Evening star., 1948-01-19


one Is looking at. There may be a stop light
Some of these modern improvements" GER
tainly are wonderful H. B. BRADFORD
Friend of the Maladiusted
To the Editor OF The Star: j.
Since the advent of Freud garden variety
psychiatrists and their numerous auxiliaries
among the intelligentsia, have had lively time
probing the vagaries of the "neurotic" the
"maladjusted."
These terms are SO flexible in their applica-
ton that rarer than the fiery phoenix is he
who cannot be blanketed under them. How
successfully the industry Of their speculations
has cornered the medical market may be seen
from an editorial comment in the New York
Times (January 3d. which observes that "men-
tai illness will be spoken of as the Number
problem in public health for an indefinite
period"
It is temptation to ruminate on what many
Of the stage, screen, radio and literary pro-
ductions might have been without the influence
Of psychiatric eyewash. Certainly, their often
overdrawn, sensational portrayals Of the
allegedly abnormal have found bonanza
market. Incidentally, this reader suggests
gratuitously to the purveyors of the macabre
that they explore the possibilities Of that dis
proportionate number Of psychological mon
strosities who constitute Suetonius' Lives OF
the Twelve Caesars" The diaboncal ingenuity
of those ancient butchers surpasses anything
contemporaneously achieved in this DEPART
ment Of the popular arts.
One contemplates with awe, If not with
admiration, the growing wealth of psychiatric
nomenclature Indeed, dictionaries annually
keep abreast of, or traffic in this exotic ternin-
ology. 1t is not unusual for specialists in this
dubious and contentious discipline to explain to
other specialists what they mean by such
phrases as "the parataxic quality of inter-
personal relations, "characterologieal auton-
ony versus heteronomy" etc. Strangely, men,
tai healers of distinction are agreed that the
great masters of literature, without benefit of
this bewildering vocabulary, have excelled psy-
chiatry in the dissection Of the human spirit.
Unhappy Geniuses PiIloried.
Stripped of clinical jabberwocky, defined in
vulgar terms, the nlaladjusted are supposed to
be those who lack the sturdy CUTS OF the scav-
enger serenely adapted to the rigors of his
trade. Lacking this capital virtue he is driven
to dope, drink or the horses. On more re-
fined level, he is sometimes discovered to be
famished genius rendered neurotic by the un-
manageable Illustrations of world too much
with us late and soon. Inevitably, the names
Of Poe, Baudelaire, Proust, Dostoyevski, Min
ski, etc., are trotted out to prove this view
Nor are the case histories of their opposite
numbers among the gentler sex less alluring
The feminine casualties, we are told, end up
either in esoteric communion with the trans
finite world" as T. S. Eliot expressed it, or
among the band of Noble Fallen Women
relegated to the underworld of Romance"
In debunking this lugubrious conception
Erich Fromm has laid the myriads of NAL
adjusted under an obligation of deepest rever-
ence. From his wide experience on two con-
tinents, this skillful surgeon of the soul is
convinced that the absence of neurosis fire.
quently Is the stigma of defective sensibility
In his recent able and well-informed book,
Man For Himself he shows that this absence
commonly is found among the emotionally
dulled or constitutionally handicapped This
type alone is able to endure without strain the
appalling monotony Of a mechanized and dis
jointed world.
Peace Of Mind" is the title Of best seller
with the conclusions of which DR.. Fromm takes
impatient issue. This book advocates q lofty
tolerance Of unheroic situations. This sort Of
therapy. says DR.. Fromm, Is costly COM
promise, seldom attended with that repose
with which we associate the art Of true
tranquility. Such resignation Is q conscious
or subconscious confession of defeat-the
damaging evidence of the lowering of ones
spiritual sight and range.
It certainly is a fascinating temptation to
believe that virile neurosis is manifestation
of an unvanQuished struggle against the un-
palatable; that it expresses "the ceaseless
search for conditions better adapted to ones
needs" Anyhow, in Erich Fromm the NAL
adjusted at last have found formidable cham
pion. JULIUS DAVIDSON.
Sewer Expenses in Maryland
To the Editor Of The Star:
The raising by the Washington Suburban
Sanitary Commission of the rates for extend
ing sewers to the property line from approx
mately $42 to approximately $3.50 presents
an acute problem to the home owners in Prince
Georges and Montgomery counties. Notwith-
standing the expense of this the owners must
connect with the sewers when ordered to do
so.
Fact is that the charge of approximately
$3.50 is only part of the charge The extern
sion made by the Commission runs only to
the property line. The remainder of the
extension and the connection must be done
by registered plumbers at additional charges.
The total charge for sewer connection thus
may run as high as $500.
1t seems that In the interests of justice and
the protection Of hcme owners a change
should be made In the law which authorizes
what practically amounts to confiscation. In
the meantime the Commission should pro-
ceed slowly. L. H.
Regrets Lack of Free Parking
To the Editor Of The Star:
Visitors from Oklahoma, staying at down.
town hotel are rather disappointed (approxi-
mately 50 worth of disappointment day.
that the traffic department does not set aside
space near the hotels in which visitors may
mark without the inconvenience of having to