davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1946-12-27
On the Record
By Dorothy THOMPSON

by the strong at the expense of the
weak, invariably the destroyer of states
and cultures, also renoves-unlesS a
substitute is fou1d-a creative role
played by war in the internal life of
nations WaI as William James OBJ
served some so years ago, serves great
function. It unites civilization in COM
mon heroic purpose; breaks down divi-
sions; fosters solidarity; sets an objec-
tive for all, and glorifies and develops
rare virtues, such as courage, self
sacrifice, enterprise, brotherliness.
The truth is, think, that we miss the
war. During the war we achieved the
incredible in production, overcoming
every impediment. We lived in high
state of tension untorn by chickering's
and strife. Every one co-operated-
labor and management, Government
and people. Many homes were dark
ened with terrible sorrow. But more
were rejoiced by the survival of their
loved one, and each survival was in the
nature of miracle, and evoked the al
most forgotten emotion of gratitude
We found that in fighting war the
standard of living actually increased
instead of declining, as all worked, and
without interruption.
y X X
Unity is not achieved by agreement"
reached by compromises unsatisfactory
to some even after the most bitter argu-
ments. Unity is achieved by making
common cause in a recognizable COM
mon purpose. That is the great ad-
vantage Of four or five year plans, to
achieve great national objectives. This
country could, and should, develop such
a plan, to be achieved within fixed
limits: For instance, for removing OBJ
solescent housing and replacing 1t with
modern homes.
America also has an unparalleled op-
portunity for expansion within her own
borders through the colonization and
settlement of Alaska project which,
II conceived and planned in sufdciently
large and imaginative terms, would give
American industries and services dose
of adrenalin comparable to that admin
istered by war, and would be wholly
beneficent and creative.
In the 10Th century America kept her
self out Of war and immensely con-
trihuted to the pacification Of Europe by
offering an outlet here for surplus popu-
lation. America can still furnish that
outlet by attending to her neglected
places, primarily Alaska, and by working
internationally for large-scale coloniza-
tion projects.
sRslsassd 81 The Dsn syndicate. mai
Evening star., 1946-12-27
The Political Mill
By Gould Lincoln

dental nomination-that everything he
undertakes and supports in the coming
session Of Congress would be interpreted
as an effort to build up his chances to
win the nomination. He wishes, they
say, to be a free agent in dealing with
legislative matters. Since he Is ex-
pected to be both chairman Of the
Senate Labor Committee and chairman
Of the Republican Steering Committee
of the Senate, this Is important
However, 1t is idle to believe that any,
thing which Senator Taft does in the
Senate will not be interpreted in terms
of presidential politics, whether he Is
an announced candidate or not. Every
man in the street understands that he
is candidate for the 1948 presidential
nomination.
The burgeoning contest for the
Republican presidential nomination is
making itself felt strongly in Republican
congressional circles. The supporters
of Gov. Dewey of New York for the
presidential nomination are backing
Representative Charlie Halleck of In
diana for the office of majority leader
of the House. Conversely, the opponents
of Mr.. Dewey, including the friends of
Mr.. Taft, are supporting Representative
Brown of Ohio for majority leader-or
will support him If Mr.. Brown should
finally decide to 60 into the Republican
caucus of the House on January and
make an open fight for the Office. Gov.
Dewey's frank statement in Albany,
after a meeting with the Republican
hey <.f fto Ncuy
that he understood Mr.. Halleck would
be elected majority leader and that he,
himself was for him, has caused
good deal of criticism. Particularly is
it being said that outside influences
in this case Mr.. Dewey-should not con-
troll the Republican organization Of the
House.
If Mr. Halleck is elected majority
leader-and his friends say he will be
beyond doubt-he will, according to his
opponents, be under suspicion of acting
for Gov. Dewey and of generally playing
the Dewey game for the presidential
nomination.
Tremendous bitterness has developed
on both sides of the fight Republicans
have had rows in the past over organi-
zation of the House. When the COP took
over control of the House in 1918, there
was real race between the late Jim"
Mann of Illinois and the late Speaker
and Senator Gillett of Massachusetts,,
with the latter winning out. Again in
1925, the late Speaker Longworth of
Ohio had knock-down, drag-out con-
test with the late Representative Mar
tin Madden of Illinois. But they were
gentle affairs compared to the things
which the Halleck and the Brown people
have been saying about each other.
Evening star., 1946-12-27
A Comeback for Tiumot?

The National Advisory Committee
for Aeronautics deserves little pat
on the back for giving a learnedly
imaginative name to Americas
newly revealed 900 mile an hour
guided missile. The name is "Tfa-
mat" and It's aptness will be ap-
preciated by any one familiar with
the ancient Babylonian Epic of
Creation.
Written some thousands of years
ago by the priests Of Babylon, the
epic relates that in the beginning of
time, before there were things like
planets, bugs or people, only two en-
titles existed. They were the god
Apsu and the goddess Tiamat, and
they lived together more or less as
man and wife. Their only ambition
and they were fanatical about it,
was to maintain darkness and chaos
forever and ever. Presently. how
ever, they had some unruly off,
spring who rebelled against the sta
tus quo and set out to create light
and order in the universe.
To this end, the offspring de-
feated Apsu under the leadership of
a high-minded individual named
Ea. But then Tiamat got busy. Now
that Apsu was gone, she created
eleven monsters and ordered her
new husband Kingu to command
them. Whereupon they went forth
and routed Ea. With that done,
Tiamat could feel pretty proud of
herself and doubtless rejoiced that
the world had been made safe for
her way of life-that is to say, for
darkness and chaos. She failed to
reckon, however. with the skill and
derring do of Marduk, the son OF Ea.
The odds may have seemed hopeless
against him, but nevertheless, being
a firm believer in light and order. he
resolved to battle for the right as he
saw it. So he fell upon Kingu and
destroyed him, and he took hold OF
the monsters and chained them to
the stars. AS for Tiamat-who had
the additional unpleasant habit of
turning herself into a winged dragon
.-he finished her of, too.
Thus it was, according to the
priests of Babylon, that earth and
heaven ceased being anarchical. But
what Of the new "Tiamat"? As
Evening star., 1946-12-27

"With fingers crossed, pray to heaven
Well have q happier forty seven"
writes the inimitable Frank Sullivan,
in his annual Christmas greetings in
the New Yorker.
I think that whether we have
happier forty-seven, forty EIGHT, or
forty mine, depends on whether we
find moral and economic equivalent
for war.
In fact, the world, which proposes to
abolish war, should be concerned with
finding things to put in its place. Inter-
national war has reached total perfec.
ton, and has thereby ceased ofperform-
ing its function. War, having reached
total destructiveness, what with the
atom bomb, rocket weapons, robots and
other magnificent achievements OF
science, such as bacterial warfare, with
which, we, are assured, all organic life
can be more or less instantly removed
from immense areas Of the earth, has
become universal suicide.
Although the human mind IS reluc-
tant to draw full deduction from the
late war, namely, that victorS as well
as vanquished lose, we are nevertheless
forced to be our brothers keepers, to
the extent Of paying reparations to the
Germans and Japanese instead OF the
other way around The victor inherits
a shambles and relief roll unless his
political system permits OF the inStitu-
ton of human slavery. The enslave.
ment of enemies is only possible II q ma
tion suffers from manpower shortage or
insufficient machines, or is preparing
for new war, or If the native population
is also enslaved.
Thus, modern war becomes utterly
irrational, which it has not been in the
past.
The fact remains, however, that war
has been not only aggressive, but the
ultimate appeal to self-preservation.
Failing a substitute, which could only be
found in universal acceptance Of princi-
pies, and a universal rule Of law. there
will still be wars, less bloody and de-
structive; civil and political battles.
fifth columns, and security police"
aided by foreign political and propa-
ganda intervention, tyrannous despotiSm
to> the ultimate corruption and decay
of all civilization.
Revolutions and civil wars do not en-
ploy atom bombs or meteorological war
fare but they can ruin more existences
than any of the international wars OF
the past century.
The concept of universal, perpetual
peace, outside Of law, invariably achieved
Evening star., 1946-12-27

The welcome news-welcome to Sena-
tor Robert Taft of Ohio-that Senator
elect and former Gov. Bricker has de-
cided to leave the presidential field open
to Mr.. Taft has placed the Senator in
something OF quandary. If he accepts
gracefully this concession on the part
Of Mr.. Bricker he virtually announces
himself a candidate for the Republican
presidential nomination. Not belonging
to the Stassen school of thought on the
early announcement of presidential
candidates, Mr.. Taft has so far con-
tented himself with saying that the
main issue today is the enactment OF
Republican program Of legislation, thus
brushing aside temporarily the question
of his own presidential candidacy.
The Columbus Dispatch broke the
news of Mr. Brickers determination to
serve out the six-year term in the
Senate for which he has just been elected
and of Mr.. Bricker's intention to sup
port Mr.. Taft for the presidential nomi-
nation. The story. the Dispatch said,
had been obtained from 'unimpeachable
sources" These sources were Mr.. Bricker
himself, II reports heard here be true,
although the Senator -elect has declined
SO far to make public statement. Mr..
Bricker appears to have arrived at his
decision to 60 along with Mr.. Taft in
ls48, rather than to fight for the nomi-
nation himself, about the time he came
to Washington to attend the recent
Gridiron dinner.
x
Senator Taft had said before the
Columbus Dispatch story was published
that he expected to confer with Mr..
Bricker,. when the latter came to Wash
ington for the opening Of Congress, in
He had added that he thought the
whole question of presidential candidacy
could be ironed out satisfactorily be-
tween himself and Mr.. Bricker. The
Bricker report in Columbus, however,
took Mr.. Taft by surprise-as it did Re-
publican politicians generally in Ohio
and the rest of the country. IT Mr..
Bricker adheres to his decision not to
oppose Mr.. Taft for the presidential
nomination-and there is at present no
reason to believe he will change his
mind-possibility of major row among
Republicans in Ohio will have been
eliminated, and the field of Republican
presidential possibilities will have been
narrowed. Ohio will have its favorite
son candidate-who also has very con-
siderable support outside Of Ohio-and
be ready to go forward with wide publi-
city campaign for Mr.. Taft, in prepara-
ton for the scramble for delegates to
the next Republican National Con-
vention.
Friends of Mr.. Taft say that it would
be embarrassing for him to be an open
and avowed candidate for the presi-
Evening star., 1946-12-27

The Home Builders ASSOCIATION OF
Metropolitan Washington is to be
commended for its plans to rescue
some of the veterans who have been
bilked by a bankrupt real estate
dealer.
II successful, the attempt will
accomplish two important things
It will obtain homes for these par
ticular veterans and their families
It will center attention on the
need for greater organized pro-
lection of home-seeking veterans
against sharks in the real estate
business.
BY obtaining voluntary reductions
In builders profits and financing
costs and discounts on materials, the
builders association hopes to offer
homes at a saving, to the affected
veterans, which will approximate the
veterans own loss of cash deposits
in the Williams deal. The risk that
the builders run is that their efforts
in this one case may be misinter-
preted as an offer to bail out every
veteran who gets stung in buying a
home.
The builders could not very well
broaden their scheme to include any
and all veterans. They are Influenced
in this case by two considerations
first, a genuine sympathy for vet
erans who have been skinned in the
notorious Williams affair; second,
their own jealous regard for the good
name OF the building industry they
represent. They feel that If enough
people volunteer to help them rescue
this particular group of veterans,
the publicity itself will acquaint
other veterans with the risks to be
run in home purchase and preyent
any repetition Of what has taken
place.
There is apt to be a repetition.
Political exploitation of the yeter-
ans home purchase loan idea, the
fact that so maNy veterans came out
of the Army with substantial cash
savings and the extraordinary short
age of housing have combined to
make the veteran an easy mark for
f1y-by-night real estate men and
irresponsible builders. The greatest
safeguard against fraud should be
the veterans own determination not
to be sucker. But they should also
be warned to deal only with estab-
lished and reputable firms in acquir-
ing homes. In the meantime, it is
to be hoped that building-supply
firms and others will enter whole
heartedly into the plan of the Home
Builders Association and make a
worthwhile demonstration of what
q group of civic minded and respon-
sible businessmen can do voluntarily
to make up the losses on the Will
liams deal-a deal which reflects,
however unfairly, on the building
business as a whole.
Evening star., 1946-12-27
The Pope on Peace

Ever since the close of the late
war, Pope Plus XII has spoken at
fitting intervals on the problems of
world reconstruction as seen through
the eyes of the head of the Roman
Catholic Church. Christmas eve
was an opportune moment for an
other papal pronouncement, the
basic theme being, naturally, the at
tainment of peace on earth to men
of good will"
As on previous occasions, the
Pope's attitude was one of stern
realism. While acknowledging that
some notable progress had been
made during the past year and Civ
ing credit to the laudable efforts of
some statesmen, he nevertheless de-
plored the slowness of progress in
settling the wars aftermath and
emphasized the necessity for build
ing postwar settlements on soundly
moral foundations if they are to en-
dure.
How far professions had Jagged
behind performance was indicated
by the nonfulfllment of the prin-
ciples laid down in the Atlantic
Charter, whose four freedoms now
seem only shadow or counterfeit
of what was in the mind and inten-
tions of the most loyal of their
promulgators." This disappoint-
ment of human hopes raised by the
PRONUNCIATION of that program was
considered by the pontiff to be espe-
cially lamentable because multitudes
of human beings have suffered to
the limit of their endurance and in
their continued despair might fall a
prey to "the dark forces of evil'-a
clear illusion to the wave of revolu-
tionary unrest exemplified by inter-
national communism. Such dark
forces are furthered by the way
peace settlements are being made,
and the Pope sharply criticized the
distrust, suspicion, and chickering's
that have too often characterized
postwar diplomatic conferences
from which have issued decisions
based on power politics and naked
force
AS a remedy for these shortcom-
ings and unsound decisions, the Pope
offered three suggestions to the
worlds leaders. First and foremost,
he urged the speedy conclusion of
peace treaties that would re-estab-
lish normal economic, juridical and
spiritual relations among nations"
He next re-emphasized the need for
infusing such treaties with the spirit
of rectitude and justice for all, in
cluding the vanquished in the late
war. Lastly, the Pope suggested that
the treaties be flexible in character,
leaving the way open for amend
ments" in conforming with chang
ing conditions which might reveal
the unsoundness or inadequacy of
decisions currently taken.
These suggestions of the pontiff
obviously square with those already
made by many qualified students OF
world affairs and infusing much Of
the thinking among supporters of
the United Nations. It would seem
well that the head Of the Roman
Evening star., 1946-12-27
This Changing World
By Constantine Brown

agreed at Teheran not to annex any
German territory, are Russianizing
completely East Prussia, where even
the names Of principal cities have been
changed from German to Russian in
honor of Soviet war heroes or states
men.
Several months ago the government
of Georges Bidault suggested that the
Saar and Ruhr be internationalized
under tripartite American British
French control, without Russian partici-
patton.
Because the French proposal ran
counter to American and British plans
for economic rehabilitation Of Germany,
and also because of its political implica-
tions and reactions in Germany, the
idea was rejected. 1t was feared in
Washington and London that 1t would
violently stir up the Germans, impelling
them to yield to the intense propaganda
by Communist agents from the east.
The Germans in the eastern zone are
far worse off than those in the west.
But the latter get only scant and colored
information about what happens in
Prussia, Thuringia and Saxony. Under
the influence of camoufaged annexation
of the most important western indus
trial areas, these Germans may heed
the political propaganda of native
agents Of the U. S. S. r.
\
The famous Morgenthau plan, intend
ed to make Western Germany into
pastoral state, has proved complete
failure, although many features of the
plan concerning the handling of the
German population are still in effect
in the American zone.
The American Government considers
it neither wise nor possible to annihilate
a nation of $4,000, 900 peoples. If present
conditions continue and each of the
victorious nations is permitted to grab
off the best parts of Germany, the
American tax payer will continue in
definitely to be burdened with the sup
port of the German population.
Evening star., 1946-12-27
From the New York Times

from the new YORK Times.
The United States was the first nation
to accept the Russian proposal for .
troop census and to widen it to include
all -rmed forces at home and abroad.
It h S likewise been most emphatic in
insisting on investigation and control.
both in connection with the atomic
bomb and with general disarmament.
The British resolution thus agrees fully
with what the United States has stood
for, and it is surprising to read reports
that the American delegation now op-
poses inspection as an essential part Of
the troop census We hope that if these
reports are accurate the American posi-.
tion will be reviewed before the final
vote. The British resolution is the only
safe and feasible one. It should bs
adopted.
Evening star., 1946-12-27

described by the National Advisory
Committee for Aeronautics, it may
reasonably be regarded as the fore
runner of rocket-powered missiles
capable of being directed accurately
against any target in the world,
from any point in the world, at
speeds far greater than the speed
of sound. Given another major war
in the next thirty years or SO, given
this weapon with an atomic or bac-
THEOLOGICAL warhead, will there be
enough Marduks available to save
mankind?
Evening star., 1946-12-27
Letters to The Star
Commends Articles on Pollution
zf Do<o~co C%~aaco.
of Potomac Streams


TO the Editor Of The Star:
Permit me to express my sincere ap-
probation for your editorial Of November
Is and to James Birchfield, author of
the series of Illuminating articles on the
pollution situation in the Potomac Basin.
These should awaken the inhabitants
of the area to the seriousness of the
situation and the need for remedial
action.
With this review of conditions as q
background, we hope that Mr., ,Birchfield
may be permitted to continue his writ
ings and interview other agencies and
individuals in addition to the Interstate
Commission on the Potomac River Basin
relative to the steps which should be
taken to alleviate these conditions and
thus gain their support for measures
which are urgent, without waiting too
long for their fulfillment.
From the time Of the introduction OF
the -Lonergan bill in January. 1885,
to the present, the Izaak Walton League
of America has been one Of the most
potent factors in arousing our people to
the need for freeing our streams from
domestic sewage and trade wastes which
now has eliminated in Nationwide
demand that we do something about it
something more direct than to provide
funds for continuing studies by govern
mental agencies. AS matter Of fact,
progressive industries are far ahead of
anything any governmental agency has
done or can hope to do on the perfection
of recovery plans. Not only that. but
most of them now recognize the hand
writing on the wall and are only waiting
the nod from some overall agency which
will place them on an equal footing with
others in the same branch Of industry
to 60 ahead with installations. Further
more, communities are beginning to
appreciate their inability to attract new
industries as long as the waters flowing
through their midst are badly polluted.
In closing, wish to compliment you
for acquainting the people of the basin
with present-day conditions. May we
have your support in selecting the most
urgent problems in need Of rectifcation
and the means for their completion.
DIR. LEWIS RADCLIFFE,
Vice president Izaak Walton League
of America, Inc.
Evening star., 1946-12-27
Christmas Trees

Upon Hill the tall frs stand.
So Still-So still,
As If breath in their throdts ,pere held
All unerpelIed-
For in the darkened sky star
Sheds radiance both near and far.
Silent the fr trees. hushed and mute
From branch to root,
Pointing their fingers to the star
Proud that they are
Chosen OF all proud trees to prone
Symbols OF lope.
HELEN ROWLAND PRoAnm.
Evening star., 1946-12-27
Two Needs
From La Patrie Montreal, .

FTOm Id FHCrN NN1UHVItdU.
TWO lessons are to be noted from the
battle that has just ended. The first is
the urgency of legislation decreeing COM
pulsory arbitration in all industrial
conflicts, to protect the public against
the disastrous consequences Of unjusti-
fed strikes. The second is the necessity
of setting up an investigating machinery,
more flexible and working more prompt
ly at the beginning Of conflict, in order
to prevent the delays which are irritat-
Ing to workerA