Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1898-01-27

year. The embarrassing conditions are
noted and complained of by nearly all
classes of persons. The business men.
the professional men and the laboring
men all feel it aud complain that 1t is
harder to pay bills, keep even and live.
To all who have felt the truth of these
statements, the following questions and
suggestions are submitted for study:
Where a cause or causes produce
uch general effects. it must be that
the causes are also general causes.
Now we ask, what are the causes
which produce these general effects
which are so unsatisfactory to SO many
of our people.
To answer this question intelligentiy
and truthfully a rather long range of
view must be taken of conditions.
Come with me now and we will, as a
company of friends seeking the truth,
go back to the time our country was in
b + seven years life and death struggle
with the ''lnother country" for national
independence. AT that time there were
two principal fcations or parties. One
class called Tories, and these were the
wealthy class and were the friends of
the crown of England. But for this
class and the assistance given by them
to the English soldiers the revolution
would not probably have lasted half as
long as it did.
The other class were the true Ameri-
can patriots. There were those who
believed in aud pledged their fortunes,
their sacred bonor and their lives for
a complete self government. 1t was
for this the great seven years struggle
was fought. If we could look back and
see the sufferiugs, distresses and horrors
as the soldiers were marching with
bloody feet over the frozen roads, we
would think an independent self
government was something truly grand
and worthy. England and the Tories
trove to prevent it. The patriots to
patriots won. But another struggle
was to come in the forming of the new
government. The patriots wanted
peoples government by the people. The
Tories must have a government in form
ike the ''mother country" Many and
hard we're the battles fought in legis-
ative halls of the new country; debates
and debates. They never could and
never did agree to have either purely
patriotic form or an aristocratic form.
After many debates and much quarrel
ing by those chosen to drat the form of
the new government. there being many
questions to look after, the patriots be-
came weary of the struggle and yielded
to compromise.
The patriots won in the field with the
sword, but the Tories won in the halls
of lie ,islatioa, and representative form
WIS established. Had the patriots won
here as they did in the field. a form of
government direct by the people would
have been ours instead of represent
ative one as we have.
In a representative government, the
representatives chosen to make the law
do so with little regard as to wheth .r
the people want the laws they pass or
not.
But it is said the people elect the
representatives. They do, but the peo-
pie do not know beforehand what laws
are to be offered and voted on. and for
this reason have no voice in making the
laws which they are TO obey.
Is this the consent ofthe governed?p
It is not. 1t is the irresponsiblelpower
given representatives by the represent
ative form of government; the victory
OF the Tories IN organizing the govern
ment But here it is asked, how is ii
to be corrected, aud is argued, if the
Tories outgeneraled the patriots in the
organization, have they not continued
to do so ever since7 Alas, this is too
true, but it does not necessarily follow
that they must always continue tc do
so.
AT this stage it becomes a question oil
intelligence that they can. aud are they
honest enough to establish. or IN other
words to change our present represent