DEBATING UNION FINDS DEMOCRACY A SUCCESS

After a heated discussion which was taken up by the house, the Debating Union by a 31-16 vote decided last night in favor of the negative side of the question "Resolved: That this House believes that democratic government has failed."

B. F. Wright, a tutor in the Department of Government, proposed the question. He stated that, before being able to adequately discuss the question, one must have a working definition of a democratic government.

"A Democratic Government means something more than representative government. The essential point is that the government be exercised by the mass of the people.

"As the problems of government become more complex, a democracy has proved a failure. This fact is illustrated by the passage of the power out of the hands of the people. The task of the legislator is far too difficult for the average man to carry."

D. R. K. Barnes '27, replying for the negative said:

"A Democracy stands or falls on the fact that it is better or worse than the other forms. The monarchies have been represented by geniuses; I can cite a considerable number. But while the country might have prospered under them; the periods following their reigns were marred by bloodshed and ruin.

"The prosperity and happiness of the people is the aim of every good government. A monarchy does not ultimately produce this. We make no claims for a democracy, but this form has proven more peaceful and more productive of prosperity and happiness. A Democracy, although it may have faults, has succeeded in comparison to a monarchy.

"A Democracy is non-constructive," maintained C. P. Wright 1G, a student from Oxford. "It gives way to more efcient organs which do its work. A Democracy appeals to all that is bad in man, to his conceit, to his pugnacity, and to his sense of injustice.

"A government by the newspapers may replace it, but this form would be supplanted by a kind of industrial feudalism in which a few powerful industrialists set up the laws.

Dr. John Dickinson, the last speaker in favor of the negative, said:

"The greatest function of a government is to educate the people. A monarchy does not do this; it is the lazy man's way out. With the ruler's death, comes confusion.