davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-11-09
Expeditinq the Belt Road

In view OF the high priority recently
given the outer belt freeway in nearby
Virginia, the Fairfax County Board Of
Supervisors was justified in its refusal
to rezone part of the proposed right Of
way for residential development. This
is wise precautionary step against in
f1ated costs of the belt highway as well
as against difficulties in securing open
land for the important project.
Fairfax County already has had a
lesson in the high cost Of delay in reserv-
ing land for highway purposes. It is
paying about double the original price
for land needed for extension of the
George Washington Memorial Parkway
through the county. Realty values have
scared in the county as new subdivisions
and new commercial developments have
appeared.
Tentative highway charts show that
the land in question will be needed for
part Of the belt highway, which is to
connect the proposed Jones Point and
Cabin John bridges. Until passage Of
the new Federal Interstate Aid to
Highways Act, the State Highway Com
mission had Jagged in undertaking It's
share Of the belt route, which eventually
is to encircle Washington. Now, however,
the Federal Government may finance
up to 80 per cent of the cost of the
project-as result of which the COM
mission is taking an active interest in
the freeway PLAN No obstacles should
be placed in the way of the States evident
intention of proceeding with the belt
program.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-11-09
Let's Look at Maine

1t is time to bury that old and
thoroughly discredited notion that as
Maine goes, so goes the Nation.
On September 10, the Maine voters
trooped to the polls and went down the
line for the Democrats. Governor Muskie,
Democrat, received the largest vote
ever given Governor in winning second
consecutive term. The State has three
congressional districts. The Democrats
took one Of them and Just missed in a
second. This was really sensational.
The g. o. P. camp was in state of
shock Adlai Stevenson noted that the
national trend to the Democrats was still
gaining momentum. His campaign man
ager, James Finnegan, thought the Maine
victory was "all the more remarkable in
view Of the way the Republicans made
this test Of President Eisenhower's pop
ularity and influence with the voters"
Then came November 8. And what
happened? Mr.. Eisenhower swept the
State, setting three voting records. He
received the biggest vote ever given a
political candidate in Maine, and he got
the largest majority and the highest per-
centage Of any presidential candidate.
So the Nation does not necessarily
60 as Maine goes. In fact, Maine does
not 60 in November as Maine went In
September. The moral, 1t seems to US, is
that the American voter has become
highly independent and thoroughly un-
predictable critter. He marks his ballot
rs he pleases, with diminishing re-
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-11-09
Planning the federal Civ

Lie STUDY being maze Dy the Citizens
Advisory Council of a proposed reorgani-
zation Of the National Capital Planning
commission should be helpful in throw
Ing light on some Of the weaknesses Of
the present planning Setup. And there
are weaknesses, as those who have had
10 contend with recurrent delays, inter-
agency pickering and other planning
difficulties well know. But in seeking
remedies care should be exercised to
preserve the basic objective underlying
creation by Congress of the Planning
Commission, namely, insuring the orderly
development Of the Capital of the Nation
through long-view, overall planning
that will properly safeguard the national
as well as the local interest in our city.
The council specifically is consider
Ing "swan song" proposal by former
District Commissioner Samuel Spencer
that the five citizen members of the
NCPC be appointed by the Commissioners
rather than by the President. The re-
naming seven members hold office ex-
officio and represent varying Federal
interests. Transfer of the appointment
power to the District government in
evitably would tend to make the Plan
ming Commission quaSi-District body.
The change suggested by Mr.. Spen-
Ger and supported in some other local
quarters is an understandable outgrowth
OF the succession of frustrating disputes
and delays that have hampered the PLAN
ming and construction of bridges, high
ways and other public works in the
Washington area. There has been so
much backing and filling, so much UNI
certainty at times regarding NCPC
policies and intentions, that local officials
have been completely confused. This has
led to personality conflicts at staff levels
that have complicated the situation.
At least some Of the commissions
troubles, we think, have arisen because
OF absenteeiSm by out-of-town chairmen
IA condition not existing under the lead
ership of Harland Bartholomew, apa-
thetic appointeeS from other cities and
tendency by ex-off1cio members to stress
self-interestS of their respective agencies
rather than the national interest. Both
Federal and District interests have suf-
fered from these defects, with the Dis
trict feeling most of the adverse effects.
We do not, however, believe that a
change in the appointing power would
improve the situation. What undoubtedly
would improve it would be more care by
the White House in choosing commits
sion members than has been evident
sometimes in the past. Such planners
ought to be picked not for political rea-
sons but because Of their interest in the
Capital and their fitness for planning its
future. They should be citizens willing
to devote adequate time and energy to
the important willing also
to work for closer liaison and under
standing between Federal and District
authorities. We agree with Chairman
Bartholomew that the Federal Govern
ment has dominant interest in the
orderly development of the American
Capital and that the planning of this
growth should be done on a broad, ma
tional scale by an overall agency respon-
sible to the President and Congress,
rather than to any local authority.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-11-09
Winter-Reody

Non suddenly the squirrels
coat and plume
Are stlUered, as he stocks his
pantry tighter,
The chipnunk cuyls tDithin his
secret room
For sIuntbering, the tDhite- foot
mouse Is tDhiter
OF foot. the for already iDedYs
neD fat
Under his longer fur, tDhHe the
turtle and frog
And toad forsdke all places
they haze sat
And summed, and dig IN mud
beneath some bog.
And each has met the seasons
change Without
Reluctance or regret or any
fear,
SO iChv should 7 admit the
JrdileSt doubt
That tCfnteY tDiH Be good,
once II u here
And ! be somehow a. diUtnelv
kept
A. they tOho Dilf hare printed
snoD. or sIept1
Eloins v. Emons
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-11-09
Foreigners Like Ike

Apart from the polite formalities, one
dominant theme ran through the foreign
editorial reaction and congratulatory
messages greeting the reelection of
President Eisenhower. It reflected a
widespread admiration and almost per-
sonal fondnesS for the former general,
plus conviction that he is unqualifedly
dedicated to the cause of world peace.
BY implication, when not by so many
words, it indicated degree of confidence
that American foreign policy under his
direction in the postelection period will
be increasingly effective and that the
world at large stands to gain. Signifi-
cantly, this measure of uniformity
showed up from such opposite sources
as both Israel and the Arab capitals and
from each side Of the Iron Curtain.
1t was also interesting, in view of
Democratic campaign charges that the
Eisenhower foreign policy had led to vir-
tual destruction of the Western alliance,
that much of the reaction from London
and Paris was favorable to his continue
ance in ONCE and optimistic about the
resolution Of allied differences. London
newspapers, for example, took note Of the
current Anglo-American strain over the
Suez issue, but in several cases empha-
sized that Mr.. Eisenhower will now be
in stronger position to deal with these
tensions. There is no one better suited
to unravel the confusions," the London
News Chronicle said. Similar thoughts
were expressed by other voices within
the North Atlantic community.
For the most part, the Moscow line
placed greatest emphasis on Mr.. Eisen-
hower's personal popularity. kilograms
from the Kremlin leadership credited the
President with sincerity and effectiveness
in his efforts to relax international ten
sions and improve RuSsian-American re-
lations. Moscow Radio, however, read
into the results American "disapproval
Of the political course of the ruling
Republican Party" both at home and
abroad.
There will be further ups and downs,
Of course. in foreign reaction to the ad-
ministration's policies in international
affairs. But with the political campaign
out Of, the way, the President has an ex-
cellent opportunity to demonstrate that
the expressions Of confidence in him were
well founded.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-11-09
Rod Clay in g recent Il

Rod Clay in q recent letter
made some statements regard
ing "right-to-work laws"
I haye made some study Of
the State statutes which are
referred TO as "right-to-work
laws" In general they specify
that no worker shall be COM
PEELED to become q member
OF q union in order to be q
wage Garner, II he prefers not
TO be a union member.
Many q worker who has suf-
fered from the tyranny Of
union leaders feels the justice
Of such laws. How can this
be a truly free country II men
are not permitted to work at
Jobs which they are qualified
for unless they make certain
payments to other workers who
have banded themselves to-
gether TO control the giving
Of Jobs? When unions work
for the betterment Of their
members without perpetratlng
injustice 70 others. they are
doing good. But when they
undertake to coerce any indi-
vidual in the pursuit Of one Of
his inalienable rights. they are
q menace to liberty.
Why Is 1t "ferocious" for q
State TO protect It's citizens
from such tyranny BY law7 II
any organization cannot OBJ
tain and keep members on IT,
own merit. why should II be
permitted 70 acquire members
BY threatening 70 keep the
privilege Of earning . living
from men who need 10 support
themselves and their families7
ObuoEvog.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-11-09

David Lawrence. In q re-
cent offering. provided an f.
Eliminating appraisal Of the
current troubles in Egypt. Re
sponsibility for the unfortu-
nate bloodshed, he explained.
was traceable to Adlai Ste
venson and Estes Kefauver. II
appears that this irresponsible
pair created such an atmos-
phere Of criticism and suspi-
cion that the President was
unable TO take any vigorous
action in the Egyptian dispute
for fear OF being branded .
man bent on war. Britain and
France. we are told, therefore
moved against Egypt because
they knew that the hands Of
the United States would Be
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-11-09

There are authorities, on the
other hand, who swear that
this dread is man-made. and
that children, left to, them
selves. would not be any more
afraid Of a snake than q puppy.
But there are children who
are afraid Of dogs, so there
you are; perhaps most people
will decide to give snakes as
wide q berth as possible.
~
Hoop snakes?
Snakes that roll along the
road, tail in mouth?
Experts declare there Is no
such thing, that the hoop
snake. so-called. is Just an
other Pigment of the popular
imagination. which in all times
and places likes to build scare
stories.
This desire to brighten
others. as well as themselves,
is part Of q certain human
temperament. The most popu-
lar form Of 1t was the ghost
story.
In the old days, before ra-
dio and television, young peo-
pie liked to get together before
a fireplace and tell ghost
stories.
There was always someone
in a group who specialized IN
1t.
The English people, also the
Scotch and the Irish. believed
to some extent in ghosts, and
liked to tell Of the mysterious
appearances. especially in
castles and great houses. Al
most every big home In Eng
land, II we can believe reports,
has its stories Of ghosts and
other mysterious visitants.
Today in America, in an age
Of science, we take our ghost
stories with a grain Of salt,
and ordinarily do not evince
much interest In such phe-
nomena. Ghosts and snakes
are Jumped together in the
popular imagination as things
TO steer clear Of; they may be
accepted as fact. in the case
OF snakes, fiction In the case
Of ghosts. but each equally
undesirable In our prosaic
everyday life. The only ghost
we care about Is the Pickering
one that sometimes appears on
a television screen. and the
only snake we admire Is one
In q picture book. where II can
neither bite nor slither.
After all. we believe, It Is
that typical snake-like motion
that frightens US. II the things
had legs. and could walk and
run, they would not intimi-
date one-half the humans who
now fear them more than the
devil. The old devil Is q make.
but he has two legs. therefore
We human beings often accept
him 70 our undoing.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-11-09
VISTAS IN SCIENCE
Light Flashes Detected in Ocean DEPTHS
By THOMAS R. HENRY

lions of miles into space and
are best known by causing
fadeouts Of radio signals in
the earth's high atmosphere.
Such flares occur, on the aver
age. one every so hours.
Scientists of the Naval Re-
search Laboratory have COM
pleted q program Of 10 rocket
flights to heights Of about 10
miles, the rockets being
launched from balloons at the
instant a flare was detected
from the High Altitude OBJ
servatory at Boulder, Colo.
The information was commu-
nicated Immediately to the
USS Colonial in the Pacific
southwest Of San Diego.
The remarkable finding was
the great amount Of very short
X-rays in the flare radiation.
These could not have been
produced, the Navy scientists
and their associates concluded,
at temperatures much less
than 3 million F.
The ordinary temperature Of
the nearly vacuum-like corona
Or pearly-gray rings which
surround the SUMS about
100000 degrees, in contrast to
from 5000 to 1000 on the SUR
face of the sun itself.
\ \ X 4
The mantle Of the earth
the thick layer Of granite rock
which lies under the surface
rocks about 10 miles deep
may be full of diamonds.
This is suggested in q COM
munication to the American
Association for the Advance
ment of Science here as q
possible inducement for sink
ing a shaft into the planets
interior, possibly as part Of
the International Geophysical
Year program.
Quite a Project
Such q shaft would be COM
parable in effort involved,
perhaps in expense, to the
artificial satellite program
which now is under way.
The suggestion comes from
Frank B. Estabrook Of the
basic research branch of the
Los Angeles Ordnance Dis
trict. Present knowledge Of
the earth's interior comes
largely from Interpretation Of
behavior of earthquake and
artificial shock waves.
DR.. Estabrook cites problems
to be investigated by means
of such a shaft:
Changes in the earth's
magnetic field below the sur
face. pressure. temperature
and density variations with
depths, variations in radio
activity.
Sinking a shaft IL inches
in diameter for 10 miles, he
estimates, need not cost more
than q million dollars q mile.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-11-09
G. O. p. Man to Watch

Dwight y. EiSenhOWer'S dazzling
triumph in his reelection bid has some
what obseured the rising of another
Republican star-that Of Vice President
Richard M. Nixon. But this Nixon star,
at least in the G. o. P. armament, is
shining brightly with light of its own.
Mr.. Nixon is young Republican (43)
who very definitely intends to go places
and do things. His political career was
launched only 10 short years ago when
he made his first political bid-for a
House seat from California. Since then
he has travelled fast and far over a rocky
political road.
There has been change in the brash
young man who had much to do with
unmasking Alger Hiss, and who went on
from there to see visionary Communists
and traitors under the Democratic bed.
In 1852 and in 1854 Richard Nixon made
some serious campaigning mistakes. But
he handled himself well after the Presi-
dents heart attack in 1855. He did equally
well, when on the eve of this years
G. o. P. convention, Harold Stassen came
forward with his unsuccessful Nixon
will-hurt7 the-ticket drive.
This would have knocked some men
of balance. But Richard Nixon, strongly
supported by the party regulars, re-
manned poised and unruf1ed. First, he
got the nomination. Then, instead of
hurting the ticket, the probability is that
he helped it with his tireless 35,OOO-mile
campaign. This was the tour which I'M
yelled the "new Nixon" the man of rela-
tive moderation and the No. / repairer
Of the Republican Party fences.
AS result of all this toll and effort,
the Vice President has won for himself
a high rating in the 1860 book of the
G. o. P. organization. A great deal will
depend, Of course, on how he handles
himself in the next four years. But as
things stand now, this young man,
political nobody 10 years ago, is the
G. o. p, man to watch as the Eisenhower
second term runs its course and as the
need to choose new candidate develops.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-11-09

WOODS HOLE, MaSS.-The
sea. q mile deep. supposedly a
realm of absolute darkness.
sometimes presents such q
confusion Of flashing lights as
to resemble the night sky on
Fourth Of July.
This is reported by DR..
George L. Clarke, marine BIZ
ologist Of the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution, on
the basis of observations with
q newly devised instrument
which detects underwater
illumination q billionth part
that Of full sunlight.
Many animals living in the
deep sea have light-producing
organs, sometimes arranged in
rows along the body and at
other times along the jaws
and on the head.
IAN impression Of the
abundance of luminescent
animals in the sea and meas
urement Of the intensity of
their light discharge" DR..
Clarke reports, twas obtained
by lowering this instrument,
the bathyphotometer. at
night. When the instrument
was suspended below 600 feet.
the meter recorded large but
very bri@ increases at regu-
lar intervals. At greater
depths the flashes increased
until at about 900 feet fash
ing was practically continu-
Gus.
Deeper the Brighter
Below 900 feet the general
illumination from biolumines-
cence at night became great
er than the light reaching this
depth from the surface during
the day. Individual flashes were
as much as 1000 times brighter
than the background illumina-
ton. AS yet we do not know
whether large flashes were
caused by brilliant; lumines-
cence at some distance or by
weaker discharges near the in
strument.
ION q recent cruise the
bathyphot was used to
depths just over a mile. The
observations showed that lumi-
nescence exists at night at all
levels but that the flashes vary
in frequency and intensity at
different depths. Our records
at the depth of one mile show
flashes occurring as frequently
as five per second. So we know
that the deep sea is not con-
tinually enveloped in inky
blackness but at times must
present the appearance Of the
night sky on Fourth Of July"
\ 4 4
Temperatures as high as
3 million F. occur in the suns
corona.
This happens at the time of
solar hares-great outbursts of
radiation which extend mil
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-11-09

Chief Justice Marshall per-
formed q valuable service to
the public when he made plain
the economic truism that the
power to tax was power to de-
stroy. And in the year 1870,
Henry George rendered an
even greater service to man.
kind by his demonstration that
all taxation is destructive with
the one exception Of a tax upon
land values. Land values are
created by the population Of
any given district. Created by
the people. they are the prop
erty Of the people and Of no
individual. They constitute the
natural source Of public rev.
enue, and should be collected
In full by q single tax.
Henry Ware Allen.
Chickasha, Oklahoma.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-11-09

tied during the prediction
week. Furthermore, it seems
that the failure Of our coun-
try's attempts 10 secure a last
ing settlement Of the Suez dis
pute was not the fault of
American foreign policy, but
due directly to the Shipping
tactics" of this same treacher-
GUS pair who had been busy
all summer sabotaging rela-
tions between America and its
allies.
While Mr.. Lawrence was a
consistent supporter OF the
President during the campaign,
it is difficult to understand
how these observations could
possibly have aided the Repub-
lican cause. In the first place,
one can scarcely agree with
him that the Democratic can
didates created in interna-
tional affairs an impossible sit
uation for the President and our
allies" If the President finds
that the situation is indeed
impossible, he can thank his
own party for making it so. It
seems almost unnecessary to
point out that it was not the
Democrats who introduced
peace along with progress and
prosperity as a campaign issue.
On the other hand, If we ac-
cept Mr.. Lawrence's explana-
ton. we can only wonder at its
implications regarding the mo-
tives of Mr.. Eisenhower him.
self. If his hands were in fact
tied by the approaching cleo
ton, we must assume that the
President was unwilling to take
what action he believed prop
er in the Middle East, since it
would involve the risk of los
ing votes. On this point we
can hardly disagree with Mr..
Lawrence when. in the same
column. he says "the selfish
ness of American politicians
who will play politics with the
Nations safety and with It's
international influence for
peace is something that can
only be remedied by an over
whelming reputation Of such
tactics at the polls"
Mr.. Stevenson, however,
should not lose heart, for Col
umnist Lawrence has stated
rather clearly that it is not the
man in the White House, but
the candidate without office
who controls the real power in
American affairs. +.
T. e. Reynolds.