Official Organ Of The Sla vonic Benevolent Order Of The State Of Texas. Founded 1897. BENEVOLENCE
VOLUME 54 — NO. 6
HUMANITY
BROTHERHOOD
Postmaster: Please Send Form 3579 with Undeliverable Copies to: SUPREME LODGE, SPJST, P. 0. Box 100, TEMPLE, TEXAS
FEBRUARY 9, 1966
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER.
QUOTES . .
The Supreme Lodge has set our 1966 insurance quota at six million. We sold just above that amount in 1965. Selling our insurance plans is something we can all participate and help in. All of us, in a sense, are "organizers," sellers of SPJST insurance. We have the best plans to offer for a variety of needs. Whether we reach the sixmillion-dollar quota set for this year depends on all of us. The same rule applies as always: if you know of a good and likely prospect for membership in our society, notify your nearest local SPJST life underwriter. The rest is up to him, and if he (or she) is on the ball, they'll make the next move, and they'll do it in a hourry.
"It all seems to have been in vain. Memories are short and apetites for power and glory insatiable. Old tyrants depart. New ones take their place. Old allies become the foe. The recent enemy becomes the friend. It's all Very baffling and trying." —Barry S. Truman, 81, Jan. 1963
As a former schoolteacher, I was frequently asked by my senior students what my first and most important recommendation would be to young people in the US seeking successful careers — in any field. I used to have to search for the answer, but with the passage of time it becomes abundantly clear to me that the answer was: "Learn the English language!" Of course, there are those trades and occupations that require less of a proficiency in English than others, but it is an established fact that being proficient in the English language is a common requisite for any and all professions, and it it becoming increasing-
"Nothing is worse than war? Dishonor is worse than war! Slavery is worse than war!" —Winston Churchill ly so. And we're not speaking only of the spoken, but also of the written word. There are people who are very good at putting their thoughts on paper, but who are the world's worst speakers, and vice-versa. Rare is the man or woman who is proficient in both. So many of our young people (and adults) simply cannot write — not only have they not mastered the form, but their handwriting is atrocious. This can be traced to the zealous over-emphasis by ' some instructors in our schools who like to have work submitted to them completed on a typewriter. After a few years of total dependency on the machine, such a person is seriously handicapped when it comes to penmanship. True, the typewritten work looks neat, but the chances are quite remote that the in-
dividual will always be carrying a typewritter around in his hip pocket as he moves down life's pathway. They haven't invented one that small yet. We Americans have often been accused of being poor learners of foreign languages. To a very large extent, this charge is true. Whatever is wrong with our teaching of foreign languages, we have not yet corrected. The German or French student, after two semesters of English, acquires a remarkable mastery of the language, both written and spoken. That's the reason the American tourist has no language difficulty in traveling about Europe: Why? We haven't been successful in teaching our young people the English language! Ask any high school English teacher, particularly any college instructor of freshman English. One columnist recently stated that one reason Americans speak and write our own language so poorly is because so many are not acquainted with any other language. The German dramatist and philosopher, Goethe, said: "He who knows no foreign tongue knows nothing of his own." e o When you borrow against your life insurance you must pay interest because the money is not really yours until you die — or until you surrender your policy for its cash value, thereby giving up your protection. When you borrow against the cash