Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THE NEWBERRY SUN. NEWBERRY. S. C. Washington Di&est Marshall Plan Has Halted The Spread of Communism By BAUKHAGE News Analyst and Commentator. WASHINGTON.—When this country was struggling into early man hood, It was clear to our statesmen that if the tree of western demo cracy were to flourish and bring forth fruit in its season, it would have to be shielded from foreign interference. The Monroe doctrine was enunciated. It was defensive, negative rather than positive; it simply said to the world: hold what you have, but take no more. It was a large order for a young nation. It covered a lot o< territory. It worked. The world grew older and small er. A new, powerful anti-democratic force arose. Amer ican leaders decid ed that if the tree we had planted, now in full fruit, were to continue to live and flourish, tt e ramparts we watch ed would have to embrace and pro tect our friends whose liberties were threatened ev en more immedi ately than our own. The Marshall plan was enuncia ted in June of 1947. After thorough debate in congress, it finally was given sinews on June ?8 0141118 year. What is the score today? Mere announcement of the idea is credited with checking Red revolution in Italy, with Mocking the tide of Communist aggression in western Europe. Now, after only seven months of functioning, I believe that objective observers will admit with Economic Cooperation Administrator Paul Hofman, a hard-headed bus'ness- man, that “it has not only stopped the march of Communism, but has turned the tide in the opposite di rection.” Only recently, Yugosla via drew up agreements for trade with western Europe, thus smash ing one hole in the iron curtain. The ECA is just what it was la belled—“enlightened self-interest.” To a chaotic and jittery Europe,''it helped to bring: a 25 per cent in crease in agricultural production over the previous year; industrial production above the pre-war level of 1938; relaxation of inflationary pressures in all the ERP countries except France and Greece. Now what? To convince onr people that the game is worth the candle, that whatever the cost, this is the first bloodless war ever fought, that it is cheap Insur ance against a shooting war. To convince congress that the charges, among others, that ECA is not being efficiently operated, that big business is being favored and little business slighted are un just, or if the charges are true, cor rect them. To Speak Or Not To Spsak Before congress convened, Wash ington was enjoying its usual 'nflux of national conventions, among them two groups concerned with the oral cavity—the dentists and the speech- teachers of the nation. Although I was invited to attend sessions of both groups, I exercised my jaws at only one—the speech instructors’ meeting. The job of the speech instructor is, of course, to get the learners to use words to express ideas—a diffi cult task. Not <hat the raw materif.1 is lacking. The dictionary is full of words, and the air is thick with ideas. More difficult is getting the words out of ♦he dictionary and the ideas out of the air into the learn ers’ heads. The next step is to get the learner to understand the mean ing of the words he nses and 'then to translate them into ideas which somebody else can un derstand — aye! — there’s the ‘rub! 7 i Consequently the speech instruc tors have not only a difficult, but a hazardous profession. Leaving a man alone with a lot of words is like leaving him in a laboratory with a lot of breakable atoms. We know from recent reports that some of the scientists working with atomic energy go blind. It’s a wonder to me that more speech instructors don’t go deaf. I suppose speech teachers also teach that most useful corollary art—the use ot words to conceal one’s meaning. It is one I practice arduously. After a decade and a half of broadcasting, most of my listeners haven’t the slightest idea of what my politics are. One point wnich was stressed at the speech conference was that the competition for power which ends in strife—domestic, industrial, in ternational—is due, chiefly to im proper communication. I agree with that assumption. There is no excuse for this in this day and age !♦ was different when • Cro-Magnon appeared at the door of a Neanderthaler cave in the year 23,000 B. C. — the mastodon on which he was riding having broken a tusk or an axle or something— and all the poor man wanted was to borrow an extra tusk. But since the Cro-Magnon was unable to com municate his perfectly peaceful de sire, and before he could present his driver’s license or his member ship card in the loyal order of moose, for identity, the Neander thaler, after shoving his wife in the comer and calling his dogs, would step out and welcome the unfortun ate visitor with a hearty wallop on the cranium. The result was probably a war between the Neanderthalers and the Cro-Magnons in which the Neanderthaler had a fifty- fifty chance of eating Cro. Even if the innocent visitor had been able to grunt without mis-pro- nouncing his consonants and lacera ting his labials, and even if his in hospitable ho.'t had listened to him, that host probably could not have digested his idea—as easily, at least as he later digested him. We have v/ords to work with, and thus are able to fashion the tools of communication. But unless the speech teachers (and all teachers) furnish the skills for the use of those words, the effort is in vain. Unless the idea behind what we believe in can be communica ted, (and it can’t be, unless we agree on the meaning of words) it withers on the vine. Thus, the speech teacher must teach his pupils not only the medium of communication, but the means of using it— and convince them it has concrete value. In the field of labor relations at home, or international understand ing abroad, we never can hope to achieve a real bulwark for demo cracy unless a mental contact can be made, communications estab lished—words and ideas joined so that they have a universal meaning and the message they convey can be digested. As E^jc Peterson, general secre tary-treasurer of the International Association of Machinists, put it: “The need for better lines of com munication between labor and man agement, and between the concilia tor and disputing parties is a dis tinct challenge. For basically, the failure of these two groups to iron out their disputes without ill-will or violence is part and parcel of the broader problem of discord which plagues the world today in its quest for peace.” Peterson went on to say that a starting point for speech tea chers might be to pay less at tention to Demosthenes who be came a great orator by practic ing shooting until he could be heard above the roaring of the waves, and a little more to de veloping men whose voices may not be loud, but whose skilfull persuasion can be heard above the misunderstanding in men’s hearts. Speaking for management at the conference, Robert Chester Smith, director of industrial and person nel relations for the Pullman Stan dard Car Manufacturing company of Chicago, expressed his belief that each of the three members of the industrial triumvirate—the inves tor, the manager and the laboring man—“has been and continues to be too short-sighted. Each has been looking at the problem through its own specially-conditioned glasses, 'and has been unable to see either upward, downward or sidewise, and unfortunately not very tar a>-ead.” John Q. Jennings, head of Indus trial Relations for the Singer Manu facturing company, told an inter esting story about how New York’s great tugboat dispute last winter had been settled. The negotiations had dragged on for hours until well after midnight. Management and union men had basically agreed on the point at issue, but whenever they tried to phrase the agreement on paper, thrv got entangled in a maze of complicated terminology. Shortly after 1 a. m., one of the negotiators happened to say in simple language what everyone else was trying to say in technical lan guage. Somebody had a brilliant idea: “Why nut put It just that way In the contract?” They did—a two-sentence paragraph in or dinary rank and file English was inserted—a departure Jennings described as something brand- new in union contracts. / BAUKHAGE (jJosddi^ flidtuJuL Si&uf. If you think you hove your troubles os a motorist, con sider the plight of five-year- old Tommy Marotta, pint- sized driver of a pint-sized model racer. Not only is he threatened with hav ing his automobile license revoked, but the kids on Taft street in Boonton, N. J., are threatened with curtailment of "the best fun in the neighbor hood." It all happened when Tommy, driv ing his miniature car along the road with a trailer full of playmates riding behind, was told to "pull over" by a regulation-sized officer of the law. Althdbgh Tommy handles his little car with the skill and aplomb of a speedway master, his father, nevertheless, was called to account. If the judge's decision is against Tommy and his toy car, he may find himself confined to Dad’s driveway in the future. All the neighbors are pulling for the Marottas. v “Pee Wee Midget,” the name by which the vehicle is duly registered with the state motor vehicle department, has everything. Believed to be the smallest car in the world, it was built as a $3,000 toy for Tommy by his father, Patrick T. Marotta, an engineer. It is powered by a ’A horse power lawn mower engine, has a chassis of hand-hammered aluminum and a four- wheeled hydraulic brake system. Thirteen months of building time were required to build it. Money for the President It is proposed that the salary of the President of the United States be raised to $100,000 a year with another $100,900 for an expense ac count. He now gets $75,000, with $40,000 for overhead. * What’s wrong with the idea? It’s the toughest job in the country. The hours are terrible, in fact they never end. The President can’t even get complete rest and quiet on his Sat urdays and Sundays. * In other big jobs there is still a chance for advancement. But where can a President go after he is through. His is lucky to get on a talent scout radio program. * What is $100,000 a year today? Second and third grade movie stars get more than that for one picture. And they can nse a double in the tough spots. Har ry Truman can’t do that. If the situation calls for him going ov er the precipice on horseback he has to do it in person. (He can’t even send in the vice-pres ident.) * The worst that can happen to a movie actor in his fights is that he will get hit by a chair or a table. If a President knew nothing worse than that could happen to him in his struggles he would sign for it and give a rebate. • Radio performers get moce than $100,000 a year. And somebody else writes their jokes. A President has to be funny on his own. * - And a radio star can always cover np by dragging on a ven triloquist, a wooden dummy, four pretty bad female singers or a couple of other quaint char acters. * There may be some big business men who worry along on $100,000 a year, but they don’t have to kiss strange babies, grin from locomo tive cabs, join Indian tribes, go fishing when they don’t want to or pose in loud shirts on tropical bea ches. • Even golfers get $100,000 a year and no putt they sink is tougher than the ones a President is sup posed to knock into the cup every time up. • Even horses get more than that kind of dough. Citation, Sty mie and Armed earn more per year. Is that fair to a Presi dent? • And why should $100,000 a year for expenses seem high these days. A President of the United States is entitled to eat meat, buy an auto and get a haircut and shave now and then like anybody else. TRAGIC FIGURE He killed himself for lack of dough. Denouncing fate so fickle— In contest on the radio He never won a nickel. PIER The United States supreme court by a six to three vote has upheld the right of a state to ban barmaids unless they are the wives or daugh ters of the proprietor. Three just ices feel that no woman anywhere can possibly mix a drink any worse than the male barboys are doing it these days. • • • The contention of Secretary of La bor Tobin, Bill Green and others is that in any amended Taft-Hartley law the employer should take the same oath he is not a Communist party member that the workers take. We now await a rule compel ling the fire engine to carry a ban ner denoting that it is against fires. And perhaps a sworn statement by both the swimmer and the shark that they are not going to interfere with each other. • • • We can’t help wondering if the world would not have been In much better shape If the Wright brothers had stuck to the bicycle business. • • • Another Hollywood notable has bqen booked as drunk and disorder ly. He is pretty much of a movie idol, but we look for no discipline. A movie star has to do this sort of thing these days in order to be elig ible,for immediate casting in a new picture, especially for the children’s trade. • • • Mrs. A. G. Moeller of Chey enne, Wyoming, had the Squawk of the Year. She had the right answer to a $24,000 phantom voice on “Sing It Again,” when her telephone rang, but, just as she was about to give it, cen tral cut her off. Mrs. Moeller is now satisfied that she not only has the phanton voice, bat the phantom telephone company co operation. • • • We know a dice thrower who puts it: “Baby needs a pair of schmoos!” Indonesian War I NSIDE fact about the Indonesia'.! war is that the United States re ceived ample advance notice it was coming. Merle Cochran, American mem ber of the United Nations good offi ces committee in Indonesia, warn ed the state department by cable one month before the attack. He re ported that the Dutch were piling up supplies—most of them made in America—preparing to wipe up the Indonesian republic, even while U. N. mediators were trying to settle the dispute. Cochran queried the Dutch re garding their activity, but got waved aside with the bland re ply that the Dutch army was preparing for “routine maneu vers.” But possibly because of his in quiries, Dutch representatives in Washington were more frank. They informed both the state department and the U. S. joint chiefs of staff that Communists had permeated the Indonesian republic and were planning a revolt in February. If this revolt was successful the Communists would use Java and Sumatra as a base to take over British Malaya. Borneo and the Philippines. Therefore, concluded the Dutch, they planned to take “police measures” in advance. It so happens that the regist ered Communist vote in Holland itself at the last election was 10 per cent, and U. S. observers say that the Communist percen- , tage in Indonesia is less. t However, U. S. reaction was mix ed. The state department, which hitherto has coddled the Dutch, be gan to get alarmed. Certain U. S. military men, on the other hand, in effect winked. “Police action,” they indicated to the Dutch, was an in ternal problem of no concern to the United States. - • • • Truman’s Military Pals Conflict between the'U. S. milit ary and the state department is, of course, nothing new. And the above illustrates what has happened to U. S. foreign policy time and again ever since President Truman took office. In Germany, in China, in Ar gentina and in Spain, the President has let the military influence some times dominate his foreign policy. Immediately a^ter the Dutch at tacked, the state 5 department, be latedly wide awake, drafted a strong note to the Netherlands. It was just as strong as the Australian statement to the Netherlands. It was just as strong as the Australian statement at the United Nations. When the note was sent to the White House, however, the Pres ident toned it down. Again the military were suspected. But even in its revised form, the American protest put the Dutch almost in the same category as the Hitlers and Mussolinis in their wrec king of the League of Nations. It also brought howls of private ang uish from the Dutch. • • • The Dutch Wail Last week, Dutch representatives called on U. S. officials again. They were up in arms over curtailment of Marshall Plan aid to Indonesia —even though this slap on the wrist sounds much louder than it hurts. Actually the state department has curtailed only $14,000,000 of unspent ECA aid to Indonesia. The remain ing $47,000,000 has already been committed and will not be cut off —though most of it could be. Fur thermore, our huge $550,000,000 ECA allotment to Holland still stands—even though $350,000,000 of this amount is passed on to Indo nesia. Nevertheless, the Dutch were ir ate. Without attempting to quote them direct, the gist of what they said was this: , We don’t understand your pol icy. Yon spend five and a half billions to fight communism in Europe, yet in the Far East yon support communism. We would n’t be in the western European pact If you hadn’t asked us to get in. We could have been neu tral in the last war, and we could be neutral In the next. We don’t want to have our country overrun by the Russians as It was by Hitler. We realize that this western European pact is largely for the defense of the United States and that we are essential to it. So if the United States is going to cut off Marshall plan aid be cause of Indonesia, we might begin warming up to the Rus sians. We don’t want to, but we > may have to. So far it doesn’t look as if the President is going to be scared by Dutch threats. Mr. Truman may make mistakes, but the last thing he does is scare easy. He’s much more likely to get his backbone up. DIONNE'QUINTS’ CHESTCOLDS £211^ MUSTeroLE Getting Deaf? Thousands now know there is no excuse for letting deafness kill the joy of living. An amazing new radionict hearing device has been perfected in the great Zenith? Radio laboratories—so simple—so easy to use it can be sent to you for 10-day free trial.* Ready togvear, no individual fit ting necessary. Accepted by the American Medical Association, Council on Physical Medicine. Come out of that world of silence. 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