davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1938-12-15
The White Report

DR.. Leonard D. White sheds some
new light on an old subject in rec
ommending civil service for Tennes-
see Valley Authority employees.
The Authority was one of the early
New Deal agencies stated without
regard to the Civil Service Act or the
pay scales of the Classification Act.
Those in charge, therefore, have been
free to shape their own personnel
program. DR.. White, a former men,
Der Of the Civil Service Commission,
finds commendable features in the
policies that have been followed; his
report to the T. v. A. Investigating
Committee also discloses Short
conlings.
Noteworthy is his argument that
civil service would speed up the Sc
lection of T. v. A. personnel One of
the principal contentious of oppo-
nents of the competitive system has
been that it is too slow for modern
needs.
He declares also that too much
money has been spent for "job-
training" and says that as an econ
omy measure, the T. v. A. should
eliminate oral examinations for
thousands of applicants for skilled
labor, and substitute written tests.
While the T. v. A. Act excepted
employees from civil service, it con-
tains prescription against political
preferment, and as a result, "the rule
of merit and efficiency has been
carefully observed" in filling posi-
tions, DR.. White says.
The significance of the White re-
port lies in the fact that it presents,
in it's most favorable light, non-civil
service personnel administration, and
still finds defects that could be cured
by the merit system.
That is the point that deserves
deepest consideration when the new
Congress, as anticipated, takes up
civil service extension legislation.
Evening star., 1938-12-15
Home BUILDING

An expansion of the limits for
insuring of mortgages on homes by
the Federal Housing Administration
has been authorized by President
Roosevelt. Under the revised regu-
lations, the Government now may
underwrite three billion dollars worth
of loans on residences, an increase
Of a billion dollars.
This action has been made neces-
sary by the great increase in home
construction, particularly of houses
costing six thousand dollars or less.
In view of the record which has been
made to date by the F. H. A., the
expansion of its activities would
appear well justified.
Up to the first of this month
mortgages totaling more than one
and half billion dollars had been
guaranteed, with new applications
pouring in at rate of more than a
hundred million dollars a month.
The administration has a fund of
tWenty-three million dollars in the
Treasury to meet losses, but so far,
since the act has been in effect, the
total losses have been only a hundred
flfty-three thousand dollars, an
infinitesimal fraction. In addition,
income from insurance premiums
and appraisal fees is about million
dollars month.
There can be little doubt the
Federal insuring Of mortgages has
given a decided impetus to home
ownership and construction. And
with the Nations housing facilities
still below the desired level, the fifty
per cent increase in the limits to
which the F. H. A. may go should
justify the administrators prediction
Of an unusually large amount OF
construction in the coming year.
Evening star., 1938-12-15
Thin Ice

Tuesdays brief outbreak of bitter
ness during the Monopoly Com
mittee's hearing of glass industry
patent attorney is not of great i'm
portance in itself nor need it be con-
sidered of momentous significance
with regard to committee procedure.
The full circumstances of the in
cident-embodying an indiscreet dis
play of prosecution psychology" on
the part Of the Justice Department
examiner, an equivocating reluctance
on the part of one of industry's wit
nesses, and a slight shortness of
temper by some of the committee
nembers-do reflect the thin ice"
condition under which the commit
tee is proceeding.
1t could not be expected, for in
stance, that a group Of twelve men
OF any independence of thought could
be nodded into a single committee
without some clash of ideas and with
out an occasional outcropping OF pre-
conceived determination about the
business practices under study. Rep
resenting both branches Of Congress,
several executive departments, both
political parties, and their own in
dividual convictions, the members
Of this committee undoubtedly will
display at least a normal amount Of
disagreement among themselves as
their work goes on.
Within reasonable limits, such dis
agreement should aid rather than
handicap the study, but If the dis
Evening star., 1938-12-15
THIS AND THAT
By Charles E. TrdceUeH.

If you feed the birds this winter, don't
forget to be interested in the startling.
Whatever municipal authorities may
think Of it, the startling is one of the
most intelligent Of all creatures wearing
feathers.
Since Washington has its starting
problem" just as New York City has,
there is no dearth of material for obser-
vation, and while looking it is just as
well to keep in mind that this is, after
all, really marvellous bird.
Ornithologists will tell you that the
starlings have mapped North America
since 1890, the year they were introduced
to these shores, and have established new
routes Of migration in that space Of
time.
When it is kept in mind that the mi
grafton paths in Europe, which the
birds follow, are thousands of years old,
it may be realized how wise these birds
are.
A few of these birds may visit your
yard at any time, and you will be sensi-
BILE, in your turn, If you welcome them,
and are interested in them, instead of
doing as so many persons do, simply dis
miss them from mind, or growl because
they are not chickadees
If you put out feeding table, or an
automatic feeding station, you will have
to take such birds as come.
Starlings will not be everyday visitors,
unless you put out bread.
Their favorite food is insects, both
alive, in season, and the grubs at this
time of year.
Hence a visit from the starlings, at
any season, is one of the best things that
can happen to your yard.
Home gardeners should keep this in
mind.
In New York City, where the startling
problem Is much greater than it is
here, the thousands Of birds which have
come back there from Canada, where
they live in the summer, spend the day.
time feeding in Long Island.
This means that Long Island ought
to be one Of the finest garden spots in
the world, and that is just what it is
Not only is the soil there good, but the
starlings clean up grubs and other win
ter insect FORMS helping keep down the
insect pests.
These wise birds have regular routes
for returning to the metropolis every
evening.
They fly down certain streets to reach
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on
whose facades they roost.
1t happens that the headquarters of
the National Association of Audubon
Societies is right across the street.
Experts there are spending their time
between 4 and $50 o'clock each after
noon counting the birds as they fly in.
The individual bands vary from few
hundred to $500 starlings. The total is
$4,000.
The noise they make in getting settled
for the night Is said to be tremendous
4
Starlings now are found as far west as
the Rockies, and a few as far south as
Florida.
Most Of them seem content with Wash
ington and environs for winter quarters.
Evening star., 1938-12-15
Order the 1889 Uncle Sans. i.
Almanac in Advance

Uncle Sans Almanac has come to be
the standby Of the Nation. Everybody
wants one. The sise Of the first edition
each year is governed by the number Of
advance orders that are received. There
is no other offering made by the bureau
that draws such . tremendous mass Of
mail to be handled in . short time. All
orders that can be obtained In advance
take OF the pressure 1T this crucial time.
and guarantee to those readers who are
forehanded prompt and efficient service.
Send in your name and address, with Q
dime, and your order will be listed for
mailing as soon - the new edition comes
on the press. II you order now you viii
receive your copy Just before the New
Year. Use the coupon.
Evening star., 1938-12-15
Pedestrians Urged to
Preserve Liberty.

TO the Editor Of The Star:
Awake! Awake, my fellow pedestrians!
Lest in few days our masters enchain
US! They strive now to deprive US of
the liberty of crossing the street. We
will be compelled by law to wait a long
time, so that Mr.. Driver can 90 on with
out losing his precious time. Our time
is not valuable. I'VE are in q hurry.
We must 90 freely. You can wait and
60 for business later" So the drivers
say. They are already masters of 90%
OF the streets. The pedestrian has but
short time to cross the street, and yet
the Traffic Commission will oblige us to
wait and wait.
Why not make some regulations for
the drivers? Why allow them to cross
the streets in three ways, running after
US in the back? Our lives are menaced
by driver who may be drunk, drowsy,
or making love! We must look always
in three directions, but how can We
look back? So let US be active and de-
fend our own rights. II not, we will be
compelled either to fly or renouncs our
right to appear outside our homes.
December IA. MB.
Evening star., 1938-12-15
Pound Foolish

The report that teachers at the
schools in nearby Greenbelt are fac
ing payless furlough after January
! because of shortage in funds recalls
that similar prospect is facing the
officers Of the District school system.
A slash of about $4,000 from the
salary items of school officers, teach
ers, and clerks was made by the
House Subcommittee on Appropria-
tions on the theory that the schools
would receive an equal and COM
pensatory amount in Federal funds
under the George-Deen Vocational
Education Act of 1886.
That has not been the case, as
school officials had warned. While
money was forthcoming from the
Federal funds under the act, they
were not in the amount deducted.
More important, too, was the fact
that George-Deen funds are ear
marked for payment against the sal
aries Of approved vocational educa-
ton teachers only while the deduc-
ton by Congress was made from the
salaries of regular teachers, officers
and clerks. Thirdly, the salaries of
teachers are fixed by the Teachers
Salary Act and provide for step-ups.
These are not liable to reduction by
school officials making payless fur
Tough the only course If the appro-
priation is insufficient.
Superintendent Frank w. Ballou
has already warned the Board Of
Education that this combination Of
factors has put the amount appro-
priated for salaries several thousand
dollars below obligations. He has
further stated a payless furlough is
definitely in prospect.
Two birds may be killed with one
stone If school officers find It i'm
possible to live within the drasti-
cally slashed fuel and light item and
Evening star., 1938-12-15

agreement becomes founded on, dis
trust, or any real or fancied evidence
that some parts OF the committee are
being insincere in their avowal of
seeking facts only, then the entire
inquiry will be endangered. Much Of
the responsibility for keeping such
disagreements within bounds and for
maintaining public faith in the COM
mittee devolves upon the chair
man, Senator O'Mahoney of Wy
oming. His prompt encouragement
of yesterdays pickering was a cred
liable exercise of that responsibility
Evening star., 1938-12-15

Those which roost in the city feed in
nearby Virginia and Maryland.
They are among the most wonderful
flyers in all birdland.
Being intelligent, they roost in fiocks
to keep each other warm, and select the
deep city because 1t is warmer there than
in the suburbs.
Nothing could display their brains bet
ter than their preference for ornate city
structures.
Such places are kept warm all day,
ana moderately warm all night.
4 \
This means that the facades and win
dowsills are measurably warmer than
they would be If there were not heat in
the buildings.
This means, in turn, that the starlings'
claws will not freeze on bitter nights.
The claws of starlings are more tender
than the feet Of most birds. Their own
ers, being exceptionally wise, not only
realize this, but evidently know what
to do about it.
Let us praise them, therefore, and not
join the chorus Of condemnation.
Indeed, this chorus is slowly changing,
over the years, as more and more peo-
pie become interested in watching bird
life.
1t is impossible for any one, no matter
how prejudiced. to watch birds rs they
come to a home yard, without finally
realizing Just what n fine bird the star
ling is.
It Is no more combative than most
birds. It has q. really melodious voice:
in the spring those peculiarly sweet
whistles come from throat, whose
muscles, by the way. entitle 1t to the
scientific classification Of songbird.
Its waddle on the ground is amusing,
but seems to be appropriate to 1t and
It's unusually short tail.
In the air, few birds fly better.
y
The startling, for all its numbers on
Pennsylvania avenue, will never be q
nuisance at the home feeder, for it does
not care much for the seeds and grains
used.
Bread is its great weakness.
Where 1t got this taste for bread Is
hard to figure out, but it likes it beyond
any other winter food.
Those who put out a few crumbs,
therefore, will get starlings, usually
within Is minutes, although not a one
may have been seen in the neighborhood
before
Those who have pondered starting lore
are willing to believe that the various
bands put out scouts, which sit in trees
and atop buildings, and are seldom no
ticed, being just one here and another
there.
Whenever bread is put on the ground,
or in feeder, the scouts see it, or In
some unknown way get track Of it,
Now here is where the mystery comes
in: They do not fly back to the band,
but somehow are able to signal the band,
believe 1t or not.
Pretty soon, usually within IS to 80
minutes, here come the others, perching
first in tree or on building near the
scouts, which, in the meantime, have
attended strictly to duty. without flying
down to eat first.
Evening star., 1938-12-15
Letters to The Star j
Eden Praised for Citing
Function Of Democracy.
To the Editor Of The star:

10 the EOltOr OF Inc 0kArs
The speech delivered by Anthony Eden
before the National Association of Man.
ufacturers set forth a point of view
which is and always will be of the high
est consequence to those not involved in
current politics and yet profoundly in
terested in the evolution OF civilized So
city.
1--WE stand and you stand for democ-
racy," the visiting Englishman declared,
because we stand for the rights of the
individual: because our purpose is to as
sure freedom for the expression of
thought; to encourage conditions in
which the individual human personality
can live and grow"
Obviously, the next phrase necessarily
was: Man was not made for the state:
the state was made for man." Mr.. Eden
also might have insisted that it was made
by man. Such was the doctrine Of
Abraham Lincoln when, at Gettysburg,
he reasserted the claims of government
of the people, by the people, for the peo-
pie" 1t was the teaching of Jesus of Naza-
reth, the conviction of William Shakes
peare the practical faith of Benjamin
Franklin and George Washington, the
guiding star Of the authors of the Decla-
ration of independence and the trainers
Of the Constitution Of the United States.
Justinian, Nero, Philip II, Louis XIV, Ma
poleon, Karl Marx, Lenin, MuSsolini, Hit
ler and Stain are arrayed upon the other
side-and with them stand the lesser ty-
rants who argue "the advantage" Of yield
ing up liberty for theoretical security,
the ofttimes well intentioned planners"
who urge rejection Of what they scornfully
call rugged individualism' in exchange
for the doubtful privilege of being led
into an imaginary utopia where the more
abundant life" may be rationed out to
all comers regardless of merit or desert.
Paternalism, even when skilfully de-
signed and tenderly administered, robs
community of the most precious Of its
possessions-an honorable confidence in
its own powers to survive.
Mr.. Eden did not debate his conten-
ton. He merely Afiirmed = self-evident
truth. Long after the present crisis has
passed, it should be remembered with
gratitude. J. w. r.
December II.
Evening star., 1938-12-15
Reply to Letter Of
War Veteran.

War Veteran.
To the EDITOR Of The Star:
have just read a war veterans letter,
that OF Leon G. Mcdonald, in your issue
Of December 3.
I know that shall be the target for
brickbats galore and (perhaps) epithets
with salty flavor, if say that his griev-
ance does not, to my experienced ears
have exactly the right ring. His claim
may be just. emphasize the word
may"
I was in French war hospital just
south of Paris in 1916. I noted the
wounded mems fatalistic acceptance of
crippled limbs and blasted lives. Later I
was in the Ambulance Americaine,
which was the Lycee Pasteur provision
ally adapted to war needs. II. my wards
there, had both French and American
wounded, and again noticed the differ
ence in the general spirit and viewpoint
of the two nationalities.
And, parenthetically, believe that
much of the strike trouble in French
ports is due to the memory of the ter
rible experiences which their "anciens
combatants" went through. In some in
stances father and son were both in the
trenches.
Now, Mr.. L. G. M. alluded in former
issue to . proposition, made by one
Josephus in The Stars issue Of Octo-
ber "A.
checked up on it and found that he
had been inaccurate in his thesis and
the presentation Of his facts.
II. DE JERSEY.
Evening star., 1938-12-15
News of Bible Classes
Held Beneficial.

To the Editor of The Star:
I want to convey to you the apprecia-
ton OF the Drake Glass Of the Calvary
Baptist Church for your weekly news
column on Bible class activities.
1t is Of real value to us as it keeps us
In constant touch with the work other
groups similar to ours are doing.
The column is but another example of
your sincere desire to serve your COM
munity-we thank you for it.
HARRY w. ZICHTERMAN,
December IL. President.
Evening star., 1938-12-15
Preservation Of Georgetown
Architecture Urged.

TO the Editor q Ine Star.
More power and support to Mrs. Eliza
beth Draper and members of the George
town Progressive Citizens Association in
their efforts to preserve the early Amer
lean quality Of architecture in that most
charming section of residential Wash
ington.
In fact, Georgetown is now the only
surviving part Of Washington that has
resisted the Entertainments of cheap
ness and ugliness so mistakenly known
as progress" and that is trying to uphold
our earlier standards of culture and
taste.
Iwonder where merchants have gotten
the idea that to turn a dignif1ed store
front into q Coney Island monstrosity
will help them sell their goods. Certain
local business blocks have been made
hideous. It Is too bad that Warrington
H. not yet architecturally conscious
Evening star., 1938-12-15

Congress refuses to make q def
cheney appropriation. Should this
situation arise, DR.. Ballou has said,
a closing Of the schools will be neces-
sary and thus the payless furloughs
Could be accomplished.
e The whole school system Is being
made to feel the effects of drastic
economy. Economy is of little real
value of itself. 1t must be practiced
with wisdom.
Evening star., 1938-12-15
Answer to Jupun

Ae Az 4ASo H1AcS a ySoA o6o tAAoo oAAS
United States was formally rebuffed
at Toxic when it asked Japan
whether she was building 45,000-ton,
18-inch-gun battleships. The impl-
cation was that if any such record
breaking construction was planned,
this country might reluctantly be
compelled to follow suit. A non-
committal reply was the best we
could obtain.
On Navy Department authority it
Is now disclosed that at least one
and perhaps both of the two battle
ships which will head the regular
new building program to be pre-
sented to the incoming Congress will
be designed to be the biggest ships
launched in American naval history.
This, apparently, is our answer not
only to Tokio's reluctance to lay its
cards on the table last February, but
to Japan's recent slamming of the
open door in China, regardless of the
United States formal and vigorous
protest.
Announcement of As 5,000-ton bat
tleship program is hardly the kind
of welcome Ambassador designate
Horinouchi will appreciate when he
presents his letters of credence at
the White House next week, but it is
the only kind of diplomacy Japan
has right to expect at American
hands, in light Of current events,
and probably is the only sort that
Tokio's militarist-dominated govern
ment understands.
OF no less Importance than the in
creased size of battleships is the
news that along with a twenty-five
warcraft program of which they are
part, the Navy proposes to establish
three new fleet bases on the Atlantic
and to provide training for $4,000
more skilled workers for naval con-
struction. The naval-base plan is the
fruit Of exhaustive inspection of "the
ramparts we watch" by a General
Board commission headed by Rear
Admiral Arthur J. Hepburn, former
commander in chief of the United
States Fleet.
The Navy is notoriously deficient
In adequate bases. To insure COM
mand of the Caribbean and to pro-
tect the routes essential to defense
of the Panama Canal and South
America, it is being urged that one
of the new bases should be in Puerto
Rico. Another would be on the
northern sector of the United States
mainland, while third would be in
the South.
1t is not an uninteresting coinci-
dence that on the same day the
scheme for 45,000-ton battleships and
Atlantic naval bases is revealed,
there comes from Berlin a thinly
yelled hint that the Berlin TOXIC
Rome axis may sooner or later raise
the question of the "internationali-
cation" of the Panama Canal. Sug-
gestions to that amazing end ema-
nate from Goering's personal organ,
the National zeitung of Essen, at the
same moment that Hitler's special
mouthpiece, Voelkische Beobachter,
demands German Italo japanese
representation on the board of man
agement of the Suez Canal.
Marshal Goering nominates him
self as chief propagandist for bigger
and better American battleships and
more and mightier airplanes.
Evening star., 1938-12-15
Wants Those Jeffersonian
Principles Defined.

To the Editor Of The Star:
Will some patriot please define Jef1er-
sonian principles and save the country?
Most people claim that the Old Deal
could stand some improvement, and
some people claim that the New Deals
efforts at revision are leading us into
one thing or another, all terrible to con-
template, but every one agrees that If we
could just return to the Jeffersonian
principles everything would be all right,
political, economic and social. Maybe
even the trafhc situation.
ELIZABETH WILLIAMSON.
December Il.
Evening star., 1938-12-15
Letters to the Editor must bear
the name and address OF the
toriter. although the use of
pseudonyn1 for publication Is per-
missible. Please be brietl

enough to make zoning restrictions
against these eyesores as other and more
beautiful world capitals have done.
Not even our Christmas display win
dows have escaped the monstrous and the
grotesque that seem to have broken out
in present rash. Some of them must
be Nightmares to impressionable chill
dren. THERESA H. RUSSELL,
December II.
Evening star., 1938-12-15

Japan soon will have spent So, ,645,-
O000 on her Chinese war adventure.
For little more than that her people
might have sat peacefully at home
and enjoyed a New Deal.
Evening star., 1938-12-15

Senator Byrd of Virginia has de-
manded an end to the Nations fiscal
insanity" Good heavens, even q
lucid interval would be welcome.
Evening star., 1938-12-15
Night Final Edition
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All Other States and Canada
Member Of the Associated Press

=. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to
the use for repuoiicaton Of az news dispatcMhes M
paper and also the local news published herein
All rights of publication Of special dispatches
herein also are reserved.
Evening star., 1938-12-15
Neglected Genius.

The sage forgotten trudges on his way
Though many are the things that he
might teach.
He took so long to think of what to say
He never found the time to make
speech,