The Home Front
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
The Home Front By WILLIAM E. BOHN That Regional Antagonism ACOUPLE of weeks sco Pool Castelar was holding forth ia this space about th* advantage of military training. On* of his ideas was...
...When I live around this sort of thing and then read the sort of drivel that is handed out in such articles as that by Lillian Smith in The Net* Republic, it make* me wonder if change will ever take place in the South...
...In fact, I can name a number of men in other universities in Texas who are in the same class...
...and th* Uajtoj Nation...
...Spanish Front We warned last week of a new Communist front, The American Committee for Spanish Freedom, citing the names of a number of fellow-travelers as proof of its real function...
...Aad whilst th* distribution of labor aad ktiaare rcmaiaa corrupt, all government*, central or local, inevitably act as the instruments of that corruption, no matter hew democratic the principle* or program* of their members may be...
...Burgum reviewing Martha Foley's Beet Short Storiee slso sets up the Stalinist line on war—in a camouflaged form, of course—as the measure of criticism...
...v • » G.S.S...
...He singled out tor attack a story called Tke Mokammedane, by H. J. Kaplan, which was originally published in Partisan Review...
...Finally, th* old party label* of Democrat and Republican, Labor and Nationalist, Left and Right...
...Soma study should he mad* of th* relation between th* backwardness *f th* South and ita poor supply of news/* There That is how a' young officer who was roared in the South and got to th* top of hia education in th* North reacU to the great •tapir* of Texaa...
...Insiders point to these significant developments in the last week: 0 The meeting in London of Benes of Czechoslovakia and Peter of Yugoslavia...
...Russian opposition to the Greek demand that Bulgaria evacuate Thrace...
...Claude Watson for the Prohibition...
...The preacher took his text from the Proverbs to the effect that the woman should submit herself to her husband...
...Russia wants access to the Aegean through a friendly country...
...Send m* a tetter from som* descendant of a rebel who got homesick among the snows and cold hearts of this flinty North...
...Th* only reaction to the rap set a* far has boon from th* Chambers of Commerce...
...Indeed, they da everything to maintain the status eon...
...Their spirits are warped and their creative energies are turned to fishing or wood-working (as ware this fellow's...
...Looked at from what* I sit our principal offside region is th* Sooth...
...These are not isolated cases...
...Sometimes I think there is hope in the unions, but they, too, present a terrific problem...
...In DaNa*—on* of th* host systems ar*«ad —the average was slightly above 11,200, and many at* getting around 1900...
...But it's a wonder that there are any persons who can even be called southern liberals—let alone any that actually act like liberals...
...But their themes are th* sasae...
...This view of th* eeeaeank »>tu •ttea 1* teak in a—dam petttka...
...Many schools are threatened with closing...
...Things dewa thor* jaat cannot b* aa bad a* they arc pictured...
...and Dr...
...He cannot maintain hia convictions very long...
...Thar* are, of conn*, eharrtlaa which an more sophisticated...
...This is the greatest moans of recreation available ia this part of th* country, especially ia the smaller towns...
...I would like to have • companion pier* to this black report...
...At that time he made no attempt to hide the fact that he was a Communist Party member...
...And, number two, I want some report about the North from a southern soldier...
...Just as Christ is the head of the church, to m th* man the head of the home...
...The pr—id*nt, Horn* B. Raiaey, has jaat presented to th* regents a far-reaching program of expansion and reconstruction...
...I am told that this man has a large following...
...1 want a* ana war to this blast from a tasty T«x*n...
...They berate the southern liberals for not' doing anything...
...In a letter to The New Leader, Harry Scherman, president of the Book-of-the-Month Club, writes: "The book...
...is n picture of the growing-up of • Negro youth in the South...
...Norman Thomas...
...We suspect that Burgum's animus against the story is to be trsced to the fact that it first appeared in an anti-Stalinist periodical, whkh has frequently exposed the shenanigans of party-line literati...
...The public educational system of Texas ia suffering boeans* of a sever* t**ch*r shortage Salaries as* absurdly low...
...Leo Charles Donnelly for the Greenback Party...
...If they would pray to God, He would see that they had children...
...Greece is still within the British orbit and the demand represents basically a British demand...
...Bight now he is training soldiers in a Texas camp, and his report deals with thing* in that great state...
...I am acquainted to a limited extent with some of th* obstacles involved in th* work of organising individual plants...
...I have one* or twice had my *y*s on Texas aa I bav* passed through soma corner of it, hut it ia on* of th* state* I know least about...
...the purpose and unity waa completely spoiled by the two last chapters which did not deal with his childhood at all . . . it belonged quite properly in another book...
...This is just no place for a person who wants to face problems honestly and realistically and who has any sort of conception of industrial democracy...
...H* begins by telling about a graduate of the University of Virginia who came to th* faculty of a famous Texas educational institution, a school with a name which occupies an honorable place on all Southwestern football schedules The tale is on* of degeneration and demoralisation...
...Whig aad Tory, Liberal aad Conservative, are no longer to the point: what we should ask is whether candidate* are pre Marx or post-Marx, Capitalist •r Fascist or C*mmu*i*t...
...Parlor Trick: Ask your friends how many different individuals are running for President this year...
...But the miasma of racial prejudice was just too much for him...
...Draper waa given two books by Polish journalists reporting on th* resistance of the Poles in 1939 against both th* Nasi* and the Russians Draper dismisses both books because the Nazi-Soviet Pact was involved...
...This want on for a full hour...
...Literary Hotckerme* FrOM th* New Meases to the N. Y. Time* book review section—that seems to be the trail blazed by Theodore Draper which other Stalinist literary hatchetawn scum to be following...
...Inrernarionol Notes ChURCHILL and Stalin are meeting in Moscow to hammer out a line of demarcation between British and Russian spheres in Europe...
...Meantime Moscow is going ahead with its project of welding a strong Balkan bloc...
...Gerald L. K. Smith for America First...
...Shaw recapitulates a radical philosophy and states that the "just sharing of the burdens and the benefits of leisure" is the fundamental task of the day...
...Edward A. Teiehart for the Socialist Labor Party...
...Vietaafly nothing ia reported on the hosae front—except, of course, iaca*apl*t* strike news sad local affairs The editorials are novated to denouncing th* FBPC, labor, th* progressive aspect* of th* administration, th* haat, praising local heroes...
...Jackson, an influential New Dealer and non-Communist, had met a friend in the restaurant and together with the friend engaged in a polite political argument with a union official they met there...
...Until this is not only demanded hut achieved in practical operation, all constitution*, platforms, slogans, aad political programs, from the Commandaaenta of Moaas aad the Sermon on th* Mount to th* Atlantic Charter aad the Teheran Declaration, count for little more than phrasemaking aad hot air...
...A Russian demand for the internationalization of the Dardanelles to neutralize Turkish control of the eastern end of the Mediterannean...
...Taay 6* to Church The church situation here is something to behold...
...It would take an awfully long time to get very far in a town like Waco...
...A column friend writes in: "the secretary of this outfit, Allan Chase, was a representative of the Communist Party in the United Front organization called the North American Committee to Aid Spanish Democrscy...
...Now if anyone Uriahs that now love for that section has boon burgeoning ia the breasts of our northern boys in khaki, I wish he could come in her* and look over my mail...
...The opposition finally break* him down...
...Any woman who told her husband what to do sinned against God and should get down on her knees and pray for forgiveness...
...The church uphold* racial prejudice and fights any sort of social advance...
...Great numbers of people follow th* churches...
...On another occasion he was speaking specially to women— this time to all of those who Were childless...
...When the restaurant closed Jackson want over to say goodbye to the man, whereby, without warning, the union official turned and began beating Jackson with brass knuckle* and banging his head on th* stone pavement...
...At bast, southern education ha* always boon poor—now k is so bad that ana of th* aldost professors in the School of Education and a real pioneer for good education in Texas told as* that he could not hoaoatly advise a young person to go into teachiag at this tim...
...For instance, I heard one gem on women's righta...
...Perhaps if mora adequate recreational facilities were provided, th* church would lose mock of it* following...
...On* of his ideas was that a year of regular sorvic* "will do much to crack our regional aetogonlam...
...Wright's articles on his disillusioning experiences with the Communists, which appeared in the last two issues of the Atlantic Monthly, will not, however, appear in the book, although they were originally announced as part of a larger work...
...Burgum described the story a* racist and isolationist, which is so false that it amounts to political slander...
...So someone •!*• must write th* answer...
...Richord Wright aad Book-of-The Month RlCHARD WRIGHT, leading Negro novelist and author of Native Son, has written an autobiography which will be published by the Book of-the Month Club...
...The union goon who assaulted Jackson waa Jack Lawrenson, the Stalinist vice-president of the National Maritime Union...
...By MURRAY EVERETT Inside and Out Goons PM REPORTED this week that Gardner Jackson, a member of its Washington staff, was biutally assaulted outside the Seville Restaurant with the result that he may be permanently blinded in on* eye...
...They are 'agin' a lot of it...
...He did not want his wife to tell him' what to do...
...SENATOR ROBERT LaFOLLETTE, insiders claim, will make no public announcements regarding th* Presidential race but privately will vote for Norman Thomas...
...This is ths lot of th* southern liberal...
...Thar* is seen* war news—with, of course, a tremendous amount of apace devoted to the exploits of Texan* as they fight th* war with ***** hotp from th* UJ3.A...
...ANOTHER thing which is disturbing is the lack of news Th* eowaampars are atrocious affairs...
...Th* Mystery ef Southern Liberalise* . FrOM there the young officer goes on: "I'm afraid that this fellow is not the uncommon instance...
...They saake no effort to hotter social conditions...
...He believed, apparently, that they all wanted children—if not, they should...
...I spent a day at th* Uneven!ty *f Ton* msatiy, They manage to keep going, bat they have a assail student body now...
...On Sundays there are at least six hours of radio time devoted to church services...
...The minister of th* First Methodist Church here put* on a regular vaudeville act —he dances, shuffles cards, exhibits whiskey bottles, goes fishing, heckles th* people as they put money on the collection plate, starts the singing in th* middle of the sermon, and bo on...
...The man was supposed to teach sociology, and he started his career with high ideals...
...In Houston—with a population near 500,000—there was a revival on th* main street within a block of the business district...
...Is regional antagonism being cracked T In th* meantime, I want two thing...
...However, we have been told that there is no political motivation in the elimination of the Atlantic articles...
...Dewey...
...on Politics The incomparable George Bernard Shaw, in hia 89th year, has just published in Englsnd his Everybody'* Political Whale Whmt...
...I gather that a goad many of my army correspondents are skeptical a boat this particular vara* of military life...
...I read some of th* articles written by easterners who have never been near th* South or who have never stayed long enough to realize the stifling effect it can have—and I wonder how they would react if they were here and had to face the facta...
...The sermons are th* worst kind of, trip*, designed, consciously or not, to placate the listeners and make them accept their lot...
...He ha* a full house all the time...
...Over the past weeks Draper •nd Edwin Berry Burgum have contributed reviews to the Times which flagrantly erect a party-line standard in judging books...
...Morris H. Rubin, editor of LaFoHette's Progressive, will support Thomas too...
...In the meantime a sensitive person will have born broken, I believe...
...If they make any pretense at research, it is directed toward problems which are harmless and which do not affect many people...
...Take this report from a young osacor who was horn down yonder hat who received a part of his education here in New York...
...What is needed ia a number of specific programs, though I do not know how in hell they will be started or promoted...
...Th* answer is seven: Roosevelt...
...Revivals are to be found everywhere...
Vol. 27 • October 1944 • No. 43
