MRA group travels for sing-out
By JACKI CAMPBELL
Walt Disney called it "the happiest, most hard-hitting way of saying what America is all about," and Japanese Marxist students said, "If this is America, then we are for America!"
West Point's academic board dean said, "In my 17 years of association with West Point, I have never seen anything that has received such a response from the cadets."
All were referring to the young Americans who travel throughout the world presenting Sing-Out programs; a group of young Americans dedicated to Moral Re-Armament (MRA).
THEY ARE STRIVING for, in the words of MRA founder Frank Buckman, "a world in which we can be trusted with peace because it will not make us soft; with prosperity because it will not make us proud; with liberty because it will not lead to license; with happiness because it will not make us selfish.
"The aim of MRA is twofold:
$\bullet$ first, to restore God to leadership as the directing force in the life of nations;
and then to work for the strengthening of morale within a country and so build a healthful national life."
Four MRA representatives from one of three Sing-Out groups were at KU yesterday. They expressed their convictions concerning positive action in an honest way.
"WE ARE SICK and tired of the loud mouth minority, apathy and demonstrators," Dave Oliver, 20, from North Carolina, said. "And we use music as the vehicle with which to carry our message."
The Sing-Out groups were begun in 1965 and have since toured the world, with members singing of God and country, proclaiming and practicing that "moral rearmament of the individual is a need that cannot be postponed," as a Venezuelan newspaper once said.
MRA is a phrase which con- notes saints to some, pacifists to others and draft-dodgers to still others. Many have never even heard of it.
The U.S. Department of Justice said it is a "world force having as its principle objective adequate ideological preparedness of free nations for the ideological conflicts in which the world is now engaged.
"TIS OBJECTIVES are recognized by the Department as worthy and helpful in the strengthening of democratic forces throughout the world."
"It is a philosophy of life applied in action," French statesman Robert Schuman said. "To begin by creating a moral climate in which true brotherly unity can flourish, overarching all that today tears the world apart—that is the immediate goal."
MRA movement members believe in four basic principles: "honesty, purity, unselfishness and love-absolutely, personally and nationally." Buckman wrote. It is doing what you know is right.
We believe in peace, but not "peace at any cost. We're not a religious or political group, as such." Oliver said. "We are all individuals, each with our own individual beliefs."
PEGGY MUTSCHELLER, 19, from California, said if you asked the group for a stand on Viet Nam, for example, the stands would probably total the number of young Americans in the troupe.
Their challenge lies with showing people our generation wants and can handle the responsibility of the country and the world, Oliver said.
"And it's not simply idealistic because it's working," Dave Garcia, from New Mexico, said.
"We want to tackle—to face and answer problems—not look over them," Oliver said. "It's given me a real purpose in life and that's why I'm traveling.
"We're not against what has happened in the past," he continued, "but we realize the future is up to us."
GERMANY'S former Chancellor Conrad Adenauer said, "We need an ideological concept superior to Communism. I welcome the fight of moral re-armament, beyond every difference of class, race and nationality for the preservation of peace and freedom."
The movement has been hailed by foreign and domestic politicians; played an important part in Cyprus'. acquisition of independence in 1959-60; kept Japan, according to Prime Minister Kishi, from "behind the bamboo curtain"; it has quieted riots and squelched Communism; Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, India liberator, called for this "revolution of character" in his country, and others have echoed similar requests. These are only a few MRA results.
Different MRA organization methods are used in different countries. In the U.S., it is an incorporated, non-profit tax deduction for contributors. Its operations and business resemble those of any other corporation.
The Sing-Out group members receive no salary. They travel
from place to place with money for their traveling and lodging only, being underwritten for expenses.
"WE DON'T HAVE any bills, but neither do we have any money," Garcia chuckled.
"We are financed by private contributions." Oliver said. "Ninety-one per cent of our donations are under $100. We belong to the people."
"Groups sponsoring us usually make money," Garcia said, "but we don't get any money from the shows. At our show in Topeka, for example, the profits went for repairs for Washburn University."
The Sing-Out groups, probably most famous for their nationwide "Up with People" television specials, also sell records, books and magazines at concerts.
"Some companies give us things," Garcia said. "Like Arrow shirts, an advertiser for our 'Pace' magazine, gave us a lot of shirts and someone in Panama furnished our jackets. One time someone bought us all new shoes."
MEMBERS USUALLY stay in the Sing-Out groups an average of nine months and the men are not draft exempt.
"If I get drafted I'll go into the army and do my best," Oliver said. He is classified 1A.
"Tm 2A," Garcia said. "That's a national interest deferment. It's just up to your local draft board."
The only prerequisite for joining the MRA and Sing-Out program is a sincere "concern for our generation." Garcia said.
Daily Kansas Thursday, April 20, 1967
Members are asked to contribute what they can, but no set price is stated. It costs the organization $300 per month per cast member.
WE IN THE CAST, Garcia said, "try to represent the best we think we can be. We have agreed among ourselves not to smoke, drink or date. If we want it to work (MRA) we have to work with ourselves first."
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