davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1948-03-07

Very we'll, Mr.. Jones. Then perhaps you
will give me reply to this Immediate Action
memorandum. Let me refresh your memory
on it." She read aloud, Subject: Selection of
Gulf City Pirate Pageant Queen. First para
graph. In accordance with Pageant rules
members of the Chamber of Commerce have
nominated three candidates: the Misses Sally
Edwards, June Clark and Edith McKenny.
Second paragraph. The Board of Direc-
tors of the Chamber of Commerce must elect
one of these candidates as Pageant Queen
HIRD paragraph. In nominating these
candidates, members of the Chamber of Com
merce gave 81 votes to Miss Sally Edwards.
81 votes to Miss June Clark, and votes to
Miss Edith McKenny While the under
signed, as presiding officer, will not have
vote unless the eight directors split evenly,
the undersigned believes it his duty to furnish
the directors with all possible assistance in
making wise decision.
Fourth paragraph Your recommended
tons are requested. Signed, George Arm
strong McKenny President, Gulf City
Chamber of Commerce. >"
Barry said angrily This things time
bomb! Why does he have to monkey with it,"
Because" Miss McKenny said, ''he con-
sders it his duty. Are you ready to dictate
your reply?"
Il suppose so,'' Barry muttered. First
paragraph. The undersigned wishes to point
out that Miss Sally Edwards is the daughter
of the Mayor of Gulf City. Miss June Clark
is the daughter of Gulf City's leading banker
Both families carry terrific business, political
and social weight in town. Each family be-
lieves its daughter the most attractive girl in
town. The Colonel perhaps does not know
Evening star., 1948-03-07

that the electlOneering that produced the
87-87 nominating vote among Chamber
members was reminiscent of total warfare and
the scorched-earth policy. The same type of
electioneering is under way to win the votes
of the eight directors
Second paragraph. Any action at all by
the President of the Chamber of Commerce
will be considered, by the family of the girl
who loses the election, as deadly insult.
Third paragraph. The undersigned recon-
mends that the Colonel disqualify himself
from any participation in the election meeting
on the grounds that his daughter is candi-
date If the Colonel dslikes this course, it is
recommended that the Colonel urge the direc-
tors to turn over the choice between Miss
Sally Edwards and Miss June Clark to Mr..
Guthrie Ames, noted artist now spending the
season here. That would enable everyone to
get out from under After making the decision
MIR. Ames may have to spend the winter
elsewhere but, in a. military sense, Mr. Ames
is expendabe. Signed Barry Jones, Secretary
Gulf City Chamber of Commerce.
Miss MckENNY's pencil point snapped with
vicious little noise. Congratulations she
said. 'You managed to avoid making
decision"
Il tell you any decision is wrongr'
Il disagree, Mr.. Jones. That's not the
Army way"
Did you ever hear that there are two ways
to do thing - the right way and the Army
way? Did you? Anyway it's just passing the
buck. That's SOP in the Army"
Il do not believe in passing the buck"
Miss McKenny said coldly. She began typing
in angry machinery gun bursts. She finished,
had him sign the paper, and carried the
Evening star., 1948-03-07

THE AUTHOR
used to be q Colo
mel himself and
served his time in,
the Pacific. Now
he observes life
more placidly
Evening star., 1948-05-19

encouraging to the rank and file of Post
ofice Department personnel. Mr.. North
has earned his promotion in terms OF
faithful performance of duty under con-
ditions which often were very difficult.
During the illnesses and absences Of
his immediate chiefs on numerous occa-
sions for many months at stretch since
1888, he was acting head of the Third
Assistants Division-with all the response
bilities but not the title or the remunera-
ton.
But now Mr.. North has been granted
an opportunity to show what he can
do with a top-notch assignment. Quiet
in manner, friendly in spirit, he has the
philosophic equipment to direct large
staff. Further, he understands the routine
thoroughly. But, best of ALL he will be
welcomed in his new designation because
he is not an outsider, advanced to the top
for considerations extraneous to his ap-
pointment
Evening star., 1948-05-19
A Goudy Shrine

Deepdene, the country home and studio
of Frederic William Goudy at Marlboro on
the Hudson, few miles below NeWburgh,
is not to be converted into rural boarding
house. The place where some OF the most
interesting type faces of contemporary
times were designed is to be shrine to
preserve the legend and the example OF
their sponsor. It's new oWner-Ralph G.
Coxhead of New York-bought 1t for that
purpose He invites the cooperation OF
all individuals interested in the graphic
arts to the end that the actual scene OF
Mr.. Goudy's labors may remain as he left
it at his death on May II, 1947.
Unfortunately, the old mill at Deepdene
which was the print shop where the great
designer tried out his types was destroyed
by fire in 1889. In the blaze perished
seventy-five alphabets and the matrices
of one hundred and seven faces. Wnat
was saIvaged went into the main building,
the Goudy family residence. On January
9 1914, it was announced that the bulk
of the collection of books, drawings, proofs,
ct cetera had been purchased by the Library
of Congress. A few days later Mr.. Goudy
himself came to Washington to lecture in
the Whittall Pavilion. He returned to
Marlboro satisfied to think that his treas
ures were part of the Nations durable
heritage. The fate of his home after he
had finished with it did not seem to con-
Germ him. But it did trouble his son and
co-worker lacking personal means to
maintain the property.
Now Mr.. Coxhead is solving the problem.
His plan for shrine in memory OF the
great type designer certainly will appeal
to the publishing industry, the printing
trades and all citizens who value beautiful
4,r,nnro r,lical endeaY0r
Evening star., 1948-05-19
Borrowing for School Needs

There is considerable difference in the
amount of money but very little difference
in the principle involved as between the
recommendations of various Board of
Trade committees on meeting our needs
in school building construction.
The boards Education Committee pro-
posed five-year program costing 44,OOO,-
OOO It's excellent report reflected the
thoroughness of its investigation. The
Municipal Finance Committee cut the
program to outstanding needs in the ele-
mentary schools, where the pressure now
is greatest, and proposed $10,400000. The
Executive Committee added one more
junior high school to this recommendation,
bringing the total to about $12,500,000. It
explained that the action covered only the
elementary schools, postponing decision on
others until the current controversy over
new taxes is clarified.
The important thing here is that the
Board of Trade has agreed with the school
authorities on meeting accumulated school
needs by borrowing. These needs will
become acute within five years. They are
pressing now in some sections of the city.
They cannot be met out of current reve-
nues, for if new schools are to be built
they should be ready for the extraordinary
increase in school population that will take
place within a few years.
Chairman Bates of the House District
Subcommittee on Taxes, seems to be toying
with the idea of borrowing our way out
of the deficit in general revenues. That
will not work We need a firm tax base
to support normal maintenance and i'm
provement of the city and we need, in
addition, legislation authorizing advances
to get us over the hump in school buildings
and spread the cost over the years. The
needs are not to be confused, for they are
separate and distinct. E.|.t.
There is plenty of precedent for District
borrowing, in the form of Treasury ad-
vances 1t was done in seven of the years
between 1901 and 1915. In 1880 Congress
authorized $16,OoO,0O0 for park purchase,
the advances to be repaid at million dol
lars year. Approximately the same
amount was authorized under the Public
Works Administration in 1941. The same
principle should be applied now to schools,
for we are free of all Indebtedness now.
The amount and the terms for repayment
are subjects for legislation. Whether the
legislation can be prepared and acted on
at this session is doubtful But resort to
such a method seems inevitable.
Evening star., 1948-05-19
Perspective

The smallest creatures OF the day and
night
Reueal the mystic po,cer OF the Deok. 80
The digger -,Dasp, utth all ito tiny ntchs
win sink a shaft and diligently ssek
70 trap plump pornus totthtn to feed her
young.
The hornet, OF ripe scood-pnlp stoply
De1Ues
Firm paper sheets that on her nest srs
hung.
The infant moth piH fashion bark and
ledDes
As rasn1ent for its tissue ndkedness.
The olowworm flashes tncandescent
light,
and TOR the sleepless one NTH heart sore-
pressed
rhe ,ohtpporwil pours music on the
night;
locks,
OF blinking planes, and music rom Dos.
MARIE HENDERSON WOOD.
Evening star., 1948-05-19
Mr.. North's Appointment

The appointment OF Roy M. North TO oe
Postmaster of Washington is another ex-
ample of the principle of career advance
ment which recently-and constructively-
has been the rule in the Post Of11ce De-
partment Jesse M Donaldson prepared
for his present position at the head OF
the largest communications industry in
the world by service as letter carrier.
The place he formerly occupied as First
Assistant Postmaster General now Is nlled
by Vincent C. Burke, another veteran who
rose from the bottom through the grades.
Mr. North, taking over the local assign
ment with a background of thirty EIGHT
years of training, brings the total aggregate
experience of the three men to approx
mately a century and a quarter.
This is a record rarely matched IN
any branch of the Government. In the
past, it almost never happened in the
postal system that men whose main quail
fication was knowledge Of the Job to be
done were chosen to do the work. The
new procedure is just, fair and certainly
Evening star., 1948-05-19
Election Year and the Atom

Skeptics must be pardoned if they scott
at the Republican majority of the Senate
House Atomic Energy Committee for
claiming that it has been totally nom
political" in voting to limit the terms OF
Chairman Lilienthal and his four COL
leagues on the United States Atomic Energy
Commission.
Such a. claim is considerably less than
fortnight. Under the Atomic Energy Act
passed by Congress in 1916, the members
of the Acc are supposed to take office,
as of next August l, for staggered periods,
ranging up to five years. The present
members-again in keeping with the law
have been serving on kind of trial basis.
They have done fine job, and that is why
the President has reappointed them, with
Mr.. Lilienthal named for the five-year
term. The Republicans of the Senate
House committee, however with one Demo-
crat Joining them, have voted for special
legislation to provide that the terms of
all five commissioners should expire on
June 80, 1850.
This vote-aimed primarily at Mr.. Lilien-
thal-has not been based on any committee
consideration of the qualifications dis
played by the Acc members in pioneering
the civilian administration of our complex
and gigantic atomic enterprise. The big
consideration has been simply this: That
the Republicans hope to elect one of their
party to the White House in November
and want him to be free 0 name his own
men to the Acc. Accordingly, they have
voted for the proposed special legislation
to get around the present laws require
ment for staggered terms up to five years.
In short, the idea is to enable Mr.. Truman's
possible COP successor to choose, If he so
wishes, a brand-new commission eighteen
months after becoming President
To be sure, this proposal is lot better
than an earlier one made by Senator Taft
and some other Republicans to reappoint
the present Acc members just long enough
to permit the preSumable new President
to fire them six months after entering the
White House Still, though not so crude
as the Taft idea and though it allows for
a substantial lapse of time, the plan
favored by the majority of the Senate
House committee obviously is not totally
nonpolitical" Quite definitely it is tied in
with election-year considerations, and it
has the decidedly unfortunate effect of
giving the impreSsion-right or wrong
that the Republican leadership is not above
dealing with the atom In terms of patron
age, like post office.
OF cov the political realities being
what it is often necessary 10
accet. Die when the desirable
Evening star., 1948-05-19
This and That
BIZ Charles E. Trdce1Dell

Life among the humans is strange, and
suspicion at times has its place.
The gentleman had large sack of groceries
in one hand, an open pocketbook in the other
out the bills for his pass.
Here" he said to the bus driver. you
take out two dollar bills
The driver drew back.
mo, sir" he replied. I'm not going to put
my hand in your pocketbook.'
"Just dip in," said the other, as If he had
not heard. Il can't get them out"
No" said the driver, even more firmly.
I'm not putting my hand in anybody's pocket
book"
Suspicion is the old asset Of policemen, de-
tectives, those who meet the public in general
The public though composed of just plain
people, has a psychology of its own.
1t grumbles, says nasty things on the slight
est provocation, causes faithful busmen to
secretly curse sweet old ladies, and in general
plays hob with reasonableness in human re-
lations.
In the personal life, every one, perhaps at
some time or other, has seen the value of plain
old ugly suspicion.
For this trait, as pure thing is not very
gracious.
1t simply has its uses, at times and in certain
occupations
Caution might be better word for the
better phase of suspicion
The animals and the birds know all about
this. They rarely take chances. Nature sees
to that. They have whole battery of tricks
all their own, taught them over thousands of
years.
A house cat, starting after a squirrel, will
shy and stop suddenly as he passes mass of
raked grass about a foot high
Caution in action teaches him to give up
the squirrel to make sure just what this strange
shane is of his side
He had seen 1t before, but only as heap
of grass.
Now, as he passes it, the mass looms as a
possible enemy.
Suspicion of what it may be causes him sud-
denly to shy, stop, look.
The old railroad Injunction, "Stop look,
listen" is in full force with the cat.
He had no real idea of catching the squirrel,
anyway
The birds are so suspicious that they will
not dip into new food supply until they perch
around for hours, sometimes days, to see II
anything moves.
Many persons who decide to feed them
are disappointed when the songsters fail to
take to their food as quickly as they had hoped.
why won't they Gomez" is the question often
asked. AS often straight reply is impossible.
There are too many factors, most Of them un-
known
SometlmeS the plrdS never nave TeCei'eQ d
"handout" in all their lives.
Sometimes, too, white food repels them.
Something about dead white makes them fear
full of it..
They are suspicious.
Yet it is common observation that birds,
as we'll as men, often are unsuspicious at the
very time they need suspicion most.
The songsters will fly into traps without a
trace of trepioation.
In the old days, this often led them to. easy
capture for cages. Today they no longer have
to fear incarceration.
It is man. perhaps, who has to fear most
the easy, appealing traps set for him by master
minds of his own species.
A little honest suspicion Of the right things
would be good for people today.
Evening star., 1948-05-19
The Bid From StoIin

The State Departments response 10
Premier Stalin's acceptance of the Wallace
"open letter" as basis for discussions
with the United States is disappointing
and probably wrong.
It is true, of course, that the Stain
statement was not formal proposal to
this Government and governments ordi-
narily do not act on the basis of news
paper stories or radio broadcasts. There
is also much reason to believe that this
is not bona fide attempt on the part OF
the Soviet leader to find basis for
settlement with the United States, but
rather an attempt to promote Henry
Wallace's political fortunes, an effort to
improve the Russian international propa-
ganda position, or perhaps both.
But if this is the case-if this latest
development is merely another propa-
ganda dodge-the best way to cope with
it would be to act on it. And the worst
way is to wrap ourselves in diplomatic
shell and say to Stain: No, your proposal
is encouraging, but we won't discuss 1t.
The place for you to deal with us is In
the United Nations.
Instead of this, why should not the
President or Secretary Marshall say to
Stain and to the watching world: We
believe that the differences which you
now propose to discuss could and should
have been settled within the frame
work of the United Nations. Your
tactics are responsible for the failure to
do this Still, if you are now prepared to
discuss these matters with us, openly and
in good faith we will meet you half way.
This may not come within the rule
book definition of good diplomacy. But
the game is not being played these days
according to the old rules. And in the
ewes of millions and millions of people
we simply award the decision to Stain
by default when we turn our backs on
what can be made to look like genuine
effort to secure peace. This cannot be
justified simply because we believe, prob
ably with good reason, that nothing can
be accomplished by talking with Stain.
For that is beside the point. The point Is
that by refusing to talk with him we not
only fail to accomplish anything, but also
lose a great deal of ground in the COM
petition that is under way for the favor
able opinion of mankind.
There should also be kept in mind the
possibility, however remote, that there
may be an aspect of genuineness to
Stains offer. After ALL the cold war has
not been going any too well for the Rus
slams, and the primary objective OF our
policies has been to convince them that
they cannot win it. Maybe Stain Is at
last persuaded of this, and is looking for
way out If that is SO, or if there is any
chance that it is so, our purpose should
be to make it easy, not hard, for him to
find a way The thought should never be
out of our minds that our differences with
the Russians must be settled in one OF
two ways. Either we shall have to find
basis for agreement with them, now or
later. or we shall have to accept the
a1ternatiVe of a war.
Evening star., 1948-05-19
The JOYS of Jail

In a rather wistful review of his past
twenty months in government, Prime
Minister Nehru of India has fatty de-
clared that they have been more difficult
than his ten years in jail Political leader
ship has tied him down and burdened
him with a multitude of problems. Wher-
ever he goes, guards follow him. Whatever
he does, officials advise him. He cannot
relax. He cannot feel at ease in his gold
fish bowl. In fact, in his opinion, he had
greater freedom and peace of mind in the
days when he was cooped up in cell.
This viewpoint will strike a responsive
chord in lot of us who have suspected,
from time to time that living behind bars
might be refreshing thing. The hurly-
burly of free existence certainly has it's
drawbacks. Bills, taxes, sky-high prices,
sardine travel in buses to and from work,
dense traffic, loud noises, the housing
shortage, worry about Russia political
harangues, too much speed. no time to
read or think, getting to bed too late,
recurrent sense Of insecurity, innumerable
annoyances and distractions-all this, and
more besides, is what comes from staying
out of jail.
In Jail, on the other hand, order and
security abound. One goes to bed at
sensible hour and wakes up regularly with
the birds. There is a roof overhead. Three
meals day are always available. The in
mate does not have to worry about heat
or housing. He has room he can count
on. He can read books. He can earn
little money. In the quiet of his cell, in
splendid isolation, he can give free rein to
his contemplative moods and weigh the
mystery of himself and the universe. No
bills. No marrying moil for gold. No
hurly-burly. And all free of charge!
These are some of the joys to be found
behind bars by the prisoner who looks for
them.
To say this, of course, is not to suggest
that free men ought to make a point of
committing larceny to get themselves
Jailed. 1t is merely to suggest that those
of us who have never been there cannot
be blamed If occasionally, when the work.
aday world seems particularly trying, we
feel it might be good to be tucked away
in nice, quiet penitentiary. Prime Min
lister Nehru's nostalgia for his prison days
is not too difficult to understand. Given
certain circumstances, a comfortable cell
and kind warden, being locked up should
have its advantages. At any rate, that's
the way it looks sometimes to some of us
on the outside.
Evening star., 1948-05-19
RESIGNATION Not a Protest

To the Editor Of The Star:
am surprised and displeased with the man
ner in which my resignation as a member OF
the bar of the Supreme Court of the United
States was reported in Mondays Star. I made
it clear to all who interviewed me that was
not making protest" let alone attacking"
the Courts opinions or its adjudcations; that
nv sole desire was to quietly withdraw as
member of the Courts bar And had the re-
quest I made to the Court to have my name
stricken from its roll of attorneys been grant,
ed that desire would have been attained.
But the Clerk Of the Court suggested that
my request be changed to the form OF motion,
with which suggestion I willingly complied.
Motions are granted or denied in open court,
hence mine inevitably became public.
WILLIAM L. HILLYER,
Evening star., 1948-05-19

cannot be attained. The reappointment
of Mr.. Lilienthal and the other Acc
members seems to involve choice OF
that sort. The Republicans apparently
are determined to have their way. In
the circumstances, to avoid fight that
could do serious damage to our atomic
project, case can be made for yielding
to them in the hope that they are not
really bent N making partisan plaything
of the atom. The American people have
a right to demand that the Nation be
spared that very great danger.