Evening star., 1939-02-22

Va pa y eNASA
Of the American Republic said:
This spirit, unfortunately, is
lnseparable from our nature, having
Its root in the strongest passions of
the human mind. 1t exists under
different shapes in all governments,
more or less stif1ed, controlled or
repressed; but in those of the popu-
lar form it is seen in its greatest
rankness and it is truly their worst
enemy.
The alternate domination of one
faction over another, sharpened by
the spirit of revenge natural to party
dlssension, which in different ages
and countries has perpetrated the
most horrid enormities, is itself a
frightful despotism. But this leads
at length to more formal and per-
manent deSpotism The disorders
and miseries which result gradually
incline the minds of men to seek
security and repoSe in the absolute
power Of an individual; and, sooner
or later, the chief of some prevailing
faction. more able or more fortunate
than his competitors, turns this dis
position to the purpose of bis own
elevation on the ruins of public
liberty.
Without looking. forward to an
extremity of this kind, which never
theless ought not to be entirely out
OF sight, the common and continual
mischiefs of the spirit of party are
sufficient to make it the interest and
duty of wise people to discourage
and restrain it.
Ill-Founded Jealousies.
ut serves always to distract the
public councils and enfeeble the
public administration. 1t agitates
the community with ill-founded
tealousies and false alarms; kindles
the animosity of one part against
another: foments occasional riot and
insurrection. 1t opens the door to
foreign influence and corruption
which finds facilitated access to
the Government itself through the
channels of party passions. Thus
the policy and the will of one coun-
try are subjected to the policy and
will of another.
There is an opinion that parties
IN free countries are useful checks
upon the administration of the Gov
eminent and serve to keep alive the
spirit of liberty. This within certain
limits Is probably true. =" It is
certain there will always be enough
of that spirit (of party) for every
salutary purpose. And there being
constant danger of excess, the effort
ought to be, by force of public opin-
ion, to mitigate and assuage it. A
fire not to be quenched, it demands
a uniform vigilance to prevent it
bursting into fame lest, instead OF
warming, it should consume
New York Demonstration.
There can be little doubt from a
reading of recent events that fac
tionalism, having it's origin in
episodes occurring in foreign coun-
tries, has spread widely in America
The demonstration in New York
City this week as between pro and
anti-Nazi factions is a case in point.
Under the terms of democracy, both
factions have the right to public
meetings and to give vent to their
feelings. But the spread of faction
alism which is related to events
abroad cannot but have its roper
cussions in some of the ways
described in the famous Farewell
Address
Thus bitterness has already been
engendered in the factions in
America which are discussing ma
tional defense and foreign policy.
Those spokesmen who conscien-
tiously believe America should re-
main silent no matter what the
excesses are abroad come into
conflict with the critics who think
they are ignoring humane consid-
erations or else that they are
inwardly sympathetic with Fascist
doctrines. Such imputations may
be grossly unfair. They are on a
par with the unhappy way in which
many Americans began to view
persons Of German origin in the
days Immediately after the United
States entered the war in 1917.
German Americans Suffer.
No matter what the cause of
estrangement as between the United
States and Germany, the German
Americans suffer the consequences.
They cannot themselves proclaim to
everybody on Every occasion that
they have no sympathy with Nazi
Germany. They cannot carry ban
ners to that effect In their shops
and stores. Yet they have not the
least feeling of kinship with the Nazi
rulers who are ordering excesses
abroad.
For these reasons the spirit of
9actionalism often becomes the
spirit OF party politics, and one or
the other Of the groups, as the case
may be, happens to gravitate toward
the political banners of one faction
or the other. In country made up of
80 many different foreign peoples,
the problems are far more difficult
than appear on the surface. Hence
anything and everything which can
be done by our Government to
mitigate the causes of friction he.
tween the United States and Ger
many Is In the interest of repress-
ing the spirit of factionalism and