davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-04
A United Program Needed

u;1ro;ngton has special reasons right no"
n .nnlv to itself the old recommendation "
~+r;ke while the iron is hot. One OF them Il
that the anti-aircraft base to the north IS e
ca1l at least 20, 900 men for training, douole
the number indicated in earlier estl1na1es u
noanpower to be located there. Announcer Is
probable use of Bluethenthal airport botn 1oI
military and commercial purposes. This, too'
will concentrate a body of men here. Futher'
more. there is strong possibility that a marine
training station will be established In this
area. Some type of shipbuilding plant IS lore
seen for the Cape Fear river.
Obviously, Wilmington is on the verge Oh
unnrecedented development and, in view OF
the fact that the present defense program Is
not a transitory thing to be abandoned as soon
as the threat of war subsidies, but Will survive
for many years, the prosperity 1t Will crea'e
will survive with it. The nations OF he ear"
will be in no mood for disarmament as II
was after the first World war. 1t knows TOO
we,l what that led to and is not likely to
fall into the same trap again.
What is going forward now and Will De
initiated in the near future, therefore, to place
this country on a firm military footing 1or
defense. inevitable will long continue after
hostilities cease. In this light it is appropriate
in fact essential, to plan lar aheao WIN GIL
eve on Wilmington's opportunity to serve ootn
the nation and itself in ways that will most
advantage each.
D.u-;4. ~. oorernroent's slow start in eS-
IA blishing defense projects hereabouts, 1t IS
evident, from undertakings already announced
and others in contemplation, that Washington
is determined to make up for lost Tune.
The Carolina coast and the states industrial
and agricultural resources are to have the
defense they deserve. And Wilmington, by
reason of it's waterway and It's advantageous
location, is the natural center for many OF
them.
What will Wilmington do to accept its re-
sponsibilities and make the best Of its op-
portunities in the new era just dawning? the
problem demands careful planning, thorough
organization, and complete unity of effort.
There is a task for every individual citizen-a
task which will improve every citizens STU
alton if the planning is concentrated on COM
munity betterment and not on personal IL
nancial advantage. That will come Of its own
~volition, once the community solves the greater
problem by united action.
The need, then, is for a Wilmington pro-
gram. Let the city's public-spirited organlza-
lions get together under capable leadership
for community betterment.
The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-04
The Tax Picture

Both industry and individual taxpayers will
find welcome reinsurance in the announce
ment from Washington that no further increase
in the taxes on 1910 incomes is to be made.
This is a wise step both from the viewpoint
OF the government and that of the individual
citizens. For the taxpayer, of course, it gives
an opportunity to plan ahead for a few months
with at least one factor stabilized in an ex-
tremely unstable world.
The advantage to the government is that it
gives the tax experts a better opportunity to
see how the new levies imposed this year
work out before they start to draft the ad-
ditional taxes which will undoubtedly be re-
quired to finance the defense program. BY
the middle of next March the treasury should
have a fairly accurate picture of the amount
of revenue which the increased levies on cor
porations and individuals can be expected to
yield. With this information it will be in a
better position to chart its tax program.
AS matters stand the taxpayer might as
well be thankful for whatever relief he is al
lowed, however small and temporary it an.
pears. The talk in Washington now is about
a goal of $40, 600, 900, 900 in revenue for the
next fiscal year, which would mean the rails.
ing of about 5000, 600, 90 by additional taxes.
This could only be achieved by a drastic in.
crease in taxes along the line, increases thai
would tap the pockets of virtually all American
citizens.
The people of this country facing this un
pleasant prospect, are willing to make what
ever necessary sacrifices national securit,
may require. But there are two things they
have a right to demand. The first is tina
the government Immediately move to elimi
nate all wasteful and non-essential spending
Thu other is that all new taxes be devised tt
interfere as little as possible with the rising
tide of employment and production.
The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-04
Not Rumania Alone

Neither censorship nor Premier Antonescu's
attempt to rally his divided country behind
the cause OF regaining it's lost lands can OBJ
scure what is really happening in Rumania.
The tragic fact is that the country is crumbling
into something close to anarchy under the ter
rible stresses and strains it has suffered in
the last few years.
This is horrible enough as far as Rumania
is concerned. A whole country is seething
with hopelessness, bitterness and hatred. Arm
ed assassins, completely out of control of the
legal governments have been slaughtering their
opponents right and left. What has been hap
pening has been more than a revolt. 1t is a
general revulsion of disillusioned masses
against all law and order, a blind striking out
against accumulated expressions that have
made life unbearable.
It is even more horrible to contemplate as
we remember that all Europe is heading in
the same direction now. The same forces of
at work in all the countries of Europe. The
same hunger, the same hoplessness, the same
Nazi weight of oppression that brought disin-
tegration to Rumania are pressing down upon
the other peoples of Europe. And, ironically,
Rumania's entry in Germany's new European
order, and the climatic outbreak Of these ac-
cunulated hatreds came at almost the same
moment.
This new anarchy which Nazi conquest has
~fostered and released is equally dangerous tc
Hitler and to the rest of the world. For no
order, not even one maintained by force, car
be sustained without a common respect for
law and the codes which govern human con.
duct.
The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-04
AID TO GREECE
the Star:

10 the Star:
I have noticed several news
items in your paper, with refer
ence to the drive for funds which
is being made by our Greek-Ameri-
can citizens, for the relief of war
torn Greece.
I believe 1 would be remiss in
my duty, if 1 failed to call to the
attention of the citizens of Will
mington an incident which oc-
CURED while I was mayor, during
the time unemployment rose to
such a high level, and before our
national government gave assist
ance, in order to keep thousands
of u unfortunate residents from
actual starvation and want.
One night I was sitting alone in
my living room, thinking about the
situation. 1t is needless to say, l
was very much worried. l then
heard the sound of many footsteps
on my porch. The door bell rang,
and upon answering it, I saw quite
a large delegation of Greek-Ameri.
can citizens, and upon being in
vited in, Mr.. Saffo, who acted as
spokesman, informed me that his
people had been following the un-
employment situation very closely
and had read the appeals which
we were making for funds to feed
our hungry people. He further
said, the Greek-American citizens
of Wilmington wanted to do their
part in relieving the situation, and
had raised a fund among them
selves for this purpose, and the
committee had come to my house
for the purpose of placing the mon
ey in my hands. Thereupon, he
gave me several hundred dollars
the exact amount I do not recall.
Needless to say, a hungry
mouths were filled, and we cannot
even estimate the great amount OF
good this money did.
Now that Greece is being 50
hard pressed, and the need for
funds in that country is SO great,
| certainly hope the citizens of
Wilmington will recall this Incl.
dent, and answer the appeal for
help from that country. Greece has
proven to the world that she is
worthy in full measure, pressed
down and running over. God bless
and defend her in this great strug-
gle.
Respectfully
WALTER H. BLAIR
Nov. 3, 1910
lCarolina Beach i,
The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-04
WASHINGTON
DAYBOQK
BY JACK STINNETT

WASHINGTON, Dec. $40 his colleagues
in the Senate, he's the gentleman from Geor-
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 a thorn
in the side of the New Deal; but in official
Washington today and probably in the impor-
tant news dispatches for many days to come,
he is and will be spotlighted from coast to
coast as chairman of the Senate Foreign Re-
lations Committee.
Sen. Walter F. George, unsensational, aloof,
statesman of old school politics, is, at one and
the same time, the most difficult and the
easiest man in the Senate to write about.
Most difficult, because he has always skirt
ed the rim of anecdotal activities that give,
in a paragraph, the nature of the man. East
est, because from youth he has pursued a
course that is almost completely barren of
those inexplicable nconsistencies which the
column biographer must brush aside or build
from molehills into mountains.
IN SENATE SINCE 1925
Senator George came to the Senate in 1922.
He could have come a few months earlier than
he did, but with a gesture of Georgian cour-
tesy, he bowed out of the picture following the
death Of Sen. Thomas E. Watson in order that
Mrs. Rebecca L. FELTON,, an elderly and dis.
tlnguiShed lady in the state, might have the
honor of being the first of her sex to sit in
the upper house of Congress.
Soon after, in an election Mrs. FELTON, did
not enter, he dumbfounded the states politi.
clans by walking away with the vote-dumb.
founded them because although he had held
judgeshipS in the state for Is years, he was
not even thought of as a politician or a man
capable of piling up votes in the hurly-burly Of
a southern senatorial race.
With the same quiet responsiveness that he
used then and a faculty for making Influential.
friends in every hamlet and city in his baili.
wick, Senator George has been reelected with
textbook regularity-even in 1888, when Che
cause of his devastating attack on the Supreme
Court revision plan) he was slated by the
for the purge"
BYGONES r BYGONES
His split with the administration, according
to intimates, has left no scars, and his eleva
ton to the now all-important post of chairman
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
following the death of Sen. Key Pittman, ha:
caused no pains at the White House or State
Department. AS a matter of fact, his brother
southerner, Secretary of State Cordell Hull, ID
one of his closest friends and the senator al
ready has informed the press that as chairman
he will continue to be as fully in accord WIFI
the present foreign policies as he has been al
a senior member of the committee.
George was born in Preston, Ca, 81 year,
ago. Working as a farm laborer, he made MI
way through grade school and Mercer uni
versity to an LII. D. degree. He started prac
ticing in Vienna. Ga. in 1901 and SIX year.
The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-04
Editorial Comment
WAR DOWN THE A
BIuefieId NV, Va,) News

In the late summer of 1914 an officer, two
years retired but recalled in the emergency,
came to Leoben, Austria, to take command OF
a platoon of infantry. Though he was then 80
wears old. within a matter of weeks he was on
his way to Galicia to fight the Russians.
Plunged thus into the earliest fighting of the
World war was Fritz Kreisler, a great artist
of the violin.
Kreisler's military career was relatively
short. Within a few months he was invaded
out of the service, his shoulder crushed by a
Cossack cavalryman's horse in a savage hand
to-hand fight.
A modest little book the following year told
of this artist and war. He had been no little
thrilled by the comradeship, the more color
full aspects of campaigning that had not yet
settled down to the grim attritional slaughter
that was to come later. He was able to sleep
in the field, his cloak drawn about him, my
soul filled with exaltation and happiness over
the beauty around me"
True, on a later night, he recoiled in horror
as the Red Cross parties climbed over piles of
bodies in front of the Austrian trenches trying
to sort out those which still held life. II felt
faint and sick at heart" he wrote, land nearly
swooning away" But the arrival Of an old Of
ficer, Injured to all that, jerked him to his
feet, and II regretted that my artistic educa-
ton had over-sharpened and over-strung my
nervous system" So a great artist finished
his mllltay service, grateful that l had been
permitted to be of any, if ever so little, service
to my Fatherland."
The years have passed, Kreisler is now IS,
his Fatherland no longer exists as such, and
another war desolates the Europe he knew.
Worse, the grace and almost forgotten charm
of the Vienna he breathed exists today only in
the kind of haunting and nostalgia melodies
that still issue from his precious violin.
All those other things are gone. What re-
mains for this man who lived such a full life?
Music. Art.
'It seems that now I am living only from
day to day, from hour to hour, he told Elliott
Arnold Of the New York World Telegram the
other day. There is only one thing 1 know OF.
That is the indestructibility of music. The
world may surrender itself to hatred, but mu-
sic will outlive the hate. Nothing can hurt
art"
The whole world is living like Fritz Kreisler
~today-from day to day, and from hour to
hour. But it is good that there are some who
can hold fast to the things that are not for the
day or the hour, but for all time-music and
art, faith, and truth, and love. Whoever has
the ~faintest grasp of any of these indestructi-
BILE things, let him cling to them the tighter
as the world reels. l
The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-04
NEA Service. Inc

not necessarily in electing them, and
that way is most dramatic which
gives the people the surest control l.
The most effective way for the people
to control their public officer is
to choose a representative group of
citizens (the council) with power to
Lire the CHIEF executive of the city.
The council, if it is representative,
can be relied on to keep a check n
whot he is doing and fire him any
time he is unsatisfactory.
10. Since it is frequently impossi-
BILE to find a trained city manager
residing in a city which adopts the
plan, is not an out-of-town manager
likely to be out of touch with local
sentiment?
The city council, composed as it
is of local men and women elected
by the people, determines all matters
Of policy and the manager carries
out its orders. The problems of all
cities are similar from an admins.
~trative standpoint. Hence, the man
ager need not be in close touch with
the community prior to accepting of.
flee for he has nothing to do with
the policy of the community. In
fact, if he comes from out of town
he has none of the local entangle-
mems that arise inevitably from .
residence in a city. He is identified
wit. no faction or political party and
has no obligations which might lead
him to grant favors or special priv.
ileges. His freedom to make decis
ions independent Of local influence
and his broader experience more thai
make up for his initial lack of init
mate acquaintance with the commit
nifty. Witness a school superinten'
dent or head of a hospital. The posi-
lions are parallel.
The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-04
Star-News Proqram

Consolidated Ctty-Connty Government
under Council Manager Administration.
Public Port Terminals.
Perfected Truck and Berry Preserving
md Marketing Facilities.
Arena for Sports n Industrial
Sho1ps.
Seaside Highway from WrightsvtIe
Beach to Bald Head Island.
Extension OF CITY Limits.
S5-Foot Cape Fear Rtver channel, soid-
sr Turning Basin, pith snip lanes into
industrial sites along Eastern bank
south OF Wilmington.
Paved Rtver Road to Southport, pto
Orton Plantation.
Development OF Pulp Wood Produc.
ton through sustdsned-yieM methods
throughout Southeastern North Carolina.
Unified Industrial and Resort Pro.
motional Agency, supported BY one
countrywide taz.
shipyards and Drydock.
Negro Health Center for Southeastern
North Carolina, developed around the
Community Hospital
adequate hospital facilities for whtte..
Junior High School,
Tobacco Warehouse for Export Buyers.
Development OF native grape gro,oing
throughout Southeastern North Carolina.
Aodern Txoercnlosis sdndtortum.
The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-04
Selectiue Service Act
Is Attacked In Court

NEW YORK. Dec. 3.-R-laJ
selective service act was at'schr~
on constitutional grounds IN leo Ne
al court today by lawyers lol o n
Workers Defense league ana wv Wv
conscientious DIRECTORS now 0"
james Lipsig, league counsel ti,.
who appeared also for the p 5Jr.
DIRECTORS, told Judge william 0 vi
dy that the situation nov is ngs
parallel to that which ai Ser
through litigation concerning 0'l'''
draft acts" - he
eve are not now at war, + Is
said, "our challenge relates 10 hon
assumption that Congress % t.ca
the nation is at peace, can ellLot ne
CONSUMPTION as provided BY 5
act of $780,"
The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-04
WORK ON PANAMA
LOCKS IS PLANNED
Bids For Major Contracts On
Third Set Are Scheduled
To Be Opened Today

WASHINGTON. Dec. 3.-R-
Panama canal officials announced
they would open bids here early
tomorrow for the first major con-
tracts in installing a third set OF
locks in the Isthmian waterway.
Bernard F. Burdick, chief of the
canals office here, said the speci-
fications called for dry land ex-
cavation of approximately 10000.
900 cubic yards Of earth and rock
on the Atlantic approach to the
new channel.
Congress has authorized the ex.
penditure of 500, 900, 900 on the ca.
nal project in 1941.
Lieut.. Col. Thomas B. Larkin,
supervising engineer of special
construction on the canal, flew
here from the Isthmus to be pres.
ent at the opening of the bids.
Thirty days after contract awards
are completed the earth must be
gin flying" down in the Zone, Bur.
dick said.
Contract specifications call fol
completion of the Atlantic side dry
land excavations within two and
a half years. wet" excavations
by huge dipper and suction dredges
already are under way at both
ends Of the canal, creating en-
trance channels leading to h e
third set of locks.
The new locks, as a national
defense precautionary measure,
will be located approximately half
a mile away from the existing
lock chambers.
The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-04
What is the manager plan?

l.. w HAT IS Tie manager pldu.
1t is the most efficient and at the
same time most democratic form Of
local government. 1t resembles close
ly the organization Of modern school
systems and modern corporations,
public and private. The voters (stock.
holders) choose a city council (board
of dir~ectors) to determine policy
and to hire a trained nan as chief
administrator.
2. How does the manager plan
differ from the mayor-council and
the commission forms?
The manager plan is superior to
both old forms because it unifies or
g%anization (whereas the commission
form sets up five or more little
governments and makes possible ex'
pert, non-political administration
(whereas the ma%yor-council form
Supplies a partisan executive saddled
with political obligations).
8. Why does the city manager
plan work better?
Because it remedies the defects in
other forms which experience has
shown up. 1t is Simple and is under
stood by the voter. 1t facilitates get
ting capable executives in the pub
lie business. 1t makes non-partisan
elections practical and thereby ia
c~ilitates non-partisan administration.
It c%entralizes responsibility.
a.. How many cities have the
council-manager plan?
More than 500. About 200 others
have some variation of it. More
than II, 900, 900 Americans live in
communities which have the man
ager plan.
5. What size are these commune
ties?
They range from Bendix, N. j.,
with a population Of IS, to Cincin-
natl, with a population of half a mil
lion. One out of every five cities
lover 100000 has this form of gov
ernament.
6. Is the plan growing rapidly?
Four of every five cities which
have drawn up new charters in re-
cent years have adopted the man
ager plan. Abroad it is known as
the typically American form of gov
eminent and is considered this coun-
try's principal contribution to the
science of local government.
Z. What has been the experience
of the cities now operating under
this form of government?
Almost uniformly the reports show
citizens are we'll satisfied. Consist
ent records Of improved service nd
reduced cost have been made by
these cities.
8. Why not elect the manager l.
stead of appointing him?
Whenever an administrative eXecu.
tive is elected, his office is thrown
into politics. Men who are not at
all qualified will seek the position
because it has a good salary. In order
= be elected even a qualified mar
will have to make promises-or his
campaign managers will do so. That
means appointments on a patronage
basis instead of on merit. When the
manager is appointed by a council,
IL Is to his interest to make good
appointments because he must make
a good record to hold his job.
.. VIII not the PLAY result in au-
tocrat1c government by the manager
instead of democratic government?
quite the contrary. Democracy con
slsts IN controlling public officers.
The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-04
Nov. 3, 1910
Carolina Beach

later was elected circuit Judge. He
remained on various state henchas
for IS years.
AN ABLE SPEAKER
If, today, the severe, patrician,
wn1te-nalreo gentleman from Geor.
~istics, they are these: Abi1itv ~ ).
speaker which, though lackina 90 ID q
political pyrotechnics, almost 81 -
ways fills the Senate floor a. a.,
galleries with eager listeners. '. ~
amazing memory typified by +a a.
time when he gave a reporter '' :
2o-mlnute extemporaneous state
men5 ana an hour later repeated it.
mof otb aor WORD, period for period,
TO otner reporters who had gotter
wind of the story; and a drS $500 h1,
NOR that frequently has a nrac al.
The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-04
The Editors
BOX

The editor does Got necessarily
endorse any article appearing in
this department. They represent the
views Of the individual readers. Cor
respondents are W a n d that all
communications NJ u contain the
correct name and address for our
records. though the latter may be
signed as the writer sees fit. The
Star-News reserves the right to alter
any text that for any reason is oh,
i%ectionable. Letters on controversial
subjects will not be published.
The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-04
TOP o. I'll

There is need of the tiniest candle as we1l as
the gdint sun,
h humble deed is enobled Uhen it is worthi-
ly done.
You mag never be called to brighten the re-
gjons altar,
So Jill, for this day, your mission By shining
Just Where you are.
EDGAR GUEST.
The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-04
City Manager Plan

EDITORS NOTE: The fol-
lowing questions and answers
regarding the City Manager form
of government are made avail.
able through the Wilmington
Junior Chamber of Commerce for
the interest of the general pub
lie. Others will be published in
the near future. The Jaycees are
now waging a campaign for the
establishment of this form of
government in Wilmington.
The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-04
Fair Enough

The Star wishes its reader,
to know that views and onin'
ions expressed in this artioI.
are those of the author ans
may not always harmoni1a
with its position. The Fditor
The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-04

Sir Francis Drake landed
California on June II, 1873.
The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1940-01-18
QUESTIONS TO TEST
YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Can you answer seven of these
test questions? Turn to the
woman's page for the answers.
/. Which planet of the solar
system is nearest TO the sun?
?. What are homophonss?
8. Name the Arctic port of
Finland which was occupied by
the Soviet troops at the out
break of the war.
4. On which peninsula is
Greece
S. What is the name for fe-
male parent bears
s. What large observatory is
located on Mount Hamilton,
Calf
I. United States hattleships
are named after fish. states of
the Union or admirsls
s. What is the correct pro-
nunciation of the word cryp-
togamous
3. On which river is Norris
dam located
10. Where is Alcatraz island
penitentiary?