The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-07-13
Cheney Urges Fight
 Against Dictatorship
State EcOnmic Council Treasurer Interprets Meaning
 of Democracy Founders Dreaded Generalization

tense dread of power centered in the hands of any individual or group. They therefore set up a democracy of balanced powers-one checking and limiting another. The will of the executive was subject to the powers of the legislature to enact laws and most of all to the powers of an independent court to determine whether any branch of the Government had exceeded the powers granted by the people.
 The unique features of our Con- Stitution are its insistance that all power finally rests in he consent of the governed, and that its serv- ants can only exercise such powers as are specifically delegated to them.
 Essential Principles
 What are the essential principles of our American Democracy?
 1. The right of every man and woman with a mind and will to have 8 voice in the choice of his or her governors and in the system of government.
 2. The recognition of the right to our own labor and its fruits-the right of property.
 3. Freedom of speech, of the press, of worship and of petition.
 {. The preservation of local self government and the keeping of the regulation of personal and local af- fairs in the hands of the states and communities, where the control is near the people.
 5. The protection of the rights of minorities and individuals by an in- dependent court.
 6. Underlying all and controlling all, the recognition of the integrity and worth of every human soul.
 Contributions to Civilization
 What are the utstandonig contri- buttons of Amercian Democracy to civilization?
 It is responsible for the extension and development of free public edu- cation-the opportunity for every child to learn who has mind and @ will to do SO.
 It has insisted upon ones free- dom to worship God in ones own way. A wide tolerance in religion has characterized our American growth and development.
 It has carried universal suffrage, or the right to vote, to the widest extent that public opinion and tra- dition make possible,
 It has freed the slaves and done more than any other political in- fluence in the world to eliminate slavery in all its forms: and to set no only mems bodies but their minds free.
 Its maintenance of freedom of speech and freedom of the press has acted as 0 more powerful stim- ulant to the spread of truth and intelligence as well as to the pro- lection of Democracy itself, than have these forms of liberty in any other country.
 It is the glory of Democracy like ours that 1t has iabored to pro- tect the weak, the destitute, the feeble-minded and the aged. To an increasing extent 1t has grown to recognize its obligations to all of the members of the great com munity.
 Improved Standard of Living
 h the more material fields, 1t is largely responsible for conditions which have made our wages great CT in their purchasing power, our housing conditions better and more healthful, our standards of living higher than in any other country. We enjoy better food and more of 1t, shorter hours of work and less heavy manual labor. more recrea- ton, lee3 disability, a lower death rate, c wider distribution of litera- ture, more automobiles, more com- by telephone and tele- graph and the use of more light and power.
 For the amount of food which the average American workman in De- troit labors nine hours to purhcase, the workman in Denmark and Swe- den must labor i2 hours, Switzer- land i3, Holland IA, Great Britain IS, France 20, Germany a, Bell gium 9, Italy % and Russia q hours. This is but proof of the fact that our wages here in purchasing power are higher on the average than those of any other country in the world from which statistics can be obtained.
 Methods of Preservation
 How shall we preserve our De- mocracy?
 By resisting every attempt to con- vert a government of laws into a by men.
 By insisting that the air of gov- ernment is the safeguarding of human rights and opportunities, rather than the distribution to others of what we have produced and saved.
 By encouraging the widest possi- ble extension of opportunities for the training of those who have the will to learn and to lead.
 By preserving the utmost freedom and tolerance in the practice of religion to inspire higher ideals of conduct.
 By developing our common inter- ests and reducing strife between classes and sections.
 By protecting freedom of speech and knowledge of the truth. When all the afcts of an issue are frankly laid before a people, the truth will finally prevail.
 By ever seeking to keep the doors of opportunity, initiative and en- terprise open to every individual.
 Democracy Ever Growing
 Democracy grows out of the hu- man instinct to go forward, but 1t Is also related to all that has gone before in the efforts of society to regulate itself. Hence 1t cannot at once cure all of the defects of that human life of which 1t is part.
 Democracy is not primarily a the ory of economics. It is much more D rule of moral conduct for US all. As such it is continuously growing