Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-04-03
THE NECESSITY FOR PERSONAL PAT
TI0TIC ACTIVITY.

In turbulence, disquiet and attrition of
ideas and aims, now so manifest through
ont the country, the lover of free institu-
tions sees danger. 1t is very true that out
of such workings Of the public mind ard
the friction of ideas concerning policies for
the country, and the rights of so-caIed
classes, must come the truth and the ulti-
mate triumph of the right But the pub
lie mind is oftenest impatient of this out
come, and hence come appeals to I'M
lawful methods. We are of those,
however, who believe in the vital
ity of that which a great thinker once
termed the national heart" There is
disquiet now violence and infraction of the
guaranteed rights of the people. But there
has been no serious manifestation as yet,
that the national heart has greatly less
ened its vigor. When its vitality is
closely assailed the nation will rise up
with patriotic impulse that is now under
estimated. Still there is danger to free
institutions, and it is imminent when there
is clear evidence of such decline of the
patriotic sentiment that it cannot be easily
rallied to repel actual assault. The duty
of all men who appreciate the blessings of
free government is constant in such times
as these, TO recall the public thought to
all that is meant by disorder and all that
is involved in attempts to accomplish ends
outside Of the bounds of the law-the
edicts of the popular will. The American
people must be honest with themselves
They cannot rebuke any of their house
hold but themselves. \ free government,
such as ours, with substructure such as is
found in our fundamental declara-
ton of principles on which rest
human rights, being dependent
upon public will, is menaced when
ever that will is not manifested
actively according to the methods OF the
law. And this applies, not only to the
open and forcible, but to insiduous in
tiuences. Schemes accomplished by ma
nipulation of the ballot, by conspiracies to
deceive the voters of the country, or TO
make untrue expressions of their will, all
have tendency to weaken faith in the
American system and to invite assault.
The control of the caucus and the primary,
to make them falsely representative of the
best thought of the citizens, is something
more than menace, though perhaps not
so immediate danger as open and violent
infraction of personal rights. The ma
tional heart will, under bitter trial
be true to the principles of free govern
ment, and when the necessity comes for in
voking the patriotism of the country will
rise in arms. But citizens do not as fully
appreciate, as they should, the fact that
there are assaults upon political rights by
partisan ambition which, if not rebuked
and checked, must in time take 20
litical control almost wholly out of the
hands that should guide and finally
throttle the patriotic sense. At every out
break of the people in given sections that
trespasses upon the rights of men under the
laws, there is a quickening of this patri-
otic sense, lust as there now is, when the
fear obtains of conflicts But without
effort this will not always be. The
methods Of the politically unscrupulous
IN managing ward, town and CITY can
cuses. and in manipulating the machinery
through which the popular will should
be expressed, also infringe upon inalien-
able rights, and, if persisted in and per-
mitted, viii in time result in a single
scheming class controlling all the ma
ehinery Of government, from Town Corn
ell to Congress. Then revolution in some
form must follow. So that, whether the
danger IS from the insiduous assault of the
political boss or the rioter, the duty of the
good citizen is to be constantly active in
quickening the national heart and in
keeping it fully alive, not only to the rich
endowments of the republic, but to the
dangers that encompass it. This duty is
becoming more and more imperative as the
nation receives more and more of aces
sions TO itspopulation from countries where
but vague, and most often distorted. ideas
obtain regarding a government by the
popular will. We ought never to have
great uprisings against corruption in this