davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1946-03-24

tend to reduce the demand tor
houses.
The mechanics OF bringing ma
tlonal code into existence are cum
bersome, but the job is not lnsuper
able. First Of all. the Department of
Commerce will make a study of all
existing codes and coordinate their
contents. We can thus establish the
areas in which the many different
codes agree and disagree. When this
is done, we will call in the best
building and engineering minds in
America and ask them to iron out
the differences in the area of dis
agreement,
Once uniform code is arrived at,
we will ask the 48 states to influence
the towns and cities within their
borders to adopt it. 1t is our hope
and belief that most of them will be
only too glad to do so, | do not be-
lieve it will be necessary for Con-
gress to legislate to make adoption
of the code compulsory.
Obstacles TO a Boom
OTHER obstacles which stand in
the way of broad and enduring
boom in low-cost housing, as we in
the Department Of Commerce see
them after careful study, are as
follows:
1. The present lack of effective
price control on land values. on con-
struction. and on finished houses.
z. The lack of year-round work
and an assured basic annual wage
for workers in the industry.
,. The restrictive practices now
being carried on by some construc-
ton industry suppliers. and the
restrictive agreements between
management and labor in the con-
struction field.
All these bottlenecks to home
construction must be removed be-
fore we can hope to put new roofs
over the heads of millions who need
better housing. While | haven't the
space to discuss these bottlenecks
here, | will say that there is reason
to hope that the construction in
dustry. working hand in hand with
labor and Government. can remove
all of them in time.
We Americans have proved
ourselves to be very resourceful
and progressive people. We
amazed the world and ourselves with
our war production. We have har-
messed atomic energy and we have
made contact with the moon. We
have even devised for our conven-
ience shirt you can put on without
pulling it over your head. Are we
now going to let lot of horse and
buggy building codes stand in the
way of decent homes for the millions
of American citizens who want them
and are entitled to them? Personally
l think not. The correction and
mOdernizafiOn Of these codes is a
Evening star., 1946-03-24

When we overindulge in eating and
drinking, we suffer from an exces-
sively acid stomach and the annoy
ing symptoms of heartburn, sour
stomach, upset feeling.
When that happens, take Phillips
Milk of Magnesia at bedtime with
water. By the time your head touches
the pillow, Phillips relieves the dis
comforts of acid indigestion. You
wake up thoroughly refreshed
thanks to this doMblr-arfiou:
Evening star., 1946-03-24
CHEAPER HOUSES
Continued from page seren

Continued from page seren
would countenance jerry built
houses. The thoroughly-tested crl-
terra established by the National
Bureau of Standards would be used
as yardstick and provide a guar
antee against that. In a good many
places, as matter of fact, the adop-
ton of the new code could bring
safer construction than in the past
In some big cities. for example.
local regulations still permit con-
struction of iron fire escapes on the
outside of buildings. although such
fire escapes have long been proved
to DE hazardous When fire mush-
rooms out of the lower windows
of building, tenants are often
hopelessIy trapped on the upper
flights by these outside fire es-
capes. Such fire escapes would be
prohibited everywhere under the new
regulations and replaced by inside
emergency stairs protected by fire
proof doors. A national code can
thus save lives as we'll as dollars.
But. you may say. will one code
fit conditions in all parts of the
country? Don't builders face diff
ferent problems in different geo.
graphical areas?
1t is quite true that the wind
blows harder in some states than it
does in others and that, in certain
regions, the possibility of earth
quakes has to be taken into con-
sideration. But the majority of basic
building factors are the same every
where. A steel beam will carry the
same load in Maine as in California,
and a yard of concrete will do the
same job no matter where it is
placed. 1t will be no great task to
devise code which will be elastic
enough to meet the peculiar prob
lens of different areas or, if need be,
certain local provisions can be super
imposed upon the national code.
Evening star., 1946-11-09
MIR. Ihlder Explains an Error

Mr.. Ihlder Explains an Error
To the Editor of The Star:
On my way home this evening. read
your account of today's session of the
American Legion Committee hearing on
housing and was very much disturbed
by a statement attributed to me. i. e..
Mr.. Leonard knows nothing about the
public housing situation here"
Col. Waldron Leonard, director of the
Veterans Information Center, was in
troduced at the meeting as representing
the Housing Authority instead of the
Information Center He, himself, had
no responsibility for this, so I asked
the Legion committees chairman to
make the correction for the record.
In that correction I said that Mr..
Leonard did not know about the work
OF the authority, which is quite different
from saying that he knows nothing
about the public housing situation here
Immediately on reaching home 7 tele-
phoned Col. Leonard to express my regret
at such a statement having appeared
and to tell him that would write this
letter. His speech, which dealt with
his work at the Information Center, was
evidence that he does know about the
housing situation here, both public and
private.
I shall appreciate it if you will publish
this letter at the earliest practicable
date in order to correct wrong i'm
preston that is causing me great deal
of distress. JOHN IELDER,
Executive Ofhcer, National Capital
Housing Authority.
November 8, 1916.
Evening star., 1946-11-09

inhabits the adjacent regions Of
Germany itself. Indeed, what Is now
the Netherlands formed part Of the
medieval Germanic Empire. Owing
to a number of historic causes, the
Dutch gradually developed a sep
arate national consciousness which
marked them off as distinct peo-
Pile, though their complete inde-
pendence was not formally acknoWl-
edged until the Peace of Westphalia
in 1648.
Despite the lapse Of three CEN
turies and the concurrent intensifi-
cation of German as well as of Dutch
national consciousness, the present
inhabitants of the German-Dutch
borderlahd are still very similar,
speaking much the same local dia-
lects, having closely analogous GUS
toms and sharing the same religious
faiths. There is no such sharp cleav-
age of language and culture as is
found on Germany's borders with
Poland and to a lesser extent with
Belgium and France. Thus the ef-
fective assimilation of Germans an
nexed to the Netherlands should be
relatively simple and rapid.
Evening star., 1946-11-09
This Changing World
By Constantine Broyn

When the peace treaty with Bulgaria
comes up for final discussion by the
Big Four foreign ministers in New York,
Secretary of State Byrnes will be armed
with "hard to find facts about the
terrorism which is going on full blast
in that country.
For very good reasons the Bulgarian
government, which is run not by the
Prime Minister and the cabinet, but by
George Dimitrov, veteran Communist
and high-ranking member of the party
hierarchy in Moscow, rejected American
and British supervision at the recent
elections. The principal reason was that
members of such a supervisory mission
would have had to have free access to
many sections of the republic which
the government wishes to conceal from
western eyes.
In spite of statements by the Bulgarian
government that there are no political
prosecutions, first hand information
shows that there are today far more con-
centration camps in that country than
existed under the Nazis. The somewhat
naive, off -the-record explanation Is that
there are many more political opponents
OF the present regime than there were
before the Communists took over, and
the Fascists must be destroyed.
+
According to undeniable information,
there are no less than eight large
concentration camps reserved exclusively
for political prisoners. These are at
Rossitsa, Dupnitsa, Pernik, Ellidere,
Burgas, Kirdzale, Nevrokop and one in
the Dobrudja, named after well-known
militant Communist, Gen. Toshev.
The capacity Of the camps is 10000
inmates-about five per cent of Bull
garia's total population-and they are
permanently filled. The number of men
and women who die of exhaustion or
malnutrition or are executed in these
Bulgarian "Buchenwalds" is sufficiently
large to permit newcomers to be brought
in every week. Thus the 10000 quota
never diminishes.
. The above -named concentration camns
Evening star., 1946-11-09
Dutch Claims on Germany

After more than year of inten-
sive survey of the damage wrought
by the Nazi invasion and occupation
of the Netherlands, the Dutch gov
ernment has presented to the Allied
Great Powers (America, Britain and
Soviet Russia) its claims for in
Identification. These claims, admit
tedly falling far short OF recon-
pense for damage totaling some
$4,000, 900 900, range from economic
measures of various sorts to outright
cessions of territory, which are un-
doubtedly the most interesting fea-
ture of the proposal. incidentally,
they represent marked scaling
down of demands originally contem-
plated by the Dutch government in
exile when the German armies Of
occupation were flooding large sec
tions of reclaimed land as defense
measures against Allied attacks.
The cesSionS now asked for consist
of a series of small strips and parcels
of territory, intended to straighten
out German border Salients which
cut into Dutch territory. They in
clude no cities or large towns, and
the total population involved is
about 10000, virtually all peasants.
This German population, except for
a few prominent members of the
Nazi Party, would be allowed to re-
main and be eligible for Netherlands
citizenship.
Undoubtedly these cessions, should
they occur, would involve less hard
ship and recalcitrancy than any
other border changes proposed for
the Reich. 1t should be understood
that the Dutch people are OF the
same Low German" stock which
Evening star., 1946-11-09

mentation, with OPA and price control,
responsible, along with work stoppages,
for lack of all kinds of supplies-from
sugar to automobiles. They are fed up,
too, with constant industrial strife, due
in considerable part to announcement
by the Democratic administration of
ambitious labor leaders. They are
anxious to get rid of some of the huge
governmental expenditures and to be
relieved of some of their heavy tax
burden.
Fortunately, the late President Roose-
welt and President Truman did not fol-
low the course of President Wilson in
dealing with the countrys foreign policy.
They took the Senate into their con-
fidence, and also the Republicans. Un-
der the leadership of Truman Byrnes
and Connally, on the Democratic side,
and of Vandenberg, Dulles and Austin
on the Republican side, q firm foreign
policy, tied in with the success of the
United Nations, has been made possible.
Only stupidity by the leadership of either
party could tear it down.
~ ~
Not all of the cooperation between
the executive and the legislative
branches of Government should come
from the White House. The Republicans
in Congress must do their share of CO.
operating. They cannot afford to be
merely obstructive in their tactics, any
more than the President can.
1t has been suggested the Democratic
President will try to put the Republicans
in hole-for the sake of the 1948 ma
tional election-by sending to the Con-
gress recommendation after recon-
mendation along the so-called New Deal
line. 1t seems incredible he will be
swayed, in his dealings with Congress,
merely by political exigencies.
On the other. hand, the Republicans,
who have had poor record in the past
on some liberal measures really needed,
and particularly in the matter of an
adequate Army and an adequate Navy,
will make a great mistake if they turn
down for political reasons every recon-
mendation made by the President
One of the most needed pieces of leg
islation is measure to revamp the
existing labor laws. It is a challenge
which the Republicans and Democrats
in Congress must face. They will have
the strength to override presidential
veto of such measure-the Republicans
and the nonleft-wing Democrats-if
they wish to use 1t. President Truman,
unless he determines to curry favor for
political reasons with the labor leaders,
will not, however, veto reasonable bill
Evening star., 1946-11-09
U. S. as Tuxpuyer?

The overwhelming way In Wnlcn
Virginia's voters approved abolish
ment of State constitutional re-
striction against levying of taxes
against the Federal Government
does not, of course, mean that the
National Treasury automatically Will
be added to the list of taxpayers to
be mailed notices of taxes due IN
Virginia on December next. What
the Old Dominion has in mind is not
so simple as that. The elimination
of the long standing no-Federal-as-
gessment provision is only the f1rst
Step in an ambitious program de-
signed to induce the Federal Gov
ernment to recompense Virginia for
revenue lost by reason of the STEADY
enlargement of tax-free Federal
holdings within the State.
Harry K. Green, Arlington County S
commissioner of revenue, has eSti-
mated that if the county were per-
mitted to tax the Pentagon, the
Navy Annex, the Fort Myer and Ar
lington Cemetery reservations and
other nationally owned properties
lust across the Potomac River, the
county treasury would be enriched
more than $3,6O0,OOO, at the present
tax rate of So per $1OO valuation and
the assessment basis of 40 per cent
of valuation. Federal jurisdiction
now extends over one-seventh of
Arlington S tWenty-four square miles.
Many other counties and cities in
the State similarly would benefit If
they could tax United States prop
erty.
That the Federal Government is
not unmindful of the burden put
upon the State by expansion of it's
properties is evidenced by the fact
that it voluntarily pays more than
$4,000 a year to Arlington as lump
sum reimbursement in lieu of taxes
on seven wartime housing projects.
Similar arrangements have been
made elsewhere in the Nation.
More than score of States have
sought additional relief from recent
Congresses. This is the course-and
the only one-which now lies open
to Virginia. The next step will be a
Virginia petition to Congress for
permission to assess certain taxes
against Federal properties or to
claim certain sums in lieu of taxes.
The Supreme Court ruled in effect
In 1919 that State may not tax the
United States without the latter's
permission. Since so many States
have the same urge as that ex-
pressed in Virginia last Tuesday, it
may well be that they will join
forces in support of enactment of
4 general law to afford tax relief
to the States. Whatever the out
come of this movement, it is apt to
exercise a profound effect in the
District of Columbia, where the
amount of non-taXable property
now exceeds the taxable property.
Evening star., 1946-11-09
Great Teachers

Houston PeterSon'S book OF pOr-
traits of Great Teachers" by those
who studied under them" will serve
a constructive purpose if it does
nothing more than remind readers
that they, each one of them, owe
much to their seniors by whom they
were instructed. 1t is a poor life,
indeed, which has not been enriched
by mentor and guide of distinction.
Sometimes admittedly the preceptor
Is not a professional pedagogue.
More often, however, at least in the
experience of living generations,
tuition is in the hands of men or
women specially trained for the
work That is as it should be. Edu-
cation is not properly business for
amateurs. 1t demands of its prac-
titioners a background of expert
ence which cannot be acquired by
accident
So the teachers in Mr.. Peterson's
anthology commonly are teachers in
the systematic sense of the word.
The first essay, nevertheless, con-
Germs Anne Sullivan Macy, the
devoted friend who revealed the
world to Helen Keller, deaf, mute
and blind. She had been prepared
for her task at the Perkins Institute.
but she was very young when she
first met her little pupil and she
had much to learn by and of and
through herself-much that no
academy, not even the most notably
competent, could give in terms Of
methods and patterns.
The secret of great teaching, per-
haps, may be discovered in what
Vincent D'Indy writes of Cesar
Franck, namely that he never
taught by means of hard and fast
rules or dry, ready-made theories,
but that his whole teaching was
inspired by something stronger
than law-by love itself" So Keno
phon might have paid tribute to
Socrates or Aristotle to Plato. Ger
tainly there is recognition of very
cordial feeling in James w. Crab
trees homage to Lizzie Moore of the
tiny Pleasant Valley School and in
Malvina Hoffman's grateful appre-
citation of Auguste Rodin. John
Stuart Mill, describing his father,
tells of the discipline which he
devised to make the understanding
Evening star., 1946-11-09
The Political Mill
By Gould Lincoln

The welfare of the American people
will depend in no small measure on
the degree OF sane cooperation which
a Democratic President and Republic
can Congress can achieve during the
next two years. If either, or both, of
these agencies of Government becomes
more interested in personal, partisan
politics than in the good of the country
it will be little short of tragic. ts%
The past record of similar situations
in our Government is not good. When
the Republicans won control of Con-
gress, both House and Senate. in the
election Of 1918, midway during the
second term of President Woodrow Will
son, World War I was just closing
Peace terms and the establishment of
a League of Nations was the chief rock
on which the President and the Con-
gress split.
The bitter fight which resulted was
responsible for the United States re-
naming outside of the League of Ma
tions as finally conStituted-although
President Wilson had been its chief
architect at the Paris Peace Conference
Had this country Joined in the League
and helped to make it effective, the
American people might not have had
to fight and win a second world war.
sH
A dozen years later, on the heels of
vast depression. the Democrats took
control of the House in the 1880 elec-
tions-the halfway mark in President
Hooyer's term of Office. The issues then
were domestic in large measure. Ruin
was everywhere, on farm and in in
dustry, with great unemployment in the
two years that followed.
The Democratic House failed to CO.
operate with Mr.. Hoover, and, after
the presidential election of 1882, the
then President -elect, Franklin D.
Roosevelt, declined fatty to cooperate
or to permit the Democratic leaders in
Congress to cooperate with the Re-
publican President Much might have
been done at that time to prevent the
closing Of the banks, and to stimulate
business.
Mr.. Truman will, of course carry on
as Chief Executive. 1t is silly to sug-
gest he "abdicate" by appointing Re
publican Secretary of State who, under
the law of succession, would become
Chief Executive if the President re-
signed. The people would view askance
Chief Executive named by one man
and for whom they had never voted.
Mr.. Truman, however, must have
learned from the results Of the election
that the people are fed up with regi-
Evening star., 1946-11-09
Atom Curb Basis
By George Fielding Eliot

American and British strength in West
ern Austria.
It may of course be said that this
does not take into account the army
Of Soviet et-controlled Poland. or the
Czech Army. But neither does it take
into account the French, Dutch or
Belgian forces, which would probably
defend their native soil, at least, against
any Russian invasion; while the pres
ent offensive value of the Polish and
Czech armies remains open to question
These factors tend to cancel each other
out. The Yugoslav Army does present
a difficulty in considering the tranquil
lty of the Yugoslav-Italian frontier
region, and also in relation to Greece
1t would seem an essential part of any
European military agreement that the
Russians should use their influence to
secure a reduction of Marshal Tito's
swollen forces to a level at which the
security of these two frontiers might
safely be left to italian and Greek
forces, respectively.
\, y + X
We should recall that when the peace
treaties have eventually been ratified,
American and British troops must be
withdrawn from Italy and Russian
troops from Bulgaria Given the pres
ence of strong American and British
naval forces in the Mediterranean, the
Russians would thereafter be in no posi-
tion-save, again, after long prepara-
tion-to launch an attack against the
Dardanelles by land. These conditions
should permit the withdrawal OF the
British forces from Greece. A tempo
rary military equilibrium in Europe
would have been established.
It seems to this writer that such
abatement of the Russian threat of
landward expansion to the west and
south might constitute the basis for
American abatement of the atomic
threat to Russian vital centers.
Specifically we might cease manu-
facture of atomic weapons and proceed
to negotiate as to the disposition of
those already in hand. There would
still be safeguards the Russians
could still, if given time mobilize their
armies and move outward from their
frontiers, and we, given time, could still
resume the manufacture of atomic
bombs.
But of course these military agree
ments must be wrapped up in one pack
age, as Henry Wallace would say: we
cannot ask the Russians for their quid
without at the same time offering our
quo. In subsequent article the Amer
ican contribution to military equilibrium
will be examined in greater detail.
tcopyrishh 1o&oJ
Evening star., 1946-11-09

A military equilibrium as between the
United States and the Soviet Union is
not only desirable, it is essential to the
easing of existing strains. Such bal
ance might be hard to achieve if both
nations possessed atomic weapons and
long range air forces. But this is not
yet the case. Only the United States
has at present both atomic weapons
and a long grange air force. These
weapons represent the one means
available to us of inf1icting serious in
jury on the Soviet Union. The Soviet
Union has no means of attacking
America directly. But the Soviet Union
does present a threat to our vital in
terests in its present capability of over
running the whole of Western Europe
and the Middle East with its great
armies. AS long as these armies are
disposed as they are at present. with
powerful striking forces and great
military depots in forward positions,
this threat is imminent.
To produce condition of military
equilibrium, both threats-our atomic
threat and the Soviet land-offensive
threat-must be definitely and clearly
limited, so that their dimensions be-
come calculable, and their imminence
remote in point of time. How can this
be done?
In Europe the Russians will, when
present reorganization plans are COM
plete-say at the end of this year
have some 40 full-strength divisions
(armored and infantry in Germany,
Poland. Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria,
in addition to very considerable depots
of munitions. The Anglo-American
strength in Germany, Austria and Italy
amounts to the equivalent of perhaps
10 divisions. There are also two British
divisions in Greece. The Russian forces
are capable of q powerful offensive
movement to the westward.
But if an agreement could be reached
by which the forces Of occupation IN
Germany and Austria would be equal
for each of the four occupying powers,
and by which the Russians would agree
that the Russian forces guarding lines
of communication in Poland would not
exceed their total strength In Ger
many, and similar forces in Hungary
would not exceed their total strength
in Austria, then q very different situa-
ton would be presented. The Russian
strength in Germany and Poland would
be just equal to the American and
British strength in Western Germany.
The Russian strength In Austria and
Hangafy would be Just equal % the