ARCH 1955

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7"- -u .) 1 ~ ~ FAITH AND FREE

THADDEUS ASHBY IN T HIS ISS UE

SHOOTING ON SOUTH FLOWER THADDEUS ASHBY tells the story of Ellis Poole, whose family was threatened with death, whose face 3 was mutilated, because he stood his ground against a union. FAITH AND FREEDOM UNDERCURRENTS Faith and Freedom is a voice of the libertarian­ WILLIAM SCHLAMM wonders: persistently recommending the religious philoso­ where are the rebels today? Be- phy of limited government inherent in the fore new art or drama can be cre- Declaration of Independence. The chief intent of .' ated some artist must revolt against the libertarian is not pedagogy, but the further l0 the prevailing climate. But all seem discovery and application of the Creator's change­ to agree, and the result: bad art, less principles in a changing world. bad drama, collectivism. While speaking against the present-day Goliath, the totalitarian state, we work for no special inter­ est. Freedom under God is in the interest of every man of faith, whether he is in a factory or on a PORTRAIT OF PATRIC farm, in an office or in the pulpit. If a govern­ WILLIAM JOHNSON introduces a ment or a philosophy does not serve to safeguard new feature called God's Irregulars. his freedom-whether he is in a minority or a The first of these portraits depicts majority - then that government or philosophy is 12 John Patric, author of "Yankee Hobo his enemy. A Communist, Socialist, Fascist or in The Orient," and an incorrigible other authoritarian government is always such an individualist. enemy; and a democratic government espousing a paternalistic philosophy straightway becomes such an enemy. As the journalists of Spiritual Mobilization, our ALONG PENNSYLYVANIA AVENUE editorial policy is based on a profound faith in God, the Author of liberty, and in Jesus Christ, AUBREY HERBERT raises a lone who promoted persuasion in place of coercion as voice against the virtual unanimity the means for accomplishing positive good. of patriots who are determined to Our credo is the long-standing credo of Spirit­ defend Formosa. Before risking ual Mobilization: Man, being created free as a 18 Earth's last war Herbert asks that child of God, has certain inalienable rights and we listen to men such as General responsibilities: the state must not be permitted MacArthur. to usurp them; it is the duty of the church to help protect them.

Published September to June by Spiritual Mobilization, 1521 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles 17, California. VOLUME VI, NUMBER 7, MARCH, 1955 WILLIAM JOHNSON, Editor THADDEUS ASHBY, Associate Editor EDMUND A. OPITZ, Book Editor ANNE ASHBY, Art Director

As a journal of opinion, Faith and'Ff'eedom OpeDl its pages to expressions of thought and belief on contro­ versial questions. In publishing the magazine, Spiritual Mobilization, as an organization, does not necessarily endorse its contents. SUBSCRIPTION RATE: Two dollars per year.

2 FAITH AND FREEDOM SHOOTING ON SOUTH FLOWER

THADDEUS ASHBY

This is no ordinary violence. Ellis Poole had violated the labor union's law. He was marked for punishment. His crime: LiVing according to Christian conscience. Perhaps he should have run away-but he didn't.

A struggle, a shout of "Help!"-shots rang out; to the story of Jacob and Esau. Ellis Poole a man ran down the steps of a house on South had been reading this story to his sons, just Flower Street in Los Angeles; bullets sang before he heard the knocking at the door. The past his ear; he jumped into his car, sped nightly ceremony of reading the Bible before away. Another man staggered down the steps; bedtime prayers was still honored in Poole's his right hand gripped a heavy lug wrench house. Poole was a Bible student, a church­ streaked with blood; his left hand pressed going man who worked so hard as a layman to his shoulder-a dark blotch was soaking he was finally made group leader in the through the cloth. He stumbled and sank Church of God at 9916 South San Pedro in slowly to the steps; he lay still. Los Angeles. To help support this little church, Standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the which has sixty members, Poole tithes from light behind him, a young man, not too tall, his salary, besides putting $15 per month in stood dazedly, swaying a little. In his right the collection plate and contributing to the hand a .38 Colt revolver smoked faintly; its building fund for a new church. Last year handle felt damp against his trembling fingers. Poole gave a total of $1500 to his church. His left hand groped to the pain which Now how was it a church leader came to throbbed into his face. His eye was puffing. find himself with a gun in his hand and blood His nose was bleeding and broken. Behind streaming from his eye? him, clutching two frightened little boys to Ellis Poole is a garment worker. He had her skirts, stood his pretty brunette wife, her been threatened with violence a number of eyes glazed with fear. times. The threats \veren't idle bluffs; they His name was Ellis Poole. A slight man, a had been carried out tonight. man with hazel eyes, a receding hairline, Ellis Poole couldn't be called an ordinary clean-shaven cheeks, a man with character in man; he is an individual, as different from his hands, hands gnarled with work, skilled others as you are different. He lives in an old in the use of· tools. house, though he could afford much better if On the floor of his house, a Bible lay open he gave less to his church. He doesn't pay much attention to fashionable clothes. His Thaddeus Ashby is associate editor of FAITH AND idea of pleasure is to be able to provide music FREEDOM. leSsons for his eight year old son, and for the

MARCH, 1955 3 this over." The voice, (which she translated into a huge, anonymous ~Cthey") said that un­ less she agreed to come and talk things over with them, "something might happen to the children." What might happen? They didn't specify exactly what or how. They used "vile lan­ guage" Mrs. Poole said. And they said "they five-year-old, too, when he's old enough. The would kill the children." eight-year-old practices on an ancient M. Visions of a big car, ripping through the Schultz & Co. upright piano with yellow ivor­ safety zone, smashing down the children and ies. A bare light-bulb hanging from a browned speeding away, haunted the young mother as string lights up the music room; but this is not she sobbed in Poole's arms. the light that lights up Poole's face as he Poole had brought his bride from Missis­ listens to his son play. sippi. Arriving in Los Angeles he turned his Ellis Poole had not wanted to join the gar­ pockets inside out, found nothing more than ment workers' Union. When the representa­ sixty dollars. But Poole's soul was brimming tives of the AF of L, International Ladies Gar­ with faith, and the face of the dark-haired girl ment Workers Union, asked him to join, Poole beside him overflowed with her faith in him. said: They knew God helps those who help them­ "I've got nothing against the Union. My em­ selves. That was enough for them. ployer gave me a job when I needed one. He Poole found a job at Sir James, Inc., makers told me what the pay was and I thought that of separates, skirts, blouses, dresses. As a cloth­ was fair. Now you want me to carry a sign ing cutter he held down a most important saying he's unfair. But that isn't the truth." skilled job in the garment industry. A designer "You don't get the picture," the representa­ dreamed up an idea for a new dress and made tive said. "We're not asking you to join. We're a master pattern. Ellis Poole took the master telling you, if you know what's good for pattern, laid it out on the cloth and marked you ..." out the garment. Then he cut it out. Using a But Poole stood his ground. huge electric cutting machine he could cut One evening the phone rang. Poole saw his through 240 layers of cloth at once. pretty, twenty-six-year-old wife answer it, watched while her face went white. She said "We'll Beat Your Brains Out" nothing, merely listened speechlessly. After a One day, while Poole was cutting at Sir moment she hung up. James, Inc. the Union representatives came She looked at Poole as if she had been around and told him: "Get ready to strike.'1 struck. Words wouldn't come. "I'm not a member of the Union." He walked to her, took her hand in his. "All right, you join us and go out on strike, "Dear, who was it?" he asked. and I tell you what we'll do. We'll pay you She shook her head. fifty dollars a week while you're striking." But "What did they say?'~ Poole was already earning much better than She bit her lips. Finally, she was able to fifty dollars per week. choke out the words: "They said something "Think it over," said the Union representa­ would happen to the children." tive. "If you join us we'll pay yoU.'1 The man Poole stopped breathing a moment. Tension paused signi£cantly, "If you don't join us we'll wound around his lungs like a fist. His wife beat your brains out." began to cry. Poole went home that night deeply shocked. The voice had told her that her husband His faith told him to love his enemies, not to was refusing to cooperate. They wanted to resist evil, to turn the other cheek. Poole was meet her at a specified place, "alone, to talk not afraid for himself. Later, he said: "They

4 FAITH AND FREEDOM kind of always feared me a bit, because I lived ble, but the violence hadn't taken long. The a good life and always told them they couldn't police pulled up as the hoodlums were run­ kill me without a fIght." ning out, and caught them red-handed. The only thing Poole feared was that his Poole's friend was rushed to the hospital. family might be hurt. He considered moving. He almost died, and had to spend three But anywhere he went he would face this months in the hospital before going home to problem. recuperate. The men arrested were indicted and tried. The jury was hung and the prosecu­ He Tried To Escape tion did not ask for a new trial. A friend of Poole's, the head cutter at Sir James, wanted to open up a little shop and Poole Wasn't Looking For Trouble employ himself and Poole after their regular The destruction which put Poole's friend in work. They would bid on small jobs until they the hospital threw Poole out of a part-time made enough to expand. job. ~~He never did get to open the place up "He propositioned me as his business part­ any more." The Union was striking at Sir ner but I let him go ahead with it. I said 1'd James. Poole was not looking for trouble help him cut nights." with hired pickets. Poole looked for a job else­ His friend took his small savings out of the where, and found one at Holmes of Cali­ bank and bought a cutting machine. He found fornia, following his trade of garment cutting. a small store which he rented and converted Poole said of Mr. Holmes: "The man was pay­ into a cutting room. After their regular hours ing his taxes, living up to American standards they began to cut out garments on a contract -he paid me a little more money-I didn't basis. They began bidding lower than firms know it was going to turn into a mess like this." using high~priced Union labor. The head cutter at Holmes had been beaten A car began following Poole's friend from up. But there had been no violence recently. his home, trying to nnd the location of the Poole hoped that order had been restored. He busy little shop. It didn't take them long. accepted the job of head cutter. Immediately Poole was not helping out that day. His the Union representatives accused him of friend and employer was also janitor and had being a "strikebreaker." stayed late to sweep up. He was sweeping the He had refused to strike at Sir James and floor when a shadow fell across it. Men were now he was refusing to strike at Holmes of standing on the sidewalk. He looked out the California. Obviously, reasoned the Union back door and saw ~'some people maneuvering representatives, this guy Poole was following around in the back." them around. He called the police. As he set the phone The Union demanded a guaranteed annual down he heard them knock. He looked around wage for each employee. In other words, no for a way out. "There was some of these guys lay-offs. at the front and back ... no way to run. They really had the joint cased in good." He count- He Refused To Walk Out ed eight men. , Mr. and Mrs. Holmes, the owners, felt that Poole's friend reported the following to the they couldn't keep the company going on a police: ' year around basis and pay workers for work They broke the door down and seized him. not being done. They operated on a small mar­ Systematically they beat him. ~'They really gin of profit. They felt this would break them. worked him over." They threw him uncon­ scious and bleeding onto the floor. They smashed the expensive cutting machine, wrecked the shop and ran, leaving him for dead. The police cruiser arrived as soon as possi-

MARCH, 1955 Poole felt sympathy for the owners: he re­ one more chance to stop fighting us.'l' fused to walk out. '' he said, as if said. <'They followed them. They know which he personally weren't a part of «them.'l' way the children go to school.'l' ''Theyl'll get you sooner or later." «What did they want from you?" Later, Poole testified: "He let on like they "'They wanted me to come and talk to them. had so many men, they'd kill me, even though To meet them somewhere ... alone." I killed several of them first. Like it was so "You? Why? Youl're not mixed up with important to get me they wouldn't mind sac­ them." rificinga hundred men just to kill me." "They said you wouldn't talk to them-so Poole locked the door behind him and went they said I had better or .. ." back to the Christmas tree decorating-but the "Or what, dear?l" spirit of'Christmas.was gone. «They said ... terrible things to me. They "What would Christ have said, Poole won­ said they'd kill the children." dered, about turning the other cheek more Poole, cleaned and loaded his gun. He had than twice, again and again? used his gun for protection when he had Poole decided to teach his children to de­ owned a small business in Mississippi. It had fend themselves. The little boy was too young, lain in the drawer unused for years. but he enrolled the older boy in a night class which taught Judo, the art of Japanese self­ He Heard A Soft Knocking defen.se. He took the course himself, and Poole didnl't know what they would do next. learned how to defend himself at close quar­ They had even followed him to work. Once a ters, ignoring the Marquis of Queensbury's car with several men in it had pulled up be­ rules. side him. One of them asked if he wanted a On Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and ride to work. Sundays, Ellis Poole went to church, led Poole said, «no." The car door opened and prayers, supplied for the pastor in his absence one of them started to get out. Poole ran. The -and on Tuesdays and Thursdays 'he went car followed him all the way to work. home, picked up his' oldest son and took him Poole called his wife to see if she were all to Judo class, where father and son learned right. He did not know what, to do. Did this to defend themselves. constitute being struck on' one cheek? Should he, call the police now, tell them he felt the "Break His Yoke From Thy Neck" lives of his children were threatened? Should And so it came to pass that the sun rose over he get his 'family out of town? It was just be­ Los Angeles on the morning of December 14, fore Christmas. Maybe later. 1954. Poole went to work, and hoped that Poole, his wife and the children were bring­ maybe theyhad forgotten him, or had decided ing in the big silver Christmas tree. He paused ';to let him live in peace. He heard no more -he heard a soft knocking at the door. from them that day at work. Poole went to the door. A representative of Poole had arranged a special treat for his the Union stood on the dark porch. He came boys that evening. He had borrowed a Bible in, saying: «You dirty scab. We're giving you full of richly colored pictures.

6 FAITH AND FREEDOM The little boys were dressed for bed. He open and came three feet into the Hving room. drew them up on his lap and read aloud the Then Poole fired, once, twice. The hand story of Jacob and Esau, and how Esau sold holding his arm in the vise-like grip loosened. his birthright for a mess of pottage. He showed Suddenly the men were struggling to get out them the pictures. He explained to them how the door, out of Poole's house. One of them no man should ever sell his birthright for any ran down the steps to the car. Poole fired again reason, no matter how tempting. He read: over his head. The man with the wrench "And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt stumbled away, down the steps, fell on the serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass sidewalk into a smear of his own blood. when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.:>' Better Call The Police "What's the matter, daddy?" Poole started after them-then paused and "Take the boys in the bedroom, dear." turned back to his wife. He couldn't see too "What is it?" clearly. The blow had' dazed him and blood "1 thought 1 heard somebody at the door.:>' was running from his eye. Knifelike, the pain ate into his face. Poole's wife was holding the Why He Pulled The Trigger two boys to her skirts protectingly. Her face Later Poole described these terrible few mo­ went white. The little boys saw the blood run­ ments to the police and reporters: ning down Poole's nose; they began to whim­ He went to the door. He opened it, only per piteously. a crack. He saw a lone man, a man with hands "I'd better call the police," Poole whispered. in his pockets, his head tilted down, his hat The police arrived in a very few moments­ shadowed his face. which lengthened for the young couple into Poole thought the man was alone, opened years. The man wounded by Poole was taken the door to get a better look at him. Beyond to the General Hospital, where he was held him he saw a parked car; the rear door open on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. -engine running. Later they picked up the second man who Poole started to close the door. Without had run away. warning the man grabbed him, pulled him forward. Then Poole saw a second man com­ How Do You Feel? ing at him from around the chimney. ··"We'll After Poole told his story they booked the teach your' the second one cried. Before Poole two men on "attempted kidnapping and as­ could move the first man pulled him out, lin­ sault with deadly weapon with intent to kill.:>' ing him up-the second swung a heavy lug Poole was treated for bruises and cuts wrench and struck him in the face. The blow about the eye and nose. landed on Poole's right eye, crashed down "How did it happen?" a detective asked mashing his nose. Poole. Poole told him. Poole jerked back, but the man still held "Then do you deny what the Union official him. Poole tried to shut the door but the man said?" the detective asked. pulled his arm through the door and Poole "What did he say?" asked Poole. was shutting the door on his own arm. The "He said that these men came out on a second man reached through the crack and peaceful mission to talk to you, to get you to struck at Poole again. Poole dodged and twist­ discontinue your strikebreaking activities." ed but could not break loose. They were push­ The look on Poole's face, the surprise and ing against the door now. Slowly it 'began to shock, combined with the black eye and ugly yield. bruise, was answer enough. Poole called to his wife: "Why did they do it?" the detective asked. "Bring my gun. Bring my gun." "They wanted to .make me an example," She brought the .38 revolver. Poole took it said Poole. "But they haven't got any brains in his free hand. The men forced the door in the Union or they wouldn't pull such tricks

MARCH, 1955 7 wouldn't have gone along with my shooting a man. They feel differently now, after all that's happened." Poole talked it over with his sons. c'The kids are like grown up. I gave them a good straight talk. Don't kill anybody. Only in self-defense. Live and let live. They know as this." I didn't want to hurt anybody. I talk to them "How do you feel about shooting a man?" like they can understand." "If I had let those guys beat my brains out in front of my children, they would have been God Bless You scared of evil all their lives. That's the sad­ The trial of the Union representatives has dest part of this. We had just decorated the been set. Although the anonymous calls have Christmas tree-they came in to give my wife tried to scare Poole off, he is determined to and kids a dead husband for a Christmas testify against them in both a civil and crim- present. If they killed me, who would provide inal suit. . for my family? The Bible says a man who Poole received many phone calls of another doesn't provide for his falnily is no good." type: "God bless you for standing up to them. (But if any provide not for his own, and spe­ I won't tell you ,my name but I'm a Union cially for those of his own house, he hath de­ member myself and I admire anybody with nied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. the courage to fight them." 1 Timothy 5:8) A letter from a minister in Long Beach told Poole: "You are the kind of American we need Tried To Scare Them Into Leaving if ,ve are ever going to be free of organized More anonymous phone calls came. There violence." were new threats to kill the children. '''They A professional picket who works full time said this time they'd really kill the kids." for the Union called Poole and said: The police began to guard Poole's house. "Poole, I work for the Union but I want you Perhaps suspecting that the police might to know that 85 per cent of this Union are record the telephone calls, another strategy dissatisfied and would like to get out of it. was tried. Talking to Poole's wife, the tele­ But how can they get out?-until a few of them phone voice demanded that she meet them get backbone enough to stand up and fight outside. Then the voice commanded her to like you did. You should be proud." cCstand before the windows with all your clothes off." Is It Possible? Poole commented, e'they wanted to make Poole did not agree that he had done any­ the police think that all these calls had been thing to feel proud of. He wished devoutly made by some sex deviate who saw her pic­ that the men had never paid him that visit. ture in the papers." He went to church and prayed for them; espe­ Poole believed they were trying to scare cially he prayed that the man he wounded him into Hleaving the country" so he wouldn't would get well. testify against them in court. "I told my wife As Poole talks about it to his friends, he asks to go ahead if she wanted to but I am staying these questions most often: here to see it through." "Why do good Christian people· believe the Poole's wife collapsed from nervous tension. Unions are working for Christian brotherhood c'Her blood pressure," Poole said, c'popped and support them in their violent actions? I from 110 to over 200. We spent $100 on doctor want to learn how to serve God, to raise 'a bills from this." family, and do my work. Is it possible for a Asked how his church took the news of the working man to live without violence in shooting, Poole said: e'A few years ago they America?" =F =F

8 FAITH AND FREEDOM PAUSE FOR REFLECTION

JAMES. C. INGEBRETSEN

Mr. Edmund Opitz and I have had the pleas­ Why don't I start a Freedom Library on my ure of seeing many of our good friends in the piano? Now my libertarian literature is mixed Midwest recently. In Minneapolis last week, in with all my other books. Putting it in a Ed and I visited at length with Dr. Donald prominent place might be a good way of inter­ J. Cowling, beloved chairman of our Advisory esting others in these ideas. Personal Freedom Committee. Just 20 years next month he and Libraries could become a powerful tool in the Dr. Fifield met in Chicago to bring Spiritual fight to spread the seeds of liberty. ~ Mobilization into the world. Dr. Cowling was honored recently at the You've Got "It" completion of the fourteen-story Mayo Mem­ This morning's mail brought a letter from orial at the University of Minnesota Medical Mr. Trygve J. B. Hoff, distinguished Norwe­ Center~ gian editor of Farmand, a courageous paper The sole award at the dedication ceremonies reproduced in English which sharply criticizes went to Dr. Cowling as Chairman of the Com­ socialism in the land of the Vikings. Mr. Hoff mittee of Founders. The citation spoke of his writes: faithful service to God and Country- Just a few words to compliment you for the for thirty-six years distinguished President spirit-and not only the religious one-you of Carleton College; lifelong exponent of put into Faith and Freedom. ... An article progress and freedom in higher education; may deal on almost any subject, even ques­ outstanding worker for the advancement of tions that do not ordinarily interest you, but the arts and sciences, religion and interna­ if it has got editorial China. After expressing a A Piano With A Small Sign warm message in which he hopes that our in­ After traveling together for several weeks, fluence will be felt more and more, he says it Ed deserted me for a round-about trip from was not until he was introduced to Spiritual Salt Lake City through Seattle to end up at Mobilization "that I discovered the key to Berkeley, California for Dr. Emil Brunner's what I had been missing." lectures at the Pacific School of Religion. Faith and Freedom is certainly getting Ed writes that our friend James W. Clise around! Incidentally, so is Pause for Reflec­ has gathered all the libertarian books and tion. Miss Beulah Roth, our Circulation Mana­ pamphlets he likes best and put them on his ger, tells me that it is now carried in news­ piano with a small sign, "Freedom Library" papers in Sweden, British West Indies, Alaska in front Qf them. Mr. elise says: "Anyone and Hawaii as well as 39 states! =f= =f= building a Freedom Library shelf would use his own judgment in selections but it would ~My 16-year-old daughter, who's currently gIVIng be expected that Weaver's The Mainspring of piano lessons to an assortment of small fry, has just looked over my shoulder~to say I had better find some Human Progress would be in most every col­ other place than the piano-but otherwise she thinks lection." a Freedom Library is a real swell idea.

MARCH, 1955 9 UNDERCURRENTS WILLIAM SCHLAMM

The theater season on Broadway is far enough the worst turkeys that were ever seen flapping advanced to appraise the year's dramatic har­ over Broadway. vest. And most professional critics have indeed Nothing could have been more embarras­ reached a verdict. It is pretty unanimous. The sing to the Atkinsonian critics of American consensus seems to be that no previous season civilization. Back in 1951, for a hysterical could have been poorer-which is quite a dis­ while, they could blame the sterility of their tressing statement considering the fact that, intellectual brethren on Broadway's cowardly for the last few years, just about the same submission to Senatorial Yahoos. But how statement has been made at the end of every were they, now that Broadway sizzles"with season. In December of 1951, for instance, Mr. "liberal" protest drama, to explain those chok­ Brooks Atkinson, the absolute Czar of Broad­ ing odors of burnt inanity? For no one, not way, pronounced in The New York Times: even Mr. Atkinson, can deny that the artistic None of the new dramatic work has sug­ horrors of these new protest plays clearly sur­ gested that the authors are creative writers pass the alleged political horrors they mean with original points of view and vivid ideas. to indict. And many of the new plays ... have been Take, for example, what Mr. Atkinson was hopelessly banal, as if both the authors and compelled to report on the latest abomina­ the producers had aimed at mediocrity and tion, "The Passion of Gross," a new play by had not succeeded in getting that high in Harold Levitt. (To concoct the asinine blas­ the artistic scale. phemy of his title, Mr. Levitt ~~created" a But back in 1951, Mr. Atkinson, one of the nation's earliest anti-anti-Commu~ists, had a Professor Gross who refuses to sign a loyalty oath and is, of course, "cruci:B.ed.") consoling if somewhat absurd explanation: The ignorant heresy-hunting and the big­ ... a thousand lines. At a rough guess, none of them is good. Professor Gross, to be oted character assassination that have ac­ blunt about it, gives every indication of quired the generic title of McCarthyism, being a dope ... "The Passion of Gross" is are succeeding. The hoodlums are in con­ nothing to' the passion of the audience listen­ trol here as well as in Russia, and the thea­ ing to the prose of Mr. Levitt. ter begins to look as insipid in one place as the other.... We cannot expect to have Has ever a circle been more vicious? Broad­ vital art in our theater if we emulate total­ way plays were bad, because playwrights itarian countries and yield the control of dared not attack McCarthyism; and when cultural life to Yahoos and hoodlums. they do, their plays are even worse. What This .was how the country's most audible Merlin can now be blamed for the curse? theater critic portrayed America's cultural sit­ My'sincere sympathies are with Mr. Atkin­ uation in the country's most respectable news­ son and his school of criticism-so much, in paper-a newspaper, by the way, which has fact, that I am glad to help them out with the often since wondered, in bemused sorrow, following explanation of the great collapse. whence anti-American Europeans got their In addition to the divine spark, or whatever grotesquely distorted picture of American life. accounts in your personal credo for the mys­ Just so, three years have passed and Mr. tery of creativeness, art is ignited by a talent­ Atkinson's power over the American stage has ed man's friction with his environment. It does been demonstrated since with a vengeance: not always have to be the studied protest of A few weeks after the Czar had spoken, the the rebel. In fact, it seldom is: conscious zeal Broadway producers began to crowd the blunts the artist's sensitivity. But unless he is street.with plays attacking "the Yahoos and mobilized by some kind of conflict with his the hoodlums." Platoons of American play­ world-a conflict between sensibility and wrights rallied behind the leader-and wrote smugness more than anything else-the artist

10 FAITH AND FREEDOM atrophies. (This, to me, is the only truth in war, against the reigning vulgarity was di­ the balderdash of Social Determinism.) rected against ':':the reactionaries" of the day. So the artist habitually assumes the posture And no matter how distressingly fast the inno­ of opposition-certainly in our modern world vators found out that ':':the people" had even from which reverence (that other great motor less use for the artist's innovations than ':':the of an artist's creativeness) has vanished. He rulers"-the artist's rebellious rationale was a needs to think that he is defying the en­ tremendous motive power and, on the whole, trenched conformity, the complacent and beneficial. crude powers-that-be. And it is precisely at Traditionally, the artist could depend on a this point that the contemporary artist traps crude but, on the whole, workable compass: himself in an ironical misunderstanding: His he could look at the taste of the day's social posture is still that of defiance-but he now is masters-and turn exactly the other way. The swimming with the current. All dressed up artist's revulsion against the smug, the ar­ for battle, he has none to fight. rived, the successful, the comfortable, was in­ More than anything else, it seems to me, deed indispensable in originating the new. this tragicomedy of errors explains the intel­ But the smug, the arrived, are today "the lectual and artistic sterility of our age. Our masses." It is their taste that prevails, their intellectuals and artists still cling to yester­ preference that the market caters to, their vul­ day's images of protest-and have not noticed garities that deface our civilization. Who is yet that they are today in cahoots with those today's "social master" whose crudities the in power. They still use yesterday's vocabu­ sensitive artist would have to oppose if he is lary of protest, but throw it at today's under­ to create? The statistical average. Mass-man dog. It's an impossible situation. It contorts himself. The conforming herd of monolithic the intellect and suffocates art. campus ':'liberals." The reigning critics and This may be, at least culturally, the crucial pundits of the metropolitan press. The com­ phenomenon of our era: The advocates of the pact majority of collectivism. ruling order are costumed as dissenters-the It is they against whom the contemporary heralds of conformity still speak ·the jargon artist would have to issue his new declaration of rebels! As a class (for there are, of course, of creative independence-and this is precise­ individual exceptions), the creative intellec­ ly what he refuses to recognize. To move tual of today is rooting for the collectivists, the ahead in the esthetic cosmos, the artist would statists, the professional wardens of "the com­ have to change his frozen position in political mon man." Instead of defying that modish society. His true compass points away from mob, he tries desperately to use his traditional the multitude. But a stupid loyalty to an out­ equipment of protest in their defense. This dated vernacular of "social protest" keeps him can't be done. The tools give out. When one stuck and sterile in a senseless position. seats on the throne of conformity, and yet as­ This, it seems to me, is why the contem­ sumes a martyr's posture, he is, at best, invol­ porary artist has lost taste as well as subject untarily comical. matter. At the bottom of the crushing same­ Who, in demonstrable truth, are the down­ ness, the imitative boredom, the emptiness of trodden and persecuted of this day? Who if modern stage and literature, is the artist's not those few who oppose the overpowering temperamental displacement. Everything that trend toward regimentation and statism? Who makes him an artist wants him to defy "the if not the foolhardy men who denounce the trend"; but his grave intellectual misunder­ deification of the compact majority? standing of the true power distribution around A few generations ago, the artist discovered him makes the contemporary artist swim with and aligned himself with "the masses" (or "the the current. It's a pathetic trip, through smelly people," or ':':common man," or whatever the and shallow waters, and when he finally lands hazy phrase was at a given moment). Since on Broadway, the playwright holds in his then, each artist's declaration of war, esthetic hands nothing but a dead fish. =F =F

MARCHI 1955 11 GOD'S IRREGULARS

PORTRAIT o F PATRie

There are a happy few, a band of brothers called individualists-who have escaped the fate of conformists. Their lives give off light. In a series of portraits on the ones we know, we'll try to introduce some of them. You may not agree with them on everything-we don't-but at least they are different from the run of the mill. Their difference sparkles with their love of freedom.

WILLIAM JOHNSON

Through the front door of a restaurant in state's herding of men into selfless flocks. Atherton, Kansas, you see a vintage Lincoln Patrie's spirit has escaped; he is one of the stutter to a stop. The driver, a pipe-smoking happy few. He sees his life as an adventure, man, wears a bulky overcoat. as he takes a a prank now and then, but a great talent for stool at the counter. In no time he strikes up wanting to be-and remaining-independent. a lively conversation with the waitress. As far as I know, Pat is the only author in His name is John Patrie, Frying Pan Creek's America who has met over fifty percent of his most irregular citizen. The waitress looks at a book-buying public-one at a time. A highly book Patrie has handed to her. You can't hear inefficient 'way to distribute books you say? the conversation but she smiles, reaches into After listening to Pat explain why, I'm not the pocket of her uniform and hands some bits sure. You see, Pat wants to reach a different of silver to the pleasant man in the large over­ market; one not touched by the conventional coat. This is the way he sells Yankee Hobo in libertarian channels. the Orient, authored, bound, published and "I find I'm most effective when 'I shoot with sold by John Patrie. a rifle; I hide my economics under the best Who is he? He is a man with a free spirit. book jacket I can buy, full of cheesecake and Where most men pursue fame or fortune, adventure." Patrie through most of his life has pursued He once sold a Hobo to a Jewish laundry­ the warm personalities within individuals-the man in Paterson, New Jersey who had an ad­ spark that sets them apart. -But just as ener­ dressographed copy of PM on his desk. He getically, he scratches and .bites, punches and went back with trepidation to get his little slugs with his literary ju-jitsu against the laundry bundle (he always splits up laundry into as many bundles as possible because he always sells Hobos in laundries) because he William Johnson is editor of FAITH AND FREEDOM. knew the laundryman would realize that the

12 FAITH AND FREEDOM get; who required no service; and who got about much of the time afoot, a misadventure in every mile." Should your curiosity by this time be nudg­ ing your pocketbook, you can order one book by writing Pat at Frying Pan Creek, Florence, Oregon and enclosing a dollar. This wasn't meant to be an advertisement for Pat's book; I book was not quite what it seemed. was merely tipping you off to order just one "To my astonishment," Pat reports, "he book the first time. You will order more, I'm bought a dozen more and would take no sure, but when you send in the quantity order, money for my laundry. 4:Ralph Ingersoll if it's big enough, Pat will write you a per­ wouldn't like your book,' he said. 4:But I like sonal letter; one which will tickle both your it. You are the first reactionary I ever met,' intellect and your funny bone. he said, 4:who really believes in what he says, A friend of mine asked Pat to contribute an and has justification other than financial for article and Pat refused in a ten-page letter. believing in it.' He explained: "Because I wrote you a three­ "I have big pockets in my clothes; so that I page letter, you bought 13 extra Hobos. Any­ can carry about six Hobos with me, or twelve time you buy mure Hobos, I'll write you an­ if I wear an overcoat. I can, in a good small other letter, because then I won't have to use town, and in the course of errands that seem the time to go around selling them. Yesterday, perfectly legitimate (and are, except that I ex­ the day I got your letter, I drove 50 miles or tend their numbers by buying a meal in four so, sold 17 paper and 2 cloth copies of the restaurants-soup and a glass of milk in the Hobo. Today I shipped you 13; not so good first place; hot beef sandwich in the second; as yesterday, but I haven't driven 50 miles. piece of cake in the third; 4:just coffee, please' I drove one mile, to mail your books. I sold a in the fourth). I can sell about 35 Hobos in a copy to a laundry (cloth) where I left a little day of hard work without seeming to have bundle, and two (one each) at a hamburger tried to sell any. stand where I ate lunch. Breakfast was a 4:4:Each Hobo will take about ten hours to jumbo-size can of Rancho Vegetable Soup, read and, because the buyers have met the 19¢, and a cup of coffee. Dinner was a quart author and have an inscribed copy, they lend of most excellent milk, and, later, a can of the book more than usual. So I figure maybe Maine Mussels, 12¢ plus coffee. So, while I that those 35 copies-that's a top day-would earned little today, I had little expense, and account for 2,000 hours of human time; time did a good many chores in my trailer." in which the reader is exposed to my reaction­ ary poison in doses not too long to interrupt Refused To Be An Accomplice the narrative too much." Pat lives a spartan life because he rebels at There is a quality about his book (a ter­ government compulsion. 4:4:1 have a mania for rific tale of how one American saw the Orient making personal expenditures with penurious as no other American has ever seen it) which frugality, while spending rather lavishly on lets him get away with injecting his philoso­ anything that is a deductible expense, to the phy in among such off-beat chapters as 4:4:Her end that I personally pay the absolute mini­ Father Consented, in Writing," and 4:'Rumpin mum to the federal government without falsi­ on the Road." fying my own return." A rumpin, by the way, is the label Pat gives Once Pat turned down a lucrative job be­ to his self-portrait. 4:'1 was a rumpin, an ob­ cause 4:4: earning that much would have in­ scure nobody, a hapless tramp, a good-na­ creased my involuntary financing of the fur­ tured guy who would sleep in a pile of straw, ther destruction with tax money of American or sitting up; who would eat anything he could freedom by the government in Washington."

MARCH, 1955 13 In Hobo Years, a book yet to be published, Hobo for it, and wants some. He sends me his Pat promises to tell us how, to keep from fi­ prospectus, containing <:Ben Franklin's Famous nancing the ever-so-voracious government, he Expose of the Jews.' I write him where to go shall be living on Frying Pan Creek and its 160 and that's the end of the correspondence with acres on $500 a year. him. Gosh, I believe in freedom for Jews, too." His hobo budget-squeezing stood him in Pat pins most of the responsibility for good stead for his trip to the Orient. To ac­ tyranny's growth on those that say or'Let's fight cumulate money for passage and to fit himself all other subsidies, but let's keep ours." for living as an oriental in the Far East, he Upon the banks of a creek where Pat went slept in his car, ate cheap food, walked all swimming as a boy near his home town of he could instead of riding; gave up comfort Snohomish, Washington, he and a friend own completely-all to save twenty dollars a week. a farm together. Pat reports that his friend He would have little respect for the social wrote him that the government would give worker who pleads that the <:<:underprivileged" them about $100 worth of lime to improve cannot, without government aid, work out their soil. "He didn't have the slightest realiza­ their own destiny. Pat would rather sell the tion that if we accepted this, we couldn't then man-in-the-street one book than the man-in­ consistently oppose anything else the govern­ the-board-room fifty. He has cast his lot with ment was going to do for the other guy." the little guy. <:<:1 have found all over the world that the· simplest, poorest people are least "Pat Likes Women" chauvinistic until they have been swayed The hundred dollars wasn't much but· Pat is away from their friendliness by government extra careful about the way he looks at money. propaganda." He believes that men who put money first are always grubbing for it, and find it always elu­ Freedom For Me-Not You? sive. or<:lf you think first of perfection of work­ Pat has always resented any reference to manship and service to the customer, money <:<:the masses." <:'When I hear the term used by comes automatically and you needn't worry an intelligent man, 1 know he means that he about it." is not one of them; that what's good for the A woman who has gone out with Pat a few masses doesn't apply to him. If he thinks that times writes of him: way, then that man is my natural ideological UPractically nothing. is a orside interest' with enemy, however in agreement he may seem Pat. Anything that wins his interest commands to be. Anybody who's got any ideas for me his study and attention. He is interested in that don't apply to him, or any ideas for his law, for purposes of using it or circumventing kind that aren't applicable to mine, is highly it; he is interested in printing and bookbind­ suspect in my mind." ing, for purposes of demanding a good job on Pat doesn't go in much for pitching in with his own books; he is interested in art work conservative organizations. "I find myself on and engraving because he uses them in his all kinds of mailing lists, all kinds of people books; he is interested in 1927 or 1929 (or with all kinds of projects, all wanting help and some other year at least 25 years ago) Lin­ money. I get mad at one outfit because it's for coIns because he has one and he needs new freedom but argues for tariffs and against free parts for it now and then." trade. Another organization sends me some '<:pat likes women, has had a lot of expe­ good stuff sometimes but they're always asking rience with them, and has even been in love for contributions and besides their name is a once or twice. He is always interested in get­ misnomer. They're supposed to be for political ting a woman's <:story' and is always sure he freedom but one of their releases proposed to knows just what she needs-him! At least tem­ outlaw the Communist Party. Yeah, freedom, porarily, for the pattern of his life has so far if you think like we do! Some gent starts the not really had room for a permanent feminine Ben Franklin Book Club and has selected alliance in it. He counts on his charm and wit,

14 FAITH AND FREEDOM his eccentricity and his reputation as an au­ our own countrymen to tell the truth, can we thor to advance his suit-not elaborate dinners trust our politicians-whose profession is more and high-priced entertainment." devious-to tell us the truth about the events Because Pat has reduced his love of money leading up to war?") to such a low level, he feels he has reached a' relatively high state of independence: Pat Benefits For Camp Followers has arranged his life in such fashion that he Pafs first rebellion against authority rose doesn't punch a time clock, isn't tied to a desk, against the social-register behavior imposed doesn't worry about a pay check, and doesn't upon him by his mother. He didn't kick or have to stew about getting somewhere on talk back; he took his wagon, put a sign, ~~J ohn time. Editors and publishers got to restricting Patric-Junk Dealer" on it, and went about his freedom, so he pulled out, resolved to write the whole community gathering people's re­ for only Publisher Patric and to publish for fuse from back alleys. only Salesman Patrie. In one of his asides in Some of his best prose pours out when he Hobo he says: "Thafs the nicest thing about a warns against governmenfs authority. Exam­ book-you can inter91pt)t anywhere to say ple: "Government may benefit in the end only any gosh-darn thing you please, without hav­ its camp followers, their numbers always ing some stuffed shirt editor chop out some­ growing. Yet it takes ever heavier tithes from thing which he is sure the readers won't like humble folk who confuse eloquence with because he doesn't." truth, profession with honor and magnificence His insight into personal independence with merit. This it does until at last, more helps explain Pafs theory as to why individ­ honored than ever, secure-seeming behind its ualists don't make much of a show in church bastions of bronze and granite and marble, its politics. "I see the left-wingers invading this pronouncements of its own holiness and self­ field because the right-wingers are too busy less good, it decays unhurried, but decays so working, solving their own problems and pay­ thoroughly that when at last it falls, men won­ ing taxes to give them much opposition. The der how it stood so long." folk who attend the meetings are always-or He likes to quote Don Marquis' archie: ~~If at least they tend to be-the ~let George help you are a tyrant you can arrange things so that us organize' type of folk. They want group ac­ most of the trouble happens to other people." tion; thaes why they attend. Men who don't Pat found time in Hobo to reflect upon the want group action but do things individually plight of a Chinese coolie (who Pat believed are too busy for such foolishness. The danger to be intrinsically smarter than himself): "Had is that the unthinking public will assume from I been the Chinaman, he the American, I the newspaper stories that to be a good Chris­ should have been pulling him, and doing a tian nowadays you have to be a leftist." poorer job. By what triumphant human jus­ tice was the American riding, and the Chinese Repairmen Will Gyp You pulling? Well, my forebears and I had lived The best thing Paes father taught him: "If for a time under the weakest government the I learned to like work, I could choose for my­ world had ever known. We had been free. self what work to do, and that I could earn His people had not for centuries been free. more than fellows who didn't like to work." Thafs what relative freedom from govern­ Though Pat flunked English in school be­ ment had meant to me, and thafs what the cause he could never learn the rules of gram­ government with all its ~laws for the good of mar, he is a top-notch reporter. Remember his the people' had meant, in the end [for him]." Reader's Digest series (with Roger Riis and What does Pat believe the individual can Lioy May) entitled Repairmen Will Gyp You do against governmenfs onslaughts? Not If You Don't Watch Out? (Pat inserts a note much, really. "Reduce by whatever peaceful in Hobo when he mentions the series: "If we means a man's ingenuity may devise, the cannot always trust humble mechanics among power of government-any government-to

MARCH, 1955 15 tell· him what to do." mind of most anyone who has ever had any But there seems little limit to John Patrie's dealings with the government. Even at the ingenuity. These are my favorite stories about Registry window of the postoffice, where I his off-beat one-man rebellions. This first one anticipated a most hostile reception, they said, really can't be labeled as a rebellion against 'You are closer to being right than you think government-but I like it because it shows off you are. You can have no idea of all the red his inventive mind. It happened during the tape we have to go through on even the slight­ 1940 presidential campaign. Pat found himself est matters. It must cost a terrific lot of money.' rooting for Wendell Wilkie. In New York, at In past years, Pat has originated several un­ the time, Pat noted the large number of West­ usual envelope devices. One was a rubber chester County stationwagons sporting Wilkie stamp which imprinted a Inessage on an en­ stickers. The stickers surrounded by shiny new velope pointing to a row of six half-cent automobiles, thought Pat, would be building stamps. (The six half-centers had to be hand­ protest votes for Roosevelt. As a counter­ cancelled for the cancelling machine wouldn't measure, he filled his pockets full of the largest hit them all.) The message, which Pat used a Roosevelt buttons he could find. Then he lot before the war, read: "Poor Richard's Al­ headed for the Bowery. He pinned a Roosevelt manac is 'anti-New Deal propaganda:; so the button on every bum he found lying in the first Postmaster-General is demoted to little­ gutter. used half-cent stamps." One postmaster called Pat into his private A Postmaster Threatened Him office, where he spread out some of the en­ The Post Office has been one of Pat's chief velopes and, in a stern voice, said: ';'You don't adversaries. It takes all of his resourcefulness like the way things are being run? There~s a to stay in the hair of this unfriendly monster. federal penitentiary on McNeil's Island you Pat's words here are better than mine. ought to know about." "The other day I got a letter from the San "Sir," Pat said, "if you had called me in Francisco postmaster, advising me that he had here for a gentlemanly conversation, that sent me a money order for $8.77 instead of the would have been different. But it's threats I $3.77 to which I was entitled. For years and get-so this visit ends right now"l Out Pat years I have had to conduct all my business started. He called Pat back, apologized for the with the wholly monopolistic post office in threat. They had a friendly talk then. Finally their way; this was my first chance to handle the Postmaster let down his hair and said he'd a matter my way. had the staff combing the rulebook to see if . "So, I thought back on every squawk I've there was some way he couldn't keep from ever had about government-in-business, and handling mail so treated. He couldn't find one. I decided that,within the framework of an avowed effort to 'handle the matter in the ap­ "Do Everything Thou Lovest To Do" proved bureaucratic manner,' to refund the $5 About ten hours each week, Pat devotes to with just as much correspondence, just as striking blows for freedom-as he 'calls it. "For many words, just as many individual reports, instance, as I reach each congressional and just as much expense, as I could possibly put many state legislative districts, I send post­ into it. The result was a series of four letters cards pleading for freedom-without any re­ to the postmaster in San Francisco. The first turn address but postmarked as if from one of was a single page; the second was four pages; the legislator's constituency." the third, five pages; the fourth and last, six His inventiveness, of course, sometimes gets pages. It is, I believe, or so it was intended to him into legal difficulties. But he has a for­ be, redundantly self-explanatory ad nauseam. mula for this kind of trouble, too: "Be meek, I wound up by refunding 29¢ out of the $5. act stupid, say 'sir,' and pretend a respect and "Apparently, without having realized it, I -always-an awe that you do not ever feel." hit upon something that strikes a chord in the Should the extent of his involuntary servi-

16 FAITH AND FREEDOM tude become too unbearable, Pat will be off brary. Bidpai reported to the King: c'Well, for his Frying Pan Creek. There on his 160­ sire, your books on religion, philosophy, morals acre site amid game, fish and berries, Pat will and ethics, all they say is this: contemplate the follies of man and the wisdom '" Love nothing but that which is good; and of God. then do everything thou lovest to do. Think Should you ask him why, he may tell you only that which is true, but speak not all that the story about King Dabshelim and his search thou thinkest.'" for wisdom. Dabshelim summoned Bidpai, the "But the rest? The books on jurisprudence, wisest of men. planned economics, military strategy, sociol­ "Make an abridgement, a condensation of ogy and political science? What wisdom have my library, selecting only that which is im­ you found in them?" portant for me to know." "All they say, sire, can be told in a word. After forty years of grueling research, Bid­ "And that word, Bidpai? pai condensed the contents of the King's Ii- "'Perhaps,' sire." =F =t=

munist propaganda will be effective. Peace is ONE FAIR SWOOP not their aim. Clergymen are supposed to be bound byab­ No one should'know better than the Chris­ solute, not relative standards. The Ten Com­ tian minister thatcompromise with evil is evil. mandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and Compromise has gotten us into many of our the ethical positions taken by Jes~s stand as present problems and. can neither be relied absolutes 'andcannot be compromised .by his upon to solve. thoo.se. p.rOb.lerns nor to prevent followers. others. In these days of compromise many are say­ On his seventy-fifth birthday, my friend ing: "We don't like this law, but it .is better General MacArthur, spoke in Los Angeles. He than anything el,se available, so we will put brushed aside" the whole possibility of com­ our tongue in our cheek, swallow the' bitter promise with one fair swoop, labeling it "con­ pill, go along with the program." But surely trary to the will of God." the clergymen of America should speak out General MacArthur ignored the little issues for righteousness, for. the uncompromised and came to the heart of the question of our ideal. future and of the.future of liberty earth-wide. Were federal housing, federal medicine, The day after his address, a thoughtful busi­ federal education basically collectivist when nessman said, ."Did you hear General Mac­ proposed by Mr. Roosevelt or Mr. Truman? Arthur? It was the sort of utterance one would Then they are equally collectivist and there­ have expected to hear from a pulpit-but rare­ fore equally contrary to the ethical principles ly does." That comment has stayed with me. of Christianity when proposed by the Eisen­ Issues involving the future of civilization hower Administration. Spiritual Mobilization are too serious to· be decided on the basis of is neither Democratic nor Republican. It is prejudice for personalities or on the basis of dedicated to helping save "Freedom Under compromise. If you agree with me that many God" in America. issues are being decid.ed in this way at the I believe the initiative still rests with the present time, I hope you will raise your voice Communist enemy, earth-wide. I believe the in protest in a way that will promise results. proposed "cease fire" in the Far East is de­ I should like to hear from readers of Faith signed by the Communists. and Freedom to get their views in this contro­ I believe that many newspaper columnists versial area. I recognize that the position and commentators of America are dupes and which I take is not popular, but is there any­ stooges of clever Communists acting to make one who can point out wherein it is lacking in the rank and file of our citizens cry out for the soundness or in conformity to Christian ethics. very thing the Communists want. The Com- JAMES W. FIFIELD, JR.

MARCH, 1955 17 .. • ·~;jft merica now teeters close to the brink of States. It is an age-old story: a peaceful Pacifl6" .. World War III. The Formosan question "moat" is needed for our defense. In order to may set off the explosion. The Formosa protect this moat, we must secure friendly problem has been allowed to sputter, until it countries or bases all around it. now threatens to ignite what could be Earth's To protect Japan and the Philippines, we last war. must defend Formosa. To protect Formosa we Three solutions could be tried. One: With­ must defend the Pescadores. To protect the draw, as the ~~isolationists" have suggested, to Pescadores, we must defend Quemoy, an is­ our own possessions, committing our defense land three miles off the Chinese mainland. To to American territory only. Two: Start a pre­ protect Quemoy we must equip Chiang's ventive war with the Communist nations on troops :for an invasion of the mainland. the theory that we should right any wrong Where does this process end? Logically, committed anywhere. Three: Try another never. The trouble with this doctrine is that it uKorea," a limited upolice action" which we doesn't work one way. Red China can oper­ can neither win nor lose. Formosa could be ate· on the same theory, and the inevitable re­ bombed, but we could not bomb the mainland sult is war. If the United States considers itself unless we want solution number three to be­ menaced by the possibility of Quemoy in Chi­ come solution number two. nese Communist hands, how do the Commu­ We have tried number three in Korea. nists feel when an island three miles off their President Roosevelt tried number two when he coast falls into enemy hands? uplanned" Pearl Harbor. The Uinternational­ If the Chinese Communists fear that we'll ists" declare that the "isolationist" approach start the preventive war which many Ameri­ of number one has been discredited; therefore cans advocate, then the ~~defensive" strategy we appear to be stuck with war: either an­ which tells us to occupy Quemoy would tell other uKorea," or an ~~all out" war, which if it the Chinese Communists to occupy Catalina doesn't destroy the world, will at least drain Island, 22 miles off the California Coast. it with bloodlettings, and enslave it with con­ trols, restrictions, new Marshall plans to feed Is Isolation Appeasement? China and Russia, and the end of freedom Only those who want to socialize America and prosperity as we have known it. really look forward to the· third and perhaps Now why should the ~~liberals" who spent last World War. On the other hand, many con­ so much time. trying to discredit Chiang, now servatives interpret the strategy offered by the want us to go to war to defend Chiang? The "isolationists" (withdrawing to American pos­ answer appears to be that war will bring on sessions) as mere appeasement. socialism faster than peace. But realizing. that Thus the Eisenhower Administration is the American people would never go to war pulled in two opposite directions. One force to defend Chiang or any other personality, the pulls toward a rash interventionist policy that "liberals" were forced to portray the Reds as comes .close to an all-out ~~preventive .war" "island hopping" their way to the United against the Communist nations. The other States. presses toward some formula for peace and Formosa, the "liberals" said, reversing their co-existence. Achesonian reasoning, has become "necessary Twice-in Korea and in Indo-China-the to our defense." If the Reds take Formosa, peace policy has prevailed after an intense they will be one island nearer to the United struggle. The third inner conflict has been

18 FAITH AND FREEDOM perhaps the fiercest of all, as revealed by the only in "double suicide." The people of all many changes and reversals of position in re­ countries know this, said MacArthur; <'the cent months and weeks. leaders are the laggards. The disease of power Few men in political life have publicly seems to confuse and befuddle them." To the taken a realistic stand on the Formosa issue. interventionists who say that "we can't trust The resolution of January 29 amounted to a the Communists," MacArthur answered: "both blank check by Congress for war in China sides can be trusted when both do profit." And whenever the President shall deem it neces­ the abandonment of war would profit both sary. The Senate opposition to the resolution, sides equally. though small in number, was courageous in To the bipartisan advocates of "fifty years" pointing to its dangers. This opposition may of accelerated atomic arms race, MacArthur have given heart to the "peace party" within warned that both sides arm in like proportion, the Administration, for it revealed that Con­ so that neither can gain advantage. Aside from gress was not eager for a "showdown." the inordinate statism the policy entails, "the The opposition in Congress was itself inter­ constant acceleration of preparation may well, nationalist, however. Therefore, it conceded without specific intent, ultimately produce a guarantee of Formosa, quarreling only with spontaneous combustion." its extension to the offshore islands and to the If MacArthur's wise words of statesmanship possibility of war on the mainland itself. are heeded, espeCially by those who have pro­ Only two Congressmen opposed the resolu­ claimed themselves his supporters, peace may tion on grounds of clear and direct principle. yet become a reality. One was the always independent Senator Wil­ liam Langer of North Dakota. The other was he "liberals" have succeeded in making a freshman Representative Eugene R. Siler, (R. cause celebre out of the case of Wolf Lade­ KY). Siler picked up the b~ton that all the jinsky, and have gone almost unchallenged. veteran "isolationists" had left abandoned. He The issue raised between conservatives and said he voted nay because he promised his "liberals" concerned whether Ladejinsky constituents that he would never help "engage should keep his government job as a "right" their boys in war on foreign soil." or a "privilege." MacArthur Answered But doesn't the issue in the Ladejinsky af­ fair boil down simply to this? Must the Amer­ But the noblest note in the whole contro­ ican taxpayers be forced to pay an ex-em­ versy was sounded by General Douglas Mac­ ployee of Amtorg (a Soviet trading agency), Arthur in Los Angeles, delivering for his 75th to establish a socialistic program of "land re­ birthday one of the greatest speeches of his form" in Japan? career. "Why should we keep Ladejinsky?" be­ It was particularly ironic that MacArthur, c9mes a small question compared to "why practically the living symbol of anti-commu­ should we force a 'land reform' program upon nism in the Far East, chose this troubled time Japan?" Actually we don't need either one. to give us an unerring dissection of the inter­ ventionist position. At a time when many of his followers expected a virtual call to arms, If President Eisenhower's budget estimates Douglas MacArthur issued a clarion call for prove correct, the average annual spending by peace. It was perhaps the gallant old soldier's the Federal Government will total $67 billion finest hour. over his four years in office. President Truman MacArthur pOinted out that the H-bomb was a New Dealer who didn't promise econ­ age has outmoded war as a settler of interna­ omy or a balanced budget. The average an­ tional disputes. Let emotions or wishes be nual spending of Truman's second term, which what they may, we know that war now is not includes more years of outright war, amount­ only immoral but also irrational, for it can end ed only to $47 billion. =F =F

MARCH, 1955 19 WIT H THE OPINION MAKERS

". ·. and they shall beat their swords into of intervention and war in Formosa. plowshares and their spears into pruning­ Let's look more carefully for a moment at hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against alternative ideas and at some which nobody nation, neither shall they learn war any more." has advanced. Isaiah's hope fills men's hearts to this day­ Noone but a very few Americans wants a but it seems more illusory than ever. preventive war, to blow Russia up because Our current journals talk of little but war, Russia is suspected of the same intentions groping blindly for any solution. The Christian toward us. Century described every man's dilemma: A larger number of publications put their About all one can do ... is listen to the faith in world government. But the only kind various nations involved shout at one-an­ of brotherhood men have ever achieved has other that they will never, no never, give been through voluntary cooperation. In the an inch, while assuring one another that if March issue of Flying Howard G. Kurtz shows somebody doesn't give an inch terrible con­ how the cooperation achieved by international sequences ... will follow. airlines brings about voluntary brotherhood: The Nation, long in the vanguard of the We who have laced the globe with a political left, suggests we give in to Red China. method of travel which touches the door­ "If we want peace we must be prepared to pay step of every man could not do so without the price for it. It is small enough weighed a common denominator. We are of every against the risks of our present policy." flag and color and faith and ideology under President Eisenhower's course is to "Stand the sun. We had to find a value upon which firm now, but put primary trust in the United all our variations could be reconciled with­ Nations." He is supported by the New York out infraction of the creed or pride of any. Times, the Reporter, and the New Yorker. . .. we have found this ... in mutual Senator William F. Knowland of California dedication to human safety ... doing unto told U. S. News & World Report that we must others as we would have others do unto look to our own country to defend our citizens us ... and friends abroad. Knowland and Rep. Wal­ ... if from that cloudbank comes per­ ter Judd of Minnesota, believe that Red China chance a call from an obsolete twin-engined plane flying the flag of some obscure little will respond only to firmness. Nevada's Sena­ principality, "I've lost an engine and cannot tor Malone said we should let Red China into hold my place .. .~' then the great planes the U.N. provided we can get out at the same of the great flags give way at once and the time. In other tvords, give Red China our seat! objective of all concerned concentrates on General Douglas MacArthur proposed in bringing the little fellow safe to port ... Los Angeles that the people renounce war as Any rule less than the golden rule would a Ineans of settling disputes because war has be too dangerous a principle upon which to become so devastating that it can't be said to build air transportation ... benefit either side. But this kind of brotherhood is achieved To this Life magazine rejoined that nations voluntarily, through mutual self-interest; it can abolish war only by resorting to pacifism cannot be imposed by force. or to world government with atomic monopoly This leads us to a theory which none of the -in effect, dictatorship. opinion-makers has advanced bluntly, though Only Malone's suggestion that we get out the Freeman has flirted with it. That is, a free of U.N. and MacArthur's plea that we aban­ economy will bring peace. But a free econ­ don war, differ substantially from the solutions omy, even if we had it, wouldn't necessarily offered by the majority of the opinion makers prevent Russia from attacking us. -almost all of them recommend some degree A profound Christian moral message can be

20 FAITH AND FREEDOM seen here. The trouble in the Formosa straight a general willingness to risk, not someone is forcing us to face up to a fact of life: there else's, but one's own life and fortune." are bad men in the world. If the devil isn't Can anything short of this be accomplished incarnate in these destroyers of the peace, he's and remain at the same time in harmony with certainly behind them pushing. And we can't Christian principles? get away from it, appease though we may. Many young Americans of draft age,. par­ Wrong-doing will persist in its course until ticularly those who fought in Korea or Indo­ it lands on our doorstep. That is really what china, now feel that all these bloodlettings ac­ this is all about. complished nothing. They are beginning to A solution that no other opinion-maker has feel that their dead comrades in arms actually mentioned is suggested by Destiny magazine: died in vain. A young American who has been All human endeavors today to establish through two wars and could be called to go amity among nations through leagues and again, might agree with Sydney Smith who covenants are not blessed by God, for they wrote this letter to Lady Grey, wife of Eng­ only stem from the desire of men to accom­ land's Prime Minister: plish peace while circumventing the prin­ "For God's sake do not drag me into another ciples of righteousness upon which peace is war. I am worn down and worn out with cru­ based. How simple! Has it ever occurred to us that sading and defending Europe, and protecting God exacts a price for peace. Have we tried mankind. I must think a little of myself. I am being righteous? With that in mind, let's ask sorry for the Spaniards-lam sorry for the Greeks-I deplore the fate of the Jews; the what we should do about Formosa? people of the Sandwich Islands are groaning Should U.S. Defend Formosa? under the most detestable tyranny; Baghdad is oppressed; I do not like the present state of Certainly righteous men should not impose the Delta; Tibet is not comfortable. Am I to a "cease-fire" on Chiang which would prevent fight all these people? The world is burning him from defending Formosa. with sin and sorrow. Am I to be the champion Many Americans want to defend Formosa. of the Decalogue, and to be eternally raising No righteous man would prevent them from fleets and armies to make all men good and following their conscience in this matter. happy? We have just done saving Europe, and Those American boys who want to volunteer I am afraid that the consequence will be that to defend Formosa should not lose their citi­ we shall cut each other's throats. No war, dear zenship. Anyone who wants to aid Formosa by Lady Grey. No eloquence, but apathy, selfish­ contributions or volunteering should be free to ness, common sense, arithmetic. I beseeech do so. you, secure Lord Grey's swords and pistols as But just as a righteous luan would not pre­ the housekeeper did Don Quixote's armor." vent anyone from defending Formosa, neither That was written over 100 years ago. But if would he force anyone to defend Formosa by Sydney Smith were here today he might write drafting their property or their lives. that same plea for peace to the White House. A righteous man would not accept the Isaiah told us how to beat our swords into power to send you to a foreign war against plowshares when he told us that there exists your will. No righteous man \vould force you in any way to violate your conscience. but one place to turn, if we sincerely seek Leonard Read put it this way: "There never peace, and if we are righteous: will be safeguards against war if a people can Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, be committed to war by a few persons, that is, Whose mind is stayed on thee: if a people can be cOlnmitted to a war short of Because he trusteth in thee.

MARCH, 1955 21 UNCONDITIONAL HATRED helpless civilians, as at Dresden and Nagasaki, is done without moral compunction. War de­ RUSSELL GRENFELL generates into the stark ferocity of the jungle. (Devin-Adair Company, New York, 1953, Pp. 273, $3.75) From this came Versailles in 1919 and the Morgenthau Plan in 1945. War has become a This book is by a thirty-year officer of the "crusade," not for limited political ends, but British Navy who has written several books on for unlimited abstractions like "justice" or sea power and international policies that are "freedom" for "Europe" or "mankind." It has known throughout the English-speaking world. becon1e, most deadly of all, "religious war" It tells unflinchingly how unconditional hatred without ethics or morals. in unlimited war makes peace impossible and Churchill is pictured by Captain Grenfell as modern ,var, therefore, the supreme folly. a Whitehall Napoleon, intoxicated with the Unconditional hatred is the invention of the fascination of moving vast armies and navies modern war makers. Wellington, Nelson, hither and yon throughout the world. Cor­ Washington, Lincoln and Grant fought for roborating Advance to Barbarism by his fellow something more than victory,- peace. They Britisher-barrister Veale-this sea captain fought for limited war objectives, and gener­ documents the statement that it was the Brit­ ally shook hands with the conquered when the ish and not the Germans who began the bomb­ objectives were attained. Modern war is un­ ing of open towns and the ruthless killing of limited. It calls for universal conscription, the women, babies and old men equally with total mobilization of agriculture, manufactur­ soldiers. ing, transportation, civilian man power, and It was Lord Vansittart of the British Foreign battering all the enemy's equally mobilized Office who drew the ':':Butcher Bird" as the civilian forces without mercy until he can go portrait of the German nation. This theme was on no longer. developed until Churchill said there were ':'no lengths of violence to which I would not· go." Hate Thine Enemy? Because c':revanche" in 1914-19, and un­ To get this kind of war fought, it is neces­ limited hatred and unconditional surrender in sary to whip up the emotions of an entire na­ 1939-45 led Clemenceau, Wilson, Lloyd tion to unconditionally hate the enemy, both George, Churchill and Roosevelt inexorably soldier and civilian. The whippers-up of hate to fantastic misjudgments and supreme follies play on the uncritical masses like maddened which Inade peace impossible, Captain Gren­ mouth organists. The snarl and hiss of hate fell concludes that both Britain and the United from the lips of skilled orators Hoods the air States should have stayed out of both world waves. All objectivity is crushed out. "We" wars. have no fault; "They" have no virtue. Having called on their people to endure Defend Only Our Homeland terrible hardships, the war makers become the Whether the reader agrees with this conclu­ prisoners of their own propaganda. Unlimited sion or not, he must wonder whether modern victory becomes the only aim. The V made by total war can be fought without ':':unlimited two fingers becomes what all men are told to hatred," and if not, whether war for any pur­ die for. "Let us have victory first and then we pose except the defense of one's own home­ will get down to war aims," said Churchill. As land can be justified. nothing less than unconditional surrender Certainly the noble talk about outlawing satisfies unconditional hate, the bombing of only the atom and hydrogen bombs seems

22 FAITH AND FREEDOM nothing but hyprocrisy. To this reviewer, the Mr. Stimson. It is not an exaggeration to supreme evils needing to be outlawed are state that virtually every act and policy asso­ state control of mass propaganda-the silenc­ ciated WIth Stimson's public life, so far as it ing of all opposition-universal conscription. touched foreign policy, was mistaken and det­ With these, unconditional hatred and un­ rin1ental to the cause of peace. and justice. limited war are inevitable. Whereas volunteer The only weak spot in Professor Current's armies, unlike the conscripted ones, do not book lies in his treatment of the attitude of long fight for unlimited abstractions. Roosevelt and his entourage in the days im­ SAMUEL B. PETTENGILL mediately preceding Pearl Harbor. Here he indulges in a degree of myth and fancy equal to that of writers like Robert Sherwood and SECRETARY STIMSON: A STUDY Jonathan Daniels. IN STATECRAFT He contends that Roosevelt and his asso·­ ciates were so excited over the fact that the RICHARD N. CURRENT Japanese might cross the mystic line in the 0 (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University, Pacific - 100 East and 100 North - which 1954, pps. 272, $4.50) would bring us into the war without any Jap­ anese attack whatever on American forces or This book presents in a realistic manner and territory, to which we had agreed in the se­ for the first time the motives and conduct of cret Singapore military-naval conferences,­ an outstanding American public figure who with the English and Dutch in the spring of helped put the United States into the sec­ 1941, that they feared the hoped-for attack on ond World War. It also dwells almost wholly Pearl Harbor would not eventuate. with foreign policy. Professor Current devotes his book to a critical and informed survey of Panicky Strategists Henry L. Stimson's career in relation to the There is no doubt that the White House and various phases of our foreign policy in which the top war-mongering strategists in the Cab­ Stimson took a leading part for nearly forty inet were momentarily panic-stricken over years. this eventuality and its possible effect on the The book stands as a masterpiece both of American people if Mr. Roosevelt tried to get historical scholarship and objective restraint. a declaration of war without any attack on the It gives us the first true picture of Stimson United States, thus violating the Democratic the man and Stimson the public servant. Cur­ campaign promises and platform of 1940. rent lets the facts tell their own story, rather But this fear had passed with the receipt of than selecting facts to fit into a preconceived the welcome news (decoded Japanese mes­ interpretation. sages) which revealed by the evening of De­ Although Stimson has been hailed by power­ cember 6th, as clearly as daylight, the fact ful newspapers, generals and politicians as a that the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor, great CCtower,"

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