Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1934-05-02
DEMOCRACY ON THE WANE

The nineteenth century saw the rise of modern democ
racv. And it seemed that the high tide was reached uul
inc the second decade of the twentieth century. we "eic
fold that tbe great World war was fought to make theI
world safe for democracy, and after the drawing up oil
the treaty. of peace it did appear that MONARCHY was
doomed. New pse~udo-democracies sprang up III huropeI
and kings and queens became decidedly scarce.
Rnt the times have changed. Monarchs are not common
but dictators are coming into their own. FIRST there was
Soviet Russia, then Italy, then Poland and Germany. Late
" Austria has Joined the parade and there are evidences
now that more nations are to follow. The three grea'
democracies left in the world are France, Great britain
and the United States. Many observers are predlcllhg
that France will move toward dictatorship before the ena
Of the summer. Great Britain chngs to It's ancient trau-
tions. Int the Fascist party there is steadily growing, as
is the radical labor party. In the United States there mas
hoon no change of governmental form, although a great
MANY neonle are now wondering whether we are nor now
balf-consciously turning to something dflerent iion
commemorative democracy. Only the future can tell.
Rut the trend from democracy toward state paternallsm
and dictatorship is apparent all over the world. There
are two great forces arrayed against 1t, national IasclSm
and communism. We are told that something new must
take the place of individualsm If civilization Is to sur
viye. But there can be no real democracy without lndlvld-
ualism. State socialism in some form or other is the only
alternative. And socialism as exemplltled In Europe IS
only autocracy more or less velled.
In our own country, the change is very apparent. we
started out as a nation of individuaists. The trainers OF
tbe Constitution gave certain powers to the federal gov
eminent and others were reserved to the people them
selves in their state and local governments. 30 strong
was the trend toward states rights and against complete
federalism, that a civil war had to be fought to prove
that the RIGHTS of a state were not so broad as to permit 1t
to withdraw from the Union.
But now, estate rights seems to be about as dead a
doctrine as could well be found in a days search through
the political arena. For a score of years the federal gov
eminent has gradually been encroaching on the rights OF
the states. One local function after another has been tax
en- over by the federal government, until now it seems
that the time may not be far distant when there will be a
paternal government at Washington powerful enough to
regulate our very lives.
So this nation of individuaists, which was made great
by individuals who held firmly to their belief that they
had the right to carve out their own destnies in accord
ance with their industry and their intelligence, is rapidly
turning into a nation of governmental wards, which may
make us after all not unlike the Indians from whom we
took the country in the first place.
When we cease relying on our own efforts to succeed
and depend on the government to order our lives and fur
nish our living, we will indeed, collectively, be a decadent
nation. The history Of the nations which have gone be-
fore, and vanished from the face of the earth, is abundant
proof of this. A study of the record back to "the beauty
that was Greece" and "the glory that was Rome" is de
cidedly Illuminating.
A lot of ignorant people would never be found out