St. Paul recorder., 1961-08-04
THIS N THAT
by hazel
underwood

have returned from a three month
trip through several countrie.
abroad. AS they sat with a grouE
of us at an informal gathering
tried to take notes as they talked
and tried to answer question:
asked by many of us.
Here are some of their answers
that thought might be inter,
esting. To the first question Mr.
Golden said, "If we are going tc
survive among the world powers
we must get rolling. Our handling
of the racial situation in this
country is going to be decisive
Some apparently think that we
are self-sufficiant economically
but this is delusion."
In all of their travels abroad
they encountered no segregation
or discrimination in Europe, but
that almost EVERYWHERE they
encountered bitter criticism of rae
ial events in this country.
One question most frequently
asked was, how can you boast
about democracy when you over
turn and burn motor busses with
people in them?"
The Goldens said that in all of
the big cities editions of the New
York Times and the London
Times have big headlines of the
Freedom Riders and Rev. Martin
L. Kings activities. They see that
copies of these papers are sent
all over and that is how the news
is kept alive concerning the racial
problems here. They get the news
almost as fast over there as it gets
here. These papers have their
foreign editions.
There are absolutely no crime
pictures shown on Switzerland
television screens. Switzerland has
the lowest crime delinquency re-
cord. Until they are over 1S chill
dren are not allowed to go to
dance halls.
Most every child in all of the
counties visited have to learn to
speak English as their second
language.
The Russians were anti-Amer-
lean as were most of the countries
visited, although they are very
courteous to Negroes.
Paris, France, Amsterdam in
Holland seemed to have the most
Negroes living in them among the
European Countries.
The Goldens saw very few
A m rican made automobiles
abroad. While in Russia the Gold
ems were allowed behind the Iron
Curtain and they were free to go
anywhere they wished. They said
that Russia was moving ahead at
full speed in education. Upon ap-
plication any child, regardless of
the financial position of his or her
parents, can obtain an education.
Also any able student who has
been refused admission to any col
lege anywhere in the world will
be flown to Russia at the govern
ment's expense and given an edu-
cation without charge.
There are no slums in Switzer-
land and no beggars in Denmark.
Denmark has socialized medicine.
Russia has many large apart
ment buildings but Mrs. Golden
was surprised to see the largest
apartments had only three rooms
each. They also noted the Russian
women are poorly dressed. The
Russians are moving ahead with
their building. They are planning
to build 100000 apartments in two
years, the Goldens were told.
Russian women are working at
all sorts of jobs. They work as
plasterers and the women now oc-
cupy many key positions. Most
of the Russian doctors are women
and most of the professions are
filled by women.
The Goldens noticed that we are
more war conscious than anyone
appeared to be in East or West
Berlin. They were quite surprised
to see the ruins in Berlin Is years
after the war was over. They said
it is a frightening sight to see the
ruins of war They were told how
beautiful the huge churches and
other buildings were and they were
living there, a mass of ruins. See
ing the sight before them made
them express a hope and prayer
that war never comes to this
country or any other country.
I asked about the trip and
learned they flew from New York
to Madrid in six hours. The dist
ance was $500 miles. They re-
turned on the Queen Elizabeth.
Russians are free to attend
church services but the Goldens
were told the young people are
generally atheists.
They were told there are a great
many Asiatics and Africans in
Russia. Among those who go to
Russia, men and women who are
qualified are educated free after
first learning the Russian lang
uage.
Although the Golderts were much
impressed by the gains Russia is
making in many fields, they were
made lust as much aware in East