Scandinavian American. [volume], January 01, 1946, Page 9, Image 9

About Scandinavian American. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1945-1958

Image provided by: Washington State Library; Olympia, WA

                
THE SCANDINAVIAN AMERICAN.
S'CANIIIN
SHOEMAKER
Admiral H alsey’s Warning
It has been said that “War is diplomacy car
ried onto the field of decision." Admiral William
F. Halsey must have had this truism in mind
when, recently, he said:
“Neither the Army nor the Navy ever start
ed a war. But the Army and the Navy have
successfully finished all our wars. Now. in time
of peace, the State Department has a great, if
not a greater responsibility. They should be
made to bear that responsibility and be made to '
bear it in the open.”
The recent sad example of Pat Hurley’s repre
sentation of the State Department as ambassador
to China is a case in point. A few Hurleys, scat
tered around the world with credentials clothing
them with authority to commit America to a for
eign policy arrived at in their minds by a com
bination of prejudice and private financial inter
est, would almost certainly start other wars for
our magnificent Army and Navy to finish.
Probably we have others still in authority, who
work silently and secretly, actuated by the same
destructive internal forces that moved General
Hurley. It is against these our great fighting
admiral warns the State Department. It should
take heed for, as he says, the responsibility is
great.
Radio Stumblebums
Pluggers for radio claim their medium is a
great educator. An entertainer—yes, with im
portant reservations. But an educator ? It could
be, if, first, it would educate its ”educators."
To err is human. But to keep it up is—well,
it's monotonous. The pronunciation of the ordi
nary mill-run of newscasters is execrable. Im
portant chroniclers and commentators on national
hookups are not much better. But since all
orthoepists are not agreed on accents and stress
es. we might pass up pronunciationsa nd even
solecisms, if facts were kept straight—historical
facts, not mere interpretations of the day‘s news.
a a =:=
On Benjamm Franklin's birthday, January 17,
one of the most enjoyable and deeply philosophical
chain ininian-essayists (we can‘t otherwise cata
log him) told of the many memorial services and
exercises being held for the one described by a
great Englishman as “the first civilized Ameri
can." Said this broadcaster: “Among these exer—
cises will be a memorial service in old Christ
Church in Philadelphia. You remember. That
old church where the lanterns wore swung which
started Paul Revere on his famous ride." lie
meant, of course, old South (‘hurch. in Boston
Harbor. It is in Christ Churchyard, Philadelphia.
where lie the mortal remains of the immortal
Boston-born printer.
Thousands of children heard the broadcast of
this historical error. Since the fellow who did it
has—and deserves—a wide following of listeners.
it is probable a lot of fathers and mothers and
teachers and college professors will spend a lot of
time convincing the youngsters that he was
wrong.
An occasional slip of the tongue is easy. under
standable, almost unavoidable. But here is a
case where a script was prepared with ample time
to learn the fact if it was not already known. And
it is not an isolated instance. Such inexcusable
errors occur every day. several times in a day's
listening, and often they are committed by broad
casters who are regarded as authoritative. Recent
ly a wrong ascription was given to the well
remembered quotation which starts. "Breathes
there a man with soul so dead. . . ."
:il I! it
So far as local Seattle ncwscastcrs are con
cerned, it is doubtful if listeners in any city in
the country are required to endure the output of a
sorrier bunch of verbal stumblebums. An example
AVIAN-AMERICAN
among recent daily horrors: A third-grader with
the evident mentality of a six-year-old and the
lugubrious voice of an undertaker with laryngitis,
told his air audience that the President in his
State-of—the-Union message recommended contin
uance of food “subsidiaries” (subsidies) and pro—
posed a budget of thirty-seven billions for the
next “physical” (fiscal) year.
Ad infinitum, ad nauseam, ad raus—mit-‘em!
Seriously, let’s examine this matter of Radio as
an educator. lf‘it would assume full responsi
bility in a field in which it COULD make an
important contribution, it should be prepared to
follow the rules of the game.
Before one may qualify as an educator in our
schools, from primary grade to university, he
must himself be educated, and prove it by tests.
This is required by law and regulative authority.
Why should not Radio be required to conform
to the same requirements with respect to its
newscasters and commentators? If information
is to be piped into the home, would it be too
much to require that it be truly accurate and edu
cative, rather than a reflection of inexcusable
ignorance?
With his resistance lowered by constant bom
bardment of blundering ignoramuses, is a kid not
likely to rebel against school and say: “If that
bum can get by and hold a good radio job, why
in heck should I waste my time tryin' to learn
somethin’ ‘2”
‘Strikeless’ Sweden
Perhaps Sweden has found a better way—and
they took their time about finding it, a fact which
contrasts sharply with the hurried and half
hearted attempts We in Americ a have made
to bring about something approaching harmoni
ous relationships between management and labor.
In Sweden, during the 1930’s. as a result of con
stantly increasing pressure for compulsory regula
tion in labor disputes—the familiar prayer and
hope of certain groups in American Big Business
—a joint management-labor committee sat for
two and a half years before a basic agreement
was finally reached.
As pointed out by Arnold Stilven, legal counsel
for the Swedish Trades Union Federation. “it was
clear to the central organizations on both sides
that a stiff and obstructive system of compulsory
regulation was inevitable unless the contracting;
parties themselves took measures to render pub
lic action to assure labor peace superfluous.”
:k ::= :-
Since public pressure for some form of arbitral
compulsion is increasing in the United States, it
might be well to study the development of volun
tary collective bargaining in Sweden. Says )Ir.
Solven:
“The aim of both employers and workers
throughout the history of collective bargaining
in Sweden has been to maintain the contracturnl
basis and avoid compulsory government arbitra
tions undoubtedly constitutes a strong guar
antee against misuse of the weapon of open
conflict."
Labor and management went about the busi
ness of seeking and arriving at a “basic agree
ment" without. political interference. the parlia
mentary attitude being that the settlement of
“interest disputes" was a matter for determina
tion between the parties most directly concerned.
The result has been that the government steps in
only when strikes or lockouts threaten despite
existence of contracts banning such coercive meas
ures. A Labor Court. set up by parliament. set
tles disputes of this nature, interprets contract—
ural terms, and. it is said. in most cases renders
verdicts acceptable to both sides.
The result of long-term application of common‘
sense in Sweden to the problem which just now
has America’s economy in the throes of a bad case
of cramps, has been a condition of industrial
peace in which a strike is a rarity.
An American observer, Paul H. Norgren.
writes “The great majority of Swedish employers
no longer regard unions and collective contracts as
necessary evils, but actually prefer them to verbal
agreements with individual workers." Employers
and employes equally _ oppose compulsion: the
worker because of instinctive fear of management
control of the arbitral authority; the employer
because of its certain effect of lowering workee
morale and therefore efficiency.
Both the basic agreement and legislation gov
erning labor relations in Sweden represent a codi
fication of existing practice rather than the intrc -
duction of new procedures. Employers and work
ers fit their relations into a code of experience.
Perhaps if management and labor in Amerim
would thoughtfully comb out the better aspects
of their historic relationships, they. too. migh:
compile a code under which, with patience and
forbearance, they could ultimately emulate the
example of “strikeless” Sweden.
A Mayor for Seattle
Filings for city offices remind the people or"
Seattle that the charter entitles them to a mayor
—something they had almost forgotten during
tenure of the present functionary in the chair.
There is danger to ancient prerogative when the
mayor of a great city permits a complete vacrun:
of negativity to exist in an office the occupant of
which. to be of civic value, should evidence posi
tive characteristics. The people MIGHT conclud:
they can get along just as well without a mayor
—which, indeed, has been proved to he true of
Seattle since William Devin cloistered himself‘ it:
his monastic cell in the County-City Building.
Perhaps during the war such a situation was
tolerable. Authority had moved to a higher
level. Now, however, Seattle needs leadership
This calls for a mayor with at least a few positive
particles whirling around with the neutrons. The
city’s voters should comb the list and see if they
cannot uncover and elect a candidate capable of
leading this world city along the path toward
high destiny.
W allgren: Outdoors Man
The people of our state and nation cannot help
but be impressed by the persistence with “hicl;
Governor Monrad C. \Vallgren dwells upon the in
exhaustible resource of Washington's natural at
tractions.
The Governor's interest in this priceless asset.
little less than a fixation, is. of course, primarily
economic. His first purpose is to hestir lhr’
state's citizenry to realization of its importance
and development of its resources. as well as to
impress the nation‘s people with the desirability
of our region as vacationland. But also he is held
by an even more compelling gravital pull. Mon
Wallgren is an outdoors man. even though the
several high offices he has held continuously for
so many years have held him of {ice-hound more.
perhaps. than he Would like. The Governor
knows the deep satisfactions to he found \xith
spirit locked in mountain fastness. or with soul
roving free along stream and seashore. He he
lieves it to be a duty. almost spiritual. to call
these delights to the attention of everybody, that
they may be shared with all Americans and others
from regions of the world less richly endowed.
less blessed by Nature's God.
The lack of wealth is easily repaired. but
the poverty of the soul is irreparable—Mon
taigne. .
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