Evening star., 1961-08-13

OSCAA, ~ 10 11OU ~ 111ld1 11y OCO0S
the struggle for survival. It'E
or an atomic intercontinental
ballistic missile war, or interna-
tional economic competition -
serious and decisive as these are.
Underlying their danger is a
greater danger-the decline of re-
ligious conviction, moral strength,
national purpose, and personally
responsible brotherhood and citi-
zenship. To the extent that we
possess or lack these qualities, we
will win or lose our struggle for
survival.
Our ability to overcome our do
mestic problems and meet our in
ternational obligations depends
on restoring our spiritual and
moral health and in fully meeting
our obligations as free American
citizens.
We need to understand the
basic principles of the worlds
authentic revolution-the Ameri-
can Revolution. Then we will rec
ognize their partial realization at
home and the urgency of further
progress. We also will appreciate
their universal value in helping
others to free themselves from
various forms of bondage, as they
struggle to make their own free
choices and play their part in
achieving world order through
universal human brotherhood, dig
nifty, and voluntary unity. A fresh
commentary on this subject has
recently come from DR.. Albert E.
Burke, the Angry American" de-
scribed in Look Magazine of Au-
gust /. 1861. He said:
1--WE can't defend what we don't
understand The future for
our kind of freedom depends upon
how well we explain ourselves
to others and to ourselves 8.
If we put our faith in bullets and
blank checks passed around by
blank minds it won't be COM
munism that wins the world. 1t
will be democracy that loses it."
Vast Numbers Are MisIed
Our international adversarieS
defy the state, proclaim the su-
premacy of the material, and deny
existence of a Creator. Despite
this cold-blooded and ruthless phi
losophy, they have convinced a
vast portion of the worlds people
that their concern for human
beings is greater than ours.
What grim irony! Their flint
hard materialism is interpreted as
being idealistic and even more
spiritual than ours. And our So
ciety, built on a foundation of
spiritual concepts; is stigmatized
as being ruthlesSly materialistic.
There are many causes, of this.
AS a businessman, however, I will
largely discuss some causes in the
area of industrial responsibility.
Our present Identification with
materialism, in part, grew out of
industry's public reaction to polit-
ical attacks of the 1920S and
193Os. In replying, industry's an
swer was deficient and the en-
phaSis wrong, in my estimation.
The answer ran as follows:
With 6 per cent of the worlds
people, we are able to produce SO
per cent of the worlds goods. We
have more bathtubs, telephones,
automobiles, refrigerators, and
taller buildings.
This, of course, was material
istic answer. 1t gave no recogni-
tion or understanding whatsoever
to this fundamental fact:
Our material accomplishments
are derived fundamentally from
our political concepts, and our
political concepts are derived fun
damentally from our moral and
religious concepts.
The acid test of a civilization is
not it's monuments nor its ma
terialistic accumulation. 1t is
what kind of men it produces.
The men who built the bedrock
on which our society stands had
balanced and all-inclusive con-
cept of man. They applied it re-
ligiously, politically, economically
and socially.
Industry's principal defense
against present attacks in the
political and economic area also is
wrong, in my opinion. The prev
alent thinking seems to run as
follows:
Labor unions, bursting with new
economic power, have now de-
veloped greater political power
than industry. Therefore, it is
necessary for corporations and
oher business organizations to
plunge businessmen as business
men headlong into politics.
This is Wong.
In a society promised on our
political principles, it is wrong for
an economic organization to seek
to directly or indirectly shape its
members political activity or &C
ton. Neither should the citizen
delegate his political birthright to
economic organizations. It is also
wrong for the citizen to exercise
his rights primarily on an eco
nomic basis.
The Remedy Is Political
What then is right?
Let us begin with statement
Of need:
We need greater citizen partici-
patton in meeting our political
and economic problems in this
country. This requires persuad-
ing more people to exercise their
citizenship as citizens. The i'm
portant words are "as citizens"
and not as businessmen or union
members or any other designation
of an economic or other special