Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-20

| CLIFFORD, he said "tecnnlCal wonder
workers" have brought wire communi-
cation to such stage Of development
that zone pair Of telephone wires can
carry not only the telephone converse
| ton for which 1t was designed, but
simultaneously furnish 38 telegraph cir
| cults, to say nothing of radio program
transmission and telephotograph cir
cults
"a number Of great men," he said,
| have taken part in the creation and
| development of what is now the Ameri-
can Telephone & Telegraph Co., this
! giant among industrial corporations.
| Theodore Vail was one Of these men
and Walter S. Clifford, his successor, Is
another"
Optimism as to business was ex-
pressed by Mr.. Clifford in his address.
Interest today centered in the an
nual meeting of the Associated Press at
| the Hotel Commodore, an interim in
the meeting being devoted to the an
nual luncheon. The National Broad
casting Co. arranged for Nationwide
hook-up, carrying Mr.. Gifford's speech
as well as that of Mr.. Noyes.
Lawrence Tibbett, baritone of the
Metropolitan Opera Co., sang GLORY
Road
Meetings of the American Newspaper
Publishers Association will begin to-
morrow at the Hotel Pennsylvania and
continue through Friday.
The five retiring directors of the As
! ISOLATED Press have been nominated for
reelection. They are Ebert H. Baker,
! Cleveland Plain Dealer; Richard
Hooker. Springfield (Mass) Republic
ton; j. r. Knowland, Oakland (Calif)
Tribune, and Stuart H. Perry, Adrian
| (Mich.) Telegram.
Tevf of Address
Mr. Clifford spoke as follows:
Mr.. Chairman and Members of the
Associated Press:
"One of the particular characteristics
| of our civilization is the diffusion of
| ing. In this the Associated Press plays
| an essential part and the Bell Tele-
| phone System contributes by the main
tenance of practically instantaneous
Nationwide intercommunication, in
Guiding telephone and telegraph net
works that serve the press and radio
broadcaSting stations. We have the
| common interests that grow out of large
dealings with each other, but 1 would
like to speak to you about a common
| interest in an enterprise far more i'm
portant than either of our organizations.
Il want to reaffirm my faith in the
continued progress Of our country, in
the common sense and ability of its
, people-in short, want to reafflrm my
faith in American democracy-political
social and economic-and to add that
the experiences of this depression have
done more to confirm this faith than
the experiences of the boom that
| preceded it.
When I speak of democracy I do
not mean only the opportunity for all
citizens to participate in the govern
ment Of the Nation. That seemed of
such overwhelming Importance that our
forefathers considered its accomplish
ment as almost an ultimate objective in
itself. Other people who do not have
it still attach such an Importance to it.
And If we did not have it, so would we,
although as it is in our possession we
not even trouble always to make the
best use of it.
Press Follows Education.
I'm the last century We added
democratic education to democratic
! government intellectual freedom to
political freedom. The initiative for
democratic education never came from
an autocratic government. And when
an autocratic government establishes a
school system, education is not allowed
1IlJSl1CCIudA ALGCOOIIls OuI ID 1OiSCO W
follow the theories of the autocracy.
And as goes education so goes its hand
maiden, the preSS-free in democracy,
1, controlled In all other forms of govern
ment.
las our industrial development pro-
ceeded we have added to political free
dom and intellectual freedom freedom
from economic want as one of our
democratic detectives. The present
American conception is a country in
which every man has a vote a chance
to be educated, and an opportunity to
make a decent living. know that there
are right now several million men and
women who want to work, but are
unemployed In this country. have
spent a good part of the Winter helping
to raise money to provide work for the
unemployed in this city. But as bitter
a picture as that is, it does not change
the fact that our industrial civilization
has brought lis within sight of a
democracy Of wellbeing, and has
crystallized our intention to see it
| accomplished.
Before machines added to mans
ability to produce the cycles of depreS-
sion were caused by underproduction.
Years came when there was not enough
to go round-when people died of cold,
hunger and disease in such numbers
that the world accepted Nautilus theory.
The condition of having people out of
work IN a country that has more of
everything than it needs is, humanity
| speaking, a vast advance over having
people without clot.-eS food or shelter
in country that has not enough of
the essentials to go round. Before the
| era Of the capitalistic industrial -democ-
racy there was no escape from the
! periodic calamitieS OF interpretation
except In those places where people
coulo find virgin territories to exploit,
and in those only for comparatively
short periods.
the participation of all the people in
government, in the benefits Of education
and In the wellbeing made possible by
ample production.
Strong Leaders" Available.
True, none of these work perfectly
Some people do not vote, some resist
education and some have through no
, fault of their own failed for the time
being to find employment and we'll
| being. But as imperfect as is our use
/ of our democracy, its essentials con-
/ Stitute the foundations on which the
| progress of the future will be built, and
| the very independence that comes from
| political liberty and the intelligence
! that comes from widespread education
/ is complete assurance of continued i'm
/ provement
In this depression some folk OF in
! telligence, but little faith. have been
calling for immediate remedies. for
strong leaders to make everything all
| right at once for everybody. and If not
! for these for some one to sacrifice on
| the altar of their discomfort AS a
matter Of fact there are plenty of men
| in the United States who have the
capacity to become the strong leaders
Of history. But to be such they must
| have noWer autocratic or tvrappical