The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-09-01
MAJORITY LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

MAJORITY LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
Said a great New England thinker.
at recent notable gathering, Il hold
these truths TO be self-evident." That
the nation should devolve all that it
can upon the state, the state all that
it can upon the county, the county all
that it can upon the township, and the
township all that 1t can upon the in
dividual."
Striking rs the expression Of the
above opinion is, there is in it nothing
new or even startling. 1t declares in
simple fashion the very genius of our
government and the principle upon
which all its institutions are founded.
In the declaration is embodied the hope
and chances of a government of the
people. 1t rises above socialism as far
as it does above crowns. 1t but re-
iterateS the axiom that the state Is but
the creature of the individual, made
by him to serve him and his interests
in common with his neighbor to pre-
serve and sustain both himself and
fellow citizen. AS the state is the
creature of the individual the state
should leave to it's creator all authority
and power which cannot be more eff
fectively and judiciously used by the
state.
To preserve the state the general gov
nvr lnYpf vy-o- snctft DIT H.,
eral government is but the property of
the people, of the individual, not Of
the privileged or Of any peculiar class.
In the early history of this country
local self-government was truly re-
allied. 1t has been surely drifting
away. The "plain people," as Lincoln
so often designated them, made them
selves felt in the township and through
the township in the state and through
the state in the nation. 1t was once
the fashion for all to participate in the
politics Of the township and patriotism
was reality, for the power of the
plutocrat and his centralizing propo-
ganda had not gone forth whereby
states are ruled in Washington and the
township and town and town from the
various state capitals. The state is
becoming more indefinite in the federal
combine and more officious in the mu-
nicipality. In matters which should
be left entirely to the will and interest
of the municipality the state through
the manipulations of its politicians con-
tinually encrOaches.
1t was once held that patriotism is
founded on sentiment-the sentiment
Of the soul. The patriotism of to-
day is founded on salaries. A chance
at the public crib is Of more Importance
than the public veal. The public crib
can only be made profitable and avail
able by a multiplicity Of laws and an
eyer-increasing number of official
places. There must be named or
created by the state which assumes
the power Of extracting by taxes the
salaries which are ultimatum. To this
end the people have been falsely
taught. The centralized government
is becoming TO be everything. the real
local rule of the people nothing, or
entirely subservient. The real gov
erning power, the people in whom in
heres all power have become only the
instruments whereby those who rule
may rob or Cypress as suits the in
terest of the ruler best
1t is time for the ''plain people" of
Lincoln of this country TO commence
to remember that all power inheres in
them, that the citizen is the state.
which he established for definite and
specific general purposes, and not for
ruling his household or for debating
what he shall eat or drink or wear or
how or when he shall worship. The
leaning towards socialism and anarchy
found in the world today. and which
is growing in countries OF ariStocratic
rule, is directly traceable 10 the limit
atoms sought to be enforced upon in
dividual life. To root out the central
lied rule of the salary-seeking politi-
clan and 10 at the same time wipe out
the bedlam Of threatened socialism is
for the plain people TO assert again
their inherent rights. by telling the
centralized politician hands off,