THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
. . . THE PEOPLE'S FORUM . . . Sitting On The Lid Dear Sirs: The New Deal Party has had control of both Houses of Congress since 1930 and of the Presidency without change since Mar. 4, 1933, on...
...24, that a nation-wide popular vote (instead of a popular vote for each state) be held for President end Vice-President, instead of as a team...
...C. B. Walher Pendleton, Greg...
...3, 1945...
...President Roosevelt, personifying the Democratic Party and apparently jealous of Gov...
...Bloodthirsty Writers Dear Sirs: I would like to add my "Amen" to the letters of Mr...
...Roosevelt's New Deal shows the President as the most clever champion of economic royalism...
...You did not have the courage to come out for any of the candidates but hinted for Roosevelt, a man who promised to keep us out of war when he had already promised Churchill to get us in any old way, long before Pearl Harbor...
...By the way, Mr...
...His ideals are those of an all-inclusive democracy —political, economic, and social...
...If provision could be made for the release of oxygen from compounds in the earth, all exits could be sealed up in time of emergency, thus preventing the entrance of poison gases and bacteria which would probably be released by the enemy...
...Well, I am not one of them...
...The Pacifist Position j Dear Sirs: Isabel La Follette, who seems from her writings to be a person of understanding and sweet reasonableness, nevertheless exhibits a startling ignorance of the pacifist position...
...Phil Belonged Home Dear Sirs: I suppose you think all your readers admire Phil La Follette for fighting in this war...
...That cannot be if the policeman, upon seeing a couple of men robbing the Third National Bank, must call the city council which must assemble and pass a resolution authorizing the policeman to crack down on the robbers...
...Roosevelt told us at the beginning that he would not campaign in the usual way, but as "Commander-in-Chief...
...Unfortunately it is certain that while we are engaged in this great labor of self protection and preparation for defending the American way of life, our enemies will be similarly employed...
...The Progressive is a has been and I shall not renew ray subscription...
...There is to ray knowledge no other paper that has such a great fund of information about current events...
...The thing that amazes me most is how there can be two sides to certain questions, among them world cooperation and organization...
...Lieut...
...The people of the United States of America went in debt to get the money to buy the gold, while the foreign nations used the money to buy arms and war material and build up their credit to buy more of the same stuff...
...I have never read any saner or more tolerant analyses of the problems that confront us than those of Morris Rubin...
...But it is surprising that we are unable to find anywhere in your issue of Nov...
...Gold came here by the millions of ounces to get the cheap New Deal dollar which would buy as much as the dollar of our fathers...
...A machine cannot function if the parts, the cogwheels, do not mesh...
...Phil should have stayed home and fought that noble fight his father fought...
...I am glad that we have people who know the situation in China to tell us the truth...
...Since we have no way of knowing for what period of time it may be necessary to live underground, these cities should be completely equipped with all the necessities of life, as well as those luxuries that go to make up civilized living...
...They realize that their armor is worn thin in spots, and it never did fit a lot of them— it pinches in places...
...It was an outstanding fact in the late campaign that both the old parties ignored vital issues and merely fought each other on sham issues...
...That is just what they are afraid of...
...By that time the robbers would be around to the First National...
...must be police to see that order is maintained, or at least that a rumpus must be stopped before it becomes a city-wide riot...
...I am so displeased, but know I will miss my old friends...
...But in Other forums—the Call, New Leader, Mercury, etc., etc., etc., they let go all holds and come out really with their hair down—no holds barred and may the one with the most colorful adjectives win...
...The only "issue" raised in the recent campaign was "communism...
...Even the Congressmen with their $10,000 a year are demanding more and are hurrying to pass their increase so that they may get in the inflation spiral with the new Congress that begins Jan...
...To which I added a fervent "Amen...
...Third, Winston Churchill has conceded that American soldiers are the best fighters in the world, and our soldiers are civilians, not the products of any peacetime youth conscription system...
...The Progressive is well worth reading for its vast field of information regardless of whose toes it steps on...
...It is a war to which the great majority of Americans were opposed, a war in which we would not have been enveloped had we stayed strictly neutral from the beginning...
...Editor, you claim to be fair, why not ask Miss Agnes^Smedley who wrote that fine book, Battle Hymn of China...
...This is also true of Mrs...
...Surely if we could conquer the air above us with the truly remarkable results we are today experiencing, human ingenuity need not be daunted by the earth beneath us...
...The process ended in gold being taken from the ground in South Africa or the banks of Vienna and, being sent here duty free, exchanged for paper dollars, and then put back in the ground at Ft...
...O. M. Thomason Willernie, Minn...
...Please give us more on the same soon...
...Dewey in 1944, believing them to be sincere, or believing that their promoters would have allowed them to fulfill their promises, if elected, election results might have been entirely different and our anti-third term tradition might not have been breeched...
...6, "The Shocking Truth About Radio...
...Pass This Paper On...
...The Status Quo Parties Dear Sirs: In the campaign just over, Gov...
...31, 1934 and the morning of Feb...
...Howard...
...This is not only the opinion of leading progressives and Socialists, but of such conservative writers as Thomas L. Stokes of the Scripps-Howard papers...
...Then the New Deal plan to buy all the gold and silver in the world hit the mind of the President and then it was by executive order that it was made a crime for the American citizen to own or possess gold...
...Also Mr...
...A community cannot survive an isolationism and have visions of prosperity and neither can a nation...
...Aller in the issue of Nov...
...J. L. Walker Memphis, Tenn...
...How proud one should feel to have voted for such a consummation...
...I wonder how many people have ever stopped to figure out why Eskimos have maintained such a high degree of morality and why the "White Man" has degenerated into the complex-ridden, unstable, neurotic he is today...
...They cooperate quite naturally in matters pertaining to the general welfare of the community while living highly individual lives...
...Opposes Isolationism Dear Sirs: We enjoy many articles in your paper, but must say we are not in favor of isolationism...
...They should of course be self-sufficient...
...The war-bonds of the nations were going through readjustment, re-arrangement, re-funding, and re-financing and the London Monetary and Economic Conference, also called by the League of Nations, met to coordinate and unify the process...
...You will find pacifists in large numbers in the cooperative movement, in organizations working toward racial equality, international justice, civil liberty, political and economic reform...
...Editor you, too, are holding back the march of progress when you persist in giving men like Howard and Chamberlin preference in your columns and backing them in your editorial columns...
...If the people throughout the civilized world understood their respective economic and political setups, they could put an end to the cause of war, poverty, doles, evictions, prostitution, racial and re^ ligious prejudice, crime, and graft...
...I noticed The Progressive was not playing the game of "follow the leader," a child's game, especially when none of the leaders has either program or principles...
...You could thus buy as much with a 59.06 dollar as you could the day before with a 100 cent dollar...
...The winning of the war speedily, both on the battle and diplomatic fronts, is paramount...
...I subscribe to The Progressive because of the information it imparts...
...Many pacifists are opposed not only to war but to conscription for any purpose—as being completely anti-democratic and destructive of social good...
...I asked her what she thought of the New Deal and it was like waving a red flag at a bull...
...She answered, "The New Deal has hastened America's degenera-' tion more than anything I can think of...
...Some people are swayed by the size of a political party, while others are moved by principle...
...peacetime conscription is incompatible with every principle ©f freedom and democracy...
...In The Progressive at times they seem very objective, cool, and calm, very dispassionate—I said at times...
...Anna de Hosson Orlando, Fla...
...Personally, I do not want a publication to do my political thinking...
...and who really knows China's problems, to write an article for publication in The Progressive...
...Abe Cohen Chicago, 111...
...One man is as good (or bad) as another...
...Phil would have showed more patriotism that way than coming back with all kinds of medals won in a war thousands of miles away...
...The articles about radio by Sen...
...Perhaps it is not irrelevant to this subject to repeiffc a conversation I had recently with an 85-year ©Id woman, on the moral decline of America within the last 20 -or 30 years...
...I hope that some one who knows all the fficts will answer the ridiculous letter in the Forum of Nov...
...It should finally, after 12 years, seep into the consciousness of the Republicans (and their political aides under other names) that if they wish to continue as a political party which has any chance at all of ever again being trusted by the people with the affairs of state, they must cleanse their party of the Old Guard, hidebound Tory imperialist leaders...
...This, however, was all changed a little later, when F.D.R...
...Harry Tarter Elmhurst, N. Y. * * * Five Reasons Dear Sirs: There are five reasons why we should- not have any kind of peacetime conscription: First, we have too much compulsion and regimentation now...
...Dewey tried to make the voters believe that he would be the most zealous defender of "private enterprise"—but the record was against him...
...I believe in free enterprise — and always have...
...Often Milton Mayer and Ernest L. Meyer as well as Harry Elmer Barnes, Hanighen, and' Chamberlin have something important to say...
...Boy, how they would like to get their hands around the throat of Uncle Joe Stalin, or Marshal Tito, who really isn't a "Marshal"—or those gosh-awful Chinese Communists...
...Howard...
...Yet we are told daily that the world can run harmoniously without an over-all force to keep order...
...A. E. Campbell Winfield, Tex...
...I believe in exceptional rewards for innovation, skill, and risk taking business...
...The steel workers and millions of other ¦workers are being held down...
...But, of course, the old, parties completely ignored everything...
...They do it alternately, but very seldom on the toes of the Anglophiles...
...Second, if this European system js introduced here, we will invite the same military caste that has kept Europe and Asia in constant wars...
...Anyway, anyone who is m the Democratic camp —or at least almost in...
...All those at Dumbarton Oaks had an ax to grind, to maintain and even to strengthen imperialism, promote power politics, and form economic power groups behind the scenes...
...I feel that yours is one of the few papers I can trust...
...This is the people's war and we have the right to demand full knowledge and open discussion on every phase or move made at preliminary or final peace conferences...
...There will not be any durable peace made until we get rid of a lot of these men in shining armor, and put a lot of them into a suit of sackcloth and ashes, with a little alum in the ashes...
...There was not even a hint of removing the causes of war...
...Katherine Davis Union Star, Mo...
...Seelv is also well able to write on China...
...They are among the strongest forces for democracy in the world today...
...There are, of course, politicians who would promise the world to be elected...
...Fulton Lewis, Jr...
...All our engineering brains will he taxed to build cities at least one mile below the surface of the earth...
...It is no more necessary than slicing the disputed child in half...
...Indispensable' Dear Sirs: I consider The Progressive indispensable for an understanding of the forces that are moving our country today and I wish to tell you that I have seldom found the paper at fault in any statement or even predictions that you made concerning events still to come...
...Before casting a vote for a political party, one should read the platforms of all parties, then carefully reach a decision...
...I was attracted by your array of writers, men whom I knew to be independent thinkers...
...You will find them painstakingly studying and applying the techniques of democracy and non-violence—-and making great sacrifices because of such activities...
...Thomas, copied from The Progressive and addressed, with vital questions, to both the old-party candidates...
...Then maybe the Progressive Party would not have gone down in utter defeat...
...We were in the war long before Pearl Harbor...
...4, 1933, on which date, according to the League of Nations Secretariat, the world, including the United States, was on its way out of the worldwide deflation and concomitant depression...
...This will solve at one swoop the problem ©f postwar unemployment and since no other proposal yet made seems to come near meeting the estimated need, there should be no insuperable objection to getting it adopted...
...Without being myself too well versed in these matters, I venture to suggest some gifted American engineer will invent a rocket drill bomb which bores holes a mile deep in the earth before exploding...
...Isn't it perhaps because the former have lived according to the natural law, meaning they have retained their individuality and self-respect which results in a social system based on equality, whereas the latter have been conditioned on myths and superstitions which have almost destroyed man's belief in himself, and resulted in a social system based on inequality, disrespect, fear, obedience, and all the other false standards which govern "civilized" society today...
...There...
...In a well organized, civilized community no one can live unto himself...
...The difficulties will be great but let us not be faint-hearted or despair...
...Oh yes, and how our native fascists and little tin Hitlers love the words that drip, drip, drip from the pens of Chamberlin and Howard...
...Chamberlin and Mr...
...Is Mr...
...Political Crooners Dear Sirs: John Haynes Holmes rang the bell when he showed how much like crooners are the present political campaigners, compared to the great orators of the past...
...She should learn that, to one who bases his pacifism on reason, war is not a tragic necessity from which he wishes to save himself, but an outrageous absurdity which he cannot sanction in the slightest degree without violating his deepest convictions...
...I notice in present day writing a certain timidity about stepping on the toes of the Stalinists and Anglophiles in the United States at the same time...
...August W. Vogel Vaeaville, Calif...
...La Follette...
...William Bouck Sedro-Wolley, Wash...
...It is of course possible that by the 21st Century this depth will no longer provide sufficient protection, but for our lifetime it should be ample...
...This system he believes in caused World Wars I and II—and spells War III...
...We are already mixed up in them...
...Shenanigans In Radio Dear Sirs: The suppression of Upton Close by the National Broadcasting Company and the scandalous story that has been coming out of the House committee investigating the Federal Communications Commission show how eternally right Burton Wheejer was in his great article in The Progressive of Nov...
...Willkie in 1940, or in Mr...
...Knox, inert, unused, and untaxed...
...Otherwise man will destroy himself trying to decide whose world this is...
...Wheeler and the one from Sen...
...Tom Dewey made two or three really good speeches at the beginning, but after that his speeches degenerated into mere high sounding phrases, glittering but meaningless generalities, and vague promises which he knew he could not carry out under the reactionary policies of the G.O.P...
...I voted for Norman Thomas but find his name mentioned nowhere in final results...
...Thus the New Deal continues to inflate, and as the money is not tied to gold, there is no limit...
...It is the natural way to solve problems whereas the New Deal was the unnatural way...
...Just how many votes did he poll, or is it a secret...
...by H. J. Shea, Bronx, N. Y. D. C. Gibson Memphis, Tenn...
...Newspapers as a rule generally state their political posi«> tion...
...We need to make order of the mixture...
...Before we allow those who are afraid of the shadow of their past to make any settlement, I would like to hear a thorough, open discussion in the magazines and over the radio by men who are competent from the viewpoint of world history...
...It has seemed to me that we are playing the role in China that we played for so long—acting as a front for England in the, game of keeping China weak...
...Man is, biologically at least, one, and so must be the world...
...Chamberlin and also Mr...
...like to see discussion brought out from the histories, and fired right at the heads of American people, with nothing but unsupported assertions barred...
...The radio is a handy device for this type of political quackery...
...The world is becoming, indeed has become, before our half-open eyes, a compact community...
...Whoever he may be, our representative should be asked to hold and hew to the line in conformity to the spirit of the Atlantic Charter, let the chips fall where they may...
...Pacifism based upon reason is a positive faith which tends to affect all of the social attitudes of the individual...
...Thos...
...G. Schnoob Cormado, Calif...
...They must substitute therefor young and virile progressive leaders who understand that we cannot live in the dead past and who are anxious and willing to cooperate in a new world of peace and progress, fully recognizing the dignity of labor and the rights of man, and who will function in the interests of all the people instead of the interests of the money changers in Wall Street, London, and Paris, with frequent flyers into Berlin, Rome, and Tokyo...
...Raw materials should be ready for the manufacture of food in chemical factories which may well be departments of the munitions plants we will be required to build below...
...mentioned on his program, Friday, Nov...
...He merely regrets the sacrifice of so much human greatness and strength in an activity as uselessly romantic as tilting at windmills, although far more destructive...
...And "mixed" is the -trouble...
...Our acting as stooge has already cost American lives...
...and Dewey both did campaign as usual, but they even outdid Willkie in his "campaign oratory" of 1940...
...The above, a synopsis of a report of The People's Lobby, shows plainly that he or she who voted for either one of the old parties in the past election voted for the present status quo—and at the peace table the old profit, free-enterprise system will be re-enacted upon a suffering and dying world...
...Berenice E. Coan 334 N. Berendo St...
...We will, whether we like it or not, have to learn to look beyond the little microcosmic world in which we live to the great macrocosmic world about us...
...I believe that private enterprise can give full employment to our people...
...It Will Make New Friends...
...Consequently all our planning must be centered around this fact, so that ¦when it comes, we can take the next war in our stride...
...All governments 'tried' to solve them that way and look at us now...
...I have enjoyed your .articles on China and hope we have some more...
...I protested strongly against sue'* stupidity to the Memphis Press-Scimitar and then that paper did print, on Nov...
...4 issue, presents the dangers of losing the peace we are supposed to be fighting for so clearly and forcefully, that I would suggest to the readers of The Progressive that each or all who are able to do so contribute a small amount towards" a fund to be used to defray the expenses of supplying every Congressman and U. S. Senator with a "marked copy" of the issue...
...Thus by taking a metallic reserve, which nature limits, away irom our money system, we have produced a quantitative fiat paper of unlimited emission with the New Deal sitting on the very lid it is and has been seeking to blow off...
...The philosophical objector to war does not impugn the motives of those who dedicate themselves to its prosecution...
...What "goes on" in India, in China, in Africa is some of our business, no matter who "we" are, as recent history has disclosed...
...I am very pleased to know that the paper has done so well under his management...
...The Secret Thomas Vote Dear Sirs: It is clearly understood why the commercial press, in exercising its freedom, has consistently omitted any reference to Norman Thomas, both before and after the election...
...Editor's Note: Latest United Press tabulation showed Thomas' vote at 61,82$ last week...
...E. G. Stolley Grand Island, Nebr...
...Had the people had confidence in Mr...
...Thus one of the immediate tasks of our scientists and military men will also be devising methods of smoking out the enemy from his lair deep beneath the earth where he has hidden himself in so cowardly a fashion...
...But," said I leading her on, "we would probably have had a revolution here—what with 14 or more million unemployed...
...The articles on China that have appeared lately are shocking and sad too...
...Mrs...
...I would suggest also having a nation-wide popular vote for the election of the nominees (a sort of primary election) and do away with conventions, as long as delegates can be influenced after they get there...
...We now are putting into the circulation $120,000,-000 in paper money each week, which is being added to an already paper fiat circulation of $21,000,-000,000 or about $150 per capita of paper...
...Fourth, in any future wars our bombers can defend our shores against.any possible attack, without the assistance of any army...
...Jo Cantine Woodstock, N. Y. * * * Wants American Policy Dear Sirs: I am renewing my subscription to The Progressive after a subscription for three years...
...She came back with, "Well, maybe revolution was just what we needed...
...But the American people, having learned a lot about Russia that they didn't formerly know, and realizing and appreciating the mighty debt of gratitude we and the world owe to valiant Russia for saving the Allied cause, no longer fear that onetime bogey, and so paid it no attention...
...But a peace based on subjugation, colonial possessions enjoyed and demanded by some nations and denied to others, all done in the name of "democracy," is on the face of it a delusion, farce, and swindle, a violation of the Atlantic Charter and the principles our boys are fighting and dying for...
...John F. Carlisle Columbus, O. * * * Abolish Electoral System Pear Sirs: It has long puzzled me why Congress hasn't taken measures to abolish the outmoded electoral vote system long ago...
...1st, 1934, but the domestic purchasing power of the "definitioned" dollar remained as before...
...Here we can call on the services of our oil men who are accustomed to drilling deep...
...I don't really know which one can be the more bloodthirsty — Chamberlin or Howard...
...20 the news we have been waiting' for concerning the number of votes cast for Thomas...
...I also have long wondered about Mr...
...Los Angeles 4, Calif...
...If we are going to have to fight that fight alone, why not announce a forthright American policy...
...13 regarding Mr...
...Why not"give your readers the bene^ fit of writings of Seely, Shoaf, Miss Smedley, and others who will be fair on these questions that mean so much to our welfare and future friendly relations with the other countries who are now our friends attd allies and who want to "remain friends as long as possible...
...We need to see to it that no "incident" be permitted to spread and involve the whole world, or any part of it...
...A. H. Coffey Lowell, Oreg...
...This will of course be an enormous task, but if our Congress acts with it.s customary vision and dispatch, it may mobilize the homecoming soldiers for the task...
...Who Are The Liberals...
...All the big capitalist dailies gave lavish publicity to all speeches of the old-party candidates and printed all ef their speeches in full, but not a word from any of Thomas' and Hoopes' speeches...
...I hope Congress will soon take measures to change to the popular vote system and give the people a chance to vote for their choice...
...It isn't a question of not getting mixed up in world affairs...
...Howard cautious like the rest...
...Shoaf and Mr...
...Holmes could have gone one step further and compared the tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee content of present speeches with the thought-provoking orations of the past...
...Comdr...
...Every move suggested carried the germ of future wars...
...Political Thinking { Dear Sirs: Some writers ask why The Progressive doesn't take a political stand...
...Fifth...
...Dewey's claim to be high priest of private profits, stated in his Chicago speech that: "I believe in the profit system— and always have...
...I like greatly "The Last Column" where the Editor "tells all...
...If this whole situation could have been shown to the American people, would it not have had results...
...Well, we shall see...
...Pass This Paper On...
...One World Dear»Sirs: I read, listen, and try to think...
...Howard Meyer New York, N. Y. * * * Fake Campaign Dear Sirs: The recent campaign between the two old parties and its two leading candidates, Roosevelt and Dewey, was without a doubt the dirtiest and the most devoid of any reason and common sense of any campaign in history...
...The 'Unnatural Way' Dear Sirs: The article by Richard Neuber-ger concerning the corruption of the Eskimo by the "White Man" is both timely and thought-provoking...
...I would...
...By investigating our economic and political set-up, one can choose the proper political party to support...
...The distribution of income between property owners and producers during the 12 years of Mr...
...Hew To The Line' Dear Sirs: Morris H. Rubin's editorial, "The World Looks to America," in the Dec...
...The pacifist is one who believes in and works toward the brotherhood of man...
...Chamberlin especially gets into everything from the ultra-reactionary to the slightly pink...
...And that means nothing less than an order to mobilize for World War III...
...He levies on the next generation to save economic royalism in our generation...
...To get foreign gold the dollar was devalued and thus gold jumped 40 per cent between Jan...
...T. C. Blazer Denver, Colo...
...Samuel A. Carlson Jamestown, N. Y. Warning To Republicans Dear Sirs: The result of the last two Presidential elections should indicate to everyone that the American people are not going back to reaction, breadlines, soup kitchens, flop houses, doles, and "busting" banks, failing businesses, home and farm foreclosures, and "ragged" individualism...
...We must remember that among the Eskimos there is no hierarchy— (or there was none before we intruded...
...It embodies a true American foreign policy in harmony with President Roosevelt's Four Freedoms, in contrast to the present secret hypocritical maneuvers pulled at Dumbarton Oaks by international tricksters...
...6, the fine article from Mr...
...McGwbw Lewiston, Idaho . . . THE PEOPLE'S FORUM . . Underground Plan Dear Sirs: Now that the war is being won on all fronts we citizens at home can begin looking forward to the postwar world and the wonderful changes that an ever advancing technology has in store for us...
...Robert La Follette, "America Must Speak Up Now," were especially fine...
...We can talk around-the earth and tomorrow will be seeing around it and the next day will be going around it^n a day, and yet we are told that what goes on around there is none of our business...
...Fund Of Information Dear Sirs: I want to express my thanks and appreciation for the fine articles The Progressive is publishing and thus serving the people...
...If it has taught us anything, and indeed it is obvious that we have learned much from World War II, it has shown us conclusively that for as long a period as we can foresee, war is here to stay...
...The people caught on...
Vol. 8 • December 1944 • No. 51
