Willmar tribune., 1900-05-09

eAe NVAOuy VI virginia., ana l0SLea0 OF
/ following ease and opulence, he de-
voted his energies to secure the aboli-
| ton of the law of primogentture and
entail, which formed the foundation OF
landed artstocracy, but was hostile
to free institutions
He succeeded in the great work and
brought on his head the abuse and
| bitter hostility of the most powerful
influences of the country. Every cpl
| thet was applied to him, but he never
! faltered.
Virginia had an established religion,
and the clergy were in great force.
| Men who dissented were not only
prosecuted, but prosecuted. The church
controlled the circles OF wealth, fash
ion and intelligence.
Jefferson broke down this medieval
! system and established freedom of re-
ligion so that every man could worship
God according to the dictates of his
own conscience.
How Jefferson Was Denounced.
Curses loud and curses black we're
hurled at him. He was denounced as
destroyer OF society, an emissary Of
the devil and an enemy Of God.
The word anarchist had not yet been
coined into weapon for towards to
use In behalf of established wrong, but
every epithet that the vocabulary of
the age afforded was applied to him.
The weaklings OF fashion avoided
him and stupid respectability held up
its hands in horror. Every argument,
every influence, every inducement was
used to dissuade him.
A weak man would have yielded: a
timid one would never have begun; a
| selfish man would have compromised.
But Jefferson kept his eye fixed on the
| star of eternal right and would not
| turn aside for moment.
Education in the colony Of Virginia
was largely in the hands of the clergy
and was source Of profit and OF pow
er. Only the well-to-do could afford
to educate their children.
JEFFERSON established free public
schools, to be supported by taxation.
So comprehensive and thorough was
his system that it became the model
generally followed in America. This
great achievement was not only op-
posed by the church. but it arrayed
nearly all wealth against him.
The idea of compelling one man to
help pay for the education of his
| nelghbors' children was denounced as
| unjust, unconstitutional and dema-
gogical. It was atheism, socialism,
robbery.
1t required conscience, courage and
character to face such opposition, but
Jefferson had all three. Had he done
nothing except to establish the three
great reforms I have named he would
have been entitled to the everlasting
gratitude OF mankind.
In time, Virginia adopted new con-
stitut1on which he helped to frame.
Into this he sought to incorporate the
system which today is called the "Ref-
erendum," the principle OF direct leg
lslatlon by the people. He proposed
that the acts Of the legislature should
under certain conditions be submitted
to the people for their approval or re-
lection. He was overruled in this. It
Is claimed that the ever watchful slave
interests feared such q measure and
defeated it. But the fact that he IA
yored 1t shows the wonderful insight
and toreknowledge Of the man.
Jsnerson's Wi.o Fore.ixht.
We feel that he had an inspired WIS.,
ion Of conditions that were to come
century later.
Here Is the key to Jefferson's mind;
here is the corner stone Of his political
fabric, and the touchstone Of his poll
tical philosophy.
Leave everything to the people,
submit all important matters to the
people; the people can be trusted, they
may err, but they will right them
selves.
He saw then what a century's ex-
perlence has taught US, namely, that
representative government is not gov
ernment by the people.
True, the people elect their represen-
tatives, but they cannot control them
and cannot even protect themselves
against betrayal or robbery by their
own representatives.
The brlbe giver could not corrupt all
of the people, or even half of the peo-
pie, but he could bribe half hundred,
and even the full hundred, and when
he does the people are helpless.
Had the principle of direct leglsla-
tion. as proposed by Jefferson, been
incorporated into the constitutions OF
America, federal, state and municipal,
so that the people could have checked
their representatives, there would
have been no inducement to bribe a
legislature or debauch a city council,
Consequently, we would not have
had forty years carnival OF de-
bauchery and dishonor, carnival
whose history can only be written in
shame on the pages of infamy.
Had the principles of direct leglsla-
tion been in force throughout the land,
we would not today be confronted
with questions that alarm our people,
and free institutions would not have
been brought to the precipice Of de-
structicn by Mckinley administra-
ton.
Some Of Je0 ~rson's Achievements.
can only refer to the prodigious
labor Jefferson performed as a mem
Der Of the committee on correspond
ence which brought the different COL
cnies together and paved the way for
independence. Here, again, the wealth