in the Far East.
Not Yet Good Enough
In the wake of the Russian atomic report,
there have been several American news
stories to the effect that a special aerial
defense system—including radar, ground
watchers and interceptor planes—has been
operating for some time past in Alaska,
the Pacific Northwest and our North At
lantic area. Although unofficial and
speculative, the stories are undoubtedly
correct up to a point, but it would be a
mistake to conclude from them that the
system is an adequate one.
Actually, of bourse, even if the world
were in a splendidly peaceful state, our
military establishment—for routine train
ing purposes, if for nothing' else—would
have to maintain some form of aerial
watch. As for the one now in operation,
present international conditions obviously
make it a bit more than an ordinary Enter
prise, though there is no good reason to
suppose that it reflects a particularly
alarming situation. What it really reflects
is simple, common-sense prudence in an
age in which our national security demands
that we be on guard at all times*—especially
in the air.
Some of the recent news stories have
suggested that our present watchfulness
in that sense is very good, with radar,
ground observers and interceptors func
tioning day and night, on a twenty-four
hour basis, to keep a sharp lookout on our
Northwest and North Atlantic sky ap
proaches. Just how good the system is,
however, is open to serious question, and
although our military establishmenfr
with security factors in mind—will not
evaluate it publicly, there is reason to
believe that it falls short of what is
needed.
Thus, early this year, Congress heard
expert testimony about the inadequacy of
our radar coverage and the need for a
$161,000,000 program to correct the short
comings. Since then enabling legislation
has been passed authorizing $154,000,000
for new construction and the acquisition
of additional detecting equipment. Up to
now, however, the funds have not been
appropriated. Accordingly, despite the
contrary impression created by some un
official reports, and although the Air Force
is close-mouthed on the subject, it seems
safe to assume that our aerial defense is
still inadequate.
This is a matter that calls for action
without delay. Although it appears un
likely ia* the extreme that Ve are going
to be attacked by bombers in the near*
future—if* ever—we are living in a period
that makes it imperative for us to develop
the best possible self-protection. To that
end, nothing should be left undone now
for want of congressional appropriations.
Certainly, it is an elementary fact of
national security that the stronger we
make ourselves in the air—defensively as
well as offensively—the less chance there
will be of our suffering devastation from
the skies on our own home grounds.
And how does the reorganized Supreme
Court stand on fall housecleaning, in a
year in which there already has been
spring housecleaning? Double jeopardy,
isn’t it?
A “ball of fire” seen over Republican
Maine should arouse great curiosity among
G. O. P. scouts. Long on the trail of such
a phenomenon, they may wish to know
more.
In boldly defying the great Petrillo, an
actor’s union falls back on a first fact
of life as seen in any schoolyard: If he’s
a bully, he can be bulldozed.
Lost Mozart Relics
Some American GI unwittingly may
have in his possession the gold watch and
the gold ring presented to Mozart by the
Empress Maria Theresa. These precious
relics of the great composer disappeared
from a safe hidden in a salt mine near
Salzburg during the liberation period of
1945. They may have been taken by a
soldier from the United States who even
now does not know what they are.
In the hope that worldwide publicity
will bring the lost articles to light, Dr.
Carlton Smith, director of the National
Arts Foundation of New York, has issued
a general appeal to veterans. The watch/
and the ring, he says, had been placed in
a strongbox which once had belonged on
a ship, and th§ box had been placed In
the mine to avoid possible destruction in
the bombing of Austrian cities which then
was in progress.
Other Mozart items which have disap
peared Include the original manuscript of
“The Magic Flute,” last seen in the Prus
sian State Library in Berlin in association
with the “Ninth Symphony,” by Beethoven;
colored drawings for the costumes of the
characters in the opera; the composer’s
letters to his father and his wife; certain
silhouettes and a number of niiscellaneous
papers. These examples of Mozartiana
probably would be Identified immediately
by anybody with musical Intelligence
enough to pick them up. If they still
exist, it is conceivable that they are in
the hands of a person who appreciates
them and therefore will guard them against
further harm and eventually send them
back.
The watch and the ring, however, might
not be connected with Mozart. A veteran
could have them without knowing defi
nitely what they are. It is Ipr. Smith’s
belief that any American who has them
will be glad to return them, once he is
informed of their character aa relics of
one of the noblest careers In the history
of music. He is prepared to buy the articles
for restoration to the Mozarteum at Salz
burg. All the possessor then need do is
to communicate with him.
Mozart, gentlest of the supreme trinity
of composers, deserved well of the world.
It would be a proper recognition of his
merit if the gifts which he received from
the Empress at Schoenbrunn were regarded
as a trust by humanity at large.
War of Nerves
If countless citizens are tense these days
as they eagerly read the newspapers or
listen to the radio, it is not because they
are panicky over the big explosion in
Russia. There is some evidence of panic*
in widely scattered places—Boston and
Saint Louis, to be specific—but it is over
what happened to their pennant-contend
ing ball teams here and in Pittsburgh. At
Griffith Stadium it was a guided-missile
barrage delivered by Ray Scarborough that
jolted the Red Sox out of first place and
into a tie with the New York Yankees
for the American League championship,
while yesterday a Pirate bombardment in
Pittsburgh knocked the Cardinals out of
the lead in the equally tight National
League race. With Brooklyn winning a
double-header from the Boston Braves, the
Cards found themselves half a game behind
the Dodgers.
This is the kind of thing that keeps the
nerves of sports fans on edge and splashes
baseball headlines across the sports pages
when football is vying foj attention. The
fact that our lowly Senators are playing
a fateful role in the American League
decision adds to the local interest. Ap
parently Joe Kuhel’s boys save their efforts
until the last few days of the season, when
they like to assume the role of giant
killers. It was behind Scarborough, re
member, that they knocked the Red Sox
out of last year’s race, and they looked
Wednesday night as if they were bent on
repeating. Ordinarily Joe McCarthy would
be glad to get away from here after today’s
final game with the Nats, but he cannot
go home. He hasv to go right into the camp
of the enemy for a decisive two-game series
at Yankee Stadium tomorrow and Sunday.
No wonder Joe looked so downcast in that
dugout picture yesterday. Fortunately for
■ the Sox, the Yankees are badly crippled,
with even Joe Di Maggio ailing.
So there is no telling what the outcome
will be—and that goes for both leagues.
It is possible that, for the first time in
history, both pennant races will end in
ties. That would require a “sudden death”
playoff game in the American League and
a three-game “little world series” in the
National. The boys in the Kremlin picked
a bad time for their explosion. They might
just as well have yelled "Boo!"
In view of the uncertainty as to whether
Chiang got away with $138,000,000 or some
other sum, wouldn’t it help just to ascer
tain what it is 5 per cent of?
This and That
By Charles E. Tracewell
Wheelbarrow chorus In your yard these
days? "
It must be the grackles, long, sleek fel
lows In purple and black, with mean yellow
eyes.
The odd noise they make in chorus, as 25
to 100 swoop down on the lawn, is one of
nature’s little jokes.
The blackbirds, of course, do not realise
that they are making/a noise to imitatton of
an instrument or semivehible of mankind. *
They are just calling to each other.
“Come, brother, here is food!”
* * * *
The rush of the grackle wings, the odd
cries, the sight of them, combine to make a
pleasant early autumn picture.
Some of them will stay around, but their
absence would be no loss, for they cannot
be called desirable.
Usually they get along well enough with
other species at a bird-feeding place.
It is in spring that they cause so much
disaster by killing fledgling birds in the nests.
These big fellows, with their mean eyes,
are just as ruthless as they look. They
think nothing at all of biting off the head of
a baby cardinal, or tearing the legs off its
brothers and sisters.
Yet the grackle must be accepted in the
picture along with the rest.
It is an interesting bird, and a capable
one, but lacks most of the humor and clumsy
good will of the starling.
In the home yard there is little evidence
; of the ill will toward it by other birds of
which we are told so much in the books.
T*he books solemnly state that robins,
thrushes, bluebirds and sparrows may often
be seen “mobbing him with utmost fury.”
It would be, indeed, a picture, to see a wood
thrush "mobbing” any other bird, even with
the aid of robins.
The intelligent, gentle thrush does not go
in for “mobbing” of any sort. It minds its
business, and lets other birds mind theirs,
One of the books also states that the
grackle’s “cold and cruel yellow eye strongly
suggests the birds’ arch enemy, the cat.”
There you have about as many misstate
ments as can be packed into so few words.
The grackle eye is far colder and meaner
than the eye of any cat that ever lived. This
comes about because it is nearer to the
reptile, of course. And then the cat cannot
be said to be the arch enemy of birds, except
in an academic sense. Actually, many cats
pay little or no attention to birds. Cat haters
like to say that each cat catches so many
birds a year, but that is Just so much hokum.
/Some cats seldom if ever catch birds. Who
was it who killed off—and ate ell the mil
lions and millions of passenger pigeons?
Well, it wasn’t the cats, but a two-legged
animal known as man.
Grackles belong to the bird family called
Icteridae.
In the group are such different birds as
the bobolink, cowbird, meadowlark, orchard
oriole, Baltimore oriole and the grackles.
Most of* them are walkers.
Of the whole group, the Baltimore oriole
is most people’s favorite.
The Western meadowlark, with its sweet
warbling song, belongs, too,
One of the most Interesting of all is the
cowbird. It comes often to nearby Maryland
and Virginia gardens, and gets along well
with the other birds. The males are rather
pretty.
The fact that the female lays her egg in
the nest of other birds scarce can mitigate
against the male, the only bird with black
body and brown head. He is sleek, unassum
ing, and must do a great deal of good in the
world as an Insect catcher. He does not, as
legend has it, eat Insects off the cows, but
simply those the cow hoofs kick up.
The cowbird eats grasshoppers, boll weevils
and cutworms. It does no harm to cultivated
fruits. It will eat weed seeds, and occasion
ally some grain, but does little harm, since
most of what it eats is waste grain.
All in all, the male cowbird is an asset.
The female would be, too, since her eating
habits are the same if it were not for her
one bad habit of compelling other bird
mothers to bring up her young.
Letters to The Star
Believes Too Many Ex-Officers
Slow Up Veterans’ Administration Work
To the Editor of the Star.
May I add my criticism to that of many
others regarding the manner in which busi
ness is conducted in the Veterans’ Admin
istration?
I attend summer school in another city.
During the past four years the Washington
regional office of the VA has only once been
able to transfer my records to the city in
which the university I attended is located in
less than six weeks.
Last year it was January 1 before I re
ceived my subsistence for a summer term
ending the second week in August. It is now
September 26 and I have not yet received
subsistence for a school term which ended
August 12.
I am afraid, too many ex-officers in the
Armed Forces were given jobs in the Veter
ans’ Administration. My experience in the
Navy was that most officers depended on
enlisted personnel to get all the work done.
Perhaps they have not been able to readjust
to a situation in which they must do the
work themselves.
DISGUSTED VETERAN.
Repeats Complaints Against Attitude
Of Franco-Spain Toward Non-Catholics.
To tho Editor of the Star:
As much as Senator Taft may be admired
for his fearlessness, I am not quite so sure
that I agree with the Senator’s desire to
have "new ties with Spain to boost defense
against Reds." I’ll grant that it is perfectly
logical to have another partner in the North
Atlantic defenses against any eventuality,
but not until Spain does a right-about-face
on some other vital questions.
Secretary of State Acheson’s decision not
to resume diplomatic relations with Spain
is a type of inaction which I applaud
heartily.
Spain off and on during the course of
many decades has been liberal in her treat
ment of minority faiths. But since this land
and her rulers were forced by her majority
religious counselors' to deprive her citizens
of certain fundamental rights in the exer
cise of civil and religious privileges, Franco’s
victory has been in fact a victory of Vatican
City state diplomacy.
Minorities in Spain are subservient; in
the exercise of their dissident religious faiths
they have had to go underground. They
baptize their faithful in remote mountain
streams, with lookouts on guard to warn
of approaching gendarmes. Protestant Bibles
may not be sold in bookstores. Young peo
ple cannot have meetings of their own in
the faith they profess. Ministers may not
conduct public meetings or evangelistic ef
forts to secure adherents to any faith, other
than the Roman Catholic religion. In this
case civil government is run by,the church.
Plainly, there is a union of church and
state of such a strict nature in Spain that
there hardly is any other country in the
world noted for its comparable lack of
liberality toward its minority citizens. If a
Protestant wants to be married in Spain,
he faces almost unsurmountable difficulties,
because the Catholic Church regulates the
rite. If a person has the misfortune of dying
a Protestant in Spain, he cannot be buried
with rites of his faith in the regular ceme
teries under church supervision. His friends
have to resort to a bootleg funeral service
in the dead of night.
Now Spain is capitalizing on the new fears
in the Western World over the knowledge
that Russia has the atomic bomb. But since
the political angle does not Interest this
correspondent, rather what Spain’s attitude
will be toward respecting the rights and
privileges of her minorities, I register this
strong protest against our Government fall
ing into this clever maneuver on the part
of Spain to bargain away the souls of men
for a few isotropes of uranium.
CHARLES ALLEN RENTFRO.
Politicians Bracketed With Kidnapers
In Opposition to Federal Aid for Schools
To the Editor of the Star:
On the morning of the Fourth of July, 75
years ago, Charley Ross, aged 6 years, was
walking along the street in Germantown, Pa.
Two men with a horse and buggy stopped
and told Charley to get in and they would
buy him some firecrackers. Charley got into
the buggy and never was seen again.
The kidnapers are still here; ttiey pose as
statesmen; they are offering Federal funds
to school teachers and school boards. Ex
ceedingly generous of them! The school
teachers and school boards see only the
money and they are very willing to get into
the Federal buggy.
We cannot blame Charley Ross for being
gullible. The public school people are older
and ought to know better, but do they?
They should know that this would be the
end of our cherished home rule, in the mat
ter of public schools. Of course, the politi
cians say they would not interfere with local
control. Experience has shown that the
predictions of politicians are not always
reliable.
Keep the Federal Government out of our
schools. They have taken our money, but
they shall not take our children.
JAMES EMERY BROOKS.
Glen Ridge, N. J.
Says Freedom Is Not Expanded
By Encouraging Drones
To tbe editor of the Star:
President Truman is quoted as saying:
“Government expands freedom when it aims
at security for every individual.” But to
aim to give the same security to those who
refuse to work as to those who do work is
merely to insure the breeding of a large class
of worthless drones. MONITOR.
Soliloquy and Salute
For Capt. Crommelin -
To the Editor of the Star:
The subject of this letter is not the
controversy raging around Capt. John
Crommelin—for surely ‘‘only fools rush fh
where angels fear to tread”—and, as I
am utterly dependent upon the wisdom
and guidance of those in charge of our
safekeeping, my prayers surround them
every day and therein lies my hope.
Unfortunately, -however—having a con
science not unlike Capt. Crommelin’s con
science—I am forced to give it clearance.
Let’s call this “My Soliloquy concerning
John Crommelin the man”:
“When John Crommelin speaks it is weil
to listen”—for these reasons: His integrity
is unimpeachable. His war record is untar
nished. I imagine he is weary, and would
like to accept rest and pqace with his
family and I have no doubt they feel it is
their just due after his long, harrowing
experiences.
The consummation of a long naval career
with its just reward is very near completion,
because John Crommelin could not accept the
easy way out and lull his peculiar kind of
conscience. He has catapulted himself and
family into a seething cauldron.
His choice is that of an honorable man.
May God give him strength to survive the
ordeal.
A salute to Capt. John Crommelin.
MARGUERITE M. HAMILTON.
8oviet Union Bigger and Stronger
Than We Are, He Suggests
To tbe Editor of the Star:
Why all this yapping about the atom
bomb here and the atom-bomb there? At
the end of World War L the Germans de
veloped poison gas and used it effectively
against the Allies. Between World War I
and World War H it was outlawed. During
World War n poison gas was only used in
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.
concentration camps in German dominated
areas, but not in actual warfare.
America is not the only country with
physicists developing atomic energy. When
I was in high school in Vienna (1930-1934),
I studied the theoretical part on the split
ting of the atom and its scientific use.
Now that the world knows that the USSR
also has developed the A-bomb, some nations
propagandize the fact that they can pro
duce it on a larger scale. These same na
tions likewise insist that their planes are
superior in number and power and endur
ance to those of the Russians. But what
actually do we know of Russian air power?
Not any more than the Russians want us to
know about it!
In and during the Russo-Bessarabian war
(Northeastern Romania) in the mid-30s the
Russians used what the German and Aus
trian newspapers called “fliegende festun
gen” (flying castles or fortresses), with
which the Russian forces dropped y2-ton
tanks by parachute. These planes had very
strong armor and were found to be impreg
nable by the shells of Romanian anti-air
craft.
What factual knowledge do we possess
that the Russians today do not have more
and larger planes than the United States
has at this time?
It is easy to talk about what we ought to
have and what we may have. But doesn’t it
seem unwise just now to try to bluff another
nation more than twice our area and witlra'
population 33 per cent higher than ours?
If we stop stressing our manufacture of
planes and atomic energy for use in war, I
am sure that the other nations will do like
wise. Only through emphasizing peace and
peaceful relations can peace be preserved in
this world. WILLIAM OSTEN. "
Sounds Something Like “Gulliver’s Travels,”
This Description of Clearing Assembly Hall
To the Editor ol the 8t«r:
Listen, my children, and you shall hear of
Operations Assembly in a school so over
crowded the children attend in relays. At
the assembly period, however, all shifts are
present and accounted for.
Now in the average school, circa 1949,
where overcrowding is no more than 10 or
20 per cent and all the eager youth who
would drink of the Pierian spring can be
jammed into the classrooms, the auditorium
is used only for assemblies. So when an as
sembly is called, the students assemble, and
that's that. Not so in School Relay.
In School Relay, it goes like this: The
cadet instructor wants an assembly of boys.
He asks the assembly chairman for a date.
She gives him a date, and then her troubles
begin.
She must clear the assembly hall. Six
sections take refuge there during the home
room period. She cannot send them to
vacant rooms. If there were any such speci
men at School Relay, the poor little assembly
hall sections would not have been assembly
hall sections in the first place. And no
rooms will be vacated by this assembly
because only boys go, and no section is
composed entirely of boys, the sun of con
temporary pedagogical philosophy beaming
warmly on co-education for the nonce! And
she cannot send the dispossessed sections
to the gym because the gym, too, is a home
room for four or five sections, nor to the
Library because—yes. you guessed it—that
also shelters hQmeroqm sections.
So the assembly sections must be split
up so that the girls are sent to various
sections in the same numbers as boys are
taken from these sections. Each homeroom
teacher of an assembly section must be
notified where her girls are to go. Each
homeroom teacher Who is Ju receive girls
must likewise be so notified To effect all
this notification, the assembly chairman
must take her pen In hand to frame notes
to 22 of her co-workers.
Twenty-two notes must be written just
to clear the hall so that an assembly can
be held! THE CHAIRMAN.
Would Stimulate Good English ’S
With “Involved Treatments”
To the Editor of the Stax:
I don’t know of anything that is more
badly needed than precise and concise
English. Almost everything we read, from
directions on a box of cereal to scientific
treatises, is such a conglomeration of unco
ordinated, unnecessary words and ideas, that
people are forced to waste a great deal of
time getting the information needed. Gov
ernment directives and newspapers are
especially bad.
Instead of spending so much time in
English classes on the dear, dead classics of
the past, it would be much more practical
to teach students more efficient use of
English for quick and easy assimilation,
geared to our stepped-up living. Especially
involved treatments of various subjects
should be given to students to test their
cleverness in bringing this about. It would
be an excellent thing if schools and PTA
groups sponsored a campaign toward this
end. * _ I- M.
Helping Other Nations to Develop
Seems to Result in Trouble
To the Bditor of the 8t*r:
President Truman recently stated that the
road to peace was for us to jump in and
help the backward nations of the world to
develop themselves. However, the results of
two of our major experiments along that
line in the past do not support the Presi
dent’s opinion.
One of our first major experiments in
helping backward nations to develop them
selves was with Japan. In 1852 we virtu
ally forced our way into backward, isola
tionist Vapan and started her on the road
to self-development. Well, our reward for
this noble bit of work was the almost com
plete destruction of our Pacific fleet at Pearl
Harbor in 1941.
Another of our major experiments was
with Russia. In either the late 1920s or early
1930s we sent all kinds of engineers and
technical experts to Russia to show the poor,
downtrodden Bolsheviks how to develop
themselves. Well, the situation that now
exists between Russia and ourselves does not
exactly look as though it will culminate in
a love feast. J. J* SPERRY.
Agrees With Contention
That Green Light Means Danger
To the gditor of The St»r:
There is a short article in the October
Reader’s Digest headed: “Green Lights
Mean Danger.” It says that: “The danger
ratio at light-controlled crossings, in terms
of deaths, was 8.65 times higher than at
unmarked and unguarded crossings in the
city.” (Wilmington, Del.)
I submit that the present traffic control
signals an senseless. For instance, drivers
make left hand turns in the face of on
coming traffic. Could any traffic man
ager think of a more brainless rule than
that?
A red light would stop traffic, and one
could make a left hand {turn in safety.
Now when we make a left hand turn in
front of a green light we have to go di
rectly toward a red light, which should
always be wrong. The former trafflo man
ager of the District, Mr. Van Duzer, told
me he agreed with me exactly upon this
point.
H. B. BRADFORD.
100-Acre Test Planned
With Irradiated Peanuts
Seed Plants for North Carolina Farm
Made Radioactive at Oak Ridge
By Thomas R. Henry
OAK RIDGE, Tenn.—Nearly 100 acres of
Irradiated peanuts will be grown next year
by the North Carolina State Agricultural
College.
This will be the biggest experiment yet
tried to determine the genetic effects of ex
ploding isotopes on future generations. The
seed peanuts, which will be planted on the
coastal plain experimental farm near Rocky
Mount under the direction of Dr. Walton C.
Gregory under an Atomic Energy Commis
sion contract, already have been made radio
active by Oak Ridge scientists. It is all part
of a large-scale peanut breeding project
which Dr. Gregory has carried on for several
years.
The peanut plant is subject to a devastat
ing disease called leaf spot. It causes the
leaves to fall from the vines, ruins their
value as fodder and seriously cuts down the
peanut crop itself. It long has been hoped
that this would be overcome by a “mutation,”
the appearance of a new hereditary line of
peanuts which would be resistant to the
fungus.
Way New Species Arise.
Mutations appear constantly among all
living things. That is how new species arise
in the world. For the most part, however,
they are bad. They usually fail to survive
because the changes usually are in the line
of defects which render the plant or animal
less able to carry on the struggle for
existence.
Dr. Gregory’s idea is to increase the num
ber of these mutations among his peanuts
many fold. It is well known that irradiation
of germ plasm—in the case of plants the
seeds—greatly increases the mutation rate
and the number of freaks. But the more of
such changes there are the greater the like
lihood that a few will prove beneficial and
that one or more will have a hereditary
resistance to leaf spot.
The peanut, uax Kiage geneticists point
out, is a particularly difficult plant with
which to work since it has four sets of
chromosomes, the carriers of heredity,
instead of the two sets which are common
to most living things, including man.
It is expected that the first generation at
Rocky Mount will prove little. Dr. Gregory
will save all the seedlings, many of which
may appear worthless, and breed and cross
breed them. Some of those with the worst
appearance may have the essential anti
disease heredity and they can be used
to breed it into better-producing stock.
Breeding experiments have been in prog
ress for the past 10 years, but without the
aid of radioactivity to smash up the bonds
of heredity. In the course of this work
some of the wild ancestors of the peanut
have been secured from South America
where, it now .seems certain, the crop origi
nated. These ancestors still grow wild in
the Chaco jungles.
Plant Carried Over World.
The plant was introduced northward by
the Indians long before the arrival of the
first white men. It was picked up early by
Portuguese mariners and carried over the
world. Wild ancestors have failed to impart
disease resistance when bred with cultivated
varieties.
Naturally, the North Carolina experiment
is looked on by Atomic Energy Commission
scientists as being of much more significance
than simply for its possible effects on pea
nuts, per se. The peanut crop is of growing
value, but the results may show the way
to extending the mass mutation work to all
major crops. There is a constant struggle
between cultivated plants of all kinds and
disease. It may be possible to induce thou
sands of mutations in such crops as wheat
and corn in the hope that a few of them
will show high resistance to specific diseases.
Several years will be required before much
information of value can be expected from
the North Carolina experiments.
Questions and Answers
A reader can get the answer to any question
of fact by writing The Evening Star Information
Bureau. 316 Eye st. n.e., Washington 2, D. C.
Please inclose 3 cents for return postage.
By THE HASKIN SERVICE.
Q. Is there any scientific basis in the
belief that violent storms are likely to occur
at the September equinox?—E. J. M.
A. The Weather Bureau says that the
notion is erroneous. It is uncertain how and
when the idea started, but it goes back at
least to 1748. Rainy weather occurs at the
equinoxes, just as it does at any time of the
year, depending on the atmospheric condi
tions; but no physical reason exists why the
sun’s crossing the equator should be asso
ciated with storms. The reason for a belief
in an equinoctial storm is probably the fact
that about this time of year the first storms
of the winter type, with steadily falling pre
cipitation, make their appearance. They
stand in sharp contrast to the summer type
with the sultry weather and thundershowers.
Storms of the winter type can occur, how
ever, during any month of the summer.
Q. Why is it that a spider can freely walk
and run over its own web when practically
all other insects are immediately helplessly
entangled the instant they touch it?—•
W. C. L.
A. The Bureau of Entomology and Plaxft
Quarantine says that a spider web consists
of two different types of strands. One type
is composed of a viscid or sticky substance
or at least has droplets of a sticky secretion
on it. The other is composed of a nonelastic
and nonadhesive silk. In moving about the
web the spider customarily avoids the sticky
strands and in running across the web
touches the strands of nonadhesive silk.
Q. What is the color of the majority of
metals?—M. M.
A. Most metals are of a grayish color,
varying from blue gray to the white color of
silver. Exceptions are gold and copper.
Q. What President said that the Govern
ment should not support the people?—R. R.
A. In vetoing the Texas Seed Bill. Febru
ary 16, 1887, Grover Cleveland said. “Though
the people support the Government, the
Government should not support the people.”
Q. What is the origin of the saying “forty
winks”?—I. J. C.
A. “.Tom and Jerry," Chapter 3, by Pierce
Egan, is the source of the phrase “forty
winks.” The book was published in 1828.
Q. Where is Ernie Pyle buried?—M. J. S.
A. Correspondent Ernie Pyle is buried in
the newly dedicated National Cemetery of
the Pacific, near Honolulu, Hawaii. Ap
proximately 12,000 men who served in the
Pacific area in World War n are buried
there. _
Autumnal
Now dogwood sheds bright drops of blood
Where died its chalices of snow.
Summer’s green tide has passed its flood
And turns to go.
Faded as night-stars Jade when day
Resumes his station in the sky, \
Dead asters lean in disarray
Of dreams gone by.
Between the mountains, blue and vast,
Rude winds invade a little glen
Where blossomed joy that, having passed,
Comes not again.
INEZ BARCLAY KIRBY.