Freshman

Shouted Poland's Oskar Lange in the Security Council: "To hell with high power politics ... to hell with all technical obstacles!"

Why was Mr. Lange so irritated? Well, it might have been because of the U.S.'s Warren Austin, who, shortly before, had delivered himself of a remarkable piece of oratory. He was attempting to get a three-week moratorium of all Council debate on disarmament matters so that new Secretary of State Marshall would have time to study the question (this week he finally got it). Austin had pleaded: "I am a freshman here. I need more education." Then, recalling that the General Assembly had instructed the Council to expedite disarmament, he asked:

". . . And what is expedite? Well, it means advance, accelerate ... [it] has something to do with pediatrics and . . . is derived from the past participle of the word expedire, that is, to let go of the foot. Now, here we are with our foot caught, as it were. We have a report of one Commission before us [Atomic Energy Commission], and now we want to just tighten up on the foot of that report and not let it go forward; whereas, the General Assembly has said to us, you are recommended to expedite, free the foot, hasten the progress of the cons, deration of the report. . . ."

Freshman Austin then hurried off to Chicago. Later, the press gave him additional education. He was pointedly informed that he had confused the Greek Pals (child) with pous (foot), that pediatrics was a branch of medicine dealing with children's diseases while podiatry (the word he might have had in mind) was the study of foot disorders.

One of Austin's fellow Councilmen, musing on the sudden death last week of Brazilian Delegate Leao Velloso, remarked: "I hope Austin doesn't get back in time to make a memorial speech. He'll insist on defining rigor mortis."

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