Rules and Laws (1951)

[Music] [Music] la [Music] the other day the children and I were spending a quiet afternoon at home Tom and Jane were playing with their trains little sister Rose kept getting in their way Rose is really too young to know how to do things with other [Music] people keep her out of the way will you Jane oh she's always doing [Music] that what baby cry about pop he's hungry mother's giving him his bottle I'm hungry too I want it eat I want to eat well dinner isn't ready yet Rose you have to wait like we all do why can't baby wait like we do oh he hardly knows we exist he can't worry about doing things with us he do know what trains are now Rose knows a lot more than baby brother she knows what trains are but she doesn't know how to run them you're not much better than our games lots of times you don't even know the rules why do we have so many rules d daddy even on who don't know too many rules well sometimes we do have rules we don't need but for everything we do together we have to have some rules well we don't always have rules sure sometimes we just go ahead and play oh sometimes it seems like that Tom but that wasn't so in that game of hide-and seek we had with your friend oh that funny game yeah that funny game having a way to do things means having a rule and we had to have a way of choosing someone to be it we only had fun playing together when we all followed the same rules all except Rose she's too young to understand the rules so we had to let her play as she [Music] pleased rules are just ways of doing things [Music] together it's when we understand rules and agree to them that we have the most [Music] fun that's why when Tom tried to help me he was spoiling the game for Ronnie and for the rest of us [Music] too we told him if he wanted to play he had to stick to the rules we all agreed [Music] on so you see we we didn't just go ahead and play we had to follow the rules of the game of course there's more to playing the game than just following the [Music] [Applause] rules sometimes we had to make up new rules for new [Music] situations we found that out when Ronnie tricked me into thinking someone was near the [Music] garage [Music] the joke was on me and I thought it was pretty clever but your friend who was caught didn't think so everyone had his own opinion and we couldn't agree [Music] some of us thought it was a fair trick at [Music] first after talking it over though we all agreed it wouldn't be fair to anyone who was hiding where the stone [Music] fell so we made a new rule that we couldn't throw stones and sometimes we have to change our old rules you remember how angry you got Tom when Jane ran into the street we had a rule against it because cars going by made it dangerous Jane said we didn't need that rule because the street was closed and there were no cars she said the rule was good when the street was open but when things change the rules have to be changed to [Music] fit when we saw it was safe to run there we agreed with Jane we knew we could change the rule as long as the street was [Music] closed only Rose kept insisting that we couldn't change rules that's because she's too young to understand people who understand rules know that they can change them you see when we play it may seem as if we're just running around but in games or anything else we do with other people we have to agree on rules and understand them we have to make new rules for new situations and we have to change old rules when they aren't good anymore that's all they is that's all they is silly in the game we needed lots of rules in order to play as we grow older we we don't just run our own ways sure we can't have games without rules but why do we have rules about so many other things the same reason we have rules in games so we can get things done it's something like this locomotive needing a track a rule is is a kind of a track to get us someplace well in some ways we have safety rules moves for getting across the street and they help us get where we want to go just like tracks help a train we have to have laws so we can all get where we want to [Music] go like stopping for a red light to let others [Music] pass we agree on ways of doing things together that will be fair to all of [Music] us otherwise we wouldn't get [Music] anywhere yes Tommy a rule is a kind of a track to help us get where we want to go but people aren't trains people make the tracks they follow and the laws we make are just like the rules you made in the game we hadn't agreed on what to do about throwing stones and the game couldn't go on until we did agree when we all had our say we were able to find a way that would be fair to [Music] everyone that's the way we get good rules and good laws do you remember the traffic jams we used to have on Charles Street our town was growing fast so much traffic was going in different directions that there was always a Jam sometimes it would take forever to get through town well we people had to do something about it and just like you got together in the game we got together at a town meeting and said what we thought should be done Mr Harris thought we could have a policeman at the corner a lot of us disagreed and just like in the game it's only when we get up and talk that our interests are represented Mr Johnson suggested we make a rule that traffic could go only one way on Charles [Music] Street after he finished talking we voted and most of us agreed with Mr [Music] Johnson well we made Charles Street a one-way Street and cleared the traffic you see laws are the rules that people make and then live by and we all want to have a say about how we live all over the country we live in different ways and work at different jobs we have our own needs and our own problems there are too many thousands and millions of us to go to a meeting so in order to make sure that we can all have our say we have the right to vote for Representatives people who will speak up for [Music] us we send them to Congress to make the laws we want I remember when the river used to flood its banks Every Spring a lot of people lost their homes everybody nearby did what he [Music] could but that didn't stop the river for a th miles and a dozen states had flooded the countryside the job was too big for cities or even whole States Congress had to do something about it through our Representatives we decided that what we needed was a series of dams to hold back the waters that took a lot of planning because we had to figure out what was best for all the people living by the river in all the states well we built the dams and the river was Ted people needed the dams and they made laws to get them we know that laws don't come from nowhere people have to make them for themselves as we do in Congress or in our town meetings and as you do in your [Music] games that's why we have to change laws the same way you had to change the rules in the game the rules Don't Change by themselves when the street was closed you had to change the rules to fit and people have to change laws so they'll fit for instance a long time ago our town was peaceful and the air was clean we had a law that factories with big Smoky chimneys had to be built on the other side of the river so the dirt and soot wouldn't get to the town that worked for a while but as time passed more factories came and more and even more until finally the air wasn't fit to breathe the Old Law wasn't good anymore so we changed it we made a law against letting chimneys pour out dirt and dust Laden [Music] smoke we had to change the Old Law and make a new one so we could live a better life in a cleaner City [Music] in the old days things were a lot different because life was simpler laws were simpler but today we need different laws for different conditions I want to make laws I want to make laws yes why can't we change laws everyone tells us what to do well that'sand enough of of what we need and of what other people need and things you do understand you do follow when you're grown up you'll have a share in making laws and we'll probably change a lot of them well if you speak up for your own needs and understand other people's rights you'll make good laws [Music] la