CRAVEN, AVERY. Democracy in American Life: A Historical View. Pp. xi, 150. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1941. $1.00. MERRIAM, CHARLES E. What is Democ racy ? Pp. xi, 115. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1941. $1.00

Published date01 May 1942
Date01 May 1942
AuthorRalph H. Gabriel
DOI10.1177/000271624222100126
Subject MatterArticles
193
tion
somewhat
unduly,
just
as,
for
example,
recognition
of
a
right
to
tote
a
gun
would
stretch
unduly
the
right
to
move
from
place
to
place.
Another
omission
of
the
work
is
the
logi-
cal
result
of
its
legalistic
character,
for
this
aspect
is
necessarily
negative.
Freedom
of
speech
is
treated
as
something
of
which
government
is
an
always
potential
enemy.
What
is
now
needed
is
a
book
written
from
a
constructive
point
of
view,
from
the
point
of
view
of
investigating
all
the
ways
in
which
government
can
assist
freedom
of
speech
and
press
to
remain
a
really
fruitful
adjunct
of
our
public
life.
In
other
words,
freedom
of
speech
and
press
should
be
treated
as
a
branch
of
public
relations,
which
it
should
be
the
express
business
of
a
designated
organ
of
government
to
pro-
mote,
especially
in
those
areas
of
social
re-
lations
which
seem
at
any
particular
time
to
offer
the
greatest
threat
to
the
public
order.
The
negative
conception
of
freedom
of
speech
and
press
overvalues
public
discus-
sion
of
so-called
&dquo;fundamental
issues,&dquo;
like
Communism
versus
Capitalism.
But
if
the
United
States
is
to
remain
a
democracy,
such
issues
should
be
anticipated,
or
else
avoided
by
their
being
broken
down
into
issues
as
to
which
there
exists
a
reasonable
hope
of
finding
a
basis
of
agreement,
or
at
least
of
compromise,
between
opposed
in-
terests.
When
discussion
of
&dquo;fundamental
issues&dquo;
is
academic,
it
is
productive
of
bore-
dom ;
and
when
it
is
serious,
is
apt
to
men-
ace
that
good
order
on
the
preservation
of
which
all
discussion
is
dependent.
EDWARD
S.
CORWIN
Princeton,
New
Jersey
CRAVEN,
AVERY.
Democracy
in
American
Life:
A
Historical
View.
Pp.
xi,
150.
Chicago:
University
of
Chicago
Press,
1941.
$1.00.
MERRIAM,
CHARLES
E.
What
is
Democ-
racy ?
Pp.
xi,
115.
Chicago:
University
of
Chicago
Press,
1941.
$1.00.
These
brief
volumes,
presented
first
as
the
Walgreen
Lectures,
1940-41,
at
the
Uni-
versity
of
Chicago,
complement
one
an-
other.
Mr.
Craven,
taking
the
historian’s
approach,
begins
his
discussion
with
Thomas
Jefferson
and
ends with
William
Jennings
Bryan.
Mr.
Merriam
analyzes
the
contem-
porary
scene
from
the
point
of
view
of
a
student
of
government
and
a
member
of
the
National
Resources
Planning
Board.
The
books
are
products
of
a
winter
marked
in
American
thought
by
confusion
and
uncer-
tainty
of
purpose:
the
debate
between
the
interventionists
and
the
isolationists
raged
throughout
the
land;
and
the
public
temper,
particularly
as
reflected
by
the
younger
men
and
women,
was
characterized
by
cynicism
with
respect
to
international
politics.
These
books
should
be
read
against
such
a
back-
ground.
They
are
excellent
statements.
Mr.
Craven’s
volume,
in
particular,
is
well
written.
Its
argument
is
tersely
and
ef-
fectively
presented,
and
it
rises
at
times
to
eloquence.
For
Mr.
Craven,
the
history
of
American
democracy
divides
into
two
periods
with
1896
the
knife
edge
separating
them.
He
discusses
only
the
first
period.
From
Jef-
ferson
to
Bryan,
according
to
this
thesis,
the
emphasis
in
American
democratic
think-
ing
and
practice
was
on
liberty-freedom
for
the
individual.
Equality
was
no
prob-
lem
in
a
new
society
set
down
in
a
rich
environment.
The
frontier,
where
condi-
tions
fostered
individualism,
helped
to
keep
alive
that
Jeffersonian
democracy
expressed
in
the
Declaration
of
Independence,
in
the
various
bills
of
rights,
and
in
the
preference
for
political
power
in
the
local
rather
than
the
central
government.
The
frontier,
moreover,
aided
in
the
acceleration
of
a
drift
in
democratic
practice
toward
the
use
of
political
power
residing
in
the
ballot
to
further
sectional
and
other
special
interests.
&dquo;What
I
am
trying
to
emphasize,&dquo;
says
Craven,
&dquo;is
that
democracy
’had
become
bread.’
It
meant
very
concrete
things
to
be
gained
through
political
control.&dquo;
In
the
decades
immediately
preceding
Sumter,
the
democratic
ideal
of
individual
liberty,
backed
by
Christian
faith
and
idealism,
be-
came
the
driving
force
in
a
crusade
that
finally
put
an
end
to
human
slavery
in
the
Federal
Republic.
After
Appomattox,
a
rising
industrialism
created
among
Ameri-
can
citizens
vast
inequalities
of
wealth
and
power.
The
Populist
revolt,
culminating
in
the
campaign
of
1896,
made
the
last
great
appeal
in
American
history
to
the
old
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