Milford chronicle., 1937-10-15

uhu Tie tOTlu VI OuI SOfcTumeuL. IL
tendency is reactionary because it
inevitable results in the past hav
been rather the anarchy of confu
sion and turbulence or a dictatorship
as the final protectorate of propert.
and life.
1t may be a coincidence withou
significance, but the truth Is that thu
disavowal of a design to change thu
form of our government is made b,
him in highest official power wht
wrongfully assumed the people,
mandate to change our Supreme
Court and who has just proclaimed
the reactionary doctrine of mass rat
ification of his program as the ulti-
mate of pure democracy.
A dictator will rise on the broker
fragments of the government estab-
] lished by our Constitution only when
are destroyed its two foundation
stones OF a free and Independent jul
dietary and of those limitations
which protect the rights of minori-
ties and perpetuate the principles Of
representative democracy.
(3)
/ close with only a short refer
ence to the perils of a worldwide
tendency and of philosophy of po-
litical and economic action, alien
alike to American traditions and
American constitutional law. The
opening years of the present century
saw the ideal of nationalism change
into imperialistic ambitions and we
are now witnessing the over-reach-
ing ambitions of Russia, Germany,
Italy and Japan. The individualism
of Mill and Spencer began to decline
in the last decade of the 18th CEN
tury and the great world war, the
recession of the ideal of nationalism
and imperialistic expansion have ac-
CELEBRATED the tendency and imperial
istic expansion have accelerated the
tendency towards collectivism to
degree that startles reflective men.
Collectivism with its political ac-
tion in coordination with the COM
munism of Marx; with its control of
all industrial life and economic re-
lations; with its extreme exercise
of the police power for public health
and with its enactment of laws for
the individuals moral and economic
good has passed far the limits ever
heretofore reached by any govern
ment in the assertion of its right to
take from the individual his liberty
for his good or the welfare of the
public.
The pendulum is now swinging to- 1
wards Capitalization in political CO.
with economic action. |
Russia is dominated by the arbitrary
rule of a group of international
who are impelled by no
patriotic impulse, but are motivated |
alone by class aggrandizement. Die
atOrs rule with iron hand Italy and
Germany. Trade unionism is the in
crest of groups is converting the
democracies of
France and England into govern
nents by bloc. In America the Fed
'ral Government has taken to itself
powers of the several states and the
by both federal and state
egislation is submerged in what is
to be the good of the
,roup. Finally, in all western ma
ions a frontal attack aggressively
las been launched and is now press
ng against the institution of private
the foundation on which
low rests the freedom of individual
effort and achievement
md the order and welfare of the
roup.
The reconciliation of society with
he individual, of man and his free
ON with government and its power,
5 the problem of the ages. The
amily, the tribe, the community and
he state, are but means to an end;
nd that ultimate is the good of the
1dividual. Neither the liberty nor
he welfare of the state can be high
+ or better than that of the individ-
al, nor is it different in kind. So
ial welfare, collective contentment
nd national liberty are but the sum
,tal of the good, the happiness and
le freedom of the individual.
Lord Acton has said "the great
uestion is to discover not what gov
prescribe, but what they
light to prescribe; for no prescrip-
on is valid against the conscience
mankind" The freedom of individ-
II man speaks various language,
1t always in a clarion voice; the
'ho of its vibrations never dies and
3 commands are imperious. The
ings that make life real and ear
,st come only from the freedom of
e human mind.
As we look into the far distant
st we can see rude and rough men
citing and mixing under plant
VS.. driven always through the CEN
ries by the aspiration to be free
rough self-mastery; and over all
, see the bending form and earnest
ce of the God of nations and of
en- directing and making real that
piration. Dark now may be the
ght and uncertain the morrow;
I America having reached the
lights of her Constitution and bath
her face in the truths and princi-
IS it formulates and in the social,
0nomic and political justice which
inculcates and seeks to enforce,
Il not extinguish the beacon light
its wisdom or still the heart OF