Evening star. [volume], May 15, 1951, Page A-12, Image 12

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
With Sunday Momma Edition
WASHINGTON, P. C.
Published by
The Evening Star Newspaper Company.
SAMUEL H. KAUFFMANN, President
B. M. McKELWAY, Editor.
MAIN OFFICEi 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave.
NEW YORK OFFICE: 420 Lexington Ave.
CHICAGO OFFICEi 433 North Michigan Ave.
Delivered by Carrier.
Evening end Sunday. Evening Sunday
Monthly .1.50* Monthly _1.10” Monthly _43*
Weekly - 33c Weekly _ 25c Weekly _10c
*10e additional far Night Final Edition.
Rates by Mail—Payable is Advance
Anywhere In United State*
Evening and Sunday. Evening Sunday
1 year -18.00 1 yeai -11 JO I year .. 7.50
6 months- 9.30 6 month* 6.00 6 months _4.00
1 month - 1.60 1 month 1.10 1 month _70t
telephone STerllng 3000
Entered at the Post Office Washington, 0. C
as second-class mail matter.
Member of the Associated Press.
The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for
republication of all the local news printed in this newspaper a*
well as all A. P. news dispatches.
A—12 TUESDAY, May 15, 1*51
.11 ■—----- i' ,
Joint Goal: A Cleaner Potomac
Virginia’s Water Control Board has done the
sensible thing in giving its qualified blessing to a
regional engineering survey of sewage-disposal
problems across the Potomac River. While it is
true that the survey could have been conducted
without the board’s official approval, Alexandria’s
participation in the joint enterprise was uncer
tain otherwise. For Alexandria, quite under
standably, was reluctant to share the survey
costs if the State board insisted on action in
advance of the technical study. Such action
might have produced sewage-treatment facilities
wholly at variance with recommendations of the
survey firms, with consequent serious loss of
public money.
me approval oi me survey plan wmcn me
State Water Control Board has given is a condi
tional one. The board has not as yet agreed to
postpone the July 1, 1952, deadline for establish
ment of an adequate sewage plant in Alexan
dria. It has agreed, however, to accept periodic
reports on survey progress in lieu of other “ac
tion reports” which had been demanded of the
city. Implicit in this agreement, of course, is
the probability that if the survey reports show
progress toward a satisfactory plan for joint
treatment of sewage in the Alexandria-Arlington
Fairfax-Falls Church area, time will be granted
for putting the plan into effect.
After all, the State board and the nearby
Virginia communities have their eyes on the
same objective, the cleaning up of the nearly
septic Potomac River at the earliest practicable
date. The only differences have been over the
best method or methods of attaining that objec
tive—whether it would be better to tackle the job
immediately on a piecemeal, independent basis or
await the results of the survey and possibly join
hands in an over-all disposal system that would
be more effective in the long run and would, per
haps, save money for the taxpayers. The State
board had been insisting on immediate, inde
pendent action until last week’s conference in
Richmond. Alexandria’s representative at the
conference, Councilman Albert A. Smoot,
summed the situation up forcefully when he told
the board: “I would hate to have the responsi
bility on my shoulders of making a decision to go
ahead with something costly that, in the near
future, would be totally inadequate and
unusable.”
rtitAauui id o piuMicixi is uixx.ex.ciu, nuin uiitt
of either Arlington or Fairfax County. Both of
the counties have the money and the plans for
separate treatment plants and both will proceed
with those projects, hoping that the new facilities
will fit in with an over-all disposal plan. Alex
andria has delayed action because of the recent
annexation proceedings and other complications.
The State board naturally has been impatient
with these delays and resentful of Alexandria’s
seeming defiance of the board in the case of the
Hunting Towers apartment, sewage from which
empties into the river without treatment. How
ever, Alexandria was the first to propose joint
treatment facilities, a move which finally led to
adoption of the survey plan. It is now evident
that Alexandria is sincerely concerned over the
river’s pollution and that the city will spare no
effort to arrive at an early abatement of condi
tions. The State board has indicated its willing
ness to meet Alexandria and the other nearby
Jurisdictions half way on the regional survey and
action proposal. It is up to the local communities
to live up to their end of the bargain by pressing
for early completion of the survey and losing no
time in acting on the engineers’ report.
Alarming Growth of Dope Racket
The growing menace of the illicit drug traffic
in this country justifies the decision of the Senate
Crime Investigating Committee to conduct a
special inquiry into this dark phase of the crime
picture. Almost daily the police here and in
other parts of the country find evidence of the
relationship between drug addiction and law
lessness of various sorts^from thefts and forgery
to sex outrages and other crimes of violence.
An Arlington youth who has just confessed to
grand larceny had marihuana in his pockets
when arrested An increasing number of nar
cotics cases is being presented to the District
grand jury. Local police have started a special
crackdown on drug peddlers.
Tnrilrative nf the wlriesnreart extent of the
dope racket is the disclosure in New York City of
a connection between the startling rise in mail
box thefts and the drug habit. A study by the
New York Times shows that between six and
eight of every ten persons arrested in New
York in recent weeks for theft of State and
Federal checks from mailboxes are drug addicts.
Only a year or so ago the proportion was about
one in ten. Mailbox thievery Jias increased
sharply in New York and other large cities since
World War II, the pace keeping significantly
close to the rise in narcotics law violations.
Although the Kefauver committee concen
trated its attention on gambling and related
rackets, it received much testimony indicating
that drug addiction is becoming a major law
enforcement problem. The committee, in its
latest report, warned that the use of heroin
and marihuana has zoomed alarmingly, despite
vigorous efforts of Federal and local authorities
to suppress the sale of these dangerous drugs.
The committee attributed the rise largely to
growth of the smuggling racket. “A most dis
quieting feature,” the committee said, “is that
in several localities, principally in large cities,
a substantial proportion of the new addicts are
young people persons in their late teens and
early twenties. At the present time this phase
of the narcotics problem is a matter of acute
public interest and widespread alarm. In >one
city alone a civic crime-prevention group, in its
study of the narcotics problem, estimated that
the value of property stolen annually to provide
the addicts j|ith funds to buy dope is $60 ^lillion."
On the basis of Its cursory observation of
the drug evil, the group suggested that violators
are being dealt with too leniently. It was pointed
out that the average prison sentence for drug
offenses is under two years. The Narcotics
Bureau recently criticized the “soft” attitude of
some Federal courts toward narcotics offenders.
The courts in the District, it was declared, have a
general reputation for “softness” in this field.
The bureau also is seeking a substantial increase
in its staff of agents for next year, in order to
cope with the expanding drug rackets. These and
other problems of drug-law enforcement need
more study than the committee was able to give
them during its previous investigations.
Something Big in the Wind'?
Despite mounting indications that the Chi
nese Communists may launch a massive new
offensive at any moment, some members of the
Senate committees investigating our Korean
policy have suddenly begun to strike a note of
cautious optimism. What fchey have hinted at—
rather cryptically—is the possibility that the
war may be brought to a satisfactory end in the
relatively near future.
Thus, Republican Senator Flanders of Ver
mont has made the statement that there “seems
to be something big in the wind" that may sup
port Defense Secretary Marshall’s belief that the
forces of the United Nations are moving toward
a successful conclusion of the war in Korea.
Similarly. Democratic Senator Kefauver of Ten
nessee has let it be known that he has a “definite
feeling” that those in command of our American
and allied operations have a plan “which makes
—_A.—_1_«__11_i_i_i . ••
uuvwmc iuua upbiuiiouv.
It may well be, of course, that Senators
Flanders and Kefauver have given voice to
nothing more than wishful thoughts without any
real facts to back them up. Yet, though events
may prove them to be altogether wrong, they
are both able legislators with a sense of respon
sibility, and their participation in the investiga
tion of General MacArthur’s dismissal has placed
them in a position where they may have heard
off-the-record information warranting the hope
ful tone of their remarks. In the circumstances,
it is not unreasonable to feel that what they have
hinted at, whether discreetly or not, may have
a lot of substance in it. That is to say, there
may indeed be a genuine possibility that the
Korean war—either by military means or politi
cal negotiations—-can be ended sooner than has
been generally supposed.
As a matter of fact, unless Moscow is ready
to precipitate an all-out war in Asia by enabling
Peiping to throw big air armadas and submarine
forces against the U. N. in Korea, it is difficult
to see how the Chinese Communists can profit
from continuing the struggle much longer. They
have suffered very grievous casualties—some
times at a ratio running as high as 50 to 1—and
they will continue to suffer them unless they can
match our far superior firepower and effectively
challenge our present dominance of the sea and
sky. Their losses have been many times greater
than ours. For example, as General Marshall has
testified, our casualty rate, which has been
sharply reduced since June, averaged three
tenths of 1 per cent of every 100 men engaged in
battle from January through April. By way of
contrast, in terms of dead and wounded, the
enemy lost upwards of 25 per cent of the 300,000
troops taking part in, last month’s ill-starred of
fensive against our American and allied armies.
How long can the Chinese Communists af
ford to suffer such tremendous losses? If they
strike again—as they seem to be getting ready
to do—and if thev deceive the same kind nf fpnr
some punishment, will they still have stomach
fox the battle? Their population is vast, but
their army is by no means limitless, and they
must be asking themselves what they can gain
in the end if the only thing they have to show
for their efforts is the decimation of their
trained troops. Certainly, unless the Kremlin is
prepared to help them offset our great edge in
firepower and crack our air and naval control,
they have every reason to give serious thought
right now to ending their aggression in Korea
and negotiating for a settlement.
In sum, coupled with persistent rumors that
the Peiping regime- is having trouble with the
Chinese people and that its relations with Mos
cow have soured a bit, the fact that its forces in
Korea have been terribly mauled lends plausi
bility to Senator Flanders’ hopeful observation
about “something big in the wind” and Senator
Kefauver’s “definite feeling” that there may be
reason for optimism At any rate, assuming that
the leaders of Red China are not anxious to see
their army destroyed on an installment-plan
basis, it does not seem entirely inconceivable that
they may be looking for a way out.
If that is the truth of the situation, then
the Korean struggle may in fact come to an end
in the not too distant future. In that case, need
less to say, the President’s rejection of General
MacArthur’s military proposals will be vindicated '
in a striking manner, and the world at large—
for a while at least—will be relieved of the im
minent threat of another global war. But this
is a wholly speculative matter that' only events
themselves can clarify. Much as we may hope
for the best, we had better keep our fingers
crossed and hold our wishfulness in check.
Senator Russell's Warning
There have been, on the whole, surprisingly
few leaks from the Senate committee conducting
the closed-doors investigation of the MacArthur
controversy. Nevertheless, Chairman Russell
was fully justified in urging upon his colleagues
the need for even greater caution.
Military secrets vital to the security of the
Nation are being unveiled in the course of the
committee hearings. This has to be dbne if the
investigation is to serve its purpose. But this
candor on the part of the witnesses makes it all
the more essential that the Senators guard
against any disclosure of secret information.
Senator Russell said he has seen two published
reports quoting unidentified committee members
on information that was given to the committee
in strict confidence. In other words, there have
been at least two leaks. These may or may not
have been important. The point is, however,
that the disclosure of even one piece of restricted
information might be of great value to the
enemy, or, as Chairman Russell suggested, might
even cost the lives of American troops in Korea.
So the need for discretion cannot be over
emphasized. It is true, ' as Senator Bridges
charged, that there have been leaks from the
executive establishment. The giving out of the
report of the Wake Island conference, probably
with the President’s concurrence, is a case in
point. But one security breach does not justify
another, and some of the infdfination being put
before the committee is of much greater impor
tance from a security standpoint than the report
of the Wake Island conference.
The committee members would do well to
follow the example set by their chairman. Senar
tor Russell has been a model of fairness and
discretion in the conduct of this investigation.
And he has a right to expect that all of his asso
ciates on the committee will be equally cir
cumspect. |
The 'Green Thumb' Clan Answers an Ad
The Political Mill
Watchword of G .0. P.
To Be 'Remember 1948'
Leaders to Fight Complacency
In Belief of Election Victory
By Gould Lincoln
KANSAS CITY.—Republican leaders
from all parts of the country, who
gathered recently in Tulsa for a meeting
of the Republican. National Committee,
expressed'their belief that if a national
election were held today the Truman
administration would be thrown out by
an overwhelming vote. They were equally
insistent thgt complacency—in the belief
of victory—shall not mar their chance
in the campaign and election of 1952.
Their watchword will be, “Remem
ber 1948.”
A summation of the many speeches
delivered in Tulsa by Republican Gov
ernors, members of Congress and of the
National Committee forecasts the Re
publican campaign. The issues will be—
on the domestic- side—redemption from
low-grade Government morality, in other
words “turn the rascals out,” and on the
international side, coddling the Com
munists both in this country and abroad.
They are powerful issues, which in large
measure were responsible for Republican
victories in many States last November.
The ammunition to be used in such a
campaign has vastly increased since
those elections.
Declares public “Outraged.”
One of the new young Republican Gov
ernors'who addressed the Tulsa gather
ing was Gov. Edward F. Am of Kansas.
Here is his proposal:
“I am advocating that we tell the
whole sordid story in its stark and deadly
details. I urge that we picture the
unholy alliances of gangsters and of
politicians in high places. I suggest tfiat
we remind the people of. the stubborn
refusal of the party in power to clean
its own house. Whether it be mink
coats from the RFC or deep freezers
engineered by a military aide, the public
is outraged by immorality. I am sure
the public stands with us in demanding
integrity in our public officials.”
Gov. Walter J. Kohler of Wisconsin,
another one of the new group of Gov
ernors who are giving hope to the
G. O. P. in the Midwest, took the same
line—that the campaign must be
couched along fighting lines. To earn
the support of the voters, he said the
Republican Party must be “one of prin
ciple,” but it must also get away from
generalities about economy in govern
ment, the virtues of free enterprise, the
dangers of Inflation, padded payrolls
and government waste. He wants the
party to throw away the gloves and do
some bare-knuckle fighting.
In support of a demand that com
placency be totally avoided. Gov. Koh
ler pointed out that in 1948 it seemed
inconceivable that a national admin
istration which “condoned election
frauds, held hands with grafting offi
cials of the Pendergast machine, ac
cepted the political support of gamblers
and gangsters, and retained in positions
of honor and trust men who admitted
ly used their positions of influence for
personal gain, could be re-elected.” But,
he pointed out, it was and it might win
again next year, unless the people get
all the facts.
Millikin States Issue.
The most powerful statement on the
Issue of Truman diplomacy and the
handling of foreign affairs came from
Senator Millikin of Colorado, who like
the Governors demanded there be “no
mincing around with the issues.” Trac
ing the buildup of Communist Russia
and then of Communist China to the
support given them first by the Roose
velt and then by the Truman adminis
tration, Senator Millikin said:
“There is only one ultimate test of
the success of our foreign policy—does
it work, does it keep us out of war, the
pitiless revelator of insolvent peace
plans.” And now although we have no
peace, but war in Korea, Senator Milli
kin warned his listeners that the “cun
ning switcheroos” are trying to palm off
the Truman Democrats as “the peace
party.” “It’s their last big lie.” he con
tinued. “They have gone too far. They
have irretrievably offended the deepest
emotions of our people.”
Also the Republicans intend to drive
home the coddling of Reds and Red
sympathizers in this country. A quip by
Representative O. K. Armstrong, a Re
publican elected to his first term in the
House last November, gives the line.
He told the National Committee that
when he arrived in Washington he met
a man on the street and asked: “Do
you reach the State Department by go
ing down Constitution avenue and turn
ing to the right?” The man’s reply,
Mr. Armstrong said, was: “No, you go
to Harvard and turn to the left.”
Questions and Answers
Th* 8tAr‘* r'*d,rs c»n ret the answer to
S’ ouestion of fret by either writtnr The
E st“r Information Kureau '200 I atreet
N W Washirrton 5 P C and inclosinr 3 cenU
retort) onstaee nr n» teieohontnr KT ?3«3
By THE HASKIN SERVICE.
Q. What is the inscription upon the
foundation stone of the Washington
Cathedral?—W D.
A. The inscription is, “The Word was
Made Flesh and Dwelt Among Us.” The
stone was brought from Bethlehem and
set in place in 1907.
Q. How did the passenger pigeon get
ts name?—L. G. R.
A. The name is taken from the con
spicuous habit which these birds pos
sessed of passing from one part of the
sountry to another in enormous flocks.
Q. Please name the first watchmaker
n the United States.—A. H. L,
A. The first watchmaker in this coun
try was Luther Goddard. In 1807 he
jpened a shop in Shrewsbury, Mass.
Q. Who participated in the first prize
aght to draw a million dollars in gate
•eceipts?—A. J. P.
A. The first boxing match to draw a
nillion-dollar gate was the Dempsey
Carpentier bout of July 2, 1921. Gate
receipts were $1,789,238.
Circus Eve
Alarms are set for 3 a.m.
Beside long-legged, youthful vim
In horizontal, brief reprieve
On a salient circus eve.
But youth’s impatience never waits
Appointed hours or open gates:
A circus train, pre-schedule, steams
In upon his track of dreams,
And all the animals are led
Like miracles across his bed,
Inviting eager youth to straddle
The camel’s back on a pillow-saddle.
When clock hand on the hour of three
Sets off the shrill calliope ,
A tired boy crawls through the rent
In a crumpled, linen circus tent.
( Lillian Grant |
b
To the Editor of The Star;
ALL I wanted was to rent a garden
space. So I invested (6.08 in classi
fied lineage in The Star. What I got
lor my money was a rich, new knowl
edge of the tug of the soil at the human
hpart, and a warm reminder- of the
fraternal tie that binds the Order of
the Green Thumb. ' •
The ad itself was on the saucy order,
as may be seen in the accompanying
picture.
“That," I advised my wife categori
cally, “is a sheer masterpiece. It insults
people with small kids, and they won’t
call. It makes me out the chilly, brood
ing type, and that eliminates the mob
that falls in love with seed catalogs
every year. We won’t hear from any one
except a few practical souls within
shooting distance from right here.”
I was a fool.
Forty-seven persons callfd, not count
ing three or four who called two or
three times—and not counting one fel
low who called seven times. No call was
in the strictly nuisance class. The great
majority of them were ftom people who
read into my flippant language an ex
pression of the yearning in their own
hearts—the yearning to make some
thing grow in the earth.
For five evenings, I was anchored to
my telephone. Strangers poured out
their family troubles, their illnesses and
mortgage problems. Drunks with weird
real estate propositions cussed me out
for not accepting them. A displaced
person pricked my conscience by saying
that he who loves the soil must have
one time walked with God.
There were finishing school accents
and garbled English; Dixie drawls and
w»*v V A V4 V«*V AtvA VAi W V0Vt
There were bids to move out to the
country and name my own rent: invita
tions just to “come see us and tell us
what’s wrong with our garden”: in
vitations to commute me back and
forth to remote spots miles beyond
the DistricMwundaries.
There was the soft-voiced woman
who told me at once that the little
plot she had wouldn’t suit me, she knew
—but she wanted to talk to me any
way. “For,” she said, “I do love to dig
in the earth, but now I must do it from
a chair.” She sounded very frail.
There was the young fellow whose
wife had been suddenly sentenced to a
prolonged bed-rest—and their first baby
was a few months old. “We got this
place,” he said, “and we were going to
have a garden, you see. Our first gar
den—and now she’s ill. But I’m grow
ing some tomato plants in the base
ment anyway, and something green is
coming up. Do you think perhaps it’s
the tomatoes?”
He was afraid his place was well out
of my way. he said, but perhaps, if I
couldn’t find anything else, it might suit
me. And he hoped it would, for he
didn’t know much about gardens him
self.
“Almost nothine ” he Raid “But
wouldn’t it be wonderful to have some
thing grdwing to show her by fall?”
There was the lass with the sort of
voice that bounced like a lid on bubbling
laughter underneath—enchantingly typ
ical of a certain social set. It waSTabout
her father-in-law she was calling, really.
He had a “marvelous yard,” but he
wasn’t up to working it himself, and he
was—well—a little crochety and couldn’t
stand hired help messing with it.
“But if you’d take it over—” and the
gay, bubbly voice flattered me silly and
promoted me at least to the gentleman
jockey class, so to speak. “You# love
father,* she said. *‘He*s very lovable._
and if he could only meet you first...”
I might have learned to love father
at that.
There was the chap with “a whale
of a deal for me,” and he was among
those who had obviously communed at
some length with labeled spirits.
“Out of the Army after 30 years,
that’s me,” he said. “Got myself 22
blankety-blank acres and a blankety
blank swell new station wagon. Going
to farm this blankety-blank real estate,
too. Had it on my mind 30 years—30
long years. Only I need a guy who
knows what it’s all about. Go you
fifty-fifty, and I pay for everything.
Haul you out and back any time—day
or night."
I had a mental picture of self and ex
Army chum careening madly toward his
22 acres in his brand-new station
wagon. I regretfully begged off. He
called me a blankety-blank, and hung
up in a pet.
I marveled that the tug of the soil
could be so evident among so many peo
ple who patently had little or no expe
rience with the earth—not even in child
hood. And I marveled, too, how the
tug of the soil survives the clattering
distraction of the industrial age—and a
diet of vegetables that are seemingly
planted and grown in the deep-freeze
at the corner market.
It never dawned on any of those
priceless, delightful and sometimes pa
thetic people that they might be wast
ing time for a guy who had advertised
a straight-out business proposition, set
ting forth exactly what he wanted in
$6.08-worth of agate type.
And it never dawned on me to say
so either—or suggest it. For a little mo
ment, I was high priest and confessor
in the Mvstic Order of the Green Thumb.
I reveled in it—and I was humbled.
I never found my garden space. Every
offering was outside my geographic
limits. But no one ever mentioned rent,
and each one to whom I put the ques
tion brushed it off. And I sensed that
to pursue the point would be akin to
passing insult.
,“Just tell him he can have our lot for
nothing,” said a cryptic message relayed
to me by a helpful soul who unfortu
nately forgot the call-back number that
came with it.
“Tell him we know how he feels. Tell
him we know what it’s like to have a
green thumb—and no place to exer
cise it.”
Gerald W. Movius.
Letters to The Star
Pen-names may be used if letters carry writers’ correct names
and addresses. All letters are subject to condensation.
Wisconsin Cheese?
The Star’s cartoon of May 9, by .Gib
Crockett, carries on the MacArthur cam
paign to win approval of his strategy.
It shows Mr. Truman firing a tiny, anti
quated cannon, symbolizing a weak reply
to the general.
Mr. Truman’s speech was, for me, a
far more cogent one than Gen. Mac
Arthur’s. It was full of a deep sense of
responsibility, and mindful of the terri
ble hazards of plunging the world into
another general war.
Gen. MacArthur’s speech was, to a
certain extent, moving, but there the
comparison ends. His subsequent testi
mony was as full of holes and airy noth
ingness as a Swiss cheese Where his
course would end, nobody knows.
I have absolute confidence in the
strategy being followed by the Joint
Chiefs of Staff. It is reasonable and
down to earth, where we can watch
every step we take.
We would all do well to remember at
this dangerous time: “Fools rush in
where angels fear to tread.’’
Reader.
Give or Take?
Your editorial May 6, “Givers Deserve
Relief.” was, to my mind, poorly cap
tioned. Rather than “givers” I think
it is the campaign workers who deserve
relief and that the whole breakdown
in multiple campaigns will come when
campaigns are unable to find workers
rather than givers.
— Requests for money by mail are so
numerous it becomes relatively easy to
reject them, knowing full well there
will be no personal follow up. The take
of the combined campaigns is not large
for a city the size of Washington with
an average annual income that com
pares favorably with nearly any other
city. One joint campaign next year
would fall short of even the small total
of the many this year, but one cam
paign in several years would no doubt
find that it exceeded the many “worthy”
campaigns on this year’s schedule.
I indorse Budget Director Fowler’s
suggestion and urge that serious con
sideration once more be given to a pri
marily “welfare” drive, a primarily
“health” drive, and that a third cam
paign for "civic” enterprises be con
sidered to include other essential drives.
Tired Campaigner.
* *
Your editorial, “Givers Deserve Re
lief,” deserves approval and also sup
plementation.
The “organized solicitation” of em
ployes in Government buildings or at
similar places of employment should
be forbidden by law. Such solicitation
is a misuse of public property and of
time paid for with public funds, as
well as an encroachment on the rights
of employes.
Municipal employes ty cities con
trolled by corrupt political bosses are
shaken down regularly for campaign
funds. But those in charge of the nu
merous drives to raise funds for the
support of charity and other purposes
should not imitate such practice.
The regular procedure in major drives
is to set up a multimillion-dollar goal
and to assign quotas to the various
agencies, departments, divisions or sec
tions. The official at the head of each
agency then determines a quota for each
empioye and sees that each receives
a written notice of what he should pay.
Then the employe pays, unless he is
ready to be fired. Such payments are
politely called donations, but for many
employes they are nothing more than
assessments collected by organized
force.
Some Congressmen using similar pres
sure on their employes to raise cam
paign funds for re-election have found
themselves convicted of illegal practice
and sentenced to prison. Extorting
kickbacks from Government employes
for raising charity funds and for similar
purposes should be equally illegal.
The fundamental attitude of drive
leaders is wrong. They decide arbi
trarily on a dollar goal and figure on
the fee that each assessee is to pay
The assumption then evidently is that
each person on the list actually owes
the sum opposite his name and that
he is downright dishonest if he does
not pay in full. But the high-pressure
fund raisers should be taught the cruel
fact that the take-home pay of an em
ploye is absolutely and irrevocably his
own, every penny of it, to spend as he
pleases. Of course, he wili probably
give something to charity.
Government officials and private em
ployes should be forbidden by law to
solicit in any way or place a contribu
tion from an employe.
George Frederick Miller.
itorm .Warning
MacArthur may be wrong in think
ing the Soviets may be passive if his
views are carried out now. Our country
is in better shape to combat any move
to attack us. I believe he knows that,
too. His idea to have Chiang Kai-shek’s
assistance on our side is a wise sug
gestion Our allies’ help has been almost
nil We are practically going it alone.
The opposition to MacArthur’s way
will never bring about lasting peace.
They may prolong it for awhile, in
hopes they are laid away in their graves
in time to escape the deluge of misery
which is sure to cohie. The question
now is when is the accepted time to
act to ease this deluge of misery which
we fee is in the making. F. D. R. pre
dicted the event, when asked what the
future would bring, by saying: After
me the deluge.
MacArthur has the answers, fore
sight ana directive of the whole prob
lem. He must feel a glorious satisfac
tion anc* consolation at witnessing mil
lions of living statues bestowing admira
tion on him. F. H. Schulz.
Those Were the Days
Did you know you cannot mail a
letter after 6:15 in the Southeast sec
tion of Washington?'
Or that you cannot mail a package
by parcel post in the eastern part of
the United States after 6 p.m. or before
8 a.m.?
How would you suggest a person who
works the usual office hours avail him
self of the facilities of our great postal
system—and still be honest with his
employer?
Has the ordinary bloke been so for
gotten that the United States Post
Office is not concerned whether he
writes his letter or mails his package,
but concerns itself only with the mer
chant who opens at 8 a.m. and closes
at 6 p.m.?
Even in my youth. 30 to 40 years ago,
the postman made the rounds of the
boxes and emptied them about 9 p.m.
each evening. It seems we are going
backwards. Is it good business to dis
regard the 3 cents that would be paid
out for each personal letter that would
be written after dinner, if the little
fellow thought it would be delivered the
next morning? Harry Sheehan.
This and That . . . By Charles E. Tracev/ell
Hawk and sparrow
Both killed, and at the same time—
This is the strange story of W. L. P.
of New York avenue, who writes:
“I was working at my desk, when I
was startled by a thud against the
building.
“I ran into the hall and out the front
door.
“To my astonishment I saw the end of
a natural tragedy.
“For on one step lay a little sparrow;
on a step above a hawk.
“Both had dashed against the yellow
brick wall—pursuer and pursued stilled
in death.
* *
“I wish that I could paint the pic
ture—the subtle shadings of brown and
gray in the hawk’s feathers, the power
ful beak and talons, the graceful out
stretched wings, all seemed alive.
“There was no hint as yet of the cold
stiffness to come.
“I was deeply stirred by the spectacle.
I imagined the terror of the sparrow.
How could it match strength and speed
with its assailant? Would its fate have
been any kinder had it/ missed the
wall?
“I wondered how far the chase had
led?
“Was it a sudden swerve In the des
perate flight of the sparrow that tricked
the skillful hawk to its doom?
“Perhaps the sparrow instinctively
trusted civilisation to protect it worn
attack, only to And, even as we, that
security is not always there.”
•k k
It is difficult in such cases to know
exactly what happened.
In most instances the Aight of a hawk
after a smaller bird is only 20 feet or less.
This is the way it happens: The hawk
flies into a tree or shrub near a group
of birds.
Sometimes he is able to do this with
out attracting attention.
Mostly, however, his wings give notice
of his presence, since they are so much
larger than those of most birds
The shadows they cast are not In the
songbird class and smaller species have
been taught over the centuries that
such wings presage them no good.
In case he is undetected, the hawk
perches at leisure, selects a single bird
as his target—
Then he launches himself straight as
an arrow, and seldom misses.
In case he has been observed, the
smaller birds instantly fly away, as fast
as they can, but usually they make
the mistake of grouping in a bush not
far enough away.
The smaller birds seem to believe
that once in among the leaves they are
safe, but nothing is farther from the
truth. Here again things are not what
they seem, because the hawk has seen
them go In and knows their exact place
ment. ,
Again selecting a target he literally
4
flies at it, picking off his prey with
unerring aim.
Usually the prey is killed instantly
.by the sharp claws, which are most
formidable weapons, as our correspond
ent observed.
Then the hawk begins to tear the
victim to pieces with its bill.
Here is another perfect weapon, and
perfectly used. Hawks like to take to
the ground, immediately after seizing
a smaller bird, to tear it to bits in this
way.
Often all that remains within a few
seconds are a few pathetic feathers.
Sometimes observers ascribe such a pile,
of feathers to a cat, but in 99 per cent
of the cases it was a hawk.
* *
Probably the hawk of this particula
story was chasing the sparrow and
either had caught it and' plunged into
the wall with it, or both headed for
the wall at the same time.
The sparrow was not seeking help
from man. but was driven solely by a
desire to escape and in so doing might
have lost his usual ability to escape
striking buildings, drawing the pursuing
hawk after him.
Birds, in the main, maiyige to avoid
striking buildings. Occasionally they
do; we have seen a robin, partridge and
sparrow killed tn this way, but only
these three instances in 20 years. Some
times birds stfike against window
screens, but her* again not more than
four times in 20 years.