Evening star., 1948-02-22
Qbe 9unio1? &tar
| lust Between
Yourselves
By PhiIip H, Love.

THE longer I live," said Uncle
Charlie. "the crazier I think people
are"
Maybe" his wife said gently,
people think the same OF you"
Maybe they do," Uncle Charlie
And maybe they're right.
But, thank the Lord, I'm not crazy
IN the same way some Of them are"
Just what form of insanity are
you getting worked up about now?"
Aunt Flora wanted to know.
Her husband put down his news
paper, took off his eyeglasses, and
reached for his pipe and tobacco.
IT was just reading" he said,
stufnng his pipe, about this
Brotherhood Week. which begins
today. 1t burns me up" He struck
match and started pufnng. In q
few moments. he had all but dis
appeared in the smoke.
You look like you're burning up,
Aunt Flora teased. But ] don't see
why Brotherhood Week should
cause anybody to burst into names
least Of all, you. think it's . good
thing"
That's not the point" Uncle
Charlie retorted, tanning the smoke
away from his face. You're q
Methodist and I'm a Catholic. We've
been married 80 years. You know
from living with me, that Catholics
aren't devils in disguise; and I know
from living with you, that Method
lists, Protestants in general, aren't
demons, either. Right"
Partners And Friends.
Aunt Flora nodded. But still
don't see-"
And your brother Dick" Unck
Charlie went on, "has been in bus.
mess with q Jew for at least II
years. They've had q successful
partnership, and they're seoe
friends. Dick knows that Jews aren',
rogues just because they're Jews
and Abe knows the same thing
about Christians. Right?"
Right" Aunt Flora echoed. "Bu'
I still don't see-"'r4a .H.+.-
THE point is" her husband con-
tinued, that people are people, re-
gardless Of their religion; and wha'
their religion Is, just so it teaches
good conduct, has snothing to d'
with the kind of people they are"
You sound little bit hkt
Gertrude STEM.
What I'm trying to say is simpl!
that decent and intelligent people
shouldn't choose their friends ant
associates on the basis of their re-
lligion. Suppose all the Catholics il
the country decided to live only il
Catholic neighborhoods, to emplo!
or work for Catholics only, to as
sociate socially with no one bu
Catholics. Suppose the Protestant!
and the Jews took the same atti'
tude.. Suppose big corporations re-
fused to hire anyone who didn't be-
long to the same religious groups a
the majority Of their. stockho holdersi
Suppose all Government employees
had to be Of the same faith as thu
PRESIDENT"
Now you're talking crazy, Char.
lie, and you know it."
For Better Understanding.
Uncle Charlie relit his pipe. %
know" he said, that thousands
maybe millions of Americans have
lot Of crazy prejudices. Catholics
dislike Protestants and Jews. Prot
estants dislike Catholics and Jews
Jews dislike Catholics and Protes'
tants. In the classified pages o
nearly any newspaper, nearly an!
day, you'll see ads that say: House
keeper wanted, Protestant or Room
for rent, gentiles only or Girl II
care for children, Catholic pre-
ferred,' or Will share apartment
with another girl, Jewish Ever
the help wanted ads sometimes
say, state religion
"All you've said adds up to
good argument in favor Of brother
hood week." Aunt Flora observed
But you started of talking agains
it-said 1t burns you up. It's spon'
sored by the National Conference
of Christians and Jews for the pur'
pose of bringing about better un'
derstanding among Catholics, Prot
estants and Jews. I don't see how
you can be against that"
I'm afraid I didn't make myself
clear" Uncle Charlie said, emptyine
his pipe with a series of sharp raps
against the ash tray. What burn!
me up is that in this country, ot
all places, such a week should bt
necessary. If so many people
weren't so crazy with prejudice W.
wouldn't have to set aside a spe-
l.