New Britain herald., 1930-03-25

lar government when we are faced with the fact that the number of citizens who vote is decreasing from year to year? Each year ap- peals are made by specially organ ized groups calling upon the citizens to exercise their suffrage, and yet the percentage of those eager to exercise that right is decreasing from year to year.
 Even. those who rare not cynical and have faith in the democratic ideal are disillusiQned. The fact is that the machinery of democracy has broken down. The trouble with democracy, as some one has re- marked, is that it. doesn't 'democ.'
 The affairs of government have become so complex that real de- mocracy is almost impossible. The number of functions of government has multiplied to such an extent that instead of democracy we have Ill most cases bureaucracy. It is humanly impossible for any citizen to be informed about all the prob lens of government, so as to keep q proper check upon his representa- tives.
 Just think of how many subjects and problems on which the voter IS supposed to pass judgment He IS supposed to know everything about the tariff. government ownership. taxation, foreign relations with other countries. finance. Is it possible for the average voter to have informa- tion on all these subjects?
 Majority rule-we. speak of gov ernment by the majority as if these were some mystic virtue connected with majority rule. We accept the rule of 5l per cent over 49 per cent as d matter of convenience. We ac- cept it because other forms of gov crnment are worse. But there is nothing holy about majority rule and certainly no one really believes today that the voice of the people is al ways the voice of God.'
 No doubt the forms of popular government will have to be changed ultimately. The very compleXity of our modern. industrial life -Mill ul- timately compel a change in the. methods of nominating and elcctinSa officials.
 Tt is of course not my purpose to deal with any specific system of political machinery which may aim at correcting the present defects in the operation of democratic govern ment.
 After all. democracy is something more than a system of political in- stitutions. It is a faith--a belief i'll the potentialities of the common man. Democracy is to some people a religion. The Fundamental creed Of democracy is aibelief in the un- folding of certain possibilities that exist in all human beings.
 This does not mean equality The democratic ideal is often confused with equality. You may have heard the anecdote about the 1rishman who stopped at a street corner to listen to a soap-boX orator. He heard the speaker say: one mans as good as anothcr.' Sure chimed in the Irishman. and a good deal better
 "Of course. all men are not equal, have never been so and never will Le. The most striking thing in human society are the inequalities in character, talent. personality and in telligencc.
 What is sound in the democratic creed is that the good and bad traits are widely distributed in the whole population. Talent. and character are not confined to any particular class. "
 Democracy bases itself oh equal fly before the law, equal, justice for all and no special privileges due merely to birth. Every man, says real democracy, should be measured by his own merits and not by the merits of his ancestors.
 Abraham Lincoln was once asked who his grandfather was. His answer was: I am not so much con- cerned as to who my grandfather was. What I am concerned about is what his grandson will be-
 "The experience of mankind has demonstrated the soundness of it's faith in the potentialities of those of lowliest birth.
 Shakespeare was the son of bankrupt butcher and an ignorant woman who could not write her name.
 "Beethoven's mother was the daughter of a cook and his father was a confirmed drunkard.
 "Schubcrt's father was a peasant and his mother a domestic servant.
 "Faraday. one of the greatest scientists the world has known, was born oyer a stable, his father was poor sick blacksmith and his mother an ignorant drudge.
 v,-b tho Branch 11aoD1e