Panorama

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Part of Panorama

Title: Panorama
Issue Date: Volume XX (Issue No. 7) July 1968
Year: 1968
Language: English
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extracted text: THE PHILIPPINE MAGAZINE OF GOOD READING ; '“GAftALAN SETTLEMENT 5f y CITY OF OLONGAPO I »R ADM.DONALD G. BAER BUILDIN 'Jwnh mI jeUw JtyiMt: PANORAMA needs intelligent readers of: 1. Informative materials 2. Interesting ideas 3. Enlightening opinions 4. Broadening views 5. Controversial thoughts 6. Critical comments 7. Idealistic suggestions 8. Humorous remarks 9. Serious statements 10. Meditations on life and work. All these are either original productions or selective adap tions and condensations from Philippine and foreign publica tions. Usually brief and compact, lasting from two to ten minutes to read, each article offers a rewarding experience in one’s moments of leisure. Relax with Panorama. We say this to the busy student and the teacher, the lawyer and the physician, the dentist and the engineer, the executive and the farmer, the politician and the preacher, the employer and the employee. PANORAMA is specially designed for Filipinos — young, middle-aged, and old, male and female, housekeeper and houselizard. Special rates for new and renewal subscriptions to begin on November 1, 1966: 1 copy ..................................... 1 year ..................................... 2 years .................................... Foreign rate: .......................... 50 centavos P5.00 P9.00 $3.00 (U. S.) For one year’s subscription of 5 pesos, a person receives the equivalent of 12 compact pocketbooks of lasting value and and varied interest. COMMUNITY PUBLISHERS, INC. Inverness, (M. Carreon) St.. Sta. Ana, Manila, Philippines Vol. XX THE PHILIPPINE MAGAZINE OF GOOD READING Entered as second class mail matter at the Manila Post Office on Dec. 1, 1955 MANILA PHILIPPINES No. 7 QUALITIES FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT It is said, with truth, that knowledge and experience as well as intelligence are needed to fit a people for free self-government. But a still graver defect than the want of experience is the want of the desire for self-government in the mass of the nation. When a people allow an oldestablished government like that of the Tsars or the Manchus to be overthrown, it is because they resent its oppressions or despise its incompetence. But this does not mean that they wish to govern themselves. As a rule, that which the mass of any people desires is not to govern itself but to be well governed. So when free institutions are forced on a people who have not spontaneously called for them, they come as something not only unfamiliar but artificial. They do not naturally and promptly en gage popular interest and sympathy but are regarded with an indifference which lets them fall into the hands of those who seek to use the machinery of government for their own purposes. It is as if one should set a child to drive a motor car. Wherever self-government has worked well, it is because men have fought for it and valued it as a thing they had won for themselves, feeling it to be the true remedy for misgovernment. . . A population of a bold and self-reliant character is more fitted to work free institutions than is one long accustomed to passive and unreasoning obedience. . . — James Bryce in Modern Democracies. VIEWS IN ANTICIPATION OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION IN 1970 1971 The other day, two of our friends happened to drop in at my place in Foundation College for a visit. In the course of an interesting con versation they mentioned their expectations about the election of delegates to the Constitutional Convention to be held in 1970. I remarked that the subject deserves the serious consideration of all the citizens of our country. For one thing, it should be taken as primarily a civic problem and a transcendent national undertaking in its nature and significance. It should never therefore be treated as a mere partisan political matter and should not be disposed of as an is sue between our political parties and factions. For in stance, in the case of the 1934 Convention, all parties and their leaders agreed to set aside partisan considera tions in the selection of the delegates and in the way the election campaign was to be waged. That agreement, al though not completely ob served, was a wise and pa triotic gesture. For partisan political campaigns, observed the famed and perceptive scholar and author James Harvey Robinson, are “emo tional orgies which endeavor to distract attention from the real issues involved.” Pro ceeding in this line, he re marked that political party struggles, “paralyze what slight powers of cerebration man can normally muster.” The Constitutional Con vention is not an institution comparable or similar to Congress or the office of the President or of the provincial Governor, or of the City Mayor or of other kinds of political offices. It is essen tially different. Unlike Con gressmen and Senators, the delegates have no power or influence to secure favors and privileges for themselves 2 Panorama and their friends. They have no power to vote huge allow ances for themselves or for others. They have no power to threaten businessmen or personal enemies with trou blesome investigations. They have no means within their official function to perpe tuate themselves in their posts. They hold office for only a few months. They are intrusted to perform only one thing: to draft a pro posed constitution which will not be effective at all unless the national electorate ap prove it. The provisions of a Consti tution are not intended to benefit a particular region, class, interest, or group. They are meant to protect and advance the interests of all the elements of the popu lation of our country. They are intended to correct prac tices performed by our Gov ernment which have been shown to be detrimental to the general welfare. They may introduce new features which have proved benefi cial in other countries similar in some ways to our own. Therefore, the voters have to choose delegates who have no particular interests to serve, who are not bound to serve and advance the spe cial needs and conditions of a particular political party, sectarian group, social class, or economic clique. Of course, it is not easy to achieve this goal; but it is obvious that it can be ap proximated only when dele gates are not under the direct control of particular parties or special interests or are not elected at the behest of poli tical chieftains who are not motivated by truly high, im partial, and enlightened in terests. President Quezon, Osmena, and Sumulong, and others were political leaders of this type and persuasion. They positively refused to in ject partisan and narrow per sonal considerations in the selection of the delegates in 1934. In this particular mat ter, they acted as real disin terested national leaders; and they continually showed that lofty spirit of statesmanship in the organization of the Constitutional Convention in 1934-1935. The voters should be made aware about these things. They should there fore ask and vote for candi July 1968 3 dates who are known to have the best of these qualifica tions. If a person runs mere ly to enjoy the honor of be ing a signer of the Consti tution or to be remembered as some sort of rebuilder of the Nation but does not know exactly how and why its provisions have been in troduced, considered, inter preted, and approved, such person does not deserve to be elected delegate to the Convention. He could easily be misled into approving mischievous ideas and prac tices. If one becomes a dele gate just because he has the support of selfish political bosses, he may not be ex pected to exercise intelligent ly the freedom and responsi bility of a delegate who should work only for the highest interests of the coun try today and in the years to come. We need to inform every Filipino citizen, particularly the voters, that the Consti tution is not like a law of Congress or a municipal or dinance that can be easily changed any time of the year when found defective or inadequate by perceptive observers. Once a Constitu tion is approved it acquires a degree of permanence for one or more generations. It becomes very difficult to change its provisions includ ing those parts that are found inadequate and unsatisfac tory. Hence, delegates to the Constitutional Con vention should be men of tested abi lity and ripe knowledge con cerning basic questions af fecting the social, economic, and educational life of the country. Among them there should be persons who have made a careful and critical study of the workings of our basic laws and the record of our government institutions. They should be mature and responsible individuals who have a broad understanding of our past and of the pre sent social, economic, and political conditions. They are better prepared to revise and improve our present Constitution than those who have not had this special ex perience and observation. Those who are acqainted with the constitutional char ters of progressive nations today are undoubtedly well qualified to draft a desirable 4 Panorama and workable constitution for our country. But in addition to having exceptional competence and broad knowledge of social and economic institutions, our delegates should be per sons of unquestioned honesty and integrity who are ready to forget and set aside per sonal and selfish motives in the adoption of this basic document. Their objective should be to produce a docu ment that could promote the welfare of all the elements of the nation. No individual who does not have these special quali fications of mind and charac ter should be considered worthy of holding a seat in the Constitutional Conven tion. No responsible poli tical, civic, economic, or so cial leader should try to per suade voters to vote for such a candidate. One who does not have the necessary qua lifications for a Convention seat should not have the pre sumption and temerity to present his candidacy for it. But we should not forget that there are men in our country today with very limited competence, dubious morality, and insufficient preparation who often take risks to be elected to any post of power or honor espe cially when they have the money, political influence, and power to attract to their camp the innocent, the in competent, and the needy voters. It is therefore, essen tial that responsible and in telligent citizens, such as the members of the Lions Club and similar associations of high purpose, should form themselves into militant groups to support candidates who are educationally and morally fit to serve as dele gates. When the Constitu tional Convention comes un der the direction of delegates of special ability, intellectual maturity, educational pre paration, and moral temper, we will have reason to hope for a Constitution more suit able to the needs and condi tions of our people and coun try. But there is more than the act of electing knowledge able men and women to the Constitutional Con vention, more than just bringing to gether persons of high ideals, tested integrity, and prac tical experience. We should remember that a constitu July 1968 5 tional convention does not and cannot exist in a vacuum. There is also the need for the people of the country to maintain active awareness of the measures proposed du ring its meetings and delibe rations. This is an attitude and a stance that must be of urgent compelling necessity specially to the educated citi zenry and the press and other agencies of public com munication. For proposals within the convention may not always turn out to be effective solutions of our na tional problems. Moreover, in an assembly of two or three hundred individuals, there may be a few who may represent interests unfriendly to our national ideals and there may even be a few who may work to promote dis torted purposes. This is not a mere possibility but a pro bability in view of the fact that in our society today money exerts a great in fluence and an unusual at traction that not a few of our men in public office could resist. As modern constitutional conventions are seldom in clined to hold their sessions behind closed doors, it is no longer difficult therefore for public opinion or outside personal views to be express ed favorably or unfavorably to constitutional proposals as they are discussed within the convention hall. When intelligent public opinion is expressed in support of pro visions proposed by delegates with vision and unselfishness, the chances of including wise and essential rules in our basic law are greatly en hanced. For instance,/in the convention of 1934-1935, the provision organizing a unica meral legislature to take the place of the former bicame ral legislature was at first supported by less than a mere handful of delegates. It was not understood and was therefore attacked by most of the delegates. Most people outside the hall were almost completely ignorant about the system. But news papers saw the advantages of the proposal and thus sup ported it with vigorous edi torials and articles so that in the end that novel feature of our legislative system was finally adopted by the Con vention and approved by the 6 Panorama people. President Quezon who was against it in the be ginning had to come out in praise of the system. Again the idea of the 6-year term of the President of the Phil ippines without re-election was passed under the same or similar circumstances^ The article of the Constitution nationalizing to a great ex tent the operation of public utilities and the ownership of land and natural resources were not popular among cer tain vested interests. But the delegates had the force of public opinion behind them, and so they were able to give it a definite place in our Constitution. But let us remind ourselves that the written or formal parts of the Constitution cannot give absolute pro tection to. whatever the peo ple want or to what we think the country should have. One of our Filipino scholars of the former generation once stated in an address at the University of the Philippines, when I was a student there, that a constitution is only a piece of paper. It is lifeless as such. It derives its life from the faithful and firm adherence to it by those en trusted by the people to en force and to carry it out as much as possible in order that we could see from its workings at least two things: first, that its purposes are being fulfilled; and second, that its defects may be seen and when seen they may be properly corrected through necessary amendments pro vided in the constitution it self. We need to know that no constitution is perfect in its substance and no constitu tion could work out exactly as expected. Moreover, in these days of sudden and revolutionary changes brought about by new dis coveries of science and tech nology, and even by the penetrating cogitation or in tuition of the cognoscente, certain parts and provisions of the existing Constitution would seem to be no longer necessary. In fact, certain parts may no longer be de sirable. In mentioning this state of things arising from changes in today’s life and condiiton, I have reference to all of the existing consti tutions. But referring to our own Constitution in particu July 1968 7 lar I might say that more basic changes are necessary because besides the conse quences resulting from the revolution of scientific ideas and social attitudes that have taken place during the last 25 years affecting the world at large, our own Constitu tion had taken as a model a constitutional plan sociolo gically and historically for eign to us — the Constitu tion of the United States. The American Constitution was based on conditions and needs of the thirteen British Colonies in North America. It was originally framed as an answer to the problems that their leaders of about 200 years ago conceived and decided in response to those problems. With slight modi fications we adopted that Coii stitution. Theoretically and as a formal document, it is structurally a good mo del. The strangest part of it all, however, was that we did not even care to adopt those features of our previous organic laws and govern mental institutions which we had tried during our brief autonomous political life. We did not even give much thought to certain ideas of our outstanding leaders in respect to the formal organi zation of our national govern ment. For all these and other reasons, the need for amend ing the present Constitution to make it fit and suitable to our conditions and our social and economic needs and to adjust it to our ex perience in our political life is very clearly urgent in the minds of most thoughtful and enlightened Filipinos. This coming Constitutional Convention will be the first instance in our history, out side of the Malolos Congress of 1889, when we will have the chance of drafting and approving a Constitution at a time when we are indepen dent of foreign rule. A con vention under an indepen dent Philippines is in fact long overdue. So many problems have pestered our people over the years after the last world war. They need new solutions, so lutions that could be within our power to provide. A number of these solutions are extremely difficult if not impossible to devise by mere ly legal methods. Problems of peace and order, problems Panorama of abuse of governmental au thority, problems of educa tion, problems of social and economic improvement, pro blems arising from the power of taxation and public fi nance, problems of the ad ministration of justice, and others that need not be men tioned at present and dis cussed. The time and the occasion are neither suffi cient nor appropriate. It is enough that we mention them in order that we may realize the importance of selecting our best available men who should act as our delegates to the Constitu tional Convention of 19701971. — By V. G. Sinco. THE MAKE-UP OF PEOPLE The People! Like our huge earth itself, which, to ordinary scansion, is full of vulgar contradiction and offense, man, viewed in the lump, displeases, and is a constant puzzle and affront to the merely edu cated classes. The rare,, cosmical artist-mind, lit with the Infinite, alone confronts his manifold and ocean Qualities — but taste, intelligence and culture (socalled) have been against the masses, and remain so. There is plenty of glamor about the most dam nable crimes and hoggish meannesses, special and general of the feudal and dynastic world over there, with its personnel of lords and queens and courts, so well dressed and so handsome. But the People are ungrammatical, untidy, and their sins gaunt and illbred. — Walt Whitman. July 1968 9 ■ A Federal System Restrains & Governmental Power. THE VALUE OF FEDERALISM When the Federal Conven tion of the United States, charged “to render the con stitution of the federal gov ernment more adequate to the exisgencies of the Union,” met at Philadelphia in May, 1787, the leaders of the fede ralist movement found them selves confronted by two problems. While everybody agreed that the powers of the [former] Confederation were insufficient and must be strengthened, the main con cern was still to limit the powers of government as such, and not the least mo tive in seeking reform was to curb' the arrogation of powers by the state legislatures. The experience of the first de cade of independence had merely somewhat shifted the emphasis from protection against arbitrary government to the creation of one effec tive common government. But it had also provided new grounds for suspecting the use of power by the state legislatures. It was scarcely foreseen that the solution of the first problem would also provide the answer, to the second and that the transference of some essential powers to a central government, while leaving the rest to the separate states, would also set an effective limit on all government. Ap parently it was from Madi son that “came the idea that the problem of producing adequate safeguards for pri vate rights and adequate powers for national govern ment was in the end the same problem, inasmuch as a strengthened national gov ernment could be a make weight against the swollen prerogatives of state legisla tures.” Thus the great dis covery was made of which Lord Acton later said: “Of all checks on democracy, federalism has been the most efficacious and the most con genial . . . The Federal sys tem limits and restrains sove reign power by dividing it, and by assigning to Govern 10 Panorama ment only certain defined rights. It is the only method of curbing not only the ma jority but the power of the whole people, and it affords the strongest basis for a second chamber, which has been found essential security for freedom in every genuine democracy.” The reason why a division of powers between different authorities always reduces the power that anybody can exercise is not always under stood. It is not merely that the separate authorities will, through mutual zealousy, prevent one another from exceeding their authority. More important is the fact that certain kinds of coercion require the joint and co ordinated use of different powers or the employment of several means, and, if these means are in separate hands, nobody can exercise those kinds of coercion. The most familiar illustration is pro vided by many kinds of eco nomic control which can be effective only if the authority exercising them can also con trol the movement of men and goods across the frontiers of its territory. If it lacks that power, though it has the power to control internal events, it cannot pursue po licies which require the joint use of both. Federal govern ment is thus in a very definite sense limited government. The other chief feature of the Constitution relevant here is its provision guaran teeing individual rights. The reasons why it was at first decided not to include a Bill of Rights in the Constitution and the considerations which later persuaded even those who had at first opposed the decision are equally signifi cant. — F. A. Hayek in The Constitution of Liberty. July 1968 11 VALUE SYSTEM: “Conventions are customs which are more practiced than preached; morals are customs which are more preached than practiced,” wrote Will Durant in The Mansions of Philosophy. Judging from the prolifera tion of problems — unem ployment, relief, high taxes, spending, graft, inflation, poverty, delinquency, neglect of children, broken homes, crime, anarchy, decline of morality, war — among a people generally considered to be citizens of a religious natidn, we might conclude that the value system in this country include principles that are more PREACHED than PRACTICED. Not alone in the twentieth century, however, has man kind shown a propensity for professing one thing and do ing another. Some explana tion seems in order for the wide disparity between what . . . as avowed ... as practiced mankind professes to value and what his practiced va lues produce. In order to make a com parison between our avowed personal value systems and our practiced value patterns, some evidence must at least be reviewed which would in dicate that they are not in harmony. This evidence is both general and specific. We subscribe to the adage that “Honesty is the best policy.” At the same time, we have created a national disgrace with cheating in classrooms, getting by with undercover deals in business, and causing insurance rates to sky-rocket because of our dishonest practices in report ing losses. We have compli cated and distorted that ba lance of trust by which men and civilizations have been pleased to advance them selves economically, socially, politically, and morally; we 12 Panorama have aggravated the task of the shopkeeper with our shoplifting; we have denied the private businessman his right to legitimate profit by taking, in addition to the wages he pays us, whatever we can conceal in our poc kets or our vehicles, or em bezzle through clever book keeping system. We have abdicated responsibility for indebtedness through the widespread subterfuge of bankruptcy. As if that were not enough, we have “nicti tated” (looked the other way) while bribery, graft, wholesale thievery, grand larceny even, have become accepted behavior by ap pointed and elected officials. We profess to value human life, but even the most ob vious instinct in mankind, self-preservation, becomes a mockery in practice. On the one hand, we spend millions of dollars, quantities of ener gy, and talent in pursuit of cures for everything from the common cold to cancer. On the other hand, with what would be comedy if it were not such tragic irony, we abuse, debase, even destroy ourselves physically. The re cords of highway slaughter are commonplace; they no longer shock us. The glut tony and excessive indul gences to which we subject our bodies are not so dra matic, but equally destruc tive. A most individual matter serves as a striking example of the ridiculous manner in which we irrationally prac tice what we do not rational ly preach. Almost no one, regardless, of his habits, will deny that cigarette smoking is a dirty, time-consuming, expensive, senseless habit. Within the last ten years, a mountain of evidence, uni versally disseminated, has at tested to its injurious, if not fatal, consequences to physi cal well-being. But cigarette smoking is on the increase, not decrease. The sinister forces that threaten and take our lives prematurely have their roots in our self-deception, pro fessing to value one thing while practicing an opposing value pattern. Probably no area of our lives, save one, is more fraught with meaning in this matter than is the political arena. Moral standards are preached; political expe July 1968 13 diency is practiced. The science or art of politics, that by which we govern our selves, ought to be the least suspect because of its tre mendous influence upon the lives and fortunes of so ma ny; yet from the local aider man or councilman to the men who aspire to the Pres idency, we need a Diogenes to search out “an honest man.” Political expediency has become a way of life; the effects are monumental and worldwide iq scope. The candidate presents himself as a man of intelli gence and honesty, assured that he has something of va lue to contribute to the ef fectiveness and orderliness of our democratic process. Then, so often, he begins the .devious journey which will preclude his contribu tion, telling himself that in order to be elected, he must sacrifice some of his honor, some of his principles, in the interest of the greater good, that of service. He really thinks he will reinstate those compromised principles of morals and ethics once in office. What a sorry plight our communities, cities, the nation, and the entire world are in through this kind of gap between professed va lues and practiced behaviors. We criticize those elements in our society whose de mands for higher wages, shorter working hours, more fringe benefits are wrecking such havoc on the value of the dollar. Under a slightly different guise, however, we add our own irresponsibility to the spiraling inflation that threatens our very existence as a free nation. We express regret, even indignation, over the plight of starving millions in far-off places and find a hundred excuses for not con tributing to the United Fund in our own communities. We pass laws and imediately begin the skillful eva sion, or downright violation, of them. We say that we honor virtue, but we do not practice it; we avow our love of freedom and for more than thirty years have bar tered it piecemeal for a false security. We extol the value of stable family life as the most basic foundation upon which to regenerate a free society, composed qf individuals committed to honor, decency, courage, and respect for fel 14 Panorama low-beings. All the while we participate in practices that are diametrically opposed to the preservation of family life. With childlike simpli city we expect to have it both ways. Now we are reaping a whirlwind of vio lence, bloodshed, and anar chy through our violation of the most primal law of life, that of love for our neighbor as for ourselves. In attempts to secure greater freedom, we enslave ourselves through personal habits or strictures imposed in the guise of security and the delusion that prosperity is synonymous with deflated dollars in wide circulation and civilization with the pro ducts of technology. We manifest our universal folly in selecting the commodity we desire but refuse to pay the price to obtain it. We are no more willing to har monize our ways and means than we are to harmonize our professed values with our practiced values. While it may be a dubious alibi to suggest that we are foolish rather than hypocritical, the fact remains that not all of the discrepancies between professed values and prac ticed value patterns can be accounted for by planned hypocrisy. The school of philosophy generally attributed to Freud views man essentially as an animal, as a pawn, as a mere victim of his surroundings. The Judaic-Christian Ethic, upon which our value system has been traditionally based, however, sees man as having not only the capacity but also the responsibility for directing himself along con structive, positive ways ra ther than merely following the path of least resistance. While we may give lip ser vice to this principle that man must bear responsibility for his behavior, we often deliberately and with effi ciency remove the individual from the consequences of his misbehavior. Hoodlums roam the streets wantonly destroying property and human life, but they are not considered responsible. Society, whatever that animal is, has failed them. Gangs of idle malingerers vandalize schools, churches, and pri vate homes. Who can blame them? The community does not provide wholesome re creation. If students do not July 1968 15 learn in school, the cause is not their indolence, inatten tion, or disinterest, but the failure of the teacher to mo tivate them. We have car ried this mythical scapegoat business to such proportions that the effect is disastrous to the general well-being of the national character. Man is an agent unto him self; he cannot escape the inevitable consequences of his personal value systems in profession and practice. Yet, we have made guilty of our own behavior society, our parents, the government, teachers, preachers, friends, as well as the “divine thrust ing on” and “planetary in fluence.” Meanwhile, the net result, does not go away; it sits and stares at us, grow ing more and more formida ble. While it is easy to blame society, or something else, it is difficult to admit “I was wrong” or “I was in error.” Man is not born with a value system. He must learn it. Plato, in Laws, said that the little human animal will not at first have the right responses. It must be trained to feel pleasure, liking, dis gust, and hatred at those things which really are plea sant, likable, disgusting, and hateful. In the Republic, the wellnurtured youth is one . . . who would see most clearly whatever was amiss in ill-made works of man or ill-grown works of na ture, and with a just dis tate would blame and hate the ugly even from his earliest years and would give delighted praise to beauty, receiving it into his soul and being nourish ed by it, so that he be comes a man of gentle heart. All this before he is of an age to Reason; so that when Reason at length comes to him, then, bred as he has been he will hold out his hands in welcome and recognize her because of the affinity he bears to her. Aristotle had something similar to say on the subject. He thought that unless a child had been trained in “ordinate affections or just sentiments,” it would be use less to appeal to his ethical sense when he became an adult because he would have no basis for such an ap proach. Though too obvious 16 Panorama to require saying, the home, the church, and the school, in that order perhaps, have abdicated some responsibility in inculcating moral and ethical principles, underlying a value system, early in the child’s development. — By Mabel M. Mitchell in The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulle tin, Spring 1968. COSTLY PRINTING ERRORS HELP-WANTED ad in the St. Louis Post-Dis patch: “Drivers, school bus. Add to income or supplement retirement tension.” FROM a Kiwanis Club bulletin: “Sorry to hear about Edith feeling poorly. We hope you’re feel ing your usual porky self soon, Edith.” FROM a restaurant’s business card: “Indian, Pakistani, Chinese foods . . . Die in an authentic Eastern atmosphere.’' FROM an article on a drum and bugle corps in the Marion, Ohio, Star: “Mr. Seaton, who retires from the corps this year, will join the staff as bulg ing instructor.” FROM the Charlottesville, Va., Progress: “Ap pointments may be made beforehand by calling the hospital and asking for the blood bank. This will avoid needles waiting.” NOTICE in the Belton, S.C., News: “I want to say thank you to all the friends who have continued to remember me with prayers, cards, letters and gifts. I am still under the doctor’s care. Please con tinue to pray for me.” FROM the Memphis Press-Scimitar: “A total of $40 million in tax revenge was collected by the state.” July 1968 17 ■ Prudence is the virtue that restrains wisely the excesses of modern economic and political forces and tendencies. THE DANGERS OF RISING EXPECTATIONS Politics has always been a mechanism for choice. But in the old exigent, direction less societies the range of possible choice was narrow and popular expectations exerted little pressure upon government. One could choose between — or com promise — the conflicting tariff interests of southern planters and northern manu facturers, and that settlement might represent most of a year’s political decision mak ing at the federal level. The choices now are thousands of times more numerous and the expectations are now suf fused with an unprecedented emotional intensity. We have not made smooth ly the transition from the old situation of political choice to the new situation. We need a new rhetoric of poli tical discussion. We need a problem - solving approach, not an extension of the old politics of rivalrous interest groups. We need systems analysis, which cannot make our decisions for us but can at least get into focus the re lative costs and benefits of given choices. Among the broad catego ries of choice is that between jam today and jam tomor row. The Soviet Union over the decades has rigorously opted for jam tomorrow by maintaining a high rate of capital investment and a high rate of educational ex penditure relative to con sumer goods; this policy the U.S.S.R., under pressure of expectations, may be forced to modify. In the U.S., which has had a more balanced situation, very sharp tax in creases at local, state, and federal levels could imme diately alleviate much pre sent distress in the disadvan taged 20 percent of our po pulation — although, as has been indicated, this would not necessarily reduce ex 18 Panorama pectations. And very sharp tax increases might so impair the economic dynamo that tomorrow’s total product would be seriously diminish ed. More than half of all U.S. Negroes are active, prog r e s s i n g participants in “whitey’s” vigorous economy — which is also their econo my and the economy on which the children of poorer Negroes and poorer whites must depend for tomorrow’s opportunity. Chile’s situation may illus trate another broad category of chdice: between rising levels of economic growth and political freedom. Eduar do Frei’s democratic regime may be succeeded by an au thoritarian government that trades freedom for increased production. Similarly, more advanced countries could be panicked by high-pressure demands into accepting “effi cient” government manage ment of the economy that would exchange a promise of high growth rates for ever widening controls. Expecta tions, out of hand, could undo centuries of political progress toward democratic government. Since modern expectations everywhere have an emo tional component, born of Christianity’s sense of moral history, they cannot be quell ed by purely practical argu ments about the limits of technology and economics. One needs to search within the Christian tradition for a concept that will tame ex pectations while respecting them. The name of the concept is prudence — a word that does not occur much these days except as a name for girls in Quaker families. When it does appear in po litical debate it is taken to mean a crabbed conserva tism, a cautious disengage ment from the impulses of the more generous virtues. This is not what prudence, in the Western tradition, sig nifies. It is the link that joins the virtues of the mind and heart, especially charity, to action. Like a good law yer, prudence tells you how to do it right. To Aristotle, who was a political adviser as well as a philosopher, pru dence was the channel be tween universal truths and practical affairs; it was, in July 1968 19 action, the fusion of intelli gence and appetite. A lot is heard these days, especially on campuses, about “commitment” and “involvement” in the great social crusades, the great ex pectations of our time. The impulse that leads this way does not deserve rebuke. Yet without prudence, without attention to the actual con tingencies and feasibilities of life, “involvement” is doom ed to be sterile — or worse. Courage, of which we have lately heard much, is a virtue our time needs. Pru dence does not diminish the courage of the good soldier; it makes his courage effective in action. Nor does prudence diminish the courage, the compassion, the love of jus tice in the political adminis trator or the citizen; in the modern situation it leads him toward a habit of intelligent choice among the thousands of desirable steps that might be taken, but cannot be taken “all at once.” That the whole world is freeing itself from the wheel of repetition is good news derived essentially from what Christians consider the Good News. Without prudence, the expectations that have been set in motion may tum into the worst news ever. — By Wax Ways, Excerpts from Fortune, May, 1968. AGAINST DOUBT To be busy with material affairs is the best preservative against reflection, fears, doubts — all these things which stand in the way of achievement. I suppose a fellow proposing to cut his throat would experience a sort of relief while occupied in strop ping his razor carefully. — Joseph Conrad. 20 Panorama ■ The good and the evil of students’ revolt and radical action STUDENT POLITICS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES There is no doubt that students have played a major role as agents of social change in many developing nations. Recent events in South Vietnam, where the students have been a key factor in anti-government demonstrations, in Indonesia, where it seems that students pressured the military to as sume power from President Sukarno, in Ecuador, where students precipitated a mili tary coup, and in other areas have shown the importance of students in political dev elopments. There has hardly been a political upheaval in these nations in which stu dents have not taken an active and often crucial part. What are the conditions which permit students to play so active a political role? In the developing areas, uni versity and sometimes even secondary school students are among the few “modern” and politically conscious ele ments in their societies. As such, they are indispensable elements which any govern ment must consider, and whose confidence must in the last analysis be gained if the nation is to achieve the goals of economic develop ment plans and obtain the accoutrements of modernity. University students are, in a real sense, a “presumptive elite.” Their education pre pares them to take a vital role in a modernizing society, and both they and the au thorities realize their crucial position. Often students constitute an important ele ment of “public opinion,” since the articulate part of the general population is often quite small, with lite racy limited to a relative handful. Students in many nations are among the easier groups in the society to organize for any purpose. The student population is often relatively July 1968 21 small and homogeneous Class and ethnic backgrounds tend to be rather similar, al though trends toward broad ening the base of higher edu cation are evident in many areas. Furthermore, the stu dent population is usually highly concentrated. In ma ny nations, one major uni versity centre may contain up to half of the student po pulation. An organizational nexus often exists, usually centred around a strong na tional union of students. These factors enable student leaders to mobilize demons trations quickly and efficient ly. Complicated newspapers and radio stations are unne cessary; all that is needed is a mimeograph machine, and a few posters strategically placed, to mobilize massive student demonstrations. In addition to a tradition of political participation and an effective organizational base, students often have a strong ideological commit ment. Usually expressed in leftist terms with strong na tionalist overtones, this ideo logical basis permits student movements to function, al though at a reduced level of activity, during periods of political quiescence. This fact insures some degree of organizational continuity — student movements do not have to start anew at every crisis. Furthermore, the stu dents are often considered among the “purest” elements of the society. Unencumber ed by outside responsibilities to family, party, etc. — and in a sense alienated from traditional social patterns — students are uniquely able to speak for other emergent modern elements in the so ciety such as the organized working class or peasant movements. As a result, the student organizations often speak for no more than a few thousand students in the university, but give voice to the demands of an increas ingly important segment of the society. Even in the developing nations, students have been unable to retain political initiative once they have act ed as a catalyst for political change. Almost invariably, students act as an instru mental element in social struggles which are taken over by some other element, often the military. Indeed, this rather unexpected tacit 22 Panorama cooperation between radical student movements and the military in a growing num ber of developing nations may be highly significant for future political developments. The fact remains, however, that even where students have unquestioned political impact, they can do little more than precipitate changes which others must implement. Japan offers a particularly interesting example of stu dent political involvement. In a nation which has enter ed the industrial age with a vengeance, but still retains many aspects of its tradi tional past, the student move ment has indicated some thing of the ambivalence which exists in the society. Considered ideologically and morally uncorrupted by ma ny, the students have tried to speak for the working class and other “voiceless” elements in the society, sometimes with notable suc cess. Yet, because of its alienation from many tradi tional aspects of the culture, the students have been un able to build ongoing sup port from other elements in the society; and when speci fic agitational campaigns ended, they found them selves virtually alone. Japan offers an interesting contrast to the Western industrialized nations, since students in Japan still retain some of their traditional importance, at least in the high prestige universities, and have a cru cial political role as a “link” between still inarticulate masses and the mainstream of political life. In the United States, and in most of Europe, students do not constitute a crucial element in the political equa tion. In technological socie ties, the fate of a group of students, or even an entire student generation, is not of vital important. Individual students, while potential members of the elite, are not necessarily destined for elite status. In America, and for that matter in most nations with a growing system of higher education open to larger numbers of students, the political activities of indi vidual groups of students will have less overall signifi cance, and it will be more difficult to successfully or ganize mass student demons trations. In general, strongly July 1968 23 career oriented students are not often attracted to student politics, and this segment of the student population is in creasing numerically, parti cularly as greater stress is placed on the natural sciences. Students in the developing countries have both a unique responsibility and a unique power. They, perhaps more than any other element in their societies, have the social vision and the modern edu cation to see beyond present, often difficult, reality. This ideological sophistication and political consciousness has led students to take an active political role in their socie ties. In a very real sense, stu dents are responsible for the futures of their countries, for they constitute an incipient elite. The ambivalence be tween political activism and competent professionalism is felt in many of the develop ing countries. Politically res ponsible and ideologically sophisticated student move ments can constitute a va luable addition to the mo dernization process. Govern ments have too often looked upon students as a threat rather than an ally in social and political progress. With able student leadership and support from government and educational officials, student movements can make a real contribution. — By Philip G. Altbach in the Dia logue, Vol. I, No. 1. MUSIC BEFORE RELIGION Music comes before religion, as emotion comes before thought, and sound before sense. What is the first thing you hear when you go into a church? The organ playing. — Alfred North Whitehead. 24 Panorama ■ A self-made scholar, Churchill is a distinguished political and military leader and the greatest British historian. WINSTON CHURCHILL: STATESMAN AND HISTORIAN Winston Churchill is, be yond all doubt, that states man who became the great est historian, and that histo rian who became the geatest statesman in the long annals of England. We do not say of him, had he not chosen to be a leading public figure he would have been a lead ing historian, for he was that, by every test. It is only be cause our gaze is fastened so continuously and so in tensely on that career which has some claim to be the most splendid in two centu ries ' of English history that we do not concentrate more on that career which has some claim to be regarded as the most affluent in modern historical literature. It is the quality of Chur chill’s histories that assures them a permanent place in our literature, but the sheer bulk is no less impressive. What other major historian has written so much so well: thirty two volumes (no less) of history and biography, and another twenty volumes of speeches which add a not negligible dimension to his torical literature. If this pro digious output had been achieved at the expense of scholarly accuracy, critical acumen, or literary polish, we might dismiss it as in teresting chiefly for what it told us about Churchill him self; but the books do not shine in a borrowed light, but with their own. As with most great histo rians, Churchill was selftaught and self-trained. Cer tainly he had no formal edu cation for a career as histo rian — indeed, it is accurate to say that he had no formal education for anything ex cept soldiering — but his in formal education was prob ably as good as that which any young man enjoyed in the whole of Victorian Eng land. Born in Blenheim Pa July 1968 25 lace, connected with all the first families of politics and society, he was familiar in all the best drawing rooms, even those of royalty. As a boy he had not only read history, but seen it in the making. ‘‘I can see myself . . . sitting a little boy,” he said to the students of Harrow, “always feeling the glory of England and its history surrounding me and about me.” Perhaps he did feel something of that at Harrow, but doubt less he felt even more of it in the spacious rooms and gardens of Blenheim, at the Vice Regal Lodge in Dublin, at the house on St. James’s Place in London. But even that was only the beginning. On distant Indian frontiers he immersed him self in history and philosophy. “AH' through the long, glit tering, middle hours of the Indian day,” he remembered, “from when we quitted sta bles till when the evening shadows proclaimed the hour of Polo, I devoured Gibbon.” And not Gibbon alone, but Macaulay and Lecky and Hallam and, for good mea sure, Plato and Aristotle, too. “I approached it with an empty, hungry mind,” he added, “and with fairly strong jaws, and what I got, I bit.” Fame was the spur to this writing, as was necessity. Churchill had to make his way, he had to make his mark. The Army, for all its fascination, offered nothing permanent. Torn between journalism, history, and poli tics, Churchill therefore em braced all three, and made them one. For he was never content to sail but one sea al a time. Most nearly autobiographi cal, and prophetic, too, was the first book that Churchill wrote: the novel Savrola. The central figure, Savrola, was a soldier who aspired to be a statesman, or a states man who found that he had to be a soldier. He is in all likelihood, the greatest of military historians who wrote in English. Consider Chur chill’s claim to pre-eminence in this field. His first books were about wars-frontier skir mishes, to be sure, but that can be said of Parkman’s histories, too; his Marlbo rough can bear comparison with Freeman’s seven vol umes on Lee and his lieute nants; his magisterial histo Panorama ries of two world wars are still the most comprehensive and scholarly in our litera ture. He read history as a stu pendous moral scripture, and for him the writing was, if not divinely inspired, at least authoritative. More, it was straightforward and simple. History was a struggle be tween the forces of right and wrong, freedom and tyranny, the future and the past. By great good fortune Chur chill’s own people — “this island race,” as he called them — were on the side of right, progress, and enlight enment. For all his familiarity with the peoples of every conti nent, Churchill was the most parochial of historians. He looked out upon the whole world, but he looked through British spectacles. All his life Churchill’s eyes were dazzled by the glory of Eng land, and all his writing was suffused by a sense of that glory. He never forgot that it was the English tongue that was heard in Chicago and Vancouver, Johannes burg and Sydney, or that it was English law that was pronounced in Washington and Ottawa, Canberra and New Delhi, and English par liamentary governments that flourished in scores of nations on every continent. Finally, Churchill’s read ing of history reinforced his early education to exalt the heroic virtues. He was Ro man rather than Greek, and, as he admired the Roman accomplishments in law, gov ernment, and empire he re joiced in the Roman virtues of order, justice, resoluteness, and magnanimity. Churchill cherished as a law of history the principle that a people who respect them will pros per and survive. — By Henry Steele Commager, Excerpts from Saturday Review, May 18, 1968. July 1968 27 PILIPINO AS SCHOOL IDIOM Only a few days ago, the policy-makinq body of the Department of Education, after years of experimenting with the use of the local ver naculars in the first two or three grades of the primary schools, switching to English in the third or fourth grade, came out with the following categorical conclusion: “It is very clear that the policy of changing mediums of instruction is not a sound educational policy and that the higher the grade where this change takes place the greater the damage.” Subsequent reports on the further studies of the policy makers on the subject of which medium or media of instruction to use state that they are apparently inclined to recommend the use of Pilipino in place of the local languages. It appears that we want to continue our very old game of hastily adopting educational reforms only to discard them. As shown in this column recent ly, every “major educational reform” we have adopted since the establishment of the Commo nwealth has boomeranged. Each has been found wanting and discarded at the sacrifice of our edu cational standards. Now, if the reports are true, the policy-makers are about to contradict their own finding that changing media of instruction “is not a sound educational policy.” For it does not take more than plain common sense to know t hat the use of Pili pino, like the use of the other dialects, will entail a switch to English in the third or fourth grade. Unless, of course, the pre sent plan is intended to open a wedge for Pilipino so that, instead of changing to Eng lish in the third or fourth grade, Pilipino will then be used throughout the educa tional system up to the uni versity. This would not be surprising, given the fact that there are those who believe that their sense of national ism and patriotism will never 28 Panorama be satisfied until they can kick out English from our schools. If there is an intent to do this, let us say so openly and give the educators, students and their parents the oppor tunity to have their say. The intent involves a basic edu cational reform and, instead of Pilipino being sneaked or smuggled in, should be tho roughly discussed and debat ed. If we still live in a de mocracy, let us act openly instead of surreptitiously. For there are many reasons to believe that the premature use of Pilipino instead of English in the schools will be completely disastrous to an already wobbling educational system. In spite of the at tempt to expand its vocabu lary, Pilipino is far from be ing a complete language. Its literature is very limited. Our only way of keeping up with world progress, once we have intellectually isolat ed ourselves from the rest of the world, particularly with its most progressive sec tor, will be to wait for trans lations of articles .and books written in English which, as now, includes translations of the major works in French, German, Spanish, Russian and other languages. The translation and waiting will in no time place us about a century behind the leader nations, whereas today we learn everything almost in stantly through publications in English. Language is for communi cating thoughts and ideas orally or in writing. Because he found Spanish more ade quate for communication, Rizal used Spanish in virtual ly all his writings. There is no such thing as being more fluent, more eloquent, or bet ter understood in one’s na tive tongue. There is no reason to assume that one instinctively becomes a mas ter of his native language. The Americans, the British, the French, the Spaniards and all others have to devote years studying their own lan guages before they can mas ter them. And Pilipino being a conglomeration of words unknown to most Filipinos including Tagalogs, cannot be as native to the Filipinos as Chinese is to the Chinese, Japanese to the Japanese, etc. Arbitrary decisions on languages are dangerous. July 1968 29 Such decisions have resulted in language wars and death in India, Belgium, Canada and other countries. Unless we make our decisions open ly and with the support of public opinion, we are plant ing the seeds of future resent ments, dissensions and per haps riots and killings. If it is desirable to act fast on most matters, the ques tion of Pilipino is one that counsels caution, deliberation and reflexion. Let us make haste slowly. — By Vicente Albano Pads in Manila Chronicle, June 20, 1968 EXAGGERATION Many a young man starts in life with a natural gift for exaggeration, which if nurtured in congenial and sympathetic surroundings, or by the imitation of the best models, might grow into something really great and wonderful. But, as a rule, he comes to nothing. He either falls into careless habits of accu racy, ,or takes to frequenting the society of the aged and the well-informed. Both things are equally fatal to his imagination, and in a short time he develops a morbid and unhealthy faculty of truth-telling, be gins to verify all statements, made in his presence, has no hesitation in contradicting people who are much younger than himself, and often ends by writ ing novels that are so like life no one can possibly believe in their probability. — Oscar Wilde. 30 Panorama ■ Intelligent conversation can be a source of good information and mental improvement if its rules are observed. THE ADVENTURE OF CONVERSATION Words are deeds. When ever we send syllables into the world their effect is as infallible on the people who hear them as it is on the ethereal waves. A few words can destroy happiness, and all that the Ancients have said about the bonds with which words chain our souls is true. Therefore words ought to be used with care and with a proper sense of responsibility. Our choice is between saying insignificant things, saying nothing, or reading and thinking before saying anything. The brevity of a pointed answer to a question worth our while gives us an artistic pleasure. But how rare it is! To most people talking is what read ing has become: something apart from its object, a bo dily, rather than a mental, exercise. Men accuse women of talking for talk’s sake. But many men are incorrigible babblers. Who sits through the long day in the smoking room of the train, talking, talking? Who says nothing, but says it through the hideous night in hotel-rooms or at the club? I have been the victim of extraordinary performances. Men fight for the floor and keep it without compunction or even misgiv ings. Then, there are men - and women whose eager faces in form you, before you have said a word, that the moment they open their mouths it will be to treat you to in sufferable details about their uninteresting lives. This, I am sorry to say, happens especially in America, where there is hardly a vestige of conversation left. Worse than that, the word has ceased to have any meaning. The question so familiar in Europe: “What was the subject of conversation at dinner last night?” is never heard in the United States. A “general conversation” means one in which, no mat July 1968 31 ter how many people are as sembled, only one voice is heard at a time. Americans who always credit the “La tins” with vehemence and exuberance, would be sur prised indeed to see how a dozen people in Rome or Madrid, or Buenos Aires, can keep their native efferves cence in check to enjoy a conversation. They have a sense of absolute freedom, yet they obey two rules which were .impressed upon me in childhood till they be came law: pas d’ apartes et pas de monologues; no asides and no floor-holding! I have a vivid memory of the capacity which American women show in club delibe rations, for knowing their minds and for expressing themselves tersely and cour teously. Yet the same women a moment after their deli beration was over, would take their part in a brain racking chorus of multilogues which did not seem to inconvenienc.e them in the least. American voices are accused of being shrill, but how can anyone avoid shrillness in a bird market? When there are six people in a room in the United States there are three conversations inevitably carried on in a high key, and dozens of times I have found that, even at a lunch party of four, it was impossible to suppress the rivalry of two voices. Reciprocal volleys are poured out as they used to be in the naval battles of yore when the guns answer ed one another nose to nose. Nothing is so laughable as a dinner-party of that kind given in honor of Mr. or Mrs. So-and-So. The poor lion has the look of having been caught in a trap. Sometimes a lady next to him, straining her neck to hear what he says in the confusion, signals to the other guests that this distinguished person is say ing something that it is un forgivable to miss, but they look at her frankly and re sume their piping or shout ing. What are the causes of this state of affairs which certain ly did not exist in America 60 years ago? Why should Americans, who prove such excellent listeners at a lec ture and love a serious dis cussion, show themselves such squanderers of words? Perhaps women, regarding a general topic as a rival, have 32 Panorama compelled the man next to them to act as if they should be the center of attention. Almost certainly the chief cause is the habit of giving large parties. A general con versation is not possible when 20 people sit at table but it is when only a few guests are added to the family din ner and find the father lead ing the conversation, as he still does in intelligent Jewish homes. Many traveled American women resent the unjust in feriority which the hubhub habit gives to otherwise dis tinguished parties. One ex perience of real conversation is enough to make even the inveterate teller of stale sto ries realize that stories are the stupid man’s wit. People who. evep once have felt how much the magnetism of a small but select audience can add to their powers, or who simply have had the re velation that conversation is an adventure the outcome of which never can be foreseen, crave the return of the expe rience. I often hear regrets and, once or twice, I have seen rebellion. If I had not witnessed the scene myself I could hardly believe that a State governor after vainly trying to put in a word which four ladies mercilessly drowned every time, lost his temper and struck the table with his fist, thundering that he “did not want to talk all the time, but wanted to talk some.” Some hostesses are bold enough to start a reaction. “Do please, listen to this” is heard sometimes in a queru lous tone. A friend of mine who is a rare appraiser of good things does all she can. When the dessert comes, she institutes a sort of forum which it takes a few minutes to realize is only a conversa tion. It is a success every time. One feels then how many excellent things must have perished in the storm of voices still raging a minute before, and how much a campaign for conversation dinners would do for a coun try which to-day has no con versation but which, how ever, possesses all that could make first-class conversation. What happens is that the effusiveness and the lack of self-control created in such an atmosphere finally, bring a sensation of barrenness. It is too evident that there can July 1968 33 be no action through words when words are crazily let loose, for action must be pre meditated, guided, and sus tained. If we want our life not to be aimless, if we hate to think of our words as still born seeds, we must never approach company without being on our guard against its sterilizing influence. Not everybody would endorse what Keats said about a room full of people distressing and exhausting his soul, but prac tically everybody has a vague consciousness that company expects from them not their best but their most trivial, and are tempted ac cordingly. Simple remedies will be found to work. Perhaps you can remember one of the few coversations really worth while you once had with some fellow-being. Ten mi nutes in the twilight with a person whom you felt really possessed of an idea, and of a passionate longing to make you believe in it, may still be alive in your memory as it is in mine. This you will not recall without a con sciousness of personal dig nity and an accompanying resolve not to give in and not to give up. Indeed words can be actions, and, when they are not, they are a waste for him who says them and more or less of an insult for him who has to hear them. As Dis raeli said, life is too short for us not to try to make it great. —Abbe Ernest Dimnet, con densed from “'What We Live By.” RELIGION UNESSENTIAL To have a positive religion is not necessary. To be in harmony with yourself and the universe is what counts, and this is possible without positive and spe cific formulation in words. — Goethe. 34 Panorama ■ Good nature does not proceed from arduous work but from sound leisure. IN PRAISE OF IDLENESS I was brought up on the saying “Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.” Being a highly vir tuous child, I acquitted a conscience which has kept me working hard. But al though my conscience has controlled my actions, my opinions have undergone a revolution. I think that there is far too much work done in the world, and that im mense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous. First of all: what is work? Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of mat ter; second, telling other peo ple to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid. The second kind is capable of infinite extension: there are not on ly those who give orders but those who give advice as to what orders should be given. Usually two opposite kinds of advice are given simulta neously by two different bo dies of men; this is called po litics. From the beginning of civi lization until the industrial revolution a man could, as a rule, produce by hard work little more than was reqiured for subsistence. Modern tech nic, however, has made it possible to diminish enor mous the amount of labor necessary to produce the necessity of life for every one. This was made obvious during the War. At that time all the men in the armed forces, all the men and wo men engaged in the produc tion of munitions, or working in offices connected with the War, were withdrawn from productive occupations. In spite of this, the general level of well-being among wage-earners on the side of the Allies was higher than before or since. The signi ficance of this fact was con cealed by finance: borrow ing made it appear as if the future was nourishing the July 1968 35 present. But that, of course, would have been impossible; a man cannot eat a loaf of bread that does not yet exist. The War showed conclusive ly that by the scientific or ganization of production it is possible to keep modern populations in fair comfort on a small part of the work ing capacity of the modern world. If at the end of the War the scientific organiza tion has been preserved, and the hours of work cut down to four, all would have been well. Instead, the old chaos was restored, those whose work was demanded were made to work long hours, and the rest were left to starve as unemployed. Why? Because work is looked upon as a duty. Let us, for a moment, con sider thfe ethics of work frankly. Every human being, of necessity, consumes in the course of his life a certain amount of produce of hu man labor. Assuming, as we may, that labor is on the whole disagreeable, it is un just that a man should con sume more than he produces. Of course he may provide services rather than commo dities, like a medical man; but he should provide some thing in return for his board and lodging. To this extent, the duty of work must be ad mitted, but to this extent only. If the ordinary wage earner worked four hours a day there would be enough for everybody, and no unem ployment — assuming sensi ble organization. This idea shocks the well-to-do, be cause they are convinced that the poor would not know how to use so much leisure. In America men often work long hours even when they are already well-off; such men, naturally, are indignant at the idea of leisure for wage-earners; in fact they dislike leisure even for their sons. Oddly enough, they do not mind their wives and daughters having no work at all. In the West we have va rious ways of dealing with the problem of doing too much work. We have no at tempt at economic justice, so that a large proportion of the total produce goes to a small minority, many of whom do no work at all. Owing to the absence of any central con trol over production, we pro 36 Panorama duce hosts of- things that are not wanted. We keep a large percentage of the working population idle and make others overwork. When all these methods prove inade quate we have a war; we cause a number of people to manufacture high explosives, and others to explode them. By a combination of all these devices we manage, though with difficulty, to keep alive the notion that a great deal of manual work must be the lot of the average man. The fact is that moving matter about, while a certain amount of it is necessary, is emphatically not one of the ends of human life. If it were, we should have to con sider every navy superior to Shakespeare. We have been misled in this matter by the hereditary rich who, in or der to keep the poor con tented, have preached the dignity of labor, while tak ing care to remain undigni fied in this respect. It will be said that while a little leisure is pleasant, men would not know what to do with too much of it. In so far as this is true in the modern world it is a condem nation of our civilization; it would not have been true at any earlier period. There was formerly a capacity for light-heartedness and play which has been inhibited by the cult of efficiency. I do not mean that the world’s leisure should necessarily be spent in pure frivolity. I mean that four hours’ work a day should entitle a man to the necessities and elemen tary comforts of life, and that the rest of his time should be his to use as he might see fit. It is an essential part of any such social system that education should be car ried farther and should aim, in part, at providing tastes which would enable a man to use leisure intelligently. I am not thinking of “high brow” things. Peasant dances have died out, but the impulse which caused them must still exist in, hu man nature. The pleasures of urban populations have become mainly passive: cinemas, football matches, the radio and so on. With more leisure people would again enjoy pleasures in which they took an active part. In the past there was a small leisure class and a large July 1968 37 working class. The leisure class enjoyed advantages for which there was no basis in social justice. This necessa rily made it oppressive, and limited its sympathies, but in spite of this drawback it contributed nearly the whole of what we call civilization. It cultivated the arts and discovered the sciences; it wrote the books, invented the philosophies, and refined social relations. Without the leisure class mankind would never have emerged from barbarism. In a world where no one is compelled tg work more than four hours a day every person possessed of scientific curiosity will be able to in dulge it, and every painter will be able to paint without starving, however excellent his pictures may^ be. Above all, there will be happiness and joy of life, instead of frayed nerves, weariness, and dyspepsia. The work exact ed will be enough to make leisure delightful, but not enough to produce exhaus tion. Ordinary men and wo men, having the opportunity of a happy life, will become more kindly and less inclined to view others with suspi cion. Good nature is, of all moral qualities, the one that the world needs most, and good nature is the result of ease and security, not of a life of arduous struggle. Modern methods of pro duction have given us the possibility of ease and secu rity for all; we have chosen instead to overwork some and starve others. Hitherto we have continued to be as energetic as we were before there were machines. In this we have been foolish, but there is no reason to go on being foolish forever. — Bertrand Russell, condensed from Harpers, October, ’32. 38 Panorama WORLD POPULATION WILL BE 3,500 MILLION IN 1969 In 1953 the world popula tion reached 2,500 million. By January 1, 1969 — 16 years later — the population will be bigger by 1,000 mil lion. Another 1,000 population gain is expected by 1983. Another 7,000 million peo ple will be crowded into the world by the year 2000. The passing of each year means millions of more mouths to feed, and millions of more bodies to bury. In 1968 approximately 118 million babies will be born — 324,000 a day or 225 every minute. In 1968 almost 49 million people will die — 133,000 each day or 93 per minute. About one-third of the people now living are under 15 years of age. In the dev eloping countries, the figure approaches one-half. The world’s highest popu lation growth rates are in El Salvador (3.7 per cent), and Venezuela (3.6 per cent). About 85 per cent of all births today are occurring in the less-developed coun tries, where food is not suf ficient, illiteracy widespread and personal incomes ex tremely low. Less than one-fifth of the global population in the year 2000 is expected to be living in the developed countries. These startling statistics graphically summarize a si tuation in virtually every country, especially in nations — India and Pakistan, for example — where the birth rate is very high and food production lags dangerously behind. Some experts concerned with the global population “explosion” are understand ably gloomy about the fu ture. They foresee millions of people in overcrowded urban centers suffering from the effects of malnutrition or hunger, other millions dying July 1968 from famine. They antici pate hunger riots as well as political and economic up heavals in some countries. Other experts, however, express varying degrees of optimism when they voice their views on what the situa tion is apt to be like in the next two or three decades. Formerly alarmed by fore casts, they are now hearten ed by the progress being made in birth control and in food production. Pessimists and optimists alike concede that time is the crucial factor — how rapid ly nations can bring popula tions and food supplies into closer balance. Dozens of countries already have largescale family planning pro grams under way, and agri culture is being intensified. The . United States is helping them in both respects. Pessi mism is yielding to optimism. Among the optimists in the United States is Dr. Donald J. Bogue, a demographer who directs the University of Chi cago’s Community and Fa mily Center. He believes the population explosion is turn ing out to be a myth. The rising global birth rate, he is confident, will be brought under control by the year 2000. There are signs the birth rate is falling in South Korea, India, Pakistan and mainland China, and in some Latin American countries as well,” Dr. Bogue said. “I think it will soon start to fall, if it has not already done so, in Indonesia and the Philip pines.” He cited evidence showing an almost worldwide trend toward smaller families. The major nations of Europe as well as Japan, Australia, NewZealand, Canada and the United States are countries where families are control ling fertility, Dr. Bogue add ed. The availability of edu cational materials about con traception and greater public acceptance of improved con traceptive methods are ena bling married couples of all economic levels to avoid un wanted births. The fact that escapes the attention of most persons is that the rapidly increasing population is due not so much to a rising birth rate as to a great decrease in death rates in the past 20 years. Fewer people are dy ing because modern medicine 40 Panorama and public health practices are, prolonging their lives. Nations are realizing that birth control must simulta neously accompany death control if populations are to be stabilized at levels condu cive to better social condi tions, greater economic sta bility and higher standards of living for all people. As long as there are few reins on population and as food — the most nutritious kind — is not adequately available, malnutrition will make its victims liabilities ra ther than assets to their coun tries. About 10,000 people die every day of malnutrition, either starving to death or dying because their diet failed to protect them from disease. Malnutrition ac counts for about one of every 13 deaths — a ratio that is much higher in the hungry countries. One regrettable tragedy is that the burden of overpopu lation falls most heavily on the shoulders of the poor — the poorer nations, poorer families, and poorer children. These are the ones who suf fer the greatest from the effects of uncontrolled popu lation increases. In the years ahead, popu lation gains will cause many complications for some na tions. Experts believe that agricultural output will in crease but not enough, that more children will grow up illiterate and in ill health, and that it will be very hard to find jobs for youth 18-24 years old. Officials in some poor countries, where people for differing reasons are disin terested in family planning, have even suggested the use of punitive measures to en force birth control practices. Such measures, because they are extreme, are not likely to be acceptable. “If people are fully in formed about the pros and cons of contraception, and if they can inexpensively and readily' obtain contraceptives and use them advantageously and confidently, they will be come confirmed supporters of limited family sizes,” one prominent U.S. demographer said. Robert C. Cook, president of the Population Reference Bureau, Inc., in Washington, D.C. says of the population dilemma: July 1968 41 “The current phenomenal increase in world population has no precedent in history... Today the world is confront ed with the greatest and most complicated problem in adjustment mankind has ever had to face. The mat ter is extremely urgent. “Until the number of births in the world declines by at least 20 million per year, it cannot be said that even an adequate beginning toward stabilization has bjeen made.” Only the passage of years will reveal whether mankind will act to drastically cut the number of births, or suffer the many dangers of an overpopulated, underfed world. (IPS) — By Sam W. Morris in the Manila Chronicle June 19, 1968. CONTRADICTORY CONDITIONS It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything be fore us, we had nothing before us, we were all go ing direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way — in short, the period was so far alike the present period that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. — Charles Dickens 42 Panorama ■ There are certain conditions which may unable man to continue living on this earth. Ignoring them may mean his annihilation. SHALL MAN SURVIVE? Ever since the dawn of the first day we have been surrounded by hordes of creatures infinitely better prepared for the struggle of existence. Some of them were a hundred feet long and weighed as much as a small locomotive while others had teeth as sharp as the blade of a circular saw. Many varieties went about clad in armor. Others were invisible to the human eye but multiplied at a terrific rate. And whereas man could exist only under the most favorable circumstances, on a few pieces of dry land between the high . mountains and the deep sea, these fel low-passengers of ours consi dered no summit too high and no sea too deep. When we learn on eminent authority that certain insects are able to disport them selves in petroleum and that others manage to live through such changes in temperature as would kill all of us with in a very few minutes, then we begin to realize against what sort of competitors we have been forced to hold our own, ever since we made our first appearance upon this whirling bit of rock, lost somewhere in the darkest outskirts of an indifferent universe. What a joke we must have been to our pachydermous contemporaries who stook by and watched this pinkish sport of nature indulge in its first clumsy efforts to walk on its hind legs! But what has become of those rulers by brute force over almost 200,000,000 square miles of land and water? They have disappeared except where, as “Exhibit A” or “B,” we have kindly given them parking place in one of our museums. In short, during only a couple of thousands of cen turies (a mere second from the point of view of eter nity), the human race has made itself the undisputed July 1968 43 ruler of every bit of land and at present it bids fair to add both air and sea as part of its domains. And all that has been accomplished by a few hundred million creatures who enjoyed not one single advantage over their enemies except the divine gift of Rea son. Even there I am exaggerat ing. The gift of Reason in its more sublime form is restricted to a mere handful of men and women. They become the masters who lead. The others can only follow. The result is a strange and halting procession — 10,000 stragglers for every true pio neer. Whether the route of march will eventually lead us, that we do not know. But in the light of what has been achieved during the last 4000 years, there is no limit to the sum total of our po tential achievements — un less we are tempted away from the path of normal dev elopment by our strange in herent cruelty which makes us treat other members of our own species as we would never treat a cow or a dog or even a tree. This earth of ours is a good home. It produces benefits in so abundant measure that every man, woman and child could have his or her share with a little extra supply thrown in for the inevitable days of rest. But Nature has her own code of laws. They are inexorable and there is no court of appeal. Nature will give unto us without stint, but in return she de mands that we study her pre cepts and abide by her dic tates. A hundred covtfs in a meadow meant for only 50 spells disaster — a bit of wis dom with which every far mer is thoroughly familiar. A million people gathered in one spot where there should be only 100,000 causes con gestion, poverty and unner cessary suffering — a fact which apparently has been overlooked by those who are supposed to guide our desti nies. But there is a more serious way in which we offend our generous foster-mother. Man is the only living organism that is hostile to its own kind. Even loathsome hyena lives at peace with the members of his species. But Man hates Man, Man kills Man, 44 Panorama and in the world of today the prime concern of every nation is to prepare for the slaughter of some more of its neighbors. This open violation of Article I of the great Code of Creation which insists upon peace and good will among the members of the same species has carried us to a point where the human race may be faced with com plete annihilation. For our enemies are ever on the alert. If Homo Sapiens is unable to assert himself as the master of all he surveys, there are thousands of other candi dates for the job and it often times seems as if a world dominated by some of the more highly organized insects (and how they watch their opportunity!) might offer very decided advantages over a planet top-heavy with bat tle ships and siege-guns. What is the way out of this hideous state of affairs? It is in the consciousness that we are all of us fellow-pas sengers on one and the same planet. Once we have got hold of this absolute verity — once we have realized the fact that for better or for worse this is our common home — that it therefore be hooves us to behave as we would if we found ourselves on board a steamer bound for an unknown destination — we shall have taken the most important step towards the solution of that problem which is at the root of all our difficulties. We are all of us fellow passengers on the same pla net and the weal and woe of everybody else means the weal and woe of ourselves! Mark my words and remem ber them on that fatal day when the human race shall be requested to pack up its little toys and surrender to a more worthy successor. The only hope for survival lies in one sentence: We are dll of us fellow-passengers on the same planet and we are all of us equally respon sible for the happiness and well-being of the world in which we live. — Hendrik Willem van Loon, condensed from “Van Loon’s Geogra phy.” July 1968 45 LESSONS FROM PRIMITIVE NEGRITO In Clark Field, Mount Pinatubo Negritoes are teach ing Vietnam-bound American pilots the art of staying alive in the jungle. In his book The Art of Survival, Cord Christian Troebst wrote: “It might almost seem as if, with the aid of modern equipment and science, man had over come natural hazards. But this is an illusion, the very illusion by which most ama teur adventure-seekers are deceived . . . When mental ly and physically unprepared people are forced into des perate situations, they very often die because of their own inexperience and help lessness, plus the fear and despair to which these give rise . . . Leave your ordinary city dweller on an island and it is most improbable that he would still be alive after a few weeks . . . But the art of survival can be learned.” What can we learn from the Negritoes? Way back in 1953, Dr. Robert B. Fox wrote on the useful plants and material culture of the Pinatubo Negritoes. Fox said: “. . . a characteristic which strikingly demarcates them from the surrounding Christian lowlanders is their inexhaustible knowledge of the plant and animal king doms. This lore includes not only a specific recognition of a phenomenal number of plants, birds, animals, and insects, but also includes a knowledge of the habits and behavior of each. This in clusive knowledge of nature is, of course, a product of their way of life; continual hunting, mobility, dependen cy upon vegetation, as well as a survival of their histo rical associations. The Negri to is an intrinsic part of his environment, and what is still more important, conti nually studies his surround ings. Many times I have seen a Negrito, who, when not being certain of the iden tification of a particular plant, will taste the fruit, smell the leaves, break and examine the stems, comment on its habitat, and only after all of this, pronounce whe 46 Panorama ther he did or did not know the plant. “In addition, the intimate familiarity of the Negrito with nature is the result of a thorough and sensitive eco logical awareness. Many plants have no direct use or value in themselves, but are important to the Negrito be cause of the relationship of the plant with the animal and insect world. The fruits of some trees are eaten only by birds, but are still impor tant to the pygmies, for it is in or near these that bird blinds are built. “The acute observation of the pygmies and their aware ness of the interrelationships between the plant and ani mal life giving them an eco logical picture of their envi ronment, is strikingly pointed out by their discussions of the living habits of bats. The tididin lives on the dry leaves of palms, the dikidik on the underside of the leaves of the wild banana, the litlit in bamboo clumps, the kolumhoy in holes of trees, the konanaba in dark thickets, and so forth. In this sum mer, the Pinatubo Negrito can distinguish the habits of more than 15 species of bats. “Most Negrito men can with ease enumerate the spe cific or descriptive names of at least 450 plants, 75 birds, most of the snakes, fish, in sects, and animals, and of even 20 species of ants. Moreover, each Negrito man can give a description of the colors, habits, food, calls, etc., of all the animal, insect and bird life known to him. An unusually intelligent and observant individual can give even more natural history in formation, and the botanical knowledge of their herb doc tors who use plants constant ly in their practice is truly outstanding.” There is a lot to learn — even from the primitive Negrito. — By Alejandro R. Roces in The Manila Chroni cle, July 1, 1968. July 1968 47 THE SUPERIOR MAN OF CONFUCIUS All goodness, truth, beauty are combined in the ideal of the superior man (Chun-tzu). Noble both in birth and en dowment, he has the man ners of a gentleman and the wisdom of a sage. The superior man is no saint. The saint is bom; he is what he is; the superior man becomes what he is through self-discipline. “To have the truth is the path of heaven, to seek the truth is the path of men. He who has the truth finds the right action without pains, achieves success without reflection.” But he v>ho seeks the truth chooses the good and holds it fast. He investigates, he questions critically, he pon ders the truth and resolute ly acts on it. “Perhaps others can do it the first time; I must do it a thousand times. But he who really has the perseverance to go this way — be he foolish, he will be come clearheaded; be he weak, he will become strong.” The character, cast of thought, gestures of the su perior man are described. He is contrasted with the in ferior man. The superior man is concerned with jus tice, the inferior man with profit. The superior man is quiet and serene, the in ferior man is always full of anxiety. The superior man is congenial though never stooping to vulgarity; the in ferior man is vulgar without being congenial. The su perior man is dignified with out arrogance; the inferior man is arrogant without dig nity. — Karl Jaspers in The Great Philosophers. Panorama Panorama Reading Association PANORAMA invites the educated public to join its Association of Readers. PANORAMA READING ASSOCIATION is dedicated to men and women who appreciate the variety and quality of its articles as sources of liberal ideas. PANORAMA READING ASSOCIATION includes stu dents, businessmen, professionals, proprietors, employers, and employees. It is also open to clubs, schools, and other ac credited organizations. PANORAMA has been in existence for over Thirty Years. PANORAMA piovides excellent material for classes in history, government, economics, political and social studies, lite rature, and science. It may be adopted for secondary and college use. PANORAMA is not a fly-by-night publication. It was born in March, 1936. COMMUNITY PUBLISHERS, INC. Inverness, (M. Carreon) St., Sta. Ana, Manila, Philippines Contents Qualities for Self-Government ....................................... 1 Views in Anticipation of our Constitutional Convention in 1970-1971 ....................................... 2 The Value of Federalism ................................................ 10 Value System: . . .as avowed ... as practic ... 12 The Dangers of Rising Expectations ......................... 18 Student Politics in Developing Countries .................. 21 Winston Churchill: Statesman and Historian .... 25 Pilipino as School Idiom ................................................ 28 The Adventure of Conversation ................................... 31 In Praise of Idleness ....................................................... 35 World Population will be 3,500 Million in 1969 ... 39 Shall Man Survive?............................................................ 43 Lessons from Primitive Negrito 46 The Superior Man of Confucius ................................... 48 OUR COVER — Fil-American friendship is often depicted in casual dramatisations of acts of gift-giving, rather than in the more concrete aspects of building up o strong ally in an atmosphere of mutual respect for each other's sovereignty and national dignity.