Jackson advocate., 1946-07-13
What Was Won?

VII II "A OASO AIN NESS tnaC is
disarming, the whole pattern of
American life as we have known
it is falling to pieces. The stand
ards that reached their highest
point before the war are no long
er the truest measure of our great
ness as a nation. America is Slip
ping, and it is as though we have
been rotting away at the core for
long time and it is just now be-
ginning to show. On the surface,
it appears that we are engaged in
such important world affairs as
the disposition of the secret of
atomic energy and peace terms
and conditions that will endure,
but actually we are more con-
cerned about the low quality of
our evaporated milk, and the lack
of purity and freshness in the food
we eat daily.
We relaxed our vigilance out of
necessity during the war, and try
as we might, we cannot get back
to the high level again. Cheating
and dishonesty are the top virtues
of the moment, and, "let the buy
er beware" has been revived as
national slogan. Our government,
which has never dared to interfere
with the sadistic excursions of a
lynch mob, granted permission to
tamper with the butter-fat content
of whole milk, and with one au
thoritarian stroke, took the cream
out of our coffee. Short weights
are the mode of the moment, and
ice cream buyers get fraction of
the full measure for which they
pay.
LAY UP STORES
Housewives with sugar ration
coupons go without, while human
hogs with little conscience and
much cash, lay up stores of the
stuff without recourse to ration
coupons. 1t is not what these
things are in themselves that mat
tiers, it is what they reflect. In
the things that give and make life,
it is every man for himself, and
the devil take the hindmost. There
is no longer the feverish attempt
to prove that all will be well when
the Negro recognizes the truth of
his low estate and stays there; it
is not so much the color of mans
skin as it is the color of his
money.
Should you suffer the terrible
pangs of ptomaine from eating a
piece of improperly inspected and
Improperly refrigerated pork, at
tribute it to the current American
passion for making great profit
in a great hurry. We talk of the
black market as though it were
new and formidable branch of our
national economy, and we admit
that butter does not reach the
open market because the black
marketeers have money that talks
faster and stronger. We are afraid
to control prices for the benefit OF
the millions of our underpaid and
underfed brothers, because the
strong money bloc will yell about
the nick in their profits. We dare
not openly take the lid off prices
because these who will be gouged
have votes, so we slowly emascu-
late price controls and slip ii t.
them easy.
Leaving our own house IN
shameless disorder we send our
big brains to tell the rest of the
world how to build for peace on
the American plan. We pull the
curtain over the hungry emaciated
millions in our own land while we
send our best cameras to record
the emaciated victims of starva-
tion in Europe and Asia, thus by
subtle comparison, showing our
own little victims how much better
off they happen to be.
SEEK JUSTICE
We plead for international jus.
tice almost at the very moment
when the highest tribunal of JUS
tice in our own land is clouded by
political pickering. We are the
spokesmen for the new century
because we had the money and
the resources, and the good for
tune to be far removed from the
path of the Nazi tornado when il
was strong and we were weak. We
are conquerors because, by the