THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
. . . THE PEOPLE'S FORUM . . . Postwar Purchasing Power Dear Sirs: The postwar series of six articles just concluded, were interesting and informative, but, like all bellyaching writers, the...
...Naturally, there were provisions made to repay the $68,500,000 advance...
...It doesn't make much difference which of the old parties we elect now...
...Especially do we enjoy "Your Money's Worth," which is a fine antidote for high-pressure advertising...
...I do know that most of those able to pass the Navy physical examination go directly into the Navy chap-lainry upon graduation (they do not go into the Army because the Army requires experience in the pastorate and the Navy does not...
...We have attracted the attention of several other states asking us to keep up the good work, as they want to join and make it a national party, strong enough to carry the 1948 campaign to success under the slogan, "Make This Your U. S. A.," as the CCF slogan in Canada is, "Make This Your Canada...
...I have often been moved to protest against this habit of comparing sons with their fathers, especially in politics or public service...
...Are we a civilized society headed by honorable men extending civilization...
...F. T. Conroy Jacksonville, Fla...
...The "New Peace" for a "New World" should provide for the final abandonment of all imperialistic policies of any nation...
...In addition, adequate defense in the Pacific was denied us, and proper means of obtaining information there was not provided...
...I also want to speak of Mr...
...Certainly this contradiction, so inconsistent, was enough to "provoke" any nation...
...Charles E. Seiler Washington, D. C. * * * Complete Confidence Dear Sirs: I shall be eternally grateful to the publishers of The Progressive for helping me to realize that there is, after all, a place in this world for true idealists, that they are not misfits in society, and that they can not only live a normal life, but make great contributions to society in spite of overpowering opposition...
...I look forward with delight to your future issues...
...Memo To Coleman Dear Sirs: Tell McAlister Coleman for me that he is good reading when he sticks to labor, power, or light-handed fooling around, but I for one am getting tired of his using space in The Progressive to air his Socialist ideas...
...The Government was compelled to furnish billions of dollars worth of purchasing power to prevent more starvation...
...Consequently the United States Government agreed to purchase 1,370,000,000 pounds of aluminum by the end of 1945...
...Years ago I formed a prejudice against him, probably influenced by partisans unfairly comparing the young man with his father and suggesting that he was trying to win success on his father's reputation...
...You can tell Mayer for me that Dewey is every inch a man in every sense of the word, not the phantom or robot as Mayer sees him...
...Background To War Dear Sirs: Mr...
...Wheeler...
...This party in Michigan is known as the Michigan Commonwealth Federation and in Illinois by the American Commonwealth Federation...
...Pass This Paper On...
...It must have been a most impressive occasion...
...Should the war end and our Government decide to cancel its contract, the Aluminum Company of Canada cannot be forced to pay any remaining unpaid balance of the $68 million or that borrowed by them on the 5 cents per pound arrangement...
...Isn't that against "rugged indi-Tidualism" as such...
...Sons Of Famous Fathers Dear Sirs: I am moved by the story of the funeral of Gen...
...When this fake trade dried up, we went into the periodic panic of 1929 because capitalism could not furnish purchasing power for the consumption of its products...
...I was fast losing all courage to live by the truth...
...For several years America, with the approval and encouragement of this Administration, steadily sold Japan all supplies needed for aggressive war on China...
...Thanks for a great variety of cleverly written, straight-f rom-the-shoulder articles...
...Yet we were not "prepared...
...It Will Make New Friends...
...In their latest role of apologists they tell us the world is so large, that whatever Russia does is only the concern of Russia...
...It is strange that Mr...
...During the boom of the early 1920's capitalism shipped billions of dollars worth of goods to foreign countries in exchange for worthless bonds that later wrecked banks and impoverished investors...
...The reason for the attack, as stated in the Seattle daily's editorial, was the Stalinists' "determination that no one shall speak with i less than fulsome praise of the So- ! viet Government of Russia...
...We are holding our state convention to adopt a platform and write our manifesto which will be closely patterned after the Regina Manifesto adopted by the CCF...
...For 15 'years, these Russo-philes have followed every twist and wriggle of their master's foreign policy—and now they would tell Americans what they may read or hear...
...it makes even stranger changes of bed, and no stranger change does it expose than the change of those who were advocates, before we entered the war, of our participation in it who are apologists now for the failure of our war Administration to carry out the principles that as advocates they declared indispensable to world peace...
...Defends Dewey Dear Sirs: One of the rottenest and most prejudiced articles I have ever read was the one by Milton Mayer in the issue of July 10, in which he gives his impressions of the Republican National Convention...
...God created man for a purpose, for an ordained destiny, and mankind will sometime reach that destiny, either driven by the lash or guided by reason...
...Without question, we cannot shunt aside or escape the causes...
...and when, later, the President obtained "license," MORE scrap iron, not LESS, was sent...
...If all Congressmen are real statesmen, as they address each other in public, why do they loggerhead over a question of civilized importance like producing for use, so that the naked are clothed, the homeless are housed, the hungry are fed...
...Why should not these men be measured by their present usefulness, by their own contemporaries, rather than by fathers who rank among the greatest of all time...
...Truth and compassion for one's fellow-men, however, must be the guiding stars...
...Lee Hinterleitner Westfield, N. J. * * * Pass This Paper On...
...Wheeler's article, the world's ills will continue arid multiply...
...Faithlessness and the domineering desire to .rule all must first be destroyed at home...
...Few men in our public life, holding responsible positions, have the foresight, wisdom, and vision of Sen...
...Mrs...
...Barnes' article, "The Twentieth Century Challenge to Freedom...
...Thornton C. Shaw Sandusky, O. Mankind's Destiny Dear Sirs: We have confusion and much wishful thinking but very little constructive , implementation reflected in our reading...
...The new peace policy should make some provision for the cessation of these wicked practices by the strong against the weak...
...Cromwell investigate the nature of the enrollment at Rochester before he throws any more stones...
...Jones...
...After reading The Progressive for almost a year, I have complete confidence that it always abides by its aims—to expose the true factors involved in all'issues which it takes up...
...Look at the prayers that are projected for God to do something for mankind, where the reverse is probably the true approach: man must do something Godly for mankind so that God would respect him for doing it and reward him...
...I would like to quote the first paragraph of the Regina Manifesto: "The CCF is a federation of organizations whose purpose is the establishment in Canada of a cooperative commonwealth in which the principle regulating production, distribution, and exchange will be the supplying of human needs and not the making of profits...
...I The storm-troopers who suppressed free speech in best Stalinist-Nazi style were mostly recognizable as men who, during the Hitler-Stalin pact, were wearing "Keep America Out Of The War" buttons, parroting Stalin's statement that Russo-German friendship had been "cemented in blood," quoting Molo-tov to the effect that "fascism is a matter of taste," and approving Earl Browder's statement on June 21, 1941, that "the new Roosevelt course is essentially the same for America as Hitler gave to Germany in 1933—toward black reaction and war...
...Contradiction Dear Sirs: Politics makes strange bed-fellows...
...Pass This Paper On...
...Francis A. Belote Ferguson, Mo...
...To these are we not justified in putting the old question, were you deceiving us then or are you deceiving us now...
...Jesse Jones, through the Metals Reserve Corporation of the United States Government, advanced $68,-500,000 of the American people's money and without interest, to the Aluminum Company of Canada, the better-half of the Aluminum Company of America...
...A leader, not a dictator...
...To me it is quite true that imperialism always breeds war...
...Wheeler's article is worthy of the time and effort that any citizen of these, United States may take to read same...
...Frank Rohner San Carlos, Calif...
...What we need most is some sound thinking...
...For 1,096,000,000 pounds our Government is to pay 15 cents per pound and for 274,000,000 pounds, 17 cents...
...It is for Uncle Sam to decide whether to curtail production at home and buy Canadian aluminum so he can get back his hard earned money from the "aluminum boys," or write the entire deal off as bad business, and produce his own aluminum...
...This warning went wholly unheeded, and supplies continued to flow to Japan...
...The 'Shipshaw Steal' Dear Sirs: With the end of the war still in the distant future, many are unable to understand why aluminum production is curtailed in Government-owned plants...
...Rev...
...Oddly, the advance was $2,500,000 more than the project cost, evidently a slight oversight by Mr...
...Any who consider this matter seriously enough may find solace in this brief analysis of data covering the "Shipshaw Steal," which through the machinations of ' Big Business reached its culmination on the Shipshaw and Saquenay Rivers, amidst a Canadian wilderness in the province of Quebec...
...One of the greatest sayings is, "He who lives for his own sake dies...
...This $68,500,000 advance was made to develop a huge hydro-electric project on the Shipshaw and Saquenay Rivers solely for the use of the Aluminum monopoly...
...And I am interested in the editorial in the New York Times, especially in its reference to the handicaps of a fajshous father's sons...
...Edmund Johnson Balsam Lake, Wis...
...Burton K. Wheeler's article, "The Road To Enduring Peace," published in your issue of July 24 is indeed a timely and truly correct treatise on the world's needs today...
...Richard Dirk sen 1 Valhalla, N. Y. Praises Sen...
...His "Kingdom of God," we will find, is a social or economic system if we only take the trouble to examine it...
...And, remember, neither of these men has as yet finished his career...
...Our state convention will be held July 28, 29, and 30, after which we will be able to send definite literature, such as platform, manifesto, etc...
...there seems to be so little place for it in the world today...
...Frank Simpson San Diego, Calif...
...Dewey, who seeks to serve his country to the utmost...
...I know nothing of the situation in Rochester, but: I do know that the enrollment in our Presbyterian theological seminaries has not increased, and in some cases has decreased...
...Alma E. Meyer South Lyon, Mich...
...J. F. Houchins Beckley, W. Va...
...Then, at the 11th hour, Mr...
...Theodore Roosevelt...
...Dewey is particularly disgusting and is an insult to the voters of the Empire State, who gave Dewey a majority of 650,000 in the election of 1942...
...There is yet time and the opportunity to deal with these worldly problems...
...I am glad to learn of the really worthwhile record "Young Teddy" made for himself, at least part of which I was not familiar with...
...Roger William Riis was the last to touch this subject in the People's Forum on June 26...
...Not an indispensable man, but one who has demonstrated qualities of leadership which millions of voters believe are lacking in the present national Administration...
...It Will Make New Friends...
...Unless we...
...Maurice E. Sherman, Sr...
...Barnes' scientific treatment of historical material...
...The disrupted meetings were held in the Plymouth Congregational Church and the Epiphany Episcopal Parish Hall...
...Yet we, too, cannot be exonerated...
...One father won the highest honors from his country...
...His attempt at character assassination of Gov...
...However, the Aluminum Company of Canada can borrow up to $34,500,000 at 3 per cent interest, which is to be charged against the earned credit of 5 cents per pound...
...Nor does this exonerate Japan...
...We are unanimous in wanting permanent peace and the happiness of all people in this sorely afflicted world...
...Maybe the people of enemy countries might accept a peace plan built on that and help to make this world a better place to live in...
...We think the national name will be the same name that Illinois has selected...
...Hungry For Statesmen Dear Sirs: The peoples of the world are really hungry for statesmen of real vision and quality: statesmen who face the real facts of existence and, finding a solution, will go through what they demand of our armed forces in winning a war, not for personal gain, or personal power, only in so far as all receive personal gains as social gains...
...Mankind, like a babe lost in the woods, is running in circles: war, inflation, exhaustion, armistice, deflation, depression, starvation, war, inflation, exhaustion...
...Kermit Eby, assistant director of research, CIO...
...In essence imperialism means simply the policy and the practice of powerful nations getting control of the economics of weaker peoples to exploit them without mercy or reason, to carry away out of such a weak country the rich spoils of the system to the homeland—there to waste it in riotous and intemperate living...
...Jesus taught us true democracy when He told us: "Let him that would be greatest among you be your servant...
...Sen...
...An American CCF Dear Sirs: I wish to answer Oswald Garrison Villard's article in The Progressive of July 24 under the title, "Wanted—A Left Wing Party for America...
...J. A. Steiger Portland, Oreg...
...A. W. Kurtz, Treasurer, Ingham County MCF Club Lansing, Mich...
...Wheeler Dear Sirs: Sen...
...Mayer also had a few words of criticism directed at ex-President Hoover, referring to the "ruins of 1932...
...Right, now there are in the Senate two outstanding figures who are constantly compared with their fathers to their disadvantage...
...You and me...
...Wake up, America...
...Frank D. Slocum New York, N. Y. Red Storm-Troopers Dear Sirs: "They Cry For Free Speech, But Only For Themselves...
...I never read a more deeply analytical article showing the clearest kind of thinking stripped of all flimsy phrases...
...The other father was, in quite another way, one of the very greatest members the Senate has ever had...
...Robert J. Pearsall Tacoma, Wash...
...If Mayer and the rest of you so-called liberals and progressives have so much to offer the people, why don't you revive the Bull Moose Party, instead of knocking good Americans like Gov...
...Speakers attacked were Maynard Krueger, professor of economics at the University of Chicago and national chairman, Socialist Party...
...I suggest that Mr...
...I do know that our seminaries are not graduating enough men to replace losses from death and other causes...
...His sound advice should not go unheeded...
...Great Britain stands way out in front of all nations in this policy, mainly in India...
...Jesus knew that money played an important role in men's affairs...
...Each of these Senators, quite differing in their respective views, nevertheless are counted by their respective adherents and, perhaps, by any competent impartial measure, as among the most useful half dozen members of the present Senate...
...In his indignant eagerness to defend the Administration, he unintentionally revealed that the State Department had knowledge, well in advance, of Japan's "program of the widest conquest...
...THE PEOPLE'S FORUM . . . Postwar Purchasing Power Dear Sirs: The postwar series of six articles just concluded, were interesting and informative, but, like all bellyaching writers, the authors did not offer any solutions to the problems they presented or any remedy for the conditions that they deplored...
...Capitalism, or free enterprise, has never been able to devise a method for the equitable distribution of goods, and war is the only method that it has devised for the total consumption of its products...
...Reply To Cromwell Dear Sirs: Arthur G. Cromwell of Rochester should be more careful with "facts" in his letter in the July 24 issue regarding CO's, the clergy, and draft evasion...
...Rubin's excellent editorial in The Progressive of July 3 was convincing in its clarity...
...Statesmen must prove their importance to mankind, or they are not statesmen...
...That is a mistake for He also taught us how to live...
...Will you notify Oswald Garrison Villard for me and tell him he can get in touch with this movement by writing our state headquarters at Detroit...
...Statesmanship comes under the same category—if a man puts himself as-a representative of the people, elected by them, paid by them, why shouldn't he represent all the people in a statesmanlike manner, as a civilized society requires and a real civilization demands...
...Villard seems to want a party similar to the CCF of Canada...
...For every pound of aluminum delivered at 15 cents the Government will pay the' Aluminum Company of Canada 10 cents cash and credit the remaining 5 cents against the advance of $68,500,000...
...Jesus knew there was bigotry, a holier than thou feeling in the world, and He denounced the Pharisees, spoke to the Samaritan, and associated with sinners...
...Did He try to change from "bankers" to Constitutional money...
...They were unanimously of the opinion that this country can produce vast quantities of goods and that unemployment should be abolished, but they did not,suggest any method by which those goods could be consumed...
...On June 23, 1941, th« "Keep Out Of War" buttons came off, and the servants of Stalin went all out for war, for Hitler had attacked Russia...
...That is a fair question to ask of those writers, for it is a question that they have not answered...
...Personal gain at the expense of the other fellow is "living on the sweat of the other fellow's brow...
...If capitalism utterly failed to supply the purchasing power that would consume 60, 50, or 40 billions of annual production in the past, can we expect it to furnish the purchasing power that will consume 100, or 150, or 200 billion dollars worth of products that it is proposed to produce after this war...
...Villard has not heard that there is now being formed such a party which is attracting a great deal of attention here in Michigan and also in Illinois where, as state parties, we are on the ballot for the November election...
...Rev...
...Great Variety Dear Sirs: A six-month introductory subscription to your magazine has quite convinced me of its value to one interested in thinking through current political, economic, and social issues...
...and j Bertram Wolfe, New York Times ! book reviewer, lecturer at officers' i training school, Cornell University, ! and former head of the foreign lan- ; guage department, Mexican high schools...
...Mr...
...I repeat that I am glad to learn how truly the General won recognition on his own merit...
...So her Pearl Harbor onslaught cannot at least be rightly called a "surprise attack...
...She shows humanity, Christian spirit, and a real understanding of other nations...
...Granting that we went through a severe depression, not the first in our history, here is a question for Mayer: If this country was ruined in 1932, how was it possible for Roosevelt to pile up a mountain of debt, now 200 billions, and maneuver us into a ruinous war and still be on our way...
...La Follette on her article of June 26 on our attitude toward the conquered people who will soon be dealt with by our victorious armies...
...Our trouble is to find the way to get that...
...Doubtless Lyttleton's impromptu remark about Japan's attack was misconstrued, for no British Minister would make the blunder, in these critical times, of jeopardizing America's aid and friendliness...
...Thus was Japan completely equipped by us for aggressive war on us...
...He also knew of the lust for power, and He had the power, but instead of using it to force people to accept His leadership, He asked His disciples, when the multitudes left Him, "Do you too wish to leave Me...
...It proves Mr...
...Hull "doth protest too much, methinks...
...The people will reward him...
...We will then have put our house in order to guide others toward worldly peace...
...But with a magazine such as The Progressive in flourishing existence, it keeps one on his toes not to forsake his ideology...
...I do know that a number of fine men have left our seminaries before the completion of their courses to enter the armed forces to avoid the possible stigma of being labeled "draft evaders...
...Dawes Eliot Cambridge, Mass...
...We call that "history repeating itself...
...The address is: Michigan Commonwealth Federation, 606 Hofman Building, Detroit 1, Mich...
...I do know that many of the men in our seminaries are Navy V-12 men—thus are just as much in the service as a man in pilot training or radio school—since all branches of the service consider chaplains essential...
...In January, 1941, nearly a year before Pearl Harbor, Ambassador Grew informed the State Department that Japan was preparing to attack us at the first favorable moment...
...We need such charity instead of-the everlasting hatred heard from all other quarters...
...Appreciation We of the Retail Clerks Union, Local 770, wish to extend our appreciation of the magazine and to let you know that we have greatly enjoyed the articles...
...May we heed his advice...
...Our aim is in every way the aim of the CCF of Canada — to make this party not only a national, but a world party with a world conscience, as we already have a good start with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and some reports from the Labor Party of England...
...Under this heading, the Seattle Times denounced the "gross violation of the ordinarily accepted rules of hospitality and decency" by a group of "Communists and fellow-travelers" who disrupted by heckling and violence a session of the Institute of International Relations held in that city...
...La Follette's Humanity Dear Sirs: I want to compliment Mrs...
...It would be wise to, stop running blind long enough to get our bearings...
...We will get the same old stuff...
...Aren't we fighting for a civilized democratic society...
...In their role of advocate, they told us that the world was so small, that whatever happened in its remotest corner was of vital concern to world peace...
...It Will Make New Friends...
...Same Old Stuff Dear Sirs: I was always a great admirer of Robert M. La Follette, Sr., and he has two noble boys to carry on...
...Retail Clerks Union Local 770 Los Angeles, Calif, Imperialism Breeds War | Dear Sirs: I like your comments in the issue of July 3 with reference to the position taken by Vice President Wallace on imperialism...
...Charles A. Surber Clinton, Ind...
...Teaching mankind how to produce an abundance so that they can have an abundance seems of first importance in a society that wishes to call itself a civilized democratic society...
...He drove • the money changers out of the temple, and, remember this, "those who bought and sold therein...
...Total production declined to 40 billion dollars during the lean and hungry years of the 1930's, and capitalism could not supply purchasing power to this small amount...
...We look forward to receiving each issue of The Progressive and thoroughly agree with you in regard to the most thoughtful and the most stimulating articles...
...They are recognized and known by the people in general, and the flimsy attempts to find straw men, upon whom we may cast the blame or to escape our own faults, will not suffice to heal the ills...
...DuBois, Pa...
...Most people seem to believe that Jesus Christ came into this world solely to save souls...
...Here one finds what is not available in any other paper or magazine of my acquaintance...
...Hull, in his "historic note," arbitrarily ¦ and tactlessly demanded that Japan evacuate, and give up all that she had acquired there by conquest, after years of struggle...
...treat these problems with the consideration of humanity, outlined in Sen...
Vol. 8 • August 1944 • No. 32
