FIEDLER PIECE MADE READER LIKE WHITMAN
Weis, John
Fiedler Piece Made Reader Like Whitman From JOHN WEIS Ix his discussion of the wound dresser (May 28), Fiedler states that Walt Whitman's problem during the Civil War was that of the...
...The secularist, who generally likes to be looked upon as a liberal, scoffs at this belief and calls it superstition...
...what is evident is that he is thoroughly nauseated by the solution which Whitman worked out for himself 85 years ago, which, all relevancies and irrelevancies considered in their due proportions, makes Fiedler much the more curious character of the two...
...The cloak-and-dagger atmosphere prevailing in all these trials is becoming ominous...
...And since, by so doing, we are rendering a service to humanity, it follows that our use of the law to dragoon the consciences of the nincompoops is only a valid exercise of authoritarianism for their own welfare...
...Bohn's column on radio (New Leader, May 28) was really saying nothing new, but somehow said it a new way...
...Childs either to forget his fears of Catholic pervasiveness or to persuade the American people by reason and by demonstration that Catholicism is a superstitious creed which can bring nothing but evil and misfortune to these who believe and practice it...
...tor's hear from roe...
...He finds Whitman's hospital visits, passing out cookies, jelly and tobacco and his idea of bedside cheer, in a day when there was no organized largescale care for servicemen, an unsatisfactory solution of the problem...
...According to newspaper reports, Dr...
...Colo...
...I believe prominent citizens who conceal their CP memiberships should be exposed...
...Even a superstitious man will resent the eradication of his superstition by such thinly disguised coercion...
...Reader Blasts Red Hysteria from harold canfield j£ FOUND your editorial, "The Atomic 1 Debate" {New Leader, June 4), most interesting...
...Although I enjoy strict political writing, I must confess that this column is a welcome contrast to the serious tone of the rest of your newspaper, and his calm, unruffled manner is especially pleasant after leading your other columnists...
...New York...
...But I wish you had gone B little further and taken a crack at the general anti-Red hysteria prevailing today...
...Toward the end of the review it becomes evident that Fiedler has nothing of his own to offer in the solution of the artist's problem...
...Denver...
...Wouldn't it be better for Dr...
...Childs is concerned over the growing conflict between the educational policies of the Roman Catholic Church and the program of our public schools...
...For if Roman Catholic teaching about a supernatural God has reached our generation through the fierce skepticism of 2,000 unbelieving years, its credentials are not likely to be destroyed by a few added sneers in our times...
...Childs is after, 1 suggest that his technique is clumsy and self-defeating...
...This la your department...
...Dear Editon: the new Leader encourages all letters, irrespective of subject or point of view...
...Don't Keep God From Curriculum...
...Although dogmatically opposed to authoritarianism in religion, many of the members of this school of thought are not averse to a dash of authoritarianism in politics when it might appear to serve the ends of their curious philosophy...
...Los Angeles, Calif...
...and Fiedijer's apparent belief that individual sex ?patterns have a bearing on the integration of the artist as such...
...Tucson...
...N. Y. Likes Bohn, WantsMoreon Radio, Movies from jonathan ft off jits •phe WARMTH, humanity and confident goed-humor of William E. Bohn's coJum continues to be a source of joy to me...
...but I canSnot—and I am sure most other new ILeader readers join with me—stomach sthe irresponsible smear statements thrown out at honest radicals, extadicals, and liberals whose primary Concern is to strengthen, not destroy, our way of life...
...In contrast, old Walt and his beard seem nothing but wholesome...
...Certainly, of small value to the solution of the problem are: Fiedler's sniggering at the amount of aid that Whitman was financially able to give...
...Arizona...
...I do wish you would conduct regular colums on the movies and radio, since these two forms exert more influence on American culture than any other...
...Then what duty would Fiedler have recommended for an overweight, middle-aged poet with high blood pressure in 1864...
...The psychological overtones of his piece are terrific...
...Hence, God is and ought to be, apparently, excluded completely from the curriculum...
...Supernatural religion is selfevidently superstition, they seem to say, so we must stamp it out or check its spread no matter what the means...
...The chief educational policy of the Roman Catholic Church, as I understand it, is quite simply to teach the existence of God and of man's duty toward God...
...Writes Friend of Parochial Schools from matthew f. buss PROFESSOR JOHN L. CHILDS of Columbia University is now advocating that all children be compelled by law to spend half their compulsory school period in the public schools...
...I believe the government ought to exercise utmost vigilance over Com'•TOunist activities...
...For this reason, the Roman Catholic Church and Catholic parents, generally, have built and maintain at their own expense an educational school system based upon the belief that there can be no genuine education without God because man's welfare is inextricably bound up with knowledge of God and of His moral laws...
...Fiedler's ignorance of the fact that any normally healthy visitor to a sick ward does in fact radiate a much appreciated glow of vitality and cheer...
...If indoctrination to some vague notion of what constitutes a majority view of correct education in a non-totalitarian state is what Dr...
...The propriety and practicability of Professor Childs' suggestion is open to serious objection...
...Fiedler Piece Made Reader Like Whitman From JOHN WEIS Ix his discussion of the wound dresser (May 28), Fiedler states that Walt Whitman's problem during the Civil War was that of the integration of the artist in society during unfavorable times...
...Our public schools, on the other hand, have a program based upon the belief that education ought to deal with every human preoccupation except that which concerns God...
...so thai wo east print the greatest number of divergent opinions on diverse subjects, we request yen limit your letters to 250 words or less...
Vol. 32 • June 1949 • No. 25
