The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-09-30

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT to offer workable program of re. construction, and the party to of- fer it is the party with clean hands" We met the emergency with emergency action. But far more important than that, we went to the roots of the problem, and attacked the cause of the cri- sis. We were against revolution. Therefore, we waged war against those conditions which make rev. olutionS-against the inequalities and resentments which breed them. In America, in 1883, the people did not attempt to remedy wrongs by overthrowing their in StitutionS. Americans were made to realize that wrongs could and would be set right within their institutions. We proved that dem- ocracy can work.
 Hunger Bred Communism
 I have said that there is a very great difference between the two parties in what they do about communism. Conditions congenial to communism were being bred and fostered throughout this na- tion up to the very day of March 4, 1883. Hunger was breeding 7, it, loss of homes and farms was breeding it, closing banks were breeding it, 8 ruinouS price level was breeding it. Discomfort and fear were spreading through the land. The previous national ad- ministration, bewildered, did noth- ing.
 In their speeches they deplored 1t but by their acting they encour- aged it. The injustices, the in equalities, the downright suffering out of which revolutions come what did they do about these things? Lacking courage, they evaded. Being selfish, they neglected. Being short-sighted, they ignored. When the crisis came-as these wrongs made it sure to come-America was un- prepared.
 Fear Manifest
 Our lack of preparation for it was best proved by the cringing and the fear of the very people whose indifference helped to make the crisis. They came to US plead ing that we should do overnight what they should have been doing through the years.
 And the simple causes of our unpreparedneSs were two: first, a weak leadership, and, secondly, an inability to understand the req sons for social unrest-the tragic plight of ninety per cent of the men, women and children who made up the population of the United States.
 It has been well said-.The most dreadful failure of which any form of government can be guilty is simply to lose touch with reality, because out of this failure all imaginable forms of evil grow. Every empire that crashed has come down primarily because its rulers didn't know what was going on in the world and were incapable of learning"
 Tt is for that reason that our American form of government will continue to be safest in dem- ocratic hands. The real, actual, undercover republican leadership Is the same as 1t was four years ago. That leadership will never comprehend the need for a pro- gram of social justice and of re- gard for the well-being of the masses of our people.
 T have been comparing leader ship in Washington. This con- trast between democratic and re- publican leadership holds true throughout the length and the breadth of the state of New York. As far back as the year 1910, the old Black Horse Cavalry in Albany was wailing to meet the changing social conditions by appropriate social legislation. And here was a state noted for its in dustary and noted for its agricul.. ture-a state with the greatest mixture of population-where the poorest and richest lived, literally, within a stones throw of each other-In short a situation made to order for unrest. And yet in this situation the best the repub- lican leaders of hose days could say was: "Let them eat cake" What would have happened if that reactionary domination had continued through all these hard years.
 New Philosophy
 Starting in 1911, a democratic leadership came into power, and with 1t a new philosophy of gov- ernment. I had the good fortune to come into public office at that time. I found other young men in the legislature - men who held the same philosophy-one of them was Bob Wagner; another was Al Smith. We were all joined in g common cause. We did not look on government as something apart from the people. We thought of it as something to be used by the people for their own good.
 New factory legislation setting up decent standards of safety and sanitation: limitation of the working hours of women in inc dustry: a workmen's compensa- tion law: Q one day rest in seven law: a full train crew law: a di- rect primary law. These laws and many more were passed which were then called radical and alien