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SUNDAY. JUNG 23, 1113
MEDF0RD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, OREGON
CsofikTT'rijASSOCl,
Area t,i-icw iu ' .-
cafo. Detroit San franciaco. Lot
Ancelto. Deauie. -
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Flight o' Time
Medford and J.cbpn County
Hi.tory from the file. Th.
Mall Tribune 10, 20, 30, 40
and 50 years ago.
10 YEARS AGO
Juno 23, 1833 (Monday)
George Harrington,. Dom
Provost Jr., and Phil Getch
cll, all of Rogua Valley Coun
try club, won opening round
matchci In the Oregon
Golf association chsmplon
ihip flight at Portland. ;
Playing at the Esquire
Theatre was the full-length
feature of the "Coronation of
Queen Elizabeth II."
20 YEARS AGO
June 23, 143 (Tuoiday)
First fire fighting parachu
tists ever employed In Oregon
to be used In Siskiyou Na-
4ln.nl VnrMl 4lrpjl.
From Arthur Perry's "Ye
c.. .an,. Ont" r-nlumn. "Hen
uiiiuub " -
it i. in Aavm in the Fourth of
July and not a boy with a
thumb shot off by a careless
firecracker.
30 YEARS AGO
Juno 23. 1933 (Thursday)
Applegate CCC camp nears
completion.
Game farm here hatches
1,096 pheasants.
40 YEARS AGO
June 23. 1923 (Friday) .
Ted Thye-Gua 8chnoidau
wrestling match at Gold Hill
tomorrow night excites popu
lace. -
Fair; high 72, low 43 de
grees; last year at this date
mercury went to J 03 degrees.
SO YEARB AGO
June 23. 1913 (Sunday)
School board deadlocked
over election of Oris Craw
ford or H. S. Stlne as clerk.
J. L. Summers, Redlands,
Calif., buys Evans Creek
ranch.
What's Yocr I.Q.7
Nina at ton comet Is wearier;
eve er eight t ueallooti five oi
ii it food.
1. Traditionally the quartar
deck of a ship was reserved
for whom?
2. Which Is the correct spell
!ng: pcrmlssable, or permis
sible?
3. Putting the shot Is con
nectcd with track, hunting or
sailing?
4. Is "beauty sleep" that
rest obtained before, or after
midnight?
' 3. In court trials, when the
accused pleads "nolo con
tender," doea that mean not
guilty, guilty, or no contest
of the cwgos?
6. Are the metatarsal bones
In the wrist, back or foot?
7. Who was the first US
Secretary of war?
8. What does a philatelist
concern himself with?
8. Is the athletic Javelin a
ball-like, spear-Uke, or disc
like object?
10. Is Colorado. Nevada.
New Mexico or Idaho the
leading silver producer?
Aniworsi I. Oilicer. I. Per
miuible, 3. Track. 4. Before.
5. No contest. I. In the loot. 7.
Henry Knox. 8. Stamps. 9.
Spear-like. 10. Idaho.
Billboards in the News
Billboards are again in the news.
In California, the Lecislature rejected a bil
which would have completely banned billboards
from most state highways. But it is still consid
erine restrictive measures.
In Oregon, a new law will soon go into effect
which changes the administration of the bill
board control law from the Labor Commissioner
to the Highway Department, and which spells out
certain rules and regulations.
e e a e a
IN PORTLAND, the Oregonian compliments the
Legislature on the new law (as does the Ore
eon Roadside Council), while the Journal com
plains bitterly about the location of one big bill
board which, the paper states, effectively blocks
available to newcomers entering the city.
In New York, a small army of workmen em
ployed by the New York State Thruway swarmed
into the dawn and took down 53 billboards which
did not conform to regulations, and whose own
era had refused to make the necessary changes,
The New York Times commented :
"R. Burdell Bixby, Thruway Authority chairman,
thus showed again that he meant business. At the last
session of the Legislature he led a successful battle
against the billboard lobby, which was trying to soften
up the law. Owners of the signs had ample notice that
public opinion and the law, as well as supporting court
decisions, were against them. The state standards of
regulation are consistent with the Federal Incentive
prohibitions against signs on Interstate routes. They
meet every test of reasonableness. Mr. Blxby has done
his duty. He could do no less and obey the law he de
fended in the interests of highway safety and scenery."
e e e e e
THOSE WHO oppose billboards do not neces-
sari'lv onnnfifi arlvertiftinir. npr bp. Rut. fliov
do object to commercialism being used to block
scenic views, and to commercialism taking ad
vantage of a cantive audience on hiehwavs nro-
vided at public expense.
We have never advocated a flat hnn nn hill.
boards, for some of them are useful and mpcps.
sary. But we do believe in reasonable controls.
' If these are not made and pnfnrpprl if thov
are not complied with by the sign companies, and
if thev nersist in blatant disrep-ard of the nnhhV
interest (e.g. : the monstrosities now going up
alone the freewavin Medford'). thpn the nltei-na.
tive is prohibition. Under such circumstances,
we are convinced a majority of the people would
support a flat ban, rather than condoning con
tinued abuse. E. A.
a -
Great Books Feature
We are nleased to call attention tn n new Mail
Tribune feature, which appears on this page for
uie nrsi lime loaav.
It Is entitled "Great Trleaa from the firnnr
Books," and is written by the distinguishable
Sniiosopner, educator and author, Dr. Mortimer
. Adler.
Tn if. he answers nuoi'i'oa fVnm vnnAm-a V,, on
plying the Great Ideas from his Great Books to
ine Questions, ine column nas had Drear, anpoeas
throughout the country. It will appear in the Mail
Tribune each Sunday.
DEADERS OF THE Mail Tribune are both in
1X vited and encouraged to send questions to
Dr. Adler in Care of this newspaper.
Readers submitting questions which Dr. Ad
ler selects as the most penetrating will be reward
ed with a complete 54-volume set of the Great
Books, which cover the field of ideas from an
cient times forward.
Dr. Adler received his Ph.D. finm Pnlnmhia
University and later was associated with Robert
M. Hutchins at the University nf P.hiin
- - . v. v.i.viikjwt 1U t3
now director of the Institute for Philosophical
uesearcn in sun t rancisco. in addition to editing
the Great Books series, he is the author of several
best-selling books, includinir "Hnw tn ttonrl a
Book," "The Idea of Freedom," and "The Can-
liausi nianiiesio. u.a.
"At for Civil Rights, I Agree With
Sen. Goldwater That This U a Matter of
State Rights Uh Let's Finish
This Speech Somewhere Else"
Today & Tomorrow
By Walter llppmann
(el 1BB.1. The Waihlnirton Port
ttppmana
About Letters
House Approwi 6111
On Duty-Fret Limit
Washlngton-AITO-The House
has approved an administra
tion bill to retain for two
more year the $100 duty
free limit on foreign goods
brought Into the United
States by American tourist.
By a voice vote Thursday,
the House passed legislation
to prevent the duty-free al
lowance from rising to $500
on July 1. The Senatt 1 ex-
We confess to a certain mild irritation over
recent criticisms of the Mail Tribune's Communi
cations policies and practices.
One correspondent suspects us of unworthv
motives for rejecting a letter which we considered
to be libelous.
Another complains in a paid ad and over a
local radio station that we refused to print a
letter of his. And this from one who has proba
bly had more Communications space over the
years than any other single individual. The fact
is, uespiie ins uniounueu assumptions, mat we
still have the letter on file, and may print it when
space permits. Meanwhile we have been giving
preierence to letters from others who have not
had as much space as the complaincr.
e a
A S WAS stated here recently, it has been neces-
sary to make certain revisions in the policies
regarding Communications. We now receive more
than can be fitted into available space.
As a result, we are forced to exercise a bit
more restrictive editorial judgment, giving pref
erence to letters which are fresh and interesting.
which are from those who have not been frequent
correspondents, and which are short and to the
point.
We are delighted to receive Communications,
for we are convinced that they are among the
best-read parts of the newspaper. But as noted,
not all can be p r i n t e d. The responsibility for
n 1 An( U . . . U ' L 1. ..11 I . ,
ecicvbing uiurc wurti mihh ue is ours, wniners
nntnnthstonrlinrr V A
,,V T, ,V,IUMIllUIJIk. tit
THE PRAYER CASES
In the aftermath of the
prayer cases, there Is a most
Important question which we
must ask our
selves. If the
constitutional
principle is so
clear, why is
it t h a t there
are such wide
spread and
persistent at
tempts to in
troduce some
kind of reli
gious exercise Into the public
schools?
All American churches ac
cept the principle of the sep
aration of church and state.
Only in fringe questions,
where there is no self-evident
rule, is there difficulty in
interpreting the principle. No
church Is trying to obtain con
trol of public education.
The reason for the experi
ments with religion In the
public schools is, I believe,
that there is a growing dis
enchantment with the results
of wholly-secularized educa
tion. ' "O o
'TWERE IS, HERE, much the
"- hardest problem of educa
lion, a much deeper problem
than that of persuading the
country to raise enough
money to pay for good teach.
lng In adequate achool build
ings. It is the problem of what
to teach about the nature of
man and the universe around
him, and how to provide the
boy and girl with governing
beliefs that will make them
civilized.
The proponents of Bible
reading and reciting the
Lord's Prayer are in varying
measures concerned with the
fundamental problem of a
moral and Intellectual vac
uum at the center of educa
tion. It has been pressed upon
tneir attention, not only by
delinquency and unrulincss
among the young, but also by
almlessness and anxiety
among adults.
When they Introduce a stir
rcptitlous and denatured reli
gion into the public achools.
they are snatching at straws.
The straws will not provide
the order, purpose and con
trol that are lacking. But it
would be obtuse to suppose
that there Is therefore no real
problem or that the Supreme
Court haa disposed of it and
that it can now be forgotten.
'TWERE CAN BE, I think, no
serious dispute that the
Supreme Court has defined
accurately the historic mean
ing of the First Amendment
"In the relationship between
man and religion," says Mr
Justice Clark for the ma
jority, "the state is firmly
committed to a position of
neutrality." Why? Because
the neutrality of the state In
the fields of religion and
opinion are the terms of peace
on which the religious wars
were brought to an end.
Only by forbidding the
state to act in the field of
religion could the community
be saved from the bitter strug
gle between groups attempt
ing to seize the power of the
state In order to settle the ter
rible Issues which had divid
ed Europe.
We must remember, how
ever, that the liberals of the
17th and 18th centuries who
negotiated the religious peace
were not themselves agnos
tics. On the contrary. Includ
ing the American liberals who
drafied the Declaration of In
dependence and the Bill
of Rights, they were them
selves the adherents of a
public philosophy which is
inherent in the central
tradition of the classical
unbelievers. But alt had et
and Christian world. Some
were Catholic, some were
Protestant, some were deists,
some were in their theology
unbelievers. But all hd es
sentially the same traditional
philosophy.
They had been taught and
shaped in the great tradition.
They saw, as Father Murray
has said, that within the west
ern nations there is "A plur
ality of incompatible faiths."
Therefore, the stale must be
neutral in the field of reli
gion. But It never occurred
to them, it would seem, that
the public philosophy which
they regarded as self-evident
would become lost to educat
ed men,
e e a
BECAUSE THAT HAS hap-
ikllLU, .lie CIKUIVCIIICII,
of the First Amendment has
a different meaning todiv
than at the end of the 18th
century.
Those who are concerned
with the content of secular
ized public education (and
much private education as
well) should look upon the
decision of the court as hav
ing closed a blind alley that
led nowhere. The forbidden
religious exercises would not
and eould not have dealt with
the great moral and intel
lectual deficiencies of Amer
ican education.
The exercises were harm
less and neelisible. But had
they been allowed to evolve,
tney cou d have led onlv to
religious quarrels.
Now that we have finished
with the token reform, we
must turn our attention to a
great reappraisal of the con
tent of American education.
In the Day's News
r FRANK JINKINS
Russia's cosmonaut 1 a n H
safely - the gentlemen on his
uzna orou or me earth and
the ladv on her 4flth. Thr-v
stayed up longer than all the
rest or the world s astronauts
put toEcther. ADoarenllv hnv
parachuted out of thpir ni
vehicles and came down safe
ly on land.
The OnlV mbihan nvm, in
have been a bruised nose on
the lady i part.
THESE RUSSIANS!
Meaning, of course, the
common, everyday Russians
and NOT their Communist
overlords. Thcv work hard
they seem to have good minds
-and, so far as is known, they
pay their way as they go and
put nothing on the cuff.
It might be Just as well for
us to keep an Intelligently
observant eye on them. Their
Communist system, of course.
u too bunglesome and TOP
HEAVY to worry us much.
But, in time, they might have
the simple common sense to
revolt and overthrow it and
adopt the free enterprise way
of life.
If they should ...
Well, In that event, keep
an eye on them.
pOOR OLD BRITAIN.
She's getting her luniDS.
As if she d i d n 't have
troubles enough already.
Princes Charlie, the 14.voar.
old heir to the British throne,
laces a possible CANING be
cause he nipped a cherry
brandy in a Scottish pub.
IT HAPPENED like this:
Gordontoun, the strict and
correct English school that
Princes Charles attends sent
its private yacht, the Pinta,
on a short cruise that includ
ed the Outer Hebrides Islands,
which are Scottish.
The Pinta stopped at the
Wand town of Stornoway and
the Prince and three com
panions went ashore, with the
s e h o o 1 bodyguard, to have
GREAT IDEAS...
From the Great Books
By Mortimer J. Adler
(el 1S63. Pubtuhera Newipaper Syndicate
Matter oi Fact
y Joseph Altop
icl New York Herald Tribune Syndicate
BIRTH CONTROL
Doar Dr. Adlari Birth
control is a world-wide sub
ject of importance today.
Can you, through your
knowledge of groat his
torians, philosophers, and
teachers, throw any clearer
light on the problam than
we aro ordinarily being giv
onf Is this mora a problem
to be solved by govern
ment or religion? Many say
ii is for neither to decide.
They say this is personal,
moral decision to bo made
by the two people involved.
Joa R. Tindle,
450-36ih Ave. North,
St. Petersburg, Fla.
Dear Mr. Tindle: Birth con
trol has been practiced for
thousands of years. In an
cient Greece, physicians and
medical scientists studied and
improved methods of contra
ception. The ancient Jews
and Christiana knew of vari
ous means of birth control,
including the "rhythm meth
od." Moral attitudes toward the
practice of birth control have
varied considerably. The
Greek moralist approved vari
ous methods of population
control, including abortion.
However, the Oath of Hippo
crates includes the vow not
to aid a woman to produce
abortion. The Jewish Tal-
mudic writers approved the
use of contraceptives by the
wife if she was too young to
bear children safely, or if she
was a nursing mother. Ortho
dox Jews today permit artifi
cial birth control measures by
the wife - never by the hus
band - when her health will
be seriously endangered by
pregnancy.
Early Christian writers con
demned all forms of contra
ception. Augustine called it
unlawful and wicked," even
when the method is the nat
ural one of confining sexual
dinner. The Prince eluded
the stern-eyed bodyguard and
went into the bar where he
took a seat and ordered, and
was served, a cherry brandy.
At that awkward moment the
bodyguard entered the bar
and read to Prince Charlie
what ' the reporters describe
as "a very restrained riot act
- for heirs to the British
throne are not supposed to
do things like that.
The Prince rushed away
from the bar and left for a
steak and potatoes dinner in
the hotel dining room,
yHAT'S TO BE done about
Well, the jchool'i head
master, who arrived from the
yacht about that time, says
the Gordonstoun rules PER
MIT NO DRINKING.
What will happen to the
Prince? Headmaster Chew
says: "I cannot prejudge the
issue, but the normal punish
ment for an offense of this
nature is a BEATING or a
demotion." The usual form
of a "beating" is with a cane,
and Is known as a caning. .
He adds:
"There is, of course, an
alternate punishment - which
is a demotion. I do not know
at the moment which will be
the likelier of the two."
It's a rough world.
intercourse to the "safe peri
od." Aquinas called contra
ception "the vice against na
ture," since it prevents the
achievement of the natural
end of the sexual act. Hence
he condemned it as opposed
to the natural moral law, as
well as to certain Scriptural
injunctions.
Aquina's view has been the
traditional Roman Catholic
position down to the present
day. Certain qualifications in
that position seem to have
been introduced with the ap
proval, by many Catholic
moralists, of the "rhythm
method" and thoughtful
"family planning." However,
it should be noted that seri
ous medical, economic, social,
or eugenic reasons are requir
ed for the use of such meth
ods, and the Catholic moral
ists unanimously condemn ar
tificial means of birth con
trol. It la uncertain whether
the church will or can ap
prove the recently invented
contraceptive pill.
' In past ages, spokesmen for
the major Protestant faiths
also condemned contraception
as immoral and impious. In
recent times, however, they
have come to approve the use
of birth control as a means
of achieving essential marital
and family values. The Lam
beth (Anglican) Conference of
1958, for instance, unanimous
ly approved the use of con
traception by conscientious
and responsible spouses exer
cising "a wise stewardship of
the resources and abilities of
the family," and taking note
of "the varying population
needs and problems of society
and of future generations.
The conference also stressed
the mutual love between man
and wife as equally important
with procreation as the pur
pose of marriage, and stated
that the role of the family is
to give "responsible security
to the children born of the
love of husband and wife."
Catholic thinkers, such as
Herbert Doms and Thomas
Gllby, are in close agreement
with this present day Protes
tant view of marital love and
procreation. Many Catholic
writers have noted that canon
law makes the education and
welfare of children, as well
as their procreation, the end
of marriage, and hence coun
tenances some form of respon
sible family planning. One
Catholic moral philospher,
Frederick E. Flynn, asserts
that the natural moral law
requires married persons to
"use sex reasonably . . . and
not to dilute the care and
love" for the children they
now have "by overdoing a
good thing."
The disagreement between
Catholics and non-Catholics,
however, on the permissibil
ity of artificial birth control
methods has caused heated
controversy on issues of pub
lic policy. Many Catholics
are unwilling to contribute
through taxes to government
sponsored programs of artifi
cial birth control, which they
consider immoral.
A way out of this impasse
has been suggested by Dr.
John Rock, the eminent Cath
olic gynecologist - for public
bodies to provide "all meth
ods of family planning" leav-
oiao
THE NIGHTMARE
Washington - Behind the
President's civil rights mes
sage, there is a nightmare-
the word is
not too strong
-which has
increasingly
troubled the
minds of the
Presiden t
himself, At
torney Gen
eral Robert
Kennedy, and
all other
members of the Administra
tion high command.
The nightmare was dimly
suggested in the passage fore
casting that "the result of
continued Federal legislative
inaction will be continued, if
not increased, racial strife-
causing the leadership on
both sides to pass from the
hands of reasonable and re
sponsible men to the purvey
ors of hate and violence (and)
endangering domestic t r a n
quality." Bluntly described, the Pres
ident's nightmare is that the
Negro protest movement will
somewhere, somehow, over
flow, from the sheer force of
pent-up emotion, into the kind
of violent excesses that will
shock moderate opinion in the
white community - and may
even require Federal inter
vention. a e
THIS IS NOT a foolish night
maro Am it hannpns
some of the best reporting on
this tragic topic has been
done by the New Yorker. The
other day the New Yorker
had a piece describing, among
other things, a Black Muslim
meeting in Harlem, at which
the chief speaker, a certain
Conrad Lynn, triumphantly
predicted that "there is going
to be a lot of white blood
flowing in this country! . . .
We have guns and we are go
ing to make our presence
felt."
The commentary on this
outburst was then supplied
by a young Negro woman, un
named, who was quoted as
saying, "There's going to be
trouble. . . . Every night now
in Harlem, there's a rumor
that some white policeman
has abused a Negro. On a hot
summer night. It wouldn't
take much to set off a riot
not isolated violence, but a
kind of revolution.
"Five years ago, it was still
a problem for social workers
-jobs, education, housing. . . .
Now something will have to
be done on an enormous scale,
or there's going to be murder."
TOE ALARMING explosive
L atmosphere described by
ing the choice of proper meth
od to the religious faith or
conscience of the individual
client.
(You can win a 54-vol-umo
set of the Groat Books
of the Western World by
writing a letter, not to ex
ceed 150 words, incorporat
ing a question oi general
interest for Dr. Adler to
consider for inclusion in
this column. Each week he
will select as first priia
winners the letters of the
lhroo boat letters. He will
use ONE of these letters as
a baiii for a future column
and will answer it in terms
of the intellectual heritage
oi the Groat Books - 443
works by 74 authors, span
ning 30 centuries oi
thought. Address the letters
to Dr. Mortimer J. Adler,
in caro of this newspaper.
this young Negro woman is
also being reported to thaj
Justice Department by its in.
formants throughout the
country. The main cause of
the explosiveness, it must be
added, is not the fact that the
Schools and Dublic farilitiee
of the state of Alabama are
still segregated.
The main casue is, rather,
the fact that in the Chicago
Negro community, for in.
stance, nearly one in every
five able-bodied workers is
out of a job. As the young
negro woman in the New
Yorker also remarked. "Thai
families of some of these peo
pie have been on relief for
three generations; they have
energy and no work to spend
it on."
Small wonder, then, that
the situation is exdosive. Tha
sudden increase of explosive
ness is not hard to under
stand, either. Precisely be
cause the cause of equal rights
has begun to gain a little)
ground, the old passive ac
ceptance of their lot by th
great mass of American
Negroes has quite abruptly
oeen transiormed into a nev
militancy.
e e e
QJUCH, THEN, is the com.
bustible raw material
which may too easily explode)
into excess bv the Neernen in
one or another American
community. Except for tha
Negroes themselves, nn nn
has more to lose by such an
explosion man the President.
n wm be bad for the country
he leads, bad for him nersnn.
ally, and bad for his party as
wen. .
Yet he is renorlpdlv our!.
ously philosoDhic about it u
does not blame the Negro
leaaers tor the competition in
militancy that hac h .. n
among them. He certainly
uoes not i a m e the Negro
community for th sironoih
and bitterness of the emotions
that are beginning to well up;
instead, ne Diames the injus'
tices which cause the emo
tions.
The one nninl thai hdU 41,.
President and Attorney Gen
eral Kennedy are endlessly
stressing to all who discuss
"e subject with them is,
characteristically, a practical
point. If Neero milifanrv m
too far, it will Inevitably pro-
voxe an answering reaction
in the white community in
a reaction which mav h
stronger .in the Northern cities
man in the South. In that
case, the Negroes, being the
minority, will be the chief
sufferers.
e e
fTHIS IS THE kind of prao
x t i c a 1 i t y which caused .
James Baldwin and the other
Negro leadere whn mot .uu
Attorney General Kennprlu in
New York to go away com
plaining that he "did not un
derstand." The trouble is
that he did understand and
they did not.
What they did not unHpr.
stand is that the whnllv insti.
fiable Negro claims for equal
treatment in all fields will
never be met solely because
they are justifiable. In this
harsh world, alas, justice is
not automatic.
The Negro claims will be
met. in fact, in decent. Chris.
tian white ooininn also rnn. '
tinues to insist on these claims
being met. And therein, of
course, lies the danger to the -
Negroes, as well as to tha
country, of the kind of ex
cesses that may too easily
(and one must add, too under
standably) occur as the pres
ent crisis develops.
British Scandal Has Roots in Change
By ERIC SEVAREID
Miss Christine Keeler is not
likely to stand in the big
league with Claudia the Ro
man or Mad
ame Pompa
dour or even
Lola Montcz
but she, too
has affected
the political
command
over millions
of people and.
like Claudia,
Serareld she will have
her page in history because of
a parliamentary convulsion,
even though the accusatory
orations of Harold Wilson In
the fogs of Westminster are
not likely to stand with those
of Cicero tn the hot sun of the
Roman Senate. Mark down a
net loss for posterity.
e e
For the present, all manner
of thinkers are trying to find
"social significance in this
current example of the sexual
ingredient in high politics.
and one joins the effort with
trepidation. But what recurs
is a remark made to me by a
well known English writer at
a London dinner party not
long ago "My friend, you'll
discover one day that right
under the surface, this is a
nation of sex maniacs."
Beneath this remark, over
stated for effect, lies a consid
erable cargo of meaning.
There is no doubt that what
has been going on in London
since the war, especially
among the teen-agers and the
social upper classes, is in
violent contrast to the middle
class stereotype of a puritan
ical ethos. There is no doubt
that, as so much English lit
erature attests, the British
were a dancing, singing, hard
drinking, lusty people until
the industrial revolution
simultaneously produced a
middle class, the necessity to
keep the working class sober
and punctual, and the smug
and forbidding visage of Vic
toria as the public symbol of
the new puritanlsm.
There is no doubt that the
supposedly direct relationship
between poverty and crime
and vice is very much to be
doubted. Marx, alas, preceded
Freud, and only recently have
British socialists frankly
faced the fact, so painful to
their doctrines which reflect
ed little knowledge of human
nature, that affluence and full
employment have brought
more, not less, crime and pros
titution. One suspects that the
reason is simple enough:
There Is more easy money
around for the having.
Then is no doubt that a
large segment of the British
upper class, like a large seg
ment of Hollywood, has long
considered itself exempt from
the accepted rules of personal
conduct. Indeed, the public in
both countries has encouraged
this, as if most morality-bound
people in their routine lives
need an escape hatch, how
ever vicarious, for their un
conscious longings to bust
loose. In New York, thou
sands seek tickets for "Cleo
patra," chiefly motivated by
Miss Taylor's uninhibited sex
life; In London, the popular
press virtually makes its liv
ing on sex and is now engaged
in wholesale pandering with
the Profumo case, whatever
its piously hypocritical editor
ials may say. .
e e
What gives this case its
cutting edge, of course, is the
security aspect a Minister
of War has shared a call-girl
with a Soviet officer-spy
and it is here that I would,
somewhat hesitantly, add an
other interpretation to the
many already offered. It
seems to me that the social
and psychological effects of a
sudden loss of national power
in the world are akin to those
of defeat in war.
I would not equate London
today with the cesspool that
was Berlin in the early
twenties, but in Britain, even
in the realm of government,
certain stays and fastenings
have surely come loose. Neu
rotic resentment against
America is part of this insta
bility in a people once famous
for their steadiness. I think
there is also a general slack
ening of efficiency and per
sonal dedication in British
government.
This was probably Inevit
able for the simple reason
that what British leaders do.
say and think no longer af
fects the whole world; they
are no longer an example for
everyone. Bereft of a great
role, the severe standards re
quired of greatness must
wither; the best men of a gen
eration must relate their lives
to something bigger than
themselves if they are to ba
big; where the puddle grows
small, the frogs, with few ex
ceptions, will shrink in size.
This is the core of tha
malaise in the British "estab
lishment," whose very reason
for existing is vanishing. A
Wellington, whose class as
well as whose fame was
secure, could say, "Publish
and be damned" to a black
mailing ex-mistress. No Brit
ish leader today could do that,
e
Even twenty years ago a
Profumo case would not have
happened not this way.
The man would have been in
stantly out, or the case suc
cessfully smothered and the
damage repaired in private;
too much would have been at
stake. There would never
have been this bumbling and
fumbling, with events getting
entirely out of hand. The
wrong mistresses In the wrong
place have shaken the gov
ernments of various comic
opera Ruritanias. If this is
something new for Britain it
is because this is a new
Britain.
(Dittributed 1983, by
The Hall Syndicate, Inc.)
(All Rights Reserved) '