Conant, Sullivan, Kennedy Address Over 500 Alumni At Annual New York Dinner

New York, Jan. 24, Mark Sullivan in criticizing the Roosevelt administration pointed out the paradoxical position of the present day Liberals and Reactionaries in the United States, saying that for himself he accepts the historical definition of liberty as meaning immunity from compulsion by the state, instead of disguising economic security under that name.

Larcency of a Word

He said in part: "In this seven-century-long struggle in Britain and America to take more and more power away from the crown, those who fought for the side of liberties for the people have been called, properly, 'Liberals.' The word became associated with those who fought for the now, because all change was in the direction of greater liberties for the people. Today, again a change is proposed . . . but this one in the direction of taking liberties away from the individual, conferring more power on the state. Yet those who promote this change call themselves 'Liberals.' I think they are committing larcency of a word. Correctly, those who propose greater power for the state are reactionaries.

Security or Death

"But I think those who propose the new would do better if they were more candid. What they really are doing is asking us to give up many of our individual liberties in exchange for something which they call security. For myself, I accept the historical definition of liberty. Liberty means immunity from compulsion by the state. Patrick Henry said 'Give me liberty or give me death.' He did not say 'Give me economic security or give me death.' He did not say 'Give me forty dollars a month after I am 65 or give me death.'"

In conclusion he suggested an accurate definition of the trend of the Administration's program. "Now I think that economic security of every kind is a desirable end, well worth striving for. But what the proposers of it ought to say is something like this: 'We offer you a vision which we call security, but in order to get it you must give up many of your familiar liberties.'"