Advocate Register_1951-04-06

~·o ADVOCATE REGISTER (Designed to Read) OLIVER E. SMITH. FOUNDER RICHARD J. PARKER, EDITOR MANLY BALTZEGAR, Photographer and Associate Editor Address communications to 3411 S. W. First Ave., Portland 1, Oregon. For information, phone GA 7624. Free from Services of Any Special Interests The News As We See It. The Editorials Are Opinions IN MY OPINION SHORT SHORTS U.S. POLICY TOWARD THE FAR EAST By Alice Franklin Bryant We cannot prevent a new day from dawning. We cannot keep a great river from eventually reaching the sea. It will flow with a minimum of destruction if we do not attempt to do so. But if we exhaust ourselves building higher and higher a dam that we fondly hope will contain it, eventually that masonry will give way, and most destructive will be the flood that carries away our homes and those of our neighbors. Change is as irrestible as this great river. It cannot be pre– vented, but if we showed sufficient wisdom we could have a hand in guiding it. In Asia and Africa change is overdue and cannot be long delayed. The miserable masses demand a better life. People tired of colonialism are rebelling against it. Our country started by revolutionary means: and if our early fires had not cooled, it is we who would be providing the inspiration and leadership for the peoples of Asia and Africa instead of try– ing to bolster up regimes that are doomed. If we stopped sending planes and bombs to devastate Asia and to create hatred against ourselves; and concentrated rather on such constructive measures as resettling Arab refu– gees in Iraq, controlling floods in China, sending our surplus food to famished countries, and throwing our moral weight against racial injustice--both here and in South Africa-we would still have a chance to rally the people of Asia and Africa to our banner. PEACE WHEN THERE IS NO PEACE A visit was made to the Capitol to see the much advertised Peace Crusade to Washington on March 15, arranged by the so-called American Peace Crusade, an organic part of the Communist Party, as reported by the House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities. Ironically the delega– tion from New York City did not have a peaceful trip to Washington, as a young riot among the passengers developed on the train and police were called to remove some of the "peacemakers" at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Silver Spring, Maryland, on the outskirts of Washington. It is a sad commentary, but a true one, on the peaceful motives of Com– munism generally. The rather thin line of visitors that finally reached the Capitol was kept moving by the police and small groups only were allowed to see the Congressmen in their of– fices. The line seemed even smaller than in other days in the past when on one excuse or another, Communist organizers rallied their followers and duped sympathizers to a march on Washington. How aptly Scripture has warned of those who cry '(Peace, peace when there is no peace." Incidentally, the Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, in a letter to Congressman Carnahan of Missouri, on February 15, 1951, wrote in part: "There is no doubt that this 'Crusade for Peace' will try to use the standard weapons of the Partisans of Peace-divide and conquer, infiltrate and confuse." AGAINST CONSCRIPTION By John M. Swomley, Jr. You have undoubtedly been as surprised as everyone else at the vigor with which popular opposition to conscription has expressed itself. The Senate debate has lasted longer than any debate on conscription in the past ten years. Despite this opposition in the Senate, we expect even stronger oppo– sition in the House of Representatives, and that is where we are concentrating most of our efforts. Will you once again, no matter how many letters you have already written, write to wour own Cangressman, Homer D. Angell, asking him to make sure that there is a terminal date in the bill so we aren't saddled with permanent conscription, and to separate the pehmanent Universal Military Training feature from the draft bill so that Congress may consider each on its own merits and not have to take U. M. T. in one package with Selective Service. Most Congressmen who are opposed to U. M. T. are for Selective Service. They will be able to vote against U. M. T. only if it is not a part of the Selective Serv– ice bill. NEW TECHNIQUE FOR MEETINGS In the brand new book New Ways to Better Meetings by Bert and Frances Strauss we may have the answer to that feeling we have all had at one time or another: "I'll never go to another meeting!" Remember when you started off to a real hot gathering on some current subject all fir.ed with enthusiasm for the "cause". W ot hoppen? You had two or three good meetings and then someone decided you had to have a constitution and the next few meetings were devoted to arguing about bylaws until only the bylaw committee was left and no one at all with any enthusiasm to go on with the "cause". Everyone has had similar experiences. The Strauss' book says it doesn't have to be so. In simple, humorous style they tell us how to get members of a group, small or large, to participate, how to reach decisions of the whole group without the straightjacket of Robert's Rules of Order. One of the most interesting chapters in the book is called "Can the Chairman Stop Being Boss?" This interesting thesis is developed: A chairman can bolster his confidence in the members of his organization if he considers three points which are actual findings of scientific investigations of group be- . havior made in recent years: 1. Though a few superior individuals may be better in their judgment ability, the average of group judgment is superior to most individual judgments. When a problem involves a number of people, group thinking will produce better results than the thinking of any one person. 2. A group is more likely to accept good suggestions than to reject . them. 3. Groups do not err as soon as the average individual does. Sounds like good old democracy to us. If any chairman feels unsafe in relinquishing the gavel, here are further words of encouragement. "A chairman should remember that the reward for waiving his old rights and privileges includes the greater interest with which the members will carry out deci– sions. For when he steps down as authority and lets the mem– bers really share the responsibility of planning, defining, and deciding, he is bound to enlist and release a new energy in his group." The book is published by the Viking Press of New York. $2.95. The Oregon Forum on Intergroup Relations sponsored by the Oregon Fair Employment Practices Advisory Committee will meet in the evening, Apri\ 26 and the morning of April 27-Meeting place to be announced later. Watch for further notice.