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Show TODAY'S EDITORIAL v f The Meaning of Christmas Of all the traditional holidays observed by Americans, none is more universally respected than Christmas and none has as long a period of preparation. Evidences of these preparations are in our homes, schools, churches, stores and even along the business streets of our town. Christmas is more than a day, it is a season ; opening with Thanksgiving and incorporating the Christian season of Advent. Other faiths have concurrent festivals, principally the Jewish Hanukkah, when the glow of candles memoralizes the restoration of the Temple service. There is something about our observance of Christmas which is specifically American. As with other traditions which originated origi-nated in different lands, we have imbued this holiday with a spirit of good-hearedness demonstrating some basic truth about the American character of neighborliness and the American spirit of good will. Christmas here is observed in its deepest religious meaning. Tinsel and colored lights may give a surface appearance of frivolity, but underneath in the warmth of friendship which the season brings remains the spirit and the hope of peace. Were this not so, the observance would disappear, because, after all, we can have the materialistic aspects of Christmas at any time during the year. So this remains a spiritual season. Its cheer renews and revitalizes our spirit. Attesting to this truth, millions of Americans Ameri-cans will spend extra time in worship this holiday season. That is why the Religion in American Life Program, a national movement for all faiths, urges us to "Worship Together' This Week." The light of faith, newly kindled by the glories of ' I Christmas, can be kept "shined up" by regular attendance at worship throughout the year. (Continued on Page Four) The Task Ahead for the Democratic Administration We must become the workshop of freedom in part to meet the challenge of communism. For the communists have shifted their principal line of attack from the military to the economic. Where once there were Stalin's soldiers, there are now Khrushchev's Khrush-chev's salesmen. To stay ahead of the Soviet Union in the world struggle means that we must stay ahead of the Soviet Union in the economic struggle. We must become the workshop of freedom in part to win and to hold the faith and friendship of the under-developed countries now coming into their own in Asia, Latin America and Africa. For what these countries want immediately are the skills and the capital and the economic foundation that only the wealthy countries can supply. If this country does not take the lead in building up the basic economic foundations of the new countries, if this country does not enter the vast markets of the new continents, then the Soviet Union will, and then the Soviet Union will profit in increased power and prestige around the world. Yet even if the Soviet Union did not exist even if there were no underdeveloped countries we would have to build economically. For like it or not, the economy is moving pushed forward by the forces of population growth and technological change. Population growth assures that by 1970, we will have to feed, house and clothe a population of 208 million up 15 per cent from today; find jobs for a labor force of 87 million up nearly 20 per cent from today. Technological change assures that by 1970 we will be able to meet basic economic needs with a far smaller portion of the working force engaged in heavy industry. That will leave scope for a new burst in the standard of living a rise of about 25 percent to a gross national product of $750 billion by 1970, but doing that requires shifting in emphasis from quantity to quality production; from heavy manufacturing to service industries. It requires diversification of product and site; and a vast expansion expan-sion in the new fields of electronics, of space, of research and development. The change in this direction is now in progress. It is because the Republican administration has failed to master the drift, has failed to anticipate the change, has failed to ease the adjustment that there is now so much trouble in our ecoonmy. That is why steel is being turned out at 50 per cent of capacity. That is why there are major pockets of unemployment in every center of heavy industry in Buffalo, in Seattle, in Detroit, in Pittsburgh, in Youngstown. That is why unemploy-8 unemploy-8 ment is edging toward the 6 million mark. That is why the economy seems to be sliding into the third recession in six years. Solving all those problems will not be easy, but it can be done. The Democratic Administration must take a giant step in that direction by acting rapidly to free the economy of all the short-sighted policies artificially imposed by the Republican administration. |