Evening star., 1953-04-16
On the Eve Of DR.. Astin's 'Resiqnotion
To the Editor Of The Stor:

administration of honesty and integrity
during the campaign. The recent ac-
ton of Secretary Weeks is a fine ex-
ample of what they apparently have
set out to do.
The controversy over AD-X2 and DR..
Astin has reached the odoriferous stage
and goes to show that the present adj
miniStration has no regard for the well
fare of the public and will get their own
fair-haired boys in even at the expense
of wrecking the structure of our Federal
Government.
A.J.W.
We appreciated very much the edi-
torial in the April IL Star. calling
attention to the unjust action of Secre-
tary Weeks in condemning DR.. Astin
without a hearing, which is in danger
of being compounded by allowing DR..
Astin's resignation to become effective
before he is allowed a hearing.
AS Eisenhower supporters from the
very beginning, we are very much con-
cerned about the fact that the arbitrary
action of Secretary Weeks can be COM
pared with the arbitrary actions of the
Republican National Committee when
they decided to seat Taft delegations
from Texas and Louisiana at the ma
tional convention regardless of the de-
sires of the Southern voters. Just as
Eisenhower was greatly strengthened
in his fight for the nomination by the
moral indignation of the country over
the treatment of the Southern delega-
tionS. so the Democratic Party will now
be able to make hay out of as obvious
an example of "non-objectivity" as
could be conceived on the part of the
Eisenhower administration. Eisen-
hower'S comments on morality in Gov
ernment can be made to sound very
hollow indeed when his administration
so ill-useS a fine man like DR.. AStin,
who has been not only the pride of the
Republicans in Montgomery County but
also was instrumental in developing
one of the great "secret weapons" of
the last war;
We do not believe that President
= Eisenhower will allow this blot on his
escutcheon and since Secretary Weeks
and Undersecretary Sheaffer have OBJ
viously lost the respect of their SUBJ
ordinates by this action, we are expect
ing to learn of their designations.
William d. Curtis, DDS.
Hail. hail, the gangs all here!"
Music hath charms, but the G. o. P an
them doesn't soothe me. The elephant
is back in power and evidence of it is
on every hand. You can say it again,
the G. o. P. never learns.
During the campaign we were led to
believe that nationally and interna-
tionally we were in dire peril and that
the G. o. P. couldn't reach the White
House soon enough to do something
about it. Since that time millions Ct
us have gained the impression that the
President Is more interested IN break
ing 80 on the golf course than ne is in
doing the job he was elected for. One
day Eisenhower is President, another
Mccarthy, and still another Taft.
Judging by what has transpired, the
Democratic mess" was not much of
mess after ALL The present G. o. P.
mess embraces Mccarthy. Jenney, yelde
and McCarran; the Republican national
chairman hardly had time to warm the
seat fhis throne before he was de-
posed for grabbing easy money; and
now we have another oil mess.
The new boys just can't hold on to
the ball. There was the Wilson-GM
stock trap, the Bohlen bungle. the all
Republican Civil Service Commission
blunder: to be topped off by the
precipitate firing of an honest and able
scientist DR.. Astin of the Bureau of
Standards. The bureau, as always,
wants to protect the public from frauds,
but here we have the G. o. P. support
ing manufacturer whose product is at
least suspicious.
Something tells me we should have
stayed in the frying pan.
One of Those Born Every Minute.
We have been observing through the
columns of The Star the splendid news
coverage given to the recent dismissal
of Dr.. Allen V Astin.
We particularly noted the story,
"Thye Orders Quick Hearing on Stand
ards Resignations-May Start Next
Week as Result of Story on so Scien-
lists Threatening to Quit" We wonder
Just how sincere this threat may be or
could we interpret this alleged threat
as merely a political gesture? Maybe
for the good of the Nations welfare
possibly a little less activity on the part
of scientists might be helpful to our
overall economy. Sometimes one won-
derS whether the activities Of scientists
could help wreck a nation. I say this
because of statement made by one of
the Nations leading industrialiSts in
addressing class of graduating stu
dents in an upper New York State uni
versity shortly before Pearl Harbor,
where he said he often wondered in
years to come if these young men would
damn his generation for the modern
advances made through science when
these accomplishments we're used as
implements of war and destruction.
The Star quotes this scientific group
as believing DR.. Astin's removal might
be construed as being for merely "po-
litical arbitrary reasons" We disagree
with this.
Could it be that in the Bureau of