The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-02-26
DEMOCRACY.

DEMOCRACY.
Just now, an article on the subject of
this heading is its own warrant and justifi-
cation. The party OF the people has carried
the country by majority of million
votes, its principles are spreading, and
even its foes are quietly endeavoring to
adopt some of them
Democracy means government by the
people, and in practice it signifies that the
people are the real sovereigns to whom all
public officers are amenable through the
ballot. The punishment which the people
can lnfiict upon those who betray their DO
htlcal trust is limited to retiring them
from office. in other words, discharging
these unfaithful employees
The Democratic party pins its faith to
Gle people, and maintains that a govern
ment can be no better than the people gov
erned. The remedy for bad government is
the education and training of the people
themselves. They must make the govern
ment, must determine its standard of pur-
lty and rigor, must sustain its workings.
be anxious for its perpetuity, ambitious
Tor its greatness and sensitive for Its
honor. They must also suffer the conse-
quences of their own folly or incapacity if
the government is failure in any particu-
lar Thus, the people not only may take
partin ordering the policy of the govern
ment, but they must do so. The guarantee
OF good government and of reform wher-
ever necessary, is thus laid in the very
foundation of the social structure, and no
other stimulus can ever be so great as that
OF an enlightened self-interest working
among the people at large for the correc-
ton of abuses.
1t is better, according to the extreme
view of the Democratic doctrine. that the
people should suffer the evils of a poor
government for time, if the government
is their own. than that they should enjoy
enjoy good government at the hands of
others. For government cannot be perma-
nently safe, unless the people make it so.
No ruler, no class of rulers, no aristocracv.
having power to rule, but will abuse that
power before long. The accident of good
ruler will be Offset by the accident of bad
one. Nor does history afford any examples
of an unselflsh few that will correctly
manage the affairs of government unless
the menace Of the power of the people is
constantly before them. If the people at
large are careless of liberty, or cowed by
fear, or deluded by false ideas of security.
the government will be CORRESPONDENCE
tyrannical, corrupt, or otherwise un-
worthy.
There is no class of citizens, however
rich, aristocratic, or powerful it may be,
that can, or, at least that will rule as well
as the whole people. A stream cannot
rise higher than its source, and from the
people must come the impulse that directs
and the power that sustains every under
taking Of the government
But while the school of experience and
suffering, it may be. on the part of the peo-
pie, will thus ultimately secure the pest
government the people can live under. this
same participation of the people in the af
fairs of the nation, educates them III turn
and makes of them the best citizens posi-
BILE with the given advantages. The action
and the reaction are equal. the one con-
stantly tending to better government, the
other to better citizens; and the two are in
separable
NJ DOOBAO AOoS lCdIn CUET6CU QOCGclQG
and then govern themselves: and in pur-
suance of the broad principles herein sug-
gested, the Democratic party has main
tanned, among other things:
1.-The freedom Of every person to do
what seems best to him, provided that in
so doing he does not interfere with the
same freedom of any other person.
2-That all are equal before the law and
that legislation for the benefit CT one per-
son or class is unjust to all the others. who
must necessarily pay for it; that legislation
directed against any person or class is an
unfair discrimin alton.
3-That the states shall manage all their
local concerns, and any encroachment of
The general government upon the local self
government of the states is a dangerous
tendency towards monarchial despotism.
EThat the affairs of government DE con
Quoted with honesty and economy, and that
only such taxes be collected as are neces-
sary for this purpose; that the present sss-
TEN OF tariff taxation, which shields the
rich on the supposition "that they in turn
will care for the laboring poor" is mere
robbery of the sovereign people for the
benefit of few.
5-That the people shall preserve the
ancient privilege of conducting their own
elections, and that no party shall, in the
name and power of this republic be per-
mitted to do ''its own registration, counting.
and certiication.n
These are few of the more important
ideas and principles of Democracy. They
are worthy of the attention of the citizens
OF this territory at the present time, for
like other citizens, before long, we not only
may but must take part in the affairs of
national government.