davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1947-01-18
Antarctic Miruqes

Some good may come of the recent
crash of Navy reconnaissance
plane on an ice shelf of the bleak
Antarctic continent Out OF the
accident and its thrilling sequel, the
rescue of six of the nine men abroad
the Inflated aircraft, have come a
wider knowledge and better under
standing of a mirage-like phenom-
enon which long has been source
of wonderment and confusion to ex-
plorers. Survivors of the tragedy
attributed their crash to one OF
these Antarctic optical illusions.
According to the story of officers
aboard the plane, the crew ran into
peculiar atmospheric conditions just
prior to the crackup. An ice
covered mountain which seemed to
be far away suddenly loomed dan
gerously close, and when the pilot
swerved the plane sharply he soon
found the undercarriage scraping
the ice of the shelf The conditions
described we're markedly similar to
those encountered by Admiral Byrd
on one of his previous trips to the
Antarctic.
Admiral Byrd, commenting on the
illusory phenomena experienced by
the plane, recalled that when he
first sought to find suitable site
for his first Little America camp
about twenty years ago he had been
so puzzled by visual distortions that
he penned the following notes at the
time: There was an extraordinarily
battling condition of visibility in
which, while it was broad daylight
and no fog, we could see only sew
eral hundred feet and inequalities
of surface took on weird shapes. We
had an oppressive, shut-in feeling,
and no horizon or skyline was visible.
Try as would, I could not make out
the distance of things from us, nor
their shape"
The expedition commander Is TAX
ing steps to "brief" all of his pilots
on these eerie phenomena, so that
they will be on guard against Ma
Evening star., 1947-01-18

The wars of modern times have been
fought partly with old weapons and
partly with new ones. The new has
never wholly replaced the old. For
example we found out toward the close
of World War II that we must still seek
decision on the ground, with infantry;
and we had no more embarrassing
shortage than the then existing shortage
of trained infantry riflemen.
This is not a plea for adherence to
the old methods and rejection OF new
techniques. 1t is rather plea for mod
Grafton and realistic thinking. We have
not gone at one bound from airplanes
and machine guns and Garand rifles to
supersonic guided missiles and atomic
rockets. In fact most of the Buck Rogers
weapons are in the experimental stage
and could be used only experimentally
and therefore on a small scale if war
were to break out tomorrow.
What is at issue is not choice be-
tween old and new, but rather parallel
development of all necessary methods.
There is need for caution, for the public
imagination has leaped far beyond the
actual progress of military science inso-
far as that progress has been translated
into practical accomplishment and pro-
ductions Since it is the public imagina-
tion, however, which influences to very
marked degree the reactions OF Con-
gressmen and therefore the appropria-
tions for the armed forces, the necessity
for moderation and realistic thinking"
should be apparent.
xt*
We used to hear great deal about
the fashioned military mind, about
the inf1exibility of military thinking,
about a determination to cling stubbornly
to outmoded weapons and methods. No
one who really knows the officers in
charge of our national security today
could accuse them of this type of reac-
tionary thought. They are. indeed. ask
ing for far more money for research and
development than the Bureau Of the
Budget, under the Presidents direction.
Evening star., 1947-01-18
This Changing World
By Constantine Bro,cn

AS the political phases of American
foreign policy begin to settle down into
more of routine state, due to the
elimination of some troublesome issues
and the adoption of more reasonable
approaches to others, economic foreign
policy is coming back onto the stage.
When the Republicans scored their
congressional victory in, November it
was apparent that one of the major
points of attack, at least for certain
groups of Republicans, would be the
reciprocal trade program, which was
the direct offspring of Cordell Hull's
many years of interest in tariffs.
Just what shape the Republican at
tack will take is not yet clear, for there
is no agreement within the Republican
Party as to how far the adnlinistra-
tons free hand to negotiate reductions
in American tariffs should be curbed
When the Reciprocal Trade Agree
ments Act was passed in 1884 this coun-
try was conducting its foreign trade
under the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act
which set duties at the highest in his
tory. 1t set in motion chain reaction
of economic nationalism throughout the
world which deepened and heightened
the world depression and left scars on
the world economy which have not to
this day been erased.
x y X X
Thereafter followed nearly 80 recipro
cal trade agreements whose actual c.,
tribution to the revival of world =
in the last half of the 30s was s.a
tistical fact. AS had been claimed, the
partial opening of American markets to
foreign products increased American
purchasing power abroad and was re-
f1ected in a stimulation of American
exports.
The operations under the act went
along year after year against the chal-
lenge of not only Republicans but some
Democrats whose constituents were loud
in their protests that American business
was being threatened by heavy impor-
tations of foreign goods. Each time
the act came up for extension it was a
combination of Republicans and Demo-
Gratis which renewed it, although somt
amendment was made in it just befor
the war.
The reciprocal trade program found
its greatest body of supporters in that
segment of Americas industry which
depended on foreign markets to take up
the slack in domestic trade. Naturally
it was the production industries
Evening star., 1947-01-18

ernment sorely needs in positions
of responsibility. Yet Mr.. Shafer
has tried to blacken their names
and throw mud on their distin-
guished records.
Apart from the personalities in
volved, all this is deplorable on two
counts: First, because nothing could
be better calculated to discourage
able Americans from entering Gov
ernment service; and, second, be-
cause any such discreditable per-
formance by one party member must
embarrass all the Republican mem
bers now freshly in control of the
House. If Mr.. Shafer's colleagues
can do anything to prevent similar
smears in the future, they would
be we'll advised to do it.
Evening star., 1947-01-18

those in which American business has
been most efhcient-which found the
greatest benefit from the program
Other industries, however, which had
to compete with the lower prices-due
to cheaper labor-of foreign goods found
the benefits not so plentiful and have
never ceased to oppose trade reciprocity.
In the overall picture, though, the
weight of national benefit was on the
side of the Hull program.
One OF the more apparent shortcom-
ings Is the relatively free hand which
the act gave the State Department in
Enlargement negotiations, and the
tering away of tariffs. In a Congress
which appears determined to give busi-
ness more of break than it has had
for IA years, the imposition of some
business control over the trade-agree-
ments program appears certain.
Whatever is done along this line is
likely to come soon, for IS nations are
to meet at Geneva, Switzerland, on
April to take up further reductions in
tariffs as stimulus to revival of world
trade. The devastation of war has
crippled production for export in many
lands and created relief needs which
completely distort the true foreign-trade
picture.
At the same time as the Geneva con-
ference is being held, United Nations
Preparatory Commission will meet to
discuss permanent charter for the In
ternational Trade Organization, whose
function will be to smooth path for
foreign trade in every part Of the world.
/, 1t will be well, therefore, that revi-
sions in American foreign economic pol
icy-if there are to be some, be put into
effect before these two conferences get
under way.
Although extreme demands are heard
that the reciprocal trade program be
wiped out entirely. it is not likely, in
view of the present global interests of
American political policies, that any
severe inroads will be made into the
principle of trade reciprocity. The
,eriod of high tariffs and economic
,ationalism conceded with the period
# isolation in American foreign policy.
rhe two went hand in hand, just as
Americas postwar policy of participa-
ton in all world affairs goes hand in
hand with economic policies which favor
a high level of international trade.
Evening star., 1947-01-18
Thot's Settled, Anywuy
From the Topeka Capital

From the Topeka Capital.
The advancement of science may pose
more problems than it solves, what with
atomic control and all. But at least one
scientist, Prof. Alfred Romer OF Har-
ward, has recently provided plausible
answer to one question that has been
plaguing mankind for generations.
The egg, says Prof. Romer, came first.
Definitely, and milIenia before the
chicken. II 1t weren't for the Develop
ment of the hard-shelled egg, reptiles
would still be laying the soft-shell va
riety In the water, and there wouldn't
be any land mammals or birds-includ-
ing chickens
Now, If the physicists will only settle
their arguments about whether the uni
verse is finite or infinite, we may get
an answer to the old question Of how
high is up. After which we should all
be able to tackle the problem of how to
live with the fashionable atom with con-
Siderably more confidence.
Evening star., 1947-01-18
The Political Mill
By Gould Lincoln

some amendment of the Federal labor
laws-not enough by any means-but
some, which marks a distinct withdrawal
from the adamant position of the Roose-
velt New Deal administration.
His labor legislation recommendations
have been hailed in some organized
labor circles as fair and moderate.
There are indications labor will rally
back of his programs the best line
of defense against the more drastic pro-
posals advanced by the Republicans in
Congress. If labor follows such course,
and at the same time uses enough COM
mon sense to abandon demands for
large increases in wages at time
when prices of commodities nave started
to fall, Mr.. Truman may emerge as
the real friend of labor-which cer-
tainly will not hurt him in a contest
to succeed himself in the 1948 national
election.
The best way to play politics, some
times, is not to play them at all. The
moves Mr.. Truman has been making.
on the surface, have not been good poll
tics in that they did not appear to be
calculated to appease the radicals who
stuck to the late President Roosevelt
like leech. When Mr.. Truman kicked
Henry A. Wallace out of the cabinet,
the radicals let out wall and threat
ened reprisals. The removal Of Mr..
Wallace, however, made hit with a
lot of people-and this country, at bot
tom, is not radical.
Mr.. Wallace was the last of the Roose-
welt cabinet remaining on the payroll,
except Secretary of the Navy Forrestal.
The fumbling which took place at the
White House over Mr.. Wallace's New
icy which Secretary of State Byrnes was
pursuing, injured Mr.. Truman's pres
tige. The result-the elimination Of
Mr.. Wallace-did not hurt at all. Face
to face with a Republican, controlled
Congress. Mr.. Truman is at last him
self, apparently, without seeking to
play the Roosevelt role or listening to
those who insisted they spoke the
thoughts and policies of the late Presi-
dent.
Few people in this country, if any,
hate Mr.. Truman. Many have been
sorry for him because of the heavy
burdens he has had to bear in the
immediate postwar period. A good
many have admired the courage with
which he faced the railroad strike and
the coal strike-either of which might
have brought disaster to the entire
country. His expressed willingness to
cooperate with Congress, If it works
out, will do him no harm. II the Re-
publicans, for their part, try to play
too much politics-merely to hamstring
Mr. Truman-so much the worse for
them in 1948.
Evening star., 1947-01-18

Chalk up another success for President
Truman-an amicable settlement of the
controversy between the Army and Navy,
the War and Navy Departments, over
the proposal to merge the departments,
creating single Department of National
Defense.
The final settlement, it is true, retains
so-called Secretaries of War, Navy and
But over them is the Secretary of Ma
tional Defense, with cabinet rank, to
coordinate them all. The Secretaries
of War, Navy and Air Forces will not
have cabinet rank-but they are to retain
the right to talk direct to the President.
Time alone will disclose whether this
right to 60 over the head of the Secretary
of National Defense to the President is
g. good thing. 1t, however, was probably
the price of agreement.
The country is being treated to a phe-
nomenon-a recrudeScsnce of popularity
of a President who was on the down.
grade during the first two years he was
in offlce-or nearly two years. If it
continues, the Republicans will have to
watch their step in Congress and out or
they may miss the big prize-the presi-
dency in 1949-to which they have so
confidently looked forward since the
elections of 1896
For if 1916 was bad year for MIR. Tru-
man, 1947 is taking on another hue. On
the international side, relations with
Soviet Russia appear to be on the up
and-up largely due to the firm policy
advanced by Secretary of State Byrnes,
with the backing of President Truman,
and, equally important from the point Of
view Of national unity, with the backing
of Senator Vandenberg of Michigan, now
chairman of the Senate Foreign Rela-
tions Committee, and of Senator Connal-
ly of Texas, former chairman. Further,
the appointment of Gen. George c. Mar
shall, who as Chief of Staff played a
major part in winning the Second World
War, to succeed Mr. Byrnes as Secretary
of State has met with wide approval.
On the domestic side, where the Presi-
dent sustained his SevereSt loss in pres
tige and popular favor last year, there
has been a distinct improvement. 1t
has stemmed first from the Presidents
fiat refusal to bow the knee to John L.
Lewis and his striking coal miners and,
second, from his belated, though neces-
sary, removal of many Of the wartime
controls over production and prices. Fur
ther, there has been a lull, at least,
the battle between organized labor ana
management on many fronts. battle
which lost the country untold billions
since the close of the war and retarded
reconversion to peacetime economy. In
addition, the President has taken the
bull by the horns and recommended
Evening star., 1947-01-18
Polio Progress

Within recent days there have
been two encouraging developments
in the fight against infantile pa
ralysis. At Stanford University two
research chemists have isolated a
poliomyelitis virus in a form up
ward of 80 per cent pure, and three
Chicago scientists have infected
white mice directly-for the first
time-With polio virus taken from
humans. Both successes have one
thing in common: They hold out
new promise that the world may
yet enjoy an effective preventive
vaccine against the dread disease.
Thus the isolation of the nearly
pure virus opens the way to impor-
tant new experimentation in search
of a substance to confer immunity
Equally promising-if not more So
is what has been done by the Chi
cago scientists. Heretofore, it has
not been possible to infect white
mice directly with the human polio
virus. Experimenters have been
obliged, instead, to 60 through a
costly and me-consuming process
of transmitting the virus first to
monkeys, then to cotton rats and
finally to the mice. Now, however,
it will be possible to eliminate the
monkeys and the rats-a develop
ment likely to reduce the research
procedure from a matter of months
to a matter of from two to four
weeks.
Accordingly, with a much purer
virus to work with and with the
new, accelerated experimental tech
nique, the vaccine prospect seems
appreciably better. Authorities on
the subject emphasize that the two
developments have nothing to do
with cure for polio and for polio's
deadly aftereffects. They empha-
size, too, that it may be many a
year before the Stanford sand Chi,
cago discoveries lead to anything
spectacular. Nevertheless signifi-
cant progress is being made. If
men have been able to bring about
such wonders as the harnessed atom,
there is good reason to hope-eSpe-
cially in view of the latest successes
that they will one day find way
to immunize human beings against
infantile paralysis, just as against
smallpox and other once-fearsome
diseases.
Evening star., 1947-01-18
RecompenSe

Like child ,pho spends his last bright
dime
Upon tD1lin1, nor eper counts the cost,
Not even guessing there wiA come time
When he tDiH long for something he
hast lost
And wish the hour back, the golden
spending
His only recompense the trtnket
gone,
And learn that epery dream comes to
an ending
And fades upon the misty rsrn Of
SO down the years he finds Dkat he has
spent,
Though lost, Is stu his oaDn d. the
interest paid
A hundredfold, that dreD briet toonder.
nent-
That beauty known can neper bssy
gainsnid:: ss @
So shall he spend his last bright coin OF.
breath
And sttu retain q mortgage orer denthf~s
MAE wINKLER GOODMAN. -
Evening star., 1947-01-18

lures grim hoaxes in future ex-
ploratory flights. Radar should be
of valuable assistance in warning
pilots that their eyes are not to be
relied upon too much in the Ant
arctic. With the polar regions al
ready heralded as skyways of the
future, the lessons learned at such
cost today will contribute to the
safety of air exploration and trans
portation of tomorrow.
Evening star., 1947-01-18
Merqer Compromise

1t would be an exaggeration of the
facts to say that the Army Navy
merger plan announced by Presi-
dent Truman will completely satisfy
every one in or out of the armed
services who has voiced an opinion
on this controversial subject. 1t is,
as Mr.. Truman put it, an admirable
compromise" but, being a compro-
mise reluctantly agreed upon under
strong presidential pressure, it un-
doubtedly will be subjected to close
congressional scrutiny.
The plan will go to the Capitol
with better chances of passage than
any of its Inflated predecessors in
the long history of merger legisla-
ton. This is because it is the first
proposal of its kind to bear the
official stamp of approval of all the
fighting branches involved. In
agreeing to the final plan each of
the services has made concessions
in the interest of harmony which
Congress may not 60 along with.
But each gained one or more major
objectives, with the Navy emerging
generally victorious in its battle for
what it considered to be basic
principles.
While the President and the War
Department, whose views Mr.. Tru-
man largely reflected, have won the
Navy over to the single Department
of National Defense idea originally
proposed in his message to Congress
of December 10, 1945, they have
capitulated to Navy demands that
each service retain large measure
of autonomy under a secretary
having appropriate prestige. The
Navy's vigorous objections to
super r-chief of staff, or so-called
military master mind, also have
prevailed. It is proposed that there
shall be a Secretary of National
Defense in the Presidents cabinet
and, under him, Secretaries for the
Army, the Navy and Air who, while
not members of the cabinet, would
have access to its sessions and to
the President personally. And each
service would have it's own chief of
staff, who would serve on the Joint
Chiefs of Staff. Thus each service
would have equal voice in joint
planning of overall strategy and
operations.
The Navy chalked up another VIC
tory in the field of aviation. Al
though the Army Air Forces would
attain independent status, the Navy
would still have sole control over its
carrier, water-based and land-based
planes, including their use for naval
reconnaissance, protection Of ship
ping and antisubmarine patrol. The
AAF had sought to take over the
latter functions from naval avia-
ton. The Marines, too, would be left
intact under the Navy.
It is gratifying to those who have
been disturbed over the bitterness
of the merger controversy to know
that opposing views have been
reconciled on so many major points.
The bitterness unfortunately was
aggravated by the earlier efforts of
the President to force a merger un-
satisfactory to naval experts and to
many other persons sincerely inter-
ested in national security. Congress
now should be able to consider the
question in the deliberative and i'm
partial atmosphere which so revo-
lutionary project deserves.
Evening star., 1947-01-18

Vice President Marshall once re-
marked that what this country really
needed was a good five-cent cigar.
A thirty inch shoestring would make
an equal hit these days.
Evening star., 1947-01-18
'Prima Donnas' Objected To

'Prima Donnas' Objected To
To the Editor Of The Star:
Football often has been referred to in
terms comparative with the game of
life. 1t has been pointed out that foot
ball truly is an excellent teacher of the
values of courage, quick thinking and,
above all, teamwork.
In football, the man who tries to play
to the grandstand, and star as one
man performer at the expense of his
teammates, is known by some pretty
harsh names. He is bad for team mo-
rale, he is a handicap to team achieve
ment.
Isn't it about time that we stopped
permitting some of our one-man-show
members of Congress from parading
around under the self-beStowed desig-
nations as liberals" and "progressives"?
It should be recognized that many of
them are not liberal or progressive at
all, but merely prima donnas who do
not like to take signals from the elected
captain and who would rather be star
performers than work with their team.
These congressional grandstanders pre-
vent their team (party) from achieving
maximum effectiveness.
JOHN EDWARDS:
Evening star., 1947-01-18
A Terrible Place!

From the Cleveland News
Another qualified paradise IL the
South Polar region, where there are no
cold germs, no weeds, no insects and
hold it. boyS-no women
Evening star., 1947-01-18
The Neighborhood Concerts

The Neishborhood Concerts
To the Editor of The Star: .H
I want to express to you my very sin
cere thanks for your part in making it
possible for us to attend the concert of
the National Symphony Orchestra at
Mckinley High School.
It was the first experience of this kind
for my children, and 1t was quite high
light in their lives for they had won-
derful time.
To add to this, the fact that you pub
lished my daughter Mickie's picture just
about brought her cup to overflowing.
I am sure this will be grand begin
ming for a much keener appreciation of
music.
Thank you, so very much.
MRS MAE SEWARD.