Evening star., 1938-07-03
By NC. r.

recent events have brought to
light the existence Of foreign spies
in this country, magazine given
over to exposing foreign propaganda
is q good thing. The reviewer, readers
may remember, had stated that she
considered Ken's method Of attack
ing Fascist and NaA governments
hysterical and found that its constant
wild-eyed assaults on foreign regimes
was beside the point in q magazine
designed for rational American con-
sumption. supposing that European
nations do have their tyrants, she
asked in effect: What Of it? Should
We lash ourselves into frenzy over
the condition?
Well, the aforementioned corre-
spondent points with triumph to the
recent discovery Of a Nazi spy ring
in this country for an answer to the
question. That Is what Of it, she says.
"Fie, Mary-Carter Roberts, ne, fie,"
she writes. You try to shut up Ken
for doing exactly what the G-men are
doing" The reviewer admits that, for
a moment, she was set the least bit
back on her heels.
But only for . moment. With just q
modicum Of thought, she submits, al
most any one can see differences be-
tween the work Of the Government
agents and the work ofsthe editors of
Ken.
In the first place the agents are
there because there Is . well-recog-
nized ungentlemanly agreement be-
tween all nations that they shall spy
on one another. Each government
puts 1t that its own spying Is to be
defensive only; that postulates. Of
course. that the spying of all the
others will be offensive. 1t Is . mag
nificent piece Of logic. well in accord
with the other greatly admired con-
ventions on which the structure Of
human society has its 0tately base
The G-men therefore have 1t for
their explicit duty to engage in spy
catching. When they uncover q ring
and the Mani one is not the first they
have found in our history-they are
simply carrying on with their jobs
Stout fellows, and more power to
them.
THE editors Of Ken, however, are
not ofhcially or unoficially en-
gagged in spy-catching. Hence they are
not rendering the country any definite
practical service. And If they do
happen on some discovery. Of nefarious
conduct within our borders by agents
Of foreign governments, 1t is not for
the sake of putting those agents out OF
business but by way Of keeping alive
anti-NaN and anti-Fascist sentiment
in this country that they publish the
revelation. Why they want to stir up
so much feeling among Americans
(who might conservatively be thought
TO have troubles enough Of their own)
is not for this reviewer to say; doubtless
they have reasons The point to be
made here is that 1t is not the business
Of any magazine, or any group, to
strive to create a violent feeling in
this country against any other gov
ernment. no matter how repellent that
governments policies may be to our
way Of thinking.
Moreover, any magazine which ex-
lists only to attack something is in the
position Of having to window-dress its
facts pretty strenuously. The re-
viewer has already called Ken hys-
terical. She submits now-and right
in the face Of the spy ring discovery.
too-that it needs to be hysterical. If
it Is going to shock America twice a
month with Fascist-NAzi horrors, 1t
will obviously have to depend on
methed as well as content And it
does depend on method. It is Shrek
ingly sensational in presenting its case
from beginning to end. But it was
the G-men. remember. who actually
caught the spies. In their quiet.
realistic way, they have done a far
better job of shocking than all of
Ken's scareheads. Why not leave it
to them?
RUT there Is an even more important
reason for objecting to such pub
ications. than that they are irrele-
want and in offensive taste. And that
is this-and the reviewer could wish
that the words might be printed here
in flaming type-that such political
thinking as Is indicated by the terms
fright" and 'left" and Communist
and Fascist and Red flag and Black
Shirt is un-American and out of our
tradition and so backward that any
one who trafiics in it must be judged
as totally unaware of what this coun-
try means in the world and what it
has accomplished to date. There Is
no sense in waving these labels before
our people. They have no meaning in
this country. They are relics of Eu-
rope. Of monarchial and imperialistic
Europe, of militaristic Europe, Of quar-
relsome, backward, race-minded Eu-
rope. Of the Europe Of religious wars.
pogroms and purges, Of the Europe
from which the founders and main
tainers Of this country very sensibly
fled and very shortly revolted.
And are we now to take lesson in
political thinking from that continent
which is perennially miserable in any
political sense? Are we to lay our
own free institutions on Procrustean
bed and stretch and lop them to meet
the requirements of Europe's left or
right? Are we? Well, II we are. the
reviewer will take out naturalizat tion
papers with the Eskimos. And she
will have it for her lifelong lament
that there was a good country-once.
And she suggests that any magazine
which constantly directs the attention
Of the people to these right and left
movements, and seeks to enlist SYM
a - n