Evening star. [volume], May 02, 1950, Page A-12, Image 12

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

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t: With Sunday Morning Edition.
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A—12 * TUESDAY, May 2, 1950
'Fast' Time and Wasted Time
“Here we go again” said Representative Klein
of New York as the House began its annual
daylight saving debate. This comment sums
the situation up succinctly. It must be the
spirit of spring or something that causes Con
gress to indulge in the annual silliness of going
through the same old routine of passing a one
year daylight saving law for Washington. It
would be common sense, of course, to give the
District permanent authority to invoke “fast”
time as it pleases, but the House seems bent on
ignoring common sense in this purely local
matter.
To make things even more complicated,
Congress this year is repeating the additional
mistake of postponing action until other parts
of the country have changed their clocks. The
lesson of two years ago was of no avail. So now
confusion will exist regarding radio, television
and transportation schedules until the necessary
legislation is enacted. The House-approved bill
now will have to’compete with the sensible Sen
ate-approved measure, which would authorize
the Commissioners to proclaim daylight saving
at any time in the future—without further ac
tion by Congress. But the House vote of yes
terday seems to leave little hope for adoption
this year of anything better than the temporary
legislation. Thus, the prospect is tha^ next year
Congress will have to debate the question all
over again. How can such a waste of time in
an era of important national and international
problems be justified?
Trade and Our 'Paper Curtain'
Congress now has before it a bill whose en
actment would constitute a major advance
toward closing the so-called dollar gap between
our exports and imports—a gap that must be
narrowed down to manageable proportions be
fore the Marshall Plan comes to its scheduled
end in 1952.
Known as the Customs Simplification Act of
1950, the bill—which is pending in the House
Ways and Means Committee—would in effect lift
the “paper curtain” of red tape now hampering
the efforts of our friends abroad to sell us enough
goods to earn the dollars they must have if they
are to pay for all the things they need from us.
In very large part, those dollars are at pres
ent being supplied by us in the form of direct
grants under the Marshall Plan. Hence, if an
other Western crisis is to be averted when the
grants end in 1952, vigorous action must be taken
in the meantime to enable the countries par
ticipating in the European Recovery Program to
come as close as possible to earning their own
way in trade with us. A key part of that action,
according to Economic Co-operation Adminis
trator Paul G. Hoffman and such organizations
as the National Council of American Importers
and the United States Associates of the Interna
tional Chamber of Commerce, must be in the
field of our customs procedures.
As matters stand today, under the Tariff Act
of 1930, foreign exporters and our Importers are
discouraged from doing a lot of business by the
costly delays and uncertainties stemming from
customs red tape and technicalities having to do
with such things as special marking require
ments for certain types of merchandise, the
levying of countervailing duties, the imposition
of penalties even in cases where goods are inad
vertently undervalued, and the time-consuming
and often inequitable process of determining
dutiable values. The proposed bill would amend
the act of 1930 in a way designed to speed up
current procedures, eliminate doubts and permit
both exporters and importers, at the time when
they are negotiating contracts, to have a reason
ably accurate idea of what their final obligations
will be.
There can be no doubt, as one of their top
spokesmen has said, that American importers
have either refrained from buying abroad, or
have limited their purchases, because of the in
hibiting effects of our “antiquated and outmoded
customs procedures.” This same spokesman has
suggested that if the proposed simplifying bill is
enacted, our imports will increase “by at least
$1,000,000,000 a year.”
That estimate may be a bit on the optimistic
side, but there is every reason to believe that the
dollar gap will become considerably more man
ageable if the proposed legislation is adopted.
Congress should act accordingly, and the sooner
the better.
Contempt Citations
The Tydings subcommittee had no real
choice except to prepare contempt citations
against Earl Browder and Frederick Vanderbilt
Field.
Browder’s contempt was open and defiant.
Field sought refuge in a plea of self-incrimina
tion, but for that to be a valid basis for refusing
to answer questions it must be shown that a
truthful reply to a question would in fact be self
incriminatory. A witness may not invoke this plea
as a device to dodge legitimate questions, and
that is what Field apparently was trying to do.
These men are in a position to know a great
deal about the subject of the committee’s inquiry—
Communist activity in the State Department and
other governmental agencies. It is entirely proper
that they should have been questioned as to their
knowledge, if they have any, of the pro-Com
munist activities of persons accused by Senator
McCarthy. They have given a clean bill of health
to Owen Lattimore. But they have refused to say
whether other persons whose names have figured
in the investigation were Communists. Obvtously,
if these people are not Communists the refusal
to answer the questions is damaging to them,
for It invites a contrary inference. If they are
Communists, Messrs. Browder and Field should
be made to say so. There is nothing noble or
heroic in their refusal to testify. For what it is
worth—and it is not worth a great deal—their
testimony should be a part of the record. If they
persist in their refusal to answer they should
be prosecuted, and if they are convicted they
should be sent to jail.
Fugitives From Justice
The law governing the extradition of fugi
tives from justice, which had seemed clear
enough, was clothed with some doubt last year
when the Third Federal Court, sitting in Phila
delphia, released a convicted murderer rather
than send him back to Georgia. The basis for
this action was the history of allegedly brutal
treatment of prisoners in Georgia. The effect of
the action was to liberate a murderer among the
people of Pennsylvania over the objections and
protests of officials of that State.
Now a somewhat similar case has been
decided by the Federal Court of Appeals here. A
man named Lewis A. Johnson was indicted in
Georgia for robbery. He escaped, came to Wash
ington, and was caught here. The Court of
Appeals, dividing two to one, refused to follow
the example of the Third Circuit Court, and or
dered that Johnson be returned to Georgia
for trial.
Judge Prettyman, speaking for the majority,
pointed out that if any of Johnson’s constitu
tional rights have been violated or if they should
be violated, both the State and the Federal
courts in Georgia are open to him. Declaring
that it would be an act of “unwarranted arro
gance” for judges of this court to ascribe to
themselves virtue superior to that of the judges
.of other courts, Judge Prettyman said: “We are
asked to assume that appellant (Johnson) would
not be protected by the courts in Georgia. We
not only decline to make the assumption but we
repudiate the suggestion that we make it. We
will not impugn either the capacity or the
integrity of the State courts of Georgia or of
any.other State. And even if we were to assume,
on the basis of this fugitive’s allegations, that
the State courts are impervious to his assertions,
we would make no such assumption concerning'
the Federal courts having jurisdiction in that
State. Those courts of the United States are as
capable and faithful as are the courts of this or
any other jurisdiction.”
That, to The Star, seems to be the proper
and the sensible view. If it is not followed, the
extradition law is soon going to be in a chaotic
condition.
Judge Bazelon, dissenting, thought that
Johnson’s case should have been heard on its
merits—that his complaints against Georgia
should have been tried before deciding whether
he should be sent back to that State. He agreed
that it is “regrettably true” that his view, if
adopted, might in a case like that before the
Third Circuit Court, result in turning loose a
convicted murderer. Nevertheless, he said, he
was in “thoroughgoing agreement” with one of
the Third Circuit judges, who declared: “ . . .
better it be that a potentially dangerous indi
vidual be set free than that the least degree of
impairment of an individual’s basic constitu
tional rights be permitted.”
What might constitute the “least degree” of
impairment of a constitutional right is an
unsettled question. Presumably, under the Third
Circuit ruling, using chains on prisoners is
enough. But why should not that question be
left to the courts in Georgia? The right of the
public to be protected against murderers and
other dangerous criminals should receive some
consideration. But it receives precious little when
judges say they would rather release a criminal
in a strange city than leave the protection of
his constitutional rights to the courts in his own
State, whose rulings always would be subject to
review by the Supreme Court.
National Convention Center
Washingtonians, accustomed to seeing large
numbers of visitors in the city, ordinarily give
little thought to the Capital’s status as a national
convention center. They should be interested to
know, however, that more conventions are
scheduled for 1950 than in any previous year.
When these assemblages are added to the 6
million other visitors expected here in this
sesquicentennial year, the importance of the
role played each year by the Greater National
Capital Committee becomes apparent. And the
necessity for the adequate financing of the com
mittee’s work also becomes evident.
The committee, just embarking on its annual
fund-raising drive' among local businessmen,
points out that approximately 275 conventions
will meet here this year—an average of more
than five a week. The organizations sponsoring
these meetings in the Nation’s Capital might
have gone elsewhere but for the help which the
local committee gave them in making a choice
of cities. It takes more than the obvious attrac
tions of the Seat of Government to bring large
conventions to Washington. Factors to be con
sidered include availability of halls, hotel
accommodations and transportation facilities.
The Greater National Capital Committee is the
fountainhead of such information for Wash
ington. The Capital has no official bureau to
handle such matters, as most other big cities
have.
That is why the current effort of the com
mittee to raise by private subscription the
$110,000 needed to carry on its mission is entitled
to the prompt and generous support of the
business community. The business interests of
Washington should have no hesitation in sup
porting the committee financially, for they stand
to benefit from the increased trade resulting
from the influx of convention-goers and sight
seers.
Like Father, Like Son
Six years ago, less one day, The Star devoted
a part of this same space to congratulations for
the late Clifford K. Berryman on his achievement
of the Pulitzer prize for cartoons in 1944. That
circumstance alone brings added pleasure to his
friends in the award this year of the same prize
to the talented son, James T. Berryman. For
while the prize is a personal distinction, it carries
with it an added tribute to a unique father-and
son combination so well and affectionately
known to <the Washington community. The
remark most frequently heard yesterday, when
the award was announced, was how pleasing the
news of Jim’s honor would have been to his
father. The Star believes it is pleasing to every
body and could hope to fulfill no mbre pleasant
an obligation than to speak for its readers now
in extending warm congratulations to another
distinguished cartoonist.
A
Mrs. Rose's Adventure in Child-Salvage
By Mary McGrory
AST summer, a national magazine
published a story about a New
Jersey woman who took into her home
a crippled, silent nine-year-old boy who
had a chip on his shoulder as big as
himself.
The story of Jimmy John, and how he
grew, reaped one of the biggest responses
in the history of the magazine. The
vuthor, Anna Perrott Rose, was fairly
snowed under in a storm of applauding
letters. Social workers from all over the
country wrote in to commend as exemp
lary the warm-hearted woman and the
work she had done. In the Poster Home
Section of the District’s Child Welfare
Division, the article was made required
reading for case-workers.
Mrs. Rose's account of Jimmy John,
now expanded into book form to include
the two other children taken in by her
and her husband, has Just been pub
lished by Houghton Mifflin Company
under the title “Room for One More."
The story points up the whole foster
home situation, which war and post-war
years have made increasingly difficult.
Throughout the United States, owing to
the shortage of foster-home care, more
and more children are growing up in
institutions rather than in the family
atmosphere which, experts agree, gives
them the best start in life.
In Washington, where some 800 chil
dren are now living with substitute par
ents in foster homes, there is a desperate
need for such care for hundreds more.
Some of the children are with foster
parents awaiting the mending of their
own broken homes. Others will stay with
their new families until they marry or
set up homes of their own.
But for the rest of the children in
Child Welfare charge, who now are in
institutions, the outlook is not promising.
Although the city government pays fami
lies to take in the children, women
with time for foster care can go out to
work and earn far more with less effort.
Attempts are being made to raise month
ly allowances, but at present these are
only $45 for babies up to three years, $35
for children from three to 14 years, and
$45 for children 14 years and over.
In a city full of apartments, moreover,
few families can meet the official re
quirement of a separate room with cross
ventilation for the foster child. The
housing shortage also militates against
would-'oe foster parents. District officials
sometimes have to send children to
homes 150 miles into Virginia.
“We have plenty of children like
Jimmy John available," says one District
social worker, “even if we can’t always
duplicate a foster mother like Mrs. Rose.”
* *
Unlike many women seeking to add
to their family with “ready-made chil
dren.” Mrs. Rose did not hold out for
curly-haired cherubs with blue eyes. Bhe
had a particular affinity for disturbed
misfits, at their least attractive age—
with unfortunate family histories.
She had “an ear for children,” tons
of common sense, a ready hand for
chastisement. And under her direction
—with liberal coaching from the other
children and the firm backing of her
husband—temperamental Janey, furtive
Joey and savage little Jimmy John blos
somed into solid citizenship. All three
came on a “temporary” basis and stayed
until grown up.
Mrs. Rose’s adventures in child-salvage
have provoked countless questions from
the skeptical. Most people are sure the
Roses’ (own children were jealous. Mrs.
Rose avoided that by carefully nursing
individual aptitudes so that the children
did not directly compete with each other.
Jimmy John, for instance, with an I. Q.
of 45 and an attention span of five min
utes, showed a mechanical bent. It was
a question, said his foster mother, of
whether he would “make locks or pick
locks.” With spankings, lectures and
graphic lessons in good sportsmanship
from Mr. Rose, Jimmy John’s talents
were guided into constructive channels.
Joey, 10, had developed during his
pillar-to-post existence a morbid curi
osity in sex. He required psychiatric
treatment. He also stole, swore and
fought with other children. But when
his “summer at the shore” was over, he
set up a fierce howl to stay with the
family. Mrs. Rose put it to a vote of her
own three children. They voted him in.
Joey, in time, dropped his “disses and
dats,” stopped swaggering and developed
an interest in the piano. So many cuffs
and blows had been aimed his way dur
ing his life that he ducked every time
anyone threw a ball at him. But Joey
ended up as a Navy bomber pilot during
the war in the Pacific.
Janey, at 13, was completely demoral
ized. Neither of her divorced parents
wanted her, and it was hard to convince
her that there was really a place for her
at the Roses’. Once reassured, she got
over her temper tantrums, came to brag
about her mother’s strictness and grew
up to become a good wife and the mother
of three children of her own.
But Jimmy John was Mrs. Rose’s
greatest triumph. A most unprepossess
ing nine-year-old infantile paralysis vic
tim, with heavy leg braces, a hangdog
look and a tendency to bite doctors, he
had had over 10 operations when he
sullenly entered the teeming Rose house
hold. He would not even talk for the
first few days. In desperation, Mrs. Rose
took him out alone in the car and asked
What's ahead for them?
—Star Staff Photo .
him. “Do you drive a car?” Jimmy John
stirred out of his torpor long enough to
say. “Don’t be so damn silly!”
They went on from there, and a long
hard, bumpy road it was. Jimmy John
did not know the alphabet. He insisted
on sleeping in the living room with the
lights on, and he had to be taught to
hold his head up. But so intelligently
and understandingly was he watched
over that he gradually came to trust
people and himself. He joined the Boy
Scouts and sang in the choir. Labori
ously. he became an Eagle Scout. He
was chosen to represent his country at a
Scout jamboree in Europe. He even went
to college. Care of Jimmy John’s crippled
limbs developed in the Roses’ own eldest
son an interest in medicine, and this boy
today is a medical student.
Mrs. Rose keeps insisting that it wasn’t
one-sided, that she and her husband got
as much out of it as the children. The
Roses lost their own first baby, and she
maintains that they were always grateful
to the three for helping to make up the
count. But were the children grateful?
By way of answer to that question,
Mrs. Rose tells how Jimmy John, over
hearing an anxious family council over
finances, drew her aside and said. "If you
need monev. vou can sety me for taxes.’’
Letters to The Star
A pseudonym is permissible only when letter carries
correct name and address of writer. Please be brief.
Mr. Budenz's Oath
Your newspaper, together with others,
has placed great stress of late upon the
testimony of Louis Budenz, before the
Senate subcommittee headed by Senator
Tydings. No one seems to have raised
the question of the validity of the
Budenz testimony.
What assurance has the public, when
Mr. Budenz testifies under oath, that
his oath is now binding? He was a
Catholic and renounced his religion and
then resumed it at his pleasure. He was
an'American citizen but foreswore his
citizenship to take up the alien cause
of communism, and at his pleasure he
renounced his communism and became
a loyal (?) citizen again. Which of his
many oaths of allegiance and renuncia
tion is the real oath? Which is the oath
that he considers binding upon himself
now, and how can the public be sure
that he means it this time?
Saint John.
Long Memory
The Star recently printed an Associ
ated Press dispatch stating that the
Treasury assures the people that they
need have no fear for the safety of their
investments in Government bonds. “Never
in the history of this country has the
Federal Government defaulted on any
of its obligations or paid them at less
than par.” Quite a statement .
Now lets look at the record. In Octo
ber, 1918, I signed up for obligations of
the Federal Government to the extent of
$1,500.1 was definitely not in the investor
class at the time, but was in uniform,
and was willing to pledge the payment
of that amount to help win the war.
I received Federal obligations promis
ing a payment of interest and repayment,
after a term of years, of the principal—
all payable in gold coin of like standards
of weight and fineness as established by
law at the date of issue of this bond. Nor
was I alone in this. Millions of us bought
in varying amounts, to a total of many
billions. What happened?
Some years later on, in 1933 or so,
our good old Uncle said, “Sorry, times
have changed.” And to all who had gold
coin, he said, “Turn it in and with it,
all certificates exchangeable for it.” And
to those to whom he had made the prom
ise to pay in gold, and to those from
whom he had seized their gold, he gave
pretty little pieces of paper with pictures
on them and promises to pay. With
what? More pretty pieces of paper and
more promises.
“But,” said we, “what of your promise
to pay us in gold? “Ha! ha!” said he.
“Gold wears out or gets lost, so I’ll bury
it all in a deep hole in the ground. These
pieces of paper are much cheaper to
replace than gold, and I'll giye you dollar
for dollar of them in place of gold. Of
course, if I should give you gold, which
I won’t, I’d give you only two-thirds as
much anyhow, so you really don't lose.
So, hush your fuss.”
Never defaulted an obligation? Never
paid less than par? Who are you kidding?
“What is truth,” said Pilate. I would
like to see the United States Treasury
answer. Disgusted Citizen.
AVC on Segregated Swimming
The Star’s support of segregated
swimming pools has many weaknesses.
Foremost, the American Veterans’
Committee feels it is highly inconsistent
with a declaration of support for world
democracy to practice discrimination in
the Capital of the leading democracy.
The Star traditionally fails to recognize
Washington as a world capital. Rather
The Star still sees the District as a sleepy
little Southern town whose mores and
local customs are all its own.
Segregated swimming pools—and seg
regated schools, restaurants, and thea
’ters, for that matter—are not only
morally wrong but provide succulent
fodder for the totalitarian propagandists,
who seek to discredit democracy, and
particularly American democracy.
Second, we American veterans of all
races and religions emphasize that it is
a denial of equal opportunity to allow a
white child in Southeast Washington to
enjoy the Anacostia pool but to deny a
Negro child in the same neighborhood
the same opportunity, requiring him to
travel more than five miles to the nearest
pool.
We support Oscar Chapman and con
demn Harry Wender. No facilities must
be denied people on account of their
race or religion.
Taft Feiman,
Chairman, Greater Washington Area
Council, American Veterans’ Com
mittee.
Last Word on Eskimos
May I be permitted to advise your cor
respondent, Roy S. Clarke. jr„ that one
of the sources of information which
prompted my letter to The Star in re
gard to the education of the Eskimos is
Vilhjalmur Stefansson’s article, "Les
sons in Living from the Stone Age”?
Mr. Clarke will please note that Mr.
Stefansson did not get his information
about the Eskimos by going to their
homeland either to "work with,” educate
or sell them something. He got it by go
ing there to study their way of life for
the benefit of science.
J. J. Sperry.
This and That . . .
By Charles E. Tracewell
Is there something phony about “day
light saving”?
Templeton Jones has claimed for years
that there is.
Just what, he has been unable to say.
We saw him the other day, and he im
mediately launched into his favorite
topic.
“But the poll,” we argued, “showed the
people of the District of Columbia want
daylight three-to-one.”
Jones snorted.
“Ballots delivered by policemen with
guns on their hips.” he said. "What else
could you expect?”
* *
“But exactly what is your argument?”
we insisted.
“The thing has long puzzled me,” he
replied. “I am sure there is something
phony in the proposition, but so far I
have never been able to put it into
words.”
“What one is not able to put into
words,” we argued, "is somewhat dubious
in itself.”
“Perhaps,” agreed Jones. (Any agree
ment from Jones is strange, for he is an
argumentative man by nature.)
“It has been freely charged,” he went
on, “that only sportsmen really get any
thing out of daylight saving. I am not
so sure about that, but I believe there
may be a bit of rudimentary truth in
the statement.
‘VThe fact is all of us are sportsmen
.< I
when it comes to doing what we want
to do, whether it is gardening or running
the washing machine, or watching the
television set.
“Gardening comes under the head of
sport in a more true sense because it
must be done outdoors, and usually is
measured by the ability to see what one
is doing.
* *
“What I am on the trail of,” he con
tinued, “is the lost hour.
"Consider this: If normally I start
downtown at 8 in the morning, under
daylight saving I start when the clock
says 8, isn’t that so?
We agreed.
"Actually it is only 7 o’clock, though.”
Again we agreed. (Two agreements in
succession, perhaps, are rare from any
human being nowadays.)
“But suppose I remain adamant,” con
tinued Jones. “Suppose I refuse to set
my clock ahead when the time comes.”
“When what time comes?”
Templeton Jones laughed. “When the
time comes,” he said, "that the cops asked
you, with guns on their hips, to agree to.
“Well, when that time comes all the
clocks go ahead, and 7 o’clock becomes
8 o’clock and so on. Everybody agrees
to fool themselves into getting up early,
in other words.”
“And getting out of work earlier, don't
forget."
“But I,” explained Templeton Jones,
“being the only individualist left, refuse
to touch my clock.
“So I leave for downtown when my
clock says 8 o'clock. When I get down
town the clocks there all say it is, not 9
o’clock, as they ought, but 10 o’clock.
“I lose an hour right there. But when -
I leave in the evening to make the re
turn trip, I leave at 5 o’clock by the
clocks downtown, but when I get home
my honest clock says-”
"Five ojplock!” we said, triumphantly.
“Now what I want to know is what has
become of the hour I should have taken
to wend my way back through traffic all
those miles?
“Why, you haven’t lost an hour, Jones,”
we began earnestly, “because you are
running on your own time, and you have,
neither gained nor lost a thing.”
"That," shrilled Templeton Jones with
ill-concealed triumph, “is exactly what
I claim.
“If I have gained or lost nothing, just
so long as I let my clock alone, nobody
else has gained anything, either. Think
it over. You may get home an hour
earlier, by what your timepiece says, but
actually it is just the same time as it
is by my correct clock.”
“Jones,” we insisted,” you are childish.”
But we still wonder if Templeton Jones
doesn't have something there.
%
The Politico/ Mill
Crime Probe in Senate
Likely to Bog Down
Ktfauvtr to Seek Showdown
After Action on ECA Bill
ly Gould Lincoln
Unless the Administration and Repub
lican warriors In the Senate quiet down,
the chances are that Senator Kefauvrr'a
proposed Investigation Into the so-called
national crime syndicate, or syndicates,
may be completely bogged down. The
Tennessee Senator, however, who Is not
at all happy over the pushing around he
and his resolution for an Investigation
have suffered, is determined to get a
showdown if he can. He is ready, there
fore. to ask unanimous consent to take
up his resolution—for which a substi
tute will be offered—as soon as the ECA
bill has been disposed of. and if that
fails, to move Its consideration.
Senator Lucas of Illinois. Democratic
leader of the Senate, who has been
charged by the Republicans with block
ing the efforts for a crime Inquiry on a
national scale (because as the Republi
cans Insist, the Administration does not
want such an inquiry going on all during
the congressional campaign this year)
insists he is willing to have the resolu
tion come up if it can be disposed of
quickly. He adds, however, that he is
not going to give it precedence over
other "important” measures if the reso
lution will take two or three days' de
bate. He has been informed, he says,
that Senators Donnell of Missouri and
Ferguson of Michigan, both Republi
cans. are prepared to speak "at length”
on the resolution.
“Hours, but Not Days”
Senator Donnell, for his part, admits
that he intends to talk for several hours
when the resolution is taken up—but
not days, and Senator Ferguson will
speak "fully” but not over long.
The situation has become more and
more mixed, because the Senate Inter
state Commerce Committee already has
begun an investigation into bookmaking,
horse and dog race gambling and the
like. Two bills to crack down on the
interstate shipment of betting odds and
news and on slot machines were intro
duced and referred to that committee.
Senator Kefauver’s resolution was in
troduced last January 5. It was reported
to the Senate by the Senate Judiciary
Committee, of which Senator Kefauver
is a member. February 27 and referred to
the Senate Committee on Rules and Ad
ministration—because it authorized the
expenditure of $100,000 to make the in
quiry and that committee must pass on
such expenditures. The Rules and Ad
ministration Committee cut the amount
back to the original proposal of $50,000
and directed that the inquiry close by
July 1, and reported the bill to the Sen
ate March 23.
roncy t ominiurr Acts.
Then the Democratic Policy Committee
of the Senate stepped in and took a hand.
It decided that a special committee to be
appointed by the Vice President, of mem
bers of both the Judiciary and the Inter
state Commerce Committees, was the
proper body to make the inquiry. And
the policy committee's substitute will be
offered.
This aroused the ire of Senators Don
nell and Ferguson, members of the Ju
diciary Committee. Senator Donnell
takes the position that the inquiry should
be made by the regular, standing com
mittee on the Judiciary. Also he is
strongly opposed to having a deadline
set for concluding the investigation—
«July 31.
Between tne two—the Administration
ists led by Senator Lucas, and the Repub
licans, led by Senators Ferguson and
Donnell—the cause of the proposed crime
investigation has suffered. Senator Ke
fauver, for his part, is just as sincerely
interested in making a full investigation
into charges that criminals are using the
facilities of interstate commerce as he
was. The thing, however, is to get some
thing done about it.
Senator Lucas denies flatly that the
Administration is playing politics or seek
ing to prevent a full investigation. "Let
them investigate anything and every
thing they want,’’ he insists. "I am not,
however, going to permit delay of im
portant legislation so that there may be
long, and political debate on the resolu
tion.” He insists there is no attempt to
“cover up” anything.
Questions and Answers
A r.gdcr c»n »*t the answer to gny
question of fact by writing The Evening
Star, Information Bureau, 1200 I street
N.W . Washington B, D. C. Please enclose
3 cents for return postage.
By THE HASKIN SERVICE,
Q. How many blind persons are there
In the world?—I. E. S.
A. It is estimated that there are from
five million to 10 million blind persons
in the world.
Q. What was the age of the youngest
mother on record in the United States?
—D. L. F.
A. The youngest on record were 10
years old. Recently there have been
two instances, one in Delaware and an
other in Alabama.
Q. How many Negro pilots are on
active service with the Air Force and
Navy? How many Negro men fly jet
fighters in these services?—W. R. 8.
A. The Department of Defense says
that as of January 1, 1950. there were
146 Negro pilots on active duty in the
United States Air Force. There is one .
Negro pilot on duty in the United States
Navy. Negro pilots are flying jet type
aircraft throughout various units in the
Air Force. The United States Navy
has no Negro pilots in any of its jet
units.
Restatement
More beautiful than to the impassioned
young.
Who with new-felt exuberance behold
The seeming miracle of budding green.
Is spring to the old;
The old, who have seen some sixty springs
come.
Who have watched trees sixty times
or more
Burgeon with sudden leaves and found
each time
Lovelier than before;
The old, the unsure of step, who canned
walk
The field’s length again or climb the
hill
Steeped in gold warmth, but whose time
faded eyes
Perceive sunlight still;
Whose memories outnumber the wild
flowers
They plucked in fields years and years
ago;
Who wonder if the present spring will be
The last they shall know.
BRENDA HELOISE GREEN.