The Cordova daily times., 1921-04-29

will not come again under a system Of one-man rule, or of the rule of a small class. In it's broader aspect democracy is safe. Its future perils will arise from influences that may warp it into something that is not self-government, but enough like it to masquerade as deocracy.
 Government by wealth is not demo- cratic any more than government by poverty is democratic. In fact, when we have government by classes we have not democracy. Probably the scholars will let me coin a word and call it "classocracy." Democracy is a government by citizens, not a gov ernment by groups. Classes act for class interests.
 Another danger is the spirit of Communism that is abroad. It is established in Russia. where there was no democracy to face it in it's in- cipienCy and prevent it's seizure of a sprawling leaderless people. Tsar1sm was gone, no efficient government remained in it's place. The BOl4he- vists seized power and have carried it on to this day.
 If worst comes to worst and a Con- munistic struggle is preciptatcd in the rest of the world it will probably be the severest test of democracy since the French revolution. Not that it is likely that Communism could be established permanently in the United States or in any of the countries 0f western Europe. Theo- retically Communism rests upon the spirit of altruism n an extreme form but the preachers of Bolshe- Vism, or Communism, are not organ izing their forces in the spirit of ac- tual altruism. They are promising their followers the spells of the enc my. The followers-if they ever came to put Communism into opera tion-would go about it in anything but the spirit of altruism. They would have in themselves the spirit of greed, which they attribute to their opponents
 Private ownership of what one works for is as fundamental in the mi n 6c nf any means it happened that a self governing society like ours adopted the common ownership of property, taking away from our people the pros- pect of getting on in the world through their own efforts, there would begin almost immediately a process of new building up on the old lines
 Communism would be rejected as soon as it's nature was understood, and eventually we should return to private ownership. But the experi- ment would cost us a vast deal of misery. It would mean the over- throw of all who now have a com potency. Reduced to the equal pov- erty of all, many of them would never escape from sore distress in the day of restoration, and many others would die under the misfortunes of the change.
 Some of us seem to tire of democ- racy because we have had it so long. Is 1t not time we sought something new? Gentlemen of vivid imagina. tions are abroad in the land. They speak well, they write even better. It IS new time, they offer us new doctrine. Under such circumstances who would champion the old? And so the spirit of change whispers to them to make the experiment. Give up democracy and commit ourselves to some new idea.
 Emerson's saying that America means opportunity" is still true. Per haps it was never before so true as today. The newspapers contained a story the other day in complete H. lustration of this fact, when they stated that two hundred immigrants were just sailing from an American port, returning to their native land after a few years in the United States, and that they carried with them total sum of $1O0,OOO. For these people there had been a great opportunity here.
 AS write I look out of my win down over a broad section of the Connecticut Valley in which are the farms of many Poles worth from $25,OOO to $5O,OOO each. Fifteen years ago the owners of most of them were laborers. These men cannot be Socialists or Communists when they realize what the words mean. They came over here to own property;