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Show UTAH P. ROWAN TIMES. PAROWAN. I'llKSUKNd: Sound WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Fighting Truman Gets Democratic Nomination, Calls Special Session; Barkley Selected as Running Mate Alas, Poor Yorick, Capital Has Seen Its Last Theater -- By Bill . Hy BALKHAGE Km I Anahu and Commentator. Hrtirrii SrViMM' I As Washington hurras through summer, forced to commute to Philadelphia for its major distraction, it is fared with a painful prospect of less diversion next fall. This city which once boasted of almost a dozen legitimate theaters (when it had a much smaller population) is about to have the last one that lingered on alone turned into a movie lby lfcl n IImh f WASHINGTON The old National theater, which opened in Pil. was horned and rebuilt four times, collapsed once, is now about to er d ils legitimate days on an issue which is giving the Democratic party equal concern civil rights The Actor's Equity, to which most actors belong, won t play here because Negroes are rml permitted in the audience. be reconditioned and leased to a management which will lift the racial d'ccrimmation prac tice I the Helasco govis currently ernment property us a storehouse). If the Be Iosco is not reWashingopened, ton will be theaterless and is used Washington's tradition began early. One of the first theaters here was tie Washington theater at Eleventh and C streets It opened In 1804 and its ads proclaiming the grand prem ere added in small lype: No Segars are to be smoked during the petformance. When that edifice burned, a second Washington theater, seating 700 persons, was opened In 1821, It boasted numerous Improvements and Innovations, Including sloves, reserved seats, improved acoustics, no liquor In fhe box lobbies and faeililies for Facilities Negro playgoers. today wouldnt satisfy accommodations would have to be on a basis of race equality. Fourteen years after the new Washington theater had opened its doors the National theater appeared on the site of the present It is located in the very center of what only recently has been called "downtown," on E street which meets Pennsylvania avenue Just before it bumps into the treasury building, skirts its northern front and ambles past the White House. Important clubs, hotels, and restaurants are only a few blocks from the National today but when it was built, it was, like any other point inin the young capital, accessible in Inclement weather. When it rained or snowed, Pennsylvania avenue became a mudhole. Residential areas, except those in Georgetown, weren't far from the center of town in the early 1840s, but because of the rough going (the wealthy didnt like to risk their fancy equipages out on bad nights), it cost as much as $10 to get from home to the show. Now you can ride all the way from Capitol Ilill to what was forest and farmland In 1835 for 30 cents. The capitals greatest theatrical development began right after the Civil war and went on for three decades. By the time I attended my first show here in 1914, there was no dearth of dramatic entertainment and sometimes three original Broadway companies would be playing in different theaters at the same time. It was a good town for openings up until fairly recently. There is one theater, now a museum, which is still a point of interest for tourists. Originally it was a Baptist church on Tenth street. In 1861 it was converted into what was called Christys opera house. La'er it became Fords theater. In the upper stage box of this theater, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by the actor, John theatrical movie-house-to-b- well-nig- Booth. There was a saloon on the corner below the theater where Booth was said to have had his last drink before he crept into the theater, shot Lincoln and leaped to the stage, tripping on a piece of bunting and breaking his leg. For many years, over the bar of that saloon, hung a crude picture of the assassination, and on the floor was a metal marker actor was where the half-masupposed to have stood as he warmed his oourage in preparation for his theatric crime. Wilkes d Washington theatergoers were well acquainted with John Booth's acting but better still with that of his elder brother, Edwin, who had the greater talent. But they never saw Edwin Booth on a local stage over again. He was so his brothers crime that he never heart-broke- n again played in the capital. A theatrical performance in Washington plays one role that it plays in no other American city. It becomes, on certain occasions, few or many according to the taste of the incumbent president, a ceremony of state. No matter how private a president wants to be when he sees a show, he cant help being a public personage on such occasions. The secret service, responsible for his life, would'it think of letting him sit anywhere but in a box where he is separated from the crowd. This, on the other hand, makes him conspicuous Due guard outside the door to Lincoln's box in the Ford theater could have prevented the as- sassination. The fact that there was no provision for protection by the government in the Temple of Music in Buffalo cost the nation its President William McKinley. Since then, the chief executive has had a bodyguard whether he likes it or not, and a bodyguard can't hide Its light under a bushel. Entrance and exit from a public building become a little bit of a pageant, no matter bow they are effected. f nm house. There is talk that the old Helasco theater, erected in 1833 on Madison place, facing La fayrtte square. may v. ! c m World War I. U dad the age of 87 chief of stall The agvd furrm-bud been ill since February. 1938 when he was stricken at Tucson form of rheumatism Ariz., by which affected hu heart muscles He came close to dying at that time, but rallied with a dulay ul fighting spirit which amared hu lived physicians Since then he had at Walter Reed hospital In Wash- ington, D. C. Death was caused by a blood clot which reached his lung. At Pershing'! bedside when death came were his son, Warren; his sister. Miss May Pershing, and his longtime physician. MaJ. Gen. Shelley Marietta. r generals as temporary C. Dwight D. Marshall, George Eisenhower, and Dougins Mac Arthur. Their title is general of the army. . Pershing won his greatest fame of the as commander-in-chic- f American expeditionary force in World War I. Appointed to that post in 1917, he toi k personal command of the American troops WE ACCEPT! Barkley Truman sent to France. He almost ImmeBorn in Log Cabin In fighting Mood diately became involved in a dising senator from Paducah, Ky., for pute with other Allied commanders who wanted to break up the The PIUlAnnmtA STORY the vice presidency. The President's call for a special American army and use it to rein-session provided a dramatic and force the French an! British climax to the 30th conven- armies wherever necessary. Pershstartling known If the Democrats hadn't had been marked by ing flatly refused to let tis troops which tion, before their convention that Presi- bitter debate over ferocious family lose their identity. dent Harry Truman was their man differences. Bom Sept. 13. 1860, in the fronthey found out on the steaming town of Laclede, Mo., PershThe party had been ripped by in tier Wednesday when their political between northern progresing was graduated from West Point fighting a smashto show slammed through sives and southern conservatives when he was 28 He became a sec- ing, triumphant finish. over the issue of equal civil rights Harry Truman told them so, for f of the AlaNegroes. forces liberal after the enterprising 13 of the 26 bama delegation of the party had spent all that heat votes and the entire Mississippi Wednesday in the delegation of 22 had stormed out beit of convention hall proving of the convention amid boos, cheers yond any doubt. It looked like the Democratic and a great pushing and shoving. This was the high point of the party might have been completely southern revolt, alrevitalized in 12 tense hours on a rump convention was though ol the last that convention, day called to meet in Birmingham, ending a period during which the Ala. Democrats morale and will to win slowly had been ossifying. Discord Flares The revitalization came as a reDiscord prevailed long before sult of two potent factors which the 1,596 delegates from the 48 one to could be reduced actually states and territories gathered in President Trumans influence. In the first place, in adopting the stifling, steaming Philadelphia for the quadrennial convention. strong, positive civil rights plank Dissident factions of the party In the platform the party not only behind a concerted drive to rallied of and idea the spirit repudiated Gen. draft Dwight D. Eisenhower also an dealt reaction but extremely as the partys standard bearer. sharp and real slap to the bands Ike, however, removed himself of the southern wing which had GENERAL PERSHING tried, at times almost savagely, to from the race with his third and Last Battle final not he insistence would that produce a cleavage within the the nomination. accept ond lieutenant in the sixth U. S. party. The day after the Eisenhower cavalry and launched a career in That action, closely followed by the nomination of President Tru- boom collapsed, the New Deal ef- soldiering to which he devoted and the forts to oppose Mr. Truman with his entire life. He fought Indians man to run for nomination of Sen. Alben Barkley Supreme Court Justice William O. in the American west, Spaniards Df Kentucky by acclamation for the Douglas also blew up. Douglas, in Cuba, Moro tribesmen in the spot on the ticket whom the President had wanted Philippines, Mexican bandits unadded another solid timber to the for his running mate, flatly refused der Pancho Villa on the U. structure that the liberal elements to be considered and also knocked border and Germans in of the party were fighting so hard himself out of the vice presidential France. to build. running. Throughout World War II, PershThose developments were, in After Douglas declined to enter ing received a full report twice a themselves, a complete and vic- the presidential race, Senator month from General Marshall, his torious proof that the Democrats Pepper of Florida announced his aide of 1917. Although old and this year intended to bring them- candidacy with the backing of the feeble, the general followed selves before the American public New Deal wing, but his bid was developments closely from his daily hosas a responsible, cohesive party not considered very seriously. room, paying particular atpital that would be striving for nothing tention to my boys," who included less than total victory in the No- Civil Rights Generals Marshall, Eisenhower, vember election. After seven days of wrangling, a and George S. Patton Jr. But it remained for President platform pledging the Democratic Truman to give the whole affair party more specifically than ever CROPS: a significance that could not be before to work for basic constituignored. tional civil rights was adopted after Record Output a floor fight which proved rather Barring a major crop disaster, Fighting' Finish tame m view of the anticipated the nation will harvest another It was a far cry from a love knock-dowdrag-ou- t battle. bumper crop this year, with inditest as the Democratic clans, The platform calls on congress cations pointing to a general crop feuding for many months, met in to support guarantees of: production which may surpass that of the outstanding year of 1942 and The right of full and equal pothe City of Brotherly Love for their 30th national convention. litical participation" meaning the record set in 1918. l tax legislation. After three days of strife and Acreage in crops is among the The right to equal opportunity largest in recent years and yield bickering, the conclave came to a of employment close as a fighting President Truanother way of prospects are good for most crops, man triumphantly accepted his promising a fair employment prac- agriculture department spokesmen said, on the basis of July 1 condipartys nomination for the presi- tices act. The right of security of person tions. dency and then rocked Democrats and Republicans alike with an inAn record corn crop of meaning a federal stant summons to the 80th congress law. 3.328.862.000 bushels was forecast to return for a special session "The right of equal treatment in although corn, the largest feed the service and defense of our naJuly 26. crop, still faces such hazards as a The convention, perhaps the tion" meaning the end of segregadry, hot August or an early frost. most bitterly divided since 1860 tion in the armed forces. Previous record was 3,287,927,000 and 1924, ended with a political exThe southern re- bushels in 1946. The wheat crop prospect of 1,241,- plosion detonated by the quiet man volt, however, failed to develop from Independence. Mo. The ex- into the Dixie-widproportions 751.000 bushels represents a gain of plosion startled even the regular predicted. Only Mississippi's 22 per cent from earlier forecasts. members of his own party who had delegates and i3 of Alabamas 26 If that amount is harvested, it engineered the nomination of Mr stalked out of the convention in will rank as the second largest Truman to the presidency. protest against President Trumans crop in history. The Democrats pinned their Nonomination and adoption of the Rice will set a new acreage recvember election hopes on a ticket strong civil rights plank. ord and nearly equal last years of Harry S. Truman and Alben W However, 263 remaining southern record output. Oats and barley will Barkley It was the delegates registered that areas be well above average crops. former senator protest by voting for the presidenmodest, Bumper crop prospects are not from Missouri, who had succeeded tial nomination of Sen. Richard B. expected to mean any immediate to the office upon the death of Russell of Georgia Size of the proincrease in meat supplies or any Franklin D Roosevelt in 1945, for test vote indicated the Democratic noticeable decrease in meat prices the presidency And it was the party still has a problem on its but the record harvest should mean compromis- - hands in the South. larger meat supplies in the future. five-sta- ' One-hal- widely-heralde- recreation from that source than any other In his book. Starling of the he says Wilson preWhite House, ferred musical comedy and vaude- ville to serious drama. That was the general impression among the newspapermen, I know. Both the Roosevelts, Theodore and Franklin, were great theatergoers. Neither of them was a blushing as far as receiving adulation of the crowds was concerned, but for number of reasons, largely the hectic times of the late Roosevelts regime, the former made his attendance anywhere more of a show. Although an assassin's bullet did lay low a man in Franklin Roosevelts entourage Mayor Anton Cermak of Chicago when both were visiting Miami Theodore Roosevelt was himself actually shot and badly wounded on one occasion. However, this was after he left the White House and while he was making a political speech in Milwaukee. It was the movie which drove out the later Washington legitimate theaters, but this death blow to the present-daNational theater arises out of the growing demand to end segregation a demand which made itself felt after World War I. and which increased in World War U. The confrequent, troversies over lifting of the segregation ban in Constitution hall, property of the Daughters of the American Revolution and one of the few available concert halls in the city, have spotlighted Washingtons segregation habits they arent laws. The manager of the National theater is not closing the theater for social reasons. He simply can't book shows if he continues race discrimination and he thinks that if he raises the ban, he cant sell tickets to enough white people to make it y d anti-pol- pay. To southerners it probably seems absurd that such a question should arise, and northerners probably will be just as surprised for the opposite reason. Washington was once a southern city, now it is a mixture of North and South and typical of anti-lync- neither. all-tim- e d Embrace, Pity, Then Endure e Before his third partys convention in Philadelphia, Henry Wallace repeated several times the assertion that he was not a Communist, that he didn't want Communist support in fact, that he wished they'd get out of his party For this, as some observers pointed out, Wallace was mildly spanked by the Daily Worker, mouthpiece of Muskovite communism in America. It seems to me that Wallace is following one of Alexander Pope's quatrains in reverse. Remember d Pope said: NO LIMITS Vice is a monster of so frightful mien As to be hated needs but to be seen, Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face. We first endure, then pity, then Empleymcnt Gains American Cities Are Increasing in Size of brunt Angeles, many joses for its ever expanding city limits, is not the only American c ty which is increasing in size. In fact. American cities are getting bigger all the time, with 298 Los embrace. Having embraced the Reds, Wallace seems to be beginning to back communities extending their bnun- up, through pity, and now is finding daries m 1647 for a new that he has to endure them, whether record, according to the Interna- Lonal City Manager association, he likes them or not. i The rush to keep up with urban expansion marked a 15 per cent increase over 1946, when 259 cities annexed new territory Most cities seek to annex suburban land to solve their population problems j Cities want to equalize local provide uniform according to the outlying territory tax rates and to public services association OS Man About Czar John L. Lewis Very few people realize what John L. Lewia has done to white-colla- r worker, to old people living on government pension and to the rest of the labor movement view of Lewis' To get a bird'a-eyoperations, you have to go bock to the day of the New Deal when it was recognized that all old people in the United State deserved some kind of security. Accordingly the e social security act was passed, providing unemployment compensation and pensions. Today these pensions have become most woefully inadequate, and one factor helping to make them so . has been Lewis ond his inflationary demands for wage increases and miners pensions. For instance, when Lewis gouges welfare fund a multimilhon-dolla- r out of the mine operators, the operators in turn pass the cost on to the oldsters and everyone else in the country, whose pension then becomes less valuable. Thus the miners become a privileged class set aside from the rest of the American people. Not only do they get three and four times the pensions given ordinary citizens, but other citizens have to pay for the miners pensions. Thus the widow who tries to make both ends meet on a meager government pension of $30 a month, has to help pay for the miner's pension of $100 a month because the increased price of coal is passed on to her. ANOTHER THING: Lewis now can bulldoze wage increases for the miners which certain other unions can't. For instance, the railroads have their rates set by the interstate commerce commission. As public utilities they are not free agents to decide what they will charge the public. Actually, coal is just as much a public utility as the railroads. It is essential to the lifeblood of the nation. But while the railroads are regulated by the ICC; the electric power and gas companies by the federal power commission; and the radio, telegraph and telephone companies by the federal communications commission, the coal industry remains unregulated. STILL ANOTHER THING: Private industry cannot get together and conspire to fix prices. To do so act. violates the Sherman anti-truYet Lewis can get all the miners together from West Virginia to Utah, and from Ohio to Alabama, and present uniform demands on all coal operators, big and little, mechanized and unmechanized without violating the Sherman anti-truact. PREDICTION: 1. The Supreme court in a year or so will reverse its previous ruling and make labor unions subject to the anti-trulaws. 2. Congress, recognizing that the coal industry is just as much a public utility as the railroads will set up a commission regulating both coal wages and coal prices. In other words, Lewis will kill the goose that laid his golden eggs. old-ag- Long the idol of a grateful nation, Pershing held the rank of general of the armies, a title conferred on only four ether American soldier. Washington. Grant. Sherman, and Sheridan, lie outranked such con- Truman Barkley Woodrow Wilson loved the theater. He liked vaudeville and was a frequent visitor at Keiths now one of our big movie houses. Edmund Starling, head of the secret service under several presidents, often talked to me about how much Wilson loved the theater. Starling enjoyed it, I enjoyed it, and perhaps together, we exaggerated Wilsons affection for the footlights. But Starling used to say that Wilson got more MBMflluiiD ' v.i-tor.- X'NU Stall Writcr- - Sthot-ntgcn- , Mrhingibjx Blackjack) Iersh s tc mg. who led American tro (ten John J e A, patron, shows J to buy ducat,?1 when they If Dewn erts. believe Bjron Fuy e, clam will inhtr.t , 2" ship. . . . Former of Bulgaria lives sent to him by Q. p. fl City. Nebr. K- never-ending- st st Special Session Some White House advisers are strongly urging the President to call congress back for a special session. They tell Mr. Truman that he should insist on enactment of major legislation, such as the public housing bill, which, though blocked in congress, was indorsed in the G.O.P. convention platform. Friends tell Mr. Truman that if G.O.P. leaders continue to block housing during the special session, he then could charge them with failure to carry out platform pledges. Other advisers, however, have told Mr. Truman that it would be wiser politically not to call a special session, but to let these Republicans stew in the juice of their congressional mistakes. Since the President plans to make congress his No. 1 campaign issue if renominated, the latter is probably what he will do. Ill-Fat- Venture Harry Truman has taken a lot of ribbing about that failure in the But the haberdashery business. other day the President told on himself the story of how he had had still another business experience as an oil prospector. He told the story to Frank P. Douglass, able boss of the national mediation board, who called at the White House to report that he had nothing to do with efforts of friends to get him named secretary of labor. Continuing the postwar upward trend In civilian employment, 1.5 million more persons were employed in civilian occupations last April than in April, 1947, it is revealed in figures compiled by the National Industrial Conference board. Accompanying this increased employment was a decline of more than 200,000 in unemployment over the years period. Toun The Big Time; chief Ku, Cooper-- . is so "top Secret ders if it is to meet thT, J ?' mer must be here bm huge billboards .re -- .2 Cth and 48th on Tur-l Some ticket agencies I can understand your position, replied the President. "Yon know I was once In the oil business myself on a limited scale. Truman grinningly related how he had had an interest in two oil wells, both of which proved dry on the first drilling. The project went broke and my partners and I were forced to sell out, he added. Life haa a new technique that may Ize the len&lng of au,,. Takes picture, by trol and by prrskU , ( loc ates famous peopkir, in the auditorium. jW J I J- - ri Broadway Confetti: net champ, ha, ca since turnu g pro las y The New Amsterdam ij,v of the Ziegfeld shox, sx proud queen of 4.d rnf. ing its face lilted. . j Jra-th- F t si- te , telhgence will be ccm;V-hauler . . John brother, Allen, ha, tujl rians bid to becoir.t e.: f ranee. . . . Isn't fkx m . 1 the same as home without entermj , a Mari n . . . Henry Luce Aftp GOP $50,000. He donated to the Repub state ram. 5 I r iff I I t Connecticut. t: Manhattan MuraU: Tit I street pluce uhich tails m The hack ime term bis nag's tlnrst hy u7nq k tered silk hat uilh umir hs by park fountain. . . . tk policeman chasms ktiiu'r.M the park lake uhile thtiueb. satisfied. .. .The at Wlh and 7 th. ...litaei J ... 3S IKS i?.C It irf sun specs. lace-edge- fafii Stage Entrance: Tbtx dog days along Bvray. Sur: peratures are causing s;: biz to droop. Several it ready to surrender to the b while others are on; ten hang on via A glance at the backf&i the lie to the about the decline of the tt. and dale sectors are ci:g i cut-rat- e crepe-haaj- o summer playhouses. fir more actors In the war re mosquitoes. . . . Ir.eic. Sc t to hayloft circuit used m Incubator for new ihostJ of the plays now be4 Ires r there are reclicks. l-- eh I" tech. society amt a night club tnd 4 stroll In Central P in Midtown Vignette: en of enfe jfl t-h- said one, ImIi sweet baby? They t to adore it. Good k1 ate look! the exclaimed Its e surprised you sure? reply, I Ufd friend with pssir , Oh, yes."' recogniie tk The Aristocrats: cant flip a dial across a giveaway: ? j-- f1 danshW' my own eve 1 r The witW m about crowded me treasure hunts. !' politeness for medal disc-jocke- who thanks y record after spinning a newscaster Harrison tintones type of sinewy news tw to touch paprika The compliment wapH woodites after aPPear mom matic show is a to A. Serenade NBC's fersatasty . dish oi gue. Israel Is having cullies. But Itahoda bered that other freedom fought for ronbIe domestic wr ; fj. I, ' JTJ e Revolutionary 25,800 Americans , British army. in ial), ade( too A' The Intelligentsia:t will rip the small tern wide open S Stick by Virgil this fan ( bF boards probably it er caught reading Michigan at teacher Micb' East Lansing. ha of the Waldorf (biography "From the , r, called Gravy or ; to Nuts." i ,, j( former bandlea AmDer. of Forever literati with novel, a a straight play George Lnf who has to ditties are the Man of Want Trnmaa More and Dewey. & h. ft ' g,( |
