The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-12-05
Liberal Viewpoint
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POLITICAL Power. BY Charles Edward Mer-
Il RAM Whittlesey House. So.

POLITICAL Power. BY Charles Edward Mer-
L Ram. Whittesey House. SO.
Guide to Modern Politics. BY G. D. H.
Cole and Margaret Cole.
The saar Struggle BY Michael T. Florinsky,
Macmillan, 81.
Not since the eighteenth century have the
political institutions of mankind been in such
a state of hux as they are today. Monarchy has
toppled in most places, democracy is being
challenged sharply throughout the world, and
relationships are rising everywhere.
Professor Merriam is one of our most eminent
political scientists and his latest volume is by
far his most sweeping excursion into the field of
politics. The book is a broad survey of the
origins, sources and manifestations of political
power. 1t endeavors to get behind the mere
forms of government and to indicate the forces
which lie behind all government and the appli-
cation of public force He shows that power
existed even before the origins of civilization:
The busy ant the chesty ape, the massive
bull, the squealing stallion, the primitive chief
the hoary elders, all had leadership long before
systems of philosophy appeared. There was
power long before there was written word for
it,"
This political power has manifested itself in
patriarchal empires, feudaliSm, national mon
arches and democracies. 1t has been eXerted
primarily to secure control over the necessities of
life or to mediate between those who seek such
exploited the masses and foStered the arts.
XXTHETHER its future will be for good or
w i'll depends upon our intelligence in
bringing it under social control and direction:
The next phase may witness the flaming of
Fascist revolutions, the armed clash of economic
nationalisms, the bursting forth of communistic-
capitalistic revolutions and counter revolutions
a worldwide struggle between conflicting racial
types or economic interests seen in the Orient
and the Occident. Or it may be characterized
by the adroit avoidance of catastrophe collisions
and perhaps debacles; and the slow emergence
of jural order i'll the world as whole and in the
domain of the induStrio political.
1T is a long road out of slavery to mani
mate nature, out of a slavery to human nature
up to the mastery of the dark and fateful forces
around us and within; but the race is on its
way. The future belongs to those who fuse intel
ligence with faith and who with courage and
determination grope their way forward from
chance to choice from blind adaptation to Gre
alive evolution
Mr.. Cole is an amazingly prolific, iuminat-
ing and suggestive writer. In his latest book
he describes the manifestations of political
power as they exist in the leading states of our
day. In no other single volume will one get
as much useful information on the political in
situations and methods of the twentieth century,
presented in extremely readable FORM
The most striking thing which Mr.. Cole de-
tectS in current political tendencies is the chal-
lenge to parllamentariSm and self-government
as the result of the trend toward dictatorship.
He makes 1t clear that democracy is no gift from
the gods. 1t must rest upon a social system
characterized by justice and must have the
hearty support of its partsans.
=" ME day of these free societies is not yet;
- and mankind has a hard task to reach
them. For they can not be reached until men
have set up a framework of social institutions
that does satisfy the collective sense of Justice:
and the struggle to establish those institutions
still lies mainly before us.
But if that is the sort of society we want
that is if we really believe in democracy at All
we must be prepared to face that struggle, and
TO battle with all our might against those bastard
claimants who set up against the spontanety of
democracy the disciplined autocracy of the
cooperative states
For democracy does not drive men: it helps
them to find their own leaders, and those of us
who are Democrats have the task of making
social framework within which the impulses and
desires of ordinary people can find abundant
plan.'
one OF the most immediate threats of a.
clash OF political power today lies in the plebi-
sclte which is to be held in the Saar area next
month. The history, economic factors and ma
uonal interests involved are analysed clearly by
Or. FlorlnSky. Its rich coal deposits are valu-
able to both France and Germany while Ger
man nationalism demands it's return with as
much guSto as French nationalism insisted upon
the return of Alsace- Lorraine
But for Hitler'S rise to power in Germany
there would have been little doubt about an
overwhelming vote for return to Germany Now
the outcome is uncertain. If the vote goes
against Germany, it may lead to forceful inter-
Ventlon OF the Germans, and certainly will pro-
vide new Alsace-Lorraine to menace the peace
OF Europe and the world. The very existence
OF the problem is another testimonial to the
folly of the peacemakers of 1919