davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1944-01-20
Don't Know Nothin'

A sound of hollow laughter, au-
dible to keen ears IN the District yes
terday, doubtless came from local
taxpayers who read an editorial
from the Los Angeles Examiner
inserted in the Congressional Record
under the title: 'The Federal Land
Grab"
The editorial commented with ap-
proval on the action of the Board OF
Supervisors of San Francisco, which
has refused to exempt from taxation
some eighty-six parcels of property
acquired by the Federal Government,
carrying the property on the tax
rolls as delinquent. The supervisors
argue that as Federal property gets
the same amount OF fire and police
protection and the same benefits of
schools, streets and the whole range
of unsupported municipal enter
prise as any other property, it should
pay taxes. Federal property, the
editorial continued, now represents
IL per cent of the taxable area in
San Francisco and deprives the city
of $l,6O0,000 in annual tax revenue.
Here in the District of Columbia,
49, per cent of the land area is tax
exempt. OF a total realty valuation
OF $2,2l0,461,7 ,7l2, only $1,326,992 ,Sl5,
or about go per cent, yields taxes.
The amount of tax-exempt property
Is increasing, placing a rising bur-
den OF taxation on what Is left. No
one has seriously claimed that the
Federal Government, which owns
most OF this exempt property, should
pay taxes on it. What has been
claimed repeatedly is that the Fed
eral lump sum. still set at $4,000 900
in total budget Of over $66 900 900,
although fixed originally for
budget of about $4,000, 900, should
bear some definite relation either
to the excessive proportion of tax
exempt property or to the amount
of local tax revenue collected for
maintaining and developing the
Capital through the District ap-
preparation bill.
San Franciscans don't know
nothin' about tax-exempt property.
Evening star., 1944-01-20
Potential District Voters

During the hearings on Senator
McCarran's local suffrage bill there
were occasional references to the
number Of persons who live in
Washington and vote in the States.
And in answer to reporters ques-
ton, Senator Wherry of Nebraska,
serving his first term, said recently
that he thought the number of such
voters had a real bearing on whether
residents of the District should have
national representation. If there
were hundreds of thousands" of
people living in Washington, with
no voting rights anywhere, he
thought the question was indeed
q serious one
The last actual count of Wash
1ngton residents voting in the States
was made by the Census Bureau in
1880, which counted 15,1O5 qualified
recent voters in the States. Po-
litical headquarters here in the 1882
election estimated that there were
from fifty to sixty thousand persons
who could. if they registered, vote
In the States. Other estimates,
some of them purely guess-work,
carried the number as high as
10000 before the recent influx of
temporary workers.
In 1910 the Census estimated that
about 100000 Washington residents
OF voting age were unable to vote in
the States, without attempting to
guess at the number who might be
able to exercise that privilege. But
in this connection, it is worth men
tioning the number and variety of
restrictions against absentee voting.
Eleven States, according to one esti-
mate, do not permit it. Fourteen
permit registration by mail. In three
States the privilege is extended only
to Federal employees. Illinois per-
mits mail registrations except in
ten cities and Cook County, where
registration in person is required.
Such variations have received re-
cent emphasis in the attempt to
obtain uniform absent voting laws
permitting the soldiers to vote.
But by the most conservative
estimates, the number of potential
voters in the District who can vote
nowhere else represents a substan-
tial army which, without counting
the thousands of temporary work.
ers who have swelled the city's
present population, exceeds the
population of at least ten of the
States The first 1941 draft quota
for the District was greater than
that Of sixteen States. There are,
without doubt, hundreds of thou
sands" of loyal, intelligent Ameri-
cans, living in Washington, barred
from voting here or anywhere else
and this denial of the fundamental
American right to so many citizens
Is. indeed, a serious matter.
Evening star., 1944-01-20

WIN IN JOrCuOuS manner.
Despite official pronouncements that
there is solid unity among the United
Nations, it is inevitable that there shall
be divergences of interests regarding
territorial and political divisions after
the war. The United States alone has
no such interests. Our only aim is to
create warleSs world.
Europe is hotbed of intrigues. The
recent dispute over Poland and the
Baltic States, our own troubles with the
French National Committee at Algiers.
the changing attitude of the British
and American governments regarding
Yugoslavia and number of other prob
lens which have not yet come out into
the open show how delicate the diplo-
matte strategy of the United Nations is
bound to be.
+ 4
Peace talks have been reported ever
since the fall of Poland in 1889 There
have been rumors from time to time
that Germany was seeking a way out
Evening star., 1944-01-20
Letters to The Star
Criticism Of Britain
In America DeplOred.

Criticism Of Britain
In America Deplored.
To the Editor Of The Star:
Fault-f1nding with Great Britain-is
1t happy at this critical moment?
The United Nations are making COM
mon effort in common cause. There
are no ShirkerS. Each Is cooperating
Fundamentally according to its ability.
We cannot win this war alone. To SOW
discord is disservice.
Lease-lend helped to save Great Brit
ain. If she had fallen, it would have
meant the surrender of the British fleet
to Germany. What then? How long
would New York City, Boston, Phila-
delphia, Baltimore Charleston, New Or
leans have been safe? Would they not
now be rubble and ashes as Hamburg
and Berlin are?
The League Of Nations project was
framed by joint British and American
effort. 1t was put on the map by our
own Presidents advocacy of it. But for
Great Britain's reliance on it, the Brit
ish government would not have accepted
our invitation to the Washington Dis
armament Conference Q92l-2) and, as
result thereof, have both scuttled part
of its fleet and annulled in difference to
our mistrust of Japan, its alliance with
that country, an alliance which Edward
Grey said, more than once Great Brit
ain needed If she were to retain her
interests in the Far East The League
of Nations could not be what it was
intended to be unless it embraced all
the great powers. We failed to join it..
We failed, likewise, to ratify the tri-
partite treaty guaranteeing France
against aggression. 1t was this treaty
which led Clemenceau to waive his de-
mand for the retention of nature S
safest boundary for France, the left
bank of the Rhine. With the certain
knowledge beforehand that both Eng
land and the United States would come
to the aid of France, Germany would
not have embarked on her present mad
venture.
No! We may not complain of Great
Britains conduct. She has stood con-
scientiously for collective security and,
despite our isolationists, dwindling
group. we will stand hereafter, side BY
side, in that greatest of human causes.
The British and American fleets, plus
the British Empire, have made for peace.
II war came, both the First World War
and this war. it was because of one
nation, Germany, which was out for
plunder and out for blood as means
to plunder.
THEODORE MARBURG.
Baltimore
Evening star., 1944-01-20
That Provdu Mystery

The international sensation
sprung by Pravda, official organ
of the Russian Communist party,
remains as mysterious as ever.
The newspaper itself offers no ex-
planation as to why it published a
dispatch with a Cairo dateline, la
beled a rumor, that two leading
British personalities" had recently
discussed a separate Anglo-Ger-
man peace with Nazi Foreign Min
lister Won Ribbentrop somewhere in
the Iberian Peninsula. The British
authorities in Cairo assert positively
that no such dispatch was cleared
through their censorship. Both the
Spanish and Portuguese govern
ments are understood to have denied
Ribbentrops presence on their soil.
London has Indignantly denied the
charge and has asked Moscow for
explanations. The Soviet govern
ment says nothing as yet President
Roosevelt declares himself as much
puzzled by the matter as any one
else.
Until Moscow says something
specific on the subject, the Pravda
dispatch will continue to evoke
floods of speculative comment. Out
side of Russia. where a suspicious
public seems inclined to take the
allegation seriously, few persons in
United Nations lands believe that
the rumor has any factual basis.
The character of the Churchill gov
ernment and the temper of the
British people alike render it ludi-
crously improbable that any such
intrigue could have been entered
into. The hypothesis that the Soviet
government is itself toying with the
idea of separate peace negotiations
with Nazi Germany and used the
Pravda dispatch as an alibi to justify
its own designs also is unimpressive.
The Red armies continue to hammer
the Germans relentlessly at great
cost to themselves, while the Russian
public seethes with indignant hatred
at the atrocities and devastations
committed by the German invaders.
Still, one thing is certain: the
publication of that dispatch was no
accident. Nothing appears in any
Russian paper except with official
approval-least of all in Pravda, the
Communist party organ and known
mouthpiece of Joseph Stain him.
self. Stain Is a stark realist with
shrewd appreciation of foreign
affairs. He must have had a good
idea just what would be the reac-
tions abroad to such journalistic
bombShell: so it can be assumed
that he had what. looked to him a
good reason for allowing it to ap-
pear in print. The most logical ex-
PLANTATION would seem to be that
the Pravda dispatch fits into the
pattern of other recent Russian
press and official statements such
as the criticism of Wendell Willkie.
All these have to do, directly or
indirectly, with the Polish and Bal
tic frontier settlements. about which
there are divergent viewpoints be-
tween Russia and its western allies.
The Soviet government obviously
Evening star., 1944-01-20
New Archbishop

Enthroned at the climax of
sacred ceremony of great beauty,
the Most Reverend Bernard w.
Griff1n became sixth Roman Cath
olic Archbishop of Westminster
yesterday. His appointment by Pope
Plus in December was a surprise to
the generality of the members of his
branch of the universal church as
well as to himself, but already the
choice of the pontiff has been con-
f1rmed by public opinion extending
far beyond immediate boundaries.
A native of Birmingham, born in
1899, the new archbishop is a man
of the people in the full and exact
meaning Of that phrase He served
in the navy and in the air force in
the First World War, was ordained
a priest in 1924 and was made
auxiliary bishop of the diocese of
his birth in 1888. His ministry
during nearly two decades was de-
voted to the spiritual guidance and
care of the laboring classes of War
wickshire. He knows with a poign-
ant intimacy the problems of times
of economic stress. The bent of his
mind has been influenced by expe-
rience in the direction of social
reform. But he is in no respect a
radical. The sermon he prepared
for his installation is a thoroughly
conservative document. 1t contains
no hint of willingness to compromise
with expedient materialism.
It does not follow, however, that
Archbishop Griffin is in any danger
of losing contact with prevailing
liberal thought. He favors the
Beveridge scheme for social secur-
ity," family allowances and govern
ment assistance for Catholic as well
as Protestant schools. The keynote
of his philosophy in those matters
as in others may be discovered in his
inSiStence on "the freedom of the
individual and the family" Logi-
cally, he has declared his opposition
to divorce, birth control and books
(which extol evil"
The new archbishop possesses
youth to aid him in the work he is
to do, and his opportunities for
service to God and to humanity
are infinite. Granted health, he
will play an important part in the
Evening star., 1944-01-20

desires to get British and American
acquiescence in and recognition of
its contention that those matters
are accomplished facts, not even
discussable by any one. The Pravda
dispatch could act as an oblique
form of pressure to this end. But
1t could also stir up and intensity
opposition to Russia's attitude, and
1t is certainly giving German propa-
ganda field day. The net result
might thus be a boomerang, injuri-
Gus to all the United Nations.
Evening star., 1944-01-20
Comments on Editorial
On Streetcars.

To the Editor of The Star:
Your attention is called to statistics
in the item Get at the Cause" regard
ing streetcar accident fatalities.
Two factors, important in my opinion,
were not mentioned. First, drivers of
cars these days appear to confine them
selves to moderate, careful speeds.
Second. in relation to passengers carried,
these Streetcars would not look so bad,
statistically, against all the automobiles
wish Miami Fla) had never aban-
doned streetcars for the miserable off
schedule bus service they give.
PVT S. S, PITTMAN.
Evening star., 1944-01-20

OF the war or that some of the Allied
nations-America excepted-have been
looking for way to end the war with
out further loss of life and destruction
of wealth.
Last summer reports of Russian
German talks either through the Offices
OF the Japanese Ambassador at Moscow,
through conversations between Russia's
envoy to Bulgaria or between Russian
and German representatives at Stock
holm gained credence in some quarters
in Washington and London. These re-
ports were reproduced in the British and
American press. The Russians did not
pay much attention to them and they
caused no serious breach in our diplo-
matte fences because the press in Britain
and the United States is under no politi-
cal censorship and stroies in them do not
in any way involve the respective gov
ernmentS.
The situation is different in Russia
All the Soviet newspapers are under the
strictest government control. They do
not print single line that is not gone
over with f1ne-tooth comb by govern
ment officials. The stories are read prior
to publication. Sometimes the Russian
press is used to uncover political plans
of the government, at other times it
puts out trial balloons whenever the
kremlin wants such feelers put out
In any event, the government and the
press are one and indivisible.
1t is regarded here as highly improb-
able that the Soviet government, after
having obtained all the concessions it
desired at the Moscow and Teheran
conferences, would want to break the
political front of the United Nations
Authoritative Washington sources say
there is no doubt that the Polish ques-
ton is unduly worrying the Moscow
leaders.
Evening star., 1944-01-20

cancieS. One of these
was in the second
Pennsylvania Dis
trict, formerly rep
resented by James
P. McGranery, a
Democrat, who re-
signed to become an
assistant to Attor-
ney General Biddle.
The other was in the
seventeenth Penn
sylvania district, a
s t r on g Republican
district represented
for years by the late
Representative Dit
Evening star., 1944-01-20

can hear, from hun
dreds of miles away,
that the State De-
partment was never
wrong.
They did a lot of
talking about some
fellow named Dar-
Ian, an bscur e
Fren h character
whom I seem to have
forgotten. An ad-
miral. or something.
He shot somebody,
or somebody shot
him, or maybe it was
both. 1t happened
Evening star., 1944-01-20

of the unsubstanti-
ated report that the
British and Germans
have been talking
peace terms.
In recent months
diplomatic strategy
has b e com e even
more difficult than
military stra t egy.
The military has a
direct approach In
its objective to knock
out the enemy. The
diplomats have more
complicated prob =
lens which are dealt
Evening star., 1944-01-20

Dear Mr.. Vice
Comnissar of For
eign Affairs: You
have twice been your
country's Ambassa =
dor to my Country
You know America
we'll; probably bet
ter than any other
Russian in Official
life. A great part
of your life's work
has been devoted tc
trying to bring about
better understand.
L
Evening star., 1944-01-20

in Persia, or one of those places. Any
way, they spent lot of program time
discussing this character and telling how
smart We were to deal with him. AS
a man who is on the radio himself, may
I take the liberty of suggesting to the
department that this was bad pro-
gramming?
This all happened IA years ago, or
IA months, or something and if YOU
Evening star., 1944-01-20

I wish I could sit down and write
private letter to Maxim Livinoff, one
that would go through uncensored and
intact. If I could, would say some
Evening star., 1944-01-20

Immense confusion is said to exist
in the German city of Brunswick
from its recent heavy bombing. In
other words, the inhabitants are in
a sort Of Brunswick stew.
Evening star., 1944-01-20

reconstruction Of Britain and of
civilization everywhere when the
prevailing strife has ended. His
American friends salute him with
reverence and appreciation.
Evening star., 1944-01-20
The Political Mill

The Republican trend" still continues
when the voters go to the polls. Two
Republicans were elected to the House
In by-elections on Tuesday to fill va
Evening star., 1944-01-20
This Changing World

There is a feverish activity on the
part of American diplomats to mend the
political fences which have been torn
here and there by Pravda's publication
Evening star., 1944-01-20
I'd Rather Be RIGHT

I followed the State Departments
Saturday night radio program with
interest. The radio is a wonderful in
vention. You turn little knob and you
Evening star., 1944-01-20
Desires One Place
Where Strikes Are Permitted.

Baltimore.
Evening star., 1944-01-30

Eighteenth street Sc; Glenda M.
Heller, Norcatur, Kans.; Sarah E.
Hoyt, 5317 Broad Bridge road NV;
Sonia M. Jones, 2015 Fifteenth street
NV; Lillian j. Larkin 3640 Six
teenth street NV; Mary E. Witham,
1905 Eighteenth street NV, and
Frances j. Zarenba, S N street NV.
Two who enlisted in the Army
Service Forces are Pvts. Trula
Parker, Asheville, N. c., and Virginia
F. See, 736 Jackson place NV.
Twenty mine enlistees in the
Army Air Forces include: Pvts.
Idella M. Carney, Barton Hall, West
Potomac Park; Mary j. Eammelli,
2117 o street NV; Jane B. Mayer,
1908 North Pershing drive, Arling-
ton, Va; Isabelle H. O'Connor, 7O5
Eighteenth street NV; Eunice l..
Seagraves, 1919 G street NV; Rena
P. Sentell, TIT Twentieth street
NV: Margaret v. Shaw, 1451 Park
road NV; Martha L. Shirley, 1884
Fairmont street NV.
Salena j. Shiver, 1914 Tilden street
NV; Elizabeth E. Snider, Franklin
Park, Falls Church, Va; Doris M.
Treadwell, 800 Talbot avenue, Laurel,
Md; Marion A. Allen, 2611 Adams
Mill road NV; Viviane w. Adams,
Brewster, N. Y: Mary j. Allen, 1000
Sixteenth street NV; Ruth G..
Flynn, 2032 Belmont road NV;
Pauline Galloway, 1900 Queens lane,
Arlington, Va; Harriet w. Hill, GIT
South Washington street, Alex
andria, Va.
Mildred B. Isenberg, IA Queens
Ridge road, Greenbelt, Md; Ga
brielle I. Kaffan, 1907 Twelfth street
NV; Laura B. Mohl, 1870 Mac
Arthur boulevard NV; Marion ".
Martin, 718 Gist avenue, Silver
Spring, Md; Miriam Mccain, 1886
Georgia avenue, Silver Spring, Md;
Alice L. Phillips, 4065 Minnesota
avenue NE; Mary G. Rodgers, 1886
Chevy Chase parkway NV; Libby
Rothsten, Ill Maple avenue, Ia
koma Park, Md: Ernestine Stanbery,
BIS Eighteenth street NV.
Ohely v. Sullivan, 600 North
Washington street, Alexandria, Va;
Hester A. Turner, 1880 Eighth street
NV. and Doris E. King. 1918 G
street Sc.
Evening star., 1944-01-30
HELP MEN.

AL AL JOB II handy with tools. mechanic's
&MSTL3acs MKsS al sooS SfMFENpaSr n II experienced
business Capital Ambulance Service.
SkMAT6RE AH SsGS wrsDER, electric motor re-
Good Goo opportunity for steady worker. GOOD
pfS' 6aS va yaacaIions: rs Electric Equipment Co..
Asst. J JAN1ffsoSRi.n fsSi ns eolored, for fashionable
midtown apartment: clean and sober; $50
gH AgTo osfai Service fsf piS FOREMAN. e1pr. with
,;nI,ysi Gnrysier products; permanent CONNECTION.
authorized sales and service agency. In
teresting proposition to right man. Call
AGro AZ pee5s 81 Eli TRuc& eGoo MECHANICS earn =,
e sfss csssed fas ss no. n; ons
e. gssson. vi Win sys p., our
Working conditions as any company IN In IN
ehsnlo sSp, once ssu to az n asnos snsd rev
Our a5d sosh ,sss sss IN nS Sa.ns:s ea
ths ntppiI1cshts Ioc must nave referral card from
xsTS las ga bopY y Z zN5 Il 5 FENDER MAN, auto
painter AN and helpers; steady work: good
e. o aehas1S G5sffs g. NJ ~..sna,on, Sf odes,
Cuevroiet dealer In center OF town. Shop
hled to capacity: large earnings. good
working conditions, permanent position
after the war. Referral card needed See
AUTO AifT MECHANICS and helpers, good pay
pest WORKING conditions: referral card nee
SSSafy. kirby's Sales q Service, 1887
Wilson blvd, Arltngton, Va.
AUTO, MECHANICS and helpers. liberal
pay plaL and comfortable shop, 6h-day
week; must nave release. II. J. Brown
Pontiac, Inc, Rosslyn. Va.
Evening star., 1944-01-30

H q m m o n d wv " "' AA~"'"0no'
studied music for several years in
Baltimore, Md, appearing there
with the Baltimore Civic Opera Co.
Also a singer of popular songs, she
entertained in night clubs IN that
city. Pvt. Hammond enlisted In the
WAC last october and received her
basic training at Fort Oglethorpe,
Ga.
FORT OGLETHORPE, Ga-Pvt.
Margaret Manley Of Camp Ritchie,
Md, former clerk in the ONCE Of
Strategic Services, is now taking her
basic training here at the Sd WAC
Training Center. Pvt. Manley, who
attended the University Of Mary
land. is the wife Of Capt. Eugene H.
Manley, Army Engineer Corps, and
the daughter of Col. G. Y. Banf1ll,
Army Air Forces.
Z Forty-six WAC recruits from the
Washington area recently arrived
here at the Sd WAC Training Center
for their basic training. Fifteen who
have enlisted in general assignment
include: Pvts. May D. Byars, 1855
Irving street NV; Josephine M.
James, 1924 Chapin street NV;
Mary M. Byren, 1920 Emerson street
NV; Lillian M. Carter, 1888 Kill
bourne place NV; Lucille M. Cohan,
3 Riggs court NV; Clare Thurman,
622 Ritchie avenue, Silver Spring,
Md.
Helen s. Gaines, 4416 Ninth street
NV: Barbara Goddard, 1900