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FOUR THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN'S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA JANUARY 4. 1953. Site Bulletin The Official Organ of the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Georgia, Incorporated JOHN MARKWALTER, Editor 416 Eighth Street, Augusta, Ga. Vol. 38 Saturday, January 4, 1958 No. 1G ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR 1955-1956 GEORGE GINGELL. Columbus President E. M. HEAGARTY, Waycross Honorary Vice-President j MRS. DAN HARRIS, Macon Vice-President TOM GRIFFIN, Atlanta _r Vice-President NICK CAMERIO, Macon Secretary JOHN T. BUCKLEY, Augusta Treasurer JOHN MARKWALTER, Augusta Executive Secretary MISS CECILE FERRY, Augusta Financial Secretary ALVIN M. McAULIFFE, Augusta Auditor Entered as second class matter at the Post Office, Monroe, Georgia, and accepted for mailing at special rate of postage provided by para graph (e) of section 34.40, Postal Laws and Regulations. Member of N.C.W.C. News Service, the Catholic Press Association K the United States, the Georgia Press Association, and the National Editorial Association- Published fortnightly by the Catholic Laymen’s Association of Geor gia, Inc., with the Approbation of the Most Reverend Archbishop- Bishop of Savannah, the Most Reverend Bishop of Atlanta, and tne Right Reverend Abbot Ordinary of Belmont. Wall in cj ton ^jjewiletlcr... POPE’S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE MAY BECOME ONE OF MOST DISCUSSED PRONOUNCEMENTS (By J. J. Gilbert) WASHINGTON — The 1957 j Christmas message of His Holi- j ness Pope Pius XII could become ; one of the most discussed of papal pronouncements. There has been considerable comment already, and it has been generally favorable. Neverthe less, it is entirely likely that its greatest impact is yet to come. If j its plea is heeded, it could become | the guidepost on the way to real; peace. If it is ignored, it may be | cast back in regret for many years to come. The address was long, 9.000 j words, and it fairly bristled with j thought-provoking passages, j Commentators have found a wide variety of points on which to j write. All agi'eed on the utter j timeliness of the address given to a dozen Cardinals in the Vati-! can on December 22. The message was delivered three days before Christmas, that it might have the widest possible dissemination. Beamed in many languages over the powerful new Vatican Radio over a period of two days, one secular news agen cy has already called it “probably the most widely broadcast mes sage in history.” To speak of peace would nat urally be timely in the world to- c.av. Blit the Holy Father under- i cored his appeal with such de tailed thought that its up-to-the- minute application must impress ill who read it. For instance, calling for a halt ill the headlong arms race be- t ween nations, His Holiness said oven the wealthiest powers “must .foresee a time in which arms i pending will “weaken the har- ! lony of the economy.” At almost the same time it was i.nnounced that Soviet Russia would spend $4,500,000,000 in j cientific research next year, and ! aore than $24,000,000,000 on out- ) ight military expenditures. In the same days, it was reported •i ne U. S. Defense Department would seek another $1,000,000,000 ! text year for “missiles and other i aings.” This was followed by word that the U. S. defense or ders in 1958 would total more i ran $23,000,000,000 — almost 50 percent greater than the total l ilitary contracts placed in 1957. . Three days before the Pope spoke, the authoritative publica tion “Jane’s Fighting Ships” said 1 in London that Soviet Russia is j building atomic powered subma rines capable of carrying 50-ton ballistic missiles with a range of 1,500 miles. The day after the Pope spoke, it was announced that the U. S. had placed orders for jet bombers using “exotic” fuels that would fly three times the speed of sound. Within hours, Moscow announc ed the “successful long distance non-stop flight “into the strato sphere of a “colossal” new jet bomber that flew “higher and longer” than any other aircraft of this type. One Washington daily, report ing the Pope’s talk with a “top head” on page one. carried in the adjoining column a report that a leading U. S. weather authority was somewhat concerned because Soviet Russia is showing a grow ing interest in weather control. It was emphasized that neither the U. S. nor Soviet Russia has yet hit upon a way to drastical ly modify weather or weather patterns. But it was pointed out that, if achieved, such control would be of greater consequence than nuclear weapons or missiles. The nation possessing it could cause a prolonged drought and destroy the food supply of an other nation. Perhaps a half-dozen schemes have been proposed for influenc ing weather and climate. These include control and diversion of the Gulf Stream, and the artifi cial melting of ice fields in the Arctic. Scientists say they sound far-fetched, but still bear watch ing. In any event they reflect the far-ranging character of the race for supremacy. These and scores of other con siderations poinC to the worth whileness of peace. “Peace,” the Holy Father said, “is a good so precious, so pro ductive, so desirable and so de sired, that every effort in its defense ... is well spent.” The Washington Post stressed this point of the Pope’s message in an editorial. “In these days of missiles and nuclear weapons,” the paper said, “few men will need to be reminded that his is not mere holiday sentiment.” Hysteria In Indonesia THIS WORLD OF OURS (By Richard Patlee) There are still two articles to go to complete this cycle of 25 on Africa. However, I want to open a parenthesis, as it were, in the series — to comment briefly on what seems to me a tragedy, so symptomatic of our century, especially since 1945, that it de serves special mention. I re fer to the out- bur s t of ir rational hyster ia that has place in Indonesia and that promises, if not stopped in time, to bring the whole country to ruin. The events that led to this ex traordinary state of affairs are fairly well known. For years now the Djakarta government has de manded that the Netherlands give up Dutch New Guinea, or West Irian as the Indonesians call it. When the Netherlands proved re peatedly obdurate the matter was referred once more to the UN and its consideration rejected. At this the Indonesians seem to have gone into a figurative tail-spin. We had the extravagant case of a government calling for a nationwide strike and doing everything in its power to harrass and make wretched the lives of the more than 50,000 Dutch who still live and work in Indonesia. All this for a piece of territory that can certainly mean absolutely nothing to vast Indonesia which has enough islands and people already to assimilate without taking on the primitive Papuans. RUIN PREFERRED TO COLONIALISM But the remarkable feature of this event is the determination of j a presumedly sane government to ] bring down the roof about its ears in the name of a wild and un- controlable nationalism. There seems something almost patho logical in this madness for de struction, this blindness that ex cludes all dictates of reason or common sense. We said the same thing a few years ago in Iran when Mossadegh preferred to bring ruination on his poverty stricken land rather than allow European technicians to run the refineries in Iran. It is all very well to respect the will to independence of Asian and African peoples and hope that in the course of time they may achieve a respectable and re sponsible place in the world. But it is another thing entirely to have to put up with this un reasoning frenzy that assumes that by throwing tremendous tantrums, the results are going to be favorable. I, personally, have the greatest sympathy for the former colonial peoples who are striving to work out a decent life under indepen dence. But I find it extremely , difficult to understand how black- : mail as a form of policy can really be accepted. It is happening all the time and in almost every ex colonial situation. The Indonesians are going to get New Guinea by I ruining thousands of honest Dutch ! employees in their country and by ruining themselves at the same time, if need be. EUROPEANS NOT ALWAYS WRONG The Moroccan government has j just announced that its dispute; with Spain can be settled easily j if Spain will give up its ter ritories in West Africa and then sit down calmly and work out the details after the transfer has become effective. The Yemenites sent a delegation to London to insist that all will be well in the Arabian peninsula if Britain will simply hand over Aden and get out. Then, of course, discussion can take place with no difficulty. Mr. Nehru has been saying for years that if Portugal will quit Goa and go lacking, he will be delighted to enter a conference regarding the future of Portu guese India. I submit that this type of thing is ridiculous, undignified and completely intolerable in any thing like a reasonably well or ganized international society. We have simply got to get away from the idea that Asians and Africans are always, inevitably right simply because they are Asians and Africans and that the Euro pean is wrong simply because he is a European. We are fast coming to the point when to be a Euro pean is to be something degraded and obscene and the quicker liquidated the better. I suppose the upshot of the scandal in Indonesia will be that, when absolute chaos faces the country and Dutch interests have been effectively curtailed, if not destroyed, then the Indonesian government will expect enormous aid from somewhere to bail the country out. Perhaps there is nothing to be done about it all, but we are certainly paying for the sentiment so long dominant in this country that anything smacking of colonialism is wrong and that national independence, now and under all conditions, is the ideal. 1958 Will Be Time Of Grave Crisis THE BACKDROP By JOHN C. O’BRIEN It is the custom of our political and business leaders at this time of the year to peer into the crystal ball and attempt to project the I course of events for the coming year. In more serene times, this has been a harmless and often pleasant excercise in the art of prophecy. It has been pos sible in the past to predict with confidence that the new year would be more prosperous if not happier, than the year that had ended. Business would be brisker, em ployment higher, income more plentiful. We would be able to buy more automobiles, more tele vision sets, more household appli ances, more of all those aids to comfortable living that we like to think made our nation great and the American way of life superior to all others. But, as we approach the begin ning of 1958, the future does not appear so reassuring. The crystal ball is cloudier than unual, and even those trends and events that do seem likely to eventuate are gravely disconcerting. COMPLACENCY SHAKEN We have been living in a state of smug complacency, confident that the threat of a devastating war was receding. Was this not, in fact, what our leaders had been telling us. We could, we thought, sit back, reduce our military spending, lower our taxes and en joy the booming prosperity that seemed to have no end or prospect of diminution. But during the past year our complacency was rudely shaken by irrefutable evidence that we were not as secure as we thought we were. Suddenly we discovered that we were falling behind the Soviet Union in the race to keep military capabilities in balance. By send ing up their man-made satellites, the Russians proved to the world that they had forged ahead of the free world in the arms race. We were confronted with the sicken ing realization that the Russians did have the capacity to wipe out cities with nuclear weapons. Yet, even now we seem re luctant to face up to the realities of our situation. In fact, we are not fully informed as to just how frightening those realities are. Our political leaders have seen fit to keep us in the dark. They have withheld an appraisal of our posture in- relation to the Soviet Union prepared by a committee of leaders in business, finance, science and the military art under | the direction of H. Rowan Gaither, | Jr., a former head of the Ford Foundation. For weeks the Senate Sub committee of Preparedness has been trying desperately to get a look at the Gaither report. But the Administration persists in classifying it “top secret”. The : only concession the Executive branch has indicated it is willing to make the Subcommittee is to provide a bowlerized version. As is usually the case, however, when government attempts to conceal unpleasant facts from the American people, some of the bad news has leaked out. And if the Gaither committee’s findings are valid — there is no reason to question them, because they were made by some of the soberest minds in the nation — the new year, far from being brighter than the one just drawn to a close is certain to be a time of grave crisis for us and for all free peo ple. It will be a time when we must decide whether to put our securi ty ahead of our hedonistic hopes for another year of soft living. For, so the committee tells us, if we are to bring our defense strength into balance with the offensive strength of the Russians and counter the communist world-wide offensive on the eco nomic front, we must tighten our belts and accept some of the austerities we usually associate only with war. We must, unless we are willing to disregard the warning of the experts, vastly increase our spending for military defense and make some provision for the pro tection of our people from radio active fallout in the event of an attack. This will mean not more money to spend on creature com forts but higher taxes to insure our security. A grim outlook, yes. But not one that need deter us from ex changing our usual greetings for (Continued on Page Five)