The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1894-09-21
RULE BY THE PEOPLE.

CHAS, ii. STREET.,
State Central Com. for Hartford Co.
RULE BY THE PEOPLE.
After the war for American indie
pendence was over and our country
was free, it was still unsettled what
form of government the new nation
would assume. A government by the
people was at that time something of
an experiment. Many persons who
were in favor of republic had doubts
whether or not the people could be
trusted with the reins of government.
Indeed, the political divisions were
created at that time which have in
great measure continued to the pres
ent day. One of these divisions, at
that time known as the Federalists,
was in favor of a strong government,
with powers almost unlimited, and the
other portion wished to have that
form of rule which should at all times
be subject to the will of the people.
1t seems to us at the present day
that under such circumstances the
glorious constitution which was form
ed at that time could only have been
promulgated by divine intervention.
BY that revered document it was Or
dained that the citizen of this country
should have no master, that he should
have no one to think and act for him
but that he was a man and peer of
any other inhabitant of the country,
and that he had the liberty to act en-
tirely as his reason taught him and
his conscience approved. Thus the
people of this country were given the
right to rule it, and the constitution
which created this government by the
people provided abundant safeguards
for its continuance. Of late years it
has seemed, however, that this privi-
lege of the people has suffered much
by misuse and nonuse and has fallen
somewhat into allegiance. Instead of
the governing power being welded by
the voters of the country it has been to
a great extent usurped by capital, boss
es and trusts. This enslaving of the
people has been brought about by
their own remissness and they only can
apply the remedy. Thousands of our
voters, instead of acting as their bet
ter sense would instruct them have
let some one else do the thinking for
them and have voted blindly as re-
quested by some self-constituted boss.
We are often told that it is necessary
to have leaders and bosses who know
more about the affairs of the country
than we do. If all professional politi-
cans were pure and honest this might
be good counsel, but unfortunately,
people do not always do what they
know to be right. Self interest is one
of the strongest laws of our nature,
and if certain measure is for the
benefit of ten of our neighbors and
inimical to ourselves we will generally
be found opposing it. Hence it is
that those who have been nominally
chosen to serve the people are too often
found joining hands with their oppres-
sors.
We believe that the people of this
country can be trusted to an unlimited
extent. Some of them may be wrong,
but we will seldom find a majority of
them wrong if they have been left
alone to form their own Judgment
1t is assumed by some that there are
many men who are too ignorant of
State affairs to cast an intelligent
vote, but this is a mistake. Many
persons who are Ignorant of book learn
ing, and of political ethics, are men
of very sound judgment and their
hearts are often much more honest
than those of men who are we'll school
ed in science and political trickery.
At the election iu 1892 an immense
majority of the people decreed that
we should have radical reduction of
the tariff, but when Congress assem-
bled the august Senate-the body
which Hamilton suggested would be
necessary Ito keep a check on the
people'-seemed to think that the peo-
pie did not know what was best for
them and gave them something entire
ly different from what they had asked
for and what had been promised them.
It is true that the new law is a great
improvement over McKinleyism, but
why give us half loaf when it was
just as easy to give us II whole one. 1t
is a dangerous thing to treat the will
of the people with contempt. They
are jealous of their rights and are
every year getting more FESTIVE under
bossism.
The Democratic party has lost no
faith in its principles but it's faith
in some of its wouldbe leaders is bad
ly shaken. Democrats love their par
ty for its principles for they think
those principles are best adopted to
secure the freedom and happiness of
the people, and when men are nomi-
mated by the party we will support
them heartily for only by that means
can party organization be kept up,
but it behooves us as we love our par
ty and hope for it's success to see that
the very best nominations are made.
Therefore let every Democrat take a
thoughtful active part in his party
councils and act according to no die
tation but that of his own conscience
and the people will be triumphant, for
the Democratic party is the party of
the people and such action will insure
its success.