The Catholic times. [volume], December 26, 1952, Image 4

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THE
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In Prayerful Union
With Today's VI artyrs I
The Bishops ofethe United States have again ap
pealed to the thirty million Catholics under their
jurisdiction to unite in prayer for the millions of
their brethren now suffering martyrdom at the
hands of a ruthless and diabolical enemy. Sunday,
December 28. is the day set for this nation-wide re
membrance in prayer It is fitting that it comes with
in the octave of Christmas, serving as a gift to console
those who suffer, reminding them that they are not
forgotten by their brethren who still are free to
practice their relijlion.
An important word to stress in this observance
is unity. For it is not only imprisonment, torture
and death endured by these modern martyrs, but
also the tragic picture of millions of the young torn
from their parents, educated in hatred and atheism,
and thus separated from the spiritual unity of the
Church, that brings inconsolable agony to the heart
of every good Catholic. This agony is increased by
the realization of our helplessness in the situation,—
helpless, that is. except for prayer. And that is w hat
Sunday, December 28. is for, to be used entirely
prayer to an all-merciful God to save these souls
from the loss of their only precious heritage. Faith
Indeed, the constant terror of living, the demal
of fundamental freedom, poverty and starvation,
along with actual physical torture and death, cannot
take eternal salvation from the grasp ot today's
modern martyrs no more than Nero of Diocletian
could rob the early Christians of this same priceless
jewel. Of coubse. we will offer earnest prayers that
Almighty God will touch and lighten our brothers
iR the Faith as they suffer for His sake. But we
will he most of all concerned about praying that
none of our tortured brethren will succumb to the
temptation to give up their Faith. Above all, we
will unite to our souls with the strong bonds ot love
and prayer all those little ones who are being torn
from this union with us in the most diabolical per
secution known..
This is not only a mission project. Good ath
Mies love the missions, because thejl want others to
come to know Christ and save their souls they want
others to be members of lhe Church Militant which
is part of the Mystical Body of Christ. But here are
smils already enjoying this union with Christ. They
are already part and parcel of that Mystical Body.
Hew ean they be severed from it without the rest
of the Body being hurt, being concerned being
pained" No lover of Christ will be other than deeply
anguished to see millions of helpless souls torn
from that union with Christ,
Sunday is to be a day of prayer lhe whole day.
Rut it should be only the beginning. The whole year
should be nne of constant and throughtful prayer
for those who suffer under the heel of the world’s
most ruthless tyrant, atheistic communism.
Tito Fails The Test
The elevation of Archbishop Aloysius Stepinac to
the Sacred College of Cardinals was a test for Tito
uhn had fooled too many people into believing
that there was freedom of religion in Yugoslavia.
This was an opportunity for the treacherous and
boastful tyrant to prove his boast. He failed the test.
Instead of making it clear that lhe courageous
Yrchbishop could go to Rome and receive the high
honor, instead of giving him every assurance that
he would be able to return without trouble to his
homeland, Tito reacted like a stuck pig. He scream
ed that the Holy Father was persecuting him, and
that the elevation of the Archbishop to the cardin
alate was an act of affrontery on the part of
the Holy See. The result was the formal severing
of diplomatic relations with the Vatican.
Tito's reaction was typical of a conscience that
had been pricked But his disturbance was aggia
vated by the rising tide of protest in Britain over
his planned trip Ip that country. In his pride he said
that if more than half of the people of England wish
ed him to visit them he would go, otherwise he
would not. Evidently he is quick in getting the
hint that many of them do not wish him to receive
a public welcome in London, as if to approve his
regime of terror to his own people.
Yes, Tito is touchy these days, touchy with a had
conscience No doubt he is worried about the con
tinually rising tide of disapproval of his policy. Per
haps he is beginning to realize that he cannot fool all
the people all the time or that he is now fooling
no one except himself. Even the government officials
in Washington and in Undon, until now fooled by
the Tito hne. are fewer in number these days. This
would be still further cause for Tito to squeal For
this would mean less in the way of future gifs and
aid
Tito could have passed the test aod merited the
continued aid nf free peoples if he himself had given
evidence of freedom to his own people, nf whom
Cardinal Stepinac is beloved leader
The Pulpit Misused
There are many proposals being offered today
for the solution of the worlds problems. Some
are all-embracing schemes that would solve, in toto,
the ills afflicting the world nf today Others are
geared to a more restricted field of a particularized
situation.
The tenor nf these plans is nf such a nature that
they usually can be classified generically into those
nf the free world and ’hose of the Communist Each
main class has many schemes differing specifically,
good bad. indifferent and utterly silly. Usually nn
explanation, headline or byline is necessary to be
able to file these plans into their proper place.
Usually but not always
For example anyone reading the following ex
tracts would take them to be expected effluvia
from Butcher Joe’s or Titos slaughterhouses 1.
euthanasia for men and women over 70 2. steriliza
tion of the “unfit” 3 having babies by permit only
Such is not the case These are nqt the uttenngs
nf some one whose party affiliation would immedi
ately make him suspect They are not the bylined
writings nf one whom lane and decent people know
to be untrustworthy. No—they are—to his shame
and discredit—the proposals of a widely known
English divine, a Canon nf the Anglican Church!
Now let us say at the outset that we de not accept
these blathering.* as an indication of standard think
ing within the Anglican communion. We feel sure
that the great number of Anglicans must feel highly
embarassed at the nationwide publicity given in
Great Britain to these ungodly and degrading rec
ommendations. We are attempting to do that church
no disservice by giving further publication to Canon
Charles Lowe's remarks. We are going to make
but this one point:
The proposals of the Canon are directly in accord
with the worst type of Communistic godless athe
ism. Such statements when they are found
among Communist writings or among the writings
of the rest of the world’s godless are easily classi
fied and dismissed. It is only when someone mas
querading under the guise of a leader of the right
eous people should publish such sentiments that it
is necessary to recall to all just how pernicious these
proposals are.
The world is in such a state today that too many
will be only too glad to accept these proposals and
beat the drum for them, being utterly misled. They
are the ones into whose materialistic philosophy
these tenets might well be fitted.
Each one of them has been proposed in some way
before. Each one of them has been shown, time
and again, to be entirely immoral. They are as old
and immoral as the Devil himself. They always
were and always will be.
Don’t misunderstand. We are not .calling Canon
Lowe a Communist. What we are saying is this:
The Canon because of his accepted position in so
ciety has done the cause of truth and morality great
er harm than if he were an avowed Communist
People are immediately suspicious of Communist
philosophy when presented by Communists. The
Canon’s statements have done us the great dis
service of giving the aura of respectibility to these
vicious teachings.
Just Among Ourselves
Passing Comment Considered er Inconsiderate
‘•'Twas the night before Christmas, when all
thi aigh the house not a creature was stirring .”
This is not quite accurate. There were in fact a
good many creatures stirring. Father had moved the
tree just a little this way and just a tittle that until
he was dizzy. Mother was bustling at a hundred tasks,
but taking time now and again to keep father busy
at his forestry. Uncle Mortimer, prematurely wassail
ing. had come in to beam upon ail and sundry, and
had stepped ruinously upon a book of recordings
the children had left on the floor in consequence,
there was to be no red-nosed Rudolph and no Frosty
the Snow Man at that Christmas celebration,
"The children were nestled all snug in their
beds.” That’s what the poet thinks. True, the chil
dren had been overpowered by main force and put
to bed along towards midnight, after hours of sug
gestion and even pleading had been wasted in the
effort to get them there. But you could hardly call
it nestling, nor were they at all snug they were im
prisoned or impounded, yet insecurely, for they were
apt to come bounding out at any moment to join
again in the hub bub below stairs and to be harried
back to quarters in tears amid parental cries that
had little of Christn as in them and nothing what
ever of merriment.
"While visions of sugar plums danced in Their
heads." Not these children. They never heard of
sugar plums, and wouldn't understand the term as
merely an old fashioned name for candy. And candy,
however pleasant, is by no means a Christmas spec
laity, it is to be had almost any day. No the visions
that danced in the heads of these children were vis
ions of space ships and Hoppy suits and guns and
helicopters and chemical sets to make atom bombs.
Sugar plums indeed!
"Mama in her kerchief and 1 in my cap." Well,
no Mama looked something like a general of the
Amazons she had been to the hair-dresser and her
head was solidly encased in a helmet of steel clips
out of such a fearsome array of armor was to come
the soft curl, the breeze-tossed tress. As for father,
no cap was required to keep his locks in order, al*
though one might have been useful to protect his
gleaming nudity of scalp.
“When out on the lawn there arose such a Clat
ter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the
matter" Not from bed. Father and mother were far
from that haven of desired repose. There were still
a thousand things tn do, and as time grew short
tempers grew shorter. The clatter on the lawn?
Mortimer and his friends, to he sure, full of spirit
and of spirits Just another bothersome incident tn
add to the distraction and the confusion of a nor
mal Christmas Eve
"The moon, on lhe breagt of the new-fallen
snow, gave a luster of midday to objects below.”
The new-fallen snow had heen hammered into ice
hy the buzzing traffic of the streets The mid-day
luster was unneeded in the twinkle and glare of a
million colored lights put up by people who were
striving to win a neighborhood prize, or at least
Io gain honorable mention in the local paper.
"When what to my wondering eyes should ap
pear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny rein
deer." No, that’s not it. What father saw, when he
was ahle to see after telling off Mortimer and his
hoodloom friends, was no miniature sleigh but a
coupe and a convertible, and what he heard was
nnt sleigh-bells but the merry tinkle of folding
fenders
"With a little old driver, so lively and quick .”
A pair of drivers in fact not little or old, but quick
enough and full of loud and profane utterance.
What they said was not merely Dornier and Blitzen.
And presently, with all the verve of Dancer and
Prancer there were two policemen on the scene,
good advice on lip. ticket book in hand.
"And then in a twinkling I heard nn the roof
the prancing and pawing of each little hoof Those
children are out of bed again! The long night verg
ing towards dawn the final hour when the secret
things can he dragged out of hiding at long last
and placed beneath the tree! And then that "pranc
ing and pawing of each little hoof." Stern words and
sterner actions are required here. The modern Santa
Claus must come to town with a pack in one hand
and a paddle in the other.
"Laying a finger aside of his nose, and giving a
nnd. up the chimney he rose The unfrocked Santa
whose Christmas Eve has been more than filled with
the seasonal employments of a single household,
lays a finger, not aside of his nose, but upon his
lips And the nod he gives to the partner of his
joys is not one of genial farewell, but of concur
rence in i plot to slip noiselessly up the stairway.—
omitting the chimney trip,—for an hour of troubled
rest before the jamboree and hullabaloo break loose
in all their Christmas fury.
"Away they flew like the down from a thistle.”
Rather phrase it thus upward they both crawled
like a pair of galley-slaves unchained from a heart
breaking stint at the oars. And in their minds was
the grim prospect of coming down again almost
immediately Nevertheless, beneath fatigue and ap
prehension. there was in them some dim but bright
ning awareness of the angels’ song, and the dawn of
Christmas breaking across the house-tops of all
the world
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”
THE CATHOLIC TIMES, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1952
AMERICAN
CATHOLICS
RICHARD PATTEE
war. And the major consequence
of this lack of preparation or of
maturity is precipitation.
Let us examine for a moment
just what this expression means
as we find it in the press and
discourses coming out of Eu
rope.
There is, first of all, the extra
ordinary precipitation in insist
ing that Europe unite. Nothing
is quite so annoying to the Bel
gian. Dutch, Swiss or Italian as
to be told that his nation should
get together in perfect union
with other nations because
Rhode Island, New York and
Pennsylvania were able to ac
complish this at the end of the
18th century. The impatience of
Americans at the slowness with
which Europe goes about the job
of unity produces in European
public opinion an even greater
impatience with American in-
LOUIS E. BUDENZ
In the battle for the American
mind the Communists still have
a marked advantage. They con
tinue to receive reinforcements
from persons
in rather high
places those
who can ob
tain compara
lively good
book reviews
and who com
mand the re
spectful atten
tion of the in
tellectualists.
There has just been published
giving aid and comfort to So
viet propaganda within Amer
ica—a book by Supreme Court
Justice William O. Douglas, "Be
yond the High Himalayas.”
Through the device of the travel
ogue. it strongly recommends
the recognition of Red China and
that is precisely what the Reds
have been striving to get the
American people to acquiesce in
for some time. This book bids
fair to be used as an opening gun
in the psychological warfare to
bring the American nation to its
knees before Stalin in the Far
East.
Naw Spurt
At just this moment, when
Justice Douglas’ pleas appears,
the Communists are busily en
gaged in extending the effort of
Red China, spurred on in this
enterprise by the report of Geor
gi Malenkov (slated to be Stalin’s
successor) to the October Con
gress of the Communist Party of
the Soviet Union in Moscow’. With
a straight face, they have heen
echoing Malenkov’s charge that
the United States “is at nres
ent not only the aggressor" but
is also "seeking to strangle free
dom wherever possible and to
implant Fascism The Reds over
here, witty equal arrogance, are
Spiritual Airlift
SUNDAY
Anti-Americanism In
It is not. easy to sum up in a
few sentences the state of mind
in western Europe which now’
goes under the popular designa
tion of "Anti-
A e i can.”
Most of the ir
i a nts, I be
lieve, can be
I a ssified un
der the general
notion that the
U n ted States
is not prepared
for the gigantic
role of leader
ship that has
been her lot
since the con-’
elusion of the
i
7..
1ST
comprehension of the vast and
deep-rooted issues at stake in
political unity.
Incalculably Difficult
Her Majesty Queen Juliana
spoke of this during her visit to
the United States a year or so
ago. calling attention to the
need for a much greater patience
in the light of the incalculably
difficult problems that lie in the
way of full European integra
tion. Even such a relatively sim
ple matter as economic collab
oration runs up against certain
very real obstructions—for ex
ample, the coordination of cur
rencies. When Benelux went into
business, the most formidable
difficulty was the existence of
the Belgian and Luxemburg fran
and the Dutch florin. Dutch cur
rency was considerably higher in
exchange than the Belgian. In
the light of this difference, there
was a natural reluctance in the
Netherlands to admit full parity
in terms of foreign trade.
Americans in general are
quite sensitive to any threat of
foreign competition and zealous
in demanding that American
cheese, watches and innumerable
other articles be defended
against the encroachments of
similar products from Switzer
land or anywhere else. It might
be well to remember that each
European country reacts some
what in the same manner. The
Swiss is inordinately desirous of
safeguarding his own high stand
ards against Germans. Austrians,
Frenchmen and Italians The
Hollander wants to keep, insofar
Battle For The American Mind
spreading far and wide Malen
kov’s assertion that "the United
States is carrying on aggression
against China.”
Under such fictions—which,
of course, are given color by
the suggestions made by Justice
Douglas—a new spurt has oc
curred in the Red drive for
American agreement to the seat
ing of Red China in the United
Nations. I must warn the Amer
ican people, even at the ex
pense of seeming to be a voice
crying in the wilderness, that
the British recognition of Red
China holds out the possibility
nf the success of this campaign,
n success that mould spell dis
aster for American security.
Sum Total Effect
Ancf speaking of books, we are
reminded that a number of vol
umes appear on the shelves of
our public and college libraries
Which mislead the American
nund regard to the Soviet
dictatorship and its followers in
this country. Whatever the in
tent of the authors, that is the
sum total effect of their produc
tions.
Let us take up "Soviet Politics
Abroad and At Home” by Dr.
Frederick L. Schuman of Will
iams College. Treated as an au
thoritative work in many of our
universities, this book has even
been used in sensitive areas
When we turn to pag, 34 of the
report of the Senate Sub-Com
mittee on Internal Security, we
learn from the testimony of
Ivor Bogolepov that in this book.
"Frederick Schuman got his
ideas from the Soviet propa
ganda.” The consistent sponsor
ship of Communist fronts by Dr
Schuman to the extent that
the House Committee on un
American Activities could re
port that he was a member nf at
least 30 of these fronts up to
BEHIND THE
IRON CURTAIN
Europe
as possible, his own tight little
economy, now sadly disrupted by
the loss of empire. The Britisher
naturally would like to have
some privileges within the Com
monwealth.
Almost Insurmountable
If the whole thing is bogged
down almost hopelessly in the
morass of self interest economi
cally, the political difficulties are
almost insurmountable. It is easy
to assert that Europe should
abandon antiquated notions of
sovereignty and join together in
a more perfect union, but the
European is just as concerned
about hoarding his allotment of
sovereignty as the American,
And aside from the World-Union
Now lads, 1 see no signs in this
country of wanting to give up
Very much of that precious com
modity.
Precipitation and oversimpli
fication would seem to be twin
obstacles in this case and major
sources of much misunderstand
ing. If things could be seen a lit
tle more sub specia aetenutatis,
the results over the long haul
would probably be better. If the
nation operated a little more
with lhe long-range view of the
Church, the results might be
much more encouraging.
Next week’s column will have
something to say about another
festering sore in American-Euro
pean relations—the all-out zeal
we are demonstrating for taking
other people's empires away
from them, and lhe serious re
percussions this is having in such
lands as Britain and France.
April 1, 1951—should have serv
ed as a warning to this author’s
predilections.
From his vantage point as for
mer counsellor to the Soviet For
eign Office, Mr. Bogolepov also
declared under oath that the
works of Professor John N. Haz
ard of Columbia University were
aided by a lot of material pre
sented to him in Moscow and
which is either Soviet propa
ganda or nonsense having no re
lation to the Soviet at all.” Pro
fessor Hazard is regarded as an
authority on the Soviet legal sys
tem and therefore commands re
spect in many circles. The Sen
ate Sub-Committee on Internal
Security directly charges that
he was shown to be the author
of pro-Soviet articles and books,
and that he cooperated in the
writing of Henry A. Wallace's
"Soviet Asia Mission"—the book
in which Mr. Wallace praises so
highly the Soviet slave labor
camps in Siberia!
That only begins to raise the
curtain. Counsellor Bogolepov’s
testimony also characterizes im
portant sections of the two vol
ume work by Sidney and Beat
rice Webb, “Soviet Communism:
A New Civilization.” as having
been written by the Soviet For
eign Office and the Soviet se
cret police. Anyone who thinks
back will appreciate what a tre
mendous effect the Webbs’ books
had upon American thinking in
regard to Soviet Russia. It was a
chief source in persuading thou
sands of men and women—who,
in turn, affected public opinion
—that the savage slave labor
system was actually a fine ex
periment in reform.
The road of deception, which
has perplexed and partially par
alyzed American views on So
viet Russia and the Communists,
is a long on*.
INQUIRY CORNER
FATHER HIGGINS
How Do You Baptize
In An Emergency?
Q. How do you baptize tn an
emergency?
A. The person baptizing is to
pour (ordinary) water on the
forehead of the person to be bap
tized, saying while pouring it:
"I baptize thee in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost.”
May one follow dreams?
A. No. Dreams are imaginings
or thoughts while we are asleep
and so are not fit guides for our
conduct. It is superstition to fol
low in action guidance from a
non-rational source. God’s law,
proper advice and our own judg
ment in conscience constitute the
basis for^decisions. “Dreams have
deceived many, and they have
failed that put their trust in
them.” (Leviticus 24:26)
Q. 1 have a friend who left the
Church because in his opinion
his prayers were not answered.
His wife died leaving him with
several small children. What
answer could 1 make?
A. "My Father, if it be possible,
let this chalice pass from Me.
Nevertheless not as I will, but as
Thou wilt.” (Matthew 26:39)
Christ taught us the proper at
titude in prayer. All prayer is
answered, but not always in the
way we wish. Often what we wish
is bad for us as it is for a child
who pleads for the butcher knife.
As Christians we are to take up
our cross and follow Christ, and
even unusual tragedy and hard
ships should not make us desert
Christ and His Cross His Mother
suffered beneath the cross. His
apostles were martyred, but His
grace is sufficient for each of
us. Sorrow should give us the
pride of Simon of Cyrene, car
rying the cross with Christ, not
the resentment and desertion of
Judas. The Cross and the Cruci
fied is our standard.
Q. What is the particular judg
ment?
A. The judgment immediately
after death is called the particu
lar judgment. The soul goes at
once either to its reward in heav
en or to its punishment in purga
tory or hell. The existence of
the particular judgment is ap
parent from the parable of the
rich man (Dives) and Lazarus,
wherein one soul w’as rewarded
and another punished immedi
ately after death
Are distractions always
sins?
A. Distractions at prayer are
never sinful unless they are de
liberate. They may arise from wor
ry, active imagination or weari­
Philip Murray’s last official re
port to the CIO. released post
humously at the recent CIO con
vention in Atlantic City, recom
mended that
the wage sta
bilization pro
gram of the
federal govern
ment be abol
ished. Murray’s
successor, Wal
ter P. Reuther,
has already an
nounced that
he agrees with
this recommen
dation and will act immediately
to implement it as official CIO
policy
The continuation of govern
ment wage controls, in the opin
ion of Reuther and his associates
in the top command of CIO,
would be an injustice to the
working people of the United
States in view of the fact that
price controls have been so
emasculated as to be almost com
pletely ineffective. In other
words, w'hat’s sauce for the goose
is sauce for the gander. Price
controls and wage controls are
opposite sides of the same coin.
The continuation of wage con
trols in the absence of effective
price controls (or vice versa)
cannot reasonably be defended.
Equality of sacrifice is a basic
requirement of social justice
even—or especially—in a peri
od of national emergency.
Whether or not the CIO’s un
expected opposition to the fed
eral wage stabilization program
is well founded (AFL economists
are said to disagree with the
CTO’s position), it serves the use
ful purpose of highlighting the
intimate relationship between
prices and wages and the diffi
culty in normal times as well as
in periods of national emergency
of bringing them into proper bal
ance. It would hardly be an ex
aggeration to say that this is the
central problem of economic re
construction.
Unrealistic Approach
Far too many publicists and
not a few professional econo
mists would solve the problem
the easy way by appealing uni
laterally to the patriotism of the
workers. In the words of Arthur
Ross of the University of Cali
fornia. author of "Trade Union
Wage Policy” (one of thf few
good books on the subject),
“Many economists seem to be
lieve that a ‘farsighted’ union
leader is one who foregoes a
wage increase during a period
of prosperity, in order to prevent
inflation, and accepts a wage de
crease during a period of depres
sion, in order to reduce the cost
of production.”
Thu u very unrealistic ap­
ness, and it is certainly the bus
iness of the devil to distract us.
Prayer begun with good inten
tions, resisting distractions that
arise is pleasing to God.
Q. How can Christ be really
present in your Communion serv
ice?
A. When God tells us some
thing is so we accept it first and
try to see how it can be after
ward. Catholics accept the Real
Presence of Christ in the Sacra
ment of the Eucharist because
Christ, the Son of God, taught
it. When He first promised it
"The Jews on that account ar
gued with one another, saying,
‘How can this man give us his
flesh to eat?’ (John 6:53).
Christ replied: “Amen, am^n, I
say to you, unless you eat the
flesh of the Son of Man, and
drink his blood, you shall not
have life in you." Even when
many of His disciples left Him
on this account He insisted on
the literal statement. Turning to
the Apostles He said: “Do you
also wish to go away?" St Pe
ter's answer shows that he did
not understand HOW it could be.
He accepted it on the word of
Christ, saying: “'piou hast words
of everlasting life, and we have
come to believe and to know
that thou art the Christ, the Son
of God.” Further evidence is con
tained in the Gospels (Matthew
16:26-28 Mark 14:22-25 Luke
22:19-20) in St. Paul (1 Corinthi
ans 10:16 11-27-29) and in un
broken tradition of Christians
until the sixteenth century. For
the Catholic the teaching of the
Church makes it certain.
Q. Is it sinful to violate sec
ret?
A. As the catechism states
“We are obliged to keep a secret
when we have promised to do
so, when our office requires it,
or when the good of another de
mands it.” Ordinarily it is a ven
ial sin to reveal something com
municated as a secret, but it be
comes mortal if the grave harm
will result. Sometimes the secret
is not communicated exclusive
ly, and consent to tell it to some
one trustworthy may be presum
ed. A secret should be revealed
if there is danger of great harm
to the community or to an inno
cent party. Secrets of the con
fessional (even those overheard
accidentally by the other peni
tents) may never be revealed for
any reason whatever.
Send questions to Rev. Edward
F. Healey, Inquiry Corner,
The Catholic Times, Box 636. Co
lumbus (16), Ohio.
The Proper Balance
proach to a most complicated
problem. It is all well and good
to appeal to the patriotism and
unselfishness of the workers and.
their elected representatives, but
we have no right to expect the
workers (or any other segment
of the economy) to be the only
heroes in American society. If a
trade union leader, motivated by
the highest principles of patrio
tism and devotion to the common
good, voluntarily passes up a
wage increase during collective
bargaining negotiations, he has
absolutely no assurance whatso
ever that this act of self-sacrifice
will be matched by a correspond
ing decline in prices.
Under the present economic
system in the United States, as
Professor Ross repeatedly re
minds us, no individual union
can have any substantial effect
on the price level. "To expect
one organization to ignore its
own particular interest by ‘set
ting a good example’ for the
others,” Professor Ross continues
very shrewdly, "is a delusiv*
hope, when there is no assurance
that the example will be follow
ed. Responsibility requires au
thority There is profit in
discussing wage policy for the
economy as a whole, or for a
major segment thereof, but as
yet there is no bargaining mech
anism to which such a discussion
can be related.”
What is needed, in the opinion
of Professor Ross, is a master
wage policy worked out voluntar
ily at the national level by rep
resentatives of labor as a whol*
and business as a whole, with
the assistance and possibly un
der the supervision of govern
ment. Ross’ proposal was sec
onded just a few days ago in a
new booklet by Gerhard Colm,
"The American Economy in
I960.” published under the very
respectable nonpartisan auspices
of the National Planning Associ
ation.
Sound Proposal
We cannot rely exclusively on
the so-called laws of competition
and, presumably, we wouldn’t
want to turn the job over to th*
government. Mr. Colm’s alterna
tive is substantially the same as
that of Professor Ross—a nation
al agreement on wages and pric
es voluntarily worked out by
bona fide representatives of man
agement and labor.
With the imminent breakdown
of the emergency governmental
program of w age and price con
trols, now is the appropriate
time to give Dr. Colm’s proposal
an honest hearing and an honest
try. It is a very sound proposal,
thoroughly in accord with Calh
olic social teaching and deserv
ing of the wholehearted support
of labor and management