The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1959-01-16
JOSEPH BREIC-
CYRUS Eaton
Misled Man

IL ooHC hiAlu VI WCIu pILLG WGIG gwen dAlu0uy
for the most depressing exhibition of innocence
about the nature of communism and the history of
the Soviet Union, the award this year would have to
so, hands down, to a Cleveland capitalist, Cyrus 5.
Eaton.
This is not particularly surprising. A life spent
in financing and directing big industries, and becom-
ing a millionaire, is not the best possible preparation
for an understanding of abstract PHILOSOPHERS, and
the political realities that flow from them
However, it does sometimes happen that a rich
man, in his later years, comes to some realization of
the fact that man mar does not live by bread alone, and
that wealth is far from soulsatisfying. In such case,
the man OF much meanssmay find himself desiring to
do something materialistic before he dies.
THUS TOUGH OLD Andrew Carnegie scattered
fragile and artistic Andrew w. Mellon, at enormous
cost in dollars, bought immortal paintings and eStab-
lished the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
Thus Henry Ford, in his simplicity, sent his pitiable
Peace Ship to Europe, In the quiXotic hope of doing
what no one else could do-st0p World War /.
Cyrus W. Eaton has chosen a global type of
wistful do-gooding. He has taken on the task of try
ing to persuade us-we who have been burned far
too often-that the dear old Kremlin is misunder-
stood, and that all would be sweetness and light on
earth if only we would stop being nasty to those
gOod-hearted communists.
THIS CURIOUS ACTIVITY seems to have had
its beginnings In Nova Scotia, where Eaton was born.
and where he has an expensive summer place at Pug
wash. OF late years, he has been inviting selected
thinkers" to come there as his guests and think
like anything. Some of the imported intellects have
come from the Soviet Union. =
Naturally, the Soviet mouth-pieces have assured
Eaton, with ten thousand protestations of gentle good
will, that the kremlin wants nothing at all, simply
nothing but to be our friends, our benefactors, our
coHaboratorS in making a brave new world, filled
with harmony and fellowship, and: oh, well, you
know the line. If you've ever talked with a COM
munist, you've heard it.
so CYRUS S. EATON went to the Union of
Socialist Soviet Republics, as the place is called, to
see for himself; and it seems not to have occurred
to him that a communist could ever tell a lie or do
anything deceltful. And so Eaton came back to Ameri-
ca to assure us that our governments policy, as car
ried out by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles,
is 'insane fanaticism." Mf
lift my hand and assure you that l am not pull
ing your leg, but an giving you Eaton's own words,
when | tell you that in a public, radiO-broadcast
speech before the Cleveland City Club Forum, he
said that the US. is being "relentlessly driven into
We are not simply trying to defend ourselves
and other free nations from Soviet conquest. No; &C.
cording to Eaton. "warlike exhortations from Wash
ington are reported so frequently and prominently
on page one that the angry face of our secretary of
state has become more familiar than any cover girl"
EATON DID NOT, of course, quote a single war
like exhortation' from Washington. He simply alleged
that the exhortations were coming in a constant
stream. And he urged that business leaders put pres
sure upon our government for IAN accommodation
with the communist world"
| repeat that | am not joshing. Cyrus S. Eaton
did seriously propose IAN accommodation with the
communist world" which has proved ten thousand
times that the only accommodation it will tolerate is
our total surrender to Soviet enslavement.
/ hardly expect you to believe what follows, but
it is true. With a straight face, Eaton told his audi
ence that "Khrushchev told me that no important
steps were taken Thy the Kremlin) unless it was cer-
tain that the people knew of them and would accept
them"
AS l said, the prize goes to Cyrus S. Eaton, hands