The Daily Alaska empire., 1938-06-08
In the Middle
Cleveland Plain Dealerl


 William Allen White has habit of saying a mouthfu When the Emporia editor a generation ago joted Kansas out of complacency and lethargy he won a national audience which the years has found both profit and pleasure in his philosophical proddings.
 He turns his attention to what he describes as the sheltered middle class" It must he take the burden of unemployment from government shoulders if we are to save hides and our Ameri- democracy"
 Editor Whites qualification to speak for the middle class is beyond dispute. He from the section of the country which, geographically and socially most merits the adjective middle" But unlike some members of the middle group, he has never let his vision be stopped by class barriers. He evidently thinks good many middle classers do make this mistake however Else he would not have classified them as sheltered
 It is plain that the thought in MT Whites mind is that this shelter is longer valid protection The sheltered middle class, he told the Associated Harvard Clubs the other day has long boasted that it elects governors and controls the machine guns in times of popular tumult."
 But this control is not secure it seems. For says MT. White, what will happen when that tough tenuous line of safety in our national credit breaks through, when we can borrow longer to spend and feed the hungry?"
 Editor White does not answer his question, Being man of engaging frankness he would probably admit that he does not know the Neither does anyone else who is utterly honest But White
 
 the problem and well worth the attention of those in any class who deem themselves sheltered
 He cites the example of Florida which boasted that it has no inheritance income taxes but where the recent primary struck a blow "at the principle of protecting the privileged with regard to justice In seeking to protect themselves the economically secure middle class Foridians sowed the seed of the hurricane
 Picture what may happen when the seed sprouts Editor White does vivdly:
 Tn the middle of the next decade when the Florida cracker chases the untaxed millionaire all over the lot and makes him jump into the l. standing against the wall facing the Fascist or proletaran firing squad, amid the wreck of matter and the crash of worlds, am going to get one good last laugh"
 vast number of Americans are sincerely hopeful that MT White will not have to go to all that hazard to get laugh and also that his last laugh in this mundane sphere may be far more distant than the middle of the next decade. Without wishing to con- tradct our colleague in Emporia feel that he him. self does not think that things will get as bad as that so fast. Moreover we that Editor White has sufficient faith in the American democracy he ably represents that he does not lie awake nights vsionng the tramp, tramp of the firing squad
 But his warning is timely. not only to the middle class whatever it's degree of putative shelter but to the extremists of both wings. The reactionary who demands that labor be put in its pace"-that place being down-and the bellgerent radical who would destroy almost everything older than yesterday morn ing twin dangers to the course of democracy
 If their prejudces and intolerances are to domn- ate America we might well all say goodby to free dom and pick comfortable spots at the execution wall But for all the croakngs of the assorted Jere miahs of the Left and the Right do not believe that these things going to happen Fortunately there are timely jots such Editor Whites to prod the essential common sense of the great American people