THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
¦ ¦ ¦ THE PEOPLE'S FORUM ¦ ¦ ¦ By Wortman Just And Lasting Peace Dear Sirs: Hitler once stated that the Nazis can not be defeated. He said they might go down on the field of battle, but in so...
...What the war-hurried world needs above all is to get back to peacetime production...
...I believe the Russians stand as good a chance of supplementing their economic order with political democracy, as we do here of implementing our political democracy with economic democracy...
...The cartoons are particularly offensive...
...Given free and equal access to nature's storehouse, men will no longer have the threat of poverty before them...
...By way of legislation and the formulation of law, or the rules of social harmony, we have created a civic society in which we are able to live in practical peace...
...For facts, see Prof...
...The conclusion which practically all students of European history and of social and political institutions have reached is that the universal training of large populations to the use of arms has invariably been followed in history by increased resort to armed force, both within nations and between nations...
...Then we were tricked and driven into the war...
...Will it be possible, before it is too late, to make our so-called statesmen realize that peace can never be achieved through political means or by violence...
...It is that very fact that Mr...
...It looks like well have to roll up our sleeves to lick this peacetime military conscription which finds energetic and some sincere support, Here too the progressive forces need to become more active and more united...
...E. K. Goldsborough Washington, D. C. * * * Hypocrisy Dear Sirs: Will someone please tell me who knows—why we and England are trying to force that fascist government in London on the Poles...
...It is pure fascism...
...Land monopoly abolished and land rent collected in place of taxes, it follows that freedom of trade will come to pass...
...The clank of spurred boots would become the na tional anthem while the earnings of the people would be consumed in its support...
...11 issue...
...And I, as a woman, grieve about it too...
...This relates directly to C. L. Cook's letter on pacifism...
...The plan contained the germ of freedom and property rights and was the foundation for a competitive economy, but this was too much for the respectable gentlemen of that age...
...Military conscription not only degrades the moral and ethical con cepts of peace and intellectual de velopment, but it also denies to our youth their rightful liberties under our democratic Constitution...
...What has transpired up to now indicates no such luck...
...I like it...
...Polish landlords were more afraid of the bolsheviks on the east than they were of Hitler, and what a price the world has paid for this...
...While I am at it, why not change the size to about 8 x 10, or at least smaller...
...Investigate The Truth Dear Sirs: In the letter favoring conscription (Apr...
...A new world order cannot be established on a basis of hatred and economic injustice...
...The Beards' easily available Basic History of our eountry has an enlightening chapter on World War I and its aftermath...
...Henry George has the only answer to fascism, and fascism has its deepest roots in America because here we have the 57 freedoms and constitutional democratic processes...
...Landlords are like that...
...It was too much for the Junkers...
...Anita Meltzer Cave Stillwater, Okla...
...Kimberly's letter Sept...
...It is only by thinking things out as one lives them and living things out as one thinks them that a man or society can really be said to think or live at all...
...When land rent is collected, it will be impossible to hold land out of use, as is the case today...
...This is why Report From Tokyo is one of the most important books on the spring list...
...Would that all delegates at the San Francisco conference were imbued with the same spirit that prompted you to write it...
...By similar means nations can be organized, and international laws, or rules of action developed, so nations can live in practical peace...
...The following lines under the caption, "With Apologies to Mother Goose", appeared in the February 1943 issue: "There was a good woman who lived in a shoe, She had many children and knew what to do...
...privilege vested by constitutional processes and sustained by majority rule...
...It seems the native inhabitants of the islands of the South Pacific, where our boys are working as well as fighting, will work harder and longer for a string of bright colored beads, a jeweled slave bracelet, etc., than for any amount of money you could offer them...
...A Dandy Dear Sirs: Your editorial, "The Dawn of Victory," in the May 14 issue was sure a dandy...
...This cry creates in- [ deed, a paradox, coming as it does so insistently in face of the many peace conferences held, now being held, and those to follow...
...Abolish all trade barriers...
...This prophecy has now come true, as we are witnessing the endorsement by the Allied Nations of the very essence of Nazi-jsm, as follows: First: The conscription of the finest young men, in order to instill in them the doctrine that might makes right...
...Military instruction might increase safety except that, unfortunately, the enemy thinks of all that, too...
...Living And Explaining Dear Sirs: God must work within us...
...I fear our insuperable pride and self-righteousness has blinded our eyes to some plain facts...
...Peacetime conscription has always de veloped a totalitarianism under a military sponsorship that has denied the rights of man and the freedom of speech and press...
...In order to achieve a just and lasting peace, three cardinal principles must be put into operation...
...I suggest we concentrate more on the economic juices in which we may expect to be stewing upon the war's termination...
...How About Russia...
...16 issue...
...Your staff of writers and editorial contributors are not excelled anywhere in my opinion...
...the producer gains nothing from it...
...Japan, which we now so brutally and inhumanly treat, may yet turn out to be a very much needed ally, as in the last world war, to help check "the imperialism of the U. S. S. R. We may, too, find ourselves compelled to build up what remains of Germany for the same purpose...
...Many in this country, as well as in England, are trying to put over fascism while talking democracy...
...the establishment of collectivism in Russia is no exception...
...Grover B. Foster Dallas, Tex...
...I am sure Mr...
...Were this the case on all sides, a war would have been impossible...
...Man can not live by bread alone...
...Maybe the trouble comes in his thinking of war as being defensive...
...They pitched the puny thing out the window of Carpenter's Hall in 1781...
...The relief office became one of the big institutions of the country...
...It will make us so fighting mad that we shall be doubly sure of remaining free...
...E. F. Miller Scotch Plains, N. J. * * * Sincere Desire Needed Dear Sirs: No, you can not make men good by legislation, but you can make it easier for men to be good, and you can control the actions of the bad sufficiently so the good are able to live with them in an organized society in practical safety...
...The San Francisco Conference is being held to iron out the many political, social and financial differences among the nations of the earth, so that when this conflict of arms ceases, a real and enduring peace may be had for the world to enjoy...
...This cry is rising to great crescendo even while the present cataclysmic curse continues to kill i and destroy...
...Conscientious objectors are spurned, hated, etc., as hardly no other group of men while they are virtually upholding the fundamental principle of democracy and that of Christianity—freedom of conscience...
...See also Mr...
...16 issue), the argument is based upon a most damaging delusion...
...Rebecca Winsor Evans Ellen Winsor Malvern, Penna...
...They rallied to Franco for the same reason...
...For a clear and most interesting presentation of this, see Social Progress and the Darwinian Theory by George Nasmyth...
...It is surely cursing us even while we don't recognize it — the worst curse of all...
...they are not willing to give up a free ride and they will go to any ends to keep in the saddle...
...SECOND...
...Stuart Chase has no plan for solving the problem which will confront us after the war — employment or making a living...
...She said, 'If you'd like to help beat the Jap, You'll run far and wide and collect iron scrap.' " Another, more stimulating to hatred of the Jap, is from the April 1943 number: "The truth about Ja pan may not make us free...
...In America, the achievement of material wealth and power is made largely an end in itself, and only those who thus dedicate themselves can hope to succeed...
...Human progress has never been due to fratricidal strife, but to human cooperation...
...To add to the tragedy it is not Hitler's Germany which is being destroyed, but the Germany of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Goethe, Heine, Mozart, and Schiller with its inestimable treasures of beauty and historic interest...
...Fighting one's own kind is not an edict of nature...
...Renew Your Subscription Today Pure Fascism Dear Sirs: Mr...
...Barnes in the Apr...
...I often think life is easier to live than to explain...
...Abolish land monopoly •I and privileges of every kind...
...John Regenald Portland, Ore...
...And look at the toy pistols and guns the tots are given by their mothers...
...Roosevelt came and there was action...
...Even the street-sweeper...
...How like our American history books about our Indians that sounds...
...That is one thing Russia isnt guilty of and that is one thing one can say of William H. Chamber-lin...
...Arthur Cromwell Rochester, N. Y. More Action And Unity Dear Sirs: I like the good sense your paper brings in interpreting the events of our times...
...I feel I did the best I knew how, so the shoe didn't pinch my foot...
...He's a good egg...
...He has made a lot of good points that I agree with...
...In the period following the war I will look to The Progressive for guidance more than ever...
...FIRST...
...And he states that "All this need not be taken to indicate that women are any more bellicose than men...
...Fred Bush Seattle, Wash...
...and trained boys appear to kill other trained boys with great facility...
...but truth is not an ingredient in the recipe for war...
...If it has come to pass that America, in order to live, must become a nation of armed military might — soldiers, forts, battleships, tanks and planes—better it pass into ob livion now than to struggle on sac rificing the liberties of all, the youth of the land, and the natural resources in a vain effort for survival...
...They rallied to Hitler because he offered hope...
...We, as the rank and file of the masses have in no uncertain terms demanded that justice for all men shall crown this conference...
...Here are some samples of how this morale is being sustained, taken from Independent Woman, the official publication of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Inc., as intelligent a group of women as we have, I believe...
...Keep up the book review section...
...Fred V. Williams Olathe, Kan...
...I believe that the politicians of the world, now assembled in this conference, will sincerely attempt a peace agreement that will last, for they know full well that another war may be the elimination of the human race...
...Is that the proper preparation for thinking citizens of a de mocracy...
...Second: The philosophy that the etate must be regarded as the su-pre le arbiter of a man's life...
...THJ.RD...
...I read his articles in the Christian Science Monitor the 12 years he was in Russia...
...Setting aside any moral aspect of ttie question, the thought arises: Can the greatest industrial state in the heart of Europe be wiped out without bringing complete economic ehaos to all its neighbors...
...Barnes makes so clear...
...Why not ask your readers...
...Share This Issue With Friends In Support Of Barnes Dear Sirs: "A Protest to Barnes", by June Hennessey in the May 21 issue of The Progressive, reveals the identical attitude of women toward war that Mr...
...We know there was no such action...
...Species that have warred on their own kind have suffered extinction...
...Hennessey says, "It is the memory of the mothers, whose sublime fortitude and courage have inspired the noblest aspirations in man, that sustains our fighting forces...
...and with monopoly abolished, the basic causes of war, which, like the causes of poverty ore of economic origin, will vanish...
...William Champeau Denmark, Wis...
...Nevertheless, permanent peace cannot be legislated into being or human nature regulated, as one would regulate clocks...
...I can not argue with Mr...
...The real gem is in the September 1943 number, in "Bright Ideas From Our Clubs": "Jab the Japs in this new way...
...By the way, was there ever produo-ttoh for profit which was not also for use...
...C. H. Hamlin's The War Myth in U. S. History...
...The utterly bestial manner in which Mussolini was murdered was merely carrying oif of fascistic methods...
...But it ended up with all kinds of subsidies, relief, and poor aid...
...Libraries have it, and all God's "chillun" should borrow a copy and read it...
...As a pre-war reader I was kind of doubtful at first...
...The members of the BPWC of Clinton, III...
...Or are we so dumb we don't know our deeds belie our talk...
...there is death indeed to Hitler, Mussolini, etc., but not to dictatorship and different dictators...
...Nowhere in the history of the world is there to be found a nation that had been armed for war or "military protection" that had fought for and insisted upon peace...
...I believe he was an honest man then...
...Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote: Were half the power that fills the world with terror, Were half the wealth bestowed by camps and courts, Given to redeem the human mind from error, There were no need of arsen~ als and forts...
...But there is another defense to be made for these persecuted people and that is our defeat of Hitler and his allies may be completely abortive...
...yet while a great portion of the so-called civilized world lies in utter ruins and chaos...
...Obviously, war wipes out the physi cally fittest on both sides...
...Thomas P. Chbistbnsbn Iowa City, la...
...Whether it be "use" or "profit" matters little...
...Nature destroys those that do it...
...The true interests of the peoples living in this "One World" never conflict, of course...
...Had we been a little more humane, fair, considerate and not so callous, implac-able, contumacious, we might have found our living conditions a great deal better...
...Well, this fact inspired the "bright idea" and the upshot of it all was that 165 pounds of "Jab the Japs with junk jewelry", was collected under that popular slogan...
...I refused to put it on...
...Schuck rationalizes our war with Germany by simply saying there was not room enough in the ;world for 2 such different systems ©f government, m the May 7 issue...
...Now the service men have a 500 seating capacity chapel that a chaplain bribed the natives with this junk to help build...
...Suggestions Dear Sirs: Admitted you know better than I how to run your paper, but to me, the cartoons and movie remarks are out of character...
...You would get tons of paper for the drive...
...Barnes deplores in his article...
...Let's investigate the truth...
...Women do inspire the noblest aspirations in man and as long as women do not inspire men to junk war for what it is, and as long as' women allow their inspirations to merely "sustain our fighting forces",— that is the attitude that Mr...
...War and freedom can not exist tide by side, but, as it has been well said: "If economic freedom be attained, no other freedom can be withheld...
...We do not have fascism in the raw but refined and clothed in beautiful garments which obscure the ugly thing to general view...
...Guidance Dear Sirs: Just a few words to say I think you people have certainly done a fine job all through this war with The Progressive...
...The more trade, the more prosperity, is an axiom that cannot be denied...
...Are we to overlook the new imperialisms and aggressions for the sake of Russian^ consent to our Anglo-American gold policy...
...If young men are killed, do the old men learn...
...Ellwood...
...Likewise, no nation armed to the teeth is going to be in any mood to exact a just and enduring peace...
...A soldier is drilled in blind obedience to command...
...We learn by living, that is,why we are born...
...At the moment it is a weekly magazine, making an effort to appear like an inferior daily...
...Foster's desire for peace is sincere and genuine and I respect it as such...
...Everyone who enjoys and prizes his liberties should write his Con gressman and Senator and plead with them to defeat any and all legislation designed for peacetime mil itary conscription...
...As in Greece, Italy, and North Africa and now again in Poland we are helping England to set up fascism while we talk democracy...
...Give A Friend The Truth Send Him The Progressive Today Our Own Blindness Dear Sirs: I just got The Progressive of May 14, and am impressed with 2 things: The cartoon, "The Death of the Dictators" and a letter by C. L. Cook, defending pacifists, both of which impel me to add a comment or two...
...The Weimar constitution contained the germ of property rights and opportunity, and if it had been nursed and encouraged to develop we might now witness the German people being the most prosperous and best satisfied people on earth...
...Chase should know that 49 constitutions empower city councils, county commissioners, and higher legislative bodies to rob producers and endow the privileged few with advantage, power, and privilege to exploit producers a second time and this is what we call "free enterprise...
...yet, »it the same time, they are so simple that it is incomprehensible that men have failed to adopt them...
...If that is our aim then let us do away with this democracy talk, for I hate a hypocrite more than anything on earth...
...Darwin bitterly bewailed the misconstruction put upon his phrase "survival of the fittest...
...A. W. Snyder Marion, Ind...
...Only those who look deep can understand...
...Lillian Roe Los Angeles, Calif...
...Mrs., Hennessey says, "Societies, Individuals, the press, and other agencies are doing all they can to help build and sustain the morale of our loved ones as they bravely endure the hell of war...
...Dorothy Busibk Dorchester, Mass...
...I am willing to wager that the vast majority of our fighting men would have joined the pacifists had they lived up to conscience and not feared the consequences...
...The cartoon is false to the core...
...Louisa N. Wheelwkight<| Blowing Roek, N. C. The Economic Juices Dear Sirs: Regarding the many barbs directed at Russia, history has taught me that all notable achievements of mankind, such as the Protestant reformation, the French Revolution, and American independence and democracy, were all achieved partly by logical approach, but more largely by hook, crook, expediency and a generous intervention of chance...
...e. the monopoly of natural resources) all that is required is to collect the rent of land for the benefit of the community which creates it...
...K. A. Anderson Riverside, Calif...
...This barrier erected by the monopolist to protect his interests prevents the laborer, the producer of all wealth, from purchasing in a free market what he needs for food, clothing, 0>>d housing...
...If I want to teach him I must first learn from him...
...There is a plan, however, which will in time open opportunity for a hundred million jobs (unlimited opportunity for all to make a living in America) and that is to abolish fascism—vested privilege—in America and substitute freedom with full property rights, a competitive economy, and laissez faire...
...without bread he can not live at all, pnd when necessary he will fight to •btain it...
...When one views what is going on In the world today, one can only •hudder with horror and say: No end can ever justify such means as those now employed...
...To attain this goal He reminded His followers that the mind must first be cleansed of its dross...
...had a lot of outmoded, tarnished, and otherwise out-of-commission costume jewelry lying around unused in their top bureau drawers...
...Give A Friend The Truth Send Him The Progressive Today Dangers Of Conscription Dear Sirs: Military conscription is now the battle cry of those who refuse to learn by bitter experience that peace cannot come through hate and war...
...All that is needed is for the many nations now assembled at San Francisco to have a sincere desire and a will to provide the way...
...yet while the cries of the starved and dying pierce and render the air...
...As Patrick Geddes said, "Every man knows more about his own business than I do...
...All taxation is robbery and takes from the individual what he.himself creates...
...The laws of political economy on which the intercourse of nations must be based are grand and austere...
...Renew Your Subscription Today Clear Our Minds Dear Sirs: The attempt to promote world harmony at San Francisco seems a step in the right direction...
...That government, like England and the United States, talks democracy, and sets up slavery...
...Not education, but fascist indoctrination...
...A tariff is a privilege of the monopolist...
...Prize fighters or boxing commissioners would not by temperament or vocation qualify as proper conferees for any peace conference, any more than Mahatma Ghandi would qualify as a referee at a prize fight...
...In order to abolish the basic monopoly (i...
...Actually, it inspires fear, decreasing the sense of security of others so that they feel they must adopt conscription and pile up armaments...
...We chase Hitler out and find Stalin saddled in his place with a more invidious despotism than that of Hitler...
...Abolish all taxes and in lieu thereof substitute the collection of the rent of land...
...I have sent many copies to my son in Europe and my brother in the Pacific...
...What are "teachings relative to military life...
...Therefore, peace is solely • question of economics...
...Are we playing a deceitful, hypocritical game...
...The very spirit of the military is to demand immediate obedience, and with America under arms, we would be but slaves in mental and political bondage...
...Prof...
...While the funds made available by the devaluation of the dollar lasted, it looked as if there would be real action...
...We challenge anyone to refute these self-evident truths...
...Barnes is grieving about...
...in Russia I believe the trend is to make material things a means toward achieving the humanities, eventually if not now...
...History shows that preparedness does not secure a nation from attack...
...All that is intended hAre is to debunk, for all time, the pleasant illusion that feminism works for peace and against war...
...When it was sent to the South Sea Islands it was renamed "Lif8 Saving Jewelry...
...Hitler struck first at Czechoslovakia because there were some land reforms being worked out there...
...It seems to me our progress toward this goal (our orientation being what it is) is both slow and*dubious, and that the American people have learned little either from the late depression, or from the demonstration of productive capacity which the stimulus of war has provided...
...Why not use that paper for serious reading matter...
...Barnes is pointing out some very deplorable facts...
...The formula for that is abolition of taxes and collection of rent in lieu thereof...
...He meant survival of those best able to cope with their physical environment, not man against man...
...yet while we all cry that this war shall be the last, we hear the demands for "peacetime" military conscription...
...William E. Juhmke McPherson, Kans...
...That's the prerequisite to safety...
...That its wars are defensive against an offensive enemy is the war myth of every country...
...Pear Sirs: Lt...
...As the Bible has well put it, "Sin is a curse unto any peo-I pie...
...With taxation abolished not only the laborer but legitimate business as well will be freed from this terrible burden which today reduces all purchasing power and penalizes free enterprise...
...Lend-Lease came, ^md now from a third to a half of the world, outside of that part of the world's peoples who have always lived on the merest subsistence basis, may be said to be on the road to the poor house...
...Mrs...
...From a third to one half of our people were set on the road to the poor farm...
...Who remembers the peace plan of a certain Nazarene who sought to establish a universal social order based on brotherhood...
...Each man and woman must first silently assume his own burden...
...Use And Profit Dear Sirs: When Hoover was President the whole country yearned for action that would lead towards a more balanced economy for the U. S. and the world...
...There is no plan for immediate employment of all the boys short of the state's taking full charge, and it is doubtful if even our Communists are ready for that...
...Please invite him to write another article telling us how we are to live amicably with Russia...
...Remove the fundamental causes of war and poverty, and society, for the first time in the world's history, will have for its foundation, peace and justice, freedom and happiness...
...Yet, while these peace conferences are going on, and yet while buildings crumble under the mighty shells of cannon, and human blood flows as rivers of red...
...Foster's arguments are those advanced by Hitler and Mussolini, yet Mr...
...He said they might go down on the field of battle, but in so doing their conquerors would be forced to adopt the Nasi philosophy...
Vol. 9 • June 1945 • No. 25
