The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1953-08-06
THROUGH
HAZEL
EYES
bv Hazel Brannon Smith

His makeup included cna-
racter and strength in large
measure, great integrity
of mind and spirit and soul,
bravery, and a quiet sincerity
and devotion to duty tnat
earned him the respect OF MS
most bitter foes.
Senator Taft was the biggest
man on the American polih'
cal scene.
He was not a common man
AS his beloved wife, Marina,
out II: who wants common
man to represent them IN tne
U. S. Senate, anyway"
He was an uncommon mar
because
It is uncommon to put coun-
try above self.
It is uncommon to forgive
and try to help those VINO
have dong you wrong.
It is uncommon to be self
less in devotion to ones be-
liefs, including ones political
beliefs.
It is uncommon to be SC
thorough in anything ano
everything one undertakes
to have a store of knowledge
of facts and figures, to deal
in them and not in vague
generalties-
It is uncommon for a man
in public office not to be 4
politician.
All these things Bob Taft
was, and had, and did. 81
He came nearer to being the
irreplaceable man than any
other person in Congress.
The President has lost his
good right arm, the Republl-
can a great leader and the
American people an untiring
and faithful servant.
Food, or lack of it, has been
and is one of the most critical
problems facing mankind.
Today civilized people in
Eastern Germany are rioting
for food--for the purpose OF
journeying to Western Ger
many where other German
citizens are handing out, for
small fee, parcel Of food
which may mean the diffe-
renee between life and death
to those affected.
The bitterness aroused by
East German troops and police
in the efforts to prevent the
Eastern Germans from get
ting those food packages is far
reaching and viii have many
repercussions.
The food packages come
from America and the Ger
mans know it. Therein lies the
trouble.
And if our names are no
on the packages, as some
press correspondents report
they should be. But whether
they are, or not, the German.
know they do come from
America-and that is the i'm
portant thing.
Thus it seems the only two
times America has been able
to seize the initiative from
the Communists in divided
Germany has been on food
first the Berlin airlift and now
the packages for East Ger
mans.
Certainly food is a m ore
potent weapon than our guns
and ammunition-for every
body eats, even Communists.
We should make the most
of this opportunity and tau
every available resource to SET
these people get the food we
want them to have.
Since the beginning of thu
Marshall Plan suspicious Eu
ropeans have viewed the pro-
gram as a sly plan to dump
American SURPRISES on a fore
ign market. This was a long
time ago but there is no evil
dence their suspicious have al
tered.
Now with the u. S. Con-
gress earmarking 100 million
dollars of foreign aid funds
for the purchase of surplus
farm products and cotton the
Europeans may feel their fear:
are at last justified.
The plan is for a currency
exchange that would permit
American dollars to be con
verified into foreign currencies.
The foreign credits would be
used by us to purchase need.
ed defense materials abroad
while they could purchase
neecod food and fibre IL
America. The intent is to re
quire foreign countries to buy
normal amounts of American