Smith Academy - Echo Yearbook (Hatfield, MA)

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28 PURPLE AND WHITE ECHO he was convinced that it must be watched with a careful eye. He urged, therefore, that government should be fenced in by strictly limited constitutional powers and kept in bounds. This could best be done, he believed, by making the people them-, selves the depositories, to share in the control and influence over the government. Time has proved the wisdom of his words: If every individual participates in the ultimate authority, the government will be safe and the liberties and happiness of the citizens will not be infringed. Today, two hundred years after he was born, Jefferson looms greater than ever. To lovers of liberty, Jefferson is time- less in his inspiration. Today, in particu- lar, hundreds of millions of people through- out the world can appreciate his belief that freedom is the most sacred cause that ever man engaged in. Today, more than ever before, Jefferson lives in the hearts of the American people. For he held that all men are created equal, that they possess certain inalienable rights, and that governments derived their just pow- ers from the consent of the governed. These truths, and the nation founded upon them, are now challenged by the hosts of tyranny. And to defend them, our coun- trymen have taken up the sword of free- dom. It is fitting, then, that the two hundredth Anniversary of Thomas Jefferson ' s birthday should be celebrated as a rededication of tne truths which he first proclaimed and established. For, so long as we cherish and maintain and strengthen the demo- cratic principles of Jefferson, the United States will remain what he conceived it to be — the world ' s best hope. ANNA BURDA ' 43 Salutatorian AFTER VICTORY— WHAT ? On the dreadful day of Dec. 7, 1941, our nation was plunged into a war that we had vainly hoped we might avoid. Great changes had to be made in our national life. Many boys at once joined the serv- ice, and many even stopped going to school in order to enlist. Men started to give up their usual jobs to enter defense factories, and women also answered the call for more hands to increase produc- tion. Everywhere, posters began to appear encouraging people to buy war bonds and stamps, and to enlist in the service. In order to help win this struggle, the government instituted units of the armed forces in which the women could enlist, such as the WAVES, the SPARS, and the WAACS. But still, while we are engaged in all this effort, we are conscious of the question of the future. We know we are exerting every effort to win; we not only hope that we shall win — we have confidence that we will win. But the next problem is: After Victory— What? There are twenty-eight United Nations fighting side by side today to wipe out international gangsterdom. Every citizen in each of these nations knows that he has a stake in winning the war; every- one should realize that he has a stake in winning the peace, too. The kind of world that follows the victory is the world that our generation and future generations will have to live in. If the twenty-eight United Nations, through cooperation and unity of purpose, can win the war, it is reasonable to hope that they can win the peace that follows. A union of nations for the purpose of world peace should not be any more impossble than the union of states that makes up our own United States. The founding fathers found much opposition to overcome when they attempted to form a United States of America. They had many bitter discouragements — so shall we, when the victory brings the dawn of a new peace. Today it is not possible to make a defi- nite plan for running the world of tomor- row, we know. But it is possible to exam- ine the situation and come to some general conclusions about the principles upon which the new world must be built. It seems necessary that the peace to fol- low victory shall be built upon a founda- tion of good will rather than revenge. But this foundation will have to be strength- ened with a realistic understanding of the problems that hate and revenge are cer- tainly going to be placed before us. We

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SMITH ACADEMY 27 Honor Essays PHILOSOPHER OF FREEDOM This year when we are anxiously await- ing war news, are agitated by affairs at home, and are looking to the future with real concern, is the year which marks the two hundredeth anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson. The observance of this anniversary has given us an oppor- tunity to review the life and times of a man who has been called our one timeless statesman. His wisdom, his humanity and hi 5 statesmanship, are indeed timeless. His thoughts and deeds were important to his time; they are vital to us today. James Russell Lowell said that Thomas Jefferson was the first American man and the best thinker of his day. Woodrow Wilson thought him immortal because of his atti- tude toward mankind. And the world at large has always regarded him as the em- bodiment of American democrati: idealism. The subtlety of his mind and the complexity of his character have made him the most wide-ranging intellect of his day, and at the same time the champion of democratic rights. A gentleman of wealth and position, he became the revered leader of the com- mon people. The most su:cessful political figure of his generation, he never made a political speech. A party leader of match- less adroitness, he had almost no personal contact with his followers. As a political leader, he was indirect, firm, soft-spoken, but uncompromising. A wily strategist, he outmaneouvered his opponents and left them floundering in angry helplessness. Above all these qualities, he was as Am- erican as his background, and that was quite American. He was born two hundred years ago on the frontier in western Virginia, on land which his father had personally clear- ed, in a region where there were practic- ally no white settlers. Jefferson was thus a frontiersman, and not a mansion-bred aristocrat, (although his mother came from an eminent family) as is commonly supposed. The frontier where he spent his childhood and youth had a basic influence upon his mind and character. It taught him the virtues of self-reliance, common sense, and above all a deep respect for the other fellow. The frontier helped to mold him into an American democrat. As such, cruelty and violence filled him with ab- horence. A man like Napoleon Bonapart, the Hitler of his day, revolted him. He looked upon the conquerer of Europe as a maniac and a bandit as the very worst of all human beings . . . having inflicted more misery on mankind than any other who had ever lived. More fully than any other American — more fully perhaps than any other fig- ure in history — Jefferson formulated and gave a coherent philosophy of freedom. Underlying the Jeffersonian philosophy is the idea of the inherent goodness of men. Jefferson knew that without such a belief, democracy was an impossibility and self- government a travesty. Goodness meant also mutual respect and impartial justice. To Jefferson the dignity of any individual, regardless of origin or status, was sacred. Mutual respect was the foundation for any worth-while civilization. Without it, there could be neither liberty nor the pur- suit of happiness. He believed that men were able to appreciate the truth, if the truth were presented to them fairly and honestly. Consequently, he fought for a free press. In his philosophy is also the faith in progress and in man ' s capacity to learn and to improve himself. He knew that nothing was more fatal to freedom and human dignity than ignorance. So he devoted years of his life to the advance- ment of public education, for he knew that no foundation could be devised for the preservation of freedom and happi- ness without education for the common people. In Jefferson ' s philosophy of freedom was the belief in the control of government by the people. He was afraid of the potential power of government. He saw how in Europe, governments invariably were op- pressive, brutal, and ignorant. He knew that all government, in sessence, was a monopoly — a monopoly of powers over the lives and consciences of the citizens — and

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SMITH ACADEMY 29 know that there will be people filled with hate and revenge — what of those con- quered people who have suffered under Nazi rule ? In their hearts will be a deep and bitter hate and a wild rush to avenge the losses caused by wanton cruelty. We must not expect the Germans or Japs to be sorry for the harm they have done, or be ready to help rebuild the cities they have knocked down. Human nature is not purified by the sacrifices of war. I imagine some of our soldiers and marines, and even some of our civilians, would like to lay hands on some of the Axis criminals, even after the war is ended. The simple truth is that after the guns of war cease firing, people are left with smouldering hates that do not cool down easily. In Europe, the Nazis will be sullen, and the liberated people will want to punish the Germans without much thought of the danger of planting the seeds of another war. To secure our peace, we must work with all the other nations that share our desire for progress toward a democratic way of life. We shall have to consider part of an international society, after the victory — for aviation makes it possible to measure distance by hours, not by miles. Our nation is no longer cut off from Europe and Asia by miles of vast oceans. After we have saved ourselves from the Nazi system of organized hatred and ter- ror, and the Japanese rule of brutality and savagery, do we want to give into our own hatreds and our own selfish ways ? We want a peace that will last — -a peace that will restore good will among men. Each one of us is needed to play a part in a hard and discouraging job; after fighting off the danger that is now wreck- ing the world, we must start building anew on the wreckage. After victory we want a world where tolerance, charity, and justice prevail. The Four Freedoms of the Atlantic Charter are no more idealistic as aims for a world order, than the safeguards extended to United States citizens in the Bill of Rights of our Constitution. Bitter controversy raged among the framers of the Constitu- tion before that document, with its fa- mous Bll of Rights, was finally accepted. Bitter controversies will no doubt arise when men gather around the peace table, after our victory is won. But let us hope that the unity of purpose which is winning the war for us will prevail among the leaders who write the peace. Madame Chiang Kai-shek, speaking in Philadelphia recently, said: America is not only the cauldron of democracy, but the incubator of democratic principle. At some of the places that I visited, I met the crews of your air bases. There I found first-gen- eration Germans, Italians, Frenchmen, Poles, Czechoslovaks, and other nationals. There they were, all Americans, all devoted to the same ideals, all working for the same cause and united by the same high purpose. This increased my belief and faith that devotion to a common principle elem- inates differences in race, and that iden- tity of ideals is the strongest possible sol- vent of racial dissimilarities. In fighting this war, we and our Allies have devotion to a common principle — the principle that tyranny and enslave- ment can not be permitted in a world where free men would live. After the victory, fel- lowship among all men may well be the common principle upon which will grow a true world peace. The way will not be easy — disillusion and discouragement will be met— but after victory, there can be a true and lasting peace. STACIA SLOVIKOSKI ' 43 Third Honors H Hs A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE The phrase, a declaration of indepen- dence, upon first thought, suggests to us the well-known declaration of that phil- osopher of freedom, Thomas Jefferson. His Declaration of Independence formed the cornerstone of our free democratic way of life. But that is not the independence we here are thinking of. Our declaration of independence arises from this fact: Here endeth our high school days. The companionships that we have en- joyed so fully for the past four years will now be broken up. And if this were only an ending, our graduation would indeed be a sorrowful occasion. But every end is