The Wilmington morning star., 1940-01-04

of the merit system and many
others.
Our continued progress in the
social and economic fields is i'm
portant not only for the signifi-
canoe Of each part of it but for
the total effect which our program
of domestic betterment has upon
that most valuable asset of a ma
ton in dangerous times-its ma
tional unity.
Not In Force Alone
The permanent security of Amer
lea in the present crisis does not
lie in armed force alone. What we
face is a set of worldwide forces
of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., ruthless.
destructive OF all the moral, re-
ligious and political standards
which mankind, after centuries of
struggle, has come to cherish most.
In these moral values, in these
forces which have made u ma
ton great, we must actively and
practically %reassert our faith.
These UNCONSTITUTIONAL unity
must not be allowed to become
merely a high sounding phrase, a
vague generality, a pious hope, to
which everyone can give lip-serv-
ice. They must be made to have
real meaning in terms of the daily
thoughts and acts of every man.
woman and child in our land dur
ing the coming year and the years
that lie ahead.
For national unity is, in a very
real and deep sense, the funda-
mental safeguard of all democracy.
Doctrines which set group against
group, faith against faith, race
against race, class against class,
tanning the fires of hatred in men
too respondent, too desperate to
think for themselves, were used as
rabble-rousing slogans on which die
tators could ride to power. And
once in power they could saddle
their tyrannies on whole nations,
and on their weaker neighbors.
Danger
This is the danger to which we in
America must begin to be more
alert. For the apologists for foreign
a-ggressors, and equally those selfish
and partisan groups at home who
wrap themselves in a false mantle
of Americanism to promote their
own economic, financial or political
advantage, are now trying European
tricks upon us, seeking to muddy
the stream of u national thinking,
weakening us in the face of danger,
by trying to set our own people to
fighting among themselves. Such
tactics are what have helped to
plunge Europe into war. We must
combat them, as We would the
plague, if American integrity and
security r to be preserved. We
can not afford to face the future as
a disunited people.
We must as a united people keep
ablaze on this continent the flames
of human liberty, of reason, of
democracy and of fair play as liv-
ing things to be preserved for the
better world that is to come.
Overstatement, bitterness, vitu-
peration, and the beating of drums,
have contributed nightly to ill-feel-
ing and wars between nations. f
these unnecessary and unpleasant
actions are harmful in the inter
national field, they are also hurtful
in the domestic scene. Peace among
ourselves would seem to have some
of the advantage of peace between
us and other. nations. And in the
long run history amply demon
strates that angry controversy sure
ly wins less than calm discussion.
In the spirit, therefore, of a
greater unselfishness, recognizing
that the Notwithstanding the Unit
ed States of America - passes
through p%erilous times, I am very
hopeful that the closing session of
the seventhy-sixth congress will
consider the needs of the nation and
of humanity with calmness, toler.
ance and cooperative wisdom.
May the year 1910 be pointed to
by our children as another period
when democracy justified it's exist
ence as the best instrument of gov
eminent yet devised by mankind.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT.
The White House,
| January 8, 1910.