davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1953-08-31
Notable CROSSINGS

Quite aside from the new pedestrian
traffic-control system at Eleventh and F streets,
some notable crossings" have been recorded in
the news in recent days.
Marion Hart a 61-year-young American
woman who once wrote book entitled IT Fly
as Please" piloted her single-engine airplane
from Newfoundland to Ireland. A vacationing
co-pilot from an American airline shared the
controls-sort of a "buSman's holiday"-and a
full moon contributed to what Maid Marion
described as beautiful crossing" Her family
in New York was only slightly surprised, so why
should anybody else be-?
At about the same time, although during
daylight hours a six-foot, three-inch English
nobleman walked across the tidal Humber
River from Yorkshire to Lincolnshire to re-
inforce his theory that the Roman legionaries
had so forded the river when they went north
to fight the Scots. Northumberland in
flannel trousers, windbreakers and sand shoes
got up to his chin once during his 12-mile
stroll. Last year he tried walking across the
Thames but ended up swimming most Of the
way.
Whatever they proved to themselves, Mrs
Hart and Lord Noel-Buxton are entitled to
congratulations. The news would be dull with
out people like them.
Evening star., 1953-08-31

bad for the eyes. Or that reading when
i'll is bad both for the eyes and the
patient.
If the eyes, themselves, suffer, as they
sometimes do in cold, then reading
may be too much, but in ordinary spells
of malaiSe reading in bed offers no
danger.
In fact, there is one school of eye
care admittedly frowned upon by reg
ular physicians) that says all reading
under difficulties is good.
Whatever one may think Of this idea,
1t has certain advantages; reading on
buses and in sunshine is possible some
times when there is nothing else to
do. And reading is far better than
nothing.
Templeton Jones hates the set stare
Of the average bus rider.
He feels that it bears out to a re-
markable degree the dictum of this
school Of eye care, to the effect that
staring Is the cause of most eye troubles
and difficulties.
The free-f1owing rapidly darting eyes
of children are held us up as right.
Certainly moStof their elders will Won
der If their attention is called to it,
when they assumed the popular poker
face. and why. (
Is it because nowadays we live in
world Of strangers?
Even in long established business
firm, new faces come and go.
Templeton Jones had an interesting
experience In this line.
Evening star., 1953-08-31

perintendent OF Stratford, 1t. Col.
Cooper D. Winn, jr.. retired, and he
told me that the explosions in front
of Stratford from the Dahlgren base
had broken windows in Stratford, and
had also caused great damage to the
bluffs at Stratford. where large seq
ments of the cliff. tons at time, have
fallen into the river. from the ex-
plosions out in front of that place.
The Western States have areas of al
most complete emptiness, where you
can look for miles without seeing a
house, an outbuilding, barn or fence,
a cultivated field or a tree or shrub as
high as your knees, land that would
not pay so cents an acre for, but the
Navy would prefer to condemn valuable
river-front property with timber and
expensive improvements and fertile
land.
On the subject of the destruction of
fish by the military, local fishermen
who are there at the time the fish are
running have told me Of seeing reef"
of dead fish lining the shore for miles
so thick that you could not walk along
the shore line without stepping on the
fish. I know these statements are true,
but why hasn't some one taken the
interest to authenticate the matter
with the proper conservation authori-
ties?
think the military has been a sacred
COW long enough.
A. J. Covert.
Omaha, Nebr.
Evening star., 1953-08-31
The Not So Quiet Potomac

was most pleased to have received
page Alb of The Star of August 6
containing James .Birchf1eld's article
on the Potomac and Chesapeake being
military testing grounds. sent to me
by my attorney in Washington, D. C.
I own 800 acres on the Potomac in
Virginia, adjacent to the south property
line of the Dahlgren Proving Ground.
This property has been in my inmedi-
ate family for over so years, in fact we
have been established there for some
years prior to the time when Dahlgren
was first started there. It has been
running fight for several years now to
keep that Dahlgen establishment from
swallowing up my entire property.
I have read nothing in Mr.. Birch
fields article but what is absolute fact.
The whole article leans on the side
of an understatement of the facts. For
instance. the map shows the Quantico
Marine base by a round dot, but the
facts are that that base encompasses
more land than the entire District of
Columbia, and think that maps should
show that. Dahlgren has expanded
from an original land area of about 400
acres to over 5000 acres, and they want
another 5000 acres If Congress would
let them have it.
This past June interviewed the SUI
Evening star., 1953-08-31
A Statutory Flop

Internal Revenue Commissioner Andrews
has found that the complaints made by his
predecessor against the Federal gambling tax
laws are thoroughly justified. Like former
Commissioner Dunlap he believes that it was
a mistake for Congress to pass such law unless
it intended the legislation to be enforced.
Whatever the congressional intent, the plain
fact is that Congress failed to provide the
large extra stan needed to make the law work.
Repeated warnings of internal revenue officials
that at least 1000 additional enforcement
agents would be required to administer the act
were ignored. The result has been, as predicted,
that the much -publicized Federal attack on
gambling has been a flop.
Commissioner Andrews said In an interview
that the anti-gambling tax has been extremely
disappointing from the standpoints both of
revenue and administration. What little has
been accomplished by the bureau with its pres
ent staff has been costly and relatively unpro
ductive, considering the glowing estimates Of
return made by proponents OF the legislation.
During consideration Of the law 1t was esti-
mated that the 10 per cent excise tax and the
$50 tax stamp required Of gamblers who regis
tered would bring into the Treasury up to $40O
million year. Actually, less than 50 million
was realized during the first year of operation
a sum absurdly small if the Kefauver commit
a-year racket.
The law is of such nature that it prob
ably could not be enforced adequately even
with 1000 additional agents. For it would take
more than this number of Federal investigators
to check on all the gamblers in the United
States who are evading registration and pay
ment of the taxes. To make case stand up
in court, the Government must show not only
that suspected gambler failed to register and
pay his rightful tax, but that he was, in fact,
engaged in the gambling racket. All the police
forces in the country so far have failed to
stamp out gambling under local laws A small
Federal force could not hope to make cases
against all the evaders who continue to fout
the Federal law.
The anti-gambling statute must have more
than the backing of the Supreme Court (Which
it has had) to be made reasonably effective.
It must be backed by a huge army of revenue
agents, scattered all over the map. The main
tenance of such large force for the attempted
enforcement of an anti-gamblng law masquer-
aiding as revenue measure is not warranted.
Congress should face up to the facts which
Commissioner Andrews and his staff can give
when appropriations for the Internal Revenue
Bureau are taken up at the next session.
It is grossly unfair to the bureau to saddle
it with responsibility for enforcing a law
that, under existing circumstances, is virtually
unenforceable.
Evening star., 1953-08-31

do not limit their work to propaganda
but take upon themselves the RESPONSE
bilities of military work at the front as
WE'LL
Again both in the Finnish war of
1910 and in the f1rst year of the German
invasion, the military commissar proved
efficiency. In october, 1912, an edict
was passed, entitled THE Introduction
of Strict One-Man Control and the
Abolition of the Institution of the
Military CommisSar. This edict estab-
lished the present system of deputies
for political affairs.
The strengthening of unity of COM
mand has been accompanied by the
restoration of sharp distinctions of
rank and iron discipline. In 1885 the
traditional military ranks of lieutenant,
captain, colonel and so forth were re-
introduced for the first time since the
1917 revolution. In 1910 the title gen
erap' was restored, and the duty to
salute was imposed. In 1943 gold-braid
epaulets, which were the traditional
Russian officers insignia of rank, were
brought back.
The 1910 and 1916 disciplinary codes
have gone so far as to restore the TSar-
ist institution of officers courts of honor
with jurisdiction over "offenses un-
worthy of the rank of officer which in
fringe military honor or are not COM
patible with moral rules"
Generally considered to be represent
ative of a feudal military organization,
the officers courts of honor are the
antithesis of the earlier Red army men
comrades courts, which no longer exist
Almost the entire revolutionary ter
minology has been abolished. One of
the last terms to go was Red Army"
which was replaced by Soviet Army
in 1916.
While the Zampolit teaches Marxism-
Leninism, the whole military setup
Evening star., 1953-08-31
Use of Neutron Beams
On Cancer Tumors Described

Clinical results with series OF ten
brain tumor patients treated with neu-
tron beams at the Atomic Energy Com
missions Brookhaven laboratory have
been encouraging. although only one
of the persons thus treated is still alive.
This progress in what is probably the
newest field of cancer therapy Is de-
scribed in a report by Drs. j. S. Robert
son and L. E. Farr of the Brookhaven
staff, just issued through the Once OF
Naval Research.
Although the life-saving results seem
as vet quite unimpressive, the tech
niuues remain to be perfected, and
no other known treatment could have
saved any of the patients.
1T has been discovered" they re.
port, "that there are many substances
which, when injected into the blood
stream, readily enter into certain kinds
of brain tumors, but which enter nor.
NAL brain tissue very slowly, If at all.
It was found at the Massachusetts
General Hospital that borax is one
of these substances. This is of special
interest because borax is about 10 per
cent boron and one of the boron
isotopes has high capture cross Sec
ton for neutrons. When the isotope
captures a neutron 1t becomes very
unstable and disintegrates into two
lighter particles, an alpha particle and
the nucleus of a hthium atom.
"If this reaction can be caused to
occur inside a tumor. a dense ioniza-
ton is produced along the paths Of
the particles and the net result is
form of selective radiation Of the
tumor.
"All that one needs is means Of
loading the tumor with boron and q
beam Of neutrons. With the reactor
at the Brookhaven Laboratory it Is
possible to place patients head in
neutron beam without exposing the
rest Of the body to dangerous amounts
of radiation. Some Of the patients
have received up to four treatments
each. All had been operated on previ-
ously and had been found to have
tumors with satisfactory uptakes Of
injected boron"
Evening star., 1953-08-31
Hoying

He cuts the field of hay and lets 1t lie
To cure beneath the sldnting shafts
of sun;
OF the old school of formers. he still
dripeS
His team Gfeld. a sleek and tDell-
matched pair
OF chestnut Sorrels As the nIotDer cuts
A rich green sDath, he nnuSingly recalls
The pungent scent of other harvest
years;
When, as lad too young to guide
the team,
He tollotDed. barefoot, Dtere his father
tUorked
In the hay meadows, or the fields Of
grain.
His neiohborS use neU tractors and
comment
Among themselves that he is far behind
The times. But he has greater peace
of mind.
Billy B. Cooper
Evening star., 1953-08-31

teaches the conventional military vir-
tues of patriotism. ceremoniousness,
discipline and Self-service. The new
military oath taken individually by
every Soviet soldier requires that he
pledge himself ito be an honorable,
brave, disciplined and alert warrior"
and to defend his homeland ''manfully,
ably, with dignity and honor, not SPAR
ing my blood nor my life itself in order
to achieve full victory over enemies"
This oath, introduced in 1899. is the
product of military mind. The earlier
oath, used from 1918 to 1899, which
pledged support for "the liberation of
all toilerS" and ''the cause of socialism
and the brotherhood of peoples" was
the product of political mind.
The fact that /86 per cent of all
Soviet officers are members of the
Communist Party or for those under
23) of the Young Communist League
may constitute threat to the mill
tary tradition. But it may equally con-
stitute an infltration of the military
mentality into the party itself.
On the other hand, the organization
of the Chief Political Administration
with its political sections and depu-
ties for political affairs, serves to
check the possible development of a
separate military party.
More important, the organization of
MVD special sections" and secret
informers in all military units also
serves to prevent the growth of any
deviational political force in the army.
The intervening of military, party,
and police controls makes it difficult
to diagnose Soviet politics in terms of
simple conflicts between the various
organizations. Any basic conflict be-
tween the party and the army, or the
MVD and the army, would also split
the army internally.
(Chicago Daily News service.)
Evening star., 1953-08-31
Undermining the Career System

1t was only to be expected that there would
be lowering of Federal employees morale dur
ing the reduction force movement that is an
essential part of the Eisenhower adminiStra-
tion's economy program. The effects could have
been considerably alleviated, however, if more
careful attention had been paid to measures de-
signed to safeguard the interests of career
workers There is mounting evidence that too
little thought has been given to this serious
problem in the first stages of Federal personnel
retrenchment. Chairman Rees of the House
Civil Service Committee is justified in his criti-
cism of the harsh way in which some of the re-
trenchment has been carried on.
The Government payroll has been decreased
by approximately 10000 jobs during the past
six months. About 10000 of these separations
have been ordered in the Washington area. To
economy advocates, this reduction presents an
encouraging picture. But, according to The Stars
Federal Spotlighter, Joseph Young, and other
competent obServerS-including Representative
ReeS, Republican economy Stalwart, many
veteran career employees, some having 80 or IS
years of faithful service under Republican as
well as Democratic regimes have been dropped
while thousands of temporary-indehnite ap-
pointees of the past few years are still at their
desks. Nearly all appointments since the out
break of the Korean war have been in a
temporary y-indefnite category. AS Chairman
ReeS pointed out in his letter to the Civil Serv-
ice Commission large numbers of the temporary
indeflniteS were taken on without examination
and without necessity of undergoing probational
observation.
It was to deal with just such situation that
Congress authorized the Federal establishment,
under the Whitten amendment, to fill perma-
nent jobs up to the number they had in Sep
tember Of 1850, before war expansion began in
earnest. This could have been done by exami-
nation of temporary -indefnites already on the
payroll, by replacement of displaced careeristS
or by appointment of new employees from civil
service eligible lists. But the departments and
lesser agencies have been extremely slow in
taking advantage of this authority. Several fac
tors are blamed for the lethargy, including re-
luctance to disturb smoothly working organiza-
tions, even though they are largely composed of
temporary workers, and fear of getting some
other agencies unwanted career employees
Whatever the reasons, the fact is that some
men and women of long and valued service have
been Topped off the payroll while temporary en-
ployes were being retained and even promoted
The situation has become so alarming that
career workers still in the service have grown
uncertain as to their future security. This is
no way to build an efficient, economical civil
service system. The Civil Service Commission
has plenty of power to crack down on Federal
personnel officials responsible for the growing
unrest. 1t should use this power promptly and
relentlessly, lest career service with its implied
security, become mockery of the fine promises
made in civil service recruiting posters.
Evening star., 1953-08-31
New Metals to Resist
1000 Heat Nearing
important Uses Ready
For Synthetic BoroIites
By Thomos R. Henry

New kinds Of synthetic metals"
which can Withstand temperatures I'D
to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit without
noticeable weakening now are being
prepared.
They are so-called "borolites," de-
Scribed by DR.. Paul Schwartzkopf, pres
ident Of the American Electro Metal
Corporation of Yonkers. N. Y, in q
report issued through the once Of
Naval Research.
They are chemical combinations of
the element boron, hardest of all the
elements with the exception Of carbon,
with various other metallic elements
of medium degrees Of hardness. These
pressure, and then heated to form
compact mass.
Quite complicated chemical proc
esseS are involved, but the end prod
uctS, DR.. Schwartzkopf says, may go
far toward solving some of the most
difflcult problems of engineering Of
the future.
Demand Keeps Advancing.
During the war;" he says, high
temperature materials were understood
to refer to temperatures up to about
$500 r. AS soon as such materials were
at his disposal, however, the engineer
began to think in terms Of 1900 to
1000 F. There is no doubt that. as
soon as these are available, he will ask
for mechanical strength and oxidation
resistance at $500 F. and higher.
"He points out that further progress
in construction of gas turbines, jet en-
gines and rocket engines depends to
a large extent on the availability OF
such materials.
The borolites, he says, now seem to
be providing the nearest approach to
satisfying these demands. !
Even greater heat resistance, how
ever, may be attained with similar
chemical combinations Of metals with
the abundant element silica.
One of the borolite materials, he
points out, already has found important
peacetime applications. Most OF these
are based on the high chemical stability
of the material in contact with molten
metals, such as aluminium, copper.
brass, magnesium and tin. Among the
applications are noZzles for spraying
molten metals and vibrating rods for
producing ultrasonic fields.
"It appears to me permissible to ex-
pect,'' DR.. Schwartzkopf says, that the
powder metallurgist will be ready with
materials for service at 1000 F. before
the designer of engines will be ready
to advance to this range Of tempera-
ture,"
Evening star., 1953-08-31
Conodo's Bright Future

There was more than paternal generosity
in the words of encouragement that Viscount
Montgomery of Alamein addressed to large
and receptive audience at the opening Of the
Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto For
the British war hero was talking of a destiny
that seems assured to Canada in the form of
fast-growing political and economic strength
that bids fair to make our friendly neighbor to
the north genuinely major power in the world.
After reminding his listeners that the future
of Canada need know no limits, Montgomery
urged the Dominion to fulfill its role of con-
tributing an independent new world leadership
to the free nations of Europe with which it
has kinship both of blood and political affili-
alton. To do this most effectively he pleaded
that Canada should strive for a distinctive
character and culture of its own-incorporating
the best from other nations but not allowing
itself to be "unduly" Influenced by the United
States or even allowing its links with the Com
monwealth, which he urged should be retained
always, to turn it from course of purely Cana
dian construction.
It would be captiouS for an American critic
to take offense at Monty's reference to undue
influence on the part of the United States and
doubtless he did not mean 1t in offensive man
ner The relationship that has existed histori-
cally between Canada and the United States
has been a neighborly and respectful one on
each side, turned often into working part
nership because of mutuality of interests not
only on this continent but in other parts Of
the world. Americans share with Marshal
Montgomery the hope, and the confidence, that
Canada is headed toward a greater future and
one in which her stature in the international
councils will continue to grow.
In stressing that this opportunity exists in
greatest degree in the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization, Montgomery was on soundest
ground. For the very relationship which Canada
has within the British Commonwealth gives to
it a peculiar qualification for being leading
representative of the new world in a political
and military alliance that is centered primarily
in the old world. The task of making the NATO
a strong and effective instrument for peace and
security demands leadership from more than
one quarter. The greater amount of this re-
sponsibility that Canada can assume, the better
will be the prospects for an enduring alliance
on both sides OF the Atlantic Ocean.
Evening star., 1953-08-31
Library Growth Appraised

In his report for the year ended June 3O
Harry N. Peterson, librarian of the Public
Library of the District of Columbia, emphasizes
expansion of service along four different lines
namely, informal education, information, re-
search and recreation. If these activities seem
to impinge one upon another, it is because the
interests of people do. And it is the interests
the personal and social concernS-of men,
women and children that the library strives to
advance. Congress established the original
central unit in 1895 ito supplement the public
education system" Such was the natural OBJ
jective of that time. But by the date of the
actual opening of the Mount Vernon Place
building on January 7, 1908, larger and more
inclusive purpose already had become manifest
Education has not been limited to schools
Mr.. Petersons latest accounting of his steward
ship shows the library working for individuals
from the pre-School level to the very aged" 1t
ASSEMBLIES and preserves, in organized collec-
tions, books, periodicals, pamphlets, newspapers,
MAPS pictures, films and recordings covering
all subjects of interest to a cosmopolitan COM
munity and, through stimulation and guidance,
promotes their use by the residents" of what
has become in effect the capital of the world.
Naturally, it co-operateS with a long list of
contemporary agencies-churcheS, hospitals,
business enterprises labor organizations, clubs,
civic associations and neighborhood groups.
It operates one bookmobile and could use three
or four additional vehicles of the same sort
If they were made available.
Mr. Peterson notes also the increase of sub
ject material. Practically every art, craft,
science, industry and occupation of people in
the Washington area is developing compre-
hensive literature of its own-a growing volume
of material of high cultural and social value
These data are in constant demand. They like
wise are ceaselessly in need of systematic ar
rangement, so that they may be employed in
telligently by borrowers or inquirers at the
information desks. Life itself is expanding in
the middle portion of the Twentieth century
and the library must expand commensurately-
or fail of its duty.
The community, moreover, has an obliga-
ton in the circumstances. A glance at the
new building in Cleveland Park suf1ces to con-
vince even the casual passerby that such ac-
tivity requires and deserves generous support
by the public. Taxpayers get abundant return
for their library investment. The progFss re-