THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
ress, due to its outdated mode of distribution of the wealth created alone by the working class. In proof of capitalism's method of distribution being outmoded (producing goods to be sold at a...
...The American Negro has made noted contributions to the progress of the United States in almost every field...
...education, Booker T. Washington...
...PAULA SIEGEL Mumford High School Detroit, Mich...
...Like Dr...
...The best analysis of Orval Faubus has been made by Orval himself...
...Does he really believe that the America in which The Progressive is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary "is a quasi-fascist state" and that "we are all about to die of boredom and non-involvement...
...TRACY D. MYGATT New York Secretary Campaign for World Government Brewster, N.Y...
...In the area of science, George Washington Carver...
...In proof of capitalism's method of distribution being outmoded (producing goods to be sold at a profit) we now have our shelves and storehouses filled to overflowing and one-third the nation still ill fed, ill housed, and ill clothed, and 70 per cent of the people of the deep South having diseases due to malnutrition...
...After that, maybe they could shoot the stuff out into space, thereby creating an enormous demand for rockets, which in turn would stimulate new business activity...
...Orval Faubus' "New Brand of Populism" is really nothing but an Old Brand of Opportunism...
...Such motives hardly merit your special commendation...
...The vessels would then return to port and the whole process could be repeated indefinitely, at least until the level of the oceans started rising significantly...
...An attitude like the one expressed by Christ can bring about nothing but disaster to the United States, when it is so very important that we do our utmost to practice democracy within our own boundaries...
...But we need no longer judge Dewey's ideas and practices intellectually or philosophically...
...political science, Ralph J. Bunche...
...She might marry a man with A. C. Christ's inability to move with the times, with a stagnation of mind that also would lead to bitter disillusionment and heartbreak...
...The book-learning product is not knowledge, but encyclopedic skill...
...I would tell her that she would commence such a marriage with her whole existence out of balance and that through the years of living it could only lead to heartbreak and disillusionment...
...That is rather obvious...
...Instead of stockpiling the weapons as they came off the assembly line, these workers would load them into freight cars, ship them to the nearest seaport and transfer them into cargo vessels, which would then take the load and dump it into the deepest part of the ocean...
...Oceans of Arms Dear Sirs: Not only business men but working people as well seem to believe that if the present dangerous arms race ever stops or slows down, we will have another depression...
...MIRIAM F. BOLDUAN Frankfurt, Germany Civil Liberties Appeal Dear Sirs: May we call your attention to the organization of the De Gregory Defense Committee...
...RABBI STANLEY F. CHYET Cincinnati, Ohio Progressive Gullible Dear Sirs: "President Eisenhower, who revealed a genuine zest for peacemaking"—so you say in your Holiday Greetings in the January issue...
...It is this passage, especially, which I wish to prove false...
...Let the United Nations mobilize an army of inspectors and transportation workers and station them at all arms factories throughout the world...
...In case Coffin had a different TV set from mine, Symington seemed to be one of the few in opposition to McCarthy who knew what he was saying and said it...
...and race conflict is not identical with class conflict...
...1, Brewster, New York...
...There is little in his public record (which is built upon the largest and most regressive tax increase in recent Arkansas history), or in his public posture (as the preservator of state's rights), or in his public image ("the man who kept them out"), or in Arkansas voting behavior (which has backed him, as he shrewdly saw, in proportion to his race pitch) which supports an analysis of him as a politician of the poorer classes...
...Furthermore, one may apply the "fruit" test equally to the "chemico-physical processes which . . . constitute . . . life," or to the "antithetical subject . . . soul . . .", which, according to Childs, some desire to exempt from the methods and findings of experimental science...
...Priscilla di Giovanni, Treasurer Box 103, Hanover Street Station Boston 13, Mass...
...Your magazine is advancing, even though much of the sterility is still there...
...the health education product is not a sound body, but team play and sexual adjustment...
...Populism in both the South and the Midwest was primarily a regional (not a class) protest which sought federal help in improving the welfare of a distressed area being "exploited" by railroads, eastern money interests, and the cotton exchange...
...Faubus' "New Populism" is nothing of the sort: Orval is no Populist...
...R . V. BRANDBORG Little Falls, Minn...
...It was surely no accident, nor without premeditation, that President Eisenhower himself urged it in his speech at the University of Delhi...
...Greetings Dear Sirs: To the Editor of The Progressive, who did what we should have done: extended Holiday Greetings to outstanding progressives whose words and deeds in 1959 reflected honor upon our nation and became the source of increased hope to many—New Year's Greetingsl ANDREW SCHULZE Executive Secretary Lutheran Human Relations Association of America Valparaiso, Ind...
...Inquiries and contributions would be gratefully received by the undersigned...
...But they do exist, and when this is pointed out, the mainstay of Christ's argument crumbles...
...He further states that the white race is responsible for "all of the advancements and achievements which you see about you...
...The hasty and cynical dismissal of the Khrushchev unorthodox disarmament proposal, as clumsy propaganda, old stuff, and a dream, was a political blunder...
...I searched expectantly for a note of protest and perspective in the December issue, while recalling those tense days in 1936 with the daily battle lines featured in the New York Times...
...like them, Faubus makes his bows...
...Political Blunder Dear Sirs: I am in complete accord with the views which you have expressed editorially under the title "If Peace Breaks Out" in the November issue of The Progressive...
...New Hampshire passed a state immunity law which took away his privilege without in any way relieving him of liability before the federal courts...
...I think it a pity that Richard Schickel's taste is—apparently at least—unequal to his undeniable talent and spirit...
...Disputes Schickel Dear Sirs: As a new subscriber to The Progressive, I must say that the general tone and level of the publication commands my admiration...
...Meanwhile, I am most grateful that in your "Granite Integrity Rewarded" (December issue) you include that striking tribute to world federalist, peace-concerned Congressman William H. Meyer...
...they do stand in need of an intelligent, unrhetorical, responsible dedication to their improvement...
...There remains merely a prejudice, with no substantial support...
...JACOB LEVIN Chino, Calif...
...Once again we have shown the world that we are primarily "anti" rather than "for" something...
...And then I am mildly amazed to find in your latest issue a favorable review of Nor man Mailer's Advertisements for Myself...
...Dear Sirs: Your editorial kudos for Commander Mc-Kneally and the American Legion seem to be premature...
...the character development product is not a "know thyself" with thoroughgoing honesty, but rather a self-gratification or worse, self-degradation program, passed off as community spirit, fellowship, and service...
...Or is it simply that he intends a touch of hysteria to fortify the piquancy of his observations...
...Dewey's Monstrous Fruit Dear Sirs: Your publication of the views of John L. Childs on John Dewey is but another indication of the significance and influence of Dewey's developmental "experiencing" on today's problems...
...Few politicians anywhere fail to make bows in the direction of labor, the small farmer, or the school teacher...
...Appalled Dear Sirs: I am appalled at the attitude expressed in a letter appearing in your issue of November, 1959...
...Faubus, in contrast, has been exceedingly careful not to start any trouble for big business, big planters, big bankers, railroads, big utility companies, or the outside corporations he is inviting to take advantage of the "Land of Opportunity" (with subsidies if necessary...
...It should even be easier now than for some years past...
...This plan would not only preserve present jobs but would also create new jobs for those involved in the plan...
...it was "ignoble decadence...
...As a less than satisfied member of the American Legion, may I remind you that the Legion's action had nothing to do with racial equality...
...Please address: R.F.D...
...Expulsion of the fun and frolic group is doubtless a step in the right direction, but the same might be said for a man who stops beating one of his five children...
...I would like to suggest a plan whereby we can maintain arms production (and prosperity) without adding anything to our present stockpile of weapons—already big enough, so we are told, to kill off all humanity twenty times over...
...Truthfully, no, but not because a Negro could not make a finer husband than many a white man...
...I shall be delighted to send both of these upon request, free, to your readers...
...Taken as a whole or in parts, the fruit of the no-spirit educational theory is bitter...
...More likely, it seems to me, he displayed a zest for sightseeing...
...NICHOLAS N . CHERNIAVSKY Rockford, 111...
...For today we are finding the demand for "World Law" constantly stressed by men high in government...
...For besides much else for which thinking Americans owe fervent thanks to Representative Meyer, in the last session he rendered signal service to world government by circularizing the entire lower house with the challenging "Charter of Versailles" and my own article, "World Federation—A Must...
...Didn't he say that from early boyhood he had always had a great desire to see the world and at last his wish was fulfilled—at government expense—on what some have referred to as the "Billion Dollar Tour"—which it could prove to be...
...Not so, however, with Richard Schickel's "Hurrah for Our Side" in the December 1959 issue...
...One has only to hear, not necessarily see, the behavior of American children waiting 15 minutes for an overdue schoolbus, to know that the chemical machine and the void are interdependent...
...Until the Legion takes steps to eliminate segregation within its own organization, the action against its fun and frolic subsidiary must be considered sheer hypocrisy...
...De Gregory, however, invoked the Fifth Amendment...
...consciously or un consciously you seem to be becoming aware of the bankruptcy of American liberalism...
...DE GREGORY DEFENSE COMMITTEE Mrs...
...JUSTIN BLACKWELDER Washington, D.C...
...But then so many roads lead to that...
...Marys, Kans...
...Warming to his subject, he said that like a rabbit he never crawls into a hole without first making sure there's another way out of it...
...R. RIDDLE Denver, Colo...
...However, lately I have noticed that The Progressive has been drifting away from the mainstream of American liberalism, establish ing a creative, independent liberalism with traces of the radical in it...
...That is the question that many people, even those searching for truth and understanding, fall short of answering adequately—the stumbling block, "Would you want your daughter to marry a Negro...
...It was hardly necessary for Schickel to tell us that he is "still under 30...
...The late Ludwig Lewisohn had a term for this "cool world" as well as that of the addicts to mass entertainment...
...Its only drawback is that it might cause people to start thinking seriously about what purpose the production machine is supposed to serve, and this above all is what the powers-that-be wish to prevent...
...And, A.C., may I tell you that I would much rather be called a "Nigger lover" than be a hate monger...
...But "Popularism" is not Populism...
...and I must say, this opening tribute spoiled the Holiday Greetings for me...
...Likes Progressive Drift Dear Sirs: For a long time I, and perhaps other rad icals, have looked upon The Progressive as one of the oracles of sterile and compromised American liberalism, touching mildly upon the grave issues which confront us, but un able and unwilling to grasp them firmly, lacking the courage to say that the only de cent and rational solution is a radical one...
...Willard Uphaus, just sentenced to a year's imprisonment in New Hampshire, Hugo De Gregory faces jail for refusing to answer the attorney general's questions...
...Matthew, vii:3, "Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye...
...The fact remains that American Legion members are segregated in Jim Crow posts throughout the country...
...His action in "expelling" the 40&8 for practicing racial segregation brings to mind the Gospel according to St...
...One more point: in your cinema sections, why not devote some criticism to serious for eign films and American post-experimental films, rather than wasting your space on trashy Hollywood merchandise...
...DOROTHY HOUSER Philadelphia, Pa...
...I am grateful for every such clarification of Dewey's ideas, for I think one should be able to recognize the seeds which bear such monstrous fruit...
...If Faubus has any consistent welfare goal, outside of his own, it is not apparent...
...These ideas reviewed by Childs are now old enough to be evaluated as I am sure Dewey would have preferred—pragmatically...
...What possible basis have we to criticize other nations, when there are incidents like "Little Rock" staring at us from the pages of our history...
...I did not think The Progressive was so gullible as to swallow this Republican propaganda—hook, line, and sinker...
...40&8" would not even admit Negroes on a segregated basis and, therefore, was endangering the tax-exempt status of the entire Legion...
...LARRY SHUMM Seattle, Wash...
...Legion Hypocrisy Dear Sirs: Your bouquet to the American Legion and its new National Commander for expelling the "40&8" seems to be in questionable taste...
...Especially I com mend your continuing and increasing con cern with the problem of peace...
...The letter, submitted by A. C. Christ, of Belleville, Michigan, condemns The Progressive as being an "NAACP propaganda sheet...
...Interracial Heartbreak Dear Sirs: I want to thank A. C. Christ (People's Forum, December) for forcing me to think through to the answer to a question that has often just annoyed me beyond words but which I have over the past 25 or more years failed to answer adequately...
...No, because of the many problems any interracial marriage creates and because our human maturity is still so primary in its level of development that we judge by what we see rather than by Christian truth...
...Dreary Liberals Dear Sirs: What a dreary state we liberals have achieved when even our Progressive accepts our President's visit to Franco without a murmur...
...The Real Faubus Dear Sirs: Readers of James Youngdahl's article on Orval Faubus (December) are liable to lose sight of the real Governor Faubus, decked out as he is in brand new duds complete with union labels...
...The only way that Christ can avoid admitting these contributions, is by ignoring them, by pretending they don't exist...
...The times do not call for reform, but for a new social system that demands the social or collective ownership of the land and tools of production and a Socialist Industrial Union Government, as advocated by the Socialist Labor Party...
...and music and dance, Duke Ellington, Lena Home, and Katherine Dunham...
...The Legion itself did and does maintain segregated posts...
...The Supreme Court refused to accept his appeal, with only Justices Warren, Black, and Douglas dissenting...
...Defends Symington Dear Sirs: Regarding Tris Coffin's article on John Kennedy, I am tired of hearing how much of a scared man Senator Symington was in the McCarthy-Army farce...
...Once again we have demonstrated that we are strictly for the "status quo" regardless...
...World Government Dear Sirs: As an old-time supporter of that almost uniquely fearless journal, The Progressive, may I beg you for the ringing appeal to the claims of World Federal Government which some of your contributors could surely produce...
...sports, Jackie Robinson...
...HENRY B. HANSTEEN Huntington, N.Y...
...Not every politician who proclaims himself the friend of the working people is a class politician...
...I was vastly intrigued by Schickel's production...
...CHARLES B . BIETRY Member, American Legion Post #178 St...
...ALFRED WILLIAMS Little Rock, Ark...
...EVELYN E. RAWLEY Twentynine Palms, Calif...
...New Hampshire Attorney General Louis C. Wyman hailed this decision as "breaking the back of the Fifth Amendment...
...Schickel suggests that it is to the "cool world" of "junkies, jazzmen, and thieves" that we ought to look for solace—absit omen...
...I am," he has said, a "child of fortune...
...It is also obvious that our mid-century American society is far from becoming the City of God...
...There can be no doubt that Moscow will exploit this fact to its own greatest advantage among the vast masses of the world yearning for peace...
...Once again our leaders have shown a total lack of imagination...
...But "this society and this country and this time" stand in no need of sophomoric contempt...
Vol. 24 • February 1960 • No. 2
