The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1893-03-23
T. 1T -rNpEMocRaT TO rNckhNss
Tu.. POWERS OF GOVERNMENT.
BY EDWARD BgLi.AMy, AUTHOR ~
LOOKING BACKWARDS.

~ EDWARD BgLi.AMy, AUTHOR OF
LOOKING BACKWARDS.
4 subscriber writing Us IN regara
to the petition for government owner
ship of the telegraph aud telephone
saws. 1.-The only objection 10 govern
uient control is that il tends To IN
crease the powers Of the government
which is unaemocratic.
Here seems 10 be confusion oil
terms, growing evidently ont of = con-
fusion of thought.
Looking up the definition oil
democracy as given hy Webster, We
find il to be .-Goyerment by the peo-
plea form of government in which
the supreme power is in the hands
Of the people" According to this
definition. the correctness of which
will not be questioned, any policy
tending to enlarge the powers of the
people in government is democratic
and any policy tending to restrict
the power of the people is undemo-
cratic. Is then The proposition of
government ownership of the tele-
graph, "a measure for restricting or
enlarging the powers of the people
in government: Very obyisously 1t
is proposition for charging the
powers of the people, by placing
them in direct control of the facili-
ties of communications What,
then, in the name of common sense,
does our correspondent mean by call
ing the proposition "undemocra-
tic''?
We might leave the matter here,
but it may be profitable in spirit of
candor to seek after the explanation
of the certainly very complete mis-
understanding of terms into which
our correspondent has fallen. O6vi-
ously it arises from loose and indie
finite use of the word government.
There are two contrasted kinds of
government which are as opposite as
light and darkness and everything
that is true of one kind of govern
ment is false as regards the other.
The one sort is the government of
men by other men, and the other is
self-government. The one is royal,
imperial, aristocratic, the other is
republican, democratic, popular.
To Increase The powers of monarchi-
cal governments is uademocratic be-
cause it encroaches in so far on the
power of the people. To increase
the power of d democratic govern
ment, on the other hand, is neces-
sarily and always, by the very
meaning of the terms, a democratic
policy.
When Thomas Jefferson said 'sthe
government which governs least is
best, "he necessarily had in mind the
only forms of government of which
the world at that date had had any
namely the royal and
aristocratic forms, and as applied to
them the saying was quite true. 1t
requires no argument to prove that
the less men are tyranni2od over bv
selfish despots the better.
When however the people govern
themselves for their own interests, to
say that the less governing they do
the better, is equivalent to declaring
that the less attention people give to
their own affairs the more prosperous
they will be.
We beg our correspondent and all
other good people who have allowed
their minds to be fuddled by the
misuse of this maxim about govern
ment, to bear in mind that the
question is not whether they shall
De more or less governed but who
shall do the governing for they
have got to be governed by somebody
anyhow. The economic system of
country, commercial and industrial, |
upon which We all depend tenfold
more completely than upon the So
called political government, is a |
and elaborate system which |
requires a deal of governing. 1t
has got to be governed by somebody |
and will be governed in the interest |
ot those who are allowed to govern |
It. At present it is being governed |
by set of moneyed oligarchs, who |
are fast reducing the people to the
of ''hewers of wood and
drawers OF water" Shall this system
or shall we overthrow our
5yrants and establish in industry as
we'll as in politics a government of
lie people, for the people, by the
people?
Could anything be more democratic
han this?