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©l* %toathtfl WASHINGTON 4, P. C fnUlAli L,. rWliaiM If THI IVIN INO STAR NEWSPAPIR COMPANY Samuel H. KauHmaaa, Beejaiaia M. McKaharay, Editor MAIN OFFICE: Hth S». and Pwmytvania Ava 14) NEW jTORK: 43* iMingtan A«a 1171 CHICAGO: 331 N la Salla $1 111 DETROIT: New Cental Suildlng 13, SAN FRANCISCO: Ruu lulWlna Ml IOS ANGEIES 413 S Howe. St (141 (UROREAN RUREAU PAEIS, FRANCE. 31 Rue Pe Rem < Dtli.ertd by Carrie. Evening and Sunday Evening Sunday Monthly _ I.7J* Monthly 1.30* Monthly ... 4Sc Weekly .. 40c Weekly 30. Weekly 15c *loc additional to. Night Final Edition Rate* by Mail—Payable ia Advance Anywhere bi tK« United States Evoning and Sunday Evening Sunday 1 year ...25.00 I year 17.00 I year 10.00 4 months ... 13.00 4 months ... 9.00 4 months .... SJO 1 month ... 2.25 1 month 2.00 1 month .... 123 Tsleohonot STorling 3-5000 Entered at the East Office Washington D C. as second clou mail matter Member of the Associated Prase The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for replication of all the local news printed in this newspaper as well as A. f. news dispatches A-12 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1955 Redevelopment Progress Approval of the new broad-scale lay out for Southwest redevelopment by the National Capital Planning Commission opens the way for rapid progress on a program that, up to now, has been mov ing slowly. All major obstacles to the re building of the old Southwest section along lines of the Zeckendorf plan have been overcome, with one exception: The question of a site for the Smithsonian Institution’s proposed Air Museum. There Is no goßd reason, however, why that issue cannot be settled satisfactorily for all concerned. The pattern of redevelopment agreed to by the planning agency yesterday previously had been approved by a hard working co-ordinating committee, repre senting technical staffs of every public agency interested in the huge slum-clear ance and reconstruction project. Thf arrangement of streets, character of specific blocks and larger areas and re alignment of the waterfront district were mapped out in considerable detail. The whole concept shows an Imaginative, yet very practical, approach to one of Wash ington’s greatest face-lifting under takings. Left open, however, for further study and discussion was the perplexing prob lem of the Air Museum. The Smithsonian Institution had planned to build this much-needed home for its aviation ex hibits at the north end of an Imposing “South Mall,” envisioned by the Zecken dorf Arm as the main approach to the new “little city” in the Southwest. In such a location the museum would be la •onflict with the Mall plan, which Webb Jk Knapp regards as the backbone of the whole redevelopment enterprise. The Smithsonian, fortunately, has other ap propriate sites available for the museum. It is very unlikely, therefore, that the distinguished Board of Regents of that Institution would interpose any unnec essary blockade to realization of the long cherished dream of a modernized com munity overlooking the waterfront. Hound's-Tooth Doctrine As a general proposition, it Is not a healthy thing for an internal revenue agent to owe money to a lawyer known to represent a, big-shot gambler. But if this ts the beginning and the end of the case against Agent Samuel W. Ford, the de cision to fire him after 29 years of Gov ernment service seems to be carrying the elean-as-a-hound’s-tooth doctrine to a harsh extreme. Agent Ford borrowed some money in 1949 from Lawyer Charles Ford, no rela tion, to build a house. The mortgage covering this transaction was duly re corded, and the payments have been met on time. The transaction was handled through a bank, and there seems to have been nothing secret about the matter. In fact, Agent Ford says he told his su periors in Internal Revenue about It in 1951. Later on, he was assigned to a case against Emmitt Warring, one of Mr. Ford’s gambler clients. There apparently was nothing off-color, however, for the gambler was duly tried and convicted, largely on the basis of the case worked up against him by Agent Ford. A Justice Department spokesman says there was no dissatisfaction with the agent’s handling of the case. Why, then, Is Mr. Ford being fired in 1955—four years after he Informed hls superiors of the loan from Lawyer Ford? It Is possible, of course, that, there is more to the case than meets the eye. But the Civil Service Commission, to which an appeal has been taken, ought to take a long, hard look at all the facts. It .is pretty tough, even under the hound’s tooth doctrine, if one indiscretion is to nullify and wipe out 29 years of faithful, competent service. $64,000 Menu Despite his lean and well-conditioned appearance, Captain Richard McCutchen of the United States Marine Corps must be a man who likes his food. In any event, he has proved through the weeks it re quired for him to win television’s biggest jackpot—s64,ooo—that he must know “what’s cooking” when he comes home at night. There is small chance, indeed, for Mrs. McCutchen to throw a few leftovers Into a casserole and convince her Num ber One Marine that It is some exotic dish prepared according to a famous but little known recipe. As for the mess sergeants on Marine posts, it probably would be easier to cook for the master of Monte zuma’s halls than to try to fool Captain McCutchen’s palate. One is inclined to wonder now how the chef at Buckingham Palace feels about all this. Surely, when he served hls fine dinner to King George VI and the President of France in 1939, he must have felt there was some extra little touch In the menu that was particularly his own specialty—that hls guests would savor it without knowing its exact composition. But 16 years later, Captain McCutchen knew, and the chef may henceforth de scribe it as his $64,000 menu. A Dulles-Chou Meeting? Our Government has not taken an unreasonable position in rejecting as “premature” Red China’s request for “higher level” talks than those now being conducted at Geneva between Wang Ping-nan, Peiping’s envoy, and American Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson. For the rejection is based upon the entirely cor rect view that there can be no such talks, or even a discussion preparing the way for them, until the Mao Tze-tung regime fulfills its promise to release the United States civilians it still holds either in prison or under house arrest. This promise has been on record since last Saturday, but up to now none of the individuals involved has been set free. Accordingly, as Mr. Johnson has told Mr. Wang, it is too early as yet to take up the question of whether or when the United States and Red China should enter upon full-dress negotiations—presum ably at the level of Secretary of State Dulles and Premier and Foreign Minister Chou En-lai. As Mr. Johnson has put It, "Only the full implementation of the agreed announcement can resolve the problem” of returning the United States civilians, and the faithful discharge of that commitment must continue to be the task of the current Geneva talks. It may be assumed, however, that the Chinese Communists, having publicly pledged themselves to free these Ameri cans, will do so in due course, and prob ably sooner than later. So our Govern ment faces the prospect of having to make an early decision as regards Pei ping’s desire for the high-level negotia tions, and it is difficult to see how the decision can be anything but affirmative —particularly if Red China offers con vincing evidence that it really wants to . talk reasonably and constructively about the so-called "practical matters” that have embroiled it in great tension with the United States. These “matters,” all very significant, include its bid for mem bership in the United Nations, its desire to eliminate the West’s trade embargo, Its reaction to American inquiries regard ing hundreds of Americans still un accounted for In the Korean war, its policy in respect to a continuing cease fire in the Formosa area, and its still undefined attitude toward Mr. Dulles* challenge to it to commit itself unequivo cally against the use of armed force in Asia. As far as words go, Peiping has sug gested that it is in a mood to seek a genuine easing of tension. Accordingly, If It does not drag its feet in carrying out Its pledge to release the American civil ians, and if the ambassadorial talks at Geneva proceed in a promising manner, a meeting between Mr. Dulles and Mr. Chou may become worth-while in the not-too-distant future. Mr. Dulles him self has indicated that he is not-opposed to such a meeting—but only if there are reasonable assurances that it would be productive of good results. In that sense, our country’s decision on the matter will depend primarily on the way Red China conducts itself in the weeks immediately ahead. $5,000 Tax-Free Reward It probably does not make a great deal of difference whether Mary Knowles once belonged to the Communist Party or not. Evidently she is not a member now, and if she was one of the comrades sev eral years ago there is no evidence that the national security suffered thereby. On the other hand, there does not appear to be any good reason why Mary Knowles, when she appeared this week before a Senate committee, should have refused to say whether she had been a Communist. In 1953, when the same question was put to her, she invoked the Fifth Amendment, contending that a truthful answer might incriminate her. But she makes no such claim at this time. Her current position simply is that the committee has no right to ask her such a question. Presumably, contempt pro ceedings will be Instituted and the chances are that Mrs. Knowles will be punished. If she wants to take this course, that is her business. Except for one circumstance, the incident would pass largely unnoticed. That circumstance concerns the Fund for the Republic, set up with a sls - grant from the Ford Foundation. After invoking the Fifth Amendment, Mrs. Knowles lost her job as a librarian in Massachusetts. She was hired in a similar capacity by the Plymouth Monthly Meeting of Friends, a Quaker group in Pennsylvania. This prompted the Fund for the Republic to make a $5,000 award to the Quaker library—a reward not yet accepted—for its "cou rageous and effective defense of demo cratic principles.” This, too, might be a matter of small consequence except for one thing. The money controlled by the Fund is tax exempt, presumably on the theory that It will be used for a constructive public purpose. But what public purpose is served when, in effect, $5,000 is paid as a reward for hiring a woman who had refused to testify before a Senate com mittee? What “democratic principles” were defended in this instance? It does not seem right that the Treasury, meaning the taxpayers, should be called upon, through the device of tax exemption, to subsidize this kind of activity. JL * 'Ezra! Am I Glad to See You Back!' LETTERS TO THE STAR Bad Arithmetic What good does it do to explain to a youngster in the second or third grade that the reason he has no teacher lor hls grade is that a statistical error was made downtown? Will he or she understand why he doesn’t learn more adding and subtracting in an overly large class (45 plus) because the officials who assign his teachers failed to add or divide their figures carefully? How does a child feel about having no principal at her usual office desk—and Isn’t he a bit confused about being "promoted'’ when it means staying in the same classroom with the same teacher he had last year? "Is this moving forward?” he may ask himself. And well he may ask, since mixed grades, due to over crowding. hark back to post- World War I days. Thirty summers later our superin tendent of schools reassured parents and teachers that we were approaching a 30-to-l ratio. "Progress at last,” we all sighed. Then three days before school opened the announce ment Is made that District of Columbia elementary schools are 60 teachers short—two of whom were actually snatched from their respective school where to replacement for their retiring principal was avail able either! Juggling figures may be a pastime, but are we educating children for life satisfactorily with a flair for circus feats or playing a game of statistics which does not consider chil dren as individuals but as numbers on a master chart? Where are we trying to go with our District schools? Forward? Or on a treadmill— with a boomerang of future problems building up each time It goes around? Figures can lie—and children won’t learn. Disillusioned Parent. Teacher on Integration In reference to the article written by James G. Deane in The Sunday Star, publicizing the story of a colored boy who expressed the belief that a king lived in the White House, allow me to say that I am extremely surprised that the story received such unmerited attention as was given it under the title. “Academic Standards Are Major Concern." Surely anyone reading this article must have realized, as was belatedly suggested, that the remarks and limited ex periences attributed to these seventh-graders were not in dicative of the average colored child. This story might well have been relegated to the background and not to the foreground at this crucial point of integration. Is it not just such stories as this which cause unmitigated concern among parents, and is it not also true that these stories are frequently misinterpreted by people who, because of segre gation Itself, do not have a true idea of the aptitudes, in telligence, and potentialities of the Negro race? Anxious par ents readily pounce upon such information as an index of the problems to be expected under integration. They do not ascer tain a very Important fact, which is that such extremes are irrelevant in getting an over-all picture of the average classroom. Having taught in Washing ton for more than IS years, with teaching experience in at least five schools, representing a cross section of the city. I feel safe in saying that the belief expressed by the princi pal (Washington school chll ren should know something about the city in which they live) is really quite general. We recognize the oft-men tioned fact that there are many children in our race who have had limited cultural advantages. As teachers we, therefore, give them as many experiences as we can. I have no Idea why the knowledges and experiences of these par ticular seventh-graders were so limited unless they were a mentally retarded group and thus spoke and reacted a# Pen names may be used if letters carry writers' correct names and addresses. All letters are subject to con den* satlon. mentally retarded children of any race would. This I do know: Elementary classes, from the kindergarten up to the sixth grade, are encour aged to take as many trips a year as possible. I am sure that I speak for my coworkers in the teaching field when I say that we realize there is a job to be done, but we are not sitting idly by. We are trying in every way humanly possible to remedy existing conditions, and we are willing to work unceasingly and untiringly to make integration a success in our public schools. Phyllis W. Ford. Trolley vs. Bus I have been a rider of Cap ital Transit for many years. The cats are restful and relax ing. Not so with the buses. Why should we have to pay enormous fares, and then be forced to ride, being jerked and thrown around, on hot. smelly buses? They are packed and Jammed, windows almost impossible to raise, and be tween the sweaty crowds and the sickening gas odor Inside, it is not only most unpleasant but most unhealthful. As to icy weather, at least the cars stay on the Several times in recent years, it has taken three or more hours for me to make the usual 20-minute run. The buses couldn’t make the hills, so they stopped running. Other biases stalled on the car tracks so the cars couldn’t move. Have mercy upon those of us who have to use public transportation, and leave the good streetcars in operation. Why not set aside a special day, along with all the other special days, when the Com missioners and high-ups would not be allowed to usa their own cars, or taxis, and be forced to try riding on the buses? Per haps they would ehange their minds on the subject of scrap ping the streetcars. Sally Martin. Words Into Deeds? In 1930, one D. Z. Manuilskl made a speech to the inter national students of the Lenin School of Political Warfare In Moscow. Following is an ex cerpt from that speech: "War to the hilt between communism and capitalism is inevitable. Today, of course, we are not strong enough to attack. Our time will come in 20 or 30 years. To win we shall need the element of sur prise. Hie bourgeoisie will have to be put to sleep. So we shall begin by launching the most spectacular peace move ment on record. Hiere will be electrifying overtures and un heard-of concessions. The cap italist countries, stupid and decadent, will rejoice to co operate in their own destruc tion. They will leap at an other chance to be friends. As soon as their guard is down, wo shall smash them with our clenched fist.” Wennel Wee Wakeup Cathedral From vaulted depths the towers rise and soar In pinnacles and spires that pierce the blue. So men may glimpse, in Gothic tracery, Their prayer ascending to the infinite. With upward gaze the heart attuned beholds Imponderables carved in quar ried stone. While stained-glass radiance pours sacrament On faith proclaimed aloft in ringing chimes. In reverence the builders here have wrought An affirmation of the spirit's quest An inspiration rendered visible — The mortal thirst for immortality. D. B. StMHMN Polluted Potomac Now that the public’s In terest is aroused over the dis graceful condition of the Po tomac River, it is hoped that the problem will be examined by an authoritative body with power to act. A really clean water supply Is essential to good health. It is questionable whether sat isfactory drinking water can be obtained from water heav ily polluted with sewage as at present. Treatment with chlo rine has its drawbacks, one of which is the suspicion that frequent inhalation of the gas when washing leads to irrita tion of the mucous membrane of the nose. This may be a predisposing condition for hay fever. F. B. 8. In Lee's Camp Several readers have made Insulting. Irrational and un true statements concerning that great American, Gen. Robert E. Lee. He was one of the most noble citizens of our Nation. He has been accused of being a traitor. nils, of course, is not true, because Gen. Lee did not wish to ba opposed to the United States Government. His position was forced upon him by factors completely be yond his control. He would have betrayed his native Vir ginia if his choice had been different. I know of no South erner who was opposed to the Federal Government for any reason other than defense of the principle of States’ Rights and his homeland. J. W. Haywood, jr., states that he can forgive Gen. Lee for "attempting to destroy my country's Government or for trying to keep my grandpar ents in slavery.” Gen. Lee did not attempt to ' destroy the United States Government. He was defend ing the South from aggression. Nor was he fighting for the principle of slavery. Like most people In the Bouth, he was opposed to It. Like the majority of slave owners. he considered his charges almost as his own people and treated them ac cordingly. It would have been only a matter of time before all of the slaves obtained their free dom. How much better for them and the South if this had been accomplished in an or derly manner? One Sunday Gen. Lee was attending church and, to the horror of some of the con gregation, a freed slave knelt before the altar rail to receive communion. Hie white people refused to go forward. Then Gen. Lae took his place beside the Negro and. one by one, the others followed. This act had a tremendous Influence on Sbutherners in their attitude toward their new fellow citi zens and showed quite clearly the truly noble character of Robert E. Lee. Citisen. Disgruntled Fan 1 am getting very tired of getting my only baseball satis faction from the end of the season when Washington plays the role of “spoilers” by win ning an occasional game from a good team. I am tired of hearing each fall about how well "farm” players have done in Charlotte and Chattanooga. I am tired each year of hearing the Griffiths talk about how the team is better than the averages show, and how an occasional break would make all the difference. I am tired of reading each spring about how the Nats are burning up the Grapefruit League and about the good opinion rival managers have of them. I am tired of seventh and eighth place finishes, and ali bis, and lackluster ballplayers, and sports writers who write poetry about them. I am tired of pitchers with 2-11 and 5-14 records, and "hitters” sport ing .202 batting averages. I am tired of the Griffiths and their method of operat ing. i VISTAS IN SCIENCE ly THOMAS R. HENRY Arctic Armies May Go Underground Cities buried in lee. . . . This la a somewhat far fetched fantasy at present suggested by Army Engineer experiments with large sub snow structures at the great Thule air base in Greenland where all sorts of research projects on possibilities of Arctic living are under way. The engineers started with subsnow tunnels. Trenches as much as 6 feet wide and 26 feet deep first were gouged out with snow plows. It was found possible to roof these over with snow arches provid ing a subway system for mil itary vehicles at the ridicu lously low cost of about $2,000 a mile. This now has been extended to study of relatively large subterranean structures which could be used for almost any purpose. It has been found possible, it was explained at a symposium here on Arctic con ditions under the auspices of the Arctic Institute of North America, to provide substan tial arched snow roofs over an excavation 110 feet wide and presumably as deep as one wishes. In such a shelter, stores and personnel would be protected from the blizzards of the Ice cap, and such struc tures probably could be joined by tunnels into as intricate a system as one desired. Such problems as heating and the like, of course, are matters for the future. Not a Fantastic Project Apparent success with the snow arch structures was de scribed by Robert R. Philippe, chief of the special engineering branch of the Engineer Corps. So far as the corps is con cerned, however, the interest is purely utilitarian with no projections into fantasy. More and more, however, there is a tendency towards subter ranean. or subice, operations. It might be possible to visual ize men who. like the Arctic lemmings, spend most of their lives in tunnels under the snow, philosophers, especially pessimistic ones, have a tend ency to compare man and lemming in many ways. A science fiction writer might go a long way further into fantasy by conveniently neglecting a few considera tions. There is, or was until quite recently, one structure buried deep in ice which had stood up for more than a decade when last visited. This was the headquarters building of Admiral Richard E. Byrd’s THIS AND. THAT By CHARLES E. TRACEWELL People worry these days about where the birds are. They want to know what has become of them, will they come back, and to on. Perhaps the songsters are worth worrying about more than many other things, such as bombs, politics, and labor troubles. Birds can take care of them selves, in most cases, so our worry is mostly gratuitous, being neither here nor there, a very good place for worry to be. we think. The very modern movement to the suburbs is responsible for this latest addition to our worries. The man who never no ticed a bird in his life in the city becomes a partisan of redbirds. jays and wrens. At this time of year he wants to know why he doesn’t have as many of these and others as formerly. ** * * There are many answers. Some species retire to the woods to moult. Losing the old feathers, and getting new ones, is a very serious business for the feath ered folk. Some birds, such as robins, gather together for a sort of social meeting before they fly south. Over in Baltimore, thousands of “blackbirds,” proba b1 y grackles, overload trees and bushes every evening, much to the amazement and dismay of householders. There is always the chance that some untoward happen ing in a neighborhood, auch as an air gun, may driva the birds away for a time. House building has been known to do it, although most ly the birds tolerate ftoises with equanimity. * * * *- An owl. and especially a hawk, may cause the bird population to dwindle sud denly. It must be kept in mind that this population is always subject to what might be called local changes. That is, the birds ones knows may simply fly away to tha next block. They may be no far ther away at any time, but to the person who has been Interested In them, they art as far away as if they had flown the shores of the Carri bean. (In the old days, chil dren were taught to pronounce it with the accent on the “be," as Carribe-an, but today the perferred pronounciation is, we believe, Carlb-bean, with the accent an the "rib.”) The world Is full of birds, many billions we have read, but always wondered how any one knew. It is the same with cats. One organization says there are 20 million stray cats, but how does it know? This is too easy, because no one can tell a stray cat by looking at it. We have seen thousands of wandering cats, and It is impossible to tell whether they have good homes or not. Often the best fed and cared for cat appears the most frightened and forlorn. Always accept such figures, so positively stated, with one or two grains of salt. Sometimes people and second Antarctic expedition at Little America. It waa built on top of the lee. It haa sunk of its own accord. The eeene inside, when the place was last entered in 1947, was weird and beautiful beyond descrip tion with its glistening chan deliers and carved angels of ice. But it was cold down there—cold long buried in darkness, dead cold such per haps as no man living had ' experienced before, although thermometers registered no lower than those on the sur face. It waa curious that tha wooden walls had not been crushed during a decade. Significant Contributions Ice, geologists of the expedi tion explained, really is rock, although rock in Its most un stable form. There were de bates as to whether the great Ross ice shelf, upon which Little America is located, really is an extension of the rock of the Antarctic continent or of the waters of the Ross Sea. But quite aside from possi bilities for fantasy—which should not be attributed to anything said by Mr. Philippe —the Engineer Corps is mak ing many significant contribu tions to the possibilities of Arctic living at Thule. They have built surface earth roads for vehicles reaching several miles Into the great ice cap. They have devised ways of packing snow into roadbeds that will stand up under traffic for considerable periods. Un fortunately, however, they can not be made permanent. The great ice cap covering the world’s largest island is a sleeping cosmic giant, tossing uneasily in hls slumbers. The roads are twisted and torn by these titanic, slow tossings, imperceptible except with instruments. Notable has been the suc cess tunneling through ice. It is easy and cheap, the engineers have found. A single man can chop out 20 feet a day of serviceable tunnel. The ice track is a trackless waste. Engineer parties go out from Thule as much as 450 miles into the interior and the possibility of getting lost is great. This, however, is be ing overcome by two develop ments. First is a miniature autogyro compass for vehicles. Second is a system of electri fied trail wires paralleling a route. Electronic devices in a vehicle warn a driver when he la going astray. organizations have axes to grind. There la no tax on cats, no way of knowing which art “owned” and which are not. ♦• * * If songsters suddenly leave a favorite feeding place, look around you. Sometimes It will be an In vading bird, such as an owl or hawk. Look for the owl in a tree, the hawk in the sky. The lazy flight of the hawk is known to all birds, young or old. It is part of their instinct, as we say. Birds group in hedges and shrubs until they judge the danger is over. Often they overlook the fact that the hawk has flown down, and is remaining as quiet as they are, in his own special shrub. The sudden popping of the > air rifle, which should be classed as a dangerous weapon, will usually send ell the birds at a feeding station on their way to safer quarters, or so they think. One must expect the various birds to get restive, at this time of year. They start their journeys with little test runs, probably going no far ther away than a block or two, at first, or maybe a mile, to get the feel of migrating ways and days. But once they are gone from a yard, that garden suddenly seems to be lacking in some thing. and at last the owner wonders to himself. “Where are the catbirds?” The thrushes have not been as numerous this year as last, and one is puzzled, but there is incessant variation in nature, and Its les son in this respect is very pointed. We have no right, na ture assures us, to expect com plete uniformity and a static condition. In nature, uni formity is the exception, and Incessant change is the rule. If tha watcher of birds in the homeland takes this lesson to heart, ho will have received one of the greatest benefits he can receive. It will soothe his heart and mind in 'many a troubled hour. Nothing stands still, especially not the birds. Change and more change, end less figures m the carpet of time, clouds succeeding sun shine, and then the sunshine back again, these make up the endless flow of natural events, the light and shade of fact and fancy In which we are all in volved. Questions and Answers By THE HASKIN SERVICE A man cu c*t tit* unn «• any •ueatioo of fact by Tin Kvenlns Stu Information Bunn* 1300 tfl Bt lfW„ Wuhlnrton 8, D C Pleuo tnelow S *nt» for return gootnoo Q. Is It true that the San Francisco mint has been closed? If so. why?—H. C. A. Coinage operations at San Francisco have been dis continued, with an estimated annual saving at about $360.- 000 annually. One reason waa that It was found that coins could be delivered to West Coast banks from the Denver mint at a total coat (manufac turing plus shipping) much lower than if they wars aup plisd tram Baa Franriace