The Daily Oklahoman from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma • 10

THE DAILY OKLAHOMAN WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1938. THE DAILY OKLAHOMAN E. K. GAYLORD, Editor HUNTING BEARS IN THE U. S.

Edith Johnson Comments Upon: Criticism of Roosevelt Enterprise K. GAYLORD. of her family of neighbor's children. Descendants rf pioneers who fought their way of hardy AGENCY, proud of it, the American nco- The Oklahoma Publishing Co. maintains a Bureau of Accuracy and Fair Play on the filth floor oj the OKiahoman Building.

Any complaint of unfair treatment in the columns of its neiospapers will be adjusted if the public will make use of this bureau. express their attitude toward the activities of the president's family, following week-end protests against her having accepted a directorship in a Boston insurance company in which her son. James, is a partner, she misinterpreted their sentiment. Americans neither expect nor want the first lady and her children to be idlers. It is their expectation, however, that the sons and daughters of the president shall earn the high positions to which they aspire as if they were the children of commoners.

Criticism of her oldest son, James has been plentiful, not because he would work and earn a living like any other American citizen, but because it seemed to a good many of our people that this scion or the Kooscvclts has enjoyed peculiar advantages in business, not by reason of unusual merit and ability, but because he is the son of the president. pic dislike favoritism ana all of its works. If a millionaire executive places his son. recently graduated from college in a topflight position in his company that action invariably Is resented. Critics of that gesture believe that the father who permits his affectionate interest in his son and his ambition for the boy to over-rule his Judgment feel that the older man does his son a disservice.

That sentiment enters Into their displeasure as well as their regret that a man fully qualified for the position is set aside in order that a novice's desire for prestige and authority shall be fulfilled. PULTON LEWIS, broadcasting the day's news of Washington Monday night said that in commenting upon the public's attitude toward her family's commercial activities, including her own, Mrs. Roosevelt declared: "When the American people elected Mr. Roosevelt they did not elect the No Misunderstanding WHATEVER else may be said of the vv spirited avowal of the Monroe doctrine by Alf M. Landon no one can say that his speech was misunderstood.

The representatives of all the Latin American nations understood the speech. It was thoroughly understood by the people of the United States. For it was not the reserved and evasive speech of a diplomat: it was the forthright speech of a forthright American citizen. It is not the first time in American history that the bold and unmistakable words of a resolute American have helped to make history. The French directory had no doubt of the meaning of Pinckney when he bluntly informed the French diplomats that his country had millions of dollars for the purposes of defense but that it did not have one cent for tribute.

And excited Chile thoroughly understood the meaning of "Fighting Bob" Evans when he warned the authorities of Valparaiso: "Release those sailors immediately or we'll make Hades smell like garlic for five hundred years." Of course, the Landon speech lacked both the defiance of Pinckney's historic utterance and the extreme pugnacity of "Fighting Bob's" ultimatum. The Kansan did nothing but reassert what the younger Adams and Monroe first asserted 115 years ago. His speech was unique in that it was entirely free from the tinsels and trappings of accepted diplomacy. It was as direct as the Venezuelan message of Grover Cleveland. And once Landon had spoken, every government north of the Horn thoroughly understood that regardless of what diplomats have said and will say the military might of the American republic is squarely back of the Monroe Doctrine and that the American government will have the united support of the American people in its efforts to keep western shores free from European domination.

Diplomatic language is well enough in piping times of peace, but when a real crisis seems to be imminent, it is heartening to hear the words of a Monroe, a Cleveland, or a Landon. his Whether or not the attacks made upon his retiv: In the ield at comparable Is not saying, Justifia rrled i nd I his family?" "It When the American people elect a president, they elect his family, also. Whether rightly or wrongly, justly or unjustly, thev set U) certain standards of conduct which they expect the presidential family to follow, based upon precedent and it may be clincd toward Mr. James Roosevelt when without a nays experience in he production of moving pictures he is suddenly appointed vice-president of the Mctro-Oold-wyn company and first assistant to Mr Goldwyn. himself.

placed in authority over women of long experience and proved ability, the rcac- I lion of the people of Seattle and Washing- ton was far from being favorable to her. I The sons and the daughter of President and Mrs. Roosevelt may he exceptionally gifted young people. They may possess tal- They are opposed to a president's daughter drinking in public and dancing in night spots. They look witlv suspicion upon the appearance of any member of the presidential family taking what to them to be an extraordinary profit from the presidential connection, innocent as the enterprise actually may be.

pendently in business, that Is "so'nrw a After all. the presiriencv has it p-Cc 'or the chief executive's wife and children 'as well as for ch.ef. himself. All members of the family draw 1cm critical It if H. Phillies Takes a Rest: It's Contributors Day in the Fun Corner Although Mrs.

Roost That Eternal Vigilance THE need for that eternal vigilance which is required for the preservation of liberty is called to mind quite forcibly by Senator Bennett Clark in his discussion of preparedness and militarism in the current issue of the Country Gentleman. It is rather startling to hear from the distinguished Missourian that the war department has in its files completely prepared laws for imposing a censorship upon the press and for the forcible drafting of labor in the event of war. Naturally if such laws should be driven to enactment by an upsurge of military passion und ardent patriotism, the country would become at once the western counterpart of European absoluteisms. Such laws would confer upon the president powers approximately equal to those enjoyed by Hitler and Mussolini. And who can doubt that such laws would be approved right speedily if the guns should begin to roar? Let the press begin to protest the imposition of a censorship and it would merely convict itself of disloyalty.

Let labor try to defend itself from the imposition of an unnatural bondage, and every official martinet in the country would straightway brand labor as the willing ally of the country's enemies. We know how it would have been in 1917 if either press or labor had opposed an essential war measure even if its constitutional guaranty of freedom had been at stake: both press and labor would have stood branded as the unvarnished and undisguised allies of "the Hun." And 50 it will be in any subsequent war. Let the press be gagged and let labor be subjected to involuntary servitude, and the glory of this free republic will have departed. Nothing will remain of our former glorious estate but discarded traditions and the broken monuments of a country's forfeited liberties. And that is exactly what the war experts of our government have planned for the American people.

That is exactly what will be imposed upon the people if war develops and the absoluteists of the government have their unrestricted way. Moreover, it lies within the power of the president to precipitate war without that approval of the people's representatives which is required by the federal constitution. The executive power can easily sting an unfriendly power into positive punitive action. It can easily render war inevitable even when there is no congress in session. The American people can find themselves in the midst of war's dire convulsions without any formal declaration of war at all.

Hence the executive could make of himself the imperial autocrat of his country without precipitating a revolution or without the forcible seizure of supreme authority. Let the plans of the war college become the duly enacted laws of the country, and the president can make himself absolute by the mere provocation of trouble with some high spirited nation. Another Columbus raid by an irresponsible band of Mexican bandits might -be sufficient excuse for the president to throttle the press and reduce free labor to a legally authorized vassalage. While the American people have been enjoying the blissful dreams of freedom and fancied security the bureaucrats have been fashioning chains as strong as those that once rang around the palaces of the great white czars. Long ago Jefferson warned the American people to trust no one in authority and he counselled them to bind all governing agents with the strong chains of a written constitution.

The mere fact that bureaucrats have already prepared for a long advance into the sphere of bondage is a sharp reminder that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. VQRM TURNS EDITH JOH.r Dorothy Thompson Fumes At: The Broadcasts of Father Couahlin One We Shall Miss "OKLAHOMA journalism is going to be quite different from what it has been for years without George Riley Hall of the Henryetta Free Lance. When failing eyesight forced the retirement of the genial and kindly editor from the post he had adorned for a third of a century it created a vacancy that is not going to be filled. There is another editor for the Free Lance, of course, but it is not George Riley Hall. And no matter how capable his successor may prove to be.

he will not duplicate the work of his predecessor. NTo one could duplicate it, for the style and manner of Hall are all his own. It is something that cannot be bequeathed or handed down. In a way Editor Hall is specially fortunate in relinquishing the work he has done so capably ere the final call has come to terminate his earthy existence. He lives to hear and read the words of praise and appreciation from the lips and pens ot his contemporaries.

More than most he receives his flowers while he is still on this side of the border. He enjoys the unusual distinction of hearing tributes of affection that are usually reserved for the departed. Readers of Oklahoma newspapers are going to miss George Riley Hall and miss him sorely. They are going to regret the voluntary withdrawal from the editorial field of the Sage of the Tulladcga hills. But one.

and all they will indulge the hope that all of the remaining days of this veteran and much loved editor may be days of unbroken peace. A DIZZY pack: And on reprhna recall U' -The the pro sued a CONTENTMENT TUTY dear Mr. McNinch: On November iV1 10. 1938, speaking at the Fourth District National Association of Broadcasters Convention at White Sulphur Springs, W. you said: nature of their program.

We ail fact that when Mae West wt-m on with a rather ribald script railed uden of Eden" the Federal Coir.mu- demanded a hearing, and k- reprimand to the broadcasting com- i sponsible for the number, and threat- take it mro account in considering But here, at leas', there's Perhaps I ask. though such shocking offense, would, of course, ipp in such a stand. He ha "The which the public hr right to expect, dcrstand, the practice in and editing of the mann would seem to exclude id surprise. "The Bui then 3 So I'll ha this country should avoid the racial agitations which have turned so much 0 Europe into a shambles. The instinct which prompt- belicvc, very sound.

For this country, being composed of many racial strains, might he peculiarly vulnerable to such agitation A Local Matter JUDGES who are thought to be competent or who think that they are fully competent find that the Pittsburgh Pirates presented the closing year's outstanding disappointment in the athletic world. But the decision would lack much of approximating unanimity if it were submitted to a nationwide referendum. It would receive at least one dissenting opinion in every American community that has produced a losing football team. To most American sports lovers the year's outstanding athletic disappointment is purely and entirely local. xacily whose xst unity based H.

I. PHILLIPS. I ask whether vou have been lis to the broadcasts of Father Couahlin? Have you sent for the records of them? Washington on Parade: Sour Note Sounded in SEC Exchange Harmony ASHINGTON, Dec. 20. Apparent- pic like Morgan partners, If that's ctwpicuon? resign Dale Carnegie Asks: How Do You Feel About Police Lists? other Whether you feel that they do or do not.

you would be rendering public service, first, to the 'broadcasting companies, and, second, to the American public, by miter dealt with the Irish this speech. The situation. Disraeli arose (hey have escaped your attention, I say that in a somewhat cautions and subtle manner, in a style which is not unfamiliar to me, since I became acquainted high standard required for a broadcast program intended for reception in the homes, schools, automobiles, religious, social and economic institutions, as well as clubs, hotels, trains and other places, reaching in the aggregate a much larger number of people daily man any other means of communication, and carrying its message to men. women and children of all ages. A clear recognition of the social, civic and moral responsibility for the effect upon listeners of all classes and ages requires such a high stand-features offensive to the great masses of right-thinking, cleaii-minded American citizens.

The right to continue operation under a license can be justified only so long as public convenience and necessity are served through programs broadcast to the listeners." Again' I should like to ask you: Do vou think Father CoughlirV.s recent broadcasts, in the light of the present, situation in the world at la rge serve -the public convenience RECENTLY the Federal Communications commission held a hearing on a broadcast of "Beyond the Horizon." a radio program made from the famous play of Nobel prize winner Eugene O'Neill. The uttering on the radio of the words "damn" and "hell" awakened the sensibilities of the Federal Communications commission. Docs the Federal Communications commission believe that these two words are more likely to offend or corrupt any part of the American public than the implications of some of Father Coughlin's broad- H. G. Wells' mythical invasion from Mars as dramatized on the air led the Federal Communications commission to call for an explanation.

Is an invasion from Mars more to be feared than an Invasion of nazl prop- And, finally, docs the Federal Communications Commission believe that the truth or untruth of a statement of fact transmitted over the radio is a matter affecting "public interest, con- If it does! then it would seem to me that Father Coughlin's recent broadcasts might be investigated from the viewpoint of whether oi1 not what he has been saying is true, or whether he is disseminating misquotations and misrepresentations. Sincerely yours, DOROTHY THOMPSON. aco when I was livfne in each other's ha li of I Germany, Father Coughlin Is coupling in his they began the jeforc Israeli. He floundered daughter. bogged deeper.

The The whole house took on. The house was i Finally his fifrhtinj and he said: A'n mum ana 111 tnc minds or his hearers Jdaism with atheism and with communism. He has taken some of the "facts- to sub-antiate many of his remarks from a publi the exchange's hoard of governors to 1 act on the report of the commission condemning Thomas W. Lamont and other partners in J. P.

Morgan and Co. for their part in the Richard Whit- could be identified at a mo-would be apprehended more readily, if criminals could be apprehended readily, they would have less assurance of getting away with a contem- Rcgistration is a tried and proved method in countries that have long since learned to deal with criminaUty: and the heads of the departments of justice of these failure. The commission report was referred to the exchange "for Thus, when the governors met last i Wednesday, they knew that the SEC expected them to do something about the men attacked in the report. An already of the shed in Ehrfurt, Germany, in eight languages, and distributed in this country by ought to be pointed out. Froci t-g began the study of public speaking.

He ed his style of address from the flowery srnate to the simple and direct. Also he The governors' meeting icas an exciting, if lop-sided, dispute between the other members present and Hutchins. start, the youthful president. 1 McC. Martin has steaafi posed Morgan influence on i about his subject than he had the of that it costs Otner! Tcrshins wiu uwwiuums propaganda put at Its dis- than it does to bear the expense ilhinthet0gS banking tal tlon of the best-known lay governor, President Robert Maynard Hutchins of the University of Chicago.

If anything, the governors' decision has infuriated the SrX even more than it did Hutchins. It has been discussed among the commissioners with the utmost heat. It has provoked entirely responsible SEC officials to such statements as. "We let the exchange govern itself. it uld stat rpWO years later he again addressed the house.

J- This time he came almost immediately to the point. His speech was a success. Nobody laughed. The time came when he was considered one of the best sneakers in the hnusn nf after it has been committed. As a citizen and taxpayer, how do you feel about this? Would you object to being fingerprinted if all other honest, law abiding people were? Would you object to being registered just as automobiles arc registered, and carrvine in with Martin.

The SEC a the Federal Communications commission should analyze these broadcasts, the groups that are supportine them nnri rfemsinriirm He argued that, unless disciplinary' measures were taken, the question of members' and partners' responsibilities in similar cases would be left unset- Yet his first public speech had been quarcly on the suppcsiti i his followers ha tha iali effect they are having on American public opinion. snt novel identity? by that the Whitney the big fellows. I am aware that the Federal Communications commission is constrained and rightly so by the act which orpntri fmn, 'nelly vxc with past history. It is not the intention here. ever, to discuss the right'' and i merely as a deprcssins iIMi-iru." 'the lusiia! trend In government--S ncss dealings.

JOSEPH ALSOP, I The first five minutes of your interview with your prospective employer are your five most important minutes. Approach him with the desire to bo of help to him. If he feels that you want to help him. he will most likely want to engage you If he believes, in addition, that you are capable of helping him, the job is yours. DALE CARNEGIE.

wntc me his opinion on this very vital subject. JISRAELI. prime minister of England under the question, in the minds of the 11 potent SEC figures, whether the should not renew its effort tn "rr in on the exchange." As one 1 put it: "We think the covernors' rcfusa the Morgan firm, of applicability of exchange rules: and that, in any case. the fact that George and Richard Whitney were brothers made disciplinary action psychologically difficult. "bdess it issues or withholds its (Copyright.

1938, fc the exchange will after peo- the.