Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

Pack understanding qualities. They're good everywhere. you take in your mind and heart. If you could pack only two things, take with you tolerance and friendliness. Leave behind all intolerance and suspicion. You have read of mistakes made by our fellow countrymen. We are never judged by the best of us, but by the icorst of us. Let's see what Mark Twain wrote in "Innocents Abroad" in 1875. "We were troubled a little at dinner today by the conduct of an American, who talked very loudly and coarsely, and laughed boisterously where all others were so quiet and well behaved. He ordered wine with a royal flourish, and said: 'I never dine without wine, sir' (which was a pitiful falsehood), and looked around upon the company to bask in the admiration he expected to find in their faces. All these airs in a land where they would as soon expect to leave the soup out of the bill of fare as the wine!—in a land where wine is nearly as common among all ranks as water! This fellow said: 'I am a free-born sovereign, sir, an American, sir, and I want everybody to know it!' He did not mention that he was a lineal descendant of Balaam's ass; but every- body knew that without his telling it." We Learn From Canucks But we are not alone. Here is an excerpt from an editorial from MacLean's, the widely read Canadian magazine. The editorial by Lionel Shapiro is called: "When the Canucks Hit Europe Again." . . . "Every French person of my acquaintance, with- out exception, has his or her 'American story' to relate . . . mostly of an inexplicably arrogant attitude—and it is related with all the more bitterness because Parisians have lived with the problem since 1944. "At the moment this is an American problem because American troops are the only ones to be seen in Paris in any numbers. But it will soon become a Canadian problem, too. Before the end of the year Canada will have almost fifteen thousand uniformed men in Europe and there is no reason to believe they will prove any more immune than their American comrades to the traditional behavior forms of the soldier away from home. "In 1944 and 1945 the Canadians were equally un- popular in Brussels and, after the fighting, in Amster- dam. Many of them were rowdy, thoughtless, overbear- ing and in some cases, criminally cruel. Many of them behaved as they would never dare or dream of behaving at home. "At that period there was some excuse for battle- weary men. Today there are no such excuses. And today the consequences of bad feelings between the North American serviceman and the European civilian can be far greater than they were in 1945. The solidarity of the Western world, which is essential to its survival, cannot be guaranteed by treaties alone. Its real guarantee —and that guarantee does not as yet exist—is the understanding of continent for continent, the tolerance of nation for nation, the respect of man for man. "In combating rowdyism the first task for the Cana- dians, u'hile they are training in Canada, is to weed out the potential trouble-makers and to leave them at home. This is not an insuperable requirement. Within a few weeks of the beginning of training every company commander knows the two or three chronic trouble- makers in his outfit. "The problem of arrogance is not so easily tackled. In the soldier it usually stems from ignorance of the country where he is stationed and from a mistaken con- ception of the mission in which he is engaged. On both points, trouble can be avoided if the soldier is properly indoctrinated before he is dispatched overseas. W^elcome Guest — Not Necessary Evil "It is the rare and exceptional soldier who is aware of the truth: That the defense of his country depends on the defense of Western Europe, that if anyone is "It can't turn her head to have several servants." 22 RADIO AGE