Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1896-06-18
A WORD ABOUT "cRANKs.n

said: If man comes to me for advice,
L first find out what kind of advice he
wants, and then give him that and he
goes away thinking that we are two of
the smartest men i'll the world" 1t is
natural to select the line of least resist
ance-to follow the path of peace and
good feeling with ones neighbors even
at the cost of principle or the silencing
of conscience.
The words Of the humorist sage apply
Ill peculiar way to those who have
dealings with the public. Demos is a
sort of musical instrument that is capa-
bic OF giving forth 4ertain tunes. Who
ever has learned the lingering Of these
tunes and can touch the instrument skill
fully is your popular man. He is not a
crank, but leader of the people. There
are other men whose training has gone
beyond the melodies that touch the vul-
gar ear who have chords of their own to
strike. Keener sensibilitics, Il larger soul,
Il wider outlook enable them to see and
feel things hidden from the multitude.
When such men sit at the keyboard and
insist on striking chords that are true
to the music that is ringing in their own
souls, it sometimes happens that the
other instrument, the popular will, re-
spends only with furious discords 1t is
then that interyicwers abound and the
aid is full Of epithets, of which "crank'
is the least Objectionable.
Shall such men speak, or for sweet
harmony's sake, for peace, shall they
keep silence! Shall the man who knows
better see bis fellow citizens all bent
upon going wrong and not raise his
voice to point out their error?
Theoretically there is but enc answer:
thousand times yes, let him speak,
though the heavens fall Theoretically
we have accepted the right Of free speech
as a political axiom. 1t lies at the
very foundation of our free government
1t IS the corner stone Of cur institutions,
and yet there have been grave symptoms
of late which indicate that this princi-
pie has been accepted i'll some such way
as our forefathcrs adopted that noble
maxim Of equality and freedom to
which they gave expression III the Dccla-
ration Of Independence. Not many
weeks ago the whole nation apparently
was bent upon rushing to war with
people who are bound tous by the closest
ties of a common civilization. A pro-
fessor i'll tho University Of Chicago dared
to raise his voice and question, not the
policy Of such war, but the justice Of
the SO called American position. AT
once the press of the country burst forth
i'll blast of dcnunciation. Singing
epithets worthy Of the days of proslayery
agitation Were freely used. A leading
Chicago journal demanded that the Of
fender he excluded from the faculty and
that his views be repudiatod by the uni
ycrsity.
Have we come all these weary years
to find that after all our people, in
whose intelligence and good sense we
arc only too apt to boast, arc just like
any other people, as Macaulay long ago
put it, "More easily interested for the
most unmCaning badge, or the most
insignificant name, than for the most
important principle?" Was De Toquo-
villo right when he put his finger upon
this weak spot i'll cur system and said
that no man dared to be ruled by the
mobile elements, and that i'll any great
crisis public opinion would be nodded,
not by the wisdom Of few qualified to
judge, but by the blind instinct Of the
masses! Surely we haveuo left the last
mile stone Of cur national history very
far behind rs if we can thus again be-
Ieye all the accepted causes OF fIeo
speech and free thought.
Demos is surely q terrible fellow when
awakened He is more terrible when,
bent upon going wrong, he is half way
suspicious that the minority after all
has the right side of the argument.
Then he is always unreasoning, intract-
able and furious, and yet Demos is q
most inconsistent fellow. He never
thinks alike on two successive days; but
with all his heart is right, if his head
does often go wrong. Phocion under
stood this i'll his famous reply to Demos
themes when the great orator had said
to him, "Phocion, the Athcnians will
kill you some day, when once they are
i'll rage. "And you," replied Pho
cion, "When once they are in their
senses" 1t is this confidence in the ulti-
mate rectitudo Of public opinion that
y
some great crisis i'll history, to lead the
forloln hope for humanity.
The minority is always made up of
"cranks, and it tisherothat the crank"
has his duty TO perform. Civilized ma
tions today tend toward government
by discussion. The only safeguard Of a
free people against that worst of all
tyrannios, the tyranny Of the majority,
is the persistence on the part Of the
minority i'll its right to speak The more
critical the issue and the smaller the
minority, the more necessity is there
for speech. The greatest religious and
social revolution that history has re-
corded was led by minority Of one
Our danger is not in the blind rule
of the masses, but i'll the increase of ma
terial prosperity; our culture shall be-
come selfish, and then mon who can speak
and Qugbf to s1,poly will loco tbn ,,n,,,o