The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-12-28
1t
Seems
to
Me
: BY Haywood Broun


NEW YORK, Dec. 28.-I like
~ Christmas but on the day
after I have an uneasy feeling
that we all have been let down
a little. In other words, men and
women are inclined to crowd their
good will and peace on earth into
a single tWenty-four hours and
then turn up on the 26th Of De-
cember saying: Now we can get
back to work in the same old
usual way"
I wonder just what would hap
pen if a very large number of
people decided that peace on
earth and good will to men was
actually practical doctrine. We
thrill to certain phrases and
slogans but even as we thrill We
keep our fingers crossed.
And yet some of the adages
which are supposed to come out
of hard rock experience are much
more impossible and fantastic
than idealistic ones. For instance
take the familiar attitude of the
nation toward the problem of
war. We are fond of saying that
in time of peace we should pre-
pare for war. That is offered as
common sense and it is one of the
silliest things 1 ever heard.
The best way to obtain war is to
prepare for it. If you wanted to
raise a crop of radiShes in your
garden plot you would go out and
prepare for radishes. You would
put the proper seed in the ground
and rake it and water it and in
due course of time you would eX-
pect radisheS. Indeed you would
be very disappointed if you didn't
get them.
And so when we SOW poison gas,
battleships, cruisers and guns it is
as certain as spring growing that
presently these things will come
up out of the earth.
WE will have our crop of wars!
w Why is peace on earth an
impossible slogan? Every one in
every land says he wants peace.
When a war has just been COM
pleted We all agree that it was
horrible, that it must never hap
pen again and promptly We get
out the rake and the bag of seed
and start new one.
And take the slogan Good will
to men," What is impossible about
that? Naturally I'm not thinking
of world in which no person ever
has a cross word for another. but
is there any utility in nursing
group grudges, in maintaining by
statute and by speech racial and
religious animoSitieS?
always have felt that in the
case of race prejudice both sides
suffer. 1t is a tragic thing to be a
member of any group which is
despised and put upon and it is a
tragic thing to be among the
despisers and the tyrants. Nothing
weakens the fiber of folk so much
as an aggressive sense of SUI
periority. AS matter of fact as
soon as it becomes aggressive it
isn't real. The man or woman who
parrots over and over again I'm
better than you and you" already
has felt in his heart the uneaSe
of uncertainty. He is among the
whistlers who fear the moonlit
graveyardS.
Vast numbers of people in var
ious parts of the world have gone
down to decay because they had
no time or energy for anything ex-
cept to be superior.
And couldn't we extend this
theory of good will to men, to our
courts and jailS and peniten-
tiarieS? Is it really common sense
to sentence maladjuSted man to
five years in Jail and then turn
him out with $40 and suit of
clothes and say Go and do better
this time?" Which way would you
bet in the case of such an in
dividual?
My bet runs that he'll do worse
a second time. I'll lay ten to one
on that. The man who has failed
dismally to become a socially use
full person doesn't click into some
helpful cog after a Jail term has
deepened his sense of insult
flciency.
II HAVE talked to men just out
l. of Jail and they tell me of their
quandary.
IF I conceal this thing when l
ask for a job it will come out
sooner or later" they explained,
and I'll get fired. And if I do
come forward frankly and say
yes. I spent four years in jail
I just don't get the job"
DO better this time we say to
men against whom all the cards
are stacked. We tell these people,
too, that they have sinned against
society and that the Jail term is
a payment for that sin, but we do
not permit them ever to pay in
full. They have fallen into the
hands of the money lenders. For
the rest of their lives they must
go on paying interest on the debt.
Never is this mortgage lifted.
= q
TOOD will to men would not
" include the Savagery with
which we handle criminals who
most distinctly are not normal.
In fact, in every brutal crime I