Evening star., 1940-07-17
Republican Platform
Attacked, New Deal
Record Praised
Senator Charges 6. O. P.
Administrations Cut
US. Defense Sharply

Administrations Cut
U. S. Defense Sharply
CHICAGO, July 1.-THE tert
OF the address of Senator Bark
ley, permanent chairman. delip-
cred last night before the Demo-
cratic National Convention, fol-
lotDS:
Fellow Democrats:
To the national committee which
recommended, and to this conven-
tion which has chosen me as
permanent chairman, I express my
profound appreciation.
I shall endeavor to preside over
your deliberation with promptness
and fairness to the end that you
may consummate your task. in dig
nifty and good order.
We assemble here in circum-
stances so uncommon, in the midst
of world disorders so unprecedented
and surrounded by domestic OBJ
legations so compulsive as to charge
us with the duty of preparing our
Nation to meet consequences which
will project themselves indefinitely
Into the unpredictable future.
The Democratic party has faced
one crisis after another during It's
long and glorious history.
1t has been tested in the crucible
Of faith and achievement. 1t has
never faltered in its devotion to
the higher interests of the people
of America. 1t will not falter now
But we do not come together in
any vainglorious spirit prompted
by the mere desire for partisan
or personal victory. Unless by our
record in the past and our con-
cept of duty for the future we are
equipped for the tasks of states
manship, we have no claim on the
American people for further pre-
ferment.
Party's Accomplishments
And Record Praised
The record we have made is
written in the history of the Re-
public. While We lay no claim to
perfection and illuminate no pre-
tensions that this record contains
no errors. nevertheless we con-
template with pride the great tasks
we have undertaken and accom-
plished in behalf of democracy and
fh~e~ who ~, ov,l CT
to advance it.
Let us be equally unequivocal in
the program We shall here an
nounce, SO that the American people
and the world will know what we
think and what we propose to do.
The chief, if not the only reason,
for the existence of political parties
Is to afford vehicle for the mould
ing and expression of public opin-
ion and for the fiXation of response
bility in the conduct of the public
business.
There have been occasions when
political organizations were afraid
to speak plainly or intelligently on
problems of transcendent import
ance to this Nation; when language
was employed not to convey, but
to conceal thought; when each
announcement made frontal
attack on all others, and the whole
appeared to have been written In
mud by the migratory heel of a
weasel. Such is the platform
adopted by the Republican party
at Philadelphia three weeks ago.
1t is the perfect example of the
uncertainties and antiquities of
men who do not know where they
are going or what they will do
when they arrive. The day on
which it was written was described
by Walter Lippmann as "black
Tuesday in Philadelphia"
Republicans Chided
On Presidential Nominee.
Having assembled this political
ragout and found it without form
and void, its fabricators concluded
that what it lacked and needed
was color. They wanted not only
color, but they wanted a variety
Of colors. But while they wanted
color, they did not desire fast color.
They desired color whose changing
shades and shadows would be de-
termined by the degree of regula-
ton which a fearless government
saw fit to impose upon a vast en-
pire of power hitherto uncontrolled
In its exercise of dominion over the
social, industrial and economic life
of millions of Americans. They
seemed unwilling or afraid to nomi-
nate any man who had been a
Republican for more than two years.
Hence, they chose political
chameleon.
The Philadelphia convention
constituted the second charge of
the Light Brigade, in the heroic
Battle of Kilowatt.
1t is not my province or my pur-
pose on this occasion to attempt
any detailed review of the history
of the world or our own country
during the past eight years. Much
of that history has been spread be-
fore our eyes with such kaleido-
scopic rapidity as, to. render the
succession of events a little vague
to all but the meticulous historian
1t is no exaggeration to assert that
no similar period in our history has
been so crowded with engrossine
spectacularity or fraught with such
consequences to our institutions or
our methods of life.
Our efforts here at home have not
been inspired by the punitive desire
to set group against group or to
array section against section.' We
inherited chaos eight years ago. We
inherited fear, which was almost
universal We inherited lack of con-
fidence, not only in private enter
prise, but in our public institutions.
The American people had been led
to the brink Of a precipice by the
fallacies of SNUG and blind re-
gime, which found itself impotent
to draw back or to avert the dis
- L.