Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1946-10-11
Whats
New?
By
EdWdrd Duck
Representative
2-B
UAW,CIO


1t mean?
Twenty million Americans
would offer twenty million
definitions of the word.
Naziism is understood to re-
fer to the political, economic
and social ideology of Hitler
and his cohorts. Marxism is
explained in detail in the writ
ings of Karl Marx. Both sys-
TENS advance the theory of
government ownership rather
than individual ownership,
with the person subservient to
the state.
But what is Americanism,
abused, misused, misunder-
the term we've so often heard
misinterpreted?
David Lawrence might say
it means complete free enter
prise, without governmental
regulation nor intervention
when abuses are sighted and
pointed out.
Westbrook Pegler would In
terpret it as the right of cor
porate management to sign
only individual contracts with
workers.
Harry Truman would define
it as the belief that all things
should be done in moderation,
with all disputes happily set
tied by mediation and arbitra-
ton, so as not to cause the
White House any difficulty.
Homer Ramey would prob
ably say, 1--WE used to have it
in the days of my good friend
Herbert Hoover, before the
New Deal and the CIO ruin
ed our country"
DEFINITIONS
Theodore (The NAM Bilbo
would say that Americanism
is exemplified by white su-
premacy and the activity of
the Ku Klux Klan. 1t would
call for determination of mig
gers, "dagos", "polacks',
"hunkies", hikes, red
necks", reds and "damyank-
ees." And he'd have lot of
fellow believers, including
Rankin, Talmadge, O'Daniel,
and others.
A Port Clinton plant man
ager came up with a sparkling
definition that it meant "a
bunch of kids with fishing
poles" No wonder they had
a strike there, with such a
brilliant gent in charge of la
Dor relations!
Americanism should mean
the acceptance of our politi-
cal, economic and social ideol-
ogy as outlined in yesteryear's
documents, just as other coun-
tries isms refer to theirs. Not
fawnlike worship of the in
habitant of the White House,
nor glorification of the mill
tary, nor stolid belief that the
status quo is supremely per-
feet and the slightest move to-
ward improvement of condi-
tions would upset the apple
cart.
It should mean devotion to
those principles for which our
ancestors fought during and
following the Revolutionary
War, as so clearly stated in
the preamble of our Constitu-
tion. These precepts have been
so aborted and misuSed in the
modern industrial era that the
trainers of the Constitution of
the United States must be re-
volving in their graves like
chorus of whirling derviSheS.
THE SEARCH
So many obstacles have
been placed before the COM
mon mans path in his search
for life, liberty, and the pur-
suit of happiness that the
search has become a wild
goose chase for millions. The
declaration of mans inalien-
able rights means nothing, un-
less we guarantee that those
rights shall become and re-
main attainable.
The brain of our elected
public officials, in nine out of
ten top offices, has become so
warped and so filled with the
thought of maintaining him
self in office that he has be-
come a pawn of the monopol-
lists who hold peoples destiny
in the palm of their hands.
Americanism, If the Declar-