The Pittsburgh Press (December 3, 1940)
WARNING IS SOUNDED AGAINST TASTING THE APPLE OF DISCORD
Editor, The Pittsburgh Press:
Too many people have the habit of seeing in others only the modicum of evil or weakness we all possess and are blind to the overbalancing virtues or worthy achievements. Such folk will preach that all men of any given racial, religious or economic group are guilty of whatever crimes or errors of judgment may have been committed by a highly privileged few. To them all politicians are corrupt or stupid, all bankers miserly or gamblers, all publishers merely the hired hands of capitalists, all labor leaders either reds or racketeers and so on “ad nauseum.”
We know such statements are untrue. We recognize that in all walks of life one may find a few weaklings, an occasional crook and a very high percentage of decent and honorable men or women. Yet by listening to these deliberate or unconscious advocates of class hatred we tend both to encourage them and to run the real risk that with constant repetition of their doctrine we may be more or less hypnotized into giving some credence to it.
Wisdom and patriotism demand that we turn a deaf ear to their appeals for our support, while opening our eyes to the hypocrisy or even treason in their hearts. Ours is not a perfect land yet it is the best upon the face of the earth today. Whether we improve our individual and national conditions or assist in further demoralizing both will depend largely upon the degree of tolerance, the desire to work together and the devotion to the best interests of all of us, which we individual citizens can acquire and maintain.
Let these fanatics waste their words upon the winds. Theirs is the right to speak; ours is the freedom to ignore them and nothing we can do will hurt them more. The Garden of Eden had a single serpent and Eve listened and paid the penalty. Among us are many serpents urging that we taste the apple of discord and distrust. Eternal vigilance is the price of the liberties and protection we possess, let us guard them alike from external aggression and internal decay.
FERDON SHAW
Harvard Club
New York, NY
CONTRIBUTOR URGES FUND FOR GREECE
Editor, The Pittsburgh Press:
Enclosed find $1 in cash. Please get busy and start the ball rolling in an endeavor to raise money to help Greece. All the papers cooperated with the public in an endeavor to help Finland, and to my mind, Greece is just as deserving and is doing marvelously towards helping the cause of Britain as well as world democracy.
I wish I could make this sum $1000 – that’s how much I think of the fight Greece is putting up – and I know many, many other Americans feel the same way. So let’s go and may the dollars pile up!
CLAIRE WEPNER
1804 Broadway Ave.
Reader Wepner’s contribution has been sent to the Greek War Relief Association, Hotel St. Moritz, 50 Central Square, New York, NY.
THINKS THAT WOMEN SMOKE TO BE SMART
Editor, The Pittsburgh Press:
I was attracted by Clarence McConnell’s letter defending his stand on women smokers. What could be more disgusting than a group of women in downtown theaters or department store waiting rooms smelling like smokehouses? I have witnessed on numerous occasions mothers nursing babies while puffing on cigarettes.
Women smoke to be smart – or think they are. Men smoke because they can’t help themselves. Summing up, they both live in fool’s paradise.
Women cannot be lovely if their eyes don’t have that child-like sparkle that comes from clean habits and clean thinking. I have yet to find a woman who offered me a smoke that didn’t say well, if you don’t smoke don’t ever start it; it’s a bad habit.
I have a daughter 22, beautiful, talented in many ways, popular, well liked by young and old, who never touched a cigarette and a handsome son, 16, very talented along many lines, who detests smoke.
Some of you readers think I’m an old fogey or crank. Far from it, I’m only 39, work as hard as I play, look 22-24 years old, won an international beauty contest, ride a bicycle every day, horseback ride, love all outdoor sports in the open country because there I can breathe the glorious air God intended us humans to breathe which enables our bodies to become fit, our minds to develop into making this country a better place to live in.
So come folks and wipe out the bad habits. Eventually we’ll all look and act like human beings. We women especially should set a good example to our men folks as we were intended. Then men shall look up to us with great admiration and respect.
MRS. CHAS. W. ST. CLAIR
R. D. No. 7
Butler, PA