THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
. . . THE PEOPLE'S FORUM . . . Our Only Hope Dear Sirs: It is with an inner glow of satisfaction that I have noted the determined effort of Congress to shake off the apathy which has clogged its...
...It is indeed important that those of experience and without ulterior motives, like Norman Thomas, be always afforded the opportunity to be heard, and it is a privilege for anyone to hear a person of his knowledge and veracity...
...Everyone who claims citizenship in America should read it and re-read it...
...Let us not be deceived by the international strategists who by subterfuge would have us heedlessly abandon our American sovereignty for a secret concoction of international diplomacy...
...It is fallacy to believe that by the application of force, world unity and enduring peace can be assured...
...The University regents properly ignored the request...
...The next imperialism for our scrutiny is the Russians of some 200,000,000 people and far more powerful than the British, as the Russian imperialism has always stressed the principle of consolida--tion...
...C. A. Hintz New Ulm, Minn...
...Dr...
...Therefore he speaks out forcefully against monopolies and cartels, and wants no bargaining with them...
...J. G. Brummer Garvey, Calif...
...Military men throughout the world marvel at Russian military achievement, supply of material, etc...
...that love never fails" and that it is our place to try to bring love into command of our lives...
...Our panics and depressions of the past did not just happen...
...Mrs...
...Come again, Katherine Rodell, you are doing fine...
...The greatest courage needed in our nation today is the courage to be honest and the courage to speak the truth, for truth is the foundation of all liberty...
...I hope that when the boys 'come home from the battlefields, they will have learned to take more interest in theu...
...Once men like him get in office they are very difficult to defeat...
...Any new acquisition to the empire is quickly Russianized, forcibly, if necessary...
...Moreover, we are not fighting for the right to draw unemployment checks for a year after our discharge and then be handed over to the agencies of charity...
...I also have a suggestion for your paper...
...In order to win the war we have to bring bur greatest effort to bear in every line of endeavor...
...13, 1944...
...Emerson Harris of Seattle, Wash., who I in the Apr...
...That America is paying a tremendous price to take part in and finance a world war is overshadowing the fact that no foundation was laid to bring about a peace...
...Jobs started to appear, and the President wanted a third term...
...We weren't looking for enemy planes at Pearl Harbor...
...Sands Of Private Money Dear Sirs: Readers of The Progressive no doubt have a treat in store in the articles soon to be published on postwar plans by some of our distinguished leaders...
...W. A. J. Oklahoma City, Okla...
...can have peace...
...If in a world of imperialism it is unavoidable to fight a total war every 25 years to preserve it, then let it be our own imperialism...
...However, I am expecting some changes down here this year...
...Churchill stumbled...
...Hull," is very, very good...
...He was not satisfied and told the military that they were not killing the Jews fast enough...
...The President made speeches and boasts of what the New Deal accomplished, but the Government borrowed more and more money, and our folks wondered how shifting debt from private debtors to national debtors was creating prosperity...
...17 issue...
...Secret diplomacy and conscription must cease or civilization will perish...
...C. B. Ballard Appleton, Wis...
...Heinrich Himmler, the Gestapo chief, went to Copenhagen a few weeks ago to inspect the war situation...
...one of the smallest in the world, but they have plenty of courage...
...Lewis C. Popham, 3rd New York, N. Y. * * * Forgotten Man's Fight Dear Sirs: As long as you continue to fight the forgotten man's fight I am with you...
...Ireland has been struggling for over 700 years against British oppression...
...Thomas...
...From the current trend of our internal and external performance, it is'obvious that a strong, intelligent, and vigilant Congress is our only hope to secure from our Allies after the war a just and equitable settlement compensating us for the premature exhaustion of our resources, unselfishly sacrificed in their interest...
...4 voted for isolationism, evidently not realizing that vigorous participation in world affairs is in our interest and forgetting that we here in the U. S. are world citizens, with inescapable interests and responsibilities...
...One of the questions which concerns us most of all is: "What are we fighting for...
...New Ideas Dear Sirs: There are many fine things in The Progressive, but as a whole I do not like it...
...The better the understanding by the layman of this all-important issue, the better the chance for successful decisions...
...Why don't you in a future edition give some of your wise opinions on Gov...
...It doesn't pull any punches...
...He, as you know, is supported by the wealthy, and he represents them in Washington.' I have high hopes that people will begin to read and think, and as they do they are bound to elect better representatives...
...There is no other way, no other hope, for the preservation of American liberty...
...The results of the Wisconsin election show that the people will not bow to anything that the reactionary crowd imports and that they will not fall for anyone with liberal trimmings and trappings on the outside...
...But National Socialism will lead to government totalitarianism, as it did in Russia, which invests supreme authority in one man and subjects all others to his will...
...We are not fighting to preserve or reinstate a lot of worthless royalty in Europe...
...More Pamphlet Parade I wish you would publish the Pamphlet Parade more often...
...If we can have all out production for war we can have the same for peace...
...They have no C. O.'s or other dodgers...
...Thus I see no reason for always knocking it for its bad points, which it does have, and never commending it for its good points...
...But Mr...
...If we are to retain our American sovereignty, we must establish a more just and enlightened leadership, one with the principle and fortitude to eliminate the puppets of internationalism from American political life, to revive the true American spirit of '76, and recapture the freedoms and principles of our Constitution and Declaration of Independence...
...Thomas Jefferson said, "Any American who tries to rule Europe is a maniac...
...I am always alert to try to get new subscriptions, but it is remarkable how apathetic the people are to getting vital news and how little interest they manifest in their public affairs...
...They have no strikes or profiteering...
...It might be well to add to Miss Winsor's statement that the Quaker conscientious objector cannot take part in war not only because the "inner light" directs that he shall not, but also because he aims to live "in that spirit which takes away the occasion for all war...
...It is a point that you don't seem to mention very much, the government of Wisconsin...
...Ashamed Of Dies Dear Sirs: We enjoy The Progressive greatly...
...Allan G. Blaker Vancouver, Wash...
...3 issue says that if we I take the advice of E. W. Pantef rad in the Mar...
...Mayer The Best Dear Sirs: Milton Mayer is the best writer in The Progressive...
...Apart from a new man, a new and better world is impossible...
...It will then have served a great purpose...
...It is Christ...
...They feel that such lives will have a powerful effect on the world and that any losses, sufferings, and hardships experienced in the course of such a life will be a small price to pay for the most useful contribution which can be made toward bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to this world which needs it so greatly...
...They feel that it is their duty to make a start by living their own lives now in accordance with these beliefs...
...J. H. Ainsworth Oakdale, Calif...
...Is freedom creed-bound, habit-bound, or fear-bound...
...Quakers believe that it is their duty to live out the implications of these statements and that if the world would do so, wars would disappear...
...What America and the world needs today is more of the Norman Thomas frankness...
...T. J. Somers Kenmore, Wash...
...Certainly it should be in order to have a free and open discussion on "What Are The Essentials Of A Permanent Peace...
...The actions of Ireland in refusing to yield to this pressure from the Big Two is one of the most encouraging things that has happened since the war began...
...Have we enough Christian sense to discern the difference between hypocrisy and democracy and freedom...
...The conscientious objectors would-not be ridiculed so often...
...Only by the unfailing fortitude and wisdom of such great leaders as Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Lincoln who staked the whole future of America on nationalism, could we ever have known and enjoyed our freedom and independence...
...The longer the war lasts and the more it costs the longer we shall remember it...
...I agree with Blanche Hammond Ives of New Haven, Conn., that the church must repent...
...I think that means that there will be more activity against Mr...
...First, the British, of approximately 500,000,060 people, reputedly democratic and powerful, but in reality neither democratic nor powerful...
...It is to be hoped that above all The Progressive will continue to give us the facts and to pound whatever government is in power to consider the importance of results to be anticipated for the tremendous price the American people are being led to pay...
...We certainly need more readers of The Progressive...
...L. H. Army Air Field, Great Bend, Kans...
...A comprehensive study of the world situation shows clearly that there is and has been something radically wrong with our foreign policy...
...Kai-shek, oh heck...
...This ideology must be eradicated from the German people before we...
...Now the President wants us to vote for his fourth term after all his plans and ideas have been, a washout, and my generation landed in fox holes in distant lands and training camps at home...
...A Distinction Dear Sirs: May I say a word to Rev...
...The boys feel that it was that status quo which brought Nazism and Fascism, and we want no more of it...
...George P. Harding Monticello, 111...
...13 issue to sterilize the German people, we should a]so do the same with Britain, the United States, Russia, and Japan, as they all think themselves superior...
...Russell Egner Minneapolis, Minn...
...L. O. Correll Kalamazoo, Mich...
...I like The Progressive better every issue...
...We didn't understand, and it seems nobody else did...
...He wants justice and opportunity for all...
...Mrs...
...Bernard G. Waring Chestnut Hill Philadelphia, Pa...
...They seem to be guided by fairer and more honest motives and obviously possess more intellectual decency than any of the a thers...
...La Follette than it disagrees...
...it lacked a solid foundation...
...Michael Castor Brampton, Mich...
...As to who gave the best or most dangerous is for the audience to decide...
...Our Criticism Of PM Dear Sirs: Of all the papers that I have ever read I have never found any so good as yours...
...We cannot build a sound postwar plan upon the sands of private money control...
...In my humble opinion, he was right...
...then we were openly in the war and unprepared...
...28 issue...
...When men and women get the Kingdom of God in their hearts, then shall we have peace on earth and good will to men of all races and climes...
...His open and above-board deliberations—his Americanism—are like those of Thomas Jefferson and other great leaders of the colonial days...
...If free speech was to be curtailed, God forbid, who is to say who is to speak...
...This will make it possible for the farmer, the worker, the white-collar employes, and the small businessman to enjoy the blessings of our modern civilization...
...The awakening of the people is long overdue...
...We are now at the crossroad and apparently heading in the wrong direction...
...But can rank and file labor afford to let stand the CIO record with reference to the postwar conference at the University of Minnesota on Apr...
...But our President was inconsistent as usual, and we were going to rearm just in case...
...It is enough to have a grandson who has progressive, ideas and wants to convert his grandmother...
...No attempt was made to muzzle the other speakers — an editor from Winnipeg, and a faculty member of the University of Chicago...
...27 issue by Katherine Rodell, "Act Now, Mr...
...If free speech is curtailed, labor and the common people will be the first to suffer...
...So as Sen...
...Goodland and his government...
...And now comes Lord Churchill and President Roosevelt with the demand that they surrender what little freedom they enjoy, or else...
...The public can't stand too much truth...
...He calls a spade a spade...
...Armageddon is the consequence of ignorance, indifference, hypocrisy, and man's inhumanity to man...
...May I point out that there is a distinction between thinking themselves superior and knowing that they are superior, appointed by God to have dominion over all races and people...
...In my opinion there is no other publication whose staff of writers is so uniformly good as yours...
...For instance, there was a recent announcement of the registrar of voters of California, published in the Los Angeles papers, stating that California had increased more than one million in population since war—and that there are now one million less registered voters than there were before the 1940 elections: Something to be proud of, don't you think...
...Will I do it...
...He ought to get out and let someone take the job so the people will get the work done right...
...Your paper is the only paper I read as it's the only one I can believe...
...Its complete coverage of all items by your many columns of good, thoughtful words is one of the finest things to be found in any paper...
...Ella Benjamin 4516 Solano Avenue Sacramento 17, Calif...
...It is about time someone tells him that the people are tired of his flim-flamming the people...
...The Progressive advocates socialism—which is called progress-as a cure for all our ills at home and abroad...
...Then war started in Europe...
...La Follette, Sr., once said, "The will of the people shall be the law of the land...
...It is a significant fact that more people have paid their poll tax than ever before...
...The people of Wisconsin on Apr...
...No Punches Pulled Dear Sirs: I have enjoyed The Progressive especially because it is almost the only piece of unpropagandized literature I have been able to get...
...Mammon is vanity's idol...
...They refuse to make fair distinctions, refusing to see the difference between a super-state and a league of free nations and refusing to place the blame for our not entering a league of nations where it belongs...
...It is without question the best and most exact description of conditions right now that I have seen...
...With all our believing, what do we know or what can we prove...
...I find_it a treasure-house of information on how and where to get valuable reading...
...The Quaker View Dear Sirs: In a recent issue of The Progressive appeared comment from Miss Mary Winsor of Philadelphia on Isabel B. La Follette's statement in the Feb...
...Nor does the adoption of Hitler or Stalin efficiency weaken democracy at home, but rather strengthens it...
...To clarify the point, there are around 50 distinct nationalities in Russia, but they are all Russians...
...While men are searching for a way to solve the world's problems, it is the duty of the church to say, "We have the solution...
...He has got to be a real Progressive to ring the bell with the plain folks...
...While I don't always agree fully with some of the ideas expressed by some of them, I do feel that I am always able to learn something from all of them...
...The Pressure On Eire Dear Sirs: We now have a shining example of the principles of the great Atlantic Charter...
...I have often been exasperated at the misrepresentation of partisan orators and editors and ardent peace advocates...
...Sgt...
...Chase's Solutions Dear Sirs: Congratulations and many thanks for Stuart Chase's article in the Apr...
...Our unwise meddling in international affairs has produced all our foreign wars, costing a tremendous loss of life, maimed, and disabled, plus oppressive taxation and debt...
...Labor should be the last element in America to attempt to choke free speech, and particularly a national champion of it...
...Why can't we have a man like that for President...
...We also furnish practically all the metals used in their gigantic armaments...
...Free speech, a cornerstone of the American Constitution and tradition, is not for the few but for all...
...Whether or not one agrees with Norman Thomas, the fact remains that he represents the true democratic spirit...
...He believes that wars spring from denial or neglect of divine wisdom and guidance and that, to quote John Woolman, "the seeds of war are to be found in the social order...
...A. T. Bartow Marion, Ind...
...Apart from Christ, a new man is impossible...
...I am convinced that if President Wilson had listened to the Senators instead of ignoring them, we might have become a part of a league of free nations which would have done much in the promotion of peace...
...H. K. N. A. P. O. 500 San Francisco, Calif...
...Martin Dies...
...This alludes to Stuart Chase and his masterful article, "Unemployment for Postwar America" in the Apr...
...Elizabeth Boesing Floyd Knobs, Ind...
...We never had an opportunity to express our opinion or vote or have a good job, which makes us the luckless generation...
...We do not need a new system of society, but we do need new men...
...Can the CIO afford to leave its record against free speech...
...Liberals Reject Willkie Dear Sirs: It was great news to hear how the liberals of Wisconsin licked that utility stooge, Windy Willkie...
...We are very much ashamed of him...
...I watched the papers pretty closely during the time the League covenant was before the Senate...
...Cruelty, starvation, and death to all who oppose them are the marks of their superiority...
...Therefore, free speech is of utmost importance to it...
...He ordered them to sterilize every Jew in Copenhagen...
...Revive Spirit Of '76 Dear Sirs: Today, when strange political doctrines are running rampant over the nation, when nationalism versus internationalism is the most vital issue before us, let us remember that nationalism is what made America a great, prosperous, and peaceful nation...
...Roosevelt fumbled...
...All three men spoke and answered questions from the audience...
...But in my reading of the various postwar plans, I am reminded of the man that built his house upon the sand, so that when the rain fell his house fell also...
...Vanity's Idol Dear Sirs: I wonder if we will ever find the solution for peace, brotherhood, and a civilized civilization, and make religion and democracy work...
...By this vote they gave their assent to World War III, as isolationism means the continuance of present and future wars...
...One method of answering it might be to state a few things we are not fighting for...
...Wilson's Mistake Dear Sirs: I was pleased to read your quotations from Col...
...Peace Objectives Dear Sirs: You are to be congratulated for giving the men in the armed services a chance to have their say...
...That his proposed solutions two, three, and four are not in accordance with the facts, and number one is damned with faint praise by dooming people to eat strawberries, when they may have blueberries, pig's knuckles, or anything else that they may care to ask of the abundance that America can and must produce after the war, detracts little or nothing from its aggregate authority and final value...
...They have all been carefully planned...
...This same view holds for preserving or reinstating the status quo in the war zones of the Far East...
...It leads us into temptation and does not deliver us from evil...
...Some even call it a secret and criticize Stalin for not revealing the secret to us, when in reality there is no secret about it...
...Why not be honest and attack the worst economic evil that confronts us, the cause of all panics, depressions, and wars, and see that Congress provides us with an honest money system, controlled hot by private individuals, but by Congress, as the Constitution provides...
...My generation was drafted into the armed forces before we had a chance to get high paying war jobs...
...To the people of this country, this is an episode of the utmost importance as Congress is, if functioning properly, the fully competent guardian of our freedom and our liberty, and also the only department of our Government on which we can exert any direct influence...
...As long as private individuals have the power to put money into circulation and create prosperity and to draw money out of circulation and bring about a panic and unemployment, how can you work out a sound postwar plan...
...17 issue...
...True, the resolution came from the Hennepin County Council...
...In two or three weeks the doctors had sterilized 25,000 Jews...
...Praises Katherine Rodell Dear Sirs: The article in the Mar...
...Norman Thomas is courageously outspoken against imperialism...
...The only fault I have ever found is your continual knocking of PM...
...own welfare than before this awful war began, in which ease they will want more honest information and they will turn to The Progressive for it...
...We want jobs after this bloody mess is over, and we are not kidding...
...That is a question often heard' in the Army Air Force...
...It has come to a pretty pass when the University regents, frequently referred to by some elements of labor as reactionaries, become the defenders of free speech and certain elements of labor its enemies...
...It can be done, and it had better be done...
...I think if you read PM, as I have done for the past four years, you will find that it more often agrees with Sen...
...I am in hopes that through The Progressive we can build up a sentiment that will be felt when the war is over—a sentiment that will result in providing for farmers and workers their rightful share of the national income they helped to create...
...It might be well to give the Germans a little of their own medicine by sterilizing the military and the Hitler youth...
...In fact, since 1916 we have had no national foreign policy except one closely resembling that of a British dominion...
...We would probably not shoot down so many of our own planes...
...What shall we call those men who are trying so hard to get exempted from military duty...
...Stephen Bonsai's Unfinished Business...
...Praises Stuart Chase Dear Sirs: Stalin has the ball...
...Give Us The Facts' Dear Sirs: Whatever weakness and strength The Progressive may be said to have, it is to be appreciated that the paper has from time to time given its readers the facts concerning the misgivings for peace during the first World War and pointed out the fact that we are making as great a mistake during the second World War...
...Why single out Mr...
...My generation didn't worry about all this, as we read the sports pages and danced with jitterbug girls...
...I know that your many readers outside of Wisconsin, and of course your many in Wisconsin would like to know about this all important thing...
...Our President said we were to mind our own business and keep out of other people's wars, and Congress passed a neutrality act...
...Service Men Speak The Luckless Generation Dear Sirs: My generation was born during the "prosperous '20s" when everyone dreamed of two cars in the garage, etc...
...Hjalmar Petersen Minneapolis, Minn...
...If they were, they would not need our maximum effort to hold their own against 80 million Germans...
...We have today in the world four imperialisms jockeying for position...
...H. A. Joses Stockton, Calif...
...Last we have the Chinese empire of 400,000,000...
...The C. O.'s are the only people who are really following the teachings of Christ...
...R. L. Burns Center, Tex...
...Dies...
...The consequence of this, of course, will be that we will come out of the war an impoverished nation, as our deposits of oil and metals will be nearing the point of exhaustion, and so the chain will be forged of our economic dependency on Britain and Russia...
...Million Fewer Voters Dear Sirs: You are doing a fine job...
...Labor does not have the capital to maintain a big daily press—not to mention a monopoly press—nor would that be wholesome...
...Have we enough Christian courage to break down every idol and cast out every foe...
...Politics or finance do not determine military, status or military effort...
...Catherine Chamberlain Watertown, N. Y. CIO And Free Speech Dear Sirs: Surely it must have been a surprise to many that representatives of the CIO would adopt a resolution asking the University of Minnesota regents to bar Norman Thomas from speaking at a meeting in the Coffman Memorial...
...If it would, the rest would soon have to follow suit...
...Russia's Secret Dear Sirs : To recognize merit or to endorse phases of Russian administration does not mean the adoption of Communism...
...Let us remember that caution is the parent of safety...
...THE PEOPLE'S FORUM . . . Our Only Hope Dear Sirs: It is with an inner glow of satisfaction that I have noted the determined effort of Congress to shake off the apathy which has clogged its actions for decades and take the initial steps to recover its constitutional right as the policy-making department of our Government...
...Truth is the best remedy for ignorance and hypocrisy...
...As we grew older, our parents talked of their losses on the stock market and the depression and how a smart politician named Roosevelt was to be President, and everybody was to have a job again, or be paid if there weren't enough jobs to go around...
...Too many of the clergy ignore the Ten Commandments and eight Beatitudes...
...The latter's statement is quoted as follows: "The basic assumption of the conscientious objector is that someone else will do the dirty work for him...
...Will Branaman Littleton, Colo...
...They are exercising the rights supposedly guaranteed under the charter that small nations would be insured the right of self-government or home rule...
...The Japanese imperialism of around 300,000,000 people is also based on exploitation...
...Jane Putnam Boston, Mass...
...A. V. A. P. O. 461 Camp Adair, Oreg...
...The above empires cover three-fifths of the area, population, and natural resources of the world, and are constantly striving for more...
...If they are not C. O.'s they must be cowards...
...A united democratic war effort is the only "secret...
...They—in Russia — conscript everybody and everything instead of limiting it to boys who are unfortunate enough to come within certain age limits and are mentally and physically sound...
...Churchill, the State Department, and military leaders to the contrary notwithstanding, the average man in the ranks has no interest whatever in preserving the status quo of 1939 in Europe...
...We are oiling 85 per cent of the United Nations' war effort...
...It is the best paper we have...
...Ireland is a small nation...
...When I graduated from high school there weren't any jobs, and I went to a CCC camp...
...Pfc...
...New ideas do not come readily to people who are settled in their opinions...
...S. C. Tabb Waco, Tex...
...Honest Information Dear Sirs: I would be lost without The Progressive as there is no other publication which represents the common people as completely as The Progressive does...
...I live in the Congressional District of Rep...
...If the people of the conquered and liberated countries express their preference for such government in a plebiscite, that is their business...
Vol. 8 • May 1944 • No. 19
