Milford chronicle., 1957-11-15
MUST WE CHANGE OUR SENSE
OF VALUES?

queen asked: 'Wnefe 90 you get all CneSe
players?" The Governor answered: "Your
Majesty, that is a very embarrassing queS-
ton"
On the surface, certainly, there is abso-
lutely no connection between this little Incl
dent and the history-making launching of
Sputnik, the Soviet earth satellite. But sur
face isn't all, and if one digs bit deeper
relationship which may have the highest i'm
pOrtance appears.
The Governors answer to the puzzled
Queen simply underlined what everyone
knows that major college football (and, to
a somewhat lesser but still significant ex-
tent, other crowd-attracting athletic con-
tests) has because a big business, with GER
tain rare and honorable exceptions. PromiS-
ing players are bought" in a multitude of
devious way. Many alumni, apparently,
seems to think that the first duty of higher
education is to produce winning teams cap
able of filling multi-million-dollar stadia that
would have impressed the Caesars.
And what mas all this to do with Soviet
scientific achievements Sputnik symbolizes?
Sputnik's debut resulted in an "orgy of
recriminatiOn," with Democrats blaming the
Republican Administration, and the Republi
can Administration blaming the Democratic
Congress and so on. But is there not wider
responsibility? The American people, them
selves, have in fact Willed the state of af-
fairs that made possible this Russian tri-
umph. Who vets the higher salary on the
college faculty the head of the physics
department or the athletic director?
This question carries built-in answer.
The top coaches get salaries and emoluments
on a scale that must make physicists and
other scientists of the first caliber blink their
eyes in astonishment And what is true of
athletics, needless to say, is true of other
callingS, notably the entertainers who get
ive-fgure fees for singing a song or two.
1t may be said at this point that the log
ical deduction is that we can keep pace with
the Russians only by doing as the Russians
do-that is, by a forced concentration on
science. But there is no evidence, much less
proof, that this is so. The achievements of
the free peoples of the world in every field
of science, over the centuries, refute that
theory.
What it comes down to, in the view of
many, is a question of values-of what we
want most; Of what is most important to us.
Unless Americans choose to alter some of
their basic values, there appears to be good
chance that they may lost freedom of choice
with respect to life's values and everything
else. Senator Bridges, in commenting on
the meaning of Sputnik, put the same idea
in plain and earthly terms when he said:
"The time has clearly come to be less con-
cerned with the depth of the pile on the new
OIOdUIOOIu rug OI IllG u0lRuL O1 In0 Ldll iii
on the new car and to be more prepared to
shed blood, sweat and tears if this country
and the free world are to survive
A LESSON FROM WEST GERMANY
KOnrad Adenauer's victory in the latest
West German elections was a triumph for
NATO and the Western world. It came when
good news on the international level had
been something of rarity The doughty old
oOllO l. = Lo- IL
Churchill in an earlier era, stood between his
country and disaster. He is an implacable
foe OF Communism fact that was dra-
matically demonstrated when he broke off
diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia be-
cause the latter country had recognized East
Germany The principle opposing party in
Germany, the Socialist, is not pro-COmmun-
ist. But there can be no doubt that it would
adopt much more cOnclllatOry policy toward
Communism should it come to power-and
history tells us that is the road to ultimate
defeat and enSlaVement.
On top of this, there has been another un-
fOrgettable Adenauer achievement. At the
end of the war Germany lay in ruins Her
once magnificent industrial complex had been
raZed. The soup kitchen, so to speak, had
become way of life for the German people,
Yet today, under the Adenauer leadership,
Germany is blooming. She has again become
great trading nation. She enjoys full en-
ployment and steadily rising living stand
ards. Few of the wounds of war remain Wis
ible.
How was this accomplished? The answer
is that it was accomplished under a philo-
sophy of aggressive private enterprise. This
philosophy has no more eloquent spokesman
than the Chancellor and his top aides and
they act on their words. To put it another
way, intelligent capitalism brought Germany
back from ruin and despair in handful of
years. Under a total state, she lost the war.
With economic and political freedom, she
has won the peace.
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COMBAT USELESS GOVERNMENT
SPENDING NOW
In the view of Vice President Nixon, mil