Evening star., 1933-09-24
CHANGES APPEAR EVIDENT
In u. S. DEMOCRATIC IDEAS
Passing of Old Order in Austria Demon
strates New Trend in Central
as in Eastern Europe

ferior to French or British and the
Italian reward for vast sacrifices in
blood and treasure seemed to the ma
ton derisory. Such democracy as Italy
had known was thus discredited In ad.
vance of the Fascist march on Rome.
In Germany the situation was much
the same. Until the World War had
lasted three years, the influence Of the
Reichstag upon government and af-
fairs had been slight during the whole
history Of the empire. When after
many adopted the French and British
system of parliamentary democracy,
that system was condemned to make
humiliating peace treaty with the con-
querors, assume responsibility for all the
later submissions to allied will and final
| ly to accept responsibility similarly for
the economic as well as the political
weakness Of nation which before the
war had long been dominant on the
continent
In Germany as in Italy. therefore.
democracy was without deep roots and
was compromised by immediate and
/ devasting failures for which it was
held responsible. not perhaps justly. but
certainly inevitably. If you contrast
| this status of democracy in the three
great European states which have dis
carded it with its standing in the
| three western democracies, the picture
| is evident at once.
In Britain and in the United States
democracy. under variant forms. but
basically and spiritually identical. has
become an instructive thing with all
parties and elements of the community.
with long and glorious history. In
France. too, the republic today stands
as the regime which won back the
provinces lost by the last dictatorship.
| Two experiences with dictators and the
! long history of Bourbon and orleans
kings present a contrast wholly favor
| able to the present democratic system.
Again, in France, Britain and the
United States democracy has disclosed
itself capable of employing Dictator
ship temporarily to meet crises The
British did it with Lloyd George in
the latter part Of the World War. as We
did with woodrow Wilson during our
participation in the conflict. And we
had done It before in the case of Lin
| coin in the Civil War. France had
Clemenceau during the war and Poirl-
care during the franc crisis.
| Survived During War.
Democracy cid not break down dur
ing the war in the democratic coun-
tries. 1t did not break down in the
immediate. postwar years. on the
contrary, it can justly claim credit for
the victory and for the first recovery
after the conflict. On the other hand,
it has manifestly found its existing
machinery and principles inadequate
to cope with the economic crisis which
began in 1929 and still continues.
But it is not less patent that in
stinctively the peoples Of all three
democracies are turning not to the
European expedient Of handing their
fortunes over ir-evocably to a man or
revolutionary group. but to a form
of dictatorship which is thoroughly
consistent which democratic tradition.
In Britain there is coalition govern
ment. In the United States Congress
has placed in the hands of the Presi-
dent temporarily powers which are
dictatorial in the extreme.
That the United States, Britain and
France will now have to modify and
transform their democratic doctrines
and institutions to conform to the
economic and financial problems Of a
new era seems inevitable. That this
Transformation will necessarily involve
great extension Of the activity of the
state in fields where the old doctrine
VI ldlSSSL 1dlle pACNdACO UClOlC l14V
great depression seems inescapable.
But that our democracies will evolve
and not be transformed by revolution
still seems a fair conclusion The
changes may be very far reaching.
They certainly will seem revolutionary
to the conservatives of the old regime.
The democratic system which emerges
from the present turmoil may well bor-
row much from the Fascist and even
the Communist experiments, not in
, revolutionary spirit. but in national ad-
ministration. As yet, however, it Is at
least too early to see democracy de-
stroyed and Fascism or Communism
everywhere triumphant.
So far all the successes Of postwar
revolution have been in states whose
tradition and present circumstances
suggested no parallel with American,
British or French conditions The
patient, in fact, was already critically
i'll before democracy was invoked as
remedy, and democracy is certainly
as its history shows at best-a means
of slow recovery, not of immediate res
cue On the other hand, to change the
figure, where it has firmly established
itself, it has so far proved impossible
to uproOt.
Nevertheless, the Austrian episode
does demonstrate that for the time be-
ing democracy is done in Central as in
Eastern Europe Whether the Austrian
experiment seeks inspiration and sup
port in Rome or in Berlin, its separa-
ton from the west has now become
definitive. Thus, except for Switzer-
land, democratic Europe has been
brought back to the eastern frontiers
Of the, Netherlands. Belgium and
France, Ind in the north restricted to
the three Scandinavian nations And,
in a sense this division promises to
prove as significant In its way as that
separation into Catholic and Protestant
states which followed the reformation.
(Copyrght. 1889