The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-03-06
Liberal Viewpoint
by DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

CEVERAL of our Hberally-minded and urbane
~ columnists have been Kidding" Mark Sui
Ivan for his worries lest Mr.. Roosevelt should
translate us painlessly into Russian system of
life.
In spite of ali this joshing however, Mr..
Sullivan seems to get more panicky by the min
ute. In one of his latest syndicated articles he
calls upon his Countrymen to awaken before it
is too late to save the American system and
avert revolution:
by the American system of industry mean
the competitive system and the right to make
profits and keep them, including the right of
private ownership Of land and other forms of
property.
by the American system of society, mean
the familiar system which puts maximum en-
phasis on the freedom of the individual to go
his own way.
And by the American form of government
mean, of course, the form we have, especially
three features Of it - the laW-making power
vested in a congress based on geographical rep
reSentation, the device of check and balance
which divides government into three separate
parts legislative, executive and judicial and the
independence of the judiciary.
These three features of the American form
OF government are particularly endangered-if
they should go, the whole form of government
would go.
And all three-our American form of gov
eminent, social system and industrial system
are just being undermined so rapidly that I'M
less there is a successful resistance it would be
overstatement to say that within few years
they will have ceased to exist.
"TNFIE process of revolution is under way The
Il first stage is here. Unless we stop at this
point the succeeding stages will follow newt
ably. 1t is the nature of revolutiOn-WeIl under
stood by those who bring revolution about
that one step makes the next step indispensable.
THE public at the time sees only the first
step; experts foresee that the first step makes
the second northumberland also the third and
fourth and so on until the revolution is COM
pIete."
If Mr. Sullivan were not lay historian of
some pretenSlOnS, we could excuse such senti-
mentS on his part. But man who pretends to
be a specialist on American history since 1890
must be expected to maintain at least some re-
mote contact with reality
He should know that the american system
of industry came to be combination of piracy
lottery and famine which collapsed utterly in
1929 1t was not the Australian the Polish or
even the Russian system of industry that
brought on the depression in the United States
Where the American system, which Mr. sullivan
dotes upon, brought us, he himself knows all too
we'll.
Similarly, with the American system of
rugged individualsm, he can not be unaware
that this freedom meant, in practice the priv
lege OF robblng investors Wrecking productive in
duStry and starving the American masses We
have had quite enough of this brand of free
dom of the racketeer.
TINE American form of government with its
l. paralyZing division into three theoretically
equal departments, was the product of antique
ignorance and ineXperience in a simple agrcul-
tural society.
Specifically it was an importation from
abroad based upon Baron Montesquiou's mis-
taken notion of the British government. 1t only
apparently was made in Philadelphia 1t was,
actually, in large part a creature of French
mans misinformed brain.
1t has never worked we'll, save when one
branch has assumed definite leadership. We
had a good example of its inadequacy under
Mr.. Sullivans friend Mr.. Hoover with the
President and congress at loggerheatS and the
supreme court multiplying legislation that might
have helped to save us from disaster.
So far as our being in the midst of revo-
luton is concerned, it is probable that the new
even if carried out 100 per cent But it is actu-
ally being resisted and sabotaged all along the
line by the reactionaries.
There is no need for Mr.. Sullivan to call upon
the country to resist the new deal. The great
danger is that it will be too we'll resisted
1t is high time that Mr.. Sullivan should prod
himself and awaken to a few realities. If the
things he abhors in the Roosevelt administration
not put through, we shall, indeed, have revo-
luton and an end of the American system of
industry, society and government
Every time Mr.. Sullivan pushes his pen in
opposition to the new deal he is helping on
Fascism and Communism in the United States |