davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-01
LETTERS TO THE STAR
MAxi,NdoM STAR

valuable" coupons from an
international soap manufac-
turer: a chance to buy a ma
tional brand Of coffee at re-
duced price; two identical To-
page catalogs from a leading
Washington department store;
several offers Of life or health
insurance policies. and so
forth.
The lifeblood of small mer-
chants? Oh. yes. About q
month ago. a local jewelry
store sent out some occupant
mail regarding some never
before-heard-of bargain. For
two and one half years he has
survived the economic sings
and arrows Of the huge cor
porate monsters Mr.. Maginnis
seems to fear without solicit
ing my anonymous trade. Will
a 212 cent rate on his once
every two or three year mall
ing drive this noble tradesman
into bankruptcy? I think not.
n G
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-01

in some places. but 1t is not being swal-
lowed whole in the Middle East For there
are large numbers of people there who
know what the world is really all about,
and one of the things they know best is
that since 1945, while the United States
has helped 10 nations to achieve indie
pendence, Moscow has enslaved nearly a
dozen once-free lands, including brutality
suppressed Hungary. As King HuSsein has
indicated, this is contrast that makes
the Kremlins anti-American blasts seem
doubly hypocritical and mendacious.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-01
WSTAS IN SCIENCE
BY THOMAS r. HENRY
How Universe Might Have Been Born

Once this stage has been
reached, he explained, there
no longer is any serious prob
lem as to the creation of the
universe as man knows it.
Gravity pulled electrons and
protons together into the SIM
pier atoms which by various
processes were combined into
more complex atoms and thus
was produced all material
stuff known. How it all got
together into galaxies, stars,
planets and men is a far less
complex question for others to
answer. In the same way that
the known elements were
formed out of the original
smoke rings" in electro-mag-
netic energy similar perturba-
tons with opposite whirls
might have been the basis for
negative atoms which. some
conjecture, may constitute an
other universe similar to this.
If the two ever come to-
gether both will become en-
ergy again in a flash and the
original energy filled vacuum
will be restored. Both negative
protons and electrons recently
have been demonstrated in
this galaxy. The whole mega
tive universe still is a matter
OF philosophical conjecture.
Back to Beginning
Up to this point the thesis
still calls for something in the
beginning-the massless cleo
tro-magnetic energy. At this
point DR.. Bostick stops Spec
ulating with any assurance.
Even it may not be the begin
ming. he says. This may well
be creation of gravity operat-
ing within the original vac
,uum. That is about as far back
as he can go. Thus he has only
changed slightly the text of
Genesis to say:
In the beginning there was
gravity"
Once beyond the magnetic
energy stage it is easier going.
The first result of the fluctua-
tons in this energy would be
the amalgamation of the
smoke rings and corkscrews"
into particles which would
amalgamate into neutrons.
everything else would follow.
The full theory, DR.. Bos-
tick says. should await the
results of a more thorough
evaluation and development
OF this model within the full
framework of Einstein's gen.
erai theory of RELATIVELY bv
theoreticians. The poten-
tial importance of this model
IN cosmology is that it
can perhaps explain the con-
tlnuouS appearance of matter
IN the universe by the gravi-
rational synthesis of the
neutron out of the electro
magnetic field. The ionized
hydrogen (protons and cleo
tronsp which we assume to
be the material out of which
the galaxies are formed pre-
sumably comes from the decay
OF these neutrons.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-01

literate person knows more
ABOUT time than the unedu.
Gated person.
The booklover, as such.
comes as close as a human
can to understanding time and
its passage.
Musical time is part of real
time. 1t substitutes the toe
toe of the metronome for that
other measurer, the clock.
When we have measured
time. however, we have not
done much.
1t is, a convenience, but
actually We know no more
about what we measure than
we did before.
Just as we can handle cleo
tricity. but still know little
about it. SO with time, we mark
Its passage, and then realize
our ignorance.
Growing old is achieved. let
US put it that way, through
the mysterious passage of time.
Time is necessary for growth.
and so life, and it also ends it.
The child plants a seed.
then digs it up the next day.
put nothing has happened. He
has not given it enough time.
So much time is necessary
for fruition.
AS child. everyone remem-
bers how long it seemed. the
night the Joneses came to dim
ner and stayed until 10 O'Clock.
one had been told to behave
in the days when such injunc.
tons carried weight, and one
iell half asleep in the chair
hoping against hope that the
Joneses would grow tired at
last and go home.
Sometimes an older person
captures this tagging sense of
time when i'll. and the dawn
never seems to come.
The hurrying feet of the
scampering minutes click rest
lessly toward infinity. The
chime of the grandfather
clock rings music out toward
the celestial spheres, and its
flying echoes strike against
the peaks of the Himalayas
and bounce back into our little
ears.
We are such stuff as dreams
are made of, but even more
we are a part of the flying
minutes in which our lives are
bound fast and held together
Tor a time-a good time, let us
feel sure.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-01

How all creation, and the
now postulated anticreation as
well, could have been event.
ually self-created was ex-
planned to the American
Physical Society here last week.
There still is some question,
however, as to what was the
beginning-that is, a vacuum
embracing all space and time
before creations were.
Remember" cautioned DR..
Winston H. Bostick of Stevens
Institute Of Technology, II
have not attempted to re-
write the Book Of Genesis"
Based on Experiments
DR.. Bostick's conclusions rest
on experiments both in his
own and western European
laboratories and some lately
reported from Russia.
Now well established is the
physical principle of the equiv
alence Of matter and energy.
Either can be transformed into
the other. Energy now is being
made into matter all the time.
both in physical laboratories
with demonstrating machines
and by cosmic rays in the
upper reaches of the atmos-
phere. Most Of the matter thus
created. however, exists as
such only fractions of mil
lionths Of seconds. 1t then re-
verts to energy again.
DIR. Bostick's thesis, as he
explained it in an interview.
perhaps can best be under
stood by stopping a little short
OF the ultimate and thinking
Of a complete vacuum, so far
as any mass or any material
object of any sort is con-
cerned. But the vacuum is
filled with some sort of cleo
tro-nagnetic energy the spec
trum Of which extends from
miles-long radio waves to
X-rays and gamma rays.
Whether the whole spectrum
was present at this stage he
does not speculate.
Action Of Gravity
There was also the universal
force Of gravity, existing be-
fore the existence of any OBJ
jects between which it could
operate. The next stage
somehow there are fiuctua-
tions in this ELECTROMAGNETIC
energy. These pull it into
various OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.
figure-eights. corkscrews and
the like. which tend to become
partial matter and are pulled
together by gravity into the
elementary particles known as
neutrons.
Each neutron is a combina-
ton OF an electron, or mega
lively charged elementary par
ticle and a proton, or posi-
lively charged one. Combined
in the atom Of any element,
Or. Bostick explained, the
neutron has external life, but
when It is free in space il
breaks up in about five years
into a proton and an electron.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-01
Second Term Blues

It is good thing that the President
has returned to Washington from his
Easter vacation some two pounds heavier
and generally in better physical shape.
For II the two-week Sojourn in the
Georgia sunshine has virtually eliminated
the Eisenhower cough, it has done moth
ing to minimize the figurative headache
which awaits the returning President.
The weeks ahead are going to make heavy
demands on his health, spirits and
fortitude.
Essentially, what awaits the PreSi-
dent is major challenge to his political
position. He is barred by constitutional
prescription, not to mention his health,
from seeking another term. He must deal
with Congress controlled by the political
opposition, from whom little help can
be expected when the mitigating begins.
And, perhauS most serious of all, he is
faced with almost open revolt on the
part Of many members of his own party's
Old Guard.
This is not just matter of disaffec-
ton among the McCarthys, the Jenners
and the MaloneS. These chronic critics
from the far right are now being Joined
more or less openly by such other G. o. y
stalwartS as Goldwater, Young and Curtis
and these, one suspects, are only the
vanguard Of what is to come. The minor
ity leader, Senator Knowland, who pre-
sumably is nursing presidential ambitions
Of his own, is pledging So billion cut in
he budget-a position which is certain
to bring him into head-on collision with
the President If he sticks to it. But the
Californian probably can count on the
support of another influential Senate Re-
publican-Senator Styles Bridges, chair
man Of the G. o. p. Policy Committee.
The President can really bank only
on the support of the Eisenhower Repub-
licanS" in the Senate, and these are
neither numerous nor in positions of
significant influence. They are apt to be
trampled in the rush should the maneu-
vering for the 1858 elections begin to
assume an every-man-for- himself aspect.
If these assumptions are correct, Mr..
Eisenhower has but one place to turn
to the people. His personal popularity
Is unimpaired. His program, on the whole,
is good and fashioned in the public inter-
est. But it is also expensive and, in the
tax sense, burdensome Whether the
President, in showdown with Congress,
can muster enough popular support to
push through the key features of his
program is doubtful, to say the least.
1t very probably is true, as the President
has said. that forward looking program
such as his own will best serve the Repub-
lican Party in the long run. But most
members of Congress incline toward the
short view-to what they think will best
serve them in their own bailiwicks in the
next election. Presidents who were not
barred from another term have found
it difficult enough to deal with this politi-
cal instinct. 1t promises to be a real
headache for Mr. Eisenhower, who was
not able to transmit his own political
magic to the G. o. p. congressional can
didates in 1856, and who will be even
less able to do so in 1858.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-01
Postal Bottle

IN. W." does not identify
himself. but from the tone of
his letter it would appear
that he is either an advertiser
or a representative of an adj
vertising agency that profits
from the losses the Post Office
Department takes on third
class mail. Ny only interest
in writing you is that l am a
private citizen paying taxes
to support this sort of thing.
First: The real service OF
the Post Office. first-class mail,
pays its own way. Let us not
change its rates until such
time as an increase Is neces-
sary to sustain or improve this
service within itself.
Second: Parcel post operates
at some loss. An increase here
TO put 1t on its own feet would
not be opposed by anyone.
Third: Second and third
class mail do not (according
to IN. WIS" figures) pay their
own way. Let us increase both
rates. Third-class mail travels
at a minimum of III cents a
piece. Make this az cents and
the Post Office will net some
$500 million a year more. Com
pared with the other costs OF
printing and preparing third
class matter, which run into
several times the postage cost.
this is insignificant to the
advertiser, but all-important
to the Post Office. A like in
crease In income would come
from putting second-class mail
on a realistic basis. II is
obvious that the Post Office
loses money on a popular
magazine when the charge is
l cent q copy.
Fourth: Let the Post Office
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-01
Advance at Fort BeIvoir

The nuclear reactor now in operation
at Fort Belvoir represents a significant
advance in both military and civilian
sense. As Chairman Strauss of the Atomic
Energy Commission has pointed out in
his dedicatory remarks, sit means that
the armed forces will have compact, eff
Gent and readily transportable power
plants for remote outpoSts" where cleo
tricity would be otherwise unobtainable
without costly long-haul shipments, over
land and sea, Of heavy generating equip
ment and bulky conventional fuel But
that is not ALL For this development,
wholly apart from its meaning in terms
OF national defense, is essentially non
military in its promise-another step
toward making the atom great instru-
ment of peaceful progress.
Known as the "Army Package Power
Reactor" (APPR), the Fort Belvoir plant,
which is the first of its kind, has an
output of 1855 kilowattS of electricity
enough to meet the power requirements
OF substantial military installation or
a civilian town with a population of
around $500 Built by the Alec Products
Company in cooperation with the Acc
and the Army Corps of Engineers, it is
the prototype of planned series of SINH
lar atomic units (some of them undoubt-
eddy will be smaller in size) capable of
being dismantled and flown to distant
regions, there to be reaSSembled and put
into operation on a relatively minute
supply of fashionable fuel Little imagina-
ton is needed to visualize how valuable
such plants can be in defense areas far
removed from conventional sources of
energy.
At least equally important, however,
are the APPR's nonmilitary potentialitieS.
For this plant, as Mr. Strauss has said,
lis as surely part of President Eisen-
hower's concept of Atoms for Peace
and an earnest of our determination to
translate that noble vision into a con-
crete reality-as are the isotopes from
our atomic reactors which are today CON-
batting mans diseases and suffering, i'm
proving the fertility of our fields and
the products of our factories, and point
ing the way to new discoveries" That
is why the design details of the Fort
Belvoir installation have been fully de-
CLASSIFIED. In Mr.. Strauss words This
means that industry has complete access
to its technology and can draw upon it
for the development of commercial plants
for use in our country and abroad"
Accordingly, nonmilitarily as we'll as
militarily. the new atomic plant at Fort
Belvoir may rightly be hailed as an out
standing development likely to speed up
progress toward the goal of plentiful and
safe nuclear power that will be economi-
cally competitive with conventional en-
ergy. All who have helped to bring it into
being deserve the commentator of the
Nation.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-01

@. At what times of day is
the temperature likely to be
highest and lowest?-S.J.
A. On the average, lowest
temperatures can be expected
around sunrise, and Gin the
United States highest tenn
peratures between 2 and S in
the afternoon. The Weather
Bureau explains that although
the greatest energy supplied by
incoming solar radiation is re-
ceived at noon. the tempera-
ture continues to rise until 1t
Is exceeded by the outgoing
heat energy lost by earth radi-
alton. Then the temperature
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-01

begins to decline until shortly
after sun-up. when the pro-
cess is reversed.
Q. Can honeybees distin-
guish one color from another?
p. K.
A. 1t Is known that a honey
bee can recognize four distinct
colors = orange-yellow, green,
blue-violet and ultraviolet. It
can distinguish these from any
shade Of gray, which is a true
test for color vision. The bee
is believed to excel other IN
sects in ability to recognize
color.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-01
In Moy

In May along the pdrkwavs
A common sight is seen.
The dogwood petals bright
against
A rising tide OF green.
Too fragile to be long enjoyed,
Brief Soldce TO the sight,
They flash on ,Dtnter- iueGrv
cues
Their dazzling pink and
tUhite.
Mary Powell Tibbetts
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-01
THIS AND THAT
By CHARLES E. TRACEWELL

You're getting old. buddy
When you begin to worry
about the mattress on your
bed.
When you can't read the
telephone numbers.
When everything and every-
body seems wrong.
When the world strikes YOU
as going to the dogs.
When the Democrats and
Republicans equally seem to
mess UP things.
When you stop looking at
articles in store windows.
There are many other signs.
OF course, but these are some
OF the most important, because
commonly overlooked.
The passage of time is one
OF the greatest mysteries.
The idea of God is not too
difficult to understand, at least
to some extent: even a little
child can encompass it.
Time leaves the human mind
cold. We are in it. but not of
1t. 1t has been pictured as a
tide. or a bridge. The first
overwhelms us. and as for the
second. We drop of it at some
time or other. either way a
dismal prospect.
The child has no sense of
time. the young adult very
little.
It is only when one becomes
nifty or so that he begins to
wonder about it.
y i y
The FIRST thing he notes is.
how fast 1t goes!
We have always been con-
WINGED that the animals in
ZOOS do not worry much about
their condition. because they
have no time sense.
They have no time sense be-
cause they have no written
language.
Time is dependent on alpha
bets. not calendars. as most
think.
An animal in a cage looks
out placidly enough, and that.
we are convinced. is Just the
way he feels.
A human being, in the same
condition, would count the
days, the hours. the minutes.
the very seconds.
He could count. He could
count because he could read.
Counting depends more on let
tiers than on numbers.
y 4 \ 4
1t win be realized that the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-01
Home Improvers

With reference to recent
publicity concerning the &C
tivities of a small group of
malfeasant operators in the
home improvement field, we
would like to thank you for
the objective and helpful at
titude The Star is taking in
this matter.
In fairness to the great ma
jority of honest and competent
improves ent contractors
whose interests and opinions
we represent. we wish to go
on record, however. as being
basically opposed to any Ii
censing Of our profession be-
cause we feel that. with rea-
sonable support from lenders
and newspapers like yours, we
will be able to control the
situation ourselves within a
relatively snort Time.
It is only in the absence of
such support that licensing
becomes a necessary second
choice In preparing for such
an eventuality we have re-
Gently prepared and submitted
to the city government an out
! line Of a license law which, as
far as we know, has been &C.
cepted in substance by the
committee in charge. It con-
tains rigid requirements tor
obtaining licenses, including
statesmen and applicators, and
should solve most problems if
and when adopted.
At the present time we have
not yet been able to enlist the
cooperation of all local lend
ers in curbing the newest
device Of shady operators: the
use OF direct lending" facili-
ties. Since most of the ques-
tionable elements are known
to banks and other lending
institutions making improve
ment loans. they are not able
to establish a leadership which
would enable them to sell their
Improvement notes. They now
induce home owners to 60 to
lenders themselves and ask
Tor a loan, proceeds of which
are usually dispersed forth
with and turned over to the
contractor without any further
control or regress in case of
trouble. We have asked lend
ers to modify their procedure
in direct lending operations
and require a borrower to
identify the prospective con-
tractor who, in turn, could
then be checked out against
available information. If he
were undesirable. the lender
could easily explain this to
the borrower and decline the
application unless a reliable
contractor were selected to do
the work. Such a procedure
would starve out malfeasant
practitioners within a short
time and make licensing un-
necessary.
John II. Haas,
Exec. Secretary. Metropolitan
Association Of General I'm
proveme9t Contractors.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-01
Rezoning Plan
r. S.

NOCcScSS washington mas q
great task in the offing this
year-final defeat of the
Lewis rezoning plan for the
Capital.
John F. Snyder is one of
the few Lewis plan advocates
who have ventured forth to
state their case frankly and
fearlessly. In his Star letter
Of April 10 he brands op-
ponents Of the Lewis plan as
the status quo faction" is
suing false wolf" cries.
However. advocates of the
Lewis plan are not progress
sives in the real sense at all
but rather themselves ad-
herents of the status quo.
They would continue the
wild spending spree for nom
essentials that has been 60
ing on three decades. We
OF Washington in general and
Columbia Heights in particu-
lar want our money spent ON
essentials. not spent by out
siders on nonessentials II
adopted, the Lewis rezonine
plan would indeed prove a
wolf that would destroy many
OF the commercial sections of
the District.
AS Mr.. Snyder suggests, the
Lewis plan emissions a
planned capital improvement
outlay estimated at 81 bill
lion to be spent between 1857
and 1870. There's the wolff
Where is this 81 billion going
to come from? It won't come
from the planners but from
the voteless citizens Of WASH
ington.
Enactment Of anything like
the Lewis plan would mean
a great flight Of small capital
from the Nations Capital.
Even today many business
people here are anxious to sell
and get out from under ANAL
gamated dictatorship-to es-
cape taxation without rep
resentation. With its limita-
ton on sectional community
business growth the Lewis plan
is actually an anti-free enter
prise proposal for Washing
ton. Mr.. Snyder admits the
plan initiates against future
District growth when he con-
fesses 1t docs place some re-
strictions on the buildings Of
apartments and large COM
mercial buildings"
To speak bluntly. the Lewis
plan is a dagger pointed at
the heart Of the traditional
washington small business
communities. Had Washing
ton the vote the $l45.OOO al
ready spent on the report
would have been saved the
taxpayer. Our city would not
be the perennial guinea pig
for the outside planner mr. re-
valuators.
Examine just one ridiculous
aspect Of this plan. It advo-
Gates broadening Fourteenth
street from Chaplin street to
Spring road, which would raise
havoc with countless Column
bia Heights small businesses.
Yet Fourteenth street is Just
as broad here and throughout
its thoroughfare as 1t is at
the waterfront. Mr.. Lewis
doesn't seek to move back the
Willard Hotel and the Nation
al Press Building but doesn't
hesitate to demolish Columbia
Heights.
The Lewis plan is q pipe
dream, and the citizens Of
voteless Washington are
called upon to continue to
pay the piper.
Alphonse Fernandez.
Prescott bennett.
Delegates zoning Commission
Citizens Forum Of Column
hfa Hoiohts
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-01

Pen names may be used u
letters carry Driters' correct
names and addresses. All
letters are subject to conden-
S1tion.