Communications
THE LAY THINKER New York, N. Y. TO the Editor:—The lay reader, whom Mr. Henry Morton Robinson writes about in The Commonweal of May 11, has, it seems to me, become the lay thinker and talker. If...
...WILLIAM FRANKLIN SANDS...
...Until recently the Catholic layman lived in the chill state of being continually wet-blanketed...
...Conde Fallen's latest book...
...A budding lawyer quotes Saint Thomas...
...For another piece of "overt evidence," I might mention a Barnard conference I was one day privileged to attend...
...The volume which is the subject of Mr...
...And it is expecting a great strength of initiative in a student, when we leave him to ferret out his Catholic sources for himself...
...If Columbia exchanges professors with half the universities and colleges of Europe, why should she not do likewise with American Catholic universities and colleges...
...I offer a prize of $5.00 to the winner if the judicious Mr...
...The most striking phenomenon to be studied at Columbia is the Sunday morning conference held after the eleven o'clock Mass...
...the period of "the strong citadels [he calk them] of self-seeking imperialism...
...However, execution of parts of such a program can very properly and with economic advantages parallel periods of economic depression...
...his handsome neighbor holds forth out of Saint Augustine...
...I can but wonder what the result would be if there were cooperation between the Catholic and non-Catholic colleges...
...A section of great practical value discusses the use of construction work as a balance-wheel for business...
...Perhaps it was these, or the teachers of these, who formerly did the reading which now bears fruit in apologetics, viva voce, instead of in written treatise...
...T. F. W. P. P. S. Please consider the foregoing P. S. an entry in the competition...
...Not only I was not, as a young diplomat...
...Marshall's open letter that nothing I might say could augment the deserved commendations...
...THE UNEMPLOYMENT SITUATION Yonkers, N. Y. TO the Editor:—It is suggested by your correspondent, William H. Bastion, in The Commonweal of May 4 on the unemployment situation, that I give some detailed suggestions upon this most difficult phase of our industrial life...
...Let the opposing forces now bring forward their "wet" issue...
...The students are hot in defense of the Faith...
...Since it is sometimes difficult even to breathe in the crowd, it may justifiably be assumed that the boys and girls come for the love of the discussion, and not for reasons of convenience...
...To my mind, it seems that he cannot justly present any further arguments in support of his beliefs or suspidons...
...to be sent home, in the opinion of some...
...The faith of the Catholic students, of course, requires abundant nourishment, probably far more than a Newman Club or "conferences" can ever hope to supply...
...The employment service developed during the war emergency ought to have been intelligently reorganized instead of being scrapped by a short-sighted Congress...
...Only, and here my impressions necessarily differ from Mr...
...They raise all sorts of objections to Catholic teaching, just to clear up difficult points...
...We should seek at once proper legislation and adequate appropriation for such a service...
...It urges especially periodic and prompt publication of the facts about the following key industries: Raw wool and woolen textiles, raw cotton and cotton textiles, hides and leather shoes, iron and steel and leading fabricated products of each: zinc, lead and copper and leading products of each, and bituminous coal...
...The weak of faith must be helped by the fearless, open facing of questions...
...P. S. Why not start a competition to find out how near to it your readers can come...
...Moon's Imperialism and World Politics brings up very vivid memories of a stirring even though somewhat sordid time...
...Later I found that congressmen and members of Parliament did not know...
...M. Maurice Paleologue to the contrary notwithstanding, nobody knew what stands in his admirable diary of war happenings at Petersburg on the dates upon which he set it down...
...Change in controlling policies cannot be efEected by law...
...no one was, for it is true, and subsequent observation proves it, that the individual is caught up by forces in diplomacy, just as he is in battle, and goes along, doing more or less mechanically and automatically the things that are to be done, without any clear knowledge of what it is all about...
...But each industry must take care of its own workers including the reserve force it requires...
...Public works cannot help the unemployed in the needle trades, or the cigar trade or the printing shops...
...to be given a reputation for unorthodoxy, in any case, which would cling though the cause be long since forgotten...
...Can anyone match the misplacement of objectives achieved in the conjunction of "devious" with "the mind of Saint Thomas Aquinas...
...but I believe that Mr...
...Moon describes...
...It is necessary, then, that labor reaffirm its remedial program and put renewed energy into the effort to secureeach separate measure of the program...
...he was an: obstacle to national policy, which was rather a dreadful thing to be...
...then, that secretaries of state and Presidents did not know, and finally that emperors and czars knew nothing at all...
...One wonders what professorial talent there is available at such places as Fordham, talent which could be lent to Columbia Catholics...
...The diplomat, contrary to common belief, and his own portentous gravity of mien, does not possess omniscience...
...Smith has stilled (temporarily, at least) the bogey slogan, "No Catholic shall rule the White House," which springs originally from people who prate about tolerance...
...To this end there should be organized in each craft or calling a national conference board of an equal number^ of employers' representatives and representatives of international trade-unions, assisted by such expert advice and counsel as the Department of Labor and the Department of Commerce may be able to give to these boards...
...Although things should be produced for use, the needs of society have not a final determining voice in deciding output, as disinterested consideration of the question of output would indicate that the needs of society ought to be made the basis for guiding production...
...all were caught up in a mad rush, comparable to a land rush of homesteaders, or a gold rush —and we are watching today the consequences of what things were done then against common justice...
...If a given industry fails to support its workers, the industrial problem cannot be solved by trying to find some other occupations for these workers...
...When I was thrust intd what Mr...
...more often they are fearfully deliberate and calm...
...If the testimony of an outsider is of any value, I beg to say that the existence of a Catholic movement in Columbia is more evident each time I go near Nevirman Hall...
...Anyone who gives more than casual study to the determining factors in production, finds that the service motive is allowed a very restricted influence entirely out of proportion to its nature...
...Hoover, because of the terrible unemployment situation following the war...
...The one was thought something of a misfit then who sympathized strongly with the natives...
...The committee also underscores the need for expansion and standardization of statistics by the Department of Labor...
...Free will, determinism, evil in the world, psychoanalysis, ccclesiasticism, infallibility, and all the "timely topics" in the intellectual world today, are discussed with a temper worthy of the boasted mediaeval university...
...IMPERIALISM AND WORLD POLITICS Washington, D. C. TO the Editor:—Professor Parker Thomas Moon, of Columbia, added some time ago another volume to the series of analyses and warnings that he and Professor Carlton Hayes have given us in the past few years on the subject of nationalism and imperialism, those two most powerful molding forces of the past generation, which led straight into the war of 1914-18 and will lead straight to war again if the way out is not found...
...Second: We recognize that the only way to eliminate unemployment is to start the wheels oi, industry, and tp provide employment for workers...
...the events of the Far East was clearly conscious of what was going on...
...To avoid as much as possible any controversy in this matter, and only wishing to be helpful as your correspondent suggests, I include the recommendation of the committee representing the American Federation of Labor, at the conference called by President Harding at the suggestion of Mr...
...First: Initial objective in that program is a federal employment service, competently organized and adequately financed...
...People did not si>eak of nationalism twenty-five years ago, but of national honor, national interests, and they felt rather solemn about it...
...We recognize that public works and such productive public investments are not primarily expedients to relieve unemployment but should be an integral part of a definite national program for conservation and development...
...But since The Commonweal expresses itself as being "frankly puzzled by the lack of overt evidence for the movement," it may be of interest to point out just exactly what overt evidence there is to be had by casual observation...
...The United States is practically the only important industrial country that has not established such ani extensive and efficient business and humanitarian service...
...This means to keep in motion the wheels of industry...
...Extension of credit to investment projects of such a character will be based upon absolutely sound security...
...Now whether the boys get their ideas from reading the...
...If these little groups of ardent Catholics at Columbia wanted it very seriously, is it not probable that they could get the university to provide them with a professor, let us say, in "sources of Catholic literature...
...Moon very accurately calls "the battle of concessions," I thought that being a greenhorn I alone was ignorant of the game, but it came to me soon and rather forcefully that my seniors did not know more than a step ahead...
...About those citadels there hangs a mist, obscuring unsightly facts and lending glamour to illusions...
...Nevertheless, the book is of particular interest to those who participated in the doings Mr...
...Once the fog is dissipated, perhaps those citadels of narrow vision will vanish and in their place mankind may establish an edifice in which enlightened national interest and humane internationalism may be at one, and in peace...
...The perfect combination might be that of a statesman-historian if one could be quite sure the statesman was not trying to rearrange his blind blunders in the light of history...
...C. F. BROWN...
...WILLIAM COLLINS...
...The most desirable result is to provide employment ^or each person at his preferred trade or calling...
...Robinson puts it, "to plumb this inexhaustible sea of poetry and philosophy, and to become familiar with the best that has been thought and said concerning the great mysteries and beauties of the Faith...
...If all branches of our public works and the construction work of our utilities—the railways, telephones and others—could systematically put aside financial reserves to be provided in times of prosperity for the deliberate purpose of improvement and expansion in times of depression, we should not only decrease the depth of depressions, but we should at the same time diminish the height of booms...
...T_ p. W. THE SMITH-MARSHALL CONTROVERSY Newark, N. J. TO the Editor:—So much has been said in praise of Governor Smith's epic reply to Mr...
...Here are to be found as many students as can possibly be crammed into the small chapel...
...Marshall has been answered fairly, adequately and on every point...
...Exchange courses, exchange professors, between, let us say, Columbia, Fordham and the Catholic University, would almost necessarily give impetus to Young Catholics...
...Sometimes the boys get quite excited...
...It will be the result of developing intelligence and by the force of public opinion together with demonstrations of its practicability...
...The historian after the event comes closer to the truth, but he never has the thrill of living it blindly...
...Every industry must support its workers...
...The diplomat often does live history...
...It seems now rather a middle-aged thing to do, to discover that there was no romance after all in the game of empire building—^with someone else's land and with people who did not know the game and were themselves the stakes...
...This problem can be solved by those directly concerned...
...Fathers or from the spirit of the English and history departments of the university, I cannot say...
...In the period from 1896 to 1904 no one living...
...It is something new in apologetics, not in the matter, but in the manner of treatment...
...That this spirit of enthusiasm for the Faith has not sooner borne noticeable literary fruit is not astonishing...
...Such an agency is necessary to bring job and workman together and to supply unemployment data necessary for intelligent planning by management and labor...
...Pope Leo is also a favorite authority...
...INGENIOUSLY WRONG Washington, D. C. TO the Editor:—I nominate for the booby prize of 1927 in the department of book-reviewing, Mr...
...The best review, of course, would come from a brother analyst...
...that "fresh realization of the priceless heritage that the Church confers on her humblest aspirants—a heritage not only of sacramental grace, and of superb liturgical poetry addressed to the eye and ear, but a concrete body of culture as well, sufficient to sustain the most active intelligence and efficacious to soothe the most turbulent spirit...
...Again I saw that almost passionate desire, as Mr...
...I write this, not as a criticism of your review, but merely as a supplement to it...
...Where these young people get their knowledge, I do not know...
...Chamberlain will consent to act as judge...
...THOMAS F . WOODLOCK...
...The committee's recommendation is as follows: "We cannot hope to eliminate unemployment in the immediate future...
...They did not speak of imperialism quite so currently, and when Americans did they felt a stir of pride: it meant that America had arrived and must be treated with respect...
...ELSIE A. GALIK...
...This utilization of government projects as an employment reserve, so far as possible, by which demand for labor and materials may be stimulated during depression, is now being made a part of the government's policy...
...KATHERINE BYLES...
...Sand's interesting letter was reviewed in The Commonweal of January S, by Professor Charles G. Fenwick—The Editors...
...The key comes much later, when the documents are out...
...AS MAN TO MAN New York, N. Y. TO the Editor:—In your issue of May 4, there is a review of Dr...
...The book is in no sense ^ diary, but a unique presentation of Catholic doctrine in a human and popular fashion, bringing dry and abstract truth to the comprehension of the man in the street, and engaging his interest by its novelty...
...to be permanently disposed of, in the opinion of others...
...John Chamberlain for his critique of Chesterton's The Return of Don Quixote (Times Book Review, May i) in which occurs the phrase: "With all the complex resources of a mind as devious as that of Saint Thomas Aquinas...
...Robinson's, the movement is patent to me in the arguments and conversations of the students...
...the historian takes the paper work long after and analyzes what the diplomat has done as shown in the record...
...It is a curious and interesting feeling to be analyzed twenty-five years or so after the event, and to find that today one would have an authoritative backing in attempting to find and develop a solution for the backward state which was totally lacking then...
...That era seems happily to be definitely of the past...
...As Man to Man, which seems to me to miss its essential characteristic...
...Third: An indirect way to stimulate industry in periods of depression is to provide for the expansion of public works and public highways, with the development of such cycles...
...There were about twenty girls, all grappling with tremendous problems, fundamentals of philosophy and theology, and what was their attitude...
...What a gorgeous background of spacious ignorance it discloses...
Vol. 6 • June 1927 • No. 4
