davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-22
A Dangerous Gamble

Egypt is marking the end of an era
this week as it celebrates the lowering
of the British flag in the Suez Canal Zone.
1t is, conversely, the beginning Of new
era-symbolized perhaps by the presence
of Soviet Foreign Minister Shepilov in
Cairo and by increasingly clear signs that
Moscow is embarked on a determined
campaign to establish its influence in the
Arab world. Significantly, it was Mr..
Shepilov-visiting Cairo a year ago as
editor Of Pravda-who laid the ground
work for Egyptian purchase of the Czech
oslovak arms that have passed in review
during this weeks celebrations. And,
signifying his real intent to make further
war on the West, Mr.. Shepilov's first
remarks on arriving in Cairo few days
ago were scornful references to colonial
ism and oil monopolies-twi synonyms
for evil in all anti-Western vocabularies.
1t is early yet to forecast the outcome
of this many-sided cold war in the Middle
East. Arab nationalism has increased in
recent years with British influence being
its prime target. The Arab Israeli conflict
and the Iraqi- Egyptian rivalry for area
leadership have provided complications
with deep emotional impact. American
policy has been arraigned as equivocal at
best and unfriendly at worst. Currently,
the Egyptian-led bloc leans officially
toward a policy of neutralism in the East
West cold war but it is policy which has
encouraged Soviet intervention. Arab
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-22
RedeveIopment Gains

1t is encouraging to know that South
west redevelopment plans are moving
ahead, despite the many and varied
difficulties that have been encountered.
Evidence of the progress is seen in the
calling of public hearing on June 20 in
connection with the pioneer Southwest
project, in Area B.
Little has been heard from the Area
B program in recent months, chiefly be-
cause the redevelopment authorities have
been preoccupied with the larger and
more important Zeckendorf plan in Area
c. The latter viii effect drastic changes
in the Southwest skyline and in the
character of residential and business
construction in that old section of Wash
ington.
But the adjacent improvements along
South Capitol street, in Area B, also will
have a profound effect on the city's
future. The lower priced dwellings there
will rise on the site of Washington's most
publicized and worst SlumS. This will be
essentially slum clearance and rehous-
ing undertaking of basic pattern, whereas
the zeckendorf program is rebuilding
operation designed to convert a run
down neighborhood into an attractive
residential, Federal, cultural and business
community. While both projects are in
dependent, they are coordinate parts of
a broad improvement program that is
expected to benefit the Capital for gen.
erationS to come.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-22
Cheating Incident

DR.. Corning's report to the Board of
Education on the cheating incident at
District Teachers College invites several
inferences-none of them fiattering to
the public school administration.
The essence Of the Corning report is
that he, although Superintendent of
Schools, really doesn't know what hap
pened. And, Of course, the board doesn't
know either. It seems to us that neither
DR.. Corning nor the board has made a
determined effort to find out.
DR.. Corning sent QUESTIONABLE to
all members of the class involved in the
April q incident. One student admitted
cheating. Another refused to answer on
grounds OF conscience. All of the others
finally denied cheating. Yet, the report
contains such statements as these: ''The
superintendent feels that more than one
student must have been guilty of irregu-
larity during this examination. -. It is
quite probable that some of the students
made false statements in the replies sent
to the superintendent. q. It seems i'm
possible to draw any conclusion other
than that there was cheating in the class
and by several members, but who and
how many were involved. has not been
determined"
Why has this not been determined?
The incident was reported promptly to
faculty members by some of the students.
DR.. Corning conferred with those faculty
members. Did the faculty members know
the names of the cheaters? Did DR..
Corning try to pin them down on this
point? The report tells us nothing on this
score. Certainly the students who re-
ported the incident must have known
who the cheaterS were. AS last resort,
why didn't DR.. Corning call those students
IN for questioning? His report doesn't say.
The School Board now proposes to call
in DR.. Walter E. Hager. president of the
college, for Qualification of the incident.
But Dr. Corning has said, without stating
the details, that DR.. Hager refused to CO.
operate with him in his investigation.
One board member terms this gross in
subordination," and, if DR.. Corning is
correct, this would seem to be the case.
But just what is Dr. Hager expected to
Clarity? Is he going to come forward with
the names of the cheaterS whose iden-
titles DR.. Corning was unable to estab-
lish? We doubt it very much. Is some
disciplinary action going to be taken?
We doubt that, too; and in any event it
would come rather late in the day.
For the students who, in DR.. Corn
ing'S opinion, cheated on the examination
and then lied about it have been grad
uated. They have their diplomas and
presumably are on the way to becoming
teachers themselves. DR.. Corning says
he "can only hope that if any of these
receive appointments as teachers, they
will henceforth conduct themselves hon
orably and honestly"
We are unable to detect much basis
in the record for this pious hope. The
cheating and subsequent dishonesty were
bad enough But the fumbling futility Of
the so-called investigation is worse What
reason is there to expect that students
who got away with cheating and lying
on the eve of graduation will conduct
themselves honorably and honestly as
teachers?
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-22
Retirement Plan

A liberalized civil service re-
tirement bill is long overdue
and career employees are anx-.
iously awaiting the outcome
Of the Johnston bill.
Included in the bill as it
stands now is the 30-year-
r I'd less-of-age-o optional
retirement provision which is
regarded by most career en-
ployes as the fairest clause in
the bill. If this provision is
eliminated or modif1ed-sacri-
feed, SO to speak--and the
fringe benefit provisions re-
tanned, the law loses its real
purpose. Career employees take
a dim view of a bill which
would eliminate the 30-year
provision and retain fringe
benefit provisions, for example,
free survivorship annuities for
spouses Of retired workers.
Career employees who enter
Government service at an early
age feel that they have given
the best years Of their lives
and this should be recognized
and considered in any So
called liberalized legislation.
Why should an employe who
enters the service at IS, after
80 years not be eligible for re-.
tirem ent as distinguished
from an employee who enters
at age AZ and after % years is
retired at age 70 on a re-
duced annuity? The point in
volved is years Of service, since
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-22

BALTIMORE, June 22.-
What may be q significant step
towards ultimately making
life in a test tube" was re-
ported here today.
At a Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity conference on the chem
ical basis of heredity, DR.. S.
Ochoa of New York University
told Of synthesizing a COM
pound resembling. If not iden-
teal with. the so-called
mother molecule Of all life"
This is desoxyribose nucleic
acid. 1t is one Of the two
forms Of nucleic acid found
in all genes. the invisibly
minute units of heredity
throughout nature from bac--
terra to men.
Genes are made up of these
two acids together with pro-
teinS, the highly complex
nitrogen-containing building
blocks OF the body. In the
nucleic acids are the factors
Of heredity which are respon-
sible for the precise division
and duplication of cells, the
basis of both growth and re-
production.
Three Elements in Acids
Both the nucleic acids are
made up of three different
kinds of substances. First are
the "bases"-adenine. qua
nine, uracil and cytosine, which
are combinations of the ele-
ments carbon, hydrogen and
nitrogen. All are nonliving
materials not derived from
anything alive. All can be
made in the laboratory. The
other two materials are sugar
and phosphoric acid. The trick
is to get all these together in
the very highly complex mole
cule of desoxyriboSe nucleic
acid. usually referred to as
DINA.
DR.. Ochoa has succeeded in
doing this by means of a So
called polymerizer. This is an
engine which he isolated from
certain common bacteria. An
engine, of which there are
probably thousands involved in
any living system, is a pro-
tein which precipitates a
chemical reaction without en-
tering into it. The engine it
self is not contained in the
product.
Thus, DR.. Ochoa stresses, his
work cannot be considered as
an actual creation of some
thing living since he had to
start with the engine which
itself was part of q living
thing Nobody has yet syn
thesized a protein, he stressed,
but some very close approaches
have been intellectually by
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-22
VISTAS IN SCIENCE
Progress Report on Synthetic Birth
By THOMAS R. HENRY

DR.. Vincent Du Vigneault Of
Cornell University, latest
American Nobel Prize winner.
The crucial point win come
when somebody actually
makes a true protein. If one
can be made. so probably can
all the others, including the
bacterial engine used by DR..
Ochoa. In that case, it is
quite possible that one of the
most significant elements of
all life can be produced out of
completely nonliving mate
rial.
Still, DR.. Ochoa stresses,
man will have a long way to
go before building UP an ac-
tual living organism. But he
win have come a long distance
toward such a goal.
Proteins, the body'S build
ing blocks, are combinations
of simpler molecules, the
amino acids. In work reported
about a year ago from the
University Of Chicago. it was
possible to create a half dozen
of these amino acids by send
ing beams of short-wave radia-
ton through a mixture of
gases quite similar to that
of the original atmosphere of
the earth. Here again, the
chemists protested, they were
a long way from actually
creating living things. They
had no means of combining
the man-made amino acids
into the far more complex.
giant protein molecules. This
again would be only another
step on the way.
Credit Given to Bacteria
DR.. Ochoa was reluctant to
discuss theoretical implications
of the nucleic acid synthesis.
All the credit, he said, belongs
to the bacteria that produce
the engine. Still. this engine,
which must have existed be-
fore the far more complex
bacteria themselves, may be
one of the three or four es-
sential things responsible for
the original polymerization. or
coming together, of the ele-
ments of the most primitive
forms of life to appear on
earth.
From such a start the Or
thodox doctrines of evolution
would account for the very
slow building UP of such far
more complex forms as bac-
terra, or grasses, or elephants
all far more closely related
to each other than are any of
them to the original life forms.
Creation of living from nom
living still remains a long dis
lance of, but organic chem
lists appear on the way.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-22
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL

and did not put SO much
weight on the walls.
Perhaps this idea of physi-
cal weight, in a painting on
the wall, should not prevail,
and does not do so with GER
tain temperaments.
If one holds it, a lighter
frame would be easier on the
mind.
The frame given us by a
window holds all outdoors, in
little, no matter how large or
small the window.
The small window simply
means that one must be closer.
The old loophole. of for
tresses and the like, gave a
very fine view, if you got close
enough.
Unable to see a thing at a
foot, the eye advanced square,
ly to the small opening was
able to take in a real pic
ture."
So we may believe that peo-
pie of old, living in stockades
and forts and castles, actually
could see a great deal, if they
took the trouble to do it.
1t was mostly a case of mem
tai desire. or wish, with them,
as it really is with us today.
y X
The little private world of
the window gives some sky.
clouds, greenery, trees. houses.
birds. lawn, squirrels and a
rabbit or two, if we live in the
suburbs.
Lack of real picture in any
neighborhood comes with the
inability to get much horizon.
This is a fault. one may be-
lieve, of most city living, and
of a great deal of suburban
living, too.
The wonderful sunsets we
have in this vicinity are often
lost because Of lack of horizon
in the view.
No matter how large the
picture window, it cannot give
the observer the horizon in
many locations, and this is a
loss, because upon it depends
the effectiveness of the large
view.
So any window looking may
be divided into two parts, the
large view, and the little view.
Real picture windows must
give a better chance for the
former, but the smallest and
most old fashioned of small
windows can give some of the
small view.
This small view contains all
the good things mentioned, in
GLIDING the animals and birds
which mean so much to the
suburban resident,
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-22
Not Without Hone

Secretary Dulles must have had at
least three things uppermost in mind
when ne spoke yesterday before the
kiwanis international in San Francisco.
In recent days he has been pulled one
way by West German Chancellor Ade-
nauer, another way by French Foreign
Minister Pineau. Chancellor Adenauer is
ieery OF Soviet advances. He advocates
go-slow policy pending the substitution
by the Russians Of good deeds for fair
words. The French Foreign Minister is
not ready to rush out and buy the new
Soviet line. But he makes no bones about
saying that the West should not be too
Stand-of1sh, that 1t should show more
initiative in exploring the possibilities
OF peaceful coexiStence now-while the
Russians are willing or seem to be willing.
Thus, Mr.. Dulles, during the visit here
OF these two foreign statesmen, has been
subjected to preSsureS which, in some
degree, were working at cross purposes.
Both of these considerations. of
course, were in his mind when he
spoke in San Francisco And the third.
obviously, was the attack in Congress on
VIC AOIcASu dlu program.
In this situation, the Secretary Of
State dealt in strong terms with the
threat OF communism in general, with
the Russian leaders as individuals, and
with the intransigence of Communist
China. He referred to the KhruShchey
speech to the goth Party Congress as "the
most damning indictment of deSpotiSm
ever made by despot." And he added
this: THE principal political figures in
Russia today were all intimates of Stain
and knew full well what was going on.
Khrushchev and Bulganin were Stains
close collaboratorS and indeed the bene-
hciaries of his purges within the party"
These hardly seem to be the words
OF man who thinks the Communist
danger has passed. They must have
fallen pleasantly on the ears of Chan
cellor Adenauer and, taken with the other
arguments which have been advanced,
they may help dampen the ardor of those
Congressman who seem SO eager to slash
the foreign aid-eSpecially military aid
program. In our judgment, however, they
do not add up to Mr.. Dulles final word
on this subject.
We think that, essentially, he looks
to the future with considerable hope. OF
course, he wants to remain militarily
strong and do everything possible to keep
the pressure on the Russians while trying
to persuade the uncommitted nations to
the democratic way of doing things. He
believes, however, that liberalizing forces
are at work within the Communist orbit
which are too strong to be successfully
Smothered by deSpotic methods. At least,
that is what he seemed to be saying in
this excerpt from the concluding para
graphs of his speech: 1--WE can hope that
the forces now at work within the Soviet
Union and within the captive countries
will require that those who rule shall
increasingly conform to principles of
freedom. That possibility is now
clearly visible for the first time in many
years."
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-22
FALLS CHURCH, Va.

Dear Sir:
"Your article a couple of
weeks ago about the picture
window is one of the best you
have ever written.
1T is true that the picture
window has been misused. 1t
should never, never be on the
front of the house, unless one
lives on the side of a noun
tain or is, perhaps, part gold
fish.
I'VE have almost an acre
of ground and our picture
window is on the back of the
house, facing a grove of big
trees, mostly oaks and poplars
and pines.
"We have our own private
world within the frame of our
Window patch of sky, clouds,
trees, grass. flowers, many
beautiful birds. squirrels. chip
hunks and an occasional rab-
bit.
1--WE can watch the tiny
chipmunk stuff his cheeks
with sunflower seeds at the
bird tray and then scurry with
his peculiar lope-half run
ming and half jumping-back
to his hole under an old pine
stump.
"One can get very close to
nature through a picture win
dow.
IAN electrical storm is more
awesome. a snowsto. m more
serenely lovely, and if one is
up early enough (Which one
usually is, not) the dawn is
beautiful to behold.
Il have read and enjoyed
your column for years. Your
combination of wit and wis
dom. philosophy and fun, is
always interesting and inspir-
ing.
Sincerely yours, M. K. A."
\ 4 y X
All the natural items point
ed out by our kind correspond
ent may be seen from any win
dow.
That is the beauty of win
dows.
1t is the framing that does
it,
Paintings may be hung
without frames. but they do
better with them.
Generations Of art lovers
have found this out for them
selves.
We have always thought
that most picture frames are
too large and heavy, but that
does not alter the general
truth.
A bookstore recently sold
prints in narrower frames, and
they looked very well that way,
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-22
Giants and Pygmies

j. Rowland Snyder, who
criticizes my taste in music
and music critics. has the con-
stitutional right to believe that
all great" music stopped be-
ing composed with the year
1925, and that from here on
we will have only musical
pygmies.
! believe with Critic Thorpe
and several thousand others
that Ives, Harris, Session, ct
al, may be the musical giants
of tomorrow, and that it is
the bounden duty Of music
critics like Mr.. Thorpe to give
them an open-minded hearing
and objective and sympathetic
analysis.
incidentally, GBS. the Irish
music critic who later became
quite adapt at playwrighting,
didn't think Brahms such a
giant. In 1890, GBS said: strip
off the euphemisms from these
CBrahms) symphonies and you
will find a string of incom-
plete dance and ballad tunes
following one another with no
more organic conference than
the succession of passing
images reflected in a shop
window :"
And what did John Ruskin
say about that "giant" Beeth-
oven as late as 1881? I quote:
Beethoven always sounds to
me like the upsetting of bags
Of nails, with here and there
a dropped hammer"
! am only cautioning against
misoneistic and anachronistic
thinking. The future has many
great artistic masterpieces. and
Americans will produce their
quota.
Gino J. SINH.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-22
Political Quarrel

sidney koretz cllldeS me
for unprofeSSional judgment
in politics by stating that the
fins" take credit for every
thing good and the "outS"
blame them for all the evil.
Mr.. Koretz is like a child
cropping in the dark for some
thing no longer there. Like
self-styled liberal Democrats,
he appears to believe that the
New Deal and the Fair Deal
saved the good old U. S. A.
from bankruptcy, corruption
and communism.
It saddens me to see the lib
eral Democrat join the reac-
tionary Republican in limbo,
but no practical politician
today would fall for that line.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was a
practical politician. Recall the
1882 speech he made in Pitts
burgh on cutting expenses and
balancing the budget? In the
1886 campaign he asked Judge
Samuel /. RoSenman to give
him a convincing explanation
of why he ever made the
speech. The Judge replied,
Mr.. President, the only thing
you can say about that 1882
speech is to deny categorically
that you ever m ade it."
C"Working with Roosevelt" by
Samuel I. Rosenman, PIP. &C.
3D. 1t was never referred to
publicly again.
The Eisenhower Republican
Party has stolen all the best
thunder of the New Deal and
Fair Deal and added ideas of
its own. There are many
things they also do but, like
Roosevelt, they pretend that
some Of them do not exist. If
I may plagiarize Tennessee
Williams sum mer and
Smoke" "The management is
new but the essential nature
of the place remains the
same"
Roland Bieren, M. d.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-22

fears of Russian penetration in the
Middle East have long history, although
they appear to have been set aside for the
time being in the belief that one set Of
major powers safely can be played against
the other. 1t Is, at best, dangerous
gamble in which the Arab nations and
the West alike may suffer disastrous
losses.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-22
FIeeson's Clinic
I see that Miss Flees

! see that Miss F'leeSon Is
back with another panicky at
tack on the President, his
chances Of recovery, and his
doctors. I say ''panicky," be-
cause it is evident she really is
alarmed. What if Mr.. Eisen-
hover should fully recover?
Perish the thought. None but
a Democratic invalid has been,
or should be, elected to the
Office of President. We have
had one such, and are now Of
fered another in the person Of
a leading candidate.
AS Miss Fleeson sees it, Mr..
Eisenhower is the victim of
very serious disease, for which
an operation is only a pallia-
tive-never a cure, and a re-
currence of the disease is GER
tain within two or three years.
She quotes medical authorities
to prove it. Very well, but sup
pose he does recover, that he
doesn't have a recurrence. that
he is reelected, serves his full
second term with distinction
and lives to a ripe old age
thereafter? What are you
going to do about it, Miss Flee
son? Have him shot, for not
doing as you said he should?
Certainly he would violate no
law by getting well. Not even
our Supreme Court has ruled
it to be unconstitutional"
Let's give a sick man q hand,
instead of a kick.
j. F. Shoemaker.
y **
Isn't there a law against
practicing medicine without a
license, as Doc" Fleeson is
doing? Tell her to put her
scalpel away before she cuts
herself off my reading list.
Old Hemlock.
y + X +
I am glad to know that Miss
Fleeson knows so much about
ileitiS, she may have an at
tack of it herself sometime.
Perhaps this was her object in
looking over so much medical
literature on this disease, and
not to give a discouraging out
look to those who have had it
and are recovering from it.
This shouldn't be done even to
an enemy. Regardless Of our
political views, we should do
all we can to spread courage.
good will and cheer whether
our influence spreads far or
near, ana no one ever gets so
high or so low in public esteem
that they do not appreciate
such an attitude. Also, in
helping others we help our
selves. Miss Fleeson says, "As
every doctor knows, the au-
thority in medicine is the lit
erature." Who wrote the lit
erature? Medical doctors. I
hope!
Optimistic.
\ + \ i
The campaign by some re-
porters, columnists, comment
ators, ct al. to confuse the
public mind on the subject
of ileitis as related to the APP
preaching presidential cam
paign has degenerated into a
rat race to see who can &C
complish the greatest con-
fusion. Your Doris Fleeson is
the arch offender.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-22

Congress has from time to
time increased and again is
considering increasing, the
annuities Of retired Federal
employees.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-22
LETTERS TO THE STAR

Pen names may be used II
letters carry Driters' correct
names aud addresses. All
letters are subject to conden-
satton.