davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1944-06-19
Kyushu

The portion of the japanese En-
pire reached by American B-29s last
Thursday is the island of Kyushu or
kiushiu, separated from Korea bv
the strait of the same name and
from the island of Hondo by the
narrows of Shimonoseki and the
waters of the beautiful Inland Sea
1t is volcanic territory with a num-
Der of craters which have been ac-
tive in comparatively recent times.
The highest peak is Aso-san, fiftv-
six hundred feet above the shore
Deposits of coal and copper have
been exploited for centuries. va
Wata, "the Pittsburgh of Japan" is
situated on the north tip of the isle
and hitherto was supposed to enioy
a position of superior strategic sig
nificance. Government subsidies
have been poured into the iron and
steel works there ever since 1897.
The prosperity of the neighboring
city of Moji commenced a decade
earlier when it was chosen the ter
minus of railway system extending
as far south as Kagoshima.
But the islands larger Importance
Is better suggested by the fact that
1t has no less than a dozen open"
ports, all of which were busy before
the war and probably are even more
so currently. Nagasaki dominates
the west side of Kyushu Through
it moved the traffic to and from the
continent of Asia for ages before
Perry's expedition opened Japan to
the world in 1858 The Dutch were
admitted to trade as early as 1887,
and their wares still were to be seen
in the neighborhood as late as the
day before Pearl Harbor. Kokura,
the third of the Twentieth Bomber
Commands targets on June Is, is
an ancient castle town, the property
of the Daimyo Ogasawara in the
historic past.
AAASliSdllo, dS ~ ldppcIlo, lldse
been in the vicinity of Kyushu in
force on several prior occasions. In
1863 the local lord of Choshu de
cided to boldly lead the way in ex-
pelling foreigners by repeat
edly firing on foreign ships from his
. batteries" The sly official japanese
chronicle then says: Although
American and French warships
were separately dispatched and in
flicted severe damage on the Choshu
gunboats and land batteries, the in
trepid Daimyo was not brought to
terms" But when the English,
French, American and Dutch COM
Evening star., 1944-06-19
An Excellent Report

The McCarran subcommittee re-
port on the District water system is
easily the best and fairest analysis
of this complicated and antiquated
setup ever produced. Furthermore,
1t offers, in the proposed legislation
accompanying the report, a simple
and equitable method of reorganiza-
tion designed to reach what should
be the desirable objective of pub
licly owned and publicly operated
water system: A plentiful supply of
pure water at the lowest possible
cost to the consumers. That objec-
tive never will be obtainable under
the present organization.
The glaring inequities of water
system financing, which have been
discussed for many years in The
Star, have been the subject of
mounting criticism recently in House
and Senate. AS pointed out by r. ".
l.. Wright, who has submitted an
extremely able and helpful discus
sion of the water system for the Nc
Carran report, the entire cost of the
system is placed on the local tax
payers, who use only 66 per cent of
the water consumed. And as long
as the present method of financing
capital improvements is continued,
the cost of water will increase in
stead of being reduced as consump-
ton goes up.
AS MIR. Wright points out in his
letter transmitting his findings to
Senator McCarran, an equitable sys-
tenn of financing for sample year
-1942-would have made possible
40 per cent reduction in water rates
without endangering the financial
integrity of the system" The Ma
tional and municipal governments,
which now consume without cost to
themselves "a per cent of the water
produced, should be chargedsas any
consumer is charged. Funds for the
extensive capital improvements be-
coming necessary should be ad-
vanced by the Treasury at low in
terest rate Tin partial compensation
for the extensive benefits enjoyed by
the National Government in the
past) and control over the hydra
headed affair" of supply and distri-
button systems should be centralized
IN new agency, the National Capt.
tai Metropolitan Water Administra-
ton, which would conduct the en-
terprise as an efficient public utility.
Such long overdue reforms can
not be instituted too quickly.
Evening star., 1944-06-19
On the Record
By Dorothy THOMPSON

The most revealing development in
the controversy over the French Com
n1ittee, Is the recognition accorded 1t,
as provisional government for France,
by the four governments-in-exile Of
Poland, Czechoslovakia, Belgium and
Luxembourg, and that this step appar-
emily has the approval of the govern
ments of other small European coun-
tries.
These four governments represent a
cross section Of Europe. Two Of them
are in the east, with borders on Russia.
The relations of Poland and Czecho-
slovakia with the Soviet Union are by
no means identical. Among the east
European nations, Polands government
has the worst relations with the Soviet
Union, and Czechoslovakia the best.
Because of this their relations with each
other are under a strain. Yet they
agree together about France.
Furthermore the Polish Premier, Mr..
Mikolajczyk, is on a diplomatic mission
in Washington. His mission stresses
the Importance which Poland puts upon
American assistance. The Polish Pre-
nier, whom have met, is certainly not
truculent personality. Yet even this
COIllUlIldUlOIl VI C1CuulSGduCCS uUCS IIOt
prevent q move heartily unwelcome in
Washington.
Belgium and Luxembourg are imme-
diate neigf1bors of France, and Belgium
belongs to that group Of nations who
have succeeded in making an agreement
with the British-Americans powers for
, the transition period. Yet they, too,
defy the United States and Britain on
the issue of the recognition of the
French Committee provisional govern
ment-Britain's attitude sincerely con-
forms to Washington's which Is doubt
full. .
All the nations of Europe are going to
be docking for aid to America far more
than to France. What then moved
them to take so daring and undiplo-
matte step?
What moved them is obviously the
most profound concern for the future
of the whole of Europe. With the elm
ination of Germany, France is the
greatest European country outside Rus
sia No European country will expect
in the long run better treatment from
the Allies, and especially from the
United States, with her. century and q
half of traditional friendship, than Is
accorded France. So what happens to
France is test of what they may expect
Evening star., 1944-06-19

for themselves. It is obvious from their
action that these small countries do
not make, as Washington does, dis
tinction between the French Committee
OF Liberation and the French nation.
They are satisfied with the evidence.
Their diplomatic action, therefore,
registers fear; the fear Of the sub
servience Of the whole of Europe to the
Big Three. This is exactly the fear
which this column continually has
warned would arise II we continued to
leave Europe out Of our calculations.
The diplomatic crisis with France has
now reached climax, and as numbers
OF publicists have warned, the crisis
with France Is developing into a crisis
with the whole of Europe In this
crisis the United States is all but
isolated, even among the Big Three.
For the Soviet Union is silent, though
the Soviet is known to be benevolent
toward the French committee, and Mr..
Churchill is reluctantly supporting the
President, against the mounting public
opinion OF his own country. He is un-
able to make stand in the House of
Commons. He has to plead for post
ponement Of debate on the ground that
it is full OF dynamite.
y &* "
Il But how about the United States? Is
the United States behind the President
in thi4e II we challenge the whole
world must we not at least know why
we do 1t? The two reasons that are
given us are utterly uncenvincing. The
one is that Gen. de Gaulle is a die
tatorial and disagreeable person. and
the other that we don't know what the
French people want. .-..-.
II Gen. de Gaulle is an incipient die
tator. the only people who can curb him
J by political means are the French peo-
pie. As this column has repeatedly
pointed out, the manner in which we
treat him and the French committee is
building up his power in France every
minute. If public opinion here IS to
back the President, we must have better
reasons than any yet given. Actually,
American public opinion is either neu-
tral or probe Gaulle. Especially are
those who have most consistently
backed this administration concerned
over our treatment of the French.
The French political crisis is spread
ing to all of Europe. The signs are that
the British are about to bolt. And
where shall we stand then?
(Released hy the Bell Syndicate Inc)
Evening star., 1944-06-19
Faith of q Brown Mother

The moon is yucca fo,oer orer ths-
canyons edge, oir
And underneath the night Is thick az
nloqui blanket, ~
The bunch grass is deep beside the red.
brown ledge rs
Where the herd is sh1dotpy- ,uhite In
mysterious Shado,D. In
And she Dho keeps match lies under
the mesquite and dreams -
OF little bro,pn feet on the tDorn sheep
trails OF the canyon,
OF small broUn face bright as tho
suns ,Darm beams
When he talked OF a yeto- tpood boto
for a youthful ,Darrior.
The night is still and tptnd In the
sagebrush ,DhiSpers
And ouer the canyon the ste1df1st stars
still burn.
She blankets her heart NTH pride,
her son, the Ddrrior
To the sand tDorn canyon trails niH on6
day return.
But tonight he Is somewhere under
the Sky's dark rim.
And her heart ,Dedrs tinklinD bells az
1t seeks for him. .7ss
ALMA Robson HIGHER ~
Evening star., 1944-06-19
St. Sauveur BOttleneck
By Mai. George Fielding Eliot

The American troops on the Cher
bourg Peninsula by swift and magnif-
icently conducted advance, have reached
the west coast of the peninsula and are
now in possession of about seven miles
of the coastal road. The Germans are
thus deprived of their last available
means of communication with Cher
bourg and their other positions in the
northern part of the peninsula.
Provided that the positions we now
hold can be maintained and expanded,
Cherbourg is as good as ours. That is
not, of course, to say that we shall be
able to take the great port without fur
ther fighting. Cherbourg is surrounded
by ring of hills and the Nazi garrison
will undoubtedly be ordered to make a
last-ditch defense, and will be promised,
as the Nazi garrison at Kerch was
promised. all sorts of help and REIN
forcements.
But reinforcements cannot reach
, Cherbourg as long as Gen. Bradley's
troops can continue to hold the roads
at the base of the peninsula. Our posi-
ton there is not yet altogether salts
factory. We do not hold broad belt
of territory from sea to sea.
Our position Is rather like two tri-
angles, one large and one small, with
their bases on the sea on either hand
and their apexes meeting at st. Sauveur
lie Vicomte. The base of the large tri
angle is from Quineville to Carentan
and it points westward to st. Sauveur.
The base of the small triangle is from
Carteret to ST. Lo d'Ourville and it
points eastward to st. Sauveur.
X *
This situation makes st. Sauveur
somewhat of bottleneck and obviously
what Is needed at this time above all
is widening of our holdings in that
area. This can probably best be done
by concentric attack from the east
north and northwest upon La Haye du
Puts. This would place us in full pos
session of the highway from Isigny
through Carentan to La Haye du Puts
and onward to ST. Lo d'Ourville and
Carteret, giving us freedom of lateral
movement which we do not now enjoy.
Northward from st. Sauveur probably
the first task before us is to clean up
the German pocket of resistance at
Orglandes, and then to press from
Montebourg on the east and from St.
Sauveur on the south toward Valognes,
the most important communications
center in the northern part of the PEN
insula.
At all costs, as soon as possible. we
must deepen our holdings both north
and south of ST. Sauveur. Our greatest
danger at the moment is co-ordinated
German counterattack from north and
south directed against this little town
st. Sauveur lie Vicomte, which has been
suddenly torn from its obscurity to be-
Evening star., 1944-06-19

evident that it differed radically in
character from previous campaigns.
For the first time in years the Jap
anese columns were spearheaded
by strong formations of elite troops
and equipment, and Tokyo made no
secret of the objective of sthe Jap
anese high command. This is to
gain control of the two missing
links in the north-south railway
trunkline which runs across China,
from Peiping to Canton The first
of those links lies between the yell
low River and Hankow on the
middle Yangtse; the second be-
tween Hankow and Canton. the
port-metropolis of South China,
which has long been in japanese
hands. The initial japanese drive,
directed simultaneously south from
the Yellow River and northWard
from Hankow temporarily closed
that gap of about 200 miles. The
Chinese subsequently cut the line
at some points, but in the mean
while the Japanese have so clinched
their grip below the Yellow River
that they can now reconcentrate
on the Hankow line
Much more serious is the second
pincer movement begun between
Hankow and Canton. The main
thrust is southwark from Hankow,
at the key city of Changsha, which
is now admittedly surrounded and
in dire straits. At the same time,
the Japanese have begun moving
northward up the railway line from
Canton Once the bulwark of
Changsha has fallen, there would
be little chance for the Chinese to
prevent junction of the two Jap
anese forces. Then, for the first
time, the Japanese would have an
overland rail route across China.
Also, the richest part of China still
loyal to Chungking would be cut
off and our air bases imperiled.
The net result of all this would be
nothing short of catastrophe. Our
own officers in China have admitted
as much, virtually echoing the
warnings voiced by spokesmen of
the Chinese government, one of
whom told the foreign correspond
ents in Chungking that "If the
japanese succeeded in gaining con-
troll of both railways, the defeat of
Japan might be delayed for years."
Evening star., 1944-06-19

Within the week we may know just
how successful our invasion OF the
Normandy Peninsula has been.
1t. Gen Omar N Bradley, commander
of American ground forces participating
in the invasion, has told us that the
Germans have missed their opportunity
ARE willing to accept his word. Never
theless, the Germans are certain to
mount big counteroffensive, realizing
as they do that the battle of the Nor
mandy Peninsula, and others to follow
Immediately, are the, final threat to
their armies. They have been pushed
out of Russia: they are being elected
from Italy, and now their main effort
will be concentrated on Normandy and
the areas between the peninsula and
their homeland.
American Army leaders have often
spoken of the lessons we learned at
Salerno, where the Nazis almost pushed
us back to the sea. These leaders also
are fully aware of the fact that the
enemy, too, learned his lessons. First,
at Salerno, the Germans learned the
deadliness with which Allied battleships
and cruisers, roaring offshore, can assist
operations on the shore. The Germans
learned that they must keep their forces
away from the range of the big ships
guns; that was the only thing that saved
us at Salerno.
Marshal Erwin Rommel put this les
son to use at Anzio, where, instead of
attacking the Allies as soon as they
landed, he held back until the Allied
forces (and, of course, his own were
far enough inland to escape the fire.
We are due for heavier losses in the
days to come. when the Germans launch
their all-out effort to check u.s. Some
of last weeks assaults were described
in dispatches as approximating the
real thing ng"-but they were not. When
we stopped the attacks. many people
regardless of whatever else may be said
Evening star., 1944-06-19
Kind Word for Former
From the London Daily Express.

From the London Daily Express
In spring 1912, when ships were being
sunk at the rate of over a million tons
every month, the British farmer was
fine fellow with one and all. And the
farmer remains the friend of every one
with a ration book while Admiral
Doenitz has still a fleet of 500 U-boats
But fear of starvation is not the only
cause of the farmers new status in the
community He has done a brilliant
war job. After giving up some of his
best land for airfields and camps, he
is raising nearly twice as much food
of fewer fields than he titled before
the war. He has made British farming
Exhibit No. l among all the farming
nations Of the world.
Evening star., 1944-06-19
This Changing World
By Constantine Brown

were lulled into a false hope of early
victory. Some dispatches said the Ger
man Atlantic Wall was myth; others
gave the impression the Germans were
done for.
Let us not be misled. The road ahead
is rough and filled with many an OBJ
stacle. True, the so-called wall" as
1t concerned only the Normandy PEN
insula, may not have been as hard to
penetrate as we had expected, but that
is not the only wall.
The Germans, who always have been
good fighters, have never before in this
war been faced with the threat to their
very existence. Our political leaders
have told them they will be wiped out
unless they surrender Internationally.
Will not the Germans. then. just as
soon die on the battlefield as give up
when there is no advantage to be
gained by doing so?
~
The Germans have been moving
troops to the western frontlines as
fast as possible, and when our big
offensives against Cherbourg and Caen
get under way-then, and not until
then, will we know just how firm our
position Is.
Cherbourg, key port at the tip of the
peninsula and the point nearest Britain,
will be major objective of the Allies
this week. Its capture will mean that
we can set up good supply base on
the continent. Without Cherbourg, or
some equally as important port, such as
LIE Havre, we cannot hope to press our
initial gains. To the east, Caen would
serve our purposes we'll
If our pressure has been so great
that the Germans feel that by with
drawal they can save men, then these
two cities will fall shortly. The Ger
mans yield ground only If by doing so
they can save manpower That's the
type of warfare Ronmel likes to fight.
The pressure has been. increasing, and
the crisis may come this week.
Evening star., 1944-06-19
American and English

i o the Editor OF lne Star.
The answer to Laura K. Pollocks re-
cent question: "Why are the English so
proud of the peculiar way in which they
handle sounds?" is that the English are
not proud of It,
The English quite as reasonably might
ask: why is Miss Pollock so proud of
her way, since she describes the English
way as peculiar?"
The pronunciation of Americans bears
no closer relation to spelling or logic or
euphony than does that of the English.
Does Miss Pollock suppose that the
Al million people of Britain, each one of
them, are effecting an artificial manner
of speaking? After all, English is the
language of the English. They speak
1t in the way their parents and teachers
taught them.
Is 1t not possible that American is the
less natural form? American is English
as modified by its handling by many
other races immigrant from Europe and
elsewhere.
How much simpler 1t would be if only
the English spoken in England were
called English and that of America
were called American! Then we should
not expect each others accents and
locutions to be identical.
But who told Miss Pollock that British
parents are going into tailspins over
the accents with which their children
are coming home from American" AS
an Englishman who knows his COM
patriots pretty well, I am confident they
are not. have no doubt the parents
are pleasantly amused to hear their
children speak with an accent which
most Of themselves have heard only in
the movies. wouldn't Miss Pollock be
amused to hear little American re-
turning from England call his native
land "Ameddica"? So is the British
parent to hear his child say "Amurraca," :"
or, as Wendell Willkie has it, "Amarka. /"
And what are the peculiar sounds"
of which Miss Pollock says the English
are so proudp There are more ways of
pronouncing English in England than
there are in America, greater variations
between the accents of different parts
OF England than between that of Amer
lea and any part of England. A Southern
English governess once reproved her
little Northumbrian pupil for calling q
pet "a nice little duggie" "It Is not a
duggie, it's doggie," said the South
erner. Its awful like a little duggie. +"
replied the mystified infant.
This sort of thing happens daily. A
Lincolnshire farmer is almost unintel-
ligible to Devonshire, Lancastrian
hardly understands Londonen What
American is Miss Pollock thinking Of?
That of Boston or Brooklyn, Atlanta or
Kansas City-or possibly Groton and
Harvard?
But she need have no fear America
steadily Is gaining ground, thanks to
Hollywood and in spite of the BIC.
Temporarily, however, there may be
potent counterinf1uence. For quite soon,
we hope, those millions of bigger Amer
ican boys who have been sojourning in
England will return, and who knows
what horrors they may bring back in
the way of oxford accents and Raj
slang? ERIC UNDERWOOD.
Evening star., 1944-06-19
More to Come
From the Winnipes Tribune.

From the Winnipes Tribune.
1t is well to remind ourselves that.
even when Hitler is finished. only half
of the job will have been done. We
all recognize that there can be no let
down. With closer participation Ca
nadians will come to feel this rather
than merely grasp it with their minds.
Meanwhile Canadians should pay closer
attention to the war in the Pacific.
Evening star., 1944-06-19
The Chinese Anqle

In our elation over the smashing
blow at Japan from the air deliv-
cred by our new B-29s and the bold
stroke at Saipan by our ground
forces, we should not forget mill
tary developments in China. Un-
fortunately, the Chinese situation
continues to deteriorate almost as
fast as the Pacific situation i'm
proves.
From the moment when the Jap
anese launched their offensive in
Central China this spring, 1t became
Evening star., 1944-06-19

come for time the most important
military position in Western Europe.
While our attention Is thus fixed upon
Cherbourg itself we should not neg
lect to observe what is happening far
ther south, in the area just below the
base of the peninsula. Here the focal
point of Allied attention continues to
be the important road and rail junction
of st. Lo (not to be confused with the
small ST. Lo d'Ourville, on the west
coast of the peninsula.
Reports from Allied sources continue
to be noncommittal but enemy reports
indicate continued Allied pressure in
generally south-southwesterly direction
between the Rivers Ellie and Wire and
suggest that the Allies are advancing
on front to 10 miles and are within
four miles of st. Lo.
There is as yet however, no indica-
ton that the Allies have been able to
cut the ST. Lo-Carentan highway. This
highway continues, as long as St. Lo is
in German hands to offer opportunities
for a German counterattack from the
southwark toward Carentan. The situa-
ton southwest of Carentan is also
obscure.
Readers Of these articles will recall
that several days ago I pointed out the
Importance of this general area just
south of the Cherbourg Peninsula-the
quadrilateral of main highways, of
which the four corners are Carentan,
La Haye du Puts, st. Lo and Coutances.
Since that time we have secured Caren-
tan, we are rapidly closing in on La
Haye du Puts and we are advancing
on St. Lo.
When these points and Valognes are
firmly In our hands we may consider
our position in this part of Normandy
to be well consolidated and the first
objectives of our offensive operations in
France will have been successfully
attained
tCopyright 1914 New York Tribune Incl
Evening star., 1944-06-19

bined f1eet-seventeen ships In all
attacked the place and seized the
batteries by landing marines, Sep
tember 5-8, 1864, ""* Choshu finally
agreed to cease hostilities and
thenceforth to supply the foreigners
with provisions" An indemnity of
100000 was demanded by the
powers, and the money was paid by
the Shotgun. The United States,
however, refunded it's share-S765,-
OOO-in 1883. The incident is re-
ferred to as "the Shimonoseki affair"
in the annals of modern Japan.