Page Two
THE SALEMITE
March 5. 1948
WGUace WUi?
What About Wallace?
The amanuensis of Jolin Milton,
Thomas Ellwood, upon one occasion,
])enned a poem of his own as follows:
“The winter tree resembles me
Where sap lies in its root
The spring draws nigh
As it, so I, shall bud
I hope, and shoot.
ced to abandon her Socialistic ex
periment as the price for putting
the Marshall plan into operation.
Vandenberg is too elderly. Trunian
is too lacking in vision and initiative
to be effective—note the Greek situ
ation.
History reveals that England once
endured a divided personality (mys-
In my opinion here is a singularly tie and opportunist) in the rule of
apt effusion to apply to the present Oliver Cromwell, who despite his
state of presidential affairs. There militaristic dictatorship, proved m
is some question, however, as to whe- the long run to be an infinitely more
ther or not the Wallace “shoot" is valuable contribution to England
second timber, or merely of the pro- than either his Stuart predecessor
verbial Bibical green-bay-tree- or successor. Henry Wallace, though
growth similarly inconsistent, is at least an
The New York Times book section improvement over Cromwell in the
for 2-22-48 carries a sprightly re- f^'t of his renunciation of militar-
view of Dwight McDonald’s new i«m. In the absence of an outstand-
campaign estimate of Henry Wal- better man, one cannot help
lace the Man and Myth, over the wondering if Henry Wallace is not
pen of historiiHn Arthur Schlesinger after all, tli^ sturdy presidential
Jr., McDonald, a left-wing anarch- timber in its “bud and shoot”,
ist pacifist, pokes fun at ‘ ‘ Wallise ’', , Robert J. Leach
the lingo developed by the Wallace
supporters in which good people (i.e.
those pro-Wallace, are “forward look-‘
ing”, “democratic”, and “progres- ^
sive”. Bad people (Democrats and jjy Lee Rosenbioom
Republicans) are “reactionaries”
and “re-baiters”. More serious is made us both.
McDonald’s contention that Henry this strange age,
Wallace has a split personality; each He wrote the book,
half at war with the other. The mys- He turned the page,
tic idealistic moral visionary is un- gave him life,
reconciled to the pragmatic opportu-
nistic factual politicians. This may
well be the case, and if so, it is a ^ heart to love,
penetrating explanation of all the And eyes to see.
instinctive wariness which many of But my brother was black,
us feel when asked to pin on a blue j white,
and white “Wallace in 48” button, jjg withered in shadow,
On the other hand Henry Wal- , ^ • ■■ vi.
1 • 1-4. i! -j I l>ask in light,
lace s competitors for the presidency
are appallingly deficient in attitudes punish me
and abilities for transforming the For what I have donet
present war-producing Russian stale- Who tortured my brother,
mates. Taft is too isolationist. Dew- ^is son!
ey IS too militaristic, advocating the ,
worse type of aggravation in a situa- - y scorne
tion already too much dominated by ^^en should be free,
the military. Stassen is too provin- Has God seen this?
cial, advocating England to be for- Will He punish met
Iknk Onltaa (Mcibit rita
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S IE IE I N G
irinAN'Gjr
by Catherine Gregory
Prom time to time, if conditions |
are right, and if you approach the 1
thing with an open and unpredjuced j
mind, you may observe a strange j
phenomenon on the campus of Salem. |
11 myself have seen this thing, and
! I know it to be true. There are
those who scoff at it, and many who ;
. have seen it and have pretended not
to, because they do not understand
I it. However, it teaches a moral
I lesson that many need to learn, and
so for this reason I am relating it.
Go alone some night, on your way ■
back from the library, and stand at
the top of the gym steps or down ,
around the May Dell. Be perfectly i
calm and cast your eyes to Heaven,
saying, “Show me. Oh Wisest One,
the sign and the symbol, that I may
know the thing that all must learn.”
Then as you stand in the darkness,
the night will be filled with the
sound of rushing wind. Ominous
thunder and claps of lightning sound
in the distance. A tempest rages
about you, and as you feel and cry
in terror, an apparition appears—
a young girl borne along on a strange
object, which flies steadily along.
She leans toward you and her face is
white. Her lips move soundlessly
and she vainly strains forward to
be heard. Then she is gone, and
the night closes in again. You will
be shaken, and will ask, “What can
it be that she says? What is the
meaning of this strange scene?”
And unless you are patient and
persistent, and have taste for old
manuscripts, you will not find the
answer. I myself know, and it was
told me by an old tired woman who
had come to Salem in her youth.
She had spent her whole life in the
search, and had found the answer
‘ ‘ too damn late to do me any good, ’ ’
to quote her own words.
It seems that many centuries ago
there lived in Persia a wise old man
named Shuddup Yurssef. He had i
spent his whole life in a series of ;
experiments to try to determine the
meaning of life and the deep hidden
key to life that he felt must exist.
He had first experimented with the
physical world. He lived wildly for
a time; “Carpe diem”, he would
shout as he drank wine, made wo
men, and hummed a tuneless song.
This palled.
So, he gave away his money, went
and lived in a wood, breathing fresh
air, eating vegetables, and exercis
ing vigorously. This palled.
He then “turned inward” and be
gan to develop his mind. He read
everything in the world (which was
easy, for this was before the Book
of the Month Club, remember). He
did math problems. He wrote poe
try. He made up a new philosophy.
Everything bored him.
He then decided that living for
others was the only way, so he re
turned to the world. He found, to
his horror, that people are awfully
stupid and that most of them might
as well be dead.
Religion was the last resort. He
dabbled in this and that, tried every
thing from Theosophy to Druidism.
It was all pretty silly, and so he
just dropped everything.
One day he was in the woods, sit
ting on an old prayer rug that was
left over from his Mohammedan
phase, when he had a vision. He
dreamed that a thousand years later
some creature would go through the
same experience he had had. This
person would do the same things,
and even get the very same prayer
rug to use in their lifohainniedan
phase. He smiled with pleasure.
The vision continued; the person
would find the one undeniable ans
wer that he had found. Shuddup
stiffened at this, for he was jealous.
Then the vision revealed tjiat the
person would be a girl, and a Salem
girl at that!
Shuddup rose in wrath, shook his
fist at the sky, and laid a curse on
the prayer rug.
“So be it,” said he, “as the
vision has fortetold. But if that dis-
tant creature does find the Secret
of Life Itself, let her be doomed
to eternal life. She will try to tell
her truth to others, but not be able
to speak”, and he dropped dead.
And so one day a Salem girl, who
had tried all his expedients, and had
had the further disillusionment of
1-1 oily wood is Improving/’
Says Salem Dramatic Critic
by Peirano Aiken
“How Green Was My Valley”,
playing in Old Chapel at 8 o ’clock
tomorrow night, is the kind of movie
the film producers make to answer
the qu^tion constantly put to them;
Why don’t you DO something?
Unlike the average story which
gets a complete remodeling in the
transition between book and cinema,
“How Green Was My Valley” bears
a remarkable resemblance to Rich
ard Ijlewellyn’s novel by the same
name.
The story starts with an I-remem-
ber from the man who is now grown
and leaving his native valley in the
coal deposits of Wales. The camera
goes back to the town and house
(one of those cottage-on-steep-wind-
ing-cobblestone-street affairs) where
he was a boy (Roddy McDowell).
The boy is growing up as the in
evitable forces of modern industrial
ism are growing up and the plea
sant, respectable life of the com
munity is growing down. It is es
sentially the saga of a family of
the nineteenth century. Their pride
and independence shattered by star
vation wages and strikes, the older
sons abandon the collieries and de
part for America, while tho parents
(Donald Crisp and Sara Allgood)
and younger children stay on in the
valley.
The romantic element is provided
by the daughter, Angharad (Maureen
O’Hara), who loves and is loved by
the villege preacher (Walter Pid-
geon). The complication is that the
son of the company manager de
mands her hand. How the triangle
resolves (or does it?) we’ll let you
see for yourself tomorrow night.
What “How Green Was My Val
ley” lacks in continuity of plot it
compensates for in atmosphere and
character. The scenery, although
romanticised, is very pretty. Color
is used almost symbolically, the
green verdent hamlet being contras
ted with the slag covered shanty
town it becomes.
Another distinguishing feature of
the setting is the Welsh choir form
ed by the natives. Aided by the
musical Welsh language and the al
most poetical prose of Llewellyn,
the picture has an audio appeal as
strong as the visual.
Also special commendation goes to
the director, John Ford, for a splen
did job of depicting the nature of a
people—their dignity and gentleness-
in-strength, their will to work, their
salt humor, and above all the love
they bear their land.
Gray Attends IRC Meet;
Discusses Recovery Plan
by Robert C. Gray
Last week-end I attended the IRC
Regional Conference as a delegate
from Salem. My assignment was to
participate in the seminar on the so-
called Marshall Plan. I have been
requested to prepare an article on
this subject for the Salemite.
The Marshall Plan seminar met
three times. Each time a separate
question was discussed. The first
question concerned the United Sta
tes and world leadership. The ques
tion of how the Marshall Plan will
affect European economy was next
considered. Our last session con-
■ sisted of discussion on the effect of
i the Plan on the economy of the
United States.
Most of the first session was spent
in differentiating between the- de
finition of imperialism and humani-
;tarianism. Many heated arguments
! arose; however, most of the dele-
; gates felt that if the program went
I to the point where Europe could
‘help itself, the humanitarian aspect
! would apply; but if the program
i went beyond, the United States
I would be guilty of imperialism—
j economic or otherwise. It was also
decided that the help should come
in the form of producer’s goods, not
money. Some thought that the pay
ment should be made through a res
toration of the old trade balances.
One delegate remarked that he tho
ught the current Friendship Train?
were a definite sign in favor of
hnmanitarianism on the part of most
trying to wrest an education from
this barren rock, was sitting in the
May Dell and came upon the secret.
The results were as he predicted,
and as I have related at the begin
ning. And the secret that caused
so much trouble? It was simply
this: “There ain’t no way!”
Americans.
Germany was the big question
mark of the second discussion. Most
of us felt that Europe could do very
little to help itself with Germany
divided. All agreed that Europe
needed the Ruhr coal and steel, but
it was realized that Russia’s oc
cupation of Eastern Germany pre
sented a problem of food supply for
the miners. All of which boils down
to the fact that we would have to
feed German workers until such
time as Russia permits food ship-
I ments from her zone. However,
] there was a fairly unanimous agree
ment that the Plan would be an in-
\ calculable benefit to European eco
nomy.
! Most of the delegates were'in ac
cord on the effect of the Plan on
our economy. It was felt that the
United States had nothing to loose
by instating the Plan. Some dele
gates felt that little hope existed
for our form of capitalism if the
Plan was scrapped. Others felt that
the Plan would postpone the coming
, of a depression in this country. I
would like to cite a few interesting
statistics presented by one delegate.
The cost of prosecuting five days of
World War II was about two billion
dollars. It was alleged that the cost
of forty days of war cover tho en
tire cost of the Marshall Plan. This
amounts to about five per cent of
the United States production for the
year 1947. Most of us felt that this
amount would not affect the Ameri
can economy one way or the other.
It was also ascertained that about
ten cents of every tax dollar would
go to the Plan if adopted. The
question of higher taxes was brought
to the attention of the group, but
no decision was reached on this sub
ject. A few delegates thought that
the money could best be spent on
(Continued on Pasre Seven)