Evening star., 1948-04-05
By WHliom |. Nichols
lasrsh Amssiesn Newspaper Aliisnes

Aeefh AHyosteen Newspaper Alliance
NEW YORK, April Son the
boat coming back from Europe was
Chairman Herter OF the Special
Foreign Affairs Committee sent over
to investigate and report on the
Marshall Plan, and we were talk
ing about his experiences.
Representative Herter was re-
minded OF . trip he made in Yugo-
slavia two years aso-agAin on
some kind Of . mission. He was in
q jeep. In the back seat OF the
jeep was . young Communist girl
from Yugoslavia. At the start Of
the trip she treated hinf with the
utmost hostility and suspicion and
sat far In her corner of the back
seat Of the jeep. And he sat far In
his corner.
But II you know jeeps and If you
know the roads Of that region you
cannot maintain that kind Of d re-
1ationship very long. They got
bounced about and finally fell into
conversation. But this girl was 50
filled with her doctrine that she
treated him as though he were
some strange monster from an
other world. as though even con-
tAct from the bouncing OF the jeep
would contaminate her.
She said, "You people from the
capitalist world, I can't understand
you. I can't respect you. You are
not passionate about anything. You
haven't any passion for your country,
for your society, no passion for your
job or for each other. AS for us, We
are passionate about Communism.
That Il the thing that makes our
regime the right regime"
No Answer Ready.
Mr.. Hsrter confessed he didn't
have any ready answer for that. All
he could say was, Maybe we can
arrange for you to come to America
and see for yourself. Maybe we are
not passionate, but I think we have
got something. But it's hard for me
to put 1t into words"
Well, it's about time we found the
words. We are faced with an ex-
panding system built on passion. I
have talked to you about the four
impulses which give Communism
its strength. One is the passion OF
greed. Second, the passion Of fear.
Third is the passion Of envy and
hatred. Fourth is propaganda, ex-
plotting the emotions Of excitement,
adventure, exaltation. All these
forces are building hideous society
and one which is going to produce
more human suffering than any
other society in the world. But our
answer cannot be to stand by with
out knowing what to say or do.
I am not going to give you a
final answer. Instead I am going
to tell you one final story, the story
of Sergt. william Scoggins. Maybe
his story is q parable for that young
Yugoslav lady who wanted us to
be more passionate about things.
bumped into Sergt. Scoggins in
q rather curious way. When was
In Vienna 20 years ago I had stayed
at the Hotel Koblenz, a beautiful
little hotel up in the hills, overlook
ing the Danube. And I was curious
to 60 back because the Koblenz
had been through quite lot in the
meantime.
Turned Into Refugee. Camp.
During the war the Germans took
over the hotel as headquarters for
an antiaircraft battalion. They
surrounded 1t with temporary wood
en- barracks, painted an ugly field
green. Then As the Russian armies
came In from the north and east
the field green was shattered by
machine gun and mortar fire.
The next step was to turn 1t into
q displaced persons camp. And so
this hotel, which had once been
Allied with theatrical performers
and then with Nazis, now was filled
with men and women and babies
from Yugoslavia, from the German
speaking communities, who had
fed from Marshal Tito and the
Communists, and were quartered
there in the hotel and the barracks
around 1t.
As we drove up jaunty young
American sergeant came out and
said, What can I do for your"
I said, I'VE want to see the COM