Evening star., 1934-04-17

the postal system, and also our great
interstate commerce system, are &C
cepted and welcomed as settled ma
tional policy. But as compared with
the original conceptions of some of
the trainers of the Constitution and
most of the early Presidents it was
revolutionary. 1t was even unconsti-
tutional!
In similar sense Woodrow Will
son was a revolutionist. Theodore
Roosevelt called it a square deal
Franklin D. Roosevelt calls it "a new
deal Woodrow Wilson called it the
new freedom The application of
specific remedies in each case may
have been different. That is, the
particular remedy demanded by the
particular situation confronted by the
people and by these leaders of the
people may have been different. But
in each case the conception of the
need and the remedy presuppoSed the
creation of something that did not
heretofore exist. And this ability to
perceive the need for remedies and
the ability to create and supply them
is, after all, the real test of popular
government. II is the stabilizing quail
ity which in fact prevents revolutions
of force and of blood.
An Alternative.
IF the power to adjust government
TO the conditions which must be dealt
with by each generation did not exist,
the only remedy would be the destruc-
ton of an impotent government and
the building of a government fitted
and qualified to deal with the prob
lens of the new generation. Thus
We would have a situation which
would require that the people of each
generation or each decade change the
form and the character of their gov
ernment, just as farmers have changed
the instruments of husbandry, sur
geons have changed the instruments
of surgery, teachers have changed the
methods of their teaching. preachers
of their preaching and the travelling
public the methods of their transpor-
tation.
while, therefore, as I stated in
the beginning. the word revolution
contains no diabolical implications,
many Of the transitions to which I
have referred, and many thousands
more to which I could refer. may
be more softly designated as 'evolu-
tions.'
THAT there has been a revolution
in the practice of medicine and the
science of medicine no man will deny.
The transition from the universal
practice of bleeding a patient for
every known disease a century and
half ago to the skillful and life-saving
delicacy Of modern surgery has been
and is a tribute to the genius of man
throughout the world. But it was a
revolution, or, If you prefer the word,
it was an evolution in the treatment
of injury and disease.
The Stage Coach Era.
'The transition from the stage
coach of our forefathers to the mod
ern Pullman car, the modern auto
mobile and the modern airplane has
certainly been a revolution in the
methods of transportation. Would
we go back to the stage coach? Let
all who favor it say aye
THE transition from the old GUS
tom of piling the ice from the mill
pond in sawdust in the barn to the
facility afforded by the electric
refrigerator has certainly been a revo-
luton in the art of refrigeration. I
ask whether in the complex life which
we lead today we would be willing to
revert wholly to the mill pond, fond
as we are of that familiar old place
in story and tradition.
"The transition from the old nickle
and the wheat cradle with which our
fathers garnered the grain for them
selves and for hungry world, to the
modern reaper and combine which
cuts, threshes and sacks the grain as
it goes along through the golden field.
is certainly revolution in the science
of harvesting, and typifies many other
similar revolutions and evolutions in
the field of agriculture.
Examples of this constant change,
this incessant growth, this impatient
reaching out in every field Of action
by the human race throughout the
world for something different and
something better, could be multiplied
without limit.
The One Exception.
Even those who object to change,
to growth. to development, to elas-
ITCHY in government, admit all this.
1t is only to growth in government
that they object.
But why, among all the sciences
and the arts which have been studied
or mastered by the race of men from
the beginning of time, should gov
ernment alone stand still? Why,
among all the improvements which
have been brought to the human race
through the generations in other
fields of endeavor, should government
alone tie itself to a hitching post and
refuse to move with the upward
procession?
BY this question I am not to be
understood as believing in our advo-
eating the policy of opportunism in
government; am not suggesting that
government as such should be swept
off its feet or away from its moorings
by every fantastic proposal that fam
taStic minds may create or propose.
But I do mean that any form of
government that even claims to be
efficient or responsive to public need
must be an elastic government. 1t
must be ready to adopt, and not
afraid to adopt, experiments in the
process of government just as the
physician must adopt them, just as
the manufacturer must adopt them,
just as the great financial structure
of this and every nation must now
and then adopt them.
The Need for Courage.
"It must be willing to go up what
may turn out to be blind alleys now
and then. Without the courage to
embark upon these political and gov
ernmental explorations and expert