ANOTHER MAN'S POISON

Like the entrenched meanders about which he so amusingly lectures Professor Mather realizes that at times a complete change of direction is the only available way in which to make progress possible. In forsaking the picturesque program of stubborn resistance, he and his fellow-opponents of the Teachers Oath Bill are taking a line of action which promises to be a much more practical solution of the problem at hand.

It is certain that the only way to dissolve the idiocy created by a supine state legislature is to adopt with a vengeance the very same methods employed by those groups in whose interest it was to have the bill passed in the first place. In working for the repeal of the Teachers Oath Bill, or at least for the political defeat of those legislators responsible for its passage, the committee may count upon the full support of most reasonable citizens. The weapons used by the patriotic organizations in forcing through this supremely silly piece of legislation should be turned against them by their opponents with a fury they never dreamed existed. It is an unfortunate commentary upon American government that the advocates of such measure are invariably organized in completely efficient lobbys, while those who would stand against them are scattered and without adequate political influence.

Naturally no thinking man sees in this bill the black boot of tyranny which is about to stamp out our time-honored liberties and carry us back to the dark ages. Nevertheless, in the present state of fear and trembling, such a measure, futile as it may be, sets a dangerous precedent which conceivably may prove the inaugural address to a regime of genuine oppression.

If the Massachusetts legislature can be made to realize, even in a slight degree, that there is a substantial number of citizens in the Commonwealth who do not see the face of Stalin at the bottom of their teacups and who see no necessity of mass-production in thinking, the opponents of the bill will have been successful. Once a virile course of action in favor of repeal has been taken there is hope that the legislators will consider the opposite side of the question. It is not too much to expect that in a country like this there are just as many intelligent people as there are members of the American Legion.