davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1940-12-17
Puts Faith in
Sixth Column"

To the Editor Of The Star:
There is also the sixth column. Not
a column of traitors, saboteurs and
spies, like that of the notorious fifth.
Not a column of armed men whose
heartless hobnailed boots, like those of
the wretched fourth, third, second and
first columns, have trampled and desc
lated the homelands of more than
dozen nations Not a material column
at ADJUST the immortal spirit of man!
That is the sixth column and in it I
put my faith.
notwithstanding the black fog of
gloom and foreboding hanging over the
world that so impairs our vision, I
must still believe that this greatest of all
fighting forces, the sixth column, will
triumph ultimately over the regimented
robots led by Hitler and those like him.
I also must believe that this trust is
not just wishful thinking. My faith in
the resistleSs power of the human spirit
rests not upon the mere opinion of one
man or another, but upon considera-
ton of the dominant part it has played
throughout the whole course of history.
In the 10000 years or more since men
began to emerge from their stone-age
caves and take their first steps in the
long trek toward the high objective of
physical, mental and moral freedom,
there have been innumerable periods
which must have seemed, to those who
endured them, as utterly hopeless as
the present one does to many of us
now; periods when the backs of mil
lions were never free from the scars
inflicted by the whip lashes of the slave
driver; periods when the barbarians
seemed destined never to sheathe their
bloody swords. Yet always, as we turn
the pages of the record, we find that
the conquerors by force alone have been
able only to dim, never to extinguish,
the light of civilization. In the end,
they have all had to yield to the SOW
ereignty Of that fire within the breasts
of men which never can be annihilated
while the race lives. And each new
victory of mans indomitable spirit has
carried us forward to station of prog
ress higher than the last.
The sixth column is gathering strength
throughout the entire world for another
mighty effort-one that will not fail.
Even the most skeptical cannot doubt
it if they but give their thought to the
heroic stand of the Finnish people; to
the epic defense of England by the
Royal Air Force; to the incredible re-
sistance Of China to the mechanical
assault of Japan's war lords; to the
ignominious defeat of Hitler's jackal by
the fearless men of Greece; to the swell
ing murmur of revolt throughout many
lands now under the invaders uneasy
heel; to the countless other evidences
that the sixth column is gaining recruits
in ever increasing number.
But these heartening portents from
across the seas are not all. The greatest
and most significant surge of the sixth
column is going on right here in our
own country. We see it taking definite
form in the constantly increasing aid we
are extending to Britain and many other
non-aggressor nations. We see it in the
total appreciation given to these acts
by the American people. Our people
Evening star., 1940-12-17
Thinks Sympathy for Germany
Was Mistaken.

was MlStdken.
To the Editor Of The Star:
The American people in 1890 led
by isolationists in the United States Sen
ate, let the German war lords fool them
into defeating the Treaty of Versailles
The outcry of the German people at the
time was: THE treaty is too harsh!"
This slogan greatly Influenced the SYM
pathies of a majority of the people of
this country
Today the German people, led by the
tyrant Adolf Hitler, are organized and
armed to wipe out democracy and Chris
tian civilization. Do they propose to
spare the people of the United States as
the American people spared them in
1920? Are the German people today
affected by the groans of the people of
Czecho-Slovakia, Poland, Norway, Hol-
land, Denmark, France that the rule
imposed on them by Germany is too
harsh?
The American people are paying in
terest, many times compounded, on a
mistaken sympathy for the very thing
they claim to hate-the war spirit.
WILLIAM H. HARGROVE.
Pierce City, Mo.
Evening star., 1940-12-17
Invasion of Libyu

With British victory IN Egypt COM
plete beyond possibility of belittle-
ment, the tide of battle has swung
full circle against the Italians. 1t is
now Libya which is the invaded
country. Vanguards Of General
Wavell's army are already well
across" the border of Egypt's desert
neighbor. The town Of Solum, just
within the frontier along the Medi-
terranean sector, and Fort Capuzzo
are reported to have been taken after
fierce fighting, and the British are
pressing on toward Bardia.
It is the British high commands
announced intention to keep the
Italians on the run. They are
harassed without interruption by the
broadsides of British Warships and
the bombs of the r. A. F., while
struggling desperately to halt the
drive into Libya. Bardia, important
Eastern Libyan base, some twenty
miles west of Solum, may be the
scene of a stand by Marshal Gra-
zianis routed troops, but with the
capture of Solum the British possess
q deep-water port to which the feet
could ferry troops and supplies. Thus
would be avoided the long haul
across the desert from Matruh, along
the road which the Italians once
hoped to travel to the Suez.
These various operations eXemplify
the perfect coordination of military,
air and naval forces, which has en-
abled Britain to score her initial
victory of "the first order" as Mr..
Churchill modestly describes it, in
the war against Germany and Italy.
The laurels belong mainly to Tommy
Atkins, but he could not have
achieved his decisive stroke without
the effective cooperation of the air
and naval arms. Fleet and bombing
planes continue to pound Graziani's
forces and bases and pave the way
for the offensive against Libya.
The full extent of Italys reverse
Is IldIlleSGeu ny Illllto III illIiCl D
newspaper that Nazi Intervention
may be forthcoming to save the dis
comf1ted axis partner from utter dis
aster Suggestions to this effect are
hardly consistent with German
taunts that the British desert Of
fensive is IAN insignificant sortie."
Berlin busters that air attacks on
vital objectives in the British Isles
"play an immeasurably greater role
than the mountains and deserts Of
Africa" and that these will be de-
cisive for both Germany and Italy in
this war"
While the American people are re-
joicing over axis military reverses,
it would be regrettable if we should
allow ourselves to be lulled into any
illusions as to the abiding necessity
of aiding Britain. There must, in
the United States own interest, be
Evening star., 1940-12-17

The Supreme Court decision in the
long-litigated New River case vests
in the Federal Government virtually
unlimited control over the waterways
of the Nation.
On the one hand, the court ma
jority, while disclaiming intent Ito
lay down any single, definitive test,"
holds that New River is navigable by
interpreting that word so broadly
that-as the minority argues-al-
most any creek in the country could
be brought within its scope.
Then, with the sweeping declara-
tion that the authority of the Gov
ernment on navigable water "is as
broad as the needs of commerce" the
decision announced by Justice Reed
upholds the vital licensing provisions
of the Water Power Act of 1920, which
give the Government the right to su-
pervise the financial setup of pri-
vate power developments on naviga-
BILE streams, and to take over the
prOJecCS a1Cer uICy years.
The decision climaxed fight that
started fifteen years ago, when the
Appalachian Electric Power Com
pany launched an $11 100000 hydro
electric project on the New River, in
Southwest Virginia, and came to
grips with the Federal Power Com
mission over the licensing issue. The
company contended that the New
River is not navigable; that it's flow
would not affect the navigability Of
the Kanawha River, to which it is
tributary, and that, consequently, no
license could be required. Attacking
from another angle, it was contended
also that even granting navigability,
the Government still could not exer-
else any regulatory authority other
than that designed to safeguard
navigability OF the streams involved.
Virginia and forty other States,
holding that a vital principle affect
ing States rights was involved, lined
up with the power company, arguing
that the benefits accruing from de-
velopments of this nature should be
reserved to the States.
The company won in the lower
courts, when the Government sought
to enjoin construction and operation
of the project, which was installed
under a Virginia license, and it is
this court finding that now is over
turned by the high tribunal
The fact that many years ago there
had been sporadic transportation"
over one unimproved portion of the
| New, and that the Government had
Evening star., 1940-12-17

improved two short stretches, where
keelboats had operated, between
Allisonia, Va, and Hinton, w. Va,
was decisive in the courts opinion,
In determining the question of navi-
gability.
Once this issue was out of the way,
the court said, the Government Is at
liberty to fix the terms on which
power developments will be per-
mitted.
Evening star., 1940-12-17
THIS AND THAT
is said to be great fighter despite its
small size.
BIZ Charles z. Trdce1DeH.

! is said to be a great fighter despite its
small size.
We believe with our correspondent,
however, that outside feeding of the birds
in fall and winter will cut down on the
incoming of the mouse population.
There is not much to be said for mice
indoors. They are neither amusing nor
safe. 1t is much better that they be
outdoors.
Certainly steady supply of food which
they can get unmolested after dark does
a great deal to keep them content on
the outside. Then If they come in it
must be for shelter
Light sleepers find the rustling Of
mice in the woodwork very disconcerting
1t wakes them up, and impresses them
as being somewhat dangerous. After all,
mice have very sharp teeth.
In the middle of the night even the
smallest mouse makes the listener feel
that it must be a rat, at the very least.
1t is amazing how much noise such a
tiny creature can make Probably rat
would sound no louder. Mice are
preferable to rats, of course, from every
possible standpoint
No one should hesitate to take quick
and strenuous measures to eradicate rats
in neighborhood. Mice are by no
means as dangerous, and may be tol-
Grated for a time.
Those which come indoors in cold
weather are mostly seeking warmth. If
they find no food indoors, they will go
outside again.
1t is difficult, mostly impossible, to find
the point of ingress of a determined
mouse. Once in, he goes galloping up
the walls in the most amazing and dis
concerting manner. Small bits of plaster
resound downward from his feet.
He seems to be tearing the house down.
+ -
Rap! Rap! Rap!
Thus the householder, on the wall, In
the middle of the night
He is trying to scare the animal into
departure. but mostly all he achieves is
determined silence on the mouse's
part
Then, just as the rightful occupant
Of the house is falling to sleep again, the
intruder decides that it must have been
mistaken. That was no noise, after all,
but just in its imagination!
It goes forward, stealthily enough, but
each football resounds in the hollow
walls and the hollowness of night.
Between the two of them the footballs
of small Mr.. Mouse fairly boom the
sleeper into wakefulness again.
He thumps on all four walls this time
1t is no particular satisfaction that the
noise ceases again He knows that 1t
will start up, just about the time he
falls to sleep.
He gets out of bed and thunps again
A mighty humping, this, with the fist
playing tune The idea is to emulate
the footballs of a great animal This,
it is hoped, will frighten the mouse into
thinking the cat is after it.
Whatever the mouse thinks of it, 1t
works at last. The mouse departs, and
that is the last heard of him. No doubt
thereafter he is busy with the seed at
the bird feeding stations. He can see no
need for going inside, and there really
isn't any,
Evening star., 1940-12-17
Foo of War

The "fog OF war" Is phrase ordt-
narily used to describe the great
confusion and uncertainty which
prevails when two armies are cropping
for position on the eve of battle.
But 1t might be applied just as
appropriately to the confusion and
uncertainty which now hangs like an
ominous cloud ove- Washington and
the rest of the country.
From official sources in Washing
ton come intimations that England's
military situation is critical. From
other sources it is officially disclosed
that the British have sought assur-
ances from this country of direct
financial aSSiStance-not loans which
could never be repaid. And, following
up his disclosure last week that our
armament production is seriously
behind schedule, Defense Commits
sioner William Knudsen asks ma
chine tool manufacturers and their
employees to achieve the impossible"
in tool output in view of the terrible
urgency of the situation"
Behind these yelled and somewhat
inconsistent warnings is to be found
the real truth, but it is necessarily
beyond the understanding of that
vast majority of Americans who do
not have access to the facts. 1t may
be wondered, for example, where the
truth lies between the suggestion
that England faces an imminent
military crisis and the reported
appeal for financial help. If loans,
credits or outright gifts of dollars
would satisfy the essential British
needs, there is little doubt that such
assistance would be promptly ex-
tended. But battles, after all, cannot
be fought with dollars. The instru-
ments of war which Britain sorely
needs at this time are military
weapons, and these are not being
withheld because the British cannot
pay for them.
The problem is one of production
and not of credit. We are not pro-
ducing enough guns, planes, NUM-
tionS and other weapons to supply
the British with the instruments of
war that they need, to say nothing
of our own military establishments.
And the fundamental reason under
lying this failure of production is the
fact that the great mass of Ameri-
cans, especially the workers and the
managers in the war industries, have
not understood and do not now
understand the extreme gravity OF
the danger which confronts both
Britain and America
1t was to this situation that Chair
man Summers of the House Judiciary
Committee was addressing himself
yesterday, when he urged RESPONSE
BILE leaders of America to tell the
people the truth" Predicting that
sacrifice to the limit" may be neces-
sary for all Americans, Chairman
Summers, in his appeal for a truthful
presentation of the facts, properly
asserted that sacrifice and deter
mined unity Of effort will not be
Forthcoming until the truth is
known.
In effect, his remarks constituted
an urgent appeal to dispel the "fog
Of war" in which we are cropping.
And, as the picture now shapes up, it
is clearly evident that we will not get
down to the maximum defense effort
OF which we are capable until that
advice is acted upon.
Evening star., 1940-12-17

no slightest slackening of purpose to
render that aid to the limit Of our
capacity. This calls, with other
things, for maximum speeding up Of
armament production in every pos
sible direction.
Evening star., 1940-12-17

Youngest member of the staff of
the Governor of Florida is a female
lieutenant colonel, aged three years.
Come on Kentucky, you simply can
not take that challenge lying down.
Evening star., 1940-12-17
Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor must
bear the name and address of
the 1rriter, although the use of
q pSeudonynl for publication is
permissible. The Star reserves
the right to edit all letters nth
q u1e1O to condensation.
Evening star., 1940-12-17
Dancer in the Orient

From the World Journal, San Juan, Puerto Rico:
AS long as we do not recognize officially
where our sympathies lie, we are weaken
ing ourselves. The threat to us in the
Pacific Is % great % that In the Atlantic.
Evening star., 1940-12-17

have at last been awakened by a stirring
call from within themselves which bids
them shed the rags of hopelessness and
apathy of the slave and draw on the
cloak of flaming spirit and action of the
freeman.
The sixth column is on the march.
ROGER GISH McDARE,
Evening star., 1940-12-17

Marshal Badoglio has sometimes
been called "the Italian Hinden-
burg" It seems as though the tough
old Teuton's heirs could almost bring
suit for that.
Evening star., 1940-12-17
144 Recipes for
Homemade Candies

Running all the way from Boston
creams to Turkish delight, this booklet
of tested recipes includes II kinds of
fudge, 4 nougats, several kinds of taffy-
almost every candy you ever heard of.
The home kitchen is the ideal place to
make fine, pure delightful candy for the
Christmas stocking, for gifts, for the
holiday table, for the Sunday school
party. All of the candies in this booklet
may be made in any home kitchen with
out special equipment To secure YOUR
copy lnclose 10 cents in COIN wrapped in
this clipping, and mail to The Star In
formation Bureau.
Name
Street
City
State
Evening star., 1940-12-17

State
Evening star., 1940-12-17
Water Power RuIino

The Supreme Court decision in the
long-litigated New River case vests
in the Federal Government virtually
unlimited control over the waterways
The Nome nugget., 1940-12-23
New Deal Thorn Who Rose To Power, That
 Is Sen. W F. George

Soon after, in an election Mrs. Felton did not enter, he dumb founded the states politicians by walking away with the vote - dumbfounded them because al though he had held judgeships in thz state for 15 years he was not even thought of as a politician or man capable of piling up votes in the hurly -burly of a southern senatorial race.
 With the same quiet persuasive ness that he used then and a fac ulty for making influential friends in every hamlst and city in his bailiwik Senator George has been reelected with tick tock regularity = even in 1888, when (because of his devastat- ing attack on the Supreme Court revision plan) he was slated by the New Deal and President Roosevelt himself for the purge.
The Nome nugget., 1940-12-23

= o | R D O Y c H !" ; T A T ! O N F R Y
 A Nugget OGce
The Nome nugget., 1940-12-23
BECOMES ARE BECOMES

His split with the administra- ton according to intimateS has left no scars and his elevation to the now a,l-important post of Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee following the death of Sen. Key Pittman has caused no pains at the White House or State Department. As a matter~of fact his brother south erner Secretary of State Cordell Hull is one of his closest friends and the Senator has already in formed the press that as Chair man he will continue to be as fully in accord with the present foreign policies as he has been as a senior member of the com mittee.
 George was born in Preston. Ga, 62 years ago. Working as a farm laborer he made his way through grade school and Mercer University to an LID. degree. He started practicing in Vienna. Gar in 1901 and six years later was elected Circuit Judge. He re mained on various state benches for Is years.
The Nome nugget., 1940-12-23
By JACK STINNETT

WASHINGTON, Dec. - To his colleagues in the Senate, he's the "gentleman from Georgia; to a lot of politicians he's the mystery man of politics." to persons whose memories are short, he's that euphonious delight, George of Georgia"
 As recently as two years ago, he was thorn in the sid of the New Deal; but in official Wash ington today and probably in the important news to come he is and will be spotlighted from coast 10 coast as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Com mittee.
 Sen. Walter F. George, unssn- sational, aloof, statesman of the old school politics, is at one and the same time the most difficult and the easiest man in the Sen ate to write about.
 Most difficult because he has always skirt-d the rim of anec- dotal activies that give in a para graph the nature of the man. Easiest because from youth he has pursued a course that is al most completely barren of those in ex plicable in 0 nsistencies which the column biographer must brush aside or build from molehills into mountains.
The Nome nugget., 1940-12-23
AN ABLE SPEAKER

If today the severe, patrician, White-haired gentleman from Georgia has any outstanding characteristics they are these: Alb ility as a speaker which, though
 acking in political pyrotechnics, almost always fills the Senate floor and galleries with eager lis teners; an amazing memory typi fled by the time when he gave a reporter a 20-minute extempor aneous statement and an hour later repeated it word for word, period for period, to other re- porters who had gotten wind of the story; and dry humor that frequently has a practical twist.
 A few years ago, with no prompting from him, Senator George was appointed" by Chicago humorist chief execut- i've of "The Society for the Pre- vention of Calling Sleeping Car Porters George" Pressed by the press for platform and state ment of policy, the Senator ask ed: Well, why not call them by their right names?" Nobody it seemed had ever thought of such thing.
The Nome nugget., 1940-12-23
IN SENATE SINCE 1922

Senator George came to the Senate in 1922. He could have come a few months earlier than he did but with a gesture of Geor gian court sy he bowed out of the picture fo lowing the death of Sen. Thomas E. Watson in or der that Mrs. Rebecca L. Felton an elderly and distinguished lady in the state might have the honor of being the first of her sex to sit in the upp-r house of Con- gress.
The Nome nugget., 1940-12-23
Mystery Shrouds Identity of Bomb
 sight Inventor
By Max Boyd

WASHINGTON, Dec. (P)-The MT. K who developed the na- tion'S No. 1 military secret-the iea ously guarded, high accur- acy bombsight-is being shielded so carefully it was learned that authorities decline to reveal his identity lest his life be endan- gered.
 MT. X' is the man responsible for the instrument known as the 'Norden Bombsight.' Although not a navy man he worked close ly with that department for Is years in perfecting the invention. Nothing more is known about him. Another secret is the loca- tion of the plant where the sights are manufactured.
 General George c. Marshall, army chief of staff spoke of the secret device as the 'Norden bombsight" when he emphasized that 1t would not be part of the equipment on the giant long rang bombing planes just being released for sale to Great Brit ain.
 The army chief made a pointed distinction between the Norden sight and an earlier instrument, the Sperry bombsight. The Sperry sight h. disclosed had been made available to the Brit ish.
 General Marshall said that the 'Norden' development had been adopted as standard equipment for United States army and navy bombers, supsrseding the Sperry instrument.
 One familiar with the sights performance sad that it was an eNaggeration to say as some re ports have had it that the sight could plump a bomb into a pick le barrel unerringly from the al titude of 10000 feet. He asserted however that small group of comgers equipped with the Ne den device could spread a dead " bomb pattern over a small target from a great altitude. Pat | Tn bombing is used it was ex- oiained to offset the slight mar 5n of error caused by varying air currents that bombs encoun CT as they drop.
The Nome nugget., 1940-12-23
EDITORIAL
TOUGH JOB AHEAD
Philadelphia RecOrd)

PreSid7nt Roosevelt IS to be commended for his choice of Rear Admiral William D. Leahy for one of the most ticklish jobs in the diplomtic service-Ambas- sador to Unoccupied France.
 In Vichy, Admiral Leahy will be in the midst of the behind the-seenss struggle between pro British and pro-German forces. Hopes are expressed in Washing ton that he will be able to stiffen French morale and prevent Ger man inroads on the French col onial empir=.
 One of his most difficult jobs will be 10 resolve the problem of French possessions in this hemi- sphere, particularly Martinique. As former Governor of Puerto Rico he will bring to the ques- ton a familiarity with colonial problems as well as an under stand of Martinique's importance in naval affairs.
 Formerly Chief of Naval oper- aslons. Admiral Leahy served in the Spanish-American War and tae Boxer uprising. His wide ex- perience will be needed as Am bassadOr 10 the captive Govern nent in Vichy.
The Nome nugget., 1940-12-23

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