THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM ¦ ¦ ¦ Chamberlin On Russia Dear Sirs: The playing up of William Henry Chamberlin's article on Page 1 of your Apr. 10 issue, would suggest that you are quite in accord with...
...Billions for building public power plants...
...It was not until after the close of the Second War for Independence (1812-'14), which was primarily a war for freedom of the seas, that American commerce and industry began to grow appreciably...
...Some of these objected to having their pleasuring interfered with by the presence of wounded soldiers and complained to the war authorities...
...An attitude of "status quo on the home front" seems to prevail...
...He says: "Stalin is shrewd and realistic enough to be willing to make haste slowly in imposing an all-out Soviet political and economic pattern on peoples with non-Russian background and traditions...
...Cpl...
...There are four reclamation plants in the Snake River country of Idaho, and as may be expected, the Idaho Power Company is picking up the surplus power...
...A decent respect for public opinion may not be expected, it seems, from some of this plutocratic 4 per cent who own 80 per cent of the wealth, and will own more of it when the peoples' billions of dollars in factories and equipment are disposed of at bargain prices and Congress abolishes the Renegotiation Act...
...G. M. Fowler Neenah, Wis...
...LarFollette was a candidate for President, the newspapers lied about him, declaring that in a public address he had said that we had no good reason to enter World War I, when the fact was that he had said, "We had a good reason for going to war with Germany...
...To control prices we must control production...
...Either Progressives have not heard of it, or have not thought it sufficiently important to comment on it...
...The people of Russia I admire, but not their leader...
...That is the doctrine of the Chamber of Commerce of the West...
...I find them of great interest even though they do not come through for two months at this station...
...Cannon booms on: "At the close of the war the government will have to throw two billion dollars worth of food on the market in competition with the huge supplies held by nation-wide chain stores...
...They entered the lunchroom, sat at the tables, had their meals served, talked, smoked...
...So in these days of backslapping over the alleged freedom of the press, I think of the cruel and unjust attack of that free press on one of America's great statesmen, and smile...
...It takes courage for an educational colleague to oppose a fair-haired boy, and Prof...
...I further suggest that all who join it be required to take the following blood oath: "I solemnly swear that I will never leave the country of which I am a citizen, to take part in any war against the people of any other country or nation...
...The country needs more men with his courage, who will not hesitate to opposet openly every attack upon not simply an individual, but what amounts to an attempt to nullify the national Bill of Rights...
...Robert M. La Follette, Sr., against the reactionary gang that then controlled the Republican Party...
...J. H. Gibson Memphis, Tenn...
...Whidden Graham New York, N. Y. Total Mobilization Dear Sirs: Total war demands the total mobilization of resources, skills, and all the equipment of America...
...Can't we go through the mummery of loaning them gold to buy our goods in peace as well as war...
...They smeared him because he exposed the double dealing of party members who turned somersaults every time their master, Stalin, spoke...
...Most people have short memories, but there must be a considerable number of your readers who recall the part played in 1911 and subsequent years by the ANPA and AP in the fight of Sen...
...G. B. P. San Diego, Calif...
...Schenectady, N. Y. The Power Line Dear Sirs: For 40 years the Chambers of Commerce over the West have boosted the building of public dams that dot the desert states—then have bitterly fought the building of public power lines...
...J. Luther Kibler Newport News, Va...
...Chamberlain's article on "Two Conceptions of Planning" in the May 9 issue of The Progressive and likewise as to "What's This Wprld Coming To...
...E. Ernest Garner Tunnelton, W. Va...
...George F. Curry Martins Ferry, O. * * * Myopic Liberalism Dear Sirs: The failure of The Progressive to say one single word in its entire issue of May 1 in repudiation of the blatantly anti-democratic actions and utterances of the accused seditionists now on trial in Washington glaringly points up its myopic liberalism...
...But it is wonderful because we have continued to make it so...
...E. V. - A. P. O. 503 San Francisco, Calif...
...In 1816 the first "protective" tariff law was passed, ostensibly to protect America's "infant industries" against (foreign) competition...
...Was it because the CIO's, who acted so much like dictators were Communists, whose Russian regime Mr...
...Not by any means...
...The conservative Hoover Administration built the great Boulder Dam public power plant, and among the companies getting energy to distribute at a profit are California Edison Company, California Pacific Utilities, Nevada-California Electric, and Citizens Utilities...
...I do not see how he can deny the truth of Otto's contention that economic factors control 20th century living...
...Its policy, however, continues to be a policy of destruction of all competition insofar as it may be accomplished, notwithstanding its protestations of its reverence for free enterprise and that "competition is the life of trade...
...Priceless Dear Sirs: Your series of articles on postwar possibilities is priceless...
...Whose consumption...
...G. T. U. S. Coast Guard Port Angeles, Wash...
...Nona MacQuilkin Superior, Wis...
...The free enterprisers, however, are in mortal fear of the competition which such a procedure would bring to their doors...
...Therefore, unless we voters relegate these meddlers to the rear, it may be whole generations before we shall have peace again, if we ever do...
...will have nothing with which to buy...
...The public power plant at Oakland has only one customer— the Pacific Gas and Electric...
...If one doubts this statement then let him try to appraise the total cost and destruction entailed by the wars of the past 30 years...
...Yes, I think a luxury whose cost is out of all proportion to its actual value to us or any other nation...
...On whose team are we playing...
...There can be no let-down in this struggle...
...If we are fighting for the same thing, if we are to die for our country, then why does the Government allow such things to go on...
...Please refer to some book and page which might help me...
...H. J. Weeks Washington, D. C. Contagious Fascism Dear Sirs: The letter of Hjalmar Petersen in your issue of May 8, entitled "CIO And Free Speech," is easily the most important and significant letter in the People's Forum of the date given...
...Everyone, everywhere, except the few who care only for pelf and power, will be eager to adopt this system voluntarily...
...Plutocratic Arrogance Dear Sirs: I have looked in vain through numbers of The Progressive for comment on a piece of arrogance on the part of some plutocrats toward wounded soldiers...
...Rep...
...I'm saying that you will...
...Yes, war is a splendid medium for chastening and scourging humanity and the ravaging of this fair planet...
...Yet it may be some indication of how our warworn soldiers may be received by this class when they return...
...Blunder-bus says "consumption is at the peak...
...Are we not American soldiers, sworn to fight for and die if need be for this our country...
...Miss Sheridan did not point out to your readers that there are on the market today two different kinds of vitamins, and that according to some well known authorities in nutrition, the synthetic vitamin is of but very little use to the human body...
...Now the offensive soldiers are to be removed to Indiana, where the climate is not so favorable to their recovery...
...One consideration had been overlooked...
...Ott6 demonstrated that he is not afraid to fight—a rare quality, I've observed, among professors...
...P. T. A. Neumann Brooklyn, N. Y. * * * Prof...
...We must have no other function . or obligation except the defeat of America's Fascist enemies at home and abroad...
...Your publication should be read fully every week by every adult in the United States...
...Petersen wrote...
...So let's replace these meddlers with men who can "resist the temptation to meddle in the affairs of their neighbors...
...The variety of opinion expressed and the clear, confident style of writing just suit me...
...However, in these days of war confusion, too many otherwise "free" publications are prone to soft-pedal legitimate controversial issues in favor of "domestic peace...
...As we all know by bitter experience, the costliness of war does not end with the cessation of hostilities...
...On whom...
...The unemployables on fixed doles...
...If I mention Chamberlin, Hessel- tine, Felix Morley, Norman Thomas, Fred Rodell, Harry Elmer Barnes, Max Otto, McAlister Coleman,, and the Editor, that does not mean I do not read others too with enjoyment...
...You have nothing to fight each other about...
...also a mountain of surplus commodities which represents a further investment of several billions of the people's (not the government's) money...
...And that resolves itself (regardless of what other labels may be applied) into a choice of capitalism or socialism...
...In fact, they hold that there can be no peace established until their system is used to re-educate these foreigners...
...I and eight other soldiers were on our way from Camp Claiborne, La., to the hospital here at Fort Huachuca...
...As you know, Old Man Jim Crow rules...
...Prof...
...Tomorrow, with the close of the war, consumption will decline and production must decline with it...
...Patricia Dadanie Suisun, Calif...
...The 'Free' Press Dear Sirs: We have been enjoying the annual farce of the meeting of representatives of the American Newspaper Publishers' Association and the Associated Press...
...Later when Sen...
...How long are the people going to play the suckers...
...I certainly liked Miss Waldeck's, letter and think she hit the nail on the head...
...Let us not find ourselves "living in a Plymouth car age with a Plymouth Rock mind...
...Clear And Confident Dear Sirs: I am finding The Progressive the most satisfactory periodical I read...
...There's only one recourse," the Cannon roars...
...J. H. Armstrong Denver, Colo...
...Must we eat less food, wear fewer clothes, tramp the country seeking jobs, asking for handouts, just because the war ends...
...Some of them have so developed that itch to reform other people that they want to impose an educational system of their own liking on certain foreign peoples...
...Here on the West Coast a few years ago a radio reporter for the CIO News from San Francisco lost his job and was hounded even after they had taken his job from him...
...Inasmuch as the people have paid for these plants, the equipment, and the surplus commodities, they are "of the people," should be operated "by the people," and the products distributed "for the people...
...But that's not all...
...90 Per Cent Right Dear Sirs: Any one of your articles on "Economic Possibilities for Postwar America" is worth the price of a five-year subscription to The Progressive...
...S. C. Franklin Sadler, Tex...
...There is a public power plant at San Francisco, but the people have to buy from the Pacific Gas and Electric...
...Cannon Roars Dear Sirs: On Apr...
...Are we "fortunate" Americans to consume less, to let the world starve, because we have all the gold and silver...
...We must plan a postwar crop-contw>l program...
...Why should the CIO, whose "labor rights" Norman Thomas has always championed, attempt to deny him the basic right of free speech at the University of Minnesota on Apr...
...When it comes to destructiveness, civilized warfare has all other forms of human violence completely outclassed...
...You claim to be progressive and believers in a better system than that on which most of the world is run today, greed...
...Surely no conscientious service man wants to think that while he is gone, all the champions of progress and liberalism in his home town, state, and Nation, have "closed shop" for the duration...
...A Negro's Questions Dear Sirs: Here is a question that each Negro soldier is asking: What is the Negro soldier fighting for...
...It is easily handled and can be nicely tucked away in my purse for reading at odd leisure moments...
...I contend that back of it is either a lack of knowledge or else a deliberate attempt to deprive the public of the various benefits they are deriving from vitamin and mineral products...
...I have been annoyed by the clannishness of the educators, all hot to get on the band wagon for Van Doren...
...Surely there is need for this sort of paper now more than ever...
...And such meddling may often involve us in serious trouble...
...Thomas has not hesitated to criticize...
...But, alas, this was not enough...
...Workers of the world, unite against your worst and your common enemy...
...The contributors are people I have confidence in...
...The world wasn't big enough for Stalin to allow him to live in it with him...
...To cope with them, successful education must emphasize not "the great books" (though they are not to be ignored, of course) but training "to deal directly and scientifically with the social practices that have to be reformed...
...I doubt if any student of economics can or would deny the fact that as long as we have capital and labor continuously at each other's throats, we will never have peace, but strife and war, individually, nationally, and internationally...
...I pay 35-cents for beef liver for Vhich the farmer gets 15 cents, twice as much for butter and eggs as the farmer gets...
...Nor will I support in any way any war waged against my brothers in any country on earth...
...I believe the article was misleading and dangerous...
...So far, the little good which has come out of the war is that Russia has had recognition for accomplishments...
...In the course of my studies, I have often come across statements to the effect that capitalism is the c°ause of unemployment, but I have not been able to have it proved...
...Attacks Vitamin Article Dear Sirs: I should like to comment on the recent article by Mary Sheridan, "You Can't Hoard Vitamins...
...If he means gall, yes...
...W. V. McNamee Tulsa, Okla...
...True Road Dear Sirs: The Progressive enjoys a wider circulation among my fellow soldiers than any other serious magazine we get, and this even though it is many weeks in getting to us...
...It is now quite evident that we have a lot of inflated politicians who are as full of themselves as any "superior race" ever dared to be...
...And they propose to use ample military forces and whole decades of time in re-educating them...
...Fritz Gannon San Jose, Calif...
...I would like to see Mark Van Doren try to answer Prof...
...Sam J. Harms Salem, Oreg...
...I suggest the name: "Workers International Peace Union...
...Perhaps this is too enthusiastic a comment to be helpful and discriminating...
...And, if we have an educational system that will keep down strife and perpetuate peace, let's demonstrate the fact that it will do so here at home among our own different races, classes, and interests...
...Then why are they treated better than we are...
...How about Trotsky...
...Henry Borsook of the California Institute of Technology, who has said: "The stores of Vitamin A in the body are depleted in the course of a long, chronic infection unless the supply in the diet is greater than normal...
...Clarence Cannon (see Congressional Record of April 27, page A2145) of Missouri got up and said: "Today both production and consumption are at the peak...
...the Kendrick plant selling to the Mountain States Power Company, which also buys from the Riverton, the Shoshone, and the Platte reclamation projects...
...Since that time, American industry has grown from an infant into a giant...
...To this cause I pledge my life and my most sacred honor...
...Maybe we could trade some bread for some brains...
...On the greedy stand-patters, yes, but on the masses, no...
...We had to lay over until the next day for our train...
...And we find the same condition in Wyoming...
...in fact, had quite a swell time...
...Cannon (Popgun) thinks we have too much liver...
...Rubin for his masterpiece, "Who Are These Isolationists...
...Your staff of contributors is splendid...
...It seems 800 soldiers were quartered in a hotel at Palm Beach to receive hospital treatment...
...Great Interest Dear Sirs: We left New Guinea some time ago, but I have found time to read carefully the issues of The Progressive which caught up with me...
...And to label real reform as "Soviet political pattern" is surely closing the eye to the pleas of countless writers who have preached what Russia is putting into practice...
...by Prof...
...Fascism in "spots" may become contagious, if the American people do not do more downright thinking, as they are invited to do in Mr...
...I like the size of paper...
...The latest obsession of a few of the biggest moguls of industry and finance seems to be the disposition, after the end of the war, of plants and plant equipment wherein lies an investment of approximately $18 billion of the people's (not the government's) money...
...His typical American satire is truly hard to beat...
...Defense Of TV A Dear Sirs: Every believer in public power and in the greatness of the TVA is greatly indebted to The Progressive for your magnificent defense of that agency against the attacks of the destroyers in Congress...
...Why are we pushed around like cattle...
...R. T. Fort Huachuca, Ariz...
...We have a wonderful country, unquestionably the finest on earth...
...Then why should this struggle cease at the continents of Europe or Asia...
...The Cost Of War Dear Sirs: . One thing can be very truthfully said in regard to modern warfare— it is ruinously costly and appallingly destructive...
...Philip G. Kapleau New Haven, Conn...
...O. M. Thomason Willernie, Minn...
...The next two sentences were censored...
...The writer is requested to state his address so I may be able to write to him (or her) directly for further help...
...Obviously free enterprise of, by, and for the people is not the type of free enterprise which they so hypocritically glorify...
...While we have not been involved in the present war so long as Great Britain, Germany, and Italy, it has already cost us the neat little sum of 168 billion dollars—and is today costing us 300 million dollars a day...
...The worst tempest that ever raged cannot begin to compare with modern blitzkrieg war for destructiveness and frightfulness...
...Hesseltine's Articles Dear Sirs: Prof...
...Seely should do his own thinking and quit being a fellow traveler...
...Imposing, is it...
...Whenever we do this, then it will require no military force to impose such a system on other nations...
...In spite of big business advertising to the contrary, it is hard to believe that the soldiers who are fighting reaction abroad desire a complete stalemate in progress here in their own country...
...The men and women in the armed forces of America are offering their lives that our nation may be victorious...
...He will speedily realize he has assumed a task which will tax his mathematical ability to the utmost—and then some, I imagine...
...we must constantly adjust ourselves to the times...
...But if our public men meddle in the affairs of foreign peoples, then we private citizens may have to help them bear the consequences...
...This may be an indication of the treatment our soldiers will receive from this class when they return...
...So long as it treats as sacred cows all those who preach against internationalism, even though they preach hate and intolerance along with it, just so long will The Progressive make a mockery of its vaunted liberal policies...
...in the May 8 issue of The Progressive...
...Will we never learn from history ? S. T. Mansfield Washington, D. C. 'Of, By, And For The People' Dear Sirs: The so-called free enterprisers obviously believe in free enterprise for themselves only...
...They have an itch to reform other people, and they cannot resist the temptation to meddle in the affairs of their neighbors...
...Phooey...
...Among us private citizens, where each meddler may be made to bear the consequences of his own meddling, this meddlesome trait of character may not be entirely ruinous...
...Such a program will unite America for victory and save precious lives and resources...
...Not a dollar for public power lines...
...Occasionally I find in your pages something with which I don't agree, but taking your articles as a whole, you are at least 90 per cent right, which is more than can be said for any other weekly or daily publication of which I know...
...Clarence Dolan Bellingham, Wash...
...For what are we fighting...
...Some of the boys are saying that you will not print this letter...
...On the next day we could not purchase a cup of coffee at any of the lunchrooms around there...
...Service Men Speak No Let-Down At Home Dear Sirs: I know of few publications which present such a variety as The Progressive of uninfluenced, liberal discourses on the news, without fear of retaliation from opposing factions...
...If the workers of the world, who do the" fighting, dying, and paying, were not so hopelessly dumb they would organize against this monstrous evil...
...As usual, when good fellows of advertising interests get together, there has been a lot of bunk, blah, hokum, and puff about the United States Constitution and freedom of the press, with big executives patting each other's backs and declaring that they will never, never desert that palladium...
...If we want to have apple stands all over the country again like we had after the other war, and unemployment, just let's keep on lambasting anti-capitalistic ideas, and we will have a depression, really worth while...
...If, to save the price system, we implement such a program, nothing can save us from chaos, even if we deserved to be saved...
...Therefore we should demand total conscription of men, machines, and money with national service from all and profits to none...
...And so I would say, regardless of numerous mistakes which anybody is subject to, so long as the goal of this reform movement is the lifting up and bettering of the conditions of the masses, that should be kept in mind...
...24, 1944 A. D. (not B. C.) Rep...
...It is refreshing to read such letters as Mr...
...He says none of the people in Europe who are afraid of Stalin deserves any help, sympathy, or consideration from us...
...Marie A. Sanfore La Crosse, Wis...
...Mr...
...W. K. APO 645 New York, N. Y. * * * Informative Dear Sirs: I find The Progressive tremendously interesting and informative...
...we have most of the gold and silver...
...Public power plants in Washington state generate 72 per cent of the current, yet private power lines serve over 60 per cent of the homes...
...Judging from some of your standby contributors, it would be far better to keep on hoping and talking about Edward Bellamy's and other inspired writers' views than to have a living example and demonstration of those hopes which they expressed...
...It is well known that there have always been many outside interests which affect the policies of most newspapers...
...Now, then, let me say that for proof the statement that vitamins can't be stored is not true, I wish to quote the words of no less an authority than Prof...
...For this the hotel was better suited than some hospitals, the site ideal and the climate perfect...
...Are they not taught to hate and destroy all democratic governments...
...The government must maintain the same legislative floor under farm wages and prices it maintains under industrial wages and prices...
...The only place where we could be served was at the lunchroom at the railroad station but, of course, we had to go into the kitchen...
...Recently the city council of Portland refused to allow the Bonneville Authority to extend a power line into the city, but granted that right to the Pertland General Electric to connect with Bonneville...
...At 11:30 a. m. about two dozen German prisoners of war, with two American guards, came to the station...
...Wake up from your age-long sleep...
...Quite an expensive luxury, is it not...
...Hesseltine's articles on why and how we botched the peace settlement in the South after the Civil War should be read by every believer in peace by international . force...
...Mrs...
...There will be no market abroad because every European and Asiatic country will be destitute...
...who hate war with all my might, soul, mind, and heart...
...Neera Gokhale 6 Elbert St...
...I stood on the outside looking in, and I could not help but ask myself these questions: Are these men sworn enemies of this country...
...Barnes in the same issue...
...Otto's final quip at Clifton Fadiman should jar the arrogance of that literary tradesman who has done right well, thanks to Canada Dry, Heinz, and the war...
...Borsook's book, Vitamins, What They Are and How They Can Benefit You...
...10 issue, would suggest that you are quite in accord with this writer's slams on the Soviet Union...
...Special mention is due to Ernest L. Meyer, who in my opinion is about the finest feature writer in the country today...
...Because the Senator from Wisconsin exposed and denounced the Canadian Reciprocity Pact as a conspiracy to bribe the newspapers to support President Taft's tariff policies by putting newsprint paper from Canada on the free list, he was subjected to the worst campaign of defamation in American history...
...Suspicion, criticism, and insults instead of encouragement...
...I propose and would join a worldwide union of the workers to end war forever...
...Reply To Seely Dear Sirs: I'd like to answer Charles S. See-ly's letter in a recent issue...
...Workers Peace Union Dear Sirs: As one who was in France in the last war, I am one of the many (or is it few...
...Dictators are poison in any country...
...Dangerous Meddling Dear Sirs: Robert Quillen, the newspaper columnist, has made the following statement about his fellow countrymen: "Americans have two characteristics which are found in no other country...
...Is it too much to ask of us at home to sacrifice personal gain...
...Otto's criticism...
...Otto's Courage Dear Sirs: Max Otto deserves to rank with the top caliber contributors of The Progressive after his penetrating review of Mark Van Doren's book, Liberal Education...
...Elihu Bowles Prosser, Wash...
...Is it not to insure a world of free people, devoid of fear, hate, and oppression...
...I do not believe there is a better book on the subject of vitamins than Dr...
...The executives of the ANPA and AP admitted that they had sent out orders to the press to play up reciprocity, as it meant many millions of dollars annually to the big publishers...
...This company also buys from public plants at Merced, Modesto, Turlock, and from Yosemite National Park...
...And yet Mr...
...Wants Proof Dear Sirs: Could you or one of your readers help me...
...When war consumption is over, war production is over...
...So, finally, along comes Russia and offers what the progressives have been hoping and praying for for ages, and what do we find...
...It is the most accursed racket and the most malignant form of insanity that ever plagued God's green earth...
...Yours is the true road to early, complete, and decisive victory against the forces of Fascism not only abroad, but at home, too...
...For years and years afterward the masses groan under most grievous burdens of huge indebtedness and galling taxation...
...Palm Beach is a playground of the wealthy...
...Masterpiece Dear Sirs: I wish to commend Mr...
Vol. 8 • May 1944 • No. 21
