The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-20


rule has its dangers which cannot be
denied, and ought not to be forgotten. In
our prosperity we should initiate the Gus
tom of the Romans, who sobered the Joys
of public triumph by the presence of
monitor to warn the victor that he
! was not exempt from the dangers and
frailty of mortality.
Three chief perils attend the democratic
method of selecting the ruling classes:
| The red peril of the rise of the dema-
gogue. The yellow peril of the domi-
nance of wealth. The black peril of the
rule of the boss.
Men whose chief distinction is their
wealth, men whose only profession is the
| manipulation of political wire (under-
| ground) men who are related to real
statesmen as quacks to real physicians
/ have at times found their way into our
ruling classes. Their presence is a men
ace to the integrity and security of dem
ocratic rule
Legislation hostile to wealth is uolit-
! teal brigandage Legislation subservient
| to wealth is political suicide. 1t cannot
be denied that money talks. The thing to
be prevented is that money should talk
| with more tongues than belong to it,
and that it should say things that are
neither true nor just, and that these
things should be made laws for the peo-
/ pie .l
! What makes it possible for wealth to
control in a democracy? No one could
! buy vote if some one else were not
! willing to sell vote. No one could run
legislature from his office If there were
not a lobby at the Capitol. No lobby
| could do business if there were not, a ma
| chine. And no machine can fulfill the
law of its own being without evolving
boss. Here is the law of development
of this species of political creature First,
society, then faction; then gang;
then clique, then a ring, then big four,
| or FIVE or six; then a boss.
There are states in this country where
single man owns virtually all the places
| from the mayoralty of the biggest town
| down to the postmastershp of the small
| est village. This is democracy transform
| ed
| What then is the safeguard of democra-
| cy in the choice of the ruling classes?
| We have certainly put all our
eggs into the basket of popular
suffrage. How shall we watch and
protect that basket?
| Education is the only possible safe
guard which is in harmony with our prin-
ciples and has the power to defend our
| institutions without enslaving them.
THE first need of our country" said
| Lord Roseberry in his rectorial address
| before the University of Glasgow in
1900. lis the want of men. We want men
for all sorts of high positions, frst-rate
| men if possible, If not as nearly tlrst-rate
| as may be-
But what means of producing first
| rate men has been discovered except edu-
cation? do not mean the decorative edu-
| cation that adorns a chosen few with the
tinser gew-gaws of useless accomplish
ments. l mean creative education which
aims to draw out and discipline all that
| is best in manhood-to make the mind
| clean and firm by study, the body strong
| and obedient by exercise the moral sense
| confident and inhexible by disclosing the
eternal principles upon which it rests.
1t is of little use for a republic to have
| higher institutions of learning. producing
men of wisdom and power. unless il has
also system of general, nay, of univer-
SAL education, producing popular respect
| for wisdom and power. The university at
the summit reaching as high as human
| intelligence can go. the common school
at the basis, spreading as wide as human
nature itself, and between them the best
attainable system of grammar schools and
high schools and academies, and spread
ing out from them in ever-developing or
ganization of technical and professional
| insttutions-these are the defenses of the
| republic the mountains round about Zion
1t was the opinion of Thomas Jeffer-
son that the best service he ever rendered
to his countrymen was in the thought
which he gave to the unfolding of
| this doctrine, and the work
which he did TO PUT it into practice. Ger
tainy there was no other way in which
he showed more truly that he was a Dem
ocrat
Suppose. for example, that we are COM
PEELED to meet practically one of the dan
gers which are inherent in government
by democracy Suppose that by the ex-
tension of the suffrage the power of
choosing rulers has come into the hands
of a mass of government voters. coherent
in their action, because they are bound
together by racial or social ties incoher-
ent in their judgment. because their only
real unity lies in the absence of knowl-
edge and fixed principle This coherent
mass of incoherency. like a cargo of loose
wheat in the hold OF a ship. will imperl
the equilibrium of the state at every hour
of storm and stress. The privilege of
| suffrage bestowed on ignorance is not a
protection of material rights. 1t is a det-
riment to them. IL is like a diamond
hung around the neck of a child an in
| Vitation TO kidnappers; like a can of dy-
Mantle in the hands OF fool a prophecy
of explosion But how is this difficulty
to be averted? Only by two methods the
restriction OF the suffrage and the conver-
ton of the ignorants
The restriction of the suffrage is a tenn
| porary expedient. II may be more II may
| even be Indispensable under certain con-
| ditone. But at best It goes no further
than that process which physicians call
the encystment OF a tumor IL shuts
the end up in a sac, but II does not
take II away. The man who does NOT
know enough to be trusted with a vote
can never be a pleasant or a safe neigh
Dor The man who is too ignorant to
choose his rulers will never be an easy
| citizen for any one to rule.
But education. though a slow remedy
is thorough going II reaches the root of
the disease. Wisdom and justice alike
demand THAI the permanent cure shall
be used even while the temporary palia-
ton Is applied. A wise and loyal democ-
ucy will never restrict the suffrage by
an educational qualification. without pro-
! viding, at the same time, the educational
/ privileges which will ultimately M all
| its citizens above the level OF the restric-
ton. some OF you may perceive IN these
| remarks a distinct aluEon 10 the problem
Of negro suffrage and negro education In
I the South. This h a problem which
| must b. solved by the South for Itself
But unless ] am mistaken the best people
OF he South wish ana are determined 90
solve Y IA way which win command