Evening star., 1944-08-22
Fable Of The Skulls
NO FABLE
BY MAX lERNRR
Nessd Jou'nsiss Eeonomix nd Redo CemmSpA
from Of HI, brosJasss-
BY MAX LERNgR

from one Of HI. ,.es.e b,osSs.s.-
Once upon time there was man In Germany
who was so tortured and unhappy that he had to
prove to himself and the world how big man hS
was. He was really little man, with shrunken
heart and no soul at all and mind all of whoss
strength Law in kind of crooked cunning it had.
He thought he might appear very big if, little a.
he was, he could sit on top of mound. And 50 he
built himself mound of skulls, and sat on top
of it to showhis stature. And all the twisted and
tortured little men cheered him-those who had
money and thought that if all their enemies could
be turned into skulls their money would be safe;
and those who had power and felt the same; and
those who had hatred and sense of emptiness
and got some satisfaction from seeing 50 many
skulls and so much devastation; and those also
who had only fear and were afraid not to cheer.
So they all cheered him and said what big man
this little twisted man was
And he got to feeling big, too, and he gave 4
lot of advice. He called other little men to him,
from Spain and Norway, from Belgium and the
Ukraine, from the United States and Mexico and
Argentina, from Canada and South Africa and
India. And he said to Them IF you follow my
way, you can be big, too. You can build mounds
OF skulls in your own countries. And then all of
US together, sitting on all the mounds of skulls,
we can be the elite of the world its chosen ruers.
So they cheered again. and they went back to
their countries to start building their mounds.
But there was one country, the United States
that had peculiar prejudice against letting peo.
pie build mounds of skulls. So they rounded up
30 little men and women and put them in court.
room charged with this skull.conspiracy. These
little men and women all jumped around the
courtroom with quaint antics, for weeks and
weeks at time, thumbing their noses, and ges.
turing grandiosely. and calling the judge and the
prosecution dirty names, and sticking out their
chests and Grating. That was the way the little
man in Germany had behaved 2l years before,
in 1923, when he had been in courtroom At
Munich.
And when our government charged them
with taking part in the skull conspiracy, they
answered: True, we have talked the way tho
little man in Germany did, and we have felt a.
he did, and we have admired the mounds of skulls
he built But it was all innocent talk. 1t was Just
by accident that it happened to be the same
And lot of well-meaning people said: ''Yes,
in the name of freedom we must leave these skull.
mound builders alone We cannot do anvhins ia
them until they are really sitting on top of their
mounds Of skulls.''
l am sorry that cannot end this fable Of tia
little man and the mounds of skulls for Won. Part
Of it will be ended in the courtroom at Washinx.
ton, where the mass sedition trial is being con.
ducted-if the trial ever ends. The bigger part Of
twill be ended in blood and agony on the battle.
fields Of the world. And even then it won't be
ended, because whether it is really ended will
depend on how wise and strong peace we make.
As 4 PUBLIC SERVICE
u this penetrating pcauisation of shadows and ... il