davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1939-08-27

weary sound, but when Jim touched
her gently, and said "Tired?" her back
Strengthened, and she said proudly,
Not at allv'
. At last, standing outside her own
door, she let him kiss her, standing
passively in his arms, and when he
said, Tomorrow, darling? What time
shall | Gomez" she murmued, will
you telephone? There are arrange
ments to be made -"
When she was alone, she went
straight in to her desk, and without
stopping to think what she meant to
Evening star., 1939-08-27

She could see only part of his face
There was long stubborn line from
the corner of his nostril down his jaw
This is the last time you take
things into your own hands, young
lady, he said curtly.
The girls voice was high and un-
controlled. I'm old enough to decide
something for myself. And if you expect
me to stay here, cooped up all day, while
you're out having gay old time -"
Il expect you to behave with some
degree of common sense.
She flung off her sweater. The only
danger was in your own mind! Win
had the boat perfectly under control" "
go upstairs. We won't discuss it
v here"
The girl gave him long. defiant
look from her dark eyes, and without
another word turned toward the stair.
The young people dispersed, laugh
ing and whispering, and Jim turned
Dack TO Margaret. lie LOOK OH tne
dripping oilskln and wiped his face
with blue-bordered handkerchief.
I'm sorry, Peggy. | can't tell you
how sorry l am, but l suppose we
better call things off for this evening.
don't know what gets into her! If l
hadn't expressly forbidden her to go
out with that crowd. =. Oh, well, |
don't know how to handle these kids.
1T seems they weren't in any actual
danger. but, of course, she never
thought of my side of 1t -
She was looking at him incredu-
lously. She saw harassed, middle
aged man. parent, fuming and be-
fuddled by younger generation. Had
there ever been anything young or
Evening star., 1939-01-07
Federation Appreciates
Star Editorial,

Star Editorial.
To the Editor OF The Star:
There appeared in The Evening Star
of December 81, an editorial entitled,
Federal Salaries" 1t was especially
gratifying to read in that editorial the
favorable attitude of The Star toward
the salary situation in the Government
service.
The existence of the so-called "aver-
age clause" to which attention was di-
rected by this editorial has long been
an unwarranted obstacle in the way of
deserved recognition of meritorious serv-
ice by Government workers. The So
called average clause has been in every
appropriation bill since 1924 and its un-
desirable effects have been vested upon
Government personnel under the CLASH
fication Act in the District of Columbia
The attention, which was directed to
this unwholesome defect in what should
be a true merit system, was, in my
opinion, distinct service to Government
employees in the District of Columbia
This federation is vitality interested in
the removal of the average clause from
the annual appropriation bills .and for
that reason the editorial coming at this
time gives valuable assistance in this
effort to right wrong that has con-
tinued for IA years.
CHARLES I. STENGLE,
President
American Federation of Government
January 5. Employees.
Evening star., 1939-01-07
Congressional Record

The Congressional Record has
never been noted as one of our
more thrilling publications, and there
is no record of it ever having been
sold out on any news stand. Most
readers complain that there are too
many characters in the plot and too
much dialogue.
1t has just had its face lifted and
appears in new format or layout,
with the Great Seal of the United
States resting on its brow. 1t re-
mains temporarily in two columns,
but others are scheduled to be added
until in time it will look something
like the Daily Racing Form, but it
will be much easier to keep its records
straight, as there are only five hun
dred and thirty-one congressman in
training at the moment.
There will be little change in the
contents. The type form continues
to be Ionic, and much of the sub
ject matter ironic. A resolution to
run advertisements was defeated, and
the enthralled reader will search in
vain for such items as Young man
wants executive position in Depart
ment Of Commerce. Ideally quail
fed. Started commercial career at
age OF ten, when he succeeded in
parlaying bicycle down to a pen
knife and piece of chewing gum in
only four trades. Apply Box No. H."
Doctors who have been in the habit
OF prescribing the Congressional
Record for insomnia patients need
not worry over its new form. 1t will
still retain its incompatible sleep
inducing qualities.
Evening star., 1939-01-07

specialist and, although q chief engi-
neer of the Authority has since been
named, the board itself will not con-
tain representation in this field.
It is true, however, that former
Senator Pope, an attorney by pro-
fession, has long been interested in
the problems of power development,
phosphate conservation and fertilizer
production. This interest, an active
one throughout his public career,
does give him a basic qualification
for his new position and it is to be
hoped that he may contribute toward
an effective administration of an
experiment far-reaching in its i'm
plications.
Evening star., 1939-01-07
"Confirmed Jaywalker" Opposes
Pedestrian Control.

Confirmed Jaywalker" Opposes
Pedestrian Control.
To the Editor of The Star:
Permit me to express myself on pedes-
trian control. walk approximately eight
miles daily on the streets. Thus I am
confirmed jaywalker and proud of it.
However, I cross more often in the middle
of the block, the only sane or safe thing
to do. Ninety per cent of the car drivers
violate regulations and nothing is said
or done about it. They are the people
demanding pedestrian control. They have
monopoly on the streets and are now
demanding the sidewalks. Not a pedes-
trian appeared before the hearing last
week. OF course; he is the underdog
and has no rights to be considered. 1t
was the car driver who ruled the roost.
should say there are twenty-fiv thou
sand pedestrians daily on the streets.
How control these? But some poor pedes-
trian will pay the penalty, while thou
sands 60 free. The police must justify
their record. It would require police
man at every intersection in the city,
day and night. The whole plan, it seemS
to me, is a concoction OF the car drivers:
Why deceive the people by calling it
pedestrian protection?" 1t is pure pedes-
trian control. .
January 3. GUY c. WILSON.
Evening star., 1939-01-07
japan Goes Fascist

Overshadowing in significance Pre-
mier Prince Konoye's succession
by Baron Hiranuma, Fascist minded
president Of Japan's privy council, is
the additional light it throws on the
China war. Displacement of a gov
ernment head, who only recently
ventured to suggest that Japan's
military victories might prove worth
less If sher domination Of Eastern
Asia continues to arouse powerful
hostility in the world, is a confession
that the fruitlessness of the eighteen
month-old undeclared campaign Is
driving its promoters to desperation.
1t is notorious that the great Jap
anese industrial and financial inter-
ests, despite the swollen profits which
have accrued from the boom in
munitions, have, registered mounting
disapproval of the extremist policies
OF the militarists. AS the process
of commercial disintegration con-
tinued, capital found itself subjected
to ever more burdensome and OBJ
noxious restriction and control. Au-
thoritarianism, on the German and
Italian models, became fastened on
the japanese people in all but name.
A Hiranuma premiership, therefore,
would seem only to mean that pre-
tense is now to be dropped and full
blown Fascism imposed, not only
upon what remains of diSlocated
capitalism, but upon such vestige of
democratic government as war leaves
to the Mikados people. AS long as
five ars ago, the new Premier was
writing that political parties and
politicians have been discredited in
the eyes of the people" This sounds
suspiciously like the death knell of
parliamentarism in Japan. 1t is the
sort of talk that preceded the emas-
culation OF the Reichstag by Hitler
and Of the Italian Chamber of Dep
uties by Mussolini.
AS Hiranuma's supporters are the
elements within the military estab-
lishment, as we'll as civilian interests
inside and outside the government,
which are intensely nationalist, the
new deal at Toxic forecasts not only
stormy times at home and more
ruthless prosecution of the war in
China, but an aggravation of Japan's
relations with the Western powers.
Whether associated in any way with
these developments or not, it is a
fortuitous circumstance that the
United States seasoned Ambassador
at Toxic, Joseph c. Grew, will reach
Washington shortly on leave, for our
relations with Nippon, particularly in
the light of certain passages in the
Presidents message to Congress- are
gravely strained.
Evening star., 1939-01-07

is reading neplIF
Many seem to think that 1t is some
thing with which we all are endowed, q
sort of gift Of nature, along with seeing,
hearing, tasting and smelling
1t is really the gift of education. But
there are many well-educated people,
who, nevertheless, do not like to read.
Not that they do not read. OF course,
they do! But never with the same zest
of the person who really loves 1t.
For reading is habit.
The natural liking must be there, but
after that 1t becomes . matter of do
ing 1t.
The more one reads, the more one
wants to read. This is very easily seen
in middle or later life, when one hap
pens to be the victim of an illness, or
when small type becomes dificult.
Then the sufferer has q new misery
added to all his others, that of complete
boredom, because he cannot indulge in
his favorite habit of reading.
~ **
II do not know what to do unless
can read" lamented one. You see, the
habit had him.
A good habit, however this one, with
out any of the drawbacks of more pie
beian fixations.
The habit Of reading is built up by
reading. This means that the more we
read, the more we like to read, and
every one knows how true this is in his
own personal taste, at least up to
certain age.
The reading habit, begun in childhood,
extends far into the future, but unfor-
tunately there seems to be a limit, in
many cases, although often enough the
reader is not aware of this fact. He
finds every excuse in the world, with the
facility we all have, for not reading as
much as he used to- He has SO MANY
other duties he cannot find the time for
1t. He would like to keep up with the
new books, but about 10000 are put out
each year, so how is any one to do 1t?
And so on and so on
What he Is hiding from himself is that
the habit Of reading has been broken,
somehow. Like all habits, it can be
ended, but most often by neglect.
Little by little the old-time reader
. stops reading. 1t may be that his eyes
have gone back on him. 1t may be that
he has newer interests It may be that
the philosophy of life which he has been
so steadily working out for himself over
the years begins to tell him that in much
reading there is great woe, as the fellow
said so long ago.
\
He discovers that the best books,
looked at from the standpoint of per-
fection, have very little in them. He
becomes satisfied with just one new help
or fact in each book. If he finds that
much, he is satisfied.
Or it may be that as a reader, he has
become too critical. 1t is possible. He
may long for the best so assiduously
Evening star., 1939-01-07
THIS AND THAT
By Charles +. Trdce,Dell.

that he brings too critical q mind to his
reading. It is here something as 1t is in
listening to music. Surely 1t is possible
for the music lover to become too crit
ical, to ask an impossible perfection in
the music and performers.
But whatever the reason, there comes
time in many reading life when one
grows tired of reading. It is too bad,
and Is often disclaimed, but many will
realize. with clear eyes of candor, that
1t is the fact.
Is 1t because reading, too, takes energy,
and the supply of energy is running out?
The weary reader recalls the days Of
his youth, when he could read for hours,
even days, on end, without either his
eyes, heart or immortal soul growing in
the least tired.
1t is true that in those days he had
absolutely nothing to do. Books saved
him from boredom, which Schopenhauer
said is the great curse.
He had asked nothing better in those
days than a great bowl of animal crack
VIZ eAAN q 6ooO WYNN. oo llC dGc Ills WAY
with unalloyed delight through King
Solomons Mines" and Swallow" "The
Three Musketeers," Count of Monte
Christo.' "Cyrano de Bergerac," The
War of the Women" "Story of a South
African Farm" and many others.
They were not all fiction, however. He
read with bated breath the monumental
volume of Prescotts Rise of the Dutch
Republic" The ferocious AIva became
a reality before him.
He read of the discovery of Mexico,
and the rape and ruin of that wonderful
Aztec civilization which its conquerors
could not appreciate except for what
they could take with them in their
pockets and bags. He has wondered
about Spaniards ever since, and was not
IN the least surprised at the bloody doings
in modern Spain.
X X
Whether reading is habit or not, it
is something wonderful, something to
cling to. even if one has to try, try again.
Reading is worth working to regain, if
one feels that it has, little by little, in
sensibly slipped away.
Just for the sake of those magic hours
OF long ago, If this is your case, it must
be reclaimed. 1t is too good to lose.
The best way to read, of course is to
begin.
The hardest part of reading, as OF
writing, is the start.
Once the beginning is over, the rest
OF it comes easily enough, if one is a
writer or reader.
Recall the novels of Cooper. How dull
they are for 40 pages. and how interest
ing thereafter! Ten years ago we saw a
30-volume set of Cooper 60 begging on
a bookstall for IS. We passed it for
months, in rain and shine, and always
thought to purchase it, but believed ii
would be there when we wanted it. The
time came, but the set was gone.
Evening star., 1939-01-07
New Health Plan

More than ninety per cent of the
members of the Medical Society of
the District of Columbia have sig
nif1ed, by mail vote, that they are
willing to try out the prepayment
health service plan apparently de-
vised by the organization as an
answer to the much discussed Group
Health Setup.
The society's plan must be con-
sidered as sincere effort to meet
what it considers a challenge to the
most cherished articles of faith of
the medical profession-the free right
OF a patient to choose a physician,
the control of medical practice by
medical men, the prevention of any
form of privately or publicly con-
trolled monopoly in health and life.
The physicians themselves have
long recognized rising public de-
mand for some basic changes in the
economics OF medical practice. Many
Of them have been convinced of the
justice Of these demands. The diff
Guilty has been In working out a new
system of economic relations between
physicians and patients which would
preserve all the vital principles.
1t remains to be seen whether the
Medical Society of the District of
Columbia has succeeded in setting
up an arrangement whereby
patient will have most of the benefits
of socialized medicine without
sacrificing the benefits-inestimably
greater, the physicians believe-of
private practice governed by the age
old ethics and altruistic traditions
of the profession.
1t will be easy enough to find fault
with the medical society's plan,
especially if the critic does not keep
constantly In mind the objectives and
the well-nigh insuperable difficulties.
Something, the doctors realized. had
to be done. They have done their
best. For time it will be franklv
an experiment. IT the plan works
it may we'll be extended to remedy
what at present seems its greatest
weakness, the setting up of economic
classes.
Evening star., 1939-01-07

debt OF our national economic system.
public and private together, is no larger
today than it was in 1929 will not be
accepted without protest 1t is not a
fair proposition. Thoughtful men and
women know that the public debt is a
common obligation, private debt an indi-
vidual responsibility. The President was
guilty of a deception-of himself, if not
OF his audience-when he bracketed the
two as though their effect were exactly
similar.
Again, Mr.. Roosevelt's ambition to
make the United States "an eighty bill
lion dollar Nation" may be challenged
with abundant reason. Having cut the
dollar in half, he should have been frank
enough to mention the fact when he
argued for expanded national income
without reference to the buying power
OF money. Under imitation the people
might have an annual income of ten times
eighty billions and yet be sunk in poverty.
But even more dangerous to the gen.
eral welfare is the Presidents theory that
continued Government spending has be-
come imperative as defense measure.
With the Nations budget completely out
OF control, with pump printing part of
the permanent pattern of industry politi-
cally administered, it would be difficult.
to imagine more dangerous handicap
In the event of war. Mr.. Roosevelt pleads
with Congress to invest for prosperity"
to protect the country at time when
that policy already is demonstrated
failure and when the voters have re-
jected 1t even as an emergency expedient.
If the Nation really is wiser" and if
1t soon must take up arms for democracy.
the sooner it gets back to sound and
sane economic procedure the better.
Congress has mandate to reform the
New Deal reformation. In no other way
can the people be unified" for "com-
mon destiny" and common need"
January 1. 1--WE
Evening star., 1939-01-07
Prayer for ExiIed Children

Lord, hast Thou turned in sorrow from
the earth
And cast aside at last Thy holy plan
That love should one day rule the
heart of man?
These children-for the crimelesS crime
of birth,
Torn from the cruel land they knew as
home,
Wrenched from the breaking hearts
that held them dear,
Thrust forth at night in anguish
Father, hear,
Fold them with Thy compassion as they
roam.
Thou gavest Thy Beloved Son in vain;
From self-filled lives We brush aside
the Gift,
From sin to deadlier sin the nations
drift.
Now we stand guilty Of this blackest
stain.
For our redemption, Lord, name Thou
the price,
Even our own sons blood in sacrifice.
I. D. K.
Evening star., 1939-01-07
ChiseIers and Relief

While the public and local relief
authorities remain in ignorance of
details in connection with the gen.
eral charges of "chiseling" contained
In the Lewis report on relief condi-
tions in Washington, District Attor-
ney David A. Pine discloses that it is
easier to make charges of this nature
than to prove them in court. OF
eighteen groups of cases, involving
twenty-nine persons, which were con-
sidered for possible prosecution by
Police Court officials, he points out,
evidence of criminal intent was
strong enough in only one instance
to warrant conviction.
In the single case where a convic-
ton was obtained, the trial judge
placed the defendant on probation
upon his promise to repay funds he
had accepted Illegally. Mr.. Pine has
been advised by subordinates that
the courts are very reluctant to i'm
pose penalties provided by law
against the type of persons appar-
emily described in the Lewis report
as "chiselers." For the most part
these people are aged and inflrm, or
are widows with children. Moreover,
prosecutors, upon diligent inquiry,
often find that technical violations
have occurred through ignorance of
the law rather than through any in
tent to defraud the Government.
That some relief clients should be
hazy as to the workings of the relief
system, and confused as to their
rights and obligations under it,
should occasion no surprise. The
laws governing administration OF re-
lief and unemployment appfopria-
tionS have been in state of
, fux for several years. It is difficult
for experienced welfare executives to
keep tab on them. Indeed, this con-
tfnuel change Of program undoubt-
edly has affected efficiency Of ad-
fninistration and paved the way for
waste, chiseling and other evils. A
great many persons will agree with
the feeling of the Maryland and Dis
trict Industrial Union Council that
the Lewis report has laid too much
emphasis on chiseling and not
enough on the needs of the worthy.
All of which prompts these
thoughts: If frauds are as widespread
rs indicated by the report, why were
rot the facts presented to the prose-
outor by Mr.. Lewis and his investiga-
tors as soon as they were discovered,
so as to avoid further illegal diversion
of public money? Why are these
facts being withheld even at this late
Gate? And some persons may Won
der whether Congress might not have
improved conditions better by appro-
priating $4,000 additional for admin
istration of local relief than by
expending it in an investigation that
to date has served only to confuse
the local relief picture.
Evening star., 1939-01-07

T. Y. A. Appointment

Only time and his record can pro-
vide reliable measure of the fitness
OF former Senator Pope of Idaho for
a place on the Tennessee Valley Ad-
ministrative Board.
AS he takes over the post, however,
1t is not amiss to refer to some of
the fundamental requirements i'm
posed by the job upon any who are
to fill it meritoriously.
The Tennessee Valley experiment
was the first of the important social
projects undertaken by the New Deal,
one which in it's inception captured
the imagination of those not too
closely identified with it's conse-
quences. To the latter, it had a
variety of meanings in its compre-
hensive program of flood control,
fertilizer and munitions production,
power transformation and distribu-
tion, conservation and kindred OBJ
1ectives. Some approved, others
did not.
But all who were passing judgment
honestly were willing to concede that
it was project of specialized and
highly technical nature and that,
fully desirable or otherwise, it must
be directed by persons of specialized
and technical knowledge.
OF such caliber are the incumbent
board members, DR.. Harcourt A.
Morgan, chairman and expert in
plant and soil chemistry, and David
E., Lilienthal, lawyer and power spe-
cialist. Removal OF DR.. A. E. Morgan
took from the board its engineering
Evening star., 1939-01-07
Hungurion-Czech War?

That the dismemberment of
Czecho-Slovakia, bloodlessly accom-
plished three months ago, left behind
it embers of discomfort capable OF
flaming into bitter strife was sud-
denly proved on the Hungarian
Czecho-Slo border yesterday. Ac-
cording to word flashed to the world
from Budapest, the border city of
Munkacs, in the territory ceded to
Hungary by Czecho -Slovakia through
the 1talo- arbitral award Of
Evening star., 1939-01-07

November 2, was the scene of pitched
battle between Hungarian and
Czecho-Slovak forces. Premier Bella
1mredy publicly branded the affair
"a treacherous attack" Before hos
tilities were ended by a truce nu-
merous casualties were reported on
both sides after fighting which
ragged for eight hours. Czecho-
slovak shells, in the course of a
formal "bombardment" Of Munkacs,
were said to have done considerable
damage to private property and pub
lie buildings.
What directly led to these wholly
unheralded warlike developments is
not yet clear. The Czecho-S -Slovaks
yielded reluctantly. to Hungary 4,875
square miles OF territory in Ruthenia,
the eastermost province of the dis
membered state. They had sup
posedly accepted the inevitable, as
the settlement was forced upon the
weakened Prague government by Ber-
lin and Rome. The Hungarians and
the Poles, on their part, were en-
bittered by Hitler's veto of an extern
sion OF the Ruthenian partition which
would have enabled them to form
common frontier. Germany saw in
this plan territorial revision which
would have blocked the Nazis' Drang
mach Osten route across Central Eu-
rope.
The incident is prima facie evidence
that the new Balkanization of Gen.
tral Europe, which followed the peace
OF Munich" has, in President Roose-
velt's words to Congress on Wednes-
day, by no means cleft peace assured"