Evening star. [volume], March 13, 1951, Page A-13, Image 13

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

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David Lawrence:
Maryland Campaign Investigation
Persistence of Democrats in Pushing Inquiry
Into Butler Election Is Seen as 'Politics'
With all their professions of
virtue, the Democrats give the
impression that maybe “McCar
thyism” is pretty good after
all and that perhaps the tactics
of the Wisconsin senator might
well be imitated for political
purposes.
This is about the only expla
nation for the amazing persist
ence of the Democrats in carry
ing on their investigation of
the election to the Senate of
John Marshall Butler, Republi
can. who defeated Senator Tyd
ings in Che Maryland election
last fall. Mr. Butler hasn’t vio
lated any law. But he is ac
cused, in effect, of being unfit
to hold his seat because some
one in his campaign committee
circulated a picture that was
plainly labeled “composite.” but
which his opponents called a
“fake.”
Campaign literature has
never before been used as a
basis for an effort to disqualify
a member of Congress from
taking his seat. Hence the real
purpose cannot be to unseat
Mr. Butler, but to make cam
paign material by the accusa
tions. Maybe Senator Tydings
thinks he can run again in a
Maryland election and that he
might as well begin his cam
paign now. That’s precisely
what Senator McCarthy was ac
cused of when he made his
broadside of accusations sev
eral months ago.
Mr. Butler is held up before
the country as having done
something highly irregular. The
Democrats, voting as a majority
party, actually allowed him to
take his seat but with the
understanding that he was not
going to be ablte to hold it
if the results of the investiga
tion were a recommendation
that he be unseated.
No evidence of corruption on
the part of Mr. Butler has been
uncovered, nor has there been
ajiy testimony of excessive use
of money. The only ground on
which Mr. Butler could be un
seated would be a political one.
This is politics at its worst.
Also it would open up the way
to the rejection of various
Democratic nominees when the
Republicans get a majority in
the Senate, and the country
would witness the violation of
the spirit of the Constitution,
which is that the people of each
State have the right to de
termine who shall represent
them in the United States
Senate.
When Mr. Tydings was de
feated last autumn, he made no
charge that unfair campaign
literature had beaten him. On
the contrary, he said that his
defeat was due to the split in
the Democratic Party in Mary
land. Now, at this late date,
for the Democrats in the Sen
ate to take up the Tydings plea
and make it a basis of political
controversy means a dangerous
precedent. On the slightest
provocation hereafter, defeated
candidates can insist on similar
privileges before Senate cam
paign committees. The House of
Representatives frequently has
such contests, but usually dis
misses them unless there is a
prima facie case of fraud or
corruption.
•To say that the Senate has
no case against Senator Butler
under its own rules is not to
condone the kind of campaign
that was waged in his behalf.
The use of the “composite” pho
tograph was a gross violation of
good taste and ordinary fairness.
The impression it conveyed was
that Mr. Tydings and Mr. Brow
der, the Communist leader, were
intimate friends or that tney
were associated together some
how. But, strictly speaking, pic
tures and cartoons used in poli
tical campaigns convey many s
distasteful impression. Thus, a
cartoon often goes much further
than a “composite” photograph
and, if laws were to be enacted
barring “composite” photo
graphs, they could be construed
to apply to political cartoons as
well, and the end result would
be a censorship of what can be
said and done in political cam
paigns.
The real issue in the investi
gation of the Butler election
is whether the people of a State
cannot be trusted to make up
their own minds on the fairness
or unfairness of printed mate
rial used in campaigns but have
to be protected against such
things. If they do, then tnere
is no other way to accomplish it
except by laws which restrict
the freedom of speech and of
the press in all political cam
paigns.
(Reproduction Rights Reserved.)
Doris Fleeson:
Truman Shifts RFC Defense
Democratic Chiefs Agree That the Housecleaning
Must Go Forward With Ruffles and Flourishes
President Truman has shifted
from active defense to a re
served attitude regarding White
House aides and friends named
In the RPC scandals.
Democratic leaders have
agreed therefore to let nature
take its course. They would
prefer to have the President
crack down on those who have
been impairing his prestige:
some bitterly declare that all
his troubles in such immensely
important fields as military and
foreign policy stem from the
weakness he is displaying about
what they call the little things
that count.
But since apparently he will
not so move, they intend to
interpret his silence as con
sent to grand jury and other
efforts to clean house.
The President, of course, is
acting in character. His policy
regarding controversial nomi
nations that he sends to the
Hill has always been that he
could take the storms if the
nominees could. Repeatedly he
has refused to withdraw a
man's name because the man •
was under fire; he has said he
would do it only if the man
himself requested it.
In such discussions with his
people he has never left any
doubt that he himself would
not thus retire from the fray.
In fact he has indicated that
in his view withdrawal consti
tuted confession of inadequacy.
Perhaps he has also felt that
it was a reflection on his judg
ment that he didn't enjoy.
It is increasingly the feeling
among influential Democrats
that the housecleaning must go
forward with ruffles and flour
ishes. Various portents have
not been lost on them.
One is Senator Estes Kefa
uver's television stardom which
is reaching its zenith in the
New York climax to his crime
investigations. Another is the
fact that Senator Paul Douglas
of Illinois could win second
place as a presidential possi
bility in a grass roots poll of
State chairmen, national com
mitteemen and other party fig
ures over the country.
Attractive political figures
often make a great reputation
here but the professionals in
the courthouses are usually
very timid about buying it.
They have especially proved
allergic to any tinge of reform
and Senator Douglas certainly
merits the crusader label.
What the poll proves is that
the Democrats outside of Wash
ington know what is so thor
oughly realized here—that Mrs.
Merl Young's mink coat is no
joke politically. They are ap
parently welcoming the new
look and understand its neces
sity.
All this is somewhat of a
change from the days when any
gathering of Democrats freely
threw off Senator Fulbright,
the RFC nemesis, as a Boy Scout
and suggested that their 1950
election troubles could be blamed
on Senator Kefauver and his
“road show.’’ Former Senator
Scott Lucas refused to shake
hands with Mr. Kefauver when
the Senate reconvened following
the election. Senator Connally
not too long ago announced Mr.
Kefauver's absence from a re
cent hearing with the observa
tion that he was off chasing
crapshooters. *
Both Senators Kefauver and
Fulbright are about to add real
novelty to their probes. They
will try hard to end them and
won’t ask for any more money
but will insist that Congress
legislate seriously regarding the
evils they uncovered. This is
practically a revolution and
what the harvest will be is a
question.
Dorothy Thompson:
Lack of Policy to Continue
Objection to German Neutrality Seen Due
To Fear of Industrial Competition
ine i-enaon economist of
February 17 commented:
“. . . Western governments
need ... a clear . . . long
term policy for Germany.”
“In drawing up such a policy,
the first obstacle to be removed
Is the idea . . . that any
scheme for neutralization of
Germany would be worth the
paper it was written on. . . .
A great industrial nation in the
center of the European plain
... cannot remain neutral .
If weak, it will be dominated oy
one side or the other; if strong,
it will make its own terms for
taking sides. . . . Either it goes
completely one way or the other
... or it remains divided. The
first alternative means a maior
political reverse for Moscow -it
the Western world and there
fore must be ruled out in
any circumstances short of war.
Logic thus leads inexorably to
the conclusion that Germany
will have to remain divided for
some time. . . .”
It is true that Western gov
ernments have never had a Ger
man policy. “The Economist”
does not answer, but simply dis
misses, the idea that Germany
should be neutralized. It cannot
be. Ergo, there is no solution
except continued lack of one.
If by neutralization is meant
a militarily unprotected Ger
many, “The Economist” is
correct. The struggle for the
domination of Germany would
continue, along with division—
and the problem of Which way
Germany? be decided only by
war. But why should a Ger
many able to protect her neu
trality “make her own terms for
taking sides”?
Whatever those terms were
would also mean war. And why
should anyone assume that any
terms, which either the So
viets or the West might offer
Germany, would be sufficiently
favorable to induce the Ger
mans to make their country
again a battleground? And why
cannot a great industrial na
tion remain neutral? Because
she is a great industrial nation?
For over a hundred years '
neutrality was the fundamental
American policy—and the Unit
ed States, in that time, became
a much stronger power than
Germany. Today Germany is
not a great state in relation to
what faces her, east and west
—the Soviet Union and asso
ciates, and the Atlantic com
munity.
No matter what either alli
ance might offer her, the choice
would mean a war in which she
would be only a second-string
ally. As a neutral constitutional
ly enjoined against aggression,
or engaging in any military
alliances, but able to defend a
neutrality recognized by both
blocs, it would be wholly to her
advantage, politically and eco
nomically, to maintain that
status—and to the advantage
of all to recognize it, provided
that peace is what the rival
governments really desire.
But we suspect that West and
East want peace and things in
compatible with peace. A corre
spondent, criticizing our ad
vocacy of German neutrality,
let the cat out of the bag in this
Phrase, “I venture to say that
Germany could not adopt neu
trality (because) her neighbors
would not permit such vast as
sets to go to waste.”
Go to waste? There are well
over 60,000,000 Germans living
in an area one-fifth smaller
than pre-Hitler Germany, on
agriculturally inferior land, and
with no natural industrial re
source except coal. Prewar Ger
many, with the agricultural
provinces it has since lost, could
not feed itself; today’s Germany
can come nowhere near it. It
must also import raw materials
in order to export.
Germany’s vast assets are
non-existent in nature. Her
assets are superior industrial
ingenuity and a hard-working
and work-loving population.
t These assets alone made her a
formidable rival of Britain and
France, and cause both countries
to wish to check her by retain
ing controls. A neutral Germany
at peace with the world would
use its assets to raise the living
standard of Germans, competing
for raw materials and markets
and, if it were intelligent, keep
ing most of its citizen defenders
—as the Swiss do—within, and
not part from, the productive
system.
Thus we suspect that behind
the opposition to German neu
trality is the thought that Ger
many would revive, not as a 1
military menace, but as an in
dustrial competitor. For Eu
rope it may look cheaper to keep
Germany divided, and on Amer
ican relief, even if the price is
no peace.
(Released by the Bell Syndicate. Inc.)
I
SJMmm ^k7«\ ■ &MLJ
For a Fresher Outlook
LOUIE
—By Harry Hanan
—-"—"—n it I
Henry McLemore:
Athenians Laugh at Charge
That Put Abductor in Jail
ATHENS.—Much of the talk
over the coffee cups of the out
door cafes here still centers
about Costas Kephaloyannis.
As the readers of front pages
everywhere know, Costas is the
dashing, mustachioed Cretan
who abducted the love of his life,
Tassoula Petracogeorgis, and
thereby came close to bringing
civil war to the island of Crete.
Costas is in jail now, starting
a two-year sentence, and almost
every one agrees that he was
“railroaded,” and that such a
proved “palikari” shouldn’t have
been treated in such a manner.
To be a "palikari” means
everything to a man in Crete, I
have learned since getting here.
The word has no counterpart in
English. A palikari is tough,
without being a bully. He car
ries a chip as big as an epaulette
on his shoulder, but doesn't dare>
you to knock it off. Heaven
help you, however, if you do.
A palikari must have a dash
of the cavalier in him, and the
romantic streak in him must be
as wide as the yellow streak
isn't.
In Crete, Costas is known as
palikari No. 1. He comes from
Annoghia, at the foot of Mount
Ida (legendary home of Zeus),
the toughest town in Crete,
which means just about the
toughest town in the world.
Annoghia was the center of
resistance in Crete in World
War II and the Germans, after
finding that a whole regiment
couldn't keep the handful of
palikaris under control, finally
shelled it to the ground.
Gen. Kreige, Nazi commander
of Crete, who was kidnaped by
the British (see the book “111
Met by Moonlight”) was first
hidden in a cave near Costas’
home town. Costas was a mem
ber of the kidnaping party, and
it was to one of the caves where
the general had been secreted
that Costas later hid with his
beloved Tassoula.
“Ninety per cent of the mar
ried women on Crete were ab
ducted by their husbands, and
the other 10 per cent say they
were,” Athenians will tell you.
“No Cretan woman wants to
admit that her husband wasn’t
enough of a palikari to take
her off by force.”
But what makes the Athe
nians laugh is the charge that
Costas finally went to jail on.
namely, carrying weapons and
leading an armed band.
“I’d bet you,” an Athenian
told me, “that you’d be hard
put to find any male in Crete
over 12 years of age who doesn't
know how to use a firearm of
some sort. Most of them start
packing pistols around 9 or
10, which they consider a good
age to start beginning to be a
palikari.”
Another phase of Costas’ trial
Which Athenians say made it
tough on the fellow is that Tas
soula’s father (who hates the
Kephaloyannis clan w'orse than
poison) is an influential Liberal,
and the Liberals are in power,
not the Populists, or Royalists,
to which party Costas and his
family are loyal.
The feeling here is that the
feud between the two families,
which has been going on a long
time, will really get into high
now.
(Distributed by McNaught Syndicate. Inc.)
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Lonstontine Brown:
Bad News for the Military
Industrial Disorders in Spain Could Hinder
Plans of Eisenhower for European Defense
Disturbances are reported to
have broken out in Barcelona,
Spain’s most important indus
trial city
A strike followed by street
riots in that second largest city
of Spain were caused by the in
creasing cost of living and the
prospect that about 650,000 per
sons, most of them employed in
cotton mills, will become un
employed in the next few weeks
because of the lack of cotton.
While this may be pleasing
news for those who oppose the
Franco regime, it is highly un
welcome news for Gen. Eisen
hower and all other military
planners among the Atlantic
pact nations. Spain is not a
member of that organization
and is not likely to be accepted,
for political reasons, by Western
European nations.
But from the military stra
tegic point of view that country
is regarded as one of the highly
important assets in the general
defense plan for Europe. And
the military planners know that
a country which is not healthy
economically is unlikely to be of
real assistance in the event of a
general conflict with the Rus
sians and their satellites.
This was one of the reasons
for building up the free nations
economically and also the reason
why this country has come to
Marshal Tito’s assistance in
recent months by providing him
with millions of dollars for food
when the Yugoslav crops failed.
Because it was evident that
a serious crisis may break out
in Spain, Congress last summer
approved a loan of $65 million
to Spain through the Export
Import Bank. This legisla
tion did not please the White
House and the State Depart
ment. President Truman ap
proved it only reluctantly and
said so publicly.
Taking the cue, apparently,
from the feelings which pre
vailed among the Executive
branch’s policy-makers, the Ex
port-Import Bank was slow in
granting the sums approved by
Congress. Of the $65 million
only $12,500,000 has been ap
proved so far.
Because of crop failures dur
ing the last three years, Spain
is in great need of food grains.
Yet the Export-Import Bank
did not provide any portion of
the loan to be used for the
purchase of wheat or corn in
this country.
There is a surplus of wheat in
the United States. The admin
istration is anxious for Con
gress to approve a gift of 2
million tons of food grains to
India. Administration spokes
men argue that in spite of the
Indian government’s hostile at
titude in the United Nations,
political considerations must
not be permitted to affect
humanitarian actions. But it
appears to average observers
that in applying this golden
rule, what is sauce for the
goose is not sauce for the
gander.
While we do not permit poli
tics to influence our help to
Communist Yugoslavia or to
pro-Red-China India, we draw
the line when Franco’s Spain is
concerned.
Because of an alleged ex
pected shortage of cotton, the
Agriculture Department has es
tablished quotas for the export
of that commodity. These
quotas have a “political tinge.”
By using the figures for the
last three years in the establish
ment of these quotas India can
purchase much larger quanti
ties of cotton than can Spain. *
The reason is believed to be
that prior to 1947 India got
the bulk of her cotton from Pak
istan. It was only after its
political quarrel with that sis
ter republic that the New Delhi
government started buying cot
ton in this country.
During that period Spain has
been able to buy little in the
United States because of the
dollar shortage. Spain’s quotas
for the 1950-51 period was set
at only 51.000 bales. It hap
pens that Spain used to be one
of this country’s best cotton
markets. Her mills are tooled
for the American type and not
for long staple Egyptian cotton.
When the Export-Import Bank
wafe directed by law to extend
Spain credits for $65 million,
the Spanish government hoped
that it could purchase the
needed cotton in this country.
Now it has discovered that
money for such a purpose is
not available and at the same
time it is faced with a quota
established by the Agriculture
Department, limiting its im
ports drastically.
Lowell Mellett:
Time to Put Away Childish Things
Senators Should Realize That We Have Grown Up
And Abandon Sport of Twisting the Lion's Tail
Now that we as a nation have
grown up, so to speak, it would
seem time to put away childish
things. One such thing is the
political sport of twisting the
British lion's tale. Apart from
the fact that the old gray lion
ain’t w7hat she used to be and
that the tail-twisting therefore
is no longer a very brave busi
ness, if it ever was, the world
situation is too serious to per
mit any deliberate fomenting
of ill-will between Western
friends and allies. As a young
and upcoming country we
could be forgiven the urge to
flout the power of the world’s
greatest empire, just to show we
wrere not afraid of anybody.
But now that we have become
the great power ourselves we
should live up to our full re
sponsibility as such.
Yet on any dull day in the
United States Senate you are
likely to hear a Senator read
ing a lecture to the British, re
minding them of how much
they owe us and suggesting
what we ought to do to them
if they don’t begin to behave
in the manner we think they
should. There has been a rash
of this lately. Some of it has
been no more intelligent, and
perhaps no more sincere, than
Big Bill Thompson’s famous
campaigns for mayor of Chi
cago on a platform of defiance
to King George. Some of it is
purely emotional, due to re
sentment of the British recog
nition of the Communist gov
ernment of China. A favorite
starting point of the recurring
tirades is an occasional new
report of British “trading with
the enemy”—China or Russia.
These attacks on Great Brit
ain, of course, are really
aimed at our own government,
which is blamed for “not doing
something about it.” Britain’s
representatives in this country
recognize this, but they do not
enjoy the attacks the more
for that reason. In any case
the British Embassy has made
available to American newsmen
a statement on questions of the
day, prepared “for the informa
tion of British officials.”
Concerning the recognition
of the present Chinese regime,
the statement says, in part:
“The Chinese Communist gov
ernment is in indisputable con
trol of the whole mainland of
China. We recognize the fact
of this government’s control,
and therefore this government,
by the same reasoning by which
we and the United States and
other countries recognize the
Soviet Union and recognized
the authority of Hitler’s gov
ernment of Germany and the
government of Japan, even
when we were at war with
those countries. The fact of
recognition . . . has nothing to
do with approval ... we rec
ognize the fact, distasteful as
it may be.”
On Chinese representation in
the United Nations, the point is
made that "China” already is
a member, go there is no ques
tion of “getting the Chinese in.
The question is W'hich Chinese |
representatives to recognize and !
we w'ould prefer to recognize
those which represent the bulk
of Chinese territory.”
As for trading with Russia,
the satellites and China, the
statement says: “To stop trade
altogether would be an ad
vanced form of economic wrar
fare. Such a step would assume
that actual war was both in
evitable and imminent and
would set up new and critical
international tensions. Britain
believes that present circum
stances do not justify this pro
cedure.
“It should also be remem
bered that through their trade
with Russia many of the free
countries are receiving ma
terials necessary to their eco
nomic strength and, thus, to
their ability to rearm and de
fend themselves. It will be re
called that the United States
itself has been receiving useful
quantities of manganese from
Soviet Russia.”
These are only a few excerpts
from a fairly long statement.
It wouldn’t do the mischievous
Senators any harm to read the
whole document.
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byCksfiake
HE STARTED A RIOT... AND A CUSTOM. A Baltimorean displayed the first umbrella
seen in the United States. One day in 1772, he appeared on the streets walking under
one he had purchased from a ship which had just returned from India. At the sight,
women became frightened, children stoned the man, horses ran away. The city watch
man had to be called to quell the disturbance. Thus in Baltimore, the home of many
great American “firsts,” was raised the first umbrella.
THE FIRST DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
On March 22, 1775, a group of revolutionary pa
triots gathered at Harford Town, now known as
Bush, in Maryland, wrote and signed a Declara
tion of Independence. This preceded the declara
tion at Mecklenburg, North Carolina, by two
months, and the Declaration of independence by
the Continental Congress, July 4, 1776, by more
than a year. The original manuscript of the Har
ford Town declaration is still in existence.
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example, your automobile needs fixing. Just
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