Evening star., 1948-06-21

If a man makes fair salary, in steady
Job, why not give him a break? II he is
willing to mortgage his earnings for the next
20 years. why not meet him half way and
permit him to establish home for his family?
He gave you a break and saved your home by
serving his country! Let's have action-not
words! VETERANS WIFE.
Pedestrians Not Safe
To the Editor Of The Star
The Star for June is reports that an award
which designated Washington as the safest
city in the United States for pedestrians was
presented to one Of the District Commissioners
by local association OF motorists. The Ma
tional Capital would be far safer city for
walkers were organized motorists to instill in
drivers stricter observance of the rules of the
road and especially the rights Of pedestrians,
instead of endeavoring to restrict and regulate
walkers as has been done in the past.
Years ago the association making the award
announced a Nation wide drive to obtain pedes-
trian trafac control regulation in every city OF
the country Washington was one of the first
to succumb to the lobbying but fortunately
there still are some communities which conduct
their own affairs without interference from
motorists organizations.
Retired Traffic Director Eldridge, who now
claims to be IS per cent pedestrian, asked for
a traffic light recently at Sixteenth and Fuller
streets, where, he says, he has waited as much
as 20 minutes to cross Sixteenth street safely
"a request that the present traffic director
turned down, although it previously had been
made by traffic court judge because three
walkers were fatally injured at that point
Evidently Washington is not the safest city
for walkers, Notwithstanding statistics to the
contrary. Many Washington drivers habit
ually fail to yield the right of way to walkers
at uncontrolled as well as controlled intersec-
tions, and turning vehicles are still serious
menace. Because Of this, walkers often are
left standing in the middle of the street on
crosswalk, their safety menaced by the flow
of traffic all around them.
The pedestrian truly has been termed "the
forgotten man." Even when q passenger in
streetcar, he is the victim Of selfish drivers
who unnecessarily straddle the car tracks, STALL
ing the cars and delaying pedestrians in reach
ing their destinations.
Not the pedestrian control regulation re-
Gently tactfully termed pedestrian protection"
but the instinct of self preservation and revoca-
ton and suspension OF drivers permits have
resulted in better observance of the rules of
the road. An engineer officer of the awarding
serted that the pedestrian is the No. traffic
problem. If the average walker were to be
asked, he undoubtedly would declare that the
undisciplined driver is the No. traffic head
ache.
A recent item in the Washington papers
stated that the awarding association con-
demned the hint OF Municipal Court Judge
that the time may be here when traffic police
men should patrol the streets in plain clothes
Marylands adoption of a somewhat similar
plan along the Washington Baltimore boule-
ward also was strongly disapproved by the
association. This plan reluctantly was
adopted only after years of futile effort to
curb accidents in that area. If drivers will
not be honest there is no alternative but to
resort to such a plan.
The action Of the Commissioners in accept
ing an award from lobbying association at
the hands Of one of its officers, who is a resi-
dent of Maryland, lends credence to the rel
mark of Congressman made recently that the
District is run by the Board of Trade whose
officers live in Maryland 1t is hoped that the
Commissioners will avoid giving the elected
representatives of the people occasion for such
remarks LEWIS L. YOUNG.
Critical Eye on the Supreme Court
To the Editor of The Star:
This is a layman's letter of comment on the
United States Supreme Court-a layman be-
cause as a law graduate of August, 1948 have
had just enough legal background to realize
how little law law graduate has consumed,
and an indication of how technical and vast
the field of law is becoming to the lawyer
much more the everyday citizen.
With these thoughts I paid a visit to the
United States Supreme Court on June IA and
came away with the feeling as an American
citizen that the Supreme Court is certainly
giving the layman an unfavorable impression
as to the solidity and dependability of the
American legal system. For the past few years
we have all heard of the so-called trend from
the views of the mine old men," the attempted
revision Of the Supreme Court by the late
President Roosevelt, and other transitional
changes. To the law student Of the past 10 or
is years this transition has been brought
home" in studying the many concurring and
dissenting opinions of recent Supreme Court
decisions and trying to formulate some pattern
as to the present state of Federal constitu-
tional law today.
Let us look ut this matter from a practical
point of view. What would you think of the
future stability of American law after hearing
an opinion read on a pork professors suit to
secure higher prices on hogs that he had been
required to sell to the Federal Government
during the war under the Governments power
of eminent domain to require such sale,
whereby the Government agreed to pay only
the OPA price Of such hogs to the hog pro-
ducer, whereas the hog producer contended
under the lust compensation" clause of the
Federal Constitution that he was entitled to
more. For the purpose of this letter the facts
Of the case do not matter-the fact is that the
case has been in litigation for four years and
yet when the opinion was handed down three
Justices agreed on reversing the circuit court
three other Justices agreed on this result. but
for different reasons, and two others dissented
Dissenting Justice jackson at least struck the
keynote of the present deplorable legal trend
when he indicated that from this case no one,
not even the Supreme Court itself, could tell
what position the Supreme Court was taking