davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1945-02-21
Peory Anniversary

Yesterday was the twenty-fifth
anniversary of the death of Rear
Admiral Robert Edwin Peary, but,
SO far was his mind in advance of
his own time, it seems incredible
that a quarter of a century actually
has passed since he finished his
work. The validity of his claims to
the honor of having reached the
North Pole on April 81, 1908, has
been strengthened in the judgment
of contemporary generations by the
gradual development of less spec
tacular interests to which he was
devoted.
In the whole vast field of Arctic
and Antarctic exploration Admiral
Peary's example still is a construc-
tive force. His approach to the
problems of such endeavors was
scientific in character, and it is not.
too much to say in his behalf that
he taught his successors their
= trade Also, he established for
them a background of popular en-
thuSiasm which never has failed.
Even his rivals have conceded him
generous credit for creating public
able and willing to support an ade-
quate number of polar enterprises.
But Admiral Peary quite as def
nitely left his mark on engineering,
especially in relation to the proposed
ship canal through Nicaragua. He
labored in that country as early as
1884 and his theories concerning how
best the desired supplement- to the
artificial Panama waterway could be
brought into existence still are
worthy of study.
Meanwhile, another science in
which Admiral Peary spent his
talents. partic1 arly In the sunset
Evening star., 1945-02-21
HiII-Furmer

His rocky, hillside land can neper yield
Like plains and udlley; but the sun,
at daWn,
Makes a gold stairDdy OF his barley field,
And gilds his rye Dhen lotcland day
Is gone.
Clouds trail their oansv skirts across his
Uhent,
The tull moon dusts his corn with
silper spray,
Minds stir his clover NTH sott-sdndaled
feet,
Birds brush hts pine-tops on their
migrant irdy.
Deer cluster round his upper pasture
spring,
And beauer build their dams ,rfthin
his brook;
Above his root the considerations s,oisg.
SO, day and night. he reads from Ma
ture's book.
No cIansorin0 cro,Od Dsn ask him for .
speech,
4 His house and goods ,0iH nsrer naks
q Shoip;
And yet his uedlth. the ipisdorn he could
teach
RE n.sn pao lends loDland cottos
r0iCl
suDIE STUART HAGER. ]
Evening star., 1945-02-21
On the Record
By Dorothy THOMPSON

poses are at variance, definitions of
''Naziism" and war criminal" will also
vary. In fact the Commission of War
Crimes, in London, in which, I believe,
the Russians are not cen represented,
has all but broken up over this matter
of definition
II reports from Romania are correct,
the Russians have held every German
speaking Romanian citizen as a Nazi,
and have deported them to the Sovie:
Union. The Soviet press is conduct
ing campaign against the Romanian
peasant leader Manu-, calling him
Fascist" which can only mean that
every concept differing from that of
the Russian occupying authorities is
branded "FaScist"-as American lib
erals are branded Communist. Again,
If reports are correct, Polish under
ground members. who have fought the
Germans throughout the war, are be-
ing prosecuted by the Lublin govern
nentsax Fascist" (And Mr.. Churchill
rosecutes ELIAS Greeks as "Trotz-
'ists.Jh
Reports from Aachen indicate that
tmerican authorities are completely at
.oss. Saturdays press carried an inter-
view granted by Lieut.. Col. Joseph L..
Candy OF. the 7th Army to correspond
ents. He announced the intention Of
our occupying authorities to throw
out of Office all burgomasters in towns
Of over 100000 population along with
Nazis who were members of the party
prior to 1888. BY implication later
Nazis are all right.
No understandable definitions can be
made until it is clear what the Allies,
separately or together, are working for
as an ultimate German solution.
1t is my belief that the Russians, in
occupying their part of Germany, will
know what they are working for, while
the western Allies will be extremely
vague about it, In a future column
I would like to suggest how this diver
gence is likely to work out.
Evening star., 1945-02-21
Admiral HuIsey

Back in November of 1912, at
Guadalcanal, Admiral Halsey gave
voice to very succinct formula for
winning the war in the Pacific. Kill
Japs." he said, kill Japs, kill more
Japs; sink ships, sink ships, and sink
more ships"
On Monday-here in Washington
on surprise visit-he told how well
the formula has been working out
so well, in fact, that he believes Hiro-
hito's admirals will continue to keep
the remnants of their fleet in hiding.
"We are going to have to dig them
out" in his opinion. They have got
very little left to night with and what
they have is in none too good shape" !"
For this eminently favorable sit
,uation Admiral Halsey deserves a
very large share of the credit. First,
as commander of our forces in the
South Pacific, he smashed Japanese
sea control in that area, and then he
took over as chief of the half-leg-
endary Third Fleet. In that role he
prepared the way for MacArthur's
invasion of the Philippines, made
the recommendation that put the
Leyte landings ahead of schedule,
shattered powerful enemy task
force off Northern Luzon, rushed
southwark from there to help the
Seventh Fleet in Leyte Gulf, and
then. within recent weeks, staged q
series Of spectacular blows from
Formosa southwark through the
China Sea all the way to Saigon in
Indo-C China. His Third Fleet. like
the Fifth Fleet, is only part of the
immense naval power under Admiral
Nimitz, but clearly none has done
more to kill the enemy and sink the
enemy'S ships.
In Japan the name "Halsey" Is
something to cause fear and trem-
bling, but here it is a name in which
all of us take pride-the name Of q
man who has already won his place
in our history as an authentic hero,
one of the greatest and most color
full of our sea commanders. His
visit tor America will be brief. no
Evening star., 1945-02-21
Our Own Way
From the Topeka Capital.

FROM the TOPEKA Capital,
Obviously, if the United States In
dustries should lay aside their machines
and resort to hand labor as do the
Chinese, there would be jobs for every
body. The pay wouldn't be anywhere
anear that to which our highly skilled
workers are accustomed. Indeed, there
would be considerable dissension among
all workers. including the farmers, If
they had to 60 back to the good old
days" of sweating and toiling without
benefit of machinery.
There is little to be gained by studying
the production methods of the backward
peoples, except the firm determination
that we Americans want none of it. We
will have to supply the 60,000,0 900 jobs
some other way,
Evening star., 1945-02-21

The Chinese Communists have UNDER
taken to educate some OF the Japanese
prisoners as statesmen and future
leaderS OF Japan.
The Communists armies are fighting
only guerrilla war against the Jap
anese. This type Of warfare consists
mainly OF raids against weak enemy
outposts with the object OF bringing
some Of Hirohito's soldiers back alive.
Some $40 Japanese are being held be-
hind barbed wire In Chengtu. OF this
number about 500 are considered good
subjects for the future communication
OF Japan and are undergoing an in
doctrination course.
The Japanese prisoners know thai
because Of their capture-they are con-
sidered dead" by their country and
cannot return to their homes. Some
exceptions are made for those who were
severely wounded and were unconscious
at the time Of capture.
In 1942 during the Philippine battles
the American forces seized number
of japanese prisoners. One OF Gen.
MacArthur's intelligence officers who
spoke Japanese nuently got into con-
versation with what appeared to him
al CluCdtCA III loOuCI VIII CvCutQAuy
admitted that he spoke English and
was the son Of an important indus-
trialist In Yokohama.
-
The prisoner begged the American
to let him commit suicide; otherwise, he
and his family would live in dishonoe
forever. He was dissuaded from taking
his own life by a promise that the
American surgeon would give him
certified document In writing to the
effect that he was unconscious at the
time he was discovered under pile of
dead The Japanese appeared SO CRATE
full that he eventually disclosed his
name and position and assured the
American ofncer that If he survived
the war he would become an advocate
of peace and friendship between Japan
and the United States. He was left
behind when Gen. MacArthur's forces
withdrew to Bataan, but 1t is doubtful
whether he has the courage to fulfill
his pledge.
The Chinese Communists do not take
these pledges at their face value. They
explain to the Japanese prisoners, who
by the code of their country are dead
men, that they can 60 back to their
country and become leaders II they
follow the instructions given them in
the camps by teachers who have gradu-
Evening star., 1945-02-21
Presidential TruveIoque

The official odyssey Of the Presi-
dent after leaving Yalta, released
by the White House, is written in q
leisurely, chronological style which
suggests the society page technique
OF reporting who was there and
what they wore rather than the
front page style Of packing the news
in the first few paragraphs.
Thus the Kicker" is reserved for
the final lines on the fourth sheet
Of the single-spaced mimeographed
handout, where unusual direct quo
tation is used to express the Presi-
dents disappointment over charac-
teristically degaullish sulkiness.
Questions of mutual interest and
Importance. to France and the
United States are pending" said the
President, on learning that the gen.
eral could not meet him. II wanted
very much to see the. general be-
fore leaving for home" The general
may wish very much, later on, that
he had come to Algiers.
Other news is buried between
King Ibn Saud's visit on the car
peted destroyer and De Gaulle's cold
rebuff. 1t is learned that the war
with Japan was not discussed at the
Yalta conference. That was some
thing the President and Mr..
Churchill could not take up before"
they met. after the conference, at
Alexandria. The somewhat puzzling
announcement is also made, as an
afterthought, that the destroyer
which carried King Ibn Saud was
the first United States vessel of its
kind" to pass through the Suez
Canal since the war began. One
would have thought that after the
opening of the Mediterranean, the
canal would be full of American de-
stroyers, going and coming.
Writing a travelogue, the author
of the White House account did very
well. But it would have been a
better account If few pup tents
could have been placed somewhere
on the forward deck of the Presi-
dents ship for the accommodation,
with or without sheep and rugs, of
some newspaper reporters.
Evening star., 1945-02-21
"A Symphony of Death
By Maj. George Fielding Eliot

of sturdy and invincible infantry Is the
doughboy of today, the marine on Iwo
the Highlander roofing the Huns out of
the ruins of Goch, the Russian guards
men storming through the streets of
Breslau.
Sarissa and plum, longbow and hal
berd have given place to the automatic
rifle, the bazooka, the machine gun and
the mortar, but the bayonet still re-
minds us that even in the mechanical
warfare Of today men still must have q
weapon with which they can kill each
other in hand-to-hand fighting.
The taking of Two will be complete
when the enemy's infantry has peen
defeated or-as is more likely-de-
stroyed. Two Jima," said Vice admiral
Richmond Kelly Turner to corre-
spondent. sis as well defended fixed
position as exists in the world today
1t is small but better defended and
better organized for defense than any
island with which I am acquainted"
And the admiral has made the ac-
quaintance of quite a number of de-
Tended islands
So once again wes must pay the price
of victory-in the blood Of our bravest
and best. Once again we relearn the
grim lesson that war cannot be won
merely by preponderance Of machines
and material weapons.
Such preponderance is invaluable,
and we are lucky, indeed, that we are
able to provide it in so lavish measure
to our fighting men on their far-flung
battle fronts. But it is not enough. It
gives us victory at less cost, but not at
no cost. It Is precisely because the
Germans no longer have enough men
left to man their mechaDical armament
and still provide an adequate force OF
good infantry that they are suffering
defeat after defeat.
It Is precisely because the Russians
not only have plenty Of mechanical
armament, but also outnumber the Ger
mans 2 or 3 to In solid infantry
formations that they are rolling on
toward Berlin. 1t Is precisely because
our British Allies and ourselves are at
last able to build up our infantry for
nations to strength decisively superior
to the Germans In the west that We
are beginning to gain ground, and viii
gain great deal more ground In the
immediate future.
And II Is because, In the last grim
analysis. the final test Of the flaming
crucible Of war, the American infantry
man-Army or Marineis I better
fighting man than his Japanese op-
ponent. that We are winning Two as We
have won every other position which we
hase attacked since the first marines
set foot on the shores 81. Guadalcanal
hack N ~ sunnner of lp42.
Evening star., 1945-02-21

As inevitably happens when the guns
and the bombs have done all they can
do of their own power, the final de-
cision on Two Island is being fought
by the ground fighting team-the in
fantry, with artillery, air and armored
support.
The marines OF the 4th and 5th Ma
rine Divisions must kill the tntrenched
Japanese defenders. roofing them out
of holes and coves, or slaughter1ng
them in the open when opportunity
offers
Rifle, grenade. bayonet, automatic
weapons and the supporting arms must
work together in great symphony OF
death-rising to the final crescendo
when the last of Iwo's defenders are
herded together in a final stand some
where in the northern hills, or come
out to meet their end in last suicide
charge after the Japanese fashion.
On a large scale or a small, this is
the end of all campaigns. The decision
must be gained by the man on the
ground. He needs the help of other
arms. Indeed, he cannot succeed with
out it. One of the great japanese
weaknesses in this war lies in their
ground cooperation.
Yet wherever their infantry has
fought 1t has made us pay bitter price
to overcome it. even with the faulty and
sometimes nonexistent support that 1t
has had. That fact, in itself, should be
suficient testimony to the value OF
good infantry even in this war Of ma
chimes.
The truth Is that man is neither .
marine animal nor flying animal. He
can travel on the surface of the sea, or
he can ny in the air, but his ability to
remain there is subject to the limita-
tions Of the machines by which he
translates himself from his native
earth to the unnatural element.
AAA
It is on the surface Of the earth that
man lives and has his being. There
are his hopes, there his future.
It is on the surface Of the earth that
his great decisions Of war and Of peace
are taken. This has always been 20,
and insofar as human prescience may
judge, it always will be 30.
Despite all the claims Of al the ma
gician soothsayers, this war Is ending
where every war In human history has
cnded-in nnal battles on the surface
Of the earth. fought by man on foot.
These men bear and are accompanied
BY weapons that would appear strange
and terrible indeed to the phalAngite
of Alexander. to the legionAry Of Scipio
or Caesar, to the English archer who
won the day ct Crecy and Asincourt or
to the Swiss pikeman who humbled tbs
armnred chivalry Of Charles the Bold.
Yet the hei2 of q these generations
Evening star., 1945-02-21
Mexico City Conference

conference of American republics
which convenes today at Mexico
City is an important event. One
outstanding feature is that, unlike
similar conferences, it is inter-
American rather than Pan-Ameri-
can in form. This change in pro-
cedure is frankly acknowledged to
be due to the intention to exclude
Argentina from the deliberations
which could not have been done if
the conference had been called un-
der the normal procedure of the
Pan American Union.
This, in itself, indicates the grav-
ity of the rift in Pan-American
unity caused by the divergence of
Argentina from the policies of the
United States and the other Latin
American republics. Whether or
not Argentina is formally on the
agenda, its absence will be keenly
felt. Argentina's diplomatic isola-
ton has just been re-emphasized
by the action of our Safe Depart
ment in renewing relations with the
republic of El Salvador, our recog-
milton having been withheld from
the revolutionary regime which
came into power last October. Since
most other Latin American govern
mentS are expected to follow our
lead, El Salvador will doubtless be
invited and will attend. Should Ar
gentina declare war on Germany
during the conference, it might
raise some nice diplomatic ques-
tions as to her continued exclusion;
but this appears to be a rather re-
mote eventuality.
Unlike the other Pan-American
conferences held since 1899, the
present gathering at Mexico City
will be concerned less with the
world war, now in its later stages,
than with postwar problems. And
these, in turn, are divisible into
matters which concern primarily
the Western Hemisphere and those
worldwide considerations slated to
be taken up at the coming United
Nations security conference in San
Francisco two months hence.
The inter-American agenda is
chiefly economic, and the outstand-
ing problem is postwar reconver-
sion without dislocating the domes-
tic economies of Latin American
countries which have been closely
geared to the war effort. All those
countries look to the United States
to fill their crying needs for manu-
factured goods and industrial
equipment, for which they have
amassed the necessary dollar credits
in most cases. How to prorate those
demands with others elsewhere in
the world, and also how to do all
this without raising domestic oppo-
sition here in the United States is
an extremely complex issue.
Latent difficulties are high lighted
by current opposition of irrigation
interests in California to Senate
ratification of treaty negotiated
by our State Department with Mex
leo concerning water rights over the
Colorado and Rio Grande Rivers
Such opposition has aroused unfav-
orable comment in Mexico and
tends to becloud the atmosphere in
which the conference meets in the
Mexican capital.
Evening star., 1945-02-21
This and That
By Charles E. Trace,ueu.

If you see rosy bird in shrubs near
your home these days, it probably will
be the purple finsh.
1t Is always a red-letter day with the
bird watcher when he sees this one.
1t is the species which has been COM
pared to poke berry juice in color.
P1nkish wine-purple is perhaps the
best descriptive; the purple goes back
to the Latin "purpureus," which the
Romans used to describe the dawn.
This true finch usually shows up
sometime in middle or late February in
many gardens, although a few winter
here
The specimens we see at this time are
coming up from the South, and going
North.
-
The purple finch makes a splash
indeed, at the average feeding station.
He will come to window box, where
he can be seen clearly; but even farther
out in the yard he is seen to be some
thing unusual.
Not common enough to be disregarded
ever, he shares the distinction which
the watcher gives to such birds. Cardi-
nails, despite their glory, he has with him
always. The beautiful jay is common.
Not so the purple finch. His deep dyed
feathers glow in a strange way. His
color tone is just far enough away from
the cardinals to put him in a class by
himself
Another bird of this character is the
scarlet tanager, whose red has an elec-
trio something totally unlike the red
Of our redbird
There scarcely can be any mistaking
the purple finch. He is 6A inches long,
but seems larger, and has a very gros-
beak-like bill. The male is the red one
the female is plain brown and olive
sparrowish bird.
Her nest resembles that of the chip
ping sparrow, but is larger. 1t is made
OF roots, grass and bark, and often is
lined with hair. Not great structure,
rather on the open-work side, 1t serves
its purpose very we'll
Conifers are the places to look for
these nests
The purple finch is regarded, un-
fortunately, as a fruit eater, which its
genus name, Capodacus, indicates, being
Greek for fruit biting"
Yet the bird probably makes up for
this by eating large quantities of weed
seeds.
The species has sweet warble, which
will not be heard here at this time.
It Is said that the young males, which
resemble the mother in coloring, sing
almost as well as the older ones.
This is species in which the mother
birds sing, too.
This finch is another bird which. like
the woodthrush, has adapted himself
to mans ways.
Any yard with few pines In it will
attract them. They probably will not
stay more than few days, but while
they are around every eye In the house
win be glued on them, as the odd saying
has it.
One February flock Of 80 purple
finches came into a yard in nearby
Maryland, and nearly ate the feeding
station up.
It is not every year that the birds are
plentiful. In this they resemble other
members OF the finch and tanager
group.
The courtship of these rosy birds is
very interesting. It begins with fine
song. during which the male bird rises
into the air, Is II on the crest Of his
warble.
Then he picks up straw, and waves
1t in his bill. while fiuning his feathers
and dancing around his mate.
At last he falls over, as II In faint,
pa from the bill Of his beloved.
q =
Evening star., 1945-02-21
Nav Bill Defeat

The Senate Military Affairs Com
mittee, ignoring last-minute appeal
from the President, has voted to
shelve the May bill, which would
have set up work controls for men
between the ages of 10 and As similar
to those governing the selection
and assignment of fighting men.
In all probability this means that
the May bill is dead. Perhaps
greater effort in behalf of the legis-
lation might have led to its adoption,
but that is doubtful. The Presidents
lieutenants Secretary Stimson,
Secretary Forrestal, Undersecretary
Patterson, General Marshall, Ad-
miral King and others-did what
they could But the drive which
might have been supplied by the
President was lacking. His annual
message of January was emphatic
enough, and so was the letter which
he sent to Chairman May of the
House Military Affairs Committee on
January 18-just prior to his de-
parture for the Yalta conference.
That pulled the bill through the
House, but in the Senate, with the
President away, the opposition got
In its most effective blows, and when
administration supporters like SEN
ators Wagner and Murray turned
against the measure it became clear
that, in the absence Of the most
vigorous action by Mr. Roosevelt, the
bill was doomed.
The message which the President
sent to Senator Barkley yesterday
was not vigorous. 1t was much
weaker than his letter to Chairman
May, and at least some legislators
interpreted it as meaning that Mr..
Roosevelt was no longer insisting on
the May bill, although it is difficult
to reconcile that Interpretation with
even the restrained language which
the President employed.
Whatever was in his mind, how
ever, the fact is that the May bill,
to all intents and purposes, is dead,
and the Senate committee will turn
now to some substitute measure.
The essential provisions of the sub
stitute will establish a statutory
basis for the War Manpower Com
mission and will authorize the
application of employment ceilings
and the channeling into war Jobs
OF workers who will be discharged
when the ceilings are clamped on.
This will be put forth as a plan
which applies compulsion to employ
ers only, and that, in the estimation
of majority of Senators, is right
and proper. But the more numerous,
and therefore politically more i'm
portant, employees will be told that
1t is un-American to apply compul-
sion to workers, and that the Senate
substitute is not compulsory so far
as they are concerned.
They will soon learn better, for if
the substitute measure does any
thing, it will force workers out of
their present jobs. Then they will
be given a choice between taking a
designated war job or being denied
employment. Such a measure can
be no better than a sham. But it
can be worse than that. 1t can be
both sham and dismal failure
If, as seems probable, it should prove
incapable of supplying the man
power which will be needed to sup
port the men at the fronts who are
making the real sacrifices in this
war.