Smyrna times., 1936-06-18

TIME, as examples OF the HOWer OI
it's citizenship, two men who more
perfectly combined distinction in
appearance and in manner with
distinction in public service, have
yet to hear of it.
Always Interested in Delaware
Feeling as I do about my native
State and its people, am natur-
ally interested in the preservation
of their historical, records. Thirty
years ago Miss Adelaide r. Hasse,
then the efficient head of the Docu-
ments Division of the New York
Public Library, told me that she
had had greater difficulty in find
ing and collecting the Delaware
documents than those of any other
State. While this condition of
things may to some extent be as
cribed to a too literal observance
of the Scriptural precept that no
one should think more highly of
himself than he ought, yet it must,
I fear, be confessed that it was
also due to inattention and lack
of administrative curiosity and
zeal. In recent years this condi-
tion of things has happily chang
ed; and, as an interested and con-
slant observer, who has had fifty
years experience in the patient
and time-consuming task of
searching for and bringing togeth-
er materials for the history of law
and of politics, I desire particular
ly to express my sense of the great
value of what has been accom-
plished by DR.. George H. Ryden,
Professor of History and Political
Science in the University of Della
ware, and State Archivist, in col
lecting, preserving and publishing
records and papers relating to the
history of the State and in rescu-
ing from Oblivion what may be re-
garded as its historic monuments.
Something of Recent Depression
Perhaps it may be expected that
1 should say something concerning
the recent depression and the pres
ent condition of the country. 1t
seems to be widely assumed that
the recent depression is the worst
the country has ever had, and that
it consequently has called for un-
precedented and desperate measur-
es of a convulsive, if not revolu-
tionary, nature. / do not share
these impressions; nor am 1 will
ing to admit that my failure to
share them is due to insensibility
to what has taken place. Not only
have I distinct recollections of the
conditions that developed during
the Civil War and succeeded it,
and of the panic of 1873 and SUBJ
sequent economic and political dis
turbances, but also happen to be
familiar with the history of what
took place during and after our
War of independence, of the dislo-
cations that resulted from our sec
ond war with Great Britain, and of
the cataclysm known as the panic
of 1887 as well S of subsequent de-
pressions. In the debates in the
Senate on the Webster-Ashburton
treaty, in 1912, there is a speech
by John G. Calhoun, in which the
ratification of the treaty was urg-
ed on the ground, among others,
that, by helping to restore general
confidence and tranquility, it
would hasten the cure of the dis
orders that had resulted from the
collapse five years before. But
nowhere was it suggested that the
constitution of the United States
had outlived its usefulness, or that
the country's political system
should be radically changed. Eco
nomic and financial depressions al
ways have occurred, and they al
ways will occur. They grow out
of human nature. In the Book of
Ecclesiastes you will find this
text: I'm the day of prosperity be
joyful, but in the day of adversely
consider" Taken in a proper
sense, this aGmonition is obviously
salutary. Unfortunately, however,
it always has been and still is the
disposition of human beings, when
they are joyful, to be over-enthus-
iastic; and, when adversely obliges
them to think of their ills, to be-
come unduly downcast. In the
former frame of mind, they in
dulge the illusion of an ever-in-
creasing, never-ending prosperity;
in the latter frame of mind, they
are prone to resort to desperate
measures in order to save them
selves from what at the moment
seems to be irretrievable disaster.
During the past four years 1
have often thought of an incident
Of a sojourn / made nearly thirty
years ago at st. Moritz, in Swift
zerland, for the purpose of recup-
Grating from the effects of over
work. One day there appeared at
my hotel married couple from