The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1951-04-06
SEN. FULBRIGHT POWDERS MORAL CORRUPTION NATION .
INVESTIGATIONS into OPERATIONS OF THE RFC

in our colleges where the characters
of our young men and women are
being nodded. Our colleges, under
extreme pressure from the almuni
have become so intent upon winning
football and basketball games that
they use any means to gain their
ends. They hire players who are not
bona fide students and thus make
mockery, farce, of the whole
concept of amateur sport for the
health and entertainment of our
young men. They corrupt not only
the hired players, but also the en-
tire student body, who learn from
their elders the cynical, immoral doc
trine that one must win at all costs.
A by-product of this doctrine, this
necessity for big money, led natural
ly to betting and to the shocking
episode of the widespread bribery of
basketball players in New York.
find it difficult to blame the players.
They are but following logical Sc
quence of influences, beginning with
the corruption of the sport at its
source by pressure from the alumni.
This question of the moral strength
of our people is not just an internal
domestic matter. 1t has grave i'm
plications in our international rela-
tons. Without confidence in their
Government the people will not make
the sacrifices necessary to oppose
Russia successfully. Professor Toyn-
bee, in his well-known historicall
study, demonstrated clearly how the
vast ajority of great civilizations
have been destroyed. not as a result
of external aggression, but as a con-
sequence of domestic corruption. A
democracy can recover quickly from |
physical or economic disaster, but |
when it's moral convictions weaken
t becomes easy prey for the dema-
gogue and the charlatan. Tyranny
md oppression then become the order
IF the day.
| wonder whether in recent years
We have unwittingly come to accept
he totalitarian concept that the end
ustifies the means, concept which
5 fundamentally and completely an
agonistic to true domestic society. 1
Democracy is, | believe, more likely
o be destroyed by the perversion of,
+ abandonment of, it true moral
principles than by armed attack from
russia. The evil and insidious ma
of the Communists is a
reater danger to US than their guns.
One of the most disturbing aspects
f this problem of moral conduct is
he revelation that among so many
people morality has be-
ONE identical with legality. We are
in a tragic plight if the ac-
epted standard by which we meas
re the integrity of a man in public q
fe is that he keep within the letter
the law. =
Mr.. President, the growing size t
nd completely of our Government, n
; much as we may deplore it, only n
nphasizes the need for a clarified b
on, restatement of the moral @
andards of governmental conduct t.
hen our Government was small, il
hen it took only 10 per cent of |
If earnings in taxes, we could af-
nd a certain amount of official 81
,odling. Today, it has become too n
lportant. We simply can no longer G.
ford moral obtusness in our public B
ficials. a.
Scandals in our Government d.
re not new phenom ena IN our his w
DRY. What seems to be new about ii
hese scandals is the moral blind is
ess or callousness which allows CT
hose in responsible positions to ac- sc
ept the practices which the facts bt
eveal. 1t is bad enough for us to h;
ave corruption in our midst but fo
is worse if it is to be condoned
nd accepted as inevitable. tn
Mr.. President, is there anything Tn
can do here in Washington to pc
p our country reaffirm or re-es- ma
dish a higher concept of public 10
lduct,
Some weeks ago, I suggested, in
mally, that it would be beneficial si2
have a commission of eminent hi,
zens designated by the Congress, ost
consider the problem of ethical 90
ndards Of conduct in public af- cr'
Such commission should be COM pc
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Observation-Disclosures