Evening star., 1943-09-12
~ the Associated Press.

~ the Associated Press
An abbreviated tert OF Vice
President Wdlldce's address be-
fore a meeting sponsored bp the
Chicdgo United Nations Commit
tee to Win the Peace.
Those of you who must read the
Mccormick press know the inevit-
able conflict is here. Now, not to-
morrow. We shall soon know
whether the common man shall
have democracy first" or whether
under the smooth phrase, Amer
lea nrst," the common man shall be
robbed. Beautiful advertisements
and slick editorials say, Let our
soldiers come home to America as
1t used to be-" What they are really
saying is: Let us go back to nor
malcy, depressions, cartels and a
war every Is years."
In World War we fought to
make the world safe for democracy.
We failed. Hitler rose, and the sec
ond World War came on because we
were not sufficiently concerned with
the plight of the common man the
world over. We did not realize that
economic democracy must be COM
bined with political democracy or
political democracy would die. Hit
Ter exploited our failure to establish
an economic democracy by starting
World War II.
If we are to prevent a second Hit
Ter and World War III, we must
be more daring than we were Is
years ago. We must fight not mere
ly to make the world safe for de-
mocracy, but to give democracy first
place In the world. Some people say
America first" Under. that slogan
we can have only war, because un-
der it envious, hungry peoples, the
have-not nations with per capita
resources less than one-fifth our
own. will inevitably rise up to tear
us down. The battle cry, America
FIRST" means that sooner or later
we shall find ourselves alone, en-
circled by and fighting against a
hostile combination. But the slo-
gan, Democracy first" intelligently
followed up and vigorously applied,
can lead to peace. AS a matter of
fact, it is only by applying the prin-
ciples OF Democracy first" that we
can have any chance of lasting
peace.
Freedom Is Key.
The slogan democracy first"
means the supremacy of freedom in
both the economic and the political
world. Freedom means respect for
the dignity of the individual. No
man should be free to take another
mans freedom away from him. God
gave every one of us certain rights.
He gave all of us a world rich in soil
and minerals. And to many of us
he gave such scientific understand
ing that We know it is now possible
to build health, comfort and happi-
ness for every one. If we plan right,
there can be freedom from hunger
and freedom from the fear of a
poverty stricken old age. The farmer
can be free of his fear of impossihly
low prices for what he sells and out
rageously high prices for what he
buys. The businessman can be free
from the fear of those monopolies
and international cartels which use
unfair practices in buying from him,
selling to him or competing with
him.
In the world of modern technology,
the possibilities of abundant produc-
ton are so great that it is only a
question Of time until we can bring
the blessing of freedom from want
to every one. Two hundred years
ago, freedom of discussion and free
dom OF religion meant more to peo-
pie than freedom from want. Those
were the days when men on the
farm and in the workshop were only
about one-tenth as efficient as they
are today. There was little talk
about freedom from want in those
days because nearly every one
thought scarcity was the will of God.
Therefore. attention was centered
on political freedom. on freedom of
expression and freedom of religion,
on the right to be secure in ones
own home
U. S. Started Move.
With the old-line Tories having
things their own way in England
and France, it was necessary to have
a peoples revolution to launch the
idea of political freedom. We in the
United States told the world what
we were fighting for in the Decla-
ration OF independence. Our first
action after adopting the Consti-
tuition was to improve that Consti-
tuition by adding to it the Bill of
Rights so as to make it certain that
political democracy would always
be the fundamental law of the
United States. We shall never give
up the freedom embodied in the
Declaration of independence and
the Bill of Rights. But that free