Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-07
BECK DISCUSSES GOVERNMENT.
Representative Is Alarmed by Big De-
crease in Voting.

representative Is Alarmed by Big De-
crease in Voting.
Beck's speech follows:
The first anniversary of the National
Radio Forum, upon which I heartily
congratulate its sponsors, the Columbia
Broadcasting System and The Washing
ton Evening Star, is an occasion for op-
timism.
No nation has less occasion for pes-
simism than America. In ali the his
tory OF the world there is nothing more
amazing than its swift progression,
WITHIN the possible period of two lives.
from the least of the nations to its ac-
knoWledged primacy as the most pow
erIui state in the world. It's history is
the most colorful and stupendous drama
ever played upon the stage of this wide
a. universal theater of man."
Next to the bountiful gifts of God itSs
greatness Is due, not to paper parch-
mentS or statutes, but to the spirit of
work which has hitherto been the great
characteristic OF the American peonle
The very name America" means work
Tor Vespucct derived his Christian name
from the old Gothic name "Amalaric. :" a
compound of two words-"amal." mean
ing Work, and "ric," meaning Ito con-
Quer. The very name of America thus
oiscloses the secret of its power-nanelv
"all-conquering work"
we nave our troubles and problems
ana Will always have. A nation which
mas no obstacles to overcome would soon
perish from inactivity. Difficulties make
nation as well as a man.
IN our generation a new danger has
c c,,nl.so the Republic. The serious
question NH
large to be workable. If popular gov.
eminent depends upon an intelliSent
exercise of the elective franchise how
can you interest the masses in political
problems? The newspaper can only de-
Velop interest in the zone of its circu.
isLon; This means a localization of
Inougnt, which makes common action
L HOY, olIncuIt. One evidence of this is
the poftentouS leSSening of interest in
our national elections. AS the statistic
Oh astronomy are too vast for the
human mind to grasp, similarlv the
reoerai government has grown so great
ana complex that the average n,er
ilnos IL difficult to understand It's nroh-
lens ana to vote intelligently unon
tnem. The whole country can he in
terested IN single issue, especially n
~ =. appeaS 10 popular imagination, but
IL mas IL difficult to take any inteIli-
gent interest in hundreds of problems
winch nave less appeal.
Alarmed by Voting Decrease.
AS result there has been in the last
nan century an ala. ming oecrease ~
oos.As Al our elections. IN 1876 az per
~ ,oo "a Inc quaIlneo electorate voted:
III 1SUU, rs per cent voted: IN long -
per cent; in 1912, % per cent. and IN
the presidential election OF 1921 wiz
ISSUES Oh great and permanent lnnnorr-
once' only 40 per cent OF the nossInIa
electorate Voteu. Thus, in TINS eIec~
eloIi' majority OF a minoriLy of tbs
quallieu electorate determined the des-
LAny OF the country. "0'-
JUST as some OF us were in despair
om PoPuIaF government coulu Continue
LI Iact ana hot merely in theory. there
came INTO existence two new media Mt
expression, which may prove, if their
IulI personalities are realIzed. more I'M
portant In the DEVELOPMENT of tno
human mind than even the nr,ptino
press. Inc one is the radio and the
otner Is the moving picture. We live
too CIoSe 10 them 10 appreciate their
AhLihle potentlalltieS. Both OF them
are new forms OF intellectual expression
OF lar greater potency than the printed
page. A book, or even a newspaper. has
very limited circulation, relatively To
the whole people. Through the magic of
the radio, that "SightleSs courier of the
air." public man may speak on occa-
sion, without raising his voice, to twenty
millions OF people. No book or news
paper can have one-tenth OF such an audi
ence. Stentor, the great herald, could
be heard 10 miles. We can be heard
as swiftly as light 10000 miles.
Both arts are In their infancy and
both show the results of a too rapid
growth. Neither of them has begun to
realize its full power as a mechanism
to influence human thought. Like the
printing press, each can be put to ig-
noble as well as noble uses, and the
great problem is to utilize these mighty
agencies for the welfare of mankind
and the perpetuation of democratic in
situations. To use them, in part, for
entertainment is natural and therefore
permissible, but to ignore their poten-
tlal usefulness in educating the public
mind would be crime.
The radio is the great open forum
OF public opinion. 1t is like the Agora
IN Athens and the Forum in Imperial
Rome. The crowd gather to listen to
any speaker who has any view to ex-
press on any public question, with this
important difference-that whereas a
few thousand would hear Demosthenes
speak from the Bema or Cicero from
the Forum, twenty millions on a given
occasion will listen today to the opin-
ions of their leaders of thought.
We are, therefore, on the threshold