Evening star., 1940-11-01
Compares Roosevelt
With George Ill
Declaration Of independence
Cited in PIeu for
Wendell WiIIkie
To the Editor of The Star:

To the Editor of The Star:
Adherents of the third-term party
are now wearing lapel buttons which
urge Roosevelt Forever" On the other
hand there is feeling among many
Americans that if the third-term
precedent Is violated on November 5,
our free institutions will soon be sub
merged in the muck of totalitarianism
and dictatorship created. 1t is alleged
by the supporters of Mr. Roosevelt that
there is no basis for this belief; that
the liberties and rights guaranteed all
citizens by our Constitution will sur
vive even if Mr.. Roosevelt is reelected.
I submit that there is a most concrete
basis for this belief, and I say that the
fight for freedom is little different today
than it was in l776, except that today
the issues are hidden by the war clouds
over Europe and that the battle for
freedom will be won on November 5,
this year. by ballots rather than blood
shed. In fact, the danger today is
greater than in 1776, because the minds
of men have been numbed by gold and
false promises, and patriotism has been
so blinded by pernicious theories of
government that not until despotism
has been firmly and irrevocably estab-
hshed by those who seek it will the
minds of some men be opened.
In 1776 our forefathers, among other
things, asserted in the Declaration of
Independence that:
When a long train of abuses and
unsurpationS, pursuing invariably the
same object. evinces design to reduce
them under absolute despotism, it is
their right, it is their duty, to throw
off such government, and to provide
new guards fog their security"
1t is the duty of every American at
this critical period in our history to
determine whether or not that assertion
can be applied to the third-term party.
I allege that it can. The abuses today
are so similar to those perpetrated by
King George III over $50 years ago,
that to ignore them is to submit openly
and knowingly 70 a form of govern
ment to which our forebears were so
opposed that many of them laid down
their lives rather than exist under 1t.
What are the abuses which caused
our forebears to revolt and declare
themselves independent? I here list
several of them, taken from the Decla-
ration of independence, and urge every
American to review the activities of the
tfird-term party during the past seven
and one-half years, and compare them
with the abuses of $50 years ago.
He has refused his assent to laws,
the most wholesome and necessary for
the public good"
We all know-or should know-that
there have been pending in Congress for
many months three important pieces
of legislation, viz. the Smith amend
ments to the National Labor Relations
Act. the Walter-Logan bill and the
amendments to the wage-hour law. We
also know that the third-term party
has employed every means and parlia-
mentary trick to prevent Congress from
considering and voting on this legis-
lation. The people, through their rep
resentatives. have been prevented from
either defeating or enacting this i'm
portant legislation.
He has refused to pass other laws
for the accommodation of large dis
tricts of people, unless those people
would relinquish the right of repre-
sentation in the Legislature, right
inestimaple to them and formidable
to tyrants only"
The President of the United States
two years ago-and none can deny
the fact-attempted to purge Senators
Tydings of Maryland, Gillette of Iowa,
Smith of South Carolina, George Of
Georgia and McCarran of Nevada be-
cause they would not do his bidding.
Yet the people of their respective
States returned these Senators to their
seats In Congress.
HE has dissolved representative
houses repeatedly, for opposing with
manly firmness his invasions on the
rights of the people
The President of the United States,
the candidate of the third-term party,
early last summer stated that the work
OF Congress was completed and urged
it to adjourn sine die, when, in fact, to
provide an adequate defense for our Ma
ton, Congress since that time has ap-
propriated about s100O0,OO0,0O0 for
necessary defense purposes, and even
now refuses to adjourn.
He has made judges dependent on his
will alone for the tenure of their Offices,
and the amount and payment of their
salaries"
The President of the United States
and, again, none can deny it-tried to
obtain the passage of legislation not
many months ago to pack the Supreme
Court with men dependent on his will
alone Only the bitter indignation of an
aroused people prevented him from
achieving that insidious end.
"He has erected a multitude of new
offices, and sent hither swarms of officers
to harass our people, and eat out their
substance"
Little need be said here King George
III, in this respect, can relinquish the
mantle to the candidate of the third
term party.
"He has kept among us, in times of
peace, standing armies without the con-
sent of our legislatures"
Here some will differ But those who
fear conscription fear it only because
they fear the persons who will admin
lister it. Already favoritism has crept
in. The appointment of Elliott Roose-
uelt rontoip tho cIInn1v division