Evening star. [volume], November 21, 1950, Page A-14, Image 14

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
tfye gening jfe
With Sunday Morning Edition
WASHINGTON, P. C,
Published by
The Evening Star Newspaper Company.
SAMUEL H. KAUFFMANN, President
B. M. McKELWAY, Editor.
MAIN OFFICE: 11th St. and Penrwy Ivan la Ava.
NEW YORK OFFICE: 420 Uxington Ava.
CHICAGO OFFICE: 435 North Michigan Ava.
Delivered by Carrier.
Evening and Sunday. Evening Sunday
Monthly _1.50* Monthly .1.10* Monthly _45c
Weakly .35< Weakly _25c Weekly _10c
*10c additional for Night Final Edition.
Rates by Mail—Payable in Advance.
Anywhere In United State*
Evening and Sunday. Evening Sunday
1 year -18.00 1 year .11.50 1 year ..7.50
4 month* - 9.30 6 month* .... 6.00 6 month* _...4.00
1 month ...— 1.60 1 month _1.10 1 month __70c
Telephone STerling 5000
Entered at the Pott Office, Wathington, 0. C
ee eecond-cla** mail matter.
- ' >■ ■ -.-.
Member'of the Associated Press.
The Auociated Prate i» entitled exclutively to the ute far
(•publication of all the local newt printed in thlt newtpaper a*
well ae all A. P. newt ditpatche*.
A—14 TUESDAY, November 31, 1950
Old Plans and New ‘
While making new plans for Washington’s
future development, the National Capital Park
and Planning Commission has given proper at
tention to the problem of completing long
established programs. The summary of the com
mission’s “Comprehensive Plan ^or the National
Capital and Its Environs” makes it plain that
the agency has not given up hope of clearing the
Mall of temporary buildings left over from two
World Wars. Nor have the original plans for com
pletion of the Federal Northwest Quadrangle and
for Federal buildings along East Capitol Street
been abandoned.
The razing of all temporary construction
now marring the Mall is assigned Importance
second only to decentralization in the recom
mended “next steps” listed in the commission’s
report. The desirability of removing these un
sightly buildings as soon as practicable is stressed
several times in the report. There seems to be no
prospect of early removal, now that another war
emergency is bringing additional employes to
Washington. But it is a good idea to keep this
issue alive, so that In the planning of new struc
tures inside or outside the District accommoda
tions will be provided for employes now housed
in the “tempos.”
Under the master plan, new Federal build
ings which require a central location will be
placed In remaining sites of the area west of 21st
Street and north of Constitution Avenue, or
i along East Capitol Street. This will be in line
with the previous “master plan,” which brought
the Federal Triangle into being, cleared the Mall
as a central axis for future development and
provided for a grand avenue of public buildings
extending eastward from the Capitol to the Ana
costia River. The East Capitol Plaza with the
Armory and proposed stadium is a part of this
program.
The decentralization movement, which must
await legislation, will be coincident with the
central development. Buildings which, for rea
sons of traffic relief or security, should be placed
beyond the District boundaries will be planned as
Federal centers, spotted around Washington at
varying distances from the city. But the basic
plan for the orderly growth of the Nation’s Cap
ital along the Mall-East Capitol axis will be re
tained. That is a sound, non-hysterical approach
to the planning of the city of 2 million inhab
itants envisioned by the commission in its report.
Hiring for the Emergency
The executive order on emergency civil service
hiring will remove a serious handicap under
which the Defense Department has labored in
trying to recruit employes for war service. Up
till now the defense agencies have been the only
Federal offices operating on a temporary hiring
basis. Yet nondefense departments have been
under no such restrictions. Applicants for jobs
naturally prefer appointments that are perma
nent to those of indefinite tenure.
The Civil Service Commission now has been
directed to apply the Indefinite appointment sys
tem to the entire Federal establishment. Even
grade promotions, transfers and reinstatements
will be of temporary nature as long as the war
emergency continues, instead of only until July 1,
as provided in the Whitten rider on the appro
priation bill. A few exceptions to the general
rule will be allowed in extraordinary cases—as
when a key man for a special job cannot be
obtained without promise of permanent employ
ment.
Of particular importance is the requirement
that every possible effort be made to use estab
lished civil service procedures in filling vacancies,
however temporary the position. Defense agen
cies should have—and will be given—latitude
enough to discard civil service eligibility rules
when applicants are few and competitive tests
are impracticable. But this latitude should be
held under careful restraint, in view of past evi
dence of a tendency by some personnel recruiters
to throw off all civil service controls.
The new order will provide a much-needed
Stimulant for interagency shifting of personnel.
The commission now will be able to guarantee
transferred workers against loss of civil service,
status or other rights. Without such assurance,
permanent employes were reluctant to seek trans
fer to defense agencies where their services were
more urgently needed. Nondefense departments
can contribute substantially to the war effort by
Interposing no obstacles to the transfer of em
ployes who can be spared.
Frustrating Justice by Delay
However justified the court may have been
In granting 14 continuances in a certain drunken
driving case, the fact remains that this sort of
delayed justice is bad for law enforcement. It
is frustrating for witnesses, handicaps the prose
cution and undermines public confidence in the
judicial process.
The case which aroused the concern of
Assistant Corporation Counsel Clark King has
been hanging fire in Municipal Court for more
than a year. It involved a man who has a
particularly glaring traffic record, with a previ
ous fine for drunken driving against him and a
collateral forfeiture on a charge of failing to
report an accident. On October 21, 1949, he
was arrested again on a drunken driving charge
by a policeman who said he saw his car weaving
from one side of the street to the other. The
officer said the man “passed out” a few minutes
after being placed in a cell. Two policemen and
a former policeman, summoned as prosecution
witnesses, have appeared in court 14 times, only
to be told to return later.
Unfortunately, the court record of the con
tinuances is not complete. There are notations
of five postponements at the request of the
defense, one because the calendar was too
crowded and the remainder of the record is
blank. If there are any further continuances
of this ease, the cause should be noted on the
record for all to see. Chief Judge Barse, a
stanch advocate of speedy Justice, is said to be
looking into the much-delayed case to find
what has stalled the machinery of justice so
many times. It is to be hoped that he can find
some way of expediting the trial of such serious
cases.
The Kremlin and Peace
The Soviet Union has received another well
deserved rebuff in the General Assembly’s over
whelming rejection of Foreign Minister Vishin
sky’s so-called plan for peace. Considering the
nature of that plan, the Assembly could hardly
have done otherwise without stultifying itself
and making the free world look like a timid soul
yielding meekly to the threatful demands of the
Kremlin.
For the Soviet plan—as set forth by Mr.
Vishinsky in a speech full of bristling and abusive
language—in effect called upon the United Na
tions to capitulate to Moscow. Thus, it demanded
among other things (1) that the U. N. imme
diately admit Red China into membership, (2)
that the General Assembly reverse its recent
decision not to let the Russian veto prevent ac
tion against aggression, and (3) that atomic
weapons be outlawed on an unconditional basis—
without the prior establishment of an effective
system of International control and inspection.
Presented on a take-it-or-leave-it basis, as
conditions that would have to be met before the
Soviet Union would co-operate in a world peace
program, these demands—all old ones, and all
.previously either ignored or formally rejected by
the great majority—amounted to nothing but an
other attempt to browbeat the United Nations into
bowing to the Kremlin’s will. In offering them,
Mr. Vishinsky himself must have been well aware
that their acceptance was out of the question, the
more so because of the bulldozing way in which
he placed them before the Assembly. Indeed,
even his demand regarding Red China—whose
admission many members are inclined to favor—
was couched in language intemperate enough to
seem deliberately calculated to insure rejection.
As a matter of fact, Mr. Vishinsky’s harsh un
reasonableness in presenting the Soviet program,
his completely uncompromising spirit, makes it
difficult to believe that the Kremlin has the
slightest desire to co-operate in any kind of peace
except a peace organized strictly in accord with
its own terms. Such a peace—which would out
law the atom, for example, without setting up
powerful control guarantees—would be a mockery
leaving the free nations gravely exposed to con
quest on a one-by-one basis. The Russians’ bel
ligerent insistence on it seems just a bit ominous;
it indicates that they may already have made
up their minds to let events drift toward an all
out global war unless everybody quails before
them and permits them to have their own way.
By way of contrast, all the other members
of the United Nations—all but the Soviet bloc—
have made clear, in rejecting the Vishinsky de
mands, that they really want genuine co-opera
tion for a genuine peace. To that end, they have
passed a resolution urging special efforts to see
what if anything can be accomplished through
Secretary General Trygve Lie’s proposed 20-year
program to avert war—* program calling for
such things as periodic high-level meetings of the
Big Five, renewed attempts to establish interna
tional atomic control, and the organization of
special anti-aggression armed forces in the U. N.
It seems clear, however, that Mr. Lie’s pro
gram will be more or less futile if the Soviet
Union is irrevocably committed to policies of ag
gression, even at the risk of precipitating another
world war. Certainly, if the men of the Kremlin
have made up their minds along that line, the
best hope of the free nations is to achieve as
much armed strength as possible and as much
unity as possible as fast as possible. Their sur
vival may well depend upon their doing that
without further delay.
On Extending Rent Control
The Korean war and the new defense pro
gram have, of course, made more possible the
continuation of Federal rent control beyond the
deadline of December 31, 1950, fixed earlier this
year by Congress. But Mr. Truman’s proposal to
ask the lame-duck session of Congress for a 90
day extension is sure to provoke a battle.
Rent decontrol is more difficult, as a political
matter, than continuation of control. Congress
tried to take itself off this hook by passing the
buck squarely to the States and cities, requiring
those desiring continuation of control to take af
firmative action by asking for it before December
31, 1950. Thus far, about 670 communities, repre
senting about 20 million people and 3 million
rental units, have taken this affirmative action
in favor of continued control. Some of these de
cisions were made by referendum in the Novem
ber 7 elections. The big cities that have gone on
record for continued controls include Phila
delphia, Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago, St. Louis,
Providence, Akron and St. Paul. New York has
continued rent control under a State law.
Seven States—Alabama, Arizona, Nebraska,
Wisconsin, Virginia, Texas and Utah—have de
controlled. Los Angeles has decontrolled, but the
issue there has gone into litigation now pending
before the District Court of Appeals. Larger cities
that have taken no action to ask for continua
tion of controls include Louisville, Baltimore,
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Kansas City, San Fran
cisco, Seattle, Detroit, Minneapolis, New Orleans,
Memphis and Atlanta. In all, communities rep
resenting about 43 million people fas compared
with communities representing about 20 million
who have expressed desire for continued control)
have failed to ask for continuation.
There are some who believe that this failure
to request continued control springs in part from
a hope by local politicians to take themselves off
the hook and put Congress back on, with the be
lief that Congress will take action on extending
controls, thus relieving them of the necessity of
doing it. But Congress may be reluctant to get
itself back on this hook. Certainly it is a fair
enough proposition to ask that communities
which desire continued control should ask for it,
and they have had plenty of time to make up
their minds. Later on, when the subject of price
and wage controls comes up in Congress, rent
control is sure to be considered again, for all
Federal control goes out of the window, under
present law, .Tune 30, 1951, unless extended.
District of Columbia rent control, under a
separate statute, expires January 31, 1951, unless
extended by joint resolution of Congress. Rent
control here is very apt to be extended. Whether
it will be done by the lame-duck session or by
the new Congress, will depend pretty much on
what is done on extending Federal control. If
the lame-duck session does nothing about it,
there is still time for its consideration by the
82nd Congress. .
Bi-Racial Recreation—Progress Report
By Coit Hendley, Jr.
THE CITY’S first adult interracial
recreation center opened without
fanfare at Cardozo High School, for
merly Central, on October 8. It has
been operating quietly since.
This is a report to the public on how
the experiment is working out.
One curious fact stands out immedi
ately. Although the center is located in
a colored high school, Negroes of the
city are not participating to the degree
expected. In fact, they are participating
practicaly not at all.
First a little background, in case
you’ve forgotten all the controversy that
surrounded the transfer of the colored
students from Cardozo High School at
Ninth street and Rhode Island avenue
N.W. into the Central building. Central
High School died, of course, and the
death was far from painless.
After the Board of Education decided
to eliminate Central and turn the build/
ing over to colored students to relieve
overcrowding in the old Cardozo, the
question arose as to what was going to
happen to the extensive recreation pro
gram for white residents conducted in
the building.
The District Recreation Board had
to decide. The board is pledged to elim
inate segregation in recreation as fast
as practicable. It voted unanimously to
make the new Cardozo the city's first
adult interracial center.
Frank Davis, a recreation organizer,
agreed to take on the job of operating
i this pioneer project. He has been at
the building 12 years, serving as director
of the center for the past seven.
Last year the center, under his guid
ance as a white recreation unit, at
tracted some 40,000 persons to a variety
of activities. This year, as a bi-racial
center, the attendance will be down
considerably.
Mr. Davis said that about half the ac
tivities offered last year are being car
ried on at present. Attendance at the
activities now operating, he explained,
is about the same as it was last year.
However, he added, the activities are
attended almost exclusively by white
citizens.
Milo Christiansen, superintendent of
the Recreation Department, said this
MILO CHRISTIANSEN.
fact was surprising but not inexplicable.
“We must recognize that some people
want to take their recreation in their
own group and others are willing to
have interracial recreation." he said.
“This center is a departure for Wash
ington.”
Mr. Christiansen . said he felt the
center would follow a normal course of
development with attendance and par
ticipation by Negroes as well as white
citizens increasing as time passed. He
said many Negroes in Washington had
not been exposed to this type of inter
racial contact before, and participation
is a matter of evolution and adjustment
with them just as much as it is with
white citizens.
Mi-. Davis said the Cardozo students
and faculty and all school officials had
been “wonderful” in their co-operation.
He expressed the opinion that working
relations between the center and the
night school there could hardly be better.
Activities offered at the center now
include volley ball, badminton, basket
ball, the Washington Civic Orchestra,
square dancing, table tennis, folk danc
nig, a ski club and a rifle club. A few
Negroes have been participating in the
badminton sessions, but none in the
others.
Mr. Davis said two basketball leagues
are being organized at present, six
teams to a league. These will be inter
racial teams, mainly from Federal
agencies.
Plans also are being completed for
opening a hobby workshop, archery
classes and archery construction classes,
and a choral group.
The indoor swimming pool at Car
dozo is not being used by the recrea
tion center at present. It was decided
to wait until the other programs got
further along before seeing what sort
of program could be worked out for the
pool. Swimming classes and Red Cross
instruction in lifesaving and water
safety probably will be offered even
tually.
Ballroom dancing classes are no longer
offered, nor is there any drama group.
The Washington Choral Society, which
used to meet at the center, has moved
to another location.
Mr. Christiansen said that some
groups, which did not desire interracial
participation, transferred to other cen
ters when Cardozo became interracial.
Other activities were dropped because of
lack of interest.
As the interest and the demand grows,
he said, the program will be expanded.
“Nothing at Cardozo is closed to
Negroes,” Mr. Christiansen said. “With
the Cardozo center, Washington resi
dents may participate in interracial
recreation if they desire. Or they can
stay with their own groups.
“This gives the Recreation Board an
opportunity to see what will happen,”
he added. “We learn from experience
and observation, and this project will
be of value to the Recreation Board In
making future decisions.”
Letters to The Star
Pen-names may be used if letters carry
writers’ correct names and addresses.
All letters subject to condensation.
Christmas Seals
I would like to call attention to a
problem in the Issuance and “market
ing” of the Christmas Seals, to combat
tuberculosis.
In the last few years the custom has
been to mail 200 or 300 seals to each
prospective buyer, at 1 cent a seal.
From this writer’s point of view, it looks
as if it would be more logical to set the
price of these stamps at either 5 cents
or 10 cents each, and mail fewer to each
buyer. One such stamp on each card,
letter or parcel would be more dignified
than a dozen 1-cent seals. Further
more, it is very unpractical and un
pleasant to throw away hundreds of such
beautiful stamps after paying for them.
I would suggest that the anti-tuber
culosis people set the price for these
seals at 10 cents each, to be mailed at
the rate of 25 to 50 to each household.
I feel convinced that I am expressing
the viewpoint of a large majority of
people, except that most of them
probably would prefer the price of 5 cents
instead of 10 cents for each stamp, but
no more than 50 mailed to each buyer.
Any one who so wishes, of course, has
the privilege of buying more.
V. Salonen.
South Bend, Wash.
Warden Schilder's Views
Your editorial in the November 9 is
sue of The Star, entitled “Mollycoddling
of Criminals,” does not do justice to the
thought which Warden L. Clark Schilder
tried to express in the paper which he
delivered at a meeting of the National
Conference of Catholic Charities last
Saturday and during the ensuing discus
sion. I was chairman of the meeting.
Warden Schilder not only, as you point
out, does not favor any return to the
brutal methods used in penal institutions
- in the past and unfortunately far from
being unknown at present, but in his re
marks he clearly recognized the value of
all of those practices which are being
applied at the present time in the more
progressive institutions in an effort to
rehabilitate the offender: Psychiatry,
case-work, vocational education, classi
fication, etc. He would not abandon any
of them. He pointed out, however, that
even in the institutions in which these
practices are carried out with some de
gree of completeness, there are many
inmates whose attitudes remain un
changed and who therefore are likely to
get into further trouble when they are
released.
He raised the important question of
what we should do over and above what
we are doing now to effect a change of
attitude. He did not attempt to give
any comprehensive answer to this ques
tion, although he suggested that it might
well be helpful if more emphasis were
placed upon earning those privileges
which in some institutions are available
to inmates in addition to decent lodging,
food, medical service, education and rec
reation. He Insisted that we have ap
proached the problem of changing in
mate attitudes from too exclusively ma
terialistic a point of view and, in this
connection, he dwelt at length on the
importance of religion, particularly in
the individual counselling aspect as dis
tinguished from the more formal aspect
of religious exercises.
I am asking for the hospitality of your
columns to try to correct a misunder
standing of the basic philosophy of a
pronouncement which was intended to
point a way to further progress in the
treatment of offenders, and not to lend
sanction to the discredited, although
widely held, belief that the greater the
severity of treatment, the more chance
there is of rehabilitating the offender,
G. Howland Shaw.
(Editor’s Note: The Star does not
believe it misrepresented Warden
Schllder’s views, as expressed in the
following excerpts from his prepared
address: “Recently, in some institu
tions, including adult, we have opened
swimming pools—which are denied to
millions of our under-privileged; we
are encouraging picnics on the lawns
and so on. Many men want only to do
‘easy time.’ Do we help them make
it too easy? Do we cater to that desire
in giving them preferred jobs or quar
ters? Do they accept privileges as
rights? Do we insist they earn every
thing they receive? Is the modern and
progressive penologist who wants to
have a ‘good’ institution one who
gives more and more of these privileges
without taking stock of where he is
bound? ... I would not deprive in
mates of the privileges they now have,
for, after all, I know life in a penal
institution is an inherently abnormal
way of living, since it takes away lib
erty and all it means. But I would be
extremely chary in going any further
until we know just how successful we
are in what we have been doing. For,
in my judgment, we must take stock
of where this trend is leading us or
inevitably we in penology will learn, as
did Chamberlain at Munich, that ap
peasement cannot work with the ag
gressive, greedy, socially-unconscious
person.”)
True to Tydings
Who will add a cubit to the stature of
Millard Tydings? The greatest reformer
of them all—time. Time will focus a
radiant light on his service to the people
of Maryland and to this country, when
the McCarthys and the Fulton Lewis,
jrs. and the John Marshall Butlers are
empty echoes.
Kathryn O’Neill.
Chevy Chase.
Luso-Brazilian Colloquium
Beginning on October 18 and con
tinuing throughout the week, the Li
brary of Congress was host to scholars
interested in the cultures of Brazil
and Portugal, from all over this
country and from a number of foreign
countries, including Brazil, Portugal,
France, England. Germany, Argentina
and Spain. Brazil sent its Minister of
Education as head of its delegation,
while the former Ambassador in Wash
ington, Dr. Pedro Theotonio Pereira,
came as the head of the Portuguese
delegation. Altogether there were about
200 people In attendance at the several
sessions, and it was generally agreed
that the International Colloquium on
Luso-Brazilian Studies, perhaps the out
standing event of the Library of Con
gress' Sesquicentennial Celebration, was
an unqualified success.
It was a source of keen disappointment
to many of the delegates that the Wash
ington daily press paid virtually no at
tention to the gathering, whose impor
tance was recognized by the newspapers
of Rio and Lisbon in their lavish refer
ences to it, often on their front pages.
Some one observed, unfortunately with a
great deal of truth, that had the Bra
zilian Minister of Education stood on
his head, or had a delegate, in the cliche
of Journalism, bitten a dog, we would
have made the headlines. It is. I think,
a. sad commentary on the intellectual
level of the country that events of a
cultural nature do not merit even one
tenth the space devoted to happenings
of assertedly greater “news value.”
Manoel Cardoso.
Pentagon Shoppers
It would be interesting if a representa
tive of The Star would go to the Penta
gon Building at any hour of the day and
report on the hundreds of employes who
are strolling in the concourse, shopping
in all the stores during office hours. If
the administrative officers did their duty,
no doubt less personnel would be needed
and more work would be accomplished,
at a time when they are asking for help.
Observer.
Labor and Politics
The smashing victory of Senator Taft
in Ohio makes it perfectly clear that no
longer can organized labor be feared as
a political threat. No longer will mem
bers of Congress fear the loss of their
seats by the retaliatory action of union
labor, when enacting the necessary laws
to curb union activities which have
brought this country to a point where
our living conditions are almost impos
sible.
Samuel Gompers, many years ago was
wise enough to keep organized labor out
of politics, and as a result labor organi
zations as then constituted were not
feared, but respected as a necessary part
of our economic system.
It seems to me that now is the time
for the Republican Party to take the
lead in doing what is necessary to out
law all strikes affecting public utilities
and other industries affecting our daily
lives.
Let all differences between capital and
labor be arbitrated, in the American way,
and not by force or threat of force.
As I have said before in these columns,
I believe all differences between capital
and labor should be offered to a labor
court, to be second only to the Supreme
Court of the United States—there to be
adjudicated, and the decisions, if con
tested. to be subject only to review by
the Supreme Court.
W. C. Looker.
This and That . . .
By Charles E. Tracewell
There have been two distinct trends
in books in recent years:
1. Books about the Civil War—adult
reading.
2. Books about horses, for the children.
The spate of books about our own
great conflict, no small war even by
modern standards, continues to grow.
Writers are putting them out in pairs.
They report straight history, collect
manuscripts written by participants on
both sides, and write novels about the
war.
* *
As for the children’s books, anything
about a horse seems to be tops with the
kiddies.
There are books about a silly goose
who found a book and thought herself
wise, and books about cats. But the
volumes about horses range from a new
one about a great trotter to the old
perennial about Black Beauty.
This is good. Surely no animal de
serves more from mankind, and our
writers of children’s books have sensed
this, along with a sure feeling that the
advent of the automobile and the air
plans really put the horse into the class
of strange animals for countless children
of today.
If you want to please an adult, get him
a book about the Civil War.
If a child is your problem, trot out
something about a horse.
* *
One of the best books about the Civil
War, if you can find a copy of it, is
“Westways,” by the famous inventor of
the “rest cure,” Dr. S. Weir Mitchell.
This forgotten volume deals with the
impact of the war on a household in
which the master was Union and the
mistress thoroughly Southern - in her
sympathies.
The divided house is carried through
the war, and we see that conflict as it
must have seemed to Just plain folks on
both sides.
There is a good picture of the battle
of Gettysburg, and other war scenes, but
the best part of the story deals with the
actions and reactions of those left at
home.
* *
The marvelous thing about this book is
that is was written by a man 84 years
old.
That, in itself, is not too exceptional;
some good books have been written by
very old men.
Luigi Carnaro, for instance, did his
famous treatise on “How to Live” (to
the greater glory of God, as he put It)
when he was in his 90s.
The particular merit of old Dr.
Mitchell’s "Westways” is that there is
not a line, not a word, to indicate that
the author is an old man.
It is a young book in conception and in
outline, with a youthful outlook peculiar
ly gratifying in a volume dealing with
the coming of age of America.
Cornaro, in his treatise, was the old
man all through. Despite his painting
of his joys at still being alive, he plainly
indicated that age is something that
takes a toll of the muscles, blood vessels
and heart, to say nothing of the hair.
* *
Dr. Mitchell is more famous today for
his "Hugh Wynne,” a best seller in its
day. This one was published in 1897.
An honest reading of "Westways” will
show it a very much better story in con
ception and execution.
No modern reader must expect to find
it a tale of suspense, of course. It is
leisurely.
It is a far better story than "Alice of
Old Vincennes,” for instance, Maurice
Thompson’s best seller of 1900.
"Westways” came out in 1913, the last
year of an era, and is forgotten today.
Well, not quite! If any reader is able to
find a copy in a second-hand book store,
he will be well repaid for his outlay.
The Political Mill
Military Draft Extension
By Congress Held Vital
Truman Expected to Press
Strongly for Permanent Law
By Gould Lincoln
When the 82nd Congress meets In
January, it will be called on to extehd
the life of the Selective Service Act—
the military draft—which is due to
expire July 1, 1951. Such action will be
necessary if the military forces are to be
brought to the strength necessary in
this time of stress and need for pre
paredness—and kept there. In addition,
the Administration’s military advisers
are giving consideration to a proposal
for a permanent universal military
training law. They should—and the
permanent plan should be put through
now, for the simple reason that when
and if the emergency passes, so will
pass the opportunity for compulsory
military training. President Truman,
who has backed the idea of universal
military training for the youth of this
country for years, is expected to press
strongly again for some kind of perma
nent law.
The question has been raised whether,
with the selective service law taking prac
tically all the available young men for
active service now, a system of universal
military training could be operated ef
fectively. One suggestion is that a
permanent system of training be set up
and all young men taken as they reach
the age of 18 or 19—and that those
who may be needed for active service
be inducted when they have completed
the training. This would necessiate a
system of selection.
‘Personal Obligation’.
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, speaking
recently in Texas, declared that the
Nation will not be as safe &s it could be
until every young American comes to
look on military service as a personal
obligation. Such service, he said, should
be given "proudly and cheerfully,”
During his campaign for re-election
in November Senator Wayne L. Morse,
Republican, strongly advocated the
adoption of a system of universal mili
tary training. He followed a course
which some politicians might have
feared. But, Senator Morse, who won
overwhelmingly, apparently did himself
no harm by his stand. He is a member
of the Armed Services Committee of the
Senate and was one of those who
demanded that Congress pass before it
adjourned last September, a bill to
provide for a maximum of six months of
basic military training for boys of high
school graduate age.
■rne present emergency necessity for
sending troops with little training to
the front in Korea is argument enough
for a permanent system of universal
military training. Young men, who have
never had any military training, have
been given eight weeks or less basic
training and shipped away to take their
places in active military units. It is
Senator Morse’s opinion that if all
youths were given basic military train
ing, it would be possible to tell where
they could best serve. If they were not
taken for military duty, then they might
be used for civilian defense. Mr. Morse,
like many others, has arrived at the
conclusion that this country has fought
its last war without great loss of life
on American soil—and by that he means
the mainland of the United States.
Most Be Clearer Thinking.
A year ago at this time, predictions
were being made by congressional
leaders that the Selective Service Act
would be allowed to expire—with an
election coming up. It seems as in
credible, from the present point of view,
as that in 1941 the Draft Act was ex
tended by a majority in the House of
Representatives of only one vote. If
this country is to remain strong and
be prepared to defend itself there must
be clearer thinking than there has been '
in the past, and action, too.
It has been demonstrated that be
tween a million and a million and
quarter men in the Armed Forces are
all that can be expected to enlist for
military service. The needs of the
country for defense now are admittedly
far, far beyond those numbers. So both
a draft law and a training law are
essential.
At present, men from 19 to 26 years of
age are being drafted under the law.
When all the exceptions—the veterans
of the last war, the young husbands
with wives and children, essential oc
cupations, etc.—are taken into con
sideration, the pool of available young
men is figured at 1,700,000, and of these
probably only 900,000 would be taken—
since the rejections for physical and
other disabilities range up to 50 per
cent. The Army is using only inductions
to build up its forces, while the Navy
and the Air Force are still accepting
enlistments. It won’t be long, however,
before the Navy and the Air Force,
too, will no longer enlist but will induct
men into service.
This is the time for enactment of a
permanent training law.
Questions and Answers
The Star's readers can get the answer to
har question of fact by either writing The
Evening Star Information Bureau. 1200 I street
H.W.. Washington S. D. C.. and inclosing 3 cents
return postage, or by telephoning ST. 6000.
Extension 363.
By THE HASKIN SERVICE.
Q. How much water does the city of
New York use in 24 hours?—J. K.
A. The New York City Board of Water
Supply says that for the 12-month
period ending August 31, 1950, there
was used by the five boroughs of the
city of New York an average of 999 mil
lion gallons per 24-hour day.
Q. Who said that the oldest and best
known evil is always more endurable
than one that is new and untried?—
H. J. Z.
A. Montaigne, the noted French essay
ist. Much earlier Livy, the Roman his
torian, had remarked, “The best known
evil is the most tolerable.”
*
Q. Why do so many Koreans dress in
white?—K. N. Y.
A. White robes are traditional in
Korea. White is the color of mourning
there and must be worn for three years
after a death. Since Koreans found that /
they were wearing white most of the ,
time they adopted white robes as a
national costume.
The Never Loved
/ never loved you. never owed
Even one small kind lie to you,
Excusing my indifference.
There was nothing between the twot
But you loved me. and heaped this love
Before my door like old gray rocks
That I must stumble over when
I turn the key within my locks.
YETZA GILLESPIE,