Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 72 — page 44: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE GIVE-AWAY WORLDS case of the blind leading the blind.” “This is leading to some- thing,” said Jelks. “But I warn you that if you are trying to get my permission to ignore the government recom- mendations you are wasting your time.” ““We’ve been wasting our time all along,” said Mark. “You should talk with Mur- bash about our fine, upstand- ing colonists. They may have been successful here, but on the colonies they’re a total loss. They go out to these new worlds and they can’t take it. They miss their videos, their bars, thrill theatres, jump- cabs, police, all the rest of it. Not that we can blame them. What else can we expect? The poor devils are homesick and terrified of their new environment. So, instead of buckling down and building houses, farming, raising stock and children, they live on stores, huddle in the prefabs and spend all their time dreaming of Earth and the comforts they left behind them. They have only one real problem—to stay alive until the ship returns to 43 evacuate them. No wonder they failed. It would have been a miracle if they had done anything else.” Miles had explained it all and it had made such perfect sense. It was due to fear, of course, fear of the unknown. The volunteers had been reared in an _ environment which actively discouraged self-expression. To be an in- dividualist was to be a crank, or worse. Civilization had smothered them and softened them with unending luxuries, so that when they had to stand alone they couldn’t do it. Instead, they retreated into themselves, huddled in their tiny similacrum of Earth, tried, in effect, to return to the womb. Some, stronger than others, had managed to survive. Some had found escape in suicide, while others had found the same escape through ig- norance, fear, or terror- induced hate. And with them they had carried the know- ledge of what they had lost, all the toys and comforts they could never rebuild. The mistake had been in comiclooks.comn