Evening star., 1941-04-15
Fioures Show Defense
Labor Operative,
Murdock Asserts
Senator, Forum Speaker.
Warns Against CurtoiIins
Rights in Democracy

N'2'tS Tvs S<'sS~tS~y
Senator Murdock, Democrat, OF
Utah. 4 member of the Senate Ju-
dietary Committee, discussed the ef-
feet OF labor disputes on the national
defense program in an address last
night in the National Radio Forum,
arranged by The Star.
The talk was broadcast over a ma
tional hookup OF the National
Broadcasting Co., and was heard
locally over Station WMAL.
The text of the speech follows:
Democracy is more than a name
Democracy is a system of govern
ment established to uphold the
rights belonging to free people. De-
nocracy ceases to exist when these
rights are destroyed. Our forefathers
fought and died to establish these
democratic rights. Our Government
Is founded upon and conSecrated to
the maintenance and protection of
these democratic rights. Democratic
rights were not created and bestowed
upon the people by rulers. They
were wrested from the rulers by the
people. So long as the people them
selves refuse to yield up these rights,
democracy will continue to exist.
When the faith of the people in de-
mocracy weakens, when the people
consent to yield up their democratic
rights, democracy will cease to exist.
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The people in many European
countries have lost faith in democ-
racy. They have believed that de-
mocracy will not work in periods Of
emergency. They have believed that
In order to win economic security
or empire or national greatness, or
IN order to protect their homes and
lives they must give up their rights
and accept despotism in place OF
democracy. Would-be dictatorS, Or
eanized foes of democracy and
stupid statesmen have persuaded
them that democracy is an lncom-
petent, inefficient form OF govern
ment, and being thus persuaded,
when confronted with emergency.
they have made the fatal error OF
accepting dictatorship in lieu OF de-
mocracy. We must not make the
mistake of believing that shrewd po-
litical criminals have forced the
people. by violence and arms, to give
up their democratic rights.
No power on earth can force the
masses of the people. against their
will, to do anything. The technique
of would-be dictators Is to WOO the
people away from democracy by ar
gument and propaganda, to assault
and undermine their faith in de-
mocracy, to persuade and convince
them that democracy will not work.
And once let the masses of the peo-
ple believe that democracy will not
work, that it is inefficient, and de-
nnocracy is gone with the wind.
The few remaining democracieS in
the world are now being menaced by
dictatorship. A great war is raging
In Europe and it's dark clouds
thickly overhang Our own land. 1t
is the sacred right and the solemn
duty of Americans to defend their
democracy. We must defend demo-
cracy against our foreign enemies.
But we must do more than that. We
must keep inviolate our own faith
in democracy. We must believe in
it to the point that we are willing
to die for it. Great democrats and
great despots have agreed that men
do not die for causes in which they
do not believe If the does OF democ-
racy can once convince us that
democracy will not work in an
emergency, that democracy is less
eficient than dictatorship. we shall
not then be willing to die for demo-
cracy. And when we lose faith in
democracy to the extent that we are
not willing to fight and die for it,
IL will cease to exist.
Must Be Protected Within.
The United States of America
have already engaged in several
wars: The Revolution, the War OF
1912, the Mexican War, the Civil
War, the Spanish American War
and World War No. l. We have
emerged from all of these wars vic
torious. Throughout all of them we
have maintained and preserved our
democracy. The instrument OF
democracy in the United States is
the Constitution. That instrument
has enabled us to participate in and
wage successfully several wars with
out the sacrifice of democratic
rights If. in the present emergency,
we are obliged to suspend the great
principles of the Constitution, to
suspend our democratic rights, in
other words, to suspend democracy,
that will not prove democracy is in
sfficient or incompetent. But 1t will
prove, most emphatically, that the
American people themselves are not
worthy of democracy. We must re-
member, even in this time of inter-
national chaos, that we must protect
democracy not only against foreign
enemies, but that We must protect
it also against our own fears, our
own weakness, our own hysteria and
our own ignorance.
We hear much in these days about
labor What is American labor?
American labor is the American peo-
pie themselves. With the exception
OF a small and fragile class of idle
rich, all of the American people are
comprised in the class of American
workers. Is there any American
who has so far lost his self-respect
as to deny that he is a worker?
We hear hystericsl charges that
American labor is not loyal That
Is another way of saying that the
American people are not loyal. If
we build an army of one million, or
two million, or ten million soldiers,
OF whom will it consist? 1t will con-
sist of one million Or two million, or
ten million American workers. If we
establish an American Navy of 800
900 sailors, of whom will it consist?
II will consist of 100000 American
workers. Then who dares to make
the charge that American workers
are disIoyal? I call it lie! I call
1t the deception or the delusion of
those who have lost faith in Ameri-
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