The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-07-07
Liberal Viewpoint
by DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

TT NAV seem a grim irony of history that
i group of American historians and publicsts
should be gathered at Thomas Jefferson's uni
versity Of Virginia in order solemnly to deliber
ate at an institute of public affairs about the
collapse Of democracy and individualistic capt.
talism.
But I am not so sure, after all, that it is SO
inconsistent and paradoxical. Though Jefferson
is one of the great names associated with the
democratic tradition in the United States, he
never had any faith in that crude egalitarian-
nose counting democracy which now has run its
course in the United States. He believed thatl
government must be in the hands Of able ex-
perts In a letter written to John Adams in
1913 he said
Il agree with you that there is a natural
artistocracy among men. The grounds of this
are virtue and talents The natural ar1stoc-
racy I consider as the most precious gift Of
nature, for the instruction, the trusts and the
government of society . May we not say that
that form of government is best which provides
most effectively for a pure selection of these
natural aristocrats into the offices of govern
ment?"
A more cogent justification of Mr.. Roosevelts
brain trust hardly could have been written
JEFFERSON believed that the common people
j might be trusted to recognize their intellec-
tual superiors and to place them in responsible
positions of government but he never believed
in the capacity of the rabble to govern directly.
In his Pulitzer prize volume, THE Peoples
Choice" Herbert Agar has shown pretty con-
clusively that the people can not be entrusted
safely with even the choice of the higher officers
of state, but Agar had century and half of
experience to ponder over which was denied to
Jefferson.
Indeed, if jefferson were being "put on the
spot" today with reference to this matter, he
probably would have a ready answer. He be-
lieved that his conception of aristocratic democ-
racy would work successfully only in predomi-
nantly agricultural society. In letter to James
Madison he said:
Il think our governments will remain virtu-
Gus for many years; as long as they are chiefly
agricultural; and this will be as long as there
shall be vacant lands in any part of America.
When they get piled up on one another in large
cities as i'll Europe they will become as corrupt
as in Europe"
Jefferson readily could point to the fact that
the conditions under which he believed a simple
bucolic democracy could operate have long since
passed in this country.
A any rate whatever Jefferson might say
IA if he we're alive today, it is a fact that the
democratic dogma and practices are underline
even among progreSSives as they never have
been before.
The contemporary challenge to democracy is
the most important issue in present-day poll
teal theory and practice.
The war to make the world safe for democ-
world than at any time since the suppression of
the revolutions of 1848. Germany was about the
only great state which emerged from the World
war with an advanced democracy, but the Allied
stupidity quickly destroyed it even there. In
political discussions today no topic is so popular
as the many-sided attack upon the assump-
tons which forced the foundations of demo-
cratic dogma
THACISM and Communism are the two alter
Il natives which are suggested currently as a
substitute for democracy, but we may doubt that
either is the final solution of the problem.
Democracy as earlier understood, certainly Is
doomed but this need give rise to no consterna-
ton. James Brice once said that the chief thing
which one could say in defense of the old style
of democracy was that all other forms of gov
eminent were worse but he had reference to
earlier types of government.
We do not know what the future pro-
duce as a result of a juncture of superior
knowledge and experience. Probably the most
desirable in immediate reforms are weighted
suffrage, based upon the results of intelligence
tests given to the whole population, the require
ment of scientific and professional training for
all candidates for Office, the introduction of a
combination of proportional and vocational rep
resentation and the question of the civil service
system to the legislative and judicial branches
of the government.
The Roosevelt administration the brain trust |
and the New Deal offer the only practical hope
of saving a semblance of either democracy or
capitalism from the wreckage inherited from
the Coolidge Mellon era.