THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM By Dodd Service Men Speak Postwar Scholarships Dear Sirs: As a very concerned member of the armed forces, I am going to suggest a new scheme for the "who is going to get...
...He is moreover the insulted and injured "Aryan" whose career is blighted by a man of inferior race...
...Our boys are doing a fine job under these conditions...
...William Henry Chamberlin for his fine series of articles on the foreign policy of the United States...
...They are wise to the leadership misleading the world but differ when they wish to classify it...
...A British Prime Minister once said, "Great Britain has no lasting friendships or animosities — only those interests which are essential to Great...
...Then that better world can come for all races...
...The great majority of the members of the armed forces are going to be in need of at least refresher courses, and this majority with sufficient impetus will be desirous of continuing their education...
...and watch the morale of our enemies fall to zero, and our boys' (morale) go up to 100 per cent...
...Why criticize one and not the other...
...EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, he Is his brother...
...The great Lincoln had his old Thad Stevens in Congress who served the devil...
...I was inducted into the Army about 18 months ago...
...The eloquent manner in which this distinguished gentleman and scholar handled the subject should be an inspiration to the readers of The Progressive...
...There would be few to argue, as they do about the anti-poll tax bill, that the 14th Amendment is unconstitutional...
...None of my letters was printed...
...A Gob Fleet Post Office San Francisco, Calif...
...can we expect to do less...
...Win The War, etc...
...I wonder if the United States is so short of physically fit men it has to send old cripples overseas...
...THE PEOPLE'S FORUM By Dodd Service Men Speak Postwar Scholarships Dear Sirs: As a very concerned member of the armed forces, I am going to suggest a new scheme for the "who is going to get paid, how much, and why" movement that is now being battered through the sacred portals of Congress...
...Incidentally, Gen...
...Win The War and continue his malpractices at the same location...
...Let me say that I am an American...
...That the role is now filled by a Negro— Paul Robeson in Margaret Webster's fine production—contributes vastly to our understanding of race antagonism and of Shakespeare's play...
...It is high time that organized labor arouse itself from its political lethargy...
...Churchill...
...Avoiding Postwar Fascism Dear Sirs: Two nouses are burning...
...Which shall it be...
...They are intolerant and would suppress all views contrary to their own...
...It would be much better if all your writers would forget the little differences and get on one side of the issue to oppose all the reaction and corruption that breed wars, depressions, and uncertainty in the world...
...Labor must spurn company political parties as well as company unions...
...That must be done now, or after this war fascism will scatter all over this country men like Gen...
...All of us boys coming home from the various fronts are going to have certain memories and new convictions...
...It is too bad that some readers cancel their subscriptions because of some article which differs with their own views...
...Profit, not social welfare, is the primary objective of our present system...
...3, except that I think he overemphasizes the reaction to strikes...
...Franklin D. Roosevelt has hundreds in the present Congress who serve Mammon...
...Instead we are taking basic training again, the same as when I was first inducted, and every bit as rough...
...The boys also know about the profiteering, and they won't soon forget...
...Ainsworth says they "cannot learn — and know nothing...
...Several million former British subjects have migrated to the U. S. A. during the last 50 years...
...Even with the President playing into the hands of reaction as a price for their help, it seems to me that they have entered into a conspiracy to create a chaotic condition in the nation to discredit F. D. R. by "chopping down" the OPA and creating an inflationary condition during the coming Presidential election...
...Judging by the lawmakers they have elected, a majority of the voters say, let the 90 per cent who work burn, and save the 10 per cent who toil not...
...Chamberlin's articles have been put to rather extensive use and they are thoroughly worn out now...
...C. J. E. U. S. Army Air Forces * * * Not For Men Only Dear Sirs: I hope your new department in the Forum, "Service Men Speak," is not for men only...
...Whidden Cushman New York, N. Y. Villard's 'Balderdash' Dear Sirs: Somehow I take vicious exception to Oswald Garrison Villard's pert little remark, "For the South is a citadel of reaction, conservatism, and tradition," appearing in The Progressive of Dec...
...Lawrence J. VAIR Pinecliffe, Colo...
...I would like to suggest that the articles be contained in a pamphlet and then made available to l.V...
...Chase's Solution Dear Sirs: Stuart Chase, as his most recent writings prove, runs true to form...
...The main reasons for their migration were: 1. To get away from British rule and control...
...R. G. B. A. P. O. 528 New York, N. Y. * * * Another 'Sacred Cow...
...Herbert Hackbarth Stanton, Neb...
...New Deal Dear Sirs: Mr...
...New Deal's services, but we need the services of Dr...
...He has been reported as wandering all around the country, officiating at a baptism in Kansas City, giving boxing exhibitions at Army camps, and acting in motion pictures in Hollywood...
...Win The War First Dear Sirs: Fred Rodell's articles are most interesting...
...Saul S. Klein Los Angeles, Calif...
...Dr...
...27th issue of The Progressive...
...2. It would make suffrage a national issue rather than a racial question...
...Now there is no further need of Dr...
...Then I will know...
...Othello's military eminence protects his marriage...
...How about British protection during our Civil War...
...Layle Lane New York, N. Y. Need For Action Dear Sirs: The coming special series of articles by some of our most outstanding citizens scheduled by The Progressive for 1944 is a treat which readers look forward to...
...New Deal, having been convicted of malpractice, now has the effrontery to change his name to Dr...
...Reactionary cries are now leading the parade, and they are generally isolationists who are more concerned with defeating the President than winning the war...
...More than 18 months ago Joe Louis, prizefighter, was inducted into the U. S. Army...
...P. E. A. A. P. O. 500 San Francisco, Calif...
...the British lost...
...Instead of the Negroes in our armed forces being almost wholly confined to subordinate or even menial positions, let us visualize a Negro as supreme commander of vital strategic territory in danger of attack by an enemy as implacable as the Turk was towards Venice...
...I wish to ask if it is not true that the Churchill group are of the same type...
...Dorothy Howe Boston, Mass...
...His experiences abroad enable him to think and write with realistic restraint often lacking in more enthusiastic theorists...
...Othello' And Race Hatred Dear Sirs: Our national crisis makes it nec-assary to abate race antagonism and achieve unity...
...The reporter hacks who boost publicity for the crooked gambling prizefight racket furnished the press with photos of Joe holding up an American flag and declaring, "All I want is a chance to kill Japs...
...My American ancestors fought in the French-Indian War, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War...
...We found quite a few companies being formed by men sent here from various divisions, all for the same reason...
...An example of this is in the Dec...
...In the first place a citadel is a "fortress commanding a city," not anything else...
...Put us all on the same basis of pay as the armed forces with food, shelter, clothing, and medical attention, with national service from all and profits to none...
...The editorial by Mr...
...The articles by the foremost writers of this age are to be found in no other paper...
...Perhaps the Villard teething ring has finally worn through...
...I have the greatest respect for them, and appreciate them...
...Recently 30 men from this company had a check-up for hernia and heart ailments, and it was called a physical examination for overseas duty...
...Enforce 14th Amendment Dear Sirs: As long as the rotten borough system exists in any part of the country, all liberal and progressive legislation in Congress is constantly threatened...
...A scholarship in lieu of money could easily answer this problem...
...But he didn't get the chance...
...Some more "British protection...
...From the efforts exerted by British propagandists, the U. S. A. seems to be "most essential" at the present time for the British Empire...
...They can do it...
...A primary objective may be defined as one so overwhelmingly powerful that it will, if necessary, ride rough-shod and ruthlessly o any and all things that stand in the way of its realization...
...For a reason which must probably be sought in his temperament, this brilliant and charming author has never had the insight to clearly visualize any possible disintegration and sagging deep down in the base of the building now in danger of collapsing...
...It is a fine new feature, and I hope that letters from us Wacs are welcome too...
...He exerts a terrific wallop on his typewriter, as his articles generally reflect courage, integrity, and ability...
...All were sent here because of some physical handicap...
...I am an American...
...I refer of course to the conclusion that our economic and industrial structure needs a new foundation...
...While I agree with him that it is better to trust an enemy than a false friend, I do not believe that his constant attack on the President is justified, especially during the war emergency...
...Take over everything and everybody...
...This assumption, intent on saving the superstructure, fails to subject the foundation to adequate critical analysis...
...In other words, conscript all the people, plus the machines, material, and money...
...The truth is that the thing's about which Villard complains occur in all sections...
...So just to show my appreciation, I am renewing my own subscription and adding three others for good measure...
...2. Better opportunities for them in the U. S. A. 3. They thought the U. S. A. superior to the British Empire...
...We can have our choice of either economic chaos and war or economic freedom with a lasting peace...
...Our boys who may return from foreign lands, having crushed fascism there, will find it more powerful here...
...Keep the ideal before the people of a world-planned peace built on the principles of love...
...I retired from the Army after 30 years of active service, including the Spanish-American War, the Philippine insurrection, and World War I. Mr...
...I hope we may hear much from him in future months...
...In one are all the people who produce all wealth, and they constitute about 90 per cent of our population, while in the other are confined the rich who do no work and are only 10 per cent of our population...
...Ernest L. Swenson Seneca Falls, N. Y. Reply To Ainsworth Dear Sirs: This is a reply to J. H. Ains-worth's letter, "Chains For Germany," in the Jan...
...We can stand together by organizing politically and with our political might change the course of events which are steadily drawing us toward another depression, toward imperialism, and toward more and deadlier wars...
...All of the above are results of our competitive free enterprise system...
...The President has a tremendous job coping and matching wits with all the master political tricksters in the House and Senate...
...His article, "Imperial Britain And The Red 'Colossus'," is one of the most thoughtful and penetrating I have seen...
...Pvt...
...Harold E. Fackert Jersey City, N. J. * * * Goes Down Deep Dear Sirs: I enjoy The Progressive, for you have so many splendid writers and one always gets the facts about all things...
...What are you going to do about it in '44...
...Yet, when they argue among themselves, we find one or the other forgetting that some of the leaders that they make excuses for are no better than the ones they rightfully expose...
...Enemy Morale Dear Sirs: My, what a tempest in a teapot, because some one in Washington intimated that the threatened steel and railroad strikes might raise the morale of our enemies, thereby causing a longer war and a greater loss of life...
...Both houses are the same size...
...Praise For Holmes Dear Sirs: "The Rising Tide of Bitterness by John Haynes Holmes in the Jan...
...These include the Indian Wars, 1790-1800, from the "Pennsylvania Line" to Detroit, fostered by the British in Canada, who supplied the Indians with arms and other war supplies...
...George H. Couch Bryant, Ark...
...This wastes time and words...
...World War I found the U. S. A. "protecting" the British Empire, and World War' II has found the U. S. A. not only protecting but preserving the same British Empire...
...Frank E. CLIFT Huntley, Mont...
...Of course, these actions were just "acts of British protection...
...Mrs...
...New Deal, and was cured of its ailments...
...Chase does, that operation of our private profit system has not bean free from certain alarming evils, it is assumed that all we need to do to rid ourselves of them is prop up and patch our disintegrating and sagging superstructure...
...3 Forum...
...Then we learn that the general is secretly married to a young lady of good family...
...Why single out, and thus alienate, a section which is at once the most fruitful of intelligent exploitation and the most dangerous to antagonize...
...Ralph Bedell Vershire, Vt...
...But little is being done toward consolidating our liberal, progressive, and radical forces into a new political party for the purpose of taking control away from these blundering capitalistic leaders...
...3 issue is without doubt the most masterful and far reaching article ever to appear in this grand paper...
...Venice needed her great soldier...
...Pvt...
...We need and must have courageous action and not just words by our liberal and progressive leaders if we are to realize the hope of postwar security and a lasting peace...
...Andrew Jackson had to invade Spanish-held Florida (Pensacola) and hang a few "British agents" for their actions...
...The British Government openly aided the invasion of Mexico by Prince Maximilian, ably assisted by France...
...Patton, who slaps sick soldiers, to slap farmers and all who work, when they may try to act like free men and complain of their poverty...
...Barnes' Masterful Job Dear Sirs: Harry Elmer Barnes did a masterful job in his article, "America Today: Warning And Challenge," and I hope he will follow up with more critical interpretation of the course our government is taking...
...About three weeks ago, because of a knee injury sustained nearly a year ago, I, with 14 others, was sent to this camp...
...Why not go all out to win the war the American way — One for All and All for One...
...Money is going to be of doubtful value, and it won't last long anyway...
...Just where was the British protection during the years 1794-1815...
...The South, suh, resents being singled out on a charge which all must bear...
...Iago assassinates Othello by undermining his self respect...
...The radical holds that this objective is in its very nature antisocial, and that it must be replaced by the simple objective of social welfare itself...
...Smith P. Kerr Arlington, Va...
...Ainsworth says, "Britain$ias been our protector and friend for 150 years and is today our best friend among the nations...
...We won...
...The majority are around 35 years of age or better...
...That august body listens with respect to our modern Othello's dignified and eloquent defense and decides in his favor...
...I wonder why...
...I went through the usual basic training, field work, and maneuvers...
...Praises Felix Morley Dear Sirs: Felix Morley is a real find for The Progressive...
...We, the people, are the masters of our own destiny...
...Naturally we all expected that we would be assigned to some work here in keeping with our physical ability...
...Quite a few were about to receive a discharge for different reasons when the War Department issued the order that discharges would be given only in the most severe cases...
...New Deal his license to practice in '32...
...The War of 1812-15 was fought by Americans against the British, Canadians, and Indians...
...or defective materials being sold to manufacturers of our planes and boats...
...So do I! Fred G. Haney San Diego, Calif...
...E. H. Fort-, U. S. A. * * * War Isn't Over Yet Dear Sirs: I enjoy getting The Progressive even if it has been late in getting here after making its round of the states...
...the South, suh, in this case, wonders why so inept a scholar, for we cannot dignify Villard as anything more than a mortar board martyr, should ever have dared to chuck in such a piece of balderdash to a reputable news weekly...
...Roosevelt recently said the nation was sick in '32, called in Dr...
...J. J. G. Washington, D. C. Handicapped Soldiers Dear Sirs: I first became acquainted with your paper several years ago when a friend of mine loaned me a copy to read...
...So a word on "Othello" may be in order...
...Normally I do not object to a word cobbler plying his trade, and even abnormally I do not write to the Editor about it...
...I suppose the enemies' morale is unaffected by the news of one of our large companies shipping defective electric wire to the front before it was discovered...
...Enforcement of the 14th Amendment would have several advantages: 1. It would remove the question of suffrage from the realm of debated constitutionality...
...If the producing class will begin now to organize in dead earnest to put men in the Congress and legislatures next year who will serve the people as our lawmakers are now serving the rich, bloated bond holders, our impending disaster may be averted...
...Is he, by any chance, related to Christopher Morley...
...Britain...
...When I read the announcement in The Progressive about these special articles, I said, "Here is where I get something extra for my money...
...They ignore India's plight and Churchill once said that if he was an Italian he would be a fascist...
...Like Guiteau who assassinated President Garfield, Iago is a disappointed office seeker...
...I always say, "I will wait and see what The Progressive says...
...What are we going to do about it...
...It looks as if the U. S. A. is the No...
...Dear Sirs: Is there another "sacred cow" in our newspaper offices...
...The Administration is justly being criticized for its failure to map out a postwar program which would insure economic security and a lasting peace...
...We would to God that the principles of justice championed by this able man could bear fruit...
...Finally Othello, grasping desperately at some means of sustaining his honor, decides to sacrifice his adored wife even though it means the loss of his occupation and the ruin of his career...
...He must obtain their cooperation, and I do not believe it can be done by promoting liberal domestic policies during the war...
...USO centers and officers' clubs...
...I have written to five of our great city advertising sheets — miscalled newspapers — asking for information concerning Joe's exemption from being sent to the battle front...
...From the historical record, 150 years embrace the years 1794-1944...
...Yet he is, when viewed from a radical angle, a great disappointment...
...Remind the people at home that the war isn't over yet and that the peace we all wish to see will be lost if hatred isn't kept out of any terms that might be made...
...This was stopped by President Cleveland with a stern warning...
...Which shall it be...
...E. JENKS Palo Alto, Calif...
...Likes Villard, Chamberlin Dear Sirs: I wish to express my gratitude to you for the opportunity of reading articles by such eminent writers as Oswald Garrison Villard, and, particularly, the recent mature and objective studies of foreign relations by William Henry Chamberlin...
...This course was urged on her by the Prime Minister, Lord Palmers-ton...
...Despite the fact that he wrote, many years ago, one of the clearest and most devastating explanations of why a system based on competitive private profit does not work smoothly and steadily, he has never been able to accept and endorse what appears to some of to be the inevitably logical conclusion from his own premises...
...Nevertheless, Brabantio's bitter race prejudice, the insults he heaps on his son-in-law, sow the first seeds of self-distrust in Othello's heart...
...Seldes tells Hanighen that "Britain was in the hands of its fascist Tory class (Cliveden set), the people who were dealing with Hitler...
...My brother and I subscribed for it at once and have been enjoying it since that time...
...Barnes is one of the foremost writers in this age, but I am afraid that the world will wake up too late to listen to him in any serious way or in time for him to see the results of his study and effort...
...With a sound policy of re-education, a nucleus might easily be formed that will not only build for the future but also direct this mass of •uncertainty into a powerful force of reconstruction...
...Her reputation is attacked...
...Rubin substantiated my fears that we are in danger of being sold down the river by Mr...
...Pfc...
...Race hatred is in our midst today...
...We must appraise the situation with realism and do all we can to win the war first...
...It is of little avail to win on the industrial front and then lose on the political front...
...Profiteering Dear Sirs: I agree with M. H. R.'s observations about boys in service as reported in "The Last Column" for Jan...
...N. C K. Washington, D. C. Better Reporting Dear Sirs: I wish The Progressive would give us more news of legislation in Congress regarding mustering-out pay, disability allowances, etc...
...He has, apparently, failed to see the complete significance of primary objectives...
...Let's get busy, not tomorrow, but today, and build our own political party...
...Let us suppose her to be the only child of a prominent Southern Senator...
...so I would like to suggest that a system of granting scholarships be inaugurated...
...why not go the whole way...
...W. H. Nugent Chicago, Ill...
...Capt...
...Desde-mona's love is represented as unnatural...
...It makes no difference if they be Democrat or Republican...
...There must be a more thorough organization of the people who produce the wealth of this country, and a more genuine effort by them to get control of this government, which is theirs, than has ever before been made...
...Mary Winsor New York, N. Y. * * * In Danger Dear Sirs: As a native of Wisconsin I still am interested in the courage and the fighting spirit of the Progressives despite all opposition...
...We read your magazine with great interest (although it is a long time reaching us) and we feel you are doing valiant work except in the field I have mentioned...
...The indignant father drags this case of miscegenation before the Senate...
...James H. Wright Henderson, N. C. * * * Too Much Bickering Dear Sirs: When I read Barnes, Seldes, Thomas, Hanighen, Mayer, Meyer, Howard, La Follette, and the others, it is gratifying to know that none of them stands for anything reactionary...
...There are a few good and true men in Congress and our legislatures, but less than we ever had...
...It is insinuated that she is a loose woman who has run from the choice young men of her country to an alien, a Moor...
...It is a well traveled paper when I receive it, but just the same the facts are there and worth reading, which is more than one can truthfully say of many papers...
...Granting, as Mr...
...If I were asked to name the foremost liberal in the U. S. A. I would name him...
...3. It would give the Southerners an incentive to keep their representation in Congress, and thereby they themselves would take steps to maintain a much higher percentage of voters...
...We have only enough men and equipment to save one of them...
...The Progressive was on the examining board that gave Dr...
...One knows that Villard ought to know and does know that reaction, conservatism, and tradition are characteristic, not of the South, nor indeed, of the North, or the East, or the West,—but are characteristics of certain rich, powerful, politically minded groups who have managed to hold their position despite all attempts to dispossess them from their apparently secure seats...
...He has performed a valuable service in showing how actively our country participated in world affairs after the last World War, and how this war was the product of Old World forces which the United States could not control...
...These thousands of men being turned loose with a small pocket full of money and a whole barn full of restlessness and discontent may easily spell disaster to the wisest of "postwar" alleviation policies...
...S/SGT...
...Then there was the British-Venezuela dispute in 1895, when Great Britain was going to invade Venezuela...
...1 Protector...
...Why go on...
...I am forced to believe, with this great majority of our lawmakers fighting on the side of the predatory rich, that instead of putting a curb on capitalism, fascism, armed to the teeth, will usurp all power here...
...All isolationists foresaw this in advance, even though Mr...
...Let us translate the Venetian Republic's magnificent liberal tradition into terms of the present war...
...As statistician, as analyst of social conditions, of the defective working of our existing order, and as expositor of certain methods assumed to be of great value in bringing about increased social welfare, he rates very high indeed...
...Surely we might describe the Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, Jersey City, Cleveland, Kansas City, and other definable city governments as fortresses commanding a city — which one is in the South...
...My copies of The Progressive containing Mr...
...Your courage is much appreciated...
...Why don't we quit using this war as a means of chiseling each other...
...Again history records these facts...
...When election day arrives, will we have no other alternative than that of jumping out of the frying pan into the fire by electing a Republican Administration...
...I have read The Progressive for more than a year, and it continues to be a weekly breath of fresh air in this capital of hothouses...
...I get a kick out of reading The People's Forum...
...The government has taken over the railroads...
...Only the influence exerted by Prince Albert (a German, by the way) on Queen Victoria prevented a declaration of war on America by Great Britain as early as 1862...
...If we want to shorten the war and save lives, let us cut out business-as-usual methods and get down to brass tacks...
...If this be treason, make the most of it...
...This, however, is not showing the spirit of democracy...
...these in many cases may easily be of a turbulent nature...
...It goes down deep and unearths the truth...
...His conclusion seems to be that competitive private profit is the best possible incentive to spur men to action in production and distribution of goods and services, and that, therefore, that incentive is the best possible basis for our social structure...
...Also the sentences passed by courts on officials of large corporations for being guilty of plant sabotage...
...All I can say is that I like it very much...
...Commends Chamberlin Dear Sirs: I wish to commend Mr...
...English naval officers on leave manned "blockade runners" (built in England) which carried war supplies to Confederate ports from British-owned Bermuda and the Bahamas, thus prolonging the war...
...We are not going to look upon this world quite the same way we did when we entered the conflict...
...Much is being said today by liberals, progressives, and radicals about the failure of the New Deal...
...Ethel Foley 1457 E. 66th Place, Chicago, 111...
...I don't need to tell you that this is causing terrible suffering...
...Men receive punishment for things they are physically unable to do, and we are on the easiest part of the training now with worse to come later...
Vol. 8 • January 1944 • No. 4