Milford chronicle., 1958-08-15
A DATE no REMEMBER


About this time thirteen yeaEs ago, Aug
ust ID, 1945, the greatest war ever fought on
this earth came to an end After seeing two
atomic bombs dropped on their homeland, the
Japanese decided it was time to surrender
Internationally, and they did so, as of August
IA, 1945.
That ended a war which began on the
morning of September 1st, 1889, when Adolf
Hitler's armies invaded Poland, in Europe,
some 5000 miles away. Or, it might be said
that it ended war which began in 1887,
when the Japanese and Chinese clashed and
began their strugge-which was to last for
eght years.
The Germans and the British fought
from 1889 until May Sth, 1945-or a period
of almost six years. The United States did
not become involved until December T. 1941,
so that American participation in this war
lasted only something over three years. But
unlike the case in World War |, American
participation was undoubtedly decisive in
World War ii, and the United States did
go into the war with an all-out effort and did
suffer numerous fatalities and casualties, al
though the total was nothing like that suffer
ed by Russia or Germany.
The result of the war, however, of one
of them, was the United States emerged as
the leading nation of the world, and the lead
ing force for democracy in dangerous
this time, many of us were naive enough to
think that there would be fifteen twenty or
even thirty years of comparable peace, with
democratic forces gaining the ascendancy
everywhere.
This was a great dream, and the dream
of the boys who fought and died in World
War III, and unfortunately it has not come
true. Even so, that August day in 1916, when
the war had come to an end, will always be a
special memory in the hearts of many, and
will always be one of the most historic dates
in American history.
(&@N&
TAXES AS A GAG
The Internal Revenue Service has ruled
that certain Institutional advertising con-
Quoted by electric utility companies cannot
be considered a legitimate business expense
in making out income tax returns. This ad-
vertiSing, for the most part, presents the pri-
vate enterprise side of the public-vs- private
power controversy. One affected company
has taken the matter to court.
Newspapers and publishers organizations
throughout the country have protested the
ruling in fortnight terms Most of these
protests make the significant point that the
position of the Internal Revenue Service goes
far beyond whether government or private
enterprise is to produce and sell us electricity.
The very foundation of freedom is at issue.
The Moline Illinois, Daily Dispatch, sees
the matter this way: "The dangers inherent
in the Internal Revenue ruling are obvious
and multiple. The ruling robs private enter
prise of one of it's principal forums, or at the
very least, limits that forum in effectiveness
The ruling also attempts to draw very fine
line between allowable" and "disallowable"
advertising expenditures which would be hard
to discern and easy to violate The ruling can
penalize any industry or profession which so
attempts to get it's story across to the public.
But, even worse than all these possible ef-
fects, the ruling can deprive the public itself
of one of its major sources of information and
impair its ability to judge for itself both
sides of a controversy involving private bust
neSses.
~. S. taxes must never be used as a
gag"
Freedom of speech and freedom of COM
munication will lose most of their meaning
if, in exercising them, any group is forced
to pay tax penalty. And, if this can be
done to one group, it can be done to any
other. That is the true significance of the In
ternal Revenue ruling.
5000
NOT THEIR OWN VOICES
A visiting Soviet student delegation has
now returned home after viewing the Ameri-
can scene. Before leaving Washington the
young Russians were interviewed, and the re-
suit was front page news in some papers,
Some of the views expressed are disturbing
to those who do not keep in mind one i'm
portant point.
This point is that it was the leaders of the
student group who talked, while most of the
students themselves were silent The leaders
spoke; the others gave that consensus of 81
lence which can save you from going to jail
in Russia.
The main criticisms voiced by the leaders
of the Russian delegation were unfair, but