davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1950-01-22
Financing the Water System

The Commissioners are right in adviS-
ing Congress that Federal money will be
needed to insure Washington against
possible breakdown of water-supply facll-
tiles It is reported that they have pro-
posed to the Joint Fiscal Subcommittee
of the Senate and House District Com
mittees an interest-free, long-term loan
from the Treasury. That is a reasonable
proposal as far as it goes, but it overlooks
the fact that the Federal Government has
a substantial interest in guaranteeing a
dependable water supply for the Nations
Capital Why should the District bear
the full expense of capital improve
ments which will benefit the Federal
Government as we'll as the citizens of
Washington?
It has been estimated that up to twenty
million dollars will be needed to increase
the capacity of existing collection, filtra-
ton, storage and distribution facilities and
to provide. additional facilities. Fortu-
nately, Washingtons only water supply
problem is mechanical one. Experts say
that there is enough water in the Potomac
to take care of the city's needs for any
conceivable emergency But present
equipment is strained unduly during peak
periods of water consumption. Four such
critical periods occurred last August Any
breakdown of pumping or other mechan-
1cal equipment at such a time could cause
serious trouble. Reserve facilities are
urgently needed to provide a margin of
safety.
Obviously, these vital improvements
cannot be financed on a pay-as-you-go
basis. "A large sum of money will be
necessary to undertake the expansion
program in the immediate future In
considering the use of Federal funds for
this purpose, the fact should be remem-
bered that the Federal Governments
investment of eleven million dollars in the
District water plant has been repaid long
ago, when Federal free water privileges
are taken into account 1t was not until
1S47 that the Federal Government agreed
TO pay any part of its annual water bill.
Since then 1t has allotted million dollars
year for this purpose. But this allot-
mert leaves nothing for a Federal share
Of capital improvements 81
AS matter of equity, Congress should
see to 1t that the Federal Government not
only continues to pay its water bills but
assumes Its proper share Of the cost of
expanding the water system. Specifically,
Congress not only should authorize inter-
est-free Treasury loans to help the District
pay for water improvements, but should
supplement the loans with outright grants
TO cover the Federal interest in an ade-
quate water plant in Washington.
Evening star., 1950-01-22

taken only his spending money: THE place
where his jewels were they never ransacked.
So these he kept still" Highwaymen can do
little to disturb the inner peace of a man
like that, who finds his jewels still intact
even though his spending money has been
snatched from him. Not in our marts of
trade nor in our guarded vaults are the
symbols of our highest wealth.
In this Capital City, set on high hill of
hope in the gaze of the whole world, on
Mount st. Adams is the expanding and
rising Cathedral of st. Peter and st. Paul.
st. Peter, who had heard uttered the
Masters great word about riches that moths
and rust and thieves cannot touch long
afterWard in writing to the scattered and
prosecuted Christians spoke of the inherit
ance that is incorruptible and that fadeth
not away" And st. Paul has a great word
regarding that wealth not reachable by
robbers hands. Having suffered the loss of
all things, he, :, too wrote to an infant church
The letter was penned when he himself
was a prisoner in Rome. Judged by all the
commercial standards of Corinth the mem
bers of that church were paupers. Their
names were not in the Who's Who of the
city. Yet it was to them that Paul wrote
"All things are yours" For, he assured
them. in substance, you can claim the past
with all its great names. They all belong
to you. You can claim the world with all
its enhancing beauty. You can claim life
with all its unfolding and enlarging capac-
tiles. You can claim the present and
transform even a cup of pain and loss into
chalice of victory. You own the future
You can even claim death, for it is but
your servant to usher you into a glory that
eyes cannot see or mind conceive.
That indeed is q great passage about
riches and robbers.
In lifting verse the story is told Of the
robbers who came to rob a wealthy man.
They picked the locks of his palace gate.
They seized his jewels and gold and priceless
ornaments. All this was taken by the robbers
who came to rob him.
But loud laughed he in the morning red,
For OF what had the robbers robbed him?
They robbed him not of golden shred
OF the radiant dreams in his wise old head.
And they're welcome to all things else, he
said,
When the robbers came to rob him."
Evening star., 1950-01-22
Good Duy's Work

The truth of the old saying that politics
makes strange bedfellows was demon
strated in Fridays vote in the House
against restoring to the Rules Committee
its former power to block legislation.
One might like to think that the vote
was an intended triumph for good govern
ment But that would call for an exces-
sive measure of naivete.
Several political considerations entered
into the picture. Some Republicans favored
the change as means of killing the Presi-
Gratis favored it as device to bottle up
the Civil Rights bills. The proponents of
the change expected that these twin
attractions would lure enough votes to put
the proposal over. But they failed to
reckon with another political considera-
ton. A vote to change the rule, in Its prac-
tical effect, would have been vote against
the FEPC bill. And this entailed political
risk that many Republicans were afraid
to take.
So when the showdown came, 81 Repub-
licans lined up with ITO Democrats and
two other House members, to defeat the
proposed change. 1t is something new for
the administration to win a major victory
thanks to Republican, Democratic coali-
ftion. And it presumably means that Che
House now will have to vote on most items
on the legislative program This will pro-
duce some squirning among the members.
But they were elected to vote on these bills,
not to bury them.
Evening star., 1950-01-22
Toe P0Icastr0
Bv Bruce Barton

His name was Joe. He came from Italy.
When he was boy. with a little shoeshine
box, busy man who liked him said: why
don't you come up to my Office every morn
ing? Save time"
MAN won't let me in the elevator" said
Joe.
"I'll fix that"
So Joe shined every day for all the people
in an advertising agency called George Bat
ten Co. He was so good that the publisher
of a magazine on another floor let him shine
up there. I was kid on that magazine.
Came the First World War. and Joe
dropped out of, my life. But with peace
and world full of hope. two other young
men and I started our own little advertising
business.
One of our. first callers was joe He
wanted to shine for us. We were united
again.
One day we merged our business with the
Batten company. Joe merged. too.
Joe was a. hard worker. He never tried
that "snap-snap', of the cloth the flasher
shine artists go in for. But when he shined
your shoes they were stined all over-'round
in back and down under the arch. Some
times when I was in hurry I'd try to
get him to give my shoes a lick-an la
promise. 1t was no go. If Joe was going
to shine your shoes, he was going to shine
them right.
I once said jokingly:. "Joe. with all your
money. why do you work so hard?"
He replied: "What'sa wrong with work,
Mr.. Barton?"
feel tempted at times to ask that ques-
ton of some of the younger generation:
Whats wrong with work?"
Always Joe wanted just once to see Italy
again. and his folks. So, after 40 years,
he and his wife few across. He visited with
his brothers and sisters: he slept in the
same bed he had slept in as q boy. He had
made his dream come true.
But he was glad to come home. Not
so good over there" he said. "Me, I'm not
Italian. I'm United States"
He was Mister United States. He was the
new life; the right to hope; the chance to
be in business for yourself.
Years ago an old Roman rebuked man
who had spoken condescendingly about his
appointment to lowly Office. IF the
office will not lend dignity to me-" he said.
IT will lend dignity to the office"
thought Of that when Joe died. And OF
this line also: Honest labor bears lovely
face"
Those two sentences are picture OF Joe.
one Of my oldest and truest friends. He lent
dignity to lowly task. He bore lovely
face.
lcossnsh. lisa. zxi.s ys..ars svaassas~ AA,
Evening star., 1950-01-22

wants to dispose of the ilsands, and 1t Ii
also understood that Germany would like
to get possession of them. This Government,
with the Monroe Doctrine, stands in the way
of the sale by Denmark to any European
power, inasmuch as no such power cares at
this time to make the purchase In the face
of opposition of the United States. Denmark
cannot afford to hold the islands, and since
we would not sanction their sale to any
other country. this Government may in
time come to the conclusion to make the
purchase. But all talk of negotiations to
that end " Is premature" The deal
finally was closed and the Danish West
Indies or Virgin Islands became American
property on March 81, 1917.
Errors in construction had been discovered
in the new Post Office Department Building
at Pennsylvania ave-
Foults in Post nue. and Eleventh street
Office buiIdinQ NV. and The Star for
January II. 1900. dis
cussed q statement by . Treasury official to
the effect that Responsibility for the bad
workmanship now being complained Of does
not rest upon this administration" )" but
rather upon officers 'of past time who
are out Of service" Herein, observed The
Star editorially. 'lies the prime weakness Of
the present system Of public construction.
Whenever flaws have been revealed
1t has invariably been possible for thoss
nominally accountable to shift the blame.
and usually with show Of reason. There
has not been enough continuity In ONCE to
insure responsibility and the good results
that 1t produces. The Post Office Building
was erected under the auspices Of four sue
cessive supervising architects, and ever since
faults began to show themselves the prac-
tice has been for the officials now In charge
to point back along the lirie to avert personal
criticism. Such condition OF affairs 10
unbusinesslike and costly"
Evening star., 1950-01-22

down robbers and other criminals and to
enforce law and order. That network OF
detection suggests wealth that always is in
danger of being filched from its rightful
owners and appropriated by those whose
twisted moral sense brands them as public
enemies.
But there is another armed representative
of 1--WE, the People," who ceaselessly PAGES
to and fro at his marble post and who
speaks of national heritage whose opulence
no scheming robber can molest. That lonely
figure silhouetted against the storied stones
of Arlington is not there to prevent thieves
from conflscating the mammoth block of
f1awless marble or disturbing the last rest
of soldier known only to God. 1t was for
visions that the Unknown Warrior fell, and
upon such treasure can be put no mark of
the dollar.
An astounding robbery such as has cap
tured the headlines this past week brings
to vivid remembrance wealth that is in no
danger of being so confiscated. In the i'm
mortal Pilgrims Progress" John Bunyan
deals with deathless experience which the
passing years never can outmode or outdate.
There we come upon Mr.. Little Faith, who
was held up by highwaymen in Dead Mans
Lane. Poor Mr.. Little Faith! It seemed, as
one looked at him, that the thieves had
taken everything that they could get their
hands on. AS matter of fact, they had.
But the remarkable thing about that holdup
was that when the victim recovered his
senses and was able to investigate the extent
of his loss he found that his assailants had
Evening star., 1950-01-22
How to Get Rid Of Them

Besides explaining the elaborate rules
and procedures that govern the disposal
Of Federal records, new Government
pamphlet contains a photography of liter
ature on how to get rid of any kind OF
old papers. This should be of interest to
the many people who go through life ac-
cunaulating news clippings, souvenir menus,
letters, calling cards, business brochures,
and the myriad other things of a similar
nature that pour in on one from day to
day and seem, for some reason, too i'm
portant at the moment to be thrown away.
These papers build up into tremendous
clutter. They litter the top of the desk.
They fill the drawers of the living room
table. They are in all corners of the
bookcase. They find their way into every
nook and Granny of the office and house
hold. Their collectors are always promis-
ing themselves to tackle the whole mess
next Sunday and toss most of it in the
wastebasket, saving only those magazine
articles of last year that they really want
to read and those dozen or so other items
that still retain fair measure of senti-
mental or other value But the Job Is
never done. 1t is invariably put off. And
the accumulation keeps on growing, until
the accumulator far from having control
over it, feels almost powerless before 1t,
like Frankenstein awed by his monster.
There is only one way out of such a
situation. What must be done, first of all,
is to recognize the rightness of the rule
that the best possible method for getting
rid OF papers is to get rid of them. Then,
once that is firmly fixed in the mind, the
thing to do is to throw out the whole lot
OF them, each and every one, including the
Federal pamphlet on the subject. The act
must be swift and total, for if an effort is
made to look at this and that In order
to separate the wheat from the chaff, the
accumulation will almost certainly remain.
On the other hand, If people really toss
1t out, they will have plenty of room to
start collecting new one.
Evening star., 1950-01-22
OIeo's Major Victory

The Senate's overwhelming vote, for
repeal of Federal taxes on oleomargarine
is a victory for the housewives of the
country as well as for long-oppressed
industry. There is no way of knowing
just how much influence the housewives
revolt" had on the final vote in the upper
house, but it must have been considerable.
For the consumers of margarine who re-
sented being forced to work yellow coloring
into their oleo because of the punitive ten
cent tax on factory -colored margarine have
become increasingly articulate in recent
years.
The oleo forces included other resentful
and powerful groups, too, not the least OF
which were the farmers whose cotton seeds
and soybeans provided the oils from which
the butter substitute is made. The oleo-
butter fight long since had ceased to be
war between farmers (of the dairy variety
on the one hand and professors of animal
fats on the other-as it was more than
half century ago when oleomargarine was
compounded largely of packing house by
products. In recent years the fight found
farmers ranged against farmers, with the
vegetable-on farmers rebelllng against dis
criminatory taxes imposed on margarine
for the protection of dairy farmers from
competition.
First the House and now the Senate have
recognized the unfairness Of the restrictive
Federal taxes on margarine and have, in
effect, restored free competition to the field
of butter and butter substitutes. There
are minor differences to be adjusted be-
tween the House and Senate bills, but, in
the main objective, they are alike. With
drawal of Federal taxes does not mean that
the fight for complete emancipation of
oleo is entirely won, however. Sixteen of
the States still outlaw the sale of yellow
margarine, as compared with thirty-two
States in 19ol. Five. States abolished
yellow-margarine bans in 1948 and four
more States lifted restrictions last year.
The winning Of the margarine nght In
Congress no doubt will spur the campaign
Evening star., 1950-01-22
John Ruskin

Just fifty years ago the world was notified
that John Ruskin had died in his retreat
ut Brentwood. The news came as relief
to his public. He had been i'll of body and
mind for decade. Much had happened
TO make his existence trial. So his re-
lease was welcomed. But it did not follow
that he was not mourned. The people who
had read his books had cared about him
more than they did for less personal
authors. He was their friend in peculiar
way. They had accepted him as a mentor
and guide, and the association was some-
thing like that of older and younger
brothers.
Even today it is plain thSt Ruskin was
endowed by nature with great capacity for
affection. He loved beauty as though it
had been as much living entity as him..
self. The praise he gave the painters of
his preference was an act of devotion. He
carried them in his heart. When he men
toned them, it was with reverence, almost
with alteration. His own life was sequence
of tragedies, many of them bitter and cruel
In character. Perhaps his loss of Adele
and Effie and Rose gave him the power
to see creation with sympathy unusual
in professional critics. They were girls of
excelling attraction, and he laid at their
feet gifts comparable with DanteS to
Beatrice. But his compensations were in
adequate. None of the objects of his
idolization really valued him. His loneli-
ness finally robbed him of his reason.
Yet without such successive ordeals of
Illustration Ruskin might have been total
failure in his work. He studied, he drew,
he wrote largely because other modes of
expression were shut to him. If Rose,
whom he worshiped, had married him, he
might have ceased to be what he certainly
was-the most active, the most influential
artistic force in England in the Victorian
era. Happiness might have killed his
effort very much as unhappiness eventually
destroyed it. He never had chance at
normal, medium course. Just why he
suffered so is problem which psychol-
ogists have tried to solve in vain. Some
think he was dominated by his parents,
others have supposed that there was in
MIN some hidden fault for which nobody
was responsible fault in the sense of an
element lacking, perhaps the quality OF
humor
Certainly, Ruskin never laughed. He
found the world sorrowful, and his at
tempts to reform 1t were joyless. Even II
his philanthropies had been fruitful, they
would not have made anybody anything
Evening star., 1950-01-22
Letters to The Star

terests Shrek for warships to protect their
ghoulish trade over the weakened body Of
democratic nation and the Chinese people
who only wanted to follow our way to peace.
Has America become so cynical as to ad-
NIT concern for material things alone?
Shall we be content to overlook the moral
and spiritual values that really make for
the brotherhood Of men? 1t will seem SO
II we fail to recognize such values in the
Chinese people, people who even at this
hour furnish examples of their will to resist
totaltarian enslavement Underscoring
their purpose for determined resistance is
nothing more than the mutual aim Of all of
us: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
as free men. HAROLD J. THOMPSON.
Evening star., 1950-01-22

but solemn He had nothing of Lewis
carrolls exuberance-and Lewis Carroll
himself did not have as much of it as he
would have wished. Maybe the times were
out of joint, and it simply was not feasible
for creative geniuses to be genuinely gay.
Nevertheless, the Victorians left their
mark-William Morris, Rossetti Burne-
Jones, Tennyson, Oscar Wilde, Thomas
Hardy among the number Ruskin has
monuments here in Washington. To him
we owe in part the National Gallery and
the Shakespeare Library. He inspired their
donors.
Evening star., 1950-01-22

snatched and made
away with, involves
the greatest amount
of currency ever to
be thus bagged at
one haul. A million
and a half dollars is
an immense amount
to fall into the
hands of desperate
conniverS who defy
the laws of God and
man. The alerted
armed constabulary
synbolizes the Ma
tion's grim deter
mination to track
Evening star., 1950-01-22

A court advises, "Tell your wife often
that you are master of the house" And
make 1t loud, If you want to hear what you
have to say.
Evening star., 1950-01-22

A wonderful woman is the wife who can
sort of reconstruct mans anecdote as he
goes along, and improve it.
Evening star., 1950-01-22
Spires of the Spirit
Robbers and Riches
Crime Story of Last Week Used to Point Moral
of Wealth No Thief May Take Away
Bv the Req. Frederick Byoun Harris D. d. Lit. D.
By the Rev, Frederick Bro1vn Harris, d. D., Lih D.

Audacious and cunning thieves are loose in
the land. The entire Nation is aghast at
sensational robbery which, in the huge loot
The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1950-11-17
RECLAMATION FUNDS ALLEGATION
FOR MONTANA I'M 1851
Hungry Horse to Get So l.6 Million; Design Work to
Get Underway on Yellowtal Project

scheduled for payment on existing
contracts and on other features in
Guiding completion of Havre-Shelby
line and substations at Rudyard.
Havre and Shelby, and completion of
the Glendive-Miles City 115-kv line
will be put in operating condition,
and the Glendive switching station
will be placed under construction.
Other ALLEGATIONS
Buffalo Rapids = $223,016 for
first division, construction of adj
ditional drainage and waterway struc-
lures.
Buffalo Rapids-$151,4 O4 for sec
ond division repairs of storm damage.
Milk River-$93, 900 for construc-
ton of parapet wall, curb and road
way at Fresno dam.
Sun River-$39, 900 for continual
ton of new drains.
Canyon Ferry-$7,837,265 for con-
tinuation of dam and power plant
construction. Project calls for reser-
voir with capacity of 2,050,000 acre
feet and power capacity of $4,000
kilOwatts.
Lower Marias-$991, 997 for loca-
ton surveys and Reconstruction work
on Tiber dam and Marias canal.
Misouri-Souris-$176,771 for pre-
liminary work on Missouri diversion
dam and Little Porcupine power
plant.
N-Bar-N-$21O,278 for pumping
plant, canal and construction.
Sadie Flat-$35 ,597 for prelimin
airy work on this Yellowstone unit.
Sidney-$15,9 62 for detailed sur
veys and investigations.
Savage-$52, 120 for repairs.
The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1950-11-17
MissouIa Local Negotiafes
Pact With Davenport

MISSOULA, Mont.-LSW Local
1856 has completed the organizing
of employees of the Davenport Lum-
Der company and negotiated com
plete working agreement contain
ing all top LSW conditions of employ
ment.
The agreement was negotiated
November 1, and is expected to be
finally ratified by the signatures of
the parties in the next few days. A
full Union Shop clause is included
and consent VA agreement en-
tered into and filed with the NLRB.
Brotherhood Representative Allie
Cole assisted Local 1855 throughout
the organizing and negotiating period.
Local 1855 is also bargaining
agency for employees of three other
Missoula plants; the Western Mon
tana Lumber company, Intermoun-
tain Lumber company and Bitterroot
Pine, Inc.-LSW UNION REGISTER.