Milford chronicle., 1956-03-09
POLCTFS And PEOPLE

4
TheUnited States foreign policy IS being
sttaeKed from all sides. In an effort to find
out what has gone wrong, political analysts
are trying to take the pulse of the people IN
the nations where we've been most active.
C. L. Sulzberger of the New York Times
writes from Berlin, Germany, that West Ger
man Government has published a comment
ary complaining that we emphasize material
things too much. He says:
we have allowed the initiative in the
realm Of spiritual ideas to remain largely in
the very materialistic hands of communism
1t is his belief that much of the break in
good feeling lies in the fact that the propa-
gsnda machine Of the Soviet is superior to
ours and we have done too little to coordinate
efforts in presenting the case of democracy.
He writes:
'In periods of relsxation we tend to for
get the need to constantly reassert the inner
meaning Of our ideology. This is a dangerous
lack. Surely there are enough beneficial as
poets in the democratic system, whatever inn
perfectations it may have, to merit retelling
to redundant point"
This is reminiscent Of what former Sen
ator William Benton wrote for the Encylo-
paedia Britannica's 1856 Book of the Year"
''This is a struggle of new type, to be
waged with new weapons. It is a struggle for
which the Western World is little prepared.
1t boils down to an effort by two great oppOs-
ing forces to win the faith and confidence of
the worlds peoples. Russia cannot match us
in the export Of automobiles, tractors or bus
mess machines. She proposes to beat us with
her ideas and her trained manpower."
Both men imply that foreign policy and
foreign relations are not mere matters for
diplomats and dollars to take care Of but are
struggles which involve the hearts and minds
of 81 the people. Only in the hearts and
minds Of men lie real security and strength.
STRAIGHTFORWARD STAND
The stand taken 0y President Eisenhow-
er when he told the people of his decision to
run for second term was adlnirs5le. Hewas
frank, fortnight, telling on What grounds he
made his decision. No one listening could but
admire his entire honesty. His strength and
determination were also plain. There was no
odor from any snnoke-filled room, but rather
a sense of a decision arrived at IN solitude,
with the wind blowing fresh about him.
He was there to put the people out of sus-
pense, to give them the facts on which they
could make up their minds. He laid his facts
out in the open. Some of his listeners felt
that there were facts which the President did
not see. But he explained the situation as he
saw it.
There was a certain impersonal atJnos-
phere. This was the President of the United
States taking his facts, his difficult sitlation
of the highest office going straight to the peo-
pie by whose just consent he governed. 1t was
an exercise of the functions of democracy in
the keenest sense.
The words were not the words Of Wash
ington. But there was feeling Of Washing
ton in the air. 1t was the kind of directness
and honesty which characterized the first
President It was the kind of thing which
under such circumstances Washington might
have done.
The reader may be among those who do
not think this has been good administra-
tion, who will not vote for the maa to whom
he listened. That is all right Those who
oppose are important as well as those who
support any given set of policies.
But whether they be for or against, and
whether they vote for him or not, the whole
performance was one of which every Ameri-
can may well be proud.
&@@&E
REPORT ON RETIREMENT
The Twentieth Century Fund report made
by John J. Corson and John w. Mcconnell,
Social Security experts who conducted five
year study, shows that nearly three-fourths
Of Americans over 65 have either no income
of their own, or less than $1,000 year They
state that the nations resources are ade-
quate for providing increased care for its
aged population. But, they warn, uncon-
troled initiation reduces the value of savings