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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1963)
HERALD AND NEWS, Klamath Falli, Oregon Tuesday, May 7, 19C3 EDSON IN WASHINSTON Booklet Enumerates Citizen Challenges "Could You Leave Your Card? I'm Not Sure Anybody's Home!" fcdii&iioL (paqsL PAGE t A number of thoughtful commentators have written of a disturbing and dangerous element which seems to have entered Ameri can life. It is not easy to pinpoint or describe. Perhaps the best word for it is apathy, which hjis led to attitudes of drift and disinterest, and to a failure of individual pride and re sponsibility. It Is found, in varying degree, in every area of large affairs. The gravity of the pres ent world situation, measured by the gains of the Soviets and the positions of so-called neu tral nations, whose leanings are almost always pro-Soviet, could only be exceeded by all-out war. Day after day the newspapers, the radio and television tell the story. Yet the number of Americans who feel a deep concern, and a profound sense of national purpose, seems dismally small. We tend to take a cynical, "what-of-it" attitude toward politics in the face of the fact that politics is the art of government You can find a flock of people these days who steadily pronounce their devotion to dis tant "good causes" but somehow manage to avoid showing much human concern at close personal range. The notion seems to be strong that if you advocate sweeping attack on human social ills in the large, you don't have to care what you do with the humans you meet face to face dur ing the day. Louis Kroncnberger, a former drama critic who is now a visiting professor of Eng lish at Stanford, says far too many intelligent educated folk have in fact made a "complete substitution of social morality for personal ethics." Not surprisingly, in writing of this in Horizon magazine, Kroncnberger takes ex amples from the theater world he knew so well. But he means his assault to he broad. Of educated liberals practicing "pure escapist morality," he says: "These people do steadily, quite early in life, what the hard-fisted rich used to do very late: they pay conscience money. But today's, unlike yesterday's, is not paid retroactively in leisured remorse. It Is pay-as-you-go penance." IN WASHINGTON By RALPH de TOl.KDANO Buried away in I lie report of the Senate Armed Services sub committee hearings on the "muz zling o( the military" is a brief and chilling quote. It comes from the testimony of Brigadier Gon eral SUA. Marshall, highly re spected by his peers, who is also considered model of moderation by the liberal-labor coalition. General Marshall's words re called the stormy era when Sena tor McCarthy was attempting In investigate llie remnants of the Julius Rosenberg apparatus in the Army Signal Corps and being told by every pundit able to pound a typewriter or a lectern that he was destroying morale and uncaring the military. To hint that the Communists had any kind nl toehold In the services was considered downright treas onable. Now listen In General Marshall. "I have, of course, inn into Communists in our uniform over seas, even in my own outfit. I had one officer two officers who had to be kept in cold stor age. I could not let them see any classified pajiers." And tlien, the shocker: "In the batllc of North Korea yon will find one incident, and 1 don't think it has ever been re vealed. But there was one com pany that folded, one only, tn the 2."th Division. The captain who surrendered this company had been long suspected as Com munist by the people a r ou n d him." (P. 1287 of tlw hearings ) In a war against Communist enemy, an officer suspected of Communist loyalties was permit ted to take his company Into bat tle and to surrender it to the North Korean Reds. In tlie same war, officers were kept "in cold storage" because lliey were con sidered disloyal, tf in a time ol actual hostilties. Communists and sympathizers were not weeded oiit, what is Die situation today? TT,!i is question General Mar shall does not answer and Hie Senate subcommittee barely scratched, I do not blame General Mar shall lor not summarily sending the suspect officers, with their neeunty files, bark to Washing Are We Worthy? Morality Is Not Divisible Army Report Kept Secret ton with a recommendation that they he dishonorably discharged. Had he done so. the American Civil Liberties Union would have fired off a petition tn the Su preme Court, the bleeding hearls -would have set up a 34-hour vigil in front of the White House, and the Fund for the Republic would have allotted half a million dol lars for a study of "blacklisting" in the Army. The men whn were captured by the North Korean Reds ami un derwent the filth and terror of a Chinese Communist concentration camp may not if they survived have quite such a tolerant view of tlw matter. Tltoir lives were entrusted to an officer who was presumably of unquestioned pa triotism. In a conflict as treach erous as the Korean "police ac tion." the least the Army should have done was tn transler the of ficer to some innocuous Quarter master Job counting blankets at Kurt Denning, for example. Reading General Marshall's qui et statement, I wondered why no one asked him why the episode had been kept secret or w hat re ports he had lilcd to his suerioi s on tlte otlier Communists in iini lorm who could not carry out their duties because o( their (intrust worthiness. I was not surprised that those who poured over the report seeking tidbits of inlorma tion to use against our military leaders passed over ttie quota tion. And this gets me to the cme of the problem. In the iasl decade, many Americans have been brain washed into believing that no Communist lluvat exists, that no Communist Inlillralion of the na tion's sensitive agencies is pos sible, and that Communist vil lainy began failing out with the death ol Stalin. Every new disclosuie of tlie in ternal Communist menace is ei ther ignored or bruslied aside as an isolated ease. An unrepentant per juror like Alger Hiss is gien forum on nationwide TV, and the sponsor who objects is called unpleasant names by television executives and slapix-d with law suits. It has become bad form to take internal Communist serr ously. and that the courses and choices of the poli ticians in power will largely determine what kind of land and world our children, to say nothing of ourselves, will live in. And, beyond doubt, we have drifted, knowingly and unknowingly, toward a Wel fare Slate in which, ultimately, the masses of people become faceless numbers. One thing can be said for the Soviets at least, for those Soviets whose policies and decisions count. They are supremely dedicated men and women. They regard their system with a religious zealotry. They know what they want which is world domination and they are convinced they know how to get it. They are willing to change tactics and slratcgy and timing when risks and situations make that necessary, but they never lose sight of the goal. The American goal is supposed to be freedom, Individualism, the dignity and worth of man. Are we worthy of it, and are we pur suing it? A perfect example is the actor who is so busy discussing the humane causes he believes in that he never remembers to ask his friends how they feel or what they are doing. Kronenberger takes it farther and says flatly that many "socially conscious" liberals claw each other to pieces even as they spout noble sentiments in support of social advances. "How ultimately great is the gain, to bring up children with no prejudice against race and with every sympathy for the poor, if they are to have no scruples against back stabbing and an utter apathy toward fair play?" Evidence is plentiful in support of Kro nenberger's contention that personal morality is in steep decline. There is altogether too little caring at close range. What too many bleeders for "humanity" Tail to grasp Is that their devotion to good causes U a jerry-built structure unless it is founded on a great mound of earnestly pur sued little causes. Morality is not divisible. If It is not seen the same way in the circle around you as in the orbit of great affairs, then you are not really practicing it at all. When I am scolded for speaking of the inlernal Communist threat. I have a simple answer: "If it does not exist, then why is there so much opposition to a thorough and inclusive search in govern ment and in other sensitive areas of our national life? Why is so much time and money sont to silence the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Sen ale Internal Secruity subcommit tee? Why is the FBI the Com munist underground's enemy num ber one?" I have so far gotten no satisfactory answers. The only answers I get arc indirect ones as when General Marshall tells the Congress in MO what he should have shouted to the nation in UK!. Al manac By United Press International Today is Tuesday, May 7. tlie 127th day of l.i with 2;W to follow. The moon is approaching full phase. The morning stars are Venus, Saturn and Jupiter. The evening star is Mars. On this day in history: In 1IH3, a German submarine torpedoed the Cunard liner l.usi lania olf the coast of Ireland and almost ,2ix) passengers lost their lives. In 19.19. the World War II mili tary and political alliance of Germany and Italy was an nounced simultaneously in Rome and Berlin. In IMi, representatives of the Geiman high command signed unconditional surrender terms at (en. llwight Eisenhower's tem porary headquarters in Kheims, France. In tins. President Harry Tru man and his tamtly moved into the White House following the removal of the personal poscs smns of the family of Franklin 1. Roosevelt, who died April 12, The thought for the day French philosopher Pascal said "It is not giwid to have loo much hbeity: It is not gonf to have all one wants." By SYDNEY J. HARRIS Some friends were discussing, in puzzled tones, tlie recent labor disturbances in Great Britain, in which thousands of Hie recently unemployed staged a demonstra tion that, for placid England, was nearly riotous. "What's the excitement about?" said one. "The unemployment rate in Great Britain is only half that of the United States, and we haven't had anything like that here.' I suspect that what is fright ening to the British workers is the sudden appearance of change in a land of stability and tradition. In America, we have always had a mobile labor force; men changed occupations and Jocales almost as frequently as they changed automobile models. In England, a job has been something a man expected to do all his life. He often inherited it from his father, who himself in herited it from the medieval guild system. Dozens of English names, in fact, came directly from these crafts Taylor, Tur ner, Webster, Wheelwright, Bak er, Miller, Skinner, Smith, Weav er, Chandler, Cutler, Mercer, and many others. Moreover, a stratified social system, such as obtains in Eng land and most of Europe, makes it much harder for men to change and adjust. Americas weakness has also turned out to be its strength. Be cause we have not had so long a history, because we were a frontier country, and because we have lacked a long tradition of craflsmanfvhip, our standards of ! Baseball Pilot ACROSS 40 Play part lampreys Bone Article Kpic poetry , Monurel Petty prince Chiriky Awaken Depart lsaee Masculine appellation HOWS Ban in his pArt Nevada nty Brazilian maoawi rne (ifh lflieha.l pilot, 41 Bobby 43 7 He manafien 44 tli Milwaukee 47 1.1 Mk fferveicent 14 Antenn 15 Growl IS Spanish lady 17 CtnddfM IP Italian city 20 Type of boat 21 Pronoun 22 Nailing 2.') He manaitfi a bawball 28 Heurt (Kept) 20 Ruth and tiehnR were tn hia aport .1.1 Occur .is Pinn r ronrsf 3 Term in hit fnort ST Humblvr ,1B Woman roadi Bxik of nispi Promontorv (iroimdwork Scottish sheepfold Scottish alder Mimical instrument Auricles :i w n:i' 1 ath I 2 13 j4 5 16 I 7 18 19 110 H U 13 U F5 I? n jrrii i in"m "yi j i rp sn 25 26 127 rTttj f11 IS 30 3! 132 33 34 "Tib 41 42 )r 52 b3 54 bo STRICTLY PERSONAL service and workmanship have been inferior to most of the Euro peans. When we complain about this, however, (as we increasingly do', it must be remembered at the same time that this lack of a tradition has enabled us to be economically, socially and indus trially flexible to make rapid shifts in demands and supplies of the labor force. A society that is inflexible cannot meet rapidly changing needs. The British are more frightened by automation than we are, be cause the proportion of tlie work ing class population is so much greater. Here, in our own time, there has been a shift away from the laboring forces to tlie service classes, just as there has been . an enormous shift from the rural ' type to the urban-complex society and all without any serious dis locations. Tradition is a two-edged sword: it gives a sense of continuity and excellence to a pursuit, but it also retards necessary adjustments to meet changing tonditions. What the British laborers are protesting is lack of jobs today but also, more importantly, lack of pros . pods for tomorrow and tomorrow. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Q n mythology how did Odys seus get his men nut of the rave of the Cyclops? A After blinding the Cyclops, they tied themselves to the un derbellies of his sheep and cs raped when the giant drove his sheep out to pasture. in Small flap 21 Arbiter in hii sport 23 AiiRlo-Snxon 39 Viper 42 Victim of leprosy 43 Willow 44 Former Ruwisn ruler 4 Rabbit 46 Fa mom British school 48 Shield bearing 4W Sheltered inlet 50 Km ploy I 51 Pause 53 Groove 54 Peer Gynt'l mother S Male serf ?4 Perfumes 2b Burmese tribal group ?A Direction 27 Church part 2S Social insect .to Italian aiream .11 Stagger 32 Withered .14 KMentuI being 3j Printer'!! mflire Aiiewer to Previous Puiilt lm l!il. .l i a m r a.Iu . f Els aHigSgggg sue J ' OTHER EDITORS' OPINIONS Strikers Subsidized (By GLADSTONE WILLIAMS) .. ln The Sacramento Bee) H offers a sad commentary on the unemployment compensation program practiced by many of the slates that it is being used tn aid strikes against the public in tcrest. No belter example of (his is to be found than in the prolonged strike of printers which prevented publication f New York City newspapers for more than three months. Tlie strike cost the pub lishers millions of dollars, de prived merchants and others of an important medium of advertising, denied the public an opportunity In keep abreast of the local news and forced thousands of non-striking workers out of employment. Yet is is doubtful that the strike could have lasted anywhere near as long as it did without tlie gen erous unemployment compensa tion benefit provided by N e w York State. At the time New York City printers went on strike back in early December they received an average of about $145 a week in pay. After the walkout they continued tn average about $120 a week. Of this amount J7(l came from union benefit funds and $.i0 from slate unemployment ben efits. The state therefore was subsi dizing the strikers to the tune of some 40 per cent of the unem ployment benefits they were re ceiving while on strike. That hard ly makes sense any way you look at it. For one thing, it puts the employers in a position of financing a .-Hike against them selves since (he strike benefit funds are collected in taxes paid by the employers. But (here ai other and more fundamental objections to the system. In tlw first place, it is a misnomer to say a man who leases his job to go on strike is unemployed in the sense that unemployment was forced upon him. He is no more out of a job than a worker who takes time off to go fishing. N hv then should tiw government pay him for his self imposed un employment Tlie job is theie waiting lor him if he t.ires to . work. II is nobody's fault hut his own if lie decides lo qi:it for a speli. Certainly something should he done to correct the situation where workers on slnke are paid unem ployment compensation during the strike. Tn permit that sort of thing is an injustice lo the tax payers and it encouraces work stoppages n.t in the puhhc intei-c.-t. By PKTEK EDSON Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON INEAI - The most succinct, nonpartisan, con structive presentation of problems faced by the United States at home or abroad and what indi vidual citizens can do about them may be found in a 32-page pamphlet now being offered free by The Advertising Council. The title is "Challenge to Amer icans" with a subtitle. "The Strug, gle We Face and How to Help Win It." More than 150,Mfl copies have been distribuled. With a newspa per good will advertising cam paign coming up in the near fu ture, the hope is that a million copies will be put in circulation maybe more. In a world and in a country where the clamor and confusion of carping criticism by lame brain extremists has become a theme song for national and in ternational despair, "Challenge for Americans" is inspirational in a frankly do-good approach. It opens with a two-page fore word by President Kennedy and a one-page foreword by former President Eisenhower. This gives "Tlie Challenge" bipartisan back ing in place of the usual bicker ing heard in Congress and coun try. Excerpt from Kennedy: "We must match great challenges with great achievements." Excerpt from Eisenhower: "The important thing is to do some thing." After the introductions come five two-page easy-to-read chap ters: The Challenge of the Awak ening Peoples, The Scientific and Technological Challenge, The Challcng2 of International Cooper ation. The Communist Challenge and The Challenge of Our Own Permanent Revolution. After each chapter is a one-page list of short suggestions on "What You Can Do to Help" meet each of these challenges. Here are ran dom samples from each list of suggested actions: "Learn mora about our neigh bors around the world. Keep up with the news. . . . Commend those local newspapers, television and radio stations which give full attention to news interpretation." "Through PTAs. the press, the ballot box, join with other citi zens in working for better and more science courses in schools." By KL'LTON LEWIS JB. A Presidential appointee, named to the Peace Corps National Ad visory Council, has a record of Communist front activity on file in Washington. He is the Reverend James H. Robinson, a Presbyterian clergy man. Peace Corps officials are defensive about his background. Assistant Director Bill Moyers lold this reporter, "Anyone who thinks the Presi dent would name a Communist to this council is so naive lie docs not deserve to be called adult." No one has called Robinson a Communist, although in 1949 he did sign a Communist Parly nom inating petition for Benjamin Da vis, who would later be convicted under the Smith Act. For the information of Mr. Moyers, Robinson was an official of The American Y'outh Congress, a group labeled Communist and subversive by Attorney General Tom Clark. He was active in American Youth for Democracy, another group termed "Commu nist and subversive" by the At torney General. According to The Daily Worker of March 17. 194,1, Robinson thai day sponsored a mass meeting of Ihe Communist Party. One week later he addressed a "Forum (or Victory" at the parly's Ninth As sembly Di.-trict headquarters in New York. During Ihe Hitler-Slalin Part. Robinson was an oflirial of Hie Citizens Committee to Defend America by Keeping Out of War. a group cited by the Special House Commillee on In-Ameri-can Activities as a Communist Imnt. Throe yrars later, while Hitler and Stalin foushl each oilier. Roh inson demanded "cooperation with Russia and unconditional surren- THEY SAY... of ail Ihe many problems thai h,ne hcsel the metroooiitan po lice in Uif pa-t. thf most serious Ksue (aims tiw force has been ihe slate of crime. From l2 annual report hv London police mmmissinnrr. "Study the purposes of interna tional organizations." "Study communism, its back ground, tactics and goals. . . . Rely on the Federal Bureau of Investigation as the appropriate agency lo investigate possible sub versive cctivitics within the U.S. Discourage self - appointed vigi lante groups from attempting to perform such delicate functions. . . . Avoid the extremes of com placency and despair. Have con fidence in the final outcome." "Do your part in encouraging law observance and the preven tion of crime and juvenile delin quency." "Become better informed on our dynamic American economic sys tem. . . . Participate in the "You Are Challenged" program lo con sider our national goals. Write to The American Assembly, Colum bia University, New York 27, N.Y." The Advertising Council, which gives all this free advice is the public service organization repre senting all U.S. advertising me dia. It was born in World War II, but it has kept up its support of worthy causes for 20 years under both Democratic and Republican administrations. ft has contributed talent, time and space at its own expense to promote safely, savings bond drives, forest fire prevention, aid to higher education, freedom from hunger, physical fitness and men tal health, Radio Free Europe and Peace Corps recruiting. AU these are continuing programs. In tackling the new "Challenge to America" drive, however, the council got into a new field of promoting abstract ideas. After two years of preparation, says Council President Theodore S. Repplier, "We have launched a campaign of such potential useful ness as to dwarf anything we have done in peacetime." There is a final "Call to Great ness" facing a full-page picture of the Liberty Bell in the pamphlet, from which a few lines may be worth quoting to give the flavor of the thing: "This nation was forged in the crucible of rebellion. . . . Today's America has emerged from the challenges of yesterday. . . We are in for a long straggle. ... It is a time for each of us to do . . , something extra . . . which con tributes to our nation's strength, unity and progress." WASHINGTON REPORT . . . Peace Corps Adviser Has Commie Record der (or Germany." He did that in a statement published in the Daily Worker by the Citizens Commit tee of the Upper West Side. Attor ney General Tom Clark called that organization subversive, one "which seeks tn aller tjie form m" government of the United States by unconstitutional means." Robinson was a member of the executive board of the American Committee to Save Refugees, a cited Communist front. He spoke before rallies of the Communist controlled American Lalmr Party. He signed a petition of the Citi zens Committee lo Free Earl Rrnwdcr, Communist leader. In the Daily Worker he defend ed the executions of Victor Alter and Hendrik Ehrlich. leaders of Poland's Social Democrat Party, who were killed by the Commu nists. Robinson signed a petition, de manding abolition of Ihe House Un-American Activities Commit tee, that was sponsored by the National Federation for Constitu tional Liberties, a cited fronl. He signed letters to Presidents Truman and Eisenhower urg ing clemency for Julius and Ethel Itnseniicrg. convicted atom spies. He affixed his signature to a state ment that called for retention of the Communist Party on the bal lot. He sponsored a testimonial dinner fur Ferdinand C. Smith, Communist labor leader. He signed a "Friend of Ihe Court" brief for the Rev. William Howard Melish. accused as a Commu nist, though he swore he had nev er brrn. Addressing a meeting of New York leftists only a fortnight ago, Robinson wisecracked: "PeBee Corps director Sargcant Shiiver has lieen lold I'm a Communist or fellow traveler, so I'm in good company tonight.". Prace Corps spokesmen say liiey have "no idea" what Rob inson was talking about. Arizona Senator Barry C.oldwa. trr wowed tlie ladies in his recent appearance beiore Ihe National Federation ol Republican Women who met here in Washincton. 1-eaders of ihe draft Goldwater movement, who met dclfcalo fmm coa-t o coasl, say that Goidwatrr is (ar and away Ihe moM popular Republican possibil ity for President.
