Atlanta Daily World

Santa Claus-Attackers Seen
Playing Into Hands Of Reds

By RAYMOND C. MEANS

LOS ANGELES (UPI)—A man who has devoted much of his life to the study of Christmas says that psychiatrists and anyone else who attacks the Santa Claus legend are playing right into the hands of the Communists.

Waller Alden Richards, who produces the television show "The North Pole Review" and who wrote "The Gift of the Three Little Shepherds," was embittered recently by statements made by two American psychiatrists.

Dr. Rocco Motto, director of the Reiss-Davis Clinic in Los Angeles said, "A successful parent-child relationship should be based entirely on reality—with no fantasies being originated by the parent."

Dr. James Calvin, director of institutions for the state of Colorado, said that parents should not tell their children that Santa Claus brings them presents at Christmastime because it is not reality and parents will have to confess it is a lie a few years later.

Richards sees an insidious movement afoot in the United States to do away with religious legends, patriotism, tradition and ideals" and feels it is traceable to the Communists since they are "attempting to erase emotional traditions and family ties".

Richards explained the origin of the Santa Claus legend was especially harmful to the Communist regime since it originated with St. Nicholas, the bishop of Myra, a southern neighbor of the Soviet Union.

"St. Nicholas is the patron saint of the Russians and a myth keeps alive traditions and legend known in pre-revolutionary times" he said. He is a link with the past and cannot be tolerated by Khrushchev and other party leaders".

St. Nicholas was a kindly old man who distributed toys and gave gifts to children and others in distress. Sailors carried the story of St. Nicholas to countries of the Mediterranean. It was the Spanish who modified the legend so that St. Nicholas gave presents on his Natal day Dec. 6.

Spanish soldiers in Holland, lonely away from home, gave gifts to the children anonymously. The Dutch had their own name for this unknown giver—Sinter Klaas.

LEGEND GREW IN GERMANY

The legend in Germany with burghers coming and playing St. Nick. It is in Germany where he was first associated with the Christ Child—Kriss Kringle.

Immigrants from Holland and Germany to the United States brought the legend with them along with French and Chinese who had similar legends.

In America, the melting pot of the world—the various legends were blended to become part of the whole.

Richards said but an American writer named Clement Moore gave the final American touch to old St. Nick. Richards said his poem "The Night Before Christmas" gave life and realism to it.

Richards warned that there is one dangerous aspect to the Santa Claus legend and that is stressing the commercial asp of Christmas at the expense of the religious factors.

"But," he said, "we try to overcome this on our show by stressing the birth of Christ and linking Santa Claus with Him as a symbol of good. In my book 'The Gift of the Three Little Shepherds' the shepherd boy was rewarded with everlasting life after presenting the Christ Child with His only lamb. The shepherd became Santa Claus—the spirit of giving".