davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
, 1951-02-02

capital. AS mentioned, the Saint
Croix Fruit & Vegetable Co. was
initiated and to a large extent has
been financed through local st.
Croix residents. Shares in the
company have been sold through
out tn island at $25 a share to per-
sons in a wide variety of economic
circumstances. 1t is being man
aged by Gordon Skeoch, a young
and vigorous member of one Of
the so-called royal families of ST..
Criox, a term used to designate
the descendants and successors of
t he slave-oWning, large-estate
holders of the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. MI. Skeoch
is also a member of the st. Croix
Municipal Council, which per Sc
makes him a member of the Vir-
gin Islands Legislative Assembly.
The largest of the new hotels,
The Buccaneer, likeWis was start
ed and financed and is owned by
another representative of the
same group, Douglas Armstrong.
Mr.. Armstrong also happens to
be United States marshall for the
Virgin Islands.
So, too, with the start that has
been made in the all-importan
Water-and soil-conservation pro-
gram; local residents have given
enthusiastic help and cooperation
in the building of the dams and
are planning others if financial
ard other help from the Govern
ment can be made available.
MOI is the progressive spirit
confined to the royal families"
, 1951-02-02
continued from Yesterday
New Tourist Attractions

New Tourist Attractions
Two, first-class hotels, the Buc-
cancer and the Hotel-on-the-Cay
have been opened, as has a de
luxe guest-cottage establishment,
Pink Fancy. Also a number of
new shops and local handicraft in
duStrieS have been started. All of
these enterprise are increasing
the tourist trade and attracting
permanent residents as well.
@
The Virgin Islands Corporation
is increasing its sugarcane produc-
ton by 100 percent. 1t also is CO.
operating in the fruit and vegeta-
bic project, and, to limited extent,
lending some aid to the develop
ment of animal husbandry.
I am favorable impressed with
the prospect of the new corpora
ton and am of the opinion that,
within a comparatively short
time, it can be made to operate
without the assistance of Federal
appropriations. AS stated in my
preliminary report on this inspec-
ton trip, dated January 6, 1850, l
stand ready to sponsor an amend
ment to Public Law 149, Eighty
first Congress, the VICOR charter
bill, to remove the appropriation
limitation whenever the Board of
Directors, in whom / have great
confidence, approves projects mer-
iting taxpayers funds.
ST. Thomas Developments
On St. Thomas, the present CAPT
tai of the Virgin Islands, there
were also favorable developments
noted. A new hotel, The Carib-
bean, has been opened and occu-
pies the building and site of the
former naval hospital near the
airport.
Although the municipality
gravely needs a new hospital, and
authorization for an appropria-
ton of 10000 for its construc-
ton is made in Public Law $40,
Seventy-eighth Congress-, the To-
cal government saw fit to lease
the former naval hospital for a re-
latively nominal amount Tor ho-
, 1951-02-02
Report to the Senate Interior and Insulor
Attoirs Comm. on an Investigation in
the Virgin Islands
by Senator Hugh Butler
by Senator Hugh Butler

tel purposes.
AT the time I was there, two
new hotels, both financed largely
from private sources, were pre-
pairing to open: The Virgin Isles,
which will compare favorablv
with foremost resort establish
ments anywhere in the world, and
The Flamboyant, with an I'M
paralleled location.
In addition, the Government
owned Bluebeard's Castle was in
the process of expansion under
its present lessee. There also has
been development of guest houses
one of the most artistic of which
is Smiths Fancy.
l am informed that all of the
hotels which are open have en-
Joyed a profitable season. Also.
several new shops, designed to
provide luxury goods from Europe
for tourists, have been started
and established shops have ex-
banded. All this is indicative that
that the important tourist trade is
beginning to pick up again after
its wartime hiatus.
On the sparsely populated is
land of ST. John, where once mag
nificant plantations with profit
ably titled acres have returned 10
jungle brush, there were likewise
signs of progress. The Cancel Bay
Plantations, surely one of the I'M
discovered tourist Meccas in the
Western Hemisphere, appeared to
be a woing concern. A land
development company has been
formed, and under the leadership
of MI. Cory Bishop, a Continental
who with his wife and family is
making his home in the islands, is
attempting to reclaim some of the
once-fertile acres for farming and
cattle raising.
Self-help Most Encouraging
To my mind, the most encour-
aging aspect of this progress is the
part that Virgin Islanders them
selves are having in bringing it
about through their own initia-
tive, their own efforts, and to
some degree at least their own
, 1951-04-25
Distributed BY istsrsafiesa
News Service

BEVAN MAY HAVE had a
point in insisting on free false
teeth instead of guns maybe
the Laborites where considering
biting Russians.
, 1951-04-25

The one-year Jail term for De-
tective Jay G. Williams was up
held in a 5-4 hight court vote but
in another Sd decision the court
gave him and three other officers
including a Miami policeman final
clearance on a conspiracy charge
growing out of the federal civil
rights case.
In a third decision, the court by
a 7-2 vote reinstated a perjury
Indictment against Williams, his
two assistants and Andrew J. HUI
has for alleged prejury in the
conspiracy trial. 1t had been dis
missed by a Florida federal court.
The four officers had been call
ed in by the Lindsey Lumber Co.,
to find out who was stealing
lumber. During the investigation
Williams and his assistant, John S.
Bombaci, allegedly beat four en-
, 1951-04-25
Supreme Court Upho|ds
Sentence For Detective

WASHINGTON, April rs QNS)-The Supreme
Court has confirmed a jail sentence for a Miami private
detective convinced of brutalizing four Negro workers to
obtain confessions in a probe of lumber yard thefts.
Evening star., 1951-05-20

debunk the ability and character Of
the Father OF His Country, Calvin
Coolidge one day was asked what he
thought Of such discounting attempts.
Gazing out Of White House window,
he drawled: II see the Washington
Monument still is there
Now not all debunking Is buncombe.
For instance, william Lyon Phelps, who
reverenced genuine sainthood, playfully
remarked that some stained-glass de-
pictions of so-called saints suggested
men who appeared to be suffering from
acute Indigestion. There has been o
good deal said, which is mostly bum
combe. about saintliness. Holiness Is
really wholeness. Robert Louis Stephen
son points to kind of sainthood which
cannot be dehunked, when he muses.:
"A saint is just one who goes on trying"
We watch enancipated moderns whose
feverish days are devoted to catering
to the physical senses. who embrace
license and call it liberty, whose mode
OF existence is mirrored in many con-
temporary novels that depict q life
which grovels in the gutter and accept
PHILOSOPHERS which regard man as "a
peripatetic chemical laboratory driven
about by sex impulse" It is the empti-
ness Of such lives that haunts one. The
tragedy Of tragedies Is that men and
women with eternity set In their hearts
should live and die hardly touched by
Evening star., 1951-05-20
Spires Of the Spirit
Bunconnbe"

Whenever one listens to an excuse
which does not explain, to a maze Of
words suspected of being but false
facade to hide the real facts in the case.
there often comes the disguised ex-
clamation, That's just buncombe"
When some one spins web of labored
even to deceive himself as well as his
fellows as to the motives actually i'm
pelling him to certain action, one who
with clear and clean eyes sees the trans
parent duplicity Is likely to bring in the
abrupt verdict. THAT is buncombe!"
Perhaps it is not surprising to learn
that "buncofnbe" was coined in q politi-
cal mint. The image and Superscrip-
ton of unreality is upon It, Buncombe
traces its ancestry to the Congress Of
the United States. 1t was speech In
the House of Representatives which
added the word to the English
language. In those turbulent days a
North Carolinian mountaineer repre-
sented Buncombe County. Never did he
allow any lack Of ideas to be hindrance
to his longwinded. platitudinous ha-
rangues. After a fiery debate on the
Missouri question the House was ready
for vote. Its members were clamoring
for an end OF talk. There was really
nothing more to be said on the subject.
But the gentleman from the Southern
county, in spite of the protests of his
colleagues, insisted on making verbose,
rambling talk. His only excuse was
that he had to make a speech for
Buncombe. It was that unwanted and
unnecessary address that was destined
to put new word in the dictionary.
That wordy book tells us that bun
combe" means anything said or writ
ten, or done, for mere SHOW" It has
come to connote insincere speech, non
sense. anything which camouf1ages the
truth.
Another word has sprouted from this
verbal stem. namely "debunk" Its
meaning is to deflate sentimentality, to
strip romantic disguises from the al
legged ugly realities they cover, to dis
count the halos adorning the heads of
those whom time has idealized and to
call attention, rather. to their feet Of
clay. When certain author tried to
Evening star., 1951-05-20
Fifty Years Ago in The Star {.
Montgomery Schools

now being done is preliminary to that OF
beginning the building of the house. . :.
It is probable that the house, which
will be of size to correspond with the
ample building space, will be construct
ed of stone. and will represent a high
type of domestic architecture" The resi-
dence of the hero of Father Struck It
Rich" finally cost SO million. It had A
rooms and % servants were the mini
mum staff required to keep it in order.
Mrs. Evalyn Walsh Mclean spent part
Of her girlhood within its walls. 1t
passed into the hands of the District
Red Cross in 1910. The telephone oper-
ator at Hobart $500 says there are no
ghosts in the old mansion now. Floors
and stairs creak, she admits, but real
live people are responsible for the
sounds
An article by o. p. Austin in the
Forum was quoted in The Star on May
ID. 1901, as follows:
Population "Will the United States
In 1000 A.D. have population of
800 million by the end
Of the goth century? Let US hope so.
The 10th century has brought the
Nation from a handful Of scattered and
struggling people to the front rank
among the great countries Of the world.
If it is to maintain that proud position
and take its place absolutely at the head
Of the worlds great nations, it must in
crease in population and productivity,
and maintain It's power Of participation
in all the affairs Of the busy world, whose
population by that time viii be more
than 3 billion Of people. To that
end our vast spaces must be peopled, our
great natural resources developed, our
power of self-support intensified and
our facilities of interchange among our
selves, and with the whole world, multi
piled. For this we need people-people
with sturdy muscles and active minds.
with earnest hearts and purposes" Mr.
Austin wanted "a great railway system
stretching from Patagonia to Alaska and
connecting across Bering Strait with
an Asiatic railway system" wireless
,telegraphy and intercontinental tele-
phone service.
Evening star., 1951-05-20
Government of Laws

There is nothing complicated about the
central issue in the dispute over the right to
possession of the stock of the Dollar steamship
line The issue is simply this: Can the President
and his Subordinates defy lawful order of the
Federal Courts?
Presumably this question has been settled
by the ruling Of the United States Court of
Appeals that Secretary Of Commerce Sawyer,
Assistant Attorney General Peyton Ford, Solicitor
General Philip B. Perman and several others are
guilty of civil contempt in that they failed and
refused to obey an order to turn over effective
possession of the disputed stock to the Dollar
interests. The officials were given five days in
which to comply with the order or be punished
for their contempt, and Mr. Sawyer has indicated
that he will obey the command unless excused
from doing so by the Supreme Court
This has been an extraordinary case. The
guilty officials say they have acted in good faith
and that may be so. But the fact remains
that by one device or another they have tried
to maintain the position that they need not
obey court order in case involving nothing
more than a question as TO the ownership of
property. When that question was decided
against them the defendants, acting under the
presumed authority of a letter from the President
directing them not to surrender the stock
refused to abide by the decision. In effect
their position was that the President could endow
them with immunity from punishment for
contempt.
That is an attitude which cannot be toler-
ated. If the Executive Branch of the Govern
ment will not obey the orders Of its courts how
can any private citizen be expected to recognize
judicial authority? The Court of Appeals is to
be commended for the firm stand 1t has taken
and it should not tolerate any further monkey
business from the defendants in this case.
Evening star., 1951-05-20
An Old Plan That Is Still Bad

The idea behind revival of the Van Ness
street closing plan seems to be the old, familiar
one: "If at first you don't succeed try, try again
The Bureau of Standards has been trying to close
the section of this street between Connecticut
avenue and Reno road for the better part of a
decade. It succeeded during the war years but
Only with the help of the Army. Now the same
old arguments are being raised in behalf of abol-
isning the street permanently. And the same
OLD arguments against closing this thoroughfare
are as good now as they were in the past.
Commerce Secretary Sawyer has asked Con-
gress to pass legislation to make the closing
effective similar bill was introduced in 1941,
but 1t died under an avalanche of protests by
the Commissioners and District motorists. In
1912 military authorities arbitrarily blocked the
street OF without prior consultation with the
Commissioners under whose jurisdiction the
street had been since its opening many years
ago. Again the Commissioners and the citizens
protested, but War Secretary Stimson defended
the action as proper exercise of the Presidents
war powers. The street remained closed until
1946
The Bureau of Standards long has contended
that the passing of traffic through the grounds
of the bureau imperiled security of the institu-
tion But opponents of the closing pointed out
that the act providing for expansion of the
bureaus grounds specifically stated that the
legislation was not to be interpreted as author
izing closing of Van Ness street. The bureau has
replied that this language did not actually pro-
hibit such a move. Congress will have an oppor-
tunity now to re-examine the 1881 legislation
and decide just what was intended
Whatever the intent of Congress twenty years
ago, however, the dispute should be judged on
Its merits as of now Van Ness street is an i'm
'portant link between Connecticut avenue and
the area west of the Bureau of Standards 1t
should not be eliminated except for the most
compelling reasons. National security, of course,
would be compelling reason-but the bureau
should be required to prove that national Sc
curity actually is at stake and that no alternative
such as high fencing and adequate guarding
Is feasible. In the absence of such a showing
the plan remains as Objectionable as it ever was
Evening star., 1951-05-20
From Hyde Park Files

During hearings before the Joint Sem
ate Committees on Armed Services and
Foreign Relations, May II, Senator
Knowland asked Defense Secretary Mar
shall whether 1t was not true that even
before Yalta we were indicating to the
Chinese, through the voice Of Vice Pres
ident Wallace that he (Chiang Kali
shek) had better come to some agree
ment with the Soviet Union"
Gen. Marshall evaded clear answer
and referred the Senator to the State
Department.
Since Qualification of our Govern
ment's policy with respect to Chang
Kai-shek and the Chinese Communists,
as carried out in the time before Yalta,
is of tremendous importance for the
understanding of our present predica.
ment, should like to offer some here
tofore unpublished documentary evil
dence of our State Departments and
President Roosevelt's position in 1914
am referring to document, now in
the files of the Franklin D. Roosevelt
Library at Hyde Park. N. Y, Of which
have photostatic copy. 1t sheds con-
siderable light on that problem. ee
Although the document is written in
some klnd OF an AWKWARD memO-01n-
cialese, it answers Senator Knowland's
question in rather unequivocal way.
It reads:
Hull, Cordell,
Department of State,
July Is, 1914.
Memo for the President saying that
the Vice President has requested that
Mr.. John Carter Vincent, Chief of the
Division of Chinese Affairs, who accom-
panied Mr.. Wallace on his recent trip.
send the President the attached copy of
letter which Mr.. Wallace addressed to
President Chang Kai-Shek and Presi-
dent Chiangs telegraphic reply received
today by the Vice President through the
Chinese Embassy. Also attaches for the
Presidents consideration draft of reply
to President Chang for signature saying
it has the approval of the Vice Presi-
dent In the letter to President Chang
from Vice President Wallace, dated
6/27/4, he discusses the situation in
China and re their discussion of sending
man from the u. S. to China as repre-
sentative to work with Chang and plan
for collaboration which they spoke. Mr..
Wallace suggests if possible that Pres.
Chang sent DR.. T. v. Soong long enough
Evening star., 1951-05-20

managed to keep out Of conspicuous
notoriety, but they remain a possible
danger to the communities adjacent. -.
They add nothing to the city's welfare
and in the least Objectionable of their
industries they play upon the credulity
and superstitions Of people"
Does anybody remember Prof Edward
r. Dawson? Sometimes his name ap-
peared In print as
Prof. Dovison's Davidson" but Davi-
Pupils son seems to have been
the correct spelling.
The Star for May 10, 1901, reported q
carnival and ball" staged by his pupils.
He must have been a dancing master Of
ability as well as popularity. The young
people he presented included: Mabel
Craydock. Frances Schumacher, Madge
Shomo. Mamie Gill, Ella Dent, Mary
Lennon. Maud Wood, Lille Schultz,
Julia Murphy, Mamie Like, Sadie Woltz,
Emma Mari, Bertha Lingle, Mabel Cos
grove. Anna Howell, Madelaine Burns,
Elsie Scheetz, Louise Bauman, Rosa
Yates, Ina Pagan, Marie Hodgson, Alice
Yates, Mary Simons, Irwin Cosgrove,
Ralph Howell, Lee Cary, Albert Tenny-
son, B. E. williams, Louis Streamer,
Alan Pagan, William Whitaker. Elmer
Dion. Linnie Gee, w. A. Morsell, Arthur
Middleton. H. s. Whitney and Myron
Baker. Last named Of this group be-
came famous afterward as Buck"
Baker. bicycle rider on the Keith
vaudeville circuit and the operator Of a
trick automobile in Ringing Brothers
circus.
According to The Star Of May Is,
1901, "the grading Of the ground at the
~ southeast corner Of
The Wolsh House Massachusetts ave-
Anticipated nue. and Twenty
first street, which
was recently purchased by Thomas F.
Walsh. has been begun. At present the
lot is at a considerable height above the
grade Of the street, and as the residence
which Mr.. Walsh proposes to erect there
for his own use, Is, to have an entrance
about on the street level. the work that is
Evening star., 1951-05-20

The so-called Glastonbury cathedra or
bishops chair at Washington Cathedral
was dedicated on May 16.
Cothedro 1901, and The Star for
Dedicated the next day reported
the ceremonies in detail.
Right Rev. Henry Yates Satterlee,
first Bishop of Washington, offlciated.
He carried with him to Mount st. Alban
a large gold cross presented by the Gar
of Russia. Among the assisting clergy
were: Rev. Alexander Mackay- Smith.
Rev. Philip Mercer Rhinelander Rev.
G. c. F. Bratenahl. Rev. William L. De
Vries, Rev. John A. Aspinwall, Rev. E.
M. Thompson, Rev. F. H. Barton, Rev.
Thomas j. Packard and others. The
cathedra, Keltic affair, was designed
by r. w. Gibson, architect of the Ma
tional Cathedral School for Girls. Stones
for 1t were taken from Glastonbury
Abbey in England.
The Star for April 80, 1901, contained
an editorial setting forth that: "The
gipsies who have settled
Gipsies Not down in this vicinity appear
Wonted to require stringent regula-
tion, and perhaps eviction
from the neighborhood. The other day
one gang fell under suspicion of COM
plicity in a celebrated kidnapping case,
and in the investigation by the police
their camp was found to be in deplor-
able sanitary condition. Yesterday men,
bers Of this or another gang located in
the same general vicinity committed
highway robbery across the river. The
crime appears to have been committed
in another jurisdiction. probably in
Alexandria County. The local authori-
ties, however, may well take cognizance
of the affair and make such representa-
tions to the Virginia officials as will
at least cause the latter to consider the
advisability of requiring the wanderers
to move along to some other camping
ground. For several years gang Of
gipsies of apparently another type has
made its camp short distance south
of the Catholic University grounds.
operating from there In various direc-
tions. They have, however. thus far
Evening star., 1951-05-20
frances Coming Election

Scheduled for June II, Frances first general
election since 1946 will take place under new
electoral law. The law-an elaborate compro-
mise measure worked out after months of debate
and political neutrality-suspicious. a highly
complicated procedure whose chief features are
that it does away with the system of propor-
tional representation and permits party organ-
cations to work out -baloting coalition deals
under which they can pool their votes, win
combined majority and divvy up parliamentary
seats among themselves.
Since proportional representation has fa-
vored the lone-wolf Communists much more
than any other political group in France, its
elimination can hardly fail to affect them ad-
versely. In 1946 they won '167 out of the 623
seats in the National Assemby-a minority show
ing of such great strength that they have found
1t fairly easy to create legislative turmoil ever
since. The new law, however, deprives them OF
their past special advantage, and that fact,
coupled with the fact that they have grown
markedly unpopular in recent years, virtually
guarantees that they will suffer substantial
losses on June II.
But French observers, although they freely
predict Communist decline of considerable
proportions-a development that will lessen the
Red menace in the West-are cautious as regards
other parties. General De Gaulle and his fol-
lowers may emerge from the election with great
strength If they do, then he is likely to have a
large voice in the government. regardless of any
coalition deal by the Popular Republicans the
Socialists and the conservative Radical Socialists.
AS for the overall effect of the June II baoting
the general belief in France is that the new eec-
toral law, besides working against the Commu-
niSts will decrease legislative instability and
make less frequent the rise and fall of cabinets
in Paris. That Is a change devoutly to be de-
sired.