Democracy’s Base: Welfare Of Masses; A Timely Oration

Northern Advocate, 14 July 1938, Page 7

Democracy’s Base: Welfare Of Masses; A Timely Oration

[British Official Wireless .l

RUGBY, July 12. npHE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR, MR. J. P. KENNEDY, UNVEILED AT WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL A WINDOW TO THE MEMORY OF KING GEORGE V, PRESENTED TO THE CATHEDRAL BY GROUPS OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. MR. KENNEDY' SAID: “KING GEORGE V OCCUPIED A VERY WARM SPECIAL PLACE IN THE HEARTS OF AMERICANS, AND MY FELLOW COUNTRYMEN WILL ALWAYS CHERISH HIS MEMORY.

“Certain nations have attempted t o relieve the suffering of some of their people at the expense of others of their inhabitants,” the Ambassador continued. “In those parts of the world where the idea exists that the national good is the sum total of the welfare of all its individual inhabitants, we are new being called upon to stretch our already hard-pressed resources to cover the care of refugees cast out of their native land because they belong to certain races, or profess certain relig ions or think the thoughts of free men. Let us do what we can to take care of this immediate urgency.

Difficult but Humane Task,

“Representatives, of a number of well-minded nations are now in session trying to devise ways and means to see that these refugees do not perish cruelly and . hopelessly. Our hearts are with our delegates in their difficult but humane task. We must always be on the alert to defend the thesis that no permanent national happiness can ever be achieved in the kind of society to which we are accustomed and which we wish to preserve, by one segment of our populations at the, expense of the others.. Democracy Not Failure. “I have heard it said in London, as well as in Washington, that democracy has failed; that the system of representative Government is as outmoded as that of the ancient Greek State; that the individual can no longer claim to have inalienable rights, such as those guaranteed by Magna Charta, but only those which the State may as a matter of convenience grant to him;, that the system of more or less free economy under which we try to transact our businesses, is self-destructive, and that all individualism must be crushed by the increasing weight of industrial and financial combinations. King George’s Aim. , “I am sure King George V never believed in any of these things, nor would he believe them today,” Mr. Kennedy said. “As far- as I can tell, observing his activities and life from across the Atlantic, he was determined that the humblest of his subjects should possess an ever increasing store of rights and comforts, and that the economic machinery of this nation and of the world should operate to increase the prosperity and happiness of all British subjects. I am certain that never in his life did he wish any guaranteed right of any citizen to be diminished or abolished.

“Let us, then, do all we can to preserve, for our own countries at least, the kind of life George the V stood for and advocated. Decency, respect for the rights of others and yearning for liberty have not been abolished from our hearts. Let us make sure they never are.” Lesson From XJ.S.A. Saying that he had just returned | from a visit to the United States, Mr Kennedy observed: “One gets there | much the same comforting feeling of I solidity which is characteristic, of the ! people and the life of Britain. In both I countries people want change —they I insist on constant progress and taettcr- | ment. We must never rest on our [ laurels, and think wo have achieved j the ultimate design for the ideal way i of life, 1 j “So long as we are holding out to I the mass of our people the hope that I their Government and their State are j working ceaselessly and unremitting|ly for their benefit, just so long will l those people pin their faith to demoj cracy.”

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