St. Landry democrat., 1890-06-14
Do Our Constitutions Mean Anything
in Declaring that Opinion Shall
Be Free

Whenever one runs bis eye over th'
columns of the antilOttery journals, ant
sees with what sweeping and merclles
severity they denOunce such as do no
follow their arrogant dictation, he in
voluntarily asks himself, why all this
Is it because they presume Themselves
to be the embodiment of all that is wist
and pure in public polity? Or, is it be
cause they imagine themselves infallibly
right, whilst all others are lncontestibly
wrong9 They denounce all who dis.
sent from their dicta as corrupt instru-
ments of unblushing audacity on one
hand and as ignorant pretenders on the
other. They illuminate what they are
pleased to characterize as opinions, and
denounce what others respectfully ex-
press in the exercise of the right o.
thought. Those they cannot lead, OIL
dictate to, they denounce as the stipen.
diaries of the State Lottery. John Stuart
Mill is honored for having said, IN his
work on Liberty, that to suppress any
expression of opinion is to rob the human
racer
Thomas Jefferson said, Error of
opinion may safely be tolerated when
reason is left free to combat lt,' but it
we are to accept the unmeasured de-
nunciations which daily fall under our
eyes-crowding upon each other in the
anti-lottery journals, as the guide and
the limit of our right OF thought, we
may justly classify Mill and Jefferson
with Zoroaster, Confucius and Buddha
of the 9th century, b. G..
1t may be presumption in us to think
for moment that We have any right to
differ from these eXemplars, yet we can
not forbear giving it as our deliberate
l.,f foti
the State Legislature should submit the
the people. And further, we think it
poor compliment to them to be, as they
are, told that they can be swayed, and
will be brihed to vote on the question
10y the money of the Lottery. For our
lives we cannot see why they cannot be
trusted, or how these elfconstituted
lthuriels so prominently and conspicu-
ous!y posed on the walls that surround
our Eden, have become possessed OF the
potent spears by the waving of which
they claim to discover the invasion of
the Devil in our abode of innocence.
They speak of the power which the lot
terry company will questionahly WELD
among US if we are permitted to vote oD
the proposition, and take it for granted
we should surrender our birth-right of
Liberty to their assumptions of purity
by conceding our own compatibility.
No, gentlemen, we favor the submission
of the proposition to the people. We
do not think it becomes you or our rep
resentatives to say it should not, and
shall nat be done, because you fear to
trust them. 1t they err in acting on it,
it will be their fault not yours, and if
you are lrrORg in the political and con-
stitutional principle involved the re-
fusal to submit it, you may exult in
your temerity, but they must blush over
the unmanly, un-American submission
to great wrong.
Our democracy has always taught us
that vox pOpuli est vox Del, and we are
to see those of its advocates,
who claim to be leaders, as flexible in
their observance of this motto as sup
ple-jack or a gutta percha doll baby.
In one political campaign they insist
upon it as the Shibboleth of the party,
but in another, when the eclectic ele- |
nent ascends to higher stratum of |
moral purpose, the hoy policy, or the
vulgar masses are to be tab00ed and |
denied voice. Such is virtually the
democracy of all these anti-lottery ITO |
plans. Elevated by the masses they
fancy that they are more intelli-
gent than they in their aggregation.
Born of the masses they assume to be
Durer than their prOgenitors. Entrusted
Dy the masses with part of their |
powers, they openly proclaim their in
'eriority, and unblushingly usurp their
'overeignty. The child is wiser and |
,etter than it's parents, and the creature
mounts above the creator! We say
come down. ye dreamers, and take up
,our position among the people, or they
will take the props away and you will |
i've 70 hear or see something fall.