ITALIAN BORDERLAND
Sia,—Publication of the article entitled "Italian Borderland" in your issue of September 7th was a public service of a very high order. Those of us in this country and the United States who have experienced the material and cultural benefits of a fairly ordered existence, and who have been able to buy and read the books we wanted to buy and read and speak our minds when we wanted to speak our minds, are too prone to forget the "brutal facts of history" to which "An Eighth Army Officer" draws attention.
In fact, in stating that there are all too few signs of any effort on the part of the peoples of Eastern Europe to understand our views on democracy and the relations between peoples, the author of the article himself is in danger of forgetting the brutal facts of history. Unless one has lived in backward countries such as the Balkans or Spain, for example, and seen the social upheavals which long oppression or misgovernment have pro-. yoked, one can have no idea how simple, untutored peoples react when the tension can be borne no longer. If we are to deal with understanding with the peoples of these countries, we must get it into our heads that they cannot be expected to conduct themselves as we do in argument, because the benefits of democracy, ordered existence, economic well- being and absence of police rule have never been available long enough
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