St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 34

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH The Containment of Ideas frmUi JOSEPH PULITZER DutmhtrU. IS'B Pubfuhfi by Till PuIitiCT PuMuhmj; Co. MAmlllll Adtafr Strwe MAm -fM6 THE POST-DISPATCH PLATFORM KNOW THAT MY RETIREMENT MU MAKE NO DIFFERENCE IN ITS CARDINAL rRINCIPLES. THAT IT WILL ALWAYS FIGHT FOR PROGRESS AND REFORM.

KIVER TOLERATE INJUSTICE OR COR. 1 HUPTION, ALWAYS FIGHT DEMAGOGUES Or AU PARTIES, NEVER BELONO TO ANY ARTY. ALWAYS OPPOSE PRIVILEGED CLASSES AND PUBLIC PLUNDERERS. IEVER LACK SYMPATHY WITH THE POOR, ALWAYS REMAIN DEVOTED TO THE PUBLIC WELFARE, NEVER BE SATIS-PIED WITH MERELY PRINTING NEWS, ALWAYS BB DRASTICALLY INDEPENDENT, NEVER 'BE AFRAID TO ATTACK WRONG, WHETHER BY PREDATORY PLUTOCRACY OR PREDATORY POVERTY. JOSEPH PULITZER AH II If capabilities of any nation.

Change is the law of life. Social change will 6ometimes take revolutionary forms in some countries, no matter what the United States or any other nation thinks about it A wise foreign policy begins with recognition of this fact. American foreign policy is in deep trouble in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America precisely because we have let ourselves be pushed into a counter-revolutionary posture. Wherever oppressed masses struggle toward a better life, millions of persons look upon the United States as their natural enemy, which means that they inevitably look elsewhere for friends. Ours is not a revolutionary society, and we should not try to behave as if it were.

But we can behave like a mature nation which knows that it has no right and no power to decide for the people of Cuba, Viet Nam or central Africa what form of revolution they should have. We can behave like a nation which is prepared to accept change, even in forms unpalatable to it, and is ready to work with peoples of any political faith for a peaceful world of diversity. It is often said that we must hang on In Viet Nam, even to the point of an escalated war, because the effects of defeat there would be so damaging elsewhere in Asia and Africa. Unfortunately it is true that if we got thrown out of Viet Nam, millions of people would be delighted. That is one reason why our Government would be wise to encourage a political settlement through negotiation before we are thrown out unless it is already too late.

Whatever happens in Saigon, however, the American cause will not be damaged thereby half so much as it is already being damaged by the growing conviction that our power and influence are dedicated to the suppression of social revolution and political change wherever they occur. We shall improve our position with the developing nations and the world at large not by proving that we can wage endless war in Viet Nam, but by showing, through actual conduct, that the CIA is not enfranchised to swagger around the world setting up governments and knocking them down; that we do not undertake to dictate the form and pace of political change anywhere; that we are prepared to accept revolutions even when we do not approve of them; and that we have enough faith in the ideas of freedom to entrust to them, rather than to arms, the task of containing the ideas of Communism. Coming events In South Viet Nam promise for many Americans a profound psychological 6hock, which a foresighted Administration would be preparing to offset When the day comes for American forces to leave Viet Nam after 10 years of vain effort to build an anti-Communist bastion there, not only will our national pride be hurt, but some basic assumptions of our postwar foreign policy will be called into question. As fresh thinking is always more painful than mouthing shibboleths, this is going to cause a certain degree of anguish. Unpleasant as it may be, the time for reappraisal has come, and thoughtful Americans should resolve to be realistic about it.

The first step is to cast off the illusion of omnipotence, under the spell of which many of us have for years assumed that our mission in the world is to contain, roll back, destroy or otherwise combat Communism. After World War II, the Soviet Union sought to expand its national power wherever possible. The United States, as the leader of the free world, was thoroughly justified in undertaking to contain that thrust, and it was contained. Only where the Red Army stood on land taken from the Nazis which is to say, only in Eastern Europe were the Russians able to impose their national will on other peoples; and the passage of time has indicated that even there, subjugation is most likely temporary. National identities have survived and are persistently asserting themselves.

There could be no better evidence that the Communists are not going to rule the world, and neither are we. Aspirations for independence, self-respect and self-government are too universal and too powerful to be subdued by any ideology. In the meantime, however, American policy increasingly has tended to confuse the containment of Russian (and later Chinese) national power with the containment of Communism. We undertook to apply the methods appropriate to a national power struggle the methods of diplomatic maneuver, armed confrontation and in some cases war itself in a realm where they are totally ineffective. Communism as an idea cannot be contained by such methods, but only by a better idea.

It is not the American function to combat revolution everywhere to stand as the universal, all-embracing guardian of the status quo. This is an odd role, by the way, to be thrust upon a nation that was itself born of revolution less than two centuries ago. More important, it is a role that lies beyond the WHO'S WINNING THE FORCES OF FREEDOM OR THE PEOPLE'S metropolitan area must consider capital Improvements for the junior college. It is operating now beyond real capacity. The higher education of thousands of young St.

Louisans depends upon proper financing. Not a 'Civil Liberties' Congress Record of the Eighty-Eighth Was Mixed; the Eighty-Ninth Will Follow Suit men of the 218 needed signed a discharge petition to take the Becker Amendment from the Judiciary Committee to the House floor. When the hearings ended, however, the weight of public opinion had swung In the other direction. Whether Congressman Becker, who has now retired, will be any more successful than he was this past year remains to be seen. However, we are A Vision of Pneumatic Bliss T.

S. Eliot sang of pneumatic bliss, but he never dreamed of surrounding us with it as does Dr. Milton Brinkant. The New York radiologist has been granted a patent for inflatable furniture. Need a table? Pull it out of the wall and turn the air valve.

Chairs likewise. Want them out of the way? Deflate and tuck them away. Or just let them collapse. They will make a floor smooth enough for dancing. The invention is the good doctor's answer to the space shortage.

It makes possible the multi-purpose room. In the morning, deflate the bed and inflate the breakfast table. Once the dishes are out of the way, deflate the table and blow up the living room suite. And so on and on and on. The doctor believes his invention will do for furniture "what the tea bag did for tea, the shoe lace for shoes and the Murphy bed for the Murphys." Undoubtedly.

And he sees many more applications for it in ships, aircraft, house trailers and who knows where else. Again undoubtedly. We already foresee the inflatable automobile. Pull to the curb, deflate, and leave a surface smooth enough to drive over even if cars are stacked three or four deep. No parking problems, no congestion, no traffic snarls, no frayed nerves, no irate complaints, nothing but pneumatic bliss.

k6 hit kVv. Sunday, January 17, 1963 Letters from the People for the Elderly There is a need in our community today for a protective Bervice agency to counsel and act on the behalf of the incapacitated older person. This kind of service is needed for the elderly who are neglected and exploited, who are living in hazardous surroundings, or who are isolated because of physical or psychological disability and have no resource of family, relatives or friends. The purpose of this kind of service agency would be to prevent the continuation of detrimental conditions, to enable these elderly to remain in their homes by providing adequate services and support when Jthese people can no longer function and to provide protection of income oc estate as well as personal welfare for those who are mentally in-Competent. 'These services need to be extended to all those elderly who need regardless of income.

An elderly incapacitated person without help needs this service whether he Te rich or poor. lrt the 1962 Public Welfare Amendments, there was provision made for federal financial participation at 75 per cent for services to the aged i and disabled who are in need of protection. A protective service agency or program could be established under the Public Welfare Department. An agency of this kind would re-quire legal authority for action in order to be effective. Secondly, the agency would need to use a professional team of psychiatric, medical, legal and other resources on both a consultive and operational basis through co-ordination of social casework.

The services already available within the community would need to be utilized. There should be a charge to clients, with those who are financially able paying full rate and others being charged according to a sliding scale. The public should be informed about this service, so that whenever an incapacitated elderly person is discovered, the discoverer will know how to contact the agency. Let us implement our community's concern for the incapacitated adult into a realistic and comprehensive plan. Laura N.

Izenson To Enrich Missouri's Life The undersigned, members of the Governor's Council on Arts, want to express their appreciation for the editorial support which the Post'Dispatch gave to legislation sponsored by the council. We feel that the legislation which is now under consideration is a first significant step which the state of Missouri can take toward enriching the lives of its citizens and that it will be helpful in stamping out the widespread impression that, whereas a cultural life thrives on the East Coast and on the West Coast, the center of the country Is a cultural desert. Richard K. Weil Howard Baer William N. Eisendrath Jr.

Joseph Passonneau Merrimon Cuninggim Raymond Wittcoff Elizabeth Gentry Sayad Leigh Gerdine Shrink the Assembly Though I was and am a strong supporter of Gov. Warren Hearnes, 1 note in a news article that the new Legislature is planning to ask for a constitutional amendment setting the number of Senate seats at 34 and the House at 165. This number is unnecessary and is unwieldy, to say nothing of beirg far more expensive to the taxpayers than it ought to be. 1 am in favor of a Senate to number not more than 25 and the House to number not more than 100 regardless of population. More actual state business could be conducted by a body of this size than is possible in one of the present size.

A. M. Campbell The "silly season" is upon us again. It was ushered in by the convening of the Legislature which, on the basis of past experience, wiA'accomplish little during the six-month session. It is ironical that the jet age demands brains and vision, yet we are satisfied with mediocrity in our Legislature.

State government is the business in the state and "demands legislative leadership fo solve the pressing economic and social problems. Legislature is a luXuxy.we can't afford. The answer caTK'tor a unicameral Legislature niauVup of trained and experienced men and women who are paid a salary commensurate with their qualifications. James E. Eagan 2B Neiv Rights Agenda State Senator Theodore D.

McNeal's new public accommodations bill represents a minimum that should be expected from the new Legislature in the way of civil rights legislation. It is essential to bring Missouri practice into line with federal policy adopted in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In the last session the Missouri House passed an accommodations bill, but it died in the Senate without a vote in the rush to adjourn. Later, the imminence of federal legislation raised a question as to why Missouri should act by itself. The federal law answered the question by giving the states initial jurisdiction in this and other civil rights fields.

Now the only question is why Missouri should let the Federal Government intervene to do something the state should do, and the answer is that the state owes action to itself. Senator McNeal's new bill prohibits racial and religious discrimination in places providing food, shelter, recreation and other public services. It also bypasses the State Human Rights Commission, making the proposed law enforceable in the courts. As a general rule, it is better to use the mediation services of such commissions before resort to legal action. Perhaps the medi-ation process is not necessary to an accommodations law, since the federal act does not provide for it, and the law is clear.

But Senator McNeal explains that he left the commission out of his measure because the Legislature has left the commission without funds or staff for administration of new rights measures. Senator McNeal is entirely right about this, and his complaint suggests a second civil rights measure to the Legislature. It ought to appropriate funds for an adequate Civil Rights Commission office. The commission's lack of full legislative support so far is a rebuke to the Legislature's sincerity in establishing the agency. 'A Creative Appointment By naming Philip V.

Maher of Richmond Heights as his administrative assistant for urban affairs, Gov. Hearnes appears to be filling a creative post with a creative appointment. Mr. Maher demonstrated his ability to tackle new ideas in his 1962 campaign for Congress, and again in his early support of the Hearnes candidacy. Now he is being asked to create a new concept in Missouri government a Department of Urban Affairs.

Gov. Hearnes deserves credit for promoting this concept, and more credit for the considered approach to it outlined in his legislative message. He will not submit the proposal for the department to the Legislature until the department's duties and responsibilities are carefully planned. No doubt the department will encompass existing state urban programs, but its more important duty will be to foster new ones. An urban affairs department is needed particularly to overcome the state government's long neglect of urban problems.

Mr. Maher's new job requires an inventive as well as thoughtful approach. His record indicates that he can produce it. Lawrence Spriser in Civil Liberties The author is director of the Washington, D.C., office of the American Civil Libertiet nion. Among the titles which have been suggested for the Eighty-eighth Congress are the "Education Congress," the "Conservation Congress," and, perhaps, the "Civil Rights Congress" to commemorate the major legislation passed in those fields.

One title which has not been suggested (and which I am not proposing) is the "Civil Liberties Congress." Its record in the field of civil liberties was a mixed one. Two massive attempts to overrule Supreme Court decisions fortunately failed. A number The Mirror of bills adversely affecting civil liber-of ties in a limited fashion were Public Opinion passed. Many more which were introduced did not There was also a significant civil liberties advance in the passage of legislation providing paid counsel for indigent defendants in federal criminal cases. The record of this past Congress, therefore, was both good and bad; the Eighty-ninth Congress is very likely to follow the same pattern.

Reapportionment A hasty late session drive sponsored by a "curious crew" from both parties threatened to upset the Supreme Court's latest decisions on reapportionment. The Dirksen-Mansfield proposal provided that courts could not interfere with the election of unconstitutional state legislatures before Jan. 1, 1966, end that they must allow states "a reasonable opportunity" to reapportion except to "highly unusual circumstances." Senator Dirksen interpreted that to mean a stay must be granted in 99 per cent of the cases. There was finally no congressional legislation on reapportionment. It seems clear, however, that there is going to be a concerted high-powered effort in the Eighty-ninth Congress to move rapidly in this area since nearly all state legislatures will be under court orders to reapportion at their next regular session.

Un-American Activities Committee With the convening of the Eighty-ninth Congress the House again faces the issue of the continuation of the House Un-American Activities Committee. The commonly held belief that a vote against the committee was political suicide was demolished during this past national election. Eighteen of the 20 Congressmen who had voted against the committee's appropriation in the Eighty-eighth Congress were returned to the House, most with greatly increased percentages. The Becker Amendment The House Judiciary Committee held hearings lasting several months on 147 proposals to amend the First Amendment in order to overrule the Supreme Court's decision on prayers and Bible reading in the public schools. Spearheading the attack was Refresentativa F.

Becker New York. By the time the hearings began, most Congressmen had received more mail on the Becker Amendment than on any other legislation, including the Civil Rights bill preponderantly in favor of amending the First Amendment. One hundred and sixty-seven Congress-sura to have with us for some time to since the bill doesn't bar discrimination based on politics. However, it may prompt a rash of loyalty oaths by private employes and therefore was opposed by the ACLU. Security Agency Discharges With the backing of the Kennedy Administration and the leadership on both sides of the aisle, a law was passed which tossed out the window any semblance of due process for accused employes of the National Security Agency, an organization designed to handle highly secret military and cold war operations.

It permits the Secretary of Defense to fire any employe of the National Security Agency without any kind of hearings, charges, due process or any of the normal procedures which protect most government employes. The bill was fought in the House, but passed by a vote of 340 to 40 after the ACLU vigorously attempted to alert the House to its dangers. It was then sneaked through the Senate without any debate or forewarning. Wiretapping Although wiretapping legislation has been relatively quiescent during this past session, we can expect increased activity on the part of the Justice Department to pass the Department's wiretapping bill. This would permit tapping, (1) on the authority of the Attorney General in so-called national security cases, (2) with federal court orders in cases of national security and major crimes, and (3) by state prosecutors with court orders in major crimes.

At the moment, tapping is going on by the FBI and other government agencieshow much we don't know. A disclosure of the amount of tapping and its inefficiency as a law enforcement tool might be very embarrassing. I believe most of it is being done for surveillance purposes not to obtain evidence for specific crimes. Therefore, most tapping could not comply, in good faith, with the requirements for court orders. Mail Censorship Bill There are bound to be continuing attempts by Congressman Glenn Cunningham Nebraska, to adopt mora legislation authorizing censorship of mail.

His last proposal gave every recipient the right to demand that no mail which is morally offensive to himself be sent to him. If a mailer, after notice, thereafter sent any mail to such an objector he would be subject to a prison term of up to five years. This was given an initial setback after the Justice Department opined it was clearly unconstitutional. It passed the House, however, by a sizable vote but died in the Senate. Separation of Church and State Although the Becker Amendment's threatened breach in the wall of separation between church and state failed, nevertheless there were some disturbing cracks which appeared legislation under which federal funds may be used for religious purposes.

The Antipoverty bill permits the granting of federal funds and the use of the newly organized Job Corps so that private non-profit agencies (including churches and church agencies) could participate. It also makes it possible for any church or church-controlled non-profit organization that chooses to qualify to use tax money and the Job Corps to build for itself sectarian institutions, so long as they suup short of actually erecting a cliapeL Bonds for a College The majority opinion of a citizens advisory committee, in favor of a bond issue for buildings for the metropolitan Junior College District, represents sound advice for St. Louis. Still the committee is somewhat tentative about the approach to such financing, and it has a right to be. In April 1963, only a year after voters established the district, it sought a 10-cent tax rise for capital improvements.

The request seemed premature and badly timed, since city and county financial issues also had to be faced that year. The voters defeated the district's proposal. Today, however, there is no question that the district needs money for construction. It is operating largely in temporary structures on three campuses, and is not yet operating on its 33-acre Forest Park site, which the advisory committee says is too small to permit temporary buildings and new construction at the same time. Meanwhile, enrollment has grown to 5000 students, exceeding estimates by 11 per cent, and the advisory committee may be right in saying that the estimate of 16,000 students by 1974 is conservative.

To meet this tremendous demand from young St. Louisans, the district has to start permanent classroom construction soon. The advisory committee thinks $40,000,000 or $50,000,000 will be needed over 20 years; a smaller amount might be adequate for the immediate emergency. Two possibilities exist a pay-as-you-go system, which might be supported by a 10-cent tax rise for eight or ten years, or a 20-year bond issue, requiring a 5-cent increase. The latter seems preferable to us, on principle and for practical reasons.

The principle is that a bond issue would permit the future generations that will need the college buildings to share in paying for them, as that need develops. The practical reason is that, as a tax-free institution, the Junior College District could obtain a higher return from invested bond issue funds than it would pay for them, in the years before all the money was committed to construction. This "profit" would permit a reduction in overall debt service charges. Since the two-thirds vote requirement for bond issues is a potential political obstacle, the advisory committee rightly urges the district to join in efforts to persuade the Legislature to help lower the voting requirement. In addition, any bond plan ought to be co-ordinated with similar plans which may arise from other city and county agencies.

But the time has already arrived when the Post-Ditpatch, Jan. 4, 1953 As America Goes So Gops the World come a nation-wide movement to amend the First Amendment. Sedition By a vote of 338 to 40 the House passed a bill sponsored by the Administration broadening the old World War I Sedition Act by covering statements made by Americans overseas. The Sedition Act makes it a crime to make statements (1) which are false with the intent of interfering with U.S. military forces; or (2) which will cause insubordination, mutiny, disloyalty, or refusal of duty in the armed forces; or (3) which will obstruct recruiting or enlistment.

It is no longer a wartime measure nor has it been since the 1950 Presidential National Emergency proclamation. Luckily it died In the Senate Judiciary Committee, but it may be reintroduced in the Eighty-ninth Congress. Antipoverty Bill Loyalty Oath One would be hard pressed to make a rational connection between the Anti-poverty bill and a non-disloyalty affidavit. Nevertheless, such a requirement was added on the House floor. The law provides that an affidavit Is required from everyone who gets any antipoverty funds that he does not believe in and is not a member of any organization advocating or teaching the forceful or illegal overthrow of the U.S.

Government. A floor fight in the Senate was avoided by a Justice Department opinion that it would be limited only to the 40,000 Job Corps en-rollees. Every Senator was contacted by the ACLU strenuously urging elimination of the disclaimers, to no avail. Communist, Atheist Exclusions from Civil Rights Bill of 1964 A similar situation arose In the House during the debate on the Civil Rights bill. Excluded from the coverage of the Equal Employment Opportunity section were atheists, Communists and members of organizations required to register under the 1950 Subversive Activities Control Act.

The atheist provision was clearly unconstitutional. The Senate leaders of both parties saw this and eliminated that, provision. The Communist provision, however, was retained although it. is irrelevant Certain questions of protocol arise in connection with the activities of President Johnson's pal, Him, a beagle. As Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson alighted from an airplane at the LB ranch on Friday, Mr.

Johnson brought Him forward and introduced the animal to Mr. Pearson. It is recorded that Mr. Pearson knelt and spoke to the dog, though what he said to Him and what Him said to him is unknown. Would it be proper to address Him, on first meeting, as "Mr.

And what is the proper attire for a beagle welcoming visiting dignitaries? We are all ears..