davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1934-06-18
Plow Pits and Overhead Wires

1lOW 1lLS anu OVerneaQ wires.
The District Commissioners and the
Public Utilities Commission, acting as
a joint board, have adopted q policy
against the maintenance In the future
Of open pillow pits for street car opera
tion on main arterial highways, spe-
cifically ordering the removal of the
present open pit in Wisconsin avenue
near P street, or its replacement with
a closed pit. This brings once more
to mind the fact that the overhead
trolley system, despite the advances
in underground conduction made
beyond the city limits" of the statu-
tory prohibition of overhead wires,
still remains in operation on several
routes within the area of heavy traffic
and business transactions. The re-
fusal of the transit company's request
for permission to use the Taft Bridge,
with or without overhead wires,
has already evoked demand for the
extension of the conduit system in
Connecticut avenue, which is in all
respects an arterial highway for a
considerable distance beyond Rock
Creek. A survey of this matter by
the Commissioners and Public Utilities
Commission will doubtless show that
changed conditions call for a revision
Of the system Of rapid transit to con-
form throughout the urban area to
the standard tablished by the non-
trolley law. The arguments against
the overhead wire in crowded streets
are as applicable now as they were
when that law was enacted. indeed
more definitely now than then, for
vehicular traffic has increased enor-
mously since the wires were banned
within the city limits and the dan
gers from falling wires and from
interference with fire apparatus are
greater. Consolidation of the street
railways lines under a single owner
ship and management simpliies the
matter materially.
Evening star., 1934-06-18

schools had at her tongues tip the
figures on coal production under the
Five Year Plan, but could not tell
where Yokoham4 and Vienna are.
1t will be interesting to observe
whether under the new Soviet educa-
tional deal the inmates of the little
"red" schoolhouse will eventually be
taught that their ancestors inhabited
a country once named Russia. There
is no visible sign or mention Of RUS
sia" in the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics" of today. Perhaps some
day the Moscow educational reform
ers will even get around to the point
Of teaching that peoples which cling
to the economic precepts Of capital
ism, as opposed to Communism. have
contrived to carve out fairly happy
and prosperous national existences
for themselves.
Evening star., 1934-06-18
Waterlon QaV.

Waterloo day means little to the
Americans Of June 1S, 1884. The
great battle is ancient history" to
the average man or woman of the
present era. Even in England the
anniversary has only an academic in
terest to a population necessarily pre-
occupied with current problems. But
the importance of the event is in no
way affected by neglect. 1t remains
what it was hundred and nineteen
years ago-the key incident of mod
ern times.
Suppose Napoleon had emerged
from the CORY struggle a victor
would not the things for which he
stood have been endowed with new
lease of life? Scholars answer in the
affirmative. The Corsican, they agree,
personified last phase Of medic
valism. He was an adventurer of the
romantic type, obscurely born and
reared, but royalty motivated. Beyond
all question, the driving power in his
soul was an egocentric fxation, akin
to that witch prompted Alexander
and Caesar, Charlemagne and Louis
XIV. The earth, he thought, was his
oyster; he would possess himself Of
1t, dress it up and eat it.
But his ambition was opposed by
the forces of democracy-puny, un-
perfected. untried as they were. The
doctrine Of social and political equal
ity stood in his way. Fate chose
Hanoverian and Prussian instruments
to strike him down, but behind We'll
lington and Blucher we're the shades
Of John Locke and Adam Smith,
Voltaire and Rousseau, Benjamin
Franklin and Thomas Paine. It was
inevitable that the old and the new
tides should clash. and Waterloo. by
curious chance, happened to be the
place. The principal casualty was
that of irresponsible tyranny.
And the conquerors of Bonaparte
were destined to receive without delay
a drastic correction Oh which they
Evening star., 1934-06-18
SHOOTING STARS.
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.

Eventual Attainment.
When schools send out a flock oi
youth
While parents gaze admiring,
Will they do battle for the truth
With energy untiring?
Will they 60 out and show the worlo
A struggle energetic.
With banner bright for thought un-
furled
As well as things athletic?
Or will they be content to teach
OF wealth and its possessors
And figure, when their goal they
reach,
As 'just some more professors"7
Evening star., 1934-06-18
Cuba Boils Up Again.

Evidently it takes more than the
abrogation of the Platt amendment
and the liberation of the island from
the Yankee yoke" to bestow political
tranquility upon Cuba. Havana yes
terday was the scene of another Of
those bloody Sundays" which have
periodically fiared up ever since the
drive to oust the Machado regime set
in last Summer.
How deep-seated this newest tur-
moil is remains to be seen. 1t cost
fifteen or sixteen lives and caused
numerous other casualties. While
promptly suppressed, rancor and un-
rest are certain to be left in its wake
Government officials freely admit
that the affair mirrors conditions that
augur i'll for the coming presidential
election scheduled for December
The Associated Press quotes a high
official as saying that Cuba Is OBJ
viously not yet ready for such a cam
paign "as no political party can hold
demonstrations without riSking the
lives of its members" Sundays riot
with its sanguinary Accomplishments
was the result of manifestations by
the A B. c. revolutionary society in
support of President Carlos Mendie-
ta's administration. The demonstra-
tors were attacked by groups sup
posed to be Communist and other
radical adherents of DIR. Grau San
Martin, who was .ousted from the
presidency, to be succeeded by Col
Mendieta, and whose cohorts appar-
emily banker to restore the former
to power. Senor Ruben de Leon
leader of the Autenticos, the Grau
San Martin party, disavows the at
tack on the A. B. c. paraders. He
expresses the fervent hope that it will
not lead to reprisals and thus evoke
a new wave of civil strife.
Sundays outbreak had some of tht
earmarks of gang warfare. 1t begar
with machine gun fire suddenly
poured into a crowd by quartet
of youths operating from a red motor
car. Infuriated by their action, tn,
mob succeeded in capturing the gang
sters and later burned them alive II
their machine. Sporadic as Sunday
riot and bloodshed may have been, thu
events eliminated several weeks OF
bomb outrages and other forms oi
terrorism in Havana and the prov.
inces, all indicative of smoldering un.
rest, for which the government holds
the political opposition and variou.
Subversive elements responsible.
To date President Mendieta ano
Col. Batista, his army chief, have con.
trived to keep the situation fairly wei
in hand, but the latest bloody Sun
day. is grim warning that Cuba i.
far from stabilized and pacihed. tn.
United States has renounced respon-
sibility for the preservation Of law and
order within the island. but our right
to intervene for protection of Ameri.
can life and property endures. All
friends of Cuba in this country must
hope that matters will not drift to a
point where any such action, will be.
come necessary.
Evening star., 1934-06-18
The Little "Red" Schoolhouse

From Moscow comes significant
Associated Press story dealing with
reforms in Soviet public school educa-
ton. Hitherto barred as too bourgeois
for the minds of Communist school
children, factual history and geog-
raphy are now to be taught for the
first time under the Bolshevist regime
In joint DEGREES issued by the
mighty Stain himself and the presi-
dent of the Council of Commissars,
Vyacheslaf Moloton. it is ordered that
ancient and modern history and
elementary geography be added to the
ondary schools beginning with the
next term. Hitherto these subjects
have been taught only in relation to
their revolutionary significance. Un-
less they could be given Marxist or
Bolshevist hue, they were on the pro-
hibited list.
Pravda. the Communist party organ,
explains: Abstract sociological themes
up to now have been substituted for
a coherent exposition of historical
facts. Our school children know very
little about the actual facts of ancient
and modern history. They know all
about Pugatchev's revolt (in 1773) but
nothing at all about Catherine the
Great. A knowledge of historical
events and personalities is of the
greatest Importance for the future
constructors of Socialist society.
Geography text books are overfilled
with figures and statistics. Students
have been taught to ignore the names
Of rivers, cities, states and mountains
and have been taught Socialist
economics instead Of pure geography"
As evidence Of the conditions pro-
duced by the present Soviet curric-
ulum, 1t is narrated that 16-year-old
girl pupil in the MFcow secondary
Evening star., 1934-06-18
Complete Railroad Change y,
Forecast in Streamline Era

human dispatchers would have their
responsibility tremendously increased
to keep new trains and the swiftest of
the older kind from crashing into
each other. That would not be all,
Grade crossings would at once become
more dangerous. Their elimination
would be more urgently necessary than
now and work on the project would
have to be speeded up. Doubtless
the improved transportation would be
worth all this effort, but the fact re-
mains that it can't be achieved
quickly or easily merely by building
lot Of Zephyrs. The whole system
must be rebuilt"
Reviewing the story Of the Zephyr,
the San Francisco Chronicle COM
ments: "All along the line, the scene
was that Of a former generation. The
people turned out to see the train
come INN big towns and in little
towns. Even at the whistling stations
the crowd was there to see the train
90 by. That was something in Amer
ican life that had been lost. There
are those who say that streamlined
trains, with the large amount of track
reconstruction that high speed de-
mands, will be the long-awaited in
vention. comparable to the develop
ment of the automobile, that will re-
store the industrial tempo. But they
will do more, they will bring back a
revered American institution"
Seven great Western systems" says
the Wilkesbarre Times-Leader, ARE
pioneering in lightweight vestibule
trains, air-conditioned. and able ap-
proximately to meet the competition
In speed and comfort and almost In
cheapness Of travel with the other
more modern agencies. They have
called in all the wizardries of mod
ern science and inventive skill and the
result Is a new type Of train which
increases speed and reduces expenses
to point undreamed of up to now"
The Waterloo Qowa) Courier, how
ever, suggests that there still remains
the danger of these lighter trains
being derailed after striking a heavy
motor vehicle" while the Long Beach
(Calif) Press-Telegram states: This
modernization Of the Nations railroads
not only means an obvious rebuilding
OF equipment with its necessary en-
ployment Of workmen In the industry's
shops. but an active demand In the
allied industries for essential mate
rials. 1t requires no exceptional i'm
agination to visualize the great
amount OF labor required or jobs
necessary to thus modernize the roll.
ing stock Of the railroads Of the
United States. 1t means the utiliza.
ton Of millions of dollars Of private
capital. which today are lying idle,
and. which Is of equal Importance.
employment for thousands Of unern.
ployed."
Evening star., 1934-06-18

Saturday was the most tempestuous
day in Vice President Garner's whole
career as presiding officer OF the Sem
ate. The Texan seemed to relish the
hot parliamentary pace which the
chamber set itself and handed out
rulings with machine-g gun rapidity.
He fell down only once. when, after
asking for the ayes and noes, he ruled
that the noes had it, only to discover,
when a rising vote was demanded,
that there were only two noes against
an overwhelming flock of ayes. The
chamber rocked with glee, and Gar
ner laughed with II. On one occa-
sion Senator Couzens, Republican pro-
gressive Of Michigan, good naturedly
demonstrated that the chair was
functioning in such high gear that
II was impossible to keep up with him.
President Roosevelt's plan to stop
on at Cartagena, Colombia, on his
way to Hawaii has caused a great
and gratifying stir in Latin American
quarters at Washington. It is con-
sidered the latest of several recent
gestures by the United States Gov
ernment meant to indicate that pan
American solidarity is coming more
and more to be the keystone of Uncle
Sans foreign policy. Negotiations
Tor tariff treaty with Colombia have
been going on for some time and are
understood to be practically complete.
1t probably will be the first pact
concluded under the authority lust
voted to President Roosevelt by Con-
gress. and the details are keenlv
awaited in international circles as a
sample of what Uncle Sam means by
tariff. reciprocity.
Stories are current that the entire
cabinet plans to assemble at Seattle
to greet President Roosevelt on his
return from Hawaii at the end of
July or early in August. II such an
arrangement is carried out 1t will not
only be the first time on record that
cabinet meeting has taken place
away from Washington, but will mark
the simultaneous absence from the
Capital Of all three branches of the
Government-executive, judicial and
legislative. The tentative arrange
ment is for his cabinet officers to ac-
company F. D. r. to various Federal
irrigation and reclamation projects
in the Northwest which he plans to
inspect before crossing the country to
Hyde Park. Projects in Washington.
Oregon, wyoming and Montana are
on the schedule. The President is
already experiencing difficulty In de-
Gliding just what Western points to
visit. Hospitality has been prof1ered
from many quarters and his task is
to avoid playing favorites.
One of the Harvard '09 classmates
Of DR.. Ernst Franz Hanfstaengl,
Chancellor Hitler's piano. playing,
right-hand man, is Col. Theodore
Roosevelt, president of the National
Republican Club. DIR. Hanfstaengl.
who has just reached this country to
participate in his class reunion, con-
tributes the customary autobiography
to the twenty-f1fth anniversary vol
ume. 1t ends up with the laconic ex-
clamation: And then / met Hitler!"
Ralph Coolidge Mulligan, member of
the washington press gallery, also
was q classmate of Hanfstaengl as
was H. v. Kaltenborn. famous radio
news commentator. The Nazi lieu
tenant is not expected to visit WASH
ington while in the United States.
(Copyright. 1934)
Evening star., 1934-06-18
rember of the Associated Press.
Time to Adjourn.

Having arrived at an agreement to
pass certain important legislative
measures and adjourn, the Senate
kicked the program overheard late
Saturday. There is, Of course, moth
ing altogether wrong in the continu-
ance of the congressional session, al
though the President has been hoping
for an early adjournment, after pas
sage of the bills considered essential.
There is always the chance that If
the legislators stay here long enough
they will put through several measures
which the administration does not
consider sound Indeed, it has been
an open secret that every possible step
has been taken to prevent some OF
these more radical measures from
coming up for final action in either
the House or the Senate.
The ways for an adjournment Sat-
urday had been creased. Democratic
and Republican leaders, and indeed
the rank and file of the Senate and
House, had come to a more less
anicable agreement to get away from
Washington after passing the def
cheney bill, the housing bill and the
substitute for the Wagner labor bill.
The trouble came, however, when
the agreement was broken, and in the
last few hours of the session efforts
were made to rush through bills not
included in the program. Proponents
OF some of these measures insisted
that the President desired to have
them put through. But even II the
President said that he would be glad
to have such measures enacted, they
were not on the list to which agree
ment was made. 1t was manifestly
impossible that all of these measures
the omnibus banking bill, the Fra
zier-Lempke farm mortgage bill, and
the railroad labor bill. not to mention
others-could be considered in the
few short hours remaining Of Sat-
urday night. The result was a legis-
lative log jam.
Congress could remain in session
the rest of the Summer if it desired
to take up and pass all the bills on
its calendars. The country has had
enough legislation for the present. 1t
is still trying to assimilate the mass
already put through since the Spring
of 1888. 1t is time for the Congress
to quit and give the country breath
ing spell. Some of the measures
already passed may require amend
ment or actual elimination. Many
cures have been attempted through
legislation. Some of them are fla
grantly contradictory.
If the leaders in Congress are wise
they will seek to limit the program
much as they did last week. Either
that or give up all idea Of adjourning
the Congress for several weeks to
come. There are groups in the Sen
ate that will fight hard against some
of the bills which were thrown into
the hopper Saturday.
Evening star., 1934-06-18
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES Z. TRAC

Getting across the street afoot is
becoming more dificult every day.
1t Ia now q real business, to which
man. woman or child must devote the
entire attention.
The special danger Is talk.
Moralists always have pointed to
that, but It remained for a modern
mechanical invention to give it the
greatest point.
The one place In all the world now
adays, where no one should indulge
in conversation Is the middle Of the
road.
Any road, anywhere.
Talk on the curb, in the park, in
the ofiice, in the home, in the theater
ct base ball, the circus, or any place
whatsoever, but refrain from conver-
sation while attempting to cross the
modern thoroughfare, else it may be
only an attempt.
The writer of this warning had this
impressed upon him one bright after
noon last week. when he nearly lost
his life at Chevy Chase Circle.
At the time he was very angry at
the motorist, who seemed to be going
at least so miles an hour, but in
retrospect he blames himself, for he
forgot the cardinal rule:
when you are crossing a street
afoot, make that job of crossing your
sole business of the moment"
A street car rounding the circle hid
the speeding motor car from him, the
car hid him from the driver of the
automobile. And he, the pedestrian,
was talking.
the car bore down. the writer
glared, there was sharp, quick
swerve, and it was all over, but
1t might just as easily happened
that 1t had not ended that way. Even
as his legs began to tremble, after he
reached the curb, the pedestrian
thought to himself that at that very
moment, no doubt. somewhere in the
United States some one was being
killed in exactly the same sort Of ac-
cident.
There would be people running, cars
stopping. police gathering. the siren
Of an ambulance, note books, testi-
mony with no two seeing it the same
way: there would be charges and
counter charges, there would be some
to say the car was going so miles an
hour. and others to declare it was
making no more than 20 miles
But what would all that mean to
the man in the ambulance?
The thing that really matters Is
the endeavor never to place ones self
in position in the street where he
can get run over.
Recrimination or blame does little
good. One may think, and no doubt
properly, that there Is such a dis
parity between the strength of the
man at the wheel and the man afoot
that the onus ought to be placed on
the motorist
Power, however. is power, in this
world, and he who has 1t, in any sit
uation. comes of the physical victor
in a clash.
This unsought clash between a man
on his feet and a man at the wheel
seldom ends in anything but the loss
Of the pedestrian.
His main consideration, therefore.
as man afoot, is to see to it that he
and that he attempts to keep himself
out of previously known dangerous
situations.
Evening star., 1934-06-18

Senator David I. Walsh had no trou-
Bile whatever OF the convention. His
old political enemy, former Mayor
James M. Curley Of Boston, was
turned down for the gubernatorial
nomiantion, which went to Brig. Gen.
Charles T. Cole. Coles nomination
was eminently satisfactory TO Walsh.
4 \ y
Bernard Baruch, good angel Of
Democratic campaigns In the past,
has started the war chest Of the
Democratic Senatorial Campaign
Committee with . contribution of
$4,000. It Is expected that other con-
tributions will be coming in before
long. The campaign Is not far dis
tant. Senator James Hamilton Lewis
Of Illinois II the chairman Of the
committee.
Evening star., 1934-06-18

Adoption Of the new streamlined
model for several American railroads.
notably the Burlington, where the
Zephyr achieved top speed of III
miles an hour, inspires predictions Of
q new period of railroad building in
which the enthusiasm Of the country
will be exhibited in the manner which
marked the earlier days of pioneering
in transportation. Several questions
are raised, including the strength Of
old rails to carry the new trafnc. and
the difnculty of mixing slow and fast
trains. Some editors hold that much
new construction will be necessary,
though benefits to business are en-.
phasized.
whether the Zephyr can keep up
such . high speed In daily service. Of
course" according to the Scranton
Times, has yet to be proved. The
fact remains, however, that the sue
cess Of the Zephyr has seriously
turned the attention Of the people to
the possibility of transportation by
the old reliable means of travel.
Passenger trains cannot compete with
airplanes In the matter Of speed. Only
in q minor way are the railroads in
competition with the airplanes. Com
petition comes chiefly from busses and
private automobiles. The latter form
Of transportation will have to 60 some
to begin to approach the performance
Of the Zephyr"
THE test will come" in the opin-
ion OF the Omaha World Herald, upon
the ability Of the train to attract
daily paying load Of passengers in
competition with other trains. the
auto and the airplane. The test will
come when the railroad discovers
whether the light train. with its
Diesel engine. can be operated profit-
ably over present road beds after the
novelty Of its appeal has been lost.
The Zephyr, like the Union Pacific's
similar train, proves one encouraging
thing. 1t is that the railroads, after
some decades Of rather stodgy and
slow-minded management, are begin.
ming to adopt = youthful attitude to-
ward competition. striving to meet 1t
and beat 1t, rather than to howl about
it and yield to 1t. These new trains
thus become q symbol Of . brighter
future for railroading which has been,
in recent years, too much In the dol
drums"
"a train that travels As fast As the
Zephyr did" thinks the Geneva
IN. " Daily Times. wouldn't At
very well into any present railroad
schedule. Slower trains would always
be in its way. Automatic signal sys-
TENS would have to be revised and