The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-09-24


 This, unfortunately, provides rich soil for dernagoguery and trickery. A candidate who prom ises results quickly by some com plicated scheme difficult to un- derstand may well receive the are dent support of the people, even though in the long run the scheme is destructive of the very ideals to which he professes allegiance.
 The converse is that candi- date who honestly believes in the ends, and advocates means to att tain them which, though sound, entail long periods for their de- velopment, may wcll be defeated because the people wish some plan which promises to give results over night.
 "Anpler Life''
 At this moment the American people quite rightly wish to at- tiAn a better distribution of the good things of life among the rank and file. They feel as Oliver Cromwell said, that "What keep eth many poor to make one rich, suiteth not 8 commonwealth"
 They wish to see an "ampler life" for all those who merit 1t by their industry, thrift and initi- ative, but they do not believe that the shiftless, vicious and lazy should be supported in comfort at the expense of the workers.
 Any individual, therefore or any party which is sincerely de- sirous of serving the country and hopes to obtain the suffrage of the people, must take the above as its obejctive and actively work for 1t. The people will not stand for Bourbonism, for senseless re- action, for the kind of thought that merely wishes to turn back the hands of the clock.
 Tyranny The Answer
 The question, therefore, is how to attain this ideal in sound and permanent fashion. It must be done in such a way as not to de- stroy democracy, for democracy is the only form of government under which the people can pros. per permanently. Every other form implies, in the long run, the exploitation of the many for the sake of a few.
 In Europe now, for example, we have Fascism in Italy, Nazisnn in Germany, and Communism in Russia. Each of the three main- tains that it is different from the other two. This is not the case. All three are basically and funda- mentally the same thing, for all three are based on dictatorial powers of the few, and the ulti- mate result of all three will be the oppression of the rank and file. Indeed, 1t makes no difference whether you swing far to the right or far to the left in govern ment. In either case, if you swing far enough, you meet ulti- mately in . tyranny.
 Saving Democracy
 FIRST the criterion for judg- ing our policies, therefore, must be their adaptability to a de- moeracy. I believe firmly that we can go forward towards a more equitable distribution of wealth without scrapping democracy.
 | believe we can do this with
 three main policies. The first,
 very obviously, Is to cut down
 the unnecessary waSssS~and ex-
 pense in government. It Is
 colossal now In county, state
 and nation principally the
 latter. Of course 1t is automatic
 thst the more wealth absorbed
 by government uselessly, the less
 there is for the average man.
 SECOND, we must rigidly set our faces against monopolies of every type, whether private or governmental. We must bring back into full vigor the Sherman antitrust laws and enforce them. Equally, we must prohibit govern mental organizations such as the MIRA, which sanctioned and gave government authority to mo- nopoly. Monopoly beggars the people.
 BOTH of these policies, vital as they are, are negatives. We must also have positive action. There fore, third and most important. we must strive to develop the general idea of cooperatives.
 Cooperative Spirit
 In developing this idea we will have to realize at the start that no thumb.rule can be laid down to apply in all different cases. Roughly speaking, the cooperative spirit comes under three heads.
 THE FIRST of these is exem- plified by the farmers cooper atives, and should include such questions as marketing, purchas- ing, storage, etc.