The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-11-21

IN raising this standard, in ap-
l. pealing to the spirit of 1776, in
proclaiming the right and the need
to experiment, the President is
bound to recognize that the very
essence of the experimenting spirit
is the constant denomination of
premises it is not conducting an ex-
! pertinent.
When a democracy enacts a new
measure and then proscribes the
opposition as unpatriotic or venal
it is not conducting an experiment
Only when the statesman really de-
Sires to know every objection to S'
plan, and to modify his plan when
the objection is convincing, can he
be said to be honestly experimental
Let us dot the is and cross the
is. The President has drawn a
line, and on one side of it he places
the tories and doubling Thomases,
on the other his supporters. There
! is such a line. There are persons
who dread all change either because
it is contrary to their interests Ca
to their temperamentS.
But that line can not be drawn
so as to put on one side all who
say yes" to every act of the admin
iStration and on the outer those who
do not say yes to every act. In
short, the opposite of a tory is not
yes man. do not suggest that the
! President thinks this. He has a
deeply tolerant mind and wide and
generous spirit.
But I do suggest that one of the
great dangers which beSetS any
ruler of men is the tendency to find
himself surrounded entirely by men
who have not the wish to disagree
with him or the courage to speak
their minds. The power of the chief
of state is so immense and so
dazzling that for fear of mourning
his disfavor, or in anticipation of
favors to come, the men around
him are disposed to say yes as often
as possible, to say no infrequently
and with insufficient emphasis.
The wise ruler always will seek to
protect the independence of his own
colleagues; for statesmen are more
often ruined by their subServient
friends than by their avowed oppo-
nentS.
That is why experienced political
observers, when they study politi-
cal leader, look at the outset for
/ RI r.,1afInys hn ic tho
kind of man who likes to be sur
rounded by strong men or by weak
men, by colleagues or by courtiers,
by advisers who merely reinforce
one another or by advisers who
check and balance one another.
IF there has been of late a growing
i disquietude in the country, it is
not due wholly to toryism; it has
deeper roots in the apprehension
that the fervor of the great expert
mentation is producing in some
quarters in washington a head
strong temper which causes men to
feel: SO and so does not wholly
agree with much that is being done;
then off with his head; let only.
the initiated deal out the new deal.
Mr.. RoOSevelt's mind is stepped in
American history In speaking to
the people of Georgia, he said that
III his two weeks visit he would
have the opportunity 10 improve
myself by reading of the makers of
01,r Ioie+O,.1y rTIoora ie M 11oOro
useful lesson to be learned from
them than that they managed to
carry through their great expert
ment without insistence upon
deadening uniformity of opinion.
There was room in WaShington's
cabinet for Hamilton and for JEFF
ferson. There was an honorable
place in the new deal which began
in 1778 for Sam Adams and for
John Adams, for Patrick Henry and
for John Marshall. American states
manship, in its great periods, has
always been inclusive rather than
exclusive; the spirit which demands
a purge of the opposition within
the ranks is alien to its best tradi-
tons
When the exclusive spirit has
prevailed, as in the latter days of
the Federalists, in the latter days
of the slave holders regime, in the
days of Thaddeus Stevens and what
Claude Bowers has called the Tragic
Era, American craftsmanship has
been at low ebb, and the verdict
of history is unfavorable
And so, if the Roosevelt admins
tration is to follow the high Ameri-
can tradition there must always be
room in it for men who seek the
same great ends but think differ
emily about methods and measures.
If there is no room for them, the
new deal is not an experiment; it
is a dognatic revelation.
r.
QUITE evidently it is not reve-
~ lation, or one could find some
where its principles set down in
orderly and consistent form. They
are not set down anywhere. No
speeches have been made by the
President which expounds, except in
very general terms, the principles of
the new deal; and there is no book
by any members Of the Brain Trust
which throws light on more than an
aspect Of the immense undertaking
in which the President is engaged.
There are indicators of direction,
there are attitudes, dispositions, and
ideals. But no one has yet done for
the new deal what Adam Smith and
Jeremy Bentham did for English
LIBERALISM in the nineteenth CEN
fury.
One may rejoice that the doctrine
has not crystallized. For there is
much to be learned before our cur
rent heories can be treated as more
than very tentative hypothesis. 1t
is not probable that any set of
minds has yet diagnosed finally
vr-t1 ~ fha ny-oesJov,&