The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1941-02-06
THROUGH
HAZ E L
E Y S
.
Hazel Brannon
Making Democracy Work
Hazel Brannon

informed adult population and the
underprivileged classes in the be-
ginning for the spread Of his doc
trines, said Miss Thomasine Camp
ben, field worker of the National
Federation of Business and Pro-
fessional Women's Clubs in an ad-
dress in Jackson Monday evening.
Miss Campbell returned a few
months ago from q stay of several
years in the various countries of
Europe where she was in good posi-
ton to see the beginning and spread
of the continental revolution which
has been going like wildfire the past
eighteen months.
In an eloquent and sincere nan
ner Miss Campbell graphically deg
cribed many events to which she
was an eyewitness . things tina.
Americans have been reading about
IN newspapers and magazine ar
ticles and stories and finding hard
to believe. She was in Vienna when
Austria fell to Adolph Hitler and
she was in Paris on that fateful May
nth. She witnessed the rise Of the
Italian dictator for three years in
italy and the Communicating Of
thousands Of Italians wh1m she
said did not want to fight
Hitler first used the students in
Vienna for the promulgstion Of his
ideas. He played up to the ~universal
desire Of young people to be busy
doing something. He promised them
jobs and q better life the same IS
he did the underprivileged classes.
His agents represented Hitler to be
the Great Liberator, q kind of God
who would no longer Cypress them
but give them some great work to
do. give them food. clothing and
shelter, food for their children who
were starving.
The fact that thousands, perhaps
millions, of people in the various
ANAL countries of Europe were
starving and racked with disease.
was the most important revelation
Miss Campbell made during the
course of her absorbing two-hour
speech, in our estimation.
Surely we Americans must realize
that all Of Europe vas fertile
ground for any man to rise to power
who would promise the better life
to people who did not have enough
to eat, Surely, too, we must realize
.thA& II We arr to kin Hitlerism for
ever we are going TO have to do
something besides kill Adolph Hitler,
all his followers and then occupy
his country from now until eter-
nifty.
We cannot kill off . whole race
Of people. But surely we can devise
q system whereby all of the people
of the world can work and eat and
have the necessities of life at least
to the point where they can be
normally healthy.
The present war that is being
waged is economic. 1t is not just a
war for the preservation of the
capitalistic system. 1t is not a war
to preserve democracy. Englishmen
and Americans are being told that
this wal is being fought to preserve
"our way Of life," our der,ocratic
institutions, our personal freedom
and to keep us from becoming
slaves.
1t should be self-evident that any
system which makes its people so poor
and miserable they desperately grab
at any leadership, eve as vicious
as that of Hitler, to try to find re-
lief, must need some kind of over
hauling.
The people of the world must
have enough to- eat if they are y
.pected to be and remain peace-lov-
ing. The right to eat doesn't belong
exclusively to England and America.
1t should be enjoyed by all the 9TH
err people of the world.
Mr.. Roosevelt and our congress
men might well ask themselves what
"our way of life" NEAR to the mil
lions of men and women, boys and
girls in America. They should ex-
anime closely our system with its
democratic institutions and pro
cesses and see just what they mean
to our people. Are they worth pre-
serving2 Is "our system" worth pre-
serving?
The answer to that question viii
vary in the many walks of life
throughout America. In the homes
where the head Of the house Is
worth millions of dollars the answer
would undoubtedly be eyes, Demo
cracy is worth preserving"
But the numbers of well-to-dc
homes in America are much fewer
than the thousands of homes where
the net income is $164. If you're
from one Of those homes, or if yor
are a member of the millions Of
homes affected by unemployment
in America, perhaps you don't thinl