davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1946-09-17
For Better Penmunship

The start of the school year per-
haps is as good a time as any to
express the wish that American
youth again might be taught the
art OF penmanship. Young people
and a great many people who no
longer are conspicuously young
seem to have been somewhat mis-
educated in that respect. Only on
rare occasions does the average
person see a letter neatly and legibly
written. A majority appear to
agree with Hamlet's statists that it
Is "a baseness" to take pains in any
task of inscribed communication.
And yet chirography once was a
vocation of distinction in the United
States. The Founding Fathers in
cluded number Of skilled penmen,
as a glance at the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution
will serve to show. John Hancock
was master with quill Benja-
man Franklin. Thomas Jefferson,
John Adams, Robert Morris, James
Wilson and most of their associates
in the defiance of the British King
had good hands" Even the auto
graph of palsied Stephen Hopkins
is readable. In the Convention of
1877, George Washington, Alexander
Hamilton and especially James
Madison, the scholar of the assem-
bly,, exhibited their calligraphic
genius to the qualification of gen.
erations of historians and commen-
tators not then born.
But it was to the professional in
structors in writing that the gen.
erality of Americans of the past
were indebted for competency
in penmanship. The name of Gid
con Fairman Is important in this
connection. About 1908 or 1910 he
formed partnership with Jacob
Perkins, inventor of steel engraving,
for the publication of a series of
school copybooks which set stand
Evening star., 1946-09-17
Gone to Meet His Heroes

Gone to Meet His Heroes
To the Editor of The Star:
Little Billy Mckenzie was buried to-
day The sands trickled out for Billy
Monday night and the coroner, because
he didn't know Billy, called 1t suicide:
but friends and neighbors who did
know Billy think of it as his last great
adventure, for Billy and adventure
walked hand in hand. You could see
it in the gleam of his eyes, the set OF
his shoulders and the way his sun
Drowned hands caressed the shiny stock
of his air gun. His heroes were legion
and their shadowy form beckoned him
on adventures path.
He was our Star carrier for about
year and you could always count on
him. No matter the weather, good or
bad. Billy delivered His familiar figure,
followed by his ever faithful dog, his
CHEEKY greeting and ready laughter
were something to look forward to. He
was the typical boy and all boy, the
boy every man wanted his son to be.
the boy every woman would be proud
to mother.
All of us will remember him with
tug at the heart and we will miss him,
but our sorrow will be softened little
when we realize that Billy is now walk
ing hand In hand with the heroes who
are enshrined in the heart Of every lad.
ESTHER AND JIM SALISBURY,
Neighbors.
PinAcYest. Va.
Evening star., 1946-09-17
Letters to The Star
Reaction to MIR. Ickes' Column
In Terms of Fireworks

To the Editor of The Star:
The Department of the Interiors for
mer fire-eater, Harold l.. Ickes, who
comes war-whooping into print several
times a week by way OF what appears
under the dust to be a personality COL
umn, frequently writes before he thinks.
On those occasions his fuse sputters
prematurely. The result is that some.
of his f1recrackers explode in his hand
The latest self-engineered mishap ap-
pears in his column in The Star Sep
tember II. In 1t Harold am adopting
the Rooseveltian theory that all persons
must be addressed in public by their
first names-Firecracker Harold mas
sages his stomach and groans because
Harry president TrumanD went to Mis-
souri, recently to indulge in some boogy-
woogy with the corrupt Pendergast
gang. If what we read in the newspapers
is true, Harry is a political offspring of
the Pendergast machine. If, therefore,
Harry returns to his political ilk, one
must credit him with some measure of
honesty. His actions seem to imply that
in the political barnyard Harry would
refuse to pose as an orchid If (politic-
ally) he comes from the stinkbush fam
ily Such political honesty in high
places deserves recognition from the
bass drum.
Firecracker Harold finds no quarrel
with the fact that Harry went to Mis-
souri, to help defeat Representative
Slaughter For basically and constitu-
tionally this is free country, even
though some members of the AFL and
CIO gangs would have us believe that
liberty is something you drag out from
mothballs only on the Fourth of July.
Firecracker Harold then snorts and
leaps into the air to emphasize his in
dignation (and justifiably so). He says
that, according to the Omaha World
Herald, during the braSs-knuckle dis
pute between Slaughter and Axtell the
Pendergast boys in Slaughter's district
rolled in with an amazing vote for the
Pendergast- Truman candidate If the
figures quoted are correct the result
Is worthy Of Hitler in his most sublime
moments of insanity. The vote for Axtell
is given as 300, $50, 145-1, etc"
Then out of the Ickesian verbal back
fire and dishpan pounding comes this
beautiful sentence: President Roosevelt
accepted the support of corrupt city
political machines, but he did not go
to bed with them"
Firecracker Harolds lack of consist
ency is refreshing. Does the statement
just quoted make Franklin politically
purer than Harry?
POLLY TICKS.
Evening star., 1946-09-17

words when 1t came to telling what he
hopes to accomplish.
mo one could doubt our desire to
escape from q tax control which is not
justified by an infinitesimal debt" Pres
ident E.stime said. But how to free
ourselves? That is the big question.
But Americans have now shown the
contrary by the help they have given us
in programs Of sanitation, hygiene and
the food program. Such undertakings
have done more for the United States in
Haiti than a thousand speeches.
II know that the United States in
tends to expand this program even more
That will be SO much the better.
Actually. we have few resources and
we cannot do everything alone. We do
not hide this from ourselves. American
aid. in this respect, Is precious.
we should also intensity the ex-
change of students between the two
countries.
And, If, one day the United States
should voluntarily deliver Haiti from the
burden of Its debt, I believe that one
would sea thing unimaginable now
little starry flag branded in each
Haitian heart"
Asked what specific plans he had for
bringing about an end to United States
control of tax collection, President
Estime replied:
What can we do?i We can only ask,
and that is what we intend to do"
tcopyriEht, 1e46)
Evening star., 1946-09-17
A Haitian Grievance
Bv II. Stuart Morrison

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, Sept. IL
Haitians are tired Of having Uncle Sam
hold their tax purse strings and Presi-
dent Dumarsais Estime, who was elected
by the Senate to succeed Ellie Lescot,
overthrown in three-day revolution
last January, is going to do something
about it.
President Estime, Al. and in Office lit
tie more than fortnight, is keenly
eager to better his country's financial
condition. He also has high respect
for the value of its relations with the
United States. But he doesn't think
Uncle Sam should continue collecting
Haitis customs duties after all these
years.
Haiti owes $6,000,000 to private Amer
ican bondholders and $3,200000 to the
Export Import Bank of the United
States. The bond Indebtedness dates
back to 1916.
Haitian customs and domestic taxes
are controlled by the National Bank of
Haiti, which is charged with the duty
OF seeing to 1t that payments are made
on this debt. It's Board of Directors Is
composed Of three Americans and three
Haitians.
Natives are outspoken in their COM
plant that they can't even increase
domestic taxes without United States
consent,
President Estime. in an exclusive in
terview at the presidential palace, shied
away from these angles, but didn't mince
Evening star., 1946-09-17
This Changing World
By Constantine Broien

President Truman's Endorsement and
later renunciation of Secretary Wal
lace's speech on foreign affairs has
caused toughening up Of the attitude
of the American delegation in Paris.
Secretary Byrnes and Senators Con-
nally and Vandenberg talked at length
with President Truman before they
went to Paris and were convinced that
they all saw eye to eye regarding the
principles which the United States was
defending at that gathering of 81 ma
tions. They also felt that the American
policy had been indorsed by the cabinet
and particularly by the Secretaries of
War and Navy who have the respon-
sibility of implementing, when neces-
sary, the Nations foreign policy. Sec
retaries Patterson and Forrestal agreed
that there should be no further sur
render to Russia's growing encroach-
ments, although they were aware that
Americas ground and air forces had
reached very low ebb
President Truman himself is reliably
reported to have concurred in this
thesis. At the end of August. the
State Department drafted a note to
Moscow opposing Russia's concept of
the control of the Dardanelles. Before
it was handed to the Soviet Charge
d'Affaires, it was shown to Mr.. Truman
in the presence of the Secretaries of
War and Navy and their top military
advisers. They all pointed out to the
Chief Executive that while the tone of
the note seemed fairly innocuous, it
was dynamite-laden since it opposed
Russia's basic demand for full control
over the straits and the plan to make
Turkey puppet state.
At that meeting some of Mr.. Truman's
advisers did not conceal the fact that
the note might further disturb the rela-
tions between this country and the
U. S. S. r. Considering Russias thor
ough war preparedness the President
was told. the possibility of an armed
aggression on the part of that power
should not be excluded.
Mr.. Truman is said to have listened
attentively to the expose of his top ad-
visers and, after fully realizing its i'm
plications, to have approved the State
Departments note. Mr.. Byrnes was i'm
mediately informed in Paris Of the step
and of the Presidents stand. He also
approved it without any major changes
in the original draft.
Throughout the painful negotiations
which have been going on in Paris for
the last 10 weeks, Mr.. Byrnes has kept
in constant touch with the Chief Execu-
tive. He has reported sometimes twice
daily on the current developments and
has informed the President conf
dentially on the difficulties he was en-
countering. many of which have never
been reported in the press. This ap-
piled not only to the peace treaties
which were being discussed but also to
our policy in Germany and some mat
ters concerning the Far East.
Evening star., 1946-09-17

ard for long list of such produc-
tions. Even more famous than these
colleagues, however, was Platt Rog-
ers Spencer, of whom the Dictionary
of American Biography says: From
earliest childhood he had Chinese
reverence for calligraphy, which,
growing to master passion, became
his mission and his livelihood and
made his name familiar = in the
Schoolrooms of his country" He
practiced on sandbeds and snow
banks as well as on paper when 1t
was available), developed "charac-
teristic hand, sloping, semiangular
style, rapid and legible" and even
tually brought out whole set of
textbooks which his five sons and
favorite nephew carried to the
farthest corners of the Union.
Another very successful teacher
Of penmanship and a celebrated
promoter OF appreciation of that
now neglected art was George Wash
ington Eastman, founder of the
Eastman business colleges" and
father of the inventor of the "Ko-
dak' camera.
Evening star., 1946-09-17

foreign policy-as private individual
is unchallengable. His right to speak
publicly in opposition to the Presidents
own policy-as enunciated by Secretary
of State Byrnes-and continue as a
member of the cabinet is an entirely
different matter.
1t looks as though Mr.. Wallace not
only defied Mr.. Truman but had come
to the conclusion that President Tru-
man would not have the courage to fire
him, if he wanted to.
What appeal Mr.. Wallace would have
to the general public If he were sud-
denly divested of high public office
is matter that has still to be tested
He might easily be forgotten. His
appointment by the late President
Roosevelt to be Secretary of Agriculture
back in 1888 exploded him into the lime
light. His ever-normal granary plan,
with its emphasis on scarcity rather
than production, plus the cash subsidies
paid for destroying and limiting produc-
tion, kept him in the limelight. In
1910 when former Vice President Jack
Garner would not go along with the
third-term idea, Mr. Roosevelt and the
New Deal high command represented by
to run as the tail of the national ticket
He was expected to help the Democrats
carry agricultural States, like Iowa-his
own home State. AS vote getter in the
great Middle West, he was flop. Iowa
voted for Wendell Willkie and so did a
number of other States in that section
of the country.
+
accomplish, politically, if he retired
voluntarily or was ousted from the
cabinet? Other men might hope to
return to their own homes and seek
election to high office. In Iowa, however
Mr.. Wallace would not have the slight
est chance Of political preferment. He
might, If he wished, go to New York and
seek to head up some left-wing political
organization of Nationwide character
Mr.. Wallace does not want to leave
public Office. He realizes that once he
is out, his influence will be on the to-
boggan; that while he remains a part
of the administration he has chance
to work from within and bean influence
in national affairs. He has been men
toned many times as candidate of the
left wingers for the Democratic pres
idential nomination in 1948.
Mr.. Wallace, however has repea tedly
predicted that President Truman would
be the presidential nominee and has
added he intended to support him. 1t
may be that he has better working
agreement with Mr.. Truman than ap-
pears on the surface But this latest
incident" may strain all such relations.
In any event, Mr.. Truman eventually
will have to choose between Secretary
of State Byrnes and Secretary Of Com
merce Wallace.
Evening star., 1946-09-17
Juvenile Crime

1t Is encouraging to note that the
alarming upward climb of juvenile
delinquency seems to have been
halted, now that the war is over and
more normal conditions have re-
turned to the average community.
Fingerprint records of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation for the first
half Of 1946 even indicate that
downward trend from record break
ing wartime levels has begun.
For the first time since the out
break of World War II, FBI crime
statisticians have observed decline
in the number of arrests of boys and
girls under eighteen, although the
total still was II per cent above
that for the first half of the last
peacetime year, 1941. AS the war
progressed and as more and more
homes were disrupted, the rise in
juvenile crime became diSturbingly
acute. Director Hoover of the FBI
attributes the increase to a break
down of parental discipline and an
sdventuresome spirit born Of the
impact of war on the younger gen.
Grafton, He has repeatedly called
for return to fashioned" dis
cipline in the home as basic step
in any program to curb youthful
hoodlumism and lawlessness.
The problem remains a most seri-
ous one, despite the somewhat re-
assuring data just released. On the
darker side is the fact that during
the first six months of this year
more persons of twenty-one were
arrested and fingerprinted than in
any other age group. Those under
twepty-one constituted approx
Evening star., 1946-09-17

Until last Thursday 1t looked to the
chief American delegate that his trori-
bles would be confined to arguments
with the representatives of the Slavic
bloc.
So anxious was President Truman to
avoid any undue headaches to Mr.
Byrnes and his associates from the
home front that soon after the recess
of Congress he called to the White
House leading New England Republi-
can Senator and urged him to use his
influence with the party to refrain from
any criticism Of our foreign policy in the
electoral campaign. The President is
said to have told him that there were
plenty Of domestic issues on which the
two parties could attack each other.
But the foreign situation. he explained,
was so dangerous and tense that 1t was
essential that it should be left out Of
the campaign in order to impress the
outside world with strong united front
on external affairs in America.
All these facts were communicated to
the Secretary Of State in Paris and led
him to believe that he need not fear
any stab in the back from home.
Mr.. Trumans approval Of the Wallace
speech of last Thursday threw real
monkey wrench into the American dele
cation. The Presidents reputation OF
Mr.. Wallace's views on foreign affairs
changed the situation insofar as the
American representatives at the peace
parley are concerned, but Is said to have
made little impression on the foreign
powers. Many of them still believe that
the reputation was mere diplomatic
gesture" toward the Secretary of State
and his principal advisers.
This feeling Is said to be responsible
in some degree for the adamant attitude
of the Russian delegation in regard to
the Trieste settlement The Foreign
Ministers of the big powers believed that
Russia would eventually honor the
agreements reached at the last meeting
in June. They expected, Of course. Yugo-
slav opposition to the methods of inter-
Matchmaking that port, but hoped that
in the end Russia would not give too
much encouragement to the Tito ennis
saries. Foreign Minister Molotov's
speech of last Saturday in which he
actually threatened the western repre-
sentatives with dire consequences If they
opposed Russia's aims, has thoroughly
changed the picture in Paris.
The American delegates, and partic-
ularly the representatives of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, decided
that any yielding at this time to the
Russian demands would confirm their
belief that Mr.. Truman has given only
lip service to our announced foreign
policy and that the United States was
compelled to beat full retreat under
the pressure of the vociferous pro-Soviet
groups in this country. They have all
decided that the American delegation
must stand by the principles which the
Secretary of State has already enunci-
ated
Evening star., 1946-09-17

mately 1S per cent of all persons
arrested, and this youthful group
accounted for 533 per cent of all
arrests for automobile theft, 43.5
per cent of all arrests for burglary
and 29l per cent of all arrests for
robbery.
1t is against this drab background
that Attorney General Clarks Ma
tional Conference on the Control of
Juvenile Delinquency will meet next
month to plan a concerted Nation
wide attack ON criminality among
youth. 1t is important that this
movement should extend beyond the
sociologists, the police, the courts
and other authorities on juvenile de-
linquency. 1t should, as both Mr..
Clark and Mr.. Hoover. have pointed
out on numerous occasions, reach
into the home and insure the CO.
operation of every parent.
Evening star., 1946-09-17
Lavender Mint

Out iDhere the old log cabin leans
Against the toifid, the ,peather
Has nibbled at the hitching post
Where no one comes to tether
A Sweating horse. to beg cup
OF spring mater, or bite and sup.
The sagging door noio ANSWERS TO
Cold knuckles OF the rain.
Only the ,Destern suns bright hearth
Kindles the tDindotopdns.
Warming the t0alls that used to knotp
Hearth fire a hundred years ago.
But the tDild mint, stpeet and Lavender,
Stands slim and strong and tall,
As a t0on,dn dressed in Lavender
Might lean against the ipdI-
Watching the path mind riper,rdrd-
Still pnitinr In the yard
YETzA GILLESPIE.
Evening star., 1946-09-17
Austria First Victim

To the Editor CT The Star:
Dorothy Thompson, highly esteemed
author refers in her column Of Septem-
ber 2 to Czechoslovakia as Hitlers first
non-German victim"
Does this mean that Austria, occupied
one year before Czechoslovakia, al
though victim of Hitler, is to be
regarded simply as part of the German
nation?
The great sympathy and understand
ing Mrs. Thompson usually has dis
played in regard to Austria make me
believe that printers omission is to
blame and that the first non-German-
speaking victim of Hitler is understood
by the author to be Czechoslovakia.
H. J. T'HALBERG,
Secretary of the Austrian Mission.
Evening star., 1946-09-17
The Political Mill
By Gould Lincoln

How much political power has Henry
A. Wallace, Secretary Of Commerce,
and how much is he worth politically
to President Truman? The late Presi-
dent Franklin D. Roosevelt apparently
came to the conclusion that Mr.. WAL
lace was liability rather than an asset
in 1914, for Mr.. Roosevelt threw him
to the wolves in the Democratic National
Convention The result was that Mr..
Wallace was Side-tracked as a vice
presidential candidate and Mr.. Truman
was picked in his place to run with
Roosevelt on the national ticket. Mr..
Wallace swallowed this and went along
with the Roosevelt campaign, urging
fourth term for the President.
Later, When President Roosevelt met
with his new running mate, Harry S.
Truman, in Washington, he told Mr..
Truman that they would have ito do
something" for Mr.. Wallace-that Henry
could have pretty much any job he
wanted, except that held by Cordell
Hull-then Secretary of State. 1t was
widely reported, however, that Mr.. Wall
lace wanted to be Secretary OF State.
In the end. Mr.. Roosevelt eased Jesse
Jones, Secretary of Commerce. out Of
the cabinet and gave that office to
MI Wallace.
President Truman, when Edward r.
Stettinius, jr., resigned as Secretary OF
State in the summer year ago, APP
pointed his old friend, James F. Byrnes,
to that Office. Mr. Byrnes has carried
the burden of the State Department and
this countrys foreign relations ever
Since-until, q few nights ago Secretary
Of Commerce Wallace undertook to lay
down new and different foreign policy
particularly affecting our relations
with Soviet Russia and Britain. Mr..
Wallace said that his speech had been
approved by President Truman in ad
vance of delivery.
The uproar in this country and more
particularly abroad where Mr.. Byrnes
has been struggling to deal effectively
with Soviet Russia may have astonished
President Truman. He promptly repu-
dated the new policy advanced by Mr..
Wallace, but declared he had approved
his (Wallace'S right to make the speech.
In face of this repudiation. Mr.. Wal
lace issued statement saying he in
tended to 60 right ahead campaigning
for his ideas of foreign policy, perhaps
basing himself on the Presidents state
ment that he had approved Mr.. Wal
lace's right to make the original speech.
How much of this kind of thing Mr.
Truman can take, even for the sake of
trying to keep the left wingers in line
for the coming congressional and State
elections, is a question. Mr.. Wallace's
statement sounded like challenge to
President Truman to oust him If he
dared
Mr.. Wallace's right to speak out on
Evening star., 1946-09-17
Why Not Stop 1t?

The report that top Government
officials" are seriously concerned"
over the union organizing drives by
the United Public Workers of Amer
lea in this country'S territorial pos
sessions is of more than passing
interest.
UPWA already has organized some
1900 Government workers-mostly
natives of Central American coun-
tries-in the Panama Canal Zone,
and is now turning its attention to
the $4,000 Federal workers in Hawaii.
There we'll may be some occasion
for concern over this development
for UPWA, by its own acts, has
raised serious doubts as to its
loyalty to the interests OF this coun-
try. 1t is extremely left-wingish in
character and it is conceivable that,
having established an effective con-
troll over the Government employees
in key spots like Panama and
Hawaii, it could threaten the
security of this country in event
of a clash with Russia.
If there is good reason to believe
that this is the case, and the fact
should be easy to establish one way
or another, why does not the Gov
ernment do something about it? If
it is believed that the organization
of these employees would constitute
a threat to military security, they
should be forbidden to join the
union, and if authority for this is
now lacking, Congress should be
asked to supply 1t.