davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1948-11-10
Whv All the Rush?

Presumably the eviction of some forty
low-income families in the Nations Capt.
tai Is a small potato in the larger picture
Of the country's housing shortage. Never
theless, it would be very interesting to know
Just why it is necessary to rush ahead with
plans for a new $21000,000 Senate Office
Building at the price of turning these
people out into the street In the middle
Of winter.
It would be one thing If the Senators
did not already have an office building.
But their present quarters, while possibly
not all that might be desired, are well on
the commodious side as accommodations
no these days. Then there are other
things worth considering-the temporary"
structures cluttering up the Mall, for in
stance. At o time when many building
supplies are scarce, why concentrate on
new Senate of1ce Building at cost OF
$71 y000, 900 and leave these eyesores to mar
the city for the indefinite future?
The prime consideration, however, has
to do with people who will be turned out
Of their homes by the office-building prof.
ect. The area east of the present office
building, which has been chosen as site,
now houses more than fifty families and
o number Of single persons. Some OF them
will be able to find another place to live.
But q check by The Star indicates that
most Of them, including forty families in
the low-income range, have been unable
to find any other place to CO.
It Is true that part of the chosen site is
o slum area, and, at the right time, it
would be good thing to have it cleared.
But this Is hardly the right time. David
Lynn, Architect Of the Capitol, acting at
the direction of the Senate Office Build
ing Commission, has already taken pre-
liminary steps toward acquiring the site,
and there is no reason why this should not
go forward. Once the site has been ac-
quired, however, the work of razing the
buildings should be held in allegiance until
some other housing facilities can be found
for these people. After all, it is Congress
which Is evicting them, and the Govern
ment has clear responsibility to see that
they are not put out in the street and left
there.
It Is worth noting that Tighe Woods,
the housing expediter, is proposing to ask
the new Congress for legislation giving
him some control over evictions by private
owners of property. And it is worth re-
membering that the incoming Democratic
Senators, who will be in control at the
next session, had great deal to say dur
ing the recent campaign about the lack
of housing facilities throughout the coun-
try. Perhaps they are not too interested
in the housing situation in the disfran-
chised District of Columbia Still, one
would think that there would be some re-
luctance on the part of the next Senate
to svict forty or more families who have
no other place to live merely for the sake
OF getting q new Senate Office Building
which liz not urgently needed at this time
Evening star., 1948-11-10

reputation has Jared poorly. with all too
many in his own and other countries re-
garding him as having been, in the unjust
judgment of Macaulay, something of
fool or worse-"servile and impertinent,
shallow and pedantic, bigot and sot"
He had his faults, but it is now known that
those faults were not nearly so bad as his
critics depicted He was a great individual
in his own right, and the new material
about him will almost certainly confirm
that fact emphatically. Beyond that, OF
course, it will have the real value of in
creasing our understanding of the age in
which he lived out his enormously indus
trious life of fifty-five years.
Evening star., 1948-11-10
The Boswell Treasure

Historians and men OF letters have gooo
reason to be excited by the news about
James Boswell. When the author of the
great Life Of Johnson" died in 1875, he
left behind him vast quantities of un-
published correspondence and manuscripts.
This material, however, disappeared, and
until the 1s20s, scholars were of the gen.
eral opinion that 1t had been lost forever.
But they were wrong. The treasure has
been found and reassembled.
All this must be credited largely to the
efforts of Lieutenant Colonel Ralph H.
IShan, who has been on the track OF
Boswelliana for the greater part of his
adult life His dominant role in the story
began more than twenty years ago, when
the precious material began to turn up in
dark and musty corners in Scottish and
Irish castles. With the patience and per-
sistence of uniquely Jealous collector,
and undiscouraged by twelve years Of liti-
cation in the courts of Scotland, he gradu-
ally bought up the finds" and now has
had the pleasure of announcing-before
the Grolier Club in New York-that he has
brought them all to this country. Accord
ing TO some estimates, the papers are
voluminous enough to keep fifty scholars
busy for the next fifty years.
A few figures are enough to confirm the
literary and historical Importance Of
Colonel Isham's collection. Included in it
are 900 Of Boswell's own letters and more
than 1900 written to him by such famous
contemporaries as Sir Joshua Reynolds and
Voltaire. Also included are 1900 pages Of
the working manuscript of his Life" of
Samuel johnson, the eighteenth century
wit and photographer. Among those who
are best qualified to judge its promise,
there is no doubt that the material will
throw significant new light not only on
Boswell himself-"the Shakespeare of
biographers" on the character of his
times and the celebrated people with whom
he hobnobbed and about whom he had
90 much to say in his journals and cor
sespondence.
Boswell himself has been q much ma
Ngned man. His life" was recognized
from the start as a work of genius, but
until relattvely recent times his persona
Evening star., 1948-11-10
The Record of Interim Aid

only one Interpretation can logically be
drawn from the report on our irterim-aid
program by the Economic Cooperation Ad-
mlnlstration. This is that the $577 600 600
appropriated by Congress to implement
that program was wisely spent and has
paid good dividends, alike for America and
the European recipients. It is probably
not too much to say that this relatively
modest sum acted like the tabled finger
IN the dixie, preventing a break-through of
the threatening flood of economic, political
and social catastrophe.
Interim aid was the vital advance guard
OF that greater project, the Marshall Plan,
IL was designed to tide over the critical
period before the Marshall Plan could On
into effect. The strategy of its application
was sound. Virtually the entire sum (es
per cent, to be exact) was concentrated on
the weakest sectors of Western Europes
sagglng politico-econ front. These
were France, Italy and Austria. And in all
three, interim aid effectively turned the
tide, holding the line until the Marshall
Plan could get into action.
From the reports columns of percentages
and figures there emerges dramatic story
of salvage in the nick of time. Each situa-
tion was literally desperate. Frances eco
nomic life was on the verge of collapse,
accentuated by Communist inspired gen
eral strike called with the deliberate in
tention of precipitating chaos from which
communism would chiefly profit. Interim
aid not only gave French economy vital
shot in the arm but likewise bolstered the
resolution of French leaders and won sup
port from public reduced to the verge of
hopelessnesS In Italy, the food situation
was so bad that, without bulk shipments of
cereals rushed in through interim aid, the
Italian government would have had to
accept form of economic bondage" by
taking food from other sources with such
rigorous political strings attached that its
freedom would have been jeopardized
Although no names are mentioned, those
sources" are clearly the Soviet Union and
its satellites.
AS for Austria, handicapped by a
fourfold military occupation and under
crushing Soviet pressure, interim aid so
ameliorated conditions of industrial paraly-
sis and threatened starvation that Austrian
economy revived and the next harvest was
| the best since prewar, thanks to seed,
| fertilizer and other agricultural supplies
| shipped into that unfortunate land.
Such are the outstanding items In a
balance sheet that is not only heartening
in itself but is likewise hopeful indica-
ton of what the Marshall Planmay achieve
Evening star., 1948-11-10
A-Bombs and Uranium Supply

There seems to be considerable reason
to discount the alarmist implications of the
prediction that thirty years from now the
United States will have no uranium left If
the present rate of our A-weapon produc
tion is continued without letup.
The prediction-made by DR.. Eugene
Ayres, distinguished chemist associated
with the Gulf Research and Development
Company of Pittsburgh-suggests that by
concentrating our major effort on military
atomic output at this time, we may be
robbing ourselves of material that will be
needed in the future to develop nuclear
energy for peacetime industrial uses.
DR.. Ayres, however, appears to be labor
ing under misconception. Unless his pre-
diction has been inaccurately reported, he
fears that the fashionable material being
produced for A-bombs-the pure nuclear
fuel refined from crude uranium-is good
only for destructive purposes. In other
words, he gives the impression that If
there were an international control agree
ment under which we could safely stop
the manufacture of atomic weapons, the
explosive content of those weapons-the
peacetime energy resource.
But the fact of the matter is, according
to top authorities, that no such potential
waste Is involved In our A-weapon produc-
tion. Thus, as DR.. Vannevar Bush declared
before special Senate committee in De-
cember of 1945, the fashionable material In
our bombs could be used right now TO heat
cities like Washington, and ultimately 1t
could be used to generate power for in
dustrial operations. AS he explained 1t,
1T does not deteriorate and we can store
it, and when the time comes when it can
be used" for peacetime projects, at will be
available for that purpose"
Of course, as found in nature, the supply
of uranium is limited, and the same holds
true for .thorium the other major raw
material of atomic energy. AS far as the
United States is concerned, secrecy obscures
the figures, but official guesses indicate
that uranium Is present in the earth's
crust in ratio of about four parts per
million, and thorium about twelve parts
per million. Relatively speaking, the world
at large thus possesses anything but an
inexhaustible amount Of what is essential
at present to the production of nuclear
fuel. Nevertheless considering the atoms
preternatural potency-the total adds up
to tremendous power resource. More
over, In the judgment of many scientists, 1t
is altogether conceivable that the day may
yet come when common elements-such as
iron and lead-will supplant uranium and
thorium as sources of atomic energy.
In short, the science of nuclear physics
is still so young and holds out such amaz-
ing notwithstanding the possibility
OF kind of self-multiplying fashionable
material-that alarmist predictions about
our uranium supply would seem to be de-
cidedly premature. In any event, 1t is
worth repeating that the explosive content
now going into our A-bombs will be con-
vertible to peacetime uses when, as and If
the world establishes a control system
eliminating the need for military pro-
duction.
Evening star., 1948-11-10
At Sunnyside, Home Of Irving

Walk softlyl Whisper! Sleeping dreams
lie here. -
o do not snap their golden threads
GSunder::
Let Ichabod still drool on thoughts of jam,
Slapjack, and honey Let Van WtnRs
slumber.
The silence turns to an asDesome atD1ds-
phere
r As dazzling Moorish palaces rise taH;;.
The profile Of Delft teapot Is changed
Into splendor born II, Bracebridge Hall.
Chide not the tears. The s,Dset MGtildG
lies -.
So cold, so beautiful, In death 30 pale;
And loue, hedrt-bYoken and tfs solitude,
YEARLY climbs shado,Dy CatskiH traA.
i ROSE MYRA PHILLIPS.
Evening star., 1948-11-10
People in Glass Houses

Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt is not on
very strong ground in demanding that
the Democratic Party purge itself of those
Southerners, especially Representative
Rankin of Mississippi and Senator john
ston of South Carolina, who opposed the
Truman-Barkley ticket in last weeks
election. (Senator Johnston announced
late in the campaign that he would vote
for the President)
Her own belated support of the ticket
can be explained on the ground of her
association with the United Nations, al
though If that is valid excuse for staying
out of domestic politics before an election,
1t would seem to have at least as much
application after the election is over. Be
that as it may, however, it still does not
come with very good grace for Mrs. Roose-
welt to be calling for the custer of the
Rankins and the Johnstons when her own
son, James Roosevelt, did everything in
his power to prevent the nomination of
President Truman at last July's party con-
vention. II Mrs. Roosevelt has forgotten
this, it is not likely that 1t has been for
gotten by that small band Of Democrats
who stood Loyalty by the President when
James Roosevelt and his cohorts were
doing every thing they could to throw Mr..
Truman overheard in favor of General
Eisenhower or almost any other likely
candidate.
Perhaps this is one reason why Mrs.
Roosevelt's suggestion has been received
so coldly by party leaders. Another reason
may be that 1t is so 1agrantly at variance
with the Presidents expressed desire to
patch up the differences within the party.
Still third reason, although 1t has not
been mentioned, is that the suggested
purge would not be very smart politics
There are eight members of the Senate
from the States which went to Governor
Thurmond. Mrs. Roosevelt would bar them
from the party and deny them committee
chairmanships. II that were done, how
ever, 1t might well mean that they would
vote with the Republicans on the organ
ization Of the Senate, thereby depriving
the Democrats Of control. Presumably
Mrs. Roosevelt did not think Of this posi-
bility But 1t is not likely to have escaped
the attention of the party men who fought
in the front lines for the Presidents
election and who will have the RESPONSE
bility of trying to get his legislative pro-
gram through the Congress.
Evening star., 1948-11-10
Concerts Appreciated

The Howard University Chapter of the
American Veterans Committee wishes to thank
You for the Neighborhood Concert Series under
your sponsorship. We feel that the music of
the National Symphony Orchestra is the most
potent instrument you could have chosen to
disseminate that aesthetic feeling which words
find difficult to provoke.
These free concerts will give many people an
opportunity to find musical relaxation which
may not have been accessible to them In the
past. JAMES L. WHITE,
Chairman,
Evening star., 1948-11-10
Art Jury Reform Advocated

To the Editor Of The Star:
The recent f1asco wherein q three-man jury
selected only 10 exhibits from total of 1000
entered for the Corcoran Gallery Of Arts an
nual regional show is q complete condemnation
of the jury system Of selecting art Regard
less Of later decision to set aside this ver-
dict and select additional exhibits with the
assistance Of new jury, there has been an
injustice done to art and artists. To date
no satisfactory remedy for the present and
usually unfair jury system has been devised.
Artists, patrons and gallery directors have
beaten their heads into palettes for some years
without solution, but this three-man dicta-
torship is not step in the right direction,
however good the intentions.
1t is hard to believe that the same artists
who produced art qualified for exhibit last
year have so deteriorated that within another
II months their paintings are no longer fit
to grace the walls Of gallery. Either the
artists on the jury were incapable of judging
art except by comparison with their own man
ner OF painting and, therefore, incapable OF
judging art at all, or they were motivated by
that peculiar disease of internal politics that
seems to infect art juries wherever they meet
and plot. AS an exhibitor, would like to have
some one or some group develops better sys-
tem-fair to all. JOHN c. ROGERS.
Evening star., 1948-11-10
Nv THE HAsKIN SERVICE.

@. What is the purpose Of the Order Of the
Britih Empire?-G. K.
A. The order, which consists Of q series Of
royal decorations, was created by the late King
George v in 1917. It was designed primarily
to reward civilians for outstanding war services.
Q. Where is the headquarters Of the art
business in the United States?-T. Il.
A. A large number Of important dealers Ia
paintings and art objects are located on Fifty
seventh street. In New York City, and this
street is often referred to as the headquarters
O. In what year was the first Scent postage
stamp discontinued?-L. w.
A. The first Scent postage stamp In the
United States was discontinued on October !,
1888, when the letter rate was changed to
cents. Three-cent stamps were used again from
November, 1918, until June 80, 1920. During
that period the extra cent was used for war
purposes. The Scent rate was not resumed
until August 8, 1882. I
Q. Is Russia the largest country on earth'-
L. D. D..
A. The Soviet Union is the largest single
country on earth. Its area Of over s,ooo,eoo
square miles being almost as great as that .of
the entire North American continent. How.
ever, seven-eighths Of the land 10 virtually use.
less for cultivation.
@ What localities In the United States have
the most moderate climate?-F. r. 8.
A. The Weather Bureau says that localities
having medium climate throughout the year
are found along the coast of California or
even farther north along the coast Of Wash
ington and oregon. Similar conditions obtain
in the moderate elevations Of the Southeastern
States, notably in the western portions Of the
Carolinas, Central Georgia and northern por-
tions Of Alabama and Mississippi.
@. DO fig trees have blossoms?-C. w. ..
A. The commercial fig is not fruit in the
strict botanical sense, but rather q hollow
heshy receptacle within which tiny flowers
grow and ripen, forming the true fruits which
we commonly call seeds. At the top Of the
fig Is an opening through which passes the
insect that pollinates the minute flowers.
Evening star., 1948-11-10
Soccer Enthusiast Speaks Up

To the Editor Of The star:
Postwar Washington Is witnessing a return
Of first class amateur soccer. With several
franchises open in the American Pro Soccer
League, city with the population of Wash
ington would seem to be much sought after.
However, one stumbling block in the way of
this idea Is the lack, or seeming lack, Of in
terest in the game. The truth of the matter
is, believe, that there Is much more interest
than appears on the surface. After all, the
game is taught at some of the schools in WASH
ington and many more In the nearby vicinity
The answer to the poor showing on the part
Of the fans, I believe, can be summed up In
three little words, lack Of publicity. Most of
the attendance at these games Is made up Of
friends of the players, officials of the game
and their families and q small number Of
devotees Of the game. Even then the attend
ance Is seldom more than several hundred
and that only at the better matched games.
With the Washington soccer league being
enlarged by the admittance Of more teams
every year. with several foreign teams entered
this year to add even more playing skill and
therefore more interest in the game, fer
vently believe that more interest could be
whipped up than has been shown in the
past.
With prominent sports-minded citizens be-
hind this game and with the help Of the local
newspapers to publicize this great sport, am
sure that the age-old game Of soccer-nationaI
game Of many Of the nations Of the world
will once again find its rightful place on the
Washington scene. LOUIS GERNAND.
Evening star., 1948-11-10

without even the bare necessities Of life, some
times. This, In return for mere pittance!
The reason communism has made 20 much
progress In the world is that there are 20
many Christians who have 20 little apprecia-
ton Of Christianity! M.
Evening star., 1948-11-10
Questions and Answers

A reader can get the answer to any question Of
fact by writing The washington Star Information
Bureau, 316 J. street Ne, washington q D. c.
Please inclose cents for return postage.
Evening star., 1948-11-10

What's become of the old-time moppet
who laboriously raided the high shelf for
jam, instead of sponging q quarter for a
store lunch?
Evening star., 1948-11-10

in European reconstruction. Indeed, with
out interim aid, the Marshall Plan might
have been too late to save the situation.
Another illustration of the old adage: "A
stitch In time saves nine"
Evening star., 1948-11-10

Dutch visitors, as always, are repelled by
rubbish in our city streets, complaint
that ignores our skyscrapers, built to get
away from all that.
Evening star., 1948-11-10

Now being pushed in a commercial way
is "ice cream for breakfast" Sausage la
mode is something to think about; but not
while we're eating
Evening star., 1948-11-10

Letters for publication must bear
the signature and address of the
,ortter, although It Is permissible for
a tDrtter kno1Dn to The Star to use
a nom de plume. Please be briet.
Evening star., 1948-11-10
On the Importance of Religion

OH uIS 1IIPU1 td1KcS OK HNVIISIOH
To the Editor of The Star:
1t is great pity there are people, especially
leaders, who take such a narrow view OF other
religions The pageantry Of some Christian
religions is the most natural and logical way
people have Of showing honor to God by sur
rounding religion with all the beauty and
ceremony at their command.
A person of wide mental scope, to say moth
ing Of Christian consciousness, looks behind
the pageantry of religions and sees the difhcult
life of sacrifice and hard work religious Of all
faiths lead He sees them In hospitals. Or
phsnsses, homes for the aged and destitute.
inthe mission neld, In the most barry places
Evening star., 1948-11-10
President, Health Physical Ee
Recreation Association.
"A Horrible Mistake

To the Editor of The Star:
The letter from ID. G. Teacher" published
in The Star for November 2 is the best case
yet madefor the parents of elementary school
children who are demanding that emphasis
be placed on the fundamentals of learning. It
Is also the best indictment SO far of the So
called progressive system of education.
wonder whether I'D. G. Teacher" did not
of the sweeping generalizations made in %. G.
Teachers" letter seems to me to lead to no
other conclusion, It must be assumed, Of
course, that ID. @. Teacher" has had ample
opportunity to observe how pitifully ILL
prepared to meet the realities Of life are the
children who have played and planned" their
way through classrooms that have become
Laboratories for course Of study improvement"
1t must be assumed, also, that ID. c. Teacher"
is fully aware of. the impressive number Of
educators throughout the country who have
finally given up the progressive system" as
a horrible mistake which has wasted the learn
ing abilities of countless American children.
The real clincher, of course. is the tone of
the letter itself. o. G. Teacher has drawn
delightful caricature Of the classic argument
made by proponents of the progressive system
Of education for some 40 years past whose
disciples. among whom am sure -. c.
Teacher" is not to be numbered have learned
the doctrine" by-rote!
To ID. q. Teacher o debt of gratitude Is
due for q clever exposition of the false prem
ises upon which the progressive system of
education Is based PATERFAMILIAS.
Kensington, Md,