Evening star., 1939-03-28
Citizens Must Guard
Civil Liberties,
Murphy Emphasizes
Government Can Only
Aid, Attorney General
Says in Forum Speech

discussed Civil Liberties" last night
in the National Radio Forum, ar
ranged by The Star and broadcast
over a Nationwide network Of the
National Broadcasting Co. The text
of his address follows:
Democracy today Is In q fight for
its life. Wherever we look we see
determined efforts to tear down the
things that the masses Of mankind
have been painfully struggling to
achieve all through the ages. The
right of self-government, the right
OF every man to speak his thoughts
freely, the opportunity to express his
individual nature in his daily life
and work, the privilege of believing
IN the religion that his own con-
science tells him is right-all these
precious things that men have won
through blood and anguish are
hanging in the balance.
We must not let the scales drop
the other way. If we do we shall
have betrayed civilization itself. We
must fight to keep these treasures
just as bravely and vigorously as
those who have gone before us
fought to gain them. Democracy
will not save itself. It isn't some
thing automatic that will 60 on and
on by its own power. We can't just
be dreamy and sentimental about it.
We must bestir ourselves and see
that it works smoothly and efficient
ly in every respect. We must ac-
tually apply the principles of de-
mocracy to the world we live in
give them life and substance and
meaning.
Foes Give No Quarter.
It will not be enough to do Just
half the job. We will have to be
thorough and conscientious, because
those who would like to destroy de-
mocracy are doing q thorough job
OF 1t wherever they have the chance.
They are giving no quarter-neither
must we.
The phase of democracy that I |
have in mind particularly tonight |
IS civil liberty. But I want to en-
phasize once more that our fight will
not be won by halfway measures.
Not only must we make civil liberty
living reality, but the democratic
ideal must be applied in every part |
OF our life-social, political and eco
nomic.
Perhaps it would be helpful to
start at the beginning and ask, why
have civil liberties at alp" Gen.
orally speaking, we believe in them
because we are convinced they rep
resent the best possible compromise |
between the governmental regula-
ton that is necessary for an orderly
society and the absolute freedom
that has no limits except the laws
OF nature. But there is another |
reason that comes closer home. We |
who are devotees of democracy be- |
lieve in civil liberties because we
know that without such rights as
freedom Of religion, freedom of
speech and press, freedom to as
semble peacefully and to petition
our government for the correction
of wrongs, democracy cannot pos
sibly exist.
II this, in brief, is the reason
for our faith in civil liberties, what
is our present situation2
Early Liberty Fervent.
1t is common for orators on
patriotic occasions to point to the
early years of our Union as the
period in which love of civil liberty
was at its height. They remind US
that 1t was the denial of liberty that
drove the fathers into violent revolu-
ton. They point out that the
Colonies refused to ratify the Con-
stltution Auntil they were assured
that bin Of rights would be added.
From such good evidence, they pic
tured the period surrounding the
Revolution as Golden Age" of
liberty from which, for one reason
or another, we have steadily de-
clined.
There is another view-which, I
suspect, is held by a considerable
number of people today-that seems
to take civil liberty pretty much for
granted. Those who subscribe to it
look back over $50 years of political
democracy in this country and con-
clude that what has existed so long
will continue to exist. If they see
any present danger to their liberties,
it is at best long way of.
There Is a good deal to be said for
both these attitudes, and particu-
larly the first. Certainly none of us
can forget or ever cease to revere the
spirit of those who wrote and en-
braced the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. We cannot forget how
bravely they took up Patrick Henry's
challenge of liberty or death" and
fought their way to liberty at such
terrific cost.