The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-09-24
Political Parties
 Described ToWV1nen
J. Francis Smith, Democratic State Chairman, Ex. plains Setup Urges Active Participation in Affairs

periods when there is no great party activity.
 Authority
 It should be emphasized that since the local, state and nation al committees are selected by delegates to the local, state and national conventions, and since the authority exercised by the officers of these committees de- riveS entirely from the ofi1cial au- thority of the committees them- selves, therefore all the officers of any party may be said to de- rive their authority from, and to be selected by, the rank and file of the registered voters of the party in question.
 It should also be apparent that the party officers, while not sub ject to any considerably amount of direct supervision, are bound by practical considerations to cvarry on their activities in such manner as to be asursed of the wholehearted support of the mem- bers of the organization. A party leader who has not the support of a very large number of active workers is completely helpless.
 National Chairman
 As campaign approaches, a. national chairman who wishes to have a effective organization must rely upon the enthusiastic CO., operation of the party leadership in each state. The party leader ship in the state to be effective must be able to secure the same / cooperation from the district and local leadership and they, in turn, If they are to be useful to the state leadership and consequent ly to the national leadership, must, have the active support of the individual members of the lo- cal party organization. Thus we return to the local organization, which, it must be emphasized, is the backbone of the political party. In fact, it comes pretty near to being the political party.
 Interest Stimulated
 Up to the point, for the sake of simplicity, have spoken only of the official organizations. Actually If the party organization included only those who were members of the committees, and so forth, it would be completely without effect. The party organization in- cludes many, many thousands of people who are loyal to the party of their choice and who work with the official members of the organization to make an effective machine. These people assist In stirring up interest among the general mass of the voters prior to election, provide the official or- ganization with the necessary in- formation so that they can get out the vote which is known to be sympathetic toward them, work on the important matter of mak- ing new voters, attend and help to make successful rallies, meet ings, and so forth. In short, they are the persons who make the party organizations a large and vital force instead of a mere skeleton which goes through the motions of discharging the official duties required by law of 8 poli- tical party. It is not too much to say that the influence over the choice of candidates and the poli- cies of party enjoyed by these persons is many times than en- joyed by the average voters who content themselves with voting and frequently have to be urged and persuaded even to do that. If a larger number of people who are interested in the welfare of their city and of their state and nation would be willing to take the time and make the effort to interest themselves actively in the affairs of the party of their choice, it seems reasonable to ex- pect that great benefit would be derived by the public.