Starring Paul Lucas in Passport to Freedom on the DuPont Cavalcade of America. From the Pony Express to the jet-propelled plane. America means skyscrapers and haylofts, home sweet home and the Basin Street blues. The glare of a blast furnace against the midnight sky. A land where freedom is not just a word stamped on a coin. America is you and everyone you know. In just a moment the DuPont Company maker of better things for better living through chemistry brings you Paul Lucas in Passport to Freedom. But first here is Gain Whitman for DuPont. When you buy rainwear and sportswear make sure that its water repellency is durable. That it won't come out the first time you wash or clean your garment. You do make sure if you look for the DuPont Zeeland tag. Zeeland is DuPont's durable repellent finish. Unlike ordinary water repellents Zeeland protection doesn't disappear at the laundry or cleaners. Zeeland is one of the DuPont Company's better things for better living through chemistry. Starring Paul Lucas in Passport to Freedom on the DuPont cavalcade of America. Is there a formula for freedom American style? Yes, I suppose there is. A formula based on such elements as the brain of a Thomas Jefferson, the heart of a Lincoln and the sinew and bone of millions who had the courage to dare and to err and to dare again until the proper ratio of liberty and law should be established for all. Our story begins not in America but in a country in Middle Europe. The time is the present and in one of the offices of the Foreign Visa Bureau stands Martin Schlezand, cap in hand, presenting his case before an examiner. Please believe me sir, I have no desire to go to America even for a brief visit but my sister who has lived there for 18 years recently lost her husband and is now in some difficulties. How do you know this? She has written me several letters and I... You have the letters with you? Yes sir, right here. I seem to remember seeing your name on this week's list of civil offenders. Schlezand, Schlezand, here it is. Schlezand, Jan, your brother? No sir, my cousin. We live in the same house. Jan, his wife Maria and their boys, Tani and I. Schlezand, Jan, offense overheard to complain about the government rationing of potatoes. Oh I assure you sir, he meant no harm. No harm? Any complaint about the government measure is a direct attack against the state. Yes sir, but at heart Jan is a good patriot. About my request for a visa. It will be submitted in due course to the Board of Inquirers. Thank you, thank you sir. One moment, I must stamp your application. Maria, is there anything else to eat besides this soup? Jan Schlezand, you are lucky to be eating at all. Jan, if you want to know how really well off you are, just read the newspaper and see what is going on in a country like America. Martin, does it say anything in the newspaper about when the government will let us buy another pair of shoes? Tani's are impossible to repair anymore. But Maria, do you realize that in capitalist countries the children of the working people are often have no shoes at all. Only the rich have the comforts of life. Since when are shoes a comfort? Jan. Mine aren't. It's not a joking matter. Here, look at this cartoon in the paper. It shows how a capitalist nation treats its working class. This is the capitalist, see? With the silk hat and the bags of money and the whip in his hand. It must be very hard over there for your sister and her two children. No wonder she wants you to go over and help her. Who's that? It's Tani. Hello. Oh, your feet are wet. Here son, sit by the stove. I'll get you a towel. Jan, get some more coal from the backyard. All right, all right. A man can never be let alone for pride. Well, how do you like your engineering studies? I hate them. Tani. I wanted to study science. I wanted to be a doctor. But the country needs engineers so all the boys in my class would change to the engineering course. Whether we liked it or not. But Tani, think how fortunate you are to be getting an education at all. Why in capitalist countries the youth of the working classes have no opportunities whatsoever for education or culture. Take I admire my boy, Tani. And for your own sake as well as our countries, be a good engineer. I suppose there's nothing else I can do. That's a good boy. Now let me see your engineering book. That's not one of my school books. That is... Well, let me see what you are reading. I... Tani, this is the book by the traitor, Przezinski. Well, what are... The government banned it. Przezinski had to flee the country. Did anyone see you reading it? Does anyone know you have it? No, but even if they had, I do not see why... You don't see. Przezinski's book attacked our government and everything it has done for us. And anyone who reads the book is also attacking our government. Open the store. What are you going to do? Burn the book before anyone else finds out you read it. Oh, wasn't that someone coming in the back door? Oh, Martin, look. It's all right. It's just mother. Oh, Martin, another letter for you from Sophie. And look, the envelope is so thick, there must be something in it. What is it, Tani? Let me see. It's a page from an American newspaper with my cousin's picture on it. Why, did he commit a crime against the state? No, his classmates voted him the most likely to succeed. Cousin Martin read it to me. There's Eva across the street. I'll bet she'd like to see this. Hey, Eva, come over here. It's a great honor, isn't it? What is your cousin doing? How old is he? What does he do? Oh, look. What's all the excitement about? Nothing, officer. We were just looking at something. Let me have it. This is an English newspaper. No, American. How did you get it? It was sent to my cousin by his sister. Ah, illegal literate. You smuggled into the country, eh? Well, we'll take care of that. No, please don't. You dare to protest the action of a policeman? If you please, sir, I came to learn the Board of Inquirers' decision of my request for a visa. Martin Slezan, inasmuch as you are a mechanic at the Kredak Motor Factory, the Board considers you essential to our government's plan for immediate recovery and progress. Therefore, visa refused. I will stand with you. But, sir, I have put in double the number of working hours at the factory to make up for the time I would be absent if the Board would reconsider my request, sir. Leave these papers with me. The situation will be investigated by the security police. Why do you want to go to America? Because my sister needs me there to... Sergeant, order the central bureau to find out if he has a sister in America. This whole thing may be an international plot. Martin Slezan? Yes, sir. You have been ordered to appear before me for further questioning in regard to your request for a visit to America. You can speak English? Yes, sir. If you should be permitted to go to America, you would be questioned about our life there, the way we work, the things we do, so that the facts could be twisted and used against us. They would get nothing from me. Nothing. I see that you are a true patriot citizen. Your application for a visa is granted. Chicago Cubs think Braves win eighth in first inning. Read all about it. Lake papers, get your papers. What do you read? What do you read, mister? Which sheet do you want? Which one is the official government newspaper? The official government newspaper? I ain't never heard of one. I've been a newsie for 15 years. Well, then how do the people know which paper tells the truth? They all tell the truth. Only it comes out different. You pay your money and you take your choice. Exulate paper, kid! Grand Central Station? Sure, it's right across the street and through those doors there, see? Thank you very much. That's okay. Say, you got a match? A match? Yeah. Oh, yes, yes, certainly. Thanks. It must be hard to be so poor. What? Not to have the money to buy a few matches. That is how it is in a capitalist society, huh? Hey, wait a minute. This country matches are given away free. I just happen to be out of them at the moment. Tickets? All tickets? Yes, sir. Here it is. Excuse me, sir. You have worked for this railroad company a long time? Twenty years. For twenty years to be underpaid, to have no rights, to be victimized and exploited. It is a terrible way to live. I wouldn't know, friend. Bernie, if it's so bad, why don't you quit? Why don't I? But no, no, I mean you. You are the one who is being down-proton and exploited and I am? Now think of that. And I thought everything was fine. We pull into Greenhill at eleven in the morning. Hello, darling. Sophie, Sophie, it is so good to see you. Oh, Martin, it has been so long. Almost eighteen years. You are just as I remember you. Oh, I would have known you anywhere. Come, Martin, let us get into the car and drive home. Sophie, it was not necessary you should engage a taxi for me. It is not a taxi. It is our own car. And this is our living room, Uncle Martin. It is very nice, Ferry. Sophie, you live in this house? Yes, of course. But the rent, it must be very high. Martin dear, it is our own house. Your own? But Sophie, I understood from your letters that your husband was only a worker in the mill. Yes, he was. But I cannot understand a home like this for a worker, a car and a piano. Yeah, sis plays the piano. Me, I'll take the radio. Radio? You have a radio? Sure, I'll turn it on for you. It is kind of old now. Patrick, is it a short wave radio? Can you get foreign broadcasts? Sure, it has got a short wave band and one for the police. It was the President's personal opinion. Listen, here is something now. And in vetoing the measure, it seems to me that the President has taken a step, or rather a misstep, which places squarely on his shoulders, and those of his advisors the full responsibility for the slowing down of the reconversion program. Who is that? The enemy? Are you tuned into a foreign station? No, it is one of the news commentators. An American commentator? Sure. But he was criticizing your President. He is attacking your government. Oh, that goes on all the time. Let's try another station. In taking his stand, the President showed forthright courage and a firm determination to put national reconversion on a sound basis. Public response indicates that the veto will meet with the approval of consumer and manufacturer. Now he, that one, he is the government spokesman, isn't he? No. Sounds like Ray Glenby. He is on for denisol. But he says the President is right and the other man said the President is wrong. Now who tells the people which one speaks the truth? We figure that out for ourselves. Oh, Miss Fielding, please come in. Thank you. This is my brother Martin. Martin, this is our neighbor Miss Helen Fielding. Oh, it is a pleasure. However, since your sister told me you were coming over, I've been very eager to meet you. So? Yes, I write the social notes for the Gazette. That's our local newspaper. I want to do a really big piece on you, a visitor from so far away. You are a reporter? I try to be. When did you leave your country? Did you have any trouble getting passage? Why do you ask all this? Oh, just to get some facts from my story. How's your recovery program working out? Have all these reforms been instituted yet? I do not have to reply to these questions. What? No, of course not. I was warned that there would be people here who would try to get information about my country's plans. But I assure you I have no... You are wasting your time, young woman. You will get nothing out of me. You are listening to Passport to Freedom, starring Paul Lucas as Martin Schlezann on the cavalcade of America, sponsored by the DuPont Company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. As the second part of our story opens, Martin, visiting his sister in America, is puzzled by the contradictions he has seen. He is unable to reconcile the foreign propaganda picture of America with the real America he is seeing for the first time. But stubbornly, he clings to his distorted ideas and now speaks to his sister. Sophie, I have been thinking, and I'm going to try to get the permission to take you and the children back home with me. Back home? Martin, don't be foolish. What an idea. You have physical comforts here, yes, but you have no freedom, no opportunities, no rights. Martin, stop talking like that. I wouldn't dream of going back. The children were born here. This is their country. Why, Freddy will be going to college next year. College? You can pay for college? Yes. Now that we'll have the insurance money and since Freddy's getting a scholarship, it won't be too hard. He's going to be a doctor, you know. Hi in there. Anybody home? Oh, Martin, can you look out of the window and see who that is? Yes. Oh, it is a very poor girl. What do you mean? She has no shoes. Not all the workers' families are as well off as you, eh, Sophie? Oh, my goodness, Martin. Do you know who that is? The daughter of Mr. Abbott who runs the mill. In the summer, all the young people go barefoot. Yes, Diana? Hello, Mrs. Rojack. Is Freddy home yet? No, dear. He's still working at the mill. Oh, beans. I'm going to have to talk to Dad about letting the summer crew off earlier. It's ruining my date life. Will you please tell Freddy to pick me up after supper? All right, dear. So long. Sophie, this girl, the daughter of this Mr. Abbott, she's friends with your Freddy? Yes. Well, in a capitalist system, it is not usual that the daughter of a man who owns a mill is friendly with one of the workers. Sophie, she's a spy. What? She's getting secrets out of Freddy about the workers and then reporting these to her father. Oh, Martin, it isn't like that at all. Besides, Mr. Abbott doesn't own the mill. It has many owners. The stockholders. Why, George left me some shares in it, so that makes me an owner, too. Did I tell you, my friends, if I am elected, I will give strong and effective representation in the legislature, standing firm on the platform to which I am pledged? Enjoying the speeches, Mr. Sabine? What? Oh, it is you, Miss Fielding. What did you think of the speaker? Well, I am a little confused. He repeatedly mentioned his rival candidates. That's right. A Democrat and an Independent. He's the Republican. You mean there is more than one candidate for the office? Of course. If there wasn't, why bother holding an election? But if there are three candidates, how can the people know which is the right one? Well, sometimes it is hard to decide, but at least it's the people themselves who make that decision. Not one man or a small group of men. And all things considered, we've done very well across the years. But is there not the danger of making a mistake? Yes, but we can always correct that mistake at the next election, if the majority of the people agree with us. That is so strange. A government by trial and error. And trial and success. You know, Mr. Slaisdine, the trouble with you is you're much too suspicious. And why should I not be? This is a capitalist country. A free one, Mr. Slaisdine. Free. That is what they have made you believe. Here is no real freedom. No? I... Look, do you see this book I have here? A book? What has a book got to do with what we were talking about? Everything. Read the title. The Failure of American Democracy. Failure. But this book must be against the system you have here. It is. And then they will arrest you for reading it. No, they won't. I can read any book I want to. Anyone can. There's no such thing in America as forbidden books. There may be in your country, but here we have free speech and free press. Ah, that is not so. In America you are the slaves of a decadent system, which does not allow books against itself. Where in the world did you get such a mass of misinformation about it? Look, there's Ben Hicks, the constable. We'll let him settle the argument. No, please, please. He will arrest you. You wait right here. Evening, Ben. Evening, Miss Fielding. Ever read this book, Ben? The Failure of American Democracy. No, can't say I have. Is it any good? Well, it tears into our way of living and working and says it's all wrong. That's so. Well, everybody's entitled to his own opinion, I always say. I guess that's right, Ben. See you later. Okay, Miss Fielding. Well, my friend, are you satisfied now? He did not even realize what the threat the book is. When everyone can speak his mind freely and openly, no book is a threat. Anyone can get up and say whatever he thinks about the government or the administration of taxes. Anyone? They would not let someone like me say what I think. Of course they would. I cannot believe that. All right, I'll prove it to you. I'll arrange for you to be the guest speaker at the town hall meeting next week. And I can say whatever is in my mind without being arrested? Absolutely. Very well, but no matter what you tell me, I do not believe that I will be allowed to speak. Ladies and gentlemen. You all know something about our speaker tonight. You've read the notice in the Gazette. He has some very interesting ideas about a number of important subjects. So I take great pleasure in introducing Mr. Martin Slezans. Ladies and gentlemen, I have prepared a speech summing up my impressions of American democracy. Its flaws and inequalities. The misuse of power and wealth. I have the list in my hand and... Why don't you go back where you came from if you don't like it? I told you, Helen, you see. I knew this would happen. Free speech, a democratic way of life. Where are they now? Tell me. You see, I said I was going to talk against your government and before I can say more than a few words, that man stops me. Martin, just a moment. Wait a minute, folks. Wait a minute. What's all the excitement? The constable here. The police. Oh, the police. You see, they have come to arrest me. Please, Martin, just a moment. Now quiet down, everyone. Just take it easy. Take it easy. Now, suppose somebody tells me what all the shooting's about. I'll tell you, constable. Mr. Slezans was going to speak. Joe Sampson wouldn't let him. How about that, Joe? Right off the bat, he's going to tell us what's wrong with our country. If you don't like it... Mr. Slezans got the platform, Joe. If you want it, you can get it later. Now, you be quiet, Joe, or I'll have to put you outside. Go ahead, Mr. Slezans. It's all yours. You... you mean I... I can say what I had on this paper and you will not arrest me? That's exactly what he means, Martin. Go ahead. Ladies and gentlemen, I said a moment ago that I had a speech prepared against your government. And I prepared it with great care, after much thought. I... but I am not going to read it. Why not? That's all right. That is right. I will not make this speech tonight. Instead, I shall say what perhaps I meant to say all the time. Since the first day, I really learned that America stands for freedom. And the people who are America, all of you, have something wonderful about which I knew nothing, because I had never seen it before. And now I want to know more, to understand better. Even though they will confiscate everything I have back home, and I will have to start here with nothing, there is only one thing I want to do, and that is to stay here in America for the rest of my life. In a moment, our star Paul Lucas will return. But first, here is Game Whitman speaking for DuPont. What a wonderful country America is. With a hungry world waiting and praying for wheat, our American farmers have harvested the second greatest wheat crop in our history. One county alone in Nebraska produced enough wheat to make bread for more than a million people next year. All over the globe, through the wet months of spring, through the first changeable weeks of summer, hungry men and women and children looked towards America. Would there be plenty of American wheat, or would the rains drown it, drought burn it? By the middle of July, they had their answer. With the grain from Texas, from Oklahoma, from Kansas, safe in the bins, the great combines were sweeping onto the north, across Nebraska, across the Dakotas, into Canada. The United States had a crop of more than a billion bushels. America produced this billion-bushel wheat crop because the weather was favorable, because our farmers know their jobs and aren't afraid of work, and because science today goes into the field with the farmer. For instance, disease often attacks farmers. One damaging disease is called covered smut, or bunt. A farmer with wheat infected by this disease loses in two ways, in the yield he gets and in the price he gets. He may be docked $40 or $50 a carload for wheat that is only a bit smutty. For this and certain other seed-borne diseases that attack grains, the DuPont Company manufactures a chemical for seed-borne wheat. For diseases that attack grains, the DuPont Company manufactures a chemical for seed treatment under the trademark of cirisan. Chemical treatment of seed grains works so well that many states have organized educational programs to guide farmers in this important practice. How the control of smut has progressed is reflected in figures of wheat deliveries in Oklahoma. At the Enid terminal this year, out of 16,000 cars of wheat, only 100 or so were smutty. A few years ago the figure was 1500, 15 times greater. Chemical compounds like cirisan have helped to add millions of bushels of cereals to the world's food supply. Cirisan, another DuPont product of agriculture, is one of the DuPont Company's better things for better living through chemistry. And now here is our star, Paul Lucas, and I think he'd like to say a word about his part in the play tonight. Thank you, Mr. Heaston. Thank you. What I liked about the story tonight is, probably when you come right down to it, what I like about America. The newsstands with the papers of all shades of political opinion lying side by side, available to everyone. The freedom of expression and of debate on the air. The opportunity America affords, for example, to present this kind of script. But perhaps the best way to put it is, as it was expressed in the scene with Helen, in which Martin, who is so disturbed and confused by American way of election, says, it is so strange, a government by trial and error. And Helen replies, and trial and success. Because on looking back 170 years or more of our government, that's exactly what it is, a success. And a very great example to a bewildered world. Thank you and good night. And thank you, Paul Lucas. Next week, the DuPont Cavalcade of America brings you Herbert Marshall in a stirring new drama called With Cradle and Clock. It's the story of a doctor who turned his back upon the prejudices of Europe to come to this new world where he was free to experiment and develop his talents for the benefit of all mankind. This is another story of America, the America of skyscrapers and haystacks, of home sweet home and the Basin Street blues. Yes, listen in next week when you will hear another story of America. The music for tonight's DuPont Cavalcade was composed and conducted by Robert Armbruster. Our cavalcade play was written by Priscilla Kent. This is John Easton inviting you to listen next week to Herbert Marshall in With Cradle and Clock. This is NBC, the national broadcasting company.
