Evening star., 1935-08-31
Appeal to Self.

On Monday evening last half dozen
or more of his colleagues appealed to
Senator Long of Louisiana to permit
consideration of the third deficiency bill
One after another they pleaded with
him to cease his filibuster. Their petit
tionS, the Record shows, were presented
in the name of the poor and needy, the
crippled and blind, the railroad and
mine workers, the cotton and wheat
farmers of the country. But, strangely
perhaps, no one thought to argue with
the Kingfish from the angle of national
interest; no one approached him in be-
half of the whole people.
Perhaps the circumstance is sympto-
matte of a general condition. For years
the population of the United States has
been encouraged to be class. neighbor-
hood and self-minded. Even leaders
otherwise liberal have had recourse to
the expedient device of catering to
special interest. The occasion of Mr..
Longs six-hour illumination was an at
tempt to aid two fractions of the agra
rian community at the expense of the
entire public. His opponents were con-
cerned to provide endowments for
groups, not for the whole populace. The
administration again and again has
tried to deal with the depression piece
meal. And Mr.. Roosevelt's predecessors
in the White House also cuStomarily
were obliged to think in terms of frag-
ments rather than in terms of national
unity. Division always has been an out
standing characteristic of American life
The founders of the Republic them
selves were forced to compromise be-
tween North and South, the cities and
the farms, the landed proprietors and
the landless artisan and laboring ele-
ments, the rich and the poor.
But the time must one day come when
the dangers of appealing to selfishness
will be recognized. The sponsors of the
New Deal repeatedly have spoken of
their aim as being "the greatest good
for the greatest number" yet even more
frequently they have endeavored to solve
the problem by processes of segrega-
ton. Hence they are criticized, more
or less justly, for failing to correlate
their efforts It should be conceded,
however, that they have had little choice.
The issues Of the period have come to
them in the form of partial difficulties,
and many of their failures have accrued
from the fact of that limitation. An
instance in point is that of the A. A. A.,
scheme to help the farmers the
oretically balanced by the N. r. A.,
scheme to help industry. Neither has
been successful in any marked degree,
and the fault was that of the imperfect
connection between the two.
Ancient Greece suffered consistently
under similar dilemma. The char
acter Of the geography Of the peninsula
was conducive to disunion. Hills and
rivers separated Athens from Sparta,
and each state developed individually.
Then, when the whole Hellenic race was
attacked by the Persian hosts, 1t was
too late to talk about national preserva-
ton. But Rome, centuries later, was
better advised. The average citizen
was taught to think of himself as
human integral of an empire. and by
way Of result the world today lives
largely under Roman system of civili-
zation. The very barbarians who
wrecked the imperial union submitted
to its laws, preserved its institutions.