The Washington times., 1938-04-30
May Day in a Democracy

TOMORROW is May Day, international labor day Sc
leced by the Second Socialist international at Paris
in 1889, as distinguished from the American and Ca
madam Labor Day fixed the first Monday in Septem
Der by the Knights of Labor in 1884.
There are couple of facts Americans should bear
thankfully in mind we believe they watch the May
Day parades being held in various cities today.
w4 For one, the Socialists and Commu-
nists' basic idea is that the Government of
G"' ""0e the United States is rotten, corrupt and
fostering institution which ought to be overhrown,
peaceaby possible but not many Reds think that
be peaceably done.
For another, these parades could not be staged in
Rome Berlin while if this Moscow we'd all have
to march watch and like it. Anybody suspected of not
liking it would probably be hauled out of the parade
the sdelines and later "lquidated"
That is one of the things tyranny" means-that you
can't talk against the government will suffer if the gov
eminent catches you thinking against it. Here,
you're entitled to call the President any you
would call the umpire at baseball game-and plenty
of people exercising that right at this time.
Germany, Italy, Russia all are tyrannies. The Com
munists and Socialists think that Germany and Italy
wicked tyrannies but that Russia is nice tyranny and
tyranny Up to now, these three tyrannies look Just
about alike to the great majority of Americans
1t true Mussolin and Hitler have said that de-
mocracy is an expensive luxury and very clumsy, slow
moving kind of government.
President Roosevelt has been trying
for 515 years to achieve various
democracy forms he believes to be necessary if
democracy is to survive. He has had only mod
crate That is because he cannot issue orders
to be carried out by tomorrow morning else He
must persuade millions of people to agree with him,
get Congress to pass the bills, and then hope that
majority of nine old gentlemen having the last guess
will guess his way.
The wageshours bill, probably dead for this
sion of Congress- is in point The bill voted
down yesterday by the House Rules Committee though
hardly anybody would have the nerve to say out loud
that SIG week is too much money to pay worker
with family for 10 hours work in the week. The
NRA, indeed, established such minimum wages to the
stimulation of mass buying power until the Supreme
Court ruled that the Founding Fathers in 1887 wouldn't
have liked it.
Democracy at snas pace toward OBVIOUSLY
needed reforms-and democracy, as regards social
legislation is 80 years behind the British democracy
France alone, of all the surviving democracies seems
to move more slowly than do.
Well why do we put up with it? Why don't we throw
democracy overheard and take Sticky streamned
form of dictatorship, which will at least cut out lost mo-
ruo4 ton and get things done in hurry?
We may have to, day, if we
A"e 1'"e can't patch up system so that it will
work reasonably we'll But if we can hold onto democ-
racy most of us, believe will continue to favor
holding onto it. We have tradition of freedom; an
Unborn hatred of the notion of having General
Tough tell us what and what not to think, say eat,
wear. Democracy still looks cheap at the price,
though the price is terrific.