Evening star., 1939-09-20


On CoIoneIFs Radio
Appeal for Peace
To the Editor Of The Star:
I have just listened to the radio ad-
dress of Col. Lindbergh; and burn
with chagrin and indignation. say with
all the force at my command that he
does not represent me as an American.
His is not the point of view Of the de-
scendants or spiritual heirs of those who
settled this continent in the fear Of God
and carved new Nation out of the wild
erness, who wrote the Declaration of In
dependence and suffered in the bonds
of brotherhood to establish our freedom.
Nor does he comprehend the inner spirit
which has made and makes our Nation
what it is. If America were what he
pictures it, it would not be worth loving
as we love it-not for its capacity to make
lot of people fat and comfortable but
for its unique power and opportunity to
serve mankind. And if we were to be-
come no more than he recommends, you
as free people.
The colonels speech seemed clumsy
attempt to rationalize and excuse COM
bination of fear and selhshness. There
was no spark of Christianity in it. 1t
was not even pacif1st. 1t carried the
seeds of self-centeredness, of disintegra-
ton and decay. You can write it down
that if man talk Of freedom and democ-
racy. yet does not earnestly desire those
blessings for others than Americans-to
the point of self sacrifice-he Is unworthy
of those blessings for himself. For the
same principle of cold disinterested de-
tachment from the sufferings and the
welfare of others will curse and rot us
internally as it has cursed and rotted the
family of nations ever since Lodge and
Borah and johnson in 1920 led America
away from its responsibility and its op-
portunity for the progress of the race.
And for military man, he is astonish-
ingly obtuse when he -wishfully-
that we are safe behind the two oceans.
Let me commend to him the article by
Maj. Connolly in the August issue of the
Infantry Journal and careful study of
Maj. Eliots "The Ramparts We Watch"
1t is false and dangerous to think that
we can isolate ourselves in safety from
Europe, Asia and Africa.
The colonel talks of saving western
civilization by making an island of it
here in a sea of barbarism but he does
not perceive nor understand the forces
which tend to civiliZe life on this planet.
We are admonished not to be swayed by
our emotions. But the man who is not
energized by emotion is dead. The colo
mel himself, obviously, is in the grip of
great emotion. else he would not have
troubled to make his address. Unfor-
trnately the emotion which grips him
seems to be binding fear.
But life cannot go forward except it
Danish fear, put the shell of self behind
and serve something greater than self
outside. And that is true of nations as
well as of men. The seed cannot live
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seems to me that the national sickness
that is upon us now is due largely to in
trospection and an inordinate attention
to self-interest. We need to get out of
ourselves and away from ourselves, to
find ourselves.
A nation will never be great unless 1t
thinks greatly, loves greatly and does
f1v-for rporkinH n hal in,
the heart of America and thank God that
the colonel does not represent it.
September IS. PHILLIPS KERR.
To the Editor Of The Star:
would like the privilege of comment
ing on the editorial appearing in The
Sunday Star of September II, 1899, un-
der the title of Colonel Lindbergh's
Talk
AS an American my only concern in
the matter is my patriotic duty to think
clearly in the best interest of my country
and a personal interest of having two
sons that would be called upon to bear
arms for their country. 1t will be their
duty to fight once war is started wheth-
er the policy is right or wrong and I
would much prefer their fighting in &C
tual defense of their country.
I agree with the thought expressed in
the editorial that it may be to the best
advantage of this country to have Great
Britain and France undefeated in the
present struggle. I believe that our
friendly relations with these two nations,
together with the questionable attitude
that Germany may take in the event she
is victorious, justify such stand No
doubt we are living under less tension
and with less preparedness for protec-
ton at present than would exist if Eng
land and France were defeated. But this
is all presumption and I do not believe
we should create a situation that might
lead us to war on any presumptions.
believe that lifting the present arms en-
barge would create such situation.
I cannot understand the logic carried
in the editorial to the effect that by
lifting the embargo on arms it would so
benefit Great Britain and France that
there would be little chance of this coun-
try being drawn into the conflict. I must
agree with Col. Lindbergh in his theory
that it is going to take more help than
just arms. In the last war it took the
combined help of England, France Italy,
Russia Japan and the United States to
bring Germany to a halt. Why is it
supposed that France and Great Britain