davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1946-12-11
Relief After UNRRA

LII lUT TbIlTlSllt UTOduCdSt ONci tAic
NBC network. Acting Secretary of
State Dean Acheson has stated and
explained the policy of the Govern
ment regarding the granting of aid
to foreign countries after the dis
continuance of UNRRA next year.
The issue is one which has provoked
violent controversy. both here and
abroad. It is therefore eminently
desirable that an official statement
should have been made on the Gov
ernment's intentions. with the rea-
sons. prompting it.
UNRRA. or, to give 1t its full
title, the United Nations Relief and
Rehabilitation Administration. was
originally conceived as a temporary
agency to deal with the acute dis
locations produced by the Ilate war
in many lands. The basic idea was
that, by the granting of food. cloth
ing and other necessities of life. the
threat of wholesale famine and des-
titution could be averted or mini
mized, while at the same time. reha-
bilitation could be furthered through
the granting of seeds. breeding stock,
transportation facilities and certain
industrial prerequisites. The dual
aim was. thus. not merely to avert
immediate collapse but also to
prime the pump" SO that the dis
tressed countries would be able to
look after themselves. In short, the
objective was constructive charity.
The concept was undoubtedly adj
mirable in theory, and in some courl-
tries it has worked well in practice.
Unfortunately, in some other coun-
tries the work of UNRRA has been
misused or perverted by regimes
which have withheld relief from
political opponents, rewarded their
own followers and maintained
armed forces that could not other
wise have been supplied.
These and other abuses have
aroused especially strong protests in
America because this country was
providing the bulk Of UNRRA aid.
And it is to end such abuses that the
State Department has decided that
no further relief shall be extended
by this country to nations which
either no longer need 1t because of
their own recovery or would not need
it if they used fairly and construc-
lively their battered domestic re-
sources. Although Secretary Acheson
named no names, there can be no
reasonable doubt as to the regimes
he had in mind. with Yugoslavia
heading the list.
The secretary took occasion to re-
fute protests that our selectiye policy
of aid meant using food as politi-
cal weapon, when in truth It was
Evening star., 1946-12-11
Reason for Firmness

Although his role In the admins
tration's firm stand against the coal
strike has been the subject of less
comment than that Of some of the
Presidents other advisers, it Is safe
to say that Secretary OF Interior
Krug played as prominent q part
in the decision to say no to John
L. Lewis as any one else, and prob
ably with more reason.
Mr.. Krug Is credited by some with
having been the first man in the
presidential inner circle to take the
position that no further concessions
could be made to Mr.. Lewis. This
may or may not be literally true,
but there can be no doubt that the
Interior Secretary was in better
position than the others to appre-
ciate the fact that the time for
appeasement was gone.
It was under his supervision that
the Governments coal mine con-
tract of last May was negotiated.
q contract which gave Mr.. Lewis
the royalty fund and the right to
represent the supervisors. These
were points which the private oper-
ators had refused to concede prior
to the strike last spring, and which
were chiefly responsible for the
inability of the Government to per-
suade the operators to take back
the mines.
Thus, when Mr.. Lewis came for
ward within a few months with new
demands Mr.. Krug knew that he
could not grant them without run
ming real risk that the Govern
ment would be permanently saddled
with the operation OF the mines-a
prospect which was not relished by
him or any one else. Consequently,
when the showdown came, Mr..
Krug, who had tried to deal fairly
with both the miners and the oper-
ators, felt that there was ample
justification for saying no to the
mine union boss and making it stick
"a point of view which he was able
to "sell" at the White House. There
may be additional explanations, but
this was the basic reason for the
decision to go to the mat with MIR.
Lewis and find out whether he or
the Government was the stronger
force in this country.
Evening star., 1946-12-11
Standardized Ordnance

The State Departments con-
firmation of reports that the United
States and Great Britain are work
ing toward standardization OF arms
should occasion no surprise, in view
of wartime developments in that
direction. Nor should the knoWl-
edge prove disturbing to any peace
fully disposed nation.
The experience of two world wars
has shown the advantages OF arms
uniformity among allies whose Sc
curity is interdependent. In both
wars mutual security was threat
ened by disparity in types and
caliber of artillery and Infantry
weapons, and in planes and other
equipment. Although our soldiers
often fought side by side against
common foe, their rifles and am
munition were not interchangeable.
The British clung to their odd-sized
Enfield rifle and refused to adopt the
metric system in designing other
ordnance. In time of crisis they
gladly accepted American arms, but
had to refrain their men to use them
at loss in time and at sacrifice In
combat efficiency.
In World War II Britain was more
dependent than ever on American
made ordnance, as stocks Of tradi-
tional British weapons became ex-
hausted. The Combined Chiefs OF
Staffs saw the benefits of joint
planning in equipping as well as
deploying Allied forces. They rec
ognized the undesirability, for ex-
emple, of having United States and
Canadian troops armed with differ
ent types of war equipment when
both countries have a common de-
tense problem. One of the first
moves for postwar, Standardization
of arms is said to have come from
Canada. Field Marshal Montgom-
cry isDelieved 70 have discussed the
matter from a broad British per-
spective during his recent visit to
the United States.
The United States and Great
Britaillwould be ignoring the lessons
of the past II they were to continue
their separate ways in the design
and manufacture of equipment in
tended for mutual defense. And
taking advantage of these lessons
cannot be construed as a plot
against the security of any other
nation.
Evening star., 1946-12-11
On the Record
By Dorothy Thompson

even Of the two most backward OF them:
Poland and Romania. To come out of
the Soviet Union into any of the others
Into Finland, or into any one Of the
Baltic States-was like passing from
material morass into an economic para
disc. Even in Hungary, which had never
emerged from economic feudaliSm on
the land, the average worker enjoyed
amenities unknown to the Soviet sub
iect. The workers small fats had linen,
silver, china, sofa, so that Red Army
soldiers took the apartments of hair
dressers and mechanics to be the habi-
tations Of the rich "bourgeoise" or, in
the present term, "fascists."
The Eastern European peasant, with
his two or three cows, his whitewashed
and gaily painted cottage, his stores of
corn, his best room" tfor weddings
and funerals, his high bed, strong
chairs, beautifully embroidered linens,
and invariable feather filled "pu6,"
was man Of substance and independ-
ence, in relation to the Kokholz slave,
and he had to be broken. For the peas
antry of Europe, eastern or western,
have always been the backbone of re-
sistance to communism.
Therefore, the bourgeosie had to be
eliminated, the peasantry impoverished.
the workers reduced to the lowest pos
sible level Of subsistence, in order that
q political and economic revolution with
no popular roots whatsoever could be
carried through.
Approximately 96 per cent of all re-
lief sent to UNRRA has come from the
United States and Canada. And it is
not true that we have not used it as
q political weapon" We have per-
mitted it to be used as political weapon
by the very states that are engaged
Systematically in creating the penury
which We are trying to alleviate.
Mr.. Acheson, like all our officials,
spoke in q most cautious manner But
the State Department is loaded with
chapter and verse information from
our diplomatic agents abroad to prove
that American-raised relief has been
used for political slush-fund payments
in-kind to win support for governments
imposed on their peoples by force and
maintained by naked terror.
Relief is always political weapon"
in that it creates friendly feelings for
the people who dispense 1t. And If
the American people are to continue to
pour out their wealth, they should in
sist that it be dispensed directly to the
needy, by persons and organizations
genuinely devoted to human welfare,
like the QuakerS.
(Released By the Bell Syndicate. Inc.l
Evening star., 1946-12-11
Walter Johnson

The disclosure several months ago
that Walter Johnson was confined
to hospital with partial paral-
ysis of his left side came as a sad
dening shock to the host of baseball
fans to whom the famed pitcher had
al1. US been a symbol not only OF
baseball greatness but OF perfect
physical coordination and health
full living. It is with mixed emotions,
therefore, that word OF his death
comes to the countless admirers OF
the beloved hometown member OF
baseball's Hall of Fame. The thought
of Walter johnson enduring a pro-
tracted siege of inyalidism was hard
to contemplate.
Better that he should be remem-
bered as he was in the heyday OF his
extraordinary career-as towering,
husky athlete, winding up easily out
there on the mound in Griffith Sta
dunn as he prepared to fire one
of his soaring "smoke balls past
baff1ed batter. The Johnson the
fans prefer to remember is the
Johnson of 1912, running up string
of sixteen consecutive victories with
but little help from his teammates;
or the Johnson of 1913, setting an
all-time record of fifty-six consecu-
tive, scoreless innings; or the john
son with 3,497 strikeouts to his
credit in a twenty big
league career; or the Johnson idol
lied by American youth and, mod
estly conscious of this hero-worship,
devoting much of his spare time to
boys clubs and similar activities.
Washington viii prefer to remem-
ber-indeed can never forget-the
mighty Johnson of the last game Of
the 1924 World Series-a grim but
cool figure holding in check the most
formidable sluggers of the New York
Giants while thousands watched in
breathless suspense, until Earl Nc
Neelys eccentric bounder down the
third-base line ended the thrilling
drama and gave the veteran pitcher
the added glory Of winning for his
team It's first world championship.
That is the Walter Johnson whom
the fans revered and cheered and
will always remembers long as
baseball remains the national sport
and as long as its legends survive.
And there can be no doubt as to the
permanence of the sports popularity
Evening star., 1946-12-11
This Changing World
Bv EOnsfanfine BrosVn

The seriousness with which the Tru-
man administration is viewing the need
not only for disarmament, but for the
tightening Of the military. load on the
peoples OF the world, Is evident from re-
cent actions OF American diplomatic
representatives.
BY pressing for disarmament In the
United Nations Assembly this Govern
ment Is preparing for q considerable
measure OF further retrenchment when
q Republican Congress begins york next
year on slashing the budget costs Of the
Federal Government.
In suggesting q census Of troops at
home and abroad the United States Is
hoping, through publicity, to force re-
duction In the size OF foreign armed
forces which, at some time In the future.
could constitute q potential threat to
this Nations security.
BY threatening to withhold food from
those nations which are using their own
resources to build up and maintain large
and unwarranted armed forces, this
Government hopes to prevent new
threats to world peace by the occurrence
Of incidents which could embroil the
major powers.
Disarmament, as such, is only part Of
this broad scale offensive to eliminate
the dangers to world peace which arise
from the existence Of large national
armies on war footing. The other ele-
ments concern elimination Of the need
for vast armed forces.
+T*t
The temptation to compare today's
demtlitarization movement with that
which followed World War I is great,
but there is decided difference between
the two: That is the determination
among today's leaders in the United
States not to lower our armed guard
one bit more or one bit faster than do
the other great powers In this still
troubled world. Oficial peace has not
yet been established and there are still
too many points where statesmen seek
ing an adventure in national expansion
and aggrandizement could obtain ad.
vantage for doing 50.
There is no disposition in either the
Democratic or Republican Parties to en-
danger the security Of the country by
cripphng either the Army or Navy, and
as far as the services themselves are
concerned, preparations for immediate
mobilization and execution Of wartime
measures are constantly being prepared
and revised. Great reservoirs Of trained
reserves are being maintained by both
Army and Navy at little cost to the tax
payer and with great returns In national
security.
But, at least for the present, there is
Evening star., 1946-12-11

the foreign regimes which misused
UNRRA aid and intensified their
economic difficulties for revolution
ary and aggressive purposes. AS for
charges that the United States grew
rich out OF the war or wishes to
enslave other peoples by handouts" !"
Mr.. Acheson pithily retorted that
the best answer was that given by
an American commander to Ger
man demand for surrender That
answer was the one word: 4Nuts!"
Evening star., 1946-12-11
Meteor Shower

Down- shooting to all compass points 9f
night,
They spurt horisonward in scattering
streams
OF shafted radiance so that q
The heauens split apart beneath theF
flight.
And some feaue trails, n phoS.
ptorescent beams
And some leaue trails, Il, p1osptoresce1t
beams
OF eerie amber; some are frehb
CLEANS, X
And some ,0ide-sweeping from senits
height
Flaming By scores, faster than eye can
trace,
Each like soul that fades beyond
mans seeing, s@.s
They fash q thought OF tDorlds 4es
persed and fleeing.
And 4 ,p1o match. lying ,Uith uptufeed
Hape M sense 81 some great operlookins
70 whom al spheres are meteor strsass
STANTON a. coBLENTza
Evening star., 1946-12-11
Moscow Meeting

The agreement IN principle Dy the
Council of Foreign Ministers to hold
its next session in Moscow beginning
March 10 opens up the prospect Of
tackling the key log in the jam OF
postwar reconstruction. which Is
Germany. Likewise, the subsidiary
yet important problem of Austria
seems slated to form part Of the
agenda.
Germany presents problem
unique In modern diplomacy that
Of former great power that has
legally ceased to exist. Hitler and
his Nazis not only fought to the last.
turning the Third Reich into mass
of ruins: they had also previously
eliminated all domestic opposition to
their rule. so that there was no ma
tive alternative. as in Italy and Ja-
pan, with whom the victorS could
at least Professionally deal. The up
shot is that there, is juridically no
"Gerfnany"-merely vast mass of
German speaking people occupying
a territory whose future frontiers
are as yet undetermined. The bulk
of the former German state is carved
into four zones. militarily occupied
by American, British, French and
Soviet troops. The former capital,
Berlin, is under joint. four-poWer
occupation. The former eastern
provinces have been unilaterally sew
cred by Russia and Poland and their
German inhabitants deported, al
though those intended annexationS
to Russia and Poland have not been
assented to by the western powers.
Lastly, there are the claims of
France, Belgium and the Neither
lands to annexations of German ter
ritory and economic readjustments
in their respective favor.
Those issues are formidable enough
in themselves. Nevertheless, they are
merely the preliminaries to the long
term question as to what sort Of
Germany is to arise after its new
borders have been established and
the revival of it's juridical existence
has been made possible. The Big
Four are not yet agreed as to
whether the future Germany is to be
a centralized state or a loose fed
Grafton of states: what degree of
control will be retained by the vic
tors and for what duration; what
its economic status will be, espe-
cially in view of war reparations.
Neither are the Big Four agreed as
to the order in which all these mat
ters will be taken up.
Obviously, the agreement in prin-
ciple for the Moscow meeting three
hence must be effectively
before it can be fruit
full. And the American and British
seem alike determined
upon both a definite agenda and
preliminary diplomatic spadework
IN advance, OF the meeting itself.
Hard experience in former Council
sessions has taught them the futility
of meetings which drag on inter-
over questions of procedure
and Interpretation of antiquities.
However, if the Soviet government
really wishes the Moscow meeting to
take place. a meeting of minds on
those prerequisites can be assumed.
Evening star., 1946-12-11

When Dean AcheSoh, acting Secretary
of State, announced Sunday that the
United States would not give relief sup
plies to countries that divert to their
armies manpower that could be producing
the necessities of life, he only touched one
aspect Of q problem of human destitu-
tion that has reached such gigantic pro-
portions that 1t has become, from q
humanitarian viewpoint. insoluble.
To my mind, the most important point
he made was that the countries loud
est in their accusation that We are US
ing food As political weapon "have
preferred 10 carry out . political and
economic revolution at the risk Of stary-
ing their own people"
This is also q misleading statement.
Tine spOlitical and economic revolutions
carried out In the Baltic States, Poland,
Hungary, Czechoslovakia. the Russian
zones of Austria and Germany, and
In Yu9oe1Avia have not been done Aat
the risk of" anything. They have been
done for the purpose Of reducing the
entire population to such low economic
level that every spirit Of resistance win
be broken and the entire people made
dependent for every crust Of bread on
the all-powerful Communist directed
state.
Communist leaders are not stupid men
who cannot foresee the results Of their
policies. They foresee and plan for
exact results. They know perfectly well
that the reduction OF agricultural es-
tates, formerly operating under expert
planning and direction, into tiny
holdings OF inadequately equipped peas
ants; that the breaking Of the most
energetic and efficient peasantry tthe
'Kulaks'') into Quasi-serfdom; the re-
moval from economic activity. or from
life itself, of expert "bourgeoise" man
ayers and directors; the deportation OF
enormous numbers Of productive work
ers; the consigning to idleness IN con-
centration camps Of thousands Of people
for theological reorientation" - they
know that these and thousand other
measures will have certain result: The
reduction Of the entire population. ex-
cert for the new master caste OF COM
missars, to the lowest proletarian status,
in order TO make them become helpless,
wretched masses" which can be politi-
cally manipulated and made grateful
for every handout from the peoples
government"
Communist theorists have been saying
for years that Europe could never be
communized as long as 1t enjoyed, un-
der ''bourgeoise" institutions, . higher
standard Of living than that Of the
Soviet Union. Prior to the war that
WAS true az every Soviet border state,
Evening star., 1946-12-11

growing pressure Tor reQuct1On OF the
cost Of government, reduction which
can be taken up to some extent by civil
ian agencies. but which must be made
up more by military retrenchments.
That being the case, 1t is wise states
manship which has dictated diplo-
matte offensive to force reduction OF
the military establishments OF other
countries.
It is the requirement that American
demilitarization be matched equally by
the other great powers which distin-
guishes today's disarmament program
from that which followed World War /.
The United States will not again-it
should be evident--take position Of
idealistic leadership in disarming be-
fore others do so. But it will recall its
troops from foreign soil, 1t will put away
its arms exactly to the extent that 9TH
ers do.
There can be no quarrel with the fun
damental logic Of the argument that
maintenance Of large military estab-
lishment is an undue burden in the
form of taxes on business, on the work
ing man, on the entire economy. 1t is
q burden which can be justified only
to the extent that it is necessary for
the protection of that business, that
working man and that economy against
destruction by conquest from abroad.
It Is insurance against an attack and
can be fully upheld on that basis.
But substantial reduction in taxes
requires substantial reduction in the
cost Of government, which, in turn, re-
quires sharp slash in the major ele-
ments Of the budget-the armed Serv-
ices. This slash in the armed services
can be accomplished only in proportion
to the national security which We de-
rive from the demilitarization of other
powers. That Is the connection between
the activity of our representatives in
the United Nations and the American
taxpayers pocketbook.
The difficulty In reducing the arma-
ment burden on the American taxpayer
lies, of course, in the Soviet Union,
where the maintenance of large
standing army is not the burden-be-
cause of the absence Of a free economy
that it Is in the United States and
Great Britain. There is by no means
the internal pressure on the Soviet gov
ernment to reduce its military spending
that there is on the American Govern
ment.
The United States does have aces in
the hole in its diplomatic game, and
those aces are being made to count for
all they are worth.
Evening star., 1946-12-11

It is sincerely to be hoped that,
when and if the question of the
superiority of the coal miners or the
American people comes before the
Supreme Court, that august body
will depart from its usual routine
schedule and go at it with all the
vim of hungry hunters attacking a
veniSon stew.
Evening star., 1946-12-11
PIuce for Finule

From the worcester Telegram.
It was at Nuremberg that the NaN
party formerly held its conventions. II
was at Nuremberg that Adolf Hitler in
1888 shouted that the "period OF Ger.
man isolation Is over" There the
swastika banners flew and the bands
played. But German isolation was
actually beginning then, eliminating IN
the deep and bitter. final isolation which
was the fate Of the Nayi leaders ~
Nuremberg.
Evening star., 1946-12-11

All the coal any one could possibly
need is said to be in the Antarctic,
blocked by a sheet of ice. There
seems to be no need for John L.
Lewis to go there.
Evening star., 1946-12-11

Advertisement Objected To
To the Editor Of The Star:
It is surprising, to be very mild about
it. to see paper SO well edited as The
Star carry on the evening Of December 5
the inflammatory advertisement Of the
American League for Free Palestine,
Inc.
The league is near-boastful OF the
bloodshed instigated by Jewish terror
lists in the Near East, and at the same
time promises a continuance of pro-
gram of murder and destruction.
Further, the advertisement is an un-
warranted meddling in the foreign af-
fairs of friendly power. This country
has no right, either through leagues or
our State Department, to dip into the
affairs that are Britaiia's, and certainly
we would be very crude to do SO with
threats of terrorism.
II the Jews would check the rapid
spread Of anti -Semitism. not only in
Europe but ii this country. they would
do well to ask Britain to pull completely
out Of Palestine and permit the Jews
to fight with their own resources Tor
Palestine or any other land they feel
themselves entitled to. Mel. SMITH.
Evening star., 1946-12-11

Evidence that times do change Is
the arrest of an American soldier for
shooting a German.
Evening star., 1946-12-11

or the appeal OF It's legends as long
as players like Walter Johnson add
to Its prestige and symbolic its
traditions.