786 • State Papers and Addresses

To me it seems that in peace-time every advocate of every social, economic,
or political reform has the right to be heard. Every believer in the dictator-
ship of a powerful central government, every advocate of the destruction of the
balance of power has the right to the form of public opinion to present his case.

But during critical periods, such as we are now witnessing, the situation is
greatly altered. For a pressure group to insist on special advantages for it-
self, for any small coterie to stop production by reason of their disputes, for
the bureaucrats to seize the opportunity to break down still further the Federal-
State relationship which is one of the foundations of local self-government, are
simply unpatriotic in a time of National peril. These things strike at the
National Unity, they cause us either to surrender our liberties at home or to
deflect necessary attentions from the war and the National emergency.

Is there anything of value in self-government? Let me read to you what
Woodrow Wilson had to say on the subject in 1912:

"The history of Liberty is the history of the limitation of governmental
power, not the increase of it. When we resist, therefore, the concentration of
power, we are resisting the processes of death, because concentration of power
is what always precedes the destruction of human liberties. "

The history of free government proves beyond cavil and beyond the shadow
of a doubt that when men cease to exercise their privileges as citizens in the
conduct of their local affairs, they lose the strength and the fiber* requisite to
the retention of freedom itself. Just as an athlete, when he ceases to use his
muscles becomes soft and flabby, just so do the minds of men not sharpened by
the exercise of political freedoms, becomes soft and flabby. Although many
reasons have been assigned for the downfall of France, xthe political disinte-
gration through the usurpation of power by favored groups, was without ques-
tion the major cause.

Remember our several million men in uniform. We who remain at home
are trustees for them. No one has the right, while they are in the uniform of
our Country, to bring about a change in the social or the economic structure of
this land, more than is absolutely essential to win the war in which they are
engaged.

You men, who represent the leadership of this community, are the custo-
dians. It is your responsibility to be constantly on the alert and forever vigi-
lant. The power of free speech is still your priceless heritage. Your elected
representatives in Washington should be anxious for your guidance and,
opinions.

But the greatest use of the judgment and experience of private citizens can
be made by government in planning for the post war period, to insure that the
millions here in America and in the United Nations do not lose the peace after
they have sacrificed so much to win the war.

Many considerations must enter into such planning. Nationally, and inter-
nationally, the United Nations must see to it that the threat of military despot-
ism, once broken, must not be permitted to raise its head again, in Germany or
anywhere.