Article February 22, 1964 Issue

Signs of the Times

A. Strassburger

Kafton News

A. Strassburger in an editorial
Kafton News for Kafton Sales Company
Van Nuys, California

The other day I heard an interview between the director of a sizeable skid row mission and a reporter which actually unfolded the secret behind success or failure. In brief, the secret is control or lack of it. "Who or what is to blame for skid row?" asked the reporter. The answer was, "Ninety percent of the men are to blame themselves because they refuse to control themselves." If 30 years' experience is any criterion, we can assume that the director of the Mission on Main Street, Los Angeles, has pegged the reason for most failures: lack of control!

Skid row is not a fable. And it is not a locality. It is an association of derelict thoughts. No one is forced to accept thoughts. One is attracted to associations only because already his thoughts run parallel.

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