Spencer Heath Archive

Item 2555

Penned letter from Pvt. Gus T. McConnell, friend of Heath’s grandson, Irvan T. O’Connell (here called “Archie”), writing from Fort Sam Houston, Texas

April 23, 1957

 

 

Dear Mr. Heath —

 

I have just finished reading an extremely interesting and rewarding book which I wanted you to be sure to read if you haven’t already. It is Russell Davenport’s “Dignity of Man” — published in 1955 or 1956. As I was reading it, so much of my conversations with you came to mind, that I was compelled to tell you about the book. The idea of private enterprise pervaded by a Christian spirit to act “socially” is put forth as our only hopeful salvation from Communism. I was also interested in his stressing the history of science to show how the social sciences, and especially our metaphysics, has become gobbled up with the quantitative approach. I hope you will get Archie to read it if he hasn’t done so.

 

 As you can see from my address, I’m being misused by Uncle Sam — and being trained as a dental assistant (as far from law as possible). I have just gotten my assignment, which will be somewhere in Europe — but I know not where. The Army hasn’t been too bad at all. In fact, I enjoy much of it a great deal. I have now the chance to talk to many people I never would have met or known otherwise. The organization itself is also very amusing to observe — I imagine a communist state wouldn’t differ much from this — since both are subject to the same sort of institutional evils — the most notable to me being a society (and a closed one), highly centralized, which necessarily must annihilate individualism and yet being peculiarly a ‘government of men’ and not of laws.

 

 I hope you are well and that the Science of Society Foundation is enjoying a prosperous second quarter.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 /s/ Gus McConnell