The people's voice., 1941-02-26

Publication OF communications und
Voice agrees or disagrees with the
for this department should be briet
some degree at least, effectively.
Dear Editor:
am sorry to have you wait SO Ion,
for my renewal. / don't want to misl
any copy of the Peoples Voice. It II
a paper that | get a lot of good ou
Of Hope you will excuse me for wait
ing SO long.
Wishing you great success.
Your friend,
JOHN HINTZE,
Roman, Mont
Libby, Montana
The Peoples Voice,
Helena, Montana.
Dear Editor:
| We hear so much about propaganda
To most people it seems to mean
only things pro-nazi. pro-facist, com
munistic, fifth columnist; all the
terms that have suddenly come into
our daily life that are somehow an
tagonistic to our way of thought.
But propaganda is more than that.
To me the most sinister propaganda
right now is the flood of British prop
aganda that is allowed to sweep the
country, blazoned from the news
sheets, blared from our radios, shout
ed from the pulpits and hurled at us
from every public forum and lecture
platform. 1t is doled out disgracefully
from those who are supposed to be
doing the will Of the people in Wash
ington.- l consider this the more dan
gerous propaganda because very little
is said against it and nothing done
to prevent it.
We have all sorts of organizations,
the Dies committee, the F.BI, dozens
of groups combating un-American ac-
tivities. And that is fine. Anything
un-American should be sque1ched
hard But isn't the British propaganda
just as American?
American thought seems to be SO
confused. Just because we are an
English speaking people it does not
necessarily follow that the aims and
of the British government
are our aims and ambitions.
If the war of 1919 taught us any
thing at all it should have taught
us that our national ideal is quite
different from that of the British
empire
From 1914 on we were flooded with
the same kind of British propaganda
that faces us now. With eyes blinded
by the fog of that propaganda we
walked willingly into the war of 1917.
We saved democracy" We won the
war for freedom" But when 1t was
over we discovered it wasn't our war
at ALL 1t was their war and their
peace.
The rude shock of that awakening
gave us sanity enough for little
while to let those courageous few,
who had not been blinded by propa
,anda, steer us around the Versailles
reaty and back to the safe American
policies that we had deserted.
We even passed the neutrality law |
ind the johnson act. trying to safe
,uard ourselves while we were pain
ully trying to climb out of the bog
# depression that we found ourselves
n after our foolish jag.
A few years have passed. The babies
# 1917 are voters now. The draftees
# that time are middle-aged now
he propaganda Of today is almost
IDENTICAL with the propaganda Of that
ther war. And people listen and be-
ieve!
Do we never think? Someone in
essimistic mood has said, "You can't
xpect people to think when they
ave nothing to think with"
Is that then the challenge to de-
locracy?
How l should like to see more
.merican propaganda flooding the
ountry, awakening the people to their
as a free nation here.
Wake up America or it may be too
ate Passengers on a sinking ship are
asy prey to the sharks waiting their !
me.
And | don't mean European or Ash
tic sharks eitherI
Yours for an enlightened America,
GLADYS E. ERHARD