davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1955-02-04
Revise the Order-or Scrap 1t

Republican officials concerned with pat
ronage are reported by Joseph Young, Star
columnist on civil service matters, to be
disappointed with the results obtained from
a patronage program directed by a White
House aide, Charles F. Willis, jr. It was
revealed by Mr. Young that relatively few
Republicans have landed Federal jobs under
a Willis memorandum requiring clearance
of certain appointments with the Republi
can National Committee The Willis order
extended even to merit-system jobs in some
higher brackets.
The apparent failure of the program
tends to refute charges by civil service de-
tenders that the Eisenhower administration
was permitting politicians to wreck the
career system. There has been no evidence
of any widespread destruction. But GER
tainly threat to competitive job security
was implicit in that part of the Willis pro-
gram which related to merit-system jobs.
The criticism aimed at the order, therefore,
was fully warranted. The memorandum
never should have been issued in its objec-
tionable form in the first place. Now that
the plan has proved to be a flop anyway, the
President ought to see to it that all Civil
service positions are specifically excepted
from the political-clearance requirement.
Evening star., 1955-02-04

that one c. L. Peterson executive of fore
most manufacturing concern in the auto
nation field, has compiled a dictionary of
the wondrous new terms. No longer, for
example, need simple layman suspect that
a transducer is just an old-fashioned rake,
or that hysteresis results from over-indul-
gence in "giggle water" Because trans
ducer, Mr. Peterson explains, is just gad-
get that converts one form of energy into
another form; and hysteresis is merely the
difference between the response of some
kind of gadget ito an increasing signal
and the response to decreasing signal"
Any questions?
Evening star., 1955-02-04
Homecoming

To north, to south. to east, to Uest they
lay,
Mountains that cleft the sky, and
held the tDord
The night totnd whispered In the years
1W1y,
The greatest name that he had euer
heard.
Once more at home. the utols and the
lntes
OF all the magic that return" can
hold,
Mingled their music NTH the stluer
flutes
OF all the wonder that his thought
ertolled
He climbed mountain, and from II
looked dotDn
Upon the dream come true. for spread
belOW,
He saw the splendor of his old home
totun,
Much as it tDGs In days of long ago.
He fingered there, to drink from all the
springs
That tDere then fotDino to loUe's ntur-
nturings.
Edword Corner
Evening star., 1955-02-04
Pen-'aan1es may be used if letters carry
writers' correct names and addresses.
All letters are subject to condensation.
Letters to The Star.

Metropolitan Police Boys Clubs their
administrative quarters.
This tax money comes from District
citizens who wish to combat delin-
quency and who are gladly giving it to
allow the boys much-needed recrea-
tional facilities. Delinquency. whether
white or colored. remains delinquency:
and in this matter the police clubs are
doing fine job. I would like to know
more about these pressure groups
organizations which probably are alien
to the Districts best interests, and that
wish to dictate to the clubs directors.
If the Metropolitan Police Boys Clubs
are wrecked through unscrupulous and
groundless complaints from unidenti-
fed organizations. which seem to ex-
clude entirely the voice of local citizens
associations. it may be we'll for volun-
teer workers to pause, take their bear
ing and reflect into which direction
they are being pushed.
Paul Chiera.
Evening star., 1955-02-04
A Hand Up for Superstudents

should like to commend The Sunday
Star for publication Of "Are We Bring
ing Up Nation of Average Citizens?"
by Samuel Eugle Burr. jr. DR.. Burr's
article summarized my reactions to
public school training and the theories
behind it, which have been developing
in the seven and half years since my
eldest son began his public-school at
tendance. In my attendance at PTA
meetings, the emphasis has always been
on saving society money by educating
the subnormals, not developing to their
highest potential the future leaders
and thinkers who are the supernormal.
The Star has been successful in most
of it's campaigns. sincerely hope it
will undertake the promotion of ex-
ceptional training for the exceptionally
gifted children in their area. Were such
a campaign successful, The Star would
have contributed greatly to the future
of our country.
M w
Evening star., 1955-02-04
'Old BIudensburq Rut'

An accolade to The Sunday Star and
to Reporter John Stepp for an excellent
story on Route 1913. This is a story
which has needed telling by voice
as strong as yours for some time.
Those who have been fighting for
this project now for almost 10 years
cannot count the battle won until the
dirt begins to fly and the concrete starts
to flow. It is hard to know just what
the State Roads Commission means by
''top priority These words were used
four years ago, two years ago, last year,
and now this year. A year ago we were
assured the project would be under way
before the end of 1854. Last fall it was
shortly after the first of the year"
Now, according to Mr.. Stepps story
it is to be under contract "by no later
than early summer" and to be finished
''by the end of 1885," CThat's two years
to goD .n.-.
Incidentally, any records for present
traffic volumes are grossly understated.
because most, people in the area avoid
using the road if any alternative route
is available. ~sy-t.
Speaking for all citizens in the area.
we earnestly hope Reporter Stepp's con-
clusion that Route 1913 is at last re-
ceiving the face lifting it should have
had earlier in the last decade" has not
been unduly influenced by the glib
promises of the State Roads Commis-
sion. It would be a shame to tarnish
The Stars enviable record for accuracy
But for our preoccupation with "Old
Bladensburg Rut," this letter could
have been devoted to praising second
article appearing in The Sunday Star.
of equal excellence. Isrefer to the COM
parison of Maryland. Virginia and Dis
trict of Columbia taxes and the article
by Phil Yaeger and John Stark. Both of
these articles are in keeping with The
Stars traditional emphasis on matters
of local civic interest, which we all
deeply appreciate.
Clarke L. Fauver,
President, Allied Civic Group, Inc.
Evening star., 1955-02-04
By Edwin TribbIe

THIS is the way the newspaper
l. account read:
.The Secretary of the Interior has is
sued a circular to the heads Of bureaus
ip the department. to report as to the
loyalty of each of the employees under
him, and also whether there are any
whose fidelity to duty or moral charac-
ter is such as to justify an immediate
dispensation of their services"
The time was May, 1865, and one of
the first employees to be dismissed under
the moral character" proviso was an
Indian Bureau clerk named Walt Whit
man. He lived in rented room at
Pennsylvania avenue and Sixth street
and little-read book called Leaves of
Grass"
This year the Library of Congress
custodian of the Nations literary her.
itage-is celebrating the Tooth ami
versary of the publication Of the book
which was too immoral and obscene for
the Government in 1865.
Surely such an official vindication has
rarely come to an author.
This story of one of the earliest
security risk" firings is told. along
with the rest Of the controversial life
of Walt Whitman in 1.-THE Solitary
Singer: A Critical Biography of Walt
Whitman" written by Gay Wilson Allen,
and just released by The Macmillan Co.
But to go back to 1865, Whitman was
able to convince the Attorney Generals
Office that he was fit for Government
employment and he settled down here
for 10 of the happiest and most pro-
ductive years of his life.
This bearded bard had come to Wash
ington from Brooklyn. He had been
born Gin 1879 on Long Island, son of
carpenter. Young Walt went to Brook
lyn schools and later taught school
himself for a short while. Then he
went into journalism. He wrote for
dozens of newspapers and magazines in
New York and Brooklyn. He even
wrote novel with temperance theme.
For pleasure he listened to Italian opera
and read Emerson cI was simmering,
simmering. simmering. Emerson
brought me to a boil") Between writ
ing crusading articles for better sewer
age and cleaner politics. he wrote poems
"a true son of Brooklyn, he called them
Evening star., 1955-02-04

"pomes.") In 1855 he published, at his
own expense, little book and called it
Leaves of Grass" He was to re-work
it for the rest of his life and now it's
quite long for book of poetry.
This poetry was unrhymed and un-
tanned. It broke out into song of real
men and real places. 1t violated all the
rules of elegance" and manners which
had ruled American poetry. 1t shocked
readers who thought such things should
not be talked about. 1t contained poems
of mans love for man. It spoke too ex-
plicitly about mans love for women. 1t
made the Secretary of the Interior sure
Whitman was too immoral to work fol
him It brought no money and only a
handful of friends. But it did one
thing: It brought a letter from Emer-
son praising its author. That was
enough for Whitman. He was thence
forward a writer.
Writing and revising. adding to the
book and planning others, Whitman
sustained himself by working for
various newspapers. The Civil War
started and he came to Washington to
Evening star., 1955-02-04
Ruciui Barriers
Spectator.

wish to commend The Star for
two recent excellent editorials.
One dealt with the delay in removal
of the ban on membership of Negro
lawyers in the District Bar Association.
You are undoubtedly correct in your
prediction that new referendum on
the question will follow the lead of
the District Medical Society, because
sentiment in these times is turning
against the exclusion of qualified Ne
groes from professional organizations
The second one also hit the mark
in declaring that the agreement end
ing discriminatory practices in hiring
of Capital Transit bus and streetca,
operators "has been long overdue"
Managers of highly successful busi-
ness enterprises throughout the coun-
try have said the same thing for all
business. 1t is to be hoped that other
public utilities will follow The lead of
Capital Transit, and in addition that
other local private businesses will adopt
the policy Of hiring solely on the basis
Of merit. When this happens it will
bring many economic and other benefits
to the whole community.
Margery T. Ware.
Evening star., 1955-02-04
Pressure on Boys Clubs

wonder whether the 80 unidentified
organizations that allegedly have been
urging the District Commissioners to
withdraw all District tax money and
support from the Metropolitan Police
Boys Clubs really know what they
stand for. They. stand for wrecking
the Metropolitan Police Boys Clubs and
ending all the good healthy influences
and recreational facilities which boys
have been truly enjoying to date. They
stand for increasing juvenile delin-
quency, while SO many others in the
District are giving their time and effort
toward it's decrease.
refuse to believe they really "take
offense" because its directors see fit to
have clubs which are both white and
colored, and which achieve the deSir-
able goal of making proper progress
toward good citizenship. do not believe
they are so petty as to begrudge the
Evening star., 1955-02-04
Friction on County Board

The acrimonious comments by the
chairman OF the Arlington County
Board concerning reconsideration OF
the coming of the Shirley Homes site.
as recently reported in The Star, do
him no credit A statement to the effect
that he still feels it was mistake to
reopen the controversy but that he
bows to the decision of the majority
the American way-and will be open
minded to the data to be presented
on February 10, at least would not have
aroused the antagonism of other board
members and would not needlessly have
alienated his constituents.
It is common experience that on i'm
pulse one often says and does what he
regrets after his passion has had time
to cool off We can all profit by Paul's
admonition to the members OF the
church at Ephesus: Let all wrath and
bitterness and anger and Glamour and
evil speaking be put away from you"
Critic.
Evening star., 1955-02-04
Spelling for a Fight2

If Premier Chou En-lai is to be taken
literally, there can be no ceaSe-fre arrange
n1ent in Formosa Strait unless and until
the United States and the United Nations
surrender Internationally to Red China's
demand that it be given free hand to do
whatever it pleases in that supremely tense
and explosive part Of the world.
Clearly, as far as the face value of his
words is concerned. this is the only reason
able Interpretation to be placed on Chou's
message rejecting the U. MS invitation to
Peiping to participation the basis of New
zealands proposal-in cease-fire discus
sions at the Security Council in New York.
His answer is contemptuous, arrogant and
uncompromising "no" accompanied by
mendacious charges and impossible condi-
tions that seem deliberately calculated to
mock and insult all who are seeking some
kind of pacifying formula for the Formosa
area.
The conditions are monumentally in
solent. They say, in effect, that Peiping
will take part in cease-f1re talks only if the
U. N. kowtows to it (1) by forthwith ousting
the Chinese Nationalists from membership
and replacing them with Red China's rep
resentatives, and (2) by abandoning New
Zealand's proposal and substituting for it
the already-rejected Soviet resolution.
Stated another way, the Mao Tse-tung
tyranny, speaking through Chou, has taken
the position that it will not join in any
peace promoting effort unless the Security
Council agrees in advance to kick out the
legitimate Chang Kai-shek government,
welcome the Communist regime as full
member, and confine discussions to the
Kremlin's preposterous plan to have the
Council condemn the United States as an
"aggressor" and order it to withdraw all its
armed forces from the region in and around
Formosa Strait.
In short, the conditions set forth by
Peiping- that would hand over
to the Communists the Pescadores, For
mosa, and ultimately much else in Asia
are totally unacceptable, and Mao and Chou
must surely realize that fact Why then
have they advanced such demands? One
can only guess at the answer, just as one
can only guess at whether or not the Krem-
lin is in full agreement with them and
whether or not all this constitutes Red
China's last word on the issue-or is merely
maneuver designed to lead to efforts at
mediation outside the U. N.
On the face of things, however, the
intransigent nature of Chous message
coupled with such accompanying develop
ments as Peiping's Endorsement of Com
munist warfare against the British in Ma
laya-strongly suggests that the Mao re-
gime has embraced belligerency as firm
policy and is spelling for fight. In many
respects, an assault on Formosa still seems
rather improbable, but the Chinese Reds
are not to be measured by our own stand
ards. For it may well be that they are
ready to risk becoming engaged in major
hostilities with us, and we must be prepared
accordingly. This is no time for wishful
thinking to the contrary.
Evening star., 1955-02-04
Sounds SinusoidoI!

Automation--the operation or control Of
machines by other machires-may be sig
mailing modern industrial revolution. But
whether it is or not, it already has created
q new dialect in an English language that
never was considered overly simple at best.
And just as ''jive talk" and "slanguage"
have to be studied under competent au-
thorities, so does the jargon Of automation.
1t should be helpful, therefore, to know
Evening star., 1955-02-04
That Old Security Risk: Walt Whitman

look for brother who was serving in
the Union Army. He stayed 10 years.
At first he didn't like it very much
This is the greatest place of delays
and puttings of. and no finding the
clue to anything" he wrote. But he
gradually made friends. John Bur-
roughs the great naturalist was one.
The editor Of The Star then Crosby
S. Noyes, was another. For this news
paper Whitman wrote "squibs" that
we'd call feature articles today.
Then with his reputation as writer
coming too slowly, Whitman in 1873
went to Camden to live near his
brother. He stayed there for the last
20 years of his life. Acceptance still
came slowly He went to Boston to
confer with new publisher. Emerson
wanted to take him to his club but
Longfellow, Lowell and Holmes OBJ
jected. It was the Rossetti pre-
Raphaelite circle in England that first
gave him entire into respectable
literary circles.
Mr.. Allen, his new biographer, is pro-
fessor of English at New York Univer-
sity and he has an academic touch. 1t
is a good book and complete one, how
ever. It's author is judicious, even
cautious. This gives his work an air of
fairness which is commendable. He is
less inclined, for example, to place the
obvious Interpretation upon the "Cala-
mus" poems than are ,nost modern
Whitman students. But he is far from
misleading about them and explores
every possibility of their meaning.
Whitman's last years Mr.. Allen
passes over quickly. After all, as he
points out. Horace Traubel, the Camden
Boswell. said everything that can be
said about them.
Whitman lived on until 1892, to the
last controversial poet, even as he is
one today. The issue of indecency has
long since dissolved but his admirers
and detractors on other grounds are
very much around. Perhaps the sum
of his work was overly egocentric and
almost painfully bombastic. Perhaps
his generalities are SO general that they
are all but meaningless. But who could
read "Out Of the cradle endlessly rock
ing" or when lilacs last in the
dooryard bloom'd" without realizing
that the bearded old man who liked to
walk the streets of Washington in the
night was taking very long steps indeed?
Evening star., 1955-02-04
Shocking and Dangerous

It is clear that the United States is
facing a serious shortage Of sorely needed
engineers. The latest warning to that ef-
fect-voiced at a press conference in New
York the other day-has come from group
Of distinguished authorities, including DR..
NJ H. Trytten of the National Research
Council and DR.. John r. Dunning, atomic
expert and dean of Columbia Universitys
School Of Engineering. These men are not
alarmists, but they have left no room for
doubt that there is reason for deep concern
over indications that the Soviet educational
system threatens to move far ahead of ours
In training young people for scientific work.
IN fact, in Dr. Dunning's Judgment, 1t
Is impossible to !overemphasize "the true
gravity of the situation" This is his feeling
because authoritative figures show that we
are in danger of quickly losing the present
advantage we enjoy In having about IS or
20 per cent more engineers than the total
at work in the Soviet Union. OF course, If
such margin of difference could be counted
upon to be lasting. there would be no cause
for alarm. Unfortunately, however, II pres
ent trends continue-that is to say, If our
educational system fails to effect sharp
increase in the annual output of engineering
graduates-the Russians will catch up with
us in the next five years, and after that they
will pass us in the race.
To bear out DR.. Dunning's warning, DR..
Trytten has cited a fact whose seriousness
can hardly be exaggerated. AS he has put
1t, although the industries and the Gov
ernment of the United States are urgently
calling for more scientists and engineers,
the supply fell from peak OF $4,000 engi-
neering graduates in 1850 to 10000 in 1854"
Meanwhile, by way of contrast, Russia
completely reversed this situation, with
$4,000 graduates in 1850 and $4,000 In 1884,
IN other words, there has been a steady and
drastic decrease in the number of such
scientifically trained personnel turned out
by our schools, while in the Soviet Union
there has been spectacular increase. The
comparative figures seem almost unbel1ev-
able, but they are none the less true. and
they should shock the Nation into taking
corrective action.
Certainly, in this supremely technology
cal age, our shortage of engineers land
similar deficiency exists in other categories
of scientific personneD is much too danger
Gus in its potentalities to be shrugged off
and ignored. Quite obviously, with our
population increasing at a rate of about "a
million every decade, and with our country
confronted with implacable hostility from
the Communist world, we need far, far more
engineering graduates than our schools are
turning out. And action, not just talk, is
what we must have to solve the problem.
Otherwise, by continuing to be negligent or
Indifferent in this field, our Nation can lose
vital ground to the Kremlin.
Evening star., 1955-02-04
DeodIiest of All

As.indicated by Air Force Secretary Tai
bott, there is no reason to doubt the Defense
Departments recent anonymous but au-
thoritative talk about how the United
States is busily at work developing an inter-
continental guided missile full of capabilities
almost too awesome and fantastic to be
believable. Actually, the eventual advent
Of such a weapon has been taken pretty
much for granted by the experts for some
years past The only big question about it
has had to do with the time required to
make it reality, and now the answer seems
to be that it probably will be ready for use
in the relatively near future.
And what will the thing be like when
1t becomes part of our American arsenal?
According to Pentagon reports, it will be a
virtually uninterceptable destroyer equipped
to fly at speeds up to 5000 miles an hour
and unleash--with a remarkable degree of
accuracy-its atomic warhead (or possibly
even a hydrogen bomb) on an enemy target
as far away as 5000 miles from the launch
ing site. In Short as the greatest and dead
liest of all the guided missiles being devel-
oped by our country for both defensive and
offensive purposes, it promises to be the
ultimate or absolute weapon-one that
would make present-day air fleets obsolete,
profoundly affect current concepts of naval
and land power, and defy efforts to produce
ways and means of countering it effectively.
At the momen. the United States may
be ahead of all other countries in its work
on this weapon, but there is precious little
comfort to be derived from that fact-if it
is a fact. For the Russians certainly are
sparing no effort in the same field, and they
can be counted upon to catch up with us
assuming that they are actually behind
right now-in arming themselves with an
intercontinental missile every bit as super
sonic and devastating as ours. The prospect
is scarcely reassuring. Men and nations are
engaged in by far the most dangerous arn1a-
ments race since the beginning of time, and
If they do not succeed in putting an end to
it, they will be inviting the very real possi-
bility that they will yet put an end to
themselves.
Evening star., 1955-02-04
BY THE HASKIN SERVICE

@. What would be the cost Of hell
copter suitable for personal use? How
fast can helicopters travel?-M. S. G.
A. The smallest and cheapest hell
copters cost about $1,000, while the
average price is over $4,000. The
highest cruising speed of helicopters
with jet propulsion is about 200 miles
per hour.
@. Why is Edgar Allan Poe's poem.
THE Murderer" not included In his
complete workS?-G. c. B.
A. Because authorities on the life
and works of Poe do not believe that
he wrote this poem. which is some-
times entitled "Kelah." Kills Camp
bell says "The Murderer" is piece Of
doggerel which is from time to time
resurrected and proclaimed to the world
as Poe discovery.
@. How much money did Haym Salo-
mon contribute toward financing the
Revolutionary War? Was he ever re-
paid?-J. Med.
A. Solomon, an American Jew. con-
tributed his entire fortune Of $640. 900
at a time when the patriots were in
desperate need. so that the war could
be carried on. Neither Solomon nor
his descendants ever were repaid. He
died penniless in 1875.