The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1949-03-24
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On brief visit to the nations
capitol, / happened to arrive in
the Union station early in the
morning. AS / walked through
the gates, two black automobiles
rolled up casually to a stop a few
feet away. There seemed nothing
odd about this except for the
fact that the cars were inside the
station and quite near the train
entrances. The car doors opened
and / looked, expecting to see
perhaps some minor government
official - certainly no more than
a cabinet member or senator. To
my surprise. who should alight
but President, Mrs. and Margaret
Truman and walk to one of the
waiting trains. There were only
half-dozen secret service men
around, so / waited few minutes,
and sure enough, here came back
the president and his wife - hav-
ing put Margaret on the train for
New York, where she is studying
: voice lessons. As l walked away,
was impressed with country
where an average citizen can
stand in depot and watch the
Chief Executive and his family,
only a few feet away and note
that aside from official titles, this
family too is just average citizens.
During the war when ! was in
the service and made frequent
trips to Washington. heard SO
many people say they didn't like
the place. Somehow, this is a
sentiment which it is hard for me
to conceive Of. have always liked
the city which is undoubtedly one
of the prettiest in the world, and
probably the most beautiful capt.
toll from natural standpoint. The
people there are friendly, ! have
found, and represent every part
Of the country. In spite of what
a lot Of people say about the red
tape, have always found it COM
paratively easy to transact bust
ness with Federal Government
people. And another thing we
have to realize it's our own
capitol, and If we aren't satisfied
with it, then each citizen should
do something to remedy it.
A lot OF pee 'ually COM
mute from New .oIK 70 Washing
ton. One of these is General
Eisenhower who, it seems. was
not allowed to enjoy long the dig
nifty of Columbia university as
its president, but had to return
to the capitol to advise on our
armed forces / passed him the
other day here, and noticed he
was wearing only two of his SER
vice ribbons, the Distinguished
Service Medal, and the European
Theatre one, l believe. If he wore
all the ribbons which have been
awarded him, he literally would
have to have something like a !
huge boat sail on which to fasten
them - and then it would be too
heavy to manage. He will return
to Columbia when he is finished
with his government assignment.
OF course he will be of value down
there and maybe too. as some
one suggested, he just wants to
get out of civilian life again for
awhile and back into his old ele-
ment.
Government leaders as well as
others comment on the recent
showdown in business. II is ap-
parent that supply is catching up
with demand, they point out, Civ
ing the fact that one can get al
most any make of new automobile
now without waiting for delivery
more than few days. The stock
market has dropped some and en-
ployment is off here and there.
that it is a good thing to have the
But one wise economist remarks
levelling-on period come so grad
ually, that no one could intelli-
gently expect the war boom to last
forever, and that if labor and cap
itol will just work intelligently
together now with the govern
ment - and the government with
them that we need have no
fear Of depression.
There is a marked difference in
railroad travel now. Lots more
people are travelling by car and
plane and the damned coaches
and Pullmans which were war
time commonplace are not to be
seen except at rare intervals.
There is plenty of room and the
trains are cleaner and more mod
ern. Only one thing seems to
rankle the modern railroad travel
Ter, and that is the high cost of
food in the diners. 1t is still hard
to get decent meal for under two