Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1900-09-13

Macau1ay, in his essay on Jon4. Miiton.
points out the folly of attempting to pre-
pare people for self-government by deny
ing them the right to participate in their
own government He said:
Many politicians of our time are In the
habit of laying it down as a se~lf-evident
proposition that no people ought to be free
until they are fit to use their freedom. The
maxim is worthy of the fool in the old
story who resolved not to go into the water
till he had learned to swim. If men are to
wait for liberty till they become wise and
good in slavery, they may indeed wait for
ever
When 1 say that those who distrust the
capacity of the people for self-govern-
ment tend directly toward monarchy. I am
only repeating what Lincoln deliberately
declared in his first annual message. He
said:
Monarchy itself Is sometimes limited
at as a possible refuge from the power of
the people In my present position ( could
scarcely be justified were I TO omit raising
a warning voice against this approach of
returning despotism. 1t is not needed nor
fitting here that a general argument should
be made in favor of popular institutions:
but there is one point, with its eonnec-
lions not so hackneyed as most others, to
which / ask brief attention. 1t is the effort
to place capital on an equal footing with,
If not above, labor, in the structure of gov
eminent. No men living are more
worthy to be trusted than those who toll
up from poverty; none less inclined to take
or touch aught which they " not hon
estly earned. Let them beware of surren-
dering a political power which they already
possess and which, If surrendered, will
surely be used to close the door of adj
vancement against such as they, and to
fix now disabilities and burdens upon them
till all of liberty shall be lost
THE warning is even more needed now
than 1t was 10 years ago. The Army n
Navy Journal is already justifying the
colonial idea, and declaring that fate has
decreed for US a destiny in which an i'm
perial executive, free from the restraints
of a written constitution, will govern SUBJ
jects according to his own pleasure. The
United States Investor, published at Bos-
ton. in its issue of July q, says:
Only a bin person can fail to see that
remarkable transformations of one kline
or another are in store for the race; hence
the folly of asserting that the policy of this
country, which is destined to play such a
leading part in human affairs of the future,
shall be governed for the most part by
years ago. The greatest evil which now
confronts this republic is the clamor raised
by a certain faction for a settlement of our
problems of state by just such a method
as we have been deprecating. Consider
ably more than a century ago a certain
notable declaration was made in this coun-
try to the effect that all men ought to be
free and independent. This is merely q
generalization of the French school OF
Voltaire and the encyclopedias. 1t is q
dictum absolutely lacking foundation In
history and incapable of syllogistic justih-
cation. 1t was, however, a handy phrase
for US to employ when asserting our right
to break away from the mother country;
it suited the exigencies of our situation
in 1776 admirably, though in itself but a bit
of sublimated demagogism. The declara.
ton was a serviceable means to the end
that was at that time desired. To bring
forward this declaration in this year, 1900,
in connection with our treatment of the
Filipinos and the Cubans is as gross an
absurdity as ever was practiced. To do
so is to offer an insult to the intelligence
of the people who first subscribed to the
declaration in question
But why quote from newspapers as to
what may be done hereafter in the pres
ence of a law already enacted which makes
subjects out of Porto Ricans, withdraws
from them the guarantees of the constitu-
ton and asserts the power of the pres
ident and congress to govern them without
their consent and tax them without rep
resentation-a power as unlimited ana
t~yrannical as was ever asserted or exer-
cised by any ruler in all the history of the
human race. This doctrine has not yet
been approved by the people; it furnishes
the supreme question of the present cam
paign In the presence of these perils the
laboring man has a responsibility COM
mensurate with his opportunity. Without
d large percentage VI IN tdpOAiiS NOhC
no party can win an election in the United
States. The men who work for wages can
by throwing their votes on the one side
or the other determine the policy of this
country. They need not march in parades:
they need not adorn themselves with the
insignia of any party, but on election day
their silent ballots can shape the destiny
of this nation, and either bring the govern
ment back to its ancient land marks or turn
it into the pathway followed by the EN-
pires of the old world"