Evening star., 1934-07-15
DEMOCRATS FOUND BEST
CRITICS OF THE NEW DEAL
Writer Suggests Roosevelt's Support of
Certain Republicans May Allow Mem.
bers of Own Party to Oppose Him.

"e''A oAt ~ uii-Atlltil lNdu 'llhb america
cannot adopt them and remain Amer
lea. Some other parts are humani-
tartan advances which would he
saved by any President who might
succeed Mr.. Roosevelt. Democratic or
Republican.
Democrat IndiCtS the New Deal.
The most earnest criticism of the
new deal that l have seen. the most
feeling appeal to American thought
TO resist what is being done. has come
from Democrat. one elevated in no.
sition, though comparatively little
known outside his own State. VIII
liam r. Pattangall is chief Justice OF
the Supreme Judicial Court OF Maine
a State which throughout its history
has had way Of seeing TO 1t that its
courts are manned BY able men.
Justice Pattangall has long been ac-
tive and important in the Democratic
politics of his State. has been a mem
Der OF the Legislature, attorney gen.
eral of the State, chairman Of the
Democratic State Committee and
twice delegate To Democratic Ma
tional Conventions where on both oc-
caSionS recognition OF his ability and
character made him a member OF the
Committee on Resolutions.
Justice Pattangall on Nav 30 made
the memorial address at Skowhegan.
Me. His speech attracted no more at
tention than any other OF scores Of
State and local Decoration dav ad-
dresses. 1t was not. so far as l know.
DTtntPn outside
heard 1T were so impressed that they
have given 1t limited circulation in
typewriter form. The passages
which seem TO me attention compelling
read as follows have stripped them
down to what has present-day perth
nenCe.
The American people have grown
so accustomed to the endowment of
civil liberty so used 20 living
their own lives in their own wav. 10
being protected in their property
rights, to looking upon Government
and law as protective force rather
than as an imposition of the will of
others on them, that Just as men for
get the value OF the air they breathe,
the water they drink. so have they
ceased to regard the great privileges
OF American citizenship in their true
light. The danger Of today is
not the loss of liberty by use of
force. Rather 1t lies in supreme
surrender Of the rights Of freemen
TO seductive program Of paternalism.
gradually changing the form OF our
Government from a representative
Republic to bureaucratic state.
mildly despotic in action, dangerously
experimental, in which human rights
and property rights cease to rest upon
the firm foundation of established law
and come to depend upon the whim
OF the temporary majority"
Warns the Courts.
Then Justice Pattangall, himself
elevated in the country's judicial
hierarchy, turns to the courts-in a
passage which reads like a solemn
admonition to the Supreme Court OF
the United States. None OF the new
deal measures has yet come before the
high court at Washington: all will ar
rive there during the session that be-
gins next October One feels that as
the justices at Washington bend to
their task they might, as part OF an
act OF self dedication, read some por-
| tions of Justice Pattangall's address:
When the judiciary strive to find
reason for upholding laws enacted
at the behest of noisy minorities;
when the plain and simple language
of Federal and State Constitutions is
given new and strange meaning in
order to meet assumed existing emer-
gencies; when the sovereignty Of the
Individual States is disregarded; when
men are denied the right to buy and
sell the products Of their labor in
the open market place, fixing the
prices of the goods in which they
deal by bargain with their fellows;
when the farmer is forbidden to SOW
and reap on the land he owns ac-
cording to his own best judgment:
when every detail of the daily busi-
ness life of the citizen is ordered by
officials, not of his choosing; when
written agreements cease to have a
binding force, even upon government
itself-the Nation which the Civil
War was fought to preserve will have
ceased to be. Our Nation and our
State were organized for one great
purpose, to secure to the citizens
thereof the blessings of liberty
All that they Washington and Lin
coln) lived and died for becomes a
sad and futile waste If we of this
generation are to surrender the
heritage they bequeathed us because
we lack the courage. the independ-
ence, the manlineSs, to work out
our individual salvation, but prefer
to become paupers TO the State, de-
pending upon its bounty to supply
our needs. The great mass
of the people of this nation are sane.
Should they not make one more
stand for individual freedom and a
preservation of the form of govern
ment they inherited"
Those words, l am satisfied. would
be indorsed by half the Democrats
IN Congress--if they were not kept
silent by regard for party regularity.
Those who think America is on a
dangerous course would do better to
circulate this speech by a distin-
guished Democrat, than some of the
speeches of Republican leaders.
tCopyright 1934J
Gustaf Adolf Studies
Business and Industry