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Flight o' Time
Medford and Jackson County
History from the files of The
Mall Tribune 10, 20, 30, 40
and SO years ego.
10 YEARS AGO
Sept. 8. 153 (Tuesday)
Jackson county's forest fire
situation appeared to be under
control today, as all known
blazes were either out or being
mopped up.
Today was the opening day of
school for a number of commu
nities in Jackson county, with
some already under way as
early as Sept. 1 and some still
due to start.
20 YEARS AGO
Sept. 8. 1043 (Wednesday)
Italy unconditionally quits war.
From Arthur P e r r y 's "Ye
Smudge Pot" column: "Kap
Kubli of Portland is rusticating
in the Applegate, a section
where he first saw the light of
dav. He says he never felt bet
ter since he played first base
for Jacksonville.
30 YEARS AGO
Sept. 8, 1933 (Friday)
Gen. Hugh S. Johnson scents
"big business plot" to wreck
NRA.
Pear shipments from valley
to date total 304 cars.
40 YEARS AGO
Sept. 8, 1923 (Saturday)
Mass meeting planned to raise
Medford quota of Japan relief
funds.
Dr. R. E. Green and Bill
Issacs catch two steelhead near
mouth of Little Bulte.
50 YEARS AGO
Sept. 8. 1913 (Monday)
Jackson county fair and pear
show opens tomorrow.
Burglars ransack two Med
ford residences.
What's Your I.Q.?
Nina or ten correct Is superior;
seven or eight Is excellent; five or
sn Is good.
1. What nickname was given
to King Richard the First, of
England?
2. Was Silas a companion of
Jesus, Peter, or Paul?
3. How many ciphers must he
added to the figure one to ex
press a qmntillion?
4. Name the husband of Min
nehaha. 5. A presently proposed treaty
with Canada would increase
what Pacific Northwest re
source? 6. What is the meaning of the
colloquial expression "staff of
life"?
7. What was the previous
name of Leningrad?
8. Does a viilin have four,
five, or six strings?
9. What Is meant by the
Fourth Estate?
10. In what city Is there a
great fish market known as
Billingsgate?
Answers: 1. Lion Hearted. 2.
Paul. 3. Eighteen. 4. Hiawatha.
S. Hydro-electric power. (I.
Bread. 7. St. Petersburg (also
Petrograd). 8. Four. 9. The
Press. 10. London.
I niwspami
Km
SEPTEMBER 8, lWvJ
Why Barry Has No Chance
It has been said repeatedly in this column
that Sen. Barry Goldwater would not have a
chance of being elected President of the U.S.
Why?
Because despite his own attractive personal
qualities he is a political troglodyte, whose phi
losophy of government is essentially negative.
We know pretty much from his speeches and
writings what he is AGAINST. But what is he
FOR?
A MONG other things, he is against federal
civil rights legislation, Social Security (he'd
make it "voluntary"), the graduated income tax,
almost all government spending (except for the
military), all farm subsidies, public housing,
urban renewal, aid to depressed areas, medical
care through social security ... the list goes on
and on.
What is he for? It's a bit difficult to pin
down, for he is "for" a lot of high-sounding but
nebulous moral strictures, without becoming spe
cific about what he would do to solve this na
tion's most pressing problems.
Much, of course, he would leave to the states
which in the past have shown they cannot han
dle them, which is so very often the reason the
federal government has had to step in.
IN MANY other areas, if his speeches and col-
umns are to be believed, he'd pull the govern
ment out altogether, with no assurance that cur
rently successful programs would or could be
continued.
Ralph McGill, editor of the Atlanta Consti
tution and a nationally-syndicated columnist, re
cently ouoted an editorial
year-old editor of a weekly newspaper in Cal
houn, Ga., who had been reading benator Gold
water's writings.
Mr. McGinty said:
"I just don't want to go backward with Goldwater. I
don't want to go back to the 1890s, which may have been
the golden age for a handful of Goldwaters but was pretty
tough for a few million McGintys, Joneses, Browns, Mac
Tavishes, Palewskis and other immigrants working long hours
for a wage that provided bare existence.
"I don't want to go back with Barry to the time when
the people of this country did not have such 'socialistic'
schemes as rural mail delivery and rural electrification;
when we had 'poor houses' and 'poor farms' and 'pest houses'
instead of social security and public welfare, instead of 'so
cialistic' city and county hospitals and communicable disease
centers.
"I don't want to go back, because I have already lived
through that period, and, though cherishing many fond memo
ries of those days, believe me when I say this is a much better
day for a larger percentage of people."
THESE are the reasons among others that
Senator Goldwater could never be elected
President. This is the reason that he is not at
all likely to get the Republican nomination.
For the leaders of ,
the ones who are in the veal seats ot power
know what would happen to that party of Gold
water, by some fluke, were to be elected. It would
simply destroy the party.
It is even widely speculated that the Republi
can kingpins might just might allow Goldwa
ter to take the nomination, but only if they were
morally certain he would be soundly defeated.
Still, we do not expect that to happen. For
they know, as do millions of others, that, in
the words of the Pendleton East Oregonian, "it
would be tragic to have a man in the White
House whose philosophy is so completely out of
tune with the realities of the second half of the
20th century." E. A.
Speak - - Or Stay Silent?
Should leaders lead?
"neutral" on matters of public importance when
a controversy is involved?
Gov. Mark Hatfield
member of the State Game Commission lor
"straddling the fence" on a proposal to close
Oregon's inland waters to commercial fishing.
This is a matter of "great public interest," he
declared.
Well, the tax referral is of "great public
interest" too, far more so than the fish measure.
But we haven't heard a peep out of the Gover
nor in criticism of the State Board of Higher
Education for refusing to issue a statement advis
ing voters not to sign the tax referral petitions.
IF THE Board of Higher Education "properly
questioned the advisability of such action by a
state agency" (in the words of the Oregon Vot
er), why is the Game
the coals for a similar reticence?
What is the essential difference between the
two cases?
The Governor explosively demands a state
ment of position from the Game Commission on
a proposed initiative, yet is silent when the. State
a propose
Board of
Higher Education declines to issue a
statement of position on
Is it, perhaps, a case of whose ox is gored?
ASA MATTER of fact, we're inclined to agree
with the Governor (in the Game Commission
matter) that public officials and agencies DO
have a responsibility to make known their views.
They, after all, are the ones who know, or should
know, best what the issues are, and should make
this knowledge available to the voting public.
We believe that the State Board of Higher
Education should have stated its views on the
referral measure as several of its members wish
ed to do.
We grant that it is risky to stick one's neck
out in a controversial matter. But, as HST used
to say, "If you can't stand the heat, stay out of
the kitchen." E.A.
by J. Koy McGinty, !
the Republican party
Or should they stay
the other day berated a
Commission rakeri over
a proposed initiative.
"Dear Nikita It Was Interesting To See
Your Test-Ban Treaty, Which You Can Put
Away In The Same Place You Keep
Your Missiles"
Today & Tomorrow
By Walter
r lflfl.1. The
MR. KENNEDY ON VIET NAM
In his television interview with
Walter Cronkite, President Ken
nedy said, so at least it sounded,
that South Viet
Nam can w i n
the war if the
Saigon govern
m e n t r e
forms. It must
recapture the
popular support
which it has lost
in the past two
months by
"changes in pol-
Lippmann
icy and perhaps with personnel.
This amounted to telling Diem
to disentangle himself from the
clutches of his family.
It is hard to believe the Presi-
dent really thinks that this will
or can be done, or that he thinks
that if it were done, South Viet
Nam could proceed to win the
war. For the objective of the
military operation which we are
supporting is not to win the
guerrilla war, but to contain it.
This is not because President
Kennedy and President Eisen
hower have not wanted to win,
but because it is for all practi
cal purposes impossible to win
a guerrilla war if there is a
privileged sanctuary behind the
guerrilla fighters.
'FHIS proposition was demon--1
strated vividly in another
nig guerrilla war in which we
have intervened. That was the
war in Greece. That war was
won by the non-Communist
Greeks, but and the but is
crucial only after Tito closed
the Yugoslav frontier against
the Communist Greeks. When
the guerrilla fighters could no
longer retire into Yugoslavia to
be re-equipped and rested, they
were defeated.
It is reasonably certain lhat
the Communist guerrillas, the
Viet Cong, cannot be defeated
in South Viet-Nam as long as
they have an open line to North
Viet-Nam. The key question
about WINNING the war is
whether the Viet Cong can he
cut off from its base of supplies
in the north. If it cannot be, a
military solution is most im
probable.
WE can he sure that II is quite
beyond the capacity of
Diem's government, or of any
other Saigon government, to cut
the supply lines to the north.
Only the United States could
do that, and then only if we
were willing to pay the price.
If we decided on a military
Try and Stop Me
By BENNETT CERF
COLONEL DUFFY reports that on Route 66, near Bloom
ington, Illinois, a motorist pulled into a fiUing station
and slipped the attendant a note and a dollar bill. The note
read, "My wife is in the
bade scat, concealing un
der the car rug, a chair
leg with n bent nail in
the end. Whenever I go
over 50 miles an hour,
she wallops mo over the
head with the club." The
attendant called the state
police, who flagged down
the car end confiscated
the weapon.
Duffy's caption for this
story Is "Wife Begins at
Fifty."
In Westchester, iui earn
est young miss was mighty nnhappy over her report card. "But ; canv cancerous country can be lapse in 1940, but there is some
my dear" consoled her mother, "you've gotten aa 'A' In every- withdrawn from the big power cause of his feeling that Bri
thing. 'What .man could you poesiMy mj struggle, neutralized and. mi-, tain will never wholeheartedly
Bniarung ock a war, loe oras gm poimeu 10 : n laerranc
Hon lino jurt under her name
demanded. "In Sex they guv me an JT and I didn't even know
we were todylng it."
Hank Meyer took hU enchanting' little thre e-renr-otd daughter
with him into a voting booth. After he had pulled down a num
ber of lovers, ho naked her, "See how lf done?" "Yes, Daddy, X
awe," she replied, her eyea shining. "Now Where's the gum?"
O Wt, hr Bennett Cart Platrftuted by Klnf features 8 judicata
MEDrORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREGON
Lippmann
Washington Pout
solution, we should have to op
erate directly against North
Viet-Nam, presumably by oc
cupying its capital of Hanoi in
order to cut the supply lines
to the guerrillas.
But we should have to expect
and be prepared for a Red Chi
nese retort in the form of in
vasions anywhere along the
frontier of what used to be
called Indo-China. For us, this
would almost certainly mean a
war of the type and on the
scale of the Korean war. If we
then escalated the war by using
nuclear weapons, nobody can
predict the end of it all.
'THE price of a military victory
-1 in the Viet-Namese war is
higher than American vital in
terests can justify. The Chinese,
of course, know this and fortun
ately they know, too, that the
price of a military victory for
them is prohibitive.
Sneaking for ourselves, we
have made it manifest that Indo-
China is not a paramount in
terest of the United States by
keeping our intervention in
Indo-China limited and more or
less undeclared. We are, as the
President has just said, trying
to help the South Viet-Namese
to win THEIR, not our, war. In
terms of power politics, this
amounts to saving that South
Viet-Nam is an important sec
ondary interest, but that it is
not a primary vital interest of
the United States.
Our intervention in Indo-China
is to prevent Red China from
absorbing the great natural re
sources of Southeast Asia. In
this we are not alone. This is
also the interest of Britain and
of Australia and of the Com
monwealth.
IT IS.
1 has i
as General De Gaulle
nas lust reminded us. an in
terest of France that the coun
tries of Indo-China should be
independent and unconouered
it is a vital interest ot India,
which would be dangerously out
flanked if Red China swept
down through Burma and Indo
China to Singapore.
Last but not least, it Is a
very great interest of the Soviet
Union to limit the espansion
of Red China during its present
aggressive phase.
Assuming that no dramatic
collapse of the present position
in Saigon is imminent, we shall
have time to begin talking about
these larger considerations.
on the report card. "Look," he
Matter of Fact bv joS.Ph aip
ici New York Herald Tribune Syndicate
IF THE ANALYSTS
ARE WRONG
NEW DELHI, India If you
ask the great but tired and dis
appointed man who leads India
whether he ex-
pects a n other
Chinese attack
this autumn, he
replies that he
supposes t h e
odds are about
even "I think
some thing.
Prime Minister
Nehru says in
a tone of resignation. "But I am
not sure. Nowadays, I have a
bad half hour to get through
every morning when I must read
me report of our charge' d af
fairs in Peking."
You get the impression that
the last Chinese attack has all
but broken some vital spring
or other in the complex charac
ter ot tnis remarkable world
figure. And this is another rea
son, along with the increasing
venom of Peking's dealings
with Delhi, for being worried by
the obvious possibilities of a re
newed Chinese offensive on the
Indian frontier.
rpHE more practical reasons
for being worried were given
in the previous report in this
space. Recapitulating briefly,
the Chinese have made all the
necessary preparations for an
offensive on a rather major
scale. The Indians, meanwhile,
being as yet unprepared for
mountain fighting, have lett a
large part of the eastern fron
tier the Northeast Frontier
Agency as a military vacuum.
The American official analysts
nonetheless reportedly believe
that the Chinese will not resume
the offensive. The test of this
judgment will come soon, when
the monsoon ends and the favor
able campaigning season begins
in mid or late September.
The analysts apparently base
their judgment on two main
sets of lines of reasoning. First
of all, they use an astonishingly
high figure for the tonnage of
supplies consumed by a Chinese
division in combat. On this
basis, they dubiously argue that
the Chinese cannot support a se
rious offensive effort on such a
distant front.
SECOND, the analysts also
argue, or so it is said, that
the Chinese have much to lose
and very little to gain, at least
for the long run, by renewing
their attack on India at this
time. At this moment, one must
add, a contrary judgment is
even more easy to reach.
In brief, the Chinese certainly
must consider the long range
problem of hanging on to any
territory they may seize from
the Indians. But the gains now
to be won by inflicting another
smashing defeat on the govern
ment of Jawaharlal Nehru are
infinitely larger than the con
siderable gains from last year's
attack.
This is because the Soviet
Union is now quite openly sell
ing arms to India, and India is
now getting American aid on a
considerable scale. Botn U. a.
and Soviet prestige are in fact
committed here now, which was
not the case before. And another
successful Chinese attack will
not just be a body blow to the
standing in Asia of the. two na
tions which are Peking's most
hated enemies.
In these circumstances, when
the Chinese temptation must be
so strong and the stakes in the
game have heen so vastly in
creased, you would expect to
see much insurance being taken
out against the possibility that
Hie analysts will prove wrong.
Maybe this is happening in se
cret. One must pray that it is.
But one must also note that no
13
France Can Talk, But Cannot Yet Act
Bv ERIC SEVAREID
"The facts may prove me I of the General that "he has a
wrong, but history will prove me tightrope walker's love for the
right," President deGaulle is i vertigo of vast heights ... it is
supposed to have slid in justi- j ... the impossible, the unheard
cation of his effort to re-orient of enterprise, the seemingly un-
' the whole post -
war "Grand;
Design for a
unified Europe
,'iin close assnci-
sf'.'I. i ation with the
,2. united States,
Now
DeGaulle
launched
has
anot her o n e -
I man interven-
i SFv.rnii Hon, the sheer
: audacity of which has again un
i strung the nerves of overburd
: ened American policy planners,
i History may indeed prove that
, the United States cannot sue
I cessfully act as military midwife
; to the rebirth of a secure and
independent South Vietnam, but
. present facts do not provide the
slightest encouragement for the
L'l VldUlie Vll "W Ulttl tlldl yUlll I-
, u, . . ,., m(icfjmtev secured
against Communist China
I But all Western miscalcula- rope, limited as it has been. NATO and at the Common Mar- and resources to back it up. That
' tions of DeGaulle for the last hut there is some rause (or his ket and the first is now par-; has always been the fatal dif
, 20 years spring from underesti-; feeling that we will eventually alyzed, the second reduced In its j ficulty with DeGaulle's visions
i mating his belief in the politi-; reduce our commitment there, ! vision and tending towards a , of new roles for his country to
i cal miracle and in himself, and and thnt Europeans miRht he j mechanism for economic pro-1 play. France can speak greatly,
! his personal assumption that thp i able belter to negotiate with j tectionism. j but it cannot as yet act greatly
I two are synonymous. Curtis ! R u s s i a over Germany than! Now there Is some evidence j and until it can, the speech con
ICate, writing in" the "Atlantic Americans. He has resented that he sees stalemate in the founds us all.
insurance policy can be discov
ered by normal inquiries.
IT IS widely supposed in
Washington, for instance, that
the Chinese will be deterred
i from attacking oy tne prospect
! of Indian Air Force bombing
of their exposed Tibetan supply
lines. A joint Indian-American
air exercise is scheduled for
I November (too late, in any case,
' to be effective this fighting
thev may do!season)' Tnls 18 supposedly de-
signed to test the possibility
of American air defense for In
dian cities, which would then
release the Indian Air Force for
more aggressive action.
As a practical fact, however,
India's few socres of Canberra
bombers would have about as
much efect as so many gnats
or flies on the Chinese roads
through Tibet. Keeping roads
out of use by an enemy demands
round-the-clock bombing at low
levels unless nuclear weap
ons are employed, of course.
The Canberras cannot go in low
on the Himalayan heights in
daytime, much less by night.
Other such points might be
made, and none of them would
be encouraging. To be sure, if
Prime Minister Nehru's esti
mate of the odds is correct,
there is one chance in two that
the event will justify the opti
mism of the American analysts.
Yet one cannot help but feel
that we should have done bet
ter with less of the reckless,
virtuous enthusiasm which so
often seems to prevail in the U.
S. Embassy in Delhi, and with
more hard-headed calculation of
risks and advance planning to
meet potential dangers. For if
the analysts are wrong, the
damage done to the U. S. will
be just as grave as the damage
to India.
In the Day's News
By FRANK JENKINS
Mishmash of the news:
London's Big Ben clock,
which every tourist has seen,
stopped for 52 minutes the oth
er day and for eight minutes
less than an hour Londoners
in the area of the Parliament
building were left with an un
easy feeling that something ter
rible was about to happen.
Without Big Ben's booming
voice, that part of London just
isn't quite itself.
What happened.'
Later investigation revealed
that a workman who had been
tinkering with the big clock had
gone off and left a paint brush
in its innards.
BIG BEN is the great bell in
the great clock in the clock
tower of the Parliament build
ing. It weighs 13'2 tons, and
was cast in 1858, a little more
than a century ago.
The big clock that strikes the
hours on Big Ben has four
dials, each 22V4 feet in diame
ter. The minute hands are 14
feet long and the hour hands
are 9 feet long. The numbers
around the dial are two feet
high, and the minute spaces are
a foot square.
The big clock got of its rou
tine once before and boomed
forth 13 strokes at midnight
which upset Londoners no end.
There's an old saying to the
effect that every dog is entitled
to one bite, so one supposes
that Big Ben ought to be en
titled to two mechanical upsets
in 106 years
fVUESTION-
Why does a rat purr?
Did you
that one?
ever ask yourself
WELL, West Germany's big
Max Planck Research Insti
tute has spent ten years trying
to find the answer. The other
Monthly." put it well in saying
! obtainable objective which have
always haunted his imagina-
: Hon.
i Depending upon
what
h e
thinks France can
offer Viet
Nam in tangible form, DeGaulle
i is in a nositinn to exert a cpr-
i tain amount of blackmail upon
! the United Stales in our rela-
tion ship to Viet Nam, just as he
is in a positon to exert black-
mail on Britain in her relation -
ship to Europe and the Common j say nothing of the current mood ; wring, their hands. But if a De
Market. One way or another, he j of the Chinese leaders, argues j Gaulle gesture toward the Latin
is determined to play a great I against the idea. j land amounts to no more than
role, and where it cannot be pos- j . , political theatrics, it will prob-
Hive in nature he does not at
all mind its being negative.
Once again, irrational emo-
tions of resentment are mixed
with realistic appraisals. He in
'tensely resented Britain's role
' HUE IJIhj; dUU HI Ifl ritlll.ll iur;n milian wmniva oilU
commit herself to Eurooe. He
has intensely resented the post- j and ended up having to give j a vision becomes only a distrac
war American hegemony in Eu-1 that country' sway. He leaped at i tion when there is not the power
GREAT IDEAS...
ill
SEXUAL ABNORMALITY
Dear Dr. Adler: Homosex
uality is a topic thai writers
have only recently dared ex
plore in our popular maga
zines and journals. It seems,
from what I have read, that
very little is really known
about It. What do the writers
and thinkers of the Great
Books have to say about ho
mosexuality? Is it considered
a sickness, a community prob
lem, or an abnormality that
if given socially acceptable
outlets is really no problem at
all? Should it be subject to
legal punishment or not?
Robert B. Fox
1459 North 400 West
Bountiful, Utah
Dear Mr. Fox: Sexual attrac
tion between persons of
the same sex has occurred in
practically all times, places, and
cultures. The numerous refer
ences to homosexuality in the
Bible indicate that it was one
of the facts of life in the ancient
Near East. In the Old Testa
ment, male homosexuality is
condemned as an abomination
meriting the death penalty, and
there are several admonitions
against male homosexual pros
titution, which was a feature of
some ancient pagan cults. The
story of the men of Sodom in
Genesis has traditionally been
understood to refer to homosex
ual practices.
In the New Testament, Paul
condemns the "unnatural" rela
tions between men and between
women as the consequence of
their turning away from God,
and he proclaims that the "ef
feminate" shall not enter the
Kingdom of God. Similarly, the
Church Fathers inveighed
against "the sins of Sodom,"
and homosexuality was declared
a grave offense in church law.
And Thomas Aquinas declared
that homosexuality is wrong be
cause it is contrary to "right
reason" and to "the natural or
der of the sexual act proper to
mankind."
Among the ancient Greeks, on
the other hand, homosexuality
day it said it thinks it has it.
Dr. Paul Leyhausen, chief of
the Institute's animal psycho
logy department, says cats purr
for the same reason human be
ings smile they are happy or
they are mixed up-
He says the feline world has
a strict class system. Some
cats, he adds, are status seek
ers. A cat that wants to hob
nob with higher class cats will
use the snob or diplomatic purr
to curry favor. There is also
an anti-snob or democratic
purr. An aristocratic cat will
purr in such a way to gain the
companionship of low caste
cats.
OLD cats that purr often, he
says, are having a bad time.
Purring during their advanced
stage of life is a symbolic act
a retrogression to kitten-like
behavior.
Thus a grown-up cat purrs to
pretend it is a little kitten
again. It does this to ward off
potential danger as if to say:
"you mustn't hurt me I'm just
a tiny little kitten."
Dr. Leyhausen says purring
is good in kittens. A kitten
purrs to show it is happy, just
as some babies gurgle.
HMMMMMMMMMM.
Aren't scientists wonderful?
How could we get along with
out them?
I A m e r i c a ' s replacement of
France in what was lndo-China,
but there is some cause for his
feeling that a clear victory over
the Viet Cong is not possible.
But whatever merit there may
be in his long range vision of
a Russia joining Europe in the
face of the "yellow peril", it
j seems impossible to find merit
his current assumption that
in
' communist China would loin
France or the United States or!
any western combination in re
specting a neutralized and re-
; unified Viet Nam or a South
Vietnam alone. All practical ex-
1 penence in Korea and Laos, to
j Wherever he sees a stalemate
in great and critical attairs, De
Gaulle seems to feel that he
must act, and in a vaulting leap.
But the result is rarely as he an-
j ticipates. In one leap he freed
inereDy neipea set oil tne tra- grams, nowever Badly they are
gic explosion and anarchy in the going, without the provision of a
Belgian Congo. He leaped at a j workable alternative rail. An al
settlement ot the Algerian war i tentative in terms of an idea or
From the Great Books
By Mortimer J. Adler
(c) 1963, Publishers Newspaper Syndicate
was permitted and even ap
proved in many communities.
The body of a young man was
regarded as the peak of human
beauty, and it was regarded as
normal and proper for an older
man to be smitten with the
charms of a youth. Even Socra
tes, the Greek epitome of wis
dom and virtue, was susceptible
to such attractions, according to
Plato and Xenophon.
Homosexuality in Greece was
a fact as well as a cultural ideal.
The law of Athens recognized
it as an actual practice and pro
vided against certain abuses.
However, in theory at least, the
emphasis was on "platonic"
love between men, expressed
mainly in noble deeds and man
ly character. It was an accept
ed thing for an older man to
become the mentor of a favor
ite youth in the development of
the male virtues. Sensual indulg
ence and effeminacy w e r
frowned upon.
Of course, female homosexual
ity also occurred in ancient
Greece. Indeed, the term "les
bian" comes from Lesbos, the
island where the Greek poetess
Sappho lived with her girl
friends. However, the center of
interest in ancient Athens and
Sparta was on male virtue,
beauty, and friendship. Even to
day, when we discuss homosex
uality, we usually have male
homosexuality in mind perhaps
because we still think that men
are more important than wom
en, or because male homosexu
ality is a more widespread and
serious social problem.
Our present attitudes to this
subject have been influenced
largely by psychoanalysis and
by social studies showing the
universal prevalence of homo
sexuality. Freud made us aware
that the sexual impulse in the
earlier stages of human growth
is a many-sided thing with a va
riety of objects. Homosexuality
in adults, in this view, is the re
sult of a failure to attain the
normal, exclusive erotic inter
est in the other sex at the time
of maturity.
Other commentators see ho
mosexual impulses as latently
present at all stages of life.
They become manifest under
certain social conditions in
prison, in our society, or in or
dinary circumstances in soci
eties where homosexuality is
permitted or approved. D. J.
West, the author of a recent
study of the problem, even con
tends that "exclusive preference
for the opposite sex is an ac
quired trait, and involves the re
pression of a certain amount of
homosexual feeling which is nat
ural to the human being." This
view completely reverses tba
traditional Christian position
that homosexuality is unnatural
and perverse, as well as the
view of some medical men that
homosexuality is the result of a
constitutional abnormality.
Whatever the view of homo
sexuality, there is a growing
consensus among those who
have considered the problem
that public censure and legal
punishment are not the proper
means of handling it. The offi
cial British committee which
studied the problem issued a
report in 1957 recommending
that homosexual acts in private
between consenting adults no
longer be actionable as criminal
offenses. British churchmen,
who take the traditional Chris
tian view that homosexuality is
a grave sin, have indicated
qualified agreement with these
recommendations.
American effort to save Latin
America from hunger, anarchy
and Communism, and we should
not be too suprised if he leaps
once again perhaps making a
grand tour of South America,
emphasizing the common Latin
heritage and culture of their
j opte and the French. If he is
prepared to lead a combined
European foray Into Latin
America in the form of a ser
ious and generous economic aid
program, closely co-ordinated
with the Alianza, many
Americans would clap not
; ably do more harm than good.
lt may be somewhat unfair
and oversimple to say so, but
the sum total of Gaullism out-
i side of France seems to amount
, uli aimtg w guillg pi W-
o