TEXT OF ADDRESS BY JOSEPH E. DAVIES
Text of Address by Joseph E. Davies (Following is the text of Joseph E. Davies' address, "Liberty, Law and the War," given Sunday night at the Memorial Union to 500 Madison persons and Wisconsin...
...The business boom...
...Such a situation might involve serious dependence of the Americas upon European control, or the alternative of finding other markets, which do not exist, in order to keep the standard of living of our people consistent with our national well-being...
...Sruth American and other markets now friendly to us might be closed by preferential barter...
...Each year, entirelv apart from the human life and values being destroyed, the belligerent nation* are spending for non-productive purposes—for destructive purposes—an amount of goods and effort costing more than the total gold supply of the world...
...There Is, of course, another side to the picture...
...and that form of life in which men are not slaves to a state but where the state is the servant of mankind, where the dignity of the human spirit shall be preserved as the most priceless attribute with which God has invested men...
...Foreign Markets Theatencd Our greatest foreign market and the greatest foreign market of all the Americas is Europe...
...radio broadcast...
...therefore, results in an "all out victory" for either .•side, with a peace imposed by the will of the conqueror, or whether it results in a stalemate or peace tomorrow, the effect upon the dally lives of our people will be enormous...
...the conscqu"nces of which we and our children might have to confront...
...Liberty under law takes on a very real significance when you see men tried and condemned to die because of the lack of these rights...
...Our civil liberties must never be abridged to deny us the equal protection of the law, liberty to worship God freely as conscience dictates, the right to fair trial, against which no writ can ever run...
...Davies, now special assistant to the secretary of state, received his higher education at the University of W i s c o n s i n.— EDITOR'S NOTE...
...Including agriculture, which may be created here by this war will have Its accompanying disastrous reaction unless we exercise the highest quality of wisdom...
...This great market of 350 million people might possibly be temporarily excluded from American goods except on the terms which the buyers would impose...
...No man can foretell with any certainly now what the outcome of this war will iig...
...Our government is maintaining a strict neutrality...
...This system is now being challenged...
...Blest is that government or people which has this citadel of freedom, for tyranny begins where law ends...
...and it is entirely possible that we might be faced with a financial and industrial crisis compared Kith which the 1930 depression would rank as a period of prosperity...
...IT IS A GREAT PLEASURE to be here for the dedication of the law library at my old alma mater, the University of Wisconsin, and to speak to you tonight on "Liberty, Law and the War...
...Industrial, financial and journalistic slavery, where the state is master of men and men only exist for the state, and those small groups that control the state —these among other things are conditions which make the liberties which we enjoy the real envy of millions of people in this world...
...Effect Of War Conditions It would be manifestly improper for me to discuss political or military aspects of, or to take sides in, this military conflict...
...It is, nevertheless, prudent and wise, is it not...
...Long War 'More Devastating' If it is a long war...
...Even though the war were to be settled tomorrow, forces already exi=t which will have far-reaching effects upon as...
...That system has now been challenged as absolete over a large part of the world by a so-called "new and scientific" system of barter and exchange where the medium is not gold, but which involved the highly controlled and restricted barter of commodities induced by necessity, force, or fear, or all three...
...Thus, in conclusion...
...But for the rain that fell on the fields of Waterloo the night before the battle, the history of Europe might have been different...
...This system brought, attendant greater prosperity, higher standards of living and better conditions of living to the peoples of the earth...
...Hundreds of years of experience has taught mankind that the largest volume of trade is induced by having as a basis of their monetary systems a medium of exchange which is convenient, small in compass, reasonably stablp in supply and universally acceptable...
...Civilization, in its development from the cave man to the present day, has contributed to mankind no more priceless benefits than liberty under law—the only kind of freedom that remains secure rather than destroys itself through its own excesses...
...to wit, on a basis of exchange of commodities in such quantities and of such character as the buyer would desire...
...An accident might determine the result...
...on the other hand, it will inevitably create even more devastating forces in the world...
...We should not look through a glass too darkly...
...It shocks our sense of justice and right that the moral unity of International society should be shattered by wars—declared and undeclared—in which both primitive and progressive peaceful nations, who desire only to be left alone, should be subjected to force, intrigue, sabotage and invasion...
...Our first job is to keep this country out of war...
...This Is our America...
...Despair knows no law...
...All peoples have the right to determine their own political and national ideology and policy...
...That is their own business and it Is none of our alfalr...
...Individualistic System Threatened These are some of the conditions which confront us and which might bring us face to face with far-reaching and serious effects upon cur agriculture, our manufacture and the standard of workers' wage...
...As I said before, it is our duty to keep our nation out of war...
...here, are innocent bystanders In what may be the greatest war ever waged...
...Text of Address by Joseph E. Davies (Following is the text of Joseph E. Davies' address, "Liberty, Law and the War," given Sunday night at the Memorial Union to 500 Madison persons and Wisconsin attorneys and judges, as well as a nation-wide NHS...
...We cannot conceive of living in a society in which rights of the individual, which are the essence of our ideas of religion and life itself, can be systematically denied in the name of a state or a party or a race...
...Whether this war...
...nearly half of our agricultural products and more than half of our non-agricultural products are sold in Europe...
...European markets for our manufactured goods may be lost...
...Will Affect Us Vitally' Even though no foreign military plane, warship, or soldier ever touches our shores, the forces which this struggle has unleashed will affect us vitally...
...It is liberty under law which assures us freedom to worship God as conscience dictates, security in our lives and in our homes, freedom to think, speak, write or act in a conscious effort to mold conditions of life under which we and our children wish to live...
...Crisis Confronts Civilization The fact is that the world has reached a most critical stage in the crisis which confronts a threatened civilization...
...I do not wi«h to bp an alarmist...
...Nearly 40 per cent of Brazil's coffee crop alcne is sold in Europe: about four-fifths of Argentina's meat and hides are sold in Europe...
...It is essential, however, that the facts should be seen, proved and analyzed and their possible significance understood...
...The continued existence of cur individualistic system might possibly be threatened...
...The best, medium which the experience of civilization has found through this experience has been gold...
...by and for a dictatorship...
...that we should appreciate and foresrc the forces now existing in the world which affect us...
...Concentration camps, secret police, forced mass emigration of peoples, starvation, economic...
...To deserve these blessings, we must be vigilant in their protection...
...I recommend that you give these few thoughts and suggestions your earnest consideration...
...It is innate in the genius of our country to meet emergencies and find their solution sanely and practically, and...
...It is a fact that in many parts of this earth absolutist political creeds, ready to crush all opposition without pity or remorse, are doing battle against our concepts of law and liberty...
...We should assess these facts and the impact which these forces might have upon our life —upon the well-being of our farmers, businessmen, manufacturers, wage-earners, our churches, and possibly even upon the form of government which we cherish...
...Whatever the result of the world conflict, our form of government must never be translated from a government of, and by and for the people to a government of...
...It will be a new world m which we will live, and elements that may be beyond our control will influence the life and the political thought of our children and their children...
...The president, the government of the United States are taking far-reaching naval and military precautions to guarantee our security...
...But it is our vital duty to see, know and understand the forces which are at work in the world and to guard jealousy our own beliefs and our own Institutions, that the kind of life which we think is worth living shall be preserved in a world that has gone mad...
...The outlet for our agricultural, mineral and industrial products in foreign trade already has been clogged and the regular channels of peaceful intercourse between nations have been disrupted...
...Law under our system is ordered liberty...
...Our constitutional system under which individual rights are guaranteed is the mother of our economic, social and political life...
...These things I do not say will happen...
...as our president recently said, with our reel on the ground...
...I would stress again liberty and law as the foundation of our life...
...America Meeting Problems These conditions which I have suggested to you are now being met by American business and by the American government...
...Saw Tragedy in Europe During my stay in Europe I saw the stark tragedy of men and women who have been denied these protections...
...All about us there exist now and are developing further, tremendous upheavals in religious, sreial and political ideas...
...That I shall not do...
...So, my fellow citizens...
...Protection from the indirect consequences of this war on world economy and upon our own life, however, is more difficult...
...I am not an alarmist...
...with an unemployment situation on such a scale and social insecurity of such intensity that the foundation of cur social and political order might bp shaken...
Vol. 10 • May 1940 • No. 19
