davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-14
PerShing Credited With Plan
For Unified Command.

To the Editor of The Star:
My great admiration and respect for
Gen. John ]. Pershing prompts me TO
ask you at this time to give him place
in your columns
Gen. Pershing made the proposal to
unity the Allied command, which, as
much as anything else brought final vic
tory to the forces of democracy in the
first World War. The central powers
had an enormous advantage in operating
under a general staff commander,
whereas each of the Allied armies OPP
Grated by itself, thereby making i'm
possible a definite and concerted plan
Of action against the enemy.
In November, 1917, the Allies were
facing a grave situation, created by the
invasion of Italy. Representatives Of the
United States, Great Britain, France and
Italy met in conference at Versailles.
At this conference Gen. Pershing de-
manded unified command Of all fronts.
His argument upon this proposition pre-
vailed and an agreement followed which
was made public November II.
ANITA FRENCH sANDERsON.
October 8.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-14
The Soposs Custer

The National Labor Relations
Board yielded to the inevitable in
dropping David ]. Saposs and his
aides when doing away with the d.
vision of Technical Service. That
the functions they performed are OF
value in administering the Labor
Act would seem to be demonstrated
by the strong representations against
adjustment that came from the
American Federation of Labor as
we'll as the C. I. o. when the House
struck down the division in the new
deficiency bill. The Importance of
the work itself, however, had become
submerged in the issue of perSonali-
ties, and that condition could not
continue. At the insistence Of Sena-
tor Wagner, author of the act, the
duties of the abandoned unit are not
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-14
Discusses Meaning
OF Indispensability.
To the Editor Of The stal

To the Editor OF The Star:
I should like to discuss the question
Of 'indispensability," the word almost
ridden to death by Mr.. Willkie.
I believe some people are prone to
accept the sarcastically used word super
ficially and register a derogatory and
unjust attitude toward the President.
Webster defines indispensability as:
Not to be omitted or spared; absolutely
necessary or requisite; essential, funda-
mental" Before We pass judgment as to
whether or not President Roosevelt fits
any of these definitions let us assume
that he was just as capable a man be-
fore he became President as Mr.. Willkie
is now.
Let us assume also that the eight years
In Office contributed to his mental and
spiritual growth; that such experience
has greatly enhanced his knowledge of
national and international affairs, sharp
ened his intellect and deepened his
wisdom, and also that, due to his success
full leadership, that he is looked up to by
millions of people throughout the world,
feared by dictators and stands out
among men in high Office as an embodi-
ment of humanitarianism and righteous
ness.
On the other hand there is Mr. Willkie,
an unknown quantity at best, who has
not had any of President Roosevelt's
advantages. IRVING A. ZARAT.
Nctoher II
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-14

classroom. As city manager Of Gin
cinnati, Ohio, from 1880 to 1897, he
won widespread fame for his admin
istrative capacities, his planning and
his fiscal policies.
DR.. Dykstra is not a military man.
Undoubtedly the President consid-
cred this to be special qualifica-
ton, for he could have found num-
Der Of able administrators in the
Army. One of the more outstanding
Of these is Lieutenant Colonel Lewis
B. Hershey, executive officer of the
Joint Army and Navy Committee on
Selective Service, who, as acting di-
rector of the draft, has done a fine
job of groundwork prepaI !, ion.
With a civilian as CONSUMPTION d.
rector, emphasis is given to the basic
hypothesis underlying this peace
time mobilization of man power, the
proposition that the eligible civil
elements Of the population are pre-
senting themselves to the Army for
instruction in the science of Defend
ing their country, rather than that
the War Department is reaching out
into the civilian classes and regi-
menting men for military service.
That is the democratic concept of
CONSUMPTION and it is one to which
the Nation has responded with an
enthusiasm which must confound
the dictatorS.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-14
Reputation of Third Term
Tradition Denounced.

To the Editor OF The Star:
We are confronted today with domestic
questions that are more vital to our lib
critics. to our institutions and to our ma
terial welfare than are the wars now
going on in Europe and in Asia, and yet
the war propaganda that is dinned into
our ears over the radio and fed to us in
the daily press for the purpose of divert
ing the attention of the public from
these domestic questions and New Deal
failures and bungling have obScured
these vital questions and made them of
secondary consideration to most of our
people. For example, no question is
fraught with more grave consequences
to our future than that of a third sue
cessive term for the presidency. A COM
mittee Of the Senate is now holding hear
ings on a proposed amendment to the
Constitution limiting the President to
single successive term. 1t appears to be
receiving but passing notice in the press,
and the general run of the people seem
to be apathetic and Indifferent to the
matter.
Ever since my law student days 40-odd
years ago, when the Constitution was one
of my favorite subjects, I have regarded
its failure to provide fixed term for the
presidency and his ineligibility for that
office thereafter as one of its gravest
defects. In past years I have written
many letters to the papers discussing
and advocating an amendment to the
Constitution to that effect. but 1 fear
the proposed amendment comes too late
to save our liberties and institutions I
never believed that a mere tradition
against third term was any safeguard,
and this belief has now been confirmed
by recent events.
Naturally, the men who are associated
with the President wish to continue in
office, for it is human nature to hold
on to power and profit, and they are
therefore prone to counsel and encour-
age the incumbent to seek successive
reflections. Let our people make no
mistake about it that If the tradition
against a third term which has the
sancity of an unwritten amendment to
the Constitution, is cast aside BY them
in this election we will inevitably be
launched upon the road that leads to
dictatorship, to the wrecking Of our in
stitutions and eventually to the loss Of
our liberties. These conclusions are
confirmed by history and by current
events abroad.
I regard Mr.. Roosevelt's reputation Of
the anti third-term tradition as I'M
patriotic, and not only as threat to- but
fraught with the greatest danger to our
institutions and to our liberties, and that
his action in this matter presents the
paramount issue of this campaign.
ALEXANDER SIDNEY LANIER.
October IL.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-14

to be affected, but will be performed
elsewhere in the board by other per-
sonnet.
The custer of the Saposs group
eliminates a campaign by Labor
Board critics in the House that had
its inception in the Dies Committee
and was carried on through the
Smith committee investigating the
board. Accused of radical leanings,
Mr.. Saposs denied the charges, but
the House Appropriations Committee,
in voting funds for the current year,
recommended that the unit he
headed, then styled the Division Of
Economic Research, be discontinued.
A loophole in the appropriation bill
permitted evasion Of the contem-
plated ban, and the board recreated
it as the Division of Technical Serv-
Ice. Then the House stepped in with
the definite prescription that now
has become effective.
This development serves to re-
emphasize the ACCESSIBILITY OF a new
deal in the Labor Board. There is
little doubt but that the attack on
an isolated group comprising score
OF employees is only symptomatic of
an unwavering diStaste for the en-
tire agency that has been demon
strated at every opportunity by a
majority in the House, and is kept
from making itself felt on broader
scale simply because administration
forces in control in the Senate refuse
even to consider the possibility of
reforms. And this despite the fact
that the board as now constituted
is Objectionable to a large part of
the labor movement. The issue can
not be lodged indefinitely, and until
it is faced, the administration of the
Labor Act will be under a handicap.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-14
All Set to Go

President RooSevelt'S appoint
ment of DR.. Clarence A. Dykstra,
president of the University of Wis
consin, as director of selective serv-
ice completes the national organiza-
ton which will be responsible for
the historic registration of 100000
of Americas younger men for mill
tary training. The selection Of DR..
Dykstra as chief engineer of the
draft machinery is a happy one. His
long experience as an educator has
brought him into close association
with young men and their problems.
He understands men and he has the
faculty of being able to gain their
confidence and to hold it. But he
has had experience in broader fields
of human endeavor, too. With
marked success, he has put to prac-
teal test the PHILOSOPHERS of govern
ment which he has expounded in the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-14

downfall Of England and the invasion
OF our shores. Today, Maj. George
Fielding Eliot sees no warrant for any
idea that Hitlers armies can success
fully invade the British Isles, so we
are now tree to smash Japan with the
aid of troops largely contributed" by
Britain and Australia. The major al
ready completes the circle. Offense is
the best defense. 1t is the old. old
story. After we have conquered Japan
and freed China shall We next send our
boys to free the peoples of Europe from
their dictators? Will there then follow
an era of peace enforced in the four
corners of the globe by the English
speaking empires?
The President has promised that he
will not send our troops to fight in Eu-
rope. or in Asia, presume. So has Mr..
Willkie Norman Thomas opposition
to our entering the war is unequivocal.
If this country sets out to police the
world, if it sends its troops once again
to Europe we shall be caught for gen.
erations in the age-old warfare of that
continent. We shall have universal
military training fastened upon US. What
will there be left after the war between
the dictators and the democracies has
been fought to finish? How shall we
save our standard of living by warfare,
let alone our American way of life?
Not long ago Col. Lindbergh said that
ours is not a country Of guns and march,
ing men, If we wish to keep it so, we
must stay cut of war.
Furthermore, if we continue to in
crease our aid to England We must face
the fact of the practical certainty that
1t will involve us in a war which will not
be ended without the sacrificing Of the
lives of hundreds of thousands, If not
millions of our men on foreign battle
fields. EDWARD T. STEEL.
October 9.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-14
Urges Tolerance
Even to PacihSts.

To the Editor Of The Star:
Many persons think the ideas Of the
pacifists or conscientious DIRECTORS are
unpatriotic. They wish to coerce these
fellow citizens. People who favor such
action are not themselves good Ameri-
cans. They are no better than Fascists.
The reason the Germans have got into
such bad ways is because they follow
their government in everything, regard
less of right or wrong The pacifists
insist on putting conscience above Con-
gress, obeying moral principle rather
than any one who happens to be Presi-
dent. For this they deserve honor, not
blame.
Nevertheless, they may be wrong in
their judgment of what the Government
should do. In fact, I think they are mis-
taken. We have to protect ourselves
against these German savages, just as
our ancestors in 1910 had to protect
themselves against Indian savages. We
are not justified in hating the Germans,
nor in Furnishing them simply for re-
venge. But we must protect ourselves
and others.
The Germans say in effect: Our
Fuehrer, right or wrong. For us he never
is wrong, because he is our government,
and we must follow our government. So
we must follow him, whatever he does,
no matter how wicked. Our Fuehrer,
right or wrong, he is always our
Fuehrer."
That sentiment may do for Germans,
but it is no At sentiment for patriotic,
idealistic Americans.
October 7. WILLIAM Q. LEE.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-14
THIS AND THAT
Several titmice were making . pecu-
BIZ Charles Z. Trdce1oeH.

Several titmice were making . pecu-
liar sound In the trees.
1t was a chattering, buzzing sound,
not at all like their regular cry, which
has been described as calling dog.
The little birds kept it up for long
time. We have had titmice all summer
long, and hope they will remain in the
vicinity all winter.
There are few birds more welcome to
feeding station than the tufted titmouse,
the white-breasted nuthatch and the
black-capped chickadee
This great trio is present in all parts
Of suburban Washington and nearby
Maryland and Virginia.
Now is as good time as any to note
the tremendous growth of nearby Vir-
ginia.
In the past ten years, and particularly
in the past five, thousands of homes have
been built over there. Along with this
growth went the steady building up of
nearby Maryland.
The result has been that thousands Of
persons have moved into the suburbs
and are interested in birds for the first
time in their lives.
Both sections are bird paradDes STILL
While there probably are not as many
birds as previously, there is no way of
telling just how much of the diminution
has been caused by an increase in hui
man population.
There are other factors entering into
the picture, some of which are exceed
ingly obscure. What is most impressive
is that there still are thousands Of birds
in these sections.
Any one who begins to feed the birds
this fall will be sure to want to have
chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches.
The fortunate thing is that he prob
ably will have them, at some time or
other. The beginner must not make the
mistake Of thinking that he is going to
have all the birds constantly.
Even the ones which winter here will
show up for a few days, or weeks. at a
time. then be strangely absent for a
while When migration sets in. next
spring, scores of strangers will come by,
sometimes to remain a day, sometimes to
stay week, or maybe longer.
The fortunate landowner in the sub
urbs will be able to identify as many as
four to five dozen different species, over
the years, in an average location.
He will never see a Hudsonian chcka-
dee. which has brown crown, in this
locality, because it never comes here.
Occasionally he may spot red
breasted nuthatch, several of them hav-
ing been seen last winter. But the
average yard hereabouts will never have
any but the white-breasted nuthatch.
There will be no broWn-headed nut
hatch, which appears only to the south
and in the Gulf States. ordinarily. al
though sometimes it breeds as far north
as Virginia.
The tufted titmouse, then, but not the
black-crested
The white breasted nuthatch, ordi-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-14

narily, and occasionally the red breasted.
And the black-capped chickadee.
which for all ordinary purposes we SIM
ply call the chickadee.
Which one Of the three is the best
bird depends solely upon the personal
reaction.
The chickadee has the advantage,
since it has appeared as the hero Of a
popular song, in Snow White"
The Cheerful chickadee" got a ire
mendous advantage over the other birds
in advertising.
Sunfiower seeds and suet are liked by
these small birds.
AS usual thing, these birds do not
eat at feeding station, but select q
seed or bit Of grain and take 1t away
to a nearby tree.
Their appearance, however is SUM-
cient, since there are no other birds
remotely like them, their smallness CIV
ing them aspects Of "cuteness' which
are universally appreciated by men and
women alike.
The nuthatch has the unique method
of selecting his food, especially if the
feeding station is attached to the trunk
Of tree
In fact, at least one small station
should be so placed, if for no other rea-
son than to attract this bird, and to
afford the watcher the interesting spec
tacie Of seeing how its goes about it.
This famous devil down-head" comes
down the trunk, along side the feeder
head first reaches around with its bill
selects a seed, and quickly goes back up
the trunk again, going around to the
back
There it holds the seed firmly in a
crevice in the bark and proceeds to
extract the meat.
Birds seldom swallow seeds. They
peck open the outer covering and pro-
coed to eat the heart, or germ, including
the surrounding layers of carbonhy-
drates, starch in this case
This is the sort of food which keeps
them snugly warm in the bitterest
weather. AS long as they can have all
the food they want, which means from
daybreak to about pm. in the depth
of winter, they will keep warm and
healthy.
No creature shows the advantage OF
keeping warm better than bird.
1t does not put shawl around Its
shoulders, or don a sweater or overcoat
as We do, but simply wraps itself in g
layer Of fat and warm blood.
It's metabolic rate is high, that is why
it must have about 10 hours worth OF
food during the day.
A handful of crumbs is much better
than nothing at all. but it will not pro-
vide enough food for the birds which
winter with us, especially on icy, sleety
days when snow covers the ground
hiding the tops of the weeds and their
seeds.
We urge upon all those who want to
feed the birds that they determine to &c
the whole way, If they begin, and see
to It that their birds are kept fed all
day all fall and winter long.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-14
Mortyred Churches

Canterbury has the right to be
known as "the ecclesiastical me-
tropolis" of England, but the Amer
lean visitor in days preceding the
outbreak of the second World War
found the place an ancient market
town, busy with the trade of the
surrounding countryside and SEEM
ingly not interested to assert itself
in any larger field. Perhaps the
most gratifying view of the cathedral
and of its immediate environs is that
which may be had from hill to the
west-a hill over which Chaucer's
pilgrims and, subsequently, Charles
Dickens came. The elevation fur
nishes a vantage point for study Of
the whole Stour Valley. So beheld,
the central church of Anglican
Christianity resembles mighty ship
in full sail, moving over an ocean
Of houses.
For thirteen centuries the site has
been holy in respect Of leadership.
Saint Augustine was the first arch
bishop to be granted spiritual control
OF all Britain. Half a millennium later
Thomas Beckett, murdered in the
northwest transept, December 20,
ITO, made his temple a shrine with
out equal for popularity. The legends
developed from the crime appealed
to the masses of the people. Wealth
undreamed by any chapter came to
the treasury from petitioners for his
intercession. Erasmus. reporting on
his tomb in 1912, wrote that gold
was the meanest thing to be SEEN"
But more than money was required
for the creation of such beauty as
the cathedral demonstrates through
out. Even the most dstinctively
hardened tourist is startled at the
prospect before him as he hurries
through the gate and his eyes sud-
denly are filled with the glory of
carven stone before him. The church
is huge in its bulk, a massive COM
position, yet it is so gracefully as
sembled, so tenderly ornamented
that, without loss to its majestic
dimensions, it has compelling attrac-
ton for a sensitive heart. Many
great artists labored here-among
them, William the Englishman, who,
the record tells, was small in body,
but in workmanship Of many kinds
acute and honest" and William of
Sens, his predecessor, a gifted builder,
crippled by fall from the clerestory.
Not for themselves did these men
toll The thought that the stranger
carries away when finally he leaves
the close is this: That what is given
to the Supreme Architect is pledged
to His children everlastingly.
With bitter sorrow, then, is news
of the bombardment of Canterbury
received by Americans who have
walked below its lovely towers. An
ancient sanctuary is not the ex-
elusive property of any single group
or nation. 1t belongs, by reason of
its dedication, to the whole Kingdom
of God and to the entire community
of believers in His purpose. Granted
that military detectives are near, the
responsibility for sparing Saint
Augustine's seat is direct obligation
upon any honorable enemy. Let it
also be remembered that the wanton
destruction of sacred thingsthe
beautiful altar of st. Pauls in Lon
don, for example strengthens OPP
position. The martyred churches of
England are fortresses of a sort
against Hitler, incredible as such a
suggestion momentarily may appear.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-14
Does Not Approve
Aid to Britain.

To the Editor of The Star:
Ought we to be surprised or angry If
Germany attacks us when our aid to
England reaches serious proportions and
becomes an important factor in this
European war? Is there any such thing
as every aid to England short of war"
in the end? Are we about to draft
millions of men in the next five years
for the defense of this hemisphere or be-
cause We know that England cannot
reconquer Europe without our troops?
Yesterday, we feared the immediate