Newspapers / Hot Off the Hoover … / May 1, 1943, edition 1 / Page 17
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The "Hoover Rail Giuag" are very proud to bring you the article printed below, vjritten especially for the Hoover Rail by REX STOUT, Chairiian of the Writer’s V/ar Board in Kev; York, ;vell-ltnovm Radio Coinraentator, and who, at the present tL-ne, broadcasts the prograr:3;ie,"0UR SECRET V/Eii.P01J -THE TRUTH". i\ll the Gang joLn us in saying to Mr, Stout, "Thanxalotl" Here's a thing vihich I thinlc is important for /imericans ovor fifty to say to iuacricv''jis under thirty—those of them who care to hear anything from us, I don't knov; hov; it is for ants or v;ild geese or v/art hogs, but fron the stand point of us huixiji beings the only thing seriously v;rong with this world is us. It i::icy be doubted if non rxid wor.u5n ovor nado such an unholy ness of things as we did fron 1919 to 1939. Wc either cor.Ti:)lotoly nisunderstood, or tried to hide fron the riost inportant facts of our woi’ld such as (a) the neaning and the threat of the obsession of the Gcrr.ian people that they ar e a mstor race destined to con quer the world, (b) the shrinl^age of the world to a sizo'w hich r.ialces. any corner of it easily and swiftly reachable fron any other corner, and (c) the conbination of (a) and (b) which nado inevitable a aortal conflict'for nastery of the world unless it were organized, in good faith and powerfully, for peace. The young nen vjho will bo fighting for the next year or two or threo cannot very well be expected, at the sano tir.ie, to help in charting their coimtry’s path th rough the jungles of vrarld p'jlitics. Until they get hone again that v ill bo the task of us who stay at hone. If perforr.1 it with a reasonable ar.KJunt of intulligence, wisdon and good ^vill, we shall have g'rasped the nost pronising and ex citing opportuiiity nan has ever had on earth, \/e have so developed our nec hanical techniques that there is no predictable IL'.iit to the nunbor and variety of things we can r.iake and things we can do. Five centuries ago, even a hundred years ago, the possibilities presented by the ingredients of this plojiet—iron, i;ood, vegctati.^n, carbon,oil, the notion of vjator—vjore severely restricted by the poverty of the aothods that had been developed to rial^e use of then. Today those possibilities arc liter ally bound less. The confort, convenience and beauty of the hones wo can nake to live in, the variety of the jobs we can create for ourselves,the foms of anusenent and recreation that can bo develjped,the clothes wo can war, the places we can go cither for study or lovo ur fun-^-thc stratosphere's the liiiiit,'and naybe not even that for long. As inventors, as e n,jinoers, as scientists, as artists of ingenuity and even genius in the porfornanco of r.iiracles with a particle of dust or a drop of liquid, wo arc Magnificent creatures; as politicians we are nore apt to act, lilce a, pack of nitwits. If \;e win this war and organize our planet for peace, certainly we will not thereby pop ourselves into paradise on eart^, but wo v.’ill have r^de entirely practical a fulfilrAent of hui.ian desire- which cvon for our grandfathers could never have been anything x.wro than a far-off droan. In this enterprise there arc forrldable obstacles.’The potty non, the greedy' non, the blind non, v.111 bo the enenies of progran, as they have always been, but to defeat then, and to nalce for ourselves and our children a brave fine world in vihich to live and work and playj wo do not nood to be derd-gods or suporiien. We need only, first, the will, and second, about one—fifth of the intelli genco in dealing with our fellov;r.:on that wo display in dealing with coal cjid steel and casein. Can wo fill the order? I thinl: so. I think we're going to. Ask no again in thirty years, if I'a still alive, and I'll know /.lore about it: and so vdll you. Sincerely'-, Rex Stout
Hot Off the Hoover Rail
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May 1, 1943, edition 1
17
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