Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989, December 29, 1963, Image 4

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    SUNDAY,
MZDFOROtwTRIBUNt
"Everyone In Southurn Oregon
Raadi The Mill Trlbuna"
Published DaUy except Saturday by
MEDrORD PRINTING CO
33 North fir St., Ph, 77il-6l41
""ROBERT W RUHJU Editor
?1ERB GREY Adverttilnf Manauer
liERALD T LATHAM, But Mgr
ERIC v. ALLEN JR.. Mni! Editor
EARL H ADAMS. City Editor
HARRY CHIPMA.N. Tele Editor
RICHARD JEWETT. Sporta Editor
OLIVE STARCHEH Womena Edltoi
DALE BRICKSON, ClrculallonMtr
An Independent Newapapel
Entered aa aecond claaa matter at
Mediord. Oregon under Act ol
March 3, 1B07
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Advertlains R.prntnll l:
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NEWSAI
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ASSOCIATION
NATIONAL EDITORIAL
Member California Newipaper
PnoJahera AltoclaUon
Flight o' Time
Medford and Jackson County
History from tn files or Th
Mail Tribun. 10, 20, 30, 40
and SO yean ago.
10 YEARS AGO
Dec. 29, 1953 (Tuesday)
Mercy Flights air amulance
plane carries its 200th patient.
Miss Colleen Hope left Sunday
by plane for Redding, Calif.,
where she will visit with Miss
Palsy White, formerly of this
city.
20 YEARS AGO
Dec. 29, 1913 (Wednesday)
Medford Elks lodge held a
"mortgage burning" ceremony
celebrating the end of 29 years
of indebtedness for construc
tion ot its temple.
. From Aruthur Perry's "Ye
Smudge Pot" column: "Cnpl.
E. U. (Eddie) Dumo sends
word (rom England ho and LI.
Col. (Cannonball) Jackson met
in London, and jolly well had a
ripping time.
30 YEARS AGO
Dec. 29, 1933 (Friday)
Bernie Hughes, former Med
ford High and University of
Oregon football player, listed
as tentative starter in annual
East-West Shrine game at San
Francisco.
Local markets offer ' sirloin
steak or T-bone at BVi cents a
pound, beef roasts at 6 cents a
pound and six pounds of ham
burger for 25 cents.
40 YEARS AGO
Tire. 29, 11123 (Saturday)
Medford bureau tops state In
number ot automobiles regis
tered with a total of 7,774; Port
land was second with 7,2111.
Jackson County Republicans
sent congratulations to hen.
Charles McNary after his mar
riage to his former secretary in
Chicago.
.',0 YEARS AGO
Dec. 29, 1913 (Monday)
A group of young Talent men
mvoio out u complaint in police
court asserting that they were
bilked out of $llt in a due
game.
lv W. Miller arrived from
California to serve as fish oil
tuialisl on the Rogue River.
What's Your I.Q.?
Nine or ten cotreel it tuperior;
icvcn or eight it excellent; fiva or
it it good.
1. Is the Zambezi river in
Asia. Africa or South America?
2. In mathematics, what is
the accepted value of Pi?
3 What is the name of the
Kegrn Republic on the west
coast of Africa?
1. How did the Heiihmarshal
Herman Goering meet his
death?
r. Under what ancient ssstem
was a tenant known as a vas-
sat'
6 Cinderella's slipier
was
made ol what material."
7. What was Ihe final capital
o( the confederacy?
A. Who is generally regarded
as the father ol the modern sub
marine? 9. The prefixes "semi" and
"domi" have Ihe same mean
ing: what Is that meaning ."
10. Correct the following sen
tence
The government begun
he work of rebuilding
r: i. Africa, s. a.ititi.
al once Ihe
Answers:
X Liberia. 1. by (wallowing pul
mn. S. Feudal aystcm. 6. (,1ms.
7. Danville. Va. 8. Simon Lake.
. Half. in. "The government
began . . ."
4
DECEMBER 29, 1963
Airport Enlargement Needed
The main runway at the Medford municipal
airport is just over 5,400 feet long. To meet fed
eral specifications for the type of planes now
using it, it should be 6,100 feet. And, to accom
modate larger and faster aircraft which the fu
ture may bring to this area, it should be at least
6,800 feet in length, and possibly more.
The airport, in short, once a municipal pride
and joy, is now obsolescent and inadequate.
What should be done about it? And who
should pay for the expensive job of enlargement?
These are the questions that are facing the
city, the county, and airport users these days.
SIMPLE extension of the runway to 6,100 feet
ivnnlrl post nhnnr o niiartpi'.millinn rlnllyvs
" " -.www ' " ' " -I '
But other capital improvement plans for the air
port bring the total up to about V-2 million.
These include extending runway and ap
proach lighting, extension and widening of taxi
ways, fencing, additional hangars, a warmup
ramp, and so on.
The federal government would help pay the
cost of runway extension on a matching basis
(about 56 per cent federal funds, and 44 per cent
local funds), but only on the basis of a 6,100 feet
runway.
HPHUS IT appears that we are faced with ex--1
penditures on the order of many hundreds
of thousands of dollars to
what it should be.
The city of Medford
the airport. And it will continue to have a strong
interest in it. But no longer, it seems to us, should
it bear the whole, or even a major Dart of the re
sponsibility. Passengers
parts of this county (and
as well) use the airport.
bince airports are very
almost inevitably they must be operated by one
level of government or another sometimes co
operatively by city and county, sometimes by a
port authority, and in at least one case in Oregon,
by a port agency which is supported voluntarily
by one city and two county governments.
AN INVESTIGATION of the various possibil
iilnc! l'a nrtur llnrlnp nnrl va nva rrlarl
to note that the county appears interested in as
suming a rightful role in helping out.
Ihe airport plays too large and important a
part in the economy of the entire valley to allow
it to become wholly outdated. It once was one
of the finest airports in the state, and still ranks
second only to Portland in
airlines providing service, the Medford airport
ranks ahead ot both bugene and Pendleton air
ports, which are the third and fourth in the state.
But if it is to retain
keep up to date so that
equipment, it must oe
IT IS OUR view one
a number of people interested in airport
development that it
job, it should be done tirst class, and in a manner
which will satisfy requirements for the foresee
able future.
A 6,100 foot runway will probably be ade
quate for the next five years or more. But the
time is coining when new types of aircraft, re
quiring more landing and takeoff length, will be
in service, but would be barred from schedules
here unless the runway is further extended.
It would be short-sighted and penny-wisc-pounrl-foolish
to do only half the job that ulti
mately will need doing. E. A.
He May Be Back
IIOWCll Appllllg S announcement that he Will j
not. seek rp-plnrlimi ns SruTPtavv nf Kt:itr npvt 1
year will remove, even if temporarily, one of the
most vigorous and colorful political figures in the
state trom a position of prominence,
"Tiny" Appling has a mind of his own, and
he isn't a bit reticent about expressing his views,
often in language that
the Darn, lie also nail,
saving grace of a sense of humor.
(lie was asked recently if it bothered him
to be mis-quoted in the press. "Mock, no," he
said in effect. "The time I get into trouble is
when I'm quoted correctly.")
rESP!TE disclaimers and polite public utter-
ances, there has been little love lost be
tween Appling and (Jov. Mark Hatfield in recent
months, even though it was Hatfield who first
got Appling into politics, via appointment.
I here have been sharp clashes between the
Ivvn. bulb nnhlie unci iii
1 , I , '
uvi-ii ii(t.M-ii uu nii'iu
lie ims cNnioueu a
ilitical
COlliaee too
t tun. iji, um,
saying things that were
i ,. . i . . -
IU llUJ'll'tV IllC I'l'I'UllU lit. 1HU Ull llUl lllill 11V
was forthright often modified the effect.
HE ISN'T overly modest. But what politician
. i. i iii-i
is or, in tact, should be,'
WO Have Oil t'11 disagreed. Willi Appling S automatically arouses far tooj
views. Rut that dues not lessen our esteem for,much ba(l (e.-img --aithoiigh
him as a public servant and politician. SZ"
In ruling out a reelection bid, he lett the door also highly objectionable. I
just a bit ajar for future political activity, ore-: ... j
, sunlably when his fil
.. , , J . , e ,
more to his satisfacl
lin
i it nt
lion.
Ann, knowing t
..J 1 : a
.vim, ruimwuj; me
bee Sting, We'd llOt be surprised to see Howell
Annline's hat back in the l ine- before nvuiv limrr
vn'.-i h;ta In nn 1 V V 1 11101 c
jutis nae LOllC t. L,. A.
bring the airport up to
built and has operated
and shippers from all
Josephine and Siskiyou
seldom money-makers,
air traffic. With three
this leadership, and to
it can be used by new
expanded and improved
shared, incidentally, by
we are going to do this
would melt the paint off
in some measure
the 1
iv:itr nltliminh IhU 1ms
r;re .,. ,f
ituii.-! viit-vr in imwiuimi.
consmeranie (letrrec 01
Ilium occasion (loimr and
iipim tKLaMUU, oomj, am
not necessarily designed
, . i ,1 e.' ,i , i
V n, kn.- li ;ff;
f ini iriiu 11 ,-v till il uc cwv
:....t e .i. i
u uiL'llce til (lie poillicar
At The
lit u'aMiXiroPi po-ii-i-
JOHNSON'S ASSAULT
ON POVERTY
WASHINGTON - Too much
should not be expected (rom the
first stage of the coordinated
assault- on poverty in America,
which President Johnson will
propose to Congress after the
New Year.
In the present rancid situation
on Capitol Hill, it would be fu
tile as well as politically damag
ing for the President to ask for
another major spending program
at this time. Thus what he will
propose will necessarily be in
the nature of a pilot program.
The germ of the scheme which
the new President is now ex
panding and improving, was an
order given by his predecessor
"to do whatever the federal
government can do" about the
decaying, hideously distressed
coal mining counties of Eastern
Kentucky. President Kennedy
had been horrified by reports of
current conditions in this un
happy region.
II Y KENNEDY'S order, all the
" different tilings the Federal
government is authorized to do
to relieve distress everything
from the provision of school
lunches lo Social Security pay
ments was brought together in
a single plan of action. By ener
getic effort, the winter hardships
threatening the coal counties
were at least considerable dimi
nished. What President Johnson is
now considering is a much larg
er, nationwide effort lo improve
conditions in (lie most backward
and poverty-stricken rural areas
and the darkest of our urban
dark depths.
Legislation will be needed, not
only to complete or continue pre
viously proposed programs like
vocational education for the
functionally unemployed. Legis
lation will also he needed to as
sure a combined, centrally di
rected assault on povertv, with
all available weapons, wherever
a particularly slrcnmis effort is
required.
'pilERE arc two things to he
A said about this good begin
ning. In the first place, this
Johnson beginning contains ex
ceptionally welcome news to
every American with any souse
of citizenship. The news is that
President Johnson has at long
last recognized the basic prin
ciple that must underlie any at
tempt to solve Ihe problem of
poverty in the midst of afflu
I ence.
This principle is. quite simply.
I that discrimination in favor of
the distressed and underprivi
leged is nol merely practically
necessary; it is also morally un-
avoidable. Those who share in
the benefits of the affluent
I sociotv America has created
have no right to growl or grimi
'hie about extra investments to
. help the non-sharers
Slum area schools
are one
ni...
ions rase in point, and a
case, it is pleasant to retold.
that President Johnson has verv
, '""'""
Tl" n,im l"irf luantitirs
nonsense have been spoken
and written about "de facto
segregation" in the schools in
our great cities The attempt to
?hulll(' i:ml
i 'rom st'hot
'district is
shuttle children hack and forth
hool district to school
niw-imiklv imu.ikn II
, I 1 lAr. IHU HldllCr,
in truth.
whether Ihe slum areas are
muinl,. i,,l,ll.l Kt- P..e n
"""" .
wnile people. What matters is
,nat lhf Sl-n,wls ln such arras
"rc lmost ,nv"nnW' P00ll'r in
every respect, with meaner Pl.
I grounds, nastier buildings, few -
MLDFOKD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEUt'ORD,
Half
Matter
of Fact
Ey Joseph Alsop
tc) Vnv York Herald Tribune Syndicate
er and less qualified teachers,
and so on, than the schools in
the same city's middle class
areas.
This is the case, moreover,
although the schools in the slum
area have a vastly bigger job
to do. In the middle class areas,
much of the job can be left to
the children's home environ
ments. But in the slum areas,
there arc no books in the homes,
there is no space to study, there
is no hope in the hearts of too
many of the parents.
In short, the home environ
ment gives the children neither
the incentive nor the facilities
which they need to train them- j
selves for success in a high-
technical society. And there is
no place where these facilities
and this incentive can be pro
vided except in the schools.
IT ENCE the schools in the
1 slum areas need much larg
er investments per child not
much less than the middle class
areas, as at present, so that air
and sunlight and good teaching
and play space and study space
will give the children which the
slum area schools serve the op
portunity which every young
American ought to have. For
this purpose, discrimination in
favor of these schools is simply
unavoidable.
The objections of the Catholic
church to aid to education in
general certainly ought not to
apply, and probably will not ap
ply, to special aid to education
in the seriously under-privileged
urban and rural areas. If Presi
dent Johnson proposes special
test projects following these
rules, which he is considering
doing, he will be taking a vital
step in a necessary direction.
As to the other point needing
to be made about this beginning
of President Johnson's, it is a
straight, practical, dollars-and-cents
point. Even if the assault
on poverty ends by costing bil
lions. Ihe price will surely be
less than the long range cost
Ihe cast to (lie taxpayers, mind
you of leaving the ulcers of
poverty unhealed amid our gen
eral prosperity.
A Guardedly Optimistic Look
WW
By ERIC
SEVAREID
(l)IMrlliiilrd Hfil
Hv Thr 11.111
Svntltt-atr, lur.)
(All UlElil
itr-sr-rvrii)
Human beings are about to to be very difficult to see just; There has been measurable j had thought. In anv case, sim
turn over Ihe calendar page and where such an event could de- cause or President Johnson's Pic nationalism, especially the
say goodbye lo the fraction of i velop. There seem to be no like- claim before the United Nations ' brand-new nationalism of the
lime known as una. but there ly candidates not even Berlin, (hat, "The World has become a "emergent" peoples, is a more
is nothing much to suggest that , ... little safer, the wav ahead a powerful motivation than anv
" "'" ",,,,,u""' "
forms we tre turning over a
new leaf, that either sweet rea- little wild action, and no grand known as the "depolarization" j such conditions: the interests
son or senselessness will rule in confrontations. Indeed, il seems 0f the political world has con- of Communism cannot.
1MU Presumably, we sh a 1 1 fair enough to say that the out- tinned in this past vear. and al-1 " '
trudge along in our normal pro- standing characteristic of the most, as it were." against the Revolutions, coups, acts of ag
portions of general goodness nations in the past year was re- will of the great powers. Amer- gression there will be in the
and general cussedness. Still, , strain!. That is a long way from jca included. Small islands of year ahead: local Communist
the atmosphere contains suspic-1 peaceableness, but one of its i political strength or at least victories there may well be.
ion that affairs have been so or-1 prerequisites. s stubborness have emerged all 1 But there is little reason t o
i ant;iiiH uieiuM'nvs uuu cusst'ti-
ness will have harder going in
the coming year.
It is a little hard to believe
that, at home, we will repeat a
vear in which a President, a
Nccro leader and several little
girls were assassinated, the lnt-
ter within a church, sanctuary
even in the Middle Ages. It is
easier to believe that, in the
i world al large, we can repeat a
1 year in which the major forces'
OREGON
Soviets May Lose
U.N. Assembly Vote
For Bill Defaults
By RICHARD SPONG i to the two-year rule paid up be
The Soviet Union is a chancy : no ruling, and a showdown was
debtor, paying the bills it avoided.
chooses. The United States
found this out painfully in its
experience with Russia's lend
lease account after World War
II. The United Nations has
found it out in regard to special
assessments for the Congo and
Middle Eastern peacekeeping
forees. This deliberate policy of , dent of a special session. Short
non-support could cost Russia its j of such an emergency meeting,
vote in the General Assembly, j Russia's vote would come in
Article 19 of the U.M. Charter j jeopardy only at the regular ses
provides that a member owing sion next September,
the equivalent of two years' con-1 Ambassador Stevenson in a
trihiltlnnc "ctiall hara nn irnla ',
in the General Assembly." Adlai
E. Stevenson on Dec. 18 declar-
ed that the future of the U.N
as an "action agency" was
threatened by the refusal of the
Soviet Union to pay its share
of U.N. activities. He indicated
that the United States would in
sist on enforcing Article 19.
A day earlier the Russian
delegation had confirmed its re
fusal to pay the $36,984,971 it
owes for the Congo force and
the $15,638,166 it owes for the
Middle East. It holds both these
activities illegal.
The International Court of
Justice at The Hague on July
20, 1962 ruled that all members
of the United Nations are legal
ly obligated to pay expenses of
Ihe peacekeeping forces in the
Congo and the Middle East. The
Court divided on the issue 9 to 5
on the "advisory opinion" given
in response to a resolution of
the Assembly, adopted in De
cember 1961, asking the Court's
view.
Russia quite understandably
had opposed the Assembly reso
lution. Russia and the Commu
nist bloc in general profess to
believe that peacemaking as
sessments should be voted not
by the General Assembly but by
the Security Council, in which
Russia has a veto. Last Decem
ber the General Assembly voted,
76 to 17, to accept the World
Court's opinion.
Opposing the World Court
opinion were the Communist
bloc and Cuba, France, Jordan,
Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Syria,
and South Africa. The fact that
France takes a position on
peacemaking assessments re
markably like that of the Soviet
Union makes the whole subject
peculiarly delicate for the
United States and the West in
general.
Muhammad Zafrulla Khan,
president of a special session on
U.N. financing last spring, an
nounced that he would enforce
Article 19 in certain circum
stances, but Haiti, then subject
"Oh
llll
yes, and
election- ttcrm
year J m"J
O Ml
.,, S3 -M&
for dancer held pretty steady, ! the ideal kind of peace, but it is who push and drive the hard
in which the icebergs of the the kind we have, and it is serv-1 est against diversity, who strive
cold war melted a little,
least above the watcrline.
at
There is more reason now
than for some years to feci that
in the interactions among
Hons
espccially the great na-
tions, the forces for order are
siiunrr mdii uiu luiccs mi ui-
nrcier. likc an nuncncs, tnis one
could he proved wrong bv an
'overnight event, but it happens
'"vie " ,'"lk
among nations in 13. but very
No adventure remotely com-
' parable to the Soviet adventure
in Cuba in 1W2 was attempted;
even the tire-breathing (.hinese liances. as (he Russians have power adventures and confron
walked softly around Ihe borders been less able to exercise their tations seem less and less like
of India and made no noticeable , will within their system. One ly. Within this over-all straight
effort lo extend or intensify the cannot vet be sure, but there is jacket, the wildest antics of
war in Viet Nam At least for
the time being, they arc going
easy on Korea and Formosa, as
well- w
seem to
real risl
A pax
hatcver their talk, they
to have no stomach for
k of nuclear war
pax atomic, is by no means
Dr. Carlos Sosa Rodriguez,
president of the Assembly ses
sion which ended on Dec. 17,
said mat the decision on en
forcement involved political as
well as. legal issues, He declined
to say whether he would uphold
the rule if he were elected presi-
Inlouicinn intnrinau) nn Finn
television interview on Dec. 22
made it quite clear that the
United States would be pleased
if Russia and other delinquent
nations met their obligations
sufficiently to avoid a contest
over the vote forfeit. He also
explained that no question of
expulsion was involved, and
that by our interpretation of the
Charter, Russia would retain its
Security Council veto. Editorial
Research Reports.
In the Day's News
By FRANK JENKINS
From Washington:
The Johnson administration is
now expected to seek several
hundred million dollars for the
opening round of a new attack
on domestic poverty.
HOW WILL it
I.pI'r risk a
work?
guess.
These added hundreds of mil
lions of dollars will in effect be
printing press money because
they will be added to the hun
dreds of billions that we al
ready owe. But, temporarily,
the spending of them will create
an added demand for goods. For
a while, there will be an illusion
of new, prosperity, because the
production of the added supply
of goods will create new jobs.
But-
Because of the added demand
for goods arising out of the
sending of the new supply of
printing press money, prices
will tend to rise. Because of the
rise in prices, the time will soon
arrive when the added supply
of money will buy no more
THINGS than the former small
er supply of money would buy.
CO-
kJ The shot in the arm will
wear off quickly, and it will
soon be necessary to provide
another shot in the arm to
best wishes to you In '61!
ing its purpose tnis side of a
real spread of atomic weapons
into irresponsible hands. The
hands that now hold them arc
intensely, painstakingly respon-
j sible and are likely to remain so,
notwithstanding the efforts of
overheated authors to imagine
1 catastrophe by accident or
panic.
,
little brighter.
i Oniir- rlea.lv ilw. n
around Ihe world, and we have
been less able to exercise our
will within our svstem of al-
ihe chance that the great lesson
of this period will be that there
is safetv in numbers in a sense
not originally intended bv that
phrase in the sense of diver-
sity.
Since it is the Communists
GREAT IDEAS.
RACIAL PREJUDICE
Dear Dr. Adlcr: Bigotry
and prejudice have plagued
mankind for centuries. The
degree of prejudice has fluc
tuated in the history of civil-'
Ization, but it seems never to
disappear entirely. How have
the authors of the great hooks
viewed this problem, and
what were their solutions to
it?
Michael Langenbach
.116-5'Jth Place
Kenosha, Wise.
Dear Mr. Lagenbach: Preju
dice has varied in its rbjects at
different times. In former ages
it was directed mainly against
people of other cultures or re
ligions. Aristotle, for instance,
viewed the non-Greek peoples
create another illusion of easy
wealth for everybody.
T WORKS much the same as
it. Maybe in the form of a shot
in the arm, or a swallowed
pill. For a while, you feel like
a new person. It appears to you
that there isn't ANYTHING you
can't do.
For a few hours, it's a won
derful world you're living in.
You're a wonderful person. You
feel the urge to go out and
conquer new worlds.
Then
It begins to wear off.
WHAT TO DO?
Well, you take another shot
in the arm. And again you feel
a rise in your spirits. This rise
is for a shorter duration of time.
It wears off quicker. But while
it lasted, it was wonderful. So
you take another shot in the
arm. And then still ANOTHER
ONE.
And so on. You keep it up,
and in the course of time it no
longer gives you a lift. What to
do then? About all that remains
is to change your brand of
shots and do it all over again.
Eventually the time comes
when you're a wreck.
TT WORKS the same way with
this business of infusing the
economy with another shot of
printing press money every
time the economy begins to slow
down.
The world has had a lot of
experience with shots in the
arm. Both in the form of
hasheesh and in the form of
printing press money.
Always, in the course of time,
it turns out to be a flop.
PROBING question:
WHAT SHOULD W.
E DO?
EXPERIENCE points for us
the moral that there is no
such thing as something for
nothing. If we could have
something for nothing cither
in the form of dope or in the
form of printing press money
the time would have arrived
long ago when we would all be
lolling at our ease, in a world
where there would be plenty for
everybody to be had merely
by reaching out and picking
it up.
at 1964
tor a monolithic world, in their
own pattern, it seems reason
able to look at this developing
condition as a gain for the West
and what it stands for. The
strength of Western culture and
its economic systems are prov
ing far stronger than the Com-
i munists anticipated and far
! more of a lure and example for
U !:., ... ..
I me nuw nine nations man tney
.ideology, in the long ran our
interests can nrnsner n n rt . r
think that the naralvsis nf the
! great powers, impo'sd bv the
atom, will not continue. Great
small nations can be endurable,
If this is so. then the chief item
of business on the new calendar
of reasonable men, on both
sides of the Iron Curtain. Is to
! see that other nations do not
.obtain the atomic weapon.
from the Great Books
By Mortimer J. Adler
(e 1063, Publlihcn NewipapeJ Sjndlaui
as "barbarians"; he regarded
them as inferior to the Greeks
in culture and political institu
tions. Similarly, the Jews were
hated and persecuted because
of their religious beliefs until
fairly recent times, when their
ethnic origin became the object
of prejudice.
In nur riav. rare has rpnlarrl
religion and culture as the main
object of prejudice and discrim
ination. Race certainly affords
an obvious target of attack, be
cause skin-color and other racial
traits are usually written on a
man s lace ana are muicuit to
conceal. Appeals to a sense of
rapial irtantitv nnrl rlnminatmn
have been astonishingly, if la-
meniamy, successtui in our
"advanced" modern civiliza
tion.
The causes of prejudice are
milltinlA nnrl Hppn In Ihe first
place, prejudice satisfies cer
tain psychological needs. Many
persons line to nave oiner peo
ple to whom they can feel su
perior and whom they can push
around. They like to have some
one on whom they can vent
their aggressions with impunity,
and thereby alleviate their own
irustrations. ine Jews for cen
turies Oroviriprt F.llrnnpanc wilh
such an outlet, as was pointed
out oy sigmund Freud, t o
whom we owe the psychological
analysis oi prejudice.
Social and economic factors
also play a role in prejudice.
Attitudes nf Sllnerinrilv tnuat-H
Negroes rest on the concrete
Historical iacc mat negroes
have been an outcast or pariah
ClaSS Since thp arlipvl Have nt
our country. Originally chattel
siaves, since tneir legal eman
cipation they have lived in a
state of economic peonage, at
the bottom of the social ladder.
Discriminatory employ m e n t
policies restricting the better
jobs mainly to whites, and mak
ing Negroes the first to be laid
off, are a very tangible eco
nomic factor on the side of rac
ial prejudice. Such policies
profit those who get or keep the
jobs which Negroes are not per
mitted to hold. Residence in the
better neighborhoods or suburbs
is another mark of status and
"arrival" in our society, ind the
worth of this mark to its bene
ficiaries lies, among other
things, in its "lily-white" exclu
siveness. Of this type of prejudice, the
great American historian
George Bancroft once sagely re
marked, "The prejudices of ig
norance are more easily re
moved than the prejudices of
interest; the first are all blind
ly adopted, the second wilfully
preferred." Added to the selfish
appeal of special economic and
social privileges to those who
benefit from them, is the habit
ual ingraining of discrimination
until it becomes revered custom
and tradition. Prejudice
becomes a "way of life," which
we drink in with our mothers"
milk and take for natural and
right. Hence, we regard pro
posals to modify or abolish dis
crimination as subversive and
indecent.
However, as Freud has taught
us, things are not so certain and
secure deep down within us. We
fear the people whom we are
holding down, lest they retaliale
against us: and we tend lo hate
and loathe those whom we fear.
Then, too, we may in spite of
the influence of long-time cus
torn be disturbed by guilt feel
ings, becoming dimly aware of
the discrepancy between our
proclaimed religious and polit
ical ideals and our actual prac
tices. This at first mav make us
only angrier, self-defensive, and
more set in our prejudices. But
eventually we must emerge
from the vicious psychic circle
of fear, anxiety, and guilt.
"There is no more evil thing
in this present world than race
prejudice, none at all," said the
late H. G. Wells. "I write delib-
I eraiciy it is tne worst single
thing in life now. It justifies and
holds together more baseness,
mtpltv and ahnminatinn K..H
any other sort of error in the
world.
Let us. therefore, resolve to
remove this abomination from
our midst, and determine that
the promise of American life
shall be fulfilled for all of us,
as one people indivisible.
You can win a 51-volume set
of Ihe Great Books nf the
Western World by writing a
letter, not to exceed ISO
words, incorporating a ques
tion of general interest for Dr.
Adler to consider (or Inclusion
in this column. Each week he
will select as first priic win
ners the writers of the best
letters. He will ue one of
these letters as a basis for a
future column and will answer
it in terms of Ihe intellectual
herbage of Ihe Great Books
443 works by 74 authors, span
ning 30 centuries ol thought.
Address the letters In Dr.
Mortimer .1. Adler. in rare of
this newspaper.
O