THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
. . .THE PEOPLE'S FORUM . . . The Wilson Film Dear Sirs: Recently I paid 55 hard-earned pennies to see the motion picture, Woodroiv Wilson. And an amazing product of Hollywood it was—certainly to...
...That makes more sense to me than Chamberlin's drivel...
...J. WUNDERLICH New York, N. Y. * * * Electoral College Dear Sirs: I would suggest that you advocate doing away with the Electoral College in electing the President of the United States and elect, instead, by direct vote of the people...
...Dewey's 'Me Too' Dear Sirs: A lot of post-mortem talk has been heard about the election, with Democratic newspapers hailing it as a "mandate" to the President...
...It js a misnomer...
...Praise For Bob Dear Sirs: U. S. Senator Robert M. La Fol-lette is a man of integrity and honesty whose language is never ambiguous...
...As a farmer once said, when first seeing the long-necked giraffe at the zoo: "There ain't no such animal...
...I am extremely tolerant and have suffered Chamberlin, Howard, and now Villard ("Red Shadow Over Iran," Nov...
...Roosevelt is appeasing Russia in its Persian activities...
...The parade is a shocking one...
...I also recommend a constitutional amendment limiting the term in office of the President, members of Congress, and Supreme Court judges...
...Postcards briefly registering your views should be mailed at once to the President, Secretary of State, Sen...
...D. Bahnsen Watsonville, Calif...
...La Follette, and his adherents may do or say will be of no avail...
...Pass This Paper On...
...But it was a complete flop...
...Elbert D. Jones Lebanon, Ind...
...The appointment of the ex-chairman of the board of the Steel Trust to the position of Secretary of State is but the latest of a long line of similarly inept boosting of unfit men into positions of power...
...Prefers Davies' View Dear Sirs: Although I recently renewed my subscription for The Progressive for three years, I fear I made a mistake...
...I read " it only to be informed about world conditions...
...Dear Sirs: The President said at his Nov...
...Don't be swayed from the great fight you are making...
...Those writers are entitled to their opinions, but why must you publish them...
...On reading of the President's statement, I wonder: 1. Why did not the statement come about two weeks earlier—-could it be that election day had something to do with the timing of it, that issuance of it after election day was considered more "politically expedient...
...Gaults, thrilling convention scenes, and conscientious actors like Knox to weld a bond between Wilson's 14 Points and Roosevelt's, Churchill's, and Stalin's Dumbarton Hoax...
...Lenox R. Smith Northampton, Mass...
...So Persia is indispensable to the existence of British Empire, Mr...
...it has forgotten if it ever discovered, that down below race, rank, religion, there is a fundamental humanity— man as man — which is universal and everywhere the same...
...He is on the way of coming to be our country's foremost statesman...
...is it to preserve the ideals of our American democracy, or is it not to perpetuate the war minded spirit here now, which is so vitally necessary for the successful development and continued life of any dictatorship...
...14, "A mountain of opposition has piled up against plans of Congressional leaders to seek early action on legislation requiring military training in peacetime...
...Kress had to live in Nazi Germany and realized that his family would be persecuted if he dared to object to Nazi rule, he would take a different attitude toward the German people...
...The PAC is quite properly boasting of the grand strides forward it has made, all but capturing the country and Congress for the common man...
...But, on the other hand, for a matter of years now, the Government has been steadily gravitating into the hands of Wall Street and the Plunderbund...
...It harks back to those other dark days when one of America's richest men was named Secretary of the United States Treasury...
...If this is truly a war for democracy, why, indeed, should not the Weimar Republic constitution be reinstated after the war...
...It is obvious that the conflict of interests between Wall Street and the common people will sharpen into major difficulties which may come just when the nation is plagued by a three-hundred-billion dollar debt and on army of unemployed which some estimates place at thirty million...
...Just once—only for a fleeting moment did the picture even approach honesty...
...In view of the many statements made by newspaper correspondents and commentators who show a pathetic ignorance of Chinese history and Chinese methods, such an article ought to do much good...
...Dawes Eliot Cambridge, Mass...
...Here in our small community, the phone rang at 5 o'clock on election morning in the homes of "workers" and by 5:30 they were racing over the country roads, in the biggest cars available, to bring in the farm families...
...Instead I believe I am receiving misinformation when you publish articles such as Harry Paxton Howard on China and William H. Cham-berlin on the Soviet Union...
...Don's sincerity and modesty have won him many friends in court, in the 'penitentiary, and in prisons and camps...
...Please thank Mr...
...Sirs: The Associated Press reported on Nov...
...13 issue of The Progressive...
...16, "America Must Speak Up Now," is to the point, humane, and just...
...It is all very well to talk about rectifying evil by the ballot...
...3. That the plan coming out of Dumbarton Oaks will be forced through the Senate, although it be a devilish scheme by which the common people of all lands, including our own, will be rendered helpless while being exploited to the utmost by those cold-blooded manipulators of values, the international knights of lucre...
...While it is fairly well understood that failure on the part of a world government to maintain its authority would result in wars that would eclipse all those that have gone before in vengeance, bloodshed, and terror, it does not appear to be understood that success in maintaining authority would enslave mankind forever...
...But I can't tell you how long I can suffer such foolish attitudes Howard and Chamberlin and now Villard are taking...
...Washington warned against "foreign entanglements...
...2. Why is it 'so imperative that the peacetime conscription bill be enacted "this Winter"—could it be that the proponents of it fear that opposition after the war from returning soldiers and civilians weary of governmental controls might make passage at that time impossible...
...It should have some code of conduct...
...Mayer wrote very much...
...There was enough hypocrisy in Wilson's program as it stood...
...Wouldn't it be better, instead of embarking on another power race toward trying to keep nations for the rest of time from ever again daring to attack us, to help build, rather,** world where nations will never again want to attack us...
...Restriction of output has always kept prices up and wages down, but there is too high a level of predatory ability with too low a level of prophetic ability to notice the writing on the wall, or if it is observed,"to interpret it rightly...
...Adolf Hitler is Poland's friend...
...It is likely to continue and be used always as a term of opprobrium...
...Mayer, for us...
...Perhaps some day we will have a film called Bob La Follette...
...This letter is unimportant, but it does seek to discover whether The Progressive is progressive or it is not progressive...
...But vintil Hollywood changes, it would be better not to tarnish the memory of a truly great American by the lies and distortions of tailor-made "history...
...Mrs...
...Max Hentschke Redlands, Calif...
...Organization is not brotherhood and God loves a brother more than He does an empire...
...Moreover, if Mr...
...I've never been wholly right nor completely wrong about Russia, yet its critics should be able to see that all Russia has done in the Balkans and Baltics is for the ultimate good of those peoples who have always been kicked about by French, English, and Germans...
...They simply are just not fit to occupy high posts in any Government claiming to give thought to the best interests of all of its citizens...
...Bob La Follette, Sr., and for a moment, in spite of all the other distortions, the film portrayed, unmistakably and excellently, the man who was America's conscience...
...Uncle Sam, heavily in debt to banks and insurance companies, will find it rather difficult to finance small business, while the ideology of mammon worship flourishes in this "land of the free, and the home of the brave...
...I am just completely sick of warped ideas appearing in The Progressive about Poland...
...H. H. S. Naval Training Station Newport, R. I. * * * Tolerance Wearing Thin Dear Sirs: Heretofore I've been for The Progressive because it, with me, took the place of the Nation and New Republic which I had to discard when they became war-mongers...
...This does not mean that those who oppose such legislation should relax their efforts...
...It brings little nations and races together, like chips in a basket, but they do not unite, they are simply held together...
...Maude Lyons "St...
...Expert Lauds Howard Dear Sirs: I want to express my hearty appreciation of the tone of Mr...
...process of fabrication consist largely of un adulterated bunk, for the powerful arm of big business directing our national destiny does not propose to clean house by the adoption of the Four Freedoms on the home front...
...Second, should a righteous rebellion against particularly severe oppression in one place become too strong for local forces, the government could call up a force from elsewhere to lend the help required to quell it...
...And worst of all, reports are persistently coming in that our American boys and our ammunition are now being used in India not to further democracy but to crush it for the continued benefit of British imperialism...
...A short time before the present war of indefinite aims we were told by the press that any future inteiv national disputes would be settled in a rational manner, without resort to war...
...Working people had a "free election" that cost the Democrats more than $7,000,000, and the Republicans more than $15,000,000 to lose it...
...Edwin G. Nourse, director of the Brookings Institute, stated in 1924 that $15,000,000 more a year could be produced, that the American people could absorb a productive output many times the peak of 1929 before the economic crash that came in October of that same year...
...They were keeping their mouths tightly shut, especially if they were school teachers or held other semi-government jobs...
...This is true also of the German, Italian, and Japanese peoples who cannot be blamed for what their ruthless, ambitious governments force on them...
...Mrs...
...Howard's article, "The Explosion In China," in the Nov...
...Everett H. Wallace Chicago, 111...
...Truly an unpleasing picture, yet a not improbable portrait of the not very distant future...
...Think you that the boys returning from having saved the Government from the fascists will relish finding it in the complete possession of Wall Street...
...I could go on and on, but this is plenty to impress you that you will Jose this reader if things continue...
...Washington's sudden death was "most lamented, so intensely was he in possession of the love and confidence of the people of America...
...28 People's Forum, I felt that Prince Hubertus zu Loewenstein's article was scholarly and logical...
...It is common sense...
...Would Howard, Chamberlin, and Villard let all the governments-jn-exile come home and take possession so they can resume their plots against Russia a la Beck who is reputed to have said, "I do not need Russia...
...That is just the trouble...
...Yes, let this be our stand, well-guarded by non-intervention...
...17 press conference that he hoped that the new Congress will enact, this Winter, legislation for compulsory, one year training for young Americans...
...We stand for the Good Neighbor policy—for the rule of justice and good-will in this hemisphere, but we will arouse the suspicion of the good neighbors if we stand for something very different—the rule of might and force—for the rest of the world...
...But the record from the beginning of time to the present day shows that firmly entrenched authority, ballot or no ballot, can bribe, browbeat, twist, or ignore popular opinion, even when it is expressed in...
...Priceless Service' Dear Sirs: William Henry Chamberlin's ant alysis of Canada's CCF is a priceless service to many of us who have wanted a calm, thoughtful, well-informed report on this hopeful development in the land of our northern neighbor...
...He should realize that there are some Christians left in America who have different ideas and ideals from those of the Rex Stout haters...
...Perhaps if Mr...
...In other words, a social system erected on the Golden Rule and not the rule of gold...
...Why the devil don't Villard and Chamberlin tell Roosevelt just how he can stop Russia from freeing Baltic and Balkan countries...
...It takes more than beautiful Mrs...
...I'd'like to offer just one thought on it...
...It has become so formidable that backers of the proposal say they would just as soon postpone consideration until some time next year...
...Third, there would be no rival government which, by example, by force of arms, or by other means, could directly or indirectly bring about needed reforms...
...For the home front at least, the one promise for the future is "free enterprise" for the 60 families who own and control 200 corporations, and who have an income of from $10,000 to $5,000,000 a year per family...
...What, pray, is the difference...
...A planned economy, with a progressive goal in view, would stifle at least, if not kill, the ambition of special interests to continue its plunderbund operations against the collective population...
...1"admired the way Mr...
...Our former Russian Ambassador, Joe Davies, who is a big American business man and a recent visitor there, says the Russian experiment is the first national effort to apply the Golden Rule...
...A few slipped this time, but one by one all of these remaining will be ultimately reached and removed—retired, that is, to private life...
...Stanley Walker Hasbrouck Heights, N. J. Problem Of Peacemaking Dear Sirs: I want to offer congratulations on "The Last Column" of Nov...
...You remember when Hey wood Broun quit the Nation and he said (I quote from memory), "It is true everyone should be free to talk, but not on all subjects that one may not know anything about...
...At the conclusion of the first World War, waged to make the globe safe for its inhabitants, Tagore said, "A machine is of little advantage if it be run by the old power and the old ends...
...13 issue...
...Peter Sprajcar Clairton, Pa...
...Regarding that conclave at Dumbarton Oaks, it is this writer's opinion that: 1. Whatsoever Sen...
...Biskop Herbert Welch Chairman Methodist Committee for Overseas Relief, 150 Fifth Avenue, New York 11, N. Y. * * * 'Independence Forever!' Dear Sirs: The past campaign has revived the war-worn word, "isolationist...
...Is it merely to make Americans "fit to fight," or is it not to make Americans so regimented that they will not only be "fit to fight" but also that they will be "forced to fight...
...Verily, the politician works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform, and gives us just what we vote for...
...And what were the Republicans doing meantime...
...Kress' statement: "We Americans accuse the Germans of inflicting this terrible war on humanity and we intend to make them bear the consequences and convince them over a couple of generations that German aggressiveness will be crushed by overwhelming force every time it raises its ugly head...
...Kress' theory were correct and were to be acted on impartially (it's a poor rule that does not work both ways), we should have to treat the British in the same manner for the aggressive acts of their rulers, not to mention the fact that it was that ruling class that actually financed Hitler into power...
...To try to say that Dumbarton Oaks or our present course in general is the very same thing is stretching the band to the breaking point...
...Humanity will be perfect only when diverse races and nations shall be free to evolve their distinct characteristics, while all are attached to the stem of humanity by the bond of love...
...Zanuck spread before me the very latest version of history—entirely rewritten and in technicolor...
...But there are "non-interventionists" who uphold the wise, policy of our Republic's farsighted founders...
...Ruth C. De Vault Arcadia, Calif...
...27 issue) pecking and fault-finding at and with Russia and disapproving Roosevelt's "appease Russia at the expense of small nations...
...Edwin C. Johnson of the Military Affairs Committee, and, of course, to your two Senators and your Representative...
...F. E. Umbarger Burlington, Wash, World Government Dear Sirs: One all-important aspect of world government, it seems to me, has been ignored by the various movements toward that end...
...Those who favor world government rejoiced that both major parties endorsed the idea and that it was therefore "removed from politics...
...H. J. McCormick Washington D. C. Wall Street In Washington Dear Sirs: The election results and the goings-on preceding the election and since, when compared, reveal a startling divergence in direction and goal of the Government and the people...
...Tagore advocated a. "League of Humanity" founded not on political ambition and scheming, but unity and justice to all...
...This is certainly true of the so-called "isolationists," as isolation is impossible for America...
...It is not that these people are not qualified by knowledge and experience to fill their present high positions...
...Jefferson's hope in revolution to right wrong would therefore have become vain...
...The Sins Of Rulers Dear Sirs: Contrary to Melville Kress, in the Aug...
...When the world government fell into bad hands, as it inevitably would at some time, this situation would exist: First, there would be no place on earth to which a man could flee from its authority...
...There is no bond of union...
...Momentarily the camera was turned upon the indignant, disappointed Sen...
...What is wrong with the world is that it does not know the truth...
...3. Why do those who propose peacetime conscription really want it—is it to serve as a war deterrent, when, in the past, it has failed to keep other countries (France, to name only one example) out of war, or is it not really proposed with the view of preparing us for still another war...
...DeVault's Thanks Dear Sirs: I want you to know how much I appreciate the article by Mr...
...Opposition there will be aplenty, much of it foul, but, believe it or not, he will keep on coming...
...Blanche G. Eisendrath Chattanooga, Tenn...
...There must be a dozen, perhaps a full score of these men of Wall Street now shaping the policy and destiny of this Republic...
...Already, it points out, it has eliminated many notorious enemies of the people...
...Of course...
...No meetings were called, no Dewey buildups in the newspapers...
...2. That a small, but . strident minority, flanked by professional pitchers of smear, will ride them down...
...Zanuck succeeds only in making the world safe for Wilson...
...One recalcitrant old woman, sent for three times and finally offered money, chased the "worker" off with a pitchfork...
...constitutions...
...While I have no respect for Britain's ruling class, most of whom are fascist-minded, I see no reason why the good British people should suffer for the sins of their rulers...
...Louis, Mo...
...An exchange of letters with my sister on the West Coast bears this out...
...I believe you could go even further in assuring your readers that, however desperate the situation and the needs of the Chinese Government at this time, there is not the slightest likelihood of their giving way...
...For Planned Economy Dear Sirs: Few who seek the truth are willing toface the facts of life by permitting prejudice to bias their judgment...
...As for those who have faith that our world government will never falter in virtue, I would point out not only that expediency is the principal factor shaping events at present, but that the first international assembly to survey our postwar world, dealt, not with the borders of countries or with national independence, not with human suffering or with the plights of peoples, not with the causes of war or with lasting peace, but with the establishment of a colossal bank whose power could bend any man or nation to its will...
...John Coleman Pittsburgh, Pa...
...John Adams also admonished against "entangling ourselves" and said: "Our business with Europe, and theirs with us, is commerce, not politics, much less wars...
...Villard says, and for that reason Mr...
...Most Stimulating For some time I have intended to tell you that I think your magazine is the best edited, best written, and most stimulating magazine that 1 know of...
...He added: "All imperialisms except the imperialism of love is wrong...
...Planned economy through an authoritative committee that was convinced that a more equitable system of production and distribution would assure better living conditions for the undernourished, could introduce a healthy prosperity, such as has often been promised before election, but forgotten after, and we can't live very sumptuously on promises very long...
...He said so many things that are in my heart and that I am unable to say...
...Assassination is not advpcated by anybody...
...As the Saturday Evening Post wrote me recently, "Such assaults don't seem to harm V s with our three and a half million readers...
...There is talk that we must be strong enough in the future that no nation ever again will dare to attack us—that for this purpose we must have peacetime conscription...
...It states so clearly the problem we are up against in making a peace after this war...
...And I ask—is this the reasoning of Christ or of Hitler...
...Norman H. Wilson East Chatham, N. Y. * * * Pro-German Dear Sirs: The recent letters calling you pro-German are long overdue...
...They are too well qualified...
...THE PEOPLE'S FORUM . . . Register Opposition Dear...
...The spirit that wants to keep the opposition off the ballot is hardly the spirit to be entrusted with a world government, particularly one that parades under the name of democracy...
...Ray S. Kellogg Norwalk, O. * * * 'League Of Humanity' Dear Sirs: The famous East Indian poet, Sir Rabindranath Tagore, clearly realized that a League of Nations founded on force could not function freely and was doomed to extinction...
...I say it was superior organization...
...Adams, dying on the Fourth of July, exclaimed, "Independence forever...
...One thing is certain: New Dealers cannot legislate divine love...
...Wouldn't the latter course of action offer just a little more hope for attaining a lasting peace and security...
...Opposition is more necessary now than ever...
...Rose A. Nichols Blowing Rock, N. C. * * * Voice Of Hope Dear Sirs: The Progressive is a voice of hope in a wilderness of confusion...
...With our great advantage and power, we can help insure peace by peaceful means...
...It was during the declaration of war scene—a portrayal of the joint session of Congress...
...At the voting place there were plenty of people to help guide the hand over the X and present in large numbers were the wives and mothers of men whose monthly check had been cashed on the 1st to 5th...
...I object to Mr...
...E. K. Goldsborough Washington, D. C. Christ Or Hitler...
...His article, The Progressive, Oct...
...It is not right, under a democratic form of government, to elect or appoint any man or woman to office for life...
...nor can British or Russian imperialists for that matter...
...Of course one reader more or less means very little...
...Milton Mayer which concerned our son Don, in your Nov...
...Nearly 50,000,000 Babbits went to the polls and voted to continue their serfdom for another four years...
...And an amazing product of Hollywood it was—certainly to pay 55 cents to have Prof...
...his cause is very dear to us who still believe that our Four Freedoms can be resuscitated...
...In fact, everybody I know who voted for Dewey felt they might just as well have voted for Roosevelt since Dewey had said "Me too" to everything Roosevelt stood for...
...At present many plans for the postwar world in the...
...Britain's conquest and subjection of India alone was far more cruel and ruthless than anything Hitler has yet conceived, as historical records will prove...
Vol. 8 • December 1944 • No. 50
