davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1950-09-05
BY Charles E. TroceweU
Emmanuel s. Larsen.

ban areas Of Washington, and occasion
ally in Georgetown not too far from the
Potomac. to have an opossum, or even
two of them, come to house at night,
as If searching for food.
Large building developments in nearby
Virginia and Maryland have resulted in
recent years in scores of these marsupials
foraging into the built-up areas, as their
old habitats are destroyed.
Bird feeding stations on stakes at win
dows. especially if there is sufficient
shrubbery for the animal to climb on.
attract opossums, and they make beauti-
full sights on moonlight nights, looking
over the food opportunities.
If they are catered to with fresh corn
and other vegetables, they will soon ap-
pear every evening, and may even take
up residence in tree in neighborhood.
They may do bit of fishing in goldfish
pools
The opossum Is a good-sized animal,
about the length of house cat, but
fatter toward fall, with a long naked
tail, which is called prehensile adapted
for seizing or grasping, especially for
wrapping around as the monkey taiD.
The color is gray. but with some black
around the hands" and at times it
seems almost white, especially in the
night. when the creature at window
may strike the observer as ghost. But
1t is ghost with an appetite, remember.
Evening star., 1950-09-05
This and That

Even sunflower seed. the bird favorite,
would not go begging.
They have both the teeth and digestive
organs to handle the foods eaten by man.
Their food tastes roughly approximate
those of the racoon. but they are not so
likely to wash their food first, as he does.
1t would be interesting. however. to put
a bowl of fresh water near the feeding
place just to see what he would do when
handed an ear of corn.
IN nature the opossum approaches the
corn patch with happiness written on
his funny little face.
His manner of breaking the stalks and
eating much resembles the manner of
the racoon.
Opossums have incisor, canine and
molar teeth.
It may be realized they can eat almost
anything a dog or human can eat.
Their forepaws resemble little hands.
1t is very interesting to watch how they
use them.
For this reason no one should be afraid
Of one, but be willing to hold out piece
OF food. If for no other reason than to
watch the animal take hold of it.
This is an interesting, instructive and
beautiful process. Wandering opossums
are not afraid of humanity, unless there
are rapid motions made to frighten 1t.
It is no uncommon thing In the subur-
Evening star., 1950-09-05

armaments-this may seem to be matter OF
secondary Importance, but it ought not to be
brushed aside. Ideas-the bid for mems minds,
the effort to make clear to peoples on all conti-
nents just what our own country and the over
when1ing majority of the United Nations stand
for-constitute in themselves an arsenal whose
significance is every bit as great, in its own way,
as guns, tanks planes fleets and infantry
divisions.
AS things stand, we are spending less in tell
ing our story than some of our soap companies
are in advertising their products. We are spend
ing far less than the Kremlin, and unless we do
the job that needs to be done, we cannot hope
to get the truth across to the peoples of Asia
and the peoples behind the iron curtain in
Europe. The Senate should act accordingly. We
cannot afford the luxury of pinch-penny frame
of mind in this all-important field.
Evening star., 1950-09-05
BETHESDA.

Dear Sir:
What shall feed an opossum that
comes to our window every night?
"I was afraid of it at first. but soon
realized, as you have said, that there was
no harm in it..
st offered bread which was eagerly
accepted, but wonder if there isn't some
other food it would like.
'The eyes of the creature amaze me,
they are beautiful, and not unkind in
the least.
Somehow I always had the idea the
eyes of wild animal must be wild, too,
but this specimen seems almost kindly
in the way he peers into the room.
"The light does not frighten him.
ST would appreciate it if you will tell
us some other food to give him.
II offered him ice cream, but he
wouldn't touch that!
Sincerely, E. M. D."
Opossums are omniverous.
That means they will eat almost any
thing, with the exception, perhaps, of
ice cream.
They take kindly to fresh corn.
They like insects, birds and their eggs,
young chickens, moles, mice, rabbits.
Among fruits they prefer the persim-
mon but will sample many others.
Suet is liked in the fall and winter.
Evening star., 1950-09-05
The Commissioners Responsibility

The Commissioners should move promptly to
initiate revival of the War Hospitality Committee
which did such splendid work during the past
war in co-ordinating the many activities catering
to service men on leave in Washington.
The executive committee, or operating agency
for the War Hospitality Committee-known as
Recreation Services, 1nc.-is still in existence.
The Commissioners would do well to call its
officers into conference and decide on the best
pattern of procedure to be followed in repeating
or revising the organization that proved success
full. For it will not be long before Washington is
again the leave town" that gained a good
national reputation in the past war.
The Commissioners responsibility in this
held is plain An agency that attempts to CO.
ordinate all the many volunteer and semi-off1cial
activities concerned with provision of proper
recreation and entertainment for service men,
Government workers and others needs some
official support and backing. That was demon
strated in the past war, and the action then of
the Commissioners in sponsoring the formation
of adequate co-ordinating machinery among the
citizens should be repeated now. The prominent
local citizens who took part still available for
consultation and advice.
Fortunately for the community, some of the
preliminary spade work has been done under
the Recreation and Group Work Section of the
UnlJeQ community services ana L1e heCTealloa
Services, Inc The Star commented recently on
the survey made by Milton Fietelson, brought
here from Philadelphia to make study of COM
munty organization for military personnel. The
report did not deal eXhaustively with the plan
that worked well. But there is no necessary
conflict between its proposals in general and the
plan that was followed in Washington during
World War I-unless it is the question of the
most desirable sponsorship of the community
organization. and whether such sponsorship
should come from the Commissioners or from the
United Community Services, formerly the Wash
ington Community Chest. If there are compelling
reasons why Recreation Services Inc, should be
reorganized along broader liness they will become
evident in consultation. But the stimulation of
such organization should come from the Com
missoners, who, with Others will have the benefit
of Mr.. Fietelson's recommendations.
A good record was made in Washington in
the past war and If it is to be repeated in the
period that lies ahead, with an increasing number
of service men coming here for leave from nearby
training centers, the work of organization should
begin now, under assignment from the Com
missioners.
Evening star., 1950-09-05
Quote From an Ancient Roman

During every war in which this or any
other nation has engaged the Monday
morning quarterbacks have fiourished.
We have many such among us now. The
following, from speech delivered IN
1853 B. c. by Lucius Aemilius Paulus, may
be cited in reference to them:
"Ir every circle and truly at every
table there are people who know when
and through what pass Macedonia
should be entered =. when it Is proper
to engage the enemy, when to lie quiet.
And they not only determine what is
best to be done, but If anything is done
in any manner. they arraign the Consul,
as if he were on trial before them.
IF. therefore. anyone thinks himself
qualified to give advice respecting the
war which am to conduct, which may
prove advantageous to the public, let
him not refuse his assistance to the
State. but let him come with me into
Macedonia. He shall be furnished with
ship. horse, tent; even his travel
ing charges shall be betrayed. But IL
he thinks this too much trouble, and
prefers the repose of city life to the
tolls of war. let him not on land, assume
the Office of pilot. The city, in itself.
furnishes an abundance of topics for
conversation; let it confine its passion
for talking within its own precincts,
and rest assured that we shall pay no
attention to any Councils but such as
shall be framed within our camp"
Jay Henry.
Evening star., 1950-09-05
New Loyalty Wanted for U. N.

Bill Kruger protests in your columns
against use of the term "U. N. troops"
in describing American men in battle in
Korea. He says these soldiers owe allie
glance to the U. S. Constitution but not
to the United Nations, which he describes
as lacking the sanction and approval of
the American people.
But it is clear to the careful observer
that the American people do support
the United Nations to a very marked
degree; witness the annual effort to
mark U. N. Day which will be made
this October by nearly 100 national or
carnations of veterans, businessmen.
workers, teachers. and other citizens,
representing millions of Americans.
1t also is true that. even among people
who fully recognize the essential role of
international organization in the modern
world, the assumption of new loyalties
Is not an easy task. We are accustomed
to think in national terms exclusively.
just as our forefathers were accustomed
to think exclusively in terms of their
respective colonies. SectionaliSm re-
manned for many years after the U. S.
Constitution had created superior
loyalty for citizens of the several States.
1t was hard for New York and Massa-
chusetts men to get used to the idea Of
enlisting and fighting in the Federal
forces in which State of origin came to
be meaningless in the face of common
effort to accomplish common task.
So today it will injure the pride of
many Yank to be submerged in the
news accounts to the impersonal level
of "U. N. soldier" This is because we
haven't yet built up a pride in a world
citizenship to equal our pride in being
Texans, F1oridians and Americans. But
we can do it. and we must do it. If we
are to win battles and preserve our lives
and liberty. For only If we can make
common cause with people everywhere
against aggression can we avert disaster
which will truly submerge every Yank,
every human being, into atomic dust
Wake up. Americans, and thank God
that the beginnings of common cause
among humanity are being felt to the
extent that the U. N. flag is flying in
Korea.
Peggy Dudley.
Evening star., 1950-09-05

of US think of as the American way OF
life under the Constitution.
While we all laugh at the curious
results that occur when the Russians
attempt to stifie free thought with a
party line, some of us realize that it is
the principle Of having a party line
that is wrong, while there are some
who have no objection to a party line
so long as it is their own line 1t is
difficult enough to fight Communism
without being hampered by pseudo
patriots who pretend to defend the
tower Of freedom while they do their
best to pull it to the ground.
The most discouraging part Of this
whole incident, which was probably in
tended to have political more than any
other effect, is that these Senators
should have any cause to think that
such an attack upon the independence
OF the Judiciary could do them any good
politically.
Daniel r. Ohlbaum.
Evening star., 1950-09-05
Highest Mountains Going Up

DR. M S. Krshnan geological expert for the
government of India, says the Himalayas are
growing higher" According to an Associated
Press dispatch from New Delhi, he believes that
Mount Everest has risen 200 feet in 100 years. If
the same rate Of elevation continued unchecked,
the worlds loftiest peak would double its present
height-29,000 feet-in 145 centuries, relatively
short period of time geologically speaking.
But it is unlikely that there will be any such
pushing up OF the great Asian hills. The power
to force them higher must be either volcanic or
oceanic. Vast subterranean explosions could
occur, opening tremendous craters in Tibet; but
DR.. Kirshnan does not anticipate any develop
ment of that kind. The more important dynamic
element of the prevailing era in the earth's
history is that of the weight of water. If the
world grows warmer and the ice of the polar
zones mets, the seas will become heavier. This
circumstance would have the effect of squeezing
the Himalayas upward. 1t also would lift the
Rockies, the Andes, the Apennines and many
other ranges, including particularly the noun
talns of Japan.
Evidence in support of the theory referred to
may be found in the gradual shortening of the
glaciers of Switzerland. George Gamow in his
biography of the Earth" dramatzes what ap-
pears to be happening by asserting that there
once was time, not so very long ago, when
zone could comfortably walk 10 or 20 miles
eastward from the present site of Atlantic City
without even wetting ones feet" The disturb
ances recently reported in the Hinalayan sector
are explained by DR.. r. A. Daily of Harvard in the
words: "The earths crust is in persistent state
OF stress. At intervals the strained crust snaps
and moves little. Each swapping means an
earthquake"
Seismologists expect further tremors in Asia
possibly over two or three decades But, barring
condition of torridity supplanting the present
cold Of the Arctic and the Antarctic, the lifting
OF the worlds mountains eventually must halt.
That is what has occurred in the Laurentians of
Canada and our own Appalachians.
Evening star., 1950-09-05
Governor Dewey Comes Back

Six years ago Governor Dewey was hammer
ing away at his presidential campaign theme
"It's time for change" He could see no need
to retain in Office Franklin D. Roosevelt who
was running for fourth term on the general
appeal of indispensability, and who, four years
earlier, had yielded to draft" for third-term
nomination on the premise that war threatened
and that he could not decline to serve when other
men were being inducted into the Army.
Now it is Governor Dewey who emerges as
the good soldier. Last June he announced that
he would quit politics and return to private law
practice. 1t was said that the Governors health
was not good and that the rigorS of public Office
imposed too great strain. But ten weeks later,
at the urging of his party, Governor Dewey is
back in the race. And he says: To-day the
people of New York are being asked to make
sacrifices for our defense in the face of deadly
peril. In good conscience cannot ask others
to serve unless am equally willing to serve"
AS in the Roosevelt case, the explanation
here is essentially partisan one In 1910 and 1914
the Democrats needed, or thought they needed,
the magic of the Roosevelt name to win. This
year much the same thing is true in New York
few days ago the Democrats pulled political
fast one when they persuaded Mayor ODwyer
to resign and accept an AmbaSsadorship. This
meant mayoralty election in New York City,
which always brings out big and preponderantly
Democratic vote. AS Republican hopes faded the
pressure on Governor Dewey, the partys best
vote-getter, mounted. Where there had been
only few voices calling for him to reconsider,
there developed chorus of demand. And now
the Governor has said that he will accept.
1t u.s. perhaps, somewhat cynical business,
but 1t is politics. There is reason to think that
the interests of the people of the State will suffer
Governor Dewey has had an excellent record at
Albany, and his stature has grown as the problems
which confront this Nation have become more
and more complex. If he should be reelected
this fall, the State and the country will benefit
as well as the New York Republicans.
The talk now is a possible national debt OF
$500, 900 100000 as the next higher sum that
comes to even money.
Evening star., 1950-09-05
To Spread the Truth

The Senate should pay sympathetic attention
to the Presidents appeal to be more generous
than the House in providing funds for the Voice
of America What he has asked for is total
of $89,000,000 as against the $65,655850 already
appropriated by the lower chamber cut that
ignores the fact that the United States and the
Western world must make an all-out effort to
counter the colossal lies now being spread
throughout the globe by the Soviet Union.
In period when vast amount of money
@ needed for lot OF other things-principally
Evening star., 1950-09-05

lands. which are logical extension
of the Aleutians but which the Car. In
rare At of wisdom, refrained from
throwing into the bargain when he sold
Alaska to the United States for ST mil
lion. The cost of our installation at
Shemya is estimated at 500 million.
Shemya is considered the best air
base in the chain. 1t was naturally the
most nearly fiat of the islands. al
though it's mountainous top had to be
Topped off to make B-29 runways pos
sible Along with Attu. Agattu and
Amcnitka, it is one of the Rat Islands,
SO called because of hordes of voraci-
Gus rats which were left on the islands
by Russian shipwrecks.
Adak is about $50 miles to the East,
in the Andreanof Islands. In the late
war it was developed as a tremendous
Evening star., 1950-09-05
The AIeutions Next?- Let's Hope Not

base for ground, air and naval opera
tions. It has magnificent natural har-
Dor. surrounded by snowy mountains
which prompted the men stationed there
to remark: "The scenery is beautiful,
If you don't look at it too long"
Cold Bay will be remembered as the
staging point for the battle of Attu.
That battle was quite as rugged as any
now going on in Korea. although frozen
feet TOOK the place of heat prostrations.
The Japanese demonstrated the same
fanaticism that now is credited to the
North Koreans, making such desperate
assaults as that Of May 30, 1943. when
every Jap who could walk took part,
some armed only with bayonets tied on
the end of sticks Like the North Ko-
reans. the Japanese shot their own
wounded to death rather than let them
fall into American hands.
# the Russians should decide to in
wade the Aleutians. the weather would
favor them over the Americans because
it originates on their side. The snow,
sleet and rain which hit the Aleutians
at go miles an hour come from Siberia,
and the fogs which shroud the islands
most of the time are caused by the
clash of cold fronts from Siberia and
warm. winds from the Japan current.
Winds in the Aleutians have been known
to reach $50 miles an hour.
What would the Russians want with
those barren, treeless islands? The an
swer is that they could not take the
mainland of Alaska-which has turned
out to he worth more than the Car
got for it-without seizing the Aleutians
first.
If it does become necessary to defend
the Aleutians again, the soldiers, sailors
and flyers involved will not enjoy it
much. And If the Russians find any
pleasure in the invasion, they will be
dem onstrating a remarkable unsound-
ness of mind.
Evening star., 1950-09-05
How to Win Asiotics?
Daniel r. Ohlbaum.

Laura K. Pollock, in her letter in The
Star of September 2. admits that she
does mot understand the system of rea-
soning in the Wet Nam sector of Indo-
China" This must come as surprise to
many readers. I, for one, was under the
impression that she had all the answers
to questions on the Far East. In one of
her recent letters, for instance. she
solved the entire problem of Indonesia
by declaring that the Indonesians are a
contemplate people. That contemplate
statement convinced me that Laura Pol
lock is either strongly anti-Asiatic or
utterly ignorant of what has been hap
pening in the former colonial areas in
Asia in the past decade. This conviction.
on my part, is now confirmed by her
amazement at the idea Of any one want
ing to support a genuine Indo-Chinese
nationalist rather than a puppet like
Bao Dai.
If Miss Pollock has the slightest un-
derstanding of the postwar trend of
nationalism among the peoples of Asia,
she would realize that man like Pre-
mier Tran Van HUI who cannot be called
a puppet of any foreign power, might
prove to be the key to the solution
of our entire problem in Asia. That prob
lem, as far as We are concerned, is to
stop Communism-which is nothing but
Russian mperialism-without ourselves
resorting to measures that the Asiatics
can denounce as imperialistic. Our sup
port of ex-King Bao Dai, personiflcation
Of a hangover of colonialism, is one of
those policy blunders we never should
have committed
Only in Korea. our policy seems to
be on the right track. President Syng-
man Rhee is true nationalist who has
fought for his country's independence
since 1915 and was elected by popular
vote in a constitutional manner. He
certainly never could be called puppet.
Nor could President Chang Kai-shek.
If we were to be consistent in our Asian
policy, we would stand firmly behind
true nationalist elements headed by
such men as DR.. Rhee. President Quirino.
Premier Tran Van HUI and Generals
simo Chang Kai-shek. The tide, then,
would quickly turn in our favor. for the
Asiatics already are tiring of Commu
nism. Our steadfast refusal to support
any vestiges of eolonialism would
promptly win for us the friendship of
a billion freedom loving Asiatics. 1t is
such a friendship that will ultimately
defeat Russian Communism.
Emmanuel s, Larsen.
Evening star., 1950-09-05
More Criticism of Macarthur

Every American citizen has been justly
proud of the fact that our military
command in the Orient has been headed
by such an able strategist and genius
as Gen. Douglas Macarthur. He un-
questionably is the right man in the
right place at this crucial moment in
American history
This much being said, however, does
not absolve Gen. Macarthur Of the
blame that he justly deserves in not
clearing his recent letter to the Veterans
of Foreign Wars through the proper
channels before publication, especially
since such document was highly
controversial. ,es
Anyone that now unnecessarily would
add to the headaches of the Commander
in Chief of the United States forces is
not serving his country in the best
manner. This is especially true when
the offender is a soldier who should
know better and who is subordinate to
his Commander in Chief.
James T. Mccarthy.
Evening star., 1950-09-05
What Is q Poem?

I asked a lad.
And he replied:
"Firm, 1Darm flesh
With heart inside"
I asked again,
And q soldier said:
Cool clean sheets,
And some home made Bread"
= To a child it 1DaS
This DondrouS thing:
"Wriggling toes
In a clear cool spring."
A mother dnSDered
As she rocked and smiled:
"TheSe golden curls
OF my sleeping child"
I asked, What is
A poem to me?"
"A cage unlocked.
And q bird set tree"
ESTHER CHURCH.
Evening star., 1950-09-05
Certain Senators VS.. Judiciary

When I read the other day that sew
eral members of the Senate Judiciary
Committee had voted to investigate the
entire Federal judiciary because of
their dissatisfaction with a particular
decision in a particular case, thought
that the Senators must be going mad
But it has not been hot enough for
that. The only other conclusion, and
it is one that is re-enforced by numerous
other recent incidents, is that there are
a number of men in Congress who.
while they don't like Communism, don't
have much more respect for what most