New York Tribune,August 17,1939.
y
The Democratic Ideal
modest Is Earl Baldwin of Bewdley,
•fee last night at the Waldorf-Astoria
forVhe Congress on Education for Democ
thatVmost Americans were unaware of
arrivaNjn this country. Better known
by his name of Stanley Baldwin, for y
Prime Minister of Great Britain, he slipped
Into the United States as quietly as he has
lived his years of retirement m England. This
is in keeping with his character. Even when
In office he shunned and dreaded the lime-
light. Quiet, unassuming, hard-working, he
welcomed the opportunity to do what he could
ifor his country without seeking acclaim/
Earl Baldwin's remarks last night pointed
from his own experience to the dangers that
beset democracy in the world today. Others
have dwelt on them before, but few have
spoken with such authority as this British
statesman. He stressed the fact that democ-
racy cannot survive if those who live in
democracies do not have faith in democracy.
"We have to show the world," he warned,
"that we have ideals, no less than the rulers
of the totalitarian states: that our ideals are
harder of accomplishment because they are
far higher: they Involve the co-operation of
men ¦ of their own free will endeavoring to
work with God Himself in the raising of
mankind. In a totalitarian state the will must
be surrendered, surrendered to the will of one
fallible man. And no man Is fitted for abso-
lute power over the wills of his fellow
men."
That states the spiritual side of the prob-
lem succinctly. In honoring Great Britain's
former Prime Minister the Congress on Edu-
cation for Democracy has rendered a service;
to democracy Itself. The ideals for which Earl I
Baldwin has striven have been those for which'
all democracies must continue to* strive If it
Is to survive and finally rout dictatorships.
^>f—