Evening star., 1934-06-28
To the Editor Of The Star:

To the Editor Of The Star:
The new deal aims to prohibit
child labor and limit adult labor to
80 hours per week. thereby giving
children and adults more leisure.
Heretofore we have frowned upon
idleness and have exalted hard work.
We honored such men as Lincoln,
who split rails in his youth.
President Theodore Roosevelt ad-
vocated the strenuous life; President
Franklin Roosevelt advocates a life
with much leisure. The former was
inclined to believe in hard work as
a duty; the latter in a certain
amount OF leisure as a duty. The
former especially admired the pioneer
who felled the forests; the latter the
man who can work a few hours and
spend the rest of his time in recrea-
ton.
The increased use of machinery has
brought about the difference in the
thoughts of President Theodore and
President Franklin Roosevelt. Ma
chinery has made it possible for us
to supply our wants without working
as many hours as our forefathers
worked.
Leisure must now be made as virtu-
Gus as labor A different emphasis
must be placed on the literature
taught in our schools. We must not
glorify too much such poems as the
Village Blacksmith" by Longfellow,
which made us love the man who
raised large family and toiled at
his anvil from early morning till late
at night. We must place equal en-
phasis on such poems as the Lotus
Eaters" by Tennyson, which makes
us long for land where one can eat
and sleep. With the repeal of national
prohibition. the epicurean ideal of
eating, drinking and being merry can
be lifted up. Men, such as Clarence
Darrow, who find most pleasure in
work, must be muZzled; we must allow
those to speak who find pleasure also
in leisure. Twiddling ones thumbs in
shade must be made as noble as
hoeing in a garden on hot day.
Religious conception must also be
changed, and already modern John
the Baptist has appeared. Secretary
of Agriculture Wallace, in speaking
before the Federal Council of Churches,
said that professionalism did not alto
gether fit in with the program of the
new deal, because professionalism en-
couraged rugged individualism too
much. We must have cooperation if
cut-throat competition is to be curbed,
wealth more evenly distributed and
employment and recreation made
available to all Rather than place
emphasis on personal salvation as
professionalism does, we must place
emphasis on social salvation. Our
religious ideals, he said must approach
those of the third and fourth centuries.
Such propensities as those of Martin
Luther, who threw ink bottles. must
therefore be checked; in-bottle in
dividualism must give place to hog
reduction cooperation.
Time, place and circumstance"
must become the touchstone for an in
depreciation of the Bible, just as JUS
tice Cardozo has made it the touch
stone for literally constituting our Fed
eral Constitution. The Bible must be
interpreted so as to give us sort of
social religion, a religion which might
appropriately be termed Wallacianism
after the name of its author. We
must have a religion that will make
us burn with desire to cooperate
with one another, but especially with
The brain trusters or national planners.
These planners will tell us what to
do and what not to do; we must
have faith that they are always right,
and we must have zeal to do their