Imperial Valley press., 1937-02-05
News Behind the News
Keeping to the Middle Road M, no
Tsms For America But 1he
Worries Persist

u,c4Y1NcTON- N-Anvone who knows the New
Deal inside out realizes that one OF l19 HtaS los
nraiseworthy aims has been TO keep Ine oiii'od nd
States on the middle road OF democracy an ala
swav from the forks which lead to Fascisih
and Communism ., ,; o+o,itas
are still saying 1T can't oe e oons .Se dstar-
Europe however have intensified the aetei
mination of Roosevelt and his most thoughtiui
associates. . -, +.ootad
The administration continues to be attackeo
from both the right and the lett, ana II iiao h
haen called both Communist and Fascist by
persons who usually knew better, out II VIII
bend itself forcefully, as arising cnou,r- 1.n
stances require to maintaining a hoeral oeiio-
cracy. r ;o,,. 10
An of which is more than few pouS re-
marks At least couple of cabinet members
are understood to lie awake nights occasloaally,
worrying about the menace OF Fascisnl. 9oiiie ns
of the most radical brain-trusters nave pees
almost Enthusiastically respondent IN the oeliei
that FaScism is on the way.
There are many in the government VINO
favor one extreme system or the other, and
MANY more who believe a choice between the
philosophy of Moscow and that Of Berlin cannot
for many years be escaped rs . -.
And there are still many others VINO lflSloC
that no effort should be spared to AVOID the
choice In fact the issue has become lugu-
brols but persistent topic of conversation, ana
the election hasn't caused it to subside.
Roosevelt will continue TO preach democracy.
His pointed remarks in the direction OF NaZlS
and Fascist have been more than rhetoric, and
ne expressed what to him is fundamental phil
osophv when he spoke of those whose 1nstlnc-
tive faith in humanity made them want to
believe that in the long run, democracy would
prove superior to more extreme forms OF gov
ernnent as a process Of getting action when
action was wisdom, without the spiritual sacrl-
fees which those other forms OF government
exact"
The many persons in the New Deal who
have been syrnpathetc-or at least open minded
+toa 1lIniS aYrs
have been for the most part dazed by the Sec
ond batch of trials of Trotzkyists with the
amazing confessions from "old bolsheviks' now
doomed to death.
The net effect is to convince many liberals
who heretofore have been willing to defend
Russia that something is rotten in the U.SSR.
and that consequently it all the more behooves
them TO battle for preservation OF our own type
of government subject to reforms
There is more worry in high places about
Fascism than about Communism because its
generally believed that Communism is making
no headway in this country, because it's sus-
pected that powerful special interests
in America lean toward Fascism as an ideal
because Fascism is on the aggressive through
has taken the Nazi-Fascist invasion of Spain
with equanimity, and because OF other factors.
1t may be, Of course, that the various esti-
mable officials who worry are merely seeing
things under the bed"
Even So it seems worth reporting that there
is this great deal of genuine concern in Wash
ington over the Americans citizens right to
think, talk, write, and move around as ne darn
well pleases.