The Wilmington morning star., 1947-10-23

(COpyrlgnt, 1871, By Ain& featuFes oyn0l-
cate, Inc.)
NEW YORK, Oct. q - Offhand I can
think of no more hypocritical fraud on the
people of the United States than the self
inflicted doctrine of equality among and
between mankind. Not one person in a mil
lion believes in this. Even those few who
do so believe qualify their attitude with
elaborate explanatory notes. The rest of
us only pretend to believe that the wicked
and the good, the ignorant and the educat-
ed, the yellow and the brave, or even the
dull and the amusing, are equal.
1t is true that a minority of religious
persons, by their habitual proximity to
God, keep themselves reminded of their
limited belief in equality, that is to say,
they pinch themselves daily or once a week
and assert, privately, that they humbly
waive superiority as souls. However, it
does not follow that even these subscribers
believe in universal equality of persons,
the dirty and the clean, the lazy and the
diligent, and so forth.
Americans regard as virtues some quail
ties which, on examination, plainly prove
to be mere affectations. Cleanliness
is one. The hygienic person abhors the
unwashed and uncombed and even the I'M
pressed, and feels superior to him. So
robust this feeling is that one firm operat-
ed by progressive American business men
spent millions profitably flattering the self
satisfaction of the one group and drowning
in the vile pools of their loathing those
who have B. o. yet, short of that point at
which the nonbathers break out in leprosy,
what authority tells us that the clean are
nicer than the soiled? And who being tidy
would deny, under confidential vows, that
he felt superior to the others, who include,
significantly, many of the poor?
The Christian policy toward poverty,
which, by the way, is invariably paraphas-
ed if not frankly cribbed by political candi-
dates, here builds a paradox. For, while
it is elaborate to say that cleanliness is
next to Goodness, still cleanliness is highly
respected. And still poverty and filth are
complementary, and not always perforce.
We honor heroes and despite the blame
less Wretches who are afraid in danger
and wisely run away. That is a standard of
virtue that we just made up. Without re-
search, l venture the suspicion that it was
propagated by barons or military execu-
tives to overcome the natural and not at
all desplcable desire of men to escape
pain, captivity and death. Man saw danger
and he ran. Before medals were invented
this was recognized as the intelligent thing
to do. There was no public opinion to in
flate the hero or coerce the coward and
the individual consulted only himself. Ami
mails, in their natural condition, are wiser
in such emergencies than men. Two dogs
meet. They scuff grass. They bristle.
They mutter. One, defeated in repartee,
suddenly leaps at the other. The other runs
and is unhurt. Is he ashamed? Why should
he be?
A cat runs away a hundred times when
she could slash a bumptious dog to tat
tiers. Is she a coward or serene in her own
esteem without respect for the opinions of
mankind?
We even send men to Jail for laziness in
some communities. In gloomy mumbles at
the wake we observe that poor Ed, or
George, that wonderful man actually
worked himself to death. 1t would be rude
to add, s'the fool" but not necessarily
impairment.
The oriental broomstick cavalry in which
Henry Wallace got implicated under the
godship of Prof. Nicholas Roerich is COM
mitted to the proposition that most of man.
kind consists of factory seconds, manu-
facturers' samples, spoiled efforts
and scrap. These witches who rode across
the moon with crabs, bulls and blllygoats
embroidered on their vestments and yall-
er-eyed tomcats hanging on behind, believ-
ed furiously in superiority and the reverse.
The interiors are simply offal from the
manufacture of a ~supernormal minority I'm
der the direction of the master spirits. One
of these bright aeons there will be a ter
rible fire, a holocaust, which will sweep
the premises and destroy all but this
spiritual oNJs WAN ~
ferent through the flames because destiny
fireproofed them. Wallace flirted with a
doctrine which frankly holds that anyone
who breaches equality is an idiot.
AS individuals, Americans admire them
selves as the most desirable beings yet
produced. We believe in equality only as a
social and political cliche. It would be
boastful and bad amer to say 81 am
the best and a great amount of unneces-
sary fighting would be entailed. And, of
course, any American candidate who
dared to express a high opinion of him.
self would be obliterated at the polls.
Collectively, we show our vanity bv our
national determination to ompel other ma
tons to adopt in the guise of morals, the
notorious corruption and the sanctimonious
wlckedne IS which we call our Demo
cracy". This determination NAV he fats1
to us yet. It is the snnugeest
ana the most indecent show of contempt
Tor the scabby heather in history.