Republican farmer., 1919-04-25
U s. BIRTHRICHT
 IS IN JEOPA ARDY 1
 SAYS DR. BULTER

l existence is challenged by false inter 1 nationalists who would confuse social 1 reform and political socialism in the 1 minds of the American people, bu 1 these will be crushed under foot as 1 something abhorrent by an alert peo- | pie determined to save America to the world as a land of opportunity. l This declaration was made here by[I 1 pr. Nicholas Murray Butler, presI- 1 dent of Columbia University, in an l address delivered under the title! "Is America Worth Saving? Republic | or Socialist Autocracy," delivered be- 1 fore the Commercial Club of Cincin- natl 1 Destructive and reactionary for l ces." said Dr. Butler, ''are actively at work to turn our representative re | public into a Socialist autocracy. to l destroy liberty and equality of oppor-F 1 tunity and to paralyze, the greatest force that the world has ever seen 1 for the promotion of the happiness, ] the full development of free men ! and free women. What we have de- | | tended against German aggression | and lust of conquest we must now band together to protect against i those more insidious and no less pow 1 erful enemies who would undermine l the foundations on which our Amer 1 lean freedom rests It would indeed | by a cynical conclusion of this war if 4 we who have helped so powerfully to 1 defeat the German armies on the l field of battle should surrender, in l any degree, to the ideas that had | taken possession of the German mind l and that led the German nation into 1 it's mad war against the free world | The cornerstone of American gov
  civil liberty of the individual citizen. | Where there Is individual opportunity i there will always be inequality. There- l fore, 1t Is that when individuals exert | themselves freely some progress more rapidly than others. some secure larg- 1 CT rewards than others, and some gain l greater enjoyment than others. The l only way in which this inequality can | be prevented Is to substitute tyranny 1 for liberty and to hold all men down l to that level of accomplishment which 1 is within the reach of the weakest 1 and the least endowed. This, l however is false democracy, not true l democracy. Democracy has begun to ] decay when it becomes a combination 1 of the mediocre and the inferor to re- 1 strain and to punish the more able 1 and the more progressive.
 | But we are now told that these in | eoualities due to liberty have become 1 SO very great and the disparity be 1 tween individuals so marked, that ] civil liberty and individual opportun- ity must be displaced by the organ | ized power of the state.
 Men of Ohio, this is the first long l and dangerous step on the path back
 toward autocracy and militarism- | Once a state becomes an-poYerful It | easily thinks of itself as unable to do | wrong, and so becomes the unmoraI
 state of which Prussia and the Ger
 man Elm pire have been the most per l feet types. The all-powerful and un- | moral state can see nothing higher | than itself; it admits no principle of ! right or Justice to which 1t must give i heed; such a state is an end in itself. l and what it chooses to do Is neces-
 sarily right.
 1 "The most pressing question that l now confronts the American people
 the question that underlies and con | ditions all problems of reconstruction | and of advance as we pass from war conditions to the normal times or
 peace. is whether we shall go forward | bv preserving those American prin- 1 cipIes and American traditions tna0s have already served us so. we'll orN
  | cipIes and traditions and substitute l for them a state built not upon the | civil liberty of the individual but upon ] the plenary power of organized gov ernment.
 "Au of us who are in our right | minds are anxious to improve social l conditions. to better the public 1 health. to decrease the hours and the severity of labor, to increase the re-
 wards and to add to the sadsfactlons of those who do the hard manua. | work of the world. If by socialism 1 be meant that the individual must not live for himself alone. but must
 use his powers, his capacities, and his gains for the benefit of his com | nunitv and his fellows then every American and every Christian Is a Socialist. for these are fundamental l to American life and to Christian 1 teaching All this, however, Is social 1 reform not socialism.
 "The Socialist party is in particular < anta gonisra to the courts, and the reason Is easy to state. The courts Of justice are an obstacle in its way "The sinister fact, never to be for gotten. about this party and its pro- grame is that they are in essence and $ of necessity unpatriotic and ur- American Republicans and Demo- crats differ sharply as to public policy. but both accept the principles
 of the Constitution and endeavor to
 apply and improve them each ii
 their own way. Neither Republicans
 nor Democrats would change the
 form of government under which we
 live The Socialist party, on the other hand, openly declares its purpose to
 wreck the present form Of govern
 nent. to undo all the work that has
 been accomplished for a, hundred and
 fifty years, and to bring to an end the
 greatest experiment in republicanisna
 and the greatest achievement in so-
 ciaI and political organization that
 the world has ever seen. Let there
 be no mistake about the definiteness
 of this issue Americas existence is
 challenged.
 .-Just as soon as the American pee
 ple. with their quick intelligence and
 alert apprehension, understand the
 difference between social reform and