Evening star., 1937-10-17
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

exact discrimination. OF the
4 quantity Of books dealing with
the worlds principal present prob
lem. doubtless many are excellent.
have read several that are. 1t merely
happens that one book has been. to
the writer Of this article, especially
illuminating. The name OF it is
"Dictators and Democracies." It is
written by Prof Calvin B. Hoover of
Duke University. North Carolina.
That any large number of the Amer
lean people will read this book cannot
be expected. But there is no duty
so imperative upon newspaper writer's,
clergymen and others as to make the
public understand what this book tells.
Prof. Hoover's volume is enlighten-
ing for the reason that it makes clear
the transition, the steps, by which
democracies pass into relationships
the technique by which ambitious
men or plotting groups lead peoples
to accept the so-called "totalitarian"
or authoritarian" form of govern
ment and society. This is present
danger in the United States. 1t is
one of the virtues of Prof. Hoover's
book, however, that he does not en-
phasize danger to the United States
He does not write in the tone of
alarm or Of any other emotion. His
attitude is one of cool detachment
He merely explains how the dictator
ships have come about in other coun-
tries. He hardly mentions the United
States: he concentrates on making
clear what has happened elsewhere.
AS respects America, he merely says,
with unexcited detachment:
"These forces (Which produce die
tatorship) are not momentarily op-
Grating Gn America) with such vigor
as to make the creation of such a
regime an immediate prospect. New
ertheless, the United States is not
likely to remain immune to the in
fluence of forces which are now gath
ering with such catastrophe portent
abroad. If the totalitarian tide there
continues at flood, internal forces,
now barely latent, may be expected
to become dynamic and to generate
q SlllllidI tlOC AL VIC OlllbCd oDd
Technique Of Bringing Dictatorship.
The technique of leading a people
to abandon democracy and to accept
dictatorship begins with an economic
appeal The ambitious person or
group says to the people of a nation:
I'VE will give you economic hap
piness." This promise of economic
happiness is illustrated, in America,
by Mr.. Roosevelt's promise to give
the farmers high prices for their crops
and to give labor high wages; and
his promise to end the condition in
which, so Mr. Roosevelt alleges, one
third of the Nation is "ill-fed, ILL
housed and ill-clothed."
This promise of economic happi-
ness is the bait. If people swallow
the bait they then feel the hook.
The hook appears in a qualification
OF the promise. AS the promise is
now put, it says. I'VE will give you
economic happiness-but, of course,
you must do exactly what We say, you
must give us autocratic power"
The promise, in that force, is plaus-
tble. Any well-equipped person could
safely promise to the people of the
United States that if they will give
him absolute power, if they will sur
render all their individual rights and
liberties, il they will do exactly what
he directs, he will give them what
will seem for a time to be economic
happiness; he will give them, for a
time, an increased quantity of the
goods they would like to have.
II any reasonably competent man
were given the power to organize the
whole United States in just the way
Mr.. Henry Ford has his factory Or
ganized; If he were given as much
authority over everything in the
United States as Mr.. Ford has over
his factory; If the dictator could say
to one citizen, you shall work as
machinist" and to another citizen,
"You shall work as carpenter; If
the dictator could say to one farmer,
'You shall raise wheat and nothing
else" and to another farmer, You
shall raise cotton and nothing else;
especially If the dictator could say,
as dictator in the United States
ultimately would say, "All cotton shall
be raised on the soil best adapted to
cotton, namely, Texas, and nothing
else shall be raised on that soil; and
all wheat shall be raised on the soil
best adapted to wheat"-if the die
tator could say these things, and
otherwise order every person to do
the kind of work the dictator i'm
poses-in that event the dictator, for
. time, could make the country pro-
duce more goods and produce them in
better balance. CThat word balance"
figures largely in the addresses by
which the New Dealers recommend
themselves and their plan to the coun-
try. Look out for that word.)
Congress Goes, Courts Go.
But once the people have made the
deal, once they have given up their
right to order their own lives, the next
step in dictatorship shows itself. Now
Congress must be wiped out. The ex-
cuse. made-and it is valid excuse
Is that planned and regulated coun-
try cannot possibly be managed by a
body as large as Congress. Besides,
Congress is not in session all the time,
and so cannot meet emergencies. Con-
gress cannot possibly write laws in suf-
ficient detail to take care of all the
emergencies that arise. The whole
idea Of government by law, of govern
ment by statutes enacted by repre-
sentatives Of the people-all that must
disappear. All power must be in the
hands OF one man and his agents, one
man who can from day to day dictate,
for example, increase in quantity of
wheat to be raised, decrease of price
to be paid for cotton, decrease in num-
Der Of automobiles to be manufac-
tured
With abolition of Congress would 90
also abolition of courts. for If the au-
thoritarian government must be free
from hampering bylaws, it must be
even more free from hampering by
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