The Advocate and news., 1899-02-22

ana Oh edCn SlhU6 III lnS Oulou Wdo
founded under the conclusion that rep
resentative democracy is the most dem
ocratic government that is practical, and
under the conditions that existed hun
dred years ago, in the days Of mail trans
portation by stage coach and when the
telegraph was unknown, that was prob
ably true. But the history Of American
representative government has demon
strated that there is a radical difference
between democracy and representa-
tive government. In a democracy the
citizens themselves make the laws and
superintend their administration; in
representative democracy the citizens
delegate the law-making power to a
chosen few for a limited term Of years,
and the administration Of the laws to an
other few.
The fundamental idea in democracy
is that sovereignty remains uninterrupt-
edly with the people. We have learned
that under representative government,
sovereignty is surrendered by the people
for a stated term to the select few that
are elected to govern. We have also
learned, too, that those elected to govern
are of two classes. One conscientiOusly
endeavors to carry out the will of the
people, while the other class adroitly en-
deavOrs to do the will Of the people in as
small degree as possible and yet retain
the approval of the factors that control
the party which elected them. The busi-
ness of this class Of officers is, first, to
do as much as possible in behalf Of the
occult political forces that chose them;
and, secondly as little for the public as
they can possibly do and retain control
of affairs. And partisan bondage, the
most baneful factor in American politics,
as touching good citizens, enables this
latter class of officers to succeed in doing
very much for special interests and very
little that can reasonably be called obe-
dience to the will Of the people. The sec
Ond class of representatives or rather the
class that misrepresents, is much the
larger Of the two.
1t is often said, and truthfully too, that
the British government much more truly
represents the people of Great Britain
than does the American Congress repre-
sent the American people. Did we not
few years ago witness the spectacle OF
a national administration which was
elected on the issue Of a protective tariff
versus a free tradish revision Of the
tariff, commit itself wholly in special
session Of Congress to financial legisla-
tion? And again more recently ma
tional administration that was elected
upon the issue of free coinage OF silver
by international agreement versus the
free coinage of silver without asking the
consent of any foreign nation, devoting
itself to tariff legislation and commit
ting the United States more thoroughly
to the maintenance of the single gold
standard?
These conditions are witnessed in some
degree in every State legislature. What
the people really want done is accom-
plished in too small a degree and what
they do not want done is done in so large
a degree that in many instances tolerance
ceases to be partisan virtue.
If self-government is right, all this is
wrong. AS certainly as this is all wrong
so certainly is the apparatus OF govern
ment defective The tendency Of our
present system Of government is toward
an aristocracy, even the elective, that is
as Indifferent to the will of the people as
it daTes to be, and 1t may dare much
without fear Of defeat. Corrupt influences
need, in most instances, to control merely
the majority of legislative committee
in order to defeat legislation that is de-
sired by a majority of the people.
Il has been we'll said that "the people
are sovereign only at the moment OF cleo
tion-the men they elect become their
masters for one, two, four or six years as
the case may be-"
We, the American people, need to com
prehend the difference between self-gOv-
ernment and the choosing Of the men
who are to govern us. AS matters now
stand and they must forever stand under
a representative government, the cOndi-
ton is like that of a child who chooses
its guardian, or the slave who chooses his
master for a term of years, and then