davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1961-12-08
Russia to the Rescue

Our friends from the Kremlin have
rallied to the support of the attack on
Britain and "other colonial powers" for
allegedly sabotaging the United Nations
katanga operation. This raises some
uncomfortable questions and invites
some interesting speculation.
The Russians, of course, offer no
proof OF their own to support the charge
Ihey are content to cite recent intem-
perate statements by Dr. Conor Cruise
O'Brien and General Sean McKeown
who, in turn, offered no proof to sustain
their accusations. Thus it goes-Dr.
O'Brien, without producing any evi-
dence, blasts away at Prime Minister
Macmillan and certain unidentified
British gutter millionaireS." General
Mckeown joins the cry, calling the ir-
responsible DR.. OBrien as his witness.
And now the Russians gleefully chime
IN, baSing their complaint on the base
less attacks by DR.. O'Brien and General
McKeown. And some people, we sup
pose, will swallow it,
There is one factual point which
might be mentioned. Britain, although
OTSSSN~ w UAAC uoS VI AOlCS III TAdIdIlRd,
is at least paying her share of the cost
OF the U. N. operation The Russians
have refused to pay anything. Their
first ruble is yet to be forthcoming. If
1t were not for the fact that our own
country has been picking up the lions
share OF the check, the U. N. Congo ef-
tort would have collapsed long ago. Who
Is trying to sabotage what?
1t seems to us, however, that there
is greater reason to be concerned with
the spectacle of the United States max
ing common cause with the Kremlin in
trying to Subdue Noise Tshombe's Ka-
tanga by force of arms. What is the
basis for an identity of interest in this
highly dubious business? Does anyone
believe that the Russians are trying to
destroy Mr.. Tshombe and discredit the
colonial powers" for any reason except
to further their own interests? The
question at the heart of this strange
performance is whether our own country
really knows where it is going and how
it expects to get there. For our part,
we doubt it,
Evening star., 1961-12-08
Anqer in New Delhi

A combination of Red Chinese prov
ocationS and political pressures at home
appears to be forcing the Indian gov
ernment of Prime Minister Nehru into
an increasingly belligerent mood Mr..
Nehru himself has told an angry Parlia-
ment that Indian forces are prepared
to resist and repel" Chinese troops if
they attempt to carry out new Peiping
threat to move into Indian claimed
territory.
Whether Indian forces have the
capability Of backing up Mr. Nehru's
pledge Is another question. Actually, the
Red Chinese have been holding certain
disputed areas along the 2,50O-mile
frontier for approximately two years
past. With the advantage of occupying
strategic points, and presumably of
building up the essential supply lines,
they have now warned New Delhi that
continuance OF Indian military activi-
ties in the frontier region would JUS
tify further Chinese penetration-even
though they apparently added in note
from Peiping that they have no such
intention at the moment For reasons
of his own, probably political, Mr.. Nehru
chose to omit mention of Peiping's quail
lfication of its threat while delivering
his own defiant answer in the Indian
Parliament.
With national election coming up
in February, the temper of the Indian
Parliament undoubtedly is giving some
concern to Mr.. Nehru and his followers
in the dominant Congress Party. Even
within the party itself there have been
bitter critics of Mr.. NehruS relatively
calm attitude toward Red Chinese ag-
gresSion in the frontier area in the
past. Even more severe has been party
criticism of KhriShna Menons admin
Stration of the Defense Ministry. One
leading Congress member of Parliament,
DR.. Raghuvira, resigned from the party
a few days ago and has joined those
demanding a break in diplomatic re-
lationS with Peiping Virtually all
minority blocS in the Parliament also
have joined in one way or another in
criticizing Mr. Menon in urging break
with the Communist Chinese govern
ment and in demanding that military
action be taken against the Red troops.
Even while protesting against frantic
measures" the Indian Communist Party
leader in the legislature has described
the most recent Chinese military threats
as mo doubt reprehensible"
Never before, since India became
independent in 1947, have Mr.. Nehru
and his Congress Party been really en-
dangered in their control of the New
Delhi government. They may not be at
this time, but it is noteworthy that Red
China's aggressive policies have deeply
stirred the country and that Mr.. Nehru
apparently feels compelled, and possibly
ready in his own right, to become more
defiant and severe in his judgment of
Peiping.
Evening star., 1961-12-08
Criticizes Senators

1t looks as though the
mantle of the late Senator
Mccarthy has fallen on the
shoulders of Senator Thur
mond of South Carolina.
In an address in California
he charged that. the so-called
"muzzling" of the military
was done under direct or
ders from Moscow" When
confronted for proof, he re-
sorted to the time-worn
cliche "misquoted."
In an address later, at Lit
tie Rock, according to an
AP dispatch. he said that
"the State Department has
prepared a paper for turning
over our nuclear weapons to
the United Nations" This is
prepoSterous.
And finally he said that
the President should order
the governments of Cuba and
British Guiana to sever their
ties with Moscow. or I'VE
are going to come down there
and turn you loose" Mean
ing what? An invasion and
war?
But to hear the erudite
and capable Senator Gold
water join company with
Thurmond is painfully sur
prising. In an address in
Atlanta at a rally of Re
publicans, several days ago.
Senator Goldwater charged
that the aides of the Presi-
dent were left-wingerS-but
being in the South, he ex-
cepted Secretaries Rusk and
Hodges.
BY implication that leaves
Secretary Dillon, banker;
Secretary Ribicoff, two times
Governor of Connecticut:
Secretary Goldberg. former
general counsel of AFT-CIO,
and who helped clean those
unions of the Commies; Sec
retary Freeman. former Gov
ernor of Minnesota; Secre-
Evening star., 1961-12-08
Y. P. 'ToctIess'

The remark made by Vice
President johnson at the
Medlco award dinner was
ill-timed and tactless. That
Valerian zorin's stalking out
was largely grandstand play
is wholly irrelevant.
The laws of propriety are
not nullified by the mere
incident of the international
composition of a gathering.
In this instance Mr.. Zorin
was an invited guest, as was
each of the others. The Vice
Presidents act could hardly
have been less inappropriate.
If he had shaken his fist
under the Deputy Foreign
Minister'S nose.
I concede that in many.
perhaps most, areas, it is
imperative to slug it out with
the Russians. At this affair,
however, the johnson pitch
was unnecessarily needing
to the point of being gratui-
touS and graceless.
Peaceful co-exiStence" de-
serves at least a bow, now
and then.
]. w. Haywood, Jr.
Evening star., 1961-12-08
NATO Risking Split Over Berlin
By CROSBY S. NO,

mas been a building over the
last decade.
These arguments are sure
to be repeated with Gaullist
emphasis during the meeting
between the two leaders to-
morrow. And when it comes
to the question of who may
finally be persuaded, most OBJ
servers here are betting that
it will be Mr.. Adenauer,
rather than Gen. de Gaulle.
The chancellor, in fact, has
been having a rough time
of it since his return from
Washington. The agreement
reached with Mr.. Kennedy for
limited negotiation on Ber-
lin has not set at all well
with members of the chan
cellor's shaky new coalition.
During the recent foreign
policy debate in the Bundle
stag Mr.. Adenauer sat in
glum silence as speaker after
speaker arose to denounce
the Washington formula for
a separate agreement on Ber-
lin which might weaken the
ties between West Germany
and the former German cap
ital and compromise the
chances of German reunifi-
cation.
United Front in Peril
In brief, the united front
with which Western leaders
hoped to confront Gen. de
Gaulle at the forthcoming
NATO meeting is in danger
of becoming badly unstuck.
If Mr.. Adenauer caves in be-
fore the force of French argu-
ments and his own internal
opposition the whole ques-
tion of negotiations on Ber-
lin will be as much up in
the air as ever.
The British. indeed, already
seem to be facing up to the
probability of such a result
by limiting at a possible
Anglo-American approach to
the Russians in order to get
around a French veto" to
four-power negotiations. Ad-
mittedly such a solution
would provide sorry show
of Western unity. And given
the French fears of a new
"Yalta agreement" made in
their absence. it could lead to
C a la m itous consequences
Wltnln tne alliance.
One way out, perhaps,
would be to conduct the ne
gotiations SO quietly and on
such low level that the ap-
pearance OF, major East-WeSt
conformation would be
avoided. This might in effect
be little more than a con-
tinuation of the preliminary
probing" of the Russians that
has been going on for some
time on several levels. If the
results of these talks to date
have been less than encour-
aging, they are also far less
dangerous than a full fledged
formal conformation in
which one of the major par
ties was left out.
Evening star., 1961-12-08
Best Gift for GI

BY now, every person who
has a friend or relative in
the service has sent off the
fruit cake, candy, film or
whatever. to the man or
woman in the service of the
country.
But when you come right
down to it Il speak from ex-
perience), one of the best
things the person away from
home can get at Christmas,
or any time. is a letter. When
they have mail call and they
start calling off the names
and your name isn't called,
believe me. all the packages
in the world don't make up
for letters someone forgot to
send or write.
e. r. Sparks.
Evening star., 1961-12-08
Unused Underposs

Inere is a special reason
why attention should be
focused upon a stupendous
and costly blunder of the
past, to wit: That mon
strosity known as the Con-
necticut avenue underpass.
That reason, Of course, Is the
final abandonment of the
Mt. Pleasant street car line.
Not many years ago it was
decided that. to relieve traf-
fic congestion in the Dupont
Circle area, some private We
hicular traffic and all pub
lie transportation traffic
(street cars) must be re-
moved from the street sur
face. And so. at a cost of
many millions in actual con-
struction, at the further
cost of the ruin of. or detri-
ment to. every business along
that portion of Connecticut
avenue and at the penalty
Of foreclosing the possibility
of Connecticut Avenue be-
coming the Fifth avenue or
Wiltshire boulevard of Wash
ington. the great Connecti-
cut avenue underpass was
constructed. Why on Con-
necticut avenue and not
Massachusetts, avenue only
one individual of influence
could have answered. It is
to be remembered that the
primary objective was the
removal of the Mt. Pleasant
street cars from the surface
of the street.
Now the Mt. Pleasant street
car goes into the discard and,
since the bus simply cannot
use the streetcar underpass,
public transportation on Con-
necticut avenue goes right
back on the surface of the
street, from which millions
were spent to remove it.
What is to become of the
street car portion of the
underpaSs? Are its yawning
caeerns to remain there un-
used. as a perpetual relic Of
the original stupidity that
gave it birth?
incidentally, 1t is contem-
plated that the southbound
bus, replacing the Mt. Pleas
ant car, will no longer stop
at the southwest corner of
Connecticut avenue and S
street, as the Mt. Pleasant
car for years has done. Any
proper survey of the situa-
ton will readily establish the
fact that this has been one
of the most used stops of the
entire Mt. Pleasant line. with
the possible exception of cer-
tain downtown stops.
Raymond F. Body.
Editors Note: The under
pass is being considered as
a public fallout shelter.)
Evening star., 1961-12-08

OF the social amenities in Or
der to be free. And they were
free in the sense that in the
mountains and on the plains
the law was what nature and
they made it. But at the same
time, they were often pawns
of business men, large and
small. In the background of
the entire story turks a pow
erful man We never meet
face to face, John Jacob As
tor, the man who in the last
analysis controlled the Amer
ican fur trade and ultimately
the lives of the trappers.
Mr.. Berry's narrative starts
in 1922, a decade and a half
after Lewis and Clark's ex-
pedition to the West and a
bit over a decade after the
founding of the Missouri Fur
Company, the first corpora
ton to exploit the fur ter
ritorieS of the upper Missouri
area. 1t ends in 1884 with the
collapse of the Rocky Noun
tain Fur Company, done In,
with some outside assistance
by American Fur. But by the
time American Fur commit
ted this commercial homicide,
it was in fact no longer
AStor's.
The fur in question was
beaver, and it was used In
the manufacture of meh's
hats. Astor had noticed that
silk hats were coming into
fashion on the continent. and
so while others were still
playing their predatory game,
he had quietly withdrawn.
Astor knew that there were
no longer any stakes.
THIS ULTIMATE irony
gives the tale a curious moral
twist. But the morality and
the politics of exploration,
exploitation of natural re-
sources, relations between
Indians and whites, and the
devious turns of Anglo
American relations are al
ways present in the back
ground. And there is the re-
lationship between the man
of the. wilds and the man of
commerce.
Mr.. Berry likes exploration
and he dislikes business. He
makes this absolutely clear.
He is punctilious about rec
ognizing and pointing out the
effects his own personality
has on his concept of history,
just as he labels all Specula-
ton and departures from
commonly accepted views on
questions of fact.
Behind the rousing story,
there lies a course of his
torical development, the rise
and fall of the government
factory system, the inven-
ton of the rendezvous sys-
tenn of supply and so on,
These things are both care
fully highlighted and al
sorbed into the flow of the
tale. Without the tale, the
historical development is dead
matter. But without the his
tory. the tale is merely a
thriller. In "A Majority of
Scoundrels" the two are su-
perb compliments.
Evening star., 1961-12-08

tary Udall, former Congress-
man Of Arizona; Secretary
Mcnamara, former auto
mobile executive; PoStmas-
ter General Day, and the
"leftist" of them all-At-
torney General Kennedy. The
Senator ought to know better
than to make such a demo-
gogic statement. If these
men are left-wingers, then
by all means let's have more
of them. A little less heat
and more light would be more
becoming to the Senator
from Arizona.
Abe Shefferman.
Evening star., 1961-12-08
Freewoy Victims

Inc pubic admission by
the Engineer Commissioner
that a moral obligation exists
to help the refugees fleeing
from the highway program is
commendable. Unfortunately,
most of the refugees will be
inarticulate and without the
financial means necessary to
recoup their losses. Further.
more, the movement Of these
displaced t h sands will
cause widespread reverbera-
tions throughout the District,
where most of them must of
necessity find living space.
The prime beneficiaries of
the freeway program in the
District are those who live
outside the District, whether
they be suburban motorists
or Detroit industrialists. 1t
would be admirable il our
Engineer Commissioner had
urged that the burden of
these dislocations be placed
upon those who stand to
profit from them. But he
has not done this. He men,
tions only the obligations of
District residents.
True that residents Of the
District have obligations, but
those who accept the respon-
sibility Of governing the Dis
trict likewise have obliga-
tions. The chief obligation
Of those who govern is to
protect the welfare Of Dis
trict residents. that is, to
make the. necessary distinc-
tions in public which must
be made for their survival.
Unless those who govern
make these necessary dis
tinctions for the protection
of the people, they will not
be made.
District officials owe their
prime allegiance to the well
fare of the entire community.
A blind allegiance to high
ways unlimited does not full
fill their obligations to the
people Of the District. If the
highway department Is SOW
eign in the District and a
law unto itself. then We have
no further need for the
science of government. We
need only surrender to past
and continuing trends" This
will greatly simplify public
affairs in the District be-
cause it will eliminate the
necessity for either looking
ahead or fighting for what
is right. 1t will certainly
eliminate the necessity for
having an Engineer Commits
sioner.
Mark A. Lillis,
Evening star., 1961-12-08
A BOOK FOR TODAY
Fur Traders Even Skinned Each Other
By DONALD MINTZ

A MAJORITY OF SCOUN-
DRELS. An Informal His
tory Of the Rocky Noun
tain Fur Co. BY Don Berry:
432 pages. illustrated, with
two large maps in end
pocket. (Harper & Bros. +;
$685.
Informal history, as Don
Berry sees it. is opinionated
history written in pungent,
colloquial language. 1t is not
a popular rewriting of mate
rial found in secondary
sources. The day is long
passed." he writes, when in
adequate research might be
excused, and we are well
rid of it,"
And so, Mr.. Berry has got
down to the documents, alb
sorbed them, quoted many of
them at length, read the
standard, learned tones and
given us the result.
The corporate hero of the
book, the Rocky Mountain
Fur Co., began operations
in 1880. Four years later,
the five-man partnership was
dead. Traditionally, Rocky
Mountain Fur is viewed as
a small company in competi-
ton with what had been John
Jacob Astor's American Fur
Company. Mr.. Berry accepts
this view only with some res
ervations. but the inexorable
decline of the Scrappy little
company remains one of the
sources of the story's drama.
The other source, of course,
is the life of the trappers
in the wilderness. We follow
these men on their incredi-
BILE tricks into largely un-
known country. The life was
hard, intensely hard, and the
possibility of sudden, violent
death was a constant COM
panion. And in its best mo-
ments. the life was far from
what Hollywood makes of it:
MEAT WAS the diet: the
mountain men wanted moth
ing else. The finest of all
foods was the hump rib of a
fat buffalo COW, though some
liked tongue nearly as we'll.
Occasional contests are re-
corded where two mountain
men start at either end of a
slippery boudin-the buffalo's
intestine-and swallow their
way to the middle. Like all
meat eaters in history, the
mountain men knew you have
to have plenty of fat with
the lean, and the condition
of their buckSkins testified to
the fact that they got it..
What with the blood drip
pings of one sort and another,
and a good substantial coat
of grease, the color of a
mountain mans buckskins
was a far cry from the deli
cate beige-brown of the NOV
ing picture. They were black.
Dirty black, greasy black,
shiny black. bloody black,
stinky black. Black"
Men lived a life in which
buffalo intestine eating con-
tests represented the height
Evening star., 1961-12-08
PARIS.

E1LbAAOs
Hope that West German
Chancellor Adenauer would
be able to shake President
Charles de Gaulle in his OPP
position to negotiations on
Berlin during his weekend
visit here has now been vir-
tually written off. And as
this hope goes a-glimmering,
NATO seems to be heading
into its most serious internal
crisis in many years.
The Chancellor arrives in
Paris tomorrow for a day of
conversations in which the
question of Berlin will Ger
tainly loom large. Following
through on his agreement
with President Kennedy in
Washington, Mr.. Adenauer is
expected to try to persuade
Gen. de Gaulle that nego-
tiations on Berlin must be
tried as the only alternative
to war or surrender. But
several events during the last
few days seem to doom this
effort in advance.
For one thing, Gen de
Gaulle has now made it quite
clear that he is, if anything,
more opposed than ever to
the idea Of inviting the Rus
slams to a conference. Wishful
talk in the British Foreign
Office about a more "flex-
ible" French attitude fol-
lowing Gen. de Gaulle's visit
with British Prime Minister
Macmillan last month is now
exposed as a complete myth.
The Prime Minister. it seems,
merely strengthened the
French Presidents conviction
that negotiations on Berlin
could only result in dis
astrous concessions that must
be avoided at all cost.
See Danger In Failure
His views on the question
were set forth in cold lucidity
before the French Senate on
Tuesday by French Foreign
Minister Couve de Murville.
Nothing has happened; he
said. to indicate that nego-
tiations limited to Berlin
would result in an agreement.
For their part the French
consider that the risk of fail
ure would be great and leave
the situation even more tense
than it is today.
Even if the most opti-
mistic hopes were justified,
he continued, what guaran-
tees would there be that
the whole process would not
begin all over again tomor-
row or next month or next
year?
What is at stake, in the
French view, is not only Ber-
lin but the future of Ger
. many and Europe as a whole
1t is the obvious aim of Rus
sian policy, they believe, to
neutralize Central Europe
starting with Germany and
destroy the movement toward
Western European unity that
Evening star., 1961-12-08
LETTERS TO THE STAR

Pen names may be used II
letters carry ,Drtters correct
names and add, eSSeS. AH let
terS are Sub1ect to condenSa-
ton. Those not used totH be
returned only tDhen accom-
panied by self addressed,
stamped envelopes.
Evening star., 1961-12-08
Improvised Churches

The letter by William
Dewey Whitener laments the
fact that a public school
board spent $4,000 for a
scoreboard on an athletic
field and that Catholic cit
izens. like everybody else,
will be taxed to pay for this.
Why should they not be
taxed like everybody else?
Over half of all children of
Catholic faith attend public
schools. and these schools are
open to the other half as
well. Why should any group,
this group included, be ex-
empted from legitimate tax
alton?
The writer also sees a vio-
lation of church-State sep
aration and. presumably an
injustice to Catholics, in the
fact that the Arlington
School Board rents facilities
to a Protestant congregation
on a temporary basis for
Sunday worship in an ele-
mentary school. He himself
acknowledges that rent is
paid. If rent is indeed paid
and full value is given for
value received, it is hard to
see where church-state sep
aration is violated. Many
Protestant and Catholic con-
gregations have used public
school facilities during Off
school hours on a temporary
basis of this kind. Their
payment of an adequate
rental to cover any possible
cost to the taxpayers renders
this procedure, to which there
can be no legal or legiti-
mate objection, clearly valid.
C. Stanley Lowell.
Editor and Associate Di-
rector, Protestants and Other
Americans United for Sep
aration of Church and State.
William Dewey Whitener's
letter told of the use Of an
Arlington County public
school for Protestant relig-
ious services. This writer
has long been aware of at
least a score of other in
stances in the Washington
area of the use of public
school properties for pur-
poses of Protestant worship.
In any Saturday issue of
The Star one may find a
NUM- ber of Protestant
churches advertising religious
services in public schools. For
instance, Unitarians meet in
at least four area public
schools, Baptists in three,
The United Church of Christ
in two, and Lutherans and
Free Will Baptists hold serv-
ices in one school each. In
addition to these. a num-
ber of other Protestant
churches have used public
schools as places of worship
in the past but. since ac-
quiring their own buildings,
no longer do so.
Some of the very churches
who have been most vehe-
ment and vocal in their op-
position to any aid to par
ochial school children be-
cause of alleged violation of
the First Amendment, are
themselves guilty of what
appears to be, by their own
definition. a far graver
transgression against the So
called principle of "separa-
ton of church and state"
Certainly it is a very
strange principle of "separ-
alton of church and state"
which can deny bus trans
portation, medical care and
textbooks to parochial school
children on the one hand and
permit Protestant religious
services in public schools on
the other. James A. Miller