Evening star., 1938-12-23

dividual Christian. But, If he Is
civilized, one must love humanity.
If life is to be worth living, one must
have passionate belief in the in
herent nobility of the human race.
Passion for justice for all men,
not only at home but abroad, Is not
incompatible with a concern for our
own rights as human beings and
for the rights, privileges and op-
portunities that will be our children's
only If we defend them against
every attack. have always thought
that intelligent selfshness was one
of the most worthwhile Of human
motives. 1t is proper for us to be
selfish about our rights and priv
ileges as American citizens-at least
selfish enough to guard vigilantly
our rights of free speech, free as
semblage and free press. Nor can
any one legitimately question the
right to guard selfishly our material
possessions and our economic op-
portunities. But unless our selfish
ness had a generous measure of in
telligence stirred into it, it is likely
to be self-defeating.
If we are selfish about our polit-
ical rights and NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. for
the precious endoWments reserved
for us by our ancestors in the Bill
of Rights-for ourselves alone, we
are in an untenable moral position.
We must be equally jealous for the
rights of others, and this involves a
willingness on our part to defend
the right of any citizen freely to
express his views even if those views
be abhorrent to us. The right to
believe in the multiplication table
because every one else does is no
right at all. The trainers of the
Constitution cemented the rights of
free speech, free aSsemblage and
free press into the bedrock of our
institutions for the benefit of minor
tiles. The majority can always take
care of itself. The difficulty of the
majority is to restrain itself within
proper bounds. 1t is the minority
that needs protection from the ag-
gression of an intolerant majority.
-Semitism But q Symbol.
And the same reasoning applies
to selfish concern for material pos
sessions. Unless this selfshness is
intelligent, it, too, is all too likely to
be self-defeating. If we demand
economic opportunities for ourselves
we must be willing to yield equal
economic opportunities to all others.
One thing that is the trouble with
our country today is that there has
been too much economic selfishness
totally unrelieved by intelligence.
At the end of this road lies the de-
struction of the United States OF
America as free land composed of
free men and women, just as abroad
we have seen free countries de-
teriorate into relationships ruled by
the heavy hand of voodoo high
priests.
Let us never forget that the re-
crudescence Of anti-Semitism in the
world today is a symptom of the
decline of democracy. We know
that the emancipation of the Jew in
the western world came with the
rise OF democracy. We know that it
Is in the lands where democracy has
ceased to work that intolerance has
raised Its ugly head and has turned
1t malevolence upon the Jews and
other helpless minorities.
1t is not enough to protest against
anti-Senlitism, for all anti-Semitism
is but a symptom. We must reach
down and deal fearlessly with the
political, economic and social condi-
tions which have caused the re-
vival of anti-Semitism. We must
reach down and deal with those con-
ditions which have caused men and
women to yield their democracy to
dictatorship. We must see to it
that democracy works, not to the
economic advantage of a few, but
for the Well-being of the many.
Jews Fate Tied to Demoeracy's.
Americans without regard to race
or religion demand just and equal
treatment for the Jew. But the Jew
will never be safe unless democracy
is safe. I do not expect the Jew to
live by different law than the nom
Jew. But If the economic system
does not operate fairly, one cannot
assume that the victims of economic
injustice will be fair or just when
they seek to place the responsibility
for their misfortune. Nor is it likely
that the benet1ciaries of special priv
ilege will hesitate to divert the wrath
of their victims away from them
selves to some other group which can
conveniently be made to serve as a
scapegoat. Until there Is real eco
nomic democracy in the land, the
Jew, regardless Of the facts, is in
constant danger of attack as the TO-
menter of Communism or as the