ACTION ABOVE PARTY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 March 1941, Page 6

ACTION ABOVE PARTY

AGAINST DICTATORS & THEIR DUPES PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT CALLS ON AMERICANS. RESOUNDING WARNING UTTERED. i By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright I PORT EVERGLADES (Florida), March 29. Sustained an.d rel'reslied after eight ’ days’ holiday in .sunshine at sea. President Roosevelt spoke by radio to I the nation and fhe world from I the cabin of the presidential J yacht, Potomac. ' Though he spoke as head of the De--1 mocratic Party and addressed his : speech to a nationwide series of dinners observing Jackson Day, the Pre- ■ sident made it clear that he was not only talking to the party, but rather to : all Americans. > His address was in many ways repe--1 titious of previous speeches, but the 1 very repetition served to emphasise the ’ blunt words. President Roosevelt uttered a re--5 sounding warning against Communists, • Nazis, defeatists and their dupes, but proclaimed that Americans are transcending partisanship to defend de1 mocracy. He reiterated their deter- • mination in stirring words: "We Amc--1 ricans, with all our resources and all our power, shall help those who block the dictators in their march toward world domination.” The President said: “I am sitting in*the little cabin of the little ship Potomac after a day’s sunshine out in the Gulf Stream. I cannot in person attend one pf the many Jackson Day dinners, I regret, but it is good that you are again celebrating the memory of the great American leader, who believed. fanatically almost, in the principles of democracy, based on freedom of the ballot box. "In Washington these days the working day of the Presidency averages about 15 hours. Even when I go to Hyde Park or Warm Springs, White House officials, callers and the telephone all follow me, but at sea radio messages and an occasional mailbag reduce official work to not more than two or three hours daily. So there is an opportunity for thinking things through, for differentiating between principles and methods, between the really big things of life and those other things of moment, which may seem all important today and are forgotten by the world in a month. HARD WORK DEMANDED. “Here you come to realise that today you have to work overtime and work harder than ever before in your life to make peace possible later on. If we sit down now we may get run over later, and if our kind of civilisation gets run over, the kind of peace we seek will become an unattainable hope. That, is why, in the comparative quiet of this week, I have become more than ever clear that the time calls for courage, action —more courage, more action. That is why' it is appro-

priate today to honour the name of Andrew Jackson, because he was first and foremost a groat Americaiv who placed his devotion to country above adherence to parly and provided an ever-living symbol of the rugged, courageous spirit of our people. “In our own day the threat to our union and our democracy is not a sectional one. It comes from a great part of the world which-surrounds us and which draws more tightly around us day by day.

AN INDIVISIBLE NATION, ‘'Again, to do this job. we Americans, nearly all of us. have risen above consideration of party politics. Dictators cannot seem to realise that here in Americans will go on year after year parties and at the same time maintain an inviolate, indivisible nation. The totalitarian mentality is too narrow to comprehend the greatness of a people who can be divided in party allegiance at election time, but remain united in devotion to their country and the ideals of democracy. “Last year we held an American election in which the people. Democrats. Republicans, Independents and others, by secret ballot and without prodding by bayonets of storm troopers. voted. We determined so to act that Americans will go on years after year holding free elections. All of the great freedoms which form the basis of our American democracy are part and parcel of that concept of free elections, with free expression of political choice between candidates of political parties. Such elections guarantee that there can be no possibility of stifling freedom of speech, of the Press, of worship and of the air. “Ours is the responsibility of defending these principles. Ours is the responsibility of passing them on, not only intact, but stronger than ever, to all generations to come. We Americans realise how tenuous would be the existence of our party system without freedom of elections, if dictatorship doctrines were to prevail. For if they prevail, it would not be in Europe alone. The history of nations betrayed in lhe past year should show us what it means to live in a 1 world organised and run by the Gestapo. AMERICAN RESOLUTION. “Let us ask ourselves frankly, fearlessly how long could we maintain our ancient liberties under these terrible conditions. How soon would we have to accept the doctrine/that one must fight fire with fire. We Americans have announced our determination that, with all our resources, all our power we shall help those who block the dictators in their march toward world domination. “The decision we reached was not a partisan decision. The leader of the Republicans. Mr. Willkie himself, in word and action, is showing what patriotic Americans mean by rising above partisanship and now that the plain people of America have spoken their determination. Republicans and Democrats in Congress and out of it are patriotically co-operating to make that determination take positive form. “Enemies of democracy are now trying by every means to destroy ourunity. The chief weapon they now use against us is propapanga. Propaganda comes in ever-increasing quantities with ever-increasing violence across the seas and is disseminated within our own borders by agents or innocent dupes of foreign powers. “Propagandists, defeatists and dupes, protected as they are by our fundamental civil liberties, have been preaching and are still preaching the ungodly gospel of fear. They use insinuation and falsehood. They have tried to shatter the confidence of Americans in their (Government and in one another. We have seen what happened to great industrials in Germany who supported We Nazi movement and then received their reward in Nazi concentration camps or death. We have seen how workers in France have been betrayed by their so-called champions, the Communists, for no matter what Communist lips have said their actions have proved that, in their hearts they care nothing for the real rights of free labour. MASQUERADING AGENTS.

“The agents of Nazism and those who unwittingly help them are still trying to play both ends against the middle. They have attempted to exploit the natural love of our people for peace. They have represented themselves as pacifists, when actually they are serving the most brutal warmongers of all time. They have preached peace in the same way that the devil can quote scripture. “Of course the purpose of all this has been to spread terror among us. The effect of it has been only to fortify our determination. When Lincoln became President, he had to face the awful reality of war between States. In his first message to Congress he presented this vital question: ‘Must a Government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its own people or too weak to maintain its existence?’ Lincoln answered that question as Jackson answered it, not by words but by deeds, and America still marches on. We of today have been presented with the same question. We too are answering it by deeds. Our well-considered philosophy for attainment of peace comes not from weakness, but everlastingly from the courage of America.”