Evening star., 1948-08-03
Letters to The Star
Care of DOGS in Summer

AN&GNx - "
Care of DOGS in Summer
To the Editor Of The star:
Many persons who have pet dogs do not
know how to take care Of them in hot weather.
Every summer there are many poor animals
killed Is mad who are only suffering from the
heat due to Indifferent care.
If your dog Is beginning to show the enects
of washington heat, please give him place
in the basement during the day where he can
stay COOL If you cannot do that, and have .
back yard put . platform out there tnat ne
can crawl under and lie in freshly dug hole
One should never forget that dogs need
drinking water more than ever in hot weather.
II q dog is properly fed, kept clean. and
has . proper place to sleep and stay during
the day, he will cause no trouble.
One other fact that many persons forget is
that their pets do not have shoes to>protect
them from the hot streets.
Life Imprisonment for Violent Crimes
TO the Editor Of The star:
H. C. Wood has most interesting letter
in The Star for July 20 on Crime and sterii-
zation."
Mr.. Wood however, does not 60 far enough.
There is q deeper problem. The papers contain
the reports Of many crimes both Of . sexual
nature and of ordinary violence. The preva-
lence of crimes of this type can be blamed
only on our courts and parole boards
When q man is convicted Of q crime OF
violence of any kind or Of . sexual character,
he should be imprisoned on an indeterminate
sentence and never should be released without
the unanimous consent Of q board Of three
reputable psychiatrists. Most of these crimes,
including the murder of two little girls re-
Gently. can be blamed on persons who already
have been charged with similar crimes.
In Baltimore alone. there have been several
cases of this kind since the first Of the year.
Life confinement would have prevented these
crimes and the victims still would be alive. We
have lot of soft-hearted fanatics who un-
fortunately quote the Bible or anything else
that comes to mind in their effort to give
these mental incompetents another shot at
humanity.
maintain that no man guilty of violent
crime ever should be given another chance.
It may seem severe Yunishment to him, but
it isn't fair to decent citizens to release him.
ANDREW w. LARMAN.
Complaint of Merchant Seaman
To the Editor of The Star:
The recent passage of the Selective Service
Act Of 1948 without due recognition being
given to the role played by the Merchant Ma
rine during World War II actually did not
come as too great . surprise to US wartime
merchant seamen. To us 1t was merely the
last and most notorious Of the injustices which
We have had to suffer during and after the
war; and, as most of these have been based
upon widespread misconceptions of just what
our rights and privileges were and are. we
owe 1t to ourselves to present our side of the
picture.
First OF all, we didn't have to be drafted
each one of us volunteered Many of us vol
unteered even though We were too young, or
too DID, or too physically handicapped to be
acceptable to any one of the armed forces,
and some of us volunteered even after we had
been discharged from the armed forces.
After we had been sworn in, We were sent
through boot camp lasting anywhere from six
weeks to six months, just as the armed forces
were. We wore dungarees, chambray shirts,
and clodhoppers exactly like those of the
armed forces and our dress uniforms were not
very different. Our barracks were the same
as those Of the armed forces, and We slept on
the same trple-tier bunks We executed the
drills as prescribed in "The Bluejackets'
Manual" and we ran over the same sort of
consist largely of baked beans and powdered
eggs, and we also ate them out of the par
titioned aluminium trays. But the amount Of
our pay was not the sames it was less.
We were paid $50 a month, not one cent
more than the armed forces received. How
ever, if they had dependents, they were paid
an additional allowance: we weren't. II they
already had been in the service three or four
years. they received additional longevity pay:
we didn't If members of their families re-
quired medical or dental treatment or hos
pitalization, it was given them without cost;
we had to pay. Their insurance policies gave
them coverage during their training periods;
ours didn't.
| No Concessions Granted.
During the war, when we spent our week
ends in town and We went to q show, We
| weren't admitted at the same price as men,
| bers of the armed forces; we had to pay the
! full price. When we went home on leave, We
couldn't buy railroad tickets at furlough rates;
we were charged the regular rate. When We
ate at restaurants that extended 10 per
cent discount to men in uniform, We were
! not included.
After our training, when we shipped out,
| we were given no choice of ship or theater
of war; We were assigned to our ships as
any member of the armed forces was assigned
to his unit. tand we were as likely to be sent
on the suicidal Murmansk run as not. We
stayed on the ships six months, nine months,
| q year, as long as articles remained un-
broken, and, when we were discharged from
the ships. our wages stopped, and we had to
pay for our food and lodgings out Of past
earnings until we again secured berths.
| Toward the end Of the war, when the CT
| Bill of Rights was passed for the benefit Of
the armed forces veterans, we, too, were prom
| ised bill OF rights-one with not nearly Is