Show down the road r TO to i james F byrnes who was formerly secretary of state aw and i has long held a high place in the I 1 councils of the deni democratic socratic party recently said we are going down the road to where we will wind up no one can tell but if some of the new programs seriously proposed should be adopted there is danger that the individual whether farmer worker manufacturer I 1 fac lawyer or doctor will boon iksoon be an economic slave pulling 1 an oar in the galley of the state I 1 that same idea in different 1 words has been expressed time t and again by other american leaders of all political and economic I 1 views and affiliations more important that idea is based solidly upon a rock of A fact I 1 the me whole history of the modern i world supports it that history is a black and dreary record of steady loss of individual liberty under the crushing force of all powerful government we see it in its extreme form in the communist countries where tactics of terror unknown since medieval days are used to crush I 1 dissent and frighten people into anti 1 I line we see it in a much modified version in present day england where the forms of anglo saxon I 1 law are still followed and the I 1 structure of representative government I 1 still stand but the difference I 1 te s one of detail and degree not of r principle Tin ciple it may be that the greatest danger is short lighterness the man who runs a store may feel for instance that government ownership of some great industry euch as electric power is of senall moment to him the man who works in a factory may see no personal menace in law that would give the government broad controls over doctors A labor leader eader may welcome more and more governmental domination of industrial leaders with whom he has differences this is the way dictatorship comes about one group is taken over at a time while the other groups stand by and argue that its no affair of theirs then when it is too la late te we find to our horror that were all in the same boat in modern modem times no nation which has lost its freedom has ever regained it the totalitarian victories are peT permanent manent on the other hand the victories rf cf those who still believe in freedom and justice are temporary the battle must be fought again and again year after year on front after front and each must be won the road to is marked with cheerful signs human welfare a better life for the masses of people security against everything but when the end is reached the people are always in chains |