


`` Workers of the party ''
to the editor :
Sir -- We are writing in reference to a recent `` suggestion '' made to the staff of the Public Health Nursing Service of Jersey City ( registered professional nurses with college background and varying experiences ) .
The day before Election Day , to which we are entitled as a legal holiday , we were informed to report to our respective polls to work as `` workers of the party '' .


Being ethical and professional people interested in community health and well-being , we felt this wasn't a function of our position .
Such tactics reek of totalitarianism ! !
As we understand , this directive was given to all city and county employes .


To our knowledge no nurse in our agency has been employed because of political affiliation .
We , therefore , considered the `` suggestion '' an insult to our intelligence , ethics , Bill of Rights , etc. .
Our only obligation for this day is to vote , free of persuasion , for the person we feel is capable in directing the public .


This is our duty -- not as nurses or city employes -- but as citizens of the United States .



`` Plus-one '' shelters
to the editor :
Sir -- I read of a man who felt he should not build a fallout shelter in his home because it would be selfish for him to sit secure while his neighbors had no shelters .
Does this man live in a neighborhood where all are free loaders unwilling to help themselves , but ready to demand that `` the community '' help and protect them ? ?


Community shelters are , of course , necessary for those having no space for shelter .
If in a town of 2,000 private homes , half of them have shelters , the need for the community shelters will be reduced to that extent .


In designing his home fallout shelter there is nothing to prevent a man from planning to shelter that home's occupants , `` plus-one '' -- so he will be able to take in a stranger .
I hope the man who plans to sit on his hands until the emergency comes will have a change of heart , will get busy and be the first member of our `` plus-one '' shelter club .



Escape
to the editor :
Sir -- People continue to inquire the reason for the race for outer space .
It's simple enough from my point of view .
I am for it .


It is the only method left for a man to escape from a woman's world .



Supports Katanga
to the editor :
Sir -- When the colonies decided upon freedom from England , we insisted , through the Declaration of Independence , that the nations of the world recognize us as a separate political entity .
It is high time the United States began to realize that the God-given rights of men set forth in that document are applicable today to Katanga .


In the United Nations Charter , the right of self-determination is also an essential principle .
This , again , applies to Katanga .
The people of Katanga had fought for , and obtained , their freedom from the Communist yoke of Antoine Gizenga , and his cohorts .
By political , economic , geographic and natural standards , they were justified in doing so .


The United States and the U.N. denounce their own principles when they defend the Communist oppressors and refuse to acknowledge the right of self-determination of the Katangans .



County college costs
to the editor :
Sir -- Permit me to commend your editorial in which you stress the fact that a program of county colleges will substantially increase local tax burdens and that taxpayers have a right to a clear idea of what such a program would commit them to .


The bill which passed the Assembly last May and is now pending in the Senate should be given careful scrutiny .
The procedure for determining the amounts of money to be spent by county colleges and raised by taxation will certainly startle many taxpayers .


Under the proposal the members of the board of trustees of a county college will be appointed ; ;
none will be elected .
The trustees will prepare an annual budget for the college and submit it to the board of school estimate .
This board will consist of two of the trustees of the college , and the director and two members of the board of freeholders .
It will determine the amount of money to be spent by the college and will certify this amount to the board of freeholders , which `` shall appropriate in the same manner as other appropriations are made by it the amount so certified and the amount shall be assessed , levied and collected in the same manner as moneys appropriated for other purposes '' .


The approval of only three members of the board of school estimate is required to certify the amount of money to be allotted to the college .
Since two of these could be trustees of the college , actually it would be necessary to have the consent of only one elected official to impose a levy of millions of dollars of tax revenue .
This is taxation without representation .



Taxing improvements
to the editor :
Sir -- Your editorial , `` Housing Speedup '' , is certainly not the answer to our slum problems .
The very rules and regulations in every city are the primary case of slum conditions .


Change our taxing law so that no tax shall be charged to any owner for additions or improvements to his properties .
Then see what a boom in all trades , as well as slum clearance at no cost to taxpayers , will happen .
Our entire economy will have a terrific uplift .



`` Natural causes ''
to the editor :
Sir -- An old man is kicked to death by muggers .
The medical examiner states that death was due to `` natural causes '' .


I once heard a comedian say that if you are killed by a taxicab in New York , it is listed as `` death due to natural causes '' .



Praises exhibit
to the editor :
Sir -- Every resident of this city should visit the Newark Museum and see the exhibit `` Our Changing Skyline in Newark '' .
It will be at the museum until March 30 .


It is a revelation of what has been done , what is being done and what will be done in Newark as shown by architects' plans , models and pictures .
It shows what a beautiful city Newark will become and certainly make every Newarker proud of this city .


It should also make him desire to participate actively in civic , school and religious life of the community so that that phase of Newark will live up to the challenge presented by this exhibit .



Parkway courtesy
to the editor :
Sir -- I hasten to join in praise of the men in the toll booths on the Garden State Parkway .
Recently I traveled the parkway from East Orange to Cape May and I found the most courteous group of men you will find anywhere .
One even gave my little dog a biscuit .
It was very refreshing .



`` Deep Peep Show ''
The viewers of the `` Deep Peep Show '' at 15th and M Streets NW have an added attraction -- the view of a fossilized cypress swamp .
Twenty feet below the street level in the excavation of the new motel to be constructed on this site , a black coal-like deposit has been encountered .


This is a black swamp clay in which about one hundred million years ago cypress-like trees were growing .
The fossilized remains of many of these trees are found embedded in the clay .
Some of the stumps are as much as three feet long , but most of them have been flattened by the pressure of the overlying sediments .
Although the wood has been changed to coal , much of it still retains its original cell structure .


In the clay are entombed millions of pollen grains and spores which came from plants growing in the region at the time .
These microfossils indicate the swamp was `` formed during the Lower Cretaceous period when dinosaurs were at their heyday and when the first flowering plants were just appearing .


The 15th Street deposit is not to be confused with the nearby famous Mayflower Hotel cypress swamp on 17th Street reported in The Washington Post , August 2 , 1955 , which was probably formed during the second interglacial period and is therefore much younger .



Working for peace
Recently the secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation was interviewed on the air .
While I respect his sincere concern for peace , he made four points that I would like to question .
1 .

He said , `` Let's work for peace instead of protection from aggression '' .
I would ask , `` Why not do both '' ? ?
Military power does not cause war ; ;
war is the result of mistrust and lack of understanding between people .
Are we not late , especially those of us who call ourselves Friends , in doing enough about this lack of understanding ? ?
2 .

As to protection , the speaker disapproved of shelters , pointing out that fallout shelters would not save everyone .
Is this a reason for saving no one ? ?
Would the man with an empty life boat row away from a shipwreck because his boat could not pick up everyone ? ?
3 .

The speaker suggested that the desolation of a post-attack world would be too awful to face .
If the world comes to this , wouldn't it be the very time when courage and American know-how would be needed to help survivors rebuild ? ?
Many of our young people think it would .
4 .

Lastly , the speaker decried our organized program of emergency help calling it `` Civilian Defense '' .
In 1950 , Public Law 920 created Civil Defense ( different from Civilian-groups of World War 2 ) , a responsibility of the Government at all levels to help reduce loss of life and property in disaster , natural or manmade .


Far from creating fear , as the speaker suggests , preparedness -- knowing what to do in an emergency -- gives people confidence .
Civil Defense has far to go and many problems to solve , but is it not in the best spirit of our pioneer tradition to be not only willing , but prepared to care for our own families and help our neighbors in any disaster -- storm , flood , accident or even war ? ?



Pets in apartments
It seems rather peculiar that residents of apartments are denied the right of providing themselves with the protection and companionship of dogs .
I feel that few burglars would be prone to break and enter into someone's apartment if they were met with a good hardy growl that a dog would provide .
In addition , would not the young female public of Washington be afforded a greater degree of protection at night when they are on the streets if they were accompanied by a dog on a leash ? ?


I grant that the dog may not be really protective , based on his training , but if you were roaming the streets looking for a purse to snatch or a young lady to molest , how quick would you be to attack a person strolling with a dog ? ?
I would like to suggest that the landlords and Commissioners get together and consider liberalizing the practice of prohibiting dogs in apartments .



Sidewalk cafes
Use the terraces of the Capitol for a sidewalk cafe ? ?
Could Senator Humphrey be serious in his proposal ? ?
Is nothing in this country more sacred than the tourists' comfort ? ?


Perhaps the idea of sidewalk cafes could be extended .
The Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials are rather bleak .
Why not put a cafe in each so the tourists would not have to travel too far to eat ? ?
Unfortunately the cafes might not make enough money to support themselves during the off season .
As an added suggestion to balance the budget , the Government could sell advertising space on the Washington Monument .
It is visible throughout the city , and men from Madison Ave. would jump at the chance .




Sen. Hubert Humphrey is obviously a man with a soul and heart .
He , like most of us , wants to be able to sit , to contemplate and be moved by the great outdoors .
Let us have more benches and fewer forbidden areas around fountains and gardens .
Let us , like the French , have outdoor cafes where we may relax , converse at leisure and enjoy the passing crowd .



Dissenting views of senators
Two strong dissents from the majority report of the Joint Economic Committee ( May 2 ) by Senators Proxmire and Butler allege that the New Deal fiscal policy of the Thirties did not work .

