davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1947-01-23

Secretary of State Marshall has cut
the ground from under the feet Of those
who would make him q presidential or
vice presidential nominee in 1948. His
II never could be drafted" for a po-
litical ofiice) is as final as Gen. Sher-
mans famous remark that he would
not accept a presidential nomination
nor serve if elected.
The new Secretary also has made it
clear that he is not going to play poll
tics or take any part in politics IN his
present Office. He has two recent prec-
edents among cabinet officers for such
a r1onpartisan stand-the late Secretary
of the Navy Knox and former Secretary
of War Stimson-Republicans appointed
by the late President Franklin D.
Roosevelt. No one ever suggested these
gentlemen were acting in partisan
political manner. Their job was to
build up the national defense, and when
the country was drawn into the last
war, to help with the prosecution OF that
war. Secretary Marshall has the task
OF helping to keep peaceful world
through the handling OF our foreign
relations.
There might arise q situation In which
the Secretary Of State would be cata-
p,llted into the presidency-the death
or disability Of President Truman.
Under the act of Congress providing
for succession to the presidential oh1ce
in the event of the death OF both the
President and the Vice President in the
same term, the Office Is to be filled by
the Secretary Of State. II the Secre-
tary of State is not available, the next
in line is the Secretary of the Treasury,
and SO on down the line of cabinet
officers. Secretary Marshall probably
will never have to decide whether he
would serve as President. But If he
should be face to face with such a
decision, he would resolve it In accord
ance with what he considered the best
Interests of the country. neg
This question of the proper line OF
succession to the presidential Office has
been agitated, many times, and par
ticularly since President Truman took
offlce on the death of Mr.. Roosevelt. He
proposed that the law be changed so as
to make the Speaker Of the House next
in line after the Vice President, and the
House passed bill for this purpose to
which the Senate never agreed.
Instead the Senate substituted pro-
posal for joint committee to study
the whole subject Of succession to the
presidential ofiice. It died with the last
Congress. In the new Congress num-
ber of proposals have been introduced
Evening star., 1947-01-23
Favors Change to Stand.Up

Favors Change to Stand.Up
To the Editor Of The Star:
The District of Columbia Commission
ers have sent recommendation to the
Eightieth Congress that certain laws
in the District pertaining to the serving
of liquor in bars be changed.
As to be expected, howl is heard
from the drys and the ancient cry about
the return of the old-dme saloon. It is
claimed by those opposed to the change
that stand-up drinking encourages
drunkenness.
On the contrary, many people desire
only one or two drinks and could OBJ
tain them very quickly at stand-up
bar. Under the existing regulations,
person must first be seated before being
served alcoholic beverages. Inasmuch
as all Of our places selling liquor also
serve food, an individual desiring a
drink must wait for an empty booth or
table. After obtaining the table or
booth, the individual occupies space
normally intended for at least four to
six persons, thus making it more diff
cult for those wanting to eat.
We already have tried the present
system. Let us make the change. ."
A NATIVE.
Evening star., 1947-01-23

Air Safety Progress Doubted
To the Editor Of The STAR
In an editorial printed January Is,
under the title Safety and the Air." by
virtue of the fact that the scheduled
domestic airlines few approximately
twice as many passenger miles in 1916
as in 1945, the conclusion Is reached that
the safety record of the airlines approx
mately has been doubled.
Furthermore, in the computations
used In reaching this conclusion the
death of the crew. members, who were
as much the victims of the crash as the
passengers, is completely disregarded. Is
one to assume that the lives Of the crew
members do not enter into the appraisal
Of safety in the air?
Can anybody, be it you, or I, or the
domestic airline, or the CAB, face the
bereaved relative Of q crew member lost
in an air crash and conscientiously con-
sole him by declaring that the possibil-
ity of loved ones death in an air crash
has become twice as remote as it was in
1945 because the air traveller has flown
twice as many, miles?
WALTER LABANOW.
Editors Note: In 1945 creW-and-pas-
senger fatalities were "a per 100 0,000, 900
passenger miles; in 1916 they were 1.6.
Statistically, this runs somewhat higher
than the figures for passenger fatalities
aIone-2.14 in 1915 and l.24 last year
but it nevertheless represents . sub
stantial improvement in the safety
record)
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-01-25

SINGLE STEAM HEATED ROOM. NEXT
~ hath in modern home. CIose-in. Dial
9342.
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-01-25
5-AviatiOn

A1RPLANES"-NOTICE OF SALE-BY
auction to satisfy mortgages. Two PIPER
Cubs, one Stearman, one swift VIII
be sold by auction on Fisher Field IN
Elizabethtown. N. c., at 12:oo noon
Jenuary 30. 1947.
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-01-25
60-For Rent Rooms

BEDROOM WITH KITCHEN AND Nv
ing room privileges. Call 2-3088.
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-01-25
25-Paint- Papering

PAINTING, CARPENTERING, SPECIAL
izing in small jobs. Best references.
Dial 1867. ..-
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-01-25
55-For Rent Apartments

Ia ROOMS AND. BATH. LOWER APART
ment. Furnished; all onveniences
WrightsvilIe Sound, on water front. ).
o. Hinton. 1871.
The Wilmington morning star., 1947-01-25
85-Help Wanted Male

ROOFING SALESMAN WANTED. GOOe
proposition for the right man. Call
2-sso7 for appointment. Sharpe Roofing
Co.
Evening star., 1947-02-26
On the Record
By Dorothy Thompson

The crisis in which the world finds
itself today-a crisis unparalleled in the
history of the white race and western
civilization-is a moral crisis. 1t Is
marked by the almost universal break
down of morality and law The war has
not been won and it is impossible to
make peace because the moral crisis,
Which-we Observation-Disclosures in the
murderous regime of Adolf Hitler, has
not been resolved. We are in state Of
progressive moral anarchy, and add to
our confusion by calling progressive dis
integration progress
In Nuremberg Herr Sauckel was con-
demned and hanged because he brought
foreign workers to Germany and i'm
pressed them into slave labor. Slave
labor is labor performed against con-
sent and without free contract.
In sentencing Herr Sauckel, the Allies
departed from time -honored principle
of western law, that a crime is not a
crime unless it has been previously so
defined in law. The moral justification
for branding as crime an act justified
as wartime necessity" and clearly not
defined and subject to legal sanctions
in international law was that 1t was
in fact, a crime before the conscience of
mankind. The test of such justification
is, however, that the prosecutors, as
guardians of that conscience, should
henceforth recognize 1t as crime
whenever and by whomever committed
subject to the same conscience and the
same sanctions.
There is no law except that which its
codifers, prosecutors and judges agree
to live under themselves.
II X
However, on the day following the
execution of Herr Sauckel newspapers
reported that Russia had repulsed Ger
man protests against the expectation OF
Germans for labor in Russia on the
ground that the Germans had uncon-
ditionally surrendered and therefore had
no voice in the matter" No conscience
of mankind" was involved. A certain
American major in Munich, who di
rected German paper, had previously
expressed a similar opinion regarding
the forced deportations of Germans
from the east Since then a Soviet
newspaper in Irkutsk has stated that
100000 prisoners of war are being re-
tanned in Siberia for labor on railroads.
in mines and on public works projects
The Soviet Union Is not the only
country who thus, nearly two years
after the end of hostilities, is employing
what was defined at Nuremberg as slave
labor. The Soviet Union was never a
signatory to the Geneva Convention
respecting prisoners of war. But the
United States and France were. The
United States held to that convention
during the war, when American pris-
oners of war were in the hands of the
Germans. But when our own and
French prisoners were released, so that
there was no possibility of reprisals, the
United States turned over German pris-
Evening star., 1947-02-26

oners of war to France. That country,
thereafter with our consent and con-
nivance and in defiance of the Geneva
Convention, has been employing them
ever since as slave labor under the same
definition of slave labor as that used
against Herr Sauckel in Nuremberg.
The general attitude of the public in
Allied countries is that "it serves the
Germans right" Few care to recall that
President Roosevelt, in his foreign policy
speech of September, 1914, gave spe-
cific pledge to the German people: "The
Allies do not traffic in human slavery"
Whoever raises his voice today in be-
half of the application Of the new Nu-
remberg law to all, including ourselves,
Is promptly castigated as prof. German.
X X X
But do only handful of people see
that we are Herewith deepening the
moral anarchy which is developing into
physical anarchy?
Do only handful of people see that
we cannot possibly achieve universal
peace unless we can put universal foun-
dations under our political life?
Do only handful of people see that
if, having defeated Germany, we accept
for ourselves Hitler's standards and
Hitlers methods, Hitler has conquered?
The only way peoples and govern
ments can establish moral foundations
under their national and international
life Is by the acceptance and applica-
ton of the Golden Rule. 1t is to do to
no one what you would not want done
to yourself under similar circumstances
That is the essence of justice-the ca
Dacitv to nut oneself ones nation ope's
class, ones race, ones society in the
dock on the charges preferred against
another, and ask: Were I in this posi-
toni, my nation, class or race-would
I accept this judgment as just?
That question is the basis of morality
and law. And until we accept this foun-
Gation, we shall have neither interna-
tional peace, social peace, nor peace of
mind. We shall simply go on going
crazy, in split-personality division be-
tween our avowed moral standards and
our actual behavior.
released BY the Bell Syndicate. Ine)
Evening star., 1947-02-26
Underground in Germany

1t is not surprising that weekend
raids have netted hundreds OF un-
derground organizers in the British
and American zones in Germany.
Similar raids brought similar results
last March. and more Of the same
can be expected in the future. Hit
ler is dead, but his poisonous ideas
did not die with him. The ground is
fertile for conspirators. After long
years of Nazi indoctrination, the
Fuehrer's erstwhile followers prob
ably are the worlds worst subjects
for conversion to a peaceful, demo-
cratic way of life.
The atmosphere of Germany,
moreover, is peculiarly inviting to
those who would like nothing better
than Nazi comeback. The country
has suffered total defeat. It's econ
omy has been wrecked. Nearly all
its major cities are Scared by vast
areas of destruction. Acutely short
of food and of virtually everything
else, it can barely manage to exist
at present. AS for its future, the
picture it sees is unrelievedly grim.
In such circumstances. brooding un-
der occupation and forgetting that
they brought ruin on themselves by
first infiicting it upon others, mil
lions of Germans are disposed to feel
self-pity, and no small percentage of
them must dream of day of re-
surgence and revenge. In short,
psychologically and otherwise. it
seems almost to be in the natural
order of things that there should be
plots among them to organize un-
derground movements.
If the victor powers were of one
mind, this problem would be less
serious than it is. The fact that they
are not of one mind, but are in
stead fundamentally divided, tends
strongly to encourage conspiracy
and to hold together what is left Of
the shattered Nazi machine. Thus,
agreement on an overall occupation
policy is still lacking, with grievous
economic and political results. Thus,
too, in respect to the future, there
seems little chance that the forth
coming Moscow Conference will be
able to unite on peace treaty Ca
pable of guaranteeing against Ger
| man aggressionswhile at the same
Evening star., 1947-02-26
Do Not Rejoice

Do not rejoice that you hare found the
key,
Do not cry bltndly that the ,odr is
done,
That pictory comes quickly. men are
free,
And earth's long torment has an end!
The sun
That shone on Carthage shines the
same, the stars
That sato Atlantis stink beneath the
sea
Observe this re,oest rise. This path Of
ours
Was used before, and used again
shall be.
Do not rejoice that you haze reached the
gates
And in your hands the scepter OF the
skies
Far greater ones before you stunned the
fates
And reached out boldly for the godly
prize,
To find a scarecroto on the throrts
sublime
And cold fcinds bloioing dolon the lanes
OF timei ARTHUR HAROLD.A
Evening star., 1947-02-26

Decision of the Capital Transit
Company to abandon bus service to
the Pentagon Building is based on
practical considerations. The buses
which carry District residents across
the Potomac River in the morning
rush hours are forced, for lack of
return customers, to make the trip
back empty-handed. And in the
evening rush period, the buses 60 to
the Pentagon empty and return
loaded. This is manifestly an un-
economic way of running busline.
There is a possible solution for
this problem, however. The District
Motor Vehicle Parking Agency and
the Capital Transit Company have
been working on a plan to use the
northern part of the Pentagon park
ing lot for an experiment in fringe
parking" The section of the park
ing area in question has been virtu-
ally unused for a long time. Under
the proposal, Virginia residents
working in Washington would be
encouraged to drive to the Pentagon,
leave their cars there and transfer
to the just-unloaded Capital Transit
buses. The Virginians thus would
be relieved of parking worries in
Washington and the buses would be
assured of full loads Of passengers
both in the morning and the
evening.
The only hitch in this interesting
plan is an apparent inability of
District and Federal officials to un-
tangle some red tape that would be
involved in District use of the War
Department lot. That is the sort OF
red tape that deserves cutting
promptly in the interest of the
public. Lawyers for both sides
should be able to get together on
a solution-and if special legislation
is necessary to carry out the fringe
parking experiment at the Pentagon,
a bill to that effect should be intro
duced promptly. The opportunity
to try out the new parking scheme
at the Pentagon is too important
to be permitted to go by default.
Evening star., 1947-02-26
For Federal Efficiency

The executive order redefining
civil service authority and response
bilities will have the salutary effect
not only Of facilitating the recruit
ment of new employees but of insur-
ing the elimination of deadwood
whenever necessary. The major bur-
den in both cases is placed directly
on the heads of the various depart
ments and agencies, rather than on
the Civil Service Commission.
Outstanding provision of the re-
vised regulations Is the one giving
permanent status to the wartime
civil service. decentralization pro-
gram. During the war, when it was
necessary to speed up the recruiting
of civilian personnel, the field agen-
cies were authorized to cooperate
with the Civil Service Commission in
securing and examining applicants.
This program proved to be so prac-
ticable and so successful that the
commission has decided to continue
it in expanded form. Each depart
ment and bureau thus will have its
own personnel division to recruit
and examine prospective employees,
subject, of course. to the rules and
general supervision of the Civil
Service Commission. Much red tape
heretofore involved in the highly
centralized activities of the COM
mission will be eliminated, with a
considerable saving in time.
The control which the individual
agencies will maintain over their
employees will be further bolstered
by the White House reference-co-
incident with the civil service over
haul-to the necessity for getting
rid OF incompetent workers. This
may be regarded as a mandate to
department officials to survey all
personnel anew and use the powers
which they already have to weed
out the inefficient. In a period when
reduction of the Government pay
roll Is being demanded by economy
advocates of both parties, it is only
fair that the first to feel the ak
should be the lazy and the incompe-
tent. II there were any doubts as to
the authority Of administrative off,
GERS to proceed vigorously with such
housecleaning, the President has
dispelled them by his emphatic
statement. The "go" sign has been
given to the departments-it is up
to them to carry out the orders.
Evening star., 1947-02-26
Foolish Middle Ground

From the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Quashing of indictments against :
persons and gambling houses in Hendel
son County is one more reminder OF !
curious cleft in the American mind.
There are some persons who believe
sincerely that all forms of gambling
should be outlawed and stopped. There
are others who as sincerely believe that
since gambling is inevitable, we should
relax and license it. But there are
many more than either of these honest
extremes who take middle view.
To them, the answer is practical
rather than moral. Leave gambling
outside the law, they say, and suppress
it when it begins to get too big. And
that is the course that law enforce
ment agencies in many conmunities
pursue.
Quit clearly it is cynical and hypo
critical approach.
Evening star., 1947-02-26
Fried Salt Pork
To the Editor of The Star:

To the Editor of The Star
You've got an editorial in your Febru-
airy oath issue on Fried Salt Pork" !"
That's enough to arouse appreciation OF
any salt pork eater. But, when your
writer stuffs this pork with "intran-
sigeant," "obeisance" and "prerogatives
cf his peers" he just amt talking real
pork language. Such words aren't used
in the hog country, and you are making
trouble for lot of people hunting die
tionaries to get your meaning. Sounds
a lot like some one got switched from
reporting U. N. meetings and couldn't
get down to a ham-fry or cracklin'
feast without using big words.
MARTIN LJLLIGREN.
Evening star., 1947-02-26
The Devastated Far East

While the picture of the late wars
destruction in Europe and North
Africa has been pretty well filled IN,
the postwar state of the Far East
has hitherto not been aScertalned
in detail. That gap in our knowl-
edge now has been filled by a de-
tailed report compiled by the secre-
tariat of the United Nations and
submitted to the temporary sub
commission for that part OF the
world, functioning under the U. N.
body dealing with economic recon-
struction of devastated areas.
The outstanding feature of this
monumental and highly document
ed report is the hideous and 1nhu-
man conduct of the Japanese in
every region penetrated by their
conquering armies, which fully
EQUALS the worst misdeeds perpe-
trated by their German and Italian
Axis partners.
AS might have been expected,
China leads the list of Japan's VIC
tins, with at least 100000 killed
outright and untold millions more
dead of wounds, starvation or dis
ease. Furthermore, nearly all OF
China's prewar industrial plant,
electric installations, bridges
and shipping were wiped out. CAL
culated in monetary terms, all this
must amount to many billions of
dollars.
Perhaps the most ferociouS in
stance of mass killing was in the
Netherlands Indies. In Java alone,
100000 natives were slain, almost
10 per cent of the population, while
another million were slaughtered in
the outer islands. These maSsacres
were the more wanton in that ma
tive resistance to the japanese was
negligible The most complete dev-
astation occurred in Papua and New
Guinea, where almost everything
was wiped out.
French Indo-China got III rela-
lively lightly, its current economic
prostration being due less to dam
age inflicted by the Japanese than
to subsequent internal strife, which
continues to mount as the rebellious
natives resist the returning French.
In Malaga, only about 10 per cent
Of the rubber plantations were de-
stroyed. The fate of the Philip
Dimes was much harder, the esti-
mated damage running to $780,
100000. Siam (Thailand), which ac-
cepted Japanese occupation peace
fully and never was battle-ground,
came out virtually unscathed, its
prospects being the brightest in the
Far East.
From all this, the report draws
the conclusion that whole bat
terry" of international aids is needed
to effect sound recovery and fore
stall political upheavals in which
"antidemocratic and militariStic'
native groups might seize control
and entrench themselves in power
Evening star., 1947-02-26
Korean Headache


a major problem, it is, and long has
been. one of the outstanding sore
spots lin American Soviet relations.
Here, perhaps more than anywhere
else, Soviet nonco-operation, casu-
istry, intransigeance, and failure to
live up to diplomatic agreements are
seen in their most aggravated form.
The upshot has been complete
Soviet-American deadlock, with in
dications that the impasse Is getting
worse rather than better.
All this has been known in a gen.
eral way for at least year. But the
gravity of the problem has just been
spotlighted by the current visit to
Washington of Lieutenant General
John r. Hodge, United States COM
mander in Korea. Called to Wash
ington for consultation with the
President and the State Department,
presumably to give an authoritative
picture of the Korean situation be-
fore Secretary Marshalps departure
for the Moscow Foreign Ministers
Conference early next month, Gen
eral Hodge has done some very plain
speaking in press interviews. The
point which got the headlines was
his virtual confirmation of reports
that the Russians are conScripting
the Koreans in their zone for a Rus
sian trained and equipped army
that might reach 100000. General
Hodge could see no reason for this
action" which seems to flout the
spirit, If not the letter, of the inter-
national agreement under which
both the Soviet Union and the United
States are presumed to operate in
Korea. But this incident is merely
part Of a pattern developed by the
Soviet authorities from the start.
The root of the trouble goes back
to the occupation Of Korea by
American and Russian forces when
Japan capitulated in the early
autumn of 1945, the Russians coming
in from the north while the Ameri-
cans landed in the south. The situa-
ton was regulated by a top-level
diplomatic agreement in Moscow
under which Korea was bisected
along the thirty eighth parallel of
latitude into Russian and American
occupation zone. But it was likewise
provided that this occupation was to
be limited to five years, during which
time a provisional Korean govern
ment was to be established and the
country, freed from four decades of
oppressive Japanese rule, should be
prepared for eventual independence.
This agreement. has remained a
dead letter owing to Russia's refusal
to do anything to implement it. The
arbitrary demarcation line has re-
mained an iron curtain" in the
most literal sense of the term.
Northern Korea has been virtually
communized, while Communist
propaganda has hindered American
efforts to reorganize our zone. Cen
eral Hodge says that his efforts to
reach an understanding with the
local Soviet authorities appear
hopeless" Anything further to be
done is "up to some one else"
The whole weight of evidence
tends to confirm assertions of
Korean patriotic leaders in our zone
and in America that Soviet Russia
deliberately plans to squeeze us out
of Korea and take over the whole
country. Hence, Secretary Mar
shalps forthcoming visit to Moscow
should furnish good opportunity
to have some plain speaking on a
problem which can be neither ig-
nored nor side-stepped.