davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1955-05-27
Discriminatory Bill

Chairman Mcmillan of the House
District Committee says that his bill to
exempt congressional employees from local
automobile registration laws was in
tended to apply to only three or four"
House employees. Whatever the intent,
the bill as approved by the House is not
restricted to few House workers. 1t is
broad enough to cover all employees of
Congress who claim legal residence else
where, although they may have lived in
Washington for many years To grant
legislative personnel such unwise and un-
just privileges is as absurd as it would be
to extend similar exemption to all Gov
ernment workers who live here but claim
legal residence outside of the District.
It Is scarcely believable that the Senate
will concur in any such discriminatory
legislation.
Evening star., 1955-05-27

icies apt to culminate in vio-
lence.
Thus Moscow must curb
"the international pest" of
subversive communism, and
the West scrupulously reap
praise phases of its Crusade
for Freedom that Moscow fears
might incite revolutionary vio-
lence.
Beyond that, what do we
want of the Soviet Union?
Substantial supervised arms
reduction, and investment of
sizeable fraction of resultant
savings for the welfare of op-
pressed satellite peoples; Ger
man unity with free elections.
and submission of Oder-Neisse
problems to the U.N.
And what could Moscow ask
of us? Arms cuts, and invest
ment of part of the savings in
development of backward buf-
fer areas and expansion of
EaSt-West trade: suspension
of German rearmament for at
least a trial period.
For the Orient, the price of
friendlier relations might in
clude a reunited free Korea
and submission of Formosan
issues to the U. NJ, with China's
admittance to the U. N. con-
tingent upon her faithful OBJ
servance of its decisions.
Robert S. Field.
Vineland. N j.
Evening star., 1955-05-27
Low

To the merry-go-round Of
pay raises for Federal en-
ployes something new has
been added, an annual pen
sion for our Presidents. We
should not quarrel over this
unanimous decision by the
Senate and concurrence by
the House. However. there is
something in the way Of leg
islation that we should quar-
rel over, and that is the cal
lous disregard members OF
Congress have for retired en-
ployes of the United States
Government. Your paper in
commenting editorially on the
pension for former Presidents
states that 'it will provide a
way for them to live in dig
nifty" This is quite commend
able, but don't we all want to
live in dignity? But how can
annuitants of the Federal
Government who retire on
account of age or disability
live respectfully on an annu-
ity of lla per cent Of the an
nual basic salary for any five
consecutive years of service
multiplied by the total years
of service? The answer is.
that an annuity predicated on
the above offers nothing but
q meager existence.
This inequality should be
corrected at the earliest prac-
ticable date.
Old Timer.
Evening star., 1955-05-27
VISTAS IN SCIENCE
South Americas Rodor Fish
BY THOMAS R. HENRY

A family of "radar fish" has
been reported to the American
Association for the Advance
ment of Science.
These are the so-called knife
fishes of the fresh tropical
waters of Central and South
America which, by means of
special electricity-generating
organs, send out constantly as
many as 800 electrical i'm
pulses a second. They are close
relatives of the notorious elec-
trio eel of the Amazon. and
their electric organs are quite
similar in structure to those
of this larger species.
But. according to the report
of DR.. c. w. Coates Of the
New York Geological Society
and Drs. M. Altamirano and
H. Grundfest, Columbia Uni
versity neurologists, the uses
are quite different. The eel
sends out a single impulse of
high intensity, sufficient to
knock down a man or a cow
that happens to be in the wa
ter within range. But when it
is not stimulated by some dan
ger or desire for food. it does
not use it's current-producing
faculty.
Electrical impulses sent out
by the knife fishes are con-
slant but not strong enough to
affect, or even be noticed by,
any, other form of life. These
impulses have a short range
through water. It is possible
to detect them only by deli
cate techniques.
Range Finder Theory
The thesis is advanced that
they may serve the function
of radar range finders, al
though the electrical impulses
are quite different from radar
waves. They may serve to
orient the fish to solid OBJ
stacles in the water. If this is
the case, however, unknown
sense organs, functioning as
extremely sensitive highly diff
ferential electric detectors,
would be required.
Such organs have not been
found, but this is by no means
proof that they do not exist.
A curious complication noted
was that the impulses slow
down when the heads of the
fishes are cooled, indicating
that the electrical activity is in
some way controlled by mech
anisms in the brain.
The phenomenon has been
found in three species of knife
fishes. 1t is quite probable, the
Evening star., 1955-05-27

@. In the so years following
the invention of printing from
movable type by Gutenberg.
were books printed in any
great numbers?-G. L. L,
A. Contrary to popular be-
lief, this half century produced
a great many books. Accord
ing to a standard catalogue
about $4,000 different editions
of books were printed before
1901, many of them Bibles.
Books of this early period --
the cradle days of printing
are known as incunabUta,
About a third of them are
owned in North America
@. How does the United
States rank with other nations
in respect to shipbuilding?
F c..
A. In Lloyd's latest report the
United States was in last place
among the major shipbuilding
nations of the free world,
ranking after Britain, Ger
many, Sweden, Netherlands.
Japan, France, Norway, Italy
and Denmark.
@. What kind of bats in
.labit Carlsbad Caverns in New
Mexico?-F. w.
A. Most of them are Mexi-
can free-tailed bats. About 3
million bats occupy a section
of the caverns not open to the
public. Asleep during the day,
they fly out from the cave
every evening, except in win
ter, to catch a meal of insects,
and return at dawn. 4
Evening star., 1955-05-27
Law VS.. Lowmoker

Congratulations to Virginia
State Trooper j. M. Jacobs for
upholding the traditions of
one of the country's best State
police forces. Trooper Jacobs
had the courage of his con-
victions to carry out his duties
in the face of the protests of
Senator Bender. Republican.
of Ohio, who was in a car
stopped for speeding at &c
miles an hour on Route |. Let
us remind Senator Bender
that Virginia State Police set
a national safety record on
the highways last year. Let us
also remind Senator Bender's
political friends in Virginia
that the life of one school
child is worth more than all
the special privileges that
could be heaped on all the
Senators and all the Repre-
sentatives in Congress.
F. Nj. Baumgardner,
Evening star., 1955-05-27
Series on Israel

On May 81. you published a
letter from Rosalind B. Nc
Leod, who, after reading the
first Of the excellent series of
articles by Crosby S. Noyes on
Israel. undertook to criticize
The Star for telling but lone
side of a terribly complicated
and tragic problem without
letting the other side be rep
RESENTED" May I first congrat-
ulate Mr.. Noyes for a series
which I felt was in the highest
tradition of honest reporting?
He told, thought, the story of
a new country in a colorful,
interesting manner. It was my
impression that he did not
attempt to deal with contro-
versy but rather to give a
picture Of a new democracy
growing up in the Middle East.
The author of your May 81
letter takes you to task for
what she interpreted as a
deviation from the principle of
the free press. Unfortunately,
her thoughts on the subject of
a free press were just as fuzzy
as her statements on the Mid
die East problem. The latter
will not endeavor to answer
for I feel that they really do
pot require an answer. ! point
Evening star., 1955-05-27
No Time to Relax

A timely warning has come from the
Washington Criminal Justice Association
against any relaxation in police vigilance
as result of the declining crime rate here.
The advice is timely in view Of certain
indications that the police budget might
suffer because fewer crimes were COM
mitted last year than in any recent twelve
month period. It would be a mistake,
however, to penalize the Police Depart
ment for doing a good job. Experience
has shown that when police strength says,
lawlessness increases. Conversely, intensi-
fed patrols brought sharp drop in crime
in Washington last year.
The associations annual report urged
an increase in police strength from the
now authorized 2,278 men to $500. That
would provide Washington with force
considered by law enforcement authorities
as the proper strength for city of this
size. Police Chief Murray had asked for
$500 men. but the Commissioners dis
approved the request. Recently there had
even been suggestions at the Capitol that
the falling crime rate might warrant fur
ther economies in the police budget. But
it should not be overlooked that the drop
in felonieS did not occur until Chief Muir
ray put part of his force on voluntary
overtime duty, enabling him to increase
street patrols in especially troublesome
areas. This overtime system, while justi-
ned in emergencies, is impracticable as a
permanent policy. Only an increase in
manpower can provide comparable police
coverage And budget cuts that tend to
reduce the effectiveness of the police force
would be false economy of dangerous
sort.
Evening star., 1955-05-27
Politics on Polio

I wish to congratulate The
Star on Jim Berryman's won
derful cartoon on May 18,
making the point that it's
time to lay the political needle
aside in the polio vaccine
situation.
It is unthinkable that men
in our Congress should use
this. a healing for human
misery. as a basis for politics;
men who have children of
their own. They know that to
set up Federal control would
take months and months, and
then the vaccine would be too
late for millions Of children.
What do you suppose folks
of other countries are saying
and thinking of these men in
Congress blaming our PreSi-
dent, who has grandchildren
of his own, and our Vice Presi-
dent also with a young family?
A. M. b.
Evening star., 1955-05-27
Dr.. Monn's Ants

There should be some public acknowl-
edgment of the gift which Dr. william M.
Mann, director of the National Geological
Park has made to the Smithsonian Insti-
tuition. The gift consists of approximately
$4,000 specimens of ants, collected in
many different parts of the world, and it
reflects the donors lifelong interest in an
important branch of entomology The
story of DR.. Mann's boyhood curiosity
about the beetles he discovered in the ant
colonies of his native Montana is told in
his autobiography, ANT Hill Odyssey
book which well might serve as model
or pattern for any career dedicated to "the
increase and diffusion of knowledge"
What the collection actually is, then,
may be summed up in. the words: "It
illustrates DR.. Manns speciality. But it
also may serve to spark further effort by
other entomologiStS. James Smithson had
some such idea in mind when he pledged
his Wealth-the original contribution to
the institution which bears his name-to
the progress of learning. His example has
been followed by hundreds of generous
contributors to the establishment he
fathered in his will in 1926 The gifts of
the institutions friends are principal
justification of its existence. When the
people of the United States accept such
donations as DR.. Manns, they naturally
wish to provide for their care and use.
That is why the new buildings and the
trained staff asked of Congress by DR..
Leonard Carmichael as spokesman for the
Smithsonian regents are matters of pop
ular concern.
Evening star., 1955-05-27
Simplifying Bible

The Star carried a series Of
Easter Bible stories for chill
dren which I enjoyed thor
oughly.
The few times that 1 have
picked up the Bible, I never
was interested enough to want
to read it. The way the Bible
is worded doesn't make good
sense to me.
If my bird" brain can't un-
derstand the Bible as it is
written. but if I learned some
thing by reading the Easter
Bible stories for children, then
it seems to me it would not be
a lost cause to print a daily
Bible story comparable to
those others.
Mildred nj. Beck.
Evening star., 1955-05-27
THIS AND THAT
By CHARLES E. TRACEWELL

change to everything else. The
very look of our street and
block, the houses and especial
ly the lawns, is different today
and this night than in the
hard, dry days of the past
weeks.
"Rain is so beautiful, so
helpful, surely no one of us
should ever complain about it
when it comes. with its mes
sage to all growing things, its
urge to grow, and, I hope,
be happy.
Sincerely yours. M.M.C."
This tribute to rain deserves
a place in scrapbooks.
1t is too common, as our cor
respondent says, to think of
rain as a nuisance. especially
in a city, interfering with
business dates and the like.
when all the time our very
lives depend upon it.
It is easy to see this, in the
country. where the big crops
are, but not so easy in the
city. where the supermarket
takes the place of the field,
and a milk bottle of the COW.
Rain on the roof has always
been theme for poets, and an
aid to local color to novelists.
Emile zola begins one of his
lesser known stories with rain
falling on the roofs of Paris.
He knew the sound well, hav-
ing lived for several years in
an attic in that city, and kept
himself alive on sparrows
trapped under the caves.
Rain is test of happiness.
If you can see the beauty,
as well as the interest and
need of rain, you can be fairly
happy under all the worst
circumstances.
Evening star., 1955-05-27
PrimordiuI Time

He had not todded in a creek
till noD,
Hduing been bred to paDe-
ment and to stone,
But his hands clutched q
sweeping ,DilloW bough
And something sang lOithin
him, blood and bone.
Primordial time had caught
him up at last
And set his bare brown feet
into this creek
Where all his yesterdays tDere
done and past,
Leaping hin, in the present
-,Det and sleek.
Since time began small boys
haze dlDGyS held
KinSl,iR to mater, and though
he mould 90
Back to the city, now his young
heart SaUelled
With that strange knowledge
only brown boys know.
-, Anobel Armour
Evening star., 1955-05-27
Unusual Honor

In reaching far down the list Of ad-
mirals to choose a new Chief OF Naval
Operations, President Eisenhower has con-
ferred an extraordinary honor on Rear
Admiral Arleigh A. Burke, Pacific war hero.
It is an unusual appointment not only be-
cause so many other competent admirals
were passed over In the selection but be-
cause it has the effect of generating Ad-
miral Burke of any wrongdoing in con-
nection with the famous revolt Of the
admirals" few years back.
Admiral Burke, known popularity in the
Navy as 'Thirty- -One-Knot" Burke because
of his moving destroyer tactics against
the Japanese, had a prominent role in
naval attacks on defense unification. AS
signed by his Superiors as head OF Opera
ton 49," high-level policy group, he
became embroiled in the dispute between
the Navy and the Air Force over the ef-
fectiveness of B-36 bombers and the future
Of naval air power There were reports
that when the then Captain Burke was
selected for admiral, his name was removed
from the promotion list by order of the
White House, only to be restored at the last
minute after Admiral Forrest Sherman,
Chief Of Naval Operations, had protested.
That Admiral Burke will be an able
successor to retiring Admiral Robert B.
Carney as CNO is beyond question. Ad-
miral Carney well deserves the high praise
given him by the President for his service
in the topmost Navy post. The reappoint-
ment of Admiral Radford as chairman OF
the Joint Chiefs of staff and of General
Twining as Air Force Chief of Staff, with
the recent naming of General Maxwell
Taylor as Army Chief of Staff, completes
the high-command reorganization. The
setup Is one in which the Nation can have
confidence in period of international
tension.
Evening star., 1955-05-27
Reluctant DRAGONS


If the singular lack of enthusiasm in
both Moscow and Washington for meet
ing at the summit" is fair gauge of the
prospects of success, one would think that
the whole thing might as well be called
OF now. But perhaps there is more in
this reluctant dragon approach than meets
the eye.
In their formal note accepting the
invitation to Big Four parley, the Rus
slams say the United States is setting up
preconditions which will doom the con-
ference to failure" According to the
Kremlin, the only explanation of this is
that the United States, contrary to its own
professions, "does not desire to settle acute
international problems"
Our own Mr.. Dulles is hardly less
reluctant to forecast any good result. He
confesSeS to "a certain sense of encourage
ment" over some recent Communist moves.
But he is not ready to interpret this dim
light in the Soviet sky as signaling the ad-
vent of new day. Men have been lured to
their doom before, according to Mr.. Dulles,
by mistaking "falSe dawn for the real
dawn" and we do not want to make that
mistake.
Mr.. Dulles believes that the most we
can hope to get from a meeting at the
summit is new approach" to world
problems problems which in turn must
be referred to other groups for study and
solution. And he even hedges on this
bit by saying that II am under no illusions
I know full well the deep-engrained pur-
poses Of the Communist leadership"
There are two ways, perhaps, in which
one can look at these doleful comments.
One is that the leading men in Washington
and in Moscow really expect nothing con-
structive to emerge from Big Four meet
ing, that both sides are concerned more
with the propaganda aspects than with
the substance of such meeting, and
that each is engaged at this stage in a
determined effort to lay foundation for
blaming the other fellow when the fact
of failure becomes clear for all to see
The other, and more hopeful, way of
looking at the matter is that Mr.. Dulles
and his opposite numbers in Moscow are
engaged In what might be called prelim-
mary bargaining maneuvers-in trying to
be most favorable to their respective points
of view when the meeting actually gets
under way. If this is the case, it may
be that it is necessary for Mr.. Dulles to
discourage a surge of optimism in this
country and throughout the free world, to
repress any burgeoning of unwarranted
hopes and expectations which might pres
sure the United States into making unwise
concessions in exchange for an illusory
peace. But If this is what Mr. Dulles is
doing, it would seem that he has made
his point, and made it adequately. It
might be well, henceforth, to make more
room for the play of the powerful forces
in the world which are working for peace
and against war.
Evening star., 1955-05-27

after good nights rest, rather than after
hard days work. (2) II you drive at
night, stop every 100 miles for a "coffee
break" (S) Stay safe distance behind
the car ahead. (4) Remember the Golden
Rule when driving-better let the other
fellow have the right of way. If only
small proportion of weekend motorists
would take this advice seriously, some lives
undoubtedly would be saved during the
triple holiday coming up.
Evening star., 1955-05-27

out, though, that so long as a
paper like The Evening Star
can publish a series like that
by Mr.. Noyes without anyone
to dictate it's suppression, we
have a truly free press. If Mrs.
Mcleod feels that The Stars
publishing this series is proof
of the absence of a free press,
I can only conclude that she
would prefer to see in the
United States the type of con-
trolled, suppressed press which
is the standard in some of the
Middle East countries for
which she pleads.
Carl Levin.
Evening star., 1955-05-27
Price of Peace

What price are East and
West ready to pay to be free
of staggering arms burdens
and narrowing fears of world
war?
Neither side is likely to agree
to more than a mere token
arms cut, unless convinced
that the other will shun pol
Evening star., 1955-05-27
TAKOMA PARK, Md.

DedE OlT.
"The recent rain made gen.
tie sounds in the downspouts
all night long. I lay awake
and listened, so fond of gar
dening am I, SO attuned to
the differences in the wealth.
er.
Sometimes I feel sorry for
the official weather forecast
ers. We all expect too much
from them, when all the time
they are just people, aren't
they? I recall how sports
writer's go overheard in pre-
dieting the outcome of prize
fights. and how often they are
wrong.
Human people really ought
to be content to take futurity
as it comes, and not try to
predict it in advance. But as
: long as we are human, I guess
we will go on trying to know
what is coming.
"One nice thing about the
rain is that it comes when
it pleases, and most of us can
get a preview of it by no more
trouble than looking out of
the window. All those clouds!
"My simple method of
weather prediction consists
mostly of this, that sunshine
means a fair day, and clouds
may mean rain. In such a
season as this. the latter meth
cd is often at fault.
This evening it really
rained. not hard, but steadily,
just the best kind for the gar
den.
"All the shrubs were bent
over. Out in the corner of the
garden, where I have the best
bird bath, a sort of cave had
been formed by the dropping
branches, some of them made
more heavy by pink blossoms.
The bird bath, evidently filled
to the brim, was completely
hidden from view, as stood
at the back window in the
dusk.
"A few birds were still eating
at the feeding station. The
delicate sound of the rain kept
right on, a pleasing music in
dry spring.
Notes of the wood thrush
seemed to me the most beau
tiful of all, with distinct over
tones of rain in themselves.
have never been able to find
out just how the bird manages
to get this wood note wild
into its song. Marbles of the
robin do not have it, nor the
bubble of the house wren, mis-
chievous mink. The Wood
thrush, alone Of our birds. has
this wildness in its song, yet
mixed with purity all its own
All bird music is pretty, even
the far cry of the crow. so high
in the sky, but somehow that
of the thrush tops them all.
Il II II
1.-THE kind of roof one sleeps
under in a rain has a great
deal to do with the sort of con-
cert one receives. At one time
in my life ! slept under a tin
roof, as it was called. and ] be-
lieve the hollow drumming
sound was the best rain music
I ever heard.
To-day I am far from a tin
roof, neatly ensconced where
scarcely sound of the rain
comes to my ears at night, ex-
cept for the steady drip, drip.
drip, from the caves. and now
and then a protesting gurgle
from our copper downspouts
"All things in the world have
a voice, If there is something
to play upon it, to bring it out.
To me the rain is this catalyst,
a something that does not, /,