6s

remain independent; there is 00 such statement in The

New Veteran. The AVC is convinced that veterans must
ally themselves with labor, and Bolt6 quite clearlysays SQ.
Attempts -to divide the two groups-and they are being made
constantly-will lead, Bolt6 says, to a fight which can end
only in a struggle to see which group gets more and more
of less and less, for neither can Live without the other.
As another example of Mr. Bernsteins treatment of The
New Veteran, consider the sentences he chooses to quote
on foreign policy. He picks out the one saying, The question of admitting Argentina to the UNO conference [in San
Francisco)was fundamentally one of choosing between a
sterile, legalistic formula and following the dictates of common sense. But Mr. Bernstein does not give the sentences
that follow; The formula won out, in the traditional and
disturbing style of the League of Nations between the wars.
, , This was hailed by the American press as a victory over
Russia, but to those of us who had fought this war as a war
against fascism it seemed a singuarly hollow victory. Again
Mr. Bermtein quotes, We may feel confident that [the
atomic bomb) will not be used for evil purposes so long as it
remains under the control of the present American, British,
and Canadian governments. H e does not quote the more sigaificant sentences that come immediately after: We cannot
expect other nations to feel the same confidence; we can be
quite sure that other nations will take urgent steps to perfect the practical means necessary to apply the known principles of atomic fission.
The only way to rob the atomic
bomb of its terrible threat is to vest control of it in the hands
of some power higher than that of mere nations.
The examples given are typical of Mr. Bernsteins method.
Most veterans are not iaterested in the latest switch in
the party line. T h q are concerned, and mightily, with
finding a job, a place to live, with the kind of world organization which wdl make another war impossible. As for
veterans groups, the significant fact-is not that 6 ~ 0 , O O Ovetclaim,incierans of this warhave joined the Legion-a
dentally, open to some doubt, for the Legion is as reluctant
as General Motors to open its books for public inspectionbut that, despite the millions the Legion is spending on its
recruiting campaign,mostof
the five million men already
discharged have not joined any organization at all.
Perhaps the veterans groupthat will grow out of this
war, as m e has grown out of every other war in which the
United Stateshas participated, is not yet formed. It was
nearly a yea!,after the Armistice in 1918 before the Legion
gotunder way. Meanwhile, few of the millions of young
Americans who voted for Franklin D. Roosevelt are going
to join an old-line, backward-looking, reactionary group of
the last war.Socially,they want a d u b of their own. And
even the mostnaive of us learned from Munich that yon
cant overcome evil by joining with it; you must fight it,
As for a cordbination of the extreme right and the extreme
left, that was part of the trouble in Germany in 1932. It
might contain the seeds of an American fascism.
Approximately 500 young veterans of this war arenow
joining the American Veteraid Committee every week. They
are not all intellectuals; very few of them are graduates of
either Dartmouth or Harvard; only a handful Rave even
a nodding acquaintance with thefive-foot shelf. They are p a p

h g theix three-dollar membership to the AVC because it represents a hope for the future, a group of men who are not
interested in double-talk but who mean certain things, say,
so, and then proceed to fight for them.
A great many of the fighting men of this war learnedthat you cant defeat an enemy by boring from within. YOU
have to organize your strength and fight. That conviction will
not die easily.

In lhe Wind

UR SPECIAL AGENT for UNO affairsswears this

story is true. Before the United Statesdelegates left
for the UNO conference they asked the British embassy in
,Washington whether there would be anycustoms restrictions on the baggage they took. After consulting the regulations, an attach6 informed them that &e delegates .may
bring any amount and type of baggage they desire, except
that in firearms they will be limited io one rifle and 900
rounds of ammunition per person.

AFTER SURVEYING Midwestern editorial opinion on the

UNOS dedsion to locate in the East, we cant understand
why the United Nations ever passed over the Middle West
in choosing a permanent site. The Indianapolis Star of December 30 said the commissionobviously hadnt realized
one advantage of the section: The percentage of foreignborn population is low and alien ideologm make little impression on the majority. The Chimago Tubuaze merely
growled that the United Nations have decided to locate not
in an American but in an alien seat.

. ..

THE WHEEL HAS COME full cycle. Randolph Churchills

syndicated cdumn from Rome, published here January 2,
led off with a fervent wish for the year 1946 that Italian trains will start running on time again.
,

UNDERGROUND HUMOR is now corning out of Palestine in the best tradition of the anti-Hider gags that used
to filter out of occupied Europe. Heres the latest: Why is
the British Labor government like a violin? Answer: Because its held by the left and played on by the right.

THE AMERICAN VETERANS COMMITTEE reported a

big week in the January 1 issue of its bi-monthIy

publicity
bulletin. Legislation signed by Presidmt Truman IiberaIking the G . I. Bill of Rights included several AVC recommendations ; the Marine Corps announcedacceptance of
Nisei enlistments, a result of AVC needling of the Navy
Department; and Bill Maudlin sigaed up as a new member.
AN ARMY OFFICER who taught political warfare ta
G. 1,s at a camp in the Southwest told U S about an examisation he gave to 300 prospective trainees. Part of the test
was a word-association affair. H e says that the three responsesmost frequently scribbled 51 reaction to the word
Russia were anarchists,godlessness, and free love.
[ W e invite our readers to submit material for In tbe W i ~ d
-either clippings with sotlrce and dute OY stories that cats
bo Eh?ddy autbenticnted. W e will pay $1 for each jtem
UCCeppfed,-EDITORS THE NATION.}