Milford chronicle., 1949-10-14
THOSE RUSSIAN INSPIRED TRIALS


Rajk and other former members of the Hum
garian Communist government followed the
pattern established in the Moscow purge of
1886 and 1897, when men with three-star
names in the Communist hierarchy Joined
the prosecution to confess to cOnspiring
against anything to which they had devoted
their lives. These defendants confessed to
having conspired with the hereto, TrOtsky,
and with German NaZiS. In the Budapest
trials, Tito took the place of TrOtsky and the
United States the place of Hitler Germany.
The trials in Budapest were a trial OF the
United States" The accused Hungarians had
all occupied high places in the MOscOw-dOmi-
mated government, and all had been active
Communist revOutiOnaries for many years.
Yet, according to the evidence they gave,
they had, at the instigatiOn of the United
States Minister, plotted to overthrow the gov
ernment and betray it to the hated capitalists.
All of them, of course were convicted, and
sentenced either to hanging or long prison
terms-and few political prisoners survive
prison term in the world beyond the iron
curtain. The Americans whose names en-
tered the trial as cO-plOtters have Vehemently
denied the accusations, and denounced the
testimony as parcel of lies. But that will
never be known to the millions of people who
live in the Russian-dOminated countries, save
to the forbidden American and British radio
programs which are beamed in their direc-
tiOnA The testimony of the condemned "trait
Ors" has been printed and broadcast over and
over again by the Communist governments.
The whole point is to convince the people that
the Western nations, under u. S. leadership,
are out to destroy them, and that the pro-
longed existence of communism and capital
ism in the same world is impossible. To quote
Miss Thompson again, 1.-THE trials are direct
ly related to war" The Hungarians trials,
like the Soviet purges of II years ago, and
the recent trial and conviction of Cardinal
Mindszenty, are thus used primarily as in
struments of propaganda. No dispasSiOnate
reporter believes that they have anything to
do with the administration of justice as we
understand it in the Western world. The
Communists are past masters at producing
"factS" to fit any thesis which they wish to
sell to their peoples. Many now believe that
the Russians have perfected some strange
drug, which destroys the will. yet leaves the
mind clear to tell a clear and often cOmpli-
Gated story of espionage and betrayal. In
any event, the defendants always talk their
lives away-seemingly willingly-and today
the u. S. is always blamed as the black insti-
gator of everything they allegedly did.
5000
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM
Under the pretense of saving the public
school system and enlarging private and re-
ligiOus educational institutions there is still
,: big noise tinatheaNa atiOna Capital. But the
shouting is only another one of those crazy
notions that the Government of the United
States should take over the Education Sys-
TEN. All over the Nation proof has been fur
nished that the United States Office of Edu-
cation is off it's base in it's statement that it
will take about 100000 more teachers to pro-
vide adequate instruction for this increase
in the Nations boost of 100000 more pupils
this year. Perhaps 9086 of all the intelligent
people in the United States had received their
education under the existing system of local
and private management all the way from
district schools, colleges, universities and
parOchial schools. These institutions have
done themselves great credit in holding the
lines in sustaining education, without soaring
off into politics or religion. The USOE saws
that the teacher shortage is Every, very bad, -
and adds that the worst crOwding exists in
the first three grades. Well, anybody over 40
years of age can testify that the first three
grades in public schools have always been
crowded. They can also swear to the fact
that local school boards in country districts
villages, counties, cities and all the way UP
the line have never failed to perform their
duties for the local citizens who stand back
OF those institutions, with school boards that
know just where matters Standard meet all
situations. Even though the world is almost
wrong side up, let us hope that the American
public school system will escape being thrown
into the ditch
5000
SKEPTlCISM THE SAFETY VALVE
The human weakness which clothes gov
ernment with degree of integrity and com
petence it seldom deserves, has strewn tn,
path of history with the wrecks of many
natiOns-tO say nothing of brutal oppres
sion and exploitation. The recent GIVE per
center" investigation was a mild but omin
GUS warning. 1t revealed reprehensible prac
tees in the highest levels of government
Bribery and evasion of law were apparently
clearly shown-and condoned. Yet there i
little the public can do about it. Demandin,
that the administrations of rnvernroant in