davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1951-01-21
Wheat Formers Complaint

note in The Star that bread is to
be increased in price a cent loaf.
raise wheat on farm in the Shenandoah
Valley. At the price this wheat is sold.
figure that two cents worth of wheat
goes into loaf of bread. Perhaps half
cent should be added for milk, salt and
other materials in the loaf. But pay 16
cents at the nearby store for loaf Of
bread.
Between 13 and IA cents is added off
the farm to the cost of that wheat.
write on this subject because city and
and town dwellers complain of farm
prices. Yet it is some one other than the
producer of wheat who adds seven times
the cost of the farmers wheat to the loaf
of bread which he buys at the store, pro-
vided his wife does not make her own
bread.
A fact-finding series of articles on farm
profits and farm prices would not be
popular among non-farm readers, but
it might help Washington to understand
why guarantees on the cost of (high)'
living for everyone keep running prices
up. James NJ. Thompson.
Evening star., 1951-01-21
Spires Of the Spirit
The Beliefs of Unbe|ief
Spires Of the Spirit

The burden of belief. as 1t Is intel
lectually and spiritually accepted. has
been the frequent theme of thinkers
facing the total mystery of life. The
beliefs of belief have been stressed in
many dusty tome endeavoring to but
tress accepted premises by an apologize
meant to sugar-coat something other
wise hard to swallow. Such defense Of
the faith rightly points out that to trust
in what are called spiritual verities' is
no easy achievement, and that belief is
beset by perils.
Sometimes the impression is given
that If the yoke of belief is cast aside
the disbeliever is then scot-free OF
further concern: he is emancipated.
There could be no more cruel fallacy,
for a skeptic faces the beliefs OF unbelief.
Gazing at the blank and meaningless
universe, any intelligent doubter finds
himself facing difficulties harder than
before.
OF course, there always are those with
borrowed creeds who, tongue in cheek,
simply say: "It is impossible. There
fore, I believe" Even that position is
not as far-fetched as it sounds. In
many realms faith has demolished so
many alleged imposSibilities that that
word is seen often to be the mask of
an imposter. The men who have driven
away the specter of the impossible, BAR
ring advancing civilization, were great
believers. They have been pioneers, like
Pasteur. who. in spite of the stare of
the wise and the derision of experts,
steadfastly proclaimed their faith.
Faith is. adventure. Negation is stag
nation The next step in human prog
ress always is an invasion beyond the
fences of the impossible.
1t is true that great and compelling
faith oftens walks a thorny pathway.
Any man who jauntily says that he
believes in God does not know the tre-
mendous implications of that faith. 1t
is a stupendous affirmation to be made
reverently and discreetly and in the
fear of the Almighty. The great believ-
ers are those who. realizing the difficulty
of believing that God is love, have found
it harder still to disbelieve. To stand in
the presence of some burning bush of
beauty or of nobility. of goodness and
devotion, and then to say. Il believe all
Evening star., 1951-01-21

One of the most important discoveries
in the history of modern medicine was
announced in The Star for
Dr. Reeds January 10, 1901. as follows:
p.,o,t "a dispatch from Havana
yesterday says: The Ameri-
can commission under the superintend-
ence of Dr. CWalter) Reed, which has
been making experiments at Quemados
as to the propagation of the yellow fever
germs by the mosquito, has obtained ex-
tremely satisfactory results. Dr.. Reed
says the experiments show beyond a
doubt, that there is no contaglon from
an infected person or from infected
clothing, but that the mosquitoes alone
are responsible for the spread of the
disease
In report of a meeting OF the
Churchman'S League, published on Janu-
ary 8. 1901, The Star
Christ Church, reviewed paper read
ceo,oetown by William A. Gordon
s~0"" on the history of Christ
Church, Georgetown. The first rector.
it was set forth, was "a godly and able
scholarly minister" Rev. Ruel Keith.
Another eminent parson was Rev.
Charles P. McIlvaine, later Bishop OF
Ohio Among the laymen active in the
parish in its early days Francis Scott
Key, Thomas Corcoran and James S.
Morsell were mentioned. Those partici-
pating in the discussion of Mr.. Gordon's
paper included Assistant Secretary OF the
Navy Frank w. Hackett, Gen. Thomas H.
LOCKER, Capt. Harry B. LOCKER. the Rev.
William De Vries and Smith Thompson.
On January IL, 1901, The Star quoted
with approval the following excerpt from
the Memphis Commercial
Progress OF Appeal: "one hundred
A Century years ago man could
not take ride on a
steamboat; he could not 60 from Wash
ington to New York in few hours; he
had never seen an electric light or
dreamed of an electric car; he could not
send a telegram; he could not talk
through the telephone :. :; he could not
ride bicycle: he could not call in
stenographer and dictate letter; he had
Evening star., 1951-01-21
Plenty of Geniuses

Regarding your editorial of January
8, mo Literary Geniuses NoW?": Without
trying to answer a question with
question, should like to ask: Are there
any literate readers now? Or: Are
there any critical geniuses now?
The absence of so peers to the eight
literary artists" of century ago. which,
as you say, should logically follow" the
increase in population (Which, logically,
it should not) is undoubtedly due, as
you also say, to the expansion Of op-
portunity afforded by television, radio,
motion pictures" etc.
Nevertheless. there are in this
country a few talented taskmasters
going to the trouble of putting pen to
paper. To name few: Eugene O'Neill,
Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner,
Robert Frost. Carl Sandburg. John
Steinbeck. Thornton Wilder, John
Dewey, John Dos Passos. Pearl Buck. H.
L. Mencken. Maxwell Anderson, James
Branch Cabell. Dorothy Garfield Fisher.
Archibald MacLeish, Upton Sinclair and
Robert Sherwood.
Thomas Wolfe's premature death
does not take him out Of our literary age,
nor does the expatriation Of George
Santayana and T. 8. Eliot remove them.
1t may be that our literary geniuses of
today are members Of the little-heralded
avant-garde, or the too-soon-dead F..
Scott Fitzgerald, Villa Gather and the
surrealistic Nathaniel West. 1t could be
they are William Carlos Williams, John
OHara, James Thurber. Sherwood
Anderson or William Saroyan. They
could be critics Van Wyk Brooks and
Edmund Wilson, playwrights Arthur
Miller and Tennessee Williams or
scenarist Joseph Mankiewicz Or pos
sibly some obscure pulp writer using a
pseudonym.
The equals of Mrs. Stowe can be
found on any best-seller list. A modern
master capable of what Melville did, in
his fantastically dull "Moby Dick"
could be William Faulkner, whose "The
Bear" makes for extremely more pleas
ant reading with no loss in artistic
flavor
We may not have so peers of the
Melvilles and Hawthornes and Long
fellows. but should we? We have had
Evening star., 1951-01-21

never received a typewriter communi-
cation: he had never heard of the germ
theory or worried over bacilll and bac-
terra; he never looked pleasant before
photographer or had his picture taken;
he had never heard phonograph talk
or seen kinetoscope turn out a prize
fight he never saw through Websters
Unabridged Dictionary with the aid of
Roentgen ray; he had never taken ride
in an elevator: =. he had never seen his
wife using a sewing machine; he had
never struck a match on his pants or
anything else; he could not take an
anesthetic and have leg cut off without
feeling it; he had never purchased 10
cent magazine which would have been
regarded as mircle of art; he could not
buy paper and learn everything
that had happened the day before all
over the world; he had never seen
Mccormick reaper or a self binding har-
vester: he had never crossed an iron
bridge. In short, there were several
things that he could not do and several
things he did not know And self f-start-
ing automobiles, airplanes, radio and
television were far far off in the future.
The most important space in The Star
of January IA, l90l-namely. the first
a, column of the first
VonoeIDiH-rrenen page-was used to
Wedding tell the story of the
wedding of Alfred
Gwynne Vanderbilt and Elsie French
at the Zabriski Memorial Church of st.
John the Evangelist at Newport, R. I.
Great wealth and fine sense of artistry
on the part of the bride made the occa-
sion historic event. Specimen palms
80 feet high lowered above the altar.
Interspersed among the ferns and foliage
which banked them were great clusters
of white azaleas and medallions of Gold
en- Gate roses. On the altar was an
immense cross of ascension lilies" The
choir sang Jeffrey's 20 Perfect Love"
and the bridal chorus from Wagners
"Lohengrin." The Rev. George F. Beatty
and the Rev. G. Brinley Morgan were
the officiating clergy. The bride and
bridegroom had been playmates as chill
Evening star., 1951-01-21
Fifty Years Ago in The Star

dren, and there seemed every reason to
believe that the marriage would be
happy Actually, it ended in divorce
in 1911.
On January Is, 1901, the bronze eques-
trian statue of Gen. John A. Logan,
destined to stand on
Logon Stotue pedestal at Iowa Circle,
Arrives Vermont and Rhode
Island avenues, arrived
in Washington on board the two-masted
schooner Ida L. Ray of Stonington, Me-,
Capt A. Anderson commanding. Com
ing to the Ninth street wharf of the
American Ice Co., the ship had been
piloted through the traffic of the port
by Capt. Crowder in the tug Mitchell M.
Davis. The Star explained: 'The crate
which covers the statue occupies the
entire central portion of the vessel. . {.
1t is about 13 feet high, Z feet wide and
20 feet long and with the statue, weighs
TONS The horse stands upright in the
case and the figure of Gen. Logan lies
in the bottom" Franklin Simmons,
sculptor was in town to supervise the
mounting of his work. The casting of
"A new baseball baby has been born
and will shortly be christened the Amer
ican Association reported
boseDoll The Star on January Is,
BODY 1901. This information was
made public for the first time
last night by William H. Watkins, part
owner and manager of the Indianapolis
club" Thus, the American League COM
menced business half a century ago.
The National League had been organized
in 1875. Ban johnson was the leader
in the new combine. Teams representing
Washington, Baltimore. Philadelphia.
Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, indianapolis
and Louisville we're included. Charles
White was president of the local club.
Clark Griffith was the manager of the
Chicago White Sox at the time and his
team won the first American League
pennant that year. He came here in
1912, when the baby" was q husky
youngster Of II.
Evening star., 1951-01-21
Weak Knees and the u. N.

DESPITE Red China's contemptuous rejection
of the latest cease-fire proposal-a proposal all
too reminiscent of the Munich spirit-upwards
of twelve nom Communist members of the United
! Nations apparently still in favor of attempt
ing to work out some kind of deal with Mao
Tse-tung.
These members-made up chiefly of the
Arab-Asan bloc, led by India-have seen the
u N approach Peiping three times in an effort
to achieve peace in Korea, and three times they
have seen Peiping respond with fgurative
blow in the face Yet, as if eager to keep the
cheek turned until beaten black and blue, they
want to try again. They want the world organi-
zation, regardless of principle or self-respect,
to continue playing the role of a hand-wringing
supplicant ready to reward crime If only the
criminal will be good enough to pause for
moment and condescend to bargain.
Above all, these countries-including some
Western powers that seem to be having trouble
making up their minds-appear to be aghast
at the idea that the time has come for the
United Nations to call things by their right
names and act accordingly. That is to say, they
are disposed to turn thumbs down on our Ameri-
can proposal to have the General Assembly adopt
a resolution that would do the following:
Cd Brand the Chinese Communists as aggreSsors;
(2) call upon them to stop fighting and get out
of Korea 90 reaffirm the Assembly's determi-
nation to continue the war against aggression
in that country; a. request the help of all
states in carrying out that war; (5) designate
a special committee to study and recommend
the kind of collective action that might be taken
against Peiping; and (6) restate the U. MS
continuing hope for peaceful and honorable
settlement and leave the door open for Mao
to seek such settlement when and If he wants
one.
After Red China's repeated rebuffS, and in
the teeth of its criminal course of action, how
can the United Nations afford to do less than
enact such resolution? When the aggressor
first struck in Korea last June, SO members OF
the world organization committed themselves,
morally and otherwise, to condemn that evil act
and counter it with force. Are some of the So
now going to reverse themselves because the
"little" North Korean aggression has since been
converted into the big aggression of the
Chinese Communists? In what way, on what
grounds of morality, principle, honor, realism,
logic or simple common sense, can such re-
versal be justified? fact is a fact; it is not
fiction Black is black; it is not white. Peiping
is fagrantly guilty of invading a neighboring
country, of unleashing armed violence against
the rule of law, and of waging open warfare
against the U. N. Why should it not be branded
accordingly?
Actually, of course, the mere act OF naming
Red China as an aggressor britain apparently
Evening star., 1951-01-21
The Thing That May Deter Them

At the State Department the other day, in a
talk to representatives of various American
organizations, Ambassador -at-Large Philip c.
Jessup offered rather effective summation OF
what the United States is seeking to achieve as
it rearms in an effort to build up strength for
a long period of international tension. AS he
has put it. "It is the objective of our global
strategy to prevent war if we can. If the Soviet
Union insists on plunging the peoples of the
world including the peoples of the U. S. S. r.,
into war, the result of our global strategy will
be that we and other free peoples will win. If
the Soviet Union is convinced OF the fact OF
our combined strength and united determination,
it may be deferred from starting war"
The key words here are, ",0e and other free
peoples 1UiH 1Uin." Mr.. Jessup has stated the
proposition with an unqualified confidence that
may seem to be a bit too optimistic in view OF
the assures and weaknesses now visible in the
Western world. Yet, despite some observers VINO
tend to be pessimistic, the fact remains that the
actual and potential might of the United States
taken together with that of its allies abroad,
is overwhelmingly superior to the Soviet Unions
The one great advantage that the Russians have
at this stage is their tremendous land armies,
but that is not enough for a protracted war.
Given such a war, plus an all-out effort by our
side, their material deficiencies and the explosive
forces of unrest within their empire would
weigh very heavily against them. Indeed as far
as the long pull is concerned, the evidence seems
fairly abundant that Mr. Jessup has not taken
off into the wild blue yonder in predicting that
they would lose to us in global conflict.
Certainly, although it would be foolhardy to
belittle the Soviet Union and the threat it poses
we ought not to underestimate our own tre-
mendous power-power that can be mobilized
on a matchless scale. Properly organized and
united, we and our friends abroad have more
than enough wherewithal to be invincible and
to win any war that the Red totalitarians may
thrust upon us. This is a reality that should
never be overlooked in this time of crisis. The
men of the Kremlin must reckon with it most
somberly If they are convinced that it is true,
if they are convinced that it is as much fact
as Mr. Jessup and others believe, then-aSsuming
they are sane-they are not likely to precipitate
a world conflict. And in that case, persuaded
in their own minds that they would be defeated
in such a conflict, we can hope that they would
feel mpelled in due course to pull in their horns
and start cooperating for decent peace.
Evening star., 1951-01-21
For q Broader Potomac Commission

One of the cardinal points in the recent
report of the Presidents Water Resources Policy
Commission was the necessity for creating inter-
state river-basn agencies for overall planning
and control of water resources. Fortunately, the
Potomac region already has the nucleus of such
an agency in the Interstate Commission on the
Potomac River Basin. Prompted by the report
of the presidential group, the Potomac River
organization already is seeking to widen its au-
thority to enable it to render the broader services
suggested in the report. The move would be
logical extension of the fine work which the
Potomac commission has been doing in the cause
of reducing pollution in the Potomac River and
its tributaries.
Under the 1941 compact approved by the
District of Columbia Maryland Virginia, West
Virginia, Pennsylvania and the Federal Govern
ment, the Interstate Commission on the Potomac
River Basin is restricted to the field of pollution
abatement It's job has been to plan and arouse
interest in anti-pollution measures throughout
the Potomac Valley To the commission must 60
a major share of the credit for the remarkable
progress which has been made in recent years in
reducing the amount of raw sewage and indus
trial waste dumped into the Potomac The edu-
cational work of the commission in behalf of the
campaign to clean up the river has been espe-
cally effective.
In order to serve in the larger role envisioned
by the Presidents advisers, the Potomac compact
will have to be amended to give the interstate
commission authority to interest itself in water
problems in addition to pollution. resolution
just adopted by the executive committee of the
commission calls for action by the compact sig
natorieS to make the ICPRB the overall plan
ming agency in the Potomac River Basin in all
matters pertaining to the conservation of its
water resources" Thus, the agency not only
would continue it's efforts to make the river
cleaner, but would launch program in the in
terest of conserving all of the water resources
in the area. This program would be carried on
in coordination with the activities of Federal
State and local agencies concerned with preser
vation and utilization of water resources.
Harold A. Kemp, chairman of the Interstate
Commission on the Potomac River Basn points
out the important fact that the primary purpose
of this broader scope of activity would be to
preserve for the States their right to plan for
the conservation of all water resources in the
Potomac River Basin" This goal is a worth while
one, but the wholehearted support of all of the
parties to the 1941 compact will be necessary to
attain it.
Evening star., 1951-01-21
Public Liurs
By Bruce Borton

Simeon Strunsky, with his charming
mixture of wit and wisdom, once wrote
an essay against public Liars" He
denounced the weighing machine which
stands with such diSarming stolidity in
the railroad station, inviting your
penny, only to give you the wrong weight
or no weight at all. He arraigned the
crooked thermometer outside the drug.
store door. What a travesty of justice,
he exclaimed. to be betrayed by court
house clock! What horrible blow to
a trusting heart to be lied to by q
weather vane atop the steeple of a
church!
Like Mr.. Strunsky. we Americans al
ways have hated public liars, men or
machines. Schoolboys we're raised on the
story of George Washington and the
little cherry tree: Father, cannot tell
a lie"
The greatest figures in our history
Jefferson, Adams, Lincoln-never ques-
toned the biblical test Of an upright
man-one that sweareth to his own
hurt and changeth not"
Today public lying has become almost
the rule rather than the exception. And
the "idealists." the "reformers." the
professional friends of the people" are.
on the whole, worse than the old-line
politicos.
Fiorello La Guardia was great liberal
whom no reporter wanted to interview
unless there were witness present
Franklin Roosevelt's reign gave birth
to the cynical phrase conditioning the
public mind" tell EN- only
what, and only as much, as you think
will promote the policies which you,
in your superior wisdom, have decided
are good for them"
Consider the recent performance OF
New York's Mayor O'Dwyer. In the face
of gambling scandal he resigned with
out warning, to be hidden away by Presi-
dent Truman in the Embassy in Mexico
City The New York papers then printed
the record of eight separate public de-
malls by him that he ever would resign.
all of them issued in a few previous
weeks He deserved to be thrown out OF
public life. Instead, he was promoted.
This. I think is something we
ought to get mad about We ought
to keep a boxscore Of all the lies told by
every important public official and
every seeker after public Office. A lot
of us, regardless of party. would be glad
to vote for the candidate who had lied
the least.
Evening star., 1951-01-21
Why Tydines Was Defeated

When Lowell Mellett argues that Mil
lard Tydings was defeated because
Senator Mccarthy succeeded in convinc-
ing the Maryland voters that their long
time Senator" should not be reelected.
does he admit that Senator Mccarthy
is more persuasive than was Mr.. Mel
let's New Deal idol of Mr.. Tydings' own
political faith, who only attempted the
same thing not many years ago?
This writer has not been able to cor
tact one single voter who saw, or even
heard Of. the so-called fake" Tydings-
Browder photograph. On the other hand
there are expressions from Free State
voters on every side that their long
time Senator" had fallen down on his
job and should not be reelected. So they
voted against him. Were photographs
the reason for Mr.. Lanes defeat?
Free State Voter.