Evening star., 1940-07-17

| tne DemOcratlc convention, as
ought to welcome some degree of
stabilization. ii
During this pretended eclipse of
free enterprise in America the ma
tional income has increased from
SO billions to II billions of dollars
| per annum. The last Republican
administration had reduced it from
80 billions to SO billions and had
inaugurated that succession of an
nual deficits which they now pro-
claim as the peculiar patent of the
Roosevelt administration. The fun
damental difference between the two
situations Is that Roosevelt deficits
have been reflected in vast i'm
provements and additions to the
values OF property and life in every
community in the United States,
while there cannot be found in any
part of the Nation any evidence of
value or increased enjoyment of life
that previous deficit spending had
accomplished.
In this same period during which
they believe freedom has ned from
| our shores and the credit Of the
Government has been jeopardized,
the price of Government bonds on
the markets of the Nation and the
world rose from 80 cents on the
dollar to nearly one dollar and 20
cents. notwithstanding a substan-
tial decrease in the rate of interest
which these obligations bear.
Total Indebtedness
Declared Decreasing.
During this same period the total
Indebtedness of the American people
has decreased by more than 10 bill
lion dollars, which does not indicate
that they are headed toward pre-
dicted bankruptcy.
as These improvements, these aids
70 industry and to labor, and the
general restoration of the morale
OF our people have cost money. We
do not deny that. They have made
1t necessary for us to borrow money
and levy taxes which under normal
conditions would have been unnec-
essary and undesirable.
But the American people are not
and will not be frightened into
panic when they realize that dur
ing the last seven years. while the
debt Of the National Government
has increased by % billion dollars
their total other public and private
debts have decreased by more than
80 billion dollars, and that during
this same seven-year period their
aggregate income has increased
four times as much as has the in
debtedness Of the Federal Govern
ment.
| All this has been done in order
to restore the faith of the Amer
1can people in their Government
and to emphasize the fact that our
Government is not an austere,
unapproachable, inanimate thing
of yonder in Washington, taking
no account of or interest in the
affairs of those who support it.
All this has been done to demon
strate that the processes of de-
mocracy can be made to respond
to the needs of men and women.
1t has been done in order to prove
that under our Constitution and
without changing or undermining
our form Of Government, it can
be made an instrument Of service
under the stress of great crisis.
Autocracy Rearing Head
| In Many Parts Of World.
Everywhere it seemed that the
doctrine proclaimed by Thomas
Jefferson that all governments de-
rived their just powers from the
consent OF the governed was on the
march and would at length cover
the earth like the waters cover the
sea.
I But In the last decade or two this
process seems to have gone in re-
verse. Whether as the result Of
some evil spirit loosed by the
agonies of the World War, or in
consequence of the impotence of
existing regimes to understand or
respond to the needs of the people,
we need not here undertake to de-
termine. But we do know that
autocracy rears its ugly face in
larger portions Of the world today
than at any time since the forma-
ton Of the American republic, and
we do know that we are confronted
with the alternative Of defending
and preserving our democratic in
stitutions as we have built them
and enjoyed them, or seeing them
confounded by the conveyance of
antagonistic ideologies in q world
dedicated not to the proposition
that all men are created equal. but
that all men are created to feed the
NAV Of grasping. greedy, totalitarian
states.
In the midst of these alterna-
tives there is but one choice that
the American people can make
with honor to themselves and fidelity
to the traditions and principles for
which the Nation was created and
to which it is dedicated.
That choice is to: fight against
those who would assault our terri
tory, our independence, our ideals,
or our vital interests, or anything
which we are committed or pledged
to defend and preserve, whether
that assault is launched from for
eign source or is instigated by dis
loyal or subversive influence with
in osH own borders.
1 It cannot be denied that democ-
naEy WAS II sore need Of this proof
Eof its efacacy and its power.
NeYsr before n Gun, history hi