Southwest High School - Roundup Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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f- ...., LIBE US O IGI EL D WIi,TI1If DEODLE Ol' THE UNITED STATES IH ODDID T0 IOIIVIA NODE PEIIITCT UHIOH ESTABIISII JUS' TICI VIESTIC F I AMERICA GIVES THANKS By JOCILLE MCINTYRE For rolling plains of harvest fair. For opportunities we share, For laws that safe our rights declare Give we our thanks! For sacred homes in times oppressed. For hopes within our hearts caressed, For liberty and freedom blessed, Give we our thanks!

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which will not fall when the storms come. However, since man falls far short of perfection, complete, unlimited liberty of action is impossible in organized society. The few who confuse liberty with license to do as they please must be prevented by law from infringing upon the liberty of others. Therefore each man should be granted only so much freedom as he is able to use to the advantage of society. Next among the list of elements stands equality. Political philosophers are in constant dispute over its meaning. Jefferson's statement of the equality of men refers neither to their physical nor mental abilities, since mind-prints Ccould they somehow be takenj would differ as widely as finger-prints. Nor can this statement be interpreted, in a land which still believes in reward for individual effort, to mean that each man shall have exactly as many dollars as every other man. Equality to us means rather a legal equality, a political and social equality., It means that each man shall stand equal to every other man before the court of law, in the polling place, or in any social gathering of our people. It means that special privilege is inconsistent with democracy. lt means that every child should be given opportunity to develop fully. It means that each man shall count for one, and that we must banish forever the arrogance of the privileged and the bitterness of the oppressed. Finally, among the basic elements of democracy, there must be complete harmony and efficiency within and among the many agencies of government. Ours is an extremely complicated governmental system, involving relation- ships between local, state, and national units, as well as checks and balances between branches of each unit. If progress is to be made, long-continued deadlocks between state and municipality are to be avoided. After all, every public officer is a public servant. Is it fitting that one servant shall quarrel with another while their master's business is left undone? One of the things most sorely needed in this country is a tradition of efficiency and honesty in public office. But, in all fairness, let it be pointed out that public morality is generally but a reflection of private morality. Only an incorruptible people can bring into existence a government of upright men. These, then, seem to be the irreducible minimum of democracy-popular sovereignty, liberty, equality, and efficiency in operation. As such, democracy becomes much more than a form of government. President or prime minister, Congress or Parliament, democracy can exist only where its elements exist. Thought of in such a broad way, democracy becomes a set of ideals toward which all mankind, consciously or unconsciously, is striving. Anarchism, Com- munism, Socialism, Fascism, Capitalism-these are but diverse means toward ultimate Democracy. In some sections of the earth such as Arabia or Afghanistan, little perceptible progress has been made. In other places, notably Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand, the United States, Britain and Australia, comparatively long strides have been taken. We must not become impatient of progress. Nothing worth striving for can be attained in a day. It is rather for us to resolve that we shall lose none of the hard won gains of the past, and that we shall add where possible to the growing structure of democracy. Thirteen

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THE GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY IN THE UNITED STATES By BUELL PEARsoN Only to those entirely lacking in historical perspective does it seem that there has been no growth of democracy in the United States. To be sure, such progress is often almost imperceptible: but viewed as a whole, our history shows definite evidences of remarkable advance. If democracy embodies the three great principles of popular sovereignty, equality, and liberty, its develop- ment can be measured by the forward strides that have been taken toward the realization of these objectives. Popular sovereignty implies that fundamental authority is vested in the people. Progress here can be shown most clearly in the increasing number of those who have the privilege of the ballot and the right to hold public oflice. In the early years of our history under the Constitution, suffrage was very restricted, as it had been in the colonial period and in England, and only those who qualifled in property, race, and sex were given the vote. Gradually these various restrictions were done away with. First the property restriction was withdrawn. Then the fifteenth amendment was ratified in 1870 granting suffrage regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. ln 1920 the long sought for goal of woman suffrage was attained. By ratifica- tion of the nineteenth amendment the electorate was doubled and today nearly 50W of our people are eligible to vote-an amazing advance toward the goal of universal adult suffrage. In addition to the growing electorate as an evidence of more complete popular sovereignty, there must be added the reforms embodied in the Seven- teenth and Twentieth Amendments. By the former, adopted in l9l3, United States Senators are elected by popular vote instead of by state legislatures as formerly. By the latter, adopted in 1933, there came the abolition of the Lame-Duck Congress, a system under which those defeated for re-election in November took their seats in Congress the following month and served as representatives until March 4-th of the following year, while those actually elected by the people waited thirteen months before assuming their tasks in Congress. Under the present system, those elected in November take office in January, just two months later. A future step in reform must be the abolition of the Electoral College system for electing the president and vice-president, a system by which candidates have often been elected with a minority of the popular vote. Not only in the field of national government but also in the realm of state and local affairs, new techniques have beenfdeveloped to guarantee further control by the people. The secret caucus, or boss-controlled system of nomi- nating candidates, has given way to the convention, and more recently to the direct primary election, in which all members of the party participate in the selection of their candidates in the Hnal election. There have come, too, the initiative and referendum, and the recall of public officials. By the initiative and referendum, in those states which have Fifteen