Spencer Heath Archive

Item 3085

Ingebretsen Correspondence — to, from and about James C. Ingebretsen, President, Spiritual Mobilization, Box 877, San Jacinto, California

1955-1960

 

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Spencer Heath Archive

Item 1566

Letter to James C. Ingebretsen,

Spiritual Mobilization, 1521 Wilshire Blvd,

Los Angeles 17, California

December 10, 1955

 

Dear Mr. Ingebretsen:

I have just finished reading several back copies of Faith and Freedom, concluding with the current copy for December. The more I learn of your organization, the more deeply I am impressed by it.

The capacity to be inspired is, I believe, the highest and most distinctively human attribute. It has little to do with the maintenance of life and everything to do with its advancement and continued transcendence. It seems to be the condition in which the human psyche rises above all its pedestrian limitations — the sense of liberation, the spirit of liberty. Quality, value and beauty all are selective; they spring from choice of alternatives; they rest upon liberty. Your movement seems more completely than any other to synthesize freedom with religion and its dependency, the whole field of creative art.

So, I want to give myself a good Christmas present; I want the satisfaction of putting Faith and Freedom and its beautiful Christmas greeting, as described on the inside-cover of the December issue, in the hands of a considerable number of friends and acquaintances who, I feel, can be heartened and inspired by it. I am sending you on the attached sheet 30 names and addresses and am enclosing my check for sixty dollars by way of contri­bution.

Prominent on the list are my friends, Richard and Marian Lewis, who came from California to Winchester, Virginia some years ago. Richard Lewis is the head of a small chain of radio stations centering in Winchester. He and his wife are ardent libertarians. I feel that they would like to take advantage of some of the programs Spiritual Mobilization has to offer, and have written them accordingly. I hope they will make contact with you — or you with them.

Sincerely yours,

SH/m

Enc:  “The Inspiration of Beauty”

List of names to receive Faith and Freedom

Check for contribution

 

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Spencer Heath Archive

Item 2466

Carbon of letter by Heath (though signed by Spencer MacCallum as Secretary), The Science of Society Foundation, Roadsend Gardens, Elkridge, Maryland, to Spiritual Mobilization, Inc., 1521 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles 17, California, October 13, 1956, together with response, October 17, 1956, from James C. Ingebretsen, President.

October 13 and 17, 1956

 

Gentlemen:

As long-standing admirers of Spiritual Mobilization and its work, we would like to send a representative of our organization to your next Conference to be held in Chicago on Novem­ber 30th and December 1st.

     Our own young organization was chartered in July, under the laws of Maryland, to carry out the purposes of which we enclose copy. Needless to say, your active group is a constant inspiration to us.

     Will you please send us all necessary information regarding the forthcoming Conference?

Sincerely yours,

Spencer H. MacCallum

Secretary

Encl.

______________________________________

Dear Mr. MacCallum:               October 17, 1956

I have read your letter of October 13th and excerpts from your Articles with very great interest. It is increasingly my own personal convic­tion that the coercive interventions of the political process do their greatest damage in dislocating social relationships, and that more em­phasis need to be given to this.

I think Gerald Heard, who does a regular column for us, has a deep understanding of the social organism and sees that present trends of materialism and reliance on force are producing a wholly untenable situation with ramifications far beyond the immediate invasions of in­dividual freedom. I don’t pretend to understand the ramifications of the effort manifested by your Foundation, but I am interested in know­ing more of your thinking and look forward to having one of your as­sociates with us at the Chicago conference. Detailed arrangements and invitations are in the hands of my associate, Mr. John Payne, who is traveling in the East at the moment but will return shortly. I am plac­ing your letter in his hands for further attention and processing when plans are completed.

     With every good wish,

Sincerely yours,

James C. Ingebretsen

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Spencer Heath Archive

Item 1589

Letter to Mrs. Mildred Loomis,

Lane’s End Homestead, Brookville, Ohio

November 2, 1956

Dear Mildred Loomis:

I was happy to see in your Interpreter recently an article by our excellent friend, Edmund A. Opitz. I am glad you are interested in him and he in you and your work.

I think a great deal of Spiritual Mobilization as advocated in Faith & Freedom, Los Angeles; I think that group of people, headed by Drs. Fifield and Ingebretsen, are doing more, perhaps, towards a better world than any other group I know.

My own approach to the social scene is funda­mentally religious, and it brings me up to the practical proposition of proprietary administration outgrowing the present political processes under which mankind suffers so much grief and war.

My own little movement is incorporated now under the name of “Science of Society Foundation,” and we are contemplating an occasional report, perhaps becoming a periodical, under the name of The Alternative, the alter­native being the golden rule of contractual, voluntary relationships in community administration in lieu of the iron rule, based on coercion instead of service, that now prevails.

You might be interested in the enclosed material on the Suez problem and other things.

With success and happiness to you in the pursuit and happiness of your ideals.

Sincerely,

SH/m

Enc: 4

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Spencer Heath Archive

Item 2492

Carbon of letter to William Johnson, Editor,

FAITH AND FREEDOM, Los Angeles 17, California

December 3, 1956

 

Dear Mr. Johnson:

It was a great pleasure meeting you again at the Conference after some years.

     As further assurance of our great sympathy with the aims and purposes of Spiritual Mobilization, we are enclosing copy of the Purposes of our own little organization, and a schedule of some of our talks emphasizing the spiritual aspect of social affairs.

     You are probably already aware of the pro­posal we have been circulating with reference to the political impasse over the Suez Canal, as a special application of the principle of Free enterprise through proprietary administration.

     We were particularly gratified at the opportunity of meeting Mr. Ingebretsen in person, and hope to have many further contacts with you as time goes on.

Cordially yours,

SH/m

Encl.

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Spencer Heath Archive

Item 2539

Letter to James C. Ingebretsen, 1521 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles 17, California

April 10, 1957

 

Dear Mr. Ingebretsen:

I wonder if before giving so much space to Dr. Ohmann’s “SKYHOOKS,” as published in the May-June, 1955, issue of the Harvard Business Re­view, you had given thought to a letter of rejoinder from Mrs. Esther I. Persson on page 13 of the reprint of that article.

     When I first read Dr. Ohmann’s article, I was favorably, but somehow quite uneasily, impressed by it. It seemed to me there was something subtly and insin­uatingly wrong about it. This feeling was much re­inforced by reading the letter above referred to — so much so, that I took considerable trouble trying to straighten out my own mind about it. The result is condensed in the somewhat lengthy article I have prepared in the form of a letter to the Harvard Busi­ness Review.

     I cannot help wondering how this whole matter will appear to you after considering the reaction it has called out from Miss (or Mrs.) Persson, as well as my own perhaps somewhat more explicit animadversions.

     I have reason to think that a considerable number of us libertarians are sympathetic with Miss Persson’s and my own point of view.

     With many good wishes,

Cordially,

SH/m

Encls: 2

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Spencer Heath Archive

Item 2241

Carbon of form letter mailed to 16 of the 22 members of the Advisory Committee of Spiritual Mobilization, sponsors of the Chicago conference, “Work in Today’s World,” November 30-December 1. attended by Heath and grandson Spencer MacCallum

April 12, 1957

 

Mr. Roger W. Babson          Dr. Alfred Noyes

Dr. William F. Braasche      Dr. Felix Morley

Dr. Donald J Cowling         Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

Dr. Alfred P. Haake          Mr. J.C. Penney

Dr. Sam Higginbottom         Mr. Norris Poulson

Mr. Rupert Hughes            Dean Roscoe Pound

Dr. Rufus B. von KleinSmid   Mr. Leonard E. Read (reached

Dr. Robert A. Millikan             independently)

                             Dr. Robert Gordon Sproul

Dr. John James Tigert

 

Addresses of the remaining five were not readily found: Carey Eggleston,

Physician; Harry K. Eversull, Clergyman; Edgar J. Goodspeed, Bible Scholar;

Albert W. Hawkes, Former U.S. Senator; Reverdy C. Ranson, Historiographer, A.M.E. Church.

 

A similar letter went to:

 

Thaddeus Ashby

Dr. James W. Fifield, Jr.

Gerald Heard

James W. Ingebretsen

William Johnson

Myron C. McNamara

Wilfred I. Orr

 

Dear Dr. Cowling:                       April 12, 1957

I take it your attention has been drawn to the article, “SKYHOOKS”, by Dr. O.A. Ohmann, as reprinted from the May-June, 1955, issue of the Harvard Business Review and recently receiving attention from our Spiritual Mobilization and perhaps other libertarian friends.

     In the mobilization of spiritual ideals, I feel we should be circumspect — as wise as serpents, though harmless as doves. I therefore enclose for your consideration one man’s spiritual (I hope) reaction to the matter contained in Dr. Ohmann’s article.

     I shall be very happy to receive any comment that may occur to you.

                            Sincerely yours,

SH/m                   

Encl.

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Spencer Heath Archive

Item 2549

Typed letter from James C. Ingebretsen, President, Spiritual Mobilization, PO Box 877, San Jacinto, California,with a note clipped to it: “Dear Mr. Heath: The attached letter was dictated by Mr. Ingebretsen just prior to leaving on an extended trip. The letter is being sent without his signature to expedite its delivery to you. Winnie L. West, Secretary to Mr. Ingebretsen”

April 18, 1957

 

 

Dear Friend:

 

Your thoughtful letter of April 10th and enclosures have been forwarded on to me at our new headquarters, pictured above, but unhappily reached me within a few hours of the time when I must leave on an extended trip East. I have an idea there isn’t nearly as much difference between you and Dr. Ohmann as your letter to me and letter to the Harvard Business Review suggest. No doubt you will be hearing from Dr. Ohmann and I shall be very grateful to have you send me a copy of his reply. I felt from his article and from my talks with him that his main point was that we were in danger of concentrating on means (production of more and more goods and services) while forgetting entirely what the purpose of all that was – to serve man. And if there was some evidence, even in a free enter­prise economy (perhaps more so in a socialist) that we were thoughtlessly destroying what we were trying to gain and that the answer had to be found in a higher quality of spiritual leadership at the top level.

 

     Have you read Whyte’s “The Organization Man” which is another book raising serious questions about the caliber of management leadership and policy in present-day industrial America?

 

     That Ohmann’s way of looking at or writing about certain aspects of the problems doesn’t coincide with my own doesn’t disturb me a bit. I still think his Harvard Business Review article is an important one for people who have our concern to know about and to study. And Ohmann himself indicated quite clearly that he was simply trying to get thought started and it is quite evident from your letters and others that he has succeeded rather remarkably.

 

I am taking the liberty of sending your letter on to Bill Johnson, editor of Faith and Freedom in the hope that he will take time to read what you have to say more carefully against Ohmann’s article and let you have the benefit of any more con­sidered reactions he may have.

    

May God continue to bless you in all you do.

 

Cordially,

  James C. Ingebretsen

 

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Spencer Heath Archive

Item 2613

Letter from James C. Ingebretsen, President

Spiritual Mobilization, Box 877, San Jacinto, California

June 25, 1957

 

Dear Friend Heath:

 

Ed Opitz was out here last week in connection with our annual Explorations with Gerald Heard and had with him a copy of “Citadel, Market and Altar”. After glancing through it and talking with him about it a bit, I was determined to acquire a copy at once. You can imagine my delight when your letter of June 3rd with a copy of the volume came to hand the following morning having been forwarded out to our new address here in the country. The May issue of “Faith and Freedom” tells in some detail the story of our exciting move.

 

     As it happens, I am just leaving the office for a month’s trip which isn’t going to leave me any spare time for the sort of thoughtful reading I’d like to give your volume, but I am keeping it on top of my desk for attention when I return. I am convinced that nothing is more urgently needed today than a vital principle which will help us to understand how we, as individuals, maintain a growing and free relationship with the culture and society of which we are necessarily a part.

 

     I congratulate you on what I am sure must be a profoundly intrigu­ing development of a theme which deserves the attention of every one of us. Meanwhile, I am passing the volume on to Bill Johnson in the thought that he will send it out for review for the next issue of “Faith and Freedom.”

    

With warmest best wishes always,

 

Cordially,

JCI:gd                   James C. Ingebretsen

 

Sent without signature to expedite delivery.

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Spencer Heath Archive

Item 1642

Extract from letter to Dr. James C. Ingebretsen,

San Jacinto, California

September 4, 1957

 

I am writing especially to express my well-wishing for the continued fortunes of Faith & Freedom. For it draws upon the resources of religious enthusiasm, without which a rational economics tends to fall flat. In every issue I have felt a profound emotional urge, the kind that moves people to live or die for a cause. The enemy is not lacking in emotional fervor for a bad cause. We must parallel this — on behalf of the angels, so to speak. The enemy appeals only to the animal instincts, whereas we have vast oceans of rational beauty and esthetic appeal at our command.

 

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Spencer Heath Archive

Item 1677

Extract from letter to James C. Ingebretsen,

San Jacinto, California

October 6, 1959

 

 

 

Your happy illumination of matter-of-fact, down to earth libertarian economics by development of and accent on its humanly creative and thereby spiritual aspects must soon or late infuse its clear thinkers with an emotional fervor, a religious passion without which there can be but little spreading of the light or wide acclaim.

A great new age surely will dawn when it comes to be better recognized that religion in its outward and practical aspects is social even more than it is individual and that the creative spirit manifests itself not alone in religious behavior consciously as such, but in all the creative, harmonious and non-political processes among men — that freedom is the touchstone and that free enterprise, impersonal and thereby universal, is our widest present manifestation of the divine.

My own most special interest, as you know, is in discovering to as many as I can the imminent present potentials of that divine manifestation in our voluntary, non-political and supposedly secular affairs — that kingdom of heaven that is in our midst and the conscious practice and joyous extension of which is, both social /socially? check original/ and individually, to be born again.

 

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Spencer Heath Archive

Item 1684

Carbon of letter to James C. Ingebretsen,

San Jacinto, California

1959

 

Dear Mr. Ingebretsen:

     My admiration for you and your activities on behalf of human freedom continues to increase as time goes on. It is good to see Faith and Freedom coming out so strongly along specific lines as well as the general libertarian philosophy. I wish I could give you greater practical as well as moral support without cutting down on my own activities in the same direction. I enclose, however, a small amount which I hope you will value, as a token, far beyond its material significance.

     Sometimes I contemplate the possibility of visiting the West Coast, and the pleasure of meeting and talking with libertarian friends long resident there and those who have gone from here. I feel a very warm sympathy with the ideas and ideals that seem to animate so many wonderful people in your part of the world and often wish I could have more personal as well as intellectual contact with them.

     I think you will be happy to note that my Citadel, Market and Altar has met with some cordial reception both here and abroad, although it has had but little general circulation as yet.

     Your emphasis on the artistic and religious side of things betokens a wholeness of conception which seems rather lacking in the libertarian movement elsewhere. I am afraid the rational approach to things, alone, is not sufficiently inspiring to motivate ardent action. Your linkage of this with the esthetic and spiritual is exceedingly in accord with my own efforts and ideals.

     I hope the world political situation has not been discouraging to you in view of the long-term movements in history which constitute the general trend.

     With all personal regards and many wishes for a good year to come,

                                 Sincerely,

SH/m

Enc. Check $20.00

 

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Spencer Heath Archive

Item 1966

Extract from a fragment of pencil notes for a letter, possibly to

the Rev. James Ingebretsen, Los Angeles, California

About 1960

 

My own most special interest, as you know, is in discovering to as many as I can the imminent present potentials of that divine manifestation in our voluntary, non-political and supposedly secular affairs — the kingdom of Heaven that is in our midst and the conscious practice and joyous extension of which is both socially and individually to be born again.

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Spencer Heath Archive

Item 3085

Penned note to Heath from James C. Ingebretsen,

PO Box 877, San Jacinto, California

January 7, 1960

 

Dear Mr. Heath –

Delighted to hear you’ll join us in the trek to Campbell House Monday afternoon — and over to Tuesday morning –

It will be a rich experience for all of us — God bless and keep you till then.

                        /s/

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Spencer Heath Archive

Item 3085

Penned note to Heath from James C. Ingetretsen,

PO Box 877, San Jacinto, California

January 12, 1960

 

Dear More-friend-than-ever-Spencer Heath –

 

     You left something more than wisdom — inspiration — and love. These we’ll keep to pass on to others. The scarf we return to you!

 

     Warmest best — Hope to see you again soon.

                  

                            /S/ Jim

 

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Spencer Heath Archive

Item 3085

Carbon of letter from Howard E. Kershner to James C. Ingebretsen,

Campbell House, PO Box 877, San Jacinto, California

August 1, 1960

 

Dear James,

I wonder if you know Spencer Heath who wrote the remarkable book CITADEL, MARKET AND ALTAR. He is, in my judgment, one of our most profound libertarian thinkers. He spends a portion of his time in California and would be available for consultation and talks at Campbell House if you would like to use him.

Some years ago he made an address at our Annual Meeting which proved to be very interesting.

You can get some idea of his thought by looking at the two papers enclosed.

All good wishes,

Sincerely yours,

 

Howard E. Kershner

   President

HKK:dh

Enclosure

 

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