T^dress^By Earl Baldwin of Bewdle
New York Times, August 17,1939.
and Other Speakers at Forum Dinner
— •      — i =rj -— , - ¦¦ -—j ¦ ' ^-^~^..lZX\ rests; on-Sim; -;The machine to of-;' I me but it fills me with admlra-
me, to a far broader and more dlf-
The tost of the address of Barll "cult one than ours. Politically,
Baldwin of Bewdley, former Prime'you .hftVe ft written Constitution,
im congress on Education for De- did all that human skill could de-
mocracy, dhd digest* of the ad- vise to protect you from the—
dresses of Winthrop W. Aldrtoh and shall we say—abuse of power by a.
Louis J. Taber follow:
By Earl Baldwin
There Is ono* thing our peoples
—yours and mine—have in com-
mon: freedom in the air we
breathe, freedom is In our blood
and bones: the independence of
the human spirit. But we are so
used to It, that if we ever think
of it at all, we think It has
dropped Into our laps like manna
from the skies, and unless we go
a little beneath the surface in
our questioning, we may feel that
wo enjoy this freedom because
we are better than other people,
and therefore more worthy of It.
Indeed, we may give an Impres-
sion to the world of that compla-
cent self-righteousness which is
said to be one of our most offen-
sive and irritating characteris-
tics.
The truth Is that the vast ma-
jority of our peoples have forgot-
ten that this freedom was bought
with a great price; that It was
obtained by the struggles of gen-
erations of those who went be-
fore us, by mental wrestlings, by
endurance of persecution, by
successive failures and triumphs,
and we have entered Into their
labors, the labors of men far
bettor than ourselves. And If we
j realize this, how can we Imagine
that what has been won at such
a price can be maintained with-
out effort and at no cost to our-
selves? Can the lamp by the
light Of which our ancestors trod
[ their upward path still show us
the way- unless we keep it
trimmed and bright when it Is
! handed   to   us?    Some such
I thoughts as these haves.been in
our minds In Europe since the
Great War, and if they were not
I in many minds in America, you
would never have  called this
great convention before, which I
have the honor of speaking.
Questions for the Democracies
Now the questions whioh you
are putting to yourselves are ques-
tions which are being asked In
. the great democracies of the
world, and an answer must be
found. Have we fallen short of
our Ideals? What are our ideals?.
Is democracy safe in the world?
What perils face democracy, with-
in and without? The peril today
from without to plain for the
world to see. In Europe It may
be a challenge to the death. But
perils from within are common to
us all. As I said in Toronto only
the other day: "Ideas are on the
wing," and ideas may be a great-
er peril to democracy than the
sword. Only a democracy healthy
tbody and In every limb can be
nune to that .infection. You
and I are probably at one In our
Ideals, but our problems are dif-
ferent, and the difference to due
to certain obvious factors. You
live in a vast country; I live In a
i very small one. Our population
Is homogeneous—living In an
.Island, we have welded the dif-
ferent peoples who invaded us
• Into a compact whole, and we
have had .hundreds of years In
which to do this, with no fresh
mixture of alien blood. 1
You are still In process of ab-
sorbing millions of your people
and of making them Into good
Americans* people to whom free-
dom was but a name when they
first landed on your shores.
Our Industrial population,
wherever It may be concentrated
in Great Britain, can be reached
at any point In a few hours at the
most. Yourjproblem, It scorns to
temporary majority; we are de-"
- pendent on that spirit of give and
take, of moderation that to char-
; acteristlo of our people'.   But If
• they lose that, if a party majority
were ever to play with the idea of
forcing on the country their will
before the country as a whole ap-
proved of that will, we might find
ourselves near to revolution more
quickly than you would,
Urges Work for Same Ends
These are a few of the obvious
differences of environment and
circumstances between us, and
the more clearly we perceive them
the less we shall be disposed to
criticize and advise each other.
Let us recognize that we both
have a great part to play, and get
on eaoh with our own Job at home,
each convinced of the warm sym-
pathy of the other, working for
the same great ends, but not nec-
essarily on the same lines. And I
have come over to speak to you
tonight because I was Invited by
a representative body of Ameri-
cans who were good enough to'
think that I might say something
to be of help to you at the pres-
ent time. And I think I can help
this great conference best not by
offering advice, for which I am
not qualified and which. Indeed,
j would be an impertinence, but by
, telling you something of my own
experience during the years when
I was called upon to guide the
destinies of a great democracy
through that difficult and critical
i period Immediately following the
j war.
j- Difficult as our problems are,
there are many things In com-
mon, and the story may give you
lines of thought which may be
useful to you in adapting them to
your own purpose. As the world
is today* great events In one con-
tinent have their repercussions in
another; no one can live out his
life in a walled garden. In a
short address on a subject on
which volumes might be written i
I may at times sound didactic:
that you must forgive. It Is the
last thing I wish to be, but I have
not time In which to qualify and
say with each statement "It seems
to me." I speak fpr no one but
myself;, my public work to fin-
ished.
Now It was quite clear in Eu-
rope that after the war we were
in a new world. The men at the
helm of the various countries
were soiling Into uncharted seas,
and seas not free from fog. Text-
books were of no use: history had
to be Written as we went along.
It was obvious that Industrial his-
tory would be written at a speed
never approached in its century-
old evolution. Democracy Itself
and government had Indeed be-
come, the "great adventure."
Talked Democracy for 15 Years
I I tried with many others 'at
east to prepare the way for the I
hew age, And I talked to the peo-
iloiabout democracy for fifteen
years without pause.   It was an
(attempt at that education of de-
mocracy, to forward which Is now
'the object of great associations
formed of men from all parties
on both sides of the Atlantic. No
student of history can have any
doubt but that democracy to far
the most difficult form of govern-
ment that has ever existed. In
a totalitarian State the citizen-
has only to do as he Is told; he
has Hot to think, to make a
choice;  no direct responsibility;
rests on turn. .The machine to ef-
fective so long as he obeys. The
success of a democracy depends
upon every one realizing his or
her responsibility to It; thinking
of his duties and forgetting for a
time his rights. If he recognizes
no duties toward the form of gov-
ernment to which he to ready
enough to pay lip service and to
shout for, the day'may come
•when he will lose his rights by*
dangers from without or within.
That calls for education and char-
acter; education in problems do-
mestic and* foreign so as to have
material wherewith to form a
Judgment, and character to con-
centrate on the essential and to
look beyond the Immediate effect
of particular action on the for-
tunes of a favorite politician,
A democrat should work for and
be prepared to die for his demo-
cratic Ideals, as the Nazis and
Communists are for theirs. And
he will never work for It, much
less die for it, unless he is con-
vinced that democracy Is capable
of making a country worthy of
his ideals, and If that democrat
be of British stock, making a
country worthy of his spiritual
ideals. He may not recognize
easily those ideals; he certainly
cannot easily express them, but
the Bible reading of his ancestors
has left so deep a mark upon him
that subconsciously he can never
embrace a cause thai grips his
whole being unless he feels in his
bones that it Is morally right.
Believing this, I would always
stress the spiritual rather than
the political foundations of de-
mocracy. It to a recognition of
the dignity of man and of his in-
dividuality, and that dignity and
individuality are his as a child of
God. There Is the unbridgeable
gulf between the democracy and
the isms that are for the time
being In control of so large a
part of Europe. If that be our
conviction, with' what different
eyes we regard our work! Each
Individual man becomes a human
soul with his life to live, and you
feel that no work to too hard, no
drudgery too dull, If you can do
your little bit to make your coun-
try a place In which the environ-
ment will help him to that end.
Differences and honest differ*
ences as to how that end to to
be accomplished there will be, but
with the common purpose there
should be a deep national unity.
That to a unity of divine purpose,
springing from the people them-
selves, not imposed, and there-
fore In time of strain infinitely
more binding.
The Recognition of Duty
People thus inspired will be
more disposed totrecognlze their
duties. Every free human Insti-
tution, If- it is to be preserved,
needs Its watch dogs, and no in-
stitution more than a democratic
government, and the people must
realize that their responsibility
under a representative system
is the choice of candidates and
the honor of their representa-
tives. And for the maintenance of
that honor there must be a con-
tinuing Interest and unsleeping
vigilance on the part of the elec-
tors. There should be no higher
honor than to be a representa-
tive of the people; it should be a
legitimate object of ambition to
the best men in the country, and
the position of such men should
be respected by the community.
Are these things beyond us? I
have often thought many of us
aro apt -to underrate the quality
of the ordinary man. Two things
have impressed themselves on me
as the result of my own experi-
ence as a political -leader. One to
the extraordinary Instinct of our
people to see clearly and to make
up their minds quickly and surely
on a critical Issue. I have seen It
many times. It does not surprise
me but Jt fills me with admira-
tion. It makes a man proud to
work for sfrohra people. The sec-
ond thing is their openness to ap-
peals on the highest grounds.
There are some politicians, as
there are some newspaper men,
who have a contempt for the
ordinary man and think that any
garbage Is good enough for him.
The politician may draw cheers;
the newspaper man may make
money, but power and influence
they-will never get by such
means. The ordinary man In the
main wants to do the right thing,
and If the politician doesn't be-
lieve that, he to himself one of
the greatest obstacles to the suc-
cessful working of the democratlo
system.-'"
Now I spoke a few minutes ago
of the perils that face democracy
from without and within. These
perils are real; they are at our
doors. Of these things I have
been speaking at home since the
early years after the war; I have
never addressed an American au-
dience; probably none of you
have read anything I have said,
so I have no need to apologize to
you for going over some of the
ground I have so often covered at
home.
Ideas are on the wing. Science
has brought the nations of the
world jostling together and Ideas
laugh at boundaries. And there
are ideas so loaded with dynamite
that they may blow systems that
appear founded on a rock Into
fragments. I need not tell you
that such Ideas are those of Bol-
shevism and those propagated by
the Nazis and Fascists. No one
can foresee what effect they may
have on the future of the world;
how far they may spread; what
their ultimate form may be. But
of one thing be clear, they cannot
exist within the same boundaries
as what you and I understand as
democracy. Under such systems
there may be good things. The
good things should be equally
attainable by us.
Totalitarian Price Too High
But In totalitarian practice the
attainment of what is good to
achieved by paying a price we
cannot pay. The triumph of these
ideas is bought by the suppression
of the liberty of the individual
human soul, the very life and
spirit of the ideas upon which our
conception of democracy to based.
The Bolsheviks, whose original
leaders were men of great though \
narrow Intellectual power saw
clearly that the greatest obstacle
to the enslaving of the human
will was the Christian faith, made
that faith the object of their bit-
terest attack from the first. Only
by the elimination of a power
which in the human heart they
knew 'to'.bp greater than their
own could they create a genera-
tion malleable to their Influence.
And It is a terrible thing that In
the extreme Nazi teaching you
see this tendency In Germany to-
day. ' • *
Now these things may seem far
from us. But he would be a bold -
man who would say that they aro
not perils without which may be-
come perils within. Whether this
happens depends on ourselves. As
far as my own country Is con-
cerned, I think the worst danger •
from Communist propaganda Is.
over. I will say something of that ¦
and then consider the danger of
the Nazi and Fascist ideologies.
Even before the war certain :
Ideas well known in Communist
propaganda were spreading in
England. It was believed by many
that, force could win what argu-
ments would fail to do, and the
industrial workers began to ex-
periment with the big strike, that
a]
1
I*, a atrlkfl covering a whole inT
dustry. and the bigger strike cov-
ering more than one, with a dis-
tant object In view, that is, the
general strike, by which a whole
nation might; be brought to Its
kneed to concede whatever de-
mands might be made on the part
of, one or more of the great
branches of Industry. But before
these things had gone far the
great war broke out, and for four
years we were fighting as one
man for our lives.
Into those four years, as I have
often said, were packed fifty years
of political evolution, and when,
with the advent, of full manhood
suffrage, we began to pick up the
threads of our old life. I knew
that we were In a new world, and
my wonder was whether we could
advance by.ordorly progression or
whether we should dash our heads
against a stone wall, for our evo-
lution might prove to have ad-
vanced too far beyond our edu-
cation.
It was obvious that great
changes were at hand in the in-
dustrial system; as I said before,
we were in an uncharted sea; we
had no precedent to guide us; no
one knew whither we were going.
The spirit In the country was bit-
ter, and the strain of these four
years had left its mark on all the
country's leaders, politicians and
trade union leaders alike.
Need for Change of Spirit Seen
Many of us felt that what was
wanted was a change of spirit;
that a national unity was essen-
tial—essential to face our prob-
lems at home and to meet what-
ever might be in store for us in
that post-war world. And it was |
clear to many of us that force .
was no good and that if our coun- ;
try was to be Immune against the .
germs of alien ideas, that could
only be achieved by trying to
make our people play their part
In making that country one bet- j
tor worth living in; by making
life more  tolerable,  by  better ,
housing,   better   conditions of
labor, and In short, to work in :
the spirit that all classes should
realize the brotherhood of man,
and not in the grudging spirit
that has political expediency for
Its motive power.
But we had to pass through a '
period of very grave Industrial
unrest which culminated in the
now historic general strike. I •
had held the view-before the war
that a general strike was bound
to come, and after the war it was
obvious that the great experiment
would be tried at the first conven-
ient opportunity. I' was talking
with an old House of Commons
friend of mine a few months ago,
himself a miners' leader in his
own area, and I was relieved to
hear him say that the general
strike was inevitable.
It was Inevitable, and I think
nothing was more typical of our
people than the reaction when
tho danger was past- The people
as a whole realized that any gen-
oral strike is a challenge to their
own freely elected government,
and their political sense showed
them where that might lead them
and the industrial world, both,
sides—employers and employed—
realized that they had stood for a
moment on the brink of an abyss,
and at the bottom of that abyss
was anarchy. And they .didn't like
it. There was much thinking
done. There, were wild men on
both sides, survivals, I like to
think, of an age that is passing
If not past. But the wiser man
won, and after that year, I re-
joiced to see slowly growing, a
different outlook and a different
spirit in industry- The remark-
able progress that has been made
recently in the matter of holidays
with pay has been achieved In my
view oy th* close cooperation of
men from both sides who have an
intimate knowledge of the condi-
tions of the particular Industry
concerned and who bring to the
solution of tho problem good
sens* and good-will.
I have dwelt at some length on
Industrial relations. My country
Is highly Industrialized and when
¦uch a State can work out her
own salvation without the threat
of forcible notion, hut by reason
and good-will, she knows that her
people are working In the best
spirit of democracy and one not
likely to surrender their- birth-
right to the Communist.
Dangers From tho Bight
But what of danger from'the
extreme Right? That is differ-
ent In its origin and In its appeal.
Dictatorship of the Right, in
Italy and Germany, has been the
aftermath of communism. In
England I believe the only pos-
sibility of the success of fascism
would be as the result of an open
fight with communism, and of
that happening I have little fear.
But there might be a danger in
a democratic country in certain
conditions which have not as yet -
arisen. For" instance, picture to.
yourself a country In which there*
is large scale unemployment. Men
look, abroad; they are told there
has been such unemployment in
Germany, but that since the Nazis
came into power it has disap-
peared. They read of great na-
tional Improvements being car-
ried out In Germany and Italy,
absorbing vast numbers of unem-
ployed, of waste and unhealthy
areas being reclaimed and occu-
pied, and they begin to contrast
what they hear and read of these
foreign countries with what they
find being done or maybe left un-
done at home.
If such a state of things arises,
hoist the danger signal. You have
a mass of men ripe to listen to
any one or anything. And, given
the man of genius who can make
the masses believe that he alone
can make the work they need Jf
he has a free hand—if you get to
that point, you are within sight
of- revolution by tho Fascist. You
have to answer the question "Is
democracy as sufficient as fas-
cism?" and the answer depends
.upon the leaders of the people
and on the people themselves.
The world is not safe fPr.-Mi
mocracy today. We cannot make
our own countries safe for democ-
racy by lotting things slide, nor
can we educate our peoples by
holding up our bands in horror
at the actions of totalitarian
States. How a country is gov-
erned is -its own concern; It is
.when the totalitarian country im-
poses or tries to Impose Its sys-
tem on a people outside its bor-
ders that their action then be-
comes the concern of all free
men.
Now when I consider the com-'
position of this great gathering in
New York this week, I know that
by your very presence here you
show that you are all eager to
help in making your democracy
an example to the world of what
a demooracy should be. You de-
sire it to be great, not only in
population and in wealth, but in
spirit; • a country in which the
light of ordered freedom shines
with a clear white light to which
the lovers of such freedom may
look with hope from every corner
of the world.
You feel this for your own folk
as I do for mine. As the lights
are quenched In one country after
> another, there Is hope in the
world so long as our lamps are
trimmed and their rays may be
seen penetrating the gloom. What
•a responsibility rests on us!
The Power of Christianity
Many'of* us, as we get older and
look baok, come to realize that
the motive force of Christianity is
the life of the Christian. We can
think of Individuals, often in the
humblest walks of life, who by
their lives, all unconsciously, have
strengthened us, given us pur-
pose, have made the struggle, the
dally struggle of life, seem worth
while. And la It not true in the
democracy we would all wish to
sec? The example of the good'
citizen Is the preserving salt. And
what power might -not go forth
throughput this great land If
every one of us here went home,
to'our dolly avocations resolved
to be good citizens? To be true
and faithful servants to the peo-
ple? And that with no thought of
our own advancement but because
we are members one of another,
Integral parts of that whole crea-
tion which groansth and travall-
eth together.
Whether there bo war In Europe
or not, wars settle nothing;, they
unchain lejrfi passions for the
years to come, violent as the pas-
sions that begat the war itself.
But the struggle for the soul of
man m go on whether there bo
¦war or not, and, Englishman as I
am, I know that In this I speak
for you who hear me tonight. We
have to show the world that we
have Ideals no less than the rul-
ers of the totalitarian States; that
our Ideals are harder of accom-
plishment because they are far
higher; they Involve the coopera-
tion of men of their own free will
endeavoring to work, with' God
Himself In the raising of man-
kind. In a totalitarian State the
will most be surrendered, surren-
dered to the will of one fallible
man. And no man Is fitted for
absolute power over the wills of
his fellow men.
And I believe that many of these
things of which I have been speak-
ing are in the minds of many who
perhaps are not ready at finding
words to express them.
I do not know how it may be
with you, but I am clear that it
Is so with me. I have addressed
meetings In England since I was
a young man, and throughout
England and Scotland and Wales
in the last twenty years, and I
am not singular In detecting a re-
markable change in the post-war
audiences. They are not satisfied
with the kind of stuff to which
they used to listen years ago.
They are not amused by mere
abuse of the speaker's opponents,
by sarcasm, by special pleading
and the tricks of tho old school.
Vast numbers of our electorate
are not attached to a party, and
in great mass meetings you get
men and women of all parties
and of none, and the quiet hear-
ing you get Is remarkable.
I have had interesting confirma-
tion of this from unexpected quar-
ters. A Labor friend of mine was
discussing this very subject with
me not long ago. He has been
many years in the House of Com-
mons and he represents a strong-
ly Labor constituency In a wide
industrial area. He sold: "People .
wouldn't listen today to the stuff
I gave them twenty yean ago.
They want solid food."
There are, of course, and prob-
ably always will be, men who will ,
play down to Ignorance and preju- *
dice, especially at election-times
when they get excited, but to mo
there  ur\something profoundly
touching and humbling in a vast
crowd, troubled In its mind and
prepared to listen to what you
have to say. In the belief that you
will deal with them honestly and i
with sincerity. Perhaps we have
¦nuipli to learn from each other: I.
know they have taught me much.
It has confirmed my faith In my
fellow-countrymen, and my faith
that, given peace, we can make a
better job of democracy than we
have yet done.
Now I may have no other op-
portunity of speaking to such an
American audience as I have to-
night, and It is a privilege that I
value more than I can express to
you In words. I want, therefore,
in my closing remarks to empha-
size once more a fundamental dif-
ference between our Constitu-
tions, a difference which In my
view Is essential to bear closely in
mind. Let me first remind you
of a pregnant paragraph of James
Bryce, our one-time Ambassador
to Washington, who wrote "The
American Commonwealth." "The
American Commonwealth," he
said, "Is no exception to the rule
that everything which has power
to win the obedience and respect
of men must have Its roots deep
in the past, and that the more
slowly every institution has
grown, so much the more endur-
ing is It likely to prove ¦ • •
there Is a hearty puritan ism in
the view of human nature which
parades the instrument of 1787.
* " " No men wero less revolu-
tionary In spirit than tho. heroes
of the American Revolution. They
made a resolution In the name of
Magna Charts and the. Bill of
Rights."
- f -    J /
j I was speaking In Tewkesbury
Abbey only £ few days euro, ana
In the choir of that front Norman
church la a small flagstone on
which Hague vsjn Inscription In
Latin In seven words to Gilbert
do Clare, one of the barons who
signed Magna Charts. I trans-
late those words for .'you: "Mag-
na Charts is tho Law; hencefor-
ward let the King look out."''
There Is an epitome of English
history. England has never tol-
erated dictatorship. When the
king sought to gather all power
Into his hands, he had to look out!
—then and. later. And so with
the barons and so with the me-
dieval church and so with the
dictatorship under Cromwell, and
so it will always be. Whateverit
may call Itself, the thing will
never be tolerated by our people.
And I rejoice to think that we
have lent .you for your groat
Fair in New York a copy of that
Charta, knowing that It would
be an object of reverence to you
as it has been to us through the
centuries and la today. ~f I
American Liberty Safeguarded
But when we separated one
great change came. Bryce quotes
a sentence in his great work from
Judge Cooley. "America" says
the Judge, "Is not so much an
example in her liberty as In the
covenanted and enduring secu-
rities which are Intended to pre-
vent liberty degenerating Into li-
cense, and to establish a feeling
of trust and repose under a be-
neficent government, whoso ex-
cellence, so obvious In Its free-
dom, is still more conspicuous In
its careful provision for perform-
ance and stability."
I could not find two more apt
quotations to Illustrate what I
want to say.'Our common consti-
tutional growth was like the
trunk of a great oak tree, spring-
ing from small beginnings. That
tree has now two great branches
represented by our two great de-
mocracies. Your Constitution is
a written one, safeguarded
against sudden change, more .
rigid; ours is unwritten, there-
fore more flexible and capable of
evolution, and depending on the
wisdom of our people to recognize
the difference between evolution
and revolution.
So far, the political Instinct of
our people has enabled us to pass
through many troublous times In
the last 130 years, times of swift
change comprising the opening
and tho development of what Is
often called the Industrial Revo-
lution: to pass through them
without open violence and with
our constitution Intact, our social
services have broadened out and
developed beyond all knowledge
In the two decades since the war.
But we have much to do yet in
dealing with what Is called the
hard case of unemployment and
the aftermath of that financial
and industrial crisis that came
upon us all ton years ago. And
the tragedy Is that another war
would throw back all our efforts
and make further progress Im-
possible for a generation. But
such experiences are a part of our
history. Our little Island has been
in the danger zone for two thou-
sand years. It war comes. It will
find.us as a people united as we
have never been before; power-
ful in material resources, and be-
lieving In our hearts that on the
Issue depends ultimately the free-
dom of mankind. In such a con-
flict we must play our part and
to the end.
You too have your domestlo
problems, in some ways more dif-
ficult than ours. No time could
be more opportune for this con-
ference, for the meeting together
of men and women In every walk
of life, patriotic and of good .will,
eager to spend themselves In the
service of their fellow-men. You
have it in your power, by your
example, to load your people, to
Inspire them to work for the
Ideals that have animated the
greatest Americans through tho
generations of your history:'
Courage and Faith, Love and
Wisdom, those are what wo all
need, for In our different ways
and with our different responsi-
bilities, we are moving forward
into a new age. May God give
a right judgment in all things.