New Britain herald., 1925-06-17

home, to altar, 10 country, the first obligation and the loftiest privilege, would spell such a failure in vitality, such d surrender to brutality and tyranny always 10 be found in some quarter awaiting opportunity. that social interests would wlther at the root and society so saved would not be worth the saving.
 Democracy No Theory
 "Democracy Is not theory, 1t Is the life of free men who keep the fires of liberty brightly burning on their own hearths, As we contem- plate a world Of peoples enlarged out of the control of dynasties and denying ancient prerogatives, as we observe the widespread stimulation of democratic forms among peoples still without selt-discipline or train ing in the most difficult of arts vast masses who are the victims of abuses and tyrannies bearing popu- lar labels, we can but realize that we have fallen upon a time when 1t is not necessary 10 argue the right of self government but 10 demon- strate the capacity for its exercise: not 10 invoke the name of liberty. but 10 learn the practice of liberty; not 10 oppose the outworn preten- sions of despots asserting divine right. but 10 secure the good order of community life and rational progress under free institutions, so that peoples escaping the weariness and cyniClsm which are the natural reaction from the illusions of free dom will net invite despots to re- turn.
 "[n this spirit, with the desire to feel the glow of reconsecratioh to find the zeal for the toilsome pur- suit Of the good yet unattained. the celebration of the anniversaries now croWding upon us of the period in which our institutions had their birth will not be treated as per functory or as a mere tribute to piely,"
 Review of History
 Mir Hughes then reviewed the events which led up to the Battle of Bunker Hill, "an hour of death- less splendor" which ''laid the cor nerstone of the American Union"
 After reviewing the tremendous growth of the nations power and wealth since the Revolution. Mir. Hughes said. If, having so greatly achieved, We should now fail or re- trograde, 1t will be due, not to forces from without, but to processes of decay, 10 the weakening of our fibre, to lessened self-restraint and nervous instability, to the weariness and indifference incident to de- fusion of security, 10 the loss of the individual in the mass, to institutions getting out of hand because Of the complexities Of administration with ills left unremeJied and false reme- dies creating ills"
 This country. he said, must guard against destructive forces through the world which invoke the name of liberty" but which are seeking to establish the dictatorship of class.
 AmcriCanism Is Spirit
 Homogeneity of race here Is i'm possible, MT. Hughes said, but true Americanism is of the spirit. not of any race or strain. The bigoted citizen, however boastful of long American descent, who would deny political privilege to his fellow citizen because of race or creed, is exhibiting not his Americanism. but his lack of it.
 Touching on the need for local government. he said The right of each community to be it's own master in the affairs which ap- propriately belong 10 that com munity is of the essence of self government. and in that vital inter- est the passion for uniformity must be controlled. When we lose the right to be different we lose the privilege 10 be free"
 Intelligence Needed Concluding his summary Of the conditions necessary 10 the security of the country, Mir. Hughes said: 'The cure for the ills of democracy is not more democracy, but more in- telligence. We cannot enjoy the blessings of liberty without the free- dom of knowledge"
 Mir. Hughes said In conclusion, we may hope to secure our peace by being reasonable and just in our dealings abroad"
 Geraldine Farrar's father was a