davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1946-03-20
Russia Quitting BornhoIm

In these days of diplomatic ten
sion In many parts of the world be-
tween the western powers and the
Soviet Union, it is gratifying to note
the elimination of one point of fric-
ton which might have engendered
trouble. This is the agreement con-
cluded between the Soviet and DAN
ish governments for Russian
evacuation of the Danish island of
Bornholm- evacuation which is
already under way.
Bornholm is a medium sized is
land with an area of somewhat
under 400 square miles and a popu-
lation of approximately 100000 This
quiet backwater of fishermen and
small farmers, a favorite haunt of
summer tourists during peacetime,
owes its recent ills to its strategic
location. lying as it does only %
miles from the southern tip of Swe-
den, just at the point where the
Baltic Sea narrows between the
Swedish and German coasts until it
ends in the Danish archipelago
through which runs the water route
to the North Sea beyond.
Although geographically part of
Sweden, Bornholm has been histori-
cally Danish. a relic of the time
when Denmark was the chief Baltic
power. As an outlying dependency
OF modern Denmark, a small country
OF no military significance, Born
holm could menace no one. Thus it
lived its quiet existence until, with
the overrunning of Denmark and
Norway by Nazi Germany in the
spring Of 1910, Bornholm shared the
fate Of the motherland by being
occupied by German troops. During
the balance of the war it was used by
the Germans as a minor naval base
and for radar experiments. Even
after Germanys collapse last May
and the liberation of Denmark by
British forces. the stubborn Nazi
garrison of Bornholm refused to
capitulate and was reduced by q
Russian expedition after preliminary
air bombardment by Soviet planes.
The Russian military occupation
OF. Bornholm has awakened consid-
erable uneasiness in Sweden and has
been the subject of diplomatic con-
versations between Moscow and Lon
don. From the outset, the Danish
government took the position that
this was matter for itself and
Russia alone to handle, and Danish
Evening star., 1946-03-20
The Party Line

Secretary Wallace'S proposal for
Furnishing members of Congress who
do not adhere to the party line on
major issues suggests that there is
more than little kinship between
what passes for liberalism these days
and undisguised totalitarianism.
Mr.. Wallace believes that Con-
gressmen, whether Democrats or Re-
publicans. should vote as they are
told to vote on important" bills, al
though he would not extend this to
minor" matters. He is little vague
as to where the line should be drawn.
but, in the case of the controlling
party, he is willing to leave the deci-
sion to the President, the Vice Presi-
dent and the majority leaders in the
Senate and the House. Under the
Wallace plan, any member of Con-
gress who does not vote to support
his party leaders on any major issue
would be expelled from the party.
The principal difference between this
and outright totalitarianism is that,
where the latter system prevails,
nonconforming legislator could ex-
pect to be put before firing squad,
or possibly in concentration camp.
There is no reason to get excited
about this particular suggestion, for
If it is ever put forward formally it
will wind up in some convenient
wastebasket. But since Mr.. Wallace
is the generally accepted champion
OF the so-called liberal forces in this
country the mere fact that he has
made such a suggestion, even in
formally, merits little attention.
The distinction that he attempts
to make between important and un-
important issues is practically mean
ingless, since the decision as to that
would be made by handful of men
at the top of the party hierarchy,
and experience shows that in such
a situation every vote becomes test
of party loyalty. Furthermore, if the
principle is sound as to major issues
there is no reason why it should not
be applicable on minor issues.
But the principle most decidedly
Is not sound. Members of the Senate
and the House are elected by the
voters in their States and districts.
Acertain measure of party regularity
under the party system is necessary,
but the Representatives of the people
are not sent to Washington to func-
tion as rubber stamps at the behest
of the President or any one else. And
the more important the issue the
more reason there is for the exercise
OF independent judgment by the men
and women who compose what is
supposed to be co-equal branch of
our Government. Unfortunately.
there is too little independence in
the House and the Senate today, and
It Mr.. Wallace could have his way
there presumably would be even less.
Evening star., 1946-03-20
Letters to The Star
Argues Against Exploitation
of Unmarried Workers

To the Editor of The Star:
In the current discussion Of the mini
mum wage bill Is. 134S), now before the
Senate, there seems to be serious mis-
conception as to the cost of living Of
unmarried workers. The report issued
by minority of the Senate Committee
on Education and Labor implies that
13,000, 900 single persons, employed in the
United States, do not need a 65-cent
minimum wage.
This is an astonishing assumption.
The New York Department of Labor,
which has made careful studies of the
cost of living Of working women annual
ly since 1887, states on the basis of de-
tailed price information obtained in Il
communities of the State in 1914 that
. the average minimum cost for woman
worker living as member of a family
is $1,648. This ranges from 81 ,536 in
Wellsville to .$1,712 in Poughkeepsie.
This Is considerably beyond what 65-
cent wage for 40 hours a week, for So
weeks year would produce. For a
woman living alone and eating all her
meals in restaurants, an additional 10
per cent is needed. '..
What happens to those who get less?
Some one pays-often the family. AS
Senator Morse pointed out in the Sem
ate debate last Thursday, it is utterly
Unfair to justify low wages on the basis
that workers can live at home and re-
ceive their board and room for moth
ing from their parents. we, in this
country, must stop asking certain work
ers to subsidize the rest of us by work
ing for wages so low that such workers
cannot lead decent life" he said.
We strongly urge the passage of the
65-cent minimum wage bill as meas
ure Of justice to the country's low-paid
and unorganized workers.
ELIZABETH S. MAGEE,
General Secretary, National Consumers
League.
Evening star., 1946-03-20
This and That
BIZ Charles E. TrdceDel.
"InAH0 AVENTTE

IDAHO AVENUE.
Dear Sir:
Il thought it was we'll established that
the blotching on birds eggs was for
camoufage purposes? Starting before
birds made much of a nest.
Il enjoy your column so much-com-
ing by it naturally, guess, as my father
has always been interested in bird lore,
and we often read and discuss your
writings.
Every time I read of some one see
ing the evening grosbeak I am disap-
pointed that I didn't see this unusual
visitor. and probably shan't, as they
will leave us soon.
Il did, however, see an interesting
sight one day when flock of cedar
waxWings landed on a tree in woods
near our apartment.
These birds, though silent, were very
beautiful.
Where can one find Baltimore
orioles nest?
Much luck to you.
Sincerely, B. H. r."
X
Protective coloration may have had
something to do with the wreath of
blotches on many bird eggs in the be-
ginning but certainly the need for this
has long gone past.
That it ever had much to do with it is
doubtful, because the eoloration Is not
enough to throw another hungry bird or
hungry four-footed animal off the scent.
Today the mother bird is on the eggs
so much that no one has chance to
look at them very long. They are down
in the nest, and the blotches do no good,
one way or another, in a protective
sense.
The question of scamouflage among
natural creatures is always open to
dispute Camouflage, while initiated by
man from nature, is largely man-made
idea. Therefore, We are always in danger
in attributing to natures four-legged
and two-legged creatures real design in
concealment.
1t is conceded today, we believe. that
the blotching on bird eggs serves no real
purpose at ALL and in a way detracts
from their beauty.
1t is fortunate that the migratory
bird law protects bird eggs as well as the
birds, because these eggs are beautiful
things, and have always made spe-
cial appeal to the senses of small boys
who of all living creatures. are best
adapted to gather them from nests in
trees.
It speaks we'll for boys that they no
longer, as rule, gather birds eggs, and
take only nests when they have fallen to
the ground, or have served their primary
purpose in the world.
The relation of colored eggs % en-
yironment is difficult subject.
According to DR.. Peter Chalmers
Mitchell, in 'The Childhood of AMI
mals," the colors are due to pigments
which come from the blood.
II bird is frightened at laying time,
the eggs may be colorless or almost so.
If several eggs are laid at the same
time, the first one may be much paler
than the later ones.
He reminds us that colors and pat
terms ON bird eggs are survivals from
circumstances under which such color
ings and patterns may have been USE
full, but which also no longer may be
useful at all
Some species laid eggs which were
slightly hattened, evidently, as far as
humanity can judge, to keep them from
rolling of a nest which, in the old times,
were in high and precarious positions.
Though the eggs are not longer laid
In such places, they are still fiattened
on the bottom, showing that birds, like
Louise XVI and the New Deal party,
never learn anything and never forget
anything"
Evening star., 1946-03-20
Courtesy Comes Back
From the London Daily Express.

4 U1II VIIc 1JIIuUII Daily ExpFeSS.
Courtesy is catching on Have yo,
noticed? 1t is the returning soldier
teaching cheerfulness and civility t.
those who stayed at home and are jaded
and fretted. You will find fishmongers
apologize for their lack of variety and
willing to fillet the fish! There are taxi
men with war ribbons up giving service
with a smile, before the tip. And the
returned busman-what nice fellow he
is! These cheerful, friendly blokes back
from the wars are setting a new STAN
dard Of manners to the community.
Evening star., 1946-03-20

A girl in Vancouver announced
her engagement on condition that
her flance- was man enough to go
out and get her pair of nylons. She
is probably a descendant of some
damsel Of King Arthur's court who
sent her knight out to knock of a
dragon before she would marry him.
Evening star., 1946-03-20

An Army general in Atlantic City
said recently that round "trip rocket
Journeys to the moon will come
within the life of the present gen.
eration-provided, no doubt, that it
does not value that life too highly.
Evening star., 1946-03-20
Russia Not Communistic?

To the Editor Of The Star:
The present tension in our foreign
relations with Russia raises the ques-
tion as to when our school children and
the public in general is to be taught
the truth about the present Russian
economic system. 1t is believed that
a substantial majority of Americans
have the idea that in Russia every one
is on an equal economic plane and that
they are practicing their original COM
munistic proposal to take from those
who have, according to their ability,
and give to those who have not, in ac-
cordance with their need.
But the few unbiased observers who
within the past few years have been
able to pierce the Russian curtain Of
secrecy, including the late Wendell
Willkie and william L. White, re-
port that the communistic system long
since has been dropped as failure and
that in the new system the workers
commonly are paid on the piecework
basis, that speedup systems have been
adopted which provide that workers
who cannot keep up with their quotas
are penalized by being paid less per
piece than the faster workers, that
workers have no freedom of choice in
their jobs, living prisonlike existence
In the equivalent of barracks, that al
most every town has a concentration
camp, that the secret police are SO
active that people are afraid to speak
freely to members of their own families,
much less to foreigners, that the So
called labor unions are mere tools of
the state and have nothing whatever
to say about wage rates, for example;
that In contrast, the skilled laborers
are paid 10 times or more the wages
paid to unskilled workers, that factory
managers, who are party members, live
in luxury on their relatively lavish SAL
aries and do not even have to pay taxes.
This all adds up to the fact that the
laboring classes in Russia are being ex-
plotted by the handful of ruling party
members to an extent worse than ever
occurred under capitalism. A recent
typical example of this exploitation is
the sending of 400,0 tons OF wheat by
the Russians to France, for purely po-
litical purposes, while many Russians
have so little to eat that the UNNRA is
feeding them. The keeping OF $4,000, 900
men under arms for political purposes
is another example.
1t is incomprehensible, in view of
these facts, how communism is spread
ing among our laboring classes. OF
course, it is evident that the labor
leaders would stand to gain because
they doubtless would be party members
under communistic system and would
receive an income relatively much nigh
er than now. But it is perfectly evident
that, if the facts of the Russian system
were generally known, communism
would not stand chance of gaining
among our unskilled laborers. Our
pseudo liberals, who now follow the
party line and pose as champions of
labor, would be shown in their true
light of wishing to exploit the laboring
class. Why do we compliment the
present Russian system by calling it
communism? A better name would be
Red fascism. HENRY c. PARKER.
Evening star., 1946-03-20

II you don't believe in progress,
check woman's fashion magazine
of today with one for, say, 1904 or
even 1924.
Evening star., 1946-03-20

Conditions will be normal again
when we see alarm clocks in the
drug store windows at SO cents each.
Evening star., 1946-03-20

nature. It looks as though they are
needed to bolster up what seems to
be pretty thin rebuttal to our
White Books charges.
Evening star., 1946-03-20
Foreign Market Angle

To the Editor Of The Star:
Americas best customer, Britain, will
not perish if We refuse the loan tequal
to only IS days of war COSTS which she
has requested after her six long years of
struggle as the most faithful champion
of human liberty.
If we refuse the loan, however, we
also refuse the generous terms Britain
has offered in exchange, namely, to open
her many doors to our trade as fully
free competitor. eve, whose high tariffs
have blocked her trade with us, should
certainly appreciate Britain's present
offer.)
Britain, indeed, has many doors she
can close. And If her own survival
throws her back upon herself, and COM
pels her to close those doors, who among
us can complain? II we cannot take
in the situation today, perhaps we will
take it in all too painfully few short
years, when the products of our indus
try pile mountain high for want of for
eign market!
Has the cataract which Pearl Harbor
removed from our eyes started growing
back? BOILING sOMMERvILLE.
Puerto Ricans Hopeful
To the Editor OF The Star:
AS Puerto Ricans, group of us got
together to celebrate. the appointment
OF Mr.. Krug as Secretary Of the In
terror. We are grateful to President
Truman for making change in his
ofncial family which We hope win mean
an end to the partisanship Of the In
terror Department In the affairs of
Puerto Rico. Al6ALIO VEGA COLON.
The sub., 1946-05-09
Efficient

Most disabled workers are just as efficient as the able-bodied and in some cases more so. That's what the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics has found after survey of 450 plants, employing 100000 workers, of which 88,000 were handicapped. The Bureau learned, too, that on the average disabled employees are more careful and have fewer accidents.
The sub., 1946-05-09
GrOtOn News
Veterans!

Duluth, Minn., May 1-The A. F. of l.. Building Laborers' local here has become predominantly a wet erans' union." Three-fourths of it's members are men who have served In the armed forces, and many have battle stars. The local be- ieves it has set record for the nation in number of ''vets" on its rolls.
The sub., 1946-05-09
In Same Boat
Page 2

Chippewa Falls, Wis, May l. Farmers have a vital stake in high wages for workers because the lat- ter are the "best customers" of agriculture. So declared President K. w. Homes of the Wisconsin Farmers Union in an address to a farm rally here. Homes warned farmers not to fall for the multi
 million-dollar" propaganda cam paign, Big Business against labor.
The sub., 1946-05-09

On top of that Is the new social security program including health insurance on big scale.
 The same thing is going on in France, Czechoslovakia, Argentina and most of the countries which felt the full impact of war.
 The disciples of free enterprise" have only themselves to blame. If they had treated their workers and the consumers decently, they might have avoided these calamitieS.
The sub., 1946-05-09
Public Ownership Spreads

Free enterprise" is having a tough time of 1t these days. All over the world Socialization of in- dustry is proceeding apace. Bri- tish Conservatives rally behind Winston Churchill to protest against the taking over of the steel industry, civil aviation and cable and radio communications.
The Wilmington morning star., 1946-05-18
SPRING

Spring is the time when the grass is green
est on both SIDES Of the fence. picksns
(S.C.) Sentinel. 'Aehs
The Wilmington morning star., 1946-05-18
Soviet Plan To Take Mediterranean
BLatantly Crude, Lippman Declares
If our interests and our power.

Of our interests and our power.
But we must look beyond this
refusal to give way. For it cannot
of itself lead to a settlement. We
cannot sit forever at Trieste, and
there can be nothing permanent
in a policy which consists in
b%olstering up Greece and Turkey
against the unremitting pressure
of the Soviet power. This is a
stop-gap policy, necessary in the
immediate circumstances. but
bound somehow to break down if
we relax, or to break up in hos
tilities.
Now if we look for a more per-
mansnt settlement we must rec
ognize at the outset that this is a
problem in power politics. We may
wish it were not. But it is. and
there is no prospect of con-
structing a solution unless we
begin by thinking and acting in
terms OF power politics.
In these terms the situation in
the Mediterranean is one of ex-
IRENE instability because Britain is
over extended in relation to her
power. The weakness of France
and the defeat of Italy left Britain
The Wilmington morning star., 1946-05-18
UNEXPURGATED ICKES

An editor who agrees to print anything and
everything a columnist may choose to write is
abdicating his editors chair. We applaud the
action of the San Francisco Chronicle in re-
jecting Harold L. Ickes' new column because
Of a stipulation Ickes says he made to his
syndicate that 81 may be neither expurgated
nor amended
How many editors would agree to print YER
batim an article by a tree lance writer, or
important local Official mat the editor had not
vet read? Not many. Is there any difference
between that and the offerings of a name
columnist?
The great majority of American editors will
agree with Paul Smith, editor of the Chroni.
Gle. who said: AS for us, we will continue r.
print a lot of things we don't like to print
but we will continue also to protect the princi'
pie of unhampered exercise of free editorial
Judgment Editor and Publisher.
The Wilmington morning star., 1946-05-18

nopulated residence neighborhoods and
relieve the jewellers thereon of the dis
turbance they now create.
The question of a truck lane has long
been before the city government, but
nothing has ever been done. This fail
ure is the more incomprehensible be-
cause, whereas when it was first dis
cussed the city lacked improved routes,
there are now at least three, any one
of which would meet the need and bear
the burden of the heaviest truck load
destined to travel Wilmington thorough.
fares for years to come.
One is the highway from the ship
yard to the Wrightsville highway on
the edge of Winter Park. Another is
Greenfield and Thirteenth streets. With
the. improvement of Dawson street.
needed under ordinary circumstances,
there would be a third means OF con-
Meeting with Thirteenth.
If trucks of all descriptions heavier
than the half-ton panel vehicles used
bv merchants and other firms making
local deliveries were required to use
any one of these, downtown residents
would be saved from loss of rest, and
buildings, which have been damaged
by truck vibration, would stand secure
With the public welfare in mind, the
Council could hold a conference with
all interested parties, including civilian
residents, and thrash out the whole
subject of a truck lane or lanes, OF
which the city is so greatly in need.
The Wilmington morning star., 1946-05-18
For A New SanatOrium

Wilmingtonians with a deep of
humanitarian responsibilities are graft
fled to learn that the effort to create
a tuberculosis sanatorium in New Han
over county is renewed and that the
county tuberculosis association has
named a committee, with the Rev.
Mortimer Glover as chairman, to direct
and stimulate interest in the project.
Certainly there is need for such an
institution, particularly as the states
sanatoria are crowded and new patients
often have to wait months for admis-
sion-months in which proper hospita-
lization could send them a long way
toward recovery.
When the War Department expand
ed Bluethenthal Field into a great
military air base and it. wa necessary
to- abandon the Red Cross Sanatorium,
the effort to build another was blocked
not only by war priorities on materials
but short-sighted opposition by certain
members of the Board of County Com
missioners to whom an appeal for sup
port was addressed.
Since then the tuberculosis ~associa-
ton has functioned fully, within its
limitations, and to which and it's opera
tives all praise is due, but without a
haven in which to treat victims of the
dread disease has been under an in
surmountable handicap.
Now essential building materials are
ebtainable. Certainly the CPA could
not refuse the necessary order for them
IN such circumstances. The need, there
fore, is for public support and inces-
yAnt demand for an institution to re-
place the Red Cross Sanatorium. Mr..
Glover and his committee have everv
reason to expect the people of New
Hanover county to back their effort.
The Wilmington morning star., 1946-05-18
Truck Lane Needed

The Star has been pleased to note the
intention of two great petroleum COM
panies to establish distribution centers
in Wilmington, both in the area south
Of Sunset Park. They will add materi-
ally to the rating of the city as the
greatest petroleum distribution point
south of Baltimore on the Atlantic
coast. Additional employment revenues.
more business generally, will be the re-
suit.
At the same time it appears newt
able that the number of oil tanker
trucks now traversing the city will in
crease proportionately, particularly on
Third street, their favorite route. and
in lesser degree on Fifth and Market.
Residents along these routes. whose
rest is disturbed nightly by the thun-
dering of tankers, for only a small per-
centage of the drivers observe the speed
limit after dark, view any increases in
this traffic with apprehension.
They are especially concerned owe,
the City Councils failure to establish
q truck lane by which all such vehicles,
ent those making deliveries on tn
named, would skirt densely