Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-08-29
Intolerance
Foes Often
In+oleran+
Many Also Make Racket =
of Their Opposition \
By WESTBROOK PEGLER

SOME OF our people seem 10
~ need reminding that human
nature has not been repealed
and that 1t is still legal in the
United States to hold and ex-
press racial and religious preju-
dices and that II you try to
suppress such feelings by force.
whether through government ac-
ton or boycott. you viii; almost
certainly run into difficulties.
I am not arguing in favor of
such prejudice. or in favor of
discrimination, for I believe I
am almost innocent Of such
meanness and envy the man. II
such there breathes. who Is abb
solutely so.
But you can't stamp II out
by compulsion and any attempt
TO do SO is itself resort to
coercion of the mind and bad
business any way you look at II.
It Is a police invasion OF the
realm of conscience.
Why in the world does any
one want to dust off such a
topic at this time. says you?
Well. tell you. Although in
tolerance is a bitter thing and
often has been played as a
racket. those who try to sup
press IL are usually very intol-
Grant themselves and many OF
them also make racket OF
their opposition.
The greater the pressure you
bring to bear on the man full
of hate TO make him stop hat
ing. the madden you make him
and the louder he yells the bill
of particulars which he holds
against the object of his hatred.
You slap him into Jail for hat
ing, or on some charge which Is
mere pretext, such as loiter-
ing or parking by a hydrant. and
you martyrize him and he be-
comes a career man.
Moreover. people just natur-
ally hate and have right TO
and. unfortunate though the
fact Is, it still goes as it lies.
DISCRIMINATION Is very
~ bad against some elements
of our people. but IL exists
everywhere in some degree and
Is practiced and upheld by some
of the very people who yell
loudest against II.
For instance, the Communist
papers and the Newspaper Guild
can howl bloody murder against
a publisher of a standard Amer
lean newspaper who refuses TO
hire a reporter because he OBJ
iects to the reporters politics,
especially il the reporter Is a
Communist.
They can even set the law
and the Labor Relations Board
on him for that IL he admits the
discrimination. But the Com
munist paper wouldn't think OF
hiring a reporter who wasn't
cardholder in the party and
would can him on the spot for
writing anything of the line.
There you have discrimina-
tors ready TO raise the devil with
others who practice discrimina-
ton.
II you 60 in for proportional
employment as a means or de-
feating discrimination you invite
several kinds of trouble.
In view Of the fact that there
are so few Communists among
us, under the proportional sys-
TEN, the Communist paper
would have to employ non-Com.
munists at the rate OF say,
maybe, 20 to 1.
IF YOU were TO 60 down the
l. line through all phases Of
employment. you would have to
classify and segregate our
groups more rigidly than ever in
order to make sure that each
group got its fair share of work.
When you do that. you set
them firmly and distinctly apart
and stop all progress toward
natural understanding and nom
discrimination.
You start by saying that a
man must not be rejected on
racial or religious or political
grounds and very soon you find
he must be accepted because OF
his racial or religious or political
distinction regardless of his gen.
eral qualifications and inevitably
to the injury of some other indi-
vidual who has more ability but
doesn't happen to be the type
next in line.
1t should be remembered that
when Hitler was just coming
along and pretending TO be just
a little bit anti-Jewish he re-
stricted the Jews to a proper.
tionate rate of opportunity In
the professions and In the
schools and that this rule was
condemned instantly and vocif-
erously by those very liberals
who are now beginning TO ex-
pertinent with proportionate en-
ployment in this country.
Later on, of course, Hitler
went in for his cold pogrom. but
the discrimination was first es-
tablished in the proportionate
system.
To any group which suffers
| from discrimination this system