Evening star., 1945-09-21
Measuring A Corporation
! The :II;,'' !. CHRISTIAN !
REGISTER
Masuxine Of The American Unlfarian Association

Masazins Of The American Unlfarian Association
On August there appeared in the Washington Daily
NeUs full-page advertisement of the International
Latex Corporation, and the next day it occupied
quarter page in the Ne,u York Times. told that
thetotal number of newspapers throughout the
try in which this advertisement appeared was over
hundred.
The body of the text a long extract from the
editorial columns of the Washington Post, in strong
endorsement of the Maternal and Child Welfare Act
introduced in the closing days of the Senate session by
Senator Claude D. Pepper with sponsorship by nearly
dozen colleagues of both parties.
The editorial closes with reference to the wartime
emergency maternity and infant program for
icemens wives and babies, which has constituted "an
admirable test for the national program proposed by
Senator Pepper" ut has been boon young mothers
and to infants And it has strengthened without in
any way impnging upon, the system of private med.
icne Its values have been far great be aban.
doned with the end of the emergency. 1t should be
extended that good medical be made avail.
able to mother. and children wherever they live and
whatever their economic circumstances. As Nation,
could make wiser investment"
World Shocked Into Amaxsmsnt
Over the text of the editorial there were two lines
oflarger type More Important Than Atomic Energy"
and Tin bold black letters) Child Health" And at
the bottom, presented Public Service by Inter.
national Latex Corporation, Playtex Park Dover Del.
aware"
The first comment this advertisement that leaps
to ones mind is the extraordinary timeliness of the
whole project Two DAYS earlier the entire world had
been shocked into amazement by the announcement
l.J. L..
human purposes-at the moment for destruction on an
unprecedented SCALE but with the assurance that in
the future it could be used for creative and con.
structive ends. The implication. of this announcement
were just beginning to be guessed at by millions Of
people whose minds had been stunned by the word
that atomic bomb had actually been dropped on 4
Japanese city. Could anything conceivably be moro
important than this epoch.makng achievement Of
modern science?
At that precise moment, told that there is
something important The health of our children
of all children-"wherever they live and what.
ever their economic circumstance mportant
than atomic energy! To millions of Americans that
message came with impact that must have made an
indelible impression What perfect timing! How swiftly
somebody's mind must have worked!
1t was Imagination of high order that conceived
and timed that advertisement, and it was agination
working in the realm of values Furthermore it makes
just the of bold and startling alton as to rela
tive values that religion has prded itself upon making
setting the welfare of children above the misht Of
embated empires or the achievements of the wisest
earth. So might Amos have spoken in the pres.
ence OF kings, or jeremiah, Jesus-especaly Jesus
who had good deal say about children, and about
those who forgot neglected or deliberately ignored
their welfare
Atomic Ensrsy: Ssrvant or Mastsr7
Atomic energy is the latest and most awful of the
manifestations of physical power. Its control is the
crowning episode in the long story of mans effort to
master the material world, the of the outward
and visible signs of human ingenuity. But it is ess
important than the spiritual life of a single child
less important than the physical health of single
child, because child is a spiritual creature worth
infinitely than all the physical power in the uni
verse The only value in atomic energy lies in the
possibility that it may be used a, servant of the
spiritual values that incarnate in even he least
of these, my brethren"
Who Speaks for Religion?
This is the authentic word of religion; but who il
the spokesman? Strangely enough it not the Vicar
of Christ, speaking from his throne by the Tiber II
is not the Federal Council of the Churche. of Christ
In America, issuing statement from its headuuarters
by the Hudson 1t is not the American Unitarian
sending forth its message from the crest
OF Beacon HILL 1t wasn't any of these ocia" spokes.
men OF official" religion that the opportunity
which the dramatic news about atomic energy pre-
sened and rose to it with prophetic insight and skill
On the contrary. it a corporation, the Interna.
tonal Latex Corporation, giving nationwide publicity
to the editorial opinion of secular newspaper that
spoke the necessary word using the Isnouor. .,d H.
methods of modern business That fact is or should
be, SOLDERING and humbling phenomenon for the
official leadership of religion in this America of ours
ON NH n@er@N as.e