davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1943-10-20
Food Production in 1914

From the New York Herald Tribune.
Slowly but surely the Nations wartime
food production program is moving
toward basis comparable to that of
munitions production. Faced with the
prospect Of increasing military and for
eign relief demands, the War Food Ad-
ministration has set goals for 1914 which
would indicate the employment of every
available acre OF land and every produc-
ton facility. The 1914 program calls
for the use of 100000, 900 acres of crop
land. This not only exceeds by 1600O,-
900 acres the area cultivated in 1943, but
1t is 5000, 900 acres more land than has
ever actually been cultivated in the Ma
tons history. This means that a sub
stantially further amount OF land now
idle, fallow or used for pasture will have
= to be brought under cultivation. Record
amounts Of fertilizer will likewise be
called for. Though goals for all indi-
vidual farm crops have been set, farm
ers will be free to abide by or ignore
items as certain types of tobacco. In
short, with 1914 the last vestiges will
finally have disappeared Of the policy OF
planned scarcity inaugurated as a
depression measure in the early sos.
Evening star., 1943-10-20
Tom Thomson

II any one man may be said to
symbolic the whole of Canada in
modern times, his name must be
Tom Thomson. Visitors from the
United States find him everywhere.
He represents the love which the
people OF the Dominion have for
beauty and for strength. Albert H.
Robson, author of the standard text
book on Canadian landscape paint
ing, refers to him as "a remote and
mystical figure that broke into the
art armament with a sudden and
dazzling brilliancy. and then disap-
peared as suddenly into the great
unknown"
Thomson, however, did not remain
lost. His pictures are featured in
every important gallery in Canada.
Large reproductions OF them have
been sent by the Dominion govern
ment to details of Canadian troops
overseas. Hundreds of thousands of
small copies are in circulation
through gift shop and newsstand
sale. Nobody is too poor to own 1T
least a single example of "Tommys"
genius. And his legend is even more
widely distributed. He is famous for
his story as we'll as for his achieve.
ment. Born at Claremont, Ontario,
Evening star., 1943-10-20

In 1877, he spent his youth in the
neighborhood of Georgian Bay. BY
1908 he was earning his bread de-
signing commercial labels In Toronto.
During the summer Of 1912 he did a
series Of sketches in Algonquin Park.
His study Of "A Northern Lake" ex-
hibited in 1918, was his first attempt
on a big canvas. It was purchased
by the provincial government.
The last four years of his life were
those in which Thomson performed
the miracle Of artistic labor for
which he now is celebrated. He
toiled tirelessly to catch the wild
grandeur Of the Canadian forests.
Most Of the four hundred drawings
and twenty painted compositions
which he left were created in the
fnal months Of his career. Perhaps
he was conscious Of need to hasten
his pencil and brush. He was only
forty whsn he died by drowning in
Canoe Lake, July 3, 1917. A cairn
to his memory is inscribed: He lived
humbly but passionately with the
wild. 1t made him brother to all
untamed things in nature. 1t drew
him apart and revealed itself won
derfully to him. It sent him out
from the woods only to show these
revelations, and 1t took him to itself
at last"
But not to keep. Thomson's i'm
mortality is assured by the apprecia-
ton OF the Canadian folk. Crowds
gather about his productions in the
art institutions Of the Dominion.
His West Wind" and Lake scugog"
are in Toronto; Moonlight, ""North-
ern River" Spring Ice" Jack Pine"
and "Autumn's Garland" In Ottawa:
I'm the Northland" In Montreal.
Seeing them, the pilgrim from the
American side Of the border under
stands the nostalgia which prompts
the soldiers of Canada to want
"Tommy's" pictures with them at
the lighting front.
Evening star., 1943-10-20

Experts tell us that they do serious
damage. Not every tree attacked by
them ultimately dies, but some OF them
do, especially in forests where they can
work unmolested.
The sweet sap, Of course, attracts
others, as we'll as ants and other insects.
Each species, in its turn, adds It's own
special injury, to say nothing Of the
harmful germs and microbes which are
given entrance.
Fall Is a good time to see woodpeckers
The other day there was q downy
woodpecker perched on a tree limb not
three feet from a red-bellied wood
pecker.
Neither was beating out the famous
woodpecker's Jolly serenade." (The
song, by the way, in every version we
have ever heard, fails to give the cor
rect rhythm)
The downy is small, the ed-bellied
much larger. but they both have an
equal liking for suet.
Surely some suet should be saved for
these and other fat-eating birds.
A small amount of suet will 60 a
long way. 1t may be stuck to tree
with nail, or placed in a small, wire
or basket cage OF some sort.
Starlings also like it, but the wood
peckers the most. We have never seen
starting dispute the suet with a
woodpecker. Maybe they are afraid Of
those long bills and strong neck mus
cles.
1t Is perhaps not commonly realized
that most of the true woodpeckers have
two uses for their drumming.
One is practical, the other esthetic.
The bird not only drums up small in
sects and grubs from the wood, but
uses his drum roll as a love call.
Often in the spring Woodpecker
will attack metal downspout.
The resulting metallic sound seems
not only to please him, but also his
faithful mate.
There can be no other reason for
this drumming on metal.
The small downy woodpecker, every
body's favorite, may often be seen bal
ancing himself on his tail, while he
leans back to deliver series of pecks
at tree trunk with his muscular neck.
While he Is doing this, he often is
Joined by one Of his favorite compan-
ions, the white breasted nuthatch, which
gathers in some of the small insects,
which the woodpecker has driven out
OF the crevices in the bark
Sometimes these two will spend a
long period not more than two feet
from the base of the trunk.
Woodpeckers are a perennial delight
to all friends Of birds, not only because
Of their habits, but also because of
their unusual colorations. They can
not be said to be abundant any more.
but there are enough Of them 80 that
every suburban resident. at least, can
see many OF them over a period OF
years
Evening star., 1943-10-20

crews, our actual loss, in terms of
planes alone, was greater than that
Of the Germans.
These qualifications do not detract,
however, from the magnificent
showing which has been made by
American planes and American
crews. In all theaters of combat
we are outlying and outighting the
enemy, in addition to inflicting
enormous damage on his military
installations and his production IA
cilities. The effect of this will be
cumulative, and as we continue to
put more and better planes into
combat the relative inferiority of
the enemy will become more and
more pronounced.
AS good as this box score is, the
next one should be better.
Evening star., 1943-10-20
The indispensable" Man

The House Military Affairs Com
mittee is considering legislation
already approved by the Senate
which would limit requests for occu-
pational draft deferments to those
men whose services are "indispen-
sable" This applies to private en-
ployers As we'll as to the Federal
service, and II it is to be given a
literal application 1t is capable OF
working 4 great deal of harm.
This is true because there Is no
such thing as literally indispen-
sable man, and If that is to be the sole
basis for deferment no conscientious
employer would feel justified in
making such request in behalf of
any employe. But If no man is in
dispensable, there are many whose
services, in realistic sense, are es-
sential, and whose loss to industry
or the Government would have a
serious adverse effect on the prose-
cution Of the war.
Many. or the mon whose occupa-
ton is all that stands between them
and induction into the Army as buck
privates are trained physicists,
chemists, chemical engineers, cleo
trical engineers and other scientists
OF varied descriptions. These are
the men who are devising and per-
fecting new instruments OF war for
our armed forces, and who are doing
the research and experimentation
necessary to offset the new weapons
being developed by the enemy. And
the cases cited are but examples, for
there are many other categories of
highly trained men who, on the
whole, certainly are essential to the
successful conduct of the war.
1t Is undoubtedly desirable to
weed out the draft dodgers-the men
who are evading military service
through untenable claims to occu-
pational deferment. But 1t does not
follow that this need be or should be
an indiscriminate process. In fact,
the whole theory Of selective service
Is based on the principle that each
man should serve where he is most
useful to the conduct Of the war,
and 1t would be sheer folly to scrap
this sound principle just as We are
entering a most critical stage Of the
conflict.
Thus, while Congress is to be
commended for its desire to weed
out the draft evaders, it is impera-
tive that this be 4 careful process,
designed not to injure the war effort
as a whole. 1t would seem desirable
to substitute some other language
for the test of indispensability,
presently contained in the legisla-
ton. But If this be deemed inad-
visable. then it is to be hoped that
the Military Affairs Committee will
revise the bill to make it perfectly
clear that the word "indispe nsable"
is to be given a common-sense and
not literal application.
Evening star., 1943-10-20
Army Plane Report

The overall picture given by the
owl Of the combat performance of
United States Army planes is ex-
ceedingly good.
Conclusions drawn from the sta
tistics as originally announced were
somewhat misleading. The Owl
"box score" placed total known Axis
plane losses from Pearl Harbor to
September OF this year at 1872
planes. Our own Army losses for the
same period were fixed at 1887
planes, or ratio in our favor Of
almost one to four This was mis-
leading, however, since the figure
for enemy losses included planes de-
stroyed in the air and on the ground,
while our own total was confined to
planes lost in the air. But even
when allowance is made for this by
subtracting from the Axis total the
1883 enemy planes known to have
been destroyed on the ground the
ratio In our favor remains better
than one to three, and that is very
good indeed.
Another thing which must be
taken into account is the fact that
the total of the losses of our Air
Force includes much higher per-
eentage of four-engine bombers.
Thus, in July Of this year, the box
score lists 500 German fighters de-
stroyed to 1os Flying Fortresses lost.
That Is ratio of better than four
to one. but in terms Of man hours
Of labor, matefials and trained
Evening star., 1943-10-20
THIS AND THAT
BIZ Charles Z. TracetDell.

A pile Of feathers, with mixed black
and white polka dots, lay on the front
lawn beneath the big locust tree.
They were surrounded by soft gray
feathers.
Other than these, there were no
signs Of the bird murder which had
been committed there.
Had it been the work Of a cat there
undoubtedly would have been further
remains somewhere in the yard. There
was none.
Undoubtedly the catastrophe had been
caused by hawk.
The pitiful pile of feathers bore every
indication of his handiwork.
The feathers evidently had come
from a woodpecker.
The black and white marks on the
feathers looked quite different from the
way they do on a live bird.
In this vicinity the most prominent
Woodpeckers are the little downy wood
pecker, the hairy woodpecker and the
red-bellied woodpecker. Occasionally 4
real redAheaded woodpecker is seen.
All OF these are interesting birds.
1t Is only now and then that one Of
them becomes disconcerting.
Occasionally a woodpecker will begin
operations on the cornice Of a house,
or on the side walls If they are shingle.
Several years ago one specimen caused
extensive damage to the porch of q
home in Arlington, Va.
Reports have come in, from time to
time. Of holes pecked in shingles in
Montgomery County, Md.
The persons most concerned seldom
look upon these operations calmly,
whereas to their friends they are mostly
in the nature OF joke.
1t would not be a joke, however, If
all the woodpeckers held convention,
and then and there decided to attack
the dwellings OF man in concert.
To the species named, in that event.
would have to be added the yellow
bellied sapsucker. (What names these
woodpeckers haveD
He has shown his ability on a tree In
our yard.
One spring specimen OF the sap
sucker tribe few down to the maple
by the garage and tapped away to get
sap.
Our attention was nrst called to him
by the wet streaks down the trunk and
along some of the larger limbs
After studying his coloration and
methods for \ time, we drove him
away.
No real damage was done to the
maple. 1t has been two years now,
since his visit. and II damage had re-
suited We probably would know about
1t by this time
Sapsuckers are to be looked upon
with distrust. There is nothing about
them which makes up for the possible
damage they may do
Evening star., 1943-10-20
Songs

II the heart always has these thtn1s
to cling to -
When rough ,pi,,ds rise and bnnejk
ing storms dssail,
1t has the shelter OF roek-clet
haven,
Eternal perities that neuer tnits a
Songs made Of da,pntng famed upon,
the heavens,
OF reaching skies phen day Is at
its height;
Songs touched BY hon,ino things and
peaceful evening,
And pinioned NTH the gtedmtn6
stars OF night.
Songs made because the heart hears
in its rhythm,
The loneliness OF hope and tdMk
and trust:
Songs that can heal sad souls and
lead d nation,
The songs that sing and sting b.
cause they must.
ROSE MYRA PHILLIPS.
Evening star., 1943-10-20

A grand opera organization is being
set up to produce music drama in
washington beginning next month,
and there must be many people in
the Nations Capital who will wish
the sponsors abundant success. But
a kindly attitude on the part of the
public Is not all that Is needed in
such an enterprise. An auditorium
big enough to accommodate large
audiences at popular prices also is
wanted.
Evening star., 1943-10-20
War Contract Settlements

Controller General Lindsay C..
Warren, testifying in the controversy
over settlement of terminated war
contracts, has made grave charges
against War Department contract
ing officers which reflect not only on
the competency of the officials, but
on their probity as we'll.
Opposing legislation to clarity the
War Departments powers in making
final adjustments under cost-plus-
fixedfee contracts, and arguing
that the right of review should
be placed instead in the General Ac-
counting Once, Mr.. Warren told the
House Military Affairs Committee
that widespread abuses had been
uncovered by his Office in the study
of production-cost allowances made
by War Department agents passing
on contractors claims. Officials who
would approve the items assailed
are not capable of administering a
contract-termination program, he
asserted.
Employe entertainment, valet
services, free meals and whiskey
were some Of the things which
stirred the ire OF the controller gen.
eral, who also cited overcharges for
equipment and materials which re-
putedly gained War Department
approval. More serious, perhaps,
were the implications in his state
ment that he had received reports
OF some officers "golfing, wining and
dining with contractors and frater-
nizing socially with them to such an
extent that they were becoming
overliberal"
Until the War Department comes
forth with its promised defense,
Judgment must be withheld on Mr..
Warrens charges. Some of his crit
icism, certainly, bears earmarks OF
being we'll founded. 1t Is just as
possible, however. that certain ex-
penditures complained of can be
justified
An unfortunate aspect of the
whole matter Is that so important
an issue should become clouded by
controversy. To permit contract
officers to have the final say In settle
ments, the controller general told
the committee, would open the way
to fraud, and cost taxpayers untold
billions Of dollars" He favors plan
under which contractors would re-
ceive partial payment when con-
tracts are terminated, and effect
final settlement with the Govern
ment after an audit of their claims.
To the contrary, Undersecretary of
War Patterson has informed the
committee that such provisional
settlements would not be satisfac-
tory, particularly when small COM
panies were involved, and that "only
a prompt and final settlement on
termination will suffice"
Contract examinations will assume
increasing Importance as the war
ends and the big shift to peacetime
economy takes place, and the ques-
ton OF responsibility for settlement
demands a solution that will safe
guard the interests of the Govern
ment, while avoiding hardships on
industries which pass out of the war
production pitcure. 1t has its bear
ing on Navy Department and Mari
time Commission contracts as we'll
as those of the War Department,
and In considering this particular
case, Congress should and no doubt
will keep in mind the necessity of
laying down uniform policy for all
Evening star., 1943-10-20

Raymond Clapper, back from sici-
ly says You would understand ex-
actly what your contribution to the
Community War Fund will mean If
you went into any war zone" Per-
haps the next best educational
process in the circumstances would
be just to employ ones own healthy
imagination.
Evening star., 1943-10-20
international Protective Force"
Advocated for World HARMONY.

To the Editor OF The Star.
Many persons fear the Fulbright pro-
posal involving this country in "appro-
pirate international machinery with
power adequate to establish and main
tain just and lasting peace" They
think that II this country were to make
such commitment it would have to
mobilize all its resources and rush abroad
to the defense Of any small nation that
might be attacked by any other nation.
Thus, war jitters would be recurring
with exhausting frequency.
But an all-out involvement Is by no
means a necessary corolary Of such
international machinery. We can move
to set up an international police system
which would be pool Of the military
resources of all nations. Every single
nation, large or small, Axis or Allied,
would give over its equipment, supplies
and men, now being used in private
armies and navies, to the central pool
DIETS call 1t the International Protective
Force and would continue to contribute
to the pool in proportion to the size OF
population, quantities and materials
in proportion to amount Of national
wealth.
Each country would retain only the
materials and the men that would give
it a national police force or militia COR
responding to our National Guard The
size of this national militia would be
determined On population area unrest
basis by An international commission Of
both civilian and military experts. Each
unit of the 1PF would be kept moving
from country to country thus preventing
local intrigue from coming to head
and at the same time furnishing the
individual members Of the IPF with
that international experience and edu-
cation that will 60 so far toward dis
pelling hatred OF the alien.
Naturally, there would have to be a
vast investigative system, to see that no
nation augmented its militia or began to
build up private army Or navy. But
far better, have international snoopers
in all our navy yards than rows and
rows Of crosses for United States soldiers
in international cemeteries everywhere! !!
1t is extremely Important that any
International Protective Force have its
quota drawn from every country in the
world. Otherwise it would become
merely an army of occupation in any
noncontributing country. Armies of oc-
curation inevitably SOW seeds of hate in
a discredited, helpless, occupied country.
Let there be no ganging up, no ex-
clusion, no parish countries. Discipline
within the framework of international
organization will be far more successful
in correcting recalcitrancy than are at
tack and subjugation from without.
True, each nation would relinquish
some sovereignty. But no nation would
gain sovereignty 1t the expense Of an.
Evening star., 1943-10-20

mother nation-state. All the contributed
little sovereisnties would go to make up
the greater sovereignty of the world
federation Do Massachusetts and Vir-
ginia squawk because they relinquished
sovereignty to the Federal Union? Why
should we, faced with the decision of
joining together to make a world union,
complain about losing our sovereignty?
No other single nation will have any
more OF this vaunted emptiness than
We have. RUTH WELTY.
Basic English" Defended
As Easiest of Languages.
To the Editor OF The Star:
Henry McLemore Is always amusing
and usually instructive. But it Is dis
tressing to find him an opponent OF
basic English, apparently on the grounds
that its inventor lis a bald. short, be-
specialized Cambridge professor who
lives at Buxton"
Mr.. McLemore blames Buxton and
the depressing Buxton hotels, which he
says he knows. But Buxton has hotels
which he presumably does not know for
they are among the finest in Europe.
Marx Twain said of Bret Harte that
he was "the pleasantest fellow in the
world then, after pause, added that
"he was also the most unpleasant fellow
IN the world" No doubt both state
ments were true.
Buxton does have some OF the worst
hotels in Britain, but Buxton also has
some of the best. And this, too, can be
said Of Washington: That Washington
has some of the best hotels in America,
but also has some of the worst.
As to Cambridge, she Is the university
Of Chaucer, Marlowe, Spenser, Gray,
Milton, Sterne, Coleridge, Pepys, Kings
ley. Herrick, Samuel Butler, Thackeray,
Tennyson, Byron, Dryden, Donne,
Bacon. Marvell Macaulay, Wadsworth
and Rupert Brooke. and they should
know something about English.
And Buxton herself, favorite resi-
dence of Mary, Queen Of Scots, to which
she addressed a pathetic poem of fare
well, with terraces Of magnificent Geor-
sian houses, is architecturally one Of the
finest towns in England and Is situated
amidst some Of its loveliest scenery.
But what has all this to do with the
merits of basic English, which feel sure
Mr.. McLemore has not really examined.
A humorist has said that Chinese
stenographer's legs wear out before their
fingers because Of the immense keyboard
OF their typewriters, which has to pro-
vide some 5000 characters and keeps
them running up and down. The Rus
sian language, beautiful and simple, has
100000 words. In these days Of airplanes
and automobiles, why 60 numbering on
with this horse and buggy babel? Com
munication Of human minds Is as i'm
portant as the transportation OF bodies
Basic English has $50 words. 1t is
the joint invention Of England and
America. When you have learned the
$50 words you can add more if you
wish. In the interests Of humanity, it
should be made one Of the peace terms
that all nations should learn English as
a second language: the easiest of all
languages. the clearest, and enshrining
the greatest Of literatures; the language
with least grammar; the language OF
freedom and the common law.
ERIC UNDERWOOD.
Evening star., 1943-10-20

A paratrooper, standing In line for
long time to get marriage license,
is reported to have tainted. It is
thought that he may have been
nervous over taking the big. plunge.
Evening star., 1943-10-20
Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor must
bear the name and address OF
the 1Driter. although the use of
a pseudonym for publication is
permissible. The Star reserves
the right to edit all letters NTH
a UieD to condensation.
Evening star., 1943-10-20

The average German pocket bat
tleship seems to be in 4 class with
the average pocket cigarette lighter.
Both are out Of order most Of the
time. . ~ ~ i. 2
Evening star., 1943-10-20
Dark Outlook

Prom the Hanover Post.
If this rationing keeps up. we may
have to do without things our grand
fathers never had.