davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1947-01-17
Ford's Shock Treatment

In line with the family tradition,
Henry Ford II has set the automo-
bile industry back on its heels by
doing the unexpected-just as the
founder of the Ford empire so often
was won't to do. In the old days the
Ford Company evidenced independ-
ence of thought and action by revo-
lutionizing mass-production meth
ods, making drastic price cuts, show
ing the way in wage increases and
instituting numerous employment
reforms. Now comes young Mr.. Ford
with what he calls "shock treat
ment" against infiation-a surprise
price reduction in this era Of gen.
orally soaring wages and prices.
The reductions are not so surpris-
ing in extent, of course, as to bring
Ford prices down to the fondly re-
membered levels of before the war
emergency, when standard and de
luxe models sold for around 5000 or
$700 and there was no waiting for
delivery. The surprising thing in
automotive circles is that Ford feels
able to make any price reduction at
all. The cuts will range from fifteen
to fifty dollars car.
Mr.. Ford admits that his company
has lost millions of dollars in the
unhappy and costly period of re-
conversion" since VI day. This was
q period of strikes, shortages and
widespread industrial uncertainty
and discomfort. Toward the end of
last year, however, production began
to pick up and Ford earnings began
to improve. Mr.. Ford believes the
production crisis is past. Barring
unforeseen shortages and crippling
strikes, he hopes gradually to return
to mass-production schedules that
will justify narrow margins of profit.
How effective the Ford "shock
treatment" will be depends on
factors other than production and
sales, however. The big "if" right
now is in the field of impending
wage negotiations. The CIO United
Automobile Workers Union already
has announced plans for a drive to
raise hourly rates 23H2 cents. Sig
nificantly, Mr.. Ford submitted his
price announcement to the union in
advance of its release to the public.
The statement specifically appealed
to the employees to cooperate in
keeping production costs down, lest
1t become necessary to raise car
prices again. Such a raise would be
bound to cause unfavorable public
reaction-at the expense of labor
rather than management Mr.. Ford's
"shock treatment" thus may have
profound effect on the forthcoming
UAW wage drive.
Evening star., 1947-01-17
Our Unrepresentative System
By Raym ond Moiey

some dreadful misfits as chairmen.
This would have been especially true in
the Senate, because of the death, de-
feat and retirement of so many Demo-
Gratis. Again, seniority would have been
responsible.
It was bitter task to get the reor-
ganization bill passed. The bill had to
be sweetened by pay increase for Con-
gress and by more patronage. But II
any alteration in the seniority system
had been attempted, there would have
been no reform at all.
It seems to be taken for granted that
there is no practical substitute for the
seniority system. 1t provides an arbi-
trary and inf1exible system of selection.
The will and discretion of the whole
House is not involved.
II \
But any effort to establish another
system Of selection can be defeated by
the self-perpetuating nature of seniority
itself. The old, the lucky and those
who come from topheavy districts hold
sway. New, vigorous and ambitious
members are consigned to oblivion.
Hundreds of Representatives have been
elected over the years, only to find that
House membership for a newcomer is
a dull and Improbable life. The more
vigorous have dropped out after term
or two. They realize that, before their
time for important roles will come, the
political wheel will turn and a landslide
will put them out. Only those who come
from one-party districts or from boss
ridden cities in the North have a chance.
The House and Senate should elect
permanent committees on selection. and
those committees should be responsible
for committees and committee chair
men. Their selections would be tainted
with politics and log-rolling, to be sure.
But their Judgment would be better
than death, chance and circumstance.
0siessea bg the Associated Mswspspsrs. 1ns.1
Evening star., 1947-01-17
This Changing World
By Constantine Brown

governments means little and can have
small influence on the course Of affairs
unless there Is real affinity between the
peoples and theological foundations Of
the contracting governments.
Announcement of the British-French
alliance on the eve of the election Of
q new President for the fourth French
republic and the appointment Of a new
to crystalline in France a political bal
democracies. Mr.. Blum returned to
Paris and London with the prestige
of himself and his party greatly en-
hanced, for only the Communists could
deprecate political arrangement which
puts Britain's strength-and indirectly
American strength-at Frances back.
A British-French alliance is bad news
for the French Communists, for 1t makes
even more remote the possibility Of the
political and economic chaos on which
the Communists thrive. With his hold
in the French Socialist Party enhanced,
Mr.. Blum, who is not Communist COL
laborator, is likely to find considerable
support for, his party in the moderate
elements.
Beyond the alliances implications Of
resistance to communism, both inside
and outside Of France, is the solidifying
effect which it may have on at least
three Of the Big -Four powers whose
Foreign Ministers meet in Moscow
March 10. France has been one of the
stumbling blocks to economic unification
of Germany, which is almost an essen
tial pre-condition for political unifica
ton of Germany. Given the security
of British alliance, France may now
find 1t possible to moderate her extreme
demands at least for internationaliza-
tion of the Ruhr and Rhineland, if not
for annexation of the Saar.
One issue at Moscow will be German
political unifcation, with Russia anxious
to establish strong central government
and Britain and the United States
favoring q less centralized regime in
federal form with great power in the
state governments. Up to now, France
has adamantly opposed political unifica-
ton until the Ruhr and Rineland have
been finally cut out of the potential
frontiers of the new Germany. Paris
can now drop this demand without feel
ing that the security Of the Fourth
Republic Is being sacrificed.
Evening star., 1947-01-17

Last July, following the bombing Of
the King David Hotel, wrote a column
on the new and pernicious spirit which
has beset some Palestinian youths. The
mail received was of a. distressing and
vehement nature. AS an avowed sup
porter of Zionism, I was shocked at
the intolerance Of my correspondents.
Nonetheless, I venture to touch once
again on this subject, apropos the re-
Gently concluded conference in Basle.
do this because zioniSm is obviously
not purely national Jewish movement.
Innumerable Christian statesmen have
viewed Zionism as great opportunity
for channelizing the creative energies,
ana the moral resources, of a people
known for both creativeness and
morality.
Zionism has hitherto been unique in
the history of National movements in
that it has preached the achievement
of its goal through love and labor, and
not by blood and sword. DR.. Chain
Weizmann, who has now been retired
as president If the World Zionist Or
ganization, has to me been a symbol
of the noblest in statesmanship-th
remarkable man. full Of patience and
wisdom, whose ethical concepts go back
to the Isaianic prophecies and the moral
imperatives which originated at the foot
of Sinai ..g..
p, would appear to some that, with
the elimination of DR.. Weizmann from
Zionist leadership, the Zionist move
ment has broken with its own tradi-
tions. The reports from the Basle Con-
gress indicated that strtdent slogan
singers, and incontinent rhetoricians
reigned supreme and sought to destroy
that figure which was, and still re-
mains, the movements teacher.
Last July. I had advised that Ameri-
can Zionists, schooled in democracy,
should take over Zionist leadership
from the Palestinian Jews, who, I then
believed, were prone to violence and
nondemocratic processes. confess that
I was mistaken. The main culprits
at Basic were Americans, not Pales-
tinians.
The Palestinian Jews, the direct suf-
ferers of the situation, the men, women
and children who cry out under in
justice, whose relatives are barred by
the White Paper from joining them in
Palestine, have not, I believe, yielded
to the rhetoric which affects some
people as dope does. They have been
realistic, as befitting the sons Of an
ancient people known for its realism,
and, as far as can learn, they support.
in their vast majority, DR.. Chain
Weizmann. confess that am far more
deeply concerned for the fate of these,
than for the opinion of some rabid
American spokesmen, whose own sons
are not being blown up along with their
victims in hare-brained terrorist ven-
lures, but whose entire contribution to
Palestine consists in eXhorting others to
undertake futile and perilous acts.
An analysis of the voting at Basle
indicates That the political resolution,
adopted at the World Zionist Congress-
Evening star., 1947-01-17

The decision of Britain and France to
negotiate treaty of alliance. restoring
the old tie which brought them into
two world wars on the same side, is well
coined in Washington more for its subtle
implications than for the avowed mo-
tive.
On its face, the new alliance Is aimed
at Germany and the prevention Of any
new threat of war from beyond the
Rhine, just as was the case in the earlier
Anglo Russian and Franco-Russian al
liances. In this sense, the new pact will
complete the treaty structure OF the
principal European powers which helped
to defeat the Axis.
The alliance is the direct descendant.
by way of two wars, of the Triple En-
tente which defined the lineup In Eu-
rope when war broke in 1914. Although
Britain and France in the period be-
tween wars were driven closely together
by the growing Nazi menace, the tie
with Russia was never fully restored.
The ostensible purpose, then, of the
agreement which Leon Blum made with
Prime Minister Attlee was to complete
the wall around defeated Germany be-
fore the Foreign Ministers take up Ger
many's fate at Moscow in March.
More far-reaching and important,
however, are the timing of the an
nouncement and the surrounding cir
cumstances in which it comes, for it
YIELDS tightly shut certain holes in the
western democracies' armor.
X X
In the first place, long-needed tie
between France, Britain and the United
States is being created. Because Ameri-
can ties to Britain in international poll
tics are already so close that any formal
alliance would be superduous, the
Anglo-French alliance would be per Sc
an unwritten American-French alli-
ance France will throw in her lot with
American leadership and American
destinies in world affairs
When one witnesses the lengths to
which the United States went during
the recent visit of Premier Alcide de
Gasperi to assist the economic recovery
Of the Italian people, certain outlines
of the future become clear. With France
tied to Anglo-American fortunes by for
NAL treaty and Italy tied to the United
States by the volume of relief she Is re-
ceiving, a pretty solid bloc will exist
from the North Atlantic across Western
Europe into the Central Mediterranean
A formal treaty Of alliance between
Evening star., 1947-01-17
Native Art

President Truman recently de-
clared: 1--WE all have 4 patriotic
obligation to advance the music Of
our own country" He spoke with
reference to the fact that of 1856
serious compositions" played by
"the better orchestras" of the United
States during 1856 "only II per
cent were American-composed, with
only 8 per cent by native-born COM
posers." 1t also was known to him
that in fifty of the seventy-three
programs presented "at the three
concert halls in New York" in the
same period mo American music"
was offered.
Meanwhile, in the field of Htera-
ture, Or. E. Sculley Bradley of the
University of Pennsylvania was
urging the National Council of
Teachers Of English to remember
that Shakespeare, Shelley and Keats
have no more valid claim on the
attention of American youth than
Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe,
Mark Twain and other authors born
ur at least reared in the United
States. For books to meet "the
realities of the situation" in America
in the present energetic age, he
wished contemporary pedagogues to
remember living American writer's.
A similar idea characterized q
Yuletide pronouncement by the
Mexican painter Diego Rivera.
There are many young artists in
the United States today better
known abroad than ut home" he
told . correspondent Of The Star
Evening star., 1947-01-17
This and That
BIZ Charles E. TrdceDeH.

What would you do If you suddenly
found yourself host to so baby nantes?
Probably what a young couple did
recently, when their boy brought in
nesting case from which the room tenn
perature Matched out the praying in
sects.
Let them starve to death, perforce.
It is practically impossible to bring
up such strange wayfarers, used to
eating live insects.
The egg case had been hung up, as
sort of naturalistic ornament, which it
is, being light gray in color, and about
the size Of small hens egg.
It hung on the mantel for several
days, until one morning
Well, there they were, SO Of them, and
each one a perfect praying mantis.
Let us add at this point that If any
one insists on calling them mantises
for the plural, it is all right with U.s.
Just as We prefer gladioluses to gladioli,
and aquariunls to aquaria.
The dictionary says mantis, singular;
nantes, plural. Look it up yourself, If
you don't believe 1t.
This is an unbelievable insect, with
its stout anterior legs folded in the
attitude OF prayer, but with nothing but
hunger in its odd little insects brain.
And the little ones, as this family
found out first hand, are exactly like
their parents.
Each mantis was about half an inch
long, and quite dark.
They clung to the outer edges of the
egg case, and to the mantel ledges.
Nv,o t,@,n ara ~ MY lropnAd a
It was too bad, but nothing offered
the strange little things was accepted.
Fish food, bread, crumbs bits of meat
none Of these things moved; and to
attract mantis, large or small, food
has to move.
Many persons, seeing NANTES, think
they are large grasshoppers, remarkably
large grasshoppers, 1t is true, but grass
hoppers, nevertheless.
They are wrong, of course.
The mantis belongs to different
group.
He is a clean, ambitious insect, ut
terry without harm to humans.
That does not keep him from being
killed every summer by the dozen, most
ly by unthinking people. and by dogs
and CATS. which worry them to death.
The mantis is cruel simply to insects.
He will even eat his mate, if he hap
pens to be hungry enough.
You never can tell about a mantis!
One look at those little eyes, and you
know that never in this world can there
by RAPPORT between men and insects.
The Eulf is too broad.
But sympathy, yes. There may be
sympathy, because insects love. live and
eat, and men, too, understand such
things.
Eating is job, in the mantis family.
You sit posed on shrub limb, looking
green and bronze yourself, almost like
limb.
You fold those legs, not for prayer,
as man assumes. but simply to have
them ready for the lightning catch.
Lightning war" was invented by the
He plays dead, just to unleash blitz
Once we had grandstand seat in
the sun porch at the doings and goings
on Of the mantis family
Old Man Mantis remained for three
days and nights, immovable, as far as
We could detect
But he got his man, just the same,
for on the fourth day he was visibly
fatter, and, anyway; there was seq
ment Of insect hanging out his jaws.
A msutis has to live. you know.
Evening star., 1947-01-17
Impusse Over Poland

The Soviet governments fiat turn.
down of the State Departments
representations on the forthcoming
Polish elections, coupled with an
equally emphatic rejection of Amer
lean representations on the same
subject to the Polish government
itself, brings matters to complete
deadlock on that issue. A decisive
test thus lies ahead on the general
principle of free elections embodied
In the Yalta and Potsdam agree
ments entered into by the big
Three"-the United States, Britain
and the Soviet Union.
At Yalta the three great powers
mutually pledged themselves to the
postwar establishment in European
countries liberated from Axis domi-
nation of governments chosen by
free and unfettered elections on a
basis of universal electoral right and
secret ballot for all except candi-
dates and parties tainted with Axis
collaboration. And at the Potsdam
Conference of the Big Three, held
shortly after the close Of the war in
Europe, that pledge was categori-
cally reaffirmed by the same sigma
tories.
How the Yalta agreement has
been Systematically nullified in most
of the liberated countries under
Russian postwar control is matter
OF record. In all those lands, regimes
have been set up obviously subser-
Went to Moscow and perpetuating
themselves, with Russian aid, by
every species of intimidation, vio-
lence and fraud. Against those prac-
tices, the United States and Britain
have consistently and repeatedly
protested, but those protests have
been as consistently rejected, ignored
or evaded by the regimes in question.
The imminence of elections In
Poland which would clearly follow
the same fraudulent pattern, de-
spite strong and reiterated protest
from Washington and London to the
Warsaw regime, prompted the State
Department to carry the matter to
the highest level; that is, to the
Soviet government itself. Moscow
has now replied, backing up its War
saw proteges to the limit, rejecting
our Interpretation of I the Yalta
agreement as applied to Poland and
denying either the need or the right
of intervening in the elections slated
for next Sunday, January 10. Since
the Warsaw regime has taken an
Mentic line toward both Washington
Evening star., 1947-01-17
Letters to The Star
Says Draft Boards Disseminated
Against Certain Ministers

To the Editor Of The Star:
In your editorial of December "A,
headed mot Harsh" you state that
"the Government has pursued fair
policy = despite any impression to the
contrary, the Government is not open
to serious criticism on this score" The
"score" under consideration is the treat
ment Of conscientious objectors.
The editorial is as magnificent a
statement of half-truth as have seen
recently. The whole truth Is deserving
of publication.
More than 1000 ordained ministers of
Jehovah's Witnesses were imprisoned
under the Selective Service Act, as in
terpreted by the local draft boards.
These men registered not as conscien-
tious objectors but as duly ordained and
qualified ministers. Some draft boards
made no issue of giving them a 4D
classification Others, because of the
unorthodox method in which this un-
popular minority does its preaching,
refused to do SO. tN
The crux of the matter hinged upon
the fact that at no time was the de-
cision of the draft board subject to
question. Findings Of the FBI as to the
sincerity of the individual involved
could be abided by or ignored, accord
ing to the feelings or prejudices of the
individual board members. If the board
so desired, it could order a minister to
report for induction, thereby denying
him his exemption privileges.
AS he could not comply with the or
der without breaking his allegiance to
the promised Kingdom of Heaven, the
minister of Jehovah's Witnesses had no
choice but to fail to report for induc-
ton, thereby subjecting himself to
prosecution as draft violator. During
the entire proceedings of his trial, he
was given no opportunity to contest
his improper classification. The word
of the draft board reigned supreme, even
though it was proved to be maliciously
prejudiced in many cases. The length
Of the sentence imposed depended upon
the judge presiding at the trial, and
varied from one to five years. If the
draft board sent two notices before
starting prosecution, the minister was
liable to ten years sentence Give years
on each counD and received it in at
least one case right here in Washing
ton. Some others with shorter SEN
tences were reconvicted on the same
charges and served two or even three
terms.
The Selective Service Act never was
meant to be used for the persecution
of religious minorities; it made provi-
sion for the exemption of ministers.
The loophole is that unqualified and
often admittedly prejudiced draft
board members were given the power
to decide who was and who was not a
minister of the gospel.
The Star may feel that the impris-
onment of war objectors under a leg
islative act which cannot be questioned
is neither harsh nor subject to serious
criticism. The Supreme Court ruled
otherwise in the Dodez and Gibson
cases. To me it seems that such mis-
carriage Of justice is threat to the
personal liberty of every American.
find it hard to believe that The
Star condones this fragrant violation
of the very principles which we fought
the war to preserve.
ESTHER c. LUDKE.
Evening star., 1947-01-17

The House Of Representatives is fairly
representative of the United States.
But in the actual exercise Of power, a
few states predominate. This is due to
seniority and to the political split
between the South and North. Another
factor is the great power Of committees,
of committee chairmen.
In the new Congress, the House has,
under the Reorganization Act, 10 stand
ing committees. AS result Of the rule
of seniority the chairmen Of these COM
mittees are drawn from nine States.
Fifteen of the chairmen are from five
States. Michigan has five; New Jersey,
four; Kansas, New York and Illinois,
two each and Iowa, California, Massa-
chusetts and Minnesota, one each. The
entire South has no committee chair
men. The great West beyond Kansas
has one. The big States of Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Missouri, Indiana and Wisconsin
have none.
It is true that the distribution Of
committee chairmanships under the
Democratic Congress was equally un-
representative. There were 48 standing
committees then. Twenty mine chair
men were from eight States: New York,
Texas, Missouri, Georgia, Alabama.
North Carolina, California and Missis-
sippi. Pennsylvania and Illinois had
only one each. Ohio, Wisconsin and
Indiana had none.
BY a curious quirk, Illinois has had
the powerful Rules Craftsmanship in both
Congresses.
There is a solid North as well as a
solid South. Neither Is conducive to
balanced Government Certainly, the
seniority system is not the way to
more efficient Government.
~ 4 Il
As this column pointed out last sum-
ner, victory for the Democrats In
ths last election would have produced
Evening star., 1947-01-17
No FooIine
Bv David Laurence
he Toronto Globe and Mail.

from the Toronto Globe and Mall. =.
There is tendency, shared by too
many people, to regard the Communist
Party in Canada as a sort of political
clown. and its members, at worst, as
minor nuisances. Some Hberal-ninded
people confuse the Communists with re-
form, mesmerized by their vocality in .
multitude Of causes. Nothing could be
further from their function. The Com
munist Is not a reformer. He is .
trouble maker, whose only loyalty is to
the mother church in Moscow. the deci-
sions Of which are his highest COM
nand"
Evening star., 1947-01-17
Calf Wudinq q Posture Pool

Pale pinter sunlight cannot tDarm,
The pools cold todter. SDitt surprise
Leaps as sudden hurting fame,
Within the calrs bro,on, frightened
eyes.
He has knoun only pasture pools
Made by the summer rain. There hs
Found soothing peace In. inlaged cloud
And stimnserin0 blue tranquility
Nnuoht bends his course; at eDery step
A dripping hoot 10 lifted high.
He feels the pool orotc shalloto, sees
y Ths less OF fading, nsirrored sky.
ROSE MYRA PHILLIPS.