The Democrats Better than the Autocrats
From a Correspondent
That the two outstanding men in the world today are President Roosevelt and M. Van Zeeland was the theme of a public address recently delivered in .Paris by M. Louis Terrenoire to a circle of political students organised by the Catholic daily, L'Aube.
Dictator Failures
The success of these two democrats was contrasted with the relative failure of Lenin, Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini and explained on the ground that democracy, which knows how to appeal to heart as well as to reason. offers enormous possibilities of regaining its youth.
Roosevelt and Van Zeeland, said the speaker, relied on that spontaneous democratic mysticism which founded itself on the needs of the hour and relied for its motive power on Christian spirit and morality. Unlike the dictators who cherished positive ideals that were not vital to their country, collective industrialism in Russia, rearmament in Germany, empire in Italy. Roosevelt and Van Zeeland were content with trying to overcome the crisis and to bring back prosperity.
American and Belgian Liberty "Certainly they are animated by a mystic impulse." declared Ni. Terrenoire, " but it is a democratic mysticism essentially Christian. When Roosevelt presented himself to 120 millions of people with such a message he was carried to power by men who wanted to live.
" Van Zeeland, an ex-professor of law. though above all a technician, set himself the task of humanising his technique by a Christian mysticism. To bring about order and peace among the living is often a very arduous task : Roosevelt and Van Zeeland have carried it out in an atmosphere of liberty and without imposing any but a minimum of constraint."
"They Have Succeeded" After analysing in detail the recovery work of the two men, the speaker asked: " What must we say of the two experiments? Three words suffice: they have succeeded.
" Whereas Germany and Italy have failed in an authoritative and autocratic economic system, the Belgian and American democracies see their efforts crowned with success in a climate of liberty," M. Terrenoire concluded.