The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1897-10-28
VOTERS DON'TS.
WHO ARE THE PEOPLE ?"
SELFISH OFFIcE-HOLDERs
Some Rambling Thoughts.
BY "NEMo."

Copyrighted by Dave & Tabor.)
To VOTERS, II IL have no doubt
that in general way you agree with
the statement that "the people" can be
trusted perhaps because the phrase
sounds familiar. as nearly every one
asserts it. But like our assent to a
great many scraps of proverblal wis
dom, we too often agree to statements
without thinking of all that they i'm
ply. Please look with me a little deep
er; not that would shake your faith
in the people. but rather that you may
have your faith In them increased.
-
The figures in picture gain largely
by the kind of background they have
National great-men gain by a similar
condition, and for them the back
ground is "the people," Without
people to lead and people to voice,
where would our great men be? The
people are those ordinary, hard-work-
ing ones, who continue their duties
steadily under this administration or
under that always fndable at the post
of honest labor. But these people diff
fer largely from the people of almost
any other nation, since our political
institutions are based upon their wills
or whims. The necessity of their
having right ideas is therefore para
mount. The necessity also OF showing
them national dangers is also extreme,
since by their voices and their votes,
they are the arblters of our national
fate. Are we agreed so far?
~
Then once more ; who are "the peo-
ple"? You and /, and others like us
But as am writing to you and you are
reading; for the time being you
alone, solitary, partlcuIarized-are "the
people. This say, sacrificing even
grammar, in order to have close talk
with you. As 'the people" can you be
trusted are your motives high; are
your political actions pure? Come
now, it is no use asserting to general
idea unless you are willing to make
genuine application OF it.
~
THE PEOPLES STRENGTH.
O, can it be this lordly fame,
The sacred guard of hallow'd bones,
Was once but rough uneven stones,
Quarried by common hands for gain ?
Yet rude and worthless though each be,
With them is raised this temple fair,
A fault, weakness anywhere
May mar the perfect symmetry.
o, can it be, this mighty force,
That nations make OF rends apart,
Is nothing but the peoples heart
Made up of units fine or coarse?
Yet, lowly as may be their state,
This lesson doth the building teach
That nothing but true life from each
Can make a nation wholly great.
II you are so wrapped up in your
own business, you ere able to
quietly pursue under the protection OF
a quiet government,-that you do not
take even time to register and to vote,
YOU are not to be trusted, since you
take all you can of personal gain from
our national conditions and do not re-
pay anything. You are selfish, yet
there is one worse than you-the diff
terence between negative selishness
and positive-the one who holds office
and administers it selishly. OF him
we will say something, because he is
made possible by lazy voters.
If you delude yourself into the be-
lief that every man has an equal voice
in the destlnies of the country, and
then give actual denial to it by surren-
derlng your independence of judgment
to a boss who thinks for you, noml-
mates for you-because you will not at
tend caucusses and primaries
votes for you, then as a voter you are
not to be trusted. You are the right,
plastic material out of which he shapes
his selfish ends. Assuming you to be
a good man, he reckons good man in
dolent, as OF less weight than fly on
chariot wheel and so you unit in
our national life become mere cipher.
The precious staff of life to our ma
ton is that you and all like you should
have a choice of candidates, but only
loaf ofshusks is given you when you are
offered a choice between candidates, af-
ter you have by your absence from the
urinary left others to think for you.
FOR OVER FIFTY YEARS
Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup has
been used for over fifty years by mil