The Tribune. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1951-19??, 1952-08-09

junction, and no Sz&Sszxs& ~ IN
thirdly whatever. Dr.. Forenoon
But a statesman is
in politics for the benefit of the hu.
man race. A man may start In
McJumpup Junction. as Lincoln
did; everybody has to start some.
where. But he is no statesman until
his home district no longer seems
more important than the wide
world.
For Defense
only A STATESMAN can deal
- with problems of state success.
fully. That was one of the troubles
with the first King of Israel; he
could see his own wishes and inter-
ests. but not those of the nation as
a whole; and God was too seldom In
his thoughts.
Let us mention three problems OF
state which are perennial; they
pressed hard on Saul, they press on
us today.
One is called National Defe4se
There would be no such problem II
all nations were friendly. but they
seldom are. If all nations were on
as good terms with one another as
the United States is with Canada
and Mexico, all of us would be
better off. In ancient Israel they
had this problem; they wanted a
king more than anything else so as
to build UP an armed defense
against ring of enemy nations.
So in the United States today,
the most acute problem, and the
most expensive, before the ma
ton, is that of defense and Sc
curity.
Taxpayers complain without end;
but it should be remembered that
what eats up the taxes isn't the
bureaucrats, it's military expenses
More than rs cents out of every tax
dollar is spent for wars, - past,
present or future. That would not
be necessary If all nations were
friendly. So the underlying problem
of state is: How can we create a
more friendly International situa-
ton?
National Unity
ANOTHER PROBLEM of state is
"A that Of national unity. This was
acute, back in the days of Saul and
Samuel The twelve tribes of Israel
had never done anything together
since the days of Joshua. They
wanted king not only for the sake
Of defense but for the sake of ma
tional unity.
So 1t Is today on a larger scale.
If every congressman goes to the
capital just for this own constitu-
ency and for nobody else, that
makes congress perpetual dog
fight.
There has to be somebody, or
some group of men, who will
be statesmen and not mere poll
ticlans; some person or persons
Of vision and influence, who will
stand for all of the people rather
than for only some of the peo-
pie, who will, IL need be,
stand for all of the people
against some of the people.
But how are such wide-visioned
men to be elected? A man is not
better than his hone-district voters
want him to be.
Can Democracy Be Efficient?
THE FIRST thing that is said OF
i ly centralized power in bust
ness. or nation, or in the church
or anywhere, is that such power Is
more efficient than when 1t is di-
vided up. Some relationships have
been highly efficient.
Mussolini, it was said, cleaned
out the slums of many a city, and
even performed the miracle of
getting Italian trains to run on time.
But he turned out to be just another
tyrant, and his people turned
against him, as long ago the Israe-
lites turned against Saul.
so q third great problem OF
state is this: Can democracy
be efficient? The ideal govern
men. is one which steers be-
tween two extremes: on the one
side is anarchy, which is free
dom without unity; and on the
other side is some absolute
centralized power which COM
pels unity without freedom.
Democracy is precisely the at
tempt to take this middle road. It
is not an easy problem. Saul did not
solve 1t, nor did David after him; II
is not solved today. But only men
Of wide vision and wide concerns,
big-minded, public-spirited, can
even see the problem, much less
try, under God, to solve it.
Copyright 1851 by the Division Of
Christian Education, National Council
OF the Churches OF Christ OF the United
states OF hmertcs Released by HNU
FestufesD
NOTICE - The TRIBUNE