Diary 1963 - Murshid Sam's Living Stream

Diaries 196358 Harriet St.,San Francisco 3, Calif.November 19, 1963Hon. John F. Baldwin321 Cannon House Office Bldg.,Washington 25, D.C.Dear Congressman Baldwin:In re: Project: The Garden of AllahOne almost congratulates you on reading in today’s S.F. Chronicle an article “‘Cheaper thanUdall Plan’ The Low Cost of Desalted Water.” This comes from the offices of the Atomic EnergyCommission and the Federal Office of Saline Water.Some time ago I conceived a book, “How California Can Help Asia” which may still be written.But political affairs, such as set-backs in Cambodia and Somaliland caused me to submit to theAmerican Friends of the Middle East a plan for agricultural rejuvenation based on California methodsand California personnel.Then in short two things happened. A North African VIP visited San Francisco (he may evenhave been a subversive agent) and told me of plans for a social revolution covering each countryWest of UAR I asked him if he had studied fruit growing in this State—Dates, Citrus, Avocados, etc.He told me he had not and then I asked him why did he want to adopt collectivist programs whichhad failed and not other forms of agricultural procedure which had brought nothing but food andprosperity.Then there were some meetings by the Board of Directors of the aforesaid American Friends ofthe Middle East (AFME) in which one and all of the speakers called for actions and programs andnot ideas. The Vice-President, Mr. Terry Duce, personally asked how I was getting along with “HowCalifornia Can Help Asia” and its desert development. He after much encouragement from theleaders—who include some pretty top people and Teddy Roosevelt’s grandson Kermit Jr.—detailswill be discussed.In the meanwhile I have talked to people including industrialists, foreign affairs students andfinally the Chamber of Commerce here in San Francisco. To begin with I have found all classes ofcitizens from the “leftish” Sierra Club to the C. of C. opposed to the Udall Plan and in favor of effortsat Salt Water Conversion. This left me to come out against all dialectical approaches and somecounter-movement to promote American philosophies whether Jeffersonianism, Pragmatism or contemporaryIntegrational Philosophies. This is also mentioned because all over Asia the Asian peopleswant lectures on these subjects, the USIA stubbornly refuses to assent, and we have been kicked outof Cambodia, other lands to follow. These people do not want dialectics in any form, pro- or anti-Marxist and I notice very good reactions in regard to Pragmatism, which certainly is an Americanphilosophy and might even attract many abroad, if we should only try.