A ROOM OF OUR OWN
Follette, Isabel B. La
A Room Of Our Own By Isabel B. LaFollette ALTHOUGH it is hard these days to "look for the silver lining,'' I am increasingly encouraged at what seems to me to be a serious desire on the part of...
...Other anxious seekers like myself confirm my impression that the American people have a pretty accurate idea of what is going on at home and abroad...
...Despite specific accomplishments in certain fields of public endeavor, the tremendous gap between the bountiful ideals expressed with so much facility and realties the average citizen has observed and experienced increasingly during the past years, leaves a bitter taste in his mouth...
...It sinned, first, by its lack of generosity, later, by its lack of courage...
...The persistent accusation of America's sin against world peace by refusing to underwrite with her lives and resources the selfish ends that came out of the Versailles Treaty, is rubbing salt into the wounds of the'masses of Americans carrying the brunt of this war...
...Mark my words, the day is coming when we people who saw through the whole business are going to have to step in and pick up the pieces...
...Roosevelt's earlier appeal, is an integral part of the American people...
...Yet in Count Coudenhove-Kalergi's words, "the leaders of Europe, with few exceptions, remained blind and deaf...
...The verdict of history will state that the men who ruled Europe between 1933 and 1939 were partly responsible for the Second World War, owing to an inconceivable lack of vision,' of common sense, and of courage...
...I have heard from various Progressive leaders the sentiment, "These word-slingers who make a good living out of telling others what their responsibilities are, are fanning up a fine blaze which is rapidly consuming the very ideals they talk about...
...But this tragedy hit the innocent masses rather than the guilty leaders...
...Twelve years of political leadership is a frightful personal strain which every reason...
...Lectures are surprisingly well attended, and we read that this is so everywhere—people the world over yearning to understand the reason for our sorrows and to find a way out...
...I think it is a mistake for the thoughtful student of human affairs to misinterpret the people's temporary revulsion from a diet of rich phrases for which they are paying with their hearts' blood, as stubborn orner-iness or selfish provincialism...
...Judy, seeing Count Coudenhove-Kalergi's Crusade for Pan-Europe on our living-room table, asked facetiously, "Oh, has he got my idea of a United States of Europe...
...Object-lessons and experience are teachers, against whose power golden exhortations ring hollow...
...And only the war itself revealed the abundant amount of heroiem, of faith, and of strength that still inspires the anonymous masses of Europe in.spite of the sins of their leaders...
...The Tragedy Of Europe Itsbelieve that the vast majority of Americans are not only aware that we live in one world geographically although divided racially, nationally, socially, economically by very real if un-ideal barriers, but they stand ready to do their fair share toward peace...
...They are listening, reading, thinking, but sad to say, most of the purveyors of words are giving them a stone instead of the bread for which they are searching...
...Since in a time of emotional disturbance, the voter, being human, is apt to swing from one extreme to the other, 1 do not look forward with pleasure to the immediate political future...
...able person must appreciate, but one can't help feeling ' that perhaps that buoyant optimism which skimmed over the surface of the harsh facts of life has come up against the cruel realities...
...three times...
...A consummate political-pulse-reader like Mr...
...I replied with the comment on how rich the world is in ideas but how different it is to do something with them, and briefly described this man's life-long work in a cause to which he drew eminent statesmen in all the countries of Europe, as a logical, reasonable solution for common problems and for the prevention of war...
...However, I am still confident that the idealism that responded to Mr...
...I hear again and again, "I voted for F.D.R...
...Even if vit's a poor alternative, it will at least give people hope...
...But all opportunities were missed, because the leading men of Europe did not realize that the new situation in Europe demanded new methods...
...I've been on the fence for many months now, but I've finally come to the conclusion we must have a change...
...The persistent policy pursued by wishful thinkers since the war began of lashing at "Middle West isolationism" as a whipping post for their own inner frustration as the war drags on with all its intrinsic accompaniments, is as blind a "sin" as those indicted by Count Coudenhove-Kalergi against European leadership...
...Many men and women who have made reputations In the fields of arts, science, learning, seem to have no conscience about earning a comfortable living by prostituting their names on behalf of a status quo which has indeed been kind to them...
...Yet it makes my blood boil to observe how many of those who make their living by selling people the spoken and written word are taking advantage of this precious faith and hope for a better world...
...Europe, as a whole, therefor, bears tremendous responsibility for the terrible fate it had to suffer from the hands of its torturers...
...A Room Of Our Own By Isabel B. LaFollette ALTHOUGH it is hard these days to "look for the silver lining,'' I am increasingly encouraged at what seems to me to be a serious desire on the part of our citizens to find "the answer" to the problems that beset us...
...In a university town like Madison, in an audience of the well-fed, well-clothed, and well-housed, it is no trick at all to get the desired applause from phrases like "globaloney," cracks at the Chicago Tribune and its editor, "isolationism," and the cozy thought that we are all brothers under the skin living in "one world...
...They are apparently willing and eager to coast along to the tune of "idealism" rather than grapple with the ruthless facts that are shaping human affairs today...
...The Innocent Pay "Moralists will consider this war a punishment," continues Count Coudenhove-Kalergi, "like a great flood...
...This is a personal tragedy, but it is likewise a public tragedy which the thoughtful must ponder and analyze if they are to accept responsibility for action...
...Dangerous Misinterpretation I think these ignorant or careless speakers are playing with dynamite...
...Roosevelt realizes this and has retired to his tent to meditate and assess his resources in terms of the months ahead...
...Until 1937 it might have been possible to stop Hitler and to liquidate Hitlerism even without war...
Vol. 8 • May 1944 • No. 19
