PAGE TWO
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
SATURDAY, JULY 25, 1953
Art
Probe of Clergymen
MATTER OF FACT
By STEWART ALSOP
"It Looks Darling"
DAILY OFFICIAL BULLETIN
-
WHEN THE House Un-American Activities
Committee set another precedent this
week by subpoening Rev. Jack Richard Mc-
Michael of California, it suggested that J.
B. Matthews' journalistic endeavor in the
American Mercury Magazine charging Com-
munism in the Protestant clergy may have
borne some truth.
Although the committee's interest does
not prove Communist affiliation,.the on-the-
surface seriousness .of the Velde Gang tends
to add a more objective appraisal of the
situation than the spontaneous reactions to
the charge. Excited retorts to Matthews'
claim that Communism is using religion to
undermine freedom-not that Protestant
ministers are becoming Reds-assumed a
surprising ;similarity to Senator McCarthy's
tactics.
The procedure has become customary:
McCarthy makes an accusation, it is met
by indignation and furor, and everyone for-
gets about the facts. But now that the tu-
mult has qiuieted somewhat, Velde's com-
mittee has ignored public opinion and be-
gun investigating the Protestant clergy;
and there is time for some serious though.
Although his charge appeared sensa-
tionally McCarthyistic, Matthews may
have stumbled upon the true situation.
The churches are the foundation of this
country and form the ideals that keep it
alive. Religion is the strongest weapon
against Communism, and the Reds hap-
pen to know it. Stalin didn't close Rus-
sia's churches because he disliked organ
music.
Despite their other faults, the Commun-
ists are not dumb on the subject of under-
mining a government. An old axiom says
something about hitting the enemy at its
strongest point with all you have. The Com-
munists realize the churches comprise Am-
erica's mighties weapon against their dis-
torted Marxism. They also know that the
churches are not considered a weapon by
the American people, that religion is dearest
to them (witness what happened to Mat-
thews). Therefore, it is completely and un-
avoidably logical that Communism has
sneaked into the clergy in an attempt to
undermine American freedom.
The source of the charge and the fami-
liarity of its character has caused the
United States to adopt a naive viewpoint
of Communism. The American people
must no longer take for granted the false-
ness of McCarthyistic accusations. We
should neither believe them nor laugh at
them. We should look for the facts.
Apathy and ignorance are Communism's
closest allies.
Any investigation of the clergy, however,
must take on a nature different from Mc-
Carthy's and Velde's usual procedure. Pri-
vate investigating staffs of energetic sena-
tors must be replaced by an accurate and re-
sponsible agency such as the Federal Bureau
of Investigation or the Department of Jus-
tice. Every legal protection should be given
those investigated rather than their being
convicted by their use of constitutional safe-
guards of freedom. In other words, Mc-
Carthyism should be given its unconditional
release. Ousting Communists from our sa-
cred institutions is obviously a delicate task,
one which must not be attempted hastily
and carelessly.
.. - -Jim Dygert
- --- - --- --- -
Why Teachers Come
To Summer School
" WONDER HOW many of the teachers
on campus this summer are'here main-
ly to go work on higher degrees for an in-
crease in salary rather than an improvement
in themselves as teachers?" I asked the
managing editor, three weeks ago.
"Before you make any accusations, dig
up some facts," he warned me.
Last Sunday's New York Times came to
my rescue.
This summer's return to the training
ground is unequalled in any other profes-
sion. Nearly one million teachers, and ad-
ministratoors are taking a busman's holi-
day in colleges all over the country.
A New York Times survey reveals four
main reasons for these impressive figures.
1) To complete necessary requirements
for regular state licenses. There are about
70,000 teachers with emergency licenses
throughout the country. Many communi-
ties are lenient with teachers-they are
permitted to go to summer school and
in one, two or more years, to meet the,
minimum demands of the school system.
(With minimum requirements being low-
ered each year to make up for a lack of
teachers-70,000 persons are now conduct-
ing classes without even the minimum.)
(2.) To get a higher degree which in the
matter of dollars and cents becomes a pro-
fitable investment. Communities pay a pre-
mium to teachers who have taken work be-
yond their bachelor's degree.
(3) To take special courses necessary to
become an elementary teacher, enabling
them to shift from the overcrowded high
school teaching field to the elementary
field.
Most common and most important reason,
according to the survey:
(4) To improve one's self professionally.
To keep up with changes, improvements
and advances.
Other teachers interviewed revealed such
varying motives as "it's good to get your
vocabulary out of the fourth grade level for
a time" and a desire for recreation, a change
in scene and "social relationships that might
not be possible in their own home town."
The field of education has certainly never
been very financially rewarding for men.
At one time and even today, it offers women
better salaries and more agreeable working
conditions than most other fields.
Education's other rewards-expressed
in fine, impressive, spiritually exciting
terms like truth and wisdom and youth
and hope-are often spoken of loftily. Yet
I have met few teachers and few educa-
tion students who either weren't embar-
rassed by such terms or to whom such
educational ideals never occured.
Thus, though "to improve oneself pro-
fessionally" was scored as the most com-
mon answer to the Times survey, the first
three, financially motivated reasons seem
more easily accepted.
Nevertheless, It was delightful to over-
hear a competent looking, grey haired Mi-
chigan State Normal College teacher in con-
versation with a friend outside Mason Hall
the other day.
"I'll be in my grave before I complete the
45 hours required for a promotion," she
said. "So I'm just here for fun," she said
listing the courses she was sitting in on.
"I'm taking a course in old English, be-
cause it's embarrassing not to be able to
read it, as long as I teach 'Beowulf' occa-
sionally."
-Gayle Greene
VIENNA-Frantisek and Ludek are both
small by American standards, which
makes them look much younger than their
twenty-one years. Ludek is the smaller of
the two, and with his thin, beakish nose
and his intelligent eyes, one suspects that
he was chief planner of the escape. One
also suspects that Frantisek, with his mus-
cular fore-arms and rather dashing good
looks, was the first over the wires at the
frontier.
Frantisek and Ludek (to protect their
families, their last names cannot be used)
crossed the heavily guarded border from
Czechoslovakia to Austria on July 4. When
they describe their escape, it sounds at first
like the exploit of a couple of disgruntled
GIs who have taken it into their hands to
go over the hill. It is only when one probes
a little deeper into their story that one
catches a glimpse of a world so utterly un-
familiar to American experience that it
seems curiously unreal.
Frantisek and Ludek were both drafted
into a Czech army battalion for political
unreliables early in 1952. The work was
hard mannual labor, they say, ten hours
and more a day, on an oairfield about
eighty miles from the frontier. Their
superiors "sat about in the sun and drank
beer while they worked." Their command-
ing officer was a "real no-good"-he in-
sisted that they perform 200 per cent of
their work norm. When they talk about
this man a lingering, bitter resentment
shows on their faces.
About two months ago, Ludek and Fran-
tisek decided to make a break for the fron-
tier. Ludek, with a child's toy stamping out-
fit, faked passes for both of them. Early in
the morning of July 4, they set out for the
frontier on a "borrowed" motorcycle. They
were lucky-so lucky that their exploit, of
which they are obviously proud, falls a
little flat in the telling. The faked pass
worked with the police. A violent, fortuitous
thunderstorm covered their crossing. They
slipped under the first barbed wire barrier,
crawled over a second barrier of electrified
wires strung on poles, jumped a third bar-
rier, and so found themselves on free soil.
So here they are in Vienna, a little dazed
and frightened after the interminable ques-
tioning by the innumerable American intelli-
gence agencies, but free. Why, Ludek and
Frantisek were asked, were they drafted into
a battalion for political unreliables in the
first place?
Frantisek explains, as though this were
the most natural thing in the world, that
his father disappeared on November 27,
1951. Frantisek's father simply walked out
of the house that day, and was never seen
again. He may have tried to escape, or he
may have been arrested for joining an "ille-
gal group." At any rate-and again, it is
clear that this appears to Frantisek natural
and inevitable-Frantisek was immediately
hauled out of school and put to work in a
forced labor camp. Frantisek's mother was
sent to a farm collective. Finally, Frantisek
was transferred to the labor battalion.
Ludek's father was a house painter, and
-this with considerable pride-a member
of the town council before the Communist
coup in 1948. In 1949, Ludek's father tried
to form a resistance group among some
railroad workers. After six months, the
group was exposed, and Ludek's father also
disappeared one day. A local Communist
leader took possession of the family house,
and Ludek's mother and older sister were
assigned to forced labor in a brick factory.
Ludek also worked in a forced labor camp
for a time, before he too was transferred to
the labor battalion.
Frantisek and Ludek recount these epi-
sodes from their more distant past with a
seeming indifference. A world in which a
father disappears, a mother is sent to for-
ced labor, or a child is forever condemned
in the eyes of the state for the sins of a
father, is their world. To them, it is the
normal world, since they have really known
no other.
Do many people in Czechoslovakia, they
are asked, support the Communist regime?
Frantisek and Ludek look at each other and
shrug, as though this were a particularly
silly question. Before the currency reform,
they say, perhaps one in twenty. Now, hard-
ly anyone.
What do they hope to do now-go to
America? The question does not elicit the
expected enthusiastic response. Frantisek
replies earnestly that they want to do only
one thing-anything they can do to des-
troy the Communist regime in their coun-
try. Is therenot a way to fight against it?
Those who dare to talk to each other in
Czechoslovakia all say the same thing. Lu-
dek remarks-"the regime cannot last. It
will all be over in two months." It is true
that they have been saying this for several
years now. But "it is not possible that the
republic should remain a concentration
camp for much longer."
Those in the dingy office nod encourage-
ment, smiling, and there are handshakes all
around. Ludek and Frantisek are shep-
herded out, to the weary dustiness of life
in a refugee camp. There is, it seems, not
._.
ON THE
WASHINGTON
MERRY-GO-ROU ND
WITH DREW PEARSON
WASHINGTON-It has been kept undercover, but General Motors
has been whipping up the Senate attack against the Air Force.
Inside story is that GM has been looking after its former presi-
dent, Secretary of Defense Wilson, like an anxious mother. When
Wilson stubbed his toe against the Air Force, General Motors rushed
in to comfort him and spank the Air Force.
GM moguls got their No. 1 boy in the Senate-Michigan's white-
maned, fist-pounding Homer Ferguson-to lead the attack on the
Air Force. Yet, believe it or not, the same Senator Ferguson was
pounding his fists and shouting to the skies against Air Force cuts
only last year.
What changed Ferguson's mind almost- overnight, of course,
was General Motors, which is a powerful political force in Michi-
gan. Through its dealers, GM has made some handsome cam-
paign contributions to Ferguson in the past.
What's more, Ferguson high-pressured the Air Force to cancel
its contracts with Kaiser-Frazer, a GM competitor. One week before
the announcement was made, Ferguson sat down for two hours with
Secretary of the Air Force Talbott and helped pave the way for void-
ing the Kaiser-Frazer contract.
After the news hit Michigan, however, Ferguson suddenly reversed
himself. The loss of 12,000 jobs in his home state had made the move
politically unpopular. Remembering he was up for re-election next
year, Ferguson began raising a public clamor with the Air Force to
reopen the Kaiser-Frazer plant.
The Michigan Republican has been switching positions so fast
that folks back home are calling him "about-face Ferguson."
The Daily Official Bulletin is a
official publication of the University
of Michigan for which the Michigan
Daily assumes no editorial responsi-
bility. Publication in it is construe..
tive notice to all members of the
University. Notices should be sent in
TYPEWRITTEN form to Room 9510
Administration Building before 3 p.m.
the day preceeding publication (be-
fore 11 a.m. on Saturday).
SATURDAY, JULY 25, 1953
VOL. LXIII, No. 25-S
Notices
August Teacher's Certificate Candi-
dates: The Teacher's Oath will be ad-
ministered to all August candidates for
the teacher's certificate on Thursday
and Friday, July 23 and 24. in Room
1437 U. E. S. This is a requirement for
the teacher's certificate.
Lydia Mendelssohn Box Office is,
open daily from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m.
Tickets are available for the remain-
ing Department of Speech productions
in the suimmer series: The Country
Girl and Pygmalion $1.20 - 90c - 60c;
The Tales of Hoffman, produced with
the School of Music, $1.50 - $1.20 - 90c.
Pi Lambda Theta initiation will be
held Monday, July 27, at 8:00 p.m., in
theWest Conference Room of the Rack-
ham Building.
Veterans eligible for education and
training allowance under Public Law
550 (Korea G. I. Bill), whether they
have received Certificate for Education
and Training, VA Form 7-1993, or not,
must pick up DEAN'S MONTHLY CER-
TIFICATION in appropriate school of-
fice, get instructors' signatures for
June and July and return that cer-
tification to the Dean's office on or be-
fore August 3.VA Form 7-1996aMONTH-
LY CERTIFICATION OF TRAINING,
must be filled in and signed in the
Office of Veterans' Affairs. 555 Admin-
istration Building, between July 31 and1
August 6.
Veterans enrolled under P. L. 346
(World War II, G.I. Bill) who will re-
ceive a degree, change course, or
change institutions, at the end of Sum-
mer Session and who wish to take ad-
ditional training under the Bill, must
apply for a supplemental Certificate of
Eligibility on or before July 29. Appli-
cationi should be made in Room 555,
Administration Building, Office of Vet-
erans' Affairs.,
Teaching Opportunities In Jamaica,
British West Indies: There is a need for
two persons, either male or female, to
teach between them mathematics, Latin
and Spanish. Any persons qualified to
teach any of these three subjects, or a
combination thereof, and interested in
Jamaica, please contact Bureau of Ap-
pointments, 3528 Administration Build-
ing, or telephone University extension
2614 for further information.
Industrial Chemistry in Giza, Egypt.
Persons to teach industrial chemistryj
are needed at the Fouad I University in
Giza, Egypt. For further information
please contact Bureau of Appointments,
3528 Administration Building or tele-
phone University extension 2614.
Augus't Graduates in Engineering:
A representative of Babcock & Wilcox
Company, Barberton, Ohio, Division,
will interview August Mechanical, In-I
dustrial, Electrical, Civil Engineeringa
graduates and others available for em-1
ployment, wednesday, July 29, in Roomi
226 West Engineering Building. Please
sign the interview schedule posted on
the bulletin board at 225 West Engi-
neering Building.
Requests have been received from
Rhinelander, Wisconsin, for teachers of
junior and senior high school girls
physical education; 7th grade mathe-
matics OR 7th grade history, English,
and science; 1st grade; and a vocal
music director in the grades, junior and
senior high school. Interested candi-
dates should contact the Bureau of
Appointments, 31511 ext. 489.
Late Permission: Because of the Beach
Ball all women students will have a
1:30 late permission on Saturday, July
25. Dean of Women.
Lectures
MONDAY, JULY 27
Conferenceof English Teachers. "Tools
and Techniques--A Summing Up and A
Looking Ahead"-a panel. Mary Baloy-
an, Ottawa Hills High School, Grand
Rapids; Robert Granville, Ann Arbor
High School; Carlton F. Wells, Pro-
fessor of English, chairman. 4:00 p.m.
Auditorium C, Angell Hall.
Popular Arts Films, America Cme-
dy. 1908-1929: "The Doctor's Secret,"
"Gertie the Dinosaur," "His Bitter
Pill." "The Freshman," "The Sex Life
of the Polyp." "The Skeleton Dance."
7:30 p.m., Rackham Lecture Hall.
Academic Notices
Doctoral Exam~ination for William
K. Johnson, Pharmaceutical Chemistry;
thesis: "Analogs of Epinephrine," Tues-
day, July 28, 2525 Chemistry Building, at
2:00 p.m. Chairman, F. F. Blicke.
Concerts
Organ Recital Series: Mr. Robert El-
lis, Guest organist, and former student
of the School of Music, will present
an organ recital Sunday afternoon,
July 26, at 4:15 in Hill Auditorium. It
will include Johannes Brahm's, Pre-
lude and Fugue in G minor, Thomas
Arne's, Flute Solo, Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart's, Fantasie in F minor, K. 608,
Johann' Bach's, Chorale Prelude, "Dear-
est Jesus, We are Here," Arnold Schoen-
berg's, Variations on a Recitative, Op.
r40, Darius Milhaud's, Prelude VII, Neuf
Preludes, and Max Reger's, Fantasia on
the Chorale, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our
God," Op. 27. This concert will be open
to the general public without charge.
Student Recital: Nancy Belle Philbin,
Pianist, will present a recital in par-
tial fulfillment ofsthe requirements for
the degree of Master of Music at 8:30
Monday evening, July 27 in the Rack-
ham Assembly Hall. It will include the
works of Scarlatt, Schubert, Bartok
and Chopin. Miss Philbin is a student
of Mr. Brinkman and her recital is
open to the general public Without
charge.
Lecture Hal. It will include the works
of Mozart's Sonata in D major, K.448.
Schumann's. Andante and Variations.
Casadesus, Danses Mediterraneennes
Op. 36, Britten's, Introduction and Ron-
do ala Burlesca (1945), and Rachmani-
no l's Second Suite, Op. 17. Open to the
public without charge.
Exhibitions
Museum of Art, Alumni Memorial
Hall. Popular Art in America (June 30
-August 7); California Water Color So-
ciety (July 1-August 1). 9 a.m. to S
p.m. on weekdays; 2 to 5 p.m. on Sun-
days. The public is invited
General Library. Best sellers of the
twentieth century.
Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. Gill-
man Collection of Antiques of Palestine.
Museums Building, rotunda exhibit.
Steps in the preparation of ethnolo-
gical dioramas.
Michigan Historical Collections. Mi-
chigan, year-round vacation land.
Clements Library. The good, the bad,
the popular.
Law Library. Elizabeth II and her em-
pire.
Architecture Building. Michigan Chil-
dren's Art Exhibition.
Events Today
This evening at 8 p.m. in the Lydia
Mendelssohn Theatre the Department
of Speech presents Clifford Odets' wide-
ly acclaimed Broadway success, The
Country Girl. Tickets are available at
the box office from 10 a.m. until 8
p.m.
SL Cinema Guild Summer Program.
"All About Eve"-Bette Davis. Cartoon:
"Bee-Deviled Bruin." Showings 7 and
9 p.m. Architecture Auditorium.
Saturday Tour of Cranbook Schools,
sponsored by Lane Hall. Leave Lane
Hall at 9:30 a.m. Saturday; return after
attending Detroit Symphony Concert
in evening. Call reservations to 3-1511
extension 2851.
Michigan Christian Fellowship Tal-
ent Night. 7:30 p.m. Lane Hall.
Corming Events
Michigan Christian Fellowship Meet-
ing. Sunday afternoon, 4:00 p.m., Lane
Hall. The speaker will be the Reverend
Howard Icher from Bethany Baptist
Church in Detroit. Refreshments will
be served.
The Presbyterian Summer Student
Fellowship will meet at 5:30 p.m. Sun-
day for a picnic supper. Raja Nasr, a
student from Lebanon, will lead the
discussion period following with his
thoughts on "Proofs of Immortality."
All students are welcome.
Congressional Disciples Guild will
meet inrthe Congregational Church
for supper at 6:00 p.m. Sunday even-
ing. Dr. Amiya Chakravarty, former
secretary to Rabindranath Tagore, and
counsel to the Indian delegation to
the United Nations, will speak on "The
Heritage of India." All those inter-
ested are cordially invited to attend
the program at 7:00 p.m.
The Unitarian Student Group in
connection with the Adult Discussion
Group will present the fourth in a
series of discussions on the Bible to be
led by Professor Emeritus Leroy Wat-
erman, Sunday evening at 8:00 at the
Unitarian Church, 1917 Washtenaw
Avenue. For transportation from cam-
pus, meet at Lane Hall at 7:45. Re-
freshments will be served.
Lutheran Student Association (Na-
tional Lutheran Council) Hill and For-
est Ave. Sunday-9:30 a.m. Bible Class;
10:30 a.m. Worship Service; 7:00 p.m.
Prof. Paul Kauper of the Law Faculty
will speak on "Academic Freedom.."
La p'tite causette meets Monday, July
27, from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. in the wing
of the north room of the Michigan
Union cafeteria. All students and Fac
ulty members interested in speaking
or learning to speak informally French
in a friendly atmosphere are cordially
invited.
sL Cinema Guild-Summer Program.
"All About Eve"-Bette Davis. Cartoon:
"Bee-Deviled Bruin." Showing at 8
p.m. Architecture Aulitorium.
Beginning next week Professor Alf
Sommerfelt, Professor of Linguistics
of the University of Oslo, will give a
series of lectures on language and cul-
ture.
Next Week, Wednesday through Sat-
urday, in the Lydia Mendelssohn Thea-
tre at 8:00 p.m. the Deparment of
Speech will, present G. B.. Shaw's hil-
arious comedy,Pygmalion. This Shavan
Cinderella story will be staged by
~William P. Halstead with sets by Jack
E. Bender and costumes by Phyllis
Pletcher.
Exhibithof Conservation Materials
open to the public all day Monday in
University High School Rm. 1203. Pro-
jects and audio-visual aids prepared by
students in Conservation Classes.
SixtyThird Year
Edited and managed by students of
the University of Michigan under the
authority of the Board in Control of
Student Publications.
Editorial Staff
Harland Britz.........Managing Editor
Dick Lewis . ..........Sports Editor
Becky Conrad........... Night Editor
Gayle Greene.............. Night Editor
Pat Roelofs .............. Night Editor
Fran Sheldon............Night Editor
Business Staff
Bob Miller..... ..Business Manager
Dick Aistrom..... Circulation Manager
Dick Nyberg........ ..Finance Manager
Jessica Tanner. Advertising Associate
Bob Kovacs.. .Advertising Associate
* * *
*
QUEEN'S DILEMMA
INTERPRETING THE NEWS:
Allies Should Act While
Moscow's Off Balance
By J. M. ROBERTS, JR.
Associated Press News Analyst
COMMUNIST reaction in both Moscow and
East Germany is the best evidence that
Allied moves have the Russians off balance
in Eastern Europe.
Pravda's reply to the suggestion for a
four-power conference on German problems
sounds almost exactly like it did last year
when the West was counter-moving against
Russian proposals. It consists primarily of
sidestepping and a renewed effort to make
France and Britain unhappy about the al-
leged predominance of American policy in
Allied councils.
The delivery of food to East Germans
in Berlin must be creating a situation
more disturbing to the Communists than
is indicated by direct reports.
The effort to disrupt deliveries through
Weapon of Kindness
EDDY GILMORE, Associated Press cor-
respondent back in this country after
11 years in Russia, reports a strange phe-
nomenon in Moscow. There are signs, he
says, that the Kremlin is showing some con-
cern for the fears and' hopes of the average
Russian.
We are inclined to regard this as a more
counterfeiting of coupons is a direct act of
sabotage. It suggests the Communists may
be on the verge of re-establishing commun-
ications barriers at the border, thus risking
vastly increased anger among the population
rather than have the world reminded daily
of living conditions which force people to
leave their zone for aid.
The Allied position could hardly be bet-
ter, as far as it goes. It permits High Com-
missioner Conant to express to the Com-
munists the hope that they will not inter-
fere with the effort of Germans to feed
Germans. This could be an extremely tick-
lish point for the Communists and for Rus-
sian hopes of eventual power in Germany.
This, then, while the ball is rolling, is
a time which calls for a continuous Allied
barrage of similar acts.
There must be some fire behind the smoke
of persistent reports of anti-Communist ac-
tivities in all of the satellites. The United
States recognizes and does business with
most of their governments. Direct offers
could be made to them of one sort or anoth-
er, strictly on a helpful basis without strings
attached, which would prove extremely em-
barrassing.
Central Intelligence Agency and other
government agencies presumably know
where these touchy spots are, and how they
could be exploited.
ON THE GROUNDS of Windsor Palace in England a private cottage
is locked, deserted and gathering dust. Once it was the scene of
gay parties attended by the King and Queen of England, and by their
two children, the present Queen Elizabeth and her.sister, Princess
Margaret. Tenants of the royal cottage have now split up and gone
their separate ways-divorced.
Thereby hangs one of the crises of England, a crisis no less grave
in English eyes than that when King Edward VIII, now the Duke of
Windsor, married divorced Wallis Simpson of Baltimore.
Opinion is about evenly divided among diplomats as to whe-
ther 1, Peter Townsend, who once occupied the royal cottage,
should not be censured for divorcing his wife and pressing his at-
tentions on Princess Margaret; or 2, whether the Queen Mother
is not to blame for not having realized what was going on under
her nose all these years.
All are agreed, however, that the romance between Princess Mar-
fiaret and a divorced commoner has given her sister, the Queen, one
of the most difficult decisions she will ever have to make. For Mar-
garet, now 23, cannot get married without her sister's consent until
she is 25.
The Queen this week approved a change in Britain's regency law
which removed one obstacle to the romance. But, as head of the
Church of England, she cannot give her official permission for her
sister to marry a divorcee without the risk of bringing the wrath of
the Bishops down upon her head in a manner which might seriously
jeopardize the position of the Crown in the eyes of the British people.
She swore at her coronation to uphold the laws of the church.
* * * *
TEEN-AGE LOVE
THE PROBLEM, which to Americans may seem one for the society
editors, is so serious in Egland that it has already been taken up
with the cabinet and has been the subject of royal family conference
at which Margaret told her sister that her love for Peter Townsend
could not be abandoned.
It was immediately after this that Townsend was abruptly trans-
ferred to Belgium and Princess Margaret was taken by her mother on
a quick tour of South Africa.
Townsend, the tall, handsome, 38-year-old divorcee who has
caused all the trouble, was born in Burma, son of an English army
officer. After a meteoric career in the RAF, he was appointed aide to
King George when Margaret was about 13. Since then he has been
virtually a member of the royal family, has ridden with Margaret, gone
dancing with her, almost helped to raise her.
Family intimates say that she has loved him for years and
that the Queen Mother was blind not to have seen it long ago.
Probable fact is that both the Queen Mother and Queen Elizabeth
were so fond of Townsend, considered him so much a part of the
family that they hated to have him transferred. So, even after
his divorce last winter, he stayed on-in itself highly unusual;
for divorcees are not presented at court, are not permitted inside
the royal enclosure at Ascot, and cannot become members of the
Queen's Guards.
Some friends of the royal family say that Townsend is a most
ambitious young man who deliberately pressed for a divorce with a
view to marrying Margaret, and that he should take himself out of
the picture. But he hasn't done so.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Churchill, whose advice was sought,
;
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