THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
...THE PEOPLE'S FORUM... On Being 'Against' Dear Sirs: Sometime ago a writer to The Progressive suggested that contributors to the Forum are often "against" something and seldom "for anything,"...
...At present reading matter is severely limited...
...Do you want to publish an anti-Communist capitalistic sheet...
...I almost forgot The Last Column...
...Apply The Ax Dear Sirs: So much is written about provisions for securing world peace...
...It appears that some of your subscribers are afraid to hear both sides of an issue...
...Either the aim, conscious or not, of the journal is entertainment even more than instruction, or else the idea is that the way to correct half truths and more or less unscrupulous propaganda is through propaganda whose distortions — like reactions in physics — are "equal and opposite.'' How else than in one of these two ways explain disposing, as one writer did, of Lippmann's arguments about foreign policy by the mere unsupported statement that it was to Lippmann's personal interest to adopt these arguments...
...What we want is a referendum and a recall...
...They began their strike on Sept...
...A Progressive Program Dear Sirs: I am still waiting for The Progressive to take the lead in formulating a progressive platform...
...If we wait until a treaty is written and then decide what we are going to do about it, we will be just as effective as we were in 1918 and following, which is the height of nonsense...
...Without it the road would never have been built...
...Edward F. Toepper Chicago, 111...
...That was more progress...
...Labor When is railroad labor going to wake up and realize Mr...
...Give Russia Credit' Dear Sirs: In the much-cursed Russia there has been a pronounced effort to provide plenty of the necessities of physical life for all...
...It is 100 per cent un-American...
...The lesson is obvious...
...But when wealth becomes unbalanced, when some men, or some nations, appropriate to themselves advantages wnich are the heritage of all men and all nations, such men and such nations will almost invariably obey the promptings of selfish human nature and use those advantages for their own enjoyment to the restrictions of other men and other nations...
...Failure to subdue the raging flame will annihilate all hope of the future...
...All these plans are good but nothing is done about any of them...
...And we are "for" this principle to the nth degree...
...That was more progress...
...18 issue...
...They're always howling about coddling labor, when the fact is that the corporations are much more powerful and get their way long before the public knows there's any trouble...
...Roosevelt appointed Fred M. Vinson, another labor wrecker, to the big job of economic stabilization...
...She also practiced self-restraint when, after the breaking away of America, she granted dominion status to some of her possessions...
...For although, as Harriet Beecher Stowe long ago pointed out, capitalism is practically synonymous with chattel slavery (see Uncle Tom's Cabin, chapter XIX), yet somehow its apologists have successfully appointed themselves the arbiters of social morality and respectability...
...Even Norman Thomas, the champion of socialism, is silent about it...
...James V. Bennett, Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Washington, D. C. Richard Lazarus CPS Camp No...
...For instance, our allegiance is to a government founded upon the principle that those who govern derive their authority: to do so only from the consent of those whom they govern...
...I have always been a great admirer of George Norris, and still am, but he ought to be careful of his statements on world politics...
...We may not always agree with what is said and done, but on this we readers should all be agreed: what good is gained unless more people know, hear, and read this type of paper...
...American-like, we would say "no" to these questions...
...Every chapter is documented...
...Reply To Treder Dear Sirs: I agree with George Treder, writing in The People's Forum, that war cannot be justified in terms of Christianity...
...We gave it a good many times in similar situations — Manchuria, Ethiopia, Spain, Munich, Poland, but at last what was happening in these places caught up with us...
...Rubin's article on "Progressives and the Peace" in the Oct...
...Morris Rubin knows what it's all about...
...If there were nothing to hide in prison, there would be no need of censorship...
...The author's authorities for his factual statements cannot be questioned...
...The engineering problem of how to get across the Cascade range was turned over to engineers...
...I read many publications, but in my opinion The Progressive comes nearer hewing to the lines of democratic principles, than any publication I have ever read...
...William E. Zeuch Fairhope, Ala...
...Brother Progressives, wake up, for you are playing squarely into Churchill's hand...
...Let's give Russia credit for attempting to improve on the old Czarist Russian government...
...If the readers of these lines will take the trouble to read available books by competent students of Russia and search the Scriptures carefully, these readers will likely discover that while Russia is not attempting to establish a system of religious faith, it has at least endeavored to comply with sane natural laws to save physically all the people...
...Thomas For President Dear Sirs: Three loud cheers and a hearty amen to the suggestion that we get back of Norman Thomas for President made by Carl Engstrom of Elk River, Minn., in the Oct...
...Death is death, whether a human life is blotted out suddenly by a Hitler bomb, or slowly by British starvation...
...Frances Middleton Cleveland, O. Seldes And 'In Fact' Dear Sirs: At the end of an otherwise exceptionally valuable and interesting article by Frank C. Hanighen in the Nov...
...Criticism Dear Sirs: Having read The Progressive for half a year, I am driven to the following...
...Pass The Progressive on to others...
...I hold no brief for him...
...F. J. Arnold Milwaukee, Wis...
...But Congress is only the mouthpiece of the real executives—the people...
...True a friendly executive is beneficial, but in the final analysis the power is in the legislative bodies —local, state, and federal...
...Mrs...
...Later the executives decided to eliminate the switch-back and tunnel through...
...And R.R...
...The state of affairs would he bad enough if mounting deaths from starvation could be attributed to an 'Act of God' it is said, but this time the crisis is clearly man-made, and it is no exaggeration to say that the British hold themselves responsible...
...Doesn't Mr...
...Select and elect common men for all legislative bodies...
...Either the one thing will be done or the other must...
...It was not a "perfect" route, but it was action...
...Engineers made a survey, contractors drove a three-mile tunnel...
...Some of your recent contributions from new writers have been splendid, as have been the regular articles by men like Milton Mayer...
...Let's hope she gets that chair at the peace table...
...And so communism has come to be associated in the mind of the public with all unrighteousness...
...I want to commend Fred Rodell's article, "A Program for Progressives", because it suggests positive action and a goal...
...Theodore Roosevelt said, "Whether the man is president of the greatest railroad corporation, or whether he earns each day's bread by the sweat of each day's toil, he is entitled to justice and fair dealing, no more, and no less...
...I here and now nominate Mrs...
...But some day he will shuffle off the scenes...
...See Acts 5:32-35...
...The old Russian religious constituency was not greatly concerned about "keeping body and soul together" for the masses...
...It will never be any different until we wake up to the fact that we have to elect men who will represent all the people...
...Facts And Fascism' Dear Sirs: Will the United States become fascist...
...We can help these men by writing letters of support to Mr...
...When the last shot has been fired and the bells of freedom ring out, we will have only begun the fight for real American freedom...
...So it is plain that many contributors to the Forum have to be "against" many of the recent "crackpot" proposals made by some of our international meddlers, simply because they were already "for" the exact opposite of such proposals...
...Dear Sirs: I see where George Norri...
...La Follette is just simply in a class by herself...
...There is no other alternative, save war...
...Who Owns Germany...
...It was Norman Thomas who once gave hesitant approval to the League of Nations—and hesitant because the members of the League, and especially its most powerful member, England, was not socialized...
...E. J. Fleming Minneapolis, Minn...
...La Follette...
...The engineers were ordered to drive another tunnel—a 12-mile tunnel...
...You should have 10,000,000 subscribers...
...Harry Armstrong Denver, Colo...
...Persiflage, no matter how brilliant, is not a program...
...I am sure were the late Robert M. La Follette, Sr., with us today, he would be proud of the way his sons and associates have constantly fought for the retention of those two great fundamental democratic documents, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights...
...Cruel Tyranny Dear Sirs: "It is impossible to go from one place to another in famine-stricken Calcutta and Bengal without steeling one's self to the indescribable sight of men, women and children lying where they fell from starvation, either dead, or too weak to utter a sound...
...Should Be Banned Dear Sirs: The Progressive should be banned from the mails...
...Isabel B. La Follette said some time ago, this is an open season for peace plans...
...The epithet "communist" might, of course, be taken in a complimentary sense as denoting adherence to the practice of original Christianity "having all things common — distribution unto every man according as he had need...
...That nation has been on the "up grade" since the Revolution...
...Floyd J. Melvin Chautauqua, N. Y. * * * Planning And Food Dear Sirs: There are those who want to do their own planning after the war...
...The road was built...
...We will be facing a post-war world in which the American people will have to fight, not with guns and swords but with all the intelligence at their command, to restore this, the greatest government on the face of the earth, back into the hands of the people...
...I should like to comment, however, on his statement...
...Rubin gives too much weight to Churchill...
...The principal factor is the heretofore unbelievable results of advanced technology, the large employment of women, and the use of synthetics...
...Disunity...
...Roosevelt is not such a good friend to labor as he would like for them to think...
...But the most essential provision is almost invariably overlooked...
...The people of America don't want to lose control of their food and purse strings to a foreign-minded food conference...
...Milton Mayer gets even the preachers, priests, and rabbis to think along economic and political lines...
...While the Russian leaders are in some cases not specifically religious, they have proved capable economists and statesman...
...We must, therefore...
...But more likely it was all too well calculated to imply opprobrium and contempt for the newsletter and its editor...
...Or again, we have Mr...
...Rubin frightens us with five "suppose" propositions, any one of which may become very real...
...Oh the second criterion you seem not to admit exceptions...
...Frank M. Toothaker Oakland, Calif...
...If ever a public man resembled the great Lincoln it is Mr...
...Lenora Craley Warren, O. * * * 10,000,000 Subscribers Dear Sirs: The Progressive is furnishing a fine field for progressive thought and debate...
...Later Russians studied economics and came to the same conclusion, that the God-given resources of a country, plus the processing of natural resources through the energies of the producing toilers, rightly belong to the citizens...
...One of the best reasons why operating railroad workers should receive more than a $1 per day raise in their wages is the fact they must pay their own expenses away from home...
...As a studious reader of In Fact, I am at a loss to account for his dubbing it "communist...
...This is what men will not stand for...
...Everybody has his own "perfect" plan...
...Mrs...
...Excellent Bookshelf Dear Sirs: The Progressive's Bookshelf is excellent...
...W. F. Hiller Brighton, Colo...
...On Being 'Against' Dear Sirs: Sometime ago a writer to The Progressive suggested that contributors to the Forum are often "against" something and seldom "for anything," thus leaving the impression that said contributors are neither constructive nor progressive...
...Or by peaceful means as England did when she abolished slavery...
...Seldes counters this heresy, saying: "In other words, freedom not to have freedom, which equals fascism...
...You are entitled to a badge of courage and honor and you are recognized as a true liberal when the Journal starts calling you names instead of trying to answer your arguments...
...In my 52 years of activity for the common man the seriousness of today eclipses all other eras, for ! while millions of human lives are being sacrificed for democracy, a powerful international alliance is working furiously to fortify plutocracy...
...7, 1943...
...Lincoln said, "Let not him that is homeless pull down the house another, but let him labor diligently to build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence...
...I would also like to say how much I enjoy The Progressive and the wonderful articles, especially those by Frank C. Hanighen, Har-ry Elmer Barnes, Fred Rodell, Ernest L. Meyer, and Harry Paxton Howard...
...S. C. Franklin Sadler, Tex...
...We are supposed to be fighting a war for the restoration of peace and freedom throughout the world...
...Babying Business Dear Sirs: Raymond Clapper, the columnist, is friendly to big business...
...Certainly it is never stressed...
...He towers heads over the present candidates and is for his country first and last...
...It never will be until our public officials get down to bed rock and practice what they preach...
...Theoretical economic soup is a poor diet for a reformer of 60 years' standing...
...James F. McDaniel Urbana, O. * * * Voters' Fault Dear Sirs: We call our government a democracy...
...Hence we have to be "against" the proposal to' police and impose "our way of life" upon the Japs and Germans...
...Congressmen who want to show they are real friends of labor will demand- that the railroad workers not only be granted the 30 per cent wage increase, but also that these workers be allowed a share of the huge profits made by the railroad barons during the year 1942...
...In literacy they have progressed beyond some of our states...
...Some estimates of the weekly deaths from starvation in the one province of Bengal run as high as 10,000...
...This human effort in economic affairs is not considered primarily a "religious" undertaking...
...Hunger Strike Dear Sirs: As this letter is being written six conscientious objectors are entering on their second month of a hunger strike in Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary protesting against complete censorship of their mail by the prison authorities...
...He was glad to accept...
...Why not propose that we TVA the trusts and monopolies...
...Figure on top of this the 50 per cent increase in living, and our added burden of heavy taxation and any one will say the 30 per cent wage increase we are requesting will not take care of the three above-mentioned forced wage deduction burdens...
...O. M. Thomason Willernie, Minn...
...But Rome is burning...
...If they do not, their time in office is short...
...Playing Churchill's Game...
...Or will sterner measures curtailing the unrestrained use of material advantages have to be applied...
...Norris know that it was a death-sentence offense to "find fault" in Russia...
...F.D.R...
...This statement should be parted on a card and sent to every labor-baiting editor and radio announcer in the country...
...when I saw the attitude the majority of ministers held toward war and its causes I dropped it (the ministry) like a hot pota to...
...H. Guy Terrill Los Angeles, Calif...
...Why labor has not petitioned Roosevelt to fire Eastman and Vinson and replace them with men known to be friendly to labor is a question many railroad workers have asked...
...La Follette Dear Sirs: As Mrs...
...So I said, "Let me send you The Progressive for six months...
...Or, as another writer did, disposing of Lippmann by showing that one academic historian disagrees with one of Lippmann's contentions, this being held to prove that the choice is between journalistic and serious history—as though most historians were not largely on Lippmann's side of the argument...
...Cornelius E. Walker Frazer, Minn...
...It is the people's, or voters', fault that things have got in such a horrible mess...
...The tunnel was driven—more progress...
...Tell Others' Dear Sirs: Bob La Follette's writings are always good...
...It it's not your policy then I just don't get it at all...
...Several surveys were made and a route decided upon...
...H. M. Pratt Bronx, N. Y. A Start Is Needed Dear Sirs: Several years ago some railroad executives decided to extend a railroad from Spokane to Seattle, Wash...
...This is, indeed, a very somber future for the common people under a reign of a plutocratic legislature...
...I would like to ask this question: What do we Americans expect to get out of this war...
...The United States should remain a virtuous, free, and self-reliant people, holding up the torch of liberty as an example to the rest of the world...
...Badge Of Honor Dear Sirs: I see the Milwaukee Journal is riding you pretty hard and now says that both Bob La Follettes, father and son, were all wet...
...The people didn't keep quiet because of "unity" but because of fear of their lives...
...Is it more territory, sea, or air...
...Facts And Fascism gives names of would-be, or potential, fascists, as well as active fascists, though they are not known generally as such...
...I'll trust America in her wise and sensible hands to give all the peoples a fair and just peace...
...Hewing To The Line Dear Sirs: "They can't take it...
...7, 1943...
...The theme of the writer, in very brief words is: Reaction is fascism, or vice versa...
...Why not advocate a farm program based on the family-sized farm...
...All this enables us to feed, arm, and equip five nations when approximately 10,000,-000 producers are in the armed forces...
...The source of all evil is unbalanced wealth—not wealth, mind you, wealth is the procurer of happiness for men...
...But I don't believe "the path ahead is clear," and I do believe that the evident stand-offishness of the expressed position is fatal...
...When a man is beaten or put in solitary confinement, his friends have a right to know about the case...
...I was not around at the time but I accept the sentence as a correct illustration of the attitude of the common people in this, the most precarious political situation in American history...
...The progressives need leadership...
...We shall either run the risk of pledging ourselves to world government, and sit in on the planning of world government, engaging the dangers that attend such a venture —or we shall simply assent now to World War III...
...Some years later the executives decided to eliminate some more hard climbs and long, looping curves...
...Guy C. Wellman Burr Oak, Kan...
...Also we were already "for" the rule, to do unto others as we would have them do unto us...
...I always read that first...
...This subscription came about in this way: I rode with him to Oklahoma City, where he officiated at the funeral of a mutual friend...
...Barnes affecting to discuss pacifism on its merits, without mentioning the chief arguments against pacifism, such as that the spread of pacifist sentiment in some countries tends to accompany and give downright encouragement to the spread of militaristic ambitions in other countries...
...Earl E. Fry Commodore, Penna...
...And so wars ensue...
...How differently we behave in our social, economic and political engineering...
...E. N. Comfort, Dean of the Oklahoma School of Religion, a very liberal man...
...Every liberal has a plan for reconstruction which he believes to be correct...
...Those expenses run more than $400 per year, which is more than $1 per day...
...It is considered a recommendation here to be attacked by the Journal...
...James Spurlock Norman, Okla...
...May I suggest that instead of rejecting the ministry on this ground, that he and other concerned men and women enter the ministry or otherwise join with the increasing number of ministers who have come to see that they cannot endorse or bless this or any war in the name of Jesus Christ...
...Let us who read and enjoy the reading we do tell others, show the columns to others...
...England gave us the air (and how) after the last war...
...It was therefore astonishing to find this statement in his column for Oct...
...C. J. Hitchcock Kansas City, Mo...
...Rev...
...The engineers decided to cross the range by means of a "switchback"—to zig-zag up, then zig-zag down...
...Who gives one damn what Eastman thinks of Barnes and Barnes of Eastman...
...W. E. Tollar Chicago, 111...
...So the corporations have to be babied...
...If American citizens could become imbued with the realization that they are stockholders in this great corporation, our government, I am sure they would take a greater interest in the function of its management...
...But he ought to know that the answers are not the ones we instinctively will give...
...He allowed the railroads to make more than a billion dollars during 1942, but did he say the magic words, pay the railroad workers a substantial part of those huge profits ? We appointed Eastman as ODT chairman—a man who has favored the American Association of Railroads from start to finish and has done and is doing everything in his power to destroy the few benefits railroad labor has fought for and secured...
...To abolish any evil we must apply the ax to the root...
...Stanley W. Garvey Corona, Wis...
...Why countenance such quirks of pernicious prejudice in your pages...
...Mr...
...Had they waited for the perfect route the road would still be on paper...
...8: "Probably the corporations can be squeezed a little more although there is always the threat of a strike against production if they are pressed too hard...
...Garna Kruse Hollywood, Calif...
...While the Soviet government has been censured for not making the wage re turns equal to all, the aim is to quicken ambition to improve...
...For that reason they cancel their subscription...
...Anyhow the tone of the para-raph is highly obnoxious, and probably downright libelous to George Seldes and In Fact...
...New York Times, Oct...
...only for the greedy property-holders...
...46, Big Flats, N. Y. * * * Rodell's 'Must' Article Dear Sirs: Fred Rodell's article on the Holy Alliance should be a "must" for every adult American...
...Isabel Bacon La Follette is one of the greatest women writers...
...The fifth freedom is the freedom of people to reject the first four...
...When a man or woman is elected to a public office and doesn't administer his duties according to the oath of office, kick him out, and the people will not have to kick long before we get clean government...
...therefore, wages are based upon quality and quantity of production...
...Why can't such clear and factual material be made available to every voter, instead of being the exclusive property of those who are fortunate enough to subscribe to The Progressive or have access to it in their library...
...Now, more than ever, we need guidance in evaluating the more important books...
...This would mean a pluralistic economy with private, cooperative, and public enterprises...
...And, whenever our enemies will have finally given up and said "enough" we are going to be "against" using our military might, and wasting our resources and precious lives, trying to compel all the hosts of the Eastern hemisphere to conform to "our way of life" because such "intervention" would result in the most despicable "isolation" imaginable, isolation from us of the good will of most peoples of the earth...
...Nominates Mrs...
...Therefore, we have to be "against" the proposal to forcibly rule over other nations against their wills...
...of Nebraska has given out an interview in which he makes this statement: "There is no disunity among our enemies or among our Allies...
...Act quickly...
...For if you do not apply the ax to the root all other efforts to fell this most destructive of all evils—war—must be unsuccessful...
...The fire of plutocracy must be extinguished before any reconstruction is possible...
...Cruel tyranny...
...pack all legislative bodies with true representatives of the common people regardless of party, creed, or color...
...What tendency in that direction exists in the country today...
...18 number stirs me up...
...The contractors carried out the "plan...
...That was progress...
...It should be emphasized that these six conscientious objectors are not fighting only for themselves but for all men in federal prisons, and they chose the hunger strike as the only method open to men in prison who fight against an evil...
...Time is far too short even to consider a third party...
...Commends Rodell Dear Sirs: Please send a trial subscription to Dr...
...Nobody pays any attention to any other...
...That decision was important...
...That decision was important...
...Dear Sirs: Mr...
...New York Times, Oct...
...8 Progressive I find an inexplicable paragraph on "the Commies" and how they "put through a resolution ordering all locals to distribute George Seldes' Communist news-letter, In Fact...
...Until Congress comes to a decision, nothing will come of any plan...
...He was right then...
...I always get him the first time...
...The objective is the thing, not the intermediate means...
...Norman Thomas...
...Charles Hartshorne Chicago, 111...
...Gerald Koch Chicago, 111...
...j. Luther Kibler Newport News, Va...
...He is an imperialist, no doubt...
...For we certainly should hate for them to impose their way of life upon us...
...We must not allow our activity in war production, our anxiety for our boys and girls or our efforts to "make ends meet" to cause neglect of the future of mankind...
...The men do not deny the need of inspection of mail for the purpose of detecting possible escape plots, attempts at blackmail and narcotics, but they do deny the need of indiscriminate censorship concerning events within the prison walls...
...They appear to be in the doldrums...
...Hearty congratulations to The Progressive for your liberal outlook and for a fine job of presenting significant news and interpretations...
...Why don't you folks do something about it...
...It ought not to be that way, but they (the corporations) can get away with it and just refuse to produce if there is not enough profit in it...
...This is simple, amply borne out by history—but Barnes is looking the other way...
...We must do to war what, for instance, we have done to slavery...
...How much freedom will you have if, like Lazarus, you are forced to take crumbs which fall from an international table...
...The book goes into some detail to tell how the great industrialists of Italy and Germany financed Mussolini and Hitler, and in one of the appendices are data answering the questions, "Who Owns America...
...I hope you won't let the Journal get you down...
...Andrew Curtis Baltimore, Md...
...While I do not agree with everything I read in The Progressive, that doesn't necessarily mean the contributor is wrong...
...Moreover, any book or magazine approved by the Post Office Department for general passage through the mails should be allowed to go to men in prison...
...I wonder if more readers of The Progressive, by following such a plan, could not increase your circulation and hasten the day when we shall feel strong enough actually to step out and challenge privilege and greed...
...According to George Seldes, author of Facts And Fascism, fascism is a real threat to democracy, and in the 18 chapters of this recent book, covering many phases of reaction that spells fascism, if not checked, the author furnishes evidence that will be a revelation to many unsuspecting people...
...Milton Mayer talks too much about himself and repeats too often...
...Why Roosevelt appoints the type of men he does on railroad emergency boards, men who have shown by their opinions they are not favorable to us, is another question for railroad workers to ponder...
...The decisions must be made by the people...
...Well, maybe there's some point to this policy...
...Maybe it is also an open season to nominate someone to sit at the peace table...
...From British Official News Agency, Oct...
...Conditions for millions have been greatly advanced...
...It might change their minds...
...There was no fault-finding by the Russian people, for instance, when their government concluded the pact with Hitler, no matter how much the people didn't like it...
...In Part III, the book names "Poison Pen Pegler" and "Wallace's Suppressed Speech," (The Century of the Common Man)—a chapter on each, as illustrating the means employed by the enemies of true democracy...
...We will do it by violence as America did by the Civil War...
...The people must decide where—the general direction— they want to go...
...Well, one reason for being "against" so many recent proposals is that such proposals would often violate the very principles upon which our government and our moral conduct are founded...
...Also, what is gained for this age unless we take political action ? Every person is a potential reader...
...Will she and other powers now listen to better counsel and grant what belongs to their dependencies and to rival nations: advantages now monopolized...
...I offered to pay for the gas, but he would not allow it...
...It will win friends and readers...
...Peril Of Plutocracy Dear Sirs: It is said that "Nero fiddled while Rome burned...
...But we all know how effective that sort of answer is...
...Why not take your cue from the CCF of Canada and the Labor Parties of Australia and New Zealand...
...Will he have been the victor, as were Lloyd George and Cle-menceau, or will American democracy win this time...
...It seems a writer is politically sound if (a) he is verbally clever and smart (though I could mention one exception you seem to make here), and (b) if he is against most of the things intelligent people, the Lippmanns, are generally for...
...10, 1943...
...The author quotes a "brand new idea" expressed by a Wall Street speaker in these words: "There are not four freedoms but five freedoms for which the war must be fought...
...And also because we are already "for" our present more constructive "good neighbor" policy, and we just can't support two opposite foreign policies at the same time...
Vol. 7 • November 1943 • No. 47
